Well, the revising is going a lot quicker than I expected. Here's chapter four for you. I hope you enjoy it.
To Kate, Jonathan, Lucy, and Sherry. :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing but William Intel, Dufrayne, and the stuttering binome. Everything else I just want really badly. ;)
CHAPTER FOUR
A lone binome was walking through the dank, dark alleys of Level 31. He didn't care about the dangers of wandering down here alone. He had grown up here and knew which places to stay away from and when. He made his way expertly past the abandoned warehouses and buildings that had long ago been left to rot. He slowed and turned down one final alley.
A figure of what could only be a male sprite clothed completely in black was standing in the dark, leaning against the wall at the very back of the alley. He looked up as the binome approached.
"Is it done?"
"Yes, it's been taken care of," the man replied.
"Alright, I did my part, I told you everything you needed to know, now give me my money," the binome demanded.
The sprite reached into his coat and pulled out a briefcase. He set it down on the ground. "There you are, Mr. Dufrayne, ten million credits with the compliments of Mistress Daemon."
Dufrayne looked happily at the briefcase. So what if he had betrayed his system? He had all those credits to comfort his conscience.
The sprite started to walk out of the alley.
"Wait, you're not leaving until I make sure it's all here." Dufrayne said.
"Very well, open it and see for yourself," the annoyance wasn't even attempted to be concealed from the man's voice.
Dufrayne let out a cry of glee, which soon turned into a cry of terror when he opened the case. His screams could be heard all throughout the surrounding area as a viral bug pounced on him, deleting him in a matter of seconds.
"Micro, energy beam," the man commanded.
A keytool on the sprite's arm sprang to life and shot a powerful beam at the bug, turning it to cyber dust. The man shed his coat, revealing a guardian uniform underneath it and tossed the coat into a nearby dumpster.
"Micro, portal to the Supercomputer," he ordered. A portal formed and the man walked over to the dumpster. He pulled from behind it a bundle wrapped in a blanket. The only clue as to what lay inside the blanket was a single green hand sticking out from it. The guardian put the bundle over his shoulder and walked through the portal, leaving the wasted sector behind him.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
Mouse and Ray were walking down the main hallway of the Principle Office on their way to meet the others. It was time once again to go through hours of preparing for the upcoming invasion.
"Sugah, ah sure hope Dot's got a plan cuz ah've got no ideas." Mouse was saying.
"Well, luv, from what I've seen, she's pretty good at plannin' ahead. Let's just go and see if she's come up with anything." Ray replied.
"Yeah, you're-" she was cut off when she saw Bob rushing up to them. "What's wrong, Bob?" Mouse asked, noticing the look of barely restrained fear on the guardian's blue face.
"Have either of you seen Dot?" he asked anxiously.
Ray was the first to answer. "No, mate, we haven't seen her since the meeting last night. Why? What's processing?"
To answer Ray's question, Bob held up his right hand. He was holding Dot's organizer. "I found this on the floor in the hallway in front of Dot's room. I think we all know her well enough to know she doesn't go anywhere without this. I knocked on her door six times and I never got an answer. I tried the knob and it was unlocked. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in her room so I figured she didn't realize it was gone. I checked everywhere and I asked the guards. No sign of her," he said with a frown.
"Ah'd say it's time for an emergency meetin', sugah." Mouse said seriously.
The three sprites walked quickly down the hall to Phong's office. On the way, they met up with Matrix and AndrAIa.
"Hey, guys, what's processing?" AndrAIa asked in greeting.
"We can't find Dot. We're on our way to see Phong." Bob answered, not bothering to stop walking.
"What?! She's gone??" Matrix asked as he walked quickly to keep up with his hero.
"Bob, maybe she snuck out to check on the diner or one of her businesses. You know Dot doesn't like to be cooped up for a long period of time." AndrAIa reasoned.
"She knew how serious the threat against her was, she wouldn't have gone without one of us to protect her and even then she wouldn't risk putting us in danger." Bob replied.
"Honestly, hon, this is Dot we're talkin' about. If she thought one of us would be in danger, she'd just go by herself. You know nothing can stop her when she puts her mind ta somethin'."
"That's what I'm afraid of, Mouse," was the grim reply.
The group reached Phong's office a few seconds later. They entered quickly and the door closed behind them. The old sprite was watering a plant by his desk. He looked up when they entered. "Ah, my children, is there something I can help you with?"
"I hope so, Phong. Have you seen Dot at all today?" Bob asked.
"No, my son, I have not. Is something the matter?"
"We can't find her anywhere and none of us have seen her since last night." AndrAIa explained.
"Indeed. This is most serious. Come with me, my children." Phong put the watering can on his desk and rolled out of the room with the others following close behind.
The War Room was empty when they arrived. Bob sighed to himself. He had hoped that Dot would've been in here trying to come up with a plan, but, as with the five other times he had checked the room already, she wasn't there. He felt the fear he was trying desperately to control increase.
Phong went over to a consol and began searching. He typed furiously. The only sound for the next few seconds was the clacking of the keys as he worked. After a series of beeps, Phong looked up at the assembled sprites and shook his head sadly. "I am sorry, my children, but...the Command.com is no longer in Mainframe."
Matrix let out a furious roar and punched the wall next to him, leaving a considerable dent. They all knew what that meant. Dot wasn't basic enough to go off on her own to fight a super virus. That meant wherever she was, she hadn't gone willingly.
Bob didn't say a word though he felt like screaming from the growing agony he felt. Dot was gone and he hadn't even known that she was until long after she was taken. How in the Net had they gotten past security? One thought stood out from the multitude of others raging in his head: "You failed her. You let her down when she was depending on you the most."
"Why don't we check the video from the security camera?" Mouse suggested.
"Yeah, great idea, Mouse." AndrAIa said.
Mouse walked over to Phong's consol and typed in a few commands, opening the security file. "Who was the last person that saw Dot last night?"
"I think I was," said AndrAIa.
"Where was the last place you saw her?"
"Outside our guest room."
"Around what time?"
"I'd say it was about half past midnight."
"Ok." Mouse found the video file she was looking for and rewound it. After a few seconds of watching all of them leaving their rooms at various times, and a few more of nothing but the empty hallway, she found what she was looking for. "Hello, what's this?" She played the tape and pulled it up in a vid window for everyone to see.
The tape showed Dot walking to her room. Her organizer was on her belt. "Well, she definitely had it with her..." Mouse mumbled to herself. The others watched carefully as the scene played out before them. Dot was almost to her room when, out of nowhere, a figure in a black hooded coat came up behind her and stuck what appeared to be a syringe into her arm. She didn't even have time to struggle. Dot lost consciousness and fell into the stranger's arms. As he picked her up completely, the hood of his coat fell back revealing a sprite with light green skin and dark blue hair. He left the hallway quickly and Mouse stopped the tape.
"William. William Intel. That son of a viral." It was Bob's turn to growl low and deadly.
"You know him, Bob?" AndrAIa asked.
"We went to the Academy together. Let's just say he wasn't the best sprite in the Net. He was always getting hauled into Turbo's office because of some stupid prank or something. I was surprised he even got a keytool."
"Just let me get my hands on him." Matrix said angrily while cracking his knuckles.
"Matrix, calm down. Now is not the time. We need to figure out how we're going to get Dot back. We need a plan." AndrAIa said, trying to soothe her angry lover.
A sad grin crossed many of the faces in the room. AndrAIa had been hanging around Dot too long.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
The Supercomputer was the biggest system in the entire Net. In its days of glory, it was a beautiful system that tourists loved to visit. It was full of things for everyone to enjoy from parks to museums. Now, it was looked upon in fear. No one dared to go near the Supercomputer unless they were a guardian or infected slave. If they were neither, deletion was in the near future. Many had gone in, but they never came out. Only the guardians did.
The sky was a murky gray and the system lay in ruins from Daemon's takeover. Only the Principle Office remained in good condition for Daemon wouldn't have it any other way. The P. O. had been 'redecorated' and was now in mostly black and red, the symbolic colors of Daemon. The throne room was the grandest of all. It was huge and the roof stretched at least fifty feet high. The floors were black marble and the walls crimson red. On the floor, there was a matching red carpet leading up to Daemon's throne.
The super virus sat on her ebony throne contemplating her biggest problem: Guardian 452 and System Mainframe. She had to admit (though she would never do so aloud) that they were a force to be reckoned with from all the information she'd gathered from her inside sources, but if her plan succeeded, it would be no trouble getting control of it.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the heavy doors at the entrance to the throne room opened. This only irritated her. Surely her slaves knew she was not to be disturbed!
A one binome nervously walked up to the throne and kneeled before her. "My Lady, G-guardian Intel had r-returned," he said nervously.
Finally! Her plan had worked! She had told Intel that if he did not succeed in his mission not to bother coming back if he valued his worthless life. "Send him in," she demanded.
"R-right away, M-my Lady," the binome stuttered, then walked out of the room quickly to carry out her order.
A moment later, William Intel walked into the room carrying something over his shoulder. She smiled as Intel put the load on the floor at the foot of her throne. Victory was so close.
"Mistress." Intel bowed.
"Spare me. Did you succeed?" she asked impatiently.
"My Lady, I give you..." he paused as he bent down and moved the blanket away from the figure on the floor, "...Dot Matrix, Command.com of System Mainframe."
Daemon smiled evilly. After all the work, all the planning, and all the time, the Net was finally hers!
"Leave us," she ordered, not looking up from the sprite on the floor.
"Mistress, wouldn't you rather I put her in one of the cells in the security ward?" Intel asked.
"I said leave us, you stupid half-wit!" she screamed.
"Yes, Mistress, begging your pardon." Intel replied and with one final bow, he hurried from the room, the massive doors closing behind him.
Daemon rose from her throne and approached the unconscious woman on the floor. She knelt down next to Dot and moved a lock of greenish-black hair out of the Command.com's face. Daemon studied her, turning her face this way and that. After a moment, she stood upright and called for a servant. The same binome from before walked in and bowed before her. "Y-you called, Mistress?"
"See that Ms. Matrix is given one of the finest guest rooms and post a guard outside the door at all times. Make someone stay in the room with her and have them inform me the moment she regains consciousness.
"R-right away, M-my Lady," the binome stuttered and left the room quickly to prepare a guest room.
Daemon looked at Dot again. "Yes, you'll do quite nicely," she said, her wicked smile returning.
Dot didn't know it, but when she woke up, her life would change forever.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
Don't you just hate me? :) I know, major cliffie. You want the next part you gotta review. Ok, I hate to do this, but I'm starting to think that you guys don't like this story. The major reviews I got stopped after Chapter one. So, I'm gonna start asking for a certain number of reviews before I post the next part. All I'm asking for is a least ten reviews before I post Chapter five. That's not too much to ask is it? Ten, that's all I want and you get the next chapter. If I get more than ten, then that would be great, but ten is all I'm asking for.
Now for the thank you:
Sirinial: I'm not being mean to Dot, I'm just going to have a little fun is all. Thanks for the review! ;)
Stay Frosty everyone!
To Kate, Jonathan, Lucy, and Sherry. :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing but William Intel, Dufrayne, and the stuttering binome. Everything else I just want really badly. ;)
CHAPTER FOUR
A lone binome was walking through the dank, dark alleys of Level 31. He didn't care about the dangers of wandering down here alone. He had grown up here and knew which places to stay away from and when. He made his way expertly past the abandoned warehouses and buildings that had long ago been left to rot. He slowed and turned down one final alley.
A figure of what could only be a male sprite clothed completely in black was standing in the dark, leaning against the wall at the very back of the alley. He looked up as the binome approached.
"Is it done?"
"Yes, it's been taken care of," the man replied.
"Alright, I did my part, I told you everything you needed to know, now give me my money," the binome demanded.
The sprite reached into his coat and pulled out a briefcase. He set it down on the ground. "There you are, Mr. Dufrayne, ten million credits with the compliments of Mistress Daemon."
Dufrayne looked happily at the briefcase. So what if he had betrayed his system? He had all those credits to comfort his conscience.
The sprite started to walk out of the alley.
"Wait, you're not leaving until I make sure it's all here." Dufrayne said.
"Very well, open it and see for yourself," the annoyance wasn't even attempted to be concealed from the man's voice.
Dufrayne let out a cry of glee, which soon turned into a cry of terror when he opened the case. His screams could be heard all throughout the surrounding area as a viral bug pounced on him, deleting him in a matter of seconds.
"Micro, energy beam," the man commanded.
A keytool on the sprite's arm sprang to life and shot a powerful beam at the bug, turning it to cyber dust. The man shed his coat, revealing a guardian uniform underneath it and tossed the coat into a nearby dumpster.
"Micro, portal to the Supercomputer," he ordered. A portal formed and the man walked over to the dumpster. He pulled from behind it a bundle wrapped in a blanket. The only clue as to what lay inside the blanket was a single green hand sticking out from it. The guardian put the bundle over his shoulder and walked through the portal, leaving the wasted sector behind him.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
Mouse and Ray were walking down the main hallway of the Principle Office on their way to meet the others. It was time once again to go through hours of preparing for the upcoming invasion.
"Sugah, ah sure hope Dot's got a plan cuz ah've got no ideas." Mouse was saying.
"Well, luv, from what I've seen, she's pretty good at plannin' ahead. Let's just go and see if she's come up with anything." Ray replied.
"Yeah, you're-" she was cut off when she saw Bob rushing up to them. "What's wrong, Bob?" Mouse asked, noticing the look of barely restrained fear on the guardian's blue face.
"Have either of you seen Dot?" he asked anxiously.
Ray was the first to answer. "No, mate, we haven't seen her since the meeting last night. Why? What's processing?"
To answer Ray's question, Bob held up his right hand. He was holding Dot's organizer. "I found this on the floor in the hallway in front of Dot's room. I think we all know her well enough to know she doesn't go anywhere without this. I knocked on her door six times and I never got an answer. I tried the knob and it was unlocked. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in her room so I figured she didn't realize it was gone. I checked everywhere and I asked the guards. No sign of her," he said with a frown.
"Ah'd say it's time for an emergency meetin', sugah." Mouse said seriously.
The three sprites walked quickly down the hall to Phong's office. On the way, they met up with Matrix and AndrAIa.
"Hey, guys, what's processing?" AndrAIa asked in greeting.
"We can't find Dot. We're on our way to see Phong." Bob answered, not bothering to stop walking.
"What?! She's gone??" Matrix asked as he walked quickly to keep up with his hero.
"Bob, maybe she snuck out to check on the diner or one of her businesses. You know Dot doesn't like to be cooped up for a long period of time." AndrAIa reasoned.
"She knew how serious the threat against her was, she wouldn't have gone without one of us to protect her and even then she wouldn't risk putting us in danger." Bob replied.
"Honestly, hon, this is Dot we're talkin' about. If she thought one of us would be in danger, she'd just go by herself. You know nothing can stop her when she puts her mind ta somethin'."
"That's what I'm afraid of, Mouse," was the grim reply.
The group reached Phong's office a few seconds later. They entered quickly and the door closed behind them. The old sprite was watering a plant by his desk. He looked up when they entered. "Ah, my children, is there something I can help you with?"
"I hope so, Phong. Have you seen Dot at all today?" Bob asked.
"No, my son, I have not. Is something the matter?"
"We can't find her anywhere and none of us have seen her since last night." AndrAIa explained.
"Indeed. This is most serious. Come with me, my children." Phong put the watering can on his desk and rolled out of the room with the others following close behind.
The War Room was empty when they arrived. Bob sighed to himself. He had hoped that Dot would've been in here trying to come up with a plan, but, as with the five other times he had checked the room already, she wasn't there. He felt the fear he was trying desperately to control increase.
Phong went over to a consol and began searching. He typed furiously. The only sound for the next few seconds was the clacking of the keys as he worked. After a series of beeps, Phong looked up at the assembled sprites and shook his head sadly. "I am sorry, my children, but...the Command.com is no longer in Mainframe."
Matrix let out a furious roar and punched the wall next to him, leaving a considerable dent. They all knew what that meant. Dot wasn't basic enough to go off on her own to fight a super virus. That meant wherever she was, she hadn't gone willingly.
Bob didn't say a word though he felt like screaming from the growing agony he felt. Dot was gone and he hadn't even known that she was until long after she was taken. How in the Net had they gotten past security? One thought stood out from the multitude of others raging in his head: "You failed her. You let her down when she was depending on you the most."
"Why don't we check the video from the security camera?" Mouse suggested.
"Yeah, great idea, Mouse." AndrAIa said.
Mouse walked over to Phong's consol and typed in a few commands, opening the security file. "Who was the last person that saw Dot last night?"
"I think I was," said AndrAIa.
"Where was the last place you saw her?"
"Outside our guest room."
"Around what time?"
"I'd say it was about half past midnight."
"Ok." Mouse found the video file she was looking for and rewound it. After a few seconds of watching all of them leaving their rooms at various times, and a few more of nothing but the empty hallway, she found what she was looking for. "Hello, what's this?" She played the tape and pulled it up in a vid window for everyone to see.
The tape showed Dot walking to her room. Her organizer was on her belt. "Well, she definitely had it with her..." Mouse mumbled to herself. The others watched carefully as the scene played out before them. Dot was almost to her room when, out of nowhere, a figure in a black hooded coat came up behind her and stuck what appeared to be a syringe into her arm. She didn't even have time to struggle. Dot lost consciousness and fell into the stranger's arms. As he picked her up completely, the hood of his coat fell back revealing a sprite with light green skin and dark blue hair. He left the hallway quickly and Mouse stopped the tape.
"William. William Intel. That son of a viral." It was Bob's turn to growl low and deadly.
"You know him, Bob?" AndrAIa asked.
"We went to the Academy together. Let's just say he wasn't the best sprite in the Net. He was always getting hauled into Turbo's office because of some stupid prank or something. I was surprised he even got a keytool."
"Just let me get my hands on him." Matrix said angrily while cracking his knuckles.
"Matrix, calm down. Now is not the time. We need to figure out how we're going to get Dot back. We need a plan." AndrAIa said, trying to soothe her angry lover.
A sad grin crossed many of the faces in the room. AndrAIa had been hanging around Dot too long.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
The Supercomputer was the biggest system in the entire Net. In its days of glory, it was a beautiful system that tourists loved to visit. It was full of things for everyone to enjoy from parks to museums. Now, it was looked upon in fear. No one dared to go near the Supercomputer unless they were a guardian or infected slave. If they were neither, deletion was in the near future. Many had gone in, but they never came out. Only the guardians did.
The sky was a murky gray and the system lay in ruins from Daemon's takeover. Only the Principle Office remained in good condition for Daemon wouldn't have it any other way. The P. O. had been 'redecorated' and was now in mostly black and red, the symbolic colors of Daemon. The throne room was the grandest of all. It was huge and the roof stretched at least fifty feet high. The floors were black marble and the walls crimson red. On the floor, there was a matching red carpet leading up to Daemon's throne.
The super virus sat on her ebony throne contemplating her biggest problem: Guardian 452 and System Mainframe. She had to admit (though she would never do so aloud) that they were a force to be reckoned with from all the information she'd gathered from her inside sources, but if her plan succeeded, it would be no trouble getting control of it.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the heavy doors at the entrance to the throne room opened. This only irritated her. Surely her slaves knew she was not to be disturbed!
A one binome nervously walked up to the throne and kneeled before her. "My Lady, G-guardian Intel had r-returned," he said nervously.
Finally! Her plan had worked! She had told Intel that if he did not succeed in his mission not to bother coming back if he valued his worthless life. "Send him in," she demanded.
"R-right away, M-my Lady," the binome stuttered, then walked out of the room quickly to carry out her order.
A moment later, William Intel walked into the room carrying something over his shoulder. She smiled as Intel put the load on the floor at the foot of her throne. Victory was so close.
"Mistress." Intel bowed.
"Spare me. Did you succeed?" she asked impatiently.
"My Lady, I give you..." he paused as he bent down and moved the blanket away from the figure on the floor, "...Dot Matrix, Command.com of System Mainframe."
Daemon smiled evilly. After all the work, all the planning, and all the time, the Net was finally hers!
"Leave us," she ordered, not looking up from the sprite on the floor.
"Mistress, wouldn't you rather I put her in one of the cells in the security ward?" Intel asked.
"I said leave us, you stupid half-wit!" she screamed.
"Yes, Mistress, begging your pardon." Intel replied and with one final bow, he hurried from the room, the massive doors closing behind him.
Daemon rose from her throne and approached the unconscious woman on the floor. She knelt down next to Dot and moved a lock of greenish-black hair out of the Command.com's face. Daemon studied her, turning her face this way and that. After a moment, she stood upright and called for a servant. The same binome from before walked in and bowed before her. "Y-you called, Mistress?"
"See that Ms. Matrix is given one of the finest guest rooms and post a guard outside the door at all times. Make someone stay in the room with her and have them inform me the moment she regains consciousness.
"R-right away, M-my Lady," the binome stuttered and left the room quickly to prepare a guest room.
Daemon looked at Dot again. "Yes, you'll do quite nicely," she said, her wicked smile returning.
Dot didn't know it, but when she woke up, her life would change forever.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
Don't you just hate me? :) I know, major cliffie. You want the next part you gotta review. Ok, I hate to do this, but I'm starting to think that you guys don't like this story. The major reviews I got stopped after Chapter one. So, I'm gonna start asking for a certain number of reviews before I post the next part. All I'm asking for is a least ten reviews before I post Chapter five. That's not too much to ask is it? Ten, that's all I want and you get the next chapter. If I get more than ten, then that would be great, but ten is all I'm asking for.
Now for the thank you:
Sirinial: I'm not being mean to Dot, I'm just going to have a little fun is all. Thanks for the review! ;)
Stay Frosty everyone!