Author's Note: One more chapter to go....I think I can I think I can I think I can...
The Viral Guardian Series
Chapter 12: Earth's Revenge
Winter had finally come to Mainframe. Everywhere you looked, Binomes and Sprites alike were bundled up in heavy coats, wandering to and fro, dusting snow from their shoulders whenever they ventured indoors. More than a few people were walking around, arms piled high with presents. Ever since the concept of Christmas had been introduced, it had become a favrotie holiday, and the people of Mainframed were looking forward to sitting around their fireplaces on Christmas morning, exchanging presents with loved ones.
Sadly, however, the holiday cheer was not shared by everyone.
With a frustrated swipe of his mechanical arm, Welman sent all the beakers, bottle, and other equipment crashing from the table to the floor.
"Is there a problem, old friend?" Phong asked, motoring into the room.
"I've tried everything, Phong. It's gone."
"It would be foolish to assume that all of your memory would be intact, after spending as long as you did as a mindless Null."
"How could I forget something so important?"
"It will come back to you, Welman. And if it does not, you will discover it again. Your memory may be faulty, but you are as intelligent as you ever were."
"I stumbled onto it by sheer chance last time, Phong. I remember that much. The odds against my finding it again are astronomical."
"It is a pity you did not write it down. Leave a record."
Welman laughed. A bitter, cynical laugh. "That's the ironic part. For the first time in my scientific career, I DID write down a formula. But the record was destroyed when the City crashed."
"You are trying too hard. Relax, and it will come to you."
"And in the meantime, how many more will be reduced to Nulls? How many more lives ruined?"
"With the defenders this System has? Not many."
Welman drummed his bionic fingers on the countertop, glaring without eyes at his workstation terminal.
"Perhaps a good night's sleep would help your memory," Phong suggested.
"Nulls don't sleep," Welman replied tersly. "We don't eat. We don't drink, we don't think, we don't dream."
"You are more than an ordinary Null, old friend. You think. You feel. And, whether or not you sleep, you can still dream."
With that, Phong turned and left.
Welman turned to the mess he'd made of the medlab station. With a sigh, he started yet another simulation.
* * *
"So it does what you ask?"
"Yup," Jareth replied, pulling back the sleeve of his coat to expose the unusual blue Keytool that sat on his right bracer. "I can't understand a word it says, though. I keep having to have Shark translate for me."
"Show me," Delta asked. The Search Engine pulled her long, yellow hair back behind her lavendar ears as she leaned forward across the table to look more closely at the Keytool.
"Okay. Umm...BuBBleJet--screwdriver."
The small device made a whirring, clicking sound as its parts changed shape and shifted position, becoming the desired tool.
"Neat. So what all can they become?"
"Almost anything," Backslash replied, glancing at Tech, the Keytool that sat on his own bracer. "It's really a pity that these are the last three."
"What happened to the others?" Jareth asked, switching his polished black mask to a look of puzzlement.
"The Keytools all left when Daemon infected the Supercomputer," Backie replied. "They refused to stay with corrupted Guardians."
"And yet they stay with me. Go figure. Wait, what about Clip?" the Viral Guardian inquired.
"I haven't heard from Kit since I left the Supercomputer, but she must have lost it when Daemon 2.0 got her. Same reason."
"Where do you think they all went?"Delta inquired.
Backslash shrugged, taking a sip of his energy shake. "No one knows. My guess would be back to wherever it was they originally came from."
"And where is that?" Delta asked.
"No one knows that, either," Jareth answered, stifling a yawn.
"Tired?" Backie asked.
"Yeah, got lots to do," the Viral Guardian replied. "Christmas shopping, working full-time here....oh, and I'm the one who's supposed to be building that memorial statue Dot commisioned to be built in front of the P.O."
"Statue of who?" Delta asked.
"Whom," Jareth corrected. "It's a statue of Hex."
"Your sister?"
"Yup."
"Dot actually approved a statue for a deleted Virus?" the Search Engine asked, a bit skeptical.
"Hey, she saved the entire Net," Backslash said. "I think a memorial statue's the least we can do."
"You!"
The three Sprites turned as a large television screen with arms raced towards them along its track in the ceiling. The construct pointed at Jareth accusingly.
"Something up, Cecil?" Jareth asked.
"Your break has been over for ten nanos now!" Cecil stated in his thick French accent. "Get back to work!"
Jareth sighed and got up from the booth. "I'll talk to you guys later."
"We still on for dinner tonight?" Delta asked.
"Of course."
The Search Engine stood and planted a kiss on Jareth's porcelain lips.
"See you at 19:00, then." Delta strolled out the double doors of Dot's Diner, throwing a casual "Bye, Backie," over her shoulder as she went.
Backie waved, then turn his attention back to the black-clothed Virus.
"You sure got over Electra in a hurry," he said, somewhat accusingly.
Jareth shrugged. "The girl's dead. Sure, it sucks, but why mope? Now, if you'll excuse me, oh blue-green one," he said as he made his way towards the entrance to the kitchen. "I've culinary delights to prepare."
Backslash cocked an eyebrow as Jareth left.
"Since when do burgers and fries count as 'culinary delights'?" he asked rhetorically.
The thought was cut short as the newly replaced beel above the diner door sounded. Backie glanced at the door, then double-taked at the fetching female Sprite who had just entered.
Her eyes immediately shot to the familiar booth Backslash occupied. Smiling, she tossed her light brown hair back and sat down across from him.
"Backslash Interface," Kit said. "Where the motherboard have you been?"
* * *
"What do you mean, I've been AWOL?"
"How many meanings does that have?" Kit asked sarcastically.
"But....why hasn't anyone from the Supercomputer tried to contact me?"
"They have," the blue-skinned female Guardian replied, sipping her energy shake. "Communications between Mainframe and the rest of the Net have been offline ever since the Daemon incident."
Backie raised an eyebrow. "That's....odd."
"Yeah, I thought so too. That's one of the reasons I came. I stopped at the P.O. and informed Phong on my way here."
"How did you get here, anyway?" Backslash asked.
"I got a ride with Capacitor. He was taking a shipment here from the Supercomputer anyway, so I just tagged along."
"I'm surprised he didn't charge you."
"He did," Kit said matter-of-factly. "So, what's been going on here in Mainframe? How's Jareth?"
"Did I hear my name?" A black-masked head poked out the kitchen door.
"Hey, Jareth!" Kit called, waving.
"Kit! Good to see you. Can't talk now, got a lot of orders to make."
Kit scanned the diner, looking confused. "There are barely half a dozen people in here."
"Yeah, I know, they're all for me." The Viral Guardian's head vanished again.
Kit shook her head. "Hasn't changed much. How about Electra? What's she up to?"
Backie's face fell. "Umm....Kit....You remember Megabyte?"
"He's the one that deleted me, right?" Kit said, smirking sardonically.
"He....deleted Electra, too."
Kit's smirk vanished like a lightbulb blowing.
"She's..."
"Gone. Yeah."
"Well....maybe she'll come back. I mean, I was deleted..."
Backslash put on a big, fake smile. "Hey, yeah! And all we have to do is crash the system!" He shook his head. "I don't think so, Kit."
Kit nodded. "Yeah....you're right." She shook her head. "Wow."
Backie sighed. "So," he said. "Now what?"
* * *
"Now," Dot said to the group of people assembled in the War Room. "It's time to take care of Megabyte. Once and for all."
"If I had a unit for every time I heard that," Matrix muttered.
Dot glared at him, then continued. "Think, people. What does Megabyte want, more than anything?"
"Power," Bob replied.
"And where can he get that power?"
"The Supercomputer," AndrAIa said.
Dot smiled. "And how can he get to the Supercomputer?"
The gathered Sprites exchanged perplexed glances, then turned to Dot, who smiled the smile that they all knew and feared.
She had a plan.
* * *
The various security binomes chattered various security codes back and forth, until finally, the transport carrying the old Gateway command lifted off and began to sail across the sky.
Exactly as anticipated, a squadron of ABC's appeared and siezed the vessel.
"There's no pilot," one of the viral binomes said, examining the dashboard. "It's being piloted by remote."
The binome that was with him raised his weapon and smashed the console, demolishing the remote mechanism. "Not anymore," he said, satisfaction in his voice.
Locking a tractor beam onto the transport, the ABCs hauled it away, a bit surprised at the lack of resistance.
* * *
"They've taken the bait," Dot said, watching from the vidwindows of the War Room. "Prepare for phase 2."
* * *
Megabyte smiled to himself as Herr Doktor completed his adjustments to the Gateway. A small regiment of viral troops, all he'd managed to amass since his return to this pathetic System, stood at the ready behind him, prepared to march on the Supercomputer.
Soon....very soon.
"Ze Gateway is ready, Mein grossebieter," Herr Doktorr said, saluting.
The Virus smiled again, his cobalt-blue, mettalic armor gleaming in the flourescent light that illuminated the abandoned warehouse he had commandeered as a temporary headquarters. He'd have begun rebuilding the Silicon Tor, but he honestly didn't intend on remaining in Mainframe long enough to make it worth the effort.
Megabyte closed his eyes and stepped foreward, a look of anticipation on his face, passing through the shimmering wall. He felt the surface tension passing over his body as he strode forward, as though he were walking through a vertical wall of water.
Grinning maliciously, Megabyte opened his eyes, expecting to see the Supercomputer spread before him in all its glory, just waiting to be corrupted, ripe for the plucking....and instead saw the other side of the dingy warehouse, cobwebs and all.
"Vas?" Herr Doktorr cried in astonishment, double-checking the readouts.
"Herr Doktorr. What is going on?" the Virus demaned, a dangerous edge to his voice.
"I...I do not understand!"
"Now!" a voice called.
The rear doors of the transport that had carried the Gateway Program slammed open, revealing most of Mainframe's defenders, weapons at the ready.
Bob floated a foot or so off the ground, a glimmering ball of golden sparks in each hand. AndrAIa smirked, her spines extended. Matrix's cybernetic eye rotated in its socket, glowing an angry scarlet. Jareth wore his most mischievous black mask, twirling a jagged black-and-green scythe. Delta just smiled, a nimbus of violet light surrounding each of her clenched fists. In front of them stood a number of well-armed security binomes, each wearing a determined expression.
"It's a trap!" Megabyte snarled.
Instantly, all hell broke loose. Laser blasts ricocheted across the room as Megabyte's minions fired. The viral blasts lanced through the air, only to splash harmlessly against a wall of purple energy that appeared from nowhere. Before long, the virals had used up their ammo and had to reload.
"Delta, drop the shield!" Bob commanded. The wall of light faded.
The counterattack commenced, the security binomes firing their own weapons. Matrix fired several blasts from Gun, Bob launched his trademark containment spheres, and AndrAIa's paralyzing spines laid low several of the virals.
Megabyte, noting that the tide had turned resolutely against him, began to edge away.
"Don't lose him!" Bob yelled. "Matrix!"
"On it. Gun--targetting." Matrix launched a scarlet (V) from the sight atop Gun's barrel, which shot across the room and stuck fast to Megabyte.
Megabyte looked down at it, snarled, then raced over to one of his viral minions. With a single touch,he changed form, becoming a binome identicle to the one he'd touched, the victim falling unconcious. It was the perfect disguise....but for the fact that Matrix's (V) still stuck fast.
Jareth chuckled. "My turn." He leapt forward, twirling his scythe. "Clash of the virals! Dun dun DUN!"
Megabyte sneered, returning to his own form. Jareth attacked, but Megabyte caught the scythe by the blade as it swung towards him. Wrenching it from his brother's grasp, he flung it across the room.
Jareth barely had time to switch to a shocked expression before Megabyte backhanded the black-clothed virus, sending him flying towards the transport. There were a number of "Oof!"s and "Oww!"s as most of the defenders were knocked off their feet.
"Erm...sorry, guys."
"Just get off me!" Matrix yelled.
Jareth floated up off the pile of Sprites, spreading his wings. He extended his slender, black, nine-inch-long claws and switched to his 'bloody murder' mask.
Megabyte aimed one of his arms forward, closing his fist. A pair of thin, chrome-silver tentacles emerged from the back of his hand and snaked through the air, darting towards the Sprites....and abruptly stopped in midair, turning a pale blue. Icicles formed along them, begginging at the tips and working their way back towards the Virus' hand.
Megabyte's eyes widened in alarm. Just as the chilling effect reached him, he jerked his arm away, the brittle tentacles shattering into innumerable frozen fragments.
A puzzled expression appeared on almost every face.
"Jareth?" Bob asked.
The Viral Guardian shook his head, looking as surprised as anyone. "Not me."
"Then....who?" AndrAIa asked.
"Umm....," Delta said. 'Maybe it was her."
Following Delta's finger, the Mainframers looked up into the air. Floating almost directly above them was a female Virus, clothed in a brief blue costume. Her skin was a deep forest green, but from the collarbone up, her head was a polished mettalic gold. Her hands had three digits each, two fingers and a thumb, from each of which extended a long, bladelike claw. Her feet matched her hands, each one having a pair of razor-sharp talons, as well as a third that grew from the heel. More blades grew from her shins and forearms, piercing through the texture-wrapped gauntlets and sandals that she wore.
Her scalp was covered with short, stiff black quills, and from the sides of her head grew bladelike horns, curving up, back, and inward, making her head almost heart-shaped. The golden metal on her collarbone also curved upwards, forming sharp points above her shoulders, and along her neckline was a series of short, sharp thorns. Her face was a mask of gold, barely distinguishable from the rest of her head, and it currently displayed a snarling expression.
"If she really wants to hurt Megabyte, she should just hug him," AndrAIa observed.
Megabyte was still clutching his frozen hand, staring up at the Virus in disbelief. "No....it's not possible..."
Backslash raised his Keytool and spoke into it clearly. "Dot, now!"
Immediately a tear appeared in the air directly behind Megabyte. Delta raised an arm, and fired a burst of purple light directly at it. There was a bright flash as the Search Engine's power stabilized the tear into a portal...a portal that, by the looks of it, led directly into a prison cell block.
Matrix raised his Gun.
"No," Megabyte said. "Stop!"
Matrix fired, the blast knocking Megabyte back through the portal, which immediately closed.
Backslash's keytool let out a bleep, and then transmitted Dot's voice.
"We've got him, Bob," she said. "Good work."
"All right!" Matrix cried. "We finally did it." The renegade swung AndrAIa up in his arms, then brought her in for a kiss.
Bob walked over to Backslash (who showed every sign of wanting to be somewhere else) and looked over his shoulder into Tech's screen.
"Dot?"
"Yes, Bob?"
"We make a great team."
"We always did."
"Yeah, yeah, warm fuzzies all around," Delta said, arms crossed. "But who's SHE?"
All eyes worked their way up to the Virus who still floated in the air above them.
The Virus lowered her taloned arms. As they watched, she began to transform. Her six long, bladelike claws decreased in size, becoming a pair of three-fingered hands, and her feet did likewise. The blades that ran along her forearms and shins retracted into her flesh, leaving behind only the texture-wrapped gauntlets and boots that encased her limbs. The points that rose abover her shoulders shrunk down and melted out of sight, as did the horns that adorned her head. The tiny, thorny quills that covered her scalp lengthened and softened, becoming a head of long, luxurious black hair, which from the right angles seemed to reflect flecks of white and turquoise. The diamond-like spikes that ran along her neckline shrunk down, becoming a set of small gemstones. She switched her mask from a red-eyed scowl to a blue-eyed smirk. Finally, her short skirt lengthened into a knee-length dress, covering the leggings she wore underneath.
Jareth automatically switched his mask to a stunned expression. "Electra..."
Delta's head whipped around towards him. "Electra?" she asked, confused, glancing back up at the floating Virus.
The Sprite hovering in the air smiled, taking a bow. "Electra!" She confirmed.
Backslash shook his head in disbelief. "Doesn't ANYONE around here ever stay deleted?"
Jareth looked Electra up and down. "Nice upgrade," He said, impressed.
A shrill beeping sound emerged from Jareth's jacket, and BuBBleJet launched itself out from his sleeve, rocketing through the air to its rightful owner and attaching itself to her gauntlet.
Electra smiled at it for a moment, then levitated down to the ground and stood, hand on hip, smirking at Jareth.
"So," she asked. "Who's your friend?"
"My..Oh. Electra, this is Delta. She's my...umm..."
Delta glanced from Jareth to Electra, then back to Jareth, who was practically squirming.
"Jareth?" the Search Engine asked.
"Yes?"
"This isn't working out."
Evidentally of all the things Jareth wasn't expecting to hear, he wasn't expecting that the most.
"What?" he asked.
"I think we should see other people."
"What?"
"See you."
"Wha--" Jareth's last "What?" was cut short as Delta leaned in and kissed him, then turned around and walked off, a portal forming in the air in front of her. Before anyone could say anything else, she was gone.
"So," Jareth said, after a moment. He turned to Electra. "Care for an energy shake?"
* * *
Megabyte stood calmly in his cell, peering out through the firewall at Bob and Matrix.
"So, I imagine the real gateway Command is in a safe place," he said.
"The safest," Bob replied.
"safer than the Archives?" Megabyte asked. He smiled. "The Core Room." the Virus chuckled. "Now, why didn't I think of that?"
"You must be slipping, Megabyte."
"You know, I really must congradulate you, Bob. It was the perfect trap."
"Thank you," Bob said. "But I can't take the credit."
"No," the Virus replied, examining his claws. "You were never the brains of the opposition, were you? I suppose I have the lovely Dot Matrix to thank for my present circumstances."
Matrix's eyes narrowed. "Let's get this over with."
"So what now?" Megabyte asked. "Deletion?"
"No," Bob replied. "Just a scan. I don't believe in deletion."
"You can't go against your code," the Virus argued.
"And neither can you. That's the problem. It's not your fault. You're programmed to be this way." He typed away at his console. "We've just got to work out a way to reprogram you."
"So....I won't be a Virus?"
"That's the plan."
Megabyte nodded. "Ah. So. A fate worse than deletion." He leaned forward. 'And they call me a monster."
* * *
"...And there I was, looking like this," Electra finished.
"You just put on the mask, and it turned you into this," Jareth repeated.
"And how's this for a twist?" Backslash asked, scanning Electra with his Keytool. "She's gone Viral. Completely Viral."
"It doesn't make any sense," Kit argued. "If you put the mask back on, and it turned you into this....then where have you been all this time?"
"Well...no one actually SAW Megabyte delete her," Jareth said. "He could have been lying, and he just hid her somewhere. But....no, because we scanned the entire System looking for her. Even Frisket's nose couldn't find her." The Viral Guardian reached down and scratched behind the large red dog's ears. "Besides, there's no way the mask did this. It was completely shattered when I found it. I glued it back together myself." He smiled at the dog. "Frisket helped."
Kit continued pacing back and forth on the sidewalk in front of Dot's Diner. Jareth was leaning back agaist the glass windows, and Backslash was continuing to run various scans on Electra using his Keytool.
Electra herself was kneeling on the sidewalk, petting Frisket. The dog had been so excited to see her again that he'd enthusiastically knocked Backslash off the sidewalk into a snowdrift on his way to greet her.
"I'm telling you, I don't remember ever seeing Megabyte," Electra said. "I walked home, put on the mask, and there I was...and evidently it's cycles later."
"I just don't get it," Kit said.
"I think I do," Backie said, reading Tech's screen. "When Electra put on the mask, it made a backup of her current memory. That's why putting on the mask is the last thing she remembers."
"Are you saying the mask....regenerated her?" Kit asked. "As a Virus?"
"Looks like it."
"I didn't know it could do that," Jareth said. "Mom just said it was supposed to turn a regular Sprite into a replacement Lore."
Backie shook his head. "No, I've loaded all the scans Phong did on Electra when she got back from the Supercomputer, just after she put on the mask the first time."
"And?" Kit prompted.
"The mask wouldn't have restored her on its own. Something had to spark it....get it to re-create Electra from the code it had stored."
"But...what?" Kit asked.
"Hey," Electra said, tilting her head. "Frisket's Icon is back to normal."
"He must have used his wish on something," Jareth said.
"Wish?" Backslash inquired.
"Phong said that's the standard Codemaster reward. A wish. Frisket must have used his up, so it's not on his Icon aymore." Jareth switched to a grin. "See any giant-sized bones lying around?"
Backslash and Kit exchanged a glance, then looked at Frisket, who was happily licking Electra's golden face.
"Nah," Kit said. "Couldn't be."
* * *
"Scan complete," Bob said, as the waves of energy playing over Megabyte stopped. "Data download in progress. Now," he asked. "Was that so bad?"
A vidwindow oppped up in front of the Guardian, displaying the results of the scan.
"This...isn't possible," Bob said, reading. "There's nothing here....or there."
"Bob!" matrix cried. "Drop the firewall!"
"I can't! He'll--"
Matrix drew Gun and blasted the controls, causing the firewall to flicker out of existance. He ran forward at Megabyte, who slashed at him...only to have his claws pass harmlessly through the one-eyed renegade. Matrix grabbed the false Virus by the throat. Megabyte grinned as he began to dissolve.
"It's an alias. It's not him," Bob said.
"Where. Are. You," Matrix growled at the holographic Megabyte.
The alias chuckled. "Guess."
Matrix punched the alias, destroying its head with a single blow. Immediately, the rest of it dissolved into nothingness.
* * *
The celebrations in the War Room were brought to a screeching halt by Bob's vidwindow.
"Dot! We don't have Megabyte! It was an alias! He must be in the war Room with you! One of you is Megabye! Do you understand? He's tricked us! Get out of there, now!"
There was a moment of tense silence as everone in the room regarded everyone else in the room with deep suspicion...then suddenly, one of the security binomes began to shudder.
Before anyone could react, he grew from a tiny binome into a massive virus, covered from head to toe in polished, cobalt-blue metal. The binomes around him scattered, panicking.
Megabyte thrust his arm foreward, a pair of pencil-thin tendrils shooting forth from the back of his hand. The tentacles lanced through the air, striking two of the security binomes. They immediately stopped in their tracks, their coloration changing, their eyes becoming the red-and-green that was characteristic of all victims of Megabyte's infection.
Hack and Slash each grapsed one of Dots arms, and, eyes narrowed, dragged her from the War Room.
"No!" she cried. "Enzo!"
One by one, or more often, in sets of two, the security binomes in the room fell victim to Megabyte's power. Megabyte turned to Mouse, and shot forth his infecting cables, but the hacker drew her katana and slashed the air before her, cutting the tentacles short. Megabyte screeched in pain as several segments of steel-gray cable fell to the ground, still twitching. Withdrawing his tendrils, Megabyte glared fiercly at Mouse, massaging his wrist. He reached forward with his other arm, launching two more of his cables.
Mouse and AndrAIa retreated through one of the war Room's many doors, the cables right on their heels. Phong made a heroic leap, and the infecting tentacles struck him in the midsection, rather than connecting with their intended targets.
Welman picked up Enzo, and, tucking the small Sprite beneath one of his robotic arms, he proceeded to run from the room. The doors began to close, only to be stopped short by yet another pair of Megabyte's tendrils. A third lanced into the room, striking Welman, just as he was setting Enzo aside. His robotic form jerked and sparked as Viral energy coursed through it, its colors changing to the dull steel-gray of all whom Megabyte had infected.
* * *
"Stop," Dot ordered. "Stop! STOP!"
Finally, Having reached a safe distance from the War Room, Hack and Slash let go of Dot and began talking in panicked voices.
"Oh boy oh boy oh boy," Hack cried. "He's free!"
"Ah, eh, what are we gonna do?"
"Yeah, we need a plan!"
"Oh, we need a plan, big time!"
Both robots turned to Dot and asked, "WHAT"S THE PLAN?!"
"Boys, shut up and let me think!" Dot screamed.
Hack and Slash hung their heads.
"Sorry."
* * *
Mouse frantically typed at the access panel on one of the walls, trying to hack into the P.O.'s operating system. AndrAIa stood watch behind her, trident at the ready.
After entering several different passwords, Mouse let out a growl of frustration.
"Rrgh! Nothin'!"
* * *
The speakers that lined the ceilings on the Principal Office, as well as the external ones that were used to address the rest of the System, clicked on with a musical tone.
"Attention," Megabyte's deep, cultured voice intoned. "As you will no doubt be aware, the Principal Office is under my complete control. You're probably looking forward to one of my erudite speeches about me, Megaframe, the New Viral Dawn, et cetera et cetera. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to dissappoint you. There is no grand scheme here. This...is about revenge." Smiling, Megabyte sharpened his claws as he spoke from the War Room, where a number of cables connected him to various control consoles that lined the walls. "Viruses are predatory by design, and it is time for me to follow my function. Prepare yourselves....for the hunt."
* * *
As the message ended, the Vidwindows surrounding the pinnacle of the P.O. snapped out of existance. The streams of data than ran along the rails across the System ground to a halt and faded. The skies overhead darkened, from a pale blue to a deep, dead purple. Every vehicle that was in the air fell to the ground, as though the force that supported them had simply been taken away.
"He's cut power to the System," Kit observed. She turned to the others. "We've got to get in there."
"The entrances are all sealed," Backie replied. "How do we get in?"
"Well, what about the pinnacle? Where the big sphere comes out? We could get in there."
"Zipboards won't work, not without power. How do we get up there?"
Kit thought for a moment. "You two could carry us," she finally said, gesturing to Jareth and Electra.
"No," Electra said.
"Why not?" Backie asked.
"I don't feel like it."
Kit slapped her forehead.
"And I can't carry both of you," Jareth said apologetically, shrugging.
"You can't?" Backslash asked, surprised. "I saw Lore manipulate the molecular structure of concrete, but you can't carry two sprites?"
"Nope. Sorry."
"Fine," Kit said. "Okay, so we need some sort of transport that can carry Backslash and I, or preferably all four of us....something that won't have been affected by the power outage..."
Jareth's eyes lit up, shining a brighter green than usual. "I've got just the thing."
Backslash and Kit exchanged a nervous glance.
* * *
"THAT's your transport?" Backslash asked incredulously.
"Yup."
The object in question was composed of eight large piles of scrap metal, cardboard, and tin cans, arranged into two neat rows of four and connected by string and chains to a rusty-looking slab of metal.
Backie, Kit, and Electra eyed it warily as they entered the large chamber within Hexadecimal's--now Jareth's-- Lair.
"This thing actually flies?" Electra asked. "What powers it?"
"I do," Jareth replied, and snapped his fingers.
Instantly, the piles rose up off the ground, assembling themselved into the rough shapes of large, four-legged animals with pronged antlers emerging from their heads. The animals snorted and pawed at the ground with their hooves impatiently.
"They're kinda cute," Electra said. "What are they?"
"Reindeer."
"Oh! I remember those from the old Christmas readme files," Kit said, stepping foreward cautiously to stroke one. It nuzzled her hand affectionately. She knew perfectly well that it was only a pile of junk, animated by Viral power, but it's movements and mannerisms made it seem quite lifelike.
"Yup." Jareth reached into his seemingly endless coat pockets and produced a floppy, conical black hat with a fluffy green brim, and a fluffy green ball on the end to match. Planting it firmly on his head, he said, "Hop in, everyone."
Once everyone was comfortably situated, Jareth grabbed ahold of the reins.
"So how do you start this thing?" Kit asked.
"I remember this one," Backie said. "Call the reindeer by name, right?"
Jareth nodded, then gave the reins a flick.
"On Smasher, on Crasher, on Venom and Trancer!
Go, Romper! Go Stomper! Go Wraith! Necromancer!"
Each Reindeer gave a start as it's name was called, and as soon as the last syllable was out, they all began pawing furiously at the ground, dragging the sleigh forward. The wall in front of them lowered with a crash at the very last possible moment, like a drawbridge, and behind it was a long tunnel that sloped steadily upward. For interminable lenght of time, they sped through the dark tunnel, until finally, they shot forth from the end like a cannon into the night sky over Mainframe.
"Now," Electra said with a smile. "let's give old Meggy a Christmas present he'll never forget."
To be concluded in Chapter 13: Fireworks
The Viral Guardian Series
Chapter 12: Earth's Revenge
Winter had finally come to Mainframe. Everywhere you looked, Binomes and Sprites alike were bundled up in heavy coats, wandering to and fro, dusting snow from their shoulders whenever they ventured indoors. More than a few people were walking around, arms piled high with presents. Ever since the concept of Christmas had been introduced, it had become a favrotie holiday, and the people of Mainframed were looking forward to sitting around their fireplaces on Christmas morning, exchanging presents with loved ones.
Sadly, however, the holiday cheer was not shared by everyone.
With a frustrated swipe of his mechanical arm, Welman sent all the beakers, bottle, and other equipment crashing from the table to the floor.
"Is there a problem, old friend?" Phong asked, motoring into the room.
"I've tried everything, Phong. It's gone."
"It would be foolish to assume that all of your memory would be intact, after spending as long as you did as a mindless Null."
"How could I forget something so important?"
"It will come back to you, Welman. And if it does not, you will discover it again. Your memory may be faulty, but you are as intelligent as you ever were."
"I stumbled onto it by sheer chance last time, Phong. I remember that much. The odds against my finding it again are astronomical."
"It is a pity you did not write it down. Leave a record."
Welman laughed. A bitter, cynical laugh. "That's the ironic part. For the first time in my scientific career, I DID write down a formula. But the record was destroyed when the City crashed."
"You are trying too hard. Relax, and it will come to you."
"And in the meantime, how many more will be reduced to Nulls? How many more lives ruined?"
"With the defenders this System has? Not many."
Welman drummed his bionic fingers on the countertop, glaring without eyes at his workstation terminal.
"Perhaps a good night's sleep would help your memory," Phong suggested.
"Nulls don't sleep," Welman replied tersly. "We don't eat. We don't drink, we don't think, we don't dream."
"You are more than an ordinary Null, old friend. You think. You feel. And, whether or not you sleep, you can still dream."
With that, Phong turned and left.
Welman turned to the mess he'd made of the medlab station. With a sigh, he started yet another simulation.
* * *
"So it does what you ask?"
"Yup," Jareth replied, pulling back the sleeve of his coat to expose the unusual blue Keytool that sat on his right bracer. "I can't understand a word it says, though. I keep having to have Shark translate for me."
"Show me," Delta asked. The Search Engine pulled her long, yellow hair back behind her lavendar ears as she leaned forward across the table to look more closely at the Keytool.
"Okay. Umm...BuBBleJet--screwdriver."
The small device made a whirring, clicking sound as its parts changed shape and shifted position, becoming the desired tool.
"Neat. So what all can they become?"
"Almost anything," Backslash replied, glancing at Tech, the Keytool that sat on his own bracer. "It's really a pity that these are the last three."
"What happened to the others?" Jareth asked, switching his polished black mask to a look of puzzlement.
"The Keytools all left when Daemon infected the Supercomputer," Backie replied. "They refused to stay with corrupted Guardians."
"And yet they stay with me. Go figure. Wait, what about Clip?" the Viral Guardian inquired.
"I haven't heard from Kit since I left the Supercomputer, but she must have lost it when Daemon 2.0 got her. Same reason."
"Where do you think they all went?"Delta inquired.
Backslash shrugged, taking a sip of his energy shake. "No one knows. My guess would be back to wherever it was they originally came from."
"And where is that?" Delta asked.
"No one knows that, either," Jareth answered, stifling a yawn.
"Tired?" Backie asked.
"Yeah, got lots to do," the Viral Guardian replied. "Christmas shopping, working full-time here....oh, and I'm the one who's supposed to be building that memorial statue Dot commisioned to be built in front of the P.O."
"Statue of who?" Delta asked.
"Whom," Jareth corrected. "It's a statue of Hex."
"Your sister?"
"Yup."
"Dot actually approved a statue for a deleted Virus?" the Search Engine asked, a bit skeptical.
"Hey, she saved the entire Net," Backslash said. "I think a memorial statue's the least we can do."
"You!"
The three Sprites turned as a large television screen with arms raced towards them along its track in the ceiling. The construct pointed at Jareth accusingly.
"Something up, Cecil?" Jareth asked.
"Your break has been over for ten nanos now!" Cecil stated in his thick French accent. "Get back to work!"
Jareth sighed and got up from the booth. "I'll talk to you guys later."
"We still on for dinner tonight?" Delta asked.
"Of course."
The Search Engine stood and planted a kiss on Jareth's porcelain lips.
"See you at 19:00, then." Delta strolled out the double doors of Dot's Diner, throwing a casual "Bye, Backie," over her shoulder as she went.
Backie waved, then turn his attention back to the black-clothed Virus.
"You sure got over Electra in a hurry," he said, somewhat accusingly.
Jareth shrugged. "The girl's dead. Sure, it sucks, but why mope? Now, if you'll excuse me, oh blue-green one," he said as he made his way towards the entrance to the kitchen. "I've culinary delights to prepare."
Backslash cocked an eyebrow as Jareth left.
"Since when do burgers and fries count as 'culinary delights'?" he asked rhetorically.
The thought was cut short as the newly replaced beel above the diner door sounded. Backie glanced at the door, then double-taked at the fetching female Sprite who had just entered.
Her eyes immediately shot to the familiar booth Backslash occupied. Smiling, she tossed her light brown hair back and sat down across from him.
"Backslash Interface," Kit said. "Where the motherboard have you been?"
* * *
"What do you mean, I've been AWOL?"
"How many meanings does that have?" Kit asked sarcastically.
"But....why hasn't anyone from the Supercomputer tried to contact me?"
"They have," the blue-skinned female Guardian replied, sipping her energy shake. "Communications between Mainframe and the rest of the Net have been offline ever since the Daemon incident."
Backie raised an eyebrow. "That's....odd."
"Yeah, I thought so too. That's one of the reasons I came. I stopped at the P.O. and informed Phong on my way here."
"How did you get here, anyway?" Backslash asked.
"I got a ride with Capacitor. He was taking a shipment here from the Supercomputer anyway, so I just tagged along."
"I'm surprised he didn't charge you."
"He did," Kit said matter-of-factly. "So, what's been going on here in Mainframe? How's Jareth?"
"Did I hear my name?" A black-masked head poked out the kitchen door.
"Hey, Jareth!" Kit called, waving.
"Kit! Good to see you. Can't talk now, got a lot of orders to make."
Kit scanned the diner, looking confused. "There are barely half a dozen people in here."
"Yeah, I know, they're all for me." The Viral Guardian's head vanished again.
Kit shook her head. "Hasn't changed much. How about Electra? What's she up to?"
Backie's face fell. "Umm....Kit....You remember Megabyte?"
"He's the one that deleted me, right?" Kit said, smirking sardonically.
"He....deleted Electra, too."
Kit's smirk vanished like a lightbulb blowing.
"She's..."
"Gone. Yeah."
"Well....maybe she'll come back. I mean, I was deleted..."
Backslash put on a big, fake smile. "Hey, yeah! And all we have to do is crash the system!" He shook his head. "I don't think so, Kit."
Kit nodded. "Yeah....you're right." She shook her head. "Wow."
Backie sighed. "So," he said. "Now what?"
* * *
"Now," Dot said to the group of people assembled in the War Room. "It's time to take care of Megabyte. Once and for all."
"If I had a unit for every time I heard that," Matrix muttered.
Dot glared at him, then continued. "Think, people. What does Megabyte want, more than anything?"
"Power," Bob replied.
"And where can he get that power?"
"The Supercomputer," AndrAIa said.
Dot smiled. "And how can he get to the Supercomputer?"
The gathered Sprites exchanged perplexed glances, then turned to Dot, who smiled the smile that they all knew and feared.
She had a plan.
* * *
The various security binomes chattered various security codes back and forth, until finally, the transport carrying the old Gateway command lifted off and began to sail across the sky.
Exactly as anticipated, a squadron of ABC's appeared and siezed the vessel.
"There's no pilot," one of the viral binomes said, examining the dashboard. "It's being piloted by remote."
The binome that was with him raised his weapon and smashed the console, demolishing the remote mechanism. "Not anymore," he said, satisfaction in his voice.
Locking a tractor beam onto the transport, the ABCs hauled it away, a bit surprised at the lack of resistance.
* * *
"They've taken the bait," Dot said, watching from the vidwindows of the War Room. "Prepare for phase 2."
* * *
Megabyte smiled to himself as Herr Doktor completed his adjustments to the Gateway. A small regiment of viral troops, all he'd managed to amass since his return to this pathetic System, stood at the ready behind him, prepared to march on the Supercomputer.
Soon....very soon.
"Ze Gateway is ready, Mein grossebieter," Herr Doktorr said, saluting.
The Virus smiled again, his cobalt-blue, mettalic armor gleaming in the flourescent light that illuminated the abandoned warehouse he had commandeered as a temporary headquarters. He'd have begun rebuilding the Silicon Tor, but he honestly didn't intend on remaining in Mainframe long enough to make it worth the effort.
Megabyte closed his eyes and stepped foreward, a look of anticipation on his face, passing through the shimmering wall. He felt the surface tension passing over his body as he strode forward, as though he were walking through a vertical wall of water.
Grinning maliciously, Megabyte opened his eyes, expecting to see the Supercomputer spread before him in all its glory, just waiting to be corrupted, ripe for the plucking....and instead saw the other side of the dingy warehouse, cobwebs and all.
"Vas?" Herr Doktorr cried in astonishment, double-checking the readouts.
"Herr Doktorr. What is going on?" the Virus demaned, a dangerous edge to his voice.
"I...I do not understand!"
"Now!" a voice called.
The rear doors of the transport that had carried the Gateway Program slammed open, revealing most of Mainframe's defenders, weapons at the ready.
Bob floated a foot or so off the ground, a glimmering ball of golden sparks in each hand. AndrAIa smirked, her spines extended. Matrix's cybernetic eye rotated in its socket, glowing an angry scarlet. Jareth wore his most mischievous black mask, twirling a jagged black-and-green scythe. Delta just smiled, a nimbus of violet light surrounding each of her clenched fists. In front of them stood a number of well-armed security binomes, each wearing a determined expression.
"It's a trap!" Megabyte snarled.
Instantly, all hell broke loose. Laser blasts ricocheted across the room as Megabyte's minions fired. The viral blasts lanced through the air, only to splash harmlessly against a wall of purple energy that appeared from nowhere. Before long, the virals had used up their ammo and had to reload.
"Delta, drop the shield!" Bob commanded. The wall of light faded.
The counterattack commenced, the security binomes firing their own weapons. Matrix fired several blasts from Gun, Bob launched his trademark containment spheres, and AndrAIa's paralyzing spines laid low several of the virals.
Megabyte, noting that the tide had turned resolutely against him, began to edge away.
"Don't lose him!" Bob yelled. "Matrix!"
"On it. Gun--targetting." Matrix launched a scarlet (V) from the sight atop Gun's barrel, which shot across the room and stuck fast to Megabyte.
Megabyte looked down at it, snarled, then raced over to one of his viral minions. With a single touch,he changed form, becoming a binome identicle to the one he'd touched, the victim falling unconcious. It was the perfect disguise....but for the fact that Matrix's (V) still stuck fast.
Jareth chuckled. "My turn." He leapt forward, twirling his scythe. "Clash of the virals! Dun dun DUN!"
Megabyte sneered, returning to his own form. Jareth attacked, but Megabyte caught the scythe by the blade as it swung towards him. Wrenching it from his brother's grasp, he flung it across the room.
Jareth barely had time to switch to a shocked expression before Megabyte backhanded the black-clothed virus, sending him flying towards the transport. There were a number of "Oof!"s and "Oww!"s as most of the defenders were knocked off their feet.
"Erm...sorry, guys."
"Just get off me!" Matrix yelled.
Jareth floated up off the pile of Sprites, spreading his wings. He extended his slender, black, nine-inch-long claws and switched to his 'bloody murder' mask.
Megabyte aimed one of his arms forward, closing his fist. A pair of thin, chrome-silver tentacles emerged from the back of his hand and snaked through the air, darting towards the Sprites....and abruptly stopped in midair, turning a pale blue. Icicles formed along them, begginging at the tips and working their way back towards the Virus' hand.
Megabyte's eyes widened in alarm. Just as the chilling effect reached him, he jerked his arm away, the brittle tentacles shattering into innumerable frozen fragments.
A puzzled expression appeared on almost every face.
"Jareth?" Bob asked.
The Viral Guardian shook his head, looking as surprised as anyone. "Not me."
"Then....who?" AndrAIa asked.
"Umm....," Delta said. 'Maybe it was her."
Following Delta's finger, the Mainframers looked up into the air. Floating almost directly above them was a female Virus, clothed in a brief blue costume. Her skin was a deep forest green, but from the collarbone up, her head was a polished mettalic gold. Her hands had three digits each, two fingers and a thumb, from each of which extended a long, bladelike claw. Her feet matched her hands, each one having a pair of razor-sharp talons, as well as a third that grew from the heel. More blades grew from her shins and forearms, piercing through the texture-wrapped gauntlets and sandals that she wore.
Her scalp was covered with short, stiff black quills, and from the sides of her head grew bladelike horns, curving up, back, and inward, making her head almost heart-shaped. The golden metal on her collarbone also curved upwards, forming sharp points above her shoulders, and along her neckline was a series of short, sharp thorns. Her face was a mask of gold, barely distinguishable from the rest of her head, and it currently displayed a snarling expression.
"If she really wants to hurt Megabyte, she should just hug him," AndrAIa observed.
Megabyte was still clutching his frozen hand, staring up at the Virus in disbelief. "No....it's not possible..."
Backslash raised his Keytool and spoke into it clearly. "Dot, now!"
Immediately a tear appeared in the air directly behind Megabyte. Delta raised an arm, and fired a burst of purple light directly at it. There was a bright flash as the Search Engine's power stabilized the tear into a portal...a portal that, by the looks of it, led directly into a prison cell block.
Matrix raised his Gun.
"No," Megabyte said. "Stop!"
Matrix fired, the blast knocking Megabyte back through the portal, which immediately closed.
Backslash's keytool let out a bleep, and then transmitted Dot's voice.
"We've got him, Bob," she said. "Good work."
"All right!" Matrix cried. "We finally did it." The renegade swung AndrAIa up in his arms, then brought her in for a kiss.
Bob walked over to Backslash (who showed every sign of wanting to be somewhere else) and looked over his shoulder into Tech's screen.
"Dot?"
"Yes, Bob?"
"We make a great team."
"We always did."
"Yeah, yeah, warm fuzzies all around," Delta said, arms crossed. "But who's SHE?"
All eyes worked their way up to the Virus who still floated in the air above them.
The Virus lowered her taloned arms. As they watched, she began to transform. Her six long, bladelike claws decreased in size, becoming a pair of three-fingered hands, and her feet did likewise. The blades that ran along her forearms and shins retracted into her flesh, leaving behind only the texture-wrapped gauntlets and boots that encased her limbs. The points that rose abover her shoulders shrunk down and melted out of sight, as did the horns that adorned her head. The tiny, thorny quills that covered her scalp lengthened and softened, becoming a head of long, luxurious black hair, which from the right angles seemed to reflect flecks of white and turquoise. The diamond-like spikes that ran along her neckline shrunk down, becoming a set of small gemstones. She switched her mask from a red-eyed scowl to a blue-eyed smirk. Finally, her short skirt lengthened into a knee-length dress, covering the leggings she wore underneath.
Jareth automatically switched his mask to a stunned expression. "Electra..."
Delta's head whipped around towards him. "Electra?" she asked, confused, glancing back up at the floating Virus.
The Sprite hovering in the air smiled, taking a bow. "Electra!" She confirmed.
Backslash shook his head in disbelief. "Doesn't ANYONE around here ever stay deleted?"
Jareth looked Electra up and down. "Nice upgrade," He said, impressed.
A shrill beeping sound emerged from Jareth's jacket, and BuBBleJet launched itself out from his sleeve, rocketing through the air to its rightful owner and attaching itself to her gauntlet.
Electra smiled at it for a moment, then levitated down to the ground and stood, hand on hip, smirking at Jareth.
"So," she asked. "Who's your friend?"
"My..Oh. Electra, this is Delta. She's my...umm..."
Delta glanced from Jareth to Electra, then back to Jareth, who was practically squirming.
"Jareth?" the Search Engine asked.
"Yes?"
"This isn't working out."
Evidentally of all the things Jareth wasn't expecting to hear, he wasn't expecting that the most.
"What?" he asked.
"I think we should see other people."
"What?"
"See you."
"Wha--" Jareth's last "What?" was cut short as Delta leaned in and kissed him, then turned around and walked off, a portal forming in the air in front of her. Before anyone could say anything else, she was gone.
"So," Jareth said, after a moment. He turned to Electra. "Care for an energy shake?"
* * *
Megabyte stood calmly in his cell, peering out through the firewall at Bob and Matrix.
"So, I imagine the real gateway Command is in a safe place," he said.
"The safest," Bob replied.
"safer than the Archives?" Megabyte asked. He smiled. "The Core Room." the Virus chuckled. "Now, why didn't I think of that?"
"You must be slipping, Megabyte."
"You know, I really must congradulate you, Bob. It was the perfect trap."
"Thank you," Bob said. "But I can't take the credit."
"No," the Virus replied, examining his claws. "You were never the brains of the opposition, were you? I suppose I have the lovely Dot Matrix to thank for my present circumstances."
Matrix's eyes narrowed. "Let's get this over with."
"So what now?" Megabyte asked. "Deletion?"
"No," Bob replied. "Just a scan. I don't believe in deletion."
"You can't go against your code," the Virus argued.
"And neither can you. That's the problem. It's not your fault. You're programmed to be this way." He typed away at his console. "We've just got to work out a way to reprogram you."
"So....I won't be a Virus?"
"That's the plan."
Megabyte nodded. "Ah. So. A fate worse than deletion." He leaned forward. 'And they call me a monster."
* * *
"...And there I was, looking like this," Electra finished.
"You just put on the mask, and it turned you into this," Jareth repeated.
"And how's this for a twist?" Backslash asked, scanning Electra with his Keytool. "She's gone Viral. Completely Viral."
"It doesn't make any sense," Kit argued. "If you put the mask back on, and it turned you into this....then where have you been all this time?"
"Well...no one actually SAW Megabyte delete her," Jareth said. "He could have been lying, and he just hid her somewhere. But....no, because we scanned the entire System looking for her. Even Frisket's nose couldn't find her." The Viral Guardian reached down and scratched behind the large red dog's ears. "Besides, there's no way the mask did this. It was completely shattered when I found it. I glued it back together myself." He smiled at the dog. "Frisket helped."
Kit continued pacing back and forth on the sidewalk in front of Dot's Diner. Jareth was leaning back agaist the glass windows, and Backslash was continuing to run various scans on Electra using his Keytool.
Electra herself was kneeling on the sidewalk, petting Frisket. The dog had been so excited to see her again that he'd enthusiastically knocked Backslash off the sidewalk into a snowdrift on his way to greet her.
"I'm telling you, I don't remember ever seeing Megabyte," Electra said. "I walked home, put on the mask, and there I was...and evidently it's cycles later."
"I just don't get it," Kit said.
"I think I do," Backie said, reading Tech's screen. "When Electra put on the mask, it made a backup of her current memory. That's why putting on the mask is the last thing she remembers."
"Are you saying the mask....regenerated her?" Kit asked. "As a Virus?"
"Looks like it."
"I didn't know it could do that," Jareth said. "Mom just said it was supposed to turn a regular Sprite into a replacement Lore."
Backie shook his head. "No, I've loaded all the scans Phong did on Electra when she got back from the Supercomputer, just after she put on the mask the first time."
"And?" Kit prompted.
"The mask wouldn't have restored her on its own. Something had to spark it....get it to re-create Electra from the code it had stored."
"But...what?" Kit asked.
"Hey," Electra said, tilting her head. "Frisket's Icon is back to normal."
"He must have used his wish on something," Jareth said.
"Wish?" Backslash inquired.
"Phong said that's the standard Codemaster reward. A wish. Frisket must have used his up, so it's not on his Icon aymore." Jareth switched to a grin. "See any giant-sized bones lying around?"
Backslash and Kit exchanged a glance, then looked at Frisket, who was happily licking Electra's golden face.
"Nah," Kit said. "Couldn't be."
* * *
"Scan complete," Bob said, as the waves of energy playing over Megabyte stopped. "Data download in progress. Now," he asked. "Was that so bad?"
A vidwindow oppped up in front of the Guardian, displaying the results of the scan.
"This...isn't possible," Bob said, reading. "There's nothing here....or there."
"Bob!" matrix cried. "Drop the firewall!"
"I can't! He'll--"
Matrix drew Gun and blasted the controls, causing the firewall to flicker out of existance. He ran forward at Megabyte, who slashed at him...only to have his claws pass harmlessly through the one-eyed renegade. Matrix grabbed the false Virus by the throat. Megabyte grinned as he began to dissolve.
"It's an alias. It's not him," Bob said.
"Where. Are. You," Matrix growled at the holographic Megabyte.
The alias chuckled. "Guess."
Matrix punched the alias, destroying its head with a single blow. Immediately, the rest of it dissolved into nothingness.
* * *
The celebrations in the War Room were brought to a screeching halt by Bob's vidwindow.
"Dot! We don't have Megabyte! It was an alias! He must be in the war Room with you! One of you is Megabye! Do you understand? He's tricked us! Get out of there, now!"
There was a moment of tense silence as everone in the room regarded everyone else in the room with deep suspicion...then suddenly, one of the security binomes began to shudder.
Before anyone could react, he grew from a tiny binome into a massive virus, covered from head to toe in polished, cobalt-blue metal. The binomes around him scattered, panicking.
Megabyte thrust his arm foreward, a pair of pencil-thin tendrils shooting forth from the back of his hand. The tentacles lanced through the air, striking two of the security binomes. They immediately stopped in their tracks, their coloration changing, their eyes becoming the red-and-green that was characteristic of all victims of Megabyte's infection.
Hack and Slash each grapsed one of Dots arms, and, eyes narrowed, dragged her from the War Room.
"No!" she cried. "Enzo!"
One by one, or more often, in sets of two, the security binomes in the room fell victim to Megabyte's power. Megabyte turned to Mouse, and shot forth his infecting cables, but the hacker drew her katana and slashed the air before her, cutting the tentacles short. Megabyte screeched in pain as several segments of steel-gray cable fell to the ground, still twitching. Withdrawing his tendrils, Megabyte glared fiercly at Mouse, massaging his wrist. He reached forward with his other arm, launching two more of his cables.
Mouse and AndrAIa retreated through one of the war Room's many doors, the cables right on their heels. Phong made a heroic leap, and the infecting tentacles struck him in the midsection, rather than connecting with their intended targets.
Welman picked up Enzo, and, tucking the small Sprite beneath one of his robotic arms, he proceeded to run from the room. The doors began to close, only to be stopped short by yet another pair of Megabyte's tendrils. A third lanced into the room, striking Welman, just as he was setting Enzo aside. His robotic form jerked and sparked as Viral energy coursed through it, its colors changing to the dull steel-gray of all whom Megabyte had infected.
* * *
"Stop," Dot ordered. "Stop! STOP!"
Finally, Having reached a safe distance from the War Room, Hack and Slash let go of Dot and began talking in panicked voices.
"Oh boy oh boy oh boy," Hack cried. "He's free!"
"Ah, eh, what are we gonna do?"
"Yeah, we need a plan!"
"Oh, we need a plan, big time!"
Both robots turned to Dot and asked, "WHAT"S THE PLAN?!"
"Boys, shut up and let me think!" Dot screamed.
Hack and Slash hung their heads.
"Sorry."
* * *
Mouse frantically typed at the access panel on one of the walls, trying to hack into the P.O.'s operating system. AndrAIa stood watch behind her, trident at the ready.
After entering several different passwords, Mouse let out a growl of frustration.
"Rrgh! Nothin'!"
* * *
The speakers that lined the ceilings on the Principal Office, as well as the external ones that were used to address the rest of the System, clicked on with a musical tone.
"Attention," Megabyte's deep, cultured voice intoned. "As you will no doubt be aware, the Principal Office is under my complete control. You're probably looking forward to one of my erudite speeches about me, Megaframe, the New Viral Dawn, et cetera et cetera. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to dissappoint you. There is no grand scheme here. This...is about revenge." Smiling, Megabyte sharpened his claws as he spoke from the War Room, where a number of cables connected him to various control consoles that lined the walls. "Viruses are predatory by design, and it is time for me to follow my function. Prepare yourselves....for the hunt."
* * *
As the message ended, the Vidwindows surrounding the pinnacle of the P.O. snapped out of existance. The streams of data than ran along the rails across the System ground to a halt and faded. The skies overhead darkened, from a pale blue to a deep, dead purple. Every vehicle that was in the air fell to the ground, as though the force that supported them had simply been taken away.
"He's cut power to the System," Kit observed. She turned to the others. "We've got to get in there."
"The entrances are all sealed," Backie replied. "How do we get in?"
"Well, what about the pinnacle? Where the big sphere comes out? We could get in there."
"Zipboards won't work, not without power. How do we get up there?"
Kit thought for a moment. "You two could carry us," she finally said, gesturing to Jareth and Electra.
"No," Electra said.
"Why not?" Backie asked.
"I don't feel like it."
Kit slapped her forehead.
"And I can't carry both of you," Jareth said apologetically, shrugging.
"You can't?" Backslash asked, surprised. "I saw Lore manipulate the molecular structure of concrete, but you can't carry two sprites?"
"Nope. Sorry."
"Fine," Kit said. "Okay, so we need some sort of transport that can carry Backslash and I, or preferably all four of us....something that won't have been affected by the power outage..."
Jareth's eyes lit up, shining a brighter green than usual. "I've got just the thing."
Backslash and Kit exchanged a nervous glance.
* * *
"THAT's your transport?" Backslash asked incredulously.
"Yup."
The object in question was composed of eight large piles of scrap metal, cardboard, and tin cans, arranged into two neat rows of four and connected by string and chains to a rusty-looking slab of metal.
Backie, Kit, and Electra eyed it warily as they entered the large chamber within Hexadecimal's--now Jareth's-- Lair.
"This thing actually flies?" Electra asked. "What powers it?"
"I do," Jareth replied, and snapped his fingers.
Instantly, the piles rose up off the ground, assembling themselved into the rough shapes of large, four-legged animals with pronged antlers emerging from their heads. The animals snorted and pawed at the ground with their hooves impatiently.
"They're kinda cute," Electra said. "What are they?"
"Reindeer."
"Oh! I remember those from the old Christmas readme files," Kit said, stepping foreward cautiously to stroke one. It nuzzled her hand affectionately. She knew perfectly well that it was only a pile of junk, animated by Viral power, but it's movements and mannerisms made it seem quite lifelike.
"Yup." Jareth reached into his seemingly endless coat pockets and produced a floppy, conical black hat with a fluffy green brim, and a fluffy green ball on the end to match. Planting it firmly on his head, he said, "Hop in, everyone."
Once everyone was comfortably situated, Jareth grabbed ahold of the reins.
"So how do you start this thing?" Kit asked.
"I remember this one," Backie said. "Call the reindeer by name, right?"
Jareth nodded, then gave the reins a flick.
"On Smasher, on Crasher, on Venom and Trancer!
Go, Romper! Go Stomper! Go Wraith! Necromancer!"
Each Reindeer gave a start as it's name was called, and as soon as the last syllable was out, they all began pawing furiously at the ground, dragging the sleigh forward. The wall in front of them lowered with a crash at the very last possible moment, like a drawbridge, and behind it was a long tunnel that sloped steadily upward. For interminable lenght of time, they sped through the dark tunnel, until finally, they shot forth from the end like a cannon into the night sky over Mainframe.
"Now," Electra said with a smile. "let's give old Meggy a Christmas present he'll never forget."
To be concluded in Chapter 13: Fireworks