A New Virus

I Did It

"Where did you go yesterday?" Tiana asked while she and Annalise were sitting in the classroom, waiting for the late bell to ring.

"Nowhere." Annalise answered.

"Lies." Tiana leaned forward a little. "Elliot was found in his house yesterday with no memories of where he's been."

"Was he?" Annalise asked, easily hiding the fact that she knew about all of this already, the memory of yesterday still fresh in her mind.

'Easy fix.' Anti had said 'You took too many memories away and all I have to do is get those pixels that have the memories from you and put them back.' Annalise stared at her father in confusion. "Our pixels are kind of like our cells. There's a shit ton of them and we shed a shit ton every second and make new ones every second. Thankfully, we found him now, or else Elliot would be memoryless forever.'

Annalise hadn't told Anti about Mac. That didn't matter, all she wanted was to fix that mistake she had made of wiping Elliot's brain clean. He's been gone for over a month, where had he gone? What was he doing? Elliot had literally nothing in his head. He just knew how to breathe and speak. Mac had probably just found him wondering about and knew the person who hired Glitchers and was told the drop him off.

"I wonder who made that call." Tiana chewed her lip as she thought.

"I bet it was the kidnapper getting a conscious." Annalise chuckled, silently adding 'or a virus girl that fucked up'.

"You're hiding things from me, I know you are." Tiana stated, a hint of hurt in her voice.

"I-" Annalise stopped herself. She was. She was hiding so much from Tiana. The true faces of her family, her own true face. Tiana didn't know who she actually was. What she did. What she craved. She's been lying to her best friend since they were three. Annalise should tell her everything. She deserved to know everything. "I have been."

"Why would you hide things from me? I'm your best friend. We're supposed to tell each other everything. I have never lied to you, why would you do that to me?"

"I'm sorry. After school, I'll explain everything, I promise." Tiana wasn't able to respond since the bell went off and the teacher immediately began talking.

"Annalise Powell, please come to the main office. Annalise Powell, to the main office." Annalise rolled her eyes when the class went 'oh'.

"You're all hilarious." Annalise scoffed and gathered her things. "After school." She said to Tiana before stepping out. Annalise's façade of calmness broke a little when she was alone. Were they confronting her about leaving yesterday? When did they actually pay attention to their students? "Dad?" Annalise had opened the door to the office and saw Anti, or Triston, as the school knew him, standing there with a bag in his hand.

"Hey, honey. I'll explain everything in the car." Anti said, sorrow in his voice. Annalise could tell that it was faked and the light lift in his eyebrow was a signal that everything was fine.

"Oh my God, what happened? Is everyone okay?" Annalise asked with wide eyes as she was lead out of the office.

"Was the voice crack necessary?" Anti chuckled when they got out of the school.

"I had to make it convincing." Annalise flipped her hair over her shoulder. "What lie did you tell?"

"Dead grandparent." Anti answered.

"Again?"

"You have four."

"I don't have any." Annalise watched as Anti looked at the school camera, smiling as it slowly became green. "So, what's up?"

"Glitchers has a job." Anti chuckled.

"Wait...does that mean?" Annalise perked up, almost jumping with joy.

"You are not to tell Dark." Anti warned, placing a hand on Annalise's shoulder and glitching them away.

"I need filled in." Annalise said when they landed in front of a house she wasn't familiar with.

"I've seen you fidgeting. You're getting restless. I know what you want, what you need and I wanted to do this sooner but you had to wait out your punishment and then the whole Elliot thing happened." Anti reached into the bag he brought and dropping it after pulling out a box.
"What's this?" Annalise asked when she was given the box.

"Wilford's real birthday present." Anti laughed a little when Annalise gasped after taking the lid off.

"Holy shit." Annalise said, taking out a gun that had butterflies engraved on it.

"Dark didn't want you to have it yet, but I'm sure having it for this occasion won't be a bad thing." Anti pointed at the house. "Simple job. One uninstall. No videos needed, just an image of the dead body. You shoot him. I'll take the picture. You'll absorb him and we'll go home. Ready?"

"Hell yeah." Annalise laughed a little with excitement, becoming a cloud of orange pixels, and following Anti who was his own cloud of green ones.

Finally. Finally.

"Who are y-fuck!" The man screamed when Annalise shot him in the arm. Anti stood with his arms crossed, ready to jump in if needed.

"Whoops. I missed." Annalise chuckled before firing again, hitting the man's other arm.

"Why!?" The man cried, falling to his knees. "W-why?" The man whimpered when Annalise pressed the gun to his forehead, making him turn his head up.

"Because you fucked up." Annalise whispered before pulling the trigger again. Annalise's hand shook as she stared at the body, blind to Anti standing next to her, his eye green as he caught the image. "I did it. Oh, my God, I did it! I did it!" Annalise began laughing. "I did it! I did it! I did it!" Anti stepped back, knowing that Annalise was going to take a moment. "He's dead! He's fucking dead and I did it!" Annalise dropped the gun and clutched at her head as she laughed, pure joy rushing through her body. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" Annalise's voice distorted a little, bouncing to the other side of the room. "I Did It!" Annalise let out a long and strained sound as she curled into herself, panting. She slowly caught her breath and straightened back up, looking at Anti. "Dad...what was that?"

"It's the rush." Anti answered. "It happens when I kill, too. You're fine."

"I am?" Annalise swallowed thickly.

"Yes, princess. Now, absorb the body and I'll take care of the rest."

"Okay...cool." Annalise took a few more breaths before holding her hand out, pixels leaving her body and covering the one of the ground. Annalise gasped and shivered as the pixels went back into her, the surge of energy unexpected.

She needed to talk to Tiana. She needed to talk to her. She needed to tell her everything.

"I'll see you later, dad." Annalise said before glitching away.

Annalise sat on the top of the bleachers of the football stadium, the players on the field not noticing her and there wasn't anyone else around.

"Hey, Anna." Tiana greeted sitting down next to Annalise.

"Hey, Tea." Annalise gave Tiana a small smile.

"You alright?"

"Yep. I'm ready to tell you the truth." Annalise blinked several times, her eyes becoming bright orange. "I'm not human."