Here's file six, everyone! Sorry if I messed up on the style, but I've never written in-depth for Duncan before. As for the story itself, it's pretty impactful.


TD INVASION FILE VI

DUNCAN'S STORY

Let's get one thing straight, pal. I never liked the Xoro in the first place. I wish they'd never shown up. Granted, had they not shown up, I never would have gotten out of jail, but still. Better to be imprisoned for a few months than taken up in an intergalactic war against super-smart mechanical zombies or something!

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Those punks were leading me through their main base of operations. The guards leading me, Beko and Hur, were completely emotionless, only showing any form of anger when I heavily insulted them, like "You bucketheads deserve to go to the junkyard!" and "Hey, look, trash! Oh, wait, that's you." And even then, the most they reacted with was a push forward.

"Commander Kyora recently ordered a bit of reconstruction on her unit," Hur said, "so she has been slightly altered since our last visit to her."

"However," Beko added, "we don't quite understand why she'd alter her locomotion structure anyway. Trading balanced, all-terrain, quintaped movement for bipedal humanoid movement-"

"She was used to that, you know," Hur said. "Besides, the prisoner doesn't need to fear her. Not unless he knew her..."

I shuddered for a moment. Based on what Hur had just said, and what Bridgette had told me a while before, the Supreme Commander of the Xoro Legion was a figure from my past. But hey, I never listen to what others say. I shook it off, and figured that it was probably just a gut feeling, and I'd been right not to trust those before.

Boy, was I wrong.

The pair of Xoro pushed me through a doorway, and the door behind me shut. Here I was, about to come face to face with the Xoro leader. Geoff, DJ, Scarlett, Tyler, and Heather were all still in the prison courtyard, awaiting their death sentence, but me? I was probably ten times deeper in than they were.

I stepped forward. I was in a long room, with a throne turned away from me, close to the end of it. There was a mechanical hand resting on the arm of the chair, but most of the room was pretty dang empty. What surprised me was the room's antiquated feel. For technological terrors, they had taste in architecture.

"Duncan Theodore Nelson," a metallic voice spoke. It was deep, almost as if it had been adjusted for the encounter. It felt unnatural, even for a killer cyborg. "We finally meet again."

"Listen, lady," I yelled, "I don't even know you. And besides, you've got no right to take over the world, so why don't you just let us go, and take your stupid robots elsewhere?"

"You misjudge the situation," spoke Kyora. "Our kind is here merely to expand our society, so what if that means a hostile takeover?"

I growled. "If you wanted to expand, couldn't you have just taken part of the planet? You know, somewhere insignificant? Like, I dunno, some third world country?"

"That sort of cruelty towards your own kind..." The commander thought. "I suppose, in that sense, we're also saving your planet. Humanity would have self-destructed within the next millennium."

"You didn't answer my question! Besides, why did you want me specifically?"

"Oh, Duncan. Sweet, sweet Duncan." The commander stood up. "You really haven't figured it out by now, have you? But, once an idiot, always an idiot, I suppose..."

"ANSWER ME!" I shouted, angrily. The commander was making no sense, whilst insulting me. That's gotta be a new low. Only one other person had ever done that, and it had been-

No.

It couldn't be.

But, as the Commander turned around and showed her face, I knew it must be true.

Kyora Prime, the Supreme Commander of the Xoro Legion... was Courtney Barlow.

As she readjusted her voice, back to her normal, half-cranky half-serious tone, I began putting the pieces together. Why she intentionally targetted her old rivals, why she wanted to see me personally, why she wanted to make sure that Gwen was the one to take down the others...

"What... when... how-"

"If you'd learn to SHUT UP for just a FEW MINUTES, Duncan, I'd tell you," she replied. Now THERE'S the Courtney we all know and don't love!

"The Xoro's goal is to assimilate your race and use it to save our society," she explained. "Our numbers were dwindling, units becoming outdated and non-operational... junkyards were beginning to fill. We had to do something, and that was to implant the code for our new, self-sustaining units into another kind, to repair our broken numbers."

"Okay," I said. I didn't know where she was going with this, so I remained silent.

"When I was first converted to what I am now," continued the ex-CIT, "I was given my mission. They knew I could save them. And they also knew how much I loathed others. Combining those factors, they gave me enhanced tactical prowess, weaponry, and the power to control those under my fist."

"Let me guess," I said. "That includes Gwen and Bridgette?"

"Right," answered Courtney. "My creators also wanted to strip me of all emotion. However, my vengeance against humanity was what they needed. And, of course, that also means that I personally wanted to watch a certain fifty teens and their hosts pay the ultimate price."

I crossed my arms. Then I let out a hollow laugh. "Still making others do your dirty work, though... Same as always, princess!" But deep down, I was trembling, as if I'd set off this domino effect when I kissed Gwen in London. Actually, that might have been the catalyst for Courtney doing... all of this.

"You just told your story," I said. "Now I'm gonna tell you mine. See, I don't really care if people die or not. I don't care if I go to jail or not anymore. But the whole world? That's another story. I didn't expect that the actions of one person could doom the human race, but I know one thing, Court."

"If you hadn't been the one to start the hostilities, then it would have been someone else. And since you started here, in whatever part of Canada we live in..." I shook my head at that part- I wasn't certain where everyone lived. "...we know your weaknesses. You have an army, but we have something you don't."

"If you say "friendship," I'm going to barf."

I paused, wondering how a robot would barf. Then, I shook my head. "Well, you're half right. Power in numbers, is more like it. I'm not saying that 'F' word, princess, it's nowhere near the truth."

I turned away. "You may have been wronged by so many people," I said. "But either you couldn't accept the faults of yourself, like with me, or you couldn't accept the faults of others... again, like with me. Nobody's perfect, not even you, Courtney. That's why I ended up falling for Gwen in Season 3. But that doesn't mean I'm perfect, no siree. I guess what I'm trying to say is, we're not so different, you and I."

A bout of rage showed on Kyora's face. "Don't... you DARE... compare me... to YOU!" She punched me in the face, knocking me to the floor as cold steel struck warm flesh.

"Geez, can't you take a speech?" I asked. "This is your problem! You won't listen to others!"

"MY problem?" she asked angrily. "MY problem is that idiots like YOU keep telling me what to do! You fools try to give me lectures, try to change WHO I AM- and that's all you've ever done!"

I smiled. "Weird. I thought it was that way for all of us to you."

Courtney's expression changed from rage to surprise to disbelief. The look on her face was just PRICELESS. Oh, I wish I had a camera, she was MAD!

But if there's one thing I knew about Courtney, and let me make this clear to you, it was IMPORTANT: She never admitted that she was wrong. She was too prideful to say it. So, instead of breaking down into tears for her shortcomings, she picked me up and threw me across the room with an inhuman level of strength.

"I... am NOTHING like you, Duncan!" she shouted angrily. "NOTHING! Whatever you say, it's a lie!"

I began to smile inside. Watching Courtney break down is one of the best sights anyone in the whole world can ever see. Seeing someone as high as her knocked off her rocker... PRICELESS. I know I already said that, but still, I have to make it clear: PRICELESS.

She eventually growled and turned to the far wall. A screen deployed on it, showing the five prisoners being led out of their holding by Bridgette and Gwen, neither of them acting anything like themselves. Obviously, just because they used to be our friends- even remotely, in Gwen's case- doesn't mean that they were any less vulnerable to losing their minds. And Bridgette, at least, retained her human memories- Gwen might have, too.

But that wouldn't help them now. They were victims of the Xoro, through and through. And something told me that if I didn't shut my trap soon, I'd be one, too.

Courtney smiled, looking at the screen. "At least someone isn't an utter disappointment," she said. "I'm going to love watching Gwen be the one to add those poor, poor people to my army."

I tried to keep quiet. I really did. But thinking about it, I just couldn't keep my mouth shut.

"This must be your dream job," I told her. "Turning people into mindless slaves who always do your bidding."

Her smile turned to an angry frown. She marched over to me and grabbed me by the neck. Knowing her, she'd just make me pass out- she'd want me awake for the horrors that would befall me.

"Worth... it..." I was able to croak out, before I finally fell unconscious.


So, to recap:

Courtney switches off the insectoid locomotion from Episode 1. (Reason: I realize that was a bit of a dumb idea.)

Duncan faces Courtney head on, discovering her true identity.

Courtney/Kyora and Duncan have a "regular chat." (For most people, this chat is something ridiculous. For Duncan and Courtney, it's Tuesday.)

Duncan pulls some quips before Kyora knocks him out.