Without a word, Amy helped me out of the car. My gaze then grazed the two silhouettes flanking her. "Bahiriya? Theo? I don't understand..."

My voice trailed off as I spotted the glint of a silvery disc on each of them. "Impossible."

Despair filled me. How could fate be so cruel as to use friends and family in my demise?

When was Theo captured? When the NPCs had cornered us in Pemberley portrait-gallery, he had sacrificed himself to let me flee back to reality. The characters had pinned him to the ground during my escape. Did he manage to log off afterwards, and did he look for me with the same anguish as I did? Or did Victoria's claws close in on him and lock his mind in-game? It did not matter anymore. He was now under his mentor's control. Bile rose in my throat. At least, she had not killed him, which meant she would not kill me either.

Bahiriya had a bruise on her cheekbone. Was it her girlfriend's doing? Did Kimani attack her to apply a Bridge, like the zombie in the mall had attempted on my person? In all cases, Bahiriya had baited me via texts to learn my location, and I had carelessly disclosed it. Amy was right: I was too trustful.

Oh, no... Amy... I could not wrap my head around her involvement in my kidnapping. Did she try on Edward's Bridge? I thought he had gotten rid of it after his accident. How foolish of her to come near this wretched device!

"Where are we? What are you going to do with me?" My voice quivered pathetically.

They ignored my questions and pushed me in the direction of an elegant manor. Two-story-high, with a classic beige stony facade and brownish slate roof, it featured an octagonal tower and a tasteful porch, upon which the four of us traipsed.

Theo knocked on the massive entrance door. When Victoria appeared, I recoiled, and made a run for it.

In two strides, Bahiriya and Amy were on me and had tackled me to the ground. I whimpered while Ames held me with an armlock, her knee jabbing between my shoulder blades. Beside Victoria, Theo observed us without saying a word.

"Guys, please, she's manipulating you..." I coughed, my face digging in the dusty gravel alley. Sobs shook my body as they pulled me back to my feet without ceremony.

"Why the hell are you here? Urgh, never mind." Victoria's fingers twitched when she brushed the Bridge on her temple.

Theo, Bahiriya and Amy snapped their heads in her direction like trained animals. Like one being, they straightened up and marched towards the house, the girls dragging me relentlessly through the door until Victoria slammed the door behind her.

A ghost of a person. That was what crossed my mind as she turned to face us. This morning, in the gloomy Batcave, I had only caught a glimpse of her inanition. Her once plump cheeks were hollow and ashen. The bun she was sporting was messy, and her roots, oily. As for her clothes, they hung miserably on her feeble body.

Under my inspection, Victoria crossed her arms over her chest, and raised her pointy chin up with bravado. "Look what the cat dragged in."

I crushed the pity that had arisen at her dreadful appearance, and returned her animosity. "Look what the cat asked the mice to drag in because the cat is a frigging coward."

She blinked. "I'm no coward."

"How would you call someone who sends other people to do the dirty job?"

She scoffed, then trudged to the living room. The girls followed her obediently, and lined up against the wall after shoving me inside, but Theo bumped into an armchair. He took a step back, and bashed into the furniture again. And again. And again.

"Stop it." Victoria snarled.

Another banging sound resonated in the empty house.

With an exhausted sigh, Victoria closed her eyes, and a shudder crossed the three of them. "There. I released the players I was using to hunt you down. The engine should run smoothly at present. Now, please walk around the armchair like a normal human being."

When Theo took position near the others, Victoria picked up a dish from the coffee table. "Hungry?"

I glared without a word.

"Right. You don't like raisin oatmeal cookies." She picked one and sniffed it with circumspection. "Gotta admit I have no idea since when these have been here. I've spent most of my time online these last weeks." She took a cautious bite, and spat it back into the plate, coughing and gagging.

After she wiped her mouth on her sleeve, she flopped down on the beige sofa, and turned her attention to Bahiriya. "I thought you had failed. I watched you whack her and fight with Theo, then I lost the connection. I was busy spreading my troops on Mount Royal when you knocked."

Relief and sadness swirled in my chest. Theo had escaped the virtual reality. But afterwards, Bahiriya had unwillingly betrayed me and battled him at the Belvedere.

With a gesture towards Amy, Bahiriya explained, "This girl appeared and helped me overpower Theo. We put my spare Bridge on him, thus we had none for Leah. We decided to bring her here for you to take care of without raising suspicions."

This answered my question about Amy's presence.

Victoria's eyes bore into her mentee. "Why didn't you take her to the headquarters? Everyone there is under my control, and you would've found plenty of Bridges."

Theo's voice vibrated in the spacious living room. "We thought you would enjoy dealing with the matter yourself. Apply a Bridge with your own fingers."

"There are none here, except yours and the one I'm wearing." She got up and rubbed her neck wearily.

"The closest user with another Bridge in their household lives in Rawdon." She paced the room, her steps slow and heavy on the oak floorboard. "I could have an InfiCorp employee bring one from the storehouse, but they're all scattered Uptown Montreal. I'd first have to repatriate them."

Her attention flicked to me. "And we'd have to detain her in the meantime." She hesitated and motioned towards me, her gaze not meeting mine. "It's too complicated. Just... kill her."

I gasped, my stomach churning in shock and horror. Then, anger consumed me. "You're ready to murder innocents to protect your schemes?"

Her confidence wavered. "It's for the greater good."

"You can pretend you're a hero all you want. You and I both know that you're the villain in this story."

"I'm saving people..."

"This is not how you save people. You listen to them, you talk to them, and you--"

"TALKING DIDN'T WORK FOR PAULA!" Victoria's nostrils flailed as she fought to regain composure. "It didn't work. I proposed she come live with me, and she refused. I offered money to run away and start a new life, and she refused. I insisted on reporting her partner to the authorities, and she refused."

Tears streamed down across her emaciated face, leaving glistening rivers on her cheeks. "I don't understand why she did... "

Violent sobs racked her frail body as she slid to the floor, broken.

I didn't miss a beat. The instant her head bent down in grief, I sprinted to tear off her Bridge.

Behind me, I heard gulps and grunts, and prayed that I would reach Victoria before they'd intercept me. Otherwise, I'd have to deal a few throat punches and fish hooks to people I cared about.

I grabbed a handful of her hair--now was the time to be effective, not stylish. She squealed, and clawed at my wrist, whilst trying to cover her temple.

We were wrestling on the floor, a ball of fury and desperation, until the three others joined the fight. I braced myself and resolved to hurt my loved ones, when the girls clenched Victoria's arms. Then, Theo took off the silvery disc on her temple, and applied his own on her. With a last shuddering mewl, she crumpled to the floor in fetal position, a blissful smile curling her lips up.

I gaped at the turnaround. "What the f--"

Amy's tight embrace knocked the wind out of me. She kissed my cheek, my jaw, my forehead, careful to stay clear from the lump on my skull. "Lee-Lee-Bee, I am so so so sorry!"

"Ames, what the hell was that? I thought you were possessed." I tapped on her temple, and with a revolted cry, she peeled her Bridge off and threw it to the ground.

As Bahiriya imitated her, I stomped my feet and whined, "Would someone please explain what is going on?"

Theo was staring into the void, his brows knitted together and his mouth slightly ajar. Bahiriya hovered near Victoria, monitoring her for precaution.

Amy chuckled. "I don't know all the details, but here is what I saw. When you didn't answer my text, I panicked, and hopped in my car to join the last position sent by your GPS app. Once at the Belvedere, I looked for you in the woods, and heard someone calling for help."

She hid a grin behind her hand, and lowered her voice. "This dude was getting his arse kicked by the lovely lady over there."

"Bahiriya is a vicious fighter." Theo pouted and raised his forearm. He rolled his sleeve up and pointed to an impressive bite mark on his wrist.

His aggressor shrugged. "Sorry. In my simulation, you were a giant chicken leg."

Amy snorted. "Anyways. I was hesitating as to whom to save, when he recognised me and yelled, 'Jane!' I remembered that I was Jane Bennet in your game, and deduced that Mr. Chicken Leg was Darcy, aka Theo."

An outraged umph welcomed the nickname. She went on, "We removed Bahiriya's device, and seeing you were out, devised a strategy to approach Victoria and neutralise her."

Theo exclaimed, "Okay, I'm in. Thanks to my backdoor, I accessed Victoria's enhanced device, and freed InfiCorp technical team and board of directors. I can now confirm that there are no more zombies."

"Great." Bahiriya took her phone and dialed 911.

"Why didn't you include me in your plan?" I placed a stray hair strand back behind Amy's ear.

"We didn't know for how long you would be passed-out. The plan was to use you as a decoy. We would pretend to be under her control, and seize the opportunity to swap her Bridge with one of ours."

"I tweaked Bahiriya's, her girlfriend's, and my Bridge, to receive Victoria's orders without forcing us to obey. And I added a trigger: should one of them touch her skin, a customised virtual reality would engulf her." Theo grinned with pride.

My gaze flickered to Victoria's prostrated body and to her peaceful expression. "What's in her simulation?"

"I browsed Bridge profiles to retrieve Paula, and created an alternate reality in which she was still alive."

"Won't Victoria realise this is a dupe and try to escape?"

"I removed the possibility of switching off the game from the inside. For her to come back, someone will have to remove the Bridge from her temple."

I sighed, and rubbed my face, wincing as I grazed my lump.

"I apologise if my gesture caused you discomfort." Bahiriya gave a faint smile as she quoted me.

"No biggie. You weren't conscious of what you were doing." I turned to Amy and nudged her. "You, however, knew full well that you were inflicting pain when you armlocked me."

She put her hand on her chest, pretending to be saddened by my comment. "I promise I took absolutely no pleasure, none whatsoever."

"Right." I flicked her nose with my finger. "That's for tackling your big sister. Why didn't you attack Victoria the moment she showed herself? I would have joined you. Four against one: it would've been easy to restrain her."

Theo pocketed his Bridge and chimed in, "We didn't know if she had surrounded herself with zombie bodyguards. We weren't in the mood to re-enact Shaun of the Dead."

In the distance, sirens announced the arrival of emergency vehicles.

"I've never seen that movie. Hot Fuzz, and The World's End, yes, but not this one."

Theo offered, "I own the box set. I can lend it to you."

A sheepish grin spread on my face as I entwined my fingers with his. "Or we could watch it together."

The cheeks of both of us were overspread with the deepest blush.

The world around us faded away. The hallway blurred, and Amy and Bahiriya's voices came from very far away. "Eww," and "Get a room," they said, but I registered their quips without reacting. All I was aware of was the beautiful colour of Theo's eyes. Dark brown, like chocolate.

He sucked in a sharp breath. "That's a date."