Avatara

Knightmare-Grimm crashed in through the window. With his huge frame and horns on his head making him look like the Minotaur from greek mythology. Glass shattered everywhere and onto the floor of Jazz's lounge. Grace noticed Jazz had been cut on the face by a shard of glass.

"Oh god, it didn't stop them," she said.

In all the rush and commotion, time seemed to slow down and Grace saw Knightmare-Grimm dash towards Jazz. He grabbed Jazz by the throat and lifted him in air with one arm. In normal human form, Jazz didn't stand a chance.

"Now give me the kernel codes or pretty boy here dies!!" said Knightmare-Grimm.

Grace was so struck by terror that she froze.

"Now," said Knightmare-Grimm. "No more chances, give me those codes now and then I will take you back to Sheldrake with me, my darling."

Grace realised in a split moment that Knightmare-Grimm was sounding like Grimm more and more.

"Okay," said Grace. She grabbed her laptop and logged back in. But even in this moment, she did not feel she could give Knightmare-Grimm the codes. That would allow him to take over the mind of anyone using the Avatara app, and now Avatara is in the hands of the general public. He would have access to civilian minds and the minds of soldiers. She had to try something else.

"Don't do it Grace," Jazz's voice was strained through Knightmare-Grimm's voice like grip.

"You better hurry if you want his head to stay on his neck!!!" said Knightmare-Grimm.

"Please don't hurt him," said Grace. "I'll give you the codes."

Grace thought quickly. She had remembered that Knightmare-Grimm said that both Knightmare and Grimm were connected straight to Sheldrake servers to create a more powerful avatara. That meant that she could use the dreaded option 2. She tapped furiously on the screen. She could not see Walker's face but it was starting to change colour and he was losing consciousness as Knightamre-Grimm hand was cutting off blood flow to his brain.

"He doesn't have much time Grace!" said Knightmare-Grimm.

"No, please, just give me one more second!" said Grace.

She typed a few more lines of script in her multipurpose coding interface and pressed enter.

And then…

Smash, there was a small explosion in the room. Particles appeared to scatter in all directions. Grace cowered down to the floor, the coffee table tumbled over and a lamp came off its stand. She heard Walker coughing before she opened her eyes, and once opened she saw him holding his neck struggling with himself on the sofa. Knightmare-Grimm was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh God Jazz? Are you okay?!" she said. Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it beating in her c.h.e.s.t. Her fear that he was dying was allayed by his response.

"Yeah, I'm ok," he said. "What did you do?" Grace helped him to sit up with his back on the sofa backing, allowing him to rest his head on the top of the sofa.

"I did option two Jazz," Grace replied. Inside she felt sad and her posture was downcast as someone who was now feeling the full force of guilt. She looked at Jazz with trembling eyes.

"What's wrong Grace?"

"I... I hacked a main electric grid and... I short-circuited the power to the Sheldrake building... including its back up supply. The Knightmare-Grimm was being enhanced by Knightmare and Grimm's brains being connected to the servers. So I fried the system. But I think I might have killed Knightmare and Grimm's real bodies too."

Grace struggled to say the following words, "I've probably killed them Jazz."

Jazz hugged her hard. "Don't blame yourself Grace. There was no other choice. You did the right thing, don't worry you won't get into trouble for this."

"I'm still a murderer, how could it have got to this? I was so focused on making a great career for myself, that I created the most dangerous software. Chasing approval, being determined to show that women can be great technological innovators too, I lost sight of myself and my values. I never wanted to hurt people Jazz. I never wanted to hurt anyone."

Surrounded by shards of glass on the floor, the smashed window and thrashed furniture, Jazz cradled Grace in his arms. Her face buried in his c.h.e.s.t as she sobbed quietly.