Keiko was walking up the stairs to her house when she saw her front door was left ajar. Lifting up her pant leg she pulled her gun from its case and checked to if it was loaded. She cocked the gun and slowly pushed her door open.
Aiming inside of her house, she saw that the lights were all out, like she had left them. Stepping cautiously into the house she kept the gun ready, her ears listening for the slightest noise. Walking into her living room she turned on a light and looked around.
Keiko checked the entire first floor of her house and found nothing unusual. Slowly she moved upstairs, the gun aimed high, looking back every other step. She checked her and her husbands bedroom, and found nothing. Entering the guest room she found the same thing she found in her room, nothing. Opening Lili's room, she found nothing. Keiko stared into the room and hoped she'd see her daughter in her bed, Lili wasn't there. After clarifying the house empty she walked back downstairs to the door that was still open.
Putting the gun on her table she walked through the living room to the front door that was still open, letting in a nice breeze. She grabbed the door and swung it closed, a moment later, was kicked in the chest by someone standing behind the door. Keiko's attacker walked into the light to reveal it was, her mother.
Keiko scrambled to her feet and ran to the kitchen to get her gun. Looking at the table she saw the gun was gone, but something else was there instead., her father. Ulrich was spinning the gun on his finger with a smile. Keiko turned to run, forgetting about her mother. Yumi kicked her and Keiko landed on a chair.
Ulrich, Kat, and Aelita began to tie her down as she squirmed and struggled. It took a good minute, but they had her robed, tapped, and handcuffed to the chair.
" What the hell is matter with all of you?" Keiko asked trying to squirm out of her restraints. " Let me go." To her surprise and shock, Yumi slapped Keiko across the face to shut her up.
" We're asking the questions Keiko not you. What is your connection with the government?"
" What are you talking about?"
" Don't act dumb Keiko. We saw you at the Fritge plaza at noon yesterday. Why is the government after us, why do they want us dead, and most of all how are you involved in it?" Keiko lowered her head in defeat.
" I don't know what your talking about," she lied. Yumi skipped slapping and punched her. They kept asking her questions for an hour, and every time they didn't get results, she got hurt. Yumi was doing most of the abuse, Ulrich could never touch her and live with himself. Keiko had two black eyes, split lips, a bloody nose, and several bruises. Three hours into the interrogation Yumi got fed up and held a gun to Keiko's head.
" Stop lying. I don't want to bury anymore bodies. Keiko tell me, I don't want to kill you."
" Mom you can't kill me, you don't have the spin." Yumi had, had enough and pulled the trigger. Ulrich knocked the gun up and the bullet hit the wall.
" We can't get information if she's dead Yumi. Calm down."
" Thanks daddy, you can't hurt me. I'm your daughter, parental love will stop you."
" Parental love this," said Kat who punched her in the face. Aelita pulled her back as Kat tried to get in a few more punches.
" Kat, calm down. We'll get nothing if we pound her into a pulp."
" She's responsible for my parents deaths. My little sister is dead because of her."
" Jean's dead?" Keiko said in shock and concern. " It can't be, she wasn't a target."
" Who are the targets? What are you getting from this?" Ulrich asked her.
Keiko hadn't known a child had been killed. It made her realized she didn't want anyone else to die. " Look this is all about the lyoko case from ninety four."
" What are you saying."
" I'm saying this is all about the program Carthage. The government is taking care of the loose ends. They are killing anyone who was in the lab on the day Xi, Angela, and Odd jr came back. The french government has accused everyone involved for treason against France."
" Travis wasn't there, why were they after him?" Aelita asked.
" Bait. Just like the twins, but Jean was hit in the cross fire."
" That case closed in ninety five, who reopened the case, and why? Who's pulling the strings?"
" I can't tell you. He'd kill her," Keiko said, a tear going down her cheek.
" Kill who. Who'd kill who?" Ulrich asked, looking his daughter in the eye.
" He'd kill Lili."
" They have Lili? You were blackmailed. By who? Who's the mastermind?" Ulrich asked.
" I can't tell you, he'd kill me, then kill her."
" What makes you think I won't?" Yumi asked pointing the gun at her head again.
" Yumi," Ulrich said to his wife. Yumi looked up at Ulrich who shook his head. " My turn Yumi." Ulrich stepped in front of Keiko and crouched down to look at her face his daughter.
" Tell me Keiko do you know what is worse that death?" he asked, and received no reply. " It is being in so much pain, you wish you were dead. And then no one grants you your wish, and you live in pain. That is what I'll do to you, if you don't tell me who is pulling the strings."
Keiko looked at her father. Could he really do that to her? She knew when her father was serious, he didn't blink while talking. He really would make her beg for death.
" Alright. It's Toby."
" Your husband? He did this, why?"
" Oh I feel so stupid for not noticing."
" Noticing what?"
" For not noticing Toby was xana." Everyone gasped, Ulrich not aloud. " Before I married him, before I even met him, xana put Toby in lyoko and drained him, like he tried to do to dad nearly fifty years ago. Toby may be american, but's he's high in the french government. He reopened the case to kill you. He just wants you all dead."
" You said it was about Carthage."
" It still is. He wants to gain complete control of Carthage, and use it to start a war. He knew if you were alive, you might be able to stop him. I'm so sorry, but Lili. She's everything to me, even if her father is the devil."
" The devil that's a bit harsh don't you think?" The all turned around and standing there was Toby. Xana.
" What did I say if you talked?" Xana asked Keiko. Before she could answer xana shot Keiko in the head and kept the gun aimed up. To his shock, he had four guns aimed at him. Xana held his gun in the air, as if surrendering, then shot the light above him and vanished in darkness. The four kept their guns ready, then they heard the front door open and xana run out. Ulrich ran to the door after him, and when he stepped outside, felt cold steel on his left temple.
Yumi heard the gunshot and a body drop. The three ran to the door and saw Ulrich laying there, blood all around his body and a permanent expression of shock on his face. Yumi screamed in anger and fired at xana, who was already running down across the street. When he vanished in the darkness again, Yumi and the others heard sirens. Cop cars, swat trucks, helicopters, the whole nine yards were on the house in seconds.
The police open fired as Yumi ran back into the house and shut the door. " Get down!" Holes were blown into the house, glass shattered, and the three remaining in the house, ducked down. After thirty seconds of shooting everything went silent. Only the kitchen lamp survived the bombardment, but fell over and crashed on the floor. A thin smoke filled the house.
" Aelita, Kat you guys okay?" Yumi asked everyone.
" Good, not hit, Aelita?" Kat asked.
" Peachy. Now what. I don't think we can negotiate anything with them. I know I'm supposed to be the optimistic one, but who am I kidding. Nice knowing you guys." A moment later a few tear gas bombs flew through what remained of the window and slid across the room next to you Yumi. Yumi picked one up and chucked it back outside, spreading the gas over the lawn.
" Wait a minute, I have an idea."
---
The entire block was silent as the police kept the guns aimed high. Travis, Angela, and Ben were gathered around the tv. Angela was pacing, unable to watch it.
A criminal negotiator ducked behind a car said over a megaphone, " We have you surrounded. That was a warning shot, come out now or we will open fire again."
Everything went silent again. After a minute of nothing the negotiator said, " light them up for ten seconds." At the instant everyone was about to shoot, a car slammed through the garage door and kept backing out. Everyone shot at the car, almost immediately blowing out every tire and window. The car kept going, but lost control and rammed through the living room window of the house across the street. The wheels were still spinning, but not going anywhere.
" It seems the suspects have made an ill fated attempt to get away and it ended in shambles. In a moment the police will have them cuffed."
" Grandma." Travis said aloud in a shaky voice. Everyone in the living room went silent and waited for the news caster in the helicopter to start talking. They watched as the police swarmed the car guns aimed high and ready. The opened the doors and found, nothing.
Back at the scene a swat officer shouted, " Decoy!" The decoy only lasted for about five seconds, but it was a five seconds well spent. The three broke a side window and ran out, cutting through back yards. All the helicopters lights were aimed at the car, and had no idea were to shine.
" It seems the suspects have outsmarted police again," said the reporter on the television. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Angela's phone rang and she answered it right away.
" Mom. Where are you. I saw your escape," Angela said quickly.
" Angela stay calm we're fine. I need you to pick us up, we'll be under the bridge, call me when you get there, and we'll come out."
Angela left Ben with Travis and drove to the bridge. She called her mother and a moment later, Yumi, Aelita and Kat quickly jumped into the car and put their heads down. Angela drove around point zero a few times before parking, making sure they weren't followed. When Aelita stepped through the door Travis wrapped his arms around her, nearly knocking her down. After an emotional, ' you alive!' moment, they all sat down, and began to plan their next move.
The kids were asleep as the adults were in the kitchen talking about recent events. " We know xana is behind this now. The problem isn't staying alive anymore, it's stopping xana," Yumi said to everyone.
" Wait, can we. I mean you guys said xana was a program, a virus. Immortal," Kat asked, still not knowing everything about what was going on.
" Maybe before, but not anymore. Keiko said xana drained Toby of his life. It means he became human in Toby's appearance, and mortal. We can kill him now but trying to kill him is like trying to kill the president. Very impressive security," Aelita said, laying that information on the table.
" True, but why does xana want to start a war. What the hell could he gain from that?" Kat asked, not sure of the motives.
" Anything. He's Toby. With Toby's job and xana's influence, he could easily start a war. And with Carthage, he could easily win."
" No matter what happens, we need to get Lili. The problem is, we don't even know where to start looking," Yumi said to everyone.
" What do we know?"
" She was used as blackmail. Which might led to her being in a place Keiko wouldn't know, or couldn't get in. A lot of security more or less. Monitored twenty four seven. Close to her father because xana doesn't trust people to do his work for him unless he couldn't do it."
" Defence head quarters," Kat said. " I remember Keiko saying he worked there. She's probably in his office."
" Alright we have an idea, but we can't go in guns blazing. Plus, we don't even know if she's there. We need to do some reconnaissance, but we can't even get in the building," said Yumi, " We can't get in unnoticed."
" We can't," Angela said to everyone. " But I know who can."
