A difficult task. One not easily accomplished. Even in the network age and its endless quick fixes. Some scientists worked for years to make the Internet the way it was and had no idea about the mistake they were making. The design was imperfect and viruses were born from the imperfection instantly. The revolution of flexibility and convenience in the networks and the advent of navis only made hacking a simpler job for the right kind of person. The WWW showed the world just how the system could be abused. The Internet was in vast need of refinement, but it was more than faulty equipment, it was the world. And the world had gone too far to be shut down now. The law could only try to fight against the rising powers of evil, but as Viral Infection and the WWW would soon show, even the powers of evil could clash.

Scuzzy was not the only one with connections in the black market willing to buy foreign national treasures for their own collection. Luke and Gary found VI the same gig and everyone was eager for the break that was going to get them out of Geo City and buy them their mansion clubhouse. The difficult task was right up their alley. They had the manpower, the mind power, and the navipower to pull it off.

It was the dead of night, well after hours at Geo City's Royal Ameropan Museum. The VI getaway van was parked in an alley a couple blocks away, and more than half the team was out and on the case. Gauntlet, Fandango, Phil, Luke, Gary, and Dominic were supporting the team from the base, the former three doing their best at their computer consoles, hacking through Geo City's remote-linking blocks temporarily to allow some long-distance spotting for the other ten in the field, as well as create more diversions for the Officials monitoring the area. The others were acting as the spotters, studying the security data they managed to collect on the museum and guiding their allies through as well as coordinating them with the other groups in separate areas. Luke was in charge of the assault team of Kamui, Ed, Trent, and Blackbelt. Gary guided the infiltration team of Ryan, Lee, and Banzai. And Dominic led the transport team of Sky, Mike, and Alan.

"Okay guys, head through the next door now, before the scanning beams reset." Luke reported to his team after hearing from Gary that his team had cleared the path. "Two minutes until the guards reach your position. Great time for a nap."

Kamui slipped stealthily through the darkness, wielding deadly knives to sneak-attack any unexpected opposition they came to. Trent and Blackbelt followed unarmed, they were capable of fighting off the guards with their bare hands. Ed followed carrying a fairly large automatic assault weapon that he reluctantly promised to only use in dire circumstances. They knew they were going to have to go through at least a few human guards to reach the treasure, but they wanted to keep the commotion to a minimum.

"Why the hell isn't Gauntlet with us? Isn't he the one with the ninja stealth action here?" Blackbelt asked with a whisper.

"Apparently he doesn't like doing field work, he likes to stay behind the scenes. I guess this job just isn't important enough to bring him out of hiding." Kamui answered with a snicker.

"The fewer ninjas the better. I'm actually looking forward to busting some heads this time." The muscular Trent murmured while cracking his knuckles.

"Hey, can't you turn down the volume on those knuckles? We're not trying to get caught, remember?" Ed scolded Trent, though secretly hoping to get caught himself.

Meanwhile, the infiltration team was hiding in the vents. A few wires connected their PETs to the nearest control panel where they were operating their navis through the museum system as well as supporting the attack team's navis who were Jacked In but unsupported by their operators for the time being. They were getting ready to unhook and move on to the next terminal before the security signal jammer wore off and somebody found out they were there.

"Woah! They found you! Quick, take your suicide pills!" Gary screamed frantically at his companions on the other side of the com link.

"Gary, stop it already. We're not falling for that again." Ryan groaned as he turned down the volume on his PET. "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me."

"Yeah, too bad you suckers already fell for it four times." Gary snickered.

"Hey, I caught on after the first time." Lee shot back indignantly. "Good one, by the way." He added with snickering. Lee and Gary were both shameless fans of pranks and were usually partners in crime. The second time Gary tried to convince them their cover was blown Lee played along and acted like he could see the guard coming their way.

"whose idea was it to make him our eyes and ears anyway?" Banzai sighed.

"We didn't have much time to assign the best roles, did we? Look at it this way, as long as Gary's being loud and obnoxious back at the base, he's not blowing our cover over here." Ryan responded calmly. "Skullman, how are things going now?"

"Go on ahead. The muscle just finished off the guard drones. We're finished re-programming the scanners. We'll catch up." Inside the network Bass, Bombman, Protoman, and Sharkman were fighting ferociously against the online opposition, protecting Skullman, Pharaohman, and Colourman, who were busy hacking the system. With the way clear, all seven navis piled through the teleporter into the next sector. Meanwhile their operators unplugged their devices and headed onwards themselves.

Elsewhere in a coat-check room, the remaining three VI members operated their navis through another route in the system, taking out the security deeper in. It was there job to grab the merchandise and get it out once everyone else was ready. Sky shifted uneasily. "Still no gunfire. Thank God. We have to jump into action right away once we hear that signal."

"Nah, those guys know what they're doing. So you just have to worry about my signal." Dominic reassured him.

Alan chuckled as he had Gutsman mow down several security navis with a BigWave. "I dunno about you guys, but I'm enjoying this Viral Infection gig. I never felt so confident about a hacking job. We're practically an army here."

Mike smiled and nodded, "I hear that. We've already made more money than I've ever seen before. And after tonight we live like kings."

Sky shook his head and smiled, "Ah, you guys are right. I'm worrying too much. Although I don't like the idea of killing to get the job done. I'm not sure we can trust Ed to show that much restraint."

"Relax, I don't think even Ed's killed anybody before, none of us have to my knowledge. We may be wanted for a lot of things, but I know if I was wanted for murder, I wouldn't be risking getting caught with you guys." said Mike.

"Hm, so maybe that's why Gauntlet decided not to come." Alan murmured.

"Woah, Gauntlet's a murderer?"

"How should I know? You know how secretive he is. Even if I was on another team with him before...wait...I think I hear someone coming."

The three tucked into a corner behind some boxes while the door to the dark room opened and a lone figure entered. The young man left the lights off as he simply jacked in to a nearby port and whispered. "Alright, this place should be safe for now. Go and clear the path for LV."

Realizing this was no guard, Alan snuck behind the operator and grabbed him from behind, covering his mouth while simultaneously holding a switchblade to his neck. The young man didn't even muffle a scream since he was as interested in keeping hidden as the VI guys. Figuring this out, Alan took his hand from the person's mouth to ask a few questions, like who he was and what he was doing there.

"I'd say none of your business. But since you're probably here for the same reason, might as well tell you I'm here to steal something from the museum."

"Not the crown jewels I hope, 'cause we got dibs." Mike sneered.

"Is that so? I figured the security was lower than I expected. I guess I should thank you kids for clearing the way for me and my partner." the captor chuckled.

"Kids? You're one to talk buddy, you don't look much older than us." Alan retorted, still holding the blade close to the guy's neck.

"Guess hackers start younger and younger these days, huh?" he responded. "Look, we're after the same thing, why don't we work together? There may even be room for you guys in my organization."

"We got things pretty much under control here, thanks. I'd rather get rid of you so there's more earnings for us."

Sky interjected. "Hey, no unnecessary killing. This guy has a point you know. I say we trust him."

"Trust a thief? Yeah, why not." Alan grumbled as he let the man go. "We're not joining your organization though. We're pretty happy with the one we got. We'll work on who gets how much of the share after we're out safe and sound."

"Lovely, what do you guys have left to do?"

"Our navis just cleared one of the firewalls guarding the central display chamber. Our allies are working on the other two. Our target is fifteen minutes."

"You took out A, and your allies are working on B, correct?" the new ally asked while typing into his PET.

"Uh, yeah."

"Jet, LV, finish of C now. Then move onto B."

A voice came from his PET. "C is cleared, it looks like B was just cleared as well."

"Then I guess it's time." the boy laughed in his normal voice while typing more into his PET. The others were amazed how far ahead of schedule they suddenly were.

Alan gestured to the door. "We gotta move. The attack team will take out the guards and we have to be in there right away to sneak out with the jewels."

The other shook his head. "Nuh uh. In the WWW, we like to do things with a little more bang." Pressing one more button on his PET, a huge explosion rocked the museum causing some plaster to fall on their heads. While the VI guys were in shock, the WWW guy opened the door. "Say hi to the authorities for me. I'll be grabbing those jewels now." He then dashed out of sight. It became apparent to Viral Infection that their stealthy plan was out the window. All Alan, Sky, and Mike could do was jack out and race for the jewels.

A fire was spreading through the museum and the security forces were now too focused on damage control to notice the intruders. As they raced to call the fire department, find the fire extinguishers and rescue the fragile artwork, eleven other people made a beeline for the central chamber where the ultimate prize was kept.

Meanwhile online, the navis had run into a bit of a snag themselves. The attack and infiltration team navis had to get out into the net for their escape and they ran into an unexpected wall of viruses. The WWW had released them to clear the way for their escape, and now it was an obstacle for VI. The FullShell viruses on the front line were blocking most of the navi's attacks. Things were not proceeding smoothly.

"I thought we planned for everything!" Bombman complained as he dodged several explosives raining down on them.

"Well apparently we didn't." said Skullman as he tossed an arm at an approaching trio of mosquitoes. "If you could just kick your bombs a little higher you could get them over those Iron Shields, you know."

"These bombs are heavier than they look, I'm still getting used to this body's weapons!" Bombman gave another Hyper Bomb a solid kick launching it just over one of the virus' shields, it then bounced off its back and exploded, taking out three of the massive viruses at once.

Bass was blasting every flying virus that came at him with his buster when he noticed one set of Mosquitoes veering from the path towards Bombman's back. "Yo Bomb boy! Watch out!"

"Eh?" Bombman turned just in time to meet three sharp needles penetrating his chest. The viruses started sucking his energy and making him weaker. Bombman was beginning to feel desperate, and then all of a sudden the viruses exploded. The blast threw Bombman back into a heap, leaving him wondering just what happened. "Did those things just blow up by themselves?"

"Uh...looks that way." chuckled Colourman as he waited for his ball to take care of the viruses surrounding him. "Not something to complain about anyway."

"Well it would have been nice if they decided to move to a safe distance before they blew up at least. Ow."

Pharaohman's lack of speed made it difficult for him to dodge shots from the Cannodumbs. "Bah, I have had enough of this! You will all die!" The floating sarcophagus summoned a pair of coffins to eradicate the viruses in their way. "Come! We only have to get through that teleporter to re-convene with our operators!"

With the way to the exit cleared, the navis sprinted or flew towards the teleporter, deleting as many of the remaining viruses as they could and finally made their escape. Not far away, in the shadows, the Life Virus, waiting for Jet, wondered who these navis were and why Bass, Bombman, and Pharaohman were with them.

Back in the real world, the attack team was the first to reach the chamber, or so they thought. Someone else was already there, holding a case and shoving handfuls of glittering jewels inside it while smoke from the approaching fires filled the room. Blackbelt tried to get a better look at the man. "Sky? Is that you?"

Trent rolled his eyes. "This guy is seven feet tall and each of his legs is about the size of Sky. What do you think?"

"I thought the smoke was making me see things, give me a break!"

Docman noticed he had company and slowly turned to face them. He was hardly impressed and his cold emotionless stare did little to encourage them. Noticing the case was full he locked it up and dropped it on the ground. He could see Scuzzy lurking in the shadows giving the "create a distraction" signal. All he had to do was keep these kids away from the jewels and Scuzzy would take them the rest of the way. He cracked his knuckles and began slowly plodding towards his would-be opposition.

"Guess it's my turn, huh guys?" Ed chimed in with enthusiasm as he took aim with his gun. "Eat lead mother-" and the remainder of his sentence was drowned out by the sound of gunfire. Though much to everyone's amazement, the bullets merely left holes in the behemoth's lab coat and threw the occasional spark as they ricocheted off his body. Docman continued forward without slowing down. Sadly recognizing the futility of his strategy, Ed ceased fire allowing Trent and Blackbelt to move in and tackle him. Blackbelt pummeled away ineffectually with his fists while Trent held him at bay with a headlock. Although no longer walking, Docman still hardly seemed phased by the attacks.

Scuzzy managed to slip around the scuffle to the jewels, but just as he started piling them into his own bag, he was tackled by Mike and Alan, who just caught up with them. Scuzzy managed to wrestle free, but noticed Mike now had the bag with the booty, as well as his own switchblade. Scuzzy knew Docman could handle them, so he decided to leave the bag to him. Kicking over the jewel display case between himself and the others, Scuzzy picked up the box with the ones Docman gathered and made his escape.

Docman certainly was capable of handling the seven rivals on his own. He had already knocked out Ed, Kamui, and Blackbelt. Still grappling with Trent, the cyborg managed to throw him into a glass display case. After a shattering crash, Trent was momentarily subdued, and Docman turned his attention to Alan and Mike. He advanced on them quickly when suddenly Sky leapt onto his back and tried to lock his arm around Docman's neck.

Docman swatted his back trying to remove the pest as Sky gave the orders to his comrades. "Get the others to safety, I think I just found a way to stop him!" and with that Sky pulled out the plug of his PET and jammed it into a matching port he spotted on the back of Docman's skull.

"No! Get your filthy navi out of my brain you punk!" Docman shouted in protest. The massive enemy was showing his first signs of desperation. Alan and Mike smirked, figuring it would all work out. Alan helped Blackbelt to his feet and Mike tended to Ed. Trent was recovered and ready to go another round with his opponent, but seeing that wasn't necessary he helped the unconscious Kamui escape with he others.

Elecman teleported into an unusual cyberworld. There were control modules all around similar to the system of a complex machine. This system appeared to be separate from Docman's mind, and was instead a transport cell for navis, or in this case, viruses. Tamed viruses surrounded Elecman and seemed ready to swarm the viral intruder, ironically like Docman's own antibodies.

"I could use a little help here Sky!" Elecman shouted as he attacked the hoard with a Lightning Blast, weakening each virus with a bolt from the sky.

"Too bad. You're alone on this one. You just have me. Download ElecSword!"

Elecman's arm formed a sword, which he used to delete the viruses that caught up with him. He also received a ThunderBeam chip he used to take out more in the air that were approaching. Finally he got a Remobit3, which he put to work on the others while he headed for the control modules.

"All I gotta do his wreck these to shut the big guy down, right?" Elecman asked desperately.

Sky answered back. "I hope so, I can't take much more of this bull ride!"

Elecman used his lightning to strike a module, destroying it. As soon as he did the power was routed to another module and Docman didn't slow down. It seemed he would have to destroy a lot more of these to notice an effect. Noticing the viruses behind him had dealt with his Paralla drone, Elecman worked quickly to attempt destroy as many more modules as he could to little effect. Eventually he was struck from underneath by a Wood Tower. A Popper virus had dropped down and attacked without warning. As several Ghost viruses began to swarm over him, Elecman was getting desperate. Not knowing what to do he searched within his new form for an attack capable of evening the odds. He found something unexpected, and released it without thinking.

"Blackout!"

With a clench of his fist, Elecman momentarily ceased all electrical activity in the network. The lights cut out, the viruses fell to the ground lifeless, the modules stopped working, and in the real world Docman gasped in seizure and fell face-first to the ground unconscious with a heavy thud. Sky landed on the ground and jacked out his navi, who appeared to be severely weakened.

"How did you do that, anyway?" Sky asked his navi.

With a light-headed groan, Elecman struggled an answer. "We'll figure that out later...get what we came for already."

Nodding and holstering his PET, the young man took out his own bag and shoveled the remaining jewels into it. Just as he was wondering how he was going to make his escape through the fire that had finally spread into the room, the wall opposite the door exploded as the familiar green van crashed through it. Ryan gestured from the driver's seat for Sky to get in. Despite the insanity of it all, he complied. He hopped in the back to find the rest of team well and accounted for. "Isn't this a little too conspicuous for us?" he asked as he shut the door.

"Considering we're skipping town right away, we're not going to bother worrying about that." Lee responded.

* * *

"It was them alright. Got clear colour footage of the van this time. Bright green, no way we'll miss that."

"Last report said it was headed east out of town. They may have already crossed state lines by now. But all the Officials in the country are going to be on the lookout for these kids from here on out."

"Hm, looks like they did a pretty good job of sneaking through the museum security before setting off that bomb. Don't tell me this was another decoy or something."

"Maybe they're just not as smart as they sometimes make it look. Well, it's not our problem any more, hopefully. Let whoever's out east worry about these punks."

"You guys are pathetic. Haven't you thought about the possibility the van itself is a decoy? Something that sticks out like that couldn't possibly be their real getaway car. I bet they're still in town and whoever's chasing the van is going on a wild goose chase. Hmph, you're right about US not having to solve this mystery though. I hear ONBA just assigned Agent Black to work on the green van case. And that kid Chaud is flying in from Electopia to lend a hand for a while. Apparently they're the best at tracking down rogue hackers like these."

"Well, with them on the case I'm sure the case will be closed in a week."

* * *

Docman lumbered into Wily's office with a sense of dread. He was well aware that his portion of the mission was a failure. Inside Wily was seated at his desk and Scuzzy was standing in front of it, apparently giving his report. The young man turned with surprise to see the doctor alive after failing to rendezvous on time. Wily just narrowed his eyes and cut to the chase. "Well? What happened? Did you get the other half of the set?"

With his head hung low, Docman delivered his report as calmly as possible. "One of the other thieves managed to infect my systems and rendered me unconscious. Apparently the authorities mistook me for dead because when I awoke the paramedics were trying to fit me into a body bag. I managed to escape, but I noticed the jewels were already gone. I am prepared to accept my punishment."

"Feh, luckily for you I can't afford to eliminate my operatives on a whim just yet. Besides, the share you did collect is sufficient for our needs. Now we can afford the rest of the supplies for the Demon Waters base."

Docman was noticeably relieved. Scuzzy chuckled in satisfaction. "But we're not through with these other kids yet, right boss?"

Wily nodded with an intense look. "Indeed. Nobody interferes with the WWW's business and lives. I want them deleted if they ever show their faces again. I want both of you to remember that." he then turned to the computer console on his desk. "And that goes for you too. Hunting down these rogue navis should be your top priority."

The Life Virus nodded in obedience. Although in truth he had more important things on his mind.

* * *

"Welcome to your new home boys!" Phil announced triumphantly as he and the rest of Viral Infection entered a quaint two-storey mansion on the outskirts of Arc City.

"I knew I'd be hearing that phrase eventually since we started that museum job two days ago, either in this situation, or in prison. Glad it was the former." Gary joked as he lugged in his bags.

The place only had one former owner. It was billionaire Vance Ignatius who went to prison a few months earlier for stock manipulation and massive corruption. The government seized all his property and had run an auction for it the previous day. VI was able to grab it with the money from the jewels, which they sold their Asinan contact on the way into town. As far as any of the manipulated government files knew however, the money came from the collective inheritance of all their deceased fictional grandparents. Thanks to the team's joint efforts, their powerful navis, some useful connections, some fast thinking, and quite a bit of dumb luck, they not only got their mansion club house well off the main roads secluded in the hills and trees and still with a killer view of the valley, but they even got it with initialed gates and doors they didn't have to replace.

Trent pulled shut the large front door with the letter "V" on it and Fandango closed the one next to it sporting the letter "I". Pushing the smelly old couch they brought from Phil's house into position Ryan had to ask what their next move would be. "Things are pretty sweet right now, but we won't be able to hide from the law forever. I guess we gotta keep hacking Government and Official files to make sure we stay invisible from society?"

Phil nodded, "But I've got bigger plans yet. That jerk at the museum said he was WWW, right? Well if that's true that means we've gone toe-to-toe with the world's most famous net-crime group and lived! That means we really are as bad as they come. I see nothing short of world domination in our future! Who's with me?"

Swept up in the enthusiasm the other fifteen young men cheered in agreement. Another new virus had infected the diseased world of the network age, and its health was not going to recover any time soon.

Done. Go back to the main page.