An introduction to the rival web surfing gang, the Shadow Riders

Chapter 4: Rivalry

Galactica System

The system of Galactica was a small system on the farthest reaches of the Net where any travelers could use its ports to go anywhere they wanted.

There was a small cantina in the center of the system and it was where the outcasts of the social norm were associated to going.

Inside the cantina, bionic and sprite bounty hunters were drinking to their conquests and making their next ones.

At the corner table, three surfers were sitting, admiring a group of dancing girls on the stage across from them.

"You know," the center man said, "Hexa gets more beautiful every time we come back."

"Damien, you are the man," the guy on his left saluted him with his glass.

A server binome came over. "Hey guys," she said almost fearful of their reputation. "You have a private VidWindow message for you."

"From who Trixie?" the one on Damien's right said to her.

"Don't know, but its high class by the markings on the message," she said, showing them the navy message with the green blades that glowed on it.

"Well open it Damien," the left guy said. "Could be the high paying retirement function we've been looking for."

Damien opened the VidWindow message and they watched it.

"Shadow Riders," the dark blue and menacing virus spoke to them. "I have need of your services, but since I am a straightforward sort of virus and I know how you surfers work. If you will work for me, I will give you a substantial piece of data that you want."

"Any data we want we can get for ourselves," one of the two guys that was with him blurted out.

"Even the location of a certain web surfer that you particularly hold in the lowest regard," the virus told them. "A certain Paige Dyson."

Damien smiled rather viciously and reclined in the booth. "Where did you say you were from?" he asked.

Supercomputer

Mouse, Ray Tracer, and Bob arrived on the foreign island where the Web Surfer Academy was located, landing near the abandoned beach.

They moved quietly around the jagged rocks and moved their way upward toward the massive complex.

Guards patrolled the towers and spotlights were canvassing the area.

"The blokes finally got security upgraded after the first escape," Ray whispered to all of them.

"Can you remember the area where you guys escaped Ray?" Bob asked. "That has got to be the area where security is going to be the tightest so we need to get far enough away from that point and get inside."

Mouse was looking at the datapad with all the tech prints of the Academy's layout. "According to this layout that Turbo gave me," she was whispering to them, "there is a command terminal at the east wing of the compound and several labs near the central base tower. I need to get to that terminal so I can track down where she is."

"Here's where we escaped," Ray pointed out. "This has to be a reformed into an impenetrable alloy. I don't think that we can cut it through."

"Leave that to me honey," Mouse said and pulled out her katana.

"We have to hurry," Bob said. "There is no telling how far they are in the deprogramming progress."

They made their way around the building and found an old utility door, which Mouse effectively opened with one of her katanas. Now they were inside.

Prison Unit

Paige was reclining inside her maximum security cell, huddled in the corner. It was a waiting game for her now as the "good" doctor was upgrading the reprogramming thingy-ma-bob to try and corrupt her even more.

She didn't want to let anyone know of the headache that she had. Even though she was being cool about it, the programming had begun to probe into her code, slowly altering it. The deprogramming was already complete and they had just begun the reprogramming.

If those psychos, including Blackheart were able to alter her code in anyway, then there was no telling what she would lose.

Her life had been beyond stellar, but it was still hers to control.

Memory Banks

"You're such a screw up," Dixon said in the past said to her, right after she had been given her expulsion papers. "I can't believe that we're identical programs and you can't even hack in the Guardian Academy."

"Maybe I am a screw-up," Paige shouted, "but at least I'm not an uptight show-off like you. You'll never be anything but a guardian lap-dog. At least I live!"

Current time

Paige curled up on the floor of the cell, trying to rest her throbbing head.

All that she wanted to do was remember all the good times before they were eventually erased from her memory by Blackheart and his mad scientist ally.

Memory Banks

It was a club right after she was expelled from the academy where she and her friends, the Knight Surfers, were relaxing and watching a rival group, the Shadow Riders.

On the dance floor where everyone was celebrating, Bob Serrano and she were dancing slowly. Right as Damien Triad walked by, they leaned their heads against one another to stare.

If she got out of this place with her mind intact, she was going to try and work on things with Bob. He was single. She was single. Why in the net not?

Suddenly, light pierced into her cell and a shadow was splitting it before her.

"Hello angel," the voice of Blackheart said as he came inside, sealing the door behind him. "How is your head doing?"

"What do you care?" she replied.

Blackheart came and sat beside her, but Paige curled up in the corner to stay as far enough away from him as she could. "I am interested in working alongside you," he told her.

Paige pretended to vomit and swallow hard on it. "Please. Even if I "do" get reprogrammed, there is no way in the web that I will work alongside you."

The guardian hunter reached out and grabbed a section of her pink hair, playing with it in his fingers. He used it to bring her closer to him; although she tried to keep away from him.

"I liked you…once," he said to her.

"What? I never knew you existed."

"That was the whole point," Blackheart said. "It was the "fact" that you didn't notice me."

Memory Banks - Jensen Blackheart

"I watched you as soon as you came into the Guardian Academy," Blackheart was explaining to Dyson.

The younger Paige was standing there with her twin sister Dixon as they were chatting with some other freshman students at the Academy.

Young Jensen Blackheart was watching from his storage locker, watching the two girls laugh at one of the guys who told a joke.

Suddenly, he was shoved against his locker by a member of the graduate class and got a broken rib from the burly, Alec Cardin.

When he got back up and cleaned up his fallen school gear, the bell for the next session of classes had begun…and Paige Dyson was gone.

"You never noticed me so I got even," Blackheart said to him. "I upgraded in Section 13. I got bigger, tougher, tattoos, and even got into a couple fights. Just prove I wasn't a wuss like everyone wanted me to be."

Present time

Blackheart and she were now standing and he had blocked her against the wall. "Isn't this the kind of guy that drives you crazy?" he asked her. "I got kicked out of the Guardian police because I loved you. Isn't this what you wanted from the guy that you would settle down with?"

"When I was a kid, yes," she replied, "but not now. The decent man in my life is someone who can tame my wild heart. You're not Prince Charming."

Blackheart walked away from her and called to the guards on the outside. "Get in here," he shouted. "It's time to finish what we started."

The guards entered, stun weapons fully drawn to subdue her.

"Soon, my darling Paige," he said, "it will begin a new age of hunting for us. There will be no surfer, no virus, and no person to hide from us. May this be a new "page" in our long life together."

Paige screamed as the men came closer to take her away for reprogramming.

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