Viral Legacy

Chapter Six: Viral Reign, Spritely End


"That's your plan?"

Bob folded his arms across his chest. He knew it was risky, hell it was more than risky. It was downright crazy, but it was all he could come up with. "And I suppose you have a better idea?" he asked, sarcastically.

"It's better than what you came up with!" AndrAIa exclaimed.

"Whoa, whoa!" Alex said, calling a halt to the argument. "Same side here, remember? Go team?"

"I admit, Guardian, this is a...some what shaky plan." Phong replied.

Bob sighed. "Look," he said. "It's a basic plan, yeah, I know that, but I really don't have any other plan. And this one is going on the fact that maybe, just maybe, Phong's right and somewhere deep inside, Dot and the boys are coming to their senses."

"But just walking up to the door and demanding to be let in?" Mouse asked. "That's more than risky, darlin'. That's downright..."

"Random, I know." he said.

"I was gonna say insane." Mouse joked.

"Let us not fight." Phong said, bringing the four back to their task. "It is by them that I am allowed to call and talk to you. Let us not waste this precious time."

"Done." Andri said. "If this is gonna work, we need to know what's going on inside."

"And where the hell our children are." Bob whispered, looking at AndrAIa.

***

"It's quiet." Dot murmured.

"Too quiet." echoed Matrix.

"They're planning something." Enzo said. "They're planning against us, I can feel it."

"Trust me," Dot said, with a smirk. "If Bob's in charge, the plan won't get very far, I can tell you that right now."

"I don't like it." Matrix muttered. "We could have all of Mainframe in our grasp by now and they're holding us back. I say let's just take them out."

"Have you checked on Phong lately?" asked Dot.

"What does he have to do with anything?"

"Did it occur to you, that if Phong has somehow freed himself, he could be sending out a vidwindow right now to alert the others about our plans?"

"That's ridiculous." Enzo said. "Besides, what kind of plan are they going to come up with? We're in charge and we have the means and power to destroy them. How do combat that?"

Suddenly, a vidwindow popped up in front of them and they could easily see it was Bob, with the girls behind him. They were standing in Dot's other office, located in the Diner, that she could tell. "And how can we help you, Guardian?" she asked, sweetly.

"We want to talk." Bob replied, very business and serious in his tone.

"He wants to talk." Matrix mocked.

"About our surrendering." he added.

Dot smiled, though a bit sadly. "I knew you would." she said. "Front steps in five micros. Alone."

"Front steps in two micros, with Mouse and AndrAIa watching my back." he retorted.

"Bob, we're hurt." Enzo joked. "You act as though you don't trust us."

"Front steps, two micros, Mouse and AndrAIa, Enzo meets you at the door." Dot replied. "Final offer."

"Offer accepted."

"Like you really had a choice." Matrix smirked.

"Two micros." Dot repeated and closed the connection. "Something's up." She said, as soon as the window minimized.

"I agree." Enzo said.

"So why are you sending him out there to meet them?" Matrix asked.

"Why are we even meeting them?" Enzo asked.

"They're surrendering." Dot replied. "Or pretending to. We'll play along for a while."

"Then what?" asked Enzo.

"Don't worry." Matrix said, smiling evilly. "I've got some...insurance that should protect us."

Dot turned to look at him. "What kind of insurance?" she asked, suspiciously.

"The kinda that'll have them really surrendering."

***

Bob, Mouse, and AndrAIa zipped quickly over to the front steps of the Principal Office. Landing in front of the steps, the trio walked up them slowly, heading for the door...and possible doom. "You really think this will work?" AndrAIa asked.

"The point, AndrAIa, is to incapacitate them." Bob replied. "If we take them down, at least seperately, they shouldn't be a problem. We just have to hope they haven't infected the entire CPU force."

"With Matrix as Chief of Security, I think the problem could exist." Mouse said.

"I really don't want to leave you alone with him, Andri." Bob said.

"I think I know my husband well enough to know he'd never hurt me." the game sprite replied. "Infected or no."

Soon, Enzo came to the door and opened it from the inside. He allowed the trio ahead of him before closing it again. "So you're really surrendering, huh?" he asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"How do you expect us to stop you, Enzo?" Bob asked. "Certainly not the conventional way. What other choice did we have?"

The teen smirked. "None." he said. He started to walk between them, but stopped. "If it's any consellation," he said. "I'm sorry."

"So are we." Bob said.

It took Enzo less than a nano to realize it was a trap. Bob grabbed him from behind, covering his mouth. The young guardian struggled, but soon stopped as he felt dizzy and soon was asleep. "He's not going to stay like that for long." AndrAIa said, her nail shirking back to it's normal size.

"Which means we'll have to put him somewhere he won't be a bother." Mouse replied.

"Well," Bob said. "We have two options. File lock him or put him in Phong's office."

"How long do you think it would take for him to get out of Phong's office?" Mouse asked.

"This is Enzo." AndrAIa said. "He practically grew up in this building. He knows every secret passage, every secret hallway. He could be back with Dot and Matrix before we even had a chance of getting to them."

"I guess we file lock him." Bob replied, dragging Enzo's limp body to one of the file lockers. Bob grabbed a stray chair from the auditorium and pushed it against the door. "At least he'll have to try and find us." he said, standing back and checking out their handy work. A pang of sadness hit the guardian. Above all the viruses he had known and of all that had been infected, this was his worst case to date.

"Come on, Bob." AndrAIa whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder to urge him on.

"Right." he said. "Let's get this over with."

***


Dot and Matrix waited outside of the war room for their surrendered captives. Dot was becoming increasingly distrustful of Matrix, knowing he had something up his sleeve. She had pressed him on the whole 'insurance' comment he had made earlier, but still he wouldn't say anything about it, just that he had something that would halt any uprising the incoming trio had.

Soom, the three were in their sights, walking slowly towards them in some sort of death march. One thing they did notice was that Enzo was not with them. "Where's Enzo?" the renegade asked.

Bob shrugged. "I don't know." he said. "Said something about checking on some code or whatever. He had been right behind us."

Matrix and Dot exchanged knowing looks. So the plan begun.

"So what now?" Mouse asked.

"We go get Phong." Dot replied. "He's down the hall."

She gestured behind the trio and they turned heading down through the hallway towards door and/or room unseen. Dot and Matrix took up the rear and watched the three. As soon as some distance was put between the siblings and the trio, Dot pushed Matrix into another open corridor. "Got a plan?" Matrix whispered, his back against the wall.

"Don't I always?" Dot asked with a smirk. "Look, I'm gonna get in touch with the CPUs, you get them back to the war room."

"Not a problem."

The two went their sepearte ways, Dot heading down the corridor, while Matrix slowly crept back to the war room. Menawhile, Bob had stopped in front of the first door, waiting for Dot or Matrix to say to open it. But when he looked around, he didn't see them.

"Where are they?" he asked, causing Mouse and AndrAIa to turn as well.

"They were right behind us, right?" Mouse asked.

"Guys, I have a bad feeling about this." the game sprite mentioned.

The group walked back the opposite way, hoping the two siblings hadn't planned anything for their arrival. Of course, they knew it almost likely, especially when Matrix walked out, grinning. "You've got something I want back." he said.

"What do you mean?" Bob asked.

"I'm sure you know where Enzo is, so why bother to go through this?"

"Matrix, listen to me." Bob began. "Now, I know and you know, you're not much of a viral overlord. I also know that somewhere inside you, you're trying to break free of the infection."

"You really think this is a joke, Bob?" he growled, his real eye glowing green, while the mechanical turned red. Just like that, he was back to normal. "As I said," he continued. "You got something of mine and i have something of yours."

Bob couldn't hide the look of panic that briefly crossed his face. What could he possibly...in a nano, Bob saw the reason.

Standing there, with one arm wrapped around her throat and the other around her waist was Chip Matrix. His blue eyes lit up with glow green and his face was contorted in an evil grin. And in his grasp...

"Daddy!" screamed the girl.

"Nikki." Bob whispered, trying to get past the lump in his throat. They had found the children.

***

Dot made her way down the corridor and stopped in one of the maintence rooms. Getting her organizer out, she quickly brought up the captain of the CPUs. The little binome saluted when he saw her face. "Captain, I want all CPUs to report to the Principal Office immediately." she instructed. "We have some...new recuits that need to be taken care of."

"Yes, sir, ma'am!" he shouted, saluting again. He then lowered his arm and asked, "Sir, ma'am, you are aware that half of our force is under the guardian and his team?"

"Yes." she said, with a small smile. "But that won't be a problem, will it?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Who exactly do you think the new recuits are, Captain?" she asked.

The binome formed an "oh" with his mouth and nodded his head knowingly. "Of course." he said. With that, Dot closed the connection. The binome's shoulders sagged and he sighed. He brought up another vidwindow and got an odd angle of one of the hallways. "Guardian?" he called. "Are you there?"

***

"Guardian? Are you there?"

Bob removed the small organizer from his hip. "I'm here." he said, his eyes never leaving Matrix, Chip, or his daughter.
"You were right, Bob." the binome replied. "Miss Matrix has called all available CPUs to the Principal Office."

"Thank you." the guardian replied. "Have them waiting in case something should happen. Bob out."

Matrix smirked. "Dot puts way too much faith in your ability to suck at planning, big brother." he remarked. "I, on the other hand, figured you'd learn something while married to her for all these hours. I had you pegged. Hence why I have...this little procaution." He gestured towards Chip. "Now, like I asked before, you wouldn't happen to know where my little brother Enzo is, would you?"

Bob swallowed hard, supressing the urge to rush forward and grab his child. "He's in the file locker on the first level." he whispered. "Please Chip, don't."

"Take her back inside." Matrix replied, not turning his head from the group. "Now."

Chip sneered at his father, before dragging a kicking and screaming Nikki back into the war room and back into Dot's office. Matrix gestured besides him. "I'll follow you up." he said. Bob started walking towards him. It seemed to go slow, but Bob's look of hatred and anger towards Matrix couldn't begin to bring to surface what the guardian was feeling. Soon, he was swinging a fist at Matrix, one that caught the renegade off guard. Bob then rammed him back into the wall, but he wasn't strong enough for the infected large sprite.

A fist in the back brough Bob down to his knees. He fought to stand up, but Matrix quickly punched him once, then twice, causing Bob to stumble backwards. The guardian then sent an energy blast to the green sprite, catapulting him backwards into the wall, leaving a large indentation. Matrix shook off the shock and began to go for Bob, but was stopped by a familiar trident.

"Why you don't go guys go find Dot, while Matrix and i have a little talk?" AndrAIa suggested.

"AndrAIa..." Bob began but was cut off by Mouse.

"If anyone can handle Matrix, it's Dre, Sugah." she drawled. "Let's find Dot." The hacker pulled the guardian along, hoping against hope her words were true. Matrix glared at his wife, pushing the trident out of harm's way. Some part of him knew Mouse was right. AndrAIa was the one person in the entire Net he couldn't hurt, not even if he was infected. But there was also a part of him that knew she was no match for him.

Not this time.

"Like old times, huh babe?" he asked.

"Enzo, come back to me." she said, her emotions coming close to the surface. "I need you."

There was a moment of recognition before Matrix closed his eyes. "AndrAIa..." he whispered, an inner struggled taking place in his mind and heart. "You need to go. Please AndrAIa, go. I can't guarantee what I could do."

The game sprite swallowed a sob. "You infected our son, Matrix." she said. "Do you really think I'm going to let you get away with that?"

His eyes opened and he stared down his opponent. The look in his eyes made the game sprite back space out of fear, but swallowing that fear, she stood her groud, while spinning her trident in her hand. "You're really not going to hurt me." he said.

"And you're not going to hurt me." she remarked. "We at a stand still?"

Matrix grinned at her. "Hardly." he said, his hands becoming fists.

"You're gonna be at a disadvantage."

"We'll see."

He took a swing at her, which she blocked with the trident. When she went to swing at him, Matrix caught the weapon and used it to flip her on to the floor. Having a momentarily amount of pain, AndrAIa quickly countered and incoming attack by side sweeping Matrix and bringing him down. They quickly jumped back to their feet, glaring at each other. "I'm not so easy." she said.

"Never said you were." he replied, as they started circling each other. "But I'll tell you right now, things would be better if you just surrendered. You can't take me. Not this time."

"Oh really." she replied with a smirk. "Well come on then, Sparky. Bring it on."

***

Mouse and Bob went running down the hallway, hoping to come by Dot on their way. Bob was still in some slight pain, but he felt more knowing that one, he had left AndrAIa with Matrix and two, that he had left Nikki and probably Jet in the hands of Chip. The whole situation was tearing him apart. His wife and brothers in law were now trying to overtake the system, his brother probably was behind the kidnapping of children by infecting his own son, Bob's nephew, and now the blue guardian had left the husband and wife to battle it outside the war room hallway.

This was not turning out to be a good cycle.

Mouse slowed her speed and looekd around, Bob coming to rest beside her. "Here's a rather basic question, Bob darlin" she said. "But you wouldn't happen to know where Dot could be, do you?"

Bob sighed. "Just like Enzo, as the Command.Com, Dot knows these halls like the back of her hand." he replied. "I think we should find Phong first. He might have an idea."

The two turned to look behind them, knowing they had gone a long ways from where they had started. "There's a bunch of doors and elevators along this hall way..." Mouse mused.

"I know." Bob muttered. "Anyone of them could be where Phong is."

"Or even not." she said. "Remember, Matrix had something planned for just such an emergency. What makes you think Dot didn't plan something as well?"

Bob knew she was right. Dot could've been leading them on a goose chase throughout the entire building. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He brought up an map outline of the P.O. and could see dots on it, one on the level above them, the other somewhere near them. He focuses again and several dots appeared. There were five blips on the very same level they were on, one on the level above, and one on the first level at the public entarnce. Bob knew the furtherest was Enzo. The five on their level...well two of them had to be him and Mouse, something confirmed when his dot emerged as blue. That meant the blip next to him was Mouse and the two moving quickly by the war room were Matrix and AndrAIa.

So one of the two remaining blips had to be Phong.

Or Dot.

***

The fight between the two warriors was fierce, but not in the sense of loss of energy. Matrix and AndrAIa were each equally matched, both knowing the other's moves. If both wanted an end to it, they would have to tire the other out and that seemed to be happening faster for AndrAIa than for Matrix. They stood, watching each other, breathing heavily. Again they went at each other, AndrAIa's trident going for Matrix's stomach.

The renegade caught the weapon, ripping it from the game sprite's hand and tossing aside. She tried to go for it, but was sideswiped by Matrix, pushing her into the wall. Before she could catch her breath, he had by the throat with one hand and Gun pointed at her head with the other. "Game over, AndrAIa." he growled, Gun pushing against her temple. AndrAIa gulped, closing her eyes to wait for it.

But deletion never came.

Opening her eyes, she could see the conflict going on in his eyes. "Enzo..." she said, trying to remain calm. "Enzo, listen to me."

She could see him faltering, his eyes on the brink of tears.

"Enzo, you have to fight this." she whispered. "Please Enzo. I don't want to lose you, I can't lose you."

Matrix's grip on her throat started to loosen and his hand started to shake, the weight of his weapon seemingly pulling it down. "I'm sorry." he whispered, sniffing.

"I love you, Enzo. Please don't."

"I don't have any control over it anymore." he sobbed, Gun starting to come down from her head.

"Fight it, Matrix, please." she pleaded. "I know you're stronger this."

The renegade's hands dropped from her as he doubled over, apparently in pain. He staggered backwards, Gun dropping from his hand and falling to the floor. AndrAIa thought about grabbing her trident, but the concern for the safety of her husband outweighed the need for a weapon.

Matrix gritted his teeth, as the inner battle raged. He tried fighting, he really did, but what the infection was doing to him made it almost impossible for him to come from it entact. It was weaving its way through his system, through his own codes and corrupting them, turning them towards their own will. The renegade tried fighting, but finally he was silenced. With a primal scream, Matrix the renengade, the guardian, the friend, the brother, the husband, the father became Matrix...

The viral.

AndrAIa watched, transfixed, as matrix's head and body popped up, his eyes almost now completely green in color. She inwardly cursed herself for not getting her trident. "Well, this FAQing sucks." she said to herself. Waving to Matrix, she said "bye!" before taking off down the hall, her husband right behind her.

***

Bob and Mouse made their way towards the blip that was obviously on the same level they were. Inside, Bob hoped it was Dot, but then again he hoped not. He wasn't sure how far gone the Matrix siblings were and that only increased his worry and fear. He could several memebers of his family in one foul swoop. That only increased his anger for who or what had done this. They didn't have any virals, none except Hexadecimal, but surely she didn't do this. They had already gotten rid of one virus just recently...

Bob almost smacked himself in the face.

Alexander Gain. Of course.

But how? When? When had Gain had the time between assualting them and then attacking his children to infect the Matrixes. And why didn't he just infect the guardian, Bob knew it was him Gain wanted, so why destroy the lives of his family?

Because that's how you destroyed his life, he thought, a sickening reality hitting him in the chest. Bob had deleted his father, causing him hurt. So of course Gain would come and try to delete everyone he cared for. But it was much sinister. In the end, it would be the Matrixes who deleted everyone and Bob would be the one to delete them. His blue features took on a more determined look as he sped up towards the blip that got closer and closer. Bob wasn't going to stoop to his level. He was going to save his family and they'd be fine after this.

Yes, they'd be fine. He knew they would.

His train of thought stopped when he almost collided with said blip. Dot looked at him in surprise and was ready to call in some help, but Mouse caught her off, placing her katana near the commander's throat and taking her organizer from her. "Just take it easy, Sugah." the hacker replied, attaching the pad to her own hip. "I would hate to have to hurt you, Dot."

"Do you really think you're going to stop us?" she asked, looking at Bob. "I have half the CPUs surrounding..."

"No Dot." Bob replied. "I have the entire CPUs surrounding the building as we speak."

Dot looked at him in shocked silence. She couldn't believe she had let Bob outwit her like this. Or did she? Was it something she had delibrately? She'd been having the same struggle within herself, trying to keep her true self from falling under the infection. Every so often, she had the control over it, but had to play the front for her brothers. A sudden, sheering pain hit her, as she gritted her teeth in pain. "Bob..." was the last thing she said before falling forward.

Bob was there to catch and he laid her down. "Dot?" he called. "Dot!"

"What happened?" Mouse asked.

"I...I don't know." he said, trying to comfort his wife as best he could. His eyes suddenly grew wide as he looked down the hallway. He had been so tied up in his thoughts and looking for Phong and Dot, he had failed to see the other two blips in front of the war room start to move away at a fast rate. He focused in, seeing a light blue blip going fast, with a green blip behind it.

"Oh no." he said.

"What?"

"Matrix and AndrAIa..." he started, going back and forth about leaving Dot or taking her with them. "They're headed for the lab."

***

Phong had his own ways of getting out of his prison. That and the fact he had found a secret hallway he had completely forgot about it. The small sprite set to work on getting to the war room, hopeful that he would find his friends and staff there. When he arrived, from the secret panel in the wall, he was surprised to find it empty.

Or so he thought.

"Nice of you to join our party, Phong." replied a voice.

"Chip." the old sprite said, whirling around to see the young. "Have you been turned as well, my son?" he asked sadly.

"You have my dad to thank for that." he replied, a tad bit bitter from the wise sprite's point of view.

"Tell me, where are your cousins?"

"Being taken care of." Chip said, walking towards him. "Just like I'm take care of..."

Phong back spaced as the boy fell to his knees, a pained expression on his face. "Chip, my son, what is it?"

The boy just made a small groan before passing out.

***


Bob and Mouse quickly made their way towards the Principal Office lab, located near the CPU hanger. Before they started on their way, Bob made a vidwindow to the captain, saying the takeover was nearing a close. He said the younger Enzo Matrix was in the file locker and could be trying to escape and that every man be on a sharp look out. He then said, the larger brother was in pursuit of AndrAIa and that he and Mouse would need all their help in order to subdue him until they found Phong.

As soon as he closed the vidwindow, another popped up with Phong's worried face on the other end.

"Phong!" they exclaimed.

"Just like you to turn up when we need ya." Mouse replied, happily.

"Guardian," he said. "I'm afraid we are racing against the clock."

"Tell me about it." Bob said, picking Dot up in his arms. "I know who the virus that infected them, Phong. I need..."

"Yes, yes, I'll get right on that." he interrupted. "It is more important though that you find Matrix and Enzo."

"Enzo we've got covered as well as Dot." Mouse said.

"Matrix is after AndrAIa."

"Then hurry my son." the wise sprite urged. "We will need him, if not to save his own son."

Bob stopped from taking off. "Chip?" he asked. "What's wrong with Chip? Phong, where are the twins?"

"All will be explained, Bob." Phong insisted. "Just go stop Matrix before...just go stop him!"

The connection closed and Mouse took off, leaving a torn Bob behind her. "Robert, come on!" she yelled to him.

Bob started slowly, but then picked up the pace, making sure he had his wife securely in his arms. The duo reached the lab and found it deserted. Confused, they were about to turn around when AndrAIa came rushing from the side door, Matrix right behind her. Placing Dot on the nearby table, Bob raised his hands and shot an energy blast at Matrix, sending the large sprite into the wall.

"Thanks...thanks...Bob." the game sprite wheezed. She had never ran that fast in her life!

Bob walked over to the renegade cautiously. The blast seemed to take a bit out of him because of his chase with AndrAIa. Matrix crawled away, trying to get away from the guardian. He leaned against a table leg and waited for something. But nothing happened. He looked up and saw Bob standing over him, his hand outstretched. Matrix looked at Bob, then the hand, and then at Bob again. He finally reached up and grabbed it.

"Thanks, Bob." he said, as the guardian pulled him up.

He regarded his former friend before pulling him towards him, planting a knee in his stomach. He grabbed the front of Bob's shirt and swung him around. He cocked his fist and brought it forward. Bob, though in pain, saw the fist coming and quickly ducked, causing the renegade's fist and arm to smash through a glass casing sitting on the table. Matrix cried out, energy seeping through his fingers as he grabbed his arm. He gave another glare at Bob and started towards him, but was stopped by Mouse and her katana.

"What say we end this little game, huh Sugah?" she asked sweetly, the tip of her blade pressing slightly in his throat.

Just then, the CPUs stormed into the room, bringing a med team with them. Matrix gave one last glare before being taken into custody.

***

Bob sat and looked up at the display that was happening before him. He felt so dark inside, despite the fact that the room was illuminated in light. AndrAIa stood next to him, her hand on Chip's shoulder, while he stood on a chair, looking at the scene before him. Dot stood next to him, the faces were sad, as though they knew what was coming. Bob wasn't sure if it was what would happen to the two sprites they watched or if it was the knowledge their leaders were about to be put away.

In front of them was a large containment field in which the Matrix brothers laid on tables. They struggled against their restraints and cursed the doctrs around them. Said doctors placed various wires and the like in or on the boys to monitor them. To their lefts was a large machine, having been delivered with emergency statsis from the Super Computer. Phong, as acting Command.Com, felt it better to treat the boys here, where their families could keep an eye on them. Besides, the Matrix siblings had nearly brought Mainframe to its knees, imagine what they could do to the Super Computer.

The small sprite stood on the side, watching the activity take place inside. Like Bob, he too felt an ironic sense, feeling dark while standing in a place of light. He looked over his shoulder at the sprites assembled, knowing the emotions that went through them. He knew the risks this procedure would cause to the boys. It was herendous, as Bob had pointed out. The machine would extract the viral coding from the brothers' systems. It would be a long and painful process and even then the suffering would not end. They would be bed ridden for cycles at best and knowing the Matrix children, this would be when their insecurities would take hold.

Each sibling had their own dark thoughts that had taken nanos to develop, but hours to hinder. This new threat only tempted to drive them over the edge. Phong sighed, sadly. So much process snuffed in just a few cycles. He raised his head to see the lead doctor wainting for a conformation to start the purge. Phong nodded and the doctor set to work. Turning on the machine, the Matrix brothers were allowed one last curse before indescriable pain hit them like a brick wall.

Outside the containment field, Dot slowly fell back, Bob rushing to catch her, as Chip sank to his knees. Phong knew this would happen. As Bob suspected, Gain had to be the culprit. But with the virus being banished from Mainframe, they didn't have the time to go looking for him, hence the drastic purge procedure. Phong theorized that the brothers had been infected by Gain and then had turned around and infected Dot and Chip. Because they weren't true virals, it stood to reason Dot and Chip wouldn't need to experience the torture of purging.

Duel, but muffled, screams rang out from the containment field as the purge began, racking through every part of the green sprites' bodies with painstaking inertia. AndrAIa had to turn away, unnable to see her husband and brother in so much pain. Bob felt like breaking down himself, knowing the two would never be the same after this. Knowing he could lose them as they sat watching.