Code Matriks
Episode 15: Fine Print (Part 2)
By B1ockh3d
Juliet sat back in her chair, watching the television on the wall. The news was on reporting a siege on the WSU campus with reports of sparks and lightning.
An official burst out of an office behind her, "WHY CAN'T ANYONE CONTACT THE AGENTS INSIDE?!"
"There's some sort of interference, sir!"
"Clear it up! This is becoming a PR disaster!"
"What on earth is going on?" She pondered.
The desk phone began ringing, and she immediately picked it up.
"Hello? Is this Juliet?" a voice asked.
"Yes, this is Agent Juliet. Who is calling?"
"Markus Edwards from WSU-"
"Wait, you're on the campus right now?! Are you and... Cooke?"
"Yes, that's me..."
"Are you both safe?!"
"Yes- Listen." Markus breathed, "Is this line secure?"
"All government lines are."
"Good. Listen, there is nothing you or anyone else can do about what's going on here."
"What is going on there?"
"Your agents became possessed by a super computer virus and gained the ability to shoot lightning from their hands." Markus bluntly laid it, "Here's the thing, they're coming for us."
Juliet froze, "...I'm sorry, could you repeat that first part?"
Markus cleared his throat, "The federal agents you guys probably can't contact are... Brainwashed. They don't know what they're doing."
"How do you know this?"
"All will be explained and more, later. But you need to listen to us, because our lives depend on you right now."
"Who's brainwashing our agents?"
"Ugh- Juliet! Listen! They're possessed by a virus! You need to manually deactivate the virus that's controlling them!"
"...Like a... Disease?"
"JULIET! Do you want to save them or not?!" Cooke barked.
"Ahp- yes. How much man-power do we need?"
"You, and ONLY you!"
"Hold on, how do I know you two aren't causing this?"
"Oh, come on! We've been fighting the virus that's taken control of your coworkers! And that's why we're the targets!"
"Tell ya what," Markus negotiated, "You can sit on your rear and do nothing, question later why only Cooke and I were killed, and your agents have no memory of today; or do exactly what we say, and prevent this from happening in the first place."
Juliet raised her eyebrow, "Now, how would you- er, I, prevent this from happening? It's already happened."
Markus sighed, "All will be explained and more, but you need to get out of your headquarters or whatever and get to our lab. Bring a strong magnet and your little RFID cracking thing."
"...And that's all I need to save the world?"
"GO! Call us back when you get there!"
Markus hung up the phone. Juliet stared blankly at the television, still not understanding anything Markus and Cooke just explained.
An overbearing agent tapped her desk twice and shook her from her trance, "Juliet?!"
"Ah- Yes sir?"
"You're still at your desk...?"
She looked around, and saw that the room was cleared out.
"I'm about to head out," she began, "I just got off the phone with our two lab contest winners. They're on the campus."
"...And?"
She stood up and grabbed a backpack, "They did say they had a lead on the situation-"
"Any lead is a good lead right now! Get down there and save them! We're having enough problems as it is with the news saying that it's our people causing the attack! If those two are killed, it'll look like a hit!"
"I'm on it, sir!"
Juliet ran out and got into black SUV, where she sat and recalled the conversation with Cooke and Markus.
"...Magnet, and RFID cracker..."
She opened up her backpack, and saw a laptop and an RFID sensor.
"Magnet... Hm. I'll have to figure something out..."
Juliet started the car, and drove to the duo's lab.
"Ugh... I hope she does something." lazed Cooke, "I don't think she'll have the guts to go in the scanner."
"I bet she'll be so entranced by the quantum computer, she'd do it to learn more." Markus countered.
"Uh, guys," Jeremie echoed, "I think XANA has control over the media now!"
"What?"
"Go look at the news right now! The story's changed!"
Cooke took his phone, and opened up a live news broadcast.
"-a lab raid. It is now reported that the two WSU students are responsible for this attack: A black male, and white male, ages eighteen to twenty, between heights five foot nine to six feet. Their names have yet to be released."
"Diabolical bastard... Making us look like we're some kind of evil villains! This is awful!" Cooke cringed.
"Dude, don't worry. A return to the past will fix this." Markus reminded.
"Only if we get the chance!"
Juliet parked her car outside their lab, right next to several other government vans. She stepped out, and approached the door. When she looked in, she saw the place was entirely empty.
"What on earth...?"
She went back to the vans, peered into the windows, and saw all of their equipment. She opened one up, and found a large microwave magnet sitting in the box. She grabbed it, walked inside, and hit redial on her cell phone.
"Hello?" Markus answered.
"Alright, it seems you two have a grasp of the situation, and I have no leads to go on. I'm at your lab, what do you want me to do?"
Cooke cleared his throat, "Y'know how whenever you crack the safe, there's nothing in it?"
"Yes."
"That's not entirely true... It's a false wall."
"Oh? You've been lying, have you? Fantastic."
"But! You'll understand why when we explain it to you!"
"You bet. You also better hope I don't tell my superiors about it."
"You won't. Listen, put the magnet on the door of the safe, crack it, then, uh... Enter it."
"...Enter it?"
"Stop asking questions! Our lives are at stake here! We'll answer all questions later!"
"Okay, enter your safe. Then?"
"Our buddy Jeremie will assist you from there. You can trust him. Just listen to every instruction he gives you."
"How will-"
"GO!" Cooke hung up.
Juliet tucked her phone away and grabbed her backpack, "Well then..."
She went into the closet — now with its locks drilled out — and moved the mop bucket aside, revealing the RFID pad. She plopped the magnet on the door, pulled out her laptop and cracked the safe open.
The door popped up, she pulled it open the rest of the way, and saw a spiral staircase leading down to a faint light.
"Oh. Enter it."
She descended into the room, and headed down a short hall to a brighter light source. She came upon a massive computer interface, and a huge holographic display.
"...I..."
Juliet was speechless.
"Hello?" A French voice called out.
"He... Hello?"
"Oh! You must be Agent Juliet!"
"And... You must be... Jeremie?"
"Yes!"
"What does your name stand for?"
"Uh... My name?"
"Yeah. Jeremie. J-E-R-E-"
"Oh! I'm not the computer! That's my actual name! I'm a real person!" Jeremie popped a window open on the computer so Juliet could see him.
"...Where are you?"
"France."
"What is this place?"
"Where you are is in the remnants of an abandoned government project called Matriks. And you have been selected by Cooke and Markus to fight XANA alongside us!"
"...Huh?!"
"We don't have a huge amount of time to waste, Aelita and I will explain what you need to do to save Cooke and Markus." Jeremie affirmed, "Then, when this is all over and this day begins again, we'll delve a little deeper into the full picture."
"...D'okay then. What do you need from me?"
"You're going to be sent into a virtual world where monsters want to kill you and you need to deactivate a tower."
"Comparable to... Sword Art Online!" A voice in the background added.
"Odd, not a good example!" A female voice retorted.
"Aaaaand in addition to Aelita, you'll be joined by Odd and Yumi." Jeremie updated.
"...I'm going to be... Sent to a virtual world?"
"Yes! Virtualization!" A pointy-haired blond boy peeked into the frame, "Ooo! Who are you?!"
"Odd, this is Juliet, she's going to deactivate the tower because Cooke and Markus are trapped on their campus."
"Cool! Un de nous! Un de nous! Un de nous!" Odd chanted.
Juliet scratched her head, "I don't understand. Such a thing is impossible!"
"Not unless you have a quantum computer!" Jeremie cracked his knuckles, "Which, you do."
Juliet stepped back and looked at the computer over again, "This... You mean to tell me... This is a quantum computer?!"
"Yes, and we have one just like it."
She ran her fingers through her hair, "This... Is so far beyond me!"
"That's why I'm here!"
She looked back at Jeremie, "...You're a teenager! I'm probably twice your age!"
Yumi pulled the screen towards herself, "Listen, there's a lot of things you don't know. But right now, deactivating the tower is top priority."
"I'm here to help my fellow agents, not... Get... Virtualized?!"
Jeremie pulled the screen back, "How tech-savvy are you?"
"I can code in Python and HTML, but not... This!"
"Yeah, that's not gonna help you..." He stroked his chin, and snapped his fingers, "...Alright. There is another way. Rebooting the computer."
"See?! Far more sensible!" Juliet agreed, "How do I do that?"
"You have to do it manually." Jeremie advised, "There should be a small elevator to your left. Step inside, it'll take you down to the actual computer."
Juliet non-chalontly walked into the scanner, "Alright... Hey, where's the buttons?"
The scanner doors closed.
"What.. Huh?!"
"Transfer, Juliet!"
She rose up into the air, and the scanner flooded with light.
"HELP!"
"Scanner, Juliet!
Wind blew past her face.
"AHHHH-"
"Virtualization!"
Juliet fell onto the icy surface. Her brunette hair was now pulled into a ponytail, and her attire was some sort of black padded body armor and a metal gauntlet on her right hand with a closed eye crying engraved on it.
She dusted herself herself off, "What... Just... Happened?"
"Hi there." A soothing female voice greeted.
Juliet turned around, and saw a pink-haired pixie girl floating above her with pink wings.
"I'm Aelita, you must be Juliet."
"That was not an elevator." She shook her head, "I'm seeing things, this can't be real..."
"It is, and we need Cooke and Markus. You're our only hope for saving them."
"What... Are you?"
"...Could you be more specific?"
"Are you a program? Is this like Tron?"
"I'm a real person who was virtualized here to help you, and Tron is a fair example."
"Okay... So I'm on the grid, and we're both users." Juliet shook her arms out, "Then... I must have a weapon of some sort?"
Aelita shrugged, "The super computer decides your appearance based on your inner conscious desires. Weapons as well."
She patted around her body, and came to some sort of protruding stick in her back. She pulled it out, and drew a short knife.
"So... A short knife?"
Aelita peeked around her, "Uh, keep checking."
She reached back, and pulled out another knife. Then she ran her fingers across her back, and felt eight more.
"...Ten! I have ten knives!"
"You have ten throwing knives." Aelita deduced.
She put her two wielded knives away, "Okay, now what?"
Aelita rolled her eyes, "Follow me."
Yumi and Odd caught up to Aelita and Juliet.
"Wow! You're one awesome looking babe!" Odd flirted.
"I'm twice your age, kiddo!" Juliet reminded.
Odd froze, "O-oh."
"She also works for the US government." Jeremie chimed overhead.
"Then I guess we better not screw around, Odd." Yumi inferred.
"I think I'm starting to warm up to this..." Juliet commented, "I still have a hard time believing I'm inside a quantum computer."
"Once again, we'll give you the whole story as soon as the tower is deactivated and the day starts over." Jeremie promised.
"So if you screwed anything up between when you woke up and now, you can fix it!" Odd daftly teased.
"That's my number one question, the whole... Day restart... Thing." Juliet shook her head, "Let's just get this over with. Where's the tower thing?"
Aelita turned around, and pointed at a black monolith surrounded with red smoke a few hundred meters away.
"Oh. Okay. That's easy."
"There's monsters there, they just haven't shown themselves yet." Yumi cautioned.
"Yeah... Scratch that, my number one question is monsters?"
"You see, you're here on Matriks right now to save Cooke and Markus from being killed by a super virus we call XANA!" Odd summed, "And XANA has lots of monsters to fight us with!"
Juliet slumped back, "Pfft. A super virus?"
"We're being serious."
"I bet! I'm in a video game for crissakes, I'm not saying I'm doubting you!" Juliet breathed, "But only a super virus? I've faced worse in Afghanistan."
"Keep in mind, this is the same virus that currently has your coworkers under mind control, and is shooting lightning from their hands." Jeremie bluntly laid, "I don't know what you faced in Afghanistan but XANA can and nearly has taken over the world! And I'll elaborate after the mission!"
"Fine, fine. Let's fight this thing then!"
She ran headlong down the path with the others in tow, and two large metallic orbs rolled out side by side. They split open, revealing a fleshy inside with an eye.
"Megatanks!" Aelita warned.
"What-"
Two beams shot out from each Megatank down towards Juliet, who was saved last-moment by Aelita swooping in and picking her up.
"-WOAH!"
"You should know better than to run into unknown and dangerous situations!" Aelita scolded, and set her back down.
"What are those things?!"
"Megatanks." Odd answered non-chalontly, "They're large, orb-y things that shoot lasers. Now watch how professionals take them down!"
Odd, now mounted on his Overboard, boosted ahead followed by Yumi on the Overwing. Yumi threw her fans down, only to have them both deflected by the metal shells protecting the Megatanks. Odd laid down a barrage of laser arrows, successfully hitting and destroying one while it was distracted by Yumi's fans. The remaining Megatank opened back up, charged and took aim at Odd flying about, only to be obliterated by an energy field orb by Aelita.
"Oh... My... You guys really don't mess around." Juliet stared in awe.
"Jeremie, how's Cooke and Markus?"
"I'll check in with them."
Cooke and Markus backed away from the door, which was now brimming with electricity.
XANA found them!
Cooke's phone rang, and he picked it up, "Yeah?"
"How are you guys doing?"
"Not well. XANA found us but hasn't gotten through the door... Yet!"
"Hang in there! Brace the door! Juliet is on Matriks, and they're heading for the tower!"
"Oh, really? They're almost there?"
"Ye- Nope! Three Tarantulas moving in!"
"Wonderful... Keep us posted." Cooke hung up.
"What's going on?" Markus asked.
"Juliet's on Matriks, and they're about to take on three Tarantulas. Then hopefully this will be over!"
"So, what should we do?"
Cooke looked around the room, "...We need to get that cabinet in front of the door."
"Uhh... I can't see without my glasses."
Cooke grabbed Markus' hands, brought him over to the cabinet, and pointed his body towards the door, "Push THAT way!"
Markus nodded. Cooke ran around to the other side and the two pushed the cabinet in front of the door.
"...I hope Juliet can pull through."
"AHHHHH!" Juliet screamed as she fled from the flurry of laser blasts breezing past her ears.
Odd jumped in behind her, and held up his shield, "C'mon! They're only Tarantulas!"
"Can't someone ELSE deactivate that thing?!"
"Do you think you'd be here if we could?" Aelita quipped.
"I don't know how this crazy world works!"
Yumi landed a kill on one of the Tarantulas, right as Odd's shield broke and blasted him back, devirtualizing him.
"Oh my god! Is he dead?!"
"Devirtualized." Jeremie assured, "He's back here on earth with me."
With the other Tarantulas targeting Yumi, Aelita took this time to land next to Juliet and grabbed her arm, "Juliet! Calm down!"
"I don't want to die!"
"You won't! You'll devirtualize- did you not just hear Jeremie?!"
"Then can I get out of here?!"
"You need to DEACTIVATE THE TOWER!"
Unfortunately, their time ran out. A Tarantula nailed a shot on the Overwing, causing Yumi to jump off and land next to the two.
"Yumi, one shot and you're done!" Jeremie warned.
"Good to know." Yumi acknowledged, dusting herself off.
Aelita turned Juliet towards her, "Look, it's about to be you and me versus them. You need to fight. There's a reason the super computer gave you a metal gauntlet and throwing knives."
"I... Have hand-to-hand combat training from my time in the military?"
"Ah!-" Yumi was hit, and devirtualized.
Aelita formed an energy field, "Throw those knives then!"
Juliet drew a knife, and threw it right at the giant XANA symbol.
It was blasted right out of the air by a shot from a Tarantula.
"Dangit! They can see it coming!"
"They aren't that smart! Throw two knives!" an irritated Aelita instructed, and flew up into the air.
Juliet drew a knife in each hand, threw one, then the other.
The Tarantula dodged the first one, but the second hit right above the XANA symbol.
"I did it!"
"Now do it again, but hit the center of the target!" Aelita shot off two energy fields, and destroyed the Tarantula, "Or... On the last one!"
Juliet confidently drew two more knives, but it wasn't quick enough. The Tarantula started firing a barrage of lasers, aimed straight at her head. She threw up her hands and jumped sideways, closed her eyes and braced.
To her surprise, the Tarantula stopped firing and looked side to side instead. Aelita flew out from under the path where she hid during the rapid fire, "...Juliet? Are you still there?!"
Juliet opened her eyes and waved, "I'm right her- WHAT THE?!"
Her hands were translucent. As were her arms, legs, and the rest of her body. She could roughly see an outline of herself, but she was more distracted by the fact she could see Aelita through her own hand.
"Ah! There you are!" Aelita sighed in relief, "Hey... You have cloaking!"
"How do I turn it off?!"
"How did you turn it on?"
Juliet stroked her chin, "Well... The thing was firing at me, I threw up my hands-"
As she motioned with her hands, she looked at the gauntlet. The engraved closed crying eye was now open, and glowing blue.
"-and I think I just figured it out." She touched the eye, and she returned to being visible, and the eye returned to being closed.
The Tarantula caught sight of Juliet, and began firing again.
"QUICK! Do it again! It'll never see it coming!" Aelita advised.
Juliet touched the engraved eye on her gauntlet, and returned to being invisible. She drew a single knife, and threw it right at the center of the XANA symbol.
...Bullseye.
The Tarantula exploded, and she deactivated cloaking, "...Well... Now what?"
Aelita pointed to the tower, "The path is all clear! Also, to enter the tower, you have to will yourself in there!"
"...I think I understand." Juliet nodded, and headed towards the tower.
Sparks were flying from the cabinet blocking the door, it was only a minute away from bursting open.
Cooke tried the door leading from the recording room they were in to the control center, but the door was locked by key.
"Oh great!" Cooke slammed his fists against the door, "We are so dead!"
"Don't freak out, man! Have a little faith!" Markus soothed.
"In what, exactly?! Juliet?! Our Lyoko pals?!"
"I currently can't see and you don't see me panicking, do you?"
"Maybe you should be! Fear is the instinct that keeps us human and alive!"
"People fear what they don't understand."
"Oh come on! Like that hasn't been said in literally every cartoon ever made!"
Right then, Cooke's phone buzzed, and displayed a message on the screen.
"Eh?"
"What is it, Cooke?"
Cooke picked up his phone, "It's a message... It says "RTTP"... What does that mean?"
Markus didn't say anything, he just chuckled as he was enveloped in a bright white light.
Cooke threw off his sheets, and looked around the room.
Everything was intact!
He checked the time, 7 AM? Right on cue for his alarm to go off!
"Told you to have a little faith!"
Cooke turned off his alarm, "Man... Juliet is going to have a lot of questions for us!"
Markus jumped down from his bed and put on his glasses, "Ah! I can see!"
"Y'know, return trips would be an excellent way to save on medical bills. If you break an arm, just jump back to before it happened!"
Markus wiped his glasses, "Hey, now we have time to prepare for the lab raid!"
"But we have to go to class!"
"We've already taken it!"
"...Fair point."
They both scrambled to get dressed and ran out the door.
They ran down to their lab, where there were no black SUVs!
Markus unlocked the door, to a smug agent Juliet.
"Oh, hi." Cooke shrugged.
"Alright, start talking." She demanded.
"...About?" Markus queried
"Don't play dumb. Talk about that virtual world thing you have lying under our feet."
"Huh?" Cooke tapped the ground with his foot, "The floor isn't virtual, it's concrete."
"Oh, really? I suppose you don't remember being saved by me, either?"
Markus shot a bewildered look at Cooke, "Saved? When?"
"You guys are really bad liars. It's not even remotely funny." Juliet scoffed, "Going back in time to the morning? Before my agents were brainwashed and both of you were in trouble."
Cooke laughed, "Juliet, we make robots. Not virtual time machine things, or whatever."
Juliet shrugged, and got up, "Alright, if you're gonna play it like this, I'm going to head to work and give special instructions to the raid that apparently happened without my approval."
"Alright, you don't want to do that." Markus cracked.
"Ohhhh now you remember!"
"Yeah... Oh, right! Matriks! I forgot about that thing. The thing that literally could be the end of mankind." Cooke jestly laughed, "How could I forget?"
"Top," Juliet raised her hand, and dropped it, "To bottom. Start talking. Or I'll ensure that thing gets shut down."
"I agree, Cooke!" Markus patted Cooke on the back, and grabbed a bin full of hard drives, "Tell the whole- ENTIRE story!"
Cooke smirked, "Well... I guess I'm playing storyteller."
Juliet folded her arms, "Yes."
"Alright... Remember that scholarship contest we won?"
"Absolutely."
"Yeah... That's where our lives turned upside down. Lemme tell ya what happened after we got the keys..."
Juliet nodded, impressed. "Remind me, if XANA is so dangerous, why can't you shut your computer down?"
"Because, like I said, the cooling for the nuclear batteries are directly linked to the power state of the computer. It'll go into meltdown mode, and become an A bomb." Cooke sighed, "And the threat doesn't stop if we shut down our computer-"
"Shut down that other computer then? The crazy warriors or whatever?"
"...No. If both we and the Lyoko warriors shut down our computers, XANA is still well and alive on the other super computer. The one we have no control over."
"Have you told that person about XANA?"
"Oh my god... Did you not hear the part where I was kidnapped by that guy?!"
"Right, right. He doesn't care..." Juliet stroked her chin, "...I think the best option for you guys is to turn over the computer to the FBI and we'll find a solution."
Cooke raised an eyebrow, "Define "solution," why don't you?"
"Shutting down this comp-"
"When will you start listening to me? You can't shut it down!"
"We'll find a way, for the sake of national security."
Cooke laid his hand on his face, "You see? This is why we never went to you in the first place..."
"It's better for our country and-"
Cooke got up, grabbed Juliet by the shoulders and shook her.
"STOP THINKING LIKE A FEDERAL AGENT!" He took a breath, "This is real apocalyptic stuff! Handing it over would be like handing over a land mine with a boot still on it!"
She stepped back, "Alright then, what do you propose?"
"Obviously we keep fighting the very thing that wants to kill us!"
Knock knock!
"FBI, is there anyone in here?" An agent imposed.
"Agent Juliet Michaelson, FBI. Come inside."
Several agents flowed in with large bins, and began placing Cooke and Markus' equipment inside of them.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
In through the doors came a familiar agent holding a packet of papers, "Your lab has been-"
"Civil Forfeiture, and you're Agent Cassinov!" Markus finished, "What great timing, I just organized, packed, and labeled all of our stuff in bins!"
Cassinov eyed Markus, "...Excellent timing. And correct you are, how did you know who I am and what we're doing?"
"I've heard quite a bit about you, we'll leave it at that." Markus motioned Cooke towards a box, "C'mon, let's not waste his time."
"Uhh... So, this is happening. Okay." Cooke shrugged, and went to work.
Juliet looked at Cassinov, then back at the boys. Then at at the closet.
"...Sir."
"Yes, Agent Juliet?"
"I have a formal protest to make against this particular warrant."
"Denied."
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
The agent rolled his eyes, "First amendment rules."
"These kids aren't doing anything interesting or dangerous. We'd save ourselves a whole lot of time by just not doing menial raids such as this."
He winked, "You'll understand the purpose of this raid when you get promoted."
Markus came up to Cassinov with the box full of hard drives, "Sir, if it's not too hard, can we make a request?"
"You can make one, doesn't mean we'll accept it."
Markus shrugged, "Good enough answer. We'll give you this box full of all our information, research, blueprints, prototype designs and tests as well as our physical prototypes; as long we keep all of our tools and bins of scrap materials?"
The agent pondered, "...No."
"Well, okay, what if Agent Juliet here became our daily inspector? We'll also hand over any future devices we build."
"What?! We will?!"
"Shush!"
The agent contemplated the deal, and stroked his chin, "...Alright. And your patents will be ceased as well."
"We understand."
"We do?!"
"Shush up, Cooke!"
Another agent took the box from Markus, and a few more took out the rest of the prototypes.
"Keep it safe, kids." Cassinov coyly waved.
Markus watched as the vans left, and turned to a very frazzled Cooke.
"What the frill, man?!"
"I don't recall that we did Civil Forfeiture calls." Juliet puzzled.
"You don't. It's pretty clear this contest was an effort to find the best unknown tech developers and steal their ideas for government use. It's a cheap tactic, in more ways than one." Markus elaborated, "And all the stuff I just willingly handed over doesn't work."
"...Oh."
"That's an arrestable offense to knowingly produce and distribute faulty devices." Juliet warned.
"Alright, arrest me. But keep in mind, you guys should only be ceasing our technology, not illegally utilizing it!"
"And we avoid the courtroom if we have that card in our hand, well played!" Cooke laughed.
Juliet nodded, impressed, "I don't think it would quite work that way, but I'll let you believe that. What's next?"
Cooke looked at a clock on the wall, "Breakfast. That's next!"
Author's Note: Hey! Probably weird I put this at the end of the chapter, I know. But I wanted people to enjoy the non-stop transition between the last chapter and this one. Anyways! I've started school back up, and I should mention I'm a college student taking college level classes, it's kind of hard for me to balance this and my classes, especially this semester. This semester, I'm taking an English course and it's a bit mentally demanding, and kind of drains any motivation I have for writing to begin with. I'm not stopping these chapters by any means, I'm putting myself through it because I want- no, need to finish this story. I don't want this to be another story I just kinda leave floating in the wind, especially since I put over 60k words into it(!) But, this does mean I have to abandon my biweekly schedule, not that I followed it much to begin with. I am going to make an effort to put one chapter out a month. So, assume each chapter will be out at the end of the month if you want to know my new schedule. I have to give myself some sort of deadline or I'll never get a chapter done.
Buuuuut! Reviews do give me drive and motivation hinthintwinkwink! The more in-depth and somewhat ego-stroking, the better! How are you guys doing, by the way? I hope you're all doing well!