Digital Mutation (Book Five)

Chapter 13: The Virus, Named

In the wee hours of the morning, when everyone else in the lair is asleep, Sarina and Donatello remain ever vigilant. The machine, the transporter that will be one of their most impressive creations yet, is something that they can't force themselves to stop working on. They fear losing their focus.

Sarina glances over her shoulder, where Donatello stands hunched over a table. He nods to himself as he sips his coffee, thumbing through the rough sketches that Raphael and Annalise gave him. They're just ideas, concepts on paper, but Donatello's brain is whirring with possibilities, raring to get them built and completed.

She turns back to her computer and gets back to work, typing up plans and coding what will become the teleporter's interface. She feels odd, a little fuzzy, and she idly wonders whether she should plug herself in. As soon as she thinks this, a yawn stretches her face and she closes her eyes for a mere second, stretching her arms above her head.

A jolt smacks her square in the chest and she gasps. Her eyes fly open and she startles in place, finding herself surrounded by nothing but a pitch black void. Her feet are planted on solid ground and when she waves her hands in front of her, they find no resistance.

"Donatello?" she calls, heartbeat in her ears. When there's no response, her eyes flash. "Donnie?"

"Oh, he can't hear you in here," says a smooth voice at her back, an English accent curving her words.

Sarina whirls around, coming face to face with the multicoloured virus. Her black eyes glitter with mischief and if it weren't for the pinpricks of light acting as her pupils, she'd have the eyes of a demon. Sarina backs up, eyes flashing as her palms glow. The virus before her grins, making her noseless expression all the stranger. She tilts her head and wisps of gold and blue hair drift around her, trailing along like reeds in water as she moves towards Sarina.

"You're sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, darling," she purrs, curving a finger out as if to caress Sarina's chin. "I would have thought my first message was a sufficient enough warning."

"It was not a warning," Sarina says, hands still glowing. "It was a challenge."

"Ah....that's foolish of you. You're not the first to believe such a thing." She laughs with a churr like a computer's fan. "But, no matter, they have all been deleted."

Sarina blinks and the virus disappears in a wave of light. She takes slow, even breaths and starts to turn in slow circles. Neither the light from her palms or her eyes have any effect.

"Who are you?" Sarina asks.

A warm breath ghosts over the shell of her ear. "Me? Why do you want to know?"

Sarina's laser blasts into nothingness, destroying nothing but space where the virus once was. The cold, whirring, inhuman laugh echoes around her, bouncing off the unseen, untouchable walls. She grits her teeth, blue energy emanating from her clenched fists.

"That wasn't very nice," the virus scolds lightly. "You could hurt yourself."

If Sarina were a normal human, with a normal brain, she would hesitate at those words. She would find herself stumped, maybe a little confused, but she isn't a normal person. It takes her a millisecond to decipher the cryptic words. She makes a low noise in her throat.

"Get out of my head. Now," she demands.

"Unfortunately, I'm not completely here." The virus sighs. "You're very different, Sarina, but that is what makes you so perfect for my plans. Your mind is enhanced, as if you're a machine, but you're not connected to cyberspace in the same way that machines are. You're..." She wrinkles the space where her nose should be, disgusted. "...far too human for that."

"Get out."

"I do like it here. You think so much, there's lots of information, plenty of food for thought—"

"Perhaps you did not hear me before. Get. Out."

She feigns hurt. "Oh, that's rude. You should be careful about that."

"I was not trying to be pleasant." Sarina's eyes flash. "I do not tend to keep my thoughts to myself anyway."

"Funny, girl. Very funny." Her form flickers, a look of distaste gracing her angular features as her black eyes glitter with annoyance. "Bollocks..." she mumbles.

Sarina blinks a few times, lip quirking. "Is there a problem?"

The virus sniffs indignantly. "Nothing I cannot fix." She flickers again. "I suppose you'll get your wish today, Sarina. I'll leave your precious little mind alone, for now."

"You are incredibly menacing," the cyborg retorts, deadpan.

The virus' eyes narrow, her hair sparking as she clenches her fists, and Sarina winces as she feels her brain ache. "Do not taunt me," she warns as her rainbow body glimmers.

"What's stopping me? You?" Sarina retorts, her neutral expression starting to crack. "You are just a nameless virus to me. To be scared of you would be pointless."

Her black eyes glint yet again. "I am Circa Cybernet. I have been here since the beginning of the cyberverse itself, growing and manifesting into something new with every human advancement. My strength lies in the power of secrets, of lies, of knowledge. I can make this world fall with a few lines of code. The Internet is my turf, my battleground in which I am always the victor." Her pupils expand and her wide grin reappears. "I am unstoppable."

Sarina can't help but smirk. "We'll see."

Circa rushes at Sarina and her eyes snap shut instinctively. Her feet fall through the floor and she's suddenly aware of gentle pressure on her back and arms.

"Sarina!"

She opens her eyes. She's on the floor of the lab with her chair tipped over, one swivelling wheel still swinging back and forth, and her brain feels like it's been wired wrong. Donatello has her in his arms, russet eyes swimming with concern.

"Oh, thank shell," he breathes when she looks at him. "What happened? Are you alright?"

For one of the first times in her life, Sarina feels an absolute lack of knowledge. "Wh...what?"

"You just...collapsed! You scared me half to death, darling," he explains, although it's rushed and he's pulling her into a tight hug as he says it. "I thought...I don't know, I thought something..."

She looks up at her computer, eyes flashing as her chest seizes up. "Circa..."

"What?"

She returns her attention to her dorky boyfriend, one hand reaching to grip the strap across his plastron. "Circa...the virus' name is Circa Cybernet."

Donatello shakes his head and blinks a few times. "How did you—"

"No time! I will explain as we work. Come, there is so much to do!" she rambles, pushing herself to her feet and racing towards the lab table. "Allons-y, Donatello!"

He just shakes his head again as he gets up. Now that she's found something out, she won't calm down for at least ten minutes. With a slight smile, he jogs over to their workstation to join her.