Sue & Clint | Saturday Morning (backdated)

[x-hawkeye.livejournal.com]

Sue finds Clint investigating the sentient coffeemaker and their discussion turns to robotics.


Caffeine, the word echoed through Sue's head as she made her way to the kitchen. The teenager knew she shouldn't stay up so late at night but she'd been working on the spider-bot mark 2 and before she knew it it had been 4 am. Sue had made it through class but there was no way she'd survive the rest of the day without at least a bucket of coffee. Luckily there was a ready source of caffeine in the kitchen...or there normally was. Bent down in front of the coffee machine was a familiar bunch of brown hair poking at the exposed guts of the machine.

"Please please tell me that it didn't break," Sue piped up with a groan.

Clint glanced over his shoulder, taking in the dark circles beneath Sue's eyes, and said, "Nah, it's not broken. I was just taking it apart to see if I could figure out how it works. It's AI, y'know, so there's software and stuff in there, but the actual mechanics of it..." He trailed off, not entirely sure he should get into everything. He didn't want to actually put Sue to sleep before he managed to get the coffeemaker put back together. "Hang on a sec - I'll get her working again."

Sue waved Clint away from the parts he'd already extracted, the spark of curiosity animating her face and driving away the aura of exhaustion that had been enveloping the girl mere seconds ago. "An AI? Someone actually put a computer in the coffee machine?" She asked pushing herself up onto her tiptoes to peer at the guts of the coffee machine over his back. "It can't be very powerful, but that would explain a lot." she noted staring at the circuitry as she traced it back to the motorized components.

"Yeah, it was the big blue doctor, apparently. Everybody was super jumpy about giving the coffeemaker AI and stuff, but I think the general consensus has been that it's beneficial to have the coffeemaker already know what you want to make. And the risks of her trying to take over the world are minimal." Clint grinned, stepping to the side a bit so Sue could get a better look. "See what I mean, though? The mechanics aren't difficult. I wouldn't want to mess with the software, of course, but putting the pieces back together is totally not a problem."

"I dunno, if her taking over the world meant we all got a delicious cup of coffee in the mornings then I could be totally down with it," Sue quipped as she nodded her appreciation to Clint leaning over the coffee machine to poke her finger at the wiring. "I guess the mechanics can only be set up a few ways, easier to manage the upkeep and maintenance. They're a lot simpler than I woulda guessed though. But the programming to remember everyone's preference and be able to tell who they are as they approach. Now that's pretty amazing."

"Seriously," Clint said, nodding his agreement. "And especially for if anybody has weird allergies. Like y'know. KGibz can't have hot chocolate or a mocha or anything. She totally already knows that. I kind of want to fly over to Muir just to talk to the big blue guy and be like, 'Whoa, no seriously, how'd you design that?' Only I wouldn't want to come off like a total spaz." Grinning, Clint looked over at Sue and said, "Miss Frost's scared we're going to give machines a headstart in their dastardly schemes to take over the world. She said something about robotic spiders."

Sue tried her best to look innocent as she grinned back at Clint, "She told you about that huh? It's not like they're anything compared to this," she replied gesturing at the coffee machine. "All they can do is run away when something touches them, for now at least," the girl noted with a laugh. "One day I'd like to be able to make something like this, or well something better to be honest but you know aiming to match the coffee machine is a good first step." Sue stood up and looked curiously at Clint, "I didn't know you were that into robotics and engineering."

"Yeah, I really enjoy science in general - it just seems like with engineering and robotics you can really see what you've made. And you can maybe help people. I'd be really interested in seeing your spiders. It sounds like they'd be fun to tinker with." Clint paused for a moment, head tipping to the side just a little. "Did Miss Frost talk to you about her sister? The one who knows a lot about robotics?"

"It's easy to see the immediate result you get from engineering," Sue agreed. "Working in pure science tends to be a lot more theoretical, you don't get to see something happen all the time, but you get to see how everything works,and that can be pretty fun." the blonde grinned. "I still have one or two them upstairs if you wanna play around with it, I've been having a few problems trying to upgrade the programming, but you can take a look and tinker anytime you want." She looked at Clint curiously, "Miss Frost has a sister?"

"Yeah, apparently she does!" Clint grinned. "And I'd love to check out the spiders. That sounds really awesome. Thanks! But the other Miss Frost might be willing to teach us robotics next year. Officially and stuff. She was a teacher, so she's all qualified, I think."

"Anytime you wanna come take a look," Sue offered, "I kept a couple to play with. You know test beds for the Mark 2, and cause it's fun to see what I can make them do." The girl blinked at Clint as the second element of his statement registered with her. Whirling around Sue turned to face Clint with a shocked look on her face. "Wait a minute, you mean all this time someone here could teach robotics and I'm only finding out about this now?"

Clint laughed at the delayed reaction, shaking his head a little. "Looks like that's a maybe. But I think Miss Frost is gonna talk to the other Miss Frost? We could always see about getting in touch with the other Miss Frost ourselves?"

"Well it'd probably be a good way to impress her if we talked to her ourselves, show her that we're actually interested in her teaching the class," Sue agreed, "Umm, did Miss Frost mention where the other Miss Frost worked?," the blonde shook her head, "We really need to come up with a better naming scheme for them."

Smiling, Clint said, "She mentioned Frost Enterprises? Which I guess makes sense, given they're both Frosts. And yeah, we probably do need a better naming system. We can work on that later, though. Y'know. After making sure the other Miss Frost actually wants to teach us. We could ask Miss Frost for her sister's contact information?"

"Frost Enterprises?" Sue echoed in a small voice, "You mean Miss Frost's sister is EMMA FROST?!" The last name was delivered at a much louder pitch than the rest of the sentence. "Oh my dad's gonna love that," she grinned at Clint, "Which of course means that it has to be done."

Clint understood from Sue's tone that Miss Emma Frost was important, so he nodded. "Cool. I dunno if Miss Frost's talked to her already or not, but I bet we could get her contact information."

"There must be someone at the mansion who knows how to get in touch with her," the blonde grinned at Clint, "I mean who wouldn't want to get a random call from two such awesome people like us?"

"I know, right? Maybe Miss Frost could lay the groundwork, though. That way our message won't get like. Shuffled off into the spam folder or something." Clint figured if the other Miss Frost was as busy and important as it seemed, she'd have a couple protocols in place to keep from getting random emails and things.

"That sounds like a good plan," Sue agreed. "It'd really suck if we hunted her down and got turned away at the first hurdle by a secretary or receptionist." Sue knew her father had a similar set up, if he didn't know you or expect you there was no way you were getting through to talk to him.

"Exactly," Clint said, nodding firmly. "Awesome. Let's do this thing."