Chapter Four

Chapter Four

AndrAIa, Matrix, and Mouse were led blindly down the long hallway leading into the lair. Since Daemon had taken over the place, she had redesigned the building. There were separate rooms now, hallways leading to different areas. The main room, where the mirror was, was still the same, she didn't change anything. The hallways were dark though, and barely lit with fire torches, so the three had a hard time seeing anything.

Daemon was leading the three down the hallway, although she wasn't holding on to them. Five infected guardians were dragging them down, and Daemon was just showing them the way. "Take the man into the jail chamber," she instructed, "take the other two to the infection room."

"Infection room?" AndrAIa gasped.

"Infection room!" Mouse cried, "what do you think you're doing?" It was no use. They couldn't fight back, and they were forced the rest of the way by two guardians. It took three guardians to hold back Matrix, as they took him to the jail cell. Daemon smiled, then turned to go to the mirror room. "Be careful with him," she called back, "I'm not done with him yet."

**********

Ray looked at Bob. "I can't believe this! Now what? How can things possibly go worst? First Daemon comes here, infects Hexadecimal, then Dot, the military gets infected so Mainframe doesn't have a chance, and now this! I tell you, what could go worst?"

"Here's some food for thought," Bob spoke up, "I'm the only guardian that isn't infected now. Hopefully Matrix isn't yet, but there isn't a good chance he'll get away from it."

Ray groaned and glowered at Bob. "You just had to remind me of that."

"It doesn't matter right now," Bob said, "Let's just try to get inside."

**********

Dot groaned in her sleep, and Phong looked up at her, startled. He had been standing by her hospital bed, watching over her, seeing if there had been any change. This sudden sound was definitely something different. Standing up a little straighter, he craned his neck to see what was going on.

Dot groaned again and shifted her position. Her eyes still closed, she mumbled, "Phong?"

"I'm right here, my child," he answered, putting his hand on her arm for comfort. "How are you feeling?"

Dot apparently wasn't wide awake. She groaned again, and seemed to drift away into sleep. Phong wasn't alarmed though. Dot was sleeping normally now. How long though, he didn't know.

"Phong? Are you busy?"

Phong turned to see Hexadecimal standing in the doorway. She seemed a bit worried seeing Dot's now motionless body in the hospital bed. "My, dearie me, Dot! What has happened to you?"

"She has been infected, Hexadecimal," Phong explained, "I suggest you be careful around here. Daemon has effected her more greatly than you, and I'm afraid it's going to take Dot awhile to wake up."

Dot moved again, and this time rubbed her eyes. She didn't open them though, and she didn't sit up. She seemed more alive though. "Phong?" She asked, more louder. Her voice was groggy, like as if she had slept a hundred years.

"I stand corrected," Phong stated.

Hexadecimal approached the bed. Phong was about to stop her, but decided better of it. "Dot?" she said, "are you still alive?"

Dot groaned again, obviously disturbed by Hexadecimal's question. With her eyes still closed, she answered with "what?"

Hexadecimal snapped her fingers in disappointment. "Darn."

Phong looked at her, alarmed, but Hex seemed to forget she had even said that.

"Dot?"

They all turned to see little Enzo, standing in the doorway where Hexadecimal once was. His eyes were wide with not knowing what to think. Seeing Hexadecimal so disappointed made him unsure of what to do.

"It's okay, Enzo," Phong assured him. "Come on in. You're sister's coming back."

"Really?" Enzo's eyes were still wide, only this time with eagerness. He bounded over to the bed. "Dot! Dot, it's me, Enzo!"

"Enzo?" Dot moaned and turned toward him. Slowly, she opened her eyes, grimacing as the room light shone right in her face. "Oh my User, that is bright!"

"Well," Hexadecimal said, suddenly bored, "I think I'll go out in the waiting room and watch TV. That at least is more fun than watching Dot coming back from the dead." With that, she turned and stalked out the door.

"Well," Phong said, almost too loudly, "I'm glad she's gone." Turning to Dot, he said in a more comforting voice, "how do you feel, Dot?"

"Better," Dot replied in a muffled voice. She stretched. "I feel like I've been asleep for a long time. What happened?"

"You had been infected by Daemon herself," Phong replied, "I'm surprised you recovered so quickly. But, either way, I'm going to have to run more tests on you, just to make sure you're okay."

Dot nodded, slowly sitting up. She smiled at Enzo, but he suddenly seemed to remind her of something. "Where's Bob?" she asked suddenly.

****************

Matrix couldn't see past the iron, steel doors locking him in the prison jail cell. He could just make out two guards standing on the other side, green radiation glowing from their temples. He struggled against the chains on his wrists again, but no matter how hard he tried, they wouldn't give away.

He was down there for a long time, until he heard someone walking down stone steps into the jail area. It was a woman, and he recognized it as the beautiful Daemon. He couldn't believe he thought this virus was beautiful. But then again, Daemon wasn't artificial like Megabyte and maybe Hexadecimal. She was like a sprite, with sprite features and at least real hair. That was something Megabyte and Hex just didn't have. She was wearing a new outfit again. Every time he saw her, it was something different. This time it was black leather. Black boots up to her knees, a black skirt, black midriff top, and gloves. Her sunglasses were shoved back on her head, revealing beautiful green eyes. They weren't radiating this time. That only seemed to happen when she was working her power or really angry.

She said something to the guards, too low for Matrix to overhear. He watched as they opened the jail cell and she walked in, swinging her hips as she went. She didn't stop until she was right in front of him. Bending down until she was eye-to-eye with him, she said, "comfortable?"

Matrix sneered at her. "Where's AndrAIa and Mouse," he demanded.

"Oh, they're where every newly infected being goes," Daemon grinned. "So, how are you doing? I'm much more interested in your area. Don't you just love the dungeon?"

Dungeon, he thought. Another name to call this rat hole. He didn't answer. He was staring over where the guards were. There was a table propped up against the stone wall, and his gun was resting on top of it. If only he could call it over, he'd be out of this-

"You know, you and Bob are the only ones keeping me from taking over the Net," Daemon stated, interrupting his thoughts. "Now that I have you, all's left is Bob and he shouldn't be too hard. And just to let you know…" she smiled, "it's not too bad having you around."

Matrix was afraid that she was going to suddenly attack him, but she didn't. She stood up, stared down at him for a minute, then turned and left the room. She climbed the stone steps until she was on level ground, and walked to the mirror room. Once inside, she checked to make sure she was alone. Good.

"Now," she said aloud, "I have Matrix within my grasp. Now for the Blue Boy." Striding over to the mirror, she sat down. "Show me Dot," she commanded. That girl was still infected by her, no matter how much she had recovered from it. Maybe she could use it too her extent. Since her infection was growing within the Command.com…

She waited as the mirror showed her a vision of the hospital room. Dot was alone in the room, for once, walking around in a hospital gown. This was perfect.

Keeping her eyes closed, she concentrated. Concentrated on seeing what Dot was seeing. She felt herself go perfectly still. And the next thing she knew, she felt herself standing. Opening her eyes, she found herself looking out into a hospital room. She was standing in the middle of it, and she could feel the paper material of the hospital gown against her green skin.

Green?

Daemon raised her arms, and smiled when she saw they weren't her own. Her head felt very light, and she reached up to feel short cropped hair. Glancing around for a mirror, she looked through it. Unfortunately, the reflection wasn't of Dot, which was what she had hoped it would be. Instead, Daemon's regular face stared back at her.

"Well," she said aloud. Dot's voice drifted out of her mouth. "I'm Dot in every way…except for her reflection." She jumped when the door opened, and a boxed-sized sprite wheeled in. He had a long neck, and his head reminded her of a bike seat.

"Dot," he said, looking down at the clipboard in his hands. "How are you feeling now?"

Who was this guy? Daemon thought. Then she smiled. The Command.com. Dot was in the Principle Office, and now she knew who the Command.com was. This was very useful. She was about to answer, when she heard a banging noise. Like as if someone was knocking on big, heavy doors. She looked around, but the noise was coming from nowhere in the room. That's when she realized it. The banging noise was coming from her lair, and it was slowly bringing her back to her own body.

Closing her eyes, she let herself return, and when she opened them again, she was back to sitting in front of Hexadecimal's mirror, staring at a vision of Dot standing in the hospital room. This time, she could see that weird looking sprite questioning her. She looked up suddenly as the knocking noise grew louder. Someone was knocking on her room door.

"What?!" She shouted angrily. How dare someone disturb her! She had just discovered her power of possession, and someone had to ruin it.

"We have captured two intruders, Your Excellency," a voice called out.

Intruders? Daemon frowned and stood up. "Bring them in!"

Almost immediately, the doors opened, and she could hear mumbling and arguing coming from the other side. Two huge sprites were pushed in, (they looked a lot more like scrap metal) and they fell down off the only wheel they used to get around on. The door slammed shut, causing the two to jump back to their feet (uh..wheels) and turn toward her.

"Hey!" The red one hollered, "What has happened?"
"I do not know," the blue one replied.

"I can't believe we have been treated like this-"

"Oh no, not at all-"

"It's terrible, simply terrible-"

"Disgusting-"

"Awful-"

"Where are we now?"

"I do not know, do you know-"

"No I do not. I asked you."

"Well I don't know, do you?"

"I asked you first-"

"No I did."

Daemon had started getting a headache from the constant bickering between the two…things. "Quite!" She shouted suddenly, "Shut up!"

They immediately quieted down, and looked at her with wide eyes. Daemon frowned at them, trying to figure out what they could possibly want. They each had the distinctive icon on their chests, telling her that they were possibly one with the good guys. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice still stern.

"Uh…" They exchanged glances. "I am Hack-" the red one said.

"And I am Slash!" The blue one chimed in.

"And we are here-"

"Yes, here we are!"

"-To tell you that what you are doing is not good-"

"Not good at all-"

"For the Principle Office."

"Right."

Daemon stared at them, studying them, trying to figure out what exactly they were worth. Were they important? Probably not, they looked like they would fall apart any minute if you slapped them. "Do you think I care?" she asked, menacingly.

"Uh…"

"Um…" They exchanged that glance again.

Daemon was starting to get angry. These bumbling idiots were the reason for interrupting her? Slowly, her anger boiled down. "Well," she said, "do you want to be useful then?"

"Not for you," Hack and Slash said in unison. Even though they were timid about that, Daemon was surprised they had the guts to stand up to her. She stood up straighter.

"Well," she said, "you have a choice then. "Either you get the hell out of my lair and never come back, or you stay and agree to work for me. I'm being nice at this moment, but don't expect from me again!"

Hack and Slash exchanged nervous glances.

***********

"Dot?"

Dot blinked suddenly and looked down, surprised to see Phong in the room. How did he get there? Frowning, she looked around. What happened? "Yeah?"

"I asked you a question," Phong repeated.

"Oh," Dot's voice sounded faraway. He did? She didn't remember anything!

***********

Bob and Ray had been circling the lair for what seemed like cycles before Ray found something useful. "Hey, mate!" He called from the other side of the building.

Looking up, Bob flew over to him on his zip board. Joining Ray, he found him looking at a spot in the shield.

"Look there," Ray said, pointing. "A weak spot in the shield. I could pass my hand right through it and touch the building without getting infected. Watch." Before Bob could utter a protest, Ray jerked his arm threw it, and his fingers brushed against the building. The guardian was surprised to see that the shield didn't do anything to Ray.

"Amazing," Bob whispered, as Ray pulled his arm out. But, just to me on the safe side, he scanned Ray's arm, just to make sure he wasn't infected. Luckily, he wasn't.

"See what I mean?" Ray asked, "Maybe we could do something about this."

"Maybe," Bob agreed.

Suddenly, a vid window popped up in front of the two men, and they were both surprised to see AndrAIa and Mouse through it. Their faces lit up.

"Mouse!" Bob cried.

"AndrAIa!" Ray cried.

"Shhh!" They both hissed in unison. They glanced around warily before looking back at the vidwindow. "You've got to be very quiet," AndrAIa whispered, "we're in some sort of room. We're not the only ones though, about ten other people are in here, and they look like they're in worst shape than we are."

"Was Matrix able to get out?" Mouse asked, hopefully.

Bob frowned. "No, I think he's still in there. Isn't he with you?"

"No." AndrAIa shook her head. She looked very worried. "Daemon ordered him to the jail chambers. We've got to be very quiet. The guards might come back and give the prisoners in here another dose of infection. They're trying to infect us slowly at a time. Too much at a time might kill us, and she wants us alive for something. I don't know yet."

Bob's heart sank. He was reminded of Dot. She had an alarmingly big dose of infection, and she hadn't waken up yet. Or at least, what he'd known.

"Have you two gotten infected yet?" Ray whispered.

The girls were silent for a moment. Then they both pushed back a clump of hair off their face. The men gasped. Each one had a slight radiation glow on their temples.

"On no!" Ray cried.

"Do you know if there's a way we could get in there?" Bob asked.

"Uh…yeah," Mouse nodded, "There's a weak point in the energy shield. I overheard some of the old prisoners talking about it."

"The prisoners are guardians like you guys," AndrAIa added, "they haven't been fully infected yet. But from the stories we've heard, Daemon isn't very merciful. Obviously."


"Okay," Ray nodded, "is there anything else about the energy shield? How do we get through?"

They were about to answer, when a slamming noise sounded in the background and they looked up. Their eyes were wide.

"No time!" Mouse hissed.

"Daemon's key," AndrAIa rushed. She was trying to get as much information in as possible. "We'll get it and give it to you-"

The connection broke.

Ray and Bob exchanged worried glances.

**************

The vidwindow vanished just as the doors opened, and AndrAIa and Mouse jumped to their feet, eyes wide. Luckily, no guards came in. They just shoved a big bulk of a sprite inside, then slammed the door closed again.

The sprite stumbled from the force, and turned to bang on the door. It didn't even leave a dent. "You'll pay for this!" He growled.

The girls recognized the voice and sighed with relief. "Matrix!" AndrAIa cried happily, and ran to him, giving him a big hug. "I'm so glad you're alright!"

"What happened to you?" Mouse asked.

Matrix sat down against the wall and AndrAIa sat beside him. AndrAIa sat in front of them. "Are you guys all right?"

"We'll be okay," AndrAIa assured him, trying to sound confident. It was hard though. Her voice was barely keeping from cracking. "What did Daemon do to you?"

"I don't really know," Matrix admitted, "she wanted me to join her, I guess. They have my gun."

"Did you get infected?" Mouse asked.

Matrix shook his head. "I was fighting too much, they couldn't keep me down long enough to. So they just threw me here until then.

Mouse was scared, but she tried not to show it. The others were scared too, she could feel it, but someone had to act brave for them, make them feel better. "We'll make it," she said, "for you Matrix, that is. AndrAIa and I, I'm not sure about that."

"Bob and Ray need to get in here," AndrAIa told Matrix. "There's a key Daemon has. I heard the older prisoners talking about it. If one of us could get that key from her, we can give it to them through the vidwindow, and they could use it to unlock the shields and get inside."

"But who's going to get it from Daemon?" Matrix asked.

Just then, the doors opened, and a guard stepped in. Surveying room, he said loudly, "Matrix. Daemon wants to speak with you."

They exchanged a look, and Mouse smiled. "Right on cue," she said.