Part I
"I�ve got everything under control, but I promise I�ll call you if I need you," he had said. Bell should have known better than to listen to him. She had known his system was in trouble and now she had no idea how to get there to help. Checking her directory again, just to be absolutely sure that the whereabouts of Mainframe hadn�t suddenly appeared, she was shocked to see they had! Mainframe was back on-line. Her jaw dropped.
"HA!" she shouted, "well Bob, you�re about to get my help, whether you like it or not." She formed a portal and disappeared in search of her brother.
Matrix patrolled the streets of Mainframe. He was feeling especially tense lately because he knew at any moment the attack could come, and they would be fighting for their freedom all over again. Suddenly, at the end of the road, a portal opened. He narrowed his eyes and took aim at the lone, blue, female sprite stepping slowly out of it...
Bell stepped out of the portal and the first thing she noticed was a large red target on her chest. She didn�t think, just reacted. Drop and roll, and keep rolling because the street behind her was being chewed up by the gun of a huge green sprite who looked rather disgruntled-either that or constipated. She kept rolling until she was behind part of a building. She stood up and looked around for a way to get around the "Jolly Green Giant" without a fight. But it was obvious the guy thought she was a threat, so she�d either have to fight him, or something even worse... beg for mercy.
"I wonder how angry Bob would be if I shot one of his friends?" She thought quietly and hearing a pause in the volleys she shouted, "Wait! Don�t kill me! I�m here to help!" there was a pause at the other side of the wall, then:
"Come out slowly with your hands in the air."
She groaned. She hated being at anyone�s mercy, but, for some reason this guy seemed worse then most. Sometimes life was just so unfair. She put her hands in the air and slowly rounded the corner. The big green muscle brain�s eyes widened, then narrowed again. But she could see uncertainty in his violet eyes, or rather eye, since he only had one. The other was a bionic gold sphere with a scar across it. �Whoa...Wouldn�t wanna run into this guy in a dark alley. He must have figured in the blue skin and all that by now...� she thought to herself.
The green sprite opened a vid-window, without taking his eyes-or his gun-off her. Bell heard a familiar voice answer tersely.
"What have you got?" Before the incredible hulk could answer, she shouted, "Bob! Would you please tell this moron to get his gun out of my face?!?!?! It�s starting to get annoying!"
There was a shocked silence at the other end, then, "BELL?!? Is that you?"
"Who else?" There was a pause, then Bob spoke with his green friend.
"Matrix, does she show signs of infection?" So the brainless wonder had a name. Matrix stopped and looked her over.
"No." he growled simply, sounding almost disappointed.
"Not a man of many words are ya?" Bell decided to try her luck.
"Do you really want to test me right now?"
Bell just shrugged.
"Bring her to the PO, but do NOT shoot her," Bob said, then added, "Bell, let�s not cause any problems okay?"
"Who, me?"
"Just keep your mouth shut. I�ll meet you back here."
Dot had been going over charts when she noticed a surge in the sector Matrix was patrolling. A portal had been opened. This was it.
"Bob! A portal�s been opened in Sector H-9374!" Bob came up beside her, a worried look on his face. Suddenly, a vid-window opened in front of him. Matrix was there, his gun pointed at something in front of him.
"What have you got?," Bob asked in a strained voice. Matrix opened his mouth to respond, but before he could get anything out, a feminine voice shouted, "Bob! Would you please tell this moron to get his gun out of my face?!?!?! It�s starting to get annoying!" Dot looked at Bob, confused. Bob was totally floored.
"BELL?!? Is that you?" Bell? Who was Bell? What was she doing here? These questions ran through Dot�s mind before she could stop them. She was so busy thinking these things over, that she missed the end of Bob�s conversation with Matrix and the girl. When she managed to shake herself out of her thoughts, the vid-window, and Bob, were gone.
�Great. Another mysterious woman from Bob�s past...� she thought to herself. She turned huffily back to her charts.
It was a few nanos later when the door behind her opened and Matrix walked in with his gun still pointed at a pretty young sprite with blue skin and chrome hair. Dot was shocked. It was almost like seeing a female version of Bob. Breathing a silent sigh of relief she went to go find out what was going on.
Bell stood glaring at Matrix. The guy had obviously been around. He had multiple tattoos, an earring, and had a major grunge look going, but his most distinguishing feature was his bionic eye, on closer inspection, there was a big M carved in it. She assumed this stood for Matrix. She figured there must be something good about him, or he wouldn�t be Bob�s friend, but now that she thought about it, Bob had never mentioned any large gallumohing green sprites with itchy trigger fingers. In fact the only green male sprite he had ever mentioned before was Enzo, and he was just a little guy. Now she was very confused. That�s when she noticed another green sprite headed her way. Bell recognized her immediately. It had to be Dot. She remembered tuning out many conversations with Bob about her. Bell could recognize her anywhere from Bob�s endless blathering descriptions.
"What�s going on Enzo?," Dot said tensely, ignoring Bell. Bell�s jaw dropped. It wasn�t possible! How could that be Enzo? Enzo was little! This guy was big! Her mind was a whirl. Dot and Matrix must of seen her confused face because Matrix said, "What are you looking at us like that for? We should be the confused ones." This snapped Bell back into reality. She gave him a nasty look.
"Oh, I�m sorry, where are my manners? I should have introduced myself first thing when I came through the portal-oh no, wait, I was to busy dodging your DEATH RAYS!!!!" She screamed the last part in his face, making him jump, and tighten his grip on the trigger. At this point Dot decided to intervene.
"Maybe we should wait for Bob to sort all this out," she said, coaxing Matrix into lowering his gun while giving Bell the fisheye. It seemed Bell�s yelling had attracted attention, because right then Mouse appeared in the doorway, and seeing Bell, she nearly fell over.
"Ah can�t possibly be seein what ah think ah�m seein," she said. "Bell? What in the net are you doin here, sugah?"
"Oh, hullo Mouse. Isn�t it obvious? I just came on a leisurely visit to see my good buddy Matrix here. I thought it was a great time for a pleasure trip, ya know, with the whole viral takeover thing. I thought it would be a cultural experience. DUH! The whole system went off-line, I figured maybe you guys could use a hand. So I was headed in this direction when your psycho little friend found me. Now I�m here waiting for my idiot brother who is late as usual, and you�re standing here gawking at me, like a monkey in a zoo, instead of helping sort this whole thing out and get this gun out of my face!" As she said all this her voice had begun to rise and get louder and faster until she was practically shouting.
"Oh, rahght." Mouse said turning to Matrix. "Matrix, sugah you can relax. This here is Bob�s little sister, Bell. She�s a good friend a mine."
"But...how can we be sure she�s not a viral? We can�t really trust anyone," Matrix said stubbornly. He didn�t seem like the kind of guy who�s trust was easy to win.
"Bob�s s-sister?" Dot was dumbfounded. Why hadn�t Bob mentioned this before? She shook her head to clear the confusion. "Uh-she doesn�t show any signs of infection...Mouse? Can you vouch for her?"
"We can trust her. After all, she is Bob�s sister isn�t she?"
"I say we take our chances. She says she�s here to help, and we need all the help we can get. Matrix? Why don�t you go find Ray and AndrAIa. And somebody try and find out where in the net Bob is! You," Dot said turning to face Bell, "start talking..."
"This is not the Super Computer, Bob," Phong said. "But, I think I can help you." He reached into his little file cabinet thingy and took out a headband with a small box attached to it, with many wires hanging out of one end, and handed it to Bob. The Guardian stared at the device in his palm.
"A Mac viral scanner?" he asked incredulously "Phong, isn�t this a little primitive, even for Mainframe?"
Phong sighed. "It is the best I can do my son. I suggest, we work with what we have."
"All right...I just hope it doesn�t blow any circuits..." he muttered as he headed back to where Dot and the others were waiting for him.
"What did you have in mind?," Bell asked Dot.
"Well, you can start with why you came here, and what you know about Daemon," Dot said, looking a bit impatient.
"Well, when the system went off the charts I got a little worried. Systems just falling off the face of the net isn�t a very common occurrence. I-oh, Bob. How nice of you to join us," she interrupted herself. Bob didn�t reply. He simply walked over and strapped the weird little box thing he had gotten from Phong to her head. "No way!," she snapped. "A Mac viral scan? Are you kidding me?" Bob was plugging the wires into a control panel in a corner of the room.
"If you�re not a viral, then why are you so worried about a little scan? What�s the matter? Worried we�ll find out about your boss Daemon?," Matrix said accusingly, appearing in the door with two other sprites.
Bell sneered at him "No! For your information, Mac scanners are the oldest viral scans in the known net. So old, there are only, like, three left in existence. That thing could short circuit and fry my brain!," She said, sounding more than a little worried.
"What brain?," Bob asked, "Come on, don�t be such a baby, it�s barely been used, it�s not gonna short circuit." As he said this, he pushed a button on the control panel, and the little box attached to Bell�s head began to hum. Suddenly there was a loud crackle of static and all the lights went off. Bell felt a jolt of electricity, and the last thing she thought before things went black was �Man I could go for a cheeseburger right now.�
Disclaimer: The only characters I own in this fic are Packard, Bell (get it? Packard Bell? I couldn�t think of any other good, computer related names) and Julia (but the name belongs to Julia Cat) Everyone else belongs to Mainframe Entertainment blah, blah, blah and all that other good crap.
Feedback: Please!!! Should I write more? Tell me what you want to see happen to the characters, but take it easy on me, this is the first fic I�ve ever posted.