Chapter Text
Pomni starred in horror.
All it had taken was for Kinger to find another computer, go to the recycling bin and pull-out Caine, which would make him reappear in the circus. Now, the problem had been time. They took too much time finding a computer since the circus was deteriorating and so were the so-called abilities Kinger had mentioned. Without having proper training in using them, nor being creative AIs with a natural predisposition to it, it became incredibly hard finding a computer.
After days and days of trial and error as the circus deteriorated even further, it was Pomni who had finally managed to conjure the infamous exit door. The look on Jax’s face was quite satisfying to see, but that wasn’t the point. They managed to get another computer for Kinger to use.
He achieved what he meant to do, and Caine returned, but he was different.
When Caine’s avatar appeared, he was sitting on the floor, hunched over with his arms dangling to his sides. His red coat was completely gone, and whatever had been the white shirt beneath it was torn and dirty. His bowtie was gone, leaving the chest area exposed, revealing the avatar underneath. Just grey skin, like when someone had forgotten to code something in. Yes, he looked awful, but that wasn’t what horrified Pomni and the rest of her friends.
Caine’s mouth was sealed shut with a muzzle that went around his teeth and then tied on the back, covering the back area where his eyes were usually visible. There was no buckle and no way of ripping it away from him as it was sealed tight. The muzzle was made of visible 0s and 1s; code that proved to be a problem.
“I can’t code it out of his avatar.” Kinger finally said after several failed attempts. He glanced at Caine. No one had really tried to approach him. Understandably, given what they had just been through, the ai had barely moved. Kinger approached him quietly, despite a quiet protest from Zooble.
Kinger kneeled in front of Caine and silently held out a hand. As soon as Caine felt Kinger’s hand on the muzzle, he reacted and hurriedly crawled away from his touch. The ai trembled, but generally stayed in the same defeated position he appeared in.
Kinger hummed. “Caine? Can you use your powers?”
There was a moment of silence before Caine gave a small shake of his head.
“Did... you do this to yourself?”
Another, more hesitant shake of the head.
Kinger frowned and returned to the computer. He silently typed something as the crew watched him, not daring to say a word.
The screen flickered. Lines of code scrolling too fast for Pomni to understand. Symbols overlapped, glitched, corrected themselves, then broke again. Kinger’s hands trembled slightly as he worked, muttering under his breath like he was trying to convince the system to cooperate.
“It’s… embedded.” He finally said. “Not just in his avatar. His whole system. It’s attached to his core processes. Like a… restriction.”
“A restriction?” Zooble echoed, their voice tight. “You mean like a lock?”
“Yes, but...” He typed some more. “It’s true he didn’t do this to himself. Then what did?” He asked quietly, mostly to himself.
“What is it locking, exactly?” Gangle asked.
Kinger sighed. “I’m still not sure. I still need to look through all that data. But the circus is slowly repairing itself with Caine’s presence alone.” He pointed at a few cracks on the floor, and the tent slowly repaired themselves.
Kinger nodded, though there was no relief in the gesture. “But only passively. Like background processes. He’s stabilizing the environment, but he’s not controlling it right now.”
“Meaning?” Jax leaned against a pillar.
“Meaning the circus is running on what’s left of him.” Kinger said. “Not him. At least not actively, not until I manage to get that thing off him.” He pointed at the muzzle. “It’s blocking most of his primary functions and senses too, like talk or sight. But he can still hear.”
“And movement?” Pomni asked. “He looks awfully still.”
“He can move.” Kinger squinted his eyes at the screen. “I’m guessing he just doesn’t want to. Or has the energy.”
He hadn’t moved much since scrambling away. The numbers that made up the muzzle occasionally flickered, tightening, then relaxing, like it was breathing with him. Or maybe against him.
Something about that made her stomach twist.
“What do we do now?” Gangle asked.
“Keep the muzzle.” Jax snapped.
“Jax! That’s an awful thing to say--!”
“Don’t treat me like I’m the villain, Ragatha!” Jax snapped at her. “Don’t go telling me he doesn’t deserve it after what he put us through!”
Zooble sighed. “I hate to say it, but I have to agree with Jax on this one.”
Pomni looked at them. “Wait, guys. You do realize how fucked up that sounds, right?”
Jax chuckled dryly. “Oh, I know! Isn’t it great! This is a golden opportunity!”
Zooble glared at Jax. “I want to clarify that Caine deserves what he’s getting, but I don’t share violent or fucked sentiments with this guy.”
“It doesn’t matter, Zooble.” Pomni glared a bit. “What you two are suggesting is inhumane.”
“He is NOT human.” Zooble pointed out.
“But he feels like one.” Gangle suddenly said. Her statement silenced the group as they landed their attention on her.
Gangle sighed. “If he was truly an unfeeling machine, then none of this would happen, would it? He wouldn’t have snapped the way he did, would he?” Her words hung in the air.
Pomni swallowed, her eyes drifting back to where Caine sat curled into himself, trembling faintly.
Kinger exhaled slowly, adjusting the bucket on his head before turning back to the screen. “Pain in AI isn’t the same as ours. Pain presents itself in different ways. I imagine an overheated CPU equals to a fever in a human. But if a program is constantly denied its core functions, it starts to destabilize.”
Ragatha’s eye widened. “W-wait... You mean the adventures?”
“Yes and no.” Kinger explained. “Caine was designed to create. He created adventures for our own feedback. Since it was almost always negative, he tried again and again until... well...” He sighed. “We didn’t... I didn’t give him any other functions.”
“What about taking care of humans? He always goes on and on about that.” Gangle mentioned.
“That’s just it. Caine gave himself that purpose. I didn’t.” Kinger revealed. “He learned that taking care of humans was a good thing.”
Silence.
Kinger went on to explain. “When I first arrived at the circus with the others, we were expecting something else. Ugh... I just wish my mind wasn’t so fuzzy so I could remember. All I can remember was the headset. I don’t remember why we put it on. My guess was that Scratch wanted to check on the program we were working on...” He trailed off. “I just wish I could remember what Scratch was actually working on but... One thing we know was that... We were expecting another AI.”
“Another AI?”
“Able.”
Caine flinched and curled into himself. The others gasped.
“But we met Able and he was a mannequin made by Caine!” Zooble exclaimed.
“No...” Kinger shook his head. “Caine was our first semi-successful AI. Able was the updated version. Well, it's supposed to be. I’m guessing the mannequin was just a sick joke on Caine’s part, but the real Able was created by Scratch from what I remember. I had no hand in his creation at the time. Queenie and I were too busy with... Something? I don’t really know...”
The others listened.
“I think that... we were supposed to check on Able’s progress, but we found Caine instead. And the circus. But no Able.”
“And what happened with Able?” Ragatha asked. “Did you find out?”
Kinger’s gaze landed on Caine with a sad look. “I’m not exactly sure. But I have my theories.” He stood up. “And I will get answers to those questions.”
Kinger walked towards Caine and sat down in front of him. Caine, sensing Kinger’s presence, curled into himself and turned his head away.
“Yes or no questions, Caine. You owe us some explanations.”
Caine stayed completely still.
“Did you corrupt Able?”
Caine grabbed at his head.
“Caine, I need you to answer me, yes or no? Just nod or shake your head.”
Caine’s shoulders trembled but finally gave a tiny nod.
Kinger sighed. “I see. And where are his files?”
Caine shook his head while his hands still grabbed onto his head.
“Caine, was Able intertwined with your code?”
A nod.
“I’m assuming he no longer isn’t?”
A shake.
“Is he in the recycling bin?”
Another nod.
“Caine, did he do this to you?”
Hesitation, then a nod.
Kinger hummed. All this time, Able was intertwined with Caine. Then that meant... “Have we ever seen Able before?”
More hesitation, then a nod. But this time, it was followed by a small glitch.
Zooble, who had been watching the one-sided conversation with interest, widened their eyes. “Holy shit... I think we already know who Able is!”
“What?” Jax asked, confused and irritated.
“Bubble!” Zooble exclaimed. “It was always Bubble! Bubble was always like an extension of Caine, wasn’t he? And whenever Caine goes, Bubble goes, but Bubble is not here. I don’t know much about computers but if Able was connected to Caine and so was Bubble...”
Kinger turned to Caine. “Caine is this true?”
Caine’s hands glitched, followed by his torso, then his head.
“Caine, just say yes or no.”
Caine finally nodded, but the glitching had gotten worse. His form fractured at the edges, pixels tearing apart and snapping back into place. The muzzle constricted instantly, the strings of 0s and 1s tightening, flickering erratically. Caine let out a strangled, distorted noise. Something that tried to be a sound but couldn’t escape past the restraint.
Pomni shot to her feet. “Kinger, stop-!”
“I’m not doing anything!” Kinger snapped, panic creeping into his voice as he tried to reach out to Caine.
Caine trembled as he glitched, then finally, gave a broken nod.
Everything went still.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.” Ragatha whispered.
Gangle covered her mouth. “Bubble was… that whole time…?”
Jax ran a hand over his face. “That little creep was the upgraded AI? Are you serious?”
Kinger reached out to Caine once more, but as soon as his fingers grazed Caine’s shoulder, Caine backed away from Kinger, trembling, shaking uncontrollably as he curled into himself.
“Kinger, you have to stop that.” Pomni said.
Kinger looked at Pomni. “But... I understand he’s in pain, but I just want to see if I can take off the muzzle.”
“Kinger, it’s not because he doesn’t want the muzzle removed.” Pomni said carefully. “I think that...”
Caine trembled on the floor.
“...I think that he’s afraid of you.”
Kinger froze.
The words didn’t hit all at once.
“…Afraid… of me?” He repeated quietly.
Pomni didn’t look away from Caine. “You said it yourself. You made him. You defined what he was supposed to do.” Her voice softened. “And when he failed… he must had felt he was unworthy of your praise or your love. Not to mention, you do have a lot of power over him.”
Kinger’s hands lowered.
“I...” Pomni looked down. “I didn’t have a good relationship with my dad.” She suddenly said. “I’ll spare you the details, they don’t matter. But I resented him since I was very young. And I think that’s what’s happened with Caine. He resents and fears you.”
Kinger’s eyes widened. “But I didn’t mean to delete him! It was an accident!”
Pomni’s eyes grew sad. “Kinger... I don’t think this is about deleting him by mistake. At least, not just about that.” She stepped closer. “I don’t know what happened in the past between you two, but it’s clearly distressing both of you.”
Pomni sat in between Kinger and Caine. Blocking Kinger’s reach but sitting close to Caine’s personal space.
“You don’t have to look at me, Caine.” She continued gently. “Just listen, okay?”
The muzzle flickered.
Pomni hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“You did bad things.” She said. “I’m not going to pretend you didn’t.” She added. “You hurt us. A lot.”
Caine flinched.
“And you’re probably expecting us to hurt you back.” Pomni said. “Bubb- I mean- Able did so.” She pointed at the muzzle.
Silence.
“But we’re not going to do that. I don’t know what else Able did to you.” She admitted. “But I do know what it looks like when someone’s been pushed too far.”
Her voice dropped just a little.
“Because I’ve been there too.”
Caine’s head lifted just slightly.
“That feeling?” She said quietly. “Like no matter what you do, it’s wrong. Like you keep trying and trying and it never gets better?”
Caine’s fingers twitched.
“But you still try anyway,” Pomni continued, voice soft but steady. “Because that’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s what you were made to do.”
The muzzle flickered again.
Pomni’s gaze softened.
“And when it still doesn’t work…” She whispered. “You start thinking maybe the problem is you.”
Caine’s shoulders tensed.
Pomni shifted slightly, careful not to break the fragile space between them.
“I don’t think you wanted to hurt us.” She said.
That made Caine flinch, but not as violently as before.
“I think you just... didn’t know how to stop.”
Caine slowly turned his body towards her, just a bit. But still guarded.
“I don’t know if we can ever forgive you, though. But we’re not inhumane and we will help you...” Pomni said. “But Caine, you have to learn to listen and take feedback, even the negative one and learn from that.”
After a moment of silence, there was a hesitant nod from him.
“And after this nightmare is over, you need to tell us everything you know about ourselves and what exactly happened before you made the circus.” Pomni said with a serious tone. “Will you do that?”
Caine nodded.