The Beast Inside

Ch. 27: The Beginning of the End

The next day arrived, bringing with it a renewed sense of urgency. With Evox as our prisoner, Nate had spent the entire night working on the Beast-X Ultra Blaster. He'd modified it with a data pack designed to destabilize Evox's coding with every blast until he was no more. Nate was confident it would work, and I wanted to believe him. We all gathered in the command room, the tension palpable. Nate held the modified blaster, his face a mask of concentration. Devon, Zoey, Ravi, Steel and I stood around, ready for anything. "Alright, let's do this," Nate said, his voice steady. "Zoey, lower the shields."

Zoey nodded and pressed a series of buttons on the control panel. The energy shields around Evox's cell lowered, leaving the malevolent virus exposed. Evox glared at us, his eyes filled with contempt.

Nate took a deep breath and aimed the blaster. "Here goes nothing." He fired the first blast, which hit Evox squarely. The virus flickered, its form wavering. Nate fired again, and Evox started to fade in and out of existence.

"It's working!" Ravi exclaimed, a hint of relief in his voice.

But then, something changed. Evox's flickering became more erratic, and I saw a subtle smirk form on his face. As Nate fired a third time, the virus acted up, causing the shields to snap back into place.

"What's happening?" Devon shouted, panic creeping into his voice.

Zoey frantically worked at the controls. "I don't know! The shields are back up, and I can't get them down!"

Evox's smirk widened. "You fools thought you could destroy me so easily. I've already taken over your systems."

"No!" Nate yelled, desperately trying to override the system. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

Evox's laughter echoed through the room, a chilling reminder that our victory was far from secure. "You think this is over?" Evox taunted, his form flickering in and out of existence. "The final chapter of your story has just begun." With that, he transmitted himself through the wiring, vanishing into the computer system.

Panic surged through us. "He's going after the Morph-X Towers!" Zoey shouted.

"We need to destroy the computer, now!" Devon ordered. Nate hesitated for only a moment before smashing the main console. Sparks flew, and the screens went dark, but it was too late. Evox had already made his escape.

"Damn it!" Ravi cursed, kicking the debris. "Where could he have gone?"

Nate's face was pale but determined. "Only a few computers have access to the Morph-X Tower system. We need to destroy them before he can cause more damage. Let's move!"

We rushed through the corridors, adrenaline pumping. Reaching the next key computer, we destroyed it just in time. But again, Evox slipped away, his digital form vanishing before we could stop him. "He's like a ghost," I muttered, frustration bubbling up.

"Where could he be going?" Zoey asked, looking to Nate for guidance.

Nate was deep in thought, piecing together possibilities. "There's only one other place with access to those systems... the research room."

We bolted to the research room, and just as Evox began to infiltrate, we destroyed the computer. But the virus escaped once more, leaving us with no leads. Breathing heavily, Devon's communicator beeped, and Commander Shaw's voice crackled through. "Rangers, someone accessed the Ranger Vault. You need to get to Nate's lab, now!"

Without a second thought, we sprinted to Nate's lab. The urgency of the situation pressed heavily on us, knowing that Evox was always one step ahead. We burst into the Ranger Vault, adrenaline pumping through our veins. But we were too late. Evox was already there, a briefcase in hand containing the RPM Morphers. He grabbed the Red Cell Shift Morpher, his form flickering as he downloaded data from it.