The next day
The gang had trouble staying awake in their classes the next day. They were tired due to the lateness of the hour they returned and that they received no sleep due to their excitement that had all but faded away by morning. Jordan looked the most peakish; his skin had turned a freakish white. Even Verdana, who was in the best shape of them all, suffered some ill effects. As she sat through her history class, she began to drift off. The teacher droned on and the words seemed to form one long one. "…and in 1645 thewahwahwahwahwahwhah…" Realizing the teacher wasn't facing her direction, she looked over at Jordan with a worried expression on her face. He looked quite ill. Verdana leaned over to whisper encouraging words, but as she did, her nose began to tickle. That meant that there was something here that shouldn't be. Like always, she was very perceptive. An instant later her phone buzzed, the dragon wound around the yin-yang sign on the cover moving like it was alive. Sure enough, the X.A.N.A. symbol was there. All of this took less than a second and she watched as Jordan jumped as his phone buzzed. Using Jordan's sickly pallor to her advantage, she raised her hand. "Excuse me, but Jordan isn't feeling well and I was wondering if I could help him to the nurse's office." Jordan added a sickly groan right on cue. The teacher turned, nodded and resumed his lecture. Verdana helped him out of his seat and out through the door. Once outside they broke into a run, only slowing when a teacher passed them in the hallway, resuming their pose of helping the sickly one. Eventually, having been stopped over twenty times, they made it to the factory. Amazingly, they were the first to arrive. "Mrs. Hertz wouldn't let us out of science class", Odd reported as he and Ulrich arrived. "Where's Jeremy", asked Jordan, who was quite anxious to be in lyoko. "He had to get something from his room, but he should be here by now." They waited in silence until the sound of the elevator let them know of someone's approach. They held their breath but relaxed once they realized it was only Yumi and Aelita. As they waited once again, the minutes ticked by antagonizingly slow. There was still no sign of Jeremy, or X.A.N.A. for that matter. Verdana grew impatient and began to pace around the room. "This is taking too long. Jeremy isn't going to be here anytime soon. Jordan, go down to the scanners, I'm sending all of you into lyoko. It'll be safer and we can finish this thing." Obeying without question, they headed down. "There are only three scanners, so I want Jordan, Yumi and Ulrich to go first. Once they're in, Aelita and Odd, that way those who need protection receive it." They understood that it wasn't meant to be an insult, only the basic facts. "Verdana, are you sure you know how to work this thing?" asked Odd uncertainly as he waited in line. "Of course! Who's the program here, anyway?" "I'm sorry, I always forget. You just are too human." Verdana smiled and turned away as she started up the virtualization process.
In Lyoko
"Hey, you all there?" Verdana asked nervously as she glanced at the screen. "We're all here and in perfect shape. By the way, do you think you could upload some more weapons for us?" Odd had just noticed some crabs and blocks heading their way. "Okay, you all have another additional set of weapons, and those of you with only one type, I added power. Do you want me to try and find Jeremy?" "Of course, the sooner the better." Aelita responded. Everyone was jittery, but it was worse without their main warrior in Lyoko and their controller at the console. Verdana left the others to take care of the crabs and blocks, as she hacked into the camera system at the school. No sign of anything out of the ordinary, but no sign of Jeremy either. She called his cell phone.
Back at Kadic
Jeremy's phone lay on the bed. The room was empty. Suddenly the phone vibrated, nearly falling off. Out of the shadows, a large black hand came down and obliterated the phone.