Disclaimer: I don't own Reboot
After a full day of searching for Megabyte and trying to act as though nothing had happened between him and Dot, there was nothing like laying on the couch, watching a show about birds on Mike the TV with a big bowl of popcorn spilled all over the floor. It had been in Bob's lap before Scuzzy knocked it off. The cat was now laying on Bob's stomach, harmlessly meowing and chirping at the birds on the screen. Bob had scolded him of course, but he couldn't bring himself to make the cat get down. After all, Scuzzy had just lost his previous owner, and the guardian and Mike were all he had left. A little attitude was to be expected, and the cat needed him to be understanding.
Documentaries on animals seemed to be Scuzzy's favorite, and the only thing he loved more than watching birds was other cats. It was too bad the other cats in Mainframe didn't give him a chance. They had rejected him when Megabyte had tricked all of Mainframe into thinking he was another Bob and decided to get rid of the cat. It was probably because they knew he was Hex's cat, but Scuzzy would have chosen Hex over them any time.
Bob pet his new cat. Scuzzy purred and gently wrapped his tail around Bob's wrist. He turned around enough to lick Bob's hand. The guardian couldn't help but smile. This cat must have done so much good for Hexadecimal.
Scuzzy kept holding Bob's hand as they watched Mike together. The show ended too soon.
"Alright," Bob told Scuzzy "That's all." The cat looked at him. "The show is over." Bob smiled, and Scuzzy smiled back. Bob stopped smiling. "I have to get up now." Scuzzy's smile seemed to grow.
"But wait!" Mike said happily. Why did he always have to be so enthusiastic? Now Scuzzy was getting excited. "There's more!"
Bob groaned. He might as well just forget about cleaning up the popcorn and fall asleep on the couch.
Mike didn't seem to notice the guardian's distress. "A new, never before seen episode on big cats. Endangered killers, or exotic pets? You decide!"
Bob sighed. What was it with people and wanting to keep a wild animal as a pet? Didn't they know dangerous those things are? The last thing he needed just then was more people to worry about.
And yet, he couldn't bring himself to disturb the cat.
The episode started with stories of animals turning their owners, complete with pictures of a man who got mauled by his own tigers. Then some zoo workers insisted that the animals were usually calm around people they knew. Bob was quietly falling asleep. After some clips of various other cats, things started getting a bit more concerning.
"And here it is," said some exotic man wearing fancy makeup and a cowboy hat "the amazing lynx."
Scuzzy jumped a few times, earning the guardian's disapproval.
"Scuzzy." The cat got down and raced to the television. Mike took a few steps back, but the show never stopped. Bob immediately noticed a problem. "Oh code." The guardian sat up. "This is bad. This is very bad."
Why hadn't he suspected it before? He knew Hex was looney and over the top, but he didn't think anything of her cat. But now he had no doubt that her little cat was going to get big- very big. He had thought Scuzzy was full grown. He was wrong- very wrong.
The guardian put his head in his hands, elbows near his knees. What was he going to do now? His landlord was going to have a panic attack when he found out about this. The neighbors already didn't like living so close to a virus's pet.
What would his friends think?
The cat rubbed against his ankles. Bob looked down.
Scuzzy looked up at him. He looked so innocent.
Of course he did. This was no threat- this was little Scuzzy.
He picked up his cat and put it in his lap. There was no way little Scuzzy could be a lynx, and yet, deep down, Bob knew the truth. He could get the cat tested just to be sure, but then word would just get out faster.
This was just his luck. Of course Scuzzy would have to be a wild animal- his former owner was a virus. A guardian should have suspected something. He should have asked more questions when Hexadecimal introduced him to Scuzzy. But then he would have had to take Scuzzy from her, and Hex wouldn't have been herself without her cat.
Where did she even get this thing? Wouldn't he have been the first to know if Hex had stolen an animal from the zoo?
The thought of pack of wild lynxes roaming the city sent a shiver down the guardian's spine. Scuzzy noticed his new owner's discomfort and gently licked his hand. Bob smiled down at his cat. He started petting Scuzzy.
Mike got silent a nano later.
Scuzzy hadn't meant any harm. He was just a young cat who didn't want to be petted right then. But his intentions didn't change what happened.
Scuzzy bit Bob.
Bob held up his hand in horror. Blood trickled down the guardian's arm. This was bad. He had been bitten before, but that was back when Scuzzy was just a regular cat. Scuzzy wasn't supposed to get any bigger. Scuzzy was supposed to be a little lap cat, not a big, carnivorous beast. This wasn't supposed to be a reason to panic, and yet, Bob's heart began to race.
Scuzzy didn't understand what the sudden problem was. He had bit Bob before. The guardian had never been this scared before. What had he done?
Bob put the cat on the floor and walked to his room. He turned around as he closed the door. The cat was following him.
"Stay." Bob was a little more stern than he usually was.
He closed the door and went straight to the bathroom to wash his wound. It wasn't really that bad. The bleeding had already stopped. Bob decided to stay on the safe side and put some healing cream and a bandage on it.
He was overreacting. He told himself that over and over again. This was Hex's fur baby. He didn't have any reason to be so worried. He had faced viruses and web creatures. Scuzzy already loved him. Scuzzy would never hurt him on purpose. And once Scuzzy was big enough, he wouldn't have to ever worry about Frisket again.
Maybe he could just try treating Scuzzy more like a dog? After all, what was the real difference between a wild cat and a lap cat, other than their size? He just needed more stimulation, that's all. Maybe Scuzzy could just be a very large, energetic dog-cat.
Bob tried to convince himself of that.
He told himself that he would take Scuzzy to the park and play fetch with him. Scuzzy could learn tricks. He would train Scuzzy to be a defender of the system-just like Frisket! And on hot summer days, he would lay in the grass at Floating Point Park, watching the clouds float by and eating ice cream with his guard cat.
Bob shook his head. He was going to drive himself as loopy as Hex if he kept thinking that way. But what where his other options? He could only think of two things he could do now-keep the lynx and hope everything would work out in the end, or get rid of Hex's cat. He could either raise Scuzzy himself and ask all of Mainframe to ignore the fact that a dangerous animal who had been raised by a virus to spy on others for her was somewhere in the city, or he could send Hex's fur baby to a zoo in Super Computer and into the hands of strangers as the exotic pet of a science experiment who turned into a hero and hope everyone will be nice to him.
He internally argued with himself. He was actually contemplating making a fool out of himself by letting his entire system worry about a dangerous animal. And what if Scuzzy did make a good guardian pet? That would cause at least one system full of innocents to think of these things as pets. What kind of problems could be caused by that? Scuzzy could just be an exception like his master was. It's a reality Bob didn't want to face, but not all viruses were going to turn out like Hex did. Scuzzy could cause a lot of problems down the road.
The guardian took a deep breath. He didn't want to go through with this, but it was the only thing he could do.
"Glitch," Bob said with worry in his voice "I need you to get contact information on the Net-Wide Association of Exotic Animals. I'm going to need some training and a Lynx License if I'm going to take care of Scuzzy."