Sorry this took so long, but it should be worth reading. There will not be much Danny/Rogue or Kurt/Dawn, but we do get something else which should make some people a little happy. Anyway, I do not own anything in this story.

"Can I count on you to help?" Maurice asks Rachel as they walk down the hallway in the Xavier Institute.

Rachel sighs, "Maurice, I would love to help, but isn't this supposed to be something Aelita needs to be a part of?"

Maurice scratches the back of his neck with his right hand and frowns, "Yeah, but Fury doesn't want her involved with this since it is personal for her."

Rachel chuckles softly, "I've forgotten that, and I used to be in charge of the KND." She runs her hands through her hair and nods, "Ok, I'll do it, but we'll bring David with us, so he can get the feel of what it's like back on the field."

Maurice smiles and gives her a mock salute. "You're the boss." He returns to his serious mood and puts his hands in his pockets. "I'll meet with you and David tomorrow morning for the mission. Fury will be allowing us to take one of jets from the Helicarrier, but he said that we'll be needing someone eligible to fly us there."

"Great, that's what we just need, a babysitter." Rachel mutters distastefully.

"Makes me wish we had an actual license." Maurice sighs and shrugs his shoulders. "Oh well, can't have everything like we did back in the KND."

"Too bad Jason can't allow us to use one of the TND jets, but I guess it makes sense for TND not to have any since they are a secret organization."

"Trust me. It would be nice, but I was supposed to be an undercover teen trying to figure out what Cree is up to since she is one of the main leaders. Undercover teens couldn't use the two by four technology the KND used, and it seemed pointless for us to even have that kind of stuff if we infiltrated the Teen Ninjas."

"Why are you doing this instead of figuring out what Cree is doing?" Rachel asks raising an eyebrow feeling a little confused as to why he was here instead.

"My family moved to a new place, and Cree found out. She decided that it would be better if I wasn't involved anymore, and Jason wasn't thrilled with the sudden change, but our incident with Shield came up a few weeks later, and you know the rest from there." Maurice explains with his neck lowered with a big frown on his face.

"I guess Fury timed it, but what do your parents do anyway?"

Maurice stands straight up in surprise when he realizes that he never asked them about their job. He blinks a couple times and stops walking coming to a full realization. "You don't think…"

Rachel stops and turns around to look at Maurice with a neutral expression. "Honestly, I don't think Fury would mess with people on that big of a scale. You did say that he wanted the whole TND to work for Shield, but you compromised by having him take only you and leave the others out of it."

Maurice rubs his chin in thought. 'She's right. He did want the whole team, but most of them deserve to live normal lives and not endangering their lives all the time. Granted some of them could work behind the desk and that stuff, but that doesn't matter.' He removes his hand and shrugs, "True, but he did make it sound like he was racing to grab potential."

Rachel scoffs, "Everyone has that. Danny and Aelita are two of the most powerful mutants here along with Jean, Scott, and Bobby. Jimmy is incredibly intelligent, and Stacy is a walking flood."

Maurice shivers at the idea of a flood. "Don't try to make it sound so dangerous."

Rachel rolls her eyes. "My point is that all of the mutants have major potential just like normal people do. You have gone from an undercover teen to an international undercover teen. You were never seen on the footage when Hydra attacked…"

"Yeah, I think Shield had something to do with that."

"…You still keep tabs with the Teen Ninjas…"

"Actually, Cree rarely talks about them anymore."

"…And Fury has you travel the world."

"This would be the third time that I'm doing this."

Rachel face-palms as Maurice counters everything she was trying to prove. She lowers her hand and sighs, "Maurice, you were one of the best in KND, and everyone was sad to see you leave. Now, you're becoming something more on what we stood for. Are you really trying to make it seem like you don't care?"

Maurice smiles sheepishly and shrugs getting the blonde to sigh in defeat. "Sorry, but credit is due where credit is earned. Now that my main mission from the KND is over, I don't have the same drive I used to have back then. Being a hero, I doubt I'm cut out for the job, but it doesn't mean that there are people out there who want to ruin people's lives. We were raised to fight for what we believed in as kids, and now you and I are going into something much bigger than some squabble between teens and kids."

Rachel rubs her scalp and nods agreeing what Maurice was talking about. "Yeah, the invasion…Nigel…" She lowers her head when the emotional pain, of finding out the guy that she had a crush on while she was the leader of the KND was coming back to invade their planet, came back. 'Why are you doing this? You're a mutant…like me.'

Maurice lowers his head allowing his bangs to cover his eyes as the sadness shows up on them. 'Number 1, what did those aliens do to you? How could they convince you to do this?'

"Hey guys, how's it going?" Scott asks as he walks up to the two former KND operatives. He stops when he sees their down expressions and frowns not liking the feeling coming off of them. "Ok, what's got you guys down this time?"

Maurice looks back up at Scott and mutters, "The invasion…"

Scott sighs and runs his right hand through his hair. "Right, kind of forgot about that bit of information. Anything new?"

Maurice shakes his head. "No, but you might be able to help us with something."

"And what could that be?" Scott asks feeling a little curious on what he could do to help.

Kurt Wagner walks out of his hotel room with an unbuttoned casual blue and yellow shirt, allowing his chest to be on full view, and black shorts with black sandals. He turns around and says, "I'm telling you dude. Dawn wants us to travel together going around da beach. She zinks somezing will happen if we do."

"And I'm telling you that I'm doing whatever Rogue wants to do today." Danny says as he walks out of the room with a sleeveless red shirt with blue and green swirls on the front and back and black shorts with neon green lining with black sandals.

"Zat's besides da point. Ven has Dawn ever neem wrong about her feeling with her aura?" Kurt asks his best friend as Danny shuts the door.

Danny sighs and slides the key card into his pocket. "I'm not having this argument Kurt. I took Rogue out to where I believed what could have been fun, and today she gets to choose. If she decides to do what Dawn believes is true, then we will do it, but I can't promise anything because I made the promise for Rogue."

Kurt stares at Danny then frowns, "Zat bad huh?"

Danny looks away and mutters, "She didn't enjoy it like I thought she would." Kurt winces knowing that Danny's relationship with Rogue was getting rocky every day. "But our relationship has rekindled to the point where we are understanding our situation with our lives."

"Does zat mean she accepts you being a hero?" Kurt asks still feeling confused about Danny's relationship situation.

"Honestly, I haven't got a clue." Danny admits. "I feel like she accepts it, but I'm not sure if she actually does accept it. You get what I mean?"

"No, I can't say zat I do." Kurt admits with no hesitation.

Danny decides to let the topic drop there and says, "Oh well, guess we'll find out later anyway." The two mutants stop outside the girls' hotel room, and Danny knocks on the door. "You girls ready to go hangout?"

Dawn opens the door with her usual calm look and says, "We're ready, and Rogue is ready for the romantic dinner you have planned tonight for you two as well."

"Romantic dinner? I didn't…"

Kurt's eyes widen, and his hand covers Danny's mouth before Danny could deny that he made dinner plans for the two of them. "Sorry about zat, what he meant was…oof!" Kurt was blasted away from Danny from an ecto-ray hitting him right in the stomach catching Dawn and Kurt by surprise.

"As I was saying. I didn't make any dinner plans." Danny says crossing his arms over his chest.

"Told yah." Rogue says as she walks up next to Dawn getting the blonde to sigh in defeat. "Guess that means we can't come then."

Danny raises an eyebrow at his girlfriend and asks, "Did she try to convince you to go with her and Kurt to see something on the beach?"

"That obvious?" Rogue asks rhetorically giving her boyfriend a grin. "Besides, Ah actually want to explore the town with Danny."

Kurt groans and gets back on his feet muttering, "Did you have to do a full blast?"

Danny glances back at Kurt and asks, "Would you and Dawn keep pestering us if I increased the power?"

Kurt smiles nervously and waves his hands back and forth declining the idea of Danny's question. "No, I would love to still be around for Dawn."

Danny smirks, "Sorry Kurt, but you did ask for that to happen. Anyway, you guys got what you want to do, and Rogue and I have plans." He turns his head to Rogue and asks, "You ready to go?"

"As ready as Ah'll ever be." Rogue says giving Danny a grateful smile.

"We'll see you guys later." Danny and Rogue leave Kurt and Dawn behind at the hotel and head off to do the activities Rogue has planned for them to do.

Kurt watches the pair with a raised eyebrow and mutters, "You guys have fun zen."

Dawn grabs Kurt's hand getting him to look at her. "I know you were hoping all of us were going to hang out, but we can still hang out as a couple."

"Are you talking about us figuring out vat is going here or somezing else?" 'Please let it be somezing else.' Kurt begs in his mind hoping Dawn was willing to change her mind.

"Both, I know you are just as reluctant to go with me Kurt, but something is going on here, and I feel like I need to know." Dawn admits putting her free hand on her heart. "Can you do this for me?"

Kurt leans forward and kisses his girlfriend's forehead. "For you, I will do anyding if it means I got your trust back."

'You already are.' She thinks with a smile gracing her lips.

"I cannot believe Tony went out again." Jan complains as she follows Aelita into Tony Stark's building.

"He's been busy going after people stealing his technology and using it for their own gain." Aelita points out as they walk down the hall.

"I get that, but I fail to see the whole reason to go alone."

Aelita shrugs and opens the door to the lab beneath the building. "That might be true, but Stark usually worked alone until Hydra attacked my school back in France."

"Ok, you got me there." Jan follows Aelita into the lab up to the fake wall and raises an eyebrow. "Wait, when did this become an actual wall?"

"Believe it or not, Tony finished it up yesterday, but the supercomputer had to be moved entirely." Aelita brings up a holo-screen and makes the wall open to reveal a hidden elevator getting Jan to blink in surprise. "I talked with Tony about moving the supercomputer to get Hydra off the trail again."

Jan smirks, "Neat." She enters the elevator with Aelita and watches Aelita press a couple buttons getting the elevator doors to shut and the elevator to move. Jan jerks forward by the sudden movement and asks, "Uh, are we going up or down?"

"Neither, we're moving to a different part of New York."

Jan raises an eyebrow at Aelita's cryptic message and asks, "Ok, why did you move then?"

Aelita sighs, "After Hydra attacked, I was worried they would do it again. So, I decided to move the supercomputer to a more secure spot or in my case a preferred spot."

"I'm afraid to ask where it is." Jan mutters turning her eyes to the elevator doors.

"You can relax Jan. The location is pretty simple, but I rather keep it on the down low before I tell the others."

Jan looks back at Aelita and asks, "Why am I here then?"

Aelita moves her hand under her chin and puts her chin on the backside of her hand. "Truthfully, Danny is out of town, and the drama I'm going through with my parents and friends is starting to get to me."

"Do you mean the whole scenario when we fought Hydra and saved your mother?"

Aelita sighs, "Sadly yes. My mom and I just recently talked about her wanting us to move, and she wants to hide taking me with her."

"Why does she want to do that?"

"To protect me." Aelita mutters sadly.

Jan looks at Aelita worryingly and asks, "What did you do?"

"I did what any normal teen could. I tried to talk her out of it, but she doesn't want us to stay here." Aelita feels the elevator jerk and looks at the elevator doors. "We're here."

Jan turns her attention to the elevator doors and watches as they open revealing a small room with the supercomputer and the scanner. She walks into the room and takes notice the tight space the room gives and asks, "Where exactly are we?"

Aelita walks up to the supercomputer and says, "We are underneath an abandoned warehouse that Stark used to fill with weapons, and those are his words not mine."

Jan walks up to the supercomputer as Aelita sits down on the chair. "Ok, any reason why we are here?"

Aelita starts typing on the supercomputer getting it to bring up the five sectors, the Skid, and the progress of finding the particles of her father. "When Jeremy sacrificed himself to stop Hydra and their virtual world, I was too caught up at the time to figure out if they had any backup plans just incase Tyron failed. I was able to find out that they did back it up on a hard drive, but they made sure it was untraceable."

Jan puts her right arm on the chair and looks at the screen as Aelita brought up a video feed of the wreckage. "I'm surprised Shield hasn't cleaned that place up."

"They would, but the area is a small part that would cause ruckus if people were to find out what happened."

"What do you mean?"

"It's too close to civilization."

"Oh, that actually makes more sense than it should."

Aelita does a single nod from her head and continues her explanation. "Anyway, I planned on trying to see if they left any traces that could lead me to find out what Hydra really wants with Lyoko."

"You mean besides the obvious."

"Yes, and Jeremy and I were the only two people with that knowledge on how it all worked since they decided to kill everybody that my father worked with."

"Why did Tyron survive then?"

"My only guess would be that he was close to my father or already working for Hydra when the project started." Aelita concludes not liking how the situation was turning out.

"What do you need me here for then?"

Aelita shrugs, "Honestly, you said something about changing your avatar's weapon design, and I thought it would be nice to be doing something while I have to wait for the scans to be finished."

Jan hears Aelita type on the keyboard and sees her avatar pop up on the screen getting Jan to look it over carefully. She pulls her phone out and stops when Aelita brings up an image of Jan in her wasp suit in real life. "Ok, why does the supercomputer have that?" Jan asks making a weird face while pointing at her human image on the screen.

"I uploaded it from your phone just now." Aelita answers without a second thought. "You can go ahead and look it over. I'm going to set the scan up and see if they left any useful behind."

Jan glances down at Aelita and sighs deciding not to argue with the teen. She puts her phone away in her pocket and looks back at her wasp costume and her Lyoko avatar. 'Hm, maybe the clothing could go through a better pattern. My stingers should look more like they do when I'm using it in real life.' "Do you have a pencil and paper?"

"Not in here, but you should be able to take elevator back to get what you need." Aelita answers without questioning Jan.

"I'll be back then." Jan walks over to the elevator and stops when she doesn't see the doors nor the buttons to open them. "How do you open the elevator?"

Aelita stops typing and looks over at Jan with a nervous smile. "Right…um…"

Jan blinks a couple times and asks, "There is a button, right?"

Aelita looks away with her nervous smile and runs her right hand through her hair. "I… might have made Lyoko… only accessible to my powers."

"Are you serious?" Jan asks giving Aelita a dead stare.

Aelita laughs nervously and rubs the back of her neck. "I am."

Jan pinches her nose with her index finer and thumb sighing at Aelita making a move like that. "Why did you decide that?"

Aelita sighs, "I might have been…" She starts typing again and lowers her head in defeat. "I was being overcautious."

Jan gives Aelita a worried look and notices the look in Aelita's visible eye. She sees the pain that Aelita was trying to hide and sighs, "You threw caution to the wind when Tony decided to bring Lyoko back."

"I did the exact opposite Jan."

"Wait what? Tony said that you allowed him to build the machine but not Lyoko."

"I did, but he decided to change the scanner my father made into something that could have caused trouble if I didn't give him the proper codes to make it work." Aelita brings up the schematics of the scanner on the big screen covering the bottom of Jan's virtual and human avatars. "I can understand why he did some of it, but a group scanner would have overloaded the system if it was my father's old programming."

"Wait, you got the supercomputer upgraded?" Jan asks raising an eyebrow.

"Just the basic stuff. Most of it is still the same as before, but the power source and the scanner are the two major changes." Aelita brings up one of her holo-screens and opens the elevator doors for Jan. "There you go. You go ahead and get what you need. I'll get everything set up for the scan."

Jan turns to the elevator and walks into the elevator shaft saying, "This talk isn't over Aelita."

The door shuts, and Aelita hears the elevator head back to Stark Industry and sighs in defeat. 'The only reason this began because Tony couldn't keep his interest away from Lyoko, but it's because of him that I got mom back. I guess there are a few good things that came from this.' She types a couple commands into the supercomputer and looks at the screen of her father's particle trying to reconnect to rebuild his body. She sees the 15% next to the body and sighs, "I wish there was an easier way to handle this."

She types in some command codes bringing up a live satellite image of the wreckage and mutters, "I'm glad Tony has a private satellite he lets me 'borrow.'" She zooms in on the wreckage and was about to bring up the special scan when three familiar figures show up on the scene. "Wait…" Aelita moves the camera in on the three and widens her eyes in surprise. "What is Rachel, Maurice, and David doing at the wreckage? None of them have a license to drive a jet. Who did they get to drive them?"

"I can't believe you convinced Scott to fly us out here." David says as they walk up to the wreckage with David walking behind Rachel and Maurice. "What are we even doing here anyway?"

"A few weeks ago, an agency called Hydra was building a weapon that would allow them to be able to hack anything in the world." Maurice starts explaining giving Rachel a knowing look getting her to nod. "We got word of it and tried to stop them from completing the device. We succeeded, but we lost an important ally." Maurice sighs, "His name was Jeremy, and… he was Aelita's boyfriend."

David's eyes widen in surprise. "How did he…?"

Rachel sighs, "To understand why he passed away, there is one thing you need to know. Jeremy was one of their prime targets to help them complete the weapon, and Jeremy refused to do it. When we decided to save his life, he made the decision to save everyone by destroying the weapon himself. His decision cost him his life, but it was because of this that he found Aelita's mom."

"That makes sense now." David mutters referring to Aelita's mom being at the institute. "What did he do?"

"Hacked their main supercomputer to make it blow up, but he had to be there for it to happen which was the main drawback. Aelita didn't want him to go through with it, but he did it behind her back to make sure she wouldn't stop him." Maurice explains feeling remorse for not being able to help save Jeremy.

"Were you guys there?"

Rachel and Maurice glance at each other then back at the wreckage as they look at it with frowns on their face as memories of the fight came back to them. "Yeah, we were there, but we got stuck fighting and protecting a specific device that Hydra wanted to use for their supercomputer. We had to split the team up to do what we needed to do." Maurice explains.

"Ok, but why couldn't you mention this on the plane?"

Rachel sighs, "If Scott knew what we are doing, he would tell Aelita, and Fury doesn't want her to know." She was unaware of that certain individual listening in on their conversation.

"What would the chances be if she was listening in on our conversation now?"

Rachel waves off David's concern. "You can relax. She's off working on her project and will be busy for most of the day to do anything else." She walks into the wreckage stepping over broken glass as she passes a broken window. "Besides, she probably has scanned this place already and is keeping everything secretive from Fury."

"The good news is that she has no way to get here without one of us knowing about it." Maurice explains giving David an assuring smile. "Everything will be fine David. You got nothing to worry about."

"I wouldn't be to sure about that." Aelita mutters as she pulls out her communicator. She brings up Ladybug's face and activates the communicator hearing a ring on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ladybug, how are you doing?" Aelita asks deciding to start the conversation with a little small talk.

"You guys seriously have the weirdest times to contact someone Angelic Code." Ladybug sighs and gets up off her chair in front of her computer. "What do you need?"

"Look, I know every time one of us calls you or meets with you we end up doing something that involves the lives of others, but this call is more business than heroics." Aelita explains.

Marinette walks onto the balcony that is connected to her room and says, "Why do I find that a little hard to believe?"

"You remember the attack and rescue mission we did a couple months ago?"

"Of course, you guys came here to destroy some computer and were able to find your mom. It's too bad that you lost your…" Marinette trails off not knowing if Angelic Code was okay with her saying anything about Jeremy.

Aelita leans back on her chair and mutters, "Thanks for that reminder."

Marinette winces, "Sorry."

Aelita sighs, "It's fine, but something has just come up, and it has to do with the wreckage."

Marinette narrows her eyebrows curious on what Aelita meant. "I thought that place would have been cleaned up by now."

"It would have been if it wasn't for the fact that Hydra had their eyes on the place since the explosion. They've been keeping things tight, and Fury has direct orders not to have that place cleaned up."

Marinette sits down on her chair and leans down on it saying, "I guess that makes sense, but I still don't see the reason why I have to be there."

'This is the tricky part.' Aelita thinks while intertwining her fingers underneath her head. "Have you met Nick Fury or heard of a group called Shield?"

"I have heard of Shield, but I never met anyone called Nick Fury." Marinette admits recalling to a past event of her meeting Phil Coulson almost a year ago.

"That actually makes this easier." Aelita mutters relieved that she didn't have to explain much about the secret national organization. Aelita takes a deep breath and says, "Nick Fury is the leader of Shield. He makes the calls, the plans, and the orders on what people should do. I don't really have anything against the man, but he has sent a team to the wreckage to find something about Hydra's virtual world called the Cortex."

"Wait, what did you say about a virtual world?" Marinette asks surprised to hear something that would only be mentioned in fiction. "That kind of stuff only exists in books not in real life."

"That's what everyone wants to believe, but I don't have time to explain everything." Aelita looks at the camera on Rachel, Maurice, and David and continues her explanation. "Fury sent the team to find out if there was anything left behind that would be useful, but he told them to make sure I never find out."

"Why would he do that?"

"To understand the reason, I need to explain one thing. My father was part of a team to create a virtual world, and he believed it was for the greater good. He found out it was going to be used to control all types of weapons worldwide." Marinette gasps and raises in her seat in shock. "Yeah, I know. He stole all the equipment related to the virtual world and tried to keep us in hiding. Unfortunately, they found us but not…Lyoko."

"Lyoko?"

"The virtual world…" Aelita sighs, "My mom was caught, and my dad virtualized us into Lyoko and shut the supercomputer down with us in it. It was ten years later when Jeremy came and turned it back on bringing everything back to life. The rest is history."

"Ok, that would explain why Hydra attacked the school and why you and your team came here to destroy their virtual world, but why did you call me and tell me this?" Marinette asks feeling curious why Angelic Code would be doing this.

"This team that he sent is made up of three people I know. One of them is a good friend while the other two are her friends that I've met."

"I can see why you are feeling betrayed."

"Actually, I'm not upset with them doing this. I'm upset with Fury trying to pull this on me." Aelita admits looking over the three teens carefully.

"Why do you say that?"

"Fury likes to keep things unknown to some of us. This is taking things too far. He's upset that I don't tell him anything about Lyoko, and I bet Shield would love to get their hands on anything related to it."

"And you want me to go there to 'help' them while protecting your secret." Marinette summarizes finally getting the true reason why Aelita was telling her this.

"Yes, but I need you and your partner Chat Noir. If I find anything I will send you a small message, so the others don't find it first, and once everything is good, I will tell you and Chat everything about Lyoko."

Marinette's eyes widen in surprise, and she glances at her Kwami who was looking at the device in surprise. "Are you serious?"

"I am." Aelita sighs mentally knowing that her decision might make some bad blood in the future, but she knows that she needs people who can help protect her secret. 'I had no other choice. It's not like Rachel will hide anything from Fury with Maurice and David there. Former Kids Next Door operatives have keen eyes and senses for stuff like that.'

"I am honestly speechless."

"Then think about it later. I need you and Chat to get there immediately, and it's a good chance that they might find something before your arrival."

Marinette nods, "Ok, we'll get there as soon as we can." Marinette hangs up the private call and looks over at Tikki. "Do you think I should be doing this?"

"You have made some pretty big decisions Marinette, but this one hits personal levels for Angelic Code. You made the right choice in doing this." Tikki says getting Marinette to smile at her kwami.

"Thanks, Tikki."

"Don't thank me yet. We still got a group to interfere with, and you got to call Chat Noir too."

Marinette gets off the chair with a serious look in her eyes. "Right, Tikki, spots on!"

Dawn and Kurt walk down the beach holding each other's hand with smiles on their faces. "I still don't know if Danny and Rogue's relationship is getting better." Kurt admits trying to feel sorry for them, but his joy for being with Dawn was overcoming it.

"That's understandable. Their relationship has been on the rocks the past few weeks, and their auras are not as compatible as they used to be." Dawn explains getting Kurt to raise an eyebrow. Dawn giggles at Kurt's confusion and continues, "Danny has been growing to protect people with his powers, and Rogue is under the impression that he likes Aelita."

"Which isn't true, right?"

Dawn nods, "Yes, his relationship with Aelita is pure friendship now. His aura might change at some point, but he's truly dedicated to Rogue even if she thinks differently."

"Meaning his work and her jealousy might be vhat breaks dem up." Kurt finishes getting what Dawn was telling him.

"Yes, and if they get to work around that, they might actually go further in their relationship then before."

Kurt hums in approval with a small nod. 'Let's hope zat it goes zat way den.' He looks around the beach and mutters, "We still haven't found anyding zough."

Dawn sighs, "I know, but we'll find something. I can feel it." The pair walks around the corner and stops when they see a house built into the side of the cliff. "Well, I was not expecting to see that."

They see a flash go off from inside the building, and Kurt teleports them onto the porch right against the wall. He glances inside the building and sees no one except a normal living room, kitchen, upper room, and a crystal-like circle pad on the floor in front of a door with a star on it. "Ok, you vere right."

Dawn turns her head to look through the same window Kurt was looking through and sees the crystal-like circle pad. "What do you think that could be?"

"I don't know, but ve'll get in trouble if ve head inside da house."

"Right, and this will probably be all we find out about this since we're leaving tomorrow morning." Dawn admits feeling upset that they could not find out more about the kid they met yesterday. "I was really hoping to find something about that boy though."

"He said somezing about being half-gem right?"

"Right, and his aura told me that he was telling the truth, but that could mean anything." Dawn admits wanting to figure out what the boy meant when she spoke with him yesterday. "Of course, he did have a gem for a belly button."

"Vhat are you suggesting zen?"

She gives Kurt a unsure look and says, "I think we're dealing with an alien."

"Are you sure we should be doing this, my lady?" Chat asks as he follows Ladybug across the rooftops.

The pair jumps across the roof as Ladybug says, "Truthfully, I do not have a clue, but Angelic Code said that Nick Fury is looking for something in the ruins, and she doesn't want any secret government agency to have that knowledge."

"What kind of information could it be?" Chat asks feeling curious as to why his crush would go this far for someone they barely know.

"It's the type that could save or destroy the whole world, and she doesn't want anyone to use it again. You should remember the incident a couple months ago."

Chat's mind flashes back to the events of finding Angelic Code's mother and losing her boyfriend. He jumps onto the next roof after Ladybug and sighs, "Ok, I'm starting to see how risky this is, and I'm starting to like it. It also makes you look dashing, my lady."

Ladybug rolls her eyes and sees the forest coming up. "Get ready Chat. Our destination should be arriving within the next couple miles."

"I hear you, my lady." The two teens jump off into the forest and jump from tree to tree heading to their destination. "Do you know what we're looking for exactly?"

A beep goes off on Ladybug's waste getting the two teens to make a small glance at the device hanging on Ladybug's belt. "Hey guys, I was able to get a full scan of the area, and there seems to be a specific device left in one piece that is there. The others haven't seen it which…wait a minute."

The two heroes stop on the same tree on opposite sides, and Ladybug grabs the device off her waste. "What's going on Angelic Code?" She asks as Chat curiously leans in to look at the device.

"My friend, Force, just found a secret panel that leads to an unknown room, and it's weird, because this room was never shown in any of the schematics."

"That is weird." Chat agrees. "What could be in the room?"

"I don't know yet, but this leaves the perfect opportunity to grab the small piece of equipment and hide it before the others see you. I'll keep in touch with what I find out."

Ladybug nods her head. "Ok, we'll get to it." She puts the device back on her hip and jumps to their destination with Chat following right after her.

"I'm not too sure about this." David mutters as he, Maurice, and Rachel quietly walk down the stairs.

"I can't argue with you there David, but Fury wants this place checked out before sending a clean up crew." Maurice says as they reach the bottom step with Rachel in front.

Rachel sticks her head out from behind a wall and notices the ruined walls and metal poles. She carefully looks around and stops when her eyes land a giant monster chewing on a metal pole. "Ok, we're going to need backup." She whispers not taking her eyes off the creature.

Maurice and David stick their heads out and widen their eyes when they see the monster in the barely lit room. "Ok, what's the plan?" David asks deciding that the situation needed to be taken care of.

Maurice smacks his lips and leans back to the wall with David and Rachel following his lead. "By what we saw, this monster is not ordinary, and if it gets out of this room, people could be in danger." Maurice starts summarizing trying to get a grip on their situation.

"Have any of us ever seen anything like that though?" David asks referring to the four-legged monster that was starting to move in their general direction.

"No, we're treading on some new grounds here." Rachel turns her head back to look at the monster and sees bunch of yellow-orange rocks surrounding the body of the monster. She glances up to see the monster looking down at her. "Well, run!"

The three teens jump away just in time for the monster's head to smash into the wall behind them. They skid to a stop and notice the destroyed staircase along with the rest of the wall the stairs were up against. "Ok, this place was definitely not what Fury was looking for." Maurice admits not liking the situation they got themselves into.

"What gave you that idea?" Rachel remarks sarcastically. She looks around the area carefully and turns to David. "Could you make a grappling hook and try to get us out of here?"

"I can try, but the monster will need to be distracted." David admits still trying to get use to what his powers can do. "I might be able to make a strong staff for us to climb out of here with instead."

"That's a bit too risky, but we'll buy you time then." Maurice pulls his two pistols out of their holsters and nods to Rachel who nods back knowing what the plan that was going through his head.

Ladybug pockets the small chip while Chat looks down at the trap door just as the monster took the first bite out of the wall. "My lady, I think they might need some help." Chat says not sure how he should take in the monster they were seeing.

"Chat, I would advise against it." Angelic Code says from the device on Ladybug's waste.

"Why do you say that? Aren't they your friends?" Chat asks not liking the idea of leaving them alone.

"They are, but you guys will be having company. Whatever this monster is, these people seem to be of the same type but more human like. Scans show some kind of corruption inside the monster but not in these people, and while I would like to make sure my friends make it out. The chip has critical information, and your chances of coming out with the chip intact and unknown is 12%."

"Meaning, this trip would have been for nothing." Ladybug summarizes sighing in defeat. "Are you certain we can leave them alone?"

They hear a sigh escape the device and knew immediately that Angelic Code was against her own idea. "No, but my gut is telling me to have you guys leave. If the others find out you were there, it could leave clues that Fury could find out that I sent you guys, and that is one confrontation we need to avoid at all costs."

Chat sighs and walks away from the trap door muttering, "We should go help them."

"Chat, I know this will be hard for you and Ladybug, but you guys need to do this."

Chat closes his eyes and looks away feeling guilty that he was making this decision. Ladybug walks up to Chat and grabs his hand getting him to open his eyes and look at her in surprise. "Chat, trust me. I don't like it as much as you, but we need to do this. When it comes to saving people, we must make some really hard decisions. Plus, she knows these people and trusts that they will make it out of it." She explains to her partner.

Chat closes his eyes and sighs, "I know my lady. I'm not too keen on doing this, but you're right." He glances at the trap door then back at his partner. "Let's go." The two teens jump away and barely miss being seen by the four figures walking to the trap door.

"This is it, right?" The black, bushy haired teen asks his three guardians as they approach the wreckage.

"Yes, and it seems that the corrupted gem has met some interesting people." The reddish/pinkish person says as she walks over to the trap door.

"Who would meet a corrupted gem?" A purple like person asks crossing her arms over her amethyst gem.

"That's not the point Amethyst." A peach hair person responds before reaching into the pearl connected in her forehead and pulling out her spear.

"What is the point then Pearl?" Amethyst asks giving Pearl a bored look.

Pearl sighs and rubs her forehead with her index finger and thumb. "My point is that we need to take care of this gem before someone gets hurt."

"Why couldn't you just say that in the first place?" Amethyst asks giving Pearl a bored look.

Pearl groans and looks at the reddish/pinkish person. "Garnet, what's the situation?"

"One normal corrupted gem…well, normal since the attack anyway." Garnet mutters feeling ashamed that she said those words. "This should be easy to take care of."

"Why did you have us come here then?" The teen asks Garnet.

Garnet looks back at the teen and gives a loving smile. "You'll see in a minute Steven." Garnet jumps into the trap door landing behind the corrupted gem monster. "Let's do this."

Evening Time

Danny and Rogue walk down the beach as the sun sets over the horizon. "Now, this was a nice relaxing day we needed." Danny admits as they walk down the beach holding each other's hand.

"Can't argue with yah there, sugarh." Rogue says.

They stop to look at the sunset then look at each other with questioning looks in their eyes. "You don't really feel anything from the sunset, do you?"

"No."

Danny smiles, "Good, that wasn't what I planned for us to do tonight." He pulls his phone and headset getting Rogue to smile in appreciation.

"Glad to see yah brought that with yah, but why did yah wait until now?"

"And have us head back to the hotel to charge it?" Danny asks rhetorically.

Rogue kisses Danny's cheek and smirks, "Yah sure know how to give a girl a good time."

"I aim to please." Danny admits but thinks, 'I was hoping she would have enjoyed the sunset too. The colors do look really good to see.' He hands Rogue one ear bud and watches her grab it and put it in her ear. He puts the other ear bud in his ear and pushes 'play' on his phone. They sit down on the ground staring at the sunset as they listened to the music playing in their ears.

Aelita walks into her room and stops when she sees Stacy was sitting on Aelita's bed with a book in her lap and a small water dagger floating in midair. "Stacy, what are you doing?" She asks knowing that the water teen was training her control to make weapons out of water.

"Hey Aelita, I decided to take your advice about learning to defend myself with normal weapons, but I thought it might be cool if I could make the weapons out of water." Stacy says as she looks at the page with the dagger on it. "Of course, I realized that you didn't mention what kind of weapon you trained with when you got here, but I'm passed that now."

"You noticed?" Aelita asks raising an eyebrow at Stacy's delayed realization.

Stacy shrugs and pulls the water back into her body. "Yeah, but I had time to dwell on it and came up with that it didn't matter." She shuts the book and gets up off her bed. "When I was told you were gone to take care of something, I decided to talk to David, but he left with Rachel and Scott to do something which is weird since David and Scott don't hang out…at all."

"That does sound weird." Aelita mutters realizing who flew Rachel, Maurice, and David to the wreckage in France.

"I know. So, I snuck into the control room and looked over the feed from the security cameras and saw them leave with some other guy with the Blackbird." Stacy finishes explaining. "Do you know what they could be up to?"

"No." Aelita says deciding that Stacy does not need to know what they were doing.

Stacy sets the book down and crosses her arms over her chest. "Do you really expect me to believe that you don't know?" She asks giving Aelita a knowing look.

Aelita sighs and sits down on her chair in front of her desk. "Stacy, why are you interested in what they could be doing?"

Stacy rubs her left arm nervously and sighs knowing that she needed to let her feelings out. "Ok, it's not that I'm interested in what they're doing, but did you ever feel upset that you were left out of everything going on around you?"

Aelita leans back on her chair knowing what Stacy was talking about. "I do." She mutters referring to her younger days with her parents. "Those days led into where I'm at now."

Stacy looks down and asks, "What did you do back then?"

Aelita tightens her lips together and thinks, 'Do I tell her?' Her thoughts go through the ups and downs of what she should reveal, but she resigns to tell Stacy about certain parts of her past. "My parents told me what to do, and I listened to them unaware of what was going on around me. They left me out of so much to protect me, but their idea of protecting me led for mom to be captured and for dad to take us into hiding. It was ten years later when I woke up and had to fix everything my father did, but it took me some time to learn everything my father knew plus what my deceased boyfriend has done to improve everything."

Stacy blinks barely understanding what Aelita just told her. "All I got from that was that your family fell apart because of a secret your parents kept away from you."

'How did you make that assumption from everything I just said?' Aelita thinks raising an eyebrow at Stacy's summary. "That's one way to put it." She mutters looking away with a look of shame in her eyes.

Stacy gets off Aelita's bed and asks, "Does this incident have something to do with you wanting to protect people?"

Aelita sighs, "Truthfully, when I first decided to give this a try, I did it because Danny wanted to do it. He believed that we should go out and protect people with our powers, but there was also the fact that we didn't have much control back then as we do now." She raises her right hand to stop Stacy before she could say anything. "Let me finish before you say anything." She leans forward on her chair looks ahead in thought. "At first, I figured we would go out and stop people from stealing money from banks or jewelry from a jewelry store, but we did neither of those. What I am about to tell you does not leave this room."

"You got it." Stacy turns her head and looks at the open door wondering if she should shut the door.

"Huh?" Aelita looks at the door and mutters, "I thought I shut that." She gets up off her chair and looks out of her room to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. She shuts the door and turns her attention to Stacy with a serious look in her eyes. "The day I made my decision to protect people was the day Danny and I were attacked by a mutant hunter… named Skulker." Stacy gasps and sits back down on Aelita's bed in shock. Her mind starts to comprehend the idea of someone hunting them. "We got lucky last time, and we made sure that we were prepared for his next attack."

"Did…did you ever…" Stacy trails off still trying to comprehend that there are people out there hunting them.

"We did, and we got him sent to jail." Aelita admits making Stacy sigh in relief. 'The down side is that someone broke him out before he could make it there.' She keeps a straight face as that thought goes through her mind.

"How did you beat him?"

"I hacked his armor, and Danny phased him out of his armor leaving him weaponless. It wasn't as bad as our first encounter when we barely knew how to protect ourselves."

Stacy glances at the book, and her mind flashes back when Aelita reminds Stacy that she needs to learn how to protect herself. She gives Aelita a stern look and asks, "Would you and Danny train me?"

Aelita leans back on her chair and crosses her arms. "What do you mean?" She asks wondering where Stacy's sudden determination came from.

"Let's be honest Aelita." Stacy stands up and makes her hand become pure water. "We're mutants, and I doubt anyone would understand anything about us."

"You're not wrong."

"But, you and Danny have gone the route to become heroes. I don't really want to be some kind of heroic figure, but our kind is going to need people who can protect them…"

"And you figure that you need to be one of them who makes a difference." Aelita finishes starting to understand Stacy's sudden mood change.

Stacy scratches her left cheek with her index finger and looks away in thought. "Actually, I was thinking about being one of those special secret agent characters." She admits with a small blush of pink appearing on her cheeks.

Aelita giggles, "One step at a time Stacy, but the idea doesn't sound too farfetched." She gets off her chair and gives Stacy a genuine smile. "While Danny and I can't really offer anything to be like a secret agent, what we can teach you is how to defend yourself as well as better control of your mutant powers."

"I'll take what I can get."

"Well, that was a bust." Fury mutters after Maurice, Rachel, and David left his office. 'The virtual world is a dangerous place, but I'm glad nothing was found. This just means that they don't have as much information we believed they did.' He opens the top drawer of his desk and pulls out the file from inside. He opens the folder and sees a picture of a light-gray haired man with glasses and a black beard and mustache. He looks at the name and mutters, "Waldo Schaeffer…you've caused multiple problems, but if you didn't do what you did, this world would be in major chaos from Hydra. If Aelita wasn't so closed lip about your situation, we could have figured out a way to save you, but a virtual world isn't something she is too keen to reveal anything about." Fury sighs and closes the folder. He puts the folder back in the drawer and leaves his office going to continue his job instead of lingering on finding out what happened with Waldo Schaeffer.

A figure drops on the ground behind the desk landing on both feet and his right hand in a crouched position. The figure gets up and smooths his spiked blond hair and mutters, "Odd Della Robbia does it again." He opens the drawer and grabs the folder. He sets the folder down on the desk and opens it up pulling out the device Aelita made for him and some other people. He has the device scan the first page and flips the first page over. He repeats the scanning process along with flipping the pages until he flips the last page. He shuts the folder and puts back in the drawer along with putting the device back in his pocket. "Time to go." He jumps on the ceiling and leaves the room through the air vent making sure it was closed before he left the Helicarrier.

The next day/Xavier Institute

"This looks pretty good Jan." Aelita says as she looks over Jan's new costume design for Lyoko. On the piece of paper was a black knee length, short sleeve dress with yellow line that branches out on the front to look like a stinger. The drawing shows Jan having black tights going all the way up her leg with yellow armored boots going up to her knees along with yellow armored glover going past the elbow. "I didn't know you knew how to draw."

"A girl has to start somewhere to be this good at fashion." Jan remarks a smile appearing on her lips.

"Makes me want to try drawing." Aelita admits as she looks over the drawing carefully. "This should be easy to implement into your Lyoko costume."

Jan watches as Aelita brings up a holo-screen with her character's avatar on it. She gets off Aelita's bed and watches as the holo-screen scans the paper of Jan's drawing. Her eyes widen in surprise as her character's avatar transforms into the costume on the page. "Since when could you do that?"

Aelita glances back at Jan and raises an eyebrow. "I've been able to do stuff like that for a few months now." Aelita says not sure why Jan was reacting like this.

"What do you mean?" Jan asks narrowing her eyebrows trying to comprehend what Aelita meant.

"Uh…I found out that I could use my screens to act like they were actual electronic equipment. I figured you knew since I've used it like a cell phone in your apartment." Aelita admits.

Jan rubs her forehead with her index finger and thumb and mutters, "I'm dealing with some very powerful teens…some super powerful teens…"

"Jan…"

Jan puts her hand up getting Aelita to close her mouth. "Aelita, if the public finds out about your kind…"

"You don't need to tell me." Aelita mutters turning her head back to her holo-screen but with worried expression.

Jan looks away and asks, "What do you plan to do?"

"Follow Danny's lead." Aelita says without any hesitation. "I followed him to be a hero, and I will follow him to the end; unless he starts acting like those villains we've been fighting."

Jan chuckles and puts her right arm over Aelita's shoulder a sincere smile. "Then we got to make sure he stays on the right path."

Aelita smirks, "Danny will always need someone to direct him. It might as well be the women in his life." The two women share a laugh and continue what they were doing for Jan's costume on Lyoko when someone knocks on the door. Aelita looks at the door and asks, "Who is it?"

"It's the pizza guy here to make clown jokes and eat all the food." The voice jokes getting Aelita to roll her eyes.

"Get in here Odd."

The door opens, and Odd enters the room with two boxes of pizza being held up on his right hand. "How is my favorite pink haired girl doing?" He asks as he shuts the door behind him.

"Hilarious, but I'm fine." Aelita admits as she closes her holo-screens. "What are you doing here Odd? I thought you have a test to study for."

"I do, but you're the only who can help me understand everything." Odd explains getting Aelita to raise an eyebrow questioning his reason. Odd smiles nervously and sets the pizzas down on the desk. "Ok, you got me." He pulls out the communicator and tosses it to Aelita getting the two women to give him confused looks. "I decided to visit the Helicarrier to talk to Fury, but no one would allow me to speak to him. I decided to sneak into his office, and I found out something you needed to know."

Aelita goes through Odd's recent activity on the communicator and stops when she sees the scan function was last thing he used. "What did you scan?"

"Just open it up." Aelita opens the file and gasps when she sees her father's face appear on the screen.

Jan looks at the screen and reads the name next to the picture and widens her eyes in surprise. "Are you saying Fury had this the whole time?" She asks turning her head to Odd who shrugs.

"Don't know about that." Odd answers shrugging his shoulders. He grabs the top pizza box and sits down on Aelita's bed opening the box immediately. He grabs the first slice of pizza and explains, "All I know is that Fury is keeping more things on the downlow, and it could include all types of secrets." He bites into the slice of pizza and gives Aelita a cautious look wondering what she was going to do.

Aelita closes the communicator and sighs, "I'll make sure to transfer the info over to my holo-screens later and give you back your communicator."

Odd swallows his food and remarks, "You might want to give that thing a name. It might make things easier for all of us." He takes another bite into his pizza with a smirk on his face.

"I'll keep that in mind." Aelita looks at Jan and asks, "Do you want to stay while I help Odd study, or do you have other things to do?"

Jan sighs, "No, I have to go check up on Hank and make sure that he actually went to bed last night and not stay up all night looking at the small sample of vibranium that Fury gave him."

Aelita nods and gives Kan an assuring smile. "I wish you luck with that."

"Thanks, Aelita. I'll see you guys later." Jan leaves the room and heads off to make sure her boyfriend did not overwork himself.

Odd gives Aelita a knowing loo and asks, "What are you going to do now?"

Aelita closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "I don't know, but Fury can no longer be trusted." She opens her storage in her holo-screen safe and pulls out a small chip. Odd takes another bite of his food and watches as Aelita pulls the chip up for them to see. 'Fury, you better start making the right moves, or you'll find yourself in a situation where the virtual world could fall into the enemies' hand.'

Oh man, this one took way longer than planned. I did not want to break this chapter up, but the monster fight will be a one-shot focusing on Steven Universe meeting the three teens.

Not much Danny and Rogue love shown in this chapter, and the same can be said about Dawn and Kurt, but this chapter would have taken way longer if I did try to focus on them. The bright side is that the next chapter will be the creation of the Avengers, and all my focus will be on that chapter along with the side-story that focuses on Randy Cunningham.

R&R