challenge
1 computer disk
1 computer attached to the internet through a high speed modem (this is important)
6 files on the disk. 5 of the files contain pictures (be creative) 1 of the files contains a computer virus. Opening this file will release the virus.

1 virus. The virus has no name, for the simple reason that no one has ever studied it. It eats information, uses the data to grow and spreads. First, it devours nonessential programs. Then, it goes on to memory. It eats all the data within a single computer. Then, it goes into the internet via a modem. It leaves behind a small section of itself to eat any new information, thus creating a second virus body. Once on the internet, the virus will propagate, spreading through every email account, bank accout, ect. It will devour the information on the internet and use internet connections to go onto private computers. It is incredibly fast. It can consume all the data on a single computer in half an hour. By the end of a week, it is predicted the virus will have spread to every computer in America... and then will go on to the world.

It's a game of Russian Roulette. The virus is on one of the files. The characters have half an hour to find and destroy the virus. If they find the virus but don't destroy it, it will spread to the internet, causing mass chaos. If they refuse to try to find it, the evil mastermind behind the virus will release onto the internet where there is no chance of destroying it. If they find and destroy the virus, a screen will appear with a message from the evil mastermind.

The mastermind has given them a clue for destroying the virus. "Luck outsmarts everyone. Even herself."

You must also include the phrase "When all else fails, kick it!"




Chance


The screen glowed with a pale blue light; it crept behind the cobalt of the tired soldier casting an eerie shadow over the stoic face.
The braided pilot sat over him, chewing on his bottom lip, his braid felt heavy on his head dragging on his shoulders as he watched Heero's nimble fingers fly over the keys. The hum of the monitor played in the background with the constant tapping, the steady beat.
Halting suddenly the perfect soldier wiped at his eyes sighing. "I'm in"
Sitting up straight Duo glanced quickly over the information glaring from the screen, committing it to memory, his partner moved on.
Suddenly the screen faded blank and an instant message flashed up. Deep red letters dancing over the screen 'E-mail.'
Cautiously the soldier narrowed his eyes and opened his account, a single message flashed up announcing that there was one new message. Scanning it for viruses nothing showed up on the skilled software. Looking to Duo for guidance the braided pilot clicked open the mail.
"Follow me" the only two words shouted on the page, black letters standing boldly before their eyes.
The screen faded again and a map appeared, a red line tracing the roads to an abandoned school.
Not wasting a second Heero spun off his chair grabbing his gun from the table and stalked out the door. Duo jumped up letting his chair clatter behind him as he too exited the room.

The school was dark, shadows filled the dusty windows and the walls crumbled beneath icy fingers of the wind. Yellow sneakers stepped in, the dusty floorboards creaking beneath the stealthy body. Moving forward he wandered through the black halls, ignoring the smell of damp age that swirled around the broken rooms in a mist of time.
Behind him Duo followed spying a faint glow from a distant room. He tapped Heero lightly on the shoulder motioning to the light and the two wandered into the room.
It was small, a browning curtain hung rotting over the cracked window, the wind blowing at it causing it to billow out a cloud of dust and dirt.
In the centre of the room sat a computer, primitive. A computer disk sat by the side of the table and a small note on the screen "Look at it."
Picking the black plastic up, Heero held it for a moment in his fingers, twirling it as his quick mind struggled over what it was. Finally he pushed it in.
The disk refused to fit and Duo with his last ounce of patience leapt forward kicking it in. "If all else fails, kick it!" He grinned. A ghost of a smile flittered over heeros features before he turned back to the screen and looked at it's contents.

There were five files. All unnamed staring at him. He placed his fingers lightly on the keyboard, feeling the keys beneath his talented fingers. He was about to begin when another message flashed over the screen. Heero growled at the hacker, now a severe annoyance that would soon be dealt with. Duo by his side read the contents aloud "What you do is done"
Shrugging Duo closed the window and left the disk open to Heero.
Moving the mouse over to the first file he hesitated, and with a deep breath clicked on the faceless icon.

A shrill beep sounded the opening of the file. A picture slowly loaded up, block by block.
A scarlet background featuring three fallen angels holding one another's torn wings together. Bloody bandages woven with spilt blood decorated the page. The angel's faces, the three absent pilots curled against one another with features grimacing with pain.
Scrolled along the bottom of the page the words in script 'How far will angels fall?'
Quickly Heero exited the picture deleting it's existence with a growl of disgust, and clicked on the next. The next two were more of the pilots, fallen, beaten, dying. Of Duo wrapped in chains, Wufei had fallen by his own sword, Trowa bleeding from his clown's mask and Quatre sinking deep into the deserts.
The final picture was of Heero, a spear through his chest, driving onwards piercing the world with the same blade. Blood slipping down the metal and into the cracks of the Earth "Luck outsmarts everyone. Even herself."
Duo's parted mouth took in a swift breath, turning his eyes from the picture and realistic lovers face twisted and screaming. Heero whispered beneath his breath the words from his picture that didn't quite fit. Looking to the final unopened file he quickly clicked, wanting this ordeal over and pictures stricken from his mind.
A cross bones materialised and a timer glowed, ticking down from 30minutes. Cursing loudly Heero spared a lightning glance to Duo before setting to work desperately. Finding a small tear in the programming he ripped it open pouring endless codes from his trained mind into the virus. Bringing the screen up he scanned it revealing the information out loud to Duo
"Virus. Large scale virus, potentially devastating hitting personal accounts, economics" He looked over into the wide violet eyes "World wide collapse"
Quick fingers never missed a second, a few more keys hit and the screen froze. Banging his fists down on the keyboard he screamed to the relentless timer, counting down the number of minutes.
"Look's like we're out of luck" said Duo hanging his head. Suddenly the heart shaped face shot up, large grin lighting up his shadowed face "Lady luck" He stated trying to grasp the thought spinning in his mind.
"Luck outsmarts everyone. Even herself" he tapped his head thoughtfully under the hard stare of cobalt eyes. "I know! Your picture, you were to release this virus into the world" He stood up pulling the soldier along with him "We're going to play!"
They sped off heading for the streets darkened by night which was falling upon them. Heading into a littered alley Duo slipped into a half open door concealed between two trashcans.
"Wait." Heero pulled on his partner's arm a thought dawning on him "The others, are they on a mission?" Duo nodded and Heero continued "How far will angels fall. The virus will affect the Gundams" Startled eyes met each others gaze and with a quick glance at his watch they ran inside.
The room was dark, painted a deep red. Worn green material upholstered gambling tables, as the seedy and desperate members of the neighbourhood tended to their greedy addictions. The stench of unavoidable poverty lined the building as overweight people gambled away their wages, flittering away their futures for crisp green paper with cards and dice.
Stumbling Duo dragged Heero towards the roulette table, where in the centre stood a tacky plastic woman, dressed in peeling gold garments. The plaque she stood on had the word 'Luck' engraved in the cheap metal.
"Luck outsmarts everyone" He said pointing to her head and the small crown of wisdom knotted in her golden hair. "I call her Betsy"
Getting closer Heero picked up the statue looking deeply into the crown. Tiny numbers lay hidden inside the decoration "Even herself" Heero repeated scraping off the glitter and squinting down at the crown. "The even numbers" as he read them out Duo ran to the roulette wheel and pressed down on the numbers. As the last number was pressed the table opened up, despite the protests of the players, and a large computer monitor rose up. The cross bones disintegrated into the void of information and the timer slowed to a halt with minutes to spare.
Another instant message beeped up on the screen "Time has stopped, plans have ceased, but no there are no winner's, not in the game of chance."
Another timer began to tick down, and as the patrons of the small gambling hall scattered out into the cold night Heero defiantly shot the screen into hot shards before exiting the building, leaping from the flames that followed close behind him.
"They can see us" He stated obvious words for the first time with a new lust for their death, the threat to the world was averted; now the threat to the mastermind had begun.


Trained eyes scanned the grey building that grew high into the skyline, the dusky purple night polluted by the smoke billowing out from the burning building. In the distance alarms sounded, the shrill call into the frantic night.
Out of the corner of the soldier's eye Heero caught a glimpse of a shadow blurring past a high window. Narrowing his eyes he took a running jump for an open window, leaping high into the air and grasping the small wooden ledge heaved himself inside. Storming through the small apartment he slammed through the door and up to the top floor. Reaching the roof he tightened his grasp around the cold metal of his gun, and stood by the doorway, gun trained on the back of the figures head.
Looking out over the tops of the buildings and down at the damp pavement rained with ash, the mastermind took a deep, contented breath. "You have made a jump like this yourself, have you not?"
Staying silent Heero took a step closer tightening his jaw. The person before him continued "Or was it higher? I seem to remember you always running away" Turning the black hood was thrown of their head, revealing long golden hair "I thought that it was time for you to come to me."
"Relena" Heero stated his voice cold and hard as he concealed his surprise. She peered again over the side of the building seeing the tip of the braided boy's head. "Did you see what I can do? You taught me everything about computers, I wanted to know as much as you, I wanted to be like you"
"You tried to infect the world with your virus" He answered never replying to the softness in her eyes, the wild desperation that seemed to grow with every word.
"I knew that you would stop it, the perfect soldier. You would get to be a hero again and think of how perfect it would be, a hero and a princess in perfect love" She took a step forward raising her hand inches from his face
"Unacceptable" he barked standing his ground. Her brow furrowed as she drew her hand away again holding it close as though burned. "Did you like the explosion? I thought that you would, you got to save all those people." Quietly to herself so continued "I knew you would."
He shook his head, wild hair falling into his cobalt eyes "I do not like war, I don't like fire and death. Being a hero means nothing to me" Thinking back to the flames, the anger that she had built, the destruction that she could have caused her leaned in close to her "You mean nothing to me."
She shook off the harsh words breathing in the scent of his hair, feeling his breath so close to her skin. "We can be…" a small smile graced her lips "Perfect."
Dropping his gun Heero grasped both of her shoulders "Relena, we will never be together. You tried to cause mass destruction, you nearly killed us both, you endangered the other pilots not to mention everyone in that building" he gestured towards the smoke. "I will never want you"
She stepped back, laughing loudly, listening as it echoed around the abandoned building. She threw her hands out and spun around jerky circles, ripping at her hair, clawing at her face. Suddenly she stopped, a small drip of blood flowing down her cheeks as crimson tears. She cocked her head to the side, lips smiling gently "Have you ever been in love?" She asked, her sweet voice tinkling over the edge of darkness.
"Yes." He answered simply. She opened her mouth letting free a delighted breath before he continued "But never with you"
Closing her eyes, the two stood in silence. Turning Heero walked back to collect his gun from the ground. As he straightened he looked straight into a pair of wide violet eyes "Duo?"
The braided pilot was held by one of Relena's bodyguards, a knife poised over his throat, nicking his skin as he swallowed deeply. Furious cobalt turned back to Relena who giggled girlishly "Do you love me now?"
His eyes flickered to his lover and he raised his arm.
"No." A single bullet exploded from the barrel speeding towards the muscular man holding him. As the bodyguard collapsed in a boneless heap, deep red trickling from the hole in his forehead Duo grinned to his partner. Shaking his head and tutting Duo wrapped his arm around the soldiers waist and Heero kissed him tenderly on his head "You okay?"
Duo nodded "Yep, only one pain here" He responded shooting a glare at the princess.
She smoothed down her dress and wiped off the drops of blood dripping over her cheeks. Standing up she fell into a graceful curtsey, spinning her body around, she threw herself over the side of the roof.
Running, the two saw her broken body land on the pavement, her limbs twisted and hopeless eyes flickered closed. Taking each others hands they slowly turned and silently walked away.

END