Time: Late May 2499
Disclaimer: Let's see. ReBoot is owned by Mainframe, Project Metaverse by CyberCat or Webbie or whoever. I’m just a blonde writer attempting not to insult anyone. ^.^; All characters except one are my own, and I will give credit when doing so will not require my flaying. The unnamed sprites and Red can go fend for themselves. ^.~ Inspiration is mine as well. Alrighty? To the fic!

The ledge was uncomfortable, I remember. It was only two feet wide, with a slight slope. It was dark as well, and I had almost stumbled off once already. Below, about three stories down, the rectangular room was full to the brim with humans. It was lucky it was dark in the room, especially high up where I was, or they might have seen me. As it was, the only source of light in the room was the large white polygon in the center, giving off a few candles of light to illuminate a twenty meter square room. It was a strange sight.

The humans in the room all wore the same white robes, and a few had badges. There was a feeling in the room, a sense of anticipation, although to me it tasted sour, violent. Once again, possibly the tenth time since I got the hurried message, I wondered why the hell I even bothered with my friend. But as I just started to explore in depth the subject, the room hushed. A door opened on the wall to the left of me. The humans quickly made a path to the raised platform holding the polygon.

The leader of this procession wore crimson vestments and was shown much respect as he made his way up the steps to the dais. His immediate follower, in white with a red sash, held a metallic box with a square button imbedded on top. Then came a row of guards, noticeable by their strength and the weapons in their belts. Finally, of course, accompanied by catcalling and screaming, came the guest of honor, struggling wildly, but held in check by the flunkies.

He stood about five-five, perhaps twenty-six in age, with goldenrod skin and silver hair in spikes. Grey leather jacket, earrings, studded and chain necklaces. A technical collar, obviously not part of his outfit, was strapped around his neck, and he was gagged. At the platform, the guards pushed him down into a kneeling position. He looked ready to spit in the leader's face, but occasionally searched the top of the room, looking for me. Funny how he could have the presence of mind to look for me but not even see an ambush staring him in the face.

All right, he's a Chaos virus. It's his nature to be so. I'll forgive him later.

Red took a book from one of the guards, stood in front of the prisoner, and began to speak.

"Brethren!" he waved his arm about, "welcome to our meeting. Here, we hold in our grasp an enemy to our faith!" Cheers. "We come to worship our Lord, above all false gods, and to destroy this abomination!"

The crowd roared. I winced. Typical anti-non gibberish. He continued.

"I show you this demon - " he pulled him up by the collar, turning him around violently - "who snuck into our system, who tried in one swoop to destroy all we have worked for here, who threatened all of us with his very presence, and for this, we shall send him back to the Devil where he belongs!!"

I slipped my hand down to my pouch, removing three marbles and a flash.

Red jabbered on a while more, then took the box in his own hands and motioned to the guards. An unseen door in the polygon lifted up, and my friend was shoved into it. Red pressed the circle to level, closing the breakdown chamber. The groups' cries were tainted with blood lust.

He was about to say something, itching to start the cycle, when I threw. He got a blast straight in the chest, knocking him down, the box flying out of his hand. One of the guards with military training pinpointed the trajectory of the marble and fired. Luckily I had moved right before then, lying flat on the ceiling, waiting for an opening to get Liturgy out of there.

That was about when things started to go wrong.

One of the lesser attendants picked up the box and hit the button. The polygon began to glow, and I heard Liturgy's high scream. Baiet.

I jumped away from the ceiling and did the first thing I thought of: try to break open the chamber myself and get him out. I flew down, scaring the room back - usually the first reaction to a virus is to run - and landed on the polygon, claws digging into the metal. Unfortunately, the breakdown algorithms leaked through the walls a few inches, so I tugged my slightly burnt hand back and looked around. By that time, the guards had gotten their wits together and began shooting at me. I raised a shield, trying to conserve what energy I could (I'm not energy proficient, you remember that), and launched myself at the dimwit holding the controls. I smacked into him, snatched the box out of his hand, deactivated and opened the breakdown chamber and flew in.

Liturgy had slumped to the floor, moaning, with parts of his skin looking raw and burned as well. I picked him up as well as I could and got the hell out of that damned device, up back to where I had exited before and through the opening to a small out-of-the-way storeroom.

There, I stood him up and hastily checked him over. He was in a daze, understandably. I slid my claws underneath the collar they had strapped onto him and broke it, returning the use of his own powers. I think he muttered a thank you to that, but it could have been anything. He's...like that. My mother and Jesse were waiting at Inspiration for him anyway, so I threw out a portal command, watching the marble blossom into a silver sphere, a reflection of the main room in the Nest. I had time, since the idiots were probably too scared to death to look for me.

I lost my arrogance quickly when the door slammed open and someone fired at me. I managed to push Liturgy into it, but I lost balance and fell, again barely missing being struck. Again I opened a shield, jumped up and flew at the other door. I made it without my shield breaking, but the guard followed on my heels.

"Isn't this always what happens when Lit pulls something?" I thought. I struggled to lose the guard by making random turns and twists through the corridors, but he kept on, and worse, screaming his lungs out for reinforcements. I couldn't use my back-up portal command because it was in a pocket at the cuff of my jeans, and I was draining my still-low reserves trying not to get shot. Shooting into a thinner hallway, I fell to my feet and began running, then jumped into a dark room, hoping to have bought enough time to pull the command out.

I hadn't.

When I turned, the guard was standing at the door of the room. He flicked on the light and closed the door, smirking. His gun was pointed straight at me the whole time. He fired a different laser, almost casually. The beam broke right through my shield and hit me in the shoulder, pushing me into the wall. I tried to raise my shield, but my viral energy had all but disappeared, drained from the beam. He switched the setting back to kill and aimed again at me.

With the last of my powers, I pushed the muzzle of the gun to the side just as he fired. I jumped for him before he could right it and tore it out of his grasp with my claws, mangling it. He wrenched a knife out of his belt and slashed, hitting me on the same shoulder, making me cry out. Sidestepping, I twirled around him, one arm around his torso to hold him, one at the side of his neck, and dug my claws through his throat. The guard stiffened a bit, then when I let go fell to his knees and onto the floor. I noticed the blood on my claws out of the corner of my eye as I scrabbled for the bottom of the jean leg and pulled the marble out of the pocket. I heard the tromping of the guards, but I banished them from my mind as I opened the portal, collapsing into Inspiration at my mother's feet.

"Tib'enih! Are you alright-"

"Come on. Help me pick'er up-"

"Do you need help?"

"I've got'er, don't worry-"

"Hey...Why is there blood everywhere?"

I heard sounds and voices, from my mother Aarys, from Jesse, from Liturgy, from our visitor. It was a haze of noise and pain for a few moments, but it was over quickly when I blessedly lost consciousness.

It was my thin little nook in the wall, where I crashed after a long day of research or hacking, that I saw when I looked up. It was comforting to see my room from that viewpoint. I sighed and turned to face the wall, then winced as my shoulder screamed at me. Back on my back I went.

"Not bad, Tib'enih."

My mother apparated in front of me and drew my chair over to sit on. She's a class seventeen, so she must have been watching my mind for me to wake up. She's also a capricious matriarch and the Sphinx to boot. You remember, twenty-so years ago. If I didn't know her better, I'd bet she has a bit of active Chaos code.

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

"Oh...I think a day. I kept you under while Jesse brought someone for that nick on your shoulder."

"Thank you Meme, then." I smiled slightly. "Although my shoulder hurts."

"What do you expect, Tri," she chided, fluffing up my hair, "you should have spoken to me. You shouldn't have attacked alone if you were that weak."

I hissed. "I wasn't that weak."

She sighed and paused a moment, letting my irritation sooth itself.

"Okay, maybe I was."

"You made a few too many fireballs at Codex trying to scare off those scavenging jackals."

"How many is too many?"

"With you, ten in ten minutes is definitely too many."

"Fine. But throwing the 'jackals' into walls didn't seem to scare them." I countered.

"They're fools," she remarked simply.

"Our guest is fine?"

"Pretty well, actually." She pulled her hair back and kissed me on the forehead. "Liturgy wants to speak with you, apologize. Do you think you won't attack him?"

I tried to sit up, but my mother shook her head and kept me down. "No promises." I muttered.

"He does have my blessing, Tri."

"And he's chaos and I am not bonding with him. Couldn't you give me time to recover- oh fine." I sighed at her glare. "I'll see him."

She smiled benevolently then and disapparated. I sighed and sat up, waiting for him.

When he did come in, he looked shy and timid. He edged forward, murmuring "hi."

"Lit, sit down and talk," I asked.

And he sat. And talked. After the first few moments he went into a cascade of misery, trying to explain exactly how he had been stupid enough to be captured, how foolish he had been, how happy he was to see me, and he ended by practically kowtowing at my feet.

"You angry?" he whimpered.

Sigh. "No."

A hopeful smile shined on his face, and he clasped his hands. "You still love me?"

"..." Oosi. "No, Lit, and you know that. You're cae; it's your nature. But don't pull that again. If, by some bizarre reason, you need attention-"

"I'll talk to you! You always react to me, neh?" Liturgy pulled himself up and grinned, then bowed and offered a hand. "Would the great honorable ta'hellih m'shivna honor me by accepting a palanquin to breakfast?" He spread out a sheet in midair and pushed it into a seat.

Jesus Christ, the man does not get hints. At least he only comes once every few weeks.

Oh, hell, I'll humor him. So I took his hand, and he picked me up and sat me down, and acting like I was porcelain brought me into the main room of the nest, with Aarys and Jesse, even David, our guest. And there was lunch.

And there, Essani, is yet another reason why I am NOT bonding with Liturgy. You can have him. Please. Take him before I shove him into a portal to an Omega. All right?

'Til we meet again,

Tri Cyanopia