The monster wearing Commander Oliver’s human face smiled. It stood on the smooth glass floor of the Arena. Black tears rolled down its cheeks. In its left hand, it held a dark, twisted copy of Captain Iris’s plasma pistol. In its right hand, it held a glowing, corrupted version of Billy’s cracked computer tablet. "Do you remember them, Oliver?" the monster whispered. The voice was a horrible, beautiful mix of Iris and Billy. "Do you remember how much they loved you?"Behind the invisible hard-light barrier, the real Captain Iris screamed. She hit the glowing wall with her good hand. "Do not listen to it, Oliver! It is a trick!"Billy hid his face in his hands and wept. Sergeant Miller and General Vega stood perfectly still, too horrified to speak. They watched the terrible demon wear their Commander’s face. Oliver did not look at his screaming friends. His left eye burned with blinding, pure white light. His right eye glowed with dark, evil red fire. He stared straight at the monste

The bright white glass crawled quickly up the walls. It was eating the command room. Commander Oliver stood in the center, his hands glowing with pure, erasing light. He was going to delete his friends. He was going to turn them into mindless, perfect angels. "We have to stop him!" General Vega yelled. She backed away from the spreading white light. Captain Iris looked around desperately. She saw the heavy power cables on the floor. They were still connected to the old, broken plasma reactor. Iris did not think about her broken arm. She lunged forward. She grabbed the thick, sparking black wire with her good hand. "Billy! The water!" Iris screamed. Billy understood instantly. He kicked a large puddle of dirty, stagnant rain water directly toward Oliver’s heavy boots. Iris threw the live, sparking wire straight into the puddle. A massive surge of dirty, chaotic human electricity hit the perfect white light. The messy, wild power acted like a heavy hammer against the flawless digit

The little boy stood on the dusty balcony, holding the glowing, beating red heart. Warm, bright blood dripped from the soft muscle. It splashed onto the cold stone floor. Thump. Thump. The heart beat with a gentle, beautiful rhythm. Sergeant Miller lowered his heavy machine gun. His jaw dropped. General Vega stared in pure horror. Captain Iris fell to her knees, crying silently. They looked at the innocent boy, who wore Commander Oliver’s childhood face, offering the cold, half-metal man his lost humanity. "Take it, Oliver," the little boy whispered. His voice was sweet and full of love. "The Deep Void found it in the dark. You don't have to be a cold machine anymore. Put it back in your chest. You can feel the sun again. You can love your friends again." Commander Oliver did not reach for the heart. He stood perfectly still. His human left eye and his burning red right eye stared at the bleeding muscle. He did not calculate variables out loud. He did not run math equations. He

Oliver stared at the crying boy. The golden code spun slowly in his eyes. "A hero is a flawed concept based on emotional delusion," Oliver said smoothly. "I do not remember the man you are crying for. I deleted him. He was weak. I am strong. I am the Commander, and I will execute the optimal strategy."Captain Iris stepped forward. She gently pulled Billy back. She looked deeply into Oliver’s cold gray eye. "Oliver, please," Iris begged softly. Her voice broke with heavy sorrow. "If you do this, you will cross a line you can never come back from. You will become exactly like the Overlord. You will be a monster who kills innocent people just to win a game.""I am not playing a game, Captain Iris. I am cleaning a messy system," Oliver stated. Oliver turned away from them. He looked down at the glowing control panel on the glass table. "The discussion is over," Oliver announced flatly. "I am initiating the command protocol.""Don't do it!" Billy yelled. The young hacker pulled his cra

The weeping clone stood in the shadows of the bunker. Dark, black tears rolled down its handsome human face. In its hands, it held a glowing, warm ball of pure white light. It was Commander Oliver’s discarded human soul. "You cannot win, Oliver," the clone whispered. Its voice was thick with the Overlord’s ancient, evil magic. "You threw away your heart to become a perfect machine. But I found it. If you take one step toward me, I will crush this light. I will destroy the last piece of your humanity forever." Captain Iris gasped. She leaned against the cold metal wall, holding her broken arm. "Oliver, please! Do not move! If he crushes it, you will never be able to feel again!" Commander Oliver stood perfectly still. His human left eye was cold and gray. His right eye burned with a bright, robotic red fire. Half of his face was covered in smooth, black Wraithborn metal. He did not calculate variables out loud. He did not speak his math into the air. His perfect, flawless mind simp