Ouroboros

Blood Dawn

He gave her a thumbs-up, then grabbed Amelia's arm. As he walked off with her, he snatched her keyring and tossed it to Tegan. "Make sure Fiver's okay."

Those words spread a chill through her. Whatever had happened on the other side of that door, it could not have been good. Her hands shook as she found the right key and jammed it into the lock. She took a deep breath, turned the key, and jolted a little at the click. Her forehead pressed against the door. Whatever was on the other side, she knew she wasn't ready to see it. She would never be.

When she opened the door, Tegan had to blink a few times to verify that what she saw was real. It didn't look real. It didn't feel real. It couldn't be real.

But there was Ice Five, sitting on the floor with a bloody hole in their chest. Their mask lay a few feet away, seemingly cast aside. Tegan staggered over in a panic. "We got Dr. Sullman. We got her. We did it...Fiver?"

They looked up and made eye contact, but didn't say anything.

She knelt beside them. With trembling hands, Fiver pulled a stack of folded papers from their pocket and gave it to Tegan. She unfolded the sheet on top and read it.

IF WE WIN, I'll break these out myself. IF I FALL, have someone distribute these. This message is for all of you. There is also a letter for each individual. Yes, I'm writing one for EVERYONE. Even you, Jim.

First of all, I would like to say that my real name is Alex Payne, and that I'm sorry I never trusted you enough to tell you even that. Ironic, considering you're all like family to me by this point...

She didn't have to read any more. Tegan put the stack in her own pocket, then pulled her fallen comrade into a tight hug. It was in her arms that Ice Five took their final breath.

.........

Jim stood at the CCIT computer outside the striped dolphins' tank, monitoring their activity. He adjusted the volume on the microphone. "Girls, are the computers still offline?"

One of them swam over to look at Jim. She rolled upside-down, making the fixed dolphin-grin look even more uncanny.

-   Offline. And NG04 is writing up some malware. Cyberwarfare! You know that was our top-secret training initiative? -

She opened her mouth and showed all of her teeth. It reminded Jim so much of Coda that he choked up. "Thank you all. Keep up the good work."

-   By the way, we have a little secret for you. We were successful at contacting Coda-9994. He says he knew you had it in you. –

Jim smiled. That had to mean Coda was okay. At least, he hoped it did. "Well, I hope I get to talk to him again when this is done."

-   I'm sure you will. And I'm sure he'll be JOLLY. –

Unable to help himself, Jim laughed. His laughter was cut short when one of the other dolphins interrupted him.

-   Someone just came out with Dr. Sullman. Her wrists are zip-tied. Wait, and there's Ice Five! But they're limping really bad. You might want to go out there. –

Jim darted out of the viewing room. Outside, the crowd erupted in cheers as Roman brought Amy out. She made no effort to resist. All she did was stare at the floor, looking utterly stunned.

Behind her and Roman, Ice Five limped into view and stepped up onto the pedestal of Tc1's memorial statue. Jim fought back tears as he remembered that whale who had died on his watch. It had been so long ago. Why did it feel like yesterday all of a sudden?