Code Matriks
Episode 10: A Negative Plus Sign (Part 1)
By B1ockh3d
Author's note: Just so everyone knows, this is probably my last story I'm writing. Not chapter! Just, last fan fiction. I'm writing on a whim of ideas, and a passion for Code Lyoko, because this was the show that got me into writing stories. And I really want to do a good job to pay homage to this series. I've lost the drive to write stories long ago (when I really started growing up) but I'm not abandoning my last story like I did my others, which is why I've given myself a timeline of a year to write and finish Code Matriks. But, this is the part where I beg, and I want to say that reviews do give me a little extra drive to hurry up! So please review! I've seen the traffic numbers, and I know I have a measurable audience. Please!
"Shelda has been missing for two days, and government agents still watch all the classes she was scheduled for." Markus explained to Jeremie over a camera chat.
"What do you think will happen if she's caught?" Jeremie posed, "She must've done something more serious. Aside from the obvious, of course."
"I don't know if they'll arrest her or something worse." Markus shrugged, "And Matriks is a pretty serious issue."
"Yes, but there has to be something we're missing. You said there were three people here in the European continent that were involved in the project, right?"
"One of whom is not far from Kadic." Markus reminded, "And we really need to find him, hopefully to shed light on this."
"And we will." Jeremie promised, "But, as I was saying, if the scientists were all coming from other parts of the world, wouldn't they be picked up at the airport as soon as the wheels hit the tarmac?"
Markus paused, "...What are you implying?"
"Well, Shelda has been living in the United States for some time, according to the tax records. How haven't they found her yet? Why now? She couldn't have been hiding abroad." Jeremie hinted.
"So... You're implying the only logical explanation is that she's a person that only exists on paper?" Markus squinted.
"Precisely."
"But... She's in my class?"
Jeremie smirked, "Have you ever seen her outside of class?"
Markus pondered, "...Yeah. One time in the cafeteria, one time in her room, and one time I bumped into her in the commons."
"And that's it?"
"Yeah." Markus nodded, "Funny story, the one time I bumped into her, I got some sort of coded paper."
"Wait, what?" Jeremie puzzled, "I didn't hear about this."
"Well, quite frankly we don't know what it is. We don't know if it's related to Matriks or Lyoko or whatever." Markus shrugged, "We know it's significant, and it probably goes to a program, but we wouldn't know where."
"Why didn't you give it to us?"
"We should've, in retrospect. But we didn't because of the same reason we don't fight XANA, except in the Cortex, it doesn't involve your mission."
"Just because it's not our mission to defeat JAER doesn't mean we won't help. We've helped this far, we're willing to help with anything." Jeremie assured, "We're both in the business of saving the world, and it's a lot easier with more support."
Markus tilted his head, and nodded, "Fair point."
"But, do send that coded paper along when you and Cooke get back to the lab."
"Absolutely... Wait, why would we come to the lab later?"
Jeremie leaned forward and read something on the screen, "...We've only been talking for fifteen minutes and we haven't even gotten to the main point of this call."
"...Which is?"
"I figured out a new way to get around the door of the core in the Cortex." Jeremie informed, "It's a lot safer. We also need some data taken from there."
"So, it's a mission." Markus rolled his eyes, "You could've just said that. What kind of data?"
"The first time we thought we defeated XANA, we used a multi-agent program that seeked and destroyed any trace of XANA on the network. I want to find out how he survived, and if he's building up another Replika network." Jeremie explained.
"Seems pretty straightforward. I'll talk to Cooke."
"They want me to go back there?!"
"Yes, for reconnaissance-"
"Yeah, reconnaissance!" Cooke mulled, "I'm not saying I'm shocked I have to go back, but I was hoping it was to destroy the Cortex and destroy XANA!"
"What's wrong with recon?"
"Nothing, except Tyron is expecting us at any and all times!" Cooke flopped into his bed, "Doing recon is hard when you know you'll be seen!"
"Get in, get the data, and get out. Other than those ninjas, I don't see much of an issue."
"How about the fact he'll jam our communications and make it impossible to operate as a team?"
"You did fine last time, didn't you?" Markus encouraged, "Extrasensory did an effective job locating those ninjas, probably even better than my map of the arena can!"
Cooke huffed, "I'll do the mission, but it reeks of danger."
It was noon. Markus was wrapping up a class, and that left Cooke plenty of time to eat lunch alone, and fix up a synthesizer module.
Cooke picked up a sausage breakfast burrito from a hot rack and paid for it, and trudged back to his room.
He headed up a flight of stairs, and a familiar pink-haired girl stood before him at the top.
"Ahp! Shelda!" Cooke jumped, "What are you doing in the male dorms in the middle of- where have you been?!"
"I don't have a middle name." She panned, emotionless. She then walked up the next flight of stairs.
Cooke stood there, baffled, "Don't have a... Huh? Shelda! Wait up!"
He ran up the next flight, and didn't see her. He sprinted down the hall, but all the doors were locked. He went up the next flight, and the next, but couldn't find her.
"What on earth... How did she do that?" Cooke lingered, "What does that mean?"
He went back down a flight of stairs and walked to his room, and called Markus.
"Hey, I just got out. What's up?"
"Markus, when Shelda introduced herself, how did she do it?"
"Huh? She said "I'm Shelda Fercaow." And sat down like a robot."
"Is that exactly what she said?"
"How much more specific can I be? She's not very talkative. That's what she said."
"Did she say her full name? Including middle?"
"Huh..." Markus buffered, "I believe that's what she said."
"Are you sure?"
"Cooke, what is this about?"
"Get back to the dorm NOW."
"You MET her?!" Markus freaked, "What happened?!"
"She looked at me, said "I don't have a middle name," and vanished." Cooke shook his head, completely baffled, "It was so weird."
Markus sat down, thinking intently, "Lessee... She introduced herself, I remember thinking it was a weird name, then got creeped out she knew my full name."
"What did you think was weird about it?"
"It just seems like an old name... Like, it fits in. Gertrude, Bertha, Patsy, Terri, and Shelda. But I've never heard of someone with the name Shelda before."
"Anything else?"
"Yeah. Fercaow... What kind of name is that? Where did it come from? I can really only assume her parents or ancestors did a legal name change somewhere along the line."
Cooke leaned back in his chair, dejected, "Well, darn... I was really hoping we were onto something."
"Oh, we'll figure it out." Markus assured, "We've figured out this much so far, we'll keep putting the puzzle together."
Cooke lifted his head forward, "Hey, do you think Aelita would have a better understanding? I mean, she and Shelda are practically identical."
"Maybe she can enlighten us." Markus stroked his chin, "Huh... If she and Shelda are similar, and Lyoko and Matriks are similar, maybe there's something that ties the four things together?"
Cooke pondered, "...Well, I do recall in Jeremie's diary logs something about the creator of Lyoko. Going back to the source is always the place to start, and I'm pretty sure that would be half the equation right there. It was... France... Hopper?"
"Man, you actually watched those? I got bored after he went on about dubstep killing everyone." Markus laughed, "But what about this France guy?"
"It isn't much help now. He sacrificed himself to help Jeremie gain enough power to launch his virus and destroy XANA." Cooke sighed, "Which really limits our theories. But it's still a place to start."
"And we still have XANA and JAER. They're two peas in a pod, but one can kill, and one can almost kill."
"Hopefully today we'll find the resources to kill XANA!"
Cooke shot out into the open digital sea.
Everything was quiet.
"Jeremie, Aelita, are you there?" Cooke called out.
"Oui." They broke in unison.
"I'm about fifteen minutes out, but could you guys answer some potentially personal questions?" Cooke requested.
"How personal?" Aelita asked.
"I... Kind of... Screw it. I'm just gonna say it. Can you tell Markus and I more about France Hopper?"
"Franz Hopper... Oui." Aelita nodded, "What do you want to know?"
"Is there anything we should know that wasn't covered in your logs?"
"Actually, can you cover all the important stuff? I haven't watched the logs..." Markus nonchalantly dropped.
Aelita sighed, "When Jeremie first turned on the super computer, he found me sitting inside of Lyoko. We've since learned I got there by my father virtualizing the both of us. My father was Franz Hopper."
"So, you're Aelita Hopper?" Markus proposed.
She shook her head, "Franz Hopper was a false name. His real name was Waldo Schaeffer. My mother is Anthea Schaeffer."
"Ahh, so you're Aelita Schaeffer." Markus concluded.
"Wait, is your mother? Present tense? Don't mind me asking, but... Where is she?" Cooke queried.
Aelita looked away, "She's... Working with Tyron."
Cooke stopped the MantiSkid, "Wait, you want to destroy the one thing keeping you in contact with your mother?!"
"No," she corrected, "I want to destroy XANA. We need to destroy XANA."
"Don't lose sight of the mission." Markus nudged.
Cooke put the throttle and turbo back on full, "Well, if I see her, I'll... Pretend I don't know her."
Cooke came upon the entrance to the Cortex.
"So, do we have to do that whole decrypting thing again?" Cooke examined, "Because I don't like waiting around in such a tiny ship."
"Only if he changed the firewall. And I don't believe he has." Jeremie assured.
Cooke activated the key, and a beam shot out of his into the tunnel door of the Cortex, and it opened right up.
"Good call." Cooke noted, and steered the ship inside, "So, tell me, how am I going to get through the door to the core of the Cortex? Heh, try saying that five times fast."
"I'm going to instruct Markus on how to transfer you past the door." Jeremie simplified, "Basically, we're going to beam you inside the room from the MantiSkid."
"Oh. Seems easy enough." Cooke shrugged.
"Well, one wrong number and I could be transferring you into the digital sea!"
"I suggest you don't do that then!"
Cooke brought the ship right up to the door of the Cortex's core.
Jeremie leaned forward, "Ready?"
"Ready!" Markus and Cooke affirmed.
"Okay, take the X and Y coordinates of the MantiSkid and put it on a plane. The core should be zero on the grid."
"Got it."
"Carefully beam him three meters forward, and two meters down. You should be close enough for the MantiSkid to perceive the door as a hollow object."
"Alright... Ready to beam, Cooke?"
"Beam me up, Markus!"
Markus confirmed the actions, and transferred Cooke. Successfully! Now they don't have to worry about how to beat it!
Well, except to get out, of course.
"Alright, heading into the definite deathtrap." Cooke announced.
"I'll have eyes on you, but he'll cut the comms." Markus reminded.
"I know. I'm not letting it slow me down though!" Cooke confidently strolled up to the teleportation pad, and entered the core.
Cooke arrived back into the familiar room, without a single ninja in sight.
"You guys still there?" Cooke called out.
"Yeah. For now." Markus responded.
Cooke breathed a sigh of relief, "Alrighty then... Let's do the thing."
The console was only a few platforms over, Cooke glided over them with ease. He held his hand out.
"Keycard?"
"Right, right." Markus scrambled, and spawned in a blue keycard into Cooke's hand.
"Alright, wish me luck!" Cooke pushed the card in, and data popped up on screen.
"Good lu-"
The sound cut. The screen turned red, and closed every window.
"Figures."
"Cooke, so pleasant to see you today." Tyron interrupted.
"Hi, hi." Cooke rolled his eyes, "I'm in a bit of a bind for time, so, can you let me do my stuff and get out?"
"Hah! Do you really expect me to let you raid my systems?"
"Not particularly, but I was hoping to catch you on a good day."
Tyron laughed, "Do not think your snark will save you."
Cooke shook his limbs out, and drew his sword, "Okay, send some guys for me to beat up then."
"I look forward to talking to you." Tyron closed the window.
Cooke looked around, and saw ninjas beginning to spawn. He spun his sword around, and extended it into a whip, "Okay, bring it."
A ninja charged towards Cooke, who switched over to Extrasensory and slowed down his perception of time. He dodged a lunge, and pulled the ninja closer to slice it in half.
"C'mon..."
Cooke took notice of a ninja above him, ready to jump down to the same level. He retracted his blade and prepared to block-
Failing to notice a ninja creeping from under the platform he was standing on and holding him in place.
"God... KNOCK IT OFF!"
Unbeknownst to him, a new ninja entered the field. One donning blue and black colors, armed with a bow and arrow. He took aim at the restrained and unaware student, and fired.
"Ahg!"
The arrow hit, and shot out a cable that wrapped around Cooke and began shocking him.
"AHHHHHH-"
"JEREMIE! HELP!" Markus panicked, watching Cooke's life points drop rapidly. 70... 60... 50...
"I don't know what to do! I don't know what's happening down there!" Jeremie scrambled.
40... 30...
Markus breathed in, and contained himself, "He's just devirtualizing, let's just... Ugh. Just do it again."
20... 10...
"This is very unusual..." Jeremie eased, "Cooke will have to tell us what happened."
...0
"I'll ask him now!" Markus turned his chair towards the single scanner in the room, anticipating Cooke's arrival.
But, the scanner wasn't warming up. The doors were still wide open, and empty.
"Uhh... I think there may be a serious issue here." Markus noted.
"How serious?"
"His status is shown as devirtualized, and our scanner hasn't processed anything." Markus rubbed his head, and quickly ran a diagnostic.
Jeremie looked over at a screen with security cameras. Specifically, the one in the scanner room, "...Nobody at our end."
The diagnostic finished, showing no signs of failure.
"Well..." Markus anxiously stared at the scanner, "If he's not in our scanner, and not in yours, where is he?"
Cooke struggled to open his hazed eyes. He could hardly see anything. He remembered being devirtualized by that weird arrow, but this was a new feeling.
He slowly came about, now feeling his feet being dragged along, and two people holding him up by the arms.
"Markus... Wha hahahppened..."
He opened his eyes a bit more. He could make out the unfamiliar tiled floor, and saw his hands restrained with plasticuffs in front of him.
"Where ehm I..."
He was forced into a chair at a table, and heard a distinct door slam behind him. He rolled his head around, not seeing anyone in the room.
"Markus... Thank you for dragging me to class..." He babbled, "I think I forgot my backpack though..."
He stretched out a bit, and everything was a bit more clearer. He could tell he was not in a classroom, or with Markus, but alone in a large storage room. And just now he processed that his hands are restrained.
"What happened...? Where am I?" Cooke patted his pockets, realizing his phone was no longer there, "What is going on?!"
The door opened up, and Tyron walked in and sat himself across from Cooke.
"My apologies, I just prefer face-to-face conversations."
Cooke held up his restrained hands, "I'm just digging the hospitality."
"Cooke... If I'm not mistaken, you're barred from the scanners for twelve hours, yes?"
Cooke rolled his eyes, "Yes."
"I'm surprised at how well you're handling this situation." Tyron complimented.
Cooke furiously glared at him, "Daily occurrence. I'm used to it."
Tyron frowned, "Look, this wasn't my first choice-"
"Oh, that is straight up bull and you know it."
"I don't understand your American slang, but I assure you, it's no "bull." Don't worry about it." Tyron promised, "You're stuck here for twelve hours, so I suggest you get along with us and make this painlessly easy and fast."
"You kidnapped me, and you expect me to comply?!" Cooke let out a single laugh, "That is a stupid assumption."
"You either comply, or we'll rip the data from your mobile." Tyron bluntly warned.
"Good luck with either one."
Markus stared at several dozen windows, looking for... Anything!
"Oh god..." Markus grabbed his face, "Do... Do you think it's possible XANA got him?"
"No." Jeremie rejected, "The Scyphozoa can only modify the brain. He has a devirtualization status, and his brain wasn't affected."
"Then... Could he have somehow ended up in the digital sea?"
Jeremie shook his head, "His avatar was devirtualized within the core. Unless Tyron, or XANA, possess the capabilities of permanent devirtualization without the use of the digital sea, it's impossible."
Markus stood up and stepped away from the desk, "...Those ninjas are people, right?"
"Yes." Jeremie confirmed.
Markus sat back down and cracked his knuckles, "Then they have scanners too."
Jeremie leaned back, "Meaning... Tyron could've kidnapped Cooke by forcing him through his scanners. That's outrageous!"
"Well, it might actually be ideal if they do what I hope they do." Markus smirked.
"And that is...?"
"Open a data link to this computer."
Jeremie leaned forward, "Why on earth would you want that?!"
"It's a two way street!" Markus reminded, "I've made a special encryption that'll block his access, while we use the data key we already have from the MantiSkid to break into his super computer."
Jeremie looked in awe, "That's... Genius. How can you do that?"
"Simple. They just have to plug in his phone."
A ninja came in and set Cooke's phone down in front of him.
"...I take it you're not having much luck breaking into my phone?"
"Unlock the device." Tyron demanded.
"It's a five digit code, man!" Cooke laughed, "It's as complex as a lock on a soda machine!"
"It is encrypted."
"And your big fancy quantum computer can't figure it out?" Cooke critiqued, "Thank Markus. He did that to my phone. Dude went a little nutty about our security when the government showed up and nearly discovered our computer."
"Unlock it or we'll expose you and the other warriors to their respective governments." Tyron threatened.
Cooke laughed, "Empty threat! If you report us, you'll be found, and I'm sure they'd love to hear how you kidnapped an American citizen and forcibly smuggled him to Switzerland."
Tyron let out a single chuckle, and looked pleased, "Who said anything about Switzerland?"
Cooke realized his error, "Uhh, I'm only guessing based off of the star positions and waning moon. Am I wrong?"
Tyron smiled, "No, you're spot on. Except the moon is waxing. But, I find it strange a mechanical engineering student with no windows could do that. The only way you'd know is if someone told you this already, Christina."
"Oh, screw you." Cooke spat, "That's just plain rude."
"That's your legal name, isn't it? Christina?"
Cooke leaned into the table, "I'm not sharing that story, certainly not with you!"
"Well, given your twin sister's name is Gareth, I'm going to assume your paperwork got mixed up in the delivery room." Tyron stabbed.
Cooke sat back down, "Yeah. How did you even get this information?"
"Same way Mister Belpois does."
"I still don't know who that is."
"Now that is "bull" and you know it." Tyron stared down.
"I admit nothing and I want a lawyer." Cooke looked away dramatically.
Tyron was growing impatient, "...Might we work out a deal?"
"Why should I make a "deal" with you?"
"Because you're no child, like those friends of yours. We're both men, knowledgeable in our fields-"
"If you're about to offer a job, you can take that job, and shovel it."
"...No. But I know you're currently in debt thirty thousand US dollars. Those fancy US universities are pricy, yes?" Tyron coaxed.
"Part of life."
"Well, what if I wiped that debt and any future debt you might... Accrue?"
"Yes, that's the correct word."
"Easing the pain of your government off your back."
Cooke sat back, and thought about it, "...And what do you want?"
"The passcode to your phone."
"Ohhh, right." Cooke nodded, then shook his head, "No."
"Perhaps you'd like more?"
"Like?"
Tyron shrugged, "You name it."
Cooke laid back, "...I want a BAC Mono. Midnight blue, with exposed carbon fiber details."
"Done."
"A Doepfer Modular Synthesizer set?"
"Done."
"An Oreo cake batter frappe fresh from JP Licks?"
"We can make anything happen."
"Really? How about a bottle of Château Lafite, 1787?"
"...Almost anything. You're too young anyways. But I am impressed with your wine knowledge-" Tyron held his hands up, "-Look, I'll make anything happen, just tell us the passcode, Cooke."
"Mmmm... I don't know... I was kind of hoping to get my Château... Kind of a deal breaker if I can't get it."
"I will get you a very nice Château and we shall drink together, just, tell us!"
Cooke shook his head, "Alright, fine! As long as you piss off too. One."
Tyron waited.
"...Start punching it in, it gets tricky."
Tyron grabbed Cooke's phone, and punched in 1.
"Two."
Tyron punched in 2.
"Three."
"You can't be serious." Tyron stared in disbelief, and punched in 3, 4, and 5.
INCORRECT.
Cooke laughed, "That's the combination an idiot would have on his luggage!"
Tyron punched in 1, 2, and 3, "Alright."
"Four."
Tyron punched in 4.
"And six."
Tyron rolled his eyes, and punched in 6, "I can't believe I'm wasting my time with you."
"Now piss off and get me my Château."
A ping appeared on a map, pointing to Switzerland.
"Ahp! Found him!" Markus celebrated, "My theory was right!"
"How prepared are you to defend Matriks from Tyron?" Jeremie queried.
"I designed a custom 512 bit AES software for our phones and Matriks using some beta code we found on here. It's not unhackable, but it'll take quite a bit of time to crack." Markus answered.
"Aren't you worried by the fact he can break through it?"
"Nope. He'll have a window of sixty seconds to crack the code before it shuffles and puts him back at square one, where the cycle then repeats."
"Huh." Jeremie sat back, impressed, "I'd love to take a look at it when we aren't busy."
"Yeah- oh! I got that paper Shelda shuffled into my notebook!" Markus remembered.
"Send it on over! I'll look at it later."
Tyron folded his hands, "Can I get you anything right now?"
"Give me a banana and I'll shove it someplace for you." Cooke lighted.
"I thought we were friends..." Tyron got up, completely sick of dealing with Cooke. He headed out the door.
"Wait..."
Tyron stopped, "...Anything colorful you'd like to say?"
"I'm a little cold in this storage closet. Could I... Get a jacket?"
"Hah!" Tyron laughed, "We'd need to cut your restraints to put it on, I'm no fool. I'll provide a blanket."
"Hey! I thought we were friends!"
Tyron left the room, turning to his left, "Anthea, s'il vous plaît donner notre à invité une couverture?"
Cooke puzzled at the exchange, trying to figure out what he said, then froze, "...That's right, Anthea!"
He looked around for security cameras, but found none. It is a closet, after all. Content, he sprung up and searched the shelves for something useful. He couldn't outright announce he knows who she was, so he had to be subtle.
He picked up some blue painters tape, "...This'll do."