Disclaimer: Oh you know the drill.
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Queen of the Crashed
By
The 18th Angel (aka DaemonFan)
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Chapter 1011- Night of the Processing Deleted, Part 1
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"This is Investigative Reporter Mike the TV, bringing you a report the Super Computer doesn't want you to access!"
"Cut!" Dot yelled. "Mike, a little less dramatic, please?"
"Are you sure? Because if you want people's attention, sometimes you have to scare them a little." Mike demonstrated by making a mean face and holding his arms out in what was probably the least frightening monster pose Dot had ever seen.
"I think the report is scary enough," she said. "And the Super Computer doesn't care if people see this or not. Just stick to the script, okay?"
"Fine."
Dot nodded. "Right. Take two, action!"
"This is Mike the TV with an exclusive report. I'm afraid it's bad news Ladies and Gentlemen; as bad as news gets. This video file is intended to explain to residents of Mainframe the strange events of the past few cycles and to warn the entire Net of a deadly enemy in our very midst."
Though he was delivering the lines with more doom and foreboding than was perhaps wise, at least Mike wasn't ad-libbing his own material this time. As long as he stuck to the facts Dot had laid down, the report shouldn't cause a panic. But it would let the Net know about Exabyte and give everyone a chance to start preparing for her imminent attack. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than leaving the rest of the Net in the dark, as the Guardians clearly intended to. Since her awakening, there had been no mention of Exabyte in any form of media anywhere in the Net. Few in Mainframe, let alone outside, even realized anything had happened.
"Do you think this will work?" AndrAIa asked once they had left the soundproof studio.
"It will get people's attention at least," Dot said. "Whether they believe it or not is another matter."
"I'm scared, Dot," AndrAIa said. "I can't remember the last time I've been this scared."
"I know," Dot agreed. "I think the waiting is the worst. Knowing she's out there and there's nothing we can do about until she decides to come to us."
"No, the worst thing is that Hack and Slash won't be the last."
"What?"
"You know what I mean," AndrAIa said. "You feel it too. I just have a feeling not all of us will make it out of this alive."
"Dot!" They both jumped as Glitch popped up in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere.
"You really need to start walking instead of portalling everywhere, Glitch," AndrAIa said. "We're all high strung enough these seconds."
"Sorry," the Keytool-turned-girl said sheepishly. "But this was an emergency."
"What's wrong?" Dot asked.
"It's Terabyte," Glitch said. "I went to her room to wake her up for training this morning and I couldn't find her. She's run away!"
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"How could you let her go?" Dot yelled, upset almost as much by Daemon's lack of reaction to her anger as she was by the Virus' actions.
"It is not my function to keep track of your daughter, Mrs. Interface," Daemon said. "Nor to keep her here against her will."
"What about the plan?"
"In my opinion, hers was better."
"In your opinion? Since when do I give a null's ASCII about your opinion? You're not in charge here! You don't dictate strategy, you follow it!"
"You have no cause to be angry with me, Dot," Daemon said calmly. "The girl will not come to harm."
"Oh well as long as you say so," Dot snapped sarcastically.
"It is the truth," Daemon replied. "The night I was brought to Mainframe, only a few milliseconds after I first met Terabyte, I had a dream about her."
"A dream?" Dot asked, incredulous.
"I saw what I can only assume was the future. There will come a time when she and I will fight Exabyte together. She will not die. I will."
"You know all of this based on a dream? Forgive me if I'm a little skeptical."
"It was not just a dream, Dot," Daemon said. "I know enough of time to recognize the future when I see it. We will battle Exabyte and I will be deleted. But Terabyte will survive. She will win."
"So you let her go..."
"Because I believe she will return unharmed. And until then it is better for her to be independent than to enter that battle resenting her allies. "
Dot sighed. "I'd love to believe that. And I do think you acted with the best intentions."
Daemon nodded and made to leave, but Dot wasn't finished.
"We don't do things on our own around here. Next time, run your beliefs and your good intentions by the rest of us before you act on them, understood?"
"I am used to giving orders, not taking them," Daemon said.
"I understand that, but you're working for us now. You process here at out sufferance, Daemon. Bob thinks you deserve a second chance and for now that's good enough for me; but only so long as you at least try to live up to the trust he's placing in you."
"If there's nothing else..."
"Just one thing. Phong wanted to talk to you."
"Fine."
"Daemon." Dot called out as she was leaving. "If you really believe this dream, then why are you still helping us? If you know it will get you deleted, I mean."
Daemon shrugged. "I am a Virus. We are very territorial."
After she left, Dot got the feeling that Daemon's response had not been entirely truthful. In fact the Super Virus' behavior since arriving had been markedly different from what Dot remembered. Even as she tried to put forth the same attitude, her actions betrayed her. So if Daemon's response had been a lie, who had she really been lying to: Dot, or herself?
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"You wished to see me, Phong?" Daemon stormed into the medical wing, still upset from her chewing out by Dot and from constantly being at someone's beck and call, as she found herself more and more lately. When she had agreed to take orders from Sprites, she had never imagined they would be so demanding.
"Is something wrong, Daemon?" Phong asked.
"It is nothing," she said. Either Phong bought that or, more likely, the old Sprite possessed too much tact to press the issue.
"Well I will proceed straight to the point then," Phong said. "This is an issue I have been debating for some time now. I will tell you in all honesty that even I have considerable doubts about this course of action. However, I have spoken to the others and we have agreed that you should be registered with the system now while we still have time."
"You want to register me?" Daemon almost laughed.
Phong nodded. "Partly as a way to keep track of you, and partly for your own safety."
"Explain to me how attaching an Icon with an Anti-Virus sequence to me is safe," Daemon said.
"Though it pains me to contemplate it, Mainframe will suffer heavy damage in the coming conflict. If the damage is too great, the User may perform a restart to repair the system. When that happens, anyone not registered with the Principal Office will be deleted. And as for the Anti-Virus on your Icon, your Viral energy is more than enough to keep it at bay."
"You honestly wish to register me?"
"Honestly, I have reservations about registering any Virus. But I am reminded of an old readme file; War makes for strange bedfellows. So far in this situation, you have shown yourself to be trustworthy. For now, that will have to suffice."
Trustworthy am I? You obviously have not talked to Dot this second.
"Very well, Phong," she said. "If you believe this is a good idea, I suppose there must be some merit to it. I cannot believe the others agreed though."
"But they did," Phong said, "Here in Mainframe..."
"We do not do things on our own. I know, the group agrees."
"Indeed. The others may not trust you, but they realize the necessity of the situation."
"I suppose there is little reason for them to trust me. My record is against me."
"Perhaps," Phong nodded. "But remember your own words Daemon. There is no past, no future. The past is over and the future has yet to occur. So we are not bound by our past, and the future can become whatever we choose to make it."
"That was supposed to make me feel better, correct?"
"Did it?"
"A little."
"Then yes."
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"Let's get this meeting started," Dot said as soon as everyone was assembled in the war room. "As you all probably know, Terabyte ran away last night. We can only assume that she is going after Exabyte herself."
"Crazy little gal's Dell-bent on gettin' herself deleted," Mouse muttered under her breath.
"Regardless," Dot pressed on, "We still have to prepare for Exabyte's attack; and for that we need allies. Turbo's gone back to try and convince the other Guardians, but if he doesn't succeed, we'll need to look elsewhere."
"But where?" Matrix asked.
"The Web?" Dot asked, turning to Bob.
"I only knew that one tribe of Webriders," he said. "And by the time we managed to contact them it could be too late."
"What about the Codemasters?" Matrix suggested. "Megabyte said they had a bad history with viruses."
"Same problem," Ray pointed out. "How do you find them if they're not looking to be found? And besides, they're less likely to help than the Webriders."
"Then we have to go with other systems," Dot said. "We put the word out to every system we can and hope they'll do the right thing. Dad, Phong; think you could set up some kind of message board to get news back and forth between systems?"
"We can try," Welman said.
"Why a board?" Mouse asked, "Wouldn't regular e-mail work just as well."
"We'll use that too of course, to get the message out," Dot said. "But a message board will also be useful once the war really gets started. Exabyte's sure to try intercepting communication lines between systems. She might not notice something like this. It's worth a shot anyway."
"There's one other place we might look for help," Bob said, turning to Daemon, "Viruses."
"Most will ally themselves with Exabyte, willingly or otherwise," Daemon said. "The rest...
---WARNING! INCOMING GAME! WARNING! INCOMING GAME!---
"Guess we'll have to finish this later," Dot said. "Where's the Game landing?"
"Baudway!" Specky reported. "Right on the Diner!"
"Enzo!" Dot cried out, "I left him there with Cecil!"
"He seems a smart child," Daemon said. "I am sure he will get out in time."
"You...really don't know Enzo," Matrix said, heading for the door. He was followed closely by Bob, Glitch, Dot, and AndrAIa. Glancing down, Daemon ran her hand over the Icon now attached firmly to her armor. She could go into the game with the others, but they probably wouldn't appreciate it. Nevertheless, something told her it was vitally important that she be in this game. While the remaining Sprites were busy monitoring the descending Game Cube, Daemon headed out the door, following the others.
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The Game Cube contained a darkened city street. One or two streetlamps cast a meager glow upon the asphalt and from further down, around a corner, it looked like a fire was burning, the street was as still and quiet as a recycle bin. From somewhere in the distance, a scream rang out.
"Glitch; game stats," Bob said.
"You could say 'please'," Glitch replied in an annoyed voice from behind him.
"Sorry," Bob said in an embarrassed voice, "Habit."
"Right," Glitch nodded, "Okay let's see how we do this now..."
A nanosecond later, Glitch's eyes went white and began blinking so rapidly, they could barely be seen. She stood rigid, trembling a little. When she spoke, what came out was closer to the System Voice than Glitch's usual upbeat voice.
"Game: Zombie House 2. Survival Horror Adventure. User must complete set victory objectives while killing or avoiding monster Game Sprites," with the last word, Glitch went slack and nearly fell over before regaining her balance.
"So we just take out the User. Shouldn't be too hard," Matrix said.
"What about Enzo?" Daemon asked, causing the others to spin around from surprise. They hadn't even realized that she had entered the game.
"What are you doing here?" Matrix asked.
"I believe you Sprites refer to it as 'helping'," Daemon replied coolly.
"Have you even been in a Game before, Daemon?" Bob asked.
"It is nothing I cannot handle."
"All right," Bob said, "I think we should split up. Dot, Daemon, and I will find Enzo. Matrix, AndrAIa, Glitch; you three go after the User. Where is he anyway?"
Glitch concentrated for a moment, then the strange game info trance took her over again.
"Error," said the strange flat voice, "No User detected." This time, Bob had to catch Glitch when she literally fell out of her trance.
"That used to be easier," she said weakly.
"How can there be a Game without a User?" Matrix asked what everyone was wondering.
"Oh but there is a User here," a voice the entire group recognized far too well echoed down the empty street. The source wasted no time in showing herself. Exabyte materialized before them in a pillar of fire, looking exactly as she had the second she awoke, though there was perhaps a bit more bloodlust in her eyes now.
Matrix raised Gun and emptied the clip at Exabyte. She calmly raised her hand and the bullets somehow took curving paths around her, returning to their original courses just in time to slam into a brick wall.
"What do you want, Exabyte?" Bob demanded.
"I'd remember, if I were you, what happened the last time you asked me that question," she replied.
"You sent this game, why?" Daemon asked
"Ah Daemon, I see you've lowered yourself to their level," Exabyte said, indicating Daemon's Icon. "I understand that you will always be a tool for others, but for Sprites?" she shook her head, "And I thought you could sink no lower."
"I am no-one's tool," Daemon said furiously, stepping toward Exabyte even as Bob tried to drag her back.
"Believe whatever you wish," Exabyte said with a shrug, "As for sending this Game Cube to Mainframe, I did no such thing. I merely noticed it approaching and thought this the perfect opportunity for a display of the power I will soon wield. I have removed the User and all the Game Sprites and replaced them with some competitors of my own."
"What competitors?"
"Do you believe in life after deletion?" Exabyte asked. "Are you even aware of how much of your data lingers after your pitiful lives are ended. You see, during my first attempt to control the Net, I found that one of the best ways to demoralize a system was to send their lost loved ones after them. May I present to you, my first and most numerous army!"
In another blaze of fire, the alley was filled with a dozen Sprites and Binomes. They might have been normal people once, but now they were perhaps the worst thing Bob had ever seen. Three of them, two Sprites and a '1' Binome, were nothing but wireframes, with a few strips of clothing still hanging from them. The rest were in various states of fragmentation. Some were almost whole, though with grizzly wounds and pale, dead skin. Others were literally falling apart.
"Aren't they magnificent?" Exabyte asked, "Neither processing nor deleted. Without morals or conscience, they obey only me. This is the fate reserved for those who refuse serve me in life: they serve me after death in the army of the Undeleted. Your task is simple, complete the User's objectives and finish the Game. Of course, the Undeleted will oppose you at every turn. While you play my little game, consider how much better it would be to join me willingly than to exist as they do."
In an explosion of fire and ash, she was gone. But her voice lingered for one last taunt.
"By the way, Mrs. Interface. I've sent a special detachment of my most putrid soldiers to visit your little brother. I do hope he likes them."
From down the street came a scream that was not one of the game's programmed sound effects. It was the cry of a young boy. A scream of terror...and pain.
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TBC
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