Virus Attack by Andy Briggs Page A

he realized he was dressed in very unheroic pajamas.
    â€œToby, good to see you in one piece,” said Chameleon with a curt nod. “I must be brief, there is much happening. First of all, congratulations. Not many face Viral and live to tell the tale.”
    Toby unconsciously rubbed his wrist, just under the wristband they all still wore. The encounter with Viral had left two black marks where the villain’s fingers had touched. They didn’t feel like bruises and no amount ofscrubbing would get rid of them. “So you know about what happened? That we have Basilisk?”
    â€œYes. That is why I had to contact you. Basilisk is a lethal customer. Do you have him in a secure facility?”
    Toby hesitated. He wasn’t so sure a garden shed counted as secure. “He’s with Pete. Locked up tight.”
    â€œGood. It is imperative you let nobody see him, and don’t talk to him; he can be silver-tongued when it suits him. Mr. Grimm will be on his way with a retrieval force, but it won’t be until daylight.”
    â€œGrimm’s alive? I thought he’d abandoned us. And why not until tomorrow?”
    â€œMr. Grimm is not a fighter, so he had no part to play. That was
your
duty.” He was a typical Prime then, a coward at heart, not a hero. “And because things are so chaotic we cannot rally enough forces to retrieve him any sooner. The disaster on Diablo Island means more Enforcers are needed to try and secure the rest of the prison. We have a riot situation there now. The Hero Foundation is stretched thin. And while you may have captured Basilisk, Worm and Trojan escaped with Viral.”
    Toby thought he detected a note of blame in Chameleon’s voice. “We were unprepared for Diablo Island, and your guards there didn’t exactly help the situation by shooting at us. So what’s so special about this team anyway?”
    â€œTrojan is able to infiltrate very secure areas with ease. Worm can now enter computer systems and override them. And Viral’s skills are not just confined to the physical world—he has the ability to create digital viruses that cannot be stopped. The three of them together are a recipe for disaster. With Hero.com off-line it is probable they will try to locate our headquarters, infiltrate our physical defenses, and topple the Foundation … leaving them access to our stored superpowers.”
    The reality hit Toby. “That’s terrible!”
    â€œIt gets worse. They could twist Hero.com, transforming it into a private Villain.net, under their control.”
    Toby didn’t know what to say. It was because of his team’s failure that these villains were still loose.
    Chameleon continued. “That is why, once we have Basilisk safely in custody, your team will have to locate Worm and the others.”
    â€œThey could be anywhere in the world!”
    â€œYour primary mission is to defend the Foundation. The Enforcers, and a few Primes not in hiding, are trying to protect the public from increasingly hostile villainous activity. The rest of it is up to you. Find Worm and the others and stop their plan. Worm will have a hideout somewhere. You just have to locate it.”
    â€œDo you have any leads?”
    â€œI’m afraid not. Commander Courage, the hero who runs the Foundation, was the one who fought Worm inthe past and imprisoned him—but something truly awful happened to Courage shortly afterward and he fell into a coma, suffering severe amnesia for a number of years. When he finally woke, he had no recollection of what had happened or
where
he’d imprisoned Worm.”
    â€œHow is that possible?”
    â€œThere are many terrible things in this world we still don’t fully understand. And Courage was a victim of that.” Chameleon stared straight at the camera. “I know this is a great burden, but whether you feel ready or not,
you’re
our only hope out there.”
    Toby