Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Yumi and Ulrich didn't snap out of their trance until the music stopped and the crowd applauded. When the last dance was called, Ulrich made his way over to Yumi, turning down offers from other girls he had danced with. Yumi saw him coming just as she turned down an offer to dance from the boy she had just been dancing with. He left, dejected, as Ulrich walked up.
Like Jeremie and Aelita, dancing above them, the two lost themselves in the other as the music played, but unlike the other couple, they didn't draw closer. But still, they were lost in each other through the entire song, proven by their surprise and embarrassment when the crowd started cheering.
After backing off and giving themselves time to recover, they fell into step and made their way up to the factory level.
"So, do you want to do anything else?" Ulrich asked her.
"No, mom and dad want me home as soon as the club lets out," Yumi replied, "mom is insisting that I help with house cleaning tomorrow, and it takes the whole family to ride herd on Hiroki."
Ulrich smiled. "Okay then; could I walk you home?"
"Sure."
Aelita quickly changed while Jeremie and her father talked. Franz once again congratulated her on her performance, then told Jeremie that things had settled down in the old assembly room. Two of the men that were in there fairly well disappeared, while the third man, the chemist, flopped down on a camp cot and fell asleep.
"The two that disappeared, did they leave through the club?" Jeremie asked.
"No," Franz replied, "they didn't even go to that door. It looked like they went down to the aqueduct."
"I don't remember there being an exit down there," Jeremie said.
"Maybe they swam out," Aelita said as she emerged from behind her partition, dressed once again in her school clothes, "water flows through that level; it has to go somewhere."
"Maybe, but why do that when the door is right there?" Franz said, "no one would have noticed them cutting through the club, and Mr. Bass surely knows they were here."
"I don't know," Jeremie finally said, "and it's going to have to wait for another day. I'm tired and we need to get back to school."
"Well, good night, kids," Franz said, "if anything unusual happens, I'll contact you."
Odd didn't dance the last dance. A couple of girls asked him, but he had no desire to slow dance with anyone. After the performance broke up, Odd looked around the room for Sissi. He at least needed to know that she was okay before he beat it back to the dorms.
He looked all around, but couldn't find her. Perplexed, he decided she had already left, so he went on up to the main level, over to the refreshment bar. Anitoly, one of the senior bouncers, was still by the bar, almost looking like he hadn't moved all night.
"Anitoly, did Sissi get her stuff?" Odd asked as he walked up.
"Nyet," Anitoly replied, "thought she would leave with you. So, where is she?"
"I don't know," Odd replied, "she may have left with someone else, but I think she would get her bag first. Listen, give it to me and I'll take it back. If she shows up looking for it, tell her I've got it."
"You not planning on stealing it, eh?" Anitoly asked with mock suspicion. For all he knew, Sissi and Odd were a couple.
"No," Odd replied, "I'm just making sure it gets back to her. Promise."
Anitoly reached back and picked up Sissi's bag and handed it to Odd.
"If I hear you pulling my leg, I pull yours off," Anitoly said. Odd just smiled and left.
Sissi had danced the last dance with the boy she met earlier in the evening. They had returned to the main level, gotten refreshments, then talked for a bit over the SubDigitals music. When they called the last dance, they played a slow song too. Sissi and the boy danced and enjoyed each other's company until the end.
After applauding the performance, Sissi turned to the boy and said, "thanks; I really enjoyed myself tonight."
He replied, "well, would you like to go somewhere else for a while? I was going to meet up with a bunch of friends and we were going to go hang out somewhere."
"I don't know..." Sissi started, but was interrupted.
"Don't worry, it's cool," he said. He took her by the arm and began to lead her to the entrance. "Why don't you come meet my friends, listen to what we're going to do, then decide? There's no harm in that, is there?"
As he was pulling her along, Sissi said, "wait a minute, I've got to get my stuff!"
"Don't worry, my friends are just inside the entrance."
Things were moving so quickly, Sissi didn't have much time to think. They walked up the stairway to the entrance, but there didn't seem to be a group waiting there.
"C'mon, they must have moved outside," the boy said, not giving Sissi enough time to answer.
They left the factory and walked across the bridge. There, on the sidewalk, were four other boys in a group. One of them signaled to the boy Sissi was with, and he led her over to join them.
"See, here they are," the boy said, putting an arm around Sissi, preventing her from moving off, "say guys, what are we going to do now?"
"Let's go to the hangout," one of them said, "I've got some preemo shit that's just waiting to be smoked."
"Wait a minute," Sissi said, "I'm not into that kind of thing, so I'll just..."
She stopped when she felt a sharp jab in her butt. One of the other boys had come around behind her and did something. She tried to scream, but the boy who brought her here clamped his hand on her mouth. Also, she started feeling really dizzy and disoriented.
"Shhhh, it's okay now," the boy said softly to her, "give it a couple minutes and you'll be in happy land. Then we'll go someplace and have a real good time, just you and us."
Odd walked out of the factory, carrying Sissi's bag and looking for her. There was still quite a crowd on the bridge, so it took a little effort for Odd to get across. He heard someone call his name, and turned back to see Ulrich and Yumi emerging from the factory, Ulrich waiving at the purple suited boy, trying to catch his attention. Odd stopped and waived back, then waited for his friends to join him.
"What's up?" Ulrich asked when they reached him.
"Nuthin," Odd replied, "Sissi must have gotten wrapped up in some other bozo and traipsed off. She even ran off without her stuff."
"Well, I guess that means you're off whatever hook she had you on," Yumi said. She looked up, then added, "hey, what'dya know; she's right over there."
Yumi pointed to the end of the bridge, where Sissi and five boys were standing. One of the boys had his arm around the principal's daughter, while another looked to be strutting around the couple. Then, the strutting boy moved in and did something, causing Sissi to jump. The boy holding her tightened his grip and said something to her. After a couple of seconds, the whole group began to walk off, Sissi stumbling along with them.
"That don't look right," Odd said. He had turned to where Yumi had pointed and saw the whole sequence. "I'd better make sure she's okay," he said before trotting off after her.
Ulrich looked at Yumi, who looked back at him.
"Trouble?" he said to her.
"Trouble," she said to him.
They both set off after Odd.
Odd pushed his way through the crowd and quickly caught up to Sissi and the boys with her. He reached out, grabbed the boy holding Sissi by the shoulder, and jerked him to a halt. The boy lost his hold on Sissi, who wobbled once and slid to the ground.
"What the fuck!" the boy exclaimed as Odd turned him around.
"What are you doing with her?" Odd demanded.
"She's my sister, asshole, and I'm taking her home!" was the reply. The other boys in the group started fanning out to surround Odd and support their friend.
"Look, Jack, she's not your sister!" Odd shouted, "she's a friend of mine and she's going back to school!"
One of the other boys started to move in on Odd when another person came up and stepped between him and the purple clad irritant.
"Don't even think about it," came the voice of Ulrich Stern. Odd smiled at the support.
"Five against two, I like those odds," said the first boy.
"Five against three," came a girl's voice as Yumi joined in on Odd's opposite side.
"Ooo, another bitch to play with," one of the boys in the back said, "c'mon, let's take them!"
It was over in thirty seconds. The five boys thought they had strength in numbers, but their opponents had experience fighting together. The three made short work of their attackers, and when the boys realized what they were up against, backed off.
"You just watch your backs, sweetiepie," the first boy said, "you won't always be together, and we'll be around."
With that, the five ran off. Just as they left, Jeremie and Aelita ran up.
"You guys okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, we're fine," Odd said, "but they did something to Sissi."
Yumi and Aelita turned to the fallen principal's daughter. After the boy let her go, she slid down to the ground and lay there, barely conscious. Aelita lifted Sissi up and tried shaking her awake. Sissi groaned and fussed a little, but wouldn't wake up.
"I'm calling the police," Jeremie said as he pulled out his cell phone, "I also managed to get a picture of them. I think one of their faces is clear enough to identify."
Jeremie called the police and they quickly arrived, followed by an ambulance. Sissi was checked out by the paramedics, and they said she was probably given a sedative. They took her to the hospital while Jeremie called the principal. The principal told Jeremie that he would meet the ambulance at the hospital. Odd insisted on going with her, so she would have at least one familiar face around her when she woke up.
By that time, Henri Bass and Sophie Delacort came out. Henri asked what the trouble was and Jeremie explained what happened. Before he could go farther, one of the police officers came up and said he wanted to talk to Jeremie and see the picture he took of the assailants. Jeremie excused himself and went with the officer.
All in all, it was early in the morning before any of the Lyoko Warriors got to bed. Yumi had to talk fast to keep herself from being grounded by her parents. Aelita, Jeremie and Ulrich just missed out on getting detention before Jim Moralés found out what happened. Sissi stayed in the ER overnight until the drug had cleared her system, then she was interviewed by the police. She came back to Kadic late Saturday morning with her father and Odd, who stayed with her even after her father joined them.
It seemed like the excitement of the grand opening of The Factory had finally faded. But, not quite...
Early Saturday afternoon, Aelita was called to the Principal's Office. When she got there, she saw that Jeremie was in a conference room, along with his parents. It looked like his father was talking to the boy, and Jeremie didn't look like he was enjoying the conversation. Aelita went to the Principal's Office and knocked on the door. The principal invited her in, and she entered.
There was the principal, her father, and Sophie. Mr. Delmas motioned her to sit down, and she took the seat offered.
"Aelita, could you explain this to me?" Mr. Delmas asked, handing Aelita a newspaper. "This entry," he added, pointing to a particular paragraph.
It read:
The opening of the new teen nightspot, The Factory, was a roaring success. Both the facility and the staff were wonderful, and the entertainment provided by the SubDigitals and Aelita Stones was the capstone of the opening. But, the buzz last night was not about the club, but about Miss Stones herself. Rumor has it that on Thursday evening, the techno-DJ had a torrid session with her boyfriend, Mr. Jeremie Belpois. If the rumors are true, the couple may have been practicing more than dance steps in his dorm room that night...
"Oh dear," was all Aelita could say.