p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Good afternoon. You are gathered here today to carry out the largest operation in UN Defender Command history. 10 squads of Defenders plus the L squad will be mounting an assault on XANA's main supercomputer in Greenland, with the goal of infecting it with a virus to destroy XANA," Weitzler says, looking out at the soldiers gathered before him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""This is XANA's base in Greenland. The large walled compound has combat robots patrolling the wall, Tarantulas posted every 50 feet for anti aircraft/rapid fire defense, and laser cannons studding the wall. The forests surrounding the base are patrolled by spherical, spiked sentry robots," Weitzler continues, pointing to images captured from their earlier scouting mission./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Our goal is simple: infiltrate the base and infect its supercomputer with a virus to wipe out XANA. Paris squad 1, 2, and L squad will be carrying several copies of the anti-virus, and will physically deliver it to the supercomputer. All other squads will fight with XANA's troops to buy us the time we need to upload and run the program," Weitzler continues/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"A Defender raises his hand: "This mission is suicide. There are too many troops for us to take out. Why can't we have the air force bombard the compound to soften it up for us? Why can't we attack a different, less well defended computer?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Very good questions. If the facility is aerially bombarded, there is a risk that the base's computer could be damaged. That is the only computer powerful enough to run the antivirus software that will defeat XANA. Because of that I cannot risk damaging that computer OR attacking a different base," Weitzler responds./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Responding to the suicidality of this mission. I will be up on the front lines leading this assault side by side with you. Whatever risk you're taking, I am also taking. In fact, I will be leading the squads going into the base, which will be even riskier than what you are doing outside," Weitzler continues./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Any other questions?" Weitzler asks, looking around the room./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"When he sees no more hands raised, he finishes: "Good. We fly out to Greenland tomorrow. Once there, the Danish and US militaries will be meeting us to escort us towards the enemy compound. Your squad leaders have more information on your assignments. Dismissed," Weitzler says, looking out at the soldiers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""I have 3 unidentified contacts inbound," A young US army radar technician calls./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Stop the snowcat. I will deal with them," Lieutenant Weitzler orders as he pops the door and jumps out of his snowcat./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Keying in his optical enhancers, he can make out 3 grey spheres flying towards the convoy of snowcats, clustered tightly together. Pivoting on his right leg, he extends his left leg and places 3 target locks on the spheres. Once they are in range, he lets out 3 quick bursts with his anti-armor laser, burning a bright red hole in their shiny silver metal. The 3 spheres fall out of the sky and slam into the thick snow bank. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""We are 5 klicks out from the base. Everyone, disembark from your snowcats, we will proceed on foot. Snowcats, pull back another 2 klicks and hold there unless fired upon or given further notice," Weitzler orders into his microphone. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As the Lyoko warriors dismount from the snowcats, Jeremie calls up their vehicles, and they join Weitzler at the front of the formation. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Once everyone is in position, they set out at the maximum speed that Defenders can move at and begin to cover the last few kilometers to the base. Every now and then, the Defenders open up with their cutting lasers to take out a sentry. As they approach, Paris squad 1 peels off and moves towards the trees for cover. 6 of the squads slow down, as 3 of the other squads continue on, heading to the other sides of the base to serve as distractions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As the main force closes in on the base, the gate slams open, and combat robots, Bloks, and Tarantulas flood out. Using his bright purple overboard, Odd flies ahead of the Defenders and strafes the wall with his laser arrows, taking out multiple Tarantulas. His overboard takes several hits from red lasers, and he jumps off from it right before it slams into a column of combat robots. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The sides of the base erupt in blue laser fire as the other Defender squads start picking off laser cannons. Using her fans, Yumi destroys the 2 Krabs guarding the rapidly closing gate. As the Defenders close in, XANA's army opens fire with its pink and red lasers. The Defenders respond with their own salvo of blue lasers as they dodge the laser shots./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The wall mounted laser cannons open fire and indiscriminately sweep red beams of death across XANA's army and the Defenders. Lieutenant Weitzler dodges out of the way of the beams and pivots on his right leg, while extending his left. He systematically fires bursts of his bright blue anti-armor laser at the laser cannons, until he has taken out all the cannons flanking the gate. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"In the nick of time he dodges a flurry of red laser bolts coming from the 3 blue praying mantis type creatures flying overhead. Floating on her pink wings, Aelita fires 3 large pink energy fields at them and they blow up. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Thank you!" Weitzler shouts as she flies off to continue strafing the wall. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Out of the corner of his eye, Weitzler sees the gate to XANA's compound slowly grind open again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Now's our chance, all available Defenders, neutralize XANA's army as it comes out of the gate. Once clear, Paris Squads 1 and 2 surge in and infiltrate the base," Weitzler orders into his microphone. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"All the Defenders converge in front of the gate. As XANA's army marches out the gate, the Defenders open fire, shredding each and everyone of them. At the tail end of the second wave, 6 Megatanks come rolling out of the gate, and form a large V shaped formation. As they open up, the Defenders open fire with their anti-armor lasers, sending deadly bolts of blue energy into their eye of XANA. The 6 Megatanks all shut down without firing a single laser, and the Defenders surge into the compound. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Whatever you do, do not lose control of this gate. Paris squads 1 and 2 on me to finish this," Weitzler says into this microphone as he leads his squad and the now dismounted Lyoko warriors towards the squat gray building in the middle of the compound./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Trant slams into the door with her shoulder, forcing it open. Behind her, L'hopital and Rundell open fire with their cutting lasers, cutting down the light brown Creepers. Inside they find a long staircase descending deep underground. With L'hopital, Rundell, and Trant in front, they rapidly descend the seemingly endless flights of stairs, deep into the underground. At the bottom of the stairs, they find a corridor going in 2 different directions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Weitzler calls into his microphone: "Jeremie, which way do we go?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"After waiting 15 seconds, he calls again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""We must be too deep for the radio to get reception. Booker, Clawson, Blanc secure the staircase. The rest of my squad and the Lyoko warriors will go left, Sergeant D'Hondt, your squad will go right," Weitzler orders. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The Defenders set off down their corridors, fingers curled into laser firing position. As they creep down their corridor, sensors tuned for the slightest changes, they encounter no resistance, leading Weitzler to remark: "This seems too easy,"./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"At the end of the corridor they come across 2 combat robots standing guard in front of a room. 12 beams of bright blue laser lance out from the curled fingers of the Defenders, dropping the 2 guards to the ground. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Entering the room, the Defenders emerge into a tall cavern. In the back of the cavern sits a massive, glowing supercomputer, with red eyes of XANA glaring out from the monitors./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"In the middle of the room sits a line of Tarantulas, with lasers all locked on the Defenders. Mounted on one of them sits William, prominently holding his zweihander. Behind him stands a tall, tan, muscular man with blonde hair. In the middle of his eyes is the eye of style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""I've been expecting you," The man says in a deep, flat voice. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Sergeant D'Hondt's squad creeps along the corridor./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""What's that sound?" Boucher calls out as she notices a metallic scratching sound coming from above. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""I don't know, but I hear it coming from behind us," Gauthier calls out./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Formation Delta 6" Sergeant D'Hondt whispers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The Defenders move themselves so that 3 of them are positioned facing the front, 3 facing behind, and 3 facing the top./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As the sounds rapidly get louder and louder, the Defenders spot gray and brown spiders surging towards them. They open up with their lasers. 3 of the spiders drop from the ceiling and land on top of the Defenders. The nanocomputers take control of the Defenders and they rapidly dodge the sharp points of the spiders' legs. Gauthier is able to free her legs and delivers a hard kick into the spider, pushing it off of her. She opens fire with a bright blue bolt of her anti-armor laser killing the spider. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As she stands up, more spiders drop from the ceiling. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Paris Squad 1, I have found the computer room, and the path should be clear," Weitzler calls into his microphone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""I'm afraid your friends will be of little help to you," The blond man responds in a flat voice./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""I will crush your little attack force. I will kill you and the Lyoko Warriors, and then I will kill all of humanity," The man continues./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Surrender XANA, it's over. Even now my Defenders are securing your above ground compound, and blasting your combat troops to bits," Weitzler calls firmly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Never!" The man finishes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"At that moment the Tarantulas all open fire, sending a line of red lasers at the Defenders and Lyoko warriors. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Compound is secure, Sergeant," a Defender calls out. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Sir, I have movement coming from above!" A Defender screams./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"70 wasp-like creatures come flying out from the clouds, streaking beams of red death across the compound. The Defenders all move into position and open fire, responding with beams of deadly blue laser. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_ /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Before they can even think about it the Defenders swivel out of the way of the bright red lasers. Rundell and Shaw go down as Aelita activates her fluffy pink wings and starts strafing the Tarantulas with her bright pink energy fields. Odd opens fire with his laser arrows. Weitzler and the other Defenders pivot around on their right legs and open up at the Tarantulas with their left, gunning them down as they alternate between shooting and dodging. Ulrich stands in front of Yumi, parrying lasers as she throws her fans at the Tarantulas. During this whole process the blond man is laughing maniacally and snapping his fingers, causing wire frameworks for Tarantulas to appear midair. Seconds later they fill in and drop onto the battlefield, filling in the gaps left by their dead style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"One of the Tarantulas aims his laser straight up and lets loose with a stream of laser blasts aimed directly at Aelita. As she dodges, a second opens up and a bright red laser blast slams into her wing, sending her spiralling out of control. She slams into the ground directly behind the line of Tarantulas and William calmly walks over to her, raising his zweihander to come in for the kill. Lieutenant Weitzler sees this and stands up. Curling his hands into firing position, he lets loose with a single blast of his arc thrower. A millisecond later, a bright blue bolt of lightning comes flying out of his finger and slams into William. He lets out a deep scream and falls to the ground, as his body is coated in bright blue electricity. Weitzler charges at the line of Tarantulas and pushes off from the ground sending him arching right above one of the Tarantulas. Before it can react he opens up with a beam of his anti-armor laser, slicing the Tarantula in 2. He lands behind the wall a split second later and charges straight towards Aelita. He brakes to a stop next to her, picks up william by the scruff of his neck and throws him as hard as he can at the back of a Tarantula./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As the Tarantula pivots to start shooting at him, he strafes a pinpoint beam from his cutting laser across the monster's head, slicing the top off and causing it to deactivate./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Aelita, activate the program, I will deal with these 2!" Weitzler shouts as he automatically dodges a purple bolt of electricity that the blond man shot at him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The blond man charges at Weitzler and makes a series of quick jabs that are quickly parried by Weitzler. The blond man then forms a fist and punches Weitzler hard in the chest. Weitzler flexes his body to lessen the impact of the punch as he uses its force to enter into a flip. When his body becomes parallel with the floor he kicks hard with his left leg, slamming it squarely into the blond man's chest. As his heel makes contact, he lets loose with a quick burst of his anti-armor laser, sending the blond man flying against the wall as he rapidly pixelates in and out. As Weitzler nails the landing he flexes out of the way of William's zweihander, causing it to become firmly embedded in the floor. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Do you hear that?" Booker asks Clawson as he activates his sound amplifiers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""It almost sounds like two pieces of metal scratching against each other," Clawson responds./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As they comment on this they rearrange themselves to form a loose pyramid formation in front of the stairway./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"30 seconds later they see an army of spiders scuttling towards them from the right tunnel. They immediately let loose with a barrage of blue cutting and anti-armor lasers which temporarily stem the tide of the robots./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Attention all units. The staircase is under attack, requesting immediate assistance!" Booker says into his microphone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""...Requesting immediate assistance," Weitzler hears over his headset./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Aelita, XANA is trying to block our exit! It's now or never!" Weitzler shouts to Aelita as he positions himself to block any attempt by XANA to interfere with her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Got it!" Aelita shouts as she plugs her copy of the anti-XANA program into the super computer and starts booting it up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Sensing XANA's imminent demise, William and the blond start moving towards the supercomputer. As the blond man approaches Weitzler, Weitzler lets loose with a blast from his arc thrower sending the blond man to the ground. Weitzler grabs him by the ankles and starts spinning him around in circles until he slams into William, sending both of them flying into the nearby wall. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The Tarantulas immediately turn around and start positioning themselves so that they can blow the supercomputer and prevent the anti-virus from killing XANA. Using this opportunity, the remaining Defenders and L squad open up with precision bursts of their lasers and other weapons which causes the Tarantulas to quickly fall. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""How long do you need Aelita?" Weitzler shouts as over the din of combat he hears an army of robotic feet marching towards the computer room./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""20 more seconds and the process will be irreversible," Aelita shouts as the Defenders drop the last of the Tarantulas. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Trant, Gadbois, buy Ms. Stones some time. "span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWeitzler orders/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The 2 Defenders leap into action and step out into the corridor where they open up with their ultrasonics. With the amplification caused by being so deep underground, the robotic army falls into complete chaos as the 2 Defenders drop to their knees as they are struck by backwash from their barrage./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"After 15 seconds the blond man disintegrates into a cloud of black smoke as a second cloud streams out of William and a third cloud emerges from the supercomputer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"After another 5 seconds the cloud dissipates as the compound begins to shake./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Up above the Defenders are clustered into one clump as scores of Hornets keep on surrounding them and raining deadly red lasers on them just as fast as they shoot them down. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""We can't keep this up much longer," A Defender shouts as he looks at his dead and injured squadmates./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""We have to buy the Lieutenant's team as much time as we can! Failure is not an option," a Sergeant responds as he shoots down 3 Hornets in one sweep of his laser./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"10 seconds later the Hornets fall out of the sky as the Defenders look on in confusion. Immediately the ground begins to shake as the Defenders break their formation and check on their injured comrades./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""What's going on?!" Odd shouts/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""It looks like XANA was using his powers to keep this complex up," Weitzler explains./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""L Squad, make contact with Booker at the staircase, have him relay orders to the Defenders above ground to fall back from the complex, and get yourselves out of here! Trant, Gadbois, L'Hopital on me to check on Paris Squad 1!" Weitzler continues./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As everyone runs off to follow his orders, Weitzler leans down to check on his fallen squadmates. Seeing they are both dead, he slings their bodies over his shoulders as he charges after Trant, Gadbois, and L'Hopital. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Staring at the carcasses of the fallen spiders and the shaking walls of the complex, Blanc remarks "What just happened?"./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"After about 30 seconds he sees Ulrich running straight at him with a streak of yellow trailing behind him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Orders from Weitzler. Order the Defenders above the complex to fall back and get yourselves out of here! He thinks the complex is going to collapse!" Ulrich shouts as without breaking stride he runs up the stairs./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Standing at the base of the stairs, Booker calls into his microphone "Paris-Lead has activated the Omega signal. The complex is about to collapse!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"After transmitting the omega signal and giving the other L squad members a head start, he and his two counterparts charge up the stairs with all the speed that they can muster./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""All Defenders. We have been given the Omega signal. Grab every fallen Defender that you can and evacuate to the snowcats!" A Sergeant shouts./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Using her infrareds, Trant quickly picks up on the bodies of their fallen comrades. Working precisely and quickly, the Defenders dig out the fallen members of Paris Squad 1 and sling them onto their shoulders. As she slings Gauthier onto his shoulder she hears her groan slightly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""That's the last of them," Trant calls as a few small pieces of the ceiling tumble to the ground./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The Defenders charge towards the exit as fast as they can./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As they exit the stairway, cracks start to form in the ground as the complex begins to collapse onto itself. Luckily the Defenders are able to outpace the collapsing complex as they run towards the line of Defenders in the distance./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Once back at the snowcats, the medics set to work trying to save the injured while the remaining Defenders see to preparing their fallen comrades for burial./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""As expected casualties were high," a Sergeant whispers to Weitzler as he inserts an IV into Gauthier./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""This is XANA's base in Greenland. The large walled compound has combat robots patrolling the wall, Tarantulas posted every 50 feet for anti aircraft/rapid fire defense, and laser cannons studding the wall. The forests surrounding the base are patrolled by spherical, spiked sentry robots," Weitzler continues, pointing to images captured from their earlier scouting mission./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Our goal is simple: infiltrate the base and infect its supercomputer with a virus to wipe out XANA. Paris squad 1, 2, and L squad will be carrying several copies of the anti-virus, and will physically deliver it to the supercomputer. All other squads will fight with XANA's troops to buy us the time we need to upload and run the program," Weitzler continues/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"A Defender raises his hand: "This mission is suicide. There are too many troops for us to take out. Why can't we have the air force bombard the compound to soften it up for us? Why can't we attack a different, less well defended computer?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Very good questions. If the facility is aerially bombarded, there is a risk that the base's computer could be damaged. That is the only computer powerful enough to run the antivirus software that will defeat XANA. Because of that I cannot risk damaging that computer OR attacking a different base," Weitzler responds./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Responding to the suicidality of this mission. I will be up on the front lines leading this assault side by side with you. Whatever risk you're taking, I am also taking. In fact, I will be leading the squads going into the base, which will be even riskier than what you are doing outside," Weitzler continues./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Any other questions?" Weitzler asks, looking around the room./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"When he sees no more hands raised, he finishes: "Good. We fly out to Greenland tomorrow. Once there, the Danish and US militaries will be meeting us to escort us towards the enemy compound. Your squad leaders have more information on your assignments. Dismissed," Weitzler says, looking out at the soldiers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""I have 3 unidentified contacts inbound," A young US army radar technician calls./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Stop the snowcat. I will deal with them," Lieutenant Weitzler orders as he pops the door and jumps out of his snowcat./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Keying in his optical enhancers, he can make out 3 grey spheres flying towards the convoy of snowcats, clustered tightly together. Pivoting on his right leg, he extends his left leg and places 3 target locks on the spheres. Once they are in range, he lets out 3 quick bursts with his anti-armor laser, burning a bright red hole in their shiny silver metal. The 3 spheres fall out of the sky and slam into the thick snow bank. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""We are 5 klicks out from the base. Everyone, disembark from your snowcats, we will proceed on foot. Snowcats, pull back another 2 klicks and hold there unless fired upon or given further notice," Weitzler orders into his microphone. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As the Lyoko warriors dismount from the snowcats, Jeremie calls up their vehicles, and they join Weitzler at the front of the formation. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Once everyone is in position, they set out at the maximum speed that Defenders can move at and begin to cover the last few kilometers to the base. Every now and then, the Defenders open up with their cutting lasers to take out a sentry. As they approach, Paris squad 1 peels off and moves towards the trees for cover. 6 of the squads slow down, as 3 of the other squads continue on, heading to the other sides of the base to serve as distractions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As the main force closes in on the base, the gate slams open, and combat robots, Bloks, and Tarantulas flood out. Using his bright purple overboard, Odd flies ahead of the Defenders and strafes the wall with his laser arrows, taking out multiple Tarantulas. His overboard takes several hits from red lasers, and he jumps off from it right before it slams into a column of combat robots. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The sides of the base erupt in blue laser fire as the other Defender squads start picking off laser cannons. Using her fans, Yumi destroys the 2 Krabs guarding the rapidly closing gate. As the Defenders close in, XANA's army opens fire with its pink and red lasers. The Defenders respond with their own salvo of blue lasers as they dodge the laser shots./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The wall mounted laser cannons open fire and indiscriminately sweep red beams of death across XANA's army and the Defenders. Lieutenant Weitzler dodges out of the way of the beams and pivots on his right leg, while extending his left. He systematically fires bursts of his bright blue anti-armor laser at the laser cannons, until he has taken out all the cannons flanking the gate. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"In the nick of time he dodges a flurry of red laser bolts coming from the 3 blue praying mantis type creatures flying overhead. Floating on her pink wings, Aelita fires 3 large pink energy fields at them and they blow up. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Thank you!" Weitzler shouts as she flies off to continue strafing the wall. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Out of the corner of his eye, Weitzler sees the gate to XANA's compound slowly grind open again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Now's our chance, all available Defenders, neutralize XANA's army as it comes out of the gate. Once clear, Paris Squads 1 and 2 surge in and infiltrate the base," Weitzler orders into his microphone. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"All the Defenders converge in front of the gate. As XANA's army marches out the gate, the Defenders open fire, shredding each and everyone of them. At the tail end of the second wave, 6 Megatanks come rolling out of the gate, and form a large V shaped formation. As they open up, the Defenders open fire with their anti-armor lasers, sending deadly bolts of blue energy into their eye of XANA. The 6 Megatanks all shut down without firing a single laser, and the Defenders surge into the compound. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Whatever you do, do not lose control of this gate. Paris squads 1 and 2 on me to finish this," Weitzler says into this microphone as he leads his squad and the now dismounted Lyoko warriors towards the squat gray building in the middle of the compound./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Trant slams into the door with her shoulder, forcing it open. Behind her, L'hopital and Rundell open fire with their cutting lasers, cutting down the light brown Creepers. Inside they find a long staircase descending deep underground. With L'hopital, Rundell, and Trant in front, they rapidly descend the seemingly endless flights of stairs, deep into the underground. At the bottom of the stairs, they find a corridor going in 2 different directions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Weitzler calls into his microphone: "Jeremie, which way do we go?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"After waiting 15 seconds, he calls again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""We must be too deep for the radio to get reception. Booker, Clawson, Blanc secure the staircase. The rest of my squad and the Lyoko warriors will go left, Sergeant D'Hondt, your squad will go right," Weitzler orders. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The Defenders set off down their corridors, fingers curled into laser firing position. As they creep down their corridor, sensors tuned for the slightest changes, they encounter no resistance, leading Weitzler to remark: "This seems too easy,"./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"At the end of the corridor they come across 2 combat robots standing guard in front of a room. 12 beams of bright blue laser lance out from the curled fingers of the Defenders, dropping the 2 guards to the ground. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Entering the room, the Defenders emerge into a tall cavern. In the back of the cavern sits a massive, glowing supercomputer, with red eyes of XANA glaring out from the monitors./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"In the middle of the room sits a line of Tarantulas, with lasers all locked on the Defenders. Mounted on one of them sits William, prominently holding his zweihander. Behind him stands a tall, tan, muscular man with blonde hair. In the middle of his eyes is the eye of style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""I've been expecting you," The man says in a deep, flat voice. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Sergeant D'Hondt's squad creeps along the corridor./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""What's that sound?" Boucher calls out as she notices a metallic scratching sound coming from above. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""I don't know, but I hear it coming from behind us," Gauthier calls out./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Formation Delta 6" Sergeant D'Hondt whispers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The Defenders move themselves so that 3 of them are positioned facing the front, 3 facing behind, and 3 facing the top./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As the sounds rapidly get louder and louder, the Defenders spot gray and brown spiders surging towards them. They open up with their lasers. 3 of the spiders drop from the ceiling and land on top of the Defenders. The nanocomputers take control of the Defenders and they rapidly dodge the sharp points of the spiders' legs. Gauthier is able to free her legs and delivers a hard kick into the spider, pushing it off of her. She opens fire with a bright blue bolt of her anti-armor laser killing the spider. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As she stands up, more spiders drop from the ceiling. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Paris Squad 1, I have found the computer room, and the path should be clear," Weitzler calls into his microphone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""I'm afraid your friends will be of little help to you," The blond man responds in a flat voice./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""I will crush your little attack force. I will kill you and the Lyoko Warriors, and then I will kill all of humanity," The man continues./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Surrender XANA, it's over. Even now my Defenders are securing your above ground compound, and blasting your combat troops to bits," Weitzler calls firmly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Never!" The man finishes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"At that moment the Tarantulas all open fire, sending a line of red lasers at the Defenders and Lyoko warriors. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Compound is secure, Sergeant," a Defender calls out. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Sir, I have movement coming from above!" A Defender screams./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"70 wasp-like creatures come flying out from the clouds, streaking beams of red death across the compound. The Defenders all move into position and open fire, responding with beams of deadly blue laser. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_ /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Before they can even think about it the Defenders swivel out of the way of the bright red lasers. Rundell and Shaw go down as Aelita activates her fluffy pink wings and starts strafing the Tarantulas with her bright pink energy fields. Odd opens fire with his laser arrows. Weitzler and the other Defenders pivot around on their right legs and open up at the Tarantulas with their left, gunning them down as they alternate between shooting and dodging. Ulrich stands in front of Yumi, parrying lasers as she throws her fans at the Tarantulas. During this whole process the blond man is laughing maniacally and snapping his fingers, causing wire frameworks for Tarantulas to appear midair. Seconds later they fill in and drop onto the battlefield, filling in the gaps left by their dead style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"One of the Tarantulas aims his laser straight up and lets loose with a stream of laser blasts aimed directly at Aelita. As she dodges, a second opens up and a bright red laser blast slams into her wing, sending her spiralling out of control. She slams into the ground directly behind the line of Tarantulas and William calmly walks over to her, raising his zweihander to come in for the kill. Lieutenant Weitzler sees this and stands up. Curling his hands into firing position, he lets loose with a single blast of his arc thrower. A millisecond later, a bright blue bolt of lightning comes flying out of his finger and slams into William. He lets out a deep scream and falls to the ground, as his body is coated in bright blue electricity. Weitzler charges at the line of Tarantulas and pushes off from the ground sending him arching right above one of the Tarantulas. Before it can react he opens up with a beam of his anti-armor laser, slicing the Tarantula in 2. He lands behind the wall a split second later and charges straight towards Aelita. He brakes to a stop next to her, picks up william by the scruff of his neck and throws him as hard as he can at the back of a Tarantula./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As the Tarantula pivots to start shooting at him, he strafes a pinpoint beam from his cutting laser across the monster's head, slicing the top off and causing it to deactivate./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Aelita, activate the program, I will deal with these 2!" Weitzler shouts as he automatically dodges a purple bolt of electricity that the blond man shot at him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The blond man charges at Weitzler and makes a series of quick jabs that are quickly parried by Weitzler. The blond man then forms a fist and punches Weitzler hard in the chest. Weitzler flexes his body to lessen the impact of the punch as he uses its force to enter into a flip. When his body becomes parallel with the floor he kicks hard with his left leg, slamming it squarely into the blond man's chest. As his heel makes contact, he lets loose with a quick burst of his anti-armor laser, sending the blond man flying against the wall as he rapidly pixelates in and out. As Weitzler nails the landing he flexes out of the way of William's zweihander, causing it to become firmly embedded in the floor. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Do you hear that?" Booker asks Clawson as he activates his sound amplifiers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""It almost sounds like two pieces of metal scratching against each other," Clawson responds./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As they comment on this they rearrange themselves to form a loose pyramid formation in front of the stairway./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"30 seconds later they see an army of spiders scuttling towards them from the right tunnel. They immediately let loose with a barrage of blue cutting and anti-armor lasers which temporarily stem the tide of the robots./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Attention all units. The staircase is under attack, requesting immediate assistance!" Booker says into his microphone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""...Requesting immediate assistance," Weitzler hears over his headset./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Aelita, XANA is trying to block our exit! It's now or never!" Weitzler shouts to Aelita as he positions himself to block any attempt by XANA to interfere with her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Got it!" Aelita shouts as she plugs her copy of the anti-XANA program into the super computer and starts booting it up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Sensing XANA's imminent demise, William and the blond start moving towards the supercomputer. As the blond man approaches Weitzler, Weitzler lets loose with a blast from his arc thrower sending the blond man to the ground. Weitzler grabs him by the ankles and starts spinning him around in circles until he slams into William, sending both of them flying into the nearby wall. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The Tarantulas immediately turn around and start positioning themselves so that they can blow the supercomputer and prevent the anti-virus from killing XANA. Using this opportunity, the remaining Defenders and L squad open up with precision bursts of their lasers and other weapons which causes the Tarantulas to quickly fall. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""How long do you need Aelita?" Weitzler shouts as over the din of combat he hears an army of robotic feet marching towards the computer room./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""20 more seconds and the process will be irreversible," Aelita shouts as the Defenders drop the last of the Tarantulas. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Trant, Gadbois, buy Ms. Stones some time. "span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWeitzler orders/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The 2 Defenders leap into action and step out into the corridor where they open up with their ultrasonics. With the amplification caused by being so deep underground, the robotic army falls into complete chaos as the 2 Defenders drop to their knees as they are struck by backwash from their barrage./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"After 15 seconds the blond man disintegrates into a cloud of black smoke as a second cloud streams out of William and a third cloud emerges from the supercomputer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"After another 5 seconds the cloud dissipates as the compound begins to shake./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Up above the Defenders are clustered into one clump as scores of Hornets keep on surrounding them and raining deadly red lasers on them just as fast as they shoot them down. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""We can't keep this up much longer," A Defender shouts as he looks at his dead and injured squadmates./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""We have to buy the Lieutenant's team as much time as we can! Failure is not an option," a Sergeant responds as he shoots down 3 Hornets in one sweep of his laser./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"10 seconds later the Hornets fall out of the sky as the Defenders look on in confusion. Immediately the ground begins to shake as the Defenders break their formation and check on their injured comrades./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""What's going on?!" Odd shouts/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""It looks like XANA was using his powers to keep this complex up," Weitzler explains./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""L Squad, make contact with Booker at the staircase, have him relay orders to the Defenders above ground to fall back from the complex, and get yourselves out of here! Trant, Gadbois, L'Hopital on me to check on Paris Squad 1!" Weitzler continues./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As everyone runs off to follow his orders, Weitzler leans down to check on his fallen squadmates. Seeing they are both dead, he slings their bodies over his shoulders as he charges after Trant, Gadbois, and L'Hopital. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Staring at the carcasses of the fallen spiders and the shaking walls of the complex, Blanc remarks "What just happened?"./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"After about 30 seconds he sees Ulrich running straight at him with a streak of yellow trailing behind him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""Orders from Weitzler. Order the Defenders above the complex to fall back and get yourselves out of here! He thinks the complex is going to collapse!" Ulrich shouts as without breaking stride he runs up the stairs./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Standing at the base of the stairs, Booker calls into his microphone "Paris-Lead has activated the Omega signal. The complex is about to collapse!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"After transmitting the omega signal and giving the other L squad members a head start, he and his two counterparts charge up the stairs with all the speed that they can muster./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""All Defenders. We have been given the Omega signal. Grab every fallen Defender that you can and evacuate to the snowcats!" A Sergeant shouts./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Using her infrareds, Trant quickly picks up on the bodies of their fallen comrades. Working precisely and quickly, the Defenders dig out the fallen members of Paris Squad 1 and sling them onto their shoulders. As she slings Gauthier onto his shoulder she hears her groan slightly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""That's the last of them," Trant calls as a few small pieces of the ceiling tumble to the ground./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"The Defenders charge towards the exit as fast as they can./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"As they exit the stairway, cracks start to form in the ground as the complex begins to collapse onto itself. Luckily the Defenders are able to outpace the collapsing complex as they run towards the line of Defenders in the distance./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"_/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN"Once back at the snowcats, the medics set to work trying to save the injured while the remaining Defenders see to preparing their fallen comrades for burial./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN""As expected casualties were high," a Sergeant whispers to Weitzler as he inserts an IV into Gauthier./span/p