ARC ONE: Welcome Back

"Odd's right," Aelita said. "Our priority right now should be Jeremie, not picking fights; with these intruders, OR each other." She made sure to sternly stress that last point; she did so wish Yumi was there right now, she was always a lot better about keeping those two in line.

"I know that, but do you suggest we stand around while those goons destroy the super computer and Jeremy?" William replied scowling at Ulrich. He hated when Ulrich looked down on him, all of them where. Ulrich was the hero and William the screw up-not anymore.

"I happen to have a plan, we're going to rescue Jeremy and the super computer. my way"

"Who's 'standing around'?" Ulrich retorted. "We're trying to find Jeremie, remember? Going through the factory, carefully and quietly, so he can fill us in on just what the heck's going on?"

He could already feel his hands balling into fists. Intellectually, he knew this was no time for a fight; it would only further distract the group, and most likely attract unwanted attention besides. Emotionally, however, he already found himself fast losing patience with William's confrontational crowing. He was holding himself back for now, but he wasn't sure how long that would last if William kept it up."As far as I'm concerned," he continued, trying to keep his tone controlled, "your 'plan', no matter what it is, is way too risky for us to try out until we actually have at least one clue about who these people are and what they want."

Hoping to force the issue, he brushed past William briskly, moving to a stairwell that led downwards. "Now c'mon," he said, "let's focus on finding Jeremie."

"Yeah, the super computer..It's the past..It's been off for a decade now, right? Jeremie has life ahead of him..We need to find him."Odd turned towards the stairs also, and followed Ulrich down them. "Sorry William..."He said softly. He didn't like William much when they were kids, but that was the past, and right now all he was focused on was finding their friend. He turned to Ulrich and gave him a nudge, "Hey, Just know. If you need a distraction, i'm all for it!" Not only was he good at it, but it was always his favorite part.

Aelita wanted to say something. Anything. But nothing she could think to say would come out of her mouth; she knew William meant well and didn't want to insult him. But she agreed with Ulrich that finding Jeremie came first, and that any attempt to confront the intruders without any kind of foreknowledge was gravely dangerous. In the end, she said nothing, regretting the choice even as she joined Odd and Ulrich at the stairs. Yet even as she turned to look at William pleadingly, she kept her silence.

William reluctantly followed scowling as he did so. At this moment he hated all of them, part of him even wished Jeremy would die just to teach them a lesson. But then again Jeremy had been the only one who had bothered contacting him, so he kept the wish silent even in his own head.

"Great idea, wander around aimlessly and hope we find Jeremy before they do-brilliant" William muttered sarcastically glaring holes in the back of the other's heads.

Ulrich caught that, but resisted the temptation to respond; better to count his blessings and simply be thankful William was willing to go along with them for now. Besides, he wasn't wandering "aimlessly"; if Jeremie was here at all, the best bet on where to find him would be the computer room. This was a more roundabout route than the lift, but it would also keep them out of sight and hopefully safe.

Odd honestly felt a bit bad for William, he felt they were being childish by siding with Ulrich alone.He was already half way down the steps. He yawned to himself, he felt like he didn't get enough sleep, but he kept his ears peeled for any strange noises that may be made. He looked over at Aelita, He felt bad for her. He knew she was worried about Jeremie. He put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her, "We'll find him, don't worry. Isn't that right guys?"

It was a good comfort to have Odd trying to keep things light, keep the group hopeful. Aelita could still sense the underlying tension, but at least they had someone there who could diffuse it before it got critical. "Yes," she told Odd, "I agree. We've been in all sorts of danger, and we've always managed to find each other safe and sound again in the end."

They soon reached the bottom of the stairwell, entering a lengthy boiler room illuminated only by softly-glowing red lights along the wall.

The more time William spent with them the more he hated them, it didn't matter what they did because it wasn't their fault. William knew all of his problems where his own fault but it was so much easier to push the blame on someone else. No one had told him about the Schiphozoa, they didn't try hard enough to save them, Jeremy didn't make his clone smart enough, they betrayed HIM. That was much easier for William than admitting that he had royaly screwed up.

"So where are we going sir" William put a sarcastic tone on the last part, if he got Ulrich mad the fight was no longer his fault only. If Ulrich screwed up he wouldn't be the bad guy anymore.

"The computer room," Ulrich replied tersely, "If Jeremie's here at all, he's going to be there."

His steps became a bit quicker, not just because he knew the longer it took to find Jeremie the likelier it was something would go wrong (whether because they were caught or because he and William tried to kill each other) but also because he hated this boiler room. So dimly lit, so cramped...it reminded him of one too many uncomfortably close calls from days past. He was thus extremely grateful as the door came into view.

Odd caught up with Ulrich by the door, he was huffing a bit, "Well, how about we run next time, Huh Ulrich?"He laughed a bit, and turned to make sure everyone made their way through. He really didn't like this room either, it was way to creepy. He leaned against the wall for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He checked his phone in his pocket, just to make sure he didn't have any text messages from anyone. When he saw nothing, he opened the door to let the light in, and waited until the rest were ready to move on.

Aelita didn't mind the boiler room so much, perhaps because it reminded her a little of the inside of the Towers she had made her home back when she was stuck on Lyoko. Still, she could tell the others were not as comfortable, and was more than happy to help them leave. Stepping in front of Ulrich, she opened the door and politely gestured for the boys to head on through. "Right this way, gentlemen," she said softly, following Odd's lead and trying to bring a little levity to the situation.

William shuddered and said no more. This room was creeping him out too much to focus on anything else. He'd rather who ever was creeping around the factory would find him than stay in the dank dark room any longer. This was the kind of place spiders live. Unconciously William let out a sigh of relief when they reached the door. Once they where out he regained his composure to make it seem as if he hadn't been scared.

The computer room was shrouded in an odd, looming shroud of silence - the computer screens were on with a soft lumination, casting a glow across the room as the sole source of light; as such the colours of the area were monochrome and dark. There were many examples of tampering unlike the other areas; there were signs of violence - the chair that used to sit in front of the computers was on its side, the wires severed from the floor. Panels were missing out of the walls and the door to the lift was torn off of its hinges entirely; there were bulletholes in the panels that did remain.

The farthest wall by the lift had a dangerous amount of liquid spilled around it, a tarp covering the bulk of the dump. Whatever it was it was dark and the room was too illuminated by the blue lighting to get a fair colour off of it, though judging by how it was strewn about...

The phones would ring again - yet another message from Jeremie, this one far less cryptic than the last and yet somehow more troublesome.

Quote :

they're coming. watch out. aelita 010111101101101001. see you soon.

Violent footfalls began to pound from the boiler room the moments the texts would be read. They could either confront the coming troop or flee down the lift... either way they were cornered.

Ulrich cursed under his breath. It seemed they'd run out of time, sooner than he would've liked. "We have to keep moving," he urged, stepping out the door and motioning for the others to follow. "We might be able to find a place to hide in the computer room!"

And then Jeremie's text came. "A little late, Jer," Ulrich couldn't help but think as he read the message; the numbers he chalked up to be some kind of glitch or other.

Odd frowned and turned towards Ulrich, "What should we do..?"He began to panic a bit, it had been a long time since he, or any of the others, was in a situation like this. He followed Ulrich, watching behind them over his shoulder. He really wasn't looking forward to this. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he jumped. He looked down to read Jeremie's text. Aelita? Were they after her? He dropped back a bit to let her in between himself and Ulrich.

Aelita was following the others out the door when Jeremie's message came in. She saw her name in there and immediately took notice, and then...more numbers, like before. Only this time, Aelita understood why she recognized them. "It's binary!" she realized urgently as she exited the boiler room. "A language of numbers, just like the kind all over Lyoko!"

It took a moment of focus to understand what the binary meant, but once she translated it, she knew exactly what to do. "Get to the lift!" she called to the others urgently. "We need to get to the scanner room as quickly as possible!"

"And then what?" William was still greatly anoyed by their lack of planning, for all they knew it could be a trap they were walking right into. But still, ultimately their approval was more important to him than anything. So he was playing along. Though at the first sign of a trap he would be ready. William resigned himself to this idea until he heard heavy footsteps-close heavy footsteps.

"We need to get out of here now"

Though he would never admit it out loud, Ulrich was inclined to agree with William: the Scanners were inoperative since the Super Computer was deactivated, meaning the Scanner Room was a dead end, and if their pursuers came to the likely conclusion to look for them there they would all be sitting ducks. Nonetheless, he had seen the way Aelita had reacted to Jeremie's text message; she knew something. More importantly, he trusted her. She knew what it meant to go to the Scanner Room as much as he did, and wouldn't have suggested it if she didn't have a plan. "Than we go to the only place we can," Ulrich responded to Jeremie, "Get to the Scanners, now!"

Odd also agreed with Ulrich and William. His heart was pounding, he had so much adrenaline, he smiled widely. He felt like he was a kid again, and it excited him. He also looked back at Aelita, he was a bit worried about her, he defined didn't want her, or Jeremie to get hurt. He stayed silent, but kept his senses on alert, he made sure to keep an eye and an ear open for anything peculiar.

((Sorry for the delay, holidays have kept me quite busy. lD; ))

Aelita paid no mind to William's doubts; there was simply no time. She knew what Jeremie's message was saying, and she also knew that meant the scanners were their only hope. Moving to the head of the group, she opened the lift downward to the Scanner Room and entered it, holding the door for each of the others. "Quickly, quickly!" she urged, "Before they catch up!"

William shook his head in disbelief, they where falling into an obvious trap. The others being more experienced should know that right? Or maybe they knew something he didn't. Either way now was not the time to question, the footsteps where coming closer and chances where they weren't Jeremy. William followed the others into the scanners biting his tongue.

The sound of footfalls from the above floor was almost deafening - guns were being cocked and orders were being shouted.

Somehow the scanner room was untouched despite the damages the invasion caused - it was as pristine as it had been ten years ago, and if not, somehow it was cleaner. Someone had been down here since, probably on a weekly basis, dusting and cleaning; it was taken care of with respect, and when the doors to the scanners would lurch open? It had been kept functional.

"Hurry up." A voice would lurch from inside each scanner. "I can't keep these open forever." It was weak-sounding, as if it were stressed; but the voice, at its core, would remain somewhat familiar. Nasally, stressed - optimistic. "There are still only three. Aelita, William, Odd. Ulrich will go in last; I don't want to risk scrambling your data by throwing you in with someone else, you hear? You only have about two minutes before the lift rises again."

Above, the stir of the soldiers would pause - they had heard the voice too; in fact it had exited not only out of the scanners, but... every speaker as well. ... Woops! 8D; Fists were pounding against the lift upstairs.

"S-sorry! I'm kind of new to this!"

[ END YOUR POSTS WITH BEING VIRTUALIZED. After Ulrich has his turn, I will post the next posting location with turn order and such. Thanks everyone! ]

Ulrich's eyes widened in sheer shock. Jeremie? Speaking from...nowhere...? He could tell the poor guy was under a lot of stress, but there was simply no time to process all that. Not with the soldiers breathing down their necks. "Yumi..." he thought, "please...keep safe..."

"OK, everyone, you heard Jeremie!" he said forcefully; even if the soldiers got through and took him in (or out...), the others needed to make it inside. Jeremie needed help. "Get in the scanners, NOW!"