Four

Odd opened his closet.

"You kept your assassin stuff in there?" Ulrich gaped at Odd.

He shrugged. "Yeah, don't tell Icy though. You know Jeremie, he's all big on secrecy."

"But-but I've been through the closet before, there's nothing in there!"

It was the next day, a Sunday, and the Lyoko Warriors were helping the Nightshades prepare for their excursions.

Odd pulled out a box that had been sitting on the rack. "You never went through my boxes." He reached up and pulled out another one.

"I-I," Ulrich said weakly, as Odd pulled down another box, "I always thought that they had stuff for Kiwi in them, I never thought…" Ulrich threw his hands up.

Odd opened one of the boxes. He pulled out a small stealth sniper (AN: I'm not going to use real gun names). "Hold this for me."

Ulrich held the gun like it was, well, a gun. "I thought you guys used your special attacks."

"We do," Odd was rummaging through a box, tossing aside bubble wrap. "These are only for people without bullet-proof clothes. Trust me, most people wear enough bulletproof stuff that it's easier to fight them up close. They're generally about 78% covered in bullet-proof stuff," he handed two grenades to Ulrich, "so it's easier to get up close and attack them, you know, find the outfit's weaknesses. It's harder to riddle them with shots, cause from far away, you can't tell what's bullet-proof or not."

"What's this?" Ulrich held up a small spherical appliance, with blinking red lights.

"That? Oh, that's just a- wait. ARGH!" He grabbed it and began fiddling with it. "Jeesh, Ulrich, you almost blew us up!" He shook his head. "That's a bomb, please don't play with it. You may not believe me," he said, tossing another bomb, this one not blinking, to Ulrich, "but I take my job very seriously."

Ulrich looked at the weapons and gadgets strewn across the floor.

"Yeah, I can tell."

.

Jeremie walked to a spot on the floor. He ran his finger across the lines, tracing a pattern that Aelita couldn't see. Then a panel on the wall opened, revealing a keyboard.

"You don't need to worry about accidentally tracing the sensors on the ground, it only responds to my DNA." Aelita had to be impressed by the tech Jeremie used.

He went up to the keyboard on the wall, and began to tap a code into it. "Same here," he said. "This is a touch screen that only responds to my DNA and fingerprints." Once he finished typing the thirty character code, a screen popped up on his computer. It was to blurry for Aelita to make out.

"This is a nifty trick I installed. Basically, only my eyes, without glasses, can read it." He began clicking and typing.

Aelita watched, fascinated, as Jeremie then went to various spots on the walls. He ran his fingers around the spots, causing openings to appear, revealing more touch screens. When he finished doing six of these, he grabbed Aelita's arm.

"Come on!" He said.

"How exactly do those touch screens work?" She asked him quietly, as they ran through the school.

"Well…" the two talked technology, until they were in the forest.

Jeremie held up a hand to stop Aelita. He walked over to a tree stump. A blue light shot out of the stump and scanned him. It disappeared, and Jeremie opened a compartment and pulled out a small computer chip.

Aelita's eyes shown with excitement as she examined the fine detail.

"And back we go again!" Jeremie exclaimed. "I really think you'll appreciate the stuff I've got."

Back to Jeremie's room they went, with the computer chip. He ran it through his computer, and opened his closet.

"I had to build the secret compartment at the back. It's titanium lined, nearly impossible to break open." He pushed some clothes back and opened the door that had been opened by the computer chip. "It took me weeks to build-" he looked up at Aelita. "Actually, that's what I was doing in the factory, hiding my stuff until I finished. Now come on." He waved her inside the secret room. "The dorm rooms actually have lots of space between them, plenty of space to build this."

Aelita gasped as she entered. Rows of weapon cases and computer screens surrounded her in the small room. Jeremie opened one case. "Check this out…"

Aelita leaned closer and Jeremie began explaining,

.

"So," said Belladonna, walking through the woods with Yumi, "when did you meet Icy and Panther."

Yumi paused. "Jeremie told you about Lyoko, right?"

"He didn't tell me how it was found, just the cliffnotes. And I can be trusted, you know that, right?"

Yumi sighed. "Well, yeah, I mean, he trusts you with his life."

She smiled. "Good. Miss Pink doesn't, and I'm not sure about Tall Cute and Brooding."

Yumi blushed, and Belladonna's eyes lit up. "I knew it! Ah, well, you can keep him. He's not exactly my type anyway."

"Glad I have your permission Belladonna," Yumi said, lightly.

She smiled. "Bella, please. Belladonna is what people whisper when they're shaking in there boots. Bella's what my friends call me. And, before you ask, no it's not my real name."

"Well, duh."

Bella led her to the middle of the forest. She walked into some dense foliage. Yumi followed to find herself face to face, well, actually, face to metal wall, with the smallest helicopter she'd ever seen.

"Easiest way to travel," Bella called from inside. "More convenient than public transportation, smaller and more wieldy than planes, has a modifiable exterior so that it can blend in, and it's the quietest helicopter, like, ever."

Yumi couldn't help but be impressed. She stared at it.

"Well, hop in!" Bella called.

Soon the two girls were flying high above the city. "I've programmed a basic, cloudy sky blue pattern, so that it's undetectable to human eye."

Yumi had never had a fear of heights, but being in a tiny flying helicopter, which appeared invisible, definitely gave her a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. She gave a nervous giggle, something she wasn't used to.

Bella smiled, delighted in Yumi's excitement.

"So," Bella said. "You never answered my question on how you guys met."

Yumi began telling their story.

Soon the two had landed in a forest. They sank below the tree line, then they sunk below the ground level.

"We're going underground?"

"Yup," Bella said.

Once it landed the girls hopped out. Yumi followed Bella through the underground base.

"Is this yours, or is it, like, the Nightshade's?"

"It used to be the Nightshade's. Since I'm the only one left, I get to use it for my self."

They walked into the main room, a strange room. It was big, and full of computers and weapons and stuff, but it also had couches and fridges and TVs. It was a weird mix of high-tech underground lair and a well furnished, expensive, living space. There was even a pool room.

Bella noted Yumi's expression. She smiled. "Look at it this way. We were a bunch of ten-year-olds with no parents around, and more money than most people dream of. We did what we wanted."

Yumi looked around in awe.

"Are you gonna help me or what?"

Yumi blinked, then rushed over to help Bella move her weapons and equipment to the helicopter.

"So," said Yumi. "Why is it that you seem to hate Aelita so much?"

Bella paused. "Well, the thing is…" she blushed. "I guess I don't feel that she deserves him. When I met Icy, he was this six-year-old who got picked on by everyone. I came to his defense, and fought to keep them from bullying him. That's one of the reasons that we started learning self-defense. I just feel… not protective, but possessive. I was his friend, me and Panthy. I guess I should have expected him to get new friends, but I can't help but feel that I'm still his original friend." She shrugged. "It's sorta like seeing your boyfriend move on. Though, Icy and I never liked each other. Maybe an occasional crush, but it was mostly me and Panthy."

"You and Odd like each other?"

She shrugged. "Well, yeah! I mean, nothing serious. Just the occasional flirt."

Yumi nodded.

The two girls continued filling the helicopter.

.

"Great Odd, just look at this mess!" Ulrich looked around at the things, strewn all over the floor. "I could step on something and-and-"

"Shoot yourself in the foot?"

The door opened. "What are you up to?" Sissi stuck her head in.

"Nothing," Odd said. "Just cleaning up props for a play!"

Sissi blinked. "Wow. Well, anyway, I heard shouting and things dropping, so I thought I'd pop in." She batted her eyes at Ulrich.

"Err," he stammered. "That was Odd tossing the, props around."

"Huh, well, alright. Where did you get these?"

Odd laughed. "My parents. I swear, ask them for one and they'll send a cartful!"

Sissi sighed and left.

Ulrich ran up and locked the door. "Man Odd! At least lock the door!"

"I thought I did!"

"Are you always this bad?"

"Not in mission-mode."

"Mission-mode?"

"Yeah, it's the sort of mind frame we get into when going on missions. So I make act blasé now, but on missions I'm one tough cat!"

That's when Ulrich's mind made the connection. "CAT! That's why you're a cat!"

Odd grinned. "Yup. Ya know, sometimes I wonder what Einstein thought when I came out as a cat on Lyoko."

"Ever ask him?"

Odd shrugged. "Yeah, I figured, good ole Einstein remembers things that pictures leave out. So I asked him, but apparently it's hard to remember things that never happened."

"Huh?"

"Well, remember the first return-trip? Jeremie wasn't scanned. So his thoughts then will be forever forgotten."

Just then there was a knock on the door.

Odd peeked out. "Oh hi Icy, hi princess," Ulrich heard Odd laugh, nervously. The door slid open and Jeremie and Aelita stepped in. "Well, I told Ulrich not to touch anything, but he got all excited when he saw the guns," Odd babbled.

Jeremie surveyed the mess of weapons on the floor.

"-told him to stop throwing them, but did he listen?"

"Quiet Odd, I know you're lying. Pick this up." Ulrich heard the cold authority in Jeremie's voice and could tell that, as the brains of the group, he often called the shots, and his word was law. Odd obediently began scrambling to pick up the weapons.

"When your done, Aelita and I will be in the factory. Bring your stuff there."

Aelita gave Ulrich a look that said 'Isn't this stuff cool?'

Ulrich gave her a look that said 'if you say so."

They left.

Ulrich glanced at Odd. "Is Jeremie like your leader?"

Odd winced. "Not leader. We don't have a leader, really. He does call most of the shots, as he is the genius, and the most cautious."

"Well you seemed pretty cowed when he told you pick this up. He also seemed more angry than I'd expect…"

"Ulrich, everything in here is lethal and illegal. If anyone with an IQ one point higher than Sissi had come in, it could've been a big problem. Jeremie's got a reason to be miffed. Now help me load the boxes. The stuff on the right either won't help us, is broken, or is outdated, you put those in these boxes." He gestured to some boxes on the side. "I'll load up the stuff on the left, which is what we want, and I'll put them in these boxes here."

The two set to work.

"Odd, explain the names. I don't really get them."

"Well, Ice-Stroke. He's got the eyes that send a shiver down your spine and makes you feel unsettled. Belladonna. A very toxic plant. She fights with toxins, get it. Panther. I attack by hopping around until I see an opening. I'm light on my feet and lithe and quick. Ergo, cat, Panther. Capeesh?"

"Yeah."

"So help me hoist these boxes."

Ulrich bent down and picked up two. Odd did the same.

Ulrich felt strange, knowing that he had enough weaponry on him to take out the whole school probably the whole town.

.

Yumi looked out the window. "How far away from the school are we?"

"About a hundred miles. This baby is fast, I tell you."

"No kidding! Wow!" Yumi watched Bella, who was fingering a hypodermic. She caught Yumi staring at her.

"I hide them in the sheathes in my sleeves. They actually have little machines in them, that release the poisons in them when the needles reach a certain temperature. It has to be the tips. So, basically they release their poison when they puncture human skin. Most of them contain enough poison to kill someone in about twenty seconds. Some have more, some have less. Some just knock out, some paralyze. Icy has it similar, he sometimes uses darts instead of knives. Panther also knows how to have the same results, depending on where he hits you."

They landed in the forest outside the factory.

Both girls lifted a large case of weapons and set off toward the factory.

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