Chapter Twenty-Nine

Expiation

The first thing Dr. Despair heard was the gunfire.

What? So soon? I only just sent out the robots an hour ago.

From his spot inside the Pyramid entrance hall, he couldn't see what was happening, so he turned towards the exit, intending to go and investigate. Before he had taken two steps, the pale form of the Surge Protector materialized beside him.

"They're onto you," said Surge. "How, I don't know, but they're onto you."

"And you?" Dr. Despair asked.

"The only names they know are yours, Ralph, Calhoun, and Felix. They've already nabbed the latter three, and now they're coming here. I'd have come sooner, but I only just found out."

"Blast it all!" said Dr. Despair. "Then the plan's ruined."

"We've still got one chance," said Surge. "From what I overheard, they seem to think you're the brains, and that Ralph, Calhoun, and Felix are your pawns. Keep it that way, and don't tell them anything else, about the communicators, about me, or anything else. If you guys can resist any pressure to talk, we might still pull this off."

"Alright," said Dr. Despair. "Go." The Surge Protector vanished, and Dr. Despair headed for the door.

The view from outside the pyramid was horrific. A great number of vikings and snowmen were swarming the doctor's robotic henchmen, savagely hacking and pulling them apart faster than they could retaliate. The townspeople were pinned down in various corners of the game, fighting desperately with weapons they had seized from fallen SANG agents.

By the developers, they've launched quite the savage attack. But if…wait, why aren't the robots regenerating?

It was only too true. The ranks of his army of robots were thinning dramatically. At the rate things were going, they would be gone in minutes.

A noise to his left distracted him from the fight. Turning, he saw Lady Claudia running towards him, a broken sword in one hand and a rifle in the other.

"Get back!" she shouted. "It's coming!"

"What's coming?"

One of the gigantic spiders emerged from behind the town center, its fangs twitching. It scuttled towards the sand dunes, heading straight for the pyramid. Lady Claudia halted, tossed the broken sword aside, and then turned and fired the rifle. Red laser beams streaked out of its tip, blinding the spider in one eye. Furious, the arachnid charged again. Several more laser blasts sent it sprawling into the dunes to rise no more.

"Good shots," said Dr. Despair, starting towards Lady Claudia. "Now there should be just two of those things left."

"The only question is," Claudia began, "where are-"

She never got to finish. A large, eight-legged form darted out from behind the pyramid, seizing her in its jaws.

Dr. Despair had seen enough. The robotic henchmen were long gone. Even the townspeople were now falling before the weapons of SANG. Before long, he would be standing alone.

With outward calm, he approached the spider. Grabbing its leg, he prepared to fire an energy pulse into its body that would kill it. But the pulse never came.

"Disabled," he muttered. "They must have hacked the code. No defense, and no way of saving this game."

The spider had finished consuming Lady Claudia. It now turned its attention to Dr. Despair. Its leg shifted, sending the villain hurtling backwards across the sand.

Climbing to his feet, Dr. Despair saw the rifle Claudia had been carrying lying on a dune a short distance away. She dropped it. How convenient. If I can just reach it…

The spider had already started crawling towards him. Allowing it to catch sight of him, Dr. Despair led it in a wide arc away from the dune, and then doubled back. As the confused spider started to turn about, he reached the dune. Seizing the rifle, he fired several blasts at the spider, killing it.

Breathing heavily, Dr. Despair turned around. Between him and the path to the game's exit stood every viking and snowman that was still standing. At their head, there stood Portia and Mr. Ainsworth.

"The last one standing," said Portia, clapping slowly. "And the only one we need to keep alive…for the moment." She gestured, and the rifle flew out of Dr. Despair's grip into her own.

"Thank you," she said.

"So, I'm all that's left," said Dr. Despair. "How did you manage that?"

"I had a look at the characters' codes," said Mr. Ainsworth. "Every one other than you was altered in some way- altered duplicates, I wagered, from how they were behaving. You made copies and killed the originals?"

"It was necessary," said Dr. Despair.

"That's not my concern," said Mr. Ainsworth. "The point is that your alterations to make them more compliant made things such that resetting the game would render them foreign objects, as it were."

"Clever," said Dr. Despair. "I admit I didn't see that coming."

"But you should have seen this coming," said Portia. "You're under arrest for plotting against us."

"I did see that coming," said Dr. Despair.


The SANG Agents brought Dr. Despair to one of the secondary garages beneath the Sugar Rush castle. They had cleared the rear part of the garage, and had blocked it off with an energy shield. They momentarily deactivated this in order to shove the doctor behind it, before turning it on again.

"The president'll be back to deal with you soon enough," said one of the guards. "Until then, you stay here."

When the guards had left, Dr. Despair turned. He was not alone. Felix, Calhoun, and Ralph were also in the same area. Ralph had a large metal pipe bent around his body, pinning his arms to his sides. The others were unrestrained

"It's your strength she fears," said Dr. Despair. "Savvy girl."

"You sound like you admire her," said Ralph.

"I respect the talent of anyone who can outwit me," said Dr. Despair. "But I don't necessarily like them." He dusted sand from his clothes. "Did any of you tell them anything?"

"They haven't asked anything yet," said Calhoun. "They just surprised us individually and brought us here."

"Mercifully, they only know about us four. Keep it that way until noon and our mutual acquaintance says he can still pull the plan off."

"That's good," said Felix. "But I hope I don't snap under pressure."

"Keep your courage," Dr. Despair replied. "By the way, how did they find out about us?"

Ralph nodded towards a darkened corner. "Maybe you should ask her."

Dr. Despair turned to see whom Ralph had indicated. "Vanellope?"

She was sitting cross-legged in the corner, her head down. I hadn't noticed her before.

"That letter," said Dr. Despair. "They found out about that letter."

Vanellope raised her head. She didn't say a word; she simply stared at him with a semi-vacant look in her eyes. So wounded, so broken did she look, that Dr. Despair could not help but feel a pang of sympathy.

"What did they do?" he asked.

"They made you look like a man who organizes a family picnic," said Calhoun. "They've torched her kart, for one thing, and that's just the tip of the iceberg."

At the mention of the kart, Vanellope lowered her head once more.

"Like a man who-" Dr. Despair snorted. "I'm not that bad. I'm not."

Ralph laughed bitterly. "You're right," he said. "You're not that bad. But what do you know about pain, about loss? Have ever you felt like half your world was taken away?"

"Yes," Dr. Despair snapped. "I have."

Vanellope raised her head again.

"My game is through," said Dr. Despair. "Finished, gone. Every last character was destroyed except for me."

"Those weren't the originals," said Ralph. "Those were just servile clones."

"With lives of their own," said Dr. Despair. "Whatever their origin, they were my coworkers, same as anyone else. And now they're gone."

Ralph seemed genuinely taken aback by the vehemence of the doctor's response. "I didn't know-"

"-that I cared?" Dr. Despair said, finishing for him. "I do what I have to do to preserve this world, and it's a thankless task. It's especially difficult when so much of what I have to do cuts me to the heart." He looked meaningfully at Vanellope. The racer's eyes met his.

"You never had to torture me," she said. "You never had to make that clone take over my game."

"At the time, all those things were necessary."

"But they weren't right!"

Dr. Despair sighed. "I know that," he said. "I've always known that."

They had reached an impasse; there was nothing more to say. Silence descended upon the garage.

None of them were sure how much time had passed when the shield was deactivated once more. But as soon as it was down, all five characters knew that matters were coming to a head.

"Time to begin," said Portia, as several SANG Agents prodded the captives into a line. She adjusted her kepi, and then signaled to the agent nearest Vanellope. The agent, a snowman, seized the surprised racer and tossed her towards a pair of aliens that were standing next to Portia.

"Hey!" Ralph exclaimed. "Bring her back here."

"I'm afraid she has to die," said Portia. "Unless one of you four is willing to perish in her stead?"

Dr. Despair frowned. So that's her game. And I know exactly who's going to step forward first- ah, he's already moving!

Before Ralph could take another step, Dr. Despair placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're of more use to her alive," he said quietly. Before Ralph could reply, he moved towards Portia.

"You?" said Portia. "I confess I'm surprised, but I accept."

Ignoring her, Dr. Despair turned towards Vanellope, who looked both pained and confused. "I didn't act before," he said. "Shall I stand on the sidelines now?"

"You're not saving anyone," said Portia. "She might not be killed, but there are fates worse than death."

Dr. Despair looked at the president of SANG "You have much to learn," he said bluntly. He turned back to Vanellope and tipped his hat.

"Farewell, my bravest foe."

Portia had taken a sword from a nearby guard and had lifted it into the air via telekinesis. With a twitch of her arm, she plunged it into Dr. Despair's chest. The doctor felt the cold steel pass through his heart.

The right thing to do…I could still do the right thing…and help the arcade…no, the plan might still fail. But…perhaps I'm…free? Free…that word…so strange in this context…

He fell backwards into the arms of a viking, his sight dimming.

Free of having…to do what I must…I can do what's right…I did what was right…no more regrets…do they know that? Does she know that? Yes, she must…she's a good kid…a brave kid…


From her spot in the arms of the aliens, Vanellope saw Dr. Despair breath his last. At a gesture from Portia, the viking carried his corpse out of the garage.

"That's that," said Portia. "The preliminaries are over. We'll be back later, for the rest of your punishment." The aliens shoved Vanellope back towards Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun, and then Portia and the guards left the garage, leaving the energy shield turned on behind them.

Felix blinked. "Why did he do that? I never thought he would do anything like that."

"Well," said Calhoun, "I guess there was a bit more to him than we thought."

"Maybe so," said Ralph. "But would he have showed any goodness, had things been different?"

"I…don't…know," Vanellope said slowly, turning over the question in her mind. "But…I'd like to think the answer…is yes."

"We can't know," said Calhoun. "But I think we can agree he died well."

"We're probably all going to die too, you know," said Vanellope.

"Maybe not," said Ralph.

"What do you mean?"

He smiled. "Wait until noon. Then you'll find out."