Episode Three : Necessary Crimes

Soundtrack: Supertramp's "From Now On" (Just 'cause it fits…)

Okay. I know Odd is roommates with Ulrich; in this episode, and in fact every other episode of the season, I instead have Odd rooming with Jeremie. I have several possible IC explanations: Ulrich's continued requests to get Odd out of his room in the beginning of last year finally got through to the school bureaucracy, or Jeremie requested the move to prevent any newcomer being shoved into his room and possibly learning about Lyoko, etc. As for out-of-story explanations, I... forgot to check when I was writing this episode, and when I found out I was wrong later, I was too lazy to fix it. It wound up being kind of important, or at least easier.

Taidine

Chapter Two: Breaking and Entering

The mood in Jeremie's room was subdued. Beneath the poster of Albert Einstein, Aelita and Odd sat on the bed, staring into the air. Kiwi sat between them, a lump of white, well-groomed fur that nevertheless managed to look disreputable; his stubby tail thumped on the rumpled sheets as Odd absently rubbed behind his tattered ears. On the computer, Jeremie tapped into a satellite program to download a map of the region, for whatever good that did. Yumi, who had shown up a few minutes after Ulrich was carried off, was stalking violently back and forth across the room, black outfit matching her dour expression perfectly. It had been nearly two hours now! What were they doing to him?

Silence. Silence. Then, slicing through it, came a chiming ring.

Aelita pulled a pink cell phone out of her pocket and held it to her ear. "Hello?" She paused. "We're in Jeremie's room." Another pause as the person on the other end spoke. "Alright," she said finally, and hung up. The others watched her intently. "That was Ulrich, He said he's fine, and he'll be here in a minute."

"Did he say what happened?" Yumi demanded, dropping down in an empty chair.

"No," said Aelita, "but he sounded a bit… worried."

All four lapsed into silence once more, and this time it was broken when the door burst open. Ulrich charged in, brown hair disarrayed, breathing heavily; he dropped on an unoccupied corner of the bed and gulped air.

"Hey, you okay?" Odd asked, moving over to make room for his friend. Kiwi was unceremoniously dumped off the bed; he landed with a thump and growled off to hide under Yumi's chair. Ulrich nodded and scooted over.

The others began to speak at once.

"Is XANA attacking?"

"What happened?"

"What did they want?"

Ulrich raised one hand limply to cut them off. "It's not XANA – at least, I don't think it is. But the police have records from some of his attacks. Remember the time he materialized krabes? Or when William made a mess of things with those zombies?"

The others nodded warily. He continued. "They have reports about it. No one remembers anything, but I guess one of them mentioned me. Tried to put them off, but it looks like Jeremie's ghosts are real."

"If the return-to-the-past didn't work once, I can't see it working again," said Jeremie, "but we can't let evidence build up."

"We could steal it back," suggested Odd flippantly.

Jeremie rested a hand on his mouse and peered out passed his computer screen. "You know, that might just work…"

Yumi stood up. "No way! We're talking about a police precinct here, not some science lab to get Jeremie spare parts. This is breaking the law!"

"And concealing a supercomputer that's trying to take over the world isn't?" Argued Ulrich wryly.

"If they find out about us, they'll shut down the computer and kill Aelita," Jeremie said firmly, "That's what we have to remember."

"Break into a police station? I'm in," Odd laughed. This, of course, from the kid who regularly tries to sneak his dog onto an airplane.

"Me too," announced Ulrich.

"Aelita?" Asked Jeremie, "You have the most to lose."

"Or gain," she replied. "Yes, I'll go."

Every eye, saving Kiwi, who had fallen asleep, turned to Yumi. She stared back defiantly. "I have a family to worry about," she announced, "You four can do what you want, but I'm not helping." Crossing her arms over her chest, she marched out of the room and slammed the door.

Jeremie sigh. "Alright. I downloaded plans of the precinct while we were waiting for Ulrich. It's probably best to make our move in the evening. I'll have to create a program to disable their security systems, but from what I've found they aren't exactly complicated. A-"

"Jeremie?" Odd broke in, "I'm glad you've got this all set up, but aren't there going to be cops in there?"

"I've got that figured out too," replied Jeremie happily, "Aelita, remember that antivirus we tried a few weeks ago?"

"Which one?" Responded the pink-haired girl wryly.

"The one that made you invisible."

- - - -

Half an hour later, the four emerged from Jeremie's room. "We'll get everything set at the Factory," Jeremie was saying in satisfied tones as they disappeared around the corner.

Three rooms down, a door left partially ajar crept fully open to reveal a girl with long black hair and enough eye makeup to paint a wall. "I thought they'd never leave!" she announced shrilly, stepping out into the hallway and brushing off her pink shirt impatiently.

Following her out into the hallway were her two cronies and Kloe, jamming her pen back into place behind her ear. "Okay, here's the plan," the journalist announced, "I'll go in and snoop around. Sissi, you and your minions keep watch."

"Hey," protested Herve, glaring through his glasses, "Who are you calling a minion?"

Kloe pointed at Nicolas, who probably didn't know what the word meant. Sissi flicked a hand at her gang to shut them up. "I'm not waiting out here," she stated, "In fact, I bet you couldn't even get in without me." Kloe glared and twisted the doorknob; it rattled but refused to budge, firmly locked.

"I rest my case," said Sissi, reaching into a pocket on her skirt to produce a hairpin. "Excuse me."

Kloe watched incredulously as the principal's daughter rattled her pin about expertly in the lock for a moment, lips pursed and browns drawn, then twisted the knob and pushed the door open with a flourish. "Where," asked the reporter, "Did you learn how to do that?"

"Just a natural talent, I guess," beamed Sissi, then, more darkly, "you wouldn't believe how often Jim forgets to unlock the bathrooms in the morning. Now, let's see…" She stepped in and began poking under the mattress of Jeremie's bed. "Ulrich had a journal in his room once. I only got to read the first few pages, though."

Ulrich had a journal, Kloe thought, but Jeremie isn't a pen and paper person. He's a computer person. Anything he has will be on his laptop…There, resting innocently on Jeremie's desk, was his austere laptop, open and booted up. The screen saver wasn't even on yet. She took two steps towards it…

And the ugliest dog she had ever seen leapt out at her from under a chair. Skinny snout, barrel body, stumpy tail, patchy white fur and tattered ears – almost ugly enough to come around at cute again, going backwards. He tried to climb her jeans with short, blunt nails. "Down!" she squeaked, trying to back away.

Sissi abandoned her perusal of the mattress long enough to say: "Kiwi. Odd calls it a dog. You can kick him." Kiwi let go of Kloe's leg in favor of growling at Sissi and slunk back under his chair. Kloe, raising an eyebrow, made it the last three steps to the laptop without incident.

There were four windows open. The first was a blueprint labeled 'Precinct Office.' She closed that. The second was meaningless lines of computer code; she stared at it for a moment, then minimized it, just in case. A satellite photo of the area surrounding the school was shut. The last picture appeared to be a map of Kadic and the surrounding area. Kloe nearly closed that as well, but something caught her eye: a dotted line from the school to the river labeled simply 'passage.'

"Eli- Sissi?" She called, hitting print instead, "ever heard of a place called the Factory?"

- - - -

In the Factory, the intricate circular patterns on the doors of the elevator clicked and shifted, allowing the heavy metal doors to hiss open. There were four students within, but only Jeremie stepped out, heading to his seat with confidence gained through long practice. The holographic map cast two minute reflections in the lenses of his glasses as he tilted his head to fit on his earpiece and view the computer screens. All seemed well – he began to type. "I'm going to materialize your vehicles first, if I can. They're no more complicated then kankrelats, and XANA manages those easily enough."

The elevator doors hissed shut, and Jeremie fell silent, typing furiously. Presently, images of a one-wheeled motorcycle and a pink-and-purple skateboard sans wheels popped up on the screen. There was a click in his earpiece as the intercom activated. "All right everybody, stand back. We have vehicles!" said Jeremie, pressing the 'enter' key with a flourish.

There was a rumble of heavy machinery in the scanner room. Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita waited eagerly as the doors parted, revealing the 'bike and 'board, floating at ankle height.

"Oof," said Jeremie's voice over the PA, "not running that program again any time soon."

"Why not?" Asked Ulrich as Odd began poking at his board. It remained obstinately suspended in midair.

"It took a huge section of accessible power," said Jeremie, "It'll take a few hours to reboot, but I should have enough juice to run the stealth program. Everyone in scanners."

"What holds this up?" Asked Odd, standing on his overboard with one foot.

"Uh… what allows krabes to shoot lasers?" Replied Jeremie. "Don't question it too closely. I'm kind of hoping the laws of physics won't notice."

The three stepped into their scanners. "Okay," said Jeremie, hitting the 'enter' key again, "now loading stealth program." Three figures appeared on the screen and began filling with green. "Twenty-five percent loaded…fifty…congratulations, you are now the invisible students!"

The scanner doors opened. The golden tubes appeared completely empty. "Hey, where'd everybody go?" Joked Odd's voice from no discernable source.

"Jeremie, how long is this going to last?" Breathed Aelita, equally indiscernible.

"I set a two-hour time limit, but it might go a little over. Let me straighten out a couple more things and then you can head out."

- - - -

"We've been walking through this woods for hours and we haven't found a single secret passage," Sissi complained. "My feet hurt. We should go back. Don't you have some reporters to annoy or something?"

Kloe was about ready to agree – although they had not been walking for hours, her ears hurt, and her headache was coming back. "Just a few…" something glinted in the grass and dried leaves. "Hmm…" Kloe sauntered over. It looked like a manhole cover, or some kind of –

Odd tried to hide the fact that Aelita was already half way down the shaft. "…nothing…" "…an evil supercomputer called XANA that's trying to take over the world?" Jeremie told her, eyes begging not to believe, to be scared off. Then the policewoman was bearing down on them, Odd beckoned her, she followed…

Kloe blinked. "Found it."

"That old thing? That's an entrance to the sewers," shrilled Sissi.

"It'll take us where we want to go."