Code Lyoko: Revolutions & Evolutions

by Pagliacci-11

The computer has been shut down. The team has now begun the countdown to high-school with next year being their sophomore year. Not all is as cut and dry as simply moving up a grade as a new force begins to show itself, not XANA but a force that is equally familiar and alien. Rated M for violence, sexual scenarios, and language.

94. Chapter 94

AN: This chapter came after a prayer and steadfast work. I will caution all of you; this is the most intense chapter I've written to date. You will find it when you find it. I hope you all enjoy it and will see you next chapter. For those of you who will likely be upset, I am sorry. But in a realistic story, there are victories and losses alike. Please read and review.

Pagliacci-11.

Chapter 94

Aelita couldn't sleep. She'd been plagued continually by the endless thoughts that her discussion with Natasha had birthed. She hated some of the things that were before her from the mouth of the dictator. She couldn't stomach some of them as she thought about them. Equally, Aelita knew that Natasha, patient as she could appear, didn't have time or patience to deal with teenagers. In many ways, Aelita wondered how she dealt with children if they were truly of worth to Natasha or anything but. She knew what Natasha had planned, what she'd promised, to get rid of Sylvia. She'd offered to restore Aelita to her father, yet when Aelita challenged the idea, she grew dismissive.

Had Aelita fallen upon the actual truth and exposed it? Or did Natasha merely not have time to persuade her differently? This question and many others filled her mind, and Aelita knew that whoever or whatever she was dealing with had likely heard all the question times and time again. Aelita could go to the mirror and summon her reflection to her and ask the questions; it was an option.

Checking the time, it was still an ungodly, two-thirty in the morning. She knew Jim regularly made his rounds, and to discover her unconscious in the shower-room would be a headache in itself. She thought a moment, and taking out a small compact, she looked at her reflection. Twelve minutes past and suddenly, she saw her eyes grow cold and almost despondent. Aelita was afraid; this reality was still something very new to her. She felt dizzy and fell quickly asleep.

She woke up on the same couch with Natasha sitting across from her, this time, not in her military dress but in a sapphire bathrobe with black slippers on her feet. In many ways, Aelita understood that when the mirror utilized summoning, that it wasn't always at the most opportune times.

Aelita looked over her doppelganger, and she asked, "Um, how was your day?"

Natasha shrugged, "Well enough, thank you. Why have you summoned me?"

Aelita decided to be forward as best she could, "I need to ask you questions about who you are and what you intend to do."

Natasha groaned and replied, "Had I known this to be the case, I'd have brought a comfier chair." She thought a moment and said, "Actually—you want to know who I am? Very well, but let's both be more comfortable."

Natasha stood and snapped her fingers, and both Aelita and Natasha were transported in a rush of air to a unique house. It was a single-floor affair, and as she looked outside, it was evident she was in a small rural community not unlike what Jeremy had shown her when she was studying France to better blend in. The living room was a slate grey with two large area rugs of burgundy across a darker wooden floor looking around the house's interior. The floor had evidently seen its trials as it was very worn. A light brown couch was along the far wall with a rocking chair upon the main carpet. A small entertainment center took up the far portion of the room right-hand side of the room. The T.V. was quaint but unlike anything Aelita had seen. It was medium-sized but on a small stand with an oblong box nearby.

Along the walls were all manner of paintings; many of them hand-painted by the original artist. Those that weren't originals were painstakingly preserved cabaret announcement paintings for shows from around pre-World War One if Aelita's judgment of the pieces could be trusted.

Natasha asked, "Would you like coffee or tea?"

Aelita looked at her, "Coffee, please?"

Natasha nodded and headed into the kitchen. Aelita followed behind her and found the kitchen bizarre to her eyes. The floor was linoleum with scuff marks from someone's stride in firm shoes, most likely boots. The walls were all different colors, with the main wall being a solid sea-blue which tied into the main hallway on one side of the room. On the other side, it was a unique form of pink, and this went from the main window of the room circling around to the blue on the other side. A small wedge that contained the laundry room was peach-colored, the doors of which were a deep blue sea blue.

The cabinets were all of wood, and the counter was remarkably standard with an imitation faux granite. A large set of drawers took up the main wall going horizontally. The drawers next to the fridge, made of dark wood, the top of which held a printer, a coffee mug or two filled with pens, pencils, and a few pairs of scissors. An old traditional fly-leaf walnut table stood in the open front center of the room with four lighter wooden chairs.

Aelita saw Natasha prepare the coffee and the machine she saw as, unlike the standard she'd seen back home. It was compact but beautiful. The pot was also quite large in the base, narrowing towards the top.

As Natasha began the process to brew the coffee, she looked at Aelita, "Breakfast?"

Aelita replied, "Uh, sure. Thanks."

Natasha nodded, "Chicken or duck?"

Aelita was surprised and looked confusedly at her older doppelganger.

Natasha clarified, "Duck or chicken eggs for your omelet to have with the fish?"

Aelita was truly surprised now, "Duck—please?"

Natasha nodded, and she opened the fridge and took out a homemade carton of eggs. They were unlike any eggs Aelita had seen. Large opaque green things a great deal larger than what she was used to. Natasha also took out what Aelita could tell were fresh fillets of fish.

Aelita asked, "You have fish—for breakfast?"

Natasha looked at her and went back to the fridge for a lime. "Fish is good, kid. It is brain food. That way, when you grow up, you can be a proper genius."

Natasha proceeded to salt and pepper the fish, and then she asked, "Do you like the skin?"

Aelita shook her head.

Natasha chuckled and replied, "You're missing out, girl. The skin is much like Jeremy's cum. There's rarely a downside to it." Natasha separated the skin from the fish fillet for Aelita with a painstaking slice of a knife and laid it upon her own piece. Taking the fillets, Natasha placed them into a baking tray, and she turned on the oven.

Checking her watch, Natasha proceeded to wash her hands thoroughly. She looked at Aelita as she did this and asked, "What do you want to know about me?"

Aelita sat down at the table and asked, "Firstly, you're a dictator, and yet you have a home as, forgive me, basic as this?"

Natasha chuckled, "What you call basic, I call a retreat from the urbanized hellish comings and goings of the Capitol. This place is my home, my sanctuary. It's quaint, but it is more than sufficient. I think it an inverse of Louis. He builds a pleasure palace to escape Parisians, and he lives opulence and decadence. But here, no one knows my actual vocation, past or present. They don't care to know so long as you leave them alone and not cause too much of a fuss.

Natasha turned off the water and dried her hands, "What else would you like to know?"

Aelita thought a moment or two and replied, "You frightened me the other day. You admit to killings hundreds of thousands, but you admitted it like it was a regular bodily function. How can you live with that? The deaths of hundreds of thousands? How do you live in your conscience, if you have one, with all that?"

Natasha folded the towel and hung it on the handle of the oven, "How does God deal with the objections of humanity? How does Delmas deal with troublemakers? How do both rest in terms of conscience? How do you rest, Aelita? You've made that call, you can stop Jeremy from being an asshole, but even you know order must be maintained. For when you punished Odd and then Ulrich for their breaking of trust or misuse of the Supercomputer, was that any different from my justice?

Much like you, we respect your choices. You choose not to work for me, even if I can give you something that appeals to the height of your talent? I send you to break your body in the quarries, in the mines, in the wheat fields. You persist, you prove that you are no use to the State or me, you end up with a bullet in your head. There is no such thing as a life lived without consequence for wrongdoing. If such elements do exist, that is a perversion of law, justice, and true equality and are, as with my people, burnt away to start over again."

Aelita looked at Natasha, her eyes burning with anger, "And what of mercy? Is that foreign to you? Do you not believe in mercy?"

"I believe in discipline and order, first and foremost. Mercy, sure. But mercy, often in this world and yours, is seen by the people as an opening for exploitation. Kindness is seen as a weakness until you draw a line. Sadly, some people need to be smacked down so they can better acclimate to the picture, much as it was with you and Ulrich last afternoon. You have your standards you believe your friends should abide by; you are pleased in what transpired in the falling-out of Ulrich's perceived arrangement. Is that not your smug discipline, albeit indirectly?"

Aelita was stuck; she couldn't answer that yet. She then asked, "You didn't just get power overnight. How did you become who you are?"

"Short answer?"

"Preferably." Aelita said with a slight sigh of vexation.

"Okay. I went to law school, studied the ins and outs, saw the corruption therein. I went further studying economic law and the tax systems across the world. I saw the flaws, exemptions, privileges therein exploited by the knowledgeable and saw that humans don't care about other fellow men. I found that so long as the principal of yourself is involved, that is all most people care about. Therefore, using this mindset as a constant in terms of how the world primarily sees things, based on actions, not words; I said, fuck the world. I used their own methods against them, and I became very, very rich.

I used the capital therein to revitalize major places that bothered me when I first passed through, used human psychology and human nature to have neighbors sell out neighbors for a bigger and better deal from me, and once they had done so, I killed them. They dismayed and betrayed their neighbor; I can't trust them as a consequence.

In time, I made the Civil Service Sector, and I was the overseer for penal rehabilitation and long-term imprisonment for the more egregious offenders of society. I made the derelicts have a purpose, I gave new life to forgotten souls, and from that, I became loved, and soon I was the leader of Lyoko, and North-Gate called The Ministerial Union. That's as short as I can make it."

Aelita was stunned, "You—you murdered people because—"

Natasha looked at her calmly, "Go on."

Aelita was still flustered, "I—I…" she got her breath, "What kind of hell did you live through to turn you into this?!" she screamed, "What the fuck, lady?!"

Natasha was calm, almost as if she anticipated such a response. She looked at Aelita and replied, "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction; that's Nature's Law. Harnessing the law of nature and being addressed with the knowledge of how this world is run, corrupt as it is, what did you expect my reaction to be?"

Aelita was silent, still stunned by all that she had to process. Natasha placed her hand on Aelita's, "Listen and listen well. You are no different than I. The same rage that guided me to destroy entire nations in the grand scheme is the same rage that you felt towards Jeremy when he tried to dissuade you from pursuing your father. You wished you had never recovered your memory at that moment. I wish I didn't learn everything that I learned about how money rules the nations, not people, how pride and hubris rule the world, not compassion. You saw it with Herve and Jeremy, a battle of pride between two sapling geniuses. You saw with Sissi when she had her A.C. all to herself, her exclusivity to such luxury. Now, take those lessons, and magnify it one-hundred and fifty times. That's just a taste of what I've learned so far."

Aelita was afraid. Afraid of this thing, this being that was before her. The mirror. She couldn't believe it; she didn't want to believe it. But it existed. Noble, sure. But fury that was within and had been exorcised for now still burned, smoldered, and bubbled beneath the surface. Aelita knew she couldn't say for sure how, but she knew. Within Natasha was a heart of iron; she perhaps loved people, Aelita surmised. Maybe she loved people. Even so, Natasha was genuinely different, and it was this willful difference, as she had said out of her disgust for Aelita, which scared Aelita as she looked over the woman across from her.

"I—I don't want to be like you." Aelita said, her voice shaking; she then screamed, "I don't want to be like you!"

Natasha removed her hand from Aelita and gave a light sigh. She looked at the young girl before her and asked, "Why not?"

"You're driven by hatred! You're seething, burning with raw rage!"

Natasha looked bemused, "Well, let's look at it like the optimist would; I'm at least driven by something. But I think it would help you if you cared to know why I have no issue doing as I do."

"The unfairness of a system you feel is stacked. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out, you know?" Aelita replied. "What about those who made it from where you stood? Like the entertainers who became great? Or what about those who are very well known of a less generational thing like—I don't know like say the composers of the past and that passion being whet for newer generations of their art?"

Natasha got up, and she headed to the coffee maker, "Semantics, Aelita. Even at that, a longer fuse until their own pride sets in." Checking the oven, Natasha closed it and continued, "What you speak of can only be attained through connections of your elders. Pure and simple. When you are young, you have no connections of your own. It is your parents' connections that have paved the way for so many. Let's take modern musicians, for example. There are great musicians, one of which is named Hilary Hahn. Now let us unpack this first. The girl was very gifted, even from a young age. She excelled and developed her talents. Her talent was noticed by esteemed masters of the craft who turned into her teachers.

Natasha poured the coffee as she continued, "Now, bear in mind, very few in the world get to express their own talent on their own, in their field, and succeed, on their own. Consider her teachers are masters in their own right, one of them being Klara Berkovich, a Soviet master-violinist when she was young and raised and nurtured alongside fellow excellent musicians and masters. Tutelage under such circumstances has its own fair share of clout, regardless of one's aptitude and proclivity for learning. It's much akin to you learning from the likes of say Albert Einstein or me learning from Maximilien Robespierre or maybe graduating from a prestigious university."

Natasha came back and sat down after she'd set the coffee cups on the table, "My point being, that Hahn is excellent and brilliant, a true master of her age and generation. But she should be one of hundreds of masters, not an anomaly. The sad truth is that unless you come from money unless you have the merit of a fine institution or fine teacher under your belt in your dossier, the world will never care for you. They are name-whores as we call them; weak and frivolous folk watching only of pedigree instead of talent. Talent itself, they make a market of. They call this the master class. However, to be allowed to hone your skills to perfection requires time and effort, and constant reinforcement that many people in this world are never afforded.

They are busy, kept working in the mundane shit without genuine reward in many places so that the glorious geniuses can go on in their merry way, unencumbered and unfettered. Suddenly, when someone like me and others come along seeing the litany of abuses having lived and suffered amongst the people, having seen their pain and heartache and rage. When we upend the system for the sake of genuine equality, as is the vision, then the world has a heart attack.

The world hates equality Aelita. They love, conversely, the land of vanity and superiority and privilege. Also, the sad truth is, humanity—is lazy. To have money without work, it is the dream of many people; accomplished only by the wealthy that is of genuine merit in the grand scheme of accounts."

Aelita had drunk her coffee by this point, and she asked, "And what makes you genuinely any better? You said you have used human nature against itself and killed your business people. Why should I trust a damn word you say? How can I trust that you won't kill us all as soon as you're good and ready? Answer: I fucking can't."

"You cannot. You say this, and yet I don't believe you. I think you want to trust me, but you just hate the way I do things and even view them."

"You think you can boil us all down to a simple equation like you're balancing an account!" Aelita exclaimed, "Humans are not as simple as you present them to be! We're not as greedy as you say; we're not as predictable as you say! You may have lived twenty-three years fully, but that can't be all there is to humanity! I refuse to believe it! Try this instead. Praise humanity! Once just once in all your life, praise them!"

Natasha looked at Aelita, and Aelita could tell by the look in the doppelganger's eyes, it was a task that couldn't be done. Where Sylvia's puppet bodies felt like mannequins, Natasha's eyes were that of simple dark green blackness, almost soulless.

"You can't do it," Aelita said, "you hate them so much, you can't say anything good!"

Natasha replied after a moment, but Aelita noted solemnly, "It's easy for you to love your friends and those who love you. Try loving your enemies instead—see where that gets you in the real world. I tried; a nation or two has tried. What happens?" Her tone shifted to where true rage began to flash in Natasha's eyes, "They spit in your face, they laugh at you, you, hate you! You're stupid enough to rebuild them because of their own idiocy in a war against you. But, still, ungrateful little shits, they remain." She looked at Aelita, "So before you get on your high horse and tell me where I'm wrong; how about you deal with a thankless society first and then say I'm wrong. Maybe I'll give credence to what you say after you've been in the shit that's outside a very—admittedly comfortable position."

Aelita listened a moment and asked, "How did you use human nature against itself? How did you strike us?"

Natasha sighed with relief and said, "Finally."

"What do you mean, finally?"

"It means, at last."

Aelita snorted, "Cute."

"No, at last, meaning that you finally ask the questions that you're afraid to ask because you don't trust me to help you. Additionally, they're the questions that matter most to you. To answer your question, economically, I took people's love of rarity, flooded the market, crashed the market through commonality, bought up essential shares dirt cheap, and sold them off someplace else that didn't have anything.

Second, I made an A.I. myself. It was a data collector. I collected data from the overflows of social media and social networking sites in general. I cataloged the responses of people from low-level janitors to CEOs of various targeted companies. After I had manipulated inflated praise or detriment due to bots, I contrasted what they said with what they did. After enough evidence was built, I cornered the market in direct competition to my target. I won over their labor force by doing the opposite of what the competition did through genuine and palpable meritocracy. In time, I exposed all the damning evidence to kill my rival. The funny thing is, a great comedy truly; let humanity dig itself a hole. It'll keep digging, especially if they think they have the power of actions with impunity.

To eliminate the lazy workers, I gave basics objectives at first, and in time they were weeded out if they couldn't keep their eyes on the prize long enough and strive to attain it. I didn't give up on them, mind you; I simply delegated them to janitor detail, elevating the best to the keeper of keys for a division.

Thirdly, through having the power to crash the city and then governmental infrastructure, you would be amazed how if I can turn your lights off, how quickly how many in power will bow to you. Much as Sylvia said, although she stole it from my greater speech, "If I can turn out your lights or impact how you eat, that's the only way most will ever respect you." The wealthy are not entirely immune though they think they are. It is not true at all. They have the money, but do they have access to resources or training to make the resources to live comfortably catering to their every whim?

No, usually quite the opposite. It is the downside of having a slave nation mentality in many ways. You demand duck from Norway; geese from Hungary; cigars from Cuba, all your exclusivities of pride and status, very well. You can make the wealthiest cry like a bitch, much like they reduce their own slaves to agony. How do you do this? Tell them they can't afford what you have to offer them. The rich are the slaves of their conceited wealth and power without respect for their treasures.

I offer their friends a much better deal but only through me, for that "niche audience" factor. From that, they fall in line like the lambs to slaughter. Because who does not want to be superior or exclusive, you know?"

Aelita was silent as she took all of this in. It struck her that it was remarkably quiet all around. Aelita asked, "How far are we from the capital?"

"Just outside it. Little less than half an hour by foot. Why?"

Aelita looked at Natasha strangely, "You—don't have any airplane noise pollution. I'd think that'd be impossible for so close a vicinity."

Natasha burst out laughing, and after she controlled herself, she said, "Oh, that's right, I forgot. Here, let me show you something."

She got up and went to the series of drawers nearby and took out two magnets. She handed them to Aelita, "There, that's your answer."

Aelita looked at her, "Really?"

Natasha looked at the clock and went to the stove, "Completely without fuel and without waste. Utilizing the power of the Earth's natural magnetic fields, we revolutionized all manner of traditional avionic and terrestrial travel. Since the nation has been grafted into the community standard, we have full-access public-transportation routes that are patrolled by regular magnetic train cars. All cars are on an efficient steadfast schedule oriented around the workweek. Individual cars exist if you genuinely wish to go somewhere else, mainly in a vacational setting.

Apart from that, all our vehicles are magnetically oriented with traditional attraction and repulsion principles. Additionally, we have a massive underground subway system that links all major city government areas to each other through a streamlined subway powered by pneumatics, again, clean and minimally obstructive to the piping that powers our infrastructure. Our international air travel is a hybridization. A blend of gravitational fluctuation and magnetic applications, so we have completely clean and soundless air takeoff, landings, travel the entire world over in record time."

Aelita placed the magnets down and asked, "For all your living under Sylvia's shadow, are you ever afraid?"

"Why should I be? The girl has no head for my line of work. She's too soft of heart at times and too firm in others. In many ways, she's her own worst enemy. Besides, I have nothing to fear now because North-Gate is being dismantled by their officials, at least regarding you all. I'm going in to ensure Sylvia can never rear her head again. Part of the reason I entertained the meeting with you is because Sylvia is running around in your body now."

Aelita shot up out of the chair, "What?!" she asked.

Natasha looked back and, with demented glee, replied, "Oh, yes. Did you think Sylvia would let her exposure to you go to waste? What did you think she was doing all that time she shared the room with you? She was collecting hair and skin samples to make a perfect version of you of her own accord. Lyoko doesn't need your soul as a component to activate it, just your corporeal envelope's DNA."

Aelita was stunned, but she recovered after a moment and said, "If Lyoko is Sylvia's goal, then why not have you just go on and take us over?"

"I can't. Our DNA is the reverse of each other. The same with the agent masquerading as John Barrow. He's identical down to his DNA, but the actual distributions of the double-helix and its properties are reversed if analyzed closely. A cursory glance won't cut it."

Aelita sat down, "That's what mom was looking at."

Natasha replied, "Uh-huh." She took out the fish, "Which is why your cooperation with me will prove vital to your world's survival."

Aelita looked at Natasha but still could not believe how Sylvia had thought this far ahead despite Natasha's dismissal.

"What your plan?" Aelita asked.

Natasha looked at her and then replied, "Oh, I'm glad you asked."

Jeremy knocked at Aelita's door, and she answered, "Yes, Jeremy?"

"Aelita, you asked for me to come to see you earlier this morning?"

"Yes." She let him in, "I was reviewing the North-Gate elements with my laptop, let me ask—did you notice that North-Gate is cycling down to extinction?"

He nodded, "I did. What do you think is going on?"

"I'd say whoever Sylvia worked for pulled her plug. I was thinking because these elements are shutting down, we could do a hard reset of Lyoko entirely and, like a simple boot-nuke, wipe out any traces of her program."

Jeremy nodded as he sat down across from her, "A hard reset would mean a full return to the past requiring a full twenty-four hours. We haven't done that before ourselves."

"But considering what Sylvia already put us through, it wouldn't be near as much of an adjustment, would it?"

Jeremy thought a moment or two and replied, "We can do it, and it would get her forces completely out of Lyoko, but we'd have to plan this carefully. We know what we risk with Natasha running around right now, and so I feel it best if we can work out a plan with her first, if only to lower her guard until we root her out of our place entirely."

Aelita was silent for a moment, and Jeremy noticed she looked surprised slightly. He asked, "Is everything okay?"

Aelita snapped back to reality and replied, "Uh, yes—but can't we just get rid of Natasha by doing the boot-nuke? The process would fry both lunatics from coming back anyway."

"I can't leave something like that to chance; none of us can. The simple fact is Natasha already could access the training room and could jam my relays. She has a way in that we have to find and plug, so if we do neutralize her, we won't be caught off guard. If she's as powerful as her people say, I would hate to see what she could do to us if we weren't careful."

Aelita nodded, "I'll help you. What do you need to help lock down her access point?"

Jeremy sighed, "The sad truth is that's what's so difficult. We'd have to have you go in and see all that's there before we can do an in-depth pulse scan of the sector. With North-Gate pulling out all its stuff, we can't trust Lyoko's stability to be maintained. I'd opt instead for letting North-Gate uninstall all its processes entirely and then just nuking the system afterward to get rid of any straggler programs."

Aelita rested against the wall and then replied after a sigh, "You're right, of course. I—"

Suddenly Jeremy's phone started vibrating a semi-tone higher than usual. Jeremy whipped it out immediately and said, "No! The scanners are compromised!"

Aelita was surprised, and she exclaimed, "Huh?!"

"Hold on." Jeremy said as he feverishly went through the text, "Go to the scanners! I'll meet you there in a bit with my laptop, and we can figure this out. Jim's on patrol, so be careful before you cut off to the park."

"I'll wait for you, Jeremy. It's easier if we go as a team."

Jeremy nodded, but his eye twitched ever so slightly. Aelita replied after seeing this, "Jeremy, calm down. It's not life or death. It can easily be resolved, don't break your leg over it."

Jeremy said, "I'm sorry. But we just have to take care of this, and it's sooner now than later."

He excused himself and immediately left. Aelita looked out and followed him, albeit cautiously. She observed his hands were close to his chest, not out to the side like one would normally do while in a hurry. She moved faster behind him, and as he went inside his dorm, she waited patiently outside.

After three minutes, Jeremy reemerged with his laptop and said, "After you."

She replied, "Age before beauty." She gestured with her hand.

Jeremy chuckled and led the way down the stairwell. Aelita followed, and soon they were out in front of the park. Jeremy paused a minute and asked, "Aelita, what's for lunch today?"

Aelita replied, "Salisbury Steak with mud dressing and mixed vegetables and pears, why?"

He looked at her, "I could have sworn it was something to do with squash?"

Aelita smiled and replied, "For all our urgency, you pick now to fascinate on food? Jeremy, what's going on?"

Jeremy didn't reply at first and, after looking at a point to the east, said, "Our opening is now."

Aelita stopped him before he could set out and gestured, a guard who had just come out of the building. Her eyes grew more severe, but her tone still was cordial, "Jeremy, you knew it was time for shift change. That is why you stalled. What is going here?"

Jeremy looked at her and replied, "Aelita, who's Maya?"

Aelita went past him before looking back, "We don't have time for this. Come on, let's get going and fix the scanners."

Aelita checked her left and right and then walked calmly and patiently towards the park. Jeremy watched her steps and noticed they were different, far more of a prominent heel-toe pattern than he'd seen before. He followed her and replied, "You remember where we're going, right?"

"Of course, the Hermitage, where else?" Aelita asked.

Jeremy nodded, and soon they were in the tree line. They walked along in silence before Jeremy silently put down the laptop bag and let Aelita get ahead before he rushed forward. However, to his shock, Aelita turned swiftly and knocked his supporting right leg from under him, landing him on his back.

Aelita calmly walked over and stood over him, "Are you quite finished?"

Jeremy grabbed her right ankle, but suddenly her left foot slammed down on Jeremy's arm at the wrist, and he screamed in agony as the snap was heard. "Clearly not," Aelita replied as she removed her foot.

Jeremy was in agony, so powerful was the pain. Aelita knelt and said, "There really was no issue with the scanners, was there, proxy-pie?"

Jeremy yelled through his pain; I know who you are! I know—" a brutal kick was felt to Jeremy's face and his nose began to gush blood; his glasses' right lens was entirely cracked in a jig-saw effect.

His hair was pulled back, and Aelita whispered, "You should know better than to try and call for help before going to a primary location."

Aelita took his phone and smashed it before his eyes. Aelita then whispered into his ear, "I regret it came to this, Jeremy, but every game must have its ending. Do you know what they say about secondary locations, Jeremy? Your chances of survival as slim to nil'."

Suddenly a massive whack was felt first to the left, then to the right of Jeremy's head, and Jeremy's ears ringing. He moved as quickly as he could with his legs only to feel a terrific set of shocks of pain come to the right knee from what he knew was the force of a rock used as a hammer. Jeremy screamed, but his face was pushed down into the dirt. He was then taken from under his shoulders and was dragged a good way, and he was amazed by the strength of the pull as well.

Suddenly, the creak of the manhole was heard, and Aelita said, "You won't be very comfortable, but that's not my concern." With a tilt, Jeremy fell into the sewer below, a solid thud was heard, and Jeremy screamed as he attempted to roll over, but in his panic, he fell into the sewage trough.

Aelita watched the pitiful writhing beneath her; she heard Jeremy's struggling scream, "Sylvia, hel—Please hel—" Jeremy could barely stay above water. The immense pain from his knee, in addition to his wrist and head, the hell he was going through was excruciating. Jeremy flung his arm and was able to get hold of the walkway nearby, but just barely.

Jeremy looked up at what could only be the silhouette of the monster in his lover's body standing over him, just out of reach. Her eyes were cold, and she replied, "You should have joined me when you had the chance." With a ruthless four stomps, the fingers in Jeremy's hand were smashed, and his hand kicked into the water. Jeremy thrashed in agony for a few more gruesome moments, but soon, all was still.

After five minutes, Sylvia ascended the latter and sealed the manhole with its lid. Sighing, she headed back to where Jeremy had left his computer, and finding it there, she proceeded to the hermitage.