Daemon Rising, part 4b

[a1enzo]

[Due to the wonders of Millitime, this takes place the morning after this thread, yet at the same time is happening right now. Whoa.]


Contrary to his own expectations, Enzo slept pretty well last night. No nightmares, although he did have a weird dream in which Hex turned into a pile of nulls with Mike the TV's voice. At any rate, he's well rested and ready for some world-saving.

But first, breakfast. He's at the Bar, eating a large waffle with far too much Maple syrup. Frisket has a bowl of something you're probably happier not knowing about.


[Leading to a supply run, mass digitization and mission briefing, and divers excitement and alarums.]

[First two subthreads are plotlocked. Enzo, at least, would welcome greetings in the third.]

Comments

[hack-slash-bots.livejournal.com]

He's got an accompaniment of mookbots who are doing a little morning maitenence in the form of a can of 8-bit oil each and discussing their respective plans.

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

"Ah, there you are!" says Tilda enthusiastically. "Bar, a page twenty-one please?" A palm-sized waffle appears, demurely clad in a coating of whipped cream and decorated by a single strawberry, accompanied by knife and fork. "Thank you. Hi, Enzo."

[a1enzo]

"Hi! You ready?"

He peers at her breakfast curiously. "Why's it called a page twenty-one?"

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

"Because it comes from the twenty-first page of a very large book about waffles," she explains with a bright little grin. "Yes, I am. The crates're upstairs, I can get them anytime."

[a1enzo]

"Oh. That makes sense."

"Awesome! We'll get started soon's we're done eating, then!" And he starts shoveling digital waffle into his face at an inadvisably fast rate.

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't do that," she cautions, consuming the second quarter of her own breakfast. "It's never a good idea to go to war with indigestion."

[a1enzo]

Enzo mumbles something and slows down a little.

[queenofmay]

Marian was the quietest of the party that was coming home. The boys all seemed good at the gabbing and strange comments, which was why it didn't take long for her to smile and slide past them.

She was glad to find the door in the Matrices' house closet still open, and even more relieved when they arrived back home.

There'd be time for questions about being reverse digitized later. For now a drink and the hopes that someone would update them on Bob's improved status very soon.

[fryertuck]

Tucker is waiting at a table near the door, holding a milkshake that is, against all odds, camouflage-patterned. With chunks. The table is covered in icepacks.

He hands the shake to Danny as soon as he enters. "Welcome back, dude."

[goinghost.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." The milkshake was chugged and he slumped into his seat and dropped his head down--on the icepacks. "Nnnnngh."

[fryertuck]

Tucker snorts. "Here, lemme help you with those." He doesn't know which bits are sore, so he just starts draping icepacks wherever they'll stay put.

[goinghost.livejournal.com]

The end result was likely blackmail material. Danny covered in icepacks. Before long, he'd probably fall asleep and start drooling slightly.

For now, he just looked over at his best bud, gave him a little grin and said, "Seriously. Thanks, Tuck."

A pause. "You got the footage okay, right?"

[a1enzo]

A sad and weary child-Guardian slouches in through the still-open Door. He ignores the icepack-covered ghost boy, he ignores the demon-virus and his burgers. He thumps over to the bar, ascends a stool, and pillows his head with his arms on the bartop without ordering anything.

[steadfastknight]

Instead of a body coming through the door, there was an awareness returning to the black car that sat over beside the multiple monitors that had been set up for those who had their own way to attend to the matters in mainframe.

Kitt was returning with a bit of reluctance. He wanted to help Bob, but the only way to do so, at tihs point, seemed to be to leave. Thus, when he came back to himself, he blurred back into his human form.

"Mf," he muttered, rubbing at his forehead. It seemed he felt vaguely feverish and his head ached - but it was a circular ache, starting at his temples. Nothing to worry about.

So that left him free to worry about Bob. He chose to do so sitting at the bar, beside Enzo.

"Excuse me, Bar. I hope I'm not being a trouble, but I would like to have some sort of analgesic for my head? Perhaps with some sort of fever reducer."

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

Matilda follows Enzo in and, with somewhat less than her usual cheer, quietly requests a waffle from Bar before seating herself beside the dejected sprite and beginning, gravely, to consume it.

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Bruck also trudges in and plops down by Enzo. He's...well, he's glad that Daemon's been beaten, but what happened to Bob...and, more important in some ways its effect on Enzo...is really not doing wonders for his mood. Some food appears, and he munches, but only absently.

[first-sixth.livejournal.com]

Tommy, like the others, seems far removed from his usual self as he silently follows his teammates back into Milliways. Daemon's gone, but that really doesn't count for much in the face of his worry for Bob - and related concern for Enzo, Dot and the others. So much gained, but even more that could still be lost...

The gold Sprite sits down and orders an energy shake, but he drinks it mechanically, neither enjoying it nor even paying much attention to it.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

Mary stares at Enzo.

"What happened to you?"

[a1enzo]

"Nuthin'. Not to me." He doesn't move.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

"Yes it did," Mary counters, flatly. "You look awful."

[a1enzo]

"Didn't happen to me. Happened to Bob."

[ami_imperfect]

Dani was ticked as she stalked over to Enzo; after all, he and Danny had left without telling her they were going to Mainframe. True, she couldn't go but couldn't they at least have said goodbye?

But then she saw how the sprite was sitting at the bar, and being mad went right out the window.

"Enzo?" Dani hopped up on the barstool next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "What happened?"

She doesn't ask if he's okay. This doesn't look like 'okay'.

[a1enzo]

He doesn't raise his head, but angles it to look at her. "Dani? Daemon made Bob use his powers. A lot."

She, better than anyone, knows the implications of that.

[ami_imperfect]

Dani winces; she knows.

"How is he?"

[a1enzo]

"He isn't. They had to decompile him." He closes his eyes. "There's no Bob right now."