The Viral Guardian Series

by Stellar Raven

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

10. The Relapse

Chapter Nine: The Relapse

Author's note: Once upon a time there was a television program called Reboot. Reboot was a great show, and had a great many fans, but because of the stupidity of the networks, it seemed to have a hard time staying on the air. As a result of this, the show was canceled, leaving a great many questions unanswered. What was the nature of the disaster which befell the legendary Twin City? Just who was this 'Daemon', who had infected the entire Guardian collective? Who was the Matrix father, and what was he like?

Many fanfiction authors took it upon themselves to answer these question, writing alternate histories to the Mainframe plot, since the true one was unrevealed. While these alternate backstories couldn't be proven, neither could they be disproven, so the fanfiction authors managed to get away with it... until one day, it was announced that eight new episodes of Reboot would soon be released. While this was unquestionably good news, it also meant that many pieces of fanfiction, particularly those that included these alternate story lines, would have

their very foundations torn out from under them.

One author, however, managed to cleverly integrate his fabricated history with the one these new episodes provided, with only a minimal changing of certain details. I forget his name, but it's really not important. What is important... well, I forget that, too. Screw it. I hereby present to you the Net's first and, to my knowledge, only attempt to integrate a prefabricated fanfiction story line with that of Daemon Rising, the long awaited Chapter Nine of the Viral Guardian Series: The Relapse.

Enjoy.

---------

Jareth leaned back in his chair, his feet up on the Vidwindow that lay horizontally in the middle of the Read-Only Room. A smaller, upright canceled the wall he was facing, it's flickering light the only source of illumination in the room. Ever since being separated from Lore, his Viral half, Jareth had been watching the files, the recorded entries of the events that had occurred after his fusion. He couldn't clearly remember them, himself; memories were fuzzy, like forgotten dreams, and watching the files helped.

Outside the Principal Office, a number of things were happening. Daemon, back from the dead (AGAIN), had managed to re-infect the Supercomputer, and, by degrees, much of the rest of the Net. Matrix and AndrAIa, riding new, specially prepared motorcycles, had gone out on recon. Because the ports to the Net were unsafe, they were relying on Bob and his portal-making abilities to get them in and out of the system.

And then there were the local Viruses. Hexadecimal was back, and more dangerous than ever. Even Timesprite had crawled back out of the woodwork, and was causing all the trouble she possibly could.

Fortunately, Backslash had fled the Supercomputer when he and Electra had, and was managing the resident Virals fairly well. In contrast to Hex and Timesprite, Lore had done the complete opposite: Vanished altogether. Mouse had looked into the matter, and learned that his portal had opened into a System called Acer. Well, at least he was out of the way.

But, despite it all, Jareth stayed sealed away in this room. He always had been good at ignoring the world around him.

"Hey," came a voice from behind him.

Jareth spun in his chair to see Electra standing in the doorway.

"Hey," Jareth answered.

There was a brief, awkward silence, thankfully broken by Bob's scream from the VidWindow.

Jareth turned back to the screen, just in time to see Megabyte launch Bob into the massive portal over Mainframe, right into the deepest part of the Web. As he watched, Hexadecimal confronted Dot, only to be driven back by Mouse.

"Woah. Where was I when all this happened?"

"Inside Lore."

"No, no, no. I mean, where was I? I was in Lore, but where was he?"

"Dunno," Electra said, entering the room. "I was out of town, myself."

"That's right. That Guardian… Bob? He said you'd left Mainframe for the Supercomputer."

"I'd have never gone if I'd known about Daemon."

"Why did you leave?"

"I'm sick of that question." Electra grinned. "Here's one for you: Now that you're you again, what'll you do now?"

Jareth shrugged. "I dunno. Go back to business as usual, I guess."

"What?" Electra asked. "Go on Guarding the System? Keep trying to find a way back to the User World? Think about it, Jareth. Mainframe has Bob now. And Matrix. That's two Guardians, not counting Backslash." Electra pulled a Zipboard from her belt, Maximized it, and bent it into a serviceable chair, then sat to face Jareth. "Most Systems don't even have one."

"Yeah. I guess they don't need me anymore," Jareth looked back at the screen. "Maybe they never did."

Electra let the self-pitying comment slide. They were typical of Jareth, every now and then. "And as for finding a way back… well…. think about it. You were…. how old when you arrived? 1.3? 1.5?"

"I was thirteen. I think that translates as 1.4. Or something. I don't know." Jareth gave the floor a kick and sent his chair into a slow spin. "I never could figure out Virtual Time."

"So you're quite a bit older now. I'd say at least 2.0. I don't think your friends or family would even recognize you. Not to mention the fact that they probably think you're dead by now."

"No. Virtual Time is faster than Real Time, I know that much. I don't think I've been gone more than a week, or a month, tops."

"Week. Month. I don't even know what those are," Electra said.

"Yeah. And there are no Zipboards, no Vidwindows, and the televisions stay put and have mute buttons. The User World is a very different place. I never thought I'd get used to life in Mainframe."

"But you worked it all out. You became a Guardian." Electra giggled.

"You. A Guardian. Who'd have thought?"

"Not me. When I first got here, I was happy enough just to learn that Mainframe had User-friendly toilets. I never planned on becoming anything, let alone a Defender of the System. The whole Guardian thing just… sort of happened."

"You know, you never did tell me how."

"I didn't? Well, then, pull up a chair… or a Zipboard… and sit tight. A long time ago, in a System far, far away…"

"It happened right here. Not that long ago, either."

"Hey, Who's telling this story? This is how we Users begin stories."

"Okay. Okay."



* * *

The Past………

"Can I do it?"

"No. You did it last time. It's my turn."

"No way! I distinctly remember YOU opening the portal last time, Backslash."

Backslash glared at Kit, who gave him the worst treatment any female Sprite could give to a male… The Look.

Backslash sighed. "Okay. FINE. You can open the Portal to the Academy. This time. Next time, it's my turn."

Kit grinned. "Okay!" she said in a disturbingly perky voice. "Clip-Portal!" The symbiotic tool on Kit's Bracer chirped, stabilizing the Tear in front of them into a Portal.

"About time," came a voice from behind them. The two turned to see Jareth standing on the grass just before the docks, his arms crossed in mock impatience. "You two are probably late for class now."

"We've been late before," Backslash said.

"Yeah, but do it too many times and you'll be booted out of the Academy. Or worse. You know, they'll make you move to Supercomputer on a permanent basis if you can't manage the commute on time."

"How do you know?" Kit asked, curiously.

"I read the regulation manual."

Blank stares.

"I was bored."

More stares.

"Oh, get to class already. If you two have to leave Mainframe, I'll be stuck here with no one but Dot and Electra. Don't you DARE do that to me."

(Hey! Something wrong with my company?)

(Don't interrupt, Electra)

Backslash and Kit laughed, then entered the portal, which closed in a flash behind them. While most Guardian cadets were required to make their home in the Supercomputer, those lucky enough to be given Keytools were permitted to remain in their home Systems, since they had the means to return quickly. But Backslash and Kit had just received their Keytools, so naturally, they were eager for any excuse to use them. This meant that they argued a lot over who got to do what, which Jareth loved. Few things were more interesting than a good argument, especially between friends of his.

Jareth turned to leave the docks, watching the suddenly relieved Binomes. They always got edgy when a Tear had to be brought in from the Energy Sea to form a Portal, and now that it was gone, they were relaxing a bit…. but not too much. Most either eyed him warily as he passed or ran in pure terror. This was hardly surprising…. he was, after all, a User. A horrible, Game-dropping, Binome-Nullifying User.

He giggled at the thought. Sure, he had played games before, and sure, he'd won… but after all, how was he supposed to know that there was a whole world inside the computer? In fact, he'd been questioned a number of times about the User world, mostly by the Command.Coms of Mainframe, Phong and Light. He'd barely managed to dance around the fact that the Users didn't even know they existed, since he didn't think that that little tidbit would win him any popularity contests. He didn't much care what people thought of him; in fact, he thought it was rather funny that people were afraid of someone like him, but he didn't appreciate the idea of being lynched.

Suddenly, Jareth found himself lying face-down in the mud. He grimaced. Mainframe or not, mud was still mud. Examining his boots, he quickly found the cause: His shoelaces, worn down to next to nothing, were untied again. Re-tying the threadbare laces, he examined the rest of his outfit. His black cargo pants were torn, his jacket was faded, his T-shirt had seen better days. And almost everything was too small for him. New clothes were definitely in order. Too bad none were available. Whenever a Mainframer wanted new clothes, he or she simply downloaded them onto his or her icon, then clicked it, imagining the outfit he or she wanted. Thus an Icon acted as a wardrobe. More than a wardrobe, an Icon also cleaned any clothes that were stored on it, all one had to do was change, then change back, so one in Mainframe was ever criticized for wearing the same thing twice in a row.

Jareth didn't have an icon. Whenever Phong or Light tried to give him one, the thing simply exploded. So until they found a way to register him, or get him back to the User World, whichever came first, he was stuck in the clothes he had.

There was worse news. Whoever owned this computer did regular Viral scans. Any unregistered data was deleted as either Viral or wasted space. Unless they got him out of there or got him an icon soon, there was a good chance he'd be deleted… or whatever… when the User did the next scan. He'd been lucky so far; there hadn't been any scans since he'd arrived.

(Why didn't you ever tell us about that?)

He'd asked Phong and Light not to tell this to anyone. There was nothing anyone could do about it, so he didn't want his friends to panic. He didn't want their pity, either.

(Oh.)

Jareth sighed. Shaking off these depressing thoughts, he moved on to the next topic, all but forgetting the prior one. "What to do today?"



* * *

The Present………

"I don't remember that day. Where was I?" Electra asked.

"It was a school day."

"That's right. You never had to go to school."

"I wasn't allowed to go school. I scared all the other Sprites. Big Bad User."

"Lucky."

"Lucky? Did you ever wonder why I was so glad to see you guys at the end of the day? Why I was always waiting just off campus? I was bored out of my skull."

"Anyway, continue?"

"Certainly….."



* * *

The Past………

"Typical," Jareth complained. "Not one movie playing that I haven't already seen."

"Y-Y-You see them all the d-day they arrive, Mr. User, sir," The jittery Binome running the ticket booth said.

"You don't have to be scared. I won't hurt you," Jareth said. Then he grinned evilly. "I already ate."

An expression of pure terror crossed the Binome's face.

"I'm kidding." Jareth pointed to one of the Coming Soon! Posters. "When's that one coming out? It looks good."

"Th-that one comes out on 1101100100," The Binome replied, still looking nervous.

Jareth sighed. "Thanks." He turned the corner and walked away.

The binome in the booth wiped the sweat from his forecube. "Phew!"

"Boo!" Jareth cried, jumping out from the corner.

He'd never seen a Binome run so fast.



* * *

The Present………

"Now, that was just mean."

"No, that was just fun. Anyway, a funny thing happened to me on my way to…. wherever it is that I was going….."

* * *

The Past………

"Phong?"

"Yes, my son," Phong said, the VidWindow glinting in the sunlight. "I believe we may have found a way of registering you at last. Could you come to the Principal Office, please?"

"Which one?" Jareth asked, grabbing the Vidwindow by the frame and turning it this way and that, looking behind it.

"Mine, please, and…. Jareth? Are you still there?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry, Phong." Jareth put the Window back where it belonged.

"Please, hurry… this may take some time, and the backup is timed to occur very soon."

"Soon? How soon?"

"I am not sure. Sometime between 0700 and 0800."

"And what time is it now?"

"0702."

"Wonderful. I'm on my way, Phong. Valentine out." Jareth added with a flourish, closing the Window. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small disc, not much bigger than a tea saucer. He threw it to the ground, and it stopped short a few inches from the surface, spinning, growing, splitting in half until it grew into a Zipboard. Jareth stepped cautiously onto the conveyance. "I will never get the hang of these things."

* * *

"So you CAN register me?"

"Indeed I can, My child," Phong replied. "There is one problem, however."

The User-Sprite looked down at Phong. "What?"

"We must use someone's Icon as a Base Code to build on." Phong looked closely at Jareth. "Do you think one of your friends would volunteer?"

"Probably," Jareth said. "And then they'd chew me out for not telling them about the scan thing. Could you do it, maybe?"

"I am afraid not, my son. As you may have noticed, my Icon is far different from the normal Mainframe Icon. Its format is not compatible with this procedure."

Jareth sighed. "I guess I can ask Electra."

"Err... It must be a male Sprite, Jareth. Otherwise, the results would be… uhhh… disconcerting."

Jareth shot Phong a puzzled look, then decided he'd better not ask.

"Then I'll ask-"

"Backslash will not do, either, My son."

"Why not?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes."

"So can I."

Jareth laughed. "Okay, fair enough. Well, those are all the friends I've got. So I need to find someone else in this System who'd be willing to help me." Jareth stopped short, realizing the momentousness of the task before him. "This should be REAL fun."

Phong handed Jareth a small object, and Jareth took a moment to examine it. It was black, oblong, the length of his hand and about twice as thick. There were two circular indentations one on side, with a square red button between them.

"What's this?"

"This is the mechanism by which your Icon will be created. Once you have found a suitable donor, simply place his Icon into one of these slots, and press the button. The device will combine your energy with the codes from the donor's Icon to create a new Icon that will be keyed specifically to you."

Jareth stuffed the box into his pocket. "Cool. Thanks, Phong."

"You are welcome, my son. Oh... and good luck."

* * *

The Present………

"So who did you finally find?"

"Actually, he found me. But you're getting ahead of the story. After I… I…" Jareth suddenly found himself seeing double. He heard a loud thud, and moments later the pain finally reached him, telling him that he'd managed to fall of his chair. Everything began to dance. Colors blurred, objects swam into each other, flowing like mercury.

"Jareth? Are you okay?" Electra asked, sounding as though she were speaking with a mouthful of bees. A small school of fish swam by, singing Christmas carols, and one snatched a bite of his ear just before it ran into a purple cactus and turned into a tennis ball. The flying yellow barbecue flyswatter upside-down flower monkey inert spookiness razimatazzzzzzzzz………

He vaguely remembered the trip to the Infirmary. The ride there, the stretcher… the only thing he remembered clearly was at some point, he'd looked at his hand… and realized that he could see right through it.

* * *

"Sorry to bother you, Phong-"

"Not at all, my child. I wish you had called sooner." Phong began expertly operating the scanning equipment.

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Electra asked.

The platform on which Jareth lay began to hum, and a line of white light ran over him, as though he were in a giant photocopier. Moments later, Phong had the results.

"Oh, dear…."

"What is it?"

"It is not good. I'm afraid that pieces of Jareth's code are missing."

"Missing?" Electra asked, incredulous. "How is that possible?"

Phong dialed up a VidWindow, this one displaying Jareth's Vital Statistics.

"Jareth's code was damaged in the explosion that created Lost Angles. The injuries he sustained would have certainly finished him… but he avoided that by downloading everything he had into Lore."

"That always puzzled me. Why, of all people, did he choose Lore?"

Jareth's voice, weak but clear, answered her.

"Because from inside him… I could hold him back."

Phong nodded. "Did you never wonder why Lore never caused nearly as much trouble as Hexadecimal did? Jareth was still processing within him, restraining his chaotic nature… although I must admit, Jareth's own nature is not far from chaotic itself."

Phong turned back to the VidWindow. "The convergence that re-created Daemon also had the effect of returning each of her offspring to their original form." The VidWindow changed, now displaying Megabyte, Hexadecimal, and Lore, first as they had been just before the merge, then afterward, each looking as they had when they were first created. "Megabyte lost the attributes he gained by merging with a Webcreature, presumably to escape Web Degradation. Hexadecimal became fragmented again, as she was before Bob cured her. And Lore…"

"Lore lost Jareth." Electra said.

"Yes, my child. The force of the convergence purged Jareth's code from Lore's, and that code coalesced into the Jareth that we see now."

"But Jareth's code is still damaged from the Twin City Crash, isn't it?"

"I am afraid so." A sudden beeping sound filled the room. Phong closed the Window that displayed Jareth's condition, and opened another, this one showing the portal that lay just outside the Principal Office. Bob stood before it, his chrome Glitch Armor shining in the afternoon sunlight. The Blue-skinned Guardian looked drained, as he always did after using his Glitch powers.

"Portal stable, Phong. I've timed it to collapse in two nanos."

"Let us hope that it is enough time," Phong replied.

* * *

Phong left the infirmary, saying that since he was here, he may as well oversee operations from the War Room, leaving Electra with Jareth. She stood alongside his stretcher.

"Come on, Jareth. Stay with me. You've cheated Deletion before. Do it again. Please?"

She brushed an errant strand of hair away from his face… and pulled her hand back with a guilty start as he stirred.

"Hmm? Hey," He said, blinking. "Bright in here."

Electra rose, dimmed the lights, then strode back over to Jareth. "How do you feel?"

"Like I flew into a wall." Jareth shook his head. "Did I just say 'flew'?"

"Yep. You remember flying?"

"Sort of. I'll never look at birds the same way."

"Birds?"

"Creatures from my world. I've always liked them, but…."

"That's right. Birds and Angels. You were always going on about them. What did you call it? A 'feather fetish'? "

Jareth's eyes crossed again, and his skin went transparent once more.

"Jareth?"

Noting the alarm in her voice, Jareth tried, with some success, to focus himself into solidity. "Still going," he said, grinning weakly.

"You'll be okay. Just stay focused."

"You forget who you're talking to?"

Of course. Asking Jareth to stay focused was like asking a Null to dance the Hula: Possible, but not likely.

"Well, why don't you tell me the rest of your story? That'll give you something to concentrate on."

"Sure… why not."

* * *

The Past………

That afternoon Electra met Jareth by the front gates of the school, as usual.

"Free at last," she said, clicking her Icon and changing out of her School uniform. "I can't stand that foreign language class. Do YOU understand COBOL?" Without waiting for an answer, she plunged on. "Of course not. No one does. There's only one reason anyone would ever need to understand COBOL. And that's to be a COBOL teacher." Electra slung her backpack over her shoulder, and the two set off down the road towards the docks. "So, how was your day?" She asked.

"Hmm? Oh, not bad. Pretty dull, actually."

"That's what you say every day. Come on, what happened? There's something on your mind, I can tell."

"It's nothing important." Just my life. "Come on, we'll be late to meet Backie and Kit at the docks."

Electra grinned slyly. "Somehow, I doubt those two will mind being alone together for a few nanos."

"Are you still on about that? Those two haven't shown any interest at all in each other."

"Maybe Backslash hasn't. But Kit goes out of her way not to."

"Did she tell you that?"

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone that she told me that."

"You just told me."

"Loophole: I didn't tell you, I told you that I wasn't supposed to tell you."

Jareth nodded, impressed. If there was one thing better than an argument, it was a technicality.

Without much further conversation, the two had reached the docks, and not a moment too soon; as they watched, a portal formed and out stepped their friends. Jareth couldn't help but note that Backslash was carrying Kit's books, and he was sure Electra's sharp eyes had spotted it, too.

"Hey, guys," he said quickly, before Electra could say anything embarrassing. "How was your day?"

"Impossible," Kit complained. "They try to make us run the most difficult obstacle course ever, in under a nano. Not fun."

"Yeah," Backslash agreed," We're not even allowed to use Keytools…. not that they'd help much. It's not that kind of course."

"How about you?" Kit asked.

"Jareth has something going on, but he won't tell."

Jareth rolled his eyes. Why did he hang out with Electra again?

(Hey!)

(Hey, yourself. What did I tell you about interrupting?)

"Something going on? Like what?" Backslash inquired.

"Nothing important," Jareth said. Then seeing that he wasn't going to get out of this that easily, he added, "Phong may have found a way to finally register me. I finally get new clothes." It was the truth, as far as it went.

They accepted this, although Electra still looked at him curiously, as though she didn't quite believe him.

(I didn't. I knew there had to be more to it.)

(Electra…..)

(Interrupting again? Sorry.)

* * *

The Present………

The time ticked away, and there was still no sign of the recon flyers.

"It's no use," Bob said. He turned to Backslash. "Tell Phong we'll have to generate another-"

Before Bob could finish, two custom-modified flying motorcycles shot out of the portal, pursued by a pair of Guardian attack vessels. A third followed, but it arrived just as the silvery orb collapsed. The entire rear section of the ship was severed, and it spun out of control, crashing into a nearby building and exploding in a large ball of flames.

"Sorry, Bob," AndrAIa said, pulling up beside him. "We thought we'd lost them."

"They're headed for the port!" Bob said. "They're going to open us to the Net!"

* * *

Back in the infirmary, Phong's face appeared as a VidWindow popped into existence.

"Something wrong, Phong?" Electra asked.

"I am afraid so. Daemon's forces have compromised our defenses. They have reopened Mainframe to the Net, and destroyed the Control tower."

"She's locked the door open."

"Precisely, my child." Phong looked over her shoulder to where Jareth lay.

Electra followed his gaze. "Oh, he's fine for now," she said. "It seems to come and go. Between attacks, he seems perfectly normal."

"That is to be expected. Do not be deceived, Electra; he may seem fine, but his very existence remains in jeopardy."

"I know. He complained about being hungry."

Phong actually smiled. "Vintage Jareth, no? Very well…. I see no reason not to give him some food."

"Listen to that man, he knows what he's talking about," Jareth said. "Feed me."

Electra smiled. "Thanks for keeping us posted, Phong."

Phong nodded sagely, then closed the Window.

Electra turned to Jareth. "Here's the deal, User Boy. I'll bring you something to eat, and you continue the story."

"Deal."

* * *

The Past………

With a muffled Bang, a shining, silvery orb shimmered into existence, far above Jareth's head. He looked up, as did his friends.

"Uhh… Kit? Backie?" Electra asked nervously.

"Not us," Kit said.

"But it would have to be a Guardian, wouldn't it? Only Guardians can open portals."

"I've read that Games can, too," Electra said. "But there's no Game here. It must be a Guardian."

As Electra finished talking, a small green form flew through the portal, followed closely by a Violet-skinned Sprite wearing Blue Guardian body armor.

"See? A Guardian," Electra said.

"And that thing he's chasing must be…"

"A Virus," Backslash said, consulting his Keytool. "Chaos creating, sporadically active, finite parameters."

"Clip-Scope." Kit's Keytool clicked, whirred, and produced a telescope for her to look through. "Aww… she's cute."

"Who? The Guardian?"

"No, that's a guy. The Virus."

"The Virus is cute?" Jareth asked.

Kit shrugged. "See for yourself." She handed the telescope to Jareth.

Jareth had to admit that Kit was right. The Virus looked like a small girl, easily smaller than Jareth. Her skin was a deep emerald green, her hair a shade darker. She flew across the sky, darting to and fro, and it was all the Guardian could do to keep up with her.

"It looks like she's giving him a run for his money," Jareth observed.

"He'll catch her," Backslash said confidently. "He's a Guardian."

"I kinda feel sorry for her," The User said. "I mean, she looks harmless. I wonder what she did."

"She's a Virus," Electra said, as though that explained everything.

Suddenly, the skies overhead darkened.

"Warning- -Incoming Game. Warning- -Incoming Game," The System's voice rang throughout the twin cities.

"Come on," Electra said. "Let's book." Electra started to vacate the area, but stopped when she realized that no one was following her.

"Guys? Incoming game?"

"We're Guardians, remember?" Kit asked. "It's our job to defend the games."

"But you're only trainees! You'll get creamed!"

"Gee, thanks," Backie said sourly.

"Jareth?" Electra asked.

"I always wanted to see the inside of a Game," Jareth replied absently, staring at the sky.

"But you can't even Reboot!"

"So? I won't Reboot. No big deal. Besides," Jareth added. "He's coming, too." Jareth pointed to the Guardian in the sky. Sure enough, both he and the Virus were directly in the Game Cube's path. "Three Guardians. Count 'em. We'll be fine. And anyway," Jareth finished, as the Game Wall sealed around them, "it's too late now."



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

The Present………

A fierce battle raged in the skies above Mainframe. By the hazy, electric violet light of a massive Game Cube, the Guardian armada fought against Mainframe's CPU's. Bob hovered, darting about, encasing the enemy ships one by one in glowing spheres of amber light. Running low, Bob stood still for a moment. His normally blue skin flickered, becoming transparent… then, drained, he fell….

Only to be caught, held aloft by the last person he expected.

"Bob? Need a hand?"

"Hex?" Bob struggled to bring her into focus. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I could help. After all, you are my favorite Guardian."

"You? Help?"

Hex smiled. "I'm better now, remember?"

"That's right…" Bob shook his head, attempting to clear his thoughts. He hated when this happened…. his Glitch powers always did this when he pushed them. "I forgot." The first thing he had done when Hex returned to Mainframe was to defragment her once more. In a flash of crimson energy, both Guardian and Virus were gone from the sky, standing instead on the grass below.

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

"My Lady…"

Daemon turned. "Yes, Daecon?"

"Our forces have opened another system. It…..resists the Word."

"Imagine that," Megabyte said, amused.

"Impossible," Daemon said. "Show me."

The wall in front of them lit up, becoming a massive VidWindow. CPU's fought with Guardian attack vessels.

"Why do zey suffer needlessly, when ze Word is inevitable?" Daemon asked, genuinely puzzled.

"There is more, my Lady. We have found him. We have a signal lock on Guardian 452."

"Ze final Guardian," Daemon said.

"Bob?" Megabyte narrowed his eyes at Daemon. "What do you need with him?"

"He has done the unthinkable, and merged with his Keytool," Daecon answered, as though that explained everything.

"And…..?" Megabyte sneered.

"Zey are…inseperable?"

"He is the perfect messenger for the Word."

Megabyte sighed. He was beginning to tire of these people and their 'Word'.

"Send a Zoom Room," Daemon said, smiling. "Bring my Messenger safely 'ome."

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

Bob and Hexadecimal had barely set foot on the grass when they were accosted…not by the Guardians, as Bob had suspected…but by something much, much worse.

"This is Mike the TV, with an exclusive! Bob and Hexadecimal team up to defeat Daemon's Viral Hoards! Bob, as a close, personal friend of mine, could you tell the viewers….your plan?"

Bob sighed. "Mike, I don't have time for-"

Before the Guardian could finish his sentence, a large, roughly rectangular object shot down from the sky, landing directly atop him. Without a moment's hesitation, it rocketed off again, taking Bob with it.

Mike blinked, then turned to his cameraman. "You got that, right? Oh, please, tell me you got that!"

Hex frowned. "How rude." The powerful virus raised her hand towards the sky, and it began to glow from within with crimson light. In a flash, Bob lay in a disshelved heap on the ground at her feet, looking very confused indeed.

"What…what happened?"

"Nothing much Bob, but I'm beginning to realize…I've got a wicked sense of humor!" Hexadecimal broke into a short, maniacal chuckle.

Bob smiled nervously.

* * *

The Past………

"Tech-Game Stats." In the thick, inky darkness, Backslash's face was illuminated by the electronic glow from the screen of his Keytool. The eerie light made his skin appear neon blue. The glow was just bright enough to make out the walls of the tunnel they were in, which seemed to be carved from ancient stone.

"Game Stats?" Jareth asked. "You can find out stuff about the game?"

"Yep," Backie said, a touch of pride creeping into his voice. "These things would be hard to win without it."

"The Game is called 'Maze'," Kit said, consulting her own Keytool.

"The User has to make it to the castle at the center, within a certain time limit. If he doesn't make it, he loses."

"I think I've played this Game," Jareth mused.

"Where is the User?" Electra asked.

"Three levels ahead…Spammit, he has a head start."

Jareth was looking around curiously. In his own world, he'd had the habit of sleeping by day, and being more active at night…and although the sunlight in Mainframe wasn't quite as harsh as that in the User world, he'd continued doing so simply out of habit. As a result, his night vision was more acute than most, and he was able to see relatively well using only the light of Kit and Backie's Keytools.

"I've definitely played this game before."

"So where do we go from here?" Electra asked.

"Good question." Jareth began searching the walls, singing that good question to a rather annoying tune. Apparently, 'Where Do We Go From Here' was a song he'd picked up somewhere. Moments later, he'd found something. "Here," he said. He pointed to a spot on the wall where on of the bricks seemed to be a bit looser than the rest. "When this brick is pressed, a passage should open to the next level."

"Your plan," Kit said. "YOU push it."

Jareth shrugged, and pressed the loose brick. With a rock-against-rock grinding noise, it slid back into the wall….and a panel opened at Jareth's feet, plunging him down into a dark chasm below. It all happened in an instant…the rock sliding back, the panel opening, Jareth's quick, silenced wail as he vanished….and then the trap door was closed, indistinguishable from the rest of the stone floor.

"Okay…I'm guessing that that was the wrong brick," Backslash said, a bit startled himself.

"Do you think he's okay?" Kit asked, concerned.

" Who cares?" Electra said. "It was his own fault."

"Yeah," Backslash agreed. "Come on, let's go win the game. If we're lucky, he's been killed in the fall, and we won't have to deal with him any more."

(J….you do know that you have serious self-esteem issues, right?)

(Yeah. I know.)

* * *

With a muffled 'Oof', Jareth landed roughly on the ground several levels beneath his friends. Luckily, the ground here was loosely packed earth, not stone, otherwise he might have been badly injured by the fall. As it was, he managed to twist his ankle.

"Ow. Wonderful."

Looking around, the misplaced User realized that torches set just above eye-level illuminated this level. Well, good. At least he'd be able to see. Wincing slightly, he began to hobble down the hall, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that could be a trap, or perhaps even an exit. Eventually, he came to an area where the walls had been carved into the shape of huge faces. The eyes of the statues seemed to follow him as he walked. Creepy. Suddenly, one of the statues spoke, dust falling from it's mouth as though t hadn't had the opportunity to say anything for a very long time.

"Turn back!" It said. taking their cue from the first, the other statues began to speak up.

"Turn back, while you still can!"

"This is not the way!"

"Beware. Beware!"

"Take heed, for the path that you take will lead to certain destruction!"

"You're an awfully talkative one," Jareth said to the last.

"Too much?"

"A bit," Jareth said.

"I thought so, too. Thank you for your input."

"No problem."

"Oh, but it is. Now I must repay you. It's rude to accept a favor without doing one in return."

Jareth didn't see that he'd done any great favor, but wasn't about to turn one down. He shrugged. "Okay. What can you do for me?"

"Perhaps a bit of advice."

"Okay."

"Ignore the statues here. We are only false sirens."

"What?"

"Messages, omens, signals, warnings, harbingers-"

"Alarms?"

"Whatever," The statue agreed crossly. "We're here to frighten people away when they're on the right track. You get a lot of false-" The statue paused.

"Alarms."

"-Here in the Maze," The face-shaped stone finished.

"Ah. So I can tell when I'm on the right track by when something warns me to get off it?"

"Not always. There are some false alarms that aren't false at all, they're there to trick people."

"Reverse psychology. Clever."

"Yes."

"So how can I tell if I'm hearing a real false alarm, or a false one?"

"That's a very good inquisition."

"What?"

"Problem, query, enigma, quandry, riddle-"

"Question?"

"Whatever. I'm certain I don't have the answer. I am, after all, nothing more than a false harbinger. You'll have to figure it out on your own."

"Okay. Thanks. I think."

"Don't mention it. And I mean that," the statue said, a note of peril in it's voice. "I could get in trouble."

Jareth continued on his way, wondering who in his right mind designed this Game. Some thought soon answered this: No one in his right mind. A complete luntic was responsible for this. Well, that was fine with him. It was the lunatics who made the world interesting, after all. Before long, he came to a rickety-looking ladder. He wasn't sure whether to trust it, or whether his ankle would enjoy being used to climb a ladder at this point, but he really had no choice. The tunnel ended here, it was either up the ladder or back the way he came, and it was quite a long walk…or rather, hobble.

Jareth sighed. Up it was.

* * *

The Present………



"Go. Away." Hexadecimal said, and with a single motion flung each and every one of the Guardian battleships out through the rift and back into the Net.

As Mouse sealed the rift, covering it with a Firewall, The Virus came to rest before Bob…accidentally (ahem) launching one of the paramedic Binomes that was tending him into the air. "Ta-da!" she sang.

Bob clapped, perhaps a bit nervously. "Great job, Hex!"

Hexadecimal leaned in and tapped her cheek. "Kiss...." she chanted. Bob leaned in and gave her a nervous peck. Not satisfied, Hex grabbed Bob, dipped him, and gave him a passioante kiss square on the lips. Right on cue, a VidWindow opened, displaying an apparently outraged Dot.

"Bob!" She cried.

"Oh, Hello, Dot," Hex said, drumming her fingers impatiently on Bob's chrome armor.

"Dot! I'll..uhh...get back to you." Bob abruptly closed the window before Dot could protest.

Hex ran one finger suggestively over his armor. "Now, about that….downtime…."

There was a sudden flash of light.

"Oh…why, Bob….."

"That wasn't me, Hex," Bob said, alarmed. He quickly stood up.

Hexadecimal's Icon was spinning rapidly, and shining with its own inner light.

"Oooh…it tickles. Er…should it DO that?" Hex suddenly sounded a bit alarmed herself. "Bob. Help."

Before Bob could move, a swarm of Nulls seemingly appeared from nowhere, forming a living, pulsating shell around the Virus. Hexadecimal was trapped….inside.

* * *

The Past………

The good news was, after a while, the aching throb in Jareth's ankle began to subside. The bad news was that he was hopelessly lost. He found himself wishing, not for the first time, that he'd spent more time playing video games and less doing his homework.

Jareth turned a corner-and abruptly took a step back as something ran headlong into him. he found himself standing face-to-face (Or rather, face-to-navel) with a small, childlike-looking sprite, with skin of emerald green and hair just a shade darker.

"Help!" the tiny sprite said, in a voice that sounded just a bit too innocent. "He's after me!"

"Yeah, I know. You're that Virus we saw earlier."

The Virus nodded, her eyes wide and afraid, seemingly too scared to talk. Jareth blinked. This was it? THIS was a Virus? This was what everyone in Mainframe got so worked up about, this was why the Guardians had been instated? To deal with creatures like this? The User shook his head, incredulous. No way. There had to be some sort of mistake. Well…..maybe the little critter HAD done something to warrant being chased, or maybe she wasn't quite what she seemed to be. After a while running around in the Maze, he'd learned not to take anything for granted.

"Why is he chasing you? The Guardian? What did you do?"

"Nothing much!" The Virus said, sounding very offended. "I just wanted to play with the pretty lights. What's wrong with that?"

Jareth blinked again. She truly didn't think she'd done anything wrong? Well, that was enough for him. If she hadn't done anything, than she didn't deserve to be chased.

"Good enough," he said. "What's your name?"

"Timesprite," the girl said, sounding very pleased indeed that she'd managed to make a friend. "What's yours?"

"Call me Jareth."

"What are you?" Timesprite asked, with the all the directness of a child.

Jareth paused. "I'm a User."

"Realy? Oooh, neat. I've never seen a User before."

"Not many people have," Jareth replied, a bit put off by Timesprite's lack of fear. Normally, people either assumed looks of disbelief or horror when he told them who and what he was, but Timesprite had nothing but curiosity. That made it official: Virus or not, he like this creature.

"Say, Timesprite, are you any good at mazes?"

"No."

"Well, neither am I, it seems. Why don't you come and keep me company while I try to find my friends?"

"Okay!"

Just like that. "You aren't worried about getting lost in the maze, never getting out again? Or worse, losing the Game and getting Nullified?"

Timesprite shook her head. "Nope. What's the point of worrying? There are only two kind of problems: The ones you can handle, and the ones you can't. If you can handle a problem, then there's no need to worry, and if you can't, then it won't help anyway."

He was getting to like this Virus more and more. "Okay, then," he said. "Let's go get lost."

* * *

The Present………



Without warning, a VidWindow popped into existance, interrupting Jareth's story. Phong's face blinked benignly at Electra.

"Something up, Phong?"

"I thought you might like to know that I have dispatched Backslash to System Acer, to locate and retrieve Lore."

"Why?" Electra asked, looking puzzled.

"Isn't it obvious, my child?" Phong tilted his head. "Jareth is ill because his Code is incomplete. In order for him to maintain his existence, he must recombine with Lore."

Electra blinked. She'd just gotten him back! "Isn't there any other way, Phong?"

"I am afraid not, my child. It is the only way to complete his code."

She sighed. "All right. But how is Backie going to bring him back, with the system firewalled?"

"Let us burn that bridge when we come to it. I'm sure we will think of something." Phong paused. "Oh, yes, and your Virus friend, Kiren…"

"He's not a Virus."

"Oh, yes. Silly me. Well, he went along as well."

"Good. Backie will need all the help he can get in rounding up Lore."

"Phong!"

"Phong's head swiveled around as someone offscreen called for him.

"Oh, dear. Electra, I must go."

"Go on, then. They need you. Keep me posted?"

"I will. Phong out."

The Vidwindow closed, and Electra turned back to Jareth, who had gone transparent again.

"You hear that? You'll be good as new in no time."

Jareth nodded. "Hope Backie will be okay. And Kiren."

"Oh, they can handle Lore."

"Not just Lore. Acer is supposed to be a system inhabited entirely by Viruses."

Electra blinked. She hadn't know that. "Umm...I'm sure they'll be okay. So, what happens next?"

Jareth continued his tale where it left off, but Electra couldn't help but wonder how Kiren and Backie were doing....

* * *

In a darkened back alley of System Acer, a silvery portal opened, and two Sprites stepped out. each had the distinctive air of someone who was doing what he shouldn't in a place he doesn't belong…..but one at least seemed used to it.

"Loosen up, Guardian." Kiren said. "You look exactly like someone trying to get away with something. They'll see you coming a mile away." The squidlike Sprite dusted himself off as best he could. The alley was dirty and full of litter, as alleys tended to be, but he didn't seem to offset by this. His sepentlike tail cut a relatively clean path through the debris.

Backslash tried to calm down, but his Guardian instincts were all screaming at him. "Look, this is a system inhabited by Viruses. Nothing but."

"So?"

"So?! Do you know what they'll do if they catch me? You'll do fine. You can blend in. But Viruses and Guardians are natural enemies. If I'm seen-" Backslash suddenly stopped talking and ducked behind Kiren as pair of the System's denizens walked past the alley.

Kiren laughed. "I told you, loosen up. Listen, most Viruses look a lot like regular sprites. It's so they can blend in."

"I know what a Virus looks like."

"Then you know that you can pass for one. Just keep your Icon hidden, keep Tech out of sight, and stop looking so guilty all the time."

Backslash glanced at his bracer, where his Keytool, Tech, sat. "Umm…"

Kiren caught onto the problem right away. "Not the easiest thing to hide, is it? And those uniforms don't have any pockets, do they?" The squidlike sprite considered. "I have pockets. I could hold him for you…" Kiren reached for Tech, but the Keytool let out a warning beep and flashed angrily.

"Keytools don't let themselves be handled by just anybody," Backslash said, a bit smugly.

Kiren sighed. "Then I'll just have to think of something else…"

Backslash jumped, and hid behind Kiren again, as another Virus walked past the alley.

Kiren just grinned, reached out with his tentacular arm, and hauled the Virus into the shadows with them. "This one looks about your size." In a few moment, Kiren has wrestled the Virus' jacket away from him and tossed it to Backslash. "This should cover the Keytool fairly well. Might hide the Icon, too, if you keep it closed." The Virus, obviously a lower-level Virus, cowered against the wall as Backie shrugged the jacket on, a slightly distasteful look on his face.

"This thing needs to be cleaned," The Guardian said. The coat in question was a long brown coat, not entirely unlike the trenchcoat Jareth had worn, except that it wasn't made of leather. It actually didn't look all that bad on him, and did indeed conceal his Guardian armor fairly well.

Backslash aimed his Keytool at the Virus, who immediately began to cower, but Kiren stayed his hand. "A large-scale use of a keytool would probably be detected. Let me handle this."

Moments later, Kiren walked from the alley wearing a smug look of his own. Backslash followed, the look on his face torn between admiration, confusion, and horror. The Virus remained in the alley, plastered to the brick wall by a thick layer of hardened green mucous.

* * *

The Past………



Timesprite turned out to be pretty handy to have around in a Game like this. In the rooms that lacked light, she could create her own, in the rooms that had ladders that one couldn't quite reach, she could airlift one up to them. Before too long, Jareth found himself alongside her in the middle of a massive garden, the hedges of which had been pruned into the walls of an intricate maze.

"Ooh…," Timey said. (Jareth had quickly taken to calling the Virus Timey, for no particular reason.) "It's pretty."

Jareth had to agree, whoever had cared for these plants and shaped them had done a very good job. And all of the bushes seemed to be designed to be distracting, some had thick, vile-looking thorns and would try to grab anyone who passed by with tentacles that it pulled out of sight when they weren't being used, some had shimmering flowers with petals that seemed to be carved from jewels, some grew plump, juicy looking fruit that smelled almost too tempting to resist. Timey grinned, and, hovering up to one of the higher branches, plucked one of the fruits. It was a round purple one, and smelled mouthwatering.

"Umm…are you sure you should eat that?" Jareth asked, not quite trusting this place. But it was too late, Timesprite had already bitten into it. Jareth eyed one of the fruits on the lower branches. Careful to avoid any thorns, tentacles, or whatever, he plucked one and sniffed at it dubiously.

"How can you tell if Game food's poisonous?" he asked.

"Simple," Timey replied, taking another bite. "If you eat it, and you die, it's poisonous."

Jareth sighed, gave up, and took a bite of the fruit.

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

The Present………



"A Null cocoon?"

"Yes, My child."

Electra shook her head. Nothing surprised her anymore. "Well, is she okay?"

"We do not know. Our scans have not been able to penetrate the cocoon."

"Well, let me know if…."

Electra's words were cut off as sudden shouting emanated from the screen.

"There he is!"

"Here, Nibbles!"

"Come back, Nibbles!"

Electra grinned, that was Hack and Slash, chasing Megabyte's old pet Null. Bob's voice came from offcreen:

"They still look after Nibbles?"

"I think they're just covering their ASCIIs in case Megabyte ever comes back," Dot replied.

Phong finally tilted the Window so that Jareth and Electra could see what was going on on the larger screen. The two robots were chasing a small, frightened green null back and forth, Until it finally ran into and joined with a large collection of nulls. That must have been the cocoon Phong mentioned....but as soon as Nibbles entered it, it began changing it's shape, folding here, shifting there, until it almost resembled a Sprite's face. "I Live..." it said in a badly slurred voice.

"I don't believe it," Matrix said, staring slack-jawed at the screen.

"Sis…that's dad! Isn't it?" Enzo asked, eagually shocked.

"What?!" Bob asked, incredulous.

"It's true, Bob. That is our father. That...THING....is Welman Matrix."

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

The Past.....



Jareth wandered aimlessly through the winding passages of the hedge maze, Timesprite at his heels. They didn't seem to be making much progress, but in a maze like this one, they really couldn't tell. For all they knew, the right path could very well be right around the corner. But unless there were some way of seeing it from above...

Jareth blinked, stopping so suddenly that Timey ran right into him.

"Timesprite, do you think you could fly up over the hedges, and see if we're going the right way?"

Timesprite looked delighted. "I thought you'd never ask! I'll be right back." She rose into the air, and Jareth quickly lost sight of her.

Jareth wandered on, Timey would find her way back to him in a moment. He'd be easy enough to spot from above, so he wasn't all that concerned about losing her, unless she got fed up with his company and wandered off. Rounding the next corner, Jareth encountered the last thing he expected to run into while lost in a hedge maze: a Guardian.

He didn't exactly escape the Guardian's eye, either. The purple-skinned sprite aimed his Keytool at Jareth, who ducked back behind the hedge. There was a pause, during which Jareth expected a blast of some sort....but none came.

"Hey. Friend or Foe?" Called the Guardian's voice.

"Neither, yet," Jareth replied, just as guardedly. "Who are you?"

The Guardian strode around the corner, still keeping his keytool trained on Jareth. "I am Guardian 669."

"Your name, not your number."

The Guardian blinked, lowering his Keytool. "Call me RAM."

"Nice to meet you, RAM. I'm Jareth. Why'd you pull the Keytool on me?"

"At first, I figured you for a Game Sprite. But those don't generally retreat, they simply attack mindlessly. So what are you?"

"I'm....just someone who's looking for his friends."

"You're a defender, then? Native to this system?"

"Umm....sure, kinda."

"Either you are, or you're not."

"Untrue."

RAM looked puzzled, but only for a moment, because at that moment...

"Hey, Jareth!"

Jareth winced as Timey's voice rang loud and clear in the sky above. Completely oblivious to the presence of the Guardian, she dropped to the ground right in front of Jareth.

"This really isn't a very good way to go, because a ways ahead there's-"

"Virus!" RAM brought up his Keytool and aimed it at Timesprite, who, noticing him for the first time, immediately assumed a terrified expression. "Splice--Particle Beam!"

The energies in the Keytool audibly built up a charge, but just as they fired, Jareth leapt forward and shoved RAM's arm, spoiling his shot. The energy beam sailed off harmlessly into the air.

RAM was caught somewhere between startled and furious. "Why did you do that?"

"Because you were about to shoot her," Jareth replied simply.

"But...but she's a Virus!"

"I am aware."

RAM didn't seem to get it, but before he could press the issue, there was a loud commotion from one of the passages behind them.

"Oh, yes. I was about to tell you," Timesprite said. "There's a big bunch of ugly things coming this way. They don't look friendly."

"Game Sprites," RAM said, consulting his Keytool.

"Well, that's good, right?" Jareth asked. "They'll go after the User and leave us alone."

"No. They're Chaotics. They attack anything, User or otherwise, indiscriminantly."

"Then we'd better run," Jareth said."They're getting closer."

The three immediately turned and ran, turning corners at random until they could no longer hear the advancing Game Sprites.

"That was a bit too close," Jareth said, catching his breath.

"It's not over yet," RAM said. He nodded back in the direction they had come. Jareth followed his gaze.

"Where did that come from?" Jareth asked. For there, right where they had passed only moments before, was a solid brick wall, innocently sitting there as though brick walls routinely appeared from nowhere. "Well, now what?" Jareth asked. RAM gestured again, this time in the opposite direction. There stood a doorway, which, like the wall, hadn't been there before. Standing in front of it was a strange-looking Guard.

"Who are you?" RAM asked.

The Guard smiled, and in a rather creepy voice, replied,

"If you would pass the gate I guard,

Then you must listen, listen hard

For if beyond you folk belong,

You'll never guess my riddle wrong.

What goes up comes down, it's true,

So here is what I ask of you:

What falls down, but does not stop

And keeps on falling from the top?"

Jareth blinked. A riddle? "We have to guess the answer to pass?"

"Yes, guess," the Guard replied. It seemed he only spoke in rhyme.

RAM glanced at Jareth. "I'm not much good at puzzles like these. Are you?"

"Usually," Jareth responded. "But I can't seem to get this one. How many chances do we get?"

"Take as many as you will, and tell me when you've had your fill."

Jareth sat down on a rock and pondered the riddle. At least he had as many guesses as he needed. Now, what fell, and kept on falling? Obviously it couldn't be anything solid, like a rock, things like that tended to stop when they hit the ground. The image that came to his mind was a loop: something that would mysteriously reappear at the top once it hit the bottom. That couldn't be right. Maybe he was speaking metaphorically? Maybe night? Night fell, and fell again after the next day was up. So it did keep falling, kinda....Ah, but did it keep falling from the top? No, of course not, there was no top for it to fall from. Defeated, Jareth looked over at RAM and shrugged, frustrated. "I've got nothing."

The Guard grinned, and spoke in rhyme once more. "Silly twit, you lack the wit."

Jareth glared. "Who's a Twit, you stupid sh-"

RAM cut him off. "Yelling at it won't help, Jareth. We have to solve the riddle."

"Well, I don't know the answer, so unless you have some idea..."

"A waterfall!" Timesprite suddenly shouted, startling both RAM and Jareth. They had forgotten she was there.

The Guard smiled and vanished from sight, and the large wooden doors creaked open. Timesprite had guessed correctly, it seemed. Immensly pleased with herself, the tiny Virus few thrugh the double doors. Jareth shrugged, and followed. RAM looked too stunned to speak.

* * *

The Present...........

"But enough about me," Jareth said. "What about you?"

"Pardon?" Electra said.

"Your end of the story. What happened to you guys after I fell?"

"Oh, that."

* * *

The Past......



"Jareth? Jareth!"

"Electra, stop yelling at the floor. Even if he survived, which, knowing him, he probably did, I don't think he can hear you." Kit consulted the keytool on her left bracer. "I'm picking up a life sign, about four levels down. He's fine."

Electra relaxed, but not much. "Let's hurry up and finish the game, then. It'll be the easiest way to get to him."

Kit and Backslash nodded, and all three reached for their Icons. "Reboot!"

There was a flash of green and yellow light, and Kit and Electra were transformed. Kit was now a short, metallic orb bristling all over with various guns. Electra had become just as short but neither as armored nor as armed, she had simply some crude metal armor and a rusty pike. Backslash hadn't changed.

"Hey, Backie, why didn't you Reboot?"

"I tried," he replied, looking rather puzzled himself. "Tech?"

Tech's screen came to life, displaying an array of information. "Oh, I see," Backslash said, looking visibly relieved. "I didn't Reboot because my Game Avatar is too large for this tunnel. Once I get out into the open, it'll work. That's a relief, for a moment I thought there was something wrong with me."

Electra looked about to say something, but Kit stifled it by prodding her with one of her gun barrels.

"Well. let's go." Backie said. "Umm...I don't think we should try any more bricks. Let's just follow the passage."

They started down the tunnel, but they made slow progress; in their current forms, Electra had extremely short, stubby legs, and Kit's legs were bowed and made of metal, so she walked with a waddling, rolling gait. It was all Backslash could do to keep from laughing, but then again, he had no idea what his avatar would be, except that it was big.

So he kept his mouth shut.

At length, they came to the light at the end of the tunnle, where it opened into a large, splendiferous garden.

"Wow," Kit said, her voice sounding slightly mettalic, "This is pretty...."

"It sure is," Electra said.

No sooner had she spoken then a sound rang loud and clear throughout the garden, first just a few sharp taps, like sticks beating on stones, but soon it erupted into a full-scale melody. The music was joyful, if a bit erratic.

"Umm....Where is that coming from?" Kit asked.

"Them," Backslash replied, pointing. There, pouring into the garden from one of the side trails, was a flock of strange creatures with spikey red and orange hair, singing and dancing and (this was the part that made them all do various double-takes) removing their own heads and tossing them to each other.

"Umm....Game Sprites?" Kit asked.

"I guess," Electra replied. She held her pike out in front of her, although she wasn't quite sure what she should do with it; the critters didn't seem to be hostile.

"Umm...maybe we can just walk past them?" Backslash said, and, suiting actions to words, attempted to move past the creatures. No sooner had he come within range than the firey-haired creatures spied him and tried to incorporate him into their game.

"Hey, look! A new player!"

"He's on my team! He's on my team!

"No way! I saw him first!"

One contingent of the creatures grabbed Backslashes right arm, another group grabbed his left, and the two immediately began doing their best to seperate the two from his body.

"Hey!" he yelled.

Kit braced her guns and fired off a volley, not actually aiming for anything, but enough to make a lot of noise. The firey creatures scampered off in all directions, leaving Backslash sitting in a collapsed heap in the middle of the courtyard.

"What the motherboard was that all about?" he asked, dazed.

* * *

The Present......



Dot Matrix stood before the now motionless cocoon, on the grassy field by Bob's apartment. She had been speaking to her father, hoping he could hear, but there had been no sign of him since his first manifestation when Nibbles first entered the swarm.

"Warning....Incoming Game...." he voice of the System called, as the skies over head sudenly darkened.

Dot took one glance at the sky and jumped on her Zipboard, heading for Bob's apartment. It was usually best not to tackle Games alone, and since there was competant help so close by, she decided to enlist it. No sooner had she gotten to Bob's front door than the Game landed, sealing the sector.

"Dot?" Bob asked, surprised. The front door of his apartment wasn't part of the Game, So it wasn't here, but they were still standing in the same place. This put Dot standing about ten paces from Bob....right where he hadn't expected her to be. The setting of this Game seemed to be some kind of underground Crypt, with regularly spaced torches lighting the walls.

Dot closed the distance. "Can you download the Game stats?"

"Sure," Bob said. He closed his eyes. "The User is Raiding this Tomb. He wins by reading from the scroll of life....right over there." Bob gestured to a golden scroll on a pedestal just a few paces away.

"Okay. Let's get this over with." Dot clicked her icon. "ReBoot!" In a flash of data, dot was transformed into a breif outfit like that of an egyptian sorceress, though her avatar was probably some sort of mummy. Dot put her hands to her waist, a slightly dismayed look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Bob asked.

"Well...I was hoping for a pair of 45's..."

Bob brought his hand to his own Icon. "ReBoot!"

There was a similar flash of data, but instead of transforming Bob, it knocked him off his feet. He fell to the floor, seemingly hurt.

"Bob! are you okay?"

Bob only groaned. Realizing that it was up to her, Dot dragged Bob to an empty sarcophagus mounted into the wall and closed him in, so that nothing could get to him. Once she was sure he was secure, she went after the User.

* * *

The Past.....

Kit, Electra and Backslash wandered through the seemingly aimless halls of the Maze, trying to find their way to...well, anywhere.

"This is hopeless."

"Electra, if you say this is hopeless one more time, I'm going to slap you," Backslash said.

Electra waved aside the empty threat. "I told you we should have taken that left."

"Which left?" Kit asked? "They all look the same." Kit muddled along the passage as best she could on her short, bowed legs. "And I gotta tell you, I'm getting mighty sick of this game. AND this avatar. What in the Net am I? And why don't I have arms?"

"At least you have some firepower," Electra retorted. "All I get is a spear."

"I'd much rather have hands than guns," Kit replied. 'I have an itch I DON'T want to talk about."

"Will you two pipe down?" Backslash asked. "Listen. Do you hear that?"

All listened. There was a sound to the left, as of some large creature bellowing in pain.

"Do you think it needs help?" Kit asked.

"I doubt it," Electra asnwered. "It's not Jareth, and I doubt it's that Guardian. Anything else in here is liable to be a Game Sprite, the User, or the Virus we saw."

"Still, if it IS a Game Sprite, we may be able to get it on our side.

Most Game Sprites are designed to fight the User, after all," Backslash said.

The group began making it's way towards the sound. Once there, they found that it was being made by a frightfully large beast with horns. It was suspended from the treetops above, and was being attacked by viscious little people bearing sticks that seemed to have some sort of creature on the end. Everytime they touched the beast, the creatures on the sticks would bite savagely into him with their many razor-sharp teeth.

"Ouch," Electra said.

"Well, let's help him," Backslash said. He stepped into the clearing.

"Hey! Let that....umn....thing...go!"

The creatures ignored him. The tortured beast didn't seem to notice him either.

"Hey! I said release him!"

Still nothing. fed up, Backslash raised his Keytool.

"Tech--Particle Beam."

The Keytool fired a searing pulse of energy...which passed right through it's taget as though he were nothing but smoke. Backslash blinked. "Huh?" he said helpfully.

Just then, a rock flew into the clearing from the side, striking one of the torturers square on the helmet. The force of the impact swung the helmet around, effectively obscuring his vision. Blinded, he ran into the thing closest to him....another torturer. They collided, and their biting sticks came into play. The small people screamed in pain as their own weapons bit them. More rocks flew into the clearing, turning more helmets. In moments, the morale of the torturing goblins faded and they ran, still screaming.

A young girl of about 1.5 entered the clearing. She took absolutely no notice of Backslash, but severed the ropes holding the beast. He fell to the ground, but immediately got back up and looked curiously at the girl. The girl made motions to the creature....for some reason, Users in Games never talked, except for a few innane catch phrases....and the beast seemed to understand them. The two walked off together.

Kit and Electra walked into the clearing.

"Why didn't Tech work, Backie?"

Backslash considered. "Oh...duh. It's because I'm not Rebooted. I'm not a viable Player." He turned on Kit. "I've got a better question. Why didn't you two back me up? We could have stopped the User and ended the Game."

Kit didn't have a face in this form, but she still managed to look a bit embarrassed. "I...kinda felt sorry for that...creature. And it was nice of the girl to get it down."

"You've got to be kidding me," Backslash said. "To the User, helping that thing meant no more than grabbing a coin or a powerup."

"Well, then, why didn't YOU Reboot and take care of it?" Electra asked.

"Umm...because I didn't realize that that was the User, at first," Backslash admitted. "I was expecting the usual...claws, teeth, spikey things...not a cute teenaged girl in a dress."

"Well, we know now. Let's get after her."

The group traveled as quickly as they could manage (which wasn't fast, considering their current forms), and tried to catch up to the User.

* * *

The Present.....

Dot ran the User on a merry chase through the tomb, trying her best to stop him, but he made it back to the scroll chamber despite her best efforts. Well, she'd have to stop him here.

The User stared her down. He was the typical Hero-Adventurer Avatar, with an appearance designed to make him look as rough and handsom as possible. Dot wasn't impressed. Maybe one day the people who made that sort of thing would realize that no one really was. The User attacked. Dot defended herself, and quickly came out on top. She picked him up and began to drain his life force, an ability inherent to her avatar, but before she drained anough to take him down, he pulled out a talisman and held it up to her forehead. There was a bright flash, and her attack was reversed: her life force went to him, rather than the other way around. Helpless, she fell to the floor, and the User made his way towards the scroll.

Moments before he touched his goal, the sarcophagus directly behind him opened. A bandaged Mummy with a red headdress stepped out and accosted the User, utilizing the same attack Dot had. The User, not having another talisman, was drained of his youth in an instant.

"Game Over...."

Immediately, the Game shot back into the sky. here, where the mummy who had saved the day had been, stood...

"Hex?"

Hexadecimal's aspect had changed completely. Her dress was now a pure snowy white, her skin a vibrant gold. She no longer had a mask, simply a white face. Her snakelike tiara had been replaced by a simple row of short, strait spikes. "Oh, my goodness," Hex said, evidently looking at herself for the first time.

Dot helped Bob to his feet. "Hex, I need your help."

"You? Need MY help?" Hex asked, either puzzled, incredulous, or both.

"I need you to take Bob to the portal generator."

Hex linked her arm with Bob's and closed her eyes. Nothing happened Dot didn't have time for this. "Hex, I know we have our differences, but I need you to do this for me!"

"But..I just tried, and we're still here...and I can't fly. Dot. I've lost my powers; How do I get him there?"

* * *

Matrix and AndrAIa soared through the sky on their cycles, hoping to stop the Guardians from taking this System. The situation, however, soon revealed itself to be a trap. The port to Net closed, leaving them stuck in the System until Bob portaled them out... and the portal was running late. Meanwhile, a Guardian task force was attacking them.

Sneaking into a nearby armory and donning Exoskeleton Suits, Matrix and AndrAIa began to fight off the Guardians. One stepped foreward and removed his helmet.

"Turbo!" Matrix said. He reached foreward and scooped up the former Prime Guardian and began to interrogate him, as AndrAIa held off the remaining Guardians.

* * *

"Lock on to Turbo's Icon," Daemon said. "Send a Zoom Room before someone is deleted."

* * *

AndrAIa's sharp eyes spotted the descending Zoom Room, about to fall directly where Matrix was standing. At that same moment, the portal finally opened, right next to him. AndrAIa tackled Matrix, knocking him and turbo into the portal....but in the process, she placed herself directly in the Zoom Room's path. The zoom Room rocketed back up into the sky, just as the portal closed.

"No!" Matrix yelled. "AndrAIa!"

But it was too late....she was gone.

* * *

The Zoom Room landed in the middle of Daemon's throne room, and immediately vanished back into the sky. AndrAIa, in her ExoSuit, was left standing before Daemon. The small blue SuperVirus barely reached the exoSuit's ankle.

"AndrAIa," Daemon said, in her heavy French accent. "Welcome."

AndrAIa screamed and brought down the fist of her Exoskeleton Suit squarely on the small sprite...who halted the massive fist with no more than her finger. Instantly, coils of Viral energy snaked up the arm of the suit, infecting the Game Sprite. AndrAIa dropped from the suit's cockpit and bowed.

"My Lady," she said.

* * *

The heavy bars of the cell slammed shut, sealing Turbo inside.

"There," Mouse said. "That oughtta hold 'im."

"For a while. Yes," Turbo replied, oddly serene. He smiled.

"I hate the way he keeps smilin' at us," Mouse said to the binome guarding the cell.

"I have heard the Word. I am at peace." Turbo looked directly into Mouse's eyes. "Ray has heard the word, too, Mouse."

"What did you say?"

"The Surfer. He waits for you with my Lady. All you have to do is drop the firewall and he'll fly into your arms."

Dot and Bob approached, and Mouse immediately turned on them. "Daemon's got Ray."

"You've only got his word on that," Dot answered.

"And AndrAIa?"

"Mouse, this isn't the time, we have to talk to Turbo now!"

Mouse stormed off.

Bob and Dot talked to Turbo, and of course, his self-righteous attitude went too far.

"Enough," Dot said. "Do it, Bob."

Bob stood directly in front of the cell, closed his eyes and concentrated. A narrow beam of golden light shot forth from his Icon, slamming Turbo up against the wall. Turbo screamed as the purity of the Guardian protocols began to purge Daemon's infection.

"No! My Lady! The Word!"

Bob faltered, and Turbo fell to the floor.

"Did it work? Is he cured?"

"Not...entirely," Turbo said. "but I can fight her infection now."

"Why does Daemon want Bob?"

"As Daemon's infection grew....Keytools left us....just like the first time. Bob is now the only Guardian who can create portals. And she'll get him...any way she can."

* * *

Backslash glanced about wearily as he followed Kiren down the streets of System Acer.

"Where are we going, exactly?" he asked.

"Somewhere where we can get some info," Kiren replied.

As they came to an interesection, Kiren stopped short and glanced up and down the street. "Ah, there we go." Kiren pointed with his Biomechanical arm to one of the buildings that lined the filthy street.

"A bar? How's that going to help?"

"Ever seen a western?"

"You're telling me we're just going to slip the bartender a few credits and ask if he's seen Lore?"

"Yep. C'mon." Kiren slithered towards the bar on his sepentine tail. Backslash followed, but, not having a tail, he was forced to use his feet instead.

The bar was practically deserted. What few customers there were looked pretty shabby, the decorum more so. Behind the bar stood a burly sprite that looked as though he could have used Matrix as a toothpick.

"You coming? Or would you rather wait here?" Kiren asked.

"Coming," Backie said, following the Squid up to the bar. Backslash sat down, but the barstools couldn't accomadate Kiren, so he stood.

"Hey, there," The bartender said, sounding a good deal more friendly than he looked. "Ain't seen you around before. New in town?"

"Yep," Kiren answered. "Not staying long, either. Just looking for an old friend, heard he was here."

"He's new here, too. Maybe you've seen him," Backslash chimed in. The bartender shifted his gaze from Kiren to backie, and his gaze narrowed slightly. Backslash continued: "Black clothes, black mask, wings-"

"Name o' Lore, completely out of his mind?" the bartender asked gruffly.

"You've seen him around then?" Kiren asked. "Can you tell us where to find him?"

"I COULD....," The bartended drawled, rubbing his thumb and his forefingers together.

Kiren slipped him a ten-unit coin.

"Gettin' there."

A second coin joined the first.

"That'll do. The Nutter's been staying up on the north side o' town, he made this tower-lookin' thing out of trash and stuff. He packs quite a bit o' firepower, if you're after him for somethin', ya better watch yer step. Say, whatcha want with him, anyway?"

"He owes us money," Kiren said shortly.

"Ah, well. Business is business." The bartender looked around once, then beckoned Kiren to lean in a bit closer. "Don't think I can't see whatcher up to, pal," he muttered. "That buddy o' yers is a Guardian, plain as day. Now, I ain't got nothin' against that sort, unless they mean to start trouble in my bar, and I sure ain't gonna point it out, mostly cause I don't wanna hafta clean up all the blood afterwards. But I gotta tell ya, be a bit more careful. You can still see 'is boots, and 'is gloves, and those are Guardian standard issue, and that bulge on his wrist is definitely one o' them gadgets his kind uses. Now, most o' the folk in this town are like them-" the Bartended jerked his head over at the customers at the other end of the bar. "They're not too bright, you can sucker them easy as anything. And most of the smarter ones don' care 'bout anythin' but their own selves. But there are a few who'd blow the whistle on ya just fer fun, so watch it. If you go an' get yerselves caught, and they find out you was in here, I could get into some serious slag, ya know?"

Kiren nodded. "I understand. We hope to be out of town before anyone catches on."

"Well," the bartender said, straitening up. "If that's all ya want...."

"Yep. We'll be on our way. Thanks."

"No problem. Oh, and the name's Java. If yer ever in town, and ya need anything, I can git it for ya....fer a price, o' course." Java grinned.

"Of course," Kiren said, returning the smile. Then, Backslash in tow, he headed for the door.

* * *

"She's a WHAT?"

"A Sprite," Phong replied.

"Not a Virus?" Dot asked, not quite understanding.

"No."

Hexadecimal stood at the back of the room, not listening to a word the two other Sprites were saying. Her finger was tracing patterns on the wall of a large glass tank, and the Nulls inside were following her finger.

"Why not?" Dot asked. "What's changed?"

Phong cued up a Vidwindow, showing three distinctly different Hexes...one that looked the way she had at first, another that showed her after Megabyte's reconstruction and Bob's defragmentation, and a third, that showed her as she now was. "After the convergance that created Daemon 2.0, Hexadecimal was thought merely to be returned to her original state. However, it seems that she is suffering from an instability of her Code. It is perhaps no coincidence that this occured just as Jareth began to feel the effects of the merger. I belive it to be a delayed but inevitable symptom. She tried to use the Nulls to pretect herself...."

"But the Nulls fled when the Game landed."

"And Presto! New Hex."

"So....this is permanent?"

"Not neccesarily. Just as Jareth can be restored if he recombines with Lore, Hexadecimal can be restored if she recombines with that which she lost....an extremely high level of energy. However, perhaps it is best if she remains as she is....a Sprite."

"Better a Sprite than a Virus," Dot agreed. She glanced back at Hex...and realized what she was doing. "I thought you said you'd lost ALL your powers?"

"I have."

"Then....how are you doing that?"

Hex didn't seem to be paying much attention, but Dot came to an immediate decision.

"Come on." Dot grabbed Hex by the hand and dragged her from the room, almost knocking Bob over as he walked through the door.

"Hi, Dot-"

"Bob, where's your car?"

"It's right outside, but.."

"We're borrowing it."

A vidwindow appeared from nowhere. Matrix and Mouse, both having a determined expression on their faces, stared at Dot.

"We have to talk," Matrix said.

"Not now," Dot said, closing the window and cutting her brother off. The Vidwindow immediately returned, this time displaying Specky. "Dot, Ma'am.."

"Not NOW, Specky!" Dot closed the window again, and rushed out the door.

Phong looked up at Bob. "Well. Just slip out of your uniform and hop up on the scanner. I'll be with you in a nano."

"Oh..but, Phong, that's really not.."

"On the scanner! Is Doctor's Orders!"

* * *

Electra walked back into the room, carrying a tray of food. Jareth had refused to tell another word of the story until she brought him something to eat. She wanted to know how it ended, so she had no choice but to go fetch food. After all, she HAD agreed. When she got back to the infirmary, Jareth was missing.

"Jareth?"

"Over here!" Electra looked, and there Jareth was, getting a soda out of a nearby dispenser, acting for all the world as though he WASN'T about to suffer spontaneous deletion. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"Getting a soda," Jareth said, simply.

"Get back on that cot! You want to make yourself worse?"

"I won't make myself worse. I'm perfectly normal between atttacks, you know that."

"And what if you were to have an attack right now? You'd fall and bash your head open, that's definitly not good for you."

"Calm down, MOTHER. Look." Jareth held out his arm, where Shark sat on his Bracer. The Keytool's emerald green screen was displaying a digital timer, the numbers slowly ticking down. "I had Shark do an analysis of my vital stats, predict the attacks, and give a continuous countdown. I'll know exactly when to lie down, so relax." Now Jareth spied the tray. "Ooh...whatcha bring me?"

Electra sighed and passed him the tray. Jareth began ravenously consuming the food, eating, as he always did, as though he hadn't in seconds. "So...you going to keep telling the story? Or not?"

"Oh....all right."

* * *

The Past.....



"Some maze," Jareth said. "There aren't any turns in sight. This tunnel just seems to keep on going strait, on and on. Very irritating."

"Jareth, where is your Icon?" RAM asked, obviously trying to keep the note of suspicion out of his voice.

"I don't have one."

RAM stopped short, aiming his Keytool at Jareth again. "That's what I thought. You're a Virus, aren't you?"

"A Virus?" Jareth blinked. "No."

"No? You certainly don't look or act like any Sprite I've ever seen. No icon, off-white skin, And you saved that Virus over there..." RAM gestured to Timey, who had continued walking, oblivious.

"What's your point?"

"What is your format?"

Jareth sighed. It looked like there was no avoiding it... "I'm a--"

"Hey!" Timesprite called. "Are you two coming, or not?"

"Not, Virus. Until I get some answers."

"Answers?" Timet drifted back to the others. "Answers about what?"

RAM turned his gaze back to Jareth. "What is your format, Jareth?"

"He's a User!" Timesprite chimed in happily.

Of all the answers RAM wasn't expecting, he wasn't expecting that one the most.

"Huh?" he asked intelligently.

"He's a User," Timesprite said. "And he's the nicest one I've ever met. Actually," she said, contemplating. "he's the only one I've ever met."

"YOU'RE the User?" RAM asked, incredulous.

"No, just A User. We come in six-packs."

"What?"

Jareth sighed. "Yes, I'm a User. Not the User that we need to defeat to win this Game, but a User. Now, can we get on with it?"

RAM seemed absolutely dumbfounded. It made sense that he was confused, when Jareth considered it....In the Guardian's experience, Users were nothing but Game Avatars, limited to a total of perhaps three words, and something that had to be defeated for the good of the Net, while Jareth spoke perfectly intelligibly (well, most of the time) and seemed to want to win the Game as much as he did.

"Look, I know it's complicated, but all I want to do if find my friends, win the game, and go home, not neccesarily in that order. Can you accept that?"

"I....Yes. I suppose I can." RAM still looked like you could knock him over just by blowing hard enough, but at least he'd lowered the Keytool.

"Now. What should we do from here?"

"Ask the turtle," Timesprite said.

"What?" Jareth and RAM said, almost simultaneously.

Timesprite pointed, and there, right where it hadn't been before, was a massive turtle shell, sitting into a recess in the wall of the corridor.

"Umm....okay," Jareth said. he walked over and rapped on the shell with his knuckles.

"Sakes alive, Old Woman, we've got visitors," a muffled voice said. A wrinked, ancient-looking turtle's head popped out of the shell on an equally wrinkled and ancient-looking neck. "My goodness, Old Woman, it's a manfolk! We haven't seen one of thoe in eons, have we, Old Woman?"

Jareth glanced up and down the tunnel, but didn't see any old women of any sort. "Who are you talking to?" he asked the turtle.

"We haven't talked with anyone is so long," the turtle replied, "we started talking to ourselves. Isn't that right, Old Woman?"

"Oh. Well, can you tell us the way to the castle at the center of this maze?"

"We certainly could, couldn't we, Old Woman? But we don't care enough."

Jareth was satisfied with this, but RAM wasn't.

"No?" RAM asked. "Why not?"

"When you're as old as we are, things cease to matter. Nothing ever matters. Things just repeat. Day becomes night becomes day becomes night. Over and over. None of it matters, does it, Old Woman?"

"Then you really aren't interested? In anything?" Timesprite asked.

"We really aren't, are we, Old Woman? Nothing matters to us anymore."

Jareth's face assumed a sly expression. "If nothing matters to you anymore," he said. "then you might as well tell us. Then we'd at least go away and let you be."

The turtle blinked. "They should go left, then, shouldn't they, Old Woman?" With that, the turtle's head vanished into her shell.

"Go left? What does she mean? There aren't any turns..." RAM let the sentence die as Jareth pointed to a side passage, which, of course, hadn't been there before.

* * *

The pile of Nulls wriggled and writhed, but showed no signs of sentience. For a moment, thay almost seemed to be trying to rear up into an upright form....but then they simple scattered. Hex sighed, lowering her arms. Hack and Slash bustled around behind them, trying to cach Nibbles, who was still on the run.

"Dot, this isn't working," Hexadecimal said. "Why don't you give it up?"

"Would you give up on your father?" Dot asked angrily.

"I was born in the explosion that created Lost Angles. Explosion don't generally have the best parenting skills," Hex replied sharply.

Dot cooled. "I'm sorry, Hex, it's just....what?"

* * *

Welman Matrix closed his briefcase and turned for the door, hoping it wasn't too late for him to evacuate the city. he should have left immediately upon hearing the evacuation order, but he couldn't leave all of his work behind, not when he had just discovered the cure for Nullification....

Suddenly icy claws began to constrict around his throat. the hands holding him turned him, and he found himself staring into the coal-black eyes of a purple-skinned, green-haired Sprite.

Welman never even had time to scream. The Virus began drawing data from him, and he could feel his flesh dissolving. His energy, with no code to give it shape, was instanly expended in a useless flash, leaving behind nothing but a small, green Null.

Welman's code took the form of a small, glowing white sphere, whch the Virus brought up to eye level. Smiling, she teleported herself instaly to Mainframe's Core. Two Sprites lay behind a containment field, and they scramed and yelled at the Virus, and she made a few snide remarks in return. Holding Welman's code in her hand, the Virus proceeded to add her own code, and infuse it with energy from the Core, creating a humanoid form, two dark wngs spreading out behind it.

Then, suddenly....she WAS.

It was almost impossible to describe...suddenly, everything had a name. Daemon... Mother.... Lore... Megabyte... Mainframe....

Hexadecimal.

* * *

"In a strange way, your father saved my life...or rather, GAVE me life." Hex looked into Dot's eyes. I'll try again....sister."

Hexadecimal raised her white-clad arms, summoning again together the pile of writhing Nulls. For a moment, it looked as though this effort, too, would fail....but then Nibbles, pursued by Hack and Slash, raced headlong into the pile.

Instantly, the shapeless heap began to take form. It twisted itself into a humanoid body, the green Null that was Nibbles forming the head.

"Taa-daa!" Hex said.

The Null creature looked at itself, apparenty trying to figure out what had happened.

"....Dad?" Dot said, hesitantly. "You're back."

"Yes....sort of. I've missed you so much."

Dot moved to hug her long-lost father, but he raised a hand...erm, an appendage, and stopped her.

"No! You cannot touch me. The Nulls...."

"Oh, Dad....."

* * *

Just as Java said, there was, unmistakably, a tower made of garbage standing in the middle of the street.

"Okay," Backslash said. "Now what?"

Kiren reached his bionic arm into one of his belt pouches and pulled out a handful of small, round mechanical devices.

"Remember these?"

"Viral nuetralizers, right?" Backslash asked, taking the handful the Squid offered.

"Yep. Mind you, I don't know how effective they'll be....Lore might not sit still to be hit by them again." For Kiren had used these same devices to stun Lore and Hexadecimal when they had threatened Phong, just after escaping the Supercomputer.

"We'll just have to take him by surprise," Backslash said.

"Can you get us in? Don't worry about Tech being detected. If this works, we'll be in and out before anyone has time to show up, and if it doesn't... then the System's forces are the last thing we need to worry about."

Backslash nodded. Lore would be a far worse opponent than most of the things this system could dish out. The Guardian raised his arm, pushing back his sleeve to reveal his Keytool. "Tech--BS&P."

A glowing, golden orb encased the two of them, and levitated into the air. Once it had reached the appropriate hieght, it shot across horizontally, phasing through the wall of the tower as though it were merely a hologram. The orb vanished, leving them standing on a landing on the second floor.

"Nice work." Kiren said, seemingly a bit shaken. Apparently, he hadn't expected to simply enter through the wall. "Now, where can we find--"

"Me?" an eerie voice called out. Both Gaurdian and squid spun around, and found themselves face to face with Lore, his emerald green eyes shining like two candles out of his polished black mask. There was a soft but sinister rustling as a large pair of black feathery wings unfurled behind him. Lore spread his fingers, and his fingernails elongated into black, razor-sharp talons.

"It's quite rude to enter without knocking," Lore said.

* * *

The Past....



At the end of the corridor, Jareth, RAM, and Tmesprite emerged into what appeared to be some sort of junkyard. Timesprite immediately flew off to inspect the junk for signs of interesting things, and Jareth was tempted to follow.

Among other things, there were piles of armor and weapons, far too small for any of them but Timesprite to use, a lady (?) with a large bundle of garbage on her back, and a small peach tree that just happened to be growing in the middle of the path. Jareth took a peach and stuffed it into his pocket for later consumption, he'd aquired a taste for the food from this Game.

Finally, thay came to the gates of the city. The Guards, as luck would have it, were asleep.

Abruptly, Jareth reliazed what he was doing: Thinking like a User. Well, of course, he WAS a User, but he was playing the game from the other side now: He wasn't supposed to win, he was supposed to STOP the User from winning.

"I guess we wait here," he said. "The User's bound to pass this way sooner or later."

"What if she's already inside?" RAM asked.

"Can't be. The gates are rusted shut. No one's been this way."

RAM inspected the gates himself, confirming Jareth's observation. "Then I guess....we wait. ReBoot!"

The Guardian double-clicked his Icon, transforming into a small, green-skinned person no taler than Timesprite, wearing battered armor and carrying a rusty, twisted old spear. RAM looked himself over. "What am I?"

"I'd say a goblin," Jareth replied.

"Great.

* * *

The Present....



"Bob....I have been going over your scans."

Bob sighed. "Merging with Glitch didn't work."

"You know?" Phong asked, surprised.

"Glitch was damaged. It had never been tried before."

"Then you also know that continued use of your Glitch powers will lead to total fragmentation?"

"But I'm a Guardian. I can't go against my Code."

"If Dot knew, she would never allow..."

"And that's why we're not gonna tell Dot."

Suddenly an alarm rang out through the P.O.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Phong checked his screens. "Bob....we're online."

* * *

The firewall opened, and Mouse's ship, Ship, flew through the opening. Mouse keyed in a few commands on her console, and the firewall closed once again, resealing the system behind them. Ship set it's course....for the Supercomputer.

* * *

"Mouse is outside the Firewall!" Phong said. He, Bob, Dot, and Welman were gathered in one of the Principal Office's conferance roms. Turbo was communicating with them from his cell via Vidwindow.

"And she has all the encryption codes!" Dot added.

"Mouse will never give the codes up to Daemon." Bob said.

"Mouse will give up the codes if she's infected. She'll do it willingly. That's how the infection works," Turbo contradicted.

"This is my fault," Dot said. I should have guessed Matrix would try something like this."

'I can 'port after them. Bring them back," Bob offered.

"That's not an option," Dot said. "Look. If anyone can pull this off, it's those two."

"And if they can't find AndrAIa and Ray?" Turbo asked.

"Matrix'll go for the Kill. He'll try to take out Daemon. He has a problem with Viruses."

"That's putting it mildly," Bob quipped.

"Bob, can you create a portal big enough to evacuate the entire city?"

"No!" Phong shouted. Then, quickly regaining his composure, he continued: "No, that is beyond Bob's current power limits."

"I thought so," Dot said. She turned to the Null-Monstrosity that was her father.

"Dad...remember that old Gateway device you created?"

* * *

Matrix strode calmly into Daemon's Throne room. A single silhouetted female form stood in the center of the room, next to Daemon's throne. Matrix's eyes narrowed as he raised Gun. "Gun--Targetting. High Ex." A scarlet (V) appeared on the shadowed Sprite's forhead...but before he fired, she stepped out into the light.

Matrix lowered the gun instantly. "AndrAIA!"

The two lovers ran into each other's arms. Never had they been seperated for so long.

"Sparky, there's someone you have to meet," AndrAIa said. She gestured to the ceiling.

Matrix looked, and there, floating serenely in midair, was Daemon.

"'Ello, Matrix. I 'ave 'eard so much about you."

No hesitation this time, Matrix fired. The bullet flew across the room...but, as it neared the Supervirus, it slowed, the very air around it rippling. Finally, it grew near enough for Daemon to hold it in her hand...and it exploded. But no sooner had it done so than it reveresed, recreating itself from the shrapnel....and then Daemon blew it into dust.

"Your weapons are useless 'ere." Daemon said. She floated down lower, and, before she hit the ground, Mouse appeared, katana in hand, slashing at the virus...and the blade of her weapon shattered like glass against stone.

Daemon's feet touched the ground, and tendrils of corruptive energy snaked along the ground, touching Matrix and Mouse, infiltrating their codes instantly.

Megabyte watched from the shadows as Daemon introduced herself to her new converts. His eyes narrowed as he recognized Matrix. There was no one to protect him this time, and being freshly pacified by the Word, he was in no shape to fight back. But no....now wasn't the time. Once Daemon penetrated Mainframe's defenses, then he'd be able to eliminate all of them at once. Bob, Dot...all of them. He smiled at the thought. Yes... best to wait...

Megabyte doubled over in sudden pain. What had caused that? He raised a hand to steady himself....and froze. He could see right through it.

* * *

The Past......



A low, throbbing roar echoed across the junkyard.

"What the...," Jareth almost asked, looking out over the piles of scrap.

Timesprite flew back down to his side. "It's the User!" The small green virus sounded more excited than anything else. "Only this time, she's got a bunch of critters following her."

"Critters?" Jareth asked.

"Game Sprites," RAM clarified, checking Splice's screen. The low rumbling sound came once again.

"And one of them's doing that?"

"It's some sort of attack," RAM said.

Jareth felt something down by his feet. Looking down, he saw that a pebble had rolled against his shoe. Absently, he kicked it away....and did a double-take as the pebble changed course, turned around and headed right back for him. it lodged against his shoe again. Jareth lifted his foot, and it continued on it's way, right for the city gates. Other rocks, he saw, were rolling that way, too.

"That sound comes from one of the Game Sprites following the User. It has the power to control--"

"Rocks!" Jareth yelled, pointing. For there, rapidly approaching, was a veritable avalanche of boulders, rolling right for them....or, more accurately, for the city behind them.

"The User's attacking the city..and we're right in it's way!" RAM said.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Jareth said, staring at the oncoming avalanche, as there was no way he could avoid it. "Now, how do we escape?"

"I can help!" Timesprite said. "I can lift you over the rocks! Oh...but I don't think I can lift the two of you at once."

"Take RAM," Jareth said.

Timesprite moved towards him, but he flinched and backed away.

Jareth rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. Grab my wrists, Timey. You can take me."

"I can fend for mysef, anyway," RAM said. He raised his arm. "Splice--Rotor!"

The three of them rose into the air...and not a moment too soon. The barrage of rolling rocks tore past beneath them, scattering the garbage of the junkyard as it raced towards the wall of the city. Alarms began blaring from the city. from their vantage point, Jareth, RAM and Timesprite could see the goblins scurrying to defend themselves. Catapults began appearing atop the walls, and bowmen could be seen on the battlements.

Suddenly Jareth realized another problem. "Umm....if they fire those..."

"They're going to hit us!" Timey finished. "What do we do? I dun think I can dodge carrying you..."

"We'll just have to weather it through."

Boulders were launched, arrows flew. Lucky as always, Jareth managed to avoid being hit by most of them. Suddenly, a boulder managed to find the right vector. It flew at them, and there was no way Timesprite would be able to dodge it in time...

Suddenly, a blue-clad form whizzed out in front of them. With a sickening crunch, the large rock knocked him from the air, down into the maelstrom of tumbling stones below.

"Was that...?"

"Did he...?"

Timesprite dropped lower, beneath the projectiles but above the slowing river of rock. There, beneath the last remaining fringe of pebbles, was the batterred body of RAM, lying flat on his back, unmistakably dead. His Reboot had failed, no longer was he a Guardian in the Guise of a Goblin. His face was bloody and beaten, his armor torn. Only the Keytool on his arm seemed undamaged, though it was blinking sadly. Timesprite dropped J and landed next to him. They looked down at the corpse. Jareth had always heard that Sprites vanished when they stopped processing, but apparently that didn't work in Games.

"He saved us," Timesprite said. "I thought he hated us. Hated me. But he saved us."

"That's what Guardians do. I guess he finally figured that out." Jareth made his customary mock-salute, for once in his life meaning it. "So long, RAM. It took you a while, but you finally came around. You were there when you were needed. Good job."

"So....what do we do now?"

The golden Icon on RAM's chest caught Jareth attention. He absently fingered the small, boxlike device in his pocket. Leaping to his decision, Jareth reached out and ripped the Icon free from Ram's armor and shoved it into the slot. As he hit the square, red button, the scratched Icon began to spin, more and more rapidly, until it couldn't be recognized. Tendrils of static electricity arced up Jareth's arm and into the device. Finally, the empty slot began to glow, brighter and brighter, and when the glow faded, there sat within it a shining, brand new Black and Gold Icon. Jareth took his new Icon and pinned it on his Chest, tapping it. In a flash of data, his torn, worn clothing was replaced by shining new

Guardian body armor.

RAM's Keytool gave a surprised sounding bleep, then, reaching a decision of it's own, flew up from RAM's bracer to Jareth's, settling in. Jareth glanced at it, grinning. "Now, Timey....we win."

* * *

The small, foxlike critter leapt aside as Kit's bullets struck the ground around it's feet. Every so often it darted foreward, striking Kit with the stick it carried. The stick was useless against Kit's cannonball-hard shell, but she couldn't seem to score any hits on it, either...it was too fast. They were at a stalemate.

Electra was having a much better job of it. The dwarflike Game Sprite she stood against was completely unarmed, and, on top of that, quite the

coward. He was a little faster than she was, though, so she had to chase him around, trying to get him to sit still long enough to hit.

Unfortunately, this left the largest and worst of the Game Sprites that accompanied the User....the large, horned, hairy beast that she had helped down from the ropes earlier in the Game. Backslash stood boldly before it, an easy thing to do since it couldn't yet see him. He raised his hand to his Icon. "Reboot!"

In a flash, Backie found himself....sitting in a very small room? He had been turned into a similar creature to Electra, but was surrounded on all sides by complicated but antiquated-looking machinery. Knobs, levers, and buttons were all around him. Suddenly, he realized... he was in a cockpit. More accurately, he was in the cockpit of a very large, humanoid robot with an axe.

(Hold it. How come you're suddenly telling the story from Backie's point of view?)

(Variety, Featherhead. Now pipe down.)

Backslash grinned. "I can live with this," he said. Moving the appropriate levers, he brouth his axe down on the monstrous Game Sprite... but missed. Either the beast was faster than he looked, or he hadn't gotten the hang of these controls yet. The beast roared, but Backie ignored it, and brought his axe up to strike again...and had to clutch the sides of his chamber as the Robot was slammed from behind. Spinning, Backslash saw that he'd been struck by a large rock. Now, how had that happened? He turned back to the monster and struck again with the axe, this time slicing the monster clean in two. The two halves pixelized as they hit the ground, vanishing. Backslash then turned to the dwarf that Electra was chasing, and stomped it flat. It, too, pixelized into nothingness. This was easy! He should have rebooted as soon as he'd gotten free of that tunnel. If only he'd known he'd get to drive this!

Finally, he turned to the fox that Kit had been wasting her ammo on....and couldn't find it. He turned, hoping to spot it. Kit was yelling something, but he couldn't hear her, the machinery of his robot was too loud. Suddenly, he felt a sharp rap on the head.

"Oww!" Spinning, this time in his seat, he saw that the fox had managed to scurry up his robot and somehow gotten into the cockpit. Backie raised his Keytool, but before he could call out a command, the fox began to lay about him with his stick, smashing everything within reach. This, unfortunately, included the controls of the robot. Sparks began shooting from the panels, bulbs broke, steam poured from broken pipes. Red lights began flashing. Backie leapt free from the cockpit, falling the long way to the ground outside the bot.

Most people supposed that smaller things felt more impact upon hitting the ground, since it a longer way down for them, but this was not necessarily the case. Smaller things had less mass, and so built up much less velocity during a fall. Nonetheless, Backie was stunned for a moment by the force of his impact with the ground. Backslash brushed himself off as he stood. Looking up, he saw the Fox's face glaring at him from the cockpit, red lights flashing around him. Noting that the lights were flashing more and more quickly, Backslash backed away....and then the cockpit exploded. The fox was incinerated, and the robot itself, the top half of it's torso missing, began to fall forward. Backie had to roll out of the way, lest the metal hulk crush him.

"Phew." Backie said, as Kit and Electra waddled up to join him. Electra kicked side of the destroyed robot.

"Cheap workmanship," she said.

"I'll say," Backslash said. "That's the last time I pilot one of these things."

"Did either of you see which was the User went?" Kit asked, in her mettalic-tinged voice.

The three of them exchanged a look, then aimed that same look at the city in the distance. backslash glances at his Keytool. There were five minutes, Game Time, remaining on the clock....more than enough for the User to reach the city. Unless they stopped her. "We'd better catch up to her," Backie said. "Fast."

* * *

"Reboot!"

Jareth examined himself. His hair had gone white, and now stuck out in all directions as though he'd used up three cans of hair spray. His clothing was black, billowy,and very confortable, almost like robes. Around his neck was a strange pendant, which looked like a cross between a claw and a set of horns, grafted into a triangle. "I can live with this," he said.

Timesprite giggled. "You're wearing makeup," she said, pointing.

Jareth blinked. "Shark--mirror," he said, holding up his arm. The keytool gave a surprised sounding bleep, and was idle for a moment. Jareth suddenly realized he'd called it by the wrong name, and was about to correct himself, when the Keytool rose up and changed into a small hand mirror. Apparently, it accepted the change.

Jareth was indeed wearing makeup. "Huh. Well. At least it's tasteful."

"Hey, look!" Timesprite pointed towards one of the decimated garbage piles. Stumbling down the trash heap came a slight female form, dark haired, about 15 years old by Jareth's estimation. The User? Well, if she was the User, it looked like it was up to him to stop her. The barrage of rocks had decimated the defenses of the city; that had clearly been the entire point. He and Timey were all that stood between them.He interposed himself between her and the City behind him. Now, how to stop her? He could just kill her, but if she had multiple lives... and if he remembered this game correctly, she did... then she'd just start the level over and the clock would be reset. But, if he could keep her occupied until she ran out of time, then the game would end for good. He glanced at his new Keytool, commanding it to give a readout of the time limit. Less than a minute...

Jareth grinned. He could do that.

Using the powers he'd aquired from his ReBoot, Jareth rose into the air and landed directly in front of the user. She screeched to a halt, staring at him in shock.

Without preamble, Jareth swept her up in his arms and kissed her full on the lips. The User was either too surprised to react or was enjoying this too much....or both....but either way, the last of her time ticked away.

"Game Over....."

With a sound like a very strong wind, the Game Cube shot back up into the sky, leaving Jareth's arms empty.

"Awww," he said.

"Ahem."

Jareth turned, and there, not far off, were Kit, Backslash and Electra, each with a distinct expression of curiosity, amusment and surprise on his or her face. Timesprite giggled.

"I have to say, I've never heard anything about anyone winning a Game quite like THAT..." Backie said.

"Why didn't you just marry the girl?" Electra asked, an unsettling expression on her face.

"Nice outfit, by the way," Kit said. "Guardian armor actually suits you."

Jareth looked down at himself, and made a note to dye the outfit black. No other color felt like home. Jareth, still examining his armor, found something in his pocket. Pulling it out, he discovered the peach he had picked inside the game. Somehow, it had managed to follow him. Jareth took a large bite. He was a bit hungry, and the Game food had turned out to be pretty good.

"So are you going to explain this one?" Electra asked, seeming a bit sour about something. "How did you manage to go into a Game a User and come out a Guardian?"

"I......" Jareth trailed off, his eyes going wide.

"Jareth? You okay?" Kit asked.

Jareth never even heard her.

* * *

The Present.....



As the small, hovering crane lowered the final piece of Welman's gateway device into position, Enzo wound up for a pitch.

"See if you can catch my fastball!"

Welman's elastic arm caught it effortlessly. "You'll have to do better than that!" he called out in his distorted, wavering voice.

Phong trundled up to the Null Monster. "How is Enzo taking your transformation?"

"Well...."

Enzo ran up to Phong. "Phong! Dad's a Null Monster now! It's So cool! he can change shapes and stuff!" The small sprite glanced over, "Hey, there's Frisket!" and was gone again.

"Quite well, actually," Welman finished.

A small craft flew overhead, deploying a number of small devices that surrounded the firewall-sealed opening to the net. As the activated, a second firewall covered the already existing one.

"A second firewall! That should slow Mouse down. Clever girl."

"Who, Dot?"

"You should be very proud of her, Doppler."

"Welman."

"What?"

"My name is Welman."

"I apologize," Phong said. "I thought it was Doppler."

"No," Welman replied. "Doppler's my middle name."

"Ah."

"I am proud of her. Enzo, too. He's grown up so much..."

"Umm....there's something I should tell you about Enzo..or..or should I say Matrix?"

* * *

Events proceeded rapidly, as they usually do during times of war. The gateway devices was completed, and Dot revealed her true plan: not to evacuate the city, but to shatter daemon's cde and send it to every adress on the Net. One source, multiple destinations. A game fell, and, as a precaution, she sent Enzo in, along with hack, Slash, and Frisket, with instructions to lose, stay in the Games until he was as experienced as Matrix, then return and save them all. Daemon arrived, as was inevitable, but there turned out to be one signifigant flaw in Dot's plan: Daemon could and did infect them all simply by touching the ground. Hexadecimal she sent hurtling into the wall, the rest she brought to the roof of the P.O., where she had Bob stabilize portals to all the systems she'd not yet infected. The Game left, but Enzo did not leave with it....he'd found himself unable to abandon his friends and family when they needed him. While Slash flew up to stall Daemon, Enzo, Hack, and Frisket confronted the infected Matrix and AndrAIa. Reminding Matrix of his deep hatred of all things Viral, Enzo convinced him to change his icon from Game Sprite mode to normal...and discovered something important: A clean Guardian Code could dispel Daemon's infection. After (reluctantly) curing Hexadecimal, the group moved on the the P.O's war Room, where they met up with Jareth and Electra, who'd been shielded from infection by the Principal Office's shields. Watching Daemon's activity on the monitors, Hexadecimal became enraged by the Supervirus' treatment of Bob. She stormed off angrily, headed for the Core. Daemon, her work done, lowered everyone back to the ground outside the P.O. Bob fell to the ground, spent, his skin flickering transparent. Dot ran to him.

"Do not worry," Daemon said. "Soon ze word will bring peace to ze Net. Nothing can stop zat now."

"Get away from my Sprite!"

An abrupt blast of crimson energy caught Daemon completely off guard, knocking her a great distance, clear through the wall of a nearby building. Looking to find it's source, everyone present was shocked to see Hexadecimal, in all her viral glory, her face in ferocious vamp-mode, cackling insanely.

* * *

Daemon strode angrily from the hole in the wall she'd created, glaring about searching for her attacker. She had just enough time to register a look of shock before she was hit again, this time as Hex dive-bombed her from her left. The two powerful viruses grappled as they flew, Daemon's feet tearing a great furrow in the concrete as she was forced back. Daemon countered Hex's strike with a powerful left hook, sending the black-and-red virus hurtling through the air. remembering she could fly, Hex spun about midair and dove again, this time Sending Daemon hurtling through a plate glass windows, injuring a few binomes and frightening countless others.

Taking to the air herself, Daemon fired a blast of turqoise energy, knocking Hex for a loop and sending her into a tailspin. Hex recovered and tried another dive, but this time Daemon was ready. With another punch, she sent Hexadecimal flying.

With a sickening crunch, Hex hit the concrete just outside the P.O. Daemon drifted down next to her.

Hex picked herself up. "Now, You're REALLY starting to annoy me...."

"Why are we fighting? You are a Virus. We should be friends."

"Friends? Friends?!" Hexadecimal spun about and fired again, this time catching Daemon in the stomach. The supervirus doubled over, winded.

And then it happened.

The final grain of sand in the hourglass that hung from Daemon's neck fell. The lower triangle of the matching hourglasses on her arms shone a viral green, and her eyes fell closed as though she were going into a trance.

Straitening, she spoke: "I am Daemon. I am not an entitiy, I am a Time. My Time...is now. The Word....is Called."

"No..." Bob said weakly. "Not a Cron Virus...."

Daemon exploded. Her energy spread in waves, first through Mainframe, then through the rest of the Net, so quickly it was almost absurd. As it passed, the Sprites and Binomes Daemon had infected began chanting in it's wake.

"111100.....111011....."

"I've seen this before!" AndrAIa said, for Daemon had done the same thing to Daecon after he'd failed to breach Mouse's Firewall.

Bob struggled to speak. "Dot...Cron Virus...total crash...."

Bob was suddenly ripped from Dot's arms.

"Get away from him!" Hex cried. She began dancing with Bob as though he were a puppet.

"Hex...what are you doing?"

"Don't worry my love...I will care for you and make you well, and then you will love me as I love you...." Hex switched to her viscous mask. "Totally!"

Dot ran over and grabbed her arm. "Get off him!"

Hex blasted her away with a single backhanded swipe, but Matrix caught her before she hit anything.

"I knew this was a bad idea," he said.

"Hex....you're ill again..."

"Ill? But I've never felt so alive! The power! I have the entire power of the Core, surging through me! Nothing can hurt me...or you...now."

"You're wrong, Hex. Daemon's Infection....when the countdown hits zero...total crash..."

"Ohhh...how will our love survive?" Hex asked, switching to her sad tear-faced mask.

"It won't Hex. Nothing will. I'm sorry."

"Well, that's just not good enough," Hex said simply. She turned almost angrily on Phong and Welman, who were standing next to the Gateway device. "You! Stop this thing!"

"There is nothing we can do!" Phong cried. "We have a cure, but there is no way to administer it in time!"

"Well...," Welman said thoughtfully, "The only thing that could spread through the Net fast enough would be a benign Virus."

"A Virus to cure, brillient!" Phong replied. Then he stopped. "Oh, dear..."

"What? What's the problem? We've got a Virus, me. Just give me the cure, and I'll fix everything."

"Hex," Bob said. "You won't survive this. It's a one way trip. Total....fragmentation."

"But you WILL survive," Hexadecimal said, reaching a decision. She set Bob down gently.....then flew with blinding speed to Matrix, snatched his Icon, and knocked him down. There was a bright flash from the Icon as Hexadecimal copied his code and stored it within her own. "Virus hater!" she growled, then, in a sickeningly sweet tone, "Learn from this."

Hexadecimal dropped the Icon and raised her hand at Welman, who walked up to the control panel, unable to stop himself.

"She is controlling me!" he cried.

The Virus strode towards the Gateway, but Enzo approached her. "Hex....stop. I don't want you to go."

"I adore children," she said, smiling at him, using a line from a joke she'd told earlier.

"But you could never eat a whole one," Enzo replied, giving the punch line, although a bit nervously.

Hexadecimal leaned in menacingly, switching to a fierce mask...but switched back just as quickly. "Still only joking! Here, young Guardian," she said, touching his Icon. Her colors, Red and Black, spread across the Icon. "A gift. So you don't turn out like HIM." Hex jerked her head at Matrix. Rising to her feet, Hex took the few remaining steps to the gateway. Pausing, she turned to Bob, who was supported by a worried-looking Dot. "Bob, I have always loved you. Dot...take care of him....and....Be happy." She turned to Welman. "NOW!" she cried.

Welman's Null-hand came down on the Send button. Hexadecimal was pixelized and drawn into the vortex. Welman, without Hex's power to maintain him, shattered into his basic components: a pile of mindless Nulls. Hexadecimal's data, manifesting as a collection of masks, carried the cure all throughout the net. The binomes and sprites stopped chanting their deadly countdown as the last remnants of Daemon's infection were dispelled.

* * *

As Dot helped Bob to his feet, a shining silver orb appeared, and two figure stepped out....Backslash and Kiren, both looking very tired and battered, carrying between them the unconscious Lore.

"So," Backslash said looking around, "What'd we miss?"