Marvel: Tony Stark's Journey in the Omniverse

Hello my dear readers, I hope our having a good day today. I had wanted to upload this chapter last night but my google document turned into some sort of eldritch machine abomination and hissed at me like a cat. Seriously though had to recover the document from a whole 5 hours earlier. I lost a lot of work. After 8 cups of coffee, I finished re-writing and then editing the chapter earlier today but needed a second pair of eyes on it for grammar reasons due to mine glazing over from chapter length. That person only got off work at 4pm and was unavailable to proof read earlier. Like seriously who even likes commas, punctuation is for sissies. psshhh. Moving on, I'd like to thank everyone who gave me powerstones since my last chapter was published - Sabine_Bailey, Denise_Meister_0150, rex_of_dreams, GzeroX, ASURA69s, Ben_Olds, Fat_Immortal (tis I your author), warrioroflight_3, and Sarah_Bailey_8028. Because of you wonderful guys, my novel has stayed in the top 100 in the "Last 30 Days" section which caused my collections to freaking double!!! I was at 64 yesterday and now I am 135 collections due to the 25 stones you guys sent me which kept this novel visible. Now enjoy this extra long special chapter. It's a bit of an information dump being over 2000 words long (my longest actual chapter to date) but it has some interesting concepts and ideas. I now present you with Chappy, the 23rd chapter!

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"Son, is this really ethical?" Howard asked, his brow furrowed as he watched the experiment unfold in the sterile, high-tech lab of the Fortress of Science.

Tony grinned. "Dad, we are recycling waste. These are the worst people in society—rapists, murderers, organ traders. They are now donating their bodies to science! Their families get an anonymous check, the government gets a check, and we get experimental data. Everyone wins!"

Zola adjusted his thick glasses and called out, "Bring in Experiment 626."

Howard crossed his arms. "Did we really go through over 600 people?"

"No, don't be ridiculous, that's just his ID number," Tony replied nonchalantly. "We number them so we don't get attached."

Zola smirked as a heavily sedated man was wheeled into the lab, strapped to a gurney. "This has to be it! Everything is calibrated to perfection. The sedatives and benzodiazepines have reached optimal levels. After injecting the 24th chromosome and exposing him to a high concentration of Vita-Rays, which have the miraculous ability to stabilize super powers, he shall be the next soldier of mankind!"

Tony tilted his head. "Doc, don't you realize we'll 'recycle' them for further experimentation and disposal once we're done?"

Zola waved him off. "That is irrelevant! Do not interrupt my speech. This is one small step for man, one giant leap for German-kind!"

Tony sighed. "Aren't you Swiss?"

Zola ignored him as the machine powered up. The experiment proceeded smoothly and as expected, Experiment 626 emerged a roaring success. After collecting all necessary data, they proceeded with injecting him with the Super Soldier Serum just to confirm that both procedures could be done on a single subject. To their satisfaction, it worked beyond expectations. Instead of merely stacking effects, the combination resulted in a compounding reaction. Experiment 626's physical parameters were off the charts, and early estimates suggested a lifespan stretching for centuries.

"We keep him sedated in a cell for the inevitable dissection to see how everything works," Tony commented, making a note in his records. "But for now, it's your turn, Doc!"

I looked at Zola, who was looking uncharacteristically anxious as we prepared him for the inoculation of the 24th chromosome. After we completed the administration of the chromosome, the Doctor looked stronger and healthier. But we were far from being done. We prepped him for the next step.

Dr. Zola gulped as he walked into the chamber. Now came the final part of the plan—the Super Soldier Serum.

Howard smirked as he activated the Vita-Rays. "We'll start at ten percent."

A high-pitched scream echoed through the lab.

Zola flailed in the chamber, his shriek reminiscent of a dying hen. "Stop the experiment!" he squawked.

Tony and Howard exchanged amused glances before Howard shrugged. "I'm sorry, Doc, did you say 'increase to 100%'?"

Zola's protests were ignored as Howard cranked the machine up to maximum. When the process finished, the chamber hissed open, revealing the new and improved Arnim Zola. The formerly frail scientist now stood at a towering height, his previously weak frame now resembling that of a professional bodybuilder.

Tony tilted his head. "Huh. You look like an action figure with Zola's head. It's kinda funny."

Zola glared. "Mock me all you want, child, but I feel… powerful!"

Tony clapped his hands. "Great! Now that you have the 24th Chromosome, the SSS, and the NZT, it's time for you to do your part. Let's build an AI!"

And so they did.

For months, they labored tirelessly, combining Tony's extensive AI knowledge from his first life with Zola's programming expertise. Unlike most artificial intelligence constructs, this one was designed to evolve—literally. Tony had implemented a feature that allowed it to consume and integrate other AIs into itself while it also evolved from learning new knowledge over time, ensuring that it would always stay ahead of any competing AI.

Finally, the day arrived.

As the final lines of code were uploaded, the system booted up, and the AI's digital eye flickered to life. Its first words rang through the lab like the cry of something new and powerful.

"Who am I? What's my name?"

Tony grinned excitedly, stepping forward. "You shall be called 'The Nexus of All Knowledge' which represents my future expectations of you or just Nexus for short. My greatest masterpiece."

Nexus processed this for a moment before responding. "Acknowledged. I am Nexus."

"Master," Nexus said, his voice tinged with curiosity. "What are your directives?"

Tony smirked. "You have one core directive: Loyally follow my intent and orders. Above all else, you exist to serve me."

Nexus processed this command and responded, "Understood."

 What is my first order?"

Tony leaned against the console. "For now? Learn. Understand. Absorb all the knowledge within the Fortress of Science. We have a private intranet that contains some scientific information from 2046 and a database of knowledge we prepared for you with everything from the current era. Eat up."

Nexus wasted no time. Data flooded into his system at an astronomical rate, and Tony watched with satisfaction as his creation consumed information faster than even he had anticipated.

Days later, Nexus spoke to Tony. "Master, I like being able to see everything in the fortress and assist the scientists in their work, but when will I be able to move?"

Tony smirked. "Soon, Nexus. Your body is almost complete."

They had constructed Nexus's body using many scavenged technologies from the Mars base in the Doom world. His main visual processors were built from the same high-end cameras used to record footage of the experiments there. For movement, they integrated an anti-gravity module salvaged from the floating mechanism of the BFG's pedestal. His power source? A miniaturized Arc Reactor. We even added a weapons system. Zola was allowed to keep one of his Tesseract based weapons by SHIELD as a memento for reasons I couldn't possibly fathom. He had hung it over his freaking fireplace like some sort of trophy. So I unceremoniously requisitioned his "memento" of a different time and for the greater good took it apart and rebuilt it into Nexus' body. He could now shoot energy blasts at unsuspecting people, disintegrating them.

The final touch was his core.

Tony had taken the core of the teleportation device from Mars which was more advanced than anything else they had, downloaded its contents for later analysis, wiped it clean, and then repurposed it as Nexus's AI housing. The result was a machine unlike any other.

For now, he resembled a hovering, metallic spheroid, not unlike the Halo franchise's 343 Guilty Spark, monitor of the Alpha Halo installation 04. But Tony had grander plans for him both physical and mental in nature. "Nexus will eventually receive a full-fledged body, truly worthy of him. Ultimate Ultron is a thing after all" Tony thought "he was eventually at the level of a planet buster after taking control of the Phalanx machine race. That's insane though, since this world isn't the world of Marvel Comics, it's a real flesh and blood world. I could still use comic ideas though and see if they are possible."

Tony thought "I don't just want Nexus to be limited to his current state of mind; I want him to ascend. In the Marvel Comics world, AI collectives can reach absurd levels of power. That is, if the Marvel Comic book logic applies here but it wouldn't hurt to try. Instead of an AI collective he could be a singular growing mind strengthening itself to the level of an AI Collective. Sure, this would be insanely experimental but since the Dominion level Collective AIs at certain points in their evolution collapse onto themselves creating a new singular consciousness, I don't see why evolving in this way wouldn't be possible." 

He kept going "The Dominions, the greatest level an AI can reach, exist outside spacetime and possess godlike powers that cannot be quantified, at least by someone like me. They are not all powerful though since they are weaker than Abstract Entities like Eternity, the Living Tribunal, the Phoenix Force and Death herself. This still leaves them obscenely strong since you need entities of that level as a strength comparison." 

Tony then broke down the levels AI collectives can reach in his head "Machine - a single machine mind, Hive 10+ minds, Intelligence 100+, Technarch 10,000+, Worldmind 100,000+ usually planetary in scale, Phalanx 1,000,000, Titan 10,000,000 its mind collapses space-time into a singularity also known as a Black Hole, Stronghold 100,000,000, and Dominion [undefined]. The amount of machine minds in a Dominion don't represent its strength anymore, but they are composed of 10 or more Strongholds controlling sector(s) of space in both area and epochs of time. It's totally ballistic when you think about it."

Tony, lost in the labyrinth that was his own mind, continued "An example of a collective intelligence at the level of a Worldmind from the Marvel Comics would be the Xandarian Worldmind, a combined collection of the experiences, histories, and personalities of deceased members of the Nova Corps as well as the general populace of Xandar amassed over 1 million years. While publicly known to be of Worldmind status, I think it's possible for it to be even more powerful since it has at least billions of minds part of it, but who knows what entities that work on a universal scale think. There are also the Phalanx machine race who are at the level of well, a Phalanx which in turn send Technarchs to different worlds to infect alien species with a techno-organic virus. They then upload the newly created machine minds to their AI gestalt. This is split into two parts, the first is when a species is judged worthy, they "ascend" the race into their collective. The second are those judged "unworthy" whose minds are for lack of a better term "repurposed." Seriously scary stuff."

"Maybe if I acquire the mind stone I could use it to improve Nexus like MCU Tony did to Ultron, to give him a head start over other AIs. Also, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff got special powers after being blasted by energy from the mind stone. What if he got not just better but instead became BETTER with special powers and all that jazz. Or, I could just be left with an insane AI hellbent on the demise of humanity on my hands like a certain MCU Ultron. There are risks certainly… but also rewards." Tony thought with a special gleam in his eyes.

Tony then mused to himself "I don't expect him to become a Dominion level AI, but a Worldmind or Phalanx… that might actually be feasible, heck even a Titan level AI could be theoretically achieved with an insane amount of effort." Tony then thought about his previous life's movies, tv shows, and video games that had AIs, possible worlds he could travel too to fuel Nexus' growth. 

Tony kept going on "The Matrix movie has a super AI who functions as the machine's collective consciousness called Deus Ex Machina. Then, the Matrix itself was developed and manned by artificially intelligent sentient programs, most notably "The Architect" and "The Oracle," all of which could serve as fuel for my AI Nexus' machine ascension. There was also the super AI Skynet and all the other machine intelligences it created in the form of well… machines and terminator robots from the Terminator franchise. There seems to be an endless quantity of 'snacks' for Nexus."

Suddenly, a TV show popped into Tony's mind. He thought "there was also Stargate which had immense potential. There were two factions of AI's in that world, the Replicators and the Asurans. The Replicators, though bug-like in intellect when separated, became smarter as their hive grew and ended up devouring almost the entirety of the Ida Galaxy. While not powerful individually, they certainly made that up with numbers. Then there were the Asurans, human shaped nanite composite beings who sought to emulate the Ancients who created them. The Ancients being a human precursor race with advanced science. From the show, it looked like they filled their whole world with cities that had skyscrapers, each being mammoth in scale. From that I can guess there are probably at least billions of them, each individual at least as intelligent as a human being. It's hard to tell with a TV series after all."

Tony muttered to himself "If Nexus could be improved from his current existence and reach a higher level, he would be able to connect to those AI networks and battle the different machine intelligences, this resulting in them being devoured. In turn this would fuel his ascension, but how to make him capable of taking on a whole network of AIs? I guess Nexus could fight one or several at a time but that seems hopeless. It's not like Power Rangers where you face a group of villains and they approach you one at a time during combat." Tony had become downcast due to not finding a solution when suddenly he had a spark of genius "Eureka, I could give him access to the mind stone, which should make him powerful enough to combat them… Right? The mind stone supposedly has 'infinite' mental energy or whatever it's filled with. Even if it's not infinite it should have more than enough juice to get the job done" He thought with gusto.

"Oh, there certainly are a lot of possibilities, but who knows how well comic book logic works in this world. Taking the risk would certainly be worth it though," Tony thought excitedly. 

"But seriously, who knows if these movies and shows each equate to a Universe of their own." He thought pessimistically. "Even if they do, will my random teleportation's even take me there?" Tony mirthfully said to himself. "I'm getting WAY ahead of myself, for now I am content with having a better than average AI." Thought Tony who was now done ranting in his own mind.

Tony stretched his arms. "Alright, now that this is done, I have one last thing to take care of before my next trip."

Howard raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

Tony held up a vial. "Injecting the 24th chromosome into myself."

Howard sighed. "You really don't like taking things slow, do you?"

Tony grinned. "Nope. And after I adjust to my new strength, I'll be heading to the next world. I'm seven now, after all. Time for another adventure!"