CHAPTER SIX
A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, PART 3
"How did you get into the Academy before?" Garret asked Bob.
"Through the back doors, actually," Bob answered. "We went through the students' dorms into the main Academy, but we got into trouble from there." Garret, Bob, Matrix, AndrAIa, and the group of refugees Garret had assembled stood at the entrance to one of the Supercomputer's sewers.
"Even if they're expecting you again, I can guarantee no one will think of you coming this way," Garret assured them. "This is how I happened to find you when you were leaving the Academy. You see, the whole system has a complex map of underground sewers, with entrances to almost any street you could imagine, and some of the more important buildings. This is one that should open up right inside the Academy."
"I made a map of the Academy with Glitch," Bob said, but Garret just stared at him, obviously wondering where Bob's keytool was. "I merged with Glitch," Bob explained, and some of the confusion left Garret's face, only to be replaced by amazement.
"Good idea, Guardian." Garret grinned. "That'll help us to get through the Academy; only a few of us have been in there, and we don't have any maps."
Garret turned to the other refugees and began to speak, in a clear voice they could all hear: "All right, people, it's time to go. Follow me and Bob, Matrix, and AndrAIa, okay? When we get inside the Academy, we'll all search around for Daemon's private chambers, and those three are going to do what they need to get done." None of the other rebels asked questions or gave comments; they just nodded in affirmation.
Garret turned and stepped into the sewer's opening. Matrix, AndrAIa, and Bob followed, and then the rebels. Traveling through the sewers was much the same as when Garret had first led the other three down here: there wasn't much light, and the ground underfoot was wet and slimy. The group traveled through the tunnels like an army, not speaking, focused on the mission at hand.
Garret led them through each passing, around every corner, and even down a tunnel once. After some time of traveling beneath the sectors, Garret stopped and looked upward. Following his gaze, the three sprites could see a rusty ladder above them and a dark manhole cover that obscured the light of day.
Garret swung himself up onto the ladder and began to climb. Bob followed soon after him, and together they pushed the heavy cover off and emerged inside one of the Academy's rooms. They pulled themselves out of the tunnel and crouched by the cover, holding out a hand to anyone who needed help. Matrix and AndrAIa climbed up next, then Garret's group. Once everyone had brushed themselves off and Matrix had fitted the cover back into place, they looked around the room they now found themselves in.
"The kitchens," Bob laughed; "we're in the kitchens." All around them were various stoves and ovens, and a huge refrigerator. To his left, Bob opened two sliding doors that connected the kitchens to the next small building —
"The mess hall," Bob explained. "This is where the students and teachers would eat every second." Daemon's Infection had spread even to the mess hall: the whole place was a jumbled mess, with chairs overturned, and the long wooden tables cracked in two or three pieces.
"Nothing here," Garret decided. "Let's go the other way." Another door on their right led to the main Academy, where Bob, AndrAIa, and Matrix had been earlier that second. The group of refugees, on the alert for any Guardians, silently passed through the doors into the main building.
They stood in a hallway. Again, identical-looking classrooms surrounded them, but the sprites stood in a different section of the Academy building.
Garret looked to Bob and asked, "Which rooms do you need to go to?"
Bob narrowed his eyes in concentration as he consulted Glitch's map, while pulling up old memories of the building in which they stood. "We probably want the teachers' offices; they're anywhere around that way," he said, gesturing to his right. "I don't know what you're looking for, though."
"Anything that Daemon has a lot of control over," Garret replied. He turned in a circle, slowly inspecting all of the rooms around them. "We'll go the opposite way," he finally decided, "and we'll look for anything. You three go do what you have to do."
"Are you sure?" AndrAIa asked uncertainly.
Garret nodded decisively. "I've got it figured out. Here's a communicator," he said, handing a small device to Matrix, who strapped the communicator onto Gun. "Once you've set up your communications, you beep us if you find anything; we'll do the same."
"All right," Bob said. "Good luck, Garret. Be careful, with all the Guardians."
"You too," Garret returned. "Come on," he ordered his team. They headed toward the north, padding along noiselessly and blending into the shadows with practiced skill.
Heading into the Academy's main building and passing door after door, the three sprites were met with revolting sights. The rooms they inspected looked as if a huge wind had swept in and battered the walls and tossed the chairs and desks back and forth before letting them shatter on the floor. Whereas the dorms had had a large amount of the green vines over and through the rooms, the floors here were alive with the growths. The green vines snaked over the wood, leaving wet marks where they passed. The vines had curled themselves around the doors, and some especially tall ones had climbed up the walls and now stuck to the ceiling.
"They're everywhere," AndrAIa murmured, staring aghast at the glowing vines. As they continued with their search, the vines would slither hungrily around them, but Matrix and Bob remained alert for any sudden movements from the growths.
They had passed countless, indistinguishable classrooms by now. All had been destroyed, but none held anything of interest to their quest.
"Where are all the Guardians, anyway?" Matrix wondered. "They should be guarding these rooms, right?"
"They're bound to come, now that you've taunted them," AndrAIa teased with a grin at Matrix. He rolled his eyes and looked back ahead of them.
They approached four large offices clustered together. "These are the top professors' offices," Bob explained. "The teachers — well, back when the place was uninfected — stayed here, or they were on the top floor of the dorm." He placed his hand on the door and carefully opened it.
His intrusion wasn't completely silent, however, because three Guardians whipped their heads around as the door creaked open. Their angry voices rose in surprise, and soon gunshots blasted the door to pieces.
"And those would be the Guardians," Bob added, jumping away from the door and yanking his companions after him. "This way!"
The three Guardians left the one office and bounded down the hallway after the Mainframers, yelling to their comrades for assistance.
Not again, Bob growled exasperatedly in his mind as he quickened his pace. He suddenly darted around a corner, and he was relieved when the others followed his lead. Unfortunately, the Guardians were gaining on them. They were being chased down a clear, unblocked hallway; there were several open doors on the left and the right, but Bob didn't duck into any of the rooms.
"Where are we going?" AndrAIa demanded. "We need to find somewhere to hide!"
Come on, come on, Bob prayed silently. His plea was mercifully answered when he saw a huge wooden door seemingly rise up in front of them. Now, let's hope no one is in there, Bob added to the User, knowing he was pushing his luck. "In here!" he called aloud. When they reached the door, Bob had enough of a lead to force it open and run through. Once his friends had made it safely inside, Bob shut the door hard and pressed his hands around the frame. A hard shield of golden keytool filled in the cracks between the door and the frame — except for the space at the bottom of the door — effectively sealing it from the Guardians.
Bob leaned against the door and struggled to catch his breath. Matrix looked around the large office in which they stood. On the wall there were pictures of sprites, each dressed in the red-and-gold uniform of the Prime Guardian; the most recent picture showed Turbo's proud face. "Where are we?" the renegade asked, though he could formulate a pretty accurate idea.
Once Bob could breathe properly again, he answered, "Prime's office. It's the biggest room in the Academy — second biggest," he quickly corrected himself, "so Daemon's contacts with other systems are probably here."
"They are," AndrAIa called out, her back to the other two as she crouched over a schematic of the Net. "Here, Daemon has a map of the whole Net — and the Web, too." AndrAIa frowned and fell silent to contemplate the maps.
"Can you find the communications systems?" Bob asked AndrAIa, one ear pressed against the door. The Guardians had surrounded the office, and they were discussing in low voices how best to rip open the door and overpower the Mainframe sprites.
After a few nanoseconds, AndrAIa announced, "Got it. Mouse showed me what to do," she murmured, more to herself than the others. Working quietly and occasionally muttering to herself, the game sprite slowly rearranged wires — pulling some apart, twisting others together — and fitted the wires into other sockets. She turned to a console mounted on the Prime's desk and quickly typed in Mainframe's address. For a while, the only sound was AndrAIa's fingers lightly striking the keys as she adjusted the communications system to pick up Mainframe's algorithms. Once more, she entered Mainframe's address into the console and pressed "SAVE" to ensure that it was remembered. On the map of the Net, the small, darkened blip that was Mainframe lit up.
"Finished," AndrAIa announced, turning away from the screen. She heaved a sigh of relief and even smiled at her own skill.
"All right," Bob affirmed. He looked around grimly, realizing that there was only one exit: the door they had sealed. "This is what I'm going to do," Bob announced. "I'm going to add more energy to the door, so it will explode outwards. Hopefully, we'll knock down some Guardians, or at least surprise them enough to get an advantage." He consulted his Glitch-map, then quickly added, "Once we're out in the open, run to the far left -- the left, you hear me?"
Two crossed swords hung over a huge desk in the back of the room. Bob pulled one of the swords off the wall and hefted it in his hand. It was authentic, and Bob sheathed it. Though he had his Glitch powers, an extra weapon could come in handy.
Once he was sure that the others knew the plan — what would Dot think of me now? Bob would have pondered gleefully if he'd had the time to — Bob gathered the Glitch-energy around his hands. When his palms were shining with golden light, he pressed them against the wooden door and shoved with all his bodily strength. The door exploded ten feet outward, knocking down two-thirds of the Guardians that stood outside. "Now!" Bob cried out, his voice barely above a whisper. He stumbled, then willed himself to regain his footing, and he ran to the far left, around the edge of the confused group.
The three raced down empty corridors, the sounds of their booted feet echoing loudly around them. Bob's legs felt like jelly; what with all the unexpected running, and the use of his Glitch powers, he felt almost drained of energy. But if there was one thing he had learned at the Guardian Academy, it was to use all the strength he could and let the adrenaline keep him going. He would have time to regain his strength — when they emerged alive from the Academy.
"Bob, Matrix — someone!" Garret's voice, scratchy and fading in and out of volume, crackled over the communicator.
Matrix slipped the communicator off Gun and brought it to his face. "Matrix here, Garret. Where are you?"
"Somewhere near the front of the Academy, I think," Garret answered. "We're in a huge hall, and we've found — you won't believe what we've found."
"The Orientation Hall!" Bob shouted in response to Garret's words. "I had forgotten — that's the largest room in here, so it must be where Daemon's put her most important weapons. Garret and the refugees have hit the jackpot."
"We're coming," Matrix told Garret. "Bob knows the way." He placed the communicator back on Gun, and they quickened their pace. Keeping as quiet as they could and holding their breaths each time they crept past a room full of Guardians, the three sprites somehow made it past the rooms without any skirmishes.
Bob thanked the User again as he glimpsed the Orientation Hall up ahead. His relief was quickly overshadowed by queasy apprehension; if this was Daemon's most important room, what could she have in here?
Without stopping, Matrix, AndrAIa, and Bob burst through two huge doors and paused to stare in utter horror at the chamber they had entered.
It was even dimmer than the other dark rooms in which they had searched, and a dense, greenish fog hung over their heads. Carefully probing ahead, the sprites brushed past overhanging vines, but these were more docile than the wild ones that grew in the various classrooms. Clusters of the growths obscured some objects against the wall. AndrAIa leaned close to one of the objects and gingerly brushed aside some growths to see what it was. She let out a tiny gasp and jumped back. Clamping her lips shut, she went to inspect it again. She moved on to the next object, and the next, grimly affirming what she had just thought. The objects were sprite-sized pods, and inside them were the bodies of — she was absolutely sure — the missing women from the Supercomputer.
AndrAIa looked back at Matrix and Bob. "They're all here," she whispered. "All of the missing women — they're in some sort of pods, all around the walls."
"Pods?" Bob repeated, frowning. He stepped up beside AndrAIa to study the pods, and his frown deepened. "The Web creature that was hiding in Mainframe — it had these sorts of pods in Level 31. Dot said she was in one."
AndrAIa brushed some leaf-like growths off the front of a pod to better see the face of the sprite inside. The woman's skin was a dull gray, and there was no sign of breathing. There wasn't even some sort of apparatus to assist the woman in breathing; her chest was still. AndrAIa headed toward another pod and inspected it, while Bob and Matrix watched her curiously. The next sprite was the same as the first.
AndrAIa turned again toward her companions and shook her head. "They're not alive," she told them, bewildered and a little frightened. "None of them is breathing. But — that can't be right. Their bodies shouldn't be here if they're deleted."
"They must be preserving them somehow," Bob put in. "That's probably what these pod-things are for. Like I said, Dot was in one of these."
"But Dot wasn't deleted," AndrAIa argued.
"Look ahead," Matrix said suddenly, and the other sprites spun around. Matrix focused with his cybernetic eye while the others squinted in the near-darkness. Up ahead, there was a bright, orange light. Smaller, dark shapes darted around it, and gun blasts criss-crossed in the air like a laser show.
The three sprites hurried forward, toward the fire and Garret's team. Upon reaching them, Bob saw that the blasts were coming from Guardians' guns. He, Matrix, and AndrAIa rushed into the fray, searching for Garret through the din.
A handful of Guardians was keeping the refugee sprites busy, and some bodies were sprawled out on the floor, Guardian and rebel alike. A group had been cornered against the wall, and one bulky Guardian held a huge gun at them, readying to shoot. A flash of red hair alerted Bob to Garret's presence with that group, and he swiftly ran toward them.
Seeing Bob heading for them, Garret yelled, "Watch out! The Guardian — he's —"
The large Guardian turned sharply and leveled his gun at the sprite. Bob whipped out his sword and prepared to fight, but all of his spirit evaporated in an instant when he saw who it was he stood against.
Turbo. And yet, it wasn't he, because his skin was the color of iron and sickly, pulsing veins covered his face and completely hid his eyes. His mouth, the jaw hanging loose, flapped open and closed, and a low, slightly accented voice emanated from it.
"Surrender or be deleted, sprite."
"No," Bob choked out. A trembling began in his face, and he clenched his jaw against it. The quivering feeling traveled through his body in the space of a nanosecond, and his large sword clattered uselessly to the ground.
Hearing Bob, Matrix and AndrAIa hurried over. Turbo turned his gun on them as well, and they froze in place, weapons drawn.
"Turbo!" Matrix cried. "But you're deleted —"
All around them, the refugees were fighting with the remaining Guardians. Taking advantage of Turbo's distraction, the group he had fenced in now split apart to help their comrades overpower the remaining slaves. All the while, the crackling fire melted the machinery and headed toward a huge console several hundred yards away.
"They're not deleting!" a young refugee shouted. The Guardian he had just shot stumbled to the ground, a smoking hole deep in the middle of his chest. But instead of shimmering away, he flipped back to his feet and rushed at the refugee, who tripped the Guardian to the ground again. Around the room, the other refugees were experiencing similar problems with Guardians.
"That's it!" Matrix shouted. He grabbed Bob's shoulder and said, "Daemon must infect deleted sprites — that means Turbo's not living."
The rational part of Bob's processor shouted agreement, but the feeling couldn't be spread to the rest of his body. He stared down dumbly at his sword, wondering if he should pick it up now.
"Join our mistress, Daemon," the slave who had once been Turbo drawled, raising his weapon to Bob's chest while the Guardian still stood dumbstruck.
Glitch, sensing that Bob was about to be on the other side if he didn't move fast enough, squeezed around Bob's core-com, sending a magnificent jolt through Bob's body. He jerked in surprise and ducked just in time. Turbo's shot went sailing over Bob's head; and while he was reloading, Bob rose and plowed his sword through Turbo's stomach. Gritting his teeth with the power of his strike, Bob twisted the sword and forced Turbo to the ground. He swiftly yanked it out of the wound before fatally wounding him — if he had been alive, that is. No matter what, Bob couldn't fight Turbo anymore, not even in this dead form.
Sprites cried out as they were struck to the ground and shot at repeatedly until their battered bodies disappeared. Others continued to pummel their opponents, but they were ready to pass out. If it were true that all the Guardians were actually deleted sprites, they would continue to fight long after the rebel sprites fell to the ground from exhaustion.
All the while, the fire the refugees had set was growing higher. It had started in the back of the room and was building toward an inferno. Bob momentarily numbed himself to the whirlwind of feelings inside him and helped Garret pull the tattered remains of his team back together. They rushed out of the Orientation Hall, some Guardians following in close pursuit.
The raging fire rushed forward in an explosive wave, engulfing the remaining Guardians who stood standing. Bob saw Turbo duck out of the room just in time, but the other slaves weren't so lucky. The sweltering fire scorched the Guardians, and even they let out animal roars of pain. Though they couldn't necessarily be deleted like normal sprites, the fire charred through their bodies so deeply that in nanoseconds they lay, useless, on the floor.
The rebels took cover in a nearby classroom and waited for the shock waves to cease. When they stood, they saw that the Orientation Hall had been burnt nearly black.
A great shudder struck Bob then, and his shoulders sagged. He took deep, loud breaths that sounded dangerously like sobs.
"Come on, Bob," AndrAIa whispered. "Let's get back."
They trudged back towards their entrance in the kitchens, their hearts heavy with the grief that came from great loss.
Gloria intercepted the ragged-looking sprites the moment they entered the underground warehouses. She and several other sprites quickly herded those with terrible wounds to the medical center for treatment. The Mainframers had luckily remained unharmed except for a few scratches and some bruises. Garret had suffered a huge blast in the shoulder, and Gloria demanded to treat him. He grudgingly agreed, but he wanted Matrix, Bob, and AndrAIa to talk over the mission.
"That wasn't the worth the number you lost, and those who were wounded," Gloria said as she tended to Garret's shoulder. As well as his wife and doctor, Gloria acted as a tactical advisor of sorts.
Garret winced as her fingers probed his tender, burnt flesh. "But it was," he argued. Gloria clucked disapprovingly at his wound and at his reply. "You see," he said to the Mainframers, "for hours, we've been doing all we can to hinder Daemon's progress. We've set some big fires, mostly, trying to destroy her technology. But she keeps coming back," he sighed, grinding his teeth angrily.
"Now we know why," Garret continued, and here Gloria perked up a bit. Bob had explained the new, valuable information to the leader of the refugees as the others were tended. "Daemon deletes her hosts and her Guardians. But before they disappear, she preserves them in some sort of pod-things. Basically, the sprites we've been fighting are shells of their former selves; they have the face of a certain sprite, but there's no way they're actually that sprite anymore. But they're filled with something that makes them able to walk and talk and act alive."
"That makes some sense," Gloria admitted, "what with all the disappearances, and none of the bodies turning up. If Daemon's Infection works like that — that means all the missing women are deleted . . . yet they're still processing." She groaned and scratched her head. "I wish that made more sense."
"It's actually clearing up a lot of things that we didn't understand," Bob said. "We had trouble with some Guardians back home. Matrix even shot them head-on, and they wouldn't delete."
"What an amazing thing for one super-virus to do, keeping deleted sprites processing," AndrAIa murmured thoughtfully. There was a grim silence for some time, until Garret spoke again.
"Did you get your job done?"
Bob nodded. "Yes. And did you get yours?"
Garret shrugged, then pain flashed across his face. "I'd say we did. We made some more damage, however small. And now we know more about Daemon, which makes her easier to fight. A lot easier," he added as an afterthought.
"Now that we've done what we need to do, we should be getting home," Bob announced regretfully.
Gloria finished patting down a bandage on Garret's shoulder. He carefully slid his shirt back on and stood up, Gloria with him. "Thank you," Garret said, shaking Bob's hand with a strong grip. "You helped us gnaw away at Daemon's power," he added with a wry grin.
"You kept us from getting deleted, more than once," Bob admitted. "Thank you, Garret."
"Do you need our help getting out of here?" Garret asked. "You could use the sewers again."
"No thanks," Bob answered. "I figure I can portal us out of here pretty easily. I've rested, and most of my powers are back," he said, though at that moment he looked unbelievably weary.
They exchanged good-byes once more. Then Matrix shot at an empty crate, turning it into a tear, which Bob then converted into a portal. The shining light enveloped them, and then they stood back in the shipyard in Sector 3. All that was left to their trip was to pass through the bubble again and sneak back to Mainframe without the Guardians realizing. The last microsecond passed in a blur, and the next thing they all knew, they stood on Mainframe ground again.
"User above, what happened to you?" Dot cried upon meeting them outside the Principle Office. Now that they stood in normal light again, the three sprites could see how dirty and disheveled they looked, with their disguises half torn and their dyed hair out of place. The sword from the Prime's office still hung at Bob's side.
"How was your trip?" Dot asked.
Matrix gave a harsh laugh. "Interesting, to say the least. We learned a lot . . ." His voice trailed off.
Dot placed a hand on Matrix and AndrAIa's shoulders. "You two go get washed up, and meet me in the War Room in a microsecond." They obediently left, and Dot turned back to Bob.
"Hey," she said, offering him her shoulder to lean on. Bob gratefully supported himself against his girlfriend as they climbed the steps to the Principle Office.
Dot gazed sadly at the fresh grief she could see printed on Bob's smooth face. "What happened?" she asked softly, tracing a finger over his cheek.
Bob closed his eyes and felt a fresh surge in his core-com at pulling up the recent pain. "We saw Turbo," he slowly replied in a flat voice. "He was deleted, but he was still standing there."
"Baby, I'm sorry," Dot sighed, kissing him on the cheek and wrapping one of her arms around him in a hug.
"Thanks. It was just scary." He shook his head, and Dot stared at him confusedly. "There's a whole bunch to explain," Bob said apologetically, and Dot nodded in understanding.
Bob staggered off to find a hot shower and change out of his dirt-caked disguise, leaving Dot standing alone. User, she hated this war and what it was doing to those she loved.
Thirty milliseconds later, AndrAIa, Matrix, and Bob entered the Principle Office. Dot already stood there, with Enzo, Phong, and Frisket.
"Where's Kode?" AndrAIa asked; Dot wasn't sure if it was out of interest or concern that the sprite might be eavesdropping on them.
"He's at Bob's," Dot answered, and she saw a flicker of relief pass over both AndrAIa and Matrix's faces.
"Did the plan go successfully?" Dot asked.
"It did," AndrAIa answered. "I linked Mainframe back to the Net. Are communications working?"
"Yes, they are," Dot replied. "I checked them while you were changing. What else did you learn?" she asked, seeing the momentary discomfort pass over their faces at the question.
Bob slowly explained, with Matrix and AndrAIa's help, what they had discovered about Daemon, her hosts, and the Guardians. The others listened silently and without comment until Bob had finished. They digested this new information over several nanoseconds.
"This is bad," Dot finally said, with a ghost of a smile toward Bob.
He wearily returned it. "Very bad."
Matrix sighed and looked to the various consoles around them. "Now that communications are up, who are we going to call?" he asked.
"Already thought of that," Dot answered. "After I visit those other systems for help with Daemon, I'm going to send a message out to the Command.coms."
Something beeped loudly, startling everyone in the room. Next to Dot, a console bleeped urgently, and a VidWindow appeared, with the words: UNKNOWN MESSAGE FROM NET.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the VidWindow. Cautiously, Dot switched on a channel and said, "Hello, travelers. Are you in trouble?"
The text faded from the VidWindow, but no face appeared. "We're looking for a system," a rough male voice answered, "and some sprites, too."
Dot exchanged a look with the others. Matrix tightened his hand on Gun, and Bob tensed. They didn't answer the voice on the VidWindow.
"Isn't this Mainframe?" the voice demanded, now tinged with annoyance. They heard, "Tab, check the address again" and some under-the-breath grumbling for several nanos.
Dot grabbed the microphone and spoke into it. "Yes, this is Mainframe. What do you want?"
The man considered this, then he laughed. "What do I want? We'd all just like to say hi to some old friends." His voice shifted to a different tone. "You don't even remember The Net's Own?"
Matrix's eyes widened in shock, and he quickly motioned for Dot to move aside. He took the mic from her grasp and said to Specky, "Let them in." Then to the sprite, he said, "Come into the system."
They could hear the smile in the sprite's voice. "Now that's more like it! We're coming." The channel switched off.
Dot frowned at her brother. "Enzo, what was that about? Do you know who that was?"
"We both know them," AndrAIa answered. "They're on our side, I'm sure," she assured Dot. Though Dot didn't appreciate decisions being made without the least bit of faith on her part, she didn't protest.
AndrAIa opened up the codes around Mainframe to let the ship come in, and she, Bob, Dot, Matrix, Phong, and Enzo all left the Principle Office to see.
A sleek, though somewhat out-of-date, ship approached the P.O.'s docking bay, moving slowly and cautiously. The ship settled onto the ground, steam rising from its engines. Soon the steam cleared, and the Mainframe sprites waited anxiously.
The hatch opened, and one by one, six sprites came out. Their leader was a young man with blue skin and rusty red hair. He wore a white shirt, a red-brown vest that matched his hair color, and loose gray breeches. There were no weapons visible on his form, but that didn't mean he didn't have any. A badge was displayed on his vest with the symbol of a lion rearing on his hind legs, surrounded by the systems of the Net.
He smiled at Matrix. "It's been a while, huh, Enzo?" Then he looked to AndrAIa, and he grinned. "DrAIa — as marvelous as ever."
A tall woman close to his age sauntered over, lying an arm around his shoulders. "Are you finished with this gracious demonstration of your charming personality?" she drawled, and grinned at the couple. "Good to see you again." The woman's hair was a dark blue with streaks of silver, spiky locks flung down her back, with a few over her forehead. She wore a low-cut top without sleeves that showed the firm muscles in her arms; the same symbolism as the man's was on the hem of her shirt, which rose over her stomach. Form-fitting gray pants covered her legs down to her knees, and they were topped off with the same material as her top.
A younger man appeared next to the two sprites. His hair was cut in the same style as the leader's, but it was colored orange-yellow, and his skin was cyan. His gray eyes were hidden behind black glasses, and he wore a brown shirt covered by a dark jacket, with black pants. The same emblem was inscribed on the collar of his shirt.
A large sprite with dark dull red skin hopped off the landing ramp and came to stand next to his comrades. He was even bigger than Matrix, his head shaved except for his black goatee, and his clothes were similar to Matrix's, but with a simpler taste. He wore an open jacket embroidered with the same logo over his bare chest, and black pants. He was barefoot, and somehow he exuded a peaceful but still dangerous air.
The large sprite was arm-in-arm with a woman ten hours younger than him. She was several hours younger than Matrix and AndrAIa, probably 1.7. Dark blue-violet dreadlocks blended nicely with her young, pink-red face. She was dressed in a glitzy look, her top adorned with wing-like sleeves that glittered gold. She wore a skirt with the logo on the side, and on her feet were tall boots.
The last sprite to come out of the ship was a pudgy man, his skin an olive color. Mahogany hair that flopped into his face, around sharp eyes that took in everything and sent it back with a shrewd look. A patch covered his left eye. The same emblem the others wore was stitched onto the flap of his dark brown coat.
AndrAIa glanced back at the Mainframe sprites, standing silently. She grinned and said, "I present to you The Net's Own."
"The who?" Enzo asked in a hushed voice. Naturally, he enjoyed every bit of meeting these mysterious sprites.
The first sprite, who had spoken to Matrix and AndrAIa, laughed and said, "How can you ask who we are? All right then, introductions are definitely needed. I'm Codec Router," he said solemnly, pointing his thumb at his chest. "The leader of this group.
"This is my second-in-command, Eide Cobra." The woman with the spiky blue hair grinned at them all.
Codec went on with introductions, in the same order as the appearances of the sprites. "There we have Axis Lurker. Then there's Balu Lossless, and standing with him is Tab Duplex. Finally is Dram Freeware. We are The Net's Own. We're defenders of justice, and" — he shrugged — "a little bit of mercenaries."
"Mercenaries?" Dot asked, immediately on the alert. "Who sent you?"
"No, no, ma'am," Codec hurriedly corrected himself; "we're mercenaries, but we weren't sent to Mainframe; you guys are the ones who are fighting Daemon, right? Anyway, we were on our way to our next job when we saw the system; and we wanted to say hi to our old friends Enzo and AndrAIa."
"What?" Bob asked, becoming more confused by the nano.
"Codec," Eide chided, "you're not explaining things right." To Bob and Dot and the others, she explained, "We found Enzo and AndrAIa in a system when they were about 1.3 or so; we took them in and made them temporary members of our group. They stayed with us for only one hour, but we got them well on their way to living through the Games."
Bob went over their names again. "Codec Router, Tab Duplex, Dram Freeware, Axis Lurker, Balu Lossless, Eide — Cobra?"
"Yeah, Cobra." Eide opened her mouth, exposing fangs similar to Mouse's. "I wasn't born with these, but they are permanent. So is this." She turned her back to them and pulled her hair back. Her top was cut so that they could see the tattoo of a cobra preparing to strike imprinted on her bright green skin. Bob looked at Dot with raised eyebrows.
Eide turned back around and gave them all, especially Dot, a grin. "Cobra's the way people can identify me, you see?"
Dot only nodded, but she was silently thinking otherwise. These are the sprites my brother grew up with? She had been surprised when she first saw Matrix's appearance, but now she understood where he had gotten his style — No wonder.
"We could still go on to our next job," Eide mused, "but now that we've just met up with you guys, I think we could use your help — and you ours. We'd hate to impose on you, but . . . could we stay here, just for a second?"
"Sure," Matrix answered; he then realized that the decision wasn't his to make, and he turned to Dot. "Sis?"
Dot was certainly wary of these people who had come into her home unexpectedly; they didn't seem to be the most trustworthy of sprites. But she couldn't erase what they had done so long ago for her brother, and because of that she was compelled to say yes. Smiling wryly, she nodded her head.
"You could probably stay at Bob's apartment," Dot decided. "If you'll only be here for a little while, we could set up temporary rooms." She sighed at the strange, new situation. "Welcome to Mainframe."