Author's Notes: *kicks this chapter into the world* Get a job! I mean, for fucks sake, I'm so sick of not finishing my stories! I used to just have a few wips but now, good god they multiplied like bunnies. In any case, TDI is still going to end as I planned. Uh, you guys may not like that when it happens but, remember, 404 Error and The Dark Internet are supposed to have a third story, so….

Chapter 9 'Worst Case Scenario'


"I'm only getting started, I won't black out,
This time I've got nothing to lose!" -Black Out


Dexter woke up slowly, and it took him a couple times to actually manage to stay awake.

He rubbed the back of his neck wearily as he sat up, glancing around at his new environment.

Still the same hard circuit boards of the Internet. Just, darker. Gloomier. And there were bars all around.

"A…cage…?" He mumbled wearily turning to look before him, past the bars.

His eyes meet dark blue jeans, and he gulped. He looked up and up until he was staring into 3.0's sharp blue eyes, trying to ignore the predator grin and the crossed arms. God it was like a lazy panther looking at him and the only reason Dexter found it attractive as it was was because 2.0 did look like Freakazoid—

Well technically he was a part of Freakazoid. But Dexter wasn't sure.

Freakazoid would never do something like this, would he?

"Finally woke up, didja sweetie?" it occurred then that 2.0 must have been watching him sleep. Dexter shivered and scooted his tired body back a bit. There was plenty of room, the cage was huge.

And then something behind him growled and he froze for an altogether different reason. Whatever it was, it was in the shadows lurking out of sight and hopefully out of range. Dexter squeaked and swung around to stare into the shadows of the dark, looming cage.

"W-what else is in here?" he demanded, trying to ignore the break in his voice or the way his body trembled.

"Consider it an...insurance policy-humans have those, right?" 2.0's inhuman eyes gleamed fever ice blue, his lips curling wickedly.

"I'm human, so I figured I ought to have one. You stay right put, sweetie, and you won't have to find out the gruesome, awful details."

Blaming it on exhaustion and missing his best friend, but Dexter felt his ire rise a bit. He turned, still sitting back on his palms and legs drawn up protectively, toothpick like as they were.

"You're not human, Freakazoid 2.0." Dexter snapped, tensing as he waited to see how mad this statement made the virus.

Well, 2.0's smile vanished, and his eyes flashed as the scowl deepened to an ugly slash across the creature's face where his smile once was. Yeah, Freakazoid got angry, but never...not like this. And certainly never at Dexter.

He slammed his arm against the bars, making them rattle, making Dexter jump, and the thing in the blackness grumble and stir a bit more. Dexter realized now, the thing was 'sleeping.' Or rather, the Internet equivalent of sleeping. Dexter wondered faintly to himself if it was a forced sleep like the one 2.0 had put him under. That would certainly explain 2.0's 'insurance policy' as he put it. Dexter wasn't in danger unless he did something to make the thing behind him wake up. Something like trying to escape, no doubt…

"Figured it all out, did we?" 2.0 crooned, tone saccharine and low. It made Dexter's spine quiver. "Such a clever pet."

"Freakazoid will save me." Dexter said back, unconsciously sitting up straighter. His eyes were narrowed but 2.0 ignored him, just giggled a bit and blew him a kiss.

"Ohh. Don't go believing in fairy tales now, Dexxy-dear. That doesn't suit your smart little brain. You sit tight, now. When I'm done and you're the perfect empty shell you need to be, we can go home! Together!

Doesn't that sound fun?"

"I'll be honest, 2.0: Not in the slightest." Dexter managed a deadpan, and it wasn't hard to keep his face set to disgusted.

2.0's smile was back, wide and cruel as ever. He shrugged his shoulders, lazy and uncaring as he swung around on the heel of his sneaker and waved a hand absently.

"Too bad, it'll be fun for me. All the stuff I'll get to do, all the things I'll get to do to you."

"And if I don't want to?" Dexter challenged quietly.

"...what do you mean? You have to do what I tell you, Dexxy-boy. That's the deal, that's how it works—didn't, don't tell me that reject 1.0 of me never—!"

"Never what?" He knew he shouldn't but he couldn't help it. Dexter blamed the growing fear, but part of him needed to know what 2.0 meant. Mostly, so he could deny it. Because Freakazoid wasn't the type of person to...take like that.

"If I have to spell it out for you, then you really are useless as I figured. And a virgin." 2.0 sniffed with a smirk, and Dex's face went cherry red.

"And 1.0's a fucking fool but," 2.0 giggled. "I already came to that conclusion."

"He is not! Freak's better than you could ever be! He's one of the greatest superheroes in Washington a-and-"

"Please! Greatest!? He's a moron! A fucken waste of programming! Besides," and then 2.0 was leaning in close, spine bent so he could whisper in a tone that turned Dexter' blood to ice.

"Who said I wanted to be a superhero?"

When he could speak without his teeth chattering, Dexter's mind raced to cut 2.0 off at the pass.

"...Roddy said—" He tried, but 2.0 cut him off, stringy black hair flickering wildly as he tossed his head back to bear his sharper than human canines.

"Oh, forget what that fuck said! You think he knows everything, do ya, Dexxy? He may have made that goody-goody Pinnacle Chip but that error and I are much older than that! And Roddy and you are about 40 years too late to 'fix' the Internet."

"You and Freakazoid—you're the Core but you're not part of him, you're a bug and-" Dexter stammered, but was cut off by Freak 2.0's horrible, broken laugh.

"A bug!? Hunnh, well, I guess that is a good way to cover your tracks. I'll have to remember that one." The virus saw Dexter's expression and leaned lazily on the bars of Dexter's cage.

"Did the original me spoon-feed you that story about what happened in '69, Dexxy? Okay. I'm the bug. And he is…?" 2.0 waited calmly, too calmly.

"He is what, Dexxy-wexxy?" 2.0 sing-songed. "Don't you know yet? I just said you were smart, isn't that what your fragile ego needed to hear?"

Dexter's shoulders slouched, tucking himself in sheepishly and feeling something in his chest loosen. Sure, 2.0 was terrifying but he looked so much like the human form of Freakazoid that Dexter had lived with months ago. To have the person wearing your partner's face tell you things like that…

And to be stuck in a cage while 2.0 went on? Dexter felt his self-esteem crawl down to a new low.

"I'm not about to feed you lies, sugarcookie," 2.0 told him, and in such a way Dexter imagined 2.0 was trying to be gentle about it.

"Computer flaws aren't superheroes. They're not saviors, or good guys or anything. They just are. The lucky ones live on to fight another day. But the not-so-lucky ones…?"

2.0 trailed off, eyes turning distant, almost hollow. Dexter hesitated when he recognized the expression.

He saw it in the mirror every morning before school.

"They don't get a choice….yanno?"

Dexter swallowed, forcing himself to shut out 2.0's words. Even if he did know.

"...that's why I got you, Dexxy. In my back pocket, nice and safe and with me. Only me, isn't that right?" 2.0's smile and sneering bled back into the human like virus, almost too fast to e believable.

"Be a good boy, Dexxy. I might let you see my downgrade before lop off his head~!"

"H-hey—wait, 2.0—stop!" Dexter was up, running to the front of the cage and reaching his hand through the bars.

2.0 ignored him, and vanished in a flutter of red and black pixels.

F!

Freakazoid's boots tapped over the panels as he trotted uneasily. He was aware of the Chip at his side, keeping easy pace. Without Dexter, they could move a lot faster.

But it was because they were without Dexter they were moving so fast.

Oh man, oh man. This wasn't good.

Freakazoid chewed his lip, casting now pupiless eyes around the Dark Internet. They had searched several sectors and even more hidden pathways that connected the rotten, aged tendrils of the decrepit sites from before the 80's. And still nothing.

Even worse, the longer Freakazoid spent away from Dexter, the more drained he felt. And the more drained he felt, the more he could feel his sectors honing back into their original frequency.

He could feel it. He was turning back into the Internet. Soon, it's mechanical, computerized hold over him would be stronger than Dexter's, and Freakazoid would lose everything that made him, well, him. It was enough to put any one in a bad mood.

WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME. Freakazoid's voice boomed from everywhere and nowhere at once.

While it might have startled the skittish human, the Pinnacle Chip seemed unphased.

"Yes, but throwing your weight around now will only needlessly tire you out." The Chip sent back with irritating calmness.

"Save your energy for your virus, Internet."

Well, that did it. The pupiless Freakazoid-his suit still red as ever but his expression flat and featureless-turned on his boot and raised a fist at the wiry frame of the Pinnacle Chip.

DON'T YOU CALL ME THAT, CHIP. I MAY BE LOSING MY SUPERHERO BODY BUT I STILL COULD FLATTEN YOU WITH A PINKY.

"...what title would you prefer then?" The Chip asked softly, unphased by the threatening stance of the superhero.

"I was merely using the name you held before you were given your User. Internet. Network of networks, APRNE-"

Freakazoid's fist lifted the Chip straight off the shiny highway they were walking on. The nanobug Dexter saved bliped in fear and bolted, hiding a ways away.

"FREAK. A. ZOID. FREAKAZOID. MY NAME, IS FREAKAZOID.

"...if that is what you think is right, Freakazoid." The Chip stood. The physical strike wasn't anything to worry about-but Freakazoid had shown his ire in another way, threatening to push the Chip out of the Internet and back into Dexter's computer.

I'M THINKIN IT, CAUSE IT IS. NOW, SHUT UP.

The Chip followed orders that time, lapsing into now submissive silence as they moved.

It was only about ten minutes later when it happened.

Freakazoid stumbled a step and paused. He started walking again, leaning forward like he could outrun the strange coldness growing over his system.

He didn't feel so good all of a sudden.

Freak's vision swam and grew rapidly, the world moving in a haze of flashing lights and flickering images.

His vessel-erh, no, his body! Yeah, his...body...Stumbled and halted, clenched fists loosening slowly. Humanity wasn't exactly a protocol you could run whenever you wanted, it was more something you had to learn. Build it from there, as it were. Dexter had taught it to him, had taught him a lot.

But...Dexter wasn't here right now.

There was a sizzle, a soft hiissk of electricity zipped from Freakazoid's trademark hair streak and shot into a panel nearby. Another port had attached to the mainframe once it had found Dexter unreachable.

Freakazoid, with only whites for his eyes and face expressionless, continued walking.

His stride was robotic, cold, and it was hard to believe it was Freakazoid at all. But It was walking with a purpose, in a certain direction and very patiently.

It had all the time in the world, after all.

F!

Dexter slumped against the iron bars, wishing they felt cool or warm, but they didn't. There was no temperature here, in the Internet.

2.0 hadn't been gone long, but Dexter had little concept of actual time. He knew he was stuck, he knew his best friend was in danger, and his telekinesis wasn't working. which...wasn't a mystery. What use was his brain in here? No need for his mind, no need for his powers. He tried tapping into them a few times, but any mental flex (for Freakazoid or otherwise) got him zilch. He was useless, and would stay that way until Freakazoid saved him. Unless 2.0's insurance policy got him first...

That's right…

Dexter bit his lip, glancing warily into the shadows.

It was a bulky sort of beast. Short coarse hairs shifted when the muscles it had rippled as it shifted on its paws, lowering to its belly. Its fur was dark brown, nearly black, and the fur between its shoulders was on end. The entire time beady eyes were suspiciously on Dexter, watching, waiting. It was easily bigger than a buffalo, though not exactly the build of one, except maybe large back and head placement. Had the chain around its right paw not been there Dexter realized he could have easily gone down its throat with a gulp. For that matter he could have sit on its neck…though maybe not much higher, its back rose dramatically, head and neck lower on its body. Its teeth were massive fangs, muzzle that reminded Dexter of a tiger's shape more than anything else.

But upon closer inspection Dexter could see it was dropping, a weary defensive posture more than pure evil aggression. It was angry and hurting and probably hungry, if Freakazoid's comment about things in here needing to be in their sector to be at full power. It's sector had been gone for years, according to 2.0, the Dark Internet having grown over it like black mold and decayed it.

Had it survived by itself or because of 2.0? If 2.0 was the reason it was being kept alive, albeit barely than…why? For what purpose?

'A vessel…' Dexter thought back to their conversation. 'I'm a vessel but surely 2.0 doesn't expect me be able to bring things like this monster back with him, right? The Chip made it sound like I can only help people or entities that have directly interacted with a Pinnacle chip that had been overloaded.'

Meanwhile the monster's growling had lessened when it noticed Dexter wasn't doing anything interesting. He wasn't even playing dead! The beast grunted and hissed for good measure, dragging Dexter from his thoughts.

"It's okay, it's okay…" he found himself murmuring, barely more than a whisper. Small ears tilted forward at the noise, but the raised hackles didn't relax and the beast didn't pause its low, defensive growls.

"Really, I promise it's alright…I'm not, not gonna hurt you." The thin boy murmured, lowering his spread palms gently and moving to sit pretzel style on the floor. Like this he hoped to look less like an antagonizer, and he offered his pose as a sort of peace offering.

"I probably couldn't hurt you if I tried, hm?" this was insane; he was talking to a monster from an internet game older than him like it was alive. The beast growled and snorted as if in agreement and the tiny geek smiled softly.

"I get the feeling you're not just an insurance policy for me, either…" Dexter told it, and received no response.

The position change had clearly affected the massive monster somehow. Its snarling quieted to no more than a low, still threatening rumble. It eyed him, while still angrily and perhaps a bit dumbly, no longer did it seemed intent to pounce and kill within a second. There was breathing room now, and Dexter was grateful for it. Even the snarling now it seemed halfhearted, hopefully Dex was getting through somehow. Come to think of it, he had always liked animals more than people. They were just easier to get along with, he didn't have to worry about a dog going out of its way to make his life miserable—if he treated it kindly it did the same for him.

"Poor thing…you're trapped here, huh?" he sighed sadly, leaning his back against the bars and drawing his knees up to his chest. "That makes two of us."

Now that Dexter was certain he was not in immediate danger of getting mauled by this monster, he let his eyes wander over its hulking frame more, curiosity overriding his self preservation.

To start with…it was huge. And clearly modeled after some large cat or dog. Its head seemed almost comically small, set low with huge hulking shoulders that shifted as the creature shifted its weight from one paw to the other, paws the size of dinner plates. But it wasn't an aggressive movement—in fact it reminded Dexter of his cat when Chubbykins was just about to settle down for a nap. Huh. Leathery appendages which turned out to be folded wings, shifted a bit before settling back down.

"It's a wonder you can fly with those that size and shape." The wings were probably impressive opened but folded like they were now, and as high on the massive shoulders they were, it seemed almost comical the bat like wings could be of any help to the beast. Dexter couldn't keep the marvel from his voice as he looked at the bat wings.

"Though I guess you can't fly with those shackles, can you?" he frowned worriedly, feeling sympathy for the monster. It wasn't the monsters fault he was trapped here—and as for the fact it had growled and swiped at him, well, if he was hungry and all caged up since the beginning of the internet he'd probably be irritable to!

Dexter tried to think of the behemoth as a large Chubbykins, then redacted that thought. That might be insulting.

For the beast's part, it didn't seem to know what to do with a voice and a figure that was simply sitting before him, and not yelling or hitting. For lack of anything better, it snorted and flexed its claws, as if to remind Dexter what it could do, if it wanted.

"…your paws are big, huh?"

It huffed and lowered itself slowly to the ground, folding down like a sphinx—relaxing…but a hair's breadth from being able to leap to life and strike again. It grunted at Dexter and continued watching him.

Something behind it swayed, catching the little geek's eye—oh, a tail. O-oh a BARBED tail! There was no fur at all, unlike the body and legs and head! Something nagged at Dexter's memory.

"W-wait…" Dexter murmured softly without thinking as he straightened up. "I've…I've seen you before—not in the game you're from but…" think Dexter, think! Very few things were new, especially in the internet really. It was all a copy of the real thing, a picture of a tree was NOT a real tree, you couldn't feel bark, or watch the leaves sway in the wind without it being a gif or a movie. A monster like this though so clearly stylized but keeping an edge of realism…was a…

"A manticore!"

The manticore grumbled abruptly at the noise. Dexter flinched and put a hand over his mouth. "Sorry," he offered meekly at the beast, shoulders dipping back down submissively.

The monster merely huffed and rested its head back on its paws. It was too tired to deal with this morsel just yet, it seemed. Lazily it blinked, and when its eyes opened again the twig was closer.

Muscles tensed.

Dexter kneeled before it, still out of striking distance but nearer. He made a noise that purely sadness and worry and so earnest that even the manticore paused its defensive rumbling and allowed the small human to remain before it.

"Oh, oh you're bleeding. Did...did 2.0 do that to you too?" Dexter sighed and bit his lip in worry. Though the monster probably didn't know his title for the thing keeping him locked up here, he still sort of lifted a lip at the words '2.0' and Dexter smiled wearily, shaking his head. It watched Dexter warily as he stepped to its side, reaching out a hand toward the thin gashes that had just stopped leaking.

It growled, and Dexter jerked his hand back.

The growling stopped. Dexter was given a look that stated clearly he was being allowed there out of boredom and tiredness, and had the beast been at full power, well, the little geek would be no more than a memory.

"…Sorry." He murmured, moving back in front of the monster, that wolfish bear head following him. "To be fair I'm not even sure I could help you…" he sighed and looked thoughtful for a minute.

He made another small noise of realization; a beady red eye opened lazily and watched him dig about in the pocket of his baggy shorts. Dex kneeled down as he pulled a small package out, carefully handling the food.

"…hey…here, maybe this will help. I can't do much else anyway unless you let me…a-and if it came to me or that I promise the burger will taste better." Dexter said softly, reaching out and setting the unwrapped burger he'd gotten from Freakazoid before the manticore.

"I know it's not much…but it IS from here, so I think, I think you can eat it…if you wanted to." He finished shyly, leaving the burger maybe a foot from its snout and going to sit back against the bars.

For a long time neither of them moved, the manticore didn't eat, and Dexter didn't talk, either. He did take the time to look around, at the cell, and what was outside the cell, though he didn't move from his spot. Eventually his head rested longer and longer against a bar and his eyes fluttered more and more. He didn't really want to, but he started falling into an uneasy, unwilling sleep after that. The kind you try to fight because of very good reasons but the bone weariness won out in the end. He hated those, at least usually Freakazoid was there to take over but now he was very much human and Freak still wasn't answering the mental link. Dexter sighed softly, murmured Freakazoid's name and drifted off into a dreamless, uneasy sleep.

It was only after Dexter had been dead to the world for a few minutes that there was the faintest crinkling of paper, and a swallowing noise.

Other than that, silence.