A/N: In case there is any confusion, "Larrita" is pronounced "La-Rita" and Bergita is "Ber-Gita". They rime. It's a hard 'G'. If you've ever seen The Sound of Music, you'll know how it's pronounced. "McMorrigaul" is "Mac-More-Rih-Gaul". The I sound is the short I sound, like in "it".
Unnecessary Disclaimer: Now people, you all seem intelligent to KNOW I don't own anything to do with The Fifth Element.
The revenge of the A/N: If you want to rip off any original characters, have a field day. I'd like you to please notify me first, though. I like to brag to my friends.
The Return of the A/N: If you want to rip off the story or anything, have at it. Please notify me, though. I really DO love to brag to my friends.
The A/N That wouldn't die: If you want to archive the story, go ahead. I'd appreciate being notified, though… I really, REALLY love bragging to my friends and on my websites.
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It was afternoon the next day and the kids were in school. Angelo and Isis were sound asleep in their cribs. Korben had the day off for some reason. His boss had shown up at Korben's office and said that since things were going slow that day, you just head home. After the whole thing with Leeloo and saving the world, Korben didn't go back to the Cabby Company he had been fired from, even though they asked him to come back. They Cab company had been all right while he was providing for just himself, but when he got a family to work for, he had to get a better Job. Finger had also been fired. Unofficially, the president was able to put them both in some company positions in businesses.
Korben and Leeloo were relaxing when a knock at the door rudely interrupted them.
"I'll get it," Korben said, getting out of his chair. He walked out of the living room and towards the front door. When he opened it, he was in for somewhat of a shock, and not an all to pleasant one.
Three people, Two men and a woman, stood on the other side of the door, and they all looked like hell.
The girl looked to be in her early to mid-20's, but also looked like she was drug through hell backwards and beaten six ways to Sunday. Her dark hair was a mess. It was frizzy, unruly, pretty greasy, indicating that it hadn't been washed in a considerable amount of time, knotted and at least three inches of it was dead split ends. Her clothes were dirty and looked like she had slept in them for several consecutive nights. Her dark green eyes were blood shot and had dark circles under them. Korben couldn't tell if her skin color was dark from tan or grime. Her skin could very well have been that color naturally, as the girl looked to be a mix of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, And European/Celtic decent. He still thought that the layers of dirt that probably covered her had something to do with it. She looked like she'd been in tattoo fights. Her arms, particularly her shoulders were covered with tattoos. Almost to the point of absurdity. On both shoulders was a sort of uniform tattoo that they all seemed to have. It was strange and intricate; Korben had never seen anything like it before. Oh no, groaned Korben inwardly, PLEASE, don't let them be a cult of some sort here to recruit us or fund raise. The girl had strange circular tattoos that were two tones with a diamond in them, a strange triangular one on the top of her wrist with an Egyptian looking eye, two black figures and a sun or something at the top of the pyramid. Near the joint where her thumb connected to her hand was an Egyptian looking eye as well. She looked like she had been written on in several different languages. Her black leather boots were scuffed and all but falling apart, her black pants were thread bare at the knees and just as dirty as the boots were. Her shirt was sleeveless. It appeared to have sleeves at one time, it looked as if any sleeves ripped off and the cloth around the shoulders was tattered… much like her shoulders. Her shoulders were scuffed, bruised and scarred, as were the rest of her arms. The shirt was a light blue color, or at least it once might have been. Now it seemed grey. It was long and an equally tattered green, blue and red plaid scarf served as a belt. She wore several pieces of jewelry, all seeming to be Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Italian or Celtic in design. The girl smelled very heavily of alcohol, and she was also short. A beaten cheap imitation velvet satchel was tied to the scarf belt, and it seemed to be holding something. The three looked like they had no cash at all, so it probably held what small amount of money they had, Korben reasoned. The thought struck him that the bag could have contained a flask of Booze, with as heavily as the girl smelled of it.
The two boys were slightly better looking. One seemed to be a mix of Oriental, Middle Eastern and Hispanic decent, while the other was clearly of African. They booth looked grimy, much like the girl, but their eyes were not blood shot. The Hispanic looking boy had greasy black hair, and wore all black. The dark colors didn't save his clothes from looking like they had been though the scum of the earth, however. His clothes were in almost as bad shape as the girl's. He also looked as if he had slept in them. His skin was very dark, but Korben couldn't tell if it was his ethnicity or the dirt on him. He smelled of cheap after-shave, as if he was trying to cover the fact that he probably hadn't touched water in a long time. At least he didn't smell of alcohol. His boots were scuffed but in pretty good condition. Korben thought that this was probably because they were combat boots. He looked to have some muscle, but not much.
The black boy was probably the best out of the three. His hair looked nappy, but at least not as greasy as the other two's. His clothes were worn, but not like he'd slept in them. He wore combat boots, like the Hispanic guy, and worn, grimy khakis and a black sleeveless shirt. He looked to be older than the other two, in his mid twenties to early thirties. There seemed to be some bags behind them or something, but the terrible trio obscured his view. The two boys hadn't nearly the amount of tattoos that the girl had.
"Yes?" Korben said to the three people in front of him.
"Mr. Dallas?" The tall Black man asked. Korben nodded.
"Mr. Korben Dallas?" The Black man asked again.
"Pal, my name's on the door," Korben said.
"Told you," The girl said. Korben was surprised she could speak coherently. He would have thought her to be slobbering drunk with all the Booze she smelled of. "I told you to just knock on the door, that the name was accurate. Maybe you should listen to me a bit more. I'm drunk, not stupid."
The Black man ignored her and went on.
"Is there a…" he pulled out a ripped, smudged piece of paper and squinted at it, " a Ms… Leeloo here as well?" He asked. Korben looked at him suspiciously.
"Who wants to know?" He asked.
"Take that as a yes. I can guarantee you that's a yes," The girl blurted.
"And a Father Cornelia?" The Black man ignored her and went on.
"Sorry, you have the wrong place," Korben said.
"But the Leeloo chick is there, I'd bet a bottle of bourbon on it. This guy has to be that Dallas guy we're," The girl said. The Black and Hispanic boys shot her a look of shock, then looked at each other.
"I can't believe she's is willing to bet Booze," Said the Hispanic boy, the Black boy just ignored him and went on.
"Mr. Dallas, It's important that we speak with you, Ms. Leeloo…"
"Mrs. Dallas," Korben corrected him.
"I knew it. I win a bottle of bourbon," the girl said.
"… With you, Mrs. Dallas and Father Cornelius. It's very important," The Black man finished.
"Mind telling me what about, first?" Korben said.
"Something very important," The Hispanic man said.
"Yeah, yeah, I got that part. You tell me what it is you want, or you're not setting foot in my apartment. Got that?" Korben glared at the three.
"It concerns the elements. Including your wife. Really important. The entire fate of the world we're talking. Really quite important," The girl said, stepping forward.
"How do I know you aren't trying to pull something?" Korben eyed them suspiciously.
"How do you know we are?" The girl asked. Korben started to shut the door.
"Wait!" The Hispanic man cried out.
The girl threw herself at the door effectively getting herself caught in it.
"Your wife has a tattoo on one of her wrists that identifies her as the divine being. It has the sign of the four elements. Your wife's the fifth element," The Girl said quickly. She showed her own wrist, which had two tattoos, on like Leeloo's and the other was a bit different. There were five sets of wavy lines, not four.
"I think he knows that," The Black man said.
"Get out of here, now," Korben threatened.
"Look, This is important!" The girl shouted, her body still in the door.
"Get out," Korben said, then slammed the door a few times on the girl.
"ARGH!!!" The girl howled in pain.
"Look, if you get that priest guy here, he can sort of validate us," The Hispanic man said.
"I said, leave," Korben said as he slammed the door once again on the girl who had wedged herself in the frame. She cried out again and fell to the floor. However, she landed inside the door. Korben lifted her by the scruff of the neck of her shirt and tossed her out then slammed the door. Out side, the three could hear it lock.
"Well," The girl said, "I think that went relatively well."
The Hispanic man looked down at her and kicked her, rather roughly.
"OUCH!" She yelped. "Pain…"
"Annie!" He said, "Why couldn't you have just left well enough alone?"
"Look, I'm not a total waste you know," The girl replied.
"It seems like it. Omar probably could have talked our way in there," The Hispanic looking boy replied.
"If I'm such a waste, why did you even bother to have me tag along? Why don't you just get on with out me?" The Girl asked evenly, still in too much pain to even get off the floor.
"I don't know. This would be a lot easier with out you here. I don't see what purpose you serve. You're a drunk, a caffeine addict, and a psychopath, among other things. This'd be a lot easier with out you," He replied.
"Fine then," The girl replied, dragging herself over to a large camouflage rucksack on the floor, " You guys go on with out me. Soon as I can stand again, I'll be out of your way."
"That's a damn relief, don't know why you're even here at all."
"She's here," The Black man said, "because she speaks, reads and writes several languages and because she knows the geography. On top of the fact that she's smaller than you and I and can slip into places we can't, and she's a pretty good fighter."
"Whatever… Why are you getting the whiskey out now? Of all the times to drink! Can't you go five goddamn seconds with out getting sauced," The Hispanic man yelled. The girl just held up her small bottle of whiskey and a cloth.
"It's not to drink, it's to disinfect the fresh injuries and ease the pain in my jaw. Getting slammed in that door ripped open some stitched and that cut from," The girl began, but was cut off.
"Would that be the bar fight or street fight?" The Hispanic Man asked.
"Probably the bar fight," The girl replied. She winced as she applied the whiskey to her injuries. "What a waste of whiskey," She said after she had finished. The Hispanic man sighed.
"Let's get you bandaged," he said.
"Nab," Said the girl, "I'll be fine. We'll worry about it later."
"It'll get infected."
"That's what the whiskeys for."
"Who was that?" Leeloo asked.
"I don't know. Three punks that look like they've been through hell and back. They wanted to talk about something, but they rubbed me the wrong way. I had a bad feeling about them," Korben informed her.
"I heard a lot of yelling," Leeloo stated.
"Well, that was probably because I closed the door on one of them," Korben replied, sitting down, Leeloo bolted up straight.
"What?!" She cried.
"I was about to shut the door when one of them threw herself in front of it. I slammed it on her a couple of times to get them to leave," Korben stated nonchalantly.
"What did they want?" Leeloo questioned.
"I don't know. They seemed to know a good bit about you. I was suspicious, especially after Larrita's episode with the cab driver at the movies last night," Korben replied. Leeloo got up. "Were are you going?"
"To see who they are and what they want, if they're still there," Leeloo replied. Se walked to the door and opened it. The Scraggily trio was still there; the girl was just now getting up. They turned at the sound of the door opening and saw Leeloo staring out at them. The three immediately did what was some sort of salute or something. Leeloo had never seen anything of the like.
"Mrs. Dallas," The black boy said, "We must speak with you. It's urgent. As I was trying to explain to your husband, the fate of the planet hangs in the balance."
"Come in," Said Leeloo emotionlessly. The three grabbed their bags and entered the apartment. Korben saw them enter and then gave them a menacing glare.
"Sit down," he said coldly. The trio complied. "Now, what is it?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Dallas. We need to know where a Father Vito Cornelius is. It's also important that he be here," The black man said.
"I will contact him," Said Leeloo.
"Well, you can at least tell us your names can't you?" Korben said.
"Of course," The black man said. "I am Omar, This is Antoinette," he said gesturing to the ruff looking girl.
"Annie for short," She informed him.
"Lovely," Korben smiled sarcastically. "And your friend?"
"Miguel," The other boy said
"You seem to all ready know us," Said Korben.
"I have contacted him. He will be here shortly," Leeloo came back in and informed them.
"Good," Said Korben.
Shortly afterward Father Cornelius arrived. The trio once again did the strange motion that the other occupants of the room could only assume was a salute.
"Okay," Korben said, "The gang's all here. Now what do you want?"
"Father Cornelius, Are you aware of any group called the Elemental Protect Knot?" Omar asked. Father Cornelius ' jaw dropped.
"Yes…" He said, "Our line knows little about them, but we've some information on them."
"Your line?" Asked Korben.
"Technically speaking," Cornelius said, "We were in charge in the temple of Egypt to guard the five elements while they were on Earth, and we trained to pass on the tradition after they were taken, so we would be informed. We don't know much about the Elemental Protect Knot, we have little information, given to us by unknown members."
"It was given to you," Stated Annie, "Because your line of priests and the Elemental Protect Knot is essentially in the same line of business."
"Explain, please," Korben stated.
"It's a secret society dedicated to serving and protecting mankind and all life in the universe. We're mainly based on Earth, roughly 95 percent of us are human. We do have members from other races, bases on other planets and representatives on other planets. It's mainly centered on Earth. It kind of works the same way as the five elements do. We draw power from the elements to fight off evil, like your wife does. Your wife IS an element, so she herself is part of our great knot," Annie said.
"I've never had anything to do with any of this…" Leeloo said, confused.
"Let me try to explain," Annie said, "The Celts of Europe, and Isles of Great Britain and Ireland have something called a Celtic Knot. Everything is connected; the knots go on forever. It symbolizes how the universe is never ending and everything in the universe is connected. Even though you've never had anything to do with us, you're connected to us because you're an element. We especially do the same thing, just in a different way."
"Each member of Elemental Protect Knot has a designated main element, Fire, water, metal, earth or air. Then they have a side element, light, dark or grey. Then a non-concrete element, star, energy, Wisdom, loyalty, honor, strength, lightening, Thunder or freedom. Their next designated element is one from the Periodic Table of Elements like mercury, silver, gold, bromine, et cetera. Last, they all have off world elements, not of Earth. Like grantamine, clofiline, sarlamere, et cetera," Omar said, "And we all connect to the one, great element."
"But, what happens when Leeloo dies? She's only human," Korben said.
"One of your children takes her place, most likely one of your daughters," Miguel explained.
"Wouldn't their DNA be imperfect?" Korben asked.
"No, their Mother's DNA was engineered to work out the impurities. It's part of her perfect Make-up. Only the purities from both sides are passed on to the children," Father Cornelius told him.
"Besides, the impurities don't matter in our knot," Annie Said. "The Elemental Protect Knot was co-founded with the Mondoshawan thousands of years ago. The Mondoshawan saw the day coming when the Fifth Element would leave the armor that surrounded her at the times in the temple, and would become a person with a life of her own. That's why we were created. When the Fifth Element dies, The next in her line will use our knot instead of the device at the temple…. Even though the device at the temple is part of out knot, if that makes any sense."
"When it was started by the humans," said Miguel; "The Mondoshawan saw the advantage in it. The purpose was to serve and protect the people of Earth, so they jumped at the chance. Our 'knot' is more complex then the device at the temple."
"Even though in the old instruction that the Mondoshawan left us, it seems to be part of out knot," Annie said.
"Right," Miguel agreed.
"We're sort of like the Majia in 'The Mummy'," Annie explained, only to receive blank looks from everyone else in the room, with the exception of Miguel and Omar. "Okay… I take it no one here's even ever heard of 'The Mummy'," She sighed.
"Annie, NO ONE's ever heard of any of your 20th/21st century movies," Miguel said.
"I see your point," Annie replied.
"So, what's this… knot?" Korben asked.
"We're not sure. We think we've figured out how to work it. Our men are working around the clock. They've been working around the clock ever since we got the signs," Omar said.
"Signs?" asked Leeloo.
"Yes, signs," said Omar, "Signs that a great evil is coming."
"Great evil?" Groaned Korben.
"Yeah," Said Annie, "Did you think that that weird evil planet thing was the only evil that wants to take out the universe starting with Earth?"
"Just like we are here to protect, there is a group that is here to destroy," Omar explained. Annie went to the bags and pulled out several scriptures, books, scrolls, stones and so on.
"They're some sort of rogue group. We don't know their name, if they even have a name," Annie said.
"Are they like Chaos and you like order?" Asked Leeloo.
"No," Annie said harshly, "We're talking good and evil, here! Not Chaos and order, there is a difference! Chaos is NOT evil, contrary to popular belief."
"Agent Lieutenant Antoinette McMorrigaul! Mind how you speak to the Fifth Element!" Hissed Miguel loudly, cuffing Annie hardly on the back of the head. Omar fixed her with a stern look.
"I apologize," Annie said, yielding and bowing her head slightly, with a look of some remorse. "I was out of line. I beg your pardons."
Leeloo, a little taken back, nodded to show that she hadn't taken offense.
"Agent Lieutenant?" Korben asked, unfamiliar with a term.
"We consider ourselves agents," Miguel said, "agents of good, agents of life. However, we also consider ourselves a force, almost a military force. We have the same ranks as the Army, just put an Agent in front of it."
"I am an Agent Lt. Colonel," Omar said, "I'm the senior ranking officer among us. Miguel is an Agent Major. Annie is, as you heard, an Agent Lieutenant. She's the lowest ranking of us three."
"Ah, I see," Korben said.
"Anyway," Omar said, gesturing to a book that Annie had laid out, "This is a recording of our oldest scriptures. It's the oldest book we have. We think it may be the oldest book on Earth."
"We're still checking into that," Said Annie.
"It says that there is an evil that comes every 5,000 years. The dark planet. Every ten years comes a new evil. After the coming of two dark planets, another will come, later. Somewhere between ten to twenty years. When he two moons of Earth are in the three positions relative to Earth and the sun, it will signal the coming of the new Evil. A power source will come, the servants will awaken and like will be destroyed, starting with Green Earth," Omar read from the book, which was written in ancient languages.
"When Leeloo stopped the Dark Planet, it formed a second moon. It and the other moon have to be in some position. Then a power source of some sort is supposed to come, and the evil gains it's full strength, then the Earth is destroyed, and it goes into the rest of the universe," Annie said.
"What position?" Korben asked.
"That's the problem," Miguel said, "We don't know." He pointed to an illustration. "Here," He said, "Look here. The illustration. See there are three circles forming an upside down triangle. Then below the tip is another circle. Between that circle and the circle at the top of the triangle is a last one. We don't know what it means," He continued, pointing to each one. "We think that the three circles forming the triangle are moons. But we only have two moons. We haven't a clue what the others are."
"Why not contact the Mondoshawan?" Father Cornelius asked.
"We tried," Said Annie, "We can't seem to get through to them. It's as if something is blocking communications to that area of space. We sent some men to find them, but they're off the beacon. Our instruments can't seem to find their space, and we have advanced technology, courtesy of the Mondoshawan."
"We were also hoping you could shed some light on that," Miguel said, "Have they contacted you at all?"
"If you can't get through to them, what makes you think we can?" Asked Korben
"We thought that they may have found away to get through. Contacting you would most likely be their top priority. Just because we can't get through doesn't mean they can't. Have you heard any word?" Asked Omar.
"No," Said Leeloo. She looked at Father Cornelius, who shook his head.
"Then we have no guide," Said Omar, looking at the scriptures with puzzlement.
"We're stuck between a rock and a hard place," Said Annie, "By our calculations, we only have a few months before we hit the 20 year dead line. Then… Check mate…"
"What do we have to do?" Leeloo asked.
"We were hoping you would know," Omar said. "We thought that the Mondoshawan may have informed you on this, on the procedures, or on anything else along that line."
"The Mondoshawan have told me nothing of this," Leeloo informed.
"Damn," Annie sighed, "The Hard place just got harder."
"We have to decipher the meaning of these passages and illustration. Here," He said, turning the page and pointing at a simple line drawing of a complex machine, "Is the second and one of the most Important pieces to the puzzle. It says here that this is what we must use to stop the evil, for this is the last time it will come."
"Why would this be the last time?" Korben asked.
"We're not sure. We think the second moon marks the last coming of this great evil," Annie said.
"This machine," Omar said, "We don't understand it at all. In this square, in the upside down triangle, are the element signs, like on The Fifth Element's wrist. There is a circle in the middle with the symbol on it. Then there's a circle, connecting the two, an inner circle and this strange symbol here. The two side by side standing rectangles with the long one on top. There are two of them, with these strange needle-looking symbols, the three of them. This one on the left has a sun, the one in the middle has a star and a stripe and this one on the right has another sun, and two squiggles of some sort below it. Then, there is this box over here, made with the daggers and swords and four gems. These symbols, in the ancient Divine Language translate into our R, E, D, and S sound. We think they stand for the Gems. Then over here on the other side of the square at three triangles and a figure of some sort. It looks like a cat or something. We don't know. Does any of this look familiar?"
Leeloo only shook her head. "The Mondoshawan haven't informed me on any of this. It's all new to me."
"Then," Said Annie, "It appears the hard place got harder still."
"There's another problem," Said Miguel.
"Another one?" Korben sighed.
"Yes," Said Omar, "You are in grave danger."
"Well of course," Said Korben, cutting Omar off, "This thing wants to destroy the planet."
"No, Sir, that is not what I meant, the other society I spoke of, the dark one. It means to see that the purpose of this thing is fulfilled. That means tracking down the Elemental Protect Knot, destroying the Mondoshawan and/or killing most of your family as we all stand in the way of their goal. It is unlikely that they will be able to find us let a lone kill us all, especially with as many of us as there are. It's even more unlikely that they can kill all the Monodshawan. Block them, it seems. But it's highly unlikely that they could kill them. That leaves you. There are only seven of you and you're so easy to find that you're listed in the phone book. They are all ready following you and closing in, I fear," Omar explained.
"Has your daughter told you of her encounter with the cab driver last night," Annie asked.
"Yes," Said Korben.
"He was one of their agents. He was meant to retrieve the your daughter. One of your family is meant to be kept alive. To witness the detraction. When the end comes, if they succeed, they will be the only things left in the universe, until the ultimate end. The ultimate end can only be stopped by the next in your line. They need someone to carry on our duties, as we will," Omar said. Korben and Leeloo were stunned that their daughter was in so much danger and they hadn't even realized it.
"We've got to work fast," Said Miguel. "When the rest of your family gets home, we've been instructed to show you to our headquarters, if you'll come."
"Yes, of course," Said Leeloo.
"Good. We'll be able to protect you there. And once there we can figure this thing out and stop it," Annie said.
"We'd better get packing," Korben sighed.
"Take anything of value to you. Size is of no object. We're going to leave in secret, so the bad guys won't know you're not here. If you don't want to loose anything, I'd suggest taking it."
"How long can we expect to be gone?" Leeloo asked.
"I don't know. Possibly, a very, very long time," Replied Omar