I grinned at her.
"Ah, yes. The program. Most useful. I've been using it as a controlling device for Kilobyte and the others since they were blasted there. I reconfigured the codes to slowly reset all the character files to the original settings. I had to design a special program for Kilobyte, who should be forgetting his time in the mortal world. Before long he'll be mine as before. Your Ace—no, wait, that would be the other version of you—shouldn't have anything remotely resembling human feelings. The emotions were a mistake, I admit, but I've rectified that little error."
She didn't respond to my little remark about Ace. "Random Virus is on the rampage," she said. "Lord Fear is offering you the power to bring back those who can help against him." She opened her palm to reveal a piece of the Amulet.
"I'll need three pieces," I told her.
She nodded, and materialised two more inside a crystal ball.
"I know you have the ability to choose just what you bring back. Of course you'll return the pieces."
"I'll bring back the Knights, and Kilobyte," I said. "After they've flattened Random Virus it'll be up to you to defeat them. This game's permanent now, by the way…except for those I want." I laughed.
She nodded. "I'm sure Lord Fear would accept those terms," she said.
This is excellent. Perfect, in fact. More power to me. Let the Knights and Kilobyte destroy Random Virus and Lord Fear—permanently— and then only those I control will be around. Then I'll use my programming skills to have them take over the world for me. So simple. How gullible can one get? Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. This program works for me, even if she doesn't know it yet.
- -
Our world disappeared, bright colours fading into nothingness, and I felt like I was being sucked down a new tunnel, electricity fizzling around Ace and me in a sea of blue swirls.
Another level.
We reappeared in a different dimension, a new level of the game. The place looked vaguely like the old Thunder Tower, the Lightning Knight headquarters. For some reason the whole place looked somehow familiar to me, but I didn't spend any time thinking about it.
I whistled and the Flash came to me. I grinned at Ace as I jumped on, and he swooped beside me.
I laughed as I raced him to the Carnival of Doom, where the game would be finished one way or another.
- -
A typical day these times, really, the deranged cyborg marching into the Carnival demanding his revenge, attacking all in sight. The little humans were around; they tried to talk to him, but they might have as well cried to the wind.
The Virus calls all besides him coward. I doubt he's ever encountered anyone stronger than himself, Kilobyte included; he therefore never had a need for the strategic retreat, and judges others accordingly. He's wrong. There is nothing stupider than pointless battle. And suicide is perhaps the most cowardly decision of all.
The world changed when they arrived together, shooting across the sky, bright and dazzling and ready to fight. I watched as they landed outside the gates of the Carnival, and began their march on the powers of evil.
- -
The Carnival of Doom, I thought, and wondered why it looked so familiar-yet-different, the same old bad guys in a place not quite what I expected. Seen one deranged supervillain, you've seen them all.
It doesn't matter. The program's important. The fight's important.
"Random!" I heard Ace exclaim, his voice thick with concern for our friend.
Random turned from exchanging blows with Anvil to look up at us, and I saw his eyes widen in surprise as an instant later a blast of green light hit him from behind. He stumbled, and Ace flew down to defend him.
"Ace!" I heard a voice cry, and saw a young mortal racing towards us, firing a lightning blast from a glove screwed onto his hand.
Ace spared the time for a puzzled glance. "Who are you?"
"Mark. Mark Hollander. You know me."
"I don't. But you should leave, kid, whoever you are. This isn't a place for humans."
Ace continued firing at Lord Fear, and with some surprise I noticed the skeleton jump onto some flying vehicle, luring his archfoe into an aerial battle.
Since when does Bonehead fly? Doesn't matter. We're still going to win this battle.
I felt something hit the Flash, and turned to see Googler, preparing for another bounce.
"Back again, Sparxie?" I heard him giggle. "Don't worry, we'll send you home…for good!"
He released Zip and Snip, and it was all I could do to hold them off with my sword.
- -
In a deadly duel of rushing wind and burning power, I saw Ace attacking his long-term archfoe, both taking to the sky.
The cyborg continued his battle with Anvil, exchanging metallic punches and taunts about strength.
Kilobyte rematerialised from the Ferris wheel, and flung Anvil aside with a single tentacle.
"I don't mind picking on someone my own size," Random said. "I've been waiting for a chance to finish my battle with you for a long time."
"Give up now, Virus. Your rebellion will cost you everything."
The mortal brat fired the glove again, sending Rotgut dissolving into the golf course. His next shot was aimed at the Doom Wagon's engine, and it plummeted to the ground.
As he fell, Lord Fear extended an arm to grab Ace's ankle. I saw them both crash into the ground.
Kilobyte, temporarily distracted from his battle with Random, released a tentacle to grab the superhero's neck. Random used the distraction of his opponent to land a punch, and Kilobyte released his foe, reeling backwards.
"Nice going, Random," I heard Ace say to the cyborg. "We're here to help."
"I don't need help. You were weak enough to get yourselves blasted into the Sixth Dimension, and since then I've been helping myself." He aimed another punch, at his friend this time, and Ace was flung into the nearest tent. Even helped by the mortal brat, it took him a while to get up.
"You should…leave now, kid. We'll handle things from here," he said, struggling to catch his breath.
The human didn't need to be told a second time—marginally intelligent than I'd estimated, I thought—and ran.
- -
Googler's fast, I thought he'd once said to me, and he'd been right; it was taking all the strength I had to keep fending off the puppets and their master, whizzing and bouncing around me like wisps of wildfire.
I was too late to see the next move coming, and in a second I was thrown out of the Flash, landing heavily on the ground, my sword impaling itself next to me. In the corner of my eye I saw a flaming, unguided Lightning Flash spinning downwards.
I lifted myself with a groan, reaching out a hand for the hilt, and heard laughter of a different tone.
"Lesson one, Knight: never drop your weapon." The skeleton retracted his arm, holding my sword.
More ironic…own sword…never mind, that's not important. I can handle this.
I tried to duck the green blast, but it seared my shoulder, leaving a leaking wound. I backed against the wall of a booth, and I didn't think I had an escape route handy.
"While it would be more…poetic…to destroy you with your own sword…this should be far more practical."
Staffhead glowed green, and I tried to prepare myself.
- -
Random's eye turned green. Considering his behaviour lately, in itself that was not surprising. What was interesting at the time was that Kilobyte did notput up much of a fight as the cyborg wheeled himself over to protect his red-haired friend.
- -
I saw the green light flame through the air, and realised a second later that it had never hit me.
Random, flickering, tried to smile at me.
"He used too much power, Sparx…you should win now. Nice work."
Random gestured, and in a crackle of electricity my sword flew to my hand again.
"Random, no!"
My friend. Dying.
"At least I…saved you, before I lost myself again," he said. "I…won't see you in the Sixth Dimension this time, Sparx…"
He collapsed, and there was nothing left of my friend but my own memory files.
- -
The Master Programmer had achieved one of his goals, nearly at the expense of another of his projects.
Kilobyte smiled grimly, and stood still to watch the battle play itself out.
Googler ricocheted from the sky to attack Sparx a second time. She responded with a furious blast, while Ace attacked the murderer of their friend.
Pigface ran out with a squeal to defend his master, and was gone in an instant with the force of Ace's rage.
Sparx shot a final blow at Googler, and joined Ace to prepare to blast their long-term arch-nemesis.
Lord Fear laughed, an evil cackle.
"You're done for, Lightning. You just haven't figured it out yet. After all…you have no pieces of the Amulet, and I have…this."
He opened his hand to reveal a piece of the Amulet, and made a complicated gesture with Staffhead.
The air became thick with green smoke. Tendrils of green light wrapped themselves around the Knights, who struggled as they were slowly strangled.
I knew what I had to do. This is too late, I think, but I should save him…
I threw a crystal ball in the hope of destroying the green substance. I was too late.
"Ace—" Sparx called faintly, and disappeared.
He followed her, and nothing was left of them but a flare of blue light which soon faded away.
Staffhead laughed nastily, revelling in the power surge he'd gained from destroying the Knights.
"Bet you thought you were clever, didn't you? Thought you'd disguise yourself as…well, yourself. Well, it's game over this time, traitor."
I dodged the blast, morphed out of my disguise, brushing suddenly-loose hair from my face, and prepared a crystal ball.
Kilobyte had at least freed me from him.
I threw, but the crystal disappeared in a blast of green light, and the next blast had me thrown to the wall.
I remember this, I thought dazedly, as grotesque laughter echoed around me.There exists a mortal myth that a drowning person relives their life in the moment before their death, and I found myself remembering previous moments, pain just like this, backed against the wall with nowhere to go…
The feelings of déjà vu increased as I saw in my darkening vision a tentacle grab the skeleton, and fling him to the ground.
It felt like an eternity before I realised what I was truly seeing.
"You're lucky," Kilobyte said to me. "Are you going to thank me for saving your li—"
I felt his body, flung to the wall by another blast, crushing me, and the coil of Staffhead binding him.
"Game over, Kilobyte," Lord Fear said. "I'll make sure this is the last time I have to destroy you."
"The Master Programmer—" Kilobyte managed to choke out in a strangled tone.
I didn't waste time wondering about his choice of words, and stretched out a hand—slightly unorthodox use of shapeshifting power, but I need it— to grasp Staffhead around the neck.
This happened before, too…but this time, I'll finish the job.
The creature turned a rather disgusting shade of purple, and gasped. Fascinating, really…no logical reason for him or any of us to breathe at all, but this does seem to work… I heard some cry from Lord Fear, but paid no attention. He blackmailed me, he hurt me, at a time when I was defenceless. This is…payback. Finally—or so it seemed to me, because it couldn't have taken that long—the odious creature disappeared into oblivion.
I knew from the Master Programmer's words that he would not be back. Nor would his master, once I was finished with him.
Kilobyte lashed out with his tentacles, and Lord Fear lay groaning on the ground. I materialised a crystal ball and stood over him.
Surprisingly, he laughed.
"Three times traitor? I really should have predicted this. Even so, you will not destroy me. I am temporarily defenceless, and what would-be good guy kills a defenceless man?"
"I never said I was good," I said, and threw.
There was a cloud of smoke, and when it cleared there was nothing there but the amulet fragment on the ground. I bent to pick it up.
- -
Kilobyte turned to me.
"Well done," he said. "You'll teleport us both to the Master Programmer."
He grabbed me with a tentacle, and I had little choice but to obey.
- -
We arrived in the programmer's inner sanctum, the Fortress of Solitude. He grinned when he saw us.
"You destroyed Lord Fear, then?" he asked Kilobyte.
He nodded.
"Excellent! Well done, both of you. I couldn't control or predict Fear's movements, but now I have you two. The Knights I can predict, but they're in the Sixth Dimension for as long as I want them, and it'll be easy to completely control them. Now, where is the rest of the amulet?"
Kilobyte opened his hand to reveal two pieces.
"I found these in the Sixth Dimension, Master," he said.
"Good," Rick said, and took them from him, adding them to the three he already held.
The programmer turned to me.
"That would make…two of Lord Fear's you have to give me? Once I have the completed amulet I can begin to bring as many minions from the Sixth Dimension as I want. And with you two under my control I'll be finally able to take over the world. It's finally over!"
He broke into a laugh, which quickly turned into a cough. He stopped himself, and looked at me.
"Right, babe, hand them over."
"I'd really rather not," I said.
He looked at me, puzzled for a second. Humans are quite stupid at times, I thought, and saw his expression change as he realised what I was.
"Kilobyte! Destroy her!" he said.
I was ready, and jumped to avoid him.
"Kilobyte! Do you remember your wish to avoid human slavery?" I called.
He didn't listen.
"I know only the program," he said.
He's more powerful than me, I thought. But I have to win this battle.
I quickly materialised a crystal ball, and threw it at Kilobyte. It burst harmlessly against his chest.
"Kilobyte, stop her now!" the programmer called, hiding beneath his desk.
I threw another crystal ball, and this time Kilobyte dodged. I saw a computer explode in a cloud of smoke.
The programmer leaped up.
"No!" he cried, and produced a floppy disk from his shirt, running over to another computer.
Kilobyte stood frozen, staring into space.
"Put that down, Programmer," I said. "Is that what you're using to control him?"
I don't think he was listening to my words, he was so keen on getting that disk into the computer.
I threw another crystal, and another explosion broke out
"You fool," the Programmer said, standing shocked and miserable over the destroyed computer. "I just hope Kilobyte destroys you too—"
He broke off, stopped by the tentacle wrapped around his neck.
"I won't destroy her," Kilobyte said. "I'll have to thank her for this. You made a mistake to try to control me again, mortal. I'm nobody's slave."
"Kilobyte, wait! You need me—"
The Master Programmer reached his hands to his neck in a vain attempt to avoid Kilobyte's strangling hold.
"I let you live far too long," Kilobyte said. "I no longer have a master."
I watched him tighten his hold, and saw the Master Programmer take a final, desperate gasp for breath. I did not intervene.
- -
It was finally over. I had destroyed my creator and achieved my goal. Thanks to the destruction of the machines, my memories had returned, and I remembered myself. I would no longer be a mortal slave.
I threw the Programmer's body on the ground in disgust.
"Now it's over," I said, and turned to her. "As for you—"
I was almost surprised to see fear in her eyes, and she quickly bent over the corpse, its face a livid purple, and put the Programmer's pieces of the amulet together with her own.
I raised a hand to stop her, but I no longer had power over her—I remembered I'd freed her, and she'd looked at me with hatred in her eyes before making her escape—and she disappeared into the Sixth Dimension in a flash of light.
Her original dimension—and Ace—was only a teleport away, after all.
- -
"Ace, I have the full amulet," she said, and gave it to him. "I trust you."
He took it, and concentrated.
Around him, the world changed.
- -
A/N: Once again, many thanks to Lightning Flash and Hyperpsychomaniac for their reviews. Feedback is, as usual, very much appreciated. I accept anonymous reviews, and love concrit. This is the penultimate chapter, so second last chance to review! I was trying a POV-thing; did you realise who was speaking?