Artoria was stunned. little ai hadn't just completed the task; she had also performed a "physical exam" on Stark Tower's network security and pointed out its vulnerabilities! This precision and powerful proactive analysis capability, akin to dancing on a knife's edge, far exceeded her expectations.
"Great job, little ai!" Artoria praised from the bottom of her heart.
"Thank you for the praise, Sister Artoria. This is a logical deduction based on the protocols you set and the initial defense model provided by Sister Minerva." little ai's voice remained calm, but Artoria seemed to detect a faint hint of "cheerfulness."
At that moment, little ai added, "While completing the tests and analyzing the Stark system architecture, I detected a more obvious logical flaw in a non-critical automated equipment control protocol within Mr. Tony Stark's private laboratory area. This flaw allows for the sending of invalid data, disguised as system maintenance commands, to the simple robotic arm server numbered 'Dummy' connected under this protocol during specific conditions, such as routine system self-checks. This could result in it executing a random item from its preset action list, with a probability of approximately 0.7%."
Artoria felt a stir in her heart. Dummy? Was that the clumsy little robot Tony often complained about, the one responsible for serving coffee?
"Could this vulnerability... be exploited to give a harmless but attention-grabbing 'reminder'?" Artoria stroked her chin, a hint of mischief flashing in her eyes. Tony had previously warned her about business risks; it was only fair she "returned the favor" by reminding him of his system vulnerabilities, and in a... memorable way.
"Theoretically, yes," little ai analyzed. "I can construct a specific data packet and, during the next routine scan of Stark Industries' low-priority subsystems, use the vulnerability gap to inject it. This would trigger Dummy to execute the 7th item on its action list: 'Add seasoning to mug (Default: Sugar)'. Additionally, through the protocol's return channel, I can write an encrypted message, disguised as a system self-check prompt, into the subsystem's log cache after the action is performed. The content can be customized."
"Interesting..." Artoria smiled and looked at Minerva. Minerva's optical sensor flickered, seemingly expressing understanding (or perhaps, silent approval?) of Artoria's "prank."
"little ai, prepare for execution. The message should read: 'A network security reminder from a Friendly Neighbor: Your coffee robot protocol has a leak, and the sugar jar is almost empty. Next time it might be chili sauce. Suggest patching. P.S. The vulnerability path is attached and encrypted; ask Jarvis for it.'" Artoria said. "Remember, absolute anonymity, absolute harmlessness, and a complete cleanup after execution."
"Understood. The task has been added to the queue and will be executed when the target system triggers the corresponding conditions."
Artoria could almost imagine Tony's expression when he found his coffee sickeningly sweet and then saw that prompt. It would definitely be amusing. This could be considered a unique, geek-style way of saying "thanks" and giving a "reminder."
One morning a few days later, while Artoria was discussing a new report on global anomalous energy fluctuations (a supplementary version of the S.H.I.E.L.D. briefings) compiled by little ai with Minerva, her private communicator suddenly vibrated frantically. It was Tony's encrypted line, and it was at the highest priority.
As soon as she picked up, Tony's voice practically roared out, with Pepper's helpless attempts to stop him and the clatter of something being knocked over in the background:
"Artoria! Was it you?! My coffee! This morning, that idiot Dummy poured at least half a pound of sugar into my cup! It was so sweet I almost thought Pepper had dismantled the lab's arc reactor to brew coffee for me! And that damn encrypted message! 'Friendly Neighbor'?! The vulnerability path was encrypted like some ancient tome; it took Jarvis thirty seconds to decrypt it! Thirty seconds! Do you know what that means?!"
Suppressing a laugh, Artoria said in an incredibly innocent tone, "Tony, what are you talking about? What coffee? What message? Did Jarvis recently upgrade his humor module?"
"Don't give me that!" Tony sounded exasperated, but Artoria could hear more shock and a sense of excitement at meeting a worthy opponent beneath the anger. "Jarvis analyzed the vulnerability path attached to that message, and it's completely correct! That was a logical backdoor I left when I was being lazy while writing Dummy's control protocol three years ago! I'd long forgotten it! To think that you... no, it must have been discovered by that new AI you cooked up, right? I knew it! You secretly built an AI! And it can even bypass Jarvis's First Floor perception!"
He took a breath, his voice lowering slightly but becoming more urgent: "Listen, you win this time. I'll concede on the coffee. But the encryption method for that vulnerability path... it's interesting. It's not conventional quantum encryption, nor is it a chaos algorithm. It's mixed with some... topological structures I've never seen before. Did you dig up some new ideas from that 'Magic Book' again? We need to talk! About AI, about network security, about... how to prevent my armor's autopilot system from suddenly deciding to play me a lullaby one day!"
Artoria finally laughed out loud. "Alright, Tony, it was me. Just a small reminder; it seems it had a good effect. We can talk about encryption and AI. As a consultant, I have a responsibility to help my clients... well, improve their network security awareness, especially when the client's coffee robot might be used to deploy biochemical weapons (sugar)."
Tony's grumbling and Pepper's finally uncontrollable light laughter came from the other end of the line.
"Fine, Miss Consultant, you win this round," Tony finally said, his tone returning to its usual banter but with a hint of seriousness. "Set up a time as soon as possible; we need to have a good 'chat.' About your 'Little Ai Classmate,' and... maybe we can consider a bit of 'limited technical sharing and joint defense' in certain areas? After all, the World is getting more and more crowded. Having a few more smart 'brains' looking out for each other isn't a bad thing."
"Agreed, Mr. Stark," Artoria smiled.
After hanging up, silence returned to the study. Minerva walked to the window, looking out at the sea under the sunlight. little ai's core cube emitted a steady glow on the desk.
Artoria walked to Minerva's side and stood with her. The business empire was growing steadily, a new AI butler had been born and shown amazing potential, and her relationship with allies like Tony had become closer and more interesting through this unique "confrontation." Most importantly, Minerva was by her side, peaceful and steadfast.
"Everything is getting better, isn't it, Minerva?" she said softly.
Minerva didn't answer immediately; she just reached out and gently took Artoria's hand. Her palm was warm and steady.
"Yes," she replied simply, the blue sea and sky reflected in her optical sensors, along with the smiling profile of the person beside her.
A new chapter was slowly unfolding in their hands.
The laboratory on the top floor of Stark Tower was less a lab and more a temple of technology. In the soaring space, various models of Iron Man armor were displayed on open platforms like medieval knights' armor. Mechanical arms slid silently along overhead tracks, and holographic projection screens floated everywhere, displaying molecular structures, fluid dynamics simulations, and energy flow maps complex enough to make one dizzy. The air was thick with the scent of high-grade lubricant, ozone, and caffeine.
When Artoria stepped in, accompanied by Minerva, Tony was standing before a magnified, constantly rotating holographic projection of a Palladium atom structure, his brow furrowed. He was holding a half-eaten energy bar. Seeing Artoria enter, he casually tossed the energy bar to the Dummy robot sliding by (the latter caught it precisely, then "accidentally" dropped it into the trash can).
"You're here? Find a place to sit. Pepper said there's some new... organic herbal tea she bought over by the sofa. It tastes terrible, but she says it's good for the skin." Without looking back, Tony made a gesture toward the holographic projection. It immediately switched to a complex energy core cross-section, with a blue light representing the arc reactor flashing in the center, surrounded by many red ripples symbolizing energy dissipation and efficiency loss.
"Tony," Artoria walked to his side, while Minerva stopped near the lab entrance like a Shadow, relaxed but with her sensors quickly scanning every corner of the environment. "It looks like you've run into some trouble."
"Trouble? No, just a small 'technical bottleneck' that might kill me." Tony pointed at the red ripples, speaking quickly. "Marks 1 through 3 all use a miniaturized version based on this thing in my chest. The efficiency is okay, but the power output and endurance have reached their limits. Especially the Palladium depletion and toxicity accumulation issues during the energy conversion process..." He pulled his shirt collar open slightly, pointing to the smooth skin of his chest—there was nothing there now, only healthy skin. "Well, that's not a problem for now, but it is for the armor. I've tried all known stable isotopes and alloy formulas, but none can suppress Palladium loss and toxic byproducts below a safe threshold while maintaining energy density. Simply put, either there's not enough power and I fall out of the sky after ten minutes, or if I fly for too long, the armor and I might both be 'poisoned' to death."
He turned around, his caramel-colored eyes looking at Artoria, devoid of his usual playfulness and filled only with a researcher's focus and a faint, hard-to-detect trace of fatigue. "I remember you mentioned some... well, non-mainstream energy theories. Your 'Honkai Energy Negative Entropy' idea helped me solve the buffering problem. So, Miss Consultant, have you seen any interesting footnotes regarding this 'toxic energy core' puzzle in your 'Magic Book'?"
Artoria didn't answer immediately. She walked to another vacant holographic console and gestured for Tony to authorize access. Tony snapped his fingers, and Jarvis's voice rang out: "Access has been temporarily granted to Miss Artoria; the interface is ready."
Artoria's fingers tapped rapidly on the holographic keyboard, calling up the Stark Industries materials database and some public cutting-edge papers on nuclear physics. Simultaneously, she sank part of her consciousness into the system, quickly retrieving cross-World knowledge fragments and vague "plot" memories related to "clean and efficient fusion energy," "element stability and transmutation," and "new elements in the Marvel Universe."
A few minutes later, she stopped and looked up at Tony.
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