(Jeremie's POV)

I sat in the chair next to Aelita's bed, holding her small hand, my thumb caressing it. I desperately wanted her to wake up, to be done with the cancer. Her hair had fallen out completely, and it pained me to look at her. Antea lay sleeping on the couch near the window, her pink hair falling around her face. I had yet to ask where she had been the last few years, thinking she had much more to worry about than answering our questions. Aelita moaned and I jumped. "Aelita?" I tried to squeeze her hand, to let her know I was there, but my muscles were still weak. "Aelita, can you hear me?"

She moaned again, and the monitors let out a loud beep, waking Antea. "What's going on?"

A doctor rushed into the room, a nurse following closely behind him. They quickly shooed us away, despite my protests and Antea's tears. I threw myself down in one of the hallway chairs, wishing there was something I could do. Dad walked over, handing me a cup of hot chocolate. "Here son."

I took the cup, but didn't drink. The steam started to fog up my glasses, and a lump rose in my throat. My phone buzzed in my pocket with a text, but I was too upset to check it right away. I just wanted to know how Aelita was. Five minutes passed, then ten. Two more nurses entered the room, then one left. Another ten minutes passed, and two more nurses left, and Dr. Schroeder followed, stopping in front of us. "She's fine for now. Just a little stress."

"Stress?" I stared at him. "How can someone sleeping be stressed?"

He shrugged. "She may have had a bad dream or so. Something that freaked her out."

I sighed, glad that she was okay. He left and I decided to check my phone. It was a text from Ulrich. Supercomputer has been turned on. Stuck in the elevator. Help. I stared at the phone, not sure of what I was reading. The supercomputer couldn't have been on. And what was he doing in the elevator so late at night? I looked at my watch, realizing how late it was.

Are you okay? I texted, my fingers moving furiously over the small keyboard. Instead of another text, my phone rang in reply. I answered it, not sure of what I was going to here.

"Finally!" Ulrich shouted before I could say hello. "I've been stuck here for almost half an hour."

"What are you doing at the factory?" I got up, walking away from the adults surrounding me.

"Taking a trip down memory lane," he replied. "I guess it's a good thing I did, because I found out the supercomputer's been turned on."

"But that isn't possible. Who could've done that."

"I don't know Jeremie, but I have a bad feeling about Antea and her sudden appearance. I think you should keep her away from Aelita."

"You're right," I answered, looking back at the pink haired woman. "Don't mention this to Aelita either. She's under enough stress."

"Good point." He let out a heavy sigh. "Hey, Jeremie, I need you to do one last thing."

"Sure."

"Come get me out of the elevator!"

Codelyokocodelyokocodelyoko

I climbed down the ladder of the elevator shaft, trying to ignore the pain in my wrists. It took everything I had to keep from falling. My hands throbbed, threatening to let go of the bar. The elevator was stuck a good way down, meaning if I fell, I would've ended up seriously injured. Odd had refused to answer his phone, and I didn't blame him. He was tired, maybe more so than the rest of us. As I continued the climb, I made a silent promise to treat him to the biggest meal I could afford once all this mess was over.

My foot tapped the cold metal of the elevator, and I leapt down, crawling over to the escape door. I slid it open, looking down. Ulrich sat in the corner, looking incredibly bored. "Hey there!" I greeted, sounding sarcastically cheerful. He looked up at me, giving me one of his lazy grins.

"What took you so long?"

"This." I shuffled around in my bag for the rope I had grabbed from the garden shed. "I can't really pull you up myself," I mumbled, looking at my sore wrists. Ulrich didn't say anything, but held one end of the rope while I tied the other to a ladder bar.

"Jeremie?"

"Yeah I heard it." I grasped the bar as I continued tying a tight knot. The elevator creaked loudly, and there was a jerk below me. "Hurry, Ulrich. Climb up the rope or it'll take you down."

My heart beat loudly, hoping Ulrich would make it before the elevator gave out. He appeared at the trapdoor, but I was too afraid to go help him. There was another loud creak, followed by the sickening feeling of the elevator falling from beneath us. Ulrich, who had managed to twist the rope around his wrist, fell only a few feet before colliding with the shaft walls.

"Are you okay?" I called, clinging to the ladder.

"Yeah," he groaned. "Let's get out of here."

"Not yet," I replied, starting the downward journey once more. "We need to get to the lab to figure out what's going on."

Ulrich sighed, letting his head hit the wall. "I just want to go home and go to bed. First that stupid session with Simone and then being stuck in an elevator."

I stopped, looking down at him. "You mean Mr. Simone, the school counselor? What are you seeing him for?"

"Mr. Delmas is making Odd and I go see him after that stunt you pulled. He said that if we didn't get our feelings out we'd be sent home to our parents." He climbed down the ladder, not looking at me. I knew his personal life was something that was hard for him to talk about, and I was glad he wasn't dodging questions and actually talking to me.

"I'm sorry for what I did," I muttered, struggling.

"Hey, are you okay?" Ulrich looked up at me.

"Yeah," I groaned. "It's like my hands are asleep, I can't really use them. If we hurry I can make it."

"I can carry you if you need."

"No, I can do this!" I didn't mean to snap, but the thought of needing him to help made me feel worthless. I was tired of feeling like that.

It seemed like forever until we reached the lab door. Ulrich quickly typed in the code and I ran inside the room, glad to be out of the shaft. I rubbed my wrists, wincing against the pain. "Are you sure you're okay?" Ulrich asked, looking at the slightly bloodied bandages. I nodded, walking over to the computer and hitting a key to wake it up.

"I don't understand." I opened up the surveillance files. "What day did Antea appear?"

"About a week ago? Maybe five days ago. Somewhere around there." Ulrich scratched his head, trying to remember. I rewound the tape, stopping at the slightest movement. "There's a lot of rats around here," Ulrich said after the third one passed on the screen.

"There!" I stopped the tape, pointing at the screen. "What is that?"

"It looks like a man?"

I zoomed in. A man who looked to be in his sixties was on the screen, turning on the computer. I switched cameras, watching him work on the computer, typing away at the very keyboard I was using. He got up, and in another camera he was seen in the scanner room. I inhaled, almost expecting Antea to appear in a scanner. It wasn't her though. "Ulrich? Who does that look like to you?"

"That looks like…Franz Hopper?"

"That's what I thought."

"But that isn't possible. That guy just waltzed in here, turned on the computer, and materialized Franz Hopper just like that?"

"This is getting to be a little much," I growled, staring at the screen. "Look, this all happened a few months ago. Around the time Aelita started getting sick."

"Think it has anything to do with it?" Ulrich asked.

"I don't know. I'm going to run a scan just in case." I typed furiously, trying to ignore the freeze-framed face of Franz Hopper on my screen. "I almost forgot how to do all this."

"We destroyed XANA though."

"And Franz Hopper died sacrificing himself to do it. If he's still alive then maybe XANA is too."

Am I the only one that actually liked the gang's fourth season Earth outfits? I thought they made them look older, especially Aelita's and Ulrich's. Even William's. I mean, Jeremie's and Odd's and Yumi's didn't really change, but they were still cool. More detailed and stuff. I think the people who complain about them are also the people who are complaining about the live action. They just don't like change. The only thing I don't like in Evolution is Aelita's clothing style. Just doesn't seem like the cute girly outfits that she usually is seen in. Of course neither is her Subdigital's concert outfit. Anyways! Review and let me know what you think! I love hearing from my readers, even if it's just a one word reply.