Have a doubly-long chapter :D

Adam's POV
I closed the blinds in my apartment, stopping anyone from being able to see in now that it was quite dark outside and the lights were on. Alesa sat on the couch, fiddling with her pink amulet, her thoughts seemingly far away. She had been that way since we arrived here some time ago. I slowly sank down on the couch beside her, resting one of my hands on her knee.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly.

She jumped a little and while she smiled, it quickly faded. "Yeah, I'm just... thinking."

"Of what?"

Her eyes left mine and dropped to the floor. She hesitated, taking a deep breath before starting to speak. "I remembered something earlier today when you and Ty were arguing. I... I think it happened before I woke up."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It doesn't make much sense," Alesa said slowly. "Just a few fragments. I remember fighting somewhere, with someone next to me. A girl I think. I can't remember what she looked like or whether she was my friend or not or... or anything else about her. But... There was a lot of chaos around us and... The place where we were fighting was collapsing." She took a shaky breath, her voice getting quieter the longer she spoke. "The place where the girl was standing was breaking up but she didn't know. I... I pushed her out of the way but the ground broke apart beneath me and I fell."

I waited for her to say more but nothing came. "You fell where?"

Alesa shook her head a little. "I can't remember. I don't know where we were or anything. I just remember the fighting."

I wrapped one of my arms slowly around her, hugging her a little. "You might remember more later," I told her quietly. "If you don't, we'll figure it out tomorrow, when we go to Jason and Jin, okay?"

She gave me a small smile and murmured a "Thanks". I gave her a quick squeeze with my arm and stood up, getting a spare blanket from the cupboard.

"You don't mind sleeping on the couch, do you?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "It's okay. It's actually pretty comfy." She pressed down on the couch a few times to illustrate her point. I handed her the blanket and she instantly wrapped herself up in it, stroking the soft fabric.

"Goodnight," I said to her.

"Goodnight," she said quietly back. "And thank you, Adam."

I gave her a smile and went into my bedroom, closing the door behind me.

Alesa's POV
There was something shining in my eyes that woke me up the next morning and I squinted them open, trying to find the thing that woke me up. I sat up quickly, my head flicking around, not recognising where I was until the events of yesterday caught up with me.

I saw the sliver of light resting on the couch armrest that I used as a pillow streaming from the curtains that hadn't quite been closed the whole way. I stretched, yawning, the warm blanket falling off me and onto the floor. My neck was a bit stiff and I rubbed it with my hand.

I froze, my hand patting the area around my neck. I couldn't feel the chain of the amulet Adam had given me and when I glanced down, I couldn't see it either. It didn't seem to be on the couch where I was sleeping and it wasn't on the floor either, or under the blanket.

I felt myself starting to get frantic. That amulet was my way to go home, into the mainframe. If I lost it, I was stuck here in the real world. Which maybe wasn't so bad all things considered, but I hated the thought of being trapped here.

A door opened somewhere in Adam's apartment and I saw Adam come into the room, fully dressed, rubbing his eyes. "Morning Alesa," he said. Then he noticed my worried expression and asked: "What's wrong?"

I tried to keep my voice calm but it didn't work. "I can't find the amulet, it's disappeared! I don't know where it's gone, it just-."

"Hey, calm down," Adam said, walking up to me and putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. "We'll find it, it'll be alright." He gave me one of those smiles that made my heart race faster and I quickly ducked my head, nodding.

We started looking around the couch since it made sense for it to be there but when we couldn't find it, we spread out to search the rest of the apartment. After several minutes of looking, Adam finally found it lying on the ground outside the kitchen.

"Why wasn't it around your neck?" he asked as I put it back in its place.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I can't remember taking it off."

Adam shrugged. "You probably accidentally dropped it somewhere." Then he frowned for a moment as if he was remembering something but he shook his head in a dismissing way and held out his hand for me to take.

"Come on, we'd better go and meet Ty."

A flutter of excitement zipped through me and I grinned, taking his hand. I knew that Adam still wasn't happy with me going to the glitch base, but I wanted to know why I was different. And if I had to go to a group of people who were probably willing to kill me, I would do it.

20 minutes later, I wasn't so confident. The elevator was whizzing up and even though Adam squeezed my hand comfortingly, it didn't help my anxiety levels.

"This is your last chance to back out," Ty said, standing up from where he was leaning on the wall as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.

I grit my teeth and shook my head.

Adam's POV
Alesa looked as nervous as I felt as we walked into the glitch base, the on-duty glitches walking around with their trench coats and swords at their waists. I caught a glimpse of Ross and Barney walking away down a passage but Ty lead us straight to the main room, where Jason, Jin and their team were working.

Ian, Mitch and Jerome were also in the room, talking quietly together in the corner. Jason glanced over his shoulder when he heard us coming and he frowned for a moment when he saw Alesa, then grinned at us, taking off his headset.

"Hey guys," he said. "What'cha doing here in your off duty?"

"We need your help with something," Ty said. He glanced at me and motioned for me to take over. Jason's eyes flicked between the three of us uncertainly.

"Okay, what with?"

I let go of a deep breath. "We need you to take a look at Alesa's code. She's a virus, but s-"

"She's a WHAT!?"

"Jason, chill, let me explain." But Jason wasn't hearing it.

"You brought a freaking VIRUS into the real world and then you brought them to our BASE! Adam, are you insane!" He stood up rapidly from his chair, his hand gesturing to Alesa who was hiding slightly behind me.

"She's not like normal viruses," I said instantly. "She has emotions, she's practically human."

"Keyword: Practically."

The glitches around us were starting to pay attention to our conversation, gathering around to form a loose circle around the four of us.

"Jason," Ty said in a calm voice. "You know that Adam and I wouldn't bring Alesa here unless we knew that she wasn't a danger."

"She's a virus!"

"We're sworn to eliminate all viruses Ty," Jin said, crossing his arms. "This one is no different."

Several of the glitches around us muttered in agreement but I spoke to Jin. "She is different, Jin. Alesa has emotions like a human."

Mitch scoffed but Jerome, surprisingly, took my side. "Come on guys, look at her! She's obviously scared and who here has ever seen a virus scared?"

"To look at her code, we would need to scan her, which means connecting her to the mainframe," Jason said. "And if any virus gets access to our mainframe, they'll destroy it instantly, we can't let that happen."

"I don't want to destroy your mainframe!" Alesa suddenly spoke up, her voice loud enough to silence the muttering that had sprung up again. "Adam found me inside your mainframe and I haven't told a single virus how to get in. I don't want to cause damage, I just want to know why I'm different."

"And why should we trust you, virus?" Ian growled.

Alesa threw her hands in the air. "Why can't you judge me on my own merits! Why do you have to look at me and only see a virus? Adam and Ty are the only people who have seen me as a human, why are you all too stubborn to do so too? What proof do I have to give until you acknowledge that I'm different?"

No one spoke for a few seconds. Jerome shoved his hands in his pockets. "I say we scan her," he said. "If Adam and Ty trust her, that's good enough for me."

"I'm with Jerome," Quentin agreed. "Besides, if she does turn out to be bad, we're all here and we can take her down before she causes damage."

A few others agreed but Mitch was shaking his head. "You're all gonna regret this," he warned. "She's a virus and she's a danger. I say we dump her in some small mainframe somewhere."

"Mitch!" I complained.

Mitch held out his hands in a helpless gesture. "I'm sorry Adam, that's just what I think."

Jin and Jason looked at each other and Jin shrugged. "Majority rules."

Jason rolled his eyes and unplugged his headset from his computer, putting up the volume on it. "Seto, Brice, don't panic, but we're sending a virus into the system."

"You're WHAT?!" Seto's voice yelled through the speakers.

"Sending a virus in, don't kill her."

"Oh good, thanks for the warning, now I know you're going insane."

"Seto, can you lay off the sass for once in your life?" Jin asks tiredly, tapping some keys on his keyboard.

"No, thank you for asking."

"Why is a virus coming into the mainframe?" Brice asked.

Jin explained the situation to the two AI's while Jason turned to Alesa. "Go in the mainframe and just stay still for a few minutes while we scan you. I'll tell one of the AI's when we're done."

"Maybe I should go wi-" I started to say but Ty cut me off.

"Stop worrying, your girlfriend will be fine," he said, a smile playing on his face.

Alesa ducked her head and I felt my cheeks grow hot as I spluttered something about Alesa not being my girlfriend, thank you very much. She pressed down on her amulet and her body became bright green and red particles that flew into the USB port of Jason's computer.

There was almost complete silence among the gathered glitches while we waited for Jason and Jin to finish scanning Alesa. It seemed to take close to ten minutes but the clock on the computer told me that it had only been three. Jason had started frowning somewhere around the 30-second mark and finally, he told Seto that she could come back out.

"Are you sure she's a virus?" I heard Brice ask as Alesa reformed in the real world.

"Yup," Jason said, "but I don't get it either."

"Get what?" I asked. Everyone had gathered around Jin and Jason's computer screens, the air full of anticipation.

Jason gave me a slight grin, suddenly very okay with the fact that a virus was standing right behind him. "You were right, she's not like other viruses."

"But why?" Alesa stressed.

He glanced at her. "You are - well, were - a glitch from another city."