Here I was, chilling in my humble abode. An abandoned website might not seem cozy to most, but to me, a virus, it’s quite lovely. Not many people come around, and I can just shoo away the riff-raff.

Ah, where are my manners? You’re probably really confused now. Well, hello, I’m Jesse! It’s the year 3102, and A.I’s have gotten, like, absurdly advanced. They act just like humans (well, without the flesh and blood aspect, but you get my point), being able to hold conversations, respond to questions, and generally do human-y stuff. Humans even made a whole second dimension to support A.I’s, Cyberspace! Now, instead of just staying in a computer, like you’d expect, they can travel freely across this world (well, with permission from their owners but you get my point).

Disgusting. Ugh, I hate those things! Just go find people in the real world if you want to see a human! Don’t make a lookalike on a screen! Besides, like I said, I’m a virus. A.I’s don’t like viruses. They want me dead, man! Talk about party poopers.

I hoped my little home would stay hidden, but noooooope! They just gotta go find it, for some reason! Both A.I’s and humans alike. They’re both pretty easy to manage, though. Just crash the human’s browser, and the A.I’s… ah, well… let’s say you won’t see them again.

I’ve also had my fair share of cops. All wanted to kill me. Again, not what I would call fun.

‘Cept this little squirt I met a while back.

He looked just like your average cop. Well, except the overall… nerdiness of him. He was such a dork! What with his glasses and his little mannerisms...

I scanned the whole landscape, gauging the distance between chunks of data. I could hear where the intruder was, but I couldn’t see him. I bounded over some pillars, and a bright streak of yellow caught my vision. Bingo. I skidded to a halt, peering over the edge. Down below was the culprit.

His vivid yellow, blues, and whites stood out heavily against the violet cubes of the area. My eyes narrowed. I tapped a black claw against the screen I called my face. At least the other cops tried to hide. He didn’t hide at all! This was surprisingly suspicious.

I scaled down the formations, keeping him in my sights. I raked my claws against some walls, to make it all the better. Oh, I could just feel the hairs raising on his neck! Quite satisfying, to be completely honest.

When I decided I had left him in suspense for just a little too long, I sprung off my perch, landing in front of him.

“Why are you here?!” I screamed, attempting to deepen my voice as much as possible. He flinched, but surprisingly held his ground. I smugly tilted my head upwards. “Think you’re a big boy?”

“Um.. Hello… How are… are you?” He murmured. Now it was my turn to recoil. He was attempting to converse with me?! Why?!

“Hello. I’m fine, I suppose,” I replied, putting as much venom into my voice as I could.

“You’re that virus that everyone keeps… keeps.. Um… talking about, yeah? They say… They say you’re really advanced. That you’re just like… like us. So… I thought… If you were like me… then we could talk,” he stuttered and tripped over a few words. I felt myself melting a bit, literally melting, like I did when I was really surprised or scared. It was the former, of course. Why would I be scared of him?

“You wanted to talk to me? That’s…,” I wanted to say really nice. But, I didn’t want to give this kid the benefit of the doubt. “That’s absurd!” I hastily finished. “You’re here to either.. Either get yourself killed, or kill me! There’s no third… third option!” I stammered.

He took a step forwards. “Why not? It must be… must suck to be constantly hunted down. I don’t want you to be like this.”

“Why are you being so… so nice to me?! Do you know how many A.I’s like you I ripped apart?! Byte by byte?!” My voiced cracked many times in that sentence. He wavered a bit, but kept approaching.

“Well… well… They tried to hurt you. I won’t. Will you hurt me if I don’t hurt you?” He whispered.

“N… no. I’m not… not that much of a savage.”

He gave me a weak smile. I felt… safe. I don’t think he actually wanted to hurt me. It felt nice. And fuzzy. Of course, I can always get stabbed in the back. That seemed very common in my encounters with people.

He plopped his butt down onto the ground. I slinked towards him.

“So, what’s… um… what’s your name?”

“Jesse.”

“Oh. I wasn’t... expecting that sort of name. No… no offense, of course!”

“What, were you expecting a model number? Well, sorry dude, I can’t remember that. Anyway, since we’re doing introductions, you tell me your name.”

“PursueMDL-001.exe, ma’am,” he answered. I frowned when he called me ma’am.

“Eugh. Horrible name. Here, lemme think…,” I reclined, tapping my chin. “Pursue… Percy. Your new name’s Percy. You like that, Percy?”

The kid, now unwillingly named Percy, looked surprised. Then he considered it. “I… don’t mind it.”

I clapped. “Ay, there we go! Hello, Percy!”

He quietly giggled. Me scaring him earlier felt satisfying, but this.. Why did this feel so much more rewarding? I guess being constantly chased and threatened lowered my expectations, and when this kid surpassed my expectations immensely… Yeah, this felt wonderful.

Percy glanced behind his shoulder nervously. “Well, I would honestly love to stay and chat, but I’m afraid my break is starting to end. I promise to come back tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”

I nodded. I watched as he picked himself up from the ground, and jogged out towards the exit, a huge red circle with an equally as big X on it. I surprised myself when I found myself waving goodbye. I sighed, as I sank back into the shadows.

Percy kept his promise. He came back each and every day. He also became a lot more open towards me, asking more and more questions. He questioned me on the usual stuff, such as why I looked like a “clown” (which I’m not! I’m a jester! Huge, huge difference!), and why I had a screen for a face (I actually don’t know the reason why, so we’re both stumped...).

But, the questions didn’t surprise me. My answers did. I found myself not knowing a lot about.. Me. Aren’t you supposed to know everything about yourself? I couldn’t remember where I came from, what was my purpose (though that is a pretty easy question to answer, since, y’know, I’m a virus), and even how I found myself in this abandoned website. Whenever Percy left for the day, I sat there, thinking. Trying to dig up memories. I even pulled up my code to try to find an answer, but no dice. Maybe I’m a friggin’ amnesiac. Great, I thought to myself.

Then, Percy brought a chunk of code from a virus he and his squad took down one day.

“It… reminded me of you. I mean, not in the way you think! It… looked a lot like you. Again, not what you think!” He blurted out, shuffling his feet. He put the chunk into my hands.

“It had a screen for a face, lots of purples, greens, blacks… Maybe.. You share a creator?” Percy knew about my longing to find my creator. Every day since then, he kept bringing me bits of code from viruses he thought shared a lot in common with me. I noticed he was slowly getting more hesitant with giving me the code, but he ended up delivering.

I stared at the information I complied, twisting a part of my hat between my fingers. I had brought up the code in each fragment, and my own code. Percy had assumed right. Many of the same executables were in my and the others’ code. Percy was sitting next to me, fidgeting, shuffling, and generally being uncomfortable.

“Are you… sure about this? This could be… very dangerous to say the least,” he uttered at last, breaking the silence.

“I ain’t about to waste my time. I’ve spent days trying to scratch this itch, and this is the place that this code originates from,” I pointed a claw at sloppily scribbled down locations on a notepad, poking at a specific one. “I’m gonna get to the bottom of this. Maybe even stop that constant stream of viruses you keep dealing with.”

I glanced down at Percy, who was spinning his helmet in his hands. He brushed away a lock of bright red hair. I never expected him to be a redhead, to be honest. The kid looked at me with weary green eyes. Apparently, he had been fighting these things, day in, day out. I felt pretty bad for him.

“That would be nice… but those viruses are not something to scoff at. I can’t imagine what their creator is like…,” Percy replied, his fingers drumming on his helmet.

“Eh, probably pretty weak if they keep hidin’ behind troops,” I snarkily said, giving a quick shrug.

“But, what if they’re not?! And you’re going alone!”

“No, I ain’t! I’m bringin’ you!”

“WAIT, WHAT?!” Percy sprung up, his voice raising. I flinched. I never expected this squirt to raise his voice like that, and it was quite startling. He shrank back as he saw my surprise. “Sor… sorry. Didn’t intend for that to come out as loud..”

“It’s alright, kid. Means you’re getting a little tougher!” I brushed it off, giving a small chuckle to ease Percy’s embarrassment.

He relaxed a bit, but not much. Percy sighed. “Alright… when are we going?” He stared at me with a defeated and irritated look. He appeared… frustrated to say the least.

“Tomorrow, hopefully,” I patted his shoulder. “Get some rest, kid. Get ready to break some rules and curfew, too.”

Percy tensed up at the mentioned rule-breaking, but kept his mouth shut. I gave him a small smile.

We said our goodbyes, and Percy left. I then thought about leaving right then and there. He seemed so reluctant to help me.. It honestly irritated me. Why would you pass up the chance to help somebody recover their memories? People in all those romantic-amnesiac stories do it! Ugh.

Hopefully, he doesn’t chicken out of this. I’ve been planning this for so long now… I tapped a claw on my screen, gazing back at all the code.

“Overclocked…, “ I murmured.

Percy’s POV

Annihilate

The roar of the motorcycle engine blared in my ears. I took a risky glance behind me, looking at Jesse. She didn’t make eye contact, still staring at the sky. I returned my gaze to the landscape, quietly sighing.

The ride kept silent for a few more minutes, before Jesse cried out, “STOP!”

I squeezed the brakes of the motorcycle, lurching forwards. Jesse screeched as she was flung off the motorcycle. I slammed the front of my helmet into the display. I let out a groan as I lifted my head back up.

Jesse’s screen was imbedded into the ground, her claws scratching away. Muffled profanities were let out a mile a minute. I scrambled off the motorcycle, and grabbed her legs. I tugged, and a loud, almost comedic, “pop!” sound accompanied her face being freed.

We both stumbled backwards, and I happened to trip. Jesse followed suit, falling on top of me. I felt as all the air was squished out of my lungs.

“God, Percy, at least give me a warning before you brake check! That frickin’ hurt!” She berated me.

“Sorry….”

Jesse pushed herself up, off of my chest. She spun her arm in a circle, groaning a bit. I straightened my helmet, and got up.

“What did you see?” I inquired.

“Don’t you see that castle in front of us?!” I stared at where Jesse gestured to, but saw nothing. Just open air.

“Ugh. Of course you can’t see it. Just… cross your eyes or somethin’. Stare really hard,” she huffed, putting her hands on her hips.

I squinted, and tried to focus my vision on a “castle”. I expected to see nothing, just like before. But, to my shock, I could make out the hazy outline of a palace. Pure, snow white blocks seemed to make up the building. It was like a castle you’d see in a child’s amusement park.

Jesse tugged on the green cuffs on her wrists. “So… this is where it began. Where I began.”

“But… why does… it look like that? So… whimsical. This isn’t a place where monsters spawn….”

Jesse’s eyes narrowed.  “Just because it looks so pretty on the outside doesn’t mean it’s pretty on the inside.”

“That is true….”

Jesse marched forwards. She placed her hands on what appeared to be a door, and gave a hard shove. The entirety of the castle finally solidified, and I could see balconies, towers, windows…

“Ay, we’re comin’ in, whether you like it or not!” Jesse shouted.

“Wait, Jesse, please don’t…,” I started to protest, but Jesse sprinted inside, “...rush.” I groaned in mild exasperation, then jogged in after her.

The interior was just as white as the exterior. It was almost painful to see all this stark white. Jesse was experiencing the same blindness, shielding her screen with her hand.

“Holy crap, this is excessive.” Jesse growled. “It’s quite a way to welcome visitors. Hey guys! Welcome to my house! Have fun going blind,” she rattled off in a mocking tone.

“Oh, that was most unkind.” Suddenly, a disembodied voice rang out. “I wouldn’t dare insult your home, so why insult mine?”

“‘Cause it’s gaudy as all get out, dude! Tone down the white, man!” Jesse snapped back. I glanced around the wide room. It was huge, with many hallways leading out, and a pair of staircases leading higher into the palace. Whoever said that, they could be hiding anywhere.

“Mm. Little brats,” the voice hissed, and a loud “crack!” came from the floor beneath us. We had little time to react, Jesse couldn’t even scream out a swear before the floor gave way, plunging us into the inky abyss.

I felt like I was in freefall for a few minutes, before smashing into the ground. I felt my armor crack, my pauldron break, and my gauntlet smash. Jesse screeched as she also made contact with the floor. She sounded so far away, even though we were standing side by side on the upper floor.

“I can’t see anything! Why can’t I see anything?!” Jesse wailed, sounding terrified. She must have been so used to being able to see her surroundings in murky darkness, that this… even blacker darkness caught her off guard.

I ran my fingers over a crack in my helmet. “Jesse?!” I shouted.

“Percy?!” I heard her response. I picked myself up, attempting to trace where Jesse’s voice came from. Whatever this room was, it echoed all the sounds we made, making very difficult to say where a sound originated from.

We kept up this game of Marco Polo with our names, before Jesse yelled out, “Hey!” and then let out a frightened shriek. My blood turned into Freon, sending painful chills up my spine. I yanked my helmet off, trying to pick up sounds.

I heard two people struggling, fighting. I was calmed by only a slight margin. At least Jesse wasn’t going down without a fight.

I had to help her. I scrambled around in the blanket of black, following sounds, and hurriedly changing directions when the sound moved. I froze, when the fighting stopped.

“Jesse?! Please! Are you okay?!” I shouted out into the void. A pained cry was my answer, that quickly morphed into a monstrous roar. Then the lights flashed on, blinding me.

A loud cackle bounced around in the room.

“Finally! After all this time! JE-C! You were such a pain to get a hold of! For so long you evaded me! But, now.. You get to fulfill your purpose!” The voice cheered excitedly, like a kid who just got his most wanted Christmas present.

I scanned the room. No Jesse. I could hear her voice, though. Where was she?!

“Purpose.. I don’t want…,” Jesse’s voice replied. Then she screamed in anguish. “I don’t to… fulfill this frickin’ purpose… If this is what you wanted me to be! Who are you?! What did… did you do to me?!”

“You don’t even remember me? Your creator?” The voice sounded offended. “Ah. That darn memory leak did a number on you. Unfortunate, really,” the voice scoffed. “I’m taking back my creation. Wouldn’t you want to reclaim something you lost long ago, and spent so much time searching for?”

I stared at the hole in the ceiling in which we fell through. Was Jesse somehow brought back up there?

“Though, taking you back would be quite tedious with your free will I gave you. So… I took care of that blemish on my plans. And that small, meek frame you had proved too weak. I turned to something… more traditional,” they let out a small chuckle.

I clenched my fists. “What did you do to her?! Tell me! Now!” I felt something bubbling up inside me. I was mad. Angry. Furious.

“Eugh. Forgot about you. You think you’re some knight in shining armor? Well, you’re not. However, JE-C will need a while to get accustomed to its new programming, so I’ll inform you.” Whoever this was, they loved to talk..

“I made JE-C to be the best virus ever created. There were many prototypes, such as JE-B, JE-A, you get the point. Then, I made JE-C! Its frame was made to make it blend in with A.I’s like you, and then effortlessly rip them apart!” If I could see this person, I bet they would be gesturing enthusiastically.

A deflated wail quietly echoed in the room, and a dull thud came afterwards. “But, when I released JE-C into the world, I must have made an error. It suffered a memory leak. Lost its directive, some of its powers, and some other crucial memories. A shame, really. I thought I would never get it back. But, it walked right into my hands! I suppose that memory leak affected its intelligence as well!” The voice simply ignored the sounds.

I took another look around the room. I noticed a small hallway, and what appeared to be stairs. Well, at least I knew my exit route.

“Oh, you finally saw the stairs? You think you’re getting out of here alive? JE-C, with your new body, get rid of that pest!” The voice exclaimed. The floor below my boots quaked, huge cracks beginning to form. I only took a step back before a beast erupted out of the ground. White blocks scattered everywhere.

Four hands slammed into the ground, claws gouging ruts into the blocks. Rows of sharp, jet black teeth greeted me, and a cracked screen sat above the wicked smile. Curled black horns framed the sides of its… her face.

I stared down my friend, who’d been unwillingly turned into a murderous beast. Her target? Me.

Jesse raised up, straightening her back. Four spikes jutted out from either side of her back. Four arms floated at her sides, a bigger pair at her shoulders, and a smaller one at her torso. A guttural sound came from the smashed screen, barely resembling a chuckle.

I shoved my helmet back onto my head. My chest rapidly raised and fell. My arms and legs were trembling.  “Jesse… what… what did they do to you?”

Jesse flinched at the sound of her name. She let out another sound, a whimper. She placed a claw on the screen on her forehead. I took a step towards her, ignoring my rational thought and my legs turning to jelly.

“I know this isn’t… this isn’t you! You know better!” I yelled at her.

She stooped down to my level. “I… I know… better. Per...cy? I don’t… don’t want. Don’t want!” She screeched, as her grip tightened on her screen, claws raking against it.

“I know you don’t want this! Please! I know you’re strong enough to fight it! I know you’re in there somewhere!” I cried out, and I felt tears stinging my eyes.

Jesse seemed to gain more and more sanity with each word I screamed at her.

Her manic grin softened. It was still twisted into a smile, but it appeared to be smaller and less crazed. I was making progress! I thought that her free will had been removed, but I didn’t want to jinx myself.

She spoke out again, her voice sounding relatively normal. “Percy… I’m so… so sorry for  bringing you here… I was so selfish… I… only thought about myself during this whole thing… It’s been utterly awful,” she growled, “I’m so stupid.” I heard something in her voice I’ve never heard from her: regret, fear, and shame.

I cupped my hands around her “face”, careful not to touch the horns.

“It’s fine.” It wasn’t fine, but I didn’t want to make the situation worse. At least we’re both alive.

“I’m so sorry… Just leave me here,” Jesse pleaded.

I was preparing to argue back, but my words caught in my throat when the sound of a knife running through a body rang clear.

A snow white blade was sticking through Jesse’s chest, a black ooze dripping from the wound and the weapon. Her form flickered, and morphed back into the familiar body she had before. Glass shards fell from her screen, and more black liquid poured from there. She slumped forwards, still bleeding.

“D’aww. Just like the movies. They share a touching moment, both developing a deeper bond. Then one perishes. How cute,” the voice returned with a smug vengeance. “Shame I had to end it this quick, though… I guess my update was a little too sloppy. Ah well, we all make mistakes! You should all know this, especially you, JE-C.”

Jesse, somehow still alive, quietly spawned a weakly glowing cube in her palm. I had never seen her do this before, so I was dumbfounded. She aimed it backwards, and blasted it towards… nothing. However, it collided with something, which then hissed in pain. The air shimmered, revealing a small white wisp with the same screen face as Jesse, just with a large crack straight down the middle. There was a burn mark on its side, where Jesse’s last retaliation hit it. Two white tentacles came from its back, one extended towards Jesse: the blade that stabbed her.

The tentacle-turned-blade withdrew from Jesse, causing her to fall onto me. Black ooze splattered onto my armor, and covered my gloves. If I squinted, I could see small bits of glowing code floating aimlessly inside the liquid. I instinctively wrapped my arms around her, as if I was making an effort to keep her safe from any further harm. A fruitless endeavor, yes, considering her situation, but I felt like I needed to do it.

The wisp turned towards my direction. “It did say it wanted to stay here, am I correct? And you didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to make a choice, so I made it for you!” They haughtily laughed. They raised their arms, which were just like tentacles, just coming off their shoulders.

“Who are you?! Why did you do it, if you said she was your best virus?! Why off her just like that, if she was nothing but trash to you?!” I hissed, tears streaming from my eyes.

The wisp brushed their chest off with their arm. “Oh, you’re annoying. But, since you just watched your supposed “friend” die, I’ll humor you. I am Overclocked,” they bowed, if they were such a big deal. They weren’t. “I was created to bring chaos into your world, and make it spread into the human’s world as well. And if I can’t fulfill my purpose…,” they shifted to gaze at Jesse’s body, “I might as well be dead. Besides, it would have torn itself apart anyways. I overclocked it past its limits, which isn’t the most pleasant experience. It would most likely kill itself trying to end the pain, after it killed you. But, I can always make more. Takes an painfully large amount of time, energy, and resources, but I’ll make another one. Well, ta-ta,” Overclocked cackled, before disappearing into a mist.

I looked at Jesse’s limp corpse. “Oh, Jesse…,” I murmured, before scooping her up. I looked towards the staircase I discovered earlier. I hoped it would take me to the main floor.

I rushed up the stairs, and every step I took, the stairwell crumbled more and more. Jesse’s head and feet scraped against the walls. I reached the top, and scrambled into the room. Thankfully, it was the one we entered.

Unfortunately, there was a huge hole in front of the door, where we came in and fell. All of my self control and rational thought had been overcome with pure grief, however, so I decided to bite the bullet and jump.

If I failed, we would both tumble down to where we were, and since the staircase gave way, there would be no way up, most likely.

I kept running, and pushed away from the edge of the crater, sailing across. Time seemed to slow down, as I hung in the air.

I crashed down into the doorway, curling around Jesse’s body. I hastily pushed myself up, and fled the castle. I set Jesse’s corpse onto the motorcycle parked outside, sat down, and revved the engine.

Tears clouded my vision, so I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy ride. I let out a ragged breath, and sped away.