Chapter 31

Bobby

9:00 PM

"Who are you?" Bobby shouted at Chip. "Is that you, Vlad? In Chip's body?" Two faces were superimposed on each other. A side effect of Barbie's code? One was his manager, the other his brother. Bobby shuddered.

"You guessed it, Petor. I'm impressed," Chip smiled, tapping his finger on the tablet.

"How are you any better than Gregory? You forced Ivan to kill him, didn't you?" Bobby said, pointing at Yichen's body. He was leaning against the pillar, exhausted. The nanites had stopped fixing the biggest damage and had gone dormant, but he needed to sleep.

Bobby knew Chip. He hated the boy. Chip was always trying to be better than he was. Claiming he could do things that he really couldn't, and freaky weird as hell. In some ways, just like Vlad.

Bobby slapped his head. "When did you take over Chip?"

"I don't remember. The first time I travelled after Ivan smashed my head against the sink, my mind split. Do you know how hard it was to control so many bodies at the same time? There are still so many out there. After I got into Stanley, I was able to bring some sense to it, direct it all for this day, but it wasn't easy." Chip shrugged. "Gregory gets off on control. I'm more practical."

"Practical? You had Ivan kill a man." Bobby took a step forward. He was having a hard time separating the two. He hated them both. "Why? Because you wanted to do it!"

Chip shook his head and smiled. "No, I never wanted to do anything like that. All I've ever wanted was to be free." He raised his arms to the ceiling. "Free from Gregory. Free from killing. Free to do what I want. Back in my own body!"

"You're crazy," said Bobby.

"Gregory had us under his thumb. The only thing that saved us was that he didn't know the extent of your coding abilities." Chip pointed a finger at Bobby. His face locked in hate and looked more like Vlad every second. "You could have had freedom, Petor. Saved everyone. With the code, you could have done anything."

"No, it was too dangerous," Bobby said, inching toward his computer. "It destroyed my world." A few more steps and he'd be able to stop any of Chip's counters.

"Dangerous?" Chip said, laughing. "How in the world did you think it was dangerous?" He slid his finger and tapped a few times on the pad. One of the pillars next to Barbie exploded, sending a shower of wood chips into her face. She screamed and covered her head as the wood pierced her body. "It's so useful."

"Stop it! Don't hurt her! Why are you using the code to hurt people?" Bobby was almost at his computer.

Chip snorted. "Hurt people? I'm helping them. Without my guidance, they would be lost."

Bobby stared at his boss. It was hard to disconnect the boy he knew from his brother. However, even Vlad wasn't as unhinged as this. He must have completely fractured the first time.

"I never used the code to do anything stupid like body hopping through time! What the fuck were you thinking?" Bobby yelled.

"You used the code to steal records! You frittered it on useless crap like free take-out and didn't even notice the world changing!" Chip yelled at Bobby. With each exclamation mark, he tapped down on the tablet, and a small explosion erupted among the pillars standing next to Bobby, filling the room with dust and ice chips. The nanobots had stopped their healing and turned off. He was on his own.

He dove for his computer, slipping on the ice Chip used to explode the pillars.

Coughing, his eyes watering, Bobby brought up the program. "Damn, only two percent power!" he yelled. Turning off the limiter had failed.

"Fuck!" He brought up the program hard copy and scrolled to the final line. Typing in a shield program, he stopped the rest of the pillars from exploding by drying them out. Now, Chip couldn't force the water inside to freeze and expand. He looked up. The ceiling sagged, ready to dump the roof on them. He extended the shield to hold it up, but it was only a matter of time.

"You have to stop, Vlad! You're going to bring the Shujing down." Bobby yelled. He forced the code through. "You're messing with reality. Things are going to rebound in fucked-up ways. Just look at Steven Segal."

"I don't care about this hotel anymore. It's done what I needed it to do. It got the code back into your head. And this time you can't erase it." Chip smiled. "I need you. The code I stole is breaking down, and I can't update it. Everything I try makes it worse, and I fragment further." He waved his hands at the room. "Do you know how difficult it was to achieve this? I had to do multiple jumps backwards and forwards through time just to ensure you'd be here. Even then, that dead bitch almost fucked everything up!"

Bobby's face dropped. He watched Barbie shake herself off from the dust of the pillars and turn to Chip. Blood ran down her face and body from dozens of small cuts. Biting her lip, she ran at Chip only to bounce off a shield protecting him, flying backwards and landing in front of Bobby. She groaned and held her back.

"Why'd you do that?" Barbie said, getting up. She was moving more slowly than before.

"What do you want, Vlad? I was in forty-seven. Why did you go back there? Money?" Bobby asked. He needed more time to let his computer charge. Pulling up a Motley Crue file, he started playing 'Kickstart My Heart' from the Dr. Feelgood album. He loved the beat, and the tempo would provide the boost he needed to shut down Vlad.

"What are you talking about, Petor? I was never in forty-seven. I had enough trouble setting this up in the eighties." Chip wrinkled his nose and shuddered. "Are you still playing that shit music? Why don't you grow up? With the code, we can do anything." Chip spat on the ground. "I hate it. Why'd you have to tie your code to that drizzle?"

Bobby eyed the ceiling and grimaced. The cracks were growing. "I don't understand, Vlad. Tell me! You have the code. What do you need me to update it for?"

Chip was silent as he tapped some more on the tablet. "Gregory was right, Petor. You're special. I've tried to code and copy what you've done. But I haven't had the same success you had. Every time I jump, I leave a broken copy behind. I've seen how I failed, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I need you to complete it. Make me whole again!"

"If I gave you access to the code, do what you want, what would you do with it?" Bobby looked down. His computer was still sitting at three percent. It was plugged in, but the shield and the music were draining the battery too quickly. Barbie tiptoed towards Chip. Bobby needed to distract him if she had any chance of taking him down.

"I would use it to get rid of Gregory," Chip shouted, fists at his side, anger turning his features closer to Vlad's. The image of the two fading, combining into one. "To give us everything we ever dreamed of! Bring Sasha home. To get my body back. I miss my body. We were his slaves! He'd already destroyed Ivan. I didn't want the same thing to happen to you."

Another explosion blew Barbie back. She shouted in pain as she crashed into the piano, shattering the black wood. A rebounding twang filled the chaos.

"Stay over there, you bitch. I don't know where you came from, but you've made a mess of everything!" Vlad screamed. "Things would have worked. Bobby would have fixed the disaster I'd made!"

"Nothing can fix the fuck-up you made of reality, Vlad," Bobby said. "Barbie better be all right!"

She had gotten to within three feet of Vlad, but whatever he was using to protect himself was state-of-the-art and fully powered. Bobby watched as a guitar formed above the tablet and solidified. A computer could only do so much without the cords powering it. Bobby's code was based on Crue's music, and playing it was the best way to manipulate it, but Vlad hated music. Frowning, Vlad played a riff on his guitar, and Barbie was blocked as a sheet of pink glass shot up from the ground in front of her.

When did I stop thinking of him as Chip?

"Rot in there, bitch. You ruined everything!" Vlad yelled.

Using the distraction, Bobby entered a program into the computer, ran to the side of the room and grabbed one of Yichen's guitars. It had been signed by Axel Rose, but he wouldn't let Yichen's bad taste stop him. He needed the real thing for this part.

"Dammit, Vlad. What do you think I was doing with the code? I was happy." Bobby hit execute on his computer and opened up with a counter riff on the guitar. Jim had taught him the perfect way to use 'Save Our Souls'. The new beat used Neil's butchering and made it a thing of beauty, tying it to nature directly. The theme was perfect, melding function with style. The pink glass melted into dust and blew itself back at Vlad, encasing his feet and the side of his body in stone.

"You can't keep creating things out of nothing. The cost is too high! Causality will come back and bite you in the balls!" Bobby yelled. "And stop trying to kill my family!"

"Fuck you, Petor!" Vlad yelled, flinching. "You're not going to win this." He pounded furiously on his tablet, dropping the guitar. He could never do much with it anyway. Vlad needed to input the counter before the stone became permanent.

"Fuck!" Bobby pounded his fist against his leg. He dove back to his computer and started typing. It had enough power left for two or three more functions, and Vlad would get out of the stone cage quickly.

"Maker, what are you going to do?" Barbie asked. She'd crawled close to Bobby, leaving a small trail of blood slicking the floor behind her.

"Oh, my God. Barbie! Your foot!" Bobby said, reaching for her. Vlad's last attack had sheared off her right foot. Bobby grit his teeth. "Fuckin bastard. How dare he do that to you!"

"Thank you for worrying, Maker," Barbie said. "But it's gone, and I don't have the power to get it back. The last of my nanobots burned out closing the wound. We can't stop him. He's had too much time to plan his position." She pouted.

"Stop that. You're over twenty, and what would your mother say?"

Barbie's mouth opened in shock. "Do you remember everything?" she asked. Hope filled her voice.

"Yes, but now's not the time..." he trailed off. Bobby's eyes grew wide, and he shifted to his computer. "Time. That's it." He pulled up the code and started typing. "I can't have the music on and use the code at the same time. It's draining the battery too much. Can you play?" He thrust the guitar at her.

"Of course," Barbie huffed. "Every citizen of the Greater Vegas area learns the guitar. My Handler taught me personally." Barbie turned red and raised her hands. "But, she said, I can't use the code. I cause too much destruction without a limiter."

"I don't care what she said," Bobby cut Barbie off with a wave of his hand. "He hurt my baby girl, and I can't have that."

Barbie teared up. "I'll do it. Just don't tell my Handler."

"Great. Keep him off me! I need to mess with reality a bit." Barbie took the guitar. And caressed the strings. Using the code, he brought up the lyrics to Save Our Souls and combined it with the music he'd altered from Weed Smokers Dream. He had the code display the music in the air next to Barbie. "Play this! I'll set the computer to translate it into an attack and a shield," said Bobby.

"I know this one. It's beautiful, Maker," Barbie said, her eyes misting as she ran her finger along the cords. "This is your signature piece. I'm honoured to play it." She turned over and set the guitar on her lap.

"What do you think you can do against me, Petor!" Vlad shouted. His renewed attack shattered the shield around Bobby's computer and rained pieces of broken force down on the two. The pillars continued to explode, sending more showers of concrete, ice and wood. Dust filled the air. Bobby sneezed, covered his head with one hand, wiped off his computer screen and continued typing with the other. Barbie tapped a rhythm on the guitar and set off a reverb, shattering Vlad's attack, turning it into flowers.

"How are you going to stop his attack, Maker?"

"I'm going to have to send you back in time to when the you in the Shujing were killed, Barbie," Bobby said. "You're the only one who can do it. I need you to kill your past self before Vlad infects me and then hide in the folds of reality until I can send you back. You'll also have to reprogram your past self using the worm I'm going to give you, so that it counters Vlad's virus."

Barbie gave Bobby a side look of worry and continued playing, rebuilding the shield piece by piece. Vlad's attack was digging in, slowing it down, but not stopping the wall from growing.

"Are you sure it'll work, Maker? Time travel is like picking up hot broken glass," said Barbie. She played another chord. The air around Vlad turned to steamy cola, covering him in foam.

"Yes, it will, because it's already happened." Bobby continued to type. "I know what your mission really was, Barbara Millicent. I know what you were supposed to do. I realized it in forty-seven when I remembered the last time you came here." Bobby stuck his tongue out. "I didn't want to die then, and I don't want to do it now."

Barbie's mouth opened and closed like a fish. Her eyes went wide, and she stopped playing the guitar.

"Don't stop!" Bobby shouted.

Vlad used that empty second to dig further into the shield, knocking it back down and causing the ceiling above Bobby to explode. Sparks and plaster rained down on the two of them, burning his arm. The stink of burnt flesh filled the air.

"Give it up, Petor," Vlad shouted over the din. "I don't want to kill you, but I can't have you interfering with my plans. If I have to bring you back, it won't be the same."

"I've already travelled once this trip. A twofer would break nature," Barbie belted out another chord, reinforcing the shield. Her face went hollow.

Bobby grimaced. She was using her life force to power the spell. "It's a lot to ask, but you're the only one who can survive as a ghost, and this time, I'll make sure you can last," Bobby said to Barbie, wiping his brow and smearing blood over it. He entered a command, and a knife formed over the computer. "When you get there, use the knife. It'll transmit the counter code and stop Vlad's virus from overwriting my personality. When you use the blood in your other self to set up a reverse algorithm, it'll create a feedback loop."

"I get it," Barbie said, raising the guitar and sending a reverberating cord back at Vlad. It shattered his guitar and knocked him into the instruments. She took the knife and tucked it into her belt. "While I'm there, I can use the nanites to recover. She can regain her body when you complete the first part of the code." Barbie drew back. "What about me? Won't I cease to exist? A ghost form can bend the laws of reality for only a little while. There can't be two of me in the era at the same time. The power needed to send me back will leave you defenceless, and could warp reality."

"Fuck!" Bobby winced and hit enter. A small blue ball of energy formed above his computer. Steaks of light coalesced around it into a solid mass, the stink of burning metal and electricity filling the air and drowning out the smell of flesh. He pulled his shirt off and wrapped it around his hand, wincing as he touched it. The tingling travelled down his arms. "I know. Don't stay. After you finish what you need to do, use the power that's set off when the glass explodes to kickstart the spell and send yourself back home. Blood magic is powerful and shouldn't fuck-up reality any more than it already has." He guided the energy ball over to Barbie. "This is the anti-code. It'll counter Vlad's attack. It'll also get you home."

"With you? Mother's waiting for you," Barbie said, wobbling. She'd lost too much blood. Another trip with the code should remedy that.

Bobby gulped. "Not yet. I can't go just yet. Tell Sasha that I'm sorry." He put both hands behind it and shoved the ball into Barbie's chest. She screamed as the blue energy infused her body, causing her to spasm. She flung the guitar off her lap and shook.

"No! You can't!" Vlad shouted, sending another wave of explosions at Bobby and Barbie. The floor pitched, breaking Bobby's concentration.

"Dammit!" Bobby turned back to his computer, but one hand wasn't fast enough to keep up with the shifting code. He needed to get the energy into Barbie if she was going to survive.

"No. Please, Maker. Come with me. We need you, Father," Barbie pleaded, still shaking from the energy coursing through her.