Episode 63: Ultimatum
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Sunday night meant the city streets were bustling, either from people out partying or from people rushing home from late night shifts, an old man to whom life had not been kind laid in a dumpster, since it was old and not really used anymore he was able to make it is makeshift home, with an old mattress and the sealing of the lid and the addition of a side door, he was able to live comfortably, he looked at his watch, 12:05 he laid down on the mattress suddenly there was a lightning blast, he looked through the cracks in the box and saw as it emanated in the air, suddenly after a near blinding flash he stepped out, suddenly a figure dropped to the ground, smoke poured off his body, he'd landed on his side completely naked, he let out a soft moan as he was hurt in the fall, the old man looked down at him
"Buddy did you just fall out of the sky" he said, the figure looked up at him, he breathed noticing breath and how cold it was, he then noticed a makeshift clothes line of old and dirty clothes, he quickly stood up grabbing some trousers, before being thrown out they'd probably seen life as having been used by a painter, he pulled them on, "hey buddy I know you're hurt, but those are mine" said the old man, but the figure pushed him over as he made his way towards the end of the alley way, the old man cried out "HELP, HELP" the figure looked back at him as at an inconvenient moment a police car passed by, one of the officers held up his torch and shun it at the figure, he covered his eyes nearly blinded by the light, "HEY BUDDY STOP" shouted the officer, the figure turned around and began running away, "cut him off" said the officer to his partner as he exited the car carrying his service revolver and chased after him, the figure was moving quickly despite the fall almost as if it hadn't occurred, the police car came in on an intersection and blocked him, but he jumped placing his legs forward as he held himself over the car bonnet, "son of a bitch" said the other officer, he stepped out saying, "you bring the car round" to his partner before giving chase, the figure came up to a fence and began to climb and scale it, but he was pulled down by the officer and was knocked onto the floor, "stay down" he said as he pointed the gun at the figure, the officer looked up for a second, this gave the figure enough time to grabbed the gun, it snapped the finger of the officer as he was knocked to the ground and the figure pointed the gun at him, "where am I" he asked as pulled the hammer back, the officer was confussed but was able to mutter "south end of Paris", he closed his eyes thinking his end had come "that's gonna take the night" said the figure as he moved off the officer, he quickly looked at the fence, before running up a dumpster and grabbing a fire escape ladder, the officer looked but couldn't reach him, "what happened" asked his partner as he knelt down, "he disarmed me" he said as the two watched the figure climbed up the escape until he reached the top of the building, "he'll be making an escape across the buildings" said the officer as his partner moved back to the car, but in reality the figure smiled as he looked as they drove out of the Ally and towards main road, he sat back taking a deep breath, he flipped out the chamber of the gun and looked at the bullets, he emptied them and threw them off the building before dropping the gun on the roof, "how do I get myself into these situations" he said as he looked at the open skylight, he smiled as he looked inside noticing it was a shopping mall, "bingo" he said as he jumped into the window and landed on a walkway, luckily for him it was the storage area, he quickly crouched as he moved along, "IS SOMEONE IN HERE" he heard a voice yell it echoed in the room, the figure quickly closed the door behind him, the room was pitch black, he waited for his eyes to adjust before he even thought of moving, he heard the heavy footsteps move away, he moved through the room and found another door, he took a deep breath hoping there wasn't anyone on the other side, he opened it, there was no one, and the room was illuminated through the metal shutter from the skylight, he looked around finding himself in a clothing store, he quickly pulled off his dirty trousers and grabbed some underwear "that's much better" he said as he grabbed a pair of brown cargo trousers, and pulled them on, quickly grabbing any shirt not wanting to waste any time, he grabbed a white and red striped shirt, the stripes were thin and horizontal, he grabbed a navy blue trench coat, he didn't care that it was too baggy he needed something, he moved out of the clothing store and moved back into the intermediate room, he opened the next door a crack to make sure no one was there, it was clear so he moved, he moved along the walkway before laying his eyes on another door, hunting goods, he looked around and opened the door entering the shop, "nothing too fancy" he said to himself, he looked around needing something that could defend him if needs be, then he found a Model 1887 in a glass cabinet, he grabbed it and several boxes off bullets that were in the compartment below it, he stuffed them into his jacket pockets before rushing off back into the warehouse, "OI YOU" shouted a voice, a security guard had seen him through the grate that sealed the shop, but he didn't manage a clear view of the figures face, he quickly rushed down the stairs at the end of the walk way and found an exit, he grabbed the door handle and finding it locked it, he quickly barged it open snapping the hinges off and setting off a store wide alarm, he found himself in the employee section of the car park, he held the riffle under his jacket as he moved towards a 1974 dodge Monaco, he looked at the window and found it was open, he reached inside and grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, he quickly laid down and shut the door, as a security Guard looked around not seeing him, the figure began hot wiring the car, the lights turned on and he sat up placing the riffle on the seat next to him, he pulled the hand brake and began to drive away making sure that he wasn't noticed, he exited the garage and began to drive down the road making sure not to draw attention to himself, he slowly sank into his seat and sighed.
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Early morning came and Jeremie called an emergency meeting at the factory, of course for William he wasn't used to getting up this early and was still half asleep as he laid against a girder,
"So you're saying this thing can destroy someone under XANA's control" asked Yumi, Jeremie was all too quick and all too happy to correct her, "it's not a thing, it's a EMP bomb, it makes an electromagnetic explosion that destroys anything electronic" said Jeremie, surprisingly the others understood this, although this stemmed from Video games rather than actual science "since the pixelated body of someone under XANA's control is held together by a force field well…" he continued but Odd cut him off as he and the others had lost the plot on what he was saying "Jeremie, we have a class in 20 minutes can you give us the truncated version" said Odd, causing the others except Aelita to nod, "bomb explodes, person under XANA's control obliterated" said Jeremie getting to the point, "great" said Aelita, then Jeremie revealed the bad News, "yep, except for one little thing, I haven't been able to construct a compact version yet" said Jeremie as they looked at his EMP, it was two car Battery's tied to a control panel with two clips connected to them, "I hope you don't plan on any of us lugging that thing around" asked William, Ulrich shook his head, "I just hope it's able to stop those robots should they attack again" he said remember his previous bad experience with them.
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The warning bell rang at school, and everyone finished what they were doing and were leaving for class, Ulrich, Aelita and Jeremie were sitting outside the cafeteria, Jeremie had his laptop in his lap and was reading a text box, it read the one in the robes has disappeared I've been unable to locate him, Jeremie shook his head confussed, then Sissi and her group walked over towards her, Sissi immediately tried to stir up trouble,
"Oh what do you know, Yumi isn't here, oh that's right she's with William" said Sissi, but Ulrich was quick to respond to the attempt, "me and William have settled our differences and he knows that she's PREGNANT with my kid" said Ulrich, this only served to anger Sissi as she began to turn red with anger, she stormed off followed by Nicholas, Herb and Evelyn, but Adam stopped and looked at them saying, "funny how quickly you replaced him" said Adam, this only served to upset them, Adam smiled as he walked away, suddenly the laptop beeped as it detected an Activated tower, "XANA's at it again, let's get the others and head to the tower" said Jeremie as he closed the laptop, they quickly moved towards the woods but were caught by Jim as he pointed towards the opposite direction as he said "your classes are that way", they then noticed Delmas walking strangely and tightening his tie.
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Odd, Yumi and William were outside the Science Building; William was nodding as the other two were giving him the crash course on how to use his powers,
"whilst the first has manifested, it may be several months possibly longer before the second does" said Yumi, Odd smiled and added, "remember continued repeated use can kill you, so only use it in emergencies and in short bursts", William nodded as he understood, "we'll I better be heading off to music class with the others" said Odd as he remembered the bell, William rolled his eyes, "lucky you, we've got chemistry" said William, then they noticed Delmas walking towards them, "Good morning Mr Delmas, we were just on our way to class" said Yumi, but Delmas ignored her and simply grabbed her by the arm, he then grabbed Odd by the arm, "whats the matter with you sir, you can't treat students like that" said William as he moved to help them, Delmas's head turned, William got a brief look at the cold glance before he was knocked backwards into the Science Building, "XANA" he said wiping the blood from his mouth, he then felt his leg, he'd sprained a muscle during the tumble, he quickly stood up and hobbled after them, Delmas however was showing super human strength and was carrying both Odd and the pregnant Yumi under his arms, he moved towards his car, "sir you're hurting me" screamed Yumi, Delmas threw down Odd and pulled open a car door, before placing Yumi inside and grabbing Odd and throwing him in after her, "YUMI" Shouted William as he hobble towards, then Delmas put on his seatbelt and began to drive off, unbeknownst to all of them the Dodge Monaco pulled up, the figure watching the events stepped out grabbing the 1887 and chambering a bullet he aimed towards Delmas, he pulled the lever ready to fire, but realised that Delmas was out of range, he looked at William and fired the riffle into the air, William dived behind the wall, "Son of a bitch" he said hearing the gunshot, the figure quickly re-entered the Dodge and began to follow the Car Delmas was driving.
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There was panic as the gunshot sent every student crazy, they were either running for their lives or hiding under a desk, those who saw William hobbling at a distance believed he'd been shot, and would run away in fear of implication, William reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, but looked as it'd been smashed in his fall,
"Son of a…" he said before he began to yell out, in Jeremie's, Aelita's and Ulrich's music class however the room was sound proofed, and as such didn't hear anything, their teacher who had a moustache that spanned the top of his mouth to the bottom of his chin, with an afro that made him look like a reject from the bee gees, he was playing a recorder suddenly the door opened and everyone looked at William as he stood at the door, "guys, Delmas has kidnapped Odd and Yumi" he said out of breath holding his leg, the teacher looked at him, the reception to the news was split, many felt that William was causing trouble, the rest believed him, the warriors looked at each other, "what kind of nonsense is this" said the teacher as became angry at the disruption, William knew that he'd screwed up, Sissi became worried as she noticed his limp, "come with me" said the teacher as he grabbed William, "don't any of you move" said the teacher as he shut the door, "neither Odd nor Yumi are answering" said Ulrich as he looked at his phone, Jeremie grabbed his phone as he heard it vibrate, "a message from XANA" he said as Aelita leaned over, she looked back towards the end of the class, "Adam's still here" she said confussed, Jeremie read the text message, "Aelita in the ice sector 2 o'clock to give herself up to the scyphozoa, if not Odd and Yumi will be liquidated" said Jeremie, this only served to scare the others, "I'm not standing for this shit" said Ulrich as he stood up "Let's go" he added, then the teacher came back in saying "Everyone in your seats now, the Police are taking charge", everyone began to talk amongst themselves, "Christ alive" said Aelita becoming angry at their teacher.
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Odd awoke to find himself freezing, he was shivering heavily he looked at Yumi as she was still unconscious he quickly nudged her awake, she looked up at him as he helped her under his arm to help her keep warm,
"Where are we" she asked, their breaths were heavily visible, "given the temperature I'd guess North of Siberia" replied Odd as they Noticed Delmas standing in the door way, he stood completely motionless almost like an inanimate object, Yumi reached into her pocket, "my cell phone" she said as she couldn't find it, Odd reached into his, "he must have taken them from us" said Odd, Yumi stood up and looked at Delmas, "Uh Mr Delmas sir" said Odd, he expected to get attacked by some strange power that XANA usually projected through his possessed victims, but Delmas only turned his head and looked at them, "I wouldn't count on his cooperation" said Odd as he began to shiver again.
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The students had been let out of their classes but for one reason, the police had been called to Kadic, what caught the Warriors off guard was that Winter was standing with them, Jim was standing on a box making sure that everyone could see and hear him,
"Okay everyone Classes are cancelled indefinitely, Day students can go home, Border students are confined to their rooms" said Jim, Winter lit up a light as he looked at the mixed reactions of the students, Sissi was upset at her father's disappearance, then she noticed the warriors sneaking behind Jim, "where's Dunbar" asked Jim, then Sissi pointed towards them and said "there and question those guys they're always scheming with Odd and Yumi", Jeremie over heard her and said "this just isn't our day is it", they quickly began running with Ulrich helping William, "we could do with a quick hop" said Ulrich as they moved away from the main building, "I can't remember, with my injured leg I don't know what it could do to my health" said William, Jeremie nodded in agreement, "you guys go ahead, I'll hold them off" said William, he quickly dropped off of Ulrich who said "good luck" as he and the others rushed off, William began to limp away as fast as he could, but two Police officers cornered him, this effectively split the amount off officers available in half, Jim quickly joined in on the pursuit, Aelita and Jeremie turned left as they reached the fence, the two police officers rushed after them, whilst Ulrich being more athletically fit mounted over the fence, Jim gave pursuit, but Ulrich looked back at him and said "let's hope I watched well enough", he turned and span his leg backwards, Jim got closer as Ulrich lifted his left leg over Jim's head and then kicked him in the head with his right leg, Ulrich fell on his back but quickly got up and ran away as Jim was hunched over in pain "JIM ARE YOU OKAY" shouted Winter as he watched from the other side of the fence, for Jeremie and Aelita it wasn't as lucky as the two pursing police officers caught them, "WE GOT EM" shouted one of them, Jeremie and Aelita fidgeted as they tried to get away, Meanwhile Ulrich entered the sewer and had grabbed his skateboard, he quickly ran and jump mounted it as he shot off down the tunnel.
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Back in the cold room, Yumi and Odd were becoming ever colder, whilst Delmas stood unaffected, Odd looked towards him,
"My… Friend is getting pretty cold" said Odd, Delmas didn't bother to react, Odd however was insistent, "Apparently you plan on keeping us alive, or you would have already blown us away" said Odd, Delmas still didn't react, "in case you didn't know cold can kill us too" said Odd, Delmas finally reacted as he removed his jacket and tossed it towards them, Odd quickly unfolded it and placed it over Yumi as quickly as possible, "bastards mad" said Odd as he began to shiver.
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Back at the school, William was in the main office, Winter was behind the desk looking at him with Jim next to him, the other officers were outside,
"So what did you see" asked Winter as he placed his feet on the desk, "Delmas grabbed Odd Della-Robia and Yumi Ishiyama and carried them to a car and drove off" said William as he felt his leg, "witness claim they heard a gunshot" said Jim, William looked at him, "It wasn't Delmas and my leg is just a sprain" he said, suddenly the door barged open, "what is it" asked Winter as he looked at one of the police officers, "sir you're not gonna believe this" said the officer grimly, they all looked at him, suddenly Delmas was led in his face was swollen and he had bandages around his mid-section, "Delmas" said Jeremie as he and Aelita watched from in the waiting room, William looked at them, "we found him unconscious under the stair well in his room" said the police officer, Delmas tried speaking "what… what's… what's going on" he said as he stepped forward, Jeremie became highly agitated "do you think it's a spectre" asked Aelita grabbing his hand, "either a spectre or…" said Jeremie beginning to panic at the thought, "what're you two blabbering about" said Sissi, Jeremie didn't say anything, "The way I see it your friends beat up my father and are doing this for attention" said Sissi, Aelita rolled her eyes, "could your logic be any more broken" she said, Sissi however was clearly set on her belief that her father wasn't to blame.
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The Dodge Monaco pulled up outside the cold house, the figure grabbed the 1887 and began to load the shells into the chamber, he was slow and careful making sure to hot load the weapon, he looked towards the door, he stepped out of the car and placing the 1887 underneath his coat and walking towards the main door, he found it'd been chain sealed,
"XANA" he said as he looked around, he quickly grabbed at the chain pulling it apart, but before the discarded remains could drop to the ground he managed to grab it so as to not cause any loud noise, he quickly entered closing the doors behind him, whilst on the other side of the building Odd and Yumi were still freezing to death, suddenly Yumi heard a small rattle, she turned to her phone, Delmas had forgotten to take them out of the jacket, she nudged Odd who looked down at, whilst at the factory Ulrich quickly emerged from the sewer, he bolted into the factory as quickly as he could, he grabbed the rope and swung onto the factory floor when he heard his phone ring, "Yumi" he said as he answered the phone, "are you okay, where are you" asked Ulrich, Yumi quickly whispered "if you ask me we're in the refrigerated warehouses on the wharf…" she stopped as Delmas grabbed the phone from her hand and crushed it in his palm, "this guy's not fucking about" said Odd, whilst back at the factory Ulrich was becoming more concerned, "Yumi, Yumi" he asked, but there was no response, he hung up and sighed, when suddenly he noticed Jeremie's EMP bomb, "great" he said not liking the idea.
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Back at the school, Delmas had been given some clothes whilst Dorothy was looking at his head making sure he didn't have a concussion or any internal bleeding, Winter was looking at his note pad, he shook his head throwing it down on the table,
"None of this makes any sense" he said as he sat on the desk, he grabbed a smoke but remembered he was in a school and pocketed it, "we've got numerous eye witness reports saying you kidnapped Odd Della Robia and Yumi Ishiyama, we even have photos of you driving off, yet we find you beaten up in a cupboard" added Winter as he looked at Delmas, the aforementioned was barely able to think as he was dozing in and out of consciousness, "Sir, far be it for me to question orders, but surely we should let those students go, I mean it's proof they know nothing isn't it" said one of the officers, Winter shook his head but agreed, "if you ask me this is above them" he said as he stood up, the officer turned towards the door, and opened it seeing that the others were long since gone, in the woods the warriors were coming up on the hatch, "I'm sorry guys" said William as Jeremie and Aelita were helping him walk, "its fine, you did your best" said Aelita, then they stopped as Jeremie moved from underneath Williams arm and opened the man hole, unbeknownst to them Sissi was watching from behind a tree, "William you go first" said Jeremie, William nodded as Aelita helped him into the ladder, he slowly descended followed by Aelita, Jeremie looked around not seeing Sissi, he then followed the others and closed the man hole behind him, Sissi grinned.
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Meanwhile at the factory Ulrich was looking at the switches on the Bomb, he was sitting against the girder trying to work out how to use it,
"Next Time Jeremie either leave me a manual, or make it like the video games" he said to himself, he then flicked a switch, but nothing happened, "come on" he said as he scratched his head, he flicked another and the board lit up, "yes" he said as he began to pick it up, but true to what Jeremie had said the bomb was heavy, "son of a bitch" said Ulrich, then he noticed a skateboard, "oh well" he said as he grabbed the board and tied the bomb to it, he then pulled the skateboard along onto the ramp, before pulling out his phone and dialling Jeremie's number "Ulrich, where are you" asked Jeremie upon answering "on my way to the refrigerated warehouses, I'm gonna try and free Odd and Yumi" replied Ulrich as he began to run, "XANA's ultimatum is nearly up" said Jeremie, Ulrich began to panic, "I'm going as fast as I can, I'll meet you back at the factory" said Ulrich as he hung up and pocketed his phone, "We'd better hurry" said William as he began to hobble as fast as he could, "be careful that'll kill if you're not careful" said Jeremie, but William didn't care he wasn't going to let it stop him.
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Ulrich found the warehouse easily; he noticed the parked car that Delmas had used, the doors were still open,
"This should be it" said Ulrich as he opened the doors and pulled the EMP Bomb inside, he looked around at the near empty building, having been abandoned for years, it had been left looking creepy, he was nervous as he looked around, "please be in here" he said to himself, Suddenly he was grabbed and pulled to the side, he wanted to let out a yell but his mouth was covered, he looked up to see the figure making a shhh motion, he then grabbed Ulrich's phone saying "thanks", he moved away quickly leaving Ulrich shocked, "oh shit" he said as he grabbed the bomb and began moving down the building again.
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Jeremie sat down in his chair, and moved towards the screen, Aelita helped William onto the floor, he grabbed his leg trying to numb the pain, Jeremie looked back at him, but looked away feeling slightly disgusted, whilst William didn't notice Aelita did, she realised what he was upset about, William had injured his left leg, she stepped towards him
"Could you be any more obvious" she said to Jeremie, the latter didn't even look at her, "he's not Dallas" said Jeremie, a tear streaked in his eye, he quickly typed and looked at the radar, "XANA isn't wasting anytime, The Scyphozoa is already waiting, as are Adam and Evelyn" said Jeremie, they heard a noise as William limped towards them, "Divide and Conquer" he said, "We've only got two minutes" said Jeremie, the mood was grim, they had a choice either way was a lose, lose situation.
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Ulrich looked around the building, he was beginning to sweat despite the freezing cold temperature of the building, he opened one of the doors, nothing inside but hanging hooks on chains, he pulled open another door, nothing but more chains, he shook his head as he looked down at his watch,
"Gotta be a dozen cold rooms" he said to himself, he could easily sprint through the building but he didn't know what he was up against, he then noticed the time was up, "NO" he shouted, Delmas suddenly jolted his head up, he knew that it was time, he turned and walked towards Yumi and Odd, they looked up as he grabbed Odd and began to choke him, "ODD" shouted Yumi, Ulrich head the noise and Quickly ran in the direction of the noise, suddenly there was an almost deafening noise, the song Mr Roboto begin playing from the 2:45 mark, Delmas let go off of Odd as he stepped out and inspected where the noise was coming from, Yumi crawled following him, she then noticed not Ulrich but the figure, he raised the 1887 and began unloading shells into Delmas "DALLAS" screamed Yumi with shock and surprise, the 1887 clicked as it was empty, Dallas flipped the 1887 around and smacked Delmas around the head, the skin broke revealing the endo skeleton beneath, Delmas grabbed Dallas by the jacket and smashed him through the concrete wall, Dallas was unfazed as he charged Delmas smashing him through another wall and began pummelling him in the face, Delmas kicked him off, Yumi grabbed Odd and the two began moving as Ulrich appeared with the EMP, "what the fuck is happening" asked Odd as they noticed Dallas, "is it another robot" he asked coughing, "if it is, it's on our side" said Ulrich as he helped Yumi with Odd as they began to watch, "GO" shouted Dallas as he took a left hook to the eye, Ulrich quickly turned back and looked at the Bomb, "fuck it" he said as Delmas pinned Dallas down and began beating his head, the skin leaving his hand from the force of each blow, Ulrich quickly flicked each switch, suddenly the music stopped and Delmas collapsed onto Dallas, both were rendered motionless, "come on" said Ulrich as the three began running out of the building, "Are you two okay" asked Ulrich as they stepped into Delmas's car, Yumi grabbed the keys and turned them, "Yeah we're fine, but what the fuck was Dallas doing there, he's meant to be on Lyoko" said Odd as he tried catching his breath, Yumi quickly reversed and turned the car around, Delmas stepped out of the cold house, the EMP bomb had only been temporary, he began sprinting at an in human speed at them, "shit, shit, shit" said Yumi as she looked in the rear-view mirror, Dallas opened his eyes his vision was blurry, but he quickly jumped to his feet and picked up the 1887.
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"Great, just fucking great, we can't contact Ulrich, the ultimatum is up, and William being fucking useless can't walk and go check" said Jeremie as the stress got the better of him, William didn't take it to heart, "Jeremie the best thing me and Aelita can do is get to Lyoko and Deactivate the tower" said William, Jeremie looked down and shook his head, "better hurry, there's a chance they'll be fine" said Jeremie, Aelita helped William into the elevator as they descended, Jeremie clicked his fingers as he began typing, the elevator opened and Aelita helped William into a scanner before rushing towards another one, "we're ready Jeremie" said Aelita, Jeremie smiled as he said "Transfer Aelita, Transfer William" the scanners closed as he selected their ID cards "Scanner Aelita, Scanner William" added Jeremie, they began to spin and rise as their ID cards filled up, "Virtualization" said Jeremie, their blue squared outlines appeared in the ice sector, they gained detail before dropping to the ground, "okay guys the Tower is to the north" said Jeremie, the two watched as the Over-Bike spawned, William mounted the driver's seat whilst Aelita sat behind him, "Hang on" he said looking back before the two shot forward, then they noticed a few lasers shot past, "Hornets" said Jeremie as he watched, William looked at the path ahead before swerving off and landing on a lower Parallel path, the creatures followed but one of the four crashed onto the path and was destroyed, "Hang on guys Dallas should be en route" said Jeremie
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Yumi quickly turned the car onto the bridge, she pulled up as she, Odd and Ulrich stepped out and began running towards the entrance to the factory, Suddenly the Feux Delmas appeared having slowed down, his face torn up slightly showing the X-800 beneath,
"Daddy" said Sissi as she emerged from the Entrance, it of course paid no attention to her, she started running but Odd grabbed her, "No it's not your father" he said, suddenly they heard a loud engine roar as the Dodge Monaco turned onto the bridge, Ulrich grabbed Yumi and pulled her to the side whilst Odd did the same to Sissi, Dallas turned the Monaco and jumped out, the car lost control from the violent turn and barrel rolled, Delmas turned around looked as the car impact against him, it bent around him but struck him with enough force to send him over the edge of the platform, Dallas stood up feeling a burn on his hand where he scraped it, "Is everyone Okay" he asked as he looked at the others, they stood motionless, before they quickly ran down the ramp, Sissi stood watching as Delmas emerged from the wreckage, "You people act like you've seen a ghost" he said grabbing the 1887 and running towards the platform, he jumped past Sissi saying "excuse me" as he two foot kicked Delmas from 2 storeys up, the others watched as Dallas grabbed Delmas and chucked him to the ground, "Should we find out" asked Odd, Ulrich placed his arm out to stop him from moving, "we can't take the risk, to the service shaft" said Yumi as they rushed off the second entrance, whilst back on Lyoko three Hornets were still pursing William and Aelita,
"Take the tunnel to your right" said Dallas as he came into view and heading towards them at a rapid speed, William looked back as the laser continued to fire at the two, "Hang on Aelita" he said as he swerved violently and entered the tunnel, Dallas quickly came up with a wide turn and followed, but the Hornets had entered before him, he quickly disengaged the gyro stabilizer and sped up along the closest hornet, he grabbed his crowbar and smacked the creature, the end pierced the shell of the creature causing it to explode, Dallas smiled as he shot forward again, William however was on the ground, he wasn't able to use the flight control and as such was struggling to keep control, this in turn was causing Aelita to scream, then suddenly there was a blinding light as the end of the tunnel approached, William slammed on the breaks as they exited the tunnel, "watch out" said Jeremie as they turned and avoided hitting the ice structure ahead of them, one of the Hornets came out too quickly and smashed into the wall at maximum speed and was destroyed, Dallas as he noticed it pulled up and returned the weapon to the baton and dropped to the ground, "GO" he shouted at William and Aelita, they looked at him before speeding up, Dallas drew his sawn-off and held it raised as he prepared for the Hornet to emerge, "Will he be okay" asked Aelita as she looked back, William chuckled "If I know anything that Ozzie bastard can handle himself" said William, suddenly he was whipped off the Over-Bike, Aelita was knocked to the ground as Adam and Evelyn emerged, "Almost too easy" said Adam as he loaded his musket, Evelyn grabbed Aelita and carried her towards the Scyphozoa, William tried crawling away, but Adam placed his foot on Williams back and pressed him down, "any last words" he asked, but Adam fired anyway before William could answer, the Scyphozoa wrapped its tentacles around Aelita and began draining her memory, "Oh No, Dallas it's the Scyphozoa" said Jeremie, Dallas turned his head and began moving as fast as he could towards the creature, he pointed his Sawn-off forward and pulled the trigger, Adam flinched expecting to be shot, but the barrel sparked, "Confucamus" he said as Adam and Evelyn returned fire, he jumped behind cover, "Boss, pinned down need some backup" said Dallas, Jeremie shook his head, "you may not have back up" he said nervously, but was delighted as he heard "What do you mean", Jeremie turned his head to see the others, "what, how" asked Jeremie with shock, Odd pointed with his thumb towards the second entrance, "Dallas… we think rescued us" he said, Jeremie was a taken back, "get to Lyoko, it's the scyphozoa, and Dallas is pinned down" said Jeremie, this only added to the confusion.
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Ulrich, Yumi and Odd rushed down the ladder into the scanner room, William was sitting by the elevator door holding his leg,
"William are you okay" asked Yumi as she looked at him, he gave the thumbs up saying "been through worse", Ulrich smiled at the fact he was okay, "Come on" he said as they stepped into a vacant scanner each, "Transfer Ulrich, Transfer Yumi, Transfer Odd" said Jeremie as the scanners closed and he selected their ID cards, "Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Yumi, Scanner Odd" added Jeremie as they began to spin and rise, "Virtualization" he said as they felt the blast of air sending them to Lyoko, their blue squared outlines appeared before dropping to the ground, "Okay Jeremie get us our vehicles" said Odd, then the Over-Board and the Over-Wing appeared, Odd and Yumi mounted them respectively, "Jeremie, Where's my bike" asked Ulrich, Jeremie gulped and sheepishly replied "William crashed it", Ulrich became slightly frustrated as he stepped on the back of the Over-Wing, they quickly shot off towards the Scypozoa, "Aelita and Dallas are on the Plato in front of you" said Jeremie as they came up to the path that led to the tunnel, "Take the tunnel we'll go straight" said Yumi, Odd turned and moved towards the Tunnel, suddenly the Hornet emerged and began firing at him, "Shit" said Odd as he quickly swerved and dodged it, "Odd" said Ulrich as he looked back, Yumi quickly flew above the tunnel, "Hurry up" said Jeremie as William emerged from the hatch, meanwhile Dallas looked from behind the rock, but his head was nearly blown off from a musket shot from Evelyn, "Good sport wouldn't you say" she said as she laughed, suddenly Adam was decapitated as Yumi's fan struck him from Behind slicing him throw the drape of the neck, her other fan sliced through the Tentacles of the scyphozoa, Aelita dropped to the ground, But Ulrich ran up and grabbed her before she could hit it, Evelyn turned around was prepared to fire her musket, but suddenly Odd emerged from the tunnel with Hornet behind him, he quickly aimed and fired at the Scyphozoa's cranium, the creature backed away letting out it's scream, Yumi moved up towards Aelita as Ulrich put her down, "you gonna be all right" she asked, "I think so" said Aelita, Yumi stepped forward allowing Aelita some space on the Over-Wing, "okay saddle up" added Yumi, The Hornet moved to follow them but was promptly blown up by Odd.
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Back on the factory floor, Dallas for the first time in a while was having trouble fighting someone, he felt so weak and heavy on his feet, Delmas threw a left hook, Dallas who was usually slow to react due to his dilated eye, was quick and blocked it and grabbed the arm pulling it down onto his shoulder, he expected to snap his shoulder but instead he felt nothing, Delmas looked at its snapped arm, Dallas saw an opportunity and began to hot load the 1887, he looked up as Delmas tore of his sleeve and arm exposing the endo skeleton beneath, Sissi screamed at the in-human sight, Dallas looked up distracted by the scream this allowed Delmas the time to snap it's arm back into position and run and smash it through Dallas's stomach region, he coughed up blood as he looked down, Delmas smiled as he withdrew his arm causing Dallas to drop to the ground, he felt no pain but his wound wasn't healing, he looked up and charged at Delmas as he was walking towards the elevator, Delmas turned and swung his arm smacking Dallas around the side of the head, chunks of flesh were knocked off the side of his face, he looked up as he threw his own few punches, Delmas grabbed at his open wounds and tore him apart from the stomach, but Dallas was still not feeling any pain, he jumped kicked his legs outwards, Delmas was knocked backwards, Dallas flipped onto his feet he clicked his head as Delmas grabbed a metal pipe and spun it around, the two charged at each other before Delmas smacked it around Dallas's face and impaling him in the shoulder into the ground, Delmas about to go in for another blow, but it stopped as Sissi Yelled,
"DADDY", Delmas turned around she screamed as it moved towards her, it was missing skin and half of its face was missing, it was now clear that it was an X-800, Dallas looked at her and shouted "RUN SISSI" but she was motionless with fear, Dallas looked and grabbed the pipe with his left arm, he reached pulled it from his shoulder screaming at the frustration, Sissi started backing away as the X-800 reached for her, she dropped to the ground and tried crawling on her back but it was no use, the machine reached out but suddenly the metal pole emerged from its throat section, she looked as Dallas was holding onto the pole, he pulled it down and in turn the section that was in the robots neck was lifted, and torn off of the body, it fell motionless, Dallas was feeling weak and exhausted, Sissi screamed again and fainted, Dallas stabbed the pole through the X-800 head to make sure it was dead, he grinned as he hobbled into the elevator, he descended into the factory, Jeremie and William looked as he emerged, "Jeremie" said Dallas as he collapsed, William and Jeremie looked at each other as William said "shit".
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Jeremie turned back to the screen as William dragged Dallas into the elevator,
"The Tower should be straight ahead you guys" said Jeremie as Yumi and Aelita flew towards the towers location; Odd and Ulrich were on the Over-Board and following with Evelyn behind them in pursuit, "Better hurry guys, We may have another problem here" added Jeremie, Odd looked back at Ulrich, "do you know how to drive this thing" he asked, Ulrich looked at him confussed and said "I've been a second numerous times" he said, Odd nodded and said "Switch" the two quickly switched positions, Ulrich was now manoeuvring and controlling the board, the Over-Board was designed to be operated by as many people who were on it, the two had to work in near perfect synchronisation for the best possible control, Odd however was controlling it inverted and Ulrich wasn't used to being a first, "Laser Arrow" said Odd as he fired numerous arrows at Evelyn who dodged them, suddenly they noticed a small ice cloud building up as Dallas got closer behind her, Yumi and Aelita found the towers location, but they couldn't see the tower, just three raised sections she circled on the Over-Wing, "Jeremie, there's no activated tower here" said Yumi, Jeremie was confussed as he looked at the window, "what… it has to be somewhere" said Jeremie as he typed and saw it on the screen, "watch out we got tarantulas" said Jeremie, Aelita noticed them and pointed them, further back Dallas looked at Evelyn, he quickly shouted "GO, I'LL TAKE CARE OF HER" said Dallas, Jeremie listened as he spoke, he then looked towards the elevator, Odd and Ulrich Darted ahead whilst Dallas pulled up towards Evelyn, Yumi and Aelita looked at the structure as the Tarantulas began firing at them, Odd and Ulrich pulled up but this only resulted in Odd getting hit by a laser in the arm, "ow" he said, Ulrich looked back and said "sorry", he swerved again avoiding another laser, Yumi and Aelita swerved again avoiding more lasers, then the two girls noticed the pipe like entrance in the centre, "There" said Aelita as she pointed at the entrance, Odd and Ulrich quickly swerved and spun dodging every laser that the tarantulas fired, it was also drawing it, the two quickly moved towards the base of the structure dodging more of the lasers and allowing for more cover, "Get ready" said Odd as they switched back into their more comfortable positions, The board then shot up the side of the structure, a Tarantula looked as Odd and Ulrich passed next to its head, Odd fired at the creatures weak spot destroying it, "yes" said Odd as they circled around again avoiding more lasers, "they're pissed" said Ulrich as the intensity of the Lasers increased, the Over-Board dropped power and again dropped out of firing range, the two screamed as they fell, before they hit the ground Odd reengaged the power and the two were saved.
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Dallas moved towards Evelyn, but her bike was moving unusually fast, he was barely keeping the same speed she was moving away from the main action, but he kept up pursuit just in case, whilst back at the structure the Over-Board and the Over-Wing pulled up alongside one another,
"You two take care of one of the Tarantulas, I'll take care of the others" said Yumi, Ulrich and Odd smiled before pulling away and moving towards one of the Tarantulas, Yumi looked back at her passenger, "Aelita you're gonna have to jump at the right moment" said Yumi, she got closer towards the entrance, "better hurry, like I said we may have another problem" said Jeremie, Odd and Ulrich flew towards one of the Tarantulas, "Laser Arrow" said Odd as he fired towards the creature, "Switch" said Ulrich as the board did a 180 and Ulrich drew his Katanna blocking the shots from the return fire, "Switch" said Odd as they flipped back and he fired more arrows at the creature, but the creature increased its firing speed and struck Odd he was knocked back off the board and took Ulrich with him, Odd was Devirtulized but Ulrich was still falling to the ground, "Ulrich" said Yumi as she looked back, but she knew there wasn't anything they could do, she closed her eyes, before looking at Aelita, "Change of plans, takes the controls" said Yumi, she moved the Over-Wing above the two creatures, "Ulrich is gonna hate this" said Yumi, she then jumped off the Over-Wing, Aelita took the controls before she could lose control, Yumi landed in front of the two Tarantulas and drew her fans, she then began spinning with her fans, the move wasn't a defensive one but was for distracting and it was working, they creatures opened fire quickly and they struck the fans she was knocked back, but she wasn't devirtulized, as the creatures stopped firing she threw a fan and destroyed one of the creatures, the other turned and fired at her, she held her fans and blocked each of the shots, she looked up quickly and shouted "NOW", Aelita circled back and jumped of the Over-Wing and into the entrance, The Tarantula turned to fire, but it was too late she was already sliding down the tunnel, "Yes" said Yumi, but the creature was to have the last laugh as it turned around and fired numerous rapid shots into the her, she was devirtulized, Aelita slid down the tunnel until she entered a cavern where the tower was located, "there's the tower" she said as she ran inside, Yumi joined the others inside the computer room, "get that return to the past set up" she said as she stretched her arm, "we can't do that not yet" said Jeremie as the tower was deactivated.
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Dallas heard faint voices, his eyes widening but everything was blurry,
"What is it" said a female voice that he made out to be Yumi's, "It looks like one of them" said a voice he made out to be Ulrich's he felt light as if he was floating, "but the skin is slowly growing back, none of the others did that" said another voice he realised to be Aelita's, his vision cleared and he saw Ulrich holding his crossbow, Odd holding his Glock 17 and William the sawn-off shot gun, they were all pointing at him, Jeremie stepped forward, "what are you" he asked, Dallas was confussed as he looked at them, "Jeremie you…" he started but Jeremie cut him off by shouting "ANSWER THE QUESTION", Dallas was a taken back by the answer, then he noticed that Yumi was holding Jeremie's laptop with a live feed on it, the person in the video was himself, "My name is Dallas Stan Marshal" he said beginning to get angry, his accent becoming more prominent, "I asked what you are" said Jeremie, Dallas was confussed, "I'm human or with my healing ability as close to it as you're gonna get" he said, Jeremie looked back at the others before stepping forward again, "You're an X-800 robot designed to kill us" said Jeremie, Dallas was confussed and simply responded "Bullshit", William then lowered the sawn-off and reached for a chain that was below Dallas's chin, he loosened it and it swung free, he looked down what he had thought was that he was chained above the elevator shaft, that was right but he screamed as he noticed why his wounds weren't healing, beneath his skin was a combination of an X-800 chassis and Organic elements, "what the fuck have you done to me" he screamed as he tried to wiggle free, his skin was torn up and damaged, his face was nearly in taters, have was dirty and scuffed his left eye was nearly off entirely, "what if" said the Dallas on the screen, they all turned their attention to him, "what if what" asked Odd, "Jeremie do you remember I mentioned I couldn't find the other Dallas after I lost him in sector 5" said the screened Dallas, Jeremie thought back and nodded, "we found a factory creating X-800 robots, what if the other Dallas fussed with one of the Robots" he said, Jeremie grabbed a pen and walked towards Dallas, using the pen he lifted up the skin flaps, "that would explain the combination of both metal and organic compounds" said Jeremie, but then he stepped away, "Odd" he said, Odd pulled the trigger and the bullet pinged the exposed metal areas, Dallas screamed at the vibrations, they moved away as they kept an eye on him, "Can we trust it" asked Jeremie, Yumi stepped towards Dallas and extended her arm, he flinched backwards scared but she placed her hand on his face, "I vote for trusting it" said Yumi, Aelita looked at Dallas and into his eyes, "I also vote for" she said, the screened Dallas spoke up, "it's the best chance I got off being whole again" he said, Ulrich stepped forward "I say against, me and Dallas had enough bad experiences with these things" he said, Odd raised his arm and said "Against, if it's anything like the others we can't let it live", Jeremie wasn't very vocal as he said "Against", it was clear he still hated himself for what happened to Dallas and to him Dallas was on Lyoko not being portrayed by a machine wearing his skin, "William you've got the deciding vote" said Odd, William Looked at Dallas he looked nervous, then he noticed a distinct feature that he hadn't seen in the past two attacks, a single breath but instead of it being simulated he saw a lung, the sight both disgusted him and told him what he wanted to know, "I'm for, what if it is Dallas, and we kill him, we try and get him off Lyoko, and we can't because we already wrote his death sentence, I know I've not been with you for more than a week, but I'm willing to risk it" said William, it was 4 to 3, Jeremie gave in, "let him down" he said, William and Ulrich called the elevator up and used it as a platform to let Dallas down, he was heavy and was disgusting to touch, "if you even show a sign of betraying us, I will detonate another EMP bomb and throw you into the water and watch you rust" said Jeremie, as he walked back towards the computer room.
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That morning everyone but Dallas and Yumi were sitting in by the vending machines, whilst Ulrich and Odd had come around to the Idea of using the robot Dallas as a duplicate to keep up appearances, Jeremie was still annoyed about the idea, then Sissi walked over,
"Oh Ulrich dear" she said, But Ulrich was once again as usual not in the mood, "Sissi I'm not interested" he said, but she smiled and flicked her hair saying "oh I'm not here for you to ask me out, besides I've already got someone taking me out tonight", but then there was a voice she thought she'd forgotten "I'll open the curtains give the gun man a cleaner shot", she turned and watched as Yumi walked towards them with Dallas behind her, he was wearing Black leather boots and Trousers, with a dark grey shirt and Black leather jacket reminiscent of his own, "You I thought" she said, Dallas half smiled as he said "no wonder I smelt burning", Sissi stormed off, he walked towards the others but he realised that even though the majority had sided for him, they gave him a vibe of not getting too close, he looked away as he stood against the wall.
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Authors Note
Thanks for reading I'm so sorry it took a lot longer than the previous slew of chapters, but I've had a lot going on over the past month, a serious bout of depression, and a lot of stress from elsewhere, my aunt died and my friend nearly killed himself the same night, my Xbox one tanked so I'm out £250 of console, £300 of games and £40 of hardware peripherals, off track there, but I hope this goes part of the way to explain why I've been busy, there also something else but that's a personal thing between me and my friend regarding his future.