Disclaimer: ReBoot belongs to Mainframe Entertainment. That's all.
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Queen of the CrashedBy
The 18th Angel (aka DaemonFan)
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Chapter 100- Home Sweet Home
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The search engine cruised through the net, passing small systems, routers, and amplifiers on its way to Mainframe.
"Once we get to Mainframe, we can make a portal to the SuperComputer for you." Bob told Disa.
"Thanks." The girl said. She hesitated. "Were you serious...about letting me finish my training in Mainframe?"
"If that's what you want to do, I don't see why not. But it will have to wait until this situation is resolved." Bob said.
"And you're sure it's this...virus girl?"
"It's Terabyte." Matrix said. "I don't see how it could be anyone else."
"There aren't many people who match the description Wally gave us." Bob agreed.
"Is she really that dangerous?" Disa asked.
"You saw what she did to Gray." Matrix replied. "...sorry."
"No...it's all right." She said, wiping at her eyes self-consciously. "I just...have to get used to him not being around."
"It gets easier." Bob said, giving her a smile.
"Promise?"
* * * * *
Mainframe was silent as the search engine landed. It was the middle of the night and the entire system seemed to be asleep.
"You want me to call a meeting?" Matrix asked.
"We'll do that in the morning." Bob said. "No need to get everyone up for bad news."
Matrix nodded. "What about Dot?"
Bob shook his head. "I don't know. I mean, obviously I have to tell her." He said. "I just don't know how."
* * * * *
Matrix agreed to help Disa find a place to stay so Bob could go home and deal with Dot. Deal with Dot...that was one way of putting it. What was he supposed to say? How did you tell someone that the daughter they had given up for deleted almost an hour earlier was alive? How did you tell them that same girl had savagely murdered someone, making herself the Guardian Collective's number one enemy in the process?
It wouldn't be easy, that was for sure. In some ways, Dot had never fully recovered from the events surrounding Terabyte's birth and 'death'. That one hellish cycle still haunted her.
And now he had to make things even worse. He had to tell her that the nightmare wasn't over yet.
* * * * *
Terabyte dropped her latest victim, frowning at the energy that had splattered all over her. The Guardian's bitmap vanished an instant later, leaving her keytool lying on the ground. Terabyte bent down and picked up the little device. Two down, two to go; this was almost too easy.
"See Bryce." She said. "Maybe now you understand why the wrath of the mighty Guardian Collective is the least of my worries."
"Of course, Mistress."
"What's our next target?"
"We haven't located the systems yet, Mistress." Bryce said. "But we have the names. Copeland and Glitch."
"Glitch?" Terabyte whipped around. With energy soaking her clothes and dripping down her face, her eyes red with fury, Terabyte advanced on Bryce, pushing the big sprite backwards through sheer intimidating force. "Did you say 'Glitch'?"
"Y-yes...Mistress."
Terabyte was silent for a moment. Then she began to giggle, then to laugh out loud.
"Mistress?" Bryce said tentatively. He had long suspected that Terabyte was slightly unhinged, but until now, he hadn't realized how far gone she really was.
"Oh it's a small Net after all." She said, smiling wickedly. "I know where Glitch is."
"You do?"
"Oh yes." She fought back another fit of laughter. "It's in Mainframe. Get the search engine ready; you're going to take me back home." As suddenly as her laughter had begun, it vanished, replaced by a mask of hatred and fury. "So I can burn it to the ground!" She screamed.
* * * * *
"Dot?" Bob called quietly into the darkened bedroom.
Dot sat up in bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Bob, you're back?"
Bob nodded and sat down next to her on the edge of the bed.
"What's wrong?" Dot asked, seeing the look on his face. "Did you catch the guy?"
"...Not yet." Bob said.
"But you know who did it?"
"Yeah...we know."
"Bob." Dot turned his head, looking in his eyes. "Why are you being so evasive? If it's classified or something, just tell me and I'll..."
"It's Terabyte."
Dot almost laughed just from surprise, but she caught herself. She pulled away from him quickly. "That's not funny, Bob."
"I know." He said.
"You...you can't be serious." Dot said. "That's not possible."
"We have a witness who..."
"She's dead, Bob." Dot insisted. "You said it yourself; there was no way she could have survived the Web."
"I don't know how she did it, but she's alive." Bob said.
"This can't be happening." Dot whispered. "Why would she kill a Guardian?" A thought seemed to occur to her. "Oh no! They'll delete her, won't they? She killed a Guardian, she'll have the entire Collective after her!"
"I'm not going to let that happen." Bob said. "Right now, only three people know about this. I know I can convince Turbo to keep it quiet for at least a while."
"But what can we...?"
"We'll come up with something." He assured her. "Even if the other Guardians do get involved, we can still keep her alive as long as they don't find her before we do."
"And then what?"
"Well...if we capture her alive, she'll go to trial."
"And then when she's convicted, they'll delete her." She began to cry softly.
"Not necessarily." Bob said.
"What's the other option?" Dot asked bitterly. "Lock her up until she's obsolete? Where would they send her? A prison where the other Sprites will hate her for being part Virus, or a Quarantine Unit where other Viruses will hate her for being part Sprite? She'd be better off deleted."
Bob reached out and hugged Dot tightly. "It's going to be all right." He said. "Somehow, I'm going to make everything work out."
* * * * *
The next morning, everyone assembled in the Principal Office. Bob could tell immediately that Matrix had told AndrAIa about Terabyte, but no one else seemed to know. He stepped forward.
"This goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. What I'm about to say cannot leave this room. I've asked Cadet Disa here because of her connection to the case."
"Enough suspense, Bob." Mouse said. "What's goin' on?"
Bob sighed. "Terabyte is alive." The room went silent. Bob had everyone's attention now. "She deleted a Guardian in Powercell and her current whereabouts are unknown."
"How did she survive the Web?" Ray asked.
"Actually I was hoping you'd have an answer for that." Bob said.
"Well unless that armor of hers can function as a web suit, I don't see how she could have done it."
"That is a possibility." Welman said. "Megabyte was still partially a Web Virus when he made her. She could be a Web Virus too."
"I think what we must concentrate on at this point is stopping Terabyte." Phong said.
"WON'T THE GUARDIANS DO THAT?" Clash asked.
"We have to find her first." Bob said. "The Guardians aren't prepared to fight her, and she wouldn't seem to be a threat if they saw her. We've got to find her before they get killed trying. Also they would delete her on sight, but we need her alive for questioning."
"Questionin'?"
"That's right. She stole her victim's keytool. I'd like to know why. If she took it for herself, I want to know why. If she's working for someone else, we all need to know who."
"What are you gonna tell Turbo?" Matrix asked.
"The same thing I just told you." Bob said. "We need her alive. He'll listen to me."
* * * * *
"You're not listening to me!" Bob said, pacing in front of the vidwindow.
"I heard you just fine." Turbo said. "This...girl deleted a Guardian and you're suggesting that we let her get away with it. I know you have...ideas about Viruses, but this is going too far!"
"I'm not saying she should get away with it, but if you send out executioners to delete her on sight, we'll never know why she stole Navi." Bob said.
"Be realistic, Bob." Turbo said. "Chances are she destroyed those keytools."
"Keytools? As in, more than one keytool?" Bob asked. "What do you mean?"
Turbo frowned. "There was another killing last night, Jade Cernet. Same M.O. as Edson."
"And her keytool?"
"Surge. Also missing." Turbo said.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Bob asked.
"I only found out a nano or two before you called."
"I just...have a feeling. There's something more here; she didn't just kill them for the dell of it. She's doing this for a reason, I just know it."
"You really think she stole the keytools?"
"Yes." Bob said. "Call it...intuition."
"You're lucky, Bob." Turbo said. "I trust your intuition more than some people's facts."
"Then you'll let me try to find her?"
"No. I can't afford to lose another Guardian." Turbo said. "What I'm going to do is hold off on releasing this information for a while. I can't hold it for very long though. The best I can give you is two seconds to come up with some proof for your theory."
"Thank you."
Turbo shrugged. "I just hope you're wrong. What do you need?"
"I need all the information from the second crime scene forwarded to Mainframe."
"Done." Turbo said. "Anything else?"
"All the information you've got on Gray, Jade and their keytools. Maybe I can find a connection."
"I'll get it all sent."
"Thanks Turbo." Bob said.
"Just be careful, Bob. And don't try to go after her on your own, bring me whatever you find and I'll decide where we go from there."
* * * * *
Enzo was out of his desk and through the door three nanoseconds after the last bell of the second rang. It was the cycle-end, and Bob had gotten into town sometime last night. That meant if he was lucky, he might get to hear about whatever Guardian business had taken him out of the system.
It was so cool having Bob as his actual brother; well, brother-in-law. It had been a little weird at first, all three of them living in the same apartment, but Enzo had gotten used to that quickly. Now it was just great to have Bob around all the time.
Enzo was about to turn his Zip Board onto Baudway when a man stepped into his path. Enzo braked hard to avoid running over the man, even as alarm bells sounded in his head. This guy was a Sprite, but Enzo didn't recognize him. And since there weren't many Sprites left in Mainframe, that meant he was probably from another system, a stranger. Plus the guy was acting weird, deliberately stepping into the path of a Zip Board.
"Enzo Matrix?"
That was it. Enzo knew better than to give a stranger his filename, he spun his board around and ran straight into another Sprite. It was a girl, thin and slightly taller than Enzo, staring down at him and smoking a firewire. Looking up, he saw his sister's face. But this wasn't Dot, she was younger, with longer hair and a cold sneer on her face. Besides, Dot had never smoked in her life; never.
"Uncle Enzo." The girl said. "So good to see you again."
"Terabyte!" He gasped. "How..."
"Sorry, no time for stories right now." She nodded to her companion, who immediately grabbed Enzo.
"Hey!" Enzo yelled. "Let me go! Help! Somebody he-"
Terabyte covered his mouth with one hand, lifting the other up so he could see the claws extending from her fingertips.
"I don't like noisy little Sprites." Terabyte said. "So just be quiet, and I won't have to get...ugly."
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TBC
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