Chapter 4:

Lady Mitnick

Boom! The sound of thunder brought Selina out of her thoughts. Storms had been predicted that day, but she had not expected the rain that pounded furiously on the windows and the branches of the trees swaying frantically in the wind. She had solved the physics problem in no time, and now had some time to reflect on the events of the last few weeks. First computers that had gone berserk, then human-shaped energy fields that were going after some classmates. To be more precise, they were after Odd and Ulrich. The bump on her head was living proof that what had happened to her was true, and Selina was determined to find out the truth.

"Are you all right?"

The girl turned and smiled at Laura Gauthier, her deskmate. She had arrived the day before at Kadic, and they had connected right away. Perhaps because of their shared passion for computers or their love of creating video games, but the fact was that they had become friends. In her fifteen years of life, Selina had never had someone to share her tastes and interests with, so she was thrilled to have someone like Laura as a deskmate.

"I'm fine, Laura" She smiled a smile that was both sweet and mischevious. "Of course, I'm much better than your twin brother, Jeremy. Apparentely, Einstein is out of order.

Laura blushed, but Selina was right. With her golden hair and blue-green eyes, Laura could have passed for Jeremy's twin sister, who was currently having a hard time solving a simple Physics problem.

"A equals G times... times R... Err... No, no, sorry, I forgot the mass" He erased his writing on the blackboard. "So it makes it A equals... Err..."

Mrs. Hertz sighed in exasperation. How could her best student not be able to solve such a simple physics problem? Then she looked at her new student. Laura Gauthier looked like a pretty smart girl, surely she could solve the problem.

"Laura, come to the board please"

The girl smiled in satisfaction and got up from her desk, while Jeremy walked to his own listlessly. She picked up the chalk and began to solve the problem.

"So, I write out A equals the mass S times R squared, which makes when converting to numerical values the square root of six pint sixty-seven times ten raised to the negative eleventh power" The teacher nodded aprovingly. "Which gives a result of twenty-nine point seven kilometers per second"

Mrs. Hertz smiled proudly. She had not been wrong about Laura. Jeremy lowered his head, disappointed in himself. This wasn't his day.

At recess time, Jeremy was still thinking about his gaffe in Mrs. Hertz's class. How could he have failed to solve such a simple exercise? Odd came out of an aisle and sat down next to his friend.

"Come on Einstein, stop sulking! It's not that terrible to be humiliated in front of your girlfriend"

Aelita, who had overheard the conversation, glared at him and sat down next to Jeremy. Odd was a good friend, but sometimes he could be quite impertinent.

"Don't listen to him, Jeremy. You know, the number of neurons is not that important"

"Yes it is!" He replied. "Anyway, that calculus was easy. I just had a memory lapse, that's all"

Odd let out a chuckle. He may not have been the best at science, but he could tell when his friends had their heads elsewhere.

"Yeah, that explains everything, right?"

"Odd, I've been spending the whole week programming the virtual vehicle that will allow you to go to the Cortex without getting squashed!"

At that moment Laura appeared. That conversation about virtual vehicles had awakened her already intense curiosity, and she could not resist the temptation.

"Hey, what are you talking about?"

The gang looked at each other and Jeremy thought Why me?

"Nothing"

"I heard you were going to program a virtual vehicle in the Cortex. It's a new online game, right?"

"Err... Yeah, that's it, we've been working on it" Jeremy said dryly. He didn't want the new girl to find out that the "video game" was actually a virtual reality that housed a perfidious AI.

Laura smiled from ear to ear. First Selina, then Jeremy. Was this the day where people who shared her tastes and interests were raining from the sky?

"I knew it! I love video games. Well, I'm actually not playing because it bores me, but programming them, that's it. I'm good at computer science. I love anything to do with science, just like you" Aelita felt a twinge of jealously. "But I think you should focus on classes, so much thinking about the development of a video game is not good. To fail at such a simple exercise..."

Jeremy tensed up. She was right, but that was rubbing salt in the wound. Laura must have realized she had screwed up because she changed her tone to a kinder, more supportive one.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. The thing is that if you need help or ideas to develop that videogame, I will be glad to help you"

She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and passed it to Jeremy.

"My number. Call me if you need help"

She gave him a smile and headed for the cafeteria, ready to enjoy a cappuccino. Once Laura was out of sight, Aelita exploded.

"Who does she think she is exactly?"

Ulrich laughed at her friend's tone of pure jealousy. Although Laura seemed friendly, it was abundantly clear that she was quite interested in Jeremy. The two of them were two peas in a pod!

"Great. A female Jeremy"

Ignoring Aelita's murderous look, Odd seconded his best friend's quip.

"You have to get used to it, Aelita, you're not the only Mrs. Einstein anymore" He said with a chuckle.

Yumi walked towards the picnic area where the gang was, being greeted warmly by her friends. She immediately noticed Jeremy's sulky expression.

"Wow, you have a problem. Let me guess: you forgot a comma in a calculus"

Jeremy frowned even more and Odd let out a chuckle as he explained what had happened.

"Yep, you're close. Einstein found his master"

"Who would that be?"

"Laura Gauthier, our new genius classmate" Explained Ulrich.

Jeremy gritted his teeth. If they kept rubbing so much salt into the wound, he was eventually going to need to go to the infirmary to get Yolanda to give him an anesthetic to stop the pain.

"Maybe we could talk about something else? About the Cortex, for example!"

"Have you got some news?" Asked Yumi

"Yeah, I managed to get some data last time. Do you remember that replikas were made by XANA, based on Lyoko's model?"

"Yes, from the codes my father had trusted me with" Said Aelita, shuddering at the memory of her father.

"Exactly. Well, at first, I was thinking the same thing. That XANA had created them around itself, like some sort of... matrix.

Ulrich gave a half-smile. He knew what Jeremy was getting at.

"And that's not right?"

"No! The Cortex was here before XANA's rebirth. I'm sure it was created by another quantum computer. I mean other than ours"

Aelita frowned, puzzled. There was no sense in it.

"Another quantum computer?" She repeated in disbelief. "But... who would have created it? My father?"

"For now we can't tell if Franz Hopper is involved"

"Yet I saw a picture of him when I was in the core of the Cortex"

"There's only one way to be sure of that" Said Jeremy. Then he looked at his friends."Are you ready to go back there tonight?"

They all looked at each other and smiled. This was too interesting to pass up. Meanwhile, not far from where the gang was, a red-haired girl was reflecting on what she had just heard. XANA, Franz Hopper, Cortex... Those words had ignited something inside Selina, and she wasn't about to pass up the chance to find out the truth.

It was just before the end of recess and the gang was walking back to class when they were stormed by a red-headed missile.

"Selina, what happened?" Asked Aelita seeing the steely look on her classmate's face.

Selina looked around. They were far enough away from the rest of the groups of classmates, which gave them enough privacy to do what she was going to do. She wasn't going to beat around the bush. She took a deep breath and dropped the bomb.

"What's this thing about XANA, Franz Hopper and Cortex?"

Everyone in general had been caught by surprise, but the ones who were really dumbfounded were Odd and Ulrich. They both had the memory of Selina standing up to the spectres who wanted to steal their codes very fresh in their minds. But most of all, the fact that Selina had recognized the specters as such and had been immune to their abilities.

"They're video game characters" Jeremy said dryly.

"And by any chance, are those video game characters fond of chasing classmates with human-shaped energy fields?" Asked Selina as she shot a intent-laden stare at Odd and Ulrich.

Ulrich swallowed, unable to face what the girl's blue eyes were screaming. Neither he, nor Odd had confessed to his friends what, or rather who, had prevented the specters from stealing all their codes.

Yumi narrowed her eyes. What was the girl talking about? But as she looked at Ulrich, she realized what Selina was hinting at.

Seeing that the gang didn't say a peep, Selina continued speaking.

"If you're wondering whether I've told anyone about what happened the other day, the answer is no. I'm not going to tell anyone. But I think you know what is going on and I would like you to tell me. A few days ago two human-shaped energy fields attacked Odd and Ulrich, and when I tried to stop them they almost beat my brains out. I just want to know the truth, that's all"

If Jeremy, Aelita and Yumi had any doubts about what Selina had witnessed, those doubts had now evaporated. She had recognized a couple of specters and had confronted them to protect Odd and Ulrich. The question was: why hadn't they said so?

"Look Selina" The pinkette began to say. "This can't be explained just like that. Another time, maybe. But right now we're too busy"

Selina took a deep breath. Even though she was eaten alive by curiosity, Aelita was right that a matter like that couldn't be talked about in front of everyone. She pulled a piece of paper from the pocket of her black leather jacket and handed it to the girl.

"Okay, here's my number. Call me when you finish your business for the day"

Selina wanted to add If possible, before 31st February, but she didn't want to heat up the atmosphere any further. She gave one last look to Ulrich and Odd, who lowered their heads in shame.

"Be careful" She whispered before leaving.

Once they were sure Selina couldn't hear their words, Jeremy exploded.

"How could you not tell us that a classmate had intervened when the specters attacked you the other day?"

And I didn't tell him that Selina opened the projector to take out two magnets and opened the magnetic lock as if by magic. thought Odd. In fact, everything about that girl was impossible to believe.

He looked at Ulrich. They both didn't want to reveal Selina's secret, but their friends deserved to know the truth.

"This will sound absolutely mad" Ulrich warned them.

He and Odd gave them the shortest version of what happened they explained what happened when XANA sent two specters to steal their codes, that Selina had recognized the specter that was after Odd as such and when he had tried to hypnotize her, the redhead had thrown a punch that had knocked him out. Now, the truly mind-blowing part was when in the confrontation with Ulrich's doppelganger, he had electrocuted the girl with what seemed like a million volts, and Selina had stood up five seconds later as if nothing had happened.

Recess was almost over, but it was feeling so good to tell their friends about it that they had lost track of time. When they fell silent, Jeremy, Aelita and Yumi looked at each other, no doubt wondering how to gently tell them that they had gone bonkers.

"I know it seems impossible" Said Odd. "but..."

"Odd, Ulrich, we believe you" Said Aelita.

Odd blinked.

"You do?"

"Of course we do!" Jeremy's eyes were wide open, as they were when the Superscanner warned of an activated tower. "I have never seen you talk about anything so seriously. But this..."

In times of crisis, Jeremy always stuck to the facts. But now those facts bordered on the impossible.

Yumi, always calm and collected even in the most complicated situations, spoke her mind about all this.

"Okay, this changes everything. She knows what's going on, and she's going to find out the truth sooner rather than later. I think we should tell her the truth"

Her friends looked at each other. Yumi was absolutely right: Selina knew too much, she was too much to let it pass.

"Today night, after finishing the mission, we will talk to Selina" Said Aelita. "She needs to know the truth"

They also hoped to discover the truth about her. A secret for a secret, that was what the gang had in store for Selina Levesque.

The elevator doors opened and Jeremy ran to the Supercomputer. There was no time to waste. Aelita, Yumi, Odd and Ulrich went down to the scanner room. The blond gave the pinkette an encouraging smile before climbing into the scanners. Jeremy's voice sounded over the speakers.

"Are you ready? Transfer Odd. Transfer Aelita. Scanner Odd. Scanner Aelita. Virtualization"

Once Odd and Aelita were virtualized, it was Yumi and Ulrich's turn.

"Yumi, Ulrich ready to be transferred?" He already had the transfer process ready. "Scanner Yumi. Scanner Ulrich. Virtualization"

After a few seconds, a pink angel, a purple cat, a ninja and a samurai appeared in Sector 5.

Selina let out a string of curses as she left Technology class, so bad that a classmate covers her ears and gave her a look somewhere between fascination and horror.

She didn't give a damn if her classmates heard her. She was so pissed off. Only she could happen to such a thing.

How many people could be reprimanded just for explaining to a teacher that the programming exercise he had given as an example was wrong? And worst of all, Laura had also suffered retaliation from the teacher when she tried to defend her.

She kept swearing like a sailor, to the point that some players from the soccer team walking by looked at her in amazement.

"Wow, that's a colorful vocabulary you've got there. And I thought that the only thing you were good for was to stick your nose into other people's business"

A deep voice chuckles loudly.

Selina turned and found William, who was looking at her with amusement. He was wearing a black T-shirt and black skinny jeans. His raven hair was more tousled than usual.

"I'm sorry for disappointing you" Replied Selina, clenching her fists.

"Aw, you've finally realized that you're a pain in the ass?" He asks, a smug look on his face.

"I realize that ages ago. At this rate, I'm going to end up as the filterless girl in the school yearbook"

The girl sat leaning against a tree trunk. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon, and the sun made her red hair glow as if it were made of fire.

She heard a rustling of branches and suddenly William was towering over her, looking amused.

Gosh, he has such beautiful dark eyes... Even though he's a jerk.

He narrowed his eyes, as if he was thinking something.

"Why do your eyes sparkle like lightning when you're pissed off?"

She shrugged.

"I don't know. My eyes are electric blue. Anger makes my eyes flash like electricity. And it's very funny you should say that considering the mess I got myself into"

"What happened to you? Did you stick your fingers in a socket?"

"I told the teacher that the exercise he had given as an example was wrong and he gave me a good scolding. And for good measure, when my friend tried to defend me, she got a detention"

"That sucks"

Selina gave a half-smile.

"But I have no regrets. It's bad enough that my parents make fun of creating computer programs, without my Technology teacher humiliating me and punishing my friend just because I know more than him. That asshole should really be given a detention"

William chuckled. She was a pain in the ass, yeah, but he liked her outspoken nature. He gave her a smile and turned away.

"Wait!" She scrambled up off the ground. The dark-haired boy stared at her.

Selina swallowed. God, that boy was tall, and gorgeous. His eyes were black and intense like ink, and she found it hard to look away from them.

"The other day you had Odd punished so he couldn't attend a meeting with his friends. Do you know what Jeremy, Aelita, Odd, Yumi and Ulrich are up to?" She paused before continuing. "The other day two human-shaped energy fields chased Odd and Ulrich and not exactly to invite them for a chocolate bar"

William was stunned. The other day, after XANA's last attack, they had explained the situation to him in broad strokes. But apparently they had forgotten the small detail that the girl had witnessed the attacks.

"How do you know that?"

"Hey, I don't know anything. The only thing I know is that those energy fields can beat you to a pulp. I also know I want to find out what the hell is going on"

William couldn't help but smile. She was just like him when he first became suspicious about the existence of Lyoko and the Supercomputer.

"You are smiling. That means you do know something"

The boy bit his lip. As much as he understood Selina, he couldn't just tell her what was going on. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and wrote on her wrist his phone number.

"If the same thing happens to you again, call me and I'll tell you all"

William gave her one last smile before leaving. Selina stared like an idiot at the phone number written on her wrist. She hadn't gotten anything out of the conversation, but then an idea popped into her mind.

Well, there's always a first time to track a classmate's cell phone.

XANA must have been on vacation, because during the entire journey through the Digital Sea, there was no trace of her presence. After a few minutes, Aelita could see the familiar but disturbing shape of Cortex. She grabbed the controls and positioned herself in front of the blocked entrance. Jeremy unlocked the entrance and within seconds, the Skid appeared on the Cortex surface. The girl energized them all and in the blink of an eye they appeared in Cortex. Now it was Jeremy's turn to show off.

"I'm sending you your new cab"

A strange yellow vehicle, which looked like something out of a video game, materialized before the astonished gaze of Aelita, Odd, Yumi and Ulrich. Everyone was amazed, but the ones who were really freaking out were Odd and Ulrich, who had spent long afternoons playing videogames.

"Wow!"

"Yeah, awesome!" Odd couldn't wait to test the vehicle.

Jeremy smiled proudly.

"I present to you the cortexian tecto-compatible wheeled shperoid mega-multipod vehicle"

Yumi and Ulrich looked at each other like What is this guy saying? while Odd directly said to the blond genius:

"Couldn't you come up with an even more complicated name?"

"Why, do you find it too easy to remember?" Asked innocently.

Odd rolled his eyes. Apparently his friend hadn't been taught sarcasm when he was little, because he never seemed to get it.

Aelita shrugged and approached the vehicle, examining it closely. When he created the taxi, Jeremy had forgotten to put doors on it, but he knew they could be energised to get inside. She turned to her friends with a smile from ear to ear.

"And... Who's going to drive it?"

"Me!" Shouted Odd and Ulrich at the same time. They looked at each other angrily.

"I said it first!" Odd shouted, glaring at his friend. Yumi facepalmed. They were literal big babies.

"It will be Yumi" Jeremy announced, cutting to the chase that discussion.

"Well, sorry guys" Said the ninja, holding back a smile as she walked toward the vehicle.

"But why?" Asked Odd pouting.

"She's the only one who didn't ask for it. Come on, let's go"

"Why are the girls always the ones driving the nice things?"

"Odd, are you coming or not?" Aelita asked as she energized herself along with Yumi and Ulrich.

Odd snorted, but was energized inside the vehicle. Once inside, Jeremy began to explain its operation.

"You'll see Yumi, it's really easy to drive. Just like the vehicles in Galactic Destructor"

"But I never played Galactic Destructor!"

"Don't worry, it's intuitive!" Yumi pressed a button and a screen appeared very similar to the interface that was on the Skid. "And I programmed the vehicle so it automatically adapts to field changes"

"If you say so..."

Odd grinned from ear to ear. Unlike Yumi, he had played Galactic Destructor about a million times.

"If you want, we can switch! I'm the best at Galactic Destructor!"

Yumi grabbed the controls. She was going to prove to Odd that she could drive that vehicle, whether or not she had played Galactic Destructor.

"Hang on!"

She slammed on the brakes, and the vehicle rocketed across the surface of Cortex, skidding, doing some impressive flips and generally churning poor Odd's guts out.

"Oh no, I'm going to be sick..."

"I hope you prepared some barf bags, Jeremy!" Ulrich commented, watching his friend's face turn puke green (if avatars could turn puke green).

Yumi ignored him. She was driving, period. She frowned as she watched the ground begin to open up. The time to take the plunge had come.

"Here we go"

She put the pedal to the metal and, without even giving her friends time to squeal, checked to see if all those stunts she had seen in action movies were real or just special effects. The Megapod gained momentum, whoop! they flew over the hole in the ground, and made it to the other side without any consequences other than a skid down the walkway and Odd and Ulrich half fainting from fright. And when they recovered, they did so just in time to witness the Megapod with the left wheels coming off the walkway.

"Be careful Yumi..." Jeremy was beginning to regret not letting Odd drive the Megapod.

"You said the Megapod-thingy would automatically adapt to field changes!"

"Mega-multipod vehicle!" He corrected worriedly. "Yes, it does, but still you need to anticipate a bit"

"We could change the driver if you want!" Odd suggested. Wasn't hope the last thing to be lost?

"Shut up, Odd! You're wrong if you think it's easy!"

As if to emphasize her point, the walls of the gorge through which they were driving slammed shut and the Megapod barely squeezed through the gap. The force of the impact sent the vehicle hurtling out, and after several flips, they landed on a platform that was many feet below.

Panting, and trying to catch her breath, Yumi examined the radar. It was only a short distance to the core. She smiled and grabbed the controls. There was no time to lose.

William walked briskly through the factory corridors. After the afternoon classes he hadn't seen Yumi anywhere. This was the fifth time the gang had a mission and he had been left out. He was sick of being treated as if he didn't know anything about what was going on.

A few yards away, Selina was walking, trying not to lose sight of him. She was dressed in black from head to toe, her footsteps emitting a soft, imperceptible whisper on the factory floor. She had no trouble hacking into William's cell phone to find out his location, but had been very surprised to see that the cell phone signal was underground. She had followed him for half an hour, and now they were in the old abandoned factory.

William stood in front of the elevator and punched in the entry code. Hiding behind some boxes, Selina watched him carefully. She would have no problem opening the elevator, but she was struck by the security of his movements. It was clear that he had done this a lot of times. After William entered the elevator, Selina waited about a minute. She wanted to make sure he hadn't noticed her presence.

A pang of sanity shot through her - what the hell was she doing in that place? For a moment she was tempted to run back to the academy and spend the rest of the afternoon chatting with Laura about video game programming tricks. But then she remembered why she was there. She couldn't stand any more secrets eerily similar to her own.

She took a deep breath and approached the elevator.

"Curiosity killed the cat, but at least he died knowing it" She sentenced as sparks shot through the elevator keypad.

The elevator doors opened and William stepped into the lab, scaring the hell out of Jeremy.

"William, could you please warn me when you're coming - you freaked me out!"

"And you, tell me when you're sending the others to Lyoko!" He replied angrily. "You still don't trust me? Didn't I save you last time?"

"Ok, I told you we would talk about it, but..." He knew the boy was absolutely right, but Jeremy wasn't in the mood for arguments at the time. "We're kind of in a rush now, you see!"

The black-haired boy clenched his fists so tightly that crescent-shaped marks appeared on the palms of his hands. Yes, his first mission in Lyoko had ended in complete disaster, with him being XANA's slave for months. But if it hadn't been for him, they wouldn't have been able to save Ulrich and Yumi when they were trapped on Cortex. He was sick of being treated like an idiot.

"Yeah, and next time you'll find another excuse, right?"

"Well, maybe, we'll talk about it some time later. When the others are back, for example"

He took a deep breath. At that moment all he wanted to do was to make Jeremy swallow the earpiece he was wearing.

"I'm sick of being a stand-in"

The sound of the elevator doors opening kept William from getting into a shouting match with Jeremy. A red-haired girl entered the lab, her blue eyes wide with stupor.

"Okay, I didn't see that coming"

William and Jeremy looked dumbfounded at the newcomer. They couldn't believe their eyes.

"Selina, but what are you doing here?"

Although at first she shuddered to drive the Megapod, little by little Yumi understood how to operate it. By not having to be so focused on the ground, she was able to notice Aelita's saddened expression.

"Is there something wrong?"

"I was thinking about my father" She whispered. "What if XANA's return was actually his fault?"

"Aelita, your father can't be responsible for XANA's return, I mean, he is..."

She didn't dare finish the sentence. She hated to touch on such a painful subject for her friend. The pinkette smiled sadly.

"I know. He disappeared... For good. But I have a feeling I'll find out the truth soon enough"

Yumi nodded, but frowned as she looked at the radar.

"Well, I'm sorry but it won't be right now. I miscalculated my direction. We'll have to go around the core before we can reach the door"

That said, the Megapod jumped a pothole and paralleled the walkway around the core. Suddenly, a wheel got stuck in a narrow ditch in the ground. Due to the speed they were traveling, the vehicle flipped over, causing the passengers to scream with fright. Once everyone calmed down, Yumi pushed the gas pedal to the metal, but the Megapod did not move an inch.

"There's no way out, we're stuck!"

"Well, now you see" Said a certain purple cat in a sing-song voice. "If I had been the driver, I..."

"Odd!" She shouted angrily. "Shut up, please!"

"Never make her mad when she's driving" Joked Ulrich.

"Shut up!" Aelita exploded. This was neither the time nor the place to get into an argument.

The sound of lasers firing at the Megapod abruptly ended that discussion. What the hell was going on outside?

"What's happening?" Asked Yumi frightened.

What was happening was that several Krabs were firing at the Megapod. Odd clenched his fists. In Galactic Destructor, the spacecraft had a bunch of laser beams. But now they were jammed and Einstein had forgotten to program weapons for the Megapod.

"You know what your Megapod is missing, Einstein? A cannon!"

"It's not called Megapod!" Corrected Jeremy. "It's called... Well, never mind. Just ask for a cannon next Christmas. For now, Aelita, Ulrich and you are going to fight the old way!"

From the back of the room, Selina could not believe what was happening. From the looks of it, her classmates were trapped inside that computer, and they were in serious trouble. She looked around, trying to assimilate what was happening. A sense of deja vu enveloped her like an almost imperceptible fog, but then it became thicker and thicker. The fog surrounded her to the point where she couldn't see beyond her nose, only the fact that she had been in that place before. No, not been. She had been told about it, and now she remembered it the way one remembers a long-forgotten tale.

William stared at her. When he had discovered the Supercomputer, he had struggled to pick his jaw up off the floor. But he certainly hadn't gone into that kind of trance, staring blankly and muttering incomprehensible phrases. He took a step forward and put his hand on her shoulder, trying to pull her out of her bubble.

"Selina, are you okay? You look a little bit off"

The girl blinked, the fog melting away and returning to the real world, with William's dark eyes watching her with concern. She sighed in embarrassment. It had been ages since she'd had those kinds of visions, but within seconds of entering the lab, she'd been catapulted into that kind of dream. A dream that felt more like a memory. She pushed her hair away from her face, trying to reorganize her thoughts. Then she became aware of the reality: her classmates were inside a virtual reality and were in serious danger.

She stood up and approached Jeremy, still pale but with her clear eyes full of determination.

"How are Aelita, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi?"

Jeremy shook his head. In Cortex things were getting quite busy. Aelita, Odd and Ulrich had been energized and were fighting the Krabs. but Yumi had stayed inside the Megapod with the entire system locked down, and to top it off he couldn't repair it. The pinkette had managed to destroy one crab, but another, with a simple paw movement, had thrown Ulrich into the air. He landed rolling on the ground. Just then, the sound of a ship's horn was heard, announcing potentially dangerous changes on the surface of Cortex. A crack opened up in the ground and the Megapod fell through it. Odd and Ulrich screamed in horror, but luckily the Megapod landed between two twin platforms.

Dodging the monsters' shots, the samurai and the purple cat jumped into the void, landing on a nearby platform. Aelita approached them, two energy fields glowing in her hands. She threw them at the monster, which exploded instantly. But in the meantime, Yumi was frankly worried. At the least expected moment, the Megapod would fall into the Digital Sea, with her inside.

"Jeremy, are you making any progress?"

"I'm sorry Yumi, but something overwhelming happened"

The girl snorted. That was an understatement.

"Well, you said it"

Jeremy bit his lip. He wasn't going to lie to his friends: things were looking pretty bad.

"Yumi is stuck in the Megapod. You must prevent the Krabs from sending her into the Digital Sea! That would be a one-way trip to the void"

William turned pale. Selina shuddered. This was definitely not a video game.

"We have to do something" Muttered the girl. "I don't know what, but we have to get Yumi out of that vehicle as soon as possible"

"What?" Asked the dark-haired boy. "Selina, Jeremy is the only one who can operate the Supercomputer"

But I'm the only one capable of controlling any electronic device that comes my way, quantum computers included.

Yumi shuddered as she heard gunshots ringing outside the Megapod. Things were looking really bad.

"Jeremy? I'm starting to feel a bit lonely here..."

"I know, I'm sorry Yumi, but I don't have four arms"

"Bullshit" Selina snarled. Her blue eyes shone with determination. "You've got me. Tell me what I have to do to get your friend out of there"

The boy stared at her. He barely knew her, everything he knew about her was frighteningly similar to a certain malevolent AI, but even without knowing them she had put her neck on the line several times to save them from XANA. And she was determined to help them. With a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, he beckoned her closer.

"All right, Selina. I hope you're good with electrical circuits" said, giving her a sly grin.

At Cortex, things went from bad to worse. The monsters had Aelita, Odd and Ulrich cornered, and they still had not received any word from Jeremy. The redhead flew to the Megapod and activated a shield based on energy fields, blocking the Krabs' shots. Odd, from a platform he was on, jumped into the void, tackling a crab, which was firing from a vertical wall. The monster lost its balance and fell into the void, but Odd, thanks to his cat-like reflexes, managed to land on a nearby platform. One down, but that still didn't take away from the fact that Yumi was trapped in the Megapod and there was no word from Jeremy. What the hell was he doing?

"Well, maybe he's off to flirt with his girlfriend?" Joked Odd. "You know the other Mrs. Einstein!"

He didn't mean it, it was just a way to relieve the tension. But that innocent comment sent a pang of jealousy through Aelita's body. The energy shield disappeared, and a shot from a Krab devirtualized her on the spot. She came out of the scanner feeling like slapping herself for stupid.

She went up to the lab and got the biggest surprise of her life. Following Jeremy's instructions, a familiar red-haired girl was poking around the control panel.

"Selina, what the hell are you doing here?"

The girl took a moment away from the control panel and gave him a friendly smile, as if to say I know this is all weird as hell, but I'm here to help you.

"She's giving me a hand" Jeremy explained to her stunned look. He then turned to Selina. "Now put the cursor down to position 2. It should boost the encoding blocks"

Aelita approached the redhead. She seemed to know very well what she was doing.

"Hey, you know a lot more about this than I do, so stop staring at me like a gawker and give me a hand" Said the girl with a knowing smile.

Aelita held back a smile and approached the control panel. For the moment, things were going quite well. Now it was time to shunt the 52-21 circuit. Let's see if working as a team they could get Yumi out of the Megapod.

Although Odd and Ulrich had managed to destroy two Krabs, for every monster they eliminated, two more came out. And at any moment the Megapod would fall into the Digital Sea.

"Would you still like to be in Yumi's shoes?" Snarled the brunette at the thought of Odd's desire to drive the Megapod.

"No, let's forget about what I said" He muttered as he watched two Krabs shoot the vehicle. "This thing is a trap!"

The boy tried to shoot laser arrows at a Krab, but a laser devirtualized him on the spot. He came out of the scanner looking like he'd been hit in the gut with a soccer ball.

Desperate, Ulrich jumped on top of the Megapod in an attempt to get his friend to safety. But in a flash, two lasers devirtualized him. Now Yumi was truly alone. With each shot, the Megapod separated from the platform. The girl closed her eyes in terror. If only Jeremy could fix the problem as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Jeremy was typing frantically on the computer. Although Aelita and Selina were working at full speed, Yumi would eventually fall into the Digital Sea. Just as the Megapod fell into the void, Aelita finished connecting the last circuit. Jeremy launched the program. Hopefully they would have finished just in time.

Ten seconds later, Yumi came out of the scanner. She had been devirtualized just before the Megapod fell into the Digital Sea. She was scared out of her wits, but she was alive. Odd and Ulrich hugged her, elated. Their friend was safe.

Jeremy let out a sigh of relief. They had made it just in time. Selina smiled at Aelita, who smiled back.

"Girl, I'm never going to complain again in my life about doing Technology exercises against the clock" The girl murmured as she stretched and flexed her fingers. "By the way, is Yumi going to be okay?"

Aelita came closer and put a hand on the redhead's shoulder.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine. Devirtualization isn't as scary as it sounds"

The redhead gave a half-smile as she watched Odd, Yumi and Ulrich enter the lab, but then turned serious. She took a deep breath and encouraged herself to ask the million-dollar question.

"Uh... I don't want to spoil the party, but are you going to tell me what this is all about?"

William, who had watched as Aelita and Selina worked as a team to devirtualize Yumi before she fell into the Digital Sea, gave Jeremy a knowing smile. There was no point in hiding the truth from her.

"Let me get this straight" Selina said once the six friends told her all about XANA and Lyoko. "That psycho AI is stowaway in Cortex, and from there he sends specters to steal the source codes he injected you with in his first defeat" she pushed her hair out of her face. "Holy shit, you are his Horcruxes"

"That's one way of putting it, yes" replied Yumi, who was a fan of Harry Potter.

"And... Did you really manage to keep it a secret until now?"

"Let's just say some people are more curious than others" Jeremy replied, shooting a glance to William.

"Anyway, if I get it right, you and Aelita saved my life" Smiled Yumi. "So thank you"

"You're welcome" smiled warmly. "I'm glad I could help you complete your mission"

Aelita shook her head. She didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm, but the mission had not been completed.

"No, it was not completed. We could not get to the core!" She turned to Jeremy. "Do you think you'll be able to reprogram the Megapod quickly?"

"It's not as complicated as the Skid, but... I need to improve the system, install some weapons - that would be safer"

"I'm telling you" William mumbled. For a computer genius, Jeremy could sometimes be quite an idiot. Then he turned to Selina. "By the way, how did you manage to find out where I was?"

"I traced your phone signal" She said calmly. "It's quite simple if you know the process"

Ulrich rolled his eyes. Whether she could track a cell phone signal was the least of it. The problem was: how could she sense specters and be immune to their abilities? Odd shot Selina a look, as if to say We've told you everything, now it's your turn. The girl lowered her head, suddenly embarrassed.

"Regarding what is happening to me... I have no idea. When I saw the specter that had the appearance of a sixth grader I knew right away that there was something very strange about him, but it was only when he attacked Odd that I realized what he really was"

She fiddled with her crescent pendant, trying to organize her thoughts.

"I don't know the why of these powers either, but I'd say the thing started in August. At first it was little things, like using Street View and being able to see passersby's faces without a problem, but then things started to accelerate and now I can basically control anything with a chip if I have an electronic device handy"

That wasn't entirely true. Selina had forgotten the detail of opening a magnetic lock in a matter of seconds. That, and being completely immune to electricity. But judging by her tense and worried face, the redhead was in no condition to answer any more questions.

Ulrich opted to change the subject.

"Well, let's decide instead on what we're going to do with you, shall we?"

After everything he had seen, it was clear to Jeremy that Selina would be a very valuable member of the group, but above all, he wanted to know what exactly she was hiding.

"I gave it some thought. It's true she could really help me in the lab when Aelita is virtualized. In short, either you join the team, or we push a button and go back in time, erasing everything"

"Everything?" Repeated the girl in disbelief.

"Everything. You won't remember what happened here"

Yumi nodded. The time had come to decide whether to admit Selina to the team.

"Let's vote"

"In favor" Said Odd and Ulrich at the same time. "She risked her skin to save us from the specters"

"In favor" Replied Yumi. "If it wasn't for her and her teamwork with Aelita I'd be in the Digital Sea"

"In favor" Said Jeremy. "She could be of great help when you guys are on a mission"

That left Aelita and William. Aelita had her doubts about whether they should let Selina into the group. Not because she didn't think she had the potential to be a Lyoko Warrior, on the contrary, it was just that there was something eerily familiar about her. She wasn't sure what it was exactly, but everything about her was ringing a little alarm bell inside her head.

William, on the other hand, didn't know what to think. On the one hand he respected Selina, he saw in her a copy of himself. But he had also seen in her eyes the same pain he had seen every day when he looked at himself in the mirror after having been XANA's slave for months. He was afraid of what might happen to her if she entered the group.

Perhaps that was why they were stunned to hear each other's response.

"In favor"

A smile spread across Selina's face. It was crazy, she had been accepted into a group that was fighting a malevolent AI, but she was still ridiculously happy. She could finally put her newfound powers to positive use, find her place. Jeremy gave her arm a friendly squeeze.

"Welcome to the gang, Lady Mitnick"

Unlike the previous day, the sun was shining. Jeremy and Aelita were doing their physics exercises. Selina was chatting lively with Laura about programming virtual worlds in video games through simple algorithms. Seeing Aelita looking at Selina out of the corner of her eye, Jeremy squeezed her hand.

"You too think she doesn't tell everything she knows, don't you?"

The pinkette smiled at him. Even if her friend was 95% of the time in front of the computer, he had gotten pretty good at reading her emotions.

"Yeah, she's hiding something, but I don't know what. But more than that, I have a feeling I've seen her before" She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. "It may be my imaginings, but..."

She didn't know how to concretize her hunch, but luckily the teacher interrupted her ramblings with a Physics problem.

"Who can tell me the angular velocity of the Earth around the Sun?"

Jeremy got up from his desk and at the blackboard he solved the exercise in a jiffy. Eight hours of sleep had that effect. Aelita and Odd smiled proudly at their friend, while Selina smiled happily. She knew that Laura was looking forward to solving that exercise, but she couldn't help but feel relieved to see that her classmate seemed to have a much clearer mind.

"It seems that Jeremy has stopped thinking so much about creating video games, huh?"

Selina smiled at her friend. Last night she had told her that Jeremy was working on the development of a video game called Cortex. She wasn't dumb, and she knew that the video game was actually a full-fledged virtual reality, but still, she agreed with Laura that it was a good thing Jeremy was focusing on class.

"Certainly. But that doesn't take away from the fact that we spent the whole time talking about programming. Gal, I had no idea you knew so much about avatar building"

"Nor did I that you were an instruction manual on programming virtual worlds" She let out a chuckle. "If Jeremy needs help with Cortex, he could learn a thing or two from you"

Selina had to do her best not to burst out laughing in the middle of class. She took one last look at Aelita before turning her attention back to the teacher.

"Don't you know better" the girl said, smiling.