Medusa Bug

The Medusa Bug

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"No! This isn't a weapon, it is a Viral Bug!" -Megabyte

The Medusa was a small, but powerful, viral bug contained in a hand held box. The Medusa was created by Hexadecimal and spreads to everything it touches, infecting, and turning it to stone. Soon afterwards everyone and everything infected by the Medusa degrades to dust, starting with low-energy before working up to high-energy life-forms such as Binomes and Sprites; potentially leading to the collapse of the entire system.

The Medusa open

Megabyte knew of the creation of the Medusa, believing it was a powerful weapon. He started working with Hex for a short time in order to steal the Medusa from her. Megabyte was successful in smuggling the box out of the Lair. Hex brought Nulls to stop him but Hack and Slash broke the bridge to Lost Angles severing it from Mainframe. Megabyte escaped back to Silicon Tor by leaving a small group of ABCs to try and stop Hex. She easily destroyed them with minimal effort, then left, saying she was bored.

Mainframe being infected

Medusa surrounding Frisket

Megabyte didn't realize that Hex purposely let him take it so that he would activate the viral bug away from her island. When he opened the box it immediately infected his hand turning it to stone and traveling up his arm. His computer was unable to identify the bug and couldn't come up with a cure. Hex taunted him in his last moments revealing her trap to him. The Medusa infected the Tor quickly and moved on to the rest of Mainframe.

Medusa Bug infection map

Bob, Dot Matrix, and Enzo Matrix encountered the Medusa when it infected a large portion of Baudway Sector, including Dot's Diner. Enzo watched as the virus infected Frisket, as the dog ran toward them to get away. The three sprites went to the Principal Office and asked Phong about the odd infection. Phong told them it was a bug, pure and simple, spreading to anything it touches. He told Dot and Enzo to work on evacuating the city, while he took Bob to the Mainframe Armory to work on a defense.

Principal Office being infected

At the Armory, Bob asked for several powerful weapons, but Phong had to tell him that they were not in the Super Computer, and that they only had some less sophisticated weapons. Bob tried to use a powered-up Viral Erase Command on the bug, but it was too powerful to be erased and resisted the command.

Phong Infected

Phong evacuated the city's inhabitants to the Principal Office and put up its shields. The Medusa quickly degraded the shield and infected the Principal Office and everyone in it. The only one to survive was Bob; his guardian code made him immune.

Dot and infected Binomes

Hex and infected Scuzzy

Bob decided to go to Lost Angles and tried to exact his revenge by infecting Hexadecimal with the Medusa. When he arrived at Hexadecimal's Lair, Hex had decorated her Lair with infected Mainframers, even Scuzzy had been infected.

Hex had no trouble stopping Bob and was ready to destroy him when he thanked her for making Mainframe so quiet and predictable, with no one moving or changing. Then Hex realized how peaceful it would be in Mainframe, which worked against her chaotic nature. After an outburst she snapped her fingers, and the entire city was immediately restored to normal, which also inadvertently allowed Bob to defeat her. (The Medusa Bug)

Medusa Mark II

Megabyte and Medusa

Soon after these events, Megabyte developed his own, superior version of the Medusa Bug. This version also was designed to avoid infecting Giedi Prime, this may have caused a weakness in the copy's design.

Hexadecimal can easily erase this version of the Medusa, as it is an altered copy of her original viral bug.

Phong infected

Bob, being a Guardian, is still immune to this form of the Medusa. Desperate to save his friends, he turned to Hexadecimal and personally asked her to remove the infection. Hex admitted while she hates Megabyte, she liked the chaos he was inflicting. She instead proposed to Bob that he should remain with her, to which he rejects. Bob was determined to find a vaccine and contacted Phong, who warned him that the Medusa Virus had already broken through the Principal Office's defenses, and that he must find the "Trias Effect", just as the old sprite was infected too.

Dot infected, Bob saying good-bye

Bob arrived in the Principal Office, only to look on helplessly at the frozen forms of Phong, Enzo, and Dot. Bob concluded that only one place would have the solution, and commanded Glitch to open a portal to the Super Computer.

From the safety of Silicon Tor, Megabyte viewed the fallen system and gloated, believing Bob had abandoned the city. Suddenly, the Guardian returned with the Trias Effect. Glitch then activated the anti-viral program and the Medusa Virus was purged from Mainframe in a huge orange energy burst. Megabyte screamed in defeat at the failure of his new weapon. (Promo Spots)

References

• The Medusa viral bug itself is an allusion on the Greek mythological creature 'Medusa' whose mere gaze could petrify observers into stone.
• The story of the second Medusa Bug was not shown in an episode. Due to production delays, the fifth episode of ReBoot was not complete when the fourth episode was ready to air. For the next six weeks, short teaser clips were shown instead. These teaser clips showed a sequel to The Medusa Bug. The "sequel" was shown in single clips shown over five weeks where other shows ran in ReBoot's time slot. See: Promo Spots