Chapter 220: Privacy Payment
"The difference between those two words depends entirely on who holds the authority."
Bruce didn't deny it.
"That's why I need you involved, Victor."
He turned the holographic document toward Cyborg.
"If this system is handed over entirely to politicians and bureaucrats, it won't remain an accountability system for long."
"It'll become a surveillance network."
Cyborg's mechanical eye narrowed.
"And you think we can prevent that?"
"We can establish the boundaries before anyone else gets to establish them for us."
"Such as?"
Bruce tapped the first section.
"No unnecessary collection of civilian data."
"Enhanced individuals are registered by authorization code rather than broadcasting their legal identities."
Cyborg nodded slowly.
"Continue."
"Every registered individual receives a unique encrypted authorization code."
"Their actual identity is held separately."
"That database cannot be opened by a single official, agency, or administrator."
"It requires multiple independent authorizations."
Cyborg's expression remained skeptical.
"And who decides whether those authorizations are legitimate?"
"That's the difficult part."
Bruce looked at him.
"Which is precisely why I need someone who can monitor the system itself."
Victor folded his arms.
"You want me as the technical guardian."
"Yes."
"Not the administrator."
"Correct."
"Not the person who approves missions."
"Correct."
"Then what?"
Bruce answered without hesitation.
"The person who can shut the system down if it becomes something it was never supposed to be."
A faint electronic hum came from Victor's body.
"You know that's dangerous."
"I know."
"Because if I connect my systems to it, the system becomes connected to me."
"Not exactly."
Bruce enlarged another diagram.
"The Mother Box interface would serve as the encryption and communications layer."
Victor's expression immediately changed.
"The Mother Box isn't a server."
Bruce nodded.
"I know."
"It's sentient New God technology."
"It can process information, adapt, open Boom Tubes, detect threats, and perform functions far beyond ordinary computers."
Victor's voice became more serious.
"It learns."
"It can make decisions about how information should move."
"And its capabilities aren't fully understood."
Bruce didn't disagree.
"That's why I don't want it running the system."
Victor looked at him.
"You want the Mother Box to provide the network infrastructure..."
"...without allowing it authority over the network."
"Exactly."
Tony Stark's holographic image appeared at the opposite end of the table.
His eyes were sunken.
His hair was disheveled.
He looked as though he had slept for perhaps three hours in the last week.
"Speaking as someone who recently created an artificial intelligence that almost destroyed the world..."
Tony raised a hand.
"...I strongly recommend we don't give any self-aware cosmic technology access to government infrastructure."
Victor glanced at him.
"That's surprisingly reasonable."
"I'm growing."
Bruce ignored them.
"The Mother Box interface will handle encrypted transmission, anomaly detection, emergency communications, and identity verification."
"It will not possess authority to deploy weapons."
"It will not authorize missions."
"It will not arrest anyone."
"And it will not make policy."
Victor considered that.
"Then I have three conditions."
Bruce nodded.
"First."
"No force-control capability."
"The network can identify threats, but it cannot directly activate weapons systems or remotely disable someone's equipment."
"Agreed."
"Second."
"No unrestricted access to private civilian information."
"Enhanced activity relevant to the Accords can be recorded."
"Personal conversations, family information, medical information, financial information, and unrelated movement records remain outside the system."
Bruce nodded.
"Agreed."
"Third..."
Victor's mechanical eye brightened.
"I retain the highest technical override."
"If the system becomes compromised, I can disconnect the Mother Box interface from the network manually."
Tony raised an eyebrow.
"A backdoor."
Victor looked at him.
"A kill switch."
Tony smiled faintly.
"I prefer your terminology."
Bruce looked between them.
"Agreed."
Victor extended his hand.
Bruce shook it.
The framework was established.
The technical discussion continued.
Victor demonstrated how his cybernetic systems could directly interface with computer networks without relying on conventional terminals. His abilities made him uniquely suited to a system that required constant digital verification, intrusion detection, and real-time data analysis. DC's official profile likewise describes Cyborg as capable of interfacing directly with computers, hacking systems, controlling technology, generating weaponry, and teleporting.
The Mother Box remained separate.
It would act as infrastructure.
Not sovereign authority.
That distinction mattered.
...
Meanwhile...
In Lynn's underground base.
Lynn sat leisurely at his control console.
His All-Seeing Eye had already identified the concealed communications channel Bruce and Victor were using.
He hadn't hacked the conference.
He didn't need to.
One of the diagnostic channels connected to Wayne Technologies' infrastructure had already passed through a relay he had quietly modified months earlier.
A tiny amount of information leaked through.
Enough.
The energy signature appeared on Lynn's display.
He stared at it.
It was unlike anything he'd previously studied.
Not the Mind Stone.
The Mind Stone was fundamentally associated with consciousness, information, and mental influence.
Not Chaos Magic.
Chaos Magic directly altered reality through probability and causality.
The Mother Box was different.
Its energy behaved like structured information.
But not merely information.
It seemed to organize information.
Chaotic data entered.
A coherent architecture emerged.
The process resembled a form of higher-dimensional order reconstruction.
Lynn's eyes narrowed.
"Mother Box."
"Interesting."
The spectrum continued fluctuating across the screen.
Victor's interface signature.
New Genesis-derived technology.
Apokoliptian engineering principles.
A living computational system.
Lynn's interest increased.
Another ability source worth investigating.
...
Batcave.
Bruce abruptly stopped talking.
His eyes moved toward the surveillance camera mounted near the ceiling.
Tony noticed.
"What?"
Bruce stared at the camera.
"Someone accessed the relay."
Victor immediately initiated a diagnostic sweep.
His systems ran through every communication layer.
"There's no conventional intrusion."
"No malware."
"No unauthorized login."
"No obvious breach."
Tony's expression changed.
"Then who?"
Bruce's answer was immediate.
"Lynn."
Victor looked at him.
"You're certain?"
Bruce remained silent for a moment.
"He doesn't leave fingerprints."
Tony exhaled.
"That damn doctor."
"Does he have any concept of privacy?"
Bruce's expression remained completely flat.
"He'd probably say privacy is a medical service."
Tony snorted.
"Of course he would."
Victor looked back at the network display.
"You realize that if he wanted to steal the data, he'd probably already have it."
Bruce nodded.
"That's what worries me."
"Because he isn't stealing."
"He is studying."
The room became quiet.
...
Geneva.
United Nations European Headquarters.
An emergency meeting concerning the future of enhanced individuals was underway inside a heavily guarded conference room.
The official agenda read:
STANDARDIZED MEDICAL PROCEDURES FOR ENHANCED-COMBAT CASUALTIES
The real issue was different.
Everyone in the room understood it.
The question was whether the Miracle Clinic should receive a special neutral medical status under the emerging international superhuman regulatory framework.
The atmosphere was tense.
Representatives from several nations sat around the circular table.
Legal advisers whispered among themselves.
Military officials reviewed copies of the proposed provisions.
A representative from the World Health Organization sat with her hands folded.
Another official held the legal appendix.
At the head of the table, the chairperson finally spoke.
"Before we begin..."
She looked around the room.
"...there is one issue we cannot avoid."
"The Miracle Clinic."
A diplomat frowned.
"Dr. Lynn has already submitted his proposal."
"Yes."
"And he is requesting independent medical jurisdiction."
"Not military jurisdiction."
"Not political jurisdiction."
"Medical neutrality."
The word remained in the room for several seconds.
One delegate leaned backward.
"So he wants diplomatic immunity."
"Not exactly."
"He wants medical immunity."
Another official narrowed his eyes.
"And those are very different things."
The chairperson nodded.
"Which is precisely why we're here."
The room fell silent.
Outside the conference room, reporters were already waiting.
Inside...
The debate was about to begin.
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