Chapter 1: Tangled Web

“Sorrow was looking for the dimension ripper.”

Equinox sat in silence for a moment, fairly disturbed, even though he was the most powerful virus on the planet, an Ebola advance form with even further mutations than his kin, making him far stronger and far more dangerous. “Are you certain?” he asked quietly. “Yes. He was searching in the area where we used to store it; he didn’t know it was moved.” “Did he see you?” “No. We remained hidden.” Hantaviruses always referred to themselves as “we”, because a single virus unit was actually several individual creatures in a purple slimy fluid. Equinox knew that they could be nearly invisible if they wanted to, because their bodies, being in this form, could conform to any surface and shrink to very small size. Equinox spoke again. “If he was looking for it, I must find out why he intends to use it.” The Hanta spoke in the usual unsettling, whispering tone from every one of its individual viruses at once, creating an echo-like sound. “Do you think he will go through with his plan?” “I see no other reason for him to search for the ripper. I believe he may have found his target. Do you know who the target is?” “No, but I have seen something you will wish to investigate. He apparently has a secret room in his lair.” Equinox stood up. “You are correct in your belief. I must see just what Sorrow is doing.” The two of them walked through the abandoned industrial building that they, along with hundreds of other viruses and bacteria, called home. They made their way to a different part of the facility, not too far away, but isolated. Equinox spoke. “Is he there now?” “No. He is speaking to Nemesis.” This disturbed Equinox again. “I must not waste time, then,” he said. They reached a room, and Equinox pushed the door open. He hated coming in here; he was grateful that he so seldom had to do it. The whole area smelled like death itself, and had slime and blood all over the walls. In some places on the floor, half-eaten human remains lay, and in others, there were spots of black blood where Nemesis, a different advance form, had been forced to spit it out, an unpleasant effect of his disease. He was an actual monstrous embodiment of a certain illness, like every virus and bacterium there. They all received enormous power from what they were, but in turn, suffered from weaknesses caused by their disease. All, of course, included Equinox, but he, unlike many others, managed to prevent the viruses that mostly composed his tissues from wreaking havoc on his body. The two of them went to a door around a corner. It appeared sealed and unused, very well disguised. Equinox inserted a long spike he had on one of his four arms into the lock and jerked it, causing a grinding metallic clack. He shoved the door open…and stood there, baffled. “What is this?” he said, perplexed. He had expected to find a portrait or drawing of the target, surely some human, and a well-laid plan. Instead, he saw three walls (the door composed one wall of the room) covered with computer prints of a large number of pictures. Equinox picked up something he saw sitting on a nearby former oil barrel. It was a DVD, and a very, very old one at that. Equinox was only interested in the title. He looked at it in the dim light, and saw. “What?” he said, slowly. The title simply said “Balto”. Equinox set down the DVD. “What is Sorrow doing?” he said, baffled. The Hanta looked at the DVD. “I do not know. We should look around in here.” Equinox had only been forced to look for a few seconds. On the wall opposite the door, there was a picture of the handsome, gentle looking half-dog, half-wolf on the cover of the DVD. It was circled crudely several times with some kind of ink, and below it were scrawled three words: “THIS IS HIM.” Equinox was astonished. “So…Sorrow has found his target.” The Hanta observed the picture. “It’s him?” “Apparently so. This whole thing must be a plan; it just looks disorganized. Sorrow has likely been compiling it for months.” Equinox started a computer and read several information files about Balto, his friends, and his life. When he finished, he spoke to the Hanta. “Go and spy on Sorrow; I want to hear what he is saying to Nemesis.” The Hanta moved into the ventilation system, navigating through the ducts and tubes, looking down into each room. It didn’t take long for it to find where Sorrow was. He was in a room with several other advance forms, standing with them in a circle, Nemesis among them. Sorrow was speaking to the others. “It is finally time, my brothers. In merely a few days, we will have the power to kill every human and rule the world!” The others roared and shrieked with wicked celebration, and Sorrow continued. “And only one is in our way. Work with resolve and show no mercy.” He walked out of the circle and got a picture of Balto from a table. As he rejoined the others, they all put their hands together in the middle. Sorrow set the picture on their linked hands. “So, to you, Balto…” he said, placing two of his claws near the top of picture. He paused for a moment, then swiftly yanked his hand down, shredding the picture. “Cyanara. We’re on our way. Three hours, my kin.”

The Hanta rushed back through the ducts and back into Sorrow’s lair, where Equinox was waiting. “Well?” said the advance form. “He is going through with it,” replied the Hanta. “There is no doubt. He leaves in three hours.” Equinox sighed. “Then there is no choice. I must interfere with Sorrow’s plan. And in order to do that, I need to find out more about it.” Equinox found one of Sorrow’s notes on the wall, and read it. It said: “ANYONE HE KNOWS CAN BE USED. THEY WILL ALL DIE AT THE HANDS OF MY ADVANCE FORMS…OR THEIR MICROSCOPIC BRETHREN.” “I see,” Equinox said. “Is he going to use the others?” said the Hanta. Equinox nodded. “How many?” “All of them. I suspected that Sorrow would use them, and apparently, he doesn’t care whether it’s by outright butchery, or fatal infection. Let us see how he intends each of them to die…” The list began just to the right of Sorrow’s note. For each group, it was set up with the names scrawled above pictures of the target, with lines drawn below the pictures to converge at the names of the attackers. Equinox looked over it, and it read as follows: “NIKKI, KALTAG, STAR: RABIES. DIXIE, SYLVIE: SALMONELLA. STEELE: CLOSTRIDIUM.” “Gruesome,” Equinox said quietly, reading on. “STREPTOCOCCUS, STAPHYLOCOCCUS. THESE WILL SERVE AS WARRIORS; THEY WILL HAVE NO TARGET.” “My word,” Equinox said. “Staph? The threat is escalating. Cocci bacteria. The perfect warriors.” Going on, he came across an unexpected one. “BALTO.” “I see Sorrow saved a special one for him,” said the Hanta. “Yes,” Equinox replied, his voice grave. “Special…and very deadly. If that breaks out in the town, it will make the diphtheria epidemic look like a few cases of head colds. No one will survive.” The Hanta looked at the name of the attacker. “YERSINIA, ABADDON.” “Do you think Sorrow really wants to kill him yet?” Equinox smiled wryly. Moving on, he saw a large silhouetted drawing of Alaska on the wall with a bacillus-shaped silhouette over it, and a note that said “I MUST FIND THIS.” “I knew it,” Equinox snarled, standing there for a while. Eventually, he spoke again. “I am going to find out more about Balto’s world,” he said, picking up the DVD. He went into a different room and turned on an old DVD player that had been left in a lounge by the former human owners. He watched the story all the way through, knowing that the more he could find out, the better able he would be able to figure out a plan. When the movie was minutes from the end, the Hanta entered the room. It prepared to speak to Equinox, but the advance form spoke first. “It is so strange…” Equinox was staring intently at the screen, looking like he was deeply engaged in thought. The Hanta looked and saw Balto and Jenna smile at each other. Balto ran over to Jenna, and they jumped in a circle, overjoyed to see each other again. They stopped, their noses almost touching, and nuzzled each other tenderly. “Fascinating…” Equinox whispered. “What?” said the Hanta. “Love,” replied Equinox. “It seems so complicated, but the concept is very interesting.” Equinox was saying this completely out of curiosity; viruses and bacteria didn’t feel love, hence didn’t understand it. Equinox had heard many different things about it, but every time he saw it, he wished vaguely that he could understand such a great mystery. On the screen, Balto and Jenna smiled lovingly at each other. Equinox took special notice of Balto’s smile. “That will be helpful,” he said. “Their love, I mean. It will help him survive and keep him going.” The Hanta nodded. As the movie ended, Equinox spoke again. “Did you come here to speak to me?” “Yes. I found something. Sorrow has another collection of targets, labeled ‘critical threats’.” Equinox stood up and spoke. “That must have a double meaning. It must mean ones that it would hurt Balto the most if they were harmed, but also that the ones he sends to kill them will be extremely powerful. Let me see this.” They went back into Sorrow’s secret room, and Equinox observed the second collection, which was set up the same way as the first one. “Critical indeed,” he said. He began reading. “ROSY: CORYNEBACTERIUM, BACKLASH.” Equinox smiled wryly. “I see Sorrow still retains his sick sense of humor. I doubt, though, that those there will find it as funny.” He moved on, and was surprised to see four targets connected to one type: “MYCOBACTERIUM.” “Hopefully Nome has never seen the likes of those before,” he said, and began to read the targets. “MUK, LUK, BORIS: NEMESIS.” “That seems bold,” said the Hanta. “Placing three critical targets under the handling of one pathogen? Sorrow has great faith in Nemesis.” “Faith not misplaced,” Equinox said. He looked on, to the last target. “JENNA.” “Well,” said