Chapter 3
"Man, this place has really fallen apart," Ulrich commented as he grabbed hold of the last remaining rope hanging from the ceiling. He looked down only to see the rope's end a good five meters above the ground.
"I had to come up through the boiling room," Franz offered, leading the way to the stairs. He threw a look at the elevator sitting closed in the shaft on the ground floor below them and admitted, "I didn't trust that elevator back when I worked here."
"You sure you should be doing all of this?" Odd asked as he kept an eye on Annick.
"Odd, I'll be fine," Annick said.
"How far along are you?" Franz asked, leading the group of seven down the stairs.
"She's due any day now," Odd answered.
"I said I'm fine," Annick called out. "Trust me, if anything happens, you'll know."
"I just don't want you to have them here," Odd said. "I'd rather you be, oh, I don't know, close to Ulrich's police cruiser at least."
"Them?" Franz asked.
"Twins," Annick offered.
"Have you picked out names?"
"Samantha Marie and Gage Albert."
"They're gonna be as crazy as their parents," Ulrich commented.
Franz pulled open a door that led out of the boiler room and took them down another set of stairs, going through the factory layout in his mind. He glanced over his shoulder to see Yumi had fallen back with Jérémie and Aélita as he asked, "So Ulrich, is there any plans of you and Yumi expecting?"
"Not yet," Ulrich offered, rubbing the back of his neck. "We, uh, don't feel like we're ready."
"Everyone's own times are different," Franz offered as he rounded a corner to find the entryway he was looking for. He stepped through the opening and looked down, the lab looking worst from above. He grabbed hold of the rungs welded to the wall and made his way down. Stepping out of the way, he quickly walked over to stand at the computer. He gave the screen a smack like he had done earlier to wake up what still functioned as footsteps sounded against the metal floor.
"The rats really have made this place home," Odd said as a rat let out a squeak.
Franz glanced down at his feet to see a rat scurry down a hole by the wires under him. He turned his attention back to what he wanted to do on the computer, reaching for the wire still attached to the screen that was the mike. Pulling it up he stared at the end of the frayed wire, noticing teeth marks. "They took the mike," Franz stated, giving it one last look before letting it drop.
"Maybe he just wanted to be the best dressed rat," Ulrich joked.
"Yeah, and a croissant's singing the national anthem," Jérémie said, coming to stand beside Franz as the man typed away at the half missing keyboard.
"I'd rather the croissant," Odd said.
"You'd eat the poor thing," Annick said.
"Aélita, your momma's almost repaired," Franz said, smiling at the program running before him.
"I can't believe it," Jérémie mumbled, wrapping his arm around Aélita as the two took in the information on the screen.
They watched as the last pixel was repaired, a green circle appearing before the virtualization process started up. "We'll have to send her to a way tower to bring her home," Franz explained.
"But she's finally coming home," Aélita said, finishing her father's statement.
"But you said Xana's back," Yumi said, getting Franz to turn to her. "He's not gonna let her get out easily."
"Yumi's right," Ulrich added. "Some protection would be smart."
"I'll go," Odd volunteered.
"Hello?" Anthea's voice asked from the speakers around the screens. Static came through before they heard her ask, "Anyone there?"
Franz quickly brought up the map, finding she had virtualized in the mountain sector as she showed up as a yellow triangle. A sparking coming from the holomap got Franz to quickly deactivate the broke device. "Anthea, love, can you hear me?" Franz asked.
"Franz, is that…" Anthea's voice cut off.
"We're all here," Aélita said.
"Aélita?"
"The kids want to send you an escort home," Franz said, throwing a glance at Aélita and Odd. They took that as a sign to head over to the ladder, sliding open the hatch separating the lab from the scanner room. "Stay right there, they'll be there in a moment."
"Go, I know how much you miss Lyoko," Yumi said, smiling at her husband.
Ulrich flashed a smile at the woman before quickly kissing her on the cheek and turning to go down the ladder.
