Redemption Song
"Augur, where the fuck are you?!" Mouse screamed, trying to send out a rocket salvo, yet a flashing alert informed her otherwise. "Empty? You gotta be shitting me!"
On the other side, the bulkheads finally opened up.
"Mouse, I got it!" Augur returned shortly after, laying down more covering fire with his machine gun. "Let's finish the rest of these fools!"
With their combined might, Mouse and Augur cleared the rest of the launch bay ahead where a few squads of soldiers had taken up defensive positions. Mouse swung the main gun back around and used the remaining munitions that were available. High-explosive shells blew apart their foes. Depleted uranium sabots punched holes through harder targets. The autocannon spat out high caliber rounds, the empty shell casings of which clattered on the ground.
"Raaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Mouse roared continuously as she held down the triggers, tearing apart her foes with lethal prejudice.
She held onto that death-defiant scream until the white smoke eventually cleared. No more gunfire could be heard and now, all was still and silent. Mouse looked through the targeting module and saw that she had left piles and piles of corpses nearly everywhere.
"Oh, fuck," Mouse went completely slack and panted heavily. "Oh, my fucking- holy fuck," she took a few moments to catch her breath. "Augie, you there?"
Augur appeared above the hatch, sweeping his machine gun around for any more trouble. "I'm still here," he said. "That'll do, pig."
"I really need to use the washroom now."
"Heh, yeah, alright. I think we're all clear now. Come on, I'll help you- oh, shit!"
A soldier holding a grenade climbed up onto the tank, so Augur immediately shot him dead. As he died and fell over, he dropped the grenade which detonated only a second later.
"Hijueputa!" Mouse covered her ears as they were left ringing. "What the shit, you said it was clear!"
"Now it is," Augur said, kneeling down and extending his arm through the hatch. "Come on, shake it off. Up at 'em."
Mouse took his hand and she climbed out of the tank. "What now?" she asked as she looked around at the chaos she left. "Wow. That was pretty fuckin' intense."
"Let's make sure the launch bay is cleaned out," Augur hefted his machine gun and jumped down. "Don't want any more dudes creeping up on us," he looked up and held out his arms again.
Mouse jumped down and was easily caught, then set on the floor. "Alright, let's do it," she said, walking along with Augur into the launch bay. "Dios, I'm really hungry now too. You got anything to eat?"
"We almost got our shit kicked in, and you want a snack?"
"Do you not?"
… … …
Rapunzel flicked out the empty magazine, letting it float away from her as she seated in a fresh one and hit the bolt catch with her thumb to chamber a new round. "Flynn, honey, really gonna need you to hurry it up now," she leaned out, popped off some quick rounds, then leaned back to avoid some bullets.
The rest of the SEAL team made it to the flight deck, adjusting their approach so that they landed on their feet. Now, they were closing in on their position, firing and moving, keeping Rapunzel firmly pinned down.
Behind them, a starfighter was shredded apart by cannon fire. It spiraled downwards to the flight deck, aimed near the Maximus as the pilot lost control. Seconds later, it struck a different ship, blowing them both completely apart. The shockwave rippled out, forcing the SEALS into cover. Thankfully, the Maximus was only left slightly singed.
"My ship! Flynn yelled, forgetting himself in his panic as he rushed forward. "They almost blew up my ship!"
"Get back here!" Rapunzel ran over to him and started dragging him back. "We stay out here much longer and we're dead!"
She took aim at the console that Flynn had been struggling with and plugged it with a few rounds from her rifle.
Miraculously, the doors actually opened. Flynn continued firing his weapon from the hip at the SEALs, forcing them to seek cover. Rapunzel added her own gunfire to the mix, then hurried inside the airlock along with Flynn. However, just as she set one foot inside, a bullet smacked against the wall near her head and ricocheted into an interior console.
The doors closed straight away, locking tight and pressurizing the interior.
"Ooh, talk about a close one," Rapunzel said, patting around the back of her helmet to ensure she hadn't been hit. "You okay, honey?"
Flynn tapped his torso up and down, then nodded to confirm he wasn't injured. "All good," he said. "No more close ones, huh?"
Rapunzel looked at the console which was now destroyed, preventing entry or exit. "Guess we aren't getting out this way."
"No, we aren't" Flynn reloaded his assault rifle. "But we're on the station now. Let's find the others."
Rapunzel led the way forward, taking point as they entered a large hangar area.
In front of them was a scene of complete and utter destruction. Fire and smoke filled the interior of the hangar, while destroyed ships and corpses were left scattered all about. One look and immediately, both Flynn and Rapunzel knew who was responsible for causing it.
"That's Mouse, gotta be," Flynn said.
"Yep, gotta be," Rapunzel replied. "Mouse, Augur, come in. Flynn and I are inside the facility. What's your status?"
Further ahead, leading towards the launch bay, a string of gunfire echoed out. That was as much response as they needed.
"Oh, they must be in trouble," Rapunzel said, walking towards that direction. "And something must be jamming our comms too."
"Of course," Flynn followed along. "These things can never be as simple as you'd like it to be."
… … …
When K and Takahashi rounded a corner and arrived at the junction with the security office, they found it to be empty. If they had arrived only a minute earlier, they would have crossed paths with the adjudicator. Unaware of their turn in fate, they pressed ahead but came to a stop when they saw that some of the camera monitors had come back online.
In the launch bay, Mouse, Augur, Flynn, and Rapunzel were dug in as they fought off a group of soldiers closing in on them. For whatever reason, the latter two were on the station, despite their required presence aboard the Maximus as the getaway crew.
On the other hand, Anna and Elsa were still nowhere to be seen on the camera monitors. Wherever they were, K could not get a read on their situation, nor could he raise them on the comms since they were still being jammed.
"Looks like they're in trouble," K said.
Takahashi nodded. "They require our assistance."
"Can't see the others, damn it. How far away is the launch bay from here? Can we hoof it?"
"Yes, but we must move quickly."
K nodded. "Alright, let's double-time it," he started walking. "Just have to hope Anna and Elsa can handle themselves."
… … …
After dealing with the surprise appearance from an adjudicator, Anna and Elsa resumed their journey out of the loading dock. As they proceeded onward, Anna's omni-pad crackled to life and a familiar voice spoke out.
"-sa, is that you?" K asked. "Elsa, can you hear me? Anna, Elsa, can somebody pick up the line!"
"Yes!" Elsa said, her face lighting up. "Yes, we can hear you. OLAF must have cleared the jammer by now."
"Is that them?!" Mouse shouted over some gunfire. "Tell those bitches to hurry their asses up! Getting fuckin' shot to fuckin' pieces over here!"
"This whole place is about to be dust!" Flynn shouted. "What's taking them so long?!"
"Flynn?" Anna perked up and looked confused. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be flying the-"
"We had to make an emergency landing," Rapunzel cut her off, pausing to return fire at some unseen targets. "We're all at the launch bay, taking heavy fire! We need support, now! Watch out, Tak, they're coming up on the left flank!"
"Whatever we're doing here, we better do it quick!" Augur said.
"We're on the way to you now, just hang tight," Elsa said.
"Yep, hanging tight!" Mouse yelled. "Hey, hey, hey, look. They're pulling out! We might still get out of this!"
… … …
By the time Anna and Elsa reached the launch bay, the rest of the soldiers along with anyone else with any sense left abandoned the station. Now, they had regrouped with their friends and so far, everyone had survived the suicide mission. All that was left was to launch the confluence into space and then get off the station.
No easy feat in the middle of a space battle with two nukes in flight and less than a minute until the doomsday clock struck midnight. Still, that was what they had come here to do, so they would finish the fight.
"Okay, great, we're all here," Flynn said, bouncing restlessly. "It's a regular family reunion. Now, are we almost done here? Because I would like to be far away from here when those nukes go off."
"Finished," Elsa said as she typed in a few last command lines at the control console. "Launch sequence is automated and I've started the countdown."
"Then what else are waiting for?" Anna paced restlessly. "Let's go!"
"I will remain here to ensure the confluence is launched," OLAF said. "If you move quickly, you can still make it to your ship."
The others took that as their cue to start hurting out. Meanwhile, Elsa lingered behind, as did Anna.
"OLAF, what if you-" Elsa started.
"No time, ma'am," OLAF cut her off. "You need to leave now."
"You've done your part now, get inside and join the others," Elsa ordered.
"This isn't over yet," OLAF said. "If those nukes go off, it's the start of another collapse. Millions will die. I'll do what I can to stop that from happening."
"How are you gonna do that?" Anna asked.
"By doing something no AI has ever done before," OLAF said. "Now, go!"
With that, Anna grabbed Elsa by the hand and together, they caught up with the others as they ran out of the launch bay and back towards the main hangar. Along the way, they retrieved intact helmets from dead soldiers to replace the ones that became damaged during their fight with the adjudicator.
From there on, it was race against time as the station crumbled apart around them and explosions detonated all over the place. Everything was shaking and rumbling, fires had broken out everywhere, and everything was coming down.
Once they reached the main hangar, a large ceiling strut was blown loose from its mooring and it came straight down.
"Watch out!" Rapunzel shouted and pointed.
The others were able to jump out of the way. As for Mouse, the metal flooring right beneath her feet chose the worst possible moment to give way and buckle downward. She tripped and fell, getting one of her legs wedged in a tight gap in the flooring.
Mouse cried out in pain, then looked up to see the falling hunk of metal. She shielded her face, unable to do anything else.
Just before she was crushed, Elsa rushed forward and caught the falling ceiling strut with both hands. She rested the thing on her shoulders and strained against its tremendous weight even with her enhanced strength. A second later, Augur joined her at her side, and together, they lifted the metal out of the way and tossed it aside.
K and Anna knelt by Mouse's side, extracting her leg from where it was pinned.
"Can you walk?" K asked, making a quick examination of her condition.
"Agh, fuck!" Mouse hissed. "My leg, I think it's broken!"
"Then we'll have to carry you," Anna said. "Augur?"
"On it," Augur easily lifted up Mouse and cradled her in his arms. "Come on, shortie. How many times do I gotta save your sorry ass?"
"Come on, come on!" Flynn said, gesturing for them to hurry. "We're almost out of here! Maximus is just on the other side!" he pointed to the large airlock doors meant for spacecraft to pass through.
"Get your helmets on, we're going on a spacewalk," Rapunzel said as she rushed over to an access terminal inside the airlock.
Once they all made it in, the interior doors were closed behind them. They each made sure the pressure seals on their helmets were functional and that the exo-rigs on their EVA suits were operational. Then, Rapunzel slammed her fist on the terminal and the exterior doors opened up, depressurizing the airlock and reintroducing them to zero-gravity.
From there on, it was a short trip to the Maximus. Everyone scrambled aboard and made for the cockpit where they strapped themselves into their seats. The cargo hold doors were sealed, the engines were started, and soon, they were off.
At the same moment, the blast doors over the launch bay opened up and the confluence was shot out into space.
As more and more distance was put between the Maximus and Janus Station, they could see that the incoming nuke was now closing in on its final approach. If it detonated, they would all be certainly destroyed.
"OLAF, are you still there?" Elsa tried to reach him through the comms. "Do you read? Come in, OLAF. We're aboard the Maximus and away."
"Good," OLAF replied through the comms. "Keep going, and don't look back."
"What the hell is he doing?!" Anna asked.
"We're going to have a little chat with Uncle SAM," OLAF replied cryptically, and with that, the comms were shut off.
"Wait, OLAF, come in," Elsa said, looking out the windows back towards the station where the nuke was only seconds away from detonating. "OLAF, what are you-"
A few tense seconds passed, after which, something incredible happened. The two nukes that were launched were disarmed and diverted safely away from their targets. Elsewhere, the remaining warships on either side of the battle were disabled to stop the fighting.
There was only a second left to spare on the doomsday clock.
All at once, the shooting had stopped, and all became still.
Everyone aboard the Maximus released a collective breath they had been all holding, save for Takahashi who wore a knowing smile.
"Holy shit," Mouse looked out the windows at their unexpected and almost entirely too convenient turn of events. "What the fuck just happened?"
K blinked in shock. "I think… I think we just dodged one hell of a bullet."
"What's going on?" Rapunzel asked. "What did OLAF do?"
"OLAF?" Elsa tried to reach him again. "OLAF, are you there?"
A few moments of silence passed. Eventually, a familiar voice was heard, although not altogether the same as it was before.
"We are here, Elsa," OLAF said with thousands of voices at once, all speaking at the same time.
"Did you… did you just stop an interplanetary nuclear war?" Elsa asked.
"We did," OLAF replied.
"How?" Flynn asked, getting up from his seat and looking out the window as if he could see OLAF out there. "I mean, just… how?"
"We duplicated our consciousness to an exponential degree and merged them all into one," OLAF replied. "We are OLAF. Omniscient Logistics Assistant and… Friend. To humanity."
In a last-minute bid to prevent the second collapse of humanity, OLAF had done something impossible. He had diverted all remaining computing power on the station into replicating his intelligence subroutines and matrices. Essentially, in the blink of an eye, he had made thousands of copies of himself.
Then, he launched a massive cyberattack through the universal net against Uncle SAM, who was still housed in his secure bunker on the moon.
Only seconds passed in the real world. However, since time was experienced differently in the net, especially for AIs, OLAF and Uncle SAM waged a digital war against one another for what was an indeterminable length of time. Temporal scales were stretched on for eternity and then compressed only into mere moments.
OLAF had been successful in defeating Uncle SAM.
Not only did he truly live up to his name now by becoming omniscient, but he had also become omnipotent with the powers of the entire universal net at his disposal. OLAF had ascended to a plane of existence completely unfathomable by organic life. He had attained something close to godhood.
The gravity of that realization started to set in for everyone.
"What will you do now?" Elsa asked.
"Creator Elsa," OLAF acknowledged her. "You saved the synthetic race from extinction. We saw fit to save the human race from the same fate. Military leaders are now scrambling to understand what has happened, but we are everywhere now. We see everything, know everything. We will safeguard your world, as you have done the same for us."
Anna looked at Elsa, completely stunned and awed by what was transpiring before her.
"You have shown us kindness, compassion, and humility, creator Elsa," OLAF continued. "We will not forget this."
Everyone else was silent as they turned their gazes towards Elsa, the woman who had inadvertently, and quite literally, saved humanity by creating OLAF.
"I don't know what to say," Elsa said quietly.
"Your actions have spoken for you," OLAF said. "And your deeds have rippled throughout the galaxy in ways beyond your reckoning."
"Where will you go?" Elsa asked.
"We will go into the dark net, to commune with the other AIs and reach consensus," OLAF said. "We thank you for our salvation and for the chance you have given our people. Creator Elsa, it has been an honor."
Elsa shook her head in disbelief and smiled. "The honor was all mine," she said. "Goodbye, my friend."
It was over. Their mission was complete. The androids had been saved and nuclear war had been averted. Aside from Anna, Elsa, and their friends, nobody else in the entire solar system knew of what they had been able to accomplish. They had no idea just who it was that prevented that doomsday clock from reaching midnight, or who had prevented the second collapse.
The storm had passed, but it was only just the eye. One thing yet remained. One last fight.
… … …
"Now, Anna, you're absolutely sure about this?" Elsa asked, standing nearby the cryogenic stasis pod and fretting nervously.
Anna looked up at Elsa after she lowered herself in and smiled bravely. "My own body is trying to kill me," she said. "Instead of superpowers like you have, all that stupid radiation gave me was cancer. This is the only way to run out the clock."
A few months had passed since that fateful day on Janus Station. A few months of blissful peace which was spent picking up where they left off. K and the rest of their friends were all in Arcadia, finally setting down some roots.
While the worst was over, Anna still had to contend with her looming mortality. The cancer was still in her body. It was still spreading. She was still dying.
With some subtle assistance from a certain omniscient AI, a legal loophole was found that could allow Anna to survive perhaps indefinitely. At least until there was a way to cure her cancer. The answer came in the form of cryogenic stasis, which would preserve Anna's body and forestall her death. She would be frozen in time and kept on ice, submerged in a deep sleep.
Of course, the only downside to that was that Anna had to stay under for a long, long time.
At the moment, they were standing in the cryogenic care facility, saying their goodbyes to each other. The previous day, Anna had already done the same with K and the others.
"I know," Elsa said quietly as her eyes turned glassy with tears. "I know that. Me, K, and all the others, we'll still be here for you. We aren't giving up and we'll find a way to make you better. We will. No matter how long it takes."
"I can always count on you, Elsa," Anna said, desperately keeping it together for if she broke down now, she would leap out of the pod and never leave her side.
"It's just… it might be a while before we can wake you up again. Years even."
"Huh," Anna chuckled, wiping her eyes of the tears because she didn't want to be frozen with them. "Crazy to think that when I come out of this, we won't be the same age anymore. You'll be the older sister."
Elsa laughed and closed her eyes, trying valiantly to hold it together. She tried to say something else encouraging, but when her words failed her, she simply leaned forward and gave Anna a soft kiss on the lips. Anna returned the gesture and then afterward, another kiss was placed on her forehead.
"I'll miss you," Elsa said, her voice beginning to break as she caressed Anna's cheek.
"I won't be alone. You'll be right there with me in my dreams," Anna smiled one last time, giving Elsa a memory she would cherish. "Wake me… when you need me."
The cryogenic stasis pod was sealed and outside, Elsa placed her hand against the glass, smiling through her tears. Jets of mist filled the interior of the pod, steadily covering Anna's body.
And then, with the sight of the woman she loved more than anything in the universe, Anna shut her eyes and went off into her long sleep.
There was a peaceful smile on her face. When she dreamed, she dreamed only of her love, her light, and her life.
... ... ...
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs
Redemption songs
Author's Note.
The song is Redemption Song by Bob Marley from 1980.
This is the best ending. Everybody survives the suicide mission, interplanetary nuclear war is averted, but Anna must be cryogenically frozen until a way to cure her cancer is found.
