The limo stopped at an old Warehouse/ Steel Mill, Michel rolled down the window blind that concealed him from the driver. Michel picked up the limo phone; the driver did the same, "Give them the signal Leo." Michel order. "Right away Mr. Lehnox." The driver replied.
The driver then flicked the limo's headlights on and off three times, held them on for three seconds, then flicked them on and off another three times.
A bluish violet light appeared in one of the warehouse's windows; it flicked on and off three times, then stayed on for three seconds. The driver responded by turning the limo's headlights on for three seconds, then quickly flicking the on once.
The loading dock door of the warehouse slid open and the limo entered, Cyril was standing on the loading dock looking rather proud…the limo pulled up parallel to it. Cyril hopped off and opened the limo door, Michel stepped out.
As they walked away from the limo to an elevator (which would take them to a walkway which connected the warehouse part to the steel mill part of the facility), Michel asked, "So what's the scoop on our 'guest'?"
"So far he isn't talking…but Nightmare thinks that a little physical force might be needed to shake some information loose." Cyril replied, Devian (Michel) went into a deep train of thought for a few minutes. "I will speak with him, but I want Valaad to blind fold him first…I don't want him to see my face."
"But what if he recognizes your voice; he'll be bound to tell his friends then." Cyril pointed out, "Relax Cyril, I have that covered too." Devian answered.
Devian then pulled a headset with a built in microphone and a small black box with a dial on it, he plugged the headset into a hole in the black box and turned the dial. "See…nothing to worry about." Said Devian, only his voice came out deeper and more synthesized. "A voice changer…impressive, it seems as if you think of every possible scenario." Cyril complimented.
"I do think of every possible scenario Phantomae, I'm always prepared no matter what." Devian said with a smile on his face, when they arrived at the room Odd was being held in Devian looked at him. "Hmmm…your name is Odd, am I not correct?" Devian asked.
"Yeah what does it mean to you?" Odd asked in return.
Devian chuckled, "I bet you can't guess who I am? Go ahead…you may already have a good notion."
"I'm guessing you're Devian, my friends and I battled you in Lyoko…you kicked our butts of course." Odd answered.
"Yes, I do believe I remember you now…you were that cat-like creature with those 'Laser-Arrows' I believe you called them?" Devian asked.
"Yeah, that's me and a bag of chips…so why did you bring me here?" Odd asked back.
All was silent for a few seconds, "For a brief history lesson, questioning…a few other things, that's all." Devian finally answered. "I'm pretty sure you know about the lab below that old abandoned factory…I've seen you and your friends go there from my limousine when I pass it."
"Yeah, but what does it mean to you?" Odd asked.
"Well, the making of that lab and Lyoko was hard work and took an extremely long time for me…but I wasn't the one who started it all, no…it took a renowned neo-technologist named Dr. Stewart Lowe, to guide me along that path. Before him and I met, being the intelligent boy I was…I thought the rules and laws of this world didn't apply to me. I'd already finished my Sophomore year of High School by the age of 13, my parents were very proud of me…They believed I could do no wrong, they'd already sent applications out to UWGB, UW-Madison, Harvard, even some of the universities in England. But about a week later that opportunity might as well of been snuffed out, for when I said that I thought rules and laws didn't apply to me…well I had taken up pick-pocketing. But one day I picked a pocket perhaps I should've left alone, for I had picked the pocket of an undercover police officer. I was arrested right there, my bad I suppose." Devian started off.
"Uh…is this going to get anywhere fast?" asked Odd.
Just then Odd felt someone hit him in the head, "Quiet Laddie…and maybe you'll understand." Valaad said sternly.
Devian continued, "Now here I was, in jail…when my parents saw me, you could suppose how crappy I felt and how disappointed I had made them. I believe they were just about to ground me when a voice said, "I wouldn't do that to the boy." We all looked in the direction of the voice and standing there just a few feet away…was Dr. Stewart Lowe. Now, could you picture that…a renowned neo-technologist, visiting me in prison. In fact he told me he had received my test scores from the previous schools I had been to and was impressed. When my parents asked him why I shouldn't be grounded he said, and I quote: 'The boy is a young emerging genius…and as with most young geniuses, they believe that certain rules and laws do not apply to them…but with my help perhaps I can give him an outlet for all this juvenile behavior.' End quote. He asked me if I liked computers…my mom told him that when I was 7 I had taken a camera apart and put back together in working condition. It was then and there that my life would never be the same."
"Dr. Lowe showed me his ideas for giving computer information shape and form…sort of a landscape, you know this as Lyoko. Of course about a year and ten months later, Dr. Lowe passed away…but not before giving me his research which I happily continued. The hours were fierce and took their tolls on me, but I had finally been able, with the help of a few other researchers, to create a stable version of Lyoko…I even created a virtual being on that world as a caretaker, you would know her as Aelita. As time grew on I was preparing a program that would bring her to this world, you would know it as CODE: EARTH."
"But I guess something went wrong?" Odd asked.
Valaad was ready to hit him in the head again, "Nightmare no, he is right this time." Devian pointed out.
Once again Devian continued: "Within a week and a half I was ready to run the CODE: EARTH program…I can't explain to you the joy that made me feel anticipating the arrival of Aelita, showing her this world and its many wonders. But when I ran the program it didn't do anything for Aelita…but it gave life to a program that should never have come to be, you know this monster as Xana. I tried everything I could to save Lyoko, but in the end I had to preserve Aelita in sort of a virtual stasis and shut down Lyoko…hoping that someday some one would have the nerve to face my burden."
"After all these years I've narrowed down Xana's creation to two possibilities, one is that I enter a few wrong commands and that's what did it…the other, was sabotage, now don't question the second possibility…because I remember another researcher who had played second fiddle to Dr. Lowe named Troy, and I figure that seeing someone who has been in Lowe's shadow for three years, and then tossed aside as someone younger than he was took his colleagues' place in the research department would've definitely drove him to cause my work to backfire upon me, but I guess I'll never know."
Devian then looked at Odd, "And that's what brings it all to you and your friends…what I wish to know is how you found the lab?"
"I wouldn't tell you if you were the last person on Earth!" argued Odd, Devian looked at Valaad and handed him a syringe and said, "Rough him up first, fists, brass knuckles, cigarette butts first…only use that if he still refuses to talk afterwards."
"I'll do my worst to him sir." Valaad replied. Devian left the room, and Valaad walked over to a table at the side of the room. On that table was a boom box, Valaad put a CD into it and pressed play. He cracked his knuckles as he waited for the music to start up and said, "Laddie…you'll find out once you start talkin' you may not want to stop talkin'…you understand me?"
Suddenly the music started, "Why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends…"
As the music played Odd thought, "Oh no, he's playing War…this is not going to be pretty." Just as he felt a fist hit him hard in the chest.
RODERICK'S ROOM…
Roderick had called Audra earlier on the whole generator business…it was about three hours later that Audra called back. "Well I found some interesting information for you; it appears that a bunch of generators were purchased by the LEHNOX CORPORATION. But it says that a few days later Michel reported them stolen. I don't know if that'll help you…but I'll look into some of LEHNOX CORP.'s other purchases. Who knows, maybe we'll find a connection?" She told him.
"I'll inform Jeremy…he'll be happy to know we found something out—wait a minute, what's this?" Roderick asked himself.
"Roderick what's wrong…is something the matter?" Audra asked.
"A couple of LEGION signatures just popped up in Lyoko…I'm going to call Jeremy." Roderick answered in an ominous tone.
"Be careful Roderick…if anything happened to you—." Audra started to say. "Audra…let's not revisit that train wreck, okay?" Roderick suggested.
BACK AT LEGION HEADQUARTERS…
Devian was just relaxing, lying back in a chair. "Boy, being an evil genius sure takes a lot out of a person."
Suddenly Valaad stepped through the door and said, "Devian sir, I used the syringe."
"I might have guessed you'd have to, the truth serum has probably had time to sink in…maybe now he'll be a bit more open with me." Devian said in amused tone.
When they entered the room again Devian could hear Odd breathing heavily. "Are you okay?" Devian asked.
"I've been punched at and had a cigarette butt held against my wrist, but what I really wish Nightmare had done is used a swab with some rubbing alcohol on it before stabbing my arm with that syringe…I could get an infection." Odd answered.
"The serum is working better than I had anticipated!" Devian thought to himself, "Okay then…let's start with my earlier question of 'how did you find the lab' again…so, how did you find it?" he asked Odd.
"Actually it was Jeremy who found the lab first…he told us about it and showed us the whole complex, in fact he's the only one that can run the computer without causing the system to freeze up or anything." Odd answered.
Hearing the name Jeremy sparked a thought in Devian's head, "Jeremy…blond hair, glasses, very good with computers?" Devian asked. Odd nodded, at that moment Devian looked as if he had had a revelation of some sort, "The friend of my sister…is my enemy?" Devian asked himself under his breath.
Valaad waved his hand in front of Devian, "Hello, Devian…are you even in there anymore?" Valaad asked, he'd never seen Devian zone out like this (except for when he would play Dungeons & Dragons).
Devian suddenly snapped back to reality, "Are Warlock and Phantomae in place?" Devian asked Valaad. "Those brats are on their way to them as we speak sir." Valaad replied.
Devian then turned his attention back to Odd, "We're going to leave you here now, Valaad'll be back in ten minutes though…so don't go anywhere." Devian said with a laugh. "Yeah, like he's goin' to be able to escape from those binds." Valaad added, also laughing.
Odd was alone in the room, "I have to get out of here, but bound to this chair…I don't know how that's going to be possible, wait this chairs back support feels a bit rugged…maybe if I can position my binds over it I can use it as a knife and cut through."
The whole process took Odd ten minutes, but when he felt his hands break free he gave a sigh of relief.
LYOKO-MOUNTAIN REGION…
Ulrick and Yumi followed the coordinates Roderick had given to them, and there they were, Warlock and Phantomae. They both looked as if they were happy to see them, "Okay you two…what do you want?" Ulrick demanded to know.
"What, you actually sound like we've done something wrong…won't your little friend be interested to hear about this when we return." Warlock announced.
"Okay then, where's Odd? What did you do to him?" Yumi asked, sounding rather aggressive.
"He's alright for now…but his future well being is on your shoulders. All you have to do is comply with our demands and that's that." Warlock told them.
"And your demands are?" Ulrick asked.
"One is that you remove yourselves from Lyoko at once, the other is that you leave the factory and forget what you found and saw there and return to your former lives…that demand is from Devian himself." Phantomae told them.
Ulrick drew his sword, Phantomae grasped the hilt of his saber in response. "And what makes you think we'll comply with these demands?" Ulrick asked.
"The simple fact that we have your friend, and if you refuse…it is most likely he'll have a very unhappy childhood." Warlock answered, Phantomae made a 'slash throat' gesture.
"Give us a day or two to reach our decision." Ulrick said. Warlock shook his head and said, "Devian gives you 10 minutes…no more, no less. Talk to your friend Jeremy, or even Roderick if you need some help deciding."
"Guys…the consequences are to heavy if you refuse, I'm sorry…but it looks like you'll have to comply." Roderick told them.
BACK AT LEGION H.Q…
Valaad walked back into the room, Odd was still in the chair. "You want to know something Nightmare?" Odd asked. Valaad nodded as he removed the blindfold, "If I could get free of this chair, I'm going to take those brass knuckles you used on me earlier, wait until your back is turned…then knock you out with them and escape this room…sounds like a plan, huh?" Odd told him.
Valaad chuckled, "Well, as long as you're bound to that chair I doubt that plan will pan out very well." Both him and Odd laughed about it.
"Funny thing you should mention that, because while you were gone I was able to cut through my binds." Odd told him, lightly laughing.
Valaad turned around just as Odd hit him with the brass knuckles, Valaad collapsed to the floor cold. Odd closed and locked the door behind him.
About three minutes later Seraph passed the door and heard Nightmare banging against it yelling: "INFORM DEVIAN THE PRISONER ESCAPED…SOMEBODY PLEASE INFORM HIM IMMEDIATLEY!"
Sabrina took off to find her brother.
BACK IN LYOKO…
"Roderick we can't…how do we know they won't kill him if we comply?" Yumi asked. "We don't…but that's the tough part, but we can't refuse and take that chance…we have to comply……for Odd's sake." Roderick answered.
"So have you come to a decision?" Warlock asked.
"Yeah…we've decided—." Ulrick started to say, but Warlock cut him off and said, "Sorry…there's an incoming message from Seraph, I don't want to miss what you say." Warlock said, "Yes…uh-huh……WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE GOT AWAY?!" Warlock blurted out. "Yeah, well I'd suggest finding him before he regroups with his frien—OH WHAT IS IT PHANTOMAE!?!" Warlock snapped, Phantomae was tapping him on the shoulder. "Uh, Warlock?" Phantomae uttered in a worried tone. Warlock turned his attention back to the kids, who didn't look too happy about having their leg pulled.
"Uh…I suppose we'll deal with this another day, until then." Said an embarrassed looking Warlock, with that him and Phantomae vanished.
"Jeremy, Roderick…Odd escaped." Ulrick told them.
BACK AT LEGION H.Q…
Odd was still slinking around, trying his hardest to avoid detection…at one point he hid himself in another room when he heard someone come jogging down the hallway, he saw a computer desk…the computer was still on, he jiggled the mouse to bring it out of sleep mode. On the screen was a map of Lyoko, mapping all four regions. But as Odd rotated the map he found something strange about it, there seemed to be a land mass floating directly above it…almost like an island in the sky. Odd didn't hesitate to download it onto a CD, this would probably be a big aid in discovering LEGION's plans for Lyoko.
When it was finished, Odd heard the doorknob turn. He quickly hid so he wouldn't be seen, "Well, find that kid Valaad…you know almost every hiding spot in this place, you lost him…you'll help find him!" said a voice, Odd thought it sounded familiar…but he couldn't recall. "Right where I left you…be a big problem if any saw this." The voice said, Odd heard the humming of the disc drive opening. "Hmm, not where I left you. Ah well, as long as you're still here…no big problem I guess."
Odd didn't move he had to wait for whoever this was to leave…or he was toast.