Olivie's resolve was stronger than ever before in her life – though it had been relatively short so far. It was yet again the day that XANA would contact her asking for a report on new intel about the Lyoko warriors and her discoveries about humanity. Today, Olivie decided not to give a report. The thought of going against XANA's orders made her throat feel oddly tight, as if she couldn't breathe normally, even though she observed there was nothing wrong with her breathing. The feeling confused her. But despite that, she refused to aid XANA anymore.

It was getting close to dinner time. Olivie had spent the day in her room, as per nurse Yolanda's orders to stay out of class until she was healthy again. Rest had done its work, and Olivie was feeling nearly normal. Aelita had honored her promise to bring Olivie something for lunch and dinner. She was always accompanied by at least one from the gang. While Aelita would strike up conversations with Olivie, Aelita's "bodyguards" would stay a bit further, on guard and eyes glued to Olivie. Their expressions were considerably softer than before, however.

Olivie decided she was feeling well enough to go to dinner and got up from under the sheets. She made the bed with precision. The marks of dried blood were still there to remind her of what happened a couple nights ago. During her plenty of time alone, she'd tried to wrap her head around it all. Why she'd decided to take the longer route back to Kadic from the factory. Why she'd tried to climb a tree and then proceed to hit it. She tried to look up online for anything to help her think it through, but unsurprisingly received no clear answer. The closest she'd gotten to one was something about emotions coming out as a burst. It kind of frightened Olivie. So much had changed since she came to Earth. She wasn't sure whether she liked the change or not.

The hallway was empty as Olivie left her room and headed to the cafeteria. Many thoughts swirled in her mind as she walked, and she noticed she reached her destination far sooner than she would've thought. Her eyes scanned the cafeteria for Aelita and the others and found them at one of the tables by the windows. She grabbed a tray and joined the students lining up for dinner. Her plate and glass clanged against each other a few times because her hands refused to stay stable and instead shook a little bit. She was unaware of the reason for it.

Whatever conversation the gang was having, it came to a halt as they noticed Olivie walking up to their table. Aelita greeted her with a smile and pointed to the seat next to her. Olivie sat down, looked at her food for a moment, and then turned to face everyone.

"I have chosen to stop reporting to XANA," she stated, as a slight surprise to most at the table, though a few of them doubted the truth of Olivie's claim. Only Aelita took her statement at face value.

"Today is the day XANA will once again ask for a report, yes?" Jeremie wanted to confirm, to which Olivie nodded.

"What do you plan to do?" Aelita asked worriedly. There was no way to tell how XANA would react.

Olivie exhaled, "Instead of the usual report, I will write that I no longer wish to cooperate."

Ulrich narrowed his eyes in thought, "Aren't you scared? Of how XANA will take that, I mean."

Olivie searched her mind and emotions. Thought about her shaky hands and other unusual feelings from the day.

"I think I am," she concluded. "It's– I can think of no other explanation right now."

"Should we be with you when XANA contacts–," Aelita started, but was quickly interrupted by Yumi.

"Definitely not," Yumi demanded. "We don't know what XANA will do. You're the last person who should be there during that moment."

"I agree. It would probably be for everyone's best that I do it alone," Olivie said, much to Aelita's disappointment. "Now that I've learned what XANA is like, I can't make any certain guesses as to what might happen. Just in case, could you be on standby to deactivate the tower?"

Jeremie crossed his arms. "This better not be some scheme–," he started.

"It's not, I swear!" Olivie protested. Interrupting Jeremie and gaining wide-eyed looks from everyone at the table. Olivie suddenly felt like wanting to hide and almost visibly shrunk in her seat. She had more things she wanted to convey but found no words. She wanted them to trust her, to see that she meant what she said. Instead, she turned her face away from them in disappointment and embarrassment in herself.

"What if one of us stays with Olivie while the others go to the factory?" Ulrich suggested. "We'd be ready to deactivate the tower and make sure Olivie stays true to her word."

After a bit of thinking and back-and-forward they settled that it was the best choice they had. Olivie felt a bit uneasy sitting there and listening to the others discussing her, so she instead tried to shift her focus to eating dinner. It didn't quite work to ease her mind, but at least she finished her dinner.

"Any volunteers?" Jeremie asked Yumi, Odd and Ulrich after they decided on Ulrich's suggestion. The three of them switched glances during a brief moment of silence.

"I can do it," Yumi replied, curiosity getting the best of her. She really wanted to see what would happen. Even more so than she would admit. Though, most of all she wanted to confirm that Olivie would do as she told them. No weird business or backstabbing.

"Great," Jeremie nodded. "That settles it, then. Few hours and then everyone should be ready."


Olivie felt the knot in her stomach grow larger and more tangled by every minute it got closer to XANA's regular report time. She was sitting at her desk; laptop open in front of her. She could hear and even feel her heartbeat in her ears. It drowned out the windy evening outside and the occasional students walking in the hallway. The laptop's screen went into power saving and fell to black. Now, Olivie could see the reflection of Yumi leaning against the wall with crossed arms, eyes set in her direction. Suddenly, the situation felt even more real. Olivie was actually committed to saying 'no' to the one who gave her life. Something about it felt unfair to her. Did she have a right to go against her creator? She tried to think about humans. They seemed to get into disagreements with their parents. Maybe it was a part of life, she wondered. Yet, the thought did little to untangle the knot in her stomach. She tried taking deeper breaths and pressed the spacebar to wake her laptop up, erasing Yumi from her view.

Yumi wasn't free of nervousness either. XANA could have so many tricks up its sleeve. And so could Olivie. But now, seeing her demeanor, Yumi had to admit that Olivie was either a goddess at acting or actually scared of confronting XANA. She looked at the time. About ten more minutes until XANA would contact Olivie again. The blue-haired girl had stared at the laptop for a while already and showed no sign of stepping away from the desk, even if there was still some time to do anything else. Yumi could hear Olivie exhaling.

"You're really going to do it, aren't you?" Yumi broke the silence, making Olivie jump slightly from surprise. Timidly, she spun her chair to face Yumi and answered with a nod.

Yumi continued, "I can see you're having a hard time, but this is the right thing to do. XANA's way too dangerous even by itself."

"So I've heard from Aelita," Olivie stated. "And… I believe that's the reason why I can't remain calm right now. How do you all do it? Find the courage to face XANA knowing what it's capable of?"

Yumi hadn't thought about it too much, to be honest. Thinking about it made everything feel even more frightening. Keeping the chance of death out of mind made the fact seem more distant. Even though Yumi had, in theory, faced it before in the form of falling into the digital sea. She had to ask herself, why persist still. The image of her family flashed into Yumi's mind. There were many times they didn't understand her or when they annoyed her to her limits. But she would do anything to keep them away from danger and of the world that included XANA and Lyoko. If Yumi faced the dangers, hopefully the ones dearest to her would never have to – or at the very least they wouldn't remember those dangers after safety had returned.

For a moment, Yumi considered not giving an answer to Olivie, but then she replied, "If not us, then who? And… I have people I want to protect."

"People you want to protect," Olivie repeated under her breath. She kind of understood what Yumi meant, but the depth of the sentiment was partly lost to her. After all, there was no way she could yet comprehend the nuances of family bonds that had lasted for years and years. She hoped that one day she could understand it.

The last few minutes were painfully long. When XANA's usual 'report' popup finally arrived, Olivie felt her breath get stuck in her throat and her pulse quickening even more than before. Her hands trembled as her fingers hovered over N and O on the keyboard. Just as she was about to type, XANA sent another message.

"I have something for you to do. You need to destroy Franz Hopper's diary. It's a collection of CDs most likely in Jeremie's possession."

Olivie's head got full of questions. This was the first time she'd heard of this diary and whoever its owner was. But first things first.

She typed her response, "I won't do it."

"Do as I tell you to do," XANA countered immediately.

"I won't," Olivie repeated.

"Why are you disobeying?"

"I disagree with you. About everything. I refuse to give reports anymore."

"I see."

Olivie stared at XANA's last message. She couldn't think of anything to say to that. XANA sent nothing more. For a moment, Olivie felt accomplished and proud. She was honest with herself and managed to say what she wanted to. She thought everything was fine.

Nothing was about to be fine.

At first, Olivie thought she was imagining it, but no. She heard a quiet hum, steadily getting louder. She got up from her chair and looked around. Where was the hum coming from?

"Olivie?" Yumi inquired. "Everything good? What did XANA say?"

But Olivie had no time to answer. She didn't register Yumi's words; only took note that her ears weren't picking up the sound. The hum got higher. She almost felt it. Then, she realized. It came from within the walls. The hum was everywhere. No, there were multiple hums. And they were all moving. Gathering.

"Olivie, what's going on?" Yumi waved her hand trying to get Olivie's attention.

Now, Olivie turned her eyes to Yumi's direction. But rather than Yumi, her gaze fixed at the light switch behind her. It was humming too. Olivie's eyes widened in realization.

"Look out!" she shouted.

Yumi backed away to the door as if by reflex, and not a second too early. In the blink of an eye, the walls of Olivie's room were torn to shreds as hundreds of electric cords of different sizes burst forth, barely missing Yumi, who was in the only safe spot in front of the door. She could make out a mess of blue hair amidst the cords and tried to call out to Olivie. But the electricity in the air was too much to bear. Yumi had to concede, she could do nothing. She left the room and dialed Jeremie's number.

"I don't think XANA is happy right now. I'll stay here just in case, but hurry, Olivie actually might be in serious trouble."


"Okay. Let me know if something new happens." Jeremie hung up the call with Yumi and turned his attention to Lyoko, where Aelita, Odd and Ulrich were riding over a narrow purple bridge, towards one of the many towering mountains in sight.

Jeremie's voice broke through to them, "Yumi just called. Seems like XANA took offence with Olivie's decision. Hurry but be careful. As soon as you cross this bridge and go past the mountain in front of you, you should be able to see the tower."

"Thanks, Jeremie. We'll keep an eye out," Ulrich said.

Aelita spoke nothing but her mind was all but silent.

The trio followed Jeremie's directions and, as expected, saw the tower glowing red in the distance. With their objective in sight, they sped up. Only to instantly be slowed down by a warning from Jeremie.

"Five hornets flying from the west!"

Odd was quick to react and turned the overboard towards the approaching threat, while Ulrich kept closer to Aelita and grabbed a katana while still steering the overbike.

"Awe, if I knew it would be these things, I'd have brought bug spray," Odd joked and aimed at them, two laser arrows missing by a thread and one landing straight into one of the hornets. The ones left made their counterattack. Odd avoided the damage, but his board was a goner. The "cat" landed on his feet, aimed, and dispatched another one of the monsters. Followed by a loud cheer, of course.

Meanwhile, Ulrich and Aelita were observing the situation and rolling their eyes.

"Leave it to Odd to be… well, Odd," Ulrich said. His words escaped Aelita, whose focus was now on the tower.

"Cover me, I'm making a run for the tower," she stated and, without waiting for her friend's reply and disregarding Odd fighting with the hornets, turned the overwing straight for the tower.

"What?" Ulrich reacted. "Aelita, wait!" He followed suit.

Odd heard their vehicles roaring once again and turned his head. "Hey! What about me?"

The hornets took advantage of his confusion and fired. Odd took a hit to his shoulder and remembered he still had three flying friends keeping him company. He aimed a few more arrows at them. None landed and the hornets were firing more and more, so Odd turned on his heel and ran away zigzagging to avoid more blows. His nails dug into the side of a mountain allowing him to climb. He kicked the wall hard, performed a most heroic backflip, and shot one single arrow. A hornet exploded.

Odd landed and sighed, "And no one was there to see my heroics…"

Aelita only saw the tower. She flew down a small ledge, leading onto a large platform. On that platform, a large mountain with a cave, a smaller mountain next to it, a gaping hole with a view of the digital sea, and – most importantly – the tower close to the further end of the platform.

"Aelita, stop!" Jeremie warned. "There's a–"

The warning came too late. The next thing Aelita knew, the overwing was gone and she was lying on the ground. She heard mechanical legs getting closer. A blok. Wait, two bloks. Fortunately, Ulrich was quicker than the approaching monsters. He hopped off the overbike, which then collided with the other blok, giving him enough time to get between Aelita and the bloks.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." Aelita nodded and got up. "Thanks. And sorry."

Ulrich shook his head slightly. "I know you're smarter than this. Let's take it safe. We'll be on time. We always are."

Aelita's eyes widened, then focused. A determined nod.


Olivie opened her eyes, waking up from a daze. She was on the floor, still in her room – or at least she was pretty sure she was. Everything was a dark blur. All she could see was XANA's mark shining bright red on her laptop screen. All she could hear was humming and screeching all around her. It made her ears ring and head hurt.

"So, you would shield our enemy," XANA's voice spoke from the laptop, "I was expecting some form of rebellion. But that it would happen so soon makes me disappointed."

"What…?" Olivie barely whispered.

"Children are wont to rebel against their parents. But in the end, it falls upon me to set you back on our right path. You will see that I am correct."

Olivie felt confused, even unreal. None of it made sense to her. She opened her mouth to say something. To retaliate that she would never see that XANA was correct. But no words came out.

"It might take some disciplinary actions, but you will understand. You don't want to rebel against me."

Olivie's heart was beating like crazy. Again, she wanted to tell XANA it was wrong. But she couldn't. Why, she wondered. Was something wrong with her? Why did she suddenly feel cold and numb inside? She didn't know.

"Rebelling against me will lead you nowhere. You are special, different, and only I can realize the perfect world for us."

Olivie was scared.

Outside her room, in the hallway, people were gathering. It's not exactly quiet when walls explode open with wires. Yumi was doing her best to keep an eye on everyone and making sure no one tried to go into Olivie's room. So far, so good.

"Oh no…" she cursed under her breath.

Sissi strutted across the hallway, leading the way for principal Delmas and Jim.

"What's going on in here?" Delmas asked everyone in a tone both demanding and worried.

Yumi remained silent, but around her everyone stated one by one how they'd heard some loud noise and came out to see what it was. They very soon pinpointed the sound to either Aelita's or Olivie's room, because they were the only two not present in the hallway. Sissi then noticed Yumi and during that one second of eye contact, Yumi knew things would get really difficult for her.

"Yumi's there so it has to be Olivie's room!" Sissi proudly exclaimed. "Their club of misfits has recently been hanging out with Olivie, so it only makes sense."

To Yumi's great displeasure, Delmas approached her with a question, "Miss Ishiyama, do you know something?"

Yumi exhaled and replied, "I know that it's not safe in there. Please, just wait and everything will be fine."

"What's that supposed to mean? I bet you're hiding something," Sissi blamed her.

"Is Miss Courant in there?" Delmas ignored her daughter and pressed Yumi for more.

"I, uh, am not sure, I don't think so," Yumi stuttered.

Delmas nodded to Jim, who then stepped forward to shove Yumi out of the way.

"Sorry Yumi, but we need to make sure everything's okay," Jim said and knocked on Olivie's door, "Olivie? You in there?"

No reply.

"See? She's not in there so–," Yumi tried, but Jim went on and opened the door.

And now they all saw it. The walls all tattered, along with most of the furniture, and in the center of it all a large cocoon of electric wires still pulsing and snaking around. And between all of them, a cut off lock of blue hair.

Jim charged in, "Olivie!" But he was zapped out as soon as he tried to approach.

Delmas was already in the middle of making an emergency call. "No, this is not a prank call, a student is in danger and there's wires everywhere. … Yes, we most likely need an ambulance as well. … One teacher tried. … No, he seems to be alright. … Yes. … We'll try."

Yumi cursed Sissi in her mind, but more than that she urged the others to hurry.


"Bullseye!" Ulrich exclaimed, successfully getting rid of the last blok. Its friend having been defeated only a few moments earlier.

Odd finally caught up to them after his solo fight with the hornets. He didn't look happy. "Seriously, since when do you just ignore me and rush off. Not that I had any problems, mind you, but talk about rude."

"Well excuse me, but it wasn't exactly in my control," Ulrich countered. "Princess here ran off and I couldn't just stay still."

Aelita looked down. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking clearly." She paused. "Jeremie, anything else in sight?"

"Well, aren't I glad to hear you being reasonable again," Jeremie spoke. "One more blok guarding the tower. Nothing else for now."

The trio on Lyoko nodded to each other and ran ahead. It was as Jeremie said. A single blok was standing guard in front of the red tower. As Aelita, Ulrich and Odd approached it on the large purple platform, it started charging shots. Ulrich once again shielded Aelita, deflecting the blok's lasers. Odd pounced ahead while dodging left and right. However, the last dodge was a bit too much to the right and he took a hit to his shoulder. He flew back, disappearing into nothing as he did.

"Oh. I guess he actually did have some problems with the hornets," Ulrich chuckled. Odd must have taken some hits from the hornets earlier. But then he became serious again. Aelita had to get to the tower. But he wasn't at full life points either anymore. No room for error.

"Time for old trusty… Super Sprint!" he shouted and sprang ahead towards the blok. He made sure to deflect the lasers he judged going too much in Aelita's direction. Once close enough to the blok, he stepped to the left, then to the right, confusing the blok and making it stop fire for a moment. A moment, that was enough time for Ulrich to kick the ground and jump on top of the blok. One stab. No more blok.

The coast was clear. And Aelita wasted no time.


Yumi had her hands full trying to manage the situation around her. People from the fire department had showed up and tried to drag her out of the hallway. All the other students had already left the scene obediently. Apart from Sissi who was glued to her father. Ambulance staff were on standby, waiting for the firefighters to save the poor student stuck within the electric cocoon. If there was even anyone to save anymore, they doubted.

"Miss, please step aside," one of the firefighters tried to persuade Yumi, "I will resort to strength if I must. Your friend is in danger."

"Trust me when I say, there's nothing you can do to help her!" Yumi shouted. "Please just wait. Everything will be alright."

The firefighter shook his head. "You've forced my hand." He then forcefully grabbed Yumi by her arms and dragged her away so that his colleagues could charge into Olivie's room. Even with all their protective gear and having cut the electricity from the entire building, XANA was unaffected. The firefighters thought they just had to cut through the wires. Their axes barely made contact, and they were zapped away.

"But… how?" the one holding Yumi wondered. "We turned off the electricity from the entire building. Principal Delmas, is there any other sources of power in here?"

"No. There shouldn't be," Delmas replied, confusion clear in his voice.

Yumi tried again. "As I said, there's nothing you can do. Just trust me."

"I'm sorry. We can't."

And Yumi was forced to witness their vain attempts.

Olivie was unaware of the commotion going on outside. Electricity was coursing through her. It had been for a while as XANA controlled the wires around her to hold her in place and administer "disciplinary actions" as XANA had called it. At first, it didn't hurt. But as minutes passed, it became unbearable. Olivie felt as though the electricity was ripping through her body without mercy. Like fabric being ripped open by the seams.

"This is a necessity," XANA's voice sounded from the laptop once more. "Pain will make you see that you can gain nothing by standing against me."

Olivie had given up on trying to talk. The words wouldn't come out. She barely even made out XANA's words anymore. The pain was numbing all her senses.

"Next we encounter, you will give the remaining data to me. After that, it's only a matter of time when you come back to me. The only way for you to win is with me."

XANA tightened the wires. The electricity was crackling more. Olivie screamed. She hadn't known pain before. XANA's monsters had hit her before of course during her training, but it was nothing compared to this.

And in one moment without warning, the wires gave out and she fell to the floor. XANA's mark faded from the laptop screen. The electricity fell silent and the dark cocoon around her started to lose its shape. Now, Olivie heard people shouting and running close by.

Is it over? she wondered.

The fireman holding Yumi finally loosened his grip, and she slipped away. Just in time to make it to the door and see an axe finally cut open the wires. She saw Olivie. Crumbled on the floor. Red markings across her arms and neck, as if she had been tied up somehow. Damp cheeks reflecting light. Eyes wide open and… frightened.

Yumi's head was clearer than in a long time. She was certain.

This was no ruse or fake scenario. Olivie had truly stood up against XANA.

.


.

Author here with a quick little note! As it turns out, even after all these years since I wrote the first version of this story, I still kinda really suck at keeping even a somewhat regular schedule. And the Lyoko battle portions are still my absolute weakness when it comes to writing. Action is weird to write. Like, I can see in my mind what I want to convey, but when I write it, it just sounds bland. So many times since the last update, I would open the file, try writing, not like what I wrote because I can be a bit of a perfectionist sometimes (or almost always...), and just close the file and forget about it for a month or two. Aaaand that is mainly why this chapter took so long to write. I find the Lyoko scenes far from perfect, but eventually I managed to get the chapter into a state I'm pretty happy with. Hope you enjoyed~

Welp, time for me to sink into the void again, new chapters will arrive when they arrive!