Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the characters, places, or nifty gadgets mentioned herein. If I ever do gain control of Mainframe Entertainment, who does own them, I'll certainly let you know. In the mean time, I intend no copyright infringement.
Rating: G
Bob rushed determinedly out through the portal, looking defiant and ready to face the virus he was tracking. When nothing came immediately to view to be defiant for but a few tears, he defiantly mended them with a command to his newly-acquired keytool.
As he finished mending the first one, a movement to his right caught his eye. He glanced over, and was taken off guard by a young woman in a short, purple dress (Bob's hormones carefully noted the length of the exposed legs, the slim waist and hips, and several things about the area immediately above that). She was walking up to him, taking off the tiny, useless glasses to get a clear look at him. She looked confused and upset.
Bob realized his mouth was open, and felt the best course of action would be to say something dashing or heroic to avoid looking too stupid. "I'm a cade-I mean...I'm a Guardian. I...come from the Net."
Way to go, Casanova, he berated himself, but the girl had overlooked his faltering introduction in light of a larger concept.
"The Net?" she asked, and Bob nodded brightly.
"Yes, from another system. A Super Computer." he added proudly, hoping once again to impress her with his importance. But she didn't answer. Suddenly Bob realized the situation and how focusing on himself was probably a bad tactic. He changed his angle. "I'm...so terribly sorry..."
She narrowed her eyes in understanding. "You caused this?" she demanded, gesturing at the chaos around them. Horrified, Bob shook his head.
"No!"
The girl ran forward in a burst of emotions. "You did! This is your fault!" she accused him, punctuating her words with weak pummeling to his chest. He looked down in helpless confusion as she left of beating against his chest and merely cried against him.
"No! I...I came to help! Please, I...I just wanna help," he stuttered as she wept.
He heard the distinctive sound of an opening portal behind him, and the Prime Guardian's voice called out to him, "Bob? Are you all right?"
Bob nodded, then realized how ridiculous he must look to Turbo and the other two Guardians, watching as the girl alternately pelted and sobbed against him. He pushed her away from himself by her upper arms and looked at her seriously. "Hey, pull yourself together for me, okay?" She nodded, wiping the tears off her face carefully so as not to smudge purple and black makeup all over her face.
Turning around, Dot noticed Enzo, looking terrified at her behavior. He cowered amidst the frenzy and the sirens, looking even smaller than usual. Quickly, she ran to him and knelt down, hugging him against her. He was quaking with suppressed sobs...Dot cursed herself. He probably thought he had to be brave for her, now she'd broken down. Putting on a mask of less pain than she really felt, she looked him in the eyes. "Enzo, it'll all be okay. I know things are hectic, but we'll be fine..." Her words sounded hollow to her, but the little boy found comfort in them. He nodded and bit his lip, and Dot stood up again, keeping his hand in hers.
As she surveyed the scene once again, Dot's eye was caught by a piece of rubble being moved past them, behind Enzo's back. A small piece of her father's Gateway command, charred and sent to splinters...
Dot felt her last bit of resolve leave her.
Bob was furious. How could Turbo treat him like this? "Don't worry, Bob, we'll clean things up here. You go and keep the locals calm." Hah! As if Bob wasn't capable of mending a few tears or tracking a little virus! He turned away from the other Guardians, steaming, and spotted the girl again. She looked as if she was having some trouble standing, and for the first time Bob noticed she held a little boy's hand in hers. He was confused by the child. She looked very young, too young to have a kid who looked to be about 0.5, but then...He shook his head. If he had to help out with the locals, he might as well start with this one.
She glanced up as he neared her, and Bob realized he didn't know what he should say to comfort or calm her. "Uh...Are you going to be all right?" he asked. It was a lame thing to ask. She would most likely be okay, eventually, and chances where she was far from okay at the moment.
"I just want to go home." she confessed, closing her eyes and lowering her head, looking so helpless and forlorn that the cade-I mean-Guardian suddenly felt quite sorry for her that he was willing to go to a great length to make her happier.
"Hey," he began uncertainly. "You want me to escort you home or something? I mean...to make sure you make it okay...Uh..." He continued to stutter about victims of shock for a few moments before noticing she was nodding. Overjoyed, he took a step towards his...
He had no way to transport her home. Only a zipboard. Sometimes, Bob, you even manage to amaze yourself with your stupidity...
He pulled a lock of hair nervously. "Um...I just realized...I don't actually have a car."
The girl silently leaned over and reached into the top of her boot. She pulled out a slender key and handed it to him. "Mine's the purple dune-buggy with the green splashes."
Bob looked over his shoulder and spotted the described car. He flashed her a grin. "Thanks."
She shrugged. "I don't trust myself to drive just now, anyway."
They walked over to the car, and Bob slid into the driver's seat. The owner of the vehicle climbed into the front passenger and held out her arms for the boy, but he paused.
"But, sis...Why can't we stay here and wait for-?"
She cut him off. "We need to go home. We're in everybody's way."
Bob disregarded the sentence as none of his business, but did take note of the boy's calling her 'sis' and not 'mom'. He waited for the boy to crawl into her lap and settle in, then started the car up.
"Where's your house?" he asked, happy to have thought of the question before starting forward this time. When she didn't answer, he glanced over and saw the crushed look on her face.
"I don't think we have one anymore." she stated sadly. The little boy whimpered. Bob felt that intense desire to help welling up again.
"I'll get you a hotel room," he offered, spinning the car around and heading for what looked like a functioning part of the system. "You two will need somewhere to stay for the night."
She mumbled a thank-you, then there was silence. Bob felt he should say something to break the tension. Or keep her mind off the tragedy. Yeah, that was definitely it. Keep her from stewing too much.
"What happened?" he asked, then immediately kicked himself mentally. Way to keep her mind off the subject.She sighed deeply. "I don't know, exactly. Dr. Welman Matrix was doing an experiment to prove that...that people like you exist," She swallowed and blinked furiously, determined not to lose it in front of her brother again. "I guess something went wrong."
Bob nodded, then looked back at her with surprise. "Prove I exist? What do you mean?"
She looked back at him. "Well, we weren't even sure that other systems existed. That there were other sprites out there."
Bob gawked at her. "You'd never seen another system? I mean, User...!" He stopped as he noticed her angry glare.
"Well, I'm sorry we aren't as highly advanced as your...your Super Computer! I guess we don't have all your nifty gadgets that do...User-knows-what! But I don't really feel like fighting you about it now, because I've just lost a substantial portion of my life!"
Bob grimaced. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that." He noticed a small hotel below them and pulled the car down into their parking lot. "Here. Good to get here before everyone else, I guess all the rooms'll be full in a while."
The girl and her brother climbed out of the car, and he handed her back the little key. As she turned away, he felt a rising panic, a sense of now-or-never, and said suddenly, "Hey!"
She turned back, looking exhausted. "What's your name?" he asked quickly. She fixed him with an odd expression, but said,
"Dot Matrix."
His mouth formed a silent, 'Ah,' but his gaze fell. "I'm...Bob. A Guardian."
"Yes, you said that."
"Oh."
It was not until he had escaped to the safety of the air on his zipboard that Bob gave her name some thought. Matrix...Hadn't she said it was a Dr. Matrix who had...? Was she married? No, she was young, more likely it was-
He heard a tiny, melancholy voice below him say, "I want Dad, sis."
Maybe he would...check up on them in the morning. Just to make sure they were okay, and she hadn't done anything too desperate...That's what he had been assigned to, wasn't it?
He would just check in with her later.