Code: Wings 3 point 0

by Teen-Lyokofan7777

The vortex. Thanks to its mystery, the whole world knew about their secret. But what if it didn't stop there...? What if it alerted others from other universes to their existence? One mystery could give them the ride of their lives... literally. Cover by cutewolf1233 on deviantART.

3. Ride to the Loading Docks

Hunter Moebius and I don't own Code Lyoko, Maximum Ride, or Kaitlyn Belpois, but Hunter Moebius owns his own OC, as do I.

The next part was just a black hole. One minute I was at Kadic, getting tackled by the Erasers with my friends, the next… well… I don't know where I was. But I do remember that the crawl back to consciousness was a slow one. My eyes slowly opened, as if the whitecoats attached heavy weights to them, when they sedated me and my friends; almost as though I was telling my body to wake up, and it was yelling back, "Five more minutes, Cassidy!"

But where was I? Well, I wasn't even sure, at first. I felt whatever I was laying on moving underneath me, and I could hear these strange noises. It almost sounded like a car's engine, and tires against blacktop. If my brain had been more awake, I probably would've instantly realized I had been placed in the back of a sedan, after that whitecoat did whatever he did to me.

"Uh…" I moaned, trying to get a better look around. "Y-Yumi…? Odd…?"

Then I saw a weird-looking shadow move just a tiny bit, in front of me. "Ca-Cat Girl?"

I shook my head rapidly. "Odd!"

"Cassidy, are you okay?! I couldn't see what happened to you, novia…" His hand rubbed his neck. "Ouch!"

"That was a weird sedative, Ninja-Cat-Boy…" I felt like rubbing the back of my neck, to see what was left there. And in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have done that, either. "Ow… I guess this was the dirty tactic Sister talked about when she told me about your battle of my life and death, huh?"

He nodded. "Only theirs didn't knock them out; instead, it was kinda like laughing gas."

I tensed, shivering. "Don't remind me."

I felt his soft hand gently rub my back. At a time like this, it felt wonderful.

"Don't worry, Cat Girl," he cooed. "That was a long time ago."

Just then, another shadow shifted in front of us, followed by a whimper. My eyes widened. "Aelita?!" They harmed the sweetest of the sweet?! I know that I'm just a human, but… UGH!

"I-I don't know…" She sounded like she was half-asleep, after waking up from a nightmare. "What—what happened to us?"

"Thankfully nothing yet, but I think we're moving," I tried to reassure her.

Two more collective groans were heard, after that. Listening hard, my brain started to work just enough to let me figure out that it was Jeremie and Ulrich, who happened to land next to each other.

"Okay… who's the dork that thought my neck would be a good pincushion?" Samurai mumbled drowsily.

"No... I didn't stick the keys in the toilet... that was George..." Jeremie muttered next. Man, what was in the sedative they gave him?

Even Aelita was worried, as she looked over at him. "Jeremie?!"

Odd blinked, as though he was trying so hard not to laugh. "It's like what he said, except the roles have been reversed. He's...merely...stunned…"

But he couldn't hold back for long, and he soon lost it, bursting into laughter over Jeremie's random quip.

I swallowed my cackles as much as I could. "Yeah, Jeremie, let's try to roll with your uncle George…" I knew he didn't have an uncle by that name, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

"Huh?!" Finally, Einstein bolted awake. "What 'Uncle George?!'"

"Oh, uh… did I say 'Uncle George?' I meant… 'Valley Forge!' We were playing a game of 90 Second Alphabet and we got to the V's," I lied.

Jeremie just shrugged his shoulders. He was really confused, but at the same time, he didn't think his brain was running on all four cylinders, so he didn't stop to question it.

"I guess we really blew it this time," Odd lamented, as his voice fell.

"No, it was my fault. I should have curbed my impulses and waited until the Erasers and whitecoats were gone," I frowned. I guessed that "Aelita, you're a genius" was what alerted them to us trying to escape. I shouldn't have been so loud.

"You were just excited," Einstein tried to reassure me, as he put his hand on my shoulder. "That's all. We almost got away from them."

A high-pitched yawn hit the airwaves. Sounded like Sister was waking up, and I hoped she wouldn't be too freaked out, once she found out where she was.

"Sissi!" Jeremie was glad to see she had awakened, as well.

"J-Jeremie, dear… You really need to see the Princess of Pancakes…" Okay, Sister wasn't completely awake, yet...

"Sissi, what are you talking about?!" While Odd and I were seconds from laughing our heads off, again, Jeremie wasn't amused by that at all.

"The Princess of Pancakes, Jeremie, honey… Twilight Sparkle…"

That one got me good. I couldn't help but cackle at that one.

As I calmed down, I heard another familiar moan, this one a bit deeper. Looking over, I saw Yumi start to fidget.

"Yumi…" Ulrich slowly crawled over to his novia, a concerned look on his face.

"Yumi!" I panicked, jumping up and rushing to her.

Ulrich gently helped her sit up, as her eyes slowly began to open. "Yumi… are you okay?"

"Bit shaken, not stirred," she whispered, a mite quicker to wake up as she looked into his own. "Where's Cassidy?"

"Over here!" I shouted, wrapping her up into a hug, trembling.

Her arms slowly wrapped around me, in return. "You okay, Cassidy?"

"I'm—" At first, my shield immediately went up. However, considering that she was about to look through it, I forced it to fall. "I'm scared."

Those two words caused Odd, Aelita and Sister to crawl toward me, and join Yumi's warm hug. Even the geisha herself tightened her grip a bit, so her hug felt warmer. "I understand… where are we, anyway?"

"In a sedan…" I whimpered. "I didn't want anything like this to happen… I b-betrayed y-you all ag-again..."

I felt Aelita tighten her grip around me, sounding more awake this time. "You didn't know they were going to find out about us; none of us did."

"She's right, Cat Girl," Odd chimed in.

"Please don't blame yourself, dear sister," Sister jumped in, next. "It's not your fault."

"I think you all are right." Their words all worked together to calm me down a bit.

Yumi nodded, her chin nuzzling my hair. "If anything happens to you, we'll be ready."

And that's when two more moans, one sounding feminine, the other masculine, reached everyone's ears. It sounded an awful lot like Kaitlyn and Patrick.

"Cassidy?" Kaitlyn murmured. "Where's the puppy…?"

Almost as if on cue, Kiwi gave a small yip, like he was trying to answer her question. Mi novio's diggity dog was still full of life; I guessed the whitecoats couldn't sedate him? Kaitlyn! These whatever they ares didn't get me. They just put me in here.

"Apparently Kiwi is still up and about," I answered. "How about that?"

Odd broke from the hug, delighted his dog was safe and sound. "That's fantastic! Oh, I'm so glad you're okay, my little diggity-dog!"

Yumi softly rubbed my back. "Don't worry, everything's going to be okay. We won't let them get you, promise."

"Oh, but what if they probe my mind and—Oh…" I was getting more and more frantic. "Why did I unleash that monster…?!"

"Cassidy, that wasn't your fault!" Yumi cuddled me, trying to get me to relax as she kept softly rubbing my back. "If we could have stopped it, we would have. But that's in the past, now. We just have to deal with the present, and stop everything bad that happens, because of it!"

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to focus on Yumi's gentle embrace, and back rubs. "I just hope we can get away from here."

"We will." Jeremie was slightly determined. "Once we stop, we'll figure out where we are, and then find out how we can make a break for it. It shouldn't be too hard."

"I just hope they don't circumvent any undue attempt… They like brute force…"

Ulrich rubbed his knuckles against the palm of his other hand. "Well, we'll just have to hit them back harder!"

"Ulrich, I told you… We're human. The only ones that are a match to them are Max and her flock, or their own kind. We'd probably be in traction for a while if we try."

"Max and her flock?" He raised an eyebrow.

"They have wings, and they call their group The Flock," Yumi explained.

"So, the wings make you stronger?" Now he was scratching his head.

"Kinda, Samurai. Plus they have had training from Jeb before he disappeared." I raised my finger, still shaking.

I could tell that only confused him more. "Okay, okay, stop. Let's take this from the beginning, okay? Who's Jeb?"

"Jeb Batchelder is Max and Ari's biological but human father. Ari's an Eraser, but he is a good guy."

"Wait… so he's… one of… those guys?" He pointed to the Eraser that happened to be riding shotgun, up in the front of the sedan.

I nodded sheepishly. "But as I said, he had turned away from being evil. The sad part is that um…" Gulping, I trembled even more.

"He had fallen in battle in Germany," Yumi tactfully finished my sentence.

That made Samurai's eyes widen. "Oh…"

"Yes, any questions so far?"

"Uhh…" He was at a loss for words.

But that was okay, because in the next moment, another moan graced our ears. Looking over at the source of the noise, my ex-boyfriend, William, finally rejoined the world of the living.

"Did anybody order a tube sock?" he asked numbly.

I clenched my jaw, remembering the time that guy from Explo-Bat kicked me silly. Did they put other drugs in those sedatives? I didn't say anything as stupid as that.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" This was a new voice, but it was one I recognized, even if I was surprised to hear her voice. So, they had taken Sam, after all! And she really wasn't too happy about it, which I couldn't blame her for.

But in the state I was in, I really didn't want to see Sam get any madder than she was. I didn't know how scary she could be when she was angry, and I really didn't want to find out. She was scaring me badly enough as it was.

That was when Yumi started to softly rub my back again, this time with both hands. It definitely helped.

"Sam, he's just in a state. He'll be lucid in no time," Odd reassured.

"We just have to wait for the sedatives to wear off," Aelita added. "There's really no need to get angry over it."

Sam took a deep breath. "Okay, but I really don't like it here."

"Join the club; we've got jackets," Ulrich deadpanned.

"Ooh!" Odd felt like playing along. "Do they come in purple?"

"Yes, Odd… United States Georgia purple," he folded his arms, unamused.

While Ulrich and Odd continued to talk, I happened to notice something out of the corner of my eye. It looked like an extra shoe, colored black, with a green stripe running along the side. But it didn't look like anyone's shoe I recognized. My eyes followed the legs that the shoes were attached to, noticing khaki cargo pants, like Ulrich's used to be, along with a dark green hoodie, all of which was worn by someone I didn't know at all. He had black hair, green eyes, and a black shirt under his dark green hoodie, which was unzipped completely, that had a green, almost glowing, power light logo on it. At least, that's what it looked like. I could barely tell, because he was hugging his legs against his chest, looking a bit freaked out, just like the rest of us.

"Hi, there?" I managed to say, trying not to spook him further.

His head jolted up a bit, almost as if I surprised him, anyway. He looked straight at me, his fear-filled eyes blinking every few seconds. "Huh? Uh—w-wha?"

"Hi, there?" I repeated, feeling scared that I made him panic.

"Oh! Uh…" His calm voice was laced with fear and surprise, as he tried to compose himself. "H-hiya…"

"My name's Cassidy…um… Cassidy McGuire…" I attempted to take this a step at a time. "And wh-what's yours?"

He blinked, again. I could tell he was trying to calm himself, but having a hard time. "H-Hunter… uh… I'm Hunter… Moebius."

"That's a very nice name," Aelita came in.

He started to grin, but his breathing was still a bit shaky. "T-thanks…" He let out a slight nervous chuckle after that.

"You look a bit freaked out. Would you like to join us? We're trying to keep Cassidy from panicking, too," Yumi offered.

He quivered, a bit. "Y-y-you're… n-not with… t-them, are… y-y-you?" He pointed a shaky finger toward the front of the sedan.

I shook my head. "We're the same as you. We were kidnapped."

My geisha friend nodded in agreement.

He lowered his hand to his side, slowly. "T-t-that's a… relief…" He took a few deep, yet shaky, breaths, before slowly crawling toward Yumi and I. As I watched him, I could tell he was a bit reluctant, but he had hope in his eyes.

Initiating the first move, Yumi gently took his hand and pulled him into the embrace. "My name's Yumi Ishiyama, by the way."

Hunter started to look a bit surprised when Yumi grabbed his hand, but when she pulled him into our warm hug, he looked like he started to relax, as his arms slowly, but shakily, wrapped around Yumi and the others.

"N-n-nice… to meet… you…"

"I'm Odd! Odd Della Robbia!" Mi novio was next, holding out his hand in the directions of the others, in sequence. "And this is Ulrich Stern, Jeremie Belpois, Patrick Belpois, Kaitlyn Belpois, William Bel— I mean, Dunbar, Aelita Schaeffer, Sissi Delmas—Cassidy calls her 'Sister'—and last but not least, Sam Knight!"

Hunter briefly pulled his head away from Yumi, trying his best to put on a genuine smile, even though he was still somewhat afraid. "N-nice to meet… all of you."

Nearby, Ulrich nodded, with a calm look on his face. Even though he didn't look it, I was hoping he wasn't going to get jealous, or possessive, because his girlfriend was comforting some boy we just met.

"Samurai…" I whined. "He's only freaked out. Please don't start a jealousy streak that I helped prevent in some ways?"

Ulrich sighed. "Okay, fine…"

"And you're her boyfriend, Ulrich. There's no way that Yumi would hurt you by comforting someone that needs it."

Hunter pulled his head away from Yumi once more, giving Ulrich a surprised face. "Oh… s-sorry… did you… wanna h-hug her?"

Ulrich blinked, getting surprised as well. "Huh—uh—ah—duh—uh… wha… wha?"

"I… I-I'm… not making you… think I'm… taking your… g-g-girlfriend… am I?" Hunter was starting to get worried. And I was, too, as I started to shake, almost as if I could feel Hunter's fear in my own body.

Yumi's eyes widened a bit as she felt me start to shake, while noticing the look of fear on Hunter's face. To try and fix this, she pulled him and I in closer, before leaning closer to her novio.

"Come here, Ulrich," she whispered, grinning as Ulrich's cheeks slowly started turning red.

Ulrich started to stutter a bit more, before crawling over toward his geisha girlfriend. As he got closer, she closed her eyes, before he came right up close to her, and the two shared a kiss, which made Ulrich's eyes open wide.

"There…" she whispered as she broke it. "Now, don't worry. Hunter's not stealing me away. He's just really shaken up."

All Ulrich seemed to want to do was rehearse his vowels for a few moments, before finally forming a coherent sentence. "Y-yeah, you're right."

I could tell that helped Hunter relax, as his breathing slowly started to return to normal, in Yumi's warm embrace. And when Hunter calmed down, I did, too, relieved that neither he, nor Ulrich, were upset.

After a few moments, Hunter slowly pulled his head away from Yumi, once more. "D-does… anybody know where… we're g-going?"

"I think I have an idea, but I don't want to throw you overboard with panic again, Hunter," I blinked.

He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "W-well… i-i-it's not like we can… get away… c-can we?"

I was starting to think he shouldn't have said that, as that reminded us of the grim reality we were all faced with. Nearly everyone, including me, gritted our teeth; I started shaking again, as well.

But Yumi was trying to keep everyone calm.

"Nobody panic," she tried to reassure us, "we'll find a way out. They can't keep us here, forever."

"R-right…" I gulped. "Why does this feel like it's all my fault?"

"Because you're worrying too much, Cat Girl!" Odd tried to prove me wrong. "It's not your fault, at all."

"But I—"

"No buts," Ulrich cut me off. "It's not your fault, end of story. What happened to us, probably would have happened anyway, even without the monster."

Hunter turned to look at me, a bit surprised by what I had said. "I-I don't know… how this could be… y-your fault… either…"

I looked into his electric green eyes. "I—"

He wasn't finished. "H-how could you h-have… known t-t-they were… coming?"

My own widened. Come to think about it, I never had any knowledge that they were coming. The monster I unleashed didn't magically give any clues. But what about that weird tower I had to deactivate? Then again, it only took me prisoner before I went into a black hole that brought me safely into a scanner. There was nothing that gave me this exact moment. Yolanda was right about my mind throwing me into anxiety. It was bad for my health. "I guess I couldn't…"

"I-I'll bet it was… t-t-the same with you," he added, "...as it was with... m-me… T-they just… j-just… s-s-snuck up on you… and you… c-c-couldn't… get… away…"

"Plus I was impulsive about getting to a safe place with my friends. XANA was right! I put my friends' lives at risk…" I bemoaned.

"C'mon, Cassidy," Ulrich calmly reminded me. "XANA just said that to make you angry. You know he probably hates you the most, out of all of us, so of course he's gonna say things like that."

"He was going to probe my powers to make the human race bow to him, Ulrich, prompting banishment from my friends…"

A soft, gentle back rub, which happened to come from my former first roommate, stopped me. "You know we would never let that happen. And even if it did, we wouldn't banish you. You know that."

"A-a-and… he didn't… d-did he?" Hunter added, trying to sound hopeful.

"That's true. He didn't…" That helped me, big time. "I guess I'm overthinking a lot of things since we got here."

He slowly nodded, almost as if he understood. "I… t-tend to do that… too… s-sometimes… but… i-it's okay."

"There, you see!" Odd pointed out. "Even Hunter agrees with you!"

I smiled a bit. Even though I just met the boy, he and I had at least one thing in common.

Yumi nodded, with a calm smile on her face, as she looked at me. "So don't worry, Cassidy. Everything's going to be okay. We're all in this together, don't forget."

Her gaze then turned to Hunter. "And don't you worry, either, Hunter. We're certainly not gonna leave you behind."

This seemed to help calm Hunter a bit more, as he began to smile, while still looking a bit shaken up. But I could tell he was trying to relax.

"T… thank you…" he replied, closing his eyes for a few seconds.

I nodded. "Thanks, Yumi."

"Don't mention it," the geisha replied, giving my back another soft, soothing rub to reassure me.

Even Ulrich smiled as well, happy to see that I was a bit more relaxed. Which is good, since I bet he was quite worried and afraid, too, even if he was one of the best at hiding it, out of all of us.

While Yumi continued to rub my back, I watched her pull Hunter a bit closer to her, hoping to help him relax even more. It made me smile to see him look a bit calmer, as he wrapped his arms around Yumi. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aelita pull something out of the pocket on her dress. Turning my head, I was slightly surprised to see that it was Mister Pück, her elf.

"Where did you get enough time to grab him?" I asked curiously.

"When Sissi was screaming, and you yelled at Jeremie, I grabbed him off my bed and stuffed him in my pocket. I didn't know when I'd see him again," she replied, sweetly.

"Makes me wish I had enough time to pack my Hippity, at least, but I understand where you're coming from," I nodded, not wanting to hurt my former first roommate's feelings. The last thing I wanted to do was make her cry, after all.

"Ow!" Sister cried out, having just rubbed her neck, making me wince in sympathy as mine flared. "Why'd they have to go for our necks?!"

"If I find the answer, I'll let you know," I cringed, not sure of the answer myself.

"Did they think it would… get into our bloodstream… faster, that way?" Hunter asked, pulling his head away from Yumi a bit, so her shirt wouldn't muffle what he said.

My eyes widened, remembering a lesson from Mrs. Hertz and the vascular system, then our possibly-late gym teacher's ridiculous story about a beaver. "Our jugular vein… That would have carried it to the heart to spread to the rest of the body."

"Which would have caused each of us to lose consciousness even faster, than if they had inserted them into our arms," Jeremie agreed, a grin spreading across his features. "Well done, Cassidy!"

"And with so much adrenaline in my system, I would have been the first to conk out," I blinked. "I forced my stress down so many times, but it still spread. And when Yumi told me it was okay to be afraid, it ran through…"

"So if you hadn't lowered your defenses," Einstein theorized, "it's possible you might have been able to slow the sedative's progression throughout your bloodstream, which would have kept you awake longer, and possibly allowed you to try and alert others to what was going on, before they took us away."

"But wouldn't screaming have brought even more Erasers and white-coated men toward us?" Ulrich interjected.

I pursed my lips, like the time Odd messed up the word quantum in "quantum physics." "Whitecoats."

"Okay, whitecoats." Ulrich's face went neutral, like the semantics didn't matter to him. "What if they brought more Erasers with them, instead of teachers, or the police, instead?"

"The police station is too far from Kadic, remember, Ulrich?" Yumi asked. "It took us almost an hour to get Peter Duncan there while he was still unconscious."

"Yeah, you're right." I could tell Ulrich didn't look very happy that we had blown his argument wide open. "And besides, the teachers probably wouldn't have done anything to help, anyway. Look what they did to Jim."

"I think they incapacitated every teacher, including Mr. Delmas," Jeremie shuddered.

Sister's eyes widened. Right away, I knew Jeremie shouldn't have said that.

"D-do you think they…?" she quivered, covering her mouth with her hands.

"I don't think so. I'm sure they sedated those that tried to interfere, but the only ones that I could think of that would are Mrs. Hertz, Jim, Mr. Delmas, Mr. Fumet, Mrs. Mayer, Mrs. Kensington, and possibly Rosa," I attempted to soothe her. "Besides, if we woke up, so should they, right?"

She pulled her hands away from her mouth, a glimmer of hope slowly overtaking her face. "You're right, dear sister. But what do you think they'll do, when they do wake up?"

"Investigate our disappearances?" Odd cut in. "They're bound to find us missing."

"Odd's right," Ulrich nodded. "When your father got possessed to kidnap Cassidy and Odd, Jim called the police."

Sister nodded. "But how long will it take…? Oh, I hope they find us soon… I don't even wanna think about what they're gonna do to us…!"

Oh, why did she have to remind me of that?! I didn't like the thought of that any more than she did… Oh, just after Yumi had helped me to calm down… now I just needed to relax…

And Yumi must have seen this, because I felt her pull me closer to her, until I could hear Hunter's calm breathing, while she started to rub both of our backs. And then another pair of arms wrapped around me from behind.

"Hey, relax, Cat Girl…" I figured Odd would be the one to do that. "Don't worry about it. We're all here."

Slowly, my mind screeched to a halt, feeling my lungs fill all the way with air. "S-sorry…"

"It's okay," Yumi soothed. "They're gonna have to get through all of us, first. Don't worry."

I nodded in her shirt. "It scares me so much. I thought that Max's word of warning in the first page was just a hook to keep me invested in the story—even though they were just words on the page, they were very convincing—I didn't think that it would come true in our lives…!"

Hunter nodded, his words almost muffled by Yumi's shirt. "Me, too!"

Yumi's eyes widened, like she was a bit surprised by what I had said. "That is interesting… but maybe it's just a… coincidence, you know?"

"It's gotta be," Kaitlyn agreed. "I mean, how were any of us to know that those words were going to come to bite us? It does sound like something to keep you reading. I'm sure the author didn't mean them like that."

It was Patrick's turn, next. "How could he have known, anyway?"

But Sister seemed to think the same way I did. "This is all really surreal… are you sure we're not still asleep, after our party, last night?"

"If we are, I blame Odd for spiking the punch surreptitiously." Ulrich lowered his head, glaring at his former roommate.

"But I didn't do it!" Mi novio objected. "And besides, I had a bit of it, too, and it wasn't like that, okay? It tasted like some fruit punch Rosa had in the back!"

"Oh, that's right, I forgot about that, Odd," I gasped. "I'm so sorry…"

"Don't worry, Cat Girl," he gave me a bit of a smirk of reassurance. "It tasted great, though! I'm surprised you didn't want more than one drink."

"I was more excited that we weakened XANA than thirsty." I tried to giggle, but the rest of my body didn't feel that way.

"But at least we know it wasn't anything we did," Yumi added calmly, as she kept softly rubbing both my back, and Hunter's. "We were just so happy we weakened XANA, we had more fun than we thought we would."

"And we can figure this out, Cassidy," Jeremie reassured, rubbing my shoulder. "We've fought him, and now the whole school thinks we're cool."

Patrick grinned. "Yeah!"

"And if we weakened him," Kaitlyn started to get a bit excited, "then we can take on anything! We kick ass and take names."

This time no one called her out on the cussing. None of us felt like doing so. We were all still kinda frazzled from everything that had happened, so we just ignored it.

"I just hate to think of what they might do to us," I fretted.

I wasn't sure if Yumi was actually thinking of the things they did in the books, but I knew I was.

"They're not anywhere near as bad as Dr. Shrank," Odd jumped in, "are they?"

"I really don't know, Odd. But I'm sure that no one will wake up with one of Kiwi's limbs on our navels," I tried to lighten the mood a bit.

Instead, it only made him grimace, holding his puppy protectively. "Oh, no! Even for your standards, Cat Girl, that was terrible!"

I ducked my head, as though the Eraser riding shotgun had thrown something at me. "Sorry," I squeaked. That just made me feel terrible about the joke I had made, especially since I was sure Odd would've made a similar one, if he had been in my position. He's talked about that stuff before, hasn't he?

"Odd, she was trying to shed light on this situation we're in," Yumi interjected, her back rub feeling a bit more soothing. "She and Hunter are probably more scared of this than the rest of us. She was just trying to calm down."

This time, Hunter didn't pull his head away from Yumi's shirt. He merely shifted his head a bit, as he was still a bit freaked out, as well. "I hope none of us… get anything… a-attached to us..."

Yumi gritted her teeth a bit, both my and Hunter's comments making her think of what happened to Max and her flock in the books. In reply, she merely slowed down her soft rubbing of both his and my backs, hoping to soothe and relax the two of us. She didn't want to reassure us that it wouldn't happen, because she wasn't even sure, herself.

"Maybe they'll just hold onto us," Aelita hoped this would reassure everyone, "and demand a ransom from Sissi's father."

"Or all our parents," Kaitlyn sighed. "Ma and Dad will have a bitch fit when they find out about this!"

"Mine will, too, I'll have you know, Kaitlyn," Jeremie jumped in. "If they find out I'm being held for ransom, they'll go through the roof!"

"My mom will go even more hysterical than my father's behavior before…that monster got unleashed," Ulrich agreed, and I could tell he was trying to be careful about his choice of words.

"My mother will have an anxiety attack, my father would fare much worse, and I don't know about my sister," I feared. "And I would hate to hear what my substitute father will do."

Sister grimaced, and I could almost tell she was quite fearful of what her parents would do, as well. "My father would get so worried, I don't know what he'd do! And I don't even wanna think about what would happen if he found out you were part of it, too, dear sister!"

"And my parents would go nuts!" Odd admitted. "My sisters would be just as worried, too."

"And my parents…" Yumi lowered her head. "And Hiroki…"

"I don't even…" I could feel Hunter tighten his grip around Yumi, in fear. "...w-w-want to think about… what m-m-my parents… would do…!"

"My parents would probably pull me from Kadic. What rotten luck!" Patrick moaned. "And I was just about to enjoy life there with my cousins."

Yumi tried to calm everyone down, running her hands up and down both my back, and Hunter's, as well. "Don't worry, they're not gonna hold any of us for ransom. They wouldn't do that."

"This is scaring me even more than ever," I sniffed.

"It's not going to be as bad as all that," Yumi tried to reassure me. "Anyway, no matter what they do to us, we're all in this together. We're gonna make sure we all stay safe."

"Making it through, right, Yumi?" I asked her, not even sure if I was waxing lyrical or not.

"Besides," even Jeremie tried to reassure me, "they can't take down all eleven of us, can they?"

"Jeremie, I think they did when we were back at Kadic." With that, I was about to give up hope.

Yumi could tell I was close to losing it, and she wasn't about to let me, Sister, Hunter, or anyone give up hope.

"What if they did?" she cooed to me. "They can't break all of us. We're still together. It's gonna take more than that to get rid of us, and you know that. Don't think we're giving up. We can take them on. They can't beat us."

I could feel her words ring through every fiber of my being, and it pulled me out of the darkness. "You're right, Yumi, and I can't give up hope. I had high hopes that my EMP bullet would work, and it did, after all."

"That's right," Yumi started to grin, while she rubbed mine and Hunter's backs, soothingly and reassuringly. "And there's no reason to think that we're not going to get out of this one, either."

"We have gotten out of worse fixes before," I said in a considering tone.

"You're right…" Hunter lifted his head away from Yumi's shirt, briefly. "XANA's done so many… crazy things to you guys… but you've always come through. This is just another… challenge… that's all. One that I… hope I can help you with… if I can."

Ulrich looked at him. "Of course you can, but it's going to take some time. Sissi is still learning the ropes, too."

Sister nodded. "And it's not gonna be easy, either. There's some things even I still don't understand."

"Exactly!" Jeremie agreed. "But right now, I didn't have time to bring my laptop."

"Next adventure we are inadvertently forced into, I'm duct taping that thing to your back like a tiny dino who thinks he's a turtle!" I threatened lightly.

"But then…" Jeremie started laughing, "how will I get it off?"

"Aelita could," I winked.

I watched the two look at each other, before their cheeks flushed red nearly simultaneously. Not only was it funny to watch, but they started laughing, as well.

"Well, I…" my former first roommate hesitated a bit, "I could always try to take it off."

I nodded, taking another clear, deep breath. So far, things were in the middle of the road. Sometimes our mood would lift a bit, only to plummet again. But whenever it would fall, someone, or something, was always there to bring it back up.

As we reached a silent spot, however, we suddenly felt the sedan slow down, before coming to a stop. I could feel my nerves intensify, and just by looking around, I could tell the others were feeling the same thing. The next thing I heard was the engine stopping, ending with a gentle shake that only lasted a millisecond. The front doors opened, and the Eraser climbed out of the passenger seat, with the whitecoat stepping out of the driver door.

Aelita quickly and quietly stuffed Mister Pück into her pocket. She was trying to keep a calm face, but anyone could have seen through it.

Hunter's eyes zoomed straight to the side door, his face showing me just how afraid he was. I couldn't help but feel the same. I was so thankful Yumi kept trying to reassure us and rub our backs.

Ulrich's eyebrows fell, as he waited. He knew they were going to take us someplace, but I almost wondered if he was going to give in without a fight. Knowing him, probably not.

The door soon opened, and the Eraser glared at us, his fangs reflecting the sunlight, making this whole entire predicament seem even scarier. I started to tremble, fearing what he was going to do next.

"Alright, out of the car, all of you!" he snarled, pointing with his hand toward the outside, waiting for us to step out of the sedan.

But none of us did. We all just stared at the Eraser, looking anywhere from angry, to scared, and even neutral. Did he really think we were just going to "come quietly" with him?

He growled, looking as though our refusal to get out just made him angrier. And it had, as he decided he needed to do something else, to get us to climb out. I watched his eyes move to Aelita, not sure what he was planning next.

But I would soon find out.

"I said… OUT OF THE CAR!" he yelled, as he reached in, forcefully grabbed Aelita, freaking her out, and nearly ripping her out of the sedan. Our eyes widened as we saw him do this, scaring me almost as badly as my former first roommate. I could tell most of the others were surprised and afraid of this, as well.

But suddenly, Jeremie climbed forward, and grabbed Aelita's other arm, a look of pure anger overtaking his face.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" he challenged the Eraser, trying to pull her back into the sedan, even though the wolfish man was quite a bit stronger than he was.

My body tensed up worse at seeing the blond genius about to go up to the Eraser, mind going a million thoughts an hour. I told him how strong they were, and how none of us stood a chance! Was he crazy?!

"Einstein! Have you gone bananas?!" Odd cried.

"No way will I lose Aelita!" he growled.

"They're stronger than you think!" Yumi tried to warn him. "They're not gonna let you take Aelita back! We'll have to find another way!"

Hunter gritted his teeth as he watched Jeremie fight with the Eraser to try and save Aelita. While he knew what Yumi and I had said, he was secretly hoping something might turn the tides in Einstein's favor, even though he was still quite afraid of saying something.

"C'mon! Help me, guys!" Jeremie cried out, as he could feel himself losing his grip on Aelita's arm. Just like I told him, the Eraser was going to overpower him.

I whimpered, knowing my strength wasn't nearly as massive as Ulrich's. But I also knew that Jeremie wasn't about to give up his pink-haired girlfriend without a fight. It was painful to watch, knowing he was going to lose, and that any additional help, even if all of us formed a chain, wasn't going to turn the tides in Einstein's favor in the slightest.

Jeremie continued to pull, nearly grinding his teeth together, before the Eraser, with one strong tug, jerked both Aelita and him out of the sedan, sending the two flying onto the platform the car was sitting upon.

"JEREMIE!" we all yelled.

Kaitlyn and Patrick immediately crawled toward the door and jumped out, determined to save their cousin. This is exactly what he wants! I couldn't help but think as I watched. What are you two doing?!

"Is this even typical of the Belpois?!" Yumi turned to me, fear finally starting to show on her face.

"How the hell should I know?! I only spent one fall break and one Christmas with them!" I trembled, voice teetering on the edge of shouting. "I wasn't there long enough to know them like the back of my hand!"

"Okay... okay." Yumi's voice calmed down, as I started to feel her rub my back, again, to help me stay relaxed, as well. "I didn't know if they acted that way while you were with them, or what."

"F-for the most part, they actually acted civil…" I added, trying to let her soft back rub relax me.

"M-maybe it's just…" Hunter suggested, "...familial instinct…? Even if they… c-can't win… they'll feel better… if they try it… a-anyway?"

"Maybe…?"

After I said this, I happened to look over at the door, noticing that Odd and Ulrich had crawled over to it, looks of anger overtaking each of their respective faces, as well. Ulrich I could understand doing this, as he wasn't one to listen to reason in times like this, but Odd…? Mi novio should remember what I told the two of them! This was getting ridiculous!

"Are you two out of your minds?!" I yelled. "This won't solve anything!"

Ulrich just shook his head, like he was dead-set on intervening, no matter what I said. Typical Samurai...

"Cat Girl," Odd tried to reason with me, "they're gonna take Einstein and Princess if we don't do anything! And I, for one, am not gonna sit here, and let that Eraser take them away!"

"Ready, Odd?" I heard Ulrich tell the wildcard.

"Better believe it!" he replied.

And then they both jumped out of the sedan, scaring me halfway up the car, onto the ceiling. Did they even listen to me?! UGH!

"Guys!" Even Hunter was upset that they had done that, as he hugged Yumi closer. "What the heck!"

This was too much for me. Jeremie and Aelita first, and then Patrick, Kaitlyn, and even Ulrich and Odd jumping out of the sedan on their own will, no matter how much Yumi and I warned them that it wouldn't help anything, finally broke me completely, as I pressed myself closer to Yumi, and began sobbing into her shirt. Next to me, Hunter grimaced, closing his eyes as he heard me cry, as I felt Yumi's soft back rubbing slow down, feeling a bit more soothing, as she did the same to Hunter.

While I sobbed, I didn't hear Kiwi bark, moments before the dog hopped off the seat, and jumped out of the car, as well.

Sam, William, and Sister scoffed, creeping out of the sedan to join them, hoping they could sneak past me, while my face was buried in Yumi's shirt; they were wrong. I heard the car move, and immediately looked up. No matter how blurry my eyes were from the tears, I still could make them out.

"William! Sister…!" I shouted.

"What is wrong with you guys?!" Yumi shouted after them, before growling when she realized her cries fell on deaf ears.

Thinking quickly, she looked down at Hunter and I, before gently leaning the two of us against the chair.

"I'm gonna try and get them back," she declared, softly. "Hopefully I'll be back." And then she climbed out of the sedan, leaving Hunter and I the only ones still within the car.

A few moments later, I felt Hunter wrap his arms around me, even though I could tell he was quite bothered as well; I could read his face about as easily as the others could read mine. He looked out the door for a few seconds, leading me to get curious.

"Hunter…? What are you planning?" I panted, trying to collect myself.

"D-do you think they're… gonna c-come back…?" he asked.

I tensed up, as I looked at him. "I don't know… This is scaring me more than ever."

"I'm… t-t-terrified, too…" he agreed, before taking a deep breath to try and calm himself, even if it was in vain. "S-somebody h-has to help… y-y-your friends…"

"W-what do you mean?" I whimpered, hoping he didn't mean…what I thought he meant.

"They… m-might not c-c-come back…" I could hear the fear in his voice as he spoke, even though he was trying to be brave. "...and i-if they don't… t-t-that Eraser is gonna… c-c-come for us… n-next… and I don't… even wanna kn-kn-know… what he's gonna… do to us… to get us out of… t-t-this sedan…"

"Hunter, n-no…"

"Then… w-w-what else are we… g-gonna do? W-w-we should do… s-s-something! W-w-why don't you… c-come with… me?"

I shook my head, whimpering in panic. "N-no…"

I then felt him put his hands on my shoulders, as his shaking, fear-filled eyes looked into mine. "We've… gotta do… s-s-something…"

Squeezing his eyes closed, as a lone tear snuck between his eyelids, he turned to the sedan door, and slowly climbed out, his entire body nearly shaking in abject fear. He knew the warnings, just like the others, but he still climbed out, anyway, even if his body wanted him to stay behind with me.

And then I was all alone. Shaking in fear, all I could think about was what was going to happen to my best, closest friends, and what that Eraser might do to me, if he came back to find me still in here. What was I going to do now?

I pulled my knees to my chest. Why couldn't this day be our first day of reintegration with our fellow classmates? This was the worst day ever, and I couldn't see it getting any better, short of a super-powerful warrior showing up and destroying the whitecoats and Erasers. Where were Max and her flock when we needed them?! I knew the Coalition to Stop the Madness had them going to places, but why couldn't they have a show here in France, where we could be saved at least?

And then my fears intensified, as the Eraser finally came back, glaring at me from outside of the sedan. Without a second thought, he reached in and grabbed me.

"Gonna be difficult, huh, little girl?" he snarled.

I squeaked, unable to move.

"When I say 'out of the car,'" he continued, right before pulling me hard, "I mean… OUT OF THE CAR!"

He yanked me out of the car, and nearly dragged me across the loading dock, with a firm grip on my wrist.

"All your little friends are already over here, waiting to be taken to your new school," the Eraser growled. "You're the only one absent."

What I saw almost stopped my heart. There was a chopper, sitting upon the loading dock nearby, its blades spinning, just waiting. Immediately, I flashed back to the day I flew in a fighter jet, thanks to a contest Odd secretly entered me in. All I could think about was XANA launching the jet, firing one of the missiles at the factory, the fear of the other one shooting us down, and then XANA finally killing the engines, sending it into free-fall toward the factory, as a last resort. I immediately felt my entire body tense up, and a panic attack threatening to overtake me, as my feet turned into lead weights, destined to stop me from being dragged toward the chopper.

The Eraser looked down at me. "Do you really want to make this more difficult than it needs to be, girl?"

He could see a look of pure fear spread across my face, as I slowly nodded my head.

I began fighting his grip, not wanting to "go quietly" as they say. I first started to pull back toward the sedan as hard as I could, even if I knew that would be futile. I could feel my adrenaline launching me into a "fight or flight" mode, like it was devoting all of my strength to pulling away.

The Eraser merely growled at me, almost as if he was letting me try to pull myself back, while knowing full well that one good tug would send me flying toward the chopper.

Instead, he decided on a different approach: he bent down, lifted me into the air, and flung me over his shoulder, preferring to carry me over to the chopper, if merely dragging me wouldn't work.

But that proved to be bad, as a whitecoat soon noticed what the Eraser was doing. I could see a pair of shoes come into my field of vision, as I stared at the ground, in the grasp of the Eraser.

"What seems to be the problem?" he asked the wolfish man.

"This one's putting up a real fight," the Eraser replied, "more than the others did."

Fearing what the whitecoat might do, I started shaking my entire body, trying to wriggle out of the Eraser's grasp; even kicking my feet, trying to get him in the back. Anything to make him let go, or drop me.

"Now, now, what seems to be the matter, my dear?" I heard the whitecoat put on a calm voice, as if he was trying to be Yumi. "You don't want to go on the helicopter ride with your friends?"

I couldn't bring myself to speak. Every fiber of my being just wanted to get as far away from there as I could, so I wasn't thinking about anything else.

After a couple seconds, the whitecoat tried again. "You shouldn't be worried, my dear. We're just going to take you for a ride. Haven't you wanted to see France from up above? Or go back to your home in Albion, Illinois, to see your parents? Or even to see your grandparents in Nebraska?"

Was he really trying his best to calm me? It wasn't working at all. He was trying to coax me into getting onto that chopper, and I knew it. And I was against it. What was he going to say, that would make me change my mind?

"Your friends will be there with you," the whitecoat continued. "They want you to ride with them, to get you over your fear. Nothing will happen to you. We just want to show you what France, and the United States, look like from a bird's eye view. Wouldn't you love to see that?"

That didn't help at all. In fact, it only made my fears worse. They rose to a level I didn't think they could reach, as I nearly started sanding down the tops of my teeth.

The whitecoat noticed this, and quickly changed tactics. Reaching into one of the pockets on his coat, he pulled out a silver object, which he brought closer to my head. I didn't see this; all I saw was him moving like he was reaching for something, and the next thing I knew, I felt something go into my neck. Ugh, not this again!

"It'll be okay, my dear," the whitecoat pretended to soothe. "Why don't you just take a nice little nap, and relax. Everything's going to be just fine."

That sounded familiar… before I blacked out again, I could hear Aelita's soothing words, when her and I were in a tower, a year ago, and she was about to transfer her DNA sequence code to me, after XANA had used the Schyphozoa to steal my own. "Everything will be just fine."

"Everything will be just fine…"

"Everything… will be… just fine…"