**Aurora steps over the mangled body of a robotic guard – one of many such cadavers which litter the hallway behind her. She marches ahead like an automaton; determined, single-minded, possessed by an almost hysterical calm. Another bot leaps out at her from around the corner, and she takes it down with one swipe of her arm. Plunging a fiery hand into its chest, she rips out a tangle of wires. It crumples to the floor, sparking and twitching, and she simply keeps walking as if nothing had happened**

AURORA: Don’t let it get to you…

**She coaches herself as she continues on, her voice cool and detached**

AURORA: Keep your head. You knew it would come to blows eventually. It was inevitable.

**She maintains her composed tone, even while she hurls a firebolt at an upcoming gun turret**

AURORA: Just stay calm and keep it together. One step, one word, one hit at a time. Don’t lose sight of that, no matter what.

**Ahead, a wall comes into sight. It is the final wall, the only one left separating her from the control room. She closes her eyes, but keeps talking, and her words remain firm despite the new air of urgency which pervades them**

AURORA: No fear. No mercy. No anything. Only an objective.

**With each step, she picks up speed, faster and faster**

AURORA: Only an objective...

**Her pace quickens to a full-out run; she sprints down the corridor, her eyes still pressed shut**

AURORA: Here we go!

**She opens them in a flash; two green firebolts gather around each outstretched hand and go shooting toward the wall in a blur. She hurls one after another, the force of the blasts maximized by her forward momentum. They breach the edifice and form a hole which continues to smolder even after Aurora has plowed through the billowing smoke and dashed into the main control room. Inside, she stops to catch her breath, then straightens and makes a quick but thorough survey of her surroundings. The room is large, pentagonal, and spotlessly clean; steps lead up to a platform that runs along two of the five walls. Atop the platform sits a control console covered in hundreds upon hundreds of buttons, knobs, and blinking red and blue lights, which flash like so many Christmas tree bulbs against the polished silver backdrop. Having completed her inspection, Aurora frowns. Where was he? Had he not said to meet him in the main control room?**

DICTATOR: You certainly do know how to make a stylish entrance...

**Like a phantom, he is suddenly there, standing only a short distance away. She turns to face him, and there is a brief, cold silence while they size each other up. Dictator Jimmy looks her up and down, his expression unreadable, as they acknowledge one another**

DICTATOR: (coolly) Vortex…

AURORA: Neutron.

**The Dictator bears his teeth in a chilly smile and slowly walks toward her. She steps to the side, and they circle one another warily, an undercurrent of hair-raising tension coursing between them. Aurora crouches low, every muscle taught, poised to spring into action at any moment. Dictator Jimmy’s pace is leisurely, his body relaxed, masking a readiness to fight that matches Aurora’s own. She clenches and unclenches her fingers as they circle, and he watches her actions carefully. Her nose and part of her mouth remain hidden, but her eyes, exposed by the damage to her silver mask, burn brightly. The Dictator, keenly aware of this chink in her armor, takes the opportunity to meet her gaze. Her eyebrows furrow harshly under his intense blue stare, but she keeps her emotions under lock and key**

DICTATOR: (slowly) I have been waiting for this day for a long time.

AURORA: So have I.

**The silence draws out as they continue in their slow and deliberate stalk**

DICTATOR: You know how this has to be, right?

**She tilts her chin down in a nod**

AURORA: You and me. Mano a mano, winner take all.

**He grins wolfishly, and Aurora feels the hair on her neck stand on end**

DICTATOR: Exactly. Just you and me. Winner take all.

**Still circling one another, she tightens her hand around an orb of deadly green light in preparation for their clash. Dictator Jimmy takes note, but doesn’t counter it**

DICTATOR: Ah. I’m glad to see that you’ve been putting my suit to such good use. I wouldn’t dream of it being worn by anyone else. Of course, overcoming my own technology shall be an interesting exercise…one to which I look forward.

**When she doesn’t respond, he takes another step to the right, ever vigilant**

DICTATOR: Something rather unexpected happened to me before I came here. Normally I wouldn’t bother trifling with such stories, but since it concerns you, I feel obligated to share. About twenty minutes ago, I met someone who I had never expected to see again…and she was wearing a mini-dress, of all things. You know to whom I am referring.

**He pauses**

DICTATOR: Libby has grown to be quite beautiful, hasn’t she? Then again, the next time you see her, you may find her appearance slightly altered…

**He takes note of her subtle flinch**

DICTATOR: I took the trouble of reuniting her with another old friend: Experiment 21-12…or Sheen, as you may remember him. Hopefully he will have sufficient time to get re-attached to Libby before I kill her. I’m going to melt her pretty face off, Aurora, and you and Sheen are going to watch. As for Nav and April…well…let’s just say I don’t anticipate a happy reunion, at least not in this lifetime.

**Through sheer force of willpower, Aurora manages to maintain a stoic visage**

AURORA: Don’t bother with that old routine, Neutron. It won’t work. Now shut up and fight me!

**She slashes her arm down, sending a crescent of green fire wheeling toward him. He conjures up a column of blue flames from the air at his feet, and Aurora’s strike hits the barrier. The collision rends the energy masses apart, leaving behind only a dozen tiny flames which waft to the earth like incandescent feathers. He slowly lowers his outstretched palms**

DICTATOR: (sneering) What’s the matter with you, Vortex? That wasn’t a killing strike. You’ll have to do better than that.

AURORA: Not interested in your pointless babble, Neutron. Talk with your hands!

**She charges toward him, then pivots on the ball of her foot and channels all her forward momentum into two successive throws. The crackling bolts whiz toward him, and he springs backward, narrowly avoiding the blasts. Recovering, he draws his hands up like a puppeteer, and a wave of blue light rises from the floor and swells toward her. In a split-second decision, she grits her teeth, sprints toward the fiery curtain, and leaps over the top. She rolls as she hits the floor on the other side, then sends an inferno shooting a few inches over the Dictator’s head. He ducks and turns rapidly, taking potshots at her as she somersaults out of the way**

AURORA: (jumping up) Come on!

**She opens her fingers, and a dozen round flames combust in the air around them. She sends them zinging toward him like bullets. He dives out of range and, keeping low, darts toward the left wall. She strikes the tip of her shoe against the floor like a match, and fire sprouts grass-like from between the tiles. It scorches the earth beneath her feet as it spreads toward the Dictator; the heat rises quickly, lifting her bangs and illuminating her eyes with neon flecks. Dictator Jimmy never pauses – he spins around once, surrounding himself with a circle of protective flames. A few seconds later, the fire on the floor burns itself out, and he steps out of the circle. She hurls three more fireballs at him, but he easily evades, and the spangles trail past him like comet tails. He treads toward Aurora, perfectly composed, and she locks into a firm stance**

AURORA: Dodge this!

**She lifts her right hand to the sky, and light gathers into a whirlpool around her outstretched fingers, spinning like a tiny galaxy. She shifts her weight forward and flings the disc; it slices toward him like an electric saw blade. In the blink of an eye he replicates the maneuver and slashes the ad hoc weapon horizontally across his body. It cuts through Aurora’s firewheel just as it reaches him, and the two halves spin off into the corners of the room**

AURORA: (eyes widening) How…?

**She unleashes another barrage of firebolts, and they speed past him one by one. He studies her movements – left, right, throw, left, right, throw – and anticipates her next move. He hurls a matching strike toward her, and the two spheres of energy collide and explode a few feet in front of her, knocking Aurora off her feet. She coughs on the thick gray smoke as she rises**

AURORA: There’s no way you’re this good, Neutron. You and I both know that when it comes to athletics, you’ve always been a total pansy. What? Have you been pumping yourself full of steroids?

**He smiles and takes another step toward her**

DICTATOR: Not quite. Unlike your version of the suit, which is only good for simple firepower, my version has built-in performance enhancers. It makes me stronger, quicker, more agile. The suit has a computing system which can calculate the trajectory of a projectile in 2.45 nanoseconds and react accordingly. The neurokinetics are so advanced that they can produce a flame the temperature of lukewarm water or as hot as the interior of a kiln, and I’ve programmed the combat software with twenty-four different styles of street fighting and martial arts.

**He snaps his fingers, igniting three orbs of fire, which he starts to juggle casually in one hand. They crackle as they tumble over one another, tracing jeweled patterns in the air. Following them with her eyes, she takes a step backward, two kindled daggers at the ready**

DICTATOR: It’s a bit discouraging when you think about it, isn’t it? You’ve spent your whole life training to gain the same physical abilities that I acquired from a few short hours of work in the lab. I can reduce all your strength, all your skill, and all your power into a few simple equations. Power that I can hold in the palm of my hand.

**He snaps his fist shut, and the spheres of light vanish. Their eyes meet; her strained laughter sounds weak inside the main chamber**

AURORA: This isn’t fifth grade anymore, Neutron. Get a clue! You think I care? You think I’m still so insecure that I have to constantly compare myself to you, only to come up short?

DICTATOR: Yes.

**Aurora pitches the fire-daggers at him. They fly wide, cutting off his escape on both sides. Green light pools around her ankle, and she launches it toward him with a roundhouse kick. It catches him on the shoulder, slicing through his suit and burning the skin underneath. He claps a hand to the wound, and Aurora advances on him, tossing her hair**

AURORA: Ha, look at that. No wonder you have to resort to petty jabs.

DICTATOR: That won’t work. You won’t be able to make me angry. You will not cloud my judgment. I’m wise to all your games, Aurora, because I taught you most of them.

AURORA: I don’t need games to beat you!

**Aurora lashes out and lands two kicks to his abdomen, then spins and rakes a banner of flame across his upper body**

AURORA: I’ll make you beg me for mercy!

**Dictator Jimmy merely closes his eyes as she continues the assault. Just when it seems that she has definitively gained the upper hand, he adroitly parries her strike, then draws back and punches her with all his might, sending her plowing backward into the floor. Her slide comes to an end several feet away, and she jerks up just in time to see him spread his arms and take a deep breath. As he does, the threads of his suit seem to come alive, crawling over his wounds and knotting them together until his body is fully repaired. He flexes his fingers, all muscle damage erased. Aurora’s eyes grow wide**

AURORA: No way…

DICTATOR: Impressive, isn’t it? Had you stuck around a while longer the last time you were here, I could have built improved healing capability into your version of the suit as well. Too bad you were in such a rush to be rid of my hospitality. If you’d have stayed, your suit would also have been upgraded with a 65% improvement to its healing capabilities, as mine was. As usual, your decisions have put you at the disadvantage.

**She jumps up and clenches her fists, ready for his next move. Without missing a beat, he weaves wisps of azure light into a ball and then flings the projectile at Aurora. She dives to the side, narrowly avoiding the blast, which leaves a black scorch mark behind on the surface of the floor. She glares up at him from her long-legged crouch, wiping her mouth through a break in the mask**

AURORA: You pompous bastard. You think you’re better than me? Sure, I have your suit, but I can fight without it. You can't. You wouldn’t last a minute against me in real hand-to-hand combat. You’re a coward and a weakling, who cheats his way to perfection by using technology. I earned my abilities. I earned every scar on my body and line on my face. I earned my right to hate you. What have you earned?

**In response, he draws his hands up, forming a fiery wall in midair. He pushes his palms forward, sending the partition shooting toward Aurora. Instead of standing back and waiting for the attack to reach her, he sprints after it, following closely in its wake. The barrier of light hides his advance, and when Aurora breaks through it with a matching strike of her own, he is waiting for her. His trick catches her completely by surprise, and she barely has time to brace herself before his punch hits her square in the jaw. She goes down, hard, and he walks toward her, his footsteps slow and deliberate**

DICTATOR: (darkly) I earned the fear of every being in the galaxy.

**Grabbing her by the collar of her suit, her hoists her up off the floor**

DICTATOR: Has our rivalry really reduced you to such a primitive comparison? Physical prowess over intelligence? Brains versus brawn? You know as well as I that intelligence is not a skill to mock or degrade. If I have ‘cheated’, as you so amusingly put it, it has been no more than you. We all must work with what we have in order to achieve what we do not. My technology is a result of just as many years of effort as your well-trained-body is.

**Aurora gives a ghoulish smile, licking away the tiny stream of blood running from the corner of her mouth**

AURORA: Heh heh, that’s the reaction I was looking for, Neutron. I like you so much better when you’re angry.

DICTATOR: That is an incorrect assessment of my mental state.

AURORA: Ha! Unbelievable. Who spouts that kind of crap in the middle of a fight? You’re a bigger nerd than I gave you credit for!

DICTATOR: (calmly) This isn’t an issue of anger, Aurora. It’s an issue of you simply not grasping the nature of our association.

AURORA: Oh yeah? Well grasp this!

**She clouts him on the cheekbone, her fist encased in a rotating globe of green fire. He loses his grip on her and drops back, holding the scorched side of his face. After a moment, however, strands of his suit slither up from his neck and cover the wound, repairing the damage. He circles around to her right, and she lets loose another soulless laugh**

AURORA: That’s right…come and get me…just like before…

**Judging that she is waiting for him to go on the offensive, Dictator Jimmy hangs back, a few stray sparks orbiting around his fists**

AURORA: (goading him) What’s the matter? Afraid I might pimp-smack you in the face again? Ha!

DICTATOR: I’m glad to see that you find your own immaturity so amusing.

**Aurora’s eyes grow steely**

AURORA: Oh, I’m not amused – I’m dead serious, Neutron. Make no mistakes about that. Now that we’ve got that little misunderstanding cleared up, what do you say we put aside this meaningless banter? ‘You’re stronger, I’m smarter,’ blah blah blah…nobody cares. You’re a fan of experiments: why don’t we go ahead and test our relative fortés empirically and in real time?

DICTATOR: What are you waiting for?

**She storms toward him, and he quickly changes tactics, taking advantage of Aurora’s madcap fighting style. He adjusts his position at the last instant, and she skids past him. Angered by his evasion, she whips around and swings at him, only to watch as he ducks out of her range. He twists and comes up behind her, his back facing hers. Each time she tries to change direction, he moves the opposite way, resulting in a sort of stilted dance as they make a series of futile circles around each other. Before Aurora can alter her strategy, he sticks out his foot, and she trips over it and falls. Outraged, she curses, and he looks down on her, cocking one eyebrow ever so slightly**

DICTATOR: I think we have our experimental data now, Aurora. I’ll let you come to your own conclusions about our relative fortés.

AURORA: Don’t screw with me, Neutron! How are we supposed to fight if you won’t even throw a punch?

DICTATOR: If you insist…

**Blue energy crackles around his fingers, and he compresses it into an ovoid projectile. With a flick of his wrist, he tosses it to the ground in front of Aurora, and it explodes on impact. Glowing shrapnel flies toward her, and she sweeps her arm across her body, repelling them with an arc of green energy. She somersaults backward and stands**

AURORA: Nice try, but I can do better.

**She drops down, spinning as she does. Her arms cut through the air like blades, blending slices of green fire into a small vortex. It separates from her and veers toward him, losing stability as it nears. Just before reaching him, it falls apart, discharging a hundred razor-thin fibers of fire in all directions. He summons a shield of light, but fails to make it big enough to protect his whole body. The strands rip through it and inflict tiny slashes all down his legs – like paper cuts, but deeper. He is forced to take a single step backward to steady himself, and Aurora points an accusing finger at him**

AURORA: If I’m just some pathetic weakling of no consequence to you, why did you take me captive? I’m the only person to have ever been captured by the Dictator and lived to tell the tale. That seems like a pretty impressive distinction to me.

**He stands firm, clenching his fingers as his suit heals him**

DICTATOR: Impressive? I hardly think so. You are alive now because I allowed you to live. If I had wished you dead, you would have been so. There was never any point during the encounter where the ball was in your court.

AURORA: (tapping her forehead) My my, what a selective memory you have. What about Carl, huh? You might have been in charge of your own actions...heck, even of mine, but how can you claim full control when your own henchman betrayed you? Speaking of which, what did you do to Carl after he helped me escape, I wonder? Torture? Banishment? Execution?

DICTATOR: You misunderstand, Aurora. Carl didn’t betray me. The decision to release you was not his. Carl broke you out of that cell because I instructed him to do so.

**Aurora’s retort dies on her lips. She opens and closes her mouth several times before she is able to speak again**

AURORA: W-what? What did you say?

DICTATOR: You heard me.

**She stands there, dumbstruck, as she attempts to assimilate this new information into her worldview**

AURORA: But…but why? Why would you let me go?

DICTATOR: I knew that releasing you would pose no real threat, and I wanted to see how someone in your situation would handle the fallout. I wanted to see if a prisoner, free from his or her cell, would be able to make it out of my base and off this planet alive. And then, should the prisoner succeed, if he or she could cope emotionally with what he had endured.

AURORA: (enraged) You tortured me because you liked watching my reaction?!

DICTATOR: Certainly not. “Liking” had nothing to do with it. I was conducting an investigation, not indulging in voyeurism. Then again, you have always seemed to enjoy deluding yourself that I have some sort of feelings concerning our past encounters – or this encounter, for that matter.

AURORA: 'Delusions' my ass. Your story doesn’t hold water. Just man up and admit it, Neutron. Forget all this nonsense about “observing a prisoner's coping strategies”. This wasn't some random investigation; you could have done that with any prisoner. This was about me. Simply put, you weren’t ready for me to die yet. Because after all, let's face it – without me around to challenge you, your life would be pretty boring, wouldn't it?

DICTATOR: You give yourself too much credit.

AURORA: Do I? Regardless of the reason, you still treat me differently than everyone else. This very conversation is a testament to that fact. Are you having this conversation with the Gorlock High Council? No. How about the Galactic Police? No. One of the Seven Samarkandi? No. You're having it with me, and you've always been having it with me.

DICTATOR Call it…an ongoing experiment. You said it yourself: I am fond of them. Any unique effect you have on me is a result of variables I have carefully laid out. You are correct that I do not engage in these conversations with others. That would corrupt the data. This must be conducted with you. Out of all my enemies, you have known me the longest, and thus you may have insights into my character that others do not. You are useful, for the time being, because of that. To echo your sentiments: I am experimenting with you, Vortex. I have always been experimenting with you.

**Aurora’s words taste bitter on her tongue**

AURORA: Fine then. What have you learned? Tell me everything. Tell me about all my weaknesses and failings, all the little intimate details that make you hate me. Share every shortcoming, every flaw, every thought that's crossed your mind on the subject. Go ahead, tell me. Show me what your grand experiment has revealed to you.

DICTATOR: What makes you think that I hate you…or that this is about you, for that matter? True, I value our interaction, but that does not mean that I value you. I don’t need to learn anything about you. I know your strengths and shortcomings. I know your skills and flaws. And I know your failings. All the little "intimate details", as you phrased it. I am sorry to disappoint, but you are not the subject of my grand experiment. My goal has always been to learn more about my own self – to learn my weaknesses and my shortcomings – which, provided I continue in my research, will go through exponential decay with time.

AURORA: Egotistical, self-obsessed bastard!

DICTATOR: (shrugging) It’s not egotism, it’s a fact. My methodology is logically sound. You are one of only a handful of survivors who knew me as a child; as such, you are in the unique position of being privy to many of my limitations. So I watch you. I play with you. I taunt you. I push you to the edge, until you can do nothing but lash out at me. In this manner, I am able to run brief controlled experiments to test my own weaknesses and to ascertain areas for improvement. I will give you credit there, Vortex – you do know me better than anyone else. You and I are close, bound together by a decade of rivalry and opposition. But in the end, there is no contest. There is no comparison. There never was.
**She glares at him with unrestrained hatred; her shoulders tremble with bottled-up anger and frustration. Fists clenched, knees bent, body curled forward, she shakes with years of loss and suppressed emotion**

DICTATOR: Are you hurting, Aurora? Is this knowledge too much for you to handle?

**She bites out the words**

AURORA: Not even close.

DICTATOR: Well in that case, let's continue...

**He conjures up a swarm of glowing particles and directs them at her feet, where they flit about, collide, and burst like firecrackers. Stung by the tiny explosions, she hops back, clutching her shin**

AURORA: Ow, what the hell!

**He advances, cupping a miniature electrical cloud in each open palm**

DICTATOR: Do you know what your problem is, Aurora?

**He tosses them into the air above her, and she dips to the side to avoid the crackling energy discharge which rains down**

DICTATOR: You are so easily manipulated. I can play you like a violin, and you don't even see it coming.

**He swings around after her**

DICTATOR: I can train you as I would train an animal, condition you to move wherever I deem fit, like a rat guided through a maze...

**In one simultaneous movement, Dictator Jimmy grabs Aurora by the throat and kicks her feet out from under her. He slams her against the cold tiles of the floor, knocking the breath from her lungs. He pins her body to the ground, his face only inches from hers. Smiling in calculated malice, he traces a finger along her cheek**

DICTATOR: Penny for your thoughts?

**She hurls herself upright with a snarl. Rolling backward, he manages to evade her retaliatory punch. They both leap to their feet, caught off balance in the dangerous moment between attacks.

AURORA: (forcing breath into her lungs) I…I...

DICTATOR: You...are going to lose. No matter what you achieve, no matter what you accomplish, I will always surpass you. And your own vulnerabilities are what will bring you down.

**He hurls a series of fireballs at her feet, and she is forced to back up to avoid the brunt of the blasts. With each new evasion, she takes another step closer to the wall, and he continues firing, guiding her toward his intended destination**

DICTATOR: Speaking of vulnerabilities...

**He combines two firebolts into one, then shoots it at the ground, where it explodes in a flash of heat and light. Blinded, Aurora staggers backward and collides with the wall. Moving so quickly that he seems to leave an image of himself hanging in the air, he hurdles through the blast and grabs her by the arms. Dictator Jimmy jerks her away from the wall and then slams her back against it, scraping her shoulder blades. He lifts up both of her arms and pins her wrists securely over her head**

AURORA: Let me go!

DICTATOR: Not a chance.

**He leans in, filling her field of vision**

DICTATOR: Everything that’s been said – it’s only the tip of the iceberg, isn’t it? All those words – they touch on, but do not wholly encompass, what you feel. Like I said before, I know you, Vortex. I know how tormented you are.

**He increases the pressure on her wrists and sidles closer**

DICTATOR: I’m everywhere, aren’t I? When you sit alone in a room, whether you stare blankly ahead or shut your eyes, it’s my face that you see. Sometimes it feels like I’m in the air that you breathe and the water that you drink. Even the clothes on your body are a constant reminder. Just like that suit I made, I’m ingrained into your skin. I walk behind you like a shadow and surround you like a veil, cutting you off from everything else. I am simultaneously your greatest strength and your greatest weakness, your raison d’être and your private prison. It’s maddening, isn’t it?

**He guides her hands down and drapes them over his shoulders. Her mind floods with a torrent of memories – years of loneliness and hardship, a picture-book of bets won and lost, one after another, playing on their burnt reels of film**

DICTATOR: You’re tangled up inside. I can feel it in the way you tremble. To you, I’m not just an adversary, not just an experiment, not just another obstacle to overcome. And why wouldn’t you feel that way? In 21 years I’m the only man who’s dared to get this close to you. You hate it with all your mind and body and soul, and yet on some level, you wouldn’t have it any other way.

**His evocative words leave her nettled and lightheaded**

AURORA: Get away from me…

DICTATOR: The worst part is, you know you’re fighting a losing battle. More than anything, you want to believe that somehow, deep down, I am still that boy you used to know. Your voice of reason tells you that it’s impossible, but it’s not enough to quell your longing…

**He deliberately brushes his lips across her cheek as he leans in to whisper**

DICTATOR: After all, who’s to say? Maybe that boy is here somewhere. Would you know him if you saw him?

**His tightens his hands around her waist, and she inhales sharply. He doesn’t draw back to look into her face – instead, he keeps whispering breathily into her ear**

DICTATOR: The sights and sounds are hard enough to bear – but the real torment lies in your other three senses. Smell… taste… touch…Don’t lie to me and tell me you haven’t thought about it.

**Aurora pushes her eyelids shut, face flushed red, as Dictator Jimmy's hand wanders to her neck. After a moment, he reaches up and delicately wraps his fingers around the edge of her silver mask. She watches, frozen, as he pulls it off. Without looking away from her, he slowly lowers his arm. He doesn't toss it, or burn it, or kick it aside – he merely opens his fingertips and lets it go, and the mask clatters to the ground**

DICTATOR: That's better.

**Her lips part to speak, but nothing comes out, and for that brief instant, she is completely in his power**

DICTATOR: (softly) Years ago you told me that there was nothing left of you – that you could no longer feel. But I can see from your actions tonight that you were lying. Tell me: what do you feel right now?

AURORA: I...

**She is unable to complete her sentence, and he smirks**

DICTATOR: Oh Aurora, you're so predictable. I know how to disarm you, and you fall for it every time.

**Her body stiffens in anger, and he pulls away and shoves her back against the wall, once again pinning her wrists**

DICTATOR: They say you keep a bulletin board full of pictures of me in your bedroom. Does it help, I wonder? Has it satisfied all your questions?

**He leans in again, his eyes intense**

DICTATOR: Because you know, there are other ways to learn about your enemy. Once we're done here, I am sure we can find a way to address all of your unexplored curiosities. After all, how can one know pain if one does not first know the opposite?

**Aurora loses it. With a sharp cry, she hurdles forward and cracks her skull against his. He reels back, and she immediately advances, wielding a sword of fire**

AURORA: (screaming) You son of a biiiiiiitch!

**She chases after him, swinging it erratically, all the while raving like a madwoman**

AURORA: Screw you, screw the plan, screw everything!! I won’t rest until I put a bullet in your head!!

**He dodges and returns fire, knocking the saber from her hands. As soon as it flies from her grip, it fragments and evaporates, and she comes after him with her bare fists**

AURORA: I’ll beat the living shit out of you! Murderer! Psychopath! Sadistic, pathetic excuse for a human being! How can you even stand yourself?

**As she rages, green flames break out on the surface of her suit, shimmering like an oil fire over water**

AURORA: I'll cut your throat so many times that even that damned suit won't be able to revive you! I'll break every bone in your body and destroy every inch of this hellhole!

**She punches wildly, her breaths coming in sobs. Cool-headed as ever, he evades her attacks and steps out of range**

DICTATOR: You’re losing control, Aurora. Be careful.

AURORA: Don’t you DARE tell me to be careful! Where the hell do you get the nerve to tell me be CAREFUL?

**She jumps into the air to kick him, and he catches her foot and twists her leg, sending her crashing to the floor. She lands on her hip, and her wrath transforms into a grimace. A second later, she rolls onto her stomach and glares up at him, her expression quivering with all the malice and madness of a rabid dog**

DICTATOR: Get up.

**She does so immediately, and he strikes her on the shoulder, knocking her to the floor once again. She jumps up a third time, shedding flames like scales**

AURORA: Die already!!

**Dictator Jimmy clobbers her again, and this time, she is not able to get back up so hastily. She lies on her side, cradling an injured arm**

DICTATOR: Have you tired of this yet?

AURORA: Go screw yourself! Any chance I had at a happy life was ruined because of you! You killed my parents, stole my dreams, took away my home!

DICTATOR: You can't blame me for everything. Even if none of this had happened, even if you had led a normal life on Earth, I sincerely doubt you would have ever been truly happy. It's just not in your disposition, Cindy. You're only satisfied when you're filled with vengeance and anger. So go ahead, rage all you want. You're still the one on the ground.

**She lurches back to her feet again, distraught**

AURORA: I despise you! I hate you more than I've ever hated anything in my whole life! If it meant being rid of you, I would rather have not been born at all!

DICTATOR: Hatred only takes you so far. It won't help you win.

**She sprints toward him, ignoring caution and technique in favor of pure, undiluted fury. Skipping the usual firefight, she goes right to the source, grabbing him by the shoulders and wrestling with all her might to bring him down. He pushes back, and they end up gridlocked, each wrangling to budge the other even an inch**

AURORA: (shouting) Thirteen years old, Neutron – THIRTEEN! – and I had to strap myself behind the controls of a flying metal coffin and pilot it out onto the front lines. Do you know what that's like? A mere child confronting almost certain death, praying with every shred of her body to a God who isn't there, begging him to spare a life she barely wants to live?

DICTATOR: Fighting was your decision, not mine.

**She strains harder, her bitter words coming a mile a minute**

AURORA: And what good did it do me?! Being a rebel fighter gained me nothing! Even when I was on their side, practically every person I met felt nothing but fear and contempt for me. And then, just when things were finally getting better, you had to capture me and rob me of what few allies I had! Now they treat me like a disease, like you've infected me somehow...they have no appreciation for everything I've sacrificed, for the part of me I've lost! True, April and Nav try to take care of me, but even they think I'm one step away from a complete breakdown. Being treated like an outcast among outcasts, as though I were a piece of you...it's even worse than what you put me through! I haven't known a moment's peace or a moment's happiness since that day in Retroville ten years ago, and it's all your fault!

**He grapples harder**

DICTATOR: They weren't wrong, Aurora: you are a piece of me. I am in every cell in your body and every thought in your head. You are a product of my actions. Without me, you wouldn't be you.

**She retorts without thinking**

AURORA: And without me, you wouldn't be you! I made you the way you are!

**His fingers dig into her arms like iron vices**

DICTATOR: So you're admitting your guilt for what happened ten years ago? You're taking responsibility for what I've become?

**Realizing her error, she briefly loses focus, and Dictator Jimmy is able to overpower her. Twisting her arm, he maneuvers her around and speaks harshly into her ear**

DICTATOR: ...because if you made me who I am, then you have to deal with the implications!

**She wriggles from his grip and takes a swing at him**

AURORA: (shouting) I do deal with them! Every single day!

**He shoves her away, then knocks her down for a fourth time. She rolls over, hissing in pain, but before she can resume her offensive, something happens that breaks the fevered intensity of their battle. A gun turret, mauled nearly beyond recognition, flies out of the doorway on the other side of the room and lands like a hunk of lead on the floor a few feet away from them. Both Aurora and Dictator Jimmy stop to look – first at it, and then at each other**

AURORA: What the...?

**Something moves in the hallway outside, and a hush descends over the main control room. A darker shade of black stirs against the partition of shadows, and Dictator Jimmy glances back over his shoulder at the approaching intruder**

DICTATOR: You know, it's rude to lurk in doorways, Sheen...

**Future Sheen steps out of the shadows, his chin held high in defiance. Aurora doesn't recognize him at first; his height, the strange markings on his body, and his grim countenance are all radical departures from her memory of him**

FUTURE SHEEN: Rude, you say? Rude?!

AURORA: Holy mother of – is that really – ?!

**He reacts with unexpected hostility, snapping in her direction**

FUTURE SHEEN: Is it what? Is it really me? I don’t know, what do you think – do I look the same to you?! Go on, take a good look!

**He clenches his fists, practically snarling**

FUTURE SHEEN: Don’t like what you see? Huh?! Why don’t you come over here and say it to my face!

FUTURE LIBBY: (taking him by the arm) Sheen, you gotta chill! I’m sure that’s not what she meant…

DICTATOR: I see you brought her along.

**The dark-skinned woman peeks out from behind him, eyebrows furrowed in consternation. Aurora gasps when she sees her**

FUTURE LIBBY: You better believe he did – I’m the one that broke him out. You have a lot to answer for, Jimmy, and the three of us are going to make sure you get your comeuppance!

**Future Sheen cracks his neck and plants his feet**

FUTURE SHEEN: That's right. We are. And you wanna know why? Ten years – ten years of living in filth and being tortured and poisoned. Endless day after endless day, wondering if I’d ever see a friendly face again, wishing for any other life but mine. Because of you, all I’ve got in my mind are needles and chains and claws and grime. It’s almost driven me insane. I used to pass the hours by imaging all the things I’d do to you if I ever got out…

**Up until this point he’d been concealing his deformed hand behind his back, and he reveals it now with a ghastly scowl**

FUTURE SHEEN: Well guess what, asshole? Now I’m out, and it’s payback time.

**Meanwhile, back with the others...**

FUTURE CARL: Come on guys, hurry up!

**Future Carl points ahead to the doorway which leads out of the emotion maze. The kids scamper along behind him, winded and still a bit queasy from their ordeal**

FUTURE CARL: The communications blackout ends just through there – there's even a console you can use. Surveillance, weapons, secondary systems, everything you'd ever need. You can use it to check up on your friends and figure out what we should do next.

**Future Carl dashes through the exit and skids to a halt in front of the console; the kids burst out behind him a moment later, straining to catch their breath. Cindy rests her hands on her knees, flashing Carl a wry glance**

CINDY: (between breaths) Man... I had no idea you were such a running buff, Carl.

CARL: (gasping) Me...nei..ther…

**They look over at their new ally, who is hurriedly punching information into a series of login screens. Future Carl’s fingers fly over the touchpad, his expression tense and committed **

FUTURE CARL: Where should I start? A life signs check?

JIMMY: No, don't bother. If I know myself, and I think I do, then Dictator Jimmy and Aurora should be in the main control room. Is there any way you can access the surveillance cameras? I’d very much like to see what’s going on in there right now.

FUTURE CARL: I can try…

**The screen changes; it divides up into four sections, with each sub-monitor showing a different angle of the room. Their little crowd huddles round, peering with hushed anxiety into the scene unfolding on the monitors. At first, all they can see is smoke and fire, flames thrown this way and that amid a chaotic exchange of blows. After a few moments of observation, however, the situation becomes clearer. Aurora is fighting Dictator Jimmy like a madwoman, rage and humiliation visible on her face even from the distance of the cameras. Her fragmented silver mask is nowhere to be found. But more importantly, as Jimmy soon realizes, an even more important element is missing from the drama playing out before them: there is absolutely no suggestion that Aurora has used or is planning to use the antidote**

CINDY: (voicing Jimmy’s thoughts) She’s fighting him…but why? Why hasn’t she used the antidote? He’s right in front of her. There – she could have used it just now. And again! What could she possibly be thinking?

**There is a brief period of silence**

CARL: Maybe it just broke or something before she could get it to him…

JIMMY: (uncomfortably) Well, I suppose that’s a possibility. Then again, given what we know of Aurora, it’s probably not the most likely explanation. I hate to say it, but…

CINDY: (eyes flashing) You think she’s reneged on the antidote plan, don’t you? That she’s so dead-set on getting revenge that she’ll accept nothing short of a fight to the death? Well, you’re wrong! You hear me? Aurora wouldn’t do that. Not after all the risks we’ve taken to make it this far.

**Jimmy raises a hand to calm her**

JIMMY: All right, all right, I won’t jump to any conclusions. I’ll be the first to admit that we don’t have all the pieces to this puzzle. For all we know, something may be preventing her from administering the antidote…either way though, we need to get to the main control room, and fast. I don’t care why she’s not following the plan; all that matters is that she isn’t. We’ll have to take matters into our own hands and finish the job for her. Cindy?

**The blonde pulls the vial from its storage compartment in her blue and green suit**

CINDY: Got it right here. Let’s get going!

**Jimmy catches her by the wrist**

JIMMY: Whoa, slow down. Before we just go barreling headlong into the fray, we should take a few precautions. You... older Carl... do you have any idea if the weapon systems are back online yet? We hacked them awhile back, but if they're up and running again, we should probably shut them off, just to make it easier for our people to get to the control room when this is all over.

FUTURE CARL: They're back up again all right, but I don't have the security clearance to change those settings. Only Jimmy can reconfigure the main system.

JIMMY: Don't worry about it! Goddard can just repeat the hack he did earlier, while we were still in the ducts. Goddard, you stored the password in your memory cache, right?

GODDARD: Bark bark!

JIMMY: Go to it!

**Goddard's mouth opens slightly, as he presumably begins the task. After a few moments, he makes a pinging sound, and his mouth snaps shut**

GODDARD: Mmmmgrr! Bark!

JIMMY: Right! Thanks boy. Well guys, looks like the hack was a success. Weapons and surveillance are off all over the base, so we're good to go.

**Future Carl opens his mouth to say something, then slowly closes it again. He hangs back, anxiously drumming his fingertips together, hoping one of the kids will notice him. Finally he works up the courage to reach out and tap Jimmy on the shoulder**

JIMMY: (turning round) Ya?

FUTURE CARL: Sorry, but…well, you see, there’s something else…

JIMMY: What?

FUTURE CARL: This may be an unnecessary risk, but there’s someone you’re forgetting. Someone I can’t in good conscience leave behind.

LIBBY: Someone else? Who?

FUTURE CARL: Goddard.

GODDARD: (whimpering) Euuw…

JIMMY: Goddard? What about him?

FUTURE CARL: Not your Goddard, MY Goddard. The one in this universe.

JIMMY: What?! He’s still operational? I’d assumed that since nobody ever mentioned him, he’d been deactivated or something.

FUTURE CARL: Well, that’s actually not too far off the mark.

JIMMY: What do you mean?

FUTURE CARL: When Jimmy decided to built this base several years back, he had some trouble getting the…uh, reactor core I think it was…to work right. Supporting life down at the bottom of the ocean isn’t easy – there are so many systems that need to be managed and coordinated. In the end, Jimmy just took apart his most reliable invention – Goddard – and constructed the rest of the main core around him. In other words, Goddard is built into the base itself.

**Jimmy’s expression darkens, and his mouth sets into a grim line**

JIMMY: (with quiet anger) He did that to MY dog?

**Future Carl nods**

FUTURE CARL: You have to understand…Jimmy stopped thinking of Goddard as his pet years ago. He was just another piece of machinery, a way to make things more efficient. But Goddard isn’t just a machine. He feels things. He’s self-aware. You know what I’m talking about. As he is now, he can barely move, and his body is in pieces. He’s miserable. Leaving him here alone, welded to a reactor core at the bottom of the ocean…it’d be a fate worse than death. The only problem is, I have no idea HOW to get him out. I don’t even have access to the reactor core room. But with your DNA, we could get inside, and maybe you could figure something out…

JIMMY: (resolutely) It’s worth the risk. We can’t just abandon him. I’ll figure something out.

**Jimmy squares his shoulders, filled with righteous conviction and sure of his course of action**

JIMMY: It’s all settled, then. Older Carl will lead me to Goddard, and we’ll free him. While we’re doing that, you guys will take the second copy of the antidote and make your way to the main control room. Cindy, it’ll be up to you to make sure he breathes it in. You got that? You can’t mess this up, guys. This is literally our last chance.

** He meets each of their eyes in turn, and he sees the same fear there that he feels simmering in the pit of his own stomach. None of them quite know what to say to one another, and the unspoken words stretch out into a long pause. Future Carl breaks the silence with a self-conscious clearing of the throat**

FUTURE CARL: Ahem. If the rest of you just follow this passageway, it’ll eventually lead you straight to the main control room. The weapons and cameras are all off now, so you should be fine on your way over. You won’t, however, be able to open the door without a sample of Jimmy’s DNA…

**Before the words even finish leaving his mouth, Jimmy plucks a strand of hair from his head and hands it to Cindy, who accepts it gingerly, a hint of obligatory disgust on her face. It quickly fades, however, and she meets his gaze levelly**

JIMMY: Goddard will go with you guys just in case; that way, the base won’t be able to pick up your life signs. I’ll be fine – my DNA will protect me. As for the rest of you…please, be careful.

CINDY: Ya. You too.

JIMMY: (taking a deep breath): Well, I guess this is it, guys. Make like Nick and break a leg!

**After a round of pitiful laughter at Jimmy’s attempted joke, the group parts ways. As they draw apart, Cindy casts a lingering glance over her shoulder at Jimmy. He does the same, and they catch each other in the act**

CINDY: Hey Neutron…

JIMMY: Ya?

CINDY: You…you better come back in one piece, you hear me? If you do something stupid and get yourself hurt, I’ll deck you so hard you’ll gargle baby teeth!

JIMMY: Ha. Wouldn’t happen in a million years, but I appreciate the sentiment, Vortex.

**The turn away for good this time, grinning to themselves as the two groups head out toward their respective destinations…**