Hunter Moebius and I don't own Code Lyoko, Maximum Ride, or Kaitlyn Belpois. Hunter and I only own the plot and our own OCs.

As incredible as it sounds, the landing did not come with a blank in the memory. Maybe because I was so glad to have gotten out of the chopper that they didn't need to make my neck sting for a third time. I still didn't like the whole "abduction" thing, much less where the twelve of us were headed after this, but at least I wasn't flying anymore, thankfully.

In the dictionary, next to the word distress, there would be a picture of a brunette standing next to a wolfish man, wondering what would happen if she started screaming.

Even though I didn't know if they would let me kiss the ground, I decided against it, in case one of the Erasers decided they wanted to clock me. Besides, I'd rather just have my lips touch the concrete and grass, rather than my whole face, and everything below that. I didn't even want to taste sand.

"I g-guess this is Welcome to Death Valley, huh, Cat Girl?" Odd whispered, careful around the wolfish men.

I cringed. "I'd rather not have my first memory of California be the inside of a research facility, Odd." Angel, wherever you are, we need HELP! "Even since I wanted to become a writer instead of being a lab rat, for real…"

"We won't be lab rats for long," Yumi whispered.

With a somewhat gentle prod, the eleven of us were led into the genetics laboratory. Despite the fact that normally, I'd be fangirling about taking a tour of the School, I kept my eyes on the tile that greeted my feet. I couldn't let myself be subject to the horrors that were in the rooms lining the hallway. For the most part, keeping my focus on the floor kept my nerves calm.

"You're doing great, Cassidy," Yumi whispered, keeping by my side.

"So far… I didn't want to get stung a third time…" I hissed quietly. "My neck is still killing me for that."

"Just keep going the way you're going, and you should be okay," she reassured me, before glancing toward the back. "How about you, Hunter?"

He blinked, looking a bit tense. "F-for the most part… n-not too bad… this place really… gives me the c-c-creeps… though…"

"It does to me, too, Hunter. And I've seen brains in a chamber in Siberia that made me gag," I kept my voice low, shuddering slightly. For an unfathomable reason, I was glad I didn't have anything to eat that day. I knew Odd wasn't happy, but if they got us while we were in class, and we got here, then I would have lost my breakfast. And that would not have been pretty.

"You're right," Einstein whispered to me. "Now I see what scared you so much, when I teleported you over with Odd, Yumi, and Kaitlyn. This place is crazy."

"I just wish this didn't happen," I murmured, brushing a strand of brown hair behind my ear.

"I don't think there's a single one among us who disagrees with you," he added. "But we'll get through it. Don't worry, okay?"

"Why is it whenever someone tells me, 'Don't worry,' I get worried, and I mean worried," I hissed quietly.

"What do you expect us to say," Einstein whispered back. "You're going to be in for the ride of your life, and nobody will remember this adventure, except for your great-granddaughter?"

"But I'm sure it won't be as bad as all that," Aelita cooed softly, next to Einstein. "Like Jeremie said, we'll all get through this. I don't think they'll really try to separate us, anyway."

"You never can tell with this place," I sagely murmured. "But if they tell you to keep going on anything, just do it. This isn't going to be like life back at Kadic, where we could be taken to the infirmary when we pass out or anything. They might do worse to you if you disobey a direct order—even worse than a slap on the wrist or four hours of detention."

Ulrich grimaced, as he listened to what I said. Somehow I could tell he wasn't happy about it, but now he knew what Yumi and I were talking about, before.

"Great," he whispered angrily, "it'll be like the Phys Ed class taught by XANA."

And that got William going. "Hey, Ulrich, I had to live through that, okay? This isn't anywhere near as bad as being under XANA's control."

I shuddered. "Don't remind me. Being under his control was the worst."

That's when Yumi spoke up, trying to calm the two of us. "Hey, just chill, guys, okay? XANA's really weak, now, so we won't have to worry about that for a long time."

For his part, Hunter was grimacing at the war stories being tossed back and forth. He had seen bits and pieces, thanks to the monster, but he had never really gotten any firsthand accounts, and along with the place we were in, this wasn't really helping his constitution any. All he could do was shiver, hugging himself like he was cold, as he tried to put the images his brain cooked up, just from the mere thought of what my ex and I were talking about, out of his head.

After another minute of walking, we were led into a big room. I recognized it right away, as it looked an awful lot similar to the hospital room I woke up in. There were quite a few hospital beds, twelve to be exact, making me think they knew exactly how many were coming. If I remember right, this would be where we were going to stay, during our off-time.

I blinked, trying to bear in mind that my friends were with me. I also tried to remember all of Yumi's encouraging words. They were there for me. We'd all get through this. I wanted to use them to give me strength, but somehow I felt as though I'd need a bit more help than that.

"Looks like we found our vacancy," Odd sang in an attempt to brighten the mood.

But it didn't work; instead, Einstein just glared at him. "Odd, this isn't the time for jokes."

"Ease up on mi novio, Jeremie. He was just trying to help," I tried to sound defensive, but my tone fell weak against all else. If anything, I needed my mood to be brightened.

That did manage to ease Jeremie, a bit. "You're right. This whole entire thing is really getting to me. I didn't mean to take it out on you, Odd."

"Don't sweat it, Einstein," my wildcard smiled slightly. "Everything's cool! And if this room looks like the hospital, I wonder if we get room service here, too?"

"I wouldn't bet the house on that one," I warned.

Nearby, Hunter sighed. "I think we… a-all… need to find a way to… r-r-relax… We're all getting r-r-really tense…"

"Hunter is right," Ulrich ascertained. "We can't be angry all the time."

"You're both right," William agreed. "It's just, being a prisoner of XANA still haunts me. It's something I wish I could forget, but I know I can't. I didn't mean to take it out on you, Ulrich, but you have to understand, that isn't something I take lightly. I hurt all of you, especially Cass, because of it. That's not something I can sleep peacefully at night, knowing about."

"I know, William," I nodded. "I feel—uh, felt—as though I hurt many people, too." I raised my mental shield, not wanting to get yet another lecture that I shouldn't beat myself up because of my baggage.

"I've hurt people, too," Sister chimed in, next. "I was mean, cruel, and a big snob. I didn't have any friends; and before you ask, no, Nicholas and Hervé just followed me around like puppies."

Kiwi yipped. HEY!

"Sister, Kiwi's a bit offended you said that."

Her eyes widened in surprise, as she bent down near mi novio's diggity dog. "And I've hurt dogs, too! I'm sorry, Kiwi. I didn't mean it like that."

She gave the dog a gentle stroke on the top of his head, before returning to full height. "As I was saying, I didn't have any friends, because I was so mean and snobby. I know not everyone will forgive me, but I hope at least you all will."

"With that spa day, and then helping me through my many meltdowns since everything happened, I can definitely forgive you, Sister. Plus you fought for my honor, too. That's always a good thing," I smiled encouragingly. "You even came up with the barricade idea while Patrick drew how it should go."

Patrick grinned at that comment. "Best drawing ever!"

"And don't forget that time you helped defend Ulrich against those Kiwi 2 robots," Aelita came in, sitting on a random bed. "And when you protected Milly… twice."

"And you even helped Ulrich with that bus!" Jeremie chimed in excitedly.

"And don't forget about that time you helped me with the school photo the first time with no personal favor attached," Yumi nodded.

I watched the smile on Sister's face slowly begin to bloom more and more, as the others and I reminded her of all the good things she had done. I could tell it was definitely helping her feel better.

"There, isn't that better? You even stayed beside me when Aelita's visits to that one weird Replika became a detriment to my health," I grinned.

She put her hands on her cheeks. "Ooh, I remember that! That was so weird! I'm glad we figured that one out, before something terrible happened to you, sister dear!"

"And it was nerve-wracking at first, to say the least, but it felt wonderful to get it done," I nodded. "You even helped us weaken XANA."

Her grin grew even bigger after I mentioned that. That had to be the ultimate retribution in her eyes, to help put an end to something crazy that she kept forgetting about, up until the monster reminded her of everything.

"This made me whisper in the showers this morning—I guess it's still morning now—in Kadic, that I'm proud to call you my sister. Sure, when you first said it, it came as a bit of a shock, but it marked a new change within you that I rarely got the chance to see. And when I say I'm proud, I mean it." I nodded.

Sister's grin threatened to unzip her head if the tears in her eyes didn't have anything to say about it. "Oh… Cassidy!"

She suddenly ran up to me, and thrust her arms around me, pulling me into a warm hug that was filled with gratitude. Those words just absolutely made her day, and she felt as though she had been redeemed in the eyes of the people she cared most about.

I returned it, almost about to sob in pure joy myself. "I love you, Sister!"

Her voice nearly broke in pure happiness. "Oh… I love you, too, dear sister!"

Yumi couldn't help but smile as she watched Sister's and my warm embrace. She was also quite amazed by Sister's transformation, and this essentially cemented it. She was no longer the snob she used to be, and she regretted it but felt better knowing that the others forgave her for her actions toward them. It was truly amazing to her.

Hunter couldn't help but grin, as well. I knew he couldn't have known everything Sister had done firsthand, but I also knew the monster had told him everything. But this was probably the first time he had seen the effects of her transition.

"You haven't done anything bad to me," he remarked, the touching scene he beheld calming him, "but I forgive you, anyway."

As Sister gently broke the warm embrace she held with me, I watched her immediately run over to Hunter, and wrap her arms around him, next.

"And I never will, Hunter, dear," she soothed, as he returned her warm hug. "Trust me. You're talking to Elisabeth—I may hate it, but it's my name—'Sissi' Delmas, Defender of the Weak."

And I'll keep calling you "Sister," I thought happily in my mind.

"And I'm definitely glad to have you on my side," Hunter continued. "I can see why Cassidy calls you 'Sister.' You're definitely like a sister to me, too."

"She is such a sweetie now. I may not understand the extent of what the monster did to make her change, but she is so great," I nodded.

Aelita was taking it about as well as I was, even with Sister's tears of joy in her eyes, as well. It was just so beautiful, she didn't really know how to handle it. It was like she was truly getting to know the real Sister, the one behind the tough, snobby exterior she used to have before the monster changed her for the better.

"You're right," she agreed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "She's a real sweetie. I'm so glad she's made a complete change in her behavior."

Just then, Ulrich walked up between Aelita and I. "I never would have believed it, if I hadn't seen it, myself," he commented.

All of a sudden, the door opened, revealing a team of thirteen whitecoats, who walked up to each of us. I could tell from the looks on their faces that whatever they were about to do wasn't going to be very pleasant. All it served to do was rekindle the fear within me.

"Get behind me, Cassidy," Samurai growled, shoving me behind him. "You don't have enough practice with Pencak Silat; you barely even know the basics."

I nodded, standing next to Aelita. "I think things will g-get hairy."

"What do you think they're gonna do to us?" she glanced over in my direction, a worried look overtaking her features.

"I don't know. My powers are really useless right now. I can only read minds, and that's about it." I began before my eyes widened. "Wait…"

Concentrating with a straight face, I looked straight at the whitecoats, determined to get some shred of thought. Unfortunately, it was as though I was pushing against the middle of a slingshot; I couldn't get a reading from any of them. "I tried."

What a great time for that not to work! I heard Hunter think, making my face fall straight to the floor.

I gave him a sad look. "I'm sorry, Hunter."

In reply, he turned to look at me, grimacing. "It's not your fault! Maybe they're just onto you. They know about you the same way I was told, and they probably know what to expect. I don't blame you!"

I nodded, looking into his electric green eyes. "Thank you."

Before he could reply, Sister gently pushed him back, in a slightly gentler variation of what Samurai had done to me earlier, before getting into a fighting stance in front of him, facing the whitecoats but glancing over at me. "We can't let them take us without a fight, right?"

"Um… since they stung my neck twice, I'd avoid it," I gritted my teeth. "Plus, we're probably still getting our land legs, so to speak."

As I said this, I knew the others had to have been as slightly disoriented as I was. If that chopper took us all the way to Death Valley, California, from Sceaux, France, without stopping at all, we just went through six or seven different time zones without doing anything to take care of the jet lag. We'd be sitting ducks if we tried anything, and I knew it. And that was without whatever they did to make my neck sting.

I saw Hunter glance in my direction again, his expression barely changing since the last time I looked at him. "T-then… what are they g-gonna… do to us?"

"It could be anything," Yumi whispered, walking so she could be between Hunter and me.

I shook my head. "All I can say is be prepared for whatever they'll do to us." I tried my hardest to keep myself looking calm on the outside, but on the inside, I was shaking in fear. We were all about to go through things I had only read about, things I thought only belonged in storybooks; never did I think I'd actually experience them for myself...

Taking in a deep, shaking breath, I ducked under Ulrich's outstretched arm. I couldn't really see any other options; if we tried to resist, we'd be knocked to the floor, and probably restrained. They might even make our necks hurt, again. So what were we supposed to do?

"Cassidy, NO!" Jeremie yelled.

I sent Einstein a distraught look. "Do we even have any other choice?! We're weary, we have had a long flight—which I didn't want—and none of us had the chance to eat anything. Even if we try to fight back—and that's assuming we have a chance in the first place—they're gonna overpower us!"

The torrents of fear in my system rising, I walked to the team of whitecoats in front of us.

A woman looked up the information on her clipboard. "Hm…McGuire, Cassidy…" She used her pen to point where in her notes. "Yes, you're going with Reilly."

My eyes widened, moments before I heard Yumi let out a gasp, behind me. We had read about Reilly! That rapscallion hurt Angel, only because she bit him as she fought him. To not cause a scene, as I did earlier, I turned to the short and messy-haired dirty blond man with sharp green eyes behind glasses, blinking once slowly. Greetings, Reilly. I am ready. Do your worst, but don't think that I forgot what happened to Angel.

He merely grinned maliciously as he took me from the room. Part of me wanted to kill him for his mistreatment of Max's baby and call it a day, but I fought against the urge, fearing that they'd do worse to me. So instead, I just decided to lay low, and see what would happen.

"I see you were causing mischief in Paris earlier," he remarked as I walked beside him down the hall, "but what caused this misbehavior?"

Grimacing, I struggled to find the right words to say. "I um… had a—" My eyes shifted back and forth. Can I even trust this sadist? He hurt one of the flock. "—b-bad experience w-with a plane…"

It was close to the truth, admittedly.

"A bad experience, huh? You can easily turn a negative into a positive if you're still living," he replied calmly, even though I could hear a slight tinge of malice in his voice.

I swore my ex-boyfriend didn't even have this much evil in his voice when he barred Yumi from the factory with his skateboard. Then again, he was an innocent soul. Make of that what you will. I clenched a fist by my left side.

"This will be the easiest part of your… visit…"

Gee, I can only imagine. You kidnapped my friends and me and sent us almost six thousand miles from Kadic. You call this a "visit?" my thoughts started to churn.

"You're all very special," he grinned evilly, leading me into a smaller room, "even with that—vortex—you unleashed."

My eyes widened as my guilt started to claw its way back to the surface, once more. Just when I thought I had finally tucked it away, too! He had to! He just had to, didn't he?! My fist unclenched as my self-loathing overtook most of the feelings of anger I had for him.

"Struck a chord, didn't I?" he chuckled. "Yes… We saw that. Took us virtually no time at all to find where you were residing."

If I had a nickel for every time someone said virtually outside of going to Lyoko…

He closed the door. Now it was time for my nerves to intensify, again. It didn't help that I had a fairly good idea of what he planned to do to me. "This isn't like your young nurse's office, by any stretch, I have to admit. But you are here."

I sat on the table without his command. I decided to just take what was coming to me, and not try to resist. Maybe he'd treat me more humanely if I do… if there was that type of bone in his body.

"Look at you, all ready for the easy part," he cooed, but I knew that it was fake. He couldn't care less if I were somehow his daughter. Then again, I wouldn't want him to ever reproduce. There was enough evil in the world without little Reilly Jr.'s running around.

"I guess we'll get started, then." He lifted up the clipboard underneath his other arm and began scanning it. "Hm…"

While I waited for him to look over his notes, I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself. I was in a nightmare, to begin with, and I hoped that the others were faring a bit better than I was. Here I was, practically cornered with a foe, and I couldn't fight him. The School would deploy Erasers after me, and that wouldn't be good. After being handled roughly twice by them, I didn't want him to do that.

A few moments later, he had circled a few things on the clipboard, before setting it on another table and returning to face me. "Alright, now I'm just gonna do a few tests. All simple stuff, really. And if you play nicely, I might give you a lollipop when this is all over," he grinned maliciously.

Angel, do you think you can tell Max to rescue us, please?! Things are about to get incredibly crazy in here! Why did they have to lock me in a room with this psycho?! It would've been so much easier if they had placed me in a room with another one of those whitecoats… but no, it's like they just wanted to put their craziest scientist in charge of me. I'd bet I was some sort of treasure to them. They'd seen everything I had done, and now they just had to harness whatever powers they thought I had for themselves. That was the whole reason they went to all the trouble of flying to France and abducting every single one of us, wasn't it? And now what was Reilly going to do to me? Can this day get any worse?!

Wait! Yes, it probably can...

After the examination was over, I felt a bit tired, but at least the psycho didn't do anything that he would later regret. The only thing that I got from there was the lollipop he promised (I thought he was dangling that thing in front of me like a bone in front of Little Brother) and a plastic shunt in the side of my right wrist. He led me back to the bigger room.

Once I was back inside, my friends' faces lit up, overjoyed to know that I was alright. They immediately rushed over to me.

"Are you okay, Cat Girl?" Odd asked, wrapping his arms around me.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Odd. Don't worry. It was a simple examination, nothing more." I returned the embrace, still a little freaked out.

Yumi quickly scanned me from head to toe, her big sister side coming out, making sure that he hadn't done anything terrible to me. Her eyes stopped on the plastic shunt, a look of surprise overtaking her face. "Did Reilly do that to you?!"

"Unfortunately," I sighed, cradling it close to my chest. "He worried I'd be like 'Subject 11'—Angel—so he put it in. Not proud of it, but I was locked in a room with a psycho. What can I do? Plus, it's not as though I could fight back."

Sister wrapped her arm around me, showing me a concerned face. "Well, we just can't let him use that against you!"

"Are you all okay?" I asked.

Einstein adjusted his glasses. "Mine was a little rough, but everything went as expected."

"Well, you did try to challenge an Eraser," I noted.

"I got a gentle whitecoat," my "sister" nodded. "And she was calm around me."

"The girl who examined me was okay," Yumi remarked. "She was gentle but firm."

"Mine was calm, too," Hunter commented, before taking a deep breath. "I wonder if it was… because she saw right through my… attempt to be strong… but she kinda helped me… relax."

"That could be. I wish I had yours," I moaned a bit. "At least she wouldn't flap her loose lips about secrets."

Yumi immediately turned stone-faced, as she knew exactly what I meant. Even though she hadn't been in that room with me, I could tell she got a pretty good idea of how the experience went, just from my comment.

I lowered my head, unable to stop my guilt from overtaking me. "He said it… and…" I shivered. "H-he knows… They know…"

Sister immediately wrapped her arms around me, to try and calm me down. "They're just trying to break your spirits, dear sister! You can't let them crush you!"

"She's right," Ulrich jumped in, sounding determined. "You've gotta be strong, Cassidy. They'll only hold power over you if you let them! You and Yumi know what they can do to us, so you've got the upper hand as much as they do!"

"You know? It never occurred to me that I could have found a scalpel," I grinned wickedly. "Maybe next time, I'll try that."

Aelita immediately grimaced at the sound of that. "Umm… I don't think he meant in that way. That would probably only make things worse."

Almost as quickly as it came on, my evil smile deflated. "Sorry, Aelita…"

"But what if there's another way, that doesn't get us attacked by Erasers?" she tried to cheer me up.

"Maybe, I just got caught up in the moment. I think I took another of many leaves out of Odd's book," I sighed but beamed at my former first roommate.

"You know me, Cat Girl," Odd started to grin as well. "I'm always an inspiration!"

"So, what did you come up with?" the pink-haired elven princess asked next.

"He didn't share much with me, just took down some stuff, did some tests, and then the plastic shunt. Ugh… That was the worst. He tried almost five times to lift a vein," I shivered.

Ulrich grimaced a bit, at that. "I would've loved to trade whitecoats with you, Cassidy. Mine was neutral the whole time. Never even flinched."

"Mine was a bit calmer than that," William remarked. "Not as gentle as Sissi's and Hunter's, but he was okay."

"Another neutral one here, too," Sam raised her hand. "She did smile a bit, but that was it."

"I guess I caught-22, huh," I frowned.

"You should've seen the guy they paired me up with!" Odd grinned. "When he checked me out, he told me that they were right when they said that big things come in small packages! Maybe you won't have the same whitecoat twice? They might just shuffle all of ours around, after a while."

"That could be."

"If they do," Aelita offered, with a calm smile, "I hope you get mine. He was really kind, and almost looked like a younger version of my father."

It was as though a thunderclap entered the room. "Glasses? Moustache? Slightly mussed up hair? Thin as a post?"

She nodded. "Exactly like that."

"You just met… Jeb Batchhelder, Aelita!" I gulped, inner torrents of excitement flowing within me.

Aelita gasped, her eyes widening. "H-he's the one who rescued Max and Angel, isn't he?!"

"And the rest of the flock: Fang, Iggy, Nudge/Monique, and Angel's brother Gasman," I nodded.

Jeremie's eyes grew next, and I could tell he was getting excited. "Then… he knows we're all here, and he can come rescue us, right?!"

"Let's not get too high on hope, Einstein. He could be working on their side unless he's acting as a mole."

Ulrich broke the chain, becoming confused. "But why would he do that? If he saw the monster, too, then he should know who we are, and know that we're all here, just because he saw Princess!"

I realized he had a point. "You could be onto something, Ulrich, but Jeb can be a bit of an enigma. He could work for us one minute, or them the next. We just need to keep an eye on things."

"She's right," Yumi agreed, her face turning neutral. "We don't know if we can trust him, yet. We'll just have to make do, and hope that things happen in our favor."

The room soon became calm, and I could tell everyone was thinking about Jeb, and how they hoped he could help us. As much as I wanted to believe it as well, there was something within me that made me question it. What if, after the time he rescued Max and her flock, they caught him, and forced him to return to their side? He was probably under stricter privileges now, and I couldn't help but worry about what would happen to him if he actually did turn out to be still on the side of the resistance.

But, as I got lost in my thoughts, I heard the door open one more time. In walked another whitecoat, raising our suspicions and defenses at the same time, but Aelita immediately knew who this one was.

"It's Jeb!" she called out, happily.

"Hello, everyone. I noticed that the staff never gave you all anything to eat," he nodded.

I felt my heart rev up in surprise and excitement, as I heard this. "You noticed right, M-Mr. Batchhelder. We didn't even get time to have our breakfast."

"And I'm so sorry about that. We'll give you better adjustments for the time being."

And that's when he happened across the shunt in my arm, and his eyes narrowed. "Reilly?"

"The guy that should work in a car wash. Yep."

"I'll make a note to the Director to get him replaced. I'm sorry he got within three feet of you," he softly whispered, and I could feel the genuineness of his words.

"He even used words… that broke me…" I trembled.

"I'll make two notes to the Director," he remarked, his face softening as he saw my reaction. "And a strong suggestion."

"Thanks, Jeb."

"I'll try to rescue you when I can, but for right now, heed what they tell you," he reassured. "I still need to tell Max and her flock to turn to get here."

"Where were they?" Yumi asked, trying to keep an even tone.

"They were about to head to Africa after that mission that involved Dr. Martinez. They were very close to their spot."

"Africa… The CSM?"

"Yes, but for now, just get something to eat. We will plan everything else out soon," he smiled.

Odd smiled. "Alright! I'm starving!"

"So is everybody else," my geisha friend stated.

"I hope you brought enough to feed an elephant," Jeremie quipped. "That way, the rest of us will hopefully get some, too."

Jeb chuckled. "Of course. Plus that… monster, as you call it, gave us a pretty good idea of who Odd Della Robbia was. So we made a big feast."

And he wasn't kidding; he rolled in an enormous amount of food, the sight of which made mi novio's eyes grow to the size of tennis balls. The rest of us were pretty pleased, too. It was the first food we'd had in roughly twelve hours. We were just glad he had brought enough for each of us.

On the other hand, I was pleased that he didn't use the words Reilly did. To hear those words drowned me in my own self-hate. Just when I thought that I could stay afloat of it all, that psycho poured several gallons' worth of water into the tank. With Jeb, he gave me the hope that dragged me back to shore.

"I just hope we can escape before they do worse to us," Sister moaned, worried. "Look at what they did to dear sister!"

Jeb nodded, understanding. "Don't worry. He won't be bothering her or any of you ever again."

"That's good news," Yumi commented, calmly. "Cassidy really didn't like that Reilly guy. He really had me worried, too. Thankfully, she only came away with that plastic shunt and a few emotional bruises."

"He thought I would act like Angel, Jeb," I remarked, grimacing.

"And while you have a few facets of her personality, you don't look like her at all," he nodded. "Well, if you get locked in the same room together with him again, you have my fullest permission to fight him."

That brought back the evil grin I had, earlier. "Can I use a scalpel?"

"Cassidy!" Jeremie scolded.

"What…? He hurt me, I might as well have my revenge."

He looked down at the floor, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "Well… maybe you're right… but don't make a gigantic mess, okay?" What did you do to her, Odd? Give her villain training?!

"Believe me, there are a number of ways I would love to get my revenge on him."

Aelita gave me a slightly stern look. "And how many of them don't involve using a scalpel?"

"I could try to find a way to push him into the Digital Sea, but that wouldn't work. He'd end up working for XANA, Aelita, as soon as he gets his strength. I could always try to kick him in the round tables, but he could be wearing a cup, or even full armor under there. And don't get me started on trying to get a black mamba. That thing would probably kill me first," I listed.

"And you're afraid of snakes," Odd pointed out.

I nodded, acknowledging my fear. "So I guess we could drown him unless he was the relative of any escape artists."

That shocked her, big time. "Couldn't you come up with something a little more… humane?"

"Humane? Aelita, Reilly hurt Angel in physical ways. In a way, he's a child abuser. I've read books like A Child called "It" and Abused but Chosen, and those abusers got away with it. Do you think he deserves a lenient sentence?" I asked her, face falling somewhat.

She gritted her teeth like the subject made her uncomfortable. "Well… no, but… certainly, there has to be a better way of dealing with him, right?"

"Fine. Sorry, Aelita. I didn't mean to get way out of left field," I muttered.

"I know you're angry," Aelita walked up to me, and placed her hands on my shoulders, reassuringly. "But trying to kill him makes you out to be just as bad as he is."

"Just like I defended you when Sister had her bad attitude? Did that turn me as bad as her?" I blinked.

"That's different!" Kaitlyn jumped in. "You're talking about killing someone, not just making them back off!"

Suddenly, Jeb raised his hands into the air. "Hey, let's calm down, okay? I know you want to do something terrible to Reilly, because of what he did to Angel, Cassidy. Maybe there's a way that'll make you feel better, but won't do anything terrible to him."

"Maybe. Plus he cut open a few emotional wounds that I had. I guess that's messing with me, too," I sighed.

Max's father nodded understandingly. "He'll certainly do that. But the trick is not to let him have that power over you. I know that's easier said than done, but if I can't get him out of your way quickly enough, you'll need to find some way to stand up to him."

"Just outwit him, Cat Girl!" Odd encouraged. "You've done so with XANA before."

"Yeah… I did… But he's a multi-agent system, and Reilly is human," I blinked.

"You just need to figure something out," Patrick smiled. "It'll soon be a piece of cake."

"Now come on," Odd smiled. "Let's go eat!"

So that's what we did. With Odd having as many helpings as he pleased, and the rest of us going at a more leisurely pace, we ate in peace, not having to worry about anything crazy, for the moment. And it was a good meal, too. Somehow, after you've been starving yourself for twelve hours, for reasons out of your control, nearly everything tastes good, but it was better than that. I almost expected to have something akin to prison food, but Jeb found us a lot of really delicious meals, plus mouth-watering hot chocolate with marshmallows, which we were all grateful for. We'd need to get our strength back up, anyway, for whatever we'd have to face, next.