As the Edd-Clone trudged through the ankle-deep, filthy waters that now flooded London, he appeared to be greatly disturbed by all of the devastation that had been caused by Tord's largest robot. What disturbed him most of all was: The sight of the various, bloated, water-logged corpses that now seemed to decorate the town's ruins as if they had all been purposefully made into twisted versions of Christmas-ornaments. The smell of which the corpses had been emitting in spite of having only been dead for one day was a putrid stench that The Edd-Clone would never be able to erase from his memory. He shuttered a bit at the lifeless gazes of their bulging-eyes before wrapping his arms around himself in a vane attempt to bring himself some sort of small comfort. The Edd-Clone mentally began to question all of the choices of which he had ever made in his entire lifetime that had somehow managed lead him up to this moment, right now as he quickly left in order to find Tord.
"Please, Konge...Help me find my cat, Shima..." When the Edd-Clone had finally managed to locate Tord, a pale-skinned Sailor with an Australian-accent was begging his new boss to help him find his missing cat whilst referring to him as the Norwegian-word for "King."
"I will keep an eye out for her..." Tord promised as he took the missing-poster from the Sailor.
"Thank you, Konge! Thank you!" The Sailor practically sobbed with joy before taking his leave. The Edd-Clone quietly began to approach Tord from behind as Tord stared down, with an unreadable expression at the the flyer of which depicted the image of a pastel-pink kitten. The Edd-Clone silently began to wonder if Tord felt some sort of connection to this Sailor's missing-kitten as he watched as Tord neatly folded up the flyer before carefully placing it inside of his coat-pocket. The Edd-Clone then flinched, slightly when Tord had turned his head, ever-so slightly to glance over at him.
The Edd-Clone was forced to avert his gaze to the flooded-ground once their eyes had met since that look in Tord's eyes was just too intense for him to handle, even if he was one of Tord's most-loyal followers. Though, most were unable to handle the look that Tord now seemed to permanently hold within his gaze; even his own, two siblings could no-longer make eye-contact with their own Baby-Brother and they loved Tord more than any of his followers ever would.
"There was a shooting at your old College...On The News: The Shooter claimed to have done it in your name..." The Edd-Clone finally decided to speak for the first time since that morning's London Comicon in order to inform Tord of the tragic news that had struck his own Hometown.
"It is what they deserve..." Tord simply stated with a tone that was devoid of all emotion.
"Is it?" The Edd-Clone then gently asked despite feeling greatly offended by Tord's comment as he forced himself to look up at Tord in spite of how afraid he was of him.
"I would choose my next words very carefully if I were you..." Though his tone remained completely emotionless, Tord began to clench his fists as he turned around in order to fully face The Edd-Clone, menacingly beginning to tower over him in the process.
"Have you been down there?! Have you seen little children, DROWNED?!" The Edd-Clone then took the bold choice to stand his ground and begin to shout at Tord in spite of how much his voice began to waver as he did so. Tord just stared at Edd as he took a moment of pause.
"Dailey, I was put through both emotional and physical abuse whilst the principal did nothing to stop it...The one time I tried to fight back, he used it as a weapon against me to have me expelled...If you ask me, bullets were far-too humane for that Hell-hole most would call a 'School'..." As Tord began to justify his actions, The Edd-Clone actually began to appear to feel guilty. For a short moment, The Edd-Clone even began to wonder if Tord actually had a point until he remembered something that once-again made his blood begin to boil.
"And what about the animators?" The Edd-Clone then began to question Tord's harsh treatment of the former, Eddsworld animators.
"What about them?" Tord inquired in somewhat of a dismissive tone.
"Don't you think you were a bit...harsh?" The Edd-Clone then asked him with a gentler tone.
"A dog who has bitten the hand of every owner who has ever fed him, must be disciplined with a firm-hand...or...put down..." Tord once again justified his cruel treatment of the animators as his tone became a bit darker. He was beginning to grow impatient with all of this seemingly, judgmental questioning from someone of whom had supposedly sworn his eternal-loyalty to him. Perhaps, it was time that Tord did some questioning of his own.
"What about Matt? He's our friend and you made me hold a gun to his wife's head..." The Edd-Clone of course began to question Tord's logic, yet-again.
"Freeze all motor-functions..." Once Tord had uttered this phrase, The Edd-Clone suddenly froze in place, his look of strong morality soon fading into a blank expression that held a vacant stare to match.
"Analysis..." Once Tord had spoken this command, The Edd-Clone's face opened up in a manner that was similar to that of a blooming-flower to reveal the robotic-skeleton that lied beneath its latex-flesh. Tord then took a moment to examine the motherboard of blinking, colorful lights for any signs of something being amiss before deciding to ask his own string of questions.
"State your name..." Tord gave another, verbal command to The Edd-Clone.
"Edward Gould..." The Edd-Clone responded with an emotionless tone that had now been distorted by a slight sound of static.
"What is your purpose?" Tord asked his first question in order to make sure that his robotic adaptation of Edd had not been tampered with by any of his potential enemies.
"To protect and serve my best-friend, Tord..." The Edd-Clone simply replied.
"Has anyone had access to your programming other than me?" Tord then further questioned him.
"No..." The Edd Clone stated another, emotionless response.
"You're not lying to me; are you, Edward?" Tord then narrowed his eyes at his creation with suspicion.
"No, of course not..." The Edd-Clone honestly replied.
"Tone down emotional-response..." Tord then simply commanded once he was certain that his most-cherished, robotic creation's programming had not been tampered with.
"Back online..." Tord then commanded once he was certain that his robot's artificial-emotions had been scaled down to a level that would no-longer interfere with his overall-mission. The Edd-Clone let out a small gasp once his face had closed back up, allowing him to fully return to his online-status.
"Eddward...this World is sick...It has been sick for a long time...The only way to cure its sickness, is to turn it into your World...You know I am doing all of this for you, right?" Tord then reassured with a forced smile that would only serve to make the deranged look in his eyes appear to be even-more psychotic than it already did as he lovingly caressed his creation's cheek.
"I don't know what I would ever do without you..." The robotic-copy of Edd responded with a sad smile in return.
"Come now; there is still a lot of work to be done..." Tord then placed an arm around The Edd-Clone's shoulders in order to lead him back over to the tank that he had somehow managed to steal from the center of Oslo. In the meantime, Tom let out a small groan upon awakening within one of the various piles of rubble to the muffled sound of his YouTube-Channel's theme-song. He was then quick to sit up upon realizing that his ringtone had been the song that had awoken him. He was honestly surprised to see that his phone was even still working in spite of the gigantic crack across its screen, especially after everything that had just happened.
Momentarily, Tom congratulated himself for investing in a water-proof phone-case until he had opened his phone in order to view all of the various missed-calls from his girlfriend, Charlie as well as both of his parents. Dread began to burn within the pit of Tom's chest at the thought of any of his loved-ones being seriously harmed or even killed during The Giant-Robot attack on London.
"Charlie?!" Tom was quick to answer his phone once Charlie had attempted to call him again as he hoped against all odds that everything was okay.
"Tom! Are you okay?!" Charlie frantically questioned, even-though she was partially relieved that her boyfriend was at the very-least, still alive.
"I'm fine! Where are you?!" Tom reassured before beginning to question his girlfriend with an equal amount of urgency.
"Squidge and I were evacuated to an emergency-shelter; your parents are here too..." Charlie explained as Tom quickly picked himself up from the rubble and began to run toward the direction of London's local emergency-shelter as fast as his pudgy, bruised legs could carry his out of shape body.
"Stay where you are! I'm on my way!" Tom instructed before hanging up his phone. All the while, Tom was ultimately unaware that he was being watched this whole time by what was possibly another one of Tord's robots of which had taken the form of a heavily-armored, red and black Ninja. Tom also remained unaware that this strange Ninja had begun to stealthily follow him at a distance whilst moving at an inhuman-speed.
On the night that The Wellhaven-Siblings had been unfortunate enough to stumble upon the mummified-corpse of their long-deceased Grandfather, Gary offered to sleep in Tord's bedroom with him under the guise of keeping him company since their Youngest-sibling was still, understandably traumatized by that evening's prior-events. Leila was none-the-wiser as she retired to her own bedroom in order to go to sleep, leaving the boys free to indulge in their own shenanigans. Gary would keep Tord awake by making him watch horror-movies with him until the dreaded hour of Three-A.M. of which would be the time of when both of The Brothers would then sneak upstairs, into their Grandfather's no-longer-secret, attic of a war-room in order to prepare for their Three-A.M. Challenge video.
"Hello, everyone; it is now, Three-A.M. and we believe that our house is being haunted by our late-Grandfather..." Gary explained to the camera as he kept his face covered by a ski-mask.
"We can't give you our names or show you our faces for privacy reasons; we don't want any trouble..." Gary then further elaborated as he turned the camera toward Tord of whom was sitting in his Grandfather's old rocking-chair, his face covered by the goat-skull from his Grandfather's collection of real skulls as he held a notepad and pen in preparation to write down any messages that he may be receiving from the other side. Tord let out a shaky breath as he began to grow increasingly uncomfortable by how dense the energy around him was beginning to feel. His Grandfather's chair felt so full of negative-energy, that Tord felt as if the wood had been in the process of burning his entire backside.
"We are going to attempt to contact Grandfather; he seems to have a message for my Little-Brother..." Gary explained as he moved the camera so that both he and Tord could be seen in-frame again.
"Strange things have been happening around the house: I've been having really bad nightmares, things have been going missing only to turn up in places that don't make any sense, our dog keeps barking at nothing, we keep hearing strange noises: Laughing, crying, stomping, banging, doors will open and slam on their own, the Television keeps turning on by itself." Gary then began to ramble whilst he explained everything that had been going on in their house to their potential, future viewers.
"What am I supposed to do?" Tord then interrupted since his anxiety was beginning to make him grow increasingly impatient.
"Just start asking him questions..." Gary replied as he turned the camera toward Tord so that now, he was the only one in-frame.
"Grandfather? Are you there? If you can hear me, give me a sign..." Tord nervously called out with a tiny gulp as he began to scan his surroundings whilst he waited for a response. There was a photo of his Grandfather sitting upon the attic's one and only desk. In that photo, Tord's Grandfather held the same grimace that he held in the large portrait that hung above the arcade-game machines in the open-loft.
It was possible that this particular photograph of Tord's Grandfather had been used as the main inspiration for that large portrait since the images practically seemed identical to one-another. The grimace upon his Grandfather's face began to twist into more of a stern, hateful glare as his Grandfather's image became more deformed and monstrous.
"What?" Gary questioned upon hearing the shaky, fearful gasp of which Tord had emitted since Gary, himself had been unable to see what Tord had been seeing. Tord swallowed, hard before then turning his attention to one of the many Loki-statues that decorated the room only to become even more frightened when a Five-Lined Skink suddenly crawled from its open-mouth before disappearing into a small crack in the wall.
"What do you want from me?!" Tord then shouted into the darkness as he remained unaware of the apparition of his Grandfather that was now slowly beginning to sneak up on him from behind. Of course, Gary had neglected to take notice of this as well, even-though he would be able to see this apparition on film when The Siblings would rewatch the footage on the morning after this event had taken place. Tord let out a small gasp once his Grandfather's spirit had placed an icy-cold hand upon his shoulder. Tord then began to violently write something down upon the notepad of which Gary had given to him for the purpose of acting as a Scribe for their Grandfather's spirit.
"Brother?" Gary then questioned with a voice that was full of concern as he lowered his camera.
"Hey..." Gary then dropped the camera in order to rush over to the aid of his Youngest-Sibling upon receiving no response from Tord at all.
"Are you okay?!" Gary then removed Tord's mask once grabbing his shoulder and attempting to shake him out of his trance had proven to be unsuccessful as well. Gary then gasped once he saw that Tord's eyes had completely rolled into the back of his head as his Youngest-Sibling violently continued to scribble away at an unknown-message in his notepad. Meanwhile, whilst Tord's body wrote, his mind began to have a vision. In this vision, Tord was dressed in his old, black trench-coat as he began to walk through the ruins of what had once been The City of London.
"Why does this place look so familiar?" Tord questioned, out-loud to no-one in particular as he scanned his surroundings. Tord then stopped in his tracks upon noticing a neighborhood that had seemingly been left untouched by the destruction. Tord began to approach the house that he felt the most drawn to within the only, inviting neighborhood of which also happened to be the only house that The Sunlight was shining down upon. Edd then opened the front-door of the house with a welcoming smile to not only reveal that the house belonged to him but that both of the younger versions of Matt as well as Tom were also inside, all three boys were also dressed in their old Eddsworld-attire.
"Edd?!" Tord almost instantly attempted to run toward his best-friend of whom he was certain had been deceased only to be held back by the iron chains that had suddenly appeared around both of his wrists. Tord looked down at the chains to see that his clothing had now suddenly changed into his own, old Eddsworld-attire as he followed the chains with his eyes, only to discover that he was now chained to one of the few trees in Edd's front-yard, a tree of which had taken the form of The Tree of Life. Edd, Matt and Tom all looked at Tord with expressions of sympathy before they all vanished into complete-darkness, along with everything else that had previously been surrounding Tord. Tord's Grandfather then emerged from the blackened-void with a stern glare.
"Why are you doing this?!" Tord tearfully demanded as he began to struggle against his restraints.
"I'm not...I'm here to help you escape..." The ghost of Tord's Grandfather finally spoke for the first time since his untimely-death as he began to circle around Tord in a manner that was similar to that of a hungry-shark in order to stand behind him. Tord just remained silent since he was willing to listen to what his late-Grandfather had to say. He was genuinely curious as well as confused by what his Grandfather meant by that statement despite still feeling a bit concerned for his own safety.
"You know deep-down how to break these chains that they've put you in so long ago...You've always known..." Tord's Grandfather was quick to inform Tord that the chains of which had been restraining him were indeed, metaphorical of an internal struggle Tord had been going through.
"How?" Tord requested a reminder as he continued to struggle against the chains.
"You've felt it before: That feeling, that urge, that craving, that...hunger..." Tord's Grandfather rested both of his hands upon his Grandson's shoulders as he began to whisper his explanation into Tord's ear. Tord let out a sharp gasp upon realizing just, what exactly his Grandfather had been referring to.
"That feeling is an instinct...The instinct for survival..." Tord's Grandfather further explained as he proceeded to show Tord the memory of when his instinct for survival had first kicked in. Tord was at College and three of his bullies were brutally beating him within an inch of his life within the center of the concrete-bridge that had been built above The College's Courtyard.
"You remember that day, don't you? The first day you ever felt that instinct? The day you'd finally had enough of...PEOPLE and their constant abuse of you?" Tord's Grandfather practically snarled as Tord felt himself beginning to panic as he watched the memory play out before him. Tord still remembered that day more vividly than he would have ever liked to have remembered it.
His frail body ached all over as his pale, tender flesh began to bruise from where he had been punched and kicked by his bullies. His nose was bleeding as one of his bullies climbed on top of him in order to pin him down and begin to attempt to strangle him. The bullies began to laugh at Tord's pain as did all of the other bystanders of whom had been watching the one-sided, unfair fight as the poor, young man began attempting to struggle for breath. Drool trickled from the corner of Tord's mouth as he desperately began to gasp for air, his vision began to blur as his consciousness began to fade as well but he still strived to hold onto his life as he silently prayed that at least one of his older-siblings would get out of class soon enough to rescue him in time. Suddenly, Tord felt something deep, down inside of him finally snap as he reached up to clap both of his cupped-hands over both of his Bully's ears.
"Agh! What the Hell is wrong with you?!" The Bully cried out as he recoiled from Tord in pain. Tord sat up, appearing intrigued as he watched as blood began to trickle from both of his Bully's ears due to the air-pressure of his attack causing his eardrums to burst. Something about seeing his main School-Bully bleed and knowing that he had been the one to have caused it, filled Tord with a strange, numbing sensation that seemed to relieve the pain that he had been feeling ever since his bullying had first begun.
"Do you remember how good it felt to finally stand up for yourself? To take your anger out on them?" Tord's Grandfather questioned.
"The color...The color had been completely drained from my life for so long...until I saw his blood...That beautiful, crimson...I needed to see more...
I needed to cause more..." Tord admitted to his Grandfather as he began to feel that familiar hunger returning.
Tord then remembered that whilst his Main-Bully had been distracted with his newly-acquired wounds, that he had taken this opportunity to then kick his Main-Bully's leg as hard as he could with a loud grunt. The kick had been hard enough to cause his Main-Bully to lose his balance enough to then fall, backwards over the bridge's railing and land upon his back, upon one of the iron, outdoor benches. The loud crack that his Bully's spine had produced upon impact filled Tord with a rush of adrenaline that would soon turn into more of a high. Tord's Main-Bully had survived the fall but would ultimately be needing a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
"You're crazy, man!" One of the other, two bullies then shouted at Tord which provoked Tord to then quickly turn his attention to them with a small, animalistic growl. Both bullies soon realized their mistake as they were quick to attempt to flee since that look in Tord's eyes, that would soon become infamous, had been terrifying enough, to make them temporarily forget that Tord had once been one of their victims. Tord had of course, chased after them with the hopes of causing more pain and bloodshed to his former-tormenters, in a manner of which had been similar to that of a hungry-lion chasing a scared-antelope. The Bullies had managed to make it to one end of the bridge before Tord leapt onto the back of the one of whom had called him, crazy. The Bully quickly lost his balance before his forehead had cracked against The School's brick-wall on his way down as he fell to the ground with Tord still on his back.
The Remaining-Bully watched as Tord then dug his fingers into his friend's greasy hair, his untrimmed-fingernails clawing further into his scalp as he then proceeded to slam The Second-Bully's face into the rough concrete of the sidewalk, repeatedly. The Remaining-Bully winced at the brutal, violent site as he contemplated helping his friend but then he ultimately decided to make his escape whilst the enraged, psychotic Tord had been distracted by rendering his unconscious-friend's face into a nearly-unrecognizable, swollen, bloody mess that resembled freshly-ground hamburger-meat. The more blood that Tord had shed, the more numb he felt, the more high he felt and the less pain he felt.
"Tord, stop!" A female-voice called out from behind Tord before the voice's owner then pulled him off of his Other-Bully before Tord could have the chance to kill him which only served to further enrage The Norwegian. It were as if he had turned into a starving, wild, savage animal of whom's only food-source had just been compromised. Tord quickly began to repeatedly elbow the nose of whomever had just been foolish enough to interrupt his attempted-murder. Satisfaction began to fill Tord once-again when he felt her nose finally shatter beneath the force of his hard, bony elbow. As Tord turned around in order to see who had pulled him off of his victim, his vision was still so blurred with rage, that she only appeared to be a red smear to him.
"I just wanted to make someone feel the same pain I was feeling...I almost didn't care who it was...I just wanted to spill blood, make someone scream, strike fear into their hearts..." Tord explained with a tone that was full of remorse as his Grandfather purposefully ended the memory before the younger-counterpart of his Grandson's vision could clear up enough to allow him to see who he had just attacked.
"I just wanted the pain to stop...I still just want the pain to just stop...It just...felt so good to be the one causing the pain for once...instead of being on the receiving-end..." Tord explained as more tears fell.
"Good, Tord...Give in to your instincts..." Tord's Grandfather encouraged as The City of London once again appeared, all around them. Tord jumped at the sound of a warning-siren ringing throughout the town, a siren that had not been used in Europe since The Cold-War Drills.
"You have everything you need...Become The Red Leader, change The World..." Tord's Grandfather then whispered his instructions into Tord's ear before disappearing. Tord then flinched when an explosion of white fire then proceeded to wipe out the entire City in a mushroom-cloud that ironically took the shape of The Tree of Life. However, Tord soon took notice of the fact that as the flames licked his flesh, he did not burn. Even as his clothing was burned from his body, Tord only felt warmth as if The Sun were merely shining down upon him.
When the fire was gone, only Tord was left standing, naked amongst the ashes as he just watched as his chains then melted away from his wrists.
"Tord?!" Gary then gasped once Tord had dropped his pen and notepad before beginning to float toward the ceiling with his arms outstretched beside him.
"What is going on up here?" Leila then rushed upstairs once both of her brothers had unintentionally created enough noise to have awoken her from her slumber. She then gasped upon seeing that her Youngest-Sibling was somehow, miraculously floating as Tord then began to absorb all of the electricity around them. Once the house had been submerged in complete-darkness, Tord then proceeded to expel a bright-white flash from his body along with a sudden burst of energy that had been strong enough to throw both of his older-siblings across the room, both grunting once they had hit the wall.
"I thought I told you not to mess around with the paranormal..." Leila weakly groaned as she and Gary both began to sit back up.
"Tord?" Gary questioned upon seeing that Tord was now just sitting on the floor with his legs folded over one-another. Tord was now completely-naked due to his pajamas having been incinerated during the bright flash of which his body had just produced and he was now also covered in scorch-marks. His hair had somehow miraculously formed into those trademark-horns of which his Eddsworld-Counterpart had been known to have. Gary and Leila both got up to approach their Youngest-Sibling with matching-looks of concern. They were both quick to take notice of how closely Tord's new hair-horns resembled the horns that were on Loki's helmet, both of them knowing better than to write the resemblance off as merely a coincidence.
"I now know what must be done..." Tord stated with a darkened tone that matched his expression as he looked up at Gary and Leila. Tord's expression was emotionless but the look that he now held within his eyes made both of his Older-Siblings flinch away from him as a Five-Lined Skink crawled up his back to rest upon his right-shoulder. Leila appeared to be especially frightened by the look in Tord's eyes as she backed away from her Youngest-Sibling until she had nearly slipped on the notebook of which Tord had been using as a Scribe. Leila picked up the notebook and flipped through it only to see that the same phrase had been scribbled several times onto every, single page: "Become The Red Leader, change The World!"