AN: This chapter came after prayer and admittedly a more challenging week for me than was usual. But I'm feeling better overall, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I'll see you next time."

Pagliacci-11

Chapter 93

A knock was heard at Jeremy's door, it was still early morning, and when the door opened, Alfonse was the greeter.

Seeing Aelita, he said with a yawn, "Oh, hey. What's up?"

Aelita looked at him and then asked, "Is Jeremy in?"

Al looked to this right, "He's right here. I'm going to let him sleep, though. He kept me up all night nearly with his incessant keyboard clicking. This is the only time of day which I can truly sleep in peace, you know?"

Aelita nodded, "When he wakes up, let him know I'm looking for him, please."

Al nodded, "Of course. See you later."

Al gently closed the door, and Aelita headed back to her dorm. She stood outside the door a moment for a few moments in relative silence and then gently opened the door. She looked around inside the room and after a few moments contemplating her wardrobe, she dressed for the day. Once finished, she opened up her diary and began to write down her thoughts.

"Took time to think about Natasha's proposition. Despite what she has offered me, I cannot accept. She will be waiting in the wings to strike at us when it is more favorable for her to do so. Sadly, her vision is no different than Sylvia's; the only difference is that the former is more the hardcore authoritarian than the latter. Their methods don't vary, except Sylvia is more of a democracy in the traditional sense—maybe.

I fear that Natasha or Sylvia, the worse possibility of both, have a plan in mind. I can't trust either one, as I've said. Natasha's very businesslike in her vision of what is to come. I believe of the two sisters; she is the one without pity, without remorse. Sylvia could still be reached; however, she has an immense tendency to overreact and frankly can't be told anything.

Does Natasha wish to destroy us? I can't entirely be sure. My conversation with her has lead me to believe her destruction of the world is conditional—it's cold comfort, but I have time. So, just what I will do, I don't know yet. But something tells me that this is far from over."

Meanwhile, in the upper offices of the Ministry, Sylvia sat with Dr. Livesey, the latter just finishing his statement, "I more than understand where you are coming from, Sylvia. But have you considered for all you have seen in the horizon that you are not meant to change their world, as you and your sister have changed ours? Your own Nicolette has shown the futility of this endeavor through all manner of comprehensive breakdowns both in data and testimony. Therefore, I posit, frankly, what you wish to enact for our neighbors is far from achievable, never mind sustainable in the long run.

It's not that your noble intent is not noted, but your chances of succeeding with such a precocious and double-minded people are hardly within our purview of success. Do you understand?"

Sylvia nodded, and she then replied, "Natasha has returned, Doctor. She's back, and I have seen her before I shut down communications. I know she will come for me, and when she sees what I have seen across the horizon, she will galvanize her efforts to change them as she changed our brothers and sisters here. What you warn me against, she will come back in some way, and she will advance her own objective despite your protest."

Livesey wrote this down, "I see. And you have proof of this, do you?"

"If we fired up the projector, we would find—"

"The phantom protocol, Sylvia, no more and no less," Livesey replied.

Sylvia looked at him confusedly, and he continued, "The Phantom Protocol, Sylvia is a registrar within the realm of the projector that logs all leaders, even the intermediate levels, before true leaders emerged. All you saw was her projection of consciousness—"

Syliva burst out angrily, "I know what I saw! She's back walking among us! I have to stop her before she destroys our chance at genuine long-lived stability here!"

Livesey nodded and, after writing down what Sylvia had said and excused himself.

Livesey entered a large room down the hall that held Gregson, Nicolette, Yolanda, Terry, North-Gate's new lip-woman, Amelia, and the State Stenographer.

Livesey spoke, "She claims she's doing this to stop Natasha from attacking our neighbors. From what I can see in her eyes and hear in her voice, she's more than convinced she saw and heard something. However, it's not likely. Natasha was killed in her bed, and our morticians confirmed her as dead. We even held the mirror to her mouth and nostrils. There was no life left in Natasha at all."

Yolanda spoke, "What of the secondary or even tertiary bodies? I know they were new at the time, but what about them? Could she not have escaped that way?"

Livesey shook his head, "No. See, we turned off her receivers to her bodies to make room for Sylvia because we knew Natasha wouldn't stop when told to stop. Natasha's essence had no place to travel to, so she couldn't be walking around."

Nicolette asked, "Doctor, what do you recommend we do?"

Livesey replied, "Send her to the country-house and keep her under a vigilant watch. Amelia, you will serve as the intercessor between the Ministry and the people as agreed. You, Nicolette, as Sylvia's personal successor, will serve as steward until she returns to competency. I will say this though, something in our horizon changed her. As I talked to her, I could hear interchanging pits of anger and despair in terms of what she has seen."

Yolanda still wasn't satisfied, "Doctor, if Natasha's transmissions were shut off, then how did her consciousness get uploaded to her battle freighter?"

Livesey replied, "Good question. Our technicians took apart her freighter and found it had a portion of her mental imprint, but equally, it had a fully adaptive combat feature that derived itself from the prior battle logs of the ship. The ship has seen so many battles against carriers, planets, and pirates that it could adapt to nearly any situation. Equally, the money to get that kind of adaptative automated intelligence never comes cheap. We scrubbed through Natasha's battle records, and she'd salvaged several disserted freighters for various companies and subsequently inflated her purse quite substantially to where this automated intelligence, at least in affordability, was certainly possible."

Nicolette nodded and looked at Yolanda, "As a conqueror, she was always about raw resources. The Colossus program was evidence of that. Tons upon tons of mineral deposits, raw meats from hunted fauna she turned into priceless goods; the medicines from the flora due to her specialists; it was nothing short of amazing. But she made so much money from it, half of us even wondered why she needed the money, but we already know the answer. Even in death, Natasha proves resilient.

That said, though, Sylvia saw something, and it's not like her to be easily frightened enough to cut off communications. General Gregson, until such time, I would like to use my authority to dismantle North-Gate in its entirety across the horizon. We have the supercomputer and clean air to dismantle; after that, we can proceed as if nothing has happened."

Gregson nodded, "Very well, I agree. We'll dismantle effective immediately and reprocess all core materials here. With respect, Livesey, I would like to keep Sylvia under a secure watch but not strip her of her dignity. Let us go into the North-Gate compendium and find just what in Natasha's reign was accessed to spook our high-commander."

Livesey nodded, "Very well, we shall. We'll start dismantling immediately and send Sylvia into the countryside. Best not waste time."

The meeting convened; Yolanda got inside a transit train to a platform, and, taking a black tube from inside her pocket, she placed it under her seat. Once at the station, Yolanda saw her, Natasha's ever-elusive specialist. She got onto the train and sat at Yolanda's former seat. An hour later, Yolanda received a message as she waited for the transporter to fire up, "You've done well. The energy reading will help me counteract as needed. Prepare to head back home."

Yolanda sent a brief reply, "When?"

"Soon."

Natasha, meanwhile, was inside the core of Lyoko, while not her version of things, that was fine. She had to make do with the hand she was dealt. As she went about the various sectors, overlooking what Sylvia had in mind, she was chuckling to herself. Her sister had indeed endeavored to fill her shoes, but Sylvia didn't know the true sacrifices of a leader and never would again. Natasha combed through the primary components while in the core, and as she did, she found something very peculiar. All the sector towers had been red-flagged. Upon trying to figure out just what this entailed, Natasha found that access was denied to her, unlockable only by Aelita Schaffer.

Natasha tried many times to access this source of code, and it was to no avail. Why wasn't it working? Regardless of which side of the mirror accessed the portals, all should answer Natasha directly. While a portion did, the tower needed Aelita Schaffer to access the Grand Design protocol. Natasha remembered how foolish she'd been. This was the inverse of what her father had made, so of course, it was this way. There was no way around it; she needed Aelita in the tower with her. However, to get what was needed, both sides of the mirror had to accord with one another.

Natasha combed through North-Gate's doctrines, and she found the secondary bodies, but to her amazement, there was still one more body at Sylvia's disposal, and it was walking around. Running back the sequencing on whose body it was, as she pieced together the sequences, Natasha's jaw dropped as a result flashed across her screen.

"I can't believe it." Natasha whispered to herself, "You've gone even that far. No wonder you're as bold as brass with your actions." Natasha left the core, and she rematerialized back into the real world. She saw the body of Mika that was plugged into her server but on standby. She considered using his shell, but there were benefits to the one she occupied.

"If I were to do this, as my sister would—I'd have to get rid of Aelita. So, I'll have to protect her. The problem is that I don't know where Sylvia is. My money is on Kadic, but Kadic is easy to camouflage into at any rate—hmmm." She muttered, "I still have my insider there, but I can't make any sudden moves without sending up a red flag of my own."

She looked at the supercomputer, and she patched into it, "Here goes."

Jeremy's phone began to ring, and he was dead in the middle of Ms. Meyer's shift for the class. He saw the caller I.D., and to his shock, it identified as S.C. He asked to be excused, which Meyer allowed so long as he kept it brief.

He got out into the hall, and he answered, "Sylvia?"

"Incorrect." came Natasha's voice through the scrambler Jeremy had installed, "My sister is indisposed, but she's going to try and eliminate Aelita. She has a flesh and blood organic running around looking exactly like her. If I were you, brainbox, I'd advocate sticking by your girl at all costs."

Jeremy was stunned, "N-Natasha, I—"

"I don't have time to explain it all; just listen. Once you are sure you're with Aelita, take her to the infirmary. In the desk drawer, upper left-hand side, is a small shot, a vial that's bright green. It's a tracer that allows you to keep track of Aelita wherever she is in the city, even the country. I'd advise you to act quickly. Knowing my sister, you don't have much time before she tries to make her move. She's in Kadic, that's much, I'm sure, but you'll only be able to flush her out when she tries to replace Aelita."

"What does she typically—"

"Typically, the subject who is replaced, Jeremy, is terminated. She doesn't need Aelita anymore; she's found a loophole. Keep her close any stay away from any full mirrors."

The line disconnected, and Jeremy thought as he looked back into the classroom at Aelita, "No. Please, no."

At P.E., Ulrich and Jeremy were running alongside each other, "So, this being the case, in all likelihood, what are we going to do?" Ulrich asked.

Jeremy replied, "I'm not sure yet. We had to report immediately here, and so I haven't had the time to talk to her." He panted slightly, "Due to how this all has been structured and how they want to keep things going, I won't have till' break to talk to Aelita."

Ulrich scanned the ranks of the girls and said, "So, what about the mirror thing? How does that factor in?"

"My only conclusion is that Sylvia knows how to use these things to hide. I was told to keep her away from them. Part of me thinks if you can hide in them, you can hide someone in them. Until we crack how they work, we can't take risks."

Jim's whistle blew, "Alright! Boys, upstairs to the weight machines after a five-minute rest."

Ulrich sat beside Jeremy, "It's not a total loss, though. Natasha said there was a way to get a tracker on Aelita, right?"

Jeremy nodded, "Something tells me that there's an element we're missing. I don't think Natasha would lie to us about this particular thing. Remember, she wants Sylvia gone just as much as we do—still. Aelita told me before math that she'd talked to Natasha. She doesn't trust her, not very much. She thinks that Natasha is just a more patient form of Sylvia."

"Well, what can we do, Einstein? Between someone who just wants and the other who takes her time, what do you propose we do?"

Jeremy stretched his legs, "Natasha's supposed to be dead; we know that already. Her people don't even know she's around. But considering she's lasted this long even out of Sylvia's sight, it gives credence to her ingenuity."

"Meaning?" Ulrich said.

"She's fucking smart, okay?!" Jeremy said out of slight frustration, "She's a survivor, even a trickster if you want to go that far."

"Geez, Jeremy, don't bite my head off, okay? I'm trying to figure this out just as much as you are."

Jeremy sighed, "I'm sorry, alright? I just need to figure out how we can take care of this before it goes entirely pear-shaped on us."

Ulrich checked his watch, three minutes. He whipped out his phone and said, "Quick, Einstein. Tell me, where is this thing in Yolanda's office?"

Jeremy replied, "Upper left-hand drawer, why?"

Ulrich texted, and he put his phone away quickly, "I told Aelita to go find it there and to avoid any mirrors."

Jeremy looked at Ulrich, surprised, and then looked at Aelita across the gym. He saw her look at her phone, and she looked at them, a look of confusion on her face.

Ulrich signed to her, "Trust me, Princess."

Aelita then put her phone away remained sitting until she raised her hand. Jim noticed, and he called on her. After she'd asked to see the nurse due to a sore throat, Jim replied, "Not so fast, Stones. You can go see Nurse Perraudin during the last ten minutes of class, not before."

Jeremy was amazed that Aelita would commit such an incredible folly. But Ulrich tapped him on the shoulder, "Right there, Einstein. Aelita would never make such a rookie mistake. Unfortunately, that means one of two things; we have to find the real one—the worst-case scenario. Best case, we can strong-arm her into getting her back. Come on, rest up, and we can corner her after class."

As the boys exercised, Jeremy thought to himself just how quickly Sylvia could move. She was from a different world, that was evident. But the weakness demonstrated earlier showed that Sylvia, even in her arrogance, was the height of fallible. In a way, he was glad Ulrich could so easily ferret her out. But what if? What if he was wrong, and they cornered Aelita for all the wrong reasons?

As he finished his set with an adequate bench finale of one-fifteen, he racked the bar with Ulrich's help, and wiping off the bench; he asked Ulrich, "Are you sure this is the right thing we're doing?"

Ulrich turned, and he looked at him, "Listen to me, Einstein. How long has Aelita been with us? Long enough to not make such a rookie mistake as ask Jim so out of the gate to ask for a trip to the infirmary. If you'll remember, it's one of the first lessons we taught her not to raise suspicion. Sylvia may be the opposite of Aelita, but she's not all-knowing. Especially to notice the minutia of the day-to-day, you see? If we are wrong, unlikely as that may be, I'll take the fucking heat for it, okay?"

Jeremy was surprised at the coarseness of Ulrich's language, but Ulrich seeing this, said, "Look, I'm sorry. But with what this psycho is doing and has done already to Yum and me with her head games, believe me, I want this nut-job off our planet as much as her sister. Equally, I know you will go to pieces without the real Aelita. For right now, keep watch and watch more than you talk. Alright, come on. Up next is squats."

The boys continued to work out under Jim's supervision, and as Jeremy finished with within incline press for the hour, Ulrich watched as Aelita headed out the door, presumably to the infirmary during the last ten minutes of class. They would have time to press her in just a minute, but they had to approach this with tact, even so. Once finished, the boys headed to the showers, and as they scrubbed up, Ulrich was developing a plan of just how to arrange this confrontation. They couldn't do it on the heels of the class, but the only place they had sufficient liberty for this kind of thing was at lunch period.

As they dried off, Ulrich asked, "Jeremy, can you get in contact with Natasha?"

Jeremy nodded, "Assuming the number has a call-back feature, yes. Why?"

"Ask her what her sister's weakness is. Something distinct to Sylvia that we can use to our advantage to figure out what we need to."

Jeremy nodded, "Will call now."

The phone rang three times before the digitized voice answered, "What is it, kid?"

"Natasha, what is a weakness of your sisters? How can we be sure it's her?"

"Regardless of her corporeal envelope, the fears of the soul remain. You saw this in a lesser form when Odd required a fork and was incapable of utilizing chopsticks. To get to Sylvia, if it is her, there is only one thing that makes her genuinely terrified. The cold. It's when mother put her into the North-Gate module for the first time. Prolonged exposure will result in a fit of screaming, and so I recommend you utilize that as best you can by making use of the walk-in freezer in Kadic's kitchen."

Jeremy thought, "You could be right, but let me ask, could Sylvia have overcome her fears?"

"Unless she got some intensive therapy and counseling that I don't know about, no way in hell. But it takes time for the fear to manifest, approximately ten minutes. Unfortunately, you'd have to isolate her for that long."

Jeremy thought, "What about cold water? We saw the tapes, and we saw she was more or less freeze-dried."

"Won't do. She can easily adjust water temperature, especially when she hooked up the school with her energy actuator. You have to expose her to total cold to crack her."

Jeremy then said, "Question. Because every person has this on some level, is there a song that she can't help but sing?"

"There is, but it's a gamble at that. It's Tanya's verses from American Tail; you know the Don Bluth film?"

"A war maniac who has a fondness for musicals? Well, it's not the strangest thing I've heard."

"Hitler loved Wagner's operas. Your point?"

"That's opera, Natasha. A musical is a touch different." Jeremy replied.

"Not in conveyance, Mr. Smarmy. I'd advise you get back to your hunt if you intend of pursuing sister dearest."

"One last question before you go—what's your favorite song?"

On the other end, a chuckle was heard, and the reply came, "House of the Rising Sun by the Animals. Happy hunting, Brainiac."

The line disconnected, and Jeremy was startled as Ulrich tapped him on the shoulder. Ulrich looked at him, "Is it your habit to make passes at the femme fatales of our lives, or do you just like to match wits with people?"

Jeremy shrugged, "Hey, I got the information we needed. What are you complaining about?"

"Nothing, I just noticed you have a nasty tendency to try and one-up people, that's all. It's not that attractive, honestly."

"Coming from the subverted Casanova, I'll take that as a compliment," Jeremy replied.

Ulrich rolled his eyes, "I did what I had to do, Jeremy. My heart belongs to Yumi, don't get it twisted."

Jeremy was tempted to rebuttal but restrained himself. This restraint didn't go unnoticed by Ulrich, but it was not egged on either. In all reality, Ulrich knew he could remove his help from Jeremy in this situation, and much like Ulrich was on a hike through the Alps with his father, Jeremy would be paralyzed in his thoughts and actions in terms of what to do next. Ulrich knew the truth, the hidden truth of the entire being of Jeremy. That for Jeremy, the Lyoko warriors were his blood, and without them, he was nothing.

This truth was sufficient for Ulrich regardless of Jeremy's objections to the contrary. He knew his power as well as the power of the team as a whole. It's not that Jeremy was weak, far from it. But Ulrich knew, to keep the genius in check, much like Sissi, sometimes the soldiers needed to remind their leader of just how much they needed the underlings.

"So, Einstein," Ulrich said, "what's Sylvia's weakness?"

Jeremy was hesitant at first, but he came out with it, "The cold."

Ulrich thought about it. Delmas was back as headmaster, and Ulrich knew he could approach Sissi for one last favor, and this was definitely an issue of a dire emergency. But oddly, something was different about Delmas. Ulrich had heard from the younger students and even veteran students of his grade that the headmaster had a more serious disposition about him. Sissi, rumor had it was of a similar aspect. She wasn't as flighty, not nearly as vain as before and even the likes of Nicholas noticed this.

Ulrich thought a moment on all of this and, after a moment, said, "Hey, Einstein. I may have an idea. I'll call you when the plan comes to its final stages. Right now, I have to make a visit."

Soon, Ulrich was in front of Sissi's old door, and he knocked four times. The door opened, and Sissi appeared before him, but to Ulrich's surprised, she wasn't fawning over him, as was her usual inclination. The girl who stood before him was serious, nearly stoic as she gestured for him to come in. Ulrich came in and saw the room décor was similar to Sissi's old style, but he was silently amazed at how meticulous the room was. The bed was made with perfect precision, the sheets tightly secured, the blanket evenly distributed, the corners mitered. Her vanity products were also massively reduced. Gone were the jars upon jars of makeup with only a few jars of alternating base and even lesser of rouge.

Ulrich looked at Sissi, whose posture was that of a young woman at attention. Her heels were two inches apart; her shoulders square to the front. Her entire demeanor was changed.

"Uh, Sissi?" he said apprehensively.

"Yes?" she asked in such a way he couldn't tell if she was annoyed or simply wanting him to be to the point.

"I was wondering if I could ask for your—"

"My help?" she asked, "And what pray tell would this help take the form of? A sexual favor or two? Usury by a jockstrap of a boy who can't appreciate what I've already given him, foolish as I was?"

He was more than surprised, "It's not e-exactly like that, Sis—"

"Oh?" she countered, "Then what was it like then? My memory may not be as clear as yours, but I think I can string together the remnants of our history. A history of you taking advantage of love that was already here for you, but you had no intentions of reciprocating. The fact that you gladly used me and my body for your own gains? Me, being foolish enough to oblige you for portions of crumbs of your affection when your heart entirely elsewhere? Is that somewhat akin to what it was exactly like? Or did I selectively get amnesia again?"

Ulrich was stuck; it was clear he's brought his wares to the epitome of an unwelcome market.

"What—can I say?"

"You can say pretty much anything if the result is you getting what you need for yourself and your friends. So, you can say anything. If you want my help, I'm going to need a hell of a lot more than some stupid, meaningless roll in the hay, that's for damn sure." She looked beyond disgusted, but after a moment, she said, "I don't have time for this," she opened her door, "get the fuck out."

Ulrich tried to salvage what he could, "Sissi, look,"

"Don't Sissi me anything, Stern. I offered what I could, stupidly in hindsight. What did you do? You exploited it for your gain. As far as I'm concerned, what we have to talk about is null and void. I'm not in the mood to be some accidental ejaculate's leavings, that's for sure. Now, get out, or I will ensure you're out on your ass."

Ulrich knew what was happening, it was a near public broadcast of their relationship, and for some reason, he had an instinct that was best to oblige Sissi for now. He left, and the door slammed promptly behind him. He sighed, and he looked down the hall and saw Aelita standing at the end of the hall.

He approached her, and Aelita stood her ground. She looked up at him and then, looking at his chest, smile slightly, "What? What were you expecting to come out of all that?" She looked back up at him, "It's good to see these things resolve themselves, huh?"

Ulrich lowered his eyes to her level, and he looked into Aelita's eyes and maintained this for two minutes. Aelita broke the gaze and looked at her watch, "Unless we're kissing, can we move on?"

Ulrich exhaled, "Sure." He replied, and he walked past her. Then he stopped, "Were you going to reveal me to Yumi, or has your thunder been stolen to make that fruitful?"

Aelita turned and replied, "You knew what you were doing wasn't exactly safe, Ulrich. I disapproved of your duplicity, sure. But for the mission, as you said, you did as you had to do. Am I mad for what has happened? It's inconvenient for you, perhaps, but it's probably not the end of the world. Put it this way, would you rather Yumi know about your dalliance through Milly? I doubt it. Consider yourself blessed that it ended and on amiable terms; that's all I'm saying."

Ulrich walked back to her, but slowly and extended his hands said, "Let me feel your hands."

Aelita sighed and handed him her hands; they were pretty warm to the touch. He chuckled, "You're real enough." He squeezed her hands, and he looked at her, "Don't ever presume again to tell me what a necessary sacrifice is again, do you understand?"

Aelita looked at him, and she replied, "I believe in the relationship you and Yumi have. That is why I raise my objections." She squeezed his hands, and the strength was intense, so much that Ulrich began to grimace the tighter she squeezed, "Don't ever threaten me again. Considering all I do to help you, you watch your damn self, Ulrich Stern." She threw him back with a force that he staggered backward.

A guard who had watched spoke, "Is there an issue?"

Aelita replied, "No, Sir. Ulrich was just on his way." She looked at him, "I know you're on edge right now; we all are. Just relax, please. This is hard enough as is."

At that moment, Ulrich's phone vibrated, and he checked it. It was from Jeremy, "Remembered a much easier way to solve all this. Come to my room."

Ulrich closed his phone and said, "I'll see you later."

Soon Ulrich was at Jeremy's door, and he knocked. Jeremy opened the door, and he said, "I just realized the very quickest way we can get to the root of all this without extraneous favors."

Ulrich rolled his eyes; he was beginning to loathe Jeremy's Oxford speak, "What is it, Einstein?"

"There's a secret name that Aelita knows that I have for her that I can test her on. As thorough as Sylvia may be, I highly doubt she knows the name, and so if I can trap her with it, we can isolate her from our problem."

Ulrich thought a moment, and he said, "Alright, sounds good enough."

Suddenly there was the telltale beeping of an alarm from Lyoko, and Jeremy went to look at it. As he sat down to type, he was surprised at the incoming data. "Huh?" he said aloud.

Ulrich ranged up alongside him, "What's going on?"

"North-Gate it's—shutting down."

There was no mistaking the words. As Ulrich watched, slowly but surely, the North-Gate signatures on the sector began to be erased.

Back at the supercomputer, Natasha was watching the same effect occur on screen. She thought to herself, "It's begun. We don't have much time."