Deadly Revenge

Part One

The female sprite looked around her; she knew who was in the room before she even glanced around. Turbo, Prime Guardian, stood talking to a person in the shadows.

The one he spoke with was Daemon. Her body was a shadow against the darkened room. She only liked dark, for some reason, and could not stand the room being light. For this reason not many had ever seen the virus, but she had, many times. Mercury's eye swept towards the door.

Daemon believed she had complete control over everyone in the Super Computer, she thought as she stared at the super virus. But the virus was wrong on two accounts.

She didn't control Turbo completely. Nor did she control Mercury. Nor would she ever. Turbo had never told her that he was fighting the virus. Nor had she told Turbo. Mercury could feel it. She had always had this power, ever since she had been a little sprite.

Quietly, she moved herself slightly towards the talking pair so she could hear their conversation.

"Are ya sure this is what you wish?" Turbo asked uncertain.

"Yes, watch the Web. I want that Hacker out of Mainframe. She is of great use to me." Daemon said, her voice high and mighty as if they were bugs she wished to squash.

"It will be difficult, Mouse is not one that someone catches by accident." Turbo replied, his face devoid of emotion as most of the guardians were now a days.

"She is the only one that can hack into Mainframe. I want that system! But, most of all, I want that guardian!" Daemon's voice was now forceful, filled with fury at the only guardian to escape her grasp.

"Yes, my liege," Turbo mumbled. He bowed low to the virus and silently left the room. He walked right by Mercury, not noticing the shape hidden by the shadows. Her bionic left eye followed him as he walked out the door.

She had lost her eye when Daemon had placed her under the title of 'Experiment'. As one of the first to be infected, she had been experimented on to see if she could make a better guardian. Mercury had lost her left eye and left arm to the experiments.

Now she had bionic parts to supplement for them. Also, because of the experiments, she had gained the ability to heal and that is how she resisted complete take over by the virus. Her upper lip curled in a sneer.

She glanced at the virus sitting in the shadows. She had no intention of fighting the virus, of course. There was no reason to, Daemon had the right idea how to handle the Net.

* * *

"I really don't think you should go out alone, Mouse," Dot told her friend as Mouse suited up in the bulky armor.

"Thanks for the concern, sugah, but there’s no reason to risk innocent lives for the reason of protecting me," Mouse replied with a charming smile.

"Fine. Be careful then." Dot said as way of good bye. She and Mouse had become friends since the war with Megabyte.

"Ah will. See ya in a cycle," Mouse said as she climbed into her ship which was aptly named "Ship"

"Good bye," Dot murmured quietly as she slowly walked away from the launch pad. Dot had hung her head, which prevented her from seeing the silver clad guardian in front of her when she ran into him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Bob," Dot said as she rubbed her head.

"It's okay. Did Mouse already leave?" Bob asked as he glanced down the corridor.

"Yeah, just a nano ago," she said as she stared up at the handsome guardian. Even the ravages of the Web could not have taken away the appeal that Bob held.

"Did she take anyone else with her?" Bob asked, a concerned look crossing his face.

"No. I tried to talk her into it, but she said it was pointless. I even tried to get her to to take Hack and Slash with her, but she still refused." Dot smiled as she continued with the story. "She said she'd probably end up deleting them by the time the mission was done."

"That's just like Mouse," Bob mumbled with a smile.

"Yeah, it is."

* * *

Mercury looked to her left as the vid-window appeared. "Mercury, handle that for me will you?" Daemon asked from a corner of the room.

"Of course, my liege," she replied politely as she turned to the window. "Yes?"

"We have reports of a portal opening in the Web. It matches the ID code of the Hacker's ship," the sprite answered.

"Send out our ships to capture it. Make sure you bring the Hacker back alive," Mercury said. Her eye was as cold as ice.

"Yes, ma'am." The sprite replied as the window disappeared.

"Mercury?" the mocking voice of the virus called.

"Yes, my liege?" Mercury asked as she turned in the direction of the voice.

"I wish you to oversee this mission. Do not go along, wait for them here. I have a feeling our Prime Guardian is not entirely on our side," Daemon said, her voice sounding almost bored.

So she knows, Mercury thought as she stared at the virus. "Yes, my liege."

Mercury spun on her booted heels and walked out of the door.

* * *

Dot looked down at her organizer as a call came for her.

"Ms. Matrix, we are receiving a distress call from Ship," the binome announced.

"I'm on my way," Dot replied as she set her organizer down on the bar.

"I'm coming too," Bob said as he jumped onto his zipboard at the same moment as Dot.

They raced across Mainframe to the Principal Office. Dot ran quickly through the halls to the War room.

"Play the message," she demanded as she sat down at her terminal.

A fuzzy message appeared. Even through the interference you could tell that it was Mouse on the other side.

"Mainframe, Ah've been attacked. Source unknown, but Ah'm losing power and Ah've been boarded. They'll be here any nano." There were background sounds of crashes and thumps as a laser was fired and everything went fuzzy.

"Is that all?" Dot demanded fiercely

"Yes, ma'am," replied the binome. "We've lost all trace of Mouse and Ship."

No one had seen Ray come in behind Bob. And therefore, no one saw the fierce look of anger that crossed his face or the sneer that curled his upper lip.

* * *

Mercury watched as they carried the body of the Hacker onto the ship. Her expression changed to one of disdain as they placed the body at her feet. She glanced up at Turbo.

"I thought you were not to harm the Hacker," she said crossly, kicking the body at her feet.

"She is only stunned, and it was the only way. She put two of my men in stasis before we even got the door open." He paused for a moment as if considering something. "We believe she may have gotten a distress signal sent before her capture."

"It doesn't matter. Have her ship repaired and bring her to the medical rooms. Then put her in a cell under heavy guard. And be careful; I want no more harm to come to her!" she demanded as she kicked the body once more, harder this time. She then looked up at Turbo.

"Make sure she awakens soon. I need to speak with our guest."

* * *

"We need to go afta ‘er!" Ray urged, his baud in hand.

"We have no idea where she went or what attacked her," Matrix countered, even though his own face expressed the worry he felt over Mouse.

"It wasn't Web Riders," Bob said to them. His voice was low, but audible. "She would have been able to identify them and they would have just destroyed her ship, not boarded it."

"You're right about that, mate," Ray said as he sat down, leaning his baud against the wall.

"It definitely wasn't Web creatures either. The attack breeds don't live in the sector she was in."

"Maybe it was pirates," AndrAIa suggested, smiling at the fond memories she had of the crew of the former Saucy Mare.

"No," Dot said as she shook her head. "They would have never been able to outgun Ship."

"Here's a question we haven't looked at," Bob said suddenly as a thoughtful look crossed his face. "She was barely there a second before she was attacked, right?"

"Right," Dot replied, not seeing where this was leading.

"And no one could have found her that soon or outgunned Ship if they hadn't been waiting for her," Bob said as a look of understanding came over Dot's face.

"Someone planned this," Dot said to the group.

"Who would want to take her captive?"

"Well, she is only the best hacker in the known Net," Matrix answered. His bionic right eye activated and began to glow red.

"Who would need that kind of hacking skills?" Bob asked the group.

"Daemon." AndrAIa supplied.

"Exactly."

Part Two

Mouse slowly came to. At first her sight was soft and fuzzy. Soon, it sharpened and became clear images. A blue-skinned female sprite stood in front of her, her arms behind her back. Her left eye was missing, replaced by a silver colored bionic one, similar to Matrix's.

"Hello, Mouse," said the sprite, her voice reminded her of something, she couldn't quite put her finger on it. "I am guardian 621, but you may refer to me as Mercury."

Mouse's eyes widened slightly as she noticed the green veins at the sprite's temple and around the guardian icon. But her clothes were not that of a guardian. She wore a silver two-piece body suit. There were no sleeves, or straps for that matter. The suit split at her stomach, showing a small expanse of skin. The pants were low slung, yet snug.

But it was her hair that caught Mouse's attention. She might have missed the detail had she not have spent so much time with Bob. Her hair was the same color as his,except cut closely to ger head like Dot hair, except shorter in the back.

"How do yah know mah name?" Mouse asked quietly, slowly attempting to get to her feet.

"I know a lot about you, Mouse Neo. I know that you grew up in the Argnos system, the only known system in the Web. I know that you're father was a guardian who was killed by a virus a cycle before your younger sister was born. I know your mother was COMMAND.COM of Argnos before a virus also killed her.

"I know that you're wanted for forty-two accounts of illegal entry, forty-one accounts of forgery and eighty-seven accounts of robbery in the Super Computer alone. There were also other accusations that could never be proved." Mouse had to hand it to her; she had done her research.

"Where am Ah?" Mouse asked warily.

"You are in Daemon's Fortress located in the Super Computer," the guardian responded.

"What do yah want?" Mouse asked quietly.

"Simple. Daemon requires your services. She seeks the guardian named Bob. She wishes you to get her into the system. In return we will not only let everyone remain with the exception of Bob and any other sprite he may have trained. This includes the one known as the Renegade, but we will grant you a rank in Daemon's army if you wish it. If you do not comply, you will be deleted and everything that enters the Web from Mainframe will be destroyed on sight. We will fire into the portal that they open, destroying Mainframe as well.

"You do not have to answer immediately. You have one cycle to reply." The sprite turned to leave.

"Wait, sugah! How will Ah contact you?" Mouse asked as she finally lurched to her feet. Without turning around, the guardian answered.

"Inform Turbo. He will be around shortly to check on you. Then, he will come by once every second." And then she was gone.

* * *

Turbo watched the guardian walk out of the cell and down the corridor. Even as part of him admired the gentle swing of her hips, another recoiled from the aura of power that surrounded her.

She was Daemon's right hand man. Everything that Daemon wanted to do personally she had 621 do. No one knew how she had gotten into this position of power, but many speculated. Some said she was the first to be infected and had been experimented on to become the perfect guardian. This explained the bionic eye and gun mounted into her left arm. Her keytool had also been permanently attached to her.

Others said that she had created Daemon and Daemon had turned on her creator. She had been infected and then served the virus out of a sick type of loyalty. But whatever it was, she was powerful.

621 was ruthless and let nothing stand in her way. She never hesitated to fire and always did as Daemon told her. She was swift and cunning and could sneak up on a person in broad daylight and still surprise them. Turbo hated everything about her because he knew if she had her way, Daemon would take over the known Net.

He straightened up as 621 turned the corner and slowly made his way to Mouse's cell.

"Mouse!" He whispered fiercely at her. Her head jerked up.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in. Hello, sugah, come to arrest me? Yer too late fer that."

"No, Mouse, Ah'm not here to arrest ya." He looked closely at the Hacker. "Are ya a’right? 621 didn't hurt ya, did she?"

"Yah mean Ms. Daemon?" Mouse asked, undisguised curiosity in her voice.

"Yeah, Ah mean her." Turbo stared at the Hacker he had spent so many cycles chasing.

"No, she didn't. Just told me tah betray mah friends or be deleted." Mouse lowered her head again. "Tough choice, huh?"

"Look, Mouse, Ah'm not going to tell ya to do it or not. But Ah'm going to get ya out of here. Ah promise," Turbo whispered as he turned and walked away.

Mouse watched the Prime Guardian walk away, confusion evident on her face. Turbo had betrayed her and tried to blow Mainframe to smithereens and he wanted to help her? She wondered offhandly if this cycle could get any weirder.

* * *

"What do ya mean ya've banned all Web travel?" Ray asked angrily.

"Daemon knows we'll come after her and is expecting us. She outpowered Mouse and Ship is one of the most powerful of our ships!" Dot snapped back.

"But, mate, we have to do something!" he yelled furiously.

"We're trying to do something," Dot yelled back. "We have to locate her before we do anything!"

"Well, do it then!" Ray screamed, his face was flushed with anger.

"Calm down, Ray, she's doing the best she can," Bob said from the doorway as he walked in. Ray leaned against the wall, his face expressionless.

"Can't we do anything?"

"Nothing that we aren't already doing." Dot whispered, lowering her head.

* * *

Turbo slowly opened the door of the cell. "Come on, Mouse. We gotta go now!" Mouse rose to her feet, unable to see in the dark.

"Turbo?"

"Yeah, ah'm breaking ya out." He whispered as he reached a hand towards her. "Let's go."

She looked at him suspiciously. After a moment's hesitation, Mouse put her hand in the guardian's. He led her out of the cell, slowly closing it after her. He led her down a corridor and then around a corner.

"Hello Turbo." Said the voice of guardian 621, Mercury. Turbo looked at 621 with four infected guardians standing behind her. Her arms were crossed across her chest; her lips were upturned in a smug smile. Her eyebrow of her right eyebrow lifted in amusement.

"Look who we have here?" Mercury said as she stared at the two in front of her. "Mouse, how lovely to see you. Going somewhere? I'm sure Daemon will be very interested in this." She turned to the guards behind her. "Take him to cellblock six. Notify Daemon of his adventures."

The four guardians stepped forward. Two took a hold of Turbo as the other two walked behind them. They dragged Turbo down the corridor leaving a smug guardian.

"So, Mouse, have you made your decision?" Mercury asked Mouse as she looked over the Hacker.

"Yes." Mouse said, looking down, knowing she was dooming her friends with this answer.

"And?"

"I'll do it."

* * *

Four large vid windows appeared above Mainframe with the smiling face of a blue sprite upon them.

"Inhabitants of Mainframe, I am guardian 621, representative of Daemon." The blue sprite announced to them.

Binomes and sprites alike stopped to look up towards the Principal's Office where the windows were. Bob stopped his zipboard above the Diner, almost knocking himself off.

"We are here for the guardian known as Bob and the Renegade Matrix. Hand them over peacefully and no one will be hurt. Force us to take them from you and you will be destroyed." The sprite then smiled widely, her bionic left eye activated and began glowing red. "Have a nice day."

Bob turned his zipboard around and headed towards the Principal's Office as Dot came out of the Diner on her board followed quickly by Enzo. The sky deepened in color as a portal appeared in the sky.

* * *

Mouse glared at the guardian sitting next to her.

"Prepare the portal for the rest of the ships, Mouse," said the guardian. She smiled smugly as she glanced at the system of Mainframe. Finally.

Mouse gritted her teeth as her hands flew over the terminal. She watched through the corner of her eye as Mercury stood up and moved behind Mouse.

"You know, you don’t have to be uptight about this." The guardian said as she watched the screen in front of her. "When were done, Daemon will give you a clean bill and turn a blind eye to all your little hacking."

Mouse’s body tightened as she ignored the sprite behind her.

"Why don’t ya go swallow a web slug?" Mouse asked tightly.

"Get a grip, its not as if you actually care for these pathetic little creatures." The disgust in her voice was obvious.

Mouse braced herself for a moment as she assured herself that the guardian’s attention was focused was on the screen.

Mouse pushed her chair back, knocking the guardian into the far wall. Mercury’s eye activated again and a large red 'D' appeared on her bionic eye. She stood up slowly, her stature menacing.

"You’re making a mistake." The guardian said with a smile.

Mouse just smiled as she pulled out her katana and made a move towards Mercury.

* * *

"What’s happening?" asked Enzo as he glanced around the Principal’s Office.

"We’re under attack by Daemon," said Matrix, his eye glowing red.

"And she seems to have recruited Mouse," added Dot.

"Mouse wouldna betray us!" Ray disagreed.

"She probably threatened her or some such," Bob said as he glanced around the room at the others.

"Probably," Dot agreed, looking at Bob.

"What are we going to do?" asked Enzo.

Dot sighed as she glanced around the room. She was reluctant to give the command, but she knew it was their only option.

"Prepare all units for battle," she said, glancing at the others.

They filed out of the room, except for Enzo who just smiled.

"Alphanumeric."

* * *

Mouse lowered the katana down hard on Mercury’s left wrist, slicing it off. Sparks flew as Mercury lifted her wrist for inspection.

Mouse’s eyes widened in shock, the guardian did not even twinge in pain. Then as she got a look at the lifeless hand on the ground, she realized why. She had a cybernetic arm.

"That wasn’t smart." Mercury said with an evil smile and approached Mouse.

Mouse turned her katana and brought the hilt down on Mercury’s head. Mouse pivoted to her right and watched as the guardian passed out onto the console.

Mouse set her katana down and pulled the guardian off the console and over by the door. She sat down in her seat and began trying to close the portal.

* * *

Mercury opened her eyes only nanos later. Mouse sat at the terminal, working. She pulled herself up softly and walked out the door.

She was to injured to try to fight the Hacker. Her left arm was shorting out and soon would be affecting the other pieces of technology in her body.

She blindly walked down corridors, Mouse’s hit to Mercury’s head had damaged her eyesight. She could barely see three feet in front of her.

She had no way to stop Mouse from closing the portal and if she stayed on the ship, she would be deleted or imprisoned by the Mainframers. She had to find a way out.

She tripped and leaned herself against a wall. A terminal with a sign was mounted on the wall across from her. She slowly limped over to it.

Life boats! she thought as she read the terminal.

She quickly programmed for one to be launched in a few nanos. A hatch opened for her to crawl in.

She programmed her course from inside the life boat. She felt it take a off and head for the barely stable portal.

Mercury passed out immediately after takeoff.

* * *

The portal closed right before any of Daemon’s troops were able to get through. No one had seen the life boat go through with the escaping guardian.

Mouse landed ship carefully, already knowing that her ship had enough scratches on it. Ray, Dot and Bob stood on deck waiting for her.

"What happened?" asked Dot as Mouse slowly got herself out of the cockpit.

"It's uh long story, sugah, an’ Ah don’t have the energy for it right now," Mouse said as she landed on her feet with a thud.

"Are you okay, love?" asked Ray, his voice concerned.

"Ah think Ah’ll be fine." Mouse replied with a smile.

She stepped into Ray’s arms and kissed him. Bob and Dot waited impatiently for them to finish. Enzo, who had just arrived on deck, rolled his eyes and made a childish comment under his breath.

When Mouse and Ray resurfaced for air, Mouse turned to Bob and Dot.

"There was a guardian on mah ship. Ah think she should still be there," Mouse said and then let Ray lead her away.

Bob climbed into ship and searched for the guardian, finding no one. Dot followed him.

"Bob, its says in Ship’s log that one of the lifeboats was launched only a few micros before the portal closed," Dot said, looking over data on the terminals.

"She must have escaped." Bob said looking around the cockpit. He frowned and kneeled down to look under the chair. He stood back up, a severed blue hand in his own.

Dot raised an eyebrow as she glanced at the hand.

"I’m not going to comment ‘till I get to talk to Mouse about it," Dot commented with a shake of her head.

* * *

Daemon sat in her throne room, the lights dimmed so dark that it was almost pitch-black inside the room. She hated light. It reminded her of all the times she had awakened on stainless steel tables with bright lights shining into her eyes.

The room was also void of mirrors. Daemon knew what she looked like and refused to be reminded of it.

Anyone who had seen Daemon would have been reminded of an average teenager. Except for one thing, the scars which covered her body.

Brutal scars covered her blood red skin. They changed a face that might have been pretty to an ugly mass of flesh. Her hair floated in a cloud around her. She couldn’t remember what she had looked like.

A vid window appeared before her, bringing only a small amount of light into the room.

"My liege, I am sorry to interrupt you," said the sprite.

"What is it?" she said in a haughty tone which made her seem older than she actually was.

"The portal closed prematurely. A life boat from the Hacker’s ship got through right before it closed. One life form, Guardian 621," the sprite reported, fear of being deleted for delivering this news evident on his face.

"Have her treated and then send her to me," she ordered.

"Yes, my liege."

The vid window disappeared as the super virus looked around the silent, almost empty room. Mercury had been the one guardian she had found likable in the entire collective. The one guardian who had willingly been infected and helped her in her invasion.

And she was a very helpful girl. She was genetically altered to become better, stronger, smarter, deadlier. She was no longer the beautiful young sprite Daemon had infected. Now she was changed, repulsive to most. Just like the supervirus herself.

Daemon stood from where she was sitting and walked to her terminal, showing her the Prime Guardian’s cell. He sat, straight and unblinking. He had not attempted to escape so far.

The Prime Guardian had an odd notion that she wouldn’t delete him. He was wrong he was not important. Just one rung on her ladder to total Net domination. Only one part of her plan for revenge.

Daemon glanced down at her small, scarred hands. Her anger burned inside of her. Blood red nails extended like claws as her anger boiled. She would get her revenge on the Guardian Collective, if she had to rip the Net apart to do it.

THIS FANFIC HAS NEVER BEEN COMPLETED.