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| Chapter Seven The shields were breaking, and Bob knew that. He had flown down and tried to repair it, but nothing would work. And Daemon had seen him. At first, she looked shocked. But then she raised her arm and shouted, "Attack!" The whole guardian army rose and charged at him. Bob's eyes widened and he flew backward, turning every now and then to try and send energy beams over at them. It wasn't working. "Bob!" Bob looked over to see Matrix and Mouse floating off in the distance. They had taken out their weapons, ready to attack. He quickly swung by them. "We have no choice," he said. "Try. Try to fight. For survival if you have to." Matrix and Mouse nodded at the same time. Then they turned and faced the Daemon army all on their own. Daemon stayed behind, watching as her army advanced on the two single guardians left not under her control. That would change and that would change now. If Bob and Matrix were to die tonight, then she had the net to herself. And no one could stop her. "The net won't be able to stand a chance against me!" She shouted, just to get the thought out. "Oh yeah? Well I don't think so." Daemon whirled around to see a sprite floating only a few feet in front of her. She was wearing pants, a short top, with long green hair and a trident in her hand. She recognized her as one of the girls she had taken under her control. They had escaped. She knew they would. "You," she said. "Yeah, me," AndrAIa said back. "You can't keep me away forever. Your infection isn't that powerful." Underneath, she was praying. The infection was still in her, and Phong had been able to stall the spread for only a short time. She didn't know how long that would last, and she didn't want to overdo it too quickly. "Well, we'll see about that," Daemon threatened. ************ Dot was still standing at the window, watching the battle going on outside the slowly fading shields. She was scared. She didn't know what was going to happen. Deep down, she was remembering Bob and the kiss they had shared. "Bob, promise me one thing. Don't ever leave me again." Dot blinked at the memory. Where had that come from? She didn't know what to think. She shook her head. "Bob! Nooooo!" Dot blinked again. "He's alright, he's okay, he's the sprite that brightens our day. There's no doubt, girls you better watch out, he's alphanumeric." Dot shook her head and leaned her forehead against the glass. Where were all these visions coming from? Was she remembering? Just then, the shields vanished, bringing her out of her trance. She watched as the guardians suddenly came heading toward them, and her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "Oh no!" She cried. **************** They were losing the war, and they were losing it fast. AndrAIa was slowly losing energy fighting Daemon, and it wasn't any use. Daemon was too strong. The sheilds had fallen, and her army was advancing. The military was infected, and there was no the city could defend for itself. At that moment, Daemon had AndrAIa down and out, holding her up by the neck. AndrAIa's trident barely dangled from her fingers. "You could never beat me," Daemon snarled, "I am powerful. I am more powerful than you ever will be, and you could never stop me. Things do come to an end, you know, and it's your turn." AndrAIa could slowly feel her world turn bright red and her body seemed to lose all strength. This was it. She was going to die, and she didn't have a chance to tell Matrix she was okay. Like she was now. Her vision blurred, and Daemon's face became a color blob. Everything was swirling and she felt herself sinking into the blackness. "No! Leave her alone!" Daemon felt something hard hit her on the side of the head she released AndrAIa, falling down. Whoever hit her grabbed on to the game sprite to keep her from falling over. AndrAIa slowly felt oxygen fill her body and she leaned against her rescuer. She looked down to see it was Mike the TV, of all people, riding on a zipboard. He held a metal lamp post in his hand. Daemon struggled to keep on her feet, and looked over at Mike, than the Principle Office. "It's too late anyway!" She yelled. "Your city has fallen and the net is mine!" "No!" Mike yelled, "I live in this city, you will not destroy it!" AndrAIa had never heard Mike speak this way. It surprised her. "It's too late anyway." Without another word, Daemon ignored them and went over to join her army. ************* Daemon was right. The P.O. was taken over, and Mainframe was at the grasp of her fingers. Bob, Matrix, and Mouse floated there, trying to fight off as many guardians as they could. But it wasn't working. "Bob! Matrix!" They all looked up to see Mike fly over to them, helping AndrAIa up. Matrix's face lit up and he flew over to her, taking her into his arms. "AndrAIa! You're okay!" They all looked over the city. Daemon's army had abandoned the fight with them and taken over the Principle Office.. They couldn't do anything. Military was down, people were hurt, and the Principle Office was slowly crumbling. Bob's eyes widened. "Dot! Phong! Oh no!" He took off toward the building. "Bob! No!" Mouse cried. But it was too late. He was gone. ************** (Background music begins. Something sad and depressing that makes you want to cry.) Dot was trying to calm people down inside the Principle Office, but she had lost hope herself. Guardians were now trying to get through inside the building, and Phong seemed to be the only one under control. She admired him for that. "Oh dear, oh dear!" Phong muttered, running around and trying to figure out what to do. He was yelling orders at people to try to put up the emergency shields, but they weren't working. Guardians were working their way in like termites and there seemed to be nothing they could do! He cried out suddenly when a guardian jumped down from an unknown, small (but growing) hole in the ceiling. Right away, he started shooting. More guardians dropped in, attacking and killing anything they saw. Dot noticed a male guardian advancing on her. He had a blank look in his eyes and a gun in his hand. Her eyes widened with fear and backed up until her back hit the window. She glanced around but there was nothing to protect her with. Grabbing a table lamp, she held it up. "Don't come any closer, or I'll…!" She trailed off. She wasn't good at making threats. The guardian didn't take her threat seriously. He kept advancing on her, and she slid along down the window, trying to get farther away from him. Suddenly, he reached out, swung his gun- And the lamp went flying from her hands in pieces. "Oh!" Dot gasped, her mouth dropping open. She looked down at her now empty hands, than back up at the guardian. "Stop! Don't come closer! I'm warning you! I have connections-aaaaagh!" The guardian grabbed her and held her close. She hit him, trying to pull away, but he was too strong. "Help!" She screamed, "Help!!" "There's no one to help you," The guardian sneered. He held his gun up to her head. "Say Sayanara." Dot felt tears well up in her eyes and she squeezed them shut. This was it. Her very last second to live and- Suddenly, she felt the guardian tear away from her, and she was free. Startled, she opened her eyes to see him on the ground, unconscious. Bob was standing in his place, a pole in his hand. He was holding it up. Dot's eyes widened and she started crying. She couldn't believe her luck. "Bob!" She ran into his arms. "Bob! Oh my god, thank goodness you're here!" "We've got to get you out of here," Bob said, "This place is too dangerous-" He broke off when a big boom sounded through the building, and the Principle Office slowly started falling apart. Dot screamed and held Bob close, afraid to be left alone. Bob glanced around. Guardians were all over the place, shooting everything in sight. They had lost. Mainframe was off-line. ************** Matrix, Mouse, AndrAIa, and Mike were still floating on their zipboards outside the Principle Office. There was nothing they could do. The guardians were too strong and if they went and tried to fight, they'd die in less than three nano-seconds. The Principle Office was falling apart. "Oh no," AndrAIa whispered, not able to take her eyes away from the destruction. "What have we done?" "What has Daemon done?" Mouse corrected her, but she said nothing more. She put her arm around AndrAIa in a sisterly guesture. "There's nothing we can do. Bob's in there and-" "Damn you, Daemon!" Matrix shouted suddenly, holding his gun up in the air. "You will pay for this!" He pulled the trigger on his gun and fired a shot in the air. The bullet exploded in the sky above them, and a tear opened up where it was. They all jumped back, startled at what had happened. "Great!" Mike complained. "First an invasion, now this!" The tear sparkled in the sky, casting bright rays of light on everything around it. Matrix was about to fly up to it, when it suddenly stabilized and turned into a portal, leading to the web. It throbbed and pulsed, and they could tell that something was coming out from it. "Another invasion!" Mike screamed. But it wasn't that at all. Ray was leading the bunch, and he surfed on by the group. "Hey, guys," he said charmingly, "Miss me?" "Ray!" Mouse cried, relieved. "Am I glad to see you!" A giant army of webriders flooded out of the portal and headed straight for the Principle Office. They watched on as the army started attacking the guardians and throwing them aside. "Yes!" AndrAIa cried. She looked at the others and held out her trident. "Well? What are we waiting for?" ***************** Bob and Dot were still stuck inside the Principle Office. All the entrances seemed to be sealed off. Dot didn't want to leave Bob. No matter how bad things seemed, holding him made her feel safe. She hid her face in his shoulder, but when she looked up, she noticed a bunch of weird dressed sprites flying around the Principle Office, fighting the guardians. She raised her head even higher. "Bob?" She whispered. "What's happening?" Bob looked also, and he smiled. "It's the webriders," he explained. "They've come to save us." Dot's face filled with relief. "Oh thank goodness!" She pulled away from Bob. "We've got to get out of here! Where's Enzo?” She looked around and saw the little boy standing near Phong. The old sprite was in a panic still, but he seemed to relax now that the webriders were here. "We've got to get out of here," Bob announced loudly so they could hear. "Come on, we'll use that entrance in the ceiling." "But Bob," Phong interrupted, "There is no entrance…oh." He looked up at the guardian-made hole in the ceiling that they had cut to crash in. "But what about the guardians?" "Never mind them," Bob replied, "I have the feeling we're finally winning the war." **************** "No!" Daemon screamed loudly. The strange visitors coming from the web portal were defeating her army, stealing away her only chance to taking over Mainframe. "No! It's all gone wrong! This can't be!" She landed her zip board on the Principle Office and watched the battle raging on below. "This is all gone wrong," She repeated, "This is all gone wrong!" Glancing down, she noticed that the webriders had pretty much won. They weren't killing her army, they were somehow un-infecting them. She had no idea how they were doing that, but she could feel control slipping from her grasp. Maybe she had one last hope left. Maybe there was still a way to regain her strength. If only she could think of it, than this wouldn't ruin her. She started laughing. "You can't stop me!" She shouted into the air. Her voice echoed around the Principle Office down below where her men were defeated. "Oh yeah? I suggest you think again." The voice came from behind her, and it sounded awfully familiar. She turned to see a small (But seemingly large) group of sprites standing on the Principle Office. Matrix, Mouse, AndrAIa, Bob, Dot, Mike, Phong, and Enzo. Matrix was the one who had spoken, and he held a gun menacingly in his hand. AndrAIa and Mouse were also holding out their weapons, a long sword and a trident. The others had their arms crossed and glaring at her. Daemon felt a tinge of fear run through her system, but she didn't show it. She straightened her posture and held her chin up. "Oh really. I don't think so." "Daemon, you are the one that I heard took away my memory," Dot spoke up, "Because of you, I don't even know who my true friends are. And we're going to make you pay for that, and all the heartbreak you've caused." That's when it clicked. Dot. Daemon's ability to move into her mind. It was perfect. Her last hope. Daemon smiled. Bob exchanged glances with the others. Daemon had been standing there for awhile now, smiling. What was she thinking? They each were suspecting the same thing and were standing there, ready for action. Suddenly, Daemon collapsed. Her legs folded beneath her and she fell, sprawling across the roof of the P.O, totally unconscious. They all stood there in shock. That was something they did not expect at all. Bob slowly walked up to her, arms out incase she sprang up. But she didn't move. Scanning her body, he could tell she really was out. But the strange thing was, he couldn't detect any sort of virus within her. Any sign of infection was wiped from her system. She was breathing normally, but something wasn't right. He shook her gently, and she groaned. Other than that, she didn't move. Her groan sounded different, almost as if she were a totally different person. "We've got to get her inside," Bob called back to the others. "Help me out, Matrix." Matrix took a step forward, when Dot held out a hand and stopped him. "You're not going anywhere, brother," She rasped. Bob spun around and the others gasped. "Dot?" "I'm sorry, Dot's not home anymore," She rasped, "Check back at another time." "Daemon," Matrix said coldly. "You leave my sister alone, you hear me?" He reached for his gun, but she grabbed it with frighteningly fast speed and held it against him. AndrAIa made a move to swing her trident, but Daemon grabbed it with her free hand and held the point out toward her. "Make a move, and you get it," she said coldly. AndrAIa froze. She could feel the cold tips of her own weapon pressed against her neck. "Anyone make a move," Daemon went on, "and they both get it." Bob swallowed hard. "Dot," he said, "Fight. Get her out of there-" Daemon tightened her grip on the weapons. "Don’t bother, Bobby-boy. She's helpless. She doesn't even remember anything, remember? What makes you think she can fight me?" Bob didn't give up. "Come on Dot. I love you. Fight. Get her out of there. Fight her out of there." Daemon shook her head in disgust and threw the weapons down on the ground. "You know what? Forget this. Dot means so much to you? Then get a load of this." With that, she ran and hurled her body over the edge of the Principle Office. "Dot!" Bob screamed. He couldn't let this happen. Dot couldn't die this way. He leapt off after her, forgetting the aid of a zip board to help him. Below, he could see his loved one falling for the ground at a very fast speed. He stretched out his arms and released a beam of energy. The energy beam hit Dot, suspending her in mid-air. Bob had kept her from falling any more than she had. The only problem is, he couldn't stop falling. He could see her, floating in the beam of yellow light, coming closer and closer toward him. He had to stop. Bob cursed. Why couldn't his powers supply flying? This was crazy! He would have to die saving his girlfriend. But that was something he would do anytime. And this was the time. Dot was unconscious he could see that. Within the few nano-seconds he had left, he remembered all the times they had been through together. Their good times, their sad times. He squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the compact to hit any moment. But it never did. Surprised, Bob opened his eyes. He was suspended in mid-air! Dot was floating just below him, and when he looked up, he saw Matrix there, holding him by the feet, flying on his zip board. "Matrix!" Bob cried. Matrix grinned, but there were hints of strain in his face from holding on to Bob's weight. "You okay, Bob?" Bob grinned back. "Yeah. Thank you, friend." **************** Daemon's army was thoroughly defeated, remaining Guardians lying around weakly, but no longer infected. Dot and Daemon's body were laid out on the road below, everyone crowded around. "Come on, Dot," Bob said, shaking his lover. "You've got to make it. Please wake up. Please. You can't leave me like this!" Matrix put a hand on Bob's arm and looked at the ground sadly. No one had the strength to speak. Suddenly, Dot groaned and coughed. Everyone's faces lit up with hope as she slowly opened her eyes. "Dot?" Bob whispered. "Are you okay?" Dot squinted, the morning light hitting her in the face. "Bob?" She continued down the line. "Matrix? AndrAIa? Mouse? Ray? What happened? What am I doing lying on the floor?" Bob still looked worried. "Do you remember?" "Remember what?" "Dot, who is Megabyte?" "Megabyte? Don't you know? He destroyed our city, nearly killed me, shot you off in the web…" She sat up weakly, but her voice was still going strong and angrily, "and nearly killed Matrix and AndrAIa! Why are you asking me this? What, do you have amnesia or something?" She grinned. Bob grinned back and hugged her hard. "Thank goodness you're back!" Just then, Mike nudged Bob. "Uh, Bob?" He said, "Look." He pointed at Daemon. Daemon was groaning and coming to. They all looked at her with wide eyes, not knowing quite what to expect. Was she still evil? What happened? Daemon mumbled something about the light in her eyes, then opened them. She was surprised to see herself lying on the street, a crowd of people around her. "Where am I?" She asked. "Who are you guys?" Matrix held his gun menacingly out at her, and she swallowed. "Get that thing out of my face!" "Matrix, wait a minute," Ray stopped. "There's no trace of a virus in her. It's gone." "Where did it go?" Matrix asked, hesitating before putting the gun away. "I don't know," Ray admitted, shrugging. "Anywhere. Hopefully it went to the web before the webriders returned home. All I can say, though, is that she's virus free." "Virus free?" AndrAIa frowned. "What do you mean? She was a virus!" "You mean I'm okay now?" The used-to-be-Daemon asked. She grinned. "Oh thank goodness!" "Honey, who was Daemon?" Mouse asked. "And who the hell are you?" "My name's Billy," She replied. "Daemon infected me a long time ago…" END. GO TO EPILOGUE |
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