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| The next morning, everyone was up and busy at the principle office. There was much more work to do, including putting Phong back together. Vick stood there, half stacking the weapons together, half staring off into space. She didn't like guns much, but she didn't complain. After all, Cayo had used a gun against her parents. She was thinking about the situation she was in. It was strange to come to Mainframe to visit her cousin, and run into Bob again. She had always hoped she would never see him since the pain would be too great, but it was too late now. AndrAIa looked up from the floor plan in front of her and over to Vick. The woman was stacking the guns neatly, only her mind was clearly somewhere else. Sighing, she got up and walked over to her. "Are you okay?" she asked. Vick looked up at her and blinked. "Yeah, I'm fine." "How do you feel about everything that's going on?" "It's overwhelming. I thought Cayo was long behind me, but I guess not. I should've figured he'd come chasing after me, though. But I've been doing some thinking, and killing me alone might not be on his hit list. I mean, if he knew Bob were here when he attacks, and killing Bob was once my assignment-" "He might go after Bob also," AndrAIa finished. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. I just wish there were some way we can defend Mainframe more easily. There's many lives out there that's at risk and we need a way to protect the city for at least the first few microseconds. Unfortunately, we don't have anything that can protect this whole entire city. We only have enough for the main principle office and maybe three sectors." "So we need something to cover this whole city?" Vick asked. "I wish I knew." "Yeah, me too." Suddenly, another searing pain hit Vick again and she fell down, wincing. "Oh no, not another one!" AndrAIa gasped, and everyone else looked at them. "What's going on? Are you okay?" Vick couldn't answer. She was visioning again, only it was in such a way she couldn't repeat it after it was over. Crawling blindly over to the main computer console, she grabbed onto the monitor. "Vick, what's happening?" Dot cried. She ran over to her. Suddenly, the monitor Vick was holding onto lit up, and it was showing the same vision from her head. The others stared in amazement and awe. "Is this place familiar?" Vick asked, still closing her eyes, one hand to her forehead, the other still on the monitor. The monitor was showing a run down building, with only the top part whole. Right on the ceiling of the building was some sort of switch. Bob's eyes widened in recognition. Vick cried out as the vision went away and the monitor went blank. She fell back away from the console and opened her eyes. "Vick!" Mouse ran over to her. "Are you alright Sugah? I didn't know your visions were that intense!" "Not always," Vick replied as the pain slowly went out of her head. She looked up at the others. "Any ideas from that vision?" "Yeah," Bob spoke up, "That building is a part of Los Angles. I guess that switch on the top bears some importance on our part." "A way to cover the whole Mainframe," AndrAIa whispered, recalling her earlier chat. She looked up suddenly. "Guys, I think that switch might help us cover up Mainframe, like a shield, you know? So it'll buy us some time against Cayo!" "That's right!" Matrix agreed. "One of us has to go there and figure it out. The rest of us has to stay and prepare the Principle Office and the weapons." "I'll go," AndrAIa volunteered. "No!" Vick cried, climbing to her feet. The vision from the day before flashed through her mind. "I mean, you can't," she caught herself, "you should stay and help out with the rest. I'll go." AndrAIa shrugged. "And I'll go with you," Bob volunteered, nodding at Vick. Vick flushed. "No, that's not really nessessary…" She couldn't help but smile. Could Bob be wanted to be alone with her? "With Glitch, I might be able to figure out how the switch would work, along with the upsides and downsides to it." "Oh." Vick turned toward the door to hide her expression. "Okay then," she grabbed a zip board, too hurt to work with her own flying device. "Well, I’m going now, so you'd better hurry up." With that, she jumped on the board and flew off into the sky. * * * Los Angles really was a pretty awful sight. Vick was used to it by now, since she had flown there earlier on her hunt for Hexadecimal. She was using the tracker on her belt to track down the building, her whip out in case of any attacks. She was feeling really jumpy with Bob right beside her, and she was trying to stay cool with it. "We're almost there," Bob spoke up. "Yeah, right," Vick agreed. She glanced around. "Wow, was this place always this bad?" "No. It used to be beautiful, until it was destroyed and Dot's father died there." He sighed. It was really hard for her. I came after that happened, though." "You really like Dot, don't you." "She's the best. We've been partners for a long time, and sometimes we quarrel, but she's great. What about you? I'm sure traveling from system to system isn't all you do." Vick shook her head. "No, actually it isn't. I've been to the web once on an assignment. I had to kill this worker on some kind of ship called 'The Saucy Mare', or something like that. Mr. Christopher I think was his name. I never found him though. I went through too many Mouse traps. I knew they were hers, since I know her style. I managed to escape the web and back to the Super Computer. That's when I met Cayo." "Mr, Christopher…?" Bob frowned. "Apparently he used to be this big gang member back in the days," Vick replied, "he wasn't much of a favorite to my old boss. But I’m not after him anymore." Just then, they reached the building they were targeting. "Oh yeah!" Vick cried, flying toward the roof. But right before she could reach it, she hit some sort of force field. "Aaaaaagh!" She screamed, feeling herself being electrocuted. She fell off the zip board and toward the ground. Expecting to be deleted, she closed her eyes and waited…. Only to be caught my Bob. "Whoa Vick, are you okay?" he asked, letting her down on the ground. Vick nodded, feeling a little dazed. "I'll be okay. I guess we can't just fly in and hit the switch." Bob agreed. "We have to go through the building. That's the only way." They were just about to enter the beat up building, when Vick got another vision. It wasn't painful though. She could see Bob standing right where the switch was, and the next thing she knew, he was lying motionless on some street. She gasped. If Bob were to hit the switch, somehow he'd be deleted! "Let's go!" Bob said, urging her in. They started climbing the floors. "I'll hit the switch, if you don't mind." Actually, I do, she thought. "Okay," she replied, meekly. She had to think of something by the time they reached the top floor. There was a long silence as they flew higher and higher. The building was pretty tall, and it was going to take awhile to get up there. Suddenly, Vick turned to Bob. "Bob? Do you hear something?" Her eyes were wide. Bob looked around. "No…wait, I'll go check." "No, don't go," Vick stopped him. She looked passed him. "I think…I think it's coming from over there." "You think so?" Bob turned around. Vick took her chance. Balling her hands into fists, she slammed down on Bob's head, knocking him out. With a grunt, he fell off his zip board and onto the floorboards below. Vick looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you hurt yourself." She turned to continue on, when she looked back at him. Sighing, she said, "I just hope you never find out about this." Leaning over, she kissed him hard. Then she flew off. Phong, newly put together, rolled over to Dot as she stood in front of a vid window, surveying the whole city. "How are things going?" He asked. Dot glanced around. Mouse was hacking away on the computer, trying to figure out if they could download the super gun, a weapon they could use to fire from long distances and make most damage. Enzo had abandoned his work for a minute to draw pictures of Vick on his map, AndrAIa had taken over the weaponry, and Matrix was checking them to make sure they worked. Ray was off in the sky, talking to Dot through the vid window. "Doing okay," she replied. She watched as Ray surfed farther up from the city. "So far," he said, "there hasn't been any sign of anything. But we must keep a close look out, we never know what will happen." "That's what I'm afraid of," Dot said. She turned to face the others. "Doing okay, guys?" she asked. "Almost there," Mouse said shortly, not looking up from the computer. "I wonder how Vick and Bob are doing. Think they've figured out the switch?" "I don't know." Just then, the system voice rang out, declaring what everyone dreaded. "WARNING, INCOMING GAME. WARNING, INCOMING GAME." "Oh shoot," Ray commented from the sky. In the background they could see the sky turning purple and a game cube dropping down. "Since Bob is in Los Angles, I suggest one of us go get that." "I will!" Enzo cried, jumping to his feet and dropping his picture. "NO!" "I will," AndrAIa said. "Matrix, come along?" "I would if I could, but I can't." He held up the weapons he was sorting through. "I want to be ready when Cayo comes." "Ray, I'll meet you in there," AndrAIa said, jumping on her zip board and flying out of the building. Vick frowned as she saw the sky go purple. "What's going on here?" She dismissed the thought and turned to the switch. She couldn't figure out what to do with it, since it didn't show any significance of pulling, pushing, or switching. Suddenly, the part of the roof she was standing on gave way. She didn't have the zip board, so she crashed through the roof. "Aaaaagh!" She screamed, taking out her whip. She tried to snap it and attach it to something to grab hold of her, but she was falling too fast. She fell through several floors, until finally she managed to snap something with the whip. The whip caught hold, and she dangled there, just inches from the first floor. She looked up. "No…" she groaned, letting herself down. She had seventy stories to climb, and she didn't have her zip board. And there were no signs of stairs or elevators anywhere. AndrAIa looked across the long stretch of field. "So," she said. Ray stood beside her. "Well, what game is this?" "I'm not sure, it'll take me a moment. Does any of this ring a bell though? I'm always finding games that are based on fairy tales I've heard when I was a child." She looked around. Suddenly, she noticed someone standing on the other side of the field, dressed in dark armor with dark hair. She held a sword in her hands. Next to her, stood a smaller figure, with blond hair and green and brown clothes. She held a staff in her hand. "Great," AndrAIa groaned. "This is a Xena game. This is going to be tough." She tapped on her icon. "Reboot!" A flash of light surrounded her, and the next thing she knew, she was wearing even darker and more revealing armor then 'Xena.' Her hair was the same, only messier, and there were arm bands on her shoulders. She reached back and drew a sword out of its scabbard. Ray pressed his icon also. "Reboot!" A bright light surrounded him and the next thing he knew, he was wearing black pants and vest. "What is this?" He asked, puzzled. "You're Ares," AndrAIa replied, "God of War. If I'm not mistaken, I think you develop your character's powers when you're in a game." "And who are you?" "That I don't know." The two users advanced on them. The taller one, 'Xena', actually spoke, but with a mechanical voice. "Callisto." AndrAIa looked around. "Where?" "Uh, I think she's talking about you," Ray pointed out. 'Gabrielle' looked at them, a blank look on her face. Then she held out her staff. AndrAIa got the point. "Ray, this is a fighting game," she explained. "To the death." Vick climbed steadily, using her whip to latch onto the floor above her and pull herself up. The building was unfinished, so there was a huge gaping whole somewhere on each floor. "I just really hope Bob isn't awake before I reach the level he's on," she thought out-loud. She walked to the edge of the building and looked down. She had climbed fifteen levels without a break. She had to stop for a few minutes before going on. "Oh, this is just great," she moaned, resting her head against a pole sticking out of the ground. I come here, hoping for at least peace and quiet so I could go on with my life, and what happens? Cayo follows me around. What's worst, is that he's threatening my friend's lives!" She looked up. So many more levels to go and she didn't want to think about it one bit. 'Xena' attacked suddenly with her sword, and Ray jumped back in surprise. "Whoa!" he cried, "I didn't know she could do that!" "Run for cover!" AndrAIa directed, "Until we figure out a strategy." They turned and ran toward a huge boulder. Good enough cover. She ducked behind it and peered over. 'Xena' and 'Gabrielle' were slowly heading their way. "Okay, now what?" Ray asked. "I don't suppose we go jump into this battle because personally, I don't feel right killing women." "You're such a gentleman," AndrAIa said, "But in this game, you're Ares, a ruthless God that's always fighting those two. And I'm Callisto, a ruthless warrior that hates Xena and would do anything to make her life miserable." "Why?" "Why? Well I simply don't know." Ray peeked over the rock again. 'Xena' and 'Gabrielle' were coming closer. "Can we please figure out something quickly? I think the faster we get back to the principle office, the better." "Yeah," AndrAIa agreed. "So…we might as well go out and fight." She looked around and smiled when she saw a bunch of warlords running over the hill towards the Users, yelling out battle cries. "…or not," she finished. "What are those?" Ray asked. "Game sprites," AndrAIa explained, "They'll keep the Users busy while we think of something." Ray watched as the game sprites bomborded the Users. "Maybe if we're lucky, the game sprites will do the job for us." "If the Users' have never played this before," AndrAIa agreed. She frowned as she watched 'Xena' and 'Gabrielle' neatly fight off the game sprites without any pressure at all. "But something tells me that's not going to happen." * * * "GAME OVER. USER LOSES." A few moments later, AndrAIa and Ray flew neatly up from where the game cube was and landed in the Principle office. "That wasn't so bad!" Ray exclaimed, "never thought games could be so fun." "It wasn't so hard," AndrAIa agreed, "we didn't even have to do anything. I thought the users would delete the game sprites, but I guess not." Dot didn't reply and studied the vid window, carefully watching for any signs of attack. What scared her the most was that Cayo had to be already here in order to wreck up the Principle Office and she was getting pretty fed up waiting for him to attack. "Where could he be?" she wondered out loud. "It'll be okay, sis," Enzo said, "nothing wrong has happened so far." Dot looked around. The only sprites there were Enzo, Matrix, Phong, Ray, AndrAIa, and Mouse. The two at Los Angles should be back by now. "I'm worried about Bob," she admitted. "And Vick. What if something happened to them?" "Sugah, I wouldn't worry about it one bit," Mouse said, reassuringly. "We all know Bob, he would never sleep on the job." Bob lay there, his eyes close, motionless. Vick had reached his floor without waking him up. Watching him carefully, she walked slowly toward his zip board, lying still beside him. She'd rather fly to the roof than continue climbing. Bob groaned suddenly and Vick froze. She stared at him to see what he would do, but he made no further movements. Sighing with relief, she grabbed the zip board. "Okay, weapon check finally done," Matrix announced. He made his way over to Dot where AndrAIa, Phong, and Ray were also standing. "I hacked into the main weapon," Mouse said, "it's ready to fire whenever." She pushed a button on the computer, and the building started to shake. To their surprise, a huge, gun like weapon formed right on top of the principle building, pointing toward the sky. Mouse grinned triumphantly. "Am I good, or am I good!" "Well, at least we're ready," Dot said, "but we haven't found a shield to cover all of Mainframe. What's taking Bob and Vick so long?" "Well, even if the virus were to attack right now," Phong spoke up, "we'd have to wait until a shield is up." "You mean we can't attack?" Enzo asked. "But that's so basic! Why would we not attack them? Wouldn't it be better?" "Not exactly Enzo," Matrix said, "I feel the same way, but if we were to attack, they would attack right back at us, and Mainframe is protected for that kind of thing. We'd have to wait and hope Bob and Vick succeed in Los Angles." "Glad that's not happening right now," Ray said. Dot glanced at the vid window again, and was about to turn and explain to Enzo, when something caught her eye. Staring at the vid window, mouth open, she could see little flying like machines heading toward Mainframe up in the sky. In the front was a very distinctive virus. Cayo. "Oh no," she whispered. "They're here." "What!" Mouse gaped, running over to them. "Already? But we're not ready!" Vick was flying up levels on the zip board as fast as she could. She still had a very long way to go. Down below, Bob was reviving and he sat up. "Vick?" he said, looking around. "Oh great. She's probably up there right now." He looked around and grabbed a big flat piece of wood. Using his 'glitch' powers, he was able to make it levitate. Jumping on it, he flew up after her. Vick didn't realize what Bob was doing. She kept on flying, a very bad feeling in her head. They're here, she thought. This can't be good. She flew up even faster, hoping there was enough time for her to hit the switch. Suddenly, she came crashing through the ceiling and onto the roof. Without hesitation, she ran over to the switch. What could she do, though? She couldn't tell what she had to do in order to activate it. It was just this big block on the roof. "Okay Vick, just think," she said to herself. "Think. Think, Think." Bob came crashing up seconds later to see Vick reaching for the switch. Something told him that something bad was going to happen, and he ran forward. "Vick- no!" * * * Dot stood there, staring at the vid window. "Come on," she said, "Come on…" Just as she grabbed the switch, she felt this strange vibration go through the entire building. Screaming in surprise, she fell back. "What's happening?!" She cried. Bob fell down beside her. "It's the switch!" He cried, "It's working! But we have to get off the roof right now!" Vick looked toward the edge of the roof, but then she remembered the force field. "We can't just jump off!" She yelled over the roaring of the vibration. He had to agree with that. He looked around and saw the hole in the roof. "Come on!" He yelled, grabbing her around the waist. He jumped into the hole and they went falling down to the very first floor. They looked up to see yellow fill the area on the roof and then shoot off into the sky. If they had stayed up there, they would have been deleted for sure. But in his haste, Bob forgot the zip board. He tried to think what they can do, when Vick took out here whip and snapped it, attaching one end on the edge of a level. Before they knew it, they were dangling, just inches from crashing onto the first floor. Bob looked at her with awe. "Thanks," he said. "You're welcome," she replied, dropping down onto the first floor. She got her whip back and tucked it back into her belt. As they walked out of the building, they saw a gold colored force field stretch across Mainframe. She grinned. "We did it!" "We did!" He said, hugging her. |
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