"That's a pretty bold statement boss." Zeno retorted.
As much as either of them hated to admit it, all signs of Naomi giving up anytime soon were nonexistent. Gunvolt was using a different, more roundabout way to achieve his goal. He took the longer route. Unfortunately, it was harder for three reasons, the third of which he certainly wasn't expecting. First, it would give his target -Nova- a bigger opportunity to do something dangerous. Second, there would definitely be more enemies. And third, Copen, who was worse than an enemy. He was the entire Sumeragi Seven by himself.
"Copen! Get out of my way! I have no time to deal with you right now!" Gunvolt hollered.
"I can spare the time to eradicate you." Copen threatened.
"I'm here to stop Nova and nothing more!" Gunvolt stated.
"My sister has been in danger countless times because of you. And that's a risk I'm not affording to take." Copen growled.
"Why do you keep denying that Naomi has Septima's but keep trying to assist her? If you're against Adepts and the idea of Septima's but help someone who's stronger than them and has twenty three Septima's at the moment, does that make sense to you?" Gunvolt interrogated.
"There's only one thing on my mind that's important, and that's destroying you." Copen fumed.
'If I can't talk some sense into him, then I guess I there's no choice but to fight it into him.' Gunvolt thought.
Copen shot the Greed Snatcher Bullits in the order of one line of three, a break and another line of three. Gunvolt had managed to jump above all of them except for the very last one. Copen walked forward and had his gun barrel aimed at Gunvolt's forehead a little more than half a foot away.
"Your life of misdeeds ends here Adept." Copen snarled.
Suddenly, a sword knocked the gun out of Copen's hand. As Copen went to retrieve his gun, Naomi left. The Lyoko group teleported to where Zeno and Asimov were as Naomi teleported herself to Nova.
"What happened to you?" Yumi wondered.
"Naomi man, that's what happened. The Sumeragi's got her workin' for them again." Zeno panted.
"I don't understand, how did this happen?" Jeremy pondered.
"If the boss here didn't get the big idea of sending Naomi ta surrender herself an get sent ta Firmament then we wouldn't be havin' this problem." Zeno complained as he turned to glare at Asimov.
Asimov knew the risk were high but he wasn't expecting the consequences to be this severe.
"Nobody is at fault here. We weren't planning on this going sideways. The only thing we can do right now is retreat." Asimov added.
Zeno went to get the elevator to go down but realized after mashing the button a few times, that the elevator was locked.
"Jitt, looks like we're gonna be here for a while. We got locked in while we were fighting." Zeno announced.
"Do you know where the elevator control panel is?" Aelita asked.
"We don't have a clue." Zeno admitted.
"It's the fourth door on the left of the hallway." Moniqa informed.
The boys went to make a bet. Instead, Yumi went with Ulrich to protect Zeno while Aelita and Odd went to search for the elevator control panel.
"Do you know what made Naomi transform?" Aelita questioned.
"We don't have a single clue as to what made her wanna attack either." Zeno answered.
"Odd, I need you to tell Ulrich and Yumi that they're falling into a trap." Jeremy ordered.
"Why do you need me to tell them?" Odd interrogated.
"Because there's something I need to tell Aelita that I don't want you to hear." Jeremy replied.
"What is it Jeremy?" Aelita questioned.
"Naomi's only making it seem as if she's on the Sumeragi's side. Her looking overconfident is because personality changes are a side effect of transforming with a Glaive. Other than that and her Septima's being strengthened there's nothing about her that's different." Jeremy noticed.
"So, all of that wanting to work for the Sumeragi is just so they won't actually find out that she's still with us? What'll happen if they figure it out? Will they force her to stay with them?" Zeno panicked.
"We don't know what they'll do. but one thing's for certain. And that's the Sumeragi is willing to sacrifice pretty much everything to get her." Jeremy responded.
"Man, that's rough. I didn't think she'd be so determined ta right her wrongs." Zeno doubted.
'I don't understand, I've been through practically half of this facilitys hallway and haven't seen a single enemy.' Gunvolt thought.
That's when Naomi revealed herself by dropping down fromt he ceiling in front of Gunvolt.
"Naomi, please, before you do that, think." Gunvolt begged.
Naomi laughed rather menacingly.
"I don't wanna do this. But if the boss wants this ta be a successful mission, then I gotta comply." Naomi protested.
"If you have a job left when Zeno heals." Gunvolt remarked.
"GV, look at me, you're talking to a monster right now. You're wasting both your time and mine. If you wanna live ta see Joule again, tell the boss an Zeno ta retreat. This is bigger than they can handle anyways." Naomi complained.
"You can't just give up like this Naomi." Gunvolt rebuked.
"I'm not givin' in, givin' up, throwin' in the towel or any a that. I'm just sayin' ya need ta hang back at HQ for a bit. Also, tell the boss that I got a visual confirm during the elevator ride that Nova does have the Azure Striker Septima." Naomi protested.
Knowing that Naomi wasn't going to move an inch, Gunvolt ran back to inform Asimov of the news. Meanwhile, Copen watched the entire encounter from behind Naomi.