Code 6: SNARE
"Well done Sanderson. Your response time is impressive." Said the voice on the other end of the line.
"I pride myself on it."
"Now if you had only found William Dunbar as quickly and saved us some face with the public... but I digress, Hopper's daughter has been missing for almost 13 years..."
"Sir... wasn't she 11 went she and her father went into hiding?"
"Yes..."
"Well..." Sanderson began, knowing he was about to be chewed out. "The winged girl is a handprint match to Aelita Hopper... but she's only about 14."
"Don't fret. Our sources indicate that Hopper was developing some sort of suspended animation technology prior to breaking off from us. Bring her to headquarters immediately."
"There was also a boy with her, trying to hide her."
"Bring him as well."
"Sir." Sanderson stepped into the front passenger seat of the black van, which began to drive away. Odd and Ulrich saw the van take off as they made their way to the forest tunnel.
Zaber sat in front of the supercomputer and donned the headset. He dialed Ulrich.
"Ulrich?"
"Zaber, we just saw some guys in black suits kidnap Jeremy and Aelita. They looked like they were really high tech."
"The calls to the police and media the students made must have drawn the attention of government agents. This just got a lot more complicated."
"Should we still come to the factory, or should we try and tail them?"
"You'll never catch up to them. I've got an idea. Keep coming to the factory." Zaber hung up, and then scrambled to make some final adjustments to a program, while searching for a tracer program, if Jeremy had designed such a thing. After five minutes, Yumi arrived.
"How are things?"
"No good. We can't deactivate the tower without Aelita. Worse, we don't know how Xana is attacking yet."
"Man, this is the worst! What are we supposed to without them?"
"Remember what I said about how the worst always gets worse? Ulrich told me that government agents have abducted Jeremy and Aelita." Zaber finished as he punched in some data to the trace program he had just found. "I'm using Aelita's DNA signature, which she leaves behind every time she uses the scanner, and plugging it in to a tracer program, then I'm hacking into a satellite to try and trace her location. Let's hope it works."
"And how are we supposed to get them back from the agents once we find them?"
"I'm still working on that part..." Zaber said anxiously. Odd and Ulrich arrived. A readout appeared on screen. A small, moving blip appeared on a road map of downtown. He uploaded it to his phone, which would allow him to keep track of where she went after this. "I have one idea, but the program is still completely untested. If it doesn't work, we're over with, and there's no hope. I just hope my adjustments didn't mess up Jeremy's calculations." He opened the file with the power materialization code, and then opened his 3-D modeler from his laptop. A rotating model appeared, displaying what appeared to be a cross between and I-pod and a cell phone, with numerous ornamentations that gave more of a rough than sleek look. He dragged the two files into a folder, and then created six subfolders. He dragged a copy of both programs into each folder, and finally made copies some files off the supercomputer into each of the folders. "Cross your fingers. Mass materialization in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."
"Mass materialization? What's that?" Odd asked. In answer, the scanners revved up and the scanner doors opened and closed rapidly, with repeated clanking sounds as the doors slammed.
"That. Let's go see." Zaber removed the headset and the four of them stepped into the elevator. The door opened everything seemed normal. Zaber walked over and reached into each of the scanners. He pulled a total of six of the small, I-pod shaped devices from the scanners. He tossed them to each of them. Odd's was purple, Yumi's black, Ulrich's orange. Zaber held a red one in his hand. A white and green one were quickly slid onto his belt.
"So... what are these?" Odd said as he fingered the controls.
"They're my mobile scanners. I designed the hardware and Jeremy programmed the software. Using these, we should in theory be able to use our powers here." Zaber responded, brandishing his device.
"Really? Laser Arrow!" Odd shouted as he pointed at the wall with his wrist. Nothing happened.
"Odd you idiot! I'm sure you have to do something first!" Ulrich said. "So how do we use these things?"
"Just watch me first. They're still completely untested, I'm going to be the guinea pig." Zaber said as he held the device in one hand. He pressed a small button beneath the screen, labeled transfer. A beam of red light shot from the supercomputer above down the shaft and into the screen of his scanner. A red kanji appeared on the screen, which began to pulse. The "wheel" of the device lit up, and a Xana mark appeared around it, although it was strictly decoration. Zaber held the hand holding the scanner down, and then snapped his fingers with his other hand extended in front of him. Six bands of yellow light burst forth from his hand, circling his hand at various angles like the orbits of an atom. "Scanner..." He pressed a button on the device, and an attachment shot out of the top, with a small silver plate attached to it. Zaber moved his hands together, and the yellow bands of light sucked into the metal plate, and Zaber's image distorted, the way a specter distorts when it uses it's powers. His image became a wire frame outline, the way it looked when virtualization on Lyoko began, and his color quickly filled in. He was still 2-d, but his costume and hair had changed to that of his Lyoko form. He opened his jacket. All his guns were present and accounted for. He drew only Styx.
"Wow, that's awesome Zaber!" Odd said, as he held up his scanner to repeat the process.
"Hold on a second Odd! I have to warn you all about something first." Zaber said, his eyes concealed by his black shades. "While you may have your powers, speed, acrobatics, weapons, and the like, you are still as vulnerable as when you are an ordinary human. A single bullet CAN and WILL kill you. And if your LP his 0, you‘ll be out cold, and vulnerable to a killing blow by just about any enemy. I won’t force any of you to come with me, but you're in it for the long haul if you accept." Zaber said, as he threw Cocystus, Phlegython, and Lethe onto the floor. He couldn't be tempted to use them, as he could accidentally kill himself by expending his life force to quickly. He would leave them at the factory. The three glanced at each other, and nodded. They activated their scanners, and black, orange, and purple beams shot into the scanners, each with a different kanji appearing.
"What kind of wimps do you think we are anyway?" Yumi said.
"We've risked a lot more in the past." Ulrich said.
"Danger is my middle name." Odd said with a smile. They all repeated Zaber's process. A few minutes later the three Lyoko warriors stood in a circle around the supercomputer with Zaber at the controls. Zaber held out the green and white scanners.
"The second we find Jeremy and Aelita, we have to give them these. Then, we need to get to the factory without being followed, deactivate the tower, and launch a return to the past. The clock is ticking, so we'll be needing some transportation..." He typed something and the scanner doors opened again. They descended one last time to find an Overbike, Overboard, and Overwing in the center of the room, chucked out of the scanners by an unknown force.
Hundreds of feet above the lit city streets, at roughly 10 PM, the three vehicles zoomed through the air. Zaber rode on the back of Odd's overboard, directing them while holding his cell-phone/tracer.
"Are we there yet?" Odd asked him.
"No, not quite. They're deep in the inner city." Zaber said. Aelita and Jeremy had been taken to a location deep in the center of a nearby city. The blip had stopped on the 56th floor of a glass skyscraper. "Get ready to go higher as we close in on the city." Zaber said, beginning to feel slight airsickness.
Aelita awoke, severely dazed. Her vision was blurry. Her memory was fuzzy. Where was she? She saw a white ceiling above her. She was lying on her back on a hard surface. She tried to sit up, but found herself tied down. One of the black suited agents entered her range of vision. He looked down at her emotionlessly.
"Aelita Hopper. We've been looking for you for a long, long time..." He began. "Or rather, we've been looking for you father. Where is he?"
"I... I don't know!" Aelita said, struggling to break the straps that held her to the table. "What have you done with Jeremy?"
"If you mean the boy who was with you, he is being interrogated as we speak. Now, answer the question." The agent continued in a highly interrogative manner.
"I said I don't know!" Aelita yelled. A beep went off behind her.
"Clearly you do." Aelita, slowly regain all of her senses, felt electrodes attached to her forehead, which she could only assume were connected to a lie detector. "Let's try another question. Where did these wings come from?" Aelita considered how to respond. She didn't even understand how they had really came about. It then hit her how to stall for time.
"Why do you want to know?" She asked. She had technically asked a question, so she wasn't lying.
"Because... normal human beings don't have white wings sprouting out of their backs. You know damn well that's why!" He said, becoming irritated.
"Well, I'm not a normal human." She said. Technically this was true, as her structure had been completely rebuilt.
"Then what are you?" Aelita decided on a response.
"An angel; and if you don't let me go, you'll regret it!" She said. The detector beeped because of her second statement. She had no way to back up that threat. The agent cracked his neck and bent down close to her face, removing his shades to reveal piercing black eyes.
"You little girl... are making me... very... angry!" He said. "Now tell me what is going on or someone not as nice will be interrogating you shortly!" The sound of shattering glass interrupted the conversation.
Meanwhile, Jeremy stood, handcuffed behind his back on the roof of the building. Sanderson stood a few feet in front of him.
"Before we begin... Jeremy, I believe your name was, I must inform you I am a master of interrogation and mental torture. Now, we can do this two ways. We can either sit down in a pair of comfortable chairs, with a nice warm cup of cocoa, and you tell me what you know, or I will be forced to get..." Sanderson cracked his knuckles. "Violent. Now... what will it be?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway." Jeremy replied with a scowl. Sanderson stepped forward menacingly, forcing Jeremy to take a step back.
"You'd be surprised. We know that Franz Hopper built and hid a supercomputer and a program that was designed to disrupt enemy technology. We also know he and his daughter disappeared thirteen years ago. And we also know that he figured out how to create a virtual environment within this supercomputer." He stepped forward again with each sentence. "And... when you put all the pieces together... it looks like you found that computer. So... where is it?" Sanderson drew his face an inch away from Jeremy's. Sanderson had hit the nail on the head. What could he do? There was no way around telling him all about it. A return to the past could correct it, and he was sure the others could figure it out. But why hadn't they launched a return yet? Jeremy knew one thing though. If this man really was a government agent, he couldn't kill an unarmed captive, much less a teenager.
"Ptoo!" Jeremy spat in his face. Sanderson drew back quickly, using his tie to wipe his face.
"It seems that you gravely misunderstand the situation!" He said, kicking Jeremy in the chest and knocking him to the ground, then drawing a pistol and holding it inches from Jeremy's head. "We are the enforcers. We are a secret branch of the military with complete protection. We are not bound by the laws, and if you were to say, "accidentally" fall from this rooftop, no one would be the wiser..." Sanderson said with a malevolent grin. Jeremy looked up the barrel in horror. He lifted Jeremy up by collar of his shirt. "Now then... what do you say to my first offer now?" He slowly walked over to the edge of the building with each second that Jeremy didn't respond. When they got six feet from the edge, Jeremy broke.
"Wait!"
"Are you going to talk?" Sanderson said, letting him down slightly, but not letting him move from the edge.
"What would you do if you did find this supercomputer?"
"Classified." Sanderson took another step closer. "Now... either tell me where to find the supercomputer and how Hopper's daughter got wings... or fall." He lifted Jeremy up by the collar again, and dangled him half over edge. Jeremy looked down in horror, and then surprise.
"I choose... fall!" Jeremy aimed his now signature crotch kick and connected. Sanderson dropped him in pain, and Jeremy fell only a story, landing on Yumi's overwing.
"Wow… that was gutsy for anybody Jeremy!" Yumi said. She had been gesturing instructions to him when he had looked down over the edge.
"How is the overwing here?!?! Where did you get your costume?!?! Is Aelita with you?!?!"
"Zaber did it, Zaber did it, and no." Ulrich answered, slicing through Jeremy's handcuffs with his katana. Sanderson looked down over the edge when he heard the voices.
"What the heck?!?!" He shouted, aiming his revolver at them. An instant later, Ulrich had scaled the remaining floor on his overbike and slashed the barrel in half with his katana. The gun backfired, impacting Sanderson in the head and knocking him out with a bloody nose.
"Jeremy, catch. Zaber said to give you that." Ulrich said as he descended to equal height with Yumi and Jeremy. He tried to explain how to use it, but he was interrupted.
"Where's Aelita?" Jeremy demanded.
"Odd and Zaber are handling that detail." Yumi told him.
A few floors below, the glass shattered and Odd, gripping the overboard with one hand and firing laser arrows with the other did a flip while dodging several rounds fired from the building. Gunfire abounded everywhere, but no one had succeeded in hitting him. He curved up and ascended to the other's height.
"Any second now!" Odd said to them. A fierce cry was heard from the floor below.
"Death Blossom!" After a few seconds they descended to the shattered floor. Six agents lay on the floor, the last one still in the process of collapsing. Zaber stood in the center of the room, clutching a bloody shoulder with one hand and his gun in the other. A terrified Aelita was still strapped to the table.
"Zaber... did you..." Yumi began.
"I avoided their vitals. They'll survive. And once we launch the return I'll be fine." He said, nodding to his bloody shoulder. Jeremy dashed over and untied Aelita.
"Aelita! Are you okay?" He exclaimed.
"Jeremy! You're alright!" She said, embracing him as soon as she was free. Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi smiled. Zaber struggled not of cry out in pain from his injury.
"If you two are done now, we have to deactivate the tower and launch a return to the past before I die of blood loss!" He yelled.
"There's an activated tower?" Aelita said.
"Of course. That's why we just didn't launch a return when we got to the factory. Aelita, catch." Zaber threw her the white scanner, a few drops of blood had unfortunately stained it however. "Let's go." He said, as he ripped off the sleeve of the jacket and tried to bandage his bloodied shoulder. Ulrich and Aelita rode the overbike, Yumi and Jeremy the overwing, and Zaber and Odd on the overboard. They rose back to the roof level, and aimed their way back to the factory. It was then Zaber's ankle was grabbed by Sanderson's hand. The mark of Xana had appeared in red on the front of his sunglasses. Zaber was yanked from the Overboard, and pulled onto the roof.
"Zaber!" Yumi called out. Zaber quickly righted himself, and launched a kick at Sanderson's head, but he simply fazed through.
"Go! Deactivate the tower! I'll stall Xana!" Zaber drew Styx out of his jacket again. He fired three shots at the possessed Sanderson, and his image distorted and he simply fazed through. "Go!" Zaber yelled to them again before being tackled by Sanderson. The other jetted off towards the factory.
They arrived at the factory, and quickly split into two groups. Jeremy sat down at his computer and dawned his headset. "The towers in the mountain... wait, the mountain sector's back? All the sectors are back!"
"But how?" Ulrich said.
"I guess Code Angel brought back more than just Aelita. Alright, load up. Transfer: Ulrich. Transfer: Yumi. Transfer: Odd. Scanner: Ulrich. Scanner: Yumi. Scanner: Odd. Virtualization." The three appeared in the mountains sector, which was extremely quiet. "Transfer: Aelita. Scanner: Aelita. Virtualization" Aelita appeared on Lyoko, her wings were still fully present, if not appearing larger. "Get going you guys. The tower's nor far off." Jeremy relayed to them. Their vehicles appeared for them.
Meanwhile, Zaber struggled in a one-on-one duel with Sanderson. The two of them ducked, weaved, shot, dodged, and rolled about the rooftop, matching each other bullet for bullet. But fatigue had begun to set in for Zaber. He couldn't even use his right arm anymore, and most of the feeling in it was gone. They both stopped and breathed heavily, despite Xana's control, the body still had limits.
On Lyoko, a number of krabs had begun to attack. They we're easily destroyed, as the group inched closer to the tower. Aelita jumped onto the overboard with Odd, trying to make a break for the tower. The tower stood on the opposite end of a stone pathway attached to the current plateau. But William blocked their path once again. Three times now their ex-Xana-possessed friend had stood in their way on Lyoko. He sliced the air and a blue wave of energy slashed the overboard in half and devirutalized Odd. Aelita crashed to the ground. Odd burst from the scanner, reverted to his human form. Ulrich and Yumi regrouped around Aelita, and stood in front of William. He grinned evilly, but still did not speak. Perhaps his mind truly was gone. He was just another of Xana's monsters.
"Any ideas?" Yumi said, brandished her fans.
"Not really... nothing worked before except Frigid Impact, and Zaber isn't here..."
"If we don't beat William and get to that tower Zaber will die." Aelita urged them, as she impulsively launched an energy field. William bounced it off his sword, with no effort. He ran forward and slashed at them. Yumi tried to block with her fans, but the sword ripped through the flimsy weapons like tissue paper. Yumi was devirtualized, Aelita was struck with the tip, dropping her LP, and Ulrich blocked with his sword with considerable effort. He shifted the katana and tried to stab William, but William blocked it with his iron-spiked wristbands. William grabbed Ulrich by the neck with his free hand, and ripped him asunder with his sword. Both Yumi and Ulrich were devirtualized. William turned his attention to Aelita, drawing his sword back to his shoulder menacingly. Aelita began to back away, but found her back quickly on the edge of the plateau, with no way out.
On the rooftop, the duel had come to a standstill. After a complex set of maneuvers by both fighters, they found themselves both with guns aimed at each others skulls at point blank range. Some amount of Sanderson must have still been conscious, as he began to shudder in fear along with Zaber. Zaber blinked and his eyes glowed yellow once again, and used the super-speed that Death Blossom usually afforded him to get out of the way, and target Sanderson's head.
"Death Blossom!" Zaber threw the gun into the air and tried to pull the string, but Sanderson threw his gun up in the air, knocking the gun off trajectory, and sending both guns spiraling down fifty-six stories to the street below. Zaber grasped his arm, the wound had torn open further, he was bleeding even worse now. The possessed Sanderson cracked his knuckles.
Aelita had nowhere left to go. William approached her, and swung horizontally, and Aelita bent over backwards and managed to dodge the slice, but lost her balance and began to fell from the platform.
"Aelita!" Jeremy yelled into the computer. Aelita concentrated the way she did when she was rewriting Lyoko, and then... her wings grew to four times their original size. She flapped them and began to rise, and after several flaps she was several feet above the platform and out of William's reach. She glided off towards the tower, and landed right in front of it and phased into the tower. On the outside, Sanderson smashed his inhumanly powerful fist into Zaber's chest, smashing several ribs. Zaber's LP hit 0, and his Lyoko form broke away like shattered glass which disappeared on contact with the rooftop. Zaber skidded across the roof, stopping inches from the edge, all consciousness lost, his heart racing, trying to keep his body functioning with an inadequate supply of blood. Aelita rose in the tower to the upper platform. Sanderson stepped over, and using a single foot, nudged Zaber off the side of the building and he began to fall. CODE... Zaber fell ten stories. LYOKO. Zaber fell another ten stories.
"Tower deactivated." Aelita said. Zaber had fallen half the distance to the ground, accelerating ever faster. Jeremy had the return ready.
"Return to the past now!" Jeremy launched the return, which blazed out of the factory, and struck the falling Zaber as he was inches from the ground.
Zaber found himself walking down the hall the few hours before, on his way to the library. Aelita was only a short distance in front of him, and they were about to pass, but they stopped in front of each other.
"What happened? I feel like I got run over by a tank." Zaber said.
"We launched the return after deactivating the tower. I'm really sorry the whole thing happened... I was just so upset with Jeremy that I stormed out of his room and forgot my disguise..."
"Why were you angry with Jeremy?" Zaber said, scratching his head. Aelita froze. Jeremy had told her about the dream, which he believed to be a vision. Whether it was a dream or a vision, telling Zaber would help no one.
"You know... after everything that happened... I can't even remember what we argued about." She finally said. "Talk to you tomorrow." She turned around and walked back to her room. Zaber shrugged, and then felt an unusual lump in his pocket. He reached in and found that his mobile scanner had survived the return to the past. The red kanji had disappeared, his character data transferred back to the supercomputer.
"I always figured the real world was more dangerous than the virtual one…" He muttered, sliding the scanner into the inside of his jacket, opposite his revolver. Zaber continued to the library, and finished his report this time.
Jeremy sat at his computer in his room, starring at the device Zaber had created using his program. This explained another part of the premonition. Zaber had appeared in Lyoko form in the real world now. Aelita had wings. Pieces were falling into place. He had to solve the puzzle soon… or he could lose Aelita forever.
Code 6: SNARE ... END
