Warning: Rated for language, intense suspense situations involving children and nudity.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Miko did not sleep that night. Over and over, her mind replayed that first phone call, the darkness forming grotesque images of what was happening to her children. Each scenario played out worse and worse. The scant reassurance the man gave her, what happened earlier wasn't permanent, just painful, gave her no sense of peace at all. As the night dragged on, her dark fantasies got darker.

Morning was no respite from her despair. Takeo did not go to work that day, didn't even get out of bed. She called his employer and hers, explaining to them that they had a family crisis and wouldn't be in. By that time, news of the kidnapping had made it to the news services, so their employers were quite understanding.

She shuffled around the house, doing this and that, filling in the time. Finally, the house closed in too much, so she dressed and left.

She drove about aimlessly for a while, her mind a blank. She ignored the rising hunger in her body. She just drove.

Finally, she ended up at the hospital. She didn't remember deciding to go there, she just showed up. She found a parking spot, and went in. She knew who she was looking for.

At the receptionist's desk, she asked, "what room is Ulrich Stern in?"

The lady checked her computer for a moment, then replied, "room 1023. He has no restrictions on his chart, so you should be able to go right on up."

Miko took the elevator up to the tenth floor. When she got there, she walked down until she saw room 1023. She looked in.

All of Yumi's friends were in the room, talking. Also, there were three adults she didn't immediately recognize. She thought for a moment, then remembered. The big man and woman were Marines from the United States Embassy. The other man was Michael Belpois, Jeremie's father. She thought it odd that these people were here and Ulrich's parents weren't.

The big man, Taylor Thompson, saw Miko standing at the door.

"Mrs. Ishiyama, fancy meeting you here," he said to her, "I want to tell you we all are sorry for the troubles you're going through. The Ambassador has even spoken with the Japanese Ambassador and the French President, offering whatever assistance he could."

"Thank you for your kindness," she said numbly as she walked over to the bed. In it lay Ulrich Stern.

His face was a jumble of black, blue and purple. He had a bandage around his head, and she could see a small stain of blood in the middle of a gauze pad. He had IVs in both arms. There was a tube running into his nose, presumably down to his stomach. One eye was swollen shut, but the open one looked up at her."

"I'm s-sorry, I couldn't protect her," he weakly said through clenched teeth as his tears started to flow.

"The doctors had to wire his jaws shut," Michael Belpois said.

Miko said nothing. She bent down and kissed Ulrich on his cheek, her tears mingling with his.

Aelita, Odd and Sissi went over to the woman and escorted her out of the room as she started crying again.

"Jeremie, what you're planning is insane!" his father told him once Mrs. Ishiyama left the room, "give the police what you know and let them handle it!"

"Dad, I can't," the boy replied, "if I told them what I know, they'll want to know how I know it, and that's not an explanation I want to give now."

"Jeremie," Taylor Thompson said, "you know that someone's gonna find out some day; look at how many people you've told already! It's just a matter of time."

"The only people I've told are those who absolutely need to know. Or those I absolutely trust," Jeremie replied, looking straight at Taylor Thompson and his wife.

"Son, you are dealing with things you know absolutely nothing about. You could get yourselves killed doing this, not to mention Yumi and her brother," Michael told his son.

"All I know is this, Yumi and Hiroki are out there, and I'm going to get them. If I don't, the others will. And you're right, I don't know what I'm dealing with here. That's why I called you, Master Guns. Only, you had to go and call my dad..."

"Who knows about as much about this shit as I do," Taylor replied.

Jeremie's eyes got wide at that. He turned and stared at his father.

"Jeremie, when I was young and invincible, I did many foolish things. Some of those things were for France. Some of those things got men killed."

"Were they good men, or bad," he asked.

"As far as I knew, they were very bad men, but also good men were killed, good friends."

"As far as I know, the people that took Yumi and Hiroki are very bad men, too," Jeremie said, "shall I stand by and let them hurt the ones I love?"

The adults in the room stood silent. Finally, Taylor said, "if you insist on doing this stunt, I'm in. I guess I've still got a little stupid left in me."

"I'm sure as hell coming along," said the woman, Ann Thompson, "where my husband goes, there go I and all that. Besides, I feel the maternal need to rip some asshole's balls out who would do a thing like that to children."

"What about it, Mike? You still got a little stupid left in you? I've got a vest in your size," Taylor asked his old friend.

"You're all crazy, but I'm in. Now, where are they?" Michael Belpois finally said.

"We'll know soon enough. Franz Hopper is on the case," his son replied, beaming.

Miko Ishiyama sat in the waiting room, crying. Seeing Ulrich there, in his condition, gave new reality to her dread.

Yumi would have never backed down, never! If Ulrich was this bad, what did they do to my baby?

All the while, Aelita Hopper and Sissi Delmas held the woman close. Odd Della Robbia sat by Sissi's side, offering his own silent support.

After a while, Miko regained her composure. She reached in her purse and got out a tissue to wipe her eyes.

"I think I'll leave you girls alone," Odd said to the others as he got up and left.

Miko took the girls' hands into her own. "Thank you," was all she could say as she squeezed them.

"Everything will be okay," Sissi told the woman, "I just know it."

"You look half-starved, Mrs. Ishiyama," Aelita told her, "let's go down and get you something to eat."

"Eat?" piped up Odd, three steps away from the women, "count me in!"

That evening was hell. The police came by again, wanting to ask more questions, wanting articles of the children's clothing for the search team's dogs. She gave them what the wanted, and they left her alone.

Takeo had been drinking again. Normally, he was a happy drunk, but tonight he was sullen and silent. The drink was to dull his pain, make it bearable.

She almost joined him. It was so tempting to lose herself in the bottle, hoping that for a little while, her burden would be eased.

Her cell phone rang. She answered it.

"Don't worry about your daughter," said the caller, "she put up quite a fight, but she wasn't hurt as much as her boyfriend. We were specifically told not to put a mark on her. She messed up a couple of my boys, though, and they took out their frustrations on him."

"Is that supposed to reassure me? For all I know, they made up for it when you called me the first time!" she spat back.

"No, that was just to let you know we knew where you were and what you were doing all day," the caller said, "now, tomorrow morning, you come alone to the Morning Star Packinghouse in the Warehouse District. If you aren't there by 6 am, you'll never see your kids in one piece again." The call ended.

"Got it! Morning Star Packinghouse, what can you get me on that?" Taylor Thompson excitedly asked the image of Franz Hopper.

"What do you want to know?" Franz replied as images of blueprints, sewer lines, electrical conduits, and building structure started popping up on the screen.

"I want every possible ingress and egress point in that rat hole," Thompson replied, "we've got a month's worth of planning to do in a little under twelve hours."