Code Lyoko AU
By: FunahoMisaki
(A/N: I own nothing and read last chapter.)
"Mrs. Hertz can I talk to you for a minute?" Ulrich asked as he was about to leave the classroom, causing Hertz to throw him a curious look.
"Of course Ulrich. I always make time for the students who want to know more about science." Hertz said as the rest of the class filed out of the room, Odd and Jeremy throwing Ulrich weird looks while Sisi narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Do you want me to stay behind too Ulrich darling?" Sisi asked causing Ulrich to shake his head.
"Nah that's okay Sisi. It's only gonna take a minute since it's about the lesson. You go on to the bus for the field trip." Ulrich said causing Sisi's eyes to narrow further but she left under Hertz stern look.
"Is it X.A.N.A.?" Hertz asked straight to the point as she looked at Ulrich who shook his head.
"Worse. It's Sisi." Ulrich said with a small smirk causing Hertz to smirk as well. Sometimes she couldn't tell which was worse either, X.A.N.A. or Sisi.
"Does this have anything to do with why you're acting so strange today?" Hertz asked worriedly as she perched herself upon her desk, facing Ulrich and looking at him in concern.
"Yeah. She…well she snuck in my room sometime recently and made off with something…personal of mine." Ulrich said blushing slightly in embarrassment as he looked away.
"A journal or diary I'm guess by your reaction." Hertz commented idly causing Ulrich to blush harder but nod slightly.
"And knowing you you wrote something about X.A.N.A., Lyoko, the factory, and Aelita in it which she is now using to blackmail you into doing what she wants." Hertz said knowingly, causing Ulrich to nod again.
"Well thank you for bringing this to my attention Ulrich and don't worry. I'll make sure you're 'forced' to sit with me on the bus so she can't threaten you with blackmail there while Jeremy and Yumi search for your journal here." Hertz said smiling slightly at the boy, glad that the small spring break where they talked a lot, along with the others, enabled him to trust her enough to tell her this.
"Thanks Ms. Hertz. I knew I could count on you." Ulrich said with a sigh of relief, causing Hertz to smile again and pat the top of his head fondly before she stood straight and led him to the door.
"Alright Mr. Stern let's get to the bus. Wouldn't want to miss going to the pool would we?" Ms. Hertz said formally as she opened the classroom door where the rest of the Lyoko gang and Sisi were waiting.
"Hey Ulrich what's going on with you today?" Jeremy asked while Sisi latched onto Ulrich tightly and glared at Yumi who glared right back happily.
"It's nothing to worry about Jeremy. Just…going through some things ya know? Sorry about the stupid question Ms. Hertz." Ulrich said scratching the back of his neck sheepishly as he grinned at the teacher who threw him a mock stern look, not that anyone but the Lyoko gang could tell it wasn't one of her real stern looks though.
"There is no such thing as a stupid question Ulrich and I am more than happy to answer any questions my students may have. However we need to be getting to the bus. We can finish our talk about it there, you will be sitting next to me of course so I can make sure you and Mr. Della Robbia don't fool around." Hertz said sternly as she led the three teens to the bus while Jeremy and Yumi looked at each before their phones went off.
"It's a text message…from Ms. Hertz!" Jeremy said as he and Yumi checked their phones while the three teens and the aging science teacher walked onto the bus. Their eyes widened as they read the message that Hertz had sent them without even looking at her phone once.
"I knew something was up! Ugh I'm gonna…" Yumi trailed off as she turned to glare at Sisi's back while Hertz turned in time to catch Yumi's eye and winked as Yumi received a new text.
"Search Sisi's room? …I just received permission from a teacher to go snooping through another kids room…awesome." Yumi said grinning as she read the text, she looked back up at the bus just as Ms. Hertz said in a window seat and exchanged grins with Yumi as Ulrich sat next to her.
"She wants me to go check out the factory while she keeps Sisi away from Ulrich till you find the diary." Jeremy said reading his own new text before looking up as the bus doors closed.
"Alright let's get to it then." Yumi said as she took off towards the girls floor of the dormitory while Jeremy took off to the factory.
"Hm?" Ulrich hummed curiously as he saw the electric sparks by the steering wheel and a black shadow fly past the windshield when the bus driver tapped the console.
"Something wrong Ulrich?" Hertz asked as the boy sat in the seat next to her while Sisi and Herb sat behind them and Odd across the aisle.
"No Mrs. Hertz. Just thought I saw something is all." Ulrich said, acutely aware of Sisi listening in, pulling out his cellphone as he spoke. He quickly tapped off a message and sent it to Odd and Ms. Hertz who's phones went off although Hertz had hers on vibrate.
"Wonder who could be texting me during school hours." Hertz muttered, also aware of their eavesdropper, as she pulled out her phone and looked at the text.
'Xauto. Auto. Neurotic. Alma.' Hertz and Odd mentally read as they looked at their phones, their eyes narrowing as they deciphered it easily. X.A.N.A. simple but clever code.
"Huh. Must be a wrong number." Hertz said tapping a quick message out and sending it to the two boys.
'The bus isn't it?' She sent the message before turning to Ulrich.
"Now you were asking about the effects of cybernetics on the human mind weren't you Ulrich? If I didn't know better I thought you watched one of Odd's scary movies again. Which one was it? Return of the Electromagnetic Specter?" Hertz asked sounding amused and causing Ulrich to grin sheepishly while Odd snickered.
"Yeah something like that. I don't quite remember the title." Ulrich said scratching the back of his neck while he nodded, answering Hertz's text message more than the actual question she asked.
"Ugh. What a stupid sounding name. You really shouldn't watch such stupid movies Ulrich darling." Sisi said sweetly to Ulrich while Hertz shot her a quick sharp look as she leaned over the back of her seat to talk with Ulrich.
"But I like watching the movies with Odd. It's so much fun to poke holes in them with him." Ulrich said sounding a bit put out while Sisi's smile turned sharp.
"Yeah well unless you want your diary all over the scho-" That was the moment Hertz was waiting for.
"Elizabeth! Don't tell me you're blackmailing Ulrich!" Hertz said sharply and loudly, drawing everyones attention as the bus continued towards the pool at a very very slow pace.
"Eep! N-No Ms. Hertz not at- What?" Sisi asked being distracted by her cellphone ringing.
"Oh it's you Yumi what do you want?" Sisi asked sounding less than pleased while Hertz smirked and Ulrich looked confused.
"Well I wanted to tell you I like your style. I ran into that dipstick Jim today. He looked like such an idiot in his sweaty gym suit." Yumi said quoting one of the passages in Sisi's dairy. Ulrich and Odd both turned towards Hertz whose smirk widened as she winked at them.
"Okay okay. If you go in the girls bathroom, it's in the third stall and it's at the top of the water tank. You got that?" Sisi said quietly to Yumi over the phone while Hertz gave a full blown grin at this, realizing what had happened. Yumi found leverage over Sisi. Normally she wouldn't approve but since Sisi started it…
"Wait what about my dairy what you-" Sisi was cut off as Yumi hung up on her.
"Ms. Hertz Yumi just blackmailed me!" Sisi said looking furious as she stared at the science teacher.
"So I heard. Since the situation is resolved Ulrich why don't you go sit with Odd?" Hertz said smiling at Ulrich who grinned.
"Thanks Ms. Hertz!" Ulrich said giving the teacher a fist bump, much to her amusement, as he went to go sit with Odd exchanging high fives with him.
"Wh-You aren't going to do anything about Yumi blackmailing me?!" Sisi asked staring at the teacher in disbelief.
"Oh I'll do something alright." Hertz promised with a smile.
"I'll give her a reward for getting the job done so quickly and effectively. A bit crude but I think it's acceptable in this case." Hertz said shrugging her shoulders while Sisi and half the busses jaws dropped open.
"You. Are. AWESOME. Ms. Hertz!" Odd said laughing at the look on the other students faces.
"Why thank you Odd I try my best. Do you think Sisi got the message this time or will we need to do a repeat?" Hertz asked putting emphasizes on the last word as she caught the steering wheel sparking again. The two boys caught the double meaning of her words and dropped their grins as they got serious.
"What message would that be Suzanne?" Jim asked looking at his fellow teacher curiously while the bus began to speed up. Ms. Hertz's response came just before the bus was completely taken over by X.A.N.A.
"You mess with one Lyoko Warrior you mess with us all and I happen to be a very protective Warrior."