Chapter 2:

"So, what happened?" Yumi asked as they crowded around the computer to watch Jeremy as he read through everything in search of an attack.

"I don't know." He admitted distractedly. "According to this, all the power was just rerouted to the computer and then dispersed." He explained as he continued his typing before stopping suddenly as he spotted something.

"What is it?" Aelita stated quietly.

"Something was – materialized." He stated in a shocked tone, which caused Ulrich, Yumi and Odd to immediately head for the elevator, where they went down to the next floor and once again walked into the room with a paranoid air about them as they checked each of the scanners for movement, but still nothing presented itself.

"There's nothing here, Jeremy." Yumi called toward the ceiling, knowing that their friend could hear them through the speakers.

"Then it must be somewhere in the factory." Ulrich pointed out, which didn't go over well with his friends. Considering the last thing Xana had sent them had been a group of killer Krabs that had quite nearly decapitated one of their members, they were not too thrilled with the idea of something else loose in their world.

"We have to find it before it hurts someone." Jeremy ordered, causing them to quickly get into the elevator again and head back up to the upper floors; where the search began.

…

He complained quietly as he made his way through the boiler room, still struggling to regain some of his lost energy. Apparently, time travel really took it out of you.

However, he wasn't given a lot of time to rest before he realized he'd been discovered and quickly hid behind some large piece of long forgotten machinery as Odd and Ulrich rushed through the entrance he'd just used himself in search of their intruder.

"Figures," Said trespasser proclaimed under his breath before carefully circling his hiding place as the two walked the other way on high alert, until finally he could dash into another room, without being seen.

Unfortunately for him, it worked out until the 'being seen'part.

"Hey!" Yumi called as she spotted him from her own position, forcing the man to book it further into the factory as the other two reconvened on her location and followed. However, they weren't fast enough to see him duck into another hallway through the maze of rooms that made up the factory, and proceeded to expertly weave his way around the building with the ease and grace of someone that had been there many times before.

He was able to get to a small room that screamed 'inconspicuous' and rested for a moment as his pursuers continued their search of the area. But, unfortunately, he knew it wouldn't be long before they looked there as well and on top of that he still wasn't that up for a chase.

But, thankfully, he was aware of an exit nearby and carefully made his way out of his hiding spot again, when his three shadows passed him by, before sneaking further down the hall.

When he finally found the correct door, he wasn't surprised to find it locked, given how his luck had been holding up the last few minutes. But with a short step back and kick to the handle he was able to enter without further complications; where he quickly headed for the wall of windows that made up the front of the building.

"What was that?" He heard Ulrich yell from behind him, but paid them no mind as he casually walked toward the nearest window, grabbing a chair as he did so, and proceeded to use it to smash out the glass; bringing even more attention to himself in the process.

…

"In here." Ulrich called out as he rushed into the room, only to stop in his tracks as realized that he had finally found his target, however it wasn't the monster he had been expecting; but a person, and, unfortunately, with his face shadowed by the hood of his sweatshirt, he couldn't tell who it was.

"Ulrich," Yumi stated as she and Odd arrived behind him and they quickly prepared for a fight as they stared down the mystery person. But, instead of acting like a normal Xanafied human, the guy just stood calmly by the window, watching them from the corner of his eye while they continued to hold their battle-ready stances.

"What's the matter Xana? Not up to snuff?" Odd joked after a moment of tense silence, which caused the stranger to do something they really hadn't expected.

He smiled

It wasn't as if the people Xana possessed weren't above grinning evilly when it looked like the virus was winning, but this was different; this smile was more one of amusement rather than gloating.

"Who are you?" Ulrich suddenly demanded, seeming to realize that this guy wasn't possessed, however he didn't respond and instead just turned to duck through the window and out onto the grass outside. "Hey!" Ulrich called after him before the three made chase again.

They actually heard the stranger sigh this time before stopping again, as if resigning himself to the fact that he'd been caught, before turning back to look at them; allowing the three to make out the face of someone that was likely in their 20's.

"I asked you a question." Ulrich commanded sternly, causing the man to laugh lightly, which did not go over well with the kid, who promptly charged.

"Ulrich!" Yumi complained, but he didn't listen, instead using his finely honed fighting skills to kick out at their opponent, who quietly ducked under it like he did this kind of thing everyday.

"Oh, come on, you can do better than that." The stranger stated with a grin, causing Ulrich to start slightly before trying again and again – and again to take him down, but every attempt he made to hit the man was met with nothing but thin air, and what's more the other guy didn't seem to be interested at all in fighting back, despite having plenty of opportunities to take him out.

However, that all changed when Odd and Yumi rushed in to help their friend, prompting the stranger to suddenly trip Ulrich up just enough to send him flying toward his backup, which in turn left them all in a tangle of limbs on the ground for half a second as they struggled to right themselves again, only to look around in shock as they discovered their opponent had disappeared.

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