XANA's Son 2

Ulrich frowned as his sister polished off the last of her third latte. He replayed her request in his head. "Run that by me again, Lyra. You want me to what?"

"Help me catch a cyber prankster. He screwed with my school's computer system, specifically with my records. It's a good thing that they have hard copies, or I'd be demoted to D-class." She shivered.

"And what does it have to do with my school?"

"Not your school, Ricky; your computer lab. I need like five other computers and I don't need dad getting his big nose into all of this. Please, Ricky..." she pouted.

He sighed raggedly. "Fine... Tomorrow at lunch. I'll see if Yumi, Odd, Aelita and Jeremy can chip in to help."

She squealed with glee. "Thank you, Ricky. You are without a doubt-"

"I know, I know 'the best big brother ever'." Ulrich rolled his shoulder, and groaned in pained relief as the joints popped back into their sockets under his forest green T-shirt.

"You feeling tense, big bro?" Lydia asked, reaching for his latte. He moved it away.

"A little; class was draining and then Yumi... Forget about it." He hung his head.

"Try talking to her about the past. Girls love it when guys are willing to share."

His head snapped back up. "How do you know?"

She shrugged at him. "'Cause I'm a girl."

"You don't say..." Ulrich rolled his eyes. "You know I won't talk."

"It's either you talk or I talk." Lyra said.

His eyes narrowed. "You have no right."

"That's never stopped me before." Lyra reminded him.

"I'll never forgive you."

"You'll lose Yumi."

Ulrich banged his fist on the table, scaring her. "It's none of your business, Lyra! Stop butting in!"

Lyra looked hurt. "I just want you to-"

"But I don't want to!" He stood. "I'll take you home."

Lyra shook her head, eyes welling with tears. "I've bothered you enough."

She was out of the coffee shop before he even blinked.

Ulrich banged his fist on the table again. "Damn it!"

XXXX

Yumi pacified her mom. "Yeah, I'll try to be home for dinner today... No, I will try! Okay, save me a plate."

As she pocketed her phone, she saw a flash of lime green. "Lyra?"

Sure enough, Ulrich's sister was running down the street, not looking where she was going. She bumped into a guy as he came out of a storefront.

"Sorry." She tried to go around.

"Wait a minute cutie, a sorry just won't cut it. You have to pay the piper."

Lyra cocked her head to the side. Yumi groaned, remembering what Ulrich had said. She didn't live in the land of reality. She moved to go do something.

Lyra, instead twisted the guy's hand at the perfect angle for a Tibetan Restraint Twist. "Look, I said I was sorry, right? So let it go!"

She shoved the guy away and started running again. Yumi stared after her. "I thought she was banned from self defense..."

XXXX

Lyra fell back on her bed, emotion mixed. She dragged her laptop over to her and powered it up.

The hacker's logo greeted her on her home screen. "CODE," she hissed. He was the reason she was even here. To get him to leave her alone, she'd have to find his main computer and strip of its virus settings. Then, she could leave and leave her brother in peace.

The brother that didn't want her around.

She should have known nothing would change in the past six years since she'd seen him. He still felt like she was meddling. And if she was it was only because he was as stubborn as her dad.

She clicked CODE's hacker logo. A window opened on the screen. Suddenly, blue typing started appearing across the black screen.

HELLO, LYRA. SO YOU'VE FINALLY ARRIVED FOR OUR GAME. MEET ME AT THE ABANDONED FACTORY TONIGHT TO END THIS. WE'LL SEE IF HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BEAT ME.

Lyra grit her teeth. "CODE..."

Making up her mind, she started synthesizing the virus stopper program based on the clues CODE had so "generously" left her. He wouldn't be bothering her after this, that much she could swear.

XXXX

AK: Long time isn't it? Sorry for the hiatus. I've been busy. R&R cause I'm a little rusty with Code Lyoko. Bye!