Disclaimer: Don’t own, don’t sue
AN: this is my first fanfic so please be gentle. takes place after megabyte returns. all my friends liked it so i hope u do too. REad and review but please be nice.

Chapter One: The Hunt

“ The hunt is on!” Megabyte’s voice rang over the intercom of the principle’s office.

Matrix stared blankly. “ Hunt? Does he think this is some kind of game?” he asked Bob, who was trying to crack Mouse’s codes to get out of the Holding room.
“ Probably.” Bob stated grimly. Slamming his fist against the wall, he turned to Matrix.
“We’re trapped in here. I can’t get through Mouse’s security codes.” His face was drawn with mixed emotions. I hope Dot and the others are alright. I’ll kill Megabyte if he lays a hand on Dot again!!
Matrix only shrugged. “ Don’t worry Bob.” He pulled out gun and smiled. Turning to the door he aimed an energy burst, which burnt a fairly large whole in it.
“ You didn’t need to do that!” Bob said surprised at the renegade. You’ve changed alot Enzo!
“ Do you know an easier way to by-pass the security codes?”
“ Alright, I get your point. Now let’s get going!”
With that the guardian and the renegade left the room leaving only an empty holding cell, and the large whole in the door.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

AndrAIa stood on guard, scanning the area around her, making sure no one was coming up the rear. She was worried. Worried about little Enzo, worried about Matrix, worried about what Megabyte was planning, but mostly she was worried about Dot. She had been horrified when she found out that she almost married Megabyte, when he had shape shifted to disguise himself as Bob, but he had fooled them all. Though, the thing that really hit Dot hard was the fact that she believed she had betrayed Bob. She’s probably beating herself up over it. AndrAIa was so deep in thought, worrying about Dot, that she didn’t notice Mouse cursing herself under the breath for not being able to break the codes for the door that would gain them access to the other side of the Principle office.
“ Dammit!” Mouse cursed the access box as it blinked and bleeped, denying her codes.” I dunno what ta do sugah. I just can’t break these codes!”
“ Just break the door down then,” AndrAIa, being snapped out of her thoughts by Mouse’s voice, called over her shoulder.
“ Now, why didn’t I think of that sooner, sug.” the hacker smiled, pulling out her Kitana. With a few quick slashes, the metal door lay in shard pieces on the floor. “ We’re in sugah! C’mon!” she grabbed the game sprite’s arm and the two sprites ran past the rubble to the hallways beyond.

“ Hey! Where’s the fire?!” Ray called after the two girls, as they passed him, unnoticeably . He was running through a side corridor when he saw them pass.
Both girls stopped in their tracks. Mouse was the first to turn around, Kitana in hand, followed by AndrAIa, with her Trident extended. “ Oh, Ray,” Mouse panted dropping her guard. “ Sorry sugah, we didn’t see you.”
“Ray, have you seen the others?” AndrAIa asked calmly.
“ Well, no, but I’m pretty sure that Bob and Matrix are in the Holding room. They were probably trapped in there after the big ugly mate set off the security alarms.” the surfer thought for a moment. “ But I don’t know where the others are.... no wait Megabyte has little Enzo in the Command Center.”
“ What!” Mouse grew furious in hearing this. Poor Dot!
“ Oh, no, Little Sparky,” AndrAIa said in an almost inaudible whisper.
“ We’ll have to leave him there for now. Megabyte won’t hurt him until he gets what he wants.” Mouse raised a purplish eyebrow. “ But what does he want anyway?”
The three stood there silently, just thinking.
“ Megabyte was always after power right?” the game sprite questioned.
The two sprites nodded and raised an eyebrow at her.
“ Well don’t you think it’s weird that he’s not using Phong’s access codes to get into the core or to release a tare? And that he hasn’t even tried to get into the Supercomputer?”
“That is kinda strange. Now that you mention it, it doesn’t really make sense. The big viral oaf has always been after power, and now that he can get it, he’s not takin’ it.” Mouse chimed in.
This didn’t make any sense at all. They only knew Megabyte as the power-hungry virus that he was. They couldn’t understand why he didn’t use the massive advantage he was given, unless he had something else in mind......

“ AndrAIa!” a loud voice called in the distance.
The three sprites turned around to see two figures running down the hall towards them.
“AndrAIa,” Matrix said her name with a sigh of relief as he ran up to her and hugged her gratefully. “ Thank the User you’re alright.” Her whispered in her ear tightening his embrace.
“ I’m glad you’re okay too, Sparky.” she smiled.
“ Have .... you guys... seen Dot?” Bob panted as he finally reached them.
Mouse shook her head, “ Not yet , but if I know Dot, she’s found somewhere safe to stay. Don’t worry sugah, we’ll find her.”
The guardian nodded, and attempted a faint smile of thanks. I’ll find you Dot, and then I’ll never let you go again.
An erie silence fell over them, and for a few nanos everyone just stood there, hoping everything was going to turn out alright, although they did not believe that at the moment.
Ray broke the silence, clearing his throat.” Well, let’s get going.” He glanced over at AndrAIa and Matrix who were still embracing each other. “ You two need a minute?”
Matrix shot the surfer a warning glance and broke the embrace. “ Let’s go.”
With that, they began their search for Dot and the others, Ray, Bob, and Matrix in front, followed by a giggling Mouse and AndrAIa.

Dot sat on the cold ground in a hallway of the Principle Office, slumped against the wall. she couldn’t believe what an idiot she had been. Bob must hate me now! I should have known the difference. Tears began to well up in her eyes. Bob, I’m so sorry! She let her pain and sadness overflow her and began to cry. She buried her face in her hands, trying to muffle her racking sobs from Hack and Slash.
The two bumbling morons were trying to come up with a plan, since Dot was in no condition to think of one herself.
“ NO, that’s a stupid plan.” Hack disagreed and shoved his counterpart’s shoulder.
“ Will you two be quiet!” Dot commanded. By this time she had gotten up, trying to conceal the fact that she had been crying. “ I need to think!”
Silence fell over them as Dot began to think of a plan. What does Megabyte want? If I can figure that out it would be alot easier to come up with an escape route. She was so deep in thought she didn’t even hear the faint footfalls coming closer and closer to her.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“ You won’t get away with this, Megabreath!!” Enzo taunted, struggling against the grasp of the exo-skeleton that was holding him. He had already tried pleading with his father, who was the suits inhabitance, but was to no avail.
“ Still the same foolish little boy, aren’t you?” Megabyte replied calmly. “ Still using the same taunts, oh, but this time you’re wrong.” the virus smiled devoutly. Slowly, he turned to the large vid window of the city in front of him. “ This system is mine now, and not even you’re precious guardian can save you now. You see, boy,” He turned back to his hostage,” I’ve already won.”
The child’s eyes widened at this. “ What do you mean?”
“ In due time, young Matrix, in due time.”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Dot was still deep in thought when Hack and Slash started to shake frantically. She looked at the pair curiously, then she heard it. Faint footfalls, getting closer and louder. Uncertain of who, or what, was coming, she looked around for a place to hide. After a quick scan of the area around her, she found nothing. Nothing, no crevices, no doors, no nothing. Her heart started to beat faster, as she realized this might be her end, but somehow she knew inside that she shouldn’t fear the approaching peoples.
“ Dot!!”
She knew that voice! “ I’m over here!” she called out to the oncoming figures. Slowly they came into sight and her heart beat slowed. Once again, tears began to well up in her eyes. It was her family, her friends. They had come for her, like she knew they would. Yet some part of her was surprised they came for her at all. Somewhere deep inside of her, she felt they would abandon her after what she did.
“ Sis, you’re alright!” Matrix was the first to reach her.
She smiled faintly at him as the others approached.
“ Dot!” Bob chimed happily, running right up to her, wrapping her in a loving embrace.” I’m so happy you’re alright!”
Surprised by this, Dot shrunk away from her love, but then slowly sank into his warm arms. “ I’m sorry.” She whispered gently, almost hoping he didn’t hear.
“ Don’t be,” he whispered,” There’s nothing to forgive,” the guardian stroked her soft green hair. “ It wasn’t your fault.”
That was all she needed to hear, but she still felt guilty - she didn’t think she deserved to be forgiven.
“ Hello, citizens of Megaframe.” Megabyte’s evil voice sounded once again over the intercom.
Everyone cocked their heads up to listen to the virus’s announcement, Matrix growing angry with every word.
“ I have a proposition all of you putrid, little bugs should listen to.” he continued. “ There is only one thing that I want in this awful system - and if it is not delivered to me by dusk, I will tear this city apart sector by sector until I find it.” He paused for a nano, trying to create suspense for incentive. “ There is a person in this city who is not what they appear to be.”
“ What the hell is he talking about?” Matrix said through gritting teeth.
“ This person is known as Angel. Deliver this person to me and I will spare your lives. Oh, and if Angel is listening, if you do not turn yourself in to me, “ He laughed fiendishly,” Tell Dot to say good by to her little brother. That is all.” The intercom cut out.
“ Enzo,” Dot spoke his name with a tone of mixed emotions. She could feel tears stinging in her eyes.
“ Don’t worry,” Bob smiled down at his love. “ We’ll get him back, I promise.” He gently stroked her face.
“ Um, exactly how are we gonna do that mate?” Ray interrupted. “ We don’t know who this Angel person is, and we can’t just attack the crazy mate in the control center either.”
“ The surfer makes a good point,” Matrix crossed his arms across his broad chest.
“ If anyone would know who this person is, it’d be Phong. But then, why didn’t Megabyte just force Phong to tell him, he is under his infection after all. “ Mouse questioned, her face more
serious than anyone had seen before.
“ His infection doesn’t work like that.” Bob explained,” He can’t make anyone give up any information to him, not like Daemon’s infection did. Once he infects someone, they become void and under his control.”
“ That would explain why he couldn’t get the information from Phong, but how do we find out who this Angel person is?” the hacker looked at the guardian questionably.
“ Hack, Slash!” Dot ordered.
“ Yes, Sir, Ma’am!” the two replied at the same time.
“ Get that door open Now!” she pointed to a large, steel enforced door on the far side of the large hall.
Complying with their orders, Hack and Slash hovered towards the door and began to work.
“ You’ve got a plan, don’t you?” Bob said, almost teasingly.
The green beauty smiled in return.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“ Sir!” the viral commander approached his master.
Megabyte turned to the bi nome. “ Yes, what is it?”
“ The guardian and renegade are no longer in the holding room. There is a large whole in the door. We figure that’s how they escaped.”
The Virus slammed his massive fist on the main console, leaving a large dent in the soft metal. No matter, he thought, they will fall in line soon enough. Then I’ll be rid of that pestering guardian once and for all. He allowed an evil smile spread across his deformed face. “ Find them at once and bring them to me..,” he ordered his slave. “ ..alive.”
Nodding, the commander waved his staff to his troops and they left in search of their prey.
Megabyte turned to Enzo,” You, my dear boy, will witness first hand, my new world.” he growled.
The young sprite, still full with hope turned his head away from the disgusting creature standing before him.
“ Did I offend you, boy?” the creature taunted. “ Hurry up you fools!” He yelled at his minions that were working at breaking Mouse’s security codes at the other consoles. “ I want those security vid windows running!” Turning back to Enzo, he smiled, showing his jagged teeth. “ I want to be able to see where your friends are. It’ll be easier to delete them that way!” His smile grew into an evil smirk before he burst into laughing, leaving the young sprite wide-eyed and slowly losing hope.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Hack and Slash blasted, pried and even tried using ‘Abra Kadabra’ to open the door, but all their efforts failed. Finally, a very frustrated, not to mention bored, Matrix blew the doors open with gun. As usual, everyone stared at him in surprise, everyone except AndrAIa that is. She was used to seeing him use excessive force, but the others still couldn’t come to terms with it yet. Noticing everyone staring, the renegade raised an eyebrow, “ What?”
Bob rolled his eyes. He still couldn’t believe how much Matrix had changed. Shrugging it off, he was the first to enter the room beyond the, now , partial metal door. Scanning the room for viral troops, he waved the others in after finding nothing.
The eight of them stood in the room. there was nothing there!
“ I think we broke into the wrong room, mates.” the surfer pointed out as they stared into the empty room.
Dot walked over to a wall and said something under her breath. With a small groan, the wall lifted revealing a dark passage. “ This way,” she called over her shoulder as she walked down into the black tunnel.
“ How did you know this passage was here?” Bob asked as he, along with the others, caught up to her.
“ Well, I am the of this system. I know every square inch of this place.”
They walked down the tunnel for a few nanos before coming to a dead end.
“ Oh great!” Matrix complained. “ It’s a dead end. Now we have to go back.” He turned on his heel and began to head back. The sudden shaking of the ground made him stop in his tracks.
The renegade spun around quickly as the wall blocking their path began to lift up, letting small streaks of sunlight in. “ By the User,” He muttered in utter amazement.
“ I told you, I know every inch of this place,” his sister smiled at him.
As the earth finally stopped shaking, and the door had opened, they entered Phong’s private office. Dot quickly went to his desk in search of something.
“ So,” Mouse walked around the room. “ what exactly are we lookin’ for sugah?” the hacker sat on the edge of the large desk.
“ We’re looking for the system’s files.” Dot was now going through the desk drawers looking for the keys to the file cabinet. “ They contain complete information on every person in Mainframe. So maybe they can tell us who this Angel is.” She continued to talk while she walked over to the file cabinet. “ Now which key is it?” she whispered to herself.
“ Is something wrong, love?” Ray asked AndrAIa, concern in his voice.
At the word ‘love’, Matrix began to grow angry. Is he looking to get deleted?!
Even Mouse turned at the word, surprised and hurt that he called AndrAIa that and not her.
“ Huh, ..oh , no, I’m fine.” AndrAIa replied distantly.
“ You sure, love? You don’t look so good.”
Now, this just pissed Matrix off, not to mention Mouse, and he had his hand on gun, ready to blast the surfer into the next cycle.
This snapped the game sprite back to reality, and noticing where her lover’s hand was, she walked over to him. Gently, she grasped his hand and raised it away from gun. “ He doesn’t mean it Lover. It’s just a nickname.” She whispered in his ear.
The renegade turned his head away from her. “ Tell him not to do it again, or next he won’t be so lucky,” he pulled away from her, walked over to a wall and let his fist fly.
AndrAIa cringed as his fist hit the wall, leaving a small imprint of the blow in it. she sighed. I wish you would learn to relax, Sparky. He didn’t mean it.
“ What was that about?!” Mouse demanded.
The surfer stammered, trying to say the right thing. The problem was, he couldn’t think of the right thing to say.
“ It’s just a nickname, Mouse. He meant nothing by it, trust me.” the aqua-marine haired beauty, noticing him in trouble, saved him.
Mouse studied the girl’s eyes and after a moment smiled. She nodded in appreciation and smiled at Ray. This was one of Mouse’s many talents- she could tell if you were lying or not just by looking into your eyes. That may not sound like anything special, but the hacker was never wrong.
“ Ah-ha!” Dot shouted. She had finally found the right key to the file cabinet. Now they would find out who this Angel person is. She carefully pulled out the organizer containing the wanted files and turned it on. Clicking on search, she typed ‘Angel’ and then pressed the search button.
Everyone gathered around her, as the search finished.
“ What! No existing file.” she couldn’t believe it. Phong always kept all information in this organizer. It just didn’t add up. Then it hit her. Phong must have not recorded the real identity of ‘Angel’ for security reasons. He must have anticipated that a situation like the one they were in might occur and didn’t want to risk the individual’s exposure. She realized it then- this person must be more important than the whole system if the old bi nome didn’t want their identity known. “ I can’t believe I’ve been so basic!” she put her hand on her forehead.
“ Hey Dot. You wanna fill us in?” Bob looked at her curiously.
“ Why would Megabyte be after this person if he could just come here and find out? Phong didn’t record the data on the true identity of this ‘Angel’ person because they are more important than the entire system.”
“ How could one person be more important than the entire system, sugah? It just doesn’t make any sense.” Mouse waved a hand. “ Never mind, but how do we find this person?”
Dot looked down at the floor and shook her head. “ I dunno Mouse. I’m fresh out of ideas.”
“ Well, well. Look what we have here.” A voice spoke from behind them.
Turning to see who was there, the eight sprites were face to face with a unit of viral minions. Each armed with stun staffs, they looked devoutly at their prey. “ Lord Megabyte will be happy to see all of you.” the commander said and waved his staff, commanding his troops to attack.
“ Bob, get Dot outta here,” Matrix commanded, gun in hand, “ We can take them on our own.”
Nodding, Bob led Dot down the passage they had come from, leaving the others to fight for themselves.
“ You ready guys!” Mouse hollered as she charged at two of the virals, knocking them aside and continuing to attack the rest.
“ Let’s do it.” Matrix growled at the commander , who flinched slightly at his opponent. His glass eye began to glow red. “ Gun, energy blast, multiple targeting.” Obeying his command, gun shot out red targets marked with the renegade’s insignia, M.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, a piercing scream rang throughout the whole room. Mouse had been fighting one of the virals when she was caught off guard. The viral had brought out a dagger and fiercely stabbed her in the arm.
“ Mouse!” AndrAIa yelled over the battle cries, as she rushed through the crowd, knocking the virals out of her way with her Trident. As she approached the hacker, she threw the viral that had injured her. Kneeling down, the game sprite examined her friend’s injury. She needs a medic.
“ Is she alright?” Ray asked hastily while kicking a viral in the head that was holding on to his surf board.
“ She needs a medic.”
“ No I don’t, sugah. I’ll be fine.” The hacker stood up slowly, but she felt dizzy and light-headed, so she quickly lost her footing and fell back to the ground.
Ray carefully picked his love up in his arms and cradled her lovingly. He took her into the passage and set her down there, safe and out of harms way.
“ AndrAIa!” Matrix yelled from across the room.
AndrAIa was still standing where Mouse had been struck.” Yeah?!” She called back to him.
“ Get down!!!” he ordered as he pulled gun’s trigger.
Quickly, the game sprite did as she was told, just in time to see flashes of red fly past her head, deleting every viral around her. After she was sure it was safe, she stood up again and surveyed the room. The desk had been broken into two pieces, probably by a viral, and there were blast marks all over the walls. “ Well Sparky, looks like we’re safe.”
“ Oh, really,” a voice boomed from behind her.
Realizing who it was almost immediately, she tried to escape, but a strong arm grabbed hers and lifted her up into the air. “ Well, what do we have here?” Megabyte snarled as he turned the sprite around to face him.
Anger filled Matrix as he watched his mortal enemy lift his love into the air. “ Megabyte! Get your hands off her!” he yelled warningly, aiming gun at the virus’s head.
“ Ah, still trying to be a man, boy?” the virus’s cold, dead eyes narrowed at the gun. “ Now, what are you going to do with that?” he taunted, an evil smirk growing on his face. “ You’re not going to shoot me are you? Not while I have your little girlfriend here.” he grabbed AndrAIa’s throat with is other hand, lifting her even higher into the air. “ I wonder,” he ranted,” would you shoot me now?”
The renegade’s hand was shaking, along with his gun. He knew he couldn’t shoot Megabyte while he held his love captive. He might use her as a shield, and Matrix couldn’t risk that.
“ C’mon boy, shoot me.” he squeezed his hostage’s throat tighter making her cry out in pain. “ Or, are you too afraid?” The virus smirked before quickly running out of the room, and out of sight, leaving a pain and rage ridden renegade standing there staring after the virus and his love helplessly.
By the time Ray had securely hidden Mouse and had gone back into Phong’s office, the room was empty, except for one solitary figure. Matrix was leaning with his hands flat against a wall and his forehead resting on it.
The surfer scanned the room again. Where’s AndrAIa? He didn’t see her anywhere. He asked the renegade, but received no answer, not even his usual grunts or growls. Finally, the warrior looked up at the surfer, sadness and pain in his eyes and told his friend what had happened. Ray stared at him in disbelief. “ What would Megabyte want with AndrAIa?”
“ I don’t know, but when I get my hands on him, I’m gonna rip him a new ASCII!” Matrix punched the wall with such force that the whole room seem to shudder.

* * * * * * * * * * * *