4.04: Touched by a virus.

[nofileext]

The task that Daemon lays out for Mouse and YT is simple enough: allow the Word to spread to its fullest extent. To that end, YT is sent off into the 'Net carrying a list of IP addresses and a copy of Mouse's encryption codes.

One by one, YT visits the systems Mouse has firewalled off. One by one, the firewalls drop, allowing the Word to spread to

Comments

[nofileext]

Meanwhile, in Mainframe's Principal Office...

"It's no good!" wails Specky. "Her encryption is too complicated!"

[command_dot_com]

"We've got to keep trying. If-"

Dot glanced up at the screen displaying the true ENTIRE friggin Guardian Armada outside with a flagship. This was very, VERY bad, that many ships with Mouse, Matrix and AndrAIa likely to be there... It wasn't a matter of 'if they got in' ...now it was all of a matter of...

"WHEN Mouse gets here, we're completely defenseless! She knows the access code, we have to change it!"

[nofileext]

"B-b-but it's impossible!" Specky stammers.

[command_dot_com]

"No! There has to be something we can do." You can't take the fight out of this ladysprite.

[a1enzo]

Matrix stoops and picks up the baseball from the ground. "See if you can catch my... fastball!"

It's the wind-up, it's the pitch, it's... way wide.

[nofileext]

Welman's arm shoots out--way out--and his 'hand' expands into a mitt to catch the ball easily.

"You'll have to do better than that!"

[a1enzo]

His son's eyes go wide. "Alphanumeric!"

This is way cooler than an ordinary dad, even if hugs are out of the question.

[nofileext]

Welman tosses the ball back to Enzo, then makes a 'time-out' sign before turning to Phong, who is just rolling past where the technician binomes are busy putting the Gateway device together.

[mend_and_defend]

The CPUs are preparing for battle, checking over their weapons and vehicles one last time. From one of the highest islands in Floating Point Park, Bob watches, feeling helpless. The firewalls won't keep Daemon out for long--and the sensors say she's got the entire Guardian Armada backing her up.

No matter how this goes down, a lot of people are going to die today.

And there's not a damned thing Bob can do about it.

[red_cg_insanity]

She had been looking for him. Stalking wasn't out of the question, it was just harder.

Why was Bob looking so sad? Maybe Hex could cheer him up.

"Hello, cheekie," said a Hex from behind Bob.

[mend_and_defend]

Bob just about jumps out of his skin. "Ah! Hex! I--I didn't hear you there."

[red_cg_insanity]

She smiled and sat on the hood of the car.

"It's a Virus thing, we're very light on our feet. What's up?," she moved in next to Bob, "Can I help? I'll do anything for you."

[command_dot_com]

They're fragged. It's only a matter of nanos now before Daemon and the infected Mainframers get through the second firewall. Her father is putting the finishing touches on his invention with Phong's help- The Gateway Command. It split Gigabyte into two new Virii, leaving Lost Angles a wasteland from the energy released in the process, because it was keyed to bring anything through it to one point. Mainframe. Now it's being tooled for an entirely different purpose, to ping and send to all corners of the 'Net at once.

It's a long shot. It probably won't work. But it's the best Dot's been able to come up with under the circumstances. That's what contingency plans are for, as she stands near the huge upright ring, checking the door to the Principal Office before giving up in frustration. Where's the door when you really need it? She glanced at the sky for any signs of a incoming Game, if the door wouldn't show up... She'd just have to use that instead for her backup plan. Get Enzo somewhere away from Daemon's touch. Bob would never

[mend_and_defend]

Speak of the devil... here comes Bob now, jumping out of his car as Hex lands it, a little clumsily, in front of the Principal Office.

"We're out of time! We'll never evacuate the city now. --Nice idea, the second firewall," he adds as an afterthought.

[command_dot_com]

"Thanks, but it won't hold Mouse for long. And who said we were evacuating the city?" Dot checks in on the programming one more time and glances to the sky again.

[mend_and_defend]

"But--I thought--"

Why in the 'Net were they rebuilding the Gateway, if not as an evacuation route?

[nofileext]

The CPUs are expecting another fleet of brainwashed Guardians willing to tear the system apart in order to gain control of it.

Instead, they get a girl. A tiny girl, barely into adolescence, gliding down the corridor of tanks with a serene smile on her face.

Daemon has arrived in Mainframe.

[command_dot_com]

Not what they expected, but there's NO time to be left in shock.

"Bob, stand at the doors. If you won't leave you can at least be bait."

[mend_and_defend]

"Yeah, live bait," Bob mutters. But he does as he's told, just this once.

[red_cg_insanity]

Hex followed Bob, hey she liked him and on the last day she wanted to be standing with him.

So, she went with him to stand at the gateway.