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4
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It was ten minutes later when the group reached what was apparently the end of the line; metal bars blocked the path ahead, and another access ladder stretched down from above. Sissi climbed the ladder with the group, following after Odd. As they emerged back into the sunlight, she squinted a bit and sat down to switch back to her sneakers while her eyes adjusted. Once they had, she saw a hand reaching down; Yumi was standing over her. Sissi grasped the hand and the older girl pulled her up, giving her a thumbs-up, before turning to look away.
Sissi followed her gaze, and took in for the first time where she was. The group was standing at one end of a long suspension bridge. Behind them was Boulogne-Billancourt, one of the suburbs of greater Paris; she knew Yumi lived there. But ahead of them, at the far end of the bridge, was an enormous run down factory building, sitting on a long island in the middle of the River Seine. The building had windows blown out in some places, or grimed over in others; it was dirty and looked as if it hadn't been touched in years.
The group was moving ahead; Yumi motioned for Sissi to follow her. With only a little hesitation, Sissi followed as they made their way across the bridge.
"What is that place?"
"The old Renault factory." Yumi answered as they walked. "They used to make the brand cars there, but it closed down a long time ago for unknown reasons." She glanced at Sissi. "Though we have a few theories."
Before Sissi could ask about them, they'd reached the other side, and Odd and Ulrich were rolling up the enormous metal overhead door on the place. She moved into the old building with the others, taking in the sight. The main room was enormous, with skylights and missing roof pieces overhead, and rusted metal and machinery scattered along the edges, though the main floor was mostly clear and smooth. Sissi shivered a bit; the place was haunting to say the least, and with the broken catwalks she could see dangling in spots, it certainly wouldn't meet any kind of work safety regulations.
The path they were following jutted out into one such walkway; chains hung down from somewhere above haphazardly, and whatever stairs had once been attached to the catwalk had apparently collapsed at some point. But to her surprise, both Ulrich and Odd were already out of sight; a moment later she saw them down on the floor far below. She was about to ask how they'd gotten down there, but then she saw Jeremie run for one of the chains and leap onto it, swinging smoothly down to the floor like a Tarzan movie with less yelling; Aelita had soon followed him in similar fashion.
Sissi felt her mouth hanging open a bit, and Yumi smirked. "Think you can do it?" The voice held a challenge, and something else Sissi couldn't identify.
"I didn't come this far to stop now." Sissi said, steeling herself, before running at one of the chains. At the last second though, she hesitated, and instead of leaping off the edge, she stumbled and toppled forward, grabbing wildly for it. She heard Odd yell somewhere below, and she twisted in the air, managing to grab the chain with both hands; she quickly wrapped her legs around it for good measure, holding on as it swung wildly.
Aelita called something out, but the pounding in Sissi's ears was too loud to hear, so she waited for the swinging chain to come to a stop, then carefully slid down it to the bottom. Odd was waiting there for her, and quickly pulled her into a comforting hug, gently working the chain out of her grasp.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah…I just tripped…"
"Anything hurt at all?" Odd's voice was tight with worry; he'd clearly had a bad fright when her fall began.
Sissi shook her head again. Aelita and the others had come over now; Yumi had appeared with them from above, and she came right up to the two, looking concerned. "I'm sorry Sissi, I should have realized you might not be ready for that yet."
"No, it's not your fault. I'm the dumb idiot who went for it." Sissi looked out at the rest of the group. "I needed to try and keep up with you all, for whatever all of this is."
They all looked at each other, and she had the distinct feeling conversations were shooting back and forth in the looks they each gave each other. Whether or not that was good for her or not, she wasn't sure.
But Odd finally grinned at her. "Well, just so you know in the future, there's stairs. That's how Yumi got down." He pointed past Sissi's head; indeed, a set of metal stairs led down from above.
"Wha…then why did everyone use the chains?!" Sissi exclaimed.
Odd shrugged. "I dunno. Rule of Cool?"
Sissi growled and gave her boyfriend a smack on the back of his head.
"Ow!"
"Next time tell me before I take a flying swan dive off a twenty foot drop!"
The rest of the group laughed at that, Odd joining in as well, and soon Sissi was laughing too despite herself.
Within a few moments though, the laughter had died down, and a pregnant pause settled in. Jeremie spoke up. "It's time."
The group moved across the abandoned production room toward a huge steel freight elevator. Odd moved away from Sissi as they approached it, and soon she found the five arrayed in front of her in a semi-circle from left to right; Odd, Aelita, Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi. Sissi gulped a bit, suddenly feeling nervous again.
"This is where it ends." Jeremie said from the center. "Up until this point, we haven't said anything to you about any of this. We've talked for a long time about it, and we agreed to give you this chance. "
Now Ulrich spoke; his voice was serious. "Past this point, there is no turning away. There's no guarantee of safety either."
"If you want to back out now, you still can. Nobody will hold it against you." Aelita said.
"But make no mistake," Yumi added, "this is your last chance to back out and go back to a normal life."
Sissi looked at each of them, seeing the looks they were giving her. Each was as serious as she had ever seen them. Moreso in fact. She suddenly had the strong impression that the steel doors of the elevator were something like the wardrobe entrance to Narnia, or the red pill from the Matrix. Once she went in and saw whatever it was they were offering, whatever world was beyond, there'd be no going back of her own accord. Whatever it was would change her life in some huge way, for better or worse. She felt like she'd known this all along, but it was only really settling in now. This is my only chance to run. My only chance to just go back to school, and go back to daddy and Herve and Nikolas and the way things used to be. The only chance to go back to everything being normal.
Her eyes turned to Odd, and he returned the gaze, honest, concerned, deadly serious, and a little scared. But overall, loving; she knew he'd understand whatever choice she made.
Finally, he spoke.
"Elisabeth. Can you keep a secret?"
I hated my old life. I had friends, but I was alone. I had daddy, but I didn't have me. I just had this person I made myself into, this mean and nasty person that I never want to be again. I won't be that person again. Ever.
"Yes."
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