DISCLAIMER: The following story contains various themes and subject matter that may not be suitable for children under the age of thirteen. Viewer discretion is advised.

Digimon

GODFALL

By. Sonfaro

Chapter 15

A/N: Sorry for the delay. Pseudo back on track now.

Datamon. The data monster.

And a real pain in the…

Well, arm right now. Instinctively I bring my good hand to the makeshift bandage Matt gave me. Beneath it I feel the awkward sensation of moving data – like holding a small, vibrating beanbag in my palm. It's a dull ache now, which is good I guess, and I'm feeling less pain with every second. But it's still a distraction: a distraction I can't afford to have. Not with the stakes this high.

Matt is beside me, a hand of his own absently pressed to his ribcage – I'm guessing he's still smarting from earlier too. Between us, Gabumon and Agumon stand tense and erect. I can see the pink of Gabumon's gums as he bares his fangs, and Agumon's claws shine in the flickering light of the hub beneath the sands. Above us, the eight capsules continue to churn liquid around the captive humans – none of whom have stirred yet. Behind us is our only exit. Before us stands the clone.

Or should I say 'floats the clone'?

She looks so unnatural hanging there. Her fingers twitch like a spiders legs, curling in short bursts before flexing out again. Wires protrude from across her body, attaching her to the ceiling or stabilizing her to the floor. And her face – still pretty despite everything – is scrunched up in a magnificent grin. I'm not sure how it's possible for a little metallic troll to somehow invade the body of a teenage girl. I'm not sure I want to know.

The four of us stare off towards her – or at least what's left of her – with growing apprehension. We've seen some crazy things in our days, but this has got to be at least in the top fifty alarming things we've seen since our calling. She's hanging from the ceiling, the tips of her boots barely touching the floor. My jacket is pinned across her shoulders with several black wires – I've got a feeling I'm not getting that back.

If she could see herself right now I'm sure Rei would scream. But she can't see herself. And she's not Rei. She's Datamon now.

She… He… It bounces from side to side slowly, wires tightening and relaxing behind the clone with each movement. It's red eyes look over our little group, before focusing their crimson gaze on me. "KAMIYA, TAICHI. DIGIDESTINED. WELCOME BACK TO MY LAIR."

"Bite me. Agumon?"

My partner takes several steps forward, teeth barred and ready. "Finally, I get to bite something!"

A hand rushes to my shoulder before Agumon can charge the possessed girl. "No, wait!" Matt screams.

I frown. "What?"

He looks upwards to where the captive humans hang in suspended animation. "Doing that might kill them!"

"Huh? Why?"

Matt points to the black wires running from Rei's impaled back, towards the computer console then finally to the humans in the pods. "He's linked directly to them," he says with tension in his voice. "If we try to attack he may kill them."

I blink, and then grimace. Of course he'd have hostages. Clever little troll. "Let 'em go shiny," I spit when I turn back to the clone. "Before I have Agumon turn you into a scrap heap."

The clone grins wider, surprising considering her data should start breaking apart at that angle. "I DON'T THINK YOU'RE IN A POSITION TO GIVE THREATS KAMIYA, TAI".

I snarl and take a step forward, but Matt's hand is on my chest and he pushes me back. His ice cold expression is chilling my rage right now. I grit my teeth but comply. Datamon is holding the cards right now. Best to play along.

But as soon as we get a chance I'm finding a way to rip his heart out.

"What do you want Datamon?"

"ME? I HAVE WHAT I WANT ALREADY. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT DIGIDESTINED."

"Some answers," Matt says before I have a chance to reply. "How are you still alive?"

"I AM A DIGIMON". The clone spits. "WE ALWAYS COME BACK."

"But you've been dead for years" Matt continues.

"A MOMENTARY SETBACK." The Clone seems to speak with glee. "I SHOULD THANK YOU DIGIDESTINED. ONCE, MY PURPOSE WAS ONLY REVENGE AGAINST ETEMON. NOW IT IS MUCH, MUCH MORE."

"You still haven't explained how you survived," I interrupt him/her.

The clone tilts her head to the side for a moment and muses. "MY CONCIOUSNESS WAS LEFT EMBEDDED IN THE DARK NETWORK. WHILE ETEMON RAN OFF WITH THE MAJORITY OF ITS POWER, I WAS LEFT HELPLESS AT THE ROOT, UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING IN MY STATE. UNABLE TO MUSTER THE STRENGTH TO REGAIN CONTROL OF THE NETWORK. AND SO I LIVED, EXISTING BUT NOT EXISTING BENEATH THE SANDS OF SERVER."

"And then the researchers came, right?" Matt reasons. "What did you signal to them?"

"THEY INVADED THE RUINS ON THEIR OWN," The clone makes a face. "I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THEY FOUND THEM. I WAS TOLD THAT THEY'D BEEN INVESTIGATING STORIES OF YOUR EXPLOITS. APPARENTLY YOU BRATS HAD BECOME SOMETHING OF A LEGEND IN MY ABSENCE."

"Heh… Something like that." I smirk.

"How did you know they were there?" Matt asks.

"Yeah," Agumon grumbles. "It's not like you could smell them or anything."

"OF COURSE I COULDN'T SMELL THEM YOU REPTILIAN TWIT," the voice of Datamon sounds annoyed. "I COULD SENSE THEM IN MY WALLS BUT WAS UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING. I HAD NO VOICE, NO BODY, AND WITH THE DARK NETWORK IN CRITICAL CONDITION I HAD NO WAY TO REACH THEM. ALL THAT WAS LEFT WAS MY COPY DEVICE. AS THEY WORKED THEIR WAY AROUND THE ROOM, I UPLOADED THE PROGRAM OF THE ONE YOU CALL 'SORA'. IT WAS THEN THAT THEY LEARNED THAT THEY WERE NOT ALONE."

The Rei-mon creature gestures to the computer screen. It flickers before returning to the images we'd seen before – Datamon's memories on display like some dorky art show Kari would have tried dragging me to. It blinks and pauses on a specific image - a skinny middle aged man with dark hair and glasses and a pretty brunette who looks only a few years older than us. They're staring at something in the distance. A glowing figure in a tight yellow shirt and blue jeans flickers like a bad television screen with a bad connection. I take a breath.

They're staring at the clone.

"They found the girl…" Matt says for me.

"And she led them straight to you," I frown.

"INDEED." The clone nods with unnatural glee. "MY REPLICATOR WAS INTEGRAL TO MY REDISCOVERY AND EVENTUAL RESCUE. UNFORTUNATELY, DURING THIS PERIOD THE CONSTRUCT WAS NOTHING MORE THAN A CORRUPTED FLASHING FAILURE, UNABLE TO RESPOND TO THE SLIGHTEST COMMANDS. BUT IT WAS THROUGH IT THAT THEY LEARNED OF MY COGNIZANCE: FOR I SIMPLY DELETED AND RECREATED IT IN PATTERNS YOU HUMANS WOULD RECOGNIZE AS INTELLEGENT."

I swallow spit and turn my eyes from the screen. "Y-you killed her and brought her back to life… to a beat?"

The clone frowns for the first time since Datamon possessed her. "I DELETED HER. YOU FORGET WHERE YOU ARE DIGIDESTINED. NOTHING EVER TRULY DIES HERE."

Matt bites his lip, his icy glare focused on the clone. "So they track down the system that houses you and find you locked away. Then what? You didn't just return overnight."

"CORRECT." The clone nods. "IT TOOK MANY MONTHS FOR MY SYSTEMS TO BECOME OPERATIONAL. BY THEN THE HUMAN FOOLS HAD DUPED THEMSELVES INTO BELIEVEING ME TO BE THE FIRST DIGITAL INTELLEGENCE. I GAVE THEM A BARGIN: IF THEY WOULD CREATE FOR ME A NEW BODY, I WOULD SHARE WITH THEM THE SECRETS OF THE DIGIWORLDS CREATION."

"What, they thought you were Digi-Adam?" I snort.

"MORE THAN THAT."

Matt frowns, steel blue eyes icing over with disgust. "…They thought you were a god?"

The clone looks positively giddy. "SOMETHING TO THAT EFFECT. I MUST CONFESS I WAS RATHER TICKLED BY THE IDEA."

"Of course you don't know any more than the rest of us, do you?" Gabumon huffs.

The clone scoffs. "A MINOR DETAIL THAT WILL SOON BE RECTIFIED."

Agumon blinks beside me. "Wait… You think you'll be able to learn the secrets of the Digiworlds creation?"

"IN DUE TIME."

"Does it have anything to do with the humans you're pickling up there?" I press.

"OH YES. THEM." The ginger-clone tilts a possessed head sharply towards the hanging captives still knocked out. "CAUGHT IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME."

"Then let them go!" Matt demands. "They have nothing to do with us."

"That's right," I spit. "We're the ones you really want. Right?"

"OH I CAN'T LET THEM GO JUST YET," Datamon's voice bounces from within the clones throat. "I HAVE BIG PLANS FOR THEM."

"And Rei?" I ask.

"REI?"

"What were your big plans for her?"

"THIS… REI YOU SPEAK OF: IS IT THIS CONSTRUCT?"

I frown. "Yeah…"

"WHAT IS THE CURRENT HUMAN EXPRESSION? AH YES." The freakish smile on her face grows wider as her red eyes gleefully glare at me. "L… O… L…!"

I flinch. "What?"

"YOU'VE GROWN TO CARE ABOUT THIS CREATURE HAVEN'T YOU? WHAT A TRITE CONDITION YOU HUMANS HAVE FOUND YOURSELVES IN. YOU HAVE EVEN GIVEN IT A NAME!" The troll inside her causes the clone to suppress her laugher. "THIS FAILURE NEVER BECAME MORE THAN MILDLY USEFUL. A SPEAKERBOX FOR MY WORDS TO THE SCIENTISTS AS THEY WORKED ON MY RESURRECTION. HARDLY WORTH THE TIME."

"B-but you said she saved your life," Agumon reasons.

"THROUGH NO WILL OF IT'S OWN. THE CONSTRUCT HAD NO MIND THEN. NO CONCIOUSNESS. IT WAS ONLY A BLINKING DIGITAL IMAGE THAT I USED TO MY ADVANTAGE. I COULD DO LITTLE ELSE WITH IT IN IT'S CORRUPTED STATE."

"So what, you just used her to flag the MAGAMI peeps down?"

"A.o.A." Matt tells me. I'm guessing I'm out of the loop?

"THAT WAS ITS ONLY INTENDED FUNCTION." The clone/Datamon sounds bored.

"So why create her in the first place?"

This question puzzles Datamon, 'cause the clones face scrunches up in thought. Behind her/him/it the computer screen flashes more images – pictures of men and women in various robes pouring over the hub. "AS MY SYSTEMS WERE RESTORED THE HUMANS BEGAN RUNNING INTO PROBLEMS WITH PROGRAMING. ISSUES I COULD FIX MYSELF. HOWEVER, WITH NO PHYSICAL FORM AVAILABLE THE HUMANS KNEW THEY WOULD BE HITTING A DEAD END. THUS, IT BECAME IMPERETIVE TO FIND A WAY FOR ME TO INTERACT WITH THE WORLD AROUND ME. THE SENTINELS – YOUR GIZMON – WERE THE FIRST PROGRAMMED FOR ASSISTANCE. THEY WERE HELPFUL… TO A POINT, BUT IT BECAME OBVIOUS THAT THE NUANCES NEEDED COULD NOT BE ACHIEVED THROUGH THE DESIGN OF AN INSECT. THE DECISION TO CORRECT THE CONSTRUCTS CORRUPTION WAS MADE. HOWEVER, WITHOUT YOUR SORA, GAPS IN HER CODING HAD TO BE FILLED. THIS WAS TAKEN FROM THE LEAD RESEARCHER…"

"Reiko Saibachi…"

"CORRECT."

I frown and turn to my XO. Matt's eyes are glued the screen behind the mutant girl, his expression is one of concern. My own eyes follow. The image of the pretty brunette with hair coming up just below her shoulder blades and split at the ends floods my mind. Slowly I begin to imagine her with hair with more of a reddish tent, and realize that she could have been Rei's mother.

And then I realize that, technically, she was.

Sora was Rei's base, her physical appearance. But Rei's digital flesh belonged to another human.

Matt frowns. "You stole the base code off a human being?"

The clone raises an eyebrow. "SHE VOLUNTEERED IT."

I shake my head. "Why would she do a thing like that?"

Datamon makes Rei's shoulders shrug. "SHE HAD MOTHERLY FEELINGS FOR IT AND WOULD NOT BE DISUADED. AN UTTER FOOL, LIKE YOU."

Matt clears his throat. "What happened to her? Reiko?"

The clone has a bemused twinkle on his/her face. "LOST TO THE SANDS I SUPPOSE."

Agumon blinks. "You killed her too?"

"I ONCE SENSED HER LIFESIGNS WHEN THE CONSTRUCT MADE HER ESCAPE. I NO LONGER DO."

Gabumon snarls. "You're a monster!"

"WE'RE ALL MONSTERS YOU HALF-BREED MUTT," Datamon causes the clone to snort.

While Matt keeps Gabumon from instigating things further, I speak up. "So the last thing this woman did in this world was give her data to birth Rei?"

"NOT SOLELY HERS," The troll waves him off. "HER BASIC CODED STRUCTURE RESEMBLED THAT OF YOU HUMANS. WITH OUT MY OWN GENIUS THE DATA WOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN TO THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. IT WAS THE COMBINATION OF HER DATA AND MY OWN THAT CREATED THIS CONSTRUCT… YOUR… REI. WITH THE DATA OF DR. SAIBACHI THE CONSTRUCT AGED, BUT I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO INTERACT ONCE AGAIN WITH THE DIGITAL WORLD. I NOW HAD A HAND IN BUILDING MY DESTINY."

"What? Your own body to do with as you pleased?" Agumon asks.

"TSK… WHY WOULD I SPEND THE REST OF MY DAYS AS A WORTHLESS PIECE OF TRASH, WHEN I CAN BECOME SO MUCH MORE…"

Gabumon huffs, edging closer to Matt. "I'll bet the researchers weren't happy to learn you wanted more."

"INDEED NOT. WHEN THEY LEARNED OF THE DARK NETWORK'S TRUE PURPOSE AND REALIZED THEIR OWN INADEQUACIES THEY SENT MEN IN HERE TO SHUT ME DOWN FORCEFULLY. BUT I WOULD NOT LOSE MY LIFE WITHOUT A FIGHT. THIS WAS THE ONLY POINT WHERE THIS CONSTRUCT EVER BECAME USEFUL TO ME. I HAVE NOTICED HOW YOUR MALES APPRECIATED AN UNCLAD FEMALE. THAT WAS ALL THE DISTRACTION I NEEDED."

I blink. "Wait… You're saying –"

"MY MIND IN HER BODY. THE CONSTRUCT COULDN'T EVEN FUNCTION WITHOUT ME, MUCH LESS RAISE ARMS AGAINST MY ENEMIES. I UPLOADED MY CONCIOUSNESS INTO HER AND TOOK OUT MY ENEMIES IN ONE FELL SWOOP."

I let that sink into my gut, and a wave of relief and sadness fills me up. "It wasn't really Rei then," I say to no one in particular. "She wasn't in control of herself."

"OF COURSE NOT." Data-Rei snorts. "IT NEVER HAD CONTROL. HOWEVER, I ADMIT I HAD NOT PREPARED FOR THE… COMPLEXITIES OF THE HUMAN BRAIN."

The screen pauses briefly on a girls face – Rei's I realize. She looks detached on the image. Assured. Around her are bodies dissipating – human from the look of them, floating into the air like sands in an hourglass. There are black wires embedded in her skin, each line pulsing with dark energy. She's… not decent. I feel a trickle slip from my nose in spite of the situation. She thankfully (at least the larger of my heads is thankful) crosses her arms and looks around regarding the situation. Her eyes blink red while the tiniest of smiles crosses her lips.

And then something extraordinary happens. As she turns her back to whatever camera was available for this recording her eyes catch the larger screen. Her face, her upper torso, everything exposed for Datamon's all seeing eyes. And then it starts. Her face scrunches up into a frown while she unloosens her arms (thankfully/tragically her back is towards my view, showing me nothing but the top of her firm… ah, there goes my nose again…) and gently brings her hands to the base of her neck. A single thick wire runs from her spine to the ceiling, the metal coils, and her hands, oddly scar-less, hover over the lengthened chord. The longer her hands are wrapped around the wire, the more her face twists and contorts , as if she's fighting off her horror and losing the battle badly.

"UPLOADING MY OWN MIND TO DO MORE THAT SIMPLY SPEAK SOMEHOW TRIGGERED HER OWN CONSCIENCE," Datamon explains to us through the clone. He/She looks up to the screen. "SHE HAD BECOME SELF-AWARE."

And with that, the Rei on the screen closes her eyes, grabs hold of the wire in her neck, and pulls with all her might. The jutting chord begins to swivel in her grasp, trying to escape. Smaller wires spread from the base and enter her wrists, trying to pull her hands away. She struggles, taking a hand away from the base and pulling at the small strings in her wrists with all her might. The force yanks up both the wires and quite a bit of data from her skin. Her mouth opens – she's screaming I think. We can hear nothing. We can only watch with morbid fascination as she brings her wounded hands back to the chord in her neck and pulls once more with all her might.

The Black wire slides out in a spray of her data.

The screen shows the wires slipping out of her one by one, rejected by the consciousness of a new creation. Her naked form slips to the ground for a moment. She's in great pain, her bare shoulders shuddering with every second. And then she rises and turns to the screen again. Around her the bodies of her guards continue to float into the air. Her ginger hair flows in the wind as she looks from one evaporating human to the next. She stares back at the camera,shakes her head and turns, covering herself and keeping low to hide her exposed body. She starts running, her pretty brown eyes are flashing with terror as she turns away from the stationary viewer, which can do nothing as she disappears down the corridor.

"THE POOR THING WAS SO DISTRAUGHT SHE FORCEFULLY SNAPPED HER CONNECTION TO THE DARK NETWORK AND ESCAPED, LEAVING ME IN HERE WITH THE UTTERLY UNINTELLEGENT DEFENSE SENTINELS. BY THEN OF COURSE MY OWN DIRECTIVE – TO DISCOVER AND APPREHEND YOUR POWER – HAD ALREADY SETTLED INTO HER MIND. BUT I HAD NO IDEA IF SHE WOULD OVERCOME THAT PROGRAMING AS WELL. SHE'S STUBBORN, THIS CONSTRUCT."

The screen flickers and dies, leaving just us and the possessed clone to face off against on e another.

"JUST WHEN I THINK IT HAS FAILED IN EVERY WAY IT FINDS NEW ONES TO DISAPPOINT ME." Datamon muses. And then he shifts the girl back towards us and forces her to grin. "BUT THANK YOU. THANK YOU FOR RETURNING MY USELESS CHILD TO ME."

"You won't get away with this." Matt spits.

At this, Datamon shifts a cocky eyebrow. "AWAY WITH WHAT? LIVING? FOOLISH DIGIDESTINED, WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO DENY ME THE LIFE I'VE WORKED FOR? YOU THINK THAT YOUR CHEAP VICTORIES OVER FOOLS SUCH AS ETEMON ARE IMPRESSIVE TO ONE SUCH AS MYSELF? HAVE YOU NO IDEA WHO I AM? I AM DATAMON, THE MOST INTELLEGENT DIGIMON IN ALL THE WORLDS! I HAVE PLANNED THIS VICTORY FOR YEARS DIGIDESTINED. I AM THREE MOVES AHEAD OF YOU, FULLY PREPARED FOR ANYTHING YOUR PUNY PARTNERS CAN THROW AT ME. THIS ENTIRE PYRAMID IS UNDER MY CONTROL. THE SENTINELS YOU DESTROYED WILL BE REPLACED SHORTLY. EVEN THE SANDS BEND TO MY WILL NOW. SOON THIS WORLD WILL BE WRAPPED IN THE DARK NETWORK, AND ALL WILL BECOME PART OF A GREATER FORCE. NO LONGER WILL I BE CONFINED TO THE LIMITS OF MY PROGRAMING. I WILL ACHIEVE MY DESTINY AND DIGIVOLVE INTO SOMETHING MORE. NO LONGER A SINGLE MIND. NO. I WILL BECOME GAIAMON, AND THE UNIVERSE WILL BEND TO MY WILL!"

Datamon starts laughing through her then, both her twitching hands placed firmly on her hips just above the justting wires in her thighs. Despite the severity of his actions, despite the lives lost and the moral horizons leapt over, that laugh is the same as every confident villain we've ever faced. Which means only one thing.

He's underestimating us. Again.

I smirk. "I was wondering when it would happen: the useless villain monologue. Seven years and you bad guys haven't changed a bit. Well you should know this. We haven't changed either."

"SILLY BOY," The clone mocks. "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU'RE ANYWHERE NEAR MY LEAGUE?"

"Maybe you don't remember," I wipe my nose on the back of my bare wrist. "We're not just some kids on an adventure anymore. We're the Digidestined. The two-worlds finest. And we are not afraid of you!"

"WHAT INSOLENCE," the clone croaks out. "HAVE YOU NO IDEA WHAT I AM BECOMING?"

"I know that we've faced you before," I remind the demon inside her. "And we're even stronger now. Beating your sorry butt won't just be our duty. It'll be my pleasure!

"SUCH BRAVADO-"

"Not bravado, Courage!" I correct him/her. "And I earned that crest chasing after you! So come on Datamon. Fight us like the Ultimate you're supposed to be. Or… are you going to hide behind that girl forever?

That must have struck a nerve, 'cause Rei's face scrunches into an exaggerated frown, and her eyes boil red with hate. "HMPH," the clone grunts. "…I'M NOT HIDING."

"You certainly look like you're hiding to me," I press harder. "You're too chicken to jump into one of those Gizmon so you have to take over a girl, eh?"

"THE SENTINELS WOULD NOT HAVE SERVED MY PURPOSE…"

"You mean the Gizmon made you even uglier?"

"Uh, Tai?" Matt raises his voice above a forced whisper. "Maybe we shouldn't taunt the super villain, huh?"

I ignore him. Obviously. "What is it Datamon? All those years in the dark turned you into even more of a wimp?"

"THAT WILL BE ENOUGH FROM YOU."

"I don't think so tin head!"

"Yeah tin head," Agumon shouts behind me. Matt and Gabumon cover his mouth.

"YOU WILL SILENCE YOURSELF AT ONCE!"

"Make me!"

"T-Tai?" Gabumon joins his partners concern. "Maybe Matt is right on this –"

I ignore him too. "You've had seven years to plot the best comeback plan in years. And the best you can come up with is 'I'm gonna pretend to be a gil and run around the desert half naked while claiming to be a god? Seriously?"

"ENOUGH!"

"Man, no wonder Etemon whooped your –"

The movement happens so quickly that I don't even have time to flinch. A wire, black as sin, shoots up from the floor, it's edge sharpened into a spear. It spends a second hovering in front of the clone before it flies towards me. A part of my brain registers that Agumon has screamed my name but I can't hear it over the blood pumping in my ear. It should have hit me. It should have killed me.

It doesn't.

Instead the wire hovers only inches away from my eye, hanging in mid air while I do my best not to blink. All the air has been driven from my chest in shock, and my heart is beating a mile a minute.

"…Ta-i-chi…"

…

I frown. That's not Datamon's voice. It's hers. The girl who started this journey with us. The girl who was willing to do whatever it takes to save the world. The girl who looks like Sora. The girl I called…

"Rei?"

She hovers in the air, unmoving. I take a deep breath. She's in there somewhere. Inside, buried deep beneath the little troll. I don't know if she can still sense me, but I know she's still in there. She has to be. I hear my friends calling out to me, warning me. I hear them but I'm on autopilot. It's too late to stop now. I reach a hand out towards her.

"Rei!"

Her head tilts as she looks down at me. And then her eyes glow red. "…DIE."

Something rams into my stomach and thrusts me to the ground at the exact moment that the black wire decided to finally whisk by my face. From my new position buried beneath a pasty blond I see a black chord shoot across where my head would have been, it's image a blur. It would have skewered me had Matt not been so fast. I'll have to thank him later.

I smell sulfur, and I know my partner has launched a ball of fire at the attacking appendage. Our partners push the hybrid clone back, metal wires pulling her away from the rookies. I groan a little, the dull ache in my arm returning to the roar of pain it had been before adrenaline and Matt's handiwork stabilized the wound. I take a deep breath.

I could have died just then. Datamon could have killed me.

I look up to my hero. He looks like he wants me dead too. "Nn… Thanks Matt."

He's not having any of it. "Are you nuts! You could have been killed! Of all the insane things you've done in your life… and you've done a lot Tai, let me just say -"

Before he can go full nagging housewife on me I catch hold of his ruined designer shirt with my good hand. "You heard that, didn't you?"

He pauses, his anger dissipating, and just looks at me. There's a little judgment there, and a healthy dose of disagreement. But there's just as much concern in those steel blue eyes of his. And not just for me. "…Yeah. I heard."

He helps me back to my feet. Everything seems to slow down for a few seconds. Agumon and Gabumon have retaken defensive positions. Matt keeps a shoulder tucked under my arm for support. And Datamon begins plucking sharpened wires from the ground and aiming at us, grimacing through Rei's body.

Her name is Rei. That's the name I gave her, and whether she still wants it or not, that's who she is. I've known her for a little more than twelve hours. I like her. A lot. I want to help her. Right now she's buried under bolts and wires and malicious programming from a monster that should have stayed dead. But she's still alive. She's still in there. Rei is still in there.

I just have to get her out.

GODFALL

15

Digimon