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Post by Tweaker on Jul 6, 2004 15:21:30 GMT -5
Gah... How could I be so stupid, letting a maiden get the better of me... "Thanks, Kamui. So, this virus likes to camouflage itself as an ICP? We can use that to our advantage. We could recall all the ICPs using our Combat Command Frequency, which she wouldn't be able to access; then she'd be the only program standing around. But then she'd just switch to another form, and we'd lose her. Hmm, here's a better idea."
Tweaker picked up his microphone again, and keyed it to the CCF. "All ICPs, this is the Kernel. The virus has taken the form of an ICP. She should be unable to access this frequency. On my mark, all ICPs switch to Sequencer Disc weapon. The virus will fail to do this; that should allow you to identify her. Derezz the virus if possible; otherwise, report immediately to me with the virus' location. Five, four, three, two, one, mark."
There was a slight pause, and then a voice crackled from a speaker on the control board. "Kernel! This is Sector Commander ICP2036817! The virus is here, memory address 107AB642:677D2EA4! Will attempt to derezz her, but she's trying to escape!"
Tweaker spoke into the microphone. "On our way, commander. Kernel out."
Tweaker grinned at Kamui as he powered up a datastream and keyed it to the memory address. "Ladies first."
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Post by Kamui.EXE on Jul 7, 2004 7:22:39 GMT -5
"With pleasure." kamui.EXE says as she dashes in to the Data stream.
She reappeared in another urban landscape on top of one of the roofs. She saw a quick flash of something red dash past her.
Korri.....
"OVERCLOCK.EXE ACTIVATE!" Kamui.EXE says as she activates the subroutine.
She races to catch up to Korruptika. Korri stops on one of the roofs appruptly, she waits for Kamui.EXE to race in front of her and she grabs Kamui's arm whips her around in front of her and infects her left arm at the same time.
"GAH!" Kamui yelps.
She's slowed to a stop in front of Korri.
'Now we're even," she says.
Kamui's arm stung. She winces.
"There's been too many annoying bounty hunters after my codes for a while. I enjoyed derezzing each and every one of them. You will not be the last. Afterall, bounty hunters are a bit of fun," Korruptika says.
A red shield appears around the roof.
"So no one can interfear?" Kamui asks.
"Now you're catching on. If you get the polymorph subroutine I have by derezzing me, not only will you have your proof and aquire your bounty but an interesting subroutine. But of course I know this will be a challenge to you since you vowed not to derezz another program." Korri says as she strikes a stance.
"You aren't going to be too hard even if I AM partially infected." Kamui says.
"Well.... how well will you do fighting yourself?" Korri says.
She shapeshifts in to Kamui.
"You DO know that I can shift in to any program I lay eyes on," Korri says as she rezzes in her Data_Katana.
Kamui does the same.
"Let's make this one good." Kamui says.
With that, they both charge at each other. Kamui knew that she had to be derezzed but she also knew that she couldn't. Korruptika is connected to Tron.
~Kamui.EXE
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Post by Tweaker on Jul 7, 2004 17:18:24 GMT -5
The Datastream finished its brief recharge cycle and powered up again. Tweaker stepped through, discharging it again. Great...she's gone already. Where did she... what the heck is that? Tweaker thought as he saw a huge red shield isolating a few square meters of space spring up. Kamui's in there! With the virus! Tweaker pressed a control on his armor. "This is the Kernel. Squads A, B, and C, converge on my position." With reinforcements on the way, Tweaker ran to the barrier and pressed his palm agains the barrier in an attempt to open it. The surface was rough, shiny, and alternately cold and hot to the touch. Strange. Tweaker found the access control and pressed it.
/You do not have permission to access this item./
What?? I have administrator-level permissions! I have absolute power over this server! I require nothing less to do my job! What's going on?? Then Tweaker saw the permission ring for the shield. It was spinning and flickering erratically. Of course... Virus-created objects don't have to obey the Laws of Logic. <sigh>
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Post by Kamui.EXE on Jul 7, 2004 17:55:12 GMT -5
The Data_Katana's clashed. Korri flicked her's in Kamui's direction causing her to be knocked off balance. Korri had Kamui's characteristics not to metion similar subroutines. kamui.EXE made some more attacks. Korri blocked all of them with her shell's speed and persision. The infection Kamui.EXE had was spreading slowly.
"Korri! Listen! I know that you were once a healthy program. Yori's good friend. Why are you being like this? You can get help!" Kamui says as she makes some more strategic moves.
"I don't WANT help! I've left behind who I once was. I ditched it in the sands of time. Now I'm a better stronger program. As soon as I'm finished with you, Tweaker is next," Korri growls.
"What exactly DID he do to you?" Kamui.EXE asks as she was defending herself from Korri's blows.
"He abandoned me." says Korri.
it clicked in.
Korri feels betrayed by Tweaker. They were once partners?
Korri makes a downward slash cutting Kamui's shoulder. She kicks Kamui sending her skidding in to a pile of packets. Korri ran over to the fallen Kamui and begins making more slashes. Kamui was barely able to defend herself. Kamui.EXE came up with a quick plan. She slashed upwards cutting off one of Korri's hands. Korri fell backwards in shock. Kamui.EXE managed to get up. She was weak and getting weaker from the infection. She was hot and dizzy. The fight had to end soon.
"Now we're really even. I thought I should interfere between you and Tweaker cause well... he's my friend and I really would not look forward to seeing him in the obituaries," kamui.EXE says.
Korri strikes a stance. Even with her missing arm, she wasn't ready to go down yet.
~Kamui.EXE
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Post by Tweaker on Jul 7, 2004 18:52:23 GMT -5
As Tweaker glared irritatedly at the impermeable wall, his arm beeped. Or more precisely, the chat indicator on the control panel attached to his arm. The Tweaker tapped the control and the voice of an ICP issued from it. "Kernel, we've surrounded the house, but we can't get to your position. There aren't any Sec Rezzers up there." Of course! We are on a roof, after all... "Stand by, ICP."
Tweaker unsheathed a special admin-only tool: PEdit. His admin priveleges gave him full read/write access to the entire TRON structure of the server. Flicking open the pen-like device, he knelt and drew a squre on the roof. Datalines traced the path of the tool, and a new access hatch clattered to the floor of the building he was in. Tweaker jumped down, apologizing to the family whose repast he'd interrupted, and exited the building. He walked up to the ICP commander and said, "Glad to see you, commander. I need you to rez up every tank, mortar, and LOL you can find and surround that red shield with it. Kamui and the virus are battling inside it-- if that shield comes down and Kamui's not in sight, I want you to reformat that area right back to C colon backslash." Tapping controls on his datasheet, he set up a Quarentine Field around the red shield and armed its Wipe protocol. "That should help you out. Oh, and don't forget to evacuate civilain programs from this area. Execute commands, program. I've got one more idea. Cover my exit."
Tweaker opened the door of the residence directly under the shield and walked inside. Pulling out PEdit again, he cut a circular hole through the roof and vaulted up inside the battle zone.
"Afternoon, ladies. May I be of service?"
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Post by Kamui.EXE on Jul 7, 2004 19:55:57 GMT -5
Kamui.EXE appeared shocked. Korri took this opportuntity to go after Tweaker.
"TWEAKER!" kamui screams as she leaps in front of Korri.
Korri slashed at Kamui creating another huge gash in her shell. the force sent her flying in to the shield wall.
"YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SECURITY WAREZ! YOU INTERFERED IN MY MOMENT OF GREATNESS!" Korri screams as she charges after Kamui.
Kamui.EXE struggles to get up.
"So? And what are you going to do about it?" Kamui says.
She had one last card to play. She hid a cluster disk behind her back as Korri charged at her. Kamui was badly hurt. Korri got in range. Kamui whiped the disk at Korri. It exploded in front of her knocking her back. the smoke cleared. Korri was not even more badly damaged than Kamui. She shifted back in to her regular shell. Kamui limps over to Korri. She angles her blade to Korri's chest.
"This is as far as you go," kamui.EXE says.
"You fought well, program. But I have one last card," Korri says.
Kamui wasn't prepared for what happened next. Korri grabbed the blade quickly and plunged it in to her chest.
"There's no chance you're going to turn me in...." Korri gasps.
Korri derezzed. kamui was in shock. She vowed never to derezz another program and here she let it happen. She stood for a few nanos in front of Korri's core dump. Kamui was weak, she collapsed. Her shell and funtions were frozen.* The only thing she could do is speak before she blacked out.
"I can't believe it....Korri........ the vow.... gone....." kamui.EXE gasps.
Her breathing was laboured.
~Kamui.EXE
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Post by Tweaker on Jul 8, 2004 2:39:41 GMT -5
Vaulting into a battle zone to see one program freeze and another commit suicide was not something Tweaker did every day. With Korri gone, the security shield faded to reveal a throng of ICPs and assault weapons, all targeting the center of the combat area. Tweaker dashed over to Kamui and picked her up. Gathering her into his arms, Tweaker shouted, "We've got a frozen program here! Quarentine that core dump and get us out of here!"
ICPs sprang into action. First, the various forms of assault weaponry were disarmed. As they were slowly carted back to their stations, the ICPs imprisoned Korriuptika's core dump in an Archive Bin. This would preserve it and any subroutines hidden inside, without the risk of infecting another program. (Rare instances of innocent programs being corrupted by a virus' "soul" had been known to occur. Thus, security procedures required that a virus core dump undergo a thorough antivirus scan before it could be accessed.) Just as quickly, a red-and-white tank pulled up and dropped its rear hatch. It was risky for a frozen program such as Kamui to undergo dissassembly and transfer; therefore, traditional rez-out-rez-in evacuation procedures were inadvisable. So Tweaker carried Kamui into the back of the tank and instructed the driver to burn circuits all the way to the repair facility.
Nanocycles later, Tweaker gently laid Kamui on a diagnostic bed and allowed Norton and McAfee to do their jobs.
C'mon, Kamui... you can pull through this...
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Post by Kamui.EXE on Jul 8, 2004 7:16:43 GMT -5
Voice1: How DARE you?! You truely think you can DEFEAT ME?!
Kamui: Yes! As part of the Resistance, you will fail!
Voice1: *Shocks Kamui* Then I'll derezz you!
Kamui: GAHH! *Runs up to her attacker and latches on*
Voice1: Why won't you DEREZZ?!
Kamui: If your going to take me, I'm going to set it up so I can take you with me!
Later.....
Kamui.EXE woke up. She was in some room but she couldn't tell where. She managed to prop herself up to look around. Then her processing caught up to her and she felt a lot of pain.
"GYAAAAAH! THAT HURTS!" Kamui screams.
It was enough to startle other programs nearby. Two programs, Tweaker and another med program she didn't recognize burst in to the room.
"Gyah! Holy Jpeg! I never knew my swordsmanship skills hurt so much! Dear sweet user! Gyah!" Kamui.EXE says.
To most it would seem that she was speaking nonsense. But to those closest to her during the battle, it made perfect sense.
~Kamui.EXE
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Post by Tweaker on Jul 8, 2004 10:14:59 GMT -5
"What's happening?" Tweaker demanded of the nearest Medic program.
"I don't know... We scrubbed out all the corruption, she's not decompiling, her logic circuits are intact... My best guess is that she's in some sort of internal diagnostic mode."
"That's your professional opinion?"
The medic glared. "Yes. All we can do is wait."
The voice of an ICP issued from Tweaker's chat line. "Kernel, we've finished cleanup. It appears the virus has been completely neutralized. I believe we are ready to unlock the server."
That's my job... but I can't leave Kamui.
Tweaker sat at Kamui's side and gripped her hand. "Come on, program..." Words failed him. Dear User, let Kamui be all right...
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Post by Kamui.EXE on Jul 8, 2004 13:22:50 GMT -5
"I think I'm going to be okay. I've been in far worse scrapes than that," kamui.EXE says.
She looked down. She seemed to be mulling over something deep within her processes. The events that took place and another program derezzed by her blade. She thought it would end with the last one. But here was her very vow in a state of decay. kamui.EXE sighs. She wasn't in a pleasent mood.
"I didn't mean for that to happen...." Kamui.EXE finally says.
~Kamui.EXE
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Post by Tweaker on Jul 8, 2004 16:02:50 GMT -5
"Kamui, you didn't kill her. It was a suicide, plain and simple. Korri would have used her own weapon if yours hadn't been handier."
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Post by Kamui.EXE on Jul 8, 2004 20:16:29 GMT -5
"But I GAVE her the medium to do that! That's the problem!" Kamui snapped.
She quickly realized that yelling at Tweaker wouldn't help things.
"Sorry." she says.
kamui.EXE thought for a moment. Korruptika was willing to take her own life. But something still seemed suspicious. No other corruptions, no nothing. She quickly formulated a plan, she needed to investigate.
"Tweaker, can you get me something to drink? I've gotten quite thirsty," kamui says.
Tweaker says something. kamui wasn't totally paying attention but he gets up and leaves. Kamui now begins her escape. She was still hurt but she had to go investigate. She grabbed up some subroutines and wrote a quick letter:
Tweaker,
Something just isn't sitting right with me. So I'm going on a search. I'm not just looking for trouble... I just know it deep inside my core that we're not finished with Korri yet even if she is gone. Don't look for me. I think I'll be okay.
- Kamui.EXE
Kamui didn't have time to read over the letter. She left it on the diagnostic bed. She dis-attached some of the apperatuses that were connected to her and she went for the open window. She looked down. It was a bit of a drop but she was certain she could manage it. She perched herself on the sill. She was still a litle groggy but was certain she'd hold up. She leaped down and fell in to the open recyle bin below her with a thud. She landed on her feet, but the shockwave travaled up her causing the pain to return and the hair on her header to stand on end. She almost yelped but she knew she had to be quiet. She closed the lid of the bin. But her victory was short lived. She though she saw a glow in the corner.
"H-hello....." Kamui whispers.
"No." The glow replies.
"Excuse me?" Kamui asks.
The glows were actually bits floting around in the bin. And by the looks of things....
"Gah! Feral bits!" Kamui gasps.
But then Kamui.EXE felt the bit tip. The lid opened and she found herself tumbling in the recyle bin collector.
"GYAHH!" Kamui.EXE yelped as she was dumped in with the other scraps of junk data.
The roof of the collector slid shut as it began to traval down a street.
This was NOT going as Kamui planned.
~Kamui.EXE
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Post by Tweaker on Jul 8, 2004 21:54:14 GMT -5
Tweaker stepped back into the room with an energy malt. He opened his mouth to say something, saw the diag-bed, and closed it again. "Kamui? Oh, sweet mother of Users..."
There was a text file on the bed. Tweaker set down the malt on a bedside table and accessed the file. "Oh, squee! She's run off by herself without even recharging? That demented script... What was I thinking, letting her go through the datastream first? What kind of a leader is that?"
Tweaker paced back and forth. "She should have let me come with her. It's just inexcusable for a program in her condition to be wandering the pathways without a partner."
He stopped. "Kamui's pretty good at taking care of herself, though. And complaining about it isn't going to do any good."
He walked to the window and peeked out. "I'd love to follow her... but she did say she wanted to go it alone. And," he sighed, "I do have a job to do."
He strode to the door. "She'll be OK. I have to get back to Control before the Users are any more inconvenienced by this lockdown..."
A voice echoed in his head. But what if she isn't?
-*-*-*-*-
The Tweaker rezzed back into the Control Sector, de-activated the lockdown, and reactivated the firewall ports. Then he made another call to the BIOS.
/// Sys_Update OverclockCycle = Complete ElapsedTime = .7 sec
Sys_Monitor IF %SYSTEM% AccessedBy Kamui.exe THEN NotifyKernel(); End IF
User_Update Virus Korruptika.exe deleted. Steps Taken: - Close Firewall ports. - Overclock System. - Deploy security programs. >>Virus Deleted<< - De-overclock System. - Open Firewall Ports.
Virus Signature Isolated: TRUE Added Signature To Database: TRUE System Clean: TRUE -eol- ///
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Post by Kamui.EXE on Jul 9, 2004 6:45:11 GMT -5
The collector came to a halt and tipped over again dumping its' contents at the dump site. kamui.EXE wobbled out in a daze. She had fended herself well from the feral bits but she wasn't where she wanted to be. She was in the Scrap Data yard. She thought she heard programs comming so she ducked behind a pile of junk data.
"Looks like the usual stuff from virus scan. There's nothing really good in here except maybe a few feral bits or two," says one program.
"Speaking of virus scan, did you hear about the damaged anti-virus program who brought down Korri?" says the other.
"I only wish she brought Korri completely down. Appartently she's never heard of the corruption in the below ground infrastucture rumor yet. It creeps me out that something or someone is still down there," says the first program.
Kamui.EXE knew that she can access the infrastucture from here. She saw the cover for it just a few feet away from her. She activated fuzzy signature and crept over. She used her permissions to get in. Surely enough, they were still valid. She opened the cover and entered the infrastructure tubes. It was pitch black. She couldn't see a thing so she put on her blast visor and set it to its' proper setting allowing her to see in the dark. She began to explore the tubes.
Later.....
Something about this bothered Kamui.EXE. Viruses don't have any sets of permissions to access anything. you'd have to hack in first and as she knew it, Korri had none of those abilities. Kamui.EXE wondered how Korri actually snuck in.
Kamui.EXE stopped. She thought she heard something. But whatever it was stopped with her. Perhaps it was her footsteps? She continued walking. Again the sound started up. Kamui.EXE stops and spins around.
"Who's there? If you don't come out, I'm going to get you!" Kamui.EXE shouts in to the darkness.
There was no reply. She spun back around but it was too late. There in front of her were two Datawraiths which seemed to have corruption on them. That explained how Korri got in.
"Uh.... Hi?" kamui.EXE grins.
She knew she was in trouble. They held their mesh to her chest and head. Kamui.EXE may be stubborn but was in no condition to fight them and she knew it. The best thing she could do was follow their lead. Kamui.EXE was capture by Korri's followers.
~Kamui.EXE
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Post by Tweaker on Jul 9, 2004 10:11:45 GMT -5
Tweaker sat at his firewall control panel. The work was as boring as ever, but now he was worried about Kamui, too. Why don't days ever go from good to better? No, always has to be from bad to worse.
A fluctuation caught his eye. Something was glitchy in the server's infrastructure--three datastream routers were switching on and off erratically. Probably nothing, but worth a look. Tweaker dispatched a repair program and an ICP to guard him. A patch in time saves nine!
-eol-
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