Innocents Pay Chapter 21 (Code Lyoko)

Jeremy rounded the corner into the clearing just as Vengeance vanished into the verdure. Flabbergasted by the number of bodies surrounding Aelita, he made a few inarticulate noises before he could properly phrase his question. "Aelita, how?" She looked at him quizzically, and said, "I think we have more allies than we assumed. I just met a man named Vengeance, He seems to crave Sergei's death. These men," she motioned to the KGB, "killed the Gendarme. Vengeance killed them after they did it, though." Jeremy rolled over one of the agents bodies, and started searching it. "Jeremy, what are you doing?!?"
"Aelita, these enemies are flesh and blood, like us. WWe can't code them to death, or shoot laser arrows an dkill them with fans. We need firepower." Jeremy got what he was looking for: the agent's sidearm. He'd like to take the SMG, but he was rather doubtful he'd be able to sneak it into a train. He turned to Aelita. "Here," he proffered the .45 that Aelita found at the hermitage all those months ago, "I brought this from the factory for you." She accepted it coldly. "Jeremy, what's come over you? First Marcus, and then this? You're not who you once were, and I don't think I like this you." She was right. Jeremy was a shell of himself. He had no ambitions or passions, no drive except to defeat Sergei. And worse, Jeremy thought it needed to be that way. 'What is the happiness of a group of kids compared to the destruction of a world?' was his reasoning. And, being Jeremy, he carried out to the fullest. Just as when he said he'd free Aelita he went to the extremes of staying up late and endangering his friends, he now went to the extreme of cutting off his humanity. He had one job, if he accomplished it-which was looking unlikely-he didn't know what to do next Jeremy had become Prometheus; he was a titan on top of a mountain, helping humanity by losing his. "No, Aelita, I'm not the same man I once was. I am what I am by necessity. I'll do what it takes to save mankind-with or without your love." Jeremy had cut the last anchor chain. Aelita was the one who brought him out of his shell way back when he was twelve. Without her, he had no reason to live, except for one: To defeat Sergei.
Aelita was spiraling downwards. It was like the few minutes before Neil's death all over again. Jeremy said he didn't need her. Well, she didn't need him...at least, she thought she didn't. In any case, she could last until this was all over. Hopefully Jeremy's head would clear then.  Jeremy had put his heart into a box. He couldn't feel anything anymore. But inside the box, his heart was still beating-and when the box breaks, woe betide the man between him and his beloved. "Come on, we've got a train to catch."
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The gang waited on the platform. The station was almost deserted-the majority of people were at home, mourning the school bombing. As they waited, they heard a thud behind them. Whipping around, Aelita saw Vengeance, this time more ostentatiously armed. He looked at Jeremy. "Whatever car you are in when the conductor checks your ticket, get out of it as soon as possible. Do not worry about security, or the KGB. I will take care of them. This train may cut a bloody swathe through Europe, but you will get to Moscow. Sergei will pay." He turned to Aelita. "Do not mistake me for a friend. All I want is Sergei's blood. Currently, you four are my best shot at that. As long as you remain so, you will have my protection. Falter, and the consequences will be terrible. Farewell," he said as the train approached, "I will be watching." As the train sped past, he caught on and was whipped away. As soon as the train stopped, the gang got on, and hunkered down. It was 9:00 P.M., and it would be a long night.