Code Matriks

Episode 17: Sector Two

By B1ockh3d

Author's Note: So, sorry I'm late! I had a large english paper I was doing, as well as some personal issues I had to handle privately (it's all resolved now.) But! I owe you all a chapter! And here it is! Now that I'm getting off for the summer, the school stress has been alleviated and I'll have a little more time to work on the story! I have the next few big events planned in the story, but I don't want to dive headfirst into them just yet.

I have a little fair warning though, my creativity pool is starting to run dry, which is partially why this chapter is shorter than usual. So, if anyone out there has ideas they think would be cool, feel free to suggest them! I'll credit you properly should I use that idea. Also, I would like some feedback on a chapter idea in advance: I want to make a Lyoko warrior centric chapter, where Markus, Cooke, and Juliet take a backseat to the original Lyoko Warriors we all know and love. They don't appear enough in my story, and I'd like to fix that. Any feedback helps!

Read on (finally)!

Markus frustratingly tapped away at his laptop in his bed.

"Buddy, you've been at this for several days now." Cooke commented from the bed below him, "You can't recode something that doesn't technically exist."

"It existed, and it worked. Therefore, you're wrong."

"I was talking about you specifically. You are better than me at programming, but I know for a fact you don't have the technical prowess required to make that machine run!"

"And I learn more everyday!" Markus snapped, then drew himself back in, "Look, we've got two super viruses on the loose and we can't just sit idly by and pray we get the software restored."

"Jeremie, Aelita, and the rest of those guys seemed to do fine on their own before we came along. Maybe you shouldn't stress out over it?"

"Oh? How are you so calm?"

"It's Franz. I know it." Cooke peered up from below, "And since it's Franz, he knows as well as we do how badly we need to go back. And all the functionality will come back too!"

"You're putting an awful lot of faith into a ghost."

Cooke sighed, "Look, he was digital-based in Lyoko, right?"

"Obviously. Like you are every time you go to Matriks."

"Precisely! What do we do with all of our important digital files?"

"...Back them up."

Cooke smiled, "Wouldn't a super genius back himself up?"

"Except, one thing," Markus panned, "Storage."

"What about it?"

"Franz would need a physical place to store himself. The human brain and all it's functions are about two-and-a-half pentabytes, on top of the billions of other bytes of data needed to keep him stable, so he obviously can't put himself on a flash drive."

"Yeah, true... However, a super computer could do it." Cooke hinted.

"Cooke... He's not on our super computer! I've checked the storage, it's all Matriks. I would've noticed a section of the hard drive that large being used!"

"Why are you so adamant that Franz is dead? You're not even entertaining the idea that he's alive!"

"Because if Franz was alive, he'd be helping us destroy XANA!"

"How do you know he hasn't been helping?"

"Let's see! We can't use our scanner, all of our towers are activated, Tyron is still brick walling us, oh, and XANA IS STILL ALIVE!" Markus stressed, "If that's help, it sure is an annoying way of going about it!"

"Jeez, man! He's not a miracle worker!"

"Which is exactly why I'm trying to replace and repair all the damage done! Because I don't expect Franz to just swoop in and fix everything!"

Cooke bit his tongue, "...He'll pull through. I know it."

Juliet poured herself a cup of coffee in the break room.

Another agent peeked over his newspaper, "...Black? You could kill a man!"

"That's my intention." She grinned while taking a sip, "Nothing else quite like it. I'm just glad it's not rationed!"

The paper-bearing agent laughed, and went back to his reading. Juliet took her coffee and carefully made her way back to her desk...

...Only to pass a door with a small window, and catching a glimpse of agent Cassinov.

She backed up, and peered through the window. She saw Cassinov, a nerd-looking guy behind a laptop, and one of the bins from Markus' and Cooke's lab. She looked down at the room name, Research and Development.

She swiped her badge and opened the door, "Gentlemen."

"You're not authorized to be here!" Agent Cassinov barked.

"And you two aren't authorized to be taking civilly forfeited property and... Doing what exactly?" She entered the room, and saw their graphene battery prototype on the table hooked up to a breadboard, "Testing it?"

"It's none of your concern."

"I'm just doing what he tells me." The nerdy guy disavowed.

"You can't be doing this, if those two kids find out what you've been doing with their stuff, they can win their civil case, claim damages, and make us all look bad!"

"And how exactly are they going to find out? Unless... Someone tells them?"

"One might testify on their behalf."

Cassinov laughed, "Juliet, you are just a desk jockey and you won't understand our work until you become a field agent. But let me give you a piece of advice, stop getting invested into those kids! They don't know you, they don't like you, they're annoyed by the fact you have to check their lab every single day. You have to stop treating those kids as kids, and treat them as... Government assets."

"...Are you serious?"

"That's how they think they're being treated, and that's how they should be treated."

"They aren't working for us."

"Look, I know your motherly instincts tell you to coddle and cater-"

"Ex-CUSE me?!"

"-but! Never make emotional ties with them! Because after a few more months, when we get our lab back, they will never see you ever again."

Juliet furiously shook her head, and stormed out of the room.

"You know it's true!"

"Quite the opposite, actually." Markus promised, "We're quite fond of you."

"Even Cooke?" Juliet asked, pulling up a chair next to Markus behind the super computer mainframe.

"Yeah, he just doesn't want to admit it."

Juliet chuckled, "Yeah..."

"I think Cassinov is gonna cause real trouble for us, but only if he ever steps foot in our lab again."

"I'll look into it. Right now, he does have authority over government owned property- well, everyone who works in our precinct does, but I'll see if I can be classified as a probationary agent for this lab."

"So... We're on probation?"

"It'll make everything regarding you two and this lab having to go through me first. Any operations, inspections, even questions."

Markus nodded, "Sounds like a good idea."

"Yeah. And if all goes well, I'll be spending more time here and less time around him!" Juliet smiled, and looked up at the giant screen, "So, what are you up to today?"

"Well... Cliff notes or Shakespeare?"

"I... Don't understand?"

"Cliff notes then, I'm making "drivers" for the scanner, in an attempt to recode their protocols. Right now, I'm gathering the information on your guys' genetic sequences from the scanners for the drivers."

"...And... Then they'll work?"

"Sort of. Theoretically, they'll work for you and Cooke, but because I've never been fully transferred, I'll never be setting foot on Matriks. Not that I ever really wanted to..."

"And I guess we're no longer recruiting?"

"Pfff! I had to twist Cooke's arm to recruit you. Believe me, he won't let me do it again!"

"Well... I suppose as long as we have reliable backup, we'll be fine then."

"Aelita, Jeremie and their gang? Yeah, they're seasoned veterans."

Suddenly, the supercomputer froze up.

"Uh, is that supposed to happen?"

Markus furiously slammed buttons on the keyboard with no avail, "Nnnnope! What just happened?!"

"Can these mega super duper computers even freeze?"

"Apparently! I mean, computers aren't infallible, but, this shouldn't happen!"

And just as suddenly, the computer unfroze, but with several windows open scrolling through data.

"Oh, now what?" Markus tried to close one, but was locked out, "...Uh-oh."

"Ohhh no uh-oh!" Juliet warned.

"We're receiving random data packets that I can't understand, I think someone's breaching into our supercomputer!"

"Clean them out! Stop them!"

"I'm trying!" Markus panicked, "...Wait a second!"

"No waiting! Just do!"

"No, no, look!" Markus pointed at a non-sensible window open, "If this is a virus, it's several hundred pentabytes large!"

"Where could something that large come from?"

"Well, my immediate concern would be data miners, but this computer shouldn't be accessible from anywhere other than maybe the Lyoko computer." Markus organized the screens, "But, what doesn't make sense is all this data!"

"Well, you have been staring at it for only a minute."

"Typically I can decipher what a code is supposed to be for by just glancing at a few random sections, but there's no consistency. Either this is random junk, or a very elaborate hacking job."

A small progress bar filled up in a window below, and all the windows closed.

"So... Huh. That was weird."

The screen then went dark, and the holographic map shut off as well.

"Uhh... Oh, crap! The computer just shut itself off!" Markus panicked, "Not good! NOT GOOD!"

"I-is this thing about to go nuclear?!"

"IT MIGHT!" Markus furiously scrambled out of his chair and dashed for the stairs.

Right as he left, the monitor made a very distinct clicking noise and the computer whirred back to life.

Markus whipped his head around, "WHAT EVEN?!"

The screen booted up like normal, and the holomap materialized.

He slumped back into his chair, and stared at the computer in complete awe, "What... Just... Happened...?"

"Should we call Cooke or your French friends?"

"I have absolutely no idea what I'd tell them, I need to figure out what happened in the first place!" Markus shrieked, "ALL THE TOWERS ARE DEACTIVATED!"

"Excellent!" Juliet celebrated, then calmed back down, "Uh, do we have our scanners back?"

Markus opened another window, and stared at a block of text, "...Holy- We do!"

"Do... Do we have everything back?!"

Markus opened another window, "...Oh my god, I think I know what happened. But- no!"

"I don't play twenty questions, what do you think it is?!"

"I think it... Updated! But that's not possible!"

"HAH!" Cooke slammed his soft drink on the table, "I told you it was Franz!"

"We don't know what or who did this, it could've been a hacker installing a back door for all we know!" Markus refuted.

"But think about it! The timing is perfect. We unlock the inner functions of Matriks, allowing Franz to lock us out of the computer, update it to help us, deactivated all the towers, then he returned control back to us!"

"There's no new programs or significant code-"

"I thought you said it was several hundred pentabytes?"

"It is-"

"And you can't find anything new?!"

"Several hundred pentabytes is a lot to sift through! Most the stuff I have sifted through is junk! There is no cohesive or consistent pattern to the code I've come across!"

Cooke took a bite out of his burrito, and pondered for a minute, "...So, bloatware?"

"As far as I can tell."

"Well, someone gave it updated software. And I don't believe it's Microsoft with another daily update on Windows Ten: Quantum Computer Edition."

"Alright, who - aside from a dead person - could and would do it?"

"Anonymous?"

Markus shot a dejected glare at Cooke, "Really? They just tore through our firewall without us noticing? And for what good?"

"It's a government computer-"

"Yeah, a LOST government computer."

"Then the government wouldn't know it was hacked, would they?"

Markus shrugged, "Fair point."

"...Ooo! The scanners work now, right?!" Cooke gleamed.

"Yeah."

"Let's go explore the new sectors!"

Cooke landed on the surface of the ice sector, right next to the tunnel to the passage tower.

"Aww, you couldn't just drop me into whatever sector Juliet went to?"

"Not yet. Next time!"

"The suspense is killing me-" Cooke spun around, "-Uh, are there any monsters around?"

Markus glanced over at one of the other monitors, "None that I can see."

"...Keep me posted about any weird blips."

"Afraid of an ambush?"

"Amongst other things."

Cooke cautiously entered the passage tower, and jumped into the abyss of blackness, and popped up in a new tower.

"Where am I?"

Markus pinpointed his location on the holomap, "Uhh... Sector... Two. I guess."

"So, no mountain, desert, or forest?"

"Doesn't look like it."

Cooke rolled his eyes and exited the tower.

Outside, the world was a brilliant green with Quartz-like rocks making the scenery, with mountainsides pulsating small green lights underneath its surface, and pathways made of smooth black stones.

"It's green. A rather overwhelming amount of green." Cooke remarked.

"...Says the guy who buys pink tools."

"Hey! I'd like to point out that I've never lost a pink tool ever since I started buying them! Nobody steals them, and everyone knows they're mine!"

"Alright Pink Panther, whatever you say. Just don't make a mistake and add Aelita to your collection!"

"Oh, shut it you."

Cooke kept following the black-slated path down to a sharp drop to a steep hill into the digital sea.

"So, still nothing interesting." Cooke updated, "Can you send me a vehicle?"

"I'll send ya the Overwing." Markus responded, spawning the Overwing right in front of Cooke.

Cooke hopped on, "Y'know, I'm kinda surprised at how this is turning out."

"...Explain?"

"No JAER attacking, no XANA trying to gain control of our computer, no anything. It's quiet."

"Dude, quit being so paranoid. I've got your back."

Cooke flew up to a higher vantage point and looked around, "This is such a weird place? I wonder what the other six sectors are like- what sector did Juliet go into?"

"I don't kn-" Markus was cut off by an alert from the computer, "-ohhhh!"

"What? What's ohhhh?!"

"You got seven targets in a V pattern heading your way!"

Cooke drew his short sword and readied, "How far away?!"

"You should be seeing them!"

Cooke spun around in a circle, but saw nothing, "Are you sure?!"

"Yeah! They're right on top of you!"

Cooke looked up, and saw nothing but sky, "Nothing."

"Then... You're on top of them?"

Cooke peered down the side of the Overwing, and saw seven moving creatures that looked like birds flying low to the ground, "I've got em!"

"This is strange, they don't have the same kind of marker as a monster would."

"I'm flying in for a closer look." Cooke informed. He brought down the Overwing behind the flying V, "...Holy, you aren't gonna believe this."

"What is it?"

"Geese! Like, honest to god geese! They look just like they do on earth!"

"A regular animal?!"

"Yeah! In a Quartz-y wonderland!"

"What are geese doing here?!"

Cooke circled them and got a closer inspection, "They're... All unique! All of them have different feather designs."

Markus leaned back in his chair, "I don't understand how or why this is..."

"Are there any other signals on the screen?"

"...Nnno." Markus looked over at the holomap, "...Can you find the Way tower?"

"Which way to the beginning of the sector?"

"Northwest of your current position."

Juliet logged back into her workstation, only to be approached by agent Cassinov.

"Juliet." He requested, "What happened at your inspection?"

She raised an eyebrow, "I... Inspected? I don't understand your question."

"Tell us about your two kids."

"They're currently not doing anything. They're trying to recoup their losses to keep working."

Cassinov lightly chuckled, "Oh, Juliet. You're so blind. They're smart, which is why they have that cozy lab space. They know if you see any of their new work, it'll be repossessed."

"I highly doubt that." She rolled her eyes, "And you're right, they are smart, so why did you steal from them? They can connect the dots."

"Except we didn't steal. Civil forfeiture la-"

"I thought you repossessed their belongings?"

"What difference does it make?"

"We've been over this, if those "dumb kids" figure out you went through the wrong channels to obtain their equipment-"

"-they'll have to go through our appointed judge to get it back! And they won't take it that far. They can't, or they'll lose a lot more than just some equipment."

Juliet gritted her teeth, "Why did you come over here?"

"Oh, well, I'm relieving you of your inspection duties and appointing one of my agents effective immediately."

Juliet sunk, "Any particular reason why?"

"Aside from your obvious obliviousness, it's above your pay grade."

"Really now? Inspecting is above my pay grade?"

"You wouldn't understand. Don't do anything rash."

Cooke logged into the floating digital console, "Alright, what am I looking for?"

"Literally anything pertaining to this sector." Markus narrowed, "Also, any new information that may have been added with this massive update."

"Right, so... Everything?"

Markus sighed, "Just... Open a channel and I'll take it over."

Cooke routed the controls over to Markus and sat down, "How long will it take?"

"It takes as long as we need it to."

"Oh, lovely."

"But, with the channel open, I can bring you in, if you want."

"Please!"

Cooke stepped out of the scanner, and hobbled over to Markus, "What's the dealio?"

"...Garbage! Just! More! GARBAGE!" Markus raged, "I don't get it!"

"That's all you're getting from the tower?"

"So far! This computer update has just turned everything that might be useful into random data packs!"

Cooke stroked his chin, "...No. They aren't all random."

"You haven't even seen the data!"

"The consistent pattern is inconsistency! Clearly they're encrypted, we just need to find the key!"

"That's convol-" Markus paused, "...Actually, that's not a bad theory."

"So, we'll collect more data packets, find the key, and unlock them!"

"Yeah, only a few more days before we have enough resources to start, though..."

Cooke huffed, "Days?! Isn't this a super computer?!"

"You know as well as I do there's thousands of terabytes of data to comb and it takes time!"

"Great, just another thing to add to our growing list of forgotten plot points."

"Wh... What do you even mean by that, Cooke?"

"We've had those documents Kraig gave to us that we haven't even looked at! And whatever Anthea put on that flash drive!"

"First of all, I did look through those files, and found nothing we didn't already know. Secondly, it's none of our business what was on that flash drive!"

"But it's clearly important!"

"Not to us!"

Cooke's phone rang, it was Juliet, "Hello?"

"Guys, clean up your lab for inspection, because Cassinov and his men took over my duties!"

"Oh, come on- Now?"

"Yes! They're trying to surprise you by coming over immediately, so be prepared for it!"

"Cooke and I are on it. Keep calm, we don't have too much out to clean up."

"And keep that thing sealed!"

"Of course." Cooke hung up the phone, "Well, I guess we better hurry!"

From behind a curtain, Cassinov watched Juliet leave the restroom and return to her desk swiftly, keeping absolutely emotionless.

"Did you get all that?" Cassinov whispered over his tech expert.

He removed his headphones, "Yeah, she's definitely informing the kids of our moves. And they're doing something big."

Cassinov pulled out his phone and made a call, "...Hey, Earl, come on back. The inspection is pointless now. You won't find anything."

"You sure?"

"We have everything we need already."