"My feet felt like lead as I was escorted to Megabyte's throne room in the centre of the Principal Office. Virals with file lockers on all sides of me were marching at a steady pace; the rhythmic beat of their footsteps was very hypnotic.
"As I entered Megabyte's throne room, I tried to keep my head up and my jaw set as to not give Megabyte the satisfaction of seeing me terrified; which is what I was. As I approached where the virus sat, I saw a proud smirk forming on his green lips. I knew what he was thinking. 'I've finally got him. This is the leader of the resistance Nothing can stand in my way.' and he was right. I knew the binomes were too scared and unorganized to do anything now. It's their nature to follow, not to lead.
"I was two bits away from Megabyte, when he finally spoke. 'Hello, boy. The chase was fun but now It is time that it has ended.'
"I said nothing.
"Megabyte chuckled. He leaned over a control panel on the arm of his chair, pressed several buttons and a vidwindow popped up with every single file on me, my family, my schooling and grades, my hobbies, but worse of all, my PID code. My facial expression changed slightly with a silent expression of surprise and fear. I bit my lip. I knew what was coming, I just didn't know when or how.
"The virus chuckled again as he looked at me. 'I've been reading up on you, boy. It was very informative.'
"He turned his chair so he faced the window and leaned forward straining to see what was written there.
"'Let's see...' he spoke quietly more to himself than to me. '...born in Twin City Hospital, grew up in Kits and later in Baudway. Went to school at Mainframe Elementary. Hmmm...' he actually smiled a little. 'Fairly good marks here boy. Wanted to be smart like your sister I'd expect.' He turned his head and looked at me. 'Yes, of course. How admirable.'
"Without waiting for me to reply, he went back to reading my file.
"'Oh dear. Here you got in a fight with a young binome boy, named Chipic. Called him "Box-boy". Now really Enzo, I am sure that was not necessary.'
"I frowned. I hated it when anyone mocked me, belittled me. That fight had happened shortly after my parents had been nullified and I was still feeling the hurt and loss.
"The vidwindow closed with a ping as Megabyte turned to face me. The smugness on his face was unmistakable; the time had come.
"A hole opened up on the floor off to my left and a small platform rose up from the darkness revealing Megabyte's legs. As he was preparing for my infection, I had to act. What was I to do? I was surrounded by file lockers.
"Wait.
"File lockers.
"Megabyte had finished putting himself together and made his way toward me. I wasn't watching him; I was staring intently at the file locker of the viral to my right. When Megabyte was three giant strides away, I lunged for the file locker and succeeded to in grabbing it out of his tiny hands. I immediately spun around and file locked the shocked binome. The five others were still trying to figure out how stupid I was being for trying something in the dead centre of Megabyte's stronghold with Megabyte only a few steps away - I had already come to terms with my desperate act of stupidity. I file locked three more virals and dodged the shot of the two remaining.
"With lightning speed I had seen only a few times before, Megabyte leapt at me, knocking the file locker out of my clutches. In a single arm stroke, Megabyte struck me, sending me flying for nano-seconds then landed with a sickening crunch on my left arm.
"I had broken it, but I hardly noticed, because at that moment, I was too aware of the pain in my right eye. I tried to open it, but all I saw was the blood.
"I struggled to get up. I leaned on my bad arm and sat up listening to Megabyte's approaching footsteps. The pain was becoming almost unbearable now; the adrenaline was wearing off.
"The sound of the footsteps stopped suddenly behind me and were replaced by an evil chuckle above me.
"'It's useless boy. In mere moments, you will become mine. The resistance will die and Mainframe will be completely mine.' I slowly turned and looked up at the virus. 'A very admirable last try boy, futile but admirable - Bob would be proud... if he was was around that is.'
"With that, he grabbed my throat with one of his massive claws, lifted me off the ground and placed the other onto of my icon. 'I could have infected you at anytime as I am sure you have seen before,' he gloated. 'The reason I had you captured was for the satisfaction of seeing the infection in person.'
"Then it felt as if my entire body went limp. I felt numb from the neck down and my head felt as if it was going to explode. Megabyte's hand seemed to merge and pass through my skull. His claws seemed to grab hold of my brain and wouldn't let go. I tried to cry out... but I couldn't."
Enzo stopped for a moment. Remembering the infection was hard on him. He began reaching for another cigarette, sighed, then placed the packet back without taking one out. He reached inside his jacket again and pulled out a small flask of blue liquid I/O, removed the lid and took a swig.
"I felt my mind and my thoughts changing. I began thinking the way Megabyte wanted me to. I tried to fight it, but as he said, it was useless. The pain eased as he finished and I was slowly being enveloped by the blackness of unconscienceness. The only thing that I was aware of, was Megabyte dropping me to the ground. The last thing I remember was him ordering his binomes to take me the infirmary for medical attention.
"When I awoke, I was aware that one of my eyes didn't open; I wasn't seeing in stereo. I slowly sat up. Gingerly, I reached up with my right hand and felt my right eye. There was a soft gauze patch over it. I wondered how much damage had been done to it, but there was nothing for it. It still hurt a little, but nothing like it had before.
"My left arm was in a sling, with my hand free from the hard plaster cast and stopped right before the bend of my elbow. It ached slightly, but I knew that it would heal.
"I turned, swung my legs over the side of the hospital bed I was sitting on and slid off. I walked to the large mirror on the wall across from my bed and looked in.
"I hardly recognized the face that peered back at me. It looked tired, sad and drained. The sprite in the mirror wore a black uniform - a black shirt with long sleeves and black pants with short black leather boots. On top of the uniform was a gold belt and on the buckle was a green symbol; Megabyte's insignia. I looked down at myself and discovered I was wearing the same thing.
"Just then, a binome walked into the room. I turned to face him and I frowned. I recongnized him from several minutes ago. He was the one that was going to operate on Frisket to ge the unformat command. Yeah, I knew him and I actually scowled at him; whether he noticed or not, he never let on. I never liked him and I still don't.
"He introduced himself as Herr Doktor and he told me that because I was brought to the infirmary right away, my eyes was going to be fine; it would just take time to heal. I was greatly relieved. I would hate if my eye was that damaged and would have to wear a basic eye patch or even worse, a fake eye instead.
"The doctor then told me that I should rest so that both my arm and eye would heal faster. What a crock! Sleep doesn't rejuvenate sprites, but I smiled and nodded to humour him.
"He walked to a short cupboard against the back wall, unlocked it and took out a clear bottle that contained a dark liquid. He then removed a spoon from a drawer within the cupboard. Shaking the bottle to mix the settled contents, the doctor instructed me to crouch down. I did so, as he opened the bottle and poured out the foul smelling liquid.
"He made me take two spoonfuls of the stuff; it was horrible, but he said that it would help me sleep. He was right. When he first told me I had to rest, I didn't feel tried, but by the time he had returned the bottle to the cupboard, my eye lids were starting to close by themselves.
"I carefully climbed up on the infirmary bed and lay down. Then nothing.
"For the next few cycles, I did a lot of resting and when my injuries had recovered enough, I was brought before Megabyte again.
"'Ah Enzo,' he greeted me. He had rarely called me that before. 'Enzo, I take that you are recuperating nicely?'
"I nodded. 'Yes sir.' I said.
"Megabyte smiled. 'Excellent. I have a job for you, Enzo.' He opened a vidwindow showing a game cube in Beverly Hills sector. 'Yesterday a game dropped. As a result, quite a number of my troops were nullified or deleted by the User after being defeated in the game.' He closed the window and looked at me. 'What I want from you Enzo is you to play the games. I want you to be...' he chuckled, 'my system Guardian.'
"My eyes must have bugged out of my head from the laugh that he gave in return. 'I will take that as a yes then.'
"So, after that I became the defender of Mainframe. Sure it was hard at first, but Megabyte gave me some old read-me files on games that Bob had wrote a long time before. They came in handy on more than one occasion.
"I got my own room in the Tor almost right away. I'll admit it was pretty cool.
"One day, Herr Doktor came bursting into my room, flustering about something he had just invented and he was eager to tell someone. I guess he was desperate with he came to me first. I gave a small smile, humouring the little ascii kisser and slowly followed the bouncing binome down the hallway.
"What he had just invented (and successfully tested) was the first of Mainframe's security drones. It was the shape of Megabyte's head minus the red... thing on his head and a single eye where the face would be. Two hands that resembled Herr Doktor's hands protruded from the bottom sides. Herr Doktor proudly told me he hand named the unit 'Megabyte Eyes' or 'MBII' for short.
"He explained that soon every node and sprite in Mainframe would have a bar code somewhere on their person and that the drone would keep a record. Sprites would have it on their forehead, but what he 'forgot' to tell me was that the unit shaved you head to do it. As it turns out, I was one of the first Mainframers to get it done since I was working directly for the big virus himself.
"Well, I used to have a dog named Frisket. He was my best friend after the Twin City explosion that nullified dad and all other sprites. But after my infection, Frisket wouldn't come near me and if he did, he threatened to bite me, which he had never done before. I didn't want him put down because I still loved him but I couldn't have him running free in Megaframe, so I had him kept in a kennel in Kits. For a while I would visit him, but I eventually stopped going. He wasn't my dog anymore.
"Not too long ago, a game had dropped down into Floating Point so, charged by Megabyte with defending the system, I raced for the descending cube.
"You know, when I was younger, I had always wanted to be a Guardian... just like Bob was but now that I have it, the job doesn't seem that glamorous at all.
"Well, I defeated the User - showed no mercy... like I always did - didn't give him a chance to get far in the game. I can't remember exactly remember what game it was because I've played so many. But I know it didn't last long.
"After the game cube left, I headed back to the diner to get something to eat and to keep those smart-asciied binomes in line. It took me a while to get to Baudway but I was in no rush. Where else did I have to go anyway?
"I entered the diner in my usual way, causing the silence in Nibbles to announce my presence. It was time to show the binomes who was boss. I boldly strode up to one binome who was sitting on the counter, holding a dish of silicon chips and shaking in fear. "You," I pointed at him and said in my toughest voice "Gimme those chips!" I grabbed the dish, causing him to spin around and fall behind the counter. I dumped the chips on the floor for EU26 to clean up and leaned against the bar. He needed to do more anyway; it was my job to give it to him.
"Suddenly, I heard a voice of a young female.
"'Enzo?'
"I threw the chip bowl over my shoulder and responded curtly. 'Who wants to know?' I had no idea who this was, nor did I care... though she did look very familiar. The girl stepped forward, placing her hands on her chest.
"'It's your sister, Dot.'
"I couldn't believe what she was trying to do. 'Listen Baby,' I said hotly. 'I don't know what you're trying to pull, but my sister's gone! Blew it in a game cube. Got everybody nullified.' Bob, herself, and in a way - me. She killed me on that day. Ruined my life. I turned away from her, hoping that she'd take a hint and leave.
"'But wait! It is me, Enzo,' she insisted. 'You gotta believe me.'
"She was still at it! She did look an awful lot like Dot, sounded an awful lot like her and it almost worked. Almost. But I knew better. I had to put a stop to her and her lies.
"'Buzz off Dame. I can see you're nothing but trouble.'
"She seemed taken aback. 'What do you mean?' she asked.
"I could see right through her. She was being so basic! 'For starters, where's your bar code?' I asked. I took a couple of steps toward her until I stood almost behind her. 'What are ya? A convict? A drone?' I could see that she wasn't. She looked normal enough but her presence still bothered me.
"'No.' she answered, denying that she was running away from the law or that she was a duplication. 'No!'
"'Yeah?' I pointed over her shoulder. 'Then how come security's so interested in ya?' MBII hovered outside one the large bay windows, watching her intently. I smirked.
"Shaking her head she said, 'I don't know,' in genuine concern about something. 'Look, at... at least tell me where I can find Bob.'
"I couldn't believe it. This gal knew all the right buttons to push. It hurt me to bring all of this to the surface again, but I couldn't let it show on the outside.
"'Bob?' I asked in a mocking tone. 'Bob?' I tried hard to sound like I was struggling not to laugh. I turned to the mindless binomes at my feet, attempting to hide the hurt in my voice. Trying to sound tough. 'She wants to see Bob!'
"Laughter erupted around me. Laughter that cut deep.
"The girl looked confused, lost - like I had so many hours ago.
"When the laughter died down, 'Alright,' I told her. 'Bob lives with ol' man Phong down on Level 31.' A surprised look spread across her face.' I smirked. 'You better watch your step though.' I warned.
"Time for her to leave I decided. I took a step forward and put my arm around her shoulders and pointed a finger at her. 'Here, I've got one more piece of advice for ya.'
"I gently guided her towards the exit of Nibbles, opened the door for her and then roughly shoved her out into the parking lot. 'Stay off my turf!' I shouted at the girl and closed the door after her. The binomes laughed at the girl's figure sprawled on the cold concrete and I made no effort to stop them; she deserved it and it made me feel a little better.
"I walked back to the bar, then looked back over my shoulder at the girl. She had stood up and was brushing herself off. A mixture of disappointment, hurt and bewilderment showed on her face.
"I watched her walk away, towards Level 31. I turned back and ordered a shake. Around me the binomes were talking and would let out the occasional snicker. I said nothing and slowly sipped my drink.
"I thought I had got over this; loosing my sister in the game, but apparently the way I felt, I haven't. I guess I never will.
"That happened two minutes ago and it still bugs me a little, but I can't dwell in the past. Life is now and I have to live it.
"'Survival of the fittest is the rule of life and I've managed to come out on top, though I feel no joy or accomplishment in it. I still feel empty like the day I lost Dot, Phong and Bob. All who I looked up to and that's when I lost my direction in life.
"You've heard the saying 'There's no place like home'? A home should be a happy place where you're safe with your family and friends. My home is a dismal place with no originality, no light, no hope. 'No place like home', my ascii."
He grabbed the flask off the table and took another swig.
"I gotta go." he said after he had swallowed. "You have everything you need?"
I nodded.
As Enzo stood, something glistening on his cheek caught my eye. He quickly wiped it away and it was then that I realized it was a tear. I was about to ask if there was anything I could do, but I stopped because I knew there wasn't.
I watched in silence as he walked out of the room. I sat there for several nanos thinking over the tale I had just heard. I couldn't imagine the emotional anguish he had endured with the loss of his family and friends. I finally collected my things together and exited the room. The hall was dark with two single bulbs flickering at either end of the corridor. There was no one in sight.
On my way outside, I passed a mirror and I took a quick glance at my reflection. In the dim light, the only clearly visible feature of my face was the green pulsing veins that framed my head. I smiled and then walked out into the fresh air. It was night now and a small breeze was blowing.
I grabbed a bus and put on my headphones to listen to Enzo's tape again. He had been through so much and he had a severally scarred soul for such a young sprite. I wondered what would have been if things had happened differently, but there is no way of knowing. Now he was on his way to his home system and back into his heart of darkness.
