Day came to System Vector.  Once again, a person waking would see the destruction ravaging the system, but now they would see repair crews going to work, rebuilding roads and buildings, scavenging destroyed viral drones for parts, and herding the defeated virals to containment camps for de-Infection.  Medical tents were thrown up so doctors could remove Mysadt probes from the heads of Anthros.

All of this, however, was not repeated in the northeast half of the system.  The area was barren, a few virals wandering around and drones flitting through the air like mosquitoes, and destruction still reigned.  No less than three command towers rose out of the zone, each winking evil red lights at the restored portion.

Nathan Justice stood on the artillery platform of the Vector Principal Office, arms crossed, looking out over the viral zone.  Out of the original five viruses that had dominated Vector and fractured it, only one remained--Ünres, a Class Twelve.  The battles against the viruses had grown steadily more difficult--culminating with the mechanized armor of Vice that had attacked the Principal Office before being obliterated.  But the mercenary knew that taking on Ünres would be the toughest challenge yet.  Class Twelves were known for being very crafty and patient.  If Ünres had half the resources Marcus claimed he did, then it would be a long fight to take down Ünres.

To make matters worse, they weren't sure which of the three command towers Ünres was based in.  Cowboy had scoured his spy protocols, but the virus had thrown up jammers, making it appear that he was in all three of the towers at once.  Beside him, Col. Kimball and Frederick Marcus discussed strategy.  "Why don't we arm the artillery," Kimball suggested, "and blow that zone apart?"

Marcus shook his head. "Terrible idea.  We're straining our resources as it is rebuilding the zones we've already taken.  If we bombard Ünres' zone, we'll have to waste even more resources to rebuild the new damage."

"A problem that can be solved once we're online with the Government again," Kimball insisted.  "We got Senator Brosky to upload a patch before, we can do it again."  The name of the senator was pronounced BROSS-key, so the first syllable rhymed with 'boss'.

"Right," Marcus scoffed.  "And remember what happened when that patch was uploaded?"

"Quiet," Justice said.  "I'm thinking."  He scratched at his beard as he looked at the viral zone, then turned back.  "Is Cowboy awake yet?"

"Cal?  No, not for another hour," Kimball said.

"Get him up," Justice ordered.  "I need to know something."

"No," Justice said.  "I need to know what Ünres' security protocols are for his towers.  If we invaded one tower, what would happen to the other two?"

Cowboy scrolled through the information in his spy protocols, then said, "A kill field would go up over the other two, making it ten times harder to get into them.  If you managed to get into the second, then the kill field intensifies around the third, literally making it impossible to get inside."

"Where's the power converters for the kill field?" Justice asked.  He was formulating a plan, bomb the power converters, then attack--

"Won't do any good, Mr. Justice," Cowboy said.  "Ünres has put the power converters inside his towers."

Dirk said, "What about invading one of the towers and then hacking the computers there?"

"No good," Marcus said.  "We considered that a while ago, but Ünres can just cut off his intranet from the other towers."

Justice swore.  "Well, terrific.  Without knowing where Ünres is, it's down to pure luck."

"That's never stopped you before, Nat," Sil pointed out.

"I never had to go up against a Class Twelve before," Justice said.  "That's a whole different kind of luck."

There was silence in the Principal Office for a few moments, then Cowboy said, "I can make as much information available to you as possible, but I can't tell you where Ünres is at any given moment.  You can invade, but it comes down to guesswork."

"My arsenal can supply you with more weaponry," Kimball said.

"That might be necessary," Justice said.  He sighed, then rubbed his eyes.  "I'm still tired from the fight against Vice.  Sil, Dirk, let's go get some rest.  Colonel, Marcus, Cowboy, you keep at it.  We'll make our attack tomorrow.  We'll hit the northernmost tower first."

"Right-o," Cowboy said, and immediately started pulling data.

On the ground, Justice watched them go, then crept through the deserted alleys of the zone.  Sil and Dirk were moving along a different path, so the drones wouldn't spot them all in one place.  He hefted the belt of pulse grenades on his waist -- he had three left--and kept his pistol out.  The soldier-for-hire suspected that Ünres' virals were stronger than most.

The north tower of the zone was less than a kilometer away.  Justice continued to jog through the rubble, then paused, seeing something up ahead.  It was a crashed police car.  Justice approached slowly, then peered in through the windows.  It was empty.  He paused, then opened the door and looked inside.

The controls were still in one piece, and so was the engine.  Justice harrumphed.  Apparently, the cops inside had been hauled outside and Infected or killed.  Justice holstered his pistol and seated himself at the controls.  With any luck, he thought, I can use this to get to the tower even faster.  He punched in the startup sequence, and nodded as the engine rumbled to life.  He eased the car into the air and slowly started toward the tower.

There was a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye.  Justice jerked his head that way, but saw nothing.  He turned back to the front.  The movement reappeared out of the corner of his other eye.  He looked that way, but again saw nothing.  There was a faint humming sound in the air.  Justice frowned at it, wondering if there was something wrong with the hovercar.  He consulted the readouts, but everything came back five-by-five.

Suddenly, a glittering form about the size of an apple flashed across his vision.  With a yell of surprise, Justice jerked the controls, causing the hovercar to swerve.  He growled, pulling it back onto a straight course, then turning and looking at the thing that had distracted him.

It looked like a tear of some kind, but in the center of the little energy 'cloud' was a winking yellow star.  Justice pointed at it, telling it, "Stay right there!"

The thing halted in its little bobbing motion.  The star swelled larger, resembling a double tetrahedron.  A faint electronic voice said, "yEs!"  The star shrank back to its original size.

Justice frowned.  "What d'you mean, 'yes?'"

The star swelled again.  "YeS!"

Justice looked back at the front, then slowed the car down before turning back to the star-cloud-tear-thing.  "What are you?  Can you tell me that?"

The star swelled again, but this time becoming a multiple-spiked ball, red in color.  "nO!"

Justice blinked.  "You won't tell me, or can't tell me?"

"No!"

"Do you have a name?" Justice inquired.

"YeS!"

"What is it?"

"nO!"

Something clicked in Justice's head.  "Yes's and No's.  Ones and zeros.  You're a bit," Justice said with realization.

"YeS!" the bit said.

Justice harrumphed, turning back to the road.  "So, what's the matter, Bit?  Don't you have a program to be part of?"

"nO!" the Bit replied.

"What happened to it?"

"No!"

"Stupid me," Justice said.  "You can't answer that can you?  You can only answer in 'yes' or 'no.'"

"YeS!"

Justice pondered this.  "Let me guess--you were part of something inside this police car, but when it was destroyed, you were freed up, right?"

"yEs!"

"So I'm talking to a free bit," Justice said, shaking his head.  "I don't believe it."  Then he turned to the Bit.  "Were you part of one of the cops?"

"YeS!"

"I see," Justice replied.  Then something else occurred to him.  "Say, Bit, do you know which of the towers Ünres is in?"

"yEs!"

Justice turned around sharply.  "You do?  Can you show me?"

"YeS!"

"Is it this one?" Justice aked, pointing ahead.

"nO!"

"Which one?"

"No!"

"Ah, sorry.  Is it the southernmost one?"

"nO!"

"So it's the one in the middle."

"YeS!"

"All right.  Thanks, Bit."  Justice pulled his comm from his belt and thumbed it on.  "Dirk, Sil, you read?  Over."

"Copy, Papa Bear," Dirk said.  There was gunfire audible over the comm-line.  "DT and I ran into a few virals.  No problem.  Just a tank."

More gunfire came over the line.  Justice glanced over at the Bit, which hovered, pulsing, not saying anything.  Then DT-Three's voice came over the line, muffled somewhat.  "Dirk, the tank's gonna shoot you."

"No, he's not--oh, shit!"  There was a loud explosion over the comm, and Dirk screamed.  Justice blinked.

"Dirk?  Dirk!  You copy?  Over."

There was a grunt, then, "I copy.  Over."

"I just got some inside information," Justice said.  "Ünres isn't in the northern tower.  He's in the middle one.  Meet me there."

"Easier said than done, Nat," Dirk said.  More gunfire, then the piercing sound of DT-Three's laser.  "This tank refuses to die on me.  I copy, but it might be a while before I can make it there.  Over."

"I copy, Little Bear," Justice said.  "Stay frosty."

"'Stay frosty,' he says," Dirk muttered over the comm. "I copy.  Over and out."

Justice turned his commandeered police cruiser toward the middle tower, thumbing the comm again.  "Sil, this is Justice.  You there?"

"Right here, Papa Bear," the F'Val pilot said.  "Sentry and I have a few virals to go through.  Nothing as tough as Vice's armor so far, or Seize's damned drones."

"You hear what I told Dirk, Mama Bear?"

"You know it, Nat," Sil replied.  "We're on the far side of the north tower, using the middle one as a reference point, so it'll take us a while to get there."

"I copy," Justice grimaced.  "I'll go on by myself."

"Nat, forgive me, but you're out of your goddamned mind!  This isn't some low-res idiot like Ytter.  You're not gonna be able to just walk in and shoot him in the head.  This is a goddamned Class Twelve.  He eats guys like us for breakfast!"

"He tries that," Justice said humorlessly, "I'll leave a bitter taste in his mouth.  Justice out."

"Nat, wait--" But the mercenary had switched off the comm.

Ünres' deep voice replied, "No.  Let him come.  I have plans for this one.  Don't hesitate to kill his friends, however."

The Khatran bowed hastily, then said, "As you command, Your Hugeship."  It backed out of the room.

Ünres turned to his situation map and chuckled.  If Mr. Justice honestly thought he was getting the drop on him, he had another thing coming.  He would let the mercenary try to fight his way through the maze of corridors in the command tower, and then he would move in once Justice exhausted himself.  Once he was certain that the User was no longer going to kill him, he would set about conquering the rest of Vector.

A hovercar -- a police cruiser -- appeared at the far end of a street leading up toward the tower.  The virals saw it, and then one shouted, "Fire!!"

Multicolored bursts of light streaked past the cruiser, some scarring it, but the crusier's own twin chainguns fired, chewing through the perimeter wall and destroying the sentinel guns.  A sprite's eyes went wide as he saw the cruiser was showing no sign of slowing down.  "Look ou--"

The cruiser plowed through the remainder of the perimeter wall, then through the wall of the tower, tearing through corridor walls before coming to a halt.  Virals hesitantly stuck their heads out into the wrecked hall, looking at the rear hatch of the hovercar as it clanged open.  They stepped out, some raising weapons, but there came a quick series of gunshots.  All of the virals in the hall went down.

Justice stepped out of the smashed cruiser and glanced back as the Bit flitted out to hover behind his shoulder.  "So, Bit, you know where Ünres is?"

"nO!"

Justice looked at the Bit sharply.  "Whaddaya mean, 'no'?"

"No!"

"You said that Ünres was in this tower!"

"YeS!"

"So isn't Ünres in this tower?"

"yEs!"

Then the soldier-for-hire understood.  "But you don't know his specific location."

"No!"

"Well, d'you know the way to his command center?"

The Bit seemed to hesitate before answering, "YeS!"

"You hesitated.  That mean you don't remember the specific place?"

"yEs!"

"Shit," Justice swore.  "Can you give me a general way to go?"

"YeS!"

"Fine then, Bit, lead the way."

The tear-like free bit flitted down a corridor, toward an elevator.  Justice jogged after it.  As he neared the lift, three virals stepped out--two F'Vali and a sprite.  "Halt!  Friend or foe?" they demanded, raising rifles.

Justice scoffed.  Evidently the Infection had affected their intellect somewhat.  He raised his pistol, firing the scarlet cutting beam, killing all three.  "Foe," he spat.  He pressed the 'up' button, glancing at the Bit for confirmation.  The Bit silently swelled to its 'yes' configuration--the large yellow star.  Justice adjusted his belt as he waited, then glanced down the interconnecting corridors.

Two viral sprites stepped out, firing.  Justice flattened himself against the elevator doors as the sprites shouted, "Surrender in the name of Lord Ünres!"

The elevator dinged, admitting Justice, who ducked inside, then leaned out to fire two pulses.  The sprites went down immediately as the doors began to close.  The Bit quickly ducked inside the lift.  Justice looked at it for information.  The Bit hovered near the button for level 17--the top floor.  Justice didn't hesitate to press the indicated button.  Justice glanced up at the ceiling of the elevator, then slipped a fresh clip into his pistol.  The Bit hovered near knee height, as if sensing danger.

The lift rocked and came to a stop around level 4.  Justice ducked low, pistol raised, then whipped to the side to avoid a slicing beam that cut down through the ceiling.  He snapped up his weapon and fired off a quick pulse, shattering the ceiling panels.  He caught a glimpse of a Khatran, who swung his laser toward the mercenary.

Justice rolled away as the cutting beam slashed across the wall, then fired up, blasting the gun out of the Anthro's hands.  The Khatran growled in annoyance, then dropped into the elevator to grapple.  With a ferocious swipe, the Khatran sent the pistol out of Justice's hand and then clawed at his face.  The mercenary grab-blocked the claw, then pivoted in toward the Khatran, driving a fist into his ribs.  The Khatran hissed in pain, then tried to slash open Justice's chest.  Justice continued his movement, ending up with his back to the Khatran, right up against the Anthro.  He ducked, yanking down on the arm he'd grabbed, throwing the Khatran into the nearby wall with a heavy thud.

The Khatran slid to the floor, then lashed out and grabbed Justice around the foot.  Electricity screamed up the mercenary's leg, making him grimace and yell with pain.  Maintaining consciousness, he kicked the Khatran in the face.  The Khatran slumped into unconsciousness.

Justice retrieved his pistol, holstering it, then noticed the belt on the Khatran.  Two pulse grenades glinted at him.  Justice smirked.  "Thanks, buddy," he said.  "You just saved me the trouble!"  He reached down then primed the grenades.  The Khatran began to stir as Justice climbed out of the elevator.  He braced himself on the top, grabbing the cable tightly.  He looked down at the Khatran, who suddenly realized the danger he was in.  Justice scowled at him.  "See you in Hell, buddy."  He drew his pistol and fired it at the cable connecting the lift.

Justice winced as he was shot up the shaft like a missile.  He heard the car crash below him, then squinted against the sudden glare of the explosion.  Pain shot up his arm as the cable snapped; the counterweight had struck bottom.  Justice looked across the shaft.  Lettering on the wall read LEVEL 17 - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.  Justice raised his pistol painfully, then blinked as a glittering form winked up the shaft.  "Bit?"

"yEs!"  Bits, apparently, were very resilient things.

"Well, stay back, Bit, I'm about to cut open this door."  Justice thumbed the secondary control, then manuevered the beam around the frame of the door--cutting it along the sides.  He holstered the pistol, then grasped the cable with both hands, wincing at the fresh pain along his arm.  He swung back and forth, then planted both boots squarely on the doors.  They reverberated a moment, then fell open, falling down the shaft.

Justice swung again, then jumped through the opening, landing and squatting on both legs.  Pain spasmed up his leg, reminding him that the Khatran had zapped him.  He crumpled, falling on the floor, then wincing as he saw that two squads of virals, five strong each, appeared at the ends of the corridors.  They aimed their weapons at him.

Justice managed to roll away into an alcove as they began to fire, grunting at the pain in his leg in the process.  He hit the wall and pulled himself upright, flattening himself against it as more fire came at him.  He reached down with his good arm (one still ached from that cable snap) and pulled free one of his three remaining pulse grenades.  He primed it, then hurled it down the corridor at one of the squads.  There was a satisfying hammer of fire that shot down the corridor.  That unfortunately left the other squad to take care of.  Justice didn't want to waste the rest of his grenades; he wanted to save them for Ünres.

But then the Bit came out of the elevator shaft and zipped down the corridor toward the virals.  They at first mistook it for a tear of some kind and shied back, but then their commander realized it wasn't quite that.  He raised his rifle and started pumping off rounds at the Bit, which ducked and weaved around the squad, spoiling their fire.

Justice felt a smile almost come to his face--almost, but didn't.  He pulled his pistol out and lined up on the squad, then squeezed off a quick salvo that took down the squad.  The Bit spun in midair, almost as if doing a victory dance, then flitted back toward Justice.

"All right, Bit," he said, "now which way?"

The Bit bobbed down the corridor that had been blown up by the grenade.  Justice kept his pistol out as he limped as fast as he was able down the corridor.

"Hope he saved some for us," Dirk grinned.  He raised his arm, activating his shield as two virals rounded a corner, firing.  Energy spanged off the shield, and then the mechanic gunned them down with his sub-machine gun.  He turned back to Sil.  "After you, Sil."

"Why thank you, Dirk," she said graciously.  "I'll be sure to save a few virals for you.  Though I doubt Sentry will do the same."

The Irish wolfhound woofed an affirmative, then howled as he charged down the wrecked corridor.  DT-Three rocketed ahead to scout the way, Dirk and Sil scrambling to keep up.

They all stopped in front of the burned elevator shaft.  Dirk sighed.  "I guess we have to use the stairs."

The Bit hovered a moment, as if examining the door.  Then it went to hover around the keypad.  The energy nimbus around the Bit seemed to flicker with static for a moment, and then the keypad's panels flashed in a sequential pattern, and the doors began to open.

Justice looked at the Bit.  "You did that?"

"YeS!"

"Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"nO!"

"Ah, sorry.  Was it because I didn't ask?"

"yEs!"

Justice silently muttered an oath cursing primitive AIs, but then remembered this one had gotten him this far.  He might as well go with the flow.  He moved through the doors as soon as they had opened enough.  In the darkness of the command center, he spotted a large form seated in a command throne.  Justice snapped up his pistol and fired a quick pulse at its head.

The large form turned to face him, raising a hand.  There was a metallic spang, and the pulse was deflected.  Ünres snarled and stood up.

It's a well-known fact that viruses of a class higher than Seven (sprite mimic) tend to be sprite-like in appearance.  That was most definitely not the case with Ünres.  The Class Twelve was almost reptilian in appearance, with red, faceted, armor-like skin.  Tough polyalloy armor covered his chest.  Ünres was at least seven feet tall if he was an inch, with spikes protruding from his scaly skin all over head--making him somewhat like the villain in a popular science-fiction movie from the late twentieth century.  More spikes protruded along his shoulder blades and arms.  In the place of his right hand was a tridigital robotic prosthesis.  The left hand was scaly and clawed.

Justice suddenly began to rethink his strategy.

"Mr. Nathan Justice, I presume?" Ünres asked.  He narrowed his reptilian eyes at him.  One of the more unsettling things about the virus' appearance was that, although his eyes were slitted like a lizards, instead of being yellow, they were red.  A sharp-toothed mouth snarled at him.  "Yes, I know who you are, Mr. Justice.  I've been watching you ever since you attacked Ytter's zone."  He smiled evilly.  "I must say, congratulations on making it this far.  You're more skilled than I thought."

"It's over, Ünres," Justice said.

"Not quite, Mr. Justice," Ünres said.  "I know that you are injured, that your leg feels like its on fire and that your arm feels like its been yanked out of your socket."

"And how you know that?" the mercenary asked.

Ünres smiled again.  "Because my scanners have detected that the nerves in your leg are inflamed and your shoulder has been dislocated."

Justice didn't change expression as he said, "You have good scanners."

"And you have excellent control, Mr. Justice," Ünres complimented him.  "It's qualities like that which will make you an invaluable asset."

Justice's eyes narrowed.  "And what, exactly, do you mean by that, virus?"

The Class Twelve shrugged his broad shoulders.  "My zone is without a clear viral commander.  I can only do so much, Mr. Justice.  That is why I will make you mine."  He leered with that horrible smile.

Justice swung his pistol up, saying, "You have to put me down first," and then fired.  Ünres raised his metallic fist, and the bolt spanged away.

Ünres charged forward, blinking his red reptilian eyes once.  Justice glanced back to see the doors closing, then moved to dodge away from the advancing virus.  Ünres lashed out with his robotic hand, hitting the mercenary on the thigh.  Fresh pain wailed through his inflamed nerves, and Justice was unable to hold back a scream of pain.

The virus turned into his momentum and brought around his other hand to grab at Justice.  He ducked away, falling backwards, shooting his pistol.  Ünres swung his fist down and deflected the shot and then twitched one of the robotic hand's three fingers.  A pulse of magnetics tore the pistol from Justice's grip, already weak from the dislocation.

Justice rolled to the side, grunting as he went over his dislocated arm, then pulled himself upright as Ünres stomped to the spot Justice had just vacated.  The soldier-for-hire grasped his dislocated arm, set his face, then pushed it up and back, popping the arm back into place.  Coupled with the weakness from the pain, Justice fought to keep from passing out.

"Give it up, Mr. Justice," Ünres said.  "You're weak, in pain, and weaponless.  I am fresh as a daisywheel, and I can keep on going as long as I need!"  He leered.  "Users.  Never had the sense to quit while you were behind."

"That's something viruses have yet to learn about us," Justice snapped.  "We don't give up easily."  He snap-rolled away as Ünres launched himself over a console to come at him.  As he came up (once again grimacing as his injured leg shrieked at him), Justice pulled one of the pulse grenades off his belt, priming it and raising his arm to throw it.

Ünres, however, had turned and leapt again almost as soon as he touched the floor.  His scaly hand smacked the grenade from Justice's hand, sending it flying to the far side of the control center.  Ünres shoved his robotic hand in and pushed Justice to the floor, pinning him down by the neck.

"You obviously need some modifications before I corrupt you," Ünres said, flicking the claws on his scaled hand.  He moved to gouge Justice's eyeballs, then bellowed as something sharp pierced his unarmored leg.

Justice pulled his arms free and judo-chopped Ünres in the ears.  The virus pulled back with a sharp hiss, then looked down at the butterfly knife sticking out of his leg, bluish viral blood pouring out.  He looked up with rage.  Justice smirked.  "I think I got an artery.  What do you think?"

"I think that you're much too strong-willed," Ünres grated.  "A little Mysadt probe in your head will change that."

"Gotta knock me unconscious first," Justice said, pushing himself up to his feet.  He blinked with surprise as Ünres grabbed him by the uniform front.  The virus snarled.

"If you insist," Ünres snapped.  He pivoted, then hurled Justice bodily through a console.  Justice tried to pull himself up again, but crumpled, groaning with pain.  His leg was broken.  Before he could get ready, the virus grabbed him again and threw him across the control center.  The backs of Justice's shoulders hit the virus' throne, spinning him around in the air before he smacked into the hard floor.

Ünres stalked across the room to him, then loomed over the mercenary.  His red eyes seemed to glow evilly for a moment.  "I'd like to make you just one final offer..."

"And my answer is go to Hell," Justice moaned, struggling to stay conscious.  His eyes glimpsed something near one of his hands.  He closed his fist over it as the virus picked him up by the scruff of his neck with his robotic hand.  Justice dangled almost limply before the virus.

"I'm about to administer a mild shock to your brain," Ünres said.  "There will be a slight amount of pain before you are rendered unconscious."  Then he stopped as something flashed by his eyes.  The virus turned his head to see the Bit hovering nearby, its tiny star blinking into the spiky red ball.

The Bit spoke quickly, "No-No-No-No-No-No-No-No-No--"

"What's this?" Ünres said.  "This must be that little blip that was helping you invade my tower.  What is it?"  He glared at it as it circled him angrily.  "Whatever it is, a quick Infection will stop it from distracting me."  He reached his other hand toward it.

--click--

Ünres turned his head back.  His eyes widened with surprise as he saw that Justice had raised one of his arms to point his pistol at his neck.  Justice's eyes, though clouded with pain, were hard as he drawled, "You talk too much."

The cutting scarlet beam stabbed through Ünres' neck.  The virus screamed a bubbled cry as blood welled up into his mouth, dropping Justice to put his hands to his injury.  Justice hit the ground painfully, his already broken leg snapping a fresh injury.  A compound fracture, the mercenary thought.  He didn't have the strength to raise his gun again as the dying Ünres turned toward him with murderous intent.

"To the Web with corrupting you!" Ünres rasped.  "I'm going to end you for that!"

"Not today."

The virus turned around, then realized, in his injured state, he had not seen the doors to the control center open again.  Justice's colleagues stood there.  Dirk held his sub-machine gun up and DT-Three hovered with his laser trained on the virus.  Sentry growled, crouched low, and Sil curled her disc back.  Sil finished, "Not ever."

Dirk's gun rattled its fire at him, denting, then ripping the polyalloy armor and scales, driving the virus back.  DT-Three fired quick bursts at Ünres' face.  Sil ducked low, then hurled her disc in a deadly arc.  It slammed into the virus' head, knocking him over.

The dying virus grunted as Justice pulled himself up on top of him, pulling his knife out of Ünres' leg.  He held it up, then plunged it down, ending Ünres' existence.  He shoved himself away, then collapsed on his elbows, dropping his pistol.

"I got him," he said weakly.

"YeS!" the Bit agreed.

"I need a rest."  With that, Justice fell onto his back, at last surrendering to unconsciousness.

"yEs!" the Bit said.

"He's recovering better than expected," the acting command.com said.  He unconsciously rubbed at the embroidered 'icon' that was attached to his pocket.  Marcus turned to the F'Val pilot.  "In fact, the nanites have already healed the breaks in his leg.  He'll be limping for a few days while the inflammation goes down, but he should be ready to move by tomorrow."

"I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did against Ünres," Col. Kimball observed.  "Most Guardians would have trouble with a Class Twelve as nasty as that one."

"Nat's special," Sil remarked.  She leaned back in her reclining chair, stretching with exertion and then scratching Sentry's head.  "How're recovery operations going, Colonel?"

"Very well, thank you," Kimball replied.  "We've managed to take back all of Ünres' zone, and Cal's already at work decrypting his databases."

"That'll keep him busy for a while," Dirk said.  He unstrapped the shield from his arm, then removed his leather glove to rub at his tattooed right hand.  "Say, Marcus, could you tell the med staff to get me some anti-irritant?  I think I've got blisters forming on my hand here."

"Tell 'em yourself," came Justice's brusque voice.  He limped into the control center and shrugged off the doctors who were following him, babbling about his condition.  "Go frag yourselves," Justice growled.  "I'm fine."

"But your leg is still -- " one of the doctors began.  Justice wheeled about and wallopped the doctor across the face.  The doctor crumpled, his hand going to his bruised eye.  "Oh, Jesus!" the doctor swore.

"Made you forget about my leg, didn't it?" Justice said.  "Beat it."  The rest of the doctors quickly did so.  The mercenary limped over to the rest of his crew and seated himself in a chair.  "What's the frequency?"

"Nothing new," Marcus said.  "We're still waiting for Cal to finish decrypting the database..."

"Wait no more!" the young hacker said.  His Stetson was set far back on his head, exposing sweaty hair and baggy, bloodshot eyes.  He had his woolly coat draped over one arm.  He plopped himself at one of the consoles, then plugged his faux-icon's laptop into the holofeed.  "I was up all day doing hack-work -- "

"All day?" Dirk said.

"Cowboy sleeps during the day, Dirk," Justice said.  "Dummy up."

"Thanks, Mr. Justice," Cowboy said.  "Anyway, I managed to crack the code late this afternoon, and did a quick search of the database for anything out of the ordinary.  There wasn't much, just the usual reports from Ünres' virals and updates on the other zones.  Apparently, Ünres had a significant spy network.  He knew everything that happened in the other viral zones.  That's why he was ready for you guys," he said to the Grizzly's crew.  "He saw what you did to Ytter, Seize, and Vice."

"But you found something else?" Sil said.

"Did I ever!" Cowboy said.  He tapped a button on his laptop and brought up a specific line of code.  "That code contains a broadcast frequency.  It's a frequency that is able to penetrate the Mousetrap/ECM that Avi and I put up around Vector.  Furthermore, it has a specific encryption code.  That means that it goes to a specific person."  He grinned.  "With this, we can find out who Ünres has been talking to outside of Vector."

"Punch it up," Justice ordered.

"Mr. Justice," Marcus said, "you are not in charge here, you don't have the right to -- "

"Just do it."
 

Marcus sighed.  "Do what he says, Cal," he told the hacker.  Cowboy entered the code into the communications system, which was operational thanks to access to Ünres' zone, and awaited the connection's completion.

Computer-generated red swirls appeared in the vidwindow that opened, and a face appeared.  The face was disguised in a red-and-black silk harlequinn mask, and when the man spoke, his voice was synthetically altered to sound higher.  "Yes, Ünres, what is it -- ?  Who the Hell are you?"

"I might ask you the same thing," Justice said, standing up.  He stifled a wince at his sore leg.

The mask twisted as the man smirked.  "I am Chaotis, Hacker Anarch," the man said.  "Where is Ünres?"

"Dead," Dirk said glibly.

"Hah.  Funny.  You almost had me fooled," Chaotis said. "Really, where is he?"

"Really, he's dead," Dirk said.

"How can that be?" Chaotis asked.  "I created him to be a Class Twelve!  It should have taken a tank to destroy him!"

"You thought wrong," Sil said, "because you never entered him into the equation," she pointed at Justice.

"Who's he?"

"Nathan Justice," the mercenary said.  "You wrote Ünres?"

There was a long pause before Chaotis' mask twisted as he smiled underneath it.  "Yes.  Quite a piece of work wasn't he?  I was certain he'd destroy Vector for me.  Ah, well, these things happen, I suppose."

"You don't even care that I deleted your virus?" Justice asked.

Chaotis shrugged.  "He was just a piece of code.  I could write another one like him if I felt like it.  But I don't, so..."

"You're not going to delete Vector," Sil said dangerously.

"Obviously," Chaotis said.  "Not that it matters.  My employer will be disappointed, but I suppose he knew the risks.  I've been paid anyway.  Not my problem."

"Who's your employer?" Dirk asked.

The mask twisted again.  "Oh, you're intelligent people.  I'm sure you can figure it out.  Ta-ta!  Till we meet again!"

The vidwindow shut, and silence descended over the Vector Principal Office.

"So now there's a face and a name," Kimball said.

"No there isn't," Cowboy said.  "All we have is a mask and an alias.  Chaotis could be anybody."

"Not anybody in this system, at least," Kimball offered.  "That narrows it down."

Now Marcus skewered the artillery commander with a glare.  "Jimmy, there are millions of systems in the Metaverse.  We just eliminated one.  That doesn't narrow it down at all."

"First, we're going to stop at the first big system we can find," Justice said, "and have the Grizzly fully refitted.  I don't want her getting trashed like that again."

"And then?" Kimball asked.

"I'm going to go have a talk with Chaotis' employer," Justice said.

"But we don't know who that is," Kimball said.

Justice's frown deepened as he said.  "Oh, I know who he is."  He moved up the ramp, then stopped and whistled.  "Bit!  Come on, let's go!"

"YeS!" the Bit said, flitting up the ramp and disappearing into the ship.

Justice turned back and saluted to Kimball and Marcus.  "Sorry I can't stick around and say good-bye to Cowboy.  Give him my regards."

"You might see him again," Kimball said.  "Cal's said that as soon as the Government computer experts get here, he's out of Vector."

Justice shrugged.  "Whatever.  See you around."

Justice ducked into the Grizzly, and moments later, the ship lifted off and exited through a portal into the rainbow-swirls of the Net.