by Ramy Vance
Sarah nodded. "Do either of you ever feel guilt?"
Grok did not answer at first. Instead, she looked down at her hands, which were scarred, callused things. It was apparent that her fingers had been broken many times. "Only if there is a point to it, and there hardly ever is for most mortals. What good is the feeling unless it prompts action? So, yes, sometimes I do feel guilt. Rarely. My decisions were mine, and I do not have to work hard to live with them. I sleep quite well at night."
Rasputina was unsatisfied with Grok's answer. She wasn't sure if it was because it sounded like the orc was trying to avoid telling the complete truth or because she wished she felt like Grok. "I didn’t feel guilt before, or anything, really. Sometimes there were moments of clarity. After a time, there was only...I don't even know what to call it. A desire....yes, that would be it. A desire to destroy."
Grok's gaze went to the burning eye. "You aren't that much different from him."
"No, I do not think I am. Why did you do it? What did you have to gain from the Dark One? And don’t you dare tell me power. I can see through that nonsense."
Grok sighed as she hung her head. She looked as if all of the strength had been sucked out of her, the years of fighting gone, leaving only tired flesh. "Fear. I was afraid to die. I saw what the Dark One was doing to the orcs, what he was capable of, and I realized that I had a better chance of survival if I was on the winning side. There were small things here or there I could attribute my service to the Dark Lord to, anything that would make me sound noble in my own mind. But it was fear that made me abandon my people, and the Dark One knows how to use fear better than anyone else."
Rasputina could understand that. "Do you think there's any hope for us? Those who have done the things we have?"
Grok shook her head. "No, there isn't. No matter what heroics we perform, it won't change anything. We will always be butchers. Monsters. It is what we are."
"Then why do any of this?" asked Sarah.
Grok looked at her companions, her eyes deep, sad wells. There was a person there, trapped behind walls of hatred and sorrow. "Because I might be wrong. Maybe. Hopefully."
Rasputina stood and pulled up her hood. "Come. We should keep going. We don't want to disappoint our heroes."
"True. That is what they are expecting."
It was the 322nd reality Abby had gone to. The vast majority of them had been filled with death. There were one or two where the orc world didn't exist. Abby had stepped out into space, gasping for air until Martin righted the situation. She visited no realities where anyone survived.
This was to be her last trip. Something had happened with each multiverse version of her whose nanobots she'd consumed. There was something that was left—an imprint, not quite a memory. It was slightly different, like a personality. As Abby absorbed the last moments of her life, she felt as if she were growing into herself, as if one less Abby made her more Abby than anyone else.
There was also a substantial increase in power. The whole time she was absorbing nanobots, she'd been producing more of her own. The increase wasn't stressing her system at all. Her capacity had increased substantially.
The girl appeared on the final orc world. She was greeted with the death she'd grown accustomed to. She scanned the area, looking for her corpse.
Instead, another Abby stood before her. This Abby was older by a few years, and her hair had already started to gray. Most of her body was tech. Much like Tesla's, it was difficult to tell where flesh ended and robotics began. "Fancy seeing you here," the older Abby said.
Abby took a step back, uncertain what she should make of the situation. She was frightened, excited, and oddly attracted to the older version of herself. "What—"
"You don't need to assume the worst. We're here for variations of the same reason. You want to stop the Dark One. I'm finished stopping the Dark One."
"Wait, you destroyed him?"
The older Abby smiled, and it haunted her younger counterpart. It was not the smile she wore, but she could see hints of what it had once been. Now that she was looking closer, Abby could see that the older version of herself looked frail despite all the armor she wore.
"There are some realities where the Dark One is no longer the problem, and that is what brings me here."
The older Abby's HUD started to beep. She sighed, looking even more tired than before. "He's coming. He never stops looking. It's exhausting. I want it to stop. That's why I came here."
Abby didn't need to be told who it was. "Tesla. Why? Why us?"
"You haven't just been wandering through realities, Abby. You've been going through time and space, as has he. Millions of years have passed here. Worlds have come and gone, and he's seen our tech improving. He wants it, so I've come to ask you to do me a favor."
"What is it?"
"I want you to make it stop. I'm the last one other than you, and you're the only person I trust enough for this."
The older Abby opened her palm, all of her nanobots converging into her hand to form a small, black pill. "If you take this, he won't chase me anymore. He'll only look for you. I can't keep on fighting."
Abby let out a sigh of relief. "Holy shit, we thought you were going to ask us to kill you!"
The older Abby laughed, showing her crow’s feet in the corners of her eyes. "Hell, no! I don't think any of our alternate reality versions could even get that dramatic."
"Give me the pill. I'll deal with him."
The older Abby looked over her shoulder, her gray hair mixed shimmering slightly from the intermixed tech. "He's coming. Could you send me home? My coordinates are uploaded to your HUD. By now, it should all be instinct."
The older Abby walked over to her younger counterpart and handed her the nanobot pill.
Abby was impressed by how good her older self looked. She hoped she made it to that age.
The older Abby held Abby's hand. "Thank you so much, Abby Prime."
"We thought we didn't have a flair for the dramatic."
Both Abbys smiled at each other.
Lightning crashed behind them, and a purple tint overtook the sky.
"He's here," the older Abby said.
Abby swallowed the pill and pointed her palm at the older Abby. "Get out of here. Enjoy your life."
"Thank you. And I will."
The older Abby vanished into thin air.
Tesla's scream boomed through the air.
Abby turned to see the mad scientist making his way toward her. Whatever Tesla had been doing between realities and through time, it had resulted in a substantial number of upgrades.
Tesla raised his hand, purple electricity pooling in his palm. "Finally. Are you done running, child?"
Abby clenched her fists, allowing herself to feel the complete range of power she'd acquired. Her head and body flooded with nanobots, quickening every facet of her existence. "We think you might be confused, old man. You may have been chasing the other Abbys, but I came here for you."
Tesla bowed in a grotesque parody of a gentleman’s gesture. "Well, my dear girl, let us begin." He launched himself at her, palm outstretched, lightning crackling in it as the conductors on his back filled with energy.
Abby reacted instinctively. Martin and the consciousness merged with her mind, activating a part of herself she didn’t know existed.
Tesla swung at Abby as she caught the lightning ball.
The girl’s eyes flashed as nanobots poured over her face, covering it in a blank black mask. She absorbed the energy from Tesla's attack, drawing it into her body and releasing it in a shockwave, tossing Tesla back. "Yeah, I think it's about that time."
Chapter Twenty-Six
Abby and Tesla stared each other down as they circled, sizing each other up.
Abby wasn't certain how much power she'd received from her upgrades, but she hadn't been able to recycle energy before, especially not an attack of that magnitude.
Tesla had upgraded himself as well. She'd only seen a small part of Tesla
's potential in their last fight, but it had been enough to keep Anabelle, Terra, and her at bay.
He didn't seem to have any idea what Abby was capable of. Abby could tell because he still hadn't attacked. He was fighting like a scientist. Gathering data. Hypothesizing. Adjusting.
"You're a smart girl," Tesla shouted. "It would be a shame to end a life with so much potential. Think of what you and I could do together. Infinite realities and timelines to explore. Things to see and learn that no other human being could ever dream of. Do you really want to throw that away?"
Abby was beyond taking this man seriously. "You're working for the Dark One! Do you think I believe any of that? The only thing he wants to do is enslave. There won't be anything in any timeline worth seeing once he's made it over in his image. If you think anything else is possible, you're the dumbest Tesla out there."
For a moment, the man’s eyes seemed human again, the ethereal otherness leaving them. "Do you think I don't know what he's capable of? He's unstoppable, and if the best I can do is preserve what little I can across all realities, then so be it."
"You aren't preserving anything other than your ego."
Tesla's eyes flashed, his hands glowed purple, and his body began to hum. "Fine. Let us settle this."
Abby didn't respond. Instead, she fired her thrusters and went at Tesla, allowing her body to run automatically, accepting the synthesis of her mind with Martin's and the nanobot consciousness.
She stopped a few feet in front of him and skidded to the side, then slammed her elbow into his face. The side of her arm opened and vented energy in a slicing arc, cutting Tesla's face and sending him stumbling backward.
She didn't let up. Abby charged her body with kinetic energy and rushed Tesla, slamming her fist into him before converting her hands to plasma cannons and lining up her shot.
He appeared behind her, much to her surprise. She'd assumed that it would be impossible to teleport like that since they were already in a fluctuating space between time and space. Or were they?
"You still don't get it," Tesla shouted as he backhanded her.
Abby hit the ground and skidded across it, then scrambled to her feet.
Electrical blasts landed only a few feet away as her before she took off and circled back toward Tesla.
"All time and reality are the same to me!" he shouted.
Abby didn't understand what he was saying, but she didn't have time to think about it—and maybe that was the trick. When she’d teleported Persephone, it had been without thinking. She knew who she wanted to see, even if she didn't know how it worked. Granted, she did have Persephone's projected coordinates, but that wasn't the same thing as knowing where the drow was. And it had worked. Maybe Tesla didn't understand how his own tech worked. Why did she have to?
She blinked out of existence and appeared behind Tesla, who whipped around, swinging an arm charged with electricity.
She blocked the attack as he vanished, the two dodging each other and firing energy blasts as they flickered in and out of the plane.
Each attack was faster than she could have ever seen. She didn't understand how she could move so fast. Obviously, neither could Tesla. Abby caught glimpses of his face, which grew angrier the longer they fought.
Tesla jumped away from the girl, putting a little distance between them. He stretched his hands out and fired a blast of lightning.
Abby tried to teleport, but nothing happened. She raised her hands, projecting an energy shield that only partially deflected the attack. "What's going on?" she mentally shouted to Martin.
"Different power core," the AI replied. "Teleportation has its limits once you exhaust it. Must work the same for him. Don't rely on one trick."
Abby nodded and charged Tesla, stopping at the last minute and punching him in the face. She fired the thrusters on her leg and kicked him in the jaw.
Tesla grabbed Abby's ankles and swung her around.
She sent an electric charge through her body, shocking the scientist, who fired an electric bolt at her that hit her in the face, knocking her through the air.
Before she could stabilize, Tesla appeared in front of her. He cupped his hands as they filled with lightning and brought them down on Abby's head.
She hit the ground hard enough to form a crater.
Tesla floated above her. "Can't you see, I've won? Every move you make, I calculate and adapt to. You don't have anything new. It doesn't matter how strong you are. I've seen it all before. You're finished, and I don't have time to play with you anymore. I have a war to win."
Tesla raised his hands to the sky as it darkened with clouds, purple lightning striking all around. Some of it hit Tesla, charging his conduits.
Abby watched as a ball of lighting grew. It was already the size of an airplane and continued to grow. Within seconds, it could have been the size of the moon.
Tesla was right. Even if Abby was stronger, he knew everything she had—and that was his mistake.
Abby had the thought, and the nanobots’ consciousness and Martin instantly took care of it. All of Abby's energy was diverted to teleportation—weapons, armor, life support. Everything, saving only a little bit for her thrusters.
As Tesla charged his electrical attack, Abby charged him.
Tesla laughed maniacally as he continued to charge. "Are you that dense, girl? I've already adjusted for the attack. It won't do anything to me, and I'll burn you to ashes!"
Abby didn't hit Tesla. She stopped right in front of him. "You can't adjust for this." She grabbed Tesla's head and turned herself into a conductor, draining energy from Tesla's body and venting it out of her own.
Her body started to burn. She was releasing billions of watts of energy. It was all she needed.
Tesla panicked as he grew weaker, only now starting to understand what it was Abby was doing. That was all she needed. He might have been able to account for her tech, but he couldn't account for her mind.
Abby held Tesla tight, teleporting again, but this time, taking him to a place she knew had to exist—the grooves between space and time. Negative space.
The two of them appeared in pure infinite whiteness, a place devoid of anything, including energy.
Before Tesla could react, Abby converted all of the energy she had drained from Tesla and transferred it to her nanobots, powering up again. Her arms grew smooth, metallic, and sharp.
She pierced his chest, and with her other arm, she stabbed him through the throat. She didn't stop there. She spun, slashing through the conduits on his back, then ran her blade through his heart.
Tesla fell over, grabbing his neck as he bled out. "Just...flesh wounds. All I need..."
"Is to draw energy to fix yourself, right? We don't think you'll find that here."
"How... This can't be. This place can't exist..."
Abby walked out from behind the man and knelt in front of him. "Infinite universes and timelines. There was bound to be one without any energy, and it seems the layer between time and space is exactly that—a universe without energy, at least not what we understand energy to be."
With that, the girl vanished, stepping into the place of infinite possibilities and then back to the gnomish world. She looked around and saw the Gate in the distance. "We'll get the hang of it eventually."
Abby closed her eyes, preparing to teleport again. Her body hummed, and the hum turned into a slow whine. Instead of teleporting, she fell forward, her body seizing up as she tried to move. “What the hell is happening?”
Martin appeared in Abby’s field of vision. “We’re having some problems. Looks like you absorbed too much energy and fried your system. We have to make some repairs immediately to keep your organs from failing. You’ll be good as long as no one tries to kill you. Then you’ll be fucked.”
Abby, whose mouth was filled with dirt, groaned as she tried to relax and let the nanobots heal her body.
A handful of miles away, Kravis, Persephone, and the Boundless team were fighting for their l
ives. The ghouls had not stopped coming through the Gate, and none of the remote attempts to close the Gate off for a time had worked. The forces had been pushed back miles from the Gate, a retreat that could not be fully committed to because Kravis knew they were only killing time.
The gnome was leading the retreat of a squadron of gnome and goblin soldiers while Boundless tried to keep the vrosks and harpies that had come through the portal at bay. He needed to reach the platoon of soldiers heading toward him. They needed more bodies.
Two giants had come through the Gate. They were not as large as the ancient one that had appeared on the orc homeworld but they were still exceptionally large. Persephone was handling both of them.
On paper, it looked good. There seemed to be a glimmer of hope. Kravis knew better than that, though. Whatever was behind that Gate was still coming, and there wasn’t anything to stop them.
The other platoon was close enough to see. Kravis waved them down, then kicked his hoverbike into upper gear and sped toward them. “We need to bring up the ground troops now!”
The platoon sergeant looked at Kravis warily. “Are you serious? Already?”
Kravis grabbed the gnome. “I said now.”
The platoon leader hit his comm and shouted, “Deep gnomes! It’s your time to shine.”
“Tell them to head toward the Gate. We’re going back. If we can push the dark forces back, we can bottleneck them.”
The platoon leader’s face was grave. “Wasn’t that always the plan? It didn’t work. What’s going to make it work now?”
Kravis didn’t have an answer, or not one that he wanted to give. He’d seen how these kinds of missions worked. The truth was best left unsaid, but he knew. This was bigger than the lives of the gnomish resistance. There were families squirreled far from the fight, and they were the ones he was fighting for. Those were the lives he fought to continue, not the lives of his soldiers. They were meant to slow the ghouls, just like him.
