Saving The Amazing Spider-Man

The Art of Teaching an A.I. to Lie

"Peter, Mr. Stark has set your curfew to 10 pm on school nights. If you do not return home I will be forced to contact him." Karen's A.I. voice sounded through the Spider-Man mask. 

Peter had been out on patrol since he got home from school at two-thirty, stopping petty theft, and helping the nice lady who lives across the hall from Peter carry in groceries. Everything an "on the ground" superhero would do. As Tony Stark would say. 

"C'mon Karen, it's a weekend, I don't have school tomorrow!" Peter pleaded.

"I am sorry Peter, I am just following my programmed baby monitor protocol."

Peter huffed in frustration. The streets were empty around queens- or as quiet as New York can be- 

"Just five more minutes, please?" Peter begged. 

"You have asked for five more minutes for the last two hours, unfortunately, I will be forced to Contact Mr. Stark soon."

"Has it been that long?" He mumbled to himself.

"Respectfully Mr. Parker, you do not have the best reputation with time management." Karen almost sounded tired of Peter's antics. If an A.I. could show emotion, that is. 

Peter blew air through his nose, crossing his arms, "that is not true! I am always on time!"

"The data says you are late to more than sixty percent of your Avengers meetings and school classes, and over ninety percent late for your curfew on weekends. Would you like me to pull up the detailed analytics?"

Peter waved his hand in front of his face as if to clear the data showing up in the lenses, "no, no- and don't let Mr. Stark see that."

"Mr. Stark has access to all your suit and stark watch data."

"Of course he does," Peter rolled his eyes, "can we clear that?"

"That is against my protocol."

I've got to figure out how to fix that, Peter thought to himself so that Karen wouldn't hear. 

It was cold in New York tonight, especially for summer. There was a small bone-chilling breeze running through the alleyway, making the night feel considerably darker for a bright and bustling city. 

Peter supposed it wouldn't hurt to head home and get to bed. Even though it was a weekend he still had mounds of homework, and May could be back from her shift at the hospital and realize he never returned home. 

Just as Peter was ready to swing home he got an alert on the HUD from Karen about a bank alarm being set off down the road. 

"Peter, it is not advised that you respond to the alert your curfew is-"

"Five more minutes- for real this time! Only five more." Peter cut Karen off already on his way towards the bank

"Five more minutes then my protocol will automatically contact, boss."

A red countdown appeared in the corner of Peter's vision displaying the five-minute timer.

"Thanks, Karen!"

"You are welcome, Peter."

Peter swung over to the coordinates that Karen displayed on his HUD landing in front of a bank that appeared to have been blasted into. 

Peter swung in through the broken glass landing on a few shards alerting the criminal. 

He was tall and much bigger than Peter in a trench coat and big boots holding a bag of money over his shoulder like Santa's sack of presents. That was when Peter noticed the large gun in his hand that was glowing a bright lavender color.