Alesa's POV
Some Glitches found the transition from the real world to the mainframe disorientating or nauseous, but I found it quite comfortable; relaxing, even. The whole dissolving-reforming process made me feel alive and as soon as my body reformed, I dropped to a crouch, ready to leap out of the way as soon as something attacked, looking around to get my bearings.

The mainframe was like a second layer of our world, mostly black but with strips of green code dashing across it. Small dimly flickering orbs showed where the computers were, each orb filled with the tiny green codes of files. Some were shattered and lying on the ground in shards of red, damage that can only be caused by a virus.

Ty stood a few rows of desks to my left, also looking around. "I'm not seeing any viruses Jason, can you find them?"

"I'm trying to hunt down the trojan," Jason's voice crackled through the earpieces. "The worm is moving pretty fast but he'll be nearing you guys in a few seconds."

"Then let's set up a welcoming party," I said, taking my two coiled chains and flicking them out to their full length. At the end of each was a small leaden weight that clicked a little against the ground.

Ty looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Planning on tangling him?"

"If we get his legs, he can't run," I reasoned quickly as I moved to duck down behind a desk. "Easy target."

"Right, because everything in our lives is simple."

I raised my head enough so that he could see that I was sticking my tongue out at him. "Just get your sword ready."

He had the nerve to laugh as he ducked down behind another desk and not a moment too late either, as Jason warned "Incoming!" and a bright red flash of light came whizzing out of one of the computers, smashing through another one and causing it to burst into bright red shards. A laugh came from it but it quickly changed to a yelp as I rose and flicked one of my chains at it. My reach was a bit off so instead of wrapping around the virus, the lead weight only hit it and it went crashing down, taking a human form as it fell.

The worm now looked like a young man with a grey shirt and navy pants, with a sword sheath on his back, the brown strap holding it cutting across his chest. He wore sunglasses which instantly made me think of Adam but I pushed the thought aside because this wasn't Adam; this was a virus.

"Hey, a Glitch!" the virus said with a wide grin. "Come to join in the fun?"

"Where's your trojan buddy?" I asked.

I heard a few taps through my earpiece and then Jason's calm voice saying "Already on it, but the firewall's going to take a while, it's pretty damaged." Ty must have tapped out a message to him but I kept my focus on the virus.

"Oh, they're out and about," the virus said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "I wouldn't worry about that trojan. You've got bigger problems on your hands. Out here all alone aren't you?"

I scoffed. "Have you ever seen a Glitch alone?"

The worm grinned. "Well then, I'll get going, nice to meet you."

His body dissolved into bright red coding in the shape of a human as he jumped up and made to sprint away. I flicked out my chains and he was only partially able to dodge them, one ending up wrapped around his leg as the other pinned his arms to his chest. Ty leapt out of his hiding place, his sword already drawn and he slashed for the virus.

But the worm was already off balance from getting up and my hit made him lose his balance, leaving Ty's blade to only hit the chains, which loosened them up enough for the virus to slip his arms free and dash off, laughing and catcalling.

Ty swore. "You find the trojan, I'll hunt the worm down," he said quickly as he also dissolved into bright green codes and raced after the virus.

Even though the worm was faster than him, I didn't doubt Ty's ability to catch up. His speed and agility was above that of most Glitches (I was the exception, but I was technically part virus) and with all the viruses we have been fighting lately, he had come up with a few tricks that made up for his lack of speed.

That left me with the trojan. Yippee.

"Jason, can you give me a clue as to where that trojan is?" I asked, looking around the mainframe.

"It must be in a computer somewhere, I can't quite- wait, duck!"

Without hesitating, I all but threw myself to the ground and felt something split the air above me. I looked up to see a second hovering red globe of light and I rose to my knees and lashed my chains at it. It ducked and weaved around and I rolled out of the way as it whizzed towards me again.

"Can you stay still so that I can blow your brains out?" came a voice from the sphere.

"You guys seem to have a habit of doing that," I said, standing up. "But I like my brains where they are."

I could have sworn that the virus flashed a smile at me as it said "Find me if you can, Glitch!" and it darted away into another computer orb, my chains moving just a bit too late and hitting the orb itself, which shuddered and red coding flashed inside it.

"Careful Alesa!" Jason warned. "You're still a virus, you can damage the system- Ty, he's behind you!"

My apology died unsaid as I waited for either Ty and the worm to show up or for the trojan to burst out of the computer. I didn't need to wait long as only a minute later, I saw a green coded outline dash up to me and solidify into Ty, a new cut on his arm.

"Next time, you chase the worm," he puffed.

I grinned a little then grew serious. "Still got a trojan, it's hiding in the files."

Ty gave a little groan and rubbed the back of his head. "Adam would have been perfect here," he muttered. "He could shake viruses out of the codes by just sending a shockwave through them."

I didn't have anything to say to that, because Adam would have been perfect for this, but suddenly a flash of red darted out of a computer and across the room, smashing through one of the walls as Jason said "Whatever you guys are going to do, do it fast because the trojan is about to jump servers."

"Can you get the firewalls up in time?" Ty asked.

"I don't think so-"

"Keep the firewalls down," I blurted in, turning to Ty. "I can jump through the firewalls to chase the trojan back here, it won't be able to move faster than I can. Then you can get the jump on it."

"Be careful," Ty warned as I chased after the virus, my body dissolving into red and green codes.

Most Glitches couldn't move through the firewalls but as I was still a virus, it was a relatively simple matter to break through the thin coded film that seperated the server from the mainframe that was the step between the servers of Sparkles Tech and cyberspace. I kept my eyes narrowed on the trojan as it moved ahead, darting through the thin corridors that connected the firewalls of different servers. If it reached cyberspace, I would lose it.

I flicked my wrist and my chain wrapped around its neck, yanking it back and with a grunt, I threw it behind me. It landed heavily on the floor and rolled up, growling and drawing a dagger. I drew my chain back in and held it ready to throw, and it seemed to think better of challenging me with just a puny knife and dashed in the other direction. I ran after it and again wrapped my chain around it when it tried to branch off down a corridor, keeping it heading back to the server.

In its panic, it leapt past the firewall, back into the mainframe, and right into the path of Ty's sword.

We both watched as the virus' body fade to nothing and then finished off the job while Jason patched up the firewall, slicing through the corrupted files and codes that filled the server. When we were sure it was clear, I pressed down on my amulet and Ty did the same with his headphones and we both reappeared in the real world.

Mr Sparkles was waiting outside the door and when we gave him the all-clear, he waved for the employees to get back to work and he escorted us back down the elevator and to the doors of the building.

"Thank you again!" he called as we walked down the street.

Ty and I waved back, then Ty pulled out his phone to check the address of the next place and we were off to fight some more viruses.