Well, this is something. It is the fourth chapter already. It seems like I started only yesterday. Things are gonna be getting good very soon, I can promise you that much. Chapter Four it is.

November 8. Paris, France

GHOSTS OF BERMUDA

The sun was just rising over the horizon, casting long shadows on the various buildings and houses, as well as on the Eiffel Tower, to which the CIA safehouse had a good view of. Scooter Colenso was watching the traffic speed by as he thought of the briefing he had received upon his arrival just a week ago. How a bunch of kids were being heroes.

His cell started to vibrate. He kept it on that setting, he didn't like the sound. He answered.

"Scooter here. Who is this?"

A familiar voice spoke on the other end. "It's T-Bone. What are you doing right now?"

"Nothing really, why?" He looked at his wristwatch. The luminescent hands read 6:14. You know its dawn right now over here. The hell's this about?"

"Do you have the news on? CNN I mean?" Scooter could somehow tell she was serious.

"Not right now. Again, what's this about?"

Scooter found the remote and turned the TV on. He cycled through the satellite program guide to the appropriate channel. It took a moment to figure out what he was seeing. A reporter in rain gear was shouting into a mike, despite this she could still be barely heard over the storm. The cameraman had zoomed in on a ship that was pretty close to the one she was on. All he could tell was that the vessel the cameraman was focused on was some kind of old freighter, a collier maybe. The camera then zoomed back out to view the reporter standing off to the side. She was still yelling above the storm, still impossible to make out what she was saying. He then realized what kind of ship she was on. An American Navy cruiser.

"Okay T-Bone, enough with the riddles. What is this-", Rocky was cut off as he saw what was happening.

The cameraman had zoomed back in on the vessel, but was now looking at the very bow of the ship, where the identification was, the rain lifted just enough to let them get a good view of the lettering. The wording he saw made him drop the phone:

U.S.S. CYCLOPS

PHILADELPHIA

"Shocking, isn't it?" Said the voice on the phone, now on the floor.

Rocky stared slack-jawed at what he was seeing. From what he knew about naval history, the U.S.S. Cyclops had vanished in the Bermuda Triangle way back in 1918 during World War I, with 309 souls aboard. Without a trace. He scrambled to pick up the cell phone.

"What the hell is this, some kind of joke?" asked Scooter.

"CNN never jokes about stuff, especially this, and there's more. There have been some other sightings of missing vessels. The Anglo Australian, El Caribe, and the Poet, among others all have supposedly been sighted. There's a frigate out there looking for the Australian and there's another out searching for the Poet. They are still trying to find the others."

"Is that it?"

"There's word of disappearances as well. The luxury liners Atlantic Paradise and Caribbean Royal have gone silent, as well as several oil tankers and myriad other vessels. Those haven't been revealed to the public yet, and what were seeing shouldn't have had either. Those reporters were in the right place at the right time. They're embedded on board the guided missile cruiser U.S.S. Gettysburg out there with the other ships at Ground Zero of Air Force One. Things are getting unstable here in Washington too."

"When are you coming back, by the way? We're starting to miss you here in France."

"We'll be there in a week," Replied T-Bone. "There are still a few politicians we need to talk to first."

"What do you mean by 'we'?" asked Rocky, curiously.

"There are a couple of guys that are coming to help out, as well as an old friend I'd like you to meet."

"Friends huh? I look forward to meeting them. Until then, I'll see you." He then hung up, just as Rocky, his long-time friend and war buddy, stumbled into the living room, still half-asleep.

"Hey Scooter, watcha doin'?"

"Just watching the tube. Sit down, I think you'll find it interesting."

It had been a long few days for the gang.

There was no way of knowing if what was happening was the work of Xana. The sudden death of the American President, this ghost ship appearing out of thin air, cruise ships vanishing, he couldn't help but wonder, though his thoughts kept being interrupted by the rumblings of his stomach. He figured that he would go to breakfast.

The search program he had designed was the closest thing he could come up with to a method to tracking the movement of their nemesis. He left it running overnight to calibrate it. He was startled to find he had gotten an e-mail in the night, sent to his private account. The contents were even more bizarre, and made him cautious.

The e-mail contained a single short message:

Jeremy,

I could be your best friend or your worst enemy. You'll make that decision when we meet. You and your friends are in over your heads, and I may be able to help. I will find you when I need you.

TF

The e-mail scared Jeremy. Someone had finally found out about them. But who? This 'TF', who could it be? He would have to tell the others, they needed to see this.

In the hallway, he ran into Ulrich, literally. He had been walking from the bathroom looking at his hands, strangely, and wasn't looking where he was going.

Hey Ulrich, watch it!" Jeremy said as he fell to the fell to the floor.

"Huh? Oh sorry Einstein," He helped his friend up.

"Jeremy brushed himself off. "Maybe you could watch where you're going next time?

"Have you seen Odd?", Asked Ulrich.

"He's probably in the cafeteria. Where else could he be?" Then, to Ulrich's surprise, his friend's face took on a look of worry.

"There's something I need to talk to you about, but I'm not gonna say anything until everyone's together."

"It's that important, huh?"

"I believe it is," Jeremy replied solemnly.

When they got to the cafeteria, Odd was already there in their usual spot, eating voraciously as usual. They were surprised to find Aelita and Yumi weren't there yet, they were usually first. The blonde-haired boy saw Jeremy and Ulrich coming, and waved them over.

Ulrich looked around. Usually the girls were here before them.

"Odd, have you seen the girls?", he asked.

"They haven't gotten here yet, I guess," he said between mouthfuls. ":Maybe they'll be here any second."

Almost as if on cue, the two girls walked into the cafeteria, worry on their faces.

"We need to talk," They said at the same time.

"What's wrong?", Asked Jeremy, worried even more.

"Something happened to me last night, I saw someone, or something, I'm not sure." Aelita was holding her head, as if trying to remember the details. All she could remember was a jumble; someone named 'X', two spires, a message.

"Xana," Jeremy and Ulrich glanced at each other nervously.

"No, not Xana, I don't know, but it wasn't him. It was someone else." She shook her head, holding it.

"Did he hurt you?", Asked a worried Jeremy.

"No, but he showed me something, of Lyoko.

"There's something else," Jeremy said. "Sometime during the night I-"

"Well if it isn't Ulrich and his friends," said an annoying voice from behind them. The group turned around to see a smug-looking Sissy approaching them.

"Hello Sissy, as ugly as ever I see." Ulrich remarked.

The girl looked shocked, her face turning red, not expecting this remark so quickly.

"And your face has turned this lovely color of red. I bet if you stood right under of an apple tree, you'd blend right in." Yumi said, almost uncharacteristically.

Odd exploded with laughter, bits of food spraying out over the tray and table.

If Sissy wasn't already apple red, she was now.

"Well I was going to ask if you would come to the dance with me, but I think I've changed my mind!" At that, she stormed off to find her own gang.

"Maybe we shouldn't go so hard on her that was sort of a cheap shot." Odd was surprisingly taking pity on her.

"Jeremy, what were you going to say earlier?" Yumi turned to the bespectacled kid.

He looked around himself at his friends. "I think someone knows." He said at last.

"I know," Aelita said. "That person, whoever he was, said we would find something important on Lyoko."

Jeremy glanced at his watch. "Class begins soon. We should talk more again about this after school."