Ceno ran his hands through his distinctive blue hair, gaze firmly locked onto the gently shimmering surface of a holographic screen. His two Digitized companions, Iyanna and Zvezda, stood on either side of him, observing the display with far less intensity.

“She’s been there for almost two months,” he muttered, frowning. His outline shimmered and sparked, a telltale sign of emotional turmoil. His mechanical eye darted toward Iyanna, zooming in on her pixelated face. “We need to make our move now. This has to be where the Shadow Virus is hiding. I think—”

“By now, she must have noticed we’ve been tracking her,” Zvezda said dreamily, levitating a foot off the ground. Her hands crackled with electricity. “It could be a trick.” She smiled faintly.

“I don’t think so,” Ceno shook his head. “She would have tried to misdirect us or disable the device, if she knew... unless he’s got her trapped there. Maybe... he wants us to find him? Maybe he’s infected her, and wants us to come running right to him, so that he and his new friend can corrupt the rest of us.” He sighed raggedly. “I’m not strong enough to battle two viruses at once. He knows that.”

Iyanna’s form distorted as she studied the screen. She scowled at the little blinking dot in the center of the display that marked the precise location of the digitalized girl they’d discovered months ago. Ceno could sense an increasing instability in her energy. He subtly edged further away from her, concerned that her pixelation was about to turn hazardous. 

Iyanna rubbed her eyes. Pixels darted between her shivering fingers. She was still feeling the effects of the Shadow Virus’s attack, though nearly eight weeks had passed. He had not tried to kill them, this time. His sole objective was to grab the girl and get out. But still his abhorrent powers had wreaked havoc on them all.

Ceno’s mechanical eye roved back to the screen, focusing sharply on the little blip he’d relentlessly watched for so many hours. The glitch girl had remained in approximately the same location for all this time. Was it by choice? Was she really in league with the Shadow Virus, as Ceno suspected? Was she a corrupted monster hidden behind an angelic face? Even if she hadn’t been a monster before her capture, the Shadow Virus could have easily infected her anytime within the past fifty-five days.

“Did you see the news yesterday?” Zvezda asked. “The Shadow Virus attacked the Aksyonov Institute of Technology. It was supposed to be so advanced and secure, but now it’s nothing but a pile of exploded bits.”

“What?” Ceno’s organic eye widened. Grim determination filled his face. “That settles it. Let’s go. We have no excuse. We know where the virus lives, and we’re the only ones with the power to exterminate it.”

“Yes,” Iyanna nodded in agreement, pixels shooting from her eyelashes.

“I don’t like confrontation,” Zvezda murmured, as electric fury danced across her fingertips. The light reflected off her translucent skin, and she smiled. “But I do love letting my power run free...”

Ceno stood, shutting off the screen with a blink. He had been staring at that dot marked ‘Evaline Malece’ for far too long, obsessively recording her movements through the Shadow Virus’s lair, imagining what she was doing and saying and thinking. Ceno secretly hoped that the girl was fighting the Shadow Virus, battling ferociously against his evil, parasitic designs, but he doubted this was the case. Knowing the young woman’s history, she was likely enamored with the Shadow Virus’s sadistic nature. She had probably asked him to infect her, to grant her more destructive potential.

Ceno grimaced. Oh, how he hated the thought of the Shadow Virus and Eva Malece on the same side, a villainous duo razing City 75505 to the ground, together.

But there was nothing he could do to change reality.