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| Robert had been standing outside the trailer all day now. He couldn't believe how long he had to wait. What in the net were they doing in there? Devon was sitting on the front step, not speaking. He was apparently waiting to be called back in. "What are they doing in there?" Robert asked him, feeling his impatience growing short. "It's almost nightfall! I've missed a whole day of school for this! I could've turned in my project, passed the class, and went on, but now I won't!" "They're talking," Devon said. "Oh, they're talking? Well I'd like to know exactly what they're talking about so I'm aware of what's going on. He called her 'AndrAIa' for User-sake! What is he, crazy?" Devon got to his feet. "He's not crazy! He's a Guardian, and from the looks of it, your relative! Back in his day he was highly respected and dependent." "But she's not AndrAIa!" "How would you know?" "I just know!" "You don't even know her that long! What, three days tops? If she is AndrAIa, Bob would be the first to know, and he would be right!" "You can't be serious! Hailey is NOT AndrAIa!" "You never know!" "She's NOT AndrAIa!" The two boys glared at each other, and for a moment Robert felt the urge to blow up at him, but that's when a vidwindow popped up. Nalia's face appeared. "Robert?" She was standing in the courtyard of the Academy. Lots of people were passing to and fro in the background. She looked worried. He frowned at her. "Nalia? Where are you?" "At the Memorial Mouse thing at the Academy, remember? Where are you? You didn't show up at school, I haven't seen you all day!" "Sorry about that," he said. "Hailey and I were busy, something about the Principal Office and what we found there. We'll head over there in a couple of minutes." "No!" She caught herself. "I mean, don't come, it's nothing. I was just about to leave." In the background Ace walked by, followed by two of the ABC members. Robert frowned. They weren't a part of the Academy. "What are they doing there?" he asked. "Who? Oh, Ace? Mom wanted me to come but I don't want to anymore so he's giving me a ride out." He frowned. "Okay…well if you stay there I can come pick you up-" "No! Don't come to the memorial! I'm leaving, there's nothing here for you to-" "But I'd like to come," he insisted, "see what's there. I consider Mouse a very important person, I want to go." "No! Whatever you do, don't go, okay? Just trust me! Don't come. Look, I gotta go, see ya at home tonight, okay?" The connection broke and Robert stood there, frowning. Devon looked at him, waiting. He had heard the whole conversation. "Something's wrong," he told the kid. "I…the ABC's were at the memorial." Devon's eyes widened. "The ABC's? But that-" "I know. We need to get Hailey. She and I have to head over there right now." Devon nodded and turned to go into the trailer. "You stay here, I’ll be right back.” The boy disappeared into the dark trailer and Robert stood there, looking around. Darkness was falling and he didn’t feel comfortable in the dump at night. He was just about to go back in when she appeared at the door, Bob standing behind her. “Hailey,” he began, “the ABC’s, they’re at Mouse’s Memorial Ceremony at the Academy, I think they’re planning on doing something.” Her eyes widened and she looked up at Bob. Robert frowned. Were those tears in her eyes? And what was going on in there? “You’d better go,” Bob told her. He looked at Robert. “Before it’s too late.” She stepped out of the doorway and onto the ground below, still looking at him. “I…will you be okay?” “I’ll be fine, get out of here, stop the ABC’s, get Nalia away from them.” He smiled. “I will see you again.” Robert put on his Hover flats, handing his other pair to Hailey. “Come on, Hailey.” She snatched them away from him, and put them on. She didn’t look directly at him and he frowned. What was wrong with her? “Let’s go,” she said, levitating. She looked back at Bob. “I…” He shook his head. “No good-byes. I’ll see you when I see you.” He stepped forward and held out his hand. In it he held some sort of gray stick. Robert didn’t recognize it. Hailey reached down and took it from him, looking it over. She hesitated, almost not wanting to go. Robert touched her arm. “Hailey?” “Let’s go,” she said, turning away from the trailer and flying away from it. Robert quickly hurried after her, leaving the old man and Devon behind. “What was that all about?” he asked her when they were well up in the air. “Just stuff,” she replied. Her voice almost quivered as she spoke. “Are you okay?” “I’m fine.” “You don’t seem-“ “I’m fine.” He frowned. “Okay, whatever you say Hailey.” “Oh that’s another thing. I’m not Hailey. Not anymore.” “Okay…? So what am I supposed to call you now?” “AndrAIa.” The Academy courtyard was filled with students, the front half the graduating class, the second viewers and sprites coming for the Mouse memorial. Nalia would never understand the getup for all this. Graduation was fine, but they had to celebrate Mouse as well? Just because the old lady founded the Academy doesn’t mean- “Hey, Nalia,” Ace growled from behind her. She turned around to see him and the rest of the ABC’s crowded around the table. “Are you in this or not?” The gang had met together in one of the classrooms while the people outside got the ceremony underway. No one even knew they were in the building. She sighed and joined them. On the table were the tanks she and Ace had snagged from the Principal Office. She smiled unconvincingly. She suddenly didn’t feel all to well about this. “Okay, this is how it’s going to go,” Ace said. “We’ll wait until the Graduating part is up on stage, saying their speeches and all that stuff. They’ll most likely do the Mouse Memorial at that time too. So when that happens, you two-“ he pointed at two of the members, “and you two-“ he pointed at another pair, “will throw your tanks toward the side of the audience chairs. They’ll explode and the gas will be everywhere. Right when that happens, Nalia and I will drop the last two over the roof, and it’ll explode right on the stage.” The members nodded. Nalia didn’t. Ace looked at her. “Are you ready?” “I’m not sure-“ “What do you mean you’re not sure? You volunteered for this and everything, didn’t you?” “Yeah, but I’m beginning to have second thoughts.” “You got the stuff, so you’re going to finish it!” “I know, but I don’t think this is a good idea-“ Ace looked angry. “Are you bailing out on us? ABC’s are supposed to stick together.” “Yeah, but don’t you think it’s a little…dangerous?” Everyone stared at her and she shrinked back. They all looked angry, like she was turning on them or something. But Ace…he looked evil. “ABC’s are supposed to stick together,” he said in a low voice. “Maybe you shouldn’t be a part of us anymore.” “Ace, the tanks, the gas can kill someone! You know that, I know that, we all know that!” “That’s the point, Nalia. We’re sick of this stupid Academy, we’re sick of the people, we’re sick of the goody-two-shoes out there, and we’re sick of this stupid city! Especially your mom, she’s nothing but a no-good prick!” Nalia narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you say that about-“ “Or what?” he challenged. The rest of the members stayed silent. They didn’t even bother to back her up. He started walking up to her and she backed away. “What are you going to do about it, huh? I don’t care what you say, I don’t care what you do, but you’re taking part in this whether you like it or not!” He looked down angrily at her, then grabbed two of the tanks and left the room. The other gang members looked at her silently, but didn’t say anything. “People are going to get hurt,” she whispered. They didn’t even answer her. The other two pairs grabbed their tanks and left the room. The others followed them. “People are going to get hurt!” She shouted, finally bringing up the courage to go after them. She ran into the hall as they left for their posts. “You’ll be killing hundreds of people out there!” Someone grabbed her arm and she turned around to see Ace standing there. “Last chance, Nalia,” he said. He held out one of the tanks. She looked down at it, then back up at him. “I’m not doing it,” she said. He sneered at her. “Then you’re done with us, we’re done with you!” “Fine! I don’t want to be part of the gang anymore, I’m leaving and you can’t do anything about it!” When she said that he started smiling. She stepped back, uneasy. She didn’t like that expression. “Oh it’s not that easy,” he said, his voice dangerously low. “You can’t leave that easy. We won’t let you.” She swallowed hard. He was really scaring her and she knew how dangerous he could get. But she shook her head. “Watch me.” Tanner Matrix stepped up to the podium and cleared her throat in the microphone. The crowd calmed down and the graduating class sat calmly in their seats. She could sense their anxiety. It wasn’t long before they became full-fledged guardians. “I would like to thank you all for coming,” she said. “Today is a very special day for our graduating party, and Mainframe is very happy to welcome them into their new Guardian ranks.” AndrAIa and Robert stood over the crowd in the shadows, watching the speech. They had landed on the roof of the Academy and were looking down over the courtyard. “I don’t see any of the ABC’s,” Robert said, trying his best to scan the crowd from their height. “What do you think?” He looked at her, only to find out she wasn’t even concentrating on the crowd. She was looking over her shoulder toward Baudway. He paused, watching her. She looked so sad. “I don’t get it,” he said. She looked at him. “Get what?” “How can you be AndrAIa? Don’t get me wrong, but that’s incredibly farfetched. It’s unbelievable, for one thing. How can it be true?” She looked down. “It’s true.” “But…how?” “I don’t even really know. Some accidents just lead on to another, you know?” He stared at her. “No, I don’t.” She forced a smile. “Yeah, you wouldn’t, not yet. It was an accident, a terrible accident. I was trapped in a game-cube without my icon, and I was stuck. Stuck in the same game for so many years. And I didn’t age or anything because it’s like a time warp. You don’t play the same game over an expanse of time and see the characters in it age, do you? Well that’s what happened. Frozen in time.” “Then how did you get out?” “The old way. The same way I got out when I met Enzo so many years ago.” She stared absentmindedly over the crowd. “And it’s funny, in a way. I wanted to know if I meant anything to this city. I was just a Game Sprite, one of the lucky ones to get out of the game. Matrix though, he and Bob were Guardians, and Dot was the Command.com, the most important person in this city. “Ray was a surfer, he knows his way around the web, he knows everything about the web. And Mouse…she did so many things with her hacking abilities. Compared to them, I didn’t know where I stood. And right after I thought those things, something terrible happened, and it made me realize what would happen without me.” “Kind of like a big, huge, twisted luck of fate,” he said. “It’s twisted alright.” “But why didn’t you tell me?” “I had just come back, Robert. I didn’t know this world, this city isn’t the same. I didn’t know who to trust. I had to find some familiar faces, I needed to find out what happened. That’s why I went through all that trouble through the Principal Office, through the dump. With Bob. With Phong.” “Well whatever happened,” he said, “you ended up on the wrong end of it, and now you’re stuck here.” She hesitated. “I know.” Nalia paced hurriedly behind the crowd, toward the back of the courtyard. She didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know how to stop this. At that moment Ace was up on top of the roof, looking down over the stage, and four others were around the audience, holding their own tanks as well. And her mother was standing on the stage, speaking to the audience, oblivious to what was going to happen. She ran her fingers impatiently through her hair. She needed to tell somebody, but she wasn’t so sure who to tell. If Ace or the others found out she ratted on them they’d get her bad for it. She glanced up at her mom, the graduation party starting up the stairs to the stage. Ace’s words ran through her mind. ”We’ll wait until the Graduating part is up on stage…” People passed by her and she stopped, letting them through. She watched as they picked their seats in the audience and sit down. She felt horrible. How was she going to stop this? AndrAIa and Robert were watching the crowd intently and silently when they both heard a scraping sound coming from the other end of the roof. They both turned their heads to see a figure climbing up from a trap door leading down into the building. They couldn’t tell who it was exactly, but it was carrying with it two big tanks. The figure climbed to its feet and picked up the tanks, making his way to the edge of the roof. He was only a couple yards away, but because of the dark of the night he couldn’t see AndrAIa and Robert crouched on the opposite end, watching him. He crouched down over the edge and looked down at the crowd beneath him. He was directly over the stage. Reaching over, he grabbed one of the tanks. AndrAIa recognized him and nudged Robert. “Ace,” she mouthed. They peered over the edge, searching the crowd. She pointed in one direction. Two ABC’s stood on the side of the audience, holding something heavy between them. There were another two on the other side, holding something as well. Robert nodded. “I’m going down there.” “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Graduating Class from Mainframe Guardian Academy!” When Tanner spoke the words, the audience broke into loud applause as the graduating kids got to their feet, beaming as their icons were turned to official Guardian codes. Nalia looked all around, but she couldn’t find the ABC’s. Where were they? Then she spotted two of them just a couple of yards away, holding their tank up, getting ready to throw it into the crowd. “No!” She screamed, causing the people around her to turn and look at her. Ignoring them, she ran forward as fast as she could, heading for the two ABC’s. They saw her and stepped back in surprise, but she was already tackling them, bringing them to the ground. The tank landed on the ground at their feet, but didn’t explode. At the same time, Robert dropped down off the building, using his Hover Flats to guide him safetly below. He headed straight for the other two ABC’s at the other end of the Audience, and tackled them before they could throw the tank. He grabbed it from them and rolled it away from the crowd. The two ABC’s were angry that he had stopped them and immediately turned to attack him. He jumped back, surprised, and tried to get away, but they jumped him, bringing him to the ground. Ace looked over the crowd, frowning. Why weren’t the tanks going off? He had given orders to the two pair to set them off right now, and why hadn’t they? He peered through the cheering and clapping audience to see Nalia jump on two of the ABC’s, stopping them before they could throw the tanks. He couldn’t believe it. That little wench…! Grabbing his own tank, he held it over his head, prepared to throw it over. He was sick of those people, sick of the Academy, sick of the Guardians, sick of everything. He was going to end it right now- “No!” The voice broke out and then something tackled him from the side. He cried out in surprise and hit the roof hard. He released the tank and it rolled away. AndrAIa rolled off him and back to her feet, grabbing for the tank. He growled in anger and stood up. “You!” He shouted. She ran for the remaining tank, but he didn’t let her. He shoved her away. “What do you think you’re doing?” He demanded. “Don’t ever try to stop me again!” “Hundreds are going to die!” She shouted, pushing the first tank well away from them and to the center of the roof. “Don’t you get it? You’ll be killing hundreds of people!” “And do you think I care?” he asked, advancing on her, “no I don’t! The Net is just a waste, Hailey, a waste! There’s no reason for these people to live!” Her eyes widened. “You’re crazy! You’re crazy, you know that?” Getting angrier, he reached into his pocket and took out a pocket knife. He held it out menacingly at her, the blade gleaming in the night. But she didn’t even flinch. Unsnapping her trident, the same one Bob had just recently given back to her, she swung and hit his hand, sending the knife flying through the air away from them. Automatically he reached into his jacket again- and drew a gun. She froze, holding the trident in front of her, no longer safe. She could get rid of a knife without a problem, but bullets? “Don’t you even try, babe,” he said, “or I’ll get you. I don’t care if it’s you or those people down there, but you can’t stop me!” As fast as she could she kicked her leg, sending the gun flying. Before he could react, she swung the trident, hitting him in the side. He flew off balance and landed on the roof. In a flash her foot was pressed against his chest, the tip of the trident just in front of his neck, keeping him from getting back up. She stood there, not moving, not letting him move. It was over. He wasn’t going to do anything now. To her surprise, he started laughing. And it wasn’t a nice one at all. Looking down, she saw that his foot was right next to the second tank. Before she could stop him he was kicking the tank, and it was rolling toward the edge of the roof, just inches from going over and falling toward the crowd below- She dropped the trident and lunged for it, arms outstretched, trying to keep it from rolling over. Ace got to his feet and tried to stop her before she could get to it, lunging as well. But before he could reach her, she had grabbed the tank just as it was going over, her hands extended over the edge, holding firmly on to it. Then Ace was on top of her, trying to get her to drop it, and she kicked him off, trying to get away. He flipped off her, only he was going the wrong way, and before he or she could do anything- “Ace!” She cried. He cried out and grabbed on to the edge of the roof, dangling over the side. His fingers were the only things keeping him from falling. AndrAIa rolled the tank away, breathing heavily, and looked back at him. “Help!” He shouted, clinging on for dear life. “Help, Hailey, please help me!” She just stared at him. He deserved to go, he did, but…she couldn’t let that happen. No, he didn’t deserve this. “Hailey!” He shouted, his fingers aching. “Help me! Please! Pull me up! Hurry!” He was a Matrix. Enzo Matrix’s descendant. This boy was a part of the man she loved, the man she knew so long ago. “Hailey!” His fingers gave away and for a split second he felt himself falling. He screamed and- Hands flew down and caught his wrists, holding him firmly in place. Surprised, he looked up to see AndrAIa hanging over the edge, holding on to his hands. He gasped in shock and surprise as she started to pull him up. She was straining under his weight but managed to pull him back over the edge and back on the roof. When he got back up he was breathing hard. AndrAIa just sat there, looking over the edge, trying to catch her breath. He could barely mutter his thanks as he peered back over the edge, looking down, far down at the people below, oblivious to what could’ve happened just seconds to them before. Then he passed out. TO BE CONTINUED… |
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