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.
Sissi Delmas sat at her computer, chatting. She had been talking with these friends for months now, in the chat room she ran across. The thing she really liked about it was she didn't have to put on airs, like she did around school. She could let her hair down and be herself more.
metalfreak: where you been, beautyqueen? Missed you the last few days...
Sissi, a.k.a. beautyqueen responded:
beautyqueen: torture... detention... just got off...
metalfreak?
beautyqueen: daddy overreacted to a little joke I played, and had me pulling weeds for a month!
metalfreak: bummer. how 'bout hanging out?
beautyqueen: we are...
metalfreak: no, real world. how 'bout we get together and hang?
Siss thought about it for a moment. She had never considered actually meeting any of the people she met on line; well, there was one, once a few months back, but that never panned out. She thought about it a little more, the replied.
beautyqueen: where at? I'm in Paris.
metalfreak: cool, I'm in Paris too. How about 1313 Rue Majik? There's a great club there we can hang at.
beautyqueen: okay, when?
metalfreak: how 'bout tonight? 9:00pm
beautyqueen: okay, see you there!
Sissi logged off and started thinking, What will I wear? Trendy? Sexy? Sexy Trendy?
Across town, "metalfreak" logged off his chat session. The man settled back in his chair and started thinking, I hope she is a nice one this time. The others were only nice for a little while, then they got mean. It makes me upset when they get mean.
He looked up at the pictures tacked on his wall, pictures of other girls he had met online, girls that were nice to him while chatting, but got mean when they met him in person and wouldn't do what he wanted them to do. They were girls he had to hurt to make them stop being mean and do what he wanted. They were girls he had to kill because they wouldn't stay nice to him.
Marv was walking out of the gate of Kadic Academy when someone called out to him, Suzanne Hertz. He turned to see Suzanne, Jim Moralés and Jean-Pierre Delmas walking towards him.
"Well, hi Suzie! How ya feeling now," the big man said as they walked up.
"Better Marv, thanks to you," the science teacher replied, "I wanted to thank you for what you and the others did for me. How about joining us for a drink?"
Marv smiled, "well! I didn't know you knocked back anything harder than beer, Suzie. And I certainly thought that the principal and the PE teacher both would be tea totalers."
"Marvin, why now would you think that?" Jean-Pierre said with a smile, "this is France after all, not England."
"Well then, since it's France and not England, I would love to have a drink with you. Where to?"
"Well, Marv," Jim said, "where do you go to bend an elbow?"
"Well, where I go I wouldn't want to take such fine upstanding citizens as yourselves, and it's no place for a lady."
"It sounds like Monique's," Suzanne said.
Marv looked in wonder at the woman. "You've been there?" he asked.
"Yes, I have," was her response, "some of the younger teachers have had parties there, and I've tagged along. I do know there is a bar without the the strip shows in the establishment, and it's actually a pretty nice place. I'm surprised you have never checked that end out, Marv. They play country and western music there, and that's where I developed my taste for it."
"Alright, Monique's it is," Jean-Pierre declared, "where is it?"
"1313 Rue Majik," Mrs. Hertz replied.
Sissi got a huge break that night when she snuck out. Jim was nowhere to be found, a very rare occasion. She had decided on 'sexy trendy' for the evening, and was wearing tight maroon slacks, a red bra under a sheer white shirt. She quickly made her way off campus, then set off into town.
She checked a map and found Rue Majik. It was farther into town than she had ever gone before, but it was a fairly straight route. She began walking.
Slowly the buildings began to change. At first, they were nice and clean homes and shops, the neighborhood Sissi was familiar with. But after a while, the homes and shops started looking older and more careworn. The faces of the people she passed were a little less open and friendly.
Then the neighborhood got darker and spookier. The houses were more run down, businesses were boarded up, and the people looked at her with suspicion and envy. Sissi now picked up her pace, so she could get out of here.
Then she entered a new neighborhood. This one had night clubs, bars and 'gentlemen's clubs'. The girl stopped for a moment trying to figure out what a gentlemen's club was, when the door to one opened and she caught a glimpse of a naked woman up on a stage, prancing about. Sissi blushed and quickly moved on.
Finally, she came to Rue Majik. She looked around and saw that 1313 was just a couple of doors up the way, so she turned and walked there. When she got to the door, she saw the name, "Monique's, A Gentlemen's Club and Bar." Now the girl was confused. Why would metalfreak meet her here? She was thinking that is would be some trendy dance club, but this place looked nothing like she expected. She was about to turn and leave when someone approached her.
"Beautyqueen?" the man asked.
"Ah, no, I'm not," Sissi quickly said, ascertaining that the man was metalfreak and she was in big trouble.
The man smiled. "You must be her," he said, "I don't see anyone else that would possibly call themselves beautyqueen standing around here."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, getting more frightened by the minute.
"Maybe I should use a pick up line," he said, a frown growing on his face, "maybe I should say 'what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this' or something else you would tell a tramp."
"Wait a minute! I'm not a tramp!" Sissi hollered, hoping it would draw some attention.
"Then don't lie to me, beautyqueen," the man said, "you accepted my invitation. You were supposed to come here and be nice to me. But instead, you come here and lie to me, thinking I'm stupid or something like that. You thought you could lie to me and make me leave, then laugh at how stupid I am, then tell all your other tramp friends!"
"No, no, it's nothing like that! I just didn't expect you to be so... mature," Sissi said quickly, "I thought I would be meeting a boy my own age, someone not as sophisticated as you are! I didn't mean to insult you, I was just surprised, that's all!"
"Well, okay," the man said, "I can understand that. Look, let's go now. I've got so many things to show you, there's so much to do!"
"Well, I thought we were going here," Sissi said, "it seems such a shame to come all the way down here and not see the place."
"No, that's no place for you," the man said, "that's where tramps meet their men and defile themselves. The go in there and they flirt and they lie and then they take men out and hurt them, laugh at them. That's what they do there."
"How do they know to do that?" Sissi then asked the man.
"They just know, come on now, let's go elsewhere."
"No, I want to see."
"Why?" the man's voice got a dangerous edge to it.
"Well, you said that tramps come here and do bad things to you. I don't want to be a tramp, and I don't want to do bad things to you. So I want to see what the tramps do, so I know what not to do."
"I can tell you that," he said, "just don't lie to me, and give me what I want. Let's go."
"But how do I know? I don't want to hurt you, I don't like hurting my friends. Let's just go in for a moment. I'm sure it won't take very long for me to figure it out, then we'll go and I can be real nice to you, like you want."
Sissi then took the man's hand, and led him inside. He followed her, dumbfounded.
Inside the door was a hallway, leading off in two different directions. Before them was a sign, "Bar" with a sign pointing in one direction, and "Gentlemen's Club" with a sign pointing in the other direction. Sissi led the man into the bar.
"I already had a peek inside a gentlemen's club," Sissi said loudly, "and I think naked girls dancing is one of the things you were talking about. But this looks like a nice place. Are there any tramps in here? Maybe we can get a soda or something?"
By this time, every head in the place had turned to the dark haired girl and the strange man. Dozens of pairs of eyes locked on the two, and got the correct impression.
Sissi looked out into this potential sea of salvation, and saw the most horrible and wonderful sight she ever saw, her father, Jim Moralés, Mrs. Hertz, and The Goon.
"Elizabeth! What are you doing here!" her father cried out.
The man with Sissi turned and ran out of the bar. Her father, Mrs. Hertz, Jim and The Goon all jumped up and ran to her. She threw herself in her father's arms crying as the science teacher and the gym teacher stopped. Marv just took a quick look at the father and daughter, then ran out into the night.
The police officer closed his notebook. "I think that's all for now," he said, "you should take your daughter and go home. And consider yourself very lucky, young lady. A lot of girls don't get out of something like this unharmed. Most don't get out at all."
Jim had taken Suzanne home for the evening. Marv had never returned. That left Jean-Pierre alone with his daughter.
"Sissi, what got in your head?" he asked, "coming down here alone! I could have lost you!" The man was almost in tears.
"I'm sorry daddy, I didn't know," was her tearful response, "I didn't know he was a man, I thought he was my age. And I've never been here before, so I didn't know it would be dangerous."
"You could have asked me," he said, "I would have told you."
"You would have just said no, and that would be it," she suddenly said, "if I said I wanted to meet my friends, you would want to know who and where and..."
"For this exact reason," Jean-Pierre said softly, "I want to know where you are and who you are with because I don't want something like this happening to you. I've heard of it happening to too many girls, and it can so easily be prevented. Come on now, let us go home. We can talk more tomorrow."
"Ah, daddy, one more thing, why were you, Jim and Mrs. Hertz here tonight?"
The next day, Sissi was suspended from school for three days. It wasn't totally because she was in trouble, but Jean-Pierre wanted to take the time to be with his daughter, to talk a lot of things through. He couldn't make any promises to her, but he could at least listen as well as talk this time.
Sissi and her father were walking out of Kadic Academy together when they saw Marv wander back in. He looked tired and ruffled up, like he had been working all night.
"Marvin!" Jean-Pierre called out. Sissi winced as The Goon walked over.
"Mornin' sir, sorry for bein' late," the man said apologetically.
"Where have you been all night? I was starting to get worried."
"Tracking down a friend," was the big man's reply, an ugly grin growing on his face, "caught up to him too."
Sissi looked at her father and saw the strangest thing, he was smiling a smile just about as ugly as The Goon's.
"And your friend, how is he?"
"Very, very sorry for what he did, in the end. I can safely say he will never cause anyone any more problems."
Sissi wasn't exactly the sharpest pencil in the box, but she knew what was being said. The Goon didn't go looking for a 'friend' last night, he went looking for the man who almost hurt her. She knew The Goon was a monster, but now she realized that he wouldn't have any trouble killing a man, and stood there before her and all but admitted he had.
"I'm glad to hear that, Marvin. It's always a good thing when someone can learn from their mistakes."
"Well sir, I'll be moving along. I hope Mike ain't too mad with me for being late."
"Don't worry about it, Marvin. I spoke with Mr. Rouiller and told him not to expect you today, that you were sick."
"Thanks sir, I appreciate that."
"I appreciate what you did last night, Marvin. Good day."
As The Goon walked off, Sissi looked at her father as he she had never seen the man before. He had just thanked a man for killing another man!
Jean-Pierre Delmas looked at his daughter staring at him.
"Elizabeth, I love you more than my own life. I don't show you often enough, but you are the most precious thing in the world to me. And I will do anything, anything, to protect you. Now let's go and enjoy this beautiful day together."
