Sam and Mandy stumbled slightly as they continued the march down the long highway toward whatever lay at the end. Their hands stayed clasped between them as they walked, leaning against each other for both comfort and strength. They'd brought only minimal rations because they were closer to whatever food lay at the end of this road, while Clover would have to wait for their return.
"Why are we out here...?" Mandy mumbled into Sam's ear softly, looking over at her with a piercing gaze. "Can't we just take a car and drive away or something? Leave and never look back..."
"No... we can't." Sam replied softly. "Clover's depending on us. And the world is counting on us if we can pull this off."
"But we're not mechanics or scientists." Mandy complained. "How are we supposed to repair that kind of machine?"
"The best we can." Sam replied simply. Her hand squeezed Mandy's tightly as she looked into her deep, violet eyes. Mandy stared back as they stumbled up to the top of a small hill. They both looked ahead at the same time to see a large city looming ahead of them. It was full of bodies, cars, buildings, and most surprisingly, a few living people were visible from the highway.
"Come on... we're almost there." Sam marched down the other side of the hill, pulling Mandy along behind her.
Clover lounged on the pavement with a bored sigh, popping open one of her canteens and taking a long swig before pouring some of its contents over her face. The heat was blazing, despite the fact that they should have been entering autumn by now. She closed the canteen and let it fall to the street, enjoying the soft breeze that swept across her now dripping wet face.
Idly she wondered how long she would have to wait. It had already been a day and half... it seemed like anyway. The sun didn't move from the sky anymore, so the concept of day and night had begun to fade into nothing but a blissful memory. She hoped Sam was right about the sun being part of His power... then she could finally get a good night's sleep.
Smirking, she rolled to her side. She perked up however when she heard a soft scuffling sound behind the DyNaMo's head. She remained perfectly still, listening intently for any more noise. It came a moment later, even closer... the sound of metal scraping across the pavement. Suddenly heavy footsteps broke into a run toward her, a feral scream floating through the air.
Clover rolled to her back and raised one leg, blocking her attacker's strike at the wrist with her knee. Her arm snatched the loosened blade from her attacker, and she kicked the figure back with her other leg before rolling easily to her feet, gripping the blade in one hand. Her eyes went wide when she saw Alex staring at her with side, wild eyes. She was covered in dry blood almost head to foot.
"Alex? What are you doing? It's me, Clover! Your friend!" Clover shouted, backing away from her bone-thin friend.
"No! You're all His minions... you all have to die!" Alex lunged again, grabbing for the dagger in Clover's hand.
"Sorry!" Clover slammed her high-heeled boot into Alex's stomach, knocking the air out of her with one kick and doubling her over on the ground. Alex coughed and clutched her stomach painfully, tears washing down her bloodstained face. Clover walked up to her side, staring down at her sadly. "Alex... Alex it's me. The REAL Clover." She knelt down beside her Latino friend.
"I don't have any friends left! They're all gone!" Alex threw herself forward with surprising strength for someone with the frame of a zombie. Clover was tackled to the ground, her grip loosening on the dagger long enough for Alex to get a hold of it.
Alex brought the blade down toward Clover's forehead, but she raised her arms in an 'X' pattern, deflecting the blade toward the street by her head. Sparks flew as the steel blade slammed into the pavement. Clover grabbed her wrist and twisted it back over Alex's head, forcing her up lest she get her arm broken.
"Alex please!" Clover leaned against her young friend, wrapping her free arm around her and resting her head on her shoulder. "I'm real... I'm Clover and I'm real." She could feel Alex shudder in her embrace, her fist tightening around the hilt of the dagger. "I'm not with Him... he was using me to mess with you... I'm so sorry Alex..."
"No... Clover said..."
"I say... please let me be your friend again. Come back to me Alex." Clover whispered softly. She felt Alex's tense body loosen somewhat under her embrace, until finally the dagger tumbled to the street from limp fingers. Clover let go of Alex's wrist and the younger girl wrapped her arms tightly around her, burying her face in her shoulder.
"I... I'm sorry... I didn't want to be alone..." Alex sobbed into her shoulder, her shoulders shuddering with each heavy breath. Clover stroked her back gently, smiling as tears ran down her own cheeks. The smell of blood almost made her gag, but she was too glad to have her friend back to care.
"I know Alex..." Clover told her friend. "You're forgiven..." She held her friend tightly, squeezing her eyes shut to try to hold back the waterfall that threatened to emerge. She'd done this to her friend... she'd listened to herself manipulate and torture her beyond imagination. She could never really make it up to her... comfort was all she had to give.
Sam and Mandy marched into the city they'd found, keeping careful eyes out for any hostile survivors. They moved down the street, holding each others' hands. Soon they found a large green pickup truck parked by the side of the road. "Hey, we could use this to haul supplies back to the DyNaMo thingy." Mandy commented, approached the driver's side door.
"Do you have the keys?" Sam asked. Mandy pulled the door open and climbed inside. She sighed as she pulled out again, shaking her head. "Too bad, guess we'll have to bypass them." Sam climbed into the driver's seat and grabbed a small knife off the bottom of the truck, prying the ignition off of the steering wheel.
Mandy blinked when the truck roared to life. "How did you learn to hotwire a truck?" Mandy demanded.
"I was a spy remember? I have to be able to bypass pretty much any kind of security. Now hop in, let's look for the supplies we need." Sam pulled her door shut and put her seatbelt on. Mandy had a strange look on her face, but climbed in the passenger's side anyway.
They took off through the city until they found a large electronics store, and since they needed a whole lot of electronics to put a new controller on the DyNaMo, it only made sense for them to pull up and head inside. They walked inside the store, surprised to find that it was relatively intact inside. They supposed people must have rushed for food more than electronics when the world went to Hell.
"So... what do we need exactly?" Mandy asked, walking up and down the rows of wires.
"For one thing, some controls." Sam grabbed several keyboards off the shelves, stuffing them into a basket she'd picked up at the front of the store. "You just grab all of the wires you can find." So Mandy set about throwing random wiring into the basket, making sure to get at least two of everything to make sure they wouldn't have to make a return trip.
When they'd loaded up on electronics they tossed them in the back of the truck and headed to a nearby home repair store. Mandy whimpered as they walked inside.
"We're hauling one big piece of steel out of here aren't we?"
"The robot has to be sealed tight enough to stand the vacuum of space. Nothing less will do." Sam explained as they marched toward the metal section. Mandy sighed and followed behind her. Soon they strained and grunted trying to haul an eight by six foot piece of quarter inch thick solid steel out to the truck. It dragged most of the way, but Sam assured her it would be fine if they could get it to work.
"There we go. That should do it." Sam stated as she dropped a small variety of power tools and batteries into the flatbed with their wires, keyboards, and steel plate.
"Now we find food?" Mandy asked pathetically. She could feel her stomach growling in desperation after dragging the unbelievably heavy piece of steel along the ground.
Sam chuckled. "Yeah, come on there has to be something left." Sam climbed into the truck with Mandy climbing in the other side before they took off down the street. Finally they pulled up in front of an Albertsons and climbed out of their truck, walking inside.
"Whew... that stinks..." Mandy held her nose against the stench of rotted and moldy food that permeated the air.
"Come on... can section." Sam pulled Mandy toward the canned foods isle, looking for anything that might have kept for the last month or so. Their hearts dropped when they saw that all of the cans were gone. "Well... I guess it had to happen eventually..."
"Come on... let's try another store." Mandy suggested. So they cruised around the city, searching store after store with similar results. There wasn't any edible food left... it had all been sucked dry by those survivors that remained amid the rubble of their former lives. Mandy grew increasingly desperate, while Sam just sighed and shook her head.
"We're running out of time here. We could die of hunger looking for food. But if we hurry we might be able to finish this before we get too weak." Sam said.
"But won't we still die of hunger whether we kill Him or not?" Mandy asked.
"Possibly..." Sam replied truthfully, looking over at her with a gentle gaze. "But don't sweat it... at least we'll go out on our own terms instead of just sitting around waiting to die." She gripped Mandy's hand tightly, giving it a firm squeeze. Mandy stared at her sadly, but nodded and squeezed back gently.
"Okay... let's go." Mandy and Sam turned to leave the last store they'd found in the city. With the truck they could reach the DyNaMo in a fraction of the time it had taken them to reach the city. Then they could rebuild it, send it into the sun, and pray that it did what Sam thought it would do.
Clover and Alex were sitting on the sidewalk holding each other when Clover spotted a small green truck approaching from the direction Sam and Mandy had gone. Sure enough, they climbed out when they reached the robot, hauling a bunch of supplies with them. Sam stopped when she saw Alex, her eyes going wide. Whether from joy at seeing her friend or the shock of seeing her covered in blood, Clover couldn't tell.
"Alex?" Sam exclaimed, dashing toward her friend and wrapping her up in a tight hug. "Oh my God! You're alive too! We're all together again, all the WOOHP girls!" Sam grinned.
"Yeah..." Alex replied less than enthusiastically. The fire that had burned so long in her eyes before this disaster seemed to have been completely extinguished by now. Drowned by torture, confusion, and hatred for those who'd put her through all of this. This fact didn't escape anyone's notice, but nobody was about to say anything.
"Come on Mandy... we should go ahead and get started." Sam stated. Mandy nodded and pulled their supplies out of the truck, following her to the DyNaMo to begin wiring up the new controls inside the robot's chest. They knew the danger of being electrocuted was very real. They didn't know how to turn off the power, so every one of these wires was very much a live wire.
But thankfully, all of the control wires were in the neck since the controls had been in the head, so they didn't have to go in too far. Sam spent the next several days trying to figure out if she could possibly get the keyboards to work with this mammoth machine. Meanwhile their food supply slowly drained with four mouths to feed, though thankfully they had plenty of water.
"Why do I feel like I'm on the raft again..." Alex muttered one day, staring up at the blood red sky. "Drifting uncontrollably against my will toward nothing..." Clover couldn't think of any way to comfort her friend. She felt the same way honestly... their lives were in Sam's only somewhat capable hands.
Capable they were however. Finally Sam managed to get the letter Q on one of the keyboards to cause the DyNaMo's arm to twitch spastically. It wasn't much, but it proved that with a lot of experimentation and fine-tuning, the keyboards could indeed control the massive machine. But she was only human, and she occasionally had to stop to rest and drink some water. Their food had, by then, run out.
Sam lay on the ground several hours after her achievement, staring up at the sky when Mandy approached and sat down beside her. "Do you think there's actually any way this can work?" Mandy asked softly, staring down at her. "Even with this thing up and running... how would we get it to the sun...?" She stared into Sam's eyes deeply.
"Simple..." Sam replied softly. "Someone will have to fly it there... and release the DyNaMo's energy manually once they're close enough..." Mandy shook her head and put her hand on Sam's chest over her heart.
"You're not thinking of going yourself are you?" She asked. They both knew whoever went on this last mission was never going to come back.
"If I have to... I will." Sam said softly. Mandy frowned and sighed, leaning down to rest her cheek against Sam's shoulder. They wrapped their arms around each other. It might be a while before the DyNaMo worked well enough to consider any flights... but it was only a matter of time.
After discovering the appropriate wiring methods, progress on the controls sped up the next day. Sam managed to wire several more keys to cause certain limb responses, such as the Q moving the right arm forward and the W moving the right arm backward. It would be endlessly complicated and cumbersome to pilot, but they only had to point the robot in the right direction.
Alex pent her time watching Sam work on the controls, while Clover spent her time in the relative shade underneath DyNaMo's severed and useless head. Mandy never left Sam's side, following her just about everywhere she went. Sam spent every waking moment working on the controls, trying to ignore her growling and empty stomach.
Alex looked down as her stomach howled to be filled with something more solid than a canteen of water. She could still remember everything she'd done over the last month and a half... all the time she'd spent on the ocean... all the people she'd killed since finally emerging from the ocean back into her homeland. She'd thought they were working for Him... Clover told her so... but now Clover told her she'd been lying...
It was too confusing. Who was Clover? Which one was the fake one? She could touch this Clover, could feel her and smell her, but somehow she still seemed less real than the one who'd stayed with her after her ocean journey. She didn't know... even Sam and Mandy seemed less real... the only thing she did know for sure was that she hated Him.
Finally Sam had the DyNaMo working well enough to maneuver it through space, including the different thruster jets each linked to a different key on one of the keyboards. She called everyone together in front of the headless monster, looking around at everyone. "Okay everyone... it's decision time. Someone has to fly this thing... and I know it should be..."
"Make it me." Clover stepped forward instantly. "This place is totally depressing, I'd rather go someplace interesting than hang around here."
"Yeah, make it her!" Mandy exclaimed, jamming her fingers at Clover. "You heard her! She's tired of life!"
"Mandy... I have to do this myself." Sam told her softly.
"No you don't." Alex shocked every by marching up to Sam with a cold glare, the blood that still covered her body making the scene even more frightening. "I'm killing Him." She said simply, as if it was a foregone conclusion rather than a decision to be reached. Sam shot a surprised glance at Clover and Mandy, both of whom stood locked in surprise, staring at the deadly fire burning in Alex's brown eyes.
Sam finally nodded, staring into her formerly bubbly friend's hatred. "Okay Alex... climb in and we'll seal you up..." Sam told her. They didn't have the materials to make a door, so they would have to seal the pilot inside with the steel plate. There wouldn't be any escape from the machine once Alex was inside, but from the look of her eyes, escape was the last thing on her mind.
Alex climbed inside with a handful of canteens and several flashlights all shinning on the control panel so she could pilot the thing in the dark mechanical chest cavity. Sam, Mandy and Clover strained to pull the steel plate into place, where Sam pulled out a small blowtorch and proceeded to weld the thing shut.
It was disconcerting, sealing her friend inside of the giant robot like a steel tomb. But Alex didn't flinch or show any fear as she slowly vanished from sight, concealed by the large steel plate that covered up the hole where the robot's neck had previous been. The only means of seeing outside the robot Alex had was through a pair of small windows Sam had punched into the steel plate before welding in the strongest glass she'd been able to find in the city. When she finished, the three remaining teenagers climbed off of the robot, staring up at it.
Clover took out her compowder, tapping into the frequency of the small radio Sam had installed in the DyNaMo's chest. Sam took it from her and spoke into it. "Okay Alex... you're all ready to go." Sam stated. Alex didn't respond, but the robot began to move. Climbing to its feet with jerky, stiff movements. It almost fell right on top of the three girls several times, but Alex managed to keep her balance.
"Alex." Clover grabbed the compowder, speaking into it quickly. "Good luck up there... and for what it's worth, I deserve to be the one in there for everything He made me do to you..." She stated sadly. Still Alex didn't respond as the DyNaMo's jet engines kicked into high gear. The headless robot lifted from the ground, streaking into the sky.
"Goodbye..." Sam and Clover muttered in unison, watching until the robot vanished into the crimson depths above them.
A soft sound set Sam and Clover on alert, looking around quickly for the source of the sound. Mandy screamed when a black shadow emerged from behind the DyNaMo's head, its crimson eyes pulsing almost as if in anticipation. It was quickly joined by five more, all six black shapes moving slowly toward the three remaining girls.
"What are those things?" Mandy exclaimed. Neither Sam nor Clover answered. They were death as far as they were concerned. There was nowhere to run or hide anymore. They must have been watching and waiting for the robot to leave to they could move in and take them out... but then they had to know of Alex's mission.
Alex kept her fingers pressed on the keys that activated the jets, sending the robot hurtling out of the Earth's atmosphere. She watched as the red glow of the Earth's atmosphere gave way to the darkness of deep space. She could see the infinite stars glowing for the first time in she didn't know how long, but in front of her the sun still glowed with that damned crimson color.
IClover leapt forward to fight the shadows, but they easily swept over her, sweeping her aside with one kick that knocked her rolling to the side of the road. She lay unconscious on the gravel as the shadows approached Mandy, who backed away from them fearfully./I
Alex pressed the keys in a sequence that would ready the DyNaMo to expel all of its power, coming closer and closer to the sun. She was sweating furiously as the heat rose to unbearable levels, but she ignored it, intent upon completing the mission she'd chosen to accomplish. She would end this now, no matter what got in her way.
Her eyes went wide when something did indeed get in her way. A massive crimson claw emerged from the sun itself, followed by another. They seemed to grip the sides of the molten star, pulling the rest of the main body out. This wasn't the high-voiced transvestite she remembered from the raft. His body had become massive and coated in darkness, with a pair of black horns emerging from his head. His arms and legs were as thick around as an elephant's entire body, and his eyes glowed with deep crimson hatred.
ISam lunged for Mandy, wrapping her arms around her and yanking her out of the way as the shadows attacked. For a few moments, the three girls put up a valiant effort, but in this wide-open space, the advantage belonged to the fasted. And they were far outmatched./I
"Think you're going to destroy me so easily, little puppet?" He sneered, floating out into space. His voice echoed in her mind, a deep, dark growl that penetrated straight through her body to send a shiver up her hardened spine. "I have existed for millennia... and I will exist for millennia to come. You are nothing but a flickering candle to me."
"You did all this to me... you made me suffer... you made my friends leave... you made me kill..." Alex growled.
IMandy hit the ground with a heavy thud, howling in pain as her knee snapped on impact. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she felt Sam wrap her arms around her again, pulling her close even as the shadows neared. Mandy closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around Sam's neck and burying her face in her shoulder, trying to block out the sight of the approaching darkness./I
"No, girl. You killed those people yourself. My influence had long ended... but you chose to keep killing." He grinned, snapping his claws together in satisfaction. "That blood on your body is your own fault, not mine."
"SHUT UP!" Alex screamed, pressing the keys that would send the DyNaMo hurtling forward. The DyNaMo slammed into the dark creature's chest, but he barely seemed to feel it. One claw reached up and gripped its arm, pulling it away from him. The claw slammed into the robot's stomach, tearing through it as easily as one would punch though a piece of paper.
ISam cried out in pain and slammed into the ground on her back, watching as the shadows swarmed over Mandy first. One of them grabbed her wounded leg, yanking her across the street like a hunter pulling on a cats tail. Mandy screamed in pain, both from her broken knee and her back scraping against the rough gravel./I
Alex grunted as she was knocked around the chest cavity, holding onto the keyboards in front of her so she didn't go flying. The heat from the nearby sun didn't help matters any, she was sweating wildly now and her breath was hard and labored.
"Once again, girl, I have you at my mercy." His voice taunted deep in her mind, leaving behind a searing pain that eclipsed any of the wounds she'd sustained in her life. "But this time, I have no mercy to give." She watched through the small windows as he drew back his crimson claw, aiming it straight for the hole in the DyNaMo's neck where Alex was sitting.
IFinally the shadows turned away from the sobbing Mandy, turning on Sam, who was already crying from watching what they did to Mandy. They floated up to her, one of them grabbing her by the front of her shirt. It lifted her off the ground, holding her suspending above the street as she heard Mandy croak "Sam..."/I
"That's funny... neither do I." Alex pressed down on the controls, causing the DyNaMo's engines to kick into high gear. The robot's arms caught his claw in mid swing, using its momentum to whirl around, yanking Him off balance. She slammed her fist down on the thruster controls, sending them both hurtling toward the sun.
"Fool... the sun cannot hurt me." His voice reminded her gleefully.
ISam grunted as several blows buried themselves into her ribcage, sending her hurtling to the ground. She groaned, opening her eyes painfully and staring up at the shadows. They stared back down at her, their shining crimson eyes almost seeming to enjoy the torture more than following their master's orders. They weren't themselves at all anymore... they were death incarnate.../I
"No... but I can." Alex gasped for breath as the heat began to burn her lungs from the inside. Her skin felt like it would begin bursting outward at any moment even as her fingers flew over the keyboard. The DyNaMo's power stores activated, sending a surge running through the robot. She heard Him scream in her mind as the power ran through his claw, which was still buried in the robot's stomach.
She smiled contentedly at his scream... finally the shoe was on the other foot. But that was all she had time for before the robot's batteries detonated, sending shockwaves surging through both Him and the crimson sun at once. His cry couldn't travel through deep space, nobody could hear him scream as the crimson energy from the sun surged outward, engulfing him with his own power. The backlash sent a surge running through his body. He'd been using the sun as a power store... but now it was cut, and his own body began to burn with the power he'd stored up. His own strength was his weakness.
Sam blinked as the shadow around the six figures began to surge, the energy in their eyes beginning to swirl out of control. The shadow tore from their bodies, vanishing into the air around them. The crimson energy floated into the sky, streaking toward the crimson sun as it began to fluctuate wildly. She watched as the sun itself flickered, growing darker than it should have been.
The six children fell to the ground with dull thuds, bathed in the first starlight the world had seen for over a month. The sun overhead was dim and still fluctuating wildly, occasionally fading to black before shining again with a dim pale glow.
"Sam..." Mandy's voice trembled with pain and fear as she spoke. "Wh... what's happening...?" She struggled to pull herself toward Sam, grunting in pain as her broken knee scraped over the ground. Sam looked at the tears flowing down her cheeks, reaching out and pulling the violet-eyed girl into a tight embrace. Mandy leaned against her. "What happened...?"
Sam looked down at the unconscious Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys, then turned her gaze up to the pale sun overhead. "I... think we won... Alex did it..." She said softly. There was no joy in her voice however. The sun was dark... without its heat, the Earth would slowly begin to freeze over. Out of a fearsome dictatorship... and into a death sentence.
"Good..." Mandy smiled slightly, holding onto Sam tightly. "I... love you Sam. Let's rebuild this world together..." She said softly. Sam looked down at her, the tears running down her cheeks. Mandy didn't seem to realize... or she wouldn't acknowledge... the truth. Well, far be it from her to let it slip now, in their moment of triumph.
"Okay Mandy..." Sam leaned down to kiss her tenderly on the lips, running her hands through Mandy's hair. "We'll spend the rest of our lives together... no matter how long they are..." Her voice cracked as she spoke. Mandy didn't respond, just holding onto her and leaning against her. The human race was finished... but perhaps in time the sun would recover, and the Earth would prosper again with new life.
Sam smiled through her tears, looking up at the sun. Not a death sentence... a cleansing. The universe shrugging off the darkness imposed by Him... to have the light one day return. In her mind's eye she could imagine the light being so beautiful... she wished to see it. But for her, the light she found in Mandy's arms would have to be enough...
THE END