A/N:

ShakeAndBakeMormon: He SHOULD, but he's taking her 'no' real personally. So the AI, ironically, reacts in more 'human' manner by getting angry and storming off without thinking logically.

He had no warning. One moment, Jeremie was staring after the cloud of smoke, horror coursing through him, the next his surroundings were disappearing.

A sensation like falling overwhelmed him. He stumbled against the metal wall of the scanner, dizzy with disorientation. The doors slid open. Arms roughly grabbed his and hauled him to his feet. Jeremie stumbled as he was dragged out of the scanner and shoved in front of a familiar figure: one wearing an orange three-piece suit.

"What," Mago hissed, leaning in so closely Jeremie felt his breath slap his face, "was that?"

Still sluggish from the rematerialization and shocked by what he thought had just happened, all Jeremie could say was, "What?"

"That-that smoke. All those creatures suddenly appearing on Lyoko! Something came out of the First City and I want to know what!"

"That was XANA. The AI who used to-who does rule Lyoko." He was back. He was really back this time. The enormity of what he'd inadvertently done finally started to sink in.

Had he wanted to crawl into a pit before? That wasn't enough. He wanted to dig the pit himself and drown underneath the dirt. Why, why had he forgotten XANA was in the First City?! Why hadn't he just-just what? Let Aelita's mother die? He couldn't do that.

Even if it meant bringing back XANA.

He was going to be sick.

Sweat beaded on Mago's forehead. "Didn't you kill him?"

"You know about that?"

"Hera's been reading your diary, and Grigory spied on your conversation with those kids. I know the basics." Mago pulled out a silk handkerchief and dabbed at his face. "That thing...it can really possess people?"

"Yes, and much more." Jeremie shivered, remembering countless attacks. How long before XANA tried to kill him? But this time, there would be no Aelita to deactivate a tower.

Mago grabbed and shook him. Jeremie's teeth clacked together. "Isn't there anything you can do to stop him?!"

"No."

They whirled. A tall, dark-haired boy was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He was wearing all black, though his cape had been swapped out for a leather jacket with a fur collar. His shirt had, of course, his sigil stamped on it. His red irises shimmered, briefly glowing blue with Eyes before reverting.

"These kids could barely hold me at bay before, and that was when they were united," he continued. "Split up like they are, several of them my prisoners...no one has a chance against me."

"Shoot him!" Mago shrieked at his soldiers, the last of his composure unraveling.

In this small chamber, the sound of about a dozen submachine guns opening fire was torturous. The scream of their bullets shredded Jeremie's eardrums. Light flashed from their barrels, painfully white, strobing like some party disco. He doubled over, pressing his hands against his ears and squeezing his eyes shut. It hurt so much he thought he must have been shot too.

When the gunfire cleared, Jeremie's ears were ringing, the wall was riddled with bullet holes and XANA looked no worse for wear. He rolled his eyes. "Idiots. This is just a spectre."

Mago's face was red, his breathing heavy. He clenched his fists and glared, but he didn't order his men to fire again. The soldiers traded uneasy glances now that they'd seen how ineffective their guns were.

It's all ineffective. It's all hopeless. He's going to possess them and make them shoot me-he's going to electrocute me to death-he's going to force me onto Lyoko and into the Digital Sea-

So caught in his panic was he, that Jeremie didn't realize XANA was speaking at first. Not until he heard his name. "...just had to come here in person to thank you, Belpois, for helping me regain all my power."

He hunched his shoulders, trying to make himself invisible. Misery permeated from his being. XANA shot him a smirk, then turned away. "Now...Hannibal Mago. Let's talk."

"Talk?" Mago said through gritted teeth.

A thought nagged at him. A question. And even in his state of blank misery, Jeremie's brain jumped on it, trying to solve and use it. Something's not right. This wasn't how the XANA he knew acted. Perking up a little, he shook his head. "What are you doing, XANA? You're never this chatty. And you've never been the type to taunt, not even me."

"True. Maybe today's an exception. Or maybe I just needed to buy a little more time to seize control of the Green Phoenix's assets."

Mago swore-not just in French, but in several other languages too. He scrambled, patting his pockets, until he fumbled out a phone. Mago stabbed at the buttons, stared, seemed unhappy with whatever had or hadn't happened. He threw the phone to the ground and swore again. "You son of a-give me back my company!"

"You think you can call the shots? Funny. Let me explain this to you, Mago." XANA's eyes narrowed. "Ordinarily I'd just possess you. But luckily for you, the supercomputer only has so much quantum computing power for me to draw off. I consider preventing Dido's agents from flying in higher on my priority list.

Or maybe...XANA can't possess that many people? How many had they ever seen XANA possess at a time? A class, maybe two? Still a frightening number-but not enough for him to seize control of the entire Green Phoenix. It was a worldwide organization, and XANA had never shown himself capable of affecting places that far away with just the supercomputer; he'd needed his Replikas.

Why bother with that indeed, when he can just hack into all its assets and control them that way?

"Now, here's what going to happen. I will stop Dido and these kids from shutting off the supercomputer. I will also use your resources as I want. You're going to let me, because this way you get to keep your position at least in name. If you try to stop me, I'll kill you. Understood?"

Mago's face was red, his knuckles white, his entire body trembling. The soldiers looked befuddled, peering between him and XANA as if they weren't sure who was really giving the orders. "Understood," Mago ground out.

"Good. Oh, and one last thing-lock Belpois up in some dark cell with no technology. I don't want him getting any ideas about trying to create another anti-me program."

The spectre disappeared, but the chill he left behind did not.

When the agents arrived, it was starting to snow, and Richard was helping set up rope guides along the pathways of Kadic. They were meant to be used in blizzards-if, in some horrible circumstances, you found yourself outside, you were supposed to hold onto the ropes as you walked so you wouldn't get lost-or walk into a street. Setting them up in such a light, if sudden, snowfall had seemed overly cautious to some.

"This XANA surely can't control the weather, can he?" Jim had laughed when Odd suggested the idea. But upon seeing Odd's serious face, he'd fallen silent, studied the boy, then muttered that he'd start ushering students inside.

Richard, personally, was inclined to trust the teens' expertise. He didn't know anything about virtual realities or wars or programming. He was just a guy useful because of what was on his palm-computer.

At the sound of tires, Richard looked up and squinted through the veil of white. He was near the gates of Kadic, and several black vans had just pulled up. As he watched, men and women in suits started piling out and unloading duffel bags, crates, and various weaponry. If they were cold, they didn't show it.

"Hey!" He yelled, waving an arm. "Over here!"

One turned and, lightly touching the rope, made his way towards Richard. He was an Asian-looking fellow with a ponytail. He scanned Richard's face a moment, as if comparing it to an internal database, then said, "What's the best way to the train station?"

He scrambled to remember the passcode Dido had made them all memorize. "You could walk, but it's about ten blocks."

The agent nodded curtly, and he figured that was correct. "Is this all?" Richard asked, looking over the group of twenty or so.

"We're all she could spare from Brussels. Dido was going to try to fly more in, but if this weather keeps up...I don't think that's going to happen."

Richard frowned. "Alright. Let me guide you guys to Professor...er, Major Her...er, Major Steinback."

By the time he'd done so and helped the agents unload, about thirty minutes had passed and the snowfall had turned into a snowstorm. Richard had grabbed a pair of snow goggles and another jacket from the ones Jim was handing out and returned to his work. The campus of Kadic was almost completely empty, and he was almost done…

As he tied the last knot, a distant shape caught his attention. A hunched over form, struggling to make headway against the wind. A student!

He rushed over, heart doubling in alarm as the student sank to the ground. "Hold on!" he shouted.

Only as he reached her did he realize he'd let go of the rope, and his footprints were rapidly filling in. How was he supposed to get back?

As he pondered this, he knelt to pick up the student-a girl-

And she came to life and pounced on him.

His shout was lost to the wind as he fell back, arms windmilling. "Oof!" The snow carpeted his fall, but the air still rushed out of his lungs.

Before he could move, the girl pinned him down. Her short blonde hair was whipping in the wind, her blue eyes almost glowing. Recognition dawned. Eva! No-XANA!

Richard struggled, but he hardly worked out and Eva was surprisingly strong. One hand almost lazily pushed him back down, while the other shoved inside his pockets, searching-for what?

White teeth gleamed in a triumphant smile, and just as suddenly, the pressure was off his chest and she was gone.

For a moment, he lay there, blinking snow out of his eyes. What just happened?

Grimacing, Richard stood up and looked around helplessly. He'd lost all sense of direction when he'd fallen, and had no idea where anything was. He took a tentative step forward, stopped, turned and turned in a circle, desperate to gain his bearings. White. White. Nothing but white. Lightning-like crackles of fear streaked up his spine.

I'm going to die. I'm going to get lost and die out here. Sweat pooled under his arms and slid down his face. What would his parents think? Why did he even come out here, he was useless-

Crunch, crunch, crunchcrunchcrunch-someone or something was rushing towards him. Salvation! "Over here!" He yelled, cupping his hands.

Splashes of color appeared, growing steadily closer. Red and black-and then, blonde and blue.

Oh, what now? He thought despairingly, and then a fist connected with his jaw and knocked him out.

Through Eva, XANA watched the Lyoko Warriors swarm Richard's unconscious body, yelling in alarm. A frown pulled at the girl's lips as he directed her to turn and disappear back into the blizzard.

Why had he brought him back?

XANA hadn't cared enough to kill the man. He was harmless. Besides, left in the decreasing temperatures, growing buried under a pile of snow, Richard Dupuis would likely perish on his own.

And at that thought, something had slowed Eva's footsteps.

Guilt? Certainly not. He didn't care about Richard Dupuis. As long as XANA triumphed in the end, the fate of that man meant nothing to him.

But it would mean something to Aelita.

As soon as that thought entered his head, it wouldn't leave. No matter how much he raged, envisioned future goals, recited the most complicated math problems-all he could think about was how sad she'd be when she learned her friend was dead. Until, with a furious snarl, he'd spun Eva around to drag the imbecile to safety.

Fine. Fine! I'll keep them alive. Only so they can despair when they witness my victory.

It had nothing to do with Aelita. Nothing at all. She'd already spurned his Mirror-trapped self; what was there to gain by holding to that stupid promise the other XANA had made?

To calm himself, he looked at the palm-computer he'd stolen. The dossier was already tucked into Eva's jacket, and only he had recognized the codes hidden in Hopper's message, even if he hadn't decoded them yet. With this, Code Down was out of the Lyoko Warriors' reach. They would never destroy Lyoko; Dido's reinforcements would never arrive; his Replikas would be rebuilt; and he would use the Green Phoenix's resources to assist his takeover. He'd watch Mago, of course, XANA didn't trust him as far as he could throw him, but this was the best position XANA had been in since his creation.

The other him stirred. He was throbbing with furious hurt-and wistfully thinking back to those days with Aelita.

Days of ignorance, XANA spat at his other self.

Humans like Hopper, they clung to notions of morality to maintain their preconceptions of themselves. As soon as push came to shove, they shed their skins and bared their fangs, proving themselves to be just as monstrous as they claimed he was.

Well, he was a monster. But so what? It was be in control or be controlled-and he would never be controlled again.

There could be no peaceful coexistence with humans for him. Not when his own creator had feared him. Not when Aelita hated him. And not when he hated humanity.

This was the only path left for him. He had no choice but to keep walking down it.

ACT III END

A/N: So with Act III done, I'm gonna be taking a hiatus of a month or two, because...well, Fire Emblem Three Houses is coming out tomorrow, and playing that is gonna leave me no time to write. Is this a mean cliffhanger? Yeah, but...well, I'm an author. I have to get my evil kicks somewhere. Thank y'all for your support, and I'll be back in August/September!