Author's note: Once again, a big thank you to Electra, without whom this chapter would have been a lot shorter. :P
Chapter Eight: Neogenesis
Electra sat in a booth of the Dot's Diner, staring blankly into space. Her mind dwelled on her dreams, the ones she'd been having ever since Daemon fell. They always went the same way..Hexadecimal, Megabyte, and Jareth.no, not Jareth. Lore. The three of them, walking towards each other, like they were going to fight.and then Daemon would appear. She was continually wondering what the dreams meant, but now, with Phong gone, she had no one left she wanted to discuss them with. Jareth and Hexadecimal were out of the question. They'd either get freaked about it happening, ignore it completely, or decide that perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea after all.
And nobody else would understand. They'd assume that, because she was viral, she'd want it to happen. That she'd want the dreams to come true.
Electra laughed hollowly. Nothing could be further from the truth. Watching Daemon return was not something she was looking forward to. She wondered if she could bother Phong about it again. After all, he was only a VidWindow away. But no.he'd retired because he'd needed the rest, if she called him up just to discuss her problems, that would defeat the purpose altogether. Phong..He'd only been gone for a cycle and already she missed him.
"Hey! Watch what're doing!" Matrix yelled, a couple of tables away. She didn't know to whom he was referring, and at the present, she was too lost in thought to care.
"Uh. 'Lectra?" Electra turned her head at the mention of her name. Jareth was standing behind the counter, his elbows on the countertop, mask displaying an expression of amusement. "Mind not spilling your drink on the table?"
Electra looked down at the table, which was already partly covered with her drink. She pick up her cup before the rest of it was spilled.
"Whoops." She started to wipe up the Powershake's fluid with her sleeve. "Sorry."
******
Deep in the bowels of the Supercomputer's Principle Office, Diode yawned loudly. Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes and listened to the anguished, enraged cries of all the Viruses in their cells, awaiting deletion. She smiled; there was no sound better than that of Virals in pain.
A pair of hand suddenly covered her eyes. Diode got up, spun around, and had her blaster pointed at her assailant before he could blink. The Sprite who surprised her quickly took a step back, his hands raised up in a gesture of surrender.
Diode blinked. "Flash. You don't have clearance to be here. I should report you."
Flash's face fell. "You wouldn't."
"Oh, wouldn't I?"
"What do you want?"
Diode grinned. "Take off your pants."
With blaster pointed at his head, Flash had little choice. He complied.
"Happy?"
"Not just yet." Diode gestured towards the rest of Flash's uniform. "Keep going."
Before Flash could unzip any further, a voice called out from the nearest cell.
"Oh, please, not this again." The occupant virus rose from his cot and stepped into the light. His black metal skin glinted in the light, and behind him waved four long tentacles. His deep, menacing voice echoed through the prison block, arousing a few neighboring Viruses briefly from their slumber.
"If you two insist on playing these ridiculous games, at least have the decency to do so elsewhere." Megabyte sneered. "I have no desire to watch yet another Guardian 'mating ritual'."
Diode hung her head. "Spammit." She looked up at Flash. "I was just getting' into that one, ya know?"
Flash nodded.
"C'mon." Diode grabbed Flash by the arm, and dragged him off in the direction of the nearest broom closet.
Megabyte sighed, and shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I've learned more from those two than I ever wished to know." His eyes fell on Flash's pants, still lying on the floor...and the key ring attached to his belt.
*******
After Electra left the diner, (she seemed like she was walking in a daze, Jareth noticed) the rest of his shift went surprising quickly. After saying goodbye to Dot and Cecil (Dot had decided to keep him on after Cecil got back to work. Why, he couldn't imagine.), he unsheathed his wings and began the long flight back to Lost Angles. True, he could have simply teleported there in an instant, but after all, the only point in traveling from one place to another was to see what lay in between. You couldn't do that while teleporting.
Mainframe looked very different from above. Lots of little glowing boxes. He wondered if he looked like a little glowing box to the people on the ground. Probably not. After all, the buildings were box-shaped, and he wasn't. Or was he? He didn't think so, but he wasn't sure. He couldn't see himself. Well. Maybe he'd check it out in one of Hex's looking glasses.
Suddenly, Jareth's eyes began to glow, changing from their usual dark, emerald green to a brilliant white, and shining like halogen lamps.
Jareth crumpled, folding his wings---not the smartest thing to do in midair.
Fortunately, he happened to fall upon a rooftop, rather than the ground, which was much further away. He no longer saw the world around him, but rather something completely different. He saw Hexadecimal. But wait. She had her mask back! That was good; he'd always thought she looked better before Bob gave her that stupid face. She acted a lot cooler, too. And her outfit..it looked the way it did before Megabyte 'fixed' her after her incident with the Game Cube. She no longer had her seven swept-back, serpentlike projections from her head, but rather the bizarre, five-pointed crown that she'd worn for so long.
"Hex? What's going on? Where are we?" Jareth looked around. "Isn't this the Supercomputer?"
Hexadecimal unsheathed her claws, but as she did, Jareth heard another sound. A familiar, metal-on-metal scraping sound. He turned and there stood, of all people, Megabyte. He was different, too....he'd lost the black armor, and was back to his usual, stupid cobalt-blue. His claws were extended, and Jareth could see that they were whole and unbroken. His tentacles were missing, too. Wait...Megabyte did have tentacles, didn't he? No, he must not. After all, he didn't have them now.
"Oh, hey, it's you. What are you doing here?"
Megabyte didn't answer, but instead advanced as Hexadecimal did, as though he was about to rip him to shreds. Jareth didn't know why, but he guessed that it really didn't matter.
"Shark--Scythe!"
A moment passed, and nothing happened. Alarmed, Jareth glanced down at his bracer..and found that it wasn't there. He looked down at himself, and realized that he still had his leather trench coat, but he wasn't wearing his usual Guardian body armor underneath. Instead, he was draped in loose-fitting black clothing, and around his neck was a golden triangle on a chain. Reaching behind his head, he realized that his long hair was no longer tied back, but wild and unkempt.
He was Lore.
Laughing maniacally, Lore switched to a fearsome face and extended his own claws. The three virals advanced, and met in a blinding flash of purple light..
The light in Jareth's eyes faded, and he was himself again. A black, green, and gold scythe hung in the air in front of him.Shark appeared to have followed his command, even in delirium.
Jareth switched back to a neutral face, and returned Shark to his bracer.
"Well," he said. "That was different."
*******
"Honey, I'm home!" Jareth cried, swooping through the window of the Lair. "Hex?" he asked, finding the place surprisingly dark. Oh, the lair was usually dark, but not this dark. The hovering, traffic light-shaped things that floated through the Lair were switched off.
"Hex? You home?" Jareth wandered the halls, seeking out his sister. "Hexadecimal, if you're not home, say something." Receiving no answer, he added, "Okay, you must be home then. So where are you?"
Still no answer. Finally, Jareth arrived at the throne room. This was usually the only place any visitors ever got to see, but Jareth always seemed not to get to it until last.
Pinned to Hexadecimal's throne was a brief note. Jareth removed this and perused it thoroughly.
"Hmmm. Hmm. Hmm. Uh-huh." Jareth stuffed the note into his pocket. "Nope," he said. "I still can't read."
*******
A crash outside Bob's apartment's window made Dot sit up from her reclining position on the couch immediately.
"Did you hear something?" Dot looked at Bob, next to her on the sofa. He, being half-asleep, just murmured a no.
"OH SLAGGING RECYCLING BIN!" followed by a lot more cursing, came from outside the window.
"I heard that." Bob whined, before grabbing two pillows from the sofa to cover his ears. "Go see who it is."
"Me? Why me? Why can't you go?"
A snore told her why. "Fine." Dot stood and strode over to the window and flung it open. She almost laughed at what she saw.
"Electra? What in the World Wide Web are you doing?" Electra was desperately trying to get her hair untangled from a tree she had passed by.
"I'm...uh... Doing my hair?" Electra smiled innocently up at Dot.
"Oh yes, and tangling it in my boyfriend's tree is the new best way to do that? Come on, even Hexadecimal has better excuses than that."
"Speaking of the she-devil. She's missing." Electra sighed.
"What? You lost Hexadecimal?"
"No. She went walkies. And Jareth asked me to help look for her." Electra finally got free of the tree. "And I thought, knowing how much she likes Bob..."
"That she'd be here?" Electra nodded. "I haven't seen her. Sorry. Are you sure she couldn't have gone home?"
"I think Jareth's got Skuzzy on alert for her, and you'd think he'd tell me if he found her. So I'd guess a big no." Electra floated up to be eye-level with Dot. "I better go find Jareth and report back."
"Well, if you need a hand, I'm always willing to help."
"Thanks, Dot. But please. Don't call us. We'll call you. Go enjoy Bob's company." Electra swirled up and flew off in the direction of her apartment.
"If you can call Bob's current company enjoyable." Dot grumbled as Bob snored louder.
*******
"Okay. I looked all around Bob's place. No Hex." Electra shrugged as she floated up. "I doubt she's inside. I still can't believe that this is all she wrote." Electra fished Hex's note from her pocket.
"Dear Jareth,
Gone somewhere. Back sometime.
-Hexadecimal
The girl's just a regular source code of information."
"She knows I worry. Y'know, Bob's isn't the only place you might find her." Jareth said, sitting on the roof of Electra's apartment building, his dangling his legs over the side.
Her reply was a skeptical look, as she floated over and down to sit next to Jareth.
"She could be... Uh... The Principal office? Dot's Diner... Oh who am I kidding? Bob's is the only other place in Mainframe we'd find her, other than the Lair."
"The only place in Mainframe." A thought occurred to Electra, and her hair stood on end.
"Dude..." Jareth said. "How did you do that?"
"Never mind," Electra snapped, smoothing down her hair. "Uh... J, What happens if she's not in Mainframe? I mean, we've checked all her usual haunts."
"You're right. But where would she go? She's only ever been here and...." Jareth blinked. "Hex has gone to the Super Computer!"
"What? When? How? Wait...why?"
"Yes... Why. Good question. Why... Well, why not?"
"Why not? That's the best reason you can think of?"
"For just about anything. Besides, why does Hex ever do any of the things Hex does?"
"Good point. Oh, just humor me here. Let's see, what's in the Supercomputer that would interest Hex?" Electra paused. "What even interests Hex?"
"Bob."
"Nope. He's here." She rested her chin on her knee and knotted her brow in concentration. "I've got it! I know what she is looking for!"
"Daemon?"
Electra gave Jareth a well-deserved hit upside the head. 'Ow!"
"No, that was last cycle's fiasco. Bob deleted her, remember?"
"Which reminds me, I've been meaning to buy that tape from Mike."
There was a nano of silence.
"Electra...? Still there?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, are you talking to me? I thought you decided to ignore my brilliant insight in favor of Mike's taping Daemon's deletion."
"Sorry. What is this brilliant insight?"
"Megabyte."
Jareth didn't react.
"Hello? Megabyte? Remember him? Your brother? Hex's brother?"
"He's your brother too, Y'know." Jareth interjected.
"Only distantly, and please, don't remind me."
"And Dot's. Matrix's. Little Enzo's. Is there anyone is Mainframe I'm NOT related to?"
"So Anywho, I'd say Megabyte's what she's after." Electra sighed. "Can't guess why, though."
"Me neither. But it looks like we're going on a road trip." Jareth laid back on the rooftop, crossing his arms behind his head. "So, got any old rebels to call in the SC? Someone we can bunk with?"
"Oh... one or two... " She smiled, knowing exactly who to call.
******
On the busy, bustling streets of the Supercomputer, a portal opened. It appeared so suddenly that several pedestrians had to jump out of the way to avoid being transported elsewhere. Two Sprites emerged, and the portal collapsed.
One was dressed in a flowing blue-green dress. Her hair moved around her head as though it had a will of it's own, and it seemed to change color depending on the angle from which it was viewed. Her face seemed to be cast of solid gold.
The other had skin of porcelain-white, and was draped in inky black clothing. His long, leathery coat flapped in the breeze left by the portal, and his ebony mask matched perfectly his long, flowing hair. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that these two were..
"Viruses! Run!"
Almost instantly, the streets cleared. The shops closed, doors locked, and alarms began blaring with all their might.
Jareth clamped his hands over his ears, dropping to his knees. Electra glanced down at him, alarmed.
"Jareth! Are you okay?" She asked, having to scream to be heard over the alarms. Jareth didn't answer; he apparently couldn't hear over the noise.
As abruptly as it began, the alarms ceased. Jareth remained on the ground, curled into a fetal position. Electra looked up to see what had stopped the alarms..and saw that they were surrounded by a ring of Guardians, weapons drawn.
"Oh, slag." Electra said.
"Electra? Jareth?"
Electra's eyes fell on the Lead Guardian. "Backslash? Backslash! Am I glad to see you. Listen, we're really, really, REALLY sorry about that whole leaving-you-in-the burning-building thing. Can you call these guys off? Please?"
Backslash grinned. "Stand down, everybody. I know these two."
"You're friends with these Viruses?" One of the Guardians asked, a tone of disgust in her voice.
Backslash stared the Guardian down. "As a matter of fact, I am. These two helped bring down You-Know-Who. Do you have a problem with that?"
"N-No, sir."
"Good. Dismissed, all of you."
Gradually, and with many curious looks back, the Guardians dispersed until only Backslash remained.
"So, what brings you two here? And what's wrong with him?"
"Hexadecimal's run off, and we think she might have come to visit Megabyte. As for Jareth..."
Electra looked back down at the ground, where Jareth still lay twitching. "I'm really not sure. I think the alarms got to him."
"Oh. Most Viruses have enhanced senses. They can't handle loud noise. The alarms are designed to take advantage of that. Funny, it didn't seem to bother you."
"Will he be okay?"
"He should be. Once his ears stop bleeding." Backslash did a double-take. "Wait. Red blood? RED? Ick."
"I know, it's weird. Listen, Backslash, We're staying with some friends of mine, but we're not supposed to meet up with them until later. Do you know someplace we can go, where he can..I dunno..lay down or something?"
Backslash nodded. "Sure," he said. "Follow me."
*******
Electra sat under Jareth, cleaning the blood off his face. He was hanging upside down, his head towards the floor, tangled up in Backslash's hammock.
"I am never, ever going to do that again. That was gross," She said, upon completing the task.
"How do you think I feel? I was the one bleeding." He tried to get loose of the hammock again, but only succeeded in tangling himself more.
"Only you could get stuck in a Guardian hammock."
"Well, I'm not the one who said, 'Lean over the side. I've got a message for you.' Say, what's the message?"
"Oh. Kiren found Hex, and Kas is trying to find Megabyte."
"What do you mean, 'trying'? Isn't Meggy in a cell?"
Electra stood up and started getting Jareth untangled from the hammock. "Well... uh... He stole Guardian Flash's keys."
"And probably his pants too, if I remember Flash correctly." Electra ripped the hammock, and Jareth fell to the ground.
"OW!"
"How the Recycling Bin did you remember Flash and his missing pants? You can't even remember the names of my Keytools."
Jareth stood up, dusting himself off. "Well, I've never had to share a room with you or your Keytools. Flash was my roommate at the academy."
"Believe me, I'm beginning to be glad that I've never shared a room with you." Electra turned away, blushing more than she had ever done in her whole life, pretending that she was fixing the hammock.
"What do you mean 'beginning to'?"
"Did I say beginning? Oh... Whoops. Slip of the tongue. So, just what's so memorable about this Flash guy?"
"Well, he used to have this girlfriend named Diode. Cute girl. They liked to play... games." Jareth giggled. "They never realized that I was awake."
Electra blinked, but didn't have time to respond before Backslash entered the room.
"Oh. You're both still here. I would have thought you two would have deleted each other by now. HEY! What happened to my bed?"
Jareth and Electra immediately began explaining about the hammock at the same time. Backslash couldn't make out a word.
"Oh Forget it. I'll just have to sit on Kit's bunk."
"Kit's bunk is here?" Electra laughed, and Backslash shot her a glare that would cut glass. "I knew she'd moved back to the Supercomputer, but Backie, Backie, Backie, why ever didn't you tell us that she'd moved into your quarters?"
"Because I was hoping to avoid this very conversation," Backslash said crossly.
Suddenly, Diode burst into the room.
"Backslash, sir! Megabyte has..."
"Escaped? Yeah, we know." Electra said. Backslash looked at her and shook his head in disbelief.
"How did you...? You are... Sir. This Virus must have helped him escape. No one else has been told." Diode said.
"Oh, really? Then where are Flash's pants?" Jareth asked, switching to an evil grin.
Diode gasped, then blushed furiously, managing to turn from milk-white to scarlet. "How...?"
"Don't worry about these two, they'll forget everything before they have a chance to tell anyone," Backslash said, smiling though it was a grim situation. He turned to Jareth and Electra. "You two should probably meet up with your contacts, and get out of the Collective before they scope both of you. They allowed you here on my better judgment, but now that Megabyte is free, they'll probably blame you. Call me or Kit if you need help."
"Okay." Electra stood up. "Thanks. Anything we can do for you?"
"Yes. FIX MY BED!"
Electra laughed, grabbed Jareth, and exited the room.
As they left, Backslash turned to Diode. "So, what DID happen to Flash's pants?"
*******
"I still don't see why we have to lay low like this," Jareth said, as the two of them exited Backslash's quarters.
"We're viruses. This is the Supercomputer. Do the math."
"But we're like benign or something. I'm half Guardian!"
"Yes, you're half Chaos-Creating Virus and half Game-Dropping, Population-Nullifying User. The Guardians would just love you."
"We helped defeat Daemon. We have Keytools. We're friends of Bob!"
"Bob's record isn't exactly clean, not since that episode with Sierra Server. And if you don't keep it down, you'll get us both busted."
"Okay, fine. I'll just--OW!" Jareth suddenly clutched at his head. His eyes began shining forth from his mask, illuminating the hallway. The Viral Guardian collapsed, once again falling to the floor.
"Jareth? Jareth! Come on, snap out of it! Since when do you just collapse?"
In a few moments, the white light stopped shining from Jareth's eyes, and they returned to their usual gentle green glow.
"You okay? I guess those alarms hit you harder than we thought."
Jareth shook his head. "That had nothing to do with the alarms.
"What, then?"
"I don't know. But I don't feel so good. It's been happening more and more, and I think it's getting worse.""
Electra looked concerned.
"Don't worry. I'll be okay. Now, who was it we were supposed to find again?"
"Kas and Kiren," Electra answered, still looking doubtful. "They stayed behind when the rest of the Viral Rebels disbanded."
"We're there." Jareth snapped his fingers, and the two of them simply vanished.
******
Kiren tossed his daughter Katrina in the air and caught her, prompting a giggle from the baby Virus.
"Ah... A father playing with his little daughter. How sweet. Such a Kodak moment." Kas smiled, entering the room, her squidlike tentacles trailing like hair behind her.
"Aren't you supposed to be looking for Megabyte?" Kiren shot a look at Kas.
"Nope. I have to be here to greet our guests. Electra should be here any moment with that boy of hers."
"I think you're referring to Jareth."
"Whatever." Kas turned towards the monitor that watched the entrance to their place.
"Did you hear that Katrina?" Kiren asked the squirming bundle in his hands. "Your aunt Kas is jealous."
"I AM NOT!" Kas spat as she spoke.
The door slid open, and Kiren's wife, Tartania, entered the room.
"Guys, Jareth and Electra are here." Tartania took Karina, "I'll leave you guys alone with them."
She re-opened the door and slid past as Electra and Jareth shuffled to get through the door at the same time. They both got stuck in the door, Electra directed a swift kick to his shin and managed to get through with him following close behind.
"Hey Kiren, Kas. What that Tartania?"
"Good guess. I suppose you saw the baby."
"Adorable, Has your eyes. And Tartania's hair." Electra nodded as she spoke.
"You call that hair?" Jareth asked, rather rudely.
Kiren ignored him. "And she has Kas's tongue. I swear the two of them don't shut down when ever they're together."
Jareth, never the patient type, broke in. "I hate to break up this little reunion, but I've got one of my own to get to. Where is my sister?"
"Oh. She's here. Other room, She keeps asking about 'Skuzzy'?"
"She's looking for Skuzzy here? Skuzzy's at home, I know. I tripped on him while looking for
Hex." Jareth stated.
"At least now we know why she came," Electra said.
"Can I see her?" Jareth asked.
"Sure, Why not? "Kiren stood up awkwardly, It was probably want hard for a squid to go from a sitting position from a standing position since their tails didn't have the muscles to support that particular movement. "Follow me."
*******
"Hex!" Jareth called, seeing her reclining on the couch, delicately picking at a bowl of fruit that the rebels had hospitably provided for her. "Hexy, Hexy, Hexy, you have been a bad monkey. You know you're not supposed to leave Mainframe."
Hexadecimal looked puzzled. Jareth would have blinked if he'd had eyelids, he still wasn't used to seeing Hex's face actually move.
"I'm not?" she asked.
"You didn't know? None of the Viruses are supposed to leave the System. We're all part of some experiment of Bob's."
Jareth sat down next to Hex on the couch.
Now Hex actually looked hurt. "I'm just...some experiment to him?"
"Umm.there's probably more to it than that," Jareth said quickly. "I don't know all the details. I just heard Him and Kit talking one night at the Diner, the day before she left for here."
"What did they say?"
"You want it verbatim? You came to the wrong guy. All I know is that when Kit asked if we would be able to come visit sometime, Bob said none of the Virals were supposed to leave the System."
"Oh," Hex said. She looked subdued for a moment. "Well," she said finally, "if it's that important to Bob, I suppose we should head home."
"Just one problem. We need to lay low. Megabyte's escaped from his cell-"
"I figured he would." Hexadecimal said carelessly.
"And the Guardians are probably out searching the streets for Electra and me right now. Backslash said they'd blame us for his getting out."
"You?" Hexadecimal turned so that she was lying sideways on the couch, he head hanging downwards. She was now facing Jareth upside-down. "You've never gotten along with Megabyte. Why, I'll wager you were looking forward to him getting deleted."
"Wellll...maybe a little."
"That's what I thought." Hexadecimal returned to her former position, reclining on the plush sofa. "Grape."
"What?"
Hex pointed to the fruitbowl. Following her gaze, Jareth grabbed the bunch of grapes from the container and threw them to her. Making the tiniest incision in the skin of the grape with her claws, she delicately peeled it, popped it into her mouth, and chewed contemplatively.
"You said Electra was here with you?"
"Yep. Hmmm. Where did Electra go, anyway?" Jareth stood and walked across to the door, pulling it open. "Electra?" He gazed into the dark room, lit only by the screens of the many VidWindows. Electra was slumped in the chair, her legs resting on the control console. "Electra?" Jareth closed the door quietly. "Electra's asleep. We'll talk to her later..."
******
With a yell, Electra woke up, wondering who was in pain. She looked down to her leg, and saw that her unsheathed claws were extended deeply into her leg. She was mighty lucky that she had catlike claws and not razor-edges knives like the rest of her viral family had. She retracted her claws, flinching slightly.
"You always punish the one you love, eh?" Jareth said reaching a hand down to Electra. She had fallen from the chair and was sprawled on the ground. "I heard you crying. Bad dream?"
"Very bad dream." Electra took Jareth's hand.
"Lemme guess. Hex, Megabyte, and I converged. Mom appeared."
"Uh yeah...," Electra was momentarily puzzled. "How'd you know?"
"I've been having the same dream. So has Hex."
"And I'll wager Megabyte has, too. If we're all having them, then they can't be just dreams. What do they mean?"
Jareth started massaging his temples, as though he had a headache. "I...can't remember. But I get the feeling that I used to know." He started pacing back and forth.
Electra sighed, long accustomed to Jareth's ineffective memory. "Is there anyone you can think to ask?"
Jareth froze. "Yes. Backslash. We should ask Backslash."
"Backslash? Why him? What would he know?" Then the light bulb came on over Electra's head. "He was there. Backie was there when Daemon created her offspring. He knows the whole story. And Jareth-the original Jareth-was there, too...that's why you almost know."
Jareth nodded.
"I'll call," Electra said, grateful that some semblance of a plan was forming. "BuBBle-get me Backslash."
There was the usual pop-up noise as a Vidwindow appeared, but the face that was displayed wasn't Backslash's, but Kit's.
Electra grinned, despite herself. "Why, Kit. Fancy finding you there."
"Electra! Backie told me you were in town. What's up?"
"Long story. Can we talk to Backslash?"
"Right here," Backslash's voice called. The VidWindow's angle swung around as Backie turned it to face him. "What's wrong?"
Electra quickly described the dreams they'd been having, with occasional (And unhelpful) comments from Jareth.
"This is Bad, Electra. Do you know why Daemon created her offspring in the first place?"
"No. That's sort of why we called."
"I can't believe I forgot about this. But it was so long ago... Daemon created Megabyte, Hexadecimal, and Lore as back-ups of herself. If she was ever deleted, they were supposed to re-unite, and rebuild her code. They're meant to resurrect her. It's what they were built for. These dreams...it sounds to me like that basic function is coming to the surface. They're being driven to fulfill their function. You're sharing the dreams because you have Lore's code, or at least, part of it." Backslash looked, if possible, more worried than Electra felt. "In fact, it's probably no coincidence that they're all here, in one place, so soon after Daemon's deletion. They could have had any number of reasons for coming here, but the truth is that it was built into them."
"So what do we do?"
"I say we should get Jareth and Hex back to Mainframe. Meggy can't form portals, last I knew...and no one here's about to give him a ride. As long as they're separated, I think we're safe"
"Good idea. But are you sure it'll work?"
"I hope so. The only trouble is, can we get the three of you out of here before Megabyte finds you?"
Electra had another light bulb. "I'll have Kas and Kiren keep tabs on him, so we'll know where NOT to be."
"He'll be tricky to find. The collective's been searching-"
"Please." Electra dismissed the argument with a careless wave of her hand. "The Viral Rebels have gear that's second's ahead of anything the Guardians have. How do you think we managed to avoid Daemon so long?"
Backslash grinned sourly. "As a loyal member of the Guardian Collective, I'm supposed to report things like that. But just this once, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear it."
"Thanks."
"No problem. Tech-Holo-Emitter."
Backslash brought up a transparent representation of the Supercomputer. "Meet me here," he said, pointing to a location on the chart. "We'll make arrangements to get you home immediately."
"Great," Electra said. "Well, what are we waiting for?"
*******
With a muffled metallic clanking sound, Megabyte scurried across the pipes in the sewer. Once again, he scowled. This was hardly the way he'd like to travel. But with Guardians all over the System out looking for him, it really was the most expedient course to take.
Before he knew it, he was at a crossroads, a place where the pipe split into three directions. His eyes narrowed, his tentacles writhed through the rancid air. Suddenly, he knew. That way.
Fast as he could, he took a right and continued running for all he was worth. He didn't know what he was chasing...he preferred to think that he was chasing something, not running from something...but he knew where it was, instinctively. Maybe once he found it, he'd know why.
And it wasn't as though he had other plans. Sit in the stinking sewers, and wait to get caught again? They probably wouldn't even bother capturing him the next time. And any hope of an actual rescue had perished with his mother..even though he hadn't been there, he had felt it when she'd been deleted. He didn't know how, but he was just certain that Bob was to blame.
Bob's time would come. And the boy. The hacker. All of them. And as for his treacherous siblings...
Megabyte grinned maliciously as he raced down the pipe.
******
"Are we there yet?" Jareth asked, for the seventy third time. Sad. Electra found that she'd actually been counting. It took her mind off the immediate problem.
"No."
As the trio of Virals turned a corner, Jareth stopped and cocked his head to the side, as though he were listening to something. "I think it's this way."
"What" Electra turned around and looked at him, then glanced at her map. "No it's not. It's this way...the way we've been going."
"Are you sure? I really think we're supposed to be going this way."
Hex spoke up. "I agree. There's something over there... I wonder what it is?"
Electra flew around them, standing between them and that which they wanted to pursue. "Look, if you feel that you should be going this way, then we definitely shouldn't. It probably means that Megabyte's nearby. It's your instincts again...driving you to merge."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Hexadecmal said, rising off the ground and floating towards the strange compulsion. "I just want to see what's going on. It's something...tingly. Don't you feel it?"
To Electra's surprise, she found that she did... a strange compulsion to follow in that direction. She almost floated after Hex...but then she caught herself. What was she thinking?
Hexadecimal began flying faster, as though the closer she got, the stronger the attraction became.
"Jareth...come on. We've got to stop her."
Silence.
"Jareth?" Electra turned. Jareth stood, shuddering, clearly trying to stay where he was. His masks began changing erratically, and he took a few jerky, compulsive steps forward. "Jareth come on! You've got to fight it!" Electra flew over and tried to hold him back, but unfortunately, either Jareth was stronger than Electra, or the force pulling him was. Slowly, but undeniably, Jareth was following Hex...and, like Hex, the closer he got, the stronger the pull became. Soon he was unable to fight at all, and, knocking Electra out of the way, was flying off after his sister.
Electra was aghast. "Not good. This is not good."
*****
"Electra, calm down."
"Calm down? Kas, I can't calm down. Do you realize what's going to happen if those three actually meet? We'll be absolutely screwed, and NOT in the good way! What do we do?"
The squidlike Virus took a deep breath, and spoke calmly as she could to the VidWindow in front of her. "Listen, they're flying in a straight line, right? All you need to do is open a portal in front of them. They'll fly right into it."
"That won't work! I need a huge tear to portal between Systems, and it'd take too long-"
"Okay, okay. Where are they headed?"
"Due...umm...thataway." Electra pointed.
"Towards the P.O. Umm...Okay, I'll call Backslash, and tell him to be there. I'll send Kiren, too. Meet them there, maybe you can hold off the convergence long enough for me to find a suitable tear."
"But how will we get them to enter the portal?"
"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it. Just be there. Kas out."
*****
An unusual sight greeted Electra as she arrived at the P.O.: Backslash and Kiren, involved in a sort of charades game with Jareth and Hexadecimal.
"What the defrag is going on?" Electra asked as she touched town, bewildered.
"It was pretty strange," Backslash said. "Once they arrived, they went back to normal. No more of that weird compulsion Kas told us about. I guess it's because Megabyte hasn't arrived yet."
"This is just great. Megabyte's coming, and we have no idea how long it'll take for Kas to find a tear." Electra threw her hands above her. "That's it. Life is officially over! We're all screwed!"
"Someone's in a bad mood," Hexadecimal said. "I don't see what you're so upset about. I'm the one who's losing. I can't work out what Jareth is." Hex motioned towards Jareth, who sat on the green in the User famous 'Thinker' pose. "Do you have any ideas?"
"She's not even playing. I can't believe you don't know this!" Jareth made a rather convincing statue; his lips never moved.
"Hush. Statues aren't supposed to talk." Electra walked passed, hitting him on the shoulder. She purposely fell down next to Jareth, and rested her head on his shoulder. "We're still screwed."
"Unless Kas can find a Tear in time."
"Even then, it'd be tricky," Jareth said. "For one thing, Hex and I can't leave."
"What do you mean? Don't worry about Megabyte, the Guardians-"
"No, I mean we CAN'T leave. We've tried. Every time we get a certain distance away... it's just... I can't explain it."
"Great. Well, Kiren and Backie could push you through the portal, while I held off Megabyte."
"I've seen the movies, Electra. Leaving one person behind never works, it just gets that person killed. Besides, I think we're probably stronger than Backie and Kiren."
"There is another option," Backslash said. "When Megabyte shows up, we take him out." The Guardian unclipped the lightsaber from his belt and began twirling it like a baton. "Delete him before the convergence can take place. Without all three offspring..."
"No new Daemon," Kiren finished. "I think that that's probably our best course of action." Kiren eyed Backslash almost approvingly. "You know, if you weren't a Guardian, I could almost get to like you."
Megabyte sneered at the voices above. There were two he didn't recognize, but the others belonged to his siblings. So, they were here as well. Had they been drawn here, the way he had? Well, he would soon find out.
With a mighty leap, the Black-armored virus knocked the manhole cover aside and landed smoothly on the sidewalk. He glared about, extending his jagged claws. Hexadecimal stood on a patch of grass nearby, and Jareth sat on the ground beside her. The foolish girl in the blue dress stood nearby, as well. Good. He could delete them all at once.
Backslash fingered the switch on the side of his weapon, and a brilliant beam of energy emerged from one end. The Blue-green skinned Guardian swung his blade, intending to slice Megabyte cleanly in half at he waist&but just then, something remarkable happened. Megabyte began to glow. Hexadecimal and Jareth began to shine from within as well, and even Electra's pale green skin began to shimmer slightly. As Backslash and Kiren watched, the glow grew, swelled, and enveloped the surrounding area, forcing them back, away from the Viral siblings.
Electra stared, aghast. It was all happening, just like the dream. They stood in an equilateral triangle, facing one another, claws extended. As one, they took a step foreword.
"No! Jareth! Snap out of it!" Electra flew over and dropped into the very center of the triangular arrangement, managing to penetrate the pervasive force that held the others back. She began trying in vain to push Jareth back, away from the other two, but she still wasn't strong enough.
The convergence occurred. The outlines of the Virals were lost in haze of violet-white light, and the very air seemed to be full of nervous energy. Small comets of Green, Black, Red, and Blue light streaked around the edges of the barrier.
But then something happened. The energy seemed to just... go wrong. It was nothing one could identify, just an undeniable sense of wrongness that permeated the energy-saturated air. Even Kiren and Backslash felt it, such was the power involved.
"What's going on?" Kiren asked, shielding his eyes from the blinding glare.
"Something's wrong," Backslash answered, yelling to be heard over the high winds that the Virals were kicking up. "Megabyte, Hex and Lore were created by Daemon, so that they could make a backup for her if she were ever deleted. But Electra's code was never meant to be thrown into the mix! Neither was Jareth's, or that Webcreature of Megabyte's! They're-"
Anything else Backslash had to say was drowned out as the energy flux built to a crescendo. A horrendous thunderclap shook the System, and everyone found themselves thrown back by the shockwave.
Electra blinked, rising to her feet. She looked around, and saw that her three Viral siblings lay in various states of disarray around her.
To one side lay Megabyte, his armor once again a shocking cobalt-blue. His claws were extended, and those that were previously rough and jagged were whole, their razor-sharp edges gleaming in the sunlight. Some distance behind him lay a Webcreature, it's scaly hide torn by the force of the explosion, it's tentacles badly tangled.
To the other lay Hexadecimal. She no longer wore the stylish new outfit that Megabyte had given her when he'd rebuilt her after she was shattered by the Game Cube. Rather, she wore her original clothing, complete with her bizarre, five-pointed headpiece. Her smooth, soft face was once again a porcelain mask, frozen in an expression of surprise.
Equally distant from either lay Jareth, his feathers ruffled, his leather coat crumpled about him as he looked around in confusion. His mask, too was shocked, and... wait.
Jareth's clothing beneath his coat was no longer the dyed-black Guardian armor he usually sported, and instead of his usual Clawhorn-shaped Icon holder, he wore a golden triangle on a chain around his neck. A short distance behind him lay... Jareth?
Suddenly, it dawned on her... Jareth had been separated! The masked Virus wasn't Jareth at all, it was Lore! Jareth lay collapsed in a heap behind him, his armor badly scratched.
Before she new it, Electra was at his side. Surprising everyone, including herself, she kissed him full on the lips.
The kiss ended, but before anyone could react, a voice called out from behind her.
"I am Daemon."
Shocked, Electra spun around, and saw a beautiful sprite descending from the sky (She'd been floating right above her head, Electra realized.). Her clothing was a mix of various purples and blues, all done in pastel shades, and her skin was a light violet. Around her head was a strange tiara, shaped like a horseshoe rayed with delicate spines. Around her neck she wore an hourglass, like the ones depicted on her sleeves. She spoke in an innocent voice, slightly distorted by her French accent. This was not the Daemon Electra knew...but then, that Daemon was deleted and gone.
"I am not an entity. I am a time," Daemon continued. "My time... begins."
As Daemon finished her statement, her feet touched the ground. Instantly, thin tendrils of energy snaked along the floor, infecting all they touched. Lore, Megabyte, and Hexadecimal seemed unaffected, but the tendrils were rapidly approaching Jareth and Electra.
"Tech-Energy shield!"
The tendrils found themselves balked, cut off from their targets by a solid wall of energy. Backslash ran up to Electra and Jareth, followed by Kiren.
"We've got to get out of here!" Backslash said. "I need a tear."
Electra raised her arms, attempting to create a tear with her Viral powers... but nothing happened. Examining her arms, Electra found that she no longer wore her flowing blue-green dress. She once again wore her ordinary jumpsuit. On closer inspection, she found that her claws were missing. She didn't even have the Viral codes she'd downloaded from Jareth/Lore so long ago. For the first time, she noticed that a shimmering golden mask lay on the ground nearby: the Viral upgrade that
had once been her face. She hastily picked it up.
With impeccable timing, a small ship flew nearby, towing a large tear behind it. Kas had come through, after all...better late than never, Electra supposed. As it passed overhead, its hauling cable released it's cargo, and the tear fell to the ground nearby.
"Backlsash, the portal!" Electra said. "Now would be a good time!"
She was right. Tech's energy shield wouldn't be able to hold off an infection of this caliber for much longer.
"Tech--portal."
Tech's energy stabilized the tear into a shining, silvery portal, and the group quickly dived in.
"Not without me, you don't!" Lore yelled, and followed, rapidly pursued by Hexadecimal, just before the portal closed.
Daemon's energy rapidly spread, until nothing in the Supercomputer remained unaffected. "My lady," the nearest resident said, bowing. "How may we serve you?"
Daemon smiled. "All must hear ze word."
A sharp, scraping metal sound distracted her, and she turned to see Megabyte standing over the injured Webcreature, claws extended. In moments, he'd completely eliminated the hapless animal. It shimmered, faded, and was quickly deleted, as though it had never been.
"Such brutality," Daemon said, in a shocked, concerned tone. "How could you do such a thing?"
"The creature had far outlived its usefulness," Megabyte replied, without looking at Daemon. "And its instincts were such an inconvenience. Destroy this, devour that, mate with the other." Megabyte turned and scrutinized the new Daemon. "But I digress. You are Daemon, correct?"
"Yes."
"You don't know who I am, do you?"
Daemon shook her head. "No."
"Indeed?"
"You are a Virus. Is zat not enough? Should we not be friends?"
Megabyte looked around, taking in how easily Daemon 2.0 had felled the largest power base on the net. "It would be... my pleasure."
*******
Phong took another sip from his frothy drink, moving the little umbrella out of the way. Adjusting his floppy straw hat, he leaned back in his beach chair and closed his eyes, ready for a nap. There was just something about the sound of the waves of energy crashing against the beach that tended to lull one.
He'd needed this. He couldn't remember the last time he'd taken a vacation. Ah, he reminded himself, But this isn't a vacation, is it? You're retired now. No more office to go back to, no more paperwork, no more potential System crashes to prevent...
But somehow, he didn't seem to be too happy about this. Why not? He'd done enough, he'd earned this break. Dot could handle the responsibilities of being Command.Com, she'd done it during the battle with Megabyte. She could probably do the job better than he could.
Eventually, Phong managed to pin down the source of his disquiet: He'd LIKED it. He'd enjoyed his job in Mainframe, he'd gotten used to feeling needed and appreciated. What did he have now? A beach house, a hawain shirt, and a floppy straw hat. Sure it was nice, but what he really wanted was to return to Mainframe, and not just for a visit, but to stay, to return to his old job, or at least a position in the Principal Office. They could stick him in mail room for all he cared, he'd still be happy.
What he wouldn't give for just a glimpse of a familiar face... Dot, Matrix, Bob, Mike the TV. He'd even be happy to see Hexadecimal, at this point.
There was a sudden flash of light, and a gust of wind that forced him to grab hold of his hat before it flew away. Sitting up, Phong opened his eyes just in time to see six people-shaped objects tumble headfirst into the sand, and to see a portal snap closed. The nearest Sprite rose up out of the sand, leaving the ground entirely-and Phong did a double-take. It was Hexadecimal.
"Should have asked for money," he muttered, shaking his head. Gradually, most the others stood up, brushing themselves off, and Phong was only slightly surprised to see that he knew each and every one of them... except for the one that resembled an octopus.
"Electra," he asked, getting out of his chair and wheeling over to her, "Are you okay?"
Phong helped brush the sand from Electra. "Phong?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"
"I live here," he replied. "Not that I mind the company, but what are YOU doing here, my child?"
Electra quickly brought Phong up to speed. "And so, now we're here, and..." Electra sighed. "I don't know what to do anymore. I think I need a nap."
Phong quickly took charge, as he'd been yearning to do. "Yes, I think you could do with a rest. Come inside. I will contact Mainframe and warn them to commence lockdown. They can have Bob portal us back..."
"Us? You're coming? We didn't mean to bother you, Phong..."
Phong waved that aside. "I wasn't enjoying myself very much, anyway. Come... Oh, your friends are welcome of course, as well. I'm afraid I don't have much tooffer in the way of accommodations, just...." Phong did a double-take. "Jareth?"
"Didn't I mention that?" Electra said. "Something about the merge. It separated Jareth from Lore."
"This is wondreful! it is good to have you back, my son."
"Good to be back... I think," Jareth replied. "Where was I?"
Phong blinked. "You....do not remember?"
Jareth shook his head.
"I think you had better come inside as well."
Phong turned to Hex, Lore, and Kiren. "As for you three...do you think you can behave yourselves until we return to Mainframe?"
Kiren nodded, but Lore and Hexadecimal both switched to sinisster masks and unsheathed their claws. Phong shrank back; he'd forgotten that each of the chaotics had been stripped of their stabilizing factors.
Kiren spun around and, with two flics of his tentacle, flung two small objects onto the two Viruses. Immediately, waves of static electricity arced over both of them, and they fell to the sand, stunned.
"Viral stasis field generators," he explained. "Good thing they didn't see it coming, I don't think we could have stopped them if that hadn't worked."
"Why would you have those?" Jareth asked. "You're a Virus, too."
"Most Viruses chose to ally themselves with Daemon, when she took over the Supercomputer. The rebels had to be prepared to deal with Virals as well as Guardians. And, just for the record, I am NOT a Virus."
"You're not?" Backslash asked, surprised.
"Daemon took over the Supercomputer?" Jareth asked, sounding just as surprised.
Phong shook his head; it seemed that Jareth was sincere about not having any memory of recent events. He ushered everyone up to his beach house, which, fortunately, wasn't far off. Backslash and Kiren had to carry Lore, while Jareth and Electra hauled Hexadecimal up to the house. Dropping the two on the nearest available piece of furniture, Kiren, Backslash and Electra welcomed Phong's offer of a place to rest.
As his visitors retired to their various chosen places around the house, Phong trundled over to his communications console and dialed in a series of numbers.
Moments later, a VidWindow opened before his eyes.
"Phong!" Dot cried. "Good to see you! How's everything?" Dot's eyes glanced to the Sprite standing behind Phong. "Hi, Jareth." Dot did the same double-take Phong had. "Jareth? Is it really you?"
Jareth waved. "Hi, Dot."
"But, how? I thought..."
"It is a long story, my child, and I'm afraid we have little time to discuss it. But it is vital that everyone here return to Mainframe as soon as possible."
Dot nodded. "Okay, Phong. I'll have Bob open a portal immediately."
A loud snore issued from the Vidwindow, and Dot's expression grew much more annoyed. Phong merely smiled.
"It seems that Bob needs rest, as do my visitors. Have him open the portal when he wakes. By then we should be prepared. Oh, and Dot, I must ask you to initiate a full lockdown of Mainframe. Nothing in, nothing out."
Dot nodded. "This must be serious."
"Indeed. I will explain when we arrive. Farewell, my child."
Phong closed the window, and turned to Jareth, who was looking at him expectantly.
"Okay, Phong," Jareth said, arms crossed. "Spill."
Phong sighed. "Very well. Sit down. It all began just after the Twin City Crash..."
Chapter Eight: Neogenesis
Electra sat in a booth of the Dot's Diner, staring blankly into space. Her mind dwelled on her dreams, the ones she'd been having ever since Daemon fell. They always went the same way..Hexadecimal, Megabyte, and Jareth.no, not Jareth. Lore. The three of them, walking towards each other, like they were going to fight.and then Daemon would appear. She was continually wondering what the dreams meant, but now, with Phong gone, she had no one left she wanted to discuss them with. Jareth and Hexadecimal were out of the question. They'd either get freaked about it happening, ignore it completely, or decide that perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea after all.
And nobody else would understand. They'd assume that, because she was viral, she'd want it to happen. That she'd want the dreams to come true.
Electra laughed hollowly. Nothing could be further from the truth. Watching Daemon return was not something she was looking forward to. She wondered if she could bother Phong about it again. After all, he was only a VidWindow away. But no.he'd retired because he'd needed the rest, if she called him up just to discuss her problems, that would defeat the purpose altogether. Phong..He'd only been gone for a cycle and already she missed him.
"Hey! Watch what're doing!" Matrix yelled, a couple of tables away. She didn't know to whom he was referring, and at the present, she was too lost in thought to care.
"Uh. 'Lectra?" Electra turned her head at the mention of her name. Jareth was standing behind the counter, his elbows on the countertop, mask displaying an expression of amusement. "Mind not spilling your drink on the table?"
Electra looked down at the table, which was already partly covered with her drink. She pick up her cup before the rest of it was spilled.
"Whoops." She started to wipe up the Powershake's fluid with her sleeve. "Sorry."
******
Deep in the bowels of the Supercomputer's Principle Office, Diode yawned loudly. Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes and listened to the anguished, enraged cries of all the Viruses in their cells, awaiting deletion. She smiled; there was no sound better than that of Virals in pain.
A pair of hand suddenly covered her eyes. Diode got up, spun around, and had her blaster pointed at her assailant before he could blink. The Sprite who surprised her quickly took a step back, his hands raised up in a gesture of surrender.
Diode blinked. "Flash. You don't have clearance to be here. I should report you."
Flash's face fell. "You wouldn't."
"Oh, wouldn't I?"
"What do you want?"
Diode grinned. "Take off your pants."
With blaster pointed at his head, Flash had little choice. He complied.
"Happy?"
"Not just yet." Diode gestured towards the rest of Flash's uniform. "Keep going."
Before Flash could unzip any further, a voice called out from the nearest cell.
"Oh, please, not this again." The occupant virus rose from his cot and stepped into the light. His black metal skin glinted in the light, and behind him waved four long tentacles. His deep, menacing voice echoed through the prison block, arousing a few neighboring Viruses briefly from their slumber.
"If you two insist on playing these ridiculous games, at least have the decency to do so elsewhere." Megabyte sneered. "I have no desire to watch yet another Guardian 'mating ritual'."
Diode hung her head. "Spammit." She looked up at Flash. "I was just getting' into that one, ya know?"
Flash nodded.
"C'mon." Diode grabbed Flash by the arm, and dragged him off in the direction of the nearest broom closet.
Megabyte sighed, and shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I've learned more from those two than I ever wished to know." His eyes fell on Flash's pants, still lying on the floor...and the key ring attached to his belt.
*******
After Electra left the diner, (she seemed like she was walking in a daze, Jareth noticed) the rest of his shift went surprising quickly. After saying goodbye to Dot and Cecil (Dot had decided to keep him on after Cecil got back to work. Why, he couldn't imagine.), he unsheathed his wings and began the long flight back to Lost Angles. True, he could have simply teleported there in an instant, but after all, the only point in traveling from one place to another was to see what lay in between. You couldn't do that while teleporting.
Mainframe looked very different from above. Lots of little glowing boxes. He wondered if he looked like a little glowing box to the people on the ground. Probably not. After all, the buildings were box-shaped, and he wasn't. Or was he? He didn't think so, but he wasn't sure. He couldn't see himself. Well. Maybe he'd check it out in one of Hex's looking glasses.
Suddenly, Jareth's eyes began to glow, changing from their usual dark, emerald green to a brilliant white, and shining like halogen lamps.
Jareth crumpled, folding his wings---not the smartest thing to do in midair.
Fortunately, he happened to fall upon a rooftop, rather than the ground, which was much further away. He no longer saw the world around him, but rather something completely different. He saw Hexadecimal. But wait. She had her mask back! That was good; he'd always thought she looked better before Bob gave her that stupid face. She acted a lot cooler, too. And her outfit..it looked the way it did before Megabyte 'fixed' her after her incident with the Game Cube. She no longer had her seven swept-back, serpentlike projections from her head, but rather the bizarre, five-pointed crown that she'd worn for so long.
"Hex? What's going on? Where are we?" Jareth looked around. "Isn't this the Supercomputer?"
Hexadecimal unsheathed her claws, but as she did, Jareth heard another sound. A familiar, metal-on-metal scraping sound. He turned and there stood, of all people, Megabyte. He was different, too....he'd lost the black armor, and was back to his usual, stupid cobalt-blue. His claws were extended, and Jareth could see that they were whole and unbroken. His tentacles were missing, too. Wait...Megabyte did have tentacles, didn't he? No, he must not. After all, he didn't have them now.
"Oh, hey, it's you. What are you doing here?"
Megabyte didn't answer, but instead advanced as Hexadecimal did, as though he was about to rip him to shreds. Jareth didn't know why, but he guessed that it really didn't matter.
"Shark--Scythe!"
A moment passed, and nothing happened. Alarmed, Jareth glanced down at his bracer..and found that it wasn't there. He looked down at himself, and realized that he still had his leather trench coat, but he wasn't wearing his usual Guardian body armor underneath. Instead, he was draped in loose-fitting black clothing, and around his neck was a golden triangle on a chain. Reaching behind his head, he realized that his long hair was no longer tied back, but wild and unkempt.
He was Lore.
Laughing maniacally, Lore switched to a fearsome face and extended his own claws. The three virals advanced, and met in a blinding flash of purple light..
The light in Jareth's eyes faded, and he was himself again. A black, green, and gold scythe hung in the air in front of him.Shark appeared to have followed his command, even in delirium.
Jareth switched back to a neutral face, and returned Shark to his bracer.
"Well," he said. "That was different."
*******
"Honey, I'm home!" Jareth cried, swooping through the window of the Lair. "Hex?" he asked, finding the place surprisingly dark. Oh, the lair was usually dark, but not this dark. The hovering, traffic light-shaped things that floated through the Lair were switched off.
"Hex? You home?" Jareth wandered the halls, seeking out his sister. "Hexadecimal, if you're not home, say something." Receiving no answer, he added, "Okay, you must be home then. So where are you?"
Still no answer. Finally, Jareth arrived at the throne room. This was usually the only place any visitors ever got to see, but Jareth always seemed not to get to it until last.
Pinned to Hexadecimal's throne was a brief note. Jareth removed this and perused it thoroughly.
"Hmmm. Hmm. Hmm. Uh-huh." Jareth stuffed the note into his pocket. "Nope," he said. "I still can't read."
*******
A crash outside Bob's apartment's window made Dot sit up from her reclining position on the couch immediately.
"Did you hear something?" Dot looked at Bob, next to her on the sofa. He, being half-asleep, just murmured a no.
"OH SLAGGING RECYCLING BIN!" followed by a lot more cursing, came from outside the window.
"I heard that." Bob whined, before grabbing two pillows from the sofa to cover his ears. "Go see who it is."
"Me? Why me? Why can't you go?"
A snore told her why. "Fine." Dot stood and strode over to the window and flung it open. She almost laughed at what she saw.
"Electra? What in the World Wide Web are you doing?" Electra was desperately trying to get her hair untangled from a tree she had passed by.
"I'm...uh... Doing my hair?" Electra smiled innocently up at Dot.
"Oh yes, and tangling it in my boyfriend's tree is the new best way to do that? Come on, even Hexadecimal has better excuses than that."
"Speaking of the she-devil. She's missing." Electra sighed.
"What? You lost Hexadecimal?"
"No. She went walkies. And Jareth asked me to help look for her." Electra finally got free of the tree. "And I thought, knowing how much she likes Bob..."
"That she'd be here?" Electra nodded. "I haven't seen her. Sorry. Are you sure she couldn't have gone home?"
"I think Jareth's got Skuzzy on alert for her, and you'd think he'd tell me if he found her. So I'd guess a big no." Electra floated up to be eye-level with Dot. "I better go find Jareth and report back."
"Well, if you need a hand, I'm always willing to help."
"Thanks, Dot. But please. Don't call us. We'll call you. Go enjoy Bob's company." Electra swirled up and flew off in the direction of her apartment.
"If you can call Bob's current company enjoyable." Dot grumbled as Bob snored louder.
*******
"Okay. I looked all around Bob's place. No Hex." Electra shrugged as she floated up. "I doubt she's inside. I still can't believe that this is all she wrote." Electra fished Hex's note from her pocket.
"Dear Jareth,
Gone somewhere. Back sometime.
-Hexadecimal
The girl's just a regular source code of information."
"She knows I worry. Y'know, Bob's isn't the only place you might find her." Jareth said, sitting on the roof of Electra's apartment building, his dangling his legs over the side.
Her reply was a skeptical look, as she floated over and down to sit next to Jareth.
"She could be... Uh... The Principal office? Dot's Diner... Oh who am I kidding? Bob's is the only other place in Mainframe we'd find her, other than the Lair."
"The only place in Mainframe." A thought occurred to Electra, and her hair stood on end.
"Dude..." Jareth said. "How did you do that?"
"Never mind," Electra snapped, smoothing down her hair. "Uh... J, What happens if she's not in Mainframe? I mean, we've checked all her usual haunts."
"You're right. But where would she go? She's only ever been here and...." Jareth blinked. "Hex has gone to the Super Computer!"
"What? When? How? Wait...why?"
"Yes... Why. Good question. Why... Well, why not?"
"Why not? That's the best reason you can think of?"
"For just about anything. Besides, why does Hex ever do any of the things Hex does?"
"Good point. Oh, just humor me here. Let's see, what's in the Supercomputer that would interest Hex?" Electra paused. "What even interests Hex?"
"Bob."
"Nope. He's here." She rested her chin on her knee and knotted her brow in concentration. "I've got it! I know what she is looking for!"
"Daemon?"
Electra gave Jareth a well-deserved hit upside the head. 'Ow!"
"No, that was last cycle's fiasco. Bob deleted her, remember?"
"Which reminds me, I've been meaning to buy that tape from Mike."
There was a nano of silence.
"Electra...? Still there?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, are you talking to me? I thought you decided to ignore my brilliant insight in favor of Mike's taping Daemon's deletion."
"Sorry. What is this brilliant insight?"
"Megabyte."
Jareth didn't react.
"Hello? Megabyte? Remember him? Your brother? Hex's brother?"
"He's your brother too, Y'know." Jareth interjected.
"Only distantly, and please, don't remind me."
"And Dot's. Matrix's. Little Enzo's. Is there anyone is Mainframe I'm NOT related to?"
"So Anywho, I'd say Megabyte's what she's after." Electra sighed. "Can't guess why, though."
"Me neither. But it looks like we're going on a road trip." Jareth laid back on the rooftop, crossing his arms behind his head. "So, got any old rebels to call in the SC? Someone we can bunk with?"
"Oh... one or two... " She smiled, knowing exactly who to call.
******
On the busy, bustling streets of the Supercomputer, a portal opened. It appeared so suddenly that several pedestrians had to jump out of the way to avoid being transported elsewhere. Two Sprites emerged, and the portal collapsed.
One was dressed in a flowing blue-green dress. Her hair moved around her head as though it had a will of it's own, and it seemed to change color depending on the angle from which it was viewed. Her face seemed to be cast of solid gold.
The other had skin of porcelain-white, and was draped in inky black clothing. His long, leathery coat flapped in the breeze left by the portal, and his ebony mask matched perfectly his long, flowing hair. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that these two were..
"Viruses! Run!"
Almost instantly, the streets cleared. The shops closed, doors locked, and alarms began blaring with all their might.
Jareth clamped his hands over his ears, dropping to his knees. Electra glanced down at him, alarmed.
"Jareth! Are you okay?" She asked, having to scream to be heard over the alarms. Jareth didn't answer; he apparently couldn't hear over the noise.
As abruptly as it began, the alarms ceased. Jareth remained on the ground, curled into a fetal position. Electra looked up to see what had stopped the alarms..and saw that they were surrounded by a ring of Guardians, weapons drawn.
"Oh, slag." Electra said.
"Electra? Jareth?"
Electra's eyes fell on the Lead Guardian. "Backslash? Backslash! Am I glad to see you. Listen, we're really, really, REALLY sorry about that whole leaving-you-in-the burning-building thing. Can you call these guys off? Please?"
Backslash grinned. "Stand down, everybody. I know these two."
"You're friends with these Viruses?" One of the Guardians asked, a tone of disgust in her voice.
Backslash stared the Guardian down. "As a matter of fact, I am. These two helped bring down You-Know-Who. Do you have a problem with that?"
"N-No, sir."
"Good. Dismissed, all of you."
Gradually, and with many curious looks back, the Guardians dispersed until only Backslash remained.
"So, what brings you two here? And what's wrong with him?"
"Hexadecimal's run off, and we think she might have come to visit Megabyte. As for Jareth..."
Electra looked back down at the ground, where Jareth still lay twitching. "I'm really not sure. I think the alarms got to him."
"Oh. Most Viruses have enhanced senses. They can't handle loud noise. The alarms are designed to take advantage of that. Funny, it didn't seem to bother you."
"Will he be okay?"
"He should be. Once his ears stop bleeding." Backslash did a double-take. "Wait. Red blood? RED? Ick."
"I know, it's weird. Listen, Backslash, We're staying with some friends of mine, but we're not supposed to meet up with them until later. Do you know someplace we can go, where he can..I dunno..lay down or something?"
Backslash nodded. "Sure," he said. "Follow me."
*******
Electra sat under Jareth, cleaning the blood off his face. He was hanging upside down, his head towards the floor, tangled up in Backslash's hammock.
"I am never, ever going to do that again. That was gross," She said, upon completing the task.
"How do you think I feel? I was the one bleeding." He tried to get loose of the hammock again, but only succeeded in tangling himself more.
"Only you could get stuck in a Guardian hammock."
"Well, I'm not the one who said, 'Lean over the side. I've got a message for you.' Say, what's the message?"
"Oh. Kiren found Hex, and Kas is trying to find Megabyte."
"What do you mean, 'trying'? Isn't Meggy in a cell?"
Electra stood up and started getting Jareth untangled from the hammock. "Well... uh... He stole Guardian Flash's keys."
"And probably his pants too, if I remember Flash correctly." Electra ripped the hammock, and Jareth fell to the ground.
"OW!"
"How the Recycling Bin did you remember Flash and his missing pants? You can't even remember the names of my Keytools."
Jareth stood up, dusting himself off. "Well, I've never had to share a room with you or your Keytools. Flash was my roommate at the academy."
"Believe me, I'm beginning to be glad that I've never shared a room with you." Electra turned away, blushing more than she had ever done in her whole life, pretending that she was fixing the hammock.
"What do you mean 'beginning to'?"
"Did I say beginning? Oh... Whoops. Slip of the tongue. So, just what's so memorable about this Flash guy?"
"Well, he used to have this girlfriend named Diode. Cute girl. They liked to play... games." Jareth giggled. "They never realized that I was awake."
Electra blinked, but didn't have time to respond before Backslash entered the room.
"Oh. You're both still here. I would have thought you two would have deleted each other by now. HEY! What happened to my bed?"
Jareth and Electra immediately began explaining about the hammock at the same time. Backslash couldn't make out a word.
"Oh Forget it. I'll just have to sit on Kit's bunk."
"Kit's bunk is here?" Electra laughed, and Backslash shot her a glare that would cut glass. "I knew she'd moved back to the Supercomputer, but Backie, Backie, Backie, why ever didn't you tell us that she'd moved into your quarters?"
"Because I was hoping to avoid this very conversation," Backslash said crossly.
Suddenly, Diode burst into the room.
"Backslash, sir! Megabyte has..."
"Escaped? Yeah, we know." Electra said. Backslash looked at her and shook his head in disbelief.
"How did you...? You are... Sir. This Virus must have helped him escape. No one else has been told." Diode said.
"Oh, really? Then where are Flash's pants?" Jareth asked, switching to an evil grin.
Diode gasped, then blushed furiously, managing to turn from milk-white to scarlet. "How...?"
"Don't worry about these two, they'll forget everything before they have a chance to tell anyone," Backslash said, smiling though it was a grim situation. He turned to Jareth and Electra. "You two should probably meet up with your contacts, and get out of the Collective before they scope both of you. They allowed you here on my better judgment, but now that Megabyte is free, they'll probably blame you. Call me or Kit if you need help."
"Okay." Electra stood up. "Thanks. Anything we can do for you?"
"Yes. FIX MY BED!"
Electra laughed, grabbed Jareth, and exited the room.
As they left, Backslash turned to Diode. "So, what DID happen to Flash's pants?"
*******
"I still don't see why we have to lay low like this," Jareth said, as the two of them exited Backslash's quarters.
"We're viruses. This is the Supercomputer. Do the math."
"But we're like benign or something. I'm half Guardian!"
"Yes, you're half Chaos-Creating Virus and half Game-Dropping, Population-Nullifying User. The Guardians would just love you."
"We helped defeat Daemon. We have Keytools. We're friends of Bob!"
"Bob's record isn't exactly clean, not since that episode with Sierra Server. And if you don't keep it down, you'll get us both busted."
"Okay, fine. I'll just--OW!" Jareth suddenly clutched at his head. His eyes began shining forth from his mask, illuminating the hallway. The Viral Guardian collapsed, once again falling to the floor.
"Jareth? Jareth! Come on, snap out of it! Since when do you just collapse?"
In a few moments, the white light stopped shining from Jareth's eyes, and they returned to their usual gentle green glow.
"You okay? I guess those alarms hit you harder than we thought."
Jareth shook his head. "That had nothing to do with the alarms.
"What, then?"
"I don't know. But I don't feel so good. It's been happening more and more, and I think it's getting worse.""
Electra looked concerned.
"Don't worry. I'll be okay. Now, who was it we were supposed to find again?"
"Kas and Kiren," Electra answered, still looking doubtful. "They stayed behind when the rest of the Viral Rebels disbanded."
"We're there." Jareth snapped his fingers, and the two of them simply vanished.
******
Kiren tossed his daughter Katrina in the air and caught her, prompting a giggle from the baby Virus.
"Ah... A father playing with his little daughter. How sweet. Such a Kodak moment." Kas smiled, entering the room, her squidlike tentacles trailing like hair behind her.
"Aren't you supposed to be looking for Megabyte?" Kiren shot a look at Kas.
"Nope. I have to be here to greet our guests. Electra should be here any moment with that boy of hers."
"I think you're referring to Jareth."
"Whatever." Kas turned towards the monitor that watched the entrance to their place.
"Did you hear that Katrina?" Kiren asked the squirming bundle in his hands. "Your aunt Kas is jealous."
"I AM NOT!" Kas spat as she spoke.
The door slid open, and Kiren's wife, Tartania, entered the room.
"Guys, Jareth and Electra are here." Tartania took Karina, "I'll leave you guys alone with them."
She re-opened the door and slid past as Electra and Jareth shuffled to get through the door at the same time. They both got stuck in the door, Electra directed a swift kick to his shin and managed to get through with him following close behind.
"Hey Kiren, Kas. What that Tartania?"
"Good guess. I suppose you saw the baby."
"Adorable, Has your eyes. And Tartania's hair." Electra nodded as she spoke.
"You call that hair?" Jareth asked, rather rudely.
Kiren ignored him. "And she has Kas's tongue. I swear the two of them don't shut down when ever they're together."
Jareth, never the patient type, broke in. "I hate to break up this little reunion, but I've got one of my own to get to. Where is my sister?"
"Oh. She's here. Other room, She keeps asking about 'Skuzzy'?"
"She's looking for Skuzzy here? Skuzzy's at home, I know. I tripped on him while looking for
Hex." Jareth stated.
"At least now we know why she came," Electra said.
"Can I see her?" Jareth asked.
"Sure, Why not? "Kiren stood up awkwardly, It was probably want hard for a squid to go from a sitting position from a standing position since their tails didn't have the muscles to support that particular movement. "Follow me."
*******
"Hex!" Jareth called, seeing her reclining on the couch, delicately picking at a bowl of fruit that the rebels had hospitably provided for her. "Hexy, Hexy, Hexy, you have been a bad monkey. You know you're not supposed to leave Mainframe."
Hexadecimal looked puzzled. Jareth would have blinked if he'd had eyelids, he still wasn't used to seeing Hex's face actually move.
"I'm not?" she asked.
"You didn't know? None of the Viruses are supposed to leave the System. We're all part of some experiment of Bob's."
Jareth sat down next to Hex on the couch.
Now Hex actually looked hurt. "I'm just...some experiment to him?"
"Umm.there's probably more to it than that," Jareth said quickly. "I don't know all the details. I just heard Him and Kit talking one night at the Diner, the day before she left for here."
"What did they say?"
"You want it verbatim? You came to the wrong guy. All I know is that when Kit asked if we would be able to come visit sometime, Bob said none of the Virals were supposed to leave the System."
"Oh," Hex said. She looked subdued for a moment. "Well," she said finally, "if it's that important to Bob, I suppose we should head home."
"Just one problem. We need to lay low. Megabyte's escaped from his cell-"
"I figured he would." Hexadecimal said carelessly.
"And the Guardians are probably out searching the streets for Electra and me right now. Backslash said they'd blame us for his getting out."
"You?" Hexadecimal turned so that she was lying sideways on the couch, he head hanging downwards. She was now facing Jareth upside-down. "You've never gotten along with Megabyte. Why, I'll wager you were looking forward to him getting deleted."
"Wellll...maybe a little."
"That's what I thought." Hexadecimal returned to her former position, reclining on the plush sofa. "Grape."
"What?"
Hex pointed to the fruitbowl. Following her gaze, Jareth grabbed the bunch of grapes from the container and threw them to her. Making the tiniest incision in the skin of the grape with her claws, she delicately peeled it, popped it into her mouth, and chewed contemplatively.
"You said Electra was here with you?"
"Yep. Hmmm. Where did Electra go, anyway?" Jareth stood and walked across to the door, pulling it open. "Electra?" He gazed into the dark room, lit only by the screens of the many VidWindows. Electra was slumped in the chair, her legs resting on the control console. "Electra?" Jareth closed the door quietly. "Electra's asleep. We'll talk to her later..."
******
With a yell, Electra woke up, wondering who was in pain. She looked down to her leg, and saw that her unsheathed claws were extended deeply into her leg. She was mighty lucky that she had catlike claws and not razor-edges knives like the rest of her viral family had. She retracted her claws, flinching slightly.
"You always punish the one you love, eh?" Jareth said reaching a hand down to Electra. She had fallen from the chair and was sprawled on the ground. "I heard you crying. Bad dream?"
"Very bad dream." Electra took Jareth's hand.
"Lemme guess. Hex, Megabyte, and I converged. Mom appeared."
"Uh yeah...," Electra was momentarily puzzled. "How'd you know?"
"I've been having the same dream. So has Hex."
"And I'll wager Megabyte has, too. If we're all having them, then they can't be just dreams. What do they mean?"
Jareth started massaging his temples, as though he had a headache. "I...can't remember. But I get the feeling that I used to know." He started pacing back and forth.
Electra sighed, long accustomed to Jareth's ineffective memory. "Is there anyone you can think to ask?"
Jareth froze. "Yes. Backslash. We should ask Backslash."
"Backslash? Why him? What would he know?" Then the light bulb came on over Electra's head. "He was there. Backie was there when Daemon created her offspring. He knows the whole story. And Jareth-the original Jareth-was there, too...that's why you almost know."
Jareth nodded.
"I'll call," Electra said, grateful that some semblance of a plan was forming. "BuBBle-get me Backslash."
There was the usual pop-up noise as a Vidwindow appeared, but the face that was displayed wasn't Backslash's, but Kit's.
Electra grinned, despite herself. "Why, Kit. Fancy finding you there."
"Electra! Backie told me you were in town. What's up?"
"Long story. Can we talk to Backslash?"
"Right here," Backslash's voice called. The VidWindow's angle swung around as Backie turned it to face him. "What's wrong?"
Electra quickly described the dreams they'd been having, with occasional (And unhelpful) comments from Jareth.
"This is Bad, Electra. Do you know why Daemon created her offspring in the first place?"
"No. That's sort of why we called."
"I can't believe I forgot about this. But it was so long ago... Daemon created Megabyte, Hexadecimal, and Lore as back-ups of herself. If she was ever deleted, they were supposed to re-unite, and rebuild her code. They're meant to resurrect her. It's what they were built for. These dreams...it sounds to me like that basic function is coming to the surface. They're being driven to fulfill their function. You're sharing the dreams because you have Lore's code, or at least, part of it." Backslash looked, if possible, more worried than Electra felt. "In fact, it's probably no coincidence that they're all here, in one place, so soon after Daemon's deletion. They could have had any number of reasons for coming here, but the truth is that it was built into them."
"So what do we do?"
"I say we should get Jareth and Hex back to Mainframe. Meggy can't form portals, last I knew...and no one here's about to give him a ride. As long as they're separated, I think we're safe"
"Good idea. But are you sure it'll work?"
"I hope so. The only trouble is, can we get the three of you out of here before Megabyte finds you?"
Electra had another light bulb. "I'll have Kas and Kiren keep tabs on him, so we'll know where NOT to be."
"He'll be tricky to find. The collective's been searching-"
"Please." Electra dismissed the argument with a careless wave of her hand. "The Viral Rebels have gear that's second's ahead of anything the Guardians have. How do you think we managed to avoid Daemon so long?"
Backslash grinned sourly. "As a loyal member of the Guardian Collective, I'm supposed to report things like that. But just this once, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear it."
"Thanks."
"No problem. Tech-Holo-Emitter."
Backslash brought up a transparent representation of the Supercomputer. "Meet me here," he said, pointing to a location on the chart. "We'll make arrangements to get you home immediately."
"Great," Electra said. "Well, what are we waiting for?"
*******
With a muffled metallic clanking sound, Megabyte scurried across the pipes in the sewer. Once again, he scowled. This was hardly the way he'd like to travel. But with Guardians all over the System out looking for him, it really was the most expedient course to take.
Before he knew it, he was at a crossroads, a place where the pipe split into three directions. His eyes narrowed, his tentacles writhed through the rancid air. Suddenly, he knew. That way.
Fast as he could, he took a right and continued running for all he was worth. He didn't know what he was chasing...he preferred to think that he was chasing something, not running from something...but he knew where it was, instinctively. Maybe once he found it, he'd know why.
And it wasn't as though he had other plans. Sit in the stinking sewers, and wait to get caught again? They probably wouldn't even bother capturing him the next time. And any hope of an actual rescue had perished with his mother..even though he hadn't been there, he had felt it when she'd been deleted. He didn't know how, but he was just certain that Bob was to blame.
Bob's time would come. And the boy. The hacker. All of them. And as for his treacherous siblings...
Megabyte grinned maliciously as he raced down the pipe.
******
"Are we there yet?" Jareth asked, for the seventy third time. Sad. Electra found that she'd actually been counting. It took her mind off the immediate problem.
"No."
As the trio of Virals turned a corner, Jareth stopped and cocked his head to the side, as though he were listening to something. "I think it's this way."
"What" Electra turned around and looked at him, then glanced at her map. "No it's not. It's this way...the way we've been going."
"Are you sure? I really think we're supposed to be going this way."
Hex spoke up. "I agree. There's something over there... I wonder what it is?"
Electra flew around them, standing between them and that which they wanted to pursue. "Look, if you feel that you should be going this way, then we definitely shouldn't. It probably means that Megabyte's nearby. It's your instincts again...driving you to merge."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Hexadecmal said, rising off the ground and floating towards the strange compulsion. "I just want to see what's going on. It's something...tingly. Don't you feel it?"
To Electra's surprise, she found that she did... a strange compulsion to follow in that direction. She almost floated after Hex...but then she caught herself. What was she thinking?
Hexadecimal began flying faster, as though the closer she got, the stronger the attraction became.
"Jareth...come on. We've got to stop her."
Silence.
"Jareth?" Electra turned. Jareth stood, shuddering, clearly trying to stay where he was. His masks began changing erratically, and he took a few jerky, compulsive steps forward. "Jareth come on! You've got to fight it!" Electra flew over and tried to hold him back, but unfortunately, either Jareth was stronger than Electra, or the force pulling him was. Slowly, but undeniably, Jareth was following Hex...and, like Hex, the closer he got, the stronger the pull became. Soon he was unable to fight at all, and, knocking Electra out of the way, was flying off after his sister.
Electra was aghast. "Not good. This is not good."
*****
"Electra, calm down."
"Calm down? Kas, I can't calm down. Do you realize what's going to happen if those three actually meet? We'll be absolutely screwed, and NOT in the good way! What do we do?"
The squidlike Virus took a deep breath, and spoke calmly as she could to the VidWindow in front of her. "Listen, they're flying in a straight line, right? All you need to do is open a portal in front of them. They'll fly right into it."
"That won't work! I need a huge tear to portal between Systems, and it'd take too long-"
"Okay, okay. Where are they headed?"
"Due...umm...thataway." Electra pointed.
"Towards the P.O. Umm...Okay, I'll call Backslash, and tell him to be there. I'll send Kiren, too. Meet them there, maybe you can hold off the convergence long enough for me to find a suitable tear."
"But how will we get them to enter the portal?"
"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it. Just be there. Kas out."
*****
An unusual sight greeted Electra as she arrived at the P.O.: Backslash and Kiren, involved in a sort of charades game with Jareth and Hexadecimal.
"What the defrag is going on?" Electra asked as she touched town, bewildered.
"It was pretty strange," Backslash said. "Once they arrived, they went back to normal. No more of that weird compulsion Kas told us about. I guess it's because Megabyte hasn't arrived yet."
"This is just great. Megabyte's coming, and we have no idea how long it'll take for Kas to find a tear." Electra threw her hands above her. "That's it. Life is officially over! We're all screwed!"
"Someone's in a bad mood," Hexadecimal said. "I don't see what you're so upset about. I'm the one who's losing. I can't work out what Jareth is." Hex motioned towards Jareth, who sat on the green in the User famous 'Thinker' pose. "Do you have any ideas?"
"She's not even playing. I can't believe you don't know this!" Jareth made a rather convincing statue; his lips never moved.
"Hush. Statues aren't supposed to talk." Electra walked passed, hitting him on the shoulder. She purposely fell down next to Jareth, and rested her head on his shoulder. "We're still screwed."
"Unless Kas can find a Tear in time."
"Even then, it'd be tricky," Jareth said. "For one thing, Hex and I can't leave."
"What do you mean? Don't worry about Megabyte, the Guardians-"
"No, I mean we CAN'T leave. We've tried. Every time we get a certain distance away... it's just... I can't explain it."
"Great. Well, Kiren and Backie could push you through the portal, while I held off Megabyte."
"I've seen the movies, Electra. Leaving one person behind never works, it just gets that person killed. Besides, I think we're probably stronger than Backie and Kiren."
"There is another option," Backslash said. "When Megabyte shows up, we take him out." The Guardian unclipped the lightsaber from his belt and began twirling it like a baton. "Delete him before the convergence can take place. Without all three offspring..."
"No new Daemon," Kiren finished. "I think that that's probably our best course of action." Kiren eyed Backslash almost approvingly. "You know, if you weren't a Guardian, I could almost get to like you."
Megabyte sneered at the voices above. There were two he didn't recognize, but the others belonged to his siblings. So, they were here as well. Had they been drawn here, the way he had? Well, he would soon find out.
With a mighty leap, the Black-armored virus knocked the manhole cover aside and landed smoothly on the sidewalk. He glared about, extending his jagged claws. Hexadecimal stood on a patch of grass nearby, and Jareth sat on the ground beside her. The foolish girl in the blue dress stood nearby, as well. Good. He could delete them all at once.
Backslash fingered the switch on the side of his weapon, and a brilliant beam of energy emerged from one end. The Blue-green skinned Guardian swung his blade, intending to slice Megabyte cleanly in half at he waist&but just then, something remarkable happened. Megabyte began to glow. Hexadecimal and Jareth began to shine from within as well, and even Electra's pale green skin began to shimmer slightly. As Backslash and Kiren watched, the glow grew, swelled, and enveloped the surrounding area, forcing them back, away from the Viral siblings.
Electra stared, aghast. It was all happening, just like the dream. They stood in an equilateral triangle, facing one another, claws extended. As one, they took a step foreword.
"No! Jareth! Snap out of it!" Electra flew over and dropped into the very center of the triangular arrangement, managing to penetrate the pervasive force that held the others back. She began trying in vain to push Jareth back, away from the other two, but she still wasn't strong enough.
The convergence occurred. The outlines of the Virals were lost in haze of violet-white light, and the very air seemed to be full of nervous energy. Small comets of Green, Black, Red, and Blue light streaked around the edges of the barrier.
But then something happened. The energy seemed to just... go wrong. It was nothing one could identify, just an undeniable sense of wrongness that permeated the energy-saturated air. Even Kiren and Backslash felt it, such was the power involved.
"What's going on?" Kiren asked, shielding his eyes from the blinding glare.
"Something's wrong," Backslash answered, yelling to be heard over the high winds that the Virals were kicking up. "Megabyte, Hex and Lore were created by Daemon, so that they could make a backup for her if she were ever deleted. But Electra's code was never meant to be thrown into the mix! Neither was Jareth's, or that Webcreature of Megabyte's! They're-"
Anything else Backslash had to say was drowned out as the energy flux built to a crescendo. A horrendous thunderclap shook the System, and everyone found themselves thrown back by the shockwave.
Electra blinked, rising to her feet. She looked around, and saw that her three Viral siblings lay in various states of disarray around her.
To one side lay Megabyte, his armor once again a shocking cobalt-blue. His claws were extended, and those that were previously rough and jagged were whole, their razor-sharp edges gleaming in the sunlight. Some distance behind him lay a Webcreature, it's scaly hide torn by the force of the explosion, it's tentacles badly tangled.
To the other lay Hexadecimal. She no longer wore the stylish new outfit that Megabyte had given her when he'd rebuilt her after she was shattered by the Game Cube. Rather, she wore her original clothing, complete with her bizarre, five-pointed headpiece. Her smooth, soft face was once again a porcelain mask, frozen in an expression of surprise.
Equally distant from either lay Jareth, his feathers ruffled, his leather coat crumpled about him as he looked around in confusion. His mask, too was shocked, and... wait.
Jareth's clothing beneath his coat was no longer the dyed-black Guardian armor he usually sported, and instead of his usual Clawhorn-shaped Icon holder, he wore a golden triangle on a chain around his neck. A short distance behind him lay... Jareth?
Suddenly, it dawned on her... Jareth had been separated! The masked Virus wasn't Jareth at all, it was Lore! Jareth lay collapsed in a heap behind him, his armor badly scratched.
Before she new it, Electra was at his side. Surprising everyone, including herself, she kissed him full on the lips.
The kiss ended, but before anyone could react, a voice called out from behind her.
"I am Daemon."
Shocked, Electra spun around, and saw a beautiful sprite descending from the sky (She'd been floating right above her head, Electra realized.). Her clothing was a mix of various purples and blues, all done in pastel shades, and her skin was a light violet. Around her head was a strange tiara, shaped like a horseshoe rayed with delicate spines. Around her neck she wore an hourglass, like the ones depicted on her sleeves. She spoke in an innocent voice, slightly distorted by her French accent. This was not the Daemon Electra knew...but then, that Daemon was deleted and gone.
"I am not an entity. I am a time," Daemon continued. "My time... begins."
As Daemon finished her statement, her feet touched the ground. Instantly, thin tendrils of energy snaked along the floor, infecting all they touched. Lore, Megabyte, and Hexadecimal seemed unaffected, but the tendrils were rapidly approaching Jareth and Electra.
"Tech-Energy shield!"
The tendrils found themselves balked, cut off from their targets by a solid wall of energy. Backslash ran up to Electra and Jareth, followed by Kiren.
"We've got to get out of here!" Backslash said. "I need a tear."
Electra raised her arms, attempting to create a tear with her Viral powers... but nothing happened. Examining her arms, Electra found that she no longer wore her flowing blue-green dress. She once again wore her ordinary jumpsuit. On closer inspection, she found that her claws were missing. She didn't even have the Viral codes she'd downloaded from Jareth/Lore so long ago. For the first time, she noticed that a shimmering golden mask lay on the ground nearby: the Viral upgrade that
had once been her face. She hastily picked it up.
With impeccable timing, a small ship flew nearby, towing a large tear behind it. Kas had come through, after all...better late than never, Electra supposed. As it passed overhead, its hauling cable released it's cargo, and the tear fell to the ground nearby.
"Backlsash, the portal!" Electra said. "Now would be a good time!"
She was right. Tech's energy shield wouldn't be able to hold off an infection of this caliber for much longer.
"Tech--portal."
Tech's energy stabilized the tear into a shining, silvery portal, and the group quickly dived in.
"Not without me, you don't!" Lore yelled, and followed, rapidly pursued by Hexadecimal, just before the portal closed.
Daemon's energy rapidly spread, until nothing in the Supercomputer remained unaffected. "My lady," the nearest resident said, bowing. "How may we serve you?"
Daemon smiled. "All must hear ze word."
A sharp, scraping metal sound distracted her, and she turned to see Megabyte standing over the injured Webcreature, claws extended. In moments, he'd completely eliminated the hapless animal. It shimmered, faded, and was quickly deleted, as though it had never been.
"Such brutality," Daemon said, in a shocked, concerned tone. "How could you do such a thing?"
"The creature had far outlived its usefulness," Megabyte replied, without looking at Daemon. "And its instincts were such an inconvenience. Destroy this, devour that, mate with the other." Megabyte turned and scrutinized the new Daemon. "But I digress. You are Daemon, correct?"
"Yes."
"You don't know who I am, do you?"
Daemon shook her head. "No."
"Indeed?"
"You are a Virus. Is zat not enough? Should we not be friends?"
Megabyte looked around, taking in how easily Daemon 2.0 had felled the largest power base on the net. "It would be... my pleasure."
*******
Phong took another sip from his frothy drink, moving the little umbrella out of the way. Adjusting his floppy straw hat, he leaned back in his beach chair and closed his eyes, ready for a nap. There was just something about the sound of the waves of energy crashing against the beach that tended to lull one.
He'd needed this. He couldn't remember the last time he'd taken a vacation. Ah, he reminded himself, But this isn't a vacation, is it? You're retired now. No more office to go back to, no more paperwork, no more potential System crashes to prevent...
But somehow, he didn't seem to be too happy about this. Why not? He'd done enough, he'd earned this break. Dot could handle the responsibilities of being Command.Com, she'd done it during the battle with Megabyte. She could probably do the job better than he could.
Eventually, Phong managed to pin down the source of his disquiet: He'd LIKED it. He'd enjoyed his job in Mainframe, he'd gotten used to feeling needed and appreciated. What did he have now? A beach house, a hawain shirt, and a floppy straw hat. Sure it was nice, but what he really wanted was to return to Mainframe, and not just for a visit, but to stay, to return to his old job, or at least a position in the Principal Office. They could stick him in mail room for all he cared, he'd still be happy.
What he wouldn't give for just a glimpse of a familiar face... Dot, Matrix, Bob, Mike the TV. He'd even be happy to see Hexadecimal, at this point.
There was a sudden flash of light, and a gust of wind that forced him to grab hold of his hat before it flew away. Sitting up, Phong opened his eyes just in time to see six people-shaped objects tumble headfirst into the sand, and to see a portal snap closed. The nearest Sprite rose up out of the sand, leaving the ground entirely-and Phong did a double-take. It was Hexadecimal.
"Should have asked for money," he muttered, shaking his head. Gradually, most the others stood up, brushing themselves off, and Phong was only slightly surprised to see that he knew each and every one of them... except for the one that resembled an octopus.
"Electra," he asked, getting out of his chair and wheeling over to her, "Are you okay?"
Phong helped brush the sand from Electra. "Phong?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"
"I live here," he replied. "Not that I mind the company, but what are YOU doing here, my child?"
Electra quickly brought Phong up to speed. "And so, now we're here, and..." Electra sighed. "I don't know what to do anymore. I think I need a nap."
Phong quickly took charge, as he'd been yearning to do. "Yes, I think you could do with a rest. Come inside. I will contact Mainframe and warn them to commence lockdown. They can have Bob portal us back..."
"Us? You're coming? We didn't mean to bother you, Phong..."
Phong waved that aside. "I wasn't enjoying myself very much, anyway. Come... Oh, your friends are welcome of course, as well. I'm afraid I don't have much tooffer in the way of accommodations, just...." Phong did a double-take. "Jareth?"
"Didn't I mention that?" Electra said. "Something about the merge. It separated Jareth from Lore."
"This is wondreful! it is good to have you back, my son."
"Good to be back... I think," Jareth replied. "Where was I?"
Phong blinked. "You....do not remember?"
Jareth shook his head.
"I think you had better come inside as well."
Phong turned to Hex, Lore, and Kiren. "As for you three...do you think you can behave yourselves until we return to Mainframe?"
Kiren nodded, but Lore and Hexadecimal both switched to sinisster masks and unsheathed their claws. Phong shrank back; he'd forgotten that each of the chaotics had been stripped of their stabilizing factors.
Kiren spun around and, with two flics of his tentacle, flung two small objects onto the two Viruses. Immediately, waves of static electricity arced over both of them, and they fell to the sand, stunned.
"Viral stasis field generators," he explained. "Good thing they didn't see it coming, I don't think we could have stopped them if that hadn't worked."
"Why would you have those?" Jareth asked. "You're a Virus, too."
"Most Viruses chose to ally themselves with Daemon, when she took over the Supercomputer. The rebels had to be prepared to deal with Virals as well as Guardians. And, just for the record, I am NOT a Virus."
"You're not?" Backslash asked, surprised.
"Daemon took over the Supercomputer?" Jareth asked, sounding just as surprised.
Phong shook his head; it seemed that Jareth was sincere about not having any memory of recent events. He ushered everyone up to his beach house, which, fortunately, wasn't far off. Backslash and Kiren had to carry Lore, while Jareth and Electra hauled Hexadecimal up to the house. Dropping the two on the nearest available piece of furniture, Kiren, Backslash and Electra welcomed Phong's offer of a place to rest.
As his visitors retired to their various chosen places around the house, Phong trundled over to his communications console and dialed in a series of numbers.
Moments later, a VidWindow opened before his eyes.
"Phong!" Dot cried. "Good to see you! How's everything?" Dot's eyes glanced to the Sprite standing behind Phong. "Hi, Jareth." Dot did the same double-take Phong had. "Jareth? Is it really you?"
Jareth waved. "Hi, Dot."
"But, how? I thought..."
"It is a long story, my child, and I'm afraid we have little time to discuss it. But it is vital that everyone here return to Mainframe as soon as possible."
Dot nodded. "Okay, Phong. I'll have Bob open a portal immediately."
A loud snore issued from the Vidwindow, and Dot's expression grew much more annoyed. Phong merely smiled.
"It seems that Bob needs rest, as do my visitors. Have him open the portal when he wakes. By then we should be prepared. Oh, and Dot, I must ask you to initiate a full lockdown of Mainframe. Nothing in, nothing out."
Dot nodded. "This must be serious."
"Indeed. I will explain when we arrive. Farewell, my child."
Phong closed the window, and turned to Jareth, who was looking at him expectantly.
"Okay, Phong," Jareth said, arms crossed. "Spill."
Phong sighed. "Very well. Sit down. It all began just after the Twin City Crash..."