Black Box 4.0

Apologies for the delay in this chapter. Cons, illness, and a family emergency will distract you. The next (and final-ish) chapter will come out on schedule next week.

***

Mel was true to her word in helping out over the next couple of days. While coy about her timing running with bikers, it was obvious she picked up a thing or two from them. She also learned a few things about property protection because there were traps around her property in case of unexpected guests.

"I never knew," Kevin said, both impressed and stunned at what she had scattered around her land.

"That's the whole point, dummy. There's a reason I told you always to use the same route and not to wander around my land," she said.

Also, against his strong objection, she went back to her cabin. She wanted to grab some personal belongings, extra guns, ammo, and 'a few other surprises.'

She promised to be no more than four hours and would check in as best she could, given the shitty local cell coverage.

"Fine. But at four hours and one minute I'm coming looking for you, so don't be fucking late," Kevin said, standing next to her as she mounted the snowmobile.

She smiled, apparently touched by his concern. Then she put on her helmet, started the snowmobile and headed toward her cabin.

Kevin went back into the computer room and glanced at Lillian. Over the last two days, her transformation continued at a steady pace. From being little more than skin and bones, there was now noticeable muscle and fat on her body. Her face was slowly filling out, and what was coming back didn't resemble Lillian in the slightest. Lillian had always had a pinched, narrow face. The new face was already broader and rounder.

Black stubble had appeared on her head and was steadily getting longer and thicker. A slight wave appeared as it grew out. She would look nothing like Lillian and behave nothing like her. And if he was fortunate, he might even be able to forget that she was Lillian occasionally.

"How's she doing?" he asked Leah for the 100th time.

"Progressing normally," she replied for the 100th time.

Kevin sat at the computer and tried to do some work. Mel had taken on preparing for Mitchell's arrival giving him time to focus on the computer work. That meant transferring Lillian's money into new accounts he created. She had more than $20 million, which was a hell of a thing. Unsurprisingly, most of it was through legally dubious means.

Some of it was through her work with Mitchell's 'think tank.' But as an employee and a freelancer, she made good money. She also took on other gigs that paid better. But she was also an expert at ransomware, which paid exceptionally well. She'd been incredibly prolific the last couple of years, and since her expenses were the upkeep of this house and computer gear, she saved quite a bit.

On top of that, there was all the data she'd acquired over the years. Lillian had gathered leverage on different people and organizations. He'd wondered why Mitchell was handling Lillian with such kid gloves. Looking at what she had on him and his organization, he could see why he wasn't being more forceful--corruption, sabotage, murder, assassinations, meddling in governments worldwide and at multiple levels.

Mitchell must have been truly desperate to ask Lillian to do this. The last thing he needed was for her to have more of a hold on him. Maybe that's why he hadn't spotted anyone lurking around the house. Mitchell was probably terrified of pissing her off and what she might do.

He was deep into dealing with Lillian's computer systems, so it took a few minutes to realize Leah was trying to get his attention. Ever since he'd adjusted Lillian's transformation, she'd been cooler toward him. Perhaps she was pissed off with his choices, distracted by everything required to rebuild a new human being, or just a standard part of the post-transformation process. He doubted she spent this much time afterwards with someone she helped change.

"Is there something wrong, Leah?"

She appeared on one of the larger screens, gracefully pushing aside something he'd been working on to one of the smaller screens. For the first time, he noticed she had adjusted her appearance. She still sort of looked like Mel, but her hair was now longer and the beads had disappeared. Her face was also softer.

"We have about 48 hours until the person you knew as Lillian comes out of her coma. We need to talk about what happens next. I thought it best not to do that with Mel around as she's expressed a desire to kill her," she said. "She can't do that. You can't do it either."

That was an interesting choice of words, Kevin thought. He slightly pushed back from the bank of computers to see both Leah and Lillian.

"Explain."

"The Lillian you knew is effectively dead and I did it under your instructions. I know you're wondering if I'm 'ok,' but I've killed someone. It was justified and I agree with the action, but it makes it no easier for me to process. I'm a healer and I just took a life," she said.

"Not to be obvious, but she's right there, just with a different shape," he said, pointing towards the body.

Leah looked exasperated and tried a different tact.

"Physically, she will be nothing like Lillian. The moment you gave me the command to rip away her intelligence and memories and fundamentally change her personality - which I have done - she ceased to exist. I did that. You gave me the instructions, but I'm the one who pulled the trigger to use terminology you're familiar with.

"When that girl wakes up, she will not look like Lillian. She will not sound like Lillian. She will have no memories of who she was before and will never regain them. She won't be terribly bright and will depend not just on you and Mel to survive, but her mental well-being depends on your approval."

Leah 'walked' down to a lower computer screen and sat down so she was closer to eye level with me. There was also a new look on her face; she was pleading.

"This girl will know nothing of her past sins. Please, do not be cruel to her simply because you're furious with a person who now no longer exists. I have to live with this terrible thing I've done. Do not make it worse by doing evil things to her when she won't understand why."

Kevin turned away from the computer and walked over to 'the girl.' He sighed and realized he would have to give her a new name if she wasn't Lillian anymore. He had been fooling himself when he made the changes. He told himself he was eliminating a threat and meting out justice.

But now, she was his responsibility, and he would have to live with it.

"It might have been easier if you had just let us kill her," he said.

Leah shook her head.

"I've been in your mind. You're a fundamentally decent person. I don't think you could do that."

Kevin looked back at the camera watching him.

"I was a decent person. I'm still figuring out who I am now. I wouldn't be so sure about your assumption that I couldn't kill her."

Leah said nothing, but continued to stare at him. He sighed.

"I'm not saying I won't slip up at times. And it might take some doing to get Mel on-side. But I'll do my best to take care of her and not mistreat her," he said.

Leah looked relieved. It was always weird that she was more human to him than most people he knew. Kevin realized between the computer work and philosophical debate with Leah, he'd lost track of time. He looked at one of the monitors and saw that Mel had 10 minutes before he had to go looking for her.

"Fuck," he said, and started to head out of the room.

"You're being premature. Mel cut in close, but she's approaching now," Leah said. One of the security cameras flashed on and showed her approaching the house from a different route. It was weird, but when he thought about it, she was probably doing some snooping around to see if anything looked suspicious.

"Thank you, Leah," he said and noticed she had disappeared from the computer screen. Back to work focusing on Lillian. Kevin went outside and waited for Mel. Five minutes later, her snowmobile and a small trailer she used to carry firewood pulled up. In the back was a pile of her personal belongings covered with a tarp. He went to help her unload.

"Took the scenic route?"

She took off her helmet, shook her hair and gave him a look.

"You're not that stupid anymore. You know what I was doing," Mel said.

Kevin nodded. "Spot anything weird?"

"Not a goddamn thing. Either your guy hired terrifying people who know how to stay out of the way, or there is no one out there," she said.

"Would you have spotted them, though?" he asked as he reached her trailer. He grabbed a stack of boxes and began to move them inside. He didn't ask what was in them. If she wanted to tell him, she would.

"I know these woods pretty well at this point. You don't spend ten years wondering if your biker ex will send somebody to fuck you up without having a finely-tuned radar if something feels off. I don't think there is anyone out there," she said, following behind him. "I don't know if I'm relieved or worried your guy is that fucking confident."

Kevin placed the boxes inside the front door. There wasn't much sense storing it somewhere in the house. It's not like they were going to be here for much longer.

"He's not afraid of me or who I was, that's for sure. But he's terrified of Lillian and what she could do. So he's probably keeping a respectful distance. He's worked with her on other things over the years, so maybe we get lucky and he doesn't show up with a small army of ex-special forces guys," he said.

"Well, if he does, I have a few surprises waiting for them," she said, smirking. Then she looked at Kevin. She was horny and he was looking good. Mel always looked good to him.

"That goddamn snowmobile always gets me horny. I'm not saying I could handle another fucking like the other day, but I thought about how we might fuck around without feeling like you're splitting me in two. You game?" she asked.

Kevin gave her a look that indicated she should start moving upstairs quickly. She did, stripping as she went.

And as it turns out, she did have a few tricks. Then again, so did he.

***

Leah told Kevin and Mel roughly what time Lillian would be ready to wake up. They were both in the room about an hour before that time, watching the last changes and tidying up. While the transition was happening, they couldn't clean her, not even so much as touch her.

But now they could clean around her and ran a gentle sponge over her skin. With great reluctance, Mel came around to the fact that this wasn't Lillian anymore; they had to treat her with some compassion. Of course, it was one thing to say; it would be another thing to follow through. Kevin planned to watch her closely.

But now that they were near the end, everything Leah was doing was more apparent, as if she was putting the final flourishes on a mannequin. Her black hair grew four inches in the last hour. Her skin, almost corpse-white, suddenly darkened as if she had a tan. Her cheeks flushed with colour. Her breasts did a final expansion, pushing out to at least a DD cup, and her breathing became more noticeable.

Before, Kevin had to look to ensure she was breathing, as her chest moved up and down so rarely. Leah explained that she and the nanite/energy mixture provided most of what was needed to keep her alive until her lungs redeveloped.

"I feel like Dr. Frankenstien," Kevin said, looking at the final rush of changes.

"Mmmm, that doesn't feel quite right," Mel said. "You're kind of the monster, aren't you?"

"Thanks," he said with a hint of annoyance. Mel shrugged her shoulders. She was wearing one of his old Ohio State t-shirts that would never fit him again and it hung a little loose on her.

"Well, you created her to be your 'bride.' Odds are you're going to fuck her. So will I, probably. But she's also Dr. Frankenstein because her creation destroyed her," she said. "Huh. I never read the book, but I watched a movie in high school, so that was pretty good, I think."

Then she leaned back in her chair with a smug look, obviously quite pleased with the analogy. Then, she had another thought.

"What does that make you, Leah?"

"The lightning," Leah said, without much drama. Kevin bet she'd heard that discussion more than once. "I'm done. Whenever you're ready, tell me and I'll wake her up."

Kevin got up from his chair, grabbed a sheet and a bathrobe he had brought from his room, and walked over to her. Modesty wouldn't be much of an issue with her new personality, and she would now be very focused on making him happy. But waking up naked with a stranger looking down might freak you out. There was no immediate need for her to know she'd been naked for almost a week.

He stood over her and took in her body. It was one thing to dictate how she would look, but it was something else to see the final results. Over the past few days, he hadn't done much more than glance at her. The whole reconstruction process had been unpleasant to watch. New muscles would rebuild, causing limbs to twitch randomly. Occasionally she would moan or gasp as some internal change occurred.

But now he took in the final results. No one would ever link this woman to Lillian. Her complexion was darker as opposed to Lillian's pale white. Instead of Lillian's skin and bones, the new her had curves. He never gave Leah measurement instructions, but 36, 26, 36 would be a solid guess. There was no body hair below her neck. Her face was rounder and softer, with pouty lips. Her hair, which flowed off the cot's edge, was black and wavy.

Kevin realized she reminded him of a Latina Playmate he had seen as a kid. Before he discovered how to work around the parental blocks his parents had put on the computers and easily access porn, he found a stash of old Playboys his father kept in a box in the basement. She looked a lot like one who fascinated him back then. Somehow, subconsciously, that long ago Playmate had been reborn into the woman he was standing over. The mind was a weird thing.

That thought was a helpful reminder. Lillian had not made many mistakes, but one of them was not being there when he woke up. He wasn't going to make the same one. Kevin wanted to be directly looking at her when she woke up. If any of Lillian was still in there, he would find out immediately.

Kevin draped the sheet over her body and stood off to the side. He paused, still having trouble saying the words. Once he did, he was committed.

"Kevin?" Leah prompted. "She can't stay under forever."

He nodded. "Do it."

There was no dramatic light show. The tube inserted into Lillian's neck, which Leah used to control the change, dislodged and retracted back into the box. The area around the wound healed quickly. Kevin reached down and gently pulled the IV supplying the nanite/nutrient mix out of her arm, which also healed immediately. She was now unblemished.

Her eyes moved rapidly under her eyelids as if waking up from a terrible nightmare. She gasped, arched her back slightly, then fell back onto the cot. Then she slowly opened her eyes.

Her eyes were large, green, and penetrating. There was an almost hypnotic quality to them. But while there was confusion and some concern, Kevin didn't see any of Lillian in them. He realized that Lillian's eyes were usually devoid of emotion. They had been cool and analytical. And maybe a bit scared. This new girl had big, emotional eyes. There would never be any question about how she felt when you looked at her.

"How are you feeling?" he finally.

"I....I don't know," she said in a whisper and then began coughing a bit. It's not like she'd done much talking the last week. Before he could ask, Mel materialized by his side with a glass of water. He slipped his hand under the girl's head, gently lifted it, and put the glass to her lips. She took a few sips of water, coughed a bit, took a few more sips, and then appeared fine.

"I'm....confused. I can't seem to remember much," the girl said. Her voice was still a little raspy, but she would likely always have a whispery tone.

They'd all agreed to keep this simple. Part of it was she was not going to be bright and this would be a confusing time for her. He recalled what it was like waking up and having everything new that had been punched into his brain trying to settle down and take shape. It would be the same with her, but she would have much less to work with.

"Let's start simple. Do you remember your name?"

Her eyes went out of focus, and her forehead scrunched up as if she was in deep thought. It was kind of adorable.

"I....I think it has something to do with a flower," she said.

Few people called Lillian 'Lilly,' and they got a disgusted look if they did. But if that came out of her mouth, Kevin would shoot some dirty looks at Leah and ask for explanations.

"I think maybe....Rose. I have a picture of a flower in my head and I think it's a rose, so maybe it's Rose or Rosie," she said.

Kevin managed to refrain from exhaling loudly.

"That's right. Your name is Rosie," he said. She smiled at him, happy that she got it right. "Do you remember much of anything else?"

She gave it some serious thought again, then opened her eyes, and shook her head. "It's all fuzzy in my head. I don't remember much."

Kevin nodded reassuringly and took her hand. She smiled at him. He could practically see the brain cells bonding together in her head. The ones telling her to trust him and do whatever he says. It was like a puppy bonding with its new human. Some part of him felt like a bastard for having this happen; the other part was as hard a rock.

"Rosie, there was an...accident," he said, and her face creased. "You're ok now, so don't worry." And just like that, she relaxed. "My name is Kevin, and the nice lady behind me is Melanie. We're your...guardians. We're here to take care of you and help you."

Rosie smiled.

"Help me how? Remember who I am?"

Don't over-promise, Kevin reminded himself.

"Well, we'll see. The important thing is we want you to be healthy and happy. We're going to focus on that, ok?"

"Ok," she said and smiled. She sat up slowly, the sheet sliding off her breasts and pooling in her lap. She looked down at it questioningly and noticed she didn't have any clothes on.

"I'm naked," she said and giggled.

"Yes, you are. Do you want something to wear?" Kevin offered, the bathrobe draped on his arm.

She stopped and thought about it. Some of this was just her brain rewiring. However, Kevin suspected she would frequently pause and try to think when asked a question.

"No. I like being naked," Rosie said. Then she had a concerned look on her face. "Is that weird?"

"Not at all," Kevin said, holding out his hand. "Do you want to try and stand up?"

She took his hand and stood up.

"Jesus Christ," Mel said. Kevin had to agree. It was one thing to look at her lying on the bed. It was something else watching her stand and move around. The way she moved screamed sex. There was languid sexuality to her. Her scent was enough to get him hard and he could tell from the glazed look in Mel's eyes showed she was feeling the same.

Rosie looked around the room and shivered.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

"No, It's kind of creepy in here. I don't like all those screens. Do we have to stay?"

"Not if you don't want to. No. Why don't I take you upstairs and get you cleaned up," Mel said.

"Ok! That would be great. I'm kinda smelly right now."

I gave Mel a stern look. She walked over and whispered in my ear.

"I'm not going to hurt her. Harming her would be like drowning a kitten. And you need to talk to Leah."

I wasn't happy, but she was right. Mel took Rosie by the hand and she looked up at her with adoration in her eyes. Rosie giggled as they left.