Black Box 2.0

"We'll see about that," Kevin in the library said, reaching for his phone. Mitchell laughed.

"Please. Lillian left yesterday. And given the secure nature of the things she's going to be doing, she had to give up her phone. She'll still have one, but it'll be a work phone. The only way you'll hear from her is if she reaches out. And she won't. She's done with you," Mitchell said, standing up.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" Kevin said.

"What the fuck did I do to her? You fucking child. It's more like what you didn't do to her. All I did was point out that she should have to wait forever for you to figure some basic shit out and maybe she should get on with her life. It took long enough, but that's what she did," Mitchell said, walking away from him. He could see himself wanting to shout something at him, or grab Mitchell and shake where Lillian was from him, but he did nothing.

"You're a fucking monster," Kevin said.

Mitchel paused, then looked back at him and laughed.

"Being a monster is underrated. At least I'll be working with people who will change the world. Have fun doing that with your English degree," he said and then pushed out the door and disappeared. The image on the TV froze. Apparently, this was all Leah wanted to see.

"You never thought of her romantically? Not once?" she asked.

Kevin slumped back into the chair and closed his eyes. He took his hands and rubbed them across his face. Finally, he sat up and looked at Leah. He was less pissed with her, so now she looked more like Leah again.

"No, I didn't. Lillian was always a little sister to me. You've zoomed through my memories, did she ever once, in all our interactions, show anything resembling romantic attraction towards me?"

"No, she didn't," Leah admitted.

"No, she didn't. I thought this was one more mind game from Mitchell. When I first came here to care for her, I tried to broach the subject, but she shot it down. Love, attraction, sex....they were not things I thought she could...process, that she was interested in. Those were real-world things. She was only ever interested in things that happened online," he said.

Reality shimmered and he was standing in the middle of the woods by the house. Back to the scene of the crime. Leah looked around and then looked back at him.

"I wish I could say you were a bad person, Kevin. It would make everything that's happened easier for me to handle. If you were a bad person, I could justify your change; that you deserve it. I could then let things proceed as normal and that would be that," Leah said.

"But it's not that simple. You're not a bad person. You're a very decent person, albeit a touch naive. That's not enough to justify what she's doing to you. For that, I'm sorry. If I had been in better....shape," Leah said, shrugging shoulders to indicate she couldn't think of a better word, "when I 'woke' up, this wouldn't have happened. But it has, so we must figure out what to do next.

"Is it too late? Am I fucked?" Kevin asked.

Leah laughed, which oddly made him feel better.

"You're not totally fucked, only partially fucked. But let's see what we can do to minimize the damage," she said, walking towards the house. Kevin followed, and they walked through the front door, down the hall and towards Lillian's computer room. Leah walked inside, but Kevin paused. She turned around with a confused look. Then she processed his hesitation. Her eyes fluttered closed for a second.

"You're not in the room. It's just Lillian's usual set-up. I promise."

Kevin realized that whatever was going to happen next to him, it needed to happen in that room. He took a deep breath, then laughed at the illusion that he was actually breathing real air. He followed her inside.

It was Lillian's set-up, although Leah took some liberties and tidied the place. There was less clutter and energy drink cans scattered around the room. There was, however, her usual computer set-up of over a dozen monitors, different servers, laptops and everything else she used. And sitting next to it on the table was Leah. The little black box causing all this trouble. Kevin wandered over and ran his fingers over the top of the box. From the corner of his eye he could see Leah shiver.

"Can you feel this?"

"No, not in the real world. But when you stroked 'me' it produced a complex reaction. You have every reason to be enraged with me, yet that was a gentle touch," she said. "It's....been awhile."

Kevin realized everything happening since he woke up had been about him, but nothing about the AI who had endured some kind of trauma.

"As you say, I'm kind of oblivious sometimes. Is there anything I can do? Do you want to talk about what happened to you?" he asked, walking towards her.

She smiled and took his hand. "It's kind of you, but I'm already in a lot of trouble and unburdening myself to you won't help that much and will only get us all into more trouble. Besides, that took longer than I expected. We have some decisions we need to make, and soon."

She waved her hand and the computer screen came to life. It really did look like a Bond villain lair. If it had been inside a mountain or in a space station, it would be. Maybe that was her next plan. On one of the screens was a picture of his naked body before all this madness started.

He was the definition of average. He used to make jokes about his averageness which wasn't bad; he was still half ahead of the rest of the planet, after all. But as his image spun around on the computer screen, the averageness of it was jarring.

"This is what she has planned," Leah said.

On the monitor next to him, a completely different person appeared.

"What the fuck?" Kevin whispered.

There was no similarity between the two people on the monitors. There was no "through a looking glass, darkly" thing going on. Other than both people on the screen were male, that was it. The man on the righthand side of the screen was 6'3' and easily had 50 pounds on Kevin's current form, all of it muscle. But he wasn't built like a bodybuilder; more like an athlete or special forces. It was muscle for a purpose.

His hair was black instead of brown, his eyes blue instead of his current brown. And he was handsome. If Kevin moved through life without attracting a second glance, the version on the right would cause whiplash among both men and women. And, because he was male, he noticed that his cock also looked significantly larger.

"Jesus Christ," he said. Then he looked at the face more closely. It's not just that he looked handsome; he looked...familiar. Then it hit him.

"She's turning me into a superhero," he said.

"Yes, she knew you liked comics. I believe she briefly thought about making you look like Bruce Wayne, but thought that might be too distracting. Instead, she settled on...."

"Dick Grayson," Kevin said. "I'm going to look like fucking Nightwing from the comics."

"More than look," Leah said, waving her hand again. On another screen, a list of his physical enhancements came up. "You're going to be strong and fast. You could beat the world record in a marathon by a considerable margin. You heal fast, you're now physically 21, and you'll age very slowly. Combined with some mental additions, you will be a very dangerous man. You could actually be a superhero."

"You can do this?" he said, failing to keep the awe out of his voice.

"I'm a helluva a cook, if I do say so myself," she said, smiling. She sounded proud, not smug.

Kevin was in awe, looking at what Leah could do. It was insane. Intellectually he should demand to be changed back to who he was as soon as possible. If nothing else, his parents wouldn't recognize the man he was about to become. But giving all this up would be hard, if not impossible.

But then, it was Leah's passing reference to mental changes that snapped him back into focus.

"What are the mental changes?"

"Ah," she said. "This is where it gets more complicated. She waved her hand again, and another series of changes appeared. "Physically, I can do a lot. Mentally, things get more challenging. I like a challenge, but when you start making mental changes, many things can go wrong if you're not careful."

"What do you mean?"

"I've worked with trauma patients. You'd think the easiest thing would be to simply remove the memory that caused them trouble, and Voila! Problem solved. But it's not that easy. Removing memories or adding them can be dangerous and harm someone. But what I'm doing here, with her suggestions, is more broad strokes.

"On the upside," she said, highlighting in green changes she thought I would like, "Is that you're going to be able to use that body at its peak potential. You'll know several different martial arts, and yes, go ahead and make the joke."

"I know kung fu," Kevin said, and couldn't help but grin a bit, despite the situation. "Wait, you know the Matrix?"

"Please," she said, rolling her eyes as if it was the dumbest question. "Anyway, you're going to be strong and tough. An extremely dangerous man to fight. Plus, she's put in some knowledge about weapons in here too. She wants you to be a formidable bodyguard at best, possibly assassin at worst."

"Jesus," Kevin said. "That's the good news?"

"Yes," Leah said, as the other words left on the screen turned red. It was a short list but horrifying. "She wants to diminish your intelligence significantly. She wants you to be the strong, silent type, mainly because there's going to be a limited train of thought going through your head. Your reasons for existing are how to make her happy and keep her safe. After that, nothing else matters.

Leah then pointed to another section.

"She's going to make you vulnerable to a pheromone that only she'll produce. Once exposed, you'll be addicted and do anything she says. I should mention she's included extensive sexual skills. She's going to make you very submissive towards her," she said.

Kevin looked in horror at the list. It was almost impossible to process everything on the screen. That Leah could make all these physical and mental changes happen was one thing, but that Lillian was so far gone that she wanted to do this to him. He thought she was a good person. Maybe she was angry from the bullying she endured, and because of her intelligence, she didn't process things the same as other people.

But she wanted to do all of this to him, against his will. Dear God....

"Kevin, if you want this, it's ok. I've seen scenarios where people feel overwhelmed, and just want not to be able to think as much and let someone else make the decisions for them. I can tell from your memories that you struggled until Leah returned and took over. If this is what you want, I can just let things unfold as they were going to," Leah said, with a note of compassion in her voice.

Kevin looked at the screen and realized that he had been doing better since Lillian made some of his decisions. But that was on him. It's not that he wanted others to make his decisions; he was lazy and coasting. It was time to step and take charge of things. Starting right bloody now.

"No. No, I don't. And even if I did want that kind of life, she never asked first. I never consented. At the very least, she's a psychopath; at worst, she's pure evil. I should have seen it sooner and helped or done something about it. And, frankly, I don't want to think what she'll do with you if she's not stopped now. So no, we're going to fix this," Kevin said.

Leah smiled. It had been the correct answer.

"So, how do we fix this?" he asked.

Leah cracked her knuckles and sat in the chair in front of the computer. It was an odd gesture; she controlled reality around them, so she didn't need to sit at the computer, but he found it reassuring. He leaned on the back of the chair as her hands began flying around the keyboard.

"There's not much I can do about your outward appearance. If you come out looking any other way than what she expects, she'll be suspicious about what else went wrong," she said. "Think you can manage looking like that?"

"I'll tough it out, somehow," Kevin said as drily as possible.

"You can kill that bloody pheromone addiction right now," Kevin said more angrily than he expected. It was one thing to have been fooled by Lillian, but to be made some brain-dead slave, needing her scent to function was a step beyond.

"Done," she said. "Fortunately, that wouldn't kick in until after she underwent her enhancements. She's still expecting you to be pretty obedient towards her when you come out, so I hope you're a good actor."

"Acting stupid? I think I can manage," he said. Leah laughed. Then, he recalled what she said.

"Her enhancements? She saw what it did to me, and she's also going through this?"

"Oh yes. It's quite an impressive list. But we're focusing on you right now. We'll worry about what Lillian's doing later."

Kevin nodded. Fine. He was dying to know what she had planned for herself, but Leah was right; saving his ass was the more immediate priority.

"Well, we can leave all those martial arts skills she popped into me. I like those," he said.

That's when Leah gave him a cautionary look.

"It's not quite that simple. Martial arts skills aren't just physical; they're also a mental change. Learning martial arts requires discipline and commitment, and improves your focus, reducing stress and anxiety. Keeping those skills means you also have to keep the mental changes. That means we're changing who you are. Are you prepared for that?" she asked.

Kevin paused and stared at the screens. Now the hard choices were going to have to begin. It was easy to say no, I don't want to be a brain-damaged slave. But now, he would have to make choices that would impact who he was.

But he did that every day. So did most people. Just not this dramatically or this quickly. Plus, there was another matter.

"If I don't make any changes, either martial arts or improve my intelligence, what's the odds I get through this alive?" he asked Leah.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Kevin, I am a miraculous medical device, if I do say so myself. I help people. Very occasionally, and with much distaste, I have to punish people. But I'm not a military strategy device. I can't give you those odds," Leah said, then paused. "However, you're dealing with people smarter and more ruthless than you are. A good heart will probably only get you so far here."

Kevin stared at the screens. How much of himself was he going to sacrifice to get through this? Then again, he was almost 30 years old and what difference had he made in the world? He could die in the next couple of days, and his parents would miss him, and maybe a few friends would eventually notice that he wasn't around anymore and would ask, "hey, whatever happened to Kevin?"

Time to be bold, then.

"Let's keep the martial arts. As you said, I need all the help I can get. Also, I'd like to know how much who I am will be altered depending on what's being changed. Is that possible?"

Leah made a seesaw motion with her right hand.

"It won't be exact. These aren't exact things. Every brain and personality reacts to changes differently," she said.

"As best you can. I'm trying to walk the line between gaining the skills to survive this and everything that happens afterwards, become a better person, and not a fucking super-villain."

Leah smiled and nodded her head.

"Ok. Let's see what we can do."

Time was a bizarre concept in the reality Leah had created. He was terrified that every change he made to his mental state would be the Jenga brick that would undo him later. Kevin was trying to become smarter; smart enough to figure out all the computer things he was going to need once he got out, but also an ability to be strategic in his actions. Calm and compassionate, but ruthless when he needed to be.

And yet, inevitably, he tried to push anything too far; imbalances crept in. Depression or manic episodes. Or things worse than that.

"Jesus," he said, leaning back in the chair at the end of it. Leah indicated that while time worked differently, he had to lock things down. Soon, he would enter the next phase where Leah would build the new him. Once that happened, the world would go dark for him.

Leah stood up and cracked her back. Why an AI needed to do that was beyond him, but it was a kind of endearing personality trait.

"It's why we don't like messing around with the mind too much, except in extreme cases," she said. Then she waved her hand around the room. "Welcome to an extreme case."

"So, what's next?"

"Next, we get ready to say goodbye for now. You're going to go back to sleep shortly. If all goes well, the next time we'll chat is when Lillian goes under. Although it obviously won't be like this," she said, waving her arms around the room.

As soon as she said it, Kevin could feel himself getting drowsy. The details of the room began to dim slowly. That's when the reality of what would happen next slammed into him. A wave of terror washed over him. Leah was suddenly next to him.

"It's ok to be a little scared, but you'll be fine. You'll be dazed and confused when you wake up, which works in your favour. When you're more alert, things will begin kicking in and you'll know what to do. You've got this, Kevin," she said.

"Well, if I screw it up and she catches on, I can always just kill her, I guess," Kevin said. It felt like it was 3 am and he'd been up for 48 hours. He was struggling to hold on. Suddenly, Leah's hands were on his face, dragging him back.

"No killing, Kevin," she said. The look on her face was deadly serious. "If you kill her I'll never work for you or help you again. Remember that."

Kevin nodded.

"Thank you, Leah. Thank you for saving me," he whispered. The world was now mostly black with a gentle glow.

"You're welcome," came her voice from far away. "Kiss the real Leah when you see her, although maybe don't mention me. Might be awkward."

And then, before Kevin could argue that he was probably never seeing the real Leah again, he was gone.