Chapter 33: Under The Factory
Factory, Near Kadic- France
2 Hours and 54 Minutes After Contact…
Jeremy, who was still awaiting the progress on Aelita's materialization in her Lyoko form, was not expecting visitors. He wasn't expecting the military to come to the factory and make contact with him without capturing him and interrogating him. What made him feel surprised and happy was Odd coming with them. When they stopped by, Odd went up to him and hugged him tight, very happy about both of their safety during these events. Odd persuaded them to come to the lab under the factory to tell them every single detail about Xana, Lyoko, the super computer, and all of this.
When they arrived under the factory, Odd and Jeremy explained every little detail. Every detail about the computer was told. Everything they knew about Xana was told to Sergeant Radford and the others. Once every detail was said to them, they pieced it all together with the rest of the information told to them earlier in the Bradley APC. With the information from Odd and Jeremy pieced together, they now believed it all after putting everything together. It was now clear to them. Humanity is now being threatened by an evil program known as Xana and now he has made his move.
"I cannot believe this is all happening." Radford told them, leaning against the wall with his rifle slung over his shoulder. Odd sat next to the elevator door, his MP-5 laying next to him. He took off his helmet and sat it down next to his SMG. He took out his 9mm and sat it out next to the rest of his equipment. He let his large, blonde hair stand up, the purple center still there. He wiped his face and cleaned some of the dirt off with his sweat. Jenny sat next to him, leaning on his left shoulder as she tried to relax with him. Crow stood next to Radford, standing by his side.
"So, Xana is after global control, right?" Radford asked Jeremy, who turned to look at the others.
"Yeah." Jeremy replied.
"Then, why did he shield us in?" Radford asked.
"Well, I bet he's trying to destroy us so that we don't interfere with his later plans, if he succeeds." Jeremy explained.
"You and your friends know how to destroy him?" Crow asked.
"Yeah, we do." Jeremy replied to Crow. "Without us, it's useless to fight against Xana." Odd stood up and approached Jeremy, looking over his shoulder as he looked at the screen, showing Aelita's materialization process with her Lyoko form."What are you doing?" Odd asked."I'm materializing Aelita in her Lyoko form." Jeremy told Odd. "It might be the best bet we have against Xana."
"So, the tower's not in Lyoko, huh?" Odd asked Jeremy, staring at the bar, which was at 50%.
"It's not on Lyoko." Jeremy replied. "It's somewhere here on Earth. But, I don't know where. I thought I had it, but it seems that wasn't it."
"What was it?" Odd asked."That's what I'm trying to find out." Jeremy told Odd in reply. "If we don't find the tower in time, we're done for." All of them looked down at the ground as they heard Jeremy explain everything. They weren't sure where it was, either. If they had an idea where it was, they would've blown it sky high by now. However, since it wasn't anywhere in sight, they thought that there was no trace.
"How long do we have before she's done?" Odd asked Jeremy.
"Well, we may have a few…" Jeremy sat closer to the screen as the bar stopped at 53%. He then saw it blink red. It was beeping, like an alarm, and stopped itself. "Holy crap!" Jeremy bolted up from his chair and rushed for the elevator. "Guys, when we close the elevator door, press enter on the keyboard, it'll open the scanner door." They nodded. Crow ran up to the keyboard and pressed enter on it.
"What's going on?" Odd asked."It's one of the scanners!" Jeremy told them. "There's something wrong!"
"I'll come with you!" Odd said, running into the elevator with Jeremy. Odd stood beside Jeremy as he quickly pressed the button on the elevator.
"What's wrong with it?" Odd asked.
"I don't know." Jeremy replied. "It must've been sabotaged or something."
"I just hope she's okay." Odd replied, the elevator doors opening in front of them. As the doors opened, they saw Aelita, knocked out on the floor.
"Aelita!" Jeremy said, running to Aelita's side. Odd accompanied Jeremy and kneeled down over Aelita with Jeremy.
"She's unconscious." Jeremy said. "But, she's okay, other than that." Jeremy looked at the scanner and then at Odd.
"Odd, go check what's wrong." Jeremy said, Odd nodding. Odd stuck his head inside the scanner and looked up, seeing something blocking some of the tech inside.
"Jeremy, check this out!" Odd said, grabbing Jeremy's attention. Jeremy poked his head aside Odd's and looked up as well. Odd reached up and grabbed what was blocking the tech on the top of the scanner ceiling. Odd looked at the shard of metal.
"Well, look at this." Odd said. "Metal."
"Must've been stuck in there for some time." Jeremy told Odd. "It didn't decide to mess things up until now." Jeremy then went back to Aelita's side as she woke up from unconsciousness.
"Wha… What happened?" Aelita asked.
"Something was wrong and somehow, the process knocked you out." Jeremy explained. "We're going to have to try later after I fix some bugs." Aelita then saw Odd standing over her, a smile on his face.
"Hey, sleeping beauty." Odd joked. Aelita sat up and hugged Odd tight, Odd hugging back.
"Odd, I was so worried!" Aelita said, smiling. "I thought you didn't make it."
"Well, I'm here, right?" Odd joked in reply, Aelita giggling. Jeremy then looked at Aelita. His lips puckered as Aelita's did the same. He got closer to Aelita, his eyes closed. Aelita closed her eyes and also got closer to Jeremy. Jeremy's lips touched Aelita's. Then, it began to get romantic. For about five seconds, they did not part as their lips touched. Aelita held Jeremy's head as Jeremy's arms were softly wrapped around Aelita's neck. Aelita took his glasses off and continued to kiss, leaving Odd speechless. Odd then interrupted.
"Hey, guys, I'm over here." Odd said, looking at the two as they broke up from the kiss. Jeremy grabbed his glasses and Aelita's hands, helping her up. Jeremy then took a quick breath and breathed out.
"So, I'm gonna work on those… bugs." Jeremy told them. Aelita was smiling as she looked at Odd."You know, you should have told me before so that I wouldn't stare at that." Odd told her. Aelita giggled as both of them walked into the elevator and stood with Jeremy as the elevator doors closed in front of them, the elevator ascending to the lab.