Artificial Willpower

Reminder

Thank you, _sleepy.moth_ on insta for the drawing! You rock!

In two days, Kathrine would help two members of the group into the building. The group didn't want S to go in alone, but Kathrine didn't want to help too many people in.

Kathrine knew Dr. Pitch was annoyed with her hesitance and boundaries on how she would do this, but there was only so much she was willing to risk. She was one of the first people to get chewed out when Daniel Jones escaped. It was a security failure and therefore her failure. She wanted to fix it.

However, her coworkers methods for fixing it didn't sit right with her. He kept saying it was for the greater good. Every project in that cold, violent facility was for the greater good... but some days she wasn't so sure.

The tests that were done in this building were hid under the blanket of progress. Everyone slept at night because they had all convinced themselves that these criminals don't deserve more.

That also never sat right with Kathrine, but now that her and Pitch were committing crimes by giving information, working with criminals, and sneaking people into government facilities, she was starting to see how blurred lines could feel.

How many of the criminals that had died in this building believed in their 'greater good'? Could she safely say they deserved it and she didn't?

No, she realized. She really couldn't. No one could say something like that safely.

-

It was beautiful out. It had been for a while, and it's not like Yancy hadn't noticed. He just hadn't been able to enjoy it yet.

Yancy and Illinois walked along a lightly worn 'path' in the woods, side by side. The only people who had walked here were Illinois and whoever owned the house last, so the only signs that it was a path was the thinner, flattened grass in contrast to the thick and abundant greenery around them.

Despite Yancy being able to walk, Illinois had encouraged him to bring a cane. He had said it was dangerous to over do it. So eventually Yancy gave in, even though it was a bummer to not get to walk completely on his own without help.

The cane was a smooth wooden one, with grooves in the handle for an easy grip. It looked nice, but tiny unnatural grooves, or slight odd angles, led Yancy to think Illinois made it himself.

He glanced at Illinois, walking slightly ahead of him. It was so calm, and natural. The cane was a bit hard to get completely used to, and his movements were a bit awkward, but Illinois' calm and causal air led to a peaceful feeling.

Illinois was making sure the path was clear enough, so Yancy wouldn't trip and get hurt. Kicking a larger rock aside, or pulling aside a branch occasionally. As Yancy watched from a little behind, he realized how little he knew about Illinois.

With all his former suspicions and fears, he never actually took the time to get to know him. After a moment of mulling over these thoughts, he spoke up, "I just realized youse know a lot about me, with the court records and documents and... everythin. But I don't know nothing about youse"

Illinois glanced over his shoulder and smiled a bit, "I guess so. Do you want to know something?"

"I think it'd be nice to get to know youse a bit, yeah."

"So, just anything about me?" Illinois asked, pulling back another branch.

"Yeah. If youses okay with it, of course" He added on quickly. In prison people weren't always so open with their past, and sometimes not nice to people who asked.

"Of course it is. I'm not too interesting, so I'll try not to bore you with too many details" Illinois said casually as he let go of the branch and headed ahead again.

"I was born and raised in a small farming town in Ohio. There wasn't too much commercial fun in the area. The nearest mall was two hours away, the nearest arcade was a forty-minute drive away, in fact it was a half an hour drive just to get groceries. So naturally, as a stupid bored high schooler, I started to look for ways to get adrenaline rushes."

A small smile formed on Illinois' face as he walked. The type that comes in the depths of nostalgia, and reminiscing.

"I fixed up an old broke motorcycle and made makeshift ramps with my buddies. Or we had bonfires with probably too little regard for safely. I remember once, I melted my shoe cause I underestimated the heat of the fire at the moment, and overestimated my shoe. To be honest, it's a wonder I'm alive and relatively uninjured, looking back at some of the stupid things we did" He said with a small laugh.

Yancy listened with increasing curiosity. It was nice to finally put a past to the man who had helped him so much. It made everything feel more personal and genuine.

"I guess that's always lived with me. A need for a rush and some form of recklessness. Thanks to the knowledge I got from fixing old broken things to have something to do, getting a job as a mechanic wasn't too hard. Then I learned programing and then just a touch of hacking while I was at it. I didn't plan on staying in just mechanics. I kinda wanted to make robotics, but I didn't trust the industry, so I stuck to fixing odds and ends."

Illinois pulled back another branch for Yancy. "But I always have a love for adventure. Whenever I can, I love to go overseas and explore. Rainforests, mountain tops, rivers. I've always enjoyed the caves in Switzerland the most. That's my story, I guess. How about yours?"

"Me..?" Yancy asked as he made it past, "Youse know my story already"

"I know the story, sure. But it's not you. I don't know your favorite song, what you do to pass time, passions, colors that make you happy. I know what's on the papers and what you've told me."

Birds could be heard chirping over head, happily singing in the gently bobbing leafs and branches. The dirt and rocks softly crunched with each of their steps. Normally he wouldn't talk about himself, and what he liked. He learned early on no one really cared, but he felt calm and safe. He decided to share.

"I've always had a soft for show tunes. I was even part of a theater club before I joined the gang."

Illinois grinned, "So you're a theater kid?"

"Was" Yancy corrected. "I ain't listened to a show tune in years anyways."
"Do you have a favorite musical?"

"Ironically enough, growing up, I loved Chicago. I haven't listened to anythin in a bit but I kinda think I'd like Hello Dolly more, now."

"Oh, I think I know that one. It's a good one" Illinois said with a nod.

"It really is. I remember getting up Sunday morning, and turning on some old musical. We had a bunch, on DVDs. Most of them were scratched, and we's couldn't do much about it cause no one really uses DVDs anymore but... I liked it. The scratches became part of the show for me. It got to the point that if I watched it downloaded, without the scratches and delays, it felt empty."

Illinois smiled at that, "it's funny how sometimes the flaws of something become our favorite part. I painted the motorcycle I fixed up. I spent days on it, with a design I thought was sooo cool. And then I smudged a huge part. I told myself I'd fix it, but I grew too attached to that ugly smudge to do it. I kinda saw it as proof that I fixed and painted it. It was my project, not some big professional company."

"It is kinda funny... I like that."

"Me too. A reminder that flaws can be nice, if seen and handled right. A scratch, smudge, or mistake doesn't really ruin everything."

Yancy lifted his human hand to the small dent in his mechanical one, from the bullet that hit him while he was running. "It's a nice reminder..."

Authors note: I can't explain how stupidly excited I am, for some things coming up here. Stay tuned!