The Girl Who Dared to Think 7: The Girl Who Dared to Fight

I had no idea whether it was going to be as hard on the inside as it was on the outside, but I didn’t hesitate, either.

Lifting my feet, I planted them on the shield and shifted my perspective of gravity until it was like I was standing on an elevator, hurtling toward the ceiling. I formed another plasma rifle in my hands, brought it up to my shoulder, and fired it before it was even formed, and to my surprise, the bolt was a blue orb wreathed in black lightning. It smashed through the wall of Kurt’s code, and I leapt for the opening seconds before the remaining fragments of the orb shot through his chest.

I flapped my wings, shooting myself upward to avoid the debris as light spilled from Kurt’s wounds. The AI sang his first and final note, and it was like the beating of drums coming to a slow and steady halt on one poignant note of rage, and then he exploded, his code hurtling into the datasphere and disappearing into the glittering darkness. Several pieces slammed into me, but Tony’s armor kept me safe from harm.

I quickly scanned the datasphere, looking for any sign of Leo, and found him wrestling with Sage above me. The minute my eyes saw them, Sage kicked Leo viciously in the chest, and then reached out to grab him by his hair in the same way he had grabbed Tony.

Fire burned in my heart, and I snapped my wings out and flapped, imagining myself right next to him.

A fraction of a second later, I was, and before Sage could even lift his eyebrows in surprise, I drove a fist right into his face, sending the program flying. Leo fell back, still intact, and I ignored him to chase after Sage, a gun forming in my outstretched hand. I fired at him, the shots blue with black lightning, and he spun in an effort to miss them.

But the lines followed him—whether they were directed by my will or Scipio’s, I didn’t know—the first one catching him in his hip, the second in his shoulder, the third in his leg.

He cried out and fell, and I was on him a second later, tossing the gun aside to take my fists to his face. I pummeled him as we fell, my rage turning my fists into fire and brimstone, punishing him for stealing my friends’ lives, my life, Grey’s life, and everyone else’s. He struggled, but his strength was waning.

We hit the ground a moment later, and I manifested a sword and drove it though his shoulder, pinning him to the ground like an insect.

“Wait!” he cried a second too late, and I smiled savagely at the choked sound of pain in his request. I manifested another sword while he writhed, and slammed that one into his other shoulder when he tried to use his good arm to free the first. “Stop! Please! We can do this… together! You and me! You can make sure I stay in line while—”

“No,” I said, unwilling to hear any more of his drivel. “You and your so-called legacy die now-here, and forever.” His eyes widened, pleading, but I felt nothing toward him except a deep sense of purpose. I plunged my hand into his chest, shoving through the outer shell of his coding and deep inside.

“NOOOOO!” he wailed, struggling against the swords pinning him to the ground, but I ignored it, my fingers searching for his source code. I found it a moment later, the humming on my skin intensifying as I came across something hard and grabbed it in my palm. Then I squeezed, using all the pain he had caused me to form a vice around it. I felt it snap and crack in my grip, but I didn’t relent, the images of Dylan, my mother, Zoe, Maddox, Quess, Eric, Grey, and even myself flashing in front of my eyes. Then Rose, Tony, Scipio… even Kurt and Alice, whom he had corrupted against their purposes. Then his obsession with destroying Lionel Scipio’s code—and how it had cost so many people their lives.

Sage opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out except a bright white light, which was being expelled by an even brighter amber one, consuming every bit of his code until only his outline remained, and that was rapidly fading into oblivion.

I opened my fist to release the granules of sand I’d crushed his source code into, and released them, letting them evaporate into nothingness as well, then leaned back on my heels.

It was done. Sage was gone.

As soon as it hit me, a sob caught me, the humming on my skin fragmenting and distorting in response to my pain. It was over, but at what cost? I’d lost everyone. All of my friends were dead, Grey and I were dead, and I was all that remained. A ghostly remnant of a girl who had done nothing but fail.

And I had failed. I’d failed them all. Rose, Jasper, Scipio, Tony… gone forever. As was everyone I had ever loved. A tide of grief slammed into me, and I bent over, pressing my face into my hands, as if I could contain the hurt behind a wall of my fingers. And there was no one else left for Leo to combine with, and I knew he couldn’t do it with me. I was too impetuous to have the fate of the Tower resting on my decisions. At every turn, I had made wrong call after wrong call, and I was guaranteed to do it again. It was a flaw in my character, and it would be a flaw in my programming. It would corrupt Leo, influence him to make the wrong decisions, and the Tower would fail.

“Shhhhh,” Leo said from behind me, and seconds later, I felt his hands smoothing over my shoulders and arms. “It’s okay. It’s all over. You won. We won. Soon, we’ll be bonded, and—”

I shook my head, cutting him off. “You have to go without me,” I said, knowing in my heart that I couldn’t enter the Core with him. “Take Rose, Tony, and Scipio’s source codes, and—”

“What?” he interrupted, coming around to face me, his expression incredulous. “What are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“I’m not suitable for the Core, Leo,” I told him tiredly, my heart sick. “Everyone’s dead. Even Grey. Even… me. The real me. I got us all killed, and it’s only through blind luck that we survived that fight! Those aren’t good qualities for an AI; I’d make you impetuous and give you tunnel vision. My decisions never turn out right, and—”

“Shut up,” he said softly, cutting me off.

I looked up at him, surprised that he’d even think to tell me to shut up, and found him already kneeling down in front of me. I opened my mouth to tell him off for dismissing me like that, but the fiery look in his eyes told me to keep my mouth shut and listen.

“I’m sorry that you’ve had to suffer so much these past few weeks. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. But without you, Sage and Kurt would’ve won. You’ve given Lionel Scipio’s dream another chance, and I know, together, we can make something really beautiful. We can heal the Tower, make it strong and whole. We can tell the people the world beyond is habitable, and find ways to give them new lives, if they want it. What we want for the Tower is the same thing: we want its people happy, safe, and protected.” He paused, and then reached up and cupped my cheek. “I know that you will never give up on that dream. I know you will always fight to keep me safe. And I know… that an eternity without you isn’t one worth having. So call me a rotten bastard if you want, but I am absolutely prepared to turn my back on the Tower if you get all stubborn and refuse to come with me.”

My jaw dropped, and I stared at him for several seconds, unsure of what to make of his sudden ultimatum. At first, I was angry that he would dare threaten the Tower like that, then suspicious, knowing that he actually wouldn’t. A corner of his lip twitched a second later, and suddenly I smiled, knowing that he was joking.