Crash and Spyro, A Friendship Across Lifetimes

Chapter 46: Altered Future Part 2

THE critical mistake someone as arrogant and ignorant as Dr. Cortex can make is underestimating his enemies and his allies. Niko, Coco, and Kawabata were oblivious to the intentions and motivations of Dr. Cortex, and they didn't care. They couldn't care less about his ambition to rule the world and unify it under his leadership. They couldn't care less about his childhood. How Cortex, his brother, and their parents grew up poverty stricken working at a carnival on continent not that conceivably far from the islands of the Budakans. They couldn't care less of how Cortex's father recognized the genius of their youngest child, and how that young boy's father borrowed and stole large sums of money in order to send his son to Madam Amberley's Academy, at the eventual expense of he and his wife's lives. And as far as Cortex was concerned, he could care less about his past, either.

Cortex was disingenuous with almost everyone in his life. His entire existence was a struggle for power, for respect and authority. He hated his meager existence as a dirt poor child who sole purpose was to tend to, feed, and clean the animals of the carnival where his parents worked and lived at. The feeling of hunger, the degrading looks of the patrons who pitied and sympathized for him and his family, and the owner of the circus who had a stranglehold on his father. He could to this day still remember and loathe some of the animals he cared for, including that stupid bandicoot that would twirl around in circles whenever Cortex was feeding him, along with the female that he was penned with. The day he left that god forsaken circus was the best day of his life, for it was the start of his campaign for the world. It was where he met his colleague and eventual partner, Nicholas (Nitrous) Brio. It was where he stole a Power Gem from the principle of the School and where he first learned of their power. It was where experiments with that gem's power magnified his curiosity with these mystic stones. It was his obsession with using the Power Gems for selfish and Chaotic purposes that Order needed to be present to bring balance.

Fate is a strange and unknowable overseer of all life, and sometimes it has a profound sense of irony. Cortex's brother, whose name Cortex forgot, was nothing special. He was a tall, dumb, brute who married a dirt poor girl who also worked at a circus whose name is not important. Their lives were also not important in the grand sense, but their daughter's would eventually have an impact. Fate is cryptic and not easily understood, and it certainly doesn't discriminate favorably to those who are "good" and those who are "evil". Nina, as Cortex's niece was named after her grandmother, loved the animals at the carnival she grew up at, including a particular bandicoot that was growing old and would die soon. But he still had vigor left in him, and was particularly healthy given his age. There was no specific reason why this particular bandicoot earned the affection of Nina Cortex none other than his playful nature. But it entwined his fate's with Nina's. Nina witnessed the murder of her grandparents, and in the smoldering wreckage that used to be their designated shack to live in, Nina pulled out her dying grandfather, enduring the severe burns to her hands and upper torso. Nina was scared, afraid, saddened and... filled with rage. Her grandfather in his dying breath told her that she too had potential to change the world, and that this carnival was a shackle that held her back. After that, Cortex's brother fell into a deep depression, became a drunken fool and lost the love of his life. The Carnival was shut down for ties to the mafia and drug trafficking, but what was important was that Cortex found out about the murder of his parents. He had his vengeance and the asshole that ran that carnival, and in turn found his niece, who was a cripple after failing to save her grandfather's life. Cortex would become the key to unshackle her from the chains that was her home. But Nina took two souvenirs from that carnival, a friend that twirled on his two hind legs before every feeding and his female companion, reminding Nina of the innocence that once was her upbringing before it burned in flames. Nitrous Brio had told Cortex that what happened to Nina was Cortex's fault. But what he actually meant, and what Cortex understood, was that it wasn't the burnt flesh that was his fault, it was the slave that she became that was his fault.

Cortex was a cancer to everyone he ever crossed paths with. Whether it was nature or nurture that made him the way he was is not important, for he became a servant of evil and Chaos. Both in the present and the past he tried to go to, he didn't need a mask to distinguish that role like Ripto had. Nina and Crash Bandicoot were two products of Cortex' ambition, one that became loyal to his ambitions and another that rose to challenge him. But he never knew that they were once friends. Underestimating you enemies and your allies can prove costly, and fate is strange.

"Why does the creature bother me, Brio?" Nina asked worriedly. Nitrous Brio was busy trying to save Subject C1's life, while still aware that the methods he is using to save his life is the reason that Nina had functioning hands. Her memory of her tragic past, or the fact that her master was her uncle, were secrets that he was obligated to keep because Cortex had ordered him to. But he was starting to doubt that Cortex would be able to kill him for his intended disobedience, so he no longer feared letting this poor girl find out the truth. Subject C1 was almost stabilized.

"He bothers you because you love him, Nina. Or should I say, you once were quite fond of him." Crash lay prostrate on an operating table unconscious. "Do you remember your grandparents, Nina? Do you remember the fire that took them away from you?"

Nina struggled to comprehend the words that Nitrous Brio was saying, for they had meaning to her but did not spark a memory. "I... I not sure what you mean? Why would I love this mutant?"

"I asked you about your grandparents, Nina. Do you remember the murder of your grandparents, and pulling your grandfather out of burning ruble? The pain you felt both in your flesh and in your heart?" Nitrous Brio was now supposed to start the N Trance Program to wipe Crash of his memories and cause him to be a blind and loyal servant of Cortex's again, like how Cortex had used the same programming on his niece. Nitrous Brio had no intention of doing such a cruel thing again.

"I... the fire... the pain." She breathed awkwardly and stumbled but did not fall. The memory caused her pain and made her flinch, for it caused her hands which did not exist to hurt.

"Do you remember the life you had before that unfortunate day? Your father, your mother, the carnival, the animals... this creature?"

"He... always spun."

Crash started to regain consciousness. The surgery was a success. Normally, the Cybernetic Engine had a tendency to "roboticiz" it's victims, but Nitrous had enough of a heart left not to scar Subject C1 with metal. It was too much of a reminder of what Cortex had done to him. Nitrous was just starting to learn that the mutants he had helped Cortex create were in fact alive... sentient. Capable of acting and being human. Subject C1 was the first that demonstrated this. His Speech Assistance Device spoke.

"Where am I? Niko..." He attempted to get up from the table, but recoiled in pain and his upper body staggered back to the operating table.

"The lives of those tribesmen should never have been taken. I'm partially responsible for the travesties that Cortex has committed, for I aided in giving him the means to wreak havoc on the innocent. I've been blind for too long on what he was becoming. But no more. I will not stand by while he threatens the lives of so many. Subject C1, you are a creation of Cortex's and I. You were loyal to Cortex ever since your creation. How did you break free of his control?"

Crash hesitated for a moment. He was aware of who N Brio was, and how he helped Cortex. But he now sounded genuine in his regret. All Crash could remember was crawling away from the burning Native Fortress. However, he did see N Brio before he passed out. He must have saved my life.

"Because of love" Crash's SAD said in its artificial, monotone voice. "And call me Crash." He again lifted himself from the operating table, this time slower and more cautiously. He got upright and then noticed the girl observing him. He recognized her from somewhere, he didn't know why, but seeing her made him at ease. He felt, comforted by her presence.

Nina stared Crash for an uncomfortable amount of time. Then she approached Crash, who still sat upright on the table. She stared right at him, first with a blank stare, then a faint smile. "I think love is the reason I broke free, too." And before Crash could react, she hugged him. Her embrace was familiar. He wasn't sure why, still, but he trusted his human, too. Like Coco and Niko, and Nitrous Brio.