Something was wrong.
Eddie walked freely, staring at a tablet in his hands.
"Eddie!" Kim nearly ran to him, but Milton stopped her.
'It appears Mr. Martinez won't be able to join us," Miss Mohindra remarked, slipping her phone back into her pocket. "I overestimated his skills."
"What did you do?" Jack's voice trembled.
"The first group was ordered to eliminate you, but their orders were revised once the second group fell into line," She recited airily as she walked closer. "By then I had ascertained you were more useful alive, and thus removed that directive. You're welcome." "You didn't answer the question," He snarled. "What did you do to Jerry?"
Miss Mohindra smirked. "Why nothing. I simply seem to have been too late to spare your friend from his demise."
Eddie flinched, but the woman didn't notice.
"No…" Kim's face was filled with dread as she met the others' horrified eyes. "No, no, no…"
Suddenly the office door banged open, revealing a solitary figure.
"Where is she?!" Juliana yelled. "Where's my mom?!"

She was dressed in simple clothes and a bulletproof vest, her hair tightly braided.
The ballerina stormed in, her gaze fixed on the older woman.
"I got your message," she uttered defiantly. "I did what you wanted!"
"Indeed?" Miss Mohindra raised an eyebrow.
"I knocked out Ella before I left," she scowled. "So what've you done with my mom?!"
Juliana blinked, suddenly aware of the others in the room. She looked back and forth, taking in the sight of the Wasabi Warriors, the numerous armed clones, and finally, her former boyfriend. Her eyes widened.
"Thank you, my dear," the woman was composed. "You made things much easier. It's somewhat satisfying when your target walks into a trap of their own accord."
She didn't even react.
"Ella?" Juliana quavered, then her voice hardened. "No. Not Ella. Clones?"
"You always were intelligent," Mohindra nodded approvingly. "Of course, I owe a great deal to Mr. Jones."
The teen lowered his head even further.
"Eddie…" Milton choked. "You betrayed us? Why?"
"What I want to know is for how long," Rudy muttered.
The boy shuffled forward to face his friends.
"Since I left that night…" Eddie admitted woodenly. "The night our dojo got paint splattered."
Juliana punched him in the chest and he almost fell.
"I was trying to protect you, and you do this?!" She screeched. "How could you?!"
Miss Mohindra coughed. "As lovely as this teenage melodrama is, let's move on. Mr. Krupnick, the numbers please." "What?"
"The numbers," She repeated impatiently.
He hesitated. A predatory grin spread across her face. "I see…Madame Riker told you, didn't she?"
The others were puzzled.
"Milton, what's she talking about?" Jack demanded.
He shook his head. "I can't say. The numbers are—"
"Give me the numbers or I'll neutralize her," Miss Mohindra pressed a button and flipped her computer monitor to face them.
An unconscious girl in a hospital bed was revealed.
"Julie!" Milton cried.
"She was nearly hit by a car when she returned to Seaford and promptly hospitalized for shock," Miss Mohindra elaborated nonchalantly. "Of course, it was no accident."
A kind-looking woman entered the room in scrubs. She checked the machine and the IV, seemingly normal, but held a suspicious needle.
"Withhold the numbers and I'll have no choice but to remove Julie from your life," She declared. "Permanently."
The boy was paralyzed.
"What are you waiting for?" Jack hissed. "Do it!"
"I can't," Milton's voice broke. "Because—"
"Once the numbers are entered into an algorithm chaos will be unleashed onto the world," Madame Riker appeared from the other room, being pushed by her captors.
"Mom!" Juliana exclaimed. "What do you mean?"
"Branca developed a potent computer virus to steal global intelligence," Madame Riker wobbled slightly. "It will cover its tracks by activating each country's military arsenal to target its enemies." Kim gulped. "Like…nuclear arsenal?"
"As well as vehicles, such as planes and ships," Miss Mohindra confirmed. "The final calculations for the Anarchy Code were being inputted when they were stolen and heavily encrypted. Thankfully we recovered everything except one page. I would've stolen it, but Ella arranged for its destruction."
"Why do you need me?" Milton's voice shrank. "Can't you recalculate?"
"That'll take too long," she cut him off. "Besides, the raw digits are useless unless you know where to enter them. It's no good keeping them to yourself."
She pressed on Eddie's tablet and the clones aimed their guns at each of the captives.
"Now tell me the numbers," Miss Mohindra commanded. "Or I'll kill Julie. Then your friends, and then you."
"Do not tell her!" Madame Riker barked. "Millions will die!"
Juliana tried to snatch the tablet from Eddie's hands but he dodged her.
"Eddie don't do this," she pleaded. "Whatever she promised it's a lie. She'll kill your friends and my mom! Please!"
He avoided her gaze.
Miss Mohindra tutted. "My dear, if he doesn't cooperate, his family is forfeit. Of course if you're willing to make a deal…I'm prepared to listen."
The girl approached her.
"Fine," Juliana spat, her eyes shining. "You win. I'll go with you and I won't run away. In return, you let them go."
The woman wore a chilling expression of victory.
"Very well," Miss Mohindra snapped a metal bracelet around her wrist and the teen froze.
"That should give her the reboot she needs," She holstered her gun and stretched. "Cyborgs are so unpredictable."
Jilla and Gila released Madame Riker and she ran to her daughter, the Wasabi Warriors close behind. Miss Mohindra comfortably sat at her desk and watched as the clones kept their weapons trained on them.
Rudy choked. "Her face!"
Juliana's irises were a strange electronic blue, blinking on and off. Microcircuitry flashed from under her skin as her body twitched with small, tiny jerks.
Kim reached out cautiously.
"I'd advise against touching her," Mohindra warned. "Unless you want to wipe her brain, but I've gone to an awful lot of trouble to recover her without damage."
Kim snapped back as if she'd been stung.
"Why was Juliana so important?" Milton demanded. "Why do all this just for one cyborg?"
She blinked. "Any good plan can have more than a singular goal, though she was my primary objective. I was also tasked to reclaim Project Klon and complete the Anarchy Code." She smirked. "Planting the conditioned clones in Madame Riker's care was child's play. They made perfect sleeper agents, attacking your dojo, kidnapping Miss Crawford, and almost annihilating you earlier."
"She's telling us her whole plan," Jack whispered tersely. "That means she's going to kill us, right?"
"Most likely," Madame Riker confirmed, never taking her eyes off her daughter.
"You're a psychopath!" Milton spat.
Miss Mohindra laughed. "Took you long enough to realize. Am I supposed to be shocked? Stricken by conscience? Please." She stared at him. "Now tell me those numbers like a good boy, or else someone will have to die."
Eddie hadn't moved from his spot, and no one looked at him. The Wasabi Warriors were still too stunned at Jerry's apparent passing and the hopeless situation to dwell on his betrayal.
He'd always been a less impactful character, probably due to the lack of a clear role. Rudy was the zany yet kind teacher, Jack the heroic leader, Kim the strong female, Milton the intellectual, and Jerry the slower minded jokester/dancer.
So who was he?
Their heart.
Without his presence, the whole team would be hollow. But while he was okay with his position, it meant he never got the spotlight. His job was to support, and that's why everyone diminished his actual importance. They forgot that without the heart they couldn't be alive.
However, today things were about to change.
No one knew it, but today, Eddie Jones was going to be the hero.