Disclaimer: The characters of Reboot, the system of Mainframe, and all other such Rebootish things are copyright to Mainframe Entertainment Inc, and to some extent Alliance . . . dang, can never remember the full name. Please don't sue, I cannot afford savage attack lawyers, or even an attack chihuahua.

Although a MST3K-ing would be welcome. Just tell me where you put it up, neh? :

I also fully appologize to Slack and Hash, my unwitting and unknowing muses in the writing of this fic. May they forgive the lunacy my viewing of their creativity has spawned, and snitching lines from their '10 things I would Like say' page. Their beyond lovely Reboot website (with some of the BEST fanfic & art I've seen!) is at: http://www.c4vct.com/kym/slachash/

Full cheers, praise, and maniacal laughter for Hanako! Without the List to help keep my ego pricked /before/ my friends could read this . . . well, I'd be getting a LOT more teasing than I am now. And those who post at The Lists forums, for saying things that have made me
laugh, and kept me generally level while writing this. May they not lynch me with rubber penguins and fried green tomatos.

My own loony webpage is at: http://www.geocities.com/coravix/
All flames will be re-directed to the incinerator, my brother's bedroom, or used to cook oatmeal.

- - - - - - -

This is a Reboot fanfiction from the slightly questionably sane mind of Silent Steel. Spellcheck, a beta reader, Insane Asylum Inmate #1457, and several cans of Pepsi1 were utilized in the creation of this fanfic. While seasons 1-3 of Reboot have been declared absolute canon in the creation of this fic and will be followed to the best that human
memory can manage without DVD or videotape assistance, post and pre timeline of the series has been declared open territory.

And somebody already shot the 'No Hunting' sign. With buckshot.


Time equivilents:

Pica = Second

Nano = Minute

Micro = Hour

Cycles = Day/24hours

Kilo = Month

Second = Year

(Yes, I know it sounds dumb, but it works in my head. Which says something about the state of my mind)

-------------

### Warning: Incoming Fanfiction###


Virii

By Silent Steel

- - - ^ - - -

"Strange . . . this was all that was found?"

Dot asked, looking at the black stone in her hand. AndrAIa shrugged, gesturing towards the map and the vidwindow that still showed the alley behind Matrix as she said,

"The binomes said something cut through the wall, and then demanded to know about Phong . . . all they ever saw was a shadow on the wall they /swear/ was Megabyte's."

"Sis . . . this cut nearly goes through the /entire wall/. Whatever caused this, it wasn't Megabyte's claws. For him to put enough force to do this would also break the wall. By the look of it, I would guess some sort of blade, possibly a sword or dagger, might even be a halberd."

Matrix added, shifting the vidwindow in the alley to show the wall more clearly. Dot winced back from the damage, silently digesting what Matrix said.

"Halberd?"

"Sorry Sis . . a blade roughly the length of your forearm on the end of a staff. It's used a bit differently then, say, a spear. This cut's long enough and at the right angle for it."

"I'll take your word for it. AndrAIa, did they say what answers they gave him about Phong?"

"Pretty basic . . just that Phong was assistant to the Command.Com, and worked in the Principle Office. They didn't know much, and aparently, he left when he figured that out. Without harming or infecting /any/ of them."

"That's pretty odd for Megabyte . . . are they certain it was him?"

"They're convinced of it. Of course, fear can do that."

Matrix frowned, leaning towards the vidwindow, or more accurately towards something on the other side of the vidwindow. Of course, on his sister's side in the principle office, that gave them a rather splendid up-the-nostril view of him before he shoved the vidwindow out of his way.

The view careened dizzily in the vidwindow as it spun around, until Dot reached through and brought it to a stop.

"Matrix . . what is it?"

In her vidwindow, Dot and AndrAIa watched Matrix peruse the opposite wall of the alley, tracing something he could see with steady fingers. Finally, the green titan of a sprite tossed some words over his shoulder.

"Sis, look into the archives . . . There's something odd about this pattern. Oh, and send someone with paint so I can mark it out for you guys."

"I'm right on it, Lover."
AndrAIa said, maximizing her zip board. As the others set about their tasks, and the vidwindow closed, Dot lifted the stone yet again to look at it. A PID. The Tor. Both not quite the same as the ones she knew.

"What's going on?"

"There is a problem, my child?"

Briefly, panic clawed at Dot before she recognized Phong's voice. The young Command.Com turned slowly, holding the stone out to Phong, watching the old one's eyes go wide. His hand trembled as he picked up the stone, lifting it from her hand. Abruptly, Phong's eyes
narrowed, and he opened up his drawer. From it, he lifted a second stone, white as the other was black, but otherwise identical. Abruptly, the stones snapped together, briefly hovering in the air together before falling back into Phong's hand. Now one stone, with a
PID etched in black on the white side, the strange version of the Silicon Tor in white on the reverse side.

"It is . . . "

Phong breathed, folding his hands around the stone, closing his eyes as well. Dot leaned away slightly, a worry slowly gnawing up her spine as she watched Phong.

"Phong . . what is it?"

The old one opened his eyes, and Dot shrank away again, unable to do aught but retreat at the fire of emotion showing in Phong's eyes, the soft edge to his voice.

"Child . . . where was this found?"

- - - - - - - -

Matrix's scowl deepened as he ran his fingers over the slash in the wall. This was the fourth one in only six cycles.

"AndrAIa! We've got another one!"

"/Again/? Same spot on the wall?"

Matrix leaned back, taking the spray can AndrAIa was holding out. A few quick shakes, and the pattern was quickly outlined in pink paint, showing up dark red of raw brick against it.

"Yup . . same depth, same height from the ground . . . wait a nano . . . ."

Paint can still in hand, Matrix stepped further down the wall, staring intently a faint depression in the bricks. Moments later, he placed his hand in the depression, both their eyes widened at finding not only was it a /sprite-like/ handprint complete with four fingers and not the standard viral three . . . larger than Matrix's hand. Pink paint whooshed out of the can, as AndrAIa carefully filled in the depression to make it easier to see.

A brief pause passed.

"Why did you pick pink?"

"It's what was on hand."

- - - - - - -

Further down the alley, and just beyond a shadowed corner, he watched the two, eyes narrowing in thought. He could /feel/ the ordered energy around them, feel it flow through their code . . . Interesting. She had been correct, in that at least. But now was not the time. He leaned back into the shadows, waiting for AndrAIa and Matrix to leave. It was best to not over-reach himself by trying for more than binomes, for now.

- - - - - - -

Dot drummed her fingers on the edge of the console, staring down at the map of the city. Five spots were indicated in red. Five times that Megabyte's shadow had been spotted or his voice had been heard. Five places that something had slashed into the nearest wall, leaving a thin, deep cut. Five times, a binome had been found missing, the latest time a total of three binomes missing. Morale among the binomes was, understandably, very low with overtones of terror. Among the sprites of Mainframe, including the sometimes annoying presences of Hack, Slash, and Mike the TV . . . the overall mood was of frustration.

"Sonnauvaeggsuckinnullovingun!"

Dot snagged the thrown datapad as it whizzing past her.

"New dead end, Mouse?"

The hacker rubbed a hand over her face, nearly growling in annoyance as she sat up, one hand out for the datapad. A near-silent chorus of beeps rang out from the console that Mouse sat at, marking off the findings of the system scan.

"Worse than that, shugah . . what ah found just /ruined/ what ah'd thought might be some new leads. Ah cain't find a single trace nor touch of any virus in the system. All ah get is registered PIDs on this, even with what ah've added tah the program. There's some web energy throwin' off the scan around the docks, but Ray's there so ah can't even consider that a good lead . . . "

As Mouse's head dropped to her arms with an exasperated sigh, the doors to the command center quietly slid open, revealing the gold and red form of Phong. The ancient sprite drifted into the room, a photo album and a datapad tucked under one arm, a mug of cocoa carried in the opposite hand.

"Any news, my children?"

Dot gestured to the map with her free hand as she gave Mouse back the thrown datapad.

"I'm afraid not . . . nothing's shown up on the scans, and every time, whoever this is manages to be long gone by the time we arrive. Did you find anything on that PID?"

"I'm afraid not, my child."
Phong bowed his head in thought, absently setting the datapad and photo album down on the edge of the system map.

"Mouse, have you looked into seeing if the locations match a pattern?"

"Ah have, Phong, but they don't match any of the criminal activity patterns in the database at all."

Mouse replied, moving over to stand next to Phong, placing her fist on her hip. Phong's wise gaze rose to stare Mouse directly in the eyes . . . oh, the wonders of an extendable neck.

"Perhaps you could look into other patterns, possibly symbols?"

He suggested gently.

"Not all things have a criminal basis, my child, as you well know."

The look Mouse shot him as she stalked back to her terminal could have leveled buildings . . . or melted the hardest of hearts. Either way, Phong thought it best to not comment.