Matrix felt out of place as he walked through the Principal office. He hadn't bothered to dress nice and was starting to regret it. The sprites he passed all wore their best; draped in suits and collared shirts. Every so often he would get a strange look from a passer by. He tried to ignore it. Sitting at home wasn't doing anything for him, so he decided to take his dad's advice and check in on Dot. He knew she would most likely be busy, but thought he would stop in and see if she'd be willing to go out for lunch. It was worth a shot.

"Enzo, it's so nice to see you." Phong said with a smile.

Matrix stopped in his tracks.

"Hi, Phong- and it's Matrix."

"Yes, of course, forgive me. What brings you to the Principal office?"

"I'm looking for Dot. She wasn't in her office."

"She's in the war room."

"She is?" Matrix was taken aback by the statement. Mainframe didn't have any use for the war room, at least not since the Disconnection war. He found himself wondering what she was doing there.

"Yes, she has been tasked with a very important job. I can take you to her."

"Thanks."

Matrix followed behind Phong as he started down the hallway. He had actually never seen inside the war room; when it was in use he was just a small sprite. Admittedly he didn't visit Dot very often. He knew how to navigate between the main entrance and her office, but not much else. The Principal office was a maze to him.

After turning down a few passageways he noticed that where they were heading was rather isolated. Less and less sprites frequented the area. Eventually they were alone, face to face with a set of doors.

"Here we are." Phong said, suddenly serious, "I'm afraid I have business to attend to."

Matrix watched as Phong excused himself, leaving before he had a chance to say anything. He brought his attention back to the doors, opening them with zero hesitation. He stepped into the dimly lit room and looked around. The space was filled with several consoles all illuminated with hundreds of switches, buttons and blinking lights. Against the main wall a large set of screens hung. Matrix walked to the center of the room to get a better look. The image projected was just outside Baudway. He watched as sprites walked down the busy streets, unaware that they were under surveillance. After a few seconds the image switched. This time to a nullified portion of Giedi Prime, where the Tor used to stand.

Matrix clenched his fists, suddenly overcome with anger. He had thought about going there again, but couldn't bring himself to do it. The wounds were still fresh. His eyes danced across the screens, taking it all in. The ground, which had once been neatly paved, was caved in and reduced to a pile of rubble. That was AndrAIa's final resting place. And that infuriated him. She deserved so much better.

"Matrix, what are you doing here?"

He turned and saw Dot standing by the far wall. She had just come through a set of doors that led to a small boardroom. He hadn't noticed it was there before. But, he was distracted.

"I, uh, thought maybe we could go out and grab something to eat- if you're not too busy."

"I'm sure I can spare a few minutes," Dot smiled.

She had been so focused on the containment field she had thought about nothing else. A break was well needed.

"Great. What are you in the mood for?"

"I could actually go for some-"

"Warning, incoming game! Warning, incoming game."

They looked at each other in a moment of shock. Dot quickly moved to one of the panels and began to type into the interface. The screens on the wall flashed to different sectors. She scrolled through several locations before finding where the game was going to fall. A small portion of Kit's had dark storm clouds festering above. Two figures on zip boards quickly flew by. Dot zoomed in. It was Bob and Dixon. They were both already on their way to the game.

Matrix's right eye glowed a vibrant red. He had been waiting days for this moment, and he wanted nothing more than to teach that User a lesson.

"I have to get in that game." He said, turning to the door.

"Wait," Dot grabbed his arm.

"I can't sit by and do nothing!"

"There are two guardians already on their way."

"So?"

"Bob and Dixon can handle it."

"It's about more than that-"

"Matrix no!" Dot snapped, "If both you and Bob go in that game…"

She trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought. If the User won that game she would be losing both her husband and brother. Dot wanted to believe in them, but after what happened to AndrAIa she didn't want to take any chances. She let go of his arm, suddenly feeling silly for trying to stop him. He could make his own decisions.

Matrix didn't attempt to leave. He knew what she was thinking, even without her saying it outloud. As much as he wanted to get his hands on the User, he couldn't abandon Dot; not after everything that happened. He took a deep breath and turned to the screen. They both watched as Dixon and Bob were engulfed by the game. The cube landed with a thud. There was nothing that couldn't be done now, all they could do was wait.

# #

Bob had played hundreds of games in his career, and so had Dixon. Between the two of them they had seen it all, and although they were rusty they were confident in their ability. As they waited for the game to materialize around them they both knew that something was off. It just didn't feel like a normal game. It didn't feel right.

They both stood in the void, back to back, waiting. The darkness around them seemed to be endless and led nowhere. Neither of them were sure what to do. Usually the game would appear in a few seconds, but they were completely surrounded by nothingness.

"Glitch, game stats." Bob said.

Glitch gave a few high pitched clicks and he frowned. It wasn't the answer he had hoped for.

"All right, maybe I need to get you serviced again."

"Hold on, Bobby, let me try." Dixon said, "Chip, game stats."

Chip clicked in response.

"Apparently our second opinion feels the same way." Dixon sighed.

"How can there be no game stats?"

"...Maybe this isn't a game."

A chill ran down Bob's spine at the thought. If there was no game, then there was no chance of them winning, which meant there was no way out. They would be forever trapped inside. He didn't even want to entertain the idea.

"That's not possible."

"Chip, some light?" Dixon raised her hand and a beam of light shone from her keytool. It only reached as far as a few inches before being completely swallowed up by their surroundings. It did little to illuminate the environment.

"Standing around wont do anything, let's keep moving."

"And go where?"

"... I don't know," Bob sighed, "But what other option do we have?"

Dixon nodded and followed closely behind as Bob started walking.

# #

Kit's sector had gone silent. The moment the game cube appeared every binome and sprite in the area fled. Everyone hid, vacating the streets. The once busy sector had become so quiet that every vacant breeze could be heard whistling between the buildings. But the tense quiet was interrupted by a portal. From the liquid silver a figure emerged. Daemon gracefully stepped through and looked around. It had been a long time since she set foot in a system. She stayed in her fortress on the web, and watched from afar what went on in the neighbouring systems. Things were better that way.

Daemon smiled, taking a deep breath of the humid summer air. She felt the warmth of the sun on her face. The heat was different from the bursts of light given off by web storms. She glanced around, eyes drawn to the game cube. To her it made sense why the streets were bare. She had impeccable timing. Mainframe's citizens must have been scared; and she planned on alleviating all their fears.

A few curious binomes poked their heads in a shop window to see who had emerged. Daemon didn't look the least bit threatening. Slowly they left the safety of the buildings to see who the stranger was.

Another figure stepped through the portal, once much larger than the dainty virus. She was twice the size of Daemon and covered from head to toe in silver tattoos. The metallic swirls caressed vibrant purple skin. Her staticky orange hair was done up in a high ponytail that stretched down to the back of her knees. She was very muscular- muscular enough to put Matrix to shame. Her toned form was dressed in a bronze armored corset. She looked down at Daemon and smiled.

The portal vanished.

"You have no reason to fear me, little ones." Daemon spoke sweetly, "I have come only to help."

Upon hearing that the sprites and binomes drew closer.

"Who are you?" Someone dared to ask.

"My name is of little importance. I am here to help."

Mouse glanced across the small crowd that was forming. Very few sprites actually knew what Daemon looked like. Her name had become something of an urban legend over the years; she was known as a fearsome virus and nothing else. Mouse knew that there was more to her, and soon all of the net would understand.

"Help how?"

"I will take away your fear and protect you from the User."

A murmur began to spread as they all wondered if there was any truth to her words.

"I will make you all strong," Daemon said, turning to Mouse, "She was once like you; weak and full of fear. What do you fear now, Mouse?"

"Absolutely nothing." Mouse said proudly.

"I can promise each and every one of you Elysium. My word is salvation, all you have to do is believe." Daemon said as she lifted off the ground, floating above them.

# #

Dot and Matrix stared at the screens in disbelief. They had been monitoring the game and Daemon's arrival was more than concerning. From the war room they listened to the false hopes and dreams Daemon promised.

"Who is that virus?" Dot asked.

"That is Daemon."

Dot gasped. She had heard about the virus but never imagined that she'd come to a system like Mainframe. Dot raced over to her computer and attempted to do a background check. The only guardians in the system were busy in the game and she wasn't sure if she was well equipped to deal with a hostile virus on her own. She needed more information.

"Wait…" Matrix backed away, shocked. His eyes focused on Mouse, or at least; the virus who used to be Mouse.

"What is it?"

"No." He shook his head in disbelief. If Mouse was viral that could only mean one thing; Megabyte's machine wasn't the only one. He turned to his sister. They had a lot bigger issues than games or the ports not working. Mainframe was in trouble.

"... Enzo?"

"I know that virus." He said in a low voice.

"Daemon?"

"Mouse, except she wasn't a virus when we met."

Dot's eyes grew wide as his words sunk in.

"That means…"

"Megabyte wasn't the only one turning sprites viral."

The destruction of Silicon Tor was nothing more than a temporary solution. Dot had a feeling that everything that was going on was connected somehow. The containment field around the system was no doubt Daemon's doing. Dot brought her attention back to the screen. Every virus had its weakness, and with time she was sure she could find Daemon's. Getting information wouldn't be easy though. Daemon spent cycles off the grid. Everything Dot found blurred the lines between fact and fiction.

"Please, come with me," Daemon said, "and hear the word."

Dot and Matrix watched as the crowd that gathered around Daemon began to squirm, still unsure of the virus' intentions.

"We have to do something." Matrix said.

"Just give me a nano." Dot continued to search through files. She paused, reading something she hoped wasn't true. She looked up at Matrix and he could tell that something was wrong.

"What is it, sis?"

"You will all hear the word," Daemon said more forcefully. "Viruses always spread."

Daemon sent a beam of bright light into the sky. It burst like a fireworks, showering over them.

"N- no! I'm not listening to a virus." A binome shouted.

"Very well… Mouse." Daemon turned to her companion.

Mouse showed a pair of razor sharp fangs and growled. The crowd scattered. The light that Dameon had sent into the sky began to come together to form a large cage of glowing green and purple. Mouse leapt on one of the binomes, picking them up with ease, and threw them into the cage. They passed through the bars, landing on the ground. One by one she began to file away the sprites inside. Each one passed through with ease, but failing to get out; the glowing bars preventing them from escape.

In the war room Matrix and Dot watched in horror as the Mainframers were apprehended. Matrix reached for the gun that was strapped to his side. He held it up as he turned for the door.

"No!" Dot blocked his path.

"Get out of my way! I'm not going to sit around while Daemon-"

"She's a cron virus!"

Matrix paused.

"A cron…" He glanced back at the screen at the innocent looking virus; a virus who was programmed to infect on a grand scale. His sister was right, destroying such a powerful being wouldn't be easy. They had to be smart about this, any misstep could end in catastrophe or worse; mass deletion. Daemon had a function to fulfil, it was ingrained in her code. She would not stop until she achieved her goal.

"We have to do a system wide lockdown."

"No… I've met that virus, talked to her. We can't just hide and hope that she leaves." he thought for a moment, an idea dawning on him, "What if her function is to turn every sprite into a virus?"

"Every sprite? You don't mean-"

"Net wide. Mainframe might just be the beginning. The only way to stop this is to prevent her from being able to fulfil her function."

"Meaning?"

"She must have a machine like Megabytes. If we destroy that we'll be able to buy ourselves some time to figure out how to delete her."

It didn't surprise Dot that his first instinct was deletion. Unfortunately she had come to a similar conclusion. They had to do whatever it took to protect their home.

"We have no idea where her machine is though."

"I have an idea of where it could be."

He had been to her lair. Matrix was possibly one of the only sprites to have gone there and survived to tell the tale. It was a secluded, well fortified area. He was certain that it had to be there. That machine needed to be destroyed, at all costs.

# #

Bob and Dixon wandered around the inky blackness inside that game. They had no clue where they were going and seemed to just be walking in circles. A strange silence had fallen between them; not an uncomfortable one, just strange. When they had been together they always had things to talk about. Time had clearly come between them. Bob was different, in a good way, but Dixon found it hard thinking of what to say.

"Dot seems nice." Dixon said. That was the best she could muster.

"She can be," Bob chuckled, "though nice isn't the word I would pick, maybe bossy."

"Well, I wasn't so nice to you when we first met."

"Clearly I have a type."

They both laughed.

"Dixon… I should thank you for everything you've done for us." Bob's voice took on a serious tone, "If you hadn't warned me about Megabyte, who knows what would have happened to Dot."

"You don't have to thank me. I was just doing my duty as a guardian."

"No, I do. You didn't just warn me, you came to Mainframe when you didn't need to. I would have been in this mess all by myself. I'm really glad that you're here."

Dixon smiled, appreciating his words.

"It was the least I could do. Besides, this has been a great way to procrastinate cleaning out my place." she admitted.

"Really? You're usually on the ball with that sort of thing."

"I know, it's not about organizing and throwing junk out… There's a lot of memories to go through." she looked down as she spoke.

Bob began to feel guilty. After her accident he had completely moved on with his life, not giving her a second thought. When they decided to break things off for good he had a life to return to while she didn't. He had abandoned her, leaving her alone to figure things out. Bob had cycles to start again in Mainframe, and lots of support along the way.

"Hey," He came to a full stop and so did she, "if you need help with anything don't hesitate to ask. I'll always make time for you."

Dixon smiled. She had been fighting off feelings of heart break from the moment she woke up from that coma. But, those were her emotions to deal with. She didn't want to hold Bob back or make him feel guilty for just living his life. The more she watched him and Dot, the more she realized that things worked out that way for a reason. Her biggest concern was rediscovering who she was without Bob.

"Thanks Bobby, but I think we have bigger problems right now; like getting out of this game."

"You're right about that… I have a confession to make."

"What is it?"

"I don't really have a plan right now."

Dixon laughed. Bob never had a plan for anything he did.

There was a flicker of light off in the distance that immediately grabbed their attention. They looked at each other before making their way towards it. As they got closer they watched as the small dot of light got bigger. It grew to the size of a basketball, hovering in the air. Bob and Dixon stood on either side of the swirling light.

"Maybe this is a game?" Dixon wondered out loud.

"Maybe," Bob raised his arm, "Glitch, scan."

Glitch sent a wave of lasers over the floating ball, analyzing the readings. Bob glanced down at his keytool.

"That's strange, it's not reading as anything." Bob scratched his head, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"The scan came back with no readings."

"... Weird."

"Maybe we have to interact with it somehow?" Dixon reached out a hand towards it.

"Wait! It might be dangerous."

Dixon thought for a moment.

"Hello, ball of light. My name is Dixon. We mean you no harm." Dixon all but shouted at the thing.

"What are you doing?"

"It might be voice activated," She shrugged.

"Greetings, Dixon." an automated voice came from the ball.

They both flinched, not expecting it to actually respond.

"Do you have a name?" Dixon continued, "What should we call you?"

"I have many names. You may refer to me as the User."

Upon hearing the word 'user' they both backed away.

"You're the one who loaded this game into the system?" Bob asked.

"Correct."

"Where's the game? What is this place?"

"My intention was to communicate, not destroy."

"Communicate, like talk?"

"Correct."

Bob and Dixon looked at each other. Despite being well educated and fighting in the war they were both perplexed by the whole situation. The User's method of communication was unorthodox. As far as they knew a game had never been used for the purpose of just talking before.

"What did you want to talk about?" Dixon asked.

"The treaty violation."

"What violation?"

"The sudden restriction of net access."

"What do you mean? Net access shouldn't be restricted."

"Slowly our net access is dwindling."

"And so you've started playing games again? Why?" Bob demanded. "As retaliation?"

"Correct."

"The net shouldn't be restricted."

"We, the Users, have been nothing but compliant with your demands. We have not been playing games. We kept our end of the bargain."

"I don't understand." Dixon said to Bob, "who has the authority to restrict net access?"

"System administrators of large networks, if I remember correctly." Bob thought for a moment. If one of the major networks went down then large chunks of the net wouldn't be able to travel to other systems. An event as major as that would have been caught by the guardians immediately. Unless the net was still accessible for sprites, and just not the User. He didn't think something like that was even possible.

"There must be some kind of mistake. Please, give us time to figure this out."

"Work quickly, sprite." The User's once neutral tone turned hostile, "As long as we are denied the net game cubes will fall."

Bob and Dixon looked at each other, both mirroring concern.

"If net access is not restored your day of reckoning will come. We have no intention of fighting another drawn out war. The Users created the net… We can also destroy it."

End Log