Sorry to tell you, but I left you hanging with Yin, Yang, and Maj. You'll just have to keep reading to find out what happens to them.
It was five o'clock and most people were getting off work. The LYOKO warriors were going to work on the other hand. For the past hour, one of them would walk around the block, casing the building.
"How's it looking?" Yumi said, lifting her wrist to her ear, her mobile hidden in her sleeve.
"So far so good," came Ulrich's voice, slightly muffled by the shirt's fabric. "Odd, anything?"
"Good on my end. What about you, sunshine?"
"May I say that I do not like this plan one bit," Kayla's irked voice came.
"We know," said Odd. "Phantasm?"
"Just say the word," Eva said.
"Jeremy, Aelita?" Yumi called.
Jeremy had his laptop out and was typing frantically. Aelita stood in front of him to hide what he was doing.
"Okay, I have the security cameras out front deactivated," said Jeremy. "We don't have long. Go now!"
Kayla and Eva entered the Eyrie Building, activating their specter bands to their Jeremy-fied forms. The security guard looked up from his desk.
"Hey! You can't be in here!" he yelled.
Eva extended her hand let an electric shock fly from it. The security guard flew back in his chair and landed on the floor behind the desk.
"Eva!" squealed Kayla, covering her mouth.
Eva continued for the elevators.
"Eva, did you have to hit him so hard?" Kayla asked, keeping on her friend's heels.
"It wasn't that hard," Eva said. "No different from getting tased. We'll worry about him later."
Kayla knew Eva was right. They couldn't worry about the people they came across at the moment. The only thing they could do for them was to make sure they stayed out of the way so they didn't get hurt, or worse.
Kayla bit her lip as she pushed the emergency stop button on the elevator. Eva turned to her, her face almost expressionless.
"Jeremy, we're ready," Eva said.
"Okay," Jeremy said. "Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, go."
Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich entered using a fire exit. Jeremy and Aelita went in through another on the other side of the building.
"Ready, Aelita?" Jeremy asked as Aelita activated her LYOKO form.
"Ready," she said.
Jeremy activated his LYOKO form and they headed for the surveillance room. They found the room and knocked out the guards. Jeremy turned off the cameras and disabled the alarm.
"The alarm is disabled," said Jeremy.
"Okay," said Kayla.
Eva and Kayla activated their LYOKO forms. Kayla gave Eva a boost and she opened the hatch and climbed out of the elevator. Eva pulled Kayla up and they began to climb the elevator cables.
Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi took the separate emergency stairwells up to the top.
"Jeremy, any activity upstairs?" asked Ulrich.
"None that I can see," said Jeremy. "Eva, Kayla, where are you?"
"We're almost there," said Kayla.
"Ugh, I don't know why I'm taking each stair," said Odd. He perched himself on the handrail and jumped up to the next level. "This is much faster."
"I think this is our floor," said Eva.
Kayla reached out to the door in front of her and pried it open with one hand. Eva and Kayla hopped out of the elevator shaft and into the castle.
"We're in," said Eva.
"Now what?" asked Kayla.
"Find the baby," said Eva. "Jeremy, where's the nursery?"
"I can't tell from here," said Jeremy. "The castle surveillance system isn't hooked up with the building's system."
"Maybe I can find out," said Aelita.
She rested her hands on the computer. Her hands sparked and the screens went snowy. A moment later they showed a stone corridor of the castle.
"There," Aelita said, pointing to a door. "That's the nursery. It's in the east wing and you need to go up a floor."
"Let's go," said Eva.
Eva and Kayla listened to Aelita as she guided them through the castle.
Meanwhile, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich reached the top of the skyscraper and entered the castle.
"Where to next, Einstein?" asked Odd.
"Kayla and Eva are going after the baby," said Jeremy. "Make sure that XANA isn't already there."
"This is it," said Eva.
Kayla opened the door a crack and saw no one but the baby inside. He was sleeping in his crib. Kayla entered and Eva stood guard outside the door.
"Hey, little guy," Kayla cooed.
Eva turned and saw Ulrich in his LYOKO form walking up to her.
"Jeremy sent me to help you," Ulrich said.
"Not much to do," said Eva. "Kayla and I've got this."
"Hey, Eva, where are you?" came Ulrich's voice through the specter band.
Eva swung and missed and got the wind knocked out of her when "Ulrich" slammed his foot into her stomach.
"What's going on?" Kayla asked, running to the door. She saw Ulrich and was about to ask him if he was crazy when she saw XANA's mark in his eyes.
"Kayla, run!" yelled Eva.
Kayla grabbed the baby and ran, leaving Eva to deal with this copy of her friend.
"Jeremy, something weird's going on," said Kayla as she ran. "Ulrich's attacking Eva!"
"No, I'm not," said Ulrich. "I don't know where Eva is."
"It's a polymorph," said Jeremy. "It can take the form of anyone."
"Where's Eva?" demanded Ulrich.
"Outside the nursery," said Jeremy. "Ulrich, go help Eva. Yumi, find Kayla. She has the baby and she may need help."
"We should go," said Aelita. "These guards will be waking up any minute."
"You're right," said Jeremy.
The two of them left and headed upstairs to help their friends.
The polymorph slammed Eva's head against the stone floor. She almost blacked out, but was able to dodge its sword strike. Eva planted her foot in the polymorph's chest and sent it flying down the corridor. She sprang to her feet and fired a power pulse attack. The polymorph evaded the attack and dashed up to Eva, striking her in the ribs and knocking her to the floor.
The real Ulrich came to her rescue and the two of them began duking it out.
Eva pulled herself up to see the two Ulrichs fighting. She was about to attack as well, but she couldn't tell her friend from her enemy.
The Ulrichs carried their battle into the great hall of the castle, kicking, slashing, and punching. They were evenly matched.
Eva stood in the doorway of the hall, holding her hands out so she could attack. Her power pulse power would be cut in half, but it would still knock them down. She looked to her left and her right. She couldn't tell them apart. Her head throbbed from being smacked off the stone floor and she couldn't think straight.
"Eva, blast him! He's the fake!"
"No, he is!"
"Eva, I know you know it's me!"
"Shut up!" Eva shouted.
Both Ulrichs fell silent, each looking at her with a pleading look. Eva was so confused. She could blast them both, but that wouldn't prove anything. She couldn't divide the power because it wouldn't destroy the polymorph and if she did guess and guessed wrong, Ulrich would be in serious trouble.
"Oh, help," Eva muttered.
"Eva, it's me. You know it's me," said the Ulrich to her left. "You know your friends. He's the fake." He pointed to the Ulrich on her right.
Eva turned to the other Ulrich.
"You know what to do," said the other Ulrich. His lips moved, but no sound came out. No sound was needed. Eva knew what he said.
Eva fired a power pulse at full strength at the Ulrich on her left. His body flickered and disappeared. Eva sank to her knees on the verge of tears. She was shaking terribly, her breath coming in gasps.
"You okay?" asked Ulrich.
"I never want to do that again," said Eva. She looked up at Ulrich. "I'm glad you remembered I told you."
"I'm glad that you remembered you told me," said Ulrich. "For a moment I didn't know what to do, then I remembered what you told me your sister used to call you. Gotta love that memory, huh, Eva-phant?"
Eva got to her feet and calmed down. "Let's find Kayla."
"Kayla!"
Kayla turned to see Yumi running up to her.
"Are you okay?" Yumi asked.
Kayla nodded. "Yes."
They looked at the baby Kayla was carrying. He was as still as a sleeping baby could be.
"How can he sleep like this?" asked Yumi. "You would think that some of the noise would have woken him up."
"I was wondering the same thing," said Kayla. "It's like he knows I'm not going to hurt him."
"What now?" asked Yumi.
"I don't dare leave the castle with him," said Kayla. "We could be charged with kidnapping."
"And the last thing we want to do is hurt this family," Yumi said. "Let's find someplace we can hide him until it's safe."
"Good idea," said Kayla.
Ulrich and Eva raced through the corridors trying to find Kayla. Something struck Eva in the shoulder and she devirtualized, her body falling to the stone floor with a loud thump. Ulrich turned around and saw a kankerlot. He dashed up to it and cut it in half.
"You okay?" he asked Eva.
Eva picked herself up, straightening her sweatshirt. "I'm fine," she answered.
They continued on their way until they saw someone in the corridor. All of them froze, staring at each other. Ulrich and Eva were looking at a man with blond hair, glasses, dressed in a blue suit.
"I do not know how you got in here," he said with a deadpan voice. "But we do not take kindly to intruders."
"Any ideas?" Ulrich whispered.
"Yeah," replied Eva. "Let me handle him."
"You sure?" Ulrich asked.
Eva nodded slightly. "I know my limits. At the moment, I'm useless to the mission. The very least I can do is delay him."
"Good luck," said Ulrich and ran off.
Eva and the man continued their stare down.
"So," Eva said, breaking the silence between them, "how do you want to do this?"
"Meaning?"
"I'm not backing down. You're not backing down. It seems to me that we're at an impasse. So what I mean is do you want a fair fight, or do you want me to plant you on your backside?"
"That is a lot of talk for someone so small," the man said.
Eva smirked. She lifted the back of her sweatshirt. The man flinched. Eva pulled her hunting knife from her waistband and threw it down the corridor behind her.
"That was not the sensible thing to do," said the man, with a smile playing on his lips. "Now you have no weapon."
"Why? Do you have one?" Eva asked.
"As a matter of fact, I do!" He pulled a small gun from his jacket pocket and fired at Eva. The shot hit right at her feet.
"Laser, huh?" said Eva.
"As I said, throwing your knife away was not the sensible thing to do," the man said, taking aim at Eva's chest.
Eva snickered.
"What's so funny?" asked the man.
Eva shrugged. "Sometimes, being sensible is just not sensible."
The man took careful aim, but Eva rushed him, moving in such a way that the man had never seen before. Eva had the gun out of his hand and him sprawling on the floor. He swung and missed as Eva leapt off of him and flipped a few steps back, far from the man's reach.
The man rushed up to Eva and tried to hit her, but she simply bent over backwards, planted her hands firmly on the floor and brought her feet up, catching the man's chin. Eva hopped back a few more steps. The man reached for something in his jacket. Finding nothing, he looked at Eva.
"Looking for this?" she asked, holding up the man's mobile. "What's wrong? Can't handle getting beat?"
The man got to his feet and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Now, let's fight," said Eva.
Eva came at him again, this time leaping into the air and spinning, her foot connecting with the man's head. She came around again and kicked him in the stomach. He reached out and grabbed her, slamming his knee into her stomach, knocking all of the air out of Eva. He punched her in the face once, twice, three times. The man let Eva fall to the floor.
"I expected this," said the man. "You talk a lot, but you do not have the skill to back up those words."
Eva whipped around and knocked the man's feet out from under him. Eva rolled backwards and got to her feet, remaining in a crouching position.
"You were saying?" she said, allowing the man to sit up.
Eva got up and planted one final vicious kick to the face. The man went down hard. Eva stood over him. He was still conscious, but not by much.
"Not bad," she said. "What's your name?"
"My name?" he asked. Eva nodded. "Owen Burnett."
Eva bowed. "Thank you for the fight, Mr. Burnett."
She started to walk away. "Wait. What is your name?" the man asked.
Eva looked over her shoulder. "Maverick," she replied and kept walking.
She turned the corner and heard a scream. Eva knew whose it was. It was Kayla's. Eva began racing toward the sound, praying that she got there in time. But before she got to the next corridor, something struck her in the back of the head.
Kayla screamed. She screamed because Yumi was hit hard by a block and she wasn't getting up. Kayla couldn't fight because she had the baby in her hands.
The block suddenly exploded.
Odd stood behind her. "You okay, sunshine?" he asked.
"I'm fine," said Kayla. "I don't know about Yumi."
"Yumi," Odd called, kneeling over her.
Kayla handed the baby to Odd. "Hold him," she commanded. She began checking Yumi's vitals. Yumi stirred and opened her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," muttered Yumi, sitting up and rubbing her head.
"Are you guys okay?" Ulrich dashed up to them.
"We're okay," said Kayla.
"Where's Eva?" asked Yumi.
"Buying us some time," said Ulrich. "We ran into some trouble. The owner now knows we are here."
"Has anyone heard anything from Aelita or Jeremy?" Yumi asked.
"Not since he told me to find you," said Ulrich.
"I hope they're okay," said Kayla.
Aelita and Jeremy were trying their hardest to destroy the group of kankerlots that had surrounded them. Aelita had to give Jeremy credit. He was doing well for a rookie. For someone who spent his time in front of a computer, Jeremy had very good aim.
"Not bad," Aelita said after the last kankerlot was destroyed.
"Thanks," said Jeremy. "I didn't think I could do it."
"It's easy once you get the hang of it," said Aelita.
"Hey, Einstein, what's going on?" Odd's voice came from Jeremy's band.
"We ran into a little trouble," said Jeremy.
"Well we have a bit of a problem," said Odd. "We have the kid, but we don't know where to go."
"We're heading up your way now," Jeremy said. "Can you get to the roof? If we need to, we can make a quick escape."
"Okay," said Odd.
"So what do you think?" asked Aelita. "Should we call Yin?"
"I don't know," said Jeremy. "We didn't think this far ahead. Do you think Eva will have any ideas?"
Aelita answered by calling Eva's band. There was no answer. Something happened that Eva wasn't answering.
"That's not good," said Jeremy.
"Come on," said Aelita. "She's smart. She knows to go to the roof if there's trouble."
Jeremy and Aelita hurried to the roof. The weather had turned nasty while they were inside. The sun was beginning to set and the clouds were gathering. It would begin to rain soon.
Jeremy and Aelita came out one door and Kayla, Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich came out another.
"Where's Eva?" Jeremy called.
"We don't know," said Odd. "She was taking care of some business and we haven't heard from her since."
"What should we do now?" asked Kayla.
The baby in her arms was sleeping peacefully. He hadn't made a sound since they left the nursery.
Odd zoned out. Before him he saw the stone gargoyles on the tower turned to flesh and blood.
"Odd!" Yumi shook his shoulder.
Odd shook his head, clearing his brain of the image.
"What did you see?" asked Aelita.
"Those statues," Odd said, pointing to the tower, "they're going to wake up and they are not going to be happy."
"What?" cried the others.
"Those are the gargoyles," said Odd. "They sleep during the day. The sun's about to go down. We got to get out of here."
"You aren't going anywhere."
They turned to see William, an evil smile on his face and his sword resting on his shoulder. He was standing on a manta, watching them.
"Give me the baby," William demanded.
"What do you want with him?" asked Yumi, stepping in front of Kayla, the others following her lead.
"I'm just following orders," said William. "XANA wants the baby, and it will get the baby. Now, hand him over!"
"No!" yelled Kayla.
William brought up his sword and swung hard. A blade of energy came at them, causing the LYOKO warriors to scatter.
Jeremy raised his gun and fired, missing William, but shooting the manta in the wing. William snarled and turned to Jeremy. The manta turned and fired at Jeremy, hitting him in the chest and sending him flying into a stone wall.
"You always did better in the classroom," said William. "This is no place for you, Belpois."
Kayla crouched low with the baby in her arms. Yumi jumped in front of her, fans at the ready.
"It'll be okay," said Yumi.
"Not for you," said William. He turned to the tower. "And certainly not for them!"
The manta William was riding turned sharply and began firing at the gargoyles.
"No!" Odd yelled.
In the confusion he had managed to get to the top of the tower. He fired three laser arrows and was shot in the chest. His arrows hit the manta and William fell hard on the stone wall. Odd tumbled backwards and was devirtualized.
Now the baby began crying.
"Now where was I?" William said. "Oh, yes. The baby."
A woman with red hair and a man with long brown hair pulled into a ponytail ran outside. There was another man behind them, this one looking like he just got out of a fight. He whipped his glasses off, put them in his pocket and began spinning like a top. Seconds later, an elf shot toward William.
William saw him and hit him with an energy blast. A chain then wrapped around the elf, pinning his arms to his sides. The elf cried out in pain.
"I was warned about you," William said. "You are the one they call Puck, yes?"
The elf looked up between strands of long white hair. His face was contorted with pain, but his blue eyes screamed that he had yet begun to fight.
Aelita looked at the chained up elf. Her father had told her stories about elves when she was little. Aelita even named the stuffed doll she had gotten for Christmas Mr. Puck. If there was one thing elves did not like, it was iron. Aelita was willing to bet that's what William had just tied him up with.
Black smoke surrounded the elf and he was lifted to William's side. "Now, I'm going to give you a choice," William said to Kayla. Before he could say anything else, another shot was fired at William, this one missing his head by a fraction of an inch. William turned and sliced the air with his sword, striking Jeremy and devirtualizing him. "That's enough out of you."
"Jeremy!" cried Aelita, running over to him.
"Now, listen carefully," said William. "I am only going to say this once. You, my dear, have a choice to make."
William pointed to something and black smoke brought it beside the elf.
"Eva!" screamed Kayla.
"Here is the choice you have to make," said William. "You either give me the baby willingly and you save your friend. Or you don't, I drop them both, and I take the baby by force. So, what's it going to be?"
Kayla stared horror-struck at William. Her eyes moved to her friend. Eva was looking back at her with that determined, defiant look that told her not to do it.
"We can't give him the kid," hissed Yumi. "He'll kill them anyway."
"We just need to get that elf free," said Aelita. "If he drops them both, Eva's specter band will activate and she'll be strong enough to break those chains."
Jeremy groaned. "Eva has already been devirtualized once already. If she activates her specter band, she'll only have a few seconds, if it activates at all."
"A few seconds is all she'll need," said Ulrich.
"It could kill her!" Jeremy said.
"Hey," Eva whispered to the elf. "Sorry for beating you up earlier. I was trying to avoid this."
"If I can't protect my charge, what good am I?" asked the elf.
"If I can get those chains off you, can you stop William?" Eva asked. "You don't need to kill him. You just need to get him to retreat."
"What about you?" he asked.
Eva shrugged. "I've lived a good life," she said.
"What? You're only fifteen, if that!"
Eva smirked. "I said good, not long."
Kayla looked at Eva. Eva nodded. She turned back to William. "Go jump off the roof!" she said.
"It's your decision," said William, releasing his hold on Eva and the elf.
Both of them yelled as they fell. After five floors, Eva's specter band kicked in. She reached for the elf and managed to get a hold of the chains. Eva pulled them off without a second to spare. She devirtualized and prepared herself for the worst.
Eva felt a sharp pain and heard a pop as her shoulder came out of place. The elf had grabbed her arm and was pulling her up.
"You are crazy, Maverick," he said.
"I didn't get your name," said Eva.
"It's Puck," the elf replied.
Kayla couldn't believe that she had let her friend die. Nothing had happened, so they both had to be dead.
"Attack!" William roared.
Monsters of every kind came out of the woodwork. Yumi protected Kayla the best she could and Aelita pulled Jeremy to safety. Ulrich used his speed to block all the laser attacks coming his way. Even the man and the woman were fighting back with laser weapons.
One monster was hit by a green light. They turned to see the elf standing casually on the wall.
"Ulrich!"
Ulrich turned to see Eva running along the wall at a crab. She held out her hand. Ulrich threw her a saber and watched as she sliced the crab down to her level before stabbing it in the weak point.
"Give him here," Jeremy groaned to Kayla. "You need to fight."
Kayla handed the baby to Jeremy and joined the fray.
Aelita carefully aimed for William. If she could get rid of William, odds were that the rest of the monsters would go without much of a fight. Conjuring her largest energy field she could, Aelita took careful aim and fired. The blast hit William and he turned to black smoke. The rest of the monsters blew up as well.
Eva saw that the monsters were gone and ran to Jeremy, checking on the baby. He was awake and alert, but he wasn't crying. Eva let out a sigh of relief.
"You okay?" Ulrich asked, running over to Eva.
Eva handed him his saber. "I'm fine." She looked around. "Where's Odd?"
"The last I saw of him, he was on the tower," said Kayla.
Eva quickly found the stairs to the tower and ran upstairs to find Odd. He was laying face up.
"Odd?" Eva called. She knelt down and shook him. "Come on, Odd. Say something!"
"Something," Odd groaned.
"Smart alec," Eva said, slapping his shoulder. "Come on. Get up."
Odd got to his feet and looked Eva over. "You look like you've been through the wringer."
"I feel like it, too," Eva said.
Odd and Eva went downstairs to find the baby reunited with his mother.
"What happened up here?"
Eva looked at the doors and saw Matt Bluestone and another woman, his partner by the look of things, jobbing up to them.
"Mia?" Matt said when he looked at her.
"Mia?" Puck repeated, turning to Eva. He crossed his arms. "I may be a trickster, but I don't like being tricked."
"Long story short, I don't trust cops," said Eva. "And it's good to see you again, Detective," she sarcastically added.
Eva rubbed at her eyes. Kayla saw that the dark circles were darker than usual.
"You need to get some sleep," she said.
"I'm fine," barked Eva. "I've endured worse."
Kayla didn't argue. But Aelita was ready to.
"Eva, you haven't slept," she said gently. "Even in the hospital. It's clear to see."
"I wouldn't be able to anyway," Eva whispered to Aelita.
Aelita gave a sad, understanding smile. Nightmares could be such a pain.
"Well," Puck said, glancing around. "I guess I could help out on this one." He disappeared and reappeared next to Eva. "Sleep now. You deserve it." Eva closed her eyes and Puck gathered her limp body in his arms. "I'll take her to the infirmary," he said and they vanished.
Jeremy pulled out his mobile.
"Who are you calling?" Yumi asked.
"Yin," replied Jeremy. The mobile rang and rang. Finally Jeremy hung up. "That's weird. She's not answering."
"You don't think something happened to her, do you?" asked Yumi.
"Nah," said Odd. "I'm sure she just can't get to her phone."
William's been beaten, but does that mean the LYOKO warriors are in the clear? Uh...Well, you decide. I'll give you a hint...IT'S NOT OVER YET!