“Throw me!” A gray-haired nursing home resident yelled with glee at Master Muscle.
The powerfully built man guffawed, seized the frail woman, and hurled her upwards.
Holding her fist forward, she blasted clean through two Gamer G’s that were coming down to attack. With a well-executed somersault in the air, she kicked another Gamer G in the head and shoved him all the way to the ground. Upon impact, he exploded in a cloud of digitization.
“You just got OWNED!” she yelled.
A Gamer G darted toward her and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her across the ground toward a brick wall. Dartfoot dashed by, skewering Gamer G with a fence post and saving the woman from being flattened into the bricks.
“You okay?” Dartfoot asked, while setting her up on her feet.
“Never better, sweet cheeks. Haven’t moved like this since Reagan was in office.”
A shower of energy blasts scoured the surrounding ground. One hit Dartfoot and he went down. The woman grabbed a rock and threw it with all her enhanced strength. She nailed one Gamer G, but ten more were approaching fast.
Master Muscle rushed over, carrying the awning of a carport. Covering Dartfoot and the old woman, Master Muscle called into his comm, “Hey, BADGE, Atlanta could use some help. We’re overwhelmed!”
“Hold your position, sending help!”
A portal opened, and Chase came running out with five BADGE training bots. She threw her stars and cleared two Gamer G’s in one shot. The robots zoomed up and distracted the others.
“Care to join us?” Chase asked.
Master Muscle smiled and grabbed a street lamp and broke it free of its concrete base. “Batter up!” He started swinging, going after the Gamer.
Chase threw a star and hit one gamer, but three more were rushing toward her. She had just turned around when the car port awning suddenly flipped over and crashed into the ground, slapping the Gamer G’s like unwanted flies. The old woman smiled and said, “I hate mosquito season in the south.”
Nova had just finished setting up the bio-aid unit in the parking lot of the high school when his comm beeped in a strange tone. Robots placed infants and toddlers among towels and blankets, each with a large Ren Wear on their heads. Nova activated the bio energy field and to keep the small bodies alive longer.
Satisfied with his work, Nova clicked his comm. “Nova here.”
The Oracle spoke to him, “Nova of BADGE, the war has begun.”
Nova asked, “What do you mean?”
“Billions of minds have awoken. I sense them. I protect them with the new code. Alex Fae Murphy has tapped into the base code and is giving the humans a fighting chance. Drocha's plans are interrupted.”
Nova smiled, but then lost that as he said, “Your tone is not pleased. What is wrong?”
“You are perceptive, Nova of BADGE. Not all minds are free.”
“What? How?”
The Oracle said, “Minds of the infants are meek and gentle. They do not understand the world as we do. They cannot see through the falsehood.”
Nova looked around him. Many of the children at his feet were infants. “What can we do?”
“Hope, Nova of BADGE. Alex Fae Murphy is a wise and clever hero. Our trust is in him.”
Justin watched a screen among many in Operations. All the others had various views of the combat on earth. There was a running total of Gamer G's defeated, and unfortunately the number of people who he had taken out. Fortunately, the enhanced strength and vitality of the regular people has kept the fatalities down considerably.
Yet Justin wasn't watching the monitor with the combat totals. Before him was a calculation of the data processing into the system. It had not changed at all.
Leaving his place at the front, he walked up the short steps to Nova's office. There was still something in him that fought against him opening this door. It wasn't respect for the office. Nova did not restrict any officers from entering. Something planted in him by Gamer G made him hurt to open this door. With great determination, Justin pressed the button, and the door opened.
“Please tell me you have something?” Justin asked.
“I’m trying. I can't find the answer.” Alex's voice strained with the effort he put into this.
A cackling laugh echoed around them. Drocha's visage appeared in the room. “You’re a powerful person, Alex. But magic can only do so much. You cannot stop this. I will take your child and all the children of this planet. Your war will succeed. I'm sure of that. However, it shall be a pyrrhic victory.”
Justin sneered at him. “You don't think your little puppet will win?”
“Don't you see? This was my alternate plan. Knowing Gamer's ploy had little chance of success, this was my backup. When Gamer G is annihilated, the program ends. Your people wake… except the babies. You will wake to a world of death. If you stop and let him survive, even just one of his fighters, everyone dies in a short matter of time. You can't succeed. I win.”
Justin came close to the giant glowing green face of Drocha. “We will stop you.”
Drocha's smile slowly grew, the expression turning from wicked to utterly vicious. “And just how will you stop me? Your only weapon is this little magic hero. Sorry to burst you bubble, Justin, but I’m fully versed in his magic. You see, I have his wife to study, and she is so much stronger than him.” He laughed, a sound that grew and grew until it was a deafening roar.
Alex screamed out magical words and the data around him burst apart and ripped the holographic image of Drocha into digital shreds. He fell to his hands and knees, wheezing. “That bastard!”
“Don't let him get to you. He’s just stalling. Get back in the system and stop this. Free our children.”
Alex looked up with pitiful eyes. “He's right. I just don't have what it takes. I can see them, feel them, touch their minds, but I can't wake them. If Krystal were here, she might know something I don't. She was so much more powerful than me.”
“There has to be a way.”
Alex whispered, “I'm not Krystal. Even if she were here, I don't know what could break the infant’s belief that this is the real world.”
The station rattled and made a strange noise. A loud beeping came from the operations room. Justin ran in, with Alex following behind him.
Chase was on the main screen. “Justin, we are getting close to finishing the last of Gamer G.”
“Stop!” Justin said.
“What?”
“I want the last of Gamer G held and not destroyed.”
“But we have to end the program.”
Justin was about to say something when Alex pulled him aside. “No. You can't do this.”
“Your baby is going to die,” Justin stated emphatically.
“They all die if we die, they all die if we live. It is a dark, terrible choice and it will always be remembered as the worst moment in human history. But we can't let the entire human race die. We will make Drocha pay dearly for this.”
Justin had tears in his eyes as he listened to this. Turning back to the screen, he said, “Finish him, all of him.”
“Understood.” Chase answered, slightly confounded. The screen went blank.
Justin said, “I never knew truly the pain of this job until it was on my shoulders alone. God, I wish Nova were here, making this decision, not me.”
Alex took a moment to catch his own breath as his body fought deep sorrow. “I… I'm going down to… to see my baby… one last time.”
“Go. And… I’m so sorry.”
Alex created a portal and wiped his eyes before he stepped through.
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