Mod Superhero

Chapter 5.23 - Ava Savanus

Ava Savanus lounged in the living room of Magnus Venture's laboratory. She'd changed into a white ballistic catsuit, one made to emulate the Grecian statues of old. She sat on the same couch where her contemporary sat just three weeks ago. There was an imprint in the fabric from where he usually sat.

Ava sat on the other side of the couch. She didn't have the heart to take Magnus's seat.

The symbolism of either seat choice wasn't lost on her.

Ava had spent a considerable amount of time down here in Magnus's old living quarters. At first, the scenery had been stifling—even after figuring out how to adjust the view on the large wall screens. When she first engaged it, the screens defaulted to a scenic view of Belport's skyline. There were other options stored, each more curious than the last.

Most were views of ocean seascapes and mountain ranges, each of which Ava could match using her neural network and database connections. None held geographic or cultural significance, though Ava programmed a squadron of drones to search each location.

Then there was the city of New Venice—it likely held an important memory for Venture, though she could only guess at its significance. He had never shared details of his personal life with Ava, and she doubted he would be forthcoming now.

Then there was a patch of night sky taken from a forest outside of Belport. It was completely unremarkable... unless one had access to a starmap and the Summit's records of alien contact. One of the tiny stars in the center was known publicly as Niccolo F-1.

It was known to the Summit and other privy organizations as Terradun. A planet ruled by an entire race of Class 5 lifeforms—the Dunamen.

Of course, that was a rough translation from their language to that of Earths, but the Dunamen envoys accepted the name.

One of those envoys was the super codenamed Paragon, and the other would take the name Narine. She would later birth a child with Magnus Venture.

Ava still couldn't understand it. What could a being such as Narine see in a mortal like Venture? Humans were so short-lived compared to the Dunamen. So weak, so shallow. Terradun was ruled by a single democratic government, one that put the welfare of the people above petty and selfish concerns.

Maybe that was what they'd bonded over... Venture did want to change the world, misguided as he was.

That second night after the takeover, Ava had scoured the living quarters and the personal rooms of the lab.

Everything was destroyed. Nanomachines had dissolved everything inside the personal rooms. There weren't any personal files left either; the AI must've wiped everything days or maybe even weeks before.

Venture had been prepared.

And he had lost.

Ava turned her attention back to the living room screens. There were other options in the wall display, mostly layouts and configurations for displaying simulations and experiment data. The data itself was all either corrupted or deleted, but the layouts remained, like ghosts in the circuitry.

Finally, Ava gained access to the drone feeds. Once she established a neural link, it was easy to cycle through drone feeds. The lab's search algorithms could monitor the bulk of the drone fleet, but Ava wasn't as trusting as Magnus. She preferred to maintain her own control wherever possible.

Ava also discovered that drone feeds were often overlaid onto the wall screen—up to fifty at a time. Despite her own innate abilities and processor implants, Ava relied on her biomechs to be semi-autonomous. Given an order and an adequate set of parameters, they could function on their own.