Data Wonderland: The Everyworld Project

[Deleted]

Greg shook his head, "Keep monitoring him, inform me if any other anomalies are detected. IM, there's something in the house with you, be care-"

"FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, GET THIS THING AWAY FROM ME!!!"

"-ful."

"Well that can't be good," Frank grumbled.

"No..." Greg said coldly, "It can't."

Greg turned to Kate, "Ma'am, apparently the avatar of your operative there has secured a rogue avatar, I'd appreciate it if you interrogated him, as I might say things that both my subordinates and those two boys, though unconscious, should never hear."

--------

The Nurse program let out a sigh, "He has stabilized for now, but he will need rest to fully recover-" Her next words were clipped and almost automatic in nature, "We are sorry for this inconvenience, we here at Data Wonderland take great pride in our safety regulations, and the error that caused this injury will be investigated and eradicated."

Rotor looked over his shoulder at the program as the last of the spheres fell to the ground, "Yeah, by us."

You'll have to excuse it, Greg

Unbeknowst to the rest of them, a particular sphere had managed to sneak its way under the cart, it floated covertly beneath their notice until it made contact with the knee of the nurse program. In the blink of an eye, a jetblack ooze of corrupted data surrounded the sphere and absorbed it into itself.

...The Nurse continued to smile.

-------

"HOLY BALLS OF HELLFIRE!" IM shouted as he dodged another bag of 'candy', the explosion rocking the corrupted attraction to its core.

The disgusting abomination that stood before him giggling maliciously as yet another explosive bag was lobbed at his head, almost making contact as it did with his shoulder on the first volley.

"Ok, clown boy, ya want a laugh, here's a laugh!" IM growled as he pointed his cane and launched a salvo of shots at his foe.

[Jake]

Kate nodded "Baretta, send Rotor to assist Saber, this avatar may still have a trick up his sleeve when Saber gets off to pick him up." <Understood Kate.>

Baretta looked over at Rotor "Rotor, go help Saber with the rogue avatar, he's over in the game section of the park. I'll stay here and watch over Jake and David." Jake placed a hand on David's shoulder "Just take it easy now David, you're going to be fine. We'll both be out of here once the system is fixed."

<Saber, Rotor is on his way to assist you, don't let that avatar escape.> Saber put more pressure on Gat's head with his gun "Hear that? You just got a one way ticket to the net police containment unit." Gat grumbled irritably "Ya can take that unit and shove it Saber..." "A bit uncalled for there Gat."

The virus danced around the lightning bolts like a demented ballerina, throwing bag after bag of its 'candy' whenever it had a clear shot. All the while it did this, eerie growling giggles came from it.

"Sir, Illusion Man is having trouble fending the virus off, he can't get to the override switch!" Kate was soon punching keys on her handheld terminal like her life depended on it "You have an entertainment avatar, right?" She pointed her terminal at Greg's and hit 'send', Gregs terminal screen would show a new message with a file attachment titled 'trickster.exe' "This might help out with your virus problems."

((When I get a chance to safely get back online, we can talk about the abilities that this program will have. For now, I have to play it safe and make sure my computer doesn't get fried by this upcoming hurricane.))

[Deleted]

David's breathing grew stronger and color started returning to his skin as the nurse program worked to restore his bllood supply. He blinked a few times and flexed his fingers as he tried to determine whether getting up was a good idea.

He slowly turned to the nurse program and fixed it with a penetrating, almost unnerving stare. As if he wasn't just looking at her but looking into her. There's something wrong with her data. What is it?

* * *

Ada turned to leave, then glanced back to the mansion. Another moment of consideration and she fired a quick message off to IM. {IM, I'm going to go check on David now. Something tells me he's in trouble. Do you need any further assistance before I go?}

* * *

The technician continued monitoring David's nervous system and saw the anomaly light up again. It wasn't nearly as bright as before, but it was enough to give him a good picture of it. What the heck is that thing? It doesn't look like a tumor of some sort. Looks more like a strange sort of organ. "Sir, I think you should take a look at this."

[Deleted]

"I'll look into it once the imminent crisis is averted," Greg dismissed his subordinate before turning his attention to Kate and her program, "I've heard rumors of this thing...it supposedly increases combat efficiency and adds a creative bent to problem solving at the expense of logic processes...not something I'd really want IM to experience, but at this rate I don't believe I have a choice..."

Greg turned back to his terminal, "IM, I believe I have something that may assist you in your fight, booting it now!"

With a tap of a button, the program uploaded.

--------

"Roger that, ma'am," Rotor said simply before heading off to where Saber had Gat pinned down.

"Afternoon, Saber, you got a little scum under your boot."

He booted up on of his drillbombs and aimed at the rogue avatar, "Perhaps he'd better start talking before I break out the old dust buster."

----------

The Nurse smiled beatifically at David, "Excellent, you have made a modest recovery."

--------

IM yelped as the creature continued his bombardment, barely dodging out of the way.

He heard Ada's message and his eyes widened, "No! Wait, please come ba-"

PROGRAM UPLOADED

IM convulsed wildly as the program took effect, causing the virus to stop its assault with a grin on its face, erroneously thinking its attacks had destroyed its prey.

However, this thought wouldn't last long, as IM suddenly sprang to life, twirling around faster than the virus' eyes could follow until he was a swirling purple whirlwind, which bounced around the entirety of the room until coming to a screeching halt (complete with cartoon sound effect) directly in front of the virus.

When the dust cleared there stood a tall man in a white suit and hat tilted slightly to the side. A grin the Cheshire cat would be proud of was plastered on his face as he replied to Ada's message with a voice akin to your average huckster from the 1900's.

"On second thought, no, my dear femme fatale, I don't believe I do, for what sort of program would I be if I kept another of my kind from her dear user? Indeed, I would be a braggart, a bastard, a fiend, a scoundrel, a rogue of the non-charming variety, a fool, an incompetent, a-"

SMACK!

The virus was surprised to see its adversary had smacked himself in the face.

The face in question turned a petulant eye towards his assailant (aka, himself), "Now just what was that for, me?"

The hand flexed its thumb back and forth against its other fingers in a facsimile of speech.

IM's response was a nod as though he had just received sage advice, "Oh, you're quite right, me! If I had continued talking to her as I had, I would've ,kept her even longer than she already had! You sir, are a wise man, and I appreciate your counsel!"

The hand would've blushed if it had the ability, but since it couldn't it gave a modest thumbs up and pointed at the virus, turning IM's attention to the creature.

"Oh HO, I almost forgot about our VIP Park Guest! I am sorry, sir, that i was unable to give you the proper attention a guest of your stature deserves! So..."

IM brandished his cane and called out in a voice that rivaled any flesh and blood carnival showman.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Step right up! Step right up and FACE YOUR ERADICATION!"

[Jake]

Kate blinked when she saw the odd transformation "Alright, that's not supposed to happen, he looks like he's gone nuts." Thomas piped in again "I think I can explain that ma'am. Illusion Man's data is slightly bugged, so the program may not be operating properly because of that. If given time, I could probably reconfigure the program code so it can merge with him better, and minimize the effects, but we would have to wait until it's not in use."

Saber looked over at Rotor, grinning "Knee actually, but yeah." He pressed his gun against Gat's head again "Start talking Gat, unless you want a drill in your back to be the last thing you feel before you get deleted." Gat laughed and struggled a bit, trying to get free "Yeah, like I'm gonna tell a goody-goody like you anythin? Fat chance Saber." Saber glanced at Rotor "Rotor, a little encouraging if you would?"

Baretta sighed in relief that David was stabilized "Thank goodness. Hey Kate, has the system been fixed yet?" <Not yet Baretta, keep those kids safe.> "Roger that Kate. Okay Jake, keep on your toes, the system hasn't been reset yet."

[Deleted]

David continued to stare at the nurse program. The look in his eye was turning unnerving. "Why is your data warped? It is crumpled, twisted, bent almost to breaking. Why?"

* * *

Ada blinked a few times as a sweatdrop icon momentarily appeared on her head. Okay... {... Alright, I'll go make sure David's alright, then return here in case you need backup. I'll let you know if the plan changes. Good luck.}

With the message sent, Ada rushed to David's location, praying that he wasn't in trouble and that their cover was still intact.

* * *

The technician's brow furrowed, then he returned to monitoring Jake and David. So far the younger of the two seemed stable, but still... He kept a close eye on the scan of the boy's nervous system.

[Jake]

((Forgot about the virus))

The virus blinked a couple times before puking up two candy bags at a time and hurling them at the newly maniacal Illusion Man.

[Deleted]

The Nurse continued to smile, her lifeless eyes not so much as regarding the boy, "We here at Data Wonderland take the coding of our programs very seriously, slanderous remarks will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law~"

------

Greg rubbed his temples, "Great...he's gone even more daffy."

He nodded at Thomas, "Yes, Thomas, I believe that would be best."

-------

Rotor grinned at Saber, "Say no more, pal."

In one vicious motion the police program straightened on of Gat's arms and stabbed his drill right through the palm of his hand.

"Feeling more talkative now, boyo?"

--------

IM twirled between the bags of candy and gave the virus a sharp rap on the head with his cane, "Now now, my dear boy, you may be the candy man, but I'm Willy Wonka in this equation, my young friend!"

IM proceeded to produce a trio of black balls from his coat-"Nothing up my sleeves, mind you, don't got any!"- and began juggling them as the now incensed virus began coughing up and throwing candy bags which IM nimbly dodged.

"Oh my dear friend, you are witnessing a lost art here, juggling has been out of style for decades, like mimes and the ukelele! Y'know what else is out of style -and it's a crime it is, too- vaudeville! Oh, my dear piece of corrupted programming, you never saw the grandeur and glory of it all, the throwing of pies, the riding of unicycles, the can-can girls -ESPECIALLY the Can-Can girls!-, but one thing you're not missing is the Short Man and the Tall Man!"

The virus growled irritably.

"Yes, you're not missing it because we're acting it out right now! The coupling is of polarizing figures, one tall, thin, debonair, handsome, intelligent, charismatic-"

The virus growled and threw again, completely missing the mark.

"ANYWAY!" IM pressed on, "His opposite number is his complete inverse, short, fat, ugly, stupid, about as social as a brick, here, hold this for me, will you? I'm getting tired of juggling, I'll shut up if you do."

IM held out one of the balls for the creature, the virus, eager for such a thing to happen, eagerly latched on as IM back away to continue juggling. A little too late the virus noticed that his ball had a fuse.

KA-BOOM!

IM giggled as the virus went flying across the room, "Oh joy, this is such fun~"

[Jake]

Baretta approached the nurse, not liking her answer "Well I am the law, and I want to know what's going on. One of the first things that a programming company should have pegged down in a VR beta test, which this no doubt is, would be medical programs. I don't know if what this kid is saying is true, because honestly, he shouldn't be able to see anything. But that little pixelation that happened earlier has me thinking that there's more to this than meets the eye." Holding the nurse by her apron, she pointed the barrel of her gun right between the program's eyes "Now, I'll ask you one time, and don't give me a run-around or you might not like what will happen if you do...Why is your code bugged."

Jake looked back at Baretta nervously "Uh Baretta, don't you think that's a bit much?" "She's a program, not an actual avatar. She can be uploaded multiple times, and the loss of one can be replaced by two with a single push of a button. She won't be missed if she's deleted."

Gat roared out painfully "You fucker!" "Trust me, he has no problem doing this. I'd honestly prefer a simple interrogation, but you're making things worse for yourself if you don't cooperate." Saber pushed Gat's head to the pavement, practically caving it in "Now talk! Who sent you?!" Gat growled angrily "Okay! Okay! I'll talk already, jeeze! But I doubt what I tell ya will be very helpful, heheh." "I think we'll be the judge of that, now spill it." "S1G_FR3uDM@N..." Saber was puzzled "Okay, that must be an alias, what's their real name?" "HAH! Good luck findin that out bub, even I don't know what his real name is...But I'll tell ya this, I aint the one you should be worryin about, heheheh..."

Saber's eyes widened "Rotor, make sure he doesn't get away. Delete him if you have to, we have our answers from him." Once the 'passing of the baton' was finished, and Rotor had Gat under his custody, Saber began sprinting in the direction Jake had headed off in <Mr Matthews! The rogue avatar was just a decoy, there's another one still in the game! It must be an infiltration class, because I can't even detect them. Where are Jake and David now?>

[Deleted]

David didn't say anything in reply. Instead, he reached forward, into the nurse program's torso, his hand seeming to just phase into her. He brought his hand out flat with his palm facing him. Resting against the palm of his hand was a tangled web of binary code strings. Each string had sections of color, from the normal blue to a cautionary yellow to a blood-red color showing it was close to breaking. David pulled the strings forward gently, stopping once he felt that he couldn't pull further without breaking one of the strings. Where he had pulled the data, a sort of 'window' had opened up into the 'nurse's' data, showing yet more tangled, multicolored binary strands.

David simply looked up at the 'nurse', one eyebrow raised. What he wasn't aware of was that he held in his hand more data than most programs had in their entire programming.

* * *

Ada jumped until she was within sight range of David, then stopped upon seeing him pull out the binary strands. Her face paled. David, what are you doing?! This could blow our cover sky-high!

* * *

The technician went on full alert as the thing at the base of the boy's skull lit up again. "Mr. Matthews! The activity in that thing on the boy's spine just spiked again! It's not going back down, sir!"

[Deleted]

The program's smile remained plastered on its face...in fact, it began to grow, the face distending as the teeth grew sharp and blackened, pupils dilating into dark soulless pools as the body elongated into an almost serpentine form, darkness overtaking the whole of the body and turning it into an amorphous mush which slid away from David's arm, leaving him holding a blob of corrupted data.

The face had become a grotesque, bone-white mask, which twisted itself at almost Lovecraftian angles as it turn its almost face-splitting smile at Beretta.

And then it spoke, in a voice that was part animal growl, part demonic roar, part fey seduction, and part annoying younger brother.

"y...U...sO...BiTCh?"

Without waiting a reply, the thing the program had become swooped away in a lightning quick pace away from the two, cackling as it did so.

--------

Greg's eyes went wide as both the monstrosity revealed itself and David's strange malady came back in force.

With more force he had a right to have, he grabbed Thomas and shouted, "Get him out of the program! Use the hole in the firewall, we can't wait for IM to clear it out!"

"Y-yes sir!" Thomas said, and began working feverishly to safely pull David out.

-------

IM dodged yet another attack from the virus, giving a theatrical yawn as he did so.

"My dear Fat-Man, you're beginning to bore me," IM said disinterestedly whilst whacking at the creature artfully with his cane, "If you keep this up, I'll have to resume my lec-"

BOOM!

IM was sent spiraling back to fall on the ground, his cane broken and his face charred like a saturday morning cartoon character.

"Oh...I can see you're going to be more troublesome than I thought..."

The virus sniggered.

------

"S1G_FR3uDM@N?" Rotor growled, "Oh you are just digging yourself in deeper and deeper."

Boss, we just had ourselves a bit of a red letter day, seems this avatar has a connection to FR3uDM@N. Rotor reported back to Frank.

------

"FR3uDM@N!?" Frank's eyes went wide, he turned to Kate, "We got bigger problems than we thought, the infiltrator progra might belong to the most prolific cyber criminals of our time."

[Jake]

Baretta aimed her gun at the blob and fired several shots at it until it vanished around the doorway. Jake, meanwhile, just blinked a few times "...Uh...what just happened?" "We just found ourselves a new criminal in this program, that's what happened.

<Kate, are you getting this? We just encountered an odd looking avatar. It seemed like a mass of smoke in appearance, like its code was all over the place, I couldn't get a solid hit on it and it got away.> "Oh for the love of...<...Alright Saber, that infiltrator avatar just revealed himself, and we believe he may be tied to an infamous hacker that we've been trying to capture for a few years now. I'm having Baretta send you a picture of the avatar, you're looking for an amorphous blob with a white mask. If you find him, do NOT let him escape, do you understand?>

Saber was still sprinting as fast as he could, following the destroyed sections of the park to try and locate Jake and the others "Understood Lieutenant. I'll need my default armor active though, I'm too slow in my artillery mode." <Disengaging now, be ready for anything Saber.> The artillery armor dissolved off of Saber and was replaced by his default, sword in his right hand and pistol in the other. His main priority was to be absolutely sure that Jake was safe, but if he saw that blob, he wasn't going to let him get away no matter what.

[Deleted]

David looked down to the blob in his hand for a moment before clenching it into a fist, causing the blob to disintegrate into a small cloud of data. He looked up as he felt a light tugging coming from the firewall hole above. "Sorry, I'm a bit busy here." A large amount of fast-hardening concrete materialized in the hole, sealing it tight in seconds. David then bent over, placing his hands on his knees to hold himself up. He was breathing fairly heavily.

Ada jumped down from the building and ran to David. "Are you alright?" "Fine, just tired." Ada glanced up to the concrete for a moment. "You realize that was our main escape route, right?" "It was also that thing's main escape route. Now it's trapped in here." David stood up to try to follow it, but was stopped by Ada. "I'll go. You're in no condition to go chasing rogue avatars." David looked for a moment like he was going to argue, but then shook his head and sat down. "Do it. Overdrive is a go." Ada nodded, then dashed after the infiltrator.

* * *

The technician watched as the thing in David's head dimmed for a moment, lit up for another couple of seconds, then dimmed back down. "Sir, the activity in the boy's abnormality has dropped down again. Looks like something's blocking the firewall hole as well. I'll see what I can do." He pulled up a data image of the blockage only to have his shoulders slump as he stared at it in disbelief. "What the hell is that? It looks... it looks like some sort of multilayered net made out of braided strands of binary. How the heck can binary strings be braided? That's impossible!"

[Deleted]

The creature oozed and winded through the corridors and by-ways of the park before taking off from the ground, seemingly flying through its undulations.

-------

"If it's not one thing, it's another!" Greg growled frustratedly before jabbing his finger into the terminal again to contact IM, "Illusion Man! Get it together and destroy that virus, we need to lift the firewall and get the security programs back online to destroy that blasted virus!"

------

IM blinked at Greg's words and a subtle shift came over him, "No problem, Il Capitano, this won't take long."

IM smirked at the slavering virus, his face a mask of malevolent amusement.

"Remember what I said about there being nothing up my sleeves?"

From said sleeves he produced two sets of five cards.

"I was lying!"

He dashed at the creature, dodging the bags of 'Candy', dancing around the creature with expert ease hands flicking back and forth, flinging the cards about and seemingly missing the mark each time until he was out of cards.

IM leaped back and glared at the creature who merely snickered, confident that this latest trick had not worked in the slightest.

"Laugh while you can, my dear Short-Man," IM smirked, "For I think you'll find that any good vaudeville show..."

He snapped his fingers and the cards exploded, vaporizing the virus in seconds.

IM smirked and strode past the ashes with a casual stride, "Goes out with a bang."

With the cliched quip out of the way, IM pulled the lever...

-----

The effect on the park was instantaneous, the firewall disintegrated into nothingness, the security programs suddenly reappeared, hiking here and there, barking orders to each other.

...Nobody noticed an innocuous bit of black sludge take refuge in a simple cafe, or the generic security unit that trundled out a few seconds afterward.

[Jake]

"Sir! The firewall's down, we can pull them out now!" Kate was the first to react "Then get your ass in gear and get those two out of there!" Thomas flinched, sweating a little bit as he began punching the keys for the disconnect code "Y-yes ma'am, right away."

<Derrix, the firewall's been shattered, we're pulling you two out of there before something else goes wrong and you're stuck in there for good.> Jake sighed in relief, patting David's good shoulder softly "Hear that? We're gonna be out of here and you won't be in pain anymore."

Saber finally made it to the building that Jake, David, and Baretta were all in, relaxing now that he saw they were fine "Good to know you two are alright." Baretta shifted her weight and placed her free hand on her hip, grinning slyly "They're with me, of course they're alright...Any luck finding that avatar?" Saber shook his head "My guess is that he's long gone, now that the firewall's down there's nothing keeping anything trapped here."

Baretta huffed and shook his head "Lost them again...Alright you two, let's get you out of here before something else happens."

Gat was getting irritable, that bastard S1G_FR3uDM@N left him high and dry *Friggin hell, stabbed in the back by a damn human. If I get out of here, I'm going to find him and rig everything he owns to blow up while he's asleep!* He started struggling against Rotor even more, trying to force himself up "Get offa me ya lardass!"

[Deleted]

David went wide-eyed. "No! Put the firewall back up, pronto! We don't want that thing escaping!" A second later he realized what he'd just done. "Sorry, but unless that firewall is pulled back up that infiltration unit's going to escape soon, likely in minutes. Please, put it back up!"

* * *

Above, the dissolution of the firewall caused the chunk of cement that previously sealed the hole in it to plummet downwards.

* * *

David stopped and looked up. His eyes widened before he glanced down. A second later a shockwave shot out from between David and Jake, knocking everyone back about ten feet. A second after that, the slab of cement crashed down right where Jake and David had previously been. It left a sizable dent in the floor of the program, but looked to be entirely intact.

* * *

Ada dashed down the route where she had seen the blob go after it had revealed itself. She raced down the road, but ended up slamming into a security unit that had just exited a cafe. Both were sent tumbling. Ada slowly got up, looked around, and uttered a quiet curse. "Now where'd it go?" She turned to the security unit. "Did you see some sort of tarlike thing come by here a minute ago?"

* * *

"Looks like whatever was blocking the firewall hole just fell where the beta testers were a moment ago sir. Also, that thing's activity spiked a moment before they and the avatars near them were pushed away." The technician paused as a message popped up on his screen. "The hell?... Sir, we have an admin-level request for the firewall to be pulled up again, without the hole and with the beta testers still inside. Looks like it came from the R and D division."

[Deleted]

The Security Program looked winded, he panted and raised a shaky arm to his left, "He...went...that...way..."

---------

"Aw shaddup!" Rotor growled and smashed the back of Gat's head with his fist, hoping to incapacitate or at least shut up the rogue avi for a bit.

---------

IM sauntered out of the Haunted House with a cocky stride, now that his admin abilities were back, he figured he had a reason to strut.

"Hoo yeah, baby! Who's bad? I'm bad! Who's bad? I'm-"

THWACK!

A piece of concrete fell from the sky, nearly flattening him on the ground.

"Nngh...hubris..." IM groaned.

-------

Greg glared at the technician venomously, "Tell those amoral bastards that they can have their firewall when they pry it from my cold dead hands. Now I'll say this slowly so you can understand: Get. Them. Out."

[Jake]

Gat's head bounced off of the concrete and his body grew buggy for a second "GAH! That hurt ya asshole! Take that drill of yours and shove it!"

Thomas' keyboard was going ballistic while Greg was growing irate at the other scientist "I've almost finished entering the retrieval code sir, just a few more keystrokes and......Done! Pulling Jake and David out now!"

Jake and David both pixelated before vanishing from Saber and Baretta's view, which made them both sigh in relief "Thank goodness, they're finally out and safe. Any word on that other avatar Kate?" <Nothing yet, none of the computer's security programs have found it. Go and help Rotor with the avatar, we may get some more answers from him.> "Understood, on our way now." The two exited the building and sprinted back to the game section of the park, where Gat was still cursing at Rotor "Need some assistance there big guy?"

[Deleted]

The technician held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Hey, hey, don't shoot the messenger! I'm just telling you their request, I'm not saying you should follow it!"

David's eyes shot open in the real world before he pulled the chair's helmet part off his head and quckly stood up. He then wobbled for a second before catching himself on the chair's armrest and taking several deep breaths. Once he no longer felt light-headed he looked up to Greg. "The firewall. Get it back up, quickly! We can't risk that thing escaping!"

Ada nodded to the security guard before running to continue chasing the shapeshifter.

[Deleted]

Rotor nodded at Saber, "Dunno yet, need to get confirmation from the boss lady whether or not we have clearance to put this little punk out of our misery."

------

Greg frowned at David's knowledge on the subject before turning back to his tech team, "Thomas, Margaret, somebody get that firewall back up!"

"Yes sir!" Thomas and the others choroused, before the screens on their terminals suddenly went blank, replaced by a single icon...



"What in the-" Thomas' curse was broke off by the large text superimposed on all the screens.

s0RRY bUddy, Bu7 I d0N'7 d0 3NC0r3Z

"Oh what now?" Greg grumbled.

"Looks like S1G had one last trump to play," Frank crossed his arms, "Cheeky bastard."

"Sir," Thomas shouted, "We're reading a complete shut down of our security units, it's blocking firewall access!"

"Blast it all!" Greg was nearly about to tear his hair out, "Somebody DO something!"

-------

The effect in Data Wonderland was almost immediate, it was as though the sun had stopped shining, complete darkness falling over the world. The darkness lasted a full minute before the lights returned. If Ada were to turn around, she'd find the security program gone from sight.

-------

Back in the lab, the image flickered and sputtered out after giving another message.

w3 N0W r37URn J00 70 J00r r3gul4RLy 5CH3dUl3d pR0gr4M

The terminals returned to normal, the techs pouncing on them to isolate any problems.

"Sir?" Thomas said slowly.

"Yes?" Greg cocked his head at his underling sharply, "What is it now?"

"We're...we're detecting no sign of malicious software in our program...I...I think it's left."

Greg fell back in his seat, massaging his temples, "Damn it...just...damn it..."

------

Illusion Man wriggled out from under the piece of concrete that had him pinned, stars circling about his head comically as stumbled about, rambling incoherently from the head trauma.

"Life is a cabaret, my friends! Life is a caaabaaareeeeeet~!"

It was at that moment he happened upon Rotor, Baretta and Saber with the pinned down Gat. He flashed them a smile (which prompted about three of his upper teeth to fall out and shatter on the ground).

"Hiya, Saber, 'ole pal, I see ya got the big vial of yuck that landed on our doorstep! Ha HA! ...Is what I say to you, Mr. Helmet Man! ...Who's the girl? ...And the stiff?"