Dot kissed Enzo's forehead softly, glad that the boy had finally fallen asleep. With a sigh, she realized she'd be getting no sleep tonight, and decided to set about making herself more comfortable at least.

She walked into the tiny bathroom. Forest-green Formica counters contrasted with linoleum and fiberglass that may or may not have been beige originally. Dot unlatched her earrings, her necklaces, and bracelets, and set them in a pile on the counter beneath the mirror. She pulled the rubber band and bobby pins out of her hair and tossed them in the general direction of the pile of accessories, then picked up the neatly-folded forest-green washcloth from the side of the sink and washed her face with warm water.

The cloth came away caked with dark purple, and Dot looked at herself in the mirror. Her long eyelashes where clumped together by moisture, and though she didn't think herself particularly pretty without her masses of eyeshadow and lipstick, she decided she looked cleaner and less teenaged. A sudden urge came over her, and she peeled the tight purple dress off and climbed into the shower.

The warm water rushing over her shoulders was less comfort to her than she might have hoped, and she felt a pang of disappointment. She realized she had no shampoo, and so rubbed the tiny soap between her hands to build up a lather and began the time-consuming task of washing all the dye from her hair.

Dot set about this task with a single-minded determination that she had been capable of from very young. She didn't try to keep track of the amount of time the blues and pinks swirled around her feet and down the drain. She only stopped when at last the swirls did, and turned off the faucet.

As the outside source of water was cut, she realized she had been crying. She wiped her face with a swift gesture, not giving herself time to fall deeper into grief, and dried herself with the forest-green (a slightly different shade than the counters and shower curtain) motel-provided towel.

She stepped on to the fluffy bathmat, wrapping the towel around herself, and looked at her reflection seriously. Her hair hung down just past her chin, various bits of it bleached to an unnatural yellowish blonde. Dot grabbed for her belt and maximized the little purse she kept on it, opened it, and found what she was looking for.

Scissors in hand, she leaned closer to the mirror. She pulled out the front of her hair in one hand, glad she hadn't gone and gotten it re-bleached to the roots yesterday as she had intended, and cut the yellow part off.

She leaned back and looked at herself again, then grabbed another lock of hair and cut it to the same length. And again. And again...

Dot dropped the scissors with a twanging clatter. She leaned back against the wall, not wanting to see her short hair in the mirror, not wanting to see herself at all. Instead, she grabbed her icon off the counter and began to examine various clothes she had stored in it. She decided on a simple, peach-colored jumpsuit. She had never worn it much before, thinking it a little dull, but it seemed appropriate. She booted into it quietly, looked at herself once, and exited the bathroom.

She was Dot Matrix. She had two lives to rebuild. She had to get to work.



Bob paused before knocking on room 452's door. He glanced over himself quickly, tugging at his suit in fear of wrinkles, breathed into his cupped hand and sniffed, and pulled his hair into a position that felt the way he wanted it to.

He knocked.

The woman who answered the door was not the girl he had seen yesterday. She looked older, more serious. Her hair was up in a conservative do, her clothing was practical.

Bob stared at her openly before realizing what he was doing. It was the same girl, her eyes where the same beautiful, intelligent stars of violet as he remembered. He cleared his throat.

"Uh...hi." He mumbled. Dot looked at him dully.

"Hello." She replied, waiting for him to elaborate. He stared at her boots, short heels with turned-down cuffs.

"I was...I was wondering, uh...I'm just checking up on you." He said, examining the ground for flaws. Dot blinked.

"Oh." She shrugged flipantly. "Well, here I am." The Guardian glanced up.

"Yeah. Here you are." He stared again, but quickly regained his composure if not his dignity. He cleared his throat again. "I just needed to make sure you were okay, and nothing drastic happened...You know. Because people do desperate things after this kind of thing."

Her face tightened slightly. "What did you plan on doing if I had hung myself by my belt from the curtain rod in the bathroom?"

Bob stared at her, surprised. "Um, well, I was hoping you hadn't yet."

Dot began to breathe harder. "And what kind of a thing would that be to do, anyways, deleting myself and leaving my little brother behind? What if he came into the bathroom and saw me hanging there? He'd be scarred for life!"

Bob nodded wordlessly, a bit confused. Dot seemed to refocus on him.

"Thank you for checking up." She said curtly, and began to slam the door.

Before she could, a vidwindow popped up in front of her, a face that had been familiar to her all her life looking out. She managed a smile for the old sprite. "Hi, Phong."

He nodded in greeting. "Hello, my child. I am calling to...check up on you and your brother."

Bob gave a very small amused snort.

"Thanks, Phong. I think we're doing as okay as...We're fine." She tried to tuck her hair behind her ear to rediscover that it was short and she couldn't. She wondered what Phong thought of her change in appearance, and why he had decided not to say anything. Maybe he thought she was already on edge.

Maybe she was.

She realized Bob was still standing in front of her and turned the vidwindow to face him. "Phong, this is Bob. He's a...Guardian. He comes from the Net." She smiled, small, but the first real smile she had given in a second. She stopped it quickly. Not even an entire second since your father...and you're smiling...

Bob had switched on his official air for Phong and was stating where, precisely, he had come from, as if it made any impression on Phong at all. The old sprite nodded.

"Yes, I have spoken with your superiors. They have explained everything in detail."

Bob could be seen to frown slightly at 'superiors'.

Phong continued. "Welcome, young Guardian. But I have a mission for you."

Bob straightened again. "Yes?"

"There are two virii somewhere in Mainframe or the remaining sector of the Twin City. I need a description of their abilities and whereabouts, if at all possible."

Bob nodded crisply, but a grin had broken out on his face. "I'll get on it immediately, sir."

"Thank you, young sprite." Phong turned to face Dot again. "And Dot, if you or your brother should need anything, do not hesitate to ask."

Dot nodded wordlessly, and the vidwindow closed. She looked at Bob, and he saluted her good-naturedly.

"Well, you heard the man. I'm off." He turned on his heel.

"Wait!"

Bob paused and looked over his shoulder. She ran inside the room again, and one could hear her grabbing things in a great hurry. A small voice from inside mumbled sleepily.

"Dot? Where're you going?"

"I'll be back soon, just stay inside. Don't answer the door for anyone, I'll have the key, okay? Don't be frightened." She kissed his forehead.

Bob watched her slide out the door, close it and lock it. He cocked an eyebrow, confused. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"With you." She answered, fiddling with the lock. Bob shook his head.

"No, no, no. This could be dangerous. I'm trained for it! But I don't want you to get hurt."

She turned around and glared at him, eyes flashing. He frowned. "But..."

She threw down her zipboard and stepped on, then tossed one in front of him. "Come on, Phong needs those reports."

Bob blinked, stepped on to the zipboard, and followed her.