A missing scene to Virtual Fatality
by Birgit Staebler
The dark-haired, tall man sat in the silent living room, which was bathed
in twilight. A large TV screen was switched on, replaying prior taped scenes.
Currently a man with light brown hair, dressed in a cloak was performing
magical tricks to the delight of his spectators. He was thin and pale,
looking overdressed in his costume. Birds flew out of his hands and transformed
into colorful confetti; fire formed in his hands and danced around him;
objects and people disappeared. Again and again, Ace Cooper replayed the
tape, his face expressionless. But his eyes displayed what his face tried
to hide. He was deeply disturbed and there was something unreadable but
prominent in his eyes. It was like a mixture of fear, disbelief and desperation
"Hey, man, what's going on?"
The young voice let him flinch briefly and he accidentally hit the
'pause' button on the remote. The frame froze on the magician on the stage
as he raised his hands, creating small fireworks around his fingertips.
"Ace? You okay?" Cosmo asked, eyes darting between his older friend
and the image on the screen. "Why are you watching this?"
Ace Cooper switched off the TV and tossed the remote onto the table.
"No reason," he said dismissively, noting there was a light tremor in his
voice.
Cosmo shook his head. "You rarely do things without reason, Ace. So
why watch those recordings over and over again?"
Ace turned his head, raising one eyebrow, and shot Cosmo a questioning
look. "How long have you been there?"
"Long enough to know that something's bothering you. Hey, Hagen is
behind bars in a mental home! He's gone and you are back. Everything's
back to normal. What's the matter?"
Ace silently gazed at the dark screen, eyes shadowed in a still much
too pale and gaunt face. The ordeal of the virtual world was barely 48
hours old and within the week he had spent inside the VR tank he had lost
considerable weight. On top of that he had used the Magic Force to finally
bring the kidnapper and thief down for good, and expending so much energy
in his weakened state had not done him any good. Vega would have liked
to see him in a hospital, but Ace had declined. All he needed was some
rest at home. Mona had insisted on the same as they had walked away from
the open air celebration of 200 years of Electro City, but he had waved
her concerns off. At that time, adrenaline had helped him stay upright.
The moment he had been back at the Magic Express, Ace Cooper had collapsed.
He had slept for almost fifteen hours straight, but instead of feeling
better, he felt even worse. The events haunted him and he couldn't sleep
without seeing the images Jimmy Hagen had forced into his mind to learn
his tricks. Ace had little recollection of the actual kidnapping. He had
been hit over the head and the next thing he knew he was fighting monsters
and was trying to free Mona. There had been no end to the creatures trying
to kill him.
And he had not had the Magic Force to help him. It was probably the
worst of the whole ordeal. Ace depended on the magical energies he could
access, though he rarely used them in his shows to the full extent. As
a stage magician, he had to perform with stage tricks. What made him special
were those shows no one could really explain, as well as what the media
called charisma. But in the virtual world, there had been no Magic Force.
His mind, connected to a computer, had not realized the danger as real
enough, though Ace had felt the same pain and fear as he would in a real
world battle. Whenever he had tried to unleash the Magic Force, he had
been met by failure.
That was the real horror. The loss of his magic at a time where peoples'
lives depended on him.
Ace shivered and his hands clenched into fists. The presence of this
powerful magic inside him was a welcome feeling and it was his security.
He always felt it with him, each hour of the day, a background hum so powerful
it could just as well destroy instead of help, but Ace would never use
his powers that way. He had had the talent since childhood and a lot of
hard training and meditation had enabled him to access his potential. Few
really understood what it was, but those who had had a glimpse were truly
amazed -- or afraid. Vega had been apprehensive the first time he had found
out that Ace worked with more than just stage tricks. Cosmo had thought
it to be 'cool'. Mona... she had been frightened for a while.
"He is good," Ace now said softly. "Very, very good."
"Because he stole everything from you, man!" Cosmo reminded him. "Hagen
is nothing! A nobody! All he was, he stole from your mind."
Ace smiled wryly. "So now we have two Ace Coopers."
"There is only one Ace!" Cosmo insisted. "Hagen was a copycat! He used
your magic!"
"And he used me."
The younger man was silent for a while. Cosmo remembered only too well
the scene he had seen when he had broken into the lab. Ace, connected to
a virtual reality machine, floating in a holding tank, fighting invisible
enemies. When he had finally entered the cyber world in his own gear, Cosmo
had been shocked at what Hagen and his accomplice had thrown at the magician.
Ace had been on the verge of a total breakdown, overpowered by the creatures
Hagen had thrown at him, weakened and desperate. Cosmo had come barely
in time to help Ace out of the VR world. He had managed to break free in
the end and they had apprehended Hagen, but it had not been easy.
"It's over, man," Cosmo insisted.
"Not really." Ace shook his head and sighed. "I still see it all in
here." He pointed at his head. "What Hagen did...." Ace stopped, closing
his eyes.
"You don't really have to tell me," Cosmo said quickly. "It's okay."
The magician smiled dimly. "Maybe. Maybe not. But I wanted to thank
you for everything, Cosmo. Thanks for believing in me and helping me out
of the virtual world."
"Hey, no problem, man." Cosmo pasted a cheery grin on his face. "That's
what friends are for!" But the cheeriness never reached his eyes.
Ace gave him a smile, which died down again. Cosmo fidgeted, unable
to come up with something to cheer Ace up. No one really knew the full
details of what had happened inside the virtual reality, but it must have
been too much for Ace to just shrug it off.
The younger man left silently, worried and unable to come up with an
idea how to help Ace. For once, Ace needed his help to deal with something,
and he couldn't do it. How often had Ace bailed him out, had listened to
his problems, had overlooked his teenage rowdiness? How often had Cosmo
been in trouble? Now Ace was in trouble of a kind, but he was at a total
loss. If it were a technical problem, yes, he would be able to help. But
emotional stuff....? Cosmo sighed. He wasn't so good dealing with his own
feelings or opening up either, so who was he to try and help Ace?
Mona would be a likely candidate to take on this job, but Ace had refused
to see her in the last two days. She had told Cosmo that she understood
and that Ace had always dealt with his problems alone, even as a teenager.
He had gone off to fight his demons, then had returned and never mentioned
it again. Cosmo hated the idea, but for now he had to accept.
* * *
A scream echoed through the bedroom and Ace woke with a start, eyes
wild. He struggled against the blanket covering him.
"Mona!"
He panted, lungs on the verge of bursting, and his muscles trembled
violently. Sweat covered his body and his mind was awhirl with confusing
images.
"No!" he whispered, slumping back. "Not real...."
His eyes focused on the ceiling, trying to find a center to calm himself.
It had been a dream again. One of the many who confronted him with the
virtual reality where Mona had been put into danger over and over again,
where he had failed to rescue her. The images were burned into his mind
and he couldn't ignore them. It had been a game, set up by Hagen, but it
had been so real.... too real....
Ace sat up, swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and closed his
eyes. He evened out his breathing and finally calmed down enough to trust
his legs to carry him. He dressed, then silently left the Magic Express.
There was somewhere he had to go.....
* * *
Cosmo woke to the sound of his alarm clock and he grumbled something
under his breath, swiping at the offensive machine. It stopped with a final
squeal. Dragging himself out of sleep and his bed, he made it to the bathroom
where a shower more or less refreshed him. When he finally arrived in the
kitchen, he found it empty and unused. Usually Ace was up way before him.
Maybe he had slept in. In his current physical condition, rest was the
best medicine.
"Angel?"
"How can I be of service, Cosmo?" the artificial intelligence asked.
"Is Ace still sleeping?"
"No. He left three hours ago with the Racer."
Cosmo's eyes widened. Three hours ago? That had been almost in the
middle of the night!
"Where did he go?"
"He didn't tell me, Cosmo."
Cosmo frowned. "Can you locate the Magic Racer?"
A map popped up on the screen and Angel started tracing. A blinking
dot indicated the car's current position.
"Oh, no.... Hagen's residence. Or what's left of it anyway," Cosmo
muttered. "What's he doing there?"
"Insufficient data," Angel answered dutifully.
He shook his head. "Warm up the bike. I'll go after him," he decided.
On one hand he knew Ace needed some time to deal with the experiences,
but on the other..... he needed a friend, and Cosmo was the one who thought
he could do it.
Ten minutes later he was racing toward the lonely house on the high
cliff outside Electro City.
*
It was early in the morning with the mist still clinging to the ground
and the sun not yet strong enough to pierce through the cloud cover. It
spoke of rain already and by midday it would probably pour down again.
Cosmo stopped the bike in front of the security fence and got out, looking
at the ruins shrouded in the wavy whiteness. Three days had gone by since
the building had been almost completely destroyed by the explosion Ace
had triggered inside the underground lab and by now construction equipment
was lining the driveway up to what had once been the
main entrance. Bulldozers, steam shovels,
Bobcats and more. The moment the officials gave the go, this ruin would
be torn down. It had been declared highly unstable and dangerous, and multiple
signs had been put up. From the outside, the Hagen residence still looked
rather okay, but the inside was one big mess. The lab had burned down almost
completely, taking sixty percent of the private home on top of it with
it.
No big loss, Cosmo decided as he secured the bike against theft and
then walked carefully closer.
Up close the ruin looked even more impressive than from afar. It had
the appearance of a movie set for a horror movie, just waiting for someone
to shout 'action' and monsters to lurch toward the hero or heroine. Walking
into the once proud building, Cosmo stepped over charred wooden beams,
molten plastic, fallen roof sections, always cautious not to stray too
far from the route declared safe.
A labyrinth of more debris lay ahead of him and he peered into the
murky twilight. Getting out a high power flash light he searched on. He
had a good guess where Ace was, but he hoped he was wrong.
Half an hour later he found he wasn't. Getting to the lab had been
difficult and not without danger, but Cosmo had made it. Now, his clothes
smudged, he climbed over a fallen shelf and peered into the twilightish
lab. Yes, just as he had expected, Ace was there. The burned remains of
the VR tank lay on the floor, the second tank partially shattered. The
computers were a molten mass; nothing more than scrap metal. Ace was fingering
a piece of cable and Cosmo recognized it as part of the feed between the
virtual image world and Ace's mind.
"You shouldn't have come here, Cosmo. It's dangerous," the solemn voice
of his friend startled him.
Cosmo stepped deeper inside, ducking his head to avoid fallen poles,
charred and split open from the heat. Some of the walls around him had
collapsed, partitions blackened, windows blasted out. Nothing left at all.
"Then what are you doing here?" he asked.
Ace never raised his eyes from the cable. "Closing a chapter," he finally
said, then dropped the charred cable.
His cloak swished silently around him as the magician crossed the ruined
lab and stopped in front of the second VR tank. He reached out and touched
the smoked glass. Cosmo felt awkward, like he shouldn't be here. Suddenly
Ace closed his eyes and the hand touching the VR tank was bathed in a bright,
white light. The magical energies raced over the tank and it exploded into
a million pieces. Cosmo ducked automatically, shielding his head, but no
particles touched him. Like through magic they had stopped right before
him and piled on the floor.
Magic. Uh-huh....
Ace lowered his hand, trembling slightly.
"Feeling better?" Cosmo asked, hesitantly coming closer.
Ace sighed shakily. "In a way, yes. I know it will not destroy the
memories, but I think you could say it helped." He smiled briefly.
"Then how about we leave this creepy place?"
"A very good idea."
Outside, Ace watched the mist covered ocean slap against the cliff.
The morning sun light played over his pale features and Cosmo decided that
his friend definitely needed some more rest. There would be no shows for
at least a week. The public understood. Then there would be the trial of
Jimmy Hagen, though it would probably end with Hagen confined to the mental
institute for the rest of his life. Ace didn't really have to make his
statement in person, but knowing his friend, Cosmo was sure he would go.
"Come on," he now said quietly. "Let's go home."
Ace nodded slowly and walked back to the Magic Racer.
* * *
Mona Malone was busy searching through her wardrobe for a dress to wear
for the performance tomorrow when the phone rang. She headed to the table
and picked up the receiver, surprised when Ace's face appeared on the vid
screen. He was no longer as pale as the last time she had seen him, but
he still looked gaunt.
"Hello, Mona," the dark-haired man said softly.
"Ace! How are you?"
"Better." A small smile flitted over his features. "I'm sorry for not
taking your calls the last two days. I had... to deal with ...something."
He sounded a bit strained.
"I understand, Ace."
"Listen, I'd like to invite you over for dinner if you are not too
busy tonight." There was slight hesitation in his voice, telling her that
Ace Cooper was still not back to normal.
"Tonight would be just great," Mona told him.
"Eight?"
She nodded. "Eight is fine."
When she had switched off the phone, Mona went back to the wardrobe
and reached for a dark green dress that was neither too formal, nor too
casual. Ace wanted and needed her company, which told her all she needed
to know.
She arrived at the Magic Express a few minutes early. Mona tightened
her jacket around her shoulders as a cold wind pulled at it. It smelled
like rain and the forecast had predicted a thunder shower for tonight.
Angel opened the door the moment she approached and Mona hurried inside.
Ace smiled as he saw her and Mona tried to ignore the lines still visible
on his face.
"Thanks for coming," he said softly.
She shrugged out of the jacket. "How could I resist an invitation from
the famous Ace Cooper?" she teased.
He smiled again, a charming smile, almost reminding Mona of the Ace
Cooper she was used to, as he took the jacket and accompanied her to the
living room.
Outside, the first signs of the storm echoed through the night. Lightning
blazed across the dark sky and thunder rolled in.