Code Lyoko: Revolutions and Evolutions

Chapter 59

AN: I am incredibly pleased to bring you this chapter. This chapter took a fair bit of time because I had to get out of my own way. I also must thank God for his help with various inspirational seeds as I worked portion by portion.

Additionally, I've looked at my traffic, and I want to say I am so grateful my story is being read by so many. I thank all of you who you continue to come back for new chapters and especially for all of you looking at the story who are newcomers. Thank you all for your kindness, viewership, and reviews.

I will hopefully see you all next chapter.

Pagliacci-11

Disclaimer: The song used is named, A Perfect Life from the Broadway musical Dracula. No copyright infringement is intended. All rights and benefits belong to the official holders therein.

"Are you sure? Are you sure that this is the case?"

"Yes, sir." Anthea replied, "I've told you for several years now, but the club wouldn't exactly listen."

"Ah, fuck. So, what are we chasing then? What is this thing we're fighting if your daughter is actively literally DOA?"

"With respect, it's not DOA, DOA implies you had her as a live asset, and in transit, she showed up—"

"Enough!" the voice rang out, and after an audible sigh of exasperation said, "Look, what are we actively dealing with? You say that North-Gate is implementing these operations, but that these operations are only theoretical and never actively implemented, correct?"

"Yes, Sir. However, to answer your question, I don't know the answer. Sir, John shut down the program after his daughter died, he tried to press on, but he just couldn't. So, the program was shut down. I was witness to it. The program should be in all reality, inactive. John designed it that way; there was no standby function; it was either on or off."

"I see. And the location of the raw data processor?"

"It should still be in Austria. I have the address still. I've kept an eye on the property, and no one's bought it. So, yeah. In theory, it should all still be there in its natural component. My question though, is if you knew from my reports that certain things were off the ground, why didn't you go in and get it when Barrow chose to ghost us?"

"Based on your own notes and observations at the time, our investors and our business partners didn't see North-Gate as any viable thing to grab hold of. Even now, with your testimony, a lot of these things are hypothetical in the form you saw North-Gate.

Even if we did send in a team to salvage the project, at best is we'd have a rudimentary blueprint of initial phase innards. As good as that is in theory, if what you say is true, we're dealing with a windup toy compared to an industrial-grade rendition. So, in all reality, we are back at square one. If what you said is accurate, we can't even count on the manual you have in your possession."

"Forgive me, Sir, but that's not exactly true. Based on eyewitness testimony from Dr. Gupta, we've seen the countermeasure fully deployed. However, this countermeasure isn't in line with the original calibration and layout. Equally, when we saw the implementation of various protocols and shell companies aligned with North-Gate, they were in accordance with the corresponding protocol, almost line for line in appearance and passive protocols.

So, despite this being a genuinely advanced version, it still largely adheres to the original blueprint—at least for now."

"And what if the program deviates from its intent? If what you say is true, that we are dealing with a phantom, but equally we are dealing with a fully active program designed by said phantom, what is the next plan if the program deviates?"