A/N: Here it is. The penultimate chapter. Last chapter should be up in a few days.
Disclaimer: I still own nothing.
It was the summer before her senior year of high school when she first met Jeremy Belpois. It was at computer camp and she was front line for MIT when he showed up. He was brilliant and quick. He would finish projects before anyone even started theirs. The teachers adored him. Everyone thought she would hate him as she was known to be super competitive but she didn't. She was fascinated by him and also attracted to him. So she decided she didn't want to hate him, she wanted to be his friend. But he didn't seem interested until the teachers paired them up for the big project that would be due at the end of camp.
When he saw what she could do, he became fascinated by her. She was able to fix anyone's code with just a single glance. She could hack her way into anything, something Jeremy could never get the hang of. It when he saw that she built a virtual video game on the computer that he came up with his plan. The two would recreate Lyoko without XANA. It would guarantee them both a spot at MIT.
"I have something to tell you," He said one day. He couldn't hold his plan in anymore so he told her everything about Lyoko and all their time there. The only thing he didn't tell her about was Aelita and what happened with her.
As soon as he told her, she wanted to know more. Her curiosity took over and she immediately jumped on the project. They only got the basics and one sector done by the end of camp but it earned them an A. After camp, the two met weekly to work on their program. It became Viven's baby as well as Jeremy's.
It was Vivien that asked Jeremy out the first time. They had known each other for three months and had been working on the new Lyoko for over two. Vivien wanted more. She wanted Jeremy to be more than just her friend.
Jeremy agreed to dinner and that dinner turned into a weekly event. Pretty soon she was kissing him and the next thing he knew, he was kissing her back. Labels didn't matter to Jeremy but they did to Vivien. He quickly became her boyfriend and she his girlfriend. It was a month into their new found relationship that Jeremy told her about Aelita: how he found her, how he saved her, how he loved her, and how he lost her. Vivien held him while he released everything. She could feel his pain and anger. So much anger.
After his confession, Jeremy threw himself into their project. Vivien tried to talk to him but he only say one thing: the program. Vivien felt like he only cared about the program and not her. When she told him this, he would pull her into his lap and kiss her deeply, all her doubts disappearing.
When they found out that they were both waitlisted for MIT, the steaks became higher. And they knew they had to get this program done. Now almost a year later, it was done but in someone else's hands. And they were locked in a cell.
Jeremy paced around the small cell as Vivien dug around in her purse. The lock not only had a keypad but required an ID badge to be scanned. The ID badge scanner looked like it used Radio Frequency IDentification Key Card. Vivien figured the best way to get past that was to nick it off one of Tyron's men. She could easily figure out the keypad. If she had the right equipment, she could hack the ID badge but the only thing useful in her purse was her tablet. She decided to use the tablet to distract the lackeys instead of breaking open her tablet. It was a gift from her parents and she didn't think they would like the idea of her using her gift to escape from a cell. Even though she was placed in here against her will. She opened up the app on her tablet and placed it down on the ground. She needed to swipe the card first then deal with the keypad. She glanced at Jeremy who was still pacing. Even though he told her so many times through the semester he didn't care about his old friends, Vivien could see that he did in the way he paced. He was worried about them.
"Jeremy?"
Jeremy jumped at the sound of her voice, breaking out of his thoughts.
"I figured out how to get out of here and I need your help," Vivien said. She was a planner and she wasn't going to let Jeremy's guilt get in her way.
Jeremy shook his head. "It's my fault. I'm the only reason we're in this mess."
"That's not true. I helped," Vivien shrugged.
"Yeah but I got you involved. I wasn't ever suppose to tell anyone about Lyoko but I was angry at them for leaving and I saw you with your amazing skills and I blurted it out," Jeremy rambled.
"Jeremy."
"I mean the only reason we are together is because of my idea to recreate Lyoko."
Vivien hissed at his comment, his words burning her heart. She closed her eyes, breathing slowly. She suspected that was the case but hearing him say it hurt her more than anything. She shook her head, snapping out of it. They didn't have time for this. They had to get out and help the others. "Let's not get into that right now. I have a plan. I don't have the time or equipment to hack this RFID so I'm going to swipe it off one of Tyron's men. I need you to distract him while I do that. Okay, Jeremy? Jeremy?"
Jeremy's eyes were glazed as he thought about something but Vivien's voice broke him out of it. He nodded, asking her to tell him what to do.
****Break****
Jeremy banged loudly on the cell trying to get the lackey's to come back in. Music played loudly on Vivien's tablet to draw them in. After several minutes of banging and loud music, one came running in. Jeremy immediately started yelling at him, demanding to know what was going on. The lackey yelled back. While he was distracted, Vivien quietly made her way over to him and swiftly swapped his ID card from his pocket then quietly made her way across the cell. She nodded to Jeremy to let him know she got it and he quickly finished up his argument.
"You two better behave or Tyron will make you pay!" The lackey yelled, pulling out a baton and hitting it against the cell. Jeremy jumped back, the baton coming close to hitting his hand. The lackey glared at them one last time then left the room.
"Okay, that was scary," Jeremy said once the guy left. He shook his hand to get the memory out of his head.
Vivien didn't respond, instead she went straight to the key pad and started working on the code. She was able to determine the four numbers based on the oily residue. Using the different combinations of the four numbers, she was able to figure out the correct combination in under five minutes. She swiped the card and the door unlocked. Jeremy whistled, impressed by how fast she figured it out.
Vivien grabbed her purse and the key card. "Come on." She led them out of the room and into the hallway, walking down the hallway. "We need to find a computer so I can try to find the layout."
"I think our best bet is to open random doors and hope for the best," Jeremy responded. He walked over to one of the random doors and motioned for Vivien to give him the key card. She was pulling it out of her pocket when a shrill alarm went off. "Shit, they must have found out we escaped."
"Run!" Vivien cried, taking off into a sprint down the hallway with Jeremy close behind. Tyron's men rounded the corner and started running towards them when they saw them. The two quickly stopped and turned around, running the opposite direction. "Here!" Vivien yelled, rounding a corner, hoping it led to a computer room and away from the men. But there were more men in this hallway as well. Jeremy took her arm and pushed her behind him. "Jeremy, what are you doing?"
"Run! Go find the others! I'll hold them off," He told her, pushing her away.
Vivien stared at him as he ran towards the men, letting them capture him. She heard him yell at her again so she took off. One of the men got close enough to grab her shoulder but she was able to shake him off, causing her shirt to rip in the process. She ran down the hall and through a door, opening it. She locked the door behind her then hacked the key pad by changing the code. She heard the men on the other side of the door yell at her to open up.
Vivien shook her head, it was whirling from all the commotion. She finally looked around the room she ran into and sighed in relief when she found a computer. She ran over to it and was easily able to hack into the system. She dug around, trying to find where Tyron might have the others. That's when an encrypt folder caught her eye. She rolled her neck and got to work decrypting it.
Vivien was so caught up in her work, she didn't notice the voices stop or the door opening. A small voice cleared their throat causing Vivien to jump. Anthea stood in the room with a smile on her face.
"You are good," She said.
"I-uh," Vivien stuttered.
Anthea smiled. "I'm not here to capture you again, although that is what my husband thinks. I'm here to help you."
"Husband?"
"It's something we don't have time to get into now. I assume you are decrypting that file?" Anthea asked.
Vivien nodded, surprised she figured it out.
"I warned Tyron about you when I saw what you did with Lyoko. Jeremy could never do what you did or even Laura," Anthea said. "I can help you with that file later but right now I need you to distract my husband and his men. Then we need to go get my daughter and the others out of Lyoko."
"But Jeremy."
"He's fine. I told them to lock him back up. Vivien, I need your help."
Vivien agreed and stopped working on the file. She hacked into the building causing the front door to open, making it seem like she escaped. She hoped it would trick Tryon enough to take most of his men out with him. The others she could send out with a fake fire alarm. She hacked into the security cameras, making sure to block out the room she was in, and watched as Tyron and his men ran out of the front door. She hit the fake fire alarm, sending Laura and the rest outside. She saw Tyron give Laura a questioning look before taking off towards the door. Vivien smirked, locking the door.
"I knew you could do it," Anthea smiled, watching Tyron bang on the door. "Now, let's get to the control room and get my daughter out."
"But Jeremy."
"We don't have time. We can't keep Tyron locked out forever. He'll figure out how to get back in. Let's go." Anthea grabbed Vivien's arm and dragged her out of the room.
"The file! You said I could decrypt it," Vivien pulled her arm out of her grip. She still wasn't sure if she trusted Anthea.
"You can but you'll be able to do both in the control room," Anthea promised. "Please. I can't get my daughter back without you. I'm begging you."
Her voice was full of love and longing, her eyes filling with tears and that's when Vivien knew that she could trust Anthea. She could tell Anthea really loved her daughter and wanted to help. Vivien smiled. "Let's go."
Anthea sighed in relief and took off running towards the control room. Once they got there, they both started to work on getting the others out of Lyoko and decrypting the file. There were four computers so they could each work on two. Vivien pulled up Lyoko on one and started reading over the code as Anthea pulled up the encrypted file, the security cameras, and the system for the building.
"He locked the program to where I can't get them out," Anthea told her. "He trusts me but he knows I would try to help Aelita."
"Yeah, but he made some mistakes," Vivien said, reading over. "I should be able to get them out. It's going to take some time though. I need you to make sure Tyron and the others stay locked out."
"I can do that. Just get my daughter back."
"I promise you I will," Vivien started typing, trying to undo what Tyron did.
Anthea started working on the encrypted file. She had a feeling she knew what it was but she wasn't certain. Every once in awhile she would check and make sure Tyron hadn't figured out how to unlock the doors.
Vivien rolled her neck as she continued to type. Tyron's work was better than she excepted but it was sloppy. She could tell Laura had a hand in it as well. Jeremy had told her about Laura and afterwards she looked up everything she could about Laura. She was to recognize Laura's signature and could spot it anywhere and it was all over the program. But Vivien could fix it. She could get them out. She finished what she thought could get them out of there and went to help Anthea with the file.
"It's running and hopefully it will work but in the meantime, I want to find out what is on this file," Vivien told Anthea. "How's Tyron?"
"I had to lock him out two more times. He's going to find a way to get through so we need to hurry."
"Lot of pressure there, Anthea. I can only do so much while this is running. Let's just open this file," Vivien got to work trying to decrypting the file. It was harder than she expected. Usually she could decrypt a file of this size in less than thirty minutes but this one was taking a lot longer. Luckily she had Anthea's help. The two worked together and after a little over thirty minutes, they were able to open the file.
The file included the original plans of Lyoko along with Jeremy and Vivien's plans. It also included Tyron's history and his daily entries of his progress. Every day since Tyron joined Project Carthage, he would write up his day and discoveries. Vivien shifted through those, finally piecing everything together.
Tyron worked on Project Carthage with Franz and Anthea. Tyron helped kidnapped Anthea after Anthea and Franz left the project. He threatened to kill Franz and Aelita if Anthea didn't do as he said. He then forced her to marry him and tell him everything that Franz was working on. To save the man she loved and her daughter, Anthea revealed the early work of Lyoko and Xana to him. As Franz was perfecting Lyoko and Xana, he kept reversing back time. Tyron, with Anthea's help, figured out he was reversing time and used it to his advantage. With it, Tyron was able to figure out what Franz was doing.
Vivien discovered that Xana once was a good program until Tyron infected it with a virus, turning it evil. Franz always thought it was him reversing time, he never figured it was Tyron until Tyron sent his men back after Franz. This forced Franz to virtualize himself in Lyoko along with Aelita. Vivien knew Aelita's story after that. She discovered in Tyron's entries what Tyron did. Tyron began making the Cortex which was almost a complete replica of Lyoko. He used it to try to get Franz and Aelita out of Lyoko but he could never figure it out. Jeremy beat him to it and then helped destroy his creation. He could never find an anti-virus for what they did to his creation but he waited. When Aelita came to him four years ago, he saw his opportunity. He held her hostage for a year to try to information about Lyoko. She agreed only to help her mother. Aelita used her father's work to do Tyron's bidding. She also agreed to hand over her father's work, promising to destroy it when Tyron was done. This was something she hid from the others after Jeremy told them about recreating Lyoko. Vivien knew she hid it because she was ashamed of herself. With the work, Tyron learned everything about Lyoko and Xana. He used his destroyed program and the information to try to rebuild Lyoko and gain control of Xana. With the control of Xana, he could take over all technology but he needed a better Lyoko. Vivien and Jeremy's program had helped him with that. When he discovered the new one, he sent Laura after it. He gave Laura her memories back and in exchange, she had to steal the program. Now he had it.
Vivien's face paled. She could feel knots forming in her stomach. If she didn't get the others out and stop Lyoko, Tyron could have control over all technology and with that, the world. He could launch missiles at his fingerprints, hack into the government, anything he wanted.
Anthea squeezed Vivien's shoulder, watching Vivien come to the conclusion that her program helped Tyron in his plan. "We can stop him if you get the others out."
Vivien nodded, not able to form any words. She was still processing everything. While shifting through the entries, she had found that Tyron had gathered information on her, the others, Anthea, Anthea's family, Franz, and many others. He had their birthdays, place of birth, parents' information, school information. Tyron had everything on them. He could use it to hurt them or force them to do whatever he said. What he was doing couldn't be legal and there was bound to be a way to stop him. Vivien turned to Anthea, her idea forming.
"What if we could not only take Tyron down through the computer but in real life? He's done some pretty bad things that couldn't be left unnoticed. People have to be looking for him," Vivien said.
"What are you thinking?"
"Send this information to the police with our coordinates."
Anthea sighed. "Tyron has held me captive for over ten years. My sister has never stopped looking for me but I'm sure the police has."
Vivien reached up to grab Anthea's hand that was on her shoulder. "I'm going to help you not only get your daughter back but your family. Trust me on this. What he has done, doesn't get swept away. Someone noticed."
"Okay."
So Vivien sent all of Tyron's crimes and their location to the closest police station she found. She took a deep breathe, hoping they would hurry up.
A loud beep went off from one of the computers, indicting Vivien's program was done. She ran over, reading the alert. "Shit. It didn't work." Vivien grabbed the seat and immediately started trying to fix the program.
"Vivien, I don't know how much longer I can hold Tyron outside," Anthea cried, watching the monitor.
"Damn it. I can't believe I was so stupid!" Vivien cursed. "I made a typo." She fixed it quickly and immediately ran it. She pulled out her phone and set up an alert to let her know when the police was coming. She put it back up then went to check Lyoko. It was running as planned and the others would de-virtualize soon. "That should work. The others will be back in less than ten minutes."
"Tyron will be inside by then."
"The police should be on their way," Vivien waved her phone, showing that the police received her email and the FBI was responding.
"How?"
"I hacked into their system to let me know when they read it and respond," She smirked.
"You are brilliant, Vivien," Anthea laughed. "Go meet the others. I'll go free Jeremy. Meet me back here."
"Don't you want to see your daughter?" Vivien asked, confused.
"I need to get medical supplies. Tyron changed it to where if they get hit in Lyoko, they get hurt in real life. They will need to be patched up."
Vivien gasped. "Oh my God."
Anthea smiled sadly then ran out of the control. Vivien ran out soon after, heading down to the virtualization room, bouncing with excitement. She ran through the doors, crying in relief when she saw Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and William there. Odd had his arms wrapped around Aelita, Ulrich's head was in Yumi's lap as she clutched her arm, William was clutching his leg.
"Oh my God, I did it! You guys are okay!" Vivien cried, bouncing on her toes.
They all looked up when they heard her voice. She knew she probably looked ridiculous. She could feel that her hair had fallen out of its ponytail and her shirt had been ripped off by one of Tyron's men when she escaped but other than that she was okay.
"Vivien?" Aelita asked, sitting up. Odd dropped his arms from her around. "Where's Jeremy? And Tyron and Laura?"
"Your mom is keeping Tyron and his men outside of the facility. The police should be arriving in minute now to arrest him but not before he gets back in. Come on, we have to get Jeremy quick," Vivien smirked.
"Vivien, what did you do?"
"I saved you guys," She shrugged, running out of the room.
The others followed her into the control room, collapsing in chairs. They looked over their injuries as Vivien looked at her phone. She smirked at it and put it back up. She went over to Aelita, bending down on her knees.
"Aelita, I'm so sorry for everything," She said.
Aelita looked at her in shock. "Why are you apologizing to me? I should be apologizing to you. I've been nothing but horrible to you since we met."
"Because I willing agreed to help Jeremy even though I knew about Xana. I thought we fixed it but I had no idea about Tyron or your mother. I should have never agreed to recreate Lyoko," She acknowledged. "I'm part of the reason we're here."
Aelita reached out and grabbed her hand. "Thank you. And I'm sorry. I was so awful to you. I thought my life would pick off where I left off and when it didn't, I needed someone to blame so I put that on you. I never should have done that. You are actually a really lovely person that just saved our lives."
Vivien grinned and pulled Aelita in for a hug.
"I think we just witness the beginning of a beautiful friendship," Odd quipped.
The girls pulled away, rolling their eyes at Odd's comment.
The door opened, revealing Anthea and Jeremy. Aelita stared at her mother, tears forming. The bucket in Anthea's hands fell to the floor and Anthea stood there in shock, neither one of them moving. Vivien stood up and pulled Aelita to her feet, pushing the girl forward toward her mother.
Aelita collapsed into her mother's arms, sobbing. She clutched her mother so hard, never wanting to let go again. Anthea stroked her daughter's hair, tears falling from her eyes, not believing she was finally reunited with her daughter.
Everyone watched the mother and daughter reunite in awe. It had be a long time coming. They had previously tried to reunite them over four years ago but failed. Yumi leaned her head against Ulrich's shoulder, sighing in awe of the sight. Ulrich rubbed her shoulder, gently. Vivien felt tears in her own eyes, smiling at the two. William and Odd were freely crying at the sight, William crying more in pain then anything. Jeremy stared at them in shock. The day he had was slowly processing in his mind. And now the sight in front of him, with Aelita alive and okay, came crashing down on him. The reason they were there was his fault. All of it.
When Aelita and Anthea finally let go of each other, Jeremy went running towards Aelita, pulling her into his arms. He pulled her as close as he could, clutching her shirt in his hands. He sobbed on her shoulder, the past few hours finally releasing.
Aelita stood awkwardly, letting Jeremy hug her. She could feel Vivien's eyes on them and her heart sank for her.
Vivien couldn't move. Her heart was pounding out of her chest watching Jeremy hug Aelita and she couldn't breathe. She always had a feeling Jeremy still loved Aelita but seeing him hug her like that just reaffirmed what she thought. Jeremy didn't care about her, he cared about her brain. He used her. He loved Aelita. She felt Anthea come up beside her and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. She couldn't move to return the hand-squeeze. An alert went off from the monitor forcing her out of it and making her run over. She couldn't look behind her to see if Jeremy had let go of Aelita.
"Tyron figured out how to get back in," She yelled, pulling out her phone. "But the police should be here in a few minutes. He just have to distract him!"
William grabbed Odd's arm, pulling himself up, getting ready to fight. Ulrich took a deep breath and stood up as well, leaning on Yumi.
"We can stop him," Ulrich said with William nodding in agreement.
"No!" Anthea and Aelita cried.
"You are all injured badly, you need to rest," Anthea told them. "We just need to get Tyron talking."
"They're coming!" Vivien yelled.
The door to the control room opening, revealing Tyron and Laura. Tyron frowned seeing them out of Lyoko and out of their cell. He gasped when he spotted Anthea.
"My love?" He exclaimed, his voice catching slightly.
"I was never your love and you know it," Anthea responded, going over to Aelita and hugging her to her side. "Who do you think helped Aelita escaped three years ago?"
"I had a feeling it was you but you were oh so convincing, my love," Tyron shook his head. He looked over at Vivien and smirked. "You really are a bright one, aren't you? Don't you want to go to Lyoko and see what you did? See how you can improve it?"
Vivien shook her head.
"Such as shame. I could use someone like you standing by my side," Tyron said. "No matter, you fools think you beat me but that is where you are mistaken. I still have you outnumbered." He snapped his fingers, indicating to his men. The lackeys rushed into the room, surrounding them.
"You will get what you deserved," Laura hissed.
"Laura, please. You are so much better than this," Aelita begged.
"Laura, come on. You know we are sorry for what we did," William pleaded. "You are a good person, I know it! I saw it!"
"You saw what I wanted you to see," Laura smirked. "I had fun."
"It's over. Just give up," Tyron smiled.
Vivien discreetly pulled out her cell phone, grinning when she saw the alert. "For you it is."
Tyron scrunched his eyebrows, confused. A loud noise was heard throughout the building and a few seconds later, a swat team came running in followed by a detective.
"Lowell Tyron, you are under arrest," The detective said, pulling out handcuffs as the swat team surrounded the lackeys.
****Break****
What once was dead and quiet, the lab was now alive and loud. There were police cars everywhere with the police marking the lab as a crime scene. Tyron, Laura, and his men were taken into custody. There was ambulances with the paramedics checking out all the injured while an FIS agent took everyone's statements. Since the FIS was involved, they had no choice but to tell them about Lyoko and Xana. The agent luckily had already known, being assigned to Tyron's cases long ago when Franz disappeared. It was a relief to finally tell someone.
"Hey," Yumi walked up to Ulrich. He was on a stretcher, waiting to be lifted into the ambulance. His injuries with William's seemed to be the worse. Yumi was already patched up and ready to go.
Ulrich smiled, reaching to grab her hand, squeezing it. "How are you?"
"I'm all patched up and good as new," Yumi said. "Well as good as I can be."
Ulrich chuckled, pulling her closer. "Did you give your statement?"
"Yeah, the agent is talking to Odd now. Vivien's pretty confident that Tyron will be in jail for a long time," Yumi told him. "The agent recommended a therapist. It could help us move on from this. It could help with your visions."
"I think your right. We've been dealing with this for too long. It's time to fully heal," Ulrich sighed.
Yumi squeezed his hand in response, leaning down to kiss him.
A little ways over, Odd had just finished giving his statement. He made his way over to William who was also on a stretcher.
"Hey, buddy, how are you feeling?" Odd asked.
"Pretty good considering. How's your leg?" William nodded to Odd's leg that was bandage up.
"Nothing compared to yours. They still want me to go to the hospital so I'll be joining you," Odd said. "Man, what a day."
William nodded in agreement. "What's with the blanket?"
A thick grey blanket was wrapped around Odd's shoulders. Odd pulled it tighter. "It's a shock blanket. The paramedics insisted. Vivien has one even though she's okay physically." Odd motioned to Vivien who was sitting next to Jeremy on the back of an ambulance. Both of them had a shock blanket and were staring into space, not talking. "I feel so bad for Vivien. I think she realized that Jeremy still loves Aelita."
"Yeah, that's awful. No wonder she hasn't spoken since Tyron's been arrested." William looked down in his lap, thinking of Laura's face when she was handcuffed.
Odd noticed his face and spoke up. "Man, I'm sorry about Laura."
William shook his head. "It's nothing. I thought once I started getting closer to her, I could change her, you know? But I was wrong."
Odd clapped his shoulder, squeezing it. "Don't worry about it. You are better than her. You don't need someone that sends you into a virtual world to die."
William chuckled. "You're right."
Over at the ambulance, Vivien remained motionless. She was numb. Aelita had tried to talk to her, but she just sat there. She was surprised when Jeremy joined her on the ambulance but she could tell the others weren't happy with him. He hurt them all.
"Vivien?" Jeremy whispered. He could feel Vivien's mind running next to him. He knew he had to say something. He knew that she knew that he didn't love her. It hurt him to think about and he didn't realize fully what he was doing. He used her to hurt the others. To hurt Aelita. In doing so, he hurt her. "I'm sorry."
Vivien shook her head. "Not now," She whispered back, turning her head away from him.
Aelita leaned against her mother, never wanting to let her go. Anthea had her arms wrapped around Aelita, rubbing her arms. The two stood away from the others, listening to an agent explain what will happen with Tyron and the lab.
"Anthea! Aelita!"
Aelita and Anthea looked up to see Alida pushing her way through the crowd. Cyrus was right behind her, barely able to catch up with his wife. Anthea gasped, taking off towards her sister. The agent tried to yell after her but gave up when he realized how similar the two were. The sisters collapsed in each other's arms, sobbing. Aelita and Cyrus caught up with them and were pulled into the hug.
Everyone around them watched the group in awe. The gang smiled happily at the sight. Seeing a family reunite after many years seemed to erase all the bad things they had seen today. If an outsider were to look on, they would see a family hugging, four friends, one outsider, and one desperately wanting to be a part of the group of friends.
A/N: Who's the outsider and who's the one wanting to be a part of the gang? Any guesses? The FIS is the Switerland's FBI. I'm not sure if Switerland's police works like America's so the swat team is based on Amercia. R&R