Learning to Breathe
Disclaimer: I do not own Virus. He belongs to L1701E and is used with permission.
Chapter Forty-one: Computing Chaos
It would begin as just another day. The Cobra elite officers gathered for a staff meeting to discuss budget concerns, recruiting plots, and the like. A minor fight errupted between Atlantis (who, as squad leader of the teen-team Shadowatch, sat in on most meetings) and the Baroness. Normalcy, alas, would not last long. It all started when the lights began to flicker.
"Power surge?" Atlantis asked, glancing from Cobra Commander to the ceiling.
"Shouldn't be." The veiled man replied. "The backup generators should prevent this."
"Do they control the doors, too?" The blond hydrokinetic asked as the sliding metal doors opened and shut upon a whim.
"What the hell is all this?" Major Bludd blinked in bewilderment. The other officers merely stared as an electronic cackling sound permeated the base.
"Gentlemen, I think we have a hacker." Destro said.
After sending the Atlantis back to the base, Zartan and the other officers met in one of the planning rooms.
"Who is causing all of this?" The Baroness demanded.
"We don't know." One of the techs exclaimed. "It's like some sort of virus we can't expell. It adapts every time we try to destroy it!"
"Do you have any idea where it originated?" Destro asked.
"Probably one of the hanger locks." The tech explained. "It worked its way in from there and ran rampant through our systems. We can drive it, but not contain it. It's almost like it thinks for itself."
"Can you run an analysis on it?" Cobra Commander asked.
"What kind?" The tech asked.
"Can you check to see if it's organic in any way?" Zartan asked, earning a lot of stares.
"Why?" The Baroness asked.
"Because viruses don't think, people do." The spy glared back at her. "I get the strange feeling that someone is controlling the viurs or is the virus. Either way, we need to know what we're up against."
"That is the most obserd plan I've ever heard!" The dark haired woman cackled.
"It's also the only plan we have." Zartan reminded her. "Unless you have any ideas."
The glasses-wearing woman shut her mouth while the techs ran their scans.
"This may take a while." The only female tech said. "We have to find it first."
"I've got him." Tech 1 said. "He's leaving the mess hall area."
"So does everyone else after they've tasted our cafeteria food." Zartan commented.
"Where is he going?" the Commander asked.
"Heading for Mindbender's lab now." Tech 2 replied. "Ha! I've got a trace sample of the data trail!"
"Running bioscan now." The lady tech trailed off. "It's organic. But how is that possible?"
"Melrose, over in the security center, said they chased a kid into the hanger after he jumped the fence." Tech 2 said. "I'll ask him to send us a report."
"Better yet, get us the security footage." The Commander said. "I want to know exactly what we're dealing with."
"It's here!" Tech 1 screeched as a loud cackling filled the room.
"Not a bad set-up you've got here." A thick Brittish accent said aloud. "It will be such fun to trash."
"Who are you and what are you doing here!" Cobra Commander shouted.
"I needed to test my skills and what do you know? I'm good enough to halt Cobra." The voice seemed to smile. "Make no mistake, I will take over here like the Virus I am."
"Okay, Virus, let's see how you handle this." Lady tech scowled, hitting the enter key on her keyboard. Virus hissed in disapproval.
"A worm." He said. "Well, as I don't want to get infected, I must be going. There is so much more here yet to see. Ta ta." The voice stopped as abruptly as it began.
"So a kid has been overwriting our server?" Destro said.
"A mutant kid." The Baroness corrected. "It figures."
"Whatever he is, we need to stop him from taking over this base!" Cobra Commander boomed.
"Why not give him a new base to deal with?" Zartan asked.
"What are you getting at?" The metal-masked Destro prodded.
"It's quite simple, really." Zartan said. "You already said you could drive him away from an area. Why not lead him to one? Once he's on my base, he'll have to come back out of the system since there are only two computors for him to inhabit. The kids can deal with him after that."
"It won't work." Destro scoffed.
"Actually, it would." Tech 1 said. "Without a system to inhabit and cause general chaos in, he'll be forced to return to our plane. He should be vulnurable at that point."
"Then drive him to the Dreadnoks." Cobra Commander ordered. "And let them deal with that maniac."
Looks like Shadowatch will get a real fight afterall, but will they be successful in stopping Virus? Will Virus join the team once he's driven out of the mainframe? You'll have to stay tuned to find out!