Chapter 4
She had been going over to the Avenger’s more over the past weeks. The first couple weeks she only joined Peter and Tony once every other week, but now she was with them twice a week. The third time she wasn’t invited, well she assumed that was for Spiderman.
She had talked to Shuri about her plan of hacking into JARVIS, and Shuri said she could do it. Amaka had no doubt she could, but it became apparent that more would have to be done from her own end than just telling Shuri to hack the code.
“How are you going to get this code in the first place? Believe it or not, I cannot hack into something I do not have”
“I know, but I keep running through my mind how I would get the code, and I think I have a way to get it, but I don’t know if it’ll work”
“Well you have to figure it out. You’re the spy, no? You’ll handle it. But remember, doing this remotely is not an option. I need to get to the code from the inside, that’s the only way I’ll be able to hack it without drawing attention, so you have to get that code onto a flash drive or USB”
“Yes, I know. If I knew you could get to JARVIS from the outside, I would have asked you already. I have the USB that I want to use, it's the one you gave me. It’s geo locked to your lab, too, for extra security. When I get that code, ill hand it off to Bazeva''
“Good, now according to the clock I have that runs on New York time, your school is almost out. Which means I have to go”
“Shuri!”
“See you soon”, she sighed.
“See you soon. Tell T’Challa I say hi”
With that, she hung up the phone. In all truth, she was kind of excited to meet the Wakandan operative. Why? Because it was a chance to speak to her friends.
Her old Wakandan friend, Bazeva, had not been in contact with her or their friend, C’Chakee for over a year. The specific reason for that was because he was out doing the exact same thing as Amaka.
That’s right, folks, my friend was the Wakandan operative who tailed Spiderman. Amaka didn’t like to think about her friends when she was on missions, it always made her feel lonely. However this time, Amaka couldn’t stop herself. Maybe it was C’Chakee’s good news in regards to her role in the outreach program. Maybe it was the fact that she would be able to speak to Bazeva for the first time in forever. Or maybe it was because the company of Tony and Peter and the other Avengers kept her company.
She couldn’t help but feel like she was getting attached to the Avengers. And Peter. The highlight of the last couple of weeks had always been going to the tower, but maybe that was just because her school was so boring. Still, she couldn’t deny the sinking guilt that dropped in her stomach whenever she lied to the Avengers.
Like on Wednesday, when she was still at the tower. There wasn’t much to tinker with down in the lab, so Amaka, Peter and Tony all went up to the common room instead, where most of the other Avengers were. Wanda had made a comment about how unusually nice Tony was around her and Peter, and Tony fired back with how he had to ‘keep ‘em around somehow’. Of course, that made Steve curious.
“Speaking of staying around,” Steve started, “Avery, I feel like I should say some apologies to your foster parents, considering how much we keep you around here”, he joked.
“Oh, really, you don’t have too. They really don’t care about what I do all that much, as long as it doesn’t get CPS on their ass. So I promise, you don’t need to go up to my place and use your Captain America eyes”, she laughed.
It was meant to be one of those off handed remarks that were actually kind of sad. It certainly worked, considering how Amaka noticed the brief flash of sorrow and pity that crossed their faces at her words. It made Stark give her the newest model of Stark Phone for free, and though she didn’t use it (opting for her Wakandan one instead), she appreciated the gesture (she felt horrible for lying).
Still, as she stepped into Happy Hogan’s black car, she sucked it up. After all, she had a mission to complete. Her plan to get the code was to ask Tony to see JARVIS’s code, and hope he accepted. Then, she would activate her hidden Wakandan camera. The camera, of course, was not just hidden on her body, but was embedded into her contacts. The clear contacts that she wore were not necessary to her vision, but rather, the mission. They were embedded with cameras that recorded in 4k, and had audio. The footage was then backed up to a file on her phone and computer. Using this, she would record Tony gaining access to JARVIS’s code.
That was the first step of the plan. She had no doubt that access to the code was granted via voice scan, fingerprint or retina scan, but that wasn’t too much of a problem for Amaka, either. If the access was retinal, then all she had to do was get Tony to look her in the eye for three seconds. The contact would automatically do a retinal scan, and when she opened the file on her phone, she would be able to make a 3d projection of that scan. However if it was fingerprint, then all she had to do was take one of Tony’s tools, and use tape to pull the print. And if it was voice, the sound from her contact would backup into the file on her phone, and all she would need to do is playback the audio.
Then, once she got the code, she would unleash ‘the foreign object’. In reality it was a small robot inside Amara’s pocket. It was so small that it was no bigger than the average spider. Almost looked like one, too. The robot could be activated from her phone, and when it was activated, it would expand in size about two times. It still wasn’t that big, but the perfect size to be able to crawl through the vents undetected, and then trigger whatever security protocols the vents had. The ‘threat’ would be enough for JARVIS to alert the Avengers, and they, of course, would try to deal with it. They would probably bring Peter, but lock Amaka in the lab for her own safety. Meanwhile, Amaka would have a short window to download JARVIS. When she was done, she would call in the robot, and when the Avengers found nothing, they would assume it was a big spider or dust bunny that set off the sensitive security system.
She had managed to hide the guilt and put on a happy face for the duration of the car ride, letting Peter take over the conversation.
Soon enough, she had entered Stark’s lab. The three had started on their normal work flow, before Amaka finally struck up conversation.
“Hey, Mr. Stark?”
“Kid, for the thousandth time, it’s Tony”
“Got it, Mr. Stark”, she smiled
“Jesus, you two are exactly the same”, he responded, poking at her and Peter.
“Yeah, well, I was actually kind of wondering– I know you’re very protective of JARVIS’s code, and I totally respect that, you know, but I was hoping I could see it? it’s just that i’ve never seen it anything like it and i’d just really like to–“
“Kid, don’t worry about it. Of course you can see it, I know you don’t get many opportunities like this, so I actually think”, he starts to put down his tools, “it would be an amazing opportunity for you”
“R-really?“, Amaka felt the guilt rising in her. She never felt this way with her other targets. Jesus, if she couldn’t keep it together for one mission, how was she supposed to do this for the foreseeable future?
“Yeah, kid. Don’t look too starstruck”, he chuckled.
“So, JARVIS is like the hub of the tower, right? How do you make sure no one, like, hacks it?”
Tony laughs, “Kid, I can’t think of one person on this planet who’d be smart enough to hack JARVIS from the outside, and even less who could get past my encryptions without the codes”
“codes?”
“Mhm. Can’t just leave it unprotected, can I? I have a nine digit code that only I know, along with a retinal scan, that lets me gain access to JARVIS.”
Code?
Shit.
She figured that since number codes can be compromised easier than biological codes, he wouldn’t use them. It was only thanks to her Wakandan tech that made bio codes easier to get than number codes, but that seemed to backfire on her.
How was she going to do this? She had to think fast, because once Tony’s security rant was done, he would access JARVIS and she wouldn’t get the code.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She was running through every possibility on what to do, but nothing worked. She was running out of time, and she had to do something fast.
Maybe her robot could record from behind him? It looked kind of like a spider, so if she could get it to stick to the ceiling behind Stark, it might be able to record the code.
She had nothing else, so she had to try.
Peter was asking him some questions to JARVIS, unknowingly giving her time to direct the bot to have a perfect view of Tony’s screen.
She let out a small breath, but she wasn’t out of the woods yet. She just had to hope that JARVIS wouldn’t detect the bot, otherwise she was absolutely done.
As Tony typed in the code and gave his scan, she held her breath. Please Bast, please let this work!
Finally, Tony gained access to JARVIS, and she let out a sigh of relief.
Thank Bast.
She recalled the bot, and let Tony show her around the code.
She had to admit, this AI was very interesting. It was something she had never seen before, and though she knew Shuri could probably make something better, she would have no need for it. Meaning, that this would probably be the only time she got to look at an AI of this level.
She, Peter and Tony all explored the code, and Tony seemed genuinely excited to show it off. For a second, she got lost in the moment. She didn’t want to lie to them, take advantage of them. But at the end of the day, it was for her country. And she loved her country. So, she swallowed her guilt.
She proceeded with the plan, unleashing the bot into the vents. Not a minute later did the tower go into lockdown mode.
The lights went red, windows shut. Peter and Tony both whipped their heads up.
“What's going on?” Amaka asked, faking her fear.
“Stay here.” Tony commanded, closing down JARVIS.
Both Peter and Tony proceeded to hop in the elevator, locking down the lab behind them.
As soon as she was out of sight, she reopened his code. She had the bot send the video footage over to her phone, so all she had to do was open a file and she had access to the passcode.
She typed in the code before projecting his retinal scan, and just like that, she was in. She took out her hard drive and then started the download process.
Amaka looked over to the clock, and she had to guess she had about three minutes before the Avengers realized it was a false alarm. All she could do was pray that there was enough time.
She kept her eyes on the clock and on the elevator. JARVIS was only 30% downloaded.
Another thirty seconds went by, and the red lights that had been flashing over the tower disappeared.
45% downloaded.
The windows reopened, and she opened JARVIS’s cams to see where Peter and Tony were.
They were talking to the other Avengers, she felt a short relief flood her body.
52% downloaded
“We can have this conversation later”, Tony said, “right now we need to check on Avery”
Shit.
Shit.
68% downloaded.
They entered the elevator, before realizing that protocol for lockdowns makes all elevators un-operational for 5 minutes after the lockdown, to prevent people from running.
83% downloaded.
They both took the stairs, considering the lab was only a few floors down from the common room. Amaka recalled the bot from the vents.
89% downloaded.
They were walking briskly, but not too quickly. Still, they were close. Closer than she would have liked.
97% downloaded.
They were in the stairwell in Tony’s lab. Her heart was beating, her nerves jumping
100% downloaded.
Amaka quickly took out the hard drive and exited out of JARVIS, right in time for Tony and Peter to walk through the door.
Her heart was racing, and she took two deep breaths, not wanting Peter to hear her irregular heart beat.
“Avery! Are you okay?” Peter rushed over to her.
“Yeah, I'm fine. What was that?”
“False alarm. We thought something was in the vents, but it was just some dust bunny. The security are really sensitive, so”
“oh, so everyone’s okay, right?”
“Yeah kid, no need to worry. But unfortunately, this little false alarm means that we’ll have to cut this visit short. Happy ‘ll drive you home”
“Thanks, Mr. Stark. I’ll see you next week?”
“Of course, kid”
Amaka gets driven home by Happy, and she makes sure his car was well away before she changes into all black hoodie and jeans and walks down the street. She’s supposed to meet Bazeva in an alley a couple blocks down, and she’s somewhat excited to see him.
She hasn’t seen him since he left for America, after all, and she should be overjoyed that they can talk to each other.
Yet, her excitement is overshadowed by guilt. Mainly for taking advantage of Tony’s kindness, and lying to Peter, whom she’d grown particularly fond of over the months.
Still, she dragged her ass out in the New York cold so she could deliver this drive, so she perked up a bit. After all, she was meeting someone from home.
She reached the meeting point, and it seemed she arrived early, as Bazeva was nowhere.
She sighed, and pulled out her phone.
Amaka
hey
I got the code
almost got caught
but i’m too good for that
i’m abt to meet Bazeva
Shuri
good
he’s going to be brought in today as well, start a new mission
so perfect timing ig
but I should get the drive in a day and a half
i’ll tell you when you’ll be able to go in the vents
What's your plan for that, by the way?
Amaka
wasn’t going to do that during my
“internship”
You’d have control of JARVIS right
so i was thinking that i’ll just
walk in
on monday probably
when it’s busiest
and sneak into the vents through the bathroom
then i’ll just sneak into the meeting rooms
labs, medbay, and training area.
plus the common room
Shuri
Smart.
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and immediately she tried to knock out whoever was trying to attack her. However, her attacker swerved, and held his hands up.
“Amaka! It’s me”
“Bazeva! It’s been so long”
“I know, it’s nice to see you old friend”
“old?” she joked
He chuckled, “you have the drive?”
“of course,” she handed him the drive, “i’m always successful, you should know that”
“always a witty answer”
“you know me” she smiled
“So, please tell me. What’s happened when I was gone?”
“Oh nothing much. My brother and Nakia broke up. Such a shame, I loved them together. C’Chakee got approved for some outreach missions, last I heard”
“Oh, so now we’ve all made it out of Wakanda?”
“Made it out? More like we left the comfort of the greatest nation in the world”
“Hey, I mean we’re serving Wakanda, so it’s a good reason to leave, no?”
“I suppose”
They both chuckled.
“So, spying on the Avengers? Certainly a feat only Black Cat could accomplish”
“I’m truly surprised I made it this far”
“Nonsense. You are very capable, and I have no doubts you can do this”
“Thank you, Bazeva. It was nice to see you tonight. Truly.”
“I know, it’s been so long. Hopefully we’ll be able see eachother soon”
“That’s your way of saying goodbye, no?”
He gave a sad smile.
“So it’s true, then? After this you’ll be stationed somewhere else?”
“Yes. I’ll spend maybe a week and a half at home, before getting stationed elsewhere”
“Where?”
“Nigeria. Lagos”
“Well, then you're in luck. Shuri told me that’s one of C’Chakees stops on her outreach mission”
“You ask about her?” he teased
“Of course, I have to know what my friends are doing at all times”
“Bast, your paranoid”
“More like obsessive”
“That’s worse”
“Is it?”
“Did you ask about me?”
“Yes. Shuri told me only that you were in New York. I wasn’t allowed to know more”
“Mmm. Well, I hope you know that if you ever find yourself in Lagos, of all places, you can come and visit me. I’m sure the same goes for C’Chakee.”
“Two friends in Lagos, i’ll make sure to mark it down as a vacation spot”
“Amaka?”
“Yeah?”
“Stay safe. I know you are capable of this mission, but you’re still spying on a mind reader, a super spy, two highly trained soldiers and a robot.”
“Yes, Bazeva, I know who I'm spying on.”
“I’m serious, stay safe”
Amaka gave a soft smile, “I will. Promise”
They hugged, before giving her a soft smile and walking away.
She sighed, before returning to her apartment.