A/N This chapter is going to be slightly longer than usual posts. It's the final confrontation, and I didn't want to split up the momentum. I hope this ending lives up to the story.
The door wasn't locked. Fred paused to register this latest insult, and then kicked the piece of metal inward. Gun pointing forward, she stepped in.
Her plan to systemically cover each corner of the room encountered two problems. The first was that it was unnecessary; Osiris was simply sitting in a chair at the back. The second was the moment she entered; the room took her breath away.
Computers hummed and blinked from every surface, hundreds of views and images flashing before her. The ceiling was a jungle of chords, the black snakes connecting every monitor, before tracing back to a massive console at the room's rear. Osiris sat perched on a simple stool in front of this console, one massive monitor looming above his head. The man smiled at her, black lips a stain against his pale face.
"Ah, Winifred Washington. Have you come to continue our conversation?"
"Your pet's a puddle," she snapped. "Not to mention, my gut tells me that you aren't a fighter, and it's never been wrong before. This fight's over."
Osiris folded his hands on his lap. "You are entirely correct. I am as harmless as a breeze, a trickle of water. You have won the fight. My Creator would be most displeased that the Creator's will was not implemented, but there is simply nothing that I can do about it."
For a moment, the barrel of Fred's weapon dipped, as her mouth hung open. She had been expecting a fight to the death. Her mouth quickly rightened itself. I can't let him throw me off, she growled to herself.
"Right, who is this Creator you keep going on about? Is that God? Was he the one that made this world?" She gestured with the rifle. "Talk!"
It was as if Osiris didn't hear her. "Yes, the Creator would not be pleased. I cannot complete the Creator's will, but yet, I still function… A backup purpose, perhaps? Most unusual." He blinked. "God, you say? My-my, that is an interesting question. I would love to spend some time to dwell on the subject."
"But, as far as your query, I am afraid you are quite mistaken. My Creator, is not the God to whom which you are referring.
"You, see this world was already here when she arrived. She was a normal human; admittedly, one with quite the talent for programming. She created the code for all that you have seen, myself, my associate Ammit, and this entire system."
The Supervisor gestured at the tangle of computers. "By stealing computers from the school, she was able to gain enough processing power to create all of this. Quite an achievement. The system you see here, my dear, gives incredible influence over this world."
Osiris smiled, serene. "If used correctly, the being who controls this system, possesses total control over this world."
Fred stepped back, feeling the smooth ground slip beneath her feet. "A… human. A girl, made all of this?"
"Indeed. The Creator was quite gifted, but still as mortal as the rest of you. Perhaps this will help you understand. You have the power to create weapons out of dirt, do you not? This world grants its inhabitants the power to create. Mrs. Robinson used an organized form of this power to make her abilities. And in the same way, my Creator created a system with which to control, to maintain balance."
Fred felt a pounding behind her eyes. It was possible… In all honesty, what reason would this program have to lie? "But why? Why did she do all of this?"
Osiris tilted his head in reverence. Razor-straight locks of hair fell around his ears. "Quite simply, to protect the ones who came after her. Life is full of danger. She desired to preserve a balance that would prevent others from being harmed.
"You see, the Creator fell in love. I do not totally comprehend the intricacies of this human function, but I am aware that there was considerable strength to it. For you see, the one she loved passed on to what lies beyond, the moment they came together. He left her behind. And I can feel the bitterness of her pain in every stitch of her programming."
"The Creator wished to protect others from what had destroyed her. She created a system that would ensure that such pain would never be possible. She created a system that would prevent the virus, the most deadly disease of all, from ever taking root. I was created to prevent the spread of love."
Fred choked. "Love?"
The tiniest of creases appeared in Osiris's brow. "Love is the virus. It is unscrupulously contagious; it flies from person to person to like a fire. In you humans, it can be passed through a glance, a book, a casual word. The disease is spread through ideas, music, every action, and every touch. It is a most persistent weed; once it raps its roots around someone soul, an inferno could not shake it.
"I could not restrain it. Every time I sought to destroy it, it held on.
"The Creator found for herself the dangers of love. You see, if you love nothing, nothing can harm you. There is nothing that you would care to loss. But when a human makes the mistake of loving something, they become vulnerable. When what they love is taken from them, their soul is damaged. And what is loved, is always lost.
"My Creator programmed me to prevent this. For the longest time, I was able to balance the virus's advances with violence, between your organization and Mrs. Robinson. But, at some point… balance was lost. I do not know why, but something changed, a new factor came into play. I could not hold the virus back."
Fred was silent for several moments. The computers hummed around her, blue light flickering across her stone face. Osiris stared back at her, a polite frown locked onto his features.
"What happened to the programmer?" Fred spoke finally, her voice a whisper. "Did she pass on, or, is she still here?"
Osiris tilted his head. "She is still here. Apparently, she decided the pain was too great for her to keep on existing. And so, she created an interesting piece of programming, and completed self implementation. She absorbed her soul into the system. Now her memories, her pain, are wrapped up nice and tight behind layers of behavior protocol."
"In other words, she became an NPC." Osiris shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe you've run into her." Abruptly, he leaned forward, a smile cutting across his features. "But now, she has lost power, and you have gained it.
"Now, Mrs. Washington, you have the opportunity to become God."
For a moment, Fred was sure that she'd misheard. Then she started to take several steps forward. Her pulse began to race. "God? What the hell are you talking about?"
Osiris gestured grandly at the electronics around him. "This system can give you total control. The cleaners are everywhere, their number is without limit. They will never stop. As we speak, the cleaners are overrunning the only other sentient beings on this plane of existence. Soon, this entire world will be reset. Then, it will be up to you to remake it as you wish."
Fred's mind almost hummed as it processed. She wasn't sure if her heart was racing too fast to be heard, or if it had stopped.
Osiris's thin lips split into a grin as he recognized the look on the fighter's stricken face. "Yes, you comprehend. You must have realized long before now, what it truly means to be God.
"Control. Control is the basis of all. The one who has control over the world, is that world's God."
The girl before Osiris was silent; beads of sweat ran down a face marked with bruises, cuts and dirt. Eyes as hard as the rock around them drilled into the program.
"The power to create, and the power to destroy," Osiris continued, quieter. "The power to reshape, and reform. Most of all, the power to control the actions of those in your power. This is what it means to be a God."
Far above them, Fred could hear water, trickling through some hidden stream. On that day, those men were the Gods, she thought. They had control over us, because of their violent power. Maybe if I hadn't been so weak, I could have stopped them, but in the end, they controlled me. And they controlled the lives of my brother and sisters.
Wasn't that why I made the Battlefront, to break God's control? I mean, think of what happened to Hayley, and to Hannah, and to Luke.
A memory of Luke fading away flashed before her. Luke, Mike beside him, and then, the substance she'd glimpsed on Mike's arm…
She could stop all that. With control, she could help Mike; make him realize that she was right. She could make him, she could force him…
Fred felt a painful chill at the back of her mind.
"Hold on a second," she said softly. "The Lord has total power. He created the universe. He made animals that are as complicated as physics, composed out of cells as complicated as quantum physics. He can create life, go beyond our imaginations, you know, all that crazy stuff.
"But… we are free to live as we wish. We can love him, we can fight him, we can love each other, or we can fight each other. Whatever. He… he doesn't control us."
"His mistake!" Osiris snapped. His pupils rapidly dilated and contracted, and for a moment, Fred saw the inhumanity behind the program's perfect features. "Think about what this means. If you were to become the God of this world, you could overturn the power of the Lord. You would win.
"Think about everything that you know is wrong with our world. I am equipped with high perception, my dear. I know that there is much that troubles you. As God, you change everything. You could take away the pain."
Osiris had to endure another long pause for the girl's response. After a while, he realized she was staring at a patch on her curious uniform. The label "Battlefront" was sewn under the insignia of their organization.
"So, with total control, I will become God?" she spoke finally.
"Yes!"
With a beat of confusion, Osiris realized the human was smiling. The grin tugged across her features. As Fred straightened, a ripple of energy shuddered through her.
"I don't think I'll ever understand why the Lord does what he does. If there is a reason for the pain in our world, then I don't know it. But, after all this time, I do know this."
"The Lord is the one who have created the people I care about. Somehow, he has created people who despite being given the choice, still choose to be caring, and compassionate, and awesome. He is the one who created my friends, and my family. What you don't understand, is that my whole life I have had one purpose. I haven't fought for power, or control. I've fought to protect the people I care about."
The pounding behind Fred's head had ignited into a sweeping flame. In a single moment, Fred felt the fury that coiled her soul for years loosen, and then fall away. It was replaced by the new inferno. Fred stepped forward.
"I believe I'm going to follow the lead of the true God. He decided that rather than control us, we could find our own way.
"I will protect the lives of my friends. I will protect their right to live painful lives. I will protect their ability to endure worry, and fear, and doubt. Even if I'm not sure what will happen, and what path they will decide to take. I will protect their freedom to choose, because I love them!"
Osiris gazed up at her. His lips pursed. "Oh. You also, have been touched by love."
He inclined his head to the side. "Well, there's no rush to make a decision, Winifred Washington. The cleaners will consume the others, but they won't be able to progress beyond the door to this room." The program smiled softly. "You have an eternity to make a decision."
Fred's fists clenched. With one smooth motion, she swung the rifle into the air. "Yeah, one thing. Us humans, we don't like it when some idiot tries to take our freedom away. We've put up with it long enough!"
Light exploded through the room as Fred's bullets found their mark. Screens shattered and blew apart, discordant sounds bounced while Fred unloaded into the computers surrounding her. Metal screamed and cried, chords fizzed and broke. Teeth grit, she arched the stream of molten lead into the monitors secured to the ceiling. They flew apart.
Wincing in concentration, Fred dropped the now-empty rifle to draw the pistols at her side. Hunks of molten metal plummeted around her as she delivered a shot to every portion of the system.
Her breath coming in gasps, Fred swiveled to face the last computer. Osiris sat between her and her target. Shards of glass were lodged in the dark hair; his serene smile had tumbled open in shock.
Fred spared him a grin, before she sent two bullets into the mainframe.
Fred knelt on the stone floor, hands empty. She could feel exhaustion overtaking her. Osiris was gone; his form had dissipated into code the moment last computer has exploded. Without any system to keep them in existence, the anomalies must have followed after. Luke and Mike should be all right, the assimilation software was in pieces on the floor behind her. She let her head fall to her knees.
It was over. Her head was pounding with so many thoughts, ideas both old and new. There were so many, that her mind simply returned to basics.
I should do a recon, she thought blearily. Find out what…. What… I…
Unbidden, a memory surfaced in her mind's eye. Desperate, she tried to force it away. The memory remained none the less.
She was at her youngest sister's seventh birthday. Sophie sat at the table; her dangling feet inches up from the floor. She was happily licking the last scraps of frosting from the corners of her mouth when her big sister coughed.
"So, ah, Soph," Winnie began, gazing at her sister miserably. "You know how you wanted that new CD?"
Sophie nodded, fending off their mother's attempts to steal a bite of cake.
Winnie took a breath. "Well… I got to the store, and, well, it turned out I didn't have enough… So, I got you this card. It's got this funny-looking cat on it, see? And, look inside."
Her sister eagerly received the piece of paper. As she flipped it open, her face lit up.
"A chocolate bar! Awesome!"
Winnie fidgeted. "I'm sorry I couldn't get what you wanted, Soph. I'll try to-" She trailed off, eyes widening.
Cake-covered, icing-stained Sophie had leaned across the table, clasping her arms around her sister's neck.
"Thank- so-much, Winnie! I love it." Across the table, Harriet looked up. Little Michael giggled.
"Don't worry 'bout doing anything else, OK? You've all ready done so much. Thanks, Winnie. You're the best Big Sister ever."
On the glass-strewn floor, Fred shook. Tears streaming from her eyes, Winnie sobbed.