Part One: A Sprite for a Sprite

Dot stood there, watching the screen, her mouth open in a silent gasp as she listened to the crackling static coming from her headset in one ear and the words of the vengeful virus seeping into her other ear. She could distantly hear Hack and Slash arguing about what to do, but her attention was focused on the penetrating eyes on the screen. He was talking to her, and a chill made its way jaggedly up her spine as he presented her, and the rest of the small system, with his thirst for vengeance, his thirst for the Hunt.

Though in complete silence, her mind was making enough noise to drown out Hack and Slash. She was already thinking, devising, and coming to grips with the situation. As she listened to that low arrogant laugh sputter from behind the serrated teeth of the virus, her leather-gloved hands clenched tightly to her planner. She began to think of all the things that this virus had put the system through. The fighting, the wars, the crash. He had cost her so much; her brother, her father, her friends, her home, and Bob.

Bob. That virus had made her betray him again. Bob. The only one in Mainframe who actually wanted to give that virus a chance. No! No more chances, no more pain, no more time. This ends now!

Her anger escalated until the sound of her grinding teeth halted the argument between Hack and Slash. They stared at her before exchanging glances between each other, shrugging, then back to Dot.

"Uhhm. Sir Ma'am!"

"Yah! Dot... what are we..."

"We must be doing something."

"Oh ya, definetly something. Hide?"

"Hide? No! We cannot hide! Run!"

"Run? You want we should run, Dot?"

"Dot? Want we should run or hide? I am thinking we hide."

"But you just said run."

The two bots fell silent as they got no reply. Then the virus came back onto the screen to make the decision for them. A deep grin slithered its way across his face. He took a pause to chuckle, possibly at his own arrogant brilliance. He looked down at the screen, giving the watchers a close up view of his razor bladed crocodilian smile.

"Oh, and by the way, Ms. Matrix," Megabyte paused to make sure he had her complete attention, which he had since the beginning. He smiled again before continuing. "Ms. Matrix, I seem to have something rather interesting in my new collection in the Principal Office control room, something that may be of interest to you as well."

He chuckled darkly and moved the view over to the center of the room. There in the center sat Enzo, surrounded by binome drones. Enzo looked up at screen for a moment, then to the Virus.

"You're gonna be sorry Megajerk! My sister, and, and Bob, and Matrix are going to burst through those doors and nullify you any nano!"

Enzo was cut off as Megabyte reoriented the view on the monitor. "Spunky, isn't he?" The virus grinned menacingly. "I would hate to be forced into making him into one of my less... lively... drones, wouldn't you agree, hmmm? But, it seems I have no choice... hmmmmm?" He paused again with a razor smile. "What do you say Ms. Matrix, a trade? You come to the Principal Office for a chat... and I may release the boy. If not - " He lost all pleasantness and unfurled his golden claws. "He won't live long enough to become a drone! You have one millisecond to show up at my door!"

After a dark growl followed by that ever-present chuckle, the view screen clicked off and bleeped out of the hall, leaving Dot standing there, shaking her head. She then nodded to herself as something in her brain clicked.

"So uhm, Dot... what we do now?"

"Yeah, what we do? Run?" Hack and Slash drummed their fingers nervously as they waited for a reply with a questioning glance.

Dot turned suddenly to them with a dark smile to rival Megabyte's. "I have a plan." She tapped on her planner and began to explain as best as she could to the two, working quickly to get her plan on the move.

* * *

"We have to find the others. We have to find Dot before she does anything... rash," Bob fumbled out at Matrix as he began running down the corridor. Matrix took a deep-chested breath as his large shoulders rose and fell again. He began to trudge down the hallway after Bob, his big clunky boots echoing through the corridor.

"Dot? Rash? She's probably waiting for the two of us now to make a show."

"I don't think so Matrix, not this time."

"How do you know?"

Matrix had to put on the full brakes as Bob stopped suddenly to face him.

"Dot has been acting rash lately Matrix, ever since Daemon. Right now I wouldn't put anything past her. Plus, that virus has Enzo, her little brother. He's all she has left to help her remember what a normal life was once like."

"Yeah, guess I'm just the constant reminder of how much of a screw-up this datastream has been," Matrix mumbled roughly.

"No Matrix, you're a reminder of what she did. She blames herself for you losing that game, for being forced to grow up so quickly, so rough. She loves that little boy in there, and she loves you too, Enzo. In a way, she needs both of you."

Matrix cringed slightly at being called Enzo again after so long, but nodded as he understood the underlined meaning in Bob's words. With out another sound he ran off down the corridor to get to Dot as soon as possible, all kinds of rash ideas that Dot might do now flooding his mind.

* * *

"Cursors!" Mouse fumed over the control panel. "I've tried everything. He must have completely cut off the door power."

"Well, we're no good here." AndrAIa looked up at the large door blocking their path. "We should make our way to the other side of the central office to find Dot and the others."

"Sounds good, sugah."

Mouse stood and began to walk down the corridor. She stopped and looked at AndrAIa who still stood staring at the door. "You all right?"

"Just thinking about what Phong did for us." AndrAIa lowered her head slightly and turned to start walking.

"That was very courageous of him," Mouse nodded. AndrAIa nodded slightly in agreement. "Don't worry sugah, we'll return the favour before this is all over with."

"You're right." She nodded again and then quickened her pace. "All right, let's find the others."

* * *

"But you said we should wait!"

"Now I say we go."

"But if we go and they come then we won't be here, we would be elsewhere."

"Yeah, anywhere but here."

"Dot said find Bob."

"Bob is not here."

"Then we should go."

"That is correct."

"Uhm, Hack?"

"Yes, Slash?"

"Uhm, to which way do we leave?"

Both of them looked down the several corridors that led from the junction they were in. They scratched the top of their heads for what seemed like killiseconds, pondering the direction. Then something caught Slash's attention.

"Uhm, Hack..."

"What now, Slash? You know which way we are going?"

"No, but I am hearing something."

"I do not hear anything."

"Nothing?"

"That is correct." Then the thumping got louder as it neared them. "Oo, now I hear."

They looked down the corridor, their metallic parts shaking slightly, waiting for some kind of impending doom. Then Matrix and Bob appeared out of the darkened corridor, their faces slightly flushed from running. The bots looked at each other, then they looked to the two running and shouted in unison.

"Bob! Enz... Matrix!"

"I told you we should wait!"

"You said we should go!"

"I said wait!"

"Go!"

"Wait!"

"Go!"

"WAIT!"

"GO!!!"

Bob and Matrix finally reached them and paused to catch their breath, giving each other a raised eyebrow as the two fought. Matrix ground his teeth after a few moments, having heard enough.

"All right, you two! Where's Dot?"

They looked at each other for a moment then just shrugged. "Dot? Who is that?"

"Do you know a Dot?"

"Oh no, no Dot do I know. You know a Dot?"

"I do not think I know a Dot."

"What is a Dot anyway?"

"Come on you two, we don't have time for games. I know she was with you, now where did you go?" Bob asked more peaceably than Matrix.

"Dot is, um..."

"Who is this Dot?" Hack still played along these lines, leaving Slash to fend for himself.

"Dot is not here."

"I can see that. Where is she?" Bob asked again, frustrated.

"She? She who?"

"Dot, dummy! Bob wants to know where Dot went!"

"I know that Slash, but Bob isn't supposed to know where she went!"

"Well Bob knows that we know now!"

"How do you know that Bob knows now that we know now what we know about Dot?"

"Because you just told me!" Bob sighed. "Now, where is she?"

The two bots looked at each other, lost, and then just shrugged at Bob and said in unison, "Dot who?"

"I've had enough!" Matrix growled as he picked up the two bots, one in each arm and pinned them against the wall. "Where is she? You better tell me before I give the Principal Office a pair of nice red and blue waste disposal units!"

The two bots looked at each other and gulped, then in unison lifted their left arms and pointed down one of the corridors: the corridor that led to the central command room. Matrix dropped the two bots to the floor and took off, Gun already in hand. Bob shook his head and looked at the two for a moment before creating a portal to go directly to the command room. The two bots looked at each other as they got up.

"Big Enzo was mad."

"Yup."

"I think Bob will be angrier when he finds out."

"Yup."

"When do we give him this?" Slash held up Dot's planner. Hack just hit his head, knowing Slash was supposed to have given that to Bob already. He zipped down the corridor as Slash looked at him. "What?"

* * *

The soft drumming could be heard echoing through the ears of every binome in the room. Each rhythmic pulse sent a small shiver down their circuitry. They may have been loyal to him, but they knew that at any moment that drumming could be the last sound that they heard. It would get faster as his patience grew ever more thin, then slow back into a steady rhythmic beat as a sinister smile slide its way across his face. He would chuckle slightly with one passing thought or another, waiting for her to arrive.

Enzo sat on the cold floor, and listened to that beat. It was driving him slowly insane. He peered through the hazed mesh of the forcefield that surrounded him. He glanced at Phong, who was now so distant, so still, gray and lifeless. Phong had been turned into a drone, and so had Enzo's null father. Enzo looked behind him at his father who stood as motionless as Phong, unable to move without direct orders from their new master, the virus. Enzo began to wonder what was taking them so long to bust in the joint, take down Megabreath, and save the day.

They must be planning something wicked to do to ol' Megajerk, he thought. That line of thought would be brought to an abrupt end as the steady drumbeat of the virus's claws on the desk was interrupted by three hard knocks on one of the doors. Enzo watched as the virus turned his chair to the door and looked at it with a deep and sinister grin, pushing a keypad to open the heavy doors.

"Do come in Ms. Matrix, we've been expecting you." The words slid out like a serpent's tongue across his smile. He looked at Dot as she stood in the doorway - alone, to his surprise.

"Clever girl, not to bring that pesky Guardian or that empty-headed brother of yours, or just brave perhaps, hmmm?" He watched her with a grin as she slowly made her way into the room, catching each expression that passed across her face as she looked from Phong, to her father, to Enzo. He was again surprised at how calm she appeared. He sized her up again as she turned his way.

"All right Megabyte, I'm here, to talk. Now release my brother."

"Oh, so confident are we? What makes you think that now that I have both of you I will be letting either one of them go?"

"Because I am the one you want, the Command.com. I'm willing to talk and to cooperate with you if, and only if, you release Enzo now."

"Cooperate fully, hmmm?" The virus thought for a moment. "And let me guess, if I don't release the boy, you will resist me to the last? I could just make you a drone, and then you wouldn't be able to resist me at all. What bargaining chip do you have against that, Ms. Matrix?"

"The system will not respond to a drone, Megabyte, even you know that."

"Very good Miss. Matrix, can't blame a virus for trying, can you?" he shot a sinister chuckle her way. "And what will keep you so cooperative after the boy is out of danger?"

"Simple," Dot stated, clear, unflowered, and unemotionally. "You are a Virus, a virus in my system. You want to leave this system, fine. Promise to never set one single claw in Mainframe again, virus, and I will help you to get out of my system as soon as possible."

"Even free onto the Net?" He pushed her to respond, tasting victory on his lips, the back of his mind in wonderment at the new Dot standing before him. So much had changed.

"No, Dot! Don't! You can't! If he gets free on the Net, there will be no stopping him. Dot! I'm not worth it, really! There's another way!" Enzo beat his fists against the forcefield in a loud protest.

Dot looked over at him for a long time, something in her eyes speaking to him in a way only a sister can talk to a brother. Enzo fell deathly silent, and then just shook his head, his mouth open in a silent acknowledgement of the reality of the situation. Dot slowly tore her eyes from those of her brother and turned back to the virus in her system.

"Well, Ms. Matrix?" his razor-toothed grin grew as he slid out the words.

Dot took a single, long and drawn-out breath as her mind raced. She was thankful that the virus couldn't hear her heart thumping heavily in her chest, and into her throat. She clenched both fists again and closed her eyes.

"Yes, Megabyte, I'll cooperate."

She cringed as the room was filled with the dark deep-chested laughter from the virus. The laughter seemed to draw on forever, each passing nano her soul becoming ever more filled with uncertainty. A wave of relief flowed into her core as the laughter ended and the virus barked out an order.

"Show the boy out."

The motionless drone of Mr. Matrix came to life as he followed the orders, taking the wiggling and protesting Enzo out into the hallway and shutting the doors again. Dot stood there in silence, her eyes closed, listening to the painful protests from her brother. For you, she thought, and then cringed as she heard the door shut. She could feel the eyes of the Virus searing deep into her. She took another breath and opened her eyes to see a full row of silver razors grinning at her.

"So, Ms. Matrix, where do we begin?"

* * *

"Ow! What in the Net...?"

Bob hit hard against the ground as he fell out of the portal just outside the door to the Principal Office command room. As he looked up, an expression of shock and confusion covered his face. "Enzo?"

"Bob! Finally! What took you so long? So what's the plan? What's going on?" The young sprite looked over Bob with a quizzical face.

"Enzo, how did you get out of the office? And have you seen Dot? Or Matrix?" Bob got up and brushed himself off with a slight groan, feeling a slight twinge in his back from the fall. He looked down at Enzo who was staring at him with a 'did you hit your head too?' look.

"Dot's in the Principal Office. This is part of your plan right? Oh, please tell me it's part of your plan!"

"Dot is what?!" Bob looked behind him as Matrix ran up. Matrix looked at Enzo. "Dot is in there, alone, with Megabyte?"

"I thought it was part of a plan! She traded herself to Megabreath for me! Are you telling me you don't have a plan?" Enzo's voice reached a new level of shrillness as a full wave of fear and confusion hit him. Matrix let out a growl and headed for the door, slamming himself into it.

"Matrix, no!" Enzo yelled, but it was too late. Matrix was jolted by a wave of energy and vaulted ten feet back against a far wall. "I already tried that, some kind of forcefield."

"My portal won't go through it, either," Bob sighed as he watcheed Matrix getting up. "Must be some type of firewall." He looked to Enzo, and then to the large doors. "I wish I knew what Dot was doing."

"'Scuse me!"

"Coming through!"

"Oh yes, pardon me!"

"Important message!" The two bots darted speedily past Matrix who gave them both a nasty look. "Bob!"

"Yes Bob! We have a message."

"A message for you! Was supposed to give it earlier."

"But he did forget!"

"You forgot. Here, Bob!" Slash handed him Dot's planner.

"You forgot, remember?"

"No."

"You must have forgotten that too!"

"Did not..."

The argument ensuing between Hack and Slash seemed distant as Bob traced his hands along her planner. What was she doing? What was she planning? Why didn't she talk to him first?

"Hack, Slash - what is this all about?"

"Dot said we should give it to you!

"Dot said I should give it to you."

"And that you should play it."

"Play the message."

"Oh! And uhm, you should play it... what did she say..."

"Play it in private. See, I do not forget! You forget!"

"Do not!"

"But you just did!"

"I was just seeing if you remembered."

"Oh."

Bob looked down at the planner again, shaking his head, angry at her for doing this, confused as to why, and frightened of what might happen. "Matrix, take Enzo and get everyone assembled at the diner."

"Bob! We aren't just going to leave her in there with that thing are we?" Matrix fumed.

Bob turned to him, searching for something to say, but nothing came. "Just do it."

And he began walking down the corridor, Matrix and Enzo trailing a few feet behind him. At the next junction, Enzo, Matrix, and the two bots went one way, and he went another, alone, to think and to hear what Dot's explanation was.

* * *

Part Two

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