Laker-Girl, WillsZenith, I knew no one was impressed by those kills. The truth was, Hambil had left me rattled. I just didn't want to admit it to myself. I need a big kill next. Someone people would talk about.
Headvoid was sitting with his back to me, reading something on his computer monitor. I snuck up behind him. It was all too easy. I reached out, ready to strangle him. It was then that he span round on his chair. He had a gun aimed at me.
"Hello, Wacky," he said.
"How did you know I was coming?" I asked.
"Hambil," he said. I glanced at the monitor over his shoulder. Hambil would have had emails prepared to be sent in the event of his death. I knew I should have killed Morrhigan. But she isn't a Mine Fielder, she's an innocent, and it would have been wrong. She didn't deserve death. Not like Headvoid.
"Of course," I said. "Didn't think you'd carry a gun."
"Are you kidding? In my line of work it's essential."
"So here we are," I said.
"I know it's not even close to Christmas yet, but your killing days are at an end. I only wish I'd been able to save BDM, SBV, Ish, Jethro and Curious."
"What about Laker Girl and WillsZenith?"
"Oh come on, nobody cared about them! But you're right, they shouldn't have died either."
"THEY DESERVED IT. THEY ALL DID. Deep down, you know it."
"Even if that was true...there's nothing you can do now."
"Except for one thing. One thing you couldn't possibly know, one thing Hambil didn't know right up until the end, one thing he couldn't have put in an email..."
"That you drank his invincibility potion," said Headvoid. And he smiled for the first time.
"But...but how could you know that...Hambil didn't know..."
"It wasn't an email that told me. It was Hambil himself. He uploaded his brain patterns to the internet on the moment of his death."
"That's a lie..." I started to say. But I knew right away that it wasn't. Of course he'd do that, the mad scientist.
"Hambil's still out there. You failed in killing him."
"I killed him," I said, angrily. "A brain pattern on the internet? That's nothing, just ones and zeroes. I killed the flesh Hambil. You can't upload the human soul to the internet!"
"Funny, I thought you didn't believe in the human soul."
"Just shut up, okay! So, what, you loaded the gun with anti-invincibility bullets?"
"That's right."
"Well...that's me screwed then. Can I have make one last request?"
"No tricks."
"Of course not! I just want you to watch something...so you can understand."
"Any sudden moves and I blow your nose off," said Headvoid. I reached down to his computer and typed an address in.
"What is this?" asked Headvoid as a video started to play.
"Just watch," I said.
Sir David Jason appeared on screen. "Consider yourself...one of us," he began.
"This...what...oh God..." said Headvoid, in horror.
"This is the BBC's Christmas advert," I said.
"But they had to make massive cuts...they axed Shooting Stars even though it's still good...Doctor Who Confidential which Tomtrek probably liked a bit...but they still have money for THIS?"
"It cost sixty BILLION pounds," I lied.
"And me watching this...you think I'm going to kill myself now in horror?" Headvoid laughed. "I've seen a lot worse, kid."
"No, this was just a distraction while the nano bots entered your ears," I said. "Something I took with me from Hambil's lab."
"What is this sound...NO!" said Headvoid, in terror.
"It's the song from the Littlewoods advert. It will play in your head until the moment you die."
"Well played, Wacky. Well played. But you do know you've already lost. And knowing that...makes this easier." And he held the gun up to his head. And a moment later his head was void of all brain matter.
"I've lost nothing," I said. "You're dead and so is Hambil!" It was then that I saw Hambil's face flash up briefly on Headvoid's monitor. It was so brief that I could have imagined it. But that didn't stop me kicking the monitor off the desk.
"DEAD!" I said. I felt my phone vibrate. I had a new text message.
It read "I'm still out there."