Viral Legacy

Chapter Five: Sinister Plans




"Our grandfather?" Jet asked, looking at Kit for confirmation. But all his brother did was seethe at the blue sprite that stood before them.

"He might be our grandfather legally," Kit replied, glaring at Packard. "But as far as I'm concerned, I don't have any living grandparents."

"I figured you'd say that." Packard said, smiling.

"Look," Nikki began. "As cool as this mini reunion is, I'm sure you know the stakes we're at here...granddad. I'm sure glad you're on our side."

"I'm not, actually."

"What?" asked the twins

"I'm testifying for the prosecution." Packard said matter of factly.

"But...but..." Jet stuttered. "This your family you're talking about! Your daughter in law, not to mention your own son!"

"As I stated back in the Principal Office, or rather, as your brother so put it, I'm not welcomed in Mainframe. And your father made it perfectly clear that he didn't want any part of our relationship."

"Don't you even dare try and play a sympathy card." Kit grumbled.

"Look," Packard replied, rising his hands. "A lot of time has past and things are different now I'm sure." Turning to the twins he said, "My decision to speak against your parents is all up to you two."

The twins looked at each other in confusion and even Kit was perplexed by the comment.

"I'll walk over to Mr. Peters right now and tell him I refuse to take the stand..." he paused, looking at them both. He could clearly see his son mirrored in each one, though Nikki looked more like her mother. "All you have to do is join me."

"Join you?" Nikki asked, incredulously. "Join you and what? The dark side? What are you talking about?"

"I knew it was something." Kit said, his anger rising once again.

"Yes or no?" Packard asked.

"Hmmm, let me see." Nikki replied, striking a thinking pose. "How about...um...no?"

Packard turned to Jet and saw the young sprite thinking as well. it was the same look of thoughtful that had nearly brought Christopher to him. "Jet!" Nikki exclaimed. The two exchanged glances, their conversation unheard to the outside Net. "You've got to be kidding." she said, staring at him.

"No." he said, finally.

Packard heaved a sigh, though the trio could clearly see the answers angered him. "Fine." he said. "At least I won't be responsible for your parents' time in jail." He swiftly turned and walked away.

"Why didn't you guys ever tell us about him?" Jet asked, once the blue sprite was out of ear shot.

"Because you didn't need to know about him." Kit replied.

"What?" Nikki asked. "Hello! He's just our grandfather..."

"No." their brother said firmly. "We only have one grandfather and that was Dr. James Matrix. That sprite is nothing to us."

"He is too something." Jet said. "He could very easily sink our ship. Now that we've pissed him off, who knows what he'll say when he takes the stand."

"Then we deal with it." Kit replied. "Right now, we gotta get our own witnesses together."

And keep our own team from falling apart, Nikki thought.

***

In all the days Phong had processed, he had never witnessed anything like this in the history of Mainframe. It was true they had their own demons to face and had fought them head on, especially the virals that tried to over take their system. Megabyte had failed time and time again and even when he made Megaframe a reality, they still managed to stop him. And then came Daemon. Even with half the staff under her control, they still managed to prevail. But this...

This was something different.

It wasn't just a threat that hit close to home, it was a threat that called Mainframe home. Never in Mainframe's history had a virus taken over control the way the infected Matrix siblings had. With Dot as the evident leader and her brothers as enforcers, it didn't take all that much time for Mainframe to fall at their hands. Already the siblings were discussing infecting their own citizens and then destroying their home.

The wise sprite was still in shock when they had cornered him late that fateful second and placed him in file lock while they did their planning. He wasn't if it was the goodness of her heart or the real sprite trying to undo the deed, but Dot had come back and released him. Somewhere, she must've known he would immediately get in touch with the others, find out their status. Maybe she did know and was hiding from him, her brothers, possibly herself.

He had seen it with the Matrix boys as well. When he didn't present a struggle and they needn't to be rid of him, Phong could see the inner conflict they all were going through. Somewhere, deep inside, there was still hope of retrieving their spirits and bringing the sprites everyone loved back to them. But he would need help and he knew the solution would be one of life and deletion.

***

"Of all the basic, two bit, son of a..."

Chip was hitting and kicking whatever he passed as he stormed outside. It was sunny and birds were singing, daiseywheels were growing. The teen kicked a nearby can, that went flying in the air and hit a wall. He continued by punching a banner ad for the Intel Hotel, located in the heart of the business sector.

"You need to calm down." Sabrina replied, trailing after him. This was old hat to her. Her brother often went off like this, he was so sensitive to things, but instead of running away and crying, he did what their father usually did. Went off the handle and into a blinding rage. Though she had to admit, that Peters guy was getting on her nerves too. Chip hated being reminded of the fact he 'technically' had a CPU record. A permanent one that, anywhere else, wouldn't allow him access to anything, despite his talents.

It was Phong himself who, if not slightly, took pity on the boy. Matrix had given him an earful about messing with things he shouldn't because he was so young and why he wasn't thinking about consequences for supposedly being the bring young adult he kept telling him he was. And all Peters did was bring that out into the open. Now everyone knew. Not just in Mainframe, but now in a rather large metropolis of a system.

Sabrina was brought away from her thoughts when she nearly collided with he brother, who had stop short a few feet from a small bench. He stood there, his breaths rapid, and his fists clenching and unclenching. "You really should signal when you're going to stop." she joked. Seeing no response, she threw her arm around his shoulder. "Come on." she said, leading him over to the bench. Turning him around, she pushed him back and then sat down next to him.

"Kit didn't mean what he said, Junior." she soothed. "You're not ruining this case."

"But what if I just proved the council right about stuff?" he whispered, his body hunched over to avoid anyone from seeing how truly upset he was.

"The council doesn't know null squat." Bri replied. "Besides, Peters egged you on. I think that's like badgering a witness. If you think about it this way, baby bro, everyone is out to get us."

"Well, doesn't that just cheer me up." Chip muttered, sarcastically.

"Look," she said. "We faced tough shit before and we're probably always going to. The point is we never let it get us down. We look at it, slap it in the face a couple times, and then beat its ASCII all over the Net. We'll be all right, EJ. Don't worry. That's the Lans' job."

Chip couldn't hide the smile from his face. Sabrina always did have a way of making him laugh, even when he hated her circuits with a passion. "I don't know, Bri." he said. "This is bigger than any virus or wanna be virus or whatever we've ever faced. This is like our circuits on the lines. The odds are stacked against us."

Sabrina sighed. She knew he was right. Things had been falling apart from the word go and it looked as though it wouldn't help their case at all. "Mom and Dad still aren't talking to each other either." Chip whispered.

"I know." his sister sighed.

"I wish I was back home." he continued. "Then I wouldn't have been on the stand and Dad wouldn't be mad at me."

"He's not mad." she said.

"I don't mean to be a big let down."

"You are not a let down!" she sighed in annoyance. "Dad loves you, you know that. You wanna go through what he and Mom did? You wanna grow up in the games and never see your family for like 10 hours?"

"No." Chip said. "I know Dad loves me and no, I don't wanna go through what he and Mom did. He's trying to protect us, I understand that."

"Then don't let anything that pompous ASCII Peters said make you think other wise." Sabrina challenged. "Yeah, Dad's rough around the edges, so what? He's always taught us to stand up for ourselves and take care of ourselves and never let anyone beat us down."

"He's doing it on purpose."

"Damn straight he is." Sabrina said. "He's trying to get us to say something incriminating about Dad, Dot, and Enzo. You may have lost this round, little brother, but there's still cross-examining, if our basic, two bit cousin can handle that."

Chip smiled and nodded. "Redeemable questions." he said. "I can make good and make Dad all proud."

"He's already proud, Squirt." she said, mussing up his hair. "And...so am I, but I swear if you tell anyone I said that, I kick your bitmap all the way back to Mainframe."

***

A small battle of wits and know how began in the small system of Mainframe. The system was loyally torn apart. On one side was the Command.Com and her brothers, infected by some unknown virus and were planning their take over of the city. Dot Matrix had always been fair and had brought them through tough times. The binomes and sprites were loyal to her, even if she was viral.

On the other side was the system's guardian, the leader's husband. Guardian Bob had gone through rough times with the system as well, and the system of Mainframe always backed their own. So when the system found itself at odds with each other, each side claiming loyalty to their leaders. To the sprites at odds, it too was confusing to them. To Mouse, her best friend was infected and trying to destroy the very place she called home and loved. Mouse knew she wasn't in control, but she had to be stopped.

She had to.

For Bob and AndrAIa, leading the attack on the Principal Office in order to save their system and loved ones was proving to be way too hard. Dot was the planner of the group, the indispensable leader and right now she was working against them. Bob felt like Daemon all over again, when Mouse had been under her control. The most trusted person with the codes and address for the system was working against them. It was the same here. But past that, past all the leadership responsibilities, Dot was his wife, the mother of their children.

Bob knew AndrAIa felt the same way. She and Matrix were so close to each other, it almost felt like she was infected too. Both had conflicting feelings on the matter, neither one knowing what to say to the other about what was going on. They stood in Dot's office, located in the Diner, along with Mouse and a vidwindow with Phong on the other side. They were trying to figure out a way of gaining access into the P.O., but as Mouse had pointed out, they could be at a disadvantage.

"Enzo knows those codes like the back of his hand." she replied. "I taught him myself and I know he's good. He could have them redone before we even left here."

"Do you think he's done it?" the game sprite asked.

"Knowing Dot, I'm sure she planned on it." replied Bob, a forlorn look on his face.

"I will say this, my children." Phong spoke up. "The Matrix children are dealing with their own fight within. Their true sides may prevail and surprise us."

"Or their viral sides take over for good." Mouse commented.

"Which brings up a very good point." AndrAIa said. "Phong, how do we cure them of the infection?"

The wise sprite sighed. "I...have been considering that." he said.

"And?"

"Because we do not know the source of the infection, we can not properly destroy the virus or at least contain him in order to reverse the effects."

"Which means what?" Bob asked.

"Bob, are you familiar with the procedure taken when one is infected and there is no other cure?"

The guardian instantly knew what the sprite was saying. There had to be another way, something less painful and more sure than what he was thinking. "Phong, we can't." he said, shaking his head. "There's gotta be another way."

"What?" AndrAIa asked.

When Bob didn't respond, she looked at Phong, who hung his head sadly. "We'll have to purge the infection from their codes, my child."

"You mean extracting the viral source code from them?" she asked. Looking at Bob, she gulped. "Why does that not sound pleasant?"

"It's not." Bob replied. "It's on of those emergency situation kind of things. It's also extremely painful and sprites that go through it..." he shook his head. "Depending on the infection, there's no telling what could happen."

Both looked solemn, unsure what action to take. "Bob, we have to." AndrAIa whispered. "Even if it's a last resort, we have to do something." Bob closed his eyes, knowing what could happen as a 'last resort'. "We have our kids to think about." At the mention of their children, both looked at each other in horror. Things had gotten so chaotic...

"Where are they?" Bob asked.

***

"Dot, come on!" Matrix exclaimed.

"No!" she cried. Things were going according to plan, they didn't need any more help.

"Just think what we could do with all that power." Enzo insisted. "Even without Kit and Bri here, we could still manage to get whatever we want, whenever."

"No." she said, more forcefully. "We're leaving the kids out of this."

"Why?" Matrix asked. "It would be so easy to get them and..."

"User, what part of no do you not understand?" she asked, storming over to Matrix.

"I think it's the N." he said, sarcastically.

Calmly slightly, Dot asked, "Do you really want your son to be involved in this?"

"Yes." he said. "No. I don't know."

"We spare them." Enzo replied, watching as his siblings started to lose their grip on themselves. "For now. I can't tell you what will happen later. As long as they're out there and not in here with us, they'll be okay." The three were quiet for some time, trying to regain their sense of purpose. They could feel the infection getting the better of them and it wouldn't be long before they could all be easily lost.

***

The council reconveined at 1500 millieseconds that second. Most people were already inside, watching the two opposing sides talk to their witnesses. Peters sat in his chair, talking to some young blond sprite who had been sitting behind him. Kit and Jet were at odds again, over the appearance of their grandfather. Kit refused to even listen to what his brother had to say, causing even more frustration in the young man.

Chip and Sabrina made their return, in much better moods then they had been. Sabrina even told Roscoe she needed to talk to him during the next free time they had or wait until that second was over and then kissed his cheek. Chip walked up to Kit and sat on the edge of the table. "Put me back on the stand." he said. "You can cross-examine me and I can clear up everything."

"No." Kit replied, not bothering to look up from his various files.

"What?" he asked.

"You've already had your turn." Kit said, looking at his cousin. "Besides, we have our share of problems. Why have you add to it?"

"Don't worry," Jet said, despite the look his brother gave him. "You will be taking the stand again. For us this time."

Chip smiled and took his seat, leaving Kit to just stare at his brother. "And don't you worry, little brother." he sneered. "We'll be having a discussion of our own later."

"Can't wait." Jet retorted.

The two sat down, as the council made their way back. Riley took his place on his bench and Peters stood from his table. "Call your next witness, Mr. Peters."

"If I may address the council?" he asked. The members nodded and he proceeded. "I think have successfully shown that the Matrixes are a family of...murderers, criminals...but there's still things left to be unearthed. I think my next witness will prove that."

"Get on with it, Peters." replied one of the council members.

"I call...Robert Packard to the stand."

Immediately, members of the defense were up in arms over this. Riley banged his gavel for order. "I've told you before, Mr. Lan, about your table."

"Yes, sir, very sorry, sir." Kit said. "And it's Dr. Lan. I didn't spend eight hours at the Science Institute and four more doing independant studies to be called Mister, thank you."

Packard cracked a smile as he moved past defense to take the stand. "Cross-examine him." Bob said, earning a look from Kit.

"Let's hear what he has to say first." Jet whispered back.

"It's nothing we haven't heard before." Kit muttered.

"Please state your name for council."

"Robert Packard Lan, Sr." the blue sprite replied.

Peters looked at him quizzically. "And your relationship to defense, sir?"

"At one time I was the Prime Guardian's father." he said.

"One time?" Peters asked.

"Yes." Packard replied. "Before he murdered my wife."

There was another scandelous uproar from the spectactors and some what confused reactions from the Prime's own children. "Objection!" Kit exclaimed. "There is no evidence to support Packard's wild theories and accusations."

"Your honor," Peters said. "This is the Prime Guardian's father."

"Was his father." Kit corrected. He pointed at Packard and said, "Ask him how he just packed up and left and didn't even leave my dad a note while he was still at the Guardian Academy."

"They deleted her!" Packard cried. "Robert was just as responsible."

"Order!" Turbo exclaimed, his voice booming through out the room. "I want counsel in the back office. Now!"

The former Prime stood and stormed towards the council chambers, with Kit and Peters right behind him. Nikki watched them, then quickly turned to Jet. "Stop thinking that." she whispered, a shocked look on her face. Jet just ignored her and continued his thought.

He's going to ruin this case.

Once in the office, Turbo slammed the door behind him. "Now, what is this about?" he asked. "This Packard is making some very harsh claims. It's one thing when one guardian is accused of murder and two for assault, but Bob? He's Prime Guardian now and I do not want any bad publicity from this trial to reflex on the Academy."

"I've checked out Mr. Packard, sir." Peters said. "And his story is straight. He is legally Robert Packard Lan, Sr, who was married to a Meredith Lan, who then initialized the current Prime Guardian."

"What is this thing about murder?" Turbo asked again.

"Robert Packard is a very disturb individual." Kit replied. "He believes my father, his own son, is responsible for the deletion of my grandmother."

"I knew Meredith." Turbo said, a sad smile on his face. "She was a wonderful sprite, wonderful. Her death was a great shock to everyone and the Academy held a full investigation."

"Exactly." Kit said. "Her death was an accident. But for some reason, Packard refuses to believe that."

"Packard knows things that could break this case, sir." Peters insisted. "If I could..."

"Mr. Peters." Turbo said, keeping a hold on his temper. "You'll hear my decision out there." Opening the door, the three emerged to a quiet room. Everyone had their eyes on them. They returned to their seats, but Turbo remained standing. "Strike everything Mr. Packard has said." the former PG replied. "He is not a credible witness."

"But sir, surely..." Peters protested.

"Mr. Peters, you are trying our patience." Turbo said, stiffly. "We have tolerated your...questionable means at your witnesses, but I refuse to have a sprite who is only going to bore the court with his outrageous lies." To Packard, he said, "You may step down, Mr. Packard."

Turbo took his seat once again, ignoring the evil glares he was receiving from both Packard and Peters. Packard left the stand and stormed out of the court, to the relief of defense. Peters remained standing, the smirk he usually had replaced by a malicious frown. "Your next witness, Mr. Peters." Riley replied, also seemingly to be somewhat down.

"I have none." the prosecutor muttered. "The prosecution rests."

"Call your first witness, Doctor."

"If it would please the court, could defense have a few seconds to prepare?" Kit asked.

"I think we could use a slight break." replied an orange skinned council member. "Is two seconds enough, Dr. Lan?"

"Two seconds is fine." Kit replied. "Thank you."

"The trial will reconvein in two seconds, 0800 millieseconds."

***

Packard stormed out of the court room and started down the hallway. Credible witness...ha! This from the very person in charge of the murderers who had deleted his wife, his baby, the love of his life. He had known from the beginning this was a farce, the whole trial was just to make the guardians look good. Of course they couldn't have someone like on the stand telling the truth about them. Then everyone would know.

Everyone.

"Excuse me." came a voice from behind him. Packard stopped and turned and saw a well dressed sprite approach him. "Bob Packard, right?" he asked.

"Yes." he said, suspiciously.

"Sorry for the scare if any." The sprite held out his hand in a friendly gesture. "Let me introduce myself. Vance McMillian, businessman extrordinaire."

Packard took the offered hand and shook it. "I couldn't help notice the way they treated you up there." Vance replied. "Distgusting. Utterly revolting. Oh, where are my manners? Come on."

Vance started to head in the opposite direction, while Packard looked at him couriously. "Come on." Vance repeated, seeing the hestitant look on the sprite's face. Packard followed him slowly, as the sprite lead him towards the small break room used by employees or others in the building. Seating at a table, was another sprite, waiting patiently. "Mr. Bob Packard meet Alexander Gain." The two shook hands. Vance took a seat, while Packard remained standing.

"You're probably wondering why you've been brought here, Mr. Packard." Gain replied, seeing the questioning look they were given.

"That would be the first question, yes." Packard responded.

"We understand your frustration at those...'good guys' in there." Vance began. "They portray themselves as high upstanding citizens when in reality...they're garbage."

"I can't disagree with you on that." Packard replied.

"Were you here yesterday?" Vance asked.

"No," the blue sprite said. "I got in today."

"Bring you in and you can't even testify." Gain said, with a shake of his head.

"I know." Vance agreed. "Hideous. But as for yesterday, poor Alex here had to testify how those 'good guys' beat him in an alley. Your grandson included!"

"That so called 'son' of mine didn't raise him properly." Packard spat. "And I know those twins are going to turn out the same way."

"Your grandson even ruined my business." Vance said. "Harassed me until I could no longer work. It's a shame really. He's a bright boy."

"I know." Packard said, bitterly. "All his talents wasted in...science."

"We understand that." Gain said, looking at Vance. "And we have a proposition to make."

"What kind of proposition?"

"I can see in your eyes, you want to save your grandchildren." Vance replied. "And Mr. Gain here can help. They aren't normal, you know. They got special powers, but with Alex's help, they won't be so special."

"Lay it on the table, gentlemen." the blue sprite said. "What do you get out of this?"

Vance held up his hands. "I just want whats mine." he said. "The boyfriend of Matrix's daughter has soemthing of mine. I want it back. Those kids have something Alex here wants."

"Do you know what it's like to have what you've wanted for so long, Mr. Packard, and then have it snatched away from you?" Gain asked.

"Yes." Packard replied, with hate.

"Basically," Vance said. "You help us get what we want, and we help you get your youngest grandchildren."

"Without their powers, they're just normal kids." Gain replied. "No going off to save some back hole system or using it at their disposal."

Packard looked at the two, a small smile on his face. "When do we start?"

***
Roscoe walked down the hall towards his girlfriend's room. They hadn't talked for a whole second and it was driving him random. So when she had kissed him earlier, he had hoped it signaled the end of the fighting. Coming up to her door, he checked his suit, straightened his hair, he was always nervous when he saw her, like it was their first date all over again. He knocked slowly and waited.

Sabrina opened it and smiled. "Hi." she said.

"Hey." he responded. She opened the door wider so he could enter. Closing it behind her, Bri turned to apologize but was caught up in a passionate kiss. Her arms went around his neck as she continued it, missing the feel of him. Breaking it, he held her close, his cheek reesting on the top of her head. "I'm sorry." he whispered.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about." she murmured, eyes closed, and head resting on his chest. "I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"It's been a horrible two seconds." he said.

"Tell me about it."

"Parents still fighting?" Ross asked.

"Everyone is still fighting." she sighed.

"Cept us." he smiled and kissed her forehead. "And Dani and Kit. And Enzo and Alex, and Bob and Dot."

Sabrina sighed again and hugged Rosoce tighter. "I predict rough seas ahead, Roscoe my love." she said.

"Sad part is," he muttered. "I agree with you."

***

Dinner was again quiet that evening, but there was some talk about the two seconds they had been given to prepare. Like always, whenever he appeared, Bob had gone quiet, picking at his food again. Dot placed a hand on his leg and gave it a slight squeeze, letting him know things would be all right.

"Things are finally looking up." Kit was saying. "Two seconds to try and get our good name back. Let's not screw this up."

"Let's not let you screw this up." Jet muttered.

"You have something to say to me, little brother, you'd better say it." Kit replied.

"He wants you to stop faqing around and get this case off the ground." Chip said.

"Hey, if it wasn't for your outburst on the stand today, we wouldn't need to repair anything." Kit retorted.

"If you had been cross-examining, Chip wouldn't have been on the stand." Matrix shouted back.

"You wanna end up behind bars, Mr. Murderer?" Kit asked, his anger rising.

"Kit, that's enough." AndrAIa stated.

"At least I didn't lie to my own parents about assaulting some two bit virus!" Jet shot back.

"That's it!" Kit exclaimed, throwing his chair back behind him. "You think you can do a better job at this, then have at it!"

"I could do a better a job in my sleep!" Jet cried.

"FAQ you!"

"Christopher!" Dot exclaimed.

"No, forget it!" he screamed, slamming down his fork. "I quit!" The young man turned and stormed out of the dinning room.

"Good going, Jet." Nikki replied.

"Now, don't you start." Bob pleaded.

"I'm tired of him trying to push me around all the time!" Jet exploded. "I'm gonna win this case and we are so better for having him off of it!" The teen stood up and, like his brother before him, stormed out of the dinning room, leaving the rest of the table in silence.