The Viral Guardian Series
Chapter 13: Fireworks
"Gotta hand it to you, Jareth," Backslash said,as the rickety sleigh soared across the sky towards the Principal Office. "This ride is a lot smoother than it looks."
"Speak for yourself," Kit complained, squirming. "What am I sitting on?" The brown-haired Guardian let out a small squeak as her seat moved beneath her, jumping to her feet and almost falling out of the sleigh.
A small, football-shaped creature, vaguely resembling a cat, glared back up at her.
"Scuzzy!" Jareth cried, looking back at the animal. "I was wondering where you'd gotten to."
"Keep your eyes on the road," Backie said, as the vehicle swerved alarmingly.
"What road?"
"It's a figure of...never mind."
Electra looked ahead at the ball-shaped building that loomed ahead. "You guys ARE aware that our odds of getting past the PO defenses AND taking down Megabyte are pretty much nil, and that we're all probably going to be deleted?" she asked.
"Yup."
"Uh-huh."
"Pretty much."
A moment passed.
"So," Jareth said. "What do you guys want to do tomorrow?"
A blast of light ripped through the air beside them, almost causing the entire sleigh to tumble.
"Woah!" Backie grabbed at the railing to keep from being spilled over the side. "We're under attack!"
"Oh, you noticed," Electra quipped. She raised an arm and let loose a jet of blue light that struck the offending gun turret of the PO, causing it to explode.
"Does this thing have any defenses?" Kit asked.
"Umm...When I was building it, I cut myself on a loose shard of scrap metal," Jareth replied. "Does that count?"
Kit cursed under her breath.
A second blast from the spherical building struck them head-on, shredding half the reindeer and causing the sleigh to roll over. The passengers clung to the railing, holding on for dear life.
Backslash raised his left arm desperately.
"Tech--Anything!"
* * *
The banging of Matrix's combat boots echoed off the stainless steel walls as he and Bob raced down the halls of the Principal Office, desperately trying to make their way to the War Room, where their friends...and Megabyte....were waiting.
Bob skidded to a halt as red lights began to flash, sirens blaring. Matrix plowed into the chrome-armored Guardian, almost knocking him over.
"What's going on?" Matrix asked, looking at the lights in confusion.
"Megabyte's activated the security systems," Bob replied tersly, activating his Glitch Powers, a sphere of golden light surrounding each hand.
Abruptly, the lights and sirens ceased, and hidden panels in the walls popped open. Several disk-shaped objects floated out and began to bounce off the metal walls, slowly at first, but gaining more and more speed each time they struck anything.
"Energy pucks."
Matrix narrowed his eyes. "The Principal Office's security system is game pucks?"
"Highly explosive, energy seeking game pucks, yes."
Matrix held his hand at his hip, and his Gun detatched itself from its holster and flew into his grip. His cybernetic eye rotating in his socket, he aimed at one of the pucks and fired. The puck exploded, setting off other pucks, which set off still more in a chain reaction that cleared the hall behind them.
Bob raised his eyebrows. "Nice." turning to the path ahead, he fired a pulse of golden energy that had a similar effect, eliminating all the pucks that had appeared.
"Is that it?" Matrix asked, almost laughing. 'We need to talk to Phong about having a real security system--"
With a loud snapping sound, the panels that had disgorged the pucks popped shut, and still more panels opened. Dozens of mechanical arms, each one bristling with laser turrets, whirred as they moved into position, all of them targetting the two Sprites.
"--installed," Matrix finished, somewhat lamely.
The cannons began to fire, the first few shots missing as the targetting systems calibrated themselves.
Bob jumped as a blast grazed his belt. Closing his eyes, he raised his hands and concentrated. Two glowing walls of amber light materialized, blocking the gunfire that lanced at them from either direction.
"We have to move," Matrix said.
"If I drop the shields, we're toast," Bob replied.
"Well we can't stay here," Matrix said. "We need to get to the War Room. And besides, your battery is fried."
Alarmed, Bob glanced down at his belt. Matrix was right: The transfinite energy storage battery he wore clipped to his belt had been destroyed by the blast that had grazed him. Without it, his Glitch powers had nothing to run on but his own personal energy...and not only would that not last long, but draining it would put his very life in danger.
"Any ideas?" Bob asked.
Matrix peered through the shields, his bionic eye zooming in on the door at the end of the hall, the door to the elevator that could take them to the level the War Room was on. "Can you move the shields?"
Bob experimentally took a step to the left, the shields moving with him, staying exactly the same distance from him that they had been on either side. "Yep. These shields filter energy, though, not objects, so you'll have to take care of the turrets as the shields pass them."
Matrix raised his Gun. "Got it covered."
* * *
"Nice landing, featherhead," Electra complained as she dusted herself off, her blades retracting back into her body as she reverted from what Jareth called her 'Hyde-mode' to her 'Jekyll-mode'.
"Thanks," Jareth replied, either ignoring the sarcasm or just missing it entirely.
"You know what they say," Kit said. "Any landing you can walk away from..."
"We wouldn't be walking anywhere if not for that energy shield," Jareth replied. "Nice job."
"Thanks," Backlsash said.
"Oh, not you," Jareth said. "I was talking to Tech."
"Oh."
The four Sprites finished pulling themselves from the wreckage of the scrap-metal sleigh and began assessing the damage. Scuzzy emerged from beneath a flat slab of rusty sheet metal, looking a bit frazzled but otherwise unharmed, and rolled over to where the group was standing.
"Aww, man," Jareth complained, picking up and tossing aside a chunk of metal. "My beautiful slay."
Kit squinted, then cocked her head and turned to Backslash. "Did you.."
The blue-green Guardian nodded. "Yeah, I heard it, too."
"I think we've known him a little too long," Kit said matter-of-factly.
Backslash looked up towards the pinnacle above. "So...now how do we get inside?"
"Well," Jareth replied. "Some of the reindeer are okay."
As he spoke, three of the ragtag animals pulled themselves from the clutter and trotted up to the group.
"Backie, you can ride Wraith. Kit can take Romper, and 'Lectra, you can have Trancer."
"And you'll fly?"
"I guess. There aren't any more reindeer in fit condition to ride."
"There's that one," Electra said, pointing to one that lay on the ground nearby. "It's only missing its head."
"That shouldn't be too hard to fix. All we have to do is find it...ah. Here it is." Jareth leaned over and pulled an antlered head from the nearby pile, then walked over to the body, which rose to its feet.
"His neck is gone," Backie observed.
Jareth jammed the head directly onto the body, where it somehow adhered. "Necromancer with no neck. I guess I'll just call him Romancer from now on."
A chorus of groans followed.
Backslash mounted his reindeer. "It's better this way, anyway. Now they have more than one target to aim for."
"Scuzzy, you stay here," Jareth said, hopping aboard Romancer. "It's gonna be a little dangerous in there."
Scuzzy made his trademark purring/grinding noise.
"That had better mean 'yes'," Jareth said squinting back at the wotsit.
Kit and Electra climbed onto their mounts, Electra complaining that junk and scrap metal did not make for the most comfortable seat.
"Oh, quit whining," Jareth said, reaching over to pet Trancer. "You're going to hurt her feelings."
Electra's stained-glass eyes weren't made to roll, but that didn't stop her from trying.
Their soldered hooves making clicking noises on the concrete, the four reindeer bult up speed and trotted into the sky.
* * *
"Careful now, Bob," Megabyte said, watching the Vidwindow before him intently. "We mustn't overexert ourselves." The Virus chuckled as Bob's blue skin began to turn transparent. The Guardian's eyes seemed to lose focus, and he wavered a bit, but he stubbornly refused to drop the shields he'd erected.
Abruptly, the sounds of laser fire in the background ceased. "Ah, it seems you are in luck, Guardian. The autoguns have depleted their charge."
Megabyte's eyes widened in pleasure as the golden shields faded and Bob collapsed, Matrix catching him just before he struck the floor.
"Or perhaps not." Megabyte reached forward and paused his hand poised above one of the buttons on the control panel before him. After allowing just enough time for the Sprites to think they were, for the time being, safe, he pressed it. Still more hidden doors snapped open in the hall, allowing a number of larger, more powerful energy pucks to float free.
"You'll never get away with this, Megabreath!"
The Virus sighed, turning to the small, green-skinned Sprite that stood in the corner, encased from the neck down in one of two glowing green file-locks. The other held Phong, who was glaring malevolently at the mettalic-armored Virus.
"Enzo," Megabyte said, sounding bored. "Have you ANY idea how many times I've heard that?"
"No."
"Neither have I. It's been that often."
"And how many times HAVE you gotten away with it, Virus?" Phong asked. "Evil never wins."
"You know, I must say I HAVE noticed that," Megabyte replied, examining his claws. "But then, I never really LOSE, either, now do I? You've thwated my 'nefarious schemes', sealed me behind firewalls, cast me from the System...but I seem to keep coming."
Enzo and Phong exchanged a glance.
"Statistically speaking, sooner or later one side is bound to win." Megabyte returned his attention to the VidWindow, which showed Matrix attempting to shoot down the energy pucks before they could reach the spot where Bob had fallen. "And, from the looks of things," Megabyte added. "That side is going to be mine."
* * *
Mouse determinedly typed away at the console, despite the fact that nothing she tried seemed to have the slightest effect. Behind her, AndrAIa kept a nervous watch, her razor-sharp trident at the ready.
The trident's reassuring weight was normally a comfort to the Game Sprite. The faithful weapon had saved her life, and Matrix's....and Frisket's, come to think of it....more times than she could count. It had stayed at her side ever since she'd traded in her double-crossbow for it, no longer needing the ranged weapon once she'd learned to launch her spines.
But not even the feel of the trident's handle in her grasp could comfort her now. Megabyte had the entire Principal Office....no, the entire System at his disposal. He had eyes everywhere....and more than likely, weapons, too.
Suddenly, the main lighs switched off, leaving only the dim emergency lights to illuminate the wide hallway. Something gleamed, and AndrAIa's eyes narrowed as she took in the tall, mechanical form that was standing before her.
Welman. The light reflecting off the glass dome of his head was what had caught her attention. His normally gold finish had turned the dull, tainted gray of everyone whom Megabyte had unwillingly infected.
"Mouse."
"What is it, Sugah?"
"Turn around."
The hacker turned. "Welman?"
"He's been infected."
Mouse nodded, drawing her katana.
One moment, Welman was standing stock-still, the next he was in motion, moving far faster than anything made of heavy metal had a right to move. With surprising strength, he reached over and tore a piece of metal from the wall next to him and flung it down the hall at the girls.
Mouse jumped aside, and AndrAIa ducked, allowing the chunk of steel to fly over her head, denting the door behind them.
AndrAia extended her spines and sent them shooting down the hall at the construct, but the toxic barbes richocheted harmlessly off the metal body, embedding themselves in the walls and ceiling.
The bot rushed forward. Mouse swung her katana, attempting to cleave the mechanical man in two, but again Welman moved far faster than expected, grabbing the sword by the blade and pulling it from the hacker's hand. With a backhanded blow, the robot knocked Mouse the the ground, then, with such strength that it would have been impossible to remove, stuck her katana firmly into the wall.
AndrAIa brought her trident to bear, but the bot simply tore it from her grasp and snapped it on his knee as if it were no more than a twig.
With a single blow from his steel fist, AndrAIa collapsed, falling to the floor.
Welman turned to Mouse, who was rubbing the back of her head. He took a few steps forward, then raised his arms together and prepared to deliver a downward blow that would cleave the hacker's skull neatly in two...but instead caught a blast from Mouse's ring full in the face, forcing him to stagger back, disoriented.
Casting about desperately for something to use as a weapon, her eyes fell on one of the broken pieces of AndrAia's trident. Quickly siezing it, Mouse rushed forward and, with all the strength she could muster, forced it directly through the pulsating orb at the center of Welman's body: his power core. Welman's mechanical body began to shake, then spark as uncontrolled energy surged through his frame, fusing his circuits and burning out his servomotors....then he fell still, remaining upright only because the hacker's thrust has nailed him firmly to the wall.
"Whew." Mouse fell back against the wall behind her, wiping her brow. She turned to AndrAIa. "AndrAIa? You okay?"
The Game Sprite let out a groan, but said nothing, apparently unconscious.
"Out cold, but still processin'. Ah'll settle for that." Mouse replied. She looked back at Welman...and something caught her eye. Raising her hand to block the glare from the dim emergency lighting, she looked closely at Welman's head.
The glass dome was empty.
* * *
Matrix fired blast after blast, blowing the energy pucks out of the air. There were too many, and they kept moving faster and faster....much more of this, and not even he would have been able to shoot fast enough to protect Bob.
A puck swooped in from above. Matrix saw it coming, aimed, and squeezed the trigger...and nothing happened. He fired too many times, too quickly, at full power, and Gun's systems had shut it down to keep the weapon from overheating.
Everything seemed to slow down. The puck came in, closer....closer....and stopped, as did all the others.
Matrix tilted his head to side in wonder as the energy pucks floating serenely back into their compartments, the doors closing.
* * *
Megabyte's mouth fell open in surprised, but he quickly recovered his composure. "What's going on?" he demanded.
"The security system appears to have been deactivated, Megabyte," Phong replied calmly.
"By whom?" the Virus demanded. The room was small enough that anyone walking across it to the control panel, flipping the switch right under his nose, and then walking away unnoticed was absurd.
There was a moment of tense silence as all of Megabyte's viral binomes looked at each other, no one owning up to the crime of having saved the Guardian and Renegade.
Someone sneezed. Megabyte's head whipped around in the direction of the sound...and there, by the door near Phong and Enzo, stood a Sprite who looked so out of place it was astounding that no one had noticed her. Her hair was white, her eyes red, her skin an eye-defying peach-green.
"Oh, slag," she muttered, realizing that her cover, whatever it was, had been blown.
Megabyte sneered, then reached forward and sent a pair of steel-gray cables from the back of his hand towards the Sprite. Rather than attempting to dodge, the Sprite did the last thing Megabyte would have expected: she reached forward and grabbed the tentacles, careful not to touch the infection-spreading tips. Then, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she sent a powerful surge of electricity running down the tentacles, badly shocking the cobalt-blue Virus. Megabyte screamed in pain, then fell against the control panel, dazed.
The Sprite seemed a bit dazed, herself, as though using the electrifying ability had drained her. Fortunately, the viral binomes in the room were too startled by her sudden appearance and bizarre actions to react right away.
"Chu!" Phong cried. "Run!"
Chu shook herself out of her daze and rushed to the door, making a hasty exit.
Moments later, Megabyte pulled himself to his feet, rubbing his scorched hand. He glanced sharply at his minions. "Well? After her!"
The viral binomes snapped to a salute, then rushed out through the door Chu had used.
Phong shook his head, the only part of his body he could move, his eyes wide with surprise. "I....did not know she could do that."
Almost immediately, there was a large explosion, and a number of binomes flew back into the war Room, landed with a crash, and faded into oblivion as the force of the impact deleted them.
Megabyte turned to glare at Phong.
"Oh, I knew she could do THAT."
* * *
Hack and Slash had finally stopped bickering, giving Dot the silence she needed to concentrate on forming a plan. Now, if only it were possible to stop that noise their antennae made...
Shutting out all distractions, Dot focused on the plan. The situation, her resources, and the problem: Megabyte. He was currently in the War Room, but he wouldn't stay there...the Virus had been defeated too many times to count on his victory now. He'd have an escape planned...
The Gateway command! It wouldn't take him long to deduce where they'd hidden it, in the Core Room...assuming he already hadn't....and where better to escape than to the place he'd wanted to go all along? To the Supercomputer?
The others would take care of driving him out of the war Room, she was sure of that...but she had to take care of cutting off his escape. She would go to the Core Room and....and....and what? How could she hold him off from the Gateway command? She didn't have the technical knowledge to sabotauge it before he got there, she'd need Mouse for that, and who knew where the hacker was now.
"If only we had more firepower...," she muttered.
"Firepower?" Hack asked. "You've got firepower!"
"She does?" Slash asked.
"Yes! She's got us!"
"Yeah! We're nothing But firepower!"
"We can help!"
"Yes, indeed!"
"Just point the way!"
Dot shook her head. "I know you two are strong, but you're no match for Megabyte. And even if you were, you're scared to deletion of him, remember?"
"She has a point."
"yes, a very good point."
"--Well, I guess we could--"
"--No, no, that won't work--"
"--Yeah, you're right what if we--"
"BOYS!"
The two robots turned from each other to face Dot.
"Yes?"
"What's that noise?" she asked.
The three of them stood completely still, to better hear the sound that was approaching. It sounding like clicking, or grinding, like an odd mix of a purring cat and a fishing pole.
Hack and Slash rolled in front of Dot, each raising an arm protectively, prepared to blast the source of the noise if it proved to be a threat.
Scuzzy turned the corner and looked at the three of them as though they were all behaving like total idiots.
"Scuzzy?" Dot asked.
"Scuzzy!" Hack and Slash shouted.
"Now we have all the firepower we need!" Hack declared.
"What are you...," Dot began, but the bots continued as though she hadn't spoken.
"You don't mean--"
--I DO mean--"
"--You think we should--"
"--well, I think we have to--"
"--yeah, I think you're right, but--"
"--But?"
"But we should ask him."
"Ask...Scuzzy?--"
"--Scuzzy, yes--"
"--Yeah, you're right, because--"
"--Because he's part of this, too, after all, and--"
"What do you say, Scuzzy?" they both asked, turning from each other to the small, unclassifiable pet.
The small animal nodded, then jumped into the air. Two red and blue robots each reached out with one hand, catching him at the same time.
A blinding light filled the hall.
* * *
The elevator doors were barely open when Matrix raced past them, running down the hall for all he was worth, an unconscious Bob slung over his shoulder. He turned the corner....and his eyes widened.
His father's limp mechanical body was impaled on a rod that jutted out of the wall. Next to it was embedded one of Mouse's katana blades. The hacker herelf was trying to pry the doors to the war Room open with her remaining sword....and on the ground, next to the head of her broken trident, lay AndrAia, propped agaist the wall, out cold, her perfect face marred by a large, purple bruise.
Everything went red. Matrix was vaguely aware of setting Bob aside, of Mouse turning, saying something....then an explosion echoed throughout the hall as a blast from Gun tore the dented, damaged doors apart.
Matrix stormed into the War Room. Oddly enough, there were no viral binomes standing in his way, just him. Megabyte. Looking smug as ever, calmy examining his claws.
Matrix didn't waste time with words, or with fistfighting this time. He aimed his Gun, targetted the arrogant virus right between the eys, and fired.
Megabyte ducked, letting the blast fly over his head.
"Enzo! What a pleasant--"
"Save it!"
Another blast tore thought the air, only to be caught in Megabyte's hand as if it were nothing more than a softball.
All the charm vanished from the Virus' voice. "Have it your way."
Megabyte flung the energy ball back at the Renegade with remarkable accuracy, knocking the firearm from Matrix's hand. Matrix clutched at his scorched digits as, eyes narrowed in anger. Megabyte leapt over the consoles, landing heavily on the recessed floor below. He marched up to Matrix and extended the claws of his right hand. Reaching forward with his left, he grabbed Matrix by the thoat, then brought back his arm, preparing to stab down into his face.
Something small and green darted across the floor towards Megabyte. Upon reaching his metallic foot, it made a motion as though to bite him, touching the tip of it's sluglike body to the Virus' cobalt-blue skin. Instantly, Megabyte began to turn transparent as his energy was siphoned away. His grip weakened and Matrix fell to the floor.
"Dad?"
"Enzo! Are you all right?" the null warbled.
Megabyte stumbled, his color beginning to return. Welman glanced up at him, alarmed.
"Quickly!" Welman cried turning back to Matrix. "Finish him!"
Rising to his feet, Matrix stretched out his arm. Gun twitched, then shot from its place on the floor into his outstretched hand. Matrix's eye swiveled in its socket and began to glow a fierce crimson as the renegade brought his weapon to bear on the virus in front of him.
*BANG!*
Megabyte's head exploded into shards of tansparent data, and the rest of him immediately followed, obviously just a hollow shell. Another Alias!
"No!" Matrix cried. "Where are you?!" he roared.
"The Core Room!" Phong's voice cried. Matrix turned to see the Mouse, using her ring to break the file-locks that had sealed away Phong and Enzo.
The elderly Sprite looked panicked. "He is trying to reach the Gateway Command!"
"You go, Sugah," Mouse said. "Ah'll stay here with these three, in case any more of his flunkies are still lurkin' around."
Matrix turned and ran from the War Room.
* * *
Megabyte smiled as he reached the doors to the Core Room and began keying in the access codes. Let them have their pathetic little System. Where he was going, there would be more than enough power for him to come back and finish them off. After all, he had seen firsthand what some of the items from the Supercomputer's armory could do. That little device Turbo had given to the hacker, for example, disguised as a harmless communicator. The size of a marble, and powerful enough to destroy an entire System...yes, there was more than enough where he was going.
Megabyte frowned as a though occurred to him. Daemon, he understood, had arranged for the Webcreature to enter Mainframe, forcing Turbo to destroy it according to Guardian protocol. Had she succeded, she'd have destroyed her own offspring as well.
Just as well she was already deleted, or he would have had to hunt her down.
The doors, accepting the codes, slid open. Megabyte smiled in surprise at the Sprite waiting for him, standing in front of the Gateway.
"Why Ms. Matrix! What a delightful surprise!" The Virus strode forward until he towed just before the small female Sprite. She didn't appear to be afraid of him at all. She had always been a brave one, that Dot. Or perhaps she just hid her emotions well. Sweat was beginning to bead on her forehead, but that could just as easily been from the Core radiation.
"So this is it, then? You are the last line of defense, here to prevent my attaining the power I have always sought, and using it to crush you all?" Megabyte chuckled.
"No," Dot replied innocently.
Megabyte's eyes narrowed.
"He is." Dot pointed.
Megabyte turned around...and recieved a powerful metal fist directly in the face. The force of the blow caused him to fly back with enough force to dent the wall of the Core Room.
Megabyte climbed to his feet. "I thought I'd seen the last of you, Clash."
The massive mechanized construct rolled forward, his features a combination of Hack's, Slash's, and Scuzzy's. He bristled all over with powerful, weapon-weilding arms.
One of the limbs came forward, this one armed with a chainsaw. The weapon roared as Clash swung it through the air. Megabyte ducked at the last minute, letting the whirring blade pass harmlessly over his head, then delivered an uppercut that knocked Clash onto his back.
* * *
"What's wrong with Bob, Phong?" Enzo asked as he and the mechanical Sprite lifted the unconscious Guardian onto the platform beside AndrAIa's.
"His energy levels have been drained to critical levels," Phong replied. "He must access a large supply of energy soon, or he will cease to function."
"Dude! Well, what are you waiting for? Hook him up!"
Phong typed at the medconsole. 'oh, dear....it seems that when Chu's bomb eliminated the virals, it also disabled much of the medbay's equiptment. I'm afraid the energy will have to come from a donor, by way of transfusion." Phong wheeled over to the wall and removed a large, box like device, from the top of which hung a pair of cables. Fastening one to Bob's arm, he set the box down and rose the other up to his own.
"No! Phong, let me do it!"
"Enzo, I--"
"Come on! I've got energy to spare!"
Phong sighed. "very well." Phong attached the other cable to Enzo's upper arm, then flicked the switch that activated the machine.
Nothing happened.
Alarmed, Phong flicked the switch again. Still nothing.
"What's wrong?"
"This must be damaged as well!"
"So what do we do?!"
"There....there is nothing more we CAN do, my child."
Enzo turned to the meter on the wall that monitored Bob's energy readings. The beeps were growing steadily further apart.
"But...we can't just let him...."
The individual beeps stopped, becoming a single, inbroken tone.
"N...no....,"
Enzo screwed his eyes closed, trying to keep tears from falling, trying not to hear the horrible, unending noise that meant....
The tone broke once. Then again. Faster and faster, until the tones almost became on note again. Suddenly, the scanner shattered, emitting sparks and black smoke, unable to handle the enrgy it was being asked to monitor.
"Phong...what's happening?"
"I....do not know."
Bob's chrome Glitch armor began to flow like mercury, silvery bubbles breaking off from it's surface and floating in the air around him. More and more split off, until there were approximately two dozen of them. The liquid metal spheres began to shrink, to change in size, color, and texture, until each one was shaped like a rectangle, circular screens glinting in the flourescent lighting.
"The Keytools," Phong whispered. 'They have returned!"
Acting as one, all of the keytools turned so that their screens were facing inward, facing Bob. A ray of golden-yellow energy shone from each screen, pouring energy into Bob's body.
"They're trying to save him!" Enzo cried.
The light ceased, and the keytools floated back from the Guardian. With a number of small, bright flashes, the symbiotic devices vanished through small portals of their own making, traveling through the Net to rejoin their Guardians.
Bob stirred, sitting up, all the dirt and scratches he'd managed to gather gone from his shining silver armor.
"Bob!" Enzo flew through the air, knocking the Guardian over with a fierce tackle.
One Keytool remained, hovering by itself off to the side, as though watching this. Then, turning, it sped off through the air faster than the eye could follow.
* * *
Clash flew through the air, slamming hard against the wall. As he slid to the ground, there was a bright blash of energy, and he split ito his component parts again. Hack, Slash, and Scuzzy lay on the ground, dazed, all of them down for the count.
Megabyte turned back to Dot, who was now startig to look concerned.
"Any more..surprises?" the Virus asked, raising his claws.
"Oh, Mr. Megabyte!"
Megabyte winced. There was only one voice that grated on his nerves quite like that one. He turned, and sure enough, there was Jareth, along with those friends of his.
"Sorry we're late," Electra said. "Did we miss much?"
The doors behind them opened again, and Matrix stormed in, Gun drawn.
"You're late!" Jareth said accusingly.
"Megabyte," Matrix growled, aiming at the Virus.
"Yes, very good. That is, indeed, Megabyte," Electra said, switching to a smirk, as though talking to someone who was just compiled. "Now, what noise does the duck make?"
Megabyte reached back and grabbed Dot, holding her tightly in one hand raising the claws of the other to her head. "Lower your weapons, or Ms. Matrix shall suffer a most unfortunate.... accident."
Matrix growled, but holstered his Gun. Backslash lowered his Keytool.
"See, now that wasn't so difficult. Now. You will all--"
*Blam!*
Megabyte jerked his hands away from Dot as a gunshot peirced his hand. The Virus' eyes went wide, not so much in pain as in surprise at the direction from which the gunshot had come.
Dot backed away from the Virus towards her friends, her sidearm trained on his head.
Her friends seemed just as surprised as Megabyte.
"I didn't think you ever actually used that thing," Matrix said, impressed.
"Did you think it was just for show, little brother?" Dot smiled grimly.
"It's over, Megabyte," Kit said. "Surrender.
Megabyte sighed. "Once again, the threadbare cliche." He examined his claws. "Tell me, do you really imagine you've won?"
"Well, you don't seem to have a whole lot left," Jareth said.
"Oh no? Perhaps you're simply not looking hard enough." Megabyte reared back, then spit forth a spray of acidic green liquid.
A number of the Sprites cried out, clutching at their eyes as they were blinded by the stinging mist.
"Crap," Jareth said, the glow gone from his green stained-glass eyes. "I forgot he could do that."
Matrix clutched at his eye. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he looked forward, and, with his Bionic eye, saw the Virus approaching, claws extended.
Racing forward, the renegade delivered a solid blow to the Virus' midsection, bloodying his knuckles against Megabyte's metal armor. Megabyte was surprised, but not actually injured.
Retracting his claws, the Virus lifted Matrix up off the ground by the throat, just as he had done back when the renegade had been Little Enzo.
"Your stubborn refusal to die is beginning to irritate me," he said. The Virus brought Matrix closer, so that their noses were almost touching. "Boy," he added.
Raising the renegade as though he were a rag doll, Megabyte threw Matrix across the room, directly at Dot.
As the effects of Megabyte's acid faded, Dot's vision cleared...just in time to see her brother flying at her very, very fast.
The collision was brutal, and both sprites were down.
Megabyte began to walk towards them, intent on finishing them off, but before he had taken two steps, he found that his feet had been frozen to the floor by a thick layer of solid ice. Turning, he spotted Electra, hovering in the air a short distance away in Hyde-mode, blades growing from every surface and blue light swirling around both outstretched arms.
Megabyte flung his tendrils forward, wrapping them around her waist and throwing her against the wall. With a groan, she slid to the floor, her features softening, her horns and blades vanishing back into her body.
Megabyte advanced on the fallen Virus, claws extended to their fullest.
"Tech--Energy Ram!"
A blast of light knocked the Virus aside, doing no real damage. Megabyte turned to dark-haired, blue-green skinned Guardian who'd attacked him.
Backslash glared back at the hulking Virus, drawing the small rod from his belt and thumbing the switch on the side. A blade of solid energy shot forth from the end.
"Ah, yes, I remember you now." Megabyte smiled. "That little toy of yours didn't work very well last time, now did it, Guardian?"
Backslash raised his left arm into the air. "Tech--line!"
The Keytool transformed into a grappling hook, shooting straight up into the network of pipes and cables that formed the cieling. The Guardian was instantly yanked up after it.
There was a severing, sparking sound, and several thick, solid metal pipes rained down from the celing, crashing down onto Megabyte, who was quickly buried beneath them.
Backslash hovered back down to the ground, using his Keytool as a helicoptor.
"Seems to work fine now."
"Does it really?" came a muffled voice from beneath the debris. The pile exploded as the Virus leapt out, landing on his feet.
Backslash rushed forward with his lightsaber, slashing again and again at the Virus, the blade of energy glancing off his mettalic armor, leaving only glowing red areas where the metal was heated by the blade.
After several of these slashes, Megabyte reached forward and simply caught the blade as it was swung at him.
Backslash's eyes widened as Megabyte snatched the lightsaber from his hand, holding it by the energy blade that could supposedly cut through anything. Swinging the saber like a club, Megabyte bashed Backslash upside the head with the Lightsaber's handle, tossing the weapon aside as the Guardian fell to the ground.
"Ahem," Megabyte said, kicking Backslash's limp body aside. "Next."
"That would be me."
Megabyte turned to see his brother, calmly leaning against the wall, spinning a crystal sphere on his finger.
"Ah, yes. I suspected it would come down to the two of us. Or is it three?"
"Does it matter?" Jareth asked, his mask an infuriating smirk.
"I suppose not." Megabyte eyed the crystal that was glinting in the overhead lights. "So....this is how you choose to attack me? By throwing one of your little crystal bombs?" Megabyte crossed his arms as Jareth walked away from the wall and strode towards him. "Oh come now. Even you shouldn't be so foolish as to think that little thing can actually hurt me."
"Well," Jareth said, tilting his head to the side. "Maybe not YOU..." Jareth switched to an even wider grin, looked over at the Gateway Command, then back to Megabyte.
Megabyte's eyes went wide.
Jareth nodded maliciously, tossing the crystal back over his shoulder. It rolled towards the command.
"No!" Megabyte leapt over Jareth, landing between the rolling crystal and the Gateway. The crystal exploded, creating a huge cloud of fire and smoke.
Jareth giggled as Megabyte strolled forth from the smog, glaring at him.
"You nearly cost me my path to the Supercomputer, half-breed."
"Wow. Been a while since you called me that."
Megabyte lunged at the Viral Guardian, but found himself balked by a rectangle of golden light that appeared between them. The cobalt-blue Virus slashed furiously at the wall, but his claws had no effect whatsoever on the shield.
Jareth yawned, pulling a file from his pocket and sanding away at his nails.
"Donno about you, Megs, but I could do this all da-AAAY!" Jareth's taunt became a yell as his feet were yanked out from under him by the silver tentacles that had snaked their way around the wall of light. The shield vanished as Jareth lost his concentration.
Jareth lay on the ground, winded by the impact. "Nice move," he groaned.
Megabyte lifted Jareth up off the ground with his cables. "Why, thank you," he said, throwing the Viral Guardian into the wall.
Megabyte turned towards the gateway....and was quite surprised to see a young female Guardian standing before him. Just standing there, between him and the command. Not even aiming her Keytool....ah, she didn't have one.
"Oh, come now. What do you expect to do?"
"Whatever I can."
"Ah. That would be..." the Virus leaned in. "Nothing." Effortlessly, he knocked her aside.
Chuckling, Megabyte turned and strode up to the Gateway Command, keying the appropriate codes and opening a portal directly to the Supercomputer.
* * *
Kit pulled herself to her feet, grateful for the protection given by her Guardian armor. Shaking her head, she looked up to Megabyte, just a few steps away from the Supercomputer.
She rose to her feet, not sure what she was about to do, but knowing that now was the time to do it. She took a step forward, but before she could do anything else, a small object shot across the room, attaching itself to the silver bracer that adorned her left arm.
"Clip?" she said, recogizing it as her Keytool.
Clip let out a reassuring beep.
Kit grinned, raising the Keytool and aiming it towards Megabyte. "Clip--Redirect!"
The tiny Keytool let out a bleep, then fired a pulse of energy that shot over Megabyte's shoulder, striking the vertical liquid surface of the Gateway. The upright wall of water shifted, now showing not the crystal towers and streets of the Supercomputer, but rather the ravages of the Web.
A large black tentacle reached through the gateway and prepared to seize Megabyte, but he made a single swipe with his claws and the limb fell to the ground, twitching. The Virus turned to Kit.
"Foolish girl," he said angrily. "Did you really think I would fall for that childish trick again?"
An object came flying at him from his left. Rather than let it strike him, he reached out and caught it. Opening his hand, he saw a small, mechanical rodent, it's mechanized legs working.
"And now you think to attack me with toys?" He looked at the Sprite who had thrown the mouse. It was the same one who'd disabled the security pucks, the girl with the bizarre skin and white hair.
"You. I owe you a--"
The Sprite smiled at him, winking one of her ruby red eyes.
He stopped and looked down at the object in his hand. It's tail appeared to be getting shorter, being drawn back into the body.
Comprehension dawned on his face, but before he could act, the tail withdrew completely ito the body.
The explosion lifted him off his feet, hurling him back through the open gateway into the very heart of the Web.
* * *
Megabyte flew , tumbling end-over-end through the think, dense, invisible data. Regaining his equilibrium, he reached out with his tentacles, grabbing ahold of the small rocks and bits of debris that littered the space around him, determined to pull himself back to the portal before it closed, trapping him here.
Closer and closer he approached, until he could see the room that lay beyond, could see the banks of control panels that operated the Gateway Command.
A Blue-skinned Sprite clad in silver armor stepped into view.
Megabyte's eyes widened as Bob smiled and waved....then slowly, deliberately brought his hand down and pressed a large red button.
"No," Megabyte said.
The portal vanished.
"NO!"
There were no Sprites, binomes, or viruses around to hear him, but his cry did not go unnoticed. A nearby pod of Webcreatures, out hunting, heard.
Heard...and followed.
* * *
The night sky over Mainframe had always been one of Jareth's favorite sights. Usually, he observed it from one of the towers of the bridge that connected Mainframe to Lost Angles. Tonight, he was sitting on the large concrete block that formed the base of Hexadecimal's newly completed memorial statue, directly in front of the Principal Office. His back rested against her massive stone stilleto heel.
"Hey."
The Viral Guardian turned to see Electra floating in midair behind him.
"Hey."
"Aren't you cold?"
Jareth shook his head. "I'm wearing like twenty pounds of black leather." He eyed Electra's thin, sleeveless blue garment. "You?"
"Ice is kinda my element," she responded.
Jareth nodded. "Backie and Kit are going back to the Supercomputer tomorrow."
"Yeah, I heard. They talked to Turbo. He said that they could stay for Christmas before reporting back."
"I take it communications are back up, then?"
"Yup," Electra said. "It turned out Megabyte was the one who'd disabled them in the first place. Who knows how. Guess he didn't want us calling for help."
Jareth looked back up at the sky.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Electra asked, tilting her golden head.
"Everything. Nothing. Hex, mostly."
"Gonna suck to have Christmas without her, huh?"
"Yeah."
There was a pause.
"You think she'd like it?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the stars.
"The statue?"
Jareth nodded.
"Dunno. She never cared much for stone, did she?"
"She turned the entire System to stone once. Bob got her to turn it back by pointing out how predictable it was." He sighed. "I am really going to miss her."
Electra foated down and sat on the pedestal next to him.
"She really meant a lot to you, didn't she?"
"Well, yeah. For a long time, she was all I had. You and Backie had gone to the Supercomputer, Kit had been deleted..."
"And Dot?"
"Dot was always so edgy around me....just like you were, at first. We couldn't really be friends anymore."
"So it really was just you and Hex."
"Yup."
Another pause.
"You know....it's not anymore." she placed her hand over his.
"Yeah, I know...she's gone."
"That wasn't what I meant."
Jareth turned to her, a puzzled expression on his face. "No? Then what did you...?
Electra switched to a smirk, looking at him expectantly. "You take your time."
Jareth's mask was nuetral for a moment, before switching to a look of dawning comprehension. "Oh..."
Electra giggled. "You take a while, featherhead," she said, leaning forward. "But you get there eventually."
The two brought their ceramic lips together, touched briefly, then pulled apart.
A moment passed.
"That's it?" Electra asked, sounding a bit disappointed. "I dunno, I was expecting fireworks or something."
"I'm not sure what I was expecting," Jareth admitted. "But it wasn't 'clink!'."
Electra giggled again.
Jareth prepared to say something, but was distracted by a far-off explosion. Turning, he saw a burst of multicolored fire in the sky above the docks. Fireworks were being set off by ships on the Energy Sea, celebrating both Christmas Eve and Megabyte's expulsion from Mainframe.
"There ya go. Fireworks," he said. "They were just late." He turned back to Electra, whose golden face was reflecting the dazzling sparks in the sky.
"Well....," she said, smiling as she gazed back into his glowing green eyes. "Better late than never."
It began to snow.
~THE END~
Chapter 13: Fireworks
"Gotta hand it to you, Jareth," Backslash said,as the rickety sleigh soared across the sky towards the Principal Office. "This ride is a lot smoother than it looks."
"Speak for yourself," Kit complained, squirming. "What am I sitting on?" The brown-haired Guardian let out a small squeak as her seat moved beneath her, jumping to her feet and almost falling out of the sleigh.
A small, football-shaped creature, vaguely resembling a cat, glared back up at her.
"Scuzzy!" Jareth cried, looking back at the animal. "I was wondering where you'd gotten to."
"Keep your eyes on the road," Backie said, as the vehicle swerved alarmingly.
"What road?"
"It's a figure of...never mind."
Electra looked ahead at the ball-shaped building that loomed ahead. "You guys ARE aware that our odds of getting past the PO defenses AND taking down Megabyte are pretty much nil, and that we're all probably going to be deleted?" she asked.
"Yup."
"Uh-huh."
"Pretty much."
A moment passed.
"So," Jareth said. "What do you guys want to do tomorrow?"
A blast of light ripped through the air beside them, almost causing the entire sleigh to tumble.
"Woah!" Backie grabbed at the railing to keep from being spilled over the side. "We're under attack!"
"Oh, you noticed," Electra quipped. She raised an arm and let loose a jet of blue light that struck the offending gun turret of the PO, causing it to explode.
"Does this thing have any defenses?" Kit asked.
"Umm...When I was building it, I cut myself on a loose shard of scrap metal," Jareth replied. "Does that count?"
Kit cursed under her breath.
A second blast from the spherical building struck them head-on, shredding half the reindeer and causing the sleigh to roll over. The passengers clung to the railing, holding on for dear life.
Backslash raised his left arm desperately.
"Tech--Anything!"
* * *
The banging of Matrix's combat boots echoed off the stainless steel walls as he and Bob raced down the halls of the Principal Office, desperately trying to make their way to the War Room, where their friends...and Megabyte....were waiting.
Bob skidded to a halt as red lights began to flash, sirens blaring. Matrix plowed into the chrome-armored Guardian, almost knocking him over.
"What's going on?" Matrix asked, looking at the lights in confusion.
"Megabyte's activated the security systems," Bob replied tersly, activating his Glitch Powers, a sphere of golden light surrounding each hand.
Abruptly, the lights and sirens ceased, and hidden panels in the walls popped open. Several disk-shaped objects floated out and began to bounce off the metal walls, slowly at first, but gaining more and more speed each time they struck anything.
"Energy pucks."
Matrix narrowed his eyes. "The Principal Office's security system is game pucks?"
"Highly explosive, energy seeking game pucks, yes."
Matrix held his hand at his hip, and his Gun detatched itself from its holster and flew into his grip. His cybernetic eye rotating in his socket, he aimed at one of the pucks and fired. The puck exploded, setting off other pucks, which set off still more in a chain reaction that cleared the hall behind them.
Bob raised his eyebrows. "Nice." turning to the path ahead, he fired a pulse of golden energy that had a similar effect, eliminating all the pucks that had appeared.
"Is that it?" Matrix asked, almost laughing. 'We need to talk to Phong about having a real security system--"
With a loud snapping sound, the panels that had disgorged the pucks popped shut, and still more panels opened. Dozens of mechanical arms, each one bristling with laser turrets, whirred as they moved into position, all of them targetting the two Sprites.
"--installed," Matrix finished, somewhat lamely.
The cannons began to fire, the first few shots missing as the targetting systems calibrated themselves.
Bob jumped as a blast grazed his belt. Closing his eyes, he raised his hands and concentrated. Two glowing walls of amber light materialized, blocking the gunfire that lanced at them from either direction.
"We have to move," Matrix said.
"If I drop the shields, we're toast," Bob replied.
"Well we can't stay here," Matrix said. "We need to get to the War Room. And besides, your battery is fried."
Alarmed, Bob glanced down at his belt. Matrix was right: The transfinite energy storage battery he wore clipped to his belt had been destroyed by the blast that had grazed him. Without it, his Glitch powers had nothing to run on but his own personal energy...and not only would that not last long, but draining it would put his very life in danger.
"Any ideas?" Bob asked.
Matrix peered through the shields, his bionic eye zooming in on the door at the end of the hall, the door to the elevator that could take them to the level the War Room was on. "Can you move the shields?"
Bob experimentally took a step to the left, the shields moving with him, staying exactly the same distance from him that they had been on either side. "Yep. These shields filter energy, though, not objects, so you'll have to take care of the turrets as the shields pass them."
Matrix raised his Gun. "Got it covered."
* * *
"Nice landing, featherhead," Electra complained as she dusted herself off, her blades retracting back into her body as she reverted from what Jareth called her 'Hyde-mode' to her 'Jekyll-mode'.
"Thanks," Jareth replied, either ignoring the sarcasm or just missing it entirely.
"You know what they say," Kit said. "Any landing you can walk away from..."
"We wouldn't be walking anywhere if not for that energy shield," Jareth replied. "Nice job."
"Thanks," Backlsash said.
"Oh, not you," Jareth said. "I was talking to Tech."
"Oh."
The four Sprites finished pulling themselves from the wreckage of the scrap-metal sleigh and began assessing the damage. Scuzzy emerged from beneath a flat slab of rusty sheet metal, looking a bit frazzled but otherwise unharmed, and rolled over to where the group was standing.
"Aww, man," Jareth complained, picking up and tossing aside a chunk of metal. "My beautiful slay."
Kit squinted, then cocked her head and turned to Backslash. "Did you.."
The blue-green Guardian nodded. "Yeah, I heard it, too."
"I think we've known him a little too long," Kit said matter-of-factly.
Backslash looked up towards the pinnacle above. "So...now how do we get inside?"
"Well," Jareth replied. "Some of the reindeer are okay."
As he spoke, three of the ragtag animals pulled themselves from the clutter and trotted up to the group.
"Backie, you can ride Wraith. Kit can take Romper, and 'Lectra, you can have Trancer."
"And you'll fly?"
"I guess. There aren't any more reindeer in fit condition to ride."
"There's that one," Electra said, pointing to one that lay on the ground nearby. "It's only missing its head."
"That shouldn't be too hard to fix. All we have to do is find it...ah. Here it is." Jareth leaned over and pulled an antlered head from the nearby pile, then walked over to the body, which rose to its feet.
"His neck is gone," Backie observed.
Jareth jammed the head directly onto the body, where it somehow adhered. "Necromancer with no neck. I guess I'll just call him Romancer from now on."
A chorus of groans followed.
Backslash mounted his reindeer. "It's better this way, anyway. Now they have more than one target to aim for."
"Scuzzy, you stay here," Jareth said, hopping aboard Romancer. "It's gonna be a little dangerous in there."
Scuzzy made his trademark purring/grinding noise.
"That had better mean 'yes'," Jareth said squinting back at the wotsit.
Kit and Electra climbed onto their mounts, Electra complaining that junk and scrap metal did not make for the most comfortable seat.
"Oh, quit whining," Jareth said, reaching over to pet Trancer. "You're going to hurt her feelings."
Electra's stained-glass eyes weren't made to roll, but that didn't stop her from trying.
Their soldered hooves making clicking noises on the concrete, the four reindeer bult up speed and trotted into the sky.
* * *
"Careful now, Bob," Megabyte said, watching the Vidwindow before him intently. "We mustn't overexert ourselves." The Virus chuckled as Bob's blue skin began to turn transparent. The Guardian's eyes seemed to lose focus, and he wavered a bit, but he stubbornly refused to drop the shields he'd erected.
Abruptly, the sounds of laser fire in the background ceased. "Ah, it seems you are in luck, Guardian. The autoguns have depleted their charge."
Megabyte's eyes widened in pleasure as the golden shields faded and Bob collapsed, Matrix catching him just before he struck the floor.
"Or perhaps not." Megabyte reached forward and paused his hand poised above one of the buttons on the control panel before him. After allowing just enough time for the Sprites to think they were, for the time being, safe, he pressed it. Still more hidden doors snapped open in the hall, allowing a number of larger, more powerful energy pucks to float free.
"You'll never get away with this, Megabreath!"
The Virus sighed, turning to the small, green-skinned Sprite that stood in the corner, encased from the neck down in one of two glowing green file-locks. The other held Phong, who was glaring malevolently at the mettalic-armored Virus.
"Enzo," Megabyte said, sounding bored. "Have you ANY idea how many times I've heard that?"
"No."
"Neither have I. It's been that often."
"And how many times HAVE you gotten away with it, Virus?" Phong asked. "Evil never wins."
"You know, I must say I HAVE noticed that," Megabyte replied, examining his claws. "But then, I never really LOSE, either, now do I? You've thwated my 'nefarious schemes', sealed me behind firewalls, cast me from the System...but I seem to keep coming."
Enzo and Phong exchanged a glance.
"Statistically speaking, sooner or later one side is bound to win." Megabyte returned his attention to the VidWindow, which showed Matrix attempting to shoot down the energy pucks before they could reach the spot where Bob had fallen. "And, from the looks of things," Megabyte added. "That side is going to be mine."
* * *
Mouse determinedly typed away at the console, despite the fact that nothing she tried seemed to have the slightest effect. Behind her, AndrAIa kept a nervous watch, her razor-sharp trident at the ready.
The trident's reassuring weight was normally a comfort to the Game Sprite. The faithful weapon had saved her life, and Matrix's....and Frisket's, come to think of it....more times than she could count. It had stayed at her side ever since she'd traded in her double-crossbow for it, no longer needing the ranged weapon once she'd learned to launch her spines.
But not even the feel of the trident's handle in her grasp could comfort her now. Megabyte had the entire Principal Office....no, the entire System at his disposal. He had eyes everywhere....and more than likely, weapons, too.
Suddenly, the main lighs switched off, leaving only the dim emergency lights to illuminate the wide hallway. Something gleamed, and AndrAIa's eyes narrowed as she took in the tall, mechanical form that was standing before her.
Welman. The light reflecting off the glass dome of his head was what had caught her attention. His normally gold finish had turned the dull, tainted gray of everyone whom Megabyte had unwillingly infected.
"Mouse."
"What is it, Sugah?"
"Turn around."
The hacker turned. "Welman?"
"He's been infected."
Mouse nodded, drawing her katana.
One moment, Welman was standing stock-still, the next he was in motion, moving far faster than anything made of heavy metal had a right to move. With surprising strength, he reached over and tore a piece of metal from the wall next to him and flung it down the hall at the girls.
Mouse jumped aside, and AndrAIa ducked, allowing the chunk of steel to fly over her head, denting the door behind them.
AndrAia extended her spines and sent them shooting down the hall at the construct, but the toxic barbes richocheted harmlessly off the metal body, embedding themselves in the walls and ceiling.
The bot rushed forward. Mouse swung her katana, attempting to cleave the mechanical man in two, but again Welman moved far faster than expected, grabbing the sword by the blade and pulling it from the hacker's hand. With a backhanded blow, the robot knocked Mouse the the ground, then, with such strength that it would have been impossible to remove, stuck her katana firmly into the wall.
AndrAIa brought her trident to bear, but the bot simply tore it from her grasp and snapped it on his knee as if it were no more than a twig.
With a single blow from his steel fist, AndrAIa collapsed, falling to the floor.
Welman turned to Mouse, who was rubbing the back of her head. He took a few steps forward, then raised his arms together and prepared to deliver a downward blow that would cleave the hacker's skull neatly in two...but instead caught a blast from Mouse's ring full in the face, forcing him to stagger back, disoriented.
Casting about desperately for something to use as a weapon, her eyes fell on one of the broken pieces of AndrAia's trident. Quickly siezing it, Mouse rushed forward and, with all the strength she could muster, forced it directly through the pulsating orb at the center of Welman's body: his power core. Welman's mechanical body began to shake, then spark as uncontrolled energy surged through his frame, fusing his circuits and burning out his servomotors....then he fell still, remaining upright only because the hacker's thrust has nailed him firmly to the wall.
"Whew." Mouse fell back against the wall behind her, wiping her brow. She turned to AndrAIa. "AndrAIa? You okay?"
The Game Sprite let out a groan, but said nothing, apparently unconscious.
"Out cold, but still processin'. Ah'll settle for that." Mouse replied. She looked back at Welman...and something caught her eye. Raising her hand to block the glare from the dim emergency lighting, she looked closely at Welman's head.
The glass dome was empty.
* * *
Matrix fired blast after blast, blowing the energy pucks out of the air. There were too many, and they kept moving faster and faster....much more of this, and not even he would have been able to shoot fast enough to protect Bob.
A puck swooped in from above. Matrix saw it coming, aimed, and squeezed the trigger...and nothing happened. He fired too many times, too quickly, at full power, and Gun's systems had shut it down to keep the weapon from overheating.
Everything seemed to slow down. The puck came in, closer....closer....and stopped, as did all the others.
Matrix tilted his head to side in wonder as the energy pucks floating serenely back into their compartments, the doors closing.
* * *
Megabyte's mouth fell open in surprised, but he quickly recovered his composure. "What's going on?" he demanded.
"The security system appears to have been deactivated, Megabyte," Phong replied calmly.
"By whom?" the Virus demanded. The room was small enough that anyone walking across it to the control panel, flipping the switch right under his nose, and then walking away unnoticed was absurd.
There was a moment of tense silence as all of Megabyte's viral binomes looked at each other, no one owning up to the crime of having saved the Guardian and Renegade.
Someone sneezed. Megabyte's head whipped around in the direction of the sound...and there, by the door near Phong and Enzo, stood a Sprite who looked so out of place it was astounding that no one had noticed her. Her hair was white, her eyes red, her skin an eye-defying peach-green.
"Oh, slag," she muttered, realizing that her cover, whatever it was, had been blown.
Megabyte sneered, then reached forward and sent a pair of steel-gray cables from the back of his hand towards the Sprite. Rather than attempting to dodge, the Sprite did the last thing Megabyte would have expected: she reached forward and grabbed the tentacles, careful not to touch the infection-spreading tips. Then, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she sent a powerful surge of electricity running down the tentacles, badly shocking the cobalt-blue Virus. Megabyte screamed in pain, then fell against the control panel, dazed.
The Sprite seemed a bit dazed, herself, as though using the electrifying ability had drained her. Fortunately, the viral binomes in the room were too startled by her sudden appearance and bizarre actions to react right away.
"Chu!" Phong cried. "Run!"
Chu shook herself out of her daze and rushed to the door, making a hasty exit.
Moments later, Megabyte pulled himself to his feet, rubbing his scorched hand. He glanced sharply at his minions. "Well? After her!"
The viral binomes snapped to a salute, then rushed out through the door Chu had used.
Phong shook his head, the only part of his body he could move, his eyes wide with surprise. "I....did not know she could do that."
Almost immediately, there was a large explosion, and a number of binomes flew back into the war Room, landed with a crash, and faded into oblivion as the force of the impact deleted them.
Megabyte turned to glare at Phong.
"Oh, I knew she could do THAT."
* * *
Hack and Slash had finally stopped bickering, giving Dot the silence she needed to concentrate on forming a plan. Now, if only it were possible to stop that noise their antennae made...
Shutting out all distractions, Dot focused on the plan. The situation, her resources, and the problem: Megabyte. He was currently in the War Room, but he wouldn't stay there...the Virus had been defeated too many times to count on his victory now. He'd have an escape planned...
The Gateway command! It wouldn't take him long to deduce where they'd hidden it, in the Core Room...assuming he already hadn't....and where better to escape than to the place he'd wanted to go all along? To the Supercomputer?
The others would take care of driving him out of the war Room, she was sure of that...but she had to take care of cutting off his escape. She would go to the Core Room and....and....and what? How could she hold him off from the Gateway command? She didn't have the technical knowledge to sabotauge it before he got there, she'd need Mouse for that, and who knew where the hacker was now.
"If only we had more firepower...," she muttered.
"Firepower?" Hack asked. "You've got firepower!"
"She does?" Slash asked.
"Yes! She's got us!"
"Yeah! We're nothing But firepower!"
"We can help!"
"Yes, indeed!"
"Just point the way!"
Dot shook her head. "I know you two are strong, but you're no match for Megabyte. And even if you were, you're scared to deletion of him, remember?"
"She has a point."
"yes, a very good point."
"--Well, I guess we could--"
"--No, no, that won't work--"
"--Yeah, you're right what if we--"
"BOYS!"
The two robots turned from each other to face Dot.
"Yes?"
"What's that noise?" she asked.
The three of them stood completely still, to better hear the sound that was approaching. It sounding like clicking, or grinding, like an odd mix of a purring cat and a fishing pole.
Hack and Slash rolled in front of Dot, each raising an arm protectively, prepared to blast the source of the noise if it proved to be a threat.
Scuzzy turned the corner and looked at the three of them as though they were all behaving like total idiots.
"Scuzzy?" Dot asked.
"Scuzzy!" Hack and Slash shouted.
"Now we have all the firepower we need!" Hack declared.
"What are you...," Dot began, but the bots continued as though she hadn't spoken.
"You don't mean--"
--I DO mean--"
"--You think we should--"
"--well, I think we have to--"
"--yeah, I think you're right, but--"
"--But?"
"But we should ask him."
"Ask...Scuzzy?--"
"--Scuzzy, yes--"
"--Yeah, you're right, because--"
"--Because he's part of this, too, after all, and--"
"What do you say, Scuzzy?" they both asked, turning from each other to the small, unclassifiable pet.
The small animal nodded, then jumped into the air. Two red and blue robots each reached out with one hand, catching him at the same time.
A blinding light filled the hall.
* * *
The elevator doors were barely open when Matrix raced past them, running down the hall for all he was worth, an unconscious Bob slung over his shoulder. He turned the corner....and his eyes widened.
His father's limp mechanical body was impaled on a rod that jutted out of the wall. Next to it was embedded one of Mouse's katana blades. The hacker herelf was trying to pry the doors to the war Room open with her remaining sword....and on the ground, next to the head of her broken trident, lay AndrAia, propped agaist the wall, out cold, her perfect face marred by a large, purple bruise.
Everything went red. Matrix was vaguely aware of setting Bob aside, of Mouse turning, saying something....then an explosion echoed throughout the hall as a blast from Gun tore the dented, damaged doors apart.
Matrix stormed into the War Room. Oddly enough, there were no viral binomes standing in his way, just him. Megabyte. Looking smug as ever, calmy examining his claws.
Matrix didn't waste time with words, or with fistfighting this time. He aimed his Gun, targetted the arrogant virus right between the eys, and fired.
Megabyte ducked, letting the blast fly over his head.
"Enzo! What a pleasant--"
"Save it!"
Another blast tore thought the air, only to be caught in Megabyte's hand as if it were nothing more than a softball.
All the charm vanished from the Virus' voice. "Have it your way."
Megabyte flung the energy ball back at the Renegade with remarkable accuracy, knocking the firearm from Matrix's hand. Matrix clutched at his scorched digits as, eyes narrowed in anger. Megabyte leapt over the consoles, landing heavily on the recessed floor below. He marched up to Matrix and extended the claws of his right hand. Reaching forward with his left, he grabbed Matrix by the thoat, then brought back his arm, preparing to stab down into his face.
Something small and green darted across the floor towards Megabyte. Upon reaching his metallic foot, it made a motion as though to bite him, touching the tip of it's sluglike body to the Virus' cobalt-blue skin. Instantly, Megabyte began to turn transparent as his energy was siphoned away. His grip weakened and Matrix fell to the floor.
"Dad?"
"Enzo! Are you all right?" the null warbled.
Megabyte stumbled, his color beginning to return. Welman glanced up at him, alarmed.
"Quickly!" Welman cried turning back to Matrix. "Finish him!"
Rising to his feet, Matrix stretched out his arm. Gun twitched, then shot from its place on the floor into his outstretched hand. Matrix's eye swiveled in its socket and began to glow a fierce crimson as the renegade brought his weapon to bear on the virus in front of him.
*BANG!*
Megabyte's head exploded into shards of tansparent data, and the rest of him immediately followed, obviously just a hollow shell. Another Alias!
"No!" Matrix cried. "Where are you?!" he roared.
"The Core Room!" Phong's voice cried. Matrix turned to see the Mouse, using her ring to break the file-locks that had sealed away Phong and Enzo.
The elderly Sprite looked panicked. "He is trying to reach the Gateway Command!"
"You go, Sugah," Mouse said. "Ah'll stay here with these three, in case any more of his flunkies are still lurkin' around."
Matrix turned and ran from the War Room.
* * *
Megabyte smiled as he reached the doors to the Core Room and began keying in the access codes. Let them have their pathetic little System. Where he was going, there would be more than enough power for him to come back and finish them off. After all, he had seen firsthand what some of the items from the Supercomputer's armory could do. That little device Turbo had given to the hacker, for example, disguised as a harmless communicator. The size of a marble, and powerful enough to destroy an entire System...yes, there was more than enough where he was going.
Megabyte frowned as a though occurred to him. Daemon, he understood, had arranged for the Webcreature to enter Mainframe, forcing Turbo to destroy it according to Guardian protocol. Had she succeded, she'd have destroyed her own offspring as well.
Just as well she was already deleted, or he would have had to hunt her down.
The doors, accepting the codes, slid open. Megabyte smiled in surprise at the Sprite waiting for him, standing in front of the Gateway.
"Why Ms. Matrix! What a delightful surprise!" The Virus strode forward until he towed just before the small female Sprite. She didn't appear to be afraid of him at all. She had always been a brave one, that Dot. Or perhaps she just hid her emotions well. Sweat was beginning to bead on her forehead, but that could just as easily been from the Core radiation.
"So this is it, then? You are the last line of defense, here to prevent my attaining the power I have always sought, and using it to crush you all?" Megabyte chuckled.
"No," Dot replied innocently.
Megabyte's eyes narrowed.
"He is." Dot pointed.
Megabyte turned around...and recieved a powerful metal fist directly in the face. The force of the blow caused him to fly back with enough force to dent the wall of the Core Room.
Megabyte climbed to his feet. "I thought I'd seen the last of you, Clash."
The massive mechanized construct rolled forward, his features a combination of Hack's, Slash's, and Scuzzy's. He bristled all over with powerful, weapon-weilding arms.
One of the limbs came forward, this one armed with a chainsaw. The weapon roared as Clash swung it through the air. Megabyte ducked at the last minute, letting the whirring blade pass harmlessly over his head, then delivered an uppercut that knocked Clash onto his back.
* * *
"What's wrong with Bob, Phong?" Enzo asked as he and the mechanical Sprite lifted the unconscious Guardian onto the platform beside AndrAIa's.
"His energy levels have been drained to critical levels," Phong replied. "He must access a large supply of energy soon, or he will cease to function."
"Dude! Well, what are you waiting for? Hook him up!"
Phong typed at the medconsole. 'oh, dear....it seems that when Chu's bomb eliminated the virals, it also disabled much of the medbay's equiptment. I'm afraid the energy will have to come from a donor, by way of transfusion." Phong wheeled over to the wall and removed a large, box like device, from the top of which hung a pair of cables. Fastening one to Bob's arm, he set the box down and rose the other up to his own.
"No! Phong, let me do it!"
"Enzo, I--"
"Come on! I've got energy to spare!"
Phong sighed. "very well." Phong attached the other cable to Enzo's upper arm, then flicked the switch that activated the machine.
Nothing happened.
Alarmed, Phong flicked the switch again. Still nothing.
"What's wrong?"
"This must be damaged as well!"
"So what do we do?!"
"There....there is nothing more we CAN do, my child."
Enzo turned to the meter on the wall that monitored Bob's energy readings. The beeps were growing steadily further apart.
"But...we can't just let him...."
The individual beeps stopped, becoming a single, inbroken tone.
"N...no....,"
Enzo screwed his eyes closed, trying to keep tears from falling, trying not to hear the horrible, unending noise that meant....
The tone broke once. Then again. Faster and faster, until the tones almost became on note again. Suddenly, the scanner shattered, emitting sparks and black smoke, unable to handle the enrgy it was being asked to monitor.
"Phong...what's happening?"
"I....do not know."
Bob's chrome Glitch armor began to flow like mercury, silvery bubbles breaking off from it's surface and floating in the air around him. More and more split off, until there were approximately two dozen of them. The liquid metal spheres began to shrink, to change in size, color, and texture, until each one was shaped like a rectangle, circular screens glinting in the flourescent lighting.
"The Keytools," Phong whispered. 'They have returned!"
Acting as one, all of the keytools turned so that their screens were facing inward, facing Bob. A ray of golden-yellow energy shone from each screen, pouring energy into Bob's body.
"They're trying to save him!" Enzo cried.
The light ceased, and the keytools floated back from the Guardian. With a number of small, bright flashes, the symbiotic devices vanished through small portals of their own making, traveling through the Net to rejoin their Guardians.
Bob stirred, sitting up, all the dirt and scratches he'd managed to gather gone from his shining silver armor.
"Bob!" Enzo flew through the air, knocking the Guardian over with a fierce tackle.
One Keytool remained, hovering by itself off to the side, as though watching this. Then, turning, it sped off through the air faster than the eye could follow.
* * *
Clash flew through the air, slamming hard against the wall. As he slid to the ground, there was a bright blash of energy, and he split ito his component parts again. Hack, Slash, and Scuzzy lay on the ground, dazed, all of them down for the count.
Megabyte turned back to Dot, who was now startig to look concerned.
"Any more..surprises?" the Virus asked, raising his claws.
"Oh, Mr. Megabyte!"
Megabyte winced. There was only one voice that grated on his nerves quite like that one. He turned, and sure enough, there was Jareth, along with those friends of his.
"Sorry we're late," Electra said. "Did we miss much?"
The doors behind them opened again, and Matrix stormed in, Gun drawn.
"You're late!" Jareth said accusingly.
"Megabyte," Matrix growled, aiming at the Virus.
"Yes, very good. That is, indeed, Megabyte," Electra said, switching to a smirk, as though talking to someone who was just compiled. "Now, what noise does the duck make?"
Megabyte reached back and grabbed Dot, holding her tightly in one hand raising the claws of the other to her head. "Lower your weapons, or Ms. Matrix shall suffer a most unfortunate.... accident."
Matrix growled, but holstered his Gun. Backslash lowered his Keytool.
"See, now that wasn't so difficult. Now. You will all--"
*Blam!*
Megabyte jerked his hands away from Dot as a gunshot peirced his hand. The Virus' eyes went wide, not so much in pain as in surprise at the direction from which the gunshot had come.
Dot backed away from the Virus towards her friends, her sidearm trained on his head.
Her friends seemed just as surprised as Megabyte.
"I didn't think you ever actually used that thing," Matrix said, impressed.
"Did you think it was just for show, little brother?" Dot smiled grimly.
"It's over, Megabyte," Kit said. "Surrender.
Megabyte sighed. "Once again, the threadbare cliche." He examined his claws. "Tell me, do you really imagine you've won?"
"Well, you don't seem to have a whole lot left," Jareth said.
"Oh no? Perhaps you're simply not looking hard enough." Megabyte reared back, then spit forth a spray of acidic green liquid.
A number of the Sprites cried out, clutching at their eyes as they were blinded by the stinging mist.
"Crap," Jareth said, the glow gone from his green stained-glass eyes. "I forgot he could do that."
Matrix clutched at his eye. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he looked forward, and, with his Bionic eye, saw the Virus approaching, claws extended.
Racing forward, the renegade delivered a solid blow to the Virus' midsection, bloodying his knuckles against Megabyte's metal armor. Megabyte was surprised, but not actually injured.
Retracting his claws, the Virus lifted Matrix up off the ground by the throat, just as he had done back when the renegade had been Little Enzo.
"Your stubborn refusal to die is beginning to irritate me," he said. The Virus brought Matrix closer, so that their noses were almost touching. "Boy," he added.
Raising the renegade as though he were a rag doll, Megabyte threw Matrix across the room, directly at Dot.
As the effects of Megabyte's acid faded, Dot's vision cleared...just in time to see her brother flying at her very, very fast.
The collision was brutal, and both sprites were down.
Megabyte began to walk towards them, intent on finishing them off, but before he had taken two steps, he found that his feet had been frozen to the floor by a thick layer of solid ice. Turning, he spotted Electra, hovering in the air a short distance away in Hyde-mode, blades growing from every surface and blue light swirling around both outstretched arms.
Megabyte flung his tendrils forward, wrapping them around her waist and throwing her against the wall. With a groan, she slid to the floor, her features softening, her horns and blades vanishing back into her body.
Megabyte advanced on the fallen Virus, claws extended to their fullest.
"Tech--Energy Ram!"
A blast of light knocked the Virus aside, doing no real damage. Megabyte turned to dark-haired, blue-green skinned Guardian who'd attacked him.
Backslash glared back at the hulking Virus, drawing the small rod from his belt and thumbing the switch on the side. A blade of solid energy shot forth from the end.
"Ah, yes, I remember you now." Megabyte smiled. "That little toy of yours didn't work very well last time, now did it, Guardian?"
Backslash raised his left arm into the air. "Tech--line!"
The Keytool transformed into a grappling hook, shooting straight up into the network of pipes and cables that formed the cieling. The Guardian was instantly yanked up after it.
There was a severing, sparking sound, and several thick, solid metal pipes rained down from the celing, crashing down onto Megabyte, who was quickly buried beneath them.
Backslash hovered back down to the ground, using his Keytool as a helicoptor.
"Seems to work fine now."
"Does it really?" came a muffled voice from beneath the debris. The pile exploded as the Virus leapt out, landing on his feet.
Backslash rushed forward with his lightsaber, slashing again and again at the Virus, the blade of energy glancing off his mettalic armor, leaving only glowing red areas where the metal was heated by the blade.
After several of these slashes, Megabyte reached forward and simply caught the blade as it was swung at him.
Backslash's eyes widened as Megabyte snatched the lightsaber from his hand, holding it by the energy blade that could supposedly cut through anything. Swinging the saber like a club, Megabyte bashed Backslash upside the head with the Lightsaber's handle, tossing the weapon aside as the Guardian fell to the ground.
"Ahem," Megabyte said, kicking Backslash's limp body aside. "Next."
"That would be me."
Megabyte turned to see his brother, calmly leaning against the wall, spinning a crystal sphere on his finger.
"Ah, yes. I suspected it would come down to the two of us. Or is it three?"
"Does it matter?" Jareth asked, his mask an infuriating smirk.
"I suppose not." Megabyte eyed the crystal that was glinting in the overhead lights. "So....this is how you choose to attack me? By throwing one of your little crystal bombs?" Megabyte crossed his arms as Jareth walked away from the wall and strode towards him. "Oh come now. Even you shouldn't be so foolish as to think that little thing can actually hurt me."
"Well," Jareth said, tilting his head to the side. "Maybe not YOU..." Jareth switched to an even wider grin, looked over at the Gateway Command, then back to Megabyte.
Megabyte's eyes went wide.
Jareth nodded maliciously, tossing the crystal back over his shoulder. It rolled towards the command.
"No!" Megabyte leapt over Jareth, landing between the rolling crystal and the Gateway. The crystal exploded, creating a huge cloud of fire and smoke.
Jareth giggled as Megabyte strolled forth from the smog, glaring at him.
"You nearly cost me my path to the Supercomputer, half-breed."
"Wow. Been a while since you called me that."
Megabyte lunged at the Viral Guardian, but found himself balked by a rectangle of golden light that appeared between them. The cobalt-blue Virus slashed furiously at the wall, but his claws had no effect whatsoever on the shield.
Jareth yawned, pulling a file from his pocket and sanding away at his nails.
"Donno about you, Megs, but I could do this all da-AAAY!" Jareth's taunt became a yell as his feet were yanked out from under him by the silver tentacles that had snaked their way around the wall of light. The shield vanished as Jareth lost his concentration.
Jareth lay on the ground, winded by the impact. "Nice move," he groaned.
Megabyte lifted Jareth up off the ground with his cables. "Why, thank you," he said, throwing the Viral Guardian into the wall.
Megabyte turned towards the gateway....and was quite surprised to see a young female Guardian standing before him. Just standing there, between him and the command. Not even aiming her Keytool....ah, she didn't have one.
"Oh, come now. What do you expect to do?"
"Whatever I can."
"Ah. That would be..." the Virus leaned in. "Nothing." Effortlessly, he knocked her aside.
Chuckling, Megabyte turned and strode up to the Gateway Command, keying the appropriate codes and opening a portal directly to the Supercomputer.
* * *
Kit pulled herself to her feet, grateful for the protection given by her Guardian armor. Shaking her head, she looked up to Megabyte, just a few steps away from the Supercomputer.
She rose to her feet, not sure what she was about to do, but knowing that now was the time to do it. She took a step forward, but before she could do anything else, a small object shot across the room, attaching itself to the silver bracer that adorned her left arm.
"Clip?" she said, recogizing it as her Keytool.
Clip let out a reassuring beep.
Kit grinned, raising the Keytool and aiming it towards Megabyte. "Clip--Redirect!"
The tiny Keytool let out a bleep, then fired a pulse of energy that shot over Megabyte's shoulder, striking the vertical liquid surface of the Gateway. The upright wall of water shifted, now showing not the crystal towers and streets of the Supercomputer, but rather the ravages of the Web.
A large black tentacle reached through the gateway and prepared to seize Megabyte, but he made a single swipe with his claws and the limb fell to the ground, twitching. The Virus turned to Kit.
"Foolish girl," he said angrily. "Did you really think I would fall for that childish trick again?"
An object came flying at him from his left. Rather than let it strike him, he reached out and caught it. Opening his hand, he saw a small, mechanical rodent, it's mechanized legs working.
"And now you think to attack me with toys?" He looked at the Sprite who had thrown the mouse. It was the same one who'd disabled the security pucks, the girl with the bizarre skin and white hair.
"You. I owe you a--"
The Sprite smiled at him, winking one of her ruby red eyes.
He stopped and looked down at the object in his hand. It's tail appeared to be getting shorter, being drawn back into the body.
Comprehension dawned on his face, but before he could act, the tail withdrew completely ito the body.
The explosion lifted him off his feet, hurling him back through the open gateway into the very heart of the Web.
* * *
Megabyte flew , tumbling end-over-end through the think, dense, invisible data. Regaining his equilibrium, he reached out with his tentacles, grabbing ahold of the small rocks and bits of debris that littered the space around him, determined to pull himself back to the portal before it closed, trapping him here.
Closer and closer he approached, until he could see the room that lay beyond, could see the banks of control panels that operated the Gateway Command.
A Blue-skinned Sprite clad in silver armor stepped into view.
Megabyte's eyes widened as Bob smiled and waved....then slowly, deliberately brought his hand down and pressed a large red button.
"No," Megabyte said.
The portal vanished.
"NO!"
There were no Sprites, binomes, or viruses around to hear him, but his cry did not go unnoticed. A nearby pod of Webcreatures, out hunting, heard.
Heard...and followed.
* * *
The night sky over Mainframe had always been one of Jareth's favorite sights. Usually, he observed it from one of the towers of the bridge that connected Mainframe to Lost Angles. Tonight, he was sitting on the large concrete block that formed the base of Hexadecimal's newly completed memorial statue, directly in front of the Principal Office. His back rested against her massive stone stilleto heel.
"Hey."
The Viral Guardian turned to see Electra floating in midair behind him.
"Hey."
"Aren't you cold?"
Jareth shook his head. "I'm wearing like twenty pounds of black leather." He eyed Electra's thin, sleeveless blue garment. "You?"
"Ice is kinda my element," she responded.
Jareth nodded. "Backie and Kit are going back to the Supercomputer tomorrow."
"Yeah, I heard. They talked to Turbo. He said that they could stay for Christmas before reporting back."
"I take it communications are back up, then?"
"Yup," Electra said. "It turned out Megabyte was the one who'd disabled them in the first place. Who knows how. Guess he didn't want us calling for help."
Jareth looked back up at the sky.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Electra asked, tilting her golden head.
"Everything. Nothing. Hex, mostly."
"Gonna suck to have Christmas without her, huh?"
"Yeah."
There was a pause.
"You think she'd like it?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the stars.
"The statue?"
Jareth nodded.
"Dunno. She never cared much for stone, did she?"
"She turned the entire System to stone once. Bob got her to turn it back by pointing out how predictable it was." He sighed. "I am really going to miss her."
Electra foated down and sat on the pedestal next to him.
"She really meant a lot to you, didn't she?"
"Well, yeah. For a long time, she was all I had. You and Backie had gone to the Supercomputer, Kit had been deleted..."
"And Dot?"
"Dot was always so edgy around me....just like you were, at first. We couldn't really be friends anymore."
"So it really was just you and Hex."
"Yup."
Another pause.
"You know....it's not anymore." she placed her hand over his.
"Yeah, I know...she's gone."
"That wasn't what I meant."
Jareth turned to her, a puzzled expression on his face. "No? Then what did you...?
Electra switched to a smirk, looking at him expectantly. "You take your time."
Jareth's mask was nuetral for a moment, before switching to a look of dawning comprehension. "Oh..."
Electra giggled. "You take a while, featherhead," she said, leaning forward. "But you get there eventually."
The two brought their ceramic lips together, touched briefly, then pulled apart.
A moment passed.
"That's it?" Electra asked, sounding a bit disappointed. "I dunno, I was expecting fireworks or something."
"I'm not sure what I was expecting," Jareth admitted. "But it wasn't 'clink!'."
Electra giggled again.
Jareth prepared to say something, but was distracted by a far-off explosion. Turning, he saw a burst of multicolored fire in the sky above the docks. Fireworks were being set off by ships on the Energy Sea, celebrating both Christmas Eve and Megabyte's expulsion from Mainframe.
"There ya go. Fireworks," he said. "They were just late." He turned back to Electra, whose golden face was reflecting the dazzling sparks in the sky.
"Well....," she said, smiling as she gazed back into his glowing green eyes. "Better late than never."
It began to snow.
~THE END~