by Jareth The Viral Guardian. Co-Written by Electra
Chapter Five: The Electra Chronicles
Part Two
"So, how exactly do help keep him ‘In line', Jareth?" Electra asked, as Matrix walked past. He looked even edgier than usual, and his hand kept creeping toward his gun. Between the Mainframers, Pirates, and Webriders, the lower levels of the saucy Mare were very crowded. Many of them squirmed through the crowd, trying to get wherever they were trying to go. Jareth and Electra stayed well out of the way, in the corner. Jareth leaned against the
wall, while Electra crouched on one of the ROM barrels.
"I dunno," Jareth replied. "I guess if he snaps and starts shooting people, I get to kick his ASCII." Electra looked at Matrix, then back to Jareth, who was roughly half his size.
"Yeah, right. I'd bet ten units he'd mop the floor with you."
"Wouldn't it be easier to use a mop?"
Electra laughed, but stopped when she realized Jareth wasn't joking.
"Ummm... never mind," She said. "Aren't you two, like, related or something?"
Jareth considered. "I suppose he's my half-brother. Or something. Mom DID use his father's code to create us."
"Us?"
"Hex, Megabyte, and I," Jareth replied.
"Oh. So... Megabyte was his brother, too?"
"Sort of... but I don't think Matrix ever knew that."
"I don't think it would have made any difference if he had," Electra said.
"You're probably right."
"Electra!" Jareth and Electra turned as Mr. Christopher, Gavin's right-hand man, entered.
Jareth waved at her as she left. As soon as she was gone, he took her seat.
* * *
"What's up?" Electra asked as she entered the conference room. Gavin, GigAnate, and Marco were already gathered there.
"We received an urgent transmission from the Supercomputer, "GigAnate said.
"It seems that the rebel sector is under heavy attack, Lass," Gavin added.
"That's impossible!" Electra said. "Someone must have given Daemon the coordinates."
"Aren't two of Daemon's children aboard?" Macro asked.
"Well, yes, but--"
Gavin looked at Electra sadly. "I'm afraid they'll have to be contained, Lass."
"Contain them? But they wouldn't Hurt a Fly!"
"I'm sorry, My Lady." Macro Reached for Electra's Hand.
"If you want to Contain them, then you'll have to Contain me!"
Giganate was surprised that Electra was defending them. "Electra, Don't be so hard. Just because you Like Jar--"
"No GigAnate, It's not that. For one thing, They're both my friends. But there's more. Jareth and I share the same Viral code. If you think he's dangerous, then what about me?"
Macro Looked at her, horrified.
"That's right, we share the same Viral Code. Why so shocked?"
Macro quickly Whipped out his pair of binders and Locked them on Electra. The twins cuffs not only bound her wrists, but also stop filed the Keytools that sat on her Bracers.
"Macro! What are you doing?!" GigAnate stared, shocked.
"If they all share the same Code, then why not contain her too? Don't forget, I run this show."
"You Wish." Surprising everyone, Electra head butted Macro and ran out of the room. She made it out onto the deck, but didn't get much further before running into Jareth.
"Whoa! Where you going? What's wrong? And why are you wearing handcuffs?" Jareth fired questions left, right and center.
"I took your place! But no time for that, We have to find Hex and hide."
"Why? What's going on?"
Electra dragged Jareth further down the hall. The two reached a corner, but just as they were about to turn it, voices crept down the corridor. Jareth and Electra flattened against the wall, trying not to be seen.
"Hex, we're just taking you somewhere... Down stairs. Would you like this Necklace? I found it in the cargo hold, and it looks like it might just fit you."
Electra peeked around just in time to see Hex take a small silver collar from Macro and slip it on. Macro then led her off downstairs.
"...." Electra put her Hand over Jareth's mouth, not that it made much difference. Jareth's mouth never moved anyway. Still, he got the hint.
"No time for that," she said. "The collar she put on makes her unable to use her powers, and it will hurt like Hell if she tries to remove it. I should know, I helped create it."
"Huh. You'd have thought she'd learned her lesson about collars. But what is going on?"
"The rebel sector is under heavy attack, as if somebody told Daemon that that's where all the Rebels are nesting. They blame us, because we all have Daemon's Code."
"Makes sense. But you know we didn't do it."
"Of course I do. It's not your sort of thing to do. It's just..... Un-chaotic."
"Yeah, We should know a lot about tha..."
"There they are! Get them."
Jareth and Electra spun around to see a group of sprites headed their way.
"Uh-oh. They got Matrix to help. Would this be a good time to hide?" Jareth asked. Electra grabbed Jareth's arm and pulled him along.
"I wonder when they bring us the menus?" Hexadecimal asked, to no one in particular. She began to pace slowly back and forth across her cell.
"Psst! Hex!"
Hexadecimal turned. "Jareth? Is that you?"
Jareth's head popped up from behind a barrel. "Yep. It's me."
Electra's head popped up next to him. "We're here to bust you out of here."
"Oh, good. I was feeling a bit ......cramped."
Jareth walked over to the Hex's cell. He tried the door. When it wouldn't open, he turned to Electra. "It won't open," he said.
"That's because it's locked, Jareth. BuBBle--Cutter!" Electra's Keytool transformed into a small saw. Within moments, there were no longer any bars on the cell door. "There. Piece of cake."
Jareth opened the cell door and Hexadecimal walked out.
"You know," she said, looking around the brig appraisingly, "This place really isn't so bad. All it needs is a few mirrors here and there....."
"What do we do about her collar?" Electra asked.
"I broke your binders, I can break hers." Jareth grabbed hold of Hex's collar and quickly snapped it off. "Dude, that thing snapped like a twig. Why didn't you just chuck it, Hex?"
"I thought it looked good on me. Didn't it?"
"Never mind," Electra snapped. "We have to get out of here."
Jareth switched to a contemplative face "You guys go ahead. I'm gonna stick around and have a little fun."
"Oooh, me too!" Hex said.
Electra sighed. "All right, all right. Here's what we'll do. I'll go and see if I can steal one of the lifeboats. You two can provide the distraction. When you see my signal, meet me at the back of the ship."
"I think it's called the Stern," Jareth said.
"Who cares what it's called? You're my distraction. So go distract." Jareth switched to and evil grin. A similar grin spread across Hex's face.
"A distraction... I think we can arrange that." Hex Mask-teleported out of the room, followed closely by Jareth.
"And don't accept jewelry from ANYONE!" Electra yelled after them.
* * *
"Captain!" All the Sprites in the conference room turned as one of the pirates burst into the room. "Captain Capacitor, sir!" Gavin turned from his maps to face the distraught Binome. "Out with it, Lad! What's the matter?"
The pirate tried to regain his breath. "It's Hexadecimal, sir."
"I should have known that cell couldn't hold her," Matrix said. "Have you had any luck finding the other two?"
"No, sir," the Binome said. "No sign of them. They may have gotten off the shi--"
"Mr. Matrix!" Another pirate binome, this one wearing a chef's hat, burst into the room. His entire out fit was covered with food, as was his face. " It's the Virals!" he said. "They're in the Galley!
* * *
Matrix practically kicked down the door to the ship's galley. He drew his Gun, expecting, even hoping for trouble. Frisket entered alongside him, sniffing at the ground and growling threateningly. A few of Capacitor's guards followed them, but stayed back so as not to get in their way.
"Scanning." Matrix's eye spun around in it's socket, glowing a bright red. He began scanning the crates in the Galley, searching for the Virals. The eye even allowed him to see through solid objects. Unfortunately, all he saw was food.
"Hey!, Matrix!"
Matrix spun around. First Jareth's head, then Hex's popped up from behind a row of crates.
"Catch!"
Before Matrix knew what was happening, he was being pelted with an endless barrage of fruit. The other guards moved in behind him, but also ended up being pummeled by produce. Jareth couldn't help but laugh. This was the most fun he'd had all day. Matrix wiped the fruit pulp from his face, trying to get a clear shot at them. But the virals kept pelting him with fruits, vegetables, and the User only knew what else, laughing insanely the whole time.
"You think this is enough of a diversion?" Hex asked, hitting one of the Binomes in the face with an orange.
"Diversion? I thought this was a distraction."
"It's both." Hex reached behind her, but couldn't find any more produce.
"Ummm.... Jareth? We seem to be out of fruit."
"Really?" Jareth looked back at the now-empty shelves. "Oh, dear... we are, aren't we?"
Matrix wiped the fruit juice off his face, revealing an angry scowl. He raised his gun and aimed strait for Jareth's head.
"Gun, Command Line. Full Delete...."
*THUNK!*
Suddenly, Matrix's eyes rolled back in his head. Jareth and Hexadecimal watched as he fell to the floor. Behind him, holding a wooden rolling pin, stood Electra.
"I thought you told us to wait for you signal." Jareth said.
"I realized I didn't have one. Come on, let's go." Electra ran out of the galley, followed by Jareth. Moments later, the two returned. Hex was still there, admiring her reflection in one of the frying pans. Electra rolled her eyes as Jareth grabbed Hex's arm and dragged her along.
*****
Moments later, a lifeboat sped across the energy sea. It twisted and turned haphazardly, never heading the same direction twice.
"I thought you said you could drive this thing!" Electra said. "I never said I could drive it well," Jareth replied, yanking the wheel sharply to the left. Electra let out a yelp as she fell to the floor.
"Whoops. Sorry."
"Try steering!"
"You should know better than to stand up in a boat. And I don't see YOU trying to drive this thing."
"Well, anything you can do, I can do bet...."
"Oh, shut up."
Hexadecimal looked from one to the other, watching the argument as if it were a tennis match. "Well," she said, "If it'll stop you two from fighting, I suppose I could always drive for a while," she said.
The silence following that statement lasted for quite a while. Finally, it was broken by a bleep from BuBBle. Electra answered, calling up a communications Vidwindow.
"Calling Electra.... Emergency... Calling Electra...." The strange looking sprite announced.
"I'm here," Electra said.
"Oh. Hello. Wonderful weather we're, we're, we're having today." The sprite seemed to have a small glitch in his program, he kept repeating fragments of his dialogue.
"I thought there was an Emergency, Kas?"
"Oh yes, Boss Man Gone Crazy, crazy, crazy. Told Kas and Kiran to tell Guardians where the sector was. Kas and Kiran never thought it would lead to that, I mean this, this this."
"Boss Man??" Jareth asked.
"What actually is going on?" Electra asked at the exact same time.
"Rebel Sector under attack, attack, attack." the screen started to fade.
"You're breaking up."
"Ack.. ack.. ack." The Vidwindow screen suddenly went black..
"That was a lot of help!" Jareth exclaimed. "What did he mean, Boss Man?"
"Macro. Lousy fink. He set us up. You. Set you up."
"So what do we do?" Hexadecimal asked. She leaned far out over the water, trying to get a better look at the fish.
"For starters, don't fall over the edge," Electra considered. "We could go to my place... Only place that Macro doesn't know about. Well, he doesn't know where it is, anyway. It's perfectly hidden. Built right underneath the Collective."
"Why would you build it there?" Jareth asked.
"Because, they'd never suspect it. That's why only I know how to get there.... It's a secret." Electra smiled. "Of course, you guys are like family, so I'll show you the way."
Electra looked out over the sea.
"Now, all I need is a tear...."
Jareth reached into his coat and pulled out a small crystal sphere. He tossed it out over the edge. As soon as it hit the surface of the liquid energy, the crystal exploded, producing a large tear.
"Show off," Electra grumbled. "BuBBle--Portal!"
* * *
Dot Matrix stared aghast at Matrix's face on the Vidwindow. "You did WHAT?"
"Tried to capture them. The captain thought-"
"You tried to lock them up. Why did you try to lock them up? Both Jareth and
Hexadecimal have transfinite energy levels. They were two of the strongest sprites we had. Without them, we may not be able to crack Daemon's defenses."
"We received a transmission from the rebels saying that their sector was under attack. The captain thought that since Jareth and Hex are Daemon's children, they might have been the ones who-"
"Uh-huh. And you didn't try to stand up for them?"
Matrix opened his mouth to respond, but Dot cut him off. "Of course not. Listen, I don't care how much you hate Virals. We need their help. Send someone to find them."
"They've disappeared from our scanners. And I don't think-"
"Don't think we need them? Think again. We're dealing with a class seven here. Tell me, have you EVER run across a class seven? I didn't think so. Let me talk to Electra."
"She left with-"
"She's gone, too? So not only have we lost two of the strongest sprites at our disposal, but now our main connection to the Rebel sector is gone too?!"
"Well, yes, but Sis-"
"No buts. Change of plans. Meet Mouse and I at the following coordinates." Dot punched a few keys on her organizer, sending the coordinates to the Saucy Mare.
"Meanwhile, I want someone to go out to search for the runaways. Someone they wont run from, like AndrAIa or Surfr. Got it? Dot out."
On his end, Matrix closed the Vidwindow. GigAnate stood off to the side, staring in surprise."Why do I still let her do that?" Matrix asked, to no one in particular.
Gavin spoke to the pirate Binome next to him. "Send for Surfr and AndrAIa. Bring them here." The Binome nodded, then rushed off.
"You're sending them both?"
"Why not?" Gavin asked. "Two heads are better than one, after all."
"Electra still thinks we're out to get her. I don't know much about Jareth or Hexadecimal, but I've seen ‘Lectra fight. And if they're not careful, they may lose those heads," GigAnate said.
* * *
"Home sweet home," Electra said, Keying in the password and opening the door to her house. The door slid open, and Electra stepped in. "Lights," She said. Responding to her voice, the lights in the room turned themselves on.
"Oooh, what a lovely house," Hex said, coming in and looking around. "It could use a bit of work, though.... I think that wall over there would look better in green..."
"Hmmm... maybe you're right...," Jareth said. He started to dig through his pockets. "I KNOW I've got some paint in here somewhere...."
"Hey! Redecorate your own house. Right now, we've got to figure out how we can help the rebels.... and the others! We've got to find some way to get in touch with the other Mainframers. They still don't know about Macro."
Jareth wandered off, exploring the other rooms of the house. Hexadecimal flopped down on the couch, still picturing the room in various shades of green.
"That double-crossing snake," Electra continued, "When I get my hands on him..."
"Hey, Electra... where's your fridge?"
"Don't you ever think of anything but food? This is important!"
Jareth gave her the most vacant look one can who has no face.
"Forget it. The kitchen's the second room on the left, just past the bathroom, you can't miss it."
Jareth switched to a grin. "Thanks," he said, before running off towards the fridge.
"I don't suppose you have any suggestions?" Electra asked, glancing over at Hex.
"Oh, I have several. For instance, I think that lamp would look better over there...."
