Chapter 12:

"So –" Aelita started again nervously as she walked up to Jonas again, who had been lounging in a corner listening to music from his extremely futuristic phone, which she wasn't sure she should even be looking at.

"What's up, Princess?" He asked kindly as he removed his headphones to give her his full attention, leaving her to sit next to him quietly.

"Can you tell me – do I ever see – my father again?" This question made the happy air about him drop slightly, but his smile remained.

"Yes," He answered making her heart soar. "You even see your mother." He added, which nearly caused her heart to stop beating all together.

"Really?" She begged nearly in tears.

"Hey," He complained lightly as he reached up to brush them again. "I didn't tell you that to make you cry."

"I'm sorry.' She muttered as she tried to wipe them away through her joy before looking back at him. "You're – you're not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?" She demanded quietly.

"Would I lie to you?" He countered which left her to look into his eyes again, where she could see more and more of her best friend in the kindness of their golden color.

"No," She finally answered confidently before reached over to take his hand and smiled again as she absorbed that. "No, you wouldn't." She repeated before she was forced to wipe away more happy tears from her face.

"Oh, come on, Princess." He complained kindly as he tried again to get rid of them. "You're making me look bad."

"I'm sorry," She laughed lightly before looking up as Ulrich walked over as well, and stuck his hands in his pockets as he considering Jonas for a moment, before talking.

"So, are you ever going to tell us what those creatures were?" He stated seriously, clearly referring to the attack that had survived a few hours ago.

"We call them ninjas." He explained calmly. "They use to be human-controlled avatars like us. They worked for Tyron."

"Use to be?" Jeremy repeated as he turned his chair to look at him as well.

"When he started his failed time-loop, he created mindless versions to defend his computer." He continued simply. "They're part of the reason we can't shut down the system. They're programmed to protect it regardless of the circumstances. They're basically helping to destroy the world and they don't even know it."

"At least Xana knew enough to adjust his attacks if they endanger his existence." He added sourly as he turned to glare at a wall. "Sometimes I wonder if Tyron isn't worse. He's too smart to admit when he needs help and too dumb to see his own flaws."

"Sounds like a dangerous combination." Jeremy admitted, causing Jonas to scoff knowledgeably.

"So these – ninjas –" Ulrich started again. "What are they doing here?"

"They tracked me." Jonas admitted solemnly.

"How?" Aelita put in worriedly.

"I have a – a program specifically designed to take out Tyron's computer, they can sense it." He explained calmly. "Aelita said they would follow me, but I didn't expect them this soon."

"So I guess it's fair to say we're gonna see them again?" Odd put in and Jonas nodded, leaving the younger to sigh. "So much for our vacation."

"Which is probably why I shouldn't be here," Jonas added as he got to his feet solemnly causing them to look at him again. "The supercomputer hides my signal to a point but I still can't risk them finding this place." He added as he moved to get into the elevator again.

"But what if they find you?" Aelita countered

"Yeah, you seemed to fair pretty well against them, but it still took a lot out of you. Wouldn't it be better to hide the program somewhere until we need it?" Jeremy put in as Jonas reached out to push the up button, but paused in response to these words before closing his eyes as he let that sink in.

"Probably," He admitted leaving Aelita to walk toward him again worriedly.

"What aren't you telling us?" She demanded, causing him to smile before looking at her again.

"Never could hide anything from you." He stated calmly, but pulling his hand back in order to put it in his pocket. "The truth is this program is – apart of my avatar, apart of my body. I can't separate from it."

"So, it's actually the specter that's the program." Jeremy guessed, leaving the man to look away calmly as he considered this.

"Yeah, let's go with that." He agreed, causing everyone to watch him questionably for further explanation, but, instead, he just reached back out to push the button that would allow him to exit the factory.

"Whoa, wait a minute." Odd ordered this time as he rushed forward to stop him, which immediately caused Jonas's calm demeanor to shatter like a plan of glass as he jumped away from the touch, but not before their hands briefly made contact, causing them both to flicker violently as if something beyond their control was trying to erase them.

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