A/N: This story is co-authored with VirTaAshi. IMPORTANT NOTE: Book 1 of this story is Deviantart exclusive because it is OC-centric, the kind of story that isn't allowed here. You don't have to read it if you don't want to, but I would recommend looking it up if you want a better idea of what's happening. Simply google "Queensister", my Deviantart Username, and you should find it. That's all for now. :)
Metallic tendrils slithered throughout the control room of the Principal Office like snakes until they completely engulfed the area. The extensions covered the central control area like an infestation of weed-like vines.
Several newly infected binomes stood to one side of the room with a freshly infected Phong; all of them were in a slight daze. In the corner near Megabyte stood the robotic form that held the "awakened" null that was Welman Matrix. The bot held the young boy, Enzo, restrained by grasping the youngster's arms.
"Dad-let me go!" Enzo grunted as he struggled against the bot's grasp. "You can't let him do this!"
"I'm not," the slightly warbled voice came from the null. Enzo froze and glanced up sharply in surprise. "But my body won't do what I'm telling it to… it is infected!"
Enzo stared in open-mouthed amazement. The green null still had the red markings of Hex's work; perhaps that made him immune to Megabyte's attempts to infect him. "Dad!" Enzo exclaimed. "You're okay!"
"So it would seem. But I can't move…" The 'face' of the null almost exhibited regret and sadness, at least it gave off that vibe. Nulls were expressionless by nature, but Welman sometimes managed to make due with what he had. Perhaps with more time and practice he would master more expressions, or some equivalent. "I can't control myself…"
Enzo resumed his squirming and glared at the virus. "You won't get away with this, Megabreath!" he yelled.
"Oh," Megabyte crooned as he casually examined his claws, "but I already have." He brushed an imaginary blemish from his metallic, mutated chest with a brush of his hand.
"You just wait 'til Bob gets here! He and my big brother will kick your bitmap right back into the Web!" Enzo continued to squirm, trying to yank his arms free.
Megabyte merely looked amused. It really was poetic irony that, in a way, the sprite who'd helped form his existence was now restraining the boy. He would use this to his advantage later, especially since it would be absolutely delicious to use the boy against his sister and her friends.
"Oh, they are free to try," Megabyte countered smugly. "It appears that all their attempts to stop me ultimately fail." He began to tap a few keys on the control terminal with his long claws. "Your friends are ultimately predictable. Your Guardian refuses to delete anything, even that which he knows to be a threat." He grinned smugly. "That is his weakness, and my advantage. One of many, actually."
"Bob will stop you!" Enzo persisted, ignoring his father's attempt to shush him. "He's a much better sprite than you'll ever be! You're nothing but a big bully-you're not even half the sprite that your sister was!"
"You're trying to compare me to my random sister? My dear boy, I have received upgrades and additional modifications that, combined with my intellect, shall enable me to do things across the Net that none of you can even imagine."
Megabyte turned away from them as if he'd suddenly grown bored with the conversation. He had other things to do at the moment anyway; he would deal with them later. The virus made a simple gesture of his hand to the infected bot, giving it a silent order. It clamped a hand over the boy's mouth to keep him silent. Only angry muffles of protest could be heard; Welman himself wisely chose to stay silent.
The virus established access to the function that enabled system-wide announcements.
"Attention," Megabyte's voice boomed throughout all of Mainframe, "as you are no doubt aware, the Principal Office is now under my complete control. You're probably looking forward to one of my erudite speeches about me, Megaframe, the new Viral Dawn, et cetera et cetera. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. There is no grand scheme here. This is about revenge. Viruses are predatory by design. And it is time for me to follow my function. Prepare yourselves…" He sneered, "for the hunt."
Enzo let out another muffled grunt through the hand that remained clamped against his mouth. He even bit down on it, trying to make it let go. It only made his teeth hurt.
Megabyte disabled the system-wide features, then turned his attention to his new minions. "Phong," he commanded, "come over here."
The robot-like sprite shuddered, resisting the control. His coding now contained trace amounts of infection but, as an administrative program, he was not so easily influenced or affected. Only a Supervirus like Daemon had the power to truly infect read-only memory. This was the reason why Megabyte had been unable to simply infect him and make him give up information back in the time when "Megaframe" was his.
"Bring him to me," Megabyte ordered, indicating some of the binomes to come forward.
The infected binomes grabbed Phong and began to push him toward the virus. He struggled against them but they held him firmly as they moved forward.
They held him in place when they neared Megabyte. Phong's dull bronze face was reddened with anger. "You won't get away with this, virus!" Phong snapped, his entire form trembling with anger. He was also shaking off the tinges of infection, keeping it at bay. Megabyte's ability to infect others was different than it had once been, for it had become more powerful. It was still not as potent or thorough as Daemon's had been, though.
Megabyte rolled his eyes. Did they always have to say that? It was becoming so cliché. "This won't hurt a bit," he said with an evil smile. He raised his hand and extended his claws, preparing to strike as Phong's rail-like neck shortened, drawing his head closer to his body. The old sprite did not cower, he simply tried to make his head more difficult to slice off or pull off again.
Megabyte savored the moment as he held his arm in the air, taking delight in Phong's expression. There was fury on the wizened sprite's face, but his eyes were laced with fear. Fear for the system, fear for his friends and everything he cared about. Phong's self-sacrificing nature would simply make him suffer yet again.
"I already know you won't give me what I want willingly," Megabyte said, "so we will do this hard way… again." Phong flinched as the virus grabbed him roughly by the head, and prepared to slash at his neck with his claws-
But then something happened:
"ATTENTION: INCOMING FILE. ATTENTION: INCOMING FILE." The System Announcement blared throughout the entire city.
That was enough make Megabyte hesitate, stopping in mid-swing. "Well now, what is this?" He maintained his hold on Phong's face, using his free hand to tap a control. A VidWindow appeared.
"Report," he spoke to one of his minions outside. The binome on the screen stared up at the golden-colored sky in transfixion for a moment, then snapped to attention. "What is going on out there?"
"There appears to be a User Update in progress," the binome replied, making a clumsy gesture somewhere between a wave and a salute.
"I see," Megabyte replied. Sometimes that could make things complicated, especially since the User would occasionally input new anti-viral defenses functions.
He squeezed Phong's face just enough to make the old sprite grunt in pain. "Looks like our fun will have to wait," he said, and then tossed Phong aside like a rag doll. "Remain here," he ordered his minions. "I am going to intercept that upgrade."
0o0o0o0o0
Mouse tried one more time to input a password to access the control center, but the door refused to budge. She already knew that none of her regular access codes were going to work; Megabyte had changed them and locked everyone out. But part of her hoped that her intuition and skill as a hacker program would aid her.
Nothing happened. "It's just no good!" Mouse slammed her fist against the wall beside the panel.
"Mouse," AndrAIa said, holding her trident at the ready as she guarded the Hacker's back, "we've got to find the others and come up with a plan!" She and Matrix had been through plenty of sticky situations in other systems, especially in games. But she knew from her experiences with Daemon that there were some things you couldn't handle alone.
Especially when it came to very powerful viruses.
Mouse reluctantly backed away from the door. "Yeah, you're right, Sugar. We've got to make sure Dot, Bob and the others are alright, and then-"
That's when they heard the System Announcement. "ATTENTION: INCOMING FILE. ATTENTION: INCOMING FILE."
The women exchanged glances.
"Come on," AndrAIa urged, "we gotta make sure that upgrade gets installed!"
"But Megabyte has taken over the Principal Office!" Mouse protested as they began to run down one of the halls, side by side.
"The User Update might help somehow," AndrAIa said as they went. "Sometimes it contains anti-virus measures."
Mouse sighed. "Alright," she relented. "We can at least make sure somebody gets there to install it. But after that, we deal with Megabyte."
The sprites proceeded down the corridor, taking a few twists and turns until they finally reached an exit. They scrambled to the top of the Principal Office just as the sky changed from gold to bright yellow. The update was about to arrive.
A slim shadow passed over them, obscuring the bright light from above for a nano. "You ladies need a hand?" Ray Tracer appeared above them, hovering on his surf board.
AndrAIa gave a little smile, then spoke in her best "take charge" voice. "Listen, you both should find Bob, Matrix and Dot," she said. "I'll stay here and make sure the update gets installed."
"We should use a VidWindow to contact them," Mouse said, already in the process of calling one up.
Within moments, they had two VidWindows up; one that showed Matrix and Bob, another that showed Dot, Hack and Slash.
"Where are you?" Bob wanted to know. He and Matrix appeared to be somewhere inside the Principal Office.
"We're on the roof," AndrAIa answered. "I'm going to stay here and make sure the update gets installed. I'm sending Mouse and Ray to rendezvous with you."
"That's a good idea," Dot nodded, "we should make a rendezvous point-"
"How about the Infirmary on the lower level?" Matrix interjected.
"Yes," Bob agreed, "there's a supply room near there where we can grab some gear."
"Okay then," Dot nodded, pleased that they had all been organized. "Once we're there I'll tell you my plan." Something about the way she said that suggested she had one in the works, but she hadn't finished
"Be careful, Dot," Matrix said.
"You too," Dot said with feeling.
The VidWindows winked out.
"Good luck, Sugar," Mouse said to AndrAIa. She threw out her Zip Board and it decompressed; she quickly stepped onto it.
"Ray," the Hacker said after a moment, "you stay here and watch after that update." She gripped her katana tightly in her hand. "I'll help Bob and the others."
"But, Mouse-"
A white beam shot out of the sky and deposited a round cylinder on the rooftop, in the very center. The sky changed from yellow to gold, then resumed its normal sapphire blue hue.
There was no more time to waste.
"Go on, both of you!" Mouse urged. "I'll be fine."
Ray sighed. "Alright, love," he said, zipping downward and hopping off his surf board, landing lightly on the roof. He then took his surf board underneath his arm. "You be careful in there, ya hear?"
Mouse gave him a half-grin as AndrAIa approached the cylinder and prepared for the descent into the Principal Office. Normally Phong should have been present for this, but the wizened old sprite had entrusted key individuals with important passwords to sensitive areas within the Principal Office.
After all, everyone had learned since the Viral Wars and the Daemon Infection that neither Phong nor the Principal Office were invincible. In such cases where Phong was captured and the integrity of the Principal Office became compromised, someone else could now step in and do things if they needed to.
"I always am," Mouse said, grabbing the front of Ray's shirt just enough to pull his face to hers; they exchanged a brief kiss.
Then the female Hacker pulled away, and she was gone.
"Come on," AndrAIa called. "We've gotta get this update installed, now!"
Ray nodded and moved toward the elevator-but he didn't make it very far. Several infected binomes appeared on the rooftop, cutting him off from AndrAIa and surrounding him.
AndrAIa cursed and readied her trident to help him, but Ray raised his hands and shook his head. "No, just go!" he called out. "I'll keep them busy-just get that update installed!"
AndrAIa hesitated-then she nodded. "Here, catch!" She matter-of-factly threw her trident in his direction; it hit one of the attacking binomes squarely in the back, causing the unfortunate program to fall.
Ray all but flinched at the sight of it, even if he was grateful to have the aid of her weapon. The woman had excellent aim, though the barbed points only missed his surf board by centimeters. "Good luck!" was the last thing AndrAIa called out before she vanished down the elevator with the upgrade.
"Right," Ray muttered as he extracted the fork-like weapon from the binome. He made a gesture, and his surf board flew from his grasp and attacked the group of infected binomes that stood between him and the elevator. This knocked them over like bowling pins and prevented them from following AndrAIa.
Ray made an aggressive swing with the trident that knocked a few binomes behind him off of their feet. A few other virals stepped back reflexively. Ray then jumped onto his surf board and took up a position just above the hollow shaft where the elevator had already descended.
"Anyone else want to try something?" Ray asked in his best tough-guy imitation. He was no Matrix, but at least he had speed on his side.
"Oh, I believe I do."
Ray didn't even have time to turn his head; a pair of metallic tendrils came out of nowhere and penetrated his bitmap. He gasped and crumpled; he fell off of his Surf Board and landed next to the elevator shaft.