Chapter 13: Loyalties
"Flash? Blogger?" Bob's voice was small with bits of static. Enzo stopped and pressed on his helmet, trying to bring the ear piece closer. "Frame?"
"Still here, Bob," Frame replied.
A pause, then Avast's voice came over, almost too quiet to hear. "Should we go check on him?"
"No," Bob said. "It's probably Blogger causing interference. We keep moving. Frame, continue trying to hail Flash. If we don't hear from him in ten nanos, we'll go out. Until then, stay frosty."
"Copy that, Boss," Frame confirmed.
"Bob, what did Flash mean about the codes? I thought any Guardian could do that," Enzo chimed in.
"Not without proper authority."
Enzo sighed. "Got it. We'll keep our eyes peeled." Enzo started moving forward again, the West Library coming up in view about 10 meters away. Cleaner fell in step near him, scanning the roof tops and side walks leading between darkened buildings. The WebSprite spoke softly in his native tongue, the translation coming through with a one nanosecond delay.
"I did not get it. What are we looking for?"
"Turbo, the Prime Guardian. Flash mentioned he couldn't locate him or his code. He's the final authority here, nothing goes without his say so."
"Including this quarantine?"
Enzo nodded. "Especially the quarantine. It has to be initiated either from the labs or the security center after authentication."
"That seems counter-intuitive. You had massive infection here before. Why isn't it automatic?"
"The Guardians tried that, installing sensors in the reformatting room and the cells blocks. But then the codes we transported and studied kept triggering the alarms, sending the entire SuperComputer into lockdown. The Guardians feared too many false alarms would make the sprites complacent."
Cleaner turned around slowly, looking to the sky. "You said the alarms were silenced."
"Yes, you should hear them across the entire Academy and SuperComputer sectors." He pointed up to tall towers with massive horns. "After Daemon, those were installed, telling all sprites to don anti-viral patches and take cover. We drilled every few cycles." Enzo stopped and looked behind them then back toward the library. "That's why this doesn't make any sense. If something happened, the Guardians should have been prepared. Especially if it was one of my virals."
Cleaner stopped short. "Your virals?"
"They're not infected, at least they weren't when I left. They're reformatted to sprites. Cured, basically."
The WebSprite shook his head. "Reformatted? What in the Web is that?"
Enzo chuckled. "Something that's not in the Web, obviously." He backfilled his companion. Cleaner listened, his eyes never leaving the dark and silent school around them.
When Enzo finished speaking, Cleaner was quiet. Then, "You have a very ambitious dream. I bid you much success. But… no virus is ever cured. No sprite or binome or Web Creature can be cured, as you wish. You can't change its purpose."
"Yeah, so I've heard," Enzo said softly.
"You've heard the truth. Even Bob knows this."
"Bob started this," Enzo argued.
"And left it. Did you ever ask why?"
"He came back."
Cleaner looked at him. "You cannot control everything, just because you will it to be. You cannot change a living being any more than you change the weather. Both will always be unpredictable."
Enzo shook his head. "They had no viral abilities. To take down the SuperComputer was – is - impossible, hands down. A reformatted virus just can't do it, any more than one could control the weather."
Cleaner laughed dryly at the young cadet and gestured around them. "Tell that to whatever did this." He pointed to a tall circular building with grand statues depicting various Guardians. "This it?"
"Yeah," Enzo nodded. "This is the North Entrance to the Library. The scaffolding is where we need to go," Enzo pointed to the right. Plastic sheets blew around the shadowed layers raising up two or three kilometers high. "Let's get some torches."
Cleaner's arm blocked Enzo's path. "Wait."
"What?"
His head jerked to the left, between two pillars. "Something moved."
Enzo pulled out a collapsible fighting stick, extending it to full range with a flick of his wrist. "Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure." He dropped to one knee, raising his long arm blaster up to his shoulder. A scope extended and he was motionless. After a nano, he shook his head. "Nothing." He scanned the remaining shadows leading up to the scaffolds. "Looks clear."
"All right. Let's go." The sooner they returned to the others, the better. Enzo couldn't get over the eeriness of the place without its usual vibrancy. Cleaner moved ahead, Enzo looking back behind them one more time.
Then he heard it.
He spun, bringing his staff up to bear. A shape ran past, sprinting off into the distance, protected by shadows. But even in the low light, even with just a nanosecond of time, he knew.
He'd know her anywhere.
"Pandora!" and he was running. Cleaner's high pitched dialect fell into the wind behind him. He heard crackling over the comms, too soft over his beating heart. She was in trouble and that was all that mattered.
The voice came over the static, intermittent and shaky. "Bo… Bob, Enzo… rogue, going… survivor."
Flash pressed on his ear piece, the crackling only increasing in his ear. "Bob? Can you hear me? Did someone say survivor? Anyone, do you copy my last?"
Again, static won out. "Blast. Still nothing. Sonic, I need video feed." Sonic whirred and beeped. Flash looked at a row of small screens, black but undamaged. "Blogger, can you route power over here?"
The WebSprite traced a line of cables, bent backwards and sideways under a panel pulled apart, and sparks soared across the room. Then the panel kicked on and hummed to life, the screens blinking intermittently. Lines streaked across two. Three more had frozen pictures of unknown places. The last blinked and a fuzzy shape appeared running across the screen.
Flash pressed on his helmet. "If anyone can hear me, I've got visual on someone, possibly Enzo, running across-," he looked at the camera's location, "Sector 45, heading toward the Hall. No other visuals." He pressed on the control panel, and the picture jumped, it's image fragmented. He moved to another camera, with the same result. "Cameras around the hall appear to be out. Checking other sectors now."
Sonic whirred.
"Try and bring up historicals on the other screens," Flash replied. "If we can't see now, let's try and see before."
Sonic detached and flew to the back side of the panel, hooking into a special port and running through a number of beeps and hums as Flash continued to get someone on the line. Blogger continued on the communications, running various scripts to break the encryption. Flash watched the only working screen, but nothing else appeared.
Sonic beeped, and two of the three frozen screens blinked. Video kicked in, the timestamp at the bottom reading two seconds prior. The first screen displayed the Thesis Hall, students mingling in large groups as Guardians directed them inside. The second screen showed a room with two sprites circled by discs on the floor, a room he didn't recognize. Flash looked back and forth between the two, trying to figure out the events without any sound bytes. The pictures would drop and come back, the data obviously corrupted.
"Sonic, try and piece this together, give us a clearer picture of what's going on."
The keytool complied and Blogger called the Guardian over. "It's not perfect," he started, "but have a look." He turned the small VidWindow and tapped. Lines of code began streaming across, slashes and gaps indicating much of the encryption still present.
But it was clear enough. Flash could read the Security Center's logs dating up to two seconds prior, to the last entry submitted by none other than the Prime Guardian. He scanned the other entries, his brow furrowing.
"Not good, then?" Blogger asked.
Flash shook his head slowly. "It's confusing. It's like one nano everything was fine, the next infection was detected and the quarantine initiated. The Security Officers began sending out a mass notification of the quarantine, but Turbo cancelled the message and encrypted all future communications. Then, nothing."
"Infection was detected?"
Flash pointed to a line of code. "That's what the officer entered here, but he gave no further clarification. He did activate quarantine, which is proper protocol. But Turbo called back the message… and didn't stop the quarantine?"
Sonic screeched and whirled frantically. Flash looked up at the screens, squinting to make sense of the stories unfolding before his eyes. Three sprites were now in the room with the discs, one being attacked and…
Sonic rewound the footage, beeping and clicking at Flash.
It took several nanos, the situation so grave Flash almost couldn't comprehend it. When he did, it hit the Guardian like a tear. "No… holy shift! Bob! Bob! Spam it, how much longer is this interference gonna be up?!" Flash snapped.
"Do you want comms with Bob or the systems?"
Flash stared at the screen for a nano longer. "No, we need to alert all able-bodied Guardians, the SuperComputer is compromised and to stay clear. Sonic, download everything and meet me. I need to tell Bob." Flash moved to the door.
"Tell him what?" Blogger asked.
"We're in big trouble." He opened the door and slammed into a wall of solid muscle.
"Welcome home, Guardian."
Flash had no time and the fist smashed him into darkness.
"Bo… Bob, Enzo… rogue, going… survivor."
Bob and Avast looked at each other. "Cleaner, you're breaking up, repeat that?"
"-vivor… West… stop!" Cleaner shouted, then static.
"Glitch, scanner." The keytool beeped once and a hologram showed a miniature map of the Academy. Two blue dots blinked along the West Library, moving east. "They're heading toward the Thesis Hall," Bob said. "But Glitch doesn't detect any other lifeforms."
"False alarm?" Avast asked.
Bob looked down the dorm, empty and silent. "Perhaps. But if the quarantine went into full effect, everyone would have moved to the Thesis Hall for safety. It's part of the protocol. If there are survivors, it'd make sense they'd be there."
"Sounds like the perfect place for a trap."
The Guardian pursed his lips, his mind racing with possibilities. "Frame, stay low and be ready for a quick exit. Avast and I are going to the Hall. If anything happens, get Flash and get back."
"Copy."
Bob tossed out his zipboard. Avast hesitated. "If it's a trap, they already know we're here,
Bob said."Let's get every advantage while we can now."
"Any idea who "they" might be?" the WebSprite asked, unfurling his board and hopping on. Bob shook his head. They sped out of the dorm and into the night, unaware of the eyes following their every move.
They stayed up high, surveying the Hall and surrounding buildings for anything friend or foe. Glitch continued scanning, pinging every nano. Cleaner and Enzo were circling the Hall. Avast pointed them out, standing before the front entrance. The courtyard around them was wide and open, only the statues lining the walkways providing cover for possible attacks.
Bob tapped on his earpiece and said in WebSpeak, "Cleaner, status." Static came back. "Enzo? Frame?" No one replied. "Either something's wrong with the headsets, or we're getting jammed. See anything?"
"Looks clear."
"All right, let's go. Stay frosty." Bob descended rapidly, staying low to the ground, Glitch whirring softly with continuous updates of the area. He saw Cleaner looking around and Enzo pounding on the door to the Hall. Enzo called out, Cleaner quickly silencing him, but the boy continued trying to open the door.
"What happened?" Bob said when he was close enough.
"Enzo saw someone run this way," Cleaner said, shaking his head, "but I didn't see, and Enzo won't calm down."
"She ran in here," Enzo said, his voice slightly frantic, "Bob, open the door!"
Bob grabbed the cadet's arm and pulled him back, as much to stop the noise as to get his attention. "Who?"
"Pandora! Pandora was running, I saw her, she looked… something was wrong, Bob."
"You're sure?"
The cadet glared. "Of course!" he snapped.
Bob looked at Cleaner. The WebSprite shrugged. "I thought I saw someone before Enzo, but I haven't seen or heard anything since; surprising with all this racket. Didn't see her run this way."
"Glitch can open the door, right?" Enzo pressed.
"Hold on, Enzo." Bob looked around them. The doors were locked from the inside. "You're sure she ran in here?"
"Yes! I saw her; she'd be safe here, they all would!"
"So she saw you, ran for cover, and locked the door." Bob looked at Enzo. "Why did she lock you out?"
Enzo opened his mouth and looked confused. "She's scared Bob…"
"But why be scared of you?"
"She saw the Web Suit, she saw Cleaner, she's confused out of her mind; what does it matter, Bob?!"
"It matters if Guardians are infected again, or cadets, or anyone that was here in the SuperComputer. It matters if she's infected."
Enzo huffed, his hands clenching at his sides. "So what do we do?"
Bob looked at the door again. "We know the protocol. All sprites report here and wait for further instruction." He pointed to the additional security door, still locked in the open position. "They didn't feel the need for the extra security. So either everyone came and was released, or everyone is still waiting inside." He looked at Glitch. "No lifeforms detected."
"Only one way to know for sure, Bob," the cadet said.
"I know." He gestured behind him and took a few steps back. "We'll have to cut through the lock. Everyone be ready. Glitch-"
"I wouldn't, if I were you." The voice was soft, deep, and cut through the night like a whip.
The four spun around, weapons at the ready. Only shadows stared back from the surrounding court yard. Glitch beeped and Bob replied in WebSpeak. "Glitch can't detect anything, where did it come from?"
"Must be from the speaker," Avast replied, and Cleaner cut in, "Can't be, too far."
"Show yourself!" Enzo shouted, his staff at the ready. Bob turned to the cadet, but the voice cut him off.
"I'm right here, Enzo." From behind a nearby pillar, a shape stepped out from the shadows. Glitch beeped in warning, but Bob said nothing.
He'd only heard the voice… "Turbo?"
The Prime Guardian moved closer, his face becoming visible in the low moonlight. "Welcome back, Bob. Sorry it's not much of a home coming."
"Man, you scared us!" Enzo lowered his staff, his face and voice filled with relief. He jogged forward. "What hap-?" The cadet stopped short, Bob's arm blocking him from the Prime Guardian. "Bob?"
Guardian 452 was staring down the newcomer, his body rigid. Glitch continued beeping, so incessant that Enzo finally looked at his faceplate. The code flashed across the screen, and the color drained from the cadet's face. He looked back up at Turbo in confusion.
"Something wrong, cadet?" Turbo asked quietly.
He ignored him, slowly bringing his staff up. "Bob, what's going on?"
Turbo's eyes narrowed. "It's disrespectful to ignore a superior officer."
"It would be, if you were Turbo." Bob said shortly. He brought his arm up, Glitch prepped to fire. "Who-what-are you?"
Turbo tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean? You're looking right at me, Bob."
"Yes, and so is Glitch. But neither you or Copeland are registering."
The Guardian nodded, his lips curling up slightly. "And, I imagine, neither are they."
Five Guardians stepped out from behind the pillars, their keytools raised and ready to attack. Bob looked around, Glitch beeping more frantically as they, too, did not appear to exist. Avast and Cleaner closed in, the four back to back as they stood ready for a fight.
Two more Guardians came, dragging a third. They dropped Flash to his knees before Turbo. He was bloody and dazed. Bob looked around for Blogger or Frame.
Turbo placed his hands on Flash's shoulders, holding him steady. "A part of me is sorry it's come to this, Bob."
"Come to what?"
"This choice. I should never have to question where your loyalties lay, but given the situation, it seems inappropriate to assume."
Bob's reply was strong and clear. "My loyalties lay with the Prime Guardian and the SuperComputer. Turbo would know that."
"Then this should be easy. Lower your weapons and swear allegiance to me."
Bob held his gaze, refusing to blink. "Or?" Bob asked.
Turbo didn't flinch. His lips curled into a sinister smile completely out of place for the friendly Guardian. His hand wrapped around Flash's face.
The snap echoed through the courtyard. The body collapsed at Turbo's feet with a muted thud.
"Your call, Guardian."
A/N: Hi all! Been a minute, hasn't it? Well, I'm looking at two or three more chapters, but it's slow going. I've been getting more time off from work now, and am trying to get writing in every opportunity I have. Sometimes the inspiration flows like a fountain, and other days it's a desert. But I'm going to keep fighting through, to bring this baby to a closure! Hope you'll stick with me for the ride. Thanks to everyone who continues checking back! Catch you on the next one!