Chain of Memories
Chapter 12
Let The Good Times Roll
The Specter solidified itself as the only thing it was programmed to imitate in this situation, a security guard, dressed in a rather plain black-and-white suit with a communication headphone wire in one ear, in the employ of Lupos corp. Retrieving it's desert eagle handgun from the inside of its jacket pocket, the specter calculated the possible trajectory and vectors of its bullets, creating an efficient scenario for the termination of its two targets.
There was only a mere dozen yards between it and the two young lovers, yards which the specter covered quickly. Moving from cover to cover with inhuman speed, it left a small streak of after-images, which quickly faded. Reaching the last tree before it would be visible to the targets, the specter took a mere millionth of a second to settle on which scenario was most effective, and brought up its handgun.
It stepped out, and pointed the gun at Hiroki and Milly.
Jeremie was petrified as he saw the specter moving through the forest. He couldn't make it out very well on the holo-sphere, where orange for some reason was the most prominent color, leavening little room for detail. But Jeremie was more then a hundred percent sure that the specter had targeted Milly and Yumi's younger brother. The specter's incoming and processing data was shown on a window, also in the holo-sphere.
Uolith's glared at Jeremie through the holo-sphere, his face slightly distorted by the badly rendered pixels and shaded orange, revealing his gaunt features.
Jeremie noticed his face on the other side of the hologram, but kept his eyes focused on the image playing out, the specter was weaving through the trees at great speed, taking very direct path to the couple.
It stopped for the shortest of seconds behind a tree leading into the clearing, the data being displayed showed a large increase in output codes, and Jeremie understood every bit of it as it flew up the small holographic window.
It was going to kill them, one bullet for each of them, directly between their eyes. In the years to come, Jeremie would never forget the code that calculated 'the exact spot between the left and the right eye' as it passed over the screen.
… This was not good
Ron had yet to arrive. He had called them minuets ago announcing he was making the exit off the freeway, and was minuets away from Kadic. The poor guy was confused as hell when he was asked to return to Kadic where his employer some how returned to overnight without his aid.
Aelita was starting to get impatient. Impatient and worried. Here they were, hiding at the edge of the forest looking onto the road, in their translated Lyoko forms. All five of them. As she shifted her pink laptop should-strap bag around, the only normal article she had on her person, she couldn't help but feel somewhat naked, despite the fact she was completely dressed. The same circumstances applied though, don't let people see the special features of your body. Being a super customized specter was just a different 'feature'.
She took a nervous glance around, and glimpsed Ulrich doing the same. Yumi was crouching low behind a bush, while William, who had super-smoked himself into the tree above them, watched the surroundings a bit more keenly then the rest of them, due to the fact that he blended better with the shady tree with his darker colored cloths, he could maneuver better and still not be spotted by any would-be nature hikers. Odd was… used to be in a tree.
Aelita did a quick head count, and found they were indeed missing the most noticeable head of all. Odd had disappeared…
… This was not good.
Being careful to evade the students running off to lunch and the teachers entering and leaving the building, Odd maneuvered his way behind the office building without being seen. Had he been able to sneak away sooner form the others, he would have been able to do this mission when the building was less populated. Alas, he never got a chance to sneak off after he got scanned and translated again, that is, until they snuck through the forest.
It was no big deal, Odd assured himself. He would return with Kiwi, safe and sound, the others would forgive him, and he'd bring Kiwi on the trip to go save Jeremie! It was the perfect plan in Odd's mind.
Easily scaling the wall with his claws, Odd reached the third floor window, peering in, he deemed it not the infamous filing room, and moved horizontally along the buildings vertical surface. On the third window to the edge, Odd finally saw the welcoming sight of filing cabinets.
Odd pondered what to do now, he could always blast the window open with a Laser Arrow, but that would attract too much attention. He could punch it in, but that'd do the same thing essentially. He couldn't open it from the outside, so wha-
A sudden thought struck Odd, he'd seen it done in many movies, but would it actually work?
Odd without further adieu took one clawed hand to the window, and turned his hand, ever so slowly. The high-pitched whine of the glass being scratched reached his enlarged ears, causing him to flinch, but he endured. Completing his circle, he found that although he did make a ring shaped groove in the glass, he could not cut it open.
The whine of the cutting had apparently awoken Kiwi from a nap, for a sharp yapping, originating from the room in question, reached Odd's enlarged ears.
"Hang on Kiwi, I'ma coming for ya." Odd whispered, not wanting to talk overly loud in-case someone from below were to notice, and look up. 'I wonder if Kiwi will try and chase me for being a cat' wondered Odd for a brief moment.
Odd brought his claws up to cut the ring once more, then again, then a third time. Finally, he breached the thin glass, and ever so carefully, removed the miss-shaped circle from the window. He was rewarded with the yaps becoming distinctly louder and less muffled. Reaching in, he undid the latch from the inside, and pulled the window out. Hoisting his legs up, he shoved them through the window, then the rest of his body.
Not even taking time to reorient himself with solid ground. Odd rushed toward the small cage where the barking was originating on the other side of the room. Removing the latch, Kiwi bounded out of the cage in all his K-9 glory, ecstatic for being allowed freedom for what must have been hours of captivity.
"Kiwi!" shouted Odd overjoyed, "my wittle diggity dog!" Kiwi however scampered away as Odd tried to pick him up. Crouching low on the other side of the room, he growled at Odd.
"Is it really because I'm a cat?" asked Odd out loud, more to Kiwi them himself. "Come on Kiwi, its me! Odd!" Kiwi however, remained unwavering in his hostility, his growl deepened as Odd reached down to touch him.
"Come on." Said Odd, a little annoyed, "Its ME!" he held out his hand, remembering how dogs often needed to sniff it in order to gain its trust. Kiwi never even moved to sniff Odds hand. Odd, who was perplexed beyond belief at the situation, suddenly had a stroke of understanding.
He was in his translated form, nothing but a specter. He didn't have a scent anymore; he was merely ions stabilized into a field according to Jeremie. Kiwi somehow was able to tell the difference between a real human and a specter. 'What a smart dog!' though Odd proudly. However, this presented a bigger problem, how to gain Kiwi's trust?
"Kiwi, come on, its ME, Odd, Odd Della Robbia!" said Odd, hoping his voice was enough to help Kiwi recognize him. "Come on, diggity dog? Diggity wiggity triggity doggy?" pleaded Odd, using a longer, more affectionate nickname that was seldom used due to its length and creepiness.
Finally, Kiwi let down his guard and allowed himself to be pet. Only when he was scratched in the 'special spot' however, did he immediately recognize this mysterious non-human entity as his flamboyant provider of food.
"Okay, okay, okay, okay" said Odd, trying to silence the dogs excited barks. "Lets get you outta here, you're coming with me on a little trip."
Unfortunately, Odd didn't get even past the first hallway when a deep male voice reverberated behind him,
"Della Robbia!"
Odd winced, recognizing that voice anywhere, and with him in his Lyoko form…
… This was not good.
"You should get some dirty on Odd, write it up into a news article and publish it." said Hiroki, comforting a distressed Milly. "I can always ask my sister for some stuff, she and Odd hang out all the time."
Milly had long ago ceased sobbing, and merely rested her head on Hiroki's shoulder with her eyes closed, letting him ramble, merely enjoying the sound of his voice. Giggling every so often when he made an exceptionally bold statement. He always could make her smile, no matter what.
"Your sweet." said Milly suddenly. Hiroki immediately stopped rambling, and the two shared a quiet, comfortable moment, leaning against each other.
…Alas, it was not meant to last…
The formal dressed man walked into the clearing as if he had done it millions of times before, abrupt and without pause. Bringing the gun in his hand up to eye level, he pointed the barrel directly at them.
A second passed, a second in which Hiroki attempted to comprehend that a man standing right in front of them, pointing a gun at them, meant that the man was trying to kill them.
"Milly! RUN!!!"
Milly was jostled out of her blissful state by Hiroki hastily trying to get up and hoist her up at the same time. She was jerked away from her position indignantly by Hiroki, and was about to protest, when she saw the man out of the corner of her eye. A man, point a gun at the spot where her head had been mere seconds ago. She too, needed a second to comprehend this, but Hiroki wouldn't let her. Pulling her out of the clearing, he proceeded to guide her through the forest at top speed. She numbly followed, processing the facts, and concluding the same thing Hiroki had, the obvious conclusion.
He was going to kill them.
She began to pick up speed, no longer needed to be lead by Hiroki. They raced through the forest, afraid for their lives.
... This was not good.
Jeremie watched in mute horror as the specter finished its codes, and entered the clearing, raising its hand gun.
"I'll do it!"he roared, wrenching his eyes shut, for surely they were going to die. His strength, his will leaving him at the last second, unable to bear the possible deaths on his shoulders of the two younger lovers. If they died, all for something they were never involved in, then they could never love, could never had kids, could never grow old. That would just be… too sad. If they shared what Jeremie felt with Aelita, yes, it would just be too sad to bear.
"Good." whispered Uolith, "That's much more like it. The states have had many school shootings recently, you know. I feel like it should stay there."
"Your sick" spat Jeremie.
"Sticks and Stones, Mr. Belpois." replied Uolith mockingly. "But you'll find I have, indeed, not taken any of the lives of your peers. You may open your eyes to see for yourself."
Jeremie, not fully trusting the white haired psychopath, tentatively opened his eyes. Although his vision was still blurry from the lack of glasses, and the badly rendered holo-sphere, he was able to catch a glimpse of Milly and Hiroki run away into the forest, and off the edge of the holo-spheres range of vision. He exhaled a gigantic breath of relief he had un-knowingly taken in.
"Now, Mr. Belpois, tell me, how is Mr. Schaffer doing these days? I assume he's in good health." asked Uolith, folding his hands and starring intently at Jeremie.
"Your kidding, right?" asked Jeremie, disbelievingly. "Waldo Schaffer is dead, he sacrificed himself to power a program designed to wipe out X.A.N.A."
"ah." Uolith look truly startled by the news. He was, for once, at a loss for words. "I…I can't say," he began, "that I'm not sorry to hear that. Don't get me wrong, I despise that man, but we… he, he was a…" he seemed to search for the right word, but alas it seemed he couldn't. "… a fool, a bloody, fanatical, idiotic fool who dreamed of impossibilities." he finished.
"What was he like?" asked Jeremie, careful to sound friendly, for he didn't want Uolith to seem like he was giving the enemy information, on the contrary, merely satisfying a curiosity.
"He… he was brilliant, although it was a pity that Antea diluted her superior gene pool by pro-creating with the geek. He always had his stupidfaith in things, faith in the world. He always saw the best of people, and things. He would build on that, believing the world would cure itself. He and I agreed on that, did you know? That the world was sick, that it needed healing. Of course," Uolith's gaze grew distant. "He was short sighted in things, always dreaming of a better place, a 'world without danger' as he called it. I believe he framed his world, Lyoko, after those ideals. Its ironic really, I doubt he ever really knew what the Lyoko means."
"Your talking about the eye of X.A.N.A.?" asked Jeremie, surprised.
"Is that what you call it?" asked Uolith amused, "well I can see where you derived that from. X.A.N.A., I know him all to well. The Lyoko, how ever, is a symbol with far greater meaning."
He stared at Jeremie, and Jeremie knew he was once again being regarded as the enemy.
"Suffice to say, the symbol loosely means rebirth, redemption, and reincarnation, for a world of purity, a world of kindness. Truly, a world without danger, as he so cleverly put it."
Milly and Hiroki charged blindly through the forest, tears of fright streaming the formers face.
"Help, somebody help us!" shouted Hiroki, desperately trying to get back to the school.
Yumi, who was sick and tired of waiting for this stupid bus to arrive, was abruptly brought back to earth when she heard her brother, of all people, scream for help.
"was that Hiroki?" asked Ulrich after a second.
"Sure was" said Yumi, "I'm going to go check it out."
"Wait, what if he sees you?" asked Aelita desperately. "I'm sorry, but keeping Lyoko secret is more important then Hiroki getting beaten up by bullies or whatever."
"You don't understand" said Yumi, "he never calls for help, not since I taught him Pencak Silat. I'm going to check this out" she said with determination.
"Fine" Aelita agreed, "but don't be too long, and see if you can find Odd on the way."
Yumi took of running, going surprisingly fast in her translated form. Catching up to her brother's shouts was easy, taking a mere half a minute.
"Yumi!" shouted Hiroki, while Milly collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. "There's this crazy man with a gun, he looked like Dr. Shrank's assistant, he tried to kill us! We have to ge—what are you wearing?!"
It was almost comical how abruptly Hiroki switched from such a serious attitude to curiosity of his sisters outfit. Yumi herself was petrified for the whole ordeal, trying to process exactly how she was going to answer that question, and the statement that there was a guy trying to kill her brother.
As her sister-hood genes kicked in, and the fact she was more then capable then defending her brother with her abilities granted by her Lyoko form registered into her mind. Yumi took action.
"Never mind that, Where is this guy?" asked Yumi quickly, Hiroki merely responded by pointing behind him into the forest.
"Get Milly out of here." said Yumi, walking in the direction her brother had pointed.
"What are you doing?!" shouted Hiroki, dismayed.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
"But, He has a gun!"
"I'll be fine" Yumi repeated. "Please, just trust me."
"You better not die Yumi, You better dam well not die" said Hiroki after a moment. He hoisted Milly up, putting one of her arms around his shoulder, and taking off once again to-wards the school.
Yumi would have laughed at it, for it was impossible for her to die, merely get devirtualized would be the worst case scenario.
Had her brother not said that last sentence with such feeling, with such love, she would have laughed, instead, she was touched.
She headed into the forest.
Drop a review, or I'll get Achmed the dead terrorist to Keeeeeeeeeel you.. Cookie if you know who that is.
Let the good times roll indeed. Milly and Hiroki are my first 'real' fluff writing... kinda pathetic when I'm a JxA fan and yet to man to write fluff about them. Merely some pathetic really serious story where they are the main characters. .
Please, tell me how you liked/hated/orgasmed over it.
