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.

Taylor and Ann Thompson were in the Embassy's Armory, getting ready for the morning. They both were dressed in black, both wearing tactical vests with armor plates in them. They both were intent on their work when they heard a noise behind them.

"Gee, Master Guns, can we play too?"

The couple whirled around to face two Marines, Cpl. Mike "Sanka" Coffy and Cpl. Bill "Gomer" Pyle. It was Gomer who asked the question.

"What are you two numb nuts doing up at this hour?" Thompson said in his gruffest Master Gunnery Sargent's voice.

"Well," Sanka said, "we heard a rumor going 'round that you and the missus were gonna do something real stupid. We were just wondering if we could come along for the ride."

"Boys, go back to bed," Ann told the two, "if we get caught doing what we're about to do, we're gonna to have to look up to see the basement at Leavenworth."

"Master Gunnery Sargent, I want to file a sexual harassment charge against your wife," Gomer said, "she's just being a cocktease now."

"Alright you two," Thompson finally said, "get some gear. I guess there's enough stupid to go around tonight."

Takeo had drifted to sleep in his recliner late in the evening. She covered him with a blanket and went up to bed. The night was even worse without him lying next to her.

Miko woke early, so she got up and prepared for the day. In the shower, she wondered if anyone was watching her.

She dressed and prepared to meet her fate. As she left, she kissed her husband on the cheek. He stirred and fussed a bit before settling back down. She prayed to all the gods in all the heavens that she would live to see him again.

She had to drive around a bit, but she finally found her way to the Warehouse District. After some more wandering she found the Morning Star Packinghouse. It was a meat processing plant, not a good sign. She arrived before 6 am.

She pulled up to the entrance and was met by two men. The way they carried themselves indicated they were holding weapons under their coats, a clear warning to cooperate. She stepped out of her car, and was roughly pulled away by one of the men. The other got in her car and drove off. She was led inside.

She was taken into a large room. There were boxes all around, and the room was cool, almost cold, probably due to all of the meat lockers around it. The man led her to a wooden chair, made of thick, rough lumber. There were straps attached to it. She quickly turned to flee, but found herself looking down the barrel of a gun.

"I'm sorry you don't like the accommodations," came a voice in the darkness, the man on the telephone, "but I'm afraid I must insist. Strip."

"Why!" Miko called out, "you have me! Release my children and I'll do anything you want!"

She was spun around by the man escorting her. Over in another part of the room, a light came on. There, in the middle, was Hiroki, bound to a chair similar to the one beside her, naked. He had tape covering his mouth, otherwise he would be screaming his head off. Standing next to her son, Miko saw a man, holding a knife to Hiroki's ear. Hiroki's eyes were wide as the man pressed the blade into his skin.

"Mrs. Ishiyama, we're way past the point of playing games here. It wasn't my idea, though you are a fine looking woman," said the man next to Hiroki, the man on the phone, "but this is what my employer wants. Strip to the skin, now, or I'll start stripping the skin off of your son."

She removed her clothes. The man, the leader of this gang, had her throw them into a pile off to the side of the chair. Once she complied, the man next to her forced her into the chair. Pointing his weapon directly at her face, he made her hold still while another man came and strapped her in it. Once she was secured, both men withdrew.

"Now see, that wasn't all that bad," said the man next to Hiroki. He pulled the knife away from her son and approached her. "And, just to ease your mind a little, here's the other one. Lights!"

Another light was turned on, and there was Yumi, bound to a chair and naked like she and Hiroki were. The man standing before her must have lied earlier, for Yumi was black and blue from what looked like a tremendous beating.

"I know what you're thinking, and you're right. That's one little scrapper you got there. We had to be a lot rougher with her than I thought we'd have to. My employer wasn't too upset about it, though."

"Now that you have me, let them go!" Miko screamed at the man.

"That will not be possible," said another man, a Japanese man, as he walked into view.

Miko's eyes widened in recognition.

She gasped, "You!"

In another corner of the building, figures in black were whispering.

"SitRep."

"Six Bad Guys, counting our mystery guest."

"Location?"

"Two out on the floor, four in a room just at your 3 o'clock."

"Anything else?'

"No. Cameras are in place. One pointing in from the entrance, one from the rafters, and one from our vantage point. All good sound and video."

"What about the kids?"

"They're down there, hogtied like mom."

"I mean our kids."

"I thought you were watching them, Master Guns."

"Fuck!"

The Japanese man walked up to Miko. He was an old man, well into his eighties, heavyset, but still quite fit. His hair was gray-white, and he wore spectacles, not glasses. The last time Miko saw this man was right after she married Takeo.

"Nakamura-san, it has been many years," she said, inclining her head slightly.

Usagi Nakamura was her husband's father. She had met Takeo Nakamura while he was in college, and Usagi forbade his son from having anything to do with her. By that time, however, Takeo had fallen in love with her, and slept with her. She told him of her family's plight, there being no male heir in her family, and asked him to marry her and take her family's name. He accepted and they eloped to Kyoto, where her family lived. Usagi Nakamura was not pleased.

"Yes it has, Miko Ishiyama. It should, at the very least, have been Miko Nakamura!"

"You know why it had to be," she told him.

"So your family could have an heir!" Usagi shouted, "as if the Ishiyama line deserved to continue! You stole one of my most precious possessions, and now patronize me with 'you know why it had to be!'

"Your most precious possession!" she spat back, "you disowned him, you bastard! Threw him aside like yesterday's garbage! Then you went out of your way to ruin him! You even punished your daughter when she finally took pity on us and gave him help! What ever happened to the 'three other dutiful sons' that you had? Why visit despair on our house again?"

"My 'three other dutiful sons,' as you call them, disgraced themselves in my eyes. They could only produce daughters with their pathetic little peckers, so I had them killed when they failed in their duty! As to my daughter, she is a woman, good only for grunting out babies! And she only did that once, and another little bitch at that! Without having a son to carry on the family name, I only have one choice. As much as it galls me to admit, that worthless Takeo can do one thing, he can produce sons." Usagi gestured at Hiroki.

"Then why do this?" Miko cried, "Hiroki is Nakamura, why harm him?"

"These whelps are not Nakamura! They are Ishiyama! You saw to that! No, you have destroyed my family, Miko Ishiyama, and now I will destroy yours."

"Now, I will take out my retribution on your bodies," he continued as his eyes started to widen in madness, flecks of foam appearing at the corner of his mouth, "your howls will rise to the heavens as a sweet offering of incense. And when my son sees your lifeless and worthless hides, he will know that he is free at last! Oh, he will moan and cry! Wail like a baby that his 'precious wife and children' are gone! But, soon after, I will extend my hand to him, and he will return to his rightful place at my side. And he will give me a son, if I have to rent him out like a whore, he will! And when my heir is finally in my arms, I will send him to join you, in payment for his disloyalty!"

Nakamura turned to the leader of the other men. "I want you to begin now!"

"No," the gang leader replied, "I snatched the kids, I got the woman here, but I am not going to help you play out your sick little game. They're tied up and they're not going anywhere. Do whatever you like, but we're done. Boys! We're outta here!"

With that, four men walked out of a room behind Miko. They were about to leave when Usagi said, "I will triple what I paid you."

The five men stopped. The leader turned around after a moment and told him, "no, I don't think so. I am a thief. I am a murderer. I've even raped in the past. I'll do kidnappings, run drugs, whores, guns, you name it. But I do not butcher children! Let's go, guys."

Usagi Nakamura reached into his suit coat and pulled out a pistol. He aimed and fired, killing the leader. The man fell, his blood spreading in a pool across the floor.

"I will pay triple," was all that Nakamura said. The other four men considered the offer for a moment, made sweeter by the elimination of one share, then turned around and came back.

"Good, good, good!" Usagi said excitedly, "now, begin with the boy. Remove the tape. I want his mother to hear how well he sings!"

One of the men went over to Hiroki and ripped the tape from his mouth. The boy screamed and started to cry when that happened. Miko turned away from the scene.

Usagi smiled for a second, then said to her, "you will watch now. First your son, then your daughter. If you close your eyes, if you turn away again, I'll stop and have your eyelids cut off. Then, when I'm done with them, it will be your turn."

Miko looked in horror at her torturer. He was lost in the fantasy of what was about to happen now. The fear and terror that had been building up inside of her since she received that first phone call threatened to consume her now, to make her abase herself, do whatever she could think of, to give her children at least a quick death.

The man next to Hiroki went over to a table, put on a heavy rubber apron, then picked up something, a knife. He looked it over, as if determining if it were the right tool for the job he had in mind, then returned to the boy with it.

"Please, make it dramatic! Play the scene for all it's worth!" cried Nakamura.

The man gave a smirk, grabbed Hiroki by his hair, then held the blade in front of his eyes. The boy screamed as he watched the blade being slowly turned back and forth in front of him, then screamed louder as the man placed the tip of the blade just under his right eye, stopped for a moment, then slowly traced the blade down his face, his neck, his right arm, to his hand, to his little finger. Nakamura squealed in glee.

"NOOOOO!" screamed Miko, now fully engulfed in her terror and despair. The man with the knife started applying pressure and Hiroki's screams grew even louder.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, there came another voice.

"Oh, there you are, Yumi!"