Alt+Control Chapter 45

Chimera tries valiantly to fight off Chronos’s attacks, but too many of them are hitting her. More projectiles embed themselves into her arms, and a few manage to hit her chest. When she yanks those ones out, I can see wires getting pulled out as well. Some of the wires spark, and they cause her to stumble. If the chest is where the central wires are…

More and more things hit her as she starts to slow down and become clumsy. Each of them hit her chest with deadly accuracy, and she falls to her knees. She struggles to get up, but Chronos kicks her down and holds her there, his foot on her chest.

“Kaya,” she whispers, her voice starting to crackle. “The central system is here,” she places a hand over where her heart would be. Her eyes flicker, and then closes.

Chronos leans over, as if to check whether Chimera really was dead. Then he places a hand over her central system, and starts to draw out white energy. They travel up his hand and arm, but once they reach his elbow, they darken and start turning grey. Once they reach his shoulders, the energy is pure black. “Calibration 30% complete,” she says, to what seems like no one in particular.

I take small steps quietly, so I don’t attract Chronos’s attention. I then bend down, and pick up one of the projectiles. This one was half black and half white, as if the energy when they smashed into each other made them merge into one.

“Calibration 50% complete.”

I close my eyes, and pray to whatever deity is listening. I then take the projectile, leap up, and plunge it into the center of his back.

Chronos lets out an unearthly scream, and lets go of Chimera. I grab a hold on Chronos’s neck, take out the projectile and plunge it back into his back, slightly off to the left. The energy pulses into me, but I don’t let go. Chronos tries shaking me off, but his body ripples with spasms. I continue stabbing him, trying to ignore the fiery sensation of the energy pulses. I hit something, and all of a sudden, Chronos stops moving. The energy pulses stop, and he stands frozen.

“No!” I hear Lukas howl in the distance. I ignore his yells, and place a hand on whatever remaining energy there was left on Chronos’s body. I will myself out of Lukas’s mind.

I hear many voices, all mumbling and mixing together. I can’t tell if I’m in the same black surroundings or if my eyes are closed. I try opening my eyes.

The sudden brightness makes my eyes water, and I blink a couple of times. I see several faces, including my family’s, Marc, Nella and Lae…

“She’s awake!” cries Marc, and my parents disappear. “I know you might want to talk, but don’t say anything. You’re in the hospital right now. You’ve been in a coma for a few days. Your mom and dad are going to get the doctors right now.”

Is this a dream? I reach out and touch Marc’s face. “Did I really defeat Chronos and Lukas?” I manage to croak out.

“Yep. You’ve saved the world!” says Marc, grinning at me proudly.

“Next time you go to bust bad guys, bring me along!” says Lae.

“Me too!” adds Nella.

I raise a questioning eyebrow at Marc. “I had to fill them in,” he says, and he shrugs. “No harm done.”

I suppose. I can’t believe it. I actually just saved the world from a tyrannical villain. But wait, what happened to Lukas? I ask Marc, and he looks over to the bed beside us.

“He’s right over there.”

Lae moves the upper part of the bed up a bit, and I turn my head slightly. There’s Lukas, sleeping soundly in the bed, his chest moving up and down slightly.

“I’m not sure if he’s ever going to wake up,” says Marc. “He was too connected to Chronos…so when you terminated Chronos, something happened to him. I warned him, but of course he never listened.” He smiles sadly. I reach out and pat his hand.

“It’s not your fault,” I whisper.

“Yeah I know. But I wonder what would’ve happened if I never left him, or if we never started out with Chronos. It was my idea.”

“There’s no point in talking about what-ifs. Live in the present. What Lukas did was entirely his choice, and to think you had any influence is quite conceited.” I smirk at him.

He grins back at me. “I know, I know.”

Lae nudges Nella in the arm. “Let’s leave the two love birds alone, eh?”

“Oh you have got to be kidding me.” I roll my eyes at them.

Before Lae and Nella leave, doctors come in and start asking a load of questions. I just answer them to the best of my ability, and when they finally leave, I close my eyes and sleep.