In the hospital, Jennifer had a smile on her face as she and Chase watched TV. Specifically, they were watching some documentary on the Korean War. The couple were both on the bed, hugging each other as they watched.
"Do you think the group is alright?" Chase asked, out of curiosity.
Jennifer shrugged.
"Yeah, I assume that they're doing fine... Odd might be being himself, though." Jennifer said.
Chase nodded, then smiled at Jennifer.
"So... when you get out of here, do you want me to take you somewhere?" Chase offered.
"Nah, that's okay... I've got to teach Aelita how to horseback ride, anyway." Jennifer politely declined.
Chase rose an eyebrow.
"Oh, really? Huh... Alright then." Chase replied.
"Something wrong?" Jennifer asked, curiously.
"Nah, I'm just wondering if she remembered the offer you made." Chase said.
Jennifer smiled.
"Yeah, she does... She's been talking to Jeremie about it for a while." Jennifer stated.
"Good to see she's doing alright..." Chase replied, nodding.
Jennifer nodded in agreement as she and Chase kept watching the documentary. It finally got to a segment on the Battle of Inchon, where UN troops turned the tide of the war against the North Koreans.
"I have a grandpa who fought in this..." Chase said.
"Oh, really? That's pretty badass. What rank was he?" Jennifer asked, curiously.
"I think it was captain. But he got promoted to colonel in Vietnam..." Chase replied.
Jennifer nodded, still curiously looking at him.
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask... how do you know so much about guns?" Jennifer asked, curiously.
"What do you mean?" Chase asked.
Jennifer shrugged.
"When we first ran into the FSB, we shot them with those rifles... Actually, better question, where did you get the guns? It's not like those were street legal." Jennifer stated.
Chase looked back at the TV, obvious to Jennifer that he was purposely avoiding the question.
"There's some stuff you and our friends can't know about... Not even my sister... I'm sorry, Jen. I really am. But I can't tell you..." Chase replied.
"But-" Jennifer began.
"But nothing. I'm sorry, I really am, but I just can't tell you guys... End of discussion." Chase replied, firmly.
Jennifer sighed, nodding as she went to look back at the TV, watching the documentary some more...
She knew that somehow she was going to get to the bottom of why he avoided the question...
With the group in the Skid, they were moving through the Digital Sea. Aelita was still piloting as the rest of the group simply took in the sights...
Needless to say, there was basically nothing...
"Aelita? Any way to make the trip less boring?" Odd asked.
"Just be patient, we're almost to the place we need to get to." Aelita said.
"Which is...?" Yumi asked.
The Skid suddenly stopped at some large mechanism connected to the bottom of a large sphere.
"Here..." Aelita said, finishing Yumi's sentence.
The rest of the group looked at the mechanism, seeing the Skid was connected to it.
"So... how does this work?" Ulrich asked, curiously.
"I'll demonstrate." Aelita said.
The group went wide eyed as Aelita entered some codes on her terminal in the mothership.
"Aelita...? You're freaking me out a little..." Rebecca said, cautiously.
"Look, we're gonna get teleported to where we need to go. Just don't panic." Aelita replied.
Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Rebecca as they felt themselves start leaving the ship...
==Shanghai, People's Republic of China.==
The next thing the group knew, they were standing in a dark, shadowy alley somewhere deep inside of the city of Shanghai. All except Aelita had shocked looks, seeing what they were seeing...
They went to CHINA.
LITERALLY.
Rebecca had a shocked look, seeing and hearing all of the people walking along the sidewalk that was in front of the alley, which in turn was in downtown Shanghai, with literally millions of people around them.
"HOLY SHIT!" Rebecca exclaimed.
"IT WORKED!" Ulrich also exclaimed.
"WE'RE IN CHINA!" Odd exclaimed.
Yumi also had a wide eyed look as the group cautiously walked out of the alley, seeing all of the sights around them...
From the looks of it, they were somewhere in downtown, specifically the Pudong district. They knew that they were close to the Shanghai World Financial Center complex. Needless to say, there was a lot of people there.
Aelita sighed, looking at the group and literally praying they wouldn't get them caught.
"Look, are you guys going to calm down?" Aelita asked.
Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Rebecca all looked at Aelita, still wide eyed as they nodded in confirmation.
"A- Alright..." Ulrich stammered.
Aelita nodded back as the group walked to the sidewalk. They started walking north of their location, wide eyed with everything they saw...
"Guys... I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore..." Odd joked.
The group had annoyed looks as they rolled their eyes, except for Ulrich, who actually snickered a little at the 'Wizard of Oz' reference.
"Odd, this isn't a vacation. Need I remind you we're on a very important mission?" Aelita scolded.
"Sorry, sorry... I just couldn't resist." Odd replied, smirking.
Aelita sighed, shaking her head with a small amount of annoyance.
Aelita knew it was going to turn into a very, very long day...
After about two or three hours of endless walking, the group finally made it to where they needed to get to. The Chinese Naval Base in Shanghai.
The FSB computer was somewhere inside of the base...
Along with thousands of Chinese PLA troops...
The group was outside of the base and they were looking at it through the window of a deserted apartment building, all wide eyed with what they saw.
Several hundred Chinese sailors and army troops were doing drills near the front of the base, and several Type 96 Battle Tanks rolled on the roads inside. APC's were everywhere, and all of the guardtowers had machine gun emplacements or snipers.
Not to mention the barbed wire fences and even a minefield in the front of the base...
To put it in technical terms, everyone except for Aelita all had a single thought...
"We are so screwed..."
(REVIEWS ARE LOVE! SO LOVE ME!)
