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| Afterward… The rocky floor feeling she had felt just moments before seemed to melt away to nothing, and after what felt like just a few seconds, she felt herself lying on something soft. Cushion-like soft. Then the voices floated over her. "Is she okay?" "She had a hard hit, but I think she's going to make it." "Oh thank the User." "Give her awhile after she wakes up. She needs to take it easy. I don't know what happened in there, but -" "I was afraid of what would happen to her…you know…after what happened to…" The voices seemed to stop when she moved. It seemed like such a huge effort, just opening her eyes. But after a short moment, they were open. And staring up into Bob's smiling face. "Hi," he said softly, bending over and kissing her gently. "How are you feeling?" Dot blinked, looking around the room. The only other people in the room where him and Phong. Phong smiled warmly down at her. "What happened?" she asked groggily. “We got away, Daemon’s gone,” Bob replied. “And Hexadecimal?” “She’s normal…as normal as she can get.” “And AndrAIa?” “She’s in the other room, but she’ll be fine, Phong’s sure of it.” Dot’s smile got bigger as she used her uninjured hand to hold her lover closer. “I’m just glad it’s all over,” she said. Billy sat in one of the booths at Dot's diner, her bags all packed and sitting beside her. Ray, Mouse, and Matrix were just there earlier but they had just left to see how AndrAIa was doing. After shooting Megabyte last night, the whole military had opened fire on the virus, not planning on giving him any mercy. Megabyte tried to fight back or at least hide, but Bob's firm hold on him through the energy shield kept him where he was. And Daemon didn't know how to handle her host under those circumstances. It didn’t take long until she left her host, leaving Megabyte completely unconscious on the Lair floor. The military immediately swarmed over him, making sure he was really out and no longer a threat. Billy was not awake at that time, but it didn’t take long for her to realize that when she shot the virus, Megabyte had spun around, arm hitting her in the head hard enough to knock her completely out. Before the virus could even try waking up, they had him taken to their base where they would confine him and get him ready to ship him off to the best possible place for him. A nice little spot for him in the web. That was actually guarded by some pretty nice webriders that even Ray was wary around. After all that, the wounded were taken to the PO medical center while the others waited around impatiently to see how they came out. AndrAIa seemed pretty bad. She was still unconscious by the time they took her to the Principle Office. Even though everyone said things were back to normal, Billy was still uneasy and she didn’t know why. She sighed, reaching for her bags. Might as well head for the main portal if she wanted to get back to the Super Computer anytime soon. She looked up, getting ready to stand, when she saw Dot walk in through the front doors, her arm in a sling. A patch was wound around her arm and shoulder and it looked pretty painful, but the Command.com was smiling. “Going somewhere?” she asked, sitting down across from the guardian. Billy didn’t answer directly. “How’s the shoulder?” “It’s okay, I guess. Can’t move my arm at all for a long time. It’s going to be awhile before I go into hand to hand combat again.” “Yeah, wouldn’t want to make it any worst.” Billy looked around uncomfortably, not sure how to talk to the woman she had just so recently considered her enemy. “I’m on my way back to the Super Computer. Looks like I’m not needed around here.” Dot nodded. “Well if that’s what you think’s best. I’m sorry for all the rough things you had to go through while you were here.” “You shouldn’t have to apologize,” Billy stopped her, standing up and slinging a bag over her shoulder. “In fact, I apologize for…well…everything.” “Me too.” Dot stood up as well, motioning toward the bags. “Need some help?” “No, I can handle it,” Billy picked up her remaining bags, shifting them from hand to arm. “I don’t think you should carry anything with your arm like that…being stabbed and all.” “Thanks for reminding me.” Dot rubbed her should gingerly. She winced. “So, uh…thanks for coming.” Billy looked at her, surprised. “I mean, without you, we might not have been able to figure out who Daemon was, right?” Billy’s frown slowly disappeared as she smiled. “Thanks, that uh…means a lot.” “Yeah well…we all needed everyone’s help, right?” “Right. And you’re pretty good yourself, you know?” Billy touched her cheek where there was a faint color of purple. “You sure know how to pack a punch.” She laughed. “Sorry about that.” “Sorry about that.” Billy pointed at the faint bruise under Dot’s right cheekbone. “So you’re leaving now?” “Yeah.” Billy looked out the window toward the PO. “Better be heading there now I guess.” “Are you sure you don’t need help? I’ll be glad to.” Billy hesitated. “Uh…yeah.” Dot waited. “Tell them bye for me, won’t you?” The Command.com smiled. “Sure thing.” Billy smiled back at her, then turned and left the diner, carrying her bags along with her. Before she hopped on the zip board to head for the PO, she glanced back thoughtfully. Through the window she could see Enzo running up to Dot in the diner, yelling something excitedly as Dot listened to what he had to say with a smile on his face. She’s lucky to have such a great family,,she thought. With that, she turned and headed for the PO. When AndrAIa woke up, Matrix was right there by her side. She smiled up at him, feeling a little groggy. “How long was I out?” “A night and half a day,” he replied, sitting down on the bed beside. “How are you feeling?” “A lot better than before,” she admitted reaching out to hug him, holding him close. “I still remember what I did…” “What Daemon did,” he corrected her gently. “But she’s gone now and that’s nothing to worry about.” “What did you do with her? You got rid of her for good, right?” That’s when Matrix pulled away. AndrAIa frowned at him. “What?” He looked at her, suddenly worried. “We uh…after all that, we don’t know what happened to her. She just vanished without a trace and…” He didn’t have to finish. They both knew. It felt great to be back in the Super Computer. Billy stepped out of the portal into its Principle Office to see Stacy waiting for her. Turbo stood beside her, waiting for as well. Billy grinned when she saw them and her friend ran forward to give her a big hug. “I’m so glad to see you!” Stacy squealed. “I heard about what happened, I’m so proud to be your friend!” Billy laughed, feeling a big overwhelmed. “Yeah, good work, guardian,” Turbo said. Billy looked up at him, surprised at first. “You-you finished the mission nicely,” he continued, “and I just wanted to be here to tell you that.” It was hard to miss the mischievous grin on Stacy’s face. Billy smiled. “Well thanks Turbo, didn’t know you cared,” she said. He caught himself then and cleared his throat. “Well, I’d better get back to work. Again, good work Billy, I won’t hesitate to call on you again when I need help-“ Stacy’s grin grew wider. “-So I’ll leave you two alone. See you later.” With that he walked off. Stacy watched him go for a while, then burst out laughing. Billy gave her a funny look. “What is so funny?” “Nothing, nothing at all. What do you say we drop off your stuff, then go to a nearby diner where you can tell me everything that happened?” Now Billy was really glad she was back in the Super Computer. She didn’t want to go face Daemon again for a very long time. Normal life was enough for her. “Yeah, let’s do that.” Daemon watched as Billy moved toward the main door of the PO leading out the Super Computer. She doesn’t even know I’m here, she thought. No idea that she had possessed Billy’s bag to get there through the portal, that when she came through, all she had to do was jump over to a different host. Didn’t think I could take over objects as well as people, huh, Billy? It had been a long time since she had last been in the Super Computer. Now that she was here she had so many plans for it. Like that Turbo. He needed to go. And all the better if Billy went with him. First she had to find out where they both lived, but that wouldn’t be too hard. She’d find out today. Yes. She could do many things with this system. Much more than in Mainframe. That’s when she saw Billy turn toward her, practically looking right at her. Daemon stiffened. “Stacy, are you coming or not?” Billy called over. Daemon plastered on a fake smile. “Yeah, I’m right behind you!” she called back, smiling. Then she hurried to catch up to her ‘friend’. |
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