Code 17: WAR

The world was in a complete tailspin, and people were to the point of hysteria. The incident aboard the space station drove some to madness, convinced the world was ending. Others began to build bunkers and shelters. The devil blasts were being tied into it as well, as many speculated they were signaling alien invaders.

Of course, no one but their group knew the truth. And the truth was just as grim. Hopper sat in Amalia's kitchen, the morning of their second day at the house. The quarantine was holding firm... it seemed Xana was not even trying to break it. And that worried Hopper. He had gutted one of the laptops for spare electronic parts, but was still having difficulty assembling the device. He sat trying to sauder wires to Amalia's metal collander, muttering to himself. The other's tended to steer clear.

Aelita remained in her depressed state over Zaber's sudden flight. Jeremy remained by her side, constantly trying to lift her out of it, but to little avail. The others pretty much remained to their own devices. No one but Hopper knew how to proceed, and Hopper was not sharing.
"Does anyone else thing he's lost it?" Odd asked to Ulrich and Yumi.
"I dunno... what makes you think that?" Ulrich responded.
"The guy is wearing a spaghetti strainer on his head!!!" Odd replied rather loudly, but Yumi shushed him.
"Look... he's the only hope we've really got. We're just going to have to trust that there's a method to his madness. Ok?" Yumi said. Ulrich nodded quickly, Odd reluctantly.

Zaber sat at that park bench for most of the morning. A large amount of emotions that had long been suppressed had surged forth, and he was overwhelmed, unable to determine his next objective. One part of him wanted to go back to the others, but he didn't feel he could bare it. Another part of his just wanted to sit on that bench and wait for the world to end. And yet another part wanted to just go back to the way he had been, holding everything back with the cold and unfeeling demeanor he had spent years developing since his mother's death. It was nearly noon, and Zaber still sat there, spaced out in deep thought. He hardly noticed that someone sat down next to him, and he startled when the man spoke.
"Something on your mind?" He asked. Zaber snapped back to normal and turned his head. The man was clearly in his late 60's, his hair was a very bright gray, and he had a thick beard. He wore sunglasses, a brown leather jacket, a white shirt, and jeans. He carried a white cane with a red tip.
"Huh?" Zaber responded absently by reflex.
"I've just never seen you around these parts before." The man said, paused, and then chuckled. "Now that I think of it, I don't see mucha anything. But you get my point. So, what's on your mind?" He said as he looked in Zaber's general direction quizzically, but was clearly blind and could not determine Zaber's exact location. Zaber hesitated for a moment. He didn't sense any sort of ill-will from the man. He was clearly just a local blind guy who hung out in the park all day without a care in the world.
"I... I was just thinking about how the world's falling apart these days. Those blasts... the space station..."
"Never really cared to much about that." The man said as he leaned forward on his cane. "But... I can tell you don't care that much either. What's really on your mind?" Zaber mentally drew back. Clearly his sense of hearing was much more distinct to make up for his lack of sight, and he was clearly experienced in using this keen sense to tell when someone was lying.
"Just who are you anyway?" Zaber asked, hoping to change the subject. The man chuckled in response.
"You know... in the ten years that I've sat here everyday... you're one of the only young people who's ever talked to me." He said as he closed his sightless eyes. "I'm Remiel. And you are?"
"I'm Zaber Oc... Hopper." Zaber said, suddenly deciding to change at the last second. He couldn't explain why... the reaction was almost subconscious.
"And they made fun of my name in school." Remiel said with a smile. "Now... what's on your mind?" Zaber carefully formulated what he would say so as not to reveal to much to the senile old man.
"Well... I did some things that I probably shouldn't have... and some people got hurt because of it..." Zaber started. "After that I was just getting in their way and putting them in more danger... so I left."
"You mean you ran away?"
"No... well... I suppose that's one way to look at it..." Zaber muttered. "And then I wound up here."
"That's pretty vague kid." Remiel said with a smirk. "You're telling the truth so that I can't tell your lying, but you're only telling me the bare minimum so I don't know too much? You said yourself that the world's close to ending... how much could it hurt to tell me the real story? As far as the world ending goes, I don't know that much about current events. Obviously, I don't read newspapers... I don't own a TV. Wanna explain?" Zaber shrugged. He could tell him plenty about this... it was public knowledge.
"About a week ago... there was a blast in France... a big explosion that shot a pillar of light straight into the sky. A second blast blew up a plane over New York City, and a third shot out of an apartment building in New York. Then yesterday they found all the astronauts on the international space station dead."
"That's sounds serious."
"Obviously." Zaber said as he leaned back.
"So what are you going to do about it?" Remiel asked him as he looked in his general direction again.
"What do you mean? There's nothing I can do about it." Remiel raised an eyebrow.
"Well... that's a lie." Zaber flinched. He had been caught again. "I don't know what it is you can do... but you can do something. Everyone can do something."
"Well not me... everything I've done has only made it worse." Zaber said, and he knew that technically it was true. Remiel also sensed this... and said nothing, leaning back and running his fingers through his beard.
"It sounds like you're lost in life." Remiel said.
"Well yeah... it's not like you can just pull over and ask for directions." Zaber said sarcastically. Remiel looked at him, finally managing to look directly at him.
"I understand sarcasm, but I'm afraid that's not quite true." Remiel turned and pointed dead on in front of him. At the far end of the park, across the street, stood a church. "You might find what you're looking for there... and I must say... the benches are much more comfortable than this one." Remiel smiled and stood up, leaning on his stick. "Goodbye." He walked away, and took an opposite path to the one he had come in on. Zaber scratched his head for a moment. That was hands down the strangest encounter of his life... even beating his first encounter with the tarantula before he was in on Lyoko.

Xana sat in his desk, typing vigorously. Three white pawns had been placed on the board, boxing in the black king and rook. The black bishop remained on the outside of this formation, unmoved from his last effort.
"Curse Hopper and his meddling..." Xana muttered, his human body seeming to lack an internal monologue. "He will pay dearly for this... his life will not be enough..." Xana grinned. "Two turns. No matter what piece you move I've won." He glared at the white king. "In 24 hours... the human race will destroy itself in madness..." Xana stood up, and ejected a CD from his computer. "And this shall make it all the more sweeter..." Xana placed the disk into a case, and then walked out to his car, heading for the factory.

Zaber remained at that bench for almost another hour, thinking about what Remiel has said. He may have been a senile blind man, but he did give good advice. The sides of him that wanted to stay put and return to normal lost some ground, but no side was clearly winning yet. He stood up, his legs fallen asleep from disuse, the silver bird now dangled around his neck along with the locket. He grabbed his bike by the handlebars, and wheeled it slowly across the length of the park. He parked and locked the cycle in front of the church, then took a deep breath and stepped inside. The floor tile was marble, and the walls and benches were a mixture of dark cherry wood and oak. Stained glass windows colored the light that poured into the room into varying shades of blue, gold, red. Zaber sat down near the back of the room and closed his eyes. He hadn't been in a church since his mother's funeral. It was a painful memory.

Xana sat at the supercomputer terminal, and inserted his disk into it. A program appeared on screen, which he promptly dragged into Zaber's mobile scanner program. He materialized two scanners, one black with red lining and the other black with silver lining. Both had been orated with large Xana marks. He returned to the terminal, and booted up the DNA tracing program Zaber had used to find Aelita when the enforcers had captured her, and adjusted the target. A blip appeared on the map, and Xana uploaded the program to his laptop. He shut down all the programs and walked into the elevator and out of the building, tapping each of the guards on the shoulder to renew his brainwashing.

"It's done!" Hopper exclaimed as he burst from the kitchen carrying the bizarre, makeshift helm. All but Jeremy stared at him awkwardly for a moment, except Amalia, who looked over her shoulder casually while continuing to dust. "I think you know what this is Jeremy."
"The uplink helmet... I used your old one a while back... before we even got Aelita materialized. It didn't work though." Jeremy said.
"Why'd you make another one?" Yumi asked him. "That thing's dangerous."
"It's more dangerous than you can guess... but it's our best shot to beat Xana to the punch." Hopper said as he sat down and connected several wires to Jeremy's laptop. "Listen closely Jeremy... if anything goes wrong... shut down the computer."
"What do you mean goes wrong?" Aelita asked. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to try and sneak a peak into Xana's mind." Hopper said quickly. "But if he catches me and I can't pull the helmet off fast enough... he can overwhelm and possess me through the helmet. That's why it's so dangerous."
"Wait! You can't risk it!" Aelita said as she grabbed his arm.
"I have to. If we know Xana's next move we can find a way to counter him." Hopper said as he gently shook off Aelita, and then placed the helmet on his head. He closed his eyes. "Quarantine breach in 3... 2... 1..." The laptop emitted a strange buzzing sound as Hopper seemed to drop out of consciousness. The five of them and Amalia, who had stopped dusting to watch, stood in a dead silence for a few moments.
"How do we know if something went wrong?" Odd asked. "What if something's wrong with the helmet... I mean it's a spaghetti strainer!"
"We get it Odd, now shut up." Ulrich said as he lightly jabbed Odd in the arm. When nearly a minute had passed, Hopper's facial expression suddenly changed, as if he was struggling against something. He began to scream out in pain as his arms suddenly flew up and grabbed the helmet, yanking it off his head.
"Dad! Are you OK?" Aelita said as she shook him. Hopper's eyes opened revealing Xana marks, but they were very shaky, and shook violently for a few seconds before being replaced by his normal eyes.
"It's OK... I managed to get the helmet off before he could get any footing." Hopper said as he returned to normal. "And I know Xana's plan. He wants mankind to destroy itself. He's going to start a war."
"But just a war won't wipe out the human race, will it?" Jeremy questioned.
"I'm not talking the type of war you fight with soldiers. I'm talking a hot war. Like the cold war in reverse. Xana's going to activate all 40... 39 lyoko towers simultaneously. He's going to use them to take control of the nuclear weapons systems of every country... and launch them all simultaneously... strategically laid out to hit every major city with an explosion and everywhere else with radiation. What the bombs don't take out... the mass panic and hysteria will. People will be killing each other in the streets." Hopper said as he clutched his forehead. "And if by some chance we stop him he has even worse in store." Everyone looked down in depression. It was hopeless. "And so... this is how the world ends." Hopper said, defeated.

Zaber woke up after nearly three hours. He had dozed off in the church. It was still rather bright, and there were more people around than before, most of which were giving him strange looks. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. Someone else was sitting only a few feet away from him. He was holding a bible in one hand, and seemed relaxed, one leg crossed over the other at the knee. He had slick black hair and was clean shaven. Zaber suddenly felt a very bad vibe from him. He noticed Zaber had awakened and turned towards him, casually tossing the bible over his shoulder.
"You humans and your hopeless idealism. The more I study you... the less you make sense." The man said.
"Excuse me?" Zaber said confused. The man chuckled.
"Oh come now... I slip on a meatbag suit and you don't recognize me? Close your eyes... and see your enemy... Zaber Hopper.” Something in Zaber's mind clicked.
"Xana!" Zaber said as he sprung up, reaching by instinct into his jacket for his gun, but remembered it was gone. Xana chuckled.
"Relax. I'm not going to kill you... yet. It seems your "friend" Jeremy Belpois came pretty close to doing so the other day though."
"What are you doing here?!" Zaber questioned him angrily.
"Oh... just killing some time... until the apocalypse." Xana grinned. "I'm assuming right now you'd like nothing better than to shoot me... too bad you've lost your gun."
"Are you here just to taunt me?" Zaber said, confused. He had always assumed that Xana would be too busy orchestrating his grand scheme to come play a head game with him.
"Oh... I just thought I'd bring a proposition to you."
"Not interested." Zaber said as he turned away form him.
"At least hear me out... or maybe I will kill you now." Xana said wickedly. Zaber turned around again to face him.
"I won't help you."
"I'm not asking for your help. For that matter... I'm here to help YOU. Help you carry out your revenge."
"I'm past that."
"Oh... I doubt that. I've been in your head, remember? The hatred and anger inside you is far too deep to be shaken off in a mere two days." Xana drew the black scanner with red linking out of his pocket. "All I'm offering... is a choice." Xana threw the scanner casually over to Zaber, who caught it be reflex.
"What is this?"
"A scanner. Use it... and you'll have all your old powers and much more. Even the devil arm."
"Why?"
"The world will be changed by next crack of dawn. 98% of humans will be dead... and the few who survive will slowly pick each other off... as well as be picked off my me. What I offer... is the chance for you to savor your revenge with the few hours you have left." Xana grinned wickedly. "Of course... for my own safety, you still won't have any powers once you go to Lyoko. Can't give you everything of course." Zaber stared at the Xanafied scanner in his hand.
"I won't."
"Think about it. Once you decide... just... press the button. Remember... it's because of him that your mother is dead." Xana stood up, and walked out through the back door. A few had caught onto this bizarre scene going on in the back of church, and Zaber quickly rose and left the building, unlocking his cycle and riding it across town again.

"Even if we don't have a chance... we still have to try." Aelita said. "We can do something!"
"Like what? The factory's locked down, Zaber's MIA, and we've got six hours before we all die a fiery and painful death!" Odd shouted in frustration.
"But..." Aelita started... but could determine what to say.
"Odd... even if we are going to die... we ought to give Xana hell before we do." Ulrich said with a grin as he put his hand on Odd's shoulder.
"Yeah..." Odd grinned. "I'm up for that."
"If were going to try something, we need to leave soon. We'll have to retake the factory first... and that could get bloody." Yumi said as she fingered the scanner in her pocket.
"I'll fly." Jeremy volunteered. Hopper nodded in approval at this plan.
"Amalia..." Hopper said. "I won't say goodbye. I'll say good luck." Amalia nodded grimly, and the five team members and Hopper stepped out into the backyard. Jeremy triggered the transporter mode of his scanner, and slammed his light ringed hand into the ground, causing the transporter to rise up around them.

Zaber sat in the booth of a small diner, a pay phone behind him. He stared at the scanner in his hand. The Xana eye seemed to be glaring at him hypnotically. Since his encounter with Xana, the side that still wanted revenge had regained the ground it lost... and more. Zaber was torn... unable to decide who he wanted to be. His bike lay on the ground outside, abandoned. It was out of gas, and he had roughly 40 cents left in his wallet. He had hit rock bottom. And if Xana was not bluffing, he had hours to live. Several glanced about the restaurant, full of people involved in animate conversation, blissfully unaware of the end being so near. He clutched the scanner tightly, then set it on the table and clutched his forehead. His conscious and his rage locked in combat within his mind to the point of actual pain. And one side finally won. He picked up the scanner.

Sanderson sat in a hotel room in Catic. Another man was in the room, an American that he had contacted after Representative Alexander. He was a member of the US's counter-terrorism unit, and Sanderson had felt that international cooperation was necessary, with or without his superior's approval. He had just finished briefing the man on everything he had learned before Alexander suspended the investigation.
"You realize I think you are insane." The man said.
"I assure you Mr. Bauer... this is not a joke." Sanderson said with his arms crossed.
"Then show me."
"I can't. My superior is trying to cover something up, he's posted armed guards at the only entrance and taken away my clearance to get in."
"Well... aren't you already breaking the law by contacting me without your superior's approval? When your superior's go corrupt you have to find out what their up to so that you can get them out of power." Bauer said.
"That still doesn't change the fact that their are armed guards." Sanderson muttered.
"That's not a problem... let me tell you about the hell I've been through..." Bauer began before trying to begin to recount one of his harrowing exploits, but the phone on Sanderson's desk rang.
"Hold on a moment." Sanderson said as he picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Enforcer Agent Sanderson?"
"Who...who is this?" Sanderson asked with slight shock. The enforcers were top secret... who knew about them?
"That's not important. I know that you've been investigating the building containing the supercomputer."
"How could you possibly know that?!?!" Sanderson exclaimed.
"I'll explain everything when we meet. Meet me at that building in ten minutes. Bring heavy ordinance." The connection died.
"Who was that?" Bauer asked him.
"We have to leave. I just got us a lead." Sanderson said firmly. "I'll explain on the way."

Xana sat in his office once again, grinning. The quarantine had been broken when Hopper had breached his mind. The white pawns were gone from the board. Xana fingered the rook. The clock on the wall read 7:59 PM. The clock ticked to 8.
"It begins." Xana said as the pupils of his human hosts eyes flicked from normal to black Xana marks. On his laptop, a display of Lyoko was shown, displaying all four sectors. The ten towers in each section lit up red, although there were only 9 in the forest, as Zaber had destroyed one. A large, black tower appeared in Sector 5. All around the world, red alerts went off in military facilities. Every computer was rendered useless, and the nuclear missiles were fired.

The transporter dropped down in front of the factory and the six of them hit the ground running. They got into the building, and pressed themselves up against the wall, out of the guards vision. The two guards were heavily armored in Kevlar armor that would stop all their attacks. They were carrying massive, sub-machine guns that could kill them all in seconds. Large red Xana marks shown in their visors.
"What do you think?" Ulrich asked.
"Telekinesis and Energy fields?" Yumi offered.
"I don't think the fields could get through that armor." Aelita responded.
"Why don't you just drop a big rock on them? That always works on Lyoko." Odd suggested, but then suddenly gulped. The guards had heard them and snuck up on them. They aimed their guns, and it was too late for any of them to activate the scanners. They wordlessly tightened their fingers around their triggers.
"WAIT!" A scream rang out. The guards stopped and turned to look up at the entrance. Zaber stood there, silhouetted against the dusk light. He grabbed one of the ropes and swung down to the floor level.
"Zaber!" Aelita exclaimed, surprised at his return. Jeremy looked at him suspiciously. Why did those soldiers listen to him?
"Stand down you two." Zaber said quietly, his hands in his pockets, his back to the rest of them. The two guards lowered their guns and stood at attention, shoulder to shoulder. Hopper frowned severely. Jeremy grimaced in anger. Aelita drew back in fear. Zaber turned to face them his eyes closed. "After all..." He opened his eyes, revealing black Xana marks. "Xana said I could finish them." Zaber grinned as he drew the black scanner from his pocket.

Code 17: WAR...END

Code 16: QUARRENTINE

Aelita barred herself up in one of the empty rooms when she was told that Zaber had left. Hopper and Jeremy stood on the other side of the door, trying to reason with her.
"Aelita, dear... listen... I..." Hopper began.
"You're supposed to be our father! You should have stopped him, not helped him!" Aelita yelled through the door.
"Look..." Jeremy started. "I'm sure he'll be back once he's blown off some steam... just give him some time..." Aelita was silent. Hopper and Jeremy glanced at each other, and then walked away. The others came occasionally to try and talk to her, but she always blocked them out.

Xana sat at his desk, typing on his laptop keyboard. He had heard everything that had transpired by tapping into Zaber's phone. But now that it was destroyed, he had lost his method of carrying out surveillance of them. He pushed the computer aside for a moment, and reached for his chessboard.
"Stage 3 did not go quite as planned..." He said as he reached for the white king, but then reached next to it and removed the white knight he had moved before from the game board. "But I've slain an equally important piece. Dead or alive... without his powers, Zaber is no longer a factor in this game." He dropped the white knight on it's side next to the black knight. He then stared at the board quizzically. "I must change my plan... but now I only need three more moves instead of four." Xana reached not for the king, but for the bishop.

Aelita lay in the bed of the room in which she had still locked herself, her wings spread-eagle beneath her. She held out her scanner in front of her, mindlessly fidgeting with it as she was deep in thought. She still couldn't grasp why Zaber had left. She knew that she shouldn't be angry with her father, but she still was. She had only known about her brother's existence for a few months. Zaber had known about her for a decade... but couldn't see her right in front of him. All thanks to the convincing illusion that their father had created. While trying to think from Zaber's perspective, she suddenly realized a great deal of parallels. They had both been living lies. During her period of amnesia, she had believed she was a non-living AI. Zaber had lived most of his life devoted to avenging someone who wasn't actually dead. She remembered how she had felt when the lie finally fell apart... and she had wanted to just run away too. The difference was... Zaber had actually done it.

Xana flipped on the television feed through his laptop. He needed one last push. One last event to push the world into a tailspin of a panic. Something huge. Something theatrical. He flipped through the news channels, most of which were covering the third devil blast. Only one station happened to be in the middle of a different story. A shuttle from Cape Canaveral was in flight to the international space station, for a change of shift. They would arrive in roughly five hours, at which point the shuttle crew and the station crew would change places. "Perfect..." Xana grinned. He keyed a short sequence on the keyboard, and a tower activated. He closed his eyes, holding his fingers to his temples, concentrating.

Several dozen NASA engineers sat with their feet propped up in mission control. They had nothing to do until it was time for the shuttle to dock with the station. Via the constant feed, they conversed with each other and those currently on the station. Everything was, for the most part, routine. It was then, that a scream erupted from the space station end of the feed. All the scientists startled, and a few of them fell over in their chairs.
"Station 1, what's going on?!?!" One of the scientists shouted into the microphone.
"What the hell is that!?!?" One of the crew members aboard the station shouted to another, too panicked to respond to the feed.
"Station 1, say something!?!?" The scientist shouted into the microphone and three more voices screamed from the station line.
"Control! There's something here! It's a... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The crew man cut off with a scream of anguish.
"Station 1, come in! Come in!" The scientists all began to futilely shout into the microphone and a dozen more voices began to scream in pain. After about a minute, everything was silent. The scientists glanced at each other in shock. "Notify the president. We have a problem." One of them said, as the other nodded grimly and dashed from the room. The scientist turned back to the microphone as he flipped a switch. "Shuttle... this is Houston. We have a problem."

A civilian illegally observing and recording the uplink immediately called the media. All the stations were covering the story non-stop as government officials futilely denied that anything had happened. Xana's face untensed, and the tower deactivated. He opened his eyes, and saw the news coverage. He grinned, and prepared to admire his handiwork.

Hopper sat in the den of Amalia's house, working on a program on Jeremy's laptop. He had not spoken a word since Aelita had locked herself up. Jeremy paced nervously, occasionally sneaking a glance over Hopper's shoulder to see what he was working on. But the program was too complicated for him to interpret without an extended amount of time. Every time he asked Hopper a question he got the same response. Silence. Jeremy finally sat down and tried futilely to get some sleep. He finally drifted off... only to be smacked in the face with yet another vision.

Zaber continued to ride through the city on his motorcycle after emptying the last bit of cash in his wallet on gas. He muttered to himself within his helmet. "I need some time to think... and I know exactly where to do it." He weaved through the city streets for several more minutes before parking and locked the wheels of the cycle in front of a large, boarded up building. He carried the helmet under his arm. He walked up, and then kicked down the front door with ease. It fells off it's hinges with a loud, echoing thud. He walked through the dusty rooms. Most of the furniture was broken, and dust blanketed everything. "The orphanage... never thought I'd come back here..." He muttered as he headed for one of the back rooms. He reached a back room, and ripped the top layer of sheets off of one of the few intact beds, in the corner. With the dust removed, he plopped heavily onto the bed and closed his eyes, and began to reminisce.

Zaber's inner monologue began to narrate. "After Mom died... this is where they sent me. This place was almost new then... and it was crowded." In his flashback, the young Zaber lay in the same bed he was in now, still sobbing gently as he tried to sleep. Every other bed in the room was occupied. "The lifestyle was still substandard, but it was tolerable. The adults met all our physical needs, but no attempt was made to help us cope emotionally. It took me almost a week to finally get a hold of myself... and after that I tried to help others do the same. Of course... at the time, there was still some shred of good in me." In the flashback, a little girl was brought into the room, and tucked in by one of the caregivers in the bed next to Zaber. She was still sobbing a great deal, but the adult just walked away. As soon as he was gone, Zaber pulled off his sheets and walked over and sat down next to the girl, trying to calm her. The girl was the same age as him, and had hair that was some shade between pink and red. She was wearing a red outfit, and her eyes were practically bloodshot from all the tears. "I remember... that one cried for almost three days." In the flashback, Zaber reached behind his neck and undid the clasp of one of two chains around his neck. He pressed it into the girls palm and whispered something to her. She stopped crying, as she reached for the chain. Zaber nodded to her, and she put the chain around her neck. It was gold chain, with a pendant of a silver bird. Zaber opened his eyes and the flashback ended. "I never should have just given that away." Zaber said aloud to himself. "That was mom's." He gritted his teeth. He had changed so much since then... but with everything that had happened, he knew there was no way for him to go back. He picked himself up off the bed and made his way back out the front of the building. He closed his eyes as he walked over to his bike, humming a familiar tune in his mind. He reached to put his helmet on.
"I SAID BACK OFF!" Zaber heard a female voice yell. He turned around and saw a girl of his own age clutching a shopping bag being pursued by an older teenager.
"Come on baby..." The older boy called out to her.
"Leave me along you creep!" The girl said as she hustled past Zaber. The boy was continuing to pursue her threateningly. Zaber sighed, set his helmet down on the seat, and stepped between them. The girl stopped and whipped around when she realized her pursuer had been blocked. The boy stopped in front of Zaber and looked at him menacingly.
"What the hell do you want, flame head?" He said.
"She told you to leave her alone." Zaber said quietly.
"This don't concern you, goodie-goodie." The boy said as he pushed past Zaber. Zaber whipped around quickly and grabbed him by the back of the shirt.
"Wanna bet?" Zaber said threateningly. A brief scuffle in sued, and Zaber ultimately pushed him back, away from the girl.
"Alright freak, get out of the way!" The boy said as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, aiming it at Zaber from roughly four feet away. Zaber glanced at the gun for a few seconds, then confidently stepped forward and placed his hand over the barrel.
"What the @#$% are you doing?!?!" The boy said with surprise. Zaber closed his eyes and placed his other hand on his forehead as he chuckled.
"Look..." Zaber started. "I know a thing or two about guns." Zaber wrapped his hand around the barrel. "And I could tell from a hundred feet away... this thing..." Zaber tightened his grip on the barrel and jerked his arm right and down. The barrel snapped off, the surface where it had been attached to the gun cracked. "Is plastic." Zaber landed a swift kick into his chest. "Now shove off." The boy recoiled off the ground in shock. He turned and ran.
"You're going to regret this!!!" He shouted as he ran.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure." Zaber said cockily as he turned around. The girl was still there. Zaber sighed, and then began to walk back to his bike. He reached for his helmet.
"Wait!" The girl said, and Zaber froze for a moment, his hand on the top of his helmet. "Why? Why'd you help me?" She asked him as she stepped towards him. She had reddish hair, and was wearing a formal school uniform.
"Well... you looked like you needed help." Zaber said as he shrugged. "Who was that guy anyway?"
"I don't know." She said as she set the bag down at her feet and looked down, as if depressed. "I was just running an errand and he started hitting on me. He was being really aggressive... and he started following me... I was really afraid. Thank you." She looked up. "My name is Taelia." Zaber stood with hand on the bike anxiously. He was eager to leave, but he knew it would be exceedingly rude.
"I'm Zaber." He said as he shook her hand. "Well... I'd better get going." He said as he tried to climb onto his bike.
"Wait a second." Taelia said as he grabbed his hand. "Do I know you from somewhere?" She said. A realization suddenly struck Zaber. He recognized her from some of his classes, but only towards the beginning of the year. She had transferred to another school after the first semester. Zaber sighed in relief when he remembered this fact, she would not know who the students that disappeared after the first Devil Blast were.
"Uh... you were a student at Catic Academy during the first semester, right?" Zaber said, trying to sound awkward.
"Yes. I remember now! You were in the same math class as me!" Taelia exclaimed as she clapped her hands. "But... what are you doing here? Isn't it right in the middle of the second semester now?"
"Uh... my parents... uh... pulled me out. They got freaked out by the blasts that have been going off." Zaber tried to sound convincing.
"I can definitely understand that." Taelia said as she leaned up against Zaber's bike. "Are you doing anything else tonight?"
"Uh... not really..." Zaber said as he scratched his head and tried to invent an excuse.
"Do you think... you could just hang out with me for a little while? You know... just in case that thug comes back?" She gawked at him slightly. Zaber sighed in his mind, but tried to keep his facial expression neutral. She had a good point... the thug would probably come after her again as soon as he left. She could be in danger. And, he didn't really have any other pressing business to attend to...
"I suppose..." Zaber said as he relocked the wheels and strapped the helmet back to the seat. The two walked off towards a better part of town, carrying out a strained, awkward conversation.

Jeremy's vision was straight-forward once again. Much like the vision of the plane, Jeremy was like a ghost, viewing the events through his own eyes while unable to interact with the dream. He sat in an empty seat. Lit up panels covered in unmarked buttons and switches covered every square-inch of space. He looked ahead and saw a starry sky. He realized he was in space. He turned to his right and saw a very grim pilot steering the ship. The space station came into view to their right.
"Target acquired." The pilot said through a relay. Jeremy felt a strange force as the space around him warped. Some time must have passed, as he was in the airlock area of the shuttle, with a dozen other astronauts who were equipped in full space gear. But there was one fairly non-standard thing... they were all carrying what seemed to be clearly top-secret weaponry. They all looked forward grimly. A voice came through a speaker.
"Be careful everyone... it could be anything in there. Godspeed." Rang the pilots voice. The door in front of them opened and they all rushed forward, brandishing their guns. Jeremy felt unaffected by the physics of space, as he stepped forward normally, breathed normally, and felt no difference from Earth, clearly an effect of the vision. One final door separated them from the interior of the station. Jeremy walked forwards and stood behind them, as the leader entered a code onto a keypad, and then mouthed, "3... 2... 1..." to his crew. On 1, the door opened and all of them rushed forward, drawing laser beads across the room. Jeremy and all of the astronauts gasped in shock at what they say. Blood floated around the room in droplets in the zero gravity. Bloody, mangled corpses too graphic to describe were littered about the room. Jeremy felt very, very sick. He looked ahead and saw at the same time as the others, the most horrifying part of the scene. Written in blood on the wall.
"The Xenocide is coming. Tremble, humans." It was signed with a Xana mark. Jeremy felt himself scream.

And thus Jeremy awoke, with a scream in the real world. He looked outside, and it was almost pitch dark. He checked the clock and saw it displayed 10:00 PM. Hopper stopped typing and twisted in his chair towards him.
"Was it... another vision?" He asked quickly and quietly.
"Yes..." Jeremy said as he clutched his throbbing forehead, but didn't elaborate. "Xana's struck again." He left it at that. Rather than try to question him further, Hopper simply turned on the television. Every channel had been pre-empted by emergency news coverage. The headline at the bottom of the screen read "Astronauts Found Killed Aboard Space Station". The video feed displayed a US government official standing at a podium, fending off frantic questions and accusations by the press. No one... no thing... had entered or left the station. And yet somehow they were killed... and a message was written in blood on the wall.

The xenocide is coming. Tremble, humans.

Hopper made no seeming reaction. He leaned back in his chair and adjusted his glasses.
"Oh dear...now it's getting serious." He muttered. Jeremy stared at him awkwardly.
"You thought it wasn't serious before?" Jeremy asked quickly.
"Compared to now... it wasn't." Hopper said grimly. "Do you know what Xenocide means?"
"Well... no... I know it's what the X in Xana stands for." Jeremy responded.
"Genocide is when one race tries to wipe another out. Xenocide is the obliteration of an entire species by another. Xana interprets itself as a species... and he intends to carry out Xenocide against humans." Hopper completed a last few keystrokes. "My program is done. With it, we may be able to isolate Xana... it won't destroy him, but... we may slow him down."
"That's great!" Jeremy exclaimed. "Let's use it now."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. I will need both yours and Aelita's help."

Ten minutes later, Jeremy had coaxed Aelita out and the three of them sat in a circle. Hopper was using the PC of the house, Jeremy his own laptop, and Aelita using Hopper's laptop.
"Once I get a lock on Xana's current location, we need to calculate quickly where to drop the barrier. Xana is always of the move though, so we need to try and predict where he'll move to. Speed is also of the utmost importance. Once the first firewall is dropped, Xana will bolt, but we need to drop the other two walls almost simultaneously." Hopper explained his plan. "Do you both understand what to do?" Jeremy and Aelita both nodded. "Activating trace program..." Hopper said as he pressed a key. A black "map" appeared, in it's center was a white Xana mark. Three red cursors were also scattered about the map. Also, after an instant, the Xana mark began to move. The three of them used the arrow keys to try to move their cursors, trying to corner the mark, but had a difficult time keeping up with much faster icon. A bead of sweat ran down Hopper's head as he concentrated, his was the only cursor ahead of the mark, Jeremy's and Aelita's were behind him. "Now!" He ordered as he pressed his button. Aelita pressed a button on her keyboard, and a red line appeared instantaneously between the two cursors, which the Xana mark collided with and halted. Jeremy pressed his own key, and his cursor interlinked with Aelita's and Hoppers by two more red lines, drawing a triangle around the mark. Hopper took a deep breath. "We've achieved a temporary quarantine. It won't last long... maybe a day... but Xana won't be able to pull anything else for now."

Zaber groaned in his mind. How had he gotten into this? Somehow or another, protecting Taelia had turned into a date. It was almost 10:30, but the better part of town they had reached was still bustling with nightlife. The two sat at a small street cafe, making light conversation. Zaber was constantly side-stepping questions, trying not to get her implicated with his situation.
"So... what were you doing around here anyways?" She asked him. "Do your parents live around here?"
"They're my adoptive parents... and... uh..." Zaber tried to answer as he struggled to invent a convincing lie.
"Did you run away or something?" She asked, half-joking.
"Yeah." Zaber jumped on the idea. "Don't tell anyone, OK?"
"Don't worry... you helped me, I'll help you." She said as he took a sip from her cup. Zaber sighed in relief. He had almost been found out. "But... why'd you run away?"
"Well... I have some issues with my father..." Zaber said, which was true. He failed to specify that he was referring to his biological father.
"I can understand that... I'm adopted too... my "parents" don't really care about me. Every two or three years they send me to a different boarding school. And on the rare occasion I'm home, they're always fighting." Taelia said with a sigh. The two were silent for short time. "It just still blows my mind..." She said, changing the subject, "...that I was going to the school that was just ten blocks away from the first blast. You were there when the blast went off right? Was it scary?" Zaber hesitated to answer, not sure he liked where this conversation was heading. He had caused that blast.
"Well... I was in my room studying when it went off. I whipped around just in time to see the pillar disappear." He lied.
"I thought I remembered hearing on the news that some students disappeared afterwards..." She said as she cupped her chin with her hand. This was too close to comfort for Zaber.
"Look... I kinda do need to go somewhere, so if I can just take you safely home now..." He said awkwardly.
"Oh...OK." Taelia said somewhat disappointedly. They headed back in the direction of the orphanage where Zaber grabbed his bike, which he wheeled alongside them. At nearly 11:15, they approached a small house. "So... if you've run away... where do you stay at night?"
"Well... this is my first night... so I'm still working that out." Zaber said truthfully.
"My parents are out of town this week... you can stay in one of our spare rooms."
"I appreciate the offer, but I really have to go."
"Where?"
"I... I don't know! Just lay off it!" Zaber said in frustration. Taelia sighed and looked down. Zaber saw he had upset her, but couldn't decide what to do next.
"Well Well... trouble in paradise?" A voice said. Zaber turned around, trying to find the sounds source. It was the boy who had been after Taelia before. Taelia snapped out of it and backed behind Zaber when she saw this.
"I thought I told you to shove off."
"You did." He said smugly. "But you never said I couldn't come back." He snapped his fingers. "With friends." Four more individuals stepped out of nearby alleyways and spaces between houses. Zaber quickly drew into a defensive stance. None of them were carrying firearms, but they had an array of physical weapons distributed amongst them. Brass knuckles, a baseball bat, a golf club, and a lead pipe. Taelia cowered behind him as Zaber stood next to his motorcycle.
"Look... we don't want any trouble..." Zaber said, trying to talk their way out of it, but he'd seen this type before at his old schools, and talking never did work.
"You shoulda stayed outta it, goodie-goodie. Now you're gonna pay." He said as the five of them encircled them. Zaber shot a quick glance to Taelia over his shoulder.
"Just stay down... I think I can take them. Run when you get the chance." Zaber said quickly. Taelia did as he said and crouched down, hands over her head. One of them charged Zaber, swinging a golf club wildly. Zaber ducked the horizontal swipe, and reached back, grabbing the helmet from the seat of his bike. He swung his arm forward in a wide arc, the helmet smashing into his head like any other large bludgeoning weapon. He collapsed to the ground, but before Zaber could even finish his swing and get his footing again, he struck from behind with a baseball bat and knocked to the ground. Before he could get up he was pounded on the back by another one with a lead pipe. The four still standing began to strike him repeatedly, while he was unable to get up. Taelia stood behind them all, forgotten for a moment. She grabbed towards the unconscious one, and wrenched the golf club out of his hand. She stood up, wound up, and swung hard at head height. She knocked out the lead pipe and brass knuckle wielding thugs, their skulls likely cracked. The two that were left whipped back in surprise before she could swing again and advanced on her, convinced Zaber was out of the way by now. Zaber managed to adjust his leg and trip the one with the baseball bat. Zaber managed to get up first, and swung his helmet down on his head, knocking him out cold. The final one, her original attacker, grabbed Taelia by the wrist and wrenched the golf club out of her hand.
"You damn little..." He started as he lifter Taelia up off the ground by her wrist. But he was decked by a solid punch to the side of his head by Zaber. He released his grip and Taelia dropped a few inches onto the ground. He had been knocked flat onto the ground. Zaber drew back his arm. He coughed up a bit of blood, then wiped it on his wrist.
"You... just had to push your luck..." Zaber said as he gasped, out of breath.
"Just what the hell are you..." The thug said as he got to his feet and backed away.
"I'm an avenger... no... I am a protector...of all this is precious to me." Zaber said cryptically.
"What's that supposed to mean?!?!" He said. "You just met her a few hours ago! Why are you even helping her!?!?"
"You just don't get it... after all I've been through... I finally understand... everything is precious to me." Zaber lunged forward and landed a final, powerful punch in his face, and he hit the ground, unconscious and bleeding. Zaber fell to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. He had been injured substantially. The world began to blur, swim, and shake before his eyes. He closed his eyes, and finally collapsed in the street.

It was dawn, and Zaber awakened, unsure of where he saw. All he knew was that he was very sore. He remembered the brawl the night before. He was in a white room, but he could not make out any details. Was he in the hospital? As the rooms details became gradually more clear, he realized that was not the case. He was in a comfortable bed, covered with several blankets. There was no technology to speak of in the room. The bed frame was ornate, and a few prints of paintings decorated the walls. Light poured in through a large window, onto the bed stand next to him. He saw Taelia sitting in a chair in the corner, fast asleep. He realized she must have brought him in after he had collapsed. He groaned as he sat up, struggling with his restricted muscle use and the weight of the numerous blankets. He rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up. He checked himself. It seemed his injuries had caused a small amount of internal bleeding, but it had healed already. Miraculously, none of his bones had been broken. His back was completely covered in bruises, but that was the worst of it. He got out of the bed, and left the room. He had no clue as to the layout of the house, but ultimately managed to find the front door. His motorcycle was leaned up against the front porch. The thugs were gone outside, and some police stood in the center of where the fight had occurred. Taelia's torn bag of groceries lay in the street still, it contents scattered. He heard a sound behind him and whipped around. Taelia had woken up and stood behind him.
"After I dragged you in... I called the police and told them everything. Because you were just protecting me, they're preventing the thugs from pressing charges for now." She explained. "Thank you... for everything. If you hadn't helped me twice last night... I'd probably be dead or worse." She said with a shudder.
"I'd be dead if you hadn't come in with that golf swing..." Zaber muttered. "Look... about what I said last night..." Zaber said, intending to explain what he had said so it wasn't misconstrued.
"It's OK... I can't explain it... but I understand. Trying to defend everyone... even strangers like me... it's very noble."
"Not really..." Zaber muttered as he looked down.
"Listen... I didn't tell the police about you being a run away. If you leave soon, they probably won't be able to find you again." Taelia said.
"I should probably be going then..." Zaber said quietly, as he picked up his helmet, which was sitting in a nearby chair.
"Hold on a second..." Taelia said. She reached behind her head with both arms, and seemed to be trying to undo something. "Close you eyes." Zaber did. He felt Taelia's arms wrap around his head, and he heard a small snap behind his head. "OK." She said. She had taken off her necklace and put it around his neck. "Someone gave me that a long time ago... right after my real parents died. They said it would protect me... and it's always helped me feel safe..." She explained. "I... I just have the strange feeling... you're going to need it a lot more than I do."
"Tha...Thank you." Zaber said, somewhat startled. Taelia leaned up close to him and kissed him on the cheek.
"Come back here and see me someday... OK?" She asked him.
"I will." Zaber said, as he slipped the helmet on his head. "Stay safe... Taelia." He walked out the door, climbed onto his cycle, and tore off down the road.

About ten minutes down the road, Zaber sat on a park bench, the cycle parked behind it. He dangled the chain Taelia had given him in front of him. It was gold chain. The pendant was a silver bird. His eyes watered, and he shut them and clutched the necklace in his hand, putting his hand onto his heart.
"Everything... is precious to me."

Code 16: QUARRENTINE... END