CoP 14: Never Go Home Again
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The smooth surface of the black and gold icon shone brightly in the light. You've already saved me. Thank you for bringing me home. Bob's grip tightened on the icon, his eyes closing as the dull ache of Patch's loss filled him once again.
"Would you like to keep it?"
Bob's eyes slowly opened. He didn't move, merely listened. Slow, measured steps walked up behind him.
"It has no value to me, of course." A silken laugh, soft and deep, filled the room. "But you… well, heroes like you are always so sentimental," the voice whispered in his ear.
Bob applauded himself on not flinching away from her in repulsion, clipping Patch's icon onto his belt instead. "And you're not? Then what, exactly, am I doing here?"
She was quiet, and Bob turned to look at her. Her face was much too close for comfort, but it allowed him to see something working in her mind. She licked her lips then moved away from him to gracefully seat herself in one of the overstuffed chairs. "Since you cared so much for your friend, would you like to know how he died? Or rather," she smiled, "how long it took for him to die?"
He tried to remain stoic, but she caught the tensing of his shoulders, the tightening around his mouth. Her eyes glinted coldly, and he knew she was about to throw salt on the wound. "I wouldn't believe a word you'd say, so why don't we just get to the point? What do you want?"
"You know," she ignored him, "for the longest time I thought that crippled old Guardian was the one who disrupted your DRAM. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was you. Must have hurt to leave a fellow brother behind." Her face turned contemplative. "Though not that much… considering how quickly you left him."
Bob remained silent, his head tilting back slightly, his eyes narrowing He focused on her armament: two swords on her person in place of the guns she wore at the prison, to distract him from her baits.
She looked down to examine a well manicured hand. "If only you knew how long I kept him alive, bleeding him slowly, relishing in his pain, maybe you would have been sprite enough to kill him yourself." Her eyes flashed up to his. "You did have the chance."
Bob took a steady breath, calming himself before he shot an energy beam through her forehead. "What do you want?"
"Hmm, a straight shooter. That's no fun."
"You want fun? Go find a game cube."
"Why don't we just play a game right here?"
The doors behind Bob opened and he turned to watch several guards enter the room, all of them armed. He looked back at her patiently.
"Ooh," she thrilled, "you don't look the slightest bit intimidated. Too few guards to be a challenge?"
"Depends on what we'll be doing."
"Oh, that's easy. Just dance."
They attacked. Bob quickly side-stepped the first guard, grabbing a second and throwing him into two others that charged from the right. Their moves were quick and precise, but limited in the small space the room provided; this left Bob the advantage of only having to fight no more than three at a time.
His training at the Guardian academy and his experience in the games left this to be nothing more than a warm up exercise for him. The number of attackers was rapidly dwindling. Within a few nanos, the fight was finished. Bob hadn't even needed to use his Glitch powers, an advantage he wanted to keep to himself.
He scanned the room once again for any remaining opponents. Satisfied, he looked back at Constantia. She was watching him with a smirk that made him sick to his stomach. She was watching him so carefully, her eyes scrutinizing his every move, he felt like she was cataloguing him.
"Lovely," she said. "And those were my best fighters. So you are clever and well trained in defense and attack. The list of your talents grows. It really is a shame I didn't know before, oh, the fun we could have had. But now that we are heading home, we can make up for lost time."
Home? Bob resisted the shudder as he realized she was taking them back, not that it should be a surprise. Then a thought occurred to him. Two can play at this game.
"That should be exciting, seeing the old hangout again. Must be awfully lonely, though, without all those sprites and guards to entertain you. I'm surprised you even had this many on hand." He grinned at her scowl. "Really, how did you manage to bribe these poor sprites to stay?" He turned away, feigning interest in the room. "Used those charms of yours, no doubt."
"Oh, I did much more than that," she answered quietly, an edge in her voice. "I made a deal with some… colleagues."
Bob looked back at her, frowning.
"I understand the value of connections as well as anyone else, and I understand the position of power in those connections."
"I doubt you're at the top of that chain. Without your prison, you had nothing to bargain with." The stillness of her body clued him into his statement hitting home. "So what power could you possibly have now?"
She scoffed. "For as clever as I think you are, you can be pretty stupid."
Bob thought for a moment. Then he laughed. "You mean me."
She smiled.
"Yeah. Obviously, you're not so smart, yourself."
"What?"
"I can think and I can fight, and that's about it. I don't even have a keytool," he lied. "Just how powerful do you really think I can be?"
"It's not what you can do, handsome, it's what you're worth." She leaned forward at his silence. "Your friends have made quite a mess of the Net, you know. There are many who would kill to lay their hands on one of those precious few meant to 'mend and defend.' Funny," she mused, "I had a live one in my hands not too long ago… too late I realized just how valuable he could be." Her eyes flicked up to his. "But now I have you, and I'm well prepared to share you with the highest bidder."
Bob felt his blood run cold.
"That was the deal," she drawled, "guards and slaves for me, and playtime with you. Now that I've seen how well you can fight, I can up the bidding price, make myself a little extra pocket change. But don't worry, they're not allowed to delete you. Just… play. And if you resist, Mainframe falls to the Guardians and their little infection."
Bob's fingers twitched, the Glitch part of him aching to throw something, anything, to wipe the smug grin off her face. His breath caught when he realized he could do that… he could end everything right then. Unconsciously he fingered the icon he placed on his belt. That's what Patch would have done.
"Do tell me what you're thinking," she purred. "I've missed our chats."
"What's to stop me from deleting you right now?"
Her eyebrows shot up but her smile didn't falter. "Really, Darling, I'm surprised. We've been over this before. The hero just can't bring himself to hurt others… even the bad guys." She settled more fully into her seat. "We both know you don't have it in you. You're no Patch."
Bob flinched, dropping his head. He remembered the medic's words, pushing him to understand that sometimes deletion was the only way… they melded with Matrix's harsh remarks about doing his job, about being sprite enough to do whatever was necessary. He thought of Dot, and how he was sure he'd hurt her, showing her what he'd done to get home.
In Villanova, he had no problem with going against his code and his own morals to trick Constantia. He'd left behind a wounded Guardian to ensure he got home to save his system. His inability to even consider the possibility of losing got Backup deleted; his blinding trust in the goodness of others caused great pain and suffering in his home when he trusted the viruses to help save Mainframe. What if he had just deleted them all from the beginning…
After everything he'd seen, after everything he'd done, how could he still cling to his beliefs that deletion was absolutely, unforgivably wrong?
"Sprites change," he murmured.
"But not heroes."
"You're probably right." He looked up, met her eyes calmly. "But I'm not a hero." His body hummed as he felt Glitch working through him, a gold ball of light forming in his right hand with a flick of his wrist. He watched her eyes widen at the display of power, unpredicted in her mind, and unprepared for her to plan against. When she looked back into his eyes, he took no satisfaction at the small amount of panic in her green gaze.
It was a comfort that he would not enjoy this moment, now or ever.
"You will regret this," she said.
"I doubt that." He lifted his arm.
"Then a die for a die." Her eyes moved beyond him.
Bob hesitated. The doors opened and he heard heavy footsteps, dragged feet, and an angry shout, "Get off of me!"
No…
"Bob!"
He turned, his eyes locking instantly onto Dot's, and he tried to hide the pain from his face as a tall, mean looking sprite pressed a gun to her head. She looked unharmed, at least. He breathed, but didn't drop his arm.
"Go ahead, Bob," Constantia taunted from the chair, the feral grin back on her face. "Let see how quick you can be. Are you fast enough to kill your enemy and save your girl?"
Bob's eyes jumped back to the Warden's. He waited only a moment longer before the ball of energy dissipated in his hand.
"Yes, I didn't think so either." She stood and walked over to Dot, pulling her from the male sprite's grasp and wrapping an arm around her throat. "Oh, it's so nice to have insurance." She stroked the side of Dot's face lovingly. "Though I do hate it when other people use my things, I see this one still has her uses."
"Leave her alone," Bob growled, stepping closer.
"Ah, ah." The Warden pulled a sword from her back and held it across Dot's chest. "Wouldn't want the Commander here to get all scratched up."
"You won't."
"Feeling risky, Guardian?"
"You said it yourself," Bob mocked, "she's your insurance. You hurt her and there's nothing to stop me from hurting you."
Constantia sighed. "Sometimes you are too smart for your own good. But you are right. So now my assistant will escort you to your cell while Miss Matrix and I have some time for girl talk." Her head dipped close to Dot's. "And I'm sure there's much we'll find we have in common. How does that sound?"
"Nauseating," Dot hissed.
"Oh, a firecracker, I love it. And such a strong personality. Tell me: how does it feel to be so helpless?"
Dot's eyes caught Bob's. "I wouldn't know." With a quick thrust of her arm, she rammed her left elbow into Constantia's ribs while bringing her right hand up to grab the wrist holding the sword. Using the Warden's moment of weakness to break out of her choke hold, Dot stepped out, spun, and flipped the red headed sprite onto her back. Dot easily pulled the sword from her limp fingers and brandished it over her exposed throat.
Bob wasted no time in turning his attention to the male. His companion expected this, the gun already trained on the Guardian. "Well, there's a hull breech waiting to happen."
The sprite hesitated, uncertain, and Bob smacked the gun away, swinging with his left for a solid hook to the head. The sprite ducked and uppercut Bob right off the floor, sending the Guardian sprawling onto his back. For a moment, he saw stars, and then he was being picked up and thrown across the room by the tall, and apparently insanely strong, sprite. He crashed into the table, groaning. This isn't going as planned.
Dot looked up when Bob hit the table, and Constantia swung her leg around, knocking the smaller sprite on her back. Both rolled to their feet, the Warden pulling out the second sword on her person, and the two circled each other. Constantia swung first, Dot parried, and managed to slide their blades to the right enough for her to swing back and slice the Warden across the forearm.
The taller sprite gasped and twisted away, her eyes flicking down to the thin line that appeared. "Look at that, little girl's got some skills."
"Shut up." Dot lunged.
Bob was finding it difficult to breath with the sprite's arms clamped around his throat from behind. He considered blasting them both with his Glitch power, but he wasn't sure how his body would take that. He wrestled to break free, digging his feet into the floor in preparation to launch them back against a nearby wall. As if guessing his next move, the sprite leaned back on his heels, pulling Bob off his feet. All his weight came to rest on his throat against the sprite's thick forearms, and spots were beginning to blur his vision. His legs kicked out for something, anything to push against…
And then he remembered he could fly. Focusing his ability to levitate, he lifted them up and pushed, sending them back against the wall as quickly as possible. They both hit hard, the sprite taking the force of the blow, and collapsed to the floor in a heap. With the sprite stunned, his grip slackened and Bob turned to bring down a hard punch across his face, knocking the sprite to the floor. He didn't move again.
Bob lifted his head at the sound of clashing swords, surprised to see Dot matching Constantia blow for blow, their faces set as they tried to out do the other. Bob recalled Dot's skill in one of the medieval games they played, but this time she displayed real skill, as if she'd been studying. It took only a nanosecond for him to recognize her form, and he couldn't help but smile.
It looked like Dot and Mouse had bonded more than he suspected.
Suddenly, Constantia thrust out a low kick that knocked Dot down to one knee. A flick of her wrist sent Dot's sword across the room, and then she was swinging her arm up and around, threatening to bring it down on Dot's arm raised in defense, preparing to return Dot's cut with one of her own.
"No!" Bob shouted, his arm reaching out as the energy built up into his palm.
The Warden shuddered as the bullet ripped through her stomach, her gasp of pain mingling with the echoed gun shot. She stared down in surprise at the green sprite, one arm protecting her head, the other holding the small gun that had been holstered against her leg.
For a nanosecond, no one moved. Then Constantia whispered, "You bitch." A scream left her she brought down her sword to cut the Commander down.
Dot fired again into her chest and the Warden collapsed back against the floor, sword scattering away, her panting breaths becoming slick as her lungs filled with blood. She stared at the fallen woman until Bob's worried face filled her vision. She was pulled to her feet and dragged away from the dying sprite before being crushed against him.
"Are you all right?" he asked urgently.
"Yeah," she huffed, her arms still at her side with the weight of what just happened. "Yes, I'm all right." She was pushed away and Bob stared at her, his hands cupping her face. Clearly he didn't believe her and she laughed lightly. "Really, Bob."
"You shot her."
"So I did."
"Twice."
"You noticed that."
"Dot, I-," Bob swallowed, and she could see guilt in his eyes.
She grabbed his arms and held him still. "Bob. I know you have a problem with deletion."
His eyes fell.
"But I don't." She smiled kindly, taking away any malice the words may have left. "She's not my first, Bob, and I doubt she'll be the last." Her eyes suddenly dropped to the floor, unable to meet his. "You're not the only one with secrets."
"I'm sorry."
Dot placed her hand over his and squeezed. "I know, Bob. Let's go home."
"Never again."
Bob and Dot turned. Lying in her own pool of blood, Constantia smiled sickly at them, the insanity in her eyes fading with her last breaths. In her hand, she clasped the gun belonging to her assistant, and she pointed it at them. "No one gets to go home anymore."
Bob pulled Dot close and threw a shield around them as she fired, but the bullet wasn't aimed for them. It pierced the wall, metal cracked, and the Web's atmosphere yanked the air from the room. Bob barely had time to grab onto a beam when the suction began. One arm clamped around Dot, the other digging into the narrow beam on the wall, Bob watched as light objects were pulled into the atmosphere, and larger objects slid across the room toward the vacuum. Suddenly they were pulled horizontal as the vacuum increased in pressure.
Both sprites watched in horror as Constantia's prone form was dragged across the floor and then lifted into the air towards the tiny breech. Bob's eyes clenched shut while Dot pressed her head into Bob's chest as the sprite was ripped through the opening. The assistant went next, the sound of his smashed body luckily drowned out by the roar of the atmospheric turbulence. Within nanoseconds, all of the guards had been lifted and compacted out of the breech, the wall turning bright blue in color.
"User, Bob, we're next!" Dot screamed. "Can you fix it?"
"Can't hold you and repair it!"
"Then let me go!"
"No!"
One of the chairs flew up against the wall, the suction suddenly gone until the atmosphere won, widening the hull breech minutely. More furniture was pulled out into the deadly atmosphere, their shapes breaking apart against the force.
"If we can widen that gap, I can protect us outside until we find a tear!" Bob shouted at her.
"Will we find a tear?"
If we don't get eaten by something first, Bob thought.
"Can you blast the ship?"
"Won't be fast enough!"
Dot thought rapidly. She squinted through tear filled eyes as the wind attempted to blind her, searching for anything that could help them. She saw pieces of equipment mounted to the far walls.
"Can you find a tear in here?" Bob didn't answer her. She opened her mouth to ask again when he cut her off.
"Light fixture, top left corner, near the door!"
Dot tried to focus her sight on the location. When her eyes caught the light, she pulled her gun and fired. The bullet didn't make it before it was sucked back out into the atmosphere.
"Damn!" she grimaced. She tried again with the same result.
Then one of the doors was torn from its hinges and smashed against the breech, ceasing the vacuum for only a nanosecond.
The bullet shattered the fixture and a blue tear lit up the room in its place. The door snapped into multiple bits and was sucked out, the tear right behind it. As it passed through the small opening it destroyed the metal it touched, increasing the size of the breech considerably.
"Hold on!" Bob screamed and let go, allowing them both to be sucked out into the dangerous atmosphere. They surged forward at an impossible speed, Bob creating a portal just before they were thrown into the tear's energy and deleted. They broke the portal's surface and were flung across the War Room. As one, they bounced and rolled across the floor before crashing to a halt against the Mainframe Detail Panel.
Both sprites opened their eyes to a clamor of activity around them, their ears slowly regaining their proper usage as the echoes of the roaring Web atmosphere died away. Neither could really make out what was being shouted at them, but the two didn't seem to care. Bob stared up at Dot as she lay across his chest, her arms still tightly linked around his neck. She didn't seem particularly eager to move. Neither did he.
/
They were forced to part when being examined by Phong, but hovered close when they explained the events leading up to their surprising arrival. Dot didn't say much, only filling in when she mentioned her kidnapping after her conversation with Mouse. She shuddered when Bob told them Constantia wouldn't be back. No one asked for details about what happened between Bob and the mysterious sprite, and neither she nor Bob were forthcoming. All that mattered was she would bother them no more. For Dot, as pleased as she was at not dealing with that psycho, she couldn't erase the memory of the gore…
She was brought back to the present as she was handed a communicator that would also serve as a timer regarding the portal generator for AndrAIa and Enzo. Phong confirmed that Bob would need to create a portal within the next microsecond. When Dot asked about Enzo and AndrAIa, she was informed that they had not seen any trouble yet, but they sent back word that Captain Capacitor and his crew had not been heard from in cycles.
The danger of their mission began to creep up on Dot, and as the others discussed their next move, she excused herself to her office. Once seated at her desk, she couldn't help but feel deflated by everything that had happened to her in so short a time. Her body sagged in the chair as her mind attempted to shut down for a moment, to process and catalogue everything that she had seen and heard, to recharge her batteries before the next big fight.
"Will this never end?" she muttered into her hands. The pain, the violence, the chaos and the destruction… why did this all have to happen to them, to her and her loved ones?
She thought of her father, recognizing that final moment of his life was when everything started to fall apart… even when Bob came to be Mainframe's Guardian, everything was still crumbling away…
"Dot?"
Her head jerked up and she watched Bob close the door behind him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
She sighed and looked down. "No, it's ok. My mind is just… everywhere but here."
They were both silent, the room suddenly tense with unspoken doubts and fears. Dot figured why Bob had come in… and she felt herself tense up in dread. He took a breath to speak, but she dove ahead first. "No."
"Sorry?"
She looked back up at him. "Bob, I… I know we need to talk about what happened… but I don't think I can right now." Her hands came together on the desk, clasped so tightly her fingers were losing feeling. "I know why it happened, Bob, but I can't… User, I just can't. Not right now."
He lowered his head. His hand traced a pattern on her desk, but he didn't ask her to explain. He knew perfectly well what she meant. And there was nothing he could about it then.
When she thought the silence would drive her insane, he spoke. "After Daemon?" he asked softly.
Dot inhaled. Go ahead, Dot, put your life on hold again until after the next big crisis. What a good little sprite, keeping your priorities straight. She flinched at her own self-mockery. It amazed her that everyone seemed to look up to her as this brave leader, and here she was running from the sprite who suffered for her.
But she couldn't run the system while her emotions ran her. She nodded, and answered, "Yes. I-"
But Bob was already turning away from her, making his way to the door.
Suddenly her heart was in her throat, and the thought of him walking out scared her more than anything. Her hand shot out and grabbed his wrist, halting him and pulling him back with urgency. He turned in time to see her stand and throw her arms around his neck, pressing herself firmly against him.
She held back her tears as his arms crossed around her back, returning the embrace. He spoke her name, but she couldn't listen to him yet, not with her heart slowly breaking. "It hurts, Bob," she quickly cut in, "but don't… you can't… just… just don't leave again. Okay?"
She bit down on the lump in her throat when he squeezed her closer, and he whispered in her ear, "I promise."
They stayed that way for a few more moments before Dot regained control. She slipped away from him; her eyes suddenly shy to meet his, and sat back down in her chair. She typed something onto the screen while Bob seemed to watch her. Then, as quietly as he came, he left.
Dot closed her eyes, a great sigh leaving her and a shuddering breath filling her lungs. Would it always be this hard? She supposed not… she did love him, after all. And everything he did was to get home, to get back to her… but why did it have to hurt so damn much?
Because she loved him so damn much. And now she felt betrayed…
She leaned forward and rested her head on her arms. Now was not the time to sort her personal feelings. She had to focus for the fight against Daemon, the Supervirus. Her system, her friends, her family depended on it.
Instead she drifted off to a time when things were good, when she didn't know pain or suffering. No viruses, no Guardians, no fighting, just her home; only Enzo and the Diner and her father getting ready to prove the impossible: the existence of other systems with his ingenious invention, the gateway command…
Thank you again for reading! Any further stories will likely have an M rating, so make sure to set your rating to "ALL" in the future. Stay frosty!