By Wriness Chikaya
Chapter 7 - Squeeze
"You are the radio star.."
Dot pressed her hands against the buttons of the panel. The coldness vanished briefly. But only briefly.
The vidwindows showing schematics of the Tor were her only companion. The sensors that allowed her such a view of the Tor were a blessing, indeed, but the fact that she could still not view the energy signatures moving about inside made things difficult.
She was in the process of formulating a plan. A sketchy, penciled plan, as of yet crudely formulated. Dot would need help. She needed Phong.
Sadly, that help was exactly what she lacked. Her biggest problem was how to get from the Principal Office to G-Prime and thus the Tor without being seen. She would have to wait for night time, but still, her zipboard would not provide much transportation.
Nobody else could take the risk of being seen with her either, and that was a problem in itself. She smashed her fist against a vidwindow, which bounced backwards and forwards to its original position upon impact.
"User damn it all!" she yelled. It was difficult enough not knowing where to turn, or not having anywhere to turn. If the situation had been much different, she would have called in her brother, or AndrAIa, or hell, even Mouse. She might be able to break through the software shielding that was keeping the innards of the Tor hidden from Dot.
But her friends were under some degree of fire as well. Them moving around, anywhere, especially to the PO, would have called a lot of attention. If there was one thing Dot could not afford to call, it was attention. It could mean her death. Or the death of one close to her. If she could take out Megabyte without anybody else's help, all the better.
No.
For Dot, that was a price far too steep. The death the situation at present had already caused problems enough. She wouldn't call attention to another part.
As these thoughts ran their chorus through her head, she heard a shrill squawk from the communicator again and fairly leapt out of her chair to answer it.
"Dot Meg*crackle* not at *crackle* he's *crackle* the diner..."
The message was short. Sound-only again. Dot wondered the kind of effort it had taken Bob to send it. But that wasn't important right now. She hit a few keys, in an effort to optimize it.
"Dot, Megabyte *crackle* not at the *crackle* he's at the diner..."
"That's IT!" Dot yelped. Perhaps that was part of the reason Dot couldn't place Megabyte's signature, or Bob's. She was looking in the wrong place!
The more she thought about it, the more perfect it seemed. Nobody frequented the diner anymore. Her friends knew she wasn't to be found there. The city binomes who didn't know Dot very well pretty much avoided the place. Cecil had shut down as a result. She could barely believe he had thought of it, so little was her respect for his train of thought.
-
Bob wriggled one shackle up towards his elbow, then past his elbow with a great pinching pain. It was difficult, but it would be enough to get the communicator on his wrist out of the field of the restraints.
He whispered hoarsely into the communicator, huddled in the corner of his cell. He hoped to User the binome guard with his EMP rifle didn't hear...
"Dot, Megabyte's station is not at the Tor, he's at the diner... I'm still at the Tor..."
The little light on the communicator dimmed, an indication that the field of the restraints was increasing its power. He only hoped that the message made it to Dot.
The guard marched across the front of the cell, ominously, and Bob's mind flashed briefly to the scenes of Megaframe he had once seen.
-
Dot hummed towards Baudway and her diner in the dark of night. She prayed she wouldn't be seen, though it wasn't likely she would be.
She whispered a few words into a communicator on her lapel. She couldn't help but hope that he came in time to cover her.
She stepped into the dimmed diner. Boxes littered the floor, the posters on the walls peeling. Some of the seats had begun to crack from cold. Dot frowned. That her haven could become so decrepit had a lot to do with the way she cringed when she saw it.
She turned slowly, feeling a pair of glowing eyes bore their way into her back. A muscle in her jaw jumped, more out of hatred than surprise, as she realized she was face to face with the infamed virus himself.
"Well, Ms. Matrix. I must admit, I wasn't entirely surprised to see you arrive here sooner or later."
She sneered, her emotions getting the better of her. She couldn't lunge. She had to wait. There was no way she was going to take him on her own...
He smiled. A cold, sinister smile. "Oh, Ms. Matrix. How delightful it will be to infect you..."
Dot took this to be her chance. As he stepped towards her, she slithered around him. The confined space left his speed advantage with some to be desired, as she had a lot of dexterity that his body lacked. She appeared cornered behind the counter, and as he jumped at her venomously, claws extended, she clambered over the counter and did a shoulder roll on the tile floor. He crawled over the counter and if she hadn't known that the tables could be pulled easily off the wall, she would have been trapped underneath the table.
She jumped up, and the table swung upwards, hitting Megabyte in the chin. He staggered backwards, and she used this opportunity to crawl over to another corner of the diner. Her plan, to circle him until help arrived.
It worked out well for the most part, until one mis-calculated leap over the counter. Her boot caught on the lip closest to the back wall. She fell, her ribcage smashing on the opposite lip as she somersaulted over the counter. The virus leapt across the counter with well-placed ease, and picked her up by the neck. Dot was helpless to struggle.
"Actually, I believe I'll just delete you instead of infecting you," the frustrated virus mused. Dot kicked at him helplessly as he pressed her up against a wall with one fist, extending his other arm behind him, extending his claws...
"Hey!" came a shout from the door.
The virus turned.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance," the voice said as AndrAIa's trident flew at Megabyte, catching him around the waist and pinning him against the wall, writhing in agony.
Dot collapsed on the floor where Megabyte had dropped her. However cold she had felt alone inside the Principal Office, his touch was colder.
She stood up slowly, her brother holding the trident into the wall while Megabyte struggled against it. She looked him square in the eyes. "So you killed all those people," she said calmly, coldly. "You're responsible for this. And then you blamed it on me."
Silence.
She kept her gaze locked on his until turning as if to leave. She turned back quickly and spat in his face. "Filth," she hissed before turning away. Megabyte's eyes narrowed as he lay against the wall, impotent to wipe the venom from his face.
Matrix walked up to Megabyte slowly, withdrawing Gun. He pressed the barrel squarely into the virus's stomach, and pulled the trigger.
>*BLAM*!
One shot, and the fabled red pupils of Megabyte's eyes faded as his lifeblood pooled around his lifeless feet.
Dot appeared somewhat satisfied, then a look of darkness crossed her face. Matrix turned towards her. "What..?" he questioned cautiously.
"Where's Bob?"
Matrix's face fell. "He's not in here, is he."
Dot shook her head solemnly. She stepped outside the building, looking it over. She turned to Matrix for a moment. "He's likely still at the Tor, and where, I don't know," she paused. "... We'll need Mouse."
Matrix nodded his acknowledgement slowly. They had to get back to the Principal Office. "Sis?"
"What, Enzo.." Dot sighed.
"I don't care how separated we are by blood or by genetics. You're a sister to me."
Dot smiled faintly. They were welcome words.
"Dot?"
"Yes, Enzo?"
"What are you going to do with the Diner now?"
Dot eyed the door. The cracked glass, covered in graffiti. The peeling posters on the inside, Megabyte pinned against the wall. She picked up her zipboard and hopped on.
"Torch it. And make sure not even the ashes remain," she said as she began to move towards the Principal Office.
---
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