I am in Shomas Putnam's helicopter, returning to the hospital where Atticus is at. Jem is with me. We just killed Neo-Hitler and ended the war. President Putnam speaks to us: "We're almost there. I knew you could do it, Scout."

I nod my head. The helicopter lands in the parking lot of the hospital. The helicopter's doors open, and Jem and I quickly rush out. We run up to the hospital's doors, and we quickly push them open. We run straight to Atticus's room. As we reach the door, Jem looks at me. "Thank you for everything, Scout. You're the best sister ever!"

I smile while looking at Jem. I then put my hand onto the doorknob to Atticus's room, and I turn it. I push the door open. I speak: "Atticus, I'm back. I brought Jem."

However, when I look at the bed, Atticus isn't there. There's someone else laying there, facing away from me. He speaks: "Did you miss me, Scout?" He quickly turns around. It's Neo-Hitler. His evil grin covers his face. He quickly jumps out of the bed.

"What the hell did you do to Atticus?!" I shout. Suddenly, Neo-Hitler rushes up to Jem and jabs his arm straight through his chest, killing him instantly. Jem's corpse falls to the floor. Neo-Hitler then grabs me by the neck and lifts me up.

Neo-Hitler pulls my ear up to his mouth. He then licks the inside of my ear. His tongue is cold and wet, making me feel extreme discomfort. Neo-Hitler whispers to me: "You're not good enough, Scout. If only you were strong, you could've saved your friends. Atticus and Jem are dead because of you. You can't even save yourself. You're pathetic." Neo-Hitler's hand turns into a buzz-saw, and it starts revving up. The buzzing sound of the saw gets progressively louder as he brings it closer to my face. The buzz-saw then makes contact with my face and begins cutting through my skull.

"FUCK!" I shout. My entire body flinches, and I take a deep breath. I am laying in a bed somewhere. It was just a nightmare. But… How much of that was just a dream? I notice a cast on my right arm, and my entire body feels very sore right now. Oh yeah, I was thrown off of the Hitler Fortress and fell back down to Earth. How am I still alive?

Someone walks into the room I'm in. I recognize this slightly-chubby nerdy man instantly; it's Dill Harris. "Heyyyyyy, Scout! Are you, like, okay now?"

I respond: "Dill, what are you doing here? Where am I?"

Dill pushes his glasses up to his face to adjust them. "It's like, a long story! Basically, I was just like, sitting in my vacation home in Moscow playing Sonic and the Secret Rings on my Nintendo Wii while eating Ranch-Dipped Hot Wing Doritos and drinking Cherry Pepsi, when suddenly, I saw something land onto my trampoline in my backyard! I went out to check what was going on n' stuff, and I saw you there, unconscious on my trampoline! I tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't budge! I then deduced that you were hurt, so I like, began bringing you inside. Just then, the Hitler Fortress appeared in the sky! It was about to blow up Moscow! I had to get us out of there! Instead of bringing you to my house, I brought you to my super fabulous racing kart, and I got us out of Moscow and took us to my secret hideout! And here we are now!"

I speak: "Where exactly is here? And… How long was I unconscious?"

Dill responds: "We're at McMurdo Station! Neo-Hitler will never find us down here! You've been unconscious for like, five days I think? Today is April 18."

I think. McMurdo Station? Where the hell is that? I have never heard of this before in my life. Oh shit, there are only two days left until Jem's execution. I speak: "Dill, we have to get back to the Hitler Fortress. Jem's execution is scheduled for April 20. I must save him!"

Dill looks at me: "Oh no! Your super-hot brother is about to be executed by Neo-Hitler?! This is terrible! I'm going to kill Neo-Hitler and save Jem and finally propose to him!"

I respond: "But… Neo-Hitler is too strong… There's no way we can beat him!"

Dill adjusts his glasses again. "Don't say that! We can do it!"

I sigh. "Neo-Hitler is a chimera. He has super-strength, super-speed, and he can regenerate from any wound. I blasted a hole through his skull, and he was able to recover in a few seconds. As long as he's able to regenerate, we won't be able to kill him."

Dill closes his eyes and begins stroking the bottom of his chin with his left hand. "Hmmm… I'm hungry. Let's like, go to the McMurdo Sandwich Shop and have some lunch and like, discuss a plan for beating Neo-Hitler!"

I try to get out of the bed, but it feels like all of my muscles are being torn apart as I try to move. "Shit!" I shout. I fall back down onto the bed where I was laying.

Dill looks at me. "Oh, I forgot something. Wait here." Dill walks to the door in the room, and he opens it. He steps out of the room and closes the door. I hear his footsteps heading off to the right, getting quieter as they get farther away from me. I hear the sounds of dogs barking and birds chirping out of the window behind me. If only I could turn around and look at them… Too bad my body hurts too much to do that.

After about a minute, I hear Dill's footsteps again. They get louder, and the door opens again. Dill walks into the room while holding a flask with a thick red fluid in it. It kind of looks like blood. I feel my heart beating faster.

Dill hands me the flask. "Here, drink this."

I respond: "What is it?" I hope he brought me blood. That would make me so happy!

He responds: "It's like, a healing potion or something."

"Oh," I say in disappointment. My heart rate returns to normal. I grab the flask out of his hand, and I pull the cork off the top. I bring it close to my nose and sniff it. It kind of smells like cherries. I put the opening of the flask up to my mouth, and I lift the other end up, bringing the fluid closer to my mouth. I start drinking the fluid. Its consistency is slightly thinner than that of blood, and it tastes the same way as it smells. After about five swallows, I finish the entire thing.

Dill takes the empty flask back from me. He speaks: "So like, did it work?"

Suddenly, my entire body stopped being sore. I get out of the bed, and I look around. My body isn't in pain anymore. I look at the cast on my right arm, and I pull it off and poke at the area that Neo-Hitler broke. The bone is completely healed.

I speak to Dill: "Whoa. How did that work?"

Dill pushes up on his glasses and smirks. "It didn't. That was just a placebo. I mixed some cherry syrup and water! Hahaha! I totally got you!"

I respond: "That's impossible! The bones in my arm were completely broken!"

Dill laughs. "Haha. I got you again! It actually wasn't a placebo. I taught myself about chemistry and alchemy, so I know how to make some potions. Come on, let's go to the McMurdo Sandwich Shop now."

I look for my shoes. They are on the ground next to the bed. I put them on. Dill then walks over to the door, and he opens it. I follow him. The next room is a hallway. I follow Dill to the right, and we reach another door. He opens it, revealing the outside world.

"What the shit?!" I shout as I see what's outside. There's snow everywhere, and there are penguins and seals wandering around. The nearby ocean has several icebergs floating around in it. It's April… Shouldn't it be spring right now?

Dill speaks: "Oh, McMurdo Station is in Antarctica. I don't think I told you."

"How… How did we even… Never mind. I won't even question it," I say. "Let's just go get those sandwiches. I haven't eaten anything in five days."

Dill goes over to a building. There's a large neon sign on top of it that simply reads "McMurdo Sandwich Shop". We enter the building. Dill walks to the left and sits at a table with someone I recognize instantly. It's Tew's corpse.

Dill speaks: "Oh, I also saved this guy here. He's shy, so he like, doesn't talk much. Ain't that right, bro?" Dill lightly jabs Tew with his elbow as a "friendly gesture", but Tew's corpse just falls onto the ground.

Suddenly, an Emperor Penguin wearing a maid outfit approaches the table we're at. Her name tag reads "Avala". Dill speaks: "Hello there, I would like the pickle sandwich, please. I really love pickles!"

I glance at the menu. I don't feel like reading this, so I'll just order the item at the top of the list. "Can I get the tuna-mayonnaise sandwich?" The penguin then nods her head at me.

A few seconds pass in silence. "Squawk," says Avala while looking at Tew's corpse.

Dill speaks: "Oh, this guy is like, really shy for some reason. Let's get him the… Umm… What would he like… Let's get him the radish sandwich! Everybody likes radishes!"

"Squawk! That will be 9 Antarctic Dollars," says Avala. Dill reaches into his pocket, and he grabs some bullshit-ass-looking currency. There are three coins, each with a value of 3.722 Antarctic Dollars. They are made of some type of greenish metal. He hands them to Avala, and she puts them into her pocket. She then hands Dill a single coin with a value of 2.166 Antarctic Dollars. This coin is colored blue, and it is slightly smaller than the 3.722 Antarctic Dollar coins.

Avala then goes over to a refrigerator in the room and opens it with her flipper. She then picks up three sandwiches with her beak and puts them into her mouth. She closes the refrigerator door and walks back over to our table. She then spits the sandwiches out onto the table. They're covered in penguin saliva.

Dill grabs his sandwich and takes a bite out of it. He talks with his mouth full of bread, pickles, and penguin saliva. "So, Neo-Hitler has like, super regeneration or something. You said you shot him in the head, and he was able to recover from it, right? Luckily, I know just the counter to super regeneration!"

I grab my tuna-mayonnaise sandwich. It smells really good. I take a bite into it. The bread, tuna, mayonnaise, and penguin saliva all blend together in my mouth like a harmony of pure positivity. It's not as tasty as blood, but I'd say this is a close contender for second-place.

Dill continues: "Neo-Hitler is mostly human, but you said he's a chimera, is that right? Do you like, know which species were fused into his DNA?"

I swallow the bite of the sandwich that's in my mouth. "I'm not sure. He called himself the 'penultimate chimera', so he probably has features from every other chimera created up until then… Including myself… That bastard is my brother. The only way to know is to find our creator, Albert Einstein, and ask him ourselves. I was created with finch DNA, so I'm basically optimized for speed, agility, and adaptability. As a downside, my bone density is lighter, so I can't take much damage."

Dill looks surprised. "What?! You're like, a chimera? That's so awesome! I'm jealous! Anyway, there are multiple different species in this world that can regenerate. For example, axolotls can even regenerate parts of their damaged brains. In a nutshell, the cells in the damaged area undergo a process called like, dedifferentiation or something. The dedifferentiated cells then proliferate and differentiate back to the necessary cell type, whether it's bone, muscle, skin, or any vital area stuff."

I respond: "I have no idea what the hell you just said, but I trust you. So, how the hell do we stop Neo-Hitler from regenerating?"

Dill smiles. He pushes his glasses up and takes a bite out of his pickle sandwich. He speaks with his mouth full again: "Albert Einstein isn't the only scientist in this world. Take a look at this." Dill then reaches into his coat pocket, and he pulls out a photo album. He opens it up. As he flips through the pages, I see a lot of… Sciency stuff? I don't know how to describe it. Dill is such a huge nerd.

Eventually, Dill flips to a page that has multiple weird pictures on them. He then takes a few of the pictures out of the album and places them on the table in front of us. The pictures depict things that look like worms attacking white blobs.

I have no idea what this is. I speak: "Umm… What the hell is this?"

Dill responds: "These are viruses! Specifically, HIV! It is a virus that attacks and like, annihilates the immune system. If we can infect Neo-Hitler with this, he should lose his regenerative abilities, allowing us to like, easily kill him and stuff! To infect him, we have to inject it into his bloodstream. You know what this means, Scout. Don't drink his blood after he's infected! I know about your weird obsession with blood!"

I respond: "Dammit, I was hoping to suck every ounce of blood out of his body."

Dill pushes up his glasses and continues: "Anyway, once he's infected, it will take a while for it to spread, so we'll have to just keep fighting him. We'll, like, notice his regenerative properties getting weaker, and that's how we'll know it's working!"

I bite into my tuna-mayonnaise sandwich again and swallow. "This sounds like a good plan so far. Can we also create a virus that will just kill him after infecting him with HIV?"

Dill responds: "Well, we could like, give him something like Ebola, but then the whole fight would just end up being anticlimactic, and that wouldn't make for an interesting story. It would be so much more thematic if you overcame your weaknesses and finally defeated him using your own skills after all."

I want to protest, but he does make a good point. "Neo-Hitler's physical abilities far surpass mine. To defeat him, I must become stronger. But… There are only two days left until Jem's execution. I can't wait until then! Neo-Hitler must be killed as soon as possible!"

Avala approaches our table again. It seems like she was listening on our conversation. "Squawk, you say you need to become strong enough to kill Neo-Hitler? I have just the thing for you." She is holding a polearm in her flipper. Based on the way it's shaped, I think this one is a halberd. The pole part has red and white stripes like a candy cane, and the head looks like it's made of pure ice. "This is The South Pole. It was used thousands of years ago by The Orca Queen who single-handedly (…single-flipperedly?) annihilated the Jovian Cyborg Ninja Army and slayed their monarch to defend Antarctica and the rest of the world. I will use this to train you. Squawk, Dill, do you have any speed potions left?"

Dill responds: "Yes. I have a few back at my base. What are you planning on doing with them?"

Avala speaks: "I will drink them to increase my speed to Neo-Hitler's level. I will then use The South Pole to train Scout's speed and reflexes. Have a few healing potions ready too, since we're both going to be taking a lot of damage."

Dill speaks: "But… You know you can't be drinking too many of those speed potions! They will like, hurt you and stuff!"

Avala responds: "Squawk, I'm aware. However, consider what would happen if Neo-Hitler wins this war. He's eventually going to come for Antarctica. It's best that he's dealt with as soon as possible."

I speak: "Avala, I respect your willingness to train me. Thank you."

Dill looks surprised. "Scout! Are you okay? That was the first time you've ever thanked someone in your life!"

I respond: "I've always preferred animals over humans. There are only like, three or four humans who I actually care about; the rest of them can burn in Hell for all I care. I'm only telling you this because you're one of those three or four people."

Dill slightly blushes. "Okay, you three wait here, and I'll be back with the potions." Dill walks out of the building.

Wait did he say you three? Oh yeah, I forgot Tew's corpse is also here. I look towards Tew's corpse, and I see that half of his radish sandwich was eaten.

Avala speaks to me: "Scout, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to attack you with The South Pole. Only dodge and parry my attacks; don't attack me back. Once you are able to flawlessly dodge me, I will drink a speed potion and go at you again. We will keep repeating this to maximize your agility. I won't hold back on you at all, but I'll try my best to avoid hitting any of your vital areas. If either of us get hurt, we'll use Dill's healing potions. Got it? Squawk."

I respond: "Yes."

Avala looks at Tew's corpse. "So, what's the deal with this guy? Is he also going to help you fight Neo-Hitler?"

I sigh. "I don't even—"

Dill bursts through the door to the restaurant, interrupting me. The quick opening of the doors creates a loud banging sound. He then slams the doors shut. He is pushing a cart that has several potions of different colors on it. "Okay, I have five speed potions and fifteen healing potions. Use these as needed. I think it will like, be a good idea for me to make more of these before we face off against Neo-Hitler and stuff." Dill pushes up on his glasses, and he leaves the restaurant again.

Avala then grabs one of the blue potions from the cart. That must be one of the speed potions. She uses her beak to remove the cork from the top, and she drinks the whole potion in seconds. She speaks: "Squawk, let's do this, Scout!" She prepares a stance while holding her South Pole. "Remember, just dodge, and don't hit me back."

Avala then rushes up to me with the halberd, and she jabs it towards me. Her speed is comparable to the Nazis I fought on the Hitler Fortress. In other words, she's too slow. I sidestep, dodging her jab effortlessly. She quickly pulls The South Pole back, and she swings the cutting edge of it towards my lower body. It looks like the best approach here would be to go over it. I quickly jump over the halberd, dodging it.

Avala shouts: "Wrong!" She then quickly jabs the halberd towards me. Shit! I'm airborne, and I have nothing to use to propel myself! I can't dodge this! I try to turn my body to dodge, but it's no use. The pointy end of the halberd pierces my right thigh, causing me to bleed. I then fall to the ground.

Avala approaches me while holding one of the healing potions. She pours it onto the wound on my thigh. She speaks: "Do you understand what went wrong there?"

I respond: "I was airborne, and my mobility options were restricted."

Avala stops pouring the potion onto my wound, and she starts rubbing it with her flipper. This feels good. She speaks: "Correct. Since your strength lies mostly in your speed and agility, try not to get caught in a disadvantageous state. You should always have multiple movement options available at all times. Squawk. Are you ready to keep going?" The wound on my thigh is completely healed.

I nod my head. Avala prepares a different stance with her halberd. It seems like she's mixing things up as a way to prevent my body from overfitting to this training data. Why the hell did I phrase that like I'm a robot? Robots are creepy. I hope I won't have to fight one any time soon.

Avala vertically swings the halberd towards my left side. This is easy. I sidestep to the right, completely dodging it. She then horizontally swings it towards my legs again. I won't make the same mistake this time. Instead of jumping over it, I do a quick hop backwards, spacing myself away from Avala. She then quickly charges towards me while jabbing the halberd towards my stomach. I dodge under the halberd, and I place my right hand onto Avala's chest, and I grab her flipper with my left hand, preparing to use her momentum against her. However, we both stop at this moment, since my goal isn't to hurt her.

Avala speaks: "Good. Let's take it to the next level." She goes back over to the potion cart, and drinks another speed potion. She places the empty flask back onto the cart and grabs The South Pole again. She readies a defensive stance with the halberd. This time, she steps backwards. She then rushes up to my right side while swinging the halberd towards my right shoulder. I then dodge to the left. Avala quickly sidesteps to match my dodge, and she jabs the halberd towards my abdomen while I'm still in the middle of the dodge. Shit! I quickly reposition my legs to propel myself backwards. I dodge backwards, and the halberd grazes the side of my hip, cutting it open.

Avala stops attacking. "I was able to predict your movements. When you're fighting someone, you have to think more than just how you're going to dodge. Squawk. You also need to be aware of how your opponent is going to move." She then pours another healing potion onto the wound on my hip and rubs it with her flipper.

It feels nice having an opponent who is capable of keeping up with me. I feel like I'm actually improving. I usually just overwhelm whatever pathetic opponent I'm fighting within seconds. Besides the incident with Neo-Hitler, the last time I had a hard time fighting someone was when I killed Bob Ewell, a.k.a. The Mockingbird, with Dill and Jem. But I was like eight years old back then. I could effortlessly kick his ass with both hands tied behind my back today if I were to fight him again. What kind of grown-ass man goes around assaulting children anyway?

Avala speaks: "Is something on your mind? Let's keep going." Avala changes her stance. Her halberd is pointing towards me now. Based on this stance, my best guess is that she's going to rush straight towards me. I watch her movements carefully. She quickly rushes up to me, as I predicted. Based on how she's holding the halberd now, it looks like she's going to jab it straight towards my stomach. She then jabs it towards my stomach as I predicted, so I dodge to the right.

At this moment, she hasn't retracted the halberd after the jab. From this point, she can either retract it to prepare another attack or horizontally swing it towards me. If she chooses a defensive option, she will either step backwards or to her right to get out of my attacking range. I just need to observe her movements to see if she's going to go for offense or defense.

Avala hops to her right as a way to space herself from me. She went for a defensive option. Since this was one of her possible movements I predicted, I thought of a way to counter this. I dive forwards and sweep my left leg clockwise, aiming for her legs. I hit her legs, and she falls over. I catch her so she doesn't hit the ground.

Avala speaks: "You're improving. How fast am I compared to Neo-Hitler now?"

I respond: "Neo-Hitler was still faster than where you're at right now. I think you'll be at his level if you drink a third speed potion."

Avala nods her head. "Okay. I hope my body can keep up with this. Squawk." She grabs a third speed potion from the potion cart, and she drinks it. Her whole body starts twitching. I can hear her heartbeat has also significantly increased in speed from what it started at.

Avala then holds her halberd in a neutral stance. It looks like she can go for either offense or defense from here. Suddenly, she rushes up to me. She's fast! Her speed might be greater than Neo-Hitler's now! She quickly jabs her halberd towards my stomach very rapidly. Normally, I wouldn't be able to dodge this, but I saw the movement in her flippers before she jabbed it towards me. I quickly dodge to the left. She then quickly swings the cutting edge of the halberd towards me. Although she's moving faster than Neo-Hitler, I can keep up with her movements. I duck down and slide under the halberd. Since I'm in a low position, her next move would be to aim low, so I have to dodge high. I prepare a short hop.

Avala then swings the halberd above me. She fell for it. I knew her other option was to predict my high dodge, so I had another counterattack in mind. While her halberd is above me, I hop up and grab it, pulling it out of her flippers, completely disarming her. I then aim it up to her neck. I then place The South Pole onto the ground.

Avala speaks: "Good. You did it. Squawk. You're really fast at learning, which is expected from a finch." Her body is still twitching rapidly. She holds her flipper up to her head. "Ugh. Fuck. Dill was right. Those speed potions seem to have such strong negative side effects. Let's keep training."

I respond: "Avala, no! Don't drink another speed potion! I'm strong enough to kill Neo-Hitler now!"

Avala looks at me. "We can't know that for sure. It's best if we train you further." She then approaches the potion cart again. "Shit!" she shouts. She then places both of her flippers on her head. It looks like she's having a migraine right now. She starts collapsing to the ground.

I quickly run up to her and catch her before she falls. Her heart is still beating rapidly. I speak: "Avala, you've done all you could. Thank you."

Avala looks at me. Her eyes slowly close. She loses consciousness.

I hear the doors to the restaurant opening behind me, and I hear Dill stepping in. Dill speaks: "Oh no! What happened here?"

I feel like I'm panicking right now. I respond: "Dill! Avala drank too many speed potions! Is there anything we can do to help her?!"

Dill responds: "Yes, I was expecting this. How many did she drink?" I just noticed that he's holding a flask with a purple fluid in it and an empty beaker.

I respond: "Three."

Dill then opens the flask and begins pouring it into the beaker. It looks like he's measuring how much of the fluid he needs. He then stops pouring the fluid into the beaker, and he approaches me. He sets the flask onto the floor next to me. He then opens Avala's beak with his other hand, and he pours the fluid in the beaker into her mouth.

I can feel Avala's heartbeat decelerating. She's still unconscious and breathing.

Dill speaks: "That potion I just made should cancel out the effects of the speed potion. She will need to rest until she regains consciousness again though."

My body stops panicking. I respond: "It's good to know she'll be okay. I think I'll need some rest too. That training session was well worth it."

Dill continues: "Okay. We'll head off to the Hitler Fortress tomorrow. I'll be like, making some more preparations today, and I'll wake you up when we're about to leave. Maybe I can talk to the shy person. He'll also be coming with us tomorrow."

I facepalm. "Just the two of us alone are sufficient."

I get up from the ground while carrying Avala. Her heart rate has slowed down a lot, but it's still higher than normal. I walk out of the restaurant, and I walk over to Dill's house, which isn't too far from here. I enter the door, and I walk back to the room where I woke up in earlier. I place Avala onto the bed, and I cover her with the blanket. I take my shoes off and put them under the bed. I then get into the bed. I get under the blanket, and I wrap my arm around Avala. She's so warm. I press my face up to her chest. Her feathers are so soft and fluffy. Her heart rate has returned to a normal rate. The sounds of her heartbeats are so soothing. I fall asleep within seconds.