Firewall

Chapter 23

MatPat felt like he was about to have a panic attack, leaning against the wall with both of his hands clamped together, his knuckles turning white as he was gripping himself so tightly. Skip stood by his feet, looking up at him with his hackles raised and his tail standing up on end as MatPat found himself hyperventilating.

"Oh god... Not this... Not now..."

He felt himself sliding down the wall, letting out dry, painful sobs as he could barely comprehend the unbridled terror stirring within his breast. Skip dug his claws into MatPat's arm, yet the slight pain did little to bring him back from his horror induced daze.

"MatPat! Snap out of it!"

MatPat winced, looking up to see Felix standing over him, fists clenched and figure taunt. His face bore nothing but an odd mixture of fear and determination, appearing foreign against his facial expression and common character.

"You can't let this deter you, okay!?" Felix reached down and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him about all while pulling him up from the floor "even if it all ends today, we can't go down without a fight! I need you right now!"

Felix released him, letting him stand on his own two, shaky legs "if push comes to shove, I'll risk it and go out there myself" Felix looked him right in the eye, his blue eyes sharp with the intense focus of determination "please, stay strong... For me... for us."

MatPat blinked rapidly before gripping his own shirt, still breathing heavy as his mouth fell open, trying to think of something to say.

"M-Mark's been kidnapped..." he eventually wheezed "and... and now... this? A... A level 70 Virus!?" MatPat grabbed his head, his eyes growing moist as tears began to develop "th-this is all my fault! I-I let that bear stay! I... I... I should have chased it off! Done something! N-Now Mark's been killed and-"

"We don't know if he's dead" Felix dropped his voice down to a soothing whisper "that Virus's signal is so big Mark's signal could just be hidden..."

"M-Mark can't win against... That..." MatPat sobbed, covering his eyes "ohhhh... What do we do!?"

"We do what we've done for years" Felix laid a hand onto MatPat's trembling shoulder in a gentle manner "we fight and protect what is ours."

MatPat sniffled, prying his hands away from his eyes so he could look back at Felix, who had suddenly switched to a more kind and approachable personality in that admirable, leader-like way of his.

"I need you to set the defenses to maximum and send reinforces after Vanoss and Jack, I sent them out already... can you do that?"

"I... Yeah..." MatPat found himself whispering, still shaking violently, yet his breathing had now evened, his hands slowly relaxing from their taunt grip "I... I'll try..."

"I believe in you" Felix gave a reassuring smile before withdrawing his hold on MatPat's shoulder "come on; let's show that ugly basterd what it means to be alive."

...

"Do yeh really think Mark was kidnapped?"

Vanoss jerked his head around, putting his finger to his lips in desperation to get Jack to shut up, but the Irishman didn't seem to take the gesture to heart.

"We're miles away, the fooker can't hear us" Jack hissed in response "plus, I don't see any ears on that thing."

"If we can see it, it can see us. Same goes for hearing. A Virus has better senses than you think, especially a level 70" Vanoss growled before giving a hand signal to another fighter, who was hiding a little ways away "now shut up before you catch its attention."