Disclaimer: Own nothing.
A/N: Chapter written by Sarah Frost, who thanks Lightning Flash for her input.
The Sixth Dimension
I'm trapped in my own computer game in a cage, surrounded by wailing zombie minions.
This was not part of my plan.
For some reason I used to think that taking a fun family-friendly Carnival and twisting it into a House of Horrors infested with zombie and vampires and freaky mutants was a good idea.
Maybe for a game, it was.
But these days, it's so much more.
Kilobyte knows what he is, now, and he's out for revenge. On me. If it was anyone else I wouldn't mind. It's almost a Philosophy 101 class gone completely wrong, with the characters discovering that, yes, they are in the matrix, and they have a chance for revenge right in front of them…
If Kilobyte hadn't developed a mind of his own, I wouldn't be here. Or if it wasn't for those darn kids. Or if some of the evils hadn't had the bright idea to turn against Lord Fear. Among them the…person…in the cage next to mine. Lady Illusion. I remind myself to figure out exactly what went wrong with her programming, before I remember I'm imprisoned here.
She's kneeling crouched in the corner of the cage, staring into space.
"I'm the Master Programmer," I tell her. "I created you." And you all should be obeying me.
She turns her head to look at me. She doesn't seem all that surprised. From all the time she's spent in human morph, maybe she's learned a few things about our world.
"Odd. For a fictional character, I feel…quite real," she says, glancing down at herself. "For what purpose?" She could be discussing the weather for all her tone of voice betrays. I assume existential uncertainty isn't her present concern.
"Human entertainment. You're a game. This whole world is a game that human kids play. I brought you out of it so that you could conquer the world for me. But then…" You turned traitor, and those kids came into it, and Kilobyte left my control…
"A human, conquer your world? It's a big place," she says.
"Well, I'd have settled for America."
She raises an eyebrow.
"By the way, my name's Rick," I tell her.
"I'd offer you mine, if you had bothered to give me a name," she says. "I believe you humans call your dogs Lady."
There's probably a pun or two there, maybe something around bitch, but I don't use it. And I know the answer to this one. "Your name is Elspeth Aranya, we had plans for your character in the sequel. I can tell you about your Dark Past too, if you want."
"No. It would only be a fiction. My history begins the moment I arrived in your dimension."
She falls silent as another zombie shambles into the hall, and points in her direction.
"You…" he says, or tries to say; half his lower jaw has rotted away. "Kilobyte…wants to see you…"
She stands, looking almost…resigned?
"I'll come quietly," she says, spreading out her hands, and the zombie reaches for the lock.
As he turns the key, she quickly lashes out at him and he flies across the room.
I programmed her to be a good liar.
She steps forward, and smiles, materialising a bright orange sphere in her right hand, and when she throws it at the massed zombies they're thrown to the other end of the hall, though I can tell she's low on energy. Still, with her help I could make it to the portal…
She quickly strides towards me.
"Do you know how to get back to your dimension, mortal?" she demands, fiddling with the lock.
"Yes. I can take you to the portal, just get me out of here," I say. If I can get back to my Fortress of Solitude, I can show Kilobyte who the true master is around here and continue with my plan.
The zombies are recovering, and we've almost made it to the door when I hear an animalistic yell.
It's quite possible I may have slightly overdone Kilobyte's level of aggression.
I don't stop to look at the tentacle snapping around Lady Illusion's wrist.
I just have to make it to the portal alive…
"No doubt certain of you cretinous morons have heard about last week's…unfortunate episode at the Carnival. Suffice it to say that my union has been, as always, very supportive, and my therapist says we're making progress."
Mr Chesborough gestures at the blackboard with a pointer, and glares at Mark before continuing.
"To return to our class discussion. The smallest units of matter are commonly called atoms; this is from the ancient Greek atomos, meaning 'that which cannot be divided.' There are 115 types of atoms, which are classified according to the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons present…"
Mark allows himself to slump in his chair as the science teacher drones on. He looks over at Chuck. Since the fainting fit yesterday, his friend appears to have recovered quite well, though he still appears rather shell-shocked at the idea of becoming a brother.
Chuck's headphones begin beeping, and he grabs them eagerly. They've been waiting all day for a message from Ace.
He scribbles letters on a blank page in his notebook, and Mark leans across to read it.
"Found P. Need to get him to port…"
Mr Chesborough pauses his lecture, and rips both the headphones and the notebook from Chuck.
"Need I remind you, Mister Mugel, that note passing is forbidden during lesson time? As is listening to that puerile cacophony you miserable teeny-boppers call music?" he says.
He rips the page from the notebook, and hands the book back to Chuck before placing the headphones in his desk.
"See me after class, Mr. Mugel, to discuss your detention this afternoon and negotiate the return of your items," Chesborough says.
Kat looks across the room from her seat, and gives them a sympathetic look. She mouths to Mark, "Ace?" and he nods in return.
They don't have time to exchange more than that, as Mr Chesborough says, "Mr Hollander? Miss Adams? Spare us all, and save the insipid teen romance for after class. As I was saying…"
I wonder if it's simply wishful thinking when I first spot the Good Guy himself, Ace Lightning, running through the Circus.
He's supposed to help humans. He'll help me.
"Hey!" I call.
He turns, and fires a few blasts at the rabid clowns following me. I duck.
"I'm human, you've got to get me out of here!" I say.
"You're the programmer, aren't you?" he asks.
"Yes. I can help you find the portal, I know this place…" I begin.
"I'd like to have a word with you sometime," Ace says. "About creating us."
Not another one who knows about the programming thing. Oh no.
"But I'll help you for now—" the hero breaks off, and fires off a few more shots.
"—programmer."
"My name's Rick," I say.
He leans against a wall, and begins to tap out a beeping pattern.
"What are you doing? We need to get out of here!" I exclaim.
"I need to contact Mark and Chuckdude, make sure the Portal's opened. Hold on, Ron," Ace says absently.
Through my careful observation I have previously come to notice that the entity known as Ace Lightning has been consistently known to have problems with recalling the names of various beings. I don't recall programming that into him. It's a dangerous sign of individuality.
I don't bother to correct him. With luck, if I can put my plans into motion again his remembering anyone's name will be rendered irrelevant.
I recognise some Morse code letters from a few lessons in my schooldays, "o", "t", "a," "e"…
He stops tapping, and looks up.
"The connection's broken. I just hope enough of my message got through. Follow me, Ray."
"Rick," I mutter, but I'm short of breath and he's moving a lot faster than me.
I notice that he seems to know the location of the Portal without my help. Darn kids.
With the new flame upgrade, I'm back in business. Evil beware! Banish bonehead to the Sixth Dimension, find another piece of the amulet, get Ace back…all in a day's work for a Lightning Knight. I won't even need Random, and anyway he's probably in a bad mood.
I use my upgraded sword to send a bright red beam in the direction of the Haunted House. That ought to bring a few villains running.
I'm right. Googler, curled into a spiked ball, throws himself at me. Not the sort of attention I like, but it's easy enough to dodge him and blast him. The new upgrade rules! He fades fast, and I take a spin down to where Pigface's attempting to lurk. He's feeding out of a garbage can again, and he's barely turned around before I let him see how powerful my upgrade is.
It's long past time for that little piggy to go home.
Mark and Kat come running up towards the Carnival, Mark's got his lap-thing with him. I raise my sword in salute.
Guess school's out.
Well, it's time to teach Fear a lesson.
Mark suddenly gestures, pointing to a spot behind me, and before I can turn around I've been hit. The Flash shudders, and I nearly lose control of it.
Fear cackles behind me, and I narrowly dodge as he prepares for a second shot.
"You always were regrettably reckless, Sparx," he gloats. "Now your superhero friend isn't here to protect you, destroying you will be only too easy for me."
"Don't try it, bonehead!" I say, and dodge his blast.
I fire my sword back at him, and he's forced to spin mid-air, though he comes back at me with another blast. I jump from the Flash as the orange beam hits it, and neatly somersault to the ground.
There's a heavy footstep behind me, and I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this whole thing.
Anvil's metal fist clinks against his hand, and I hear his familiar—and stupid—voice.
So he thinks he can crush me? He can think again. I duck and roll as his fist swings over my head, and aim my sword at him.
What I haven't counted on is Fear, and he hits me from behind with another blast.
My power's low, and all Mark's doing is fooling around with that computer. Tough odds, but that's my job. Though as Anvil swings his fist at me again I don't think I'll be able to duck in time.
Another clink, metal on metal this time. So the cavalry's arrived. About time.
Random Virus looks at me and smiles. Wonder what mood he's in today?
"You didn't invite me? I didn't want to miss the fun."
While he and Anvil are doing their best to beat each other into the ground, I scan the sky for skeleton-guy. I catch sight of him, and try another blast. I can tell my energy's low, because when it hits him he only laughs.
"Before I send you to join your friend, tell me: were you really foolish enough to think that you could defeat me on your own?" Fear smirks.
What's really irritating is that he's has a point there. Sort of.
I don't have much time to think about this though, because Staffhead's next blast has me lying on the ground without my sword. I could use some backup or a recharge here, about now would be good, what's Mark doing over there with the computer anyway…
It is possible I marginally underestimated Lady Illusion. After choosing to betray me in that rather melodramatic little scene at the carnival, she must have realised she had nothing to lose. If I didn't have a use for her powers, she would be dead already; as it stands, reprogramming her promises to be most…productive. I may be short of a human prisoner for the time being, but that situation will not continue.
The Sixth Dimension is mine, and locating the mortal will be an easy task. I take off at a run.
Interestingly enough, he's lurking around the Circus sector, with someone I rather want to see. Ace Lightning. How was he blasted into this dimension?
Whatever the situation, what's more important at this moment is to defeat my enemy and regain my prisoner.
He makes the first move, sending a few weak lightning bolts my way. I find it easy enough to advance, and lash out at him with my tentacles.
The mortal runs, but he's not my chief concern at the moment.
"Who blasted you into this dimension, Lightning?" I jeer. "Your so-called cyborg friend?"
"Random is my friend," he says, dodging a tentacle, "and your programmer's gone through the Portal. Guess you no longer have a ticket back to the human dimension."
So that's the location of the Portal. Fascinating, though as irrelevant to me as his assumption is incorrect.
I smile.
"You're wrong, Lightning. I have a teleporter who'll be only too willing to assist me once I've finished reprogramming her."
His next bolt manages to hit me, and I stumble back for a moment.
"What did you do to her, Kilobyte?" he says, and his voice is stone.
That's interesting. It almost sounds as though he actually cares about her.
"I'll be sure to let you know, Lightning. Surely you don't mind?"
While I've never personally experienced human emotions, I believe the look on his face is one of anger.
"Leave her alone, Kilobyte. Don't think I'm going to let you live." He tries to fire again, but the emotions have made him so…weak. He's almost pitifully predictable, and I find this battle an easy one.
I grab him with a tentacle, pinning his arms to his side, and walk in the direction of the Portal.
"You will lose this game, Lightning. I will return to the mortal realm, where I will defeat you. For now, though, I'm willing to send you back there. You appear to be relishing the human emotions, after all."
I throw him through the Portal. For now, I can afford to let him live, and in the meantime I have a traitor to reprogram.
Mark's fingers fly across the computer keyboard, and Ace materialises above the Haunted House, and fires at Lord Fear, sending the Doom Wagon into a spin. Shortly after it disappears from view, there's a crash from behind the Haunted House.
In the distance, Rick starts running, and a punch from Random causes Anvil to finally disappear.
Ace flies over to Sparx, sparing the time for a glance towards his archenemy, and helps her up.
"Are you all right, Sparx?" he asks.
"Yeah. Thanks for the rescue," she says, blushing a little. "Did you find the programmer?"
Mark, Kat, and Random come over to them.
"I saw Rick running away," Mark says.
"Did you find Lady Illusion?" Sparx asks Ace, resting a hand on his shoulder.
"No. But I think she'll be back. With Kilobyte." He stares into the distance.
"We'll be ready when they turn up," Sparx says, and whistles for the Lightning Flash.
"Let's jet before the freaks come back, Ace." She jumps on, and the Knights take off. Random turns, and wheels himself away.
Chuck comes running into the Carnival, out of breath and panting.
"Hey, you're back!" he says, seeing Ace in the air. "I just got out of detention. Boy, was Chesborough in a bad mood! Did you get my computer working, Mark?"
"Yeah," Mark says. "Thanks, Chuck." He hands the laptop back to him.
"No problem, dude. Was that Rick I saw running out of the Carnival at top speed?"
"Probably," says Kat. "Anyone up for some ice cream?" The three friends start to walk away, glad that for now the good guys are winning the battle.
Non A/N: This is The Lightning Flash. If anyone wants to write the next ep, email me. I'd be happy to post it for you, if you don't have an account or feel it should be in the same place as the others. Email me if you're interested, my addy is on my profile page.