Chapter 18
"How come you can't use you left hand with a fork?" Odd asked, noticing April had to switch hands with which one had the knife and which one had the fork.
"For some reason, Americans have to eat with their dominate hand." April explained, stabbing her lunch steak. "Though, I can eat with chopsticks with my left hand."
"You know how to use chopsticks?" Yumi asked, surprised.
"Ya."
"I keep forgetting you're not the normal American." Jérémie said.
"Oh, since Saturday is my last full day here, I was wondering if I could make you all an American dinner?" April asked.
"Sure." Odd said, smiling at her.
"Ya, anything with food, and you've already got Odd." Ulrich said. "But, sure, why not?"
"Cool." April said.
"What are we having?" Yumi asked.
"It is a surprise." April said. "I just realized, it is lunch. Why are we having steaks!?"
"I don't know." Aélita asked. "We normally have this for dinner."
"Oh, Rosa ended up with an extra shipment of steak." Odd said, his mouth still full of steak.
"Hey, I don't mean this to be embarrassing, but I do have a question." Yumi asked, not sure how to ask this.
"Alright."
"How come you never use the restrooms during school?"
"Oh, that is to blame on my school back home." April said, snickering. "If they are not vandalized, they smell so badly that you can smell them from the other end of the hallway. And it is most of the time smelling of weed or pot. I just do not bother with them anymore."
"That's disgusting." Aélita said, scrunching up her face.
"Hey, Ulrich." April said, looking up at the boy across the table from her. "I heard you practiced Pencak Silat, non?"
"Ya, you want to learn?"
"Actually, I have a teacher back home, but how do you do it?" April asked.
"Do what?"
"Those high kicks. Those hurt my thighs; I would hate to feel it through a guy's body."
"It hurts, trust me." Jérémie said.
April looked at him, surprised.
"We got him to start learning some after Xana started attacking." Odd said, covering his mouth to stop laughing. He gave up and busted out as he tried to say, "You should've seen him after the first day!"
"Please, don't." Jérémie said, blushing.
Aélita looked at him, smiling in sympathy.
"Oh, don't worry Jérémie; I'm sure April's been dying to say something to Ulrich, other than that about Pencak Silat." Odd said.
"What?" Ulrich asked.
"Oh, it is more like an American issue." April said, not sure she was supposed to be saying this. She took a bite out of her steak before continuing. "You know how your book bag is an over-the-head version. Well, the only guy I know who has a bag like that, well, he is gay-And do not take this the wrong way because I know you are not gay! It is just, he is just a she now, or well, an it -"
"Ulrich dear!" Sissi called as she walked over with Hervé and Nicolas behind her, cutting off what April was saying.
"What, Sissi dear?" Ulrich asked, mocking her as he turned his head to look up at her.
"I'm guessing you haven't looked at Millie and Tamiya's new Kadic News, have you?" Sissi asked, holding the newspaper under her tray.
"No, not really." Ulrich said, looking back at his steak as he tried to finish eating it.
"Well, I've heard there's some real good juicy information about a certain someone." Sissi said, her eyes going over to Yumi as if laughing at her. "Here, you can have my copy."
Sissi dropped the paper onto the table next to Ulrich and walked away with Hervé and Nicolas following behind. "I said you should've gone with me." Sissi said just so that Ulrich would barely hear her.
"How come you always let her call you Ulrich dear?" April asked.
"If we say anything, she goes running to her father." Aélita explained as Ulrich opened the paper and saw what Sissi was talking about.
"Uh, Yumi, you're not going to like this." Ulrich said, looking at the paper in disbelief.
"What is it?" Yumi asked, standing up and walking around the table so that she could see it. "You've got to be kidding me! Where on earth did she find that picture?!" She looked at Ulrich and asked, "You really didn't, did you?"
"No!" Ulrich said, surprised she had to ask.
"What picture?" April and Odd asked at the same time.
Ulrich put the paper down on the center of the table and let his friends see the photo of, what looked like, Sissi above him about to kiss him.
"It is, uh, I do not know the French word for it." April said, trying to remember what it was called. "It is where the person puts it to computer and re-creates it."
"Photoshopped." Odd said, looking at her.
"Yes. But it is very obvious. Even in the background." April said. She pointed to a spot between Ulrich and Sissi and showed them a desk that was not in a straight line. "She must have taken a photo of herself in that room, and then taken a photo of the part where Ulrich would have been. It is a simple thing to get right in Paint, much less anything else."
"How did you notice that?" Yumi asked, pointing to the, almost a millimeter off, table.
"My mother used to work at a photo place." April admitted. "She taught me a few things to look for. My only question is, where did she get a photo of you looking like that?"
"I think I know." Ulrich said, looking at Odd.
"Don't look at me, I didn't give her one like that." Odd said, defending himself. "She must've snuck in while you were having one of your dreams again."
"Sometimes I want to ask, than I think, maybe I'm better off not knowing." Yumi said to Aélita and April.
"That's the best way to go a lot of the time." Aélita said.
"Hey, wait. Today is Thursday, non?" April asked, looking at the top coiner of the paper.
"Ya, why?" Jérémie asked, looking at her and then the paper to see what she was talking about. "Hey, ya, I see what you're talking about. This is tomorrow's issue."
"And with what I have seen of Sissi, I would not be surprised if she made this herself. No help of the editor of the newspaper." April said.
"That's Sissi for you." Odd said, sitting back down and putting his hands behind his head. "Always trying to mess us up somehow."
"Well, now that we've gotten that all cleared up..." Yumi said, taking the paper from Ulrich and balling it up for the trash.
"Hey, where's my mom?" Aélita asked, just realizing she hadn't seen her for a while now.
"I do not know." April said. "The last time I saw her, she was coming back from a thing in town."
"Did you ever see her come out of her room?" Jérémie asked.
"Um, now that you mention it, no, I do not remember seeing her come out of her room." April said. "You do not think..."
"Come on, let's check on her." Yumi said, getting up.
-.-.-.-
"Mrs. Maggie?" April asked as she knocked on the door to the woman's room.
"Mrs. Stone?" Ulrich asked, louder incase April's voice was too silent.
"Are you in here?" April asked, turning the door handle and pushing open the door.
April walked in enough for everyone to at least look in, only to find that the room was empty.
"She even took her clothes." Jérémie said, walking over to the closet to check.
"I wonder what happened." Yumi said, walking over towards the desk and opening the draws to see if anything was left.
"Maybe the FBI found something." Aélita said, not sure.
"Hey, there's a paper stuck in here." Yumi said, trying to pull out the piece without ripping it. "Got it." She pulled out the paper and saw that it was in English. "April, you're quicker at translating English."
"Not today, I am not. I tried to read a book I brought with me and I could not understand a word of it." April admitted.
"I've got it." Odd said, taking the paper from Yumi. He glanced over it before translating, his face taking surprise.
"What is it?" Ulrich asked.
"'Dear Lyoko Warriors and April. I know about all of it. Lyoko, Xanadu, and even O-ku-se-tsu-zoku.' What's Okusetsuzoku?"
"It's Japanese for electronic place." Yumi explained.
"I think I remember hearing about it." Jérémie said. "It's an idea that was never supposed to exist."
"But then again, Lyoko and Xanadu were never supposed to exist." April said.
"'This may come as a surprise, but I've been working with the FBI to stop all of these virtual worlds from continuing to work. I'll be back on Sunday to pick April up. And Odd...'" Odd's voice trailed off as he read the rest to himself.
"She might be heading to the factory." Ulrich said.
"And New Mexico." April said, realizing she was talking about destroying the three worlds.
"Too bad we have no contacts with the Japanese force." Aélita said.
"Maybe we do." Yumi said, thinking. She looked at April and asked, "Do you still have those photos of the files."
"Ya. I will go get them." April said, running off towards her room.
"You think you might know one of the people?" Aélita asked.
"It's a long shot, I know." Yumi said. "But I'm still in contact with my old friends."
"Here it is!" April said as she rushed in with the camera. She handed it to Yumi and let her flip through the photos.
"Oh no." Yumi said, looking at one photo.
"What? What is it?" Odd asked, trying to get on his tippy toes to see over Yumi's shoulders.
"You see this name here." Yumi said, turning so that all six of them could see the file name.
"Yayama Suri." April read. "You know her?"
"Suri-chan and I were best friends before I moved to France." Yumi said. "I still e-mail her." she looked at April, "Could I use your laptop?"
"By all means!" April said, walking out of the room. "The sooner she gets warned, the sooner we might know where Maggie went off to. And I have got to warn the Xanadu Defenders."
"I'm going to head off to the factory, check it out." Ulrich said.
"I'll come with you." Jérémie said. "Check the security camera."
Jérémie and Ulrich started to head towards the door.
"I'll come with you." Aélita said, following the two boys.
-.-.-.-
"Ulrich, be careful." Aélita said as Ulrich headed up the ladder towards the bridge. "The FBI could be up there."
Ulrich looked down and smiled at the girl. "Thanks Princess." Ulrich looked back up and put his hand on the man hole cover. He slowly pushed it up and got it so that he could see the factory. "It's all clear."
Ulrich slid it all the way off before getting up to the bridge.
Jérémie and Aélita followed close behind and stood on the bridge behind him.
"What is it, Ulrich?" Jérémie asked, wondering why he hadn't started to walk towards the factory.
"Something doesn't feel right." Ulrich said. He turned around, feeling something.
"You're right, Ulrich. Something isn't right." Maggie's voice said as she walked out from behind a bush. In her hand was a gun pointed at the three as tears ran down her checks.
"Ey!" Aélita squeaked in surprise as her hands went up to her mouth.
"It's because of your little group, that I've lost my job!" Maggie cried out.
Jérémie noticed something moving on the ground by the bush she had been hiding at and realized it was a beer bottle. He stepped forward, hands up to show her he had nothing and said, "Maggie, we're sorry. Please put your gun down. You're drunk and you don't want to do something you will regret."
"Jérémie! What are you doing?" Ulrich hissed as Jérémie moved closer.
"Follow my lead. She can't see well right now." Jérémie said.
Ulrich and Aélita, both, put their hands up and started to slowly make their way towards Maggie, trusting in what Jérémie said.
"Stop moving!" Maggie ordered. Her gun swinging back and forth, trying to cover all three of their positions.
"Why did the FBI fire you?" Jérémie asked, trying to buy them some time.
"Because I couldn't take you in to them." Maggie said. "I mean, who can arrest their own nephew and his best friends?"
"Maybe we can help you." Ulrich said. "Just put your gun down, please."
"No! I drop my gun, and you will take it. Even when I'm drunk, I can tell what you really want." Maggie said, shaking her head. She closed her eyes to keep herself straight as the alcohol in her system was taking over.
"Trust me, we don't want your gun." Aélita said, trying to take the lead. "The last thing we want is more violence."
Ring Ring
Maggie swung her gun so that it was pointed to Jérémie. "Don't answer that!" she ordered.
"If I don't answer it, they'll be here any minute." Jérémie said, slowly putting his right hand down so he could reach into his pocket.
"Freeze, or I'll shoot!" Maggie said, desperation in her voice. "Trust me, I will."
Jérémie stopped moving only for his phone to stop ringing. He put his hands back up to show he wasn't doing anything.
Ring
Maggie swung over to Ulrich, who now held the ringing phone. "You better not answer that." Maggie said, trying to steady her gun as her hand started to shake.
"Please, Maggie, put your gun down." Aélita said. "We don't want to hurt you and you don't want to hurt us, right?"
Maggie looked at Aélita, swinging her gun to be aimed right at Aélita's feet. "It's my job!" Maggie said, trying to stop the tears going down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.
"NO!" Ulrich cried as instinct took over and made him push her out of the way, missing the bullet himself by only inches.
Maggie dropped to her knees, the gun falling to the ground.
Sirens started to be heard as if someone had heard the shot in the normally quiet part of town and called the police.
"You three better get going." Maggie said, looking at the ground. "I'll deal with the police."
"She's right, we don't need any more of the government knowing about us." Jérémie said, helping Ulrich and Aélita up.
Ulrich headed down the man hole with Jérémie, not far behind. Aélita turned to look at Maggie, still sitting on the ground with the gun at her knees on the ground. "Good luck, Maggie." Aélita said.
Maggie looked at her and smiled. The sounds got closer and Aélita headed down the man hole. She fully covered the hole just as cars were heard stopping and a voice said something as a door opened.
"I guess we better tell Odd." Ulrich said.
"Tell Odd what?" Odd's voice asked as wheels were heard heading towards Ulrich, Aélita, and Jérémie.
Odd, Yumi, and April had skateboarded down the sewers after calling and not getting anyone, thinking Xana might have attacked.
"Let's get back to school." Aélita said.
"Ulrich, what happened to your shirt?" April asked, seeing something on the edge of the dark green jacket-like shirt.
"Huh?" Ulrich asked, glancing down at his shirt. He pulled at the edge and saw a small hole. "I guess she could see better than we thought, huh Jérémie."
"You're very lucky." Jérémie said, grabbing his scooter.
-.-.-.-
"You are telling me that Maggie is now with the police?!" April exclaimed as they sat in April's living room.
"Last we saw, yes." Aélita said, nodding her head.
"I can't believe it." Odd said, not sure of what was going on. "Maggie would..." his voice trailed off. He looked at Ulrich and remembered the bullet hole in his jacket.
"I am sorry, Odd." April said, reaching over to the sofa he was sitting on and put her hand on his shoulder.
Odd turned to her and smiled. "Thanks."
"Oh, where you able to contact Suri?" Jérémie asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yes, she said she was going to tell her friends." Yumi said.
"At least your teachers were not too mad at us." April said, remembering that they missed a class period with Maggie.
"The bonuses of hanging out with the exchange student." Ulrich said.
"Ya, well, I've got to go home." Yumi said. "See you all."
"Bye Yumi." Ulrich said as the Japanese girl left.