Wow. I'm still here. It has been a while, but I bring treats. The next chapter
Return of Their Past
By natdrat00
Chapter Nine
Discovery
"Yes dear, I'll be home in a minute. A bientôt." Sebastian said as he hung up his car phone. Looking in his mirror he saw a black sedan flashing its lights and approaching rapidly. "What in the world?" he said as it flew by, "That thing must have been doing 200 Kph."
The black car continued past with a green glow visible underneath on this overcast day. "Umm err. Mr. Santos, Do we need to be going this fast?" Aelita asked as she looked at the speedometer from the back seat.
"Your kid is missing right?" Randy Santos asked as he hit the brakes hard and made a sharp left hand turn, "I think that is a good reason for swiftness." he commented through gritted teeth as he shifted up to third.
"What good are we dead? AHHHHH!!!" Jeremie screeched as Randy narrowly missed an oncoming car. "COULD YOU PLEASE GET ON THE RIGHT SIDE!!!"
"Sorry." Randy replied calmly veering back into the correct lane. They continued on down the street at a lightning fast pace. A sharp left hander and they accelerated up to 300 Kph. "Almost there." he stated.
They could now see their old school as Randy laid into the brakes hard. "OH CRUD!!!" both Aelita and Jeremie said as the car began to rotate slightly to the left. Jeremie was sure he heard Randy laugh as he turned the wheel to the right causing the car to spin and come to rest half on the curb in front of the main entrance to Kadic. "Thank the lord!" said the couple in unison again as they leapt out of the now stopped car.
"The Eiffel Tower to Kadic in just under three minutes, not bad." Randy proudly said as he got out of his car. "I could have done better."
"Are you crazy?" Jeremie questioned.
"A little, but the voices are quiet these days." Randy replied with a smile.
"Crazy or not, he got us here quick." Aelita said as she grabbed her husband's arm and began pulling him to the main office as Randy followed. "You don't have to come with us sir. You can go ahead and find you daughter."
"I'll find her later. Right now I'm concerned about yours." Randy said caringly.
"We appreciate the thought." Jeremie said forgetting the ride and beginning to focus on Angela. They made their way across the old campus and went into the office. "Where is our son?" He asked the secretary.
"Oh, Jeremie, Aelita. I didn't expect you here so soon." Sissy said from the back office doorway. "Joseph is in here." She said and motioned them in.
"Come on Randy, You have come this far." Aelita said as she and Jeremie proceeded into the office. Randy followed and closed the door behind him.
"Mom? Dad?" Joseph said uneasily seeing his parents.
"Joseph." Jeremie said sternly, "Do you know where your sister is?"
"I can't say anything." Joseph replied.
"Yes or No, Do you know where your sister is?" Jeremie asked again slightly agitated.
"Honey you can trust us. We just want to know that Angela is safe." Aelita said as she knelt in front of her son and put her hands on his shoulders.
Joseph looked in her eyes then his father's. He looked to the floor, off to the side, and finally replied, "Yes".
"Then where is she?" Jeremie said next.
"Is she okay?" Aelita followed with her question.
"I can't say." Joseph said quietly.
"What do you mean you can't say?" Jeremie said trying his best to remain calm with his son's behavior.
"It could put her into danger if I tell anyone." Joseph said becoming increasingly uneasy with the direction of this conversation. "She is safe now."
"Please Joseph, tell us where she is." Aelita said.
"If you know what's good for you, you'll start talking NOW!" Jeremie said, his worry for his daughter growing.
"Calm down Einstein." Sissy said to Jeremie, "Yelling won't help. He just said she was alright."
Jeremie sighed as Joseph looked at the asst. principal. "What did you call him?" He asked.
"What? Oh Einstein. It's his old nickname from when we where in school here. He was always messing with a computer somewhere." Sissy explained.
Upon hearing this Joseph started thinking. "I'll show you." He said and got up.
"What, just because of a nickname?" Jeremie said.
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth honey." Aelita said as she turned her attention back to their son. "Now where is she?"
"This way." Joseph answered as he began to leave the room. He stopped at the door where Randy was standing.
Randy had a slightly confused look on his face when Jeremie spoke up. "Let him go please." As he said that, Randy stepped out of the way.
"Where are we going?" Aelita asked.
"To the car." is all that Joseph said.
"Our car isn't here," Aelita said turning to Sissy. "Can we take yours?"
"I ride a motorcycle." Sissy responded.
"I'll drive." Randy said.
Joseph looked at Randy and then back at his parents.
"He can be trusted." Aelita assured him. They followed Joseph out of the office and down the hall.
When they made it out of the building Joseph paused. "Which one is yours?" he questioned Randy.
"The black one." Randy said with his hand in his pocket. The black car in front of them honked and it's lights flashed. The group proceeded to get in the car when Sissy came out of the building.
"I would like to come too. This concerns a pupil of mine." she said as she walks to them. "I want to know she's okay for myself."
"Does the school not need you?" Aelita asked.
"I'll take my bike. They can call my mobile if they need me." Sissy said with a worried look on her face.
"Okay, come on." Jeremie said as he got in the passenger side front of Randy's car. Aelita got behind him and Joseph was beside her.
Randy got in the driver's seat and started up his car, a low hum emanating from the exhaust. He looked in his mirror and saw Sissy on a jet black Kawasaki Ninja, waiting for him to go. He put it into gear and eased out of his "parking space". As he gets onto the road he looks in his mirror to Joseph. "Which way?" he asked.
"Turn left." Joseph replied "Then left again and then keep going straight." At hearing this Aelita reached between the seat and the door to squeeze her husbands arm. Jeremie felt this and reached up and squeezed her hand back. They made the two lefts and continued on straight for three blocks. At the end they came to a four-way stop.
Ahead of them was a blocked off bridge that was closed. To the left and right was a road that ran beside the river. "Left or right?" Randy asked Joseph while looking in the mirror again.
"Straight, over the bridge." Joseph replied.
Randy looked ahead at the wooden roadblocks on the bridge, then to his left followed by his right. "Okay." he calmly says as he revs the engine and the car lurches forward. Accelerating across the street the black car smashes through the roadblocks and moves over the bridge, stopping on the other side in front of a large building. "I guess we get out now?" He asks as he turns to face the three passengers of his car. Noticing their wide eyes, gritted teeth, and an amazing ability to latch onto anything solid he replies "Sorry."
Aelita and Jeremie get out of the car not sure if they will ever get used to Randy's driving. But right now that isn't important, what is important is their daughter. Joseph walks into the building followed by the others. Sissy gets off her bike and catches up to them as they enter it. "Do you always drive like that?" she asks.
"Only when I'm in another country, it's easier to get away Scott-free." Randy replies. "This place seems familiar." As he says this Aelita and Jeremie look at each other. "This is the old Renault factory isn't it?" Hearing this, the two worried parents calm a bit. Sissy states, "Yes, it was supposed to be torn down, but some group stepped in claiming it was of historical importance."
"Do you want a history lesson or Angela?" Joseph said moving to the edge of the balcony. "We have to go down these ropes." He said as he grabbed one and slid down. "If it's where Angela is, okay." Randy replied and took a rope and went down. Aelita, Jeremie, and Sissy soon followed.
"They walked to the nearby elevator and Joseph pressed the down button. At the first level he spoke up. "Flip the panel and press…" but didn't finish before Jeremie had already entered the code. As the doors began opening he asked "How did you know the code?"
"I thought you guys turned this off?" Sissy asked as the door was now opened.
"Joseph, what did Yolanda want?" Koji asked from the terminal chair as the other kids turned to the elevator. "Who are you?" he asked defensively as Aelita and Jeremie stepped out.
"They're my parents." Joseph called out as he stepped out followed by Sissy and lastly Randy.
Jeremie quickly walked to the chair and looked at Koji. "Out!" he commanded and Koji abided without a word. He sat down and began typing feverishly.
"You not telling me something." Joseph stated. "Could you please explain how you know the door code and this terminal layout?" he asked.
Just then Randy noticed a certain girl who had been paying attention to Jeremie had failed to notice him. "Jessica Kayla Ann Santos!!!" He practically yelled. "I think a few people here have some explaining to do!"
Everyone turned to Randy then to Jessica. "Umm hi dad." she sheepishly said.
Jeremie ignored this for the most part and brought up the COMM sub-systems. "Angela, are you there Angela?"
"Dad?" came a reply as a window opened to show Angela's face. "What are you doing here? And you too mom?" she replied with great surprise.
"How are you honey, are you okay?" Jeremie asked.
"What happened?" Aelita asked as well.
"I'm fine. It's rather relaxing in here." Angela replied. "But what are you two doing here?"
"We were in town for a meeting when the school called. We came right over." Aelita said then turned to Jeremie "Is my profile still in the system?"
"Hang on, pardon me sweetie." Jeremie said as he moved Angela's window to the side a little so he could check the systems. "It's there but it is a little corrupted, nothing important, just clerical things."
"Okay, I'm going in. Get it ready." Aelita said looking at the screen. "Alright." Jeremie said.
"Hold on, I'm a little lost, so if we could press the rewind button a little and get to the place where things are explained." Randy said.
"Saturday we were bored, so we went exploring." Crissy started to explain their side of it as Aelita stopped to hear what happened. "I found this tunnel in the school's boiler room. We wanted to know where it went so we followed it to the storm sewers. We continued through them till we got to a dead end and saw a ladder going up to an opening."
Jessica interrupted and continued on. "I was the first one up. I saw this factory and thought it looked cool, so I led the group in. We came down the ropes and saw the light in the elevator was on." She explained trying not to look her father in the face.
Mike stepped in to tell his part of the story. "I volunteered to check and make sure it was safe, I went down to the three floors and they were all locked but the elevator was in good shape. Then I came back up and told them about the doors."
Joseph stepped in, "I hot wired the doors open and we found this terminal, after noticing the cables going down we followed them. I got the second door open and then we went to the third. This big super computer came up and a switch appeared."
"I wanted to flip it but Joseph said stop." Angela began explaining. "I talked them into it and then we came back up here. Joseph said this was like some kind of game and it could send people into it."
"Then I suggested that we go." Koji said taking his fair share of the blame. "Ignoring Joseph's warnings."
"And I insisted." Mike said.
"I accept the blame." Jessica spoke up, "I am the oldest and I know better."
"We're all to blame." Angela said not wanting Jessica to get all the blame, the others nodded.
"Yes, it appears that way." Randy said "Jessica, I'm disappointed in you. I'm disappointed in you too Mike."
"I know Sir." Jessica replied to her father "I insisted to be the first one in, to be sure it was safe." she continued as her father picked up an empty black bag from the corner. At which point she cringed.
"Jessica, I'll ask this once." Randy said as he turned to face his daughter holding the bag "Where Is Your Gun!!!"
"In my room under my bed, sir." Jessica almost whispers.
"She has a gun at school???" Sissy questions.
"She shouldn't, it was never to leave the car!" Randy said "It only has rubber bullets and she knows gun safety."
"I just got it for when I went in." Jessica said defending herself "But after I got devirtualized I forgot it was on me until I got to my room. I was going to put it back as soon as possible."
"That doesn't matter you…wait, 'Devirtualized?" Randy said as he grasped what his girl had said.
"The supercomputer on the third floor creates and controls a virtual world known as 'Lyoko'" Jeremie began explaining "The scanners on the second level allow someone to be scanned, transferred, and then virtualized onto Lyoko. Once there the person is in full form just like this world with arms, legs, and etc. The only difference being that they are part of the program. In fact the people themselves are programs. Both going and coming back are hard on the body. So the computer assigns each person one hundred 'Life Points' and when that is depleted they will be devirtualized, brought back, so that they have enough energy and are not killed in the process. After which they need to wait about twelve hours before they can go back, so that they have time to recover."
"Are you telling me this abandoned factory houses a supercomputer generating an artificial world and that a person can travel to and from this 'Lyoko'?" Randy calmly inquired. Jeremie and Aelita nodded. "That sounds a lot like your game."
"It was our inspiration." Aelita answered "We used to go to Lyoko when we were in school. Speaking of which, are you ready to send me?" she asked her husband.
"Go to the scanner." Jeremie replied.
"Can we go back?" Jessica asked.
Randy replied "Oh let me think…umm NO!"
"I think it should just be me going." Aelita said as the elevator door closed. She went down a level and got into a scanner. "I'm in position."
"Just like old times." Jeremie said as he typed away "Transfer Aelita. Scanner Aelita. Virtualization."
Well, how was it? No idea when the next chap will be ready, hopefully sooner than this one or the ones before. Please Read and Review.