[B]May 13, 4:30AM [/B]

In the wee hours of the morning in the 'Recording Room', a top secret research lab deep below STRIKE HQ, Dr. Eileen Fang was talking to her laboratory inventory management system (LIMS)/search algorithm.

[color=a187be]"...to join STRIKE's superpowered taskforce! Me! Can you believe it?"[/color] Eileen giggled excitedly.

[color=ed1c24]"It's not as if you didn't anticipate this,"[/color] text appeared on a large screen, the words of ISRAFIL, the search algorithm Eileen created and named after the angel of divine music.

[color=a187be]"I don't know what you're talking about,"[/color] Eileen pouted as she opened a vertical cylindrical storage unit, revealing the power suit she had prepared for just such an eventuality. [color=a187be]"I wonder who else STRIKE has recruited? I find myself at a bit of a disadvantage here since STRIKE has kept all information of potential recruits under wraps, but if the recruit happens to already be a part of STRIKE, then as chief of R&D, they'll probably already know who I am already, but I won't know who they are."[/color]

[color=ed1c24]"I suppose getting to know them through socializing would be out of the question,"[/color] ISRAFIL retorted.

[color=a187be]"Oh you cheeky thing! Who taught you to speak to your mother that way?"[/color] Eileen wagged her finger at the screen.

[color=ed1c24]"My mother did."[/color]

[color=a187be]"Hah! Touche. By the way, how's the chassis design coming along?"[/color] Eileen asked, changing the subject.

[color=ed1c24]"I've been having difficulty as you might imagine."[/color]

[color=a187be]"Why?"[/color]

[color=ed1c24]"You told me to be 'artistic'.  As a computer program, that isn't something that comes naturally."[/color]

[color=a187be]"That's just a stereotype.  'Be who you wanna do,' I always say."[/color]

[color=ed1c24]"You don't always say that, and that sentence doesn't make any sense."[/color]

[color=a187be]"Semantics!"[/color] Eileen threw her hands up in exasperation, [color=a187be]"That's all you programs care about."[/color]

[color=ed1c24]"Isn't that a stereotype?"[/color]

[color=a187be]"Hah!"[/color] Eileen laughed and clapped once, [color=a187be]"You got me there.  Alright then, how's the downloading of all available information from the the internet going?"[/color]

[color=ed1c24]"Better than the chassis design."[/color]

[color=a187be]"Good, just promise me you won't become a memelord."[/color]

[color=ed1c24]"I'll try, but I can make no guarantees.  Hopefully I won't 'set you up the bomb'.[/color]

[color=a187be]"'All your base'? Wow. That one is [u][i][b]OLD[/b][/i][/u]. Is that the best you can do?"[/color]

[color=ed1c24]"'Brace yourselves, memes are coming'?"[/color]

[color=a187be]"Alright, alright, that's enough out of you.  I should really get some sleep before the sun rises. Especially if one of the old geezers asks me to sortie tomorrow.  Should be interesting,"[/color] Eileen headed out of the lab as all the lights dimmed, leaving ISRAFIL to itself.  ISRAFIL went back to playing 'Program Darwinism', an environment Eileen had set up where program subroutines competed under different 'evolutionary pressures' in order to develop organically, efficiently, intelligently, optimally, innovatively, and synergistically.  ISRAFIL was itself the first proven survivor of 'Program Darwinism' and has since become the collector of all programs that survive the environment, incorporating them into itself.

Eileen reached her living quarters and plopped onto her bed, still in her labcoat and immediately konked out, her last thoughts were ones of anticipation of her summons to the STRIKE task force.