The Viral Guardian Series

by Stellar Raven

One of the most bizarre self-insertion fics ever written. The main cast belongs to Mainframe Entertainment. Kit Maxel, Backslash Interface, Electra Prompt, TimeSprite and Chu belong to themselves. Everyone else is mine.

6. The Electra Chronicles

Author's Note: Credit be given to my co-author in crime, Electra Prompt, for her contribution to this chapter. Thanks, Lecca!



Chapter Five: The Electra Chronicles

"Alright, Hex, pick a hand," Jareth held out his hands, fists closed.

"Okay," Hex said, looking from one hand to the other. "I choose... that one!" Hex pointed to Jareth's right hand.

"Good choice!" Jareth switched to a grinning mask, and dropped a small object into Hex's outstretched hand.

Hex's face lit up. "Oh, Jareth! You found it!"

Jareth laughed. "Yep, it was lying where the Tor used to be before the Restart."

Hex gave Jareth a look. "Why wasn't it deleted when the system restarted?"

"I dunno." Jareth plucked it from Hex's hand. "Remember how much fun we had with this last time? I thought we'd never see it again."

Hex grinned. "I bet Bob and the others were HOPING never to see it again."

Jareth gave the small device back to Hexadecimal. "What are you going to do with it?"

"Oh, I don't know... I'm sure I'll think of something." Hex started to walk towards the window

"Hey... where are you going?"

"Oh... I thought I'd stop by the Diner, see what our friends are up to."

"Don't let them see that. It's not going to make them happy."

Hex laughed. "Don't worry... I won't." Hex Mask-teleported out the window, leaving Jareth standing alone in the Lair.

"Have fun..." Jareth said, gazing out the window after her.

* * *

"Do-ooot..."

Dot Matrix looked up, recognizing the voice before she saw the face that went with it. Only one person in Mainframe tended to stretch names so hauntingly.

"Hello Hex," she said, "What are you up to today?"

"Oh, not much. It's been very boring around here lately. When are we going to the Supercomputer?"

"I'm working on the plan right now. We've got to find a way to get in without being spotted, so Mouse and I are trying to come up with some sort of cloaking... Hex? Are you listening?"

Hex looked back at Dot. She had been staring at the ceiling. "Oh... Yes. Yes, I have been listening. We are still going, aren't we? Jareth and I are SO looking forward to seeing Mother again..."

Dot sighed. "And that's another thing. If Jareth comes with us, how can we be sure he won't take Daemon's side? He is still half viral."

"And what am I?"

"Yes, but you're not dangerous anymore. Well... not quite AS dangerous as Jareth is."

Hex pondered that. "Couldn't Bob help him, the way he helped me?"

Dot removed her glasses and started rubbing the bridge of her nose. "No, I'm afraid he already tried. It had no effect."

"Oh. Well, do you have any ideas?"

"Not a one."

Hexadecimal sighed, then turned towards the entrance as a binome burst in, ringing the bell above the door.

"Ms. Matrix," the binome said, sorely out of breath, "I think... there's something... you should see... A portal.... just opened..."

"Which way?" asked Dot. The binome pointed.

Dot, followed closely by Hexadecimal, started off towards the portal. As she exited the Diner, she ran face first into Bob.

"Hey! Dot? What--"

"Shut up and follow."

Bob followed.

* * *

Electra stepped out of the portal and looked around.

"It's almost exactly how I remembered it," she said in a low whisper.

"Freeze Virus!" a gruff sounding voice shouted. Electra suddenly felt the barrel of a gun press against her back.

"Do you have any idea who I am?" Electra said with a growl.

"No, and I don't care. You're a virus."

Electra mouthed a quick command to her Keytool. "BuBBle-- Containment Field." Instantly, a crystal-clear bubble appeared around Matrix.

"I wouldn't shoot in there if I were you... That bubble would reflect it right back at you."

"How in the Motherboard did you get a Keytool?" Matrix asked, surprised. His eye swiveled back to it's original position.

"I have two, thank you very much... If you promise to be a good boy, I'll introduce you to Jet," Electra smirked.

"I'll never su..."

"Hey what's going on there?" Bob's voice rang out. Electra toyed innocently with her hair as the chrome plated Guardian walked over to her.

"Oooh, Bob.... It's a viral sprite," Hexadecimal's voice rang out and she appeared beside Electra.

"Um... Hi. Could you release my friend?" Bob asked.

"But BOB!"

"Matrix, no complaining." Matrix frowned, but shut up anyway.

"BuBBle, release field." With a sound like glass shattering, the Containment Field dissolved.

Hex's eyes widened. "BuBBle? Is that you Electra My, you've grown."

"No, Hex, I haven't. That's just your mind playing tricks on you."

"Oh. Well, it's still good to have you back. And Jareth will be so happy to see you."

"Jareth's still here?"

"Of course he is... I'm going to go tell him right now."

Electra suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "Yeah. Catch up with you later Hex." With a flash of light, Hexadecimal disappeared.

Electra looked down at her shoes. "Um... Bob. Take me to Phong."

Bob was surprised she knew so much about the city. "Don't you know where Phong is?"

"Fine. I'll go look for him myself."

* * *

Phong's head snapped up as the Principle Office's alarms activated, signaling an unauthorized entry.

"Oh dear...," the old Command.Com said, punching a few buttons on his console and bringing up a visual of the intruder. His hand automatically went to the button that would activate the security systems, but he paused when he saw who the intruder was.

Moments later, the doors to Phong's office opened, and Electra entered, looking just as she had when he had last seen her.

"Hello my child," he said, smiling kindly at Electra. "How have you been? For that matter, WHERE have you been?"

"Hi Phong. I've been... busy. How's everything? And what happened to Hex's face?"

"Hex's face was mended by Bob... does he know you're here? He'll be very glad to meet you."

Electra grinned. "I saw him as I was coming in. So, what's new? Is a Megabyte still terrorizing everyone?"

"No. Megabyte has been deleted."

"Deleted? What else have I missed? You're not hiding a wife and family somewhere, are you Phong?"

Phong laughed. "No, my child. Perhaps I should... bring you up to speed."

* * *

"Oh, Jaaaaareth..." Hexadecimal swooped into the Lair through the usual entrance, the window.

"Hi, Hex. Don't you ever use the door?"

Hex gave Jareth a perplexed look. "The Lair doesn't have a door, Jareth"

"Oh, yeah... Maybe we should build one. We could put it over--"

"Jareth, you'll never guess who's back," Hexadecimal interrupted.

"Megabyte?"

"No."

"Bob?"

"Ages ago."

"Elvis?"

"Who's Elvis?"

"I give up. Who?"

"I don't know who Elvis is?"

"No, I mean, who's back?"

"Electra."

"ELECTRA?"

"Viral sprite, twin Keytools, about this big..."

Jareth switched to an annoyed mask. "I KNOW who she is. She's really back? As in, HERE?"

"I believe she said she was going to visit Phong... are you going to go see her?"

"I dunno... it's been a while."

"You should go see her." Hex grinned. "I think she likes you."

"Everybody says that."

Hex shrugged. "Maybe it's true. You'd make a could couple."

Jareth vanished into his mask, which went spinning out of the room.

"AND YOU KNOW IT, TOO!" Hex called. She sat down on her throne and stroked Scuzzy. "This... should be interesting."

* * *

The Past....

Electra sat up. Her mother had been yelling at her for milliseconds, trying to wake her up.

"Electra! Get up. Kit just called... She wants you to meet her at Chu's Diner!"

"YES, MOTHER!" Electra looked over to her mirror. "I hate my hair in the morning." She said. She picked up her comb and tried to unknot her long black hair. It's strange white tint shone through when the light caught it just right.

"And don't forget, you ARE going to school today. I don't want another call from your principal saying you were in a fight, or were caught skipping."

"YES, MOTHER!" Electra sighed and double clicked her icon, to change into her school uniform. She looked at herself in the mirror again and rolled her eyes. She hated her school uniform.

"Electra?" Electra rolled her eyes again. "Are you ready?"

"Yes mother." Electra walked out of the room.

* * *

Kit looked out the window, waiting for Electra. She finally spotted her, but with a guy from their school, 3D. They stopped for a second, then Electra walked on alone into the diner.

"So... Who's Ms. Guy Magnet going out with next cycle?" Kit asked.

"No one."

"But I saw you with..."

"No one... he's such a jerk anyway."

"Well, if you're looking for a nice guy, then what about Jareth?" Kit smiled smugly.

"Jareth... he's a User. I guess if you go for that type..."

"Oh, I do. I do."

"Fine then, you go out with him," Electra smirked.

"Wha? I wouldn't be seen dead with him. I have more important guys to look out for."

"Like Backslash?" Electra grinned.

"I don't have to sit here and be insulted."

"No, you don't... since we're late for school, you can be insulted on the way."

Electra stood up, and Kit followed her as she walked out of the diner.

In the booth directly behind the one Kit and Electra had just vacated, Jareth finished off the last of his meal. He turned to watch as the two girls left the Diner.

"Hmmm." He placed a few units down on the table and walked out.

* * *

` The Present...

Night fell upon Mainframe. Timesprite wandered aimlessly down the seemingly endless alleys of Level 31, searching for something to alleviate her ever-growing boredom. It seemed like it had been forever since the system restarted, bringing her back to life after so many minutes of deletion. Actually, it had been less than a cycle, but one of the drawbacks of being chaotic was an unreliable memory.

Timesprite sighed. Maybe something interesting would happen soon. She had heard that Electra was back in town. Maybe she could go and listen to some of her stories. She had always wondered what Electra had done, where she had gone after she left Mainframe.

Without warning, a small black object went spinning past Timesprite, heading in the vague direction of Al's Wait 'N' Eat. Timesprite turned the corner in time to see it fly through the restaurant's entrance.

Timesprite entered, wondering if it had been what she thought it was. Sure enough, there, sitting at the bar, was Jareth. Timesprite wandered through the crowded room and sat down next to him.

"Hey Jareth."

Jareth started at the sound of his name. Level 31 was renowned for being the worst neighborhood in Mainframe, and he hadn't thought a Virus would draw too much attention here. He hadn't realized that the other Virals in Mainframe might be hanging out here as well.

"Hello Timey. What's up?"

Timesprite looked up. "The ceiling, the rafters, the--"

Jareth held up his hand. "Please. You have no idea how sick I am of that joke."

Timesprite shot him a perplexed look. "What joke?"

"The joke that... never mind."

Timesprite shrugged and started digging into the complementary chips that were set on the bar. "So, what brings you to Level 31?"

"Nothing much. I've just been thinking. You know Electra's back in town?"

"I heard. I thought about going to see her, ask about her adventures... Have you talked to her yet?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's just... I..."

"You Like her?"

"I do not!"

"You Like her. I think--"

"If you're going to say you think we make a good couple, skip it. I've already been through that today."

"How long have you known Electra, anyway? You knew here before I came to Mainframe, right?"

"Oh yeah. We've been friends ever since we were little kids..."

"So this isn't anything new?"

Jareth sighed. "No..."

The Past...

The bell rang. Jareth looked at the school gates as students quickly filtered out. There were a few sprites that went slower than the rest, among them was Kit who happily walked along with some boys in the direction of the diner. Electra followed her slowly... very slowly. Jareth didn't have to walk that much to catch up with her.

"Hello Electra."

Electra jumped, startled. She hadn't realized she was being followed. "Hello Jareth."

"I was in the diner last cycle," Jareth said, walking backwards so he could face her. Electra blushed bright red for a second, no easy task for someone with green skin.

"Oh... were you?" she said as calmly as she could. "I didn't see you."

"I saw you. Actually, I was sitting behind you."

"You wouldn't be listening in on other sprite's conversation, now would you?"

"No, of course not." Jareth said, his fingers crossed behind his back.

"Well... Maybe I'll see you around then," Electra said, walking past him and into the Diner.

(You both sounded pretty insecure.)

(Well, we were just kids.)

(And this was all before the Twin City incident?)

(Yeah. Way before. Everything changed after that...)

In a newly decorated room, a sleeping Electra tossed and turned in her sleep. She hadn't slept well since the crash. Maybe it was because of the burns that hadn't healed yet. Maybe it was because she felt somewhat guilty about what happened to Jareth. Electra rolled over again, knocking a picture off the night stand. Jareth picked it up and recognized it.

It was a picture of him and Electra taken a long time ago.

(What were you doing in her room? And didn't she notice you?)

(Quiet... I was getting to that.)

"What are you doing here?" Electra growled.

(Jareth... I think you skipped a bit.)

(Did I? Oh, so I did.)

Jareth was looking at the picture when Electra sat up. "What are you doing here?" Electra growled.

(Better?)

(Much.)

"Easy, easy, I only wanted to talk to you." Jareth switched masks, smiling warmly. He hoped she'd believe him... She didn't.

"Out," she said, sliding out of her bed.

"Come on. Why can't we just talk like we used to?"

"You're different now, if you haven't noticed." Electra said, picking up her sword from the floor beside her bed.

"I noticed. Are you planning to skewer me?" Jareth smirked.

"Only if you come closer."

Jareth deliberately took one step towards Electra. Electra raised the sword a little.

"Calm down."

"Calm down? Are you crazy? I'm in my room with a Virus! A Virus who used to be my friend."

"Why can't I still be a friend?" Jareth moved a little closer, and Electra got ready to strike, but instead dropped the sword.

"Look. Just get out."

(Did you end up leaving on you own free will?)

(No, she kicked me out... Literally.)

* * *

The Present...

Electra climbed through the window of Hexadecimal's Lair, trying not to tear her clothing on the edges as she did.

"Hello Electra," said Hex, watching her in amusement. "I should really get a door, shouldn't I?" she asked. The Lair was normally accessible only to those who could fly.

"It might help." Electra hopped down from the windowsill. "Is Jareth around?"

"Jareth? No, but he should be here soon."

"Do you want me to find him?"

"Oh, I'm sure if we wait around long enough, he's bound to show up eventually."

Electra sighed. "It's probably better that he's not here. I'm not completely sure why I'm looking for him."

"Electra? How did you become viral?" Hex asked, completely out of the blue.

"Rather blunt, aren't you Hex?"

"You could say that. How did it happen? You weren't a viral when we first me, were you?"

"Alright Hex, sit down and I'll tell you."

* * *

The Past...

Jareth walked into the Diner, ringing the bell that hung above the door. Electra glared at him from her booth.

"Kit. Electra." Jareth walked up to them.

"What do you want Virus? Are you going to follow me everywhere now?"

(Do you have to do the actions?)

(I am? Oh my.)

(And why did you call Jareth names?? You're half-viral too...)

(Hex...)

(Yes?)

(I didn't know what I was going to do, and I wasn't viral yet. Now don't interrupt.)

(Okay.)

"Hex is throwing some sort of party tonight at the Lair. You and Kit are invited. Please come." His message delivered, Jareth wandered off to another part of the Diner.

(Oh, the Party.... what party?)

(Think of it this way. You, me, Jareth, and Kit. Tea party.)

(Oh yes... I really must have another one of those. So what happened next?)

(You mean at the party?)

"You've been staring at him all cycle," Kit exclaimed.

"Well, not all cycle... I mean... Who?"

"Jareth... who else?"

"Actually I've been look at these biscuits Hex made. Look... they're little Jareths."

Kit flashed her an 'Oh, please.' look.

"Alright... maybe I glanced a few times. But do you remember? He became hands off when he became viral."

"Then uninfected him, or find another way to be together."

"He can't be uninfected. It was the Guardian who merged with the virus, not the other way around. If I tried to split him, there'd be no Jareth left in him at all, just Lore."

"Yeah, yeah, but there has to be another way."

"No... Unless..."

(So what did you do?)

(Well... Do you have any more of those Jareth cookies?)

(I think so.)

* * *

Dot Matrix studied the vidwindows that were arranged in front of her, all of them displaying 3-Dimensional maps of the Supercomputer. Possible weak points, armories, and Guardian barracks were indicated by small blinking lights.

The others who were present in the P.O.'s control room waited to hear Dot's plan. Nearly all the sprites in Mainframe were present, including several Webriders who had been recruited by Bob at the last minute.

"Wait a minute...," Dot said, "Not everyone's here. Where's Hex? And Jareth?"

"Electra and Timesprite are missing too," AndrAIa said.

"I think I can round them up... just gimme a few nanos," Kit said. Without waiting for a reply, she turned and headed out.

Dot sighed and turned back to her charts. Soon, the attack would begin...

* * *

"And that's the whole story. What do you think I should do?" Jareth asked. He turned away from his drink and faced Timesprite.

"I think you should talk to her. You do care about her, right?"

"Yes. I think I do. It's just--"

"I'm sorry. I have to ask this. How the Motherboard do you drink that?" Timesprite gestured towards Jareth's drink.

"This? It's not so bad."

"No, I mean HOW do you drink it? You haven't got a mouth."

"Oh, that. Well--"

"Jareth!" Kit's voice resounded throughout the nearly empty bar.

"Kit?" Jareth turned as Kit entered the building.

"Hello Kit," Timesprite said. "What brings you to Level 31?"

"You do. Dot's planning the attack on the Supercomputer. She wants everyone who's going to report to the P.O, ASAP."

"What's the P.O.A.S.A.P.?" Jareth asked.

Kit sighed and rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "The Principle Office, Jareth. If you're going, get there." Kit turned and left the bar, muttering something about 'Crazy Viruses'.

Timesprite turned back to Jareth. "Well?"

"Well what? The Supercomputer awaits." Jareth vanished into his mask and went spinning out of the restaurant.

Timesprite used the door.

* * *

Hex held out a tray to Electra. It was laden with biscuits and cookies shaped like all sorts of sprites and binomes, including Megabytes and Jareths.

"Thanks Hex." Electra took one of the Jareth cookies and bit it's head off.

"So, where were we?"

"We were at the part--"

"Hex!"

Hexadecimal and Electra turned to the window, where a struggling Kit was attempting to climb into the Lair through the window.

"Hex... can I make a suggestion?" she asked.

"Get a door?" asked Electra.

Kit nodded and dropped to the floor. "Dot wants everyone to report to the P.O."

"Why?" asked Electra.

"Mouse found a way to get into the Supercomputer without setting off any alarms. So Dot wants to go over the plan before we attack."

"Yes... I must have a chat with Mother... did you know she attacked Jareth?" Hex asked Electra.

"No. Why? When was that?" asked Electra.

"Not long ago. When she heard that there were Guardians who escaped her infection, she sent a bunch of aero-drone things to attack the system. Jareth showed up on their scanners as a Guardian, so they went after him too," Kit explained.

"Yes... I mean to ask her about that. Let's go," Hex said. She vanished into her mask and floated out of the Lair.

"Why can't they just walk like everyone else?" Kit asked.

"Beats me," Electra shrugged. "Now, how do we get out of here?"

* * *

After half a cycle passed, Kit and Electra finally managed to get to the Principle Office... grumbling.

"I wish I could do that mask-teleporting thing," Electra said.

"I should have brought a zip board," Kit replied. She keyed in the access code and opened the P.O.'s security doors.

"It's about time you two got here," Dot announced to Kit and Electra as the entered the room.

"Sorry... We sort of had trouble trying to get out of Hex's window," Kit said, sighing.

Accepting this, if not completely understanding it, Dot gestured to Mouse to begin.

"Ah'm going to be able to turn the Supercomputer's alarms off for three nanos," Mouse said. "But no longer than that. So we'll have to get to the rebel sector pretty quick. Which reminds me... Where is this rebel sector?"

Electra pointed it out on the map.

"There," she said. "A few of the Viruses are jealous of Daemon and were planning an uprising. The trouble was, they'd have to deal with the entire Guardian Collective before they could even make it to her."

AndrAIa looked up from her console. "Maybe you should call them, and let them know that reinforcements are on the way."

"Good idea," Electra said. She walked over to the communicator and dialed up her contacts.

While Electra was making the call, Dot announced the rest of the plan. She informed everyone that they'd leave in a cycle.

"You hear that, GigAnate?" Electra asked. The slender Chaotic Virus grinned back at her from the screen.

"That's great Electra. I'll tell the others," GigAnate said. "When are you coming?"

"We leave for the Supercomputer in a cycle."

"Okay. What will you do 'till then?"

"I thought I'd see if my old place is still around. Later GigAnate."

As Electra switched off the Vidwindow, she felt a familiar pair of eyes on her back.

She turned around and there stood Jareth.

"Um... Hi... Jareth...," Electra stuttered.

"Hi Electra."

"Well... I'll see you later," Electra quickly walked off before Jareth could say anything more.

Jareth watched as Electra left the P.O. Hex walked up to stand beside him.

"I don't get it Hex. The girl lives in the Supercomputer. She walks on the same streets with Viruses and infected Guardians every day. But every time she sees me, she takes off like a frightened Null."

"She likes you."

"Oh, shut up," Jareth said.

* * *

Electra wandered through the streets of Mainframe, heading in the general direction of her old apartment. She was shocked to find it still standing, and even more shocked to find that the doors were still keyed to her code.

Apparently, no one had been living here since she left.

A sudden fluttering noise made her jump, but when she turned around she saw nothing.

"Get ahold of yourself Electra. You're losin' it." Electra turned and entered the building. "You're even talking to yourself."

Back in her old room, she began to sort through some of her old things. The entire apartment was covered in a thick layer of dust. She sneezed.

"Bless you."

Electra gasped and spun around. There stood Jareth, his wings spread behind him. That explained the fluttering noise.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I followed you." Jareth picked up a picture from one of the tables and dusted it off. "I used to come her a lot, right after you left. But I haven't been here in a long time."

"Why are you following me? What do you want?"

"Electra? Why did you leave Mainframe?"

"I... wanted adventure. I was bored."

"That's what you told everyone. But why did you really leave?"

Electra looked at him, but didn't say anything.

Jareth sighed. "We can still be friends, 'Lectra. Think about it." Jareth tossed the picture to Electra, who caught it. Electra looked down. It was the same picture, the one of the two of them as children.

"Jareth..." Electra began, but when she looked up, he was gone.

The next day...

Electra quickly ran through the Principle Office's double doors.

"You're late Electra...," Dot said.

"Sorry."

Dot shrugged, then headed for the conference room.

Kit looked up at Electra as she walked over.

"You've changed your clothes," Kit said.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Aren't they the clothes you...?"

"Yes, they are."

* * *

The Past...

"Do we really have to continue this?" Jareth asked as he ducked to miss the swipe of Electra's sword. Electra executed a quick back flip and shouted a command to her Keytool.

"Jet-- Crossbow!" Before JAreth could react, she shot him square in the chest.

"Don't worry. It's only a stun arrow," Electra said as Jareth sunk into a deep slumber. "BuBBle--code extractor."

Electra kneeled down next to Jareth. "Copy and Download Viral programming." BuBBle beeped, and a stream of green diamonds flowed from Jareth's Icon to Electra's.

Electra screamed as the Viral programming ben to integrate with her code. Roused by her screaming, Jareth awakened. His vision cleared just in time to see Electra hit the ground.

"Electra? What did you do?" He picked her up and, unfolding his wings, carried her off towards the Principle Office.

* * *

"Now Jareth, tell me what happened, we can't help her if we don't know what attacked her," Phong explained.

"I didn't see it, she had used a stun arrow on me, by the time I woke up she was fainting."

"Are you sure, Jareth? Are you sure... you didn't do it?"

"Yes Phong. Well... pretty sure."

"Phong! Her condition is Changing," A binome in a doctor's uniform called out.

Both Jareth and Phong rushed in. Electra lay on a hospital bed, tossing and turning restlessly. With a green shimmer, Electra's Icon changed from Black-and-white to Purple-and-black.

"She's turning viral!" Exclaimed the binome.

The binome and Phong glared at Jareth.

"What?" he asked.

Phong and the binome continued to glare at Jareth.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!"

"He didn't do it, I did." They turned around to see Electra, crouching on the bed as if she was about to pounce. Her black hair with it's strange white tint looked wild and unkempt, and she had developed claws and fangs. Her perfect blue eyes seemed almost innocent alongside her wild hair.

Jareth looked at her, stunned. "Electra...?"

Electra jumped through the window and ran off.

Phong sighed. "Tell Security we have a new Virus on our hands."

* * *

The Present...

"So how come you changed back?" Kit asked. "I thought you liked that new outfit better."

Electra shrugged and changed the subject. "Come on, we'll be late."

"We're already late," Kit said, but followed anyway.

The two sprites entered the conference room, where most of the others had already gathered.

Mouse was typing at one of the workstation consoles, presumably trying to hack the Supercomputer's security network. AndrAIa stood nearby, watching her work. Dot and Bob were standing off to one side, discussing the plan for the attack. Matrix was cleaning his Gun, and Hack and Slash were arguing about cheese.

"Why cheese?" Kit asked of no one in particular as they passed.

"Why not cheese?" Electra replied.

Unable to argue with her logic, Kit shrugged.

"Gavin and his crew are preparing the ship," she said to Electra. "We'll be taking the Saucy Mare, except for Mouse and Dot. They'll be taking Ship."

Electra looked around the room. "Where's Jareth?"

"He and Hex already left. They said they'd meet us there."

"Electra? Could you come here for a moment, please?" Dot asked. Electra walked over to her.

"I need you to contact the Rebels again. Tell them to meet us here." She pointed to a position on the Holo-display.

"Okay," Electra said. She walked over to the communicator and punched a few buttons.

Mouse, done with her hacking, walked over to Dot. "Why aren't we stickin' to the original plane?"

"In case anyone here has been leaking out plans to Daemon. Think about it. Jareth and Hexadecimal are Daemon's children. They might decide to side with her."

"And they also left ahead of everyone else," Mouse agreed. "Do you think they might be settin' up an ambush?"

"A last minute change of plans should throw them off if they are, and if not, well..."

Mouse shrugged. She held up a small disc-shaped object and handed it to Dot. "This command will blank out the Supercomputer's defense grid. I can't say how long it'll work, so we'll have to get to the rebel sector in a hurry."

"Thanks Mouse." Dot turned back to Electra, who was just finishing the call.

"New rendezvous coordinates set," GigAnate said. Electra reached over to terminate the connection. "By the way, Electra... I like the outfit."

* * *

"That's the last of the supplies Lass. We be ready to shove off."

"Thanks Gavin," Dot said.

The pirate binomes loaded the last of the crates onto the deck. They seemed to be having a little more trouble carrying this one than they had with the others, probably because this one had an Enzo on top of it.

High up in the sky above the harbor, a silver sphere suddenly appeared. Two forms, on black and one red, flew out as the portal disappeared.

"Honey, we're ho-ooome..." Jareth called out in a singsong voice, touching down on the deck. He folded his wings to his back and leaned against one of the crates.

"Where's Hex going?" Dot asked. While Jareth had landed, Hexadecimal had shot across the sky towards Lost Angles.

"She said she needed to get something from the Lair."

Enzo jumped down from the top of the crate Jareth was leaning on. "This is gonna be alphanumeric! I finally get to see the Supercomputer!"

Dot turned to him. "Oh, no, you don't. Go back to the Diner, Enzo."

"Oh, but Dot--"

"No arguments. Go."

"Hey, Sis," Matrix said, walking over to them. "Gavin says we're ready to go."

"I know. We'll leave in a nano."

"But Dot! I want to come too!"

"No way. The Supercomputer is crawling with Viruses," Dot said. "You stay here."

"But I want to come! Why can't I come along?"

"It's too dangerous. Ask anyone."

"Jareth?" Enzo asked.

"I say let him come," Jareth said.

Enzo grinned. Jareth had just made a friend for life.

"What if the Virals attack Mainframe again, Dot?" Matrix asked. "I think he might actually be safer with us."

"Frisket can stay with him."

"No way," Matrix shook his head. "Frisket's coming with me."

"Fine. Hack! Slash!"

The two robots came rolling up to Dot.

"Yes Dot?"

"What can we do for you?"

"How can we be of service?"

Dot couldn't help but grin at the pair's overlapping dialogue. "I want you two to stay behind and look after Enzo."

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Don't' worry about a thing!"

"It shall be done!"

Hack and Slash rolled over to Enzo. Each grabbed an arm, and together, they dragged him, kicking and screaming, off the ship.

"Now then. Shall we be off?" Dot asked.

"Not yet. We still have to wait for Hex," Jareth said.

"All right. I'm going below deck. Let me know when she gets here."

"Wait for me," Matrix said.

As Dot and Matrix went below deck, Electra and Kit emerged, arguing about something. They stopped when they saw Jareth sitting on the crate and staring up at the sky.

"What's he doin?" Kit asked.

"I dunno. Looking at clouds?"

"Well, let's go find out."

"Let's not," Electra said, glaring at Kit.

"Oh, come on." Kit grabbed Electra by the arm and dragged her over to where Jareth stood.

* * *

"No... no... I KNOW it's here somewhere..." Hexadecimal yanked open another drawer and began searching through it, tossing objects over her shoulders as she went. A large pile of assorted objects was rapidly growing on the floor behind her.

Scuzzy entered the room and headed straight for Hex. He nudged her leg, an object in his mouth.

"Thank you Scuzzy!" Hex reached down and took it from him. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING SOONER?!"

Scuzzy, terrified, ran from the room.

"Oh well." Hex examined her outfit. "Hmmm... now where can I... keep it?"

* * *

"What are you doing?" Electra quickly asked, then grabbed Kit's arm. "There, we asked, let's go."

"Na-ah. I want to hear his answer," Kit replied back, just as quickly, Electra sighed and let go of Kit.

"Just thinking really," Jareth's reply came dreamily. Electra waved her hand in front of his face, but he caught it. "I'm not daydreaming that much." He looked at Electra.

"Kit, sugah! You're needed!" Mouse's voice rang out.

"Uh, I'll be back later... You two have fun." Kit turned and walked off. Electra stuck her tongue out at her.

"I..." Jareth was interrupted by a portal opening above them. Four figures jumped out and landed on the deck. Electra rolled her eyes at them.

"Electra. You asked us to come, did you not?"

"Yes, GigAnate, but I--" Electra quickly grabbed GigAnate aside and began talking to her in a harsh whisper. "--didn't ask you to bring Macro and Rachel, for crying out loud! The guy has a crush on me, and as soon as Rachel sees what I'm wearing, she's going to question me about it... You know I hate her fashion criticism." Electra's voice quickly went from a whisper to a whine.

"I know, I know. But..."

"No buts! Where's Catheryn when you need her?"

"I brought Emily."

"Emily? Where?" Electra looked over to Emily, who was sort of checking out Jareth. She walked over to Electra.

"Nice looking guy, wonder what he looks like under the mask."

"There's nothing under the mask. At least, I don't think there is."

"Really?" Emily asked. "How does that work?"

Dot walked up the steps and joined them. "Ah, so these are the rebels."

"Yes Dot," Electra said. "This is Macro..."

"Charmed to meet you, madam," Macro said, bowing and bringing Dot's hand up to meet his kiss.

"Nice to meet you."

"Ahem. And these are Emily and Rachel Hotkey."

"Hi," Rachel said. Emily waved.

"Hello." Dot smiled at them.

"And this is GigAnate, Second in Charge of the rebel virals. As you can guess, there aren't many. Hexanate and Daemon either eliminated or corrupted most of the virals in the Supercomputer."

"Who's First in Charge?" Jareth asked.

"Hexanate?" Dot asked, at the exact same time.

"Hexanate, my mother, and unfortunately, Daemon's closest friend," GigAnate sighed.

"Your mother?"

"Who's going to answer my question?" Jareth asked impatiently.

"You five probably want to plan it all out now... So run along then." Electra practically shooed them off.

"Are you going to answer my question?" Jareth asked again.

"Yes, Jareth. Macro and I are First in Charge. Unfortunately."

"You don't like the guy, do you?"

"He gives me the creeps. There's just something sinister about him. But, let's get back to our conversation."

"Right. What were we talking about again?"

"Ummm..."

At that moment, Dot walked back over to the two of them. Jareth wondered briefly whether she was getting tired from running all over the ship like this. Probably not, he decided. Dot was used to running around and taking charge of things. Maybe she just drank a lot of coffee. Wait... she was saying something...

"Have you two got everything?"

"Everything but my sister," Jareth said.

"She still hasn't gotten back? Did she forget what she went there for?"

In a flash of light, Hexadecimal appeared behind Dot. "Oh, ye of little faith, Dot," The Virus said, grinning.

Dot jumped. "Don't DO that!" she snapped.

"Did you find it Hex?" Jareth asked.

"Yes Jareth. Here, you have pockets. Carry it for me?"

"Sure." Hex handed the small object over to Jareth, who placed it into his seemingly infinite coat pocket.

"Is everyone ready to shove off?" Dot asked.

"Yes, Dot," Hex replied. Jareth nodded.

"Good." Dot called up to Gavin, who was standing on the platform, just behind the steering wheel. "We're ready to go, Captain!"

"Aye Lass," the Captain called back down to her.

Dot, followed by Mouse, quickly disembarked. Halfway down the gangplank, Dot turned. "Oh, and Jareth? Help Bob keep Matrix in line. He doesn't like working with Virals."

"Believe me, I know," Jareth replied.

Dot grinned, then hurried down to the docks.

Without any further ado, the Saucy Mare pulled out of the port.

"Hoist the sails!" The Captain called. One by one, the floating energy sails deployed out over the bow. As soon as they were all raised, the ship sped off toward the horizon.

"So, how exactly do help keep him 'In line', Jareth?" Electra asked, as Matrix walked past. He looked even edgier than usual, and his hand kept creeping toward his gun. Between the Mainframers, Pirates, and Webriders, the lower levels of the saucy Mare were very crowded. Many of them squirmed through the crowd, trying to get wherever they were trying to go. Jareth and Electra stayed well out of the way, in the corner. Jareth leaned against the wall, while Electra crouched on one of the ROM barrels.

"I dunno," Jareth replied. "I guess if he snaps and starts shooting people, I get to kick his ASCII." Electra looked at Matrix, then back to Jareth, who was roughly half his size. "Yeah, right. I'd bet ten units he'd mop the floor with you."

"Wouldn't it be easier to use a mop?"

Electra laughed, but stopped when she realized Jareth wasn't joking.

"Ummm... never mind," She said. "Aren't you two, like, related or something?"

Jareth considered. "I suppose he's my half-brother. Or something. Mom DID use his father's code to create us."

"Us?"

"Hex, Megabyte, and I," Jareth replied.

"Oh. So... Megabyte was his brother, too?"

"Sort of... but I don't think Matrix ever knew that."

"I don't think it would have made any difference if he had," Electra said.

"You're probably right."

"Electra!" Jareth and Electra turned as Mr. Christopher, Gavin's right-hand man, entered.

"GigAnate wants to see you. He says it's urgent."

"Okay. Thanks." Electra stood up. "Later, Jareth."

Jareth waved at her as she left. As soon as she was gone, he took her seat.

* * *

"What's up?" Electra asked as she entered the conference room. Gavin, GigAnate, and Marco were already gathered there.

"We received an urgent transmission from the Supercomputer, "GigAnate said.

"It seems that the rebel sector is under heavy attack, Lass," Gavin added.

"That's impossible!" Electra said. "Someone must have given Daemon the coordinates."

"Aren't two of Daemon's children aboard?" Macro asked.

"Well, yes, but--"

Gavin looked at Electra sadly. "I'm afraid they'll have to be contained, Lass."

"Contain them? But they wouldn't Hurt a Fly!"

"I'm sorry, My Lady." Macro Reached for Electra's Hand.

"If you want to Contain them, then you'll have to Contain me!"

Giganate was surprised that Electra was defending them. "Electra, Don't be so hard. Just because you Like Jar--"

"No GigAnate, It's not that. For one thing, They're both my friends. But there's more. Jareth and I share the same Viral code. If you think he's dangerous, then what about me?"

Macro Looked at her, horrified.

"That's right, we share the same Viral Code. Why so shocked?"

Macro quickly Whipped out his pair of binders and Locked them on Electra. The twins cuffs not only bound her wrists, but also stop filed the Keytools that sat on her Bracers.

"Macro! What are you doing?!" GigAnate stared, shocked.

"If they all share the same Code, then why not contain her too? Don't forget, I run this show."

"You Wish." Surprising everyone, Electra head butted Macro and ran out of the room. She made it out onto the deck, but didn't get much further before running into Jareth. "Whoa! Where you going? What's wrong? And why are you wearing handcuffs?" Jareth fired questions left, right and center.

"I took your place! But no time for that, We have to find Hex and hide."

"Why? What's going on?"

Electra dragged Jareth further down the hall. The two reached a corner, but just as they were about to turn it, voices crept down the corridor. Jareth and Electra flattened against the wall, trying not to be seen.

"Hex, we're just taking you somewhere... Down stairs. Would you like this Necklace? I found it in the cargo hold, and it looks like it might just fit you."

Electra peeked around just in time to see Hex take a small silver collar from Macro and slip it on. Macro then led her off downstairs.

"...." Electra put her Hand over Jareth's mouth, not that it made much difference. Jareth's mouth never moved anyway. Still, he got the hint.

"No time for that," she said. "The collar she put on makes her unable to use her powers, and it will hurt like Hell if she tries to remove it. I should know, I helped create it."

"Huh. You'd have thought she'd learned her lesson about collars. But what is going on?"

"The rebel sector is under heavy attack, as if somebody told Daemon that that's where all the Rebels are nesting. They blame us, because we all have Daemon's Code."

"Makes sense. But you know we didn't do it."

"Of course I do. It's not your sort of thing to do. It's just..... Un-chaotic."

"Yeah, We should know a lot about tha..."

"There they are! Get them."

Jareth and Electra spun around to see a group of sprites headed their way.

"Uh-oh. They got Matrix to help. Would this be a good time to hide?" Jareth asked. Electra grabbed Jareth's arm and pulled him along.

"I wonder when they bring us the menus?" Hexadecimal asked, to no one in particular. She began to pace slowly back and forth across her cell.

"Psst! Hex!"

Hexadecimal turned. "Jareth? Is that you?"

Jareth's head popped up from behind a barrel. "Yep. It's me."

Electra's head popped up next to him. "We're here to bust you out of here."

"Oh, good. I was feeling a bit ......cramped."

Jareth walked over to the Hex's cell. He tried the door. When it wouldn't open, he turned to Electra. "It won't open," he said.

"That's because it's locked, Jareth. BuBBle--Cutter!" Electra's Keytool transformed into a small saw. Within moments, there were no longer any bars on the cell door. "There. Piece of cake."

Jareth opened the cell door and Hexadecimal walked out.

"You know," she said, looking around the brig appraisingly, "This place really isn't so bad. All it needs is a few mirrors here and there....."

"What do we do about her collar?" Electra asked.

"I broke your binders, I can break hers." Jareth grabbed hold of Hex's collar and quickly snapped it off. "Dude, that thing snapped like a twig. Why didn't you just chuck it, Hex?"

"I thought it looked good on me. Didn't it?"

"Never mind," Electra snapped. "We have to get out of here."

Jareth switched to a contemplative face "You guys go ahead. I'm gonna stick around and have a little fun."

"Oooh, me too!" Hex said.

Electra sighed. "All right, all right. Here's what we'll do. I'll go and see if I can steal one of the lifeboats. You two can provide the distraction. When you see my signal, meet me at the back of the ship."

"I think it's called the Stern," Jareth said.

"Who cares what it's called? You're my distraction. So go distract." Jareth switched to and evil grin. A similar grin spread across Hex's face.

"A distraction... I think we can arrange that." Hex Mask-teleported out of the room, followed closely by Jareth.

"And don't accept jewelry from ANYONE!" Electra yelled after them.

* * *

"Captain!" All the Sprites in the conference room turned as one of the pirates burst into the room. "Captain Capacitor, sir!" Gavin turned from his maps to face the distraught Binome. "Out with it, Lad! What's the matter?"

The pirate tried to regain his breath. "It's Hexadecimal, sir."

"I should have known that cell couldn't hold her," Matrix said. "Have you had any luck finding the other two?"

"No, sir," the Binome said. "No sign of them. They may have gotten off the shi--"

"Mr. Matrix!" Another pirate binome, this one wearing a chef's hat, burst into the room. His entire out fit was covered with food, as was his face. " It's the Virals!" he said. "They're in the Galley!

* * *

Matrix practically kicked down the door to the ship's galley. He drew his Gun, expecting, even hoping for trouble. Frisket entered alongside him, sniffing at the ground and growling threateningly. A few of Capacitor's guards followed them, but stayed back so as not to get in their way.

"Scanning." Matrix's eye spun around in it's socket, glowing a bright red. He began scanning the crates in the Galley, searching for the Virals. The eye even allowed him to see through solid objects. Unfortunately, all he saw was food.

"Hey!, Matrix!"

Matrix spun around. First Jareth's head, then Hex's popped up from behind a row of crates.

"Catch!"

Before Matrix knew what was happening, he was being pelted with an endless barrage of fruit. The other guards moved in behind him, but also ended up being pummeled by produce. Jareth couldn't help but laugh. This was the most fun he'd had all day. Matrix wiped the fruit pulp from his face, trying to get a clear shot at them. But the virals kept pelting him with fruits, vegetables, and the User only knew what else, laughing insanely the whole time.

"You think this is enough of a diversion?" Hex asked, hitting one of the Binomes in the face with an orange.

"Diversion? I thought this was a distraction."

"It's both." Hex reached behind her, but couldn't find any more produce. "Ummm.... Jareth? We seem to be out of fruit."

"Really?" Jareth looked back at the now-empty shelves. "Oh, dear... we are, aren't we?"

Matrix wiped the fruit juice off his face, revealing an angry scowl. He raised his gun and aimed strait for Jareth's head.

"Gun, Command Line. Full Delete...."

*THUNK!*

Suddenly, Matrix's eyes rolled back in his head. Jareth and Hexadecimal watched as he fell to the floor. Behind him, holding a wooden rolling pin, stood Electra.

"I thought you told us to wait for you signal." Jareth said.

"I realized I didn't have one. Come on, let's go." Electra ran out of the galley, followed by Jareth. Moments later, the two returned. Hex was still there, admiring her reflection in one of the frying pans. Electra rolled her eyes as Jareth grabbed Hex's arm and dragged her along.

*****

Moments later, a lifeboat sped across the energy sea. It twisted and turned haphazardly, never heading the same direction twice.

"I thought you said you could drive this thing!" Electra said. "I never said I could drive it well," Jareth replied, yanking the wheel sharply to the left. Electra let out a yelp as she fell to the floor.

"Whoops. Sorry."

"Try steering!"

"You should know better than to stand up in a boat. And I don't see YOU trying to drive this thing."

"Well, anything you can do, I can do bet...."

"Oh, shut up."

Hexadecimal looked from one to the other, watching the argument as if it were a tennis match. "Well," she said, "If it'll stop you two from fighting, I suppose I could always drive for a while," she said.

The silence following that statement lasted for quite a while. Finally, it was broken by a bleep from BuBBle. Electra answered, calling up a communications Vidwindow.

"Calling Electra.... Emergency... Calling Electra...." The strange looking sprite announced.

"I'm here," Electra said.

"Oh. Hello. Wonderful weather we're, we're, we're having today." The sprite seemed to have a small glitch in his program, he kept repeating fragments of his dialogue.

"I thought there was an Emergency, Kas?"

"Oh yes, Boss Man Gone Crazy, crazy, crazy. Told Kas and Kiran to tell Guardians where the sector was. Kas and Kiran never thought it would lead to that, I mean this, this this."

"Boss Man??" Jareth asked.

"What actually is going on?" Electra asked at the exact same time.

"Rebel Sector under attack, attack, attack." the screen started to fade.

"You're breaking up."

"Ack.. ack.. ack." The Vidwindow screen suddenly went black..

"That was a lot of help!" Jareth exclaimed. "What did he mean, Boss Man?"

"Macro. Lousy fink. He set us up. You. Set you up."

"So what do we do?" Hexadecimal asked. She leaned far out over the water, trying to get a better look at the fish.

"For starters, don't fall over the edge," Electra considered. "We could go to my place... Only place that Macro doesn't know about. Well, he doesn't know where it is, anyway. It's perfectly hidden. Built right underneath the Collective."

"Why would you build it there?" Jareth asked.

"Because, they'd never suspect it. That's why only I know how to get there.... It's a secret." Electra smiled. "Of course, you guys are like family, so I'll show you the way." Electra looked out over the sea.

"Now, all I need is a tear...."

Jareth reached into his coat and pulled out a small crystal sphere. He tossed it out over the edge. As soon as it hit the surface of the liquid energy, the crystal exploded, producing a large tear.

"Show off," Electra grumbled. "BuBBle--Portal!"

* * *

Dot Matrix stared aghast at Matrix's face on the Vidwindow. "You did WHAT?"

"Tried to capture them. The captain thought-"

"You tried to lock them up. Why did you try to lock them up? Both Jareth and Hexadecimal have transfinite energy levels. They were two of the strongest sprites we had. Without them, we may not be able to crack Daemon's defenses."

"We received a transmission from the rebels saying that their sector was under attack. The captain thought that since Jareth and Hex are Daemon's children, they might have been the ones who-"

"Uh-huh. And you didn't try to stand up for them?"

Matrix opened his mouth to respond, but Dot cut him off. "Of course not. Listen, I don't care how much you hate Virals. We need their help. Send someone to find them."

"They've disappeared from our scanners. And I don't think-"

"Don't think we need them? Think again. We're dealing with a class seven here. Tell me, have you EVER run across a class seven? I didn't think so. Let me talk to Electra."

"She left with-"

"She's gone, too? So not only have we lost two of the strongest sprites at our disposal, but now our main connection to the Rebel sector is gone too?!"

"Well, yes, but Sis-"

"No buts. Change of plans. Meet Mouse and I at the following coordinates." Dot punched a few keys on her organizer, sending the coordinates to the Saucy Mare. "Meanwhile, I want someone to go out to search for the runaways. Someone they wont run from, like AndrAIa or Surfr. Got it? Dot out."

On his end, Matrix closed the Vidwindow. GigAnate stood off to the side, staring in surprise."Why do I still let her do that?" Matrix asked, to no one in particular.

Gavin spoke to the pirate Binome next to him. "Send for Surfr and AndrAIa. Bring them here." The Binome nodded, then rushed off.

"You're sending them both?"

"Why not?" Gavin asked. "Two heads are better than one, after all."

"Electra still thinks we're out to get her. I don't know much about Jareth or Hexadecimal, but I've seen 'Lectra fight. And if they're not careful, they may lose those heads," GigAnate said.

* * *

"Home sweet home," Electra said, Keying in the password and opening the door to her house. The door slid open, and Electra stepped in. "Lights," She said. Responding to her voice, the lights in the room turned themselves on.

"Oooh, what a lovely house," Hex said, coming in and looking around. "It could use a bit of work, though.... I think that wall over there would look better in green..."

"Hmmm... maybe you're right...," Jareth said. He started to dig through his pockets. "I KNOW I've got some paint in here somewhere...."

"Hey! Redecorate your own house. Right now, we've got to figure out how we can help the rebels.... and the others! We've got to find some way to get in touch with the other Mainframers. They still don't know about Macro."

Jareth wandered off, exploring the other rooms of the house. Hexadecimal flopped down on the couch, still picturing the room in various shades of green.

"That double-crossing snake," Electra continued, "When I get my hands on him..."

"Hey, Electra... where's your fridge?"

"Don't you ever think of anything but food? This is important!"

Jareth gave her the most vacant look one can who has no face.

"Forget it. The kitchen's the second room on the left, just past the bathroom, you can't miss it."

Jareth switched to a grin. "Thanks," he said, before running off towards the fridge.

"I don't suppose you have any suggestions?" Electra asked, glancing over at Hex.

"Oh, I have several. For instance, I think that lamp would look better over there...."

Electra sighed. "Forget it."

"Got any I/O shots?" Jareth's voice rang out of the kitchen.

"Nah, I hate that stuff." Electra poured over many Vid windows.

"Whatever. Hey! Power Shakes!"

"Get me one while you're in there, would you?" Electra typed a few more keys. "Got it!" Electra's study lit up with the glow from the Vidwindows. They now displayed various lists and graphs.

"Got what? Is it suddenly brighter in here?" Jareth walked into the room, carrying two Power Shakes. He absently handed one to Electra, staring at the Vidwindows.

"Yeah, I got access into the rebel files. It wasn't easy, either. Macro tried to block my access codes."

Jareth eyed the files displayed on the Vidwindows. If he'd had eyelids, he would have blinked furiously."Rather colorful, isn't it?" he asked.

"Thank Ms. Tracer. She programmed it."

"Sounds familiar. Is that the one that wouldn't stop looking at me?" Jareth remembered the girl who had watched him until she walked into the wall.

"Yup, She's only there because her two older sisters are." Electra shifted in her chair. "And as long as she's been here, she's been trying to make the rebels more...fashionable. She's already threatened to have a formal dance, once we get rid of Daemon. Seriously, I think she just wants to see me in a dress."

"Um...Don't you mean IF we get rid of Daemon?" Jareth corrected.

"Whatever."

"Umm...why did we access the rebel files?"

"To contact the others. Remember?"

"No."

"Oh, forget it."

"I already did."

Electra sighed, trying very hard not to slap him.

Hexadecimal wandered into the room."What are you two doing in here?" she asked. "If I'm interrupting anything, I can always come back later," she added, giving Jareth a secretive look. Jareth switched his mask to an evil glare.

"We were just about to Call Dot," Electra said, ignore the exchange. Electra summoned up a Vidwindow, displaying the back of Dot Matrix.

"Auntie Em?" Electra asked.

Dot turned around. "Oh, it's you," she said. "I take it Enzo found you?"

"Nopers. But we do have nifty evidence that clears our names..."

"No need," Dot actually looked relieved that they had contacted her.

"We wish to regroup."

"And crush Macro....," Jareth added. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Macro's a traitor."

"Macro? Wasn't he with you, Electra?"

"He was," Electra replied. "At least, we thought he was. But he's been working for Daemon the whole time."

Dot's face looked grim. "So he's the one who set the rebel sector up. The rebels have taken heavy losses because of him. I'll contact Gavin and have Macro contained until we can deal with him. Meantime, we'll have to change our plans. Again."

*************************************

"Ugh," Electra said, as she stepped into something that probably shouldn't be stepped in. "Of all the ways into the Supercomputer's Principal Office., we just HAD to go in through the sewer."

Jareth shrugged. "Just be glad you're wearing boots. Dot said someone should sneak in and shut down the P.O. defenses form the inside."

"Yes, and I would have gladly volunteered to go. But why do we have to go in through the sewers?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

Electra stared at him. "But it was your idea."

"It was?"

"Yes. You said that since no one in their right mind would try to sneak in to the P.O. by wading through raw sewage, Daemon wouldn't think to put defenses here."

"That sounds logical. Are you sure it was my idea?"

Once again, Electra had to resist the urge to slap him.

As if the smell wasn't bad enough, the light began to fade after about thirty feet.

"Man, it's dark in here," Jareth said. "Shark--Flashli-"

"No!" Electra stopped him in mid-command. "Dot said that the P.O. scanners would be able to detect the use of a Keytool."

"Oh, yeah," Jareth said. Now he remembered. Since a Keytool left a Guardian when he became infected, Daemon had set up Keytool-scanners to locate uninfected Guadians. Jareth knew from past experience that he showed up on most scanners as a Guardian. Maybe Electra was right, he shouldn't call attention to himself.

"But it IS dark in here," Electra said. "I don't suppose you have any Viral tricks you can pull off?"

"Maybe," Jareth sounded surprised. That simply hadn't occurred to him. "Let me see what I can do."

Electra heard faint rustling sounds, and she could tell that Jareth was digging through his pockets again.

"Ah, here we go," Jareth said. Suddenly, a bright flickering light appeared, so bright Electra had to shield her eyes. When her eyes adjusted, Electra glanced at the source of the light. One of Jareth's crystal orbs floated at about eye-level, shining a bright bluish-white. It hovered unsteadily, as if it could not make up it's mind which way to go.

"How's that?" Jareth asked.

"It'll do. Can you send it on ahead?"

Jareth bent down so that he was on eye-level with the crystal. "Light...go on ahead."

The light hovered exactly where it was, seemingly content to stay where it was.

"Light...ahead!" Jareth repeated.

This time, the light floated over and came to rest on Jareth's shoulder.

Electra smirked at him.

"What? At least we can see where we're going now."

"Yeah....now we can watch where we step."

***************************************

Electra pushed the sprite-hole above them.

"Sealed." Electra sighed. "They were prepared."

"Let me try."Jareth said. He pushed against the cover, but it wouldn't budge.

"Ahem. Jareth... IT'S SEALED! you can't push it."

"Oh. So what should we do?"

"Hmmm...." Electrs stood as if in a trance for a while. Jareth dug his hands into his pockets and waited.

A while later Jareth got fed up and poked Electra.

"Wha? Where am I? What's going on?" Electra said sleepily.

"You were asleep," Jareth's mask flashed an angry look.

"Oh, sorry. Anyway, I have an idea." Electra pulled out Jet. The strange Keytool seemed to be permanently stuck in the shape of a double-handed short sword.

Jareth looked Electra up and down inquisitively. Not sure she liked the way he was looking at her, Electra frowned.

"What are you staring at?"

"Just where were you hiding that thing?" Jareth asked.

"Never mind. The point is, I can use it to pry off the Sprite-hole cover."

"But the collective will pick up the use of a keytool...or at least you said it would."

"It will. But not if I don't give Jet a command. I can just use it as a sword."

"Oooh. Whatever." Electra shoved Jet straight up through the sprite-hole.

"OW!" A voice called out from above. Electra and Jareth looked at each other, shocked.

"Do you think it's a guardian?" Jareth asked Electra.

"Of course it's a Guardian!" a familiar voice called through the cover.

"Bob?"

"Bob?"

"BOB!" Bob yelled from above them.

Electra pulled Jet out from the cover, prompting another yelp from the blue-skinned Guardian.

"Everybody off the sprite-hole!" Electra waited for the all clear.

Electra cut a hole in the cover big enough for her and Jareth. They climbed up with Bob's help. Jareth look around the room. It seemed to be some sort of Prison cell, though why a sewer should lead to a cell was anyone's guess. Matrix was sitting dejectedly against the wall, brooding over something. Bob's leg was bleeding where it had been sliced by Jet. Jareth couldn't help but note the unusual color of the blood oozing onto the floor.

"Hey! We're in a jail?" Jareth exclaimed.

"Let me guess... Macro?"

Matrix looked down at the floor. "He tricked me." Matrix growled.

"Macro left a holographic decoy of himself in the Saucy mare's brig, while he escaped here. He managed to take Matrix and I hostage," Bob explained.

"There, there. It's not your fault you're a big dolt." Electra said sarcastically, patting his shoulder. Matrix slapped her hand away.

"Keep your hands off me, Virus!"

"Hey! If you weren't so hooked on being Macro's newest best friend...."

"So this is now my fault?!" Matrix instinctively put his hand to his holster, only to remember that it was empty.

"No! This is his fault!" Electra pointed at Jareth. "He dragged me through the sewers and now I'm peeved."

While Electra was facing Matrix, Jareth made a crazy sign behind her back.

"I saw that!" Electra yelled.

"Saw what?" Jareth asked innocently.

The conversation was cut short as footsteps were heard echoing down the hall outside the cell.

"Eep! Guards!"

Jareth shoved Electra back down the hole, hopping in after her. He kept the side of his head to the ceiling of the sewer until he heard the footsteps leave, then climbed back out of the hole. He reached his hand down to help Electra out, but she didn't surface.

"Alright Electra, I know you don't like the sewers but... Lectra? Electra?" Jareth searched the water beneath him, but found nothing. "ELECTRA!? LECTRA?! Where are you?"

***********************************************

Elsewhere in the Supercomputer, a Sprite hole cover was moved aside, creaking in protest against the concrete.

"Gah!" Electra pulled herself out of what she hoped was only murky water. The current had swept her down a side tunnel, dragging off to User knew where.

"Jareth, I swear, when I get my digits on you...." Electra pushed the hair off her face. "Jareth? No witty Comeback?"

Electra looked around....only to find herself standing in the street, directly in front of the Principle Office.

"Oh, Slag," she said to the various Guardians who stood around her, weapons held ready. " It's you."

*****************************************************

"Well, how was I supposed to know that there was undertow in the sewers? It's not like I go sewer surfing on weekends. It actually YOUR fault, you know. You should have told me there were Guards posted, then we could have been quieter. You know--"

"Shut. Up," Matrix growled. "Just break the bars so we can get out of here."

"And just how am I supposed to do that?" Jareth asked.

"You can use your Viral energies to melt the bars," Bob said, nursing his wounded foot. "I'd do it myself, but..." Bob gestured with one arm, indicating his entire body. His chrome Glitch-Armor seemed to be covered with some sort of green fuzz. Looking closer, Jareth saw that Bob was actually covered with tiny lines of glowing green zeroes and ones.

"It's a sort of file-lock," Bob explained. "A Codemaster did the same thing to Glitch once before. My powers won't work until I can manage to break it."

"Okay. Stand back." Jareth cracked his knuckles and aimed his bony white hands towards the bars. In moments, they were free.

"Funny. The last time I tried that, nothing happened. This must be the low-rent district, the bars were much softer. So, now what?" Jareth asked, following Bob and Matrix as the crept down the hall.

"First of all, keep your voice down," Matrix snapped.

"We're headed to one of the storage rooms," Bob said. "They took Matrix's Gun, and I'm hoping to find something that'll break this time lock."

"Ah...say no more. Say, when do you think we'll run into Mom? I still want to talk to her about the time-"

"Shhh!"

"Sorry."

***************************************

Electra winced as she was forced into a chair by a rather unfriendly hand. The interrogation room she was in was one of the most uncomfortable the Supercomputer could manage, and the bright lights were shining directly into Electra's face.

"Electra! I was wondering where you'd gotten to. Welcome home."

"Macro! You scum-sucking--"

"Ah-ah-ah, flattery will get you nowhere. I'm just here to ask you a few questions."

Marco's smooth, cover-up personality was gone, replaced by a predatory look in his eyes. He was after something, and he was determined to get it.

"Now, just how many of you are there?" he asked.

"Just one. Accept no substitutions."

Macro slapped her across the face.

"Don't tempt me," He said. "I can do much worse."

Electra sneered at him, but didn't answer.

"So tell me, how many?" Macro leered over Electra.

"You think I'm just going to TELL you? You tried to capture us. And you doomed the Rebels."

"I wouldn't had to, if you had accepted my offer." Macro brushed Electra's cheek.

"I'd rather marry Frisket." Electra growled, and bit Macro's hand. Her fangs sank into his skin, drawing blood.

"Who's Frisket?" Marco said with a growl while nursing his hand.

"The dog behind you," Electra replied with a grin.

***********************************************

Matrix, Bob, and Jareth slid past a hall of cells, moving as stealthily as they could. As they passed the last one, no less than three different pairs of hands pulled them in. After a slight struggle, GigAnate lay on the floor, keeping as still as she could.

"GigAnate!" The three almost shouted.

"Shhh... Do you want us all to be re-captured?" said a female sprite that Jareth thought looked a lot like a squid.

"Hey. I know you. You sent that transmission to Electra," Jareth pointed to the squid lady. Jareth suddenly realized that there were quite a lot of squid people around them.

"That was was was Me," one of the others said. "Where is Elec ec ectra?"

"I accidentally flushed her down own own the sewer," Jareth replied, imitating the Sprite's speech impediment.

Emily and Cathryn Hotkey stood to the side, watching. Recognizing the rebel Viruses from the Saucy Mare, Matrix did a quick double-take.

"Hey, weren't there three of you?" he asked.

"Rachel whined," Cathryn said. "So we left her back on the boat."

"Listen," Bob said, "We need to form a plan. We have to..." Bob suddenly swooned and would have hit the floor had Matrix not caught him.

"He's in a file lock!" GigAnate noted, startled. "It seems to be draining his energy."

"Can you fix him?" Matrix asked, unease in his voice. He disliked entrusting Bob to a Virus, especially since he didn't have his Gun handy.

"Not GigAnate personally, but we rebels will have him out in a jiff," one of the nearby Virals said.

"Who are you?" Jareth asked.

"Hmm? Oh, name's Aurora. Put 'er there." The Virus extended a tentacle-like hand.

"No," Jareth said, staring at her hand as if it might bite.

"Jareth, I want you to find Electra," Bob said. GigAnate opened her mouth to say something, but Bob cut her off. "No matter how capable she is, She might need back up" Jareth nodded and Disappeared into his mask, which spun haphazardly out of the room.

"Rebels, Let's get working." GigAnate announced.

************************************************

Electra stood looking down at the floor.

"Yuck," she commented. Lying there were various pieces of what had once been Macro. He was badly injured, though he hadn't yet disappeared.

"What does that taste like?" Electra asked Frisket.

"Woof!" Frisket replied.

At that moment, Jareth chose to appear.

"Hey, what's this place? Oh, the interrogation room. I remember this!

This was the place where...." Jareth paused when he saw what was lying on the floor. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes. Macro. I thought I'd just watch him writher for a while."

"Good dog," Jareth said. "Wait...how did Frisket get here?"

"Don't ask me."

"Frisket, how did you get here?"

Frisket barked.

"All right, enough fun," Electra said. "We need to get out of here. You, Jareth..."

"Me Jareth."

Electra sighed.

"You, Jareth, go get Hex, Bring her here. Think you can remember that?"

"Okay, Hex said she'd be finished by now."

"Finished with what?"

Jareth gave her a puzzled look. "Your house. What else?"

Electra sighed, picturing what her house would look like after Hexadecimal was through with it. "Listen, when you and Hex get back, be prepared to fight. We're going to have to battle our way out of here."

Jareth looked at her skeptically. "This is the Principal Office of the Supercomputer. Do you really think we can fight our way out?"

"Hmm...maybe not. I don't suppose you have any tricks left?"

Jareth began to search through his pockets, his hand encountering the small object Hex had given him to hang onto. "You know what? I just might."

***********************************************

Jareth's polished black mask flung itself down the halls of Electra's house, finally halting when it reached the living room. In a flash of bright light, Jareth appeared.

"Hex? Hexadecimal..."

"Jareth? In here!"

Jareth followed the sound of Hexadecimal's voice, finally finding her standing on the kitchen ceiling, painting herself into a corner. The entire kitchen had been re-done, the walls covered in jet black paint. Hand-and-footprints had been splattered over everything in neon colors, and Jareth was almost positive that the microwave did not belong in the refrigerator.

Now, why was he here again....?

"Oh, yeah! Hex, Electra told me to come get you. We get to fight and...stuff." He shrugged.

"Really? Who are we fighting?"

Jareth shrugged again. "The Guardians, I suppose."

Hex hopped down from the ceiling onto the freshly-painted turquoise floor.

"All right then, let's go!" Hex vanished into what had once been her mask, and floated gently away.

Jareth gazed around the kitchen. "I wonder where she got all the paint?" he mused. Then he followed Hexadecimal, hoping that she knew where they were supposed to be going.

*************************************************

"What could be keeping them?" Electra asked, pacing the floor of the interrogation room.

Frisket replied with a growl. Already, three half-eaten sprites lay on the floor of the room, and eventually, Electra knew, sooner or later someone would want to know where all the guards were going.

"Honey, I'm home!" Jareth appeared in the room, with Hex following after.

"What did you call me?" Electra asked.

"Never mind. Here, I think this is yours." Jareth reached into his coat and pulled out what looked like a cross between a Keytool and a katana blade.

"Jet!" Electra said, taking the strange tool from Jareth. "Where did you find him?"

"One of the Guards was carrying him, heading for the evidence room."

Electra shot Jareth an odd look.

"What were you doing there?" she asked.

"I only went in to look!" Jareth said defensively. "It's not like I went in just to take things. And you should be glad did, because I also found your other Keytool, What's-His-Name."

Jareth pulled another Keytool, this one a more conventional-looking device, from his other pocket and tossed it to her.

Electra caught BuBBle and attached it to her bracer. "Whatever. Listen, we need to get back to the others."

"Right," Jareth nodded. "Follow me."

Hexadecimal and Electra fell into step behind Jareth, as the three of them exited the interrogation room. They had not gotten far when one of the wandering Guardians stopped them. Electra was about to attack, as was Hexadecimal, when Jareth withdrew the small command from his pocket and threw it to the floor.

It had been a long, long time since the Medusa Bug had been activated, but it was obvious that it hadn't lost it's touch. The moment the small, honeycomb-shaped object hit the floor, it's power began to spread, turning everything into stone.

The Guardian tried to run, but the effects of the Medusa were too fast. Soon, he was nothing more than a statue.

Unfortunately, Jareth and Electra too were affected. Both stood in the narrow hallway, frozen solid. Hexadecimal, hovering inches off the floor, gazed sadly from one to the other.

"Hmm....I suppose I should really undo this, but..." Hex's gaze went to the frozen Guardian. "That would release HIM as well...." Hex shook her head, unaccustomed to logical thought. "What to do, what to do.....Hmmm?"

As Hex stood there, the stone encasing Electra began to crack. Soon, it had shattered entirely, freeing her from her imprisonment. Moments later, Jareth, too, was freed.

"What in the World Wide Web was THAT?!" Electra asked.

"The Medusa Bug," Jareth explained, shaking a few fragments of stone from his hair. "You were out of town the last time Hex played with it. It's a lot of fun, but for some reason, Guardians are immune."

"Wait," Electra said, puzzled. "If Guardians are immune, then doesn't that mean..."

All three looked down the hall toward the Guard that had stopped them. Sure enough, the stone holding him prisoner shattered, freeing him. He took off down the hall, running as fast as he could.

The three exchanged glances.

"After him!" Electra shouted.

***************************************

"Now, just hold still, Bob...," GigAnate said, opening up a Field Medic kit. The chaotic Virus withdrew a small tool and aimed it at Bob, who was lying against the wall.

"This'll get rid of that file lock, faster than you can say-" GigAnate never got to say what it worked faster than you could say, because at that moment a wave of energy swept through the area, turning everyone and everything it passed into stone.

Bob sighed. This was a little too familiar.

Moments later, the stone encasing Matrix shattered. He dusted himself off carefully, looking a bit confused.

"The Medusa Bug, or something just like it," Bob explained. "Guardians are immune, but it clearly works on Viruses."

Bob gestured to GigAnate, who stood still as a stone. Matrix tried to pry the tool from GigAnate's hand, but it, too, was stone, and now seemed to be a part of the Virus' hand.

"This is bad," Bob said.

"Very bad," agreed Matrix.

************************************************

"So, What should be do with him?" Electra was sitting on the unconscious Guardian.

"Well, we could tie him up," Jareth suggested.

"With what?? Wait..." Electra ripped off one of her sleeves, making a long and wide piece of cloth. She ripped it into thirds. She handed one to Hex, and the other to Jareth.

"Alright. Jareth. You tied his legs, Hex, you stuff it in his mouth, and I'll tie his digits."

"Ummm....'Lectra? I have rope, you know."

"What? You should have said something!"

"You didn't ask!

Before this argument could go any further, Matrix came running down the hall.

"Ah. Mr. Macho, nice of you to join the party." Electra said with her hands on her hips. "Where's Bob? Wasn't he with you?" she asked.

"I left him back in the cell with the Virals." Matrix scowled again. "I didn't want to, but he made me."

"Why didn't he come along?"

"He couldn't. The File Lock he's in is draining his energy. That one Virus--"

"GigAnate?" Electra suggested.

"Whatever, said she could free him, but then she turned to stone."

"Whoops," Jareth said.

"Bob'll be fine. A File Lock like that would take ages to drain a Sprite's energy to lethal levels. We'll go back and fix him later. But now, we need to find the security controls." Electra turned to Jareth. "Which way do we go?" she asked.

"Um... Well... I can't remember." Jareth said honestly "Was it left or right?" They were standing where the corridor forked.

"Alright, Hex, you come with me, We'll go right. Jareth, Matrix, you two go left. Jareth, keep in touch, call me if you find it." Electra grabbed Hex's arm and pulled her down the left-hand corridor.

"Electra....?" Hex poked Electra. "I thought you said we were going right."

"We are, Hex."

"Then why are Matrix and Jareth walking right as well?"

Electra stopped, looking around and noticing for the first time that she was going down the wrong tunnel.

"Oh," she said. "Right."

****************************************

Kit paced back and forth through the streets of the Supercomputer. All of the viruses walking the streets had been encased in dull gray stone, but the Guardians were still active. They scurried like ants, trying to figure out what had happened, and because of the chaos they simply failed to notice Kit.

She had left Dot, Mouse, and Timesprite back at the docks with the Saucy Mare and Ship- -all petrified, no help to anyone. What could have done this?

Sighing helplessly, Kit gazed up at the massive sphere of the Principal Office. She had tried to get in, but the doors were frozen solid. There was nothing for her to do, no way she could help.

She wished she knew what was going on.

*******************************************

Matrix couldn't have been in a worse mood. Bob had been leeched dry of energy by a File Lock, Frisket had been frozen solid by the Medusa Bug, he had lost his Gun, and, worst of all, he was left exploring the P.O. with none other than Jareth. He scowled.

"Don't you ever do anything but scowl?" Jareth asked. "I mean, have you ever tried to smile? It's not that difficult...well, I wouldn't really know, of course, I haven't got a face, but just about everyone I know smiles, and they make it look pretty eas--"

"Shut. Up," Matrix never pronounced "Shut up" as a phrase, at least not when directing it at Jareth. It was always two separate sentences, as if with each word Matrix was trying not to knock the Virus' teeth out.

Of course, Jareth hadn't any teeth, so he wasn't terribly concerned. "Tell you what. I'll shut up if you smile. And no, that doesn't count as a smile. That's a scowl. There's a difference. See, a smile--"

"Shh!" as they neared the corner, Matrix grabbed Jareth and pulled him flat against the wall. He glanced cautiously around the corner, noting the two Guardians stationed in front of the door. Jareth peeked over Matrix's shoulder.

"Are those Guardians?" he whispered.

"Yes."

"What are they doing?"

"Standing guard."

"Makes sense. Guardians guarding."

"That's the Security Room."

"How can you tell?" Jareth asked. It looked like all the other doors to him.

"Read the sign."

"Can't. What's it say?"

"You can't read? It says 'Security'."

"That's where we're going, right?"

"Right. Wish I had Gun."

"Gun?"

"Yes, Gun...you know, my gun?"

Jareth reached into his pocket and pulled out the very firearm to which Matrix had been referring. "Is this it?"

The gun was gone from Jareth's hand in less time that it took to blink. Even though Jareth didn't blink, he still found this impressive.

"Where did you find her?"

"Her? It...ummm...SHE was in the storage room where I found 'Lectra's keytools."

Matrix was fondling the Gun like a lost love.

"Ummm...should I leave you two alone?"

Matrix glared at him. "Watch and learn, Virus." Matrix stepped out into plain sight of the Guardians. His targeting eye rotated, then began to hum, glowing bright red. Flawlessly, Matrix squeezed off two shots. The next sound Jareth heard was a thud, like that made by a pair of bodies hitting the floor.

Jareth peered around the corner, but the Guardians' bodies had already disappeared.

"Come on," Matrix said. He reached for the doorknob...but before he could turn it, it turned itself. The door began to open from the other side.

As fast as he could, Jareth grabbed Matrix and pulled him back around the corner and out of sight. The Viral Guardian peeked around the corner once more...and gasped, shocked.

A large sprite was standing in the hall. He cast his gaze around, presumably trying to find those responsible for guarding the room. His skin was a dark blueish-green, a shade lighter than Matrix's, and his hair was jet-black. A small golden cylinder hung from his belt, and on his Icon throbbed sickly-yellow veins, a telltale sign of Daemon's infection. His skin and hair had changed color, but even Jareth could still recognize him.

Matrix looked over Jareth's shoulder. "You know this guy?"

"Yes," Jareth whispered.

"Who is he?"

"Backslash."

***************************************

"Really, I'm surprised at you, Electra," Hexadecimal said, as the pair of them made their way down the corridor. "I'd have thought you of all people would have paired yourself off with Jareth. Why didn't you?"

"Well, he and I are the only ones with Keytools. If we didn't split up, there'd be no way for us to keep in contact."

"Oh, I see....but you could have given one of yours to Matrix, or to me."

Electra shuddered at the thought of what Hexadecimal would do with a Keytool. "This...works better, trust me."

"What are we looking for, again?"

"The security room."

"And why?"

Electra sighed. She was getting sick of explaining the plan. Jareth had needed constant reminders, and his sister wasn't that much better. Well, she thought, all relationships have problems.

Electra stopped dead. Did she really just think that? Shaking it off, Electra fell back into step behind Hexadecimal. "We're looking for the security room so that we can shut off the defense grid. Then, we have you undo the Medusa effect. GigAnate heals Bob, reinforcements arrive, we kick Daemon's Bitmap, and celebrate with a feast. A nice big feast, with party games and music and all sorts of--"

Silence.

"Well, go on," Hexadecimal prompted. "All sorts of what?"

More silence.

Hexadecimal turned around to see why Electra hadn't spoken.

A large Virus stood in the center of the Hall. Her skin was a violent sapphire blue, and her eyes blood red. She was a strikingly beautiful humanoid from the waist up, but below that she had the long, coiled tail of a serpent. A small, blue, blinking device was attached to her waist. Electra was held a good six inches off the floor, wrapped head to toe in the Virus' coils. Her fangs were sunk deep into the snakelike tail, and viscous purple blood was oozing out, but the Virus seemed not to mind.

"Greetings, Hexadecimal," she said, in tones that brought to mind a bar of iron wrapped in silk.

"Oh, dear."

******************************************

"Backslash? Are you sure?" Matrix asked, apparently shocked.

"He used to be one of my best friends, I should know." Jareth's mask was a shocked expression as well. "Though I admit. He's changed."

"Who's there? You can't hide from me you know. I'm Backslash Interface! Terror of the guardian collective!" Matrix shook his head in disbelief and Jareth tried not to snigger.

The sound gave them away, and Backslash rounded the corner. "Aha! Here you are! ... oh Hello Jareth. what are you doing here?"

"Infect him?" Matrix asked Jareth.

"Infect? Sorry, can't, don't know how. I never could get Megabyte to teach me that one."

"Why do you want to do that?" Backslash asked, puzzled. "And who are you?" he asked, turning on Matrix. "And didn't you fall out with your mother?" he asked Jareth, turning back to the Viral Guardian.

"Mother?" Matrix echoed. Could it be that Backslash hadn't heard about what had happened the last time they were in the Supercomputer? Maybe they could turn that to their advantage.

He shot Jareth a look, and, for once, Jareth caught on. Jareth nodded at the renegade, then turned back to Backslash.

"I wouldn't say we've FALLEN OUT, exactly. I merely went on...um...a trip that she wasn't so fond of. Say, where do you think that expression came from, anyway? 'Falling out'....sounds like a skydiving term. Do you think he's buying this, Matrix?"

Matrix shook his head, muttered something about Chaotics, then grabbed Backslash and wrestled him to the ground. "Get. Some. Ugh! ROPE. or something." Matrix managed to call out while fighting the surprisingly strong Backslash.

"Oh! I have that! I can do that!" Jareth said, as if he'd just won a prize. Jareth looked into his pocket and pulled out the first thing he found.

"Wait! I have weapons!" Buffy cried.

"I've made a little space for the cheese," The cheese guy replied.

"Oops. That's not rope." Jareth said, pushing them back into he's jacket. "AH! here it is."

"Give it here." Matrix commanded.

Matrix quickly tied up the infected Guardian. "Watch him," he said gruffly, then walked towards the security room.

"I hope you realize that that's not the real security room," Backslash said.

"Then why is it labeled Security Room?" Jareth asked.

"The P.O. is full of mislabeled doors, to throw intruders off the track. You'll never find the real defense grid."

"Um... what are we going to do with him now?" Jareth asked, looking back up at Matrix.

"He'll take us to the defense grid."

Jareth kneeled by Backslash. "By the way, Hi, Backslash! I haven't seen you in a long time. Do you remember me? Well, even if you don't, I remember you, and that's something, because I almost never remember anything. Anyway, what are you doing here? The last time I saw you, you said something about going away to explore the Net, but I never thought you'd wind up here, because--"

Matrix interrupted Jareth by poking Backslash."Take us to the defense grid."

"Never," Backslash spat. "No matter what you do, I'll never--"

CLICK! Matrix's Gun was suddenly cocked next to his head.

Backslash sighed. "That way," he said, jerking his head in the direction of the hall.

*******

"Nice Mask" Electra said. She and Hexadecimal had been taken to Daemon's throne room. Electra had been in no position to put up much of a fight (and HexAnate's blood was starting to burn her mouth), and Hexadecimal had been quite wiling to see Daemon again, so they had been transported here with little trouble. Once there, Electra had been hung from her wrists over a large tub of glowing liquid, presumably something unpleasant.

On the small pedestal next to her throne was a polished golden mask, which slowly rotated, catching the light. Daemon wandered slowly past the pedestal, caressing the mask as she passed.

"Oh, Mother, You shouldn't have." Hexadecimal squealed at the sight of the mask.

"Good, because I didn't."

"You mean the mask isn't for me?" Hexadecimal frowned.

"It's my greatest invention yet. I haven't quite got a name for it, considering that I haven't put it on anyone yet." Daemon pushed a button on the arm of her throne. "You may enter, Turbo."

The door to the throne room opened again, and none other than Turbo stepped into the room.

"But I do have somebody in mind," Daemon continued. "He'll be the greatest Virus there ever was....next to me, of course." Daemon went behind Turbo and raised the mask over his head.

"HOLD IT!" Electra said.

Daemon paused. "Yes?"

"You're going to put THAT mask on Turbo?"

"Correct."

"But Turbo's a guy."

"Your point being?" Daemon asked, now slightly irritated.

"That's a female mask."

Daemon blinked. How had she managed to overlook that? Of course, a female mask could not be used on a male Guardian.

"Then I'll simply have to find someone else." She glared menacingly at the Sprite hanging from the ceiling.

Electra swallowed. "Me?"

"Out of the question. You have Lore's Code, Lore's mixed code. There'd be no point in my replacing Lore if I gave this mask to someone just like him."

Daemon walked back to her throne and returned the mask to it's pedestal. "Anyway, you won't live to see my creation. You'll be deleted. Now, I must be off to find a suitable....specimen. Hexadecimal, dear?"

"Yes, Mother?"

"Keep an eye on her, would you? Come, HexAnate, Turbo." The three left the room, side by side.

"Soooo.... Hex," Electra said, as soon as the doors has slid closed. "How do you feel about letting me down? Preferably not into the--"

SPLASH!

"Oops. Sorry Electra." Hex said innocently, as Electra quick swam to the surface, eager to get out of the water before she got deleted.

"Yeah, whatever," Electra said, climbing out of the pool. The strange green liquid clung to her. "Yuck," she said, attempting to brush it off. It seemed to be soaking into her flesh; her skin was starting to glow green. She made a mental note to find out what it was, as soon as this adventure was over.

" It certainly is a nice mask," Hexadecimal said. "Do you think mother would mind if I took it?"

"Probably. But do you really care?"

"Why, what a question, Electra! Of course I care!" Hex grabbed the mask.

Electra glanced at the door as footsteps started to echo in the corridor beyond.

"Oh bother. I don't have anywhere to put it," Hexadecimal said. "And mother would take it from me if she saw me with it, wouldn't she? Here, Electra, you take it. Hide it. Find Jareth and... Do.... whatever it is we're here to do.." Hex handed the mask to Electra, somehow managing to shrug at the same time.

"Got it Hexy." Electra bolted from the room. As the doors close behind her, she heard Hexadecimal roar:

"AND NEVER CALL ME THAT!"

*******

Jareth and Matrix entered the dimly lit hallway, dragging the tied-up Backslash behind them. There were no doors in this one, but the walls were lined with portrait after portrait, beautifully rendered.

"Hey. I remember this hall from a lecture we had when I was in the Academy." Jareth exclaimed, surprised that he could remember something from so long ago.

Matrix shot a surprised look at Jareth. "I thought you'd never been to the Academy."

Jareth switched to an embarrassed face. "Well, I was expelled, to tell you the truth. In my third year. Never made it any further. But I went, of course. Where else does one get a Keytool?"

Matrix blinked, absorbing this new information. "So what's the deal with this hall?"

"Backslash, would you care you explain?" Jareth looked down at the gagged Backslash, who merely glared at him.

"Very well," Jareth said, "I'll do it. This Hall holds all the paintings of all the Prime Guardians the collective has ever known. It had everything written on the plaque you would need to know about them. Installation date, Deletion date, What wars they've caused..." Backslash made an outraged sound through his gag. "Oh. sorry. What wars they've won, or fought in. And they're all here, every single one of them...from...Comp Serve to Hot Key, from Online Access to Sei..." Jareth stopped at the third picture from the end. "That's funny..."

"What? what is it?"

"There's no Deletion date on Seirra's plaque. And we all know she's not the current Prime Guardian. It doesn't say what happened to her."

"Lazy engraver?" Matrix quipped.

"I don't think so." Jareth bent over and pulled out Backslash's gag. "What happened to Seirra?" he asked.

"I wouldn't tell you even if I kne--" Jareth stuffed the gag back in. Backslash coughed on the gag.

"Maybe she just retired," Matrix suggested.

Jareth shook his head. As I understand it, Guardians never retire. They serve until the day they go offline."

"Well, we can go ask Turbo if we see him."

Backslash couldn't speak, but he began to thrash about as soon as Matrix mentioned Turbo.

"What is it boy? You want to play fetch?" Jareth asked.

Matrix almost lost his grip on Backslash's rope. He bent down and pulled the gag out of his mouth again.

"Turbo's bad news. Only Daemon and HexAnate are even allowed near him."

"Whoa. HexAnate's here?" Jareth asked. "The virus that killed Del--"

"Of course! How many people have a name like HexAnate? Listen, I know you guys aren't too thrilled with me at the moment, but take my advice and stay away from Turbo. At all costs."

"Just because he's fighting the infection?"

"Fighting it? Ha! He lost that fight ages ago. But Daemon's about to make him Virus supreme. Nobody will be able to beat him... except Daemon, the Great and Powerf--" Jareth stuck the gag back in.

"Why'd you do that?" Matrix asked.

"I doubt he was going to say "Wizard of Oz". Believe me Matrix, I did it for your own protection. Now, we have to find Daemon and Turbo before something very, very not good happens.

"Where's the girl?" Daemon asked, as she and HexAnate reentered the room.

Hexadecimal glanced at the empty manacles that hung from the ceiling, then to the glowing pool. "The girl? Why, she...err..."

"Hexadecimal! How could you?"

Hexadecimal pouted. "But Mother, I just..."

"How could you delete her before I got here? We get so little time to bond, you and I. We could have done that together."

"Oh, well," Hexadecimal replied. "These things happen."

"Indeed. You never did tell me what happened to that mask of yours." As she spoke, Daemon climbed back into her throne. Hexadecimal floated into the air with a giggle and came down in her mother's lap.

"Well," she began," do you remember Guardian 452?"

"The one who escaped into the Web?"

"That's the one. Isn't he simply.."

"Yes, he is." Daemon grinned, but it quickly became a frown. "He did this to you?" Daemon ran her hand along Hex' smooth face...warm and soft, not at all like the mask she was created with.

"You know, it's a shame. I couldn't find anyone in the dungeons worthy of my beautiful new mask. I'd give it to you, but then I'd still only have two children. The point of making it was to have three again." Daemon glanced at the pedestal...then did a double-take as she realized that it was empty. In a single, catlike movement, she sprang up and perched on the back of her throne, throwing Hexadecimal from her lap. Hex caught herself midair and turned to face Daemon.

"Hexadecimal! Where have you taken my mask? Tell your mother the truth!"

"Me?" Hexadecimal asked innocently. "I haven't taken it anywhere."

Just then, the double doors opened again and Jareth and Matrix entered, between them carrying the still-tied Backslash. Matrix dropped his half of Backslash.

"This isn't the defense grid!" he yelled. "You lied to us!"

Backslash grinned. "Of course I did. Did you really believe all that crap about mislabeled doors? No one's ever broken into the Principle Office before."

"Lore!" Daemon leapt from her perch on the back of her throne to the center of the floor, then rose gracefully to her feet. "Return my mask, immediately!"

"What mask?"

"The one you stole from me."

"What? What are you talking about? I just got here."

"HexaAate. Search him." Daemon commanded. Jareth sighed and dropped his half of Backslash, as HexAnate slithered towards him.

*******

Electra raced as fast as she could down the hall, trying to find Jareth. "I have a great idea, everybody. Let's split up!" she panted, mocking herself. "I am such an idiot..."

She stopped dead when she reached the fork. Alarms began blaring from the hall she had just come from, and a patrol of Guardians was approaching from the front. She heard more footsteps, turned, and saw that yet another patrol was coming from her right. She was trapped. She looked down at the mask in her hands.

"Oh well," she sighed. "When in Rome..." Electra closed her eyes and slowly raised the mask to her face.....

*******

Jareth dodged a claw, jumped over another, and sent an glowing golden orb right into HexAnate's chest. She shrieked and fell over backwards, where she lay twitching on the floor.

"Well that was easy." He said as Hexanate disappeared, leaving the small blue blinking device behind on the throne room floor.

Daemon watched all this with some interest. Jareth saw as her eyes flicked towards something over his left shoulder. Suddenly, he felt himself being lifted off the ground from behind.

"Now Mother, what is all this about?" came the rich, eloquent voice of his assailant.

Jareth couldn't see his attacker, but he didn't need to. Not even he could possibly forget that voice.

Megabyte was back.

*******

This time, Electra didn't scream. She did almost pass out again, but she didn't scream. When the pain stopped, Electra stood up. At least, she thought she was standing. She felt weird, like she was floating.

When Electra looked down, she noticed that she wasn't even touching the ground. Her tight fitting clothes were no more. Instead, she wore a loose blue dress that was floating around her, as was her hair. As the Guardian Patrols advanced on her, her new eyes transfixed on them. She raised one of her hands and shot out a wave of blue energy. The Guardians all fell to the floor, twitching in agony until they disappeared.

Well, she thought, so much for that.

It was then she realized that she couldn't breathe.

*******

"So let me get this straight. You made a mask to replace me, You were going to use it on Turbo, but Electra pointed out the mistake, so you took him back. Hex kills her, you lose the mask, and you blame me?" Jareth was wearing his angriest face. "Why am I blamed for everything that she does? This happened before we were Viral, too! It's not fair!" Jareth turned from Daemon and glared at Hex. "And why did you have to do that to Electra? What did she ever do to you?"

"But, Jareth..."

Jareth took one wide step to the left. A moment later, Megabyte flew right through the space he had been standing, slamming into the wall. His blue skin was now as black as Jareth's mask, and the crest on his head had become the same gold as his claws. In addition to the color change, four long black tentacles now grew from his back, and they continually waved about in the air as though they were attempting to catch something. Apparently, the Virus had survived the Web my merging with a Web Creature. A similar blue, blinking device was clipped to his side. Matrix stormed after him, with the look on his face that was reserved especially for Megabyte.

"Oh, take it outside, you two," Jareth said. With a wave of his hand, he transported them both to the street outside the front doors of the Principal Office.

Moments later, Electra flew into the room, crashing right into Jareth. She helped him back up after she got up and was going frantic with hand gestures.

"What is it 'Lectra? What's wrong? And what did you do to yourself?"

She hit him and continued to signal to her new face.

"I don't understand, Electra, What's wrong, Why can't you just tell me? Are you hungry? Do you need to use the bathroom? I don't now where it is here...."

She hit him again, and continued to gesture at her face. Finally, Hex came up with the solution.

"I got it! She can't breath. She doesn't know how to use the mask. Okay, Electra, Visualize the mask changing. It should obey your will. Go on."

Electra complied, and the mask fell from her face. "There now. Are you alright?"

"Yes. thank you Hex." She hit Jareth again for not helping her. "Did I look hungry to you?!"

"No, you looked...hey, wait a minute. You're alive. You got better."

"What?"

"But you're glowing. Someone left you in the microwave too long."

"What?"

"And what happened to your face? It's still a mask."

"WHAT?"

"Shark--Mirror."

With a loud beep, Shark complied. Jareth handed the mirror to Electra.

Electra gasped as she saw her reflection. Her skin was now glowing a pale, electric blue. But the thing that surprised her most was that her face was now a golden mask, identical to the one she had stolen from Daemon.

"What? But...how?"

Daemon, furious at being ignored for so long, shocked them all with a bolt of static from her hand. "It's not important. What's important is that you return my mask immediately!"

Jareth snatched the mask held it over his head. "You want it? Come and get it."

"Very well." Daemon said standing. Another blast from her hands knocked them all across the room. Jareth dropped the mask as he was slammed against the wall. Daemon walked over and casually picked it up. She calmly strode back to the pedestal and returned the mask to it's proper place.

Once the precious mask was secured, she turned back to Jareth and Electra, a look of absolute fury on her face.

"Give me one good reason....never mind. There aren't any." Daemon raised her arm, charging a massive energy blast.

Without thinking, Jareth unfurled his wings and wrapped them around Electra. In a flash, Jareth's polished ebony mask was spinning out of the room. Daemon's blast knocked a large, smoking hole in the wall, but Jareth and Electra were long gone.

***********

Jareth and Electra exploded onto the ground of a brightly lit room. Every surface seemed to be covered by some sort of computer terminal.

Jareth shielded his eyes, unaccustomed to the bright light. "Umm...Electra? Could you please get off me?"

"As soon as my head stops throbbing," Electra replied, her eyes shut tight. "What was that?"

"That was me, saving your life. Again." Electra pulled herself to her feet, then helped Jareth to rise.

"Oh, come on. When have you ever saved my li--" Electra stopped short as she caught sight of the monitors that surrounded the room.

"J, we found it. We finally found it."

"Huh? What were we looking for?"

"Jareth, this is the security room."

************

Matrix grunted in pain as he was slammed against the wall of the Supercomputer's Principal Office. The force of the impact left a Matrix-shaped imprint in the wall, cracking the solid rock.

Matrix shook his head. His vision cleared just in time to see Megabyte lunging at him, claws extended, the jagged blades of his left hand reaching out to shred his flesh. As fast as he could, Matrix jumped aside. Megabyte's claws sliced into the stony wall of the P.O....and stuck.

"This looks familiar," Matrix said. "But something's different. I mean, besides your new look, Megabyte. Now, what could it be?" Matrix took a few steps back from Megabyte, framing him with his hands. "Oh, I see what it is." A moment later, Gun was leveled directly at Megabyte's head. "This," Matrix growled. "Gun--Command Line: Full Delete!" The large green sprite took aim, as his targeting eye swivelled around and began to glow red, thrumming loudly.

Just as Matrix squeezed the trigger, Megabyte attached all four of his tentacles to the wall he was stuck to. Using all his strength, he tore out a large slab of the P.O.'s wall. He swung it around, placing it between him and Matrix. The blast from Gun hit the large piece of rock, showering the area with sand and rubble.

As the dust cleared, Megabyte examined his shattered claws. They appeared to be undamaged....well, no more damaged than before. His eyes narrowed dangerously. Where was that boy?

A low groan issued from beneath a particularly large piece of debris.

Megabyte marched over to it and threw it aside. Sure enough, there lay Matrix, barely conscious. Megabyte couldn't decide whether to grin evilly or hatefully, so he managed to do both.

"Now, then....let's try this again." He raised his left hand, extending his undamaged claws, one by one. He reared back his hand, prepared to strike...and was blasted back against the wall, striking one of the metal support beams he had exposed. He shook his head. What had hit him? Just as Matrix did, he tried to clear his vision. A surprisingly small figure came into focus. A girl, blue skin, brown hair and eyes. Guardian uniform, Keytool leveled at his head.

"Do I...know you, girl?"

"No, but I know you. Megabyte, right?"

Megabyte nodded.

"You can call me Kit."

*********************

"So we found the Defense Grid." Jareth said rubbing his sore neck. It was kind of hard to land comfortably when you holding someone who's as heavy as if they'd been drenched in water. "I finally managed to get where I was going. That's never happened to me before. Now what do we do?"

"I'm not exactly sure... I thought you'd know." Electra floated a little up into the air.

"Wha?" Jareth said, shocked, but accepted it one nano later. "Stay down won't you? I'm feeling sick watching you float like that." He pulled her down so she was just under eye level.

"Great. You're jealous now."

"Of what? You? Ha?" Jareth half-lied. He didn't really want her power, he just thought it looked cool. Stuff on her floated, like her hair, her clothes, not to mention herself.

"Whatever." She turned away from him.

"Ack! Get your hair out of my face." Jareth squinted through her now-turquoise hair.

"Sorry." Electra pulled it over and looked at the console. "Alright. Whatever you do. Don't push that big red button. Okay? I'll try to shut off the grid." Electra turned towards the console in front of her.

"Red button?" Jareth started off towards the other side of the room where the red button was. Nanos before he reached it, Electra tackled him from behind.

"That was close. Jareth, what did I tell you about the red Button?"

"Hmmm? Oh, that. I don't know. I was going to press it and find out what it did."

"I know. Ow, how can I stop you from pressing it?"

"I don't know. What's it do?"

"Ummm..." Before she could stop herself, Electra reached over and pressed the button. She closed her eyes painfully. "Why," she asked, "did I do that?"

Jareth sat down comfortably cross-legged on the floor. "Because I would have," he said.

Electra braced herself for the alarms.

*********

"It would be wise of you to stay out of my way." Megabyte hurled at Kit.

Kit rolled to side, dodging Megabyte's tackle. Glancing around, her eyes fell on a baseball-sized rock, lying amidst the rubble. As quickly as she could, she kicked the rock into the air, caught it in her hand, and threw it dead on at Megabyte.

Megabyte sliced the rock neatly into thirds before it ever reached him. "A rock? You can't be serious."

Just then, a sudden loud hissing made Megabyte glance down at his belt. Though he had succeeded in deflecting the rock from his face, one of the pieces had struck the small blue device he had been fitted with. It was now hissing, sparking, and emitting clouds of purple smoke.

A look of shock, then one of terror crossed Megabyte's face. "No!" he shot a glance from the device to the ground he stood on. Sure enough, like the edge of a piece of paper held to a flame, the gray stone of the floor was encroaching on his black metal legs. The further it consumed him, the faster it went. "NO!" he yelled, as the stone of the Medusa Bug closed in over his head, sealing him fast.

Kit watched all this with amazed expression on her face. "Well. That's...worth knowing." Kit helped Matrix to rise.

"So THAT'S why the Medusa wasn't affecting him. Or HexAnate." Matrix glanced at the doors of the P.O., which were still stuck fast. "We have got to find a way in there, Kit."

"What's going on it there, anyway?" Kit asked, concerned.

"Last I knew, Bob was in a File Lock, Frisket was petrified, Hex is probably having a tea party with Daemon, Jareth is annoying as ever, The viral rebels are stone, Backslash is tied up in the throne room... Oh! And Hexadecimal killed Electra."

"Backslash is there?" Kit said her expression changing completely.

"Focus." Matrix lightly tapped Kit on the back of the head. "I thought that Electra's death would have shocked you more."

"WHAT!? Electra's dead!?"

"As I understand it, Hexadecimal did her in."

"Now we really have to get in there," Kit said.

At that moment, the double doors opened wide.

*****************

No alarms. Electra slowly opened her eyes.

"Ummm....'Lectra? I think that was the button."

"You mean the one that..."

"Uh-huh."

Electra strode across to one of the consoles. It hadn't de-activated all the security like she'd hoped, but the front doors were now open. That was a start.

"Jareth, help me out here."

"What should I do?"

"Look for something do disengage the security systems."

"Okay."

There was a pause.

"Ummm...Electra?"

"Hmm?"

"What will it look like?"

"It should say Security, or Disengage, or something like that."

Jareth sat back down on the floor. "Sorry. Can't help you."

Electra sighed. "Why not?"

"Just let me know when you find it."

Electra continued to search for the appropriate panel. "This would go a lot quicker if you'd help."

"No....no, I don't think it would."

"Ah! I think we have something."

Jareth rose and went to stand beside her. "What is it?"

"What, can't you read?"

Jareth sighed. "You know, I'm getting really sick of being asked that question. No, I can't. So what's it say?"

Electra blinked. "Ummm...It's the panel we've been looking for. Just give me a second and I'll have the entire defense grid shut down."

Moments later, the lights in the room went out.

"Whoops," Electra said.

********************

Bob lay alone in the abandoned dungeon, the dampening field on his armor draining out what was left of his energy. His eyes were blurred, he could barely see. Not that there was much to see, anyway. The Viral Rebels in the cell with him were solid as a rock, and statues aren't much company. As he watched the tool GigAnate had been holding crumbled to dust. The Medusa had been active a bit too long, things were beginning to break down. It was only a matter of time before the entire system went.

Suddenly, the lights in the dungeon went out. Something must have happened to the power. Only the faint outline of the glowing green numbers covering his silver armor were visible. And they, too, were fading. His vision was finally starting to go out altogether.

Or was it? He actually didn't feel so bad anymore. His strength seemed to be returning. Bob shook his head, jarring himself fully awake. He wasn't imagining it. The file lock was gone! Bob stumbled to his feet. As he did, a wave of dizziness passed over him. He might not be locked anymore, but he needed a recharge badly. But where could he find one, with all the power to the P.O. cut off?

***********************

"Ummm...I think I hit the wrong switch."

"You think?"

"Just shut up and do something."

"Shark--Flashlight."

Jareth swung the bright beam around, finally landing it right in Electra's golden face. Electra switched to a flinch, bringing an arm up to shield her eyes.

"Don't shine it on me! Shine it on the control panel."

Jareth obliged.

"Now hold it there for a minute," Electra said. "I'll try to fix this."

***********************

Matrix and Kit rushed down the halls of the Principal Office. The two had finally arrived back at Daemon's throne room. For some unexplained reason, their progress had not been inhibited by any guards at all. It was almost as if....

Kit reached for the door, but Matrix grabbed her hand.

"Oww! Matrix! What is it?"

"This is too easy. We never should have made it this far without a fight."

Kit paused. "You're right. We didn't run into a single sprite on the way here. I figured it was just because of the Medusa thing."

"That doesn't affect Guardians."

"So it's a trap?"

"Almost definitely."

Cautiously, Kit opened the door. The two strode, side by side into the large..and conspicuously empty throne room. As soon as they were a respectable distance inside, the door slammed shut, causing both to spin around.

At the sound of boots hitting the ground behind them, they spun again.

There, crouched in a feral pose, was none other than Daemon herself. Her emerald green hair was now tied back behind her head like a ponytail, and her jet black eyes started to shine red.

Just then, the lights went out. The only thing visible in the room was the flashing of the blue device clipped to Daemon's belt.

"Oh, sure," Daemon said to no one in particular. "Spoil my entrance."

*****************************

"Right," Electra said, typing madly at the keyboard. "I think I've got it." With a click and a whirr, the light came back on....then exploded, showering the room with sparks.

"Ummm...I'm guessing that wasn't what you meant to happen," Jareth said.

"Not exactly, no." Electra turned back to the monitor. "No, it's okay. Only the lights in the Security Room blew. Well, a few in a couple of the storerooms, but nowhere important."

That's when the red lights started to flash, and the blaring of the alarm made Jareth clasp his hands to where his ears should have been.

"NOW the alarm goes off?!" he asked, incredulous.

"Uh-oh....powering the system back up blew a fuse somewhere. We started a fire. The emergency extinguishers aren't responding. It's spreading fast."

"Cool."

"Cool? Do you understand what's happening?"

"No, not really."

Electra turned and grabbed Jareth by the lapels of his coat. "Jareth, the Principal Office is burning down."

*************************************

Bob breathed a sigh of relief as the lights overhead flickered back on. He stumbled over to the nearest computer terminal. "Computer--locate closest recharge point."

The computer complied..and the location it showed was approximately five feet from where he was standing.

"Huh?" Bob glanced over...and sure enough, there was a recharge station, presumably for the guards stationed here to recharge their weapons.

"That'll do."

*************************

"Do the others know?" Jareth asked.

"How could they?" Electra replied. "That blackout shorted out half the systems in the P.O. Internal communications are out. Alarms are out. We've got to go warn them, before the whole building burns to the ground."

"Okay. Then what are we waiting for? Let's go." Jareth turned around and started for the door, but stopped just short of it. "Umm... 'Lectra?"

"Yeah?"

"Which way?"

**************************

Unlike Kit, Matrix had absolutely no trouble seeing in the dark. Unfortunately, neither did Daemon. She leapt strait at them, claws outstretched. Before she could connect, Matrix tackeled Kit and knocked her out of the way. Daemon kept going, but managed to turn around in mid-air, her feet connecting with the wall. From there, Daemon leapt again, this time up towards the ceiling.

Matrix climbed to his feet and looked wildy around the room, hoping to see his opponent. His eye finally fell on the hole in the ceiling where Daemon had broken through the flimsy tiles.

"Matrix, what's going on?" Kit asked.

"Stay down." Matrix cocked his gun at the ceiling and let loose with a huge load of ammo, showering the room with bits of splintered tile. But no Daemon.

"Come on," Matrix muttered under his breath, "Where are you?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Kit caught sight of something in the dark: a small, blue flash of light. The device on Daemon's belt! Sitting up, Kit aimed her Keytool at the device.

"Clip--Energy Beam!" With a whirr and a click, Clip complied. The energy blast briefly illuminated the pitch black room, striking it's target with flawless precision.

The device shattered, spraying the area with blueish-white sparks, just as the lights overhead flickered back on. Daemon stood still as a stone.

Kit blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light. Matrix ran over and helped her to her feet.

"Good shot," he said.

"Yes, very good."

Shocked, Kit turned from Matrix to face Daemon, who was now moving freely.

"How do you like my statue impression?"

"But....you....," Kit was clearly confused.

"I know what you're thinking. 'Why isn't she affected by our little Viral Bug?'Well, sorry, little Sprites, but a good Virus never reveals ALL her secrets."

"We don't need the Medusa to deal with you," Matrix growled. He leveled his Gun at Daemon and fired, not once, not twice, but thrice.

Daemon held out her hand. The blasts from Gun began to slow down, slower, slower, until the floated in front of her in a dead stop. The Supervirus snapped her fingers, and the balls of energy instantly dissipated.

"Please," Daemon said. "When you refugees managed to infiltrate the Principal Office, I thought you were going to present a challenge. But if this is the best you can manage, then I don't see how you managed to get this far. But, no matter." Daemon raised her hands above her head. The lights in the room dimmed as Daemon pulled the energy from the very air, concentrating it into one large orb of energy. "The game ends here."

Daemon threw the charge at the two Guardians with all her considerable strength. Matrix and Kit flinched, expecting to be deleted instantly....but that instant never came.

Opening their eyes, the two saw the last thing they expected.

"Jareth?"

"Electra?"

Daemon was equally shocked.

The two were hovering between them and the fireball, using their own considerable power to hold it back.

Jareth turned to face them...literally. His body didn't move, but his head spun so that it was facing completely backwards. "But of course. You didn't think we were just gonna let you get incinerated, did you? Oh, ye of little faith, Matrix."

"Jareth? Could we focus here?" Electra asked, sounding a little strained. After all, she wasn't very good at using these new powers just yet.

"Oh, sure. What do we do with this thing?"

"Well," Electra reasoned. "What do you do with a gift you don't want?"

Jareth switched to his most sinister grin. "Return it!"

Daemon heard all this, but wasn't able to dodge in time. Her own blast caught her full in the face, blasting her back through her throne, the wall, and, in fact, most of the rest of the Principal Office.

Electra turned back to Matrix and Kit. "You guys need to get out of here."

"Why?" Kit asked.

"We...er....," Electra began.

"What?" Matrix asked imaptiently.

"We sort of started a..ummm...a..."

"Fire," Jareth said helpfully.

"Yeah, that's it," Electra finished sheepishly.

"You started a fire in the Principal Office? That's no big deal. The P.O. has all kinds of automatic--"

"All offline.

Now Kit began to look worried.

*************************

Two running, two flying, the four of them made their way through the burning halls of the Supercomputer's Principal Office. They got stuck only twice; once when the way ahead of them was blocked by a burning beam, and Kit and Matrix had had to be airlifted over it, and once when Electra's dress got caught on a piece of debris. Before too long, the group had escaped the building and were gathered on the street out front.

"What about Frisket? He's still in there," Matrix said.

"Stone doesn't burn," Kit reminded him.

"But what about Bob?"

"Bob is just fine," said a voice from the doorway.

The party of four turned, and were astounded to see none other than Bob himself, casually leaning against the doorframe.

"Bob!" Matrix actually smiled.

"Fully charged and better than ever." Bob walked over to join the group. "What happened to Daemon?"

"We finished her off," said Jareth.

"Not quite, Lore," said another voice.

As the Mainframers watched, Daemon descended the stairs and approached them, a look of pure malice on her face.

************************

Jareth switched to a sinister grin. "Still going, huh?" Unfurling his ebony wings, he rose a few feet into the air, Electra right beside him. "Fine by me. Let's go!"

Daemon laughed derisively. "My, my, my. Are you thinking of attacking me again? Just what kind of son are you?"

"What?" Jareth asked, incredulous.

"What kind of a son would attack his own mother?"

Jareth couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You ordered my execution!"

Daemon waved the argument aside. "It's not as if you would have survived for long anyway."

"We've done okay so far," Electra quipped.

Daemon sighed. "Very well. Let's see what you can do, little sprites."

Jareth raised both hands into the air, a large ball of golden energy appearing between them. "Catch!" Jareth threw the ball at Daemon with all his strength.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Daemon nimbly leapt aside, allowing the charge to detonate the pavement where she'd been standing.

Electra brought both hands together, aiming them at Daemon. A sapphire-blue beam erupted from the point where her hands met, surrounded by a swirling white mist. It struck Daemon, encasing her head to toe in crystal-clear ice. It wasn't enough, however....moments later, a cracking sound split the air as a single fissure spread across the surface of the ice. Moments later, the entire block of ice splintered apart. Daemon now stood on a stretch of pavement that was both badly scorched and covered with shards of shattered ice.

Producing a few fireballs of her own, Daemon fired two quick shots and blasted both Jareth and Electra out of the air.

Managing somehow to land on his feet, Jareth switched to the angriest mask he had. He flexed his bony white fingers, his black fingernails extending into the razor-sharp, six-inch-long claws that ran in his family. Rather stupidly, he lunged at his mother.

Daemon grabbed Jareth's outstretched arm and swung him around her head, hurling him back towards the P.O. The Viral Guardian struck Electra as he flew, knocking her from the air. The two of them struck what was left of the stone wall of the Principal Office, and slid to the ground...out cold.

Matrix drew his Gun and leveled it at Daemon's head, but the Supervirus blasted the firearm from his hand before he could get a shot off. Matrix yelled out in pain, clutching his scorched hand. A second blast from Daemon caught him upside the head, and a moment later, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Slowing down, Daemon turned to Bob and Kit, the only uninjured opponents she had remaining.

"Who's next?" she asked, casually examining her nails.

Kit stepped forward, but Bob held her back. "I am," he said.

********************

"Truly. Are you sure you wouldn't like me to finish off your friend there first? It's very rude of you, you know. Getting yourself deleted and leaving no one to protect her."

"Kit's a Guardian. She doesn't need my protection."

"Indeed? Then why, may I ask, are you so anxious to go first?"

Right on cue, one of the petrified signposts on the street crumbled to dust.

"Ah," Daemon said. "I see. That little bug of yours is more destructive than it seems. Petrifies first, then destroys? And I suppose the pattern is low energy first, then higher? Hmmm....I suppose that your friends can't all be Guardians, can they?" Daemon took a few steps closer, deliberately taunting Bob. The Guardian's face was strained; his fists were clutched at his sides. Daemon grinned maliciously.

"That's right," she said. "Only Guardians are immune, correct? So I suppose the rest of your friends are just standing around the System. Not long now before they all start to decompose. They're all going to crumble to dust. Everyone you love, everyone you care about, they're all going to waste away, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it."

Bob's lips parted in a grimace. Small arclets of static electricity ran across his chrome- plated Glitch Armor. Sweat began to bead on his forehead. Daemon's grin grew still broader.

"Well? No angry words? No witty comeback? Come on, Guardian. I'm the only thing standing between you and your friends' lives. Haven't you got ANYTHING to say?"

Bob actually grinned. "I can't," he said. His eyes flicked towards something over Daemon's shoulder. "I'm concentrating."

Daemon caught that glance, and her face fell instantly. She spun around, looked up...her eyes widened, but it was too late.

The large chunk of levitating concrete fell as Bob released his telekinetic hold, catching Daemon completely off-guard. Kit flinched at the sound of crunching bone, and even Bob blinked.

"Is she...?"

"Deleted?" Bob asked. "Probably." With a wave of his hand, Bob began to lift some of the rubble off of the Supervirus. Once she was visible, it became clear that she was, indeed, dead.

A third voice rang out from behind them. "So that's it?"

Kit and Bob spun round, and there was Jareth, crouched amid the rubble. Electra had been propped in a sitting position against the ruined wall beside him, but she was still unconscious. Matrix sat on the rubble beside him, a surly expression somewhere beneath his broken jaw.

"You're awake?"

"Apparently."

"And just how long have you been sitting there?"

"Long enough," Jareth stood and walked over to where his mother's prone body lay, limping only slightly. "So that's it? Game over?"

Bob nodded.

"Bit of an anticlimax, no?" Jareth nudged Daemon's body with his foot.

"I don't care. It's over. Can you release the Medusa?"

"Huh?"

"The city is stone," Kit explained. "Can you un-stone it?"

"Oh!" Jareth said. "No. Ask Hex."

"You called?" Hexadecimal asked, appearing beside him.

"Where have you been? Mom's dead," Jareth said.

"Is she?" Hexadecimal appeared surprised, but didn't seem depressed in the least. She half-turned, glancing at Daemon's broken body. "Er....why is she still there?"

Bob blinked. Kit looked to him for an explanation, but he had none. Jareth was equally bewildered.

The five of them gathered in a close knot around Daemon's body, but then it began to give off a bright white glow, and the Mainframers backed off as quickly as they could.

As the light faded, Daemon's features changed. Her skin lightened from a deep purple to a brilliant fuchsia. Her sightless, unblinking eyes faded, no longer solid black. They were now normal sprite's eyes, the irises a deep emerald green. Her form-fitting black leather flowed like clay, changing into the supple blue body armor of a Guardian, complete with solid gold bracers. Her dark green hair faded to a golden blonde. She no longer looked anything like the Supervirus they had known...but she still looked stupefyingly familiar to Jareth's fragmented memory.

Matrix recognized her from her portrait in the Hall of Guardians. He managed to blurt out her name, despite his broken jaw. "Sierra?"

No sooner was the word out of his mouth than the body began to glow once more. However, this time it was no gentle glow, but a shockwave that blasted everyone back from the former Prime Guardian. As they watched, Sierra's mouth opened, and out came what appeared to be a large, silver snake. It grew in size as it emerged, unfurling great, long, taloned arms. When it had finally separated completely, it was at least three times longer than the height of an average sprite, and it was far from clear how it had ever managed to get into Sierra's body in the first place.

The large silver dragon turned it's leviathan head, flicking the air with it's forked tongue. It glared malevolently at the small group of sprites that had unmasked it.

Hexadecimal snapped her fingers. Instantly, the stone receded, and the system came to life once more. Moments later, the other Mainframers had joined them, and stood in a circle around Daemon's true form.

Daemon reared back and roared, shooting off a small silver orb into the skies above them. When it reached it's apex, it exploded, leaving a shining, silvery orb in it's wake.

Kicking off with her powerful hind legs, Daemon rose from the ground, swimming through the air as a fish through water. Before anyone had time to react, Daemon had vanished into her portal. The portal winked closed behind her, as if it had never been.

Daemon had fled, escaping to parts unknown.

To be continued........