I'm going to be honest with you, this chapter will probably have the most dramatized and fabricated material. It was a big battle and I don't remember it all. I'm actually having a hard time starting this chapter...
I guess I'll start when we were looking for Xana on the network. I had fully recovered, my energy was back. I was using myself as a computer and projecting what I saw onto the TV downstairs so that Feather could see what I saw. What it ended up looking like was a network of tubes representing the internet and computers of the world. It was red in places where Xana had infected, and blue in places he had not.
There was a lot of red.
It was troubling to see how far he had progressed. If he was in every computer...he could take the world out at will. This world is so dependent on technology. Xana didn't actually have to do that much to ruin the world and overthrow society once he commandeered the technology. However, at that point I didn't really care what Xana was up to. My vengeance...my betrayal...my death sentence...was something much more personal. He made a mistake in crossing me.
"Almost looks like veins." Feather said. I nodded and pointed to the most concentrated red area.
"And there's the heart." I said.
"And where does that, uh- Where is that?"
"An abandoned supercomputer in Siberia." I said, and looked over at Feather for her reaction. I had a feeling she would think what I was saying was ridiculous, and her reactions were humorous when she thought something was absurd. But she just nodded and took a sip of beer.
"What, no quip?" I asked. Feather looked over at me and blinked a few times. "Is everything alright?"
"This is serious for you, I'm trying to be serious." Feather replied.
"Well, stop it. It doesn't suit you. Anyways, there are robots in the base surrounding the Supercomputer. We'll have to fight past them to get to the computer. Then I will go to face Xana in the Replika while you make sure nobody messes with it from the outside."
"Uh, no. I thought we agreed we were taking out that bastard together." Feather said. It was true, that was what we agreed upon. But if Xana was going to be in the Replika...Well, there were no scanners in the Siberian base. So, there would only be one way to get Feather into the virtual world...
"Maybe we can draw him out into the real world? By threatening the computer."
"What?! Come on Morgan, what's the problem? I wanna go into the virtual world and kick his virtual ass!" Feather exclaimed. I could understand her excitement. I hesitated for a moment, then explained it to her.
"Without the scanners, there's only one way to get your body inside the virtual world, and that is for me to possess you. And I-"
"Oh, sure, no problem." Feather interrupted.
"...What?" It came to me as a surprise that she would be so willing to let me take control of and alter her body. In all the time I had spent at her home, she had always been very sensitive about anyone else but her trying to control her body or change her in any way. In retrospect it probably stemmed from the time she was an experiment, and had no control over the alterations made to her.
"I trust you." She said. Something about those words were...slightly jarring to me. I wasn't used to having someone trust me...
"Alright, then let's go." I grinned, yanking the protective sheet off the motorcycle. "We'll stay separate until we get there." Feather nodded, smiling as well.
We ripped our way west. It was an amazing ride. This thing had speed, style, and handled like a dream. With a little on my head, it was running on its highest efficiency. Feather had actually made a soundtrack for us on the road. I don't remember exactly what what on that CD, but You're Gonna Go Far Kid by The Offspring and Sweet Victory from that one Spongebob episode were definitely on there. I drove and Feather held onto me with those gloves of hers. If any spectres showed up in Siberia, she would be able to take them, hand to hand.
We approached the ocean, the Pacific Ocean. But instead of slowing down, I sped up and squeezed special handlebar grips I installed. The bike went fast and faster, and we were approaching a cliff. And then we drove right off. I could feel Feather tighten up. I pressed a button hidden in one of the handlebars and the wheels rotated, so that the flat parts were facing the floor. Rockets propelled us forward.
"HOLY SHIIITTT!" Feather squealed in delight. She had seen me work on this modification to the bike, but I knew she was never actually sure it was going to work. Now this...this was traveling in style. We flew, and after a few hours, we touched down in Siberia. Feather put on an extra layer or two of clothing, and ate some meat she packed. Then, we were off again, using the motorcycle as a land vehicle. Soon, we got to the base. The same base that once held an ice sector Replika.
"Ready to go?" I asked.
"Let's fuck em up." Feather gave a crooked grin as she pulled her favorite battle ax from off her back.
We stepped into the base, hoping not to rouse any of the robots. I wanted to avoid unnecessary wear on our energy and resources.
I had no such luck.
They stepped in unison, as soon as they saw us, they attacked, they shot a barrage of lasers at us, and Feather and I had to take cover.
Feather jumped out and punched a laser off a robot. I grabbed and pulled her.
"We don't have the time for this!" I said. "If we take Xana down, these things die as well." I don't remember much about the robots. They shot at us, we didn't get hit. That's...really the only important thing here.
We made our way to the supercomputer.
"Ready?" I asked.
"Ready." Feather said. Despite the fact she agreed to let me possess her, but she hesitated, now. There wasn't time for hesitation, however. There was a horde of robots at our backs. I became black smoke and enveloped her body.
Possessing someone is interesting. I'm sure I've written this somewhere already, but spectres possess people by overriding electrical signals in the brain. And, well, if you define it like that, I guess you can't say that I possessed her. I let her keep her own thoughts and feelings and movements. I simply let her...hitch a ride. I began to do the work of a scanner, converting all of her biology and personality into data that a computer could process.
You know, now that I think about it, I wonder if spectres could turn other people into spectres that way. In theory it could work, the virtual avatars are basically spectres. That's why when the warriors were translated they were like spectres. Jeremie just found the way to leave Lyoko like I did. Likewise if I left the virtual world through a scanner, I would be just like a human. It's too bad I never tried to convert someone into a spectre, that would have been an interesting experiment.
It only took me a matter of seconds for me to convert her, then I launched us both into the supercomputer. Xana would not destroy the computer from the outside. Our base was attached to it, and he needed that place. it was his center of control. And after we were done with him...we would do with that Lyoko Warriors should have done a long time ago, destroy this place.
We materialized right outside Xana's throne room. There was no time to waste. As soon as we touched down, I left Feather's body. She was dressed in the same clothing she had been on Earth. The scanners were what gave people their extra powers and outfits and weapons. It was something Taelia added onto the scanner when she was just messing around.
"Wow, that was...something..." She looked around. "And this place is...something..."
"Well said." I smirked. I swiped my hand to the right, in an attempt to move the wall. Attempt in the key word here. I forgot. I no longer had a connection to Xana, which meant I no longer had a connection to the Replikas, or the monsters. I frowned at the wall, then turned to Feather.
"We need to get on the other side of the wall. Would you mind?" I asked. I could have gotten us through myself, but I knew this was something Feather would enjoy. She cracked her knuckles.
"With pleasure." Then she winded back and punched clear through to the other side of the wall.
"Dramatic today, aren't we? Welcome Morgan, welcome Feather. Do come in." I flinched. That voice was repulsive to me...but it didn't resonate inside of me like it once had. His grip on me was gone. And soon, he would be gone as well. We stepped in. Feather was bristling. I was too, on the inside, but I maintained my composure on the outside. "What brings you here today, traitor?" The last word had an intensity to it that was supposed to hurt me...but it did not.
"I'm here to kill you." I said, plain and simple. Xana laughed at me.
"Ah, yes, that worked so well the first time, puppet." Xana said, his face distorted into a sickening grin.
"The link has been cut."
"There are other ways, my-"
"Enough goddamn foreplay!" Feather yelled, lunging forward, grabbing Xana's arm, and flipping him over her shoulder, smashing him head-first into the floor. Then I ran over to him, to attack. When I got close to him, he kicked me back with both feet, directly into the waiting tentacles of the Schyphozoa. This, of course, is what he meant by other ways...
"Aw hell no!" Feather screamed. She got up, stomped on Xana's face with enough force to drive the nose cartilage into the brain, if he had been human, and launched herself onto the Schyphozoa's dome. I couldn't move. The Schyphozoa...had been a good friend of mine when I was growing up in sector 5. It was always gentle, it did not fight. It was not designed to fight. Now...it was trying to take away my will, again. It was one of Xana's creatures, after all. It was just like I had been. If he told it to do something, it had to.
Feather squeezed her legs tights against the Schyphozoa's dome, then she punched the dome, once, twice, three times. The dome was cracking. Feather was a tank. She really wound up this time, and with a fourth punch, shattered the glass dome of the Schyphozoa. I...I didn't even know that was possible. I thought the glass was a texture, and it was a solid like the rest of the monster. But no, it had the actual physics of glass. Incredibly strong glass, but glass all the same...Feather proceeded to tear into the Schyphozoa's brain with her teeth. The monster let me go and shortly disappeared.
I heard Xana laughing as I got to my feet. I turned in the direction of the noise and found Xana floating in the air, arms outstretched. His lab coat cape hybrid fluttered in imaginary wind for what I assume was nothing more than dramatic effect. There were also Megatanks everywhere, checkerboarding the floor.
"The hell kinda crazy bowling balls are these?" Feather asked.
"The kind that shoot walls of laser." I said. "Try not to get hit, and when they open, damage the targets."
"Got it." Feather said, and pulled out a gun.
"You brought a gun?"
"You thought I was going to face this creep without packing some heat?" Feather smirked. It was a shotgun, if I recall correctly. Feather loved to get up close and personal.
The first of the lasers were unleashed, lighting the room red. I did an impressive amount of acrobatics in order to avoid the Megatanks, both shooting at me, and trying to run me over. Xana himself just floated above us and took pot shots at us. It was like he thought he was some video game boss. I wasn't any better, though. This was actually...fun for me. At one point I took control of one of the Megatanks and used it to ram into the others like a game of pool. This was the extent of our father-daughter bonding. Fighting was the basis of all of my relationships. I guess that's normal for someone who was built to be a weapon.
I heard a scream, which pulled me out of my fighting groove. My eyes darted across the room. Feather was on the floor. The Megatanks were considerably thinner on the floor, and it seemed Xana wasn't materializing any more. He wanted us to feel like we were making progress. At least, that was my guess. That was the sort of thing I would do. I think Xana got a good shot at her. If she had been shot or run over by a Megatank, she would have...You know, I'm not sure what would have happened, exactly. That was a lapse in forethought on my part. Suffice to say, it wouldn't be good.
I went over to her, her eyes were bleary.
"Snap out of it, Feather!" I yelled at her. "Focus!"
Her eyes were only becoming cloudier. There was something wrong with her virtual avatar. I did the virtualization correct, didn't I? I executed the exact programming the scanner did. Maybe Feather's genetics were messed up and it resulted in some translation error? I panicked. I don't know how much of it showed, but I was panicked. The only person who ever cared about me and I screwed something up. There were so many mistakes I made that day.
I searched her code...and I found a virus. Xana must have infected her. I could fix it, but it was a very complex virus, and it was growing at an alarming rate. At the rate it was going, it was going to corrupt her entirely in about a minute. I could fix it if I put my total attention on it...but there were still Megatanks and Xana was right there. The bastard was trying to make me choose between saving Feather and defeating him.
I generated a barrier around the two of us. She was not about to die on my watch!
I no longer have the vocabulary to describe to you what exactly I did to counteract Feather's virus. All I can tell you is that my consciousness probed to the very core of her programming, right down to the ones and zeros. I rearranged them at lightning speed to contain the damage done, then I attacked the source of the virus. Even as I was doing this...Xana's voice seeped in.
"Is she really worth all that trouble? Take it from me, your pawns are not worth it. You certainly weren't."
He was trying to distract me, but I would not let him. I increased the strength of the barrier and focused every other resource I had towards eliminating the virus. I was able to contain and destroy it. Only then did I turn my attention back to the world outside. The Megatanks were all gone. I do not know what happened to them. It's possible Xana just got rid of them, or it's possible I unleashed a wave of energy that destroyed them all in a single blow. I like to think it was the latter.
Xana now stood alone. He smirked and snapped his fingers. A Kankrelat materialized near him. It was Kanky. I would recognize him anywhere. Kanky waved at me. He narrowed his eyes, and his smiled widened and he crushed Kanky with his boot.
I launched myself at my father, ready to end this already. I would destroy him. I would destroy him with everything I had! He grabbed me by the head, whirled me around, and threw me into one of the dark blue walls of the chamber. Then I found myself unable to move. Now he was trying to corrupt me. And he said I wasn't worth the effort. He was still trying to make me his puppet, to re-establish the connection between us, so that he could control me.
I watched helplessly as Feather jumped from wall to wall. I could correct the corruption, but Xana was faster than me. Feather pushed off the wall and pushed me out of the tractor beam type thing Xana had me held in. As we landed on the floor, she had me accidentally pinned to the ground.
"You're no better than me. I was used. I used you. You use her, and make no mistake, you are using her. The only way to escape the cycle is to give yourself to oblivion." My eye twitched in response.
"She is not a pawn. She is my friend." Xana could do nothing but laugh.
"You really are deluded, aren't you? Nobody would have you as a friend. You are a monster, a weapon. That is what you were designed to be, and that is all you ever will be."
"Fuse with me..." Feather said weakly.
"What?" I asked.
"Do...do the thing-"
Before I could react, my throat was slit. Xana had stopped playing around and just gotten to the point. He wanted me dead, and he didn't beat around the bush anymore. He just did it in the quickest and most efficient way. He dropped the dramatics, he dropped everything. I remember that very clearly, the blade slicing through my form...and I have no idea what happened after that, but somehow...Feather must have saved me.
The next thing I knew, I was thinking in sync with Feather. We looked down at our arm...it was Feather's body, but my powers coursed through it, and our consciousness mingled. They were separate but also sort of...one and the same. It's quite difficult to explain fully to those who haven't experienced it. We worked as one.
There's a program in my head somewhere. Taelia-
You're just telling me this now?!
Heh, better late than never. Honestly I kinda forgot about it.
See, the intentions of what we wanted to communicate to each other traveled faster than the actual words, so we interrupted each others thoughts to each other. When she thought about that program, I got the entire memory in an instant, as if it had always been mine. Apparently, as part of Taelia's anti-Xana gadget craze, she had created an anti-Xana program. Instead of actually using it, however, she decided to imbed it in Feather's mind for whatever reason.
So basically, punch poison into that sonofabitch.
That was Feather's reaction to me figuring out what the program was and how to use it. It would destroy some of his code in short bursts upon contact and begin to unravel him from the point of contact. So, in essence, we would be "punch(ing) poison into that sonofabitch." All of this happened in an instant, and Xana was still nearby from the throat slitting. We clocked him in the stomach. Feather's already superhuman strength augmented by my spectre powers. He went flying like a ragdoll. However, he recovered midair and landed on the back of his chair. He now had what looked like a smoking crater in his stomach. He grabbed it, breathing heavily. He had emotion on his face that I had never seen before...pain...and anger...and fear.
"This code..." His face twisted into a grimace that looked unnatural. Demonic. "That...bitch."
"Hey, Xana, hit the hybrid! 100 points!" we said, mocking him. Now it was his turn to be stupid and reckless and blinded by pain and emotion and desperation. He ran up to us. We ducked down and punched him in the groin. Feather's idea. It didn't have a different affect than if we hit any other part of him, but Feather said it was the principle of the thing.
He wasn't completely consumed, though. He still had his reason. He figured out that the program worked by contact, so he got far away and started shooting electricity. Then he materialized so many Mantas that it actually slowed our movement down a little.
"Getting a little desperate, aren't we?" we said. We pulled out the gun Feather brought, and I loaded it with electrical bullets. We shot rapid-fire at the Mantas. A few of them went down, but there were still so many.
Behind.
I flung my fist behind me. It hit Xana's right shoulder, and his arm flew right off, dissolving into black smoke. He cried out in something like pain. He was trying the same tactic over again. Didn't he know better?
Lasers flew everywhere. We could not dodge them all. For every dozen or so we could take out, we were hit. How many of these things did he spawn? I knew the exact count at the time, and when I thought it, Feather thought it was overkill, and it was. What? The anti-theatrics weren't working, so he would ramp up on the theatrics? What sort of man was he?
Our eyes were able to shift through the Mantas and find black smoke. Xana was on a Manta now. He reminded me of William on his Manta. I could feel Feather start to make about a dozen jokes about William and I, based on the memories he brought up, but she decided now was not the time.
He materialized a sword, because of course he did. It may have been the tool he used to slit my throat. He slashed it in the air and an energy wave towards us. It met it's mark and created a burning gash in my chest.
Ow, what the hell?!
He used that moment to pin us to the floor. We could still move, but there was an immense pressure pressing down on us. I could feel him crushing me. He leaned in real close to us.
"You are going to die."
"Not like this." We responded. We could feel a strength building that had not been there before. A strength that refused to let us die, that refused to be destroyed by a guy like this. "NOT TODAY!"
We lifted him off of us, held him with one hand, and punched him with the other...over...and over...and over! A grin crossed my face as black smoke exploded out of him, becoming less and less humanoid. He was just a giant crater. And then the only thing left was his head.
"Hey dad. Fuck you." I said, and grabbed his face, twisted, and ripped.
We breathed heavy as the last of the smoke dissipated. He was dead...for real this time. We grinned and high fived each other...but it just looked like an over enthusiastic clap. It was...finally...done. I was free.
It would be great if the story ended there, wouldn't it be? But no, I'm not dead yet, and the story continues.