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“You’re all very good,” Margaret said kindly. She held up a palm and the vines behind Priya slowed. “I’m still working out some bugs. But I just want you to listen. Let me explain. Please.”
“We’re good, actually.” Ying sprinted forward and leapt off the ground, swinging her thighs around Margaret’s neck. In the next breath, Margaret was gone, shrunk to nothing. Ying’s momentum carried her right into a wall. She was back on her feet in an instant.
Nadia felt someone grab her arms from behind. She struggled, but Margaret was strong and fast. She’d caught Nadia off guard, but Nadia held her arm firmly in place, keeping Margaret from shrinking again.
“Server room, now!” Nadia yelled at her friends. Priya grabbed her pots and bolted for the spiral staircase, Ying steps in front of her. As Priya sealed off the top of the stairs with vines, Nadia called after them. “Destroy VERA—I’ve got Margaret!” She saw the last of the light from below disappear as the plants locked Nadia into the planetarium.
“Please, just listen,” repeated Margaret. Nadia fired a Wasp’s Sting at the ground between them and used the momentum to fly to the other side of the room.
“You used me!” Nadia yelled back, hovering in the air directly in front of Pisces.
“I need you!” Margaret countered, swinging her hands in front of her. Plants shot up across the room, gunning for Nadia, who made a mental note to get to the bottom of how she was able to replicate Priya’s powers.
Nadia dodged, shooting a plant with a Wasp’s Sting and shrinking to avoid another. She ran across its surface, jumping off and grabbing it to swing her legs forward like a gymnast on the parallel bars. As she launched herself off the vine, she popped back to normal size, using her speed and momentum to hurl herself toward Margaret. Her foot connected with Margaret’s chin, upending her.
Margaret caught herself on her wings in midair and fired off two Stings toward Nadia, who easily danced away from them both. “I need you, Nadia,” Margaret repeated. “I need you to understand.”
“I understand you stole my work and you’re brainwashing people!” Nadia was livid, and time was running out. She hoped Ying and Priya were well on their way to the server room by now. Dodging another Sting, Nadia zoomed down in size, ducking behind a chair to hide.
Here she was, staring down a giant piece of chewed gum, trying to figure out how her mentor could possibly be responsible for turning her AI evil.
Nadia launched herself into the air and up toward the ceiling. She came to perch on the edge of the planetarium’s dome, slowly moving toward the floor. Nadia wanted to take Margaret out. To launch herself across the room and down and place a punch right at the base of her neck and leave her to S.H.I.E.L.D.
But even more than that, she wanted to understand. Nadia wanted to see the best in people, always. But she wasn’t a fool. She couldn’t believe that she’d been so wrong about this woman. She didn’t want to believe it. She—
“Nadia, wait.” She had forgotten that Margaret could also shrink, thereby eliminating her slow-down-time advantage entirely. From the air, Margaret landed gently on the dome with her hands raised. “I want to explain.”
Nadia raised a fist, ready to blast Margaret with a Sting. Margaret raised her fist, too. A giant vine slid up across the dome and between the two of them.
She was overpowered. And, more than that, she wanted to know.
Nadia dropped her hand. “Fine. Tell me.”
“You know VERA has the potential to change the world. You know—”
“Spare me the marketing.” Nadia crossed her arms.
“Fine,” Margaret said bluntly. She dropped her fist. “HoffTech was running out of money. I had the vision for VERA; I knew how important she was. But my father cut me off. He didn’t see the potential. First Hank; then my own father. I turned to venture capital, but they started making demands—demands I wasn’t comfortable with. I had to find a way to keep this place afloat. It was my life.”
Nadia counted the exits around her. The vines blocked her escape to the right, but to the left she was free. She could be out of here on her wings in moments. She shifted her stance and continued to listen.
Margaret stepped toward the vine, resting her palms on it and leaning toward Nadia. She spoke quieter. “We had advertisers. Sponsors. The more people buy their products, the more kickback we get. A few small…suggestions…never hurt. Subliminal messaging really only works on people who are already thinking about doing the thing in the message. Didn’t you love your white tennis shoes?”
Nadia gritted her teeth. She did love those shoes. They looked so fresh.
“Free will is not a toy,” Nadia said through her teeth. “You don’t get to mess with people’s brains because you need money.”
“It was harmless!” Margaret pushed back off the vine, throwing her hands in the air. “No one was hurt.”
“And Crédit France?”
“A glitch.” Margaret shook her head, pacing back and forth behind the vine. “Not our code.”
“And Times Square?”
“A bug!”
“And the countdown?”
