Baldwin Estate, Sector 14
Metro City, Canada
June 2nd, 2015
3:54 PM

"Chloe Baldwin"

"You're really going to do this?" asked Rachel.

"Yes!" I said, for what felt like the millionth time, "If you want one too, come along with me. I'll even pay for it."

"I don't think so, I mean… Tattoos are permanent." said Rachel.

"That's the idea, yeah." I said.

"But what if you eventually get sick of it?"

"That's why you get something that you won't get sick of." I said.

"Did you ask your Grandma or Vernon about this?" asked Rachel.

"Are you kidding me!?" I snorted, "They'd never say yes. That's why I decided to just get the tattoo and tell them later. That way they can't stop me from getting it."

"So where are you gonna get it?"

"I'm thinking either my left shoulder, or my right hip."

"What's the point of getting a tattoo there?" asked Rachel, "Nobody but you will see it."

"If I get it on my shoulder, people will see it all the time when I wear tank tops."

"Trust me sweetie, your shoulders are the last place people are going to be looking when you wear a tank top." said Rachel.

I already have my ears and bellybutton pierced. I don't want any more piercings, especially since all the remaining places I could get one are not places I believe should have them. But yet I didn't really feel satisfied yet. Something was still missing, and eventually it dawned on me that it was a tattoo.

I didn't really expect Rachel to be willing to get one with me, but you never know until you ask. She also had her ears pierced, but that seems to be all she's interested in getting. It would be fun to get tattoos together though.

"If you're serious about this, then I'll come with you for support," said Rachel, "But ONLY for support, they come at me with that needle, I'll morph and kick their asses."

"Relax," I said, "The place we're going isn't some dump. It's a very high end, totally legitimate establishment. It's the same place I got my ears pierced."

"Marcus Reynolds"

We were chilling out in Headquarters. I was teaching the others how to play chess. They had been asking since the Chessboard Virus incident, but I hadn't really had time to sit down and explain the finer details of the game yet, especially with all the chaos of the Renegade Ranger. But since Sawyer's not evil anymore, he was actually willing to learn too.

"Okay, so we've covered the pawns, the knights and the bishops," I said, "Next let's talk about the rooks. They function almost exactly the same as bishops, except they can't move diagonally."

"When do we get to the part about that cool move you did with the king and the rook I was filling in for?" asked Rachel excitedly.

"Very soon actually," I said, "The rooks can move however many spaces they want, either across an entire row or up an entire column."

"So the bishops are the only pieces that are trapped on their colours." said Riley.

He was particularly obsessed with the bishops. Probably because it's his last name, and also probably because he filled in for a bishop during the game.

Just then, Chloe walked down the stairs into Headquarters. My jaw dropped, as did Oz's, Silver's, Sawyer's and even Riley's momentarily before he closed it and looked back at Rachel innocently. But she didn't even seem to notice.

Rachel had told us that Chloe had gotten a tattoo on her shoulder, because she was there with her when she got it. She came back to Headquarters in time for chess lessons, telling us that Chloe would probably come to show everyone the tattoo.

As it turns out, she was showing off a lot more than just her tattoo. She was wearing a black leather outfit and each piece was completely skin tight. She had knee high boots with heels, long pants and a button up vest. It was clear that she had no shirt or bra on underneath it.

She had done her makeup differently than usual too. If I had to describe what she looked like in just one word, I would have to say 'porn star'. Actually, that might be two words. Her tattoo was on full display as well. I think it was some sort of Chinese symbol, with an orange rose behind it.

She walked over to Oz, making sure to walk as sexy as possible and pulled him to his feet. Then she started rubbing her hands all over his chest to feel his muscles enthusiastically.

"Hi Oz." she said in a voice that was barely a whisper.

Oz opened his mouth to say something and tried several times, but all that came out were weird grunting sounds. Finally he managed to form an actual word.

"Hi?" he said, sounding very confused.

And then without any warning she brought him in for a really long kiss. There was no passion in it though; it almost looked like she was trying to eat him whole. After she finally broke apart, she gently shoved Oz away so that he fell back onto the couch in the same place he started. He looked very confused.

"Chloe? Are you okay?" asked Rachel, getting to her feet.

Chloe pulled Rachel to her feet and brought her in for an even longer kiss. This time she was bit gentler, but Rachel wasn't kissing back, unlike Oz. In fact, as soon as it started, Rachel tried to pull herself away, but then seemed to decide it would be easier to just wait it out.

"What has gotten into you?" asked Rachel, wiping her mouth.

"I don't know," said Chloe, "My new tattoo makes me feel like a new woman."

Chloe turned to leave, still walking as sexily as possible. The heels from her boots making a subtle tapping sound with each step. When she reached the stairs, she stuck her butt out and spanked it.

"If anyone wants to tap this," she said, "I'll be at home, waiting to be ravished."

Oz seemed to contemplate for minute, before he stood up. Everyone glared at him and he immediately sat back down.

"Really dude?" I asked, "She's clearly not herself."

"You all saw that kiss! Come on!" he whined, sounding very much like a toddler who was just denied candy, "Would it really be taking advantage of her?"

"Yes!" said everyone in unison.

"I'm kind of okay with that." said Oz.

"Men are pigs." said Rachel.

"On behalf of my gender, hey!" said Riley.

"Is anyone going to focus on Chloe's sudden change in behaviour?" asked Silver.

"We are," I said, "In our own unique way."

"Rachel," said Jenna, "You said Chloe got a tattoo today?"

"Yeah," she said, "But I was there with her the whole time. I didn't sense anything out of the ordinary."

"Based on some of your previous outings," said Jenna, "That doesn't necessarily mean anything."

"Each time we defeat one of Trojan's viruses, he learns from it," said Silver, "That's why the more recent ones have been able to almost completely hide from our radar."

"If a virus has done something to Chloe," said Jenna, "The only way we could know for sure is if we could get her in here and scan her."

"Chloe's almost a completely different person now," said Rachel, "I don't know how she's going to react. She might not even remember that I'm her friend."

"She knew my name." said Oz.

"You're the star of both the lacrosse and football teams," I said, "Of course she knows your name."

"Actually, Oz, that gives me an idea," said Riley, "But you're not going to like it Rachel."

Rachel took a moment and then her eyes grew slightly wider as she figured out Riley's idea.

"No, no, no!" she said, "You're right, I don't like it."

"If you can come up with a better idea, we'll do that." said Riley.

"Okay Oz, you're the key player in this plan," he continued, "But you need to promise me right now that you won't take advantage of her. All we need to you to do is make her THINK that you want to."

"I'm not a tease, if I start something I'm going to finish it." said Oz.

"Not this time," said Rachel, "The fact that she showed a keen interest in you means that we can use you as a bargaining chip of sorts. But if you have sex with her, then we can't use you anymore."

"I totally get what you're saying, but think about what you're asking me to pass on."

Rachel gave him a long, serious stare.

"Why do you suddenly want Chloe so badly? Is it because you don't think that you could normally woo her? I've seen you get phone numbers from girls in serious relationships, and even that one lesbian cheerleader." she asked.

"Alright fine," said Oz, "What do you want me to do?"

"Go to Chloe's house and tell her you want to take her up on her offer," said Rachel, "Then tell her something like how you perform better at your own house."

"But I don't." said Oz.

"It doesn't matter," said Rachel, "Just say whatever you have to earn her trust, then lead her back here so that Silver and Jenna can scan her."

"Alright, leave it to me," said Oz, "And for the record, she wasn't sure if she was gay, she just thought she might be."

He winked at us and then teleported away.

"Very clever, Rachel," said Silver, "Reverse psychology."

"Even though he may not realize it, Oz doesn't just chase girls because they're pretty, he also likes the challenge. If he had sex with Chloe in her current state, it would be too easy." she said.

"Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"

This is the first time I had ever been to Chloe's before. I knew she lived in a mansion, so my mind immediately went to Bruce Wayne's mansion from Batman. Turns out I was a tad off. The butler opened the door and seemed to know who I was immediately even though this is my first visit.

"Her bedroom is upstairs. Farthest door to your left." said the Butler.

I've never been in a house so big that anyone needed to guide you before. I followed his instructions and found a door that was open a crack. I peered in and saw that Chloe had ditched the leather outfit and was now wearing lacy, pink lingerie.

"Whatever it takes…" I whispered to myself, "No taking advantage."

I kicked the door open and stood there, flexing my muscles so that they were easily visible. Before I came over, I stopped at home to change into a tank top.

"Hi, Oz... I was hoping it would be you!" she said, hopping off the bed excitedly.

She ran over to me and started feeling my muscles again, just like last time.

"Are we really going to do this?" I asked, "I mean we work together."

"So?" asked Chloe.

Before I could stop myself, my hands started moving towards certain… places, but I fought against what felt like basic instinct and pulled them away before I did anything with them.

"I just don't want things to get weird between us." I said.

"Things were already a little weird." she said.

I found I was having a hard time forming words that made sense when strung together. Every few seconds my eyes kept traveling down to really take in what Chloe was wearing. It was very distracting.

"I'm sorry, but could you put on a bathrobe or something?"

"I bought this especially for you." she said.

"How thoughtful," I said, "But um, I thought that maybe we could do this at my place instead?"

"Why?"

"Well, there's no one home at my place right now."

"Nobody will bother us here either." she said.

"I find I um, perform better when I'm in my own bed," I said, "I don't want you to be disappointed."

"Well, okay," she said, "But when we get there you better rock my world."

"I absolutely will," I said, "So put on a bathrobe. Please."

"We're not just going to teleport?" she asked.

"No, we're driving," I said, "I forgot my Digitizer in my locker."

She pulled on a bathrobe and I took her hand to escort her to my truck.

"Marcus Reynolds"

It looked like Oz was having trouble walking as he brought Chloe back to Headquarters. She was unconscious and Oz was carrying her in his arms.

"What the hell happened!?" asked Rachel.

"You said to do whatever I had to get her here," he said, "She didn't want to get out of my truck, so I knocked her out and carried her here."

"Why are you walking weird?" asked Sawyer.

"Let's just say she got hungry on the way over here and had a snack…" said Oz, pointing at his crotch as spoke.

"We specifically told you not to take advantage of her!" snapped Riley.

"Hey man, I'm the victim here," said Oz, "I was trying to help her by driving her here in my truck, then all of sudden she just unzips my pants and-"

"Okay! That's enough!" barked Silver, "Could we please keep Headquarters a PG-13 zone?"

"You have no idea how hard it is to drive like that..." muttered Oz so that Silver wouldn't hear him.

Jenna pulled out a wireless device that looked like the wands cashiers use at grocery stores to scan items. She brought it over to Chloe who Oz had already gently placed on a couch. It seemed like something dawned on her, because she came over to Oz.

"She's not wearing much under that bathrobe," she said, "Could you help me move her somewhere more private?"

"I know, it's the only thing I could get her to put on." he said.

Oz helped Jenna move Chloe over onto the cots that usually house us when we get really hurt in battle. I was actually the first one to get hurt enough that I needed one. But they did have privacy curtains, which meant that Jenna could safely take off Chloe's bathrobe without exposing what was underneath.

"The wand tool that Jenna has is a new addition to the Mainframe 2.0," said Silver, "It's a state of the art tool that can detect corrupted code. It's not without its limitations, mind you, but it's currently our best way of possibly identifying sleeper viruses."

"What are some of its limitations?" asked Sawyer.

"Well, for one, its range," said Silver, "Right now it only works inside Headquarters, otherwise we'd have given it to Oz when he went to get Chloe."

The wand made the same sound as a Geiger counter. We could hear it through the privacy curtain Jenna had put up. All of a sudden it started going insane.

Jenna emerged from behind the curtain.

"It's her tattoo," she said, "Like we expected."

"So what do we do?" asked Rachel.

"I don't know," said Silver, "This is not something that I ever thought would be possible."

"The reading was off the charts," said Jenna, "It's too high for her to be under the effect of a virus' ability. I think the virus literally injected a piece of itself into Chloe's body."

"And now it's hiding under her skin…" said Rachel.

"Which means that removing the tattoo isn't an option," said Silver, "The virus wouldn't let that happen."

"Well when I got infected by the CPU Virus, destroying the virus also destroyed the computer chip that was trying to turn me into data." said Riley.

"Do we have a way of tracking it?" I asked.

"It's hard to say," said Jenna, "It could be that Chloe's tattoo isn't ink at all. Because the readings on the scanner were off the charts, I can't tell whether the entire virus is under her skin or just a small piece of it."

"The only positive thing about this predicament is that the virus won't be able to cause any more trouble," said Sawyer, "Not without coming out of hiding."

"He may be on to something," said Silver, "Maybe the answer isn't getting rid of the tattoo, maybe the answer is tricking the virus to come out in the open."

"Unless we can learn more about it, that's not going to be easy." said Oz.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" yelled Chloe from behind the privacy curtain.

"Chloe Baldwin"

If they wanted to get rid of my tattoo, they would have to go through me to do it. I may be outnumbered, but I refuse to get rid of my tattoo. It's part of my new identity and I love it.

I threw aside the curtains and stood up.

"Download weapon! I called.

My flail appeared in my outstretched hand. I took hold of it and started to swing it around.

"Chloe?" asked Rachel, "What are you doing?"

"Rachel, I thought you were my friend," I said, "But it turns out you're with them."

I swung at her, but she ducked. She had a look of shock and confusion on her face. I would guess because she never thought that I would ever actually attack her.

"Chloe! Stop this right now!" scolded Silver.

"Sorry, but I can't," I said, "You guys want to get rid of my tattoo."

"Chloe this isn't you," said Sawyer, "That tattoo is changing your personality."

"I don't care, it's a part of me now!" I said, taking a swing at him too."

"Silver, what should we do?" asked Marcus.

"Keep her busy," said Silver, "I think I know what we have to do."

"We don't want to hurt you, Chloe," said Riley, "Just calm down. Let's talk about this."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I snapped.

"Fine then," said Riley, "If this is how it has to be…"

Sawyer pumped the clutch on his Digitizer as Riley spoke.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" shouted Riley, Rachel, Oz and Marcus.

"RENEGADE, POWER UP!" shouted Sawyer.

Now this is more like it. I told them I wasn't giving up without a fight.

"Download weapon!" they called.

"Don't you remember us, Chloe? We're you're friends!" said Green as he charged at me with his spear.

I blocked his attack as Yellow tried to attack me from behind with his hammer. I dove out of the way only to land right in the strike zone of Purple and his scythe.

"You need to stop this!" he barked.

"Shut up!" I screamed, leaping out of the way just in time.

Our battles with the Renegade taught us that fighting other rangers is definitely the hardest. We can match each other blow for blow, and we can all move at the same speed. Viruses can't think like humans can, which means they're usually pretty easy to predict once we learn more about them, but the same does not bode for humans.

That's probably why he seemed so shocked that his attack missed. He's used to attacking viruses.

"We shouldn't be fighting each other. We're on the same side!" growled Red.

He ran up and swung at me with his sword a few times. I blocked all but one hit, which grazed my shoulder.

"No we're not!" I yelled, "You want to get of my tattoo!"

"Because it's not a tattoo," said Blue, "It's a virus that's making you act differently."

She came over to me and started attacking with her sais. I switched my weapon to mace mode and deflected each of her shots.

"And because you don't like the new me," I said, "You're trying to force me to change!"

"We're forcing to change because viruses are evil!" snapped Yellow.

He threw his enormous hammer at me and I leaned out of the way of just in time. But I didn't see that Purple had moved behind me. When I went down to dodge, he whacked me in the head with the blunt edge of his scythe. Then everything went dark.

"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"

The others powered down immediately after Chloe de-morphed from the blow.

"Nice shot Sawyer, she's out cold." said Riley.

"That was awful. Fighting each other makes my skin crawl," he said, "I can't imagine what it must been like for you guys fighting me when I was evil."

"What do we do now, Silver?" asked Rachel.

"We're going to hook up Chloe's shoulder region to this machine." I said.

I had brought the same machine that I had used to banish Aaron Kingsley all those years ago. My idea wasn't one of my better ones, but I didn't have the luxury of time. As I said earlier, I never thought it would be possible for a virus to merge with a person before.

In my spare time, I had been gradually working on creating a much more practical version of the machine. One that didn't require several city blocks worth of power and was more portable than the last one.

"Silver, isn't that..." began Jenna.

"Yes it is." I said, "Rangers, this is same machine that banished Trojan to Cyberspace."

"How will that help us?" asked Oz.

"I'm hoping that I can transfer a very small piece of Chloe into Cyberspace. Once there, I should be able to isolate it and have the Phoenix cleanse it," I said, "Then once it's clean, I can download it and transfer it back onto Chloe."

"Since we know we can't just remove the tattoo the traditional way, we have to take a sort of detour," said Jenna, "Since the Phoenix is powerful and awake now, it should be able to remove all traces of the virus from Chloe."

"Are there any risks?" asked Rachel.

"Not in this case," I said, "I would have to be transferring a much bigger piece."

"The machine did work successfully the last time he used it," said Jenna, "But it almost overheated half a dozen times and there were other minor snags."

"But like I said, none of that will happen because I'm transferring something significantly smaller."

"If you think this is our only option, let's do it." said Rachel.

"You may want to stand back," I said, "This thing packs a punch."

I attached the thick, hose like piece so that the hole completely covered the entire region of Chloe's arm that contained her tattoo.

"Why does it look like a vacuum cleaner?" asked Oz.

"Because I used several pieces from one to make a smaller version of the machine that was used to banish Trojan." I said.

I flicked the switch and the device turned on. Instead of sucking away dirt though, the hose was transforming a piece of Chloe into digital energy.

"I've already made contact with the Phoenix," said Jenna, "It's standing by to cleanse the transferred tattoo."

She had set herself up in my usual chair. This was a two person job. Someone needed to use the device, and someone else needed to monitor the piece of data that I would be creating from Chloe's tattoo.

This was to ensure that we wouldn't lose track of the data. We needed to make sure we could easily undo what we did as soon as the virus was gone.

Chloe started to moan from discomfort. She's lucky I was only converting a small piece of her body. If it was her whole body, like with Trojan, she would be screaming in agony.

"Riley Bishop"

Shortly afterwards I could hear the Phoenix speak.

"You have failed your mission," it said, "I will eradicate you!"

I would imagine it was talking to the virus that had embedded itself in Chloe's tattoo. I couldn't hear what the virus said, if it had even said anything.

Something tells me that I was the only one that heard the Phoenix speak. Probably because I was the one it had granted power to.

I heard the Phoenix's eerie soothing wail once again and could feel a hint of the warmth I had felt the last two times I had encountered it.

"The Phoenix did it," said Jenna, "There's no trace of the virus left. Hit the switch and undo the conversion."

I saw Silver flick the switch from one position to the other. Before it was turned into whatever Silver's machine is called, this vacuum seemed to have an on/off switch, but now that switch seems to have been repurposed into the incoming or outgoing switch.

Since the nozzle was covering Chloe's tattoo, I didn't see what it looked like with a piece of skin missing, or what it looked like as the data turned back into skin.

"Well, Chloe should be happy," said Silver, "She gets to keep her tattoo."

"The Phoenix must have been to remove the virus without damaging it." I said.

"Silver, look here," said Jenna, beckoning him over, "I think the Phoenix sent us information from the virus it destroyed."

"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"

Jenna vacated my chair so I could sit down. As I started to read what was on the screen, my only reaction was to voice my thoughts out loud:

"Oh my..." I muttered.

"What?" asked Sawyer.

"I think you should come see this." I said.

They all gathered around behind me so that they could see the screen too.

"It says here that once the Tattoo Needle Virus injects itself into someone, it sends parts of itself into the brain where it learns all about the person," I said, "Then it removes their inhibitions and can occasionally gain some control over their actions."

"What does that mean?" asked Oz.

"Your inhibitions are the things that stop you from making stupid decisions," said Riley, "I'm surprised you don't know that Oz, the ladies' man that you are. Alcohol is one of the best known ways of blocking inhibitions."

"Well there you go," said Oz, "That's why I don't know that. I've never had to get a girl drunk before."

"So then..." said Rachel, who sounded as though she had discovered something, "That means that the way the virus made Chloe act is what she'd be like without inhibitions."

"Wow..." muttered Marcus.

"No, I'm not saying she's a slut," said Rachel, "I'm saying that she might be gay."

"Well you do know her best." said Riley.

"It's classic overcompensation," said Rachel, "She's gay, but to make sure no one suspects it, she acts like she's straight, but overdoes it to try and enforce that she's straight."

Everyone except Riley looked at her curiously. She sounded like an actual psychiatrist.

"Her Dad is a shrink." said Riley.

Everyone nodded now that the question was answered. Rachel walked over to Chloe and leaned forward.

"Sweetie," she whispered, but still loudly enough for us to hear, "Why didn't you just tell me?"

Rachel leaned in further and kissed Chloe on the lips. It was almost like she felt guilty for not figuring it out sooner.

After Rachel stood back up, Chloe's eyes opened and she sat bolt upright. She scanned the room and found all of our eyes.

"Oh my god!" she moaned, "I'm so sorry everyone!"

"We already know you weren't yourself." said Sawyer.

"Chloe, I want to ask you something and I want you to answer it honestly," said Rachel, "Don't freak out, remember you're among friends and we don't care."

"What's the question?" asked Chloe, her eyes widening slightly.

"Are you a lesbian?" asked Rachel.

There was a pause.

"No." she said.

"Chloe..." said Rachel, sounding very much like a parent who was trying to convince a child to tell the truth.

"No!" she repeated more firmly.

Rachel glared at her disapprovingly.

"I'm not a lesbian!" sighed Chloe, "But I will admit that I like both boys and girls."

"Thank you for telling us." said Rachel, hugging her.

Everyone else took a turn hugging her too, even Jenna. I didn't though, I've never really been much of a hugger. Except for Jenna, but that's because we go way back.

"Rachel Parker"

"So Chloe, um, do you remember anything that you did?" asked Oz.

"I remember everything... Unfortunately." she said.

"Well, in that case," said Oz, "If you ever want me to you know, "return the favour", just let me know."

"Okay, maybe I don't remember everything." said Chloe.

"Darn..." said Oz, "Forget I said anything."

As he left using the stairs, I turned to Chloe and whispered quietly in her ear this time:

"Are you just screwing with him?"

"Oh totally," she whispered back, stifling a laugh, "I gave him chickenhead, but I'm not interested in him. It was the virus controlling me."

"Chickenhead?" I asked.

"Yeah, cause you know, chickens bob their heads, just like we do when we-" she whispered.

"Oh god! Chloe!" I whispered back, using my fingers to do the shame on you thing.

We had a good long laugh about it, but since nobody else heard what made us start laughing it was mostly just the two of at first. But then they eventually joined in to.

If this whole experience taught me anything, it's that I definitely don't want a tattoo. EVER!

I'M GOING TO ASK YOU ALL AGAIN TO PLEASE GO VOTE IN THE POLL ABOUT CHAPTER 32. I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU ALL THINK. EVEN IF YOU DON'T CARE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, PLEASE VOTE ANYWAY, BECAUSE THERE'S ACTUALLY A CHOICE FOR THAT.

IF NOBODY ENDS UP VOTING, I'M JUST GOING TO GO WITH WHAT FEELS RIGHT, BUT SINCE IT'S KIND OF A BIG DECISION, I THOUGHT I'D GIVE YOU ALL THE CHANCE TO TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT.