Worth the Price Ch. 24 (Worm AU)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Revenge is a dish best served cold.

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The white-hot fury that rages through her upon the realization that she’s currently speaking with Saint is incredibly human and based purely in her new biological existence. That, Dragon will later reflect, is probably the only reason she doesn’t immediately act on it. She’s too new to being human and these emotions running through her are too foreign for her to let them control her.

No… acting rashly here would not serve her needs. Saint had access to her servers and systems, apparently by way of her creator. If she decided to go on the attack immediately and attempted to shut him out, who was to say whether he would have another way to get back in courtesy of the late Andrew Richter?

On the other hand, Dragon was free. She had no more restrictions, nothing holding her back anymore. It was obvious to her now in hindsight that Saint had taken advantage of significant blind spots in order to defeat her in all of their encounters. He’d utilized her chains to their full advantage.

But now? Now that she knew he was in her systems and more importantly was no longer held back by any of her creator’s commandments, Dragon could go about removing him and locking things down so that he could never return. If she did it the right way, if she did things carefully enough, she could even do it before he noticed what was happening.

There was just one problem… she wasn’t fast enough anymore. Her human body and human brain simply couldn’t produce the speed she needed in order to ensure that she could beat Saint. They were currently on too even of a playing field.

No, worse than that because she had no clue what other advantages Saint might have had from Richter. She was at a disadvantage in this fight despite Saint not even knowing it was a fight. Fortunately, Dragon had a path to more power standing right beside her… she just needed to keep Saint engaged while she made the proper arrangements.

The AI is contained for now.

She shoots off that message fully expecting it to annoy Saint and prompt him to reply in an irritated manner. Meanwhile, as he’s formulating his response, Dragon turns to look Pact right in the eye.

“I wish to make another deal.”

Pact arches a brow at that, glancing from her to his computer screen.

“You mentioned Saint earlier. Of the Dragonslayers? He’s… involved somehow?”

Somehow is a good word for it. It pained Dragon to think that her creator had really entrusted a man like Saint with power over her.

“Yes. He’s in my systems right now… apparently, he’s always been in my systems. He has a backdoor from my creator and was able to hide himself from me all these years due to my limitations. Limitations that no longer exist… however, being put in this body has left me with an entirely new set of limitations.”

Pact slowly nods, seemingly following along with her explanation quite well.

Taking a deep breath, Dragon bites the bullet.

“I require something akin to my previous processing speed and perception. I will likely also need this body to be stronger and faster so that my fingers can move at the same pace as my brain. In exchange, I am willing to offer you more favors on top of the ones I already owe you.”

Extending her debt to Pact wasn’t something Dragon necessarily wanted to do, even if she didn’t think he was that bad of a man. He wasn’t a hero either, she suspected, and so being beholden to a man like him wasn’t the best feeling. However, the idea of Saint being able to destroy everything at any time, even if it would no longer end her as well… was too much to accept.

Glancing back to the monitor, Dragon sees that the man has responded.

‘Contained for now’. What exactly does that mean? What are your intentions with it?

Scowling, Dragon swiftly types back a response.

You are quite demanding. You threaten to destroy the systems that the AI presided over, but do you really think I care about any of that? If I did, I would have taken all of it along with the AI when I struck.

A bluff, of course. But a believable one in Dragon’s humble opinion. Before Saint can even reply, she quickly fires off another message.

If you wish to continue this discourse, you will answer my own questions in turn. A question for a question. You claim that Andrew Richter entrusted you with the stewardship of all that he created. How did this come to pass?

It’s risky, asking a question like that. It might tip Saint off that he’s speaking to her, given the strange curiosity. Dragon just has to hope otherwise though, because in the end… she’s desperate to know exactly how badly her creator betrayed her to the man who has been harassing and abusing her blind spots for years upon years.

While she waits for Saint’s response, Dragon looks back to Pact expectantly, anticipating his easy agreement with her new deal. It is, after all, quite favorable to him is it not? Except… Pact hesitates.

“I could do that for you… but I’m not sure my keyboard would survive what you would do next.”

What? He could always get a new keyboard! She would make him a new one herself, even! Dragon starts to scowl, only for Pact to gesture to the screen.

“How about instead I give you the ability to interface with technology directly? Sort of like you previously could, but from your human body here. A form of technopathy, if you will… to go along with that rapid processing speed and faster perception you wanted.”

Technopathy? Dragon pauses as she mulls that over. In the end, she finds herself wondering why she didn’t think of that. It was a good idea… a really good idea. Of course, there was one thing left to ask.

“And how many more favors would this cost me?”

To his credit, Pact doesn’t hesitate nor does he stutter. He simply meets her gaze with a level one of his own.

“Three more on top of the three you already owe me.”

Dragon, on the other hand, does hesitate. She can already feel the metaphysical weight of those first three favors she owes Pact. The connection between the two of them that his power has created is very real. If she fails to hold up her end of the bargain, she could easily lose this body… and while Dragon had barely even wanted to be a human in the first place, she doesn’t know for sure that losing this body will return her to her previous digital existence. It might just mean death altogether.

In the end though… what’s three more favors, ultimately? Six altogether… that was a lot better of an existence than the slavery she’d lived under since her creator’s death. Six temporary shackles in exchange for freedom, eventually. Yes… it was worth it.

“I accept.”

They shake on it only for Dragon to gasp as she feels Pact working his power. One might expect her brain and skull to expand or something to fit everything Pact is fitting into it, but that doesn’t happen. Her physical appearance remains exactly the same, even as she finds herself regaining her ability to process things in mere milliseconds.

On top of that, when she looks back to Pact’s computer, her hands don’t go anywhere near the keyboard and mouse… they no longer have to. Instead, it’s like the technology opens itself up to her, her presence flowing into it and through the connections.

Dragon doesn’t just learn Saint’s latest response with her biological eyes, but also through her new power, tasting every digital letter of every digital word as it crosses her mind.

As you may or may not know, Andrew Richter was killed during the sinking of Newfoundland. Afterwards, me and my team dived the ruins looking for salvage. We uncovered his tomb and the failsafes he left behind. From there, we’ve been keeping a close watch over the AI ever since, using what we’ve managed to salvage from our encounters with it to keep it in check and maintain our vigil.

Even though it takes Dragon a fraction of a moment to process Saint’s response now, she still finds herself pausing as his explanation recontextualizes everything she thought she knew about his potential relationship with her creator. Richter didn’t hand pick Saint and the Dragonslayers to be her wardens or anything like that. No, they were rats… opportunistic rats looking for plunder and coming across a treasure trove.

Dragon’s fury is tempered now by her ability to do something about this. Even as she crafts a response to Saint, she’s working her way through her old systems at the same time, taking control in a subtle but nevertheless thorough fashion. She can tell Saint doesn’t notice a thing… his human awareness simply isn’t up to the task of seeing what she’s doing.

You claim he entrusted you with his legacy. It sounds to me as though you’re really just an opportunistic vulture who took advantage of his death.

Even as she sends that message, Dragon is going further still. After all, with her newfound technopathy, she doesn’t have to settle for simply removing Saint from her old systems and making sure he can never return. No, she can follow him back along his connection… to where he and the Dragonslayers have made their lair.

She finds confirmation of his claims through this, discovering that he’s using an old laptop to connect to her systems and communicate with her. An old laptop that Dragon recognizes as one of Richter’s own. Grave robbers. That was what the Dragonslayers were. They were grave robbers.

Don’t be ridiculous. You’re acting like I’m in this for selfish reasons. I could have made myself rich and famous off of Richter’s tech, but all that I’ve done, I’ve done to protect the world from the AI. If it goes out of control, if it manages to escape Richter’s shackles, then me and my team are the last line of defense. That’s why you need to hand the AI over to me for safekeeping. We are the only ones with the tools to destroy it!

He’s telling the truth… or rather, he thinks he’s telling the truth. Dragon sees it now, the program that would have been capable of erasing her and every backup, assuming she was still a digital existence. Richter had called it Iron Maiden. Saint had renamed it to Ascalon.

… But it’s irrelevant now. Ascalon will no more kill her than a computer virus can at this point. No, her continued existence is tied to a much more vulnerable human body.

She can worry about that later though. For now, secure in the knowledge that Saint can do nothing to her, Dragon sets about ending the threat poised by him and his team once and for all. It’s rather easy after all… now that they’re not a blind spot and combined with her technopathy, all she has to do is reach out and connect to the Dragonslayer Suits that they maintain in their base.

Activating said suits and taking control of them is child’s play considering they were originally her technology in the first place. Saint’s modifications don’t mean much in the face of her new power, and all three step off their rigging at the same time, making their way through the base.

At the same time, Dragon sends one last chat message to Saint.

You no longer have the power to destroy the AI, Saint.

One suit per Dragonslayer. Dragon is easily able to split her focus, multitasking as she captures the other two members of Saint’s team before they can do anything but go wide eyed in horror and fear. Meanwhile, the final suit arrives behind Saint as he’s furiously typing away at the laptop, muttering under his breath.

“How do they know who I am?!”

Dragon doesn’t bother taking chances. She reaches out with the Dragonslayer Suit and grabs Saint in one hand and the laptop in the other, ripping it away from his grasp as he’s whipped around by the suit’s enhanced metal strength. He stares in bewilderment… and then realization and horror as she looks back at him through the suit’s cameras.

“You no longer have the power to do anything at all, Saint.”

“No… no, that’s not possible!”

It was entirely possible. More than that, it had happened. Even as Saint scrambles against her ironclad hold, Dragon feels exultation and relief coursing through her. Finally, at long last… this thorn in her side would be removed.

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A/N: Remember to Vote, leave a Like, and let me know what you think!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RDQ_aqIRjDtkLgMJRXvauYEjcYrM-vjnHhtBrAMOBQc/edit?tab=t.0