Apocalypse 011011100110111101110111

Dot looked up at Hack and Slash, "OK, boys, here's the plan...."

The two bots exchanged looks. "Oh, good. The plan."
"Yes, a good plan."
"That's what we need."
"Do you understand it?"
"Not a word."
"We're in trouble, then"

She looked up at them, wondering if she'd be better off alone. "We're outnumbered. We've got to get to the armoury. This way!" she shouted as she began to run down the corridor.

The bots caught up to her just as they crossed an intersection. Her opinion of them suddenly increased dramatically as the shots started bouncing off Slash's armour. He shouted, of course, but from damage or fear, Dot couldn't tell. He pulled up short, throwing his arms across his dome to protect himself. She froze, pressing her back to the blue bot's body, listening to his whimpers, but unable to do anything to help. Hack, much to her surprise, threw himself into action.

Two panels opened in his back, revealing large-calibre weapons. "You..... Will..... Not..... Hurt..... My..... Friend!!!!!"

With each word, he fired a volley of shots into the group of ambushing Virals. Binome after binome disappated, until finally they were alone in the hallway. Dot peered cautiously around Slash's body, only to have her jaw drop at the massive amount of damage they both has sustained. Most of the blue bot's arm and shoulder armour had been blasted away in an attempt to protect his dome, but Hack had not even bothered. One optic was gone, his left arm was on the floor, and sparks were arcing from several places behind his shielding. He stood a moment, breathing heavily, trying to retract his weaponry. On the third try, it finally moved back to the compartments on his back.

"Oh, boys...." There were no real words of comfort for them. "We should be able to patch you up in the armoury. Come on..."

One more level, Bob thought. They had been unable to raise anyone through Glitch, and he knew that it wasn't good. He'd also been locked out of the War Room's vid windows, so there was no way to know how bad. It had all flipped in a nano. He'd gone from trying to save Megabyte to trying to save everyone else FROM Megabyte. And worse... he didn't know if Dot or any of the others had been deleted. Or worse. he thought Infected.

Matrix was quiet beside him. He hadn't said a word since they'd fled the detention level.

"Left ahead," Bob offered.

"I KNOW!" Matrix spat back. "I know the Principle Office like the back of my hand, Bob."

The venom that came with the last word told Bob all he needed to know. Matrix blamed him. Rationally, it really hadn't been his fault, but Matrix desperately needed someone to be held responsible. He stole a sad glance at the Renegade from the corner of his eye. "Matrix--"

He didn't have a chance to finish the thought as suddenly Matrix's hand was around his throat, pinning him to the wall.

"Gun!" the green sprite shouted, and suddenly the weapon was in his hand, just pixels away from Bob's forehead. "Gun, Target!" Bob could feel the heat from the laser tracking at this range.

"Wait! Matrix, let me talk!"

"NO! If I'd deleted this spamming virus like I'd wanted, none of this would've happened! AndrAIa, my sister, Dad, for all we know, they've all been deleted, and it's because of YOU!"

"Stop, please, just a second..." he could see his friend's cyberoptic working as though it were zooming in on its target. "Matrix, Enzo, stop. We need to do this together. You need my help. Just pause a nano and think about it."

"You failed us, Bob. We need you. You promised to Mend and Defend. Well, Defend, for the User's sake."

Bob looked in his friend's face. All mercy had vanished. Bob was face-to-face with someone truly alien to him. The next moments would decide if he lived long enough to try to help his friends. He couldn't use Glitch, as he had to use vocal commands now that the Key Tool had been separated from him. But he couldn't think of anything to use that wouldn't hurt Matrix, at any rate. "Ok. I'll help. Just put me down, and we'll go get Megabyte together."

"No, Bob. I don't trust you with that." He dropped the Guardian roughly to the floor. "Megabyte's mine. My way, my rules. I'm gonna erase him from the registry." He looked down at the blue-skinned sprite on the floor. "Your job's to get the survivors out."

Megabyte looked at the vid windows surrounding him. "Yes, very good. All is falling very nicely into place. Mr Matrix , bring your son here."

"No, Megabyte..... Please, not that," Wellman begged as the mechanical body they'd fashioned for him betrayed him with each step. The null body at the controls slammed again and again at the sides of his container, trying anything he could to prevent the body from completing its task.

"Dad, stop! What're you doing? Don't do this! Nooooooo!" the boy screamed as the Virus reached out to place a hand on his shoulder.

The tendrils in the back of Megabyte's hand shot out, peircing the boy's neck, draining his energy. He could feel the cold running through him as the infection spread throughout his body. Part of his mind screamed against it, clutching for all it was worth to hold on to his code. Then, suddenly, there was peace. Megabyte was right, why couldn't the others see it? His grand designs were the only things that made sense. Everything MUST be brought to order, and only his Master could do that. Form somewhere far away, he could hear his father Father? Why would I need a Father? I have Megabyte, my Master. screaming, it sounded pretty bad.

He turned to face the nullbot. He could see the null still trying desperately to regain control of the body. From somewhere deep inside, a new strength pushed through the young sprite's body. It began to block the code rewriting his very existence. No. I won't help Megabyte, he thought. I won't just do everything he tells me to.

And suddenly, the answer appeared in his new code. He stopped resisting, and let the commands set in. He began to open his PID to the new coding, allowing it to totally rewrite his being, transforming him not into a viral thrall, but a full-fledged virus. The newly-formatted sprite opened his eyes. He saw it now. His search for a new identity was over.

Megabyte looked at the unexpected new virus. Somehow the boy was tougher than he had anticipated. Perhaps there was some of that Matrix fellow in him after all. He could use this. Yes, this is even better than my original plans....

He glanced to his right, to the vid window hovering there, a slow, evil smile playing across his face. "I have a task for you, young Enzo--"

"Ozone," the small virus interrupted. "My name is Ozone."

For once, Megabyte was taken aback. The boy seemed to be adjusting to his new state faster than anticipated. "Be that as it may, young Ozone, I have a task for you."

Mouse could feel the consciousness slowly filter into her awareness, and desperately wished it wouldn't. Being stunned into oblivion definitely didn't agree with her bitmap. Her eyes opened to find AndrAIa hovering over her, a concerned look on her face.

"Don't try to move, just yet. Give yourself a chance to get back up to full energy."

"I ache in places I don't even know what they're called," the hacker commented as she pushed her face off the floor. When the wave of nausea swept over her, she changed her mind and lay back down in the floor's cool embrace. "How are you so darned chipper after that kind of beating?"

"Game sprites are programmed to take a lot of punishment," AndrAIa shrugged. "Besides, after you went down, the odds were a bit too great. I surrendered to make sure you were going to be all right."

Mouse muttered something under her breath that AndrAIa couldn't quite make out. "So do you at least know where our weapons are? I've noticed your precious trident is missing. I thought you were all worried about breaking it."

"I was," AndrAIa replied. "But I was woried about your katana, too, so I let the Virals take it."

"I don't get it..."

"I can track my trident. So...." a mischievous grin tugged at the corners of the young sprite's lips. "I can lead you straight to your katana. If, of course, you can get us out of here."

"Now that's something I can handle," the hacker smiled through the new waves of nausea that rolled over her as she again pushed herself up off the floor. The girl's resourcefulness never ceased to amaze her. She began to dig into her boot, pulling a tiny blade hidden there. She moved to the wall where the keypad would be located. "Phong once planned for a monster made of nulls that would trash the city. Let's hope that he planned for the good guys to be locked in this room." She threw a reassuring wink over her shoulder as the panel popped loose.

They arrived at the armory with no further molestation. Dot leaned close and keyed in her private access code. A moment of intense panic passed before the light flashed green and the doors opened. Stepping into the darkness, she fumbled for the light switch, only to have her hand brush another already there. She jumped back as the room lit up.

The small, blue-green sprite standing before her shot her an evil grin. Something about him was familiar to her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. He was dressed in what appeared to be a mockery of a guardian uniform, black with blood-red epaulets. He wore no visible icon, so she couldn't be sure if he was a Mainframer or had come from a portal from the outside. Vestigial horns seemed to be coming from the sprite's forehead, and some kind of silvery cyberoptic covered his left eye, radiating down the side of his face and neck to disappear into his uniform.

"What's the matter? Not happy to see your dear brother?" the Virus spat, smiling at the slow look of comprehension, then horror that spread into her face.

"E-Enzo--?" she began,

"Don't call me that!!! My name is Ozone. Remember that."

"Oh, no, what happened? Please, tell me this isn't happening!" She took an involuntary step back, horrified at what her little brother had become.

"Oh, it's real. But the good news is I'm not here for you. I came..." he gestured towards the bots, "for them. Megabyte wants the two of you back. I don't get it, but that's just me. If you turn them over now, nobody has to get hurt. If not...." he smiled more broadly now as talons extended from his fingertips.

"No, I won't give them up. They're Mainframers now, and they've fought well to defend this system, and me. I wouldn't turn them over to Megabyte any more than I... would... you." Her voice trailed off as she realized she'd have to do just that. Megabyte had him, at least for now. And again, there was nothing she could do. What more was the virus going to take from her this minute?

A vid window popped open between the bots and the Virus. Phong's wizened face appeared. "Hack, Slash, execute directive 5.01! Protect the at any cost! Stop that Viru---" the last word was cut off as the vid window snapped off.

"You heard what he said."
"Stop the Virus."
"Protect Dot."
"At any cost."
"Yup, that's 5.01."
"How do we do that?"
"I don't know."

"These are your personal bodyguards," Ozone stated flatly, enjoying the irony. He settled himself into a combat stance, talons extended towards them. "This will be fun."

Again, the panels on the bots' backs opened, and the weapons extended. They both rolled into position between Dot and Ozone. "Please, don't hurt him," she asked weakly. All the energy seemed to be draining from her. Hack's display of rage from before still fresh in her mind, she knew the damage that both of them could do.

Ozone's grin widened even more. He lunged forward as the bots opened fire. The instant his feet hit the ground again, he jumped to the left, keeping one nano ahead of the massive volley of energy blasts peppering the ground. He bounded off the wall, feeling the vibrations from the impacts as the bots shifted their targeting systems again, a nano too late. This time, his angle of attack took him between the bots, and to her horror, directly at Dot. Clockspeed seemed to drop off as the talons of the virus's left hand dove directly at her. She closed her eyes for a moment, unable to force herself to run or duck or even move. The moment passed, though, without the expected tearing to her bitmap.

Slowly, fearfully, she opened her eyes again. The tips of the Virus's golden talons were hovering a pixel from her face. She looked past them to the boy's face. No mischief. No jokes. No fun and games. Nothing but evil registered in his smile. Glancing down, she saw that Hack and Slash had caught him mid-jump, fractions of a nano before he deleted her. Her eyes traced their way back up to his face, and to her confusion, he winked at her. She cast her mind about for his meaning, thinking faster than she ever had before, when her eyes again caught the talons hovering in space before her. Strangely, the thought occurred to her: But Enzo was right-handed.

Her eyes jerked back up to meet his, and Ozone knew she understood. She was never his target, only a diversion. He reveled in the horror in her eyes as she knew it was already too late to stop him. He flexed the talons of his right hand-- his FREE right hand-- just once to drive the point home to her. Then he drove the point home to Slash. His talons dipped down, then back up, tearing a hole in the red bot's already over-damaged chest armour.

The damage was too much for the bot, and he stumbled back, releasing his grip on Ozone. Before Hack had even registered the move, the boy was on his feet, held only by his left arm. He swiveled his cannons down to bring the virus into target, but just as the lock chirped in his brain, those vicious talons struck out. Intense pain seared through Hack's dome as his remaining optic was destroyed. His grip, too, released, and he began firing wildly. Energy bolts peppered everything within range as Dot dove behind a parked CPU vehicle for cover.

Slash recovered from Ozone's initial attack just in time to catch full brunt of Hack's blind blitzkreig. "HA A A CK, St o o op!" the bot stuttered from the impacts. Again and again the shots blasted his already shattered body until he finally overloaded and shut down.

Hack's massive volley continued, reducing everything to scrap, until the golden talons tore into his back, sending him immediately into shutdown. Ozone stood over the bot's broken hull, grinning with grim satisfaction.

Dot finally gathered her courage enough to peer out from her hiding place. Peeking over the remains of the CPU vehicle, she saw the young virus that was her brother crouched on top of it, his face just pixels from hers. He shot her that evil smile once more and said only a single word:

"Run."

Matrix's brutality had begun to shock Bob. Every binome that they had encountered so far had been deleted with extreme prejudice by the Renegade, who had ignored Bob's pleas and even injuries to himself. Twice, the green sprite had taken enough stunners to fell any three guardians, but somehow his massive rage kept him moving, shooting. He had even destroyed those Virals that Bob had only stunned. He was intent on taking no prisoners, and could not be dissuaded from his course straight toward the War Room.

They rounded a corner, again, Matrix firing first, then bursting through to mop up any survivors. A flicker of movement and he bought Gun up to guard against the object moving straight toward his face. Katana and Gun crashed together, holding each other in a stalemate.

"Sugar, please stop shooting at me."

Matrix focused past the weapon to see Mouse barely holding his arm in place with both hands. He didn't begin to finally relax until he looked past her to AndrAIa's smiling face. He slowly lowered his weapon as she crashed into his arms.

"Oh, Sparky, I was so worried about you." She kissed him deeply in effort to dissolve her remaining fears.

A full second passed before Bob cleared his throat. "We're still not out of here yet, guys."

Reluctantly, the young lovers broke contact, with Matrix looking slightly sheepish. "Ok, here's the plan, then," he said. "You guys get out. I'm going after Megs." He raised his hand to silence their objections. "No, I'm going alone. I won't lose anyone else." With that last word, he shot a pointed glare at Bob.

"Sparky, listen. I know we can't stop you, but hear me out. You'll never make it, not alone. I'm not sure we'd make it, even if we all went together. Understand this: now that I've got you here, I'm not leaving you. If you go to face Megabyte, I'm going with you, and even you're not tough enough to stop me."

He turned to her and opened his mouth to object, but closed it immediately when he saw the look in her eyes. "No. Let's go. We need to get out of here." He turned and began leading the way, pausing to look back over his shoulder at the shocked looks on all their faces. "More Virals will be here soon, and we're not really in shape to fight them. We'll get reinforcements, and we'll be back. And when we do," he turned to face Bob fully, "not one viral will be left behind."

Megabyte stood holding the old sprite by his neck. "That was unwise, Phong. Accessing the windows like that, tsk, tsk."

"Do as you will, Virus. Your tendrils could not infect me, and I have even secured my Read-Only Memory. You can no longer use me to harm Mainframe."

"Possibly. But remember, I am no longer interested in conquering this system. After all, I have already done that. No, I should like to see this entire system burned to the ground. Nothing will remain when I'm done with it. As for you......" he trailed off as he placed his hand upon the old sprite's face.

The group was finally near the exit. Each nursing numerous stun blasts, most barely enough energy left to stand, let alone make this final dash toward freedom. Matrix led the way, devouring the last bit of distance left in the corridor. He finally stumbled to a halt as the light from outside blasted through his eye. He drew Gun and scanned the immediate area for hostiles. He found none, so the moment the rest of the group caught up to him, he allowed himself to collapse to his knees.

The rest gathered around him panting, trying to catch their breath. Bob had just turned back to the corridor to guard against attack from the rear when he heard it. It started low, almost too low to hear, but soon, the scream could be heard as clearly as if Phong had been standing right beside them.

He looked back at the rest of the group in horror, eyes locking on Matrix. With Wellman gone most of his life, Phong had been his only real father figure. Teacher, friend, advisor to them all, and now he was issuing a scream that none of them would have thought possible. The guardian knew it was too much for his young friend to bear.

"YOUR FAULT!!!!!!" The renegade was beyond thought, beyond any control. And he was standing up. The sprite's gun was leveled at Bob before he had even gained his feet.

"Glitch!..." the rest of the command, the thought, and Bob's very self were swallowed up by the brightest flash of light he had ever seen.