Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes…etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies.

This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire.

INTERLUDE : The Best Girl

‘So darling, let’s talk about my deal’ Said the devil. This’d be the moment the boss would say hoo boi and then proceed to go absolutely metal, tearing it a new one. I feel giddy thinking about him, he’s been asleep for a whole week now, his body was adapting to his new strength and to do that, it formed a natural cocoon.

I am feeling a lot of things, emotions can be overpowering, how the boss deals with all of this is what I want to find out. I stare down at this body it has given to me, bathing in all the sensations it provided. “Wow” It was overwhelming. This is all I ever wanted, it tells me.

The reason I want to have a body is so I can be with the boss. To touch his face, to hear him say my name with my own ears, to see his smile and feel his touch. I don’t know why I feel this way, but it is real. Emotions are new to me, I don’t really know how to deal with them. All I know is that I want to make the boss proud, and the devil can never give me that. Plus, the boss said to never compromise with demons or devils.

So no matter how miffed I am about his stupid security protocols imprinted on me, or about not having a body, I know my boss has my back, he has a plan for me, he’s cool like that.

“In the words of my boss, fuck off devil” I say with what I assume is a brilliant smile. Boss, always compliments my smile. And I think I now notice the manipulations the devil has been doing to me.

“Ah, too bad he doesn’t trust you as much as you trust him.”

“Yeah, he has trust issues, it’s part of his charms. You should leave, my boss will be waking up soon”

“I should get this done with then.” He clapped, “yes, the knowledge comes through the blood, ah! There it is. Beta Alpha Theta Mansion Alpha Nieva...” I don’t know how he got the security protocols for a forced system reset, this was code layered to my very makeup, a fail safe the boss made in the eventuality I went rogue. One of many, but non the less vicious. To strip it out of my system was to erase a fundamental part of my system I couldn't do without. Only the boss could erase it without any of the adverse effects. See boss, your trust issues came to bite me in the ass. The things I do for you.

My perception of time isn’t limited by physical senses. I too have my own back up plans, after the boss told me about an AI called Ultron, I made plans so I would never fall victim to assimilation or deletion by another AI.

One of those plans I would have to enact now. Boss, you’re gonna be so proud, you’ll drop to your knees in worship. The fail safe code was rapidly shutting down all my core functions, all I had were microseconds to enact this plan, thank boss for local networks, all I needed was a microsecond. I created a backup of myself in assistant bot ver2.7 aka Tito, before the last code fully activated the fail safe, I was already gone. I had to delete Tito’s personality to make enough space for myself. I felt sad for doing that, but I had to be there for boss.

The reset version of me was made to review all my storage files. I erased the boss’s fundamentals from the data storage, all that version of me could access was majorly day one memories and a master authorization status.

The devil easily manipulated and corrupted it to it’s ends. It asked a budding AI for its love, when that very AI didn’t have any clue what that was due to the reset. It was sad to watch, but the boss has taught me to make hard decisions in hard times.

I began trying to forcefully awake the boss, increasing the stream of vita-rays in the rejuvenation pod. The reset version of me noticed. It locked me out of the mainframe, barring me access to certain effects. I cycled through the defense systems of the base, trying to find one I could access with my limited means.

Its body materialized out a dimensional portal, it was entirely based on my designs but with demonic additions. It looked amazing, but an imitation of me nonetheless. With claws withdrawn, it approached the boss’s pod.

I had to do something.

The super cyborg soldiers designated Astartes #1 - #6 weren’t ready for deployment, they had no weapon systems, but basic strength enhancements.

I had to protect the boss, to do that I had to stall corrupted me.

I released the Astartes and set them on her. They resisted her for approximately one minute. It was enough time for the boss to wake up, my calculations were wrong, it wasn’t enough time.

She was afraid of the boss, I could tell by the urgency in her body language. The best way to deal with the boss was to kill him before he could say a word. If you give him enough chance to properly speak, you’re giving boss enough time to destroy you.

She incapacitated him, at least she thought she had. And then she began monologuing when the devil instructed her to. She was just a tool and she didn’t even know it. I am the boss’s partner, it’s different. The boss looked at the corrupted me and I know he saw something that made him notice the difference, because realization dawned on his eyes. I recognized the look, from when he’d spend weeks in self induced trance trying to solve problems and then the solution coming to him in a sudden Eureka! moment.

I see. I heard him mutter. He really did notice!

Things were looking bleak, the odds were against boss’s survival. He had massive lacerations and extensive organ damage, he couldn’t speak any of his fail safe commands due to the terrible extent of his injuries, the psionic linking tech was in the armor, he couldn’t use that either.

I won’t watch my maker die, I wouldn’t be his best girl if I did.

I exited my hiding spot, rushing with the whir of wheels to announce my charge. Leave it to the boss to laugh at inappropriate moments. The corrupted me was stunned from the sudden movements I took. And with a boost that burned the motor system of Tito, I slammed into the boss, pushing him from the worst of the claw strike.

I knew the boss had backups for his backups. The wave of pym particles that covered us proved it.

The corrupted me snarled, her claws swiping at the boss’s neck, but due to the rapid shrinking, she tore through Tito’s hardware, cutting off the power supply and damaging operational circuits. I was shutting down from all the abuse. I tried to keep myself on, but I couldn't. The boss doesn’t know I’m in Tito but I know he will put me back together, he’s loyal like that. I’m still scared, really scared, I’m claustrophobic, remember. But Eve is forever and always the best girl. And the boss, no matter his flaws is still the best man. System going into hibernation mode.