"Wait... explain the whole Liquid-slash-Revolver Ocelot thing again?" Fury asked, shaking his head in complete confusion.

"Honestly man, I don't think my brain can go through that again without melting... can we just go back to our battle strategy with taking down Ray?" Peter asked with his own shake of the head.

"There isn't one so far kid, that's the problem" Fury said, sitting back in his chair and scratching the stubble growing on his cheeks "From what we've seen the outside of Ray is completely indestructible, so I've sent the plans down to Stark to see if he can get an idea of how to take this thing down through it's circuitry or A.I or something like that"

"Right, and how's he doing on that?" Peter asked.

"Pretty good if I do say so myself" Stark's voice said over the intercom installed on the desk "I think I've found Ray's Achilles heel"

"Good news Stark, I knew we could count on you for this" Fury said.

"Of course you could, this is me we're talking about here, I could probably take Ray apart with a screwdriver and put him back together in better shape if I wanted to" Stark said with a confident tone.

"Then can you try that when we fight him and just, like, not rebuild him?" Peter asked.

"Now where's the fun in that kid?" Tony asked with a laugh "This is your audition for the Avengers kid, we wanna see how you do in real danger with high stakes, not beating up some three-legged freaks with sticks in a back alley in New York"

"So you're telling me you'd risk the fate of the world just to see if I could pass a test?" Peter asked.

"He obviously doesn't know about Barnaul does he?" Stark asked in a happy tone.

"No... don't think I've told him about it yet" Fury said.

"Go ahead and tell him, I wanna hear his reaction" Stark said.

"What happened In Barnaul?" Peter asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Well... Tony wanted to test Natasha to see if she was a good a spy as she said she was, this was before they'd worked together officially, and he set one of his Jericho missiles to fire in random directions and locked the keys to the truck that controlled the missiles' launch in the truck itself and gave her a minute to pick the lock and shut it off before the missiles blew up a city" Fury explained.

"Let's be fair here Fury, the city was abandoned" Stark interjected.

"And was to be refurbished-"

"After they'd demolished it-"

"With hired contractors-"

"That wouldn't need to be paid when I did it for them!" Stark finished with a loud laugh "And when Tash couldn't get the truck open the look on her face was priceless"

"So... how did you explain that?" Peter asked.

"In a press conference while drunk" Stark answered.

"Ah, the traditional way then?"

"You know it baby" Stark said with a click of his tongue "Anyway, Pete, come down to my lab in the mansion, I want you to bring back the files to Fury and I also want to show you something"

"Why can't you just send them to Fury?" Peter asked.

"I like to keep old traditions alive, and I'll give you four hundred bucks if you deliver them" Stark countered "And don't you wanna see the cool thing?"

"I do like money, but I love cool things" Peter nodded "What is it exactly?"

"I'll show you when you get here, now hurry up Spider Express, you've got work to do" Stark said before his voice cut off.

"Well then, I suppose I'd better get to it then" Peter said, standing up out of his chair "I'll be back soon Fury, try and read up on the whole Liquid-slash-Revolver Ocelot on the Metal Gear wiki while I'm gone"

"So Stark my man, what've you got for me?" Peter asked, walking into the lab to see Stark standing over a computer with his hands held in the air.

"Alright then, just need to boot her up and see if she'd done" Stark said, turning around and pointing at Peter "Come here Parker, I've got a present for you"

"Is it three million dollars?" Peter asked as he walked towards him "I could really go for that"

"Nope!" Stark said "It's a woman! A fake one!"

Peter looked at Stark and then to the computer he was standing next to before waving a hand.

"Nah man, I can find plenty of those on Games of Desire, I'll pass this time around" he said, looking around for the SD card or memory stick Stark was going to give him "D'you pay up front or what?"

"Hang on Peter, you remember Cassie don't you?" Stark asked.

"Yeah, the Computer Aided Software Search Ingenuity Engine right?" Peter asked.

"Yeah... I'm quite surprised you remembered that" Tony nodded.

"Eh, I read the script" Peter shrugged before looking back at the computer "Does she work now?"

"Yep, just running a few basic system diagnostics and software boot-ups before she's ready to go" Stark nodded.

"Great, did you bring me here just to rub the fact you've got a second A.I in my face?" Peter asked.

"Nope, like I said Pete, she's a learning engine, she's designed to react and develop based on the experiences she has in her, well, let's call it her life" Stark explained "And with me, she's just gonna be hanging around the same corporate assbags all day every day and maybe meeting Pepper and Rhodey every once in a while"

"And that means?" Peter asked, rolling his hand to get more information.

"I'm giving her to you Peter" Stark said "With a teenager like you you're gonna be going to new places and meeting new people every day, I think she'll learn a lot from you if I'm honest"

"Are... are you serious?" Peter asked "You're going to trust me with one of the most advanced pieces of technology in existence?"

"Oh yeah, and that's not all" Tony chuckled "She's able to interface with any kind of port and is equipped with the most advanced hacking software in the world as well as having access to any database I want to give her... oh yeah, and she's able to interact with the city's data banks, Watch_Dogs style"

"Oh... oh that's fucking cool" Peter grinned "I get to be Aiden Pearce... except not shit... so, is she a program I can use on my PC or can she go on a laptop for portability?"

"She's an android app at the moment, optimized for the Samsung Galaxy Alpha... that's the phone you've got right?" Stark asked.

"Yup... so I just plug it in and download her right onto my phone?" Peter asked "How does she work?"

"Well, you can set her to only function like Siri or that shitty Cortana thing or you can just keep her on at all times and have her talk to you like a person... I'd recommended doing the latter of those two so she can actually learn some shit" Stark said "Want me to install her?"

"Sure, I could do with hacking some nudes out of people's phone" Peter said, handing his phone over and watching as Stark plugged it in and began the file transfer, unpacking Cassie into his phone and Peter catching a glimpse of her U.I.

It was a simple blue background with a flat line on it, the line he figured would move as she spoke to him.

"Now Parker, I'm putting you in as master controller for her, meaning that you're the one who has administrator control over her and can override any commands she's been given just by saying a password you choose" Stark explained "Just give her one when you get outside and you'll be good to go"

"Alright then, how do I get her to talk to me?" Peter asked as Stark handed his phone back to him.

"Just tap the line on the screen and select 'Activate' and get ready for the new age Parker" Stark said, gesturing for Peter to do so.

He activated Cassie and looked up at Stark, then back to the phone before speaking.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hi there" Cassie responded in a clear, southern English accent "How can I help you Master Parker?"

"Oh... nothing right now, just wanna see how you're doing" Peter said, feeling a little suspicious that this might all be a big joke set up by Stark to make him look like an idiot.

"I'm functioning at maximum levels Sir, do you want me to run a status check on your phone?" she asked in a bright tone.

"I'm good thanks Cassie... say, would you be able to find me a video of a spinning seal please?" he asked, testing her browsing capabilities.

"Of course Sir" she said, going quiet for a brief second before a Youtube video of a seal in a pool began to play on the screen "Is this matching your request?"

"Indeed it is Cassie, thanks" Peter said, watching the video with a smile as the happy chiptune began to play.

"If you need anything else, just ask Master Parker" she said before going silent.

"Well... I think I'm going to like her" Peter nodded "I'm gonna like her a lot"

This feeling was strengthened when a cute little giggle was heard from the phone. Next Chapter: A New Challenger Approaches Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 29 Minutes