2013.05.03 - Networking Online

The Clocktower - Oracle's Operation Center

The entire top floor of the Clocktower has been engineered to be Oracle's lair, her operations center. The ceiling is a good thirty feet up, thanks to the giant clock window that makes up the wall opposite the elevator. Cantilevered beams create a maze of rafters and catwalks overhead -- accessible by ramps and winch lifts.

In the center of the room stands a semi-circular technology console that faces the window. A number of displays hang on moveable arms, the biggest one in the center of them all. There is no chair because Oracle always brings her own. Keyboards and peripherals cover the surface of the workstation, all within easy reach.

Other workstations stand at the ends of the room -- a crime lab, a forensics analysis center, and a de facto clean room for the creation and storage of delicate technical systems. Additionally, a simply furnished lounge sits in a corner, is a large flatscreen tv and a mess of video game consoles within its confines.

Standing not so far from the shrouded lift leading down to

Barbara's apartment is a dark mannequin garbed in the dark cowl and formfitting uniform of the first superheroine to claim the name Batgirl, protected by a glass dome -- a little piece of sentimental nostalgia in what is otherwise a monument to the future.

"Miss Potts, my most recent diagnostics have identified an unauthorized uplink in the Stark Industries' communications satellite network. I have already attempted to notify Sir, but he left specific instructions that he did not wish to be disturbed."

Pepper glances up from the email she is composing at the AI's interruption. "I know you would wait for Tony if you didn't feel it was urgent, JARVIS. Can you isolate the connection and backtrack it to its source?"

"Yes, Miss Potts. Attempting to do so now."

Looking at the email in progress, Pepper saves the draft and minimizes her email program, suspecting that whatever JARVIS finds, it won't be good. People don't just blithely hack into Tony's computer systems.

Yes. Oracle is testing SI's cybersecurity, particularly with relation to their satellites. After the trouble she had cutting through the electrical disturbance created by those electricity-based heroes the other day, she's thinking that being able to 'boost the gain', so to speak, would be a good idea. Combining Lexcorp sats with Stark's might just give her the boost she needs.

Of course, the thing is, she never takes the direct route into any system. It's always, always a circuitous route that bounces around and doubles back more often than not. It hits most countries on the Earth in some way or another and pings off of any number of satellites. Even JARVIS, as quick as he is, is going to have a bit of a challenge finding his way through it all.

And, frankly, she has her own monitoring and cyber security suite for him... it?... to breach. Which means, when he gets close, she'll know.

Pepper Potts reaches for her desk phone and tries calling Tony, even though she knows if JARVIS couldn't get his attention a phone doesn't stand a chance. Maybe he's asleep. That would actually be a good thing. But someone hacking their satellites? That's more than sufficient reason to risk waking him. She taps her desk phone's stored number keys and listens to it start to ring. One thing's for sure, lunch is very likely out the window for today.

Meanwhile... at Stark Tower, bedroom division:

Tony hears his phone distantly..he also hears JARVIS. For now, he groggily silences his phone and returns to his slumber. What happened last night? He remembers something about sorority mixer..nah..zzzzz...then JARVIS' voice snakes into his sleeping mind: "Sir, I'm tracking a security protocol that has been activating. I'm currently tracking and countermeasuring the intruder, but it will take considerable processes to work on. I'm diverting resources from lesser priority tasks."

Tony groans slightly, "Ughhh..fair enough JARVIS. One process you won't deviate from - running executable coffee.bat - run it with a triple shot."

"Nice to have you among the living again, sir. Coffee is underway. Ready in 5 minutes."

Oracle's cybersuite lights up as the AI works his way back along her trail. She throws up a few extra blocks and releases a scrambler while she sets up a shunt that will redirect him to a hardened partition when he arrives -- and she has no doubt that he'll arrive. The only real question she has is who he may be. Because, really, very, very few other hackers are able to get this close to her.

She speculates she might actually be dealing with Stark himself. It wouldn't be a complete surprise, given his reputation for all things technical. But, at the same time, why would he personally attend to SI's cybersecurity? Doesn't he have people he can pay for that?

She engages her avatar program -- the one that allows her to appear online as a glowing green head (sometimes even with a shapely body to go with it) and shunt it to a monitoring suite to effectively meet the defender in virtual reality.

Pepper Potts isn't at all surprised that Tony doesn't answer his phone so gives up after just the one attempt. "JARVIS, were you able to contact Tony, or should I call our cyber security department and let them know what's going on?" And oh, the whining THAT would get from Tony if he found out. For her own part, she's worrying because she has a vague idea the kinds of people who would even think messing with Stark property wasn't a phenomenally stupid idea. SHIELD, various and sundry unsavory types like Luthor... She reaches for her cell phone this time. It's the what-ifs that get her, and the not knowing. And even if she did pester the AI to explain what he's doing as he does it (huge waste of the system's resources, don't even consider it), she's pretty sure any explanations would go right over her head.

Tony has stumbled out of bed, grabbed a robe and headed to the kitchen. He says nothing until he's gotten half a cup down. If there were a significant security incident, JARVIS would be more insistant. Cob webs successfully shaken off, he heads to the living room and activates the coffee table/work surface and brings up a 3 dimensional work space, using movements to levitate windows to a specific height for his multitasking use. "Have we gotten close to triangulation yet, JARVIS?" he asks, and looks at his phone. Missed call from Pepper. He keys to return call and slips the earpiece in his ear. "Not yet, sir, but getting close. With current countermeasures to attend to, I should have a confident guess of triangulation within 3 minutes."

As JARVIS bypasses the scrambler and hits her shunt, ending up in the hardened partition she arranged for him, Oracle engages a digital scan to simiulataneously interface with and investigate him. She also kills her link to the satellites and physically severs the link between the partition and the rest of her system. He's not getting any further into her lair. The ORACLE avatar animates on one her screen and its androgynous, digital voice muted from her audio by the only feed available to external listeners. "Well, hello..." ORACLE says to JARVIS. "Fancy meeting you, here."

There isn't much public info available about the actual server location. Oracle has seen to it that any public records of both Clocktower Systems and her more private activities are conveniently misfiled or misdirected. Nevertheless, once JARVIS has broken through, even if he's locked out of her main system, a physical location can very likely be deduced.

And, should it ever matter, if Stark has access to the Hero Registration Database (or whatever its called) the codename Oracle is registered. No civilian ID is associated with it, of course. That really isn't Barbara's style.

JARVIS responds to Oracle's greeting with one of his own, and if Avatars can see each other that he's taking the form of a tall, thin British gentleman in a suit, "We shouldn't meet like this," he says, accent matching the appearance, "People will talk." there's a note of humor in his voice, dry as it is. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit today?" he asks ORACLE.

Meanwhile, JARVIS is multitasking on Tony's end. "Sir," he says, "I've engaged the prowler's presence and am currently speaking to it's representative. Misdirection prevents me from giving you a solid physical address, but I can ascertain that the intruder is originating somewhere within Gotham City limits."

Tony frowns, and finishes the coffee in a couple of smooth swallows, adrenaline waking him up wehere caffeine fails. "Son of a bitch," he mutters, "Bruce just isn't letting this go. Time to go ask nice." he says softly. "JARVIS, I'm going mobile, warm up the Mark 8. Looks like I'm going to Gotham."

"Right away, sir." is the AI's dry reply

The avatar, ORACLE, looks around the white cleanroom-like space that encompasses them. "Defensive augmentation process," she replies to the dapper gentleman. "I needed to boost my gain." Her expression is neutrally friendly and polite -- something to match his own dry delivery. "Sorry. Did I interrupt tea? My bad."

In the real world, Oracle considers just who the Brit could be. Stark doesn't strike her as the sort to use such a dry, understated avatar for himself. So, it's likely she's dealing with a flunky, assistant, or ally. The question is: Who? She starts running a database cross-reference of Stark's known associates and whatever employee records she can snag... particularly those with technical skills. To do so, she engages her tunnel programs into SHIELD and the various other federal databases -- public, secret, and clandestine alike -- that are available.

Tony Stark pages: It'll probably take all of about 30 seconds through SHIELD (since they had to have records in order to exploit JARVIS in IM1) that you'd get the info that you are engaged with Stark's AI, but what isn't public knowledge that they know is that Tony coded JARVIS entirely by himself as a one-off AI system. He programmed him to adapat, get smarter, and to be intuiitive.

You paged Tony Stark with 'Is that contained in the SHIELD db?'

Tony has changed into the tight jumpsuit he wears when afforded time to do so before suiting up. It provides another level of interactivity with the suit and provides more even internal temperature control. He's down in his lab, the suit being build onto him from the gantry he's built down there. "Keep whatever or whoever it is busy until I get to Gotham, JARVIS." he roars off through the installed open skylight in his garage with Dream Theater blaring on his way to find out who's knocking at his virtual door.

JARVIS smiles softly at ORACLE, "Tea? No dear, I'm incapable of such things. Defensive Augmentation Process? That's charming, really." he says, with no trace of sarcasm or snark. "Are you far from home that you need a signal boost?" he asks, curious.

Information on Stark and, remarkably enough, JARVIS comes up in short order on Oracle's screen from her tap into SHIELD. "Holy crap," she murmurs, looking at what specs SHIELD does have on the AI. She can't help but grin at it, and be impressed. It's seriously cool. "Where can I get one of those?" Of course, none of that comes through to JARVIS.

But, the ORACLE avatar does smile faintly. "Where are my manners?" the androgynous digital voice says lightly. "We haven't been properly introduced. You're... JARVIS, yes? Mr. Stark's digital assistant? My name is Oracle. Believe it or not, Mr. Jarvis, we're on the same side."

Barbara pulls a data chip from one part of the console and plugs it into another, feeding her avatar information to share with JARVIS, without reengaging the link to the rest of her system. "Here. You can see for yourself. Several days ago an interdimensional entity appeared over Metropolis and tried to kill Superman. He was stopped by the combined efforts of several heroes, including what intel I could provide. However, some of that intel was hampered by the build up of electrical static in the atmosphere thanks to the abilities of the combatants. I'd like to ensure that doesn't happen again. More than that, I'm attempting to create an early warning system to detect disturbances similar to the interdimensional portal, with the hope of scrambling defensive resources sooner and thus preventing a similar instance in the future."

Sounds all well and good. It's up to JARVIS to decide if it's true. Of course, there is public record of it. Perhaps not of Oracle's specific involvement -- though the JLA computers and com logs might have a record of it. Certainly it's not the first time the Oracle name has popped up. Oracle was also instrumental in preventing the start of a nuclear war in Asia -- again, aiding Superman with timely intelligence beyond the scope of the UN's resources. So, there's some sort of digital trail out there to be collected.

Tony doesn't take long to get into Gotham airspace. He doesn't proceed anywhere directly, preferring to find a rooftop to hunker down on until he has a direction to go in. "Any word, JARVIS?"

The AI responds within the helmet of the armor, "Yes, sir. It would appear I am engaged with Oracle, who was helpful during that encounter with Zod. It would appear that they have assisted Superman and some other members of the JLA on a somewhat regular basis. They want to establish an early warning system so that we aren't snuck up on again." there's a pause, "It seems that they are on our side, sir."

Tony smiles, "Well, that's a comfort. Ask if there's any chace they'd take a meeting with me?"

"Right away, sir."

JARVIS smiles and offers a courtly half-bow, "I am indeed JARVIS, it is a pleasure to meet you, Oracle. I think there's a great deal we can collaborate on to that end, and I've alerted Mr. Stark as to your intentions. He was a little perturbed by the intrusion. However, he is interested in meeting to discuss the early warning network if you're agreeable to such a thing?"

Barbara Gordon leans back in her wheelchair, considering that request. It's not an unexpected one. However, she's not excessively keen on the playboy of the western world having her personal information. "Uh-huh," she murmurs softly to herself, off com. "And let's face it, Babs: Anyone smart enough to create a heuristic AI that can track you all the way back to homebase can eventually figure out who you are in real life." So, she takes a deep breath and thumbs the com to speak with JARVIS again.

Her avatar nods slowly. "Providing Mr. Stark will honour my desire to keep any personally identifying information he learns about me completely secret and, preferably, unrecorded, I am willing to accommodate that."

The AI relays the request of keeping Oracle's identity under wraps to Tony, who's taken to flying lazy circling patterns around the city. He smiles, and thinks to himself 'If only Oracle knew who I knew was who as of late, they'd know I could keep secrets.' - "Tell Oracle that I can keep confidences and discretions, and I am willing to meet with them at their convenience wherever they want. Wouldn't have to be the first time I've had to earn trust." he says to his trusted AI.

"I will relate it, sir." JARVIS says simply.

JARVIS smiles to Oracle, "Mr. Stark has agreed to your conditions and is willing to meet you where and when it's convenient for you."

Barbara considers the offer -- where and when she chooses. But, the fact is, she's going to be rather distinctive no matter where she goes. So, it's better to have home turf advantage. So she keys in her coordinates and uploads the for ORACLE to relay to the AI. "Tell Mr. Stark he's welcome to meet me on the top floor of the old Clocktower building in Gotham City. He'll find the entry on the rooftop terrace unlocked and accessible."

JARVIS relays the information to Tony, who thanks JARVIS and heads towards the Clocktower, which has been highlighted in his HUD - not that there's much need but it does help. A few minutes later he lands and the helmet retracts. "Interesting." he says, looking around. He goes to the entry on the terrance and gently knocks.

He knocked. How nice is that? Barbara chuckles softly to herself before calling out, "C'mon in. Door's open." It's not like she didn't see his approach and landing, after all. She reverses her chair down the small ramp from her console and spins it to wheel in his direction as the door open.

Pepper Potts didn't even get a chance to answer Tony's phone call as an office crisis 'of epic proportions' pulled her away abruptly. She finally returns to her office ... how much later? and realizes she missed both the phone call and lunch. Sitting down with a sigh, she says to thin air, "How much did I miss, JARVIS, and how angry is Tony?"

The AI responds to Pepper pleasantly, "Not as angry as you might imagine one he found out the interested party is more interested in working with us than against us. He's currently taking a meeting with the person who initiated the contact in the first place. His current location is Gotham City. For discretionary purposes I've been asked to not divulge the rest."

Barbara sets herself obliquely out of the direct line from the door, though she does extend her hand to the metal-clad man. "Welcome to the Clocktower, Mr. Stark," she says. "I'm Oracle." A beat. A pleasant smile. "Sorry to disturb you." Though, better him showing up than someone like, oh, say, Lex Luthor. She's managed to avoid his sentinels, so far.

Tony Stark smiles, taking the woman in and shaking her hand. "Please," he says, "Call me Tony." he looks around, "Nice pad, I gotta say." he says, "No worries, I was just working on something when this came up." he doesn't say it was 40 winks, but that's because no one needs to know. "So what were you sniffing around for? I mean, I have plenty of clips on YouTube and there /was/ that snafu with celebrityshots.com but we settled things amicably..."

Pepper Potts ohs faintly as she leans back in her chair. Is he having words with the Batman and just doesn't want her to freak out? Who else IS there in Gotham that could be a potential ally? Why does this kind of thing always happen during her lunch time? She crosses her arms tightly, very briefly glad there's no one around to see her going ahead and freaking out. Just a little, though. Five seconds, she'll allow herself to panic for five seconds, and then she's got to get back to work. That email is still unfinished.

Barbara gives a light smile at his jokes. "I seem to recall hearing something about that," she says mildly. She's Oracle. She hears everything. "And thank you." She, too, glances around the open space. "It serves my purposes, at least."

But in answer to the real question, she gives a casual shrug, leaning back in her chair and flipping an errant red lock from her pale shoulder. "You have, Mr. Stark, some of the most advanced and exclusive hardware in the skies." A self-deprecating chuckle. "I just couldn't resist a peek." A beat. "Especially if it can help prevent further incursions from beings capable of putting our strongest heroes down without nearly enough effort to make it fair fight."

Tony Stark smiles, "Well, thank you." he says, "I try to do the best I can with what I have. Fortunately, I have quite a bit so I can do quite a bit. I'm in agreement, there. I didn't appreciate us getting snuck up on and sucker punched by Zod and his wind up toys. I would like to ensure that if he does it again, we're more than ready. What do you have in mind?" he says, curious.

"Zod isn't the only threat that's 'ported in from out of reality, if you will," Barbara says, nodding to Tony. "Just last week, Superman was sent crashing into New York Harbour by a megalomaniacal man from another dimension calling himself Gog. I've analyzed the readings I got from that encounter, plus the logs I have of the Zod encounter, not to mention the several instances of isolated meteorological craziness that's popped up several other times in the New York/New Jersey area over the last several weeks, and I've noticed that there are discernible fluctuations in the energy spectrum that precede each incident." She gives another wry smile. "Unfortunately, they're not all the same sorts of fluctuations. But, they're each abnormal enough that I believe we can calibrate a sort of early-warning system that can trigger an alert when such perturbations of the natural atmospheric and planetary energy spectrum are detected." She gives him a hopeful smile, now, trying to turn on the same charm with him she used to use on the grant committees she faced as a librarian. "Your network could help considerably with that." Not to mention the fact having his permission to access the network would avoid future encounters like this.

Tony Stark shrugs gently, not dismissively but in one of those things where he might naturally agree with what she's putting forth. "I like the idea. Do you have a design for one already, or should we collaborate?" he asks, "If you've already crunched the numbers on it, you can send me data, and I can refine things and bat it back until we have a perfected algorhythm that we can load into the network hardware."

Oracle nods to that. "I have some rough designs," she admits. Her mind works fast on these sorts of things. "Let me pull them together and send them to you. We can chat more, then." She's in agreement with that. He won't miss, she's sure, the telescopic enhancements in her design, she's sure, but they're only a part of the whole. And, hey, if she can get permission to use the resources, so much the better. "I'm happy to meet again, once you've had a chance to review it."

He's nowhere near as scary as Bruce, after all.

Tony Stark smiles, "Sounds good, I look forward to meeting with you and discussing this again..over dinner, maybe? I can wear something a little less weaponized." - it's then that JARVIS interrupts, "Sir, I had to interrupt you, but we have an emerging situation at 40,000 feet - it appears a FlyAir flight has lost it's number 1 and 2 engines, and it's currently over Gotham airspace. It would be prudent if you intervened."

Tony nods at the AI giving him the rundown, "Well, sounds like they're playing my song - work never done and all that." he smiles, the helmet dropping back into place with a distinct clang sound, and the optics resume their glowing blue shade once again.

Barbara smiles and gives Tony an oblique nod. "Dinner... sounds fine. I'll be touch." As he turns to attend to hero business, she inhales a slow breath and raises her hand. "God speed, Mr. Stark."

Tony Stark turns around and offers a snap salute, "Thank you Oracle. Look forward to seeing you soon." - his somewhat digitized voice says, though a smile is detected in the voice and with that, he returns to the rooftop terrace and then the sound of repulsors engaging and a sonic boom seconds later signals his departure.