Prologue

Prologue


Billy was a guardian. She came from the Super Computer, and since it was such a huge city, she wasn't well known at all. She had long, wavy blond hair, with tanned peach skin. Her eyes were green, and she was quite pretty.

Walking home one day, she passed the city science lab and immediately got bad vibes. Vira, her keytool, started beeping. "What?" she frowned, checking it out. There was something definitely strange going on in that science lab. Frowning, she headed toward it.

Inside was quiet and peaceful. There wasn't anyone at the front desk, so she breezed on through and headed for the back of the building. So what if someone catches me? She thought, I'm a guardian, I have a right to be here.

Pushing through two swinging double doors, she burst into some sort of lab. It was empty, and the counters were bare except for a small petri dish. Her keytool's beeping got louder, and she slowly approached it. Billy frowned as she picked the dish up. Inside was some sort of greenish glowing bacteria, slowly multiplying, nearly taking up the whole dish.

"Be careful with that!"

Billy bit back a scream and dropped her hands, the dish landing back on the counter. Jumping with surprise, she made sure the dish was steady and unbroken before turning to see who cried out at her. It was a male sprite, just like her, dressed in a lab coat and goggles. "Oh!" she cried, "I didn't know anybody was here!"

"You must be careful with that," he repeated, walking up to her. He picked up the dish to make sure everything was still intact, then set it back down. "You have no idea what's in that. Who are you, what's your format, and why are you here?"

"My name's Billy Disc," she replied, "and I'm a guardian. I'm here because my keytool was getting strange readings from this building."

"Funny," he frowned, "you don't look like a guardian."

Billy looked down at herself. It was true; she wasn't wearing the guardian uniform that's usually recommended for this kind of job title. She was wearing leather, no-sleeve, black vest, black leather pants, and black leather boots. Her guardian icon was clear, though, and her key tool was visible. Why would he have any doubts?

"I'm not here to be judged," she said, "I'm here on business. Now, are you going to tell me your name and exactly what this..." she gestured toward the disk, "is?"

He looked at her skeptically, then sighed. "My name's Acer Green, and I'm sorry for being so judgmental, but this lab really is dangerous and outsiders aren't supposed to be in here without protective gear."

"I'm a guardian, most of that stuff doesn't qualify for me," she replied. She held up the petri dish. "What exactly is this?"

"That," he replied, "is Daemon. A super virus."

Billy's eyes widened and she nearly dropped the tray. Setting it back down, she looked at Acer. "You are growing a super virus in this lab without written permission from the Head Office? I ought to arrest you!"

"No wait, hear me out first," Acer jumped in, "me and the rest of the scientists do have permission for this, just not written. This is actually a top-secret project we are doing, and if word of this gets out, everything will be ruined. We have worked long and hard, and have created the most powerful virus in all the net!"

"I don't know about that," Billy frowned at him. What was he thinking? "This is very dangerous! If this dish breaks or cracks, this virus could leak out and start spreading across the Super Computer!" She shook her head. "I am going to have to confiscate this from scientists and the citizens of the Super Computer. Do you have any idea what this could lead to?"

"No-wait!"

Billy didn't listen to him. She grabbed the pitri-dish and started her way across the room. To her surprise, the virus inside suddenly multiplied even faster, and started cracking through the dish to get out!

"It's growing too fast!" Acer cried out.

"Aaagh!" Billy held out her hand to see that indeed, the virus had broken loose and making its way up her arm! "Acer!" She couldn't use her keytool; the Daemon-virus had already infected it. She could slowly feel as the virus sunk into her, taking over her body, her mind.

Her screams brought other scientists into the room, and they were shocked to see their creation slowly infecting the guardian. Her whole body went limp and she fell on the floor. She tried to fight the infection, but she couldn't and it was too late. Everything went black.

"Oh no!" A scientist cried out, running toward her. But Acer stopped him.

"It's no use," he said, "Billy Disc has been fully infected. She's Daemon now."

***

"Hey, she's waking up."

"Finally. She's been out all day!"

"All night, I'd say."

The doctors watched as the blond guardian slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room. They had been operating on her ever since she had been brought in, hoping to rid the virus of her. So far, everything came out in failure. Maybe her waking up proved some sort of a chance that she'd been okay.

Blinking, she said, "where am I?"

"You're at the hospital, Billy," the head doctor replied, "are you feeling better? You had been infected, and hopefully you're okay now."

She blinked again. One the side of her forehead, almost fully hidden by her hair, was the same, greenish-glow the virus had.

"Billy?" another doctor asked.

"I'm not Billy, I'm Daemon!" She rasped suddenly. She sat up abruptly and let out a powerful force from her hands, infecting the doctors. As she sat there and watched them choking and gasping to their deletion, she smiled. "Billy's left the building. And I have moved in." She started laughing in a low, throttle voice. Then it got louder, echoing through the hospital.




Chapter One


"Oh, it's such a beautiful day," Dot said, peering out the window at Dot's Diner. "It's a shame I can't go out. So much work holding me down."

"Hey, don't let that bother you, sugah," Mouse said, sliding into the bench across from her. "I could help you know. A Command.com could use a few assistance here and there."

Dot smiled. "As much as I'd love for you to help me out and everything, I'm worried about Bob. Isn't that game finished yet?"

"Honey, Bob's a big boy now. He can take care of himself! Besides, Matrix is in there too. A boy's gotta have a hobby."

"Where's AndrAIa?"

"She went shopping. It's been a long time since she'd had a time to do that."

"Ray?"

"Surfing around."

"Enzo?"

"With Frisket somewhere. It's a shame he doesn't have a friend to play with, now that AndrAIa's all grown up." Mouse sighed. "Gosh, they grow up so fast."

"Sometimes I wonder if Matrix and AndrAIa had a good child life," Dot sighed, putting her planner away. "For a kid, they sure had gone through a lot of tough times not every adult goes through."

Mouse shrugged. "Hey. Now that Mainframe's peaceful now, those two can be as childish as they want, right?"

***

Los Angles. Cold and desolate. So quiet, you could hear a pin drop from the sky. It had been a long time since that City had been full of life and prosperity. Now, it was quiet, hoarded over the nulls.

A light off in the distance. It started out dull then got brighter and brighter, until a giant portal appeared right out of the sky. A few moments later, it vanished, leaving a woman floating up in the air.

"Hm," she murmured to herself. "What an awful place. The perfect spot for me." She looked around. She was wearing all black leather. A black body suit, black gloves, black boots. Sunglasses covered her eyes, and blond, wavy hair fell around her face and shoulders. It was plain that she was very beautiful, no matter how evil she was.

"Now, let's see," she said, counting off the buildings. "Ini, Mini, Mieni, Moe." Her finger rested on Hexadecimal's lair. She smiled to herself.

***

Dot looked up as someone burst through the diner door, and her face lit up when she saw it was Bob and Matrix. Jumping to her feet, she flew into Bob's arms. "Bob! I'm so glad you're back!"
"Uh…thanks…Dot?" Bob frowned at her, hugging her back. "Um, I left?"

"She means the game, sugah," Mouse explained, "she was afraid you'd get nullified."

Dot pulled away from Bob, frowning at Mouse. "What makes you think that? Can't I be glad Bob's back?"

"That had to be the longest game I've been through," Matrix complained, striding over to the bar. He sat down and rested against the counter. "Where's AndrAIa?"

"Shopping," Dot and Mouse replied at the same time. They grinned at each other.

"Not anymore," A voice called out. They all turned to see the tall, slender game sprite making her way from the door, carrying three, loaded down shopping bags.

Matrix's eyes nearly bugged out. "AndrAIa! Just how much did you spend?"

AndrAIa shrugged. "Not much."

"Not much? I don't think that's what you call-!"

A sudden crashing at the front door interrupted him. Matrix flew to his feet, reaching for his gun, but Mouse saw him in time to stop him. They all looked to see Enzo skid to a stop.

"Bob?" He called out. "Bob!" He saw the guardian and ran for him, jumping on top of him and crashing him to the ground. Sitting on his stomach, he said, "Bob! Something terrible has happened!"

"What?" Dot cried, before anyone else could yell it out.

"It's Hexadecimal," Enzo explained, climbing to his feet and helping Bob up. "She's gone random! Off-line! Basic! She's flying around Mainframe, destroying everything in sight! She's…she's crazy, Bob!"

"Oh no," Bob said, looking at the others. "This is bad. Very-"

"I'll call Ray!" Mouse interrupted, running out of the diner.

"Let's go, AndrAIa!" Matrix cried. AndrAIa dropped her shopping bags and they both ran out the door. Dot wasn't far behind.

Enzo looked up at Bob. "Well?" he asked, expectantly. "Are you going to finish you're 'this is bad, very bad' speech, or are you going to go out there and fix things?"

Bob shook his head, then headed out after the others. Enzo followed, hoping for a chance to see some real action without Dot's having to kick him back inside.

They were in a state of shock once they left the diner. It was true what Enzo had said. Hexadecimal had gone random. More random than she already was before. She was flying around, setting buildings on fire, scaring the citizens, and downright being destructive and violent.

"Oh no, we've got to do something!" Dot cried.

Just then, Ray surfed on down, 'parking' his board neatly on the pavement beside them. "Whoa, mate! What's going on?"

"It's Hexadecimal!" Enzo cried, "what are we going to do?"

Bob watched as Hexadecimal flew around, rampaging and destroying things. Was she…crying? From her now normal face, she looked like she had tears rolling down her cheeks. "Wait guys!" he cried, "I think something's wrong!"

"Obviously!" AndrAIa cried.

"No, I mean, something's wrong with her!" Bob finished. Releasing an energy beam from his hands, it hit Hexadecimal and froze her right there. Slowly bringing her toward them, he set her down on the ground before releasing her.

"Dude," Enzo commented, "that was fast."

Hexadecimal turned violently as if to destroy what she was about to destroy earlier, but when she saw Bob standing in front of her, she raced for him and wrapped her arms around him. "Oh Bob!" he cried, "it's all lost! It's all lost!"

"Whoa!" Bob cried, slightly overtaken, "what happened? What's lost?"

"M-my place!" She burst into loud sobs and buried her face in the guardian's shoulder. "Please! You must help me!"

"Her lair?" The others exchanged confused looks. "How could it be lost?" Dot asked.

"It's kind of hard to lose something like that," Ray wisecracked.

"No, I didn't lose it!" Hex cried, suddenly angry. She looked up from Bob's shoulder, but Dot noted she didn't take her arms away from around him. "Someone took it from me!"

"But who?" Matrix shrugged, "who would take your lair? You're the most threatening thing around here for Mainframers."

"What did you say?" Hex bellowed. The others stepped back in surprise (except Bob, who couldn't anyway), but she smiled suddenly. "What a sweet thing to say! You should come over for tea someday." (Hey! That rhymed!) That seemed to bring her back to Earth. "If I had a place for you to come over to!" she hid her face in Bob's shoulder again.

"Do you know who took it?" AndrAIa asked comfortingly, putting her hand on the 'once-was' virus' shoulder.

"Who'd want to take anything from Hexadecimal?" Enzo asked.

Hex apparently (and luckily) didn't hear him. She released Bob and stepped back. In her story-telling voice, she began. "Well then. I was just getting my cheese and crumpets out of the cabinet, and I remember Scuzzy was helping me- oh no! Scuzzy! Poor thing, he's left behind! Whatever am I to do! Anyway, that was when a brilliantly bright light shone through my lair windows, and I was almost blinded! Which, I might add, would be absolutely horrible if I was. The next thing I knew, this woman breaks through from the top, demanding I give up my lair!"

"Oh no," Enzo said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Dot nudged him to stay silent.

"Anyway," Hexadecimal went on, "I tried to fight back, I really did. But she was so powerful, maybe as powerful as I was! Before I knew it, she had-aaaaagh!" Suddenly, she fainted and fell against Bob. He struggled to catch her and keep on his feet at the same time.

"What happened, sugah?" Mouse asked, suddenly worried.

"Come on," Dot said, helping Bob out, "we might as well get her to the Principle Office. Phong might be able to figure something out."




"Well," Phong said, wheeling over to the anxious group sitting in the waiting room. "I'm sorry you guys had to wait out here, but now that I know her condition, I'm glad you did."

"What do you mean?" Bob asked, standing up. "What did you find out."

"Come on, honey, out with it," Mouse prodded, standing up also, one hand at her hip. She glanced warily at Dot who was pacing the room.

"Well now, let's see," Phong said, looking at the clipboard in his hand, "it seems to me that Hexadecimal has been...infected."

"Infected!?" They all cried in unison.

"Hexadecimal? Infected?" Enzo grinned. "Cool!"

"Can we see her?" AndrAIa asked, already making her way for the door.

"Yes, yes," Phong nodded. But I suggest you guys all wear protective clothing so you wouldn't get infected."




"Phong?" Dot asked. "This is ridiculous."

They were all still in the waiting room, all wearing rubber suits that covered them from head to toe. There was clear rubber in the face area so they could see out and little speakers on the side of their heads so they could hear and be heard.

"How do you walk in these?" Bob asked, taking a step forward. He nearly lost his balance.

"It's only for now," Phong said, "even though you guys have a good chance of not catching the virus, this is for your own good. I don't want you guys walking back out of this building with the infection strand on you."

"Hey!" Matrix cried out suddenly, pointing at Phong. "How come you don't have to wear one of these stupid things?"

"Well…I stay in this principle office twenty-four hours a day. Besides, I'm old. What would it matter?"

"Whoa!" Enzo cried. "Cool!"

"Shall we go in?" Phong opened the door, and they all marched in, nearly tripping over their own feet. When they walked in, they found themselves in a slightly large operating room. Hex was lying unconscious on the bed. They noted that she had been strapped in, in case she were to fly into a rampage and try to escape.

"Wow," Dot said, staring at the motionless body. "Is she…?"

"She is fine, for now," Phong said, wheeling over to the bed. "Come Bob, tell me, what do you see?"

Bob stepped next to the bed and examined Hexadecimal over. She seemed to be okay. "She looks fine," he confirmed. He frowned then when he saw something sticking out from under her forehead-covering headdress. "Wait a minute…"

"Wait a minute?" Ray frowned. "What's happening?"
Matrix walked over to join Bob, and together they lifted the heavy headdress off. To their surprise, just sticking out from her (hair?) was a glowing, green sort of radiation. Their eyes widened, and they exchanged glances. They were thinking the same thing.

"Well?" Mouse asked impatiently. "What's the verdict? Will the patient live?"

Without a word, Bob and Matrix turned to look at the others, worried expressions on their faces. "It's Daemon," Bob said.

"She's here," Matrix finished.

*****

"I just don't get it," Dot said, "how could Daemon be here? It's unreasonable. How did she get here?"

"Hey, don't look at me," Mouse spoke up. She shifted her position on the couch and threw a blanket over her legs to stay warm. "I blocked off the portal as well as I could, so it's not my fault."

AndrAIa looked up from her sleeping bag at Dot, who was sitting on the other couch, surrounded with pillows. "Guys, all I could say is, this is one slumber party where we won't be able to sleep peacefully at."

The other two agreed. To try to get their minds away from Daemon, Dot turned the channel, and they all started watching ER.

"This is a pretty interesting show, you know," AndrAIa commented, reaching for the bowl of popcorn.

Mouse sighed, still sensing the tension in the room. Reaching over, she grabbed the remote from Dot's hands and switched off the TV. Sitting up, she said, "look guys. Avoiding the problem isn't going to fix anything. If Daemon's here, then she's probably in Los Angles, since she had to have taken Hex's lair. What are we going to do about that?"

"Hey!" AndrAIa cried, still wrapped up with the blank TV. "I was watching that!" She laughed when Mouse threw a pillow at her to shut her up.

"I don't know," Dot said in a worried voice. She folded her legs and rested her chin in her hands. "We've got to do something. Daemon has to be after Matrix and Bob. They're the only guardians alive that haven't been infected yet."

"Why don't you give the boys a call?" AndrAIa asked, "check up on them."

"What do you suppose they're doing right now, anyway?" Mouse asked, grinning.

AndrAIa shrugged. "Probably shooting hoops. I don't get why they like to do that. It's so dark outside you can't see the ball!"

Dot sighed. "No, I won't call. I can't baby-sit them. Matrix is a grown man now, able to take care of himself. And Bob….well…he survived the web, what more could I say?"

"But it's not a bad thing to check up on them," AndrAIa urged. "After all, you do have the right to worry."

"Nah," Mouse smiled. "Besides, Daemon couldn't possibly beat those two! With Matrix's gun, Bob's protical, and my surfer, she wouldn't stand a chance!"

The girls all laughed, glad to shake that tension off. But unknown to them, they were being watched. Through a glazed mirror. By the eyes of the exact person they were talking about.

"So," Daemon said to herself, watching as the three girls started a pillow fight through her mirror. "They think I don't stand a chance. Well then, I'll just have to prove them wrong, now, won't I?" She started to laugh evilly. (I don't know, every bad guy has to have a part in the story where they laugh maniacally.) "What do you know? This mirror is worth something to me, even though that worthless loser of a virus isn't." She smiled and switched the mirror to its regular, reflective self.