Web: Greetings one and all!

Harry: Took your sweet time getting to this didn't you?

Web: Hey, things have been crazy trying to get Arrowed Met Industries off ofthe ground before I go back to college. Working the bugs out of a new website'll eliminate a lot of my already limited free time.

Harry: Yeah, yeah, yeah...

Web: Watch it, I brought you into this world, and I can take you out!

Harry: Uh... Begin Chapter!

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Sean stared over the mountains of medical equipment at the only friend he had had in his old life. Missy looked so small in that huge bed, and the way all those wires and tubes ran into her was downright frightening.

The sight was enough to make Sean want to cry.

But he couldn't cry- he's used up all his tears earlier that evening at the Hikari's house.

Sean still wasn't sure what to make of this. He'd awakened last night to the almost non-existent groans of pain. After accidentally waking up Lan, the boy had rushed downstairs and opened the door- to find a badly beaten Missy lying on the steps.

His discovery had raised an alarm in the house, and Mrs. Hikari had instantly dialed 911 while Lan and Mr. Hikari had frantically tried to stabilize her.

In the back of his mind, Sean knew what this meant- but he couldn't bring himself to fully believe it.

"You O.K.?"

Sean looked up to see Lan standing over him, and the brunette was offering the boy a paper cup filled with water.

"Yeah." The gray-haired kid took the offered cup and downed its contents. Not bothering to explain anything else, or make any other comments, Sean crushed the cup in his hands and resumed his vigil.

Why did it have to be her? Missy was the only one to ever treat him like a human being… why did they have to pick her?

But Sean knew that that was exactly why she had been chosen- because she would get his attention.

This entire scenario meant only one thing- and Sean didn't want to think about that meaning.

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"And nothing else was touched?" Chaud looked over the technician's shoulder at the computer screen.

"Nothing," The techie shrugged, "Someone hacked into the system, inserted that alarm about someone carrying out a robbery at that… nerd's house, and then left without touching a thing."

"It was embarrassing." The officer behind Chaud coughed nervously, "we arrested the guy for crimes that hadn't been committed."

Chaud nodded as he digested this information. It was all becoming clear now. They had a saying in the Net Police, "Life is real- coincidences aren't." As bizarre as it sounded, Higsby had an enemy, and said enemy was out to make Higsby's life miserable. There wasn't any other explanation for the fact that the nerd's car hijacking and rigged arrest had occurred within hours of each other. A person would have to be blind to miss such a connection- and even then it should have smelled wrong.

"Put someone on Higsby's tail." The double-haired Net Official snapped, "If Higsby really does have an enemy out to get him, then we need to be ready. I want someone shadowing him twenty-four seven."

"Yes sir!" One of the officers saluted and scrambled away to fulfill the order.

"In the meantime, I'm going to go over this entire system and find out just how the intruder hacked our system." Chaud whipped out his PET, snapped on his custom grip, and pointed it at the nearby jack-in terminal. "Jack in, ProtoMan, Power up!"

A burst of red light exploded out of the PET's side and leapt through the air into the computer's system.

With the required burst of red light, ProtoMan dropped to his knees as he landed in the Net Saver's Network and straightened himself to his full height.

He didn't have to go far to find out how their rogue Navi had hacked into the system- the gaping hole of melted flooring was a dead giveaway.

Chaud and ProtoMan looked at each other and said in unison: "FlameMan."

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"I just wish that she'd wake up!" Sean surprised even himself by blurting out the thoughts foremost in his mind.

"Sean," Lan got up off of his chair and walked over to the gray-haired boy standing beside the hospital bed. Upon his arrival, the brunette placed one hand on each of the boy's shoulders and turned the kid so that Sean was looking at him. Dropping to one knee to even the playing field of their height differences, Lan continued his impromptu speech. "I know that you're worried- I was too when I was in your place-"

"How could you know what I'm feeling?" The gray-haired boy snapped back, again surprising himself. It was as if all his pent-up anger and frustration had finally exploded from the dams he had constructed to contain it- and now it was attacking the first available person, Lan. "How could you? I've been abused, used, neglected, tossed out on the street, and trained to be a pick-pocket! I barely remember my real parents, and the only person who ever cared a wit about me is lying here on this hospital bed where she might die. How can you possibly know what I'm feeling?"

Sean rushed on, desperately trying to check the words pouring from his mouth, but it was no use. His long suppressed emotions had freed themselves and there was no stopping them now. "There are times when I would have been better of dead- I would be better off dead since I don't have a future for me. While you've never had to worry about that- you've had everything going for you since day one! And you say that you know how I feel."

Even as he verbally beat Lan, the boy was amazed at Lan's resolve. Although it was obvious that Lan was fighting with everything he had to keep from lashing back at his attacker, the brunette managed to stay silent and resolved as wave after wave of the assault continued.

Finally, Sean wore himself out- his emotions were spent, and he was too tired to say anything else. Emotionally drained, Sean dropped all of his defenses and collapsed against Lan's shoulders.

"I just want her to be O.K." The boy managed to whimper.

Lan stood still supporting Sean- the truth was that he was afraid to let go for fear that the boy would collapse to the floor.

In an extremely rare moment of clarity, Lan realized exactly how the boy felt. "Believe me, I know how you feel about her."

The brunette waited for a reply, but none came.

"A couple years back, my dad was never around. He was always off in some strange country doing research. Most of the time we were fairly well informed about his movements… but once, about three years ago, the plane he was on crashed and there was the possibility that he could have been killed."

Lan paused to catch his breath, and realized that he had Sean's full attention.

"I worried myself sick, and refused to do anything until I knew for sure what had happened. I even set up camp next to the phone… And then, out of the blue, my dad called. Turned out he wasn't even aware that his flight had crashed, he'd just gotten so involved in some last moment discovery that he missed his flight."

Somehow Sean found the strength to look up. "You're making that up."

"It's the truth, ask my Mom." Lan took a breath. "All you can do is stay by her side and be there for her- just like any friend would do."

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"All the data points to FlameMan." ProtoMan finished his analyses of the hole in the Net Saver's Network. "Something burned right through our firewalls and fried the warning system."

"And somehow the direct approach was the most silent." Chaud muttered in reply. "We'll have to document that for future modifications. But judging from recent events, it's fairly certain that FlameMan was the one behind this. Have you run the database yet?"

"Right after the first attack, we don't have any record of such a Navi being made or issued. Which leaves two possibilities."

"He's an illegal issue Navi or he's Asteroid."

"Exactly." ProtoMan cocked his head slightly as he decoded a message that had just arrived for his Net Op. "Chaud, Lan needs you at Den Tech Memorial right away."

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Sean sighed as he continued his vigil; he almost wished that Lan hadn't stepped out of the room for a few moments. Stranding watch with Lan was less than half as stressful than standing watch alone.

"Come on, Missy." Too anxious to stay still, Sean began pacing around in a wide circle. "Don't leave me here alone…"

"SEAN!"

The gray-haired kid's head snapped up, as he recognized that voice. It was the voice of Red, Missy's Net Navi. Looking around, the gray-haired kid spotted the aforementioned Net Navi sitting in a nearby hospital monitor.

"Red!" The boy rushed over to the computer screen, "where have you been?"

"Trying to get here." Red seethed, "Gregory was under orders to keep me locked in that PET until he knew beyond a doubt that you had found… her. Once he let me go, I had to look all over the Net before I found out where Missy was, and then it was a long journey here."

"I see…" Sean replied, "But at least you're here now."

"Sean…" The Navi ducked her head, indicating that she had a task that she really didn't look forward to. "Sean, I have a message for you, from Scratch."

The gray-haired boy's head snapped up. "I don't want anything to do with that jerk."

"He says…" Red pushed on despite the order not to. "that Missy is only the first. He'll punish one kid every day, until you come back to him."

The boy gasped- he had known that this would be coming, but he had refused to let himself believe it. Now he had a choice- a choice that he really didn't want to make.

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"I'm back, Sean." Lan entered the hospital room and stopped short- the gray haired boy was nowhere to be seen.

"He's… gone…"

The brunette looked up to see an unfamiliar Net Navi curled up on the monitor overlooking the unconscious Missy. And it was clear that she wasn't at all happy with something or other.

Suddenly, the Navi straightened and shot a hasty look at Lan. "Don't just stand there! You can still catch him! Sean couldn't have been gone for more than five minutes, there's still a chance you can talk some sense into him!"

Something inside of Lan screamed at him to listen to this Net Navi. Trusting his instincts, the Net Saver ducked back into the hallway and looked around.

Then he saw Sean, the boy was stepping onto an elevator.

Lan broke into a run, determined to find out what the disk drive was going on. One minute the boy was refusing to leave that girl's side, and now he was leaving her.

Even as he raced down the hall, dodging people left and right, Lan knew that it was no use. The doors to the elevator were already closing, and it would take another miracle for him to intercept Sean.

Sean looked out of the elevator as his brunette friend raced towards him. Lan's fingertips were outstretched in an effort to catch the elevator door before it finished closing. But the boy knew that he'd never make it.

Just as the doors slid closed, separating them forever, Sean looked up at Lan and spoke what he fully intended to be their final words. "It was fun, Lan."

Lan hit the door just a split second after it closed.

He slammed his fist into it in frustration.

End Chapter!

Harry: Now dat you've read da fic, hop over to Web's profile and check out his new site: Arrowed Met Industries!