"You're sure?" Dot asked.
"Positive," Wayne answered. "Megabyte's not in the system. Matrix hasn't picked up any traces of his processing signature."
"Enzo?" Dot looked past Wayne's shoulder to her brother's scarred face.
"He's not here, Dot," Matrix said distantly. "He was in the Web…"
"Sir! Incoming message from Turbo," Specky interrupted.
"On-screen," Dot ordered.
"Dot? Patch me through to Wayne. We've got trouble."
Dot took one look at Turbo's tense face and nodded. "I've got him on a separate channel. Let me tie him in." She touched a few keys and nodded at Specky.
"Turbo?" Wayne lifted an eyebrow at the Prime Guardian.
"The patch isn't holding, Wayne," Turbo said. "The infection is mutating around it."
A soft gasp ran around the Command room.
Wayne's eyebrows lowered. "Megabyte," he growled.
"You think he had something to do with this?"
"I'm sure of it," Wayne answered. "I designed the patch to counter any further mutations of Hexadecimal's code. Only outside intervention from a compatible virus could beat those blocks. Which means…" He glanced at Matrix.
The renegade's eyes narrowed slightly, and he nodded.
Wayne matched the nod, then turned back to Turbo. "We'll be there as soon as we can."
"Wait," Dot protested. "Enzo—"
"I'll find him, Dot," Matrix said fiercely. "I'll find him and finish him."
"Not until I'm through with him," Wayne told the glowering cadet.
"No way," Turbo said. "This whole system is under crash-quarantine. No one comes in or goes out until we get the core stable."
"On whose orders?" Wayne demanded.
"Mine," Turbo snapped.
"You're overstepping your authority, then," Wayne told him coldly. "I am the Head Medical Protocol of the Guardian Collective, and my professional judgement overrides your command protocol. I'm coming to take a look at this situation firsthand, and if I have to punch through quarantine blocks to get in, I'll not only relieve you of duty, I'll lock you down and run physiological diagnostics on you until you come to your senses!"
"You're not taking my brother into that!" Dot told Wayne.
"Actually, I am," Wayne countered. He grabbed Matrix's wrist. "Argue with me later." He closed his eyes, then popped them open again. His green eyes were absolutely sober as he said, "Trust me." He and Matrix disappeared in a flash of light.
"No!" Dot's face contorted, then she fainted.
"Davic!" Bob yelled, ducking a swing aimed for his head. "Davic, don't do this!"
"Do what? I'm just getting warmed up, shorty." Davic dropped and swung a leg at Bob's ankles.
Caen shrieked, zipping back and forth between the two Guardians without touching either.
Bob jumped the sweep, but couldn't shift in midair to escape the fist following the foot. "Oof!" He scrambled back a few steps, holding his side. "Davic, I don't want to hurt you…" he said warningly.
"Can't say the same myself," Davic shrugged. He grinned, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. He reappeared behind Bob. His grab for Bob's throat missed by a hair.
"Glitch! Containment field!" Bob scrambled away from Davic, then jumped onto a café table.
The threads of the containment field wrapped around Davic, and he laughed. "You've gotta be kidding." His eyes burned green and Davic's body glowed as he flexed his shoulders. The strands tightened, then snapped all at once. "I was breaking out of tougher stuff than that when I was 01."
"Caen! Do something!" Bob appealed.
Davic's keytool chattered nervously, and Glitch answered it in strident tones.
"You know, I'm tired of all this talking," Davic said, advancing on Bob. "Let's see what you've got, city sprite."
"All right," Bob said grimly. He leaped off the table, and hit Davic hard in the middle before both of them went down.
Caen squealed, and managed to get between Davic's head and the street just in time to save its Guardian's life. It could not, however, prevent Bob from grabbing Davic's shoulder at the base of his neck and pinching hard.
Davic grunted, thrashed, then abruptly passed out.
"Sorry, Davic," Bob told his unconscious friend.
Glitch rattled on Bob's arm, and squealed imperiously.
Caen let out a low buzz, then slowly extended, wrapping thick coils of itself around Davic.
Glitch whistled.
Bob winced. The Guardian rose, and suddenly swayed and nearly fell. He crouched back down beside Davic, holding his head. "I—Glitch…"
Glitch's answering beep was sharp. Its screen filled with data as it scanned its Guardian. The keytool's clicking accelerated to a near continuous blur of sound, and ended in a wailing squeal.
Bob grimaced, and sat down hard, resting his forehead on his knees. "Caen…how long…?"
Caen let out a whirring moan.
Bob closed his eyes and took several breaths. "Why didn't you call me?"
Both Caen and Glitch answered, in staccato clicks.
"That sounds like Davic. Too stubborn—" Bob broke off as bright green light pulsed across his body. His eyes glowed green for an instant, then faded back to brown. Bob took several long, slow breaths, then slowly sat up straight. "Glitch, contact Turbo."
The keytool clicked, then rattled something as it worked.
Caen beeped meekly.
"Bob?" Turbo asked from Glitch's tiny screen. "Are you all right?"
"I found Davic," Bob reported, struggling for breath. "Prime, I don't know how it happened, but he's infected." He paused as his eyes flickered from brown to green and back, then doggedly went on. "I've got the infection. Glitch just picked up signs of a failed energy shunt in my code. My protocol is slowing it down, but…" Bob shrugged. "You know."
"Yeah." Turbo answered, his voice rougher than usual. "The patch file's been corrupted. Wayne thinks Megabyte had something to do with it."
"And here…I thought things couldn't get worse," Bob said in an attempt at humor. "So, has Doctor MacHewlett come up with another miracle yet?"
"I think we're out of miracles," Turbo answered. "Wayne's infection has returned. He's coming here, and he's bringing Matrix here to look for Megabyte," Turbo said.
"OK, that's worse," Bob concluded.
"Look, Bob," Turbo glanced away for a moment, then turned back and met Bob's eyes. "Patching the folks out there isn't going to help much, now. I'm not sure anything's going to help. You may as well bring Davic in and help us try to stabilize the core, for as long—" He stopped. "I don't think we can win this one, Bob."
"We have to try," Bob said. He dragged himself to his feet and managed to meet Turbo's gaze. "We're Guardians."
Turbo sagged as the vidwindow closed. He shuddered and gripped the edges of a console for balance as his icon pulsed and his eyes changed color. "Yes," he rasped as his regained control. He watched the Principle Office schematics, ignoring the racket of the staff and keytools around him. "We're Guardians."