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The rocks that Azer and Grif were climbing now were strange, warped, jagged in shape. In the immediate area around the tallest peak there was no snow—just a clear, circular patch of earth around the mountain. Circling around the summit were freshly-formed clouds, flowing out from the mountain's pointed top. Underneath the rock and dirt were sturdy roots of pulsating blue, closely resembling veins or arteries. Each vein trailed up and up to the top, flowing into a hidden cave just below the peak.
As they rose higher and higher, the air's quality grew strange, warm but cold, wet but dry. The mouth of the cave came into view, blue veins lining the walls and converging onto an unseen point. Boots ascending moist earth, they climbed into the blue-lit cave.
The cave was flawlessly round inside, marbled stone lining every inch of the interior. Suspended in the middle of the cave was a spherical blue object, its diameter just surpassing their height. The blue orb was gel-like in texture, warping and oscillating slowly in place, a multitude of thick blue veins from every part of the wall connecting to the glowing blue orb. It was undoubtedly alive.
The light within the orb grew slightly whiter and brighter upon Azer and Grif's entrance. They were peering into the cave with bewilderment. The orb pulsated slowly before the liquid-like light converged on its side, facing the visitors.
"They arrive."
A voice filled the spherical cavern, echoing slightly. The voice was genderless, like everyone they knew was talking all at once in a unified sound.
Grif looked at Azer with a mix of horror and shock.
"There are no words I can give for you to properly understand, but I am what you seek. I am what you call Manim, the planet you reside on."
"You… you're a planet?" Grif stuttered. His mind could hardly process what they were seeing and hearing.
"I am the planet you reside on," the voice restated. "I am the dirt you tread and the stones you climb. Time passes for me differently than it does for you, but I live and understand everything that happens on and around me. I can hear and replicate the language you speak."
Azer could hardly think. Manim, alive? Questions swirled in his head. He opted to ask the one that he sought in the first place.
"The virus," Azer started. "The Magna. What is it? How can we stop it? The old Hivanians… did you see them here, long ago?"
"I did. Thousands of years ago. What you call the Magna virus is not a virus, but a superweapon that was placed here, not by accident. Around the time of your old kind, a faraway race sought to kill me and any future life that may emerge here, burying the Magna's core in my surface, beneath the crust. Slowly, it spread in my dirt and stone, eventually emerging onto the surface as a thin layer. What you call The Shades is simply my self-defense mechanism against the Magna every time it emerges. Like you, I am a Valin. I cannot explain my Vals to you in terms that you will understand, but I control the weather."
There was a moment of dumbfounded silence between Azer and Grif, before Azer spoke again.
"Then… this constant storm… is it The Shades too? Only smaller?"
"It is. Like your bodies develop fevers to fight infections, mine produces a storm. Only, this storm won't cease until I am safe from the Magna. All of my defenses, even my corvyte, are rendered useless against this virus."
"Wait. Corvyte? Your corvyte?" Grif said, shock reverberating through his voice. The light within the blue orb shifted a few degrees until it faced him.
"Your kind are harvesting my organs. What you call corvyte is an organ I use to repair any damaged parts of me, like the heart you two stand before. It adapts to organic matter, healing my and your wounds. But corvyte only heals wounds, not infections like the Magna. My only immune system is what you call The Shades."
"But then… how can we stop the Magna? The last Shades didn't work."
"The Shades works because as soon as the Magna emerges every ten years, I erase every suitable vessel on the surface and cleanse the land, forcing the Magna back down for another decade. The last Shades failed because a suitable vessel for the Magna survived. There were three living things that survived the last Shades: you two and the one you call Copycat. His survival against all odds let the Magna reside within him and spread the virus through me. And now, the virus will kill me too. There is only one way to kill it: destroy it at the source."
"The source?"
"The source of the infection. Patient zero. The Magna has sentience—it behaves like a hive mind, much like your old kind did. That's what allows it to function across an interplanetary scale. But it knows now you're aware of it, so the Magna's core has left its hiding place underground. Now, it's concentrated within Copycat, just like my sentience is concentrated within this cave. It is keeping him alive. Manipulating him. Controlling him. He can no longer think for himself, and the infection has spread such that there is very little time left. Azer, your power is great, but you do not have enough strength to cure every person—or me. But if you destroy the Magna's core—the source of its interconnectedness—all of this will be over."
# # #
Gusts of falling snow whipped against Azer's coat as he set foot in Nur once again. But it wasn't the town he knew. Only a desolate white landscape was to be found, the blizzard obscuring the streets, not a soul in sight. Every door and car was coated with ice and snow, piled against houses and buildings, obscuring life, obscuring light.
As he and Grif walked deeper into Nur, they saw a light glowing in the distance. A sinister crimson red, beginning as a faint glow behind a myriad of snow but slowly growing brighter, redder as they approached. The source of the light could not be seen.
And then, sound. Faint sounds of crying came from the light, hidden beneath the endless whoosh of wind. Behind the obscured glow emerged two shapes, the silhouettes of two men: Copycat and Okta. They were facing each other with Copycat's back to Azer and Grif, who remained unnoticed.
"I've already told you. The fate of the galaxy comes first." The voice was deep—Okta's.
"How can you do this?" Copycat said between sobs. "I'm your own son. How can you let me… die like this?"
"I cannot in good consciousness let all of humanity die to save one person. I must find a way to distribute the cure first. We cannot use it all just on you," Okta said, danger in his voice.
Copycat continued crying for a moment before his voice began to change. Okta took a step back into the blizzard, obscuring him, and Copycat took several steps forward towards his father. The snow hid them from sight.
"Ecat, stop this!" Okta's voice cried out.
There was a loud, wet thud, an inhuman roar, a grunt from Okta, and the red light emanating from Copycat flashed for a moment. Azer and Grif went still for a moment, unsure whether to proceed, before the sounds of Copycat crying were audible again. They stepped forward.
Copycat was on his knees, large masses of brightly glowing Magna on his ravaged body. They shook and shivered with each sob.
"Dad…" Copycat cried, "why did you leave me? Please…"
Azer and Grif stopped where they were, unsure whether to approach.
"Copycat?" Azer said, just loud enough to be heard.
Copycat sprung upwards and turned to face Azer. His face was partially covered in Magna, one of his eyes turned a bright glowing scarlet. Tears were running down his face.
"What happened?" Azer inquired.
"It's going to kill me," Copycat whimpered. "Dad wouldn't give me the cure. He always leaves me. He always does this. I don't want to die."
"Your dad- Okta? There's another cure?" Grif exclaimed.
"Copycat, don't move. I can cure you. Just don't do anything," Azer said, taking a step closer.
Suddenly, Copycat's face twisted with pain, and his head reared back. The globs of Magna on his body glowed brightly, and beneath his torn shirt, in his chest, a sinister crimson glow flashed.
Copycat screamed, "How can you cure me? Dad has the new cure. How can I trust you? You- you just want to kill me, don't you?"
"No, of course n-"
"I WON'T LET YOU KILL ME!" Copycat screamed, an alien voice speaking beneath his own. "I'LL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU CAN KILL ME."
Copycat stood steady on his feet, glaring menacingly at Azer and Grif. His face was crazed, deranged, devoid of sanity.
"It has too much control over him," Grif pointed, attaining a battle stance. "We have to kill it with force."
"I know," Azer replied.
Copycat began to move towards them, his wheezy breathing making steam in the freezing air, snow quietly crunching beneath his feet. Step after step, without breaking eye contact, Copycat walked closer. He extended a gloveless arm. Beneath his skin, in the veins leading to his fingertips, luminous Magna moved and flowed, transforming his cold-nipped arm into an limb of pure red infection. Then, in a sudden movement, it shot out towards Azer.
The Magna hand flew by Azer's head. Azer prepared to counter, but the extended, goo-like arm suddenly whipped sideways into Azer's chest without warning. As Azer flew back from the impact, Grif ran in for the attack, becoming a bolt of lightning that zipped towards Copycat's chest. The arm and hand of Magna swiftly returned to Copycat's side and threw itself at Grif before detaching itself, becoming a flying glob of goo. With nowhere else to conduct, Grif impacted the severed arm, conducting through it, before it fell to the ground. Grif returned to a tangible form and tried to orient himself in a defensive stance, but too late: the now one-armed Copycat had already appeared in front of him. After rearing back his remaining fist, Copycat punched Grif in the face.
Grif flew backwards, blood from his broken nose and teeth staining the stark white snow. Dazed, he could see Copycat standing over him again, who was watching his own missing arm regrow before his corrupted eyes, globs of pure Magna recreating the arm down to every vein. Copycat looked at his arm of virus with wonder, flexing his scarlet fingers, intoxicated with the power of the Magna.
He had become a meld of virus and man, an amalgamation of an intelligent, adaptive bioweapon powerful enough to kill trillions and a boy too weak to understand that his humanity was dissolving before his very eyes.
Azer righted himself and charged again, watchful of Copycat's weaponlike arm the Magna had granted. When it extended in Azer's direction, snaking out for an attack, Azer grabbed it midair and pumped as much of his S.R. as he could into it. The glowing red goop died and disintegrated before his eyes, losing its glow, the death spreading down the arm. But then something unexpected happened. As the S.R. flowed down the arm of Magna, killing it, the arm began to regenerate back faster than the cure could do its work. Copycat's smile was wider than should be possible, watching the sight as Azer's S.R. was outpaced by the Magna's vitality. The arm grew massively, throwing Azer backwards once again with an impact like a car crash, tossing him around the snow and hitting everything in his path. Azer crashed through a metal gate, feeling a rib break from the force, before finally coming to a stop on snow-covered ground.
Grif was not far behind, flying from the force of the arm's impact, leaving a trail in the snow beside Azer, flecks of blood mixed in. Still reeling from the pain and force of the impact, and the shock of the Magna's regenerative strength, Azer pushed himself up and found himself looking at a snow-covered obelisk. Beneath the dusty snow it detailed the death of someone in his town, killed by the Magna's infection. Rage and grief pumped through his mind. Behind the obelisk was another, and another, rows and rows of deaths at the hands of the Magna. They had landed in Nur's cemetery.
"They had to expand it to make room for the new bodies," Copycat's corrupted voice explained from afar, the glow glowing brighter, closer. "My influence has already spread to everything on Manim, and the fatalities are piling up. Would you like for me to bury you here, too?"
Azer fought the urge to cry at the sight of Nur's freshly-built gravestones. He had to continue. He had to fight.
Copycat strode up to the broken gates of the cemetery, his Magna arm effortlessly bending the metal out of his way as he walked.
"You are trying to finish the fight for your species. But I am this close to snuffing your embers out," Copycat said. The voice hardly sounded human anymore. Copycat's tone and inflection were sacrificed for raw malice. The virus was speaking now, using Copycat's body as a vessel.
Copycat raised his Magna arm and it began to morph midair. It lost its hand-like shape and the fingers molded into a pointed tip, the gel-like virus hardening into a luminescent blade. It fell toward Azer's damaged body, then–
The Magna blade suddenly retracted towards Copycat as Saa sprinted out from the blizzard and threw a punch at Copycat's infected head. The blade blocked her blow, cracking slightly, before he recoiled and Saa turned to the two.
"Go! C'mon, now!" Saa shouted.
Azer and Grif didn't hesitate to take the opportunity, following Saa while running on injured legs and labored breaths. Behind, Copycat let out an inhuman roar of frustration as he followed behind, tearing apart walls, fences, and houses. Azer and Grif found themselves running down snow-covered streets and alleys, the sound of the Magna's destruction slowly getting further and further behind them as they ran. Finally, Saa stopped behind a brick-walled building, panting, and sat down in the snow, urging Azer and Grif to join her.
They plopped down beside Saa, trying to control their ragged breathing, hoping that Copycat was far enough behind for them to be safe.
"What… what are you doing here?!" Grif exclaimed.
"I should ask you the same," Saa replied. "Said you'd be gone for five days, and you took almost a month. We all thought you'd kicked it."
"Our car broke down in the-"
"The storm, I know," Saa interrupted. "We wouldn't have expected you to get through that smoothly anyways. Here in Nur, we could hardly function, the mountains would have seemed impossible."
"What's happened here?"
"Exactly what it looks like. The Magna's been ravaging the town, and the ceaseless snow isn't helping. Every day it looks like the sky is crying."
Grif looked at Azer knowingly.
"Well, it probably is," Azer commented.
Saa's faced twisted into confusion. "Wha-"
Her words were cut short by a violent bout of coughing. Azer and Grif looked worriedly at her, but after she finished, teary-eyed, she said, "Here, get inside the building. I'll fill you in once we're safer."
Azer got up and walked over to the backdoor of the building, kept shut by a chain lock. Azer pumped S.R. through his arm and broke the lock with a swift chop before opening the door and letting the other two inside.
Saa fell into another bout of violent coughing, coming to her knees on the floor of a utility room. Grif rushed over to help her to her feet, but Azer was more focused on the flecks of glowing red that she was coughing up.
"Everyone is dying now," she said after wiping her mouth. "Just after you left, Nur was put under lockdown and people stopped being able to leave their homes. It was futile by that point, though, since the Magna had already infected most of us."
"Saa, are you okay?" Azer asked. "You don't have to-"
"Copycat was patient zero, he was the first one to get hospitalized," Saa interrupted. "We'd thought it was amazing how long he'd lasted but it looks like he's just been a vessel for the Magna. I never would have thought it, but the virus started… controlling him. Just yesterday Copycat and his dad disappeared."
"Okta? Well, we know where he is now," Grif commented.
"Okta had been working on a new cure from what was left of Team Virga's plans. A couple of us, me, Erril, Rena, and Milo, included, helped him develop it. We thought Okta was going to give Copycat the first dose, but he withheld it saying that it should be saved until we can distribute it to everyone. Then, the snow ended up blocking travel, and everyone started getting sick and this shitshow got to where we are now."
Saa leaned herself up against a wall and slowly let herself fall down to a seated position. She coughed again, trying to hide it under her hand.
"Damn it. I think I overdid it back there," she cursed.
Azer noticed a faint red glow coming from under Saa's sleeve. Looking closer, he saw a glob of red Magna, connected to a larger mass that seemed to run up her arm.
"Saa! You-" Azer pointed at the Magna.
She looked at her wrist and then pulled her sleeve over the offending red glow.
"I'm fine. You two are probably in worse shape than I am; you got hit pretty hard by Copycat."
"You're not fine! You're going to die if we don't do something! I can produce the cure!" Azer reached out a hand.
"You can? Great. Save it for Copycat. He seems to have it the worst."
"No! The core of the Magna is in Copycat, it's controlling everything! The virus is alive."
"If the Magna's core is in Copycat, that's all the more reason to save the cure for him. If killing the core kills the virus for good, then that's what we should be doing. You're probably going to need a hell of a lot of cure to kill the Magna at the core."
"But-"
"Enough. Save the heroics and actually be a hero. It's do or die here. Just ignore me and kill the Magna."
From afar, there was another faint inhuman roar. The three went quiet.
"I couldn't produce enough S.R. to kill the Magna the last time I tried," Azer hissed. "It's a losing battle. It regenerated faster than I could kill it."
"Then you just have to try again. There might not be any other way to end this."
"I've already used up a good portion of my S.R. At this rate, I'm going to run out before I can cure him."
"Then we need more. And thankfully, we can get it. Okta's second cure is still in the Team Virga lab, just sitting there. The only issue is, if Copycat really is being possessed by the Magna, then he's going to try and destroy the cure soon. We have to get to it before Copycat does and then pump all the cure we can into the Magna's core."
"Which is located in Copycat's heart," Grif added grimly. "He's never gonna give us an opening."
Saa looked at him seriously.
"We'll do what we can."
There was another faraway roar and a faint boom, prompting the three to come to standing.
"If the other cure is in the Team Virga lab, then we don't have any time to waste," Grif said. "We need to get to the Battle Academy."
"I can help us get there without Copycat seeing us," Saa added. "His heat signature should help us figure out where he is, especially in the cold snow."
"Good. Get us there."
Saa walked through a door in the utility room and emerged into a kitchen, untouched pots and pans hanging over sinks of stale water. Another door later and they found themselves behind the counter of Anak-Lespin, looking out on large, clean windows and dozens of empty seats. Snow was collecting on the base of the windows, reflecting the only light inside of the dim, now-abandoned restaurant.
Saa walked up to a window and, after fussing with triggers on the window's side, popped it off and set it carefully down onto the floor, letting snow fly inside.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Grif exclaimed.
"Infrared light can't travel through glass. Copycat's too far right now to be seen with visible light, but his and the Magna's heat should be easily visible from behind the cold snow."
Saa looked back and forth through the open window and then pointed into the snow.
"There, he's out there," Saa said.
"Where?"
"You can't see him with visible light. Get behind the window, I'll show you two."
Azer and Grif hunched behind the window and Saa put a hand on each of their shoulders. Azer, not used to the sensation, made a small wince of pain, but Grif was more familiar and could quickly make out Copycat's faint heat signature behind the falling snow.
In infrared light, the snow appeared almost black in comparison to the brighter colors within the restaurant. Behind innumerable snowflakes was a faint, body-shaped glow, misshapen by the warmer-glowing virus corrupting him.
"He's looking for us," Saa noted. "He'll be in here soon."
They watched Copycat's figure move through the snow again for a moment, getting closer and closer.
"Once he gets close enough, follow me and quietly open the door," Saa said. "We're gonna sneak as far as we can, because we sure as hell won't be able to outrun him for long."
Copycat disappeared from the window's view, wrapping around the other end of the restaurant. The three ran back to the front entrance before they pushed the door open and sprinted out into the blizzard.
They ran for a moment longer, at first unaware of the red glow they were running towards. Then, with a sick realization, they stopped, throwing themselves behind another wall as fast as their damaged bodies could manage.
"Did he… copy himself?!" Saa exclaimed.
"Must have," Grif panted. "There's no way he could have gotten here that fast, in front of us much less."
"We need to focus on leaving, and fast," Azer interjected. "The longer we wait here the more of himself he can make."
"Let me give you two infrared vision again," Saa said. "We can see him from further away."
Their visions went from stark white to dark and reddish, impossible colors dimly shining at them from every direction. Brighter shades were glowing from several places behind the dark snow around them, indications of Copycat's clones.
"He's made a lot," Saa noted. "Quick, around this way."
They moved around the other side of the building, avoiding the faraway warm glows, running along the backside of a number of stores before yet another figure came into view from up ahead. They turned into another alley, coming back to the front of a strip mall, devoid of its former life. The snowy ground made running near impossible, slowing their pace and trapping their feet with every step. Azer could hear Saa wheezing as she ran beside him, producing small puffs of steam with each raspy breath. It took but a single curb, hidden underneath the coat of snow, to trip her and put their flight to a halt.
Immediately, Saa descended into a paroxysm of coughing. Flecks of Magna and blood fell into the snow, and she gripped her stomach with agony. Azer and Grif stopped in their tracks, looking at her with horror. A moment later a number of bright red glows lit up behind the snow around them like an activated machine. They were completely surrounded.
The numerous Copycats came into view, each one massively infected. Saa was hardly well enough to stand, much less run, but Azer wouldn't even consider leaving her behind. Each passing second resulted in another Copycat coming into view, blocking what was previously an escape route. Every horizon was filled with crimson light but the ground and the sky.
That's it.
Beside where the three stood was a brick-walled building, dozens of feet tall. Azer could scale it with a single S.R.-fueled jump, but the others wouldn't stand a chance without help.
So he would help them.
Azer grabbed Grif and Saa and pulled them close, circulating S.R. throughout his bloodstream. Massive amounts of the chemical flowed into his blood, warming and scorching the veins with distilled power. He let it rush to his fingertips and into the bodies of his friends, who winced at the amount of power being transferred to them. The globs of dire red on Saa burned and dissolved away into blackish smoke, sizzling as if put over a flame. In the stead of the infection was the raw force of life, restoring their fatigued bodies.
"JUMP!" Azer bellowed.
Azer concentrated the S.R. into his legs and bent them, descending into a ready stance. The Copycats quickened their pace and prepared to attack. Azer jumped into the air, aiming for the roof of the building beside them, and felt a rush of air and snow fly by him as he rose higher and higher.
The red glows shrunk beneath him as he flew, finally losing his vertical velocity and landing gracefully on the snow-coated roof. Saa and Grif were just behind, rising up through the snow before falling back down. Saa fell roughly onto the roof and Grif nearly missed, fingers barely catching the rim of the building's edge. The snow threatened to slip him off, but Azer grabbed Grif's wrist before he fell, pulling him up to standing.
Without a word, the three began sprinting across the roof towards the Battle Academy, its silhouette now looming in the distance. Below, dozens of Copycats were following in hot pursuit. They leapt from roof to roof, soaring over alleyways.
Above, a bolt of purple lightning cut through the air, followed by a long period of the silence brought upon by a blizzard, the snowflakes soundlessly falling to the white ground. Then the tranquil soundscape was abruptly shattered by the deafening clap of booming thunder. It echoed across the town, muffled by the snow around them, creating an alien roar from the sky. It was enough to distract the attention of the fleeing Azer, Saa, and Grif, looking up to the heavens briefly while the thundersnow took their town into its jagged, electric claws.
And just ahead of them at that very moment, Copycat had scaled a building to cut the three off. By the time the three returned their senses to the chase at hand, it was too late. Copycat had reared back his Magna arm and was ready to slam it into Azer's head.
The glowing fist grew and stretched as it soared through the air, hitting Azer with staggering force and knocking him clean off the building. After a long fall, Azer skidded in the snow at the foot of the Battle Academy, reeling with pain at the impact. There was a brief scuffle at the roof of the building before Saa and Grif joined him, falling to the ground, bruised and bloody. Azer pushed himself to standing and engaged with the Copycat that had ambushed them, landing and trading blows, before another Copycat promptly hit him from behind, knocking him to the ground again. Most of the clones had vanished now, leaving only three.
"Go for the cure!" Azer yelled.
Saa and Grif obliged, making a run for the Team Virga lab. One of the Copycats blocked their path, flexing his Magna fingers menacingly. He raised his virus arm for a strike, then-
The clouds directly above them then abruptly swirled into a spiral shape, accompanied by a bright, multicolored gleam. The clouds swam and swirled in place for a moment, just like in The Shades, before a purple bolt of lightning emerged from the center of the spiral, edging downwards and superheating the falling snow. It struck the tip of the Copycat's raised arm, electricity surging through his infected body and into the ground.
A deafening explosion followed, shaking the three to the core, reverberating off of every surface in the town. And it occurred to Azer, they had another ally:
"Manim," he uttered. They weren't fighting alone.
The shock of the sudden lightning had momentarily stopped all movement between the fighters. Then, their senses returning, Saa and Grif sped past the steaming clone, running off towards the lab.
"And while they're gone," Azer wheezed, turning to the other two Copycats, "I'll take care of you."
The clones disappeared, the original Copycat's face twisted with rage at the sight of Azer. Copycat breathed angrily, sending puffs of steam out of his mouth with each rasp. They lunged at each other.
Azer landed an S.R.-fueled blow to Copycat's face, burning away Magna globs on his head. Simultaneously, Copycat landed a superpowered strike to Azer's chest, breaking another rib. Azer put up his guard, anticipating the next strike just before Copycat sent his Magna arm out, molding and morphing into a ring that crushed Azer further. Azer pumped more S.R. through his arms, melting away the Magna that bound him. More and more of the virus died, the cure spreading up and up the arm until, horrified, Copycat severed it. The arm fell into the snow as the last of the Magna died off.
But just as the Magna's core within Copycat's heart radiated brighter, prompting the arm's regeneration, Azer tackled Copycat to the ground and landed blow after blow to his face. He would end this right now, before the Magna could regenerate. Azer saw Copycat's heart, glowing under his shirt with the concentrated virus within it, and he placed a hand on it, preparing to inject as much S.R. as possible. It began to flow through Azer's arm, then-
Copycat's normal arm reached over to Azer's and swiftly broke it, causing Azer to yell in pain. The Magna heart flashed with light again and Copycat's other arm remade itself out of virus in an instant, grabbing Azer's neck and choking him.
"You've shown me I might need a few more," Copycat said, pushing himself to standing.
The Magna heart gleamed and long tendrils of Magna emerged from it, replicating four or five arms from nothing. The arms sunk into the ground and lifted Copycat, who was still choking Azer, into the air.
"People are already dead. More are dying. Every second that passes, something on this planet perishes. So why bother trying? Even if you were to kill me now, the losses would still be insurmountable. You've seen the graves."
"Because…" Azer choked, scrambling to remove the Magna fingers from his throat, "that's… who… I… am… If I can kill you… now… people can still… be saved…"
"And that makes a difference?!" Copycat taunted. "I am a living weapon. I've slaughtered trillions of beings. I've stopped entire civilizations from forming. You expect the lives on this planet to even have any meaning anymore? I'm the filter that destroys life itself!"
"And I'm… the filter breaker."
Copycat threw Azer to the ground with rage just as Grif appeared behind him with the second cure in hand. Copycat whipped around and threw a Magna tentacle, but Grif narrowly dodged, evading each attack as he made his way back around to Azer, Saa just behind. The two helped the injured Azer up to standing.
"The other vigilantes," Copycat spat. "A band of fools, cursed to fight a losing battle."
"You know, you talk a lot like Delvin did, and we beat the hell out of him," Grif retorted.
"I killed him," Copycat said, raising his voice and glowing dangerously as he lunged at Grif. "I gave him the wish he desired. You have achieved nothing but becoming a scourge on your people whom I have reduced to a tribe of primitives. I see everything inside this boy's mind." Copycat tapped his own head with a finger of Magna. "And I know that all of you are nothing but people who play the hero, scrambling to make a difference in a world that they have no power to change."
Copycat sent Magna tentacles at the three, who dodged around them and prepared to attack again. Copycat retaliated, and the battle renewed.
"You may think that I am manipulating Copycat, but I do not need to make him attack. The hatred is real, an influence I do not need to provide. Every time he sees you he's reminded of just how insignificant he really is, tortured, knowing he will be forever obsolete in comparison to the 'special' Azer and Grif. He sees that they are without parents and family and becomes intoxicated with jealousy, wishing for any alternative to his neglective and abusive father who would prioritize anyone in the world over his own son. He wants to be a hero and tries so hard. But all he does is make EVERYTHING worse."
Even in the midst of battle, this was a startling revelation. Saa, after avoiding Copycat's fist, looked at Azer.
"We need to reach Copycat! We need to put S.R. in his head, not his heart!"
"Are you insane?! I hardly have any left! I'm hitting my limit!"
"I know! But there's no way in hell we're going to be able to reach the heart at this rate, the Magna is protecting it too well! The Magna is literally in his head, manipulating what he thinks! If we can just reach Copycat, the real Copycat, we might be able to end this!"
Azer stopped attacking Copycat for a moment to step back and look at him. The Magna had ravaged Copycat's body, mutating it into the perfect fighting machine. His glowing red eyes looked insane, his humanity hardly looked apparent anymore as he lunged at Grif and sent viral tentacles at his foes. Looking at his nemesis, Azer realized that not once had he considered actually talking to him. He had questioned Copycat's resentful actions for as long as he could remember, but never truly asked why.
Azer dashed towards Copycat, weaving carefully between his attacks, feet pounding on the snow. He sent S.R. through his veins as the Magna tendrils sprung towards him, stepping on each one and rising higher and higher into the air until he was level with Copycat. Azer pretended to aim for the heart, prompting Copycat to guard his chest, but at the last second he whipped his hand up and grabbed Copycat's head.
S.R. pumped from Azer's fingers into Copycat's skull, the Magna on his head burning away violently, globs of the virus popping and vaporizing as the cure destroyed it. Copycat's glowing crimson eyes went blank for a moment before the red slowly dissipated, revealing Copycat's original eye color. They both fell backwards into the snow, Azer exhausted and Copycat gripping his head in agony.
"Azer…" Copycat snarled, "what the hell did you do?!" He raised his Magna arm and began striding towards Azer, who was motionless in the snow.
"Copycat, stop!" Saa yelled, getting in his way. "The Magna is controlling you! You're not yourself!"
"Just shut up, Saa! You and Azer and Grif are getting in my way! I'm about to finish Azer off. He's finally weak!"
"Getting in the way of what?!"
Copycat stopped for a moment. His expression went blank, confused.
"The Magna is controlling your body, and up until just a second ago it controlled your mind," Saa repeated. "It wants nothing but death and destruction! Just, please, help us!"
Copycat looked at his hands. One of them was his own, covered in their blood and nipped by the cold, and the other was a deep ruby color, pulsating, alive, but belonging to something sinister.
"What's happening to me?" Copycat asked quietly.
"You need to help us kill it!" Saa replied.
"But- but Azer and Grif wouldn't help me," Copycat said, spiraling. "They hate me. Dad hates me. Everyone- everyone just hates me." A tear ran down his cheek. "I'm all alone."
Tears sparkled in Saa's heterochromic eyes. "No, you're not. We really do want to save you."
"It doesn't seem right," Copycat said again. "They always get what I want. They always get to make the difference I want to make. They always get to play the hero."
Grif then slowly limped towards Copycat, the cure in hand. It was grayish, translucent, contained within a large syringe. When Grif held it out, small snowflakes landed on it.
"Then finish this," Grif said. "Finish the job. I don't think anyone should do it but you. Be the hero."
Copycat looked silently at it for a moment.
"Will I ever be able to make up for what I've done to you?"
"This is probably the best you've got. You don't need to apologize to Azer or me. Just put us aside for a moment and save the world."
Another moment of silence, then Copycat reached out and took the cure. He held it in his own hand for a brief second before he jammed it into his heart.
A gargantuan flash of light emitted from the Magna's core, followed by a high pitched screaming sound from every direction. The Magna all over his body, all over the town, all over the world, the entire galaxy, flashed with bright light for a brief second before it slowly, steadily, faded away. The Magna core lost its glowing red color and dimmed to black until it vanished entirely, leaving only Copycat's wounded body.
And after the last bit of Magna had disappeared from his body, Copycat collapsed.
"Copycat, are you okay?" Grif said, trying to support him. Copycat coughed, and a huge spurt of blood came up. Azer stood up and walked over to Copycat.
Upon seeing Copycat's body, Azer realized how ravaged it had truly been—the true effects of him being used as a vessel.
"No, no, no, no! Hey, hang in there, Copycat, alright? We're gonna get help," Azer panicked, trying to hold him steady.
"It's… fine. I should have died a long time ago. I was the first… to be infected… after all. But the Magna is gone now… for good."
"No, don't talk like that. We're gonna fix you up, okay?"
Copycat looked at Azer for a moment, staring at Azer's bare skin where his face should be like he was making direct eye contact—like he was truly seeing Azer properly for the first time.
"Can you… stay with me?" Copycat asked. "You know… while I-"
"Yeah," Azer interjected. "We're here for you."
Copycat managed a small grin.
"Thanks, guys."
And there, in that moment, an infinite lifetime of burdened souls felt as if they left Azer's back, generations of ancestors finally meeting their wish and floating off into the firmament.
There, in that moment…
The Great Filter was shattered.