Probably what most of you have been waiting for. Why oh why did Andi and Matrix break up? All here. All 10 pages. Good luck! And btw, I have problems with commitment and it really shines here. Shines like a star! Unfortunately, I only have part of the next chapter written. (And right when I was getting to the POINT of my fanfic. Read Into the web to satisfy a little bit of your craving.)
"What are you fellas still doin' here?"
Tiron, a brown skinned Medic Guardian, looked up sharply at the voice that suddenly came from behind.
"Mouse!" He exclaimed, visibly caught off guard. "I didn't here you come!"
Mouse fluttered her electric orange eyelashes.
"Why, thank you sugar. It's been a while since I used my hackin' skills. Glad I still got them."
"Mouse." Another friendly male voice said. "So here is the one who put those codes around Mainframe." It was Jasker, another Medic Guardian.
"Nice to know work still goes recognized." Mouse flashed the Guardian a winning smile and looked about. "Now, what's going on here? Ray just shipped a bunch of you Guardians back to the Super Computer. Did ya miss the call?"
"'Fraid so." Tiron said as he closed his med kit. "We came here with the Guardian Repair crews. We needed to check on Bob's energy level"
"But the slaggin' sprite took off on us." Jasker muttered unpleasantly. "We only managed to complete our scans last half cycle."
Mouse shifted her weight on one hip. "That sprite gets more squeamish of you docs as the seconds pass. Well, when Ray gets back, I'll be sure to let you guys know." The icon suddenly felt her stomach rumble. "Well, I'm off to Dot's; Want me to grab you two some fast food?"
"Thanks, but Andraia went to get some shakes from Dot's a little earlier." Tiron replied.
"Well, I'll be seeing you then." Mouse winked and play-saluted the Guardians before sashaying her way out of the med bay.
The med lab door opened again and Andraia strolled in with a carton tray of drinks.
"Sorry it took so long. Cecil was giving me the run around." She handed out the drinks and looked around.
The med lab was a temporary set up. Originally a two level hanger bay, the area was converted into a work base for repairs of all sorts. Since Mainframe was only mildly damaged, Guardians were only needed in Mainframe for a few minutes after the Daemon wars. Now, the Guardian equipment had been moved out and ported back to the Super Computer along with all of the Guardians stationed in Mainframe except for Tiron and Jasker.
"It's going to be a lot quieter without you guys here now." Andraia said.
"Is that relief I hear?" Tiron said between slurps of his energy shake. Next to him, Jasker had scrunched his eyes as he experienced a processor freeze.
"Of course not!" Andraia slapped Tiron playfully on the shoulder. "I'm going to miss those Guardian second long parties you have after every repaired application."
"You should really come with us." Tiron said.
Andraia sighed. She wanted too. Even if it was just for a second.
"No, my place is here." She said regretfully.
"You're wasting your skill here. There's nothing left to fix." Tiron said before finishing off the last of his shake.
Andraia didn't respond immediately. A lot of the denizens of Mainframe had asked if she was going to go. Even Mouse and Dot had encouraged her a little. But she couldn't. She wasn't allowed. A shadow of sadness passed over her, but when Jasker suddenly gave a loud belch, her face cleared up and she thought nothing more of it.
"I can always work on ways to upgrade Mainframe. You know, see what that system reboot really did for us." Her wristwatch beeped and flashed red. "Oh, I've got to meet Dot. If I don't see you before Ray takes you back, then thank you for all of your help." The game sprite leaned forward and kissed both sprites on the cheek before leaving.
"I wish she would come to the Super Computer."
"You, me and a dozen other Guardians Tiron. But she won't. I think it's got something to do with Matrix."
"Without a doubt. That is one sprite who's happy about us leaving." Tiron said a bit disdainfully.
By now, both sprites had finished packing and were heading out while continuing their talk of women, key tools, and whatever Guardians spoke of when danger wasn't imminent.
Above, on the second level, a red (X) began to glow brightly. He had watched the exchange between the Guardians and Andraia. This is why he expressed his disapproval over Andraia going to the Super Computer. Over the past few minutes with the Guardians in his home, he had watched and glowered at each Guardian male who got too close to Andraia.
He was extremely annoyed. Matrix had always been highly protective of his childhood friend-turned lover, but during his game hopping hours they could, and would always leave the system. If Matrix believed some sprite was a threat to him and Andraia, he need only to tolerate them for a few seconds at most before leaving the lecherous sprite in whatever misbegotten system they lived in. But now, he couldn't just leave for another system. Whoever was a threat to him and Andraia would be around for seconds on end, and he resented that.
The passing minutes after Daemon were troubling for him for all was mostly calm and well. There was no virus or problem for sprites' attention's to be focused on, so attentions wandered. Thus he had to follow Andraia around as much as possible. He needed to protect her, but she often made it harder with her own behavior. Like those kisses.
Matrix tipped Gun over and looked at the watch strapped to it. For the next few cycles, Andraia would be safe with Dot. He wondered when Ray would be back to take the last two Guardians back. He hoped it wasn't too long of a time for him to wait before he would be finally rid of them. Silently, with Gun still in hand, he made his way out of the deserted bay.
Andraia wasn't paying attention to what was happening. Specky was talking in his usual nervous tone yet again, and Dot was reclined in her chair busily taking notes. Phong, Bob and some other binomes were present, but Andraia couldn't concentrate. She shifted in her seat and glanced at her watch. Only a quarter of a cycle had passed.
Another binome, a round one, talked now. Of what? The game sprite couldn't care less. With a sudden shove, Andraia pushed her chair back and stood up.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling well." She said quickly. "I think I need some air."
"My child, what is the matter?" Phong moved to stand, but Andraia gestured him back.
"I just need some air. I didn't get much downtime and it's pretty stuffy in here." She quickly said while backing towards the exit."
"I'd scan you to see what's wrong, but those Medic Guardians said I had to preserve my energy levels." Bob said. "Maybe you could go see them instead." He suggested helpfully.
Andraia smiled a little too suddenly. "Good idea bob." And she left before anyone could say something else.
She found them sitting on the platform below where the tear energy was encased. Andraia smiled and laughed half a cycle away with them before a vid window popped open in front of her. For a second she tensed and glanced to make sure Tiron and Jasker were out of the way of the window, but when she saw it was just Phong, she relaxed.
"Are you feeling better my child?" He asked while pushing his glasses up.
"Yes, everything checks out. Just tired I guess. Sorry for the scare." Andraia said.
"No need to apologize." Phone tented his fingers for a second before continuing. "Is there something you would like to talk about young one?"
"Oh no. Phong, what gave you that idea?" She stammered out nervously.
"It just seemed…" Phong began.
"It's nothing Phong. Really, everything is okay." She smiled weakly.
Phong pursed his lips. "Very well. Should you want to talk, I will be here."
"Thanks Phong." Andraia clicked the window closed and turned back to the Guardians. "Guess I should be going now. Thanks again." She left quickly on her zip board and boarded down to the water park. She circled the play area slowly, loosing herself in happy memories and thoughts.
"Distracted huh?" A voice jolts her out of her thoughts and she wheeled around to face the voice.
"Enzo!" She said, more out of relief than shock.
The young boy hurled a ball as far as he could and watched Frisket bark after it.
"It's not fair that I will eventually go to the Super Computer while you have to stay here. You deserve it more than me." He finally said.
Andraia twitched her lip and ruffled the boy's hair before leading him to sit on a park bench.
"I choose to stay here Little Sparky."
"No, he makes you say." The boy replied darkly.
"No, no. He doesn't make me do anything. Matrix loves me, and I have to respect his wishes." She said while watching Frisket chase the park birds.
"Andi, I'm not so young that I don't understand the obvious. I don't like how he controls you. It's not right. It's not me." Enzo said as he started down at his limp hands.
Andraia sighed. "What makes you think he controls me?"
"Look at the way he treats you. At first, I figure he's just protective of you because you and Frisket were all he had. But ever since Daemon," Enzo paused to search for the right words, "he hovers around you."
Andraia turned to him and ran her hands over his hair. "He just loves me, and wants to protect me."
"You can protect yourself better than he can protect himself I think." He clenched his hands into loose fists before continuing. "And you guys have been fighting pretty bad at night haven't you."
Andraia stilled her hand.
"Why do you say that?"
Enzo suddenly turned to her and puffs up his lean chest while pointing his thumbs at himself and grinning.
"You're talking to the sprite who played a major role in defeating Daemon!" As suddenly as his jovial mood appeared, it disappeared, and he continued in a solemn tone. "Frisket started to come and stay with me during the nights to avoid your fighting. I figured out from him."
The game sprite sighed. "Yes, we've been having a lot of fights lately. He just can't stand me being with other sprites." She paused as Enzo threw the ball Frisket retrieved. "I don't know why though. I would never betray him. I want him to come with me. I wish he would understand that and trust me."
The older sprite looked up at the water park where she and Matrix had played in when they were young, and before the games.
She continued.
"Sometimes, when I argue back, he'll say he's sorry, and he had made a mistake in not trusting me. He'll promise not to lash out at the sprites he thinks will take me away from him. But he never keeps his word. A few seconds, maybe, he'll leave me alone and he'll even try to become friends with the sprites I talk too, but always, his jealously and possessiveness takes over."
Andraia stopped talking, but Enzo remained quiet. She was releasing a minutes worth of frustration and Enzo knew there would be more.
"He's promised me fourteen times. I've been counting." She said dryly. "Dot, Mouse, Bob and the rest of them know we fight, but I think they don't say anything because of what he had to go through in the games. They give him leeway, and a lot of it. Plus, because everyone is so grateful of him for bringing Bob back no one criticizes him."
Enzo tilted his head up and watched her tortured still expression. His eyes widen as he say tears form at the corner of her eyes, but before they fall, her head jerks up and she stares sharply at the Office. Frisket had also stopped his chase of birds and stared at the Office with both ears perked up.
"What is it?" Enzo asked as he squinted his eyes in the effort to make out what was happening at the office.
Whatever it was, it happened again and Andraia and Frisket were off racing to the Office.
"Stay away from her!" Matrix growled. Gun's barrel smoked, hot from two shots fired previously.
Tiron stood squarely in front of the enraged green sprite. Behind him and Jasker were two scorch marks on the ground.
"She came to us; it was her choice." Tiron said in a low voice.
"Then next time, move away." Matrix towered over the other sprite, but Tiron would not back down.
"How can you treat her like that? What? Without a big bad virus or game for you to fight, you don't have any other way to prove yourself a normal sprite except by pushing around sprites who just want to talk with her?" Jasker said vehemently.
Matrix's bionic eye whirled, stopped and glowed red.
"Stay away." Matrix said between clenched teeth.
Tiron jabbed a finger angrily into the renegade's black vest.
"It is you who should stay away from her." He spat back.
Matrix snapped and roared. He slammed his right fist into the Medic's stomach, doubling him over before back fisting him in the jaw and sending him sprawling backwards. He held his right hand out and Gun flew into it.
"Matrix! Stop!" Bob landed between Matrix and the fallen Tiron.
"Out of my way Bob. This is my problem." Matrix snarled.
"You will never be a Guardian Matrix! Look at yourself you don't deserve it. You would be a disgrace to the Guardian Collective." Jasker yelled as he ran a scanner over Tiron's midsection.
Matrix shoved Bob aside and Bob fell to the ground with a surprised yelp.
"Gun," Matrix snarled, "targe…"
"Gun!" Came a clear voice.
The pistol ripped itself from Matrix's hand.
"Who?" Matrix turned. "Andraia!"
Andraia stood on her zip board, Gun firmly clutched in her hand. Her eyes flashed to the blast marks behind Tiron and Jasker and returned quickly to Matrix. Her chest heaved with the strain of remaining calm.
"I have had enough." She said.
Matrix stared stupidly at her, but from the corner of his eye he saw Tiron move.
"Gun!" He said, and Gun left Andraia, albeit slower than before, and returned to his hand. He pointed it, his hand shaking.
"Gun: Disassemble." Andraia said simply, and watched Gun break into individual pieces in Matrix's hand.
"I've had enough Enzo. You've gone too far."
Matrix turned to her, but said nothing. His vision shifted from her and the pieces of Gun at his feet. She was still talking, but he didn't hear. Gun lay shattered at his feet. It represented something. It represented him. Matrix's mind worked slowly, and he didn't hear her till the fateful last words.
"This is it Enzo. I'm not staying with you like this."
By now, Mouse, Phong Dot and little Enzo and Frisket were there as well. Andraia was quiet as she watched her former lover compute what just happened.
"Andi? No!" Matrix's mind finally grasped the consequences of his actions. "No! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Just a mistake and it'll only happen this once. I promise, I'll change." He moved towards her, hands outstretched and desperation seeped deep in his voice.
Andraia had stepped off of her zip board, and had turned away from him. She heard all his please and promises, but she knew that this would only be broken promise number fifteen. He kept making promises, and he kept lying.
The game sprite closed her eyes and fought the urge to cover her ears as she walked away. But he persisted. So, in one fluid movement, she spun. Her aquamarine hair whipped around and she felt the tears from before surge back. She extended one hand towards Matrix, and out shot two spines from her fingertips.
Not expecting the move, Matrix felt his ex-lover's nails lightly score the side of his neck. But a scratch was all that was needed. He dropped on his knees, his eyes rolled back and he fell forward unconscious.
There was silence as all stared at the unconscious sprite.
"He'll be back online in half a second." Andraia said softly. Her eyes threatened to brim over.
From above, the sphere containing the core energy created tears opened and no sooner was it converted into a portal did the Surfr ride out.
"Well mates, I'm back to pick up the stragglers." Ray said before comprehending the situation.
"Oh... Kay." Ray surveyed the scene and said nothing more.
Phong rolled forward and punched some code into a data pad. Another tear was generated.
"Ah, the Guardians are ready to go." Phong said.
"Hmm." Ray looked at Mouse, hoping for a clue to what had passed. When she shook her head slightly, he figured it was probably a bad time. "Well then, saddle up boys. You're going home."
"Andi's going with you too Surfr." Enzo said suddenly.
Ray looked about. No one objected.
"More the merrier I guess."
He, as all the others watched the normally happy sprite make her way solemnly to the net surfing pod, which Tiron and Jasker were already in.
"Mainframe will always be your home my child." Phong said as the young woman passed him.
When Matrix awoke, stripped of his Guardian Protocol, in the infirmary, all the sprites of Mainframe were with him. But even so, among all these sprites, and in his very home, he was alone.
After, no one spoke much of what happened. Matrix retreated into Lost Angles, Bob and the others silently realized each of them had turned a blind eye to Matrix's possessive behavior during the last few minutes. Each tried to ignore his dangerously volatile attitude in order to retain the heroic image all had come to have after Megabyte and Daemon, and all at the expense of the most loyal, loving and forgiving sprite in all of the Net.
Enzo stayed quietly out of the way. At first, when he heard of Matrix's glories in battle, all he wanted was to grow and be as strong as him. But he never had first hand knowledge of Matrix's victories, and was less blinded by the hero image when Matrix began to snap at other sprites. It angered him that all the other sprites and binomes of Mainframe ignored matrix all because they couldn't picture matrix other than a gun blazing warrior. And now, Andi had left. He hoped she was better there, and that maybe she would eventually return, but that was a hope only to be fulfilled far into the future.