Diclaimer: MFE made and owns ReBoot.

*   *   *   *   *

Queen of the Crashed

By

The 18th Angel (aka DaemonFan)

*   *   *   *   *

*   *   *   *   *

Chapter 11- Guardiankiller

*   *   *   *   *

       Night came swiftly to Mainframe. The sky faded from blue to orange to black in a few microseconds. The stars appeared nanoseconds later, filling the sky with thousands of tiny pinpricks of light.

       Bob and Dot decided to take the long way back home from the Principal Office. Instead of heading straight for Baudway, they took a longer path through Kits Sector.

       "I hear you roughed up one of your players after the game." Dot said.

       Bob sighed. "It's just Megabyte." He said. "I don't know, Dot. I... It's not that I really expected being a Sprite to change him, but..."

       "The User himself couldn't change Megabyte." Dot said bitterly. These seconds, it seemed that no one in Mainframe hated Megabyte more than Dot did. Not even Matrix.

       Of course, Dot had good reason to hate Megabyte. It was bad enough that he had kidnapped and infected her, then used her Code to create a Sprite/Virus Hybrid. But then he mercilessly sent the girl to the Web, and certain deletion, just when Dot was beginning to turn her to good.

       And to make matters worse, Dot was becoming convinced that the child in question, Terabyte, was the only one she would ever have.

       "You had the right idea, Bob." She said. "But some people just can't change. Virus, Sprite; it doesn't matter. Some people are simply evil."

       Bob frowned. Part of him knew that what Dot said was true. But it went against everything that he believed; that he had made himself believe for hours. Maybe it was foolishly optimistic to think that everyone had at least some good in them, but doing otherwise made the Net seem like a much worse place than Bob was willing to accept.

       "I have an idea." He said. "Why don't we play make-believe, and pretend we aren't the ones who have to worry about Megabyte?"

       "Sounds good to me." Dot said, smiling. "Who are we pretending to be?"

       "Just a man and a woman a few cycles away from their six minute anniversary going for an evening stroll."

       Dot smiled and hooked her arm around Bob's. "I could get used to this." She said. "We should definitely play make-believe more often."

       Bob was leaning in to kiss her when a vidwindow popped up in front of them.

       "Bob! Are you there?"

       "Turbo?" Bob blinked, surprised to see the Prime Guardian.

       "Am I interrupting anything?" Turbo asked.

       Of course he was interrupting something! But Bob shook his head nonetheless.

       "Of course not." He said. "What's wrong?"

       "We have a situation." Turbo replied. "How soon can you be ready to travel?"

       "Travel? Where am I going?"

       "I'd...rather not say." Turbo motioned semi-subtly toward Dot. "Not on an open channel."

       "Sir, Bob is this system's only full Guardian." Dot said. "I'm the Command.com, responsible for the safety Mainframe's citizens. If Bob's going to leave, I need to know why."

       "Of course." Turbo said. "My apologies."

       "What's going on?" Bob asked.

       "There's been a murder in the system of Powercell." Turbo said. "Mainframe is the closest system to Powercell and you're the only Guardian in that part of the Net. So you're going to head up the investigation."

       "Hold on, Sir." Bob said. "There's a Guardian stationed in Powercell, isn't there? Gray Edson. Why can't he run the investigation?"

       Turbo hesitated. "He's the one who's been murdered."

*   *   *   *   *

       "Do you have to leave right away?" AndrAIa asked.

       "Bob wants to get to Powercell ASAP, that means leaving ASAP." Matrix said.

       "Should you really be leaving at all though? With you and Bob out of the system, we'll be a little thin on defenders for games."

       "Mouse and Ray will be back in town in two seconds, they can pick up the slack." He paused, finally realizing that it wasn't fear of games that made AndrAIa less than enthusiastic about this trip. "Listen... This Gray guy; he and Bob were old friends. I think Bob just wants someone else there with him if he has to investigate his friend's murder."

       "Just be careful." AndrAIa said.

       "Don't worry." He said, hugging her. "We'll be back before you know we're gone."

*   *   *   *   *

       Powercell was, if possible, an even smaller system than Mainframe. The entire city rested on three 'v' shaped platforms; each platform was only slightly larger than one of Mainframe's sectors. Whereas Mainframe floated over the Energy C, Powercell couldn't generate the energy to levitate itself and had to be supported by six huge pylons that anchored the three sectors together and held the system up over the C.

       The top platform of Powercell housed the business district, which reminded Matrix of a smaller version of Baudway or Wall Street. But it also held the only visible park in the entire system, a small stretch of green in the center. The middle layer seemed to be the residential and entertainment district. The bottom layer was the industrial area that also hosted the lowlifes that could be found in even the smallest system.

       The search engine dropped them off at the data port on the top level. From there it was a fifteen-microsecond walk to the Principal Office. A pretty young Sprite in the uniform of a Guardian Cadet met them in front of the low, pyramidal structure.

       "The Supercomputer sent you?" She asked.

       "Guardian 452, Bob Interface." Bob nodded, offering a hand.

       "Guardian 452?" The girl stared slack-jawed at Bob for a moment. Then she eagerly shook his hand. "I'm Cadet Disa." She said, turning to Matrix. "And you are?"

       "Matrix." They shook hands.

       "You were training with Gray?" Bob asked.

       Disa's face fell immediately. Staring at her shoes, she nodded and mumbled a very quiet 'yes'.

       A long, uncomfortable silence ensued.

       "Well, the Chief wants to see you before you begin your investigation." Disa finally spoke up.

       Bob nodded. "Lead the way."

       Disa led them into the Principal Office. Just inside the main entrance, a side door led to the System's only police precinct. A handful of Binomes and one or two Sprites busied themselves about the office. Most looked up as the Guardians passed by. The Chief of Police was a thin '1' with a large, drooping mustache. He looked up when Disa knocked lightly on the door to his office.

       "The Guardians are here, Chief." She said.

       "Ah, come in!" Another round of handshakes commenced. "I didn't think you'd get here so soon."

       "Well it's only a short trip from Mainframe." Bob said.

       "Mainframe?" The Chief frowned. "I thought they were sending someone from the SuperComputer." He seemed disappointed.

       "Bob...I mean, Guardian 452 is one of the best Guardians in the Collective, Sir." Disa said. "You couldn't ask for a better investigator."

       "And...your friend?"

       "Matrix has been through most of the Guardian training program." Bob said. "He's completely qualified for this investigation."

       "Well...all right. If you say so." The Binome relented. "I suppose you'd like to start by inspecting the crime scene."

       "If it's not too much trouble." Bob nodded.

       "No trouble at all." The Chief replied. "It's on Level Three, in the industrial sector. I'll get an officer to take you there."

       "I can do that, Sir." Disa spoke up.

       "Are you sure, Miss Disa?"

       She nodded, somewhat reluctantly. "I'll be fine, thank you."

*   *   *   *   *

       Disa led Matrix and Bob down a long spiral stairway that looped around one of the support pillars. It was a long walk, but without Zip Boards, it was the quickest way to get to the crime scene.

       "How long were you with Gray?" Bob asked as they walked.

       "Two hours." Disa said. "I was supposed to graduate next minute but now...I don't know."

       "Any idea who might have done this?" Matrix asked.

       "None." Disa replied. "I can't believe it was anyone from Powercell. Everyone here loved Gray. But...no one comes to Powercell; we haven't had anyone come through the Net Port for six cycles, and that was just a supply ship, so it had to be someone here."

       "Don't worry, Disa." Bob said. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

*   *   *   *   *

       Without the bright yellow police tape, the alleyway wouldn't have looked at all out of the ordinary. Of course, that was to be expected from a three-second-old crime scene. Even in the smallest systems, bitmaps were reclaimed almost immediately following deletion. Energy stains faded into transparency in a second or two. If a pair of Binomes hadn't ducked out of work for a quick smoke the morning after the murder, the crime would have gone completely unnoticed.

       "Glitch; Spectrum Scanner." Bob ran Glitch's lens over the walls. The invisible energy glowed bright blue under the lens. Bob felt his stomach turn; there wasn't a single surface in the dark alley left unmarked. Whoever had done this hadn't been content to simply delete Gray. For this kind of carnage, they must have literally torn him apart. Bob put Glitch away quickly; this was not the way he wanted to remember his friend; as a series of energy stains on a wall.

       "Well I can tell you two things about the deleter right away." He said.

       "Already?" Matrix asked.

       Bob nodded. "Number One: This is a strong individual; strong enough to dismember a grown Sprite without injury."

       Tears sprang to Disa's eyes. Bob placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.

       "How do you know the killer wasn't injured?" Matrix asked.

       "There's only one energy type here." Bob said. "If Gray had been able to fight back at all, he would have made his attacker bleed.

       "Okay." Matrix nodded. "What's Number Two?"

       Bob frowned. "This wasn't a murder of necessity, or even a crime of passion. The level of cruelty goes way beyond anything a sane person would be capable of." He said. "Whoever did this...is completely random."

       "So an insane person with unbelievable strength is running around Powercell and we have no way of finding him?" Matrix asked. "Marvelous."

       "Not so fast." Bob said. "There may be a way." He turned to Disa. "I need to examine his keytool."

       "Well...uh..." Disa hesitated. "You...can't do that."

       "What? Why not?"

       "Well...Navi, she...she's gone too."

       "That can't be right." Bob said. "She should have been left behind where he died."

       "I know." Disa said. "But she was gone when they found..."

       Bob nodded, frowning deeply. "Then we have to assume that the killer took her."

       "Why would anyone steal a keytool?" Matrix asked. "It's not like they could use it."

       "I don't know." Bob said.

*   *   *   *   *

       "I don't get it, Mistress. Why steal the keytool?"

       Terabyte bit back a feral growl. She was quickly becoming annoyed with her lieutenant's habit of constantly questioning her orders. It had been a mistake to give him so much free will. If she could go back and infect him again, she would be sure to make him a simple, mindless drone.

       "It's necessary." She said, putting out her firewire and lighting a new one. "Now how soon can I expect the next target? Before I delete of old age?"

       Bryce, or the Viral who had once been called Bryce, threw a glance at the Binomes busy working the hacking utility.

       "Guardian safeguards are difficult to hack through, Mistress." He said. "But we should have the location of Surge by the end of the cycle."

       "Have it by the end of the second, or it's your head." Terabyte said coldly. "I'm sick and tired of waiting. And you're nowhere near amusing enough to keep you around if you fail me. Remember Bryce, these keytools are unique, but I can always find another lover."

       "Of course, Mistress." Bryce said. He hesitated. "May I speak freely, Mistress?"

       "Oh go ahead." Terabyte sighed.

       "It...may have been a bad idea to kill the Guardian."

       Terabyte threw her head back and laughed. "Oh please! Nothing that felt that good could be bad."

       "You don't understand, Mistress. The Guardians do not tolerate one of their own being deleted. If they ever find you, they will throw their entire force at you. No trial, no mercy."

       "Heh." Terabyte snorted derisively. "By the time they figure out what's going on it'll be too late for them to do anything. And even if they do find out, let them come." She smiled. "It would be fun to destroy them all."

*   *   *   *   *

       On their second morning in Powercell, Disa led Bob and Matrix to a seedy bar a few blocks from the scene of Gray's murder.

       "What are we going here for?" Matrix asked.

       "This is where Gray always used to go for information." Disa said. "The guy who runs it is...a little unorthodox, but he might know something we can use."

       The bar was empty this early in the second, except for the bartender, a pudgy, balding Sprite with dark orange skin. What hair he had left was jet black, though a few streaks of gray poked through where his dye job had apparently missed.

       "Disa!" He called out. "I was just thinkin' this place could use a little brightenin' up, and in strolls the loveliest Sprite in..."

       "Knock it off, Wally." Disa snapped. "I'm in no mood for you to play basic. You know Gray was deleted."

       "Hey! I had nothin' to do with that!" Wally said quickly.

       "You're pretty quick to deny things, buddy." Matrix said. "Guilty conscience?"

       "I was at home all night." Wally said. "Ask my landlady!"

       "Oh I will."

       "Have you seen anything strange lately, Wally?" Disa asked. "Anyone new in town? Maybe someone Viral."

       "Hey, you're the Guardian, sweet-cheeks. I'm just a barkeep."

       "Actually, you're a Worm." Bob said. "Benign, I'd say, but you would know what goes on in Viral circles."

       "What?" Matrix took a closer look at Wally. Disa simply stared at Bob with her jaw somewhere around her knees.

       "It's the eyes." Bob explained. "Hard to see in this light, but they're red on red. Classic sign of an E-Mail Worm." He glanced at Disa. "You knew."

       "Well, yeah, but only 'cause Gray told me." She said.

       "You got some pretty good eyes yourself, pal." Wally said. He seemed impressed. "Most people never notice."

       Bob took the compliment in stride. "The question stands." He said. "Any new Viruses in town?"

       "You our new Guardian?" Wally asked.

       Bob shook his head. "Just an investigator."

       "Well either way, Disa should have explained how it works with me. Information ain't free. Actually it can get pretty expensive."

       "You trying to blackmail us?" Matrix demanded.

       "No." Wally said calmly. "If I threatened to tell people you were a muscle-bound, one-eyed freak unless you paid me not to, that would be blackmail. This is just business."

       "Why you...!"

       "Listen Pal. The kind of information I got can get a guy deleted if certain parties found out he was givin' it away. I ain't gonna stick my neck out unless I'm gettin' paid, and paid well."

       Bob sighed and grabbed a little paper napkin from the bar. He scribbled some numbers on the napkin and slid it to Wally.

       "I think that should cover whatever we need to know and then some."

       Wally's eyes widened. He whistled softly. "How can I help you, gentlemen?"

       "Newcomers." Disa prompted him.

       "Oh, right. Well there was this one chick came through here a few nights ago, never saw her before. Looked kinda young, about your age, Disa. But I tell ya, that girl drank like a faqin' fish."

       "What did she look like? Bob asked.

       "Hot as Dell, I'll tell ya that for free." Wally said. "But kinda creepy, ya know. Gave me the jaggies just lookin' at her." He thought for a moment. "Green skin. Dark hair, couldn't tell the color too well. Didn't get a look at her eyes, she wore shades the whole time. Must have been some kinda Virus though. She had, like, a crown thing on her head. Some sorta red crest, I dunno; I didn't get too good a look."

       A chill went through Bob as Wally described the young woman. He felt Matrix stiffen next to him. Wally must have noticed the look on their faces.

       "You two know this broad?"

       "It can't be..." Matrix said.

       "What is it?" Disa asked.

       "We...knew someone who matches that description." Bob said. "But she died over an hour ago."

*   *   *   *   *

TBC

*   *   *   *   *