I've left this off for a few fics, but I can be reached at SilverTig@yahoo.com
Enjoy the fic.
Are you worried about your faith?
Kneel down and obey.
You're happy or in love?
You need someone to hate.
An ordinary girl,
An ordinary waste.
But ordinary's just not good enough today.
Alone...
I'm thinking...
Yeah, Superman's dead.
-"Superman's Dead", Our Lady Peace.
Pain 9
Megabyte leapt after the guardian who was forced to keep low within the sector, trying to avoid the patrols. Ahead of the virus, Bob nimbly weaved and ducked on his board, avoiding the alley's debris and clutter easily. Megabyte gritted his teeth and ran faster.
How _dare_ this upstart, this annoying, constantly interfering sprite come back? How _dare_ he flee like this, mocking the virus with his inability to catch him? And how dare, how _dare_ Dot be _presumptuous_ enough to openly defy him?
In a rush, he remembered all the times in the past he'd thought he'd won, all the times a victory had seemed inevitable. Always at the cusp of triumph, the sprites had shown up and fragmented his plans into pieces. This was exactly the same. He'd taken over the whole SYSTEM! And still they persevered?
How dare ALL of them...
He ran faster.
* * *
Wind whipped past Bob's face as he increased his speed. The virus was gaining. If he could make it out of the sector quickly enough, he might be able to lose the ABCs surrounding it. He'd managed to do it before. From there he'd hide, maybe try to portal out for a while if he could throw together the equipment. Maybe there was some help available in another system somewhere. Maybe-
A claw brushed his arm and tried to tighten. Going that fast the momentary grab was enough to throw him of balance. Bob broke free but was suddenly tumbling through space, zipboard crashing somewhere far away. The breath came out of his lungs in a gasp as he hit a wall. Hurriedly the guardian sat up, world spinning around him. Bob clutched his head, waiting for the pounding to stop. A shadow fell across his chest.
"Oh, you can't POSSIBLY be thinking of _leaving_..." the virus hissed.
Bob noticed Megabyte seemed to be breathing more heavily than such a short run should warrant. His eyes also seemed to gleam even more unsettlingly than he remembered. In a dazed way, Bob noticed how taut the virus' movements were as he leaned down and picked the guardian up by the collar...
* * *
Dot sat down in the alley. Her mind was being wracked with guilt from defying the virus. What else was new?
The sprite watched the knife gleam from where she'd dropped it. Dot viciously kicked it away from her. After a moment's search she did the same with the gun too. Tossing away her filelocker, she propped her back against the wall and waited.
* * *
Finally, silence filled the alley. A waiting, busy silence. After a while a wet cough came through. Silence again. Then a series of hacks.
Megabyte looked down at the guardian. He felt shaken. Violence had overtaken him so comfortably for a moment. It was far too easy to become lost in that sort of thing. But now that the unpleasantness was over he felt better. More in control again. He collected himself. Control was important. He breathed out and looked down.
"Oh come now, Bob. You must have _something_ to say to me. No parting words?"
Bob looked up at the sky from where he was sprawled. Clouds slowly chasing each other in it. Glowing, soft edged clouds. So peaceful up there... he hoped Dot was safe.
He hurt. Something vital was dripping out of his chest. The virus had calmed down and had become smug again after those few horrible moments of savagery. He wondered if this was preferable to being infected. So hard to tell now. He prayed Dot would be safe. But what could he do about it *now*? About anything at all?
Megabyte wanted parting words?
There was *one* last thing he could say.
"Ah, but it's hard for you to speak isn't it?" Megabyte said exultingly, interrupting Bob thoughts. "I'm sorry for the *crassness* of this all, but it was regrettably necessary." Mock sigh. "And you used to have such a *flair* for comebacks." The virus smiled down at the guardian. "But allow me to guess. 'You won't get away with this, Megabyte.' or 'You're not going to win in the end.' Only..." he leaned down to where Bob was glaring silently. "And I would like to make this *quite* clear before you depart- there's nothing anyone can do now, Bob. Your people, your friends, your CITY- they're _mine_. Entirely. As I told you before, it's over," he paused to savor the moment. "And I've *won*."
No sound but ragged breathing filled the alley for a few moments until Bob gathered the strength to speak.
"You're wrong."
Megabyte threw his head back at this and laughed. Not evilly but in good humor, as if Bob had just made a particularly amusing joke. The sprite scowled.
"Oh I MUST hear *this*!" The virus said. "Go ahead, guardian. Tell me how I'm wrong. Tell me how I haven't succeeded!" He shook his head in disbelief, chuckling.
"I visited the Supercomputer before I came here." Bob whispered.
"Really? If you're trying to alarm me, that won't work." The virus smiled condescendingly. "This system is far too small for the Supercomputer to bother launching real military retaliation. And since the Ports have been closed until recently, I doubt they have another explosive ready and waiting for us. They think us dead. By the time the Supercomputer realizes we've reopened, my army and I will have been long gone. And it's thanks to *your* convenient arrival. I must thank you for that. I doubt we could've opened the ports by ourselves."
Megabyte idly rubbed a thumb over his fingernails. "Really, I'm disappointed. I thought you could have come up with a more practical threat than that."
Bob's hand brushed the edge of his icon. Tapping it caused the circle to fall off. Cupping it in his hand he took a breath, let his arm fall to the side then flipped the icon to Megabyte with his wrist. The virus caught it, surprised that Bob that much strength left.
"What's this? Surely not a surrender. We *both* know it's too late for that now."
"I only... visited... the Academy... for a short while. But..." the guardian coughed. "Look at it."
"For what?"
The sprite didn't answer. The virus turned the disk over a few times then held it up curiously. He wondered if Bob had gone slightly random from his stay in the Web. The disc *seemed* perfectly normal. The icon's glossy reflective coat shone in the light... Megabyte suddenly stopped turning it and stared.
Glossy with a network of yellow threads running through it...
A horrible thought surfaced in the virus' mind.
"No..." he whispered.
"Her name's Daemon. Supervirus. " Bob managed a smile. "I think... I was the only... clean one left. Until I visited."
The virus' fist slowly clenched over the icon.
"Looks... like you took too long getting... to the Supercomputer." The guardian said recklessly. "I've heard... she's already taken a large part of the Net..."
Things were dimming now, but he wanted to get the last words across. Megabyte wasn't leering down at him anymore. The virus was staring at the icon blankly, as if his mind refused to comprehend the latest turn of events. Bob propped himself up with the last of his strength to better see the look on his enemy's face when he finished.
"So... tell me, Megabyte..." The virus slowly turned his head towards Bob as he heard the mockery through the guardian's pain. "How does it feel... to know you've lost?"
* * *
Dot lifted her head up in surprise at a resounding metallic screech that echoed through the level.
* * *
The virus stalked back down the alley. He barely noticed shoving aside a plank of wood in the way. His arm was trembling. He had to contain his fury. Lock it away and think rationally about this. Dispassionately. Oh, what he wouldn't give to be able to think dispassionately.
Megabyte searched his mind and felt Dot still somewhere on the level. He took a deep breath. The sprite had just witnessed the destruction of her best friend in the Net. Surely she'd be suffering. Why not take advantage of it? Yes. That was a good idea. Her grief would be pacifying after that episode with Bob. He needed her pain to calm down. Megabyte stopped walking, closed his eyes and opened his mind.
Nothing. It COULDN'T be.
He tried again.
Numbness.
It was like gently hitting a blank wall. The virus clenched his jaw. First Dot's act of mutiny, then the guardian's disastrous news, and now THIS?
He started running.
* * *
Somewhere, in a dark alley an icon lay on the ground. It fizzled once or twice then slowly faded away.
* * *
Turning the corner Megabyte spied Dot with her knees drawn up to her chest, staring blankly off into space. She looked up dully at his approach. Megabyte stood over her. Taking a moment to compose himself, he looked down and forced on a satisfied smiled. With Dot so tightly wound into herself at the moment, she wouldn't know if he felt otherwise. "Rather bad news, I'm afraid. I'm so VERY sorry to break this to you, Dot, but it seems that Bob... is no longer with us."
Dot's stare might as well have been from a doll. The virus started to worry. He hadn't FELT her snap. *Impossible* that she could go into a coma without him noticing.
"I suppose I should ask you to do any last rites." he continued. "After all, you *were* his last friend."
The only reaction he got was the rise and fall of Dot's chest as she carefully breathed in and out.
"But before that, we really must discuss your disobedience." Megabyte added, voice sinister with its sudden flatness. He knelt, bending one knee until his face was level with the sprite's. The next words came out more viciously than he'd intended.
"He's gone, Dot. As it's fated for ANY who go against me. REMEMBER that."
She blinked but he could have been talking to a wall for all the emotional feedback Dot gave him. The virus snarled.
"Your little 'hero' is DEAD! Deleted! All his ideals, all his hopes- they were for nothing!" He looked at her in disbelief. "Where's you grief? Don't you *care*?"
Dot's eyes snapped into focus.
"Don't I *care*?" she whispered.
Dot opened her mouth and stopped. What could you say to someone with no sense of empathy? Why bother when all they wanted to do was see was your spirit breaking? How could you explain to someone who fed off your pain, who felt it, who caressed it, stroked it to themselves and made it into their own pleasure yet couldn't comprehend a *bit* of it?
Did the virus enjoy the emotional turmoil of others because he could never feel any? He might dig eagerly into her mind for pain but he never took any of it for himself. He left it there, unaffected by it, above it. It wasn't right. It wasn't FAIR.
The link felt was throbbing wildly in her mind, convulsing open and closed but bottled up at the virus' end. It must be the repeated shock coupled with the way Megabyte was trying to goad her into agony. A sort of defense mechanism? Maybe her mind was desperately trying to block off the source of her misery. The only problem was that it also *hurt*. Her head felt as if it were being torn apart. She flinched as another pulse wracked her mind.
The virus was looking at her quizzically, as if she were a toy that'd broken down. Then he shrugged.
"Well, Dot?" The virus raised an eyebrow. "Isn't there *anything* you'd like to say?"
Dot blinked again then gritted her teeth.
"Let me *show you*."
This virus managed to blink just before a wave pure hatred smashed into his head. Dot struck out and grabbed a portion of Megabyte's mind and pulled.
The virus threw back his head and *howled*.
Dot didn't stop to think. Any hesitation would destroy her fragile upper hand she had. Fuelled both by rage and agony, she opened up her mind and for once, actively sought out the virus'.
"Let me show you *NOW*."
Pain was too mild a description for it.