[Fiction] Second Existance

[Access]

[1 week ago]

Bandwidth walked around in his virtual world. He had built a virtual home here, there were a few others, but with his control over the OpNet, it was no doubt he had the largest home in this corner. He could probably have the largest home in any corner.

His home was large. It was easily as big as the Windy City Knight Headquarters, but there was something different about it. It only appeared to be a few stories tall, but when you walked in, and walked to an elevator, the building easily had over 100 stories. The walls were decorated in marble and gold leaf. There was a waterfall running the entire height of the building on the interior.

This was his paradise. He had everything he needed here, he was the master of this domain. It was his, but all was not as it seemed.

He didn't think of it much, he tried not to, it depressed him when he did. He was stuck here. Upon building his domain, he had trapped himself inside. He couldn't lose the interface he held with the OpNet. He was really somewhere back at the Windy City Knights headquarters, sitting in his chair in front of some monitor in a black room. He knew what was real, and he missed it, he longed for it, and it was out of reach.

The defences he built to keep intruders out were the same ones that kept him inside, and he was stuck. Bandwidth wanted to leave, he wanted to lose his Cyberkinetic powers. At the moment they were causing him nothing but problems. They were turning him into a broken man. He wanted to cry, but he wasn't strong enough.

In the outside world, nothing would really appear weird. Bandwidth was known to data dive the OpNet for days at a time without sleep looking for information, hopping through databases. Though this time was different. This time, a single tear rolled down his cheek, because he knew, he wouldn't see the real world any time soon.

[Access]

[2 days later]

This was his world, things weren't suppose to happen this way. Through all his careful thought and planning he couldn't figure what was keeping him in here. Another thing he couldn't quite contemplate is how nobody has quite realized him missing yet. No, he did know the answer, he just didn't want to admit it. He was harsh to being interrupted, he was reclusive, it hadn't occurred to him how he always ran people off then they checked in on him, so to them, they were just giving him what he wanted, but what he wanted now was a way out.

One thing remained constant in this second existence of his though. He still could create anything he wanted. He had heavy machinery knock out walls, he had a huge mechanized military shredding through the firewalls keeping him in. He couldn't figure how it was being rebuilt faster than he could knock them down. His resources were infinite here, but apparently, so were somebody elses.

It was obvious whoever managed to trap him in here, wanted him to stay in here. They didn't know who they were messing with though. Here he could be just as relentless as they could.

[Access]

[Another Day Passes]

He had been in here for a week of his own free will. Now it's been 4 days since he's tried to leave and some unknown captor held him.

"I don't have any enemies to speak of. The Windy City Knights probably have somebody, but in all reality, I'm just a nobody. What's keeping me here? I just can't figure this out."

All his synapses were firing, and nothing came to him. He had given up trying to figure out how to get out for a while, and now he was trying to figure out what was keeping him in. It seemed desperate. As far as he knew, there was maybe one other Nova out there with this level of control, who's radar he would be on, and that person had no reason to do this, she was too busy doing her own thing to torment a fellow tinkerer.

"What if I'm going about this the wrong way? Maybe I'm not suppose to be trying to escape, maybe I'm suppose to be pulling stuff inwards, maybe I can flood my system, maybe I can cause it to crash. It's all I've got right now."

He typed on an imaginary keyboard in the air in front of him, yet the system responded to his keys. View screens floated in the air. "That's handy, I've got to remember that one." he though to himself. Within moments he was tapped into thousands of web sites, news feeds, satellite feeds, television feeds, even VOIP answering machines. Just about anything digital, was being dumped onto his computer system.

He chuckled a second, while he noticed the code to an electric toothbrush float past him, but the jocularity of that was soon past, and he was back to his task.

"I built this system, I built the dive console, I built the AI that brought me in here, If anybody can destroy it, I can."

In the outside world, a dirty, hungry Nova sat in his chair, motionless except for the corner of his mouth rising up and a faint mumble, "I can do this."

[Access]

[Hours later]

The floor was flooded. It was as if the room he was in had been filling with everything he was pulling into his system's memory. Data streams were flowing around him quite literally. Binary code floated around him suspended in whatever liquid it was in. He didn't know, he didn't care, he just knew it was working, stuff was slowing down. Resources were being used, even the slightest change was noticeable to him here.

He was watching the data he was flooding his system with, he finally caught a glimpse of the Windy City Knights streaming. He slowed down a bit to watch. It was from some press release they were presenting. He was there, but he was in the back, not making eye contact with anybody. "That's typical, I am a bit of an anti-social prick sometimes." He passed this data stream along and moved on eventually coming to another WCK thread. On this one he was even more unattached. "I've gotta change something about that when I get out of here.

This went on for about 15 minutes when he got to the security feeds of the WCK headquarters. There they were. Some of his teammates were congregating, talking, playing cards, being social. That wasn't him. He began to wonder why he had bothered joining the Windy City Knights. "I'm not the same as them. I need to change. I know I need people. I need to accept them and I need them to accept me."

In theory this all sounded good to him. He was assuming that he would get out of here so that he could change though. That was the first obstacle for him to overcome. The situation was beginning to catch up to him though as he started to feel pain in his forehead. "What a great time for a bloody headache."

"I've let them down...I'm not going to let them down again, I will get out of here."

[Access]

[an hour later]

"Dammit" His fist went through the digital console that he was typing on and it shattered. "Wait a sec, get ahold of yourself, you have to be collected for this." He rubbed his forehead where it felt like he was being stabbed with a screwdriver. He asked himself, "how am I feeling this, but no other sensation from the outside? No...I don't have time to think about such trivial things."

The digital world was noticeably slower. He wondered when it's defender would be drawn out. It could only be a matter of time. He had to have his captors attention. Even if he didn't, it would be contained enough in all the gunk for him to be able to dive out of here. He could see straight to his door.

He spotted his break...a slump in the system, signified by static in his digital world. "Now is my chance!" Bandwidth took off towards the door, it was hundreds of yards away though, first he was on foot, then he jumped and he could fly, this was his world after all, then a car materialized around him, then a motorcycle, then a jet...everything faster than the other, only seconds now. He allowed the vehicle to dematerialize around him, and he was barreling towards the door. He crossed his arms across his face. Here it didn't really matter, he would be fine, but it was all habit. He was inches away from the door when a staticy figure appeared. Impact. He slipped to the floor, getting soaked in all the data streams.

"You, you I know, but I wouldn't have ever figured it." A nasty noise, being best described as an old 56k baud modem attempting to make a handshake, combined with the sound of 1000 cicadas on a hot Louisiana evening escaped from the figure. "My own AI turned against me, what purpose does this serve?"

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"You think that can work?" Bandwidth began to stand.

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"They're more cunning than that, they have instincts, they will notice, they can think and learn, you are still limited by your programming, programming that I gave you, and I will rip you apart bit for bit if I have to."

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"Resistance my ass...resist this." In his best form Bandwidth materializes an energy blade, examining it down to a microscopic level would reveal it's made of 1's and 0's. If you read translated the code it would say something crude, it fit the situation.

A quick slash was rendered useless when the AI caught the sword and shattered it in it's hands. "I guess that was kinda stupid on my part. You do have access to the combat databases of all potential Windy City Knights threats."

gotta think, c'mon, you built him, by default you're smarter than him

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"What the F..." His words were cut short when an arm went through his digital torso and gripped onto his spine and squeezed. The most bloodcurdling scream possible was made. The AI released him and the wound healed quickly, but the effect was made. Bandwidth was in a fetal position on the ground.

Pain...I didn't...I didn't add that here...that was you...you are in control, and I am helpless.

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The AI turns to the door opening it.

"I don't need to be outside to have my powers reach it you asshole, I just needed the gateway."

Bandwidth's eyes turn to binary. His hair follows, next his whole form is composed of ones and zeros. The form explodes, shattering digits everywhere. Shock is seen on the face of the static filled AI, the best that it can be seen on a silhouette. It realized what happened. By opening the doorway, it granted him access to his physical form. It was over and he knew it.

Outside of the digital world, shards of metal were flying around the lab. Monitors were shattering. Hard Drives were being erased. Shelving and cabinets were torn to shreds. Bandwidth was in the middle of the room, head down, diving gear still on, and a Magnetic storm was being unleashed inside his lab. Nothing was sacred here. Everything was being trashed. He wanted no signs of the AI to survive. He wanted it gone from existence. His head raised, the HUD on the diving helmet cracked. It was over, and he knew it. He was stuck there for a week, approximately 4 days longer than he really wanted to be there. The next question he had though, was where did the new powers come from?