PLD Chapter 31

"CHAPTER 31: The Last Hope Dies/The Light At the End of the Tunnel"

Sub-Entry 301: "The World Reset/The Council's Punishment":
"...you can't...do this..........why, Frisk?  Why...?"

I was too catatonic to take in my surroundings.

I was on the transport platform within STC-Agency Headquarters.

That was when the security doors opened and the room flooded with soldiers in tactical gear, pointing their guns at me.

"Dr. Volt Alessandro Arcade, you are under arrest by order of the Council."

It was happening again. No...this was worse than the Mobius End Game.

I was lead directly to the Council Chambers.

I passed by a number of other agents.

Some considered me friends. I was sure I saw Dr. Persiphone. She looked as though her heart was breaking. I could tell she wanted to do something but...there was nothing she could do.

Dr. Nicodimus. An elder even by my standards. The look in his eyes...he knew I had done nothing wrong. He could sense my judgement was sound and he would support me to the end.

Dr. Archimedes. It was good to have a fan, especially within your own agency.

Others...looked at me like I was an obstacle to their research.

Dr. Phoenix. Pompous jerk. Skeptic. Opportunist. And in all probability as ambitious as Starscream.

Dr. Orion. A total suckup. He's been wanting the position I SHOULD have had, had the council not reduced me down to this.

Even now I called them all doctors. Scientists. Even the ones I didn't respect (or had no reason to) and the ones that didn't respect me deserved at least that much. Rather than be reduced to time-hopping librarians and janitors.

"......."

There they were. The darkeness and the overall size and scope of the room just over-inflated their already overglorified positions.

I once considered them friends. Friends I entrusted with the secrets of my research. But they were just the first to turn their backs  on me.

The charges were read off. I just tuned them all out. I wasn't even technically supposed to be logging this. I guess part of me was hardwired to always have a record of my greatest failures. This was far bigger than the "Graveyard" where I housed my Miranda failures--such as the aforementioned propane tank I spoke to Toriel about.

My data and logging system were being decrypted and decoded, slowly but surely. Photos. Audio recordings. Complete video in real time. Everything. It was all being paraded around the every-increasing number of holo-windows.

"..."

"...furthermore the life form in question, known as Asriel Dreemurr, is to be erased from existence."

No. No, you can't!

I raised my head to speak in Asriel's defense. I was beaten down but the Council was not going to erase so much of a molecule of him. Over my dead body--

ZAAARK!!!

The baliff smashed me in the back of the neck with the stun rod. I didn't even get a word out.

"Sentencing is to commence immediately."

Well. I knew what that sentence was. It happened before. When you're an Agent of S.T.C., you don't get fired. You don't get burned like a spy. You get erased...from existence. From EVER existing. Everything you've ever done is replaced with a placeholder soul. A nameless, faceless entity that adapts to whatever role you filled in your life; an entity which becomes forgettable. Not just in metaphor but in the literal sense. No matter how hard anyone tries, they'll never remember this...person's name. Just that he...exists.

Then they replace you with someone who'll do the job without question, without opinion, without objection. In short...without humanity.

"As of this moment your life, existence and attachments to space, time, and dimension comes to an end--"

* KA-BOOOOOM*

The explosion and teleport and the sudden hijacking of all the computer systems in the room took everyone by surprise.

And that's when the stuff REALLY hit the fan.

Sub-Entry 302: "Saved By Kommand?":
"What's up, b--(FLOWEY CACKLE)--es?  Am I interrupting!"

Gasps all around the Council.

"Kommand is in the house."

Sure enough, Kommand had shown up, in a cybersuit and cloak that resembled something out of Overwatch. Which was the one that looked like a cybernetic grim reaper again?

"GUARDS!!!"

"I don't believe they'll be joining us.   In fact I don't think they'll be leaving their rooms.  Furthermore, you'll find all of your security quite FUBAR."

"You...you...!"

"Annnnnd that's not even all.  I've completely hijacked A.E.O.N.  Don't believe me?  Check those outdated holo-viewers at each of your round-table stations."

"...this is...!"

"IMPOSSIBLE!!!"

"You damn TERRORIST!"

"Somebody sieze her!"

"Ah-ah-ah!" Kommand drew her plasma pistol and held it directly under my jaw in a head shot. At that angle it would pierce my brain stem. Still wouldn't kill me.

"You fool!  Is this your attempt at a hostage situation?"

"Don't overthink this, Councilor.  Who exactly is qualified to restore A.E.O.N. back to operational capcity and give you control over the power you've coveted for centuries?"

"......"

"That's right.  Who could say what kind of effect cerebral trauma might have on his memories.  Especially when subjecting all of his neurotransmitters to the shock of an unidentified type of energy?"

Kommand wasn't lying. That energy pack contained super-compressed chronotons in a xenon isotope matrix. Previous experiments in the R & D lab had caused a lot of...large scale issues with the technicians' memories.

"You wouldn't."

"I would.  And I will.  So I guess in the name of my unspecified demands which I may or may not reveal in the near future, your founding father and most important field agent is coming with me."

"You won't get away with this--"

And just like that, we were teleported outside of time and space to her secret base. And hovering in our place was a neon hololyth that spelled out in big bold letters:

"I already have."

I was barely conscious; lucid at best. Any drop of Determination I had had dried up.

So this was it. I was removed from the STC-Agency. I was a fugitive; kidnapped by a wanted temporarl terrorist. Knowing them, they'd try to paint me as a conspirer with Stockholm's Syndrome. My life's work. Destroyed.

"Hey.  You awake in there?"

"..."

"Wow...I guess the situation kinda did a number on you.  Sorry about that."

That's all you can say? Sorry about that?!

"Well...it's still too soon... "

What were you saying...?

"So I guess I have one more thing to apologize for..."

One more?

"What...?"

"This." And then everything just felt like it was imploding  I don't know if I was screaming or not but all my...conscious...thoughts........were..........

Sub-Entry 303: "Awaking Once Again in the Medical Bay"
"...open your eyes."

"He's barely responsive, Doctor."

"He's just being stubborn."

Sounded like...Velaska...and Elektra.

"What are we going to do with you?"

"Can he understand us?"

"Unlikely...but possible.  It'll be up to Callista to make the final judgement."

Rattling of tools and equipment.

"For now..."

"Urghh...!" I felt the injection pistol touch my neck, a needle prick and---

The world went dark--

...

...

...

...how....long has it been?

My eyes fluttered open.

"...you..."

Sub-Entry 304: "Paradise Lost":
It was a few minutes before I could speak with some coherence.

"...are you happy, now...?  You stand before a broken man...  I was your Commander...your friend...your family......you took Asriel away from me...  You got my friends to abandon me...my own family has no time for me...

You just...replaced me.....you and Miles promised...it would never get awkward...that I'd always have a place here...but then......then I wasn't even allowed to be happy for his return. You just shooed me away...then treated me like you were someone trying to shove their grandparent into a retirement home...

Now, I've lost everything. Frisk reset the timeline...all those friendships...all that hard work...everything I ever did in that timeline is gone...

It was all for nothing...that's what a failure deserves.....nothing--"

I was cut off at that moment as Bunnie unsympathetically slapped me across the face. Hard.

"...ha....ha...so I guess you're making it official...you're finally making it tangible--"

"Baka." Bunnie's eyes narrowed. "You don't know anything."

"I'm finished trying to get a straight answer from you.  I'm tired of you not making any sense.  I'm just tired.  And to be honest...I'm done with you."

"You think you lost everything.  You whole life's work isn't some timeline.  It's standing there outside the door."

"I think we know who he chose.  Whether you intended it or not what good is my life's work if my work doesn't want a place in my life?"

"So that's how it is."

"We're done here.  Leave."

"..."  Bunnie turned and walked away.

"Go.  GO!!!" I shouted. "GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" I grabbed the metal tray and winged it as hard as I could. Now Bunnie was a good enough ninja to sense it coming a mile away, side-step it, or even snatch it out of midair without even looking back.

But instead she let it smash her into the back of the skull. She lurched forward with a grunt. She didn't wipe the blood from the growing stain in the back of her blond hair. She didn't look back. She just exited the room.

I saw Asriel out in the hall. He looked like a scolded dog from my outburst.

He made his choice. I didn't need the salt rubbed in my wounds. I wouldn't hate him for it. Flowey had punished me enough for seven of him--one for each virtue. I didn't want to know why. I just wanted to disappear.

The dream was dead.

I had looked forward to a True Happy Ending. In time it would be the past. And what was past was prologue to what would have been greater things to open up. I was sure that time would heal everything within the Dreemurr family. This was proof that happy endings don't just happen.

I wasn't trying to force one. If that were the case I would have taken Frisk's place a long time ago...impersonated a human and just played the "game" myself as their replacement. But I wasn't about to stand by and do nothing...let Chara-Wraith make a mess of a timeline...I just knew they were getting outside help to rewrite what should have happened. I just knew there was a conspiracy that I couldn't see......heh...who would have believed it...I became Rotor.

"It was right there..."

To call it paradise in the making was arrogant. I knew that humans and monsters would have their complications integrating; that society would have ups an downs and age-old prejudices to overcome. But the theroy was still sound. It could have been even better.

"I guess you really are home, Asriel."

I couldn't even get help from Neo Arcadia. The thought of having my name legally changed to distance myself from the Arcades crossed my mind. This is what the Council wanted, right? For all their agents to no longer have a past...have attachments. Shame. I met the requirements but now they had complete control over my work. Kommand was the only one who could access it now.

In the end I had no one left to turn to.

"I don't want or need anyone..."

Sub-Entry 305: "I Would Not Call For Help.  But Someone Else Came to Ask For Mine":
The injections and the treatments came regularly. I refused to look anyone in the eye. Madam Fate finally won. Her champion...her black knight was out there, laughing at how far his mortal enemy had fallen...how far I had fallen.

Days were passing. Weeks. Of all things, time was the one thing I never lost track of...until now. I was constantly woozy.

I had no visitors. None whatsover. Nobody cared. My past was under the microscope. My present was in shambles. My future no longer existed.

It stung.

It hurt.

It was a horrible feeling; day and night. To what ends was I being medically treated? I couldn't die so it wasn't a matter of keeping me allive. Sometimes...it felt more like it was a matter of keeping me in constant punishment.

"So.  This is how my story ends."

Where did I go wrong? For the record, that's a rhetorical question. I knew what mistakes I made. I knew what led to this. What I didn't know was...why was I always so powerless against them in the end.

"In the end...I'm glad it was you, Asriel.  I'm glad it was you and not him."

I wasn't really sure what I was saying at that point. I was just...killing time and saying...whatever came to mind. Probably borrowing a movie quote...something like Donny Brasco or the like. Whatever.

"Frankly...at this moment I'd rather be W.D. Gaster than Volt Arcade.  At least that way no one would remember I exist."

I wasn't sure if the things I was seeing were real, hallucinations, or if I was asleep and just dreaming.

The nightmares stopped feeling like nightmares...they stopped feeling like anything at all. Just numb visions that I had no idea if they'd come to pass or not. I started pondering things...like if Lisa was going to just...leave me behind and re-marry.

Months ago...I would have NEVER thought this way...would I have? It was...hard to tell what I would have done. It was...hard to put certain thoughts together.

I was seconds away from attempting to find out if I could even demorph as drugged up as I probably was.

The scent was unmistakable.

I opened my eyes to see Miles. Orange furred. Blue-eyed. The jeans, the jacket, the high tops. Even the familiar white gloves. Took after Garfield, he did. As I had said before, he'd grown to be 6 feet since the Ecotropians last saw him. He had about my build, with more muscles. Two, big, long fox tails. I still wasn't sure how he could spin them and provide enough lift to get airborn...even at his adult size. Out of all the Ecotropians who had Mobian counterparts...the difference between Miles and Tails was vast.

"Don't try to move.  It's still in your system--"

"......"

"Not very talkative, huh?"

"......"

"I've...tried to take care of them all as you asked me."

"I'm sure you've done well."

"Well...not as good as you."

"Don't patronize me.  I'm not in the mood for flattery."

"Yeah...uh...well..."

Miles shifted.

'You know--"

"Just answer me this.  How long have I been in this prison?"

"...well......you've away from Miranda for a month or so and it's been another month or two down here."

"Terrific."

"Listen...I know I'm not in any position to ask for help but..."

You ask for help, Miles?

"I could really use advice.  Being a better leader.  I know I spend a lot of time on the frontines.  I'm just compelled to be both sword and shield for my team.  I have to be active.  You...you were always able to stay behind when you could.  Let your team handle things--"

I know what he was trying to say but...how it was coming across was insulting. It was like he was just copying my notes in class so he could properly take over. And further more I know he was trying to say that I had more faith in my team's abilities to protect themselves...but he was making it sound like I wanted to have a cushy desk job to foist all the work and danger onto my team.

An awkward silence. The silence was then broken by the chirp of Miles' TAO link. I recognized the tones. It mean that it was a notice for all members in UCIAT.

Miles put his TAO away and looked a bit uncomfortable for a moment.

"I'm sorry...I can't do this anymore."

Sub-Entry 306: "The Revelations That Changed Everything":
"I know you're not quitting on--"  What I was saying was an echo of what I said to Sans. But I didn't have time to finish. Miles cut me off.

"No, that's not what I meant.  The alert said it was safe now and...I know someone else wanted to tell you before--"

"Tell me what?" I narrowed my eyes.

"The reason we all drove you away."

"Start talking, Prowler." I was about ready to lose it.

"First of all...it wasn't Bunnie's choice to do so." Miles looked off to the side. "There's always a choice but...it's never an easy one."

"Why?!"

"Actually...we should start with...who."

"What are you--"

"Bunnie didn't set this in motion.  It was Asriel."

"........."

That hit me like a ton of bricks. Well. The knife was in. What a twist ending. I was the punchline of a god awful M. Night Shamalayan movie. I should have seen the "signs".

"You don't understand."

"I understand enough."

"No, let me explain."

"Let him explain." It was the closest I'd gotten to hard feelings against Asriel.

Miles squeezed his eyes shut. "Will you just listen!  He did it to save you.  To save all of us!  This whole world was in danger and you were the trigger."

"Start making some sense.  Quickly."

Miles started pacing. "This was done at the behest of this...Kommand person you know."

So that's how far the betrayal went. I was played from the beginning, full circle?

"Volt, I hate to ask about classified info but...what do you know about the Pico-Machine Virus?"

In that very moment everything just came to a screeching halt and suddenly things were a lot less clear than I had dismissed them. Everything I thought I knew was wrong. With just three words he made my living nightmare pull a 180. I suddenly had a deep fear pop up in the recesses of my mind...a memory which I thought was dead and buried.

"Where did you hear that term?  No...nevermind.  Kommand must've leaked it."

"She told Asriel about it."

"Why would she do that?" I backpedaled  a bit to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"That's forbidden technology.  While not the scale and scope of the Ultimate Annihilator, it could be programmed to be just as bad.  Fully customizable, machine colony that's even smaller than nanites and can be tailored to be far more advanced and sophisticated.  You can't detect it without the kind of equipment and software that Kommand has.  Even STC-Agency would be clueless about it.

A life form infected with them can become an infinite number of science projects. Living weapon. Mindless or even completely aware puppet; the former for if you want your doll to have amnesia and no recollection what they did, the former to make sure they remembered every second of it, thus breaking their mind. Mutations, super-powers, just about anything."

"For the last month or so, you've been...going through a massive treatment and with drawl of the virus."

"What?!  That's impossible.  I was never exposed to it."

"Actually...that's were you were wrong.  It was in you before the Unstable Timeline missions began.  Even before you found UTPR-3224."

"...how?"

"I'm getting to that.  This machine colony was coded with very intricate layers of programming, each layer set to accomplish a number of tasks...each layer triggered by intelligent thought.  Certain things in your own psyche would have lit the fuses."

If what he was saying was right...this was a far scarier catch-22 than anything I'd ever encountered. If he was going where I think he was going...

"Okay...take it slow.  Where does this begin?" I glared. Miles handed  me a report with Kommand's logo on it. "You can safely read this now."

Safely read it? Was that a trigger?

"This may be the next generation in nano-electro-mechanical hypnotic suggestion...and much much more.  It starts on the first page."

I read and became disturbed by what I read. "Do you remember our ties to Section 9 Public Security?" He asked.

Immediately the Laughing Man case popped into my head. "Interceptors?!"

"Yes.  This started as something the Council secretly put into operation.  It was supposed to tighten the leash on their operatives to prevent further...anomalies like you from happening.  And...hopefully reign in the anomalies that were already out in the field.   Ones like you and the agents you've inspired to think for themselves."

I thought back to some...actual allies. I knew them by their pseudonyms. I refused to call them "agents' but rather address them as I addressed myself.  I thought of Dr. Simon Aegis Nicodimus...Dr. Silus Wolfgang Faraday...Dr. Mary Alia Persephone...Professor Kimberly Luna Copernicus.  Actual comrades I had when the chips were down.  If their names sounded made-up, they were.  With the exception of myself...agents of STC couldn't remember their birth names or much else of their past.

"The anomaly they're trying to eradicate is choice.  This is right out of those Matrix movies."

"Well it gets worse.  They already put the interceptors in you and were going to use it as reliable real-time surveilence.  You were the Council's alpha test."

"This is Al Dente grade right here." Suddenly I didn't find his idea of video camera suppositories so farfetched. Why take pictures of your colon for drugs and weapons being smuggled in when you could tap all five senses of a person. The ultimate surveilance tool.

"Kommand discovered they'd become active once you returned to Miranda.  The memo you received was supposed to initiate the first layer of programming; it was supposed to collectively copy all of your memories and experiences here in Miranda City and prepare them for a massive upload to a private planetary serve at the Council's behest. They planned to go over them with a fine-toothed comb so they could go on record with every one of your actions they considered a violation.  They'd be able to confiscate all of your unauthorized wares in the X-Vault.  And...they were hoping your memories of the time you spent with Asriel would be enough for them to consider the entire AU something to amputate from the Axis of Reality."

"Those--"

"But then it took a nasty turn.  Someone else discovered them and hijacked them to put additional layers of code into them."

"Someone else--"  I cut myself off sharply. "...HIM." My temper suddenly flared even hotter than Sans' threat to dunk Asriel...our Asriel.

I had all but flat out directly said his name and stated explicitly that this was his doing. I dropped his name over and over in my reports but just now I finally accepted that the grace period was over. My arch-enemy had officially caught up to me from the last time he made my life Hell. I guess...having this long oasis of home...all the good times just made it easy to deny he'd never take this away from me.

"Yeah...the new layers of programming would have...opened up a lot of options.  A lot of remote-activated options."

"Like what?"

"Well...one of those is a beacon for a transport signal--"

Suddenly things became clear. Very clear. Too clear. And all of a sudden my reservations about my entire crew dissolved away.

"Allowing someone in the Council or even...an STC traitor to jump straight into my only safe haven.  Let me guess what the trigger was; the moment I became aware of this in my system?  Just a warning from a friend, my bosses, or even a suggestion from an enemy?"

"Yes.  The moment Kommand or anyone else informed you...the moment you discovered it on your own...the moment you figured this out, it would have gone into effect.  The conscious thought would trigger the body to begin its defenses.  The virus would activate in retaliation, becoming a chain-reaction of any possible processes.  As long as you were here in Miranda City, it was primed and ready to go.  As long as you were in the Underground it would be dormant.  But...it was engineered to block out contact from anyone.  Especially Kommand while you were off world.  A way to make sure you couldn't be warned by any method."

It made sense now. What better way to cause chaos than to put you in an unwinnable situation. A virus embedded into your atomic structure that could do just about anything if not everything; and the trigger was you becoming aware of it. All someone would have to do was just say a trigger word or show a picture or something. Who could say how much it would have taken for the right neurotransmitters to fire? In short...the idea was to cause isolation. That many friends looking out for you. It needed only one of them to warn you for it to be Game Over. It only needed me to figure it out on my own for it to be Game Over, too.

"What other things could it do?"

"We found a whole slew of downloadable bio-terrorism options, a gateway generator, various time and space modifying tools, mind control, and other nasty implements that could have turned you into a living bomb. It's like a Russian Roulette of city or even continent-wide calamity."

I finally understood. I finally realized how hard it was for Asriel...for EVERYONE to push me away without telling me why. They needed me to feel unwanted and leave of my own volition. Furthermore, if that surveilence programming was on the level...it meant that they needed the enemy to think my team and my family no longer cared about me...and for the feeling to be mutual. But...I shouldn't have been able to be swayed that easily.

"Bunnie and Callista...had to break their solemn rule about entering a person's mind without permission.  They've...been psychically altering your thoughts and emotions to try to de-fuse the mental link to the Pico-Machine Virus Colony (PMVC)."

The Major and Asriel's mother were the reason my thoughts and feelings were so radically different? Of course. They rewired my psyche. I really WASN'T myself all this time. Since April began...it was more than just a case of the blues. This was mood-altering. Brainwashing. Memory-restricting. All things that reputable psychics could or should be excommunicated for. Things that I could have disowned them first for if they didn't have a good reason.

Miles handed me back my holotablet full of mission logs and showed me the last couple dozen entries. This person writing...I didn't recognize them. Was this really me?

"Kommand spent a long time trying to come up with a cure and a way to remove the Interceptors.  Plus a way to make sure the collective data didn't find its way off world.  And finally...the last few months have been administering a cure to get the entire pico-machine collective out of every atom in your being.  Only now is it safe to let you back in, Volt."

I felt like a heel. Granted it wasn't entirely my fault but...I still felt bad. This whole thing was meant to protect me. It made sense. With me disabled, Asriel was the only one who could take up the STC-Agent mantle.

What a horribly complicated evil plot! This really was a super villain's work.

Suddenly it made further sense why he gave me back the Bracer. Obviously it could be tracked. I didn't need the Council or my enemy tracing it to Asriel's doorstep. In close enough proximity, the PMVC colony could not only hack my Bracer, but his. It could be used as external peripheral sensors and scanners; a way to extend its reach beyond my eyes, ears, and other three senses. If it could reconfigure my body chemistry to manufacture any number of bio-hazards...wow. This was TRULY terrifying tech.

My enemy really thought this through. No. That wasn't right. He had someone else think it through. If this was who I thought it was, then he wouldn't plan anything. He just...did things. Like Heath Ledger's Joker. He was an anarchist. So the question was...

"He didn't do this alone, did he?"

Miles turned to the doorway. "Bring in the prisoner."

That's when UCIAT security, dragged someone in. Someone in a lab coat...someone with STC-Emblems on their person.

I didn't have to ask who. I knew exactly.

"Dr. Judas Benedict Archimedes." My expression doured further as I climbed out of bed with some difficulty. If ever a more fitting, more obviously-untrustworthy pseudonym. So why was I the only one in S.T.C. who saw it a mile away while the Council practically threw me out of the room for suggesting it?

All of a sudden a lot of elements from the world I protected my world from were raining down out of nowhere. All of a sudden the things out of left field were revealing themselves as being very connected. Hidden dangers I wasn't even aware of...that I wouldn't even think to bring up all those log entries ago...it was all unfolding here and now.

"He's apparently been sneaking around town for some time.  Since the last time you dropped in from your previous ongoing mission.  Asriel discovered him trying to hide outside of space-time.  Kommand positively ID-ed him.  He's been a plant all this time."

It all made sense. A felllow agent of STC. The doctor designation was superficial. We were supposed to drop that title when we became agents in order to distinguish us from "The Doctors". But anomalies like me held onto the title. We were scientists not monkeys volunteering to be shot into space.

"The only question now is...why?" Miles scratched his head.

I didn't need to ask why.

"Here's why..." I grabbed a hold of his STC-Insignea and ripped it off only to find...!

"Adonis' Crest.  He's become a follower of Chaopolis." I sneered.

"The universe has to return to the state it belongs in...without rules, without laws, without structure!  An endless cycle of chaos!" Judas snarled at me.

The response of someone truly brainwashed. But even without that much...Judas Archimedes was a greedy d***. A real Chill Penguin type. Money was always the object.

I shook my head. "What he seeks is impossible.  The InfinityVerse doesn't stay in a state of chaos.  Sooner or later it reaches equilibrium and then...entropy.   But even that doesn't last forever.  Life happens.  Rules get made and broken.  Forces unbalance.  The whole thing starts all over again.  Another big bang. Face it.  No world can exist without Fate's sister as her polar opposite.  As long as there is Fate, there is Destiny.  Time is infinite in both directions.  Accept it."

"That's not what the Lantern Corps believe.  There IS a Beginning of Time and there has to be an End of Time.  It's only a matter of time before he breaks it all down into everlasting chaos at the end of it all!"

I picked up some gauze from the table and some cotton swabs. I shoved the cotton in his mouth then began wrapping around Archimedes' head, only covering his mouth, leaving his nose open. Not like suffocating would kill him. Another person that had no business opening the Genie's Lamp and Pandora's Box. I bet he lied about which of the sisters' contracts he signed.

"I think you know what happens next."

That was when Kommand warped into the room, this time wearing the Nameless Man/Codename V (for Vendetta) gettup with the Guy Fawkes mask. Her ears were tucked under the wig and hat pretty well. Old movie-theft habits were hard to break.

"He ready to go?"

"Almost." I growled. I picked up my Neuralizer. "Just a few questions before he's off.  I'm going to set this for a random amount of time with each question.  Simple yes or no answer.  First time I don't like what response I get, you have that many years of your memoires taken off."

Kommand issued each of us ray ban shades.

"FIrst question.  Are you operating alone?"

A nod.

"Second question.  Were you the one that infected me with this abomination?"

A nod.

"Third question.  Was I the only one you infected?"

A nod.

"Fourth question.  Are there any double agents active in STC besides you?"

A shake of the head. No.

"Fifth question.  Were you being paid handsomely for this?"

A shake of the head no. I didn't really believe him, knowing Archimedes in past encounters.

"Final question.  Did you really think you were going to get away with it?"

A nod.

"Wrong answer.  By the way...that part about a random number of years.  I lied." I showed the indictor. His eyes widened.

"The number of years you've been immortal plus your age before then.  That amounts to a total memory wipe.  Even down to the first things you learn as a new-born.  Get the picture?"

He tried to scream through the bandages.

"Yeah.  You understand.  So I leave you with this one final thing to reflect on for the next couple of seconds.  I liked you better when you were just in it for the money.  At least then you were straight about your intentions."

And with that...a flash. And his mind was gone. I had given him the ultimate punishment for scientists. What every scientist feared. Oblivion. It was why the Council chose erasing a person from past, present, and future as the final punishment. No one wants to be forgotten. No one wants to cease to exist. No one wants it all to end.

"Kommand...get this trash out of my sight.  I need some time alone to reflect."

Kommand teleported out with the prisoner. Security left the room. And Miles soon bid me fairwell as I climbed back into bed and rolled over. I think...that's when the hurting finally stopped. But I still didn't feel any better about any of this. I still lost the Underground and my place in STC. And right now...I was in a vacuum in the only home I knew.

Sub-Entry 307: "Dear Old Dad":
Velaska didn't announce any visitors after Miles got everything squared away.

But there was one person who didn't NEED to conform to visitor rules and such. If he walked in...you let him.

"Dad."

"Hey, champ."

"I was starting to think you'd never call me that again."

"Ooo-wee.  Bunnie really did a number on your psyche.  I raised you better than that."

"Excuse me if I don't exactly sound like myself.  I'm not sure how much of me is the genuine article after they neuro-hacked me."

"Don't be too harsh on them.  We all took a vote and decided it was the best way to go to keep you protected."

"With protection like that who needs enemies?"

"Volt, I don't expect you to come around that quickly.   Even I don't want to admit to how much we all sacrificed to put this plan into motion.  MIles tried talking me out of it for a while.  Part of why he stayed on the front lines was that he didn't want to show his face.  He felt kinda...disgraced by his role in the grand scheme.  Disrespecting his hero like that."

Me? Miles' hero? But I guess it was a matter of perspective. I always felt he surpassed me a long time ago.

"This plan has been in action for a long time now.  Kommand has been sitting on it for quite a bit."

"Of course she has..." I rolled my eyes. "So I guess you know the story about her."

"Only a very small circle know." He assured. "Bunnie and Asriel are among that circle."

I didn't really want Garfield bringing up their names this early on. I'd have to...let it all sink in first.

"It sounds like you know a lot about what happened while I wasn't here to overhear."

"Yeah...I've..been keeping tabs on everyone."

Sub-Entry 308:  "After I Left Bunnie...":
"...so...why don't you go ahead and tell me what happened after I left Miranda City.  I know I'm not going to get it from Bunnie."

"Well...it's like this..."

"I can't feel...ANYTHING." I walked away from her.

"VOLT!"

"At least you had the decency not to call me Commander.  Don't bother telling Miles I was here.  Furthermore...if you mention anything about this conversation to Asriel..."

"You are in no position to make demands."

"Am I?"

I turned, my hands crackling with electricity. Her nanites made her frighteningly more vulnerable to electricity than anyone else in town. All it would take is one jolt and her pain would be as excruciating as my own. But...no. She wasn't worth it.

"I never would have imagined you'd decide his path.  I guess if his home world is going to lose a prince, it's going to gain a time-traveller."

I stormed off and took the Time Machine back to the Underground.

"...he was here, wasn't he?"

"He was."

Asriel looked off to the side.

"It's for his own good.  And ours.  It will work out in the end."

"Just a little longer..."

Asriel tightened his fists and squeezed his eyes shut.

"This is wrong!" He sobbed as he choked up a sobbed. "Why is this happening to him?  Why do we have to do this to him?"

"Asriel...there's no other way.  He's been put into a situation where he's a danger to everyone in this town and doesn't even know it.   If he learns that truth, then the trigger is pulled.  Kommand isn't sure what will happen but the likelihood is Volt will revive to see its aftermath.  And knowing he caused it......it will do far more permanent damage than the temporary damage we're causing him.  He doesn't need ANOTHER major failure on his conscience.

What we're doing is horrible. But until we diffuse it we can't be close to him. None of us can put on a happy face without him figuring out something is wrong. As long as he things we've turned on him...as long as my psychic circuit breakers hold, the evil that's been fused with his atomic structure will not activate."

"This is.....*sniffle*....*sob*...the second time I've betrayed my best friend." Asriel hugged his knees to his chest and let the tears flow. "I don't deserve his forgiveness."

"...neither of us do." Bunnie turned away. "My ancestors damn me for breaking my code of servitude.  All of us will have our own Hell to pay for our common enemy's gambit.

Asriel looked up at her.

"When this is over, Asriel...when we overcome this...I vow that this injustice will one day be rectified.  The one responsible will not remain above the consequences."

Asriel's eyes turned yellow. "You never give up on true friends...you never give up on family.  Some day...whoever did this to us...I'll make sure they never do it to anyone else.  Not for revenge.  For justice."

Bunnie nodded.

"We must update Miles on the situation.  And report in to Garfield-sama."

"Has he found the enemy's minion yet?"

"He's closing in from afar.  The virtual paper-trail is almost reaching its end.  Seems their liason has been closer than any of us could have ever imagined." Bunnie narrowed her eyes. "I know you won't understand the reference, but the Commander will not be happy we have another "Jack Hanos" case.

"Mr. Red mentioned that name before.  I guess I'll learn about it when he feels like explaining it?"

"Or any of us for that matter." Bunnie lowered her gaze.

"Come, Asriel.  We have to prepare for--"

"Yeah.  That."

"I think it's about time I heard the rest of the story.  At the very least the stories of at least some of my crew who were in on it."

"I think that's only fair."

Sub-Entry 309:  "Behind the Scenes":
"Let's start with Violet."

"Yeah.  Let's."

"So...after you left Computer Valhalla..."

~

"...dammit." Violet's expression doured.

"He's out of hearing range.  We can talk now."

"I've been looking at the programming for this thing that this Kommand person sent Asriel.  This thing is VERY real and VERY evil."

Garfield crossed his arms.

"A single thought could trigger this mess.  It's been unpacking itself for a while now.  I'd say it accelerated the process when Elektra did the tests on him and found the dust and blood in his system."

"Which alerted the virus that it was in danger of being discovered."

"We wouldn't have discovered it with our technology level.  But as long as the Pico-Drive engine foresaw the danger, it was ready to adapt at a moment's notice."

"But not a full trigger."

"No.  Not enough time had passed for that.  It finished completely decompressing and interweaving with his sub-atomic structure by the beginning of April."

Garfield frowned.

"I've made enemies in my lifetime but none who've every gone remotely this far.  I knew when I turned Volt loose on the world he'd follow his own path.  Make his own legacy.  And make as many or more enemies as I have."

"Oh this just screams sadistic lessons in life that don't need to be taught.  We both know what the end game of this is."

Garfield sipped his coffee.

"It's not the end result but the by-product that was the goal." He narrowed his eyes. "The isolation.  The rejection.  Everything we had no choice but to put him through to keep him and everyone around him and us safe...this thing was designed to put him in a situation where he was walking alone.  This wasn't just an attack on him.  This was an attack on ALL OF US."

"It put us in a situation where we had no choice but to abandon him.  I don't think the virus ever meant to be triggered.  This guy...he's stripping our ex-commander down to the bone."

"A feeling I'm sure he, she, or it is all too familiar...and comfortable with."

"A sociapath, megalomaniac, and mysonthrope in one.  It took a special kind of screw-job by the S.T.C. Council to create this."

"Volt protected us for years by keeping as much S.T.C. details from us as possible.  But this Kommand person is pretty much a well-spring of what he does behind the scenes."

Violet paced.

"I know I haven't had the most experience with friendship...with being a friend.  But I gotta tell you.  My role in this...it feels like a massive step back.  I'm not the easiest person to put up with, Garfield.  I get that.  I know that a lot of what I do hugs the line.

Seriously...abandoning him even temporarily? This is not friendship. This is disgusting. I've done something I don't approve of. I look in the mirror and the person that looks back is stained with betrayal. How am I going to make it up to him? I'm his third in command and he deserves better than this. I swear...when I find the dirt bag that did this to him...did this to ALL of us......"

"There is no simple answer, Vi.  I'm the closest he has to a father and I shut him out.  And it just burns me up that this was the only option we were left with.  I wasn't going to sacrifice my son and a city full of people for his enemy's sick and twisted game.  We have a long road ahead if we're ever going to earn back the trust we threw away just to keep him safe.  Just to defuse that bomb inside him."

"This magna-code...I don't even have a name for something this advanced......this is something way beyond my pay grade."

"Then it's good you're not working for a paycheck on this one.  This one is--"

"For family." Violet nodded. "How long are we going to have to save him by betraying him?  We've been pulling a reverse "Fate of the Furious" on him for months now.  Honestly.  I could throw up right now with how each of us has to treat him just to keep Bunnie's mental inhibitors stable...from keeping that one thought out of his head that will do the deed."

"As long as it takes for Kommand to make the antivirus."

"Whoever Kommand is...they're good.  REALLY good.  Like...my Hybrid ability times a million good."

If Violet only knew. But that's the reason even after all this blew over she couldn't know. But Bunnie...she would figure it out. It would be her, Asriel's, and my secret.

"So.  Mitzi?"

"...That's all I'm getting at.  You don't have to drop her out of the nest all at once.  It's not like birds learning to fly.  But you do have to grow out of it, just as she has to grow into it."

I could't believe I wasn't getting any more sympathy than this. I guess I should have kept that in mind considering I was talking to someone who wasn't even dating let alone had kids of her own. Maybe it was a little rude of me...but what did she know about being a  parent?

Whoah. Where did that come from? I'm...just a little stressed. That's all.

"Commander, she'll be fine."

I left in a huff.

A while later after I was long out of the area...

A knock on Mitzi's back door.

Mitzi opened the door...and let Gadget in.

"....I did a bad thing.  I lied to big brother about going out with friends."

"I know...we...did what we had to do." Mitzi hung her head.

Gadget threw her arms around Mitzi and cried her eyes out.

"I'm a horrible sister!"

"We're all horrible.  We're driving him away and there's nothing we can do about it until this blows over."

"I hate it!  I hate it so much!"

"I wonder if Nermal will look at me with the same eyes again.  This is no better than what Helen did to me.  He deserves better than us."

"What if...what if we can't get him back? What if he stays in that place forever?"

"He won't.  He'll come back.  He has to.  He has to if we're going to cure him."

For the longest time the Twice As Nice Mice cried in each other's arms.

"Why...why is this happening?"

"I don't know, Gadget.  I just don't know..."

~

"So...Team Acorn?"

"Sally was the most pissed out of all of us..."

"DAMMIT!!!" Sally had cratered the wall and the ground.

"Take it easy, Sally!"

"I'm just so volcanic!  So nuclear!  So friggin' livid!  Who does this guy think he is turning us against our ex-commander?  Giving us the choice to stab him in the back and keep this world safe or turning him into a bomb or a black hole or a teleport beacon for who knows how big an invasion army with as little a single sentence uttered?"

"Makes me hot under the collar too, but I don't want to be filing a report as to why the E.R.R.O.R. team has to suddenly do city maintenance."

Sally stormed back and forth. "Someone crossed a line.  You don't screw with family!  Immediate or extended.  Or even metaphorical blood brother!  There is going to be Hell to pay when I find out who made jackasses out of all of us!"

This was probably Sally at her most Undyne. Normally it wasn't this easy to get her to lose her temper. In the past it was Violet who would REALLY make you regret making her angry. This was a side to Sally that came with the reboot of her life.

"I do have good news.  Garfield struck a deal with Galvan Enterprises and Cerebrocrustacean Incorporated.  We'll be having a joint effort between the most technologically advanced super-conglomerate industries on the planet to hopefully create the pico-colony proto-culture that we can refine into progressive layers of antivirus pico-machines.  Keep in mind this goes beyond our world's current progress level.  Pico-machines are the next evolution of quantum science." Willie explained.

"That's a start.  How long will it take to synthesize?"

"Each one is going to take a month to several months.  If all goes according to plan a total cure sometime by fall."

"Going on half a year's worth of treatment?"

"In which he has to be kept in a coma."

"Mode."

"Very mode."

"This is scores of un-shway.  I hate feeling so helpless in the midst of this while treating the Commander like trash!"

"I feel like a Kopy Kat." Honey smoldered.

"How's Asriel taking it?"

"The worst out of all of us."

"I don't blame him.  He was the one who pulled the trigger on the counterattack.  He was the one that Kommand trusted to break Volt's trust in all of us."

"He's never going to live this down."

"Are any of us?"

"And Rotor?"

"You need to ask?"

~

"...that's your tenth one.  Maybe you should slow down a little."

"No offense.  But I'll say when I've had enough."

"Yeah...but you do realize you're not going to get drunk off virgin blueberry daquirris, right?"

"...I know."

"Bro?"

"Yeah, Skeetz?  Need a refill on your root beer float?"

"No..." Skeeter looked away. "Are we trash?"

"Yeah.  We kinda are."

"Will it be too late to say we're sorry?"

"...I hope not."

~

"So.  Everyone, huh?"

"There are a lot more I'm leaving out.  Everyone on the planet who knows you and knows the situation is basically beside themselves.  We've even let a few off world in on it.  Just the ones we trust most, mind you."

"There's a flaw in this thing. How the Followers of Chaopolis know I wouldn't trigger it while in the Underground."

"I don't think it would have mattered one way or another. While the goal was to strike at your home, another ruined dimension to the pile would have still been a victory for them.  You don't need another Unversal City hanging around your neck."

"But hypothetically, if the virus was meant for Miranda City, what was to stop Kommand from rerouting me to an unoccupied place and warning me and letting me take the fall where it couldn't do any harm?  Just letting me re-spawn if it was a bomb or trapping the invasion fleet in limbo?  I'd find a way out of it...somehow."

"You're dealing with a lot of theoretical situations. We didn't know if the virus would stay active upon leaving Miranda City.  Our only fail safe was that nobody in the Underground knew about it.  Alphys was the only one who even knew a portion of your secrets.  It was a gamble one way or another if she'd discover the virus on her own.  Either way, boom.  Either way...they gave you the love and attention that we couldn't until Kommand came up with the antidote.  We...just didn't count on the Reset."

I thought back to what Frisk had said. I couldn't prove it...but I knew it was Adonis' handiwork. He set that up, too. If the virus didn't trigger in Miranda City...he'd take this away from me...from Asriel. How cruel. How disgusting.

"Yeah...his followers thought of everything so he wouldn't have to."

I sighed.

"Well.  The comfort comes...better late than never."

Sub-Entry 310:  "I Was Never Forgotten":
In the week that followed, my strength and sanity started coming back. The first to visit was Callista. She explained to me the different psychic circuit breakers and prods to certain parts of my brain such as the apoplaxia region that controlled rage.

"I'm so sorry, Ex-Commander.  I feel so ashamed having to resort to something so...unforgivable.  I won't make excuses.  It was touch and go trying to keep your mind from triggering the cyber-virus."

Of course I forgave her.

Scott was next. He related to me his tales of feeling betrayed. Of what it was like to not know who your real friends and enemies are.

As a sort of...closure to his own sorrows, he offered one of his old army pins. It didn't feel right taking it from him, plus it did come from Vorostovian Military...but I accepted and we shared a salute. Even though were were technically both civilians. But Arlene insisted Scott keep his rank, and the thought of being a former soldier of STC and a retired UCIAT commander just didn't mesh with me.

"Thank you, Colonel."

"Thank YOU, Commander."

A shared salute and he was on his way. I didn't ask him or Callie about Asriel. I think it was best if I didn't think about it until I was ready.

"It was totally mode of us snubbing you like that, Commander.  We're total bojos." Sally offered me a multimedia player and headphones. "I hope Willie's and my latest remix at least steers us back on track."

"I'll give it a listen."

Lupe came by.

"Lupe?  Seriously?  Buttercups?" I looked dismally at the flowers.

"Too soon?" She asked.

"The...ironic sentiment is appreciated but...really...I think I want to avoid flowers for a bit."

Well. I was in Goat Son's sandals, now. Guess I'd be spending time in the Nature Preserve getting over my fear, huh?

One by one, I'd get a visitor, practically every 20 minutes or so. Apologies and gifts.

"...I've been a lousy son-in-law.  To make up for it, I'll sneak a steak or a burger in for you every day."

"That's...a bit overkill.  Especially if you make one of your multi-decker specials.  But...thanks."

Even my own family was in on it. My twin daughters almost squeezed the life out of me, hugging me and crying and begging for me not to be mad at them.

Lisa was equally downtrodden. I could tell she was about to lose it from pushing me away for so long. Asriel had really done a good job explaining just how grave my situation was.

I even got a few unexpected visits.

"Mentor."

"Ray and I have been briefed.  My condolences." Egon and Ray had come all the way from 1980's New York, off world.

"It's okay, Egon.  I can still fall back on the X-Vault if I ever need to do some ghostbusting around town."

"I think that seems extraordinarily unlikely."

"Yeah.  It really does."

I ended up getting a Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man plush out of it. I think it was Slimer's idea.

At the end of the day, Splinter was the last to visit me. He used some of his martial science techniques to speed my recovery. He also offered some advice and disdain for Bunnie's methods. I should have known she didn't get her plan from his side of the martial arts training. It was...comforting somehow.

But the ones who stayed away were...the ones I needed to talk to most.

The area was piled up with gifts from friends...and bribery from some who were trying to get in my good graces in the hopes of getting his way. Not going to work, Al Dente. I had no control over your psyche evalutations, Antoine. Also I was going to make sure the both of you got what was coming to you once I was out of here. While everyone else was in it for the greater good, you two were in it just for fun...or semblance of fun, in Al's case.

Maybe it was true. Maybe he really did choose his sensei to be his best friend over me. Maybe...it was just the psychic circuit breakers that hadn't quite worn off or broken down. Callista would begin removing them as time went on. I began to feel a lot more...clarity of thought. Honestly...looking back on what I wrote in my logs...I was beginning to remember what I said about Monsters back in the Unstable Genocide Timeline. I had become just that...a person with so little faith and hope in his own.

Some of it was outside influence. Some was just psychically amplifying what doubts were already there and turning them against me. Bunnie was right all along. It was for my own good.

Oh well.

I could wait a little longer for Asriel and Bunnie to come around.

It looked like I was going to have  plenty of time on my hands now that I was out of a job and still technically retired.

Worry about it later, Volt. This was a good time and place to rest your brain.

TO BE CONCLUDED...

Chapter 32

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