Author's Note: I do not own the rights to ReBoot and have no legal or moral right to create this story. I have written it purely for entertainment purposes.

I have tried to pitch this story so it fits within the canon of Season One.

Chapter One

Mainframe. A squat cylinder of orderly urban processing space, home to a myriad of binomes, a handful of assorted sprites, one guardian and one virus… a second one inhabiting Lost Angles, the mutilated corpse of Mainframe's twin city.

Hexadecimal, Queen of Chaos and malfunction, sat in her theatre and stared into space while drumming her clawed fingers against the arm of her throne, which hovered several inches above the centre of the stage.

'Why am I always alone?' Hex mused to herself, the last two words bouncing around the interior of the auditorium like a PONG puck. Scuzzy awoke from the basket he had been dozing in and zipped to his mistresses' side to comfort her. She ignored him and continued to address the empty air.

'There's no-one to keep me company...'

Scuzzy beeped in protest and tried to force himself under Hexadecimal's hand, but only succeeded in getting in the way of her perpetually pummelling fingernails.

'I've got nobody to relate to...'

Scuzzy rolled his eyes and flew at Hex's face, stopping just short with a picture of Megabyte glowing on the top of his head.

'Ooh,' Hexadecimal smiled, finally acknowledging the existence of spherical sprite, 'my dear brother… he doesn't count!' she spat, dismissing Scuzzy with a backhanded swipe that sent him hurtling off into the blackness.

Now she really was alone Hexadecimal resumed her sullen ponderings, filling the air with disconnected sentences, until she finally came to a conclusion.

'I need a baby!' she announced, cradling the idea in her arms, 'a freshly compiled, linked and deployed virus all of my very own.' She smiled wistfully at the dream, then stopped abruptly as a stray crumb from a thin slice of reality pie dropped into her mind.

'But who would be the father?'

Scuzzy reappeared in the theatre at a speed equivalent to the one he had left at, only from the opposite side of the stage to the one he had been propelled from. He screeched to a halt in Hexadecimal's lap.

'Do you have and idea?' she asked, intrigued. Scuzzy nodded and displayed a picture of Mainframe's most eligible bachelor.

'Bob?' she questioned, 'A Guardian? What a novel idea… A viral Guardian… I'll have to call him to tell him the good news.'

Hexadecimal waved at her mirror and Bob's face filled the glass.

Surprised, Bob yelped a little.

'Bob,' the virus smiled, coyly, 'you know how special we are to each other, don't you?'

'Uh...' Bob replied, doubtful that he was going to like what came next.

'I wondered if you would do me a little favour...' Hexadecimal suddenly trailed off staring into the space above the mirror. Bob strained to look, but he failed to see the silver droplet that expanded to form a stable portal in the roof space of Hexadecimal's private theatre.

A faint scream echoed from the portal and got steadily louder until it ended abruptly with a crash just behind the mirror.

'Er, Hex?' Bob enquired, 'are you okay?'

'What are you still doing there?' she snapped. 'I thought I told you to go.'

Bob stood, perplexed and blinking at the now empty comms screen on Glitch but absolutely certain that the virus had not told him to go.

'Would you mind explaining what that was about?' Phong asked.

'Hexadecimal wanted me to do a favour for her, but she cut the link before she said anything.' Bob explained, puzzled. 'Strange lady.' He added.

'That is an... understatement,' Phong remarked.

Bob stood in the Principal Office, next to Phong. Together they studied a vid-window that filled the entire wall, depicting a slowly rotating wireframe model of the city. Small sections of the model were highlighted in flashing purple.

Phong tutted.

'Bob, is that really the best you could do?'

Bob was a little embarrassed. 'There just wasn't a big enough space to put the User's delivery in one place...um...' Bob shuffled his feet uncertainly. 'Most of it is in... um... the same few places...'

He grinned at Phong hopefully.

Phong responded by throwing his spindly arms up in the air, scooting off a little way to mutter under his breath. Bob watched. Presently, Phong returned to the Guardian's side.

'How many more times must we go through this?' the ancient sprite asked.

'I know,' Bob sighed. 'This is not the Super Computer.'

'That's not what I was going to say.'

'It wasn't?'

Phong shook his head. It squeaked slightly.

'Sorry Phong, what were you going to say?'

'You can't just put the User's data anywhere. Splitting up files into smaller pieces to fit them into the gaps you left when you took them out is not a good habit to get into and you're getting worse. Look.'

Phong tapped a control panel, highlighting different patterns of blocks in Mainframe. Each one showed a similar pattern of fragmented colours spread throughout the city. 'Each time you have to store the User's data, it takes you longer.' Phong explained, 'See?'

The vid-window flashed up an empty pair of axis illustrating time taken to store the user's data. The red line wobbled upwards, rising progressively faster until the upper border of the vid-window was reached. Two smaller vid-windows popped up and finished the graph off. The overall shape vaguely resembled a hockey stick.

Bob squinted at the distant numbers. They were far bigger than they had any right to be.

'Y'know Phong,' Bob said. 'I'd never looked at it that way before.'

'You never had to, my child.' Phong explained. 'There is much less storage space in Mainframe. This is not the Super Computer.'

'I was waiting for you to say that,' Bob smiled.

'Yes, Bob,' Phong agreed, 'Just as you're waiting for me to tell you what needs to be done.'

'Defragmentation?'

Phong nodded. 'You will need Dot's help.'

'Okay,' Bob nodded. He knew better than to argue with Phong over such matters now.

…

Dot's Diner was buzzing.

There was a bug flying noisily around the restaurant, pursued equally as noisily by Cecil, who flapped frantically at the insect invader with a small fly swat. The bug dodged and ducked each swipe of the swat, chuckling in an evil buggy manner at the maitre d's mounting frustration

'Sacre bleu! I am not paid enough for zis!' Cecil cried as he took the corner at the end of the bar far too sharply, nearly disconnecting himself from his rails. The bug looked up and realised that the brass rail attached to ceiling was also attached to it's would be assassin, limiting his movements and reach – even if that reach was extended by a fly-swat. Scanning the ceiling, the bug spotted a dead end near the corner booths. It buzzed off to make good it's escape with Cecil racing along behind, still swiping at the insect with a determined yet futile series of alternate forehand and backhand strokes, each one capable of deleting the critter if only he could get that bit closer…

Cecil did not notice that he was running out of rail.

The maitre d' hurtled towards the window, still accelerating when he felt the tell-tale tug on his hardwiring. He tried to stop but it was too late.

A loud two-tone chime rang through the diner, closely followed by shattering glass and the hollow clatter of Cecil landing upside-down on the pavement outside.

The bug returned to admire its handiwork, buzzing impudent mirth in the face of the disconnected Diner Service Unit.

'Hmph!' Cecil snorted, shutting his eyes and folding his arms. A zip-board was approaching and he was in no mood for small-talk.

'Hey Cecil, what's up?' Bob asked as he jumped off his zip-board and directly on top of the bug, deleting it with a pathetic little squeak.

'Oh nothing much,' Cecil sighed. 'Just ze usual.'

Bob was perplexed. 'So how come you're upside-down on the pavement?'

Cecil sulked, unwilling to share the tale of his humiliation at the hand of a bug. 'I'd rather not talk about it.'

Bob shrugged. 'At least let me take you back inside.'

Before Cecil could protest, Bob picked him up and carried him back inside the diner like a portable television, reattaching his hardwiring to the ceiling. The connection announced itself with another two-tone chime that rung through the diner and the maitre d' scooted off without a word of thanks.

Bob perched on a bar stool and smiled at Dot, who did not smile back. She had emerged from the back office and seen the mess made by Cecil during his pursuit of the bug.

'I turn my back for a picosecond and this is what happens!" Dot cried. She produced a broom from apparent thin air and pushed it into Bob's hands. 'While you're here you can make yourself useful...'

'I've just come from the Principal Office,' Bob explained. 'Phong said we need to run a defrag.'

Silence erupted in the Diner.

Behind Bob, a one binome spun on its heel and collapsed in a dead faint.

A booth full of CPUs simultaneously dropped their doughnuts.

The baby binome wailed and filled its nappy.

Dot went a little pale and downed a very small, very strong energy shake that had appeared from the serving hatch.

'Was it something I said?' Bob shrugged.

'Yes.' Dot stated, hiccuping a little. She grabbed Bob by the collar and pulled him towards her. 'Come on Guardian, we've got work to do.' Before Bob could protest, Dot leapfrogged over the counter, landed on her zip-board and flew out of the door in one swift movement.

Bob wondered what had been in that energy shake... and wondered if he could have some too.

…

In her lair, Hexadecimal approached the screaming bundle that had dropped out of the sky. It was no longer screaming, but was now trying to suppress whimpering noises. The virus pulled back a corner of fabric to reveal a girl with pewter pigtails and slightly younger than Enzo. She stared back with terrified, ice-blue eyes. Hex knelt on the floor next to the girl and cradled her lilac face in her gloved hand.

'Am I your mummy?' Hex asked. The girl sat up and wrapped the black frock coat she was wearing around her. It completely covered her grey pinafore dress and prim, pink blouse.

'I already have a mummy,' the girl stated. Hex's face fell briefly, then became intrigued.

'Your mummy isn't here though, is she?'

'Um...'

'So I'll have to be you mummy now, won't I?' Hex grinned. 'Now, what shall I call you?'

The girl fixed Hexadecimal with an icy stare. 'My name is Zenna. Zenna Diode.'

'That's a pretty name.' Hex smiled. 'You can call me…. Mummy dearest.'

'I've told you, I already have a mummy.' Zenna stated firmly, holding her nerve.

'Mummy dearest.' The virus corrected her, beginning to get angry.

Zenna took a step back. Then turned and fled. Hex watched the small figure running away, then snapped her fingers, creating an opening in the floor beneath Zenna, which she promptly fell into, screaming, and landed back at the feet of the virus from some unspecified point in the ceiling. Hex bend down to the girl's eye level and squinted one eye at her. 'Do not do that again.' She growled, then launched into green-eyed mania again. 'I'm your mummy now and I have to keep you safe and bring you up to be a happy and productive member of society.' The virus grinned. 'It's going to be so much fun!'

Zenna's heart sank. She had a feeling that she had just escaped the frying pan, only to land straight into the fire. 'Could you tell me where I am, please?' she asked, sweetly.

Hexadecimal grinned proudly. 'This is my own personal, twisted twin city – Lost Angles!'

'Twin city?' Zenna questioned. 'You mean there's another one?'

'Oh, you don't need to worry about that,' Hex scoffed dismissively. 'Nothing worth bothering with there.' She put an arm around Zenna's tiny shoulders. 'Come and have some tea with me.'

The virus turned the girl to face a table, daintily laid out with a three tier cake stand laden with pretty cakes, elaborate pastries and sandwiches with the crusts cut off. As the pair approached the table, the teapot leaped to its feet, poured two cups of tea and sat back down again. Zenna hated tea, but she felt she had no choice other than to settle in for the long haul while she planned another escape. She decided to initiate polite conversation.

'Are you a good virus, or a bad virus?'

Hexadecimal slipped her sly smile mask on. 'I'm a very good virus indeed.' She reassured the new sprite. 'I'm going to be the very best mother you could possibly ever wish for.' The crazy virus laughed abruptly. 'Now eat up your tea like a good girl and there won't be any trouble.'

Zenna quailed under the stern gaze of Hexadecimal's narrow-eyed frown and bit heavily into a scone.

In a distant corner of the throne room, a bug crawled through a tiny opening, opened its wings and took flight.

...

Thank you for reading this! If indeed, you still are.