Spy Games

Posted on Sat Apr 6th, 2024 @ 5:37pm by Charles Xavier & Mara Ricci

2,003 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 4: The Savage ConneXion
Location: X-Mansion
Timeline: September 2, 1990

That was strange.

In the silent hours where she had little to do but upgrade the mansion's network security, Mara's mind delved into the labyrinth of the school's digital stream. As her consciousness skimmed through the binary streams and data clusters, a peculiar anomaly caught her attention. Amidst the orderly flow of information, she detected an aberrant program. It was passively siphoning data from its unsuspecting counterparts. Its code, an unfamiliar weave of logic and intent, hinted at a nefarious purpose.

Mara's intuition whispered warnings of potential danger, a threat lurking within the shadows of the network. This was no mere glitch; it was an ingeniously crafted worm designed to infiltrate, observe, and possibly even sabotage. The gravity of her discovery weighed heavily on her, for it was imperative that Professor Xavier be informed without delay.

Professor Xavier was taking his morning tea in his office. There was much to do and not much time in which to do it. Worldwide communications were still disrupted while his X-Men were flung far and wide on different continents. Thankfully Mara was doing a stellar job keeping the mansion's computer network up and running, that unfortunately did not help with anyone else who didn't have a shielded network themselves.

A knock came at the door. Xavier could feel it was Mara. "Yes, Mara, please come."

Opening the door and quietly stepping inside, Mara gave the Professor a grim sort of smile. “I’ve… found something, Professor,” she said. “And I think you should see it.

Knowing that Mara was not one prone to flights of fancy, Charles nodded his head. "Very well. Please make yourself comfortable and tell me more."

“It’s… I don’t know exactly what it is,’ she told him as she chose a seat opposite his desk. “Well I do, but I don’t.” She shook her head. “Let me start again. It’s some sort of computer worm. It’s collecting information. The code is… it has a signature similar to the Mutant Response Division. But, it seems almost alive. I… I could show you, if you like.”

The Mutant Response Division having a worm inside their network was concerning, although redundant given their embedded spy of which Xavier was already aware. It was definitely a puzzle. After but a moment's consideration, Xavier nodded.

"Give me a moment to link with your mind," said Xavier. "Then you can show me directly."

Since she was a technopath and he was the world's preeminent telepath, there was no need for them to leave his office. He could ride her mind and allow her to show him exactly what the problem was. That way, he would have the benefit of seeing it directly from her perspective.

~I am with you~ Xavier said inside Mara's mind. ~Show me what you saw~

Usually, Mara preferred to look at a monitor while delving into the computer code, but it was really just a crutch. She was capable of doing everything from ten feet away or more. So now, she simply dove into the code without a net.

Code wasn’t as neat and orderly as it appeared on the screen. It was fragmented and disjointed and scattered. It swirled and dove and soared. It ebbed and flowed, grew and shrank, crescendoed and decrescendoed. And in the midst of it all was Mara. She swam through it and let it flow around her. She spotted an error, but only logged it for later repair. She had something else to look for now.

It appeared as a bright light against the code, winding and twisting its way in contrary motion to it. It stopped here and there, duplicated some of the code, and then moved on. ~There,~ she told the Professor. ~That’s the worm.~

The recursive nature of the source code that powered the Mansion's computer network defied conventional computer science. Xavier knew that but seeing it through conscious immersion was a whole new frontier. Something that appeared far more than just a recursive data cluster. It seemed almost...

~It's alive~ Xavier was aghast at the realization. ~Or at least it simulates a conscious thought process~ If it were sentient, which one of them would be able to communicate with it. Xavier decided to try first.

Prodding, probing, searching, Xavier pressed his consciousness against the unique code. There was no reaction. Whether that was good or bad was unknown.

~Have you tried interacting with it?~ Xavier asked Mara.

~I was afraid to beyond reading the code,~ she admitted. ~Shall I try?~

Professor Xavier only pondered the risk for a moment. It was worth seeing what this was. ~Do it but be careful~

And so, Mara attempted to ask it a question. The question was formed in 1s and 0s, but it amounted to ~what are you looking for?~

Immediately tendrils shot out from the code and attempted to seize Mara, though her presence in the network was more abstract than computational. Even so, the tendrils began to disrupt her connection.

~Mara! What's it doing?!~ Xavier's ability to monitor the worm was strictly through Mara's own perception, so he was clouded along with her.

~I think it’s searching me,~ she responded. ~It doesn’t hurt. It’s terrifying, but I think it’s just looking for information. It… it seems to think I’m a program.~

That made sense. Xavier wanted to know more. ~Can you trace where it's sending the data?~

~Let me try.~ And try she did. She followed the worm’s code outside the mansion, and through miles and miles of wires-

-to the strongest firewall she’d ever encountered. She tried coming at it from several angles, but found no holes or openings of any kind. So, slowly, she rode the code back to the mansion. ~It has to be government,~ she said. ~I can’t get through. I can’t even tell which government. It could be Latvia for all I know.~

~That's fine~ Xavier had been more curious than anything. ~Can you isolate it? Cage it in a feedback loop of redundant data it's already collected?~

~I’ll try,~ came the reply. She didn’t mind it gathering information from her as she didn’t know anything worth stealing. So, while it examined everything she knew, she decided to examine it. It was, in fact, easier than she had expected to tweak the code to make it report back to itself rather than wherever it had been reporting. Once that was done, she backed off and waited for it to get bored and leave.

~Done.~

In the meantime, she tried throwing memories at it; mostly of her friends at the mansion just goofing off. There was Bobby telling terrible jokes, Warren being moody, Hank and his obscure literary quotes, Jean mothering everyone. She didn’t know what it would find interesting given that she knew next to nothing, but that didn’t stop her from trying.

~Fantastic~ The Professor was uncertain as to whether that would hold or not, but he had little more than Mara's own expertise and intuition to guide his own in matters of recursive computer code that was astonishingly adaptive.

After separating from Mara's mind, the Professor returned to open verbal communication. "I appreciate your vigilance, Mara. I don't know what that was, but I have reason to suspect its provenance was not of this world. Let us hope it stays contained."

But then a bright thought occurred to him. "Earlier you mentioned a similarity the code held to that which is used by the Mutant Response Division. Are you familiar with the MRD database then?"

Mara felt herself blush slightly. “Yes,” she admitted. “I was looking for something else entirely and came across their system. I got out once I realized what it was. That’s a headache I don’t need.”

"One of the students here is in a predicament," Xavier said. "She is being extorted as a reluctant MRD informant with threats against her family. I have been reluctant myself to make a move because she reports to the highest office in the land. If I were to remove all memories of her from key individuals yet her family still remained on the MRD's radar, then it would be disastrous."

Having explained the matter, he posed his question. "Do you think you could remove files from the MRD database while I remove memories from corrupt officials? Proper timing is essential so that the removal of one aspect does not trigger an action from the other aspect."

“Probably,” replied Mara. “I accidentally broke in once; I don’t think getting in on purpose would be difficult.” Granted, she hadn’t tried deleting files the last time, but it couldn’t really be that much different, could it?

"We need to be certain about this," Xavier said with a grave tone. "A student's family hangs in the balance, perhaps the entire school if we are exposed in the attempt." He looked at her with a solemn expression. "How soon would you need to prepare?"

Mara considered this carefully. She still knew where to find the computer in question- avoiding it had burned its location into her brain- and she remembered the back door password she had stumbled on. The only question remained was would that password still be valid? “It would only take a few minutes to find out,” she replied. “The trick would be finding and deleting the right files.”

"Is that something you're capable of, Mara?" The Professor's tone turned more deadpan the longer the planning went on. "If so, then I will join our minds. Perhaps we may be able to assist one another in our dual objectives."

“Of course,” she replied. “As long as I know what I’m looking for, it’ll be easy. Just ask the computer to search for keywords, and delete. Do we… have any keywords?”

"Yes, I have them right here." The Professor read them off an index card he'd kept in his pocket. "Iris Walker, Saginaw, Michigan, age 19. Anthony Walker, age 47, Brain surgeon. Angela Manning-Walker, age 48, Lawyer. Stephen Walker, age 17. Justin Walker, age 14. Yolanda Walker, age 16. Aislyn Walker, age 15. Carolyn Walker, age 11. Kindra Walker, age 9."

“Walker,” repeated Mara with a sigh. “It couldn’t have been a more common name, could it?” Hopefully all the names were together, so they’d be easier to find.

Xavier nodded. "The root directory is going to be related to Project Strawberry but not every file related to Iris and her family may be nested there. We need a clean sweep, Mara."

“Understood,” she replied. “When did you want to do this?”

"As soon as could be," the Professor said. "What will you need to prepare yourself?"

“Just a computer,” she replied. The MRD computer was too far away to contact directly, but as long as the back door was still open, she’d be able to get in using a computer in the mansion.

The Professor nodded. "Very well. I would prefer a good night's sleep before attempting a new feat such as this. Come morning, we'll meet down in Cerebro where I will join our minds together. Through it, we can access the MRD database together. You isolate the data files and delete them while I identify the key individuals and remove Iris and her family from their minds. If successful, we will have performed a singular exploit that may have never been done before and may be unable to do again should anyone become the wiser."

Mara grinned, unable to stop herself from thinking about actually getting away with something like this. “That sounds like a good plan,” she agreed. After all, it was late and she was tired. And there was really no reason to do this right away anyway. Plus, it would give her a chance to memorize all the names. “I’ll let you get some rest then,” she added as she stood. “Good night, Professor.”

"Good night, Mara."

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