CHAPTER 3

The Next Day,

Haven City

Police Plaza

Ops. Booth

Foaly kneaded his forehead. With his brain pounding a hip-hop beat in his head, it was pretty difficult to concentrate on his work, let alone restrain himself from singing along to the rhythm. It was agony to try and concentrate on advanced geometry..

The cause for his headache, however, was much more important then his work. Every time he tried to focus on physics or arithmetic, a certain brown-eyed centaur would keep popping-up in his mind. The expression on the centaur's face, however, didn't leave the usual feeling of warmth.

Wow, I screwed up, he thought, lazily tapping a key on his keyboard. He supposed he should really get that paperwork done. Why did he even have paperwork, you ask? He grumbled darkly under his breath, cursing the virus left in his computer. Somehow it restricted access from saved documents, pictures, videos, and the Internet. No matter how many computer-scans he did, he knew it would take a few more minutes before he found the little bug. It had infected his computer about an hour ago, and, oddly enough, it had only affected his computer. Everyone else in his department was untouched.

It wasn't a reassuring thought. His heart, despite his reassurances that nothing could've happened, was pounding extremely hard.

A whisper hissed from behind him. The only sign Foaly heard the noise was a flick of his brown tail, and maybe a twitch of his ear, if he thought about it. It was an unintentional reaction, a reflex he couldn't control when something caught him off guard.

This was pathetic.

"Hey Foaly. What're you doing?" Holly's voice came from the far-end of the Ops Booth. The hiss of the door closing didn't seem so loud anymore. Foaly unconsciously grinned. No matter how many times he saw her, he would always get a feeling of giddiness when she walked in the room. Already his ears were standing.

He sighed. "I somehow got a virus," Holly looked stunned. The only other time she had ever heard of Foaly getting a virus in his computer was almost 5 years ago during the B'wa Kell Uprising. It was unheard-of and almost considered an omen.

Foaly caught her expression. "Yeah, I know. But I have a hunch about who did it."

Holly smirked, crossing her arms and silently making her way across the Ops Booth. Foaly's tail twitched when she arrived at his flank, staring at the computer screen over his shoulder. Numbers and percentages were flashing everywhere.

She blinked, trying to regain her eyesight. Man, was that screen bright. How could he stare at that thing every minute of every day?

"Let me guess," she hopped up on the desk, earning a displeased look from her friend. "Artemis?"

The centaur whinnied, his face morphing into an irritated frown. "That Mudboy is really getting on my nerves. Somehow he's able to make bigger and better viruses that are complicated to get out. It's taking me over ten minutes to get rid of it!" He huffed. Since Opal had escaped from officials almost a year ago in the rubble of the Kraken, Artemis and Foaly maintained constant contact. Over a period of a few months, it became a battle to see who can create the nastiest computer bug. Of course, none of them would risk destroying each other's files—Holly had grudgingly pointed out that it would be idiotic to corrode each other's computers, as both of them had valuable information—so they practiced on the length of time it took to get rid of it. The record, so-far, was a 30 minute removal process held by Artemis.

Holly pursed her lips, finding it dangerous to point out that the last time Artemis had contacted her or Foaly was a few months ago. She vaguely remembered the parting-conversation, seeing as how she had been promoted at around the time they spoke. Her stress-level had shot through the roof, and although she felt guilty for not paying attention, she knew his temporary-absence was for a good reason. Or at least a sensible one. She couldn't remember what it was, but she had been highly-approving of it.

She looked back at Foaly.. There had to be a different reason why he was so agitated. Surely Artemis couldn't make the centaur this upset. She was almost certain that anything pertaining to the viral-contest would be taken as good-game.

Holly frowned. "What else is bugging you?" She asked, swinging her legs. Foaly sighed and leaned back in his modified chair. He rubbed his eyes and groaned.

"I forgot our anniversary today."

Holly's eyebrows rose and her mouth dropped. A small pang of guilt kneaded at her for not being at Foaly's wedding, but Caballine was a charming centaur, and she had instantly rose to the top-five list of her best friends. Every weekend they would go shopping, and although Holly rarely bought anything, she found conversation with Caballine relaxing and entertaining. If Foaly knew half the topics they talked about, he would have both their cell phones destroyed in a matter of minutes. But Holly knew how smitten he was with her, and it would take an enormous amount of anxiety for him to forget about something like that.

"Er, wow…?" Holly's accusation came out like a question. Foaly chuckled, groaning again and rubbing his forehead, in vain hope that his headache would disappear that way. "Is she even talking to you? What is it, your third anniversary?" She asked.

Foaly nodded. "I don't know what to do!" He whined. His tail twitched again. "She's not looking at me, she leaves when I enter the room… I thought about taking her to dinner, but that seems so…"

"Cliche?" Holly asked. Foaly nodded and shook his head to help clear his thoughts..

They both squirmed in their seats. This wasn't a normal topic of their conversation, and although Holly had a responsibility of friendship towards Foaly, she couldn't help but feel sorry for Caballine.

"Look, I'm not taking sides, and I probably shouldn't be the one giving advice," Holly hopped down from the desk, brushing nonexistent dust from her jumpsuit. "But I think you should do something especially romantic. Caballine is a very… er, passionate centaur."

Foaly nodded and rubbed his eyes. Holly sighed, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, but I've got to go. I've got a ton of paperwork to finish. Don't worry about it, okay?" She sighed, dragging her feet across the tiled floor.

"See you," Foaly muttered, pressing a key. The screen didn't react, instead each of the virus scanners reporting that they were ninety-eight percent finished.

"Bye Foaly. See you tomorrow."

The Op's Booth door hissed shut. Foaly, now alone, twirled his finger in the air. He searched around his room for anything to do, anything to keep his mind off the annoyingly-slow scans. Before he could find something, beeping erupted from his speakers. Turning his attention back, he found the source of his problems.

"So it was him, eh?" He smiled, shaking his head. Artemis was in for a big surprise when he woke up tomorrow