Purity of Essence - Chapter 2 - Good Morning, Mainframe

Purity Of Essence
By Wrin Chikaya

Chapter 2 - Good Morning, Mainframe

"Do you always hit the brakes?"

Matrix dodged his way around a pillar as he traveled towards another corner of Kit's sector. He groped his hand quietly down one pant leg to make sure Gun was still safe, in its holster, on his hip.

He hated leaving AndrAIa in the dark about the situation, but truth be told, he didn't know how to handle the situation. Megabyte was a formidable opponent. Dot had no idea what he was up to. Matrix had heard a considerable amount on the topic of Megabyte from Dot, especially in recent occurrences.

He shook his head.

Matrix waited idly outside Bob and Dot's apartment, floating on his zipboard. The door opened shortly, and Bob stepped out, a zipboard folded under one arm.

"What was it you needed me to see?" Bob grinned.

Matrix almost cringed. Bob seemed to figure that this was going to be something fun, or a pleasant surprise. "Bob, I can't even tell you. Just .. follow me."

Bob just shrugged and jumped on the zipboard, following the hulking Matrix.

-

To the ordinary observer, Dot's diner was a simple restaurant, designed bar-and-booth style, simplistic in its decor and exceptional in its service. The extraordinary observer, however, would note the cracked and chipped countertop, the tables coated with a fine layer of dust, the vinyl on the seats cracked and peeling and the posters falling off the wall.

By far its hardest feature to miss was a green smear on the wall, slowly fading to a brownish color, and a puddle of similar hue on the floor cracking away and becoming dust. There were three puncture holes in the wall, all in a row. Holes big enough for Matrix to stick his finger through. Directly to the right of the smear, there was a gaping hole in the wall where Matrix had run his fist through. The imprints of his boots followed a small path in and out of the diner, the drying viral lifeblood cracking away and flaking off slightly faster than the puddle closer to the wall.

The two men burst in, Bob first, then Enzo following. Bob's surprise was apparent, his jaw dropping, his blue skin turning a slightly more ashen color.

"Is this.. " Bob hiccuped.

"Where Megabyte was deleted? Well, I thought he had been deleted."

"You mean you didn't.. "

"You're really helping me by being clear here, Bob. Didn't what?" The renegade leaned in closer, the sound of creaking leather evident.

Bob kneeled down on the floor and rubbed a bit of the blood off of the floor with a finger. The linoleum underneath was stained a sickly yellow. "When viruses ... are injured," Bob began, "they will, for the most part, only appear deleted for a short time. Many viruses run subroutines that bounce them around the ... energies of the system, so that for viral code to be rendered incapable of regeneration, the virus must be completely decompiled."

"What does this mean, Bob?"

"This means that I assumed that you had already ran Megabyte through a decomposition chamber. If anybody else would have known to do it, it would have been Ph--..." Bob stopped himself short.

"Phong," Matrix said, hanging his head, again sure of the fact that this had, in fact, been his fault. Bob stood up from his kneeling position and looked Matrix in the face. "Dot needs to know."

"No," Matrix pleaded, gripping Bob's arm. "I can't let Dot know that I screwed this up. I'm .. I'm putting her life in danger again..."

"Matrix," Bob said, picking Matrix's hand off of his bicep, "the Command.Com has to know. There is no two ways about it. You should tell AndrAIa too. Keep this quiet, we don't need panic.."

Matrix simply nodded, like a child. Bob's words of wisdom and plans for what to do next seemed to float about him, as if a shell had suddenly formed around his entire body. All he understood was that he had messed up, and must now, ultimately, pay the price.

The humiliation he was feeling now would be high on that price tag. He could just imaigine Dot's horrified face as Bob told her that Megabyte wasn't gone from her life after all. He imagined that the knowledge would launch her on an emotional ride akin to that which he had never exactly found out about, that which had occurred less than a few cycles ago. If only he had thought to dispose of Megabyte. If only he had thought to ask Dot. If only..

The words boiled about his head, lurching, crashing, making his entire brain collapse and reform, feeling as if his head were about to explode and yet somehow implode at the same time. He could feel a pain in his head. Like steel band wrapping itself around his head and tightening slowly ...

"Enzo?" Bob passed his fingers in front of Matrix's eyes.

He jumped up, shocked out of his shell, hand at the ready to draw Gun.

"Easy, big fella," Bob said as he patted Matrix's arm. "Gun can stay in her holster for now."

Matrix's eye glowed red. Humiliation gave way to anger, giving way to hate.

Bob could see the transformations occurring within Matrix's skull, and in an effort to quell them grabbed Matrix's jaw with one hand. "Hey, Enzo, pay attention to me for just a nano, okay?" Bob raised an eyebrow, then lowered his hand. "What is up with you, anyway?"

Matrix felt words bubble up his throat, and he coughed them out. It was difficult not to cry. "I put Dot in danger again, didn't I? This is my fault, isn't it..."

Bob looked up at the burly renegade and blinked. He nearly laughed, but quickly decided that such an action would be in bad taste. Instead, he reached up and laid his palm on Matrix's shoulder. The green hulk raised his chin so as to look at Bob, as opposed to the floor.

"This isn't your fault. You didn't know."

Matrix shifted uncomfortably.

"Enzo, you did what you could. You saved my life, I'm certain of that. Likely that of your sister's as well."

Matrix just nodded.

Bob sighed. Matrix wasn't going to get the point any time soon.

Matrix sighed. Bob wasn't going to get the point any time soon.

And thinking so much alike, neither of them had any clue as to why they were the two most important men in Dot's life.

-

The mists swirled around the dark field Matrix was stepping through. They were like a strong, thick curtain, laying about his shoulders like velvet, weighing him down.

He stepped cautiously through the path. What was this place? The question ran through his head. Everything seemed too real for it to be a dream, and he squinted his eyes at a glint of light that frosted the darkness. As if the mist didn't seem heavy enough to make the whole world seem to be a three-dimensional curtain.

He leaned down to pick the object up. It was curiously shaped, and an odd purplish color. He brushed off the dirt caked on it.

The moment Matrix's hands touched the curious object, it turned around to face him of its own accord. Then, it began to speak.

"Ah, the boy."

Matrix struggled to choke down a yelp.

"You put your sister in danger again. Ah, dear, dear boy. What kind of a protector ARE you anyway?" Megabyte's lip curled into a sneer. His eyes glowed a more vibrant shade of red. Matrix felt a chill creep its way up his spine, curling its tendrils around it as if the chill itself were made of acid. He swallowed.

"You betrayed yourself, and your sister," the head spoke again. "You even destroyed me, something against the values, the protocol, which you yourself hold quite dear." It cackled. Matrix felt something on his inside shrink.

The head grew in size until it was four, five times the size of Matrix. The eyes glowed horribly, orange-red, and then red, then almost flaming. Megabyte's mouth opened slowly, and the head chased Matrix through the misty field, the virus screaming all the way.

-

Matrix awoke from his nightmare sweaty and red-faced. He must have been thrashing about in his sleep, for AndrAIa had left and was sleeping on the couch. He flipped over again and buried his face in his pillow. Dot had to know. AndrAIa had to know. But Matrix, for the life of him, was to humiliated to tell them.

The danger mounted.

And somewhere, deep in level 31, a creature stirred.

Read Chapter 3

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