"So all you did was change your icon from Game sprite to System sprite mode?"
"Yeah." Matrix fingered his ribs, and winced.
"You're only making it worse," Wayne told him absently. "Are you sure you don't want me to set that for you?"
"Yes," Matrix grunted crossly. He settled back against the wall again and folded his arms.
"Suit yourself." Wayne stroked his jaw contemplatively. He glanced at Matrix's icon. "Was there any particular reason you were in Game sprite mode?"
"It's to keep the system from deleting Enzo."
"The kid who set your dog on you."
"Yeah."
Wayne shook his head and chuckled helplessly.
"What?"
"It shouldn't have worked," Wayne laughed. "None of this should have happened. It makes no sense." He doubled over, laughing harder. "You…you shouldn't have been able to think at all, much less change your icon. I couldn't. No one could. Except for you, in that crazy little system…" He sat up abruptly, and looked Matrix square in the face. His eyes shone bright green.
"Bob, are you sure about this?" Davic shifted his weight uncomfortably on the Web creature's back.
"You were the one who wanted to come along," Bob reminded him.
"You didn't tell me these things bounce and that Matrix's armor smells like a locker room."
"Are you saying you want to go back to Mainframe?"
"No. I'm just saying that Caen's getting shrill and I can't hold my breath much longer."
"You didn't think being a Guardian was all fun and Games, did you?" Bob teased.
"Very funny."
"Doc, snap out of it," Matrix said guardedly.
Wayne cocked his head at the other sprite. "Snap out of what? You mean this boring room? OK." He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of light.
Wayne reappeared a moment later in the same spot he'd just left. "That was fun. Let's do something else. Do you dance?" he asked Matrix.
"No." Matrix measured Wayne with his eyes. "How about a treasure hunt?" he suggested slyly. "The first person to find my gun wins."
Wayne's face lit up. "A game! I love games." He disappeared again.
"That's one useful infection," Matrix mused.
A burst of Websong rang through the pod. Bob gestured to Davic. "That's our stop. The Web Riders will keep the virals busy."
Davic looked at the weapons bristling from the bulbous mass of Megabyte's lair. "I don't see any welcome mats."
"We'll just use the back door," Bob said lightly. "We wouldn't want to disturb anyone. Glitch!" He disappeared into a Portal.
"I've always liked making my own doors," Davic agreed. "Go ahead, Caen." He too vanished into a Portal.
The Web Riders glanced at each other, then shrugged. One of them raised his gun and trilled.
At the sound, hundreds of armored Web Riders and countless wailing Web creatures dove out of the swirling confusion of the Web, and converged on the viral station.
"Oof!" Bob fell out of the Portal and onto the roof of a parked ABC. He got up and rubbed his sore posterior. "That's going to leave a mark."
"Yaaa!" Davic came in hanging sideways in midair. "Caen!"
The keytool expanded into a large air-filled pillow below Davic. Guardian and keytool landed with a noisy blast of air.
Davic scrambled off the deflating Caen. "Thanks, buddy." Caen, relieved of Davic's weight, took off, racing around the room with a squeal of escaping air.
"Whoop!" Bob ducked as the keytool sailed by.
Glitch chattered.
Caen's answer was phrased in rude burps. It completed one more circuit around the room, then wound itself around Davic's head, mussing his hair and buzzing.
"Are you finished?" Davic asked testily.
Caen beeped.
Bob climbed down the side of the ABC. "We'd better get moving. Glitch!"
Glitch expanded its tiny screen, then chittered.
"What? Oh, no." Bob said.
"What's the problem?" Davic asked.
"This just got a lot harder," Bob answered.
"I found it!" Wayne crowed as he popped back into the room. "They didn't do a very good job of hiding it." He took up a belligerent stance and pointed Matrix's gun at Matrix. "Go ahead, punk. Make my cycle."
Matrix didn't move, but his right eye clicked and glowed red.
The gun bucked in Wayne's hands, and went off. The round shattered the window. Wayne turned to look as the air whooshed out of the room. Matrix's gun yanked itself free of Wayne's grip, and zipped across the room as Matrix sprang off the shelf.
Matrix grabbed his gun with one hand and Wayne with the other. "We have to get out of here!" he yelled over the roar of the escaping air.
"Why?" Wayne yelled back, grinning insanely.
Matrix shook his head, and pointed his gun at the door. He fired three shots, and the door fell off its hinges. Matrix grabbed one side of the heavy door, and heaved. "Help me!" he yelled at the still-grinning Wayne.
"Where do you want it?" Wayne bellowed back. He took hold of the door.
"Over the window!"
"No problem!" Wayne dragged the door and Matrix across the room, then gave it a push. The wind's howling abruptly died to a mere whistle as the door sealed off the broken window.
Wayne dusted off his hands. "Well, that was fun. Let's do it again sometime, shall we? Have your people call my people." He disappeared.
A voice in the hall barked an order, and running footsteps echoed.
"Thanks a lot, Doc," Matrix muttered.
"He just teleported again," Bob reported.
"Where is he now?" Davic pried at the lock panel with Caen, which had shaped itself into a sturdy crowbar.
"He's jumping all over the place." Bob answered. "I can't get a fix. And—what?" He stared at Glitch. "Are you sure?"
Glitch buzzed.
"Oh boy. This is bad."
"Bob, this cycle has already gone way beyond bad." Davic grunted as he pulled at the lock panel. "What is it now?"
"Wayne's got viral powers, but he doesn't have viral power limits," Bob explained.
"So he'll wear himself out. That's good, Bob, not bad."
Bob rolled his eyes. "Davic, did you sleep through every Comparative Code class?"
"Hey, I passed the finals," Davic answered. "Which is more than you did." He fiddled with the wires inside the lock. "But refresh my memory, professor. Why is it a bad thing that Wayne's hyperactive?"
"Because sprite code isn't designed to handle that kind of power load," Bob said bleakly. "If we don't find Wayne soon, he'll burn out every byte in his body."
"OK, that's bad," Davic said. He gave the wires one last poke, and the door slid open.
Loud clicks and the zing of weapons powering up greeted them.
"This is worse," Davic said.