Chapter 8: Virus Syndicate Zone:
Trigger Warning: The following chapter contains intense scenes of violence. If you are easily triggered, please skip this chapter. Reading/listening discretion is advised.
Meanwhile, in an abandoned factory; just a few blocks away from the academy. A group of armed soldiers wearing ski masks and black cloaks were patrolling the factory as a large armoured truck entered the premises.
The armoured truck was approaching the factory while carrying crates of content which appeared to be illegally purchased from the black market eBay.
As the truck came to a stop, a couple of unarmed soldiers approached the trunk of the truck and began to unload the vehicle by carrying the crates into the factory.
Once the truck finished unloading, the truck took off and left the factory as the soldiers gathered around to look at the crates.
As the soldiers looked down at the crates, one soldier stepped forward and drew his sword as he was ready to open one of the crates.
The crates themselves were shut with a simple hammer and nails, the soldier approaching the crates thought to himself, "This should be easy to open."
Suddenly, he stabbed the crate, and with brute force; he slashed the nails right off the box like a one slice hacksaw.
The soldier then turned to look at the soldier next to him and handed over his sword,
"Keep hold of this until further notice." He said as he gave the other soldier his sword before turning his head back towards the opened crate.
The soldier then grabbed the top of the crate and swung it open revealing a grizzly sight that just so happened to amaze the soldiers.
Inside were piles of black and orange rifles that looked like pencils.
He then bent down and grabbed a pencil looking rifle. He later hoisted it in the air to show to the other soldiers.
"Such a beauty isn't it?... Who knew that these KA57-Sovettes would be the answer to my prayers." the soldier said as he took out a cloth from his pocket and slowly cleaned the barrel of "the pencil gun."
The other soldiers then stepped towards the crate and picked up a KA57 to inspect it and admire it's beauty and design.
But one soldier was looking unsure about what was happening.
He immediately approached the main soldier who finished cleaning the pencil gun and gave a soldier salute before speaking his concerns.
"Sir, permission to speak sir?" Asked the concerned soldier,
"Permission granted, report." Commanded the main soldier as he and the concerned soldier stepped away from the crates to speak in private.
"Sir, what is the meaning of purchasing these KA57s? Is there something you're not telling us about?" The concerned soldier asked.
"You really are concerned about this next mission, are you? Very well, follow me." Said the main soldier as he placed his hand on the other soldier's shoulder and marched with him to an abandoned conference room.
Once they entered the conference room, a third soldier was carrying documents in his hand, the main soldier grabbed the documents and opened it up to take out some papers revealing profiles and personal information of all the students and staff of the U.A.V academy.
As the third officer left the room, the soldier then placed them all in single file on the conference table.
"Look at all these savages." The main soldier said as he pointed at all the profiles on the table, "These pathetic excuses of anti-viruses are about to make the worst mistake of their lives."
"You see soldier... many years ago, I lost my wife because of these rat b*s. For many years. I've tried multiple attempts to get my revenge against the U.A.V." The soldier said as he took his KA57 and began to disassemble it,
"And no matter what you did, the U.A.V was always one step ahead of you?" The concerned soldier asked.
"Yes." the main soldier responded while separating all pieces of the KA57.
The soldier then began to place all the components of the KA57 back together.
"If my wife hadn't bought my stepson in the first place, I wouldn't be homeless. I wouldn't have had to form this virus syndicate. I wouldn't be committing computer crimes such as internet fraud or illegally distributing malware to incapacitate them. I'D RATHER BE AT HOME WITH MY LOVELY WIFE AND AWAY FROM THIS ANTI-VIRUS HELL!" Roared the soldier as he finished assembling the KA57 and suddenly opened fire at the black board just beside the concerned soldier.
The concerned soldier ducked for cover as the main soldier sprayed a hail of bullets throughout the entire chalk board.
"Perfect precision, and 10 out of 10 accuracy." The soldier critiqued as he looked carefully at his KA57. "...But not enough power."
The soldier then pointed to another soldier and gestured him to enter the room.
The third soldier returned to the room and gave a soldier salute, "Sir, permission to speak sir."
"Permission granted." Said the main soldier as he handed the 3rd soldier his KA57, "Now listen up, these KA57s are to be our ultimate weapon for taking down the entire U.A.V. But unfortunately our fire power isn't enough. Do you think you can create a script or something within the next couple of hours before we mount our assault on the U.A.V?" The soldier questioned the third member in the room.
The third soldier responded with a salute and walked out of the room with the KA57 in hand.
As the 3rd soldier walked out, the main soldier and the concerned soldier looked at the profiles once again on the table.
"Permission to speak sir?" Asked the worried soldier.
"Permission granted." The main soldier responded,
"Is there anyone of these individuals that you see could be a nuisance to this military operation?" The concerned soldier asked,
The main soldier carefully observed all the profiles that were layed before them.
He then took 2 profiles that stood out from the others. One profile showed a yellow armoured minister on the front page, and the other contained the picture of a lovely aqua chimera smiling.
"This one is the main target. He is the leader of the U.A.V. If he gets infected, I will become dictator of the U.A.V and every minister will obey my orders." The soldier said as he hoisted Norton's profile in the air.
"And the other one?" Asked the concerned soldier,
"It is believed by many virus syndicates that she will truly be a nuisance to our military operation. But i'm sure that with our KA57s, we can incapacitate this adorable abomination." The main soldier responded as he looked at both Norton and SNT's profiles.
The worried soldier suddenly picks up a file containing the profile of the blueberry boy and gives it to the main soldier.
"What about this one sir?" The concerned soldier asked.
As the main soldier took the file to observe it, the conversation suddenly turned into complete silence for a good 5 minutes.
This 3rd profile picture eventually made the main soldier look terrified as his hands slowly began to tremble.
"I haven't seen this blue little face since... since..." The main soldier stuttered as he slowly began to remember the last time he saw this familiar blue robot.
"NOOOOOO! YOU LET THE U.A.V INTO OUR SON'S LIFE?!" Shouted the Dragon looking robot who stood up from the sofa and threw a glass of water to the floor.
"Dragon, honey, I'm sorry. It was that b*h ClamWin, she's been riding my a* ever since we bought Void from that Optical Illusions place." Responded Jinx as she tried to apologize to her husband.
As the couple sat down at the dinner table arguing, Void slowly approached the kitchen to sit at the table and watched to find out why his family were fighting.
"Honey, what do you have against the U.A.V anyway?!" Shouted Jinx,
"Everything, they ruined my f*g life!" Shouted Dragon, "Maybe you think, it's the U.A.V's fault we live in this f*g s*t hole of a city. Maybe you think it's the U.A.V's fault our families took off and left us with nothing!"
Suddenly, Dragon flipped the dinner table over and approached his wife with anger and fury in his eyes. "It's the U.A.V's fault, IT'S ALWAYS BEEN THE U.A.V'S FAULT!" Shouted Dragon as he smacked her face so hard that she fell to the floor.
Injured, Jinx slowly got back to her feet and slowly crawled up the stairs towards the bedroom where she eventually locked the doors from the inside.
But Dragon still wasn't finished with her. "Get back here. GET BACK HERE! COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Shouted Dragon as he ran to the bedroom door and banged his fist onto the door, he even attempted to break down the door multiple times.
But all of a sudden, when Dragon finally broke the door open to confront his wife, the bedroom exploded causing the entire second floor to be engulfed in flames.
Finally remembering everything that happened since he and the boy were last seen together. Dragon's emotions slowly transitioned from shocked to sad. And eventually, from anger to vengeance; all within the last 5 minutes of silence.
Dragon then took Void's profile picture and slowly crumpled it up.
"That blue little b*d... He thinks he's doing so much good for the U.A.V by saving these computers." Dragon growled. "Little does he realize, but once he becomes either a programmer or a minister... I will be the author of all his pain!" Dragon roared as he suddenly threw the piece of paper in the air and took the concerned soldier's sword.
Dragon then stabbed the paper with brute force causing the impact to shred the entire picture of Void ranger to pieces.
Dragon then turned to the soldier to hand him back his sword,
"If you see this blueberry boy, bring him to me alive. I will have the honor of delivering an amusing death for him." Dragon growled before walking away, leaving the soldier looking worried as he carefully scooped up the remaining pieces of Void's profile picture.
Upon leaving the meeting room and heading down the stairs, the third soldier approached Dragon and saluted him, "Permission to speak sir."
"Permission granted." Dragon responded.
The soldier then bowed before dragon and hoisted a box of white bullets with a small blue imprint typed onto the shell which read "A problem has been detected and Doors has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer."
Dragon was looking impressed as the soldier returned his KA57 Sovette with the white blue screen bullets already loaded.
Dragon took aim at a nearby pile of empty crates that previously had a pile of KA57s and opened fire causing the crates to explode every time during impact.
Looking amazed at what he just did, he turned to the soldier and asked, "What is this sorcery?"
The third soldier removed one white bullet to show Dragon and began to describe it.
"These are Stuxnet capsules, carefully crafted by yours truly to explode anyone who gets hit by these blue screening beasts." The soldier explained.
The soldier then turned the white bullet to the side and pointed at the blue imprinted message,
"As you can see, we replicated the exact same message found on the DoorsXP blue screens.
When these bullets hit, everyone who gets hit by these will immediately blue screen to their death and have their bodies explode."
"Which also means that if these pathetic ministers do not create backups, they will finally be destroyed forever." Dragon concluded as he began to quickly understand the payloads of the Stuxnet virus.
Dragon turned to the soldier as they bowed before each other.
Dragon then walked down the stairs and gestured for all the soldiers to arm themselves and gather around for an important briefing.
"Attention soldiers! A new power is rising. Its victory is at hand. On this night, the company will be stained with the blood of students and staff of the united anti-virus movement. Tonight, we shall march to the academy... and leave none alive. To war!" Shouted Dragon as he observed his soldiers arming themselves with KA57s with the Stuxnet capsules.
Dragon and his soldiers then hoisted their KA57s to the air and let out a loud war cry.
The soldiers ran towards the garage where they began to start their armoured trucks. Once the trucks were on, Dragon raised his hand holding his rifle to prompt the soldiers to move out.
The garage doors then slowly opened and Dragon hopped onto one of the armoured vehicles, armed and ready for battle.
When the garage doors stopped, the armoured vehicles finally began to roll onto the streets as it was heading straight for the U.A.V academy.
Meanwhile, back at the academy, Void and SNT were holding hands and smiling at each other as they were taking an afternoon walk down the hallway while waiting for the bell to ring and their next class to begin.
SNT took Void's hands and led him towards the window to see a magnificent view of the outside.
"Wow, what a view... Wouldn't you agree Void?" SNT asked,
"Beautiful." Void whispered as he and SNT blushed and looked out towards the horizon.
"You know Void... you're so adorable." SNT said as she turned towards Void.
Void then slowly turned his head and looked at SNT,
But suddenly, just before the adorable chimera and the blue robot could kiss; they heard the terrifying sounds of glass breaking from downstairs, gunfire followed by explosions and students and staff yelling and running for their lives.
Once inside, the soldiers began to open fire on all the students who were running for their lives in the hallways. Unfortunately for the students, the aim of the soldiers was so precise that every shot fired towards the students was an instant kill.
The soldiers then began to scourer the classrooms and opened fire on every full classroom, causing death to over half the class.
Among one of the classrooms, Mistress ClamWin was teaching about virus detection and removal,
"As you can see class. Every time you run a system scan, the anti-virus will detect these forms of malware and prompt you to delete it. Now sometimes, these malware won't go down without a fight. So, sometimes you have to..." Said ClamWin as she made a fist and clenched it with her other hand.
"NORTON!" Roared Dragon as he opened fire towards the ceiling while the soldiers continued to advance,
Upon hearing those words, ClamWin grabbed as many students as she could and she hid under the desk as the soldiers busted the door opened and began to fire. Over half of the students have tragically lost their lives.
ClamWin and the surviving students then slowly returned to their feet and bowed their heads for a moment of silence.
Meanwhile, in the gymnasium, AVG was teaching physical education to prepare students for their upcoming exams.
But all of a sudden, the soldiers barged into the gym and began to load their KA57 Sovettes and prepared to fire.
Panicking, AVG grabbed a couple of students with him and fled to the locker room to hide while the soldiers open fire on every student that ran by them. Sadly, all the students that remained in the gym exploded into binary coded blood.
When the shooting stopped and the soldiers left the gym, AVG and the rest of the students slowly walked back to the gym to asses the damage.
They hugged each other in sorrow and bowed their head in solidarity and prayer.
Meanwhile, in the upper floors of the academy, MalwareBytes was inside the medical bay; treating students for the common cold when he suddenly heard the sounds of Dragon's rage just outside.
"NOOOOOOORRRRRTOOOOOOOOOOOOON!" Roared a furious Dragon,
Suddenly, the doors swung open and Void, SNT and 2 other ministers; Avira and Kaspersky rushed inside and locked the doors. They all decided to hide under the beds.
SNT was feeling terrified and out of breath, while Void on the other hand wasn't in very good shape.
A large portion of his abdomen was damaged as he looked down and saw burn marks on his side. Feeling light headed, Void slowly collapsed and fainted.
Luckily for the blue robot, doctor MalwareBytes quickly rushed in with a medical kit and began to administer first aid to the poor injured robot.
Just outside, they saw silhouettes of a couple of students running away as Dragon walked towards them and single-handedly gunned them down; thus killing them instantly.
When Dragon left the medical bay and the gunfire stopped, Void, SNT, Avira and Kaspersky were still hiding inside. SNT was very terrified to what she witnessed.
"Who were those freaks?!" Cried SNT as she hugged Void for dear life.
"I don't know." Void whispered, "But I do know that one of them was looking for me, he had black and red armor and large bat wings... I think i've seen him before."
"What do you know about him? Who is he?" SNT asked as she was curious to listen to the backstory between Void and Dragon.
"Well miss SNT, it's kind of a long story..." Void slowly tried to explain before Kaspersky interrupted him,
"There's no time for explanations, we have to put a stop to these clowns immediately." Kaspersky shouted.
"Anyone have any ideas?!" SNT shouted,
"I'll go... he wants me after all." Void sadly bowed his head,
"Are you crazy, these freaks will kill you!" SNT cried as she hugged him and began to shed some tears.
"I know!" Void sobbed as he put his head down on her shoulders.
"NORTON!" Dragon roared once again from outside the medical bay as he was still searching for his arch nemesis.
Void then looked at the door and slowly lifted his head up while still in tears, "I want you to stay strong for me SNT, do you understand me?" Void said.
SNT bowed her head slowly and closed her eyes as she whispered, "Okay."
Void gave SNT a quick hug and ran off to confront his evil stepfather.
Meanwhile, in the heavily restricted registry keys room, Norton and Webroot were secretly discussing plans for future expansions for the U.A.V academy.
"And here, we shall build the ultimate swimming pool for all students to practice even more physical activity." Norton explained as he pointed to the map that Webroot was holding,
"A brilliant idea, but what gave you the idea of building a swimming pool?" Webroot asked curiously,
"Ever since Void and the students were ambushed by worms during the seek test, we definitely don't want a repeat of that incident. So by building this pool, we can train the students if in case they get attacked by malware in these tight situations." Norton explained as he grabbed a pencil to draw a square on the map.
"Looks good minister Norton, I love it." Concluded Webroot,
Just then, the registry key doors blew opened and sirens began to blare.
Norton and Webroot immediately dropped the map and turned around to draw their swords only to be shocked to discover who it was that broke into the registry keys.
Dragon and his army of soldiers suddenly approached the 2 ministers and aimed their pencil guns towards them.
"NORTON!" Dragon shouted as he opened fire towards Norton,
Norton quickly reacted and used his sword to slash every single Stuxnet capsule that got in his way.
Both Norton and Dragon began to circle each other around the room with their weapons in hand,
"Looks like I brought a knife to a gun fight." Norton said looking unimpressed.
Dragon giggled and threw down his pencil gun as he drew his sword. He then aimed his sword towards Norton as they continued to circle each other.
Not taking any chances, Minister Webroot made a break for it and ran for the exit just as Void was walking in.
When Void saw Webroot running past him and high tailing it out of there, Void realized something was wrong. Concerned with what was happening, he quickly ran into the room where he made a shocking discovery.
Just before Norton and Dragon could clash each other's swords, Void ran into the room with his own sword in hand and stood in front of Norton to confront the enemy.
Dragon looked surprised, "Well well well. Hello again... my stepson. I will admit my stepson. After all these years of absence, I did not expect you to be part of the very anti-virus movement that took everything from me!" Shouted Dragon,
Dragon and Void slowly began to circle each other around the room,
Void then turned to Norton and shouted, "Minister Norton, get the hell out of here! This is gonna be personal."
"I should thank you for all the hard work your doing to these innocent computers, but it would be even better to delete you and put you out of my misery." Dragon laughed. "You see Norton. For years, I attempted to eliminate the U.A.V from the equation. For years, I attempted to infect your anti-virus movement with the nastiest pieces of malware in the entire computer world. And why, you may ask? BECAUSE YOU MADE OUR LIVES A LIVING HELL!" Roared Dragon.
Void gestured Norton with his arm to get behind him. But Norton didn't budge.
"And now I'm gonna finish you off, the same way as my wife perished many years ago! Dragon shouted as he swung his sword into a figure 8 formation.
"So you were the ranger I kept seeing in my nightmares, the same ranger who smacked his wife at the dinner table and blamed the U.A.V for everything. And how in the hell did you know I was here?!" Void shouted as he was demanding answers.
"Void Void Void, you poor simple fool. You may have forgotten, but I too was enrolled in this very academy many years ago before you were created. Unlike you who only passed your first exam, I passed all 3 exams. I know every command, every admin password and every protocol for all control panels in this academy." Dragon bragged.
Void became shocked after hearing what Dragon said, "So... you were a U.A.V programmer as well."
"Not just a programmer, I was very close to passing the graduation exam to become the next minister of the U.A.V." Dragon explained.
"Indeed, I remember your rivalry with Jinx very well Dragon." Norton said as he stepped in between Void and Dragon to join the confrontation.
"Yes, during our school years, we tried everything in our power to 1-up each other in every exam, every assignment and every anti-virus operation. And when we finally made our truce and got married... She then bought you." Growled Dragon as he pointed his finger to Void.
"You my stepson are a virus, a rogue. You were created to cause misery to all victims infected by the code you carry. And yet, I was impressed that my wife was able to rewrite your dev codes from the ground up and turn you into what you are today... A complete disgrace to the anti-virus communities." Dragon continued.
Dragon then lifted his sword towards Void's neck and roared like a true dragon, "YOU DISHONOURED ME! YOU DISHONOURED YOUR FAMILY! AND YOU DISHONOURED THE ENTIRE UNITED ANTI-VIRUS MOVEMENT!"
Finally, Dragon began to perform some fancy throwing and spinning moves with his sword before taking up his fighting stance,
"And for that, you all must be destroyed!" Dragon shouted.
"Dragon... your gonna pay for abandoning me as a child many years ago!" Shouted Void as he and Dragon got locked into a rapid sword fight.
Both Void and Dragon quickly began to slash, stab and hack at each other as they both had the exact same goal of drawing binary coded blood from each other's torso.
But as the fighting escalated, Dragon began to slash and throw punches, hooks and uppercuts to poor Void, sending him flailing and tumbling around the registry room.
Dragon even began to perform some sword moves that Void has never learned before such as the overhead circular slash, a couple of spinning back slashes, drop stabs and the tornado sword drill.
Poor Void was losing his footing as he nearly collapsed to the floor. He struggled as hard as possible to return to his feet but couldn't muster the strength to continue.
Out of breath with no more stamina, Void dropped his sword and collapsed to the floor as Norton rushed to check on Void for injuries.
"Void Ranger, you think you would have survived your mother's time bomb payload If I didn't step into the room first?! You think you would have survived the hell that awaits you here in the U.A.V?!" Dragon shouted as he confronted his injured stepson. "And what about your father, you think you would have survived on the streets if my wife didn't purchase you from Total AV?!"
Just as Dragon continued confronting Void, an aqua chimera boosted into the room and began to spin dashed into the crowd of soldiers as she bowled them all down like bowling pins.
She then performed a couple of drop kicks to the soldiers heads; knocking them out instantly.
As she continued fighting off the rest of the soldiers within the registry keys, she saw Void in trouble with a sword aimed at his neck.
"Maybe your father was right about you. Deletion... It is inevitable." Dragon concluded as he aimed his sword to Void's neck and swung it in the air ready to strike his jugular vein.
"NOOOO! STOP!" Cried a cute voice that only Void could recognize.
It was SNT, and she was holding Void's sword as she took up her fighting stance.
"Let him go, you monster!" SNT shouted.
SNT then swung Void's sword in an attempt to intimidate him. Dragon was unimpressed.
"Really? Is that truly the best you can do?"
Norton then slowly stood to his feet with Void in his arms as he swung his sword towards Dragon.
"No mister Dragon, this isn't the best she can do... But this is." Said Norton as he looked down at SNT prompting her to perform her homing attack.
SNT nodded to Norton. And with Void's sword in hand; she performed her homing attack on Dragon and slashed him multiple times.
The force of the impact was huge that she sent him flying 6 feet away from SNT. Dragon then held onto his torso as he slowly collapsed to the floor and became unconscious.
SNT had done it. She not only knocked out Dragon with her homing attack, she drew binary coded blood as well on Dragon's torso; thus winning the battle for her and her injured partner.
Finally, with Dragon incapacitated and the soldiers defeated, all the ministers within the academy entered the room with their swords drawn as they began to surround Dragon in a circle.
Void then slowly woke up from his injuries as SNT ran to him and hugged him,
"S...N...T... is that you?" Void asked while slowly regaining consciousness,
"Ohh Void, your okay! I was so worried about you!" SNT shouted as she cried tears of joy.
Void smiled back at her, "I'm alright SNT, i'm not hurt." He said as he lifted up his torso revealing a minor scratch on his armour.
Just then, both Void and SNT embraced each other, they were happy to be safe together after surviving the terrible ordeal in the academy.
Norton and the ministers cautiously approached the defeated Dragon and aimed their swords towards Dragon's neck,
Dragon slowly returned to his feet and opened his eyes to observe the situation he was in,
"Dragon ranger; former programmer of the U.A.V, and leader of the 9 dragons virus syndicate. On behalf of all the students who lost their lives in this massacre, and in the name of the united anti-virus movement... You're under arrest Dragon Ranger." Shouted Norton as he moved his sword towards Dragon's jugular vein.
Dragon let out a furious growl, "Grrrrrr... Minister Norton, i'll get even with you if it's the last thing I ever do." Dragon growled as Kaspersky and Avira hoisted Dragon and carried him out of the registry room and into quarantine.
Norton and the rest of the ministers watched on.
They later turned towards SNT and Void who were still hugging each other and at peace together.
ClamWin then approached Norton and asked him, "Shouldn't we mention to Void that what he just went through might be a taste of what's to come for his second exam?"
Norton turned to ClamWin and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Let him rest, he'll need all the energy he can muster up. But you are right Mistress ClamWin. This battle that Void just underwent with his stepfather and those soldiers is exactly what's gonna happen in the second exam. But with an opponent much worse than his stepfather, I assure you." Norton vowed as he and ClamWin watched Void and SNT hugging each other.
Suddenly, as both Void and SNT were exiting the registry room; a crowd full of people gathered around the pair and began to shout and worry for their sons and daughters who were students of the academy. There were even a few photographers taking pictures with their cameras for the local newspapers.
One concerned mother suddenly approached SNT with a microphone and asked her, "Miss SNT, Jeanne Ridley of the Sunday times. What happened to my son and all of the students that attended this school, where are they?!! We haven't seen them in years!"
SNT looked nervously at Void before looking back at the crowd, "They... they went on a permanent mission to the skies. I'm afraid we're never gonna see them again." She said as she bowed her head in sadness.
Upon hearing her words, the cameramen stopped taking pictures and the entire room went silent for a couple of minutes.
Looking very angry, Void turned around and walked towards the quarantine prison cells where Dragon was serving his prison sentence. This confrontation was about to get personal.