Daemon was still as the Guardian came in, kneeling and bowing her silver head before the supervirus' throne. Reflexively, Daemon clutched the robe she wore a bit tighter around her right side. It wouldn't do to unnerve the Guardian too much, at least not until it was needed.

"Rise," Daemon drawled softly, her grating voice keeping its erratic tone changes to a minimum.

The Guardian rose, standing straight at attention. "Guardian Beta reporting for duty, ma'am," the woman droned.

Daemon raised her head a bit, looking into the green eyes. This one intrigued her. She fought the infection; not as strongly as Turbo was able to, but the virus could still see flickers of rebellion in the Guardian's gaze.

Yet, as much as she was intrigued by it, she couldn't permit it. Daemon slowly rested her chin in a hand, eyes narrowing. "As you know," Daemon said, keeping her voice pitched low, "there are two Guardians that have escaped infection."

More emotion in those eyes; she knew. The viral side of the Guardian nodded swiftly.

Daemon straightened up. "I do not approve of that; they pose a threat to me even though they are only two." She paused, struggling to keep herself calm. It was possible, but as a virus, she was so often inclined to loose her temper. That would not do. "I want you to hire one of the Codemasters."

"But…!" the Guardian burst out, the surprise overriding even the placid viral programming. "I thought that virus' and Codemasters…"

"Codemasters will work for whomever will pay them," Daemon snapped. "And if I say I want one hired, one will be hired. Do not question my actions."

Beta bowed her head in acquiescence and Daemon settled back, grimacing as she tried to make herself calm. "Tell them that I will pay them well for the *alive* capture of the Mouse."

Beta's brow furrowed, and confusion came through both her normal self and the viral side. "The Mouse? But…"

Daemon sighed. "You bother me. Constantly inquiring…" Fixing her cool eyes on the Guardian, she said condescendingly, "The Mouse is in Mainframe, same as those accursed Guardians. Of them all, she is the only one that is an actual outlaw; I can have her arrested without making excuses."

Beta snorted. "You've never needed excuses."

Her control on the Guardian was slipping. Daemon was most definitely going to have to fix that. "I am not stupid," she growled. "There are systems out there who are perfectly content to leave me be as long as I do not threaten them directly. I need to tread carefully around them until I can build up a force of enough magnitude to take them." She smirked slowly.

"And once we prove that the Mouse is there, she will be able to confirm that the outlaws who broke my rules are there and then…" Daemon's grin widened to a positively feral level. "I won't need petty excuses to get those renegade Guardians. I will be able to accuse them of harboring criminals and any system not already aligned with me will be ready to zip them up and set them on my doorstep."
 
 
 

"Matrix? Matrix, please wait up!"

The large green sprite stopped in his tracks and stood there, stubbornly not turning around. He felt someone run up behind him and halt a few feet away.

"Why didn't you stop?" AndrAIa asked softly, her voice hiding veiled accusation.

"Gee, I wonder," Matrix snapped. "Did you want to yell at me again?"

"No," AndrAIa muttered softly and Matrix turned around to glare at her. The orange sprite looked up at him, eyes smoldering. "I was hoping we could talk."

"I wasn't aware there was anything left to say. I got the impression you told me exactly what you thought of me before."

AndrAIa jabbed a finger at him. "Will you stop being so difficult?!"

"I'M not the one being difficult. Everything was just fine until…"

"Everything was NOT just fine! That's why I said something!" AndrAIa sighed and looked at the ground. "Matrix, I love you…"

"You sure have a funny way of showing it."

"And I don't want to fight! But I don't want to be treated like a basic little kid either."

"Then stop acting like one."

AndrAIa drew herself up, eyes flashing. "I do not believe you just said that."

Matrix glared right back at her. "I don't believe the way you've been acting."

AndrAIa laughed shortly, disbelieving tone evident. "Oh, the way I'VE been acting? I'm not the immature little basic KID that can't listen when his girlfriend is TRYING to apologize!"

"I wasn't aware that this immature basic kid still had a girlfriend. Seems to me like she walked out on him."

AndrAIa clenched her jaw. "Dot came over and talked to me while you and Bob were in the Game," she said stiffly. "I'm not sure exactly what she said, but it made me feel bad for some of the things I said. I don't anymore, however! If that is the way you are going to play it, FINE."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Matrix shook his head violently and stormed off, leaving AndrAIa standing alone in the street. She watched him go for a moment, her eyes filling with tears. Angrily, she swiped them away and trotted off in the opposite direction.
 
 
 

Mouse sighed in contentment, cuddling closer to Raytracer. The two of them lay in the darkened bedroom in the small apartment Mouse had appropriated, finding it a much better alternative to living out of Ship for a long-term stay. After a moment, she drew back a bit and looked at him. "Ray, are you happy here?"

"Why do you ask?" he said softly.

Mouse shrugged slightly. "You just must not be too used to stayin' in one place and all, y'know? What with surfin' the Web and all…"

Raytracer paused for a bit. Carefully, he answered, "It's… very different to the way I'm used to."

"Oh."

"That's not a bad thing, Mouse. I don't mind it, really I don't." He smiled shyly, his teeth a flash of white in the darkness. "Anyway, anything for a lovely lady who doesn't mind riding the waves of danger, right?"

Mouse chuckled softly, which was exactly what he had been intending her to do. "Who would have thought?" Mouse said into the darkness. "Me, the Mouse, actually hooked up with somebody…"

"Is it worth it? I mean, tarnished your rusty reputation and all…"

Mouse rolled her eyes and punched Raytracer's shoulder gently. "My reputation's not that rusty… more like… checkered."

"I believe it."

"Can Ah ask you a question?" Mouse said suddenly.

It took another long moment for Raytracer to respond, and his answer was hesitant. "Sure…"

Mouse reached up with a red tipped fingernail and tapped his goggles.

"What's up with these things? Ah've nevah seen you take them off."

"That's because I haven't."

His voice had grown slightly icy and Mouse backed off a bit. "Ah was just curious, hun," she said softly. "Ah'm not tryin' to intrude."

Raytracer turned his head away from her for a moment as if thinking something over. "Do you really want to see what my eyes look like?" he said at last.

Mouse smiled wryly. "Well, it's a bit dark here, so Ah wouldn't really see them that clearly, if that's what you're worried about. It's not goin' to hurt your eyes or anythin'?"

He laughed somewhat bitterly. "No, don't worry about that Mouse. You can take them off, if you like."

Mouse hesitated, but curiosity overcame uncertainty and she reached up, carefully slipping the goggles off. Setting them on the night stand beside the bed, she looked back at Raytracer, noting slightly that he was hugging her a bit tighter. In the dim light from the street lamps outside, Mouse could make out a pair of cloudy gray eyes, looking at her and yet… not quite focusing on her.

Realization dawned on her and Raytracer seemed to sense it. "You don't mind dating somebody who's blind, do you?" he asked hoarsely.

"No…" Mouse breathed softly, for once in her life at a loss for words. "But…"

"The goggles let me see," he said quietly. "That's why I wear them all the time, and why Iceshadow doesn't have them except when she puts on her web armor. I… didn't really know how to tell anyone. Please don't tell the others?"

"Ah won't," Mouse promised quietly, hugging him tightly. "Do… do you want them back?"

Raytracer shook his head and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"No… it's almost nice not having to wear them. They get a little annoying after awhile."

Mouse yawned and snuggled down underneath the covers, feeling the warm flannel pajama top that Raytracer was wearing tickle her cheek. Raytracer had rather sheepishly informed her that he didn't have to always sleep in the surfbaud, and she had jokingly bought him some flannel pajama protocols.

Suddenly, a bright flash of light shot through the room, glaring brightly even to Mouse's closed eyes. She bolted straight upright, blinking her eyes rapidly to clear them and looking blindly for her katana. It seemed determined to elude her, however, and she froze as a pike was placed in front of her face.

"What is it?" Ray demanded. "What's going on?" His voice was bordering on hysteria, something that she didn't begrudge him. He couldn't see without his goggles, he didn't know where she had put them, and she couldn't do anything, or she would be deleted.

"Are you she who is known as the Mouse?" intoned a grating voice. Mouse raised her eyes to look into the face of a Codemaster.

Throat dry, Mouse nodded, not too keen on the idea of antagonizing a Codemaster while she was defenseless and in her pajamas.

"You will come with me. I am Codemaster Scythe of the…"

"Hold it, mate, you aren't taking her anywhere…" Raytracer snapped, standing up shakily and trying to appear that he knew exactly what he was doing. The Codemaster hissed sharply and swung the pike, hitting Raytracer across the shoulders and knocking him to the ground. Mouse knew that it wouldn't hurt him any, but still she winced as he hit the floor.

Letting out a roar, Mouse tackled her would-be captor, hitting him in the knees. Again, the Codemaster hissed and swung his pike, but this time it hit Mouse and sent her flying to the floor. She lay there, winded, not having the same protection that Raytracer had.

"You will come with me," the Codemaster repeated, dragging Mouse to her feet. She roared again, more in frustration than anything else, when she found that she couldn't break his iron grip.

"Coward!" she snarled, struggling futilely. "Sneaking in during the middle of the night, attacking the unarmed…"

He gripped her arms tighter and she bit her lip to keep from crying out..

"I would kill you," he said softly, "but Daemon wants you alive."

"Daemon!" Mouse and Raytracer cried in unison before the Codemaster opened another of his portals and left, taking the hacker with him.
 
 
 

Dot rubbed the sleep from her eyes, stifling a yawn as she stumbled up the steps to the Principal Office. Raytracer had VidWindowed her abruptly, jerking her out of sleep, and requesting that they all meet at the Principal Office. She'd been of a mind to object, but the anguished look on his face stilled her arguments.

Reaching the Command Center, Dot covered another yawn, smiling as she watched Bob blearily blinking his eyes in a vain attempt to stay awake.

Matrix was slouched against one wall with AndrAIa holding up the other one; obviously still not speaking, Dot noted with a frown.The absence of Mouse brought her up short, however. Raytracer was slumped on a stool, his hands clasped and face turned towards the ground. He didn't appear to notice her entrance, and she coughed tentatively. "Ray? I think we're all here."

He jumped and looked up, the corner of his mouth twitching in an attempt to smile - an attempt that he failed. "I… ah… don't really know how to put this…" he said softly, his stance suggesting that the usual cavalier attitude had been kicked out of him - metaphorically, Dot hoped. "But…"

"Just come out with it," Matrix muttered. "I didn't come all the way down here in the dead of night to hear you stutter."

Raytracer broke his melancholy mood long enough to shoot a glare at the renegade. "A Codemaster got into the apartment and kidnapped Mouse," he snapped out in one breath. Having said it, the Surfr deflated once more. "He mentioned Daemon. I think that's who hired him."

That shocked everyone out of their fatigue. "Daemon?" Bob demanded, straightening up. "Why would she want Mouse? I thought she was after…"

"Why didn't you stop him?" Matrix asked roughly. "Call for help or something?"

Raytracer stiffened noticeably. "I don't exactly have a gun or something I could have shot him with," he bit out. "And Codemasters aren't the type of people I can take on and live to tell about it."

Matrix shook his head. "I told you all he was defenseless."

Dot looked at her brother disapprovingly. "Matrix, that was not called for. You know even better than we do that Ray can hold his own in a fair fight - and you ALSO know from experience that Codemasters are not easily fought."

Matrix scowled slightly. "I still think it's rather suspicious that he didn't even bother to call for help. It would be the logical thing to do, now wouldn't it? Instead of telling us after the fact?"

"Just what are you getting at, Matrix?" AndrAIa snapped churlishly.

Their moods were not pleasant to begin with, but the additional annoyance of being aroused from sleep was adding to the friction.

"We know that Daemon's infected the WebSurfrs. How do we know that Ray isn't infected as well?"

Raytracer stared at him. "I can't believe you just said that."

"Ray…" Dot said softly.

"No. I helped you all out when I didn't have a clue in the world what Mainframe was, other than it was that place AndrAIa and Matrix had been trying to get to. I have done nothing to cause suspicion, and here he's accusing me?"

"I was just saying…"

Raytracer shook his head angrily. "I'm going after her," he snapped.

"As it seems that the general consensus here is that I set this all up, I'm going to go find her myself and bring her back."

"Ray, it's too dangerous," Dot said flatly. "I can't let you do this."

"I'm not asking for permission, Dot. I'm telling you I'm going. You can either allow me and make it easy, or try and forbid me and make this hard. Either way, I'm not going to leave Mouse in HER hands."

Dot looked at him for a long moment before nodding slowly. "All right," she said quietly. Bob looked at her in surprise, but she continued. "We'd been talking about sending you to the Supercomputer to collect information. This is just more important." Swallowing a lump in her throat, she finished, "You can leave in the morning."

Matrix shook his head in disgust and left. AndrAIa wasn't far behind him, although she paused to lay a hand on Raytracer's shoulder and talk quietly with him for a moment. Once the two were gone, Dot turned to Bob.

"What are we getting ourselves into?" she whispered softly.

He could only shake his head sadly. "I don't know, Dot."
 
 
 

Mouse refused to give up her struggles as the Codemaster led her into the Supercomputer's Principal Office, half hoping that if she annoyed him enough, he'd let her go. Of course, she had no such luck, although he was all too happy to hand her over to the infected Guardians patrolling the door.

"This is for your mistress," the Codemaster uttered quietly. "You may take her to Daemon; I have already been paid and have no wish to see her any more." He all but shoved Mouse into the arms of the Guardians, and the Codemaster's taloned grip was replaced by the rough one of the Guardians.

"Well, if it isn't the Mouse!" one of them crowed. The infection apparently hadn't damaged the memory that the Guardians had been trying to capture her since she was a little sprite.

"And in her pajamas, no less," another smirked and Mouse narrowed her eyes, wishing she only could reach her icon to change her clothing protocols.

"Just stop it," the third grunted. "We'd better get her in by Daemon before she finds out we've been dallying about."

"We can't take her in by Daemon!" the first admonished. "She gave specific orders to not be disturbed."

"So what are we supposed to do?"

Mouse was seriously starting to wonder if infection made Guardians stupid, or if they were just like this to begin with. "You could just let me go," she purred. "Ah really wouldn't mind."

The second shook her head fiercely. "Look, let's just put her down in the detention area and tell Daemon when she's not busy."

This seemed to be a logical solution in the minds of all three of them, and Mouse did not object in the least. Unable to hide the self-satisfied smirk on her face, Mouse cheerfully took note of the comforting weight of her ring that adorned the finger of her right hand.
 
 
 

"What are you doing?" Iceshadow asked quietly, flopping down next to Raytracer.

The tan WebSurfr didn't look up from the diagnostic checks that he was running on his surfbaud. "I'm preparing to leave."

"Why?"

Raytracer paused to glance at her. "Because. Daemon has Mouse."

"And you're going to rescue her." It was obviously not a question, so Ray didn't dignify it with an answer, simply turned back to his surfbaud.

Iceshadow paused a moment. "I'm coming too."

"Oh no you aren't, Ice. You are staying here."

She stood up, her eyes flashing. "Why? You wouldn't let me go off by myself to save Sundance, now you can run off to help Mouse? How is your plight any different? I am coming along, Ray, you are going to need help!"

"YOU need to stay here and help the others! You know stuff about Daemon that we don't."

"So? They don't need my help. This Switchblade bird can help them, they don't need me." Her eyes widened and her voice took on a pleading tone. "Ray, please let me come with you. I'll go whether you like it or not, it will be so much easier if we just go together. You need somebody to watch your back."

Raytracer's face softened, seeing the Iceshadow he had been friends with instead of the cocky and irritable woman she had become. "Fine," he said softly. "I just don't like this, Ice. One of us should stay behind… Who knows if there are any WebSurfrs left out there."

She patted his arm. "Don't worry, Ray. We'll stop Daemon and then everything will be okay."

He laughed bitterly. "How can you be so sure, Ice?"

The black-skinned woman paused for a long moment. "I don't know, Ray.

But I know I'm right."
 
 
 

"Are you certain about this?" Switchblade inquired, leaning over Dot's desk and resting on her elbows. "There's still time to back out."

Dot looked up at her with calm, violet eyes. "I'm certain. Daemon needs to be stopped."

Switchblade smiled softly at her. "You're a better and more dedicated leader than I am, Dot. I admire that." Turning away from the desk, she swiftly opened up a VidWindow. The sprite on the other end jumped, then glowered at her.

"Blade, this had better be good…"

Switchblade smiled wanly. "It is, Griffin, I assure you." Stepping to the side, she moved so Griffin could see Dot. "Griffin, I'd like to introduce you to Dot Matrix, Command.Com of Mainframe, and our new ally."

Griffin raised a dark eyebrow. "I thought you were going to find a Guardian," he said neutrally.

"She did," Dot intervened. "Bob is the Guardian of Mainframe, I am the Command.Com. Bob is more than willing to help, but so are the citizens of Mainframe. We've been planning to attack Daemon ourselves, but I think that by working together, we can make this much more profitable."

Griffin nodded slightly. "I'll agree with that. United we stand, divided we fall, and all that." He folded his hands in front of him and studied them for a moment. "If you wish to send an ambassador of sorts back to our base with Switchblade, I can…"

Dot interrupted him with a cough. "Actually," she said delicately. "I was more hoping that we could share the leadership of this. My system has just gone through a war, and I do not fancy handing over command to someone I don't know."

She had been afraid that this would anger the other sprite, but when he looked up, he was smiling. "Dot Matrix, I can tell already that I will enjoy working with you. It is so much easier to hand command over to somebody else; should we fail, the most severe punishments will probably fall on those in charge of the rebellion."

Dot gave him a tight, mirthless grin. "We'd better not fail then."
 
 

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