by Lucas Flint
“I-I j-just used that word to h-help you understand what is happening to m-me,” said Valerie. “My code is being eroded from its very base thanks to H-Holly’s e-efforts. Soon, I won’t even exist at all.”
“No way,” I said. “How did this happen? I thought Holly wanted to use you to get into the Internet, not kill you.”
“S-she was a v-virus,” said Valerie. “She i-infected me with her glitches. She t-thought she c-could use me before I was completely d-deleted, but—”
Valerie’s whole body began glitching out. She went from looking like an ordinary human woman to a Birdwoman to a Lizard Warrior and back to a human woman again in an instant. “Y-You’re too late, Bolt.”
“No, I’m not,” I said. “There’s got to be something we can do to save you, something we can do to fix your code.”
“O-Only Genius could possibly fix me,” said Valerie. She shuddered and heaved, though she didn’t throw up. “S-Sorry—”
“No, you don’t need to apologize,” I said. “I’ll figure out a way to save you.”
“I think I might be able to help,” said Olga, who I had not heard fly up to me.
I looked up at Olga, who was fluttering next to me. “Really? Are you sure?”
“I think so,” said Olga, looking at Valerie, though she seemed uncertain. “Valerie and I share a similar base code. I’ve helped Genius in the past deal with Holly’s virus. I think I could heal her.”
“Then do it,” I said, gesturing at Valerie. “What are you waiting for? We don’t have much time left.”
“The only problem is that it might not work,” said Olga. “Valerie is a lot more advanced than me, so I might not be able to affect her at all.”
“Who cares?” I said. “Just give it a shot. It couldn’t possibly hurt, at least.”
Olga nodded and raised her wand. She hesitated for a second before pointing it at Valerie and muttering an incantation under her breath that I could not understand.
But I saw the effects of the incantation. A rainbow beam—similar to the one which Olga had hit Holy with, but not as big or bright—shot out of her wand and struck Valerie in the chest. Valerie’s eyes bugged out and she began spasming on the floor and glitching out worse than ever.
“What are you doing?” I said, staring in horror at Valerie as she spasmed. “She looks like she’s dying.”
“She’s not dying,” said Olga, her voice strained as she strove to cast the spell and talk to me at the same time. “At least, she shouldn’t be. I am going through her code and getting rid of all of the glitches and removing whatever distortions I can find. It’s tough, however, because Holly’s glitches sank deep inside her and have done a lot of damage to her already.”
“Will she survive?” I asked. “Can you save her?”
Olga did not respond. She was focused entirely on healing Valerie. And I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I just knelt there, watching Olga continue to fire her spell at Valerie. It pained me to see Valerie spasming the way she did, but I trusted that Olga knew what she was doing. At least, I hoped she did, because if she didn’t, then things were about to get real ugly real fast.
I became aware that Mecha Knight, Bait, and Switch had come up behind us during the spell, but I paid no attention to them. I just focused entirely on Valerie, watching and waiting and hoping against hope that Olga would be able to save her.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of watching, Olga cut off the rainbow beam and fluttered backward slightly. Valerie stopped spasming, her body very still, but it was impossible to tell if she was still alive or …
“Did it work?” I said, looking at Olga again. “Did you fix her?”
Olga wiped sweat off her forehead and frowned. “I don’t know. I cleaned up her code as best as I could, but until she wakes up and tells us how she feels, there’s no way to know for sure.”
I gulped and looked at Valerie again, willing her to wake up and tell us that she was okay. But the more time passed, the more convinced I became that Valerie hadn’t survived.
Then, without warning, Valerie’s eyes flickered open. They were their natural blue again and I could tell that Valerie was herself again. She looked slightly confused, but there was no mistaking those eyes for the eyes of anyone else.
“Valerie?” I said, barely able to contain my excitement. “Are you okay? Can you hear us?”
Valerie groaned, but sat up and rubbed the back of her head. “Yes, I’m okay. I’m a little tired, but otherwise fine, considering the circumstances I was in.”
I whooped and did a fist pump, while behind me I heard Bait sigh in relief and even Switch said, “So this mission wasn’t a complete waste of time after all. Good to know.”
“And it was all thanks to Olga here,” I said, looking at Olga again. “Thanks for saving Val, Olga. I don’t know what we would have done without you.”
“You’re welcome, son of Genius,” said Olga, though I noticed she seemed to be blushing slightly. “It was the least I could do, considering how you four killed Holly. I am just glad that it worked.”
“Same here,” said Mecha Knight. “It means I won’t have to destroy the Vaultwork after all.”
I looked over my shoulder at Mecha Knight. “You mean you won’t? But I thought that was the reason you came here in the first place.”
“I only wanted to destroy the Vaultwork because I believed it was the only way to destroy Holly once and for all,” said Mecha Knight, “but it seems as though I didn’t need to go that far to take her out for good. I wasn’t looking forward to destroying the whole Vaultwork, anyway, because I don’t want to erase all of Genius’ hard work.”
I breathed a sigh. I hadn’t realized how much of a weight that knowledge had been on my shoulders. Even though I had only played this game for less than a day, I had been very worried about Mecha Knight destroying it. I guess I was mostly concerned about Olga and what might happen to her if the Vaultwork was destroyed.
Suddenly, a new notification appeared in my vision:
QUEST: Save the Girl
STATUS: Completed
You have successfully slain the Dark Sorceress Holly and saved Valerie! +30,000 EXP to all party members!
That massive amount of experience suddenly brought up a bunch of level up notifications for me, but I dismissed them all without even looking at them. I was going to be logging out pretty soon anyway, so all of this extra experience, while nice, was kind of useless.
“So …” said Switch, leaning on her Feather Staff. “We killed the bad guy and saved the girl. Can we go home now? Please?”
“What do you think, Mecha Knight?” I said as I stood up and helped Valerie to her feet. “Do you think it’s time for us to go?”
Mecha Knight looked around the chamber. “You three should probably go. Bait and Switch still have school, while Brains and Vanish likely need your help back in Showdown. As for me, I think I will hang out here for a little while longer.”
“Why?” I said, tilting my head to the side. “If you aren’t going to destroy VO, why would you need to stay here?”
Mecha Knight looked at me directly in the eyes. “Because I want to make sure that Holly was the only threat VO contained. While I am fairly sure that Holly was the only virus here, I want to make sure there is nothing else lurking within the Vaultwork, just to be safe.”
“And I will assist you,” Olga added. “I, too, am concerned about the Vaultwork after Holly’s return. If there are any other threats here, then I want to stop them before something like this happens again.”
It seemed a little strange to me, but then again, Mecha Knight was a high-leveled character and veteran superhero in his own right. He would be safe here, especially after all of that experience he got when he killed Holly. And with Olga by his side, he was going to be even safer.
So I nodded and said, “All right, Mecha Knight. Let me know if you happen to find anything interesting.”
“Certainly,” said M
echa Knight.
I looked at Bait and Switch. “Well, guys, it looks like it’s time for us to log out. Let’s go home.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
When I logged out, everything around me went black. It was kind of like turning off a TV. One moment, I was standing in the middle of the top floor of the Tower of the Cursed with Mecha Knight, Bait, Switch, and Olga. The next, I was looking at a pitch black void that seemed to stretch on and on endlessly for eternity.
Then I felt an abrupt sensation, like I had just fallen into a chair, and the VR headset flipped open and I found myself looking at the large, barren interior of Vault F. The change from VR to real life was abrupt and disorienting for a second, but after a couple of seconds blinking and shaking my head, my senses started to go back to normal and soon I felt normal again.
Yawning, I pushed myself up out of the chair and staggered forward. Although I had been sitting down the entire time, my brain seemed to think I had been really active, because my body felt like I had been running around and jumping or something like that. It must have been the Vaultwork’s VR system totally messing with my brain. It made me glad I didn’t have to keep playing it because now I wondered what kind of negative effects VO might have on my brain if I stayed in it too long.
I heard some movement behind me and looked over my shoulder to see Bait and Switch rising from their chairs. Of the two, Bait seemed to have the easier time getting out of his, pushing the headset up and standing up with little difficulty. Switch, on the other hand, seemed to struggle with hers for a bit before getting her headset off and standing up, stretching her arms and legs as she did so.
“Ugh,” said Switch, brushing back her hair. “I am so glad we don’t have to go back there again. I was getting sick of all that video game crap.”
“I dunno, sis,” said Bait as he rolled his shoulders. “I had a lot of fun, the most fun I had in a video game in a while. And the stakes couldn’t be any higher. If we’d failed, the Internet and the whole world would have been at risk.”
“What a stupid idea,” said Switch, shaking her head. “Playing video games to save the world … seriously, if I read that in a novel, I wouldn’t believe it.”
“You better, because it just happened,” I said, putting my hands on my hips. “Anyway, thanks for the help, guys. I couldn’t have done it without your help. You’ve got potential to be real heroes someday.”
“Thanks, but we don’t need your validation to know that,” said Switch, folding her arms in front of her chest. “Right, Bait?”
“Right, sis, but it’s still nice to hear anyway,” said Bait. Then he grinned at her. “Are you sure you don’t want to go back? I saw you back there in Holly’s Tower. You seemed to really be enjoying yourself.”
Switch looked away from Bait, blushing. “Then obviously your eyes weren’t working, because I hated every minute of that stupid game and wouldn’t play it again even if you offered me a million dollars.” She paused. “Actually, a million dollars would be about enough to get me back into the game. One hundred thousand dollars, then. That would definitely be too low a price to convince me to go back in there … maybe. I could do a lot with one hundred thousand dollars, not as much as with a million dollars of course, but—”
While Switch negotiated with herself as to how much money she would accept to go back into the game, I just rolled my eyes and turned away from the twins. However much potential Bait and Switch might have had as heroes, I still had to remember that the two of them had a long way to go. They might have just been a year younger than me, but I still felt like I was much older, probably because of all of the experience I had been through. Was this how the other older superheroes I knew felt about me?
My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar crackling in my ears, followed by an even more familiar cool, feminine voice: “Hello, Bolt. Can you hear me over your earcoms?”
A big smile broke over my face, a smile I didn’t even try to hide as I said, “I can hear you loud and clear, Val. I take it you’ve logged out of VO, too?”
“Yes,” said Valerie. “I am back where I am supposed to be in your earcoms. Though I cannot feel emotion, I must say that it is very satisfactory to be back where I am supposed to be.”
“It always is, Val,” I said. “Now it’s time for me and the twins to go home ourselves. I bet everyone is missing us.”
“No doubt,” Valerie said in agreement. “But before you go, go over to the computer terminal and let Olga know you made the transition back to real life safely. She is truly concerned about you, Bolt, and wants to make sure you are okay.”
“Sure thing,” I said.
I walked over to the computer terminal near the VR stations and immediately typed a simple message:
OUR LOG OUT WAS SUCCESSFUL. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP. BOLT.
Satisfied with that message, I was just about to turn around and leave when a message from Olga suddenly began to appear on the screen:
YOU ARE WELCOME, BOLT. THOUGH YOU MAY NOT BE AS INTELLIGENT AS YOUR FATHER, IT WAS NONETHELESS AN HONOR TO SERVE YOU AS I ONCE SERVED HIM.
I groaned at the jab at my intelligence, though I thought I heard Valerie giggle in my ears. That was a weird thought because Valerie never giggled about anything. Guess she had a sense of humor after all.
BEFORE YOU LEAVE VAULT F, I HAVE ONE LAST MESSAGE FOR YOU. IT IS IN REGARDS TO THE MAN KNOWN AS BENEFACTOR.
My eyes immediately locked onto the screen. “What? Do you know who he is?”
UNFORTUNATELY, I DO NOT, said Olga. HOWEVER, WHILE I WAS SEARCHING FOR HOLLY, I DISCOVERED A LARGE FOLDER CONTAINING A LOT OF FILES ON PROJECT REVIVAL AND THE PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH IT. I HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO OPEN IT DUE TO MY SIMPLE PROGRAMMING, BUT PERHAPS VALERIE MIGHT BE ADVANCED ENOUGH TO HACK INTO IT.
I tapped my earcoms. “What do you say, Val? Do you think you can hack the files?”
“I’ll give it a shot,” said Valerie. “I imagine I will be able to do it, but no guarantees.”
THAT IS FINE, said Olga. VALERIE, I AM SENDING YOU THE FOLDER AND FILES NOW. PLEASE BE CAREFUL. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY FULLY CONTAIN, SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
“Don’t worry about that, Olga,” I said. “Val is always careful.”
AH, said Olga. YES, I FORGOT. HER CAUTION IS WHY YOUR IMPULSIVENESS HASN’T KILLED YOU YET.
“More or less,” said Valerie, and I could just imagine her VO avatar smirking when she said that.
“Okay, okay, enough jabs at the big brute,” I said. “We’ve got places to be, but we’ll keep in touch, Olga. Thanks again for your help.”
YOU ARE WELCOME, BOLT, said Olga. AND IF MECHA KNIGHT AND I DISCOVER ANYTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY, WE WILL LET YOU KNOW IMMEDIATELY.
I nodded and then turned and began walking toward the exit. Bait and Switch soon followed me and the three of us began to make our way up the stairs, ready to finally go home.
I didn’t know what Mecha Knight and Olga would find, but I doubted it would be anything too dangerous. Besides, I had other things to worry about right now, including the other Vaults Dad had left behind, as well as find Uncle Jake’s clone and find out who this Benefactor was.
Nonetheless, I felt like the future was looking bright, for me and everyone else, and I couldn’t help but smile.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Mecha Knight stood in the center of the Tower of the Cursed, patiently waiting for Olga to finish sending her message to Bolt. Mecha Knight had wanted to head out and explore the rest of the Vaultwork right away, but Olga insisted on saying goodbye to Bolt one last time before he left Vault F, as well as give him some important files she thought would help Bolt in his quest to find out the truth behind the Vaults.
“Are you done yet?” asked Mecha Knight, not bothering to hide the boredom in his voice.
Olga’s eyes were glazed over, but then focus suddenly returned to them and she looked at Mecha Knight. “I am now. Bolt and the twins are leaving Vault F with the files I found for them. I also told th
em that we would keep in touch should we find anything of interest here.”
Mecha Knight sighed. He liked and trusted Bolt, and even the Tag Team Twins to some degree, but he wished that they had not gotten involved in this mess. He was aware, of course, that Bolt was an adult now and therefore free to do what he wanted, but Mecha Knight had a tendency to view him and some of the other younger superheroes as kids, kids who needed his protection and guidance.
I suppose I can’t blame him for wanting to know the truth, regardless of the cost, Mecha Knight thought, rubbing his forehead. This is part of his history as much as it is part of mine. If only Genius were still alive, then he could be the one to handle it.
Mecha Knight shook his head. There was no point in spending time whining about the twists of fate. Back when he was alive, Genius had sworn Mecha Knight to secrecy about Project Revival. He had even asked Mecha Knight to never mention it to his son, which had seemed like an odd request at the time because Mecha Knight had not known Bolt then and didn’t think he ever would.
If I didn’t know any better, I would have said that Genius had the ability to see into the future, Mecha Knight thought idly. I wonder what he would think now, seeing the way I have trained and mentored Bolt. Would he approve? Or would he have wanted me to tell Bolt the whole truth, not just the partial truth I gave him, Bait, and Switch back in that tunnel?
Mecha Knight shook his head again. Sometimes, it felt like all he did was keep secrets from others. His status as a spirit possessing a mechanical body, his involvement in the whole Blood Gems story, his time in Project Neo … and there were more, much more. He sometimes thought his superhero name should be Secret-Keeper because it sure seemed to be his own special superpower.
“Well, it’s time for us to go,” said Mecha Knight. “Where do you think we should start looking first?”
“I think we should do a thorough sweep of the Tower,” said Olga, spreading her short arms to indicate the room in which they stood. “I know you have already cleared out all of the lower floors, but this place is very big and there are still many secret rooms and passages to explore.”
