“Warning. Incoming game. Warning. Incoming game.” A purple cube began to descend upon the citizens of mainframe. The binomes scattered themselves to avoid being trapped in the game, while Guardian 452, quickly sped towards it on his zipboard.

“Bob! Wait up!” The rugged voice of Enzo Matrix, commonly known as Matrix, rang out, as he rushed to capture the game cube also.

“This game shouldn’t take long, with Bob and Matrix working together.” AndrAIa, a former game Sprite, commented on their teamwork to no one in particular.

“I know what you mean, mate. The only excitement around here lately, are those game cubes, but even so, they fly by like that!” Snapping his fingers for emphasis, Ray Tracer, a search engine of the next generation, replied as he stared at the busy game.

“You know, sugar. You don’t have to stick around here, if life in Mainframe is to dull for you.” Mouse’s southern drawl sounded in her impatient voice.

“I know. But, I like it here. Very relaxing from what I’m used to.” Ray’s voice carried the same tone as Mouse’s. He re-fixed his gaze on the cube, waiting for it to disappear.

After a few nano’s, the game resided. “Game over.”

As Bob and Matrix flew towards their friends, a bright flash engulfed mainframe. A small, gold, transparent sphere fell to the ground. There, it opened and emerged a beautiful woman dressed in a black leather body suit, with a mask covering her face from her nose down.

“What in the net was that!” Dot, exclaimed astonished. Dot was Matrix’s older sister. She was also the older sister to Enzo Matrix who was a copy of Matrix’s former self.

“I don’t know, but something tells me that you’re about to get your excitement!” AndrAIa worriedly but curiously commented.

“Pixalicious!” Enzo excitedly exclaimed. “Let’s go check it out!” He was about to jump on his zipboard, when Dot interrupted him.

“Hold it Enzo!” Dot commanded while Enzo jumped off his board. “I think we should let Bob,” She quickly glanced at Matrix. “And Matrix go first. Afterall, we don’t know if it’s dangerous!”

“Aw, Dot! How come I always miss out on all the fun!” Enzo whined.

“Don’t worry Dot.” AndrAIa quickly added on Enzo’s behalf. “I’m sure it’s just a tear that Bob can easily fix. I’m sure he won’t get in the way!” She glanced at Dot’s contemplating face, to Enzo’s enthusiastic nodding head. “Besides. We can take care of him!”

“Well…if it’s just a tear…” you could tell immediately that Dot had changed her mind about letting Enzo go.

“Unless tears can move, I doubt it is one! Plus, it’s headed straight for us!” Matrix had used his mechanical eye to scan the tear, but found the woman instead. “Let’s move!”

“You’re right! I think we have a problem!” Bob’s overconfident voice was followed by Hexadecimal’s.

“You are absolutely right, Bob!” Hexadecimal seemed to appear out of nowhere, but this was not unusual for her. ”Poor Skuzzy isn’t feeling well.”

“Sorry, Hex. We’re in a rush! Skuzzy will have to wait!” Bob said impatiently as he jumped back on his zip board.

“But Bob! I don’t think you understand!” As Hexadecimal continued, Bob glanced in her direction, only to see Skuzzy had grown 50 times his normal size!

“What in the net! How…How did this happen, Hex?” Bob stared bewildered at Skuzzy. “Uh…You guys go ahead. I have…Other problems to take care of!” Bob stated while continuing to stare at Hexadecimal’s pet.

The others gave a wary look at Skuzzy before heading off to investigate.

“There she is! Just up ahead!” Mouse yelled to the rest of the group. “Let’s prepare to attack!”

“Shoot first. Ask questions later.” Matrix added with a grin.

“Wait!” Dot interrupted with a stern face. “What if she needs our help! Or if she’s here to help us!”

“We don’t need any help!” Matrix snarled.

“Sorry sugar! She might be with the Guardians! We can’t take that risk! To much at stake!” Mouse shot back her concerns to Dot.

“Gun. Command line. Full Delete!” Matrix pointed his gun in the intruder’s direction.

“Matrix! No!” Both Dot and AndrAIa shouted at him to stop.

The woman, sensing the oncoming attack, paused and placed her palms together. A golden beam of energy emerged, and shot out at Matrix. It stopped his gun from firing, and tossed Matrix into the nearest building behind him!

“Random…” Enzo’s voice trailed off, as he stared from the woman to Matrix.

“No!” AndrAIa’s scream mingled with Dot’s silence, and Mouse’s shouts of anger.

“Attack!” Mouse raised her sword, as AndrAIa flew to Matrix, hoping to catch him before he fell to the ground.

The woman, once again, placed her palms together, as an energy beam shot out. Mouse dodged the first three attacks, while Ray and Dot dodged the fourth.

“Stop! Stop fighting!” Dot’s desperate pleas finally grabbed Mouse’s attention. “She only attacks when you do!”

“You know love. She’s right! Maybe we should back off! She might stop attacking us!” Ray remarked as he dodged another energy beam. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be nullified!”

“What do you mean back off? This is exactly what she wants you think! If we back off, she’ll nullify us all!” Mouse shouted disbelievingly. “Let’s give it all we got! For Matrix!”

“I’m with you on that, Mouse!” The four sprites looked behind them. Matrix and AndrAIa were behind them, sharing a zipboard. The had come up while they were arguing.

“Alphanumeric! How did you-“ Enzo excitedly began to speak, when Dot abruptly cut him off.

“Enzo! What are you still doing here? This is a dangerous place to be! You should be hiding, or getting help! Not getting in they way of danger!” Dot began to worry for Enzo’s safety once again. She tried hard to convince Enzo to hide.

“But Dot! This is most exciting thing to happen, for cycles! I have to stay, and at least watch!” Enzo pleaded.

“No way, Enzo! I won’t have you staying here! I want you to go find Bob; and-“ Dot was cut off by a misdirected energy beam!

“Sis!” Matrix and Enzo’s scream mixed Dot’s own. Enzo desperately attempted to catch Dot. He was unsuccessful, but luckily, she landed on some binomes watching the fight from below.

“Sis.” Matrix lowered his eyes for a moment, before looking up again, with determination brimming from his eyes. “That’s it! This invader is a goner! Surfr! If you don’t help me destroy her,” Enzo glared at Ray. His voice suddenly becoming sinister. “You’ll be next!” Matrix looked at the remaining sprites, daring them to object.

“No.” AndrAIa placed a hand on his shoulder, and put on her most stern, of stern expressions. “Dot wouldn’t have wanted that!” Matrix looked into her eyes for a moment, and then brushed her, and her concerns aside.

“Gun. Command Line. Full delete.” Matrix’s gun fired off several rounds, but the intruder was to quick to be caught. She avoided every shot, adding to Matrix’s hatred.

Frustrated, Matrix pointed his gun out at Ray. “If you don’t shoot her with your energy beam… I’ll shoot you with my gun!” AndrAIa tried to lower Matrix’s gun, but she couldn’t penetrate his stubbornness.

“Tough choice! Okay, mate. If you’re sure that’s the right thing to do. No regrets.” Ray looked to see if Matrix changed his mind. He kept his gun in held firmly in place. “Right.” Ray muttered to himself, as he tapped his icon. He immediately transformed into the Websurfer.

“Where’s Bob when you need him?” Both AndrAIa and Surfr muttered this. Ray got ready to use his own energy beam, when Bob appeared.

“Right here! Did you find out who she i-“ Bob’s voice trailed off as he and the woman locked eyes. They stared at each other for a moment, searching.

“Ahh!” the woman fell backwards, and slammed into a building, creating a huge dent. Her tortured screams continued. Ray had thrust his energy beam at her full force, and held it there, to ensure she didn’t escape.

“NO!” Bob cried out. “Surfr! Stop it! You’ll kill her!” Bob yelled at Ray, in attempt to stop him.

“Why, mate? She tried to hurt all of us! Why shouldn’t she get a dose of her own medicine?” Ray challenged.

“Yeah Bob! She deserves it after what she did to me and Dot!” Matrix yelled back.

“I agree!” Mouse added.

Bob looked down at Dot and Enzo below him, and lowered his eyes. “Oh, Dot.” He muttered before looking at the Sprites before him.

“Ray! Stop it please!” AndrAIa begged. “I agree with Bob. If we hadn’t attacked first, she wouldn’t have defended herself!”

“No!” Matrix yelled. “She deserves to suffer, and be deleted!”

“No! No one deserves that! No matter who they are! Especially her!” Bob yelled back, desperately trying to stop Ray from continuing.

“No? Then why!” Matrix challenged.

“Because…” Bob lowered his head. “She’s my best friend!”

“Your best…”

“Friend?”

Bob Nodded at Matrix and AndrAIa’s disbelieving faces. Surfr stopped his energy beam, and quickly caught the invader on his surfboard.

“Just bring her down to the ground, Surfr! We need to see if she’s all right!” Bob instructed Ray, desperately hoping that the woman was okay.

“I’m sorry, mate! I was only doing what Matrix ordered!” Ray apologized, while he laid on the ground and stared disgustedly at Matrix.

“Matrix!” Bob whipped around, and stared spitefully at Matrix. Matrix looked uncomfortable, and meekly tried to explain.

“Bob, I…I thought…if I had known! …” Matrix didn’t know what to say. “I thought I was doing what was best for Mainframe!” Matrix finally explained.

“What you thought was best. What you thought was best! You don’t delete sprites just because they enter your system! When you were game hopping, did people nullify you! Just because you entered their system? She came from the games just like you! Did you even try to figure out why she was here!” Bob’s sudden angry outburst was a shock to everyone.

“I just didn’t think that-“

“Exactly! You didn’t think!” Bob yelled at Matrix, who furiously narrowed his eyes. “How could you be so irresponsible! Do you even have the slightest idea of what you may have done!”

“I don’t ha-“

“Uh, mate.” Ray, interrupting Matrix’s fury, urgently spoke to Bob. “We’ve got a slight problem. She isn’t breathing.” Matrix whirled around and began to stalk off.

“No.” Bob whispered to himself. “No. Not her. Not now.” Bob lowered his head. “Quick! We have to get her to emergency! She has to live! If she doesn’t make it…” As his voice trailed off, he looked into the distance.

“Bob! Bob, Dot needs help!” Enzo shouted anxiously and hurriedly. “She can’t move!”

“Not now Enzo! We have more important things to take care of! We’ll send an ambulance later!”

“But Bob!”

“I’ll help! I’d do anything for my sister!”

“Surfr! Wait up!” Bob called out to Ray, while Matrix and Enzo ran towards Dot. Tracer had taken the girl and left as quickly as possible, with AndrAIa, knowing you can’t live long without air.

“Dot. Dot, are you okay? What’s wrong?” Matrix, concerned, reached for her limp hand.

“Enzo? Is that you?” Dot’s voice sounded so weak, so helpless.

“Uh, yeah. It’s me. Matrix.” He lowered his eyes momentarily as he lifted her up off the ground.

“Bob. Where’s Bob?” She looked around with hope in her eyes, only to sadly look at the disappointment in Matrix’s. She knew he hadn’t come. “Why?”

“That…That girl! He-“ He gave a sigh and looked away. He couldn’t stand looking at Dot’s sad face any longer. His chest swelled with rage at Bob’s actions. “It’ll be alright. Everything will be fine. Nothing’s going to change.” Matrix talked more to himself, then to Dot.

“Let’s just go, okay?”

“Huh? Oh sure Dot.” Matrix hopped on AndrAIa’s zipboard with Dot and sped away, not noticing the single tear slide down Dot’s cheek.

“Is she going to be okay?” Bob’s voice rang with anxiety.

“Thanks to the Surfr, she’ll be just fine. She’s sleeping now, but you can go in. Surfr’s already in there with her.” Bob pushed the doctor aside as he strode into the room.

“Oh Cherry. Cherry, it’s all my fault. Forgive me…Are you alright?” Bob paused briefly before turning towards Ray. “Thank-you Surfr. You helped save her life! Even if you did help destroy it also!”

“Who is this girl, Bob?” AndrAIa inquired as she walked in the room also. She looked perplexed as she tried to determine the woman’s origin. She didn’t notice her flinch momentarily.

“Oh…I think we should get her outside. Better then being cooped up in here, right? I’ll check with the doctor, and see how Dot is.” Bob looked away in embarrassment, then took off, passing a enraged Matrix.

“Hey Matrix! You can help us carry her outside!” Ray called out to Matrix, which snarled in his direction.

“How’s Dot, sugar?” Mouse peered over Ray’s shoulder at Matrix, who glumly lowered his head before defiantly looking back.

“She’s okay. No thanks to you and your attack!”

“My attack! Sorry, honey. But it was your attack also! “Shoot first. Ask question’s later.” Remember that!” Mouse shot back angrily. AndrAIa intervened before anymore harsh remarks floated through the air.

“Calm down guys! It’s over now. So let’s just put it behind us. And help Bob out by bringing this woman outside for him. Okay?”

“Fine by me, love. I don’t know about them though.” Ray gestured towards Matrix and Mouse. “I think Frisket, Phong, and Hexadecimal are outside waiting to see what she is!” He pointed his thumb at the woman clad in black.

“Let’s just get this over with. I’m sick of her messing things up!” Matrix picked her up and stormed out of the building to where Phong, Frisket, and Hexadecimal waited.

“Ooh! What is it!” Hexadecimal looked with interest at the new sprite.

“It’s not a what. It’s a who. And we have no answer to that one.” AndrAIa replied.

“I can’t wait ‘til she’s gone! All she does is cause trouble!” Matrix decreed.

The group discussed the woman, and her possible origins. The woman then blinked and quickly glanced around. In a motion to quick to be seen clearly, she jumped out of Matrix’s arms, and bounced off his head into the air. She hovered there momentarily, while the group stared in shock.

“Who…Who are you! What are you?” Ray burst out in amazement.

“I am Chaos. The Stealth Ninja.”