Start at the Beginning Pt 9

"Walt?"

"Ok. Get back in there. Check in with Howard and give him some more money. Then out and in again but over to Gwen's, pick her up and make adjustments-"

"Walt!"

Walt looked up at Dave and blinked. "I'm sorry. What's up Dave?"

Dave stared at him. "Look... I know it works different for you now... but when's the last time you took a break?"

Walt blinked. "I'm taking one now? Just finished actually. If the teams got the gate configured I'm good to go!" He stood up.

Dave stared at him and frowned. "Why don't you go home Walter? Come back tomorrow?"

Walt frowned back. "It's not that late yet! I got time-"

"Exactly. It's about "time". There's already a high amount of time dilation normally for worlds like these. But this isn't some random world you buy and own. This is RealDreams access. You had them set it to the "maximum"! You've logged three weeks of time! Youre blasting through like some speed reading kid given a stack of various comicbooks from here to the ceiling! But you're treating it like that too, which isn't good." Dave said. "Have you spent any of that time resting inside there? The usual M.O. is to go in and stay there. You keep popping out only to pop back in! You're cutting out all "down time" to a dangerous degree for most. Even that hypothetical kid would be told to take a break and eat a PB&J and get told to play outside!"

Walt growled. "What are you? My mother? Sure for longterm deep cover immersion investigation and exploration and full storyline analysis I used to just stay there. But I also used to do this all of the time back in the day when there was a time issue and-"

"And it was unhealthy then and it's unhealthy now!" Dave stated. "Stop being a horses ass and take a break or better yet go home! You're quite possibly tougher than any other agent past or present... but you're still getting older Walt. You're still a mortal. You still have limits. They're just set differently."

Walt bit back a retort and stood walking in a straight line for the machine. "Fire it up!"

The technicians scrambled to put his data coordinates and calculations in next as Dave sighed shaking his head.

"Thanks for the dough, Boss. The prices on everything is so high these days."

Walt nodded. "No problem Howard. I had noticed that. What's going on here in 616?"

Howard sighed but then stared at Walt. "You ok, Boss? You're not looking so hot. That Gwen chick putting you through the wringer? Lucky d-"

"I'm fine!" Walt snapped then scrubbed at his face. "Sorry Howard. I apologize. I already got people breathing down my damn neck about taking a break... I shouldn't have snapped at you."

Howard shrugged and poured him a cup of coffee. "Hey don't worry about it. Didn't ruffle my feathers none so forget it. Investigation not going well?"

Walt shook his head. "It's going good actually I think. I'm starting to get a clearer picture of what's going on. Just slowly. I'm trying to hurry it along. Speaking of..."

Howard nodded. He could take a hint. "Well that's why the prices are so high round here right now and things are little wonky. Your hunch was right. The AI's are gone. Tony and his "Thirteenth Floor" too."

Walt sighed. "No wonder things are falling apart! All the AI's are gone? Like vanished gone? And how bad is it?"

Howard shook his head. "I don't know if they're all gone but most of them, yeah. That's the good and the bad news. Not vanished but destroyed. There's scattered bits and pieces of code apparently, like crumbs. They were-"

"Devoured," Walt said sighing and standing up he walked over to look out the open window. "Gobbled up. Digested and made something stronger each time. They grabbed Tony somehow and tried to get him to give them access to Friday but he not only wouldn't, he couldn't. Tony helped me create her a longtime ago working off of his Friday as a model of sorts but that's all. She's always been "my Friday" and unique. And his Friday was no more, she'd become apart of The Thirteenth Floor or more technically speaking the thing that preceeded the Thirteenth Floor. They hoped over to Earth-199999, though it's erroneously called 616 in the movies a couple times which is this Earth but that's confusing movie studio BS we're not getting into, and met Zola to get something."

Walt took a deep breath and Howard poured himself a drink not wanting to interrupt a fellow detectives train of thought. Walt sighed. "They likely either got the tech for digitizing a mind or the idea to do so and got the tech elsewhere then returned with a strong AI or made one here that was "vampiric" and fed off the weaker AI's getting stronger and stronger working its way up to attacking The Thirteenth Floor like somekind of buffet. It's similar but different to my Friday that way. I fed her information and slowly expanded her, raised her if you will like one does a baby or a child. Expanding her database and processing, over and over. They created a real monster because they didn't have time to devote to doing that. My Friday is benevolent while their creation is malignant."

(("Thank you, Walter. That makes me feel something like pride to hear you talk about me that way. It's... nice to hear you say things like that."))

"You should be because I am. You are easily my greatest creation but you're much more than that now... You've exceeded my wildest dreams and now you grow on your own. I'm sorry I don't say it as often as I probably should but never doubt it. I'm proud of you, Friday," he smiled a bit but then shook his head.

"The questions are did they kill Tony and destroy Avengers Mansion to cover that up and Is that all they did here because I kind of doubt it?" He said resuming thinking furiously. "What else am I missing?" He pounded his fist and heard wood splintering. He looked down and he'd destroyed the windowsill and a crack ran down the wall below. "Shit! Howard I'm so sorry. I'll pay for the damages." He reached into his pocket and started pulling out more bills.

Howard nodded and handed him the coffee cup as he swished his own drink. "You beating yourself up for playing "catch-up" ain't going to solve your problems, Boss man. You didn't fuck this world up."

Walt nodded his thanks. "Maybe not." He took the coffee cup and drained it and handed it back. "Doesn't change the fact that it's fucked though because it's connected to me. That's still my problem to deal with... you were saying how bad things have gotten?"

Howard took a drink. "The AI's, like your world probably, ran and regulated a lot of business. Everything from global freight to the market is going belly up. Right now every tech, computer specialist and similar heroes are busy pitching in however they can. Trying to write code round the clock and stem the tide. This world's in a crisis but..." he actually shrugged his shoulders, " when ain't it?"

Walt snorted. "Yeah, point taken. It's always under threat from something here..."

Howard shook his head. "I'm still checking the other leads and missing persons you have me running down... excluding the mutants."

Walt nodded. "Let me handle that. It's best I deal with them. I have a somewhat good report with some of them as being a longstanding "pro mutant" supporter and even helped out a few while trying not to meddle to much. I spent so much time in those early days here trying to not interfere and be a good neighbor like a "Watcher". Now one "home invasion" later and a few years away and I feel like I don't recognize hardly any of it... and I worry I'm changing things too with my presence here being far less "back ground" than it was previous." He smirked. "Maybe I'm just getting old?"

Howard smiled. "It happens to the best of us... but hey, older ain't all bad?"

Walt walked back to the window and sat on the damaged sill as the mechanical appendages came out of the back harness on the Mk2 as he set a paper bag down on the floor that had "Howard" writen on it. "Depends... I'm starting to think these days I'm just older and meaner. Later Howard. Keep up the good work." He leaned out the window and tumbled down. Howard watched the appendages carry him away until he got clear to use those line things to maneuver instead. "Careful boss. The Bugle will start talking about "spider octopi cowboys" you keep it up." He picked up the bag and found a bottle of top shelf liquor and box of cigars. "If you're "mean", you got a funny way of showing it, buddy."

[Walter Stark Penny Polendina F.R.I.D.A.Y Neopolitan Pyrrha Nikos Nora Valkyrie Yang Xiao Long Blake Belladonna Kali Belladonna Sienna Khan Willow Schnee Glynda Goodwitch Zwei Ahnassi Lifts-Her-Tail Senko Sayoko Shinozaki Roberta Cisneros Haruna Sasha Blouse Ilulu Raven Manami Aiba also with Tsuyu Asui Haruhime Sanjouno The Baroness Demona Mystique Pirotess Lydia Aela the Huntress Serana Mission Vao Curie Ada PAM KL-E-O Merida and Gwenom

Will Return In

Start at the beginning Pt 10

Coming Soon]