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| Al’s Waiter stood at his usual spot, behind the counter. Despite the constant crowd he was getting, he was bored and getting tired of his position. He couldn’t wait for his lunch break. “Hey, Al!” He called behind him, “what time is it?” “What!” “Never mind, I’ll check myself!” He was just about to get up and head over to the kitchen when the doors to the Wait and Eat banged open and a figure stepped in. Daemon. She stood there, surveying the place. To her surprise, no one looked at her in fear like they did when she was the all powerful Daemon those years ago. Well she would change that. She marched over to the counter where the waiter stared dumbfoundedly at her. Probably at her outfit. She liked it, but she had to admit it was a little…revealing. Oh well, she can change that. “Hi,” she blurted out, “who are you?” “Al’s Waiter,” he replied in a draggy voice. “What can I get you?” She smiled. She knew what she wanted. She knew exactly what she wanted. That night, Bob walked Billy to her apartment. Even though they lived next door to each other, he still felt uneasy about the whole ‘Daemon-spying’ issue. He checked her whole apartment first before leaving. “Be careful,” he said, as he left. Then he was gone. Kind of relieved that he wasn’t there anymore, Billy sat down at her couch and turned on the TV. She made sure all the lights in the apartment were on and that the TV was on loud. She wasn’t in the mood for silence at this moment. After awhile of channel surfing, she stopped at one of the many night movies and just ducked it out on the couch for awhile. Suddenly a notice, waking her up from her dozing interrupted the movie. Mike the TV appeared on the screen standing in front of a fiery building. “An update!” he exclaimed into the mike he was holding. “Today, just now, we have found Al’s Wait and Eat in flames, total chaos. Right now we have Al’s Waiter here-“ The camera moved over, showing a burnt Al’s Waiter standing in front of the ruined restaurant. Mike came back in the frame. “Tell us, Al’s Waiter,” he said. “What happened?” “A sprite came in,” Al’s Waiter said, his voice a little shaky. “A woman, to be exact. I thought she was a customer, but she wasn’t. She started pulling the place apart, destroying everything. That’s when she went into the kitchen and turned the oven on high, throwing everything she can on top of it. We managed to get out, but I think Al is still in there-“ “And there you have it!” Mike exclaimed, taking back the camera frame. “We’ll have more on you later on the subject.” The screen went blank for a couple of seconds before returning to the movie. Billy was no longer in the mood for watching it. She sat there, hands trembling. Daemon had already made her first move. Daemon stood behind the demolished Wait and Eat, a small smile on her face. Already hours had gone by and the flames were nothing but ash. That was fun. Brought back all the joy she had when she was powerful before. This should definitely get their attention. This time, she was serious. It was late at night now, and darkness surrounded the whole system. AndrAIa should have been back at the house she shared with Matrix. Daemon smiled. She wondered how Matrix would react to her getting home so late. But she wasn’t going to head home now. Oh no. It was time she paid Billy a little visit. All she could see were faces, the same faces she had seen before in all her dreams. They were looking at her, their faces twisted in horror right before she deleted them. No. Daemon. Daemon was the one who deleted them, it was her. And now she was back, haunting the lives of people again. Haunting her dreams. Bringing back the memories she had before. Now a song was humming through her head. It took her awhile to remember it, then did. It was an old song, binomes played in on their radios, in diners. Popular back when she was Daemon. It was called “I Was Here”. The song got louder, a constant hum in her head. She tried putting her hands over her ears, but it didn’t drown out the noise, it wouldn’t go away. It entered her thoughts, captured them, drowned out her cries for help… Billy awoke at the sound of music coming from somewhere in the apartment. Frowning, she tried to look through the darkness of her room. Where was the music coming from? Sitting up she turned on the beside lamp, the room flooding with light. Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, she stood up and headed for the front room. As she went down the hall, she noticed the music getting louder, the lyrics from “I Was Here” singing through the dark rooms. Starting to feel scared, she grabbed the nearest thing by her that she could use for a weapon. The gun she had hidden from her hallway table. Walking slowly toward the front room, she recognized where the music was coming from. The stereo from the living room. But she hadn’t left it on earlier that night. She hadn’t even used it yet. The thought stopped her in her tracks. For the longest time she stood there, listening through the darkness, her heart beating frantically in her chest. She wasn’t sure whether to scream, run, or move forward. The song ended, and for a moment there was utter, complete silence. Then there was a whirring sound and the song started up again. It was on a tape. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and wished she had telepathic powers. Maybe she could call Bob for help without alerting whoever was in the apartment. Gathering all her courage, she burst into the room, flicking on the lightswitch and pointing the gun out into the open room. No one was there. The stereo case stood open though, the tape player whirring. She glanced behind her, but nothing was there. She peered into the bathroom and other rooms, but they were empty. Whoever was here had left. Taking a deep breath, struggling to keep it calm, she crossed over to the stereo to turn it off. That’s when she noticed the coffee table. A card was left on it, folded neatly in half. Billy glanced side to side and slowly approached the card, making sure her gun was up and ready. Bending over she picked up the card and opened it. “Just thought I’d tell you I Was Here.” She stared at the card for a long moment, then it slowly started to hit her. Dropping the card on the table, she unhooked her gun, biting back the urge to freak out. Daemon had been in her apartment. Billy left the apartment right there, marching through the lit hallway until she reached Bob's. She pounded on his door frantically with the palms of her hands as hard as she could, glancing up and down the hallways. After what seemed like hours, the door flew open and Bob appeared, wide-awake and dressed in boxer shorts and a nightshirt. His hair was tousled and he had circles under his eyes. “Billy?” he said, “what’s going on-?” She pushed past him and into his room, sitting down on his couch. He noticed she was holding a gun tightly in her hands. “What happened?” he asked. “Daemon was in my apartment,” she said, “she was there Bob, she was there!” “Okay, calm down,” Bob said, “Daemon was in your apartment?” She nodded. “Yes!” “Okay. I’m going to go over there and check things out-“ he headed for the hallway. She immediately jumped to her feet and followed him. Her apartment was still lit from when she had turned the lights on. Bob entered in slowly, looking around. Billy entered behind him, unhooking her gun from her belt. Bob made a quick investigation throughout the entire apartment, then stopped at the card on the coffee table. He read it briefly, then threw it back down. “This is despicable,” he said. Then he crossed over to the stereo. Billy hadn’t had a chance to turn it off yet, and the tape still continued to play. The music had stopped though, and all they heard was a constant whirring sound. He turned it off and turned to look at her. She stood by the doorway. “Okay, so what exactly woke you up?” he asked. “The music,” she replied. “Okay,” he pressed rewind on the tape until it was at the very beginning, then pressed play. The constant whirring continued to play, no music sounded. “I don’t hear music, Billy,” he said. She frowned, “but that’s impossible!” She crossed over to the room toward the stereo. “it has to be on there, the whole tape was full of repeats of the same song. Maybe it hasn’t started yet.” She pressed fast forward, then play. Still nothing. “I don’t get it!” She pressed fast forward again and play. Still nothing. Bob crossed the room back to the card and picked it up. “This is all very vague stuff, Billy. How do you know it was Daemon?” “Because! I know Daemon! She does these things!” Bob sighed. “Billy, if Daemon was able to do this, that means she’s in a new body. THAT means she would have to break into this apartment and when I inspected the apartment I saw no break-ins.” She looked at him in disbelief. “You don’t believe me?” “Of course I believe you, it’s just that…” he trailed off and looked around the room. Now she was beginning to feel suspicious. She knew Dot didn’t like her, she knew everyone looked at her critically, despite how much they knew she wasn’t Daemon. She also knew that Dot was Bob’s girlfriend and that she talks to him about her. “You think I did it?” She accused. He looked at her in surprise. “What?” “You think I did it!” “No! Of course not!” “Then why don’t you believe me?” “Because-“ he started, then realized that one little word was plenty enough for her. “So you don’t believe me,” she said. “I know what you and Dot talk about. You think I set up the card and lied about the music just to get your attention or something. Well you know what? I’m going to find Daemon and prove to you all that I know what I’m doing!” Before he could say anything, she stuck her gun back in her belt and grabbed her stuff. Not even looking back, she marched out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Matrix sat in the family room, staring fixedly at the television screen in front of him. The whole house was dark and he sat there, dressed in his night clothes. He glanced side to side, getting more worried all the while. He looked up when the front door opened and a figure walked in. He sat up now, relieved, but to angry to show it. “Where have you been?” he demanded, “I was worried sick, I couldn’t find you, you’ve been out all night!” Daemon stepped into the room, a small smile on her face. Without answering him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and started kissing him. For a moment Matrix started kissing back, but then pushed her away. “What was that for? And where were you all night?” She batted her eyes at him innocently, trying her best to sound like the pathetic game sprite she knew. “I’m sorry,” she said sweetly, “I just took a walk.” “Until three o’clock in the morning?” “I couldn’t sleep.” She blinked her eyes and they started to water. “And I didn’t want to have to wake you up and all that. I’m really sorry.” Matrix frowned at her, then sagged his shoulders. “It’s okay,” he said, hugging her, “I just…with Daemon running around, I was worried about you.” Daemon smiled and immediately reached up to kiss him again. They kissed for a long time, until she started getting too into it, then he pulled back. “AndrAIa, are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. “Oh, I’m fine,” she replied, too casually. She grinned and reached for his face again. He pulled back. “You’re not acting like yourself,” he said, “what’s going on?” She frowned. “You don’t like me like this?” “Not really, maybe if the situation was different, but this-? What’s going on, AndrAIa?” He stood up and stepped back a few paces. She stood up as well, still grinning. “Oh, nothing’s wrong. Can I ask you something?” He raised an eyebrow. “You know how Daemon is, right?” “Yeah.” “Well…you know how she acts, right?” “Riiight…?” “So…what if I had her personality? What if I was her, but looked like me. What would you do? Would you love me?” “No,” he replied, still confused. “AndrAIa, I love you for you. What are you getting at?” I would never do anything with Daemon, and you should know that.” Her face darkened suddenly, her smile vanishing. “You wouldn’t?” “Of course not!” There was a long silence. She walked toward him. “Why?” The question caught him off-guard. “Why? Because…I just don’t! She’s a virus, AndrAIa. You’re really confusing me here, what are you getting at?” Daemon’s eyes widened and for a minute just stood there, an angry expression on her face. Then, before he could react, she reached her hand up and dug her fingernails against his skin. For a moment he gasped in surprise, the next he dropped to the floor, unconscious. Daemon inspected her fingernails, grinning. Cool. Bending down, she grabbed him by the arms and dragged him across the room toward the door. He continued to lie unconscious as she dropped him and stared down at him, thinking. Then she got into action. It didn’t take long to get her normal powers conjured up in the new body. She had to somehow get Matrix out of the house and make everything look ransacked and ruined by the morning- or at least one of the other bratty Mainframers calls. She smiled as she thought about it. This was just too easy. Hours later she found herself flying through Lost Angles, heading straight for Hexadecimal’s Lair. Somehow, she had grown accustomed to the place. “So she just left? Just like that?” He nodded. “Yeah, that’s what happened.” Dot sighed. “I don’t believe this. How could she do something like that? I should’ve known.” “Known what, sugah?” Mouse spoke up, “that she’s untrustworthy? Or that we were wrong to doubt her?” Dot glared across the table at her. “That she’s untrustworthy.” Dot, Bob, and Mouse were gathered in the Diner, discussing the events of last night. Bob had told them everything. From when she first woke him up, to when she walked out and disappeared. “You don’t think she went back to the Super Computer, did she?” Dot asked. Bob shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I’m beginning to have second thoughts. I think she’s okay, she can’t be Daemon.” “You don’t know that!” “I think we can trust her,” Mouse said. “Maybe we should go find her or something.” He glanced at Mouse, who was also nodding. Dot just sighed. “Hey! Bob! Dot!” They all looked up to see Ray hurrying through the diner, a card in his hand. When he reached them he was breathless. The others looked up at him, expectantly. “I was just over at Matrix and AndrAIa’s house, telling them about the meeting here,” he explained, “but they weren’t there and the door was wide open. I walked in and found the whole place in a total mess. And this-“ he threw the card on the table- “was in the family room.” Dot grabbed the card first and unfolded it for everyone to see. “’I’ve got them, so come and get them. –Daemon’.” TO BE CONTINUED... |
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