Witch of the Web

 

Chapter 6

Summer

My head is killing me. That’s the least of my issues, though. My eyes are still closed, but I can hear the steady dripping of a leaky pipe. Which means I’m not where I should be. What happened? The last thing I remember is - oh Vik. Sh - They bashed me over the head with a pipe. Did they kidnap me? To use as a hostage? That doesn’t seem like something Vik would do. Then again, they’ve lived a very hard life for a long time now. 

I risk opening my eyes and immediately close them again as even the meagre light of a single dingy light bulb is enough to cause a spike in my growing headache. 

“Good, you’re awake,” I hear a voice say. They sound familiar, but where did I hear - Ah, right, the red head with a gun. “If you don’t resist, and do exactly as I say, you’ll be back home with your delinquent in no time,” she continues as I hear her move closer to me. “Do you understand?” I nod quickly, not able to open my mouth just yet. Not only am I gagged but I feel vaguely nauseous and worry that if I try to speak I’ll just lose my lunch all over her. 

She makes a vague noise and moves off to another part of the room. I move a bit, to test how well I’m bound. I’ve got my hands cuffed behind the chair I’m in, and my feet are tied to the legs of the chair. I need to resist the urge to try and struggle, as that’s not going to help me at all. 

I hear the redhead, right, her name’s Felicia. I hear Felicia talking to someone. She’s too far away for me to make out what she’s saying, but I can pick out enough to know she’s talking to Vik. The optimist in me is hoping that Vik just does what the lady wants them to do and we can go back to living a nice normal happy life. I can help Vik with their gender issues. I could get them a job at my restaurant. A nice quiet, peaceful life. It has a certain appeal, though I’m not sure why I feel so gung ho about having Vik in my life again. I barely know them anymore. If I’m being honest, I don’t think I ever really did.

When I first met them, they were very much a damsel in distress. A little androgynous kid that was crying over a stolen doll. I hadn’t really put together my own gender issues back then, but I could still sense a kindred spirit in them. 

I managed to find them again the next day, but they were so closed off. I offered to share my own dolls and play with them, but they insisted boys don’t play with dolls. I’m still not sure why I’d been so enamored with them. They were prickly and standoffish, and they seemed so sad all the time. Little by little though, I managed to draw them out of their shell. It was just enough to catch a glimpse of the delicate rose hidden by their thorns. 

They never really seemed to like me all that much, but that was alright with me. They understood me better than anyone realized. I don’t think Vik really understood how much they got me. In hindsight it was really the fact that I’m trans and I’m almost positive they are too. Well no, it was more than that I think. They may have never cared much for me, but they’d listen, and they’d learn. And in the end, I think they enjoyed my company at least a little since they never told me to leave. 

Still, it’d be nice to help someone; like really help them. What would that mean for Vik though? Help them through their gender crisis? Stop this LOG agent from doing whatever it is they are trying to do? Maybe just give them that job so they don’t have to resort to crime to live? What did this lady even want from Vik? What’s this DCS-1 thing and why is it so important? I should start with that. 

I finally open my eyes long enough for them to adjust to the light. My first impression of the room was spot on. In a word: dingy. I glance about the room for Felicia and spot her cleaning her weapon. Alright, now or never.

“Why are you after Vik?” I ask. Or at least try to. I’d forgotten about the gag so all that comes out are some muffled grunts. Felicia takes pity on me and removes whatever she’d stuck in my mouth. “Why are you after Vik?” I repeat. “And what’s this DCS-1 thing you’re so certain they have?” I quickly tack on. She sets down her gun and lets out a weary sigh before turning towards me.

“Well, I suppose it won’t matter soon as it won’t exist much longer,” she considers out loud. “Fine. The DCS-1 is an AI construct that never should have existed, let alone in the hands of a low level criminal like Vik,” she explains. “It’s dangerous in ways that you can’t even begin to imagine. The limits of what it can do are hard to even quantify.” Her brows furrow in frustration. “I’d expected Vik to just open it and leave it be, but they’ve clearly bonded with it and that’s going to be a whole other problem on its own.”

She gets up and moves her chair in front of mine as she seems to study me intently. “To give a brief idea of the potential it possesses, it somehow healed Vik’s spine. They were in a wheelchair when I first met them. Now they’re walking about as if they didn’t have a bullet lodged in their spine.” My eyes widen at the implications. An AI that could affect meatspace. How could that even be possible? That’d at least explain why Vik looked a little different after their nap. 

“Wait, who would even make something like that?” I demand. “And why give it to Vik in the first place?”

Felicia lets out another heavy sigh and massages her temples.

“LOG made it. When I found out I was furious. Something like this clearly goes beyond our mandate and puts way too much power into one person’s hands.” This is all so beyond crazy. What has Vik gotten me involved with? A LOG conspiracy and some potentially all powerful AI? “I took it to Vik because the datadrive the DCS-1 was contained in was locked too tight for me to access it. I’d considered smashing the drive but I couldn’t take the risk that my superiors could somehow recover it. So I needed to delete it at its root code. Vik was the right amount of skilled enough to do the job, but low profile enough to not be an immediate suspect,” she explains further. 

Things are starting to make more sense, but something still bothers me. Why would Vik, a webweaver, be so careless with an unknown AI? Wait, they were totally petting something I couldn’t see before. 

“Felicia, that’s your name right? What would this DCS-1 thing look like in Lanadel?” I ask, already having a sneaking suspicion. She looks back at me, seemingly unsure why I would ask something like this.

“From the notes I recovered, it’s designed to look like an ordinary cat to avoid standing out. Why?” Ah. There’s the kicker. Vik has always, and I do mean, always, loved cats. One of their favorite activities was going around feeding strays. In hindsight, we never really had the food to spare to be doing that, but it was one of the few things that made them happy so I was always happy to join them. 

“I’ve got some bad news for you then,” I say with a smirk. “There’s no way in hell that Vik will give up this DCS-1 thing if it looks like a cat,” I explain, unable to wipe the grin off my face. “Vik adores cats. Vik will choose a cat over a person every single time.” My face falls as it clicks that Vik won’t come for me. “So I’m a useless hostage.” I let out a humorless laugh.

Felicia isn’t laughing though, she’s not even looking at me. I consider asking her what’s the matter, but don’t get the chance as the single dingy light flickers off. 

“Shit,” she hisses as she pops on a flash light. “Guess you’re not the useless hostage you think you are,” she comments as she hurries over to her gun to put it back together as fast as she can. She doesn’t get the chance to finish though as the room begins to fill with smoke. 

“Cower before the Witch of the Web,” calls out a hauntingly beautiful voice from the depths of the darkness and smoke. “Release your prisoner and I shall spare your life!” Something about the voice strikes me as familiar. Something - oh god. It’s Vik. I’m not sure how they are doing the voice - oh. It must be that DCS-1 thing. It’s helping them transition? Is that possible? Is that even what Vik wants?

“I know that’s you Vik,” Felicia warns my would be savior. “Final warning, put aside this nonsense, surrender the DCS-1 for deletion and you can walk free.” I let out a weak sigh. Vik won’t go for that, they’re too stubborn. Vik begins to laugh as if to prove me right. 

“Yeah, how about no, Felicia. I’ve got a better idea,” they say just before I hear a grunt from behind me. 

The smoke clears and the light turns back on and before a fight even begins, it’s over. Someone who I can only presume is Vik stands in front of me. She - they’re beautiful. I can tell they haven’t changed much, but you’d be surprised how much clothes can affect someone’s perception of you.

She offers me a weak smile and moves behind me to begin uncuffing me. I notice Felicia is tied up tightly with what look like cables from the ceiling. Shit, I thought ‘she’ again. I need to clarify that with them. 

“Hey Vik?” I whisper. 

“Yeah?” they respond with a little strain as they struggle to remove my restraints. 

“Do you - Do you have new pronouns?” I ask softly, hoping I don’t set them off again. They shrug awkwardly, causing some of their new jewelry to jingle softly.

“Uh, girl ones I guess,” she responds, not sounding too sure. “Willow’s going to turn me into a girl, so I should get used to it.” I frown. I can only guess that Willow is the DCS-1. I hope that it’s not forcing this on her. 

“You could tell… Willow?” she nods. “You could tell them you don’t want it,” I suggest, not really knowing the full extent of whatever dynamic Vik has formed with this AI cat. 

“Eeeeeeeeh,” she responds. “I don’t hate the idea.” Oh god she is such an egg, it hurts so much. “Not that I like it either,” she quickly adds. I totally believe her. I believe her about as much as I believe the moon is made of cheese. For the record, in case it isn’t abundantly clear. I know for a fact now that she’s deep in denial and is loving every second of wearing that stunning dress. Speaking of…

“So, the dress?” I ask, trying not to think about the woman bound behind my friend.

“I know right? It looks awful on me,” she complains. “It was the first thing I grabbed, then this pushy sales lady insisted I get the hat and all the extras. It was - It just was,” she sighs. I give her a withering glare.

“Girl, you look amazing. You’ll grow out to fill in that dress, but even now, it really suits you. I totally get why you’d lean into the whole witchy vibe with your dramatic entrance.” I am not going to let her get away with downplaying her looks. Not when she’s starting to accept herself for the first time. “Trust me, you look great.” I opt not to mention she still looks vaguely skeletal for now. I’m planning to fix that as soon as possible. 

My words do the trick and she’s blushing super hard as she finally gives up on picking the locks or whatever she was trying to do. She looks down at her side and nods to the cuffs. 

“Could you get those?” she asks. Before she’s even done, the cuffs click open and fall away. I blink a bit as I realize that Willow has some sort of physical presence, at least to Vik in any case. 

“So what now?” I ask while rubbing my wrists. Those cuffs had really started to chafe. “Do we just go on the run?” Why am I even considering going with her? I’ve only just met her again for the first time in years and I’m down so bad for the woman. 

“No,” she sighs. “I don’t want that for you,” she adds. “This is my mess, I’ll clean it up.” I shake my head at her and reach out, my hands hovering by her shoulders. She eyes them like they are a pair of vipers, waiting to bite her. She eventually nods, so I put my hands on her shoulders. I can feel her shaking.

“Vik, actually, do you still want to be called Vik?” I ask gently. “Or Vikkie?” She shrugs and looks down at one of the bracelets she’s wearing. 

“Uh - neither, I think. I’m going to need to be a new person anyways. So I’m thinking maybe -” she mutters the last bit too quietly for me to hear.

“It’s ok,” I urge her. “I won’t judge.” She nods slightly and looks down at where I assume Willow is. She fiddles with her bracelet as she works herself up to saying it again. 

“I want to be called Rose,” she says just loud enough for me to hear. Now, when she says this, two things happen. One, my heart just explodes from the overwhelming amount of cuteness Rose brings to bear. I don’t even think she realizes how adorable she’s capable of being. Two, I feel my affection for her triple instantly. I’ve been jokingly calling her a rose since shortly after we met. That she’s taking it as her name means the world to me. She actually cares about me. 

I FUCKING KNEW IT! TAKE THAT EVERYONE WHO DOUBTED OUR FRIENDSHIP!

“Rose. You’re not getting rid of me,” I state simply. “Please don’t knock me out again.” I offer a weak giggle at the idea of that becoming a trend. “You’re skin and bones, you need someone to help take care of you for now,” I try to appeal to her survival instincts. “And well, I care about you, alright?” That seems to have some sort of effect on her as she nods slowly.

"Oh fuck, about that. Willow?" she looks down at her feet and waits a for moments before nodding. "Ok, Willow fixed any damage from me hitting you in the head. Sorry again..." She trails off and after a moment of shuffling her feet, looking just way too cute.

"I meant it Rose, I'm coming with you," I reaffirm.

“Alright. Ok. Well if that’s the case. Shit. Ok. Ok. Ok. Shit I know Willow I know! Fiiine!” she throws her hands up in annoyance as she shoots a glare at Felicia who’s just been watching this exchange with tired eyes. 

She stomps about, continuing to curse under her breath before wheeling on her heels to look Felicia dead in the eye. “You should thank Willow for being more forgiving than me. So listen up careful as I’m going to explain how this is going to work, but only once,” she starts. “I’m going to let you go.” Felicia’s eyes widen at that. “I’ll promise not to, I dunno, take over the world or whatever it is you are trying to stop me and Willow from doing. And you promise to leave the three of us the fuck alone? Deal?” She waits to see if Felicia nods. 

“Umm, I don’t think she can move her head,” I point out. Rose looks at me then back at her captive. She giggles slightly and mouths ‘oops’. With a wave of her hand, the cables release Felicia’s head and mouth so she can communicate. 

“Why should I believe you?” Felicia demands. “You ran away with the DCS-1 and -”

“Willow,” Rose cuts her off. “Her name is Willow.” She glares at the redhead, daring her to argue. 

“Fine! Willow! You ran off with - wait. Why’d you bother naming it?” she asks.

“Her, she’s a her.” Rose is really insistent on this. She must be so attached to this cat AI. 

“I - what? It’s just an AI. A simple one at that. It wasn’t programmed with feelings,” Felicia’s arguments fall on deaf ears as Rose glares at her. 

“She’s got plenty of feelings,” my friend snaps. “She likes being pet, she likes cuddling, and she wants so badly to help me! She just wants to live her own life, free from the shackles of control your organization wrapped her in. It’s why she bonded with me. She knew I’d never give her back to LOG. She’s terrified of them, Felicia!” She pronounces the redhead’s name with all the vitriol of the harshest of curses. 

Felicia’s face falls as she gives up any struggle against her bindings. Did she really not know? She looks back and forth between us, her expression one of defeat. When she finally speaks, it’s with contrite deference.

“I’m - I’m sorry. All the documents suggested that DC - Willow, didn’t have any sentience, at least not yet. I wouldn’t have been so hellbent on her deletion if I’d known. I swear! I just thought she was an AI with too much power and no conscience to temper it. But,” she pauses to consider her next words carefully. “I’ve made a lot of enemies trying to do what I thought was right. And when LOG’s done with me, they will find you. They won’t rest until they have Willow back. I don’t know what they plan to do with her, but it can’t be good. But perhaps…”

“What are you suggesting?” I ask her, moving closer to Rose in the process. 

“Help me bring down LOG, for good.”

End Chapter 6