Chapter 85 Listen, Linda!

"I have you now… Hey! Wait!" The AI screamed as a seven thousand pound two-story Bengal tiger lept out at him.

The darkness tried to slap it away, but they had no effect. The tiger slapped the AI out of the air, but the darkness caught him.

A massive tongue shot off of an iced-over pond in a shattering explosion of ice, wrapping about the Villian.

"This is nothing!" The AI screamed, but then another massive black leopard slapped a paw down on him.

The AI was smashed into the ground, darkness trying to attack the paw, but I had taken enough damage from the Dark Energy System. I understood the damage, and now the creatures were immune to it, and so was I now that I got a recharge.

"Fine! Kill me! There will be more! And I will just watch your destruction! More are already on their way!" The AI screamed but then went silent.

"That was annoying," I said with a sigh, and Gaia appeared beside me, growing up from the grass.

I had sent out a beacon to her, and this meant that the trees were connected all the way. That had happened much sooner than I had anticipated.

"I would have been here faster, but I had to get the girl's help with running the clones to connect the Great Trees you left behind. Also, Anya is not impressed, and she wants to talk to you," Gaia said and then straightened up, crossed her arms, and scowled at me.

"Listen, Linda!" I growled.

"No! You listen, Linda! You were told to do one thing! I ordered you!" Gaia yelled at me, and I rolled my eyes.

"You told me the time. This is me time. I was alone, minding my own business! This jackass slapped me out of the air and chased me around the city! I even told him it was a bad idea or something to that degree!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air as I walked over to the kid on the ground.

"I said go think, you man!" Anya growled, stabbing a finger at me, but I waved her off, squatting down by the boy and ordering the leopard to let him go.

I scanned the boy's body and then reached a hand over his back, healing him. The kid probably wasn't bad, but I couldn't get a read on him while he was unconscious.

"I did think for over an hour when I was flying here, and I was just coming to make a connection to this city. It is full of bad people, so I am sure the good are suffering. On top of that, there were two Villains here! Did you really think that I could just leave it like this?" I asked, and Anya sighed.

"Just don't get hurt! Gaia had us all worried! We had to hold Melody down, to the point where Mr. Tree had to get involved!" Anya called, and I nodded.

"I am sorry about that part, but not much I could do; I was running low on juice, and this Villain was a tough one. I have no clue what the next one is like, but this one sent out pings to other Villains, so I am expecting company. You girls need to get some people on surveillance ASAP! I don't want anything getting by us. Things have been going smoothly lately, and now I am going to be tested," I explained, and Gaia returned, uncrossing her arms with a worried look.

"Are you going to be okay?!" Gaia asked me, and I nodded.

"So far, I only detect one, and from what I can tell, she is about two miles south of me, putting her at the edge of the city. I am going to scan whatever is left alive here and then see if I can pulse the city like I did to ours. Doing this will force all the bad people out and keep the good ones safe, but I don't know if the few animals that are left here will be enough to get me to the next Growth Spurt," I explained, and Gaia nodded.

"The girls are coming, so they can help when they get there. I guess you should go see what is with that other Villain, but I am going to come with you. I will make sure to cut them off once we are close enough. If they are hiding, there is a good chance they might be fighting the AI," Gaia explained, but then looked at the boy that was sitting up, asking, "What are you going to do with him?"

"That is a good question. I don't sense any harmful intent, but at the same time, I don't really want to leave this System with him. He has already proven that he can be easily controlled, so I am not going to leave something like this with him. This might be cruel, but I think that we are going to have to try and force him into one of the Elf clones," I explained, but the boy spoke up.

"You don't have to force me. I don't want any part of this… power or whatever it is. I would just prefer for it to all end. Everyone that I cared about, I killed. I don't deserve to live after what I have done," The boy said, looking down at his hands.

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"You don't get to make that choice. I am sorry that you have been through a trauma, but you don't get to run away. You don't get to take the easy way out. It will take time, but you will help the people of this world, just like everyone else. I won't accept anything less from you," I said, squatting down to lift the kid's face up to mine.

"How am I supposed to live with myself?" The boy asked, and I shrugged.

I really didn't know the answer to that question.

"I really don't know. That will always be there, so the best you can do is to make a positive impact while you are still here. This was not your fault. There are thousands more out there, just like you, and some that have even done worse. I will capture them all, just like I did with you, and then give the powers to people that will be able to use them to help me. Are you going to help me with that?" I asked, and the boy nodded slowly.

"I will try, but I am going to need some time to myself," The boy said, but I shook my head.

"No, you are going to go to sleep for a while, so you will get all the time you need. When you wake up, you will either be transferred into a new body or already in one," I explained, putting my hand on his head.

"My name is Miles…." The boy said but was asleep before he could finish his sentence.

"Can you take Miles to the nearest great tree and store him with the clones? I set his brain to remain asleep until I can figure out how to do what I want," I said as I stood up, looking at Gaia, and she nodded.

"Yes, I will take him. I will meet you back here in about an hour. That should be more than enough time for you to scan everything," Gaia said and then sighed as grass picked Miles up.

"I know, but this is going to be how a lot of them are. I think that there were some serious mistakes made by the AI, and now they are struggling to get a hold. The fact that there were two Villians in a city this close makes me wonder. Are any of them even trying to work together?" I asked, and Gaia nodded.

"That is a good question," Gaia said.

"The Dark Energy System was more than ready to kill that other Villain, which is not what I had expected. It makes me think that they are all working solo and are just trying to be the one that comes out on top. Can you ask Orphus about if there is a top AI or something? That is the only reason that I could see the Villains not working together," I explained, and Gaia nodded.

"I will ask Sofia to ask him; it is hard for me to control three bodies at once," Gaia said, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"What do you mean, three?" I asked, and Gaia pretended not to hear me.