Warning: Rated for language, violence and adult behavior.
The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
This story also uses characters from the graphic novel 'Sin City' by Frank Miller. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
This story also uses characters from the movie 'Wasabi', directed by Luc Besson. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
References to 'The Goon' in this story do not refer to the character of 'The Goon' by Eric Powell.
Life was good. This was the first opportunity since Marv came to France that he was really able to cut loose and rumble. He never would have pegged Jim Moralés as a child molester, though. There was always something odd about them almost like a stench, or an oiliness. The big man was usually able to pick out the vermin of the world, but was totally caught off guard this time.
When Jim ran off, Marv took out after him, not even hearing Aelita's plea to stop.
He ran after the gym teacher through the trees, losing sight of him a few times. He finally caught up to him just as he grabbed Aelita from the woodland path and ran off. Marv took out after them with a curse.
He finally caught up with the bastard in an old factory. Jim was on the main floor, trying to call an elevator when Marv swung down on a rope suspended by the entrance. He landed feet first on his target, just as the elevator arrived. Both men and the girl tumbled into the car.
Now Marv had him where he wanted him, up close and personal. Jim put up a good fight, getting some real good shots in, and also hitting Marv with some electrical bolts from some taser gun he had hid somewhere. But none of that fazed the hulk of a man. He pummeled and battered and maimed and life was good again.
The elevator opened up, and Marv and Jim tumbled out into some kind of room. Aelita ran out, shouting, "Marv, don't kill him! Just hold him for a moment!" as she ran to some kind of console.
Marv stopped and stood up, partially because of what the girl had said, partially because his opponent wasn't moving. He just stared at the body as what looked like smoke rose up out of it, then enveloped Marv. For a second, he couldn't breathe, but then the smoke cleared and the air returned. Then he started hearing voices.
Take the girl downstairs.
Marv couldn't believe his ears. Something was talking in his head!
Take the girl downstairs. Obey!
Why should I? Marv thought back.
Because I order you to! came the reply.
No, this is one of those episodes I get now and then, Marv said, I'm getting confused because I want to pound the shit out of that child molesting son of a bitch, and she's telling me not to.
If you take her downstairs, she will be safe, XANA tried this time.
Nope, not gonna work, Marv replied, I know jack shit about this place; so for all I know, you're just trying to make me do what that bastard was wanting to do all along. No way.
As Marv stood there arguing with XANA, the elevator door opened and Jeremie and the rest piled out. When Aelita saw them she shouted, "Watch Out! Marv has been possessed by XANA!"
Marv turned and looked at the newcomers.
Kill them, XANA commanded, kill them all! They want to molest Aelita also. Jim was planning to meet them here so they could participate.
Marv took one step towards the kids, then stopped.
Nah, my mind's playin' tricks on me again. The short blond kid is Pinkie's boyfriend. He hasn't worked up the nerve to ask her out to the movies yet, let alone mattress dancing!
"Kids," Marv finally said, "I think you may need to call somebody. I get a little confused at times, and this is looking like one of those times. Besides, you need to call the cops to pick up that asshole for what he was gonna do to Pinkie."
"Marv, listen very carefully to me," Aelita said, "An evil being called XANA is trying to control you, to make you hurt me. That's what that smoke was, XANA. It took Jim over, and now it's trying to do the same thing to you. You must be able to fight it somehow, so whatever you're doing, keep it up. We need to go do something to make it stop bothering you, but Jeremie has to stay here, and I have to go with the others. Is that okay with you?"
No! Stop Her! They will do terrible things to her if she goes with them! XANA raged, desperate.
"Sure, Pinkie," Marv said, "you go do what you have to do. Whatever's in my head sure as hell don't like it, so it's probably the right thing to do."
With that, Marv went over and sat down on the floor. Jeremie cautiously went over to the console and sat down, while Aelita joined Ulrich and the others. They all got back in the elevator and descended to the scanner room.
From its hiding place in Lyoko, XANA experienced a new sensation, fear.
It had rejoiced when it finally possessed the huge man, but the rejoicing quickly faded as XANA realized that it couldn't control him. The tendril of thought that XANA snared was almost totally separate from other thoughts the man had, almost as if he intentionally kept his mind fragmented. And it turned out that the fragment XANA latched on to was the most tightly regulated and controlled piece there.
XANA tried everything it could to make the man obey, but couldn't. Finally the man just walked over and sat down on the floor while the never sufficiently damned Jeremie Belpois took control of the console and prepared to send his friends to sever XANA's access.
XANA had expended enough quantum energy on this failed attempt, and started to withdraw from the man. But something went wrong, and XANA couldn't leave.
Leaving so soon? the man thought.
Release Me! XANA shouted, I will withdraw and cause you no further trouble.
No, you'll probably go and cause someone else problems, the man replied, I think I'll just hold you here, until they've done what they need to, then we'll see what happens.
That's when the fear hit XANA.
Never since it had begun its campaign to eliminate mankind had it ever encountered someone like this. The physical parameters of the man were frightening enough, but add in the mental ones? XANA was always in the past capable of pulling enough it itself out of the phantasms it sent into the real world to assure its continued existence in Lyoko. But now, it wasn't able to withdraw at all. It had never encountered this situation before.
It might actually be destroyed.
XANA tried everything, it attacked every thought pattern, even the ones that controlled the man's body functions, trying to find some way to escape, some way to shake loose the man's grip in it.
The struggle was so intense, XANA wasn't monitoring the events on Lyoko. The few creatures it had generated to protect the tower were uncoordinated and quickly defeated, and the Scyphozoa attacked severely enough that it had to withdraw without even getting close to the Keys.
Now, she was in the access tower, rising to the interface panel. XANA struggled harder to escape the man's grip, all the while feeling the pleasure the man was getting, holding the phantasm at bay.
This is the way we handle child molesters in Sin City, the man said as Aelita entered the access code in the tower, deactivating it.
XANA shrieked as it was torn in two.
Marv was a little woozy after Aelita deactivated the tower. Jeremie noticed the quantum ghost rise up out of Marv and dissipate, then looked at his monitor with interest. It seemed that not as much of XANA's quantum energy was returned to Lyoko when the tower was deactivated. It was like half of XANA was gone!
The elevator doors opened and the crew walked in, still a little out of it from the return.
"Wow, was that different or what?" Yumi said, "I mean, it was like the monsters were distracted! Two Hornets actually shot each other!"
"Yeah it was weird," Aelita said, "after I entered the code, thought I heard something almost like a scream. I've never had that happen before."
"Hey guys," Odd called from over by Jim, "we'd better do something. Jim's pretty beat up."
"Now just what in hell is going on here!" Marv said, "just what was that thing? What is all this stuff?"
"No need to worry," Jeremie said from the console, "Return To The Past, Now!"
Marv and Aelita were sitting on a bench at the athletic field, watching Sissi, Herve and Nicholas pull weeds. Again.
"What the Hell just happened?" Marv said to the girl.
"You... you remember?" Aelita asked.
"Damn straight I remember! Not ten seconds ago, we were in some factory someplace."
Just then Jim Moralés walked outside and headed towards them.
"What the... well, I'm gonna make damn sure he don't walk away this time!" With that Marv got up to confront Jim.
"Wait Marv! Let me explain!" Aelita cried, grabbing the man's arm, trying to stop him.
"It's okay, he doesn't remember a thing," she quickly continued, "XANA possessed him earlier and tried to take me to the factory. We were able to stop XANA, then we went back in time to fix everything. Jim is just Jim."
"Well, if he doesn't remember, why do I?" Marv asked.
"That's a good question," came the voice of Jeremie Belpois as he walked up and joined them, "by all rights, you shouldn't remember anything. Maybe whatever it is that makes you resistant to XANA also enables you to keep your memories when we return to the past. And since you remember everything, we need to talk."
The boy explained everything to Marv about what they did, and what Aelita really was. Marv just sat there and took it all in. When Jeremie finished, Marv said, "that's quite a story you told there, Brain. But cut to the chase, what does this mean to me?"
"Nothing, if you don't want it to," Jeremie said, "just don't tell anyone. We have to be careful about going back in time, because it makes XANA stronger. The only reason we did this time was because you hurt Jim so bad we weren't sure he would make it."
"Well, I'll keep your secret," the big man finally said, "I've got more than a few of my own; so as long as it doesn't affect me, I don't have a problem with you having yours."
The man walked down the hall of the Administration Building with a sense of deja vu. He walked like he belonged there, and he had a purpose, so no one stopped him. He came to a room and tried the door. It was locked. He pulled something from his pocket, fiddled with the lock a moment, then the door opened and he went in.
The room contained filing cabinets. He walked along the rows of them, looking at the tags on the drawers. When he came to a set marked 'Students' he stopped and opened the top drawer. He worked quickly, he didn't know how long if would be until someone came in here with legitimate business.
He thumbed through all of the folder tags, ignoring all the files with boys names, pulling out the ones with girls names. He would flip the file open quickly and examine the first page. That page had a picture of the student stapled to it, along with their name and personal information. When he came to a face he was looking for, he noted the personal information, particularly the parents notification information. If he liked what he saw, he wrote the girl's name on a pad he carried with him for the purpose. He then replaced the file and continued his search.
He was able to search half the files before his self imposed time limit ran out. He looked at the list of names he accumulated, deciding whether or not to risk a return visit. He finally decided that the risk was worth the reward, and decided to return at the next opportune moment.
As he left, he couldn't quite shake the feeling that he'd already done this once already.
