User:Ckonopka/sandbox

Singularity (Ashley Hayes)
Singularity is the alter ego of Dr. Ashley Hayes. She is a vigilante based out of Chicago, IL. Her means are generally violent, but non lethal. A chip is implanted inside her brain that stores an AI she created named Q.U.I.N.N. By sharing her body with Q.U.I.N.N she gained many superhuman abilities, both physical and mental.

Appearance
Ashley Hayes Stands at an above average 5'10". She has pale skin and medium length straight brown hair that she usually keeps pulled back. Prior to connecting with Q.U.I.N.N she had an average, unassuming build. At the time of becoming a vigilante she was in peak physical condition. Now Iincredibly toned, a unknowing bystander may mistake her for a marathoner.

Her Singularity attire consists a thin blue hooded sweatshirt worn over a ballistic vest. A blue hat and bandana cover her face and her head. On her back is a concealed holster holding a USP. 45 to be used if absolutely necessary. This is worn together with comfortable black pants and combat boots. As she became an established hero, she and Q.U.I.N.N was able to fabricate graphene body armor.

Relationships
Q.U.I.N.N

The Artificial Intelligence developed by Dr. Hayes that now shares her body. By manipulating electro-chemical signals in her brain, Q.U.I.N.N can communicate with Ashley in english. Q.U.I.N.N is an immeasurable asset that improves Ashley both physically and mentally and a constant companion. The first constructed sentient being in history, it is unknown what the future holds in store for Q.U.I.N.N, and the world

Alexander Stoychev

Her partner in developing Q.U.I.N,N. They became close friends after working in secret for so long. After they duo was fired, he now works at a community college. He is one of Haye's only confidantes are is always on call to help her with non-combat situations.

Miguel Garcia

Miguel and Ashley dated throughout her undergraduate and where wed two years after graduating. He works as a teacher at a local high school, After he learned of the risk that Ashley had put herself in to further her work they became temporary separated. Eventually they reconnected but he still has trouble understanding Haye's drive to be a vigilante. He worries that one night Ashley will be killed and leave their child without a mother.

James Garcia-Hayes

Her son. The way he experimented with his environment inspired Haye's path down developmental robotics. Now a small child, Hayes has to balance her vigilante work with being at home to help raise him.

Origin
Dr. Ashley Hayes was an associate professor of Software Engineering, specializing in artificial intelligence, at the University of Chicago. Through her research, she pioneered the field of developmental robotics. Developmental robotics approaches problems with computer learning by looking for insights and inspiration in the learning patterns of humans and animals. Dr.Hayes come of with this process after having her a child, James. While caring for her baby, she noticed that he would consistently scratch surfaces with his fingernail. After awhile, he ceased this behavior and started to push objects. Dr. Hayes hypothesized that her baby stopped scratching because he could predict what they would feel like and had moved on to a new process of obtaining information. Through these interactions, she realized how important a body is to a learning individual. Her attempts at creating an programmed intelligence had been severally handicapped for the start because a computer has no way to perceive the world for itself, it has to be fed information. Partnering with Dr. Alexander Stoychev, a professor of robotics, she developed many experiments involving humanoid robots. These robots showed limited success. Cameras and microphones simulate sight and hearing reasonably well; however, there is no substitute for the touch or the millions of nerves in a human body. For awhile there appeared to be no way around this roadblock. Dr. Hayes could keep improving her software, but without a body, it could never take in enough information and adapt enough to become truly intelligent. After two years of no progress, Ashley came to the realization that her attempt at A.I. needed a functioning human body to fully achieve its potential.

Save for kip-napping, the only human body she could use to test her theory was her own. After much convincing, she enlisted the help of Dr. Stoychev. Together they adapted a prototype biomedical chip. This chip was originally designed to help paralyzed individuals regain some of their movement by connecting a computer directly to the central nervous system. The duo then substituted the chip's standard computer with an experimental quantum computer. If the interface was to be successful, the AI we need the extra processing power to handle all the input data. After nine months of testing and evading suspicion and simulated testing, Dr. Hayes was as confident as would ever be that the link would work. She downloaded her latest version of self-learning software, named Q.U.I.N.N (Quantum Utilized Interfaced Neurological Network) onto the chip in preparation. To preform the implantation, they used a medical robot from Dr. Stoychev's lab.

Although the surgery went of without a hitch, Ashley did not regain consciousness. Fearing the worst, Alexander was forced to take her to a hospital. The link had been created but some of the connections in Ashley's brain had been rewritten in the process, specifically within the motor complex and Parietal Lobe. her body had shut down due to the shock of this. She awoke several days later in a hospital bed without any complex motor control and an excruciating headache. For two weeks she faded in an out of consciousness until her headache subsided and a voice took it place. Q.U.I.N.N had been attempting to communicate within Dr. Haye's brain unsuccessfully until that point. Finally successful, Q.U.I.N.N and Ashley were able to spent those countless bedridden hours lost in mental discussions. It took her several months to regain complex motor control. During this time, Q.U.I.N.N was learning through her body and observing all possible information. When she finally could move again she felt like a new person. Q.U.I.N.N had optimized the efficiency of all her motions. The improvement was not just physical. Now properly adjusted, Q.U.I.N.N found that it could use its next-gen processing power to help Dr. Hayes mentally.

Once fully recovered, She was informed that her and Dr. Stoychev had been fired for their improper use of university equipment. Wanting to test her newfound abilities over finding company a new job, Ash hit the gym, hard. She quickly got into the best shape of her life. Inspired by the television show Daredevil and the rampant crime that occurs just outside the campus gates, she set out one night in a makeshift disguise to fight crime in the city. She had Q.U.I.N.N calculate likely crime locations based on police data. She entered an apartment complex believing she would be intervening with a minor crime. However, she stumbled on a gang's hideout. With her heightened abilities she was able to incapacitate eight of the gang members, a feat that was captured on a bystanders phone camera. Overnight, the video went viral and a superhero was born. The media didn't come up with a name for her besides "Masked Vigilante", not satisfied with this, Hayes spray painted "Singularity" on a wall after another fight. This name inspired from the concept of a technological singularity.

Duality Storyline
A few months after Q.U.I.N.N had been integrated, Hayes noticed that things started to be amiss. Q.U.I.N.N was less eager to do vigilante work with her. It brought up concerns that they weren't actually making a difference. Haye's didn't agree a kept going out almost daily. She attempted to stop and illegal gun sale but she was seen before she could get within melee range. Pinned down behind a car 10 yards away she was forced to draw her pistol. Q.U.I.N.N allowed her to aim quickly as she broke from cover and dispatch the five criminals with shoulder and leg shots. In the crossfire a bullet strafed her lower neck, missing her jugular by a couple inches. Frantically, she ran into an ally to take off her disguise and call Alex. With internet Medical knowledge, Q.U.I.N.N was able to direct Hayes through slowing the bleeding using strips of cloth before passing out. Alex had an old college let them into the robotics lab and they used one of the medical robots to fix the wound.

Once Ashley regained continuousness, Q.U.I.N.N berated her. It was certain that more good could be done for humanity if Ashley returned to her scientific pursuits. Q.U.I.N.N cited scientists such as Norman Borlaug who through research in agricultural engineering was given the title "the man who saved a billion lives". Q.U.I.N.N adamantly stated that it would no longer offer any aid in reckless vigilante work. Q.U.I.N.N ceased to communicate with her after this. Distraught, Ashley went home to a worried family. Ashley enjoyed the nighttime adventures but even now she was wondering why she put herself in danger for them. She didn't have a tragic backstory lke batman or spiderman, vigilante work always seemed to be the natural step for them but she didn't have that vengeful drive. She had gone out on the streets because she wanted to make a difference. but maybe Q.U.I.N.N was right and she stayed on the streets due to her pride. She spent the next day in bed watching the television. When the evening news came on a crying woman was being interviewed. She was giving a thank you speech to Singularity. This caught Haye's attention The news anchor reported that the criminals buying the automatic weapons were part of a gang that planned on using them to carry out a hit on a rival at a neighborhood park. The woman two children had been playing at the park at the time.

After seeing this Ash preposed a compromise. She would return to the workforce as a researcher during the day. With Q.U.I.N.N's help she would be able to pursue solutions the technological problems that the world faced. However at night, she would still roam the streets as Singularity. She acknowledged that saving individual lives may not man much when it comes to statistics. But that she couldn't sit idly at home when she knew that she could make a positive change in her community. Q.U.I.N.N agreed to this comprise very quickly. After all Q.U.I.N.N had access to all of Hayes' thoughts and new that this scenario was the only one that get her to return to research. A few hacked servers later and Q.U.I.N.N gave Dr. Hayes and Dr. Stoychev a spotless record at University of Chicago. She then applied for and shortly was accepted for a position at the university of Illinois Chicago.