With the fall of the evil virus, Xana, the Lyoko warriors had settled back into their normal lifestyles, not worried about the threat of Xana.

It was the 10th of October and the wind howled throughout the campus of Kadic Academy. The ground, littered with leafs and twigs, was cold and abandoned by footsteps.

The clock had struck 9pm on Friday night and our heroes were preparing to leave for the movies. Well, all except one…

"Odd, come on! We're gonna be late!" Ulrich groaned dragging his hands through his brown bangs, pleading his best friend to currently move from his position, which was apparently face down on the floor.

"I'm too tired to go Ulrich, just go without me! I'll be fine!" Odd mumbled, his speech slurred by the floor.

"This was all your idea to start with Odd! And maybe you shouldn't stay up until 5 in the morning on a school night playing video games." Ulrich replied, standing up from his bed and towering above his roommate.

Odd rolled over onto his back and looked up and Ulrich, crossing his arms across his chest.

"You can't tell me how to live my life Ulrich!" Odd protested, raising his arm and pointing a warning finger at Ulrich, who responded with a roll of his eyes and moved to the door.

"Alright then, I'll just let your best friends know that you're ditching them! If you decided to come, it doesn't start for another forty minutes, you'll know where we are!" Ulrich called as he shut the door beside him as he left.

Odd sat up from his position and stared at the door, slowly he stood up and faced his bed.

The truth was, Odd wasn't tired. He just wanted to be left to himself. Lately, since the fall of Xana, he didn't have much else to do other than play video games or hang out with friends. Not that either of them were bad things, he just was growing bored of the same thing, day in day out.

Making his way to the door, he decided.

He'd visit the factory.

Their footsteps moved quickly and silently, leaving no sounds or trace of their existence.

"According to the map, we're directly over it." A voice whispered, standing on top of a removable panel. A nod was shared between 4 figures, their faces hidden by the masks they wore.

Sliding the panel back, they began their decent on the ladder until all four of them stood at the bottom.

"There it is… The supercomputer of Lyoko. Now hurry and get what you need." The person standing on the far left commanded, the figure on the far right responded with a nod and made their way to the computer and began working on looking for a certain wire from the back of the computer.

"Got it!" they called as they yanked the wire from the back and re-joining the other three.

"Explain again why we needed this?" one question, the person holding the wire sighed.

"This, for lack of a better word, is a map cable. When Lyoko was active, this wire was the one that ran to that base," they said, pointing to the base of the holomap, "and projected the map above it, we need it because that's what we were paid to do."

"Alright, enough chit-chat, let's get out of here before someone comes." One said, making their way to the ladder.

"Relax, you're being to tense, no one has been here in mont-" a figure replied before being cut off by the sound of the elevator whirring to life.

The doors slid apart and Odd stepped out into the room and came to face with four figures.

Four masked figures.

"Who are you guys?," Odd questioned, taking a step forward, "How did you find this place?" he asked further.

There was about a 15 second silence before a voice spoke.

"You're Odd Della Robbia, one of the ex fighters of Lyoko." A female voice sounded.

Odd took this time to examine each of the people.

Judging by body shape, two male, two females.

All four wore the same jet black robes with black cargos and a black shirt under their robes.

But the most prominent feature was their masks.

They were all plain white with a different symbol on it.

One with two black roses on the upper left.

One with a jet black triangle in the middle.

One with a gold diamond in the upper middle.

And the last one with a crescent moon in the middle.

"That's right, and who are you?" Odd questioned, taking another step forward.

"We're here to get paid, and we got what we came for." One replied, shaking the wire they held.

The four started up the ladder but not before Odd charged them.

"Give that back!" Odd said, reaching the ladder and grabbing the lowest by the ankle. A bad mistake.

"Pest." The owner of the ankle mumbled, they swiftly removed their foot from Odd's hand to the side of his head, knocking him from the ladder to the ground, rendering him seconds from unconscious.

The four peered from the gap in the roof.

"The guy has guts." Were the last words Odd could hear before he slipped out of consciousness.

When Odd came too, he sat up rubbing his head.

"Who were they?" he mumbled, standing up while rubbing his head. He glanced at the hand he was rubbing his head with and noticed blood.

"Great.." he thought, "But that can wait, I have to tell the others. Tell them about The Masked Ones.