It was in the dead of night at Kadic as the heroes there were at the side of a wall as they started spray painting something on it.
"Wow...never thought we'd be defacing school property with graffiti." Kaminari said.
"Uh, don't you think this is a bad idea?" Mahiru asked.
"Look, I need an excuse in order to stay at Kadic so I can stay close to Aelita." Jeremie said.
"I get that, but I hope you know what you're doing." Mahiru said before she heard noises. "It's Jim. Kaminari, let's hide."
"On it." he said as they darted off as Jim caught Jeremie alone with a large picture of him with bunny ears.
"What in the? Oh, think this is funny, huh? Well guess what? Forget going home, you're staying here to clean this entire mess." Jim said.
The Next morning….
"You guys are lucky. Odd, you get to go see your parents on the other side of the planet, Yumi gets a vacation in the mountains, you guys get to spend a week on a ship and that leaves me with a whole week of math tutoring." Ulrich said.
"Well, you've got us to help you if anything." Genis said.
"But Sissi's staying behind too. Somehow she got herself in trouble on purpose." Mahiru said. "That could be a problem, considering she might try to expose us."
"That's not an issue. We'll be staying on the Sunny so we'll be ready to help. And also...she has no idea about the rest of us." Sunset said.
"I guess I can rest easy then." Mahiru said. "Still, something's bothering me. What Bat said about the Lost Thieves winging it… I'm a little confused if they really don't have a plan or if they're just hiding something from us."
"You weren't the only one wondering that. Claiming themselves as villains, teaming up with XANA, this just doesn't seem like their style." Francisca said. "I've faced Artemis before so I know this for a fact."
"Yeah, this just isn't like him. There's got to be something going on, but what?" David asked.
"I have to agree with David on this." Jexi said on the comm. "But the fact is we lack too many pieces of the puzzle to solve it at the start."
"So, we just go through the motions like normal and everything will get sorted out." David said.
"Yeah. Always worked before, no reason it shouldn't now." Jexi said. "Anyway, just enjoy the break. We'll be ready to act when necessary."
And so, the heroes enjoyed the break while Jeremie and Sissi carried out their punishments. And while this went on, a figure walked through the forest as they slowly approached the school. "So they're posing as students now. I just need to set the trap."
"A trap? Not going to happen." a voice said as emerging from the forest were Perfuma and Chopper.
"Huh...Ah! I know her. She's one of the Lost Thieves." Chopper said as the figure stepped into the light. "Kumo."
"I see. So they weren't all students. That makes much more sense." Kumo said.
"I see, she's a Spider…" Perfuma said. "That's very interesting. But we'll...ah!" she said before finding herself and Chopper strung up in the trees.
"Did it even occur to you that I might have already been setting the trap on the way here?" Kumo asked. "Ah...that's right. It's supposed to be a holiday here. Seems I came at the wrong time."
"You don't have to do this!" Chopper said.
"I am an assassin. But I am loyal to Arthur and the thieves first. We may have been allies during that war but I must do what I am asked." Kumo said.
"Why would you even serve him? Aren't assassins loyal only to themselves?" Perfuma asked.
"Shut up." she growled tightening the threads around Perfuma. "Don't you dare talk that way about him."
Kumo just glared at them in anger as a scene showed her tired and beaten inside of a dirty room with a body next to her.
"Hey...are you okay?" a voice asked as she weakly looked up to Arthur. "Were...you the one who did this to them? They must have put you through so much."
"Are you...going to kill me?" she asked.
"No. I'm not some monster." Arthur said before offering a hand as light shined behind him. "Come with me...and I can give you a place to belong."
"He is my light...and you will never ever talk bad about him!" Kumo shouted.
"Chopper… what do we do?" Perfuma asked.
"This isn't good. I can't think straight. And we can't snap the threads, they're made of steel." Chopper said. "But I can somewhat tell how she uses it. She uses a tool that spreads the threads across the area. She sets it up so she can manipulate the threads however she sees fit."
Perfuma was struggling to maintain her vision and consciousness. "(This isn't good… I offended her and now it seems we're going to die. Are the enemies of the outside worlds really this strong…?)"
"Now...to finish the…" Kumo said before feeling dizzy as she fell to her knees. "What's going on? I feel dizzy. The air...something's off with the air."
"Huh?" Chopper said noticing the threads were loosening a bit. "What's going on he-" he said before sniffing the air. "We need to leave now!"
"Why? What's…." Perfuma said before coughing as Chopper quickly held his breath.
"I know this smell. It's a mix of several dangerous chemicals. If we stay here, we'll die. I'll have to do it." he thought before getting free as he changed into his Walk Point, scooping up Kumo and Perfuma and running off towards the Sunny.
"Seems this is a really bad spot we're in." Jexi said as Chopper started treating the two. "XANA's taken advantage of the moment and is using poison this time."
"It's lucky Chopper was able to save Perfuma and Kumo before they took in too much of that gas." Hope said. "I didn't want anyone dying…not even our enemies."
"On the subject of the poison gas cloud, has Jeremie located any active towers in Lyoko?" SE asked.
"We're connected to Lyoko too. It's the Forest Sector." Jexi said. "We need a three man team in there now."
"Say no more!" ZS declared, stepping up. "ZS is ready for action!"
"ZS going is perfect. The Poison Gas can't harm something that's already dead." Hope said.
"But who else can go?" Leanne said.
"I'll go as well." Fulgore said.
"I guess I'll go too. If only to keep him from endangering the mission." Cheetah said motioning to ZS.
"Hey, like I would do that when lives are on the line!" ZS replied. "Let's roll."
"Since Jeremie's still preoccupied by the gas...Miu, think you can get things running smoothly?" Miles asked.
"You can count on me!" Miu said.
The foursome soon reached the factory. Miu made her way to the supercomputer while Fulgore, Cheetah and ZS went to the scanners.
"Here we go! Transfer, Fulgore. Transfer, Barbara. Transfer, ZS. Scanner, Fulgore. Scanner, Barabara. Scanner, ZS. Virtualization!" Miu said.
"Seems we've made it in one piece." Fulgore said.
"Great! Now let's get to that tower." ZS replied.
"Yes...but it seems we might have some company." Fulgore said as several Kankerlats went marching towards them.
"Weak scuttlers…" Cheetah growled as she slashed her way through a few of them.
ZS followed suit, bashing several Kankerlats with his board before using a wind blast to blow one into a tree, shattering it. "We're getting close, which means there might be a Lost Thieves member waiting for us. Gotta look alive."
"Uh...that doesn't look like some Lost Thief." Fulgore said seeing a strange monster devouring the remaining Kankerlats and growing stronger.
"I heard about that one from Pit. It's an Underworld Guttler. It gets stronger by devouring its allies." Miu said.
After the Guttler finished eating the Kankerlats, it was big enough to crush everyone.
"This doesn't look good. Normal attacks might not work against this thing." Fulgore said. "Cheetah, it's time to launch a combo attack." he said activating his plasma claws.
"Agreed." Cheetah said as she and Fulgore jumped at the Guttler, slashing right through it multiple times before it exploded into nothing.
"Whoa…That was amazing." ZS said.
"Now, Aelita." Fulgore said.
Aelita quickly ran into the nearby tower where it was quickly deactivated. It wasn't soon after that the RTTP was launched, restarting at that night.
"That was close." Jexi said.
"No doubt. It would've been bad for everyone if the Gas spread." Hope said. "Hey…what happened to Kumo?"
"I would imagine the RTTP sent her back as well, she wasn't protected by the countershield." Sakura said.
"No...the countershield shields the Sunny and anyone wearing a com. She would have been protected. She already left by the time anyone noticed." Jexi said. "I even checked for threads but none were found. Seems she left without setting any traps."
"That doesn't make any sense. Kumo would've taken the opportunity to trap us all if she was able to slip out. Why did she spare us?" Zephyr said.
"If I had to guess...maybe she's grateful that Chopper saved her life and spared us because we saved her. She owed us her life… so she didn't have any reason to attack us." Hope said.
"You might be right about that. There was no sense in killing us considering we just saved her." Jexi said.
"But...she seemed like she was vengeful when I mentioned her being a servant to Arthur." Perfuma said.
"The Lost Thieves...they're a group made up from those society either shunned, gave up on and others pretty much joined for a sense of self. They have bonds that are thicker than water and thinner than blood." Noir said.
"Oh. I see…I'm sorry everyone. I shouldn't have put myself and Chopper in great danger like that." Perfuma said.
"You were trying to defend Jeremie and anyone at the school. You cannot be faulted for thinking of them." Jexi said.
"Risking your life for others…that's the merit of being a hero. You and the other members of the alliance are heroes, no doubt about that." Hope said.
"Merit of being a hero, huh…?" Mermista looked away.
"Something wrong, Mermista?" Leanne asked.
"Oh, uh…it's nothing, don't worry." Mermista assured.