The next thing the Lyoko Warriors knew, they were in their respective bedrooms. The sun had just risen, and the date remained unchanged; a Return to the Past had been launched. Unsure of what happened, the Lyoko Warriors began to reconvene at Jeremy's dorm. Everyone woke up with migraines akin to a hangover. Nobody could clearly remember what happened during the first version of today. Thankfully today was a weekend day, so classes couldn't keep them from figuring out what happened. Despite the headaches, Jeremy had his eyes fixated on the computer screen trying to figure out what happened.
The desktop was buried under a pile of windows as he searched through every part of the Super Computer's systems. At the center of the screen stood a window with the graphical interface of some futuristic vault. Jeremy's concerned face morphs into a more puzzled look with every other window he opened. Finally, Ulrich broke the sound of Jeremy's work.
"So, what's the verdict?"
"All the security footage of the factory from the past month is gone. That goes double for all my diary entries in that time frame."
"That doesn't sound that bad," remarked Aelita.
"We also lost the Mk II."
A collection of audible groans filled the room as their heads began to swell.
"There's more. There is a program that is acting as a lockdown protocol. It has isolated Lyoko from the Digital Sea. Nothing can come in or out of Lyoko from there. I can't even check what's going on in the Digital Sea."
"So, we're just sitting ducks again?" William worried.
"Not necessarily, if we could just get everyone together and try to remember what happened … today, we'll have a better idea of what to do," Jeremy explained, "Yumi should be one her way. That just leaves Odd."
"Seems like he got the worst of it," Ulrich confirmed, "He's still in bed and out cold."
"Try to wake him up," Jeremy advised, "He got to see the most out of the facility. There has to be something he saw. Once you get him up, meet up with us at breakfast."
The cafeteria was business as usual, while everyone was sluggish, the fresh food and a cup of coffee for a few of them helped clear their heads. Not many words went between them as they all try to fill in the gaps and wait for Yumi to arrive.
"Is it just me or does it all feel like we got hit by a semi?" Yumi asked as she took a seat and placed her forehead on the table.
"We all got a headache," replied Aelita, "But it seems to be between just us. We haven't noticed anyone else at school with the problem. What about your place?"
"Everything seems fine with Hikori and my parents. But does anyone know why we went back?"
"That's what we're trying to piece together," Jeremy explained, "Just think for a moment, what can you remember?"
"Well let's see," Yumi began to massage her forehead, "We were on the Ice Replika … and we were defending the Skid."
"Kat pounced on me," Aelita continued, "and I kicked him off."
"And he ended up falling into the Digital Sea," Yumi finished.
"And you're sure he fell in?" William inquired.
"Yeah, I saw the blue beam," Yumi claimed with certainty, "So... that means he's dead?"
"I would like to hold off on that," replied Jeremy, "William, did anything happen during your fight with XANA?"
William laid back in his chair, eyes closed, as he stared into the ceiling and focused.
"Well, it was … chaotic," he recounted as his tone became more optimistic, "I remember out maneuvering XANA's attacks… and I broke through his defenses…. used the opening to attack the mask, and … stabbed my sword right through it. The thing even caught on fire."
"So, if Kat's in the Digital Sea and William destroyed XANA's body, is James all alone?" Aelita questioned.
The thought lingered in their minds. Had two AIs fallen in one day? It seemed to come too easy. Finally, Jeremy spoke up, unsatisfied with the answers.
"Not necessarily. The only thing we destroyed were their bodies. As long as they were placed in another machine, they are still around."
"So, they will be back?" questioned Yumi.
"Not quite. Knowing XANA, there is no way he would choose to take orders from a human. James would be smart enough to keep XANA isolated from accessing any network. The best way to do that would be for Wagner to contain XANA in a body he can control. If he were to give XANA another machine to inhabit, it would be on an ordinary computer that cannot be hooked up to any network, whether it be the internet or a local facility."
"So, at worst, he's trapped in a computer where he can't harm anyone," William concluded.
"That would seem to be the likely the case," concluded Jeremy.
The prospect of being rid of XANA once again was too good to be true. For now, William can relax with the strong possibility that XANA is in a position where he can't do anything. But there still was the case with Kat.
"However, Kat is a different story. Unfortunately, we don't know anything about him. It's possible that Kat is in the same boat as XANA, but I doubt even Wagner is capable of controlling two AIs without them launching an insurrection against him. Assuming there is a backup, he will have to show up at some point."
With all the speculation, the gang did not notice Ulrich's lone arrival.
"I checked up on Odd like you asked," Ulrich reported with a hint of nervousness as he sat down, "He's still in bed. Said he wasn't hungry."
The last sentence was hard to believe. Odd … not hungry. Regardless, they remained silent as Ulrich continued.
"I was able to ask him about what happened," he continued in a low volume, "Said the place was mostly empty."
"So, the Replika was a decoy," Aelita conferred, "I never thought Wagner would-"
"No. No. It wasn't a decoy; he said it was the real deal. Wagner was there and Odd… h-he shot him… and it was in no way a-a specter, or a robot, or something dumb like that. He said that he saw him bleeding … as he fell to the ground."
The air of disbelief only grew from there. The air amongst the table hung for a full minute without an uttered word. Wagner's potential end and the conditions behind it left the group with an unnerving, empty feeling. It seemed to come too easy. Only when their aura started to attract glances from the other students did Yumi decided to speak up.
"I think it's best if we took this conversation somewhere else. Should we… check on Odd?"
"No," replied Ulrich, "He said he wanted to be left alone for a while."
The request was found to be understandable by the group. While they gave Odd his space, they decided to head to the Factory to try to get a better look at the situation. As they approached the factory, Yumi was caught up with the Super Computer's status with Jeremy adding one extra detail.
"There one thing that I left out, mainly because I did not know what to make of it. The Return to the Past had an error message: 'Anomaly detected: 1 entity unaccounted for.' Based off on what Odd … told us, either James or Kat is responsible for activating the Return to the Past," Jeremy continued as he slid down the hanging wire, "It was probably done as an attempt to heal his wound, but it is possible that something went wrong with the program and he didn't recover. It could be because the program didn't launch in time or he could have accessed Return to the Past with a method that affected its performance."
"How can you be sure he's dead?" Ulrich queried.
"Has anyone gotten a call from him?"
As soon as the question was uttered, the answer was as clear as the sky above the bridge. James Wagner is gone. If any of them are still alive, they were not going to show up for a long while.
The trip to the factory gave no leads on what happened during the siege. There was no sign of any tampering with the Supercomputer outside of the 'vault' program locking Lyoko out of the Digital Sea. A Return to the Past does not give much in the way of physical evidence.
An agreement was made that day: Until a new Skid is built and the vault program is deactivated, or something happens on Lyoko, the Lyoko warriors would continue with their lives. With silence encompassing the virtual world, the academics of Kadic and ordinary life was all that asked for their attention. The silence continued as the school year progressed and while Jeremy was able to replace the Skid, unlocking the vault had shown to be a more difficult task.
Soon the Lyoko Warriors faced graduation without getting any closer to the Digital Sea. While Jeremy was able to connect to the Supercomputer remotely, the adult world gave him less time to work on what the group started to refer to as 'the Impossible Vault'. With no sign of danger during the entire period, the six Lyoko Warriors, for the most part, moved on with their lives. Their world without danger all seemed to come too easy.