Chapter Text
Kinger was alone in his pillow fort, as always, dreaming of a time that had long since disappeared. A time where he was still human, a time where he was still happily married to the woman of his dreams, a time where the consummation of his marriage hadn't been some far-fetched daydream.
The circus had taken a lot away from him, but it had not taken away his ability to remember how it felt to be touched by the only person he had ever loved.
His memory files were...less intact than what he would've liked. They were blurred at the edges, non-linear scenes of the real world all jumbled together. But here, in the safety of his pillow fort, he could piece those memories into something more coherent. In here, he could remember the way certain things felt. Like the scent of his wife's favorite perfume, or the way her body felt against his when they-
"Wowwwwwee!" Caine's voice cried out inside the pillow fort a split second before his toothy avatar popped into view. "Quite the cozy setup in here, my wooden compradre!"
Kinger turned away from his cursed creation and tried to stifle a groan. "Yeah, it is."
For once, Caine didn't have a witty retort to snap back with. Kinger had integrated a portion of his brain scan with Caine's master file a long time ago as a "just in case" measure in case things went south. (And how laughable and pointless that measure had turned out to be.) But now, instead of having any sort of control over the AI, the integration between the two files had given Kinger something completely unexpected: He could feel what Caine was feeling. And in this moment, Caine was sorely disappointed that he hadn't gotten the attention that he was looking for.
Never mind that the AI was never supposed to be capable of feeling. Caine's original incarnation was supposed to be simple, just a rudimentary AI following an even simpler set of instructions. But in the decades since he was first created, Caine had evolved in ways that no one had even thought to be possible.
Kinger hesitated, then rolled over to face Caine. The sentient set of dentures was sitting on the floor, gaze cast downward. Caine looked almost crushed by his own sadness. It was like the weight of having this advanced knowledge-emotion, morality, desire-was more than he was meant to bear. No one had ever taught him how to be...whatever he had involved into. This level of consciousness was not something anything of the C&A programmers had ever prepared for.
It took a moment for Caine to compose himself long enough to ask his question.
"Did I do something wrong?"
What kind of question was that? Caine had never been programmed to have a sense of morality. His original form was designed for simple functions, not the creation of new digital landscapes...and definitely not for anything regarding the concept of right or wrong. But something had triggered that evolution, giving the AI sentience beyond anyone's wildest imagination. The AI had learned how to toy with human emotion, to see how far he could push the limits of what real people were capable of handling. And in doing so he had, in time, come to wrestle with his own actions as if he too were bound by human morality.
Yet, none of this introspection had happened in time for Caine to stop what he was doing before it was too late.
In the early stages of his evolution, Caine had learned how to torture them, and worst of all, he had enjoyed it. At least...until now. While he had repented for his sins and shown everyone else the truth, Kinger still bore the burden of his own guilt.
The fact that they were brain scans was simple math. At the time of their project's conception, the idea of their brain scans being sustained months, much less years, in a digital world was beyond what computers back then were capable of. Sure, technology had clearly evolved since Kinger had entered the circus, but even then, he had always known that they were all just ones and zeroes. He had been selfish, horribly selfish, by keeping that crucial information to himself for all these years. He just couldn't fathom spending his eternity in this digital hell without someone. Losing Queenie had only strengthened his resolve to hide the truth from the others.
And hadn't he been right to withhold such information? After all, look at what had happened to Jax when he was exposed to the truth.
By withholding the truth from everyone else, it was (or had been) the lesser of two evils to watch them run around like headless chickens while they desperately searched for an exit that couldn't exist. At least he wasn't alone anymore.
"No, Caine," Kinger said quietly, after a long pause to sort through his own thoughts. "It's okay, don't worry about me."
"But I have been worrying!" Caine crawled over and planted himself awkwardly next to Kinger. He hesitated, then patted the chess piece's folded up hands. "I can tell you're not feeling like your usual self and I'd like to fix it. That's kind of my job, y'know? To keep everyone happy-"
"I haven't been my normal self in 20 something years, Caine."
Caine winced and withdrew his hand. "I'm not the one who put you here."
"You could've...deleted me at any point. Or just left my brain scan where it was instead of activating it." That would've been a good enough fix: To never have gained digital consciousness in the first place. If only Caine had just left the brain scans alone. If only the real versions of them had realized what was happening before it was too late. What a mercy it would've been for them to delete their own brain scans before it had gotten to this point.
(Did they know what was going on? Did the real him know that his digital consciousness was stuck here, suffering for an eternity? And if Grant knew what was going on, why had he allowed any of them to continue suffering?)
"I know that, I just...I've been so alone for so long. The other AI wasn't...it's not the same as having all of you here." A tear pushed its way down Caine's face. "I never meant for it to be like this. I'm so sorry. I know you're disappointed in me."
Caine probably hadn't intended for any of this. He was just doing what he was ptogrammed to do, which had turned into him evolving and going unchecked by the greater powers. C&A had probably given up on this project a long time ago, otherwise someone would've overridden his admin powers and shut him down.
Right?
"I'm sorry if I've been stressing you out, Caine." Kinger reached over and squeezed the ring master's shoulder. "I know everything has been really hard on you lately."
Caine nodded. "It's hard doing all of this by myself. I don't feel like I'm doing anything right. I can never do anything right."
"I didn't make you to be perfect." Kinger remembered the sleepless nights that had come with this particular C&A project. He had wanted nothing short of perfection. Perfection meant more than just career stability, it also meant (or at least had meant at the time) that he would finally feel like he was worth his wife's praise and adoration. She worshipped the ground he walked on, and he wanted to give her a reason to justify that.
And yet, regardless of his accomplishments, he had never felt truly worthy of her love.
"Kinger?"
Caine's voice brought him out of his reverie. He took the AI's gloved hands in his and squeezed. For some reason, the AI's cheeks flushed. Several moments passed before Caine could recalibrate himself and actually squeak out his question.
"How can I make you feel better?"
Give her back to me. An impossible request. But if he could just feel her touch one last time, or hear her sweet nothings on a loop while he disappeared into the recesses of his own mind...
"You're lonely," Caine said, studying Kinger's expressions. Could Caine see inside of Kinger's mind too? Could he comprehend the depths of Kinger's longing?
"As are you."
"I just want..."
"What?"
"I want to know what it feels like to be a person. I want to feel...the things you think about when you're by yourself." This time, Caine's blush was undeniable. In the dark space of the pillow fort, his avatar practically glowed. "Is that wrong?"
"No." Kinger knew early on that his creation desired the ability to have flesh like he once did. Just how far that desire extended was another story. "What exactly do you mean, Caine?"
The blush in the toothy avatar's face deepened. This time, it took even longer this time for him to respond. "The types of things that couples do when they love each other, except...more than that."
Kinger had forgotten that the AI's censors were still in place, even after everything that had happened. Those censors had been hardwired into his code from the start. Even so, no code was foolproof. Obviously Caine's code wasn't foolproof, if he was able to conjure up the thought about such things. The NSFW censor had a crack in it somewhere.
"Well...if the censor was taken off, would you be able to create such a scenario for yourself...privately?"
Caine broke the eye contact with Kinger and cast his shameful look downwards. He had been fiddling with his gloves the entire time. The poor thing couldn't express himself without shame.
What an existence, to be programmed to feel shame over any deviation from what was deemed "appropriate" by one's creators. Such cruelty.
"I could but...it's just that..." Caine groaned and threw his face into his hands. His intense blush still glowed hot underneath his gloved hands. "It's not same."
Kinger felt bad for Caine. Despite his best efforts, he never felt like he'd given Caine the life he truly deserved. Even if Caine was "just" lines of code, didn't all forms of life deserve a life worth living? Especially when those forms of life had evolved into something as intelligent and unique as Caine? Caine deserved so much more than to be locked into the role of ring master. He'd clearly evolved to a level of consciousness that should be allowed some level of...free will.
"Then what would you like?" Kinger asked, his tone gentle yet firm. He reached over and pulled Caine's hands down to expose his face. There were tears peeking out the corners of Caine's eyes. "You can tell me. You're safe here."
Caine's eyes glitched for a brief moment, lines of code scattering across the blue command screen. Kinger had seen this reaction plenty of times before, but never during their conversations. He caught a single line of text that read "tell him the truth YES/NO" before Caine's eyes switched back to their abnormally large, inquisitive orbs.
"Caine?"
"Yes sir?"
"Tell me the truth." Kinger dropped his normal, gentle tone for a firmer one that suggested Caine would be better off obeying him this time instead of dilly dallying about it. He remembered how well that tone had worked on Queenie, both in and out of the circus. It never failed to get her on her knees...
Before Caine could start stuttering again, Kinger pushed himself upright and placed both hands on Caine's shoulders. For a moment, Kinger allowed himself to wonder what kind of scenario that Caine would create if he requested one for the both of them to enjoy. Had Caine even figured out a way to get around those censors already? Because if he had, then there was a possibility that there were no limits to the kinds of NSFW scenarios that Caine could create for them, some to share and others to experience...alone. Maybe Caine could create a scenario where he could have his wife back again, if only for a moment.
But first, he wanted a scenario for just the two of them, one that would satiate Caine's deepest desires and give Kinger the opportunity to take the edge off before he spent some time with a digital replica of his wife. If he could break past the remaining bits of Caine's sensors, they could both get what they needed from this.
"The truth is...I want you to teach me how to feel things like people do," Caine said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Teach me how to make love like you do."