milliways_bar | Daemon Rising, part 4a

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Daemon Rising, part 4a

[In this installment, a virus approaches Mainframe with her new helpers, a boy plays catch with his dad, seduction is attempted and cut short, and plans are put into motion. Speaking of which, here comes one of those plans now!]

Little Matrix enters the bar with two bots, a dog, and a look of determination. He looks around the bar, mentally reviewing as he does so the tasks he has been charged with. Wait here until someone comes to fetch me. Until then, stay with someone on the safelist. And find Programmers. Someone who can fix the cure so it's more compatible, and find out why it didn't work when Bob tried to...

Oh no! Bob! I forgot to tell Dot...

Matrix freezes, then wheels around and charges back past his escort toward the Door.

It's locked.

[Not plotlocked in any way. Go for it.]

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Enzo welcomes the change of subject; he really doesn't want Dani to think he's stupid, and the prior topic was rapidly heading in that direction.

"Dot's letting me help now!" he proclaims - see, maybe the outfit did work! He fishes in his belt and pulls out a small window filled with binary. "See, we've got a cure for Daemon's infection, but it's not working right yet. So Dot sent me here to find someone who can fix it. And it's really important, so they're my bodyguards." Yeah! That sounds a lot better than 'babysitters'.

Dani grins. "So that means you're close to winning the war, right?"

Now all she needs to do is find someone who can stabilize her without killing her or Danny, and then she can finally come to Mainframe!

"Y-yeah," says Enzo, with a rather sickly grin of his own. Of course they'll win, and soon.

Right?

Yes. Because there were too many people that'd be willing to help them.

"...Enzo? Why are you dressed like a biker?" asked Danny as he floated over.

He was ghosted out, mainly because he wasn't sure if his parents were around and if he ever needed to BE ghosted out in the bar, this way he wouldn't have to run off to the bathroom or something to do it.

As he got a closer look... "Actually, why are you dressed like the bigger, jerkier you? The little, less-jerkier you is ten times cooler. And what's with the robots?"

Siiiiigh. "Hi, Danny. It was an error, okay?"

Heck with it. He taps his icon, and a shimmer runs down the length of his body - rather like one of the Glowing Concentric Rings of Science that mark the Phantoms' own transformations, except this hugs his shape more tightly - erasing the Matrix costume and leaving his usual outfit in its place. Look, Dani, another thing we have in common!

As he moves his icon back to its usual place on his cap, he says, "That's Hack, and that's Slash. They're being my bodyguards."

The two robots look from Danny to Dani in bewilderment.

They continue to bicker back and forth. If you think they're confused now, you should have seen them when Little Enzo first appeared after the restart.

Oh-kay.

"They're a few chips short of a whole processor, huh," he said quietly to Enzo.

"I'm Danny with a 'y.' She's Dani with an 'i'. That makes them different names, so no one's copying a name from the other."

Then something finally registered. "Bodyguards from what?" he asked, starting to look concerned. "Why do you need them?"

"Uh-huh," whispers Enzo.

"Nothing here, I think," he says, with a slight note of worry to indicate the fact that now that Danny's mentioned it, he's wondering if he'll actually need them. "They're just in case. I'm on an important mission!" he adds proudly.

"Hi, Danny." Dani would have greeted him earlier, but she was too busy facepalming at Hack and Slash.

Looking over at Enzo she asks, "Well, do you have to start right away? Or do you have time for a shake first?"

Because she's got a milkshake to finish, and shakes (milk or energy) always go down better with friends.

"Hey Dani." Kinda ditto, although it was mental facepalming.

"What kind of mission? What's going on back home, Enzo?"

He shrugs. "It's probably gonna take a while anyway. I'd like a shake." And he starts to lead the motley procession toward the bar. "Frisket!" Frisket, who has wandered a little distance off in search of new and interesting people to growl at, barks and comes to heel.

As he walks, he talks: "You remember about the war? Daemon? Well, it got going for real."

Dani can't supress a grin. "Great!" she says as Enzo leads the way to the bar.

She listens as Enzo starts to explain the war to Danny, biting her lip.

Nuts.

"Like full-out war?"

Enzo nods. "The Guardians got in and put us online, and now Daemon's coming herself. We put up firewalls to keep her out, but..." He winces. "She's got Mouse helping her now. And AndrAIa, and YT. And Matrix."

Dani looks over at Enzo in surprise. "When did all that happen?"

The last time she saw Matrix, he was tossing Enzo and Dani outside to get them out of the path of Jack and Maddie.

Whoa. Whoa! This was bad.

This wasn't just war, this sounded like they were losing.

"What about Dot and Bob?"

"Dot's got a plan. I think she's gonna evacuate everyone to an offline system, 'cause she had Dad make his old gateway machine again. She's probably got something else in mind too, 'cause she always does. And she sent me here 'cause we've got a cure for the infection but it didn't work when Bob tried it on Turbo and I'm s'posed to find programmers to fix it. But Bob..."

He looks up at Danny, getting frantic again. "I have to go back and tell her, but the Door won't let me! Bob... I heard him and Phong talking, Phong ran some tests and Bob..."

He turns to Dani then. "He's like you."

It takes Dani a minute to get what Enzo means.

"You mean, he's not stable?"

Enzo winces again and nods. "If he keeps using his Glitch powers, he'll fragment completely. But it's worse for him, 'cause you can stop using your powers if you want."

"So you're evacuating your home, Bob's destabilizing, and the bad guy's invading."

Bob was willing to help him with some of the run of the mill day to day and got hurt for it.

The least he could do was help when they really needed it.

"Enzo, you said you need a programmer to fix the cure, right? A friend of mine might be able to. In the meantime, do you think there's anything I could do to help back there? To hold them off? I can go inside computers in my ghost form so I should be able to go into Mainframe."

Enzo beams with gratitude. Then he frowns again. "Maybe, but I can't open the Door for you. I'll tell you if I get it unlocked, though!"

He perks up again. "Anyway, Dot told me I should stay with someone on the safelist she made for me, so that's you!" He grins with mischief.

Dani clenches her fists. More than anything she wishes she could go with Danny and help.

"Are you sure?" she asks him. "I mean, what if you get infected?"

Enzo's next piece of news makes her brighten, though. "Cool!"

"I guess if you can't open the door, I'll just have to wait with you until you can anyway."

He tilted his head at Dani.

"We're not exactly made of programming code, are we? This is like a computer virus infection. I bet I'd be immune. If you went, you probably would be, too." A pause. "You're not allowed to go, though."

"I wasn't asking to," Dani responds, looking offended (or trying to).

Not until the war is over and she's stabilized, anyway.

The mun considers that they've had more than enough time to reach the bar, so Enzo clambers onto a stool and orders his shake and a saucer. He pours out a little into the saucer and puts it on the floor for Frisket, who definitely deserves a treat.

He nods at Danny. "Or if you're busy I can stay with Dr. Stantz, or Foxtrot, 'cept I don't think Dot really wants him watching me too long," he adds with a giggle. "She said to wait here 'til someone comes to get me... oh." He looks disgusted. "That's why!"

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