Chapter XXXVIII

"There's a door right here!"

Odd pulled Giana with him, toward a marked side entrance into the complex. A camera had been mounted and trained on the door, and there were scanners placed on the wall outside, possibly for access badges.

"We should wait," the girl argued. "We're invisible, remember? We just need to squeeze past when someone enters or exits the building."

He started to whine. "But that could take—"

As luck would have it, two agents pushed the door open, leaving through the side and turning away from them, heading toward a parking lot out back. They sounded bitter.

Giana stopped the door from closing all the way with her foot, pulling Odd with her. Once inside, they found themselves in a hallway with marble floors, whitewashed walls, and cameras stationed every few meters.

"Jeremie and Yumi are in for a lot of trouble," she said grimly. She tilted her head upwards, addressing Astrid: "Can we send you a visual somehow?"

"No need," the woman responded. "Agent Dean has already hacked into their security feed. We can't see you, but we know where you are."

"What about the others?" Odd questioned.

"Agent Frost disabled the security measures on an entrance to the opposite wing. Mr. Belpois and Miss Ishiyama got in safely before they were turned back on." She paused. "However, the mission is resting more on you, Miss De Luca, and your precious ability to stay hidden."

"Great." The girl wielded her épée. "No pressure."

They turned a corner and almost careened right into a slender woman with unnaturally silver hair and dark blue eyes. Her complete attention was focused on the male agent next to her.

Giana felt as if she'd been slapped across the face as she and Odd pinned themselves against the wall, waiting for them to pass.

"I can still see you," he whispered. "Even though we're invisible—"

"That man," she breathed, stunned. "He's— He's Xander's father."

Odd tensed. "Astrid?"

"Agent Liam Emerson," she responded. "Moved to the D.C. area and started working for the Men in Black two years ago. Ex-husband of—"

"Jane Emerson," Giana finished.

"Actually, she goes by her maiden name now," Astrid corrected. "Jane Rausch." She frowned, realization dawning as she read through the file. "Ah. I see — this is that Liam Emerson. Father of—"

"We know," Odd said quickly, cutting her off. "Who's the woman?" They started tailing the adults from about ten meters behind.

"Vivian Greene," Astrid replied. "She's to the Men in Black, what Director Paulson is to us."

"Well, then it's a good thing we're following her," Giana said, quiet.

They rounded a few more corners and spotted Jeremie and Yumi, hiding in the shadows of a dark supply closet. The foursome continued to follow Liam and Vivian as they made their way through a network of hallways, finally stopping at an elevator bank.

"No special access required," Jeremie whispered. "That's a good sign."

"None of you are coming up on the building's security feed," Astrid commented. "Strange…" She arched an eyebrow. "Miss De Luca?"

"Odd's the only one latched on to me," she replied, shrugging. "Unless…" She turned to the boy. "Let go."

He did as he was told, holding his breath for fear that he'd become visible and appear right in the view of a nearby camera.

Nothing happened.

The elevator door that the agents had gotten into, which had been in the process of closing, suddenly stopped. It was all the way across the lobby, Yumi having barely expended any energy on it.

She relaxed her focus ever so slightly, and the doors were still jammed. "We're getting stronger," she whispered.

They ran, slipping into the elevator just as Director Greene was coming to her wit's end, unable to make the doors close by pressing the corresponding button. Huddling into the corner, the group watched with baited breath as Liam hit the button for Sublevel Three, straightening his tie.

"Did you hear from Agent Burgess?" Vivian questioned, tapping her fingers idly against the back of her tablet.

Liam rolled his eyes, removing a box of cigarettes from his pocket. "They caught her."

She punched the side of the wood-paneled elevator. The doors opened, and they sauntered out into another maze of marble hallways, the kids still on their tail.

"Damnit!" she shouted, angrily swiping her card against an access door to enter into a lab. "We were this close to her getting that information — we had it at our fingertips! And the moron goes and gets herself caught? Unbelievable!"

Liam actually flinched. "Ma'am—"

"No." She let out a breath. "Go. If you're going to smoke, take it outside. And don't come back until you have good news."

Turning on his heel, he retreated out of the laboratory, right past the kids. Jeremie, though, kept his eyes trained on the woman. Something just wasn't right.

"Sloane!" she barked. A petite woman with black hair appeared out of seemingly nowhere, holding an almost identical tablet. "I need a scanner."

Sloane nodded once, directing the woman down a narrow hall off to the side of the lab, and into a room that housed three scanners similar to the others the group had always dealt with. Vivian waved her off, making sure she was gone before stepping into the one in the middle.

Jeremie had to try not to let out a gasp as he saw the XANA symbol pulsating on the woman's forehead.

The scanner closed, and XANA immediately felt reenergized as the halo of white light moved up and down, giving him enough power to maintain his host's body without anyone noticing that she wasn't, exactly, who she said she was.

He'd picked her as his target because the Men in Black had always been on his side, in a way. He only wanted world domination, and this group was a sure-fire bet to achieving that goal. Plus, they were always in the mood to terrorize people, and although XANA had initially launched his attacks in France to learn more about the human world and its mechanics and inhabitants, he began to hate them all the same: They were too blissfully unaware of the power they all had, not pushing themselves to their full potential.

So, once he'd made himself known again back in October, and had gained enough strength to possess humans again, he sought out Vivian Greene. And he was able to completely take her over, encompassing her entire body and soul, and brain, to the extent of wiping her out completely. After studying her life and mannerisms closely enough to mimic them on his own, he felt confident enough to defeat what was left of her, as she'd always been too weak to fight back. Strong-willed, of course, but weak.

Since he now lived as a human in Vivian's body, once he solidified his own form, he'd no longer need her, and she'd drop dead as soon as he left. And they were coming quite close to the sequence needed for him to assume an identity without needing a host body.

The humans, of course, still weren't aware of the development in his plan — they were working hard to help him, but they still thought they were interacting with the real Vivian Greene.

She'd been long gone.

"This is completely out of the question!" Anthea snapped.

"We have no other options!" Franz barked.

The woman shot up from the leather chair she'd occupied, leaning forward and getting right in her husband's face. "In case you've all forgotten," she snarled, "they are children! We cannot, under any circumstances, expect them to commit a murder!"

"That woman is possessed by XANA," Avery countered, ever so calm. "He's always been too weak to take on an embodiment of his own — therefore, he needs a host. Who better than the leader of the Men in Black?" She paused, eyeing the couple warily. "Somehow, he was able to conduct this plan without having to activate a tower, something our tech team is working to find information about. If push comes to shove, and he's too powerful, they'll have to kill Miss Greene."

"I won't do it," Anthea stated, crossing her arms. "I can't."

"Surely you more than anyone can appreciate what we have to do," Franz said, level. "I mean, those monsters held you hostage, for God's—"

"Don't you dare use that against me!" she cried. "They tortured me, Waldo — for information that I didn't even have! I lied my way out of there, and it's a miracle I made it out in one piece!"

"I thought you knew something," Jim said quietly. "That you just told them you didn't."

"At the time, I only knew Waldo was thinking about building Lyoko as a refuge," she admitted. "But, of course, I couldn't let them know that." She paused a beat, locking eyes with her husband. "I have no idea how they found you and Aelita in France."

She couldn't see his eyes behind the dark glasses, but for once, Franz was so emotional he almost cried. "I never blamed you."

They heard a thump. Avery, who'd been occupying the sofa, was on her feet with a weapon in her grasp faster than the blink of an eye. Anthea, on the other hand, sank back down into her chair, resting her head in her hands. "Giana, we know it's you."

What they weren't expecting, was for the other girls to materialize around the brunette. Sissi and Yumi held her up from the exhaustion of overexerting her powers.

Aelita moved her attention to her cell phone. "Jeremie. They caught us."

All five boys materialized in the room immediately, all at once, near the door. Nico and Ulrich steadied Jeremie, facing the same level of fatigue. He was led over to the sofa, slumping down next to the brunette, who'd buried her face in a toss pillow.

"Y-you can project your powers?!" Franz stammered, jumping to his feet.

"It's exhausting," Jeremie mumbled. Giana gave a half-hearted noise in agreement.

"You heard everything," Anthea realized. It wasn't a question.

Yumi nodded, leaning against the Director's desk, between Ulrich and Odd.

"You want us to kill XANA," William said simply. He relaxed, going over to stand by Giana, Jeremie, and Nico. "Good. I've been waiting for this."

"You?" Aelita spat. "That thing—"

"Trapped you for ten years," Sissi finished. She rested a hand on the girl's shoulder. "We know."

"I was going to say he made our lives a living nightmare," she replied, crossing her arms.

"What we do know," Avery pressed, ignoring them, "is that Liam Emerson is the second-in-command to their operations."

Nico stood, running to the door. "I'm gonna kill him."

Jim grabbed him around the middle, lifting the boy effortlessly in the air, and placing him down before blocking the exit. "Sit down, De Luca."

"Don't," Giana protested weakly.

"Xander is that man's spawn, Gia," her brother said. "He—"

"Does he happen to look like this?"

Sebastian held up a tablet with security footage of Liam and Xander, walking side-by-side through the Men in Black's complex. The room immediately went silent.

"What?" Giana asked, sitting up. She looked to Sebastian. "Give me that."

"Giana—" William warned, trying to compose himself.

"No," she said, firm. "Agent Collins?"

Biting his lower lip, the man handed the device over. Holding it about an inch or two from her face, she examined the footage on a loop, gripping the tablet so tight she thought she was going to break it.

Once the realization sunk in, she hurled it across the room like a Frisbee, only to be caught by Ulrich and his speed. Darting from her position, she squeezed past Jim, ignoring everyone calling for her to stop, running through the top floor of the building blindly, having left Vega in the office.

Timing was on her side as an elevator door opened, two agents heading to speak to the Director regarding the rogue agent. She shoved past them, jamming her thumb against the large button for the lobby. She could hear her heartbeat but felt as if she couldn't breathe, as the elevator took an eternity to make its descent.

Once at her destination, she ran straight ahead and kept on going, past the security checkpoints and out the front door. She practically tripped down the half flight of stairs outside, the chilly air not making itself known to her from the adrenaline.

Falling into a sitting position against the base of a large, stone fountain, it was there that she felt safe enough to cry. She buried her face in her hands, moving her arms up to eventually tangle her fingers in her hair.

She let go, gripping the side of the stonework and leaning her head back. The stream of the fountain sounded so far away as the shock started to wear off, and it was then she realized just how cold it was. And how sick she felt. But she couldn't move — she could only focus on one thing.

He's alive, she told herself. First in English, then French and Italian.

She focused enough in the light of the buildings and street lamps surrounding her to notice that someone had approached her.

It was Nico, his grey Nike sneakers all too familiar.

She couldn't see it, but he had a look of complete and utter distress on his face. He said something, probably into his phone or watch, about how he'd found her and that it was okay. Then he sat down next to her, far enough to give her space but close enough that she knew he wasn't about to leave.

"I'm going to kill him," he said again, this time calmer and almost matter-of-factly.

She knew he wasn't referring to Liam.

"We went to his funeral, Nico," she said finally, her voice breaking. "His dad was there, and—" Something clicked. She stood, kicking the ground. "Tori and Jack saw him! The day of that hockey game against Tabor Academy — Xander was dead! Jack said he wasn't breathing and the paramedics pronounced it at the scene!"

"I don't know who they buried, Giana," her brother said evenly. "The wake was closed-casket, remember? But he's very much alive." He scowled. "For the time being."

She turned on him as he stood and offered his arm to lead her back into the building. "Don't talk like that," she snapped.

"William's already agreed to help me," he continued.

"Nico—"

They stopped. He spun abruptly, standing at arms' length and grabbing her shoulders. "You're my sister. He hurt you. No one's allowed to do that."

"His dad hurt him the same way," she countered.

"His dad probably brainwashed him by now!" he spat.

She pushed her brother away, throwing her arms up, stalking back up the steps and inside. "You can't just kill someone!"

"But you didn't offer up the same reaction when the adults told us we have to kill Director Greene!"

"She's possessed by XANA!" she shouted. "I don't want to do it — she's still a person!"

He leveled with her. "Okay, fine. But if he's caught in the line of fire, I'm not saving him."

"Sounds good." She shouldered a door open after the scanner accepted their retinal IDs. "Because neither am I."

He felt some part of him relax ever so slightly. "Do you think anyone knows? Jack, or their mom or something?"

"I saw Jack and Tori together when Aelita and I destroyed a Replika supercomputer under Boston City Hall." She shrugged. "They looked like they were on a date. I doubt he knows about Xander."

"Tori seemed like she was still with Bryce when we were at their house," he commented.

"She obviously hasn't broken up with him yet." She stopped abruptly. "Wait. Xander's alive."

Nico furrowed his brow.

"That means…" She forced herself to say what she'd feared most: "The specter that attacked me in France wasn't a ghost made up by XANA." She started to feel lightheaded again. "He was possessed. It was actually him."