Well, the long-awaited chapter six at last, folks. Sorry it took me so long. I had finals this week...GRR...anyway, it's finished and ready for you to read. I really hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
CHAPTER SIX
"Ah don't know, Phong, that idea sounds pretty risky to me." Mouse said from her position next to the golden sprite. The group was in Phong's office going over his plan. The old sprite had surprised them with his idea, but it seemed to be the best option after looking over all the ideas they'd come up with in the previous meetings.
"It is indeed risky, my child, but it will also prove affective," was the reply.
"He's right, Mouse. I think we can pull it off." Bob said, looking at the vid window that showed the details of the operation.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Bob?" Matrix asked from across Phong's desk.
"Yeah, let's do it." Bob answered.
"I will get you the materials you need, my children." Phong said and rolled out of his office.
"I sure hope this works, mate." Ray said to Bob.
"Don't worry, Ray, it'll work." AndrAIa said from by the doorway.
Bob went over the plan one more time, but he couldn't stop his thoughts from straying to Dot. Was she ok? Was she even alive? Yes, she was. She had to be. But what if she wasn't? What would he do then? He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. It was no use working him self into a panic now. He needed to focus. A large part of this plan revolved around his actions and he needed to be ready.
"Bob, you alright?" Mouse asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's get ready. We leave in two days." That said, he walked out of the office, leaving the others to get themselves prepared.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"You called, Mistress?" Lucy Server asked as she bowed before Daemon.
The super virus was sitting on her throne with a smile on her face that could only be described as smug and wicked, yet when she spoke, it was with unusual gentleness "Yes, Lucy, I did. You have been faithful to me have you not?"
"Of course, My Lady. I live only to serve you." Inside, though she could never say it without risking deletion, she didn't want to serve Daemon. In fact, Lucy hated her, but she had to do all that she could to stay alive and that meant doing whatever Daemon ordered.
"Good. I have a new job for you, Lucy, one I'm sure you will be most honored to receive."
Oh User, what did she want her to do now? "I'm honored that you've chosen me, Mistress. What is it that I'm to do?"
"I want you to take care of Valkyrie for me. She is still disoriented from her altering, so I will need you to help her recover." Daemon rose from her throne and stood before Lucy. "You will not fail me understand?"
"No, of course not." User, how Lucy wanted to look anywhere but into those eyes with the yellow veins pulsing, but she knew Daemon wanted her to look there so she could see if Lucy was lying.
"Excellent. Report to Valkyrie's chamber at once. She is in the room at the end of the hall. She should regain consciousness any moment now. I want a full report of her progress at the end of the day.
"As you wish." Lucy bowed once more and quickly took her leave. When the heavy doors to the throne room closed behind her, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. Talking to Daemon or even being in the same room with her was enough to make goose bumps rise on her skin and the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up. Now Daemon wanted her to play nursemaid. Who was this Valkyrie anyway? She'd never heard the name before. Must be another infected guardian.
She walked down the hall of the guest rooms and passed the room where Dot Matrix had been kept. Thinking of the Command.com caused a pang of regret to go through her. The woman was surely deleted now if she assumed correctly. Those screams filtered through Lucy's head and she repressed a shudder.
Lucy reached the door Daemon had said was Valkyrie's room and knocked twice. No answer. The sprite must still be unconscious. Lucy quietly opened the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. The room was dark with a faint light coming from the lamp on the bedside table. Lucy could see the figure of a woman lying on the bed, the blankets pulled up to her shoulders. Her body rose and fell with her steady breathing. Lucy stepped up to the bed and got her first look at Valkyrie. "Oh sweet User above," she said breathlessly.
The sprite on the bed was Dot Matrix. She still looked the same, except for the infection veins on her temples. If they were green like hers, Lucy wouldn't have been so startled, but they weren't green. They were purple. Daemon had chosen her heir, someone to carry on the viral line. Instead of just infecting the Command.com Daemon had converted her entire code from data sprite to super virus. Only super viruses had that power.
Well, there wasn't much Lucy could do about it. She did feel very sorry for the woman, but she had to obey her mistress. Now she had two mistresses, Daemon and Valkyrie. Her hatred for Daemon increased. How could she ruin this woman's life like that? Not to mention hers as well along with countless others across the Net. Lucy struggled to keep her emotions in check. Daemon would be able to pick up her emotions if they were too strong.
Sighing quietly, she pulled a chair from by the wall up next to the bed and sat down to wait for her new mistress to wake up.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"Ah, Turbo, what a pleasant surprise."
Prime Guardian Turbo stopped in his tracks on the way to the War Room. He turned and came face to face with Daemon. He bowed slightly. "Mah Lady, the pleasure is all mine."
"Of course it is. I need you to do something for me." Daemon replied.
"Anything you wish." Fighting the infection was getting harder everyday for Turbo, but it still sickened him to obey the viral witch.
"I will be making an announcement to my subjects in two days time. I need you to make the preparations for it."
"Yes, ma'am. May ah ask what the announcement is about?"
"I will be informing my people that I have chosen an heir."
Turbo's energy froze in his veins. An heir? Oh User. He had to tell Bob. "Who will our new ruler be, Mistress?" he asked carefully.
"You will see in two days time, Turbo. Now, continue with your duties. I still intend to capture the two rogue guardians."
"By your leave." Turbo bowed quickly and walked down the hallway. As soon as he knew he was far away from Daemon, he changed his course and headed toward his room. Bob had to know this as soon as possible.
When he got there, he made sure his door was locked and looked down at his keytool. "Copeland, get me Guardian 452, secure channel." Copeland beeped and was about to carry out the order when it was interrupted. A vid window popped into existence in front of him, but this one did not carry the face of Guardian 452. It was instead a very angry William Intel glaring back at him.
"Turbo! What are you doing?"
For a split second, Turbo was afraid that Intel knew what he had been trying to do, but the next words out of Intel's mouth reassured him that he didn't.
"You're late for our meeting!" Intel had that insolent tone of voice Turbo had known so long ago, but still hated today.
"Oh, Intel, ah'm sorry, ah just had to check somethin'. Ah'll be right there."
"Well hurry up, we don't have all day to wait for you." The vid window closed leaving Turbo alone in the room once again. He knew that if he didn't report immediately, they'd suspect something, so he resolved to warn Bob as soon as he possibly could. He just hoped he could get time alone after the meeting. He sighed reluctantly to himself and silently apologized to his friend for the delay in relaying this important information. The Prime Guardian walked out of the room and headed for the meeting room.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"Oh, but, Bob, I want to go too!" Hexadecimal pouted as she followed Bob across the Principle Office.
"Hex, for the last time, no. I need you to stay here and help protect Mainframe." Bob sighed, trying to keep his annoyance in check. He was already stressed enough with Dot gone and the upcoming trip. Hex had been bugging him for the past two hours to let her go with them to the Super Computer, but he had been adamant about her remaining in Mainframe.
"Please? Pretty please with a strawberry energy shake on top?" the ex-virus begged, making puppy dog eyes at him.
"Hex, no!" Bob lowered his tone when Hex's eyes turned red. "Look, if you stay here in Mainframe and help take care of the system, I'll get you your very own energy shake machine. That way you can have as many as you want," he said in what he hoped was a sweet tone.
"Really?!" she asked excitedly, her eyes lighting up.
"Yeah, I promise."
"Goody! Have a nice trip, Bob, and you had better come back to keep your promise!" In a flash of white light, she was gone and Bob was left alone.
"That is one strange lady," he marveled to himself.
Bob checked his internal clock. He had been getting ready for the past six hours. Now it was time to get some downtime, but with the recent events, he didn't think that was possible. Still, he had to try. He made his way to his room.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"Hey, Lover." AndrAIa said, walking into the armory.
Matrix turned to look at her. "Hey, Andri."
"What are you doing?"
He sighed. "Just double checking the weapon supply. I don't want to leave the system defenseless in case anything happens while we're gone. We're only talking a few weapons with us besides our own just in case."
"Sounds good to me," she replied looking over the weapons he'd chosen to take with them. After a minute she spoke again. "She'll be ok, Sparky."
Matrix smiled slightly. She knew him so well. "I can only hope so, AndrAIa. After so long I finally got my sister back only to have her taken away from me again."
"Enzo, we'll get her back. We'll bring Dot home. You know we will." The game sprite walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest. "We didn't come this far to get home to Dot and the others just to have it ruined now. It won't end this way." She looked up at him. "We will get her back."
Matrix didn't reply. He only looked into her aquamarine eyes for a moment, then leaned down and kissed her gently. After a few more seconds, they pulled away and he smiled at her, albeit a little sadly. "I love you, AndrAIa."
"I love you, too," she smiled back and took his hand. "Come on, let's get some sleep, we've got a big day tomorrow."
Matrix followed her out of the armory and the two lovers walked hand in hand back to their room.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"Ah really don't like this. This is random." Mouse complained as she paced the cockpit of Ship.
"I think it's a good plan, luv. It'll work, you just have to have faith that it will." Ray said. The surf engine was leaning against Baud, which was standing upright by the wall.
"Yeah, it's a good plan, I know, but it's way too risky."
"Bob's a big guardian, he can take care of himself. And Matrix...well, I don't need to say much about him now do I?"
"Ah know, sugah, I just don't like it."
"So you've said. But do you really think we can't pull it off?"
Mouse stopped her pacing and faced him. "Ah never said that we couldn't pull it off, ah know we can. It's just too risky, that's all." She resumed her pacing.
"You're actin' just like Dot when she's nervous about something." Ray instantly regretted his words when Mouse stopped her pacing yet again and looked at him. In an uncharacteristic show of emotion, her burgundy eyes actually filled with tears, but she wouldn't let them fall. "I'm sorry, luv, I didn't mean..."
"No, ah'll be fine," she interrupted, swiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "She's comin' home. That's all there is to it. Ah don't care what has to be done, she's comin' home." That familiar fire sparked determinedly in her eyes.
"Of course she is, Lovely Lady. I'll do anything I can to help." He walked toward her and took her in his arms.
"How did ah know you were gonna say that?" she asked him with a slight smile.
"Hacker's intuition?"
Mouse laughed a little at this. "Yeah, that's gotta be it." There was a small pause, then she looked up at Ray. "Thank you, sugah."
"Anytime, luv." Mouse pulled his head down and she kissed him trying to express her gratitude for his support. After a few minutes of this, they parted breathlessly. "Whoa. No wonder you got the record for longest kiss."
"Did you ever have any doubt?" Mouse asked, giving him a sly wink.
"Not a doubt in the Net," he grinned in return.
"Good, cause if you behave yourself, ah just might show you how ah got my other record." She turned and walked toward the door to the armory.
Ray raised an eyebrow. "Other record? What other record?"
"You'll just have to find out now won't you, sugah?" she sauntered out the door.
"Well, a search engine's gotta do what a search engine's gotta do." With a big grin on his face, Ray Tracer followed Mouse out of the room.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
Lucy shifted nervously in her chair. How long was she going to be out? Do- er...Valkyrie had been unconscious for nearly six hours with no sign of waking yet. Mistress Daemon was getting very agitated. The super virus had vid windowed eight times in the last two hours, each time getting angrier than before. Well, it wasn't like Lucy could just set off an alarm clock and wake her up. She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and looked at the woman on the bed.
Should she try and wake her up? Or should she just wait until Valkyrie decided to come back to the land of the living? There was no telling when that would be. Lucy could be here all night. She did have chores that needed to be done, but she couldn't do them if she was sitting in here idly waiting for this woman to wake up.
Valkyrie was laying on her side, her chest rising evenly with each breath she took and Lucy couldn't help but be afraid of what would happened when she finally did regain consciousness. If she assumed correctly, Valkyrie would be molded into Daemon's image, a destroyer of those who rejected the ways of her mistress.
User only knew what would happen when Valkyrie did wake up. Lucy felt a sense of impending doom creep up on her. It was worse than what she had felt just before her infection. Things would surely get worse now that the heir had been chosen.
A moan from the bed startled her and she jumped slightly. Lucy looked at Valkyrie as she opened her eyes. Still the same violet color from before, but now, they were cold and cruel. Surely those eyes didn't belong to the woman Valkyrie had been before her altering. The purple infection veins pulsed on her temples and she focused those eyes on Lucy's raspberry red ones.
Valkyrie sat up in the bed, her eyes never straying from Lucy's. She seemed to be sizing Lucy up. After a few more minutes of total silence, Valkyrie stood from the bed, towering over Lucy, who was still sitting in her chair. "Take me to my mistress," she said in a deadly voice, her eyes narrowing at the sprite.
Lucy stood quickly. "Right away."
She hurriedly led Valkyrie to Daemon's private chambers. The doors of the virus's chambers were strikingly similar to the doors of the throne room, but were engraved with various symbols such as viral bugs and symbols. She knocked on one of the two doors. The door opened silently and Lucy moved aside to let Valkyrie enter. After the new virus was in, the door slammed in Lucy's face, leaving her alone, and slightly miffed in the hall.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"Ah, I see you have awakened, my Valkyrie." Daemon said from the shadows.
"Yes, Mistress, I am ready to serve you." Valkyrie said with a bow.
"Excellent. Then let us begin."
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
End of Chapter six
Yet another cliffie, I know. Sorry, but this is as far as I'm going with this one. Please don't flame me if you're a big Dot fan and you don't want her to be Daemon's lackey. I'm a major Dot fan too if you haven't noticed already and I won't let anything too bad happen to her without a happy ending. Violates the classic cliche I know, but hey, I love happy endings and I'm sure most of you do too. I don't know quite how this is going to end yet, but we'll soon see now won't we? ;) Keep your eyes peeled for Chapter seven. Could be out any day now. As always, ten reviews please before I post the next chapter. The M/A scene is for DM and Tammy. Hope I did good on it. I've never written one of those before. Hope you guys like it!
Now, on to the thanks! Yay! I get a bigger thank you section now! Ok, here we go:
sTePh: Don't worry, Dot'll be just fine. ;)
Lucy: I'm glad you liked it! I must admit I do like your entrance too. I think I got her in character. What do you say? :)
Dragonmaster: hehehe...thanks for the review, DM. I'll talk to you soon ok?
XiaNA fAiRy PriNceSs: I'm glad you like it so much. And you're welcome for the dedication. You and sTePh deserved it! ;)
SilverTig: Surprise! hehehe... I was trying to go for something different. Guess I succeeded. LOL Thanks for the review!
GreenArt44: Excited are we? hehe...I'm glad you liked it! Except, when you review again, could you please leave out the fruit? ;) Don't worry, justice will be served and thank you for the compliment. ;)
Sirinial: Yeah, irony's the best isn't it? Sorry for killing Meggy. You'll forgive me won't you? ;)
Raeone Dragon: Well, I'm honored you liked it enough to beg, but you really don't have to. ;) As long as I get reviews, I'll keep posting. I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)
nodoubt13: Brilliant huh? Cool. I was just trying to go for something different. Thanks!
RA: Well, the rest is posted obviously. LOL ;) Enjoy the M/A scene. :)
Until next chapter!!
Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
CHAPTER SIX
"Ah don't know, Phong, that idea sounds pretty risky to me." Mouse said from her position next to the golden sprite. The group was in Phong's office going over his plan. The old sprite had surprised them with his idea, but it seemed to be the best option after looking over all the ideas they'd come up with in the previous meetings.
"It is indeed risky, my child, but it will also prove affective," was the reply.
"He's right, Mouse. I think we can pull it off." Bob said, looking at the vid window that showed the details of the operation.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Bob?" Matrix asked from across Phong's desk.
"Yeah, let's do it." Bob answered.
"I will get you the materials you need, my children." Phong said and rolled out of his office.
"I sure hope this works, mate." Ray said to Bob.
"Don't worry, Ray, it'll work." AndrAIa said from by the doorway.
Bob went over the plan one more time, but he couldn't stop his thoughts from straying to Dot. Was she ok? Was she even alive? Yes, she was. She had to be. But what if she wasn't? What would he do then? He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. It was no use working him self into a panic now. He needed to focus. A large part of this plan revolved around his actions and he needed to be ready.
"Bob, you alright?" Mouse asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's get ready. We leave in two days." That said, he walked out of the office, leaving the others to get themselves prepared.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"You called, Mistress?" Lucy Server asked as she bowed before Daemon.
The super virus was sitting on her throne with a smile on her face that could only be described as smug and wicked, yet when she spoke, it was with unusual gentleness "Yes, Lucy, I did. You have been faithful to me have you not?"
"Of course, My Lady. I live only to serve you." Inside, though she could never say it without risking deletion, she didn't want to serve Daemon. In fact, Lucy hated her, but she had to do all that she could to stay alive and that meant doing whatever Daemon ordered.
"Good. I have a new job for you, Lucy, one I'm sure you will be most honored to receive."
Oh User, what did she want her to do now? "I'm honored that you've chosen me, Mistress. What is it that I'm to do?"
"I want you to take care of Valkyrie for me. She is still disoriented from her altering, so I will need you to help her recover." Daemon rose from her throne and stood before Lucy. "You will not fail me understand?"
"No, of course not." User, how Lucy wanted to look anywhere but into those eyes with the yellow veins pulsing, but she knew Daemon wanted her to look there so she could see if Lucy was lying.
"Excellent. Report to Valkyrie's chamber at once. She is in the room at the end of the hall. She should regain consciousness any moment now. I want a full report of her progress at the end of the day.
"As you wish." Lucy bowed once more and quickly took her leave. When the heavy doors to the throne room closed behind her, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. Talking to Daemon or even being in the same room with her was enough to make goose bumps rise on her skin and the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up. Now Daemon wanted her to play nursemaid. Who was this Valkyrie anyway? She'd never heard the name before. Must be another infected guardian.
She walked down the hall of the guest rooms and passed the room where Dot Matrix had been kept. Thinking of the Command.com caused a pang of regret to go through her. The woman was surely deleted now if she assumed correctly. Those screams filtered through Lucy's head and she repressed a shudder.
Lucy reached the door Daemon had said was Valkyrie's room and knocked twice. No answer. The sprite must still be unconscious. Lucy quietly opened the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. The room was dark with a faint light coming from the lamp on the bedside table. Lucy could see the figure of a woman lying on the bed, the blankets pulled up to her shoulders. Her body rose and fell with her steady breathing. Lucy stepped up to the bed and got her first look at Valkyrie. "Oh sweet User above," she said breathlessly.
The sprite on the bed was Dot Matrix. She still looked the same, except for the infection veins on her temples. If they were green like hers, Lucy wouldn't have been so startled, but they weren't green. They were purple. Daemon had chosen her heir, someone to carry on the viral line. Instead of just infecting the Command.com Daemon had converted her entire code from data sprite to super virus. Only super viruses had that power.
Well, there wasn't much Lucy could do about it. She did feel very sorry for the woman, but she had to obey her mistress. Now she had two mistresses, Daemon and Valkyrie. Her hatred for Daemon increased. How could she ruin this woman's life like that? Not to mention hers as well along with countless others across the Net. Lucy struggled to keep her emotions in check. Daemon would be able to pick up her emotions if they were too strong.
Sighing quietly, she pulled a chair from by the wall up next to the bed and sat down to wait for her new mistress to wake up.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"Ah, Turbo, what a pleasant surprise."
Prime Guardian Turbo stopped in his tracks on the way to the War Room. He turned and came face to face with Daemon. He bowed slightly. "Mah Lady, the pleasure is all mine."
"Of course it is. I need you to do something for me." Daemon replied.
"Anything you wish." Fighting the infection was getting harder everyday for Turbo, but it still sickened him to obey the viral witch.
"I will be making an announcement to my subjects in two days time. I need you to make the preparations for it."
"Yes, ma'am. May ah ask what the announcement is about?"
"I will be informing my people that I have chosen an heir."
Turbo's energy froze in his veins. An heir? Oh User. He had to tell Bob. "Who will our new ruler be, Mistress?" he asked carefully.
"You will see in two days time, Turbo. Now, continue with your duties. I still intend to capture the two rogue guardians."
"By your leave." Turbo bowed quickly and walked down the hallway. As soon as he knew he was far away from Daemon, he changed his course and headed toward his room. Bob had to know this as soon as possible.
When he got there, he made sure his door was locked and looked down at his keytool. "Copeland, get me Guardian 452, secure channel." Copeland beeped and was about to carry out the order when it was interrupted. A vid window popped into existence in front of him, but this one did not carry the face of Guardian 452. It was instead a very angry William Intel glaring back at him.
"Turbo! What are you doing?"
For a split second, Turbo was afraid that Intel knew what he had been trying to do, but the next words out of Intel's mouth reassured him that he didn't.
"You're late for our meeting!" Intel had that insolent tone of voice Turbo had known so long ago, but still hated today.
"Oh, Intel, ah'm sorry, ah just had to check somethin'. Ah'll be right there."
"Well hurry up, we don't have all day to wait for you." The vid window closed leaving Turbo alone in the room once again. He knew that if he didn't report immediately, they'd suspect something, so he resolved to warn Bob as soon as he possibly could. He just hoped he could get time alone after the meeting. He sighed reluctantly to himself and silently apologized to his friend for the delay in relaying this important information. The Prime Guardian walked out of the room and headed for the meeting room.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"Oh, but, Bob, I want to go too!" Hexadecimal pouted as she followed Bob across the Principle Office.
"Hex, for the last time, no. I need you to stay here and help protect Mainframe." Bob sighed, trying to keep his annoyance in check. He was already stressed enough with Dot gone and the upcoming trip. Hex had been bugging him for the past two hours to let her go with them to the Super Computer, but he had been adamant about her remaining in Mainframe.
"Please? Pretty please with a strawberry energy shake on top?" the ex-virus begged, making puppy dog eyes at him.
"Hex, no!" Bob lowered his tone when Hex's eyes turned red. "Look, if you stay here in Mainframe and help take care of the system, I'll get you your very own energy shake machine. That way you can have as many as you want," he said in what he hoped was a sweet tone.
"Really?!" she asked excitedly, her eyes lighting up.
"Yeah, I promise."
"Goody! Have a nice trip, Bob, and you had better come back to keep your promise!" In a flash of white light, she was gone and Bob was left alone.
"That is one strange lady," he marveled to himself.
Bob checked his internal clock. He had been getting ready for the past six hours. Now it was time to get some downtime, but with the recent events, he didn't think that was possible. Still, he had to try. He made his way to his room.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"Hey, Lover." AndrAIa said, walking into the armory.
Matrix turned to look at her. "Hey, Andri."
"What are you doing?"
He sighed. "Just double checking the weapon supply. I don't want to leave the system defenseless in case anything happens while we're gone. We're only talking a few weapons with us besides our own just in case."
"Sounds good to me," she replied looking over the weapons he'd chosen to take with them. After a minute she spoke again. "She'll be ok, Sparky."
Matrix smiled slightly. She knew him so well. "I can only hope so, AndrAIa. After so long I finally got my sister back only to have her taken away from me again."
"Enzo, we'll get her back. We'll bring Dot home. You know we will." The game sprite walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest. "We didn't come this far to get home to Dot and the others just to have it ruined now. It won't end this way." She looked up at him. "We will get her back."
Matrix didn't reply. He only looked into her aquamarine eyes for a moment, then leaned down and kissed her gently. After a few more seconds, they pulled away and he smiled at her, albeit a little sadly. "I love you, AndrAIa."
"I love you, too," she smiled back and took his hand. "Come on, let's get some sleep, we've got a big day tomorrow."
Matrix followed her out of the armory and the two lovers walked hand in hand back to their room.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"Ah really don't like this. This is random." Mouse complained as she paced the cockpit of Ship.
"I think it's a good plan, luv. It'll work, you just have to have faith that it will." Ray said. The surf engine was leaning against Baud, which was standing upright by the wall.
"Yeah, it's a good plan, I know, but it's way too risky."
"Bob's a big guardian, he can take care of himself. And Matrix...well, I don't need to say much about him now do I?"
"Ah know, sugah, I just don't like it."
"So you've said. But do you really think we can't pull it off?"
Mouse stopped her pacing and faced him. "Ah never said that we couldn't pull it off, ah know we can. It's just too risky, that's all." She resumed her pacing.
"You're actin' just like Dot when she's nervous about something." Ray instantly regretted his words when Mouse stopped her pacing yet again and looked at him. In an uncharacteristic show of emotion, her burgundy eyes actually filled with tears, but she wouldn't let them fall. "I'm sorry, luv, I didn't mean..."
"No, ah'll be fine," she interrupted, swiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "She's comin' home. That's all there is to it. Ah don't care what has to be done, she's comin' home." That familiar fire sparked determinedly in her eyes.
"Of course she is, Lovely Lady. I'll do anything I can to help." He walked toward her and took her in his arms.
"How did ah know you were gonna say that?" she asked him with a slight smile.
"Hacker's intuition?"
Mouse laughed a little at this. "Yeah, that's gotta be it." There was a small pause, then she looked up at Ray. "Thank you, sugah."
"Anytime, luv." Mouse pulled his head down and she kissed him trying to express her gratitude for his support. After a few minutes of this, they parted breathlessly. "Whoa. No wonder you got the record for longest kiss."
"Did you ever have any doubt?" Mouse asked, giving him a sly wink.
"Not a doubt in the Net," he grinned in return.
"Good, cause if you behave yourself, ah just might show you how ah got my other record." She turned and walked toward the door to the armory.
Ray raised an eyebrow. "Other record? What other record?"
"You'll just have to find out now won't you, sugah?" she sauntered out the door.
"Well, a search engine's gotta do what a search engine's gotta do." With a big grin on his face, Ray Tracer followed Mouse out of the room.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
Lucy shifted nervously in her chair. How long was she going to be out? Do- er...Valkyrie had been unconscious for nearly six hours with no sign of waking yet. Mistress Daemon was getting very agitated. The super virus had vid windowed eight times in the last two hours, each time getting angrier than before. Well, it wasn't like Lucy could just set off an alarm clock and wake her up. She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and looked at the woman on the bed.
Should she try and wake her up? Or should she just wait until Valkyrie decided to come back to the land of the living? There was no telling when that would be. Lucy could be here all night. She did have chores that needed to be done, but she couldn't do them if she was sitting in here idly waiting for this woman to wake up.
Valkyrie was laying on her side, her chest rising evenly with each breath she took and Lucy couldn't help but be afraid of what would happened when she finally did regain consciousness. If she assumed correctly, Valkyrie would be molded into Daemon's image, a destroyer of those who rejected the ways of her mistress.
User only knew what would happen when Valkyrie did wake up. Lucy felt a sense of impending doom creep up on her. It was worse than what she had felt just before her infection. Things would surely get worse now that the heir had been chosen.
A moan from the bed startled her and she jumped slightly. Lucy looked at Valkyrie as she opened her eyes. Still the same violet color from before, but now, they were cold and cruel. Surely those eyes didn't belong to the woman Valkyrie had been before her altering. The purple infection veins pulsed on her temples and she focused those eyes on Lucy's raspberry red ones.
Valkyrie sat up in the bed, her eyes never straying from Lucy's. She seemed to be sizing Lucy up. After a few more minutes of total silence, Valkyrie stood from the bed, towering over Lucy, who was still sitting in her chair. "Take me to my mistress," she said in a deadly voice, her eyes narrowing at the sprite.
Lucy stood quickly. "Right away."
She hurriedly led Valkyrie to Daemon's private chambers. The doors of the virus's chambers were strikingly similar to the doors of the throne room, but were engraved with various symbols such as viral bugs and symbols. She knocked on one of the two doors. The door opened silently and Lucy moved aside to let Valkyrie enter. After the new virus was in, the door slammed in Lucy's face, leaving her alone, and slightly miffed in the hall.
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
"Ah, I see you have awakened, my Valkyrie." Daemon said from the shadows.
"Yes, Mistress, I am ready to serve you." Valkyrie said with a bow.
"Excellent. Then let us begin."
~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~ ~(V)~
End of Chapter six
Yet another cliffie, I know. Sorry, but this is as far as I'm going with this one. Please don't flame me if you're a big Dot fan and you don't want her to be Daemon's lackey. I'm a major Dot fan too if you haven't noticed already and I won't let anything too bad happen to her without a happy ending. Violates the classic cliche I know, but hey, I love happy endings and I'm sure most of you do too. I don't know quite how this is going to end yet, but we'll soon see now won't we? ;) Keep your eyes peeled for Chapter seven. Could be out any day now. As always, ten reviews please before I post the next chapter. The M/A scene is for DM and Tammy. Hope I did good on it. I've never written one of those before. Hope you guys like it!
Now, on to the thanks! Yay! I get a bigger thank you section now! Ok, here we go:
sTePh: Don't worry, Dot'll be just fine. ;)
Lucy: I'm glad you liked it! I must admit I do like your entrance too. I think I got her in character. What do you say? :)
Dragonmaster: hehehe...thanks for the review, DM. I'll talk to you soon ok?
XiaNA fAiRy PriNceSs: I'm glad you like it so much. And you're welcome for the dedication. You and sTePh deserved it! ;)
SilverTig: Surprise! hehehe... I was trying to go for something different. Guess I succeeded. LOL Thanks for the review!
GreenArt44: Excited are we? hehe...I'm glad you liked it! Except, when you review again, could you please leave out the fruit? ;) Don't worry, justice will be served and thank you for the compliment. ;)
Sirinial: Yeah, irony's the best isn't it? Sorry for killing Meggy. You'll forgive me won't you? ;)
Raeone Dragon: Well, I'm honored you liked it enough to beg, but you really don't have to. ;) As long as I get reviews, I'll keep posting. I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)
nodoubt13: Brilliant huh? Cool. I was just trying to go for something different. Thanks!
RA: Well, the rest is posted obviously. LOL ;) Enjoy the M/A scene. :)
Until next chapter!!