Chapter 11: Endgame

The large rectangular room inside the boathouse was lit dimly by light seeping in through holes in the badly decayed ceiling, and the floor below was mostly dark. Balto stood silently, waiting for Sorrow, who had not yet appeared. At the long wall to his right, Jenna, Abaddon, and the others stood in a line, wanting to be there to see the battle that would decide the fate of their friend. Blood trickled slowly from Balto’s eyes as he kept the Ebola active in his blood, making sure he would be fully prepared when Sorrow arrived. Then, a door banged open in another room, and he knew that his enemy had come. Sorrow came around a corner, and everyone in the line who hadn’t seen him before shrank back in fear. He was mostly white, using so much leprosy that he was nearly consumed by it, but it was obvious even on the surface that it made him far stronger. He turned his head and smiled evilly at those his servants had threatened, and they cringed, staring at his rotting body. He stopped, facing Balto, cracking his stiff fingers. “So it did eventually come to this,” he said. “I had wondered often how long you would survive. I would have never imagined that I’d even need to send Nemesis after you, but…you outlasted everything.” “I know. I’m ready to finish it.” Sorrow shook his head. “You speak with such confidence. Do you actually believe that what you have fought through already has somehow prepared you for this? I tell you now…” He raised himself to full height, letting leprosy bacilli flood over his skin, creating the ugly, reeking green smoke that had also appeared at the canyon. “You have seen nothing!” he roared, and he and Balto ran towards each other.

They met in the center of the room, trading and blocking high-speed punches, small white explosions erupting whenever they connected as virus and bacillus killed each other in a split second. Balto jumped into the air over a sweeping claw swing by Sorrow and lashed out with a virus arm, aiming for the advance form’s face. Sorrow, however, threw up one of his arms in a blur of speed, deflecting the blow, and swung back, punching Balto in the face, bringing him painfully to the floor. Balto hopped to his feet and gave Sorrow a double punch to the stomach, then smashed his thigh, knocking him to one knee. Suddenly, the advance form grabbed one of Balto’s virus arms and jumped into the air, pulling Balto up with him. He spun around in midair with a yell and kicked Balto in the jaw, sending him flying up and backwards into a pillar, which dented from the force. Balto fell to the ground, pieces of the pillar landing around him, his teeth clenched in pain, and for a moment, he didn’t move. The others looked on nervously, but their worry was unnecessary; Balto pushed himself off the ground with the virus arms, getting to his feet. He shook his head rapidly and brought the virus arms up to a fighting position again, then charged at Sorrow. He spun around, driving Sorrow back with a flurry of blows. Balto jumped over Sorrow’s head, punching even before he landed, but Sorrow threw an arm behind his head, deflecting the attack before spinning around and launching one of his own. Balto was prepared for exactly that move, however, and knocked it aside, leaving Sorrow completely exposed. He wound back and hammered a bone-crushing punch into Sorrow’s chest, and he flew backwards, skidding across the floor, driving his claws into the metal to stop himself. He stood up slowly with a hand on his chest, coughing painfully, then took one or two steps and launched himself through the air. Balto jumped to meet him, and they collided, grabbing each other and falling to the floor. For a few seconds, they were scuffling viciously, clawing and biting one another. Balto shredded the skin on Sorrow’s face, and the advance form grabbed his head and smashed it into the ground. He punched Balto in the muzzle, trying to stun him, then planted a knee in his ribs. He went to punch Balto in the face again, but Balto got a virus arm free and swung it upward, hitting Sorrow in the jaw. The advance form flew into the air, doing a backflip to right himself, and landed in a crouch, sending cracks running through the floor. Balto groaned, trying weakly to stand up, bleeding from many cuts and his nose. Sorrow smiled and laughed. “This is ridiculous! Just look at you. Even with all the power of Ebola at your disposal, you still are beaten! You’re absolutely pathetic. Why do you even think you deserve to live?” He laughed again, but stopped as Balto finally struggled to his feet. “The only one that can decide when I’m beaten…” he said, “…is me.” He poured Ebola through his body, restoring his energy, and stood ready to face Sorrow again.

The advance form snarled and ran at him, but was totally unprepared for what he faced. Balto ducked Sorrow’s initial attack and grabbed his left arm, spinning him around and twisting it brutally behind his back. As Sorrow screamed in pain, Balto stiffened his other virus arm and smashed it sideways across Sorrow’s shoulders, knocking him to the ground hard, smashing his face against the floor. The advance form moved to a crouch and turned around swinging, his claws headed right for Balto’s face. Balto leaned his head back as far as he could, balancing on the virus arms, and Sorrow’s claws barely missed his neck. He leaned forward again and struck Sorrow in the face twice, and the advance form kicked his ear, drawing a yelp. Sorrow lunged and tried to bite Balto’s throat, but Balto seized his neck and flung him away. Sorrow rolled a few yards from Balto, then stood up, shaking his head to get some of the blood out of his eyes. Once more, he came at Balto, who wasn’t able to time his defense correctly this time. Sorrow stabbed his claws through a virus arm, pulling him off balance, and kicked him hard in the ribs, sending him flying straight up. However, when Balto was at head height to Sorrow, he caught onto a water pipe with his virus arms and swung around it, coming down, then up, extending a virus arm to smash Sorrow in the jaw. The advance form flew into the air with a yell and landed hard in the middle of the room. Balto spun himself once more around the pole and let go, hurling himself toward Sorrow like a stone from a sling. Just as Balto was about to crash into Sorrow, the advance form stood up and extended a stiffened palm, letting Balto’s jaw smash right into it. He caught Balto’s body, letting the momentum spin him around, and threw Balto headfirst into a pillar with a mighty yell, falling down after he let go, his body weakening. He crawled across the floor towards Balto’s prone body, growling as if insane, and reached for him. Then, a virus arm shot out and seized Sorrow’s hand, yanking him toward Balto, while the other virus arm grabbed one of his legs when it was close enough. Balto jumped to his feet, spinning around, holding Sorrow by his feet, letting the advance form’s head take a chuck out of each of the four pillars holding up the ceiling, after which he let him go, allowing him to fly into a wall and fall to the floor. Sorrow groaned and tried to stand, but he didn’t get the chance; Balto stood over him, pounding his face and body with the virus arms over, and over, and over, until cracks were spreading through the floor beneath them. He finished by bringing both virus arms down at once with a vengeful roar, splitting Sorrow’s head open.

Then, Balto stopped. He stared at the helpless, gasping foe below him. “Balto, finish him!” Abaddon shouted. “Kill him! Now!” Balto looked again at Sorrow. “Haven’t I done enough to him?” he thought. “He has nothing left but his life.” As unbelievable as it was, Balto actually had pity on Sorrow, and stepped back, turning away. “No!” Abaddon shouted. “He’s too…” Suddenly, the sound of metal scraping came from behind Balto, and he whirled around to see Sorrow holding a steel beam. “I'm not the type for gratitude," growled the advance form, and flung the beam over Balto’s head. It struck Abaddon, stunning him and pinning him against the wall with its weight. Balto went to attack, but then, Sorrow snapped his fingers. Now, Balto realized that he had been set up. The place was a trap, and he knew what was about to happen. “NOOO!” he yelled, leaping for Jenna, desperate to reach her and keep her out of Sorrow’s hands, but as he was halfway to her, and she was leaping to him, a staph advance form crashed into him, carrying him down to the floor in the center of the room, where five other staph advance forms joined in. “Never go without reserves!” Sorrow yelled, and seized Jenna’s scruff. He yelled and jumped straight up, crashing right through the ceiling with the force of his jump, and was gone.

Down in the building, everyone watched the fray in a near panic; they couldn’t see Balto in the mass of whirling claws and flesh. Suddenly, one of the advance forms flew like it had bounced on a springboard, crashing into the wall, dead. The other advance forms rapidly began suffering similar fates, and the group finally saw Balto, spinning and swinging the virus arms so fast it was difficult to see them. The last advance form died, and Balto stopped swinging, a long yell from his lips finally ending. He stood there, breathing sharply, drenched in his own blood and the blood of the advance forms, speaking softly in a desperate, angry, and despairing voice. “Jenna…Jenna…no…” The breath left his lungs, and he collapsed, barely taking in air, as his eyes closed.

A strange voice came from somewhere in the endless darkness, saying something muddled and vague, like it was coming through water. “Ahmo…Bado…Balto…Balto?” It became clear at last, summoning Balto out of unconsciousness, and he opened his eyes. Abaddon was standing there, with the others all around. Abaddon had been the one speaking to him. Though his body was sore, Balto could feel that most of his cuts had healed, and he assumed that Abaddon had contributed some of his power to regenerate them. Then, what had happened flew into his head, and he stood up slowly, a look of hellish fury rising in his face, and he screamed out long and loud. “SORROW!” Suddenly, his eyes turned a bright yellow, emitting yellow light, and blood began dripping from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose as he once again tapped into the power of virus rage. He knew it had nearly killed him before, but he didn’t care; he kept adding to the power, intensifying it many fold. “Master it,” Abaddon said. “You can make it work for you instead of against you. Bend them to your will!” Balto focused all his power on the viruses inside him, and his anger and love suddenly fused into that power, making it surge like a wave. Then, out of nowhere, Balto’s vision became virus vision spontaneously, but not as it had before. Abaddon and the others glowed brightly, but now, he could actually see the world around him, in very sharp focus. He could hear every tiny sound, every breath of those in the room, every scrape of claws on the floor. He could smell everything distinctly; old wood, blood, myriad smells of fur, leprous skin, and a host of others. In his muscles, he felt a new strength, and he felt now that he had the energy to keep going. “I’m going to find him,” he said, with a strange, humming, half-virus voice. “You can follow me if you want.” He went out the door, and Abaddon got the others together. “We’ll go with him. This isn’t over yet.”

Balto thought hard about what he should do, where he should go. Where could Sorrow possibly be hiding now? It must be the third hideout. But where was that? Sorrow had erased his tracks fleeing the boathouse, so Balto couldn’t follow him that way. He thought back to all the directions Sorrow had given him, everything he knew about where Sorrow had been… Then, suddenly, it hit him. On the first map Sorrow had given him… He ran out to the canyon, thinking about the map. It had led him to the warehouse…but the warehouse was not in the direction Sorrow’s first tracks had gone, the ones that had suddenly stopped. When he reached the canyon, he looked at where Sorrow had gone, focusing his virus vision, and out of the white snow, red splotches appeared. They were Sorrow’s tracks. He looked on ahead, in the direction the tracks were going, and about a hundred feet farther on, they began again, and headed off into the distance. “You picked the wrong wolf-dog to mess with!” he yelled, taking off and running along the tracks.

Sorrow paced back and forth inside the secret third hideout, a sled team supply depot, growling angrily, as Jenna stood by, weeping with fear. “You cheated!” she choked. “You said if he beat you, you’d let us go. You tricked him! I hope he comes here and tears you to shreds!” “Shut up!” Sorrow roared. “Your filthy Balto isn’t going to find you here! He doesn’t have any idea of where this place is. If I were you, I’d stop talking before I completely silence you!” Jenna began to sob harder. “I need to think,” Sorrow said out loud. “There must be something…” A tremendous metallic crunch rang through the barricaded door, and Jenna’s heart leapt. Sorrow froze. “No…” There was a second crunch, and a third…and the door broke in, with Balto on the other side, yelling. “End of the line, Sorrow!” He ran into the room, and Sorrow backed up, his breath coming in terrified gasps. “No, no! How did you find this place?” “I followed your tracks from the canyon. The fact that they were days and days old didn’t matter. Now, give Jenna back!” He growled menacingly. “You took her from me, you made me kill an army of your servants, I beat you fair and square, and you cheated at your own game. You took her away from me again.” His voice built to a furious scream. “AND I AM NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT!” Balto’s virus arms shrieked violently at Sorrow, who was nearly cowering in terror. “By the way,” Balto said, “your servants weren’t the only things I killed.” Sorrow’s terror turned to confusion. “What do you mean?” “I mean the historical records were true.” Sorrow’s face became flabbergasted, then angry, then absolutely dumbstruck at the memory of the telepathic firestorm he had felt four days past, now realizing what it had truly been. “It was because of the Ebola,” he said slowly. “It was because I decided to do it this way.” He shook his head, not believing his own stupidity. “I should’ve found out how you did it, and gone from there, but now…” Balto spoke again. “I’m giving you a choice, Sorrow. If you give Jenna to me right now, I’ll leave you alone, and you can go home in peace. But if you don’t, I’ll fillet you like a fish. Understand? I’m tired of your little games.” “Funny…so am I.” “Hand her over, or you’ll die.” “Oh, one of us is going to die, I’ll give you that. But I wasn’t planning on it being me.”

Sorrow lunged forward, seized Balto, and pierced his chest with a pair of spikes that he extended from his mouth, spikes that looked strikingly similar to the ones Balto had used to breed the viruses at Seaman’s Sleep. Balto uttered a strangled shout as Sorrow dropped him, smiling wickedly. He couldn’t figure out what was going on…until he looked over at Jenna, who apparently had. “Oh, no! Balto! NO!” She broke down into sobs. “What, Jenna?” he asked, rapidly becoming more disturbed. Sorrow spoke to Jenna. “See what your love has gotten you? Now, you get to watch your beloved Balto rot alive.” Realization hit Balto like a freight train: Sorrow had infected him with leprosy, and judging by how he was suddenly feeling, it was a quick-running variant. Pain and numbness began creeping through his body simultaneously. Some of his fur turned a sickly green, and small raised patches of white, decaying skin appeared under it. He looked at one of his paws and gasped. It was almost completely whitened, the fur dead and all feeling in it disappearing as it curled and shriveled up. He could feel his whole body wasting away, and terror swept through him. His mind raced. “What’ll I do? What can I do?” “Jenna…” he groaned. “Fight!” she said. “Fight it, Balto!” “How?” She nodded towards the virus arms. “Use those!” Sorrow shook his head. “Don’t bother. It’s unstoppable. Don’t prolong your pain. You can’t win.” Balto looked at Jenna again. “I believe in you,” she whispered. “Believe in yourself. Fight it for me. For us.” Resolve flooded through Balto, and he began spilling Ebola viruses into his body. He gasped from the sudden fever, and blood trickled from his eyes. Soon, however, he was able to master the viruses, and they stopped injuring him. He pumped more and more into his body, until he reached the lethal infection level. Then, he turned them on the leprosy bacilli.

Abaddon walked in with the other dogs, not knowing what was happening. “Balto should be just in…” He stopped when he came to a balcony overlooking the room. “Oh, no…” he breathed. “What?” Boris asked. “What is it?” They all gathered at the edge. “Sorrow infected him.”

Balto could almost feel the individual pathogens killing each other inside him. He forced the Ebola viruses along, driving them through the ranks of the leprosy bacilli. Pain nearly overcame him, and screamed, nearly crumpling to the ground, making a desperate effort to stay standing. “If he falls,” said Abaddon, “I don’t think he’ll ever get up. He’s fighting it, but…” Balto summoned more strength from within himself and returned to standing normally, gasping and groaning as the infections raged.

Then, at the edges of his rotting, sloughing skin patches, tiny flames erupted. They grew, moving along the patches, and as they went, they healed the skin. Balto coughed and lowered his head. “Balto!” Jenna wept, terrified by what was happening. He raised his head again. “It’s losing,” he hissed. He extended his paw in front of him, and flames exploded over it, rejuvenating the white fur and uncurling the stiff toes. All over his body, flames were cleansing the decay. He was winning. He looked up in time to see Sorrow approaching him. The advance form seized him again, lifting him off the ground, and drove the spikes into his chest once more. Balto cried out from the pain as the skin around the spikes immediately turned white…but it went no further than that. Sorrow couldn’t understand. “Why isn’t it working?!?” Balto stared into his eyes, gritting his teeth. “That was a very bad idea,” he growled. Sorrow could see traces of green smoke coming off of Balto’s skin, which revealed where the dead leprosy bacilli were going. Balto was forcing them out, and as the smoke moved toward the front of Balto’s body, it was clear there was only one place for them to go: right into Sorrow’s head. He was flung backwards as Balto channeled the dying infection out through the spikes, and he struck the wall, falling to the floor and screaming with pain, clutching his head as his body was injured by the rapidly dying Ebola viruses. Balto moaned and nearly toppled. “Oh, Balto!” Jenna cried, running to him. He extended a virus arm to keep her back. “Don’t touch me yet!” he warned. “I haven’t cleansed my skin. You’ll get both diseases.” He stood tall again and used the virus arms to support his temporarily weakened body, taking crashing “steps” toward Sorrow, who lay on the floor, almost unable to get up. Balto stopped in front of him, and he looked up. “What now?” he asked. Balto’s face was stone cold. “You taught me a new trick.”

Two spikes shot out of each virus arm’s mouth.

Sorrow’s face took on a look of panic.

Balto drove the spikes into Sorrow’s shoulders, pouring a tremendous amount of Ebola into the advance form, who yelled with pain. Balto backed off, and Sorrow stood up. “You little…” he growled, taking a step forward.

Plop.

Sorrow looked down. A massive drop of blood had fallen from one of the holes in his skin. A trail of it began running down his back. More began to stream from other holes. Sorrow stared in horror at the blood running down his arms, and then happened to make eye contact with Balto, who stared into his eyes with a vengeful gaze. “No one takes Jenna from me. And I mean no one.” He cleansed his body, sending flames shooting over the whole outside, and walked back to Jenna, holding her. They looked at Sorrow. He fell to one knee, groaning, blood gushing from his whole body. He retched, tilted his head up, and vomited a torrent of blood. His head exploded, showering Balto and Jenna with gore, and his body fell to the ground, liquefying into green fluid as it hit the floor. It spread out in a large pool, and the edges caught fire, slowing burning it away, finally reaching the center. Then, there was nothing left. Balto and Jenna nuzzled each other. “Is it over?” Jenna asked. “Yes, baby. It’s over. All of them are dead. Here, I’ll clean you off.” He touched the blood and skin sticking to Jenna’s fur with the tongue of one of the virus arms, and the flames evaporated it all. Jenna winced. “Ow…” “What is it, Jenna?” “When you did that, something just stung.” “Where?” “On my left shoulder.” Balto looked at her shoulder and used the virus cleansing again. A tiny flame burned on Jenna’s shoulder. It was tiny and faint, but Balto knew it was not supposed to be there. He stared at it, concerned. “I don’t feel well, Balto,” Jenna said. “Abaddon?” Balto called, having sensed the presence of the advance form. He walked down from the balcony. “Yes, Balto?” “Could you see if Jenna has some kind of disease? I don’t know how.” “I’ll take care of it.” “Don’t worry, Jenna, it won’t hurt. Just go with him.” Abaddon took Jenna into another room, and Balto sat down, badly in need of a rest after surviving a bloody battle and a pair of lethal infections. Abaddon came back after a few seconds, a terrible look on his face. “What?” Balto asked urgently, knowing that anything that disturbed Abaddon was dire. “Abaddon, what is it?” The advance form could barely speak. “Balto, she, um…she has leprosy.” Balto’s mouth opened, and he began shaking his head in utter shock. “No…” he said desperately, “it can’t…oh, please, no…this can’t be happening…” “I’m sorry, Balto. I truly am.” Balto was now in tears. “But, well…what exactly does that mean? Does she have a fast version?” “No, but it is still the Alpha-Micro enhanced disease.” “What’s going to happen to her?” “In the best case, she could live for a few months. Those virus tools of yours could ease the pain, but…she’d have to live isolated from everyone else, without any contact. Humans or other dogs could get it from her. She’d eventually just…waste away, though.” He sighed. “In the worst case, it could be a few weeks of unbearable agony, meaning torture pain.” “So she’s going to die either way?” “I’m afraid so.”

Balto broke into sobs, feeling utterly hopeless and defeated. “I can’t believe it,” he thought. “We survived everything they could throw at us, only to have it end like this? I took on all these demons and won…and I still couldn’t save her…” An image of Jenna dying, taking shallow breaths as she struggled to cling to life, her beautiful face rotting and deformed, entered Balto’s mind, and he trembled, tears pouring down his cheeks.

But as he hung his head, trying to shut out thoughts of a life without Jenna, something flew into his mind.

He scoffed. “I am such an idiot,” he said, sounding astonished. “No, Balto,” said Abaddon. “This wasn’t your fault. There was nothing you could have done; don’t blame yourself.” “I’m not. It’s just…I should have expected this all along. When I met Equinox, he said the tools wouldn’t be for what I would think they would. He said I would find out what they were really for in time. He knew this would happen. That’s why he gave them to me. It wasn’t for anything else…just this.” He took a deep breath. “I know what I have to do.” He walked into the room with Jenna. Abaddon had put a blanket on her, and she looked more comfortable. “Balto?” she said. “What’s wrong with me?” “Um…you have…it’s…” “Be honest,” she said. “I want to know.” “Oh, Jenna…you have leprosy.” She stood up, stunned. Then, she backed away from Balto. “Don’t get close,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes. “Jenna…” Balto said, taking a step towards her. “No!” she choked, crying. “I don’t want you to get it.” “I’m immune, Jenna. I have the tools, and I fought off the infection. The bacilli won’t even touch me now.” He hugged her, and she lay back down. “So what’s going to happen to me?” she asked. “Basically…you’re dead to rights.” Jenna sobbed a little. “Can you…sniff…help me?” “There’s only one option. I have to…infect you with Ebola and then turn the infection on the leprosy bacilli, the way I did a minute ago, only inside your body, not mine. The trouble is, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. I could lose control of the infection, and it would run rampant and kill you in a few…very horrible minutes. Then, there’s when I have to pull the viruses out of your body. That could kill you right there. It’s just…” He began to sob. “If I hurt you, Jenna, if you died and it was my fault, I could never live with myself.” She licked his face. “Well, look at it this way. Could you live with yourself knowing that I was eaten alive by disease, and you may have been able to stop it…but you never tried?” Balto shook his head. “You’re right,” he said. He took her paw. “This is going to be unpleasant,” he said. “It’ll hurt when they first go in and when they attack the spots where the leprosy is, and you’ll feel them…moving. When I pull them out…it’ll feel like you’re whole body is being torn up on the inside. But whatever happens, I want you to keep your eyes on mine.” He took one of her paws and held it. “Just remember, your Balto’s here, and I swear to you I won’t let you go.” She nodded, smiling bravely through the tears of fear that were running down her face. Balto stuck out the spikes. “I’ll run them in quick so it won’t hurt as much, okay?” “Okay,” she said, bracing herself. “Ready?” Balto said. Jenna nodded and closed her eyes tightly. Balto stuck the spikes into her chest. “Agh!” she groaned. “Oh…” “It’s okay, Jenna. You’ll be alright.” The viruses spread. Balto had been right; it wasn’t pleasant. Jenna moaned and writhed. “Just keep your eyes on mine,” Balto said soothingly.

In the other room, Abaddon was using bubonic plague bacteria to create a visual effect so the others could see what Balto was doing. One of the things on it was the virus level, as compared to what a fatal infection would be. “He must raise it to 100%”, said Abaddon. It was steadily climbing. “86, 87, 88…”

Jenna cried out as the Ebola viruses tore into her body, raiding the infected areas. “I know it hurts, Jenna,” Balto said. “It’s okay.” Jenna began uttering strangled groans. “Oh…ugh! I’m…coming apart…inside…” “I know how it feels, Jenna, but you’re okay, I promise. Just keep your eyes on mine.”

“97, 98, 99…” The level hovered for a moment… “100,” said Abaddon. “Now, Balto will make the Ebola viruses purge the leprosy bacilli.” They watched the leprosy infection level. It was at 100%. They watched, and watched…and suddenly, it turned to 99. It kept dropping, going faster and faster, from 98, to 96, to 91, to 82, to 65, down, down, down, until zero. “Good. Now, he’ll have to get his viruses out.”

Balto began pulling the Ebola viruses back through Jenna’s body, and she screamed. “AAAGGHHH!” “Just keep your eyes on mine,” Balto said slowly, extending a paw and turning her head towards his. The viruses moved to her upper body. “YEEAAAGH! OH, BALTO, PLEASE! HELP! I’M DYING!” “You’ll be okay! Just hang on!” Jenna uttered a horrible cry of agony as Balto sucked the viruses out of her, withdrawing the spikes, the wounds immediately sealing up. The arms spit a rapidly vaporizing mixture of dead viruses, bacteria, and blood out onto the floor. Jenna gasped, trembling, her vision whiting out.

“I love you,” Balto whispered.

Jenna was still, her eyes closed, not making a sound, not breathing.

Time ground to a near halt, and everything but Jenna became hazy in Balto’s eyes.

“Jenna?” Balto said, fear and emotion in his voice, putting a paw on her cheek. “Jenna? Come back, baby. Jenna, please. Jenna?”

Suddenly, Jenna gasped, and her eyes opened slightly as she took shallow breaths. “Are you okay?” Balto asked. “Yeah…” Jenna said weakly. “I’m alright…”

Abaddon stared in astonishment. “He did it.” The visual effect showed zero Ebola, zero leprosy. “He did it!” Abaddon shouted, and all the others began cheering. Balto looked back at Jenna. “Thank goodness. I…” He broke down into sobs, holding her. “I thought I was going to lose you. I’m so glad you’re alright.” “You told me you would do anything for me. I knew you could.” They held each other close and shared a wonderful kiss. Before they were done, a certain someone entered the room, and Balto looked up. “Equinox.” The advance form nodded, smiling. “So you figured it out.” “Yes.” The advance form looked at Jenna and scratched her behind the ears. “Are you feeling better?” he asked. “Yes. Thank you,” she replied. Balto spoke. “I don’t understand, though. Sorrow said she wouldn’t get the disease. Did he infect her on purpose?” “No. Sorrow was absorbing so much power in preparation for commanding the leprosy swarm that he began to lose control of his more minor powers, such as controlling his infection release. He probably just touched her one time with active bacilli on his hand.” “Um…could anyone else have been infected when she had it?” “No. It only reached a transmittable point right before you purged it.” “Is this whole thing over now, Equinox?” “Yes, it is. Leprosy is no more. Actually, the normal disease lives on, but the mutations are all destroyed.” “Are you leaving?” “Yes. I came to see if you had figured out why I gave you the tools…and because I assumed you would not want them forever.” “You’re right. They aren’t part of who I am. I don’t want to keep them.” Equinox stuck his spikes into the mouths of the arms, and they exhaled, going limp and dying. Balto hissed with pain as they separated from his body, dropping off of his back and turning to dust. “I must go now,” Equinox said. “I am sorry to leave, actually.” “Thank you, Equinox,” said Jenna. “Yes, thank you,” said Balto. “You saved our lives.” Equinox smiled and shook his head. “No, Balto. You saved your lives. You see, the tools didn’t make you a hero. The tools helped you do the hero’s job. Your love saved your lives.” He closed his eyes. “Now, Necrosis.” A deep, thrumming sound arose, and in the middle of the room, a crack appeared in space itself. Abaddon walked in first, and was thanked by Balto and Jenna on his way out. Then, Equinox stepped in, backwards, so he could watch them as he flew away…

Balto and Jenna watched Equinox speed into the void. As the crack began to close, Balto got an idea. “Can we give them something as a reminder?” Jenna shook the two old collars out of her bandana. “These.” They tossed them in just as the crack sealed.

Equinox appeared back in the industrial building, the floor denting from the concussion caused by the opening wormhole. He looked up and saw Necrosis and Immolator waiting there. “Sorrow failed,” he said. “Balto killed him.” “Very good,” said Necrosis. “Abaddon went off to his lair, a loner as usual.” They were about to leave when a noise came from behind them. Equinox turned around…and knelt, picking up the two collars. “They sent those after you?” asked Immolator. Equinox nodded and walked out of the room, quietly.

That night, Equinox went into his room, standing up to sleep, as he usually did. Only this time, he didn’t go to sleep right away. He stayed awake, staring at the picture of Balto and Jenna that Sorrow had written “LOVE IS EXPLOITABLE” under, which he had taken and nailed onto a vent section in front of where he slept. Below it, on a projection that was used to allow the presence of a grate, sat the two collars. A small, faint light was rigged to illuminate the items, enough so they could be seen, but not enough to keep Equinox awake. “Thank you, my friends,” he whispered, “for helping me to almost understand love.” With that, he allowed himself to drift into sleep…

THE END