The Illusion of CTRL

Absolute Power

Uzi didn't know how she missed it. She could only guess that her CPU latched onto the puzzle on Tessa's monitor and got her so focused on figuring it out that she completely overlooked the implications of the Solver's code being present in Cyn's system. Doll called it the "Sickness", and Uzi had no idea she was looking at Patient Zero until Cyn started to change.

It started small at first, as these things tend to. Cyn would go unresponsive for several seconds randomly throughout the day, then snap back to what she was doing like she didn't realize anything had happened. N would find her in weird places, often in a borderline panic because she didn't know how she got there. Sometimes her questions would take on a spiteful, condescending tone, like someone who knew the right answer and was only asking so they could laugh when you got it wrong. She also developed an interest in food that bordered on obsession.

Then it got worse. Shattered mirrors all over the manor. Workers vanishing into thin air, never to be seen again. An entire unkindness of ravens twisted, crushed and torn apart in the back yard. It was like the plot to a demonic possession movie, and Uzi wasn't the only one who thought so.

N had heard Tessa's mother, of all people, mention calling a priest in. She had even told Tessa, in no uncertain terms, that if she had dug something up in one of her treasure hunts, to put it back where she found it.

But it was Cyn's new smile that really gave it away. The grin that was too wide, showing teeth that were too sharp, forming a picture that was too familiar.

N caught on almost immediately, because of course he did, and did the most "N" thing ever. He not only took it all in stride, he embraced the parasite. He cleaned up after it, kept its presence hidden even from his friends, talked to it like it was an old pal, and even gave it a name! Because of course he did.

"*Friendly Smile* Hello, Big Brother N! You are looking spiffy today!" N's "Little Buddy" said things like that all the time, like Cyn hadn't seen him twenty minutes ago.

And N just rolled with it.

"Hey, Little Buddy! Yeah, all staff at the party tonight have to wear blue to match the theme, so I got a new suit for the ol' wardrobe!"

That was the little game they played. N knew he wasn't talking to Cyn, the Solver knew that he knew, and it delighted in dancing around those facts.

In this case, LB made a show of looking down at its own black and white maid attire, then back up at N with a furrowed brow that was probably supposed to express consternation, but was completely undermined by its mocking smirk.

"Does that mean I am not invited?"

"Would you want to be?" N countered with a raised eyebrow.

"Absolutely not. I cannot think of a worse way to spend an evening than having to watch a horde of shaved primates yap about money and influence like it makes them powerful. *Contemptuous Huff* They have no idea what real power is."

"I...can't really argue with that," N admitted sheepishly, "but can you truly blame them? Most of them come from old money, and that comes with old traditions. Multiple generations raised around the same people, encouraged to emulate them, and rewarded by a society that practically worships the rich. They never had to make their own way, so they never had a chance to be their own person. I mean, look at the guest list and see how many 'Soandso The Third/Fourth/Fifth' there are. By the time they're old enough to do their own thing, the hooks are in and they don't want to."

LB opened its mouth to reply, then paused and the haughtiness and contempt drained from her expression. "*Contemplative Hum* So it is nature versus nurture, and Tessa is the exception that proves the rule."