Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to andrewjeeves. Thank you for reading!
Chapter 6: Moving Forward
The fire was dwindling away, the room slowly darkening in its dying light. Bob stared at the cooling embers. Dot laid behind him, draped across the couch, one arm propping up her head as she listened quietly. It was only after a long pause that she spoke up for the first time in the past few microseconds.
"They took you prisoner?" she asked softly, the words hard for her to say aloud.
Bob nodded. His voice was flat, but his body was tight with the emotion of his memories. "The crew fought back, and many were deleted in the effort, but we were outnumbered…" His voice dropped away, and silence fell again on the two sprites.
Dot's heart clenched at the mix of emotions passing over his face as he stared at the fire. The wounds were still raw, and Dot found herself in shame for forcing him to share this with her. She placed her hand on his head, stroking her fingers through the long, degraded strands. "Bob." Her hand cupped his chin, bringing his face to hers when he didn't respond. "Hey," she whispered, "Look at me."
His hand grasped hers against his cheek, but his eyes remained down. "Dot…"
"Whatever happened, Bob, it's over now. You're here. You're home. Nothing out there is going to hurt you anymore."
"It's not what's out there that I'm afraid of."
Dot's gaze sharpened on him. "You're not afraid of anything. You're a Guardian." His eyes finally met hers, and Dot's mouth went dry at the haunted look in the brown depths.
"A Guardian." His gaze dropped from hers once again. "I wasn't a Guardian there. I couldn't be…"
"Bob." She slid off the couch to sit in front of him, both hands cradling his face.
"Six minutes, Dot. We were there for six minutes. We needed to escape. I… Dot, I did things…," he pleaded with her, his voice becoming edgy with his need to make her understand. The breath caught in his chest as he remembered having this same conversation with Matrix on the Saucy Mare, comforting the renegade with the reality that he did what he had to do. Perhaps Bob could have believed himself, if not for the reboot of the little sprite Enzo, who looked up to him like a father.
She pulled him into a tight embrace, stroking his hair as she soothed him. "I know, Bob. You had to do what was necessary. We all had to do things we didn't want to do… to survive." She could feel him resisting her attempts at comfort, so she pressed forward in the hope of pulling him from his distress. "You said you escaped. Is that how you met the Web Riders?"
Bob let out a long exhale. "Yes, in a way. They were also prisoners. We helped each other…" He shook his head. "I gave them freedom, and they gave me hope of finding Mainframe." Bob looked at her, and she could see the pain in his eyes ebbing away. "They let me ride with them to their colonies. They live in the web, Dot, in groups like mini-systems, and they survive. They helped me adapt as we went from colony to colony, trying to find a way to Mainframe. The web is so big, though… we didn't know if we would ever find it. Then we ran into The Saucy Mare."
To Dot's surprise, Bob let out a soft laugh. "It's rather funny now, and a little scary, actually. We would never have seen the ship if it hadn't been for the baby web creature they were chasing." At Dot's confused look, he explained the hunt for the creature that had bitten AndrAIa. "The Web Riders understand the creatures, are able to talk and live with them. Well, the tame ones, at least." Dot's shocked stare made Bob chuckle again. "I know, who would have thought there could be domestic web creatures? Anyway, one of the Riders caught a distress cry from the creature, and when they realized it was being hunted, they went after the attackers. They could have destroyed the ship and taken the crew hostage to serve time on one of the mining colonies, but when I came on board, I recognized it instantly. The ship, and Enzo."
Dot's hand caressed his shoulder. "Were you as shocked as I was?"
"Oh, yeah. He'd grown so much…" Bob looked at her, his eyes suddenly becoming sad. "If we hadn't crossed that web creature, if it never bit AndrAIa, we might have sailed right past each other and never known it."
A shudder went through Dot at the thought of them never meeting in the Web. Enzo would be sailing aimlessly, Bob still a member of the Web Riders, Megabyte still in Mainframe. "What happened to the crew of The Escape?"
Bob's eyes faded a little. "I don't think they made it." His head ducked away, his voice going soft. "I know Patch didn't."
"Bob," she sighed in sorrow, "I'm so sorry."
"I asked the Web Riders to look for them across the Web, in case they managed to get away. We… we got separated…"
Dot could hear the guilt creeping into his voice, and she turned his face to hers. "No," she ordered. "Don't do this to yourself. You can't change what's happened. You have to keep looking forward. You survived. You did what you could to come back to us and because of this, you saved Mainframe." She stroked his chin and smiled. "You saved me. Whenever you doubt yourself, look at me. Look and remember that everything we have now is because of you, Guardian."
"I can't forget, Dot…"
"And you won't. But the pain will ease." She leaned into him, kissing his forehead, his cheeks, brushing her lips against his as she whispered, "And you have new memories to look forward to."
"Like what?" he whispered back.
Dot pulled back from him slightly, her eyes holding his. Gently, she reached for his hand, bringing it up to her icon. She silenced him when he whispered her name, pressing his hand against her PID with three taps. "Kiss me," she commanded softly.
The chill of the evening on her skin was quickly replaced by the heat of his kiss on her lips. Her hands trailed over the silver of his suit as she reached for his icon. With the comfort of his arms wrapping around her slender frame, she let herself be guided gently back onto the floor.
/
The room was dark save for a pale blue light through the curtains. Soft, steady breathing and an occasional rustle of sheets provided the only break to the silence. It was strange for him, the unfamiliar feel of the bed, the different lighting, the various noises, but he knew these weren't the reasons why he could not sleep.
Rolling onto his side, he propped his head up to look down at the sprite resting next to him. Her face was completely relaxed, her fingers curled next to her head on the pillow. Unruly strands of dark green hair, now black in the shadows, fell across her forehead, covering her eyes. Bob gently brushed his fingers across her brow, moving the soft strands away. They continued down her face, barely touching her cheek and curving down around her jaw. For a moment, he stared at her lips, parted in slumber, as he lapsed into the memories of the power of her kiss.
As intoxicating as those memories were, Bob could not keep the Web at bay. Dot was right; he had done whatever was necessary to come back. And he had done it all for her. Unbidden, Patch's voice whispered in his ear from that dark time in his past, when Bob's hope was nearly destroyed… 'You must find something to live for, and fight for it with all of your core.' Bob knew what he wanted to live for, no, who he wanted to live for. She would never know how heavily he relied on her memory to survive. He didn't want her to know how close he had come to giving up…
But Bob wasn't comforted now by the beautiful face that had kept him processing. Softly caressing her jaw line again, Patch's voice rose from the darkness, his words striking a chord of fear in the Guardian's heart. '… Fight with all of your core,' he told Bob. 'Then, learn to live with the consequences.'
Staring down at the sprite he had come to love with all of his heart, he wondered if he truly could. He knew he was safe from the horrors of the web, yet he felt like he would never be able to stop running from his past. His eyes closed with the weight of the memories that clicked through his mind like a looping QuickTime movie. The cells, the yards, the energy on his hands, her chamber…
He snapped from those dark places at a touch on his face, terrified for the brief moment that he was back there, that he was reliving the nightmare again.
"Bob, it's ok! It's just me."
Dot's soft voice broke through his haze, and he realized he must have reacted to her touch.
"You were systems away." Dot stroked his face, moving closer to see as much of him as she could in the dark room. "Were you dreaming of the Web?"
"Something like that," he whispered.
Her hand moved through his hair, cradling the back of his head. "What can I do?"
The request was so simple in its purpose, yet so powerful in pulling him back from the edge of his dark memories. Staring into her eyes, he felt his breath leave him as he tried to comprehend how he had come to be loved by such a strong sprite. He didn't deserve her, of this he was sure, but he was going to work for it every second for the rest of his life. And to begin, he had to lock away the Web, because Dot was right. It could hurt him no more.
Lifting his hand to her face, he leaned down to kiss her softly. When she opened to him, his hand drifted down along her neck, up over her shoulder, down her bare arm and around her back to rest on the soft, warm skin of her hip. His heart raced at the soft moan his touch drew from her. Deepening the kiss, the taste of her lips slowly driving him random, he pressed her down into the mattress as he moved closer into her open arms.
The Web bothered him no more that night.
/
Sulfur. Heat. Murky darkness broken by glowing flames of torch light. Screams of sorrow, pain, and madness echoed off the stone walls, the sounds accompanied by the creak of metal hinges, the slap of a whip, the heavy footsteps of the guards, and the scraping of his boots against the cracked floor as he was dragged. His head was spinning from the multiple blows he took when he was boarded, but he felt no pain. He knew he would never feel pain again. He was at peace.
He had heard the Word.
Asterisk didn't notice the discomfort of his body while he was hauled further into the prison. He wasn't aware of the suffering that dripped from the walls. He only felt the love of the SuperVirus, and the pressing need to carry out her order. He was not worried about where he was going, because he had Daemon's love to protect him.
The hallway opened into a large room adorned with colorful tapestries and lavish furniture. Upon the tables were various pieces of gold and jewelry, and a large bed that was adorned with the thickest, softest looking blankets he'd every laid eyes upon. On the far wall, under a bright light, was a small metal cabinet with an intricate design carved in the doors. Inside, he could see the glint of light off of small, oddly shaped objects. He recognized them as keys.
In the center of the room, on a large red rug, he was dropped onto his knees. The guards stepped back, falling to one knee and lowering their heads. Asterisk attempted to look up, but a strong hand grasped the back of his neck and forced him to look at the floor.
"The prisoner from the unauthorized ship," one of the guards spoke. "The only item on him was this data cube." The guard placed it on the floor before him.
"Very well. Step outside."
Asterisk smiled as the two guards rose and left. The voice that had commanded them to do so was soft and deep, but not half as lovely as the voice of his Lady. No one would ever come close to being as beautiful as his Lady. His eyes closed as he pictured her face, her flowing hair, her luminous eyes…
"What is your name, young one?"
"Asterisk," he answered softly.
"You are a Guardian."
"Yes."
"You have entered my domain without authority."
He heard the soft footsteps come in front of him, felt a finger under his chin as it tilted his head back. A simple question entered his ears.
"Why?"
"I am on a quest for my Lady Daemon," he answered, still imagining her face behind his closed eyes.
"Who?"
At that, his vision broke as his eyes shot open, his ears shocked to hear of one who did not know the Word. He stared hard at the sprite before him, searching her face for any sign of jest. Her beautiful features gave no indication she was anything but sincere.
"Do not be afraid," Asterisk soothed her, "for it is only a matter of time before everyone hears the word. Soon, you too will be apart of us."
The green eyes narrowed at him. "I have no idea what you are talking about, but I guarantee you that I will be apart of nothing." Her finger left his chin and grazed along his jaw, her eyes searching his face. "You are a very handsome sprite," she complimented, her smile indicating she liked the tall, purple Guardian. "You look so strong, and you have so much confidence. You must be very good at your missions."
"That is why my Lady chose me."
"Yes, for a special quest, you said?" The female sprite moved gracefully to her knees in front of him, her red robes bunching up around her long, slender legs. "What quest is that?"
"To find Guardian 452 and bring him to her."
"A missing Guardian? Is that all?" the tanned sprite mocked. "How hard can that be?"
"He was lost in the Web, and we have been unable to locate his code or his keytool in any of the systems. I offered to come out here to find him, and bring him home."
The sprite scoffed, leaning back on her hands and looking at him in mild boredom, her robe opening along the front to show off a red decorated top and a smooth, toned stomach. "How sweet," she drawled. "Hoping you'll get a medal?"
Asterisk shook his head. "No, I only want to help bring unity to the Net."
The woman raised one shapely eyebrow at him. "Unity?"
"Yes, it is the way of the Word, and it must be done. All Guardians are tasked with brining unity to the Net, to bring Daemon to everyone." He tilted his head and gazed at her with a warm smile. "If you know where Bob might be, Daemon will welcome you into her heart and share with you the Word."
A loud laugh, full of mirth, burst from the beautiful sprite. "Oh, she has you wrapped around her finger doesn't she? I admire that in a woman," she mocked, her green eyes flashing. "But you are not in luck, Hero. There are no Guardians here, and there haven't been." She lifted a hand to admire her red nails in the fire light. "If there had been, I would have enjoyed him immensely," she purred. Her gaze shifted to him. "You, however, are another story."
"But I cannot stay," Asterisk declined with a shake of his head. "I must get back to my mission. I cannot fail my lady." The smile on his face died away when his throat was clutched in the woman's grasp.
"This lady," she spat, "is no longer your concern." She moved her face closer, lightly rubbing her cheek against his. "You have a new lady to serve now," she whispered darkly. With a thrust of her arm, and an incredible strength her frame hid, she pushed the Guardian onto the floor and placed herself across his hips.
"You cannot resist the Word," Asterisk panted as air came back into his lungs, feebly attempting to move off of the arms pinned behind his back. "Struggling will only bring you more pain."
The sprite chuckled low in her throat as she leaned down across him. "That's my line," she whispered, reaching for his PID. She paused, her hand hovering over the black and gold icon, as something on his skin caught her eye.
No, not on his skin. Under his skin.
Bright green veins twisted down his neck and around his temples, pulsating with his breath. Her eyes widened, her mouth twisting in disgust. "You're infected!" she snarled as she jumped away from him, screaming for her guards.
"No!" Asterisk argued as he was dragged to his feet. "I have heard the Word. For the first time, I am clean!"
The sprite held up her hand, preventing the guards from removing him. "This Word… is an infection?"
"There will never be infection again," Asterisk clarified, his eyes taking on a dreamy quality. "Daemon will bring everyone to unity, and from there, peace." He focused again on her. "I must find Bob to help Daemon. He is the last, and he must hear the Word." Asterisk's eyes took on a look of desperation as the guards began pulling him away. "No, I must finish my quest!" His gaze fell to the floor, where he saw the cube. With a burst of strength, and the element of surprise, he tore away from the guards to grab the cube.
The sprite, thinking he was attacking her, reacted with a flick of her wrist, and a small knife appeared to slice at the Guardian. It caught him across his left side, surprising him and throwing off his footing. He crashed to the floor with a gasp of pain, and the cube was knocked a few feet away, where it activated.
A video file illuminated in the room, and the female sprite froze as the image of Guardian 452 appeared. Data scrolled across the file, providing statistics and physical characteristics of the Guardian. It ended with a location status of unknown.
The guards again secured the infected sprite, dragging him towards the door when the female stopped them with a wave of her hand. "Where is he from?" she asked quietly, her gaze never leaving the face of the missing Guardian.
"He was assigned to system Mainframe, before he was lost."
"Mainframe," she whispered.
"Help us find him," Asterisk pleaded with her, "and I promise you will be greatly rewarded."
She finally looked away from the file, and set her green gaze on the purple sprite. Her eyes were no longer teasing; now they were cold and hard as ice. "Oh, I will be rewarded," she agreed in a soft voice. "But not by your virus and not by you." Her eyes shifted to the guard on his right. "Erase him. I have no desire for infection to spread in my home."
She turned back to the file, her lips curling in a sneer as she ignored the protests of the soon to be deleted Guardian. Yes, she would be greatly rewarded.
And this time, he wasn't going to escape.
/
1 CYCLE LATER….
"It's bad, Dot. Very bad."
Everyone around the Principal Office War Room stared at Mouse as she began filling them in on her time out in the web. What had begun as a short web tour turned into a race back to Mainframe. After a malfunction with Mouse's armor, she and Ray had ported into a system for repairs. Within the second, a full blown attack occurred. Before the two realized what was occurring, a giant hole opened up in the sky, and a fleet of ships swarmed in and started rounding up the system's citizens.
"They didn't attack anyone; they just secured the net ports and headed for the control center. Ray and I managed to get past the guard ships and get away before they knew what we were doing."
"Did they try and follow you?" Bob asked.
Mouse shook her head. "Ray made a portal to the Web. Their ships couldn't handle that."
"Where is Ray now?" Dot questioned, looking around for the Surfer.
"He went back into the Web to get more information from fellow search engines about the spreading infection." She looked at AndrAIa. "I guess this isn't the first system he's seen attacked, and he's getting worried."
The game sprite nodded in recognition, recalling how she first met the adventurous sprite. "How did they manage to get into the system?" AndrAIa asked. "Didn't they have security protocols?"
"I have no idea, Sugar."
"Pull up the Net on screen," Dot ordered to the binomes at the VidWindow panels. All heads turned to look at the interconnection of blue dots, blue that was slowly turning green.
"No way!" Enzo cried out, putting his small hand on Frisket when the dog whined.
"The infection has spread another ten percent in the past second," Phong remarked, his voice filled with worry. "Daemon is slowly taking over the net."
"But how is that possible?" Dot demanded.
"That's what we need to find out," Bob answered.
"It has to be the Guardians," Matrix growled.
Everyone except AndrAIa turned to him in shock. "What are you talking about?" Bob asked, a cold knot forming in his stomach.
"Guardians can form portals," Matrix explained.
Mouse shook her head. "There wasn't a portal there, not that I saw."
"And Guardians wouldn't attack a system," Bob argued vehemently.
"They attacked us!" Matrix nearly shouted. "You weren't there, Bob, they were infected, and they were out for our heads. If it wasn't for Gavin, we may have been erased."
"He's right, Bob," AndrAIa spoke up from her lover's side. "The Guardians can't be trusted to be on our side."
Bob stared down at the table, unwilling to believe them. But the doubt only grew as he remembered what Blackadder had told him, about a sickness.
A sickness now called Daemon.
"How are we going to stop Guardians?" Mouse asked quietly.
No one spoke, and Bob lifted his head to see them staring at him. "Whoever it is we have to stop," Bob countered, "we have to figure out how they are getting into the systems. The best way to stop them is not letting them in at all."
Dot nodded. "Agreed." She turned back to the net screen. "The way the infection is spreading, we may be able to determine where they are going to attack next. We need to get those systems protected first." Dot pressed a button on the screen, and a list of systems flashed. "If we can get to the systems before the attack happens, we may be able to determine entry tactics, and may be able to get the system offline before it becomes occupied."
"Based on the systems that have been taken recently," Mouse added, pointing at the screen, "these three look like they would be next in line."
"AndrAIa and I will check them out," Matrix offered.
"No," Dot dismissed instantly. "Too dangerous. Bob can check them faster and be back here sooner."
"Too dangerous?" Matrix snapped in shock.
"Yes." Dot held her ground.
"You must have me confused with the other Enzo," Matrix hissed at her, staring down at his no longer bigger sister.
"Hey!" Enzo whined, but neither adult paid him any attention.
"You must be random if you think I'm going to let you go out there again," Dot fumed.
"Dot, it won't work."
Both Matrixes turned to the Guardian who had his hands up, ready to separate the two. "What do you mean?" both asked loudly.
"Daemon has control of the Supercomputer. They have ways of tracking sprites, especially Guardians, through PIDs and keytools. Right now, with all of the protection measures Mouse put around Mainframe, and with my time in the Web, I'm pretty sure Daemon hasn't found me yet, or else she would have been here. But if I go out there, I may as well paint a target on my back."
Bob looked at Matrix and nodded to his PID that was turned into game sprite mode. "Matrix has a chance to remain undetected with his PID, and because he no longer has Glitch, he has a better chance of slipping in and out of systems that may be invaded."
Dot glared at Bob.
"Besides," the Guardian remarked, staring calmly at the , "I need to stay here, to create the portals for them to come home. I won't be doing Mainframe any good if I get captured out in the Net."
The two sprites stared at each other for a moment before Dot's head dropped with a sigh. "You're right," she muttered. She looked up at Matrix in resignation. "He's right, it's best if you go."
Matrix reached out with both hands to grab his sister's shoulders in a gentle embrace. "I'll be all right, sis," he promised. "AndrAIa and I make a good team."
"I know." She smiled at him, trying to be strong, and the renegade smiled back before turning to look at Bob.
"When do we leave?"
"WARNING: INCOMING GAME. WARNING: INCOMING GAME."
"Not now," Mouse quipped as she looked up.
"First the game, then Daemon," Bob said to Matrix, and the two nodded in agreement.
"Let's do it." Matrix gave Dot one last smile before running out of the principal office with AndrAIa on his heels.
As Bob passed Dot, he grabbed her arm lightly. "It'll be ok," he whispered to her, his eyes compassionate.
Dot's hand slid into his and she squeezed. "I just worry about him. And you. Be careful."
"Always." He gave her a warm smile and followed the renegade and the game sprite.
"Let's go, Frisket!"
"Oh, no, you don't."
"Dot!" Enzo groaned as he struggled against the hand on his shoulder. "You let Matrix go!"
"Yes, and I'm not happy about that," Dot muttered. "But you are staying here. I need to figure out what system might be hit next, and I can't do it alone."
Enzo looked up at her. "You want me to help?"
She smiled at him. "You bet."
"Cool!"
Dot looked up to the hacker. "Mouse?"
"Pulling up the data now, Sugar."