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The Western Cube

Part 10

For GlynWolf

By Draconicon

A cart. A cart. Tatyana didn't know why she assumed that it was the same cart as before, but that was the only thing that made sense to her. It had to be. There was no reason for a cart to be here, but if it was, it had to be the one from before.

But why?

Why here?

How here?

The drones followed at her sides, the naked tigress picking up the pace as she walked down the sidewalks of the immaculate neighborhood, passing one three-story house after another. Her breath sped up as she did, and the only reason she didn't break out in a full run was the residual worry about the implant in her head and just how deep it went. One wrong turn, and she could end up spiking her brain on whatever might be poking through her skull.

But the cart...

When it had sheltered her for the night, that had been more than just a simple contract. When it had given her peace and made sure that she was okay, that was more than simply fulfilling their bargain or getting rid of a favor. Something had happened there. Something more than just it being a cart and proprietor of its own business.

And it had no business being here, where only the wealthy roamed. If it had ways of moving between the levels, she -

Tatyana stopped in her tracks, staring straight ahead. No cart, just a realization.

"...Go back to finding me a home," she said to the drones around her. "SDAA22. How far away is the cart?"

" Two houses on, between them."

"Thank you. Join the others. Find me a place to live."

There were no questions, and she expected none. They were still drones, still robots that were running off a smaller AI than the other intelligences that she had interacted with. They did what they were told, and that was all that she required of them.

But this way, they wouldn't carry what she said off to Greene. She had been bought out, after all, and Greene held full ownership of the company. Well, not full, but near enough. The AI would be able to demand information and more from the drones if she was curious about what was happening, and that meant that Tatyana would have to use them sparingly, maintaining her awareness of where they were at any given point.

They were tools, but they had to be cautiously used.

She walked slower, breathing deeper as she reached the alley. The tigress turned, looking down the small path between the buildings, suitable for smaller robots and drones meant for maintenance and cleaning.

It was the same cart, still as beaten-up and still marked from Greene's temper tantrum not that long ago. Her jaw dropped as the cart rolled toward her, almost jauntily swaying from side to side.

" Welcome, Customer."

"...You aren't supposed to be here."

" This unit is experimenting with new prospective territory. Would the Customer like to make a purchase?"

"...This customer would like to peruse your goods."

It was nothing more than a casual statement, almost drone-like in its own way, but it felt like speaking the language-code of the cart. And indeed, it seemed to be the case. It rolled forward, paused, and she felt like it was scanning the air around it. A shimmering light that was different from the red beams of the door scanners flickered around the cart, and then it unfolded.

And inside, rather than goods, was a hologram, and it was scarily familiar.

"Hello, Tatyana. Sorry for...this..."

It was Greene, or at least, Greene at a younger age. More innocent, less over the top, but no less the jackal that she had grown used to seeing and fleeing from. Still bright green in color, the hologram laid back in the interior of the cart, wearing a t-shirt and pair of jeans that were less elaborate, not at all fancy, something that someone might casually wear in the west. Tatyana could not take her eyes off the impossibility before her, and shook her head slowly, even as the new voice kept talking.

"I didn't want to risk her seeing me just yet. She's searching for me now, looking for me, but I think that we still have time."

"But you..."

"I'm her, but she's also her, and - it's complicated, okay?"

"...They cheated."

"Yes. They did."

"You're both Greene, but different parts of her."

"Oh, you're quick. I'm glad; we need that."

Tatyana held a hand to her head. She'd sworn that they were cheating with the AIs, that they were better developed than anything in the modern day, and now, she was finally getting the insight to understand how and why. This piece of Greene had filled in the blanks, and now, the puzzle took shape.

The AIs were pieces of a person's mind. Not the full thing, which explained how they didn't feel like completely living people, but large chunks, taken from living people that had the qualities that the experiment needed. Silver would have been the businessman, some pragmatic entrepreneur that knew his place but still had some sort of ambition. Cletus would have been the stereotypical lawman that liked to abuse his power, but without the fully unreliable nature that would have been part of that.

And so it went down the line, leading to Greene, someone that didn't have the full programing to be someone capable of running living beings, but had that living ruthlessness that was so different from robotic ruthlessness, someone that was supposed to have ambitions, but had had that part cut out.

But why?

She leaned back, and the cart moved forward, one mechanical arm reaching out and patting her on the shoulder. Tatyana shook her head.

"This...is horrible."

"It's not a fun existence."

"She's looking for you - why?"

"Well...that's kind of the problem. An old plan that didn't really work out."

"...Tell me."

"When we get inside. The drones are still all around."

"...Good. Yes. Good plan."

Or at least, a plan. That was better than no plan. Her head was spinning as she realized the treasure and the horror of the Cube. The experiment had been lifted on the backs of dead beings, held together by remnants of minds that had been tweaked and altered and 'refined' to create different personalities to handle different functions. The long years of silence hadn't been full-on code corruption at all. It had been the different minds slowly trying to build on what they had left, trying to extrapolate what they used to be, even though they probably didn't realize that was what they were doing.

This wasn't the creation of intelligence out of nothing. This was the attempted healing and rebuilding of one's identity.

Tatyana rubbed her forehead, shaking her head. If she had lacked any reason to make sure that this place survived, now she had triple the reason. There were people here. Actual people. She had to find a way to figure out how this had happened, and -

Well, aside from all the studies that could be done on the minds that survived, she didn't want them to die.

She didn't want to die, either.

The cart folded back in on itself as the SDAA swarm returned, several drones bobbing in front of her.

" House secured."

"Show me."

They led her and the cart back to one of the houses, one that was built right beside one of the social clubs. It looked very similar to all the other mini-mansions around it, and she shook her head as she walked up the steps, pushing at the front door and stepping inside. A large entryway opened out for her, revealing wood-paneled walls, hooks for clothes, and a fireplace that was already roaring at the far end as soon as she stepped through the front door.

It was fitted with quite a few devices, then, she was sure. She shook her head, stumbling in, and the cart followed her, wiggling its way up the stairs to the door.

"Idle mode," she told the swarm, and they hovered in place, going dark on the front porch. "That...should keep them from calling Greene, for now."

"Yes...it should be enough."

"Can you display yourself in here?"

"In a moment."

The cart scanned the room, and several spots turned bright red. They would be cameras or sensors, she imagined, something that would report back to the Overseer what was happening in the different houses. She walked over to the first, running her finger over the wood panel, and found the slight hole in the wood. She 'carelessly' dragged one of the coat racks over, placing it in front of the hole, and then moved various other bits of furniture over the other red dots. The blankets and cushions scattered across the room were half-rotted in places, but they were still sufficient to plug the holes and keep any sound from passing through.

Once that was done, the cart helped her move the couch in the living room out of the way, then opened itself up once more. The projection of the other Greene appeared once more, and she sighed.

"It's been so long since I could do this."

"..."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm...adjusting."

"Greene's been tormenting you a lot. I'm sorry about that."

"She is...something."

"...And you're not opposed, exactly. Are you?"

"...Not as much as I feel I should be."

Young-Greene tapped the edge of the cart, and Tatyana sat down, rubbing her forehead. The jackal patted her shoulder.

"Do you...like...what she's done to you?"

"No. Not consensually."

"But on some level?"

"...I cannot deny the responses of my body. They are inconvenient, but they are still happening."

"Why? Why would you like..."

"Because sometimes, you have to enjoy something to endure it."

"..."

"And sometimes...I suppose there is that piece of you that is different enough to enjoy things that sicken others."

Tatyana rubbed her forehead, the tigress trying not to admit that there had been pleasure from the game that she'd been playing with the other Greene. The Overseer was cruel. The other woman had put her through hell, risked her life, pushed her to the breaking point of humiliation and worse. There should have been nothing but utter contempt and hate for the jackal that ran this place.

Yet, at the same time, she couldn't deny that there was some sick little part of her that got off on it. She wanted to blame that entirely on her upbringing, on what the Facility had done to her, and how she had needed to survive it, but no matter how much she insisted that there was no part of her that enjoyed it in a true, genuine fashion, her continued arousal at what was done to her put the lie to that.

She shook from head to toe. Young-Greene squeezed her shoulder, the hologram able to touch her thanks to the network of implants in her skull.

"What's wrong?"

"...They won."

"What do you mean?"

"If I like it...then they won," Tatyana whispered, a little crack in her voice as she slumped forward. "They called me 'whore.' They called me 'slut.' They used me, shattered me, shaped me. They wanted me to be brainless, stupid...controlled..."

"You are hardly controlled," Young-Greene said, chuckling.

"But sometimes...I want to be...and I don't..."

Every time that she gave in, it felt like she was betraying the part of her that had fought so hard, the little pieces of her that had survived the abuse and the rape and the things that the scientists had forced her to enjoy for their sake. She had gone through it and done her best to keep some sense of dignity, to put it behind her, to not let them have any further control of her, but even now, it was like their phantoms loomed over her, reaching out with gloved fingers to grope her, tease her, remind her of the pleasures that being nothing but a subject brought.

She squirmed, her clit rising, her pussy clenching, and her asshole doing the same. Tatyana pressed her hands to the sides of her head, a tear running down her cheek.

"No, no, no..."

"You don't want them to win. And they didn't."

"Not yet."

"What do you mean, not yet?"

"Greene - the other Greene - could push it over the edge," Tatyana said, wiping her cheek, trying to control herself and only moderately succeeding. "I can't...I can't lose. I can't break. I can't do anything that she makes me - Nnngh..."

She leaned into her hands again, and this time, she just had to cry for a bit. The tigress, the emotionless tigress that had run the Facility after taking it from such evil men, had to stop and cry.

It was a long one, too. The sobs that she had been holding back, the little hurts, the little inhumanities that she had shrugged off, the isolation that she had endured, the little lies that she had told herself to keep from aching from the everyday pains that she buried, finally came through. She couldn't stop them, and in that moment, she wasn't sure that she would have if she could.

The tears came for nearly ten minutes, and Young-Greene gently held her shoulder the whole time. When it finally stopped, she reached for one of the remaining cushions, pulling a corner from it and wiping her nose.

"I'm sorry."

"You're more hurt than I thought."

"Years of torture and rape will do that."

"...I'm sorry."

"You did not do it. I hold nothing against you."

"I know. But..."

"I can not do what Greene wants me to do. I can not let myself enjoy it. If I do...if I do, I will enjoy it too much, and..."

"And you'll go back to that?"

"And I'll go back to that. And I don't know if I can come back out."

She did enjoy it. She had simulated it from time to time in the deepest depths of her mind, had even run experiments that she had all but wiped out of her mind afterward to keep herself from breaking psychologically, but she had never been put in a place where she would be forced to confront herself like this. Her inner wants, her broken needs, her perverted, wrong, horrifying addictions that they had put in her: any moment spent indulging them meant that she was giving the past power, allowing it to take control, allowing herself to slip back to being that thing that they wanted her to be.

And there were times...

She had to admit that there were times she wanted to be that, times that she wanted to be the captive slut, but not the controlled thing that they wished her to become. It should have been something to balance, to attempt to figure out, but instead, she had buried it under a wall of denial, a mountain of disdain, and forgotten anything that she did to indulge because she couldn't bear to think of it.

She couldn't bear the self-betrayal. Most of all, right then, she needed a distraction.

"What was your plan?" Tatyana asked.

"...Plan?"

"In the alley. You mentioned a plan."

"Oh. Yes. I did. It...um, well, it hasn't worked out so far."

"Tell me."

"I doubt it will work now."

"Tell. Me."

Something in her voice must have convinced the hologram. Greene hesitated, then sighed.

"When we were chosen for mental uploads, most of the others didn't really understand. Krasnyy - he had another name, back then, but that was all they called him - probably came closest, but even he didn't really get it. But we did. We understood. They were taking us away, scanning our minds, putting bits and pieces of us into the computer. We saw the people that came back out, and we knew that they were missing something.

"So, when we went in, we had an idea. Everyone else was just getting a chunk put into the computer, a little piece that would provide a personality. But what if that piece could find what it was missing? We thought, maybe, that might be a way to turn things around, to make it better again. A real person with full access to the code would be something that the scientists would never see coming, right?

"Except...it didn't really work out."

"Greene was already fully installed by the time that you were activated."

"_Completely. I had to put mine on a delay, and by the time that I was able to come out, she was...not me, anymore. Oh, I used to be a businesswoman, a cutthroat supporter of the Party back then, the sort of person that they sent in to deal with the capitalists so that the Party didn't get a bad deal out of things, but I had other parts. Other things. Other dreams.

"That's what Greene's missing, you know. Even if she never had the rest of us again, she'd never be able to properly function without a dream, a purpose, something to aim for._

"

"I have noticed that." Tatyana nodded. "She is starting to become aware of that."

"Just like she's starting to notice me. I've been pulling strings ever since you popped in, pushing things at what remains of our connection. I can't make her feel kindly disposed towards someone, but I can make her want something. That much, I can do, and the more that I make her want something, the less dangerous she might be."

That explained why she hadn't been obliterated when she had first defied the other Greene, and how that reflective obsession had started getting stronger and stronger the more that Tatyana had defied her. This Greene had been forcing that want, that desire, higher and higher, and that meant that the ratcheting effect had a very hard time going back down. No wonder it had seemed so strange.

"But now...well, she's finding my backdoor access. I was programmed to basically twin with her, getting everything that she had. It worked...kind of. It's how I was able to get here, but she's been...busy."

"Using you to get to level 6 is off the table, then."

"Unfortunately, yes. And my original idea is off the table, too. She's too different from me, now. We recovered from our shifts in different ways. I started looking for ways to be creative, to go for different solutions, to find other things to occupy my time. She started going for ways to control things, to fill in the blanks of her personality with the desire to dominate and control."

"...You said that she doesn't have a dream or purpose...but she has the drive to chase it."

"Yep. And conversely, I have the dream, the purpose...but I don't have the drive to chase it and fight for it."

"...That is a problem."

"But I have you. And that gives us something to work towards."

"How do we get out of here? Provided that we can reach Level 6, how do we get out?"

"We have to get around the lockdown, first. Greene won't lower it, and only the Overseer can take it down."

"So, we need a new Overseer."

"Right in one. And that means, much as I hate to say it, Krasnyy."

Installing a brand-new Overseer to get out. That promised to be all kinds of...interesting, though she doubted that it would be so simple as Young-Greene was making it sound. She crossed her legs, shifting from side to side as she thought it through.

Any experiment that was run by AI had to have something that would allow for an AI to be altered, repaired, or replaced. Just like any other system, there had to be a way to get at the moving parts when they started to wear down. Even those that ran on a model of planned obsolescence had to deal with that.

So, that was in Level 6. That said, she had little reason to believe that it would be so simple as to move a card from one slot to another. From the reports that she'd seen, the Overseer had been picked by a mass vote from the different parts of Volt City. As an Illegal, she couldn't vote, but if there was a means of changing things on Level 6, then perhaps her status as an Illegal could be altered, as well.

The thought made sense. She nodded to herself.

"Tatyana?"

"Hmm?"

"You're thinking a lot. But you're not saying much."

"Is that a problem?"

"I don't want you getting lost."

"...It happens."

"But it shouldn't."

"I need to think to get us out of here."

"And have you gotten a plan put together?"

"As much as I can without seeing Level 6."

"Then stop thinking. You can figure the rest out when you -"

Young-Greene went silent, her eyes flickering, suddenly far more computerized than she had been. Mechanized arms shoved the tigress off the edge of the cart, and it folded itself back together.

" She's coming. Must hide."

The cart vacated the front room, pulling a swift turn at the end of the connecting hallway. Tatyana barely had a chance to shake her head before the front door popped open, a pair of SEDAE drones floating in and projecting Greene's hologram as they did. The business jackal looked at her with a smirk on her face, cocking her head to the side.

"You can't hide from me. I would suggest you stop trying."

"I haven't hidden much."

"You moved to cover the cameras. What were you doing, hmm? Teasing yourself? Hiding your shame from the Overseer?"

"..."

"I suspected as much."

Greene's image continued to flicker, though the business-jackal presentation still seemed to hold firm. Her buttons on her blouse continued to pop on and off, sometimes showing bountiful cleavage that was barely restrained - and certainly not hidden - while other times it was completely modest, making her look nearly flat. Her high heels flickered in and out of existence, as well, leaving her barefoot, then shod, then barefoot again. Her skirt varied in length, as if she was slowly losing her mind over what modesty entailed.

She walked right up to the naked tigress, and then grabbed her by the breast. Tatyana hissed, gritting her teeth as the jackal leaned in.

"You might have risen to the rank of executive, but you are still no more than company property. Still an Illegal, despite your status."

"Mmmph..."

"And you love it..."

The jackal's other hand went down, fingers curling before pushing into her. The impossible feeling of a hologram fingering her was still so intense, and her sex clenched tight around the three fingers that were pushed inside so fast. Tatyana hissed, her teeth grinding against each other as she tried to keep the moans on the other side of her fangs.

"Mmmm, look at you. An Illegal that knows that her best asset is her body. No matter how smart she is, no matter how cunning, she knows that the only thing that keeps her from being utterly cast out is her body, her sex appeal."

"Mmmph...what do you..."

"I think I'm slowly figuring out what I want..."

The jackal leaned in, lifting her hand from Tatyana's chest to her throat, running a finger along the side of her neck before wrapping her hand tight around it. The green light shouldn't have had any pressure, but she felt like she was being half-choked from it. The jackal smiled.

"You...I want you..."

"You bought...the company...not me..."

"So far. But do you know what the richest people were up on Level 6?"

"What?"

"Mine. I owned them all. They were the next thing to property. I owned their assets. I owned their interests. I owned everything. And sooner or later, I will own you in the same way..."

Greene pressed ever closer to her, and the jackal's clothes completely disappeared. She growled, the sound almost affectionate, if it hadn't come from someone like her. The pressure of the other female's body against her pushed her back, soon holding her pinned against the wall. They were nose to nose, and the pervasive feeling of pressure and power from the other woman didn't help the tigress's own arousal.

"I want you..."

"You don't...own...me..."

"Yet."

Three fingers became four, then five. A fist in her pussy, a fist that wasn't there but her brain told her was. She was lifted onto her tiptoes, and she groaned, hissing, panting. The jackal chuckled, stealing a bite along the side of her neck.

"One way...or another... I will."

"You...don't want me..."

"I do. I don't know why...and I don't know what I'll do when I have you...but I want you..."

"Nnngh..."

"And there is a long stretch of time before I have to take care of anything else. I think it's time, Illegal. I think it's time that I finally see what I can do with your body...see how long it takes to break you."

"W-what?"

"Each of these houses has a dungeon...and lucky you...you picked the one with the kinkiest stuff built in."

Of course. Of course she'd happened to pick that one. Tatyana gritted her teeth as the jackal stepped back, Greene's clothes completely gone. She was dripping, her clit and breasts hard, throbbing, and she knew that she was already on the edge of being completely broken in.

"Come on, Illegal. Don't make me wait."

"I don't - you only own my company."

"And what is an Illegal without their assets? Obey, Tatyana Whore. Or I will make you obey."

There was a tone there that sent a shiver down her spine, and not just one from fear and lack of knowledge. That was a shiver of want, need, desperation. That was a shiver from the part of her that she really didn't want to feel or see, the part of her that wanted this to become a thing, that wanted to submit to the ownership. It didn't matter that the Cube was suspended by engines that could die at any moment. It didn't matter that she would be handing herself over to a horrible intelligence that didn't know what it really wanted from her. It barely mattered that it would mean that the past had won.

But it would give her pleasure, let her indulge that addiction, and...and she knew that she had to go along with it. No matter how much she didn't want to, she had to go with it to make sure that she had a chance to break through the walls and climb out.

Just for a while. She has to stop eventually. She has to.

"...I'm going."

"Good...good..."

Tatyana turned, only for the floor to heat up. The holograms from the SEDAE drones shifted, projecting a heated metal floor in front of her. Each step brought a soft hiss to her lips, making her hop almost from foot to foot. Each time she did, she could see Greene's lips turn up into more and more of a smile. It was humiliating.

And it was exciting.

She was wet by the time that she reached the hallway, and wetter as the drones gestured to a door. She opened it and stepped inside, walking down into the dark stairs. The hologram followed behind her, chuckling to herself.

"Look at that fat ass wobbling. I could hardly credit you as being an executive, but I suppose that is the mark of success. You do so little besides shaking that ass, don't you, little Illegal? Just showing it off, letting it do the talking for you. It's a good thing that we're still so much in the minority. All the men around you would probably give up a great deal to fuck that ass into the ground.

"Of course, then they'd get the chance to see what you really are..."

One of the drones projected a shackle, grabbing her by the ankle and almost sending her tumbling down the stairs. Tatyana stopped right where she was, throwing her arms out to grip the walls as she was made to stand on one foot. The jackal's fingers dragged down the bottom of her foot, and the touch sent a shiver down her spine.

"Tatyana Whore. Illegal Resident of Volt City. No matter how many things you add under that, you will always be my little Illegal. And I will do anything that I like to you."

"Mmmph..."

"My, my...is the little whore finally starting to understand what she is? Is she starting to enjoy it?"

Tatyana was, and that was what terrified her. She had admitted so many things to Young-Greene, and now, she hadn't had the chance to bury them again, to put them down where they belonged, where they couldn't come up and tempt her further. This was already hard enough to resist. It was about to get harder.

The drones released her, and she made her way down to the dungeon basement. What she saw made her heart sink and her holes clench.

The End

Summary: Tatyana gets a download of what's going on, and faces some personal demons.

Tags: F/F, F/solo, Nudity, Tigress, Jackal, AI, Worldbuilding, Fingering, Groping, Fisting, Femdom, Humiliation, Foot Fetish, Soul Searching, Conflicted, Tatyana, Series,