Ulrich and Odd had crashed at an old acquaintance's place. This particular old acquaintance was also one of Odd's several on-off girlfriends. Though she had once harbored a serious crush Ulrich, as many girls at Kadic had, she accepted that was it was not meant to be. Her relationship with Odd could best be described as "friends with benefits." There wasn't a whole lot beyond two friends who enjoyed enjoying each other. The arrangement suited the two of them just fine, there wasn't any jealousy when either of the pair hooked up with someone else. Her apartment was very nicely furnished, doubtlessly paid for by her father. Her father was certain that any day now, she would find the motivation to do something with her life, as he had been certain of this for the past three years. Currently asleep in one of her chairs was Ulrich. Ulrich was awakened by his cell phone ringing. He roused and blindly answered the phone.

"Hello?" Ulrich groaned, his head pounding from a hangover.

Yumi's voice inquired from the other line. "Ulrich! Where are you?"

Ulrich wasn't sure. He looked around and didn't recognize anything. He had never been to this apartment before. "Uh, I'm not sure. Let me call you back."

"What do you mean you're not sure?" Yumi was clearly getting annoyed. Ulrich hung up the phone. Out from the bathroom appeared Sissi in a towel.

"Oh god, what happened last night?" Ulrich grimaced. Sissi smiled.

"And good morning to you, Ulrich, darling." Sissi laughed.

Odd appeared from behind her, also wearing a towel. "What's the matter good buddy, forget all about our friend Sissi?"

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "How could I forget? Why are we here?"

Odd sat down in another chair. "Well, we needed a place to stay the night, and you didn't seem too keen on going home, so we came here."

"What's the matter, Ulrich, trouble on the home front? There's a familiar story." Sissi quipped.

"You know, I'd feel a lot more comfortable somewhere else right now, Odd. I'll wait for you outside." Ulrich took a brief inventory of his wallet, phone, personal effects, and walked out the door.

Odd smiled and turned to Sissi. "Poor guy, I can hardly blame him, my rocking bod has that effect on people." Sissi rolled her eyes. Odd started to get dressed.

Ulrich waited outside Sissi's apartment complex. He picked up his phone and dialed Yumi back.

Yumi answered the phone. "Hello? Ulrich? What's going on?"

"It seems Odd and I stayed the night with one his girlfriends."

Yumi seemed strangely curious. "Which one?"

Ulrich sighed. "It was Sissi, why does it matter?"

"No, I was just curious." Yumi replied.

There was a brief pause, broken eventually by Ulrich. "What was it that you needed?"

"What was it that I needed? Ulrich, you didn't come home last night, you didn't want to tell me where you were and then I find out you were staying over at Sissi's."

Ulrich was getting annoyed. "I couldn't remember where I was, I've never actually been there before. Besides, why does it matter that it's Sissi's place? When have I ever expressed any interest in anyone but you?"

Odd had been eavesdropping. He approached Ulrich from behind and grabbed the phone. "It's true! Nothing happened between Sissi and Ulrich, she was too busy with me getting L-A-I…" By this point Ulrich grabbed the phone back.

"Sorry about that." Ulrich nervously chuckled into the phone.

Yumi sighed. "Look, have either of you seen Jeremy? Aelita called and she was all in a panic, you know how she gets sometimes."

Odd and Ulrich exchanged confused looks. "Uh, no. We haven't seen him."

"Alright, meet me at Jeremy and Aelita's apartment." Yumi replied, and then hung up.

Ulrich turned to Odd. "I guess we're going to Chez Einstein." The two started walking in that direction.

When Ulrich and Odd arrived, they found Yumi and William already there. William was standing off, leaning on a wall; and Yumi was on the couch, comforting a visibly distressed Aelita. Ulrich and William exchanged eye rolls.

"So what's going on?" Ulrich asked.

Aelita looked up at Ulrich. "Jeremy's gone. Something must have happened to him!"

"How do you know that? Has it even been a day since you saw him last? How do you know he just didn't forget to tell you? Einstein was never Mr. Sensitive." Odd interjected.

Aelita frowned. "He would have left me a note! This is not like him. I bet they took him just like they took my mother; and how they came for my father!"

"Who'd want him?!" Odd blurted out laughing, upon getting a glare from Aelita, he immediately fumbled to recover. "Uh, besides you, of course, I mean. I'm sure uh, he's great… …not what I meant. I mean why would anyone kidnap Einstein?"

William stood up. "I can think of a few people." Everyone looked to William with great surprise. "For starters, there's the government, he's only been hacking into their secret servers since he was like twelve. If you ask me though, I think he was taken by L'albatros."

"The terrorist organization? Why would they want Jeremy?" Yumi asked.

"Whatever he's been after these past months, L'albatros is after the same thing. They've been consistently attacking the same facilities we've been breaking into."

Ulrich looked around and spotted Jeremy's computer. "Did you check his laptop?"

Aelita looked surprised. "Oh god. Of course! I forgot to check his laptop." She got up and opened the lid of the laptop. The computer was password protected, but for Aelita, the password was obvious. "It's a good thing he's kept the same password all these years later." She smiled at the thought. "Lets see if he left something here as a clue." Aelita muttered to herself as she clicked through folders. Soon, she found a video journal entry, which she then opened. On the video, Jeremy spoke:

"Aelita, if you're getting this, then it is as I had feared. I ran out of time and the government forces behind Project Carthage came for me. I'm leaving this video as instructions on what to do. If you were to come and rescue me, you'll need the proper equipment. You'll need the key to our old factory, where I stashed some inventions. You'll also find relevant information about local Carthage facilities on the supercomputer there. I password locked it, but it's same one I've always used, the key to my heart. As for the key to the factory, I left it with the one guy I knew wouldn't tell anyone about it, or rather, wouldn't want to talk about it. Bonne chance, mon ange."

Aelita stared at the screen long after the video ended. "We have to save him!" Aelita announced.

"Hang on." Yumi responded. "I don't think you should be going anywhere in your condition."

Aelita was unphased. "I'm fine Yumi. We're going to get him back before I get too far along. I'm not bringing this child into the world without it's father."

Odd jumped up. "Let me get this straight, you're telling me that you're carrying the Spawn of Einstein? That's a plotline too horrible for even Hospital of Horrors!" Nobody was particularly impressed by Odd's attempt to lighten the mood.

"Sounds to me like we need to go get the factory key from Jim." Yumi announced.

Aelita looked up at Yumi. "You're going with me?"

Yumi smiled. "Of course, Ulrich and I would never abandon you, or Jeremy." Ulrich shuffled slightly, not exactly pleased at the prospect of being volunteered.

"Count me in, too." William chimed in.

"Aw, well I can't say no now, can I?" Odd sighed. "How am I going to be able to see the rest of Hospital of Horrors: The Return?"

"Can't you just watch it on the app?" Ulrich asked

Odd pouted. "It's not the same Ulrich. You may think that you've experienced Hospital of Horrors on your phone, but you've been cheated out of the real experience."

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "So where do we even look for Jim these days? Last I heard, he quit his old job at Kadic."

Odd brightened. "Oh, I can help with that." Everyone's eyes turned to Odd. Odd smiled. "Yeah, I know exactly where he keeps himself these days."

With that, the Lyoko Warriors all headed out. Yumi, Odd, Aelita and Ulrich took a car while William took his motorcycle.

EXCERPT FROM THE DIARY OF LAURA GAUTHIER

DATED TWO YEARS AFTER THE DEATH OF FRANZ HOPPER

Today was my last day at Kadic Academy. After my father lost his job as a result of a corporate takeover, he can no longer afford to send me here. Being forced to attend a public school, my prospects are far dimmer.

I didn't really like it here, but it was more something I could use on an application. The students here were largely stupid nouveau riche brats. I never got along with any of them. The worst of which wasn't even a rich kid, she was an orphan. How on earth does an orphan afford the tuition here?

I'm not sure exactly what her problem is. She's always been a total bitch. Just today, I passed her and her boyfriend in the hall. Belpois didn't even look at me; but Stones, clinging to his arm, could barely contain her jubilation as she mocked me, feigning sympathy that I would no longer be attending.

Her entire little group treats me terribly, to varying degrees, but Stones is the cruelest. What could I have done to warrant such treatment? Does she think that I'm going to steal her precious bespectacled beau with the personality of burnt plastic? He is a total robot loser. Brings a whole new meaning to "battery operated boyfriend." Still, that wouldn't explain the others, unless they're just a bunch of sheep who just go along with whatever she says. Sometimes, I feel as though I know something about them, yet I've forgotten. It's like a sound on the edge of hearing, and then it's gone; or perhaps like a dream that belongs to someone else.