Reboot: A New Guardian (ON HOLD)

Sneak, Sneak, Sneak!

She stifled a laugh and I felt myself try to hold in a loud laugh too. "Did you just invent that parody?"

"Yep! Just came to me. Maybe you can change your alter-ego from Bionic Blade to Spider-Giga. Then that can be your theme song!"

"Let's put a pin on that idea for the time being," she clarified, "we're on a mission right now."

"Right!" I exclaimed, a bit too loudly. I scolded myself as I heard someone's heavy footsteps come closer. "Oops..."

I did a 180 on my Quadra Disc and zipped away from the area. We couldn't afford to be caught now, not when it's way too early in the plan. 

"According to this, there is a larger energy source coming from the dungeons, in the way back, near the entrance and exit for the sentinels," Giga called out as we sped up. "With that sort of energy, that must be where the sentinels are spawning. If we block the entrance, then their arrival outside while be delayed. And if we damage the spawner somehow, maybe hack it or something, then Megabyte and Hexadecimal won't have any back-up."

"They're only stronger because they're behind a stronger battle force," I concluded. "This will, at least, weaken them."

"Making it easier for our escape."

"Awesome! We'll head down once we lose him. Also, I need to check on something in the throne room." 

"Isn't that the room we're trying to draw those viruses away from?"

"It is, but we need to at least stop there once. There's something there that may lead us closer to one of Adam Carter's secrets, something that might not even be in your database."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The orb was not there.

The orb was not in the throne room.

If the orb wasn't in the throne room, then where was it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After my check-in with the throne room, I went in a bit of a shocked-daze. Giga noticed and volunteered to take control of the Quadra-Disc, switching places with me to grip the handlebars and take off. I put both of my hands on her shoulders, trying to stabilize myself. 

Austin needed that orb. We all needed that orb. Even the Bionic Blade might need that orb. But where could it be now? The last time we saw it, it was perched over the throne since Megabyte always sat there, so it was always protected. Where else in the castle was that heavily guarded? Or maybe which area of the castle was the least guarded, if Megabyte's trying to use reverse psychology on us? Or maybe he knew we would try wherever that spot is , so he would put the orb in the most heavily guarded place-

"You okay, Googz?" Giga interrupted my thoughts. 

I whipped my head back in her direction. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I assured her. "Totally fine. Completely fine! Nothing but fine back here. How 'bout you, Giga Blade?"

"Fine, I guess. If you're all that fine, you best be finding the safest and fastest way to deactivate the sentinel spawner."

My eyes widened. "Riiiight." I let go of one of her shoulders and looked down at my newly flicked-out screen in my hand. I stared down at the schematics, reading off all the numbers and bits of information that caused the screen to zoom in on certain spots. "There seems to be a holo-crystal at the top of the spawner; about 14 centimeters in diameter, 8 centimeters high, and has the same code-toughness as real granite, meaning that it will take a while if we were to either physically or technologically break that thing."

"Is it possible to melt the holo-crystal? Or at least burn it enough to stop it from functioning?" She looked over our shoulders then whipped her head back forward to make a hard right around the corner. "Normal granite can be melted at approximately 1215 to 1260 Celsius."

I raised an eyebrow. "Possibly, but that's way too dangerous. Also, we don't have the firepower - literally."

"How about blocking the signal with a firewall?"

"There's a great chance that once I'm done composing such a block, we'd be caught." And your pretty little bionic head won't be safe from the dark code.

"I heard that!" She hissed. 

I rolled my eyes, thankful she can't see through the mask. "Just focus on driving, Giga," I reminded her. 

"At least I'm thinking instead of getting distracted and lying about how fine I am," she sassed. 

I groaned. "Look, that thing I'm distracted about, could save us all from Megabyte, including you."

"I think I got that already."

"Well do you think you can get the memo that I'm the brains of this operation?" I snapped. "Vector's the leader; Enima's the ninja; D-Frag's the strength; I'm the brains; and you know who you are now - the nosy sidekick. So if you don't mind, I'll take control of my Quadra-Disc now."

Without waiting for an answer, I took the handlebars and swapped places with Giga. She stayed silent the entire time, not even putting a hand on my shoulder to stabilize herself.

"If that's what you think of me, Parker, then I'll just leave. You're smart enough to figure all of this out on your own, and I trust you. I just wish you still trusted me like you use to."

Suddenly, the weight from behind me vanished. Immediately, I put the brakes on my Quadra-Disc and spun around, just seeing her call out for some type of rope and sticking to the ceiling. I heard her faintly call out for her "Blaze" and attack Megabyte with her discus. She swung from the ceiling lights, leading Megabyte away from me.

I was still in shock, my heart pounding out as I turned back around to drive towards the sentinel spawner. This practically proves my theory now...

Somehow, the Bionic Blade is Jane Carter.

But when did she get bionics?

Was that before or after the fire?

And how did she survive the fire?