25: The Longest Day [11:00 AM – 12:00 PM]
THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 11:00 AM AND 12:00 PM ON DECEMBER 2, 2006.
EVENTS OCCUR IN REAL TIME.
11:00:00 … 11:00:01 … 11:00:02 … 11:00:03 … 11:00:04 … 11:00:05
Aelita gathered speed as she leapt towards the wall. The moment her skates made contact with the brick surface, she bent her knees and rebounded off, only to realize that she had mistimed her jump. She was losing altitude too quickly. All she could do was brace for collision with the pavement.
But that never happened. A pair of arms had reached out and caught her.
"Geez, trying this stuff already?" she heard Bryan smirking from behind.
BRYAN GREEN
Bio: LYOKO warrior, Kadic student, CAN
Has: blue hair, maple syrup with his pancakes
"You told me to be ambitious," Aelita mumbled, aware that she was still in his arms.
AELITA STONES (SCHAEFFER)
Bio: LYOKO warrior, Kadic student, FRA
Has: pink hair, various nicknames (Princess, Mrs. Einstein, A-tan)
"Perhaps, but I also distinctly remember saying safety first."
"I was being safe. I knew you were going to catch me," she smiled at him.
Bryan looked startled, and he let go of her when he saw Odd approaching them without his trademark grin.
"Hey Captain B, Princess," he panted. "Jeremie's freaking out about not being able to get a hold of you two."
ODD DELLA ROBBIA
Bio: LYOKO warrior, Kadic troublemaker, ITA
Has: a Master's Degree in Being Awesome
Aelita gasped and reached into her pockets, coming up empty-handed. "I must've left my phone in my room."
However, Bryan felt he had a more pressing matter that needed to be addressed: "wait, I'm Captain B now?"
"Well, I think it's a great nickname. It gives you authority, if we're ever on a boat or plane," Aelita chuckled before turning to Odd. "Anyways, what's the matter?"
"XANA."
"You sure?" Bryan frowned. Aelita looked equally concerned. It had only been a month. Surely XANA hadn't gone through all of her memories for the Key that quickly?
"Yep. Jeremie discovered an activated Tower and all that jazz. He's probably made it to the factory by now."
"Alright, let's go then. We don't want to keep him waiting."
11:08:33 … 11:08:34 … 11:08:35 … 11:08:36 … 11:08:37 … 11:08:38
At the city centre, Ulrich and Yumi were running for their lives.
You would be too, if a shadowy figure in a black suit appears out of nowhere and starts sprinting after you.
They rounded another corner, racing past several startled pedestrians when Yumi grabbed Ulrich's hand and turned sharply into an alleyway. She turned around, but couldn't see their pursuer.
Panting heavily and senses still on high alert, Ulrich pointed to the door of a small warehouse. Yumi nodded. The windows were tinted dark grey, a sign that it had been vacated for some time.
While Yumi watched for any sign of the figure in black, Ulrich gently turned the knob clockwise. It was unlocked, so he opened it and they stepped inside. Then, he took out his mobile and tried calling Jeremie.
"Damn it!" he cursed moments later. He had no connection.
ULRICH STERN
Bio: LYOKO warrior, Kadic student, GER
Has: a crush on Yumi (will be in denial when asked)
"Aelita's not picking up either. Hopefully, they're working on something," Yumi muttered.
YUMI ISHIYAMA
Bio: LYOKO warrior, Kadic student, JPN
Has: a crush on Ulrich (will be in denial when asked)
Ulrich noticed that she was still holding onto his hand, but this was no time to be thinking of stuff like that. Figuring that it was safer indoors, they wandered further inside the industrial building in silence, the light on their phones guiding them. Barely any sunlight shone through the grimy cobweb-filled windows.
It was quiet, apart from the dripping water from the overhead pipes and their soft footsteps. Loose debris and trinkets covered with dust littered the floor, and there were numerous boxes stacked up on all sides.
At first, they thought the Men in Black – the agents after Aelita's father and his supercomputer – were after them, until they saw the figure shimmer in and out of existence like a bad black-and-white hologram.
Just like XANA's spectres. But how could XANA have spectre templates of the Men in Black if the latter had never come close to the abandoned factory? Bryan had also said that he didn't expect XANA to be active for another several months while it searched for the Key within Aelita's memories. So what the heck was going on?
Furthermore, Ulrich was getting tired of being on the run from XANA. As much as he was committed to thwarting attacks from the evil artificial intelligence unit, this was supposed to be one of his better and less stressful weekends before the winter break.
He was also supposed to be enjoying his first date with Yumi.
Okay, maybe that was fast-tracking it a bit. She had invited him to a U2 concert, courtesy of being the best-dressed for Halloween. And they had a train to catch at noon which would take them to Nice. Everything had started to take a turn for the better.
And now his clothes were covered in a fine layer of dust and sweat, and he was taking refuge in a warehouse from another one of XANA's attacks.
11:18:19 … 11:18:20 … 11:18:21 … 11:18:22 … 11:18:23 … 11:18:24
"What in the world?" At the factory, Jeremie Belpois was flustered by what he saw on the screen in front of him.
JEREMIE BELPOIS
Bio: LYOKO warrior, Kadic genius, FRA
Has: directed 95% of LYOKO missions (success rate: 99%)
Team LYOKO was at it again, proving to the few sponsors of their cause that they work around the clock to keep XANA at bay. Even on weekends.
The good news was that Bryan no longer looked as emaciated as when he healed Aelita, his hair was sky-blue again. Even better, Jeremie managed to virtualize them to within walking distance of the Tower.
Unfortunately XANA had gone berserk. Although the LYOKO warriors were accustomed to being outnumbered, a ratio of 1:20 was unheard of. They were instantly surrounded by no less than 50 Crabs and Tarantulas. Neither Odd nor Bryan had enough firepower, and Aelita couldn't possibly conjure up an energy field large enough to block everything.
"Oh shi–" But Odd never got cuss about their predicament; XANA's monsters opened fire. Both he and Aelita felt something grab their hand as everything became a dark blur –
And they found themselves behind giant sand dune.
"What just hap–"
"Super smoke," said Bryan wearily, shaking his head as if he had a migraine. "Didn't know what else to do."
"Hey, you have to be more careful with your life points. You only have fifteen left, and there's still a ton of monsters to deal with."
"Don't be so hard on him, Jeremie. We'd all be done for if he didn't copy Wilhelm's technique."
"William," Bryan corrected.
"Huh? You were the one who – hmph," Aelita crossed her hands over her chest.
"Besides Einstein, I'm still at full heal–"
Odd was interrupted by a lone Crab, who shot him in the arm. Annoyed, he spun around and shot a laser arrow at it. Just as the projectile was about to make impact, the monster phased out and the passed it completely.
"No fair!" Odd complained.
Aelita looked skeptical. Crabs couldn't turn invisible. And unless she was mistaken, there seemed to be something different about these monsters, their colours were all faded, like they weren't even real…
That's when it clicked.
"Shoot again," she told Odd, who fired two more rounds. The first projectile went straight through, as the Crab again flitted out of existence. However, the second arrow managed to clip the Crab's head as it materialized.
With one palm stretched out, Aelita pulled the monster towards her, before engulfing it with an energy field. Rather than exploding into data packets, it vanished in a cloud of black dust.
"Well, there's something new," Odd remarked.
"Remnants," said Bryan, nodding. "You're getting quite good at using the Wind element, A-tan."
Back in the control room, Jeremie was puzzled. "Remnants? What are you talking about?"
"I'll explain later," Aelita replied.
So XANA hadn't returned after all. Because it had stepped up its attacks over the past couple of months, its excess manifestations still lingered around LYOKO, capable of activating Towers in what was nothing more than a phony attack, but a threat nonetheless.
"You think Yumi and Ulrich are alright?"
"I can't seem to get in touch with them," Jeremie admitted. "Right now – whether this is the real XANA or not – Aelita has to get to that Tower."
He leaned back on his chair, trying to formulate a plan. Yumi and Ulrich were unable to help; they may even be in need of it. Bryan's life points were nearly exhausted, so it was just Aelita and Odd against a small army that could phase out at whim, making them all the more difficult to destroy. They didn't have the time or the resources to fight. So…
"Alright, new plan," said Jeremie as he uploaded vehicles.
11:29:59 … 11:30:00 … 11:30:01 … 11:30:02 … 11:30:03 … 11:30:04
XANA did not let a locked door stand in its way.
The spectre walked right through the brick wall, tracking its targets through their failed phone calls to the factory. With its superior hearing, it followed the sound of footsteps through small pathways created by the boxes, which led to a corridor on the other side.
~ - ~ - ~ - CL:FL - ~ - ~ - ~
There are four steps to foiling a XANA attack: virtualize onto LYOKO, head to activated Tower, eliminate all monsters, and have Aelita deactivate said Tower.
For the first time ever, step three was ignored.
Aelita and Bryan were on the OverBike, with Odd above them on his flying surfboard. The three headed straight into the horde of pale monsters that started shooting at them. Odd was trying his best to dodge, not even bothering to shoot back yet, while Aelita used her energy field to deflect the lasers.
"Ready A-tan?"
She nodded and slowly relinquished her hold on his waist, unsure of whether this head-on approach would work. Bryan sensed her hesitating.
"Hey, don't worry. Everything will surely be alright, right?"
"R…right."
Bryan let go of the handles and focused all his energy to the palms of his hands.
"Now!" said Jeremie, as Bryan leapt off the OverBike. Aelita activated her wings and flew up behind Odd, who stopped dodging and started firing rapidly in front of him. At the same time, Bryan hurled an invisible blast of energy at the Crabs and Tarantulas, knocking some over and creating a narrow unguarded opening to the Tower. Out of life points, he was then devirutalized.
Next, Odd turned to Aelita, out of ammo. "It's up to you, Princess!" he yelled, as Aelita flew past him. Unarmed, Odd quickly succumbed to laser fire from all sides.
~ - ~ - ~ - CL:FL - ~ - ~ - ~
The sound of rapidly-moving footsteps stopped, which led the spectre to a dead end with boxes piled up on all sides. No escape.
As it walked closer to the end, the spectre failed to notice two figures standing atop the wall of boxes. And when it passed directly under them, Yumi lunged and swung a heavy metal bar at it.
Clang! It hit the head of the spectre and it collapsed. Instead of being knocked out cold, it was already trying to get up. Yumi then retreated to help Ulrich push on the boxes from the other side. That set off a chain reaction, as the stack of boxes caved in, burying the spectre in contents unknown.
Letting out a sigh, Ulrich mopped the sweat from his brow. He smiled at Yumi and began walking back to the entrance when a hand caught him by his neck and pinned him to the ground.
The spectre was back, and it was not amused.
Yumi aimed a kick, but as if it had eyes on the back of its head, the spectre sidestepped and landed a clean blow to Yumi's torso, the force of which sent her spiralling onto the floor. She struggled to get up, groaning.
The spectre turned its attention back to Ulrich, who struggled but couldn't break free of the vice-grip. All he could do was to stare into the dark shades, knowing full well that the eyes behind them were blank and heartless. Ulrich felt himself grow weaker and everything was starting to become blurry.
~ - ~ - ~ - CL:FL - ~ - ~ - ~
It had taken two team sacrifices, but Aelita was now only steps from the Tower entrance.
Then a black ball of shadows arose, blocking her way. "William–" she breathed.
The remnant Captain Cockshaw looked even more like someone who had never seen sunlight his entire life. Though paler, he still had an aura of arrogance. He unsheathed his Zweihander, a fancy name for his megasword of badassery, and held up a palm as if telling the other monsters 'she's mine'.
"Stick to the plan, Aelita," said Jeremie.
Everything will surely be alright.
"Yes," she replied. With energy fields forming on the tips of her hands, she flew straight into William. At the last second, she threw them at him and swerved up. William deflected them with ease.
Which was what Jeremie wanted.
While Willi-XANA was occupied with Aelita's barrage and maintaining his smug grin, LYOKO's angel had soared past and reached the base of the Tower. She couldn't resist sticking her tongue out at him before heading inside.
"NO!" Fake William screamed in frustration.
"Yes!" said Jeremie and Bryan in unison.
"So there you have it. Drinking Red Bull isn't the only thing that gives you wings."
"Shut up, Odd" said Jeremie, though he couldn't fight back a smile. It was going to be all right.
~ - ~ - ~ - CL:FL - ~ - ~ - ~
Yumi's eyes fluttered open, and she saw Ulrich struggling, limbs limp.
A small dose of adrenaline rushed into her. She looked around and reached for a brick. With the remainder of her arm strength, Yumi picked it up and hurled it at the spectre. It turned around and regarded her lazily. How bothersome. It flung Ulrich off to the side – who immediately started coughing and gasping for breath – and walked over to Yumi.
~ - ~ - ~ - CL:FL - ~ - ~ - ~
A whole virtual world away, Aelita had risen to the top floor of the Tower and placed her right palm on the scanner that had just materialized.
NAME: … AELITA_
CODE: … LYOKO_
"Tower deactivated," she said solemnly.
It was over.
~ - ~ - ~ - CL:FL - ~ - ~ - ~
Just as the spectre leaned in, it disappeared into thin air and left no trace of its existence.
They did it.
Yumi wobbled as she got up and walked towards Ulrich.
"Are you alright?" Without waiting for his answer, she wrapped her arms around him. This had been their closest near-death experience to date, and it likely would have been, had it not been for the others.
"Mhmm," was all Ulrich could utter while in her embrace. He was feeling warm, and it wasn't just from the sharing of body heat. Yumi was hugging him a bit too tightly – he felt as if each of his joints was about to snap – but he let it slide; the benefits outweighed the costs.
"Heh, knew they could do it," he said when she broke off.
A smile crept up on Yumi's face as she got up. "Yeah."
"So…where were we?" It seemed that hugs revitalized him better than heat packs or coffee. Yumi helped brush off some of the dust and straightened up Ulrich's shirt.
"Well, I do believe we have a train to catch," she said as the two made their way out of the warehouse, to welcome the clear blue sky once more.
11:44:47 … 11:44:48 … 11:44:49 … 11:44:50 … 11:44:51 … 11:44:52
The real 'Men in Black' were standing in a darkened windowless room.
A man and a woman stood over a body tied up against a wooden chair, staring through their black shades. Blood was dribbling from the base of his mouth, staining his tattered shirt. And yet, he was still and felt no pain.
He was already dead.
Beside the corpse was a tray filled with various tools of torture, including syringes, transparent liquids encased in small bottles and sharp blades.
"I thought you said he'd break, Apollo," the female murmured.
The man named Apollo could sense his partner's slight irritation, even though her voice betrayed no expression whatsoever as she brushed aside a strand of her neck-length hair. She took out a cloth and began to wipe the blood off their instruments of torture.
"Sure, blame me. He just wouldn't give in, even when we threatened his family. Of course, I'd expect nothing less from an ex-federal agent."
APOLLO
Bio: ?
Rank: VII
"While we're on the subject–"
"They don't matter anymore. Call Kastle and tell him to end it. How unfortunate," said Apollo as an afterthought, though his tone didn't reflect the sentiment. Diana nodded as she placed the used syringe into a black case.
DIANA
Bio: ?
Rank: VIII
"And yet we are no closer to finding it," Diana added, taking out her laptop. "He's not going to be pleased with us."
"We did what we could." Apollo took one look around; there wasn't much blood spilt. They had to make sure that all traces of them being here were erased.
Despite failing to achieve their tactical objectives, the last known member of the Project CARTHAGE team had now been eliminated. The word 'умерший' (deceased) appeared on Diana's laptop screen, under the profile of the man they had just murdered.
And now with no one left to oppose their organization, their goals would soon be achieved. Apollo pulled out a large black bag from his briefcase.
"Help me dispose of the body. We're done here."
11:52:37 … 11:52:38 … 11:52:39 … 11:52:40 … 11:52:41 … 11:52:42
"I managed to call Ulrich," said Jeremie as he and the others were heading back to Kadic.
"Everything's fine then?"
Jeremie nodded. "They're still a bit shaken by the spectre that showed up during the attack, but that's it." He specifically left out the part about the spectre taking the form of a black-suited agent.
"So what are you guys up to for the rest of the day?" asked Odd.
"We're going to finish next week's homework," Jeremie responded brightly.
Odd froze; doing homework on weekends was against the moral code of all students, but doing extra homework was just plain illegal.
"Tell me you're joking."
Jeremie and Bryan shrugged. Aelita laughed, going behind Odd and pushed to get him moving again.
"Of course we're joking silly. Jeremie's taking me downtown," she exclaimed happily, with every reason to be excited.
Prior to working with the SubDigitals, she had seldom gone outside of school grounds. Aelita always had a thing for visiting new places and seeing new sights; and was one of the few students who thoroughly enjoyed all school field trips, even to history museums.
In addition, it was the first time since forever that Jeremie had proposed an excursion; a proposal that involved doing something fun and recreational, with no academic purpose or relation to XANA.
"What about you, Bryan?"
"Nothing much. Actually," he glanced down at his watch, "I'm running a bit late, so I'll see you guys later? Umm…have fun and don't do anything inappropriate!" he added to Aelita.
"Hey!" Aelita tried to smack his shoulder, but this time he dodged successfully and sprinted off.
"So Odd, doing anything tonight now that you've managed to get a date with the girl of your most recent dreams?"
"Wait, it's nothing like that. Well…I dunno we've only started to know each other. Catherine and I are heading out later as well. But I've still got physics homework."
"I thought it was against your moral code to do homework on weekends."
Odd shook his head. "It's only against said code if you elect to do it. If someone forces you to finish it before you can go out with her, that's an exception. Hmm…you know, I wonder if Jeremie will actually change his mind and really decide to start working on the next math assignment," Odd said teasingly.
Aelita's cheerfulness flickered. She immediately rushed forwards and grabbed Jeremie's arm, demanding that he better not have a change in plans.
Odd chuckled. It had already felt like a day had gone by, but with XANA – well the fake one – taken care of, there was still plenty of time. It felt as if it was going to be a long day, and that was fine with him. First however, a trio of kinematics problems awaited him.
11:59:57 … 11:59:58 … 11:59:59 … 12:00:00
Fragmented Legacy Fact 025:
This upcoming 'season' of CL:FL is largely inspired by the television series 24. 24 hours, 24 chapters. Obviously, it probably won't be anywhere near Jack Bauer levels of explosiveness, but it does go to show just how much the world can change in a day.
A|N's:
I'm back! That's all to be said for now, really.
Feel free to leave a comment, and as always, thanks for reading Code LYOKO: Fragmented Legacies =)