Chapter 53
"So what exactly is your plan?" Ember asked dryly, folding her arms as she stared at the hunter virus. That ridiculous spider monstrosity called Technus left what felt like ages ago, and many other patrons of The Vortex decided now was probably the best time to leave, some whispering about going into hiding. Beyond this "corrupt Phantom into a virus" thing that Skulker announced was Technus' goal, no one knew what would happen after the plan succeeded. And none of them apparently wanted to hang around and find out.
Skulker lifted his head from examining a missile launcher to land annoyed green eyes on her. "I don't have a plan," he answered, mouth thinning, "exactly."
"You were basically going to track them down and blow the shit out of them, weren't you?" Ember smirked when she caught his glower. Sometimes, knowing the other virus made his moves seem horribly predictable. "I may not be a great hunter like you," she tried very hard not to let another smirk slip onto her face, "but something tells me that's not going to work."
She was being snarky, almost treating the situation like it was a joke, something to laugh about later when Skulker's plan backfired terribly in his face. But inside, she was shaken. She kept her arms folded, hands clenched in tight fists under her arms as she tried to keep the mask in place to hide her fears. She didn't any better than rest what would happen if Technus succeeded in his plan. Phantom was already a thorn in their sides, popping up whenever they tried to cause mischief. Being twisted into a virus, who knew what that would do to him?
"I mean," Ember continued, rolling her bright green eyes, "if this virus thing has already attached itself to the dipstick, how exactly are you going to stop it? Maybe we should just get out now before the storm hits the NetZone."
Skulker placed the missile launcher on the bar top as he stood. Ember eyed him warily, jaw setting tightly as he slowly turned toward her. His hand dropped heavily onto her shoulders, squeezing firmly around them as he stared intensely into her eyes. "Run," he told her, voice serious, no hint of a joke in his expression. "Go hide like the rest of them. Find some place safe to stay until all of this blows over. But me? I'm going to put up whatever fight I can. I'm not letting some stupid spider thing beat me."
"This isn't some contest, Skulker!" Ember shouted, slapping the hands away from her. "This is serious. Whatever Technus has up his sleeve could turn out to be really bad. For all of us. Stop being so pigheaded about this." She didn't even know why she was trying to talk sense into the tin head since Skulker hardly listened to a word she said anyway. He always said the wrong thing and got on her last nerve. She should consider it a blessing that he might run off and get himself deleted or so badly injured that his coding was permanently damaged. It might give him a better personality.
"You can be so," Skulker raised his hands, making strangling motions as his face twisted with rage, "so infuriating!" He wiped a hand over his head, sliding through the flaming green Mohawk. "I try so hard to impress you, but you just brush me off like a piece of trash. Even now, when I'm trying to do the right thing by you, you just act like I'm an idiot."
"You are an idiot," Ember pointed out flatly, giving him a withering glare. He was a fool if he thought hunting and capturing Phantom was going to impress her. She didn't care for Phantom in the slightest. He was a nuisance, but she mostly stuck to The Vortex and working on her music, the only thing that really mattered to her as her programming dictated in the same manner as hunting was Skulker's primary function.
Skulker growled, grinding his teeth as his shoulders hunched. Then suddenly, he caught her face between his hands. Ember couldn't even think of how to react when he leaned in and their mouths smashed together. It was a terrible kiss, rushed and roughed, and she wanted to pull back and slap him while yelling at him for doing something so impossibly stupid at a time like this. But then he moved in closer, their mouths shifted against each other into something more comfortable. A hand slid back to hold her head while the other skimmed down her body and wrapped securely around her waist. The harshness softened into something tender that surprised the singer, who never imagined the hunter to be capable of something like that. When he pulled away, Ember could only stare in stunned silence at him.
"You're both idiots, if you ask me," Nocturne commented offhandedly as he flicked lazily through the data on a screen before him. He leaned on the bar at the other end from them with a rather bored expression on his face.
Skulker released his hold on Ember as he turned fully to the program. "You're just going to stay here? Shouldn't you go into hiding or something? You don't have any sort of fighting capabilities as a mere program."
"This mere program," Nocturne snapped his gaze away from the screen and narrowed his eyes at the hunter, "will remain in his home. It's the only thing I have left."
Ember frowned as Nocturne focused back on the screen, sorrow and pain tingeing his gaze. Everyone had heard about what happened with him and Vortex. This place he set up was really the only thing left in the program's life that held any meaning for him. Nocturne lived everyday to fulfill the dream he had with Vortex, and if he ever lost it, Ember doubted the program would care if he ended up being completely erased from the NetZone.
A crash sounded from outside, and tension immediately filled the room. Her eyes drifted toward the exit as fear crept up her spine. She was fairly certain she didn't want to know what was happening outside, but curiosity was drawing her interest. She gulped nervously, her insides twisting uncomfortably as a tight feeling squeezed at her chest. Skulker snatched up his missile launcher then headed for the door. Ember watched him, her gaze following his every move. He couldn't possibly be that stupid.
"Wish me luck," Skulker said, throwing a grin over his broad shoulder before his pushed through the door and stepped outside The Vortex.
"That idiot is going to get himself killed," Ember grumbled, a feeling she wasn't used to gnawing at her sides.
"I thought you would be happy if he ended up getting himself killed," Nocturne said dully, hardly interested in the affairs of the other two viruses.
"I don't care what happens to him," Ember sniffed stiffly. Leaning over the bar, she grabbed her guitar from where it was leaning against the bar. "But I'm not going to sit back and let any destruction come to this place. It's," she hesitated as she glanced Nocturne's way, her hands gripping her guitar tightly, "another home to me. And I'll be damned if I let that idiot fail to keep this place intact."
It wasn't like it was one hundred percent a lie. She walked toward the exit, following after the hunter. The Vortex was an important place to her, but some part of her kept whispering that maybe she wasn't being fully honest with her reasons. When she stepped outside of the establishment, Ember froze as her eyes locked on the duo before her. Skulker fired one of his missiles, the projectile soaring through the air at his target, which dodged swiftly. The rocket exploded on impact with the ground, creating cracks through the hard surface as smoke billowed into the air.
"Hold still!" Skulker shouted, abandoning the launcher that hit the ground with a loud clunking clatter. He reached behind him, drawing forward the gun strapped to his back. Raising it up, he took aim at the one he was fighting.
Ember's eyes widened as she stared at the rogue program. Phantom... didn't look like Phantom. In body shape and facial appearance, he was absolutely recognizable as the nuisance that plagued the viruses of the NetZone. But that was basically where the similarities ended. This Phantom was a blinding vision in white. His eyes glowed blood red with a crazed gleam to them. His hair, she almost laughed to see that it copied her and Skulker with the white flames dancing upon his head.
He was far more skilled than the Phantom she remembered seeing at the human assembly called a football game. She only joined Skulker on that little excursion because it would be her first time getting to break out of the NetZone. The idea was thrilling at the time, getting to wreak a bit of chaos upon the users. Toying with Phantom was a mere side note to her. Skulker could have all the fun he liked with the rogue program. She merely wanted the chance to make the users dance.
Phantom dodged the attacks with surprising speed. Brilliant white shields of energy went up to protect him from time to time. The bursts from Skulker's gun barely made a dent on these barriers. Ember's breath caught in her throat, lodging there like a lump that was slowly choking her. Phantom had grown much stronger since she saw him last, and that progress frightened her. Was this all because of the virus that Technus created and implanted into the rogue program? Was this terrifying vision the plan Technus crafted so carefully from the shadows?
White sparks danced down Phantom's right arm as a ball of energy formed in the palm of his hand. Ember could barely blink as she watched the fight taking place before her. His left arm thrust out toward Skulker, sending a spinning disc of energy at the hunter. Immediately his own shields went up as Skulker protected himself from the attack. When the disc struck, it fizzled out like it barely contained a flicker of energy. Ember's mouth open, a shout of warning trying to break free, but no sound would leave her mouth. The white exploded from Phantom's right hand and crashed into the shields. Skulker gritted his teeth, his brow creasing in concentration to maintain the barrier before him. But each shield started to crack under the pressure of the massive onslaught. The rush of energy, the shattering of the barrier, echoed in her ears as the wash of crackling white energy eclipsed Skulker's form. His screams filled the air, the agony in his voice tearing at her heart.
This wasn't right.
She heard a thousand tales of Phantom's deeds while working in The Vortex. He fought to protect the NetZone. He had some stupid and ridiculous sense of nobility that Ember couldn't even begin to fathom. This, what she was seeing right now, wasn't how Phantom was supposed to act. Something was horribly wrong with this scene. If Technus' plan was to make Phantom into another virus, why was Phantom still attacking them? Why did he look like he was out for their blood? In the figurative sense as they technically didn't have blood in the same sense as users.
Hot moisture trailed down her cheeks, and Ember quickly scrubbed at her eyes with a black glove covered hand. She wasn't some weak program that could only sit idly while someone was attacking. After twisting the knob on her guitar, she yanked the pick from between the strings on the neck. Her fingers easily found their places after many long hours of practicing how to play. Then she strummed down hard, sending out a loud, strong burst of energy. She managed to catch him by surprised as the sound wave crashed into him. Phantom skidded back, his powerful attack cut short, before he managed to erect a barrier to protect him from the musical cord.
Ember quickly turned her gaze onto Skulker. Pain pierced through her chest when she saw him lying on the ground. She kept imagining him jumping back to his feet, laughing it off and saying he was perfectly okay, bragging that a little thing like that couldn't hurt him. She waited for it, but Skulker remained there not moving. Her legs nearly gave out under her as she took a few trembling steps toward him. Her vision blurred, her eyes burning as the tears threatened to spill over again. She gasped, struggling to breathe as she looked over the damage done to him. Almost all of him looked like the layers of his body were torn away and holes were ripped straight through him. Half his face was missing, and one arm was completely severed from him, laying several feet away from his body.
But her attention was torn away from Skulker when Phantom made his presence known again. He was before her in a flash, a scythe appearing in his hand. "Please," she begged, her voice thick with emotion as her body trembled. Her hands felt numb with their tight grip on the guitar. "Please don't." Each breath ached in her chest, and the tears fell hotly down her cheeks, probably ruining her makeup though that hardly mattered at the moment. "You've already hurt him enough. Just - Just leave us alone!" She shouted her plea at him, feeling pathetically weak in that moment. But she was scared, and she didn't understand the feelings clawing at her. Why was she getting so emotional over what happened to Skulker? This wasn't usually how she reacted when he turned up looking like a mess. But he also never got this severely injured. The revelation shocked her when she realized she hated seeing Skulker like this, looking all broken and near death. She didn't want him to be hurt like this ever again. She wanted - She blinked, a fresh trail of tears spilling from her eyes. She wanted Skulker. She wanted him whole and safe and at her side, even if he was an idiot that could never say the right thing.
"Don't worry," Phantom said in an eerie voice as his mouth stretched into a creepy grin that sent shivers through the singer. He lifted his scythe, the blade pressing close to her throat. "Soon neither of you will have to feel pain ever again."
"This isn't you, Phantom." Ember tried to sound strong, keep a firm voice, but a waver managed to find its way into her words. "It's the virus. You," and she couldn't believe she was saying it, "have to fight it. Remember who you really are."
"I know exactly who I am." His eyes turned cold as they narrowed at her. "I'm the EXEcutioner." The simple statement sent dread through her, settling deep in the singer's gut. "I'm going to eliminate every last virus and free the NetZone from your terrible rule." His grin stretched even wider as he lifted his choice of weapon above his head. "I hope you've made your peace because you're about to meet your maker."
Ember clamped her eyes shut, cringing back as the scythe descended upon her. A strangled shout of rage reached her ears. Cautiously, she cracked open one green eye, numbed by the fact that she didn't feel the blade carve through her body. She blinked, eyes opening wide as she stared at Phantom entangled with chains, drawn several feet back from her. The familiar, and unimaginatively crafted, security programs had Phantom captured. But the sight of the head of the Guys in White security on the NetZone, the Warden Walker, made Ember gulp with a new wave of terror. She dropped to her knees, clutching her guitar in her hands as she watched the struggle between security programs and Phantom.
"Stupid programs," Phantom growled, his voice rumbling with darkness as he scowled at his captors. "I don't want to hurt you, but if you don't release me now, then you leave me no choice."
"I'm afraid we can't do that, child," Walker said in that stiff tone of a person looking down on another. His green eyes narrowed in his skeletal face, grim satisfaction in his expression at his victory of capturing a long sought after prey. "You've been enemy number one for years. We're going to take you in, whether you come quietly or not."
"I choose not." Sparks of white energy raced over the chains binding Phantom to the programs designed to look like police, each one with the same annoyingly identical appearance. They screamed as the electrical surge fried their insides before they collapsed to the ground. The chains loosened around him, and Phantom pulled them free from his body with a cold smirk. Plenty more guards stood at the ready to take the place of their fallen comrades and secure the rogue program.
The scythe appeared almost instantly in Phantom's hands again as he glared down the security programs. Ember tried to make herself move, knowing that the moment he was finished with them, Phantom would return to finish what he started with her. But it was like her legs melted into the ground of the NetZone, her body refusing to obey her commands. She could get away now while he was distracted, but her mind failed her, blanking on how to do the simplest of things, like getting to her feet.
Translucent blue walls crashed down around Phantom, nearly startling a scream out of Ember from the shock of the event and from how close one of the walls slammed into the ground before her and Skulker's body. The sound of their impact echoed for several long, drawn out moments as they all stared in surprise at the walls confining the rogue program. Phantom's red eyes swept around, taking in his prison, and he ground his teeth, lips pulling back to show off sharp fangs. He swiped his scythe at a wall, but the blade met with resistance, unable to slash his way through it.
A frown drew upon his face as he stood up straighter and allowed his weapon to vanish. Brow set in deep concentration, Phantom slowly called up energy around his hands. When the binary coding shattered away, large gauntlets covered his hands, looking about five times too large on him. He pulled back one fist then slammed it forward into the wall. A shudder shook the area as cracks appeared in the wall, but they quickly repaired themselves. Phantom punched it again and again, but the walls recovered too quickly for him to break free. Cold dread filled her as Ember feared what would happen if and when Phantom finally got free of that mysterious cage.
midnight: D8 Poor Tuck. He feels like this is all his fault. orz But he's determined to help save Danny! Haha, yeah. Let's go with that. XD;;; *only came up with the new name when I got to that chapter* XD;;
Sammi: It's always great to see all the band together to help Danny. 8D
DARKLOVEFORFANFICTION123: I feel that way with all three of the A lists. XD;;
Just Will: Next chapter. XD;; Yeah, Kwan just needs to get away from his family. I don't think he'll fully be able to break free from that thinking until he's no longer suffering that abuse from his family. It probably would have been a lot worse for him if he didn't have people like Dash, Paulina, and Valerie in his life. What happened to Danny was totally not what Technus planned. XD;;
Fo: Thanks~ 8D Yay puns! XD
Omnifarious Writer: Jack Fenton, king of giving things corny names. XD Yay everyone banding together! Well, and except Paulina too. Someone had to stick with Val. Kwan and Dash would have too, but stopping Phantom/EXEcutioner took priority.