4.04: Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Word.

[nofileext]

There's a tiny hourglass on a choker around Daemon's neck. It's always been there. At the moment she was first compiled, the sand was all in the top half of the glass, and it's been slowly draining through ever since.

Now, as she stands at the threshold of Mainframe's Principal Office, the last grain of sand comes to rest.

Daemon stops dead in her tracks. As she speaks, her words seem to echo in the infected ground and sky around her:

"I am Daemon.
I am not an entity; I am a time.
My time is now.
The Word is CRON."

"NO!" Bob gasps. "Not a Cron virus..."

Daemon's body shimmers, blurs, then dissolves in a cascade of orange sparks. All that's left is a vaguely person-shaped mass of green light where she stood. (Is this really Daemon? Was the girl just another puppet, another vessel for the Word?)

The light flows upward and outward, losing its shape and coherence as it goes. It spreads through the system, through the open port, through the portals still open above the Principal Office. Every system in the 'Net is bathed in its green glow.

Throughout the 'Net, every sprite, binome, and numeral who remains touched by the Word stops dead in their tracks, just as their mistress did. They close their eyes and begin counting down.

"111100... 111011... 111010..."

Comments

[notascreensaver]

No. Oh no.

"I've seen this before!"

It was not a good thing. Not a good thing at all.

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

Well, Bruck can tell that this is a Bad Thing from that reaction. However...

"Why are they counting down?" That's said in a rather nervous bout of confusion.

[queenofmay]

"And what's a cron virus?"

Marian understood panic, if not why, though she had come to understand the 'virus' term lately.

"Actually, better would be just telling us how to stop it."

[first-sixth.livejournal.com]

Tommy looks very worried.

"I'm not sure that we can stop it. Generally something or someone blowing up and then glowing green is a pretty bad sign."

Especially when large numbers of people then begin a countdown immediately afterward.

[steadfastknight]

Where there had been a car, there was a sprite, catching himself in the middle of a skid with one hand against the street's surface - that'd burn later, but he'd get over it.

A timed payload. Why hadn't any of his scans told him--

"Oh heavens," he murmured as he stood, staring, worried - he could disconnect, but--...

"I'll live." Because he had to.

[seker-pride.livejournal.com]

"We have little choice but to find a way to stop it, or our efforts will be wasted."

He looks at those still infected. They seem ... oddly ... blissful. As blissful as one could get when counting down to one's suicide.

"Would be a shame to have gone to all this trouble for nothing."

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

"This is hardly ideal," says Matilda. "What are we going to do?"

It's Tommy she looks to. He seems to have been the most sensible of her companions so far, and despite his apparent pessimism, perhaps he can be persuaded to pull something out of his metaphorical sleeve.

[l33t-mouse.livejournal.com]

Mouse looks up at the green glow, her expression bleak. "I don't know, darlin'," she says numbly.

[command_dot_com]

"Bob, can you hear me?"

Dot has him supported over one shoulder walking him towards the gathered army from Milliways.

[mendanddefend_archive]

"Dot..."

Once, in a Gamecube, Bob saw a clock that was badly broken but still running, its cracked and rusted gears grinding together as it feebly tried to chime the hours. That's kind of how Bob feels right now, as he works desperately to keep processing, to tell Dot what's going to happen.

"Cron v-virus... end to all things... t-total crash..."

[nofileext]

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Hexadecimal grabs the ailing Guardian up off the ground and into her arms. He droops like a rag doll in her arms as she dances him around the platform in front of the Principal Office, singing something that might have been a waltz if it had any meter or tune.

[mendanddefend_archive]

The world is spinning. Why is it spinning? Bob fights to keep his eyes open. Everything is in motion except...

"Hex? What... what are you doing?"

[first-sixth.livejournal.com]

Tommy thinks for a moment, trying to remember whether or not he's ever encountered anything like this in his own history. He finds that he can't recall anything off the top of his head, but more than a few battles do give him at least a general idea. The solution that first jumps to mind is the most logical one that he can think of -- only problem is, he has no idea how to make it work here.

"An antidote," he says slowly. "Up until this point we've been using something that has to be individually transmitted from person to person. But in my not inconsiderable experience, a lot of the time the only way to defeat an enemy has been to best him at his own game. So to beat a virus, maybe we need to start thinking, and more importantly acting, like one ourselves."

He takes a deep breath. "We need something, a cure or antidote, that will not only counteract Daemon but that has the ability to spread as rapidly as she does. Something that'll neutralize her -- like force-feeding the 'Net a really big antacid tablet." Tommy grimaces. "Though if we haven't got anything like that on hand... I don't think it's something we really thought about needing."

[nofileext]

"Don't worry, my love," Hex croons as she dances with Bob--her Bob, her Guardian. "I will care for you and make you well, then you will love me as I love you--totally!"

[command_dot_com]

"Get off him!"

Dot grabs the now over-powered virus's shoulder.

...Prrrrrobably not the smartest battleplan.

[nofileext]

Incensed, Hex fires a quick burst of energy at Dot, knocking her away. Bob is hers, spammit, and no interloping sprite is going to change that. Even if they have slept together. Even if they love each other. Hex loves him more, and soon Bob will love her back.

[renegade-enzo.livejournal.com]

Matrix catches Dot as she flies back, setting her down gently.

"I knew this was a bad idea!"

[mendanddefend_archive]

There's something wrong with Hex's face. The crack--no, he saw that before, didn't he? There's something else. Bob squints, and realizes what it is: her lips aren't moving anymore.

"Hex... you're... ill again..."

[nofileext]

"Ill?" Hex's mask abruptly changes from a frown to a snarl of righteous rage. "But I've never felt so alive! The power--I have the entire power of the Core surging through me!" A smiling mask. "Nothing can harm me, or you, now."

[mendanddefend_archive]

"You're wrong."

She has to know. They all have to know, even if they can't do anything about it, so he keeps talking despite the pain.

"Daemon's virus... w-when the countdown reaches zero, we'll all b-be deleted. Everyone. Everyth-thing."

[nofileext]

Hex pouts. "Oh, but how will our love survive?"

[mendanddefend_archive]

Bob looks more exhausted, more defeated, than you would ever believe to be possible.

"I-it won't, Hex. I'm sorry."

[nofileext]

"Well, that's just not good enough."

Hex turns to shout at Phong, who's been watching from the top of the steps. He's the one who knows everything, he must know a way to stop them from being deleted, mustn't he?

"YOU! Stop this thing!"

[goinghost.livejournal.com]

Danny looked around, rubbing his aching head, and spotted Hex over with Bob.

"Enzo said she used to be virus, and she definitely looks like one again." He pointed to Hex, who now...looked like one, after coming out of the core. "Virus against virus?"

[nofileext]

Phong does tend to have all the answers... when they exist. "There is nothing we can do! We have the completed cure, but it is impossible to administer it in time!" Not to the entire 'Net.