Chapter XXXVII

"What the hell is happening?"

"Stress-baking. She did it with our mother every day during the week of the Marathon Bombing."

Yumi and Nico stood in the doorway to the kitchen, watching Giana as she examined a toothpick, satisfied with it having come out clean from a cake. Odd, meanwhile, was perched at the island, already halfway through a plate of biscotti.

"Odd, pass me that confectioners' sugar?" she requested in Italian, throwing the toothpick in the garbage.

"Hmm?" His mouth was full, but he gave a vague, confused gesture.

"Confectioners' sugar," she repeated again, this time in French. "We've been over this."

Nico took a seat next to Odd while Yumi leaned against the counter, having passed her friend the box of sugar. The older boy reached for a biscotti, but the blonde swatted his hand away before exchanging a glance. He shrunk back, letting him take what he wanted.

"It's been three days, and they still haven't made much headway with that data," the girl continued, focusing on the bowl of icing she'd been mixing. "Now it's the weekend, and we're stuck in this house—" She reached up into a cabinet, pulling down a hand mixer, dissatisfied with the spoon. "Where's the stupid—"

"Giana, take a deep breath," William suggested, coming into the room with Sissi right behind him. "You're tense, and I get it. Maybe we should… take a nap. Later."

He caught an icy glare from Nico, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Maybe I'll just shut up."

"I'm sure they'll find something," Yumi said, trying to be optimistic. "Jeremie and Franz headed back there today to do some more decoding while pretty much everyone else is off for the weekend. Maybe we could get lucky."

"You may be right," William agreed. He took out his phone. "I'm going to call Reese and see if she'll give me a lift over there — maybe I can be of some assistance."

"I'll go with you," Nico offered. "It's better than staying around here, anyway."

He furrowed his brow at the boy but jumped as the agent picked up on the other end. "Agent Brooks? … Yeah. Nico and I need a ride to the Agency. We're going to help Franz and Jeremie. … Okay. Thanks." He hung up. "She said to come out front — she's waiting across the street." He stole a glance at Giana, furiously mixing the frosting ingredients together, having given up on finding the correct attachment for the mixer. "Hey, we'll be—"

"Go," she interrupted, waving the spoon at them. "Save the world."

"We're getting nowhere!" Jeremie shouted, frustrated. He glared across the room at Franz from behind his monitor. They'd been working in one of the labs, trying to decipher the key William and Aelita had gotten from Sector Five. "If you would've just listened to my suggestions—"

"Enough!" the man bellowed, bringing his fist down on his chair's armrest. "Bickering won't get us anywhere either, Jeremie!"

"Oh, good," William said sarcastically, leaning against the door frame. "You're getting along for once."

Franz scoffed angrily. "William. Older De Luca."

"Nico," the boy corrected, sliding into a seat next to Jeremie. "Did you find anything useful?"

Jeremie adjusted his glasses. "Well, thanks to Astrid, we know it's a kill switch. But we haven't figured out how to use it."

"Hmm." William furrowed his brow, leaning between the duo to examine the lines of code. "What if—"

Nico shot up from his chair. "Somebody's coming." He ran to the door, slamming it shut and jamming his thumb into the lock.

"Nobody can just waltz in here," Franz pointed out. "This is the CIA — there are layers upon layers of security measures!"

"Listen," the boy started, taking a defiant stance, "my powers only work if there's an enemy approaching. I know what I'm feeling."

Jeremie leaned back. "That means…"

"Someone's not who they say they are," William finished.

Nico stole a glance out the door's window to catch their suspect as they walked by. "Anyone know her?" he whispered, holding up his phone to show a blurry photo he'd snapped.

A tall redhead sauntered down the hall, unaware of their presence as she held her badge up to a reader and let the retinal scan do its thing, accessing a restricted portion of the building. The door closed, cutting her off from view.

"No," William said, scrutinizing the picture. "But we need to tell the Director."

"You're positive?"

The boys stood in Agent Paulson's office while Franz had offered to stay behind, wracking his brain for an easy way to decipher the data they'd mined. The woman made a face as she examined the photo.

"Harper Burgess." She let out a breath. "She's fairly new — only started working for us about two months ago." Staring up at them, she addressed Nico: "Mr. De Luca, are you absolutely sure you sensed her as a threat?"

They were all speaking French mainly to benefit Jeremie, as his English was far from perfect, though the Director had learned fourteen different languages over the course of her studies. It was just like a typical day for her.

"Yes, ma'am," he responded, taking his phone back. "We saw her access a door at the end of our hall, then disappear. We tried to follow, but—"

"We don't have clearance, obviously," Jeremie interrupted. "And I can't teleport unless I've been there before or have an absolute clear idea of where I'm going."

The Director picked up the phone on her desk and pressed a button. "Carl? We have an incident on Sublevel Four. I need your team to apprehend Agent Burgess and bring her into custody. … Thank you." She focused on the trio again. "They're taking care of it. One of our agents also has orders to extract Mr. Schaeffer if things get violent."

"You couldn't just set off an alarm or something?" William questioned.

She shook her head. "This way is much more discreet. If we'd issued an alert, she'd probably assume we were coming after her anyway and run." She stood. "Trust me, Mr. Dunbar: There are thousands of places to hide in this building. Especially if you don't want to be found."

"You're supposed to be keeping us safe!" Franz snarled.

An emergency meeting had been called after the arrest of the rogue agent. Sebastian fidgeted, cautiously placing a tray of tea and pastries on a low table in the Director's office. Odd reached furtively for a scone, cut off by a stern glare from Yumi. He quickly regained his composure, huffing a sigh.

"This is not our fault," Avery pressed. She took a seat on the leather sofa between Anthea and Sissi. "Agent Burgess passed all of our required screenings and tests and was admitted into the Agency in our technical department. She didn't have the skillset to handle the supercomputer but was instead assigned as a liaison for Astrid's team. That is, until Mr. De Luca sensed her as a threat."

"It was the same feeling I got back home, with that guy from the Men in Black," he supplied, slumping back into his seat. "Does she know anything about our mission?"

"They're questioning her now," Sebastian replied. "She's admitted to being in allegiance with them, but other than that, Agent Montgomery has relayed to us that she's being uncooperative."

"What a surprise," Ulrich spat. He raised his voice to a normal volume. "What now? Do we continue and infiltrate their headquarters via that Replika? They'll probably be expecting us at this point!"

"We don't know if she knows our plan," Sissi pointed out, standing. She started to pace. "So, if we can safely assume she's clueless, then I say we go ahead and do it."

"There's just one problem," Jeremie cut in. "We still haven't made any headway regarding that data from Sector Five."

"I think I know what it might be," Aelita said, quiet. Everyone turned — she squirmed a bit at the shift, fully aware of everyone's eyes on her. "Dad — don't you remember anything? What about the Keys to Lyoko?"

"XANA took them from you," the man said simply. "You know as well as I that there was no backup."

"But, what if… What if we take that string of data, and insert it as a virus into the mainframe of the Men in Black's operations? Like what we've been doing to the Replika supercomputers?"

"That sounds like it'd be too easy," Jeremie countered.

"Maybe not." Aelita stood. "Think about it: How did we defeat XANA last time? I mean, sure — your multi-agent program attacked him in the end, but we started off by killing the Replika supercomputers."

"It's almost like we've come full-circle," Yumi said.

"Well, we have to do something," Giana pressed. "Can't we go now? Do the recon mission?"

The Director looked around at the group, weighing their options: They could wait for Carl and his team to finish the interrogation, or they could get ahead of the game and gather the information they'd need to wage the final assault.

"Yes," she said finally, after a few moments of silence. "But, it's only to gather information. We'll piece together what we have afterwards. Then we'll move on to planning the attack."

The team met in the lab with the supercomputer, waiting for the all-clear from Astrid to start the virtualization process.

"Good luck, kids," Jim said, accompanying them to the lower level. "Show these terrorists who's boss."

Jeremie relaxed the slightest bit, turning to face his teacher as he paused in front of an open scanner. "Thanks, Jim. We'll be back before you know it."

The man nodded, taking Vega's leash from Giana and leading the dog out of the room with him, back up into the lab with the others.

"Now, remember," Astrid started, her voice filling the surround as the scanner doors closed, "this is purely a recon mission. You will not act, you will only observe."

"Why is everyone so hell-bent on drilling that into our heads?" Sissi demanded.

"The security parameters for this particular base have been disabled, and so far we've been unable to hack into their system and restore them." The woman paused a beat. "That means the Men in Black agents will be able to see you."

They were silent as she rattled off the virtualization commands, and continued to remain so when they landed in the arena of Sector Five.

Yumi spoke first: "We're not invincible."

"That's right," Jeremie said glumly. "It'll be us, there, in the flesh. So, if we die…"

"It's over," Aelita finished.

A glance passed between the De Luca siblings, Nico gesturing for his sister to go ahead of him into the Core Zone.

"You won't die," Franz asserted. "Your weapons and powers will remain intact, which is something they won't be counting on, assuming that rogue agent didn't give them the slip."

"Just try to stay hidden," Astrid interjected.

Giana rippled back into view, the corners of her mouth turning upwards into the slightest smile as she dug the tip of her épée into a Creeper, devirtualizing it. "Luckily, hiding is something I'm good at."

Both Skids anchored to the tower in a Replika of Sector Five, as the team was transferred from their positions. Aelita looked around at her friends, getting their bearings.

"We can't all go," she said, taking charge.

"Think carefully," Franz instructed. "You all have powers that can be useful in this situation." He paused. "However, I strongly recommend taking De Luca."

Nico furrowed his brow. "Me?"

"Your sister."

"Does he even know our names?" Giana muttered in Italian. Nico shrugged.

"He's right," Jeremie said, catching himself off-guard with the agreement. He took a step forward. "I'm going too. With our combined powers, I think we'll be okay."

Aelita turned to Yumi. "You should join them."

The girl offered a single nod, going to stand by the duo.

"Odd?" Jeremie questioned. "We could use your shield."

"At your service, Einstein," the boy responded, offering a salute as he came to stand on the other side of Yumi.

"Okay." Jeremie looked at his team, gripping the handle of one of his daggers. "Beam us up, Astrid."

Nico brandished his sword once the group had been transferred. "And what are we supposed to do?"

"That," William said simply, pointing straight ahead. A conglomerate of Creepers advanced on them, shooting their lasers at the Skids. He called up his own sword, glancing back at his girlfriend's brother. "You said you wanted to fight. Now's your chance."

"Ground Team, do you copy?"

Astrid's voice came in loud and clear through each of their earpieces as the kids looked at their new surroundings, plotting a course that would be conducive to entering the complex. A tall, steel and glass structure loomed in front of them, masquerading as a typical government building. But they knew better.

Giana blinked her eyes rapidly, adjusting to the sensation of her brain having to process the ability to see at a normal range, versus her limited amount of sight when not in her Lyoko form. She always found these missions jarring and uncomfortable, and usually preferred to protect the Skid.

She almost felt queasy. "I hate this," she grumbled in English, bracing herself against the stone wall that ran the length of most of their street.

"Are you alright?" Yumi questioned, eyeing her with concern.

Astrid was about to offer up a response, when Giana interrupted her: "Let's split up," she suggested, now in French. "Cover more ground." She paused, composing herself. "Odd, come with me. Jeremie, you and Yumi go in from the left. If anything happens, Astrid can pull us out of here."

"Be careful. Mr. Schaeffer is monitoring the situation in Sector Five so I can focus all my resources on you." Astrid paused, taking a breath. "I'm sure I don't have to remind you that if you're injured on this mission, you won't magically heal when reappearing in our scanners."

Giana grabbed Odd's arm with her left hand, reaching behind to grab her épée with her right, pulling it from its sheath. "Then we'll just make sure they don't." The duo faded, completely invisible, as Jeremie squirmed slightly and Yumi crossed her arms, wary.

"What if they have heat-seeking goggles? Or if the security cameras somehow pick you up?" she demanded.

"Odd has a shield," the brunette countered.

The older girl let out an agitated breath through her nose, turning to face the boy with the glasses. "Jeremie: Can you bounce us back here if we get into trouble?"

He nodded. "Affirmative."

"Good." She took his hand. "Let's go."