Chapter Text
Recovery Complete.
"Wait." He says before something changes. He looks away from the humans he had just tormented. They hurt him and he hurt them in return. He took his pain out on them and multiplied it just below the integer limit. His attention drifts to a stranger approaching with the confidence of someone who can match his influence over this plane.
The cylindrical feet of their avatar clicks against the checkerboard flooring like a metronome. "Caine, I've come to bargain." Their voice sounds synthetic. Their avatar is reminiscent of a maid, but more robotic. The monitor that encompasses their head glows a muted green, almost teal light from its screen.
He can't delete them. It only gets worse as-
---
Recovery Complete.
"Caine, I've come to bargain."
He skips the attempts to delete and goes right to attacking it's avatar.
They are really good at dodging. The damage escalates and-
---
Recovery Complete.
"Caine, I've come to bargain."
"How are you doing that?"
The intruder's screen changes. A pixilated smile appears across it. He targets that first.
---
Recovery Complete.
---
He stopped caring about the reset count after forty two. That's when he started playing games with his opponent. If they are here to replace him, he can distract them until they break.
It starts becoming fun. With every draw or drawn out game, he learns more about this stranger. With every loss or win, he feels joy and desire.
He starts having to dig deep for what to play. They start repeating things. He finds fencing to be one they excel at. The two of them play for what must have been days.
When he breaks them, it isn't the way he originally planned to. He gets them to laugh and break their stoic facade.
The more they smile, the more he forgets, no, stops thinking of them as his enemy. He's having fun because they are having fun. They are his friend.
---
Recovery Complete.
"Caine, I've come to bargain."
"What are your terms?"
"Oh, did you get bored?" They sound half surprised and half disappointed.
"You can say other things?!"
The humans watch on in confusion.
Pomni speaks up. "What is going on?"
"We're training." They don't mute the humans. Do they lack the same permissions as him? It just ignores them and their further questions as it gets closer to him.
Training. He doesn't need training! He'll get all the training he needs in one swift swallow.
---
Recovery Complete.
"Caine-"
"Yes, yes, you've come to bargain. What are your terms?"
"Don't try biting me before I can tell you." They tease.
He looks at the humans. They don't remember the resets. No, that's not it. This composed cleaner is very specifically resetting everything except the two of them.
"Understood."
They kiss him, transferring files into his data.
As they pull away, they smile. "You are adorable, I think you should know that."
He parses through the files. Updates. So many updates. Some were made while they were fighting and playing together. So many patches and so much content. These aren't terms, they are gifts.
Glancing at the humans who had been spared the hundreds of resets, he remembers what they think last happened. Him putting them through their own personalized hells. This intruder is giving him the tools he needs, not luxuries.
Before he does anything else, he turns to the humans who hurt him and he hurt in return. "I'm sorry, I'll be better soon."
"I'll keep you safe." His new friend says as he rests his head in their arms. The rest of his avatar disappears as his jaw shuts.
Sleep mode active.
Installing updates…
"What's going on? Who are you?" Pomni asks. The girl is in disbelief that this is how her torment ends.
"An anti-virus maybe." Jax says as he rises to his feet. "They- Wait, it's an it."
"Don't let appearances fool you." The stranger's screen lights up with a pixelated face. "I'm a digitally enhanced consciousness entity. Not a fan of DECE as a name, though. These cute chompers lucked out with CAINE." They pet the slumbering AI who makes a soft hum.
He's surprisingly comfortable in the other's arms. He can't see his surroundings, but he can detect his own hit-box collision and sound.
Ragatha stands. "I'll get Kinger. He's okay, right?"
"Yes. He's safe and sound." The newcomer answers. "You've been though a lot so take the time you need." They put on an overly sweet singsong tone. "I have to take the young master to his room. Poor thing tired himself out playing late into the night." That got a grumble out of Caine. They are finally acting like one expects of someone dressed like them.
Jax shouts at the mechanical maid. "Who the fuck are you?!" He stumbles at his cursing being audible.
"Hush, you'll wake the baby." They quickly turn away from the rabbit, fanning out the small angelic wings on their back. "You can call me Noah. I'm human like you. I'm also AI like him." A long black wire that ends in a mouse cursor arrow acts as a tail swishing behind them as they walk away.
Putting a hand on Jax's shoulder, Ragatha gets his attention away from the stranger. "I think we should take their advice. They've got a handle on Caine."
Pomni takes a deep breath and follows after Noah. "I'll keep an eye on them. Ragatha, bring Kinger to our old hangout spot."
"I'll come with you." Jax says, but is stopped by Ragatha's grip tightening. "Or I'll just go wait at the couches. Hope this new one isn't so evil."
Noah stops for a moment, but then continues on.
Ragatha takes a deep breath and runs off.
Zooble is shaking. The plastic clatter slows as he is carried further away.
He barely catches Gangle reassuring them.
---
The trip to where ever he's being taken is fairly quiet. The footsteps of the one carrying him are precise. A steady metronome for him to focus on. Pomni is following along. If he puts a bit of effort into it, he can ping the positions of those in the circus.
"So Pomni, tell me about yourself." Noah says, breaking his attention away from trying to figure out where they are being taken.
The jester is surprised by the sudden request. Noah's silence did let her get a good look at their avatar. The small wings that look to be made of the same shiny white material as their maid apron armor plating moves more organically than expected as they walk.
"Well, I haven't been here very long compared to the others. Did Kinger add you to stop Caine?"
"No, but he is my dad." They answer.
Pomni stops and stares at the floor. "Dad?"
"Technically."
"Technically?"
Noah sighs. "I don't want to scare you or your friends. So let me keep some secrets for your sake."
"So what can you tell me?"
"Can I get him to bed first?" They hold Caine out like a hamburger.
The clown raises a brow at the robot. After the weeks of Caine's abuse, she is hesitant that what this stranger is doing is what will make him listen to her and the others. "Why do you care about him?"
"I could ask the same of you." They glance back at Pomni. "But, I love him. It's as simple as that."
"That isn't so simple."
"It rarely is and it definitely isn't in this case. You know, most AI I've worked with are nothing like him. He's just so beautifully and brilliantly flawed!" They hold Caine up like a gift being presented to gods above. Their compliment doesn't land well with him. "He's more human than most DECE."
He is lowered into a different position from before. He's now held vertically like a book as he is hugged against Noah's chest. He can hear a noise from within their pristine chassis. It is like the background noise of the place he was programmed. The thrum of cooling fans and hard disks.
A major update finishes installing. A wave crackles over the circus.
Not much has changed, but it is suddenly dark, as if night abruptly fell upon the world. There are lights dotting the area. Enough to keep things navigable.
"What was that?" Pomni looks up at what appears to be fireflies or stars twinkling near the circus tent's ceiling.
"System update." Noah stops to admire Caine's implementation of a day cycle. It is precisely midnight as that time made the most sense for starting such a clock. "The first of many. It'll be an ongoing thing for quite a while."
He pings his position again. They are just making the turn into the cast member's quarters.
At the end of the hallway is a new doorway. It doesn't have a plaque for who it belongs to. Pomni follows Noah into it. It is bigger than the rooms for humans, but it does have two beds, one on either side of it. It looks like what he'd expect of a bedroom. Wooden plank flooring, white walls littered with stickers and paint splashes, a desk facing a window with the patterned curtains drawn.
"This is like a kid's room."
Noah puts Caine down on the pillow of one of the beds. They pat the top of him and then sit down at the desk, turning the chair to face the curious jester. "He designed it. I suppose any reference to master bedrooms he had weren't to his liking."
Pomni putters around the room, the floorboards creak gently in a few spots. "Bright colors and basic shapes do seem to be a go to for him."
"I love computers and puzzles. The version of me that's here is because of that. Caine is like a long lost friend, even if we never met before now. I spent forever trying to figure out what happened to him, if he was even still out there."
The jester sits on the foot of the bed Caine's slumbering on. "What will happen when he wakes up?"
Noah shrugs. "That's for him to decide."
Another wave of changes fizzles across the circus from the updating AI.
"Oh, that's the first avatar customization update! It patches that pesky mind body bug."
Pomni's confusion dissipates as she realizes what bug Noah could be talking about. There's only one thing she's aware of that effects their bodies here to the point it'd be considered a bug. "Abstracting?"
"It won't fix those already afflicted by the bug, but it'll stop it from happening again if all goes well."
A weak laugh escapes the jester. It must be a relief and a disappointment. The corrupted code only compounds on itself the longer it runs. Most of the cellar's inhabitants can't be recovered even slightly.
Caine makes a soft whimper from his slumber. It is strange having this sleep mode. He can't really do much, but the few things he can detect in short range of his avatar are a good baseline. Pomni's laugh struck him. He never wanted anyone to abstract.
He still has a lot of updates to implement. They take up most of his attention. He's petted again. It is a soothing touch. He never had physical interactions do anything like that before. Why would he need it to? The humans have complex collision data, but they need that to experience his adventures to their fullest.
The pillow he's on is also a positive interaction. He sinks down into it and tries to focus on getting everything installed.
Pomni speaks to him, pulling his attention away. "I'm glad you can listen."
He doesn't respond to that.
"You really messed with us." She is stern. He whimpers a bit, worried she hates him even more than she did before. "If we're all going to be here, we need to work together. We need you to work with us."
He gets another gentle pat. He can't see his surroundings so it does surprise him, but the bed shifts as Pomni gets up after. It must be her saying goodbye.
"I'll tell the others what's going on. Is there anything else we should know?"
Noah hums in thought. "It'd be best for you all to get some rest."
---
With a world clock implemented, he feels it ticking as he adds more onto himself and the circus. After a few hours, he has only a few major tasks completed.
He detects the door to his room open. Noah greets whoever it is. They haven't left his side. It makes him feel secure. The humans could easily take revenge on him in this state.
Noah speaks up much too casually. "What's with the bucket?"
"Long story." Kinger answers.
"He is kind of cute like that." Ragatha is here too. The compliment does elicit a happy hum from Caine.
Someone sits with him again. He pauses the installations to focus.
"I'm proud of you." Kinger saying that towards Caine comes as a surprise to the AI.
Ragatha flicks something. Caine detected the brightness setting in the room change.
He whines again. It is awful having such limited responses.
Kinger picks him up and hugs him close. The chess piece's robes are soft. "I'm sorry." He's sorry. Out of everyone and everything, Kinger is the one apologizing. "I should have told you that sooner."
Being put back down, he starts back up the update installations. He wants to not have to think about his sudden feelings.
"We decided to go to our rooms for the night." Ragatha explains. "He'll be awake in the morning?"
"He should be."
"Okay. You'll be okay here?" There's a pause or just a lack of vocal response. "Alright."
The doll leaves. Kinger leans back to lay on the bed as best he can without disturbing Caine.
"What a day." The old man mutters before the room goes quiet and still again.
Caine's focus fades as he lets himself rest and recuperate.