Artificial Willpower

Desperate

Of course, there was the problem with the group... at this point it wasn't hard to see what Pitch was getting at, with that. Fight fire with fire. If their specially trained personnel couldn't get Yancy and Illinois, Pitch had clearly jumped to the conclusion another cyborg was needed to contain a rouge cyborg. However, the remote-controlled variant of mechanics had next to no testing yet. Pitch was counting on full brain control, no doubt. These mechanics went far deeper into the brain and nervous system than Yancy's did.

She could handle that, though. So could Yancy and Illinois. Doctor Pitch missed the point. It wasn't Illinois's engineering genius or Yancy's mechanics that had kept them alive for so long, it was their determination. Their desire to make things better. Soulless mind-controlled soldiers would never have a motivation like that. And as for Pitch, his rage was blinding him.

After all, a much smarter route for Pitch to take would have been to turn her in before she had a chance to see the papers were missing and use her electronics to find Illinois and Yancy's ip address or something along those lines. However Pitch seemed desperate to keep things in his control, of course he'd opt for three supersoldiers he could control, instead of passing the issue up the chain.

Pitch was dangerous, obviously willing to hurt anyone and do anything to get what he wanted. However, the more desperate he got the more short-sighted he was becoming. As long as she stayed rational, she had the upper hand. At least, that's what she told herself. Stay rational. Stay calm.

-

Illinois frowned as he read the message on his phone "Kathrains been caught...."

"What?" Yancy asked, sitting up straight, wide-eyed.

"She's alright for now, she said she'll call us when she can, which should be a little past midnight. For now, she says Pitch has performed the surgery on that group he hired to track us down. One died during the surgery, she said these mechanics were far more invasive and less tested. She's certain he'll be using them to track us down, but not with the labs support, it seems. She said it doesn't seem like he's thinking logically anymore"

Yancy felt sick upon hearing the operation had happened again, not only that but the death toll had risen once again. "I-if he ain't thinkin logically, that's good, right? Like, he'd be easier to outsmart?"

"That's one way to look at it, but I wouldn't count on that. I think it also means there's no price he won't pay. Before, there's certain lines I thought he wouldn't cross for the sake of keeping his job and reputation, but now... I don't think there's anything he wouldn't do to stop us. I don't think it's a good idea to think he's less of a threat now, if just for the sake of not underestimating him."

Yancy could see how that line of thinking could lead them to a false sense of security, but he couldn't help but feel desperate for some form of a silver lining.

"Yeah... I guess so. So... someone else died?"

Illinois looked to the side and sighed "Yeah. I had hoped the surgeries would be paused while they were looking for us... We can't let that discourage us too much though, Yancy, We're doing our best."

"What about Kathrine? Is she gonna be okay?"

"Kathrine is super capable. I'm sure she's gonna be able to get out of there safely. And when she does, we can help her hide"

Yancy hesitantly nodded, before saying "Are... we gonna have to start running again soon?"

"It's a possibility. I think if Pitch had our exact location Kathrine would have warned us by now, but I have no clue how much information he has on us and Kathrine's connection with us for now. I'd say to stay on the safe side we should probably stay aware. Maybe start sleeping in shifts."

"We need to start attacking the labs... soon, 'Noise."

"I know, I know. Look I'll tell you what. Once Kathrine is out of there and safe, you and I can go talk to that journalist ourselves. Let him know things are escalating. Maybe he'll even let us knock out that interview early."

Yancy took a breath, knowing he was getting antsy and that was helping no one "Alright... Yeah that sounds like a good idea"

"How about you get some rest, Yancy. I think things are about to get real busy and you need to have your energy."

Yancy was about to argue Illinois needed rest too before he said "I'll wake you up later so you can keep watch while I sleep. For now I need to be able to keep an eye out for updates, with Kathrine"

The cyborg finally relented "Youse'll wake me up if youse need me, right?"

"Of course"

With a small nod, Yancy headed over to his bed and lay down. It took him far longer than he would have liked to finally drift off.

-

Kathrine called, right before Illinois was going to wake Yancy up. He answered quickly, stepping into the stairway. He didn't want Yancy to have to wake up to a conversation that could cause panic.

"Are you okay? Are you safe?" He asked before Kathrine said a word.

"Define okay. But I am safe"

"Thats fair enough, so whats the update?"

"Pitch made me release the three, no doubt so he could pin it on me. He had already convinced the facility they were all working with you... And now that he has proof I was working with you, I don't think it'll take much for them to buy it. He said if I did it he'd give me a twenty four hour head start so I'm on my way to that warehouse for now. I figured that was a good spot until you give me another address. That is assuming you want to help me hide, I guess you never agreed to that"

"Take a breath, Kathrine, of course I'm going to help you. How much does Pitch know? So that I can decide the next course of action."

"He found Yancys statement. I don't think he has any more information. All my conversations with both you guys and Apollo have been on my personal devices. Though I plan on scrubbing thoes soon. Too traceable."

"Good plan. Okay so I'm going to send you a location. If you could get it to the journalist and ask if he could meet us there tomorrow night, that would be awesome. Tell him Yancy will be there, too. You can meet us there too. We could get that interview out of the way, and try to speed up the process of getting information out there. After that you, I and Yancy can discuss what we do next. Sound like a plan?"

Kathrine took a breath "Yeah. Yeah that does."

"Cool. I promise, we've got this Kathrine. I know this throws a hitch in everything but we're going to be fine. Call me if you need anything"

"Will do" Kathrine said before hanging up.

Yancy could sleep for a little longer, Illinois decided. He had to make sure everything was perfect. His preparation was why they were still alive. He couldn't start slacking now.