by Corrinthia Breuckner
The order echoed across the four bunkers as CPU's took to the air and ground tanks put their massive hover motors in motion. The base was a sea of movement as binomes and numerals made their way to their vehicles or found their spot in formation among the ground support troops. Whispers of the oncoming fight made their way through the fields, followed by either cheers of elation of low shudders of fear. More often than not, it was both. For once, they would be going to the battle - playing the game of offence instead of defense.
Across the bunker, a crate flew into the path of incoming CPU's who quickly dodged to the left. The empty ammunitions crate smashed into a million pixels when it hit the far wall. This crate was followed by another, and then another. The shredded remains destabilized and disappeared into the ground only to be followed by another smashed crate. Each crate was accompanied by a series of grunts and angry yells. Matrix was in one of his unhappy moods.
"Is he always like this before a fight?" Enzo sat on a crate next to AndrAIa, swinging his legs and watching Matrix take out his aggressions on a few defenseless boxes.
"Pretty much." AndrAIa had to smile at that. She sighed and looked back at Enzo. "He's just upset because Dot didn't make it through the portal. Now Megabyte has a bargaining chip." AndrAIa followed the next crate with her eyes as it flew past.
"Yeah, that part of Dot's plan didn't go so well. But I know Sis will work it out. She always does." His confidence in his sister made AndrAIa smile. Enzo rolled his eyes as Matrix picked up yet another box. "Is he just gonna do that until he runs out of boxes?"
"Or until I get him to stop." AndrAIa winked at the young Enzo and then turned her eyes to the older Enzo, her Enzo. "Matrix... I think the big bad boxes have learned their lessons."
"What?" He looked up at the two sitting on the crate. He rolled his eyes and dropped the box he was about to throw and headed over. "Didn't realize I had an audience." He looked down at Enzo. "You should be back at bunker Gamma 3 with the rest of the civilians."
"Ha! Yeah, right... and miss all the fun? Have you gone random?" Enzo wasn't about to go and sit in a bunker with a bunch of women and children binomes.
"No arguments. I don't have time for it right now." Matrix crossed his arms, looking down at his younger self.
"Oh, c'mon Matrix." AndrAIa smiled up at him.
"Don't tell me you're on his side!" Matrix rolled his eyes.
"Aww, c'mon Big-Me! Would you have sat in the civilian bunker during a fight with ole Megajerk?" Enzo refused to back down.
"Well... no... but that was different!"
"How?" Enzo pushed.
"It just was. It was me, not you... I mean... gah..."
"Can't think of an excuse to give yourself, can you Sparky?" AndrAIa had to keep herself from laughing.
"If you get hurt, Dot will delete me!" Matrix finally finished.
"No, she won't." Enzo grinned up at his larger self.
"Why?" Matrix nearly kicked himself for asking.
"Because," Enzo laughed and pointed behind him at Hack and Slash who were busy fighting about something. "Dot will delete them. They were the ones who where supposed to keep me in the bunker, not you. Besides, who says I'm gonna get hurt anyway."
"I don't know, Enzo..." Matrix was so close to giving in. He remembered how much he hated being left behind.
"Please!"
"C'mon Sparky. If I remember right, Enzo here should be pretty good at manning the cannons," AndrAIa smiled up at him, remembering how good her Enzo had been on those cannons during the web wars.
"Well..." Matrix scratched the back of his head. "Alright."
"Alphanumeric! Superfrosty!" Enzo couldn't believe he actually agreed.
"But stay close! And no wild stuff! And if you get in trouble, just get out of the sector and meet at the diner later. And no - "
"Whoa, Big-Me! You're starting to sound like Dot!" Enzo and AndrAIa laughed.
"Am not!" Matrix crossed his arms, and then raised his eyebrow. "Am I?"
"Sir! All lines are ready and deployed. We will be convened in designated position Alpha in ten killiseconds." The binome saluted and then adjusted his helmet.
"Good!" Matrix nodded to the binome and then turned to AndrAIa and Enzo. "Ready?"
They both nodded and stood. "Let's do it!" they all said in unison before heading to their vehicles; AndrAIa on her heavily armed jet bike, and Matrix in a converted CPU convertible, with Enzo at the back guns.
"Woohoo!" Enzo yelled as they took off to join the rest of the fleet.
"Dot is going to delete me." Matrix mumbled under his breath as he drove the car out of the bunker.
The steady beat from his metallic digits on the hard surface of the desk echoed off the walls of the dimly lit room as he watched her. His stare was unending, as steady as the rhythm of the beat, and as dark as the room in which the two existed.
He had been sitting in that same position for over a millisecond, endlessly drumming his fingers, trying to calm himself as he waited for her to awake. She had betrayed him, or at least that was what the small emotional twinge in his files told him. All logic, however, continued to remind him that she had not betrayed him. He was a virus, after all. She was only doing her usual planning and scheming to get rid of him for good. He couldn't blame her for that, it wasn't the first time... nor would it be the last.
For the first time, however, he was hurt by it. Whether or not it was the fact that she had betrayed him or that he actually felt betrayed that angered him the most was still to be determined. The ticking paused for a moment as he looked at her form move slightly. She was finally beginning to wake up.
Dot moved slightly, her head throbbing. At least that noise has stopped. She began to fidget more as she tried desperately to force her eyes open. I can't move my arms. She tried again, and her eyes opened, but her arms still wouldn't move. She blinked lightly as her eyes focused in the darkness.
He was there, watching her from the shadows. She could see the green hue of his eyes, staring at her. She wetted her dry and cracked lips and looked up to find her hands bound by hover-clamps. She looked down and realized that her feet weren't touching the ground. How long have I been out? she wondered.
"Ah... finally awake are we?" His voice was full of anger, yet soft and unusual.
"Where - " Dot paused, forcing her aching head to produce coherent thoughts, slightly hazed by the strangeness of his voice; " - am I, virus?"
"Does it matter, Dot?" He paused momentarily, wishing he could make himself quit calling her by her first name. He took in a low breath, wincing from a stabbing pain in the darkness. "It doesn't matter. Your plan has failed. The hunt will still continue, I still have the Principal Office, and..." he grimaced as another twinge of pain hit him again, "I still have you."
"And... you have A.v.A," she countered with a small smile.
"Oh... is that what you call this little program of yours? Well..." He paused again and had to grind his teeth to keep a small gasp of agonizing pain from filling the silence in the room.
"You're enjoying A.v.A.'s company, I see." She looked at him and widened her smile, her lips cracking a bit. A small amount of green blood formed in the corner of her mouth, but it was worth it to her.
"The pain is minimal, Dot. It will not be with me much longer, either. The good Doktor is already working on a way to rid me of this little... indigestion." He returned the smile to her.
"But you have lost control of your drones, virus, and of me. What else have you lost? And are you so sure that the good Doktor can help?" Her voice was pushed out of her heavy chest. The pain from having her arms held above her was beginning to make itself known as she became ever more alert and conscious.
"You should be more concerned with your present situation at the moment, not mine." He forced himself to stand, using the table as leverage for his weakened legs. "Your little plan of infecting me and then escaping to freedom has failed."
"Oh, yes." She paused to draw in another labored breath. "Whatever am I to do now?" Her sarcasm finished with a small laugh. "You really think I am that basic. I thought you had more respect for me than that." She mocked him with a frown.
"That wasn't your plan? All along your plan was to infect me, and then get Phong and the PID list out, and that's it?" He walked closer to her.
"Maybe..." her breath wheezed a bit. "Maybe it was... and maybe it wasn't. Wouldn't you like to know... virus." She laughed at him again.
"Don't toy with me, Dot!" He dug his golden claws into the wall beside her head and leaned in close to her. His eyes narrowed as she continued to laugh.
"But I thought you liked playing games." She gulped for air as her breath became harder and harder to catch, the weight of her chest pulling down on her shoulders becoming burdensome. "You know, toying with people's lives for your... what was... it... your amusement." Her eyes left him for a moment as she desperately tried to draw in her next breath.
He glared at her for a long moment as she spoke. After her last labored breath, he knew she would black out again soon for lack of air. He sighed and reached up to the hover-clamps and pulled them down the wall until her feet touched the floor. He smiled slightly as she at last drew in a full breath. He quickly returned the viral sneer as she opened her eyes again.
"Yes. It amused me at the time. What better way to get back into the system?" He paused for a moment as she glared at him, her breaths heavy to regain the lost air. "Then, it became more of a way to see just how well I could fool you, to test out my new... ability. Needless to say, I was quite... pleased... with the results of the test."
Dot was unable to look at him after that. She sneered, her lips cracking and bleeding again, and downcast her eyes.
"You have no care, do you, for the lives you destroyed for your pleasure... for your sick little test game." She laughed at herself for even thinking of the possibility.
"Of course not." He turned quickly from her. "I'm a virus." He crossed his arms at his chest, pushing back the feeling of remorse that did exist. He closed his eyes, and the world went black. He opened his eyes with a searing pain as he fell to his knees. He clawed at the ground as another wave of stabbing pain hit him. He could feel the anti viral program reordering his files, and his own viral program fighting back. It was a war inside of him, and he could feel every bit of it.
"I hope that hurts as much as it looks like it does." Dot's words, unknowingly, caused him almost as much pain as the war inside of him did. "I hope A.v.A. takes your programming and turns it inside out, and then rips you wide open, leaving you gasping and writhing in pain."
"Such, " he slowly turned and looked up at her with a mocking grin, still on his knees. "Such words, Dot."
"Not words, Megabyte. Those are truths. I want you to feel everything you have caused me to suffer, and everyone you have brought suffering to in your pathetic and miserable existence."
"I hope you don't mind being disappointed." He stood and looked to her, his body having won that battle against the anti-viral program. He was stronger now, and it would take more than that to stop him. He laughed at her for a moment.
"As you can see, Ms. Matrix, I am winning. Your little A.v.A. is failing. All of your plans are failing."
He leaned in close to her again, his grin growing darker and wider. "All your hopes are failing, Dot. I will win. Mainframe will be mine again, and there isn't a single thing your friends or that poor excuse for a Guardian can do to save you." He wiped away the blood from her lips and smiled menacingly at her. "You are mine."
He leaned in to kiss her again, the little twinges of emotions rising back to the surface. The fact that she sneered at him and did her best to turn away only made those emotions more intense. He began to wonder if perhaps this emotional infection of his was such a bad thing after all. He jerked her head and held it firmly in place as he leaned in, the disgusted look in her eyes almost causing him to pause.
"Sir! We have important ne....." The viral binome lost his words, and almost his lunch, as he stood in the doorway. He realized the mortal mistake he had made by not knocking first.
"What is it?" Megabyte sneered at him in a low growl as he leaned away from Dot. "What news?" He looked forward to deleting that rude binome later.
"Uhm... we..." he watched as Dot spit onto the floor, then continued. "We have reports of a gathering of forces by the CPUs just outside of KIT sector, Sir."
"So... the Guardian is making a plan of his own, is he?" He looked to Dot. "This should be interesting... if not amusing." He turned back to the binome. "Get the forces assembled... and tell the Doktor I am in need of my next injection. The sooner I rid myself of this A.v.A. the better."
"Yes, sir!" The binome saluted and turned to leave.
"Oh, and Lieutenant? You will be taking point."
"Yes, sir..." the binome gulped slightly and headed out, thinking there were worse ways he could have been deleted.
"Well, Dot." He turned back to her as he stood in the open doorway. "Looks like your friends are trying their own skills at planning. My forces will crush them before they even have a chance to mount a rescue attempt on the Principal Office." He chuckled arrogantly. "We will... continue this later, yes?" He laughed even more and turned to take control of the army, leaving Dot in the dark room.
"We shall see, virus...We shall see." She began to laugh quietly. Her plan was working.
"Yes, sir!" the Lieutenant saluted.
"Be careful, my son." Phong still held tightly to the PID location planner.
"Don't worry, Phong, I will. I will get her back."
"I know you will, Bob." He nodded slowly, gave a small smile, then nodded to the Lieutenant. The Lieutenant saluted to Bob again and then pulled away to toward the bunkers, four other CPU's following close behind.
"Any sign of Mouse yet, Ray?" Bob called over his shoulder as he watched Phong leave.
"Right behind ya, sugah!" Mouse waved from the inside of her cockpit as she flew up beside Ray and Bob.
"Everything ready, luv?" Ray asked through the radio on his belt.
"Ready and wait'n, honey." She gave Ray a wink and then pointed to the third wave of CPU's as they flew in. "And there's Matrix now."
"Good," Bob nodded. "You two get in position. We don't want Megabyte to realize what's going on until it's too late."
"Aye aye, Capt'n." Mouse winked and saluted then flew off.
"You're not so bad at this command stuff after all, mate." He laughed at the expression on Bob's face and took off after Mouse.
Bob shook his head with a small laugh, then headed over to where Matrix and AndrAIa were convened. He blinked at the sight that caught his eyes.
"Dot is going to delete you." Bob flew up beside Matrix.
"Tell me something I don't know." Matrix smirked.
"And I'm going to delete those two bots." Bob sighed and shook his head. "Enzo, you sho - "
"Shouldn't be here. Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know." Enzo rolled his eyes. "I won't get in the way, I promise Bob. I just couldn't sit at some bunker while Dot was in trouble!"
"And I did need someone to man my back guns." Matrix couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.
"Alright." Bob sighed, but smiled. "Just - "
"Be careful!" Enzo, Matrix, AndrAIa and Bob all said together. They laughed, and that laughter felt good. The troops that heard it cheered and revved their CPU's. Then the laughter stopped as a missile exploded into a nearby building. The ABC's had arrived.
"Alright everyone, this is it! Remember, Stall and Evade! I repeat, Stall and Evade. We have to make this battle last until the trap can be set!" Bob called out over his headset.
"And you said I was beginning to sound like Dot?" Matrix smirked at Enzo who just shrugged. They both grinned and nodded to each other. It was a strange feeling, working beside his younger self. He was afraid Enzo would get hurt, but also proud in a strange big brother sort of way. He nodded again, then winked at AndrAIa who revved her bike in response.
"Let's do this!" They took off with the first forces of CPU's to Stall and Evade... and maybe a little ABC deletion too.
"Excellent." Megabyte grinned and nodded to the ABC. "Hit them with everything we have. Chase them down and destroy them. I want nothing left undeleted!"
"Yes, sir!" the viral binome saluted with a sadistic pleasure, glad to have that last order. He sped off in the ABC to join the ranks.
"Looks like Bob isn't such a good planner after all, hmm, Ms. Matrix?" The virus grinned at Dot who sat across from him, her hands and feet bound by hover clamps. He had brought her along for the sole purpose of watching her friends being deleted. He rolled his eyes as Dot said nothing and just stared blankly at him.
"Herr Doktor, how is the cure coming?" He turned to the Doktor who sat beside him.
"Ach, is good, mein Grossenbyte! Three more injections should be all zat is needed!"
"Excellent." He grinned at Dot. "You see, I am winning." He growled lightly as a missile flew by a little too close, rocking the temporary limo. "I think it is time we landed somewhere, yes?"
"Yes, sir!" the driver saluted and landed on the top of one of the buildings.
"Perfect. Get the vidwindows up. We don't want to miss a single deletion, do we, Ms. Matrix?" He chuckled at her as her blank expression turned into a sneer.
"I see it." Enzo aimed the gun and shot three blasts of plasma fire. The second shot went through the middle of the ABC's intake manifold. "Alright!" Enzo smiled as the ABC spiraled down to the ground, its pilot parachuting to safety.
"Good work!" Matrix yelled over his shoulder, slightly impressed. Then he jerked a hard right as three more ABCs took up where the last one left off. "AndrAIa, now!"
"Way ahead of you, Sparky!" AndrAIa shot out a large net from the front of her bike. The net expanded and enveloped two of the ABCs, then collapsed. The wire from the net caught on one of the many pipelines in that sector, leaving the two ABCs dangling in mid-air.
"Don't go anywhere boys!" AndrAIa waved a smile at the virals in the cockpits of the ABCs and then flew off to deal with the one she missed.
"Yes, quite. Cocoa, sir?"
"Well." Ray looked around at the four ABCs that had him surrounded. "You're joking, right?"
"What? Why would I be?" The viral raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because of that?" Ray grinned and pointed behind the ABC and Mouse's much larger ship as it aimed its main armament at the viral's forehead.
"Oh," was all the viral could get out before his ABC disappeared behind a puff of smoke and fire. The other ABCs withdrew immediately, only to be chased by AndrAIa.
"Thanks, luv." Ray smiled up at Mouse.
"Anytime, sugah. Now, what do ya say we go and follow Bob's orders. And this time, watch your ASCII." She blew him a kiss and took off.
"Rather watch yours, luv," he grinned and flew after her on Baud.
"I heard that, honey," Mouse interjected.
Ray looked down to see his radio was still on and shook his head in a laugh before dodging another envoy of ABCs.
"Perfect." Bob smiled into the headset. "How is the maneuvering going?"
"Very well, sir. The strategy seems to be working, and we have had little injuries and no casualties."
"Good. As soon as our surprise arrives, you know what to do! I'm going to go deal with Megabyte."
"Yes, sir! And good luck!" The binome's helmet shifted as he saluted and then sped off in his CPU.
"Matrix, AndrAIa!" He called out over the radio. "Big ugly has landed. Meet me at Circon Industries."
"Alright, on our way Bob." Matrix gruffed out over a background noise of blasts and joyful shouts from Enzo.
"Enzo, I need you back at the base to take care of the wounded we have coming in. No argume - "
"On my way, Bob." Enzo chimed in over the radio.
"Thanks, Enzo." Bob smiled. The smile disappeared as he neared the Circon building and caught view of the Virus, and of Dot.
"No, Matrix." Bob took his eyes away from Glitch's scope for a moment. "It's too risky. We don't know what condition Dot is in. Besides, I - "
"Yeah, yeah. You want him alive, I know." Matrix sneered, preferring him dead at the moment.
"OK, so when do we go?" AndrAIa looked at the two with one hand on her hip.
"Right now." Glitch returned the scope to its casing as Bob got back onto his zipboard. "You know what to do." He nodded and then took off toward the Circon Industries building.
"Yeah, just hope you know what you're doing." Matrix sighed, still thinking it was a better idea just to delete the virus.
"Of course he does, lover. It's a good plan." AndrAIa flashed him a smile.
"But now he has Dot. That could change things. I just think..."
"You're doing it again..."
"Doing what?"
"Worrying too much." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "C'mon, we have a task to fulfill."
Matrix sighed and watched her go. He turned his eyes back to the virus, his targeting eye focused in on the source of his aggression and hate. He refocused his vision on Dot, who was on her knees beside the virus, controlled by the hover claps around her wrists and ankles. He growled and picked up Gun, targeting back onto Megabyte's forehead. No desire in the system could overtake his want to see the head of that Virus disappear behind his bullet.
He wavered a bit, Gun slightly shaking out of its target. No desire in the net, except one. His vision focused back onto Dot. The desire not to look like a monster in her eyes...not to become that which he hated. Matrix drew in a deep breath and allowed Gun to take its position back on his hip. He look out at the battle and nodded quietly to himself before taking off after AndrAIa.
"Are you sure, Binky?" He set down his cocoa and looked back at what was once the back of their vehicle. It was now nothing more than a mass of flames.
"Quite sure, sir." Binky nodded.
"Alright then. Parachutes everyone! And don't forget the spare mugs!"
"Jolly good, sir." Binky took to air with the spare mugs of cocoa and saluted the ship as it spiraled down to the bottom of the sector, his parachute floating him to safety.
"Anything yet, my child?"
"No Phong, not yet." Mouse looked over the civilian bunker from the view screen, then checked a few scans in her cockpit. "Still waiting. It's been nearly two full cycles... the User just has to come through for us soon."
"Let us hope so, my child." Phong nodded to her and then turned back to the vid screens showing the battles in the sector. "Let us hope..."
"Still the same, luv. No activity...anywhere." He stood up from the panel and gave her a shrug.
"Well FAQ... better be gett'n somth'n soon." She looked at another vid screen and looked at Ray. "There they go." She turned back and watched the three head toward the top of the building as Ray leaned over her shoulder.
"What happens if the User doesn't come through for us?"
'Then we're in trouble, sugah. Big trouble." She watched the screen intently and only felt a small twinge of relief from her frazzled nerves as Ray's hand squeezed her own.
"Sir! We have incoming!" the Corporal ran up to Megabyte, pointing to the sky behind him.
"What?" Megabyte followed the skyline until he spotted them. A large and dark sneering grin formed on his lips. "Well, well, Dot, looks like the Guardian is coming to save the day." He laughed arrogantly. "And he brought the basic and the fish as well. How delightful!" His eyes followed them as the landed a few feet away. He turned to Dot and laughed.
"Do stand to meet your friends, Ms. Matrix." He lifted his hand and the hover clamp around her wrists rose into the air, dragging the rest of her with it. She was back to shallow breaths again as her arms were held in position above her.
"Dot!" Bob called out as he stepped off the zipboard. "Are you OK?"
"Of course she is! I'm not a monster, after all." Megabyte laughed again. "Dot, do look up and give them a smile, hmmm?"
Dot slowly lifted her eyes, the agonizing pain in her chest making it harder to breathe with each passing nano. Her eyes were sullen, dark, and red... as if she hadn't had downtime in seconds. Her lips cracked and bled again as she opened them to talk, causing her to wince slightly. Her violet eyes, now dimmed with the pain in her body, focused on the three, a small twinge of data making their way to the surface. She had been so strong for so long. She sucked it back, refusing to fall apart now.
Then her eyes met his, and all bets were off. She forced her mouth open again, drawing in a stabbing breath through her chest like needles.
"Bob..." The sound that came out of her throat was little more than a raspy whisper, but that sound carried with it all that she had suffered at the hands of the vile creature beside her. Unable to lift her head anymore under the strain from her chest, she let it drop, data falling down her cheeks at having to take herself away from his comforting brown eyes.
"Dot..." he whispered again as he watched her head fall.
"You bastard!" Matrix lunged at Megabyte.
"Matrix, no!" AndrAIa called out after him.
"Better listen to the fish, boy!" The virus clutched Dot's throat with his claws, making Matrix halt in his steps. "I call the shots here! Unless you want to see what your sister looks like on the inside." He smiled menacingly as Matrix slowly took a few grumbling steps backward.
"OK, Megabyte, then what's the deal?" Bob clenched his fists, understanding Matrix's need for action now.
"Deal? Who said anything about a deal? I don't want a deal, Guardian. I want you, and the rest, deleted, that is all." He pointed up as two more CPU's fell from the sky. "And as you can see... I am getting what I want."
"Mein Grossenbyte! Time for your next injection!" the Doktor came running up from the landed ABC, stopping suddenly after a sneer from Megabyte. He looked around at everyone. "Oh. Maybe I am coming back at different time, yes?"
"Injections?" Bob questioned.
"None of your concern Guardian. Herr Doktor, I will take it later!"
"It had better being quick, yah? The last one will be wearing off soon I think..."
"You talk too much, Doktor." Megabyte sneered at the binome as it crouched back behind the ABC.
"What injections?" Bob questioned again, taking a step forward.
"Stay right where you are, Guardian!" He flew another claw toward Dot's throat.
"Defensive, aren't we, virus?" Matrix growled, stepping up beside Bob.
"Yeah, a little too defensive if you ask me." AndrAIa joined the two, her trident already in hand.
"It's... A.v.A. He... is... weak!" Dot got out before Megabyte sliced a scratch across her cheek in anger. Dot gasped in pain as the blood oozed from the wound.
"Dot!" Bob yelled then turned a sneer toward Megabyte. "Glitch, energy beam!" Glitch replied happily and fired a full spectrum pulse at Megabyte's chest, knocking him a few feet away from the edge of the building.
"That really hurt him!" AndrAIa called out as Bob began walking to where Megabyte kneeled, clasping his chest.
"Gun, command line. Aim." Gun shot up from its position on Matrix's hip and into his waiting hand.
"Whoa, hold it Sparky." AndrAIa put a hand on his shoulder and whispered to him. "Remember... we just need to stall him, not delete him. You go take care of the ABC's and I'll go take care of Dot." She started running over to where Dot was hanging in mid-air, almost unconscious.
"What AB...." he cut off his words and smiled as 3 ABCs pulled up behind him. "Fun time. Gun, new target acquisition!"
"Dot... are you still with us?" AndrAIa lifted Dot's chin and was relieved to get a small smile from her, although her eyes were full of tears. AndrAIa took out a starfish and hit the clamp around Dot's wrists several times until it finally gave way. AndrAIa stumbled a bit as she caught Dot's almost dead weight and lowered her to the ground. She tore a piece of cloth from her pants and held it against Dot's cheek.
"It's going to be OK, Dot. Your plan is working." Dot just closed her eyes and started to cry, whispering the words Bob and sorry. AndrAIa looked up to see Matrix getting rid of the unwelcome company, then looked back to Dot and frowned at her condition.
"Oh Dot...What did that monster do to you?" She held her softly and began to clean the wound.
"Stand up!" Bob yelled down at the kneeling Megabyte.
"Or what, Guardian? You won't do anything. Mend, not deletion wasn't it?" He looked up at Bob and laughed inbetween winces of agony.
"You... you don't have it... in you, Bob. I do... that is why..." He growled in pain from A.v.A. and realized his mistake in not taking the last shot. He sneered and stood up, refusing to appear weak, no matter the discomfort. "I will always win."
"Keep telling yourself that, Megabyte." Bob aimed Glitch at him again, ready to restrain and hold him.
"I won when I shot you into the web. I won when I went into the web and came back stronger." He paused and gasped, clutching his stomach. Then he turned the pain into a sinister laugh. "And I won Dot...didn't I ! She really is a wonderful kisser, not to mention a wonder - "
"Bastard!" Bob lowered Glitch and headed straight for the virus, a yell of hate and anger filling the air. He hit Megabyte at full speed, taking him down to the ground. Megabyte fought back with his claws drawn and a deep growl from his throat. The struggle was on. Though a new, unplanned struggle came into the plan.
Bob was now struggling with his ethics and his emotions. His ethics told him 'mend, not deletion. Don't become the thing you hate.' But his emotions wanted nothing more than to take Glitch's cutter and separate that monster's head from its body and send both pieces flying over the edge of the building.
"Is that all you've got, Guardian?" The virus grinned up at his attacker.
"Hardly." Bob drew back and hit Megabyte in the chest where Glitch had injured him earlier. The virus writhed in pain. Bob drew back and hit him again, and again.
"Are you enjoying..." Megabyte lost his breath as Bob hit him again, "...becoming what you hate!" The virus sneered up at him and laughed.
"I will never become you!" Bob hit him again, and dodged Megabyte's claws as they headed for his face. Bob hit again, this time the virus yelling in pain and clawing at the roof top. He leaned down and looked at Megabyte in the eyes, his usually calm and pleasant voice now dark and coarse. He had been pushed to the limits of his optimistic nature.
"I will never become like you for one good reason... I am loved." He nodded and leaned in closer as the words caused Megabyte to take pause. "You may have fooled my friends... and you may have fooled Dot, but end the end... it wasn't you they loved... or she loved... It was me. You were me, remember." Bob hit him again when he started to squirm. "Dot... loves... me."
"No!" Megabyte drew his leg up under Bob and kicked him backwards, his eyes glowing the dark viral green and searing with corrosive scorn. "Believe...." he took pauses as he got to his feet again. "Believe what makes you feel better, Guardian."
"I don't have to, Megabyte. I know it's true... here." He pointed to his heart and looked straight into those viral green eyes. He raised Glitch again, this time pushing all emotions aside. "Glitch, restraint!" Glitch sent out several beams of light that raced toward Megabyte.
"Gah!" Megabyte fled to the left, heading for the edge of the building. He knew he was in no condition to fight. He wasn't in any condition to run, either. A.v.A. caused him to loose his leg stability and he fell to his knees as the energy beams encompassed him. "No! I will not lose!"
"Too late virus!" Matrix said over a smile. "You lost before you even began." He took Gun and targeted Megabyte's forehead. "If you move, I will delete you."
"AndrAIa..." Bob took his eyes off of Megabyte and walked over to where AndrAIa kneeled, holding a very shaken and weak Dot. "How is she?" He slowly knelt beside her, the hatred rising in his file system again as he looked at her battered and torn body.
"Barely conscious, Bob, but she will be OK." AndrAIa carefully handed her over to Bob's waiting arms.
"Dot?" He lifted the temporary bandage and grimaced at the deep laceration on her cheek. He replaced the cloth and ran his hand through her hair. "Dot? Can you hear me?" He smiled as she slowly opened her eyes.
"Hey there..." He choked back a lump in his throat and raised a finger to her lips when she tried to talk. "Shhh. It's all over now. We have him, just like you planned." He frowned as she closed her eyes again, sending a few drops of data trailing down her wounded cheek. He drew her in close and held her, just like had wanted to do so badly for the past three cycles.
"Bob..." AndrAIa hated to interject into such a personal and emotional moment. "Bob, we have to get her out of here. She is in no condition to be here when it lands."
"Lands? When what lands?" Megabyte raised an eyebrow, starting to struggle slightly against the restraints.
"Wouldn't you like to know." Matrix laughed. He glanced over his shoulder for an instance to look at Dot and Bob. "She's right, Bob. We need to get her out of here."
"Why? What's coming?" Megabyte began to squirm even more.
"I know. I'll have Ray come and get her." He said reluctantly, not wanting to let go of her. He leaned her back in his arms slowly and kissed her forehead softly.
"I demand to know!" Megabyte fought back A.v.A's presence in his files again and began to regain his strength, yanking at the restraints. "What are you waiting for? Delete me or put me in a cell! Why are you...." Then he stopped. "You're stalling. You have been stalling since the beginning. The entire battle was a stall. But why?"
"Would you shut up!" Matrix barked, sick of Megabyte's voice.
"Never!" Megabyte growled and broke the restraints, the beams of light shattering in the air.
"He's free!" AndrAIa ran toward him, bringing her trident to its full height.
"Ray!" Bob called into the headset as he watched Matrix and AndrAIa go after a now free Megabyte. "I need you to pick up Dot before the ga..." His words were cut off suddenly and a look of relief, then fear swept over his face as the sky turned that unmistakable purple.
WARNING: INCOMING GAME. WARNING: INCOMING GAME.
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"SCRAMBLE SCRAMBLE SCRAMBLE!"