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Jareth slowly advanced on Megabyte, his keytool. He switched to his evil grin mask as he walked across the alley, closing the space between them. Megabyte was afraid. It took him a while to realize that he was used to being intimidated. He had been planning to simply delete Jareth, but it seemed that Jareth was a bit tougher than he had realized. Megabyte was out of cards to play. His claws were useless; he couldn't get close enough to use them. But, maybe... Megabyte caught sight of something moving behind Jareth.
Jareth kept walking forward, oblivious to the motion behind him. He was totally focused on finishing Megabyte off. It wasn't until he heard the sound of an energy weapon powering up that he realized what was going on. Jareth spun around, flinching when he saw the cannon aimed at his head. He had just enough time to erect a partial energy shield around himself before the ABC fired.
"AAAUUGH!" Jareth clutched his mask and screamed, partly in pain and partly in anger.
Megabyte quickly took advantage of Jareth's lapse of concentration. He grabbed Jareth and threw him across the alley, slamming him into the wall. Jareth shook his head, trying to clear it. How could he have been so basic? Of course... Megabyte had been riding on the ABC when Jareth first attacked him. It'd been looking for him the whole time Jareth was fighting him. Why hadn't he just deleted Megabyte while he'd had the chance?
Jareth looked up and saw Megabyte standing atop the ABC, glaring down at him. "It seems you will be a bit more difficult to take care of than I thought... but I will not let a half-breed like you remain in MY city. Rest assured, you will be taken care of." Megabyte motioned to the pilot, and the ABC blasted Jareth again, knocking him to the ground. When Jareth finally managed to stagger to his feet, Megabyte was gone.
* * *
"So it wasn't all Megabyte?"
"Not exactly, Jareth," said Hexadecimal. "Megabyte was the one who put the collar on me. But this..." Hex raised a hand to her mask. "This was my fault. I was playing with the hardware that Megabyte created... Remember that?" Hex often had to remind Jareth about things, his memory was completely unreliable. Once, he'd even forgotten his own name. Jareth nodded.
"Well, I was aiming it at the Principal Office when a Game Cube fell on me. I was nearly destroyed, but Megabyte saved me."
"He save you... because he wanted to control you."
"Yes... And I will RIP HIM APART THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIM!"
Jareth didn't even flinch at the abrupt emotion change. He was used to it. "I'll help. I would've had him if he hadn't--"
"I know. You told me already."
"I did?"
"Yep."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll get Megabyte eventually. Heehee."
"Heeheehee... I can't wait. I which he were here right now, I'd start by yanking his little retractable fingernails out one by one--"
BOOOM!
Jareth was cut off as the lair was shaken by a huge blast from outside.
"What was that?" asked Hex.
"I dunno..."
Jareth and Hex flew over to one of the windows. And neither could believe what they saw. Megabyte was attacking the Lair, sending wave after wave of ABC's into Lost Angles. Jareth and Hex both switched to astonished faces, not believing what they were seeing.
"He's crazier than we are," said Jareth.
"Oh, I don't know about that..." Without another word, Jareth and Hexadecimal simultaneously dove out of the window and began bombing the ABC's. Jareth came up behind one of the ABC's and grabbed it's bumper.
"Hey, Hex!" Hexadecimal looked up from the tank she was blasting. "Catch!" Jareth spun around, swinging the ABC in an arc and finally flinging it over to where Hex floated. Hex switched to a grin and caught it.
"Now, what am I supposed to do with this?"
Jareth pointed to the ranks of ABC's that were attacking from one side. "How about..."
"Oh." Hex threw the ABC into the leading tank. Both ABC's exploded, decimating the first few lines of oncoming tanks.
"Allright, now how should we deal with those?" asked Jareth, gesturing towards the invaders that were approaching from the other side. There were literally hundreds of them.
"Oh, my. There are an awful lot of them aren't there?"
"Yes, there are. Maybe we should--"
BOOOOM! Suddenly, Jareth's right wing was clipped by a stray blast. Going into a tailspin, he fell to the ground. Hard. "Owwww!" Jareth sat up and rubbed his head.
"Jareth! Are you okay?" Hex called.
"Ummm... No." Jareth examined his wing. Most of the feathers had been burned off, and the skin underneath was badly scorched. He wouldn't be using it again any time soon, and unlike Hexadecimal, he couldn't fly very well without his wings. For now, he was grounded.
Jareth morphed his wings back into his coat. Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a small orb, perfectly round and made of flawless crystal.
"Heads up!" he called to the ABC that had clipped him. He threw the ball with impressive speed, even for a Chaos Virus. And the aim wasn't bad, either. The crystal ball hit the ABC head-on, exploding on contact and showering the area with flaming shrapnel.
And still more came.
* * *
"I still say we could've had a little more fun with those things. It's not every day a sprite gets to rip apart an ABC. And, by the way, what a cheap way to win. I mean, couldn't you have been a LITTLE more original?"
"But Jareth," said Hex, "That's what Nulls are for."
"Yeah, yeah, you and your hobbies. I hate Nulls. They're just... yucky."
"Oh, go jump in a tear. At least they're gone."
Jareth shrugged, petting Scuzzy. "Fair enough. By the way, you're gonna have to teach me how you fly without wings."
"I have to. I don't have wings."
"So how do you fly? I mean, at least Hack and Slash have jets."
"Had."
"What?"
"Had. They... aren't around anymore."
"Hex... You didn't."
Hex switched to a sad face. "I'm sorry Jareth. I forgot that they were your friends."
"Don't worry about it. Megabyte built them to fall apart, so they could repaired more easily. They'll just pull themselves together, like they always do."
"Oh, I don't think so, Jareth. I'm afraid there wasn't much left."
Jareth looked out the window. "Okay. Tell you what, I'll go see if I can't salvage them."
"When will you be home?"
"I don't know. It'll probably take me a few hours." Jareth took a few steps towards the window before he remembered that he could no longer fly. "Could you zap me there?"
"Of course," Hex said. She waved a hand at Jareth, instantly transporting him to a the now abandoned Sector G-Prime. Hex sat in silence for a while, thinking he strange, chaotic thoughts. Suddenly, something clicked. Hex sat straight up in her throne.
"'Hours'?" she asked, glancing over at Scuzzy. "Did he say 'Hours'?" Scuzzy nodded.
"Oh dear..."