Alesa's POV
Ty and I stared at the contraption Jin had unveiled with utter and complete confusion. And we weren't the only ones. Mitch, Jerome, Ian, and Quentin were all doing the same, as were Ross and Barney who had joined us after their shift. Jin was looking at us expectantly, as if waiting for our praise of his genius for coming up with this. Jason seemed to understand exactly what this... thing, was.

"So remind me again what it does?" Ty asked after a long, long silence.

Jin gave a small sigh as if this was what he had expected deep down. "It's a scanning device. Kind of like those metal detectors they wave over you at airports, except this will scan Adam's code and give me a synopsis of it."

Ian glanced out of the windows of the Glitch base, which gave us a good view of the glow of dusk reflecting off the dozens of skyscrapers. "I know it's been a few hours since we locked him in the room, but he was pretty mad at us. I highly doubt he'll happily stand still long enough for us to scan him."

"Then you're gonna have to hold him down."

"This is the real reason why you called us, it's it?" Ross asked, giving us all a raised eyebrow and a half-grin.

"Sure, you can hold the Thingy-Mibob," Mitch said, scooping up Jin's contraption and holding it out for him. "We'll hold down our friend."

Ross took a step back, hands up. "Barney's doing it, not me."

"Whys me?!"

I rolled my eyes. "Do you want me to do it?"

Mitch instantly swivelled around so that he was holding out the Thingy-Mibob to me. "Girlfriends first."

I rolled my eyes again and took the contraption. No witty comeback sprang to mind for me to shoot back to him, which was a real shame because this was the perfect opportunity for it.

"How long will it take to scan him Jin?" Ty asked.

"Few seconds, hopefully," Jin said. "Your code - well, you guys specifically, most people don't have code - but it's like your DNA: it's the same no matter where it is in your body. So even if my doodad only picks up a small amount, it'll be enough to figure out how to reverse whatever affect the virus thing has had on him."

"Alright, let's do this now before we realise how much of a stupid idea this is," Jerome said.

"Woah woah, let's not all go in at once," Quentin said as we started moving towards the locked room Adam was being kept in. "If anything, we'll spook him and cause him to attack."

"Oh, well if we're trying to not get him to attack, then I probably shouldn't go in," Mitch said, rubbing the back of his neck a little. "I did hit him pretty hard on the head after all."

"I reckon it should be Alesa, Ty and I," Jerome said. "The rest of you can stay out of sight around the door and if he starts attacking, we'll call out."

Barney made a face like he didn't enjoy what he was about to say next. "He is a virus though. He won't recognise Ty as his best friend, he'll just sees you're Glitches and attack."

"But he might recognise us," I said, remembering how Adam always hesitated to attack me. "Besides, Jerome's right, you guys can wait around the door. It's a good idea."

Barney shrugged. He and the others took up positions on either side of the heavy sealed door. I looked through the reinforced glass of the door. Adam was at the back wall, pacing back and forth, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides, like someone who was very, very nervous.

Or like someone who was extremely angry with their imprisonment and was thinking about attacking the people who had put them there.

One or the other.

Ty helped me spin the wheel lock (one of my hands was holding the Thingy-Mibob). When we pulled open the door, I saw that Adam had spun around to face us and his fists were clenched, ready to fight, teeth bared. His fists loosened slightly as he saw me but they tightened again when Ty and Jerome followed me.

"Back to gloat?" he sneered. "Or have you come to haul me off to some other place?"

"We don't want this to be a fight," Ty said. "But if you start fighting us, then-"

"Hold your arm out," I said, cutting off whatever Ty was going to finish with.

Adam's head flicked towards me, even his virus coding unable to hide the confusion from his face. In my peripheral vision, I saw Ty and Jerome also give me a little quizzical look, but I kept my eyes on Adam.

"Hold your arm out," I repeated.

"Why would I do that?" Adam asked with a frown, scorn underlying his tone.

"Do you trust me?"

He scoffed. "No, why would I?" But his eyes flicked away from me for a second.

"Look, there are two ways we can do this," Jerome said, crossing his arms. "Either you can hold out your arm like she says and then we'll leave you alone, or you can refuse and we can hold you down with your arm out and she'll get what she wants anyway."

Adam gave a bark of laughter. "You two hold down me? I know you Glitches are strong in the mainframes, but I really doubt you're as strong in the real world..."

Adam's words died off and I risked a glance over my shoulder to see what he was looking at. The other Glitches had assembled in the doorway and while they hadn't made a move to come in, their simple presence was intimidating enough. Adam gave a small huff and stuck his hand out towards me.

"Fine," he growled, giving a glare at Ty and Jerome, but noticeably not at me. "Happy?"

"Not really," Ty said flatly with his arms crossed. "But this is fine for now."

Adam gave him another snarl as I waved the Thingy-Mibob over his arm. His hand was clenched in a fist and I had to remind myself that he was A) a virus and B) didn't remember me. Otherwise I would have hugged him until he relaxed, but I knew that doing that now would probably end up very badly.

"There, done, that so bad was it?" I asked, taking away the Thingy-Mibob.

"Get out," he snapped back.

"Mind your manners virus," Jerome retorted as we left. Adam's snark remark was cut off as we closed the door and locked it tight again.

I handed the Thingy-Mibob to Mitch. "Give this to Jin will you?" He took it and he and the others left, but I held on to Ty's arm to keep him back.

"Are you okay?" I asked him quietly.

The tension went out of him and he sighed heavily. "I just hate the way he looks at me," he muttered quietly. "I mean, you know, we used to be best friends and now he just hates my guts, and I mean really hate. It's just... if this doesn't work and we can't change him back then..."

"We'll find a way," I promised quietly.

He gave another sigh and impulsively, I hugged him tightly. Not in a romantic way like how I hugged Adam, but as a friend. As someone who was in the same boat as him. Feeling the same pain.

He seemed to understand as he hugged back and we stayed that way for a few moments before letting go at the same time. "Thanks Alesa," he said with a small smile. I smiled back and we walked back towards the main room, side by side.

"I don't think we can change him back."

Jin's voice reached us before we turned the corner into the room and Ty and I froze. A cold fear gripped me and from Ty's face, I could tell that the same fear had seized him too. I sucked in a breath and gently squeezed his shoulder, then lead the way into the room. Jin was at his computer, the others standing near him and they looked guilty at us as we entered.

"What's happened Jin?" I asked, keeping my voice as steady as I could.

Jin gestured to his screen, which had lines and lines of text that was indecipherable to me. "Adam's code has been corrupted. I mean, all Glitches are half code and half human, and Adam's no exception, but his code half has become corrupted and it's been thrown out of line with his human half. That explains why he has no memories or emotions, but we can't just remove the code. It's a Glitch thing; once you've been coded-"

"There's no going back," Quentin said quietly. "You're half-code for life."

Jin gave him a nod. "So that idea is out. But whatever corruption has happened is way too full on for me to be able to decode, and even if it was possible to decode it, I don't even know if it's possible to decode it in him, if that makes sense. Imagine trying to change a single part of your DNA one by one in every single cell in your entire body. It's nearly impossible. One wrong move and you're screwed."

"Are those our only two options?" Ty asked flatly.

"I think so," Jin said, giving a helpless sort of shrug.

"Maybe... Maybe we should just destroy his coding," Mitch suggested quietly. "Like... you know..."

"Put him out of his misery," Ian finished.

The simple suggestion was so out of the blue that it took me a few seconds to be able to respond. "We're not going to kill him!" I finally managed to say. "We haven't come all this way just to give up like that!"

"Well what other choice do we have Alesa?" Mitch asked, clearly not liking his idea any more than I did. "If we can't change his code back and he can't remember us or himself, then maybe we're doing the best thing by him if we... kill him. Do you think he'd want to stay like he is now?"

I was about to reply when Jason stood up, holding out his hands. "We won't decide anything now," he said. "We're all tired after a long day, and it's been pretty hectic. We'll figure this out. Every computer problem has a solution, and technically, all of you - Adam included - are a computer problem. It'll be possible to change him back; we just need time to think and figure out a way."

I nodded along with the others, somehow calmer now. We'd figure out a solution. Somehow.

Hopefully.