CoP 12: Masquerade
Emma, ComicFan, AngelFish: thanks for your support, guys. I always look forward to what you have to say after I post. I take comfort in knowing you are willing and able to share your thoughts, and it helps keep me motivated. Hope you enjoy.
Mainframe – Present Second
Just as she had promised, the transport was docked at pier 101. One guard stood outside of the small vessel, moving only to report the Guardian's arrival. Landing gently by the transport, Bob said nothing as he was beckoned onboard, the guard following silently behind him. Inside, a second guard was powering up the transport.
The Guardian was pointed to a seat in the back. Bob took his place and stared out the view port at the blue sky of Mainframe over the rippling energy sea. The two guards were communicating quietly, finishing the preparations for entering the Web.
Bob took no notice of their words. He could only hear Matrix's voice echoing in the hall near the War Room. 'If you're not sprite enough to do what is necessary…'
The transport lifted into the air, picking up speed as it neared the dome-shaped boundary of the system's ceiling. A beam shot forth and with a flash of purple, orange, red, and blue, the Web opened up before them.
Bob's fists tightened as he gazed upon the swirling doorway. He had done what was necessary to protect Mainframe, to close the portal… Trusting the viruses was the only way to do that… Mainframe would have been destroyed by the web creatures otherwise…
Would the first Web Creature have come… if no viruses had been in Mainframe?
Bob's gut clenched, his heart again unable to face the whispered question that had plagued him many times in the darkest microseconds of the night. '…if you had just done your job…' Matrix mocked once more.
One of the guards stood from his chair and turned to a panel on the far wall, flipping some switches and creating an energy field around the transport to protect it from the Web's harmful atmosphere. His movement broke Bob's dark thoughts, returning him to the present. As the guard turned back to the view port, Bob's quick eyes caught the black disc on his chest.
Unconsciously, Bob's hand reached up and touched his own icon, recalling when he had been forced to bear the same mark, and wincing as phantom pain shot through him…
/
Past - Villanova
Fire. User, he was on fire. He was being burned alive from the inside out. His voice was screaming in pain, the sound echoing in his ears until he thought he would be deaf from the onslaught. For the first time in his life, he desired deletion. Please! his voice begged in the vast darkness. Please make it stop!
Bob felt like every circuit in his body was hot wired to Mainframe's core, every pathway sizzling with electricity. The new software was like tiny nulls snaking through him, their colorful bodies eating away at him from his fingernails to the tips of his hair. He tried to hold onto the last image his mind conjured: the loving face of Dot, her green skin smooth and her ruby lips inviting, the violet eyes staring at him with the comfort he so desperately needed. He screamed as her face began to disappear, pixel by pixel, fading away into the growing darkness.
No, no, no, stop!
And it did.
His eyes opened. He was lying on his back in a warmly decorated room. Above him, two sprites stood, their eyes turned away from him. Voices were arguing… but he couldn't make out the words. His body ached with fever and his throat felt hoarse. He attempted to speak and found he could not make any words. Instead, he simply breathed. Then he heard her voice.
"He belongs to me. From now on, he will only do as I command."
His body reacted. He felt drawn to the voice, overwhelmed by the need to obey… and then the burning sensation crashed through him again. He groaned in pain, his arms coming across his stomach as if to protect himself from an enemy he could not see. From a great distance, he felt the slightest caress on his cheek, and that same voice whispering to him. Eventually, the words became more than a soft drone.
"Interface, look at me."
His eyes opened and a beautiful face smiled down at him.
"Get away from him!" a male voice shouted only to be quickly subdued, the sound of flesh hitting flesh soon followed by a hiss of pain.
His attention was drawn back to the woman before him. "It will pass," she soothed in a low voice that sent shivers through him. "Don't fight it." Her hands reached down and lifted him into a sitting position, her small frame betraying the strength her body possessed to move his form so easily. He groaned again as dizziness sent nausea through him.
Her hands ran through his hair, cradling his head and pressing it against her neck. "Breath deep, my sweet," she instructed, and he did, his arms coming up behind her and hugging her close. The burning did not ease, but it was becoming bearable.
"Where am I?" he asked quietly, his voice sounding strange to his ears, as if hearing it for the first time.
"You are home," she answered, and he smiled. Home, he thought. Yes, I am.
Home, Sweet Home.
…the picture of the SuperComputer in his apartment-
It was nice to visit, but it sure is good to be home…
The burning raged through him again and he gasped. Involuntarily, his hold tightened on the woman, and she sighed in response. "It's ok, Interface," she whispered into his ear. "We have all the time in the world now."
Oh, really? I'm surprised you could find time in that busy schedule of yours to save your own brother…
"Damn you."
He turned his head against the sprite's warm neck, his eyes opening to stare over at a red sprite with fury filled golden eyes. He was on his hands and knees, his long black hair falling in messy tangles around him. Two male sprites stood on either side of him, both wielding long sticks and poised to strike at any moment.
Their eyes met, and he could see a flash of desperation in the gold irises, begging something. But he didn't know what. The gold gaze flicked away to glare at the female sprite.
"He will fight you. He's stronger than you can possibly imagine," he hissed in between painful breaths. "You will never control him."
"Too late," the musical voice responded.
With a gentle push, he was moved away from her warm embrace, her hands caressing his jaw as she tilted his head, her green eyes piercing. "Interface loves me now. Don't you, my pet?"
He stared at her, his hand coming up to caress the side of her face, the skin so soft under his touch. He smiled. "I do," he whispered. The burning was a distant ache, the constant buzz nothing more than white noise to him as he memorized her face. She was so beautiful. She looked…
….amazing. What a babe.
I heard that.
He flinched, the burning turning into a sharp jab right through his heart. He watched the female sprite's expression change from one of expectancy to one of concentration. Her thumb stroked across his cheek and his face relaxed under her gentle ministrations. Slowly, his smile returned.
"You are strong," she whispered, "and now you will only be strong for me." Slowly she stood, her hands falling away from his face while she took a step back.
Instantly, he was on his feet, his hands reaching out for hers, pulling himself as close to her as he could. She laughed, and his heart raced. He loved her laugh. He loved her. She laughed again, and he realized he had said the words out loud.
"Interface, no!" the red sprite cried from the floor. "Fight it, damn it! Fight it!"
"Silly captain," she chastised, "he can't fight his code."
"Whatever you are planning, witch, it won't work," the captain replied. "It's only a matter of time."
Pain made his arms contract around her and the voice burned in his mind again. Calm, thoughtful planning? I wish we had time. Better get to that User, now!
"Then we will finish what was started with your father!"
She stepped forward quickly, her hand lashing out across the wounded male's face as Interface collapsed without her support. The burning in his body increased and pulsed as he watched her taunt the injured sprite, her words too soft for him but menacing enough to color the captain's face with rage. Whatever she said was enough to push him over, making him risk deletion when he seized her arm as she attempted to slap him again, quickly spinning her around and looping his arm around her neck, crushing her.
The guards stepped forward but stopped at his threat, "I'll break her neck!"
Time froze for Interface as he stared in fear for the safety of his beautiful companion, but the burning through his body prevented any movement beyond a gasp of pain. He needed to move, he needed to help her, to protect and defend her.
Because that was his format, to protect and defend.
No.
To mend and defend.
White light flashed behind his eyes, bright and painful. He crumbled over, gasping, his hand reaching up for the icon on his uniform, his hands scraping across nothing but the material of his shirt, until they brushed the black disc at the center of his chest.
DRAM.
Memory erasure.
But… failed.
Why…
Unbidden, a flash of a system turning to stone filled his memory bank. Medusa.
You, Bob, however, may be immune since you are a Guardian.
Bob. Not Interface. Guardian. Not slave.
His code was blocking the DRAM… but not completely. His body continued to burn as his code tried to eradicate the new formatting. Something was wrong.
His icon. He needed his icon. He needed Patch… before he forgot everything.
Bob's eyes shot open and he looked up at Blackadder as he held Constantia, nanoseconds having passed while his mind came back into focus. The guards stood at bay while the Captain tried to come up with a plan of escape. The Warden's voice rang out in a soft laugh.
"Well, you've got me. What now, Captain?"
"Release Interface."
"Ok." Her eyes locked on Bob's. "Go ahead, Interface. Leave the woman you love. If you wish."
Bob knew it was a trick, knew the code would make him stay in place, stay with her. His muscles tensed as he felt an overwhelming urge to be close to her again, the initial command of her ownership singing through his veins. Yet his Guardian code kept him aware, and his will as his own… But she didn't know that.
And he couldn't let her.
So he stayed still, his face mimicking confusion for her benefit and Blackadder's.
"That's not what I meant!" Blackadder hissed and pulled at her hair. A painful gasp left her.
Without thinking Bob rushed them. Blackadder was unprepared, stepping back in surprise and defense. The fraction of panic in the Captain's reaction was all Bob needed to dig his fingers into the pressure point along Blackadder's arm, quickly slacking his grip around Constantia; thrusting his knee up into the middle of Blackadder's thigh, hitting another bundle of nerves and rapidly paralyzing the leg. The Captain began to fall and Bob helped him along, slamming his body down into the floor and away from the Warden.
It happened in nanoseconds, and Bob wasn't completely sure he was still in control of himself. Staring down at the stunned sprite, Bob quickly masked his features from surprise to anger. He firmly held him in place.
Behind them, Constantia clucked in disapproval. "Loyalty is so hard to come by, isn't it?" She stroked her fingers through Bob's hair. "Except for me. Should I have him kill you now?"
Bob's heart caught in his throat.
The air was heavy as she considered.
"No," she sighed, "no, now would be too easy." She reached down and retrieved the small disc from his belt and replaced the Manual Syntax Error on a nearby table. "You can wait in your cell; wait and wonder about what is to come." She laughed. "Wait and wonder what I'll have him do to you and your crew.
"Let him up, Interface. You have done well."
Bob stepped away, allowing the guards to haul the sneering sprite to his feet. He met the angry gaze with an indifferent one. "This isn't over," Blackadder said to Constantia. Then he was gone, and Bob was alone with his captor.
Her arms laced around his waist and she whispered into his neck, "Don't worry, Interface, for us, it's just beginning."
He flinched at the two codes raging in his body. His Guardian code kept his mind sharp, and he was repulsed by her affections. The DRAM kept his heartbeat racing at the softness of her voice, surging the undeniable warmth through him to respond. She slowly moved her body in front of his. Smiling, she ran her fingers through his hair and licked her lips. "I want to thank you for protecting me."
Bob's mouth went dry despite his efforts to resist. "I could do nothing else."
"Oh, there's much you can do for me," she countered. Firmly she pushed him backwards. "Let me show you."
His mind raced. He stared at her lips, hauntingly close to his, and he suddenly desired to taste them… like he did when Dot sang to him, putting herself so tantalizingly close. His hands came up on her hips and trailed along the smooth skin of her back, running softly over the clasps of her top, and his fingers flexed to break the material free… like he needed to break out of this prison and return to Mainframe, to help his friends, to help his heart…
He needed to escape.
He needed to run his fingers through her hair.
He needed to help his friends.
He needed to kiss her.
He needed Patch.
He needed her.
His legs bumped against the bed, and he was falling backwards onto soft cushions and silken sheets. Her weight fell across his chest, his breath caught, and she was there, warm and soft and alive. Bob had one moment to stare up at her beautiful face, her green eyes shinning-
Wrong!
-before her lips met his, and Bob was falling. He grasped her face, pulled her closer, took from her as much as he gave. The blood thundered past his ears and he couldn't get enough of his vixen, his delicious seductress, his Dot.
He gasped and broke the kiss. What am I doing?
She continued down his neck, her weight on him making him bite his lip, his mind and body waging war inside his heart. He couldn't resist her without losing his advantage, but it was wrong, wrong, wrong! But the DRAM would make it so easy; he was quickly falling under its cloak of indifference…
Learn to live with the consequences.
His arms tightened around her as her kisses moved to his chest, her hands drifting up under his shirt.
…fight with all of your core…
He had to escape, to get home to Mainframe, to save his family.
Find something to live for…
Dot.
…fight with all of your core…
He was going to break free of this… whatever it took.
… and learn to live with the consequences.
He grasped her arms and pulled her mouth to his, claiming it with possessive force. Her moan was lost between them as he rolled her onto her back, his mind cringing while his body pulsated. I'm sorry, Dot. Shoving his Guardian protocols to the back of his heart, he let go to the beckoning call of the DRAM, let himself fall further into her embrace, let his actions bring life to the lie.
His only small comfort was in the stray thought that crossed his mind. At least Dot would never know…
AN: Hi all. I'm struggling with this story, not because I don't want to write it or I don't know where I'm going, but because the fountain is running dry in this fandom. It's hard to stay inspired when there's little stimulation elsewhere. Frankly, the motivation to write this came from my reading Sherlock fanfics. Sadly, there are few similarities between these two fandoms, but at least they've got some good angst over there.
Here's the deal. I promised myself I would finish what I start. I really want to finish this story… it's just hard right now. So, I can't make any promises when this will get done. I have other stories bouncing around in my head which I really want to write, but I want to finish this first.
I'm really going to try.
Do me a favor. Wish me luck.
Thanks to everyone who's still sticking around!
