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Everyone stood stock still, staring at the boy.
Enzo frowned. "Hey, what's going on?" He asked. "Dot, why are you staring at me like that?" He climbed to his feet.
"It's- it's nothing, little brother," Dot said, kneeling down and giving his cap a spin.
Enzo gave her a quizzical look. "But what's going on? Why are you guys dressed like that, and who are they?" He asked, pointing to Matrix, AndrAIa, and Ray.
"Enzo," Dot said, "there's a lot I have to explain to you. But it can wait. Let's go get an energy shake, okay?"
"Uh, sure, Dot." The boy still looked confused, but he followed his sister from the steps of the Principal Office.
"Well, this is certainly an interesting turn of events," AndrAIa commented after the pair were out of earshot.
Matrix groaned. "I switched my icon when I was talking to Mr. Pearson. I must have forgotten to switch it back." He covered his face with his hand. "I don't believe this."
Ray glanced at Matrix and AndrAIa, then over at Mouse. "I take it I'm missing something here, luv? Who was the kid?"
"It's a long story, sugah," she sighed.
----
"Enzo...talk to me." AndrAIa was sitting on the end of the bed in the small temporary quarters they'd been given in the P.O. Matrix stood with his back to the small window, staring at the blank grey wall. He didn't respond. She stood and walked over to him. "Please?"
His face contorted in something akin to confusion mixed with frustration. "There's nothing to talk about." He sighed, then winced at the pain that lanced through his chest.
AndrAIa saw the flash of pain cross his face. "Enzo? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, fine," he said stiffly.
"No you're not," she sighed. She hated it when he got hard-headed on her. She reached up and began undoing the clasps on his vest. She peeled it back and gasped at the extensive bruises that mottled his chest. "Enzo!" She exclaimed with a mixture of shock and dismay.
"It's nothing. I'm fine," he repeated.
"That, Enzo Matrix, is not fine," she said, pointing to the bruises. "You're going to get that looked at if I have to drag your ASCII in there myself."
He gave her a pleading look but she wasn't going to back down. She knew he wasn't fond of diagnostic programs, but this wasn't something that was just going to go away in a cycle or two. His shoulders slumped in defeat when he realized she wasn't going to give in. "Fine," he muttered.
----
Dot sat at the bar of the diner long after closing time, a
half dozen vidwindows spread out before her. It was mindless
busywork, making sure all her accounts were in order after the
restart, but it kept her mind off of more serious matters.
She felt as if she were still in a state
of shock. Not that anyone would blame her, she was sure. After
all, she’d been commanding rebel forces one nano, and the
next, she’d had her entire life hand back to her. A dream
come true, or so it seemed. The problem was, below the surface,
that dream was more like a nightmare.
She’d done her best to
explain the situation to Enzo, and though the boy was quiet for a
long time, probably processing the information, he seemed to be
fairly okay with the circumstances. She, on the other hand, was
not copping nearly as well.
 For once, she wished she had the
boy’s adaptability. Frankly, everything that had happened
had left her reeling.
The situation with her brother,
*brothers* she corrected, wasn’t the only thing on her mind.
Her mind kept drifting back to Bob. They’d crossed a major
boundary that afternoon, and she didn’t know exactly where
that left them. She felt awkward about the whole thing now, and
was rather glad he hadn’t put in an appearance since
she’d left for the dinner with Enzo.
One by one, she reluctantly closed
all the vidwindows and locked up the dinner, making the short
walk to her home.
----
“What?” Matrix stared at Mouse in disbelief.
“Ah said, you’re gonna have t’ leave your icon in game sprite mode ‘till we get this all sorted out, sugah. The system can’t handle two icons with the same PID and name attached t’ them. Phong’s got me workin’ on the problem, but it’s gonna take a few cycles.
“Great. Just alphanumeric,” the large sprite muttered.
“It also means you’re gonna have t’ stay away from the games,” she added more gently.
“Though that’s probably a good thing. Y’ look like somethin’ Frisket dragged in.”
“Gee, thanks Mouse,” he retorted sullenly.
“Ah’m sorry, sugah. If Ah could et this fixed any faster, Ah would. But far as I know, this hasn’t happened before, so Ah’m gonna have t’ wing it. Ah’ll let y’ know if anything changes.”
He nodded. “Thanks...I’m sorry for- well, I know it’s not your fault.”
“Ah can’t even begin t’ imagine how strange this all must be for ya. Ah don’t blame you for being on edge.”
“Well, I wish you’d tell that to Dot,” he muttered.
“She givin’ ya a hard time?”
“She keeps...staring at me, Mouse. It’s weird.”
“Well, Ah’ll talk to her for ya.”
“Thanks Mouse.”
She waves off the thanks. “No problem. Playin’ councilor seems to have become part of the Mouse’s job description.” She grinned and left the room. A moment later, she peeked her head around the corner. “Oh, and sugah? For such a scrawny li’l kid, ya sure did turn out cute!” She winked and vanished from sight.
Matrix shook his head. “Same old Mouse...”
----
Dot leaned her head in her hand and stared forlornly at her cup of Java. “I just don’t know, Mouse! How do I deal with this? He’s my brother- I raised him all by myself after our father-” She stopped mid-sentence, trying to reign in her emotions. She and Mouse had become good friends in the time they’d spent defending Mainframe...but there were still some things that were too painful to talk about. “I should know him like no one else, and yet, when I try to talk to him, it’s like he’s an utter stranger. And he looks so much like Dad...I don’t think he even realizes it. I just can’t cope with this!”
“Dot, hun, you and Ah both know that’s a load of spam. You’ve gotten through much worse scrapes than this and lived t’ tell the tale.”
Dot sighed. “You’re right. It’s just that there’s so much on my mind. Phong and I are still tracking down system glitches, and then there’s this whole thing with Bob...”
“Hold up. What thing with Bob? Sure looked to me like you two had everything sorted out...”
Dot smiled weakly. “That’s just the thing. What do I say to him now? I gave up on him, Mouse!”
“And I told you none of that make any difference now.”
Dot shook her head. “I- I just need time to sort things out in my head,” she said. “I’m not ready to deal with this all at once. Can we please talk about something besides my wreck of a personal life? What about the Surfer...Bob says we can trust him...what do you think?”
Mouse grinned. “Well, now, sugah. Ah’d tell ya what Ah really think of him, but Ah don’t think you’d want t’ hear it.”
“Mouse!”
Mouse chuckled at the shocked expression on Dot’s face. “But seriously, Ah think we can trust him. Matrix might not like him much, but Ah think that’s got more t’ do with jealousy than anything else.”
“Yeah,” Dot mused. “That’s another thing that’s been on my mind...when did he and AndrAIa get so close?”
“Ah imagine game hoppin’ gets mighty lonely. ‘Sides, I seem to remember AndrAIa bein’ awful sweet on him when they were still little sprites...”
“You say that like it was hours ago...” “It was hours ago, to them anyway. Best if we just start thinkin’ the same way. Less confusion.”
“Well, I don’t think things could possibly get any *more* confusing,” she replied wryly and stood from the booth. “Well, Phong is expecting us. We shouldn’t keep him waiting. Did you talk to En- Matrix about the problem we’re having with the PIDs?”
“Ah did.”
“And?”
“He didn’t seem too pleased at havin’ t’ stay away from the games. Probably for the best though. Ah think ol’ MB did a lot more damage than that boy’s willing to admit.”
Dot nodded mutely and the two left the Diner for the Principal Office.
----
“What? You’ve got to be kidding me.” Matrix gave his sister a pleading look. “Tell me she’s kidding.”
Dot sighed. “I’m afraid not, little brother. It’s the only option we have. We can’t alter the PIDs, so we need to find some way to distinguish between them.”
“This is my name we’re talking about!” He shouted. “Are you trying to take away everything I ever had?”
“Enzo! Please, calm down. It’s just for the official records. Besides, you’ve got everyone calling you ‘Matrix’ now anyway. I don’t see why-”
“How would you like it if someone told you you had to change your name?”
“It’s not like we did it on purpose! There isn’t another option! Enzo is still a little sprite. I doubt he even really understands everything that’s happened. I don’t want to disrupt his life any more than it already has been...”
“His life? What about mine?”
“Hey, why don’t we all just cool down a little here,” Mouse interjected. “It’s not like we can change anything. This is the way it’s got to be. Ah’m sorry about that, Matrix, and if there were any other way, believe me, Ah’d tell ya. No one is tryin’ t’ replace you or take away your life or anything like that.”
“Enzo,” AndrAIa spoke up softly, “Let’s just go for now. You’re going to need some time to think this over. And Mouse is right. Arguing about it isn’t going to change things.”
Matrix sighed and nodded. The two left the P.O. without another word.
“That could have gone better,” Dot sighed.
“Did you really expect it to? That boy’s been through more than any one of us excepting maybe Bob, and here we are askin’ him t’ give up the only thing he’s got left from before Megabyte turned our lives upside down.”
”I really wish there were another way...but there just isn’t.”
----
“Enzo! Will you please calm down?”
“Why? Give me one good reason why I should calm down.”
“Well, for one, you’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t. Those ribs need time to heal and stomping around her punching the walls is not going to help.”
He scowled and sank down on the edge of the bed. “This is a mess.”
She sat down beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I know. I wish there were something I could do for you, lover. But there isn’t. And it’s like Dot said, this is only for the official records. You’ll always be Enzo Matrix.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek.
“What about him?”
AndrAIa laughed. “Well, just think of it as a chance to play older brother. You should be glad to have such a great family. It must be nice.”
He glanced over at her, a ashamed look on his face. “I’m sorry AndrAIa. Here I am complaining about having too much family...”
“Hey, don’t feel guilty Enzo. After all, it’s not like I know what I’m missing. Besides, you’re all the family I need.”
He reached over and pulled her into his arms. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you.” He murmured. She smiled broadly at him and leaned back contentedly in his arms.
----
“Enzo?” AndrAIa called groggily, sitting u an peering into the darkness. “Is something wrong?”
“Couldn’t sleep,” he replied. “I guess I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No. I’m just going to go for a walk. Go back to sleep.” He walked over to the bed and leaned down to kiss her quickly. “I’ll be back soon.”
He left the darkened Principal Office and headed out into the quiet streets of Mainframe. It was past powerdown, and the inhabitants of the city were all in their homes, getting some well deserved downtime. He had the city to himself. Which is why he was rather surprised to spot a lone figure leaning against one of the trees that overhung the data stream in Floating Point park. A very familiar figure, easily distinguished by the faint glow of her electric orange hair.
“Mouse? What are you doing here?”
“Ah could ask you the same thing, sugah,” she replied, glancing over at the rogue Guardian.
“Couldn’t sleep. Guess I’ve got a lot to sort out.”
“Funny, your sister said the same thing.”
“You talked to her?”
“You did ask me too. What, ya thought Ah wasn’t gonna keep my word?”
“I didn’t mean- what did she say?”
“She felt bad because she thinks she ought to know you better. But if ya ask me, Ah think she’s still feeling guilty for letting you and AndrAIa into the games.”
He shook his head. “She did the right thing. We survived, we found Bob, and now we’re all home again.”
“You should tell her that,” Mouse replied, and glanced away to stare out at the data stream. “You taken a good long look in the mirror lately?” she asked after a few nanos.
“No,” he replied, puzzled. “Why?”
“Oh, no reason, really. Just that I’ve got it on good authority ya look an awful lot like your daddy.”
Matrix frowned, unable to reply. His memories of his father weren’t very clear. Most of what he knew about the man came from photos and stories Dot had told him. “Mouse, why are you out here...” The question died on his lips when he realized he was alone. The enigmatic hacker had slipped away without even the slightest sound to betray her departure.
----
“So, we ready t’ do this?”
“Yeah,” Matrix replied. Mouse typed a few commands into the console in front of her.
“So, what are we changing this to, hun?”
“Henry,” he replied. “It was...my dad’s name.”
“Henry Matrix. Ah like it. It suits ya,” she replied with a slight smile. She set to work typing things into the registry. After a few micros she glances back up. “That ought t’ do it. You can switch your icon back now.”
Matrix reached over and taped the icon and it made the transformation back to the standard Guardian icon.
Mouse glanced down at the screen before her. “It worked.”
“And not a nano too soon.” Dot stood in the doorway of the room. “We’re going to be late to the production.”
“Hey, Dot, could you hold up a nano?”
“Sure thing, little brother. What’s up?” She walked into the room and leaned on one of the consoles.
“Uh,” He glanced away from her for a second before meeting her gaze. “I don’t want you to feel guilty...about letting AndrAIa and I play the games. It was the right thing to do.”
“I guess I can’t help thinking about how things could have been different, but that’s all sort of pointless now, isn’t it?” She sighed. “So, what did you decide on?”
He looked up at her. “Henry.”
She smiled softly at him. “What made you decide on that?”
“Something Mouse told me....well, something you said actually. That I look a lot like him.” He shrugged. “I don’t really know. It just seemed right.”
Dot nodded. “You’re right. And you do look like him.” She walked over and linked arms with her younger brother. “You know, I think he’d be very proud of you, Enzo.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Together they left the Principal Office.
Fin