Chapter 9

Alice

I stood up straight, feeling my new armour on me again. I sighed deeply and felt the happiness draining out of my system. I looked around and saw my helmet laying a few feet away. I walked over and retrieved it, scooping the metal case into my arms.

I sat down on a pile of bricks and other debris and looked down into the visor. It was larger than the visor on my old helmet. The whole shape was different, but still resembled the Mark V, vaguely. I brushed some dust off the black reflective surface and slipped the helmet back on.

"Where am I, Ball?" I asked, I let the exhaustion I was feeling creep into my voice a little.

"About half the city away from where you first jumped." He replied, his voice had relief practically spilling from it. "Good to have you back."

"It doesn't feel good to be back." I replied. I pulled my knife out and examined the faint tinge of purple still left on the blade.

"Your two followers were getting worried you weren't going to stop." He continued. "I was coming up with contingencies to stop you, to be honest."

I nodded slowly and put the knife away. I felt around for what guns I had left, I vaguely remember dropping most of them during combat. I had my pistol and the DMR still.

"How long was I out for?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer.

"That was a good three hours." He replied. "You killed-"

I cut him off by shaking my head and whispered, "Don't tell me. I don't need to know that."

He stayed silent and I heard the familiar sound of jetpacks getting closer. The sound stopped and turned into the crunching of boots on loose ground. I closed my eyes and waited, but nothing happened. A second set of boots walked past where the first ones stopped and I heard a person sit down next to me.

I heard Dutrevai sigh deeply before saying, "You're hard to catch, you know that, right."

I opened my eyes and looked up at her. She had her visor transparent and was grinning at me.

"But that was one hellavuh ride." She was out of breath, but still sounded happy.

I looked past her and saw Nikolai sorting through different coloured shotgun shells and loading a few into his gun. Neither of them looked injured, so I stood slowly. I could feel my muscles move stiffly and they were all sore.

"Our ship just finished its objectives, the battles in space aren't going well, so we've been ordered to bug out." The little blue ball told us.

Dutrevai nodded and her visor turned black again. I pulled out the DMR and scanned the area, looking for threats. The two ODSTs moved around and established a perimeter for a landing zone.

"LZ is clear, we are ready for pick up." Dutrevai called out through the comms.

"Aye, we're on our way te get ye right now." The ship's AI replied.

I heard the whine of engines and saw a faint outline of the Prowler. Its active camouflage coating was good, but I could still see it. It probably worked better in space, where there were less details to copy.

The ship's engines caused huge dust clouds to fly around us. It lowered to the ground and the three of us all stepped inside. The ship immediately closed up and shot off once we were secure. I felt it shake as it left the planet behind. Then again as it entered Slipspace. We were once again trapped for another two weeks.

AI

Well, I can't exactly say what that mission was. By all means it was a success. Yet she changed… A lot. Not for the better, either. When we get out of Slipspace I can synchronize with the larger me and see what's actually going on, but for now I'm stuck watching her mope around for a while. A long while.

She just sits around and stares off into the distance. I should be able to read some of her thoughts, but there's nothing there. Ever since she blacked out no one has been able to have a normal conversation with her. Maybe she does have Multiple Personalities Disorder and this is a new personality coming out. Maybe she never actually woke up. Maybe she's trapped within her own mind, being tormented by herself.

Stop. Asking questions with no answers gets nothing done. I better go talk to her.

Alice

"Alice." The little ball of light rolled out in front of me. It reminded me of the orb in my mind. "Alice, what's wrong?"

I looked up disdainfully at him. My helmet's visor cast an odd reflection of my face, from its perch across the room, so I looked straight at his manifestation, instead. "Nothing." I replied, simply.

He made a sighing noise and moved closer, "Something is bothering you. You never just sit still."

"I've got a lot on my mind." I replied with a shrug. My thoughts quickly swarmed back in and my focus on the ball faded. Jerome. And who? It said it was me. That I had lost control. Whatever it was, it caused me to lose it during the fighting. I'll have to work hard to keep it down next time.

"Alice!" The ball was right in my face and I jumped back slightly.

"Sorry." I muttered. "I have a lot on my mind."

"You said that already." He replied. "As I was saying, what happened when you came back to the real world, huh? I can help if you tell me."

I sat still for a moment, then took a deep breath and started to recount what I remembered, "When I woke up, well… I wasn't awake, I was in a dream, sort of. Anyways, I woke up inside a Pelican. We were flying over Arcadia, towards a battle or something. It was just me and-" I struggled to say his name out loud. When I did my voice was shaky, "I was with Jerome. He told me we were going to destroy an alien base.

When we landed there was no one around, not even enemies. We snuck around until we came across this strange building. Inside there was a large glowing orb… It kind of reminded me of you, actually. It was pure white and was almost blinding. He told me to destroy it, that we had to destroy it.

Then… Stuff just started happening and there was a fake Jerome, who had led me there, and a real Jerome who helped me fight back against the fake one. In the end I either killed or knocked out the fake one and I was free." I shook my head, trying to recall any specific details, but it had become fuzzy in my head.

He didn't respond for a while, which was only about two seconds, but for an AI that's a long time. "I guess, how should I put this? I likened your condition to Multiple Personality Disorder when you were fighting. Where one personality comes out and takes over for a little while." He paused again. "It could be a possibility. The other personality must have taken on some of Jerome's traits. That's as best I can guess at what's happening without access to my full self."

I rested my chin on my hands again and closed my eyes. My vision was filled with the deep dark red of my eyelids and I tried to force all thoughts from my mind. In my peripherals I saw dark tendrils shoot across my vision. They began to snake closer to the center of my sight.

I snapped open my eyes and the tendrils cleared away. "It's still in there." I blurted. "Whatever it is, it's still in my head, trying to take control." I could feel a slow misery creep deeper into my chest and the urge to kill grow stronger.

"Just don't give in." The ball stated. "Stay strong and resist. To quote an old book: 'Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you."

I put a hand on my chest plate and tried to feel something under the cold steel. Inside I began to feel the darkness trying to claw out. That feeling I had relished when we were close to combat, I had wanted to release it. That is why it exists. Because I allowed it to. Now I have to suffer the consequences.

My vision began to darken, I stood up and my head felt light. "Alice." The ball started, he sounded distant. "Alice something is wrong."

I heard my voice, it sounded dull and quiet, I repeated the same word, over and over, trying to hold back this Devil inside me, "No, no, no, no, no!"

I woke up. Light streamed into my eyes. I could feel my breathing, heavy and difficult. I could feel my limbs as I moved them around sluggishly. My vision cleared and I looked around.

In front of me sat the large orb. "Do you know what this isssssss?" A horrible voice hissed at me.

I quickly stood up, tendrils of darkness wrapped around me and I struggled against them. "No!" I spat at it.

"Oh, but you do." It cackled evilly.

"What are you?!" I shouted at it.

"Your soul." It replied evenly. "As is that."

A dark shadow, pitch black, moved close to the orb. As it neared the bright light, it took the shape of a human. I could see it reach out and touch the orb, I felt a stabbing pain spread out from my chest and head.

I doubled over and coughed, "What was that?"

It chuckled and approached me, a figure cloaked in shadows. So this was my soul? "We are two parts of one. But something separated us. We now conflict. Unfortunately that light won the first battle. Yet I will not be defeated so easily. Rest assured, Alice, I will conquer your body and mind, I will take control. Then nothing. NOTHING will save you!"

I screamed and struggled against the darkness binding me. Suddenly the orb pulsed, a wave of light spread through the area and my bindings snapped. I looked towards the dark figure, who had fallen down and was clutching his head.

I heard the ball's words, Resist the Devil and he shall flee from you. Then suddenly his voice, "Be strong, Alice. You are strong."

I growled and grabbed the frail looking shadow man. He struggled, but I had a death grip around his neck. I picked him up slowly, until I was suffocating him in the air. Then I slammed him onto the ground like I did the first time.

An extremely bright light flashed out and the shadows were dispelled. I was back, I had won again. Next time, it wouldn't even be a competition. I own this body. I alone control it. Nothing can conquer me.