Age: 17
Word count: 1752
A/N: This is a text I wrote for English class and I featured Alena in it so I thought I'd let you read it. Have fun with it :)
Summary: Alena gets gifted an AI in a necklace, oblivious to what's about to happen.
Part 1 – Mysterious necklace
When Alena woke up someday in the year 2050, she found a tiny box on her bedside table.
To be completely honest, she didn’t think much of it.
The 17 year old redhead now ran her hands over her face in attempt to wake up.
,,Stupid school. Should be a crime to have to go on your birthday”
she muttered bitterly.
Alena was in 11th grade at her local high school in Queens.
Though she enjoyed some of her subjects, the process of getting up in the morning was always a struggle.
The redhead now paid attention to the box on her night stand. It was tiny and velvet, almost like a box you’d get at a jewellery store.
She frowned.
Who would give her jewellery?
,,Mama? Did you put that box on my bedside table?”
she shouted through the apartment.
,,No мало света (little light), what box?”
her mother shouted back.
,,Never mind then”
the redhead answered, before she turned her gaze towards the box in her hands.
For some reason, her hands were trembling when she opened it.
When she saw its content, her brows furrowed and a frown formed on her face.
,,A necklace? The hell am I supposed to do with a necklace?”
she mumbled to herself as she picked the delicate pearl necklace up.
Carefully, she examined it.
,,At least its pretty”
Alena shrugged before putting it on.
Nothing happened, at least that’s what the redhead thought.
Suddenly, a voice rang through her head.
,,Good morning miss Romanoff-Rogers. I am STRANGER, your personal AI”
a British, Female voice introduced.
Alena’s jaw dropped.
She thought technology wasn’t that advanced yet.
Turns out, she was wrong.
,,And what can you do, STRANGER?”
She asked carefully, her hand clutching the peal of her necklace.
,,Well I can tell you the nutritional value of your food. Or I can tell you the true intentions of the people nearest to you”
the AI listed, her voice robotic but friendly.
Alena frowned sceptically.
She wasn’t one to trust easily, considering her Mom’s backstory.
,,Tell me something about my parents then”
she asked of the AI, confident that it wouldn’t be able to.
,,Your Mother is Natalia Alianovna Romanova now known as Natasha Romanoff, a SHIELD agent, former assassin and part of an initiative called the Avengers. Your father is Steven Grant Rogers also known as Captain America. He works for Nicolas Joseph Fury as an Avenger as well”
STRANGER informed.
Though Alena’s sceptic expression kinda faded, she wasn’t completely convinced ... yet.
,,Okay ... tell me anything you can find on me”,
she commanded, her eyebrow raised.
,,Of course. You are Alena Lubov Romanoff-Rogers. Your father calls you little light and your mother ‘мало света’, which translates to ‘little light’. You are of Russian-American descent, you are redheaded and have blue eyes, you attend Midtown High in Queens. Your best friend is Peter Parker who is also known as Spider-Man. The both of you are part of the young avengers programme-“
the AI listed, before Alena cut across it.
,,Okay enough. So, you are an AI, like JARVIS. But why are you here, why do I get a personal AI? Who sent you?”
she inquired while getting ready.
She still had to go to school, so she had to multitask.
,,My creator does not wish for you to know. I am not programmed to tell you”
STRANGER informed.
The redheaded girl frowned once more.
,,Okay? STRANGER how do I look?”
she asked, yet again testing the AI.
,,You look lovely, Miss Romanoff-Rogers”
STRANGER complimented cheerily.
,,Thanks”
Alena smiled.
10 minutes later, she finally found her way to the kitchen.
Her Mom and Dad already stood at the isle, sipping their coffees and conversing.
,,Hey мало света, how did you sleep?”
her mom greeted her before pressing a kiss to her temple.
,,I slept well, how bout you, Mama? Anything new on the Ultron issue?”
she responded as she embraced her mom.
,,Nope, not yet. Stay out of trouble, Okay. Let the adults handle it for once”
Natasha asked of her daughter, a stern expression lingering in her eyes.
Alena frowned.
She wasn’t planning on going after a killer robot, but she didn’t like to be told what to do.
,,Light, listen to your Mom. Even Tony can’t defeat him as of now”
her dad backed her mother up.
,,I know, I know. Wasn’t planning on going after the threat of destroying all of us”
the younger redhead assured.
Her parents shared a look.
They knew that their daughter was far to adventurous to leave the issue be, but as of now, they hoped that Alena meant her promise.
So, the 17 year old skipped off to school, unaware of her fate.
Part 2 – Intrusive thoughts
An AI can be friendly, that’s for sure.
Unlucky for Alena, hers wasn’t.
The problem was, she didn’t realise it until it was too late.
Over the span of the next two months, the redhead experienced strange thoughts.
They didn’t feel like they were her own, she didn’t feel like herself at all, if she was honest.
Thoughts like; torture them and eliminate humanity sometimes took over, making her commit horrible things by night.
The thing was, she couldn’t control it.
She didn’t know where it was coming from.
Whenever she fell into that trance, she was hardly ever able to snap out of if.
Another important thing that happened in the span of the two months was, that STRANGER became Alena’s go to conversing partner.
She had grown fond of the AI, leaving her scepticism behind.
Bad decision, because little did she know that the AI was the one causing her trance and thoughts.
One day, she finally confided in someone about her strange behaviour and her trance.
Peter.
Her best friend since they were six.
The two teens sat in Alena’s room, comfortable silence lingering in the air.
,,Peter, I need to tell you something”
the redhead finally broke it, fiddling with her AI necklace.
Peter looked up in concern.
,,So, it started when I got my necklace. I kinda have an AI in it, almost like JARVIS but different. Only I can hear her. Her name is STRANGER. Uhm, I started having thoughts .... thoughts that I wouldn’t dare think before. Like .... like eliminate humanity or torture them. I-I don’t know why, but I fall into a trance sometimes. Its like I can’t control my body, its like my mind isn’t mine anymore”
she explained, the desperation in her voice was prominent.
Peter seemed to ponder for a moment.
,,I think it’s the AI taking over your mind. Where did you get it anyway?”,
he then concluded, worry lingering in his eyes.
Alena shrugged.
,,I found it on my bedside table one morning and didn’t think anything of it. She seemed friendly and very informative. But now that I think about it, it is kinda strange that she just showed up one day. Do you think its got anything to do with Ultron?”
she pondered, her brows furrowed.
,,Have you told your Mom or dad, or Mister Stark about it?”
Peter inquired.
The redhead shook her head no.
Suddenly, Alena’s eyes went unfocused, as if her soul just left her body.
Kill him! A voice inside her head ordered.
,,Uhh, Alena? What’s wrong? Miss Romanoff, Alena is possessed”
Peter panicked, slowly backing away from his best friend.
Eliminate humanity the voice in Alena’s head demanded.
She couldn’t snap out of it, her body wasn’t hers anymore.
Natasha burst into the room just seconds later, but Alena was gone, her window wide open.
A panicking Peter was all that was left in the room.
Part 3 – Evil AI
Alena woke up in the woods.
She was all alone.
The last thing she remembered was jumping out of a window, before her mind completely shut down.
Instinctively, she clutched the pearl of her necklace.
,,Who are you, STRANGER?”
she asked her AI.
Silence.
,,Must destroy humanity”
the AI finally answered, her voice distorted and threatening.
Alena struggled to resist the AI’s attempt to take over.
In vane, she tried ripping off her necklace.
,,You’re not ... taking over ... me ... again”
she blurted out in an attempt to stay strong.
,,You’re weak, Romanoff-Rogers”
the AI spoke, still in the same distorted voice.
,,No”
Alena replied, her teeth gritted and her hands ripping at the necklace.
The redhead felt that she wasn’t gonna be able to hold up much longer.
She felt herself slipping in and out of her own body.
,,MAMAAA”
she yelled, desperate for her mom or anyone to hear her.
The 17 year old knew that she would come searching, she just hoped that her mom was clever enough to come looking for her here.
,,You cannot win, Romanoff-Rogers. Must destroy humanity”
STRANGER pestered.
Alena knew if she gave up, she’d become a mindless puppet of the AI.
The redhead screamed, refusing to let STRANGER take control of her.
She felt like her head was about to explode.
To her luck though, she was incredibly stubborn and managed to stay conscious for long enough to finally rip off the necklace from her neck.
As soon as she did, an immense pressure fell off of her.
Panting, Alena examined the necklace, which was furiously swinging in her hand.
The redhead glared at it. She couldn’t believe that technology was capable of taking over a humans mind and body.
In a fit of anger, she ripped the necklace apart, making the swinging stop.
Now it just looked like an ordinary broken necklace.
Alena never wanted anyone to ever find it, so she dug a tiny hole and threw the broken AI necklace into it, before throwing dirt onto it, making it hidden from human eyes.
Even months after, the killer AI was still in Alena’s dreams, sometimes she’d even wake up, drenched in her own sweat. It would take her a long time to trust technology ever again.
A/N 2.0: Hope you had fun with this one. This is not part of Alena's story and very far fetched but anyways.
Stay amazing, beautiful people and see you around, bye <3