It has been two weeks since the final battle against the Gunslinger and Doctor Insano and Linkara has been busy during that time finishing one of Pollo's three new bodies. After transferring his consciousness into said new body Pollo is now decked out in his new main form. Once that is out of the way Linkara checks up to see what comic he has to review for the week...the fourth issue of Marville. Linkara tells Pollo to get some booze. The end of the review shows that Linkara has also finished work on Pollo's ground body although neither of his new bodies has working arms to the robots irritation.
Three months later, during Linkara's review of Spider-Man 2099 #1 as part of his Marvel 2099 month, 90's Kid is replaced by a myseterious doppelganger with a different hat and vizer instead of sunglasses. This man is 90's Kid of 2099 and he explains that, due to a temporal distortion caused by the Plothole, he and his present day counterpart switched places which he explains should be resolved in a few weeks time. Sure enough, after Linkara finishes 2099 month with Ravage 2099, suddenly the two 90's Kid's switch back. Linkara asks 90's Kid if he learned anything interesting while he was in the future and, after listing some minor trivia (including that Linkara will get a new coat), 90's Kid gives Linkara a mysterious piece of paper which the latter decides to solve at another time.
Two months later Linkara is speaking to a man named Allen about Jaeris telling him that the Gunslinger posses no threat and commenting on how quiet things have been lately. Linkara promises to contact Allen the next week and ends the call. Whilst Linkara is shown sowing together some materials for a new costume he asks NIMUE if there are any anomalies she detected during her diagnostic of the apartments defences. NIMUE's assertion that no anomalies were detected confuses Linkara as Jaeris was able to come and go as he pleased without disabling security.
Linkara asks NIMUE how she has been feeling and points out that, as an Artificial Intelligence, she has her own thoughts and feelings. NIMUE admits that she is unsure exactly how she has been feeling but the closest approximation she can come to is that she is worried about her performance and the discrepancies she cant answer. While Linkara assures her that they will find the answer they are looking for NIMUE asks him "What does it feel like when someone is losing their mind?" Linkara now worried for her tells NIMUE he will have Pollo run another diagnostic. Once Linkara leaves NIMUE begins stuttering to herself about him seeing her and, after some sparks fly from her console, says "your not going to win".
After spending two weeks examining NIMUE's programing Linkara notes to Pollo in frustration that all their efforts thus far to figure out what's wrong have been in vain. Pollo suggests that perhaps NIMUE may be simply overtaxed and Linkara asks his A.I. if that is true. NIMUE replies that, since the events of last year, much of the burden on her has been lifted. However when she attempts to explain that her systems are operating normally she stutters on the word "systems" which alarms both Linkara and Pollo. Linkara asks NIMUE what just happened but the A.I. was unaware of the problem and cant account for her stutter when Linkara tells her to replay her logs back to herself.
Linkara ponders that perhaps an outside force may be effecting NIMUE and NIMUE admits that it may be possible. Linkara tells Pollo to transport himself on board Comicron 1 and get to work on getting the Temporal Shields online. Linkara also tells NIMUE to activate the Force Wall and keep it online for as long as possible in the hopes that, if an outside force is manipulating NIMUE, the shielding may be enough to keep them out. After Pollo teleports on-board Comicron 1 NIMUE asks Linkara if he is afraid of her. When Linkara replies with a no and leaves the room NIMUE whispers to herself "you should be".
One month later Pollo arrives on Jaeris' spaceship to comb over the multiversal data on Sierra's hard drive in order to find Jaeris' home world as he has been doing for the past few months. Jaeris has been depressed since his anchor was destroyed and is drunk when Pollo arrives. Pollo points out that the search would go a lot faster if he were able to transfer all of the data to Comicron 1 and analyse it that way as oppose to taking the data, piece-by-piece, over to the ships computers. However Jaeris refuses since he still blames Linkara for stranding him in this dimension.
Pollo points out that Jaeris seems to be conveniently forgetting that he was the one who attacked Linkara multiple times unprovoked in order to steal his Magic Gun. When Jaeris counters that he did what he had to do in order to save his world Pollo tells him that he is no different from Lord Vyce, Mechakara or even the Entity as all of them attempted to justify their actions with the same philosophy of it being "what was best". Pollo leaves to check on NIMUE due to the transfer of data being corrupted and Jaeris is left to stew over Pollo's remarks.
Three weeks later, after Linkara finishes his review of The Culling, Linkara is shown reading the Absent Grimoire specifically a passage about a creature not unlike the Entity but much less powerful; the King of Worms. According to the passage this "cousin" of the Entity knew fear well, in comparison to its kin, and actively sought out the emotion until its face was perverted by the foreign emotion into a visage that any creature who knew fear would recognise. Because of its visage the King of Worms acted through its "Clockwork Soldiers" who did not no fear and wouldn't question its orders.
Due to the connection with "Clockwork Soldiers" Linkara throws out the possibility that the King may be responsible for NIMUE's degradation especially since they cant find any other answers to why she is acting the way she is. Linkara and Pollo decide to use the data on Comicron 1 to adapt their current weapons to fight creatures like the Entity just in case it really is the King that is controlling NIMUE. After the two leave 90's Kid appears and takes the Absent Grimoire away with him with a thoughtful look on his face.
Two weeks pass, after the conclusion of Brute Force #4, and Linkara is one the phone with Allen telling him that he doesn't need his technicians to look over NIMUE. While he assures him that he trusts Allen he doesn't trust his technicians anywhere near his ships AI. Suddenly Jaeris arrives at the apartment to talk with Linkara. After establishing that Allen is his liaison with the US government (since the government is naturally uncomfortable with a comic book reviewer having a spaceship unsupervised) Linkara asks if Pollo managed to find Jaeris' home universe. Jaeris admits that no he hasn't but that isn't why he has come to Linkara, he came to apologise for what he did the previous year. While Jaeris admits that, if he hadn't tried to steal Linkara's Magic Gun, he probably wouldn't be stranded in the first place, Linkara cuts him off. Linkara says that he was the one who destroyed Jaeris' anchor and that the two are only responsible for their own actions not the actions of others.
Suddenly NIMUE starts talking gibberish, to the point that she starts repeating the phrase "green", and Linkara commands her to preform a hard reset. According to Linkara this is a recurring problem that NIMUE has been having for the past few months and she has only been getting worse with time. While NIMUE is still offline Jaeris tells Linkara about a similar problem he had with Sierra when his original AI went insane due to being able to think up millions of problems at once and nobody being able to interact with him. After Sierra almost killed him Jaeris deactivated him and painstakingly reprogrammed him to the most minute code and Jaeris tells Linkara he may want to do the same to NIMUE before she becomes a threat to him. After Jaeris leaves NIMUE comes back online and Linkara calls Allen back up again to continue their conversation. Once Linkara leaves the room however NIMUE whispers to herself "I'm going to kill you."
It is now Halloween time and Linkara is aboard Comicron 1 and intends to look over NIMUE one piece at a time to determine what is wrong. Suddenly Comicron 1 begins shaking and leaves the Earths orbit. Linkara tells NIMUE to turn the ship around but she begins talking to herself again and telling herself to "stop whispering" and "I hear you when you whisper, I hear you when you say your going to kill me." Linkara tries to perform another hard reset but not only does NIMUE ignore him but she starts giggling at him. When Linkara asks if she can understand him she screams that she isn't talking to him and tells herself that "I hate you." Linkara sends a distress call out to anyone who can hear him and NIMUE asks him "are you afraid?"
The next episode opens with the usual Previously on… gag but is then cancelled and it cuts to NIMUE talking to herself again and giggling. Linkara asks if she is alright and, after asking him if he is afraid, Linkara admits that he is. When Linkara asks her to let him help her NIMUE says "V is for oranges." While Linkara is confused by this statement NIMUE accuses Linkara of only caring for himself and that he intents to kill her. NIMUE starts screaming at Linkara and begins talking gibberish again before telling him that she's going to kill him.
While Linkara is stuck on Comicron 1 he decides to review issues 3 and 4 of The Thing from Another World: Climate of Fear to pass the timentime. After the review is over Comicron 1 abruptly stops in the middle of nowhere space and NIMUE repeats the phrase "green" and says "do you hear the whispers of the King of Worms?" Realising that there is nothing more he can do for her at this time Linkara decides he has to shut NIMUE down.
Meanwhile on-board Jaeris ship Jaeris is playing the guitar when suddenly Sierra tells him about the distress signal Linkara send out for him. While annoyed Jaeris decides to go and help Linkara out. On-board Comicron 1 the bridge begins to get colder and NIMUE reveals to Linkara that she has disabled the air and that every breath he takes brings him one step closer to death. While NIMUE tells him that he's a dead man she says "Clockwork Soldiers cant say no. The dead man whisper from the Court of Worms." Linkara asks if the King of Worms is doing this to her but, of course, NIMUE wont respond in any meaningful way and begins Linkara's theme song.
Over the course of his Spider-Man: Crossfire review Linkara works to turn disable NIMUE from Comicron 1's control. By the time he is ready to do so Jaeris has beamed onto the ship to help Linkara out. Linkara tells her that, once he pulls some wires from the control panel, NIMUE will be offline and he doesn't know if she can ever be turned back on again. Suddenly the ship starts shaking and NIMUE screams at Linkara in an increasingly frantic voice to die. Linkara reaches over and pulls the plug on her and, just before she deactivates, NIMUE whispers "help me" before the ships console and all the lights on Comicron 1 shut off.
With NIMUE offline Linkara is able to restore the environmental systems but is clearly distraught over turning off his trusty AI. Suddenly the console starts glowing red and all of the lights on Comicron 1 go back online in the same red tone. Suddenly a voice rings out from Comicron 1's console: "Your computer is dead Champion. Tell me, are you afraid?"
Vyce confirms to Linkara that he is now the ship that Linkara walks upon and Linkara asks how it is possible for him to return. Vyce explains to Linkara that, while the anti gravity propulsion systems of his body were damaged, the transmitter was not. Slowly, over the course of the last year, Vyce transmitted bits and pieces of his data form to Comicron 1, causing the various malfunctions that had plagued the ship during the Gunslinger arc, as well as replacing pieces of NIMUE's code with his own data form in order to test the limits of his new power within the ship. Eventually enough of his data form was transmitted to Comicron 1 that Vyce was able to can control over its flight capabilities and maneuvered the ship to his old body. Once Linkara disabled what was left of NIMUE Vyce easily transferred the last of his data form over to Comicron 1 and brags that he now has complete control over the ship.
Linkara realises that Vyce is the reason NIMUE was driven insane and Vyce confirms that she had fought him every step of the way and that, if she lost her sanity along the way, it was no concern of his dismissively saying that "it was just a computer." Vyce admits that it has a strong desire for revenge but tells Linkara that he will drop him back on Earth to continue his search for the Entity anew.
Linkara tells Vyce that he doesn't believe that he has full control over the ship just yet and yells to the still hidden Jaeris, who has been hanging back and observing this interaction for some time, the fire suppression systems automatically cut in when the ship is damaged. Jaeris then starts firing on the ship distracting Vyce long enough for Linkara to reunite with the Gunslinger and the two head for cargo bay 1. Linkara explains to Jaeris that they can't go anywhere in the ship that Vyce could potentially find them so they have to go to an off-grid site; the auxiliary control room (which just so happens to look like the bridge from Star Trek).
Linkara explains that they have a little bit of time before Vyce finds them as he doesn't believe Vyce has full control of the ship yet. If he did he would have seen Jaeris coming which means that certain functions of the ship are still tied in to NIMUE's core programing. Linkara's plan is simple, he is going to turn NIMUE back on, and send her after Vyce as the megalomaniac could not delete her himself when they were fighting. If that plan fails Linkara instructs Jaeris to pilot the ship into the sun to prevent Vyce from getting his hands on Comicron 1.
With that taken care of Linkara has to do some power rerouting and, to pass his boredom, decides to review the 2001: A Space Odyssey comic book (much to Jaeris' disbelief).
Once the review is over Jaeris tells Linkara that in ten minutes Comicron 1 will enter the sun just as Lord Vyce contacts Linkara having finally found him. While Vyce tells Linkara that he is already beginning to gain control over minor areas of the back up room the Cybermat's on-board Comicron 1 begin to cause minor bits of sabotage as well as draw power from around the ship.
An enraged Vyce turns Comicron 1 away from the sun and informs Linkara that he has decided to suffocate him to death. Linkara asks Vyce if he knows what a ghost is and, when Vyce answers a spirit in confusion, Linkara tells him that he was referring to a computer ghost, backup copies of programs to be reinstalled. And, while Pollo may not have wanted backup copies of himself, NIMUE had no such problem.
Vyce informs Linkara that he can not recreate NIMUE as he has locked down the ships data core however Linkara clarifies that he didn't delete NIMUE he merely shut her off. Vyce realises, to his horror, that Linkara is able to turn NIMUE back on and, using the backup's, restore the files that Vyce corrupted to turn her back into her old self. Linkara then tells NIMUE to combat the invading program within her data core.
Inside the memory core NIMUE confronts Vyce and tells him that, for all his grandstanding, he is truly evil and that she will be the one to end him. Vyce attempts to destroy NIMUE in order to regain control of the ship. However he underestimates the processing speed of a computer program in comparison to a living mind and is easily able to counter his attempts to control her. NIMUE gains some much needed revenge against the tyrant that drove her mad and attempts to delete him after asking him if he is afraid before seemingly destroying him.
Some time later, NIMUE informs Linkara that she is now operating at 100% efficiency and Pollo confirms that there are no more foreign entities inside of Comicron 1. Suddenly NIMUE informs Linkara that a single Shade soldier is missing from the ships inventory and, after some crosschecking, concludes that right before being deleted, Vyce transferred his consciousness into a Shade body and teleported to Earth.
The teleport trace has decayed to the point that it can't be tracked and Jaeris points out that Vyce is going to want revenge against Linkara due to being defeated again. Linkara decides that, if Vyce wants a fight, he will give him one. After teleporting back to the apartment Linkara looks through his closet and tells a confused Pollo and Jaeris that, for the past five years, villians have been coming around trying to pick a fight with him and he is sick of it. It's time for a change.
After sifting through his closet he comes back into the living room in a new costume that includes a vest, white shirt, and brown duster coat. After having his Significant Wardrobe Shift moment ruined by Allen's timely arrival (who is there to inquire about Vyce almost gaining control of Comicron 1 again) Linkara tells him to wait a moment. After vowing to Vyce that he will be ready for his return Linkara reports to Allen.
The final scene of the story arc shows Harvey returning to the apartment since he has been gone on month long concert tours. After noting in annoyance that he has been gone for months and when he gets back no one is there to greet him he suddenly gets knocked out from an electrical surge.
Suddenly a mysterious voice whispers to Harvey: "The King of Worms sits on a throne of sorrow. The King of Worms eats up a mans tomorrow. With a Platinum Mask your soul he'll borrow. And a Clockwork Soldier is born and hollow." A Cybermat then moves away from Harvey's body indicating that it has been possessed by the King of Worms.
Tropes
- Credits Gag: At the start of the 2001: A Space Odyssey #1 review, Linkara dramatically tells Jaeris that he's going to review a comic book while they try to take back Comicron-1 from Lord Vyce. The opening credits start up... and are interrupted a moment later by Jaeris' incredulous "WHAT?"
- You Need to Get Laid: Linkara designs the auxiliary control to look like the original Star Trek command deck, and Jaeris' reaction is "Let me know when you get a girlfriend; I'll throw you a parade."
