To the readers

I appreciate any comments on the story.

Notes

[] are used to indicate stage directions

All dialogue follows a "Speaker: dialogue" format

{} are used for author comments.

CONTINUE

[Just as the golem is about to stab Inès, the door bursts open. The Boss kicks the golem in the chest & it goes sprawling on the floor. The Boss plants her foot on its metal frame just to ensure it won't get back up without a fight.]

The Boss: Get them out of here!

[Jackal & another agent pull the two girls out and shoves them back in the central terminal room. Mabel is back on her feet, but definitely woozy. There is a loud crash and the hallway lights up with laser flashes. The Boss jumps back into the room with a noticeable tear in her pristine uniform. There are sounds of other agents fighting the golem, briefly broken up by a mash up of sci-fi sound effects.]

Jackal: Someone keep an eye on the civilians. [turns to The Boss & whispers] Ma'am I know this is a sensitive topic, but [points to the hallway & whispers] are the Lyoko Warriors in any possible position to help?

The Boss: [gruff] No. We're on our own.

[Ethan rolls under the Golem's stomp. Jäger and Lone Elite shoot at golem. The bullets do nothing to its plasma body.]

Ethan: [To the two agents] Guys it's a MONSTER! Video Game Rule #2: Find the weak point and hit it 'til it dies!

[They both fire at its head. One pings off, but it immediately changes its sword to a rectangular blue energy shield with metal edges and guards its head. It fires its blaster at them. The two dive for cover. Ethan is marveling at the golem.]

Ethan: [The first time he's had an interest in anything so far] [Looks up at the golem with a creepy smile on his face.] [He says as if not understanding it himself.] You…entertain me.

[The golem transforms its blaster to a sword and lunges at Ethan. Ethan jumps back from the blade and onto the rubble from the destroyed rampart, then up over the blade and kicks the golem's head straight off. It slams and clatters to a halt on the ground next to Jäger.]

Lone Elite: Wow! Nice job kid.

Ethan: The name's Ethan A-

[The golem turns around toward Ethan.]

Ethan: Huh, usually when I kick something's head off it dies.

[The golem spins around and hammers the edge of its shield into Ethan. He goes flying through a window and into one of the covered pedways forming the perimeter of the courtyard.]

[The golem bursts into the room, launching three MIB agents across the room.]

The Boss: Maggie, can you shut down the tower or at least stop this thing?

Maggie: No, but I did find the voice channels. Hello, is anyone reaching me?

Axel: Who's there?

Maggie: [calm, collective] My name is Maggie. Listen, you need to get out of that world. There is a blue creature here that's attacking us.

Axel: Ignore the body, aim for the head. Sweep the limbs aside.

[All the MIB unload a collective metric absurdity of bullets at its head. It raises its shield arms to block. The second the fire ceases, The Boss jumps down from the rotating staircase & kicks downward at its arms severing them off. The shields hit the ground with a heavy thud.

The Boss: Aim, FIRE!

[All the MIB aim exactly at its egg head. Every MIB empties their clips…

And it does nothing by dent its face.]

Jackal: [adds after the fact] Supernatural monster. Guns and projectiles are probably useless. Go figure.

[The golem retrieves its hands and transforms them into blasters again. It sweeps the room with plasma projectiles. Everyone takes cover behind the desks.]

The Boss: You two stay here. Jackal, hold down this position, protect Maggie, & make sure they don't touch anything. Everyone else, come with me with a full mag. We need to get this thing out of the room to let Maggie work.

[The MIB agents charge the golem with a makeshift barricade of a desk, forcing it back out the hole they made in the metal door when they broke in. The golem's arms are grasping around trying to get a shot in. It lands a lucky shot on Maggie in the terminal seat up on the raised platform. She slumps over. After the other agents push the golem out of the room, Jackal notices and goes to check on her.]

Jackal: [concerned] Oh. Listen you two. I'm going to explain as much as I can without getting fired for revealing national secrets. If we are going to make that monster go away, we need her [points to Maggie] up and on that keyboard. I need to go get adrenaline and first aid. Do. Not. TOUCH ANYTHING IN HERE! [starts running down the stairs and out the door.]

Inès: Mabel. I can't find a tell.

Mabel: Inès this is actually happening. I saw it too.

[Inès starts feeling weird. She sees multiple golems appear in her vison. They all attack her.]

Mabel: Inès, it's okay.

[Inès falls over and just curls up on the floor.]

Inès: STOP IT! Mabel help me.

Mabel: Just find the tell. You're going to be okay. Just … [just collapses against one of the desks in pure submission as she can only look at Inès in pain on the floor.] Damn. WHAT is going ON TODAY?!

[Inès is just quivering and curled up in a defensive position on the floor.]

[Axel jumps to a new plateau orbiting the planet in the opposite direction as it passes his current one. The golem jumps down after him.]

Axel: Got to catch it in mid-jump animation.

[Axel turns around and tries to punch it as it lands, the spike extended toward its head.]

[The golem slams its blaster into his chest. A spray of lasers flies into his chest stopping him in his tracks & send him back. He took two to his arm and shoulder before he was out of range.]

Axel LP: 75 - 70 - 65

SYSTEM ALERT
LP has dropped below 70%. Switch to phase 2.

Axel: Wait? What!?

[A halberd, long stick with axe head on both ends, appears on Axel's back. He detaches it with a click.]

Axel: [Startled. Frustrated] I don't …don't know how to use this!

Mabel: Come on Inès, you have to help yourself.

"I can help her."

[A female voice emanates from the computer speakers.]

Mabel: Who are you?

"Why does everyone keep asking questions I don't know the answer to? Look, Sherlock said his problems went away when he was virtualized, so I think the same will happen to her. Something about it not being his real body."

Mabel: Um, okay. If it will help her. What do I need to do?

"Just put her in the scanner below. I can do everything else."

[Axel tries a spinning slash with his new weapon. The golem deflects it up with its sword and slashes Axel's leg, spitting out sparks.]

Axel LP: 65 - 40

[He goes down hard and the halberd slips from his grip. It hits the ground edge first and sticks up straight into the air.]

Axel: Why did you have to go for the leg. [flashback of pain]

[Axel tries to get up. The golem puts its foot down on his back and aims its cannon at his face.]

[Inès is in the scanner.]

"Transfer, sca-"

Mabel: JUST DO THE THING ALREADY!

[Inès floats up in the scanner and there is a flash of light.]

[A figure lands behind the golem.

She opened her sleepy eyes to see the golem and Axel. Both of them turn to look at her. She looks down at her hands and examines herself. The girl has a velvet, long sleeved jacket on that surrounds her head in a high collar. Around her waist was tied another purple jacket. Her sleeves ended in draping cuffs. She was wearing orange pants that were rolled up around her ankles to allow strange metal braces to be strapped to her legs. On her head, was a striped orange beret with red hair spilling out from the edges. Orange streak highlights under her eyes that end in a downward point.]

Mabel: Inès, you good?

Inès?: I don't know why, but [she smiles for the first time] I feel better than ever. [looks over at Axel] Oh, you're about to be killed, aren't you?

[Inès? pulls orange cards from her sleeves and flicks them at the golem. They explode against its back, deforming its shape and blasting it backward off of Axel. Axel gets up.]

Axel: Hey beret girl! I can kill this thing, but I need you to distract it.

Inès?: How? I remember the Men in Black outside all firing at it and it did nothing.

Axel: [He focuses] This place runs on rules. The golem only seems powerful because it has such a critical weakness it has to protect. [flashback to all the times it covered its head] I'm fairly certain the only way to actually hurt its head is something from this world. [flashback to when he elbowed it in the head] Anything else is just a nuisance. Can you distract it long enough for me to get used to my weapon?

Inès?: But of course.

[The golem gets back up, fully reformed. Axel yanks his halberd free. Inès? throws her cards at the golem. The golem blows them all apart with blaster fire. Axel jumps to the side of the platform. He aims the weapon at an imaginary target, then swings at its neck then at its legs, noticeably clumsy. He spins it behind his back, jumps up and slams it down blowing a chunk away from the edge of the platform, the pieces spinning down toward the blue light below.

Inès? throws her cards in its face. It blocks with its shield and slides toward her with a sword for its other hand. Inès? literally dances and cartwheels away.

Axel's swinging his weapon with more flow now. He thrusts forward and reverses his grip, and spins around using the motion to slash upward with no pause.

The golem finally notices him. It lunges forward to stab him in the back.]

KLANG

[Straight out of his combo, Axel parries it to the side with the shaft of the halberd and uses the same motion to hook the golem's leg with the other axe at the end of his weapon. He pulls hard. The golem goes down flat on its back. Axel thrusts at it three times. It blocks all the strikes, now with both of its arms as shields. It slams him backward. Just as he reaches the edge of the platform, he posts with the other end of the weapon to stop his fall. He clicks blue dot on his glove twice.]

CLICK CLICK

Axel: Chamber.

[The halberd's shaft and Axel's greaves extend and slam into the ground propelling him forward. Axel lifts his weapon up to finish it off. The golem switches a shield for a blaster. Three lasers hit Axel in the face.]

Axel LP: 40 - 10

BING
LP has dropped below 40%. Switch to phase 3.

Axel: NO! I just got used to this one.

[The golem blocks its face with its shield.

The halberd's head unfolds. The blade becomes longer & slides right in between the shield and the golem's face. Axel recognizes the shape.

Axel lands and takes a step forward to lean into a swing.]

Axel: REND!

[The blade instantly passes through the golem's head and slices a divot into the metal floor and then out into the air again. Axel has to stop the swing himself before he falls over. The two pieces of its head fall to the ground. The golem shutters for a second, seems to freeze, then fractures, distorts & explodes into a nebula of red pixels.

Inès? whistles at the picture of Axel holding a giant scythe framed by the rapidly disappearing red particles.]

Inès?: Nice.

[Axel is shuttering. A huge smile grows on his face. His scythe folds up again and disappears.]

BING
Link core absorbed.

Axel LP: 10 - 100
Phase 3 - Phase 1.

Axel: Hey Beret girl… how do you feel here? I mean, you having fun? Terrified? Confusion?

Inès?: Bizarre question, but…I feel [pauses to put it into words] like the real me.

Axel: Couldn't have put it better myself. Finally. A world where things are fair.

[Just then, more golems spawn in. They drop down onto the plateau the two are on.]

Axel: [nervous] We we oh, need to go.

Inès?: Do you have somewhere in mind?

"You can come here."

[A voice rings down from the sky.]

Axel: [puts a hand to his ear] And where is that?

[Pan around the blue planet. Down on another plateau, there is another tower. This one has a blue aura. The camera pans inside. Shows a girl with long white hair. Her avatar is tattered & broken.]

"Someplace safe. And [She smiles and looks at something on a rectangular floating screen in front of her] And…I have something that can fix all of your problems."

[The screen in front of her holds two words. Code Lyoko.]

[Opening Theme plays]

Episode 1 end.