Here is the next chapter for you guys to enjoy. Sorry that it took some time, but I cannot promise when the next chapter will come out either. Either way, I do not own anything.
Stacy Hirano stares out the window of her room with a worried expression. 'It's only been twelve hours since the event happened.' She sighs hating the decision she made. 'There could have been a better choice, but Bunnyx…' She grabs her headband and looks at it carefully. 'I'm not so innocent anymore after all of this.' She puts her bow headband back on. 'Too early for a makeover anyway, Danny is going to be enhancing my training, but we did promise to see how the girls are doing too.' She sighs and walks away from her window grabbing the eye mask and the two hair scrunchies on her way. She stuffs them into her pocket and leaves her room wanting to eat some breakfast before heading out.
Evan enters the kitchen covering his mouth as he yawns. He lowers his hand and looks at the table to see Scott, Bobby, Kitty, Kurt, and Dawn sitting at the table eating breakfast. "Hey guys, any update with Stacy's punishment?" Bobby decides to ask noticing the tension between his friends.
"Bobby," Scott starts getting the ice mutant to look at him, "just leave it alone. The subject is sensitive enough as it is, and we do not know what Stacy's punishment is to begin with."
"Fine." Bobby groans going back to eating his cereal getting Kitty to roll her eyes.
"If you ask me, I say something big went down." Evan remarks as he grabs a glass and a bowl from the top cabinet.
"Something went down alright." Kurt mutters glancing at his girlfriend who sighs in discontent.
"Did Dawn see something in Stacy's aura?" Evan asks seeing the worried look on her face.
"It wasn't her aura I saw that worried me." Dawn admits making the others feel uneasy. "Her aura showed something bad was about to happen."
"How bad?" Scott asks raising his eyebrows as he looks at Dawn worryingly.
"Her aura…" Dawn trails off when she sees Stacy's aura coming to the kitchen. "She's coming."
Evan moves quickly to the table and sets his glass and bowl down before sitting down. He grabs the box of cereal and pours it into the bowl as Stacy enters the kitchen. Stacy looks at the table where her friends were eating noticing that no one was talking. She walks to the fridge and opens it grabbing the eggs from the bottom shelf. She sighs and closes the fridge knowing that they were staring at her. She puts the eggs on the counter and grabs a pan from the cabinet setting it on the stove. She turns the burner on and glances back at the group getting them to instantly look away from her and continue eating their cereal.
Stacy sighs, "Just ask me already."
"What did you guys do?" Bobby asks immediately getting Kitty and Scott to glare at him.
"Bobby!"
Bobby raises his hands in defense. "What? She said to go ahead."
"You don't have to be insensitive about it." Kitty points out.
Stacy waves it off. "Eh, don't worry about Kitty. He's only curious." Stacy goes back to make her eggs and makes an uneasy face.
"So, what did happen?" Evan asks turning around in his chair as he looks at her expecting something cool to be revealed. "I mean. You did fight some villains, right?"
"I did." Stacy cracks two eggs open and watches the egg yolks drop onto the pan.
"What happened zen?" Kurt asks curiously and cautiously.
Stacy makes an uneasy face. "I…We lost." She says deciding that she cannot tell them what really happened. 'Danny keeps it a secret for a reason, right?'
"You lost?" Evan asks raising an eyebrow. "Lost what?"
Stacy shrugs and keeps her eyes on the eggs cooking on the pan. Scott sighs deciding to get the others to stop asking questions. "Look guys, she's not comfortable talking about the event. Let's just leave her alone for now."
Stacy sighs mentally at Scott's statement. 'I do want to talk about it. It's just you guys are not the ones I need to talk to.' Stacy thinks sadly.
"Any word from Aelita or Danny on what happened yesterday?" David asks Rachel as he walks into the elevator to the Control Room of the Danger Room.
"Aelita?" Rachel asks raising an eyebrow. "It was Danny and Stacy this time."
David makes an uneasy face. "Oh right, I actually forgot it was her since we're used to Danny leaving with Aelita all the time."
"They are seen as heroes to the public." She points out.
"True, but you have joined them." David makes a thinking face and mutters, "Well, you did a couple times at least."
"Just drop it David. We came here to get some early training in before the others show up. It's almost impossible for us to get individual training now anyway."
"Unless you're Stacy." David mutters distastefully crossing his arms.
Rachel sighs, "Yeah, it does feel like that since it seems her powers are evolving or something." She shakes her head and smiles slightly, "Well, at least she's starting to take her training seriously."
David blinks a couple time giving Rachel a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"Stacy refused to take self-defense classes like the rest of the mutants. She wanted to stay more of a pacifist of the team since she is not a fan of getting into fights. She still trained her powers with Danny and Miss Ororo, and Aelita and Logan started to help her too when she started to come up with ideas to help her fighting style." Rachel explains getting David to nod.
"Why did she change her mind?"
Rachel shrugs, "I don't know truthfully. They could have said something to change her mind, but I know it led her into finding something out that Danny is hiding from the X-men."
"You think he'll tell the team?"
"I don't know." Rachel admits growing a bit upset that he was leaving out information. "I only know so much, and that's because of the fight back in Paris when we found those Galactic Kids Next Door."
"Do we have any plans on what we should do when they arrive?"
Rachel sighs, "I'll have to ask Aelita or Danny later today. I haven't been able to find anything out since you joined."
David nods, "Fair enough. What's on today's training agenda?"
"Nothing." Logan says as the elevator doors open to the control room for the Danger room. "You two are going to go eat breakfast, and you will meet with the other students for special training in the forest." Logan points at David getting him to sigh in defeat.
"Yes sir." David responds knowing that he cannot argue with Logan without further punishment.
"You go on ahead kid. I need to have a little talk with Blondie." Logan pulls Rachel out of the elevator giving him a look not to argue with him.
"I'll see you later." Rachel tells him not wanting there to be any issues between Logan and David.
"Ok." David mutters not liking that he was not able to get in any private training like they were hoping. He pushes the button and watches the two until the door closes in his face. David runs his right hand through his hair sighing in defeat. 'This probably would be easier if we didn't leave with Maurice.' David takes a deep breath to calm his nerves. 'Logan is someone I would never want to find myself fighting one on one. Glad that's not going to happen for a while.'
"You seriously thought you could get some training in for him?" Logan asks giving Rachel a knowing look.
Rachel sighs, "Logan, we know David can create so many weapons with his mutant powers, but he barely gets to train with them even before we…" Rachel trails off getting a grunt from Logan. "He still needs training, and no one is willing to help him train."
"Because he never asked any of us to help." Logan points out getting Rachel to blink.
"Wait, he never asked?" Rachel asks raising an eyebrow. "I thought he did."
"Truthfully, Danny and Aelita are busy with their new roles as heroes, but they never said he asked them. He might have asked you, but you're not ready to teach students yet."
"Why was Danny forced into teaching Stacy then?"
Logan crosses his arms. "Charles believed Danny was ready to take a student which shows since Stacy's powers are now in better control than when she got here." Rachel opens her mouth to speak, but Logan raises his hand to stop her from responding. "Stacy's 'special treatment' is nothing more than her getting the training because she asked for the help. She asked Danny if she could start her training a certain way, and she requested to avoid taking the self-defense classes which I find as a mistake but not my choice. In the end, she made those choices and requests. Most of the other students have only asked to improve certain skills or just flat out refused to say anything and do what they are told. Danny and Aelita asked for more training to improve their mutant powers and skills as you have. Scott improves his control on his own time, and Jean practices her control alone to avoid a certain accident from happening to the school again."
"I see." Rachel mutters understanding the situation. "So, this has nothing to do with us leaving the Institute without permission?"
"No, it has nothing to do with that. That punishment was already taken care of."
Rachel nods and walks to the elevator. "For what it's worth Logan, we just wanted to protect Aelita."
"I know kid." Logan watches her enter the elevator and thinks, 'Sadly, all you did was make a mark that strained a small part of your friendship.' He thinks as the doors close behind her. 'I hope you and the others make the right choices in the future. There's so much more out there that none of you understand.'
Aelita types on the keyboard to the supercomputer looking over the information of her father's data recovery on Lyoko and stares at the screen as the elevator doors open to the hidden room. Odd and Ulrich exit the elevator and see Aelita doing her business with Lyoko. "Hey Princess, why the sudden call?" Ulrich asks putting his hands in his pockets.
"Hey guys, sorry for calling you suddenly, but I've been looking over my father's data we've collected the past few weeks." Aelita explains getting the guys to glance at each other before walking over to her.
"What have you found?"
"We barely made any progress." Aelita swipes her fingers left to show how much they found of her father's code.
"7.2%...Uh, how many pieces have we found exactly?" Odd asks not liking the low number on the screen.
"We've found over seventy thousand." Aelita mutters.
"I thought your father was only in hundred thousand pieces?" Ulrich asks. "What changed? Danny do his math wrong again?"
"No, I wish it was that case." Aelita grumbles getting light chuckles from the guys. "It turns out that the particles we first found were thicker particles than what we've been finding lately."
"Uh, what does that mean exactly?" Odd asks as he tries to process what Aelita is telling them.
"It means there's no precise amount of data particles that we can estimate without collecting them all." Ulrich answers for Aelita. "We're running even blinder than when we first started."
"Not to mention that with a new team, I'm going to be expected to do more heroic work by the public." Aelita remarks sighing at the idea.
"I thought you like being a hero." Odd says raising an eyebrow at her.
"I do, but with so much going on, I feel like that I've been doing nothing when it comes to collecting my father's data." Aelita brings up an image of a small funnel connected with a long tube. "I've been able to create these special tubes to suck up any of my father's data that goes by in the Digital Sea. Unfortunately, someone has to be here while they are activated since it does take the power form one of the towers."
"What's the drawback from that? Isn't that a good thing?" Odd asks not seeing the bigger picture.
"Old Lyoko could never be fully tracked back in Paris, but since then we've been facing situations that has been keeping me from coming here to increase the progress of saving my father."
"So, you need someone to watch over Lyoko from time to time to make sure that your father can be recovered." Ulrich summarizes getting Odd to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You got that from what she said? I hardly understood any of it." Odd remarks.
"You would have understood if you listened in school more." Ulrich counters getting Odd to wince.
"Harsh man."
"Odd, when was the last time you even studied?" Aelita asks knowing what he will be saying.
"Pfft, study? I study all the time." Odd answers acting like he told the truth. Ulrich and Aelita look at him with 'are you serious?' looks. Odd looks between them and smiles sheepishly, "You guys don't believe a single word, do you?"
"Nope." The two teens say getting Odd to sigh in defeat.
"Fine, I cram the day before and barely pass. Happy?"
"Very." Aelita answers before Ulrich could make a sarcastic comment. "Anyway, could I count on you guys to help?"
"What about William and Yumi? Shouldn't they be helping as well?" Ulrich asks wondering why his girlfriend was not here with him and Odd.
"I plan on telling them but not right now. Hydra is still after Lyoko and everything related to it. I want to keep the plan of saving my father to a minimum to avoid having Hydra or any other organization finding out where I'm hiding Lyoko. If they ever find out about my father…"
"Then they would try harder to locate Lyoko and make sure your father pays for what he has done for betraying them." Ulrich finishes seeing where she is going with this.
"Ok, so what do you want us to do?" Odd asks.
Aelita pulls out a small piece of paper and hands it to Odd getting him to look at it with a raised eyebrow. "All you have to do is follow those instructions and stay here for an hour or less for once a week, and it only has to be one of you for each week." She explains.
Odd and Ulrich look at each other and nod accepting what she is telling them. "Ok, fair enough." Ulrich agrees.
"Shouldn't be too hard." Odd says like it was nothing as he puts the paper into his pocket.
"Just don't screw up the instructions Odd." Aelita reminds him getting him to smile sheepishly.
"No promises."
Phantom and Aqua jump out of a portal torn open with Ninja jumping out after them landing on his feet and his left hand. Phantom glances back at Ninja and mutters, "Seriously?"
"It's how I rule dude." Ninja remarks shrugging his shoulders.
Aqua shakes her head and walks away muttering, "Boys…"
"Anyway, Dr. Strange give any update on Will and Irma?" Phantom asks Ninja.
Ninja shakes his head. "Nope, I'm in the dark just like you guys. On the bright side though, I did make it back in time for my date." Ninja smirks under his mask. "It was so bruce."
"Uh huh, I bet it was." Aqua mutters not interested in what Ninja was saying.
"What's eating her?" Ninja asks raising an eyebrow.
"Probably the aftermath of the event among other things." Phantom answers with a grim expression as he and Ninja watch her walk away with a neutral expression on her face. "Let's just go dude. I doubt we're going to get anything new from Dr. Strange anyway."
Ninja raises his right hand and opens his mouth to counter Phantom's words but stops when he realizes that Phantom is right. "Yeah, you're probably right." Ninja lowers his hand and walks to their destination with Phantom following him.
Aqua stops and watches Ninja walk past her leading them to their destination. She glances at Phantom and asks as he comes to her side, "What do you plan on asking them when we get there, besides the obvious?"
Phantom shrugs, "I don't know. What exactly could we ask them? 'How are you feeling now that your parents are gone?' Yeah, I rather ask the stupid obvious question 'How are you feeling?' instead of that."
Aqua nods, "Fair enough, not like we can ask them personal questions now." The teens follow Ninja and stop when they see Dr. Strange sitting at a dining room table looking through a book with a stone tablet floating in front of him drifting his gaze between the book and the tablet.
Ninja sees the symbols on the tablet and widens his eyes as he recognizes the stone tablet. "Where'd you get that?" Ninja asks knowing that he left the tablet on the floor at his school after Dr. Doom tossed it to him.
Dr. Strange glances at Ninja and sighs, "Hello Ninja," He closes the book and lowers the stone tablet onto the table, "I see you guys are a bit earlier than expected."
"Yeah, and I thought I left that stone tablet on the floor back at school." Ninja remarks getting Dr. Strange to sigh. "How do you have it Strange?"
"Believe it or not, Director Nick Fury gave it to me believing I would be able to figure out the secrets behind the tablet." Dr. Strange answers not finding anything wrong with having the tablet. "How do you know about the tablet?"
"Because Dr. Doom decided to hand it over to me." Ninja admits not hiding the anger in his eyes. "He attacks my school then tries to give me that. I didn't want to take any risks since he's a bit twisted in the mind."
Dr. Strange widens his eyes when Ninja reveals that information. "You mean Dr. Doom found and gave you the tablet?"
"Yeah, it's why I left it alone back at my hometown. I didn't want anything to do with that mad man even if it is related to my mission in stopping the Elementals." Ninja explains getting Phantom to nod a couple times understanding his friend's reasoning.
"Well, the tablet was given to me from Director Fury…"
"Why am I not surprised?" Ninja mutters.
"…and I took it upon myself to study it." Dr. Strange grabs the tablet and looks at it carefully. "During my study with this tablet, I learned a few important details about the Elemental stones."
"Like what?" Aqua asks curiously.
"As Ninja knows, the five Elemental Stones were corrupted to make the user evil or become corrupted in the mind to do evil deeds to the normal human being. The power grants the holder a limitless amount of power connected to their element, and Ninja is the only one who can truly counter their power since the mask was created off their power."
"The mask contains all of their powers combined meaning I can handle them way easier than most people." Ninja explains.
"Is that why they brought someone else there to fight you?" Aqua asks.
Ninja shrugs, "Don't know. Guess they figured I would be there to stop them so brought extra help to make sure they were not interrupted." Ninja swipes the tablet from Dr. Strange's hand and asks, "Did you learn anything important that could help us in tracking them down?"
"Sadly, all the tracking spells originally made are inefficient in helping us track down the Elementals and their stones." Dr. Strange admits not liking that The Ancient One's tracking spells are not able to help them in this situation.
"Well, there goes the idea of tracking them down." Phantom grumbles crossing his arms.
"Wouldn't Angelic Code be able to track them down? She is one of the smartest technological people on the planet." Aqua points out.
"Angelic Code doesn't know anything about the elementals." Phantom points out. 'Plus, she's got other things to worry about that you guys don't need to know about.'
"What about Wade?" Dr. Strange asks giving Ninja a questioning gaze. "How has his search results been going?"
"He's been able to get a better reading on the Elementals and where they will go next, but he hasn't been able to track them without some kind of clue." Ninja admits as he tries to remember his conversations with his technological support, Wade. "Why are you asking?"
"Under normal circumstances magic and technology do not mix well since one person hardly ever believes the other will work properly. I want to see if we can combine our efforts to locate or get some sort of clue of where the Elementals will go next."
"What about locating the other stones?" Phantom asks curiously.
"At this point, I'll be happy if we can find anything to help us in this search. The sooner we get any information, the closer we'll be to find Will's boyfriend." Ninja admits sighing in defeat. "I'll talk to Wade to see if we can set something up to try it. I can't make any promises though."
"Uh, what about Will and Irma? Are they doing okay?" Aqua asks starting to feel a bit lost with the conversation.
"Unfortunately, they're still asleep from yesterday's events." Dr. Strange admits making a discouraged face.
"I doubt losing your friends and your parents really count as an event." Ninjas remarks closing his eyes with a sigh escaping his lips. "How did things turn bad so fast?"
Phantom and Aqua share a look and sigh understanding why the question was being asked. "Perhaps I should explain the whole situation with the Galactic Kids Next Door and what we might end up facing." Phantom says getting a confused look from Dr. Strange.
"What's there to explain? The Galactic Kids are aliens from other planets coming to our planet to destroy us and take all the kids they find valuable to join their cause." Ninja summarizes.
"What do you guys mean?" Dr. Strange asks getting the teens to look at him with questioning gazes.
"Didn't we tell you yesterday after bringing the girls here?" Aqua asks.
"You mentioned the incident but left out who did it. I was going to ask, but Will and Irma's health was more of my concern."
"At least we didn't wake up at some random place." Will says as she and Irma walk into the room feeling exhausted.
"How are you guys feeling?" Phantom asks them.
Will walks to Phantom and drops her head onto his chest getting him look down at her awkwardly. "Miserable." She says as Irma walks to the table and sits down putting her arms on the table resting her head in them.
Phantom awkwardly puts his arms around her and glances at Ninja who was looking between the two. Ninja sees Phantom's questioning look and shrugs unsure of what should be done. Phantom sighs, "I'm sorry."
Will grabs Phantom's jumpsuit and asks, "Why did this have to happen?"
Phantom looks at Dr. Strange and asks, "Is there a room where we can talk privately?"
"Down the hall, third room on the left should work." Dr. Strange answers pointing down the hall outside the dining room.
Phantom nods and leads Will out of the room for them to talk privately. Aqua watches them curiously and glances at Irma. "Uh…"
"Don't even ask." Irma says putting her hand up before Aqua could ask. She looks up at Aqua with a sad glare. "I'm still mad at you for stopping us."
Aqua looks away guilty and mutters, "I had to stop you from going in there."
"We could have saved them." Irma lowers her gaze unsure of what else she should say.
"This is going to be a long day of mourning the dead." Ninja mutters getting an unamused look from Dr. Strange.
Maurice watches his old friend, Cree Lincoln, from a distance and sighs knowing that his old friend was back but missing her memories of him. 'I did the right thing, but it doesn't mean I like it.' He turns around and walks away planning to never return when he sees Cree's little sister standing there in front of him. "What brings you here Abby?" He asks as he walks by her acting cool.
Abby follows Maurice tipping her hat down. "I'm here to make sure you're alright." Abby admits.
"Huh," Maurice stops and looks back at her, "you never refer yourself in first person unless it was actually serious."
"Gonna have to once Abby has her memories wiped my thirteenth birthday." Abby points out.
"You really believe you're going to make it?" Maurice asks continuing his walk away from the school and from Cree.
"Honestly, I don't know." Abby admits shrugging her shoulders. She hears a beeping noise from her pocket and sighs, "Ah man, wish Abby could stay longer for us to talk like normal, but duty calls."
"See you around then Abby." Maurice continues his walk while Abby tips her hat and leaves in a different direction from her childhood friend. 'The choices we make are never easy.' He walks to a black car and enters the back-passenger side of the vehicle. The car starts moving, and Maurice stays quiet with his other passenger sitting down on the other side of the vehicle.
"You get it out of your chest?" Nick asks the teen.
"Nope, I couldn't even walk up to her to say 'hi' without feeling bad." Maurice admits.
"Surprised it took you this long to ask after disobeying an order."
"She needed a normal life not being blackmailed into joining Shield."
Fury nods, "Fair enough, but it won't save the other teenagers messing with those kids."
Maurice sighs, "I know, but everyone is still what I am, a teen. We're not super-secret spies, martial arts trained fighters, or super-powered individuals. We're normal people who have lives not involving the fights going on around us. Granted, I don't like what they're doing, and honestly, most of the fights are really just petty squabbles over kid things…"
"What about the Kids Next Door's main enemy, Father?"
Maurice frowns, "What about him?"
Fury pulls a picture out of his coat and hands it to Maurice getting the teen to grab it and look at the Kids Next Door's nemesis Father in his usual black body suit with the red outline and yellow eyes. "Father's recent activities have started to become a bit more threatening to the Kids Next Door that my team can't turn a blind eye to."
"How bad has it gotten?"
"Ever since he lost his pipe and his so called children, he's been putting more focus into a device that will end the idea of there ever being a Kids Next Door."
Maurice flicks his gaze to Fury in surprise and asks, "What do you mean exactly?"
"Father plans to end your old organization the Kids Next Door and wants nothing for the kids to remember of their childhood."
Alix Kubdel stares out at the city from her room but keeps the window closed as multiple bees are flying by it. 'So much for not using my power and going into the time stream.' Alix thinks glumly. She pulls out the pocket watch and glances at her Kwami. "Ready to go?"
"I already know how this plays out. We don't really need to transform and watch from inside the time burrow." Fluff says as she keeps her eyes on the bees flying by the window.
"Even if Ladybug and Chat Noir win this fight, I want to know who is doing this and what is going on without getting stung and hypnotized like those people are." Alix points at the people standing still as the bees fly past them.
"What about you saying that you don't want to watch the time screens for a couple days?" Alix looks away knowing what Fluff is talking about. "Alix, I know how things play out, and Ladybug and Chat Noir will get through this. Granted, there are multiple scenarios of how it could play out, but the chance of losing is under 10%. We got nothing to worry about."
Alix smirks, "Who said I was worried? I know I said that I don't think it's a good idea for me to watch what happens in the time bubbles, but…" Alix frowns and looks out the window again as her eyes focus on the bugs flying outside her window. "…something just doesn't feel right for me to stay in here while this is going on."
"Well, we could use our power to travel and see how Will and Irma are doing."
Alix winces at those names and mutters, "You sure that's a good idea?"
"You're going to talk to them at some point. Might as well be sooner than later if you ask me." Fluff points out getting Alix to groan. "You can't fight the inevitable Alix."
"It's not much of a fight when I haven't even started arguing."
"Fair point."
Alix pulls the pocket watch out and smirks, "Besides, this should help me understand how to use my powers more."
"You're still going to watch the battle."
"Duh, it'll help me a bit to learn what's going on, and I can ask Randy to help me learn martial arts later or at least to defend myself better."
"Well, you do need the training for those future missions." Fluff remarks getting Alix to chuckle.
"Exactly. Fluff, clockwise!" Alix transforms into Bunnyx and opens a portal glancing outside for a second before heading into the portal.
Jan lowers her phone groaning in frustration and stops the call before it went to voicemail. "Still not answering?" Hank asks her while keeping his focus on the robotic head on his work desk.
"Why is it so hard for Danny to answer his phone?" Jan asks not really looking for an answer. "I get that he's probably seeing how those people are doing after yesterday's events, but he could call or send a text to me, so I don't feel left out."
"Well, those girls did lose their parents." Hank points out moving his goggles up onto his forehead. "Besides, we're stuck in a position where we can't do anything unless Danny clues us into the whole situation."
"Yeah, he and Aelita know more about the alien kids than anyone else besides Fury, and I doubt he's willing to spill more than he already has." Jan crosses her arms hating that her cousin is leaving out information of something needing to be taken care of.
"Not going to argue with you on that." Hank mutters understanding his girlfriend's distrust to Nick Fury and Shield. "What do you plan to do until Danny contacts you?"
Jan makes a thinking face and grins, "I'll move into the mansion!"
"What?" Hank looks at his girlfriend in surprise.
"Yeah, all heroes have to keep themselves ready and on duty from their headquarters." Jan points out getting Hank to raise an eyebrow.
"What about your roommate?"
Jan gives Hank a dull look. "Yumi barely stays over anymore, but I see your point. I'll go check up on the girl and see if she wants to move in with her friends."
"Jan…"
"Hank, I really want this whole team to work out," Jan flies to the open window giving her boyfriend a sad smile, "and it might as well start with me moving into the mansion."
Hank watches her leave and looks down at the robot head he was working on while talking with Jan. "We're not much of a team, but she is right about it needing to start somewhere." He lowers his goggles and continues working on the mother board to the robot's artificial intelligence.
Danny looks around the room trying to keep his eyes off Will who was sitting on the chair with her legs hanging off the right arm and her back leaning on the left arm of the chair. Danny gives her a glance and sighs seeing her blank look as she looks up at the ceiling. "Will…"
"I'm not going to say anything." Will interrupts getting Danny to groan.
Danny frowns gets on his knees next to the chair. "Will, we know that you can't keep this bottled up."
"A bit hard to be bottled up when it just happened."
Danny makes an understanding face and nods, "Ok, you make a good point, but you don't just come up to me and put your head on my chest without a reason. I mean I didn't take us here just for you to say nothing to me."
Will looks at Danny and blows her hair out of her eyes with little sparks coming off her hair. "My relationship with my mother was complicated. She wanted me to focus on my grades and tried to have me transfer schools since my grades were not what she wanted. My friends saved me from that, but my relationship with my mom always felt rocky because I never told her about me being a Guardian."
"You think she would reject you or just not get it?"
Will shrugs and looks down. "I want to say both, but I guess…I guess I feared she would reject me like your parents did to you or that she would make me stop saving people from my enemies." Tears start forming as she thinks about yesterday's events. "Now she's gone along with my stepdad, and Matt…"
Danny reaches out and pulls Will to him getting her to start crying into his shirt. Danny picks her up off the chair and sits down with her in his lap as she continues crying. He holds her trying to give her comfort and mutters, "Let it out. I doubt your mother would want you to keep it in."
"I know my mom wouldn't." Danny looks up to see Irma enter the room closing the door behind her. She notices that Danny has black hair instead of white and raises an eyebrow, "Uh, why is your hair black instead of white?"
Danny glances up at his hair. 'Forgot I changed back.' "I'll explain later." He looks at her curiously and asks, "Why are you here?"
"You expect me to stay with two guys I know nothing about and a girl I hate for stopping us from saving our parents while the only one I trust is in here crying on your lap?" Irma asks crossing her arms feeling uncomfortable around everyone except for Will.
Danny nods, "Ok, makes sense… I guess."
Irma sighs and looks at her friend worryingly. "Will and I love our parents, but we never truly had great connections with them since we never revealed our secret. Most of the time they thought we did something illegal, messed around, or just did not care about school. Granted the first one was because of our enemies, but we figured they would never understand how things worked or what we were given."
"You guys did plan to tell them, right?" Danny asks.
Irma grabs her left arm nervously and makes an uneasy face. "Eh, I don't know about the others, but I was going to wing it."
"She didn't plan anything." Will remarks as she removes her head from Danny's chest revealing her red eyes and tear-stained face from her crying. "Though, I don't think any of us planned anything."
Irma lowers her head having her hair shadow her eyes. "I guess it wouldn't have mattered." Irma mutters sadly.
Will carefully gets off Danny's lap and walks over to Irma. Irma glances up when she sees Will reach up and put her hand on Irma's shoulder. Will pulls Irma into a hug, and Irma lets her despair and sadness take over allowing the tears to escape her eyes. "It will always matter to us." Will whispers gently as Irma cries onto Will's shoulder.
Bunnyx stares at the burrow in surprise as she watches Ladybug and Chat Noir finish their battle against an akumatized Queen Bee and Ladybug's team that were hypnotized to work for Chloe. "Oh Marinette, what did you do that made Chloe go against you as Ladybug?" Bunnyx mutters shaking her head at the situation she is watching.
"If you want to know, you could just watch the video clips." Bunnyx glances behind her to see adult Bunnyx standing there smiling at present Bunnyx.
"Are we going to see each other a lot?" Bunnyx asks.
"Yeah, we'll be seeing each other a lot until…forever." Adult Bunnyx admits realizing she has not stopped seeing different versions and ages of herself through time. "Huh, guess I got used to seeing myself all the time I just forgot."
"Uh, how often do we meet?" Alix asks feeling curious if meeting her future self was common.
"Oh, I meet tons of us every other day. Some go through things we don't need to worry about unless we screw up the timeline again and make another Alix." Future Alix rambles acting like it is nothing.
Alix blinks and turns back to the burrow in front of her. "I don't really want to know."
"You'll see what I mean when you make a rough choice."
"Like yesterday?"
Future Bunnyx frowns, "Technically, the first choice is the hardest choice, but that day was something we did not want the worst outcome to happen."
"How many times did I go through that event?"
Future Bunnyx winces, "More than I care to count, and that's including all the tiny details as well." Future Bunnyx sighs and stands next to her younger self looking at the frozen burrow with Ladybug looking down at an old man lying down on the roof of a building. "According to legend, we're meant to protect the Miraculous from falling into the wrong hands."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Alix asks unsure of what she is being told.
Future Alix shrugs, "Could mean a lot of things, but our main mission is to stop people from obtaining the power hidden inside each miraculous."
"Is that really it?"
Future Alix smirks, "Of course not, Ladybug believes that we should try to stay out of everyone's business unless they actually ask for help."
Alix raises an eyebrow, "When did you start disobeying Ladybug?"
"The moment we got the Miraculous."
Alix's eyes widen as she turns her gaze to the older Bunnyx. "What?!"
Future Alix shrugs, "It's true. We never followed her since she never gave us our Miraculous, but we still help her against her villains."
"How? Ladybug and Chat Noir have been protecting our town for a good amount of time. So how are we not under her orders?" Alix asks finding the situation ridiculous.
"Because she has no control over time, and unlike everyone else, we are so much more than just a girl with a Miraculous." Future Bunnyx covers Alix's mouth before she could ask another question. "I can't give you any detail on what I mean. You are going to go through so much. Much more than Marinette will, and there is so much you need learn about our powers that I cannot teach you without breaking the rules."
Alix removes the hand from her mouth and asks, "Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Watch the time stream."
Aelita takes a deep breath before knocking on the door. "Come in."
Aelita opens the door and says, "Hey mom, just wondering if you…what are you doing?" Aelita stares confusingly as her mom is packing her clothes into a suitcase.
Anthea sighs and turns to her daughter with a sad look. "I'm sorry Aelita, but I can't stay here after hearing about the breakout. There are too many variables that will cause something bad to happen to us. I need to leave and go into hiding until this is over."
"But there are worse variables with leaving and hiding mom." Aelita counters as her mother continues packing. "Hydra knows almost every single hiding spot dad had for us, and I doubt you can still hide with Tyron on the lose."
"I said it before, and I'll say it again Aelita." Anthea gives her daughter a hard look which is returned with a glare form her daughter. "We can never be safe with Hydra always after us. The only logical thing we can do…"
Aelita scoffs, "Logical, yeah right. The only logical thing to do is fight back, free dad, and end the project once and for all." Aelita crosses her arms her glare intensifying. "When are you going to learn that you can't just run away from things mom? There's too much at state for you to run away."
Anthea sighs, "Your father is gone Aelita. You should stop trying to focus on the past and focus on what's going on around you."
"I know what's going on around me mom, but it seems that you're being too stubborn to think about the situation you are placing yourself into." Aelita balls her hands up. "We just got each other back, yet it seems you're keener on looking only for yourself now."
Anthea closes her suitcase and shakes her head not liking what her daughter is saying. "I tried reasoning with you to come with me Aelita, but you're so focused on playing hero that you're leaving me no choice."
"'No choice' all you, you've been trying to do is run off hiding from Hydra and trying to take me with you!" Aelita yells hating that her mother was getting even more stubborn than before. "What's it going to take that you can't hide any more mom? Hydra will find you no matter what you will do. They found us last time and took you away while dad and I escaped with our lives! Dad might have stopped them from finding the supercomputer and everything he stole from them, but you chose to help them while being threatened by Tyron! Unless something else happened during your time being kidnapped, the only possible outcome of you doing this is going to give them another chance at creating the weapon they want."
Anthea grabs her suitcase and turns to her daughter with a neutral look in her eyes. "I'm not going to have this talk Aelita. You will either come with me or stay out of my way."
Aelita hardens her glare and does not move as her mom walk towards her. "Don't do this mom." She whispers.
Anthea walks past her daughter not acknowledging her daughter's words and exits her room. 'I can't stay here Aelita. They are tracking me as we speak, and the longer I stay here the sooner they'll attack the kids. I cannot have that happen to them. You guys might be mutants, but you guys are not prepared to fight those guys.'
Aelita walks out of the room and stares as her mother walks away. I've always known my mom was being tracked by Hydra. It was only a matter of time when they would come for her, and I knew that time was coming. Convincing her was not going to do anything until she sees us in action. Fortunately, it was going to be sooner than I thought. She walks after her mother and stops at the top of the stairs in the foyer as her mother heads to the front door. "Mom..." Aelita begs as she worryingly watches her mother. "I just got you back."
Anthea grabs the doorknob and mutters, "I know, but with Hydra still out there nothing good will come if I stay here." Anthea opens the door and leaves the institute not wanting her daughter to become involved with Hydra.
"You might want to reconsider doing this Anthea." Max Tennyson says as he leans against the car with Logan next to him.
"I made up my mind Max. I don't belong here." Anthea walks down the stairs keeping a straight face.
"You might not be a mutant, but your daughter is. Is running from Hydra so much more important than being with her?" Max asks her, wanting to change her mind on leaving. "You two have been separated for so long. Are you really going to let this moment go because you fear of Hydra attacking the institute?"
Anthea lowers her head and mutters, "You can't stop me Max. I made my decision on this. My daughter and I have been apart for so long. I would love to stay with her, but too many kids are at risk with Hydra after me."
"Sounds like a lame excuse to me." Logan remarks. "You won't be able to get her to change her mind Max. She looks dead set on doing this." Logan gets off the car and heads to the front door walking past Anthea. He grabs the door handle and looks at her. "For what it's worth, this would have been the happiest time for you and your daughter."
'I know, and I'm going to live with this choice for the rest of my life.' Anthea thinks as she walks to the car.
Aelita stares through the window as she watches her mom get into the car. 'Mom…' Aelita closes her eyes and walks away not wanting to see her mother leaving the Institute. 'Guess I got to wait now. Mom, what do I have to do to have you stay with me?' She walks up the stairs passing multiple students as they watched her and her mother just a couple minutes ago.
"Well, this is going to make things even more complicated." Scott mutters.
'They're scared.' Dawn thinks reading both of their auras. 'Aelita fears losing her mother, and Anthea fears losing her daughter. All they need to do is overcome their fears, but Anthea is running away leaving Aelita alone. Aelita, what move will you make now?'
Bunnyx stares at the burrow as she watches Anthea get into the car. "So why am I looking at some random pink haired woman?" She asks her future self.
"Welcome to your next mission." Future Bunnyx says pausing the time on the burrow.
Bunnyx raises an eyebrow, "And that is?"
"Research."
Danny leaves the room to find Aqua leaning against the wall next to the door. "Hey, where are Ninja and Dr. Strange?" He asks as he shuts the door behind him.
"Trying to find out how they can locate the next elemental stone." Aqua says pointing back at the dining room where they were. "How are they doing?"
"They're still upset but talking to each other might help them get better." Danny admits transforming to his alter ego. "Anyway, you better head back to the Institute. I need to speak with Ninja and Dr. Strange before heading back myself."
"Yeah…I'm not leaving without you." Aqua crosses her arms giving him a bored look. "If I head back now, I'll be bombarded with questions about yesterday. You don't tell anyone about what happens, and…" Aqua grabs her left arm feeling a little uncomfortable of the situation. "…I don't know anyone I can really talk to about yesterday's events since they're still fresh on my mind."
Danny makes an uneasy face and nods, "Yeah, I know exactly what you're going through."
"You do?" Aqua looks at him in surprise. "I mean you did go through a lot of things, but I thought you always talked about everything with Aelita."
"We do…sort of." Phantom rubs the back of his neck nervously. "There are some things that I have not told her and that she has not told me, but we do it because we need to have some parts of our lives separate from each other."
'Wow, he really is that clueless of her feelings.' Aqua thinks mentally rolling her eyes. "Well, when did you guys find out about those alien kids?"
Phantom sighs, "It was when Scott, Rachel, Aelita, and I went to France to check out Aelita's old home. It turned out the Galactic Kids Next Door used it as a base to spy on people in France, and we took care of them along with learning that they are planning to invade our world."
"Did you guys learn more?"
Phantom looks away and sighs, "Yeah, we learned the person in charge of the invasion is Rachel and Maurice's friend." Aqua gasps. "Maurice and I found out when we were in the base's communications room."
"Do you know what Maurice did to the base we were at?"
"Gather information Fury wanted. I haven't asked Aelita to find out what it was, but I do plan to find out even if Fury does tell us."
Aqua nods, "Ok, what do we do now?"
Phantom shrugs, "Probably train and wait until Fury gives us an update on the situation or until the next big event."
"How much are we training?" Aqua asks feeling a bit eager to get ready for the incoming threat.
"We'll…" Phantom's communicator goes off catching Aqua by surprise and causing Phantom to sigh. "Hold on." He grabs his communicator and answers the call a little surprised to see Maurice's face on the screen. "Hey Maurice, what's up?"
"Oh good, you answered. I was getting a bit worried when Angelic Code and Rachel didn't answer when I called them." Maurice starts feeling relieved that Phantom answered his communicator.
"Wait really? That is a bit odd." Phantom remarks looking away thinking of why Aelita and Rachel did not answer their communicators.
"I know right, but I guess they're too busy. Anyway, I was planning on giving this info to Rachel since she's a former Kids Next Door agent like me, but I'm going to have to hand it over to you so she can get it." Maurice looks around the area at his location before looking back at the screen. "I can't talk long before Fury finds out about what I'm doing."
"What's the info?" Phantom asks giving Aqua a small glance neither noticing the door opening behind them.
"The Kids Next Door are about to have an all-out attack by their main enemy Father. He's gathering all of the forces he can to attack the Kids Next Door and have all the kids' memories wiped so no kids can go against him, other adults, or teens."
"Sounds bad. I wouldn't like to have my mind wiped about my childhood."
Maurice nods, "I'm not a fan of it either, but if Father removes the Kids Next Door, most of the kids will not be able to have a good childhood."
"How does he plan to do this?"
"We don't have all the info on what he's planning, but I do know that it will him defeating the Kids Next Door before wiping their minds permanently of their childhood. I'm also not sure if this is going to affect the rest of the kids who know nothing about the Kids Next Door."
"Whelp, that's not good. Do you know when this will happen?"
"A couple weeks, so we got time to prepare." Maurice lowers his head sighing sadly if something were to happen to his friends. "Phantom, I still have friends in the Kids Next Door."
"Then we'll make sure nothing bad happens to anyone."
Maurice smiles, "Thanks man. I better go before Fury finds out I'm talking to you."
"Sure thing man but I do have one question."
"What's up?"
"What was on the flash drive Fury had you use back at the base in Italy?"
Maurice looks around the area again to make sure it was clear before looking at the screen. "Fury needed me to gather information about the other base locations across the world. I wasn't able to learn everything that was on the flash drive, but I'm certain Aelita should be able to get that information from it without him knowing. The good news is that we might have all the base locations on the flash drive. The bad news is that the Galactic Kids Next Door might have abandoned those bases after the last attack in Italy."
Phantom rolls his eyes, "Of course, they could do that."
"Anyway, I better go. Keep me updated with whatever you guys find out was on that flash drive."
"You got it." Maurice nods and ends the call.
Phantom puts the communicator in his pocket when he hears, "You going to let us know what you find out, right?"
Phantom turns around to see Will and Irma standing there looking at him questioningly. "I might, but I'm not sure yet." He admits deciding to be honest with them.
Will nods, "Ok, guess all we can do is wait then."
"Wait what? That's all you're going to say?" Irma asks her team leader.
"What else is there to ask? You heard the whole conversation like I did." Will points out. "Besides, we have other things to focus on right now."
Irma frowns knowing what Will is talking about. "Fine, but we do deserve to know after what they did to our parents."
Phantom shrugs, "Fair enough."
Will and Irma walk away to go see how their friends are doing leaving the mutants alone. Aqua blinks a couple times and asks, "Are you really going to tell them?"
"Yeah, they deserve to know." Phantom admits not regretting the decision.
"So when will that be?"
"I have no idea." Aqua face-palms at his response. "Anyway, I'll go talk with Ninja really quick, and we can head back to the Institute to start today's intense training."
Aqua gulps as she watches Phantom turn intangible and fly through the wall. "Well…I am so screwed."
"Hm, so much going on such little time. Makes me glad we can see all of it." Professor Paradox says as he and Clockwork watch the screens in front of them.
"Do you guys have to keep rewatching all of this?" Future Alix asks as she enters the room in her casual clothes with Fluff sitting on her right shoulder with a carrot in her hands. "Nothing really interesting happens during this part."
"You can't ignore the small bits Alix."
"Every piece of the puzzle matters including the parts that have little influence on the matter." Clockwork points out as he shifts from a young adult to an old man.
"Like how there are three versions of me who come here?" Alix asks crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
"Each version holds a specific role to the time stream including the other 1,467 versions of you roaming other timelines." Paradox pulls out his pocket watch to look at the time. "Well, the next couple days will be uneventful until Prime Alix returns Will and Irma's siblings."
Alix rolls her eyes and smirks, "Whatever you say Paradox, it won't be long until 'Prime Alix' becomes me anyway."
"You could always train her now." Fluff says before stuffing the carrot into her mouth.
"Nah, older me has that covered. I don't officially start her training until I reach my forties." Alix waves off Fluff's idea of starting to train her younger self at her current age.
"Wait," Fluff looks at Paradox with a confused look on her face, "what about Captain America? Doesn't his return happen tomorrow?"
"Tony and the others find him tomorrow, but the news about his return does not really need to be revisited since nothing about that changes through 90% of the timelines." Paradox reminds the Kwami.
"That's true, I guess Alix bringing back the Guardians' siblings would be the next big thing since Plasmius starts making his next move not much later." Fluff remarks.
"He has been pretty quiet recently." Paradox agrees not liking that Plasmius was keeping himself off the radar.
Alix shrugs, "Eh, he'll screw it up somehow. Most of his team is barely even considered a threat unless you let Spectra get into your head."
Paradox winces remembering one incident where he fell victim to her tactics. "Yes, she is good at doing that." He mutters not liking that woman.
"All people can be dangerous when given the proper tools." Clockwork reminds them.
"Too true my old friend." Paradox smiles and looks at Alix. "Either way, the Avengers should be fighting and chasing after Hulk pretty soon, but we got other things to focus on than things that."
Alix shrugs, "Eh, better go get ready for my engagement then."
Fluff raises an eyebrow at her partner. "But he doesn't propose to you for another year."
"I know." Alix smirks and walks away getting a soft giggle from Fluff and a chuckle from Paradox.
"Ah young love, one would think we would be sick of that, but Alix's love story is more interesting than even Danny's love story."
Clockwork shifts from an old man into a kid and smiles, "Indeed."
It is about time I updated, huh? Sorry for the delay people, but real life will do that to you. Plus, it was hard to find free time to write. This was mostly filler, but it does draw up some story plots coming up for you guys to enjoy in the future. I hope everyone enjoyed, and R&R