Chapter 8 Time to go

"What's started? And how did you get in here?" asked Yumi. Hope glanced behind her.
"No time to explain—we have to get out of here NOW!" she shouted. She went to Odd, grabbed his arm, and ran out the door.
"If you value your life, COME ON!" yelled Hope as they ran out the door. In the kitchen, Hope quickly poured Aelita a glass of water, and dashed towards the front door as soon as the last drop was gone. Everything was happening at the speed of light. Once outside, Hope revealed a key, stuck it in the keyhole of the door of the family car, and flung open the door. She ushered the others inside and slammed the door closed.
"Where are we going? What about my parents and my grandmother?" Yumi was starting to get very, very worried, and it was obvious. Ulrich grabbed her hand.
"Don't worry about them. Right now, they should be on an airplane to New York City," Hope explained, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway.
"New York! As in, like, the United States? What is going on!" shouted the Japanese girl. Odd was looking very impressed, though, in the passenger's seat next to the ex-EMPIRE counter-intelligence agent.
"You can drive? But… you're not eighteen! …Are you? Aww man, I thought—er, I mean…" he stuttered nervously. Hope glanced at him.
"Actually, no, I'm not. See, when you're an EMPIRE agent, you get… certain perks," she said. She began rummaging through her pack, and the car swerved. Hope regained control, and turned back to him, showing off a driver's license that resembled her, only a bit older.
"But… that doesn't look like you," commented Odd, blinking. Hope smiled, and pressed a button on her belt. Her entire figure changed, suddenly, in one second, a wave of green light sweeping upward and downward from the center of her body. An older version of Hope sat in the seat next to Odd.
"Holographic cloaking. Pretty cool, huh?" she said, turning back to the road. She transformed again, changed streets, and started going back the way they came.
"Um… what are you doing?" asked Aelita.
"Trying to confuse them. This way, they can't follow the car's exhaust signature."
"Who is 'them'? And could you please explain to us why we had to suddenly leave our house at 11:30 at night and Yumi's parents are on their way to America?"
"Well, I guess I should now. You see, I guess my false records of you guys being transferred to the Southern Paris prison camp weren't that good, because they kind of found out that you weren't thee when they went to…" she broke off there for a moment.
" I wasn't suspected, of course. They sent troops out to the school and to your houses. Except for Odd's, it being in New Zealand and they never quite found out where they were from. So I had to beat them to it, and provide your families with fake passports and plane tickets. Before they got there."
"I see. That's why my parents were gone. But how did they get to the airport since we're in our car?" asked Yumi.
"This isn't your car. Cloaking, remember?" The car shifted into a blue SUV. Hope looked down at her watch. "Yeah, the troops should be arriving in five… four… three… two…" A loud BOOM sounded, and the ground shook. Yumi looked in horror out the back window as her house went up in flames, debris flying everywhere.
"Oh, my God…" said Jeremie, eyes wide.
"You still didn't explain what started and who 'they' are," reminded Ulrich, consoling a crying Yumi.
"Ah, yes. That. Well, when Doctor Gibson found out about you guys 'escaping' from the holding base, he got pretty steamed. So he decided to take over this sector of France. 'First Boulogne-Billancourt, and then, the world!' He makes me sick. And 'they' are the new monsters Gibson whipped up," Hope said. Odd was staring out his window.
"You mean like those really big scary things that are right behind us?" Hope twisted her head around and gasped. There were incredibly huge metal machines that looked sort of like ticked off wolves with glowing red E's on them. They leaped over the car and landed in front of them. The ground shook from the sudden impact of their tremendous weight. Hope slammed on the brakes and the car swiveled around to a stop.
"Um… good… doggies?" she said meekly. They opened their mouths and a laser beam charged within them.
"Floor it!" Ulrich shouted. Hope obeyed and the car began to move again. Only… it was headed in the wrong direction.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" exclaimed Odd, looking at Hope with an exasperated expression.
"Just trust me." The boy slowly nodded and then looked forward again. They sped forward towards the monsters and passed under the one that was closest. Hope took something out of her pack, unbuckled her seat belt and opened the sunroof.
"Odd, take the wheel!" she commanded. He hesitated.
"But.. I don't know how to—"
"Just pretend it's like a video game at the arcade!" Ulrich shouted from the back. Odd and Hope maneuvered so that she was in the passenger seat and he was at the wheel. They shifted so that the car still had its momentum for the split second no one was pressing the gas pedal. Odd nervously grabbed onto the wheel and held on, shaking. Hope stood up and the object she had removed from her pack expanded in her hand into a round ball. (It's NOT a pokeball if that's what you're thinking )
"Here, doggie!" Hope taunted. "Fetch!"
She threw the ball at the wolf-machine and it exploded when it made contact. One monster was out of commission.

The door to the ex-lab of Jeremie and his friends opened up and an EMPIRE official walked in and saluted.
"Sir!" he said. Dr. Gibson turned around in his chair and stood up.
"At ease. What is it, Patterson?" asked Dr. Gibson, walking over to the holographic projector which now showed one map of Lyoko and another map of France, with little connections and data flowing back and forth between them.
"I'm reporting the results of the recent mission," he said, walking over to him. Gibson eyed him suspiciously.
"You're not authorized to report to me. You're just a guard." Patterson sort of held his chin up in pride.
"I've been promoted to an executive, sir," he replied, positively beaming.
"Ah. Congratulations. Now, report. I am a very busy man, as you know," Gibson turned back to the holographic projections, took out a stylus, and began working with them.
"Well, sir, the mission was mostly a success. There are no signs of life at the destroyed Ishiyama, Belpois, and Stern residences. The troops await your order to proceed and seize the city."
Dr. Gibson once again turned back around.
"What do you mean, 'mostly a success'?" he asked sternly. Patterson sort of stepped back.
"W-well, um, sir... We could not find the Della Robbia family…" Dr. Gibson became enraged and slammed his fist into the wall.
"THEY GO TO A BOARDING SCHOOL! They may not BE in the city! All you have to do is check the goddamn RECORDS!"
"That's the thing, sir. The school records of the children have vanished from both Kadic and our databases. And a search for any Della Robbias in France showed no results."
"WHAT? That's not possible!" Gibson marched back to the super calculator.
"I'm sorry, sir, but it's true."
"No matter. I have the original copies on my system." the twisted doctor began to type on the keyboard.
"This… this can't be! They're gone! I had them all password-protected. I should be the only one who has access to them!"
"And there's one more thing, sir. The children… they've disappeared."