"So, what do we do now?" Ulrich asked, looking at the Franz. "Are you coming back with us or can we do something to help here?"

Franz's eyebrow moved slightly before he spoke. "Well, there are a few tests I would like to conduct here, if you're willing to help."

"We'll help." Aelita replied. "Anything that will help stop X.A.N.A."

Franz stood up and smiled an almost sinister smile, so faint that the others would hardly take note of it. "Good. That's exactly what these tests will help us do. I need all of you to head down to the scanners and I'll get all the data I need."

—

Jeremy worked frantically to open a communication channel to the simulation bubble, but X.A.N.A. had made his job extremely difficult.

"Come on... Come on!" He spoke, his hands moving at break-neck speeds on the keyboard. "I knew going there was a bad idea, and now they're all trapped in there with the fake."

A red flashing light struck his screen, a greater display of his overall failure to break the wall between him and his friends.

"It's not working... Come on Jeremy, stay focused." He said aloud.

After a few seconds of typing, his face cracked a small smile as he was able to get partially through.

"Well, I have their audio... I guess that's better than nothing but still a long way to go." He said, the silence through his headset being broken shortly after.

"Okay," Jeremy heard Odd say through his headset, "now that were down here, what do we do?"

"Three of you step into the scanners and I'll run the tests." Jeremy heard the voice of Franz, although the thing in there was far from real. "Aelita, my darling, why don't you go in first."

'Oh no!' Jeremy though, his hands shaking slightly above his keyboard. 'X.A.N.A., you've done some pretty bad stuff, but I won't let you get Aelita!'

Jeremy worked furiously, his fingers cramping, but it wasn't anything he hasn't already dealt with in the line of duty.

'Wait... I know what I have to do!' Jeremy thought, changing his whole tactic and going through another route. A bright green light appeared in the corner of his screen, a light that would flood him with joy for his necessary success.

'You won't win this time X.A.N.A.' Jeremy thought, activating his mic.

"Aelita!"

—

"Aelita!"

Jeremy's voice echoed throughout the scanner room, causing everyone other than Franz to look up at the ceiling.

"Guys! Don't listen to him! He's a fake, it's X.A.N.A.!" Jeremy's voice must have been strained after yelling so loudly, but his point was made.

"Hey, what's he talking about?" William said, looking towards Franz.

Franz's expression stayed stone cold, staring blankly back at William. "This must be one of X.A.N.A.'s tricks. More reason to get these tests started."

"Daddy...?" Aelita stumbled, walking slowly away from the open scanner.

Jeremy's voice rang out again, this time even louder than before. "He's not the real Hopper! Get out of there!"

Yumi and Ulrich sprang into action, running for the Specter at full speed. Ulrich went low and brought the Specter down while Yumi slammed it from above, using her height to her advantage.

"Yahhhh!" The Specter yelled, a large purple electrical field emitting from its body, sending Yumi and Ulrich flying, ending up knocked out against the wall.

The Specter stood up, its glasses having fallen off to reveal its angered face, shooting lightning at both Odd and William, leaving them both grumbling in pain on the floor. Now, all that remained was Aelita.

The fake Franz turned to face her, its expression cold and lifeless. "Get in the scanner." It said.

Aelita didn't respond, she only stared back into its cold, dead eyes, more empty and dark than the most remote of seas.

"Get in the scanner, NOW!" It demanded, the sound of its voice shaking the room.

Aelita stood boldly and honorably, but this was only met with more rage bursting from the quick tempered Specter. "No, X.A.N.A., you won't win this time." She said, her voice as strong as her will to destroy this imposter of a father.

The Specter stuck its right arm out, purple electricity growing in its hand.

—

Jeremy had depleted ideas, realizing that as long as X.A.N.A. had control over that bubble, he had none. As he was prepared to look into some more "experimental" ideas, something on his monitor caught his eye.

'Is that... an encrypted signal being sent from the bubble?' Jeremy thought, looking into this strange occurrence.

'It doesn't seem like a difficult encryption code... Let's give this a shot.'

Jeremy typed for a few seconds, stopped to analyze the data, then continued until he had successfully broken through.

'Yeah, I got it!' He thought, quickly throwing his pride aside due to the impending threat lingering over his friends. Jeremy looked over what he had just unlocked, astounded by what he found.

'...there must be a bug, this can't be right.' Jeremy double checked his data and the display, nothing was at fault other than his own disbelief.

'This doesn't make any sense. The data says there is something else in the room with them... but what?'

Thanks for allowing me time to think this over, and next chapter will be the final for the episode and will be extra long for an extra special occasion. Enjoy, and don't forget to review!