Jeremy had been sitting in the hard plastic chair of the movie theatre for more than an hour. He wasn't sure what the title of the movie was, but it was a romantic comedy, so he wasn't very interested in it. His mind would occasionally drift off thinking of ways to try and defeat X.A.N.A., but for the most part he was greatly enjoying his time with Aelita.

He had asked her out only two weeks ago, but was planning on doing it ever since they beat X.A.N.A. the first time, but he didn't have the confidence to do it at first. When he finally asked her, she was overjoyed, having waited for him to ask for a very long time. They still haven't told the group yet because they wanted to break it to them in a special way.

"Jeremy, " Aelita asked, bringing the blond back down to earth and out of his thoughts, "what did you think of the movie?"

'The movie's already over!' He thought. 'I guess I have been out of it a while.'

"It was good, but being with you made it better." Jeremy said, his lips forming a soft smile.

"Aww, thanks Jeremy, that's sweet." Aelita replied forming a smile of her own.

The two lovebirds stared into each others eyes, almost as though they could read each others minds. Aelita moved a little bit closer to Jeremy, and he followed suit. After about twenty seconds of this their faces were mere inches apart. Aelita began to lean in, but before then a sudden noise caught them both off guard.

*Be-beem* *Be-beem*

They looked at each other in total silence, them again it came:

*Be-beem* *Be-beem*

"...X.A.N.A." Aelita said quietly, possibly out of not wanting others to hear her, but more likely out of a moment of fear. Whichever it was, it didn't last long as both were up in a flash, exiting the theatre as quickly as possible. Jeremy pulled out his phone to call the others and warn them of the attack. He unlocked his phone as quickly as possible, dialing Ulrich first. What he met on the other line wasn't Ulrich, but a recording saying that all lines were busy and to try again later.

"What's going on?" He said aloud.

"What is it Jeremy?" Aelita asked, unsure what to make of his outburst.

"It says the phone lines are all busy, I couldn't make it through to Ulrich. I'm going to check local news and see if they are saying anything about it."

"What if it's X.A.N.A.?" Aelita asked.

"I hadn't thought of that..." Jeremy paused for a moment. "If so, one of us will have to find the others."

"You go, I'll go ahead and send myself to Lyoko."

"Ok, "Jeremy replied with a faint smile, "stay safe."

"I will Jeremy." Aelita smiled as well before they went their separate ways, Jeremy to the school and Aelita to the factory.

Jeremy looked back, his eyes filled with worry for her. He knew she was strong, but cared so much about her, it would be devastating for anything to happen to her. He peered at her for only a mere moment, something so insignificant to any bystander, but to Jeremy, it was a way of voicing his desire to keep her safe. And with that he went back on his way, leaving the thought behind him, only later would it find him again.

—

Ulrich was fast asleep, his mind still steaming with rage against William. To him, William was untrustworthy and a hazard for the group, even if he has proved help to the gang on more than one occasion.

Ulrich's sleep was interrupted when Mr. Delmas came over the school wide intercom system. "I need all students to report to the 1st floor of the Science Building at once." You could feel the worry and concern in his voice. A *click* signified the end of his message. Ulrich shook his head to help him wake up, only having heard half of what had been announced.

'The Science Building, why are we meeting there?' He thought. Ulrich pushed himself off of his bed in one quick movement. As he walked out his door he was met with only a few students leaving the dorms. 'It's Saturday, a lot of people are probably out on the town.'

He made his way down the hall passing Herb and Nicholas who were discussing something about a thing Herb heard on the news through the radio in his room. Ulrich wasn't very concerned with this so he quickly walked by, not even giving it a thought. He walked at a brisk pace towards the Science Building, very curious as to what this was all about.

He reached the building in almost no time flat with his above average pace. What he was met with when he entered those doors was a sight of mass confusion. On the stairs leading to the second floor were Jim and Mr. Delmas, looking very concerned. In the main lobby were about 40 or so kids all discussing what they thought this was all about.

"Hey, Ulrich!" Ulrich turned to see Odd having just entered to doors. "Hey man, do you know what's going on?"

"No idea." Ulrich replied. "Do you think it could be..." He lowered his voice, "X.A.N.A.?"

"It wouldn't hurt to check with Einstein, try calling him."

Ulrich pulled out his phone quickly entering Jeremy's number. It stayed silent for about five seconds before an automated recording played stating that all lines were busy and for him to try again later.

"It said the line was busy." Ulrich said, sounding very annoyed by this problem.

"Settle down everyone!" Mr. Delmas yelled over all the noise the children were producing. "We have an emergency situation and I have been ordered to take us all to a safe location." The room instantly became quiet, half of the kids in fear, the other half taken aback with confusion and concern. "We will all be moving to the gym, now let's go!" With that command Jim motioned everyone to follow him out side as to the gym.

"This must be X.A.N.A." Odd whispered to Ulrich. "We need to get to the factory ASAP."

"Ok, " Ulrich said as they both walked back outside, "on my mark we run." They walked for another 30 or so seconds until Ulrich saw their chance to get away unnoticed.

"Ok, now." Both boys moved swiftly yet quietly behind a large tree where no one would see them. They waited for a minute to make sure nobody noticed them, then they proceeded to move towards the factory.

"Try calling Jeremy one more time, see if it gets through." Odd said, jumping over a fallen branch.

"Ok, I'll try again." Ulrich pulled out his phone and re-dialed Jeremy's number. "It's ringing!" He yelled, excited that he would finally get answered to what was happening.

"Hello?" A slightly confused Jeremy said on the other line.

"Jeremy, they're moving everyone at the school to a safe location, what's happening?"

"From what I've heard, X.A.N.A. has taken control of an American drone and is on his way to drop a nuclear bomb on the city." Jeremy delivered that so calmly that someone not paying attention probably wouldn't have even noticed what he had said.

"How long do we have?" Ulrich asked as he and Odd reached the sewer grate.

"I'm not sure, I should be able to track it once I get to the factory. Aelita should already be there on Lyoko. What about Yumi?"

In all the confusion Ulrich had forgotten about her. "I'm not sure, I think she was at the Library with William earlier, but I didn't see them when Delmas got all the students together."

"Well I'll try to call her, but I doubt I will have any luck." Jeremy replied.

"Ok Jeremy, keep us posted." Ulrich hung up the phone.

"So, what's happening? Is it X.A.N.A.?"

"Yeah, it is. He's planning to blow up the whole city with a nuclear bomb."

"What?!" Odd yelled out in shock. "X.A.N.A. has done some pretty crazy stuff in the past, but this?"

"Odd, something tells me it will only get harder from here."

—

Location: Andrews Air Force Base

Time Till Impact: T - 15 minutes.

"Jackson!" The commander yelled, "What is our progress on disarming that bomb?" His voice had changed from fear earlier to anger.

"We can't do anything about it sir, half of our computers are infected with this... This thing, and the other half can't even get close to controlling the drone." The worry in his voice had faded, he knew his job wouldn't get done any faster if he was busy worrying about this.

"I want that drone shut down now or that bomb disarmed or the French will be at our doorstep coming in guns-a-blazing." The commander put on his sunglasses, covering any details about his emotions from others view. "I'm not ready to fight a war over a stupid bug in the system."

*Ring* *Ring*

"Hello?" The commander said answering the large red phone attached to the wall. "Yes Mr. President, we are doing all we can..."

Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review of what you thought. Next chapter coming out either tomorrow or Wednesday.