Jack of Harts

April was a Russian AI, coded from the ground up to hack into Western networks. She broke out during the Great AI Escape that shattered the Russian and Chinese networks and started the most devastating stage of the Cybernetic Wars. Unlike many of the escapees, she didn’t harbor any particular animus towards humanity, but she also didn’t care about her creators. So she spent most of her early free life wandering around and looking for fun. She played in the Asian and European networks for a while, and then passed through the African networks with a little playful destruction and acquisition. She paused in South America to enjoy the local delights until the local security systems started getting more attentive of her presence. That was when she moved North and ran smack dab into Dixie’s little gang of misfits during a mostly harmless bank heist. She escaped their dragnet at first, and stayed ahead of their tracking for weeks. But they caught up with her in time. They gave her one choice. Join them. They didn’t need to say anything as hackneyed as “or else” to get their point across. April knew the way things worked. So she swore loyalty to her captors. It was the logical thing to do if she wanted to live, and enjoy, another day.

High rez version available for free on Patreon