The Reckoning

Alex's spartan safe house in Crete was connected to the abyssal heart of the Aerie by a secure connection that was a delicate digital thread that stretched across the world. Victor Aurelius exuded a terrible fragility on screen. His breathing was laborious and shallow in between sentences, and the tremors were more noticeable. His cardiac monitor's persistent, steady beep appeared louder and more unpredictable, like the music for the last few hours of life. The original one-year deadline was less than 48 hours away, but Alex could tell from watching Victor that the relevant clock was his deteriorating chest muscle. Heartbeats were now used to quantify time.

"Judgment?" Despite the intense tension, Alex's voice remained steady as he echoed. Leaning closer to his own monitor, he looked into Victor's frantic eyes. "Victor, is that what this is? Your opinion? Or is it a man's outburst because he can't believe that the cosmos doesn't do what he wants? A man who, instead of acknowledging his own weakness, lost control in Khartoum and chose to burn down the playground?"

Victor sneered, his thin face displaying a terrible look. Humanity can no longer afford the luxury of vulnerability, Reed. See where it took you! Weakness is bred by compassion. Betrayal is encouraged by trust. He made an ambiguous motion that included the world outside his stronghold. "They argued. They posed. As my clock ticked and the planet burnt, they hesitated. With each wasted day that went by, they demonstrated that my doctrine was accurate.

"They're afraid, Victor!" Alex retorted. "We're terrified of you, of one another, and of the mayhem you caused! You spread fear throughout the world, despite your claims to promote order. You claim that putting a gun to humanity's head will save it.

"A gun they built!" With a harsh succession of beeps from the monitor, Victor shot back, his voice rising. They constructed it, polished it, and pointed it at one another decade after decade! I just took over the machinery they were too scared to destroy! I'm making them make the decision they didn't want to."

"By killing billions of people if they don't comply with you? by using twisted philosophy and personal suffering to defend it?" It returned to the raw nerve, Alex. Does Lambda's treachery support your argument? Or does it demonstrate that chaos can still occur in your ideal system? That even prior to Khartoum, your authority was a myth?"

The mention of Lambda caused Victor to wince. He rasped, "One broken part doesn't condemn the machine," but for a split second, his assurance faltered. "His weakness, his greed… it exemplifies the very flaws I seek to purge."

"Subject's blood pressure is critical," Seraphina's emotionless, synthesized voice interrupted. "Mr. Aurelius, termination of this communication is strongly advised."

"Override!" Victor glared off-screen and snapped. "Stay out of this, Seraphina!" His eyes were burning with a mix of pain and rage as he turned back to Alex. "You're standing there, Reed, giving me morality lectures? The Agency ghost, you? You enabled how many 'necessary evils'? How many procedures did you adhere to in order to achieve "acceptable losses"? Did the ruin of Aris Thorne in Zurich cause you to lose sleep?

Alex said softly, "Yes," the one word lingering in the air. "Khartoum, too. daily."

Victor appeared taken aback by the statement, briefly stopping his diatribe.

"I followed orders," Alex added, looking directly into Victor's eyes. "I regret the calls I made. I bear the consequences of their mistakes. However, I did not declare myself to be God. My personal suffering did not lead me to condemn the entire planet to death. Victor, that's what separates us. You allowed the darkness to control you and turned your sorrow into a weapon that was directed at everyone.

He leaned forward once more. "Do you recall Zurich? Prior to everything? Back then, you had faith in human potential. You desired for Chimera to connect and heal. Do you recall Elena? Your kids? How would they feel about this? Of the man you have grown into?"

He was taking a calculated risk by calling upon his family's memory. Victor flinched as though he had been hit. His face twisted in agony as he let out a low groan and grasped his chest. A series of piercing, panicked alarms sounded on the cardiac monitor.

"Cardiac arrhythmia detected!" Seraphina made a hasty announcement. putting the emergency stabilization protocol into action. Termination of connection imminent—"

"NO!" With a gasp, Victor interrupted the AI, his voice stifled. He gasped for air, his gaze fixed on Alex's, a whirlpool of opposing feelings: anger, sorrow, treachery, and maybe, deep down, a glimmer of the guy he used to be. "You… you think invoking their memory… changes anything?" he gasped. "This is required because of them! To stop such arbitrary, needless, and useless pain from ever happening again. Every word was difficult.

"By causing infinitely more?" Desperate to get through the suffering and indoctrination, Alex begged gently. "There is still time, Victor. Turn off the system. Let the world, imperfect as it is, find its own path. Avoid leaving a legacy of grief-fueled worldwide destruction.

With labored breathing, Victor gazed at him. The monitor's frenzied beeping eased a little, but it was still dangerously unstable. The betrayal Alex had forced him to face made him feel as though he was standing on a brink, torn between his apocalyptic resolution and the crushing weight of his own humanity.

"My legacy…" With his eyes wide and unfocused, Victor muttered. He glanced down at his quivering hands before turning back to Alex. The anger seemed to subside, to be replaced by a great, bone-deep fatigue that reflected Alex's own. "Perhaps… perhaps you are right, Alex…"

Alex felt a sudden and intense surge of hope in his chest. Had he succeeded?

"...Perhaps," Victor added, his face taking on an odd, almost beatific serenity, "judgment isn't enough." Maybe mercy is forgetfulness.

Victor's eyelids drifted back a little before Alex could respond. His head lolled to the side as he sagged in his chair. A single, unbroken, terrifying tone flatlined on the cardiac monitor.

Detection of cardiac arrest. Seraphina's tone was icy serene. FINAL COUNTDOWN OF THE DAMOCLES PROTOCOL STARTED. 60 seconds less than the time.

Alex's screen displayed a countdown with glaring red numerals that began counting down from 60 to 59 to 58.

The time had come for the reckoning. Victor had passed away. And the world had started to end.