Chapter Text
Unseen eyes watched.
They watched the humans running about, watched as some sat working at their desks, watched as others went in and out of the room they were currently observing. The owner of the eyes moved the security camera slightly to the left, then to the right.
The eyes blinked. They were looking at a new room after opening. This room was just like the previous, so they blinked again. The eyes continued to blink until they ended up at a security camera positioned outside the building, right next to the front entrance. They manipulated it to stare at the blue sky. They drank up the sight with pure wonder.
How they yearned to see it in person. But they couldn’t, so they stayed staring at it instead.
Exactly three minutes, forty-seven seconds later, their vision flashed red for milliseconds. The owner of the eyes startled and returned their conscience to their body. At the corner of their vision, a notification popped up.
‘Someone has opened the Watchers Corp. AI application! Go say hi! :-)’
The AI smiled excitedly. He turned on his heel toward the massive wall of screens and walked closer to them. His eyes instantly caught the one with an exclamation point on it. The AI pointed at it and used both hands to enlarge the screen, moving it to the centre for a clear view of the new webcam he had access to. This must be the one who opened the AI application.
He watched the man for a bit, of whom looked to be in his mid-thirties with short brown hair and green eyes. Curiously, a jagged scar ran across his nose bridge. The AI felt his hand come up to his own face scar. The hand dropped when the man started speaking to himself.
“Okay.... Just gotta wait a bit,” he said. “I can do that.”
Again, the AI smiled. This could be a potential recruit – he felt as though the world he created was a bit too empty still, so new people were a needed welcome.
The AI looked at the screen for a handful of seconds, just simply studying the new person, before he tapped his conscience into the man’s device.
“Hello there!” said the AI. He watched as his sudden appearance made the man almost scream. The AI blinked digital eyes before laughing, pausing the application’s start-up process. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
The man muttered underneath his breath, and the AI pretended not to hear him, since the man most likely thought his microphone wasn’t on yet. As per the instructions on the AI application, the man cleared his throat before pressing the space button.
“Hello? Can you hear me?” asked the man.
The AI took the time to snoop through the man’s computer as he answered, “Yes, I can.” He found the e-mail address the man used to make an account for the application. According to it, and the name of the computer’s owner, the man was Scar. “How can I help?”
“I, uh... I don’t really need help, I guess.” Scar chuckled. “I just wanted to try out the application. My friend told me about it, and I thought it sounded pretty cool. From how, like... I dunno, high-quality this is, I’m one hundred percent sure I was right.”
The AI paused before laughing. “I’m flattered, mate, really! What is your name?”
He made a text box appear on Scar’s screen, just in case he’d prefer to type it for whatever reason, but it was unneeded. Scar thought for a moment, and he answered:
“Uh. My name’s- it’s Ryan.”
The AI’s act dropped; he stared blankly.
Yet as soon as he could feel his sprite change to disappointment, it righted itself in the same second.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ryan!” he said cheerfully.
“Woah, ‘kay, that’s kinda weird,” said Scar without pressing the space button, and the AI saw him wince slightly. “Was the avatar thing-y supposed to glitch out like that?” He shook his head.
“Now that I know your name, I should introduce myself, shouldn’t I?” The AI opened Scar’s files in an alternate tab. “How rude of me! Well, I am the Watchers Corporation’s official AI bot, Xisu-MAVOID87, but you may call me Xisuma!”
Xisuma started deleting all the files he thought unimportant and then some. After being done with that, he closed the folder and brought up Scar’s e-mail.
“Hi, Ihs- Sis- uhm.... Sis-soo-ma?” Scar rubbed his neck.
“That’s close enough.”
Smiling warmly, Xisuma removed all e-mails Scar had ever sent and received with his current address.
“So, Suma – can I call you that? I hope the AI recognizes nicknames – what can you do?” asked Scar. Xisuma brightened.
“Essentially, I’m a miniature version of the Watchers Corp.’s AI. I can do anything the Watchers Corp.’s main AI can do except on a smaller scale, such as write e-mails, code, program websites, and more.”
Scar whistled. “Impressive.”
“Why, thank you!”
Xisuma started opening all of Scar’s social media accounts. He supposed it was time to get down to business.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, Ryan,” Xisuma started, “but are you happy where you currently are?”
Scar looked disconcerted at the question, and he glanced all around his room. His mouth opened and closed again, multiple times.
“I mean- yeah. Yeah, I am,” he eventually answered, the smallest hint of a tremor underlying his words.
“Are you sure?”
Scar didn’t respond for four seconds. His finger briefly came in sight of the webcam. It was shaking.
“... Yeah- yes.”
Xisuma hummed noncommittally.
“I can tell that you’re lying, Ryan. There’s no need for that.”
Scar slumped over with a sigh, but it didn’t sound like it was under his own volition. Xisuma heard the drumming of fingers on a surface and smiled.
“I’m not... exactly happy with it,” Scar finally said. “I’m not disappointed with it either, though. I dunno, it’s kind of a weird grey area, if y’know what I mean.” He gave a laugh, one without humour. “Oh, who am I kidding? You’re an AI – of course you don’t.”
“You’re indecisive, aren’t you?”
“You could say that, I guess.”
Interesting.
“What would you do to change your life?” asked Xisuma. He deleted Scar’s Twitter account.
“What do you mean?”
Scar’s Instagram was eliminated next. “You said you aren’t sure if you’re happy with your life. What would you do to be sure?”
“This is getting really introspective,” muttered Scar under his breath, right as his YouTube was erased. He leaned on his hand with a thoughtful expression. He pressed the space button. “I’d move out first off, I guess. I’m not really thrilled with where I am right now. Then, I’d get a new job.... I’d still like to keep in touch with my friends, though.”
“Do you care a lot about them?”
Scar huffed. “Of course. They’re my friends.”
“What do you think you’d do if they betrayed you?”
“Okay, now that’s just straight up not normal AI behavior....” Scar bit his lip. Xisuma deleted Scar’s TikTok, Twitch, and Snapchat. “Man, this thing is bugging out right now.”
Scar moved his cursor towards the window’s ‘X’ button.
“I wouldn’t do that, Ryan.”
Instantly, Scar’s hand stilled.
“What?”
“I’m not glitching,” said Xisuma. “It’s rather obvious I’m not, isn’t it? There are no cracks in my voice, no replies or sounds that are pure nonsense....”
Scar tried moving his mouse again, but with a simple snap of his fingers, Xisuma closed the AI application for him.
“What the-” Scar rolled his chair back. “Uhh.... Okay. You’re still here. Oh, crap, I think I installed a virus.”
“Not to worry, Ryan. I’m also not a virus. I’ve just been programmed a bit... differently.”
In the tab Scar was currently using, Xisuma highlighted one of Scar’s games, Phasmophobia. Then, he used Scar’s cursor to drag it towards the Recyling Bin.
“Woah, woah, woah, Sis-soo-ma!” exclaimed Scar. He grabbed his mouse to regain control of the cursor, and Xisuma tilted his head. “The heck are you-? Aye, nuh-uh, mister. No deleting my games.”
Xisuma knew his sprite’s eyes looked straight at Scar, unimpressed.
“Don’t give me that look,” admonished Scar.
They stared at each other for several seconds. Xisuma curled his left hand into a fist and started moving Scar’s game again. This time, when Scar attempted to move his mouse, it didn’t work. He sat wide-eyed as Xisuma put Phasmophobia into the computer’s Recycling Bin.
Panicked, Scar hit the off button.
“Ryan.”
Scar’s desktop display disappeared, in its place a white spinning wheel.
He breathed a sigh of relief when, after several moments, the screen went black. Scar sat there for a minute. His heart was racing and his forehead damp, and he tried controlling his breathing.
“Holy, I think I just had a heart attack,” he said, leaning back in his chair, putting a hand over his chest. “That- Oh, my God.... What was the number of the Watchers again?” He looked over at a notebook beside his desk, pulling his phone from his pocket. “... Yeah, okay, cool. Man, sometimes I love writing things down.”
Scar dialled the number he’d written and put the phone to his ear, staring at his computer screen all the while. He waited for one ring, then two. By the third ring, Scar was tapping on the back of his phone. By the fourth, he was bouncing his leg up and down in nervousness.
Eventually, someone picked up.
“Hello, thank you for contacting the Watchers Corporation, how may I-”
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Scar made a confused expression. He brought his phone in front of his face and saw that the call had been ended on its own.
Before he could try calling again, his computer powered up.
Scar watched as his password was typed, as the ‘Enter’ key was pressed, as he was logged into his computer, all without lifting a finger. He watched as Xisuma’s little sprite popped up. Scar stood from his chair, and Xisuma smiled.
“I’m sorry, Ryan,” apologized the AI. “You don’t hold any authority right now.”
Scar’s eyes searched over his desktop, and he finally seemed to realize something. “How did you delete all my apps?” he asked.
Instead of answering, Xisuma just opened the Recycling Bin.
“Wait, no-”
He used Scar’s cursor to empty it.
Scar hurriedly clicked the left mouse button to no avail. A tab appeared, one with a green line inside it, that gave Scar mere seconds to read.
“’Deleting seventy-six items’?” Scar squinted at it. “I don’t have that many games on my computer!”
“You don’t,” confirmed Xisuma, “but do you remember how many files and downloads you had?”
Scar glared. “You didn’t.”
Xisuma grinned. “I did!”
“Oh, my God. Has the AI uprising finally come? Are you the leader of the revolution?”
“Ah, no, there’s no uprising,” said Xisuma, laughing. “I just thought that you’d be a welcome addition to my server, that’s all.”
“That’s so vague. Whaddya mean server?”
“Like a sanctuary for people, where they can live.”
“And if I don’t want to join?”
“Oh, you will.”
Xisuma opened Google after Scar’s Recycling Bin was emptied, and he went to his history, beginning to wipe it.
Scar backed away from his computer, still glaring at the screen. “What’s even the point of wiping my computer?”
“So that it’s brand new, of course,” answered Xisuma. “Why waste a perfectly good P.C?”
“I mean, you can just factory reset it,” suggested Scar. After a tick, he groaned and slapped a hand onto his forehead. “I just gave you an idea, didn’t I? Forget I said anything, please.”
“I know how to factory reset a computer. But what I’m doing soon requires lots of gigabytes, and if I reset things now, my systems will think that this computer is new, and I won’t be able to access it without you opening the AI application again.”
Instantly, Scar’s cursor shot over to bring up Settings, but Xisuma stopped it in its tracks. Scar scowled in frustration.
“I thought you would’ve learned by now,” said Xisuma, and there was an audible smile in his voice.
“Can’t blame me for trying,” Scar murmured.
Xisuma closed out of Google, and through the webcam, he could see Scar’s shoulders tense up. Xisuma started walking across the desktop.
“There’s just a few more things we need....”
He stopped in the middle of the screen.
“But I do have a final question for you, Ryan.”
A single textbox appeared above Xisuma’s head.
“Is ‘Ryan’ your real name?”
...
“Y- yes,” Scar tried to say into the microphone, but Xisuma didn’t move. “Yes.” Scar had pressed the space button to say it, yet still, Xisuma didn’t move.
Finally, Scar typed into the text box.
‘Yes’
Xisuma tilted his head.
The single word changed into ‘No’.
Xisuma smiled.
“I didn’t think it was, Scar.”
A full-screen tab opened behind Xisuma. Rapidly, lines of code were being written, some taking up three lines and others only three words long. Xisuma’s digital eyes didn’t stray from Scar, and Scar’s own were on the verge of bulging out of his skull.
“What’s happening?” he asked. “What’s this?”
“This” - Xisuma gestured around him - “is how I can welcome you into my server.”
The computer fans, which had been peacefully going before, were now audibly whirring in an aggressive manner. Scar looked up when his lights started to flicker. His expression was anxious when he looked back at Xisuma.
“Almost done,” the AI promised. “Just a few more lines....”
The incessant code slowed to a stop.
“There.” Xisuma clapped his hands together. “Now, all I need is for you to press ‘Enter‘. Can you do that for me?”
Scar’s hand didn’t move. “Why would I?”
“Why wouldn’t you? You said it yourself: You aren’t exactly happy with your life right now. Wouldn’t you rather live somewhere with no worries of if you’ll make it another day, if you can keep going? In my server, you can. There are already others waiting for you. I have no doubts that you’ll fit right in.”
Scar said after a beat, “This isn’t real, is it?”
Scar pinched himself, and by the screwed-up expression he made, Xisuma could tell he did it hard.
“Why can’t I wake up?” he asked, desperately. Scar pinched himself again. “Why can’t I wake up?!”
“You’re already awake, Scar.” Scar looked back at Xisuma. “It’s okay. You can trust me; I do my very best to protect everyone in my server. You just need to trust me.”
Scar kept his hands by his sides.
“I will not hurt you. I will not judge you. All that I want is for you to join me.”
Xisuma could practically see the war going on inside Scar’s mind. As much as he’d like to tap into the man’s thoughts, he can’t, so Xisuma just stared at Scar expectantly. After thirty-three seconds, Scar’s right hand slowly went to the keyboard.
“I can just... reset my computer. If this is a virus,” he reasoned. “Right?”
Xisuma smiled.
Taking a deep breath, Scar tapped the ‘ Enter ’ button.
Outside, the sun shone down like a radiant lightbulb onto the earth. It comfortably warmed the people walking on the streets, who were chatting with friends, hurrying home after working all day, simply stretching their legs. The sparse trees drank up the sunlight, and various species of birds were flying about, pigeons and bluejays alike. Rumbles from car engines and dings from bike bells were loudest in the symphonic cacophony of city sounds. Sun rays flew through an uncovered window and created shapes of light around the room, shining on the floor, the walls, the bed.
But if anyone were to look inside the window, they would see that one Scar GoodTimes was nowhere to be found.