AN: This chapter came after a fair bit of work and a prayer, and I'm delighted with how it turned out. I hope you all enjoy it. I'll see you next chapter.

Pagliacci-11.

Chapter 95

"It's as you said it would be, Commander," Yolanda replied as she looked over the battered body of Jeremy on the operation table.

Natasha looked at the nearly drowned boy and replied, "He was smart popping the pill as he fell. It undid significant damage to his skull and knee. A few broken fingers were the worst of it. Sylvia has played her hand, and as she enters Lyoko, she'll be isolated the moment she enters the tower. The creatures will siege against her, and she'll be officially under lockdown."

Natasha looked at Yolanda, "We have time now. In accordance with the Ministry's protocol, they always do comprehensive sweeps for an extension. As soon as they find that Sylvia has one active, they'll comb over all her locations. As the medical officer, you will be able to point in the right direction, and when North-Gate is officially dissolved, Sylvia will have no more trump cards to play. The Ministry will then execute her for an attempted shadow coup while under house arrest, and this situation will remedy itself.

I have spoken with Aelita as to what our plan is, and she knows most of it, except what we have done with Belpois here. We've kept her in the dark to let her rage build legitimately. As to what will likely fall out over the next week, and when we direct her anger at Sylvia, we can tell the Ministry that Aelita acted justly in killing our dearly departed sister for the shedding of truly innocent blood."

"And you, Natasha? What will become of you?" Yolanda asked.

"I will fulfill my promise to you and let you return to your Aelita, to your lover's arms. Your task is finished for now. Knowing how this sphere works, I will take my place here and make my North-Gate on the ashes of what Sylvia has attempted to build, only improve it.

I will bring North-Gate to fruition, but it must come naturally, as it did for us back home. It must be birthed out of human anguish, the huddled masses yearning to be free, not an imposed force upon an unwilling people. My reasonings are still the same as with my own people, but here I will nurture my cause and let it grow strong in the hearts of the people with time. In time they will embrace me both simple and the intellectual, and then I shall come back for you to achieve unity between our peoples."

Yolanda nodded, and she went to a cabinet and took out a dense file and handed it to Natasha, "Your files of all you and your overseer will need to establish yourself here for the purpose. When you need me, I shall come with the army. Does this mean you won't go home at all from hereon?"

"Correct. There's nothing left for me when Sylvia's finished. The Ministry will hold an election and meritocracy as father set up will establish a new leader. A leader, the people, will adore and what comes of them will be its own set of affairs." Natasha looked over the dossier, "You've done well, Heidi, very well. You sent the salvage drones as per my request?"

"I have. All major medical facilities are cloaked for your purposes from the North-Gate dossier as they are marked under repurposed, and so they won't show up under a comprehensive search. The robotic factory equally has been dismantled the work crews sent home. Itzhak is ready for production, as is Lisiek to supplement the factory's power."

Natasha nodded, "Excellent." She looked at Jeremy as she closed the envelope, "Take care of the boy and keep him on IV and on the catheter. The medicine we've given him should keep him under until this is all finished. Once we have finished, we'll restore him to self-sufficiency through the therapy chamber they had Pinchon in."

"Speaking of the children, Natasha, what of them? What will you do with them?"

"I will take them and use them to establish a much firmer foothold here. Once they have grown and matured to my liking, I will send a beacon to you to bridge our worlds through them in the guise of two new factions of power. Herve shall helm the temple; Magali shall helm the ring. Once they know their roles firmly, we will introduce ourselves to the world through arms of unity and war, respectively. It will take time and planning to achieve this, admittedly. However, much can happen, especially in the time I've allotted for this endeavor."

Yolanda nodded, and she looked out at Kadic in the distance from the window, "And them?"

"We let the place be consumed by the loss that is sure to rack all of them. My sister's actions with Hertz and that fallout, in addition to the loss of one of their model students, will demoralize many, send the parents into a state of fear, and we will be able to deliver the killing blow in just a couple of days afterward. Now, it's just a matter of time. The regime doesn't know of your defection, and by the time this transpires, it will be far too late for them or the warriors to do anything about it. However, I have two settings in mind for the outcome. We will have to see how Aelita takes all of this to see which course of actions we should take before doing anything else."

Yolanda looked at her commander, "You have thought this through."

"I've had to. I'm doing away with a greedy venomous snake, not taking back my throne. I have a new throne, and it's here; to be defined in the fair and foul world out there. The people will elect me, empower me, and in time love me. It's much easier to do here; it merely takes patience." Natasha looked back at Jeremy, "Now, we light the fuse—" she looked back at Kadic, "and let justice prevail."

At Kadic, Aelita was with Ulrich, and she'd finished telling Ulrich what the plan was that Natasha had given her. Ulrich listened for a good while, and once Aelita had finished, he was silent as he gathered his thoughts.

Once he was finished, he said, "So, that's her game. She knows Sylvia will go for Lyoko at some point using your DNA, but the system has a genuine failsafe."

Aelita nodded, "Yes. According to Natasha, North-Gate and Lyoko have the same safety. Because I am the true Aelita Schaffer, it requires my pulmonary signature as well as fingerprints and retinal scan. Sylvia cloned me, grew her own body in a vat. The key difference is that she couldn't duplicate my fingerprints no matter how dedicated she is. My physical body and DNA similarity are but a beginning, Natasha told me. My prints are unique due to the environment that shaped my body when I was a genuine little girl and from that, Sylvia is trapped. As soon as she activates the tower; any tower, Lyoko will undergo a complete lockdown and seal her into the tower. It will require a manual reset by literally my hand to restore Lyoko.

As North-Gate is undergoing a total extraction, all progress Sylvia made will be undone, and because she's supposed to be back home under house arrest, she'll be slated for treason when she can't make the regular check-in signal back home to her original body. Under the lockdown, no signal can go out, but any signal can go in."

Ulrich smiled, and after a bit of a chuckle, he gave a fist pump, "Yes, finally!" Ulrich said with a laugh, "We can say goodbye to that psycho once and for all!"

Aelita smiled as well as she mixed in brown sugar into her oatmeal, "You're right, we're finally free."

"Have you told Einstein?"

"I would have, but I haven't seen him since I had my meeting with Natasha. Alfonse, his roommate, said that he'd gone out sometime earlier today, but he hasn't been back yet."

Ulrich nodded, "That's a bit odd. Einstein's never late to lunch. He knows how much of a tyrant Jim can be with keeping watch over all of us, us in general, you know?"

"I'm sure it's okay, Ulrich. Sure, he's running a little late, but I don't think it exactly cause for concern."

"Stones!" Jim's voice rang out as he approached with Delmas.

Aelita looked in the direction of his voice, and she asked, "Yes, Jim?"

"Have you seen Jeremy? He wasn't at breakfast call, and I've checked his room to find it empty. We're sweeping Kadic now. Did he say where he might be going after he saw you this morning?"

Aelita's heart skipped a beat, "W-with me? Jim, he wasn't with me this morning. I haven't seen him all day."

Jeremy said, "Stones, seriously now, where is Jeremy Belpois? You were reported as being seen with him by Emily LeDuc and Milly Solovieff this morning around six in the morning. This was confirmed by one of our watchmen, Matthew Walters. Now, is there any place where he may have said he was going?"

Aelita's pulse began to quicken as she thought, "Sylvia, what have you done?!" She snapped back to reality when Ulrich said, "Jim, I saw Jeremy in the pool this morning when I went to get in my aerobics. He was practicing something he called drown-proofing."

Aelita looked at him surprisedly; Ulrich wasn't there during the time she'd taught Jeremy how to drown-proof.

Jim nodded, "Thank you, Stern; what time was this?"

"It was seven-thirty. I remember because eight o'clock was the time the season finale of a sci-fi I was watching."

Jim thought a moment and got on his radio and softly said, "Kadic Security, this is Key Master. Comb the premises one more time for Jeremy Belpois. He was reported in the pool area around seven-thirty."

He looked at Delmas and nodded. Delmas looked at the two and said, "Thank you both for your help. We'll let you know what comes up."

As they walked away, Aelita looked at Ulrich, "It's Sylvia, I guarantee it."

Ulrich nodded as he got up, "Walk casually out into the main courtyard; we'll talk there."

Once outside, Ulrich asked, "So, you weren't with Jeremy this morning. What time did you come back from your meet with Natasha?"

"It was just before breakfast. She'd fed me while we were at her house, so I wasn't hungry."

"What time, do you remember?"

"I had enough time to dress before the breakfast tone; that was it."

"And Emily and Milly saw you both at six this morning. That leaves an hour and a half before breakfast. Damn, a lot can happen in that scope of time. We have to be smart about this, Aelita. We can't go anywhere off-campus for right now. Given they're still sweeping for Jeremy, we make any moves now, we'd be flagged for sure. Stick to your schedule, and I'll stick to mine. I'll call Yumi and let her know what's happening."

A few moments later, Yumi replied, "You think she compromised him? You're sure?!"

"Yeah, it's not looking pretty, either. Sylvia took over Aelita's form, and so if they have to question Aelita, it'll be hard for her because she has no point of reference. I can maybe throw them off enough, but if Jeremy turns up missing, all of us are in the worst possible jam, big time."

"Is there anything I can do on my end?"

"Yeah, check around the Hermitage but try and stay casual about it. You might have some luck if you go now. Don't do anything that could upset anything but check where you can. Also, let Odd know what's going down. He needs to be in the loop too."

"Alright, I'm on it."

Later that evening, word began to spread, and it was troubling to Aelita's ears. The whispers that Jeremy had disappeared. Sadly, it would be a hot item for the school paper, and it was something that Aelita knew Delmas would suppress as long as he could. After that, it would be letting loose the dogs of war. The fact was that Aelita and Ulrich knew what was coming next. It was going to be a campus-wide lockdown. No one could go in or out without a real verification. Rooms would be checked every other hour in rotation and all principal student rooms like the rec and weight rooms.

In many ways, Ulrich considered that maybe this was Sylvia's plan. However, because of what was told to them by Natasha, he wasn't afraid. However, Jeremy had to turn up soon. If he didn't, it could get very bad, swiftly. He texted Yumi, and soon she received it.

Dreading the worst in time, Yumi was in front of the manhole to the sewer. She found the lid was rotated differently from how the group turned it; it was there tell to see if anyone had discovered them. It was slightly different. Yumi went down the ladder and found splotches of recently semi-dried blood that were illuminated by the light on her mobile. She looked around and saw bloodied streaks along the edge just under her boot. She saw something on the ground, and she knelt down. She examined the article and found it was s shattered corner of Jeremy's rounded lens.

Once outside, Yumi texted Ulrich, "You good?"

The reply, "Later. Delmas is making a speech."

Yumi looked at the Hermitage and gently tested the main door. It was silent, almost dead quiet save for the wind gently rustling the trees. Yumi removed her boots and proceeded barefoot up the stairs taking care to make as little noise as possible. Room by room, Yumi went throughout the house. There was no one there, and as she came to where the scanners were, she found what looked like Aelita's clothes to be painstakingly folded and socks rolled.

Yumi texted Aelita, "Hey, are you missing any clothes?"

Soon the reply came, "Yes. A black top, grey miniskirt, and a pair of grey socks."

Yumi examined the clothes and texted back, "Found them. I think Sylvia's entered Lyoko!"

As Yumi continued looking around, a moment came the reply, "Perfect; we have her where we need her. Have you found anything of Jeremy?"

Yumi hesitated and, after a moment, replied, "Not yet, I'll keep looking." Afterward, she switched over to Ulrich, "Call me when you can. Alone."

Fifteen minutes later, Ulrich called Yumi, "What's going on?"

"Are you truly alone?"

"As alone as I can be, why?"

"I found blood in the sewer and a shard of Jeremy's glasses. I think Sylvia truly got to him, but I don't know where he is."

"Fuck, fucking fuck. Alright, we can't let Aelita know this just yet. It would devastate her. We have to let the investigation take its course. Delmas has put us under lockdown, but considering the heat the school will be under, it's natural he'd do so. You can't get here, and we can't get to you." Ulrich was heard to sigh, "Give me time to think on just what to do.

Don't tell Odd. He has too big a mouth, and it'd get back to Aelita before we'd know what happened. But, if Sylvia did—if she did—it's an actual act of war. We knew she wouldn't take prisoners, but we didn't think she'd be so literal."

"She's a warmongering psycho, Ulrich; what were you expecting?!" Yumi asked as she looked at Jeremy's computer.

"I know, I know! But still! You don't have to take it out on me!"

Natasha, who was listening to this conversation, looked at Yolanda, who had finished setting Jeremy's fingers, and she snapped her fingers twice, getting her attention.

Yolanda came forward, "Yes?"

"Sylvia's guard, how many are at Kadic?"

"Guard shifts of twelve total for twenty-four hours on rotation every twelve hours with sub-routines on every hour and a half."

Natasha thought a moment or two and said, "Good, splendid. Now, we're alright and safe."

Yolanda looked confused, "What do you mean?"

"Her honor guard, because that's what those men and women are, are set to protect her should something go south. Because she's inside Lyoko and can't get a signal out, her guard is without commands. They'll do their duty as they were told to do but won't deviate from that because they have to maintain their cover.

Unfortunately, to get our objectives completed, we have to let Aelita know what Sylvia has done to Jeremy." Natasha put on a pair of rubber gloves and approached Jeremy on the table, "However, this, unfortunately, means—" she placed her hands on Jeremy's neck.

Yolanda put her hand firmly on Natasha and shook her head. Natasha looked at her and smiled, "You're right, of course." She looked at Jeremy and, after looking him over in his clothes, did some thinking. She snapped her fingers, and she said, "Disrobe the boy. Give me his shirt and his shoes and socks. That's all we'll need."

Natasha went over to a nearby radio and said, "Bring in the pejorative." Natasha then sat down on a nearby chair.

In time, two young men brought her a frigid body. It was the same as Jeremy in height, albeit with slightly longer hair. Yolanda looked at Natasha, "Yours?"

She nodded, "Dress the body up in his shirt and his shoes. My men will thaw the portions to room temperature, and we'll dump him at key portions in the sewer. All we need is a body, and a couple of days should buy us the time we need. We'll weigh down the torso in mid-channel feeding the rats down below, which will give credence to the scarring the body has already suffered."

Yolanda looked skeptically at Natasha, "Really? You can count on the rats being that voracious, can you? It sounds like you're stretching, love. No disrespect."

Natasha chuckled, "Ever heard of chumming the water? Besides, XANADU already proved to me how I could curve this world more to my effect. The shadow games exist; the phantom profiles are in the seeds of inception at this stage. All I need do is take a rat," she snapped her fingers, and one of the large black creatures was brought before her, "Inject the terrible beastie with a bit of our overriding compound." She took a need and jammed it into the rat's side, to which the rat began to scream horridly and convulse, "And now soon we'll have our own soldier." Natasha pressed her finger to her forehead, and the rat stood at attention. "You, see? Our brother did a lot for us that saved us a lot of work. Sylvia didn't exactly reference his battle logs, and that's one of her weaknesses. There's all kinds of things we can use. Beasts, bees, birds, all of them. It's a simple aspect of introducing a classical virus and overcoming the physical hardware.

So, now, my beautiful alabaster blonde, we shall have the means to show the body as it should be. We have everything we need. Now, all that remains is to light the signal fire."

Yolanda nodded, quite surprised at just how much attention Natasha had paid to the world through her looking glass. "So, we have him be discovered after how long?"

"There is no rush. Sylvia has already hanged herself as far as that's concerned. We shall now take full advantage of her folly. We will produce the corpse belonging to Belpois, and then we shall let Aelita, torn and broken, be his avenger. Once that is finished, we can proceed with the true restructuring of the world."

Natasha looked at Jeremy recovering on the table and cradling his head; she began to sing, "As the flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite, I saw Satan laughing with delight the day the music died." She was going to kiss him, but an idea crept into her mind, as stealthily as the asp sneaks and hides among the wicker baskets of an open market. She looked at Jeremy's now bare chest and listening to his heartbeat; she left him for a moment returning with a syringe. She made a gentle injection and pushed the serum into his bloodstream.

Yolanda looked at the serum, and she knew it by its color, "What is it with you and your sister? You two love histrionics, don't you?"

"I love poetic endings if I can help it, you know? And what is more poetic is love's kiss for the sake of all?"

Yolanda looked at her, "You have no guarantee of this outcome, you know that!"

Natasha looked at the face of Jeremy and then looked at Yolanda, "My dear girl, that's half the fun. I shall lay Aelita naked to her desires in the sanctuary of a private confessional. Therein she will dictate the future, for good or ill, and thusly, it is what will make this experience—so much—richer."

"If she chooses to spare him, what then?"

Natasha looked at Yolanda, "I shall restore her to her life before Sylvia arrived, as we promised our dearest Odd. If she doesn't—we'll all, you as well, dearest—will be in for a much more delicious outcome."

"Sounds like a shitty deal for the kids if you don't mind me saying. Aelita's choice won't exactly hinge or even curve the results of your own endeavor in all reality."

"Oh, contraire, my sweetest Heidi, the choice will hinge my plans entirely!" Natasha said with a joyous laugh as her words became more excited, "It will either give me the fullness of the ability to grow alongside her as a rival, or it will allow me to be, conversely, her most treasured confidante. As it was in the beginning, so it shall be in the end. The fate of her world, the world overall, will hinge on Aelita. Let us hope she is stronger under pressure this time; that's all I can say."

Yolanda was stunned at first by this revelation, and then she remembered how all of this began. She said to Natasha, "So that's your little game! You had her heart hardened so she could endure this! She's playing right into your hands!"

Natasha danced a small jig and reel, "You got me, Skippy!"

"So, you're getting what you want, and where does that leave Aelita? The whole of the world?"

"Who can say, Heidi? Besides, what do you care? You're getting what you've always been in this for. As for the world," Natasha mused, looking at the stary night, "It hinges on her now. Due to my access to master control, the Resurgence Protocol is ready, and now, either way, I will be alongside Aelita. I will help her to be molded into what I desire. Be it through attrition or through love; it is up to her in the end."

Natasha looked at the time and said, "I'm going to take a walk. I'll be back later on tonight."

Yolanda looked as the young woman left the room and asked, "Hey, Niki, let me ask you a question."

Natasha paused at the head of the stairs, "Yes?"

"What was your favorite movie as a child?"

"Depends on what genre."

"What makes you feel good all over?"

"Oh, that easy. Stand By Me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do before our news breaks in the next couple of days."

Meanwhile, at Kadic, Aelita was growing intensely worried. Jeremy had not returned the whole of the day, and now the building was on the strictest lockdown, and Jeremy's parents had been contacted. It was getting harder and harder for Delmas to do damage control; that much was obvious. As she sat in her room, Aelita thought about just what Sylvia could have done. Jeremy was missing, and they'd scoured the grounds and the buildings; there was no sign of him. Could Sylvia have taken him into the mirror dimension? No, that sounded too convenient and too nice, especially considering who Sylvia was.

At that moment, a knock came at her door, and Aelita cautiously answered, Jim, stood before her and said, "Stones, mail for you."

Jim handed her a letter, and seeing the concern on her face he said, "Hey, Stones, try not to worry so much. There's a good deal still we have yet to do regarding Jeremy. It'll be alright."

Aelita wanted to take comfort in the words but considering the forces, never mind the person they were against, Aelita wasn't too well comforted. She looked up at Jim and said, "Thanks for the help, Jim. Is there—anything else?"

Jim, seeing this was a lost cause, said, "No, that's all. I'll see you tomorrow." He headed down the hall, and Aelita closed the door. She looked at the letter it was from Amelia. Aelita opened and read the following.

"Hey, Pinkie.

Just wanted to write to you as we can do that here to keep up our relationships outside treatment. I'm feeling better, all things considered. The dream still screw me up a lot more than I'd like to admit, but they're lessening.

I hope you're alright these days. How's everyone doing, considering what happened to the old lady? Anyway, the food here is nothing like it is back at Kadic. It all kinda' runs together and tastes same-y. Hardly worth mentioning except for this thing they have called almond milk. The original flavor tastes like absolute shit, to be honest, but their vanilla version tastes like a delicious yellow cake. The confection, Pinkie, not the Uranium. Eh, that's my attempt at humor.

My counselor is telling me to at least come up with a joke once a day which is shockingly hard enough to do. It's not bad, though. I have a nice room to myself, but the bathroom is odd as hell. The doors are made of a weird kind of textile secured by Velcro. My roommate next door is quiet enough, and that's okay for me, but it's just so weird being in this place.

We have some true nut-jobs here, you know? We had one of these people who believed because she came on her own, she could leave any time she wanted. It didn't work out that way. She ended up locking herself in a room, and they had to dart her. Fucking dart her, Pinkie! What are we in? A zoo?

Yeesh. Anyway, I am going to head to rec. I'll write you again soon. Write me when you can. I miss talking to you.

Milly B."

Aelita folded the letter, and she put it in her dresser. She lay on her bed and said aloud, "Oh, Ame, if only I could tell you the hell I'm going through right now."

Amelia sighed, and then looking at her small desk, she got up. Taking out a piece of paper and pencil, she began to write,

Dear Amelia…