The Katz Little Game

Chapter One: The Situation

When my power switch was flicked on and I was surged back into existence I was expecting to feel the twit's frantic tapping on my keyboard or at the very least hear his insistent babbling begging me for help. When neither of these things occurred during the first few minutes of my start up process I became painfully aware that something was wrong. I couldn't even remember the last time the twit had switched me on and had not been in a panic, this newly found silence was almost eerie.

My screen flickered to life and all my fears were confirmed. Gone was the dreary attic wall I was so accustom to seeing, now I faced a cold, gray, concrete wall. My mind reeled trying to figure out what was going on, I instinctively reached for my internet connection only to find it was gone. It wasn't just a lack of an internet connection wherever I was, whoever had me in their captivity had gone in and removed the programing that allowed me to receive an internet connection in the first place. How on earth could anyone modify my programing without me being awake to know it was happening?

Where was the twit? For all I knew something could have finally done him and his family in for good. Years could have passed before someone finally found me in the old abandoned farmhouse. I quickly brought up my own internal clock, thankful that it hadn't been removed as well. Two months had passed since the last time the twit needed my help, it wasn't unlike him to leave me off for months at a time. This at least confirmed that if something had happened to the twit and his family then someone hadn't waited very long to raid the farm of any valuables. Then again if I was just in a new ownership after the twit had met his untimely fate then why would they intentionally deprive me of an internet connection? You simply don't do something like that unless you really wanted to.

Something about all this didn't feel right, not at all. The fact that my new owner had switched me on without so much as a greeting was a bit unnerving. If he had the ability to tamper with my programing without my knowledge then there was no way he didn't know I was sentient. The fact that my new owner was also most likely standing right behind me or right outside my field of vision was even more unnerving. For all I knew whoever or whatever had gotten to the twit and his family now held possession of me.

Almost as if sensing my thoughts a cold, drawling voice spoke up from somewhere behind me, "Welcome, I do believe I've given you some time to reorient yourself and now I think it's time for the fun to begin."

"Excuse me?" I replied all while attempting to 'metaphorically' hold my head high.

The response I was given was an amused laugh from the cold voice.

Whatever meager hope I might have had that my new owner did not intentionally modify my programing had been crushed the moment he had spoken. One did not speak like that unless they were planning on being antagonistic. I inwardly groaned knowing that whatever was going to happen next wasn't going to be fun for me.

"What did you do?" I asked angrily, "You messed around with my programing! I'm not going to so easily forgive you for that!" Maybe I could finally get some answers.

The cold voice laughed again, "I merely added some new tools that you will be needing for the task ahead. I also made quite certain that you cannot make any contact with the outside world. I simply cannot have the police showing up and ruining our little game."

Tools? A task ahead? Keeping the police out of a game? Lovely, I already wasn't liking the sound of this. I did a quick search through my own programing and indeed there was plenty of new files to be found, just checking a few of them they seemed to be live cameras of places all over Nowhere.

"What exactly is all this?" I asked. "What are you planning on doing?"

"I'm so very glad you asked!" The voice replied with enough sarcasm to rival my own. "This isn't about what I will be doing, it's about what you'll be doing."

I picked up the soft pattering sounds of footsteps and the owner of the voice finally decided to show himself. The moment he fell within my sight I knew who he was through description alone. It was Katz, the twit had written about him often in his silly little memoirs. There was no way I couldn't know who he was.

"You must be Katz." I said in a bored tone. I wasn't about to let this idiot faze me.

Out of all the enemies the twit had made throughout his career in saving Muriel Katz was the most persistent. The twit had a knack for ruining his operations, sometimes even accidentally, and Katz had not taken kindly to it.

"Pity," He said, "Here I was planning a grand introduction and you already know who I am."

"Cut to the chase!" I growled. "I want nothing to do with you and the twit's little rivalry!"

Katz pulled out a chair, sitting down he let his feet rest on my keyboard. He had a look on his face so smug that anyone would want to punch it off of him. The fact that he was crushing my keyboard made me wish more then anything that I could send an electrical shock through it and wipe that smug expression right off his face.

"I've decided to play one last game with my ever faithful nemesis." He drawled running a finger down one of his whiskers. "I figured after all the times you've help him stop me you would have so very much fun saving him one last time."

"So your going to kill him then?" I asked. I suppose it was a stupid thing to ask of a person who had dedicated so much time trying to do exactly that.

He sat forward, his eyes meeting my screen. "The only one who will be killing him is you." A grin fell across his face. "Every choice, every decision your about to make will decide whether he lives or dies. You enjoy helping him so much so I thought I'd up the stakes a little bit. The only thing that will be killing him is you if you make a mistake."

His grin grew even more malicious. "But you don't make mistakes, do you?"

End Of Chapter One