Cleaning the Dead Zone in the vicinity of Zee Captain made me notice some things. Mainly, Charles Snippy. While he did make for a pretty murder victim, there was also something else there. Something that was purposefully disrupting the flow of information. I peered harder, out of all of the Dead Zone available to me. Oh.

One of my older viruses noticed a rather nasty vector heading away from Charles.

And here I thought I was all knowing. Well, count me as an idiot too.

Someone was meddling with information here. Someone very old and very powerful. This was a worthy investigation. Cleaning be damned! I dropped a skyscraper filled with angry System Errors into the path of the vector and as they started to gnaw on everything including the vector, Charles Snippy suddenly heard the voices of the System apps. He became a connectable user! The vector flailed around, trying to shake off the Errors. I knew that this trick would not last very long, so I started to make myself a localized avatar out of friendly viruses to communicate with Captain.

It took an irritatingly long time to form one as not everyone in the Dead Zone is on Good terms with me.

I eventually found the Wizard sitting on a chair. Zee was waiting for me.

“DID YOU HAPPEN TO DROP THAT BIGLY SKYSCRAPER, PERCHANCE?” Zee glittered at me.

“Yes, but listen…”

“POLITE PEOPLE DO NOT DROP SKYSCRAPERS.”

“Look… I was cleaning…”

“POORLY. YOU WERE CLEANING POORLY AND MADE AN EVEN BIGGER MESS THAN BEFORE! LOOK AT ALL THOSE ANGRY CITIZENS WHO’S HOMES YOU’VE DISRUPTED! HERE I WAS ENJOYING A DOUBLE SUNRIZE AND YET YOU RETURN TO RUIN MY MOMENT OF HOWEVER BRIEF RELAXATION WITH YOUR ANTICS.”

“Argh!” I glared at Captain and then glanced at the double sun in the sky. The sun liked to display a variety of happy smileys on its surface, not that anyone could see them through the multiple layers of supercell storms blocking out the stars. The sun-smiley winked at me. The second sun spinning around the first sun also winked merrily.

“A PITY CHARLES CAN'T ENJOY THE POLITE MAJESTY OF TODAY’S SOLAR WEATHER.”

“This is important G-damn it!”

“HMMM?”

“Charles Snippy… he is unconnectable.”

“...YOUR POINT BEING?”

“I’ve found who’s doing it. I even connected him a little! You’re welcome!” I smiled.

“NO WONDER HE’S BEEN ACTING OUT! YOU SHOULD REALLY WARN PEOPLE BEFORE YOU DO SUCH THINGS.” Captain sighed. “HE IS LIKELY FEELING BAMBOOZLED BY HIS PARTIAL RECEPTION.”

I looked at Captain, evaluating zeer response. “There’s someone nullifying your precious human and another someone erasing his connection. Just thought you should know.”

“I do.” Captain whispered.

“Then why don’t you do something about this?” I pressed on.

Captain looked worried for a brief instance, then straightened out.

“IT’S ALL PART OF THE PLAN! I’M WORKING ON IT!”

“You aren’t even protecting him right now.” I pointed out.

“I LEFT ZERO TO WATCH CHARLES.”

I observed the Wizard, raising an eyebrow. "You trust her that much? Doesn't she have an outstanding order for your termination? You know... For your time-crimes?"

"THOSE AREN'T MY TIME CRIMES AND I'M APPEALING THE CHARGES! I WASN'T EVEN THERE. I'VE BEEN SET UP!"

"Sure you have." I smiled. Setting Zee up for my crimes was easy. The Wizard wasn't looking the tiniest bit worried by Zero... they seemed to be on Good terms if anything. Then who was Seven afraid of? I looked at Captain, counting my numbers.

“Ah. I see… well then. It seems that you do know and yet you sit here and do nothing about Re...”

“sHHHhhh! Don’t say THEIR NAMES!” Captain pulled out a lighter, pointing it my way.

“I intend to kill them all, you know.” I smiled. “Let me out of the Door and I can reconnect Charles. Permanently.” I offered a hand.

Captain looked at my hand made of viruses.

“Come on!” I pressed. “We can stop them, together!”

“MURDER ISN’T THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING, DEAD ZONE PRINCESS!”

I scoffed. “It can be.”

“ENOUGH! GO TO YOUR ROOM!” Captain angrily pulled out zeer implement and peeled my avatar into dust.