Warning: Rated for language, some violence and adult behavior.

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.


The Beautiful People were out in force tonight. They stood around in their little cliques, chatting and laughing about The Important Topics Of The Day, secure in the knowledge that if they ran the world, there would be no problems at all.

Yumi sat at the bar and watched the rich and powerful at play. She had been to several of these things now, and had the whole night fairly well scripted out. Arrive, smile. Walk around and listen, smile. Make small talk, smile. Fend off a few passes, smile. She hadn't been to all that many of these parties, but they were already becoming boring.

Tonight was a little different. Usually, she went to these things with Allen Maxwell, but not tonight. She had gotten an invitation from a 'friend', meaning someone she saw more than once who and enough brain cells to bother to remember her and her name. Chloe (it was Chloe, wasn't it?) asked her to come because some international trade representatives would be here unwinding from some conference or something like that, and wasn't she an International Studies major?

Yumi accepted the invitation on the principal that the girl had expended so much energy to remember her name and what she did. It was also a good opportunity to perform her role without her 'Sugar Daddy' hanging over her.

The bartender stopped and asked her what she wanted, and she told him a club soda. He poured the drink and set it before her with a smile. She smiled back automatically, and reminded herself to leave a tip for him when she got up to leave. She sipped her drink and looked around the room, searching for someone who might be of interest, or at least interesting.

She did notice two men. At the moment, they weren't together, but they almost looked like they should be. There was something about the way they carried themselves, like they almost went to the same school or were in the army together. Several times, Yumi had to look twice to make sure she was actually seeing two separate men, and not one man who somehow could be in two places at once.

She made up her mind. She left a tip for the bartender, took her drink and made her way towards one of the men. Every now and then, someone would shout 'hi!' at her, and she would mouth a polite response in return, but she still continued on her intercept course.

She finally made it to where her target was standing, in conversation with a young woman about two years older than her. Her target was an older man, really older than most of the people here. He had a sandy blond head of hair, and it was pulled back in a short pony tail. He was wearing a nice casual jacket and trousers, and he spoke with a polished ease of a man who had done this kind of thing for years. The man also had a French accent, and that immediately made Yumi homesick. For a moment, she just stood there and took that accent in, remembering home and all the wonderful things and people there.

She must have daydreamed too long, for when she snapped out of her reverie, she was standing alone. The man had moved on, and so had the girl. Yumi quickly scanned the room for him, and saw him walking up to her other target and starting a conversation.

Yumi again stalked towards her target, this time vowing not to drift off when the man started talking again. Her quarry and the other man now started walking off together, to someplace more secluded.

The men walked into a room, a bedroom if Yumi saw correctly, and closed the door most of the way, but not completely. The girl looked around her, making sure no one saw what she was doing, cracked the door a little and peeked inside.

The two men were talking.

"Well, what have you to say for yourself," the French man asked.

"Nothing, everything's going well," replied the other man, an American, "I've got some leads, but nothing solid yet. What you're looking for is buried deep in the black ops world, René."

Yumi mentally committed that name to memory.

"I know it is, Raymond," René replied, "but we must know all we can about this Kadic Group."

Alarm bells sounded in Yumi's head. Kadic Group? They were looking for us?

"Anyway, that's not why I'm here, we must exchange information," René said.

Raymond, the other man, blanched at that, but nodded his head. Rene moved close to Raymond, then they kissed.

Yumi had never seen two men kiss before, but she knew there was something wrong about this. The two men didn't hold each other like they had any kind of affection for the other; it was more like they were holding on so they wouldn't break loose or something like that. The way their mouthes moved, more than lips were involved in the embrace too, but once again, it wasn't like what Yumi knew as french kissing. From what she could see, it was more like each man was trying to push something into the other's mouth and down their throat. Something was definitely not right here, and it had nothing to do with sexual preference.

The men continued for about five minutes, then broke apart, panting. Raymond, turned away and wiped his mouth and looked down at his pants, then said, "damn, if I knew I'd run into you tonight, I would have worn darker pants. I hate this shit!"

René laughed, "and I love you too, Raymond. You know this is the only way the Master can exchange information with his different parts. And did you really have to eat liver and onions? That's half the reason why no one will talk with you."

Red Alert! Red Alert! XANA identified! Yumi backed away carefully from the door, and quickly rejoined the party. She made her way back over to the bar, and ordered another club soda. It was the first time in her young life that she wished she was old enough to drink alcohol.

"Yumi, darling, I haven't had a chance to talk to you all night!" Chloe called out as she walked up to the girl, "I saw you sneak back with those two just now, did you have fun?"

Yumi replied, "no, it wasn't anything like that, I was just..."

"She was just too shy to be alone with two men," came a man's voice, René's, "dear one, I'm sorry I pushed you too soon, but you did say you were open to new experiences. I'm sorry I scared you. Come on now, let me take you home."

With that, René put his arm around Yumi to lead her away. When his hand grabbed her arm, she felt the sting of something pricking her.

"That is to make sure you'll cooperate," René whispered in Yumi's ear, "I've been waiting forever to make your acquaintance; there is so much we need to discuss."

Yumi started feeling woozy all of a sudden. She started to slump and René caught her and propped her up. The room started spinning and her head started feeling like it was stuffed with wool.

"Poor girl, too much excitement for one night," René said to Chloe, "I'd better get her home and tuck her in bed. Thanks for inviting us, it was a wonderful evening."

René took Yumi and held her protectively close as they left the party, leaving Chloe dumbfounded.

Yumi blacked out when they got to his car.


Yumi slowly clawed her way back to consciousness. She was laying down somewhere, she knew that much. She cracked her eyes open a little, and saw she was in some kind of cabin or shack. There was a dim light coming from a small lamp, and two men were standing over her, René and Raymond.

Another thing she noticed was that her head was pounding, and she felt like she was on fire. And there was a bad taste in her mouth, like blood.

"She's coming 'round," Raymond said. René sat down beside the girl and looked a moment at her.

"Yes, she is," he replied, "well, Ms. Ishiyama, I was hoping you would make this easy by joining us, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. Let me tell you what is happening to you right now. I have given a little bit of the Master to you. If the conditions were right, he would possess you and you would become one of us. That would have been wonderful; the great Yumi Ishiyama, one of the cursed Five, oh I'm sorry, cursed Six, serving and servicing that which she has long fought against. But, sadly, it is not to be. Even in this, you are fighting Him and His Will. While He may never control you, He might just get his revenge on you. You see, I carry His Memories in me, and I remember what you did to Him in Japan; locking Him away for so long, allowing Him to be tormented, keeping Him from His Purpose. So now, He attacks you, and you fight Him in the battleground of your own body. If you win, you live; if not, well, I think you know what happens then."

The man's accent, which had enraptured her earlier, now sent a different chill down her spine, fear. Yumi tried to say something, but couldn't. Her throat felt like someone was reaming it out with a wire brush.

"You know, Yumi, it's a lovely night outside, clear and cold," René continued, "the temperature is supposed to get down to what, five degrees above zero tonight?"

"Yeah," Raymond piped in, "it'll get even colder up here in the mountains."

"I think what we will do is leave you here," René said, "no coat, no covers, no heat. That should give the Master just a little bit of an advantage, don't you think?"

"Oh yeah. She won't last four hours once the cold sets in," Raymond replied, "hey! I'd better start shutting things down."

"Be sure to carefully clean everything," René told his partner, "we don't want to leave any evidence for the police if they come around. And be sure to fill a bucket with cold water before you shut it off."

"Why?" Raymond asked.

"You'll see," René replied.

All the while, Yumi was trying to at least sit up, but she couldn't. Her head was throbbing now, almost like it would burst. She was also feeling the pain down her spine. And her fever was climbing even higher.

"Poor girl," René said, "she so desperately wants to sit up and entertain her guests. Here, my dear, let me help you."

With that, René lifted Yumi up to a sitting position. He then pulled out a bottle of vodka, opened it and forced her to start drinking it. Yumi tried to fight him, but only succeeded in slopping some of the liquor on her. The liquor burned going down, her mouth especially painful from the alcohol getting into what seemed like cuts in her tongue. Somehow, René got his hand around her throat and forced her to swallow, forced her to drink almost the entire bottle.

"There! That ought to make the battle more interesting," René said, dropping the bottle on the floor, "fighting off the alcohol as well as an infection, you would have to be strong indeed to overcome that."

René dropped Yumi back down on the bed, then yanked all of the covers from it, leaving her laying on top of a bare mattress. He then pulled the shoes from her feet, ripped her panty hose from her, then stood her up. Yumi barely managed to stay standing.

"Raymond, bring the water!"

Raymond quickly returned with a bucket of water. René took the bucket and drenched Yumi with the contents. She immediately began to shiver.

René smiled, "and just to make sure you don't survive the evening, something to more quickly disperse your body heat. Raymond, is everything clean?"

"Yeah, nice and tidy," Raymond replied.

"Good. We will take our leave of you now, my dear," René said, "to conserve electricity, we will cut the power when we leave. And since they say that fresh air is good for your health, we'll make sure you have plenty of it. I'm sorry we couldn't get to know one another better, but life is like that sometimes. And don't worry about your friends, especially your special friend. They'll be joining you soon enough. The whole world will join you soon enough. Pleasant dreams."

René turned to leave, then remembered something. He walked over, pushing Yumi out of the way, knocking her to the floor, and took the mattress she had been laying on. Then, he and Raymond left, leaving the door to the cabin open.

Yumi lay there as the lights went out. Then she heard the crash! as the windows started breaking, from someone throwing rocks through them.

She lay there on the cold floor, shivering. Her mind was spinning again, not due to drugs or even the vodka that was entering her system, but due to whatever René and given her.

Something made her roll over on her stomach. Barely able, she managed to get up on her hands and knees, then sit up. She then took two fingers and stuck them into her mouth, into the back of her throat. She started to gag, then forced her fingers down on top of her tongue in back. That caused her to vomit, expelling all of the alcohol that René had forced her to drink. She kept it up, forcing her stomach to empty itself of everything, including her dinner. When she got to the point where she couldn't heave any more up, she collapsed again, away from the mess she had made.

She was shivering uncontrollably now, with no way to warm herself. She was too weak to move or do anything.

Ulrich! Help Me! I Love You! were her last thoughts as the darkness took her.