29: The Longest Day [3:00 PM – 4:00 PM]

PREVIOUSLY ON CL:FL

"Good work. Your dentist would be incredibly proud."
- BRYAN GREEN (Has roller skates)

"To be honest, though, it was a pretty good picture."
- AELITA STONES (Has a camera)

"But you're still deleting that, right?"
- JEREMIE BELPOIS (Has memorized the bus routes of Paris)

"Apparently there may be a chance of a major snowstorm tonight."
- APOLLO (Has sex)

"And that's how I obtained my Master's Degree in Being Awesome."
- ODD DELLA ROBBIA (Has no Bachelor's Degree in Being Awesome)

"You know, Bryan wasn't wrong on this one. You are a pretty adequate storyteller."
- CATHERINE HORVATH (Has evil ex-boyfriends)

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 3:00 PM AND 4:00 PM.

3:00:04 … 3:00:05 … 3:00:06 … 3:00:07 … 3:00:08 … 3:00:09

Jeremie still didn't fully trust Bryan.

The Canadian exchange student arrived right out of the blue, and with him, an even bigger part of the Project CARTHAGE mystery. It was only after he gave some more details regarding his background did Jeremie realize the enormity of the task Team LYOKO had to undertake. And he didn't know everything tied together; there were too many unexplained loose ends and 'what ifs'…

The antagonists of their situation expanded beyond the AI unit – XANA, a program which was created by a joint partnership of NATO countries to counteract the threats of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

There was supposedly a group that was after the supercomputer. Yet, the secret organization he nicknamed the 'Men in Black' – seemed to be wiped out from history itself. Their only proof of existence lied within Aelita's vague memories. Perhaps it was even her imagination… However, Jeremie gave her the benefit of the doubt. Aelita had remained steadfast and genuinely fearful of the fine-suited group, and Jeremie believed her.

His initial theory was that the MIB were a rogue section of the French secret service – the SDECE or DGSE at the time – who were after the supercomputer for the nation's own ambitions.

Then Bryan threw that theory out the window. Why would the French government infiltrate or sabotage the project of an international alliance that it was a part of? It did seem odd for France to be one of the bad guys of the world.

That led him back to square one. Who were the Men in Black from Aelita's memories? Soviet agents? He hadn't really considered this case as much, as the Soviet Union itself had been dissolved in 1991.

But what became of those who tried to capture Aelita and her father all those years ago? Did they finally give up? Or are they still actively searching for them and the remains of Project CARTHAGE?

And if so, how safe is Aelita – and the rest of Team LYOKO for that matter?

~ - ~ - ~ - CL:FL - ~ - ~ - ~

"Seriously, Bryan, do you know of anyone who might be after Aelita?"

Jeremie vividly remembered confronting Bryan a couple of days after their first joint mission on LYOKO. He wondered whether Bryan was keeping anything from him regarding Aelita's connection with the supercomputer.

He was.

Bryan said nothing for a moment, and Jeremie expected him to lash out in irritation of being asked the same question. Finally he shook his head.

"Not to my knowledge, no."

"Alright. But if you do come across something about any connections to her past…"

"You really care about her, don't you?" Bryan asked softly and suddenly.

Jeremie nodded.

"In that case, can you keep a secret?"

Jeremie was taken aback. While he mistrusted Bryan, it seemed as though Bryan was willing to trust him.

"Sure," Jeremie replied, slightly uneasy of what he was about to be told.

"Alright. The reason why I didn't you or the others this was because…I mean you're already dealing with one dangerous foe…and no offense, to fight against another formidable adversary could prove disastrous."

Fair enough. Facing XANA has never exactly been a leisurely stroll in the park. Two enemies at once…that never really pans out well. Like Germany during both world wars. Two separate fronts. Two formidable foes. Two defeats in a row.

Bryan cleared his throat. "When you started asking about whether I knew about some 'Men in Black', I think I got the context a bit off… I've been looking into something for a while now. But I have yet to find anything concrete. I guess like you, I'm also trying to put the pieces together."

"So you're saying that…you also think some underground group exist? The same ones who are after the supercomputer and Aelita?"

"Umm…Like I mentioned before, I strongly doubt Aelita is being targeted."

Bryan swallowed. "However, that doesn't mean that there aren't those who'd like to get a hold of her."

Jeremie looked increasingly worried. "Why?"

"Anthea Hopper. Is the name familiar to you?"

So Bryan knew about her too… "Yes. Aelita's mother. One day she disappeared, and no one ever found out what happened to her."

Bryan nodded. "Let's suppose there's a group after the supercomputer. Who would be the number one person on their list if they wanted to find it?"

"…Franz – Aelita's father."

"Who, as the chief of Project CARTHAGE must have been under heavy security. So, what's a good way to bait him out?"

Jeremie's throat went dry.

What was one of the best ways to lure someone out of hiding, or force them to submit? Take something precious away from them, such as wealth, personal treasures…

Or their loved ones.

~ - ~ - ~ - CL:FL - ~ - ~ - ~

"Jeremie?" Bryan nudged his shoulder.

What? He asked, yet no sound came out from his mouth. He didn't recall this part of the conversation.

He felt another nudge, but Bryan had vanished from his view. A blinding white light struck him as he heard his name being called out again. But the voice was different yet familiar…

"Jeremie," Aelita whispered for the third time.

He stirred, opening his eyes groggily. His head was rested on a soft and warm surface, which smelled of fresh lemons… Aelita's shoulder.

Shocked and growing redder with embarrassment, he quickly righted himself. How long had he been asleep?

Aelita giggled as Jeremie sputtered an apology. "Hey, you don't have to be sorry. Although you did miss a couple of great views," she pointed out the window.

"By the way, the bus stop you told me to look out for is coming up. I thought I'd wake you up sooner rather than later."

"Thanks Aelita."

"You sure do like talking in your sleep though," she added. Jeremie's throat went dry in the present. So Aelita had heard everything? Surprisingly, she didn't look worried at all.

As soon as she saw his expression, Aelita couldn't help it and burst into laughter. "I'm just kidding," she said jovially. She was tempted to take out her camera, but decided to cut Jeremie some slack.

Aelita got up excitedly as the bus slowed down and playfully pushed Jeremie forwards towards the exit doors, eager to get off the bus.

She had no idea that she was being watched.

3:20:59 … 3:21:00 … 3:21:01 … 3:21:02 … 3:21:03 … 3:21:04

Bryan put on his black shades and his Maple Leafs baseball cap atop his cropped and dyed hair, and stepped out of the Levesque house.

He had to ensure that he did not look too inconspicuous, while at the same time concealing his identity. Attracting any form of attention was the last thing he wanted to do, which could jeopardize his mission.

Men in Black…

Bryan chuckled to himself. He still thought that made an organization seem less menacing and more like they were the protagonists from a movie of the same name, protecting mankind from aliens.

Nevertheless, he wasn't investigating a fabled and possibly fictional entity today. Rather, it would be a rather eventless interview with a man closely linked to Project CARTHAGE. He had no idea as to how Valerie found him so easily, and quickly to boot. He had only provided her with a name, a blurry photograph and an occupation. Speaking of which…

Bryan was still standing at the doorway when his call was put through.

"Hey Bri. Nice timing. I'm all set."

"Excellent. Nice work Val. By the way, this is a secure line, right?"

"What? It…oh crap, hold on… Wait. Where exactly are you right now?"

"The Levesque's place."

"You're in a residential neighbourhood that has one of the lowest crime rates, and there's a high likelihood of no baddies nearby. Why on earth do we have to be on a secure line?"

"Uh, so that I can feel secure?"

Valerie snorted. "Ha ha. Moving along, I'm sending you the address and details to your phone."

Several minutes later, Bryan had downloaded the files and was mapping the bus routes to another quiet suburban neighbourhood on the other side of town.

"Alright. Time to have a chat with Mr. Alan Meyer."

"Remember, he might be going by his other name."

"Right. Let's go find our good buddy Lowel," Bryan rephrased his previous statement.

"…He probably won't like being called that."

Bryan sighed exasperatedly over the phone, and a chuckle could be heard from the other end. Formalities had never been his specialty or of his preference.

"Fine. Let's go find Professor Tyron," he said, locking the door behind him.

3:30:33 … 3:30:34 … 3:30:35 … 3:30:36 … 3:30:37 … 3:30:38

Three hours on the train had gone by as if it were thirty minutes. It was clearly evident that time flies when you are having fun. And long trips always seem shorter when you are occupied with something other than counting down the minutes until you arrive at your destination.

And for Yumi and Ulrich, they did exactly just that. They played card games and hang man, the latter activity evidently not being Ulrich's strong suit. They spent most of the journey just talking, seamlessly transitioning between topics, including school, cafeteria food, music, the Bundesliga (German football league) and Ulrich's newfound interest in manga.

LYOKO was never mentioned.

Following a late lunch of sandwiches and soda from the trolley, the two friends were leaning back in their seats comfortably, with just under two-and-a-half hours to go before they reached Nice.

Ulrich stifled a yawn and took another look outside. Through the glare he could only make out blurs of flat countryside as he zipped passed them. He then felt Yumi tap his shoulder and he turned around. She had taken out her green iPod mini from her pocket.

"Want to listen?" she said, holding up an earphone.

"Sure. Thanks Yumi," he replied as he inserted the earphone into his ear. He appreciated the fact that she didn't play the music that loudly so as to kill eardrums; it was only as loud as it needed to be.

Yumi had lowered the volume such that the tunes of the Irish rock band U2 almost sounded like a lullaby. Rays of sunlight continued to protrude through the wide windows, slowly sapping away at the energy of the two students.

It wasn't long before both of them, eyelids heavy and bellies full, dozed off.

~ - ~ - ~ - CL:FL - ~ - ~ - ~

Apparently, she still had it in her. And so did he.

The moans of pleasure subsided as Apollo lay naked with his back on the bed, the white sheets covering up to his torso. He had an arm wrapped around the white skin of the woman lying contentedly on his chest, her blonde hair now all tangled and tousled.

On the wooden drawer next to the bed, Apollo's phone began to vibrate. Apollo shut his eyes, trying his best to ignore it.

"You should get that. It could be important," said Diana, twirling her finger across his chest as the phone kept vibrating.

"It can wait," Apollo muttered, but Diana had already lifted her head up and reached for her white robe.

Sighing, Apollo sat up, and first placed his lips onto Diana's neck, eliciting a gasp and a little shiver from her. He then reached for his mobile and saw the caller ID.

Hmph. Diana was right. It was important. He picked up.

"Агент семь (Agent seven)," said Apollo.

For a while, all Apollo did was listen, occasionally uttering a simple 'yes' or 'no'. Meanwhile Diana had gone to the washroom for another shower, and he wanted the phone conversation to end soon so he could join her.

Yet, what he was about to hear changed everything.

"We've found her," said the emotionless voice on the other end.

3:43:11 … 3:43:12 … 3:43:13 … 3:43:14 … 3:43:15 … 3:43:16

Compared to everyone else, Odd and Catherine looked quite normal.

The convention centre looked essentially like Halloween 2.0: a place full of cute cosplayers, masked heroes and the like. Besides the costumes, there were booths all lined up featuring the latest games, graphic novels, comics and manga.

They were lining up to register for the Halo tournament. Odd took a glance at the crowd gathering at the exhibit. Although he had always boasted of his competency in the game, he wondered how he would fare against people other than Ulrich, his primary playing partner who was renowned for aiming for the feet instead of the head.

Indeed, several participants appeared to be hard-core gamers. Some Odd assumed based on appearance: they wore thick glasses and looked like they had never seen sunlight in weeks. Others he could tell based on the gamer jargon they used, such as "screen-watching is for noobs," "I only do PvP," and "does it ever feel laggy to you?"

"Just so you know, I don't think we should get our hopes up on finishing near the top of the leaderboard," Odd murmured to Catherine, who didn't seem fazed one bit.

"So is Kadic's number one sharpshooter is already calling it quits?" she teased.

"Of course not! Are you kidding? He's just telling you to never underestimate the competition."

Catherine laughed. "Right. Good, your expertise in FPS should balance out my lesser lacklustre talents."

"I thought you said you were good at crushing your enemies in Halo."

"I'm pretty sure a modest person like me would never say such a thing, unless I was talking about tennis – nothing like winning in straight sets. Seriously, I'm not even that good at in Halo. I just like shooting games."

"Nah, I'm sure you'll do fine. Sniper's intuition," said Odd encouragingly. "Besides, having fun is 95% of the pie of gaming."

"So winning isn't a major component?"

"Nope. Win or lose, you still get to eat a piece of pie."

"Thanks, now I'm starting to feel a bit hungry. If you change your mind though, I think I might have a cunning strategy to ensure that we emerge victorious."

"What's that?"

"Flirting with our opponents," Catherine suggested with a sly smile.

Odd took another nervous look around. Most of the participants were male and some were looking back in his direction, most likely not at him, but at the girl he was with.

He coughed. "I don't recommend that. Like I said earlier, winning isn't that important."

"If you say so. Anyways, what's in the other five percent of your game pie?" asked Catherine with a smirk.

"Two percent is frustration due to lag or long loading time and the rest accounts for washroom breaks and yummy snacks."

"Just wondering, where did you pull these numbers from?"

"Gamer stats dot net. By the way, did you know that forty percent of all games sold are rated E for everyone?"

"Really? The only thing I recall is that fifty percent of stats are made up."

"Oh, so what if I'm right?"

"Then I'll take you out for ice cream."

Odd couldn't believe his luck. Another chance to hang out with Catherine? Things were gelling along so smoothly. But then he decided to be even more ambitious.

"You know, this is a pretty significant statistic…I'm not sure ice cream would be enough."

"You mean I'm going to be really impressed when I find out that four out of every ten games is actually rated for everyone?"

"Forty percent."

"Four out of ten is forty percent."

Odd scratched his head, too immersed in the moment to care about simple math. "Ah. Yep, you'll be mildly impressed, without a doubt."

Catherine twirled a finger in her blue hair. "Fine. You can make the date plan. I'll tag along."

Odd grinned. "You said date again."

"Did I? Ugh, sorry, must be the weather. So what if you're wrong?"

"Uh…same prize, but in reverse?"

"Deal," she nodded, and they shook on it.

~ - ~ - ~ - CL:FL - ~ - ~ - ~

"By the way, thanks for inviting me along. I didn't even know there was a gaming convention today," said Odd.

"No biggie. I owed you one for cheering me up, remember? The other alternative would've been the local bookstore. I figured you'd like this better."

"You know, I actually wouldn't mind going there, as long as I'm hanging out with you," Odd wanted to say the last part, but that was just be too cheesy.

"Oh? What kind of books do you read?"

"Do they have any Garfield or Calvin and Hobbes?"

Catherine laughed. "Yes, they have those comic strips."

It wasn't long before they reached the front of the line.

"Darn, we need to come up with a team name. Any suggestions?"

"How about Team Odd Cat?" Odd replied automatically; the first idea that popped into his head. "The OC for short," he added, making no reference to the television series of the same name.

Catherine's narrowed-eyebrows and inscrutable expression implied that perhaps he was more adept for naming XANA's monsters than coming up with an inspirational title for the duo.

Suddenly, her lips curled upwards to form a smile. "That's the best you could come up with," she murmured as she continued to fill out the registration form.

"Of course not," Odd protested. He had, after all been given such short notice. Catherine didn't reply and handed in their completed paper. A new name flashed onto the screen seconds later.

Team 8. The Odd Cat

3:59:57 … 3:59:58 … 3:59:59 … 4:00:00

Fragmented Legacy Fact 029:

I initially toyed with the idea of releasing the chapters of this season based on their respective time (releasing this chapter that chronicles 3:00-4:00 PM between 3:00 to 4:00 PM). Of course, this idea would be difficult later on, such as for chapters taking place in the early morning hours.

A|N's:

While writing this out, I remembered that back in chapter something, a reviewer told me I should have included the line: "Yeah, well x percent of statistics are made up." whenever a stat was presented out of the blue. And so this time, I did.

Also last chapter I was reminded of two things that make fall awesome: Canadian Thanksgiving (last week) and Halloween. Yes, candy is good too.

Feel free to leave a comment, and as always, thanks for reading Code LYOKO: Fragmented Legacies =)