I come to the Net.

I watch peoples, systems, cities and worlds.

For my function: Creating A World Without Danger

All will join and those that resist will be destroyed.

The Enemy Lives

The game of hide-and-seek had been quickly wrecked.

Odd had only just started looking for the others when Jeremy and Aelita had reappeared through the trapdoor in the attic and asked him to stop. Then the three of them had gone searching for Ulrich and Yumi, quickly finding them in the living room, sitting in silence on the couch. Something must have happened, because the girl seemed furious and Ulrich was regarding her timorously, like an inexperienced animal handler facing off against an undomesticated tiger.

"Aelita has an idea" Jeremy announced to them. "In the cellar there are some sacks of cement marked with the address of a construction firm in the city."

"So what?" Ulrich asked.

"We were thinking of going to the address on the sacks and seeing if anyone there ever worked on the Hermitage."

"On a Sunday?" Yumi intervened.

"This is the only day when we're free to do what we want. School starts up again tomorrow after all."

"Do you know how many years those sacks may have been mouldering down there Einstein? I'm guessing at least ten."

"It was only a suggestion."

Ulrich was wiping snow from his hair with a towel. "Is it really that important?"

"It's about the secret passages" Aelita explained. "Perhaps if we talked to the people who helped build them, we could learn something we don't already know. Maybe one of them knew my father..."

They stared at her in silence.

It was Yumi who eventually said what everyone was thinking: "Getting to the bottom of this isn't going to do us any harm."

"But it doesn't make sense for all of us to just get up and go together" objected Odd. "Someone has to stay here and prepare snacks for later."

"I don't believe this; you can't always be hungry!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"Odd's right. There's no need for all of us to go. For example, I'd be better off staying here to clear the house with..." Yumi indicated towards Ulrich with her head.

"Get this mutt off my legs!" Ulrich hissed in the silence that followed. "Or I'm going to smother it with the towel!"

After a full day's work, well if you could even call it work.

The truth is John could only sit back and relax while just checking on the website to make sure it was running perfectly. He had set out what he had wanted to do and earned a nice little private estate where he could live in luxury.

What more could a man ask for me?

What indeed.

John's eyes went wide as he looked at his laptop, seeing the same green skull emblem from before and just like before, everything turned dark.

"Are you alright?" A woman's voice asked kindly. "You've opened your eyes."

"You gave us quite a scare" A girl joined in.

Eva Skinner was in the school infirmary and floating in front of her were the concerned faces of Doctor Johan and her friend Susy.

Eva opened her mouth but was unable to speak. Something within her was manipulating her like a marionette. Something that had taken control of her mind. XANA was now giving the orders, one at a time.

To open the mouth.

To articulate the language.

To speak.

It was all very complicated.

Doctor Johan smiled kindly. "You fell ill suddenly at the concert."

Ill?

XANA had never felt so good. He felt great. All he had to do was acclimatize to this new body. And recover from the long and laborious journey he had begun as a digital fragment hiding at the bottom of the sea: he had become an Internet virus, a video message relayed through a phone, and finally the music video at the concert.

All to find the right person.

Eva Skinner.

"Thankfully you don't seem to be badly hurt. Your parents will be here shortly to take you home."

Eva tried to speak again, and again she failed. It was a terrible effort.

"Let's leave her for now" The doctor told Susy. "She needs to rest."

The girl looked reproachfully at Eva. "You better get better soon. I missed the end of the concert to be here."

Now Eva found herself alone in the room. For XANA this was a perfect opportunity to become better acquainted with his new body.

He had to learn how to move and speak.

He managed to take control of the eyes. Right, left, up, down. He tested the limits of his vision, looking from the far end of the bed up to the neon light set in the centre of the long ceiling, and from the window to the door.

Now he had to consider the rest of the body.

He concentrated and tried to move a finger.

The index of the right hand.

Nothing happened.

'Move...the...finger. You, the finger, move. Please, finger...Dammit!'

The right fist abruptly clenched shut.

Anger.

That was the trick: don't ask it to happen, just make it hap¬ pen.

Eva opened her mouth. "Eeeeeeeeh"

That was his first word.

It was a confused and strangled moan, but it was a start.

Next, he wiggled all his fingers and toes. When he managed to raise the bed sheet, he realized he was making good progress.

He rose to her feet and ended up face-down on the floor. Lashing pain engulfed his body. Stupid, weak humans. Somehow or other he managed to lift himself onto all fours.

Then he stood up and tried to walk again, fell again, but this time his hands were ready to mitigate the blow. Try again.

He got back onto his feet. This time he managed two steps before falling.

Try again.

Half an hour later he had managed to walk the entire length of the room.

Approaching the window, he opened it: the infirmary was on the third floor and overlooked a relatively quiet road, where an old van was passing by, vomiting black smoke from its exhaust pipe. At the bottom of the road, a woman in pink overalls was jogging along, holding the leash of a small dog in her hand.

Eva considered for a moment the prospect of simply jumping down from the window. No, she decided. She couldn't risk breaking a bone. That was unacceptable.

There was a gutter pipe attached to the building's wall that came within half a meter of the window. Climbing down did not seem an impossible enterprise.

She clambered onto the windowsill and took hold of the pipe, which emitted a metal groan. She quickly began to climb down, barefooted and dressed in only a hospital gown, her attention focused on the necessary motions: hand, foot, hand, foot. When she was almost at the bottom, she allowed herself to fall and landed on her back, sprawling out on the asphalt and feeling another flood of pain.

Just how fragile was this body?

"Did you just hurt yourself darling?" The lady with the dog asked, rushing in her direction.

Her greying hair was tied up in a ponytail and her face was almost hidden behind a large pair of sunglasses.

Two wires could be seen emerging from her ears.

"Are you in pain, baby?" She removed one of the earphones. "Why are you almost naked? You don't even have shoes! Wait here while I call someone!"

Of course: human beings often changed their garments, and probably Eva's current ensemble was inappropriate. She considered her options. Then she rose to her feet and approached the woman.

A simple tap to the head followed by a zap and the lady was lying on the ground, unconscious and being dragged into an alley with the dog immediately tied to a pole. There was no point or even need in killing the woman as he needed to remain undercover but the small zap through the earphones traveled through the nervous system, erasing the woman's memories of the last ten minutes to ensure she didn't remember this encounter. A death this soon when he had just gained a new body would only compromise his part of the operation with Megabyte.

With her this close to the hospital, the entire area would be on high alert and the authorities would immediately suspect the patient who had just left her room. Better to let her think she had been knocked out and robbed, which she technically was about to be. By the time the woman would wake up, she would find herself in the very hospital gown she had found Eva in, and the first objective would be long since complete.

Ten minutes later Eva walked calmly away, wearing a pair of pink overalls several sizes too big for her, the arms and legs rolled up to prevent her from stumbling.

Behind her the small dog was barking desperately.

"Sir, are you sure you are all right?"

Margie hadn't been sure what to expect when she had found out that John had suddenly fainted, but she had waited as the private doctor checked him over and for the most power he was healthy.

Physically healthy at least.

When John awoke again, there was a form of calmness that could almost be mistaken for…malevolence for a moment before he suddenly returned.

"Yes, I am fine, Margie." He spoke, his voice sounding…sophisticated and refined as though he were some sort of English gentleman and yet he sounded like he was saying her name for the first time in an almost alien manner. "I'm afraid I received some…startling news that I must personally address. When can the jet be ready?"

"The jet?" Margie cleared her throat. "Well, considering it was just used and factoring where you have to go it would take one to three days."

John narrowed his eyes but remained calm. "I see…The place I need to go is Switzerland and should I turn up empty there the next place will have to be France."

"Switzerland and France?" Margie gaped. "Sir, what is this news you have-"

"A personal nature, Margie." John cut her off coldly. "And it is very serious. I cannot say anything else on the matter."

Margie would have argued but the cold look in John's eyes forced her to hold her tongue. "Sir…I will speak to our pilots about getting the jet ready."

"Please do."

Margie quickly rushed out of the room with John watching. He turned to his laptop, eyeing his reflection before placing a single finger on the screen. There was a surge of electricity and the green skull logo that his own personal symbol appeared on the screen.

'Ah, so I've retained my ability to infect machinery.' John's lips curled into a grin as he stared out the door. 'In that case…'

Margie immediately pulled out her cell phone as soon as she left the office. "Listen Doctor, I think something is wrong with John. He's-"

A finger touched the back of her head and she immediately felt…cold.

"I'm afraid that will not do, Miss Margie."

Margie only let out one gasp…before her eyes glazed over.

Megabyte grinned as he took Margie's cell phone and looked over Margie, seeing that she was still standing but her face completely blank of emotion. So, his infection still worked here and from what he could see, his infection had been upgraded either by his time in the Web or by XANA. Still, he had to take pride in his work as he was likely the first virus to infect a User.

XANA may have viral like qualities, but he wasn't counting his partner in this.

Megabyte's mind was racing now, considering what would happen if he could infect a large number of Users like he had infected the binomes of Ghetty Prime in Mainframe, taking over the industrial sector to build his army and his prized Silicon Tor. Still, that would mean being stuck in this body and despite the differences between these worlds, he much preferred his true form. He could stomach this human body while working with XANA, but he still wished to return to Mainframe.

'If I even knew where Mainframe was in the User world, I could just simply smash the computer holding the system.' Megabyte mused. 'But that would be rather…anti-climactic. I would very much prefer to be there in person.'

In the meantime, he would like to see where he can go with this new position of power he was in.

"Now, Margie." He held up a finger under Margie's chin. "I believe we were discussing my travel to Switzerland."

"Yes, sir." Margie said blankly. "I will speak to our pilots."

"See that you do." 'John' said coolly with a smile.

John then entered his office and sat down at his desk, marveling at the sight of the laptop, finding it hard to believe that an entire system could potentially exist in there. A window popped up with a ringing tone, telling Megabyte it was a call, and he pressed the green icon.

On the screen appeared a young blond haired spri-girl. "Is that you, Megabyte?"

"Ah, XANA or should I say Miss Skinner." Megabyte grinned through John's mouth. "I take it you have been successful in gaining your host."

"Affirmative." The girl said, her voice as cold as ice. "I am at the airport right now and I have charted a flight to Switzerland, landing at the airport designated Euro Airport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg. From there, I will make my way to the Swiss-Alps. What is your current status?"

"Oh, I have just woken up and have already sent my…secretary to prepare to a flight to Switzerland as well." Megabyte answered. "It might be on short notice, but I doubt it will be of any concern. I assume you know the location of the house there."

"Of course." The girl nodded. "It will have to be on foot however, given the history of that house. We cannot afford to alert anyone."

"Very well." Megabyte nodded. "And what do you plan to do once we get there?"

"If we find nothing of value, we proceed with the original plan and head to France. If something is found, we'll alter accordingly." Eva answered. "I still intend to enroll at the school where my enemies are attending."

"Just remember to keep your end of the bargain when we get there." Megabyte reminded.

"I will." The girl said before ending the call.

"Hm…" Megabyte sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin. "This should be an interesting experience…Heheheh."