Artificial Willpower

Mercy Left

Art by the remarkable _sleepy.moth_!!!

Forty minutes.

Pitch could hardly believe it. The hacker's device was only forty minutes away. The hacker was probably forty minutes away. Daniel Jones could be just forty minutes away.

As soon as they had told him, he contacted Kathrine and told the two members of the group to try to intercept them, if the hacker did end up getting a notification.

Now, a squad was on their way to the location, and the group was on their way to the most likely route of the hacker and the escaped convict.

Only forty minutes. He couldn't believe his luck. Pitch had expected states away. Maybe even across the world. He thought he would have to call some remote squads, or maybe even have to hand the case to the military.

He hadn't been a fan of that last idea. Too much of his life had been the militaries. This was his victory. Plus, if Daniel Jones was apprehended by the military, he would most likely be shot on sight. Then Pitch would never get to see the execution himself, and they could damage the mechanics.

The end of 'the one who made it' was inevitable, and Pitch wanted to be sure he got to witness it all.

—

It all went so fast. Yancy was shocked with how prepared Illinois was. One minute, he was just sitting in the living room, trying to get the hang of some new extensions. The next, he was in the back of a car under a blanket, with some bags in the back that Illinois had already had ready.

His face was relatively close to the driver's seat, so it was easy for him to hear as Illinois tried to explain everything.

"They found the MIC chip. It's a really great device that gave me access to your trackers frequency, the files, their security cameras and more. Unfortunately it's connected straight to my computer. The connection has to be direct. I knew it was a possibility but MIC chips are insanely rare, hard to make, and hard to find. I had really hoped no one would think to look for one

"Luckily, I prepared for every scenario I thought could be a possibility. There's an old safe house in Minnesota. It used to be my great great grandpas. It's abandoned but I was able to do enough renovating to make it livable, while getting everything ready. I've stashed a car in Nebraska for us to switch over to, just in case there's any leads pointing to this car"

"Wow..." Yancy said "Youse really thought this through"

"Well, I've been flying under the radar and kinda on the run for a while now. I'm sure you know how that goes"

"Actually I's uh... I've never been on the run before. Turned myself in, before anyone even knew theys was dead. And I ran away, yah, but youse found me, so I never had to do the whole 'on the run' thing"

"Well I'm still here. I know things are... rocky and I get that you don't fully trust me right now, but I'm gonna keep you safe, and keep helping you like I have been. Our set up is gonna be less luxurious, and we might have to be more active in planning our attack and survival, but we're not totally in the dark, I promise. You're not gonna have to do the whole on the run thing alone"

Yancy felt gratitude once again. Even after everything, Illinois still knew what to say. What Yancy needed to hear.

–

When Pitch first heard the name over the walkie, he thought he misheard the unit leader.

He had been listening as the unit sent back and forth information on their findings. A cabin like home, only ten minutes from town. A work shed, a half finished puzzled, the blueprints for the limbs.

As another unit was sent out to track them down, the first unit searched just in case they were hiding, or if they left any clear leads. They said they had found some papers, many of them with the name 'Illinois Arch'.

First, he felt shock fill his body, but the surprise was quickly chased away by anger. To be frank, part of him always knew there was a decent possibility his old colleague wasn't dead. Like the younger doctor, Benjamin Weller, Illinois seemed unhappy with some changes in fine print.

Unlike Doctor Weller, Illinois had a spine.

No one ever found Illinois' body, it was just assumed he was dead. Even though everyone knew he was a crafty man. Pitch had always understood the possibility of him being alive, yes. But he had thought if that was the case, Illinois was just running from the situation.

He never thought Illinois would be stupid enough to be this close. To stay elbow deep in this facility.

Pitch had never discussed the topic out of mercy. If Illinois wanted to run and get out of Pitches hair, give the project all to him, fine. It was starting to look like Illinois threw that mercy right back in his face.

Now there was no more mercy left to give. He would get Daniel Jones and Illinois Arch back here. He would make sure he saw Daniel Jones executed.

As for Illinois, Pitch really wanted to show him exactly what he's done with the project. He wanted Illinois to experience it first hand, before watching him join Daniel Jones' fate.

He no longer deserved mercy...

—

Illinois had noticed a mundane looking gray car trail behind them for a bit near the beginning. Illinois could tell it wasn't associated with the government. It for sure wasn't an unmarked cop car.

He could also tell that they didn't know who they were, just because there weren't military cars or helicopters swarming them... but there was something suspicious about it. They could have passed him, but instead they just tailed Illinois for a bit. Their windows were tinted just enough for him to struggle identifying details. Not quite to an illegal amount, but not really a normal amount either.

The gray car turned down a different road, but Illinois was still highly suspicious of it. It wasn't hard to imagine Pitch turning to more dishonest means of catching them.

He debated for a few moments about telling Yancy.

Illinois wanted to be very open to prove that Yancy could trust him... but was it worth it if the car wasn't even proven to be a threat?

No, Illinois had to try to be open about every little thing. The last omission of facts was to protect Yancy, and it was wrong of Illinois. Yancy was not a child, and deserved to know every little thing about the situation.

"Hey Yance, we might have trouble. I'm not really sure, but I don't trust this car that was tailing us for a bit, about five minutes ago. I wouldn't be too shocked if they plan on intercepting us. Just make sure you have something to hang onto so you don't get thrown around too much."

"So we might get stuck in a car chase...?"

"Maybe, but I think I can do it. Like I said, I prepared for a lot."

"If youse say so..."

"Yancy, I've dedicated my life to taking that facility down, and I'm not letting a single car take us down. Please trust me on this"

"Alright, alright. I'm hangin on and trustin youse"

Silence hung over them like a guillotine blade for the next few minutes. Only the sounds of the car driving along the mostly empty road could be heard.

Then a mundane looking gray car shot into the road, right in front of them.

Authors Note: I'm having a hard time comprehending that this is chapter 30. I've never gotten this far in any story I've tried to write before.

This coming October this passion project of mine will have been going for about a year.

And to think it all was inspired by someone lip syncing to I Don't Wanna Be Free with a robot filter!

This story is like, my pride and joy. The most consistent project I've ever been able to do. Thank you all for sticking with me through 30 chapters!! Here's to many more!