(Chapter Four-Hell is High Water)

Kadic Academy
Exterior Overhang
1125 hours

The door from the dormitories burst open. Four figures stood silhouetted inside.

"Okay." Yumi said, zipping up her raincoat. "How far is it from the overhang to the shed?"

"50 meters to the cafeteria, then another 120 to the shed." Ulrich replied.

"And you're sure the rope is there?"

"I saw it in there yesterday." Odd told her. She nodded.

"Okay, you all have your whistles?" They nodded. "Remember, when you hear the whistle in front of you blow, blow yours. If you lose the group, give it three short blasts and we will find you. Try and keep water out of it or it might not work, so shield it with your hand when you blow."

"That's what she said." Odd snickered. Yumi just glared at him.

"You guys ready?" Ulrich asked. The group nodded again.

"Okay, let's go!" Yumi shouted, and she took off into the rain. Jeremy followed, then Ulrich. Odd brought up the rear.

It was an instant washout. The rain pounded down in thick, fat drops so hard it was almost painful. Yumi could hardly see a few feet in front of her, feet slopping through a few inches of water that couldn't drain off. She tried to visualize what the courtyard looked like on a normal, bright and shiny day at Kadic. She got her bearings and blew the whistle to let everyone know the right direction.

Breeeet! It called. She heard the sound of three other whistles behind her. So far, so good. She thought, and she continued to the rest point at the cafeteria.

It took three or four more whistle checks to get there, and when they finally did they collapsed against the side of the building. Jeremy looked miserable, Odd shivered, and Ulrich was breathing heavily, spitting rainwater from his mouth.

"Okay!" Yumi called over the pounding torrent. "You guys ready for round two?" Jeremy groaned and Odd sneezed. Ulrich just looked up and nodded. "Alright, let's move quickly! Every second counts!" With that, they darted back out into the storm, minds focused on one thing: someplace dry.

The Factory
Cathedral Hall
1131 hours

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

Tom's hand tapped against the metal side of the elevator. He just couldn't figure it out. He scratched his chin and sighed.

He'd spent the past 10 minutes surveying the rest of the factory. He had found a lot of interesting stuff; a machine shop, a generator room, even a main assembly line filled with robots, but nothing to suggest that anyone had been there in quite some time. That led him back to this elevator.

So how do you get down a coded elevator without the code, and with no immediate way of deciphering it? Tom mused. He kicked the wall, frustrated. I guess I really don't have a choice but to try a little guesswork…

He opened the keypad and started imputing numbers. He input the date, yesterday's date, Jeremy's birthday, Ulrich's birthday, Odd's birthday, Yumi's birthday, his own birthday, their names spelled out in numbers, every significant combination he could think of. In the end, he was back leaning against the wall, tapping his hand.

Looks like I'm probably going to have to free climb the shaft. He thought. Tom grimaced. He wasn't the world's biggest fan of heights, despite his HALO jump two nights ago. Tom stretched out and cracked his back, craning his neck up to work out any kinks. As he did, his eyes opened and he stopped moving.

"You've got to be kidding." He muttered as he pulled the rolling door down manually, which gave a few inches of play before locking. There, scratched onto the inside of the door, were two series of numbers. Tom grinned widely as he let the door close and input the first series.

8,0,3,1 he thought. How perfectly simple.

Tom hit the button to activate the elevator, letting out a small whoop when the steel door began to roll down. Finally, some action!

Kadic Academy
Maintenance Shed
Minutes later…

Yumi crumpled against the wall, breathing hard. She had never realized just how taxing moving through this kind of weather was.

"Okay, we're here!" Odd called out. "Now what?"

"Let's get the rope!" Ulrich called to him. He moved up and tried the door. "It's locked!"

"Dammit, why?" Yumi responded.

"I don't know!"

"Can you pick it?"

"Dude, I can't see two feet in front of my fucking face!"

"Fine, how do we get in?"

Jeremy suddenly piped up. "Odd, the brick!"

"Yeah," Odd responded "Everybody, move back!" Odd picked his brick up and hurled it through the window next to the door. He reached in and unlocked the door. The crew burst in, happy to be out of the rain.

"I meant" Jeremy gasped for air "use it to bash the handle off."

"Oh." Odd replied. "Well, my way was a lot cooler."

Ulrich found the rope and spent the next few minutes tying his friends into it. He tied himself as lead this time.

"Alright." He said, facing his companions "I've given you guys a few meters worth of leeway between each other. We're going to move relatively fast, so be ready. If you need a break, one sharp blast on the whistle or a quick jerk on the line. Remember, three quick blasts if you get lost, got it?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, let's move out." Ulrich psyched himself up mentally, and burst out the door and back into the rain once more.

The Factory
Supercomputer Control Room
1142 hours

Tom whistled. He still couldn't believe the sight before his eyes.

When the blast doors had slid open, he'd had no idea what to expect. He'd swept in, pistol drawn, looking for security devices. Much to his surprise, there were none. Instead, at the center of the room, stood the most elaborate computer setup he'd ever seen.

An array of computer monitors was suspended by a long arm from the ceiling down to the intricate workstation below. A chair sat by the entrance to the elevator, with a track running around what looked like a large holographic projector in the middle to the workstation across the room. The entire room had a kind of iridescent green sterility about it, Tom noticed as he looked up to the roof. He had just realized how massive the room was; at least two stories tall with 

heavy duty support rafters leading up to the roof. The room looked now exceedingly like a bunker as opposed to a laboratory. Tom was silent for a moment.

If I built a machine to alter time, this is what it would look like. Tom thought. He holstered his pistol and walked over to the workstation, placing the sound recorder next to the keyboard. He shook the mouse to wake the computer. The screens popped on, and the centermost one displayed a password prompt.

Damn, not this again! Tom cursed as he tried the same set of numbers that had gained him access to the lab in the first place. The machine churned for a moment before the words "ACCESS DENIED" popped up on the screen in big, red block letters. Tom swore again.

Fine, I'll gain access later. Now I just need to focus on bugging this place.

Odd, meanwhile, at the back of the line, was miserable. Why the rain? He thought to himself. Why not a snowstorm, something fun like that? I hate getting wet! Oh, my God, I'm turning into a cat! He started laughing as he ran, his thoughts forming into an old rock song, with a plodding beat and a mucky sounding guitar. He laughed some more when he realized what the song was.

If it keeps on rainin', levee's going to break.
If it keeps on rainin', levee's going to break.
When the levee breaks, I'll have no place to stay…

The crew entered Kadic's park, the footpaths churned into mud.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan, Lord.
The mean old levee, she taught me to weep and moan!
It's got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well…

They continued their run, visibility still very poor. Odd's foot sloshed through a puddle several inches deep. He cursed and kept running, hoping Ulrich knew where the hell he was going.

I'm gonna make you feel bad when you're tryin' to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go.
If you're heading down south, they've got no work to do,
If you don't know about Chicago.

A sharp Breeeeet! In front of him told him that it was time for a rest. The group circled together, heads down, panting.

"Hey, Ulrich." Odd began between breaths. "You sure you know where we are?"

"Yup." He replied, pointing at the ground. "And that is why we did not take the underground route."

Odd looked down and saw the manhole cover to the sewer entrance had been removed. Looking down, he saw the water level was a good five feet above normal, having completely washed out the walkway to the sewer's sides. Odd could barely make out a few objects moving beneath the water.

"My skateboard!" he yelled, undoing his rope and leaping onto the sewer's ladder.

"ODD!" Yumi yelled. "NO!" But it was too late, Odd dove into the water.

Odd kicked and pushed his way to the bottom, feeling his way along for his skateboard. A strong current threatened to pull him further down the tunnel, but he pushed harder, hands gripping the edge of his deck. He pulled himself to the surface.

"It's okay!" He yelled up to the group above. "I got it!" He was pretty sure he heard the words "fucking idiot" and "kill you myself" float down to him, but he ignored them, reaching the ladder back to the surface as he began to climb. The rain however, seemed to increase in intensity. The crew above watched as Odd's feet slipped out from under him. He lost his grip and plummeted down to the water below.

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good, now,
Cryin' won't help you, and prayin' won't do you no good.
When the levee breaks, mamma you got to move…

"Odd? Quit messing around!" Ulrich yelled down. "ODD? ODDDDDDDDD!" Ulrich began untying his rope. "Dammit!" he yelled.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Yumi put a hand on his shoulder. Ulrich looked up.

"I'm going in there after him." He replied as he dropped his rope.

"Wait, Ulrich, no!" Jeremy said, putting his hand on Ulrich's chest. "Look, Odd is a strong swimmer, he'll make it alright. Now we need to focus on getting to the factory. That's our best chance of saving him."

Ulrich picked his rope back up.

"Alright." He told Jeremy. "Let's get moving."

All last night, I sat on the levee and moaned.
All last night, I sat on the levee and moaned.
I think about my baby, and my happy home.

In the sewers, Odd's head broke the surface as he gasped for air, his skateboard long abandoned. He noticed that the current was carrying him at a pretty fast clip towards the factory.

Excellent. He thought. Well, it sure beats walking. He began to swim as he sang the last few lines 

of the song.

"I'm goin', I'm goin' to Chicago. Sorry but I can't take you now. Oh, I'm going down, I'm goin' down now. I'm going down, I'm goin' down now. I'm goin' down, down, doooown…" He swam his way down the tunnel towards the factory.

Supercomputer Control Room
10 Minutes later…

Tom was wrapping up setting his bugs up to provide coverage of the entire room. He placed one under the keyboard of the terminal and stopped. He heard the loud whine of machinery coming from the elevator.

Someone's coming. Tom thought. He looked around at where he could hide. He saw a ladder integrated into the side of the room, leading up to the rafters and to a hatch in the ceiling. Now where was that when I needed a way down here! He gave the bugs one last check and made for the ladder.

Factory Connecting Bridge
Meanwhile…

Ulrich screeched to a halt the moment he could feel pavement beneath his feet.

"Guys!" Jeremy yelled from the back. "We've made it!"

"Yeah," Ulrich replied. "And I don't see Odd."

"Well, come on!" Yumi told him. "Let's get inside. If I were him, I wouldn't want to be waiting for anyone out in this weather." They had just set off across the bridge when there was a tug at the line. Jeremy had stumbled.

"Hey, you okay?" Ulrich called back.

"Yeah, fine!" Jeremy yelled. "But the door to the sewers is open!"

Maybe Odd did make it, then. Ulrich thought as they made it inside. They undid their ropes and swung down to the floor of the factory's cathedral hall. There, they saw a set of wet footprints leading to an operating elevator and a very wet, but very alive, Odd Della Robia.

"Sorry I didn't wait for you guys." Odd told them. "I would've called, but mobiles and water don't mix too well." He grinned.

A wave of relief washed over the group.

"Odd, I don't know whether to hit you or kiss you." Yumi said. "But that is definitely the dumbest thing you've ever done."

"Got me here faster, didn't it?" Odd smirked.

"True." Jeremy said. He pointed to the elevator. "Why did you send the elevator down with no one in it?"

"I didn't" Odd replied. "It was down when I got here."

"Hmm…" Ulrich thought. "Weird." The elevator reached the top, and the crew filed in and began their descent. Odd reached into his pocket.

"Here." He said, passing the companion brick to Jeremy.

"What's this for?" Jeremy asked.

"Just make sure it gets plenty of sunshine and happiness when I'm on Lyoko, okay?"

"Odd, I think all this water has damaged your brain." Jeremy replied as the elevator stopped at the supercomputer control room.

Tom had just finished scaling the ladder up to the rafters when the heavy blast door slid open. He tucked himself behind one of the florescent lamps, using its glaring light and resulting shadow to hide in. A voice echoed through the large chamber.

"Okay," said the unmistakable voice of Jeremy Belpois. "You guys head to the scanner room, and I'll begin the virtualization process as soon as I get through to Aelita. Hopefully she's found XANA's activated tower by now." With that, the blast door sealed shut as Jeremy walked to the elaborate console and placed what looked like a large, damp brick next to the keyboard.

Perfect. Tom thought. Confirmation on one of the subjects. Tom's glee was cut short however, when he saw his sound recorder, still running, next to the brick. Jeremy, however, seemed too busy typing to notice its existence. Count myself lucky, Tom considered, at least for now.

"Aelita?" Jeremy asked into his headset mic. "Aelita, do you copy?"

"Yes, I'm here Jeremy." Her voice sounding digitized through the headphones. "But I've got some unwanted attention!" On Lyoko, Aelita was running, two blocks still in hot pursuit, firing laser blasts at her on the go.

"XANA's monsters?" Jeremy asked "Well, did you find the tower?"

"I did!" she replied. "It's in the forest sector." She gave Jeremy the coordinates.

"Well, hang tight Aelita! Backup is on the way." Jeremy's fingers clicked faster on the keyboard.

The Factory
Scanner Room

The doors to the scanners slid open, and Jeremy announced like the voice of God "You guys are headed to the forest region. Aelita's already got some company, so be ready to fight as soon as you hit the ground!"

"You got it, Einstien!" Odd responded. "Just gimme a second to take these bags outta my pants. They really didn't do a very good job of keeping me dry through XANA's storm."

"Well maybe if you hadn't decided to go for a swim…" Ulrich began, before the scanner doors closed.

"Transfer Yumi!" Jeremy called. "Transfer Odd, Transfer Ulrich!" Tom watched as what looked like little cartoonized pictures of the subjects arranged themselves on the screen. Jeremy hit a button. "Scanner!" he called. The pictures started to fill up. When they reached the top, Jeremy yelled "Virtualization!"

On Lyoko, the digital selves of Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich rendered and dropped to the ground.

"Look!" Yumi called, pointing up the path. Aelita was running at full tilt, only a few short meters from the pursuing blocks. The monsters let out another volley…

"Super sprint!" Ulrich yelled, running in Aelita's direction. He jumped and pulled out his sword…

…Landing behind Aelita and in the path of the incoming lasers, deflecting the bolts with his sword. Aelita dove for cover behind a tree trunk, and Ulrich leapt atop one of the blocks. Steadying himself, he plunged his sword into one of its eyes. "Impact!" he called as the block exploded. He turned to face the other monster, which was already stumbling and about to explode. A quick laser arrow from Odd had eliminated that threat.

"Oof!" he called. "Talk about a warm welcome!" Aelita emerged from behind the trunk, dusting herself off. "You okay, princess?"

"I am, thanks to you all!" she replied.

"Any luck locating the tower?" Yumi asked. Aelita nodded.

"It's just down that path, not too far."

"Ahh, perfect!" Odd stretched out. "Nothing like a little run to dry off after XANA's shower." The group started running down the path Aelita just came from. "I tell ya, XANA's gotta work on his subtlety. There are more polite ways of telling me I need a bath!"

Back in the control room, Tom was getting more confused by the minute. What the hell is going on here? He wondered. He had been able to catch snippets of the conversation on Lyoko, and he 

was downright flummoxed. Towers? Monsters? XANA? What the hell is all that about?

Ulrich's voice broke his concentration. "Jeremy? We've spotted the activated tower."

Ulrich winced as he saw it. Down the path to the left, a pair of blocks patrolled the tower. The monsters didn't bother him, what did was the constantly moving set of three concentric platforms, jumping up and down in different rhythms.

"We have to time the jumps just right." Yumi said. "If not, we're screwed."

"Yeah, I don't know about you guys, but I've had enough swimming for one day." Odd concentrated on the motion of the rings "And last time I checked, the digital sea wasn't the warmest of waters. Let's make sure we get this right."

Jeremy's voice called out of the ether "Well, I hate to rush you guys, but you're going to have to figure it out soon! Three krabes are on your trail!" The crew turned to face them.

"Oh, nutsack." Yumi muttered. Ulrich was slightly more helpful.

"Everyone down the path, now!" He turned and sprinted towards the tower, stopping before he got to the moving platforms. He turned to face the others. "Okay, here's the plan: You two protect Aelita and make your way to the tower. Take the blocks out at a distance if you can. I'll stay here and hold these three off, got it?"

"But Ulrich," Aelita began. "It's suicide!"

"Hey, don't worry; the consequences of me losing my life points are a lot less severe than you losing yours." He told her. "Besides, it's not like I'm going to have to face them on my own." He winked and turned back to face the approaching krabes, who were just entering laser range. "Bring it ON!!" he bellowed, as Yumi made the first jump onto the platform.

Lyoko
Forest Sector-Outside Tower
1220 Hours

The krabes began locking on to Ulrich's position. He stood, sword at the ready, staring them down. Their lasers charged and fired almost simultaneously. Ulrich deflected the first two bolts and almost dodged the third but instead caught a bolt in the right shoulder. Ulrich grunted and held the still sizzling section of his body as Jeremy called "Ulrich! You just lost 20 life points, you have to be careful!"

"Yeah, I know Jeremy, but there's three of them! I can't dodge all their attacks if they lock on to me!"

"C'mon, Ulrich, think! There's gotta be a way you can level the playing field! Try triplicating to break their lock. It'll confuse them long enough for you to take one down and gain the 

advantage. Now go!"

Of course, my special power! He remembered. Okay, time to even the score.

"Triplicate!" he yelled, as his body cloned itself two copies. The krabes who had been charging their lasers stopped, tracking thrown off by the appearance of three identical targets before them. "Go!" Ulrich yelled to his clones, pointing at the monsters. "Take them down!"

The three Ulrichs raced towards the still stunned krabes. The leftmost one recovered and shot one Ulrich, while the other two managed to slip through the still stunned monsters. Ulrich leapt atop the centermost krabe, while Ulrich ran underneath the rightmost as the leftmost Ulrich dematerialized. All in all, it was a very confusing scene.

Center Ulrich succeeded in plunging his sword into the krabe, leaping backwards as it exploded. Right Ulrich was still trying unsuccessfully to put his sword through the monster's underbelly. Center Ulrich took off to help his dexterous brethren as the left most krabe turned and gained a lock on him. Ulrich was just about to leap atop the rightmost monster when he evaporated in a flash of pixels. Ulrich, alone again, used the distraction his brother bought him to finally pierce the krabe's carapace, causing it to stumble and explode.

He turned to face the last krabe. Squaring off with each other, the monster began to charge its laser. Ulrich readied himself. Suddenly, the monster let off two quick blasts. Ulrich swung his sword, deflecting the first bolt back to the krabe, hitting it squarely in the eye of XANA. Its second bolt caught Ulrich as it was collapsing. Ulrich, having only a few life points left, evaporated out of existence.

Back in the real world, the scanner door slid open. Ulrich came spilling out, clutching his head. He grumbled and staggered over to the elevator.

Upstairs in the control room, Tom was beginning to put the pieces together. It sounds like they're fighting something. He mused. And what did they mean by XANA's storm? Are they saying that the storm outside was caused by this supercomputer? Damn!

On Lyoko, Aelita, Odd, and Yumi were still trying to reach the tower. Both warriors had lost several life points due to the block's sniping, and Odd was seriously getting fed up with getting shot at. A laser bolt sizzled by and hit his hand.

"Gaaah!" He yelled. "I'm getting really sick of this!"

"Yeah," came Jeremy's reply "you'd better be extremely careful. You're down to only 10 life points!"

"Okay, we only have to make it through one more ring, and we're on the platform with the tower." Yumi told him. "Let's finish this."

"I've been waiting for you to say that." Odd smiled. "Alrighty, Yumi, you take the left, I'll take 

the right. This brick's shot at me for the last time."

"On three, we both attack." Yumi told him. "One!"

A laser bolt sizzled past Yumi. "Two!"

The block prepared to fire again. "Three!" The two warriors took aim.

"Laser arrow!" Odd yelled, but not before the block got a shot off. Both lasers found their mark, and Odd was devirtualized.

Tom was still clinging to the rafters when Ulrich came up the elevator.

"How's it going?" he asked. Jeremy sighed.

"Well, we just lost Odd, and Yumi's down to 20 LP, and she still hasn't taken out the final monster."

"Any news on things outside?"

"Things are still bad, but if Aelita deactivates the tower soon, I think we might've stopped XANA before he's done too much damage." Jeremy replied. He clicked a few keys. "Well, we just lost Yumi, but she did manage to take out the block just in time. Aelita, you're all clear to enter the tower."

Tom shifted his weight as he clung to the top of the support beam. His pistol was jammed uncomfortably into his side. He removed it and held it in one of his hands, the other one reaching around to grab the underside of the light. It was then that Ulrich looked up. Tom froze.

Ulrich could have sworn he saw something move up on the ceiling, by one of the fluorescent lights providing illumination to the control room. He put his hand up to block the glare of the light.

"Something the matter, Ulrich?" Jeremy asked, looking up at him.

"Nah," Ulrich said. "I thought I saw something. I must've pushed myself a little too hard on Lyoko today, I guess."

"Well, if you're sure you're alright, then fine. Aelita's just about to deactivate the tower, and Odd and Yumi are on their way up the elevator now."

Ulrich nodded. He looked down at the computer terminal, and noticed that there was a small digital sound recorder sitting right next to Odd's companion brick. He picked it up.

"This yours?" he asked Jeremy.

"No, I don't think so. Maybe one of the others'?" Jeremy asked. Tom's nose started twitching. Oh, shit! He thought. Oh please, God, not now! Odd and Yumi were just exiting the elevator. "Ok, Aelita's deactivated the tower. I'm preparing for the return trip—"

"Wait." Ulrich told him. He hefted Odd's companion brick and turned around, looking back up at the light he was gazing at earlier.

"Hey man," Odd began. "What are you doing with my—"

Tom couldn't hold it any more. He let out a stifled sneeze.

That was all Ulrich needed. He chucked the brick as hard as he could at the source of the noise.

"Brick!" Odd finished as it flew through the air. Tom watched it sail towards him. His first instinct was to shield his head and face from the impact. As he brought his hands up to his face, the brick hit his right hand, which was holding his pistol. That hand reflexively released its grip and Tom lunged after it, not realizing at the time that this left him considerably unbalanced and exposed. His still-wet feet slipped from their hold on the beam, and Tom plummeted to the ground below.


Oh damn! What'd I do? I didn't just cliffhang you all, did I? Shucks, looks like I did. I can tell you what happens next, of course, but only if I get two reviews. That's not so hard, is it? Just two?

Good news is that I have this episode entirely wrapped up, and I've already started on the next one, so as soon as those REVIEWS come in the saga continues!

Cheers,
Ocelot014