Witch of the Web

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Summer

I try to stifle a giggle as I can still hear Aunt Lonnie grumbling to herself as despite Rose’s promise to play along, she’s still crushing whatever is thrown at her. God, I am so gay for that woman. She really couldn’t have picked a more perfect name. Stunningly beautiful with prickly thorns to discourage unwanted contact. And she’s all mine. Well, all mine and Felicia’s. 

“Anyways!” my aunt announces directly to me. “Summer, my sweet darling niece. Are you ready for your task?” I could hear her waiting with baited breath as I take my sweet time deciding.

“Sure,” I finally answer once she starts to grumble. Rose can’t be the only one to keep my aunt on her toes after all. 

“Cheeky little… Moving on! Meet STEVE!” As she speaks, a spotlight shines down from the sky and illuminates a presumably male humanoid being. They have completely white skin and hair; even their eyes are pure white. “STEVE stands for Safety Testing Extremely Volatile Evaluator. And yes, I wanted to name him STEVE and needed to come up with an acronym for Roger to let me.” 

I giggle at her admission and walk towards STEVE to look him over. “What does he do?” I ask as I stare into his blank, emotionless eyes.

“Well, you see, STEVE is a very simple and rudimentary AI. More like what they had in the 2020s than anything resembling real sentience. His job is to run headlong into danger with little to no concern for his own safety. If he gets destroyed, you lose.” I furrow my brows at her explanation, already dreading what this is going to be like. “Oh, and he’ll actively try to lose you… like right now. There he goes!” 

What?

I look over at STEVE and see him running down one of the maze hallways at a reckless pace. 

Crapbaskets!

Taking off at a sprint, I chase after the robo-dummy. By the time I catch up with him, he’s already approaching a group of -

Rose

You know what?

No.

This is bullshit. 

This whole scenario is bullshit.

Lonnie’s dumb power games are bullshit.

Willow hisses in agreement.

Fuck! Even the way I’ve been acting is bullshit!

With a wave of unfiltered will, I tear down the stupid constructs all around me and pull my girls and I out of Lanadel. 

“What the hell was that?” Lonnie demands, already stomping over towards me. I just stand and glare at her with enough vitriol to make the hardened ex-soldier flinch.

“That? That was me being done. Since we got here, you’ve been alternating between beating us down and propping me up as some sort of goddamn chosen one!” I shout in her face. Summer tries to calm me down by laying a hand on me, but I just turn to look at her solemnly. “Summer, I get that you’re fond of your aunt, but she’s been a bit of a cuntwaffle.” 

“I actually agree with Rose,” Felicia points out once she extricates herself from her own system. “While I’d hesitate to say Rose is the picture of stealth and subtlety, she was at least always careful to ensure she had all the cards.” She sighs and shakes her head. “Lately, she’s been more headstrong and impulsive and it got her captured by LOG.”

Summer’s hand clenches slightly, but she nods with a sad smile. “You’re right…” she admits with a quiet voice. 

“There’s a point to all of it,” Lonnie counters. I raise a brow at her but deign to let her try and explain herself. “You need certain skills-” she starts to say but I cut her off.

“So you’ve been saying, but like I said, you’ve also been making a point of making a big deal out of me. Sure, I’ve got crazy magic-like powers, but I’m not going to be the resistance’s champion or whatever it is you’re clearly trying to mold me into.”

We all stand there in silence for several long minutes before I nod and gently take my girls’ hands in mine. “We’ll still help deal with LOG. It’s in our best interest too. We’re going to stick around for the pods, but beyond that, we’ll play it by ear. Got it?” 

Lonnie’s shoulders sag and she nods slowly. “Understood. I’m sorry that I’ve sullied your initial impression of the resistance. Maybe with time we ca-”

“No. Just stop. Keep your platitudes and assurances. We’re doing this our way.” With everything I want to say having been said, I take my girls out of the room and back to our temporary quarters. 

Once we’re settled back in, Summer offers me a sad smile. “I get why you did that, but I wish we could work with them closer.”

“I know,” I reply before brushing some of her hair from her face. “They want me to be something I’m not going to be. They want a hero, a figure head to bring hope to the downtrodden. As nice as that sounds… do we really think I could be that person?”

Summer giggles and shakes her head. “I guess not.”

Felicia leans against Summer and plays with the blonde’s hair a bit. “I’m glad we’re taking this change of pace. I wanted to believe in the resistance as a better organization than LOG, but I think I’ll feel better if we’re only beholden to each other.”

The three of us continue to snuggle into the night. It’s some much needed rest after all the crap we’ve been through lately. 

In the morning, one of Roger’s people comes by to let us know that the long term storage pods are ready. I share an excited grin with my girls before we hurry to get set up.

Lining the wall of the out of the way room are three tall cylindrical tubes. Each one has a glass door and various flashing lights to display the status of the occupant. Standing at the end of the lineup is Roger who looks rather satisfied with himself.

“I’m happy to say everything is in good working order. I managed to snag these ones from an old contact that works for AetherDiving Inc. They’re older models that were just sitting unused in a warehouse, but they should work just fine.”

“Thanks Roge,” I reply as I inspect the glass and steel pods. “These’ll do nicely. Hopefully it won’t take us long to make the trip.”

“Good luck, and let us know if you need anything while you’re in there.” 

I nod in response and start to undress. Summer and Felicia gawk at me as I strip down to my underwear. “What?”

“Why’re you getting naked?” Felicia asks bluntly, causing Summer to giggle.

“The immersion is better if you are wearing as little as possible,” I explain. I’d considered a pod like these as an alternative to a replacement spine for a while. The only thing that kept me from acting on it was the lack of a safe place to store myself in.

“Right, so I guess we need to get undressed too?” I nod my reply to Felicia and watch appreciatively as they strip. 

Once we’re all in our undergarments, we climb into our assigned pods and get ready to delve. 

It’s unlike any delve I’ve ever experienced. There’s always a layer of disconnect while in Lanadel, but with the pods, it’s like there’s no distinction between physical and digital realities. 

We take stock of the supplies Roger acquired for us and look out in the vague direction of our destination. Somewhere out there is the key to unlocking Willow, and by extension, my full potential. 

Fuck. This is going to be such a dumb adventure, isn’t it?

End Chapter 24

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