Revenge of the Sis
Chapter II – The Victims or How Big of a Target Are You
Enzo Matrix, that is to say the first Enzo Matrix, walked the corridors of the Principal Office, heading for the War Room, where first staff meeting would take place. That is to say, the first staff meeting in which he himself was able to be involved in officially.
It had been close to six minutes since the Web changed Megabyte had returned and wrecked havoc with the small system once again and only three minutes since he and Enzo – that is to say the second Enzo Matrix – had convinced themselves that somehow the sprites they loved and cared about were in reality clones. How they had reached this decision, Matrix didn’t know, but at the time it made sense.
However far and illogical it was, it made sense.
For else, how could you explain everyone’s behavior? Dot pretending nothing had happened between her and Bob on the steps of the P.O. after the restart; then telling Hexadecimal – someone who was known to carry a torch for Bob – that she and the guardian were just friends; then that weirdness with Bob when the second Bob – who in reality was a Trojan Horse virus – came to the system and began wooing Dot…and the commander believing that was the real Bob….
Matrix sighed. They were all at fault for that. All except Little Enzo and AndrAIa. That put a smile on his face. At least his girlfriend’s behavior was explained away; she was pregnant. The renegade still couldn’t believe it.
With everything that could happen to him, the greatest thing ever…the second greatest thing was happening. AndrAIa had been his light in the dark and now she was having his child.
His smiled widened as he patted the small pouch on his side. Everyone just assumed he kept extra ammo in there or something, but in reality, he kept a ring. An engagement ring to be exact, one that he had purchased before their return to Mainframe.
He had wanted to ask her, then and there after the restart, if she would have him officially; if she would become his wife; but in all the excitement – more precisely the excitement of a younger version of him popping up – he hadn’t the chance.
And then Daemon happened and then Dot proposing and then the second Bob…
It had been too much, too close together he guessed, but now…now she was having his baby and he’d be damned if he let his child go around without having the proper last name. Besides, he didn’t want this to be the only child he had with her.
He could finally give her something to look forward to, especially now. After the whole Megabyte fiasco, Dot and Phong had said there needed to be a chance within the staff.
Currently, it really was just her and Phong, with Specky the one binome as an alliance. Mainframe didn’t technically have a Principal Office staff. So the two leaders of the system had decided there needed to be one.
Bob, Matrix, AndrAIa, and even Little Enzo had been given the duty of what they had always done, protect the system from games. It was a shock, to say the least, as Dot never wanted Little Enzo in any games after what happened to Matrix, but Dot – perhaps in a bid to have her brothers get along or to punish them for what happened last cycle – had given Enzo permission, but only if he was with someone and Matrix called the shots when it came to training him effectively.
That earned an evil grin from Matrix and a loud gulp from Enzo.
But the leaders weren’t finished. Bob was once again granted the right as Guardian of the system, with Matrix as his second. AndrAIa was dubbed the system engineer. She officially took over Mouse’s position of keeping the system protected from ever going through what they just had ever again. And with her game sprite abilities, she would be able to adapt more quickly at finding any loop holes.
And Matrix was put in charge of the CPUs as the system’s chief officer of security. Though he was more likely to shot first and ask questions later, Matrix had done a ton of games, especially strategy games and no one could work the troops like Matrix, that was for sure.
And while he was honored at given such a position for the system he loved, the renegade worried about some of the actions and choices he had made in his lifetime. Certainly, his impending fatherhood reflected that he needed to be a lot calmer and more responsible, but something else kept nagging at him that he needed to change. It was an annoying pull…
…As if someone was pulling on his arm.
Shaking his head, he looked down to find Enzo at his side and their dog Frisket sitting in front of them. The small sprite was pulling on his arm, at first getting his attention and then soon just to drive his older brother random.
Matrix’s face took on a grimace; at some point in his musings, he must’ve stopped, allowing himself to be overtaken with his younger version.
“What can I help you with?” he asked, yanking his arm away and then crossing both over his chest.
“And hello to you, Big Me.” Enzo retorted, cheerfully.
The small sprite, along with his dog, had been going through the P.O. looking for something to do, when they had spotted his older version just standing outside of the War Room.
There was a strange expression on his face, causing the dog to whimper slightly. The boy had smirked, saying, “Don’t worry, boy. He’s in his reflective mood.” So in order to get the larger sprite to notice him, Enzo began tugging on his arm.
“I see you’re in your ‘reflective mood’,” the boy giggled. “What’re you thinking about now?”
Matrix couldn’t help the small smirk that came to his face. ‘Reflective mood’ was the term AndrAIa had come with to describe Matrix – and now Enzo – whenever they seemed to just log off for a moment.
The large sprite had to admit that he had seen his smaller counterpart do the same thing on occasion, meaning that he had a lot on his mind and he was just trying to process it all.
“You’re right.” the big sprite chuckled. “I am thinking about something.”
“It’s about AndrAIa, right?”
The two were still getting used to each other and had found that they seemed to know what the other was thinking at any given time. It was still a bit unnerving, especially for Matrix when the boy was able to read his emotions the way AndrAIa could. Enzo just figured that of course Matrix would know what he was thinking; he had lived his life already.
Instead of looking surprised as he usually did, Matrix just nodded. “I want to marry her.” he whispered.
“Alphanumeric!” the boy exclaimed, then quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard. Looking back at his counterpart, he asked, “When?”
“Hopefully after all this settles down.” the sprite commented. “And I’m worried about Bob and Dot. It would be weird, you know, to get married before them. Assuming they do, of course, get married.”
“Speaking of,” Enzo started, looking around them once again. “Have you noticed Dot’s being uber nice to us lately? I mean, not just hugs and kisses and stuff like, I mean…. uber nice.”
“How do you mean?”
The small boy gave him a look. “Enzo,” he said, sternly. “Surely, you must think something is wrong when Dot allows me into games. How long did it take her to let you in, even when you were the guardian of the system?”
“She has her reasons, Sprout.” whispered Matrix.
“I know.” Enzo said, seriously. “But even you have to admit, this is a bit random.”
“Yeah, but…” The renegade shook his head. “Oh no, you don’t.” he said. “I’m not about to let you talk me into some half baked idea like last time. For that, Kiddo, you’re on your own.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you and your theory about clones.” Matrix replied. “That blew up in our faces. In fact, I think you’re still paranoid about that. Even Mike said it was bogus, you still think there are clones running around.”
“All I’m saying is it’s rather odd for Dot to be letting me into games at this point and time.” the boy replied, calmly. He then looked at his brother in concerned. “And maybe it’s not me you should be worried about. You’re jumping to conclusions. Maybe it’s you who’s paranoid.”
“What?” the renegade explained. “I am not…I don’t get paranoid. And…and why am I even discussing this with you? I have a staff meeting get to and that’s where I’m headed.”
“Fine.” the boy huffed. “You do that then.”
“Maybe I will.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
The two stood for a bit before Enzo asked, “Has she been giving you weird looks lately? Like smiling…oddly…at you?”
Matrix raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure it means nothing.”
“So she has then?”
“You’re the one jumping to conclusions!”
“I’m just saying, is all.” Something off to the side caught the boy’s attention and he hurried off, calling his father’s name. Matrix watched him go, shaking his head. How did someone so small get to be so paranoid in the span of a few minutes?
He was about to come to a conclusion about that when he thought back on what Enzo had said. Dot had given a rather…odd…smile yesterday. Could that mean something?
They took care of that clone thing.
Right?