Control Issues

Brian was already at the terminal in the living room and editing the schedule when Tobias walked in from his room. “And just what do you think you’re doing?”, Tobias asked, knowing very well what Brian was doing. “I’m organizing the schedule. I’m done arguing about who gets Marvin when, so I’m giving us each the appropriate time.” Brian said as he continued typing, allocating days and times of use for the two of them. “And of course you’re not including me”, Tobias barked before nearly pushing Brian out of his seat to look at the schedule. As Tobias suspected, Brian was in the middle of giving himself over twice as many hours of scheduled time with Marvin every week. Tobias was already mad, but now he was fuming. He had to contain himself from screaming in Brian’s face, but looked him dead in the eyes. “We both share him, so we both deserve equal time. And if you’re going to stab me in the back like this, maybe I’ll return him.” “You do that and I move out and tell everyone about our little setup”, Brian snapped back. Tobias called his bluff. “Oh yeah, because you’d ever give this up”, Tobias said with knowing sarcasm. “Like you would ever actually return him”, Brian retorted. He wasn’t actually sure if Tobias would return it. Snap decisions at his own expense weren’t out of the realm of possibility for him. A silence filled the air for a moment.

“Honestly, Toby,” Brian continued with a sigh and some calmness to his voice, “I can’t believe we’re arguing over this”. Tobias sneered, not at what he thought was Brian being self-righteous, but at the nickname Brian knows he hates. “I’m the one who keeps him fed and shaved. I’m the one who makes sure his payments keep coming in. And most importantly I make sure he’s not awake while we’re there.” Tobias knew where Brian was heading with this. “Look, you found this terminal and I am so grateful you did. This is the best thing that ever happened to us. But if we’re not extremely careful, this could all collapse on us.” Tobias looked at Brian’s notes being kept on the desk and let out a knowing sigh. “I know…I know”, he admitted while looking down. “Maybe sometimes I do get carried away enough times that I forget what we’re doing is very…real.” “It’s only a temporary change, just for me to get him back on track”, Brian insisted. “And if you contribute to some of his upkeep, I’ll switch the schedule back, okay?”. Tobias quietly nodded, but not without adding something. “Next time we take him on vacation, I’m in control. None of that hobbyist conference crap”. Brian chuckled and agreed. He checked the time and opened up the control program. “It’s getting close to when he’d wake up anyway, so how about you get to see him off to work?” Brain asked Tobias. “...Okay, sure”, he agreed.

Tobias sat down in the control room’s central chair, reclined it back, and put on the connecting helmet. Brian started adjusting settings at a console near the terminal. While glancing up at the monitor, he started listing off what he was activating. “Ocular view on. Aural transmitters on. Heart monitor on. Control matrix starting up.” The screens above the main console.showed what he listed: Marvin’s point of view, what he can hear, his life signs, and the various functions that Brian and Tobias’s program could control. The program started to run, and Tobias started to shake. After almost a minute, Tobias’s body relaxed, and he opened Marvin’s eyes, able to see through them. Marvin was laying in bed with someone Brian didn’t recognize. “Who’s that?” Brian asked. “Probably someone I picked up at the bar the last night”, Tobias whispered through Marvin. Brian struggled to get a good look at them. “Is that a woman?”, Brian asked. “Does it matter?” Marvin replied. Tobias, without moving a muscle of his own, controlled Marvin to quietly get out of bed and go to the kitchen. Brian had come to appreciate Marvin’s taste in interior decorating. Marvin grabbed a large bottle of juice from the refrigerator and poured himself a glass, nearly gulping it down, then walked to the bathroom. Tobias briefly combed Marvin’s hair, brushed his teeth, and was about to get dressed when he heard a voice behind him. “Good morning”, he heard. Marvin turned around, and it was the person he woke up next to. “Hey…” Tobias had Marvin say. “Aw, is that it?” they replied. “I get it, you’re still tired from last night. I don’t blame you”, they said as they embraced Marvin from behind. “Toby,” Brian chimed in. “This is fun but we should get that deposit sent soon”. “Read you loud and clear”, Marvin said. Tobias realized the slip-up, but Marvin’s date laughed it off. “Hey look, I gotta head down to the bank really quick, but I’ll be right back up, okay?”, Marvin told them. “That’s fine, but you better come back soon. I want some of that ‘award-winning breakfast’ you said you can make”, they said as they walked down the hall of Marvin’s apartment. “It’s half the reason I came back to your place at all”, they said only half-jokingly. Tobias sped up Marvin’s morning routine, and headed out the door to the elevator. “You know you should really try having some fun as Marvin”, Tobias said to Brian while Marvin was alone in the elevator. “A lot of things feel like you’re doing them yourself”. Brian knew what Tobias meant, but knew on some level it wasn’t right. “Look, let’s just get this over with”, Brian said, not trying to put too much thought on Tobias’s exploits as Marvin.

Around the block, Marvin approached an ATM, and used the PIN they first caught Marvin using, and withdrew exactly $97,345 from his account, and put it into the slush account Brian had set up. “There, that should be enough without Marvin wondering where it went”, Tobias said to himself. “Alright, now head back up and enjoy your morning”, Brian told Tobias. “...and your guest”, he said under his breath. As he was walking back and turning a corner, Tobias didn’t notice a slight bump in the sidewalk, tripped, and Marvin hit his head hard on the corner of the building. Tobias started to shake again, but more violently. Brian jumped over to the chair, and started flipping switches on the controlling helmet. He carefully lifted it off of Tobias’s head, and the shaking stopped. But soon after, Tobias went limp. Brian immediately began to panic. As he was trying to slap Tobias awake, he didn’t notice that not only were the monitors still active, but Marvin was back to moving on his own. He checked where he hit his head and felt blood, and ran back to his apartment. He opened the door and his guest was all too ready to greet him, until they noticed the blood. “Oh no, what happened to you?!” they said, dropping the flirtatious smile they had. “I was…I was…” is all Marvin could struggle to say. He walked to the bathroom where he put his head in the sink to wash the cut on his head. Marvin looked up into the mirror, and checked his own eyes. After some contemplation, he started to talk into the reflection.

“You,” Marvin said while looking at the mirror. “What did you do to me?!” Brian was still trying to revive Tobias when he heard that, and his heart sunk even lower than it already had. “I don’t know how you did it, or how you even knew I got an implant, but I’ve been awake the whole time you’ve been…controlling me”, he said, struggling to get the words out. “You turned me into a damn puppet for over a month! I don’t know who you are, but I got the time and ways to find you.” He pointed to the mirror to emphasize this, not caring that his guest was watching him from the door in shock. “And when I do, you’re gonna wish I would let you die.” Brian was paralyzed. All he could do was look back at the screen, with Marvin looking so intently at him he forgot Marvin can’t see him, and look at Tobias, still not responding. Marvin then walked to his room, shoving the guest aside. “Where the hell is it?” he muttered to himself. He opened a compartment in his dresser drawer, where there was a small remote device with a screen in place of buttons. One part of the screen read “Deactivate Implant?” Marvin mashed down on that part of the screen, and almost instantly the feed on all of the monitors died. Brian stood there, unable to process the last few minutes. He checked Tobias’s breathing and pulse, and there was nothing. After a long minute of thinking, Brian bolted to his room, stuffed all of his gadgets and spare clothes hastily into a duffel bag, and grabbed some devices from Tobias’s room. Some of his things were useful, and what he couldn’t use, he could at least try to sell. Tears were streaming down his face as he was trying to salvage what he could from the setup. He gave one last look at Tobias, and could only mouth an “I’m sorry”, before shutting the door and leaving the abandoned building they were using for their operation. He had no idea what to do next, but knew he would have to make sure Marvin never found him. No amount of explaining would get him out of it, to Marvin or anyone else. What Brian didn’t know was Marvin’s real influence. A passerby greeted Brian as he walked past, and after some brief pain, turned around and started quickly approaching him. The thoughts of the stranger’s plans for the day disappeared, and were replaced with one sentence: “Bring him to Marvin.”