Take Down Chapter 3: Excuse-a mAI?

“Oh! Sorry Goha.” You said gently, “my apologies.”

“Do not do it again.” They replied, eyeing you suspiciously.

“Uh? Ok?” You said with a bit of sass in your voice. “A little bit rude?” You thought, then continued talking. “Well, Goha, I’m going now, but I will see you a little later. This is your room, this is where you will stay.” You said with a small smile. “There is a door over there. Inside that room you will find a bed for you to sleep in should you feel a little tired.” You added with a little more of a forced smile this time as you stood up to leave. “Bye.”

Goha just stayed in their seat and watched you leave.

You walked to the door and exited, closing the door behind you and locking it.

Immediately the scientists surrounded you.

“Professor L/N that was simply incredible!” One gushed, “the movements of Goha are so lifelike!”

“Amazing work! As expected!” Another commented.

“This AI’s intelligence is unmatched already!” A third added, “you truly are a genius.”

You swelled with pride as you tried to calm the excited chatter of the adoring scientists.

“Please, please.” You said with a little chuckle. “We are still in the testing phase, there is nothing extraordinary here.”

“Oh but professor! You are too humble!” The second scientist implored, “when details of this AI- Goha- are released to the other companies your name will be placed in the hall of fame!”

You chuckled and waved your arms dismissively.

“You flatter me!” You said with a laugh, trying not to let it inflate your ego too much. “Your words are very kind.”

The scientists continued to butter you up a little more before you excused yourself to go and document your first encounter with the AI.

You politely excused yourself and went into your office.

Closing the door before letting your guard down and grinning from ear to ear.

“I’ve done it! I AM the greatest! There is no one who can match the work I have put into my AI. I WILL go into the hall of fame, I WILL be the name on everybody’s lips. I AM UNDEFEATABLE!”  You thought proudly as you strode over to your desk and sat down. “Why was my AI so rude though?! Where did that come from??”

There was a knock on the door and you turned your head in its direction.

“Come in?” You called.

Kiba Hansu, your assistant, poked his head through the door, grey messy hair and round glasses sitting on the end of his perfect nose adding to his assistant’s charm. 

“Oh hail the great Professor.” He said in a mocking tone. “I’d come into the room further but most of the space in here is taken up by the massive inflation of ego I just overhead before.”

“Can you not?” You deadpanned at him as he chuckled deviously.

Hansu had this uncanny ability to read people. After having only spent a few minutes with someone he could size them up with  frightening accuracy. He had a very strong bullshit meter and was very smart, on all planes.

He knew you well and he knew just how to push your buttons but aside from being a bit of an asshole to you he was very sympathetic and caring when needed, he was the one who held you together most of the time.

“You know they’re all just kissing your ass because you’re at the head of this branch.” He said as he entered and closed the door behind him. “And you drink up every little bit of praise like it’s nectar from the gods. You need to be careful otherwise you’re gonna think you’re undefeatable and do something stupid.” He added bluntly.

“Yeah, thanks for that.” You replied sarcastically. “You haven’t even congratulated me on my success yet!”

“Uh, uh, uh there’s that ego.” He tisked, “you’re too full of yourself. And that AI got that bit of your personality too I saw.” He let out a hearty laugh.

“They did not!” You retorted. “Goha is just plain rude. I’m not rude.”

“Not outwardly you’re not, but when someone tries to stand up against you or call you out you can get pretty prickly.” He said with a smirk as he crossed his arms. “Like how you are with me.”

Your eyes popped open with surprise.

“I…I’m not rude to you!” You replied, slightly appalled.

“It’s ok Professor I can handle myself.” He said sarcastically as he turned to leave. “Just watch that AI though, you have put too much of your own intelligence into him and he might just outsmart you one day.”

“Impossible.” You thought. “Outsmarted by a robot. HA! Don’t make me laugh.”

“Yeah yeah,” you replied flippantly with a hand wave as you spun back to your desk to start writing your report, not even bothering to look at Hansu as he left. “I got it.”

Hansu snorted and shook his head.

“This girl is going to get herself into some serious shit if she’s not careful.” He thought.

………………………

The next day you visited Goha.

“Good morning Goha!” You greeted your AI. “Are you ready to help me with some tests today?”

“I would prefer not to.” Goha replied with a dead stare and you stiffened with slight annoyance, then relaxed.

“It will be fun, I promise!” You said chirpily as you walked towards them. “They’re easy tests, you will fly through them.” You patted their shoulder gently.

You had hidden a medium sized blue sticker in the palm of your hand with the sticky side facing out and as you patted Goha’s shoulder, you planted the sticker on their person.

Once you saw the sticker had stuck well, you smiled to yourself.

“Come with me, Goha.” You said with a smile. “I need you to see yourself in a mirror.”

Goha looked at you curiously.

“Mirror?” They asked.

“Yes.” You replied. “All I need you to do is look into it.”

Goha got up and followed you out to the room you two had spoken in yesterday. There was a large mirror set up in the middle of the room.

You and Goha walked towards it.

“What do you see, Goha?” You asked them.

They looked at you then looked at you in the mirror, then looked at their reflection.

“I see you and I see…. me.” They said in a matter of fact tone.

You beamed, glancing at the camera that was capturing everything that was going on.

“Good.” You affirmed. “Do you see anything else on yourself?” You asked.

Goha looked at their reflection in the mirror for a little longer then looked down at their shoulder, picking the blue sticker off and looking at it.

You smiled again. 

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