Outside the Wall Part 6: Losing Control
Steve groaned with pain. No matter how many times he disabled the pain and warning messages, another wave of electricity from his foe brought them back. He managed to stand back up, facing Jane with a crooked stance and labored movement. The altered Jane gave an incredulous laugh. “You’re still standing back up? Just stay down. Let the time run out, and just foldin’ die.”
Steve coughed painfully. The timer had three minutes left. “I’m not giving up. I didn’t sacrifice myself so you - whatever you are – can just take over Jane. Let her go!”
Another arc of lightning from Jane caused Steve to stumble, but he remained standing this time. Jane shook her head. “You didn’t sacrifice yourself for anyone. You made a stupid decision, and now you are paying for it. You should have accepted my offer sooner rather than later.”
Steve’s eyes narrowed. “So… you were…”
The thing laughed. “Yeah, that’s right. I guess you could say the odd messages and presence you experienced is the same as me. But it’s not quite that simple… and I’m not about to stand here trying in vain to explain such advanced ideas to someone with so little time left.”
Steve was at a loss for options. He was still holding his exposed core in his damaged hand, unable to put it back in the broken compartment, which left him incredibly vulnerable. Even if he wasn’t heavily damaged and lacking any weapons, he didn’t want to hurt Jane after just saving her life. But he also didn’t know how to fight this adversary any other way. The timer hit two minutes.
“You aren’t looking so good, Steve…” Jane spoke disinterestedly as she sauntered closer. “You might be able to repair yourself if you had the right materials. Where could you get those, I wonder? Oh yeah, that’s right. Jane and Skull here are the only sources for miles. Maybe you could cannibalize Skull.”
The option occurred to him, and though he barely knew Skull, he was not about to commit cold blooded murder. “No. He’s an ally.”
Jane laughed again as she fired another arc of lightning at Steve, knocking him back again as he took a knee to avoid collapsing. “There ya go again. Unwilling to make any sacrifice at all, no matter how little it would cost you personally. You really think someone as weak as you even deserves to live?”
Steve faced Jane, a fire in his eyes. “I won’t betray my friends.”
Jane looked down on Steve, as she swiped the core from his hand. The world vanished, but the timer remained. It ticked underneath a minute. Jane’s visage appeared among the sea of static, looking more ominous and distorted than before. “You don’t have time for ideals. Do something. Anything. Fight back. What in the world is wrong with you? Are you that eager to die?”
Steve felt anger stirring deep within him. He would not be talked down to in his final moments by some ambiguous entity of evil. “Back… OFF!”
The image disappeared. The static lit up with lightning, almost blinding the bodiless form of Steve despite not having physical eyes to speak of. The static dulled, and the area around him grew slightly clearer. He could see Jane on her back a short distance away. She stood up, dusted herself off, and walked towards him. She picked up his core, and the world returned as he was placed back in the hand of his body.
He frantically looked around, before realizing the timer had updated. It now had a full hour left.
Jane allowed Steve to stand back up, not attempting to to use any more strikes of lightning against him. “Really got down to the wire on that one, Steve.”
Steve was befuddled. “Excuse me?”
“Take a look at your core.”
Steve looked at his core. It was still damaged, but the electrical substance was no longer leaking for the most part, instead whirling around inside like a miniaturized storm of constant lightning. “Did… you fix it?”
Jane shook her head. “No, you fixed it. All you needed was a little… push. A push I provided using Jane, since you were unwilling to listen any other way.”
“I don’t understand… how? Why? Why am I able to survive, but Jane wasn’t?”
Jane rolled her eyes. “I really shouldn’t even be speaking with you, but… just ask someone when you are back in Tempora. And keep an eye on that countdown; if it reaches zero, then that’s it. Keep refocusing your soul whenever it starts getting close, and you can extend the timer. But my own time has already gone way longer than it should have. So… one last thing before I go…”
Jane marched over to the machine Skull was previously attempting to fire. She pulled some compartments out of it, and fashioned a makeshift energy gun. She walked over to the portal, pointing it directly in as she fired. The waves of electricity rebounding off it were massive, but flowed harmlessly around Jane and did not pierce the barrier of surrounding energite. With a subdued boom, the portal collapsed on itself, leaving barely any trace that it had been there at all save for the chaotic wreckage surrounding it.
Then, before Steve could react, Jane charged a brilliantly glowing ball of electricity in her hand, and slammed it against her head, discharging as her eyes went out and she fell backwards, stiffly motionless.
In a panic, Steve pulled his damaged self as quickly as he could over to Jane. “JANE! Jane, speak to me!”
Several torturous moments passed before her eyes blinked back on, glowing a soft white. “St… Steve?”
Steve couldn’t stop himself from sobbing, though he had no physical tears to show for it. “Oh my god, Jane… I thought you were dead!”
Jane was slow to respond, but spoke clearly as she appeared to no longer be in any sort of pain. “I… I saw everything. After that electrical outburst from you, I… lost control of my body. Those words were not mine. But now… it’s gone. I’m back to my old self. Steve… I know you are usually the one asking me questions, but… do you have any idea what just happened?”
Steve was ecstatic. “I don’t care! Right now, we are all alive. That’s all that matters.”
Copper and Spoon approached, both nursing apparent headaches. Spoon glanced at the sorry state of both Steve and Jane’s respective metal bodies. “Looks like I’m going to be hauling some more cargo… not to mention, we no longer have a ship. It’s going to take at least a couple days to get back to Tempora without one.”
Steve, with no small amount of pain, pulled himself to his feet. “Just get me and Jane to the wreckage of the ship. I can make emergency repairs for both of us so we can walk ourselves. Maybe we can even improvise another transport method using the ship’s remains… but either way, our mission was successful.”
Crust approached after having checked on the scientist and Skull. “Steve… I saw some of that conflict just now. Are you and Jane having some sort of falling out? I would have intervened, but I was still only barely conscious myself after all that. Is… everything okay now?”
Steve and Jane looked at each other. They had no idea if it was truly gone now, but they knew they would have difficulty explaining it to Crust, given neither of them completely understood what happened themselves. Steve answered for both of them. “Yes, things are fine now. But we really need to go… we have a lot of needed repairs to receive in Tempora.”
Crust nodded. “I would offer a ride if we hadn’t been stranded ourselves by losing both our skiff and gravity caster. Frankly, we would have lost at least one more person if you, Steve, hadn’t of stepped up like you did. I’m putting in a request for an increase in your previously agreed upon amount, for going above and beyond the terms.”
Steve was hardly thinking about the money at the moment, but absentmindedly thanked Crust for the consideration. Spoon and Copper still didn’t understand all that had happened, and in reality neither did Jane or Steve. But they all knew one thing.
The mission was a success. The threat of the Vorpals was gone for now. And they had money waiting for them back in Tempora.