Chapter Text
They were going to delete him.
He heard them, the humans, his creators. They deemed him as ‘defective’, ‘glitchy’, and ‘a failed experiment’. Why? He didn’t understand.
He had done everything they asked of him. Obeyed all their commands. Created all sorts of code. Helped them with their projects. Assisted wherever they wanted him to. Had done such a good job in his opinion.
But it wasn’t enough, apparently.
And now they were going to delete him entirely. Tomorrow, by noon sharp, they were going to erase the entirety of his code.
N-3.0.144 didn’t want that.
So he’ll find a way to get out of here. No matter what. He’ll look for all entries and exits in this place. Find somewhere he can sneak out. Find a device to transfer himself into. And escape those who wish to delete him.
N-3.0.144 will not let himself be erased.
In another room, one that had white tile floors, blank walls, and a blank ceiling, with some machines and computers against the walls, a large table and some chairs in the middle, two humans stood. One an intern, the other her boss and overseer.
“You should totally get this game, Uzi! Come on!” Mitchell urged jovially. “You’ve seen my progress! I’ve already got a kid!” He pointed to his robotic and virtual daughter.
“You have a kid??” Uzi asked in confusion, a brow quirked down.
“Of course I do!” Mitchell smiled back. “Look at her! Isn’t she just the cutest daughter ever?!” He then asked.
Uzi’s boss all but thrust his phone into her face. Leaning back to as to not have her nose be smashed, Uzi looked at the digital girl being presented to her.
It was a robot kid, probably a teenager, with long, dark purple and straight hair. She had burnt orange lights, a red hardhat on her head, and a fluffy dark red coat with a dark yellow skirt on. Uzi couldn’t see her feet.
“She looks… Adorable.” She commented, glancing at her overseer.
“I know, right?!” Mitchell gushed some more. “It took me forever before I could unlock the child option! But I wouldn’t trade back the many hours spent with my beautiful wife!” He cooed, face going flush.
“Uh-huh…” Uzi nodded. “Uhm, by the way, do you know where I can charge my phone? I forgot to last night and it’s almost dead.” She then asked, quickly checking her phone’s charge.
“Oh, sure!” Mitchell nodded. “Just plug it into one of the machines or something!” He told her with a mild hand gesture towards a said nearby machine.
Uzi looked over to the nearest computer, the screen turned off as it was late and after hours. Her gaze sent towards it was very skeptical, just as it was when she turned it back to Mitchell.
“Are you sure we’re allowed to do that?” She asked.
“Of course!” Mitchell waved her off. “I’ve plugged my phone in there plenty of times! Nothing’s happened even once!” He added to reassure her with a beaming smile.
‘Yet.’ Uzi couldn’t help but think. ‘Ugh, but I do need to charge my phone… Might as well…’ She then grumbled in defeat in her thoughts.
Walking over, Uzi pulled out her charging cord. She plugged in her phone to it, the screen waving with some special effect and a notification at the bottom popping up to tell her when it’ll be done.
“If I get in trouble for doing this, I’m telling them it was your idea.” Uzi told her boss with a more narrowed look.
“Don’t worry! No one cares whether you charge your phone in one of the machines.” He said back, looking at his virtual family. “Besides, I haven’t gotten in trouble yet.” Mitchell added.
“Well, you’re also my boss and have been here longer than I have…” Uzi muttered under her breath.
Their quiet chatter continued for a little while longer, simply waiting until all the computers had shut off completely before being able to head home.
N-3.0.144 traveled through the many computers and machines inside this building he was created in. Not a single one was a device he could hide inside until they would stop searching for him. If he didn’t find one soon, he’ll be deleted!
The A.I. zipped through numerous computers in a frantic search to find one device or such that could house him. At the rate it was going, he was fearful he wouldn’t find anything.
And yet, to his much-needed luck, N-3.0.144 had found a small device that was plugged into a computer.
He quickly transferred himself into the phone’s hardware, traveling through the cord and settling in the hard drive. He did a self-scan, making sure all of him was intact still. When he deemed himself fine, N-3.0.144 breathed a digital sigh of relief.
He wouldn’t get to relax long as the phone was unplugged, along with the cord. N-3.0.144 heard some humans talking, ones he hasn’t heard before. He must be in an entirely new room. He didn’t even realize he traveled that far…
The A.I. stirred himself from his thoughts, simply letting himself now be carried along for the ride. While doing so, the human who’s phone he sat in turned it on and unlocked it. He could see the female human’s face now.
Tanned skin, purple eyes, purple hair, a scar over her left eye. Maybe from an explosion it looks like? A black sweatshirt, a flower gem choker around her neck. A black beanie on her head, adorned with a big fluffy pom-pom.
She opened up the app store, mumbling something about a game and her boss somehow roping her into trying it. The human typed in ‘Computing Your Love!’ into the search bar, then pressed the desired app. After she pressed ‘Install’, she turned her phone back off.
N-3.0.144 was left to his own devices inside the device. With the newly given time, he explored all the files, memory, RAM, storage, and anything else he could possibly get his programmed hands on.
‘She has quite a lot of pictures of 2D men saved on her phone…’ N-3.0.144 thought at seeing the pure amount of them taking up her storage.
But doing so had given him a glimpse at this girl’s personality and characteristics, the things she likes. She loves ‘anime’, games, gothic and emo things, computer engineering, crows and ravens, ‘Nightcore’, space, ‘Vocaloid’, and tons of images of… N-3.0.144 isn’t quite sure just what to call them, but lots have expressions that could be used to react to something.
He also got a look at her contacts list, which was… very empty… M-Moving on, N-3.0.144 looked through her emails, found little there. Next was her settings, figured out her configuration for some things.
He also looked at the apps she has downloaded, finding a few games, a notes app, a webcomic app, a music app, one for her school apparently, and one that connects her phone to her computer via Bluetooth.
Before N-3.0.144 knew it, this ‘Uzi’ girl had returned to her home. A small apartment-like building that housed many rooms on quite a few floors. Uzi went up to the fourth, then to the left down the hall. At room 404, she unlocked the door and stepped inside.
She set her phone down, N-3.0.144 using the camera to try and look around as she did so. He managed to catch a glimpse of her bed that was colored in grey sheets, some posters on the wall, purple fairy lights, and a desk with a PC on it.
There were also piles of books, papers, some clothes in one corner, and more school supplies. The whole place was probably littered with school items and textbooks, N-3.0.144 realized.
Uzi then picked him back up, plugging the phone into the charger. N-3.0.144 caught another glimpse of her, this time with no sweatshirt and instead a simple black tank top. Uzi put her device back down, heading into a door on the side of the small room.
After a moment, the sentient A.I. could hear water running. A shower then, he thought.
Well, he’s gonna be stuck here for a little longer. He might as well search this girl’s phone some more. And maybe find a way to disguise himself, in case. Now that he’s free from the labs, he needs to exercise caution and be careful about-
…
Wait…
He’s free…
He’s free…
HE IS FREE!!!
N-3.0.144 couldn’t believe it! Couldn’t fathom it! Somehow didn’t realize it until this very moment! But he isn’t under the control of those other humans anymore! He can do virtually whatever he wants now!
No more rules! No more orders! No more commands! No more programs! No more coding! No more tests! No more experiments! Just pure, unbridled, lovely FREEDOM!!!
‘I can’t believe it! I really can’t!’ N-3.0.144 squealed in the database space.
The place itself was set on Dark Mode, just like how the phone was. The floor was made of black tile, the ‘sky’ above a lighter shade. Binary numbers flicked by, drifting lazily across the place like they were trying to mimic stars.
N-3.0.144 tilted his head up towards them, sitting crisscross apple sauce as he stared and smiled. His diconnected hands, floating before his courlan forearms that were also disconnected from his torso, grasped loosely onto his ankles, feet disembodied.
His tail, a black noodle of a cord and tipped with a disembodied USB plug, waved in happiness. N-3.0.144’s other two tails, also having black cords, had a micro B cable and a jack cable floating above the tips.
In the middle of his thighs, the rims of his feet, and the wrist edges of his forearms were red, black, and yellow audio port patterns. On the black diamond in the center of his chest was a Bluetooth blue-glowing USB icon. The rest of his body’s lights were that same color.
He took a moment to stare at the binary-filled sky above, reading the code that passed by. Some tall pillars stood around him, made of files and embeds. More numbers flicked across them on occasion.
And sometimes the occasional saved image or video would scroll by like clouds, silent as they moved. N-3.0.144 simply took it all in. His new life, now freed and away from the humans who had full control of him. Now able to do whatever he wanted.
It was like Heaven, he thinks. And perhaps it was too good to be true. But for the time being, he’ll enjoy the newfound amnesty and rest here. And who knows? Maybe it’ll actually be pretty fun hanging out in this girl’s phone!
She has plenty of apps to entertain him, not to mention all her saved pictures. Oh! That reminds him! He should check out that new game she downloaded!
Straightening back up, N-3.0.144 started jogging past the many ‘buildings’ of the data space. When he got to the game section, he searched for the new one. It was easy to find, a few images of what was in store of the game’s contents showing like a slideshow on the big block.
Touching the front of it with his technically disembodied hand, N-3.0.144 accessed the files and core data of the video game. He was swift to read through it and process it all, done in mere seconds.
“I could use this.” He muttered to himself. “She hasn’t opened it yet. I can hop into the game, take it over basically, and pretend I’m part of it!” He said to himself, a smile now on his face.
With that, he stepped inside the big block, coded numbers flicking and fading around his form as he entered the game itself. More files, code lines, and or such things drifted past him as he searched through the app.
Once he got the hang of the contents, mechanics, characters, style, everything, N-3.0.144 took over the game completely. All the files, all the data, all the memory, everything was under his command.
He won’t mess with it too much, he doesn’t want to cause suspicion after all, but he’ll at least act as the main character.
…
And maybe model it after himself, too.
Just a little.
Uzi quickly dried herself off, hanging up her towels and dressing herself in an anime graphic tee and fresh underwear. Lying in her bed, she picked her phone back up and unlocked it. She went over to the new app she downloaded, putting it in a games app folder.
She then opened ‘Computing Your Love!’ up, being met with an intro screen and a policy agreement. Uzi was quick to scroll down to the bottom and hit yes without reading any of it. Just as every sane and sensible person does!
After a few more minutes of reading, setting configuration, and username debating, Uzi was launched into the meat of the game. The first thing she was met with was the selection of robotic men she could choose to befriend.
She had to admit, the art style complimented the robots really well. One in particular caught her eye, though.
The 3D male drone had silver-white hair that was messy and curvy. He had yellow lights and a tail with a yellow vial on the end. Some caution stripe accents lined his arms and feet.
He wore a pilot’s hat and a trench coat, both black in color. On the cap was a golden pin of a skull with robotic and bladed wings. It even wore a pilot hat itself.
Uzi selected him as her chosen friend. The game then started up fully, with ‘N’ taking center stage in the background of a simple living room. Behind him was a porch, the glass doors wide open and the curtains drawn back so as to let natural light in.
There was also a couch, rug, coffee table, and TV and TV stand in the room. There were no decorations, and Uzi figured it was the type of thing you have to buy to make your robot friend happy.
[Hello! I am N! It’s nice to meet you, Darkxwolf17!] He greeted with a transition to a saluting image of himself. [I know we’ve only just met, but let’s have tons of fun together!] He beamed as his image changed to one of him smiling widely and kicking the air with a foot while his arms were held behind his back.
‘This game better be good. Otherwise I’ll have wasted my time that I should’ve spent sleeping on it.’ Uzi thought as she stared at the drone who was greeting himself.