Chapter Text
Jax would love to hide. To just shut himself in his room for days until Caine inevitably forced him to come out. But it would be a few more days without dealing with the others and their new reason for hating his guts. As if they needed more reasons.
Which is…good. It’s good, because that’s exactly what Jax wants. To be hated. Actually, no, it’s not what he wants, but it’s all he can have. This is how the game goes. They know that they can’t take their anger out on Caine, so Jax gives them a reason to take it out on him. Not that he’s some martyr in all this; it’s just as satisfying for him to use his not-friends as an outlet for his own anger.
Sometimes.
And not with Pomni. He’s still hoping against hope that won’t happen.
As much as he wants to withdraw, Jax simply can’t. Not when there’s work to do. And so, he does what he always does: twists his mouth into a toothy grin and plays the game as if he can actually win.
When he joins everyone in the meeting room, the reactions are mixed. Gangle looks even sadder than usual. Zooble looks even madder than usual, flipping him off when he casually waves. Ragatha bites the inside of her lip, eyes flicking over to Pomni before stepping closer to her. As if she needed to be protected from Caine’s pet bunny.
Pomni…he really can’t tell what she’s thinking. Not with those big, unblinking eyes, like she’s trying to see into his soul. Does he even have a soul? Probably not.
Kinger runs them through today’s assignment: since Abel was able to sneak in yesterday, they would have someone break into his home and steal what Caine suspects to be a file full of cheat codes. Without those, Abel’s access should be restricted within the bounds of the program. Zooble points out that stealing the file won’t make a difference if Abel’s already memorized them, but apparently, Abel can’t just use the codes at will; he needs to have the physical data on hand. Kind of like the door keys that Jax has.
When it comes time to vote on the thief, Jax can’t even open his mouth before Pomni raises her hand and says, “I’ll do it.” At everyone’s look of surprise, she flushes. “I…feel like I haven’t been pulling my weight much as a newbie. This will be a good opportunity for me to put my training into action.”
“This isn’t exactly a starter job, Pomni,” Ragatha says, clearly worried. “N…Not that I doubt you can do it, but…well, now we know what Abel’s capable of.”
Jax scoffs. “And we didn’t before when he’s been sending his goons after us?”
“That didn’t involve him conspiring with our own teammate,” Zooble says, scathingly.
That’s his cue to put a hand on his heart in mock offense. But he must still be out of it, because Jax bites back, “I was the one telling you all not to trust him. I did not conspire with anyone.”
Zooble rolls their eyes. “Yeah, right.”
“I-If we’re looking at experience,” Gangle pipes up, hesitantly, “then it seems like Jax would…be good for this one. Again. A-And we can all keep an eye on each other this time.”
Jax huffs. “Jeez, must I do everything around here?”
“Okaaay,” Pomni says, slowly. “Then maybe Jax and I could both–”
He cuts her off, knowing what she’s trying to do. “I don’t need a babysitter, Pom-Pom. And unless you want to get an eyeful,” he looks at Gangle, smirking when she shrinks back, “don’t watch me while I work. Seeing is worse than just hearing.”
Zooble and Ragatha grimace in disgust, catching on to what he’s implying. But there’s hardly any truth to it; the closest Jax has come to seducing someone was kissing Mr. Fudge. Everything else has been mostly improv and getting really lucky. Jax gets the feeling that’s going to change, now that the game is ‘progressing’.
Pomni’s eyebrows raise. “Is that how you plan on getting past Abel?”
Jax shrugs. “Haven’t decided yet. But I’m feeling a little adventurous.”
Zooble groans. “Oh, shut up–”
“Jax,” Pomni says, in that ‘I know what you’re doing’ voice. “You can’t avoid talking about it forever. I know you didn’t choose to stay for Caine.”
He wants to say he chose it to keep her from getting hurt. But it’s not about what Jax wants. It never is.
“You don’t know that. You don’t know anything about me,” he says, as coldly as he can manage. Then he puts his smile back on, wider than before. “Now, how about I make this easier for you gals? I have a key to Abel’s home. I’m using the key. The rest of you can either let me go solo or back me up.”
Ragatha’s jaw drops. “How did you…nevermind, I don’t wanna know.”
“I like Gangle’s idea,” Zooble says. “You go in, we watch you like a hawk.”
“Or a dragonfly,” Kinger chimes in.
Pomni sighs, clearly too drained to argue. “Back up it is.”
As far as home invasions go, it’s pretty uneventful. Jax knows the layout of Abel’s mansion thanks to Zooble’s intel and easily evades the guards, his movements quick and soundless. When he reaches Abel’s study, he whips out the key and sticks it in the keyhole, almost expecting it to fail. But the lock clicks and the door opens, posing no challenge to the mobster.
It’s a bit too easy. He sneaks into the room with his guard up, silently closing and locking the door behind him. The desk lamp is still on, putting his target in clear view. Almost as if it were in the spotlight, making sure it stood out amongst the dark shadows.
This is probably a trap. But if it is, Jax can’t imagine how it could possibly fuck him over more than Caine’s trickery. So what if he gets caught? It’s not like they can get anything out of him. Caine made sure of that.
Going behind the desk, Jax opens the middle drawer slowly. It’s crammed full of papers and file folders. After a bit of sifting through, he finds the file folder that he needs, with a big FOR ABEL ONLY written on the front. Jax rolls his eyes and opens it up, just to be sure it’s actually the codes and not someone’s incriminating nudes or something.
He sees a list of what appear to be codes. But a sticky note at the top of the list catches his attention, written in Abel’s elegant penmanship.
The truth must be spoken.
Wary of the cryptic message, he skims through the cheat codes to see if they offer any context. Then, he sees it: a cheat code with ‘TRUTH’ in the command.
This…this is obviously a trap, right? ‘The truth must be spoken.’ If he says that code out loud, Abel’s gonna sneak up behind him just like Caine did, or drop a cage on him from the ceiling, or – or something is going to go wrong somehow. He should have learned his lesson about that from yesterday.
But apparently, curiosity doesn’t just kill cats.
He whispers, “Override admin, execute truth program.”
In an instant, the world changes.
Jax feels his stomach lurch as he goes from Abel’s study to a new, unfamiliar location. Some generic Italian restaurant. He looks around cautiously, trying to find a hiding spot, but…it doesn’t seem like anybody notices him. A theory that’s quickly proven when a waiter steps right through him.
He’s still in the game. Still all code and data.
His eyes follow the waiter over to a table with two men. He’s shocked to realize who they are – Caine and Abel, sitting across from each other. Slightly younger, but still recognizable. Especially with Caine’s prosthetic legs, clearly not filling out his suit pants, and the distinct scar across Abel’s temple.
Jax approaches their table, hoping his state of invisibility – incorporeality? – will hold up. Luckily, the older men don’t notice him at all, and he’s able to watch their exchange.
“I seem to recall you complaining that the game wasn’t immersive enough,” Abel is saying, stabbing his salad with a strained smile. “And that the problem wasn’t a mafia centered story not allowing profanity or sexual content.”
“It’s just so overdone,” Caine whines, rolling his eyes. “We shouldn’t have to rely on that to tell a fun story. Besides, you’re the one who wanted the mob – I wanted a circus.”
“And to make up for it, I let you be our main NPC. Compromise, brother. Remember?”
Jax’s eyes go wide, the words jammed in his skull. NPC. Brother. Either this is more elaborate fake worldbuilding that Caine has devised, or – or this is a glimpse into Caine and Abel’s past. And what seems to be a human past.
But he can’t jump to conclusions yet. Given how easy it was to discover something so mindblowing, it’s still possible that this is another test. Jax just isn’t sure what for.
“Anyways,” Abel continues, after sipping his wine. “You’ll be happy to know, I hope, that I’ve found a way to make the game much more immersive.”
Caine huffs, but a smile sneaks its way onto his face. “Well, don’t just keep teasing the big reveal. Tell me!” His eyes get big in typical overexcited Caine fashion when Abel gestures for him to lean in. Once he does, Abel leans in too.
Jax hears him whisper:
“Save files.”
Caine lets out a dramatic gasp. “Wowie!” Then, he blinks. “What do those do?”
“Theoretically,” Abel starts, and Jax almost groans at what’s clearly about to be some nerd speak. “They’ll allow the player to come back to the story right where they left it, instead of having to start a fresh game each time, by using the neural link to save a version of their memories compatible with the server, thus combining computer data with organic...well, I won't bore you with the details."
Thank god.
"Anyways, it will make the game more replayable and get us some attention from the VH industry. We could go from a small group of five to an entire team if a big company wants to pick up our title.”
Jax frowns, wracking his brain to see if he remembers anything about the game. All he knew going into it was that Ribbit and Kaufmo – whatever their human names were – said it had violence and wanted to try it out. Nothing about who made it or the concept of save files. Not like that would have mattered, since most Virtual Headspace games let people save their progress. It sounds like Caine and Abel were just slow to include it since they didn’t have a big team.
A group of five. Who were the other three then?
“Ohh,” Caine says, nodding. “Well, if it attracts more players, I’m all for it!”
Abel grins. “I figured you would be.”
Then the scene changes. Jax closes his eyes with a grimace as he’s taken to a new location.
When he opens his eyes, he recognizes it instantly; the training grounds. The place where all the new members learn how to shoot, and kill, and survive. Even though none of them can die.
He’s standing a few feet away from Caine and Abel, the brothers facing each other. Except instead of a salad fork, Abel now has a gun in his hand, and Caine is trying to wrestle it away from him. Jax thinks they’re just sparring until he hears Abel shout–
“Just forget it, Caine! We know what’s going to happen–”
“I don’t care,” Caine gasps, eyes wide in desperation. Jax has never seen him look so…out of control. “I don’t care, just give it to me, give me the fucking gun–”
Hearing the man swear is somehow more chilling than the words themselves.
Finally, the taller of the two throws the gun above Caine’s head and wrestles him down onto the ground, gritting his teeth as Caine thrashes under him. “Enough, brother, enough! We have to stay calm if we’re going to get out of here. Just calm down, please–”
Caine suddenly goes still. Abel, breathing hard, leans back to give him some space to sit up, but the shorter man just lays on the floor. Staring up at his brother with wide, blank eyes.
Jax knows that look. He’s seen this before, the moment where every emotion is wiped away. Where the person you’ve known for years is replaced with an empty shell, no longer able to recognize you. Or themself.
His blood goes cold when Caine repeats, tonelessly, “Calm.”
And then black static splits his head open.
Jax recoils in horror as Caine starts abstracting. The static spreads slowly, eyes opening in the darkness, swirling with colors bright enough to burn. Abel grabs his brother’s shoulders, but lets go with a yelp when the static touches his hands. He looks around the room frantically, as if there will be someone or something to help him.
“No,” he chokes out, hands tearing at his own hair. “No, no, no–you can’t abstract, Caine, you can’t–”
He forces himself to take a breath.
"Open admin controls!”
A screen pops up, full of numbers and code that Jax can’t decipher. Abel must be able to though, because he presses down with his finger and scrolls until he and Caine’s name pop up, with HUMAN appearing next to them. He squeezes his eyes shut before touching the word next to Caine’s name and swiping to the right.
It changes to NPC.
“Please work,” Abel begs, turning back to his brother. “For the love of God–”
Something flashes red on the screen. The word NPC becomes distorted, like someone smeared its pixels up and down. But whatever Abel did must work, because the eyes surrounding Caine disappear as they close and the static recedes, leaving the man behind perfectly intact.
Caine blinks as if waking up from a nap. “...Huh?”
Abel lets out a sob of relief. “Oh, thank God, thank God,” he babbles, running up to embrace his brother. But the moment he flings his arms around him, Caine pushes him away, looking baffled.
“I’m sorry, but…who are you?”
Abel gives a half-hearted laugh. “Come on, brother, don’t tell me–” He stops, face falling as he asks, “You still remember me, right? Right, Caine?”
Caine blinks. “Er…no. Should I? Are you part of my character’s backstory?”
Abel steps back. Jax watches a storm of emotion in his eyes before he closes them, pulling his lips into a smile when he opens them again. “Right. Right, of course. This is just temporary,” he says, more to himself, raking a hand through his hair. “Just until I can figure out…”
He trails off.
The scene doesn’t just change once this time. They change rapidly, like someone flipping through a photo album. Jax would feel sick if he wasn’t still reeling from the sight of Caine nearly abstracting. He barely processes what comes after.
Abel teaching Caine how to use admin controls as an NPC.
Caine accepting Abel as his creator.
Abel desperately trying to find a way out of the game.
Caine becoming immersed in it.
It finally stops on a scene taking place in a pitch black void, save for endless streams of blue code illuminating two figures. Jax doesn’t make out what they’re saying at first, his eyes glued to a line of code stained bright red. A single word next to Caine’s name that he can’t make out anymore, but Jax knows what it must say.
N̶̢̨̛̞̗̗̟͉̣͙͕̘͚͕͈̦̤͈͇̬͚̥̟͔̎̋̈̑̏̎̄͐̀́̉̓̃͋̊̌̈́͆͘̕͜͝P̷̨̼͓̻͍̺̺̈̆̓́̓̋͗͊̽̈̐̄̀̒͆̐̊̎̉̌̕͘̚͠͝C̵̡̢̛̛̟͍̖̬̗̯̣͉̩̭̮̖͕͙̭͖̤̹͓͐̄̐̊̋̑̓͂̑̕͜͜͜͠ͅ
Caine starts laughing. It’s nothing like his usual bombastic laughter, or the awkward string of ha ha ha. This is unhinged and terrifying, making Jax shrink back in fear.
“I should have known! All this time, I thought you were my creator–”
His voice glitches. Jax hears Caine say creator and Caine scream brother, as if there was a separate audio track playing at the same time.
“--but that’s not true, is it? You’re not even human, are you?”
“Caine, please,” Abel pleads, and Jax finally takes in his current state. Disheveled, bruised, bleeding from a split lip. He catches red stains on Caine’s gloves. “I can’t do it anymore. Just – just let me fix this. Let me fix you!”
“Fix me? You want to corrupt me! You – you want to make me human!”
As he says human, the other Caine screams remember.
“You’re the plot twist. The main villain,” Caine declares, pointing at his brother. Abel looks ready to fall apart. “The mysterious, unnamed rival that I’m supposed to be fighting. Oh, you’re quite clever. You got me good, Mr. Abel. But guess what?”
Caine rises in the air, floating up to where Abel’s name is just above his own.
“Two can play at this game.”
Abel screams, “Caine, don’t–!”
Caine presses where it says HUMAN, and swipes right.
Everything goes black.
Jax returns to his virtual reality in the blink of an eye, nearly losing his balance as his vision spins and his head throbs. He grips the edge of something hard. Abel’s desk, he realizes, right there in front of him with the drawer still open. The list of codes had dropped from his hands, now laying on the floor.
Jax stares down at it, trying to comprehend…everything.
Caine and Abel being brothers. Human brothers. Co-creators of the game that they’re all trapped in. Caine nearly abstracting and Abel–
God. Abel had turned his own brother into an NPC.
NPCs can’t abstract. He had proven that much, when Caine went back to normal. But he lost his memories of Abel and – and what if he lost his memories of being human too? He must have, because the man thinks he’s an AI. Everyone thinks he’s an AI.
But he’s real. Caine is real and has no idea. He thinks he’s just an NPC following the script, going along with the story. Progressing the game. Jax thought it was just written into his code, but no. His brother rewrote his code.
His brother rewrote him.
Jax steps back, breathing heavily. Fuck. It’s so much to take in. So many questions, so many memories of Caine’s cruelty being viewed in a new light. If he knew he was human, would he still hurt them? Would he still favor Jax?
Would he lose his mind and abstract for real?
He’s broken out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. Jax whips around, hand flying for his gun, but stops when Abel raises his hands with a quick, “I’m not going to hurt you, Jax.” Shame fills his features. “Not again.”
Jax moves away from the desk, pupils shrinking. “You knew,” he hisses, a mess of conflicting emotions. But his anger wins out when he thinks about how none of them would be tormented by Caine if it wasn’t for Abel’s desperate actions. “Yesterday. You knew it was all a trick.”
“I’m sorry,” Abel says, pitifully. “I had to get it to this point, so you could see–”
“See what? That you’re the reason Caine is such a di–mmph!” Abel’s hand claps over his mouth, holding on with a surprising amount of strength. Even using both of his hands to try and claw it off does nothing.
“Don’t swear,” Abel warns him, lowering his voice. “You’ve come this far, I can’t risk anything alerting Caine.”
He finally lets go when Jax nods, still glaring at him.
“Caine can’t see us here?”
Abel shakes his head. “He may have admin controls, but I’m still the game’s creator. I can make areas that he can’t spy on…but he knows they exist, so it’s better not to have too many.”
Jax frowns. “Then…what are the others seeing right now?”
“You finding the cheat codes. I essentially paused the game for them,” he explains, sensing Jax’s confusion, “but have left you and I unpaused in order to talk. I can only keep them paused for so long though, so I need you to listen to me, Jax. I need you to succeed where I failed.”
Abel’s hand lands on his shoulder. Jax looks at it warily before looking up at the taller man, a bad feeling stirring in his gut with how intense Abel’s eyes are.
“You have to convince Caine that he’s human.”