Chapter 15: Intrusion Prevention Zone:
The very next day, upon arriving at the docks of Genesis, Void headed to the infirmary near the rear of the ship to check on Sonic, Shadow and Silver who were recovering from their recent injuries.
Void sits next to Sonic's bed and asked him, "Hey Sonic, can we talk?"
Sonic woke up from his nap as he sat up to greet the blue robot,
"Huh, what do you want?" Sonic said as he wasn't in the mood to chat.
"I wanted to ask how you were feeling?"
"Really?... Well I'm in pain, thank you very much." Sonic responded,
Void bowed his head in shame.
"Look Sonic, I'm sorry for falling in love with SNT, and I'm aware that you're still jealous at me for dating her last year. But you need to let it go... This obsession will eventually destroy you and everyone around you." Void said as he tried to place his hand over Sonic's shoulder.
But Sonic smacked Void's hand away from him and turned his back on him.
"Sonic, please talk to me. We can always talk." Void asked as he tried one last attempt to get Sonic on the same page with him.
But Sonic just turned his head and looked away; simply ignoring him.
The robot sighed, "...Fine, if you're not gonna help me save SNT, then I will." Void said as he walked out of the infirmary.
Upon hearing the entire conversation, both Shadow and Silver slowly got up and began to follow Void outside towards the deck.
As Void looked down towards the docks of Genesis, Shadow and Silver finally arrived to join him,
"Shadow and Silver, how are you both holding up?" Void asked,
"Pretty good, we did take a massive beating from the worm, and all that matters now is that we're slowly recovering." Silver answered as Shadow bowed his head down and closed his eyes,
"What's up with you?" Void asked as he looked towards Shadow,
"You know Void... I heard the conversation you had with Sonic. You wanna know something about me? I too am in love..." Shadow sighed,
"Oh, you mean that yellow hedgehog named Maria?" Void asked,
"Yes." Shadow responded, "But there is something you should know about her... She wasn't always the adorable hedgehog I've known and love.
I remember one time when SNT told me the story of how Maria was once a rebel leader; fighting in a coliseum called the Seelkadoom. She and her best friend Sally Acorn were planning a resistance against the emperor. But she got captured and placed in a gladiator prison where she had to fight with other prisoners for a chance to live another day.
Eventually SNT, and someone who goes by the name of Nazo went in and saved Maria from a life time of imprisonment." Shadow explained,
"Wow... I never knew Maria had such a violent backstory." Void responded looking surprised,
"Funny, I remember meeting Daniela at a McGoombas on Angel Island... I got stuck in one of those fun house tubes, and it was Daniela who saved me." Silver sighed while trying to maintain his embarrassment,
Void and Shadow giggled in unison as they tried their hardest not to laugh out loud.
Void then looked out towards the ocean and wondered about SNT's third friend, "What's Nicole's story?"
But suddenly, Shadow interrupted, "Trust me on this, no one knows what her backstory is."
Void thought about it for a second, "Hmm, so it looks like she's mysterious."
"Wait a minute, I thought you once said that Nicole has joined Maria and her friends multiple times on field trips in outer space. And everywhere they went, there was always a stole way that was trying to kill them." Silver explained.
But Shadow quickly punched him in the face, "We never speak of this!!!"
"Ow, why didn't I see this coming?" Silver asked as he rubbed his cheek after the punch that Shadow gave him.
Void tried to process what Silver tried to explain, he then just ignored the response and looked on towards the ocean where he noticed the docks up ahead.
"So, this is Genesis." Silver said as they all looked down below as the pirates were unloading the crates from the cargo.
"Indeed. As you can see, up ahead is a heavily armored military base. That is where Optical Illusions is located, and that's where the girls are being held." Said Void as pointed up ahead.
"So how do we sneak in without being detected?" Asked Shadow,
Void slowly took out his network tap, and then looked down to notice some nanobots patrolling the docks.
"I may have a few ideas." Void responded with a smirk.
"Hold up!!! You boys aren't going nowhere without me!!!" Shouted a familiar voice, "After all, who's gonna save you when you get infected?"
Just then, Void, Shadow and Silver saw Sonic walking away from the infirmary slowly as he walked forward to join them.
"Hey Void... listen, I'm sorry for the way I've treated you. And I'm sorry for being to obsessive over SNT... But you were right all this time, saving these girls is all that matters now. So what do you say... truce?" Sonic asked as he held out his hand prompting Void to shake it.
"Fair enough." Void responded as he slapped Sonic's shoulder causing Sonic to fall to the floor.
"Oww!!" Sonic shouted,
"Ooops, sorry."
After finally making amends, Void and the 3 hedgehogs jumped off the deck and onto the Genesis docks to observe their surroundings,
"Hey wait!!! Where's Norton and the pirates?" Asked Sonic as he wondered if they were supposed to join him.
"They're busy taking care of the wounded." Void explained, "Last night, while the 3 of you were recovering, we got into a pirate ship battle between us and these red nanobots... Unfortunately, we lost half the crew last night."
Void then bowed his head for a moment in silence as the hedgehogs slowly followed.
"But honestly, at least the pirates were nice enough to help us set sail into enemy territory." Void admitted.
Void and the hedgehogs slowly began to walk towards the entrance of the military base,
"So... this is the new Optical Illusions, it looks pretty downgraded compared to the space defense platform SNT and I fought in last year." Void said looking unamused.
"But then again, it's still a massive military base nonetheless. Now lets see what kind of surprises 'this doctor' has in store for us." Shadow smirked,
"But Shadow, Sonic and Silver. If I get infected, please understand that none of you are qualified to disinfect me, let alone disassemble me!!! If I blue screen and SNT dies... Finished, game over. Blue screen of death. Just please leave the disinfection to the U.A.V." Void explained,
"Look Void, we may not have much experience with viruses, heck we even get flopped around like rag dolls whenever we fight viruses. But we will still assist you to the bitter end." Silver responded as he clenched his fist.
"Plus, if you're ever caught in a pickle, leave it to us!!!" Sonic shouted while striking a thumbs up pose towards Void,
Void closed his eyes and smiled, "Sonic, Shadow and Silver... I'm glad you're all here with me. I really am. And I want to thank you for helping me persevere during these difficult times."
Void then looked towards the military base and drew his sword, "Cmon boys... Lets go save Team 182!"
Void and the hedgehogs finally began to ran towards the front gate of the military base which was being patrolled by nanobots.
The heroes quietly ducked inside a couple of conveniently placed pipes and crawled inside, once they made it to the other side of the pipe. They looked back and noticed they had finally passed the patrolling robots.
But just for safety measures, Void threw the network tap at a nearby nanobot. The nanobot got hit on the side and began to electrocute.
After the electrocution was over, the nanobot went crazy and began to slice and stab his fellow soldiers before slitting it's own throat and disintegrating into binary coded blood.
Void then walked over to the dead nanobots and picked up his network tap before rejoining the hedgehogs.
"Thank you anti-viruses." Void smiled as he looked back towards the pirate ship,
As they continued sneaking into the base, they quickly hid behind a nearby wall and discovered the evil clones carrying crates from one room to another.
Luckily for Void, he still had the telescope Cyber gave him.
He took out the telescope and zoomed it towards what looked like white garble data bubbling from the crates. Void was horrified to witness such an awful discovery.
"Oh crud!!! I knew it!!! They're gonna use the blue screen of death to sacrifice Team 182, and use virtual machines to load them into the operating system where Elite will be waiting!!! It will then infect the girls, kill them... and become the ultimate virus!!!" Void announced as he freaked out.
"How do you know all of this? And how does this evil scheme fit with this Elite virus?" Silver wondered,
Void gave Silver the telescope and positioned it for Silver to look at the crates with the bubbling data and pointed towards the crates,
"Well lets see, I get enrolled into the U.A.V academy where I fight off a couple of worms. They tried disabling the Macrosoft Outbox email systems with the SoBig worm. They then attempted to lure a group of students to their deaths in the Tech Alps. And worst of all, Webroot betrayed us by using the FunSoul worm to kidnap Team 182; just for this sacrificial ceremony.
If you do the math, Total AV was capable of hatching up to 5 different methods of attacking the United Anti-Virus movement. And he's so damn smart that he managed to succeed with all of his plans to make our lives a living hell. Heck, just the last scheme alone with the FunSoul worm has to be the most sophisticated scheme of them all.
Now then, do you see those white codes bubbling from the crates?" Void asks while pointing at the boxes,
"Yes? What is that?" Silver asked looking confused as he had no experience to what he was seeing,
"That is garble data, this is what any victims witness when they get visited by the dreaded blue screen of death. They're preparing for Team 182 to be sacrificed."
"So how do we stop them before they harm the girls?" Shadow asked as they all looked around the area.
Suddenly, they heard a robotic voice coming from a distance, "Halt!!! Who goes there?! Stop in the name of the law!!!" Shouted a nanobot as 4 nanobots have spotted the intruders.
The 4 nanobots surround Void and the hedgehogs and began to read to them their own version of the Miranda rights.
"Attention intruders!!! You have violated the law!! Surrender to us now or pay the ultimate penalty." One of the nanobots ordered,
"No way!!! You're not gonna hurt our friends!!!" Sonic shouted as the hedgehogs got into their fighting stances.
"How about this robots; I bite my thumb at you, and we'll be on our way." Void snarked while insulting the nanobots on a Shakespearian level.
Furious, the nanobots begin to spin their spears and walk towards the heroes in an attempt to apprehend them.
But Void quickly ducks under the spinning spears and stabs the nanobots like kabobs.
All 4 nanobots were K.Oed and were laying down unconscious.
"Great job Void, and very clever in avoiding those spinning blades. But now that these nanobots are incapacitated, how do we get inside the base when there's no entrance?" Sonic pondered,
Void looked down at the lifeless robots and then smirked at the hedgehogs. "I have an idea."
As the heroes continued sneaking inside the military base, Void and the hedgehogs were all disguised as nanobots. They then pretended to patrol the area until they could find the entrance that would lead them inside.
Sure enough, they spotted a line up of nanobots walking in single file towards a monstrous door that was conveniently opened; as it was the only entrance the heroes were able to find.
The heroes decided to join the nanobot as they all walked inside the military base one by one before they all separated and parted ways to patrol their respectful area of Optical Illusions.
Once all the nanobots have entered the base, the front door automatically closed shut, leaving our heroes trapped inside.
But meanwhile, inside the security room. Someone was watching the fake nanobots enter the military base. It was minister Total AV; and he was not stupid to realize that 4 of his nanobots were really his son and 3 hedgehogs in disguise.
As Total AV watched the security cameras, Webroot walked in the room and stood next to him and requested for new orders,
"Virut, set up the firewalls, and have the girls ready for the memory dump. Tis essential to make sure that my son never makes it out alive" Total AV ordered,
Virut bowed before his master, "Yes minister, it will be done as ordered sir."
Webroot then turned around and quickly typed a script on a nearby computer before leaving the security room. As Webroot left, Total AV continued to watch the intruders walk inside the military base.
"Void ranger; my son, and all your pathetic hedgehog friends. If you think for one moment that we might be fooled by your nanobot disguises? You are sadly mistaken!!!" Total AV shouted as he turned around and began to leave the room.
Back inside the military base, Void and the hedgehogs walked towards the middle of the room, they then proceeded to remove their nanobot costumes and began to observe their surroundings.
The room was massive, it had metal grey floors and walls, a ceiling once again made out of plexiglass. A stairwell that leads to the upper floors of the military base. A couple of cubical offices in a corner. And a corner full of what looked like gas tanks to make electricity which seemed to be the source to power the military base.
Sonic began to sniff around, "Piuh, what kind of a base is this?!!! It smells like trash!!!" Sonic shouted as he pinched his nose.
"Hmm, I believe that we are in the garage where most of the nanobots and weapons of Optical Illusions are usually manufactured." Void pondered as he looked around the entire room.
"Speaking of nanobots, good idea of disguising ourselves as nanobots in order to sneak inside." Shadow admitted as he was impressed,
"Viruses are much different than your usual badnicks. It was either gonna be disguise as the enemy and sneak in, or go anti-viruses blazing and risk infection." Void responded as he reminded the hedgehogs of their limited choices.
Suddenly, they heard slow clapping from the upper floors and a voice that only Void knew to well,
"Well now... I must congratulate you Void, but I'm afraid your celebration will be short lived." Shouted the familiar voice coming from the 3rd floor.
Void and the hedgehogs quickly turned around and looked up to see Total AV once again; still alive as he stood on the balcony with Minister Webroot by his side.
Without hesitating, Total AV snapped his fingers as an army of nanobots emerged from the stairwells and began to surround the heroes.
Void quickly drew his sword while the hedgehogs took up their fighting stances. They were ready for another fight.
"Void ranger; my son. Welcome to Genesis, the new home of Optical Illusions. I must admit, you did well in fooling my nanobots to get through the front door... But make no mistake, we will not be fooled by your juvenile antics!!!" Total AV announced while looking unimpressed,
"Minister, the firewalls are ready and awaiting your command." Said Virut.
"Thank you Webroot. As you can see; my son. We have built our own military base from the ground up after you and that hideous little chimera destroyed my space defense platform last year.
We even went as far as constructing our own firewalls. A firewall that is more powerful than that brainless oaf Hacker could ever develop. And in precisely a few minutes from now, the 4 maidens will be dipped into my blue screen memory dump, where they 'll be fed to my Elite virus." Explained Total AV as he explained his dastardly scheme.
"Credit cards will be frauded, computers and phones... bricked. The possibilities of detection and removal... beyond impossible." Total AV continued, "The U.A.V academy will finally fall, and the era of Genesis will begin."
Void wasn't happy to hear his father's evil scheme.
"Alright father, you made your point. Now how much will you charge us in ransom?" Void asked,
Total AV quickly lifted an eyebrow while looking confused, "Excuse me?"
"Your fee. How much money do we have to pay to make sure this doesn't happen?" Void shouted,
Total AV laughed, "I'm not interested in black market eBay deals Void Ranger, I intend to chance the face of computer history forever."
"Let me guess, by nuking the computer world with malware?!!!" Sonic shouted,
"Precisely Sonic, in doing so, there'll be no more boundaries between virus syndicates and anti-viruses. And the U.A.V will cease to exist."
Total AV then bows before the heroes, "Now if you would all please excuse us, we have a couple of maidens to sacrifice. Nanobots, see to it that much harm comes to our 'visitors'."
Total AV then turns his back against the heroes and walks back into the security room to prepare for the sacrificial ceremony which was 2 hours away.
Without hesitating, Void and the hedgehogs began to attack the nanobots, destroying them instantly.
Sonic performed a homing attack on 3 nanobots.
Silver used telekinesis on 4 nanobots and played ping pong from wall to wall with the nanobots as the balls.
Shadow took out a chaos emerald and shouted, "Chaos control!!!" Which caused time to freeze. He then drop kicked 3 nanobots into the ground as time returned to normal speed.
Finally, Void slashed and stabbed the last 3 nanobots.
Once all the nanobots were destroyed, the heroes gathered around to regroup in preparation for their next objective.
"Cmon guys. There's no time to lose, we need to find the blue screen memory dump and save the girls before they get sacrificed!!!" Void shouted as he was catching his breath for a moment.
"THEN LET'S GO!!!" Shouted Silver as our heroes ran up the stairs as they attempted to follow Total AV.
But suddenly, as they got closer to the door, gunfire erupted and the 3 hedgehogs were hit by Stuxnet capsules.
"SONIC, SHADOW AND SILVER!!!" Void shouted as he went to check on the hedgehogs for injuries.
Just then, an evil voice came from the intercoms to intimidate the blue robot and his friends,
"Haven't you forgotten my brother? We have a new firewall installed. If you want a piece of our father, you're gonna have to extinguish our firewall to get past us!!!" Shouted an evil clone.
Up ahead stood a large firewall with flames and black smoke everywhere. Behind the firewall stood the 5 clones. Each clone was armed with KA57 Sovette pencil guns, the exact same guns used by Dragon's virus syndicate earlier.
The hedgehogs slowly returned to their feet while still severely injured,
"Aww nuts. He's right, as long as the firewalls remain active, there's no way we'll be able to reach Daniela in time. Oh, why didn't I see this coming?!!!" Silver complained,
Void approached Silver and put his hand on his shoulder while giving him a stern look,
"Oh, pipe down Silver, I don't know if any of you are aware, but I already passed my first exam. I learnt how to install a firewall to prevent viruses from entering, and if that's the case... I can uninstall firewalls too." Void responded,
"Well then, what are we still standing here for? Let's get moving!!!" Shadow shouted,
But suddenly, the clones once again began to fire their pencil guns towards our heroes,
Running out of time, Void and the hedgehogs quickly ran to a nearby wall to take cover.
"You'll have to do better than that!!! This firewall is fool proof!!!" Shouted one of the clones as they continued firing their KA57s.
As they took cover from heavy gunfire by the evil clones, Void noticed a conveniently placed computer that was left opened and exposed for oncoming attacks.
Void stood in front of the computer and began to type in the commands needed to disable the firewalls that stood in their way.
"Alright, now that I know how to set up a firewall, all I need to do is select update and security, followed by open security. Then, I select firewall and network protection, click on network and switch firewalls from on to off." Void mumbled to himself as he performed the operation on the computer's control panel.
Realizing that he had won the fight, Void taunted the evil clones by shouting,
"Is that so?!!! Well then, how about I teach you all a thing or 2 about what I learnt in school!!!" He then pressed the enter button causing the firewall to weaken and begin to crack.
As the clones continued to open fire, they suddenly heard the sound of cracks beginning to form within the firewall they were hiding from behind.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE!!! HOLD YOUR FIRE!!!" Shouted one of the clones as they stopped firing their KA57s and carefully listened to the firewall's cracks that were growing bigger and bigger.
Suddenly, the clones began to back away from the firewalls looking terrified. As they backed away from the deteriorating firewall, Sonic and his friends slowly approached the clones; looking furious than ever.
The clones attempted to open fire on the hedgehogs with their pencil guns, but they unfortunately ran out of Stuxnet capsules.
Sonic smirked and winked towards the clones as one clone looked so terrified that he noticed a brick dropped down from his torso.
Void and the 3 hedgehogs then ran towards the failing firewall. Together in unison, they jumped in the air and kicked the firewall which caused it to tumble over and land onto the clones. Void and the hedgehogs have won the fight and the clones have been incapacitated.
"Now cmon, lets go rescue Team 182!!!" Void shouted as they ran up the stairs to reach the 3rd floor of the military base.
As Void and the 3 hedgehogs were heading towards the courtyard to rescue Team 182. Unbeknownst to the heroes, a gold looking nanobot who was in very bad shape was slowly crawling towards the garage as it was attempting to follow them.
As the Gigabot continued to crawl, he gave out an angry look in his eyes; as he wanted revenge after what happened to his ship; hours ago.