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 1100- Night of the Processing Deleted, Part 2
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"What's goin' on Phong?" Mouse asked.
"I do not know," Phong said, on the verge of panicking. "The monitors just went dead. We cannot get any readings from inside the game."
"How could that happen?" Ray asked.
"As far as I know, it cannot."
* * * * *
As soon as Enzo's cry of alarm hit their ears, everyone sprang into action. Matrix reloaded Gun and mowed down the Undeleted blocking their path. As one, the group took off toward the source of the sound. The alley emptied out into the main street of a small town. A hardware shop, two department stores, and a deli lined the street. All the shops appeared to have been looted. The windows were smashed and the doors swung wide. In the middle of the road, a bright red fire engine lay on its side. Its gas tank had exploded, and a raging fire blocked the entire street.
The sound of high-speed gunfire and breaking glass came from the deli, followed by the moans of the Undeleted. Bob had a feeling that if they survived this, those wordless moans would haunt his dreams for hours to come.
"That is where the scream came from as well," Daemon said.
Without waiting or even stopping a moment to consider, Dot sprinted for the abandoned building. Fortunately, Matrix managed to get ahead of her. He kicked open the door and rushed inside. Three shots rang out in rapid succession. By the time the rest of the group made it inside, there were three dead zombies lying on the floor of the deli and Matrix was already investigating the small room.
"Enzo!" Dot called out hopefully. There was no answer.
"Dot," Matrix said quietly. He handed his sister an old scuffed-up baseball. "It's Enzo's ball. ...There's energy on it."
"No...Enzo..." Dot stared at the ball in horror. She couldn't bring herself to touch it.
"Oh no..." AndrAIa gasped.
Bob was as shocked and devastated as the rest of them, but he had to keep thinking clearly. If Enzo was in fact dead, then they had to get out of here alive, if only to make Exabyte pay. The only way they were going to survive was to learn everything they could about the situation and their enemy.
He stepped around the bar, crouching down near where Matrix had found the baseball. There was a small pool of energy on the floor, still wet to the touch. Lying in and around the energy were dozens of spent cartridges from some type of gun.
"Are there any bullet holes in the walls?" He asked.
"Nope," Glitch said after checking the walls nearest her.
"There are none on this side," Daemon added.
"Hmm," Bob thought for a moment. "I think Enzo may still be processing."
"What?" Dot asked, blinking through tears. "How...?"
"One: There's no body, and this seems like the kind of game where those hang around. Two: we heard gunshots, and there are empty bullets all over the floor, but no bullet holes in the walls. Someone was shooting, and they hit whatever they shot. Three: there's enough energy here to fill a bathtub, but only a little on the ball. My guess is, the Undeleted attacked Enzo here. He probably did get hurt, assuming the energy on the ball is his. Then I'm guessing he dropped the ball and ReBooted. The game must have given him a gun that he used to shoot the one attacking him. That would account for all the energy here."
"But then where is he?" AndrAIa asked. "Why wouldn't he stay here?"
"He couldn't," Matrix said. "Even assuming he killed the one that was after him, which doesn't seem likely since there's no body, there were still at least three others in here. And it looks to me like he emptied the entire clip, so he couldn't fight them. Besides, he has no way of knowing we're even in the game, so it's not like he would wait for us to show up."
"And this is Enzo we're talking about," Bob added. "Even if he wasn't running for his life, he wouldn't hang around here hiding. He'd go look for the User."
"So he's out there somewhere with those things chasing him and no ammo?" Dot asked. That idea didn't seem to comfort her much.
"We'll find him," Bob assured her. "One thing we already know about these Undeleted things; they're not very fast. I'm sure Enzo can outrun them."
"Of course, they do not need to be fast if bullets will not kill them," Daemon said.
Bob turned to ask her what she meant, then he saw. The three Undeleted sprites Matrix had shot were rising shakily to their feet. They didn't seem to mind the huge bullet holes in their chests. In fact, the wounds barely bled as they staggered forward. Matrix raised Gun again, but hesitated, not sure that shooting them a second time would be any more effective.
"The heads!" Glitch shouted, "Shoot them in their heads!"
Matrix nodded and adjusted his aim. Gun's deafening report filled the entire building as the tallest Undeleted's head exploded in a shower of energy. The rest of the fragmented bitmap dropped instantly, twitched once, then lay still.
Before Matrix could take his second shot, the skeletal sprite nearest Daemon reached out and grabbed her. The two fell over in a tangle of limbs, the Undeleted on top trying to bite at Daemon's neck. In response, the Super Virus reached up and grabbed her attacker by the sides of its head and twisted. The head came of with a sickening wet *crunch* and the body fell over.
With Daemon clearly able to take care of herself, Matrix turned to the final attacker. Apparently the first had been exceptionally ripe; this one's head stayed intact, but the shot was no less effective. The immediate danger over, Daemon pushed the re-deleted body off of her and allowed Bob to help her to her feet.
"So a shot to the head or just removing it is all that works," he said. "I guess we'd better ReBoot and hope we all get guns."
The other sprites nodded and double-clicked their icons.
"ReBoot!" they said in unison. A bright green light filled the tiny restaurant, swirling around each of them. When it cleared, they were the same, but different.
Bob's Guardian uniform had been replaced by a SWAT team jumpsuit with WTPD stenciled on the back. Dot wore a light blue uniform with padded shoulders and a beret. Matrix had a similar outfit, but without the headgear. Glitch wore light green fatigue pants and a white shirt with a red cross on the chest. AndrAIa was the only one who didn't look like a police officer; her usual outfit had been replaced with a black shirt and biker shorts worn underneath a pair of red denim shorts and a matching vest. At the same time, a large motorcycle appeared on the sidewalk outside.
Matrix smiled and shook his head. "What is it with you and bikes?"
Daemon watched in awe as her companions transformed. She knew what ReBooting was, of course. But having never been in a game, she had never seen it happen.
"Go on, Daemon," Bob said, sensing her reluctance. "Just double-click your icon and say 'ReBoot'."
Daemon nodded and did as he said. The green light enveloped her, accompanied by a strange lightness in the pit of her stomach, a feeling of weightlessness. When it was over, her armor was gone. In it's place, she wore a tight, medium length red dress. Even her hair had changed, becoming much shorter and losing its usual ability to defy gravity and wind.
"Everyone armed?" Bob asked. The other sprites nodded; ReBooting had equipped them all with basic pistols. Except for Matrix, who still had Gun.
"I am not," Daemon said. She had not received a weapon with her new outfit.
"We'll have to get you one as soon as possible," Bob said.
"I do not need a gun."
"You don't, but your game character might. Now that you've ReBooted, you may not be able to use some of your Viral powers."
"You might have mentioned that before I did it," she said.
"It's necessary," Bob said. "Some games have key items that won't work unless you ReBoot."
"We'd better hurry," Dot said. "We have to find Enzo."
* * * * *
"Any change?" Mouse asked.
Phong shook his head. "We still cannot seem to scan the game cube. The scanners register it, but they cannot pick up energy levels or tell us anything about who is inside."
"Well we know that part," Ray said. "Bob, Dot, AndrAIa, Matrix, and Glitch, probably Enzo too. Reports say everyone else made it to the evacuation points. There shouldn't be anyone else in there."
"That is what worries me," Phong said. "Daemon followed them out before I could think to stop her. I believe she intended to enter the game as well."
"What's wrong with that?" Mouse asked. "Maybe she'll finally do some good for a change."
"I would not have permitted her to enter a game without further inspection of her Viral code, my child. In the history of the Net, a Super Virus of Daemon's power has never entered a game."
"Your sayin' Daemon could have corrupted the game just by goin' into it?"
"It is not a pleasant theory," Phong said. "But currently it is the only explanation I can think of."
"Sir!" Specky cried out from across the room. "I think you should take a look at this. Sensors indicate a massive energy pulse heading for Mainframe!"
"Exabyte?" Mouse gave voice to all their fears. "Not now!"
Before Phong could respond, the pulse hit.
Nothing happened.
* * * * *
"According to the game stats, the User has to make it through the secret lab underneath the police station and steal their escape vehicle in order to win," Glitch said as they patrolled the darkened city streets, keeping their eyes open for any sign of Enzo.
"How many levels is that?" Matrix asked.
"No levels," Glitch said. "The entire game is one big level. As long as he has the right keys and the path isn't blocked the User can go anywhere he wants at any time. I'm assuming we can too."
"That should make things easier," Daemon said.
"Not necessarily," Bob said. "Games like this tend to make you double back and retrace your steps a lot. We could be in here for a long time."
"But we can't lose right?" AndrAIa pointed out. "Without the User the game just keeps going until we win."
"Yeah, but those undeleted can still get us at any time," Glitch said.
"And while we're in here, Mainframe is missing most of its defenders if Exabyte shows up there," Bob added
"Oh no," Dot gasped. "I just realized; what if she did this to get us out of the way while she destroys Mainframe?"
"That doesn't seem like her style," Matrix said. "I think she'll want to delete us face to face when the time comes."
"What are you talking about?" Dot asked. "If her minions kill us in here, that's hardly face to face."
"Oh yeah," Matrix muttered.
"She could be there right now," Dot said. Now that the idea had entered her head she could not shake it.
"We'd better hurry," Bob said.
And they probably would have hurried, just as Bob suggested, if the Undeleted remains of something that was neither sprite nor binome had not chosen that moment to leave the concealing darkness of a nearby alley and leap at them with teeth bared and claws swinging.
* * * * *
"Report," Phong said.
"Nothing seems to have been affected," Specky said. "The Energy made it into Mainframe, but then it seemed to simply diffuse. Currently reading normal energy levels systemwide."
"What was that?" Ray wondered aloud.
"Sir!" Specky called again a moment later. "Vidwindows are activating all over the system!"
"Vidwindows?"
Outside, hundreds of vidwindows activated simultaneously. In addition to the Principal Office's four huge public broadcast windows, small windows opened at every street corner, in every home and business, anywhere that people might miss the main screens. Each window showed the same image. Though the average binome on the street didn't recognize her, the cold malice the lone figure radiated, even through a vidwindow, froze them in their tracks. The three sprites in the Principal Office recognized her far too well.
"Exabyte," Phong said quietly. He didn't look at all scared to Mouse. Rather, for perhaps the first time since she had met him, Phong looked angry.
"Greetings citizens of System Mainframe. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Exabyte, the once and future ruler of the entire Net. Consider yourselves lucky. My ascension back to glory will begin with your humble home. Your defenders, those you have trusted with your very code, are currently trapped in a game of my own design. It is unlikely any of them will emerge compiled. Soon I will return to a defenseless Mainframe. But do not fear, for out of the ashes of your little system will rise a glorious new era for the Net! Gone are the seconds of independent systems, cut off from one another. Soon the entire Internet will be united under one banner; mine. Controllers of Mainframe: You are hereby ordered to lower your defenses and permit my peacekeeping forces to occupy your system."
"We will never surrender to you!" Phong said.
Exabyte seemed to notice the sprites in the control room for the first time. She smiled thinly with recognition.
"Phong," she laughed, "You old flirt, are you still kicking around?"
"If you remember me so well, you should know better than to ask for my surrender," Phong replied
"I rather hoped age would make you wise," Exabyte said.
"You will not win, Exabyte. You will be defeated, just as you were before."
"We shall see, Phong. I'll call back once my game is over. Let's see how brave you are with your precious Guardian nullified."
* * * * *
The creature landed in the middle of the group, screeching a challenge at its enemies. It was thin and spindly, like an insect in the shape of a sprite. Its six limbs - two legs and four arms - all ended in wicked, hook shaped claws and its mouth was full of knife-like teeth. It turned in a quick circle, sizing up each of them before they could make a move. Then, flexing its powerful legs, it leaped at Dot, knocking her gun away with one hand while bringing the others up to slash at her.
"Dot!" Glitch cried, "Use your self-defense weapon!"
Instinctively, Dot reached for the holster opposite her gun, where her self-defense weapon sat. Expecting a knife, she instead found a small signal flare. By then, the creature was on top of her, pushing her to the ground and getting ready for the killing blow. Desperately, Dot shoved the flare up into its face just as the monster leaned in to bite her. The jaws clamped down on the flare, which exploded in a rush of white fire. The Undeleted beast screeched, jumped off Dot and tried to retreat down the alleyway, but it barely made three steps before the burning flare engulfed it.
"So it's one of those games," Matrix said, examining the charred remains.
"That was your defensive weapon?" Bob asked, helping Dot up.
She nodded. "Magnesium flares. They're great for hand to hand combat."
"Not that great," Daemon said, "Your hand does not look so good."
Dot hadn't noticed her own injury. Now, looking at the burns the exploding flare had inflicted, the pain hit her hard. Glitch pulled an aerosol can marked 'first aid' out of her pack.
"These should work for us," she said, shaking the can, "I hope."
As soon as the spray touched her burns, the pain began to dissipate. The blisters that had been rising disappeared and blackened skin faded back to its natural green.
"So the User's items work for us now," Bob said. "Good to know."
"What was that thing?" AndrAIa asked.
"A prehistoric Virus," Daemon said. "Little more than an animal in intellect, but immensely powerful physically."
"So it's not just Sprites and Binomes that can become Undeleted," Dot said.
"No," Daemon said. "Exabyte can convert anything that processes into a zombie. There is no telling what else we may encounter here."
"Our mission is still the same though," Matrix said. "We have to find Enzo and win the game. That's all that..." He was interrupted by a long, low growl coming from back in the diner. A clicking sound, the sound of claws on a tile floor, reached their ears, coming toward the open door. The source of the sound wasted no time revealing itself. A half-dozen low, compact shapes stalked into the alley. They had been dogs once, but one look at their torn skin and lifeless eyes showed them to be more of Exabyte's Undeleted.
The dogs moved with their heads low to the ground, sniffing furiously. Following the scent of prey. One lifted its head and locked eyes with Bob. A short whine got the rest of the pack's attention. The rabid, unliving canines growled menacingly at their quarry. The leader lifted its head and let out a low, mournful howl. The others picked up the call, which was then answered by numerous voices throughout the town. Soon the pack was joined by another group of six. The pack now outnumbered them two-to-one. The leader fell silent and crouched down, ready to charge. The others followed suit.
Bob spoke very low, in a harsh, fearful growl of his own.
"Run."
* * * * *
"Mouse, Ray," Phong said, "If you would please, coordinate with the CPUs to keep the citizens from panicking."
"Sure thing," Ray said, heading for the hall. "Coming love?"
"In a nano," Mouse said. When Ray had gone, she turned to Phong. "Call me random, but it sounded to me like you two know each other."
"It is a long readme, child," Phong replied. "And now is not the time."
Mouse frowned, but finally nodded. "If it was anyone else but you, Phong, Ah'd want an explanation before doin' another thing. Fortunately, yer one of the few Sprites in the Net Ah trust."
"For now, Mouse, I can assure you that my history with Exabyte only increases my desire to see her defeated."
* * * * *
After Bob told them to run, the entire team had made a mad dash down the alley, the Undeleted hounds at their heels. Somewhere along the way, Daemon had lost track of the others. One Nano, Matrix was right beside her. The next she was running alone. One persistent dog still followed her. And without a gun, she had no way of fighting it.
Glancing ahead, she saw a glimmer of hope. The building a block ahead of her had a ladder that led up to the roof. If she could make it there, she could elude her pursuer. Just a few more steps...
But she couldn't make a few more steps. She felt the dog's icy, dead breath at her back. Determined to make a last stand with whatever of her strength remained after ReBoot, Daemon turned to face the attacker, just in time to see it thrown away from her by a bullet to the chest.
"Up here!" a voice called from the roof. "Hurry! Before it gets up!"
Daemon swung up onto the ladder and made it to the roof just as the hound got back to its feet. Enzo stood at the top of the ladder. A bite on his shoulder still oozed energy, but otherwise he seemed unhurt.
"Daemon?" he asked, getting his first real look at who he had rescued. "What are you doing here?"
"I am beginning to wonder that myself," she said. "Are you all right?"
"What, this?" Enzo shrugged, trying to act brave. "It looks worse than it feels."
Daemon nodded. However, she noticed that he only shrugged with his uninjured shoulder.
"Hey!" he suddenly exclaimed, "You're ReBooted! You've got an Icon! So why didn't you get a gun when you ReBooted? Are you still super-strong? Why do you think the Game Sprites are coming after us instead of looking for the User?"
"Be quiet," Daemon said, silencing him instantly, "One thing at a time. We need to find the others and regroup. Is there any other way off this roof?"
"There's a door over there," he pointed, "but it's locked."
Daemon went to the door and grabbed the handle. Time to find out how much strength she still had. Gripping the doorknob firmly, she pulled. Enzo ducked as the door flew, hinges and all, over his head and off the roof.
"Alphanumeric! Can you do that again?"
"I will need to find another door first," Daemon said. But she couldn't help smiling. At least she still had one weapon. A darkened flight of stairs led down into the building. Wishing she had a flashlight, or better yet an actual weapon, Daemon descended into the darkened building, Enzo following close behind.
* * * * *
Dot and Matrix stopped running when they reached a dead end in a dark alley. With blank brick walls on three sides, there was no way out. Fortunately, they were no longer accompanied by zombie dogs.
"I think we lost them," Dot said, searching for their pursuers back the way they had come.
"I think we're lost," Matrix said, "Did you see the others anywhere?"
"No. I thought I saw Glitch duck down a side street, but I couldn't be sure."
"How smart do you think these zombie things are?" Matrix asked.
"Well besides that Virus, none of them looked very smart. Why?"
"If we really wanted to find the others, I could send up a flare with Gun. But of course, everyone can see that and it might attract the kind of attention we don't want."
"Hmm..." Dot pondered that for a moment. "I think we should risk it," she finally said. "I can't shake the feeling that Exabyte locked us in here so she could do something to Mainframe. We have to finish this game as fast as we can, that means finding Bob and the others."
"All right," Matrix nodded, "Here goes nothing. Gun; flare."
* * * * *
After what seemed like forever, the sound of gunfire ceased. Eerie silence settled back over the town. The three sprites, backed up against an overturned school bus, lowered their pistols, grateful to still be processing. Before them lay nearly three-dozen Undeleted dogs, all fully deleted now. The nearest lay directly at Glitch's feet. It had been rearing up to sink its teeth into her throat when one of AndrAIa's bullets caught it in the head.
"Is that the last of them?" Glitch asked.
"Looks like it," Bob said. "Good thing too, I'm out of ammo."
"Same here," Glitch said.
"That makes three of us," AndrAIa frowned, surveying the mountains of empty brass casings around them. "Any idea where we can find some more?"
"That depends on where we are," Bob said.
"I thought I saw a sign for the police station back that way," Glitch said. "We need to get there anyway, and there's bound to be ammo somewhere inside."
"Right," Bob agreed, "Let's go."
Suddenly, the sky lit up. They all shielded their eyes as a bright white ball shot up into the air from somewhere nearby.
"What is that?" Glitch asked, squinting against the glare.
"It's a signal flare," AndrAIa said. "It's from Gun."
"Matrix!"
"It came from this way," AndrAIa set off, leading them toward the source of the flare.
* * * * *
"What kind of clock is this?" Daemon wondered aloud, glaring at the immobile hands on the tall, grandfather clock. "Apart from a broken one, I mean."
"I'm more worried about the door than the clock," Enzo said. "You sure you can't open it?"
"It will not budge. And for some reason I could not break the lock."
"Hold on, that gives me an idea," Enzo reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin metal file. "I got this when I ReBooted. Maybe I can use it to pick the lock."
"You can do that?" Daemon asked.
"Well...no. Not really." Enzo frowned briefly, then brightened up. "But maybe my game character can. Why else would I have this?"
"Well give it a try."
Enzo knelt down in front of the doorknob. For a long time he just sat there.
"Well?" Daemon asked.
"Uh...there's no keyhole," Enzo said, as if he wasn't sure he really believed it.
"How can there be a locked door without a keyhole?" Daemon asked.
"I've got it! This is a puzzle room! We have to solve the puzzle to get out. Look around, see if there's writing anywhere."
The room seemed rather bare. A large wooden square with a polished marble floor. The grandfather clock by the door, and a marble bust of an old man in each corner. It wasn't until they had searched the entire room at least twice that Daemon noticed the tiny gold letters on the clock's face.
"The hands I bear, the numbers on my face, and the men who watch," she read. "What is that?"
"That's our clue," Enzo said.
"But what does it mean?"
"You're the clock lady," Enzo shrugged. "You tell me."
"It would seem that we have to make the clock read a certain time to open the door."
"Wait, how many hands does the clock have?" Enzo asked.
Daemon checked the hands, all of which currently rested at '6'. "There are three," she said.
"That's it," Enzo said, "Each part of the clue tells us where one hand goes. The clock has three hands and twelve numbers. So the first hand goes to three and the second goes to twelve. But what about the third? 'The men who watch...?" He frowned, thinking.
"The statues!" Daemon realized. "There are four of them. The last hand goes to four."
As soon as the third hand clicked into place, they heard the tumblers moving in the lock. Enzo tried the door and it swung open easily. The door opened into a large, two-story room. They were on a narrow balcony that ran around the perimeter. Below them was a reception area with polished tile floors and several desks. Set in the middle of the floor was a mosaic in the shape of a shield. Daemon recognized the symbol immediately. It had appeared on most of the sprites when they ReBooted. Through blind luck, they had stumbled into the police station.
"Is there any way down there?" Daemon asked.
"I don't see any stairs," Enzo said. "Maybe we could..."
A deafening *BOOM* rang out as two giant fists smashed through the door behind them. In a moment, the door was reduced to splinters. Out of the darkened clock room, crouching to fit through the doorway, stepped one of the Undeleted. It was as big as two full grown sprites with the muscles of a weightlifter. It seemed to be holding together better than the rest of the zombies, though that could have been thanks to the thick rubber raincoat wrapped around its body. Its face was so twisted and deformed that no one could have said for certain whether it was sprite or virus. The worst part was the eyes. The Undeleted had eyes as dead as the rest of them, but not this one. He looked down at the figures before him, and his pitch black eyes focused on Daemon. A low rumble built up in its chest, transforming into a growl deep in its throat. It took Daemon a moment to realize that the thing wasn't just growling. It was speaking.
"Word..." It looked straight into Daemon's eyes, as if it could impale her with its gaze. "The...Word..."
"Enzo;" Daemon said in a cold, quiet voice. "Run. Find the others. Finish the game."
"But..."
"You cannot fight him. It is me he wants; let him try. Go! Now!"
* * *
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TBC
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