Chapter 6: The Perfect One
Daemon panted softly as the pain subsided, the sensations merging back into Vice in cold trickles down her back. She swallowed hard, tasting coppery energy in her mouth. She needed to be more careful. Vice was getting stronger, and she wasn�t. She had little concept of deletion by now, but she knew �sick� when she felt it. Daemon remained curled while she tried to remember what had been going on before the pain had come. The Guardians, she recalled. The ones from Mainframe. And the others. Weakly she tried to sit up again, but Vice closed on her again, isolated at her shoulder. She balled up again in defense, unable to keep back dry sobs of fear that the pain should come again so closely on the heels of the first wave.
But it never came. Something was different this time. No pain at all, but instead, a frail warmth at her shoulder and a faint tugging. Not...Vice.
Daemon raised her head slowly, and felt a muted jolt of astonishment as she found herself staring into a pair of warm violet eyes.
Bob couldn�t get his voice to work for many critical moments. By the time he managed a strangled "No!", Dot had already gone to the ailing...child? Virus?...and was trying to help her sit up. And Daemon had already turned to her. It was like time was standing still, Supervirus and System Commander, a compassionate purple gaze locked to a deep blue one of pain and puzzlement. Dot moved first, moving her hand from Daemon�s shoulder. If the room hadn�t been so completely silent, her words would not have been audible: "Are you all right?" In any other situation it would be a laughable question, the answer painfully obvious...but Daemon nodded slowly, wide blue eyes never leaving Dot�s face.
Bob managed to move towards Matrix and AndrAIa, who were watching Dot and Daemon in shocked wonder. Matrix snagged Bob�s elbow and pulled him the rest of the way over, whispering, "So what do we do now?"
Bob tilted his shoulders slightly, sighing heavily. "I have no idea. Maybe Dot has a plan..."
AndrAIa added softly, "Well I wish we knew what it was..."
"Let�s just hope," Bob replied, "That Daemon doesn�t remember what /her/ plans are."
Daemon stared in wondering amazement as the woman before her actually...seemed concerned for her. She could remember vaguely that this was what sometimes happened be tween sprites, though Vice had erased most memories as it pertained to her. Yet there was something comforting about it, this stranger, helping her...talking to her...and somehow Vice hadn�t noticed yet, or thought to ignore it. But then, it was always hard to figure out what mattered to Vice and what didn�t. You just never knew.
The others watched carefully as Daemon studied Dot�s face. Bob began to fidget, growing anxious. "We need to get her out of there, we need to get her away, something could go wrong..."
Matrix shook her head. "Dot knows what she�s doing..."
"But Daemon�s unpredictable, it�s not safe..."
AndrAIa just listened for a moment, then said, "I think Bob�s right...Dot may think she knows what she�s doing, but-"
She stopped mid-sentence as Dot began to stand up, and Daemon�s thin pale fingers locked around her wrist.
Daemon watched the woman before her, fascinated. She had seen other sprites before, of course...infected them, had them do her bidding, that sort of thing...but none of them had acted like this one. They had been afraid, or entertaining for awhile with their tiresome toys...but in the end, it was always easier to just be rid of them. And now, she didn�t even have to deal with them anymore. The Guardians could do all of that, and leave her alone to sleep or try to remember things.
And no sprites had ever actually talked to her. Nothing like this.
This one was different. And pretty. Daemon remembered what being pretty was.
Perfect. Just perfect. Exactly the one she needed.
But she was standing up. She was leaving! She couldn�t leave, they had so much to discuss now!
Daemon grabbed the woman by the wrist, her long thin fingers tightening as much as they could. And inexplicably, Vice helped.
No...she would not leave.
Dot�s eyes widened in fear as Daemon caught her by the wrist and forced her back down next to the chair. Composing herself, she tugged at her wrist experimentally a few times, but Daemon�s grip was unyielding. And it should not have been, which sounded alarms in Dot�s mind. This was wrong, all wrong...
Daemon spoke again. *You will not leave.* Blue eyes, wide and childlike a moment ago, were suddenly petulant and sulky.
"I can�t stay here." Dot tried to explain. "I need to go with my friends."
*You will stay here.* Daemon replied. It was not a request.
Dot tried again, feeling the first signs of panic. Daemon�s fingers were threatening to cut off the energy flow in her hand. "People need me somewhere else."
Daemon was unswayed. *No. You will stay with me.* She paused, frowning slightly as if trying to recall something important. *You are the perfect one. You will stay with me always. You can be my m...m....mama.* It was odd to hear her stutter when she wasn�t even speaking aloud.
For some reason it made her angry. Dot yanked her arm back, trying to free herself. "No! I�m not your mama! Let go of me!"
Daemon looked faintly and childishly pleased. *You are strong. Yes, you will be my mama.*
Dot could only stare as the feeling slowly left her hand. Slowly Daemon reached up with her free hand, setting the tip of her index finger on the middle of Dot�s forehead. Dot finally tried to call for help, her plan fallen to ruins.
"Bob...!"
But that was all she managed, before she felt a sharp pain in her forehead and blacked out.
Bob was already running towards Daemon�s dias, golden energy gathering in his hands. Without breaking stride he unleashed a bolt of energy directly at Daemon. It dissapated uselessly around her in a shimmer of gold, and she turned a deadpan gaze on her attacker. As he saw Dot fall unconscious he threw himself heedlessly at the dais. Only a few feet away from his goal he slammed into an invisible barrier, the impact making black sparkles appear before his eyes. He staggered back a pace and blasted the invisible shield with all the powers he could muster. Daemon merely watched, until he had nearly drained himself.
Matrix was at his elbow, firing his gun at various intervals around the room. All of the area around Daemon and Dot was blocked. AndrAIa�s paralyzing spikes were just as useless, shredding as they hit Daemon�s forcefield. Dot didn�t stir. Daemon just watched.
Finally she spoke again. *You may go. She is mine now.*
Matrix fired again, trying to find a flaw in the forcefield. Frustrated, he yelled, "No, you�ll kill her!"
Daemon snorted delicately, a sound that seemed to actually come from her rather than her arrangement for speaking. *Of course I will not kill her. She means much to me.*
Bob stood back, panting from exertion. "She means more to us! You can�t keep her!"
Daemon�s bored expression hardened into anger, and the look in her eyes was all of a virus and nothing of a child.
*Guardian, you annoy me.* Without any physical effort at all on Daemon�s part, Bob, Matrix and AndrAIa suddenly found themselves at the shattered crystal gateway. Bob yelled roughly, trying to run back into the room. He was stopped short, as before, by a forcefield in the doorway. Matrix grabbed his elbow. Bob shook him off angrily, but Matrix grabbed him again and hauled him back. Bob started to turn on him and AndrAIa when suddenly another green-white crystal slab slammed down into the space he had just occupied. Daemon had sealed her chamber, with Dot inside.
Faintly, through the crystal, they could hear her voice.
*I�m sorry, Mama. But I made them go away. They won�t bother us now. Mama? Are you awake?*
Stunned silence reigned for a few moments. Then Bob threw himself against the gateway, pounding his fists against it, but it would not give way. Tears ran down his cheeks as he beat helplessly at the crystal door. Finally Matrix and AndrAIa had to haul him back once more. In the following quiet, they could hear Daemon again.
*Mama? Wake up, Mama! Why won�t you wake up?*
Bob sobbed raggedly. "Dot! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"