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Shaneo sat alone. The room was bare apart from the neon flicker of the computer screen that illuminated the contours of his face, disfigured with rage. The words "use banned" had flashed up on the monitor causing Shaneo to hit it with such force that it began to flicker. In the stroboscopic light he seemed to move in slow motion. He admired his arm as it swung in a wide arch and came down with an audible crash on the monitor a second time. This time the light went out. Alone, in darkness, Shaneo thought to himself. The images that flashed through his mind were not ones of remorse or sorrow but of revenge. As Shaneo stared into the nothingness that enveloped him, one of the flashing thoughts slowed down enough for him to consider it.
A large building. Two towers. The images cascaded into his head as if someone had opened the floodgates of his mind. The nerdy robocop. Revenge. Revenge. "Revenge". The word echoed across the walls of the room and satisfied by the sound of the word Shaneo began to say it louder, again and again and again. The chant filled his mind and his room and his very being. With each repetition it became more contorted by anger and hate, until it subsided into a barely audible growl. Shaneo knew where catharsis was to be found. In the dominion of Tonty: the famous SR Towers.
So Shaneo prepared to embark on what would be his most daring mission yet. Packing his bag with the dexterity of one who had done so many times before, he took what was necessary for the mission in question. Then slipping silently out of his window, he softly ran off into the dusk, rapidly capitulating into night, and this would be his night. As the final shards of sunlight sucummbed to the enveloping folds of black, SR towers loomed into vision. Shaneo was momentarily overawed by the majestic beauty of the building, with its curvaceous exterior and voluptuous spires. However, awe was soon replaced by sense - a sense of a mission so daring that even he could scarcely contemplate success. Shaneo finally contemplated the scale of what he hoped to achieve: complete re-intergration into the SR forums. Primarily this required reclaiming his lost identity from the Nerdy Robocop. A near impossible challenge, but every atom of his body told him he could do it.
Meanwhile a camera softly whirred as it zoomed in on the solitary figure trespassing on SR property. The data gathered was then sent on a wire up the side of the building, and in a millisecond it had reached the penthouse suite of Tonty. Sitting in a plush leather chair, staring at the 300 screen video wall in front of him, Tonty smiled. He looked at the bottom corner of the screen where a pixelated face was being scanned against the SR databases. The routine was perfunctionary in this case; for Tonty lready knew who the face belonged to: his long-time nemesis - Shaneo. He picked up the intercom and whispered a scarcely audible command to his minions. Then he pressed a button on his chair and it swung round to face the wall of his office, that had already begun to open to reveal a large bay window. Tonty watched on expectantly as the figure below remained motionless.
On the top of SR Towers an air-hatch hissed open as its vacuum seal was violated by the air. From out of the hole screamed a wave of deadly flying monkeys, trained to stop intruders. (The monkeys were rejects from the newsmonkey program who had been subjected to radiation.) They too saw their pray below and screeched towards him in a furry flight of feral destruction. Shaneo was alert, however. Quickly he tore the necessary item from his backpack. He pulled the ripcord and a life-size inflatable of Anne Widdicome loomed into being. Shaneo then ran for cover between the two towers. The monkeys slowed down temporarily before the allure of brutalising a 50-year-old virgin proved too much for them. In the melee that ensued Shaneo entered the building through a conveniently placed air-ventilation shaft.
Tonty was not quite sure what had just happened. Down below the monkeys were wreaking merry havoc with another figure that had suddenly appeared. He turned back to his video wall and suddnely saw the determined face of Shaneo on a live feed from inside the air-ventilation system. Tonty thought quickly to himself. Shaneo had already passed the kitchen, the pool room and the sweet emporium. That meant he would come out in the smoking room. Again Tonty picked up the intercom, but this time his commands were a little more terse and certainly audible:
"Snuggly! Get to the smoking room! Intruder!"
Shaneo popped his head through the vent's outlet and looked around. The coast was clear, so he lowered himself into the carpeted, leather-upholstered room. It looked for all the world like a men's club's smoking room to him. The smell of tobacco lingered in the air, which told him someone had been in there recently. As he sniffed again the smell became even more pungent. Turning slowly he saw Snuggly standing behind him with a still smouldering cigar in his hand.
"Is this the great Shaneo I find myself before?" he asked threateningly
"Is this the great Mr.Snuggly?" Shaneo retorted before running from the room.
Snuggly gave chase. They ran through corridors and passageways, ventilation shafts and the aquaduct that circled the building, before Shaneo finally dived into a lift and desperately waited for the doors to shut. Snuggly suddenly lurched round the corner and was almost upon Shaneo when the doors mercifully began to close. However, Snuggly was able to throw a large stik at Shaneo before the doors completely closed. The stik collided with the lift's control panel, which spewed forth sparks and sent the lift into a giddy ascent to what seemed to be the highest floor of the building. Yet when it reached that floor the numbers kept getting higher and higher. Shaneo knew not where he was going but it wasn't on any plans of the building he'd seen.
The lift finally stopped on floor 99 and Shaneo gingerly stepped out. A strong beam of light flicked on immediately in front of him, blinding him for an instant and preventing him from seeing the figure perched behind the large desk in front of him. A voice rang out,
"So.. You've come to kill me then.."
"No!" interrupted Shaneo
"..I can quite understand, and I am coming to terms with the idea. After all we know not for whom the bell... No! What?! You're not here to kill me?" the voice suddenly realised what Shaneo had said.
"No I just want my identiy back so I can post again." rejoined Shaneo
The bright light flicked off and Shaneo saw Tonty before him, eyes red from tears and nose running. Tonty looked up at him angily and in that split instance he and Shaneo shared a moment that transcended the boundaries of speech. Tonty's look spoke louder than words and simply asked why the hell he hadn't just phoned the helpline instead of scaring the living daylights out of everyone at SR by stalking around like an assassin. Tonty pressed a few buttons on the keyboard in front of him and beckoned to the big screen behind Shaneo. Shaneo turned and looked. The words "user_restored" flashed up.
"Now go!" cried Tonty
The doors of the lift opened on the ground floor with a metallic ring and Shaneo cooly marched out of the foyer safe in the knowledge that the mission had been a complete success. Outside the winged monkeys were still mauling Anne Widdicome and as Shaneo walked home he felt a strange sense of satisfaction. He should have known better. He had let his concentration slip. He had forgotten to climb the drainpipe into his room and instead walked in through the front door. His father shot a withering look at him as he walked into the living room clad in his operations gear and then said,
"Shaun. That's it. You're banned from the computer indefinitely. I will not have you galavanting about in the middle of night getting up to god knows what!"
Shaneo retired to his dark, lonely room. In the solace of its darkness he felt at home. All he needed to do now was to convince his father to let him have the computer back...
A large building. Two towers. The images cascaded into his head as if someone had opened the floodgates of his mind. The nerdy robocop. Revenge. Revenge. "Revenge". The word echoed across the walls of the room and satisfied by the sound of the word Shaneo began to say it louder, again and again and again. The chant filled his mind and his room and his very being. With each repetition it became more contorted by anger and hate, until it subsided into a barely audible growl. Shaneo knew where catharsis was to be found. In the dominion of Tonty: the famous SR Towers.
So Shaneo prepared to embark on what would be his most daring mission yet. Packing his bag with the dexterity of one who had done so many times before, he took what was necessary for the mission in question. Then slipping silently out of his window, he softly ran off into the dusk, rapidly capitulating into night, and this would be his night. As the final shards of sunlight sucummbed to the enveloping folds of black, SR towers loomed into vision. Shaneo was momentarily overawed by the majestic beauty of the building, with its curvaceous exterior and voluptuous spires. However, awe was soon replaced by sense - a sense of a mission so daring that even he could scarcely contemplate success. Shaneo finally contemplated the scale of what he hoped to achieve: complete re-intergration into the SR forums. Primarily this required reclaiming his lost identity from the Nerdy Robocop. A near impossible challenge, but every atom of his body told him he could do it.
Meanwhile a camera softly whirred as it zoomed in on the solitary figure trespassing on SR property. The data gathered was then sent on a wire up the side of the building, and in a millisecond it had reached the penthouse suite of Tonty. Sitting in a plush leather chair, staring at the 300 screen video wall in front of him, Tonty smiled. He looked at the bottom corner of the screen where a pixelated face was being scanned against the SR databases. The routine was perfunctionary in this case; for Tonty lready knew who the face belonged to: his long-time nemesis - Shaneo. He picked up the intercom and whispered a scarcely audible command to his minions. Then he pressed a button on his chair and it swung round to face the wall of his office, that had already begun to open to reveal a large bay window. Tonty watched on expectantly as the figure below remained motionless.
On the top of SR Towers an air-hatch hissed open as its vacuum seal was violated by the air. From out of the hole screamed a wave of deadly flying monkeys, trained to stop intruders. (The monkeys were rejects from the newsmonkey program who had been subjected to radiation.) They too saw their pray below and screeched towards him in a furry flight of feral destruction. Shaneo was alert, however. Quickly he tore the necessary item from his backpack. He pulled the ripcord and a life-size inflatable of Anne Widdicome loomed into being. Shaneo then ran for cover between the two towers. The monkeys slowed down temporarily before the allure of brutalising a 50-year-old virgin proved too much for them. In the melee that ensued Shaneo entered the building through a conveniently placed air-ventilation shaft.
Tonty was not quite sure what had just happened. Down below the monkeys were wreaking merry havoc with another figure that had suddenly appeared. He turned back to his video wall and suddnely saw the determined face of Shaneo on a live feed from inside the air-ventilation system. Tonty thought quickly to himself. Shaneo had already passed the kitchen, the pool room and the sweet emporium. That meant he would come out in the smoking room. Again Tonty picked up the intercom, but this time his commands were a little more terse and certainly audible:
"Snuggly! Get to the smoking room! Intruder!"
Shaneo popped his head through the vent's outlet and looked around. The coast was clear, so he lowered himself into the carpeted, leather-upholstered room. It looked for all the world like a men's club's smoking room to him. The smell of tobacco lingered in the air, which told him someone had been in there recently. As he sniffed again the smell became even more pungent. Turning slowly he saw Snuggly standing behind him with a still smouldering cigar in his hand.
"Is this the great Shaneo I find myself before?" he asked threateningly
"Is this the great Mr.Snuggly?" Shaneo retorted before running from the room.
Snuggly gave chase. They ran through corridors and passageways, ventilation shafts and the aquaduct that circled the building, before Shaneo finally dived into a lift and desperately waited for the doors to shut. Snuggly suddenly lurched round the corner and was almost upon Shaneo when the doors mercifully began to close. However, Snuggly was able to throw a large stik at Shaneo before the doors completely closed. The stik collided with the lift's control panel, which spewed forth sparks and sent the lift into a giddy ascent to what seemed to be the highest floor of the building. Yet when it reached that floor the numbers kept getting higher and higher. Shaneo knew not where he was going but it wasn't on any plans of the building he'd seen.
The lift finally stopped on floor 99 and Shaneo gingerly stepped out. A strong beam of light flicked on immediately in front of him, blinding him for an instant and preventing him from seeing the figure perched behind the large desk in front of him. A voice rang out,
"So.. You've come to kill me then.."
"No!" interrupted Shaneo
"..I can quite understand, and I am coming to terms with the idea. After all we know not for whom the bell... No! What?! You're not here to kill me?" the voice suddenly realised what Shaneo had said.
"No I just want my identiy back so I can post again." rejoined Shaneo
The bright light flicked off and Shaneo saw Tonty before him, eyes red from tears and nose running. Tonty looked up at him angily and in that split instance he and Shaneo shared a moment that transcended the boundaries of speech. Tonty's look spoke louder than words and simply asked why the hell he hadn't just phoned the helpline instead of scaring the living daylights out of everyone at SR by stalking around like an assassin. Tonty pressed a few buttons on the keyboard in front of him and beckoned to the big screen behind Shaneo. Shaneo turned and looked. The words "user_restored" flashed up.
"Now go!" cried Tonty
The doors of the lift opened on the ground floor with a metallic ring and Shaneo cooly marched out of the foyer safe in the knowledge that the mission had been a complete success. Outside the winged monkeys were still mauling Anne Widdicome and as Shaneo walked home he felt a strange sense of satisfaction. He should have known better. He had let his concentration slip. He had forgotten to climb the drainpipe into his room and instead walked in through the front door. His father shot a withering look at him as he walked into the living room clad in his operations gear and then said,
"Shaun. That's it. You're banned from the computer indefinitely. I will not have you galavanting about in the middle of night getting up to god knows what!"
Shaneo retired to his dark, lonely room. In the solace of its darkness he felt at home. All he needed to do now was to convince his father to let him have the computer back...
Nice story :D. Too long for me though :(.
Good on happy.
Mr. Nice Guy wrote:
> Sh@neo wrote:
Ciao! MH, do you have MSN? Cheers.
Yep, he's blocked you.
Who gave him my addy without permission? Damn you to hell!
> Sh@neo wrote:
Ciao! MH, do you have MSN? Cheers.
Yep, he's blocked you.
Who gave him my addy without permission? Damn you to hell!
Sh@neo wrote:
Ciao! MH, do you have MSN? Cheers.
Yep, he's blocked you.
Ciao! MH, do you have MSN? Cheers.
Yep, he's blocked you.
Damn tabloids - they always find out in the end!
misterhappy, you and your stories rule. I'm inspired, I'm going to write part 1 of my story which I've been planning for a while. Ciao! MH, do you have MSN? Cheers.
misterhappy, you and your stories rule. I'm inspired, I'm going to write part 1 of my story which I've been planning for a while. Ciao! MH, do you have MSN? Cheers.
Shaneo sat alone. The room was bare apart from the neon flicker of the computer screen that illuminated the contours of his face, disfigured with rage. The words "use banned" had flashed up on the monitor causing Shaneo to hit it with such force that it began to flicker. In the stroboscopic light he seemed to move in slow motion. He admired his arm as it swung in a wide arch and came down with an audible crash on the monitor a second time. This time the light went out. Alone, in darkness, Shaneo thought to himself. The images that flashed through his mind were not ones of remorse or sorrow but of revenge. As Shaneo stared into the nothingness that enveloped him, one of the flashing thoughts slowed down enough for him to consider it.
A large building. Two towers. The images cascaded into his head as if someone had opened the floodgates of his mind. The nerdy robocop. Revenge. Revenge. "Revenge". The word echoed across the walls of the room and satisfied by the sound of the word Shaneo began to say it louder, again and again and again. The chant filled his mind and his room and his very being. With each repetition it became more contorted by anger and hate, until it subsided into a barely audible growl. Shaneo knew where catharsis was to be found. In the dominion of Tonty: the famous SR Towers.
So Shaneo prepared to embark on what would be his most daring mission yet. Packing his bag with the dexterity of one who had done so many times before, he took what was necessary for the mission in question. Then slipping silently out of his window, he softly ran off into the dusk, rapidly capitulating into night, and this would be his night. As the final shards of sunlight sucummbed to the enveloping folds of black, SR towers loomed into vision. Shaneo was momentarily overawed by the majestic beauty of the building, with its curvaceous exterior and voluptuous spires. However, awe was soon replaced by sense - a sense of a mission so daring that even he could scarcely contemplate success. Shaneo finally contemplated the scale of what he hoped to achieve: complete re-intergration into the SR forums. Primarily this required reclaiming his lost identity from the Nerdy Robocop. A near impossible challenge, but every atom of his body told him he could do it.
Meanwhile a camera softly whirred as it zoomed in on the solitary figure trespassing on SR property. The data gathered was then sent on a wire up the side of the building, and in a millisecond it had reached the penthouse suite of Tonty. Sitting in a plush leather chair, staring at the 300 screen video wall in front of him, Tonty smiled. He looked at the bottom corner of the screen where a pixelated face was being scanned against the SR databases. The routine was perfunctionary in this case; for Tonty lready knew who the face belonged to: his long-time nemesis - Shaneo. He picked up the intercom and whispered a scarcely audible command to his minions. Then he pressed a button on his chair and it swung round to face the wall of his office, that had already begun to open to reveal a large bay window. Tonty watched on expectantly as the figure below remained motionless.
On the top of SR Towers an air-hatch hissed open as its vacuum seal was violated by the air. From out of the hole screamed a wave of deadly flying monkeys, trained to stop intruders. (The monkeys were rejects from the newsmonkey program who had been subjected to radiation.) They too saw their pray below and screeched towards him in a furry flight of feral destruction. Shaneo was alert, however. Quickly he tore the necessary item from his backpack. He pulled the ripcord and a life-size inflatable of Anne Widdicome loomed into being. Shaneo then ran for cover between the two towers. The monkeys slowed down temporarily before the allure of brutalising a 50-year-old virgin proved too much for them. In the melee that ensued Shaneo entered the building through a conveniently placed air-ventilation shaft.
Tonty was not quite sure what had just happened. Down below the monkeys were wreaking merry havoc with another figure that had suddenly appeared. He turned back to his video wall and suddnely saw the determined face of Shaneo on a live feed from inside the air-ventilation system. Tonty thought quickly to himself. Shaneo had already passed the kitchen, the pool room and the sweet emporium. That meant he would come out in the smoking room. Again Tonty picked up the intercom, but this time his commands were a little more terse and certainly audible:
"Snuggly! Get to the smoking room! Intruder!"
Shaneo popped his head through the vent's outlet and looked around. The coast was clear, so he lowered himself into the carpeted, leather-upholstered room. It looked for all the world like a men's club's smoking room to him. The smell of tobacco lingered in the air, which told him someone had been in there recently. As he sniffed again the smell became even more pungent. Turning slowly he saw Snuggly standing behind him with a still smouldering cigar in his hand.
"Is this the great Shaneo I find myself before?" he asked threateningly
"Is this the great Mr.Snuggly?" Shaneo retorted before running from the room.
Snuggly gave chase. They ran through corridors and passageways, ventilation shafts and the aquaduct that circled the building, before Shaneo finally dived into a lift and desperately waited for the doors to shut. Snuggly suddenly lurched round the corner and was almost upon Shaneo when the doors mercifully began to close. However, Snuggly was able to throw a large stik at Shaneo before the doors completely closed. The stik collided with the lift's control panel, which spewed forth sparks and sent the lift into a giddy ascent to what seemed to be the highest floor of the building. Yet when it reached that floor the numbers kept getting higher and higher. Shaneo knew not where he was going but it wasn't on any plans of the building he'd seen.
The lift finally stopped on floor 99 and Shaneo gingerly stepped out. A strong beam of light flicked on immediately in front of him, blinding him for an instant and preventing him from seeing the figure perched behind the large desk in front of him. A voice rang out,
"So.. You've come to kill me then.."
"No!" interrupted Shaneo
"..I can quite understand, and I am coming to terms with the idea. After all we know not for whom the bell... No! What?! You're not here to kill me?" the voice suddenly realised what Shaneo had said.
"No I just want my identiy back so I can post again." rejoined Shaneo
The bright light flicked off and Shaneo saw Tonty before him, eyes red from tears and nose running. Tonty looked up at him angily and in that split instance he and Shaneo shared a moment that transcended the boundaries of speech. Tonty's look spoke louder than words and simply asked why the hell he hadn't just phoned the helpline instead of scaring the living daylights out of everyone at SR by stalking around like an assassin. Tonty pressed a few buttons on the keyboard in front of him and beckoned to the big screen behind Shaneo. Shaneo turned and looked. The words "user_restored" flashed up.
"Now go!" cried Tonty
The doors of the lift opened on the ground floor with a metallic ring and Shaneo cooly marched out of the foyer safe in the knowledge that the mission had been a complete success. Outside the winged monkeys were still mauling Anne Widdicome and as Shaneo walked home he felt a strange sense of satisfaction. He should have known better. He had let his concentration slip. He had forgotten to climb the drainpipe into his room and instead walked in through the front door. His father shot a withering look at him as he walked into the living room clad in his operations gear and then said,
"Shaun. That's it. You're banned from the computer indefinitely. I will not have you galavanting about in the middle of night getting up to god knows what!"
Shaneo retired to his dark, lonely room. In the solace of its darkness he felt at home. All he needed to do now was to convince his father to let him have the computer back...
A large building. Two towers. The images cascaded into his head as if someone had opened the floodgates of his mind. The nerdy robocop. Revenge. Revenge. "Revenge". The word echoed across the walls of the room and satisfied by the sound of the word Shaneo began to say it louder, again and again and again. The chant filled his mind and his room and his very being. With each repetition it became more contorted by anger and hate, until it subsided into a barely audible growl. Shaneo knew where catharsis was to be found. In the dominion of Tonty: the famous SR Towers.
So Shaneo prepared to embark on what would be his most daring mission yet. Packing his bag with the dexterity of one who had done so many times before, he took what was necessary for the mission in question. Then slipping silently out of his window, he softly ran off into the dusk, rapidly capitulating into night, and this would be his night. As the final shards of sunlight sucummbed to the enveloping folds of black, SR towers loomed into vision. Shaneo was momentarily overawed by the majestic beauty of the building, with its curvaceous exterior and voluptuous spires. However, awe was soon replaced by sense - a sense of a mission so daring that even he could scarcely contemplate success. Shaneo finally contemplated the scale of what he hoped to achieve: complete re-intergration into the SR forums. Primarily this required reclaiming his lost identity from the Nerdy Robocop. A near impossible challenge, but every atom of his body told him he could do it.
Meanwhile a camera softly whirred as it zoomed in on the solitary figure trespassing on SR property. The data gathered was then sent on a wire up the side of the building, and in a millisecond it had reached the penthouse suite of Tonty. Sitting in a plush leather chair, staring at the 300 screen video wall in front of him, Tonty smiled. He looked at the bottom corner of the screen where a pixelated face was being scanned against the SR databases. The routine was perfunctionary in this case; for Tonty lready knew who the face belonged to: his long-time nemesis - Shaneo. He picked up the intercom and whispered a scarcely audible command to his minions. Then he pressed a button on his chair and it swung round to face the wall of his office, that had already begun to open to reveal a large bay window. Tonty watched on expectantly as the figure below remained motionless.
On the top of SR Towers an air-hatch hissed open as its vacuum seal was violated by the air. From out of the hole screamed a wave of deadly flying monkeys, trained to stop intruders. (The monkeys were rejects from the newsmonkey program who had been subjected to radiation.) They too saw their pray below and screeched towards him in a furry flight of feral destruction. Shaneo was alert, however. Quickly he tore the necessary item from his backpack. He pulled the ripcord and a life-size inflatable of Anne Widdicome loomed into being. Shaneo then ran for cover between the two towers. The monkeys slowed down temporarily before the allure of brutalising a 50-year-old virgin proved too much for them. In the melee that ensued Shaneo entered the building through a conveniently placed air-ventilation shaft.
Tonty was not quite sure what had just happened. Down below the monkeys were wreaking merry havoc with another figure that had suddenly appeared. He turned back to his video wall and suddnely saw the determined face of Shaneo on a live feed from inside the air-ventilation system. Tonty thought quickly to himself. Shaneo had already passed the kitchen, the pool room and the sweet emporium. That meant he would come out in the smoking room. Again Tonty picked up the intercom, but this time his commands were a little more terse and certainly audible:
"Snuggly! Get to the smoking room! Intruder!"
Shaneo popped his head through the vent's outlet and looked around. The coast was clear, so he lowered himself into the carpeted, leather-upholstered room. It looked for all the world like a men's club's smoking room to him. The smell of tobacco lingered in the air, which told him someone had been in there recently. As he sniffed again the smell became even more pungent. Turning slowly he saw Snuggly standing behind him with a still smouldering cigar in his hand.
"Is this the great Shaneo I find myself before?" he asked threateningly
"Is this the great Mr.Snuggly?" Shaneo retorted before running from the room.
Snuggly gave chase. They ran through corridors and passageways, ventilation shafts and the aquaduct that circled the building, before Shaneo finally dived into a lift and desperately waited for the doors to shut. Snuggly suddenly lurched round the corner and was almost upon Shaneo when the doors mercifully began to close. However, Snuggly was able to throw a large stik at Shaneo before the doors completely closed. The stik collided with the lift's control panel, which spewed forth sparks and sent the lift into a giddy ascent to what seemed to be the highest floor of the building. Yet when it reached that floor the numbers kept getting higher and higher. Shaneo knew not where he was going but it wasn't on any plans of the building he'd seen.
The lift finally stopped on floor 99 and Shaneo gingerly stepped out. A strong beam of light flicked on immediately in front of him, blinding him for an instant and preventing him from seeing the figure perched behind the large desk in front of him. A voice rang out,
"So.. You've come to kill me then.."
"No!" interrupted Shaneo
"..I can quite understand, and I am coming to terms with the idea. After all we know not for whom the bell... No! What?! You're not here to kill me?" the voice suddenly realised what Shaneo had said.
"No I just want my identiy back so I can post again." rejoined Shaneo
The bright light flicked off and Shaneo saw Tonty before him, eyes red from tears and nose running. Tonty looked up at him angily and in that split instance he and Shaneo shared a moment that transcended the boundaries of speech. Tonty's look spoke louder than words and simply asked why the hell he hadn't just phoned the helpline instead of scaring the living daylights out of everyone at SR by stalking around like an assassin. Tonty pressed a few buttons on the keyboard in front of him and beckoned to the big screen behind Shaneo. Shaneo turned and looked. The words "user_restored" flashed up.
"Now go!" cried Tonty
The doors of the lift opened on the ground floor with a metallic ring and Shaneo cooly marched out of the foyer safe in the knowledge that the mission had been a complete success. Outside the winged monkeys were still mauling Anne Widdicome and as Shaneo walked home he felt a strange sense of satisfaction. He should have known better. He had let his concentration slip. He had forgotten to climb the drainpipe into his room and instead walked in through the front door. His father shot a withering look at him as he walked into the living room clad in his operations gear and then said,
"Shaun. That's it. You're banned from the computer indefinitely. I will not have you galavanting about in the middle of night getting up to god knows what!"
Shaneo retired to his dark, lonely room. In the solace of its darkness he felt at home. All he needed to do now was to convince his father to let him have the computer back...