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Adam and Logan sat down in Adam's office in the Utah base, they both knew what was going to come, and both of them were nervous. Thinking back to when Juan had told them what was going to happen, Adam couldn't help but smile a little bit. While the subject was disturbing, what they decided to do made Adam proud.
**Flashback**
'Hey Adam...' Juan's voice echoed through the boy's mind.
It had been a long stressful day with everything that had been going on. He'd sent out a message to everyone that he didn't want to be disturbed, so he knew if Juan was calling him, especially mentally, then it had to be important. For his sake, it had better be important. 'What's up Juan?'
The nervous giggle gave it away, something was wrong. 'Well, you know how you said you didn't want to be disturbed unless the world was coming to an end?'
'Yeah...' Adam said all the while his stomach doing flip flops.
'Well... The world's coming to an end.' Juan said quietly. Had it not been for the tone of his voice, Adam might have thought that the boy was pulling a joke on him or something. But the way Juan said it, the tone he used, and the quiver in his voice, told Adam more than he needed to know. This was real.
'Explain.' Adam said simply.
'Well, I'm not really supposed to tell you, since you got so much going on, and Cory's waiting to get confirmation from Star Fleet, but...' Juan was saying this so fast, that Adam had a hard time following him. That in itself told Adam that Juan believed what he was saying. '...Ark just called Cory and told him that something was happening with the tectonic plates that would result in a series of Earthquakes that's gonna tear the world apart.'
Adam closed his eyes, and fought back the panic that was rising in his chest. Next to him on the bed, Logan stirred, and cracked an eye open. A second later, he sat up straight in bed. 'Oh what the hell!' He said in the minds of both Adam and Juan.
'Tell me about it!' Juan said with exasperation. 'I'm just pissed off cause Spock and Cory are saying not to tell anyone!'
'Calm down Juan...' Adam started. 'You gotta keep a few things in mind here. Yeah if we'd learned about it first, you can bet your ass others would have been told. If for no other reason than to start making preparations while confirmation is sought. But think of who you're dealing with here. Spock's a Vulcan... They've been intentionally keeping things hidden from Humanity for a long time, most of it being very justified. His first reaction will be to not cause a panic. I'm sure to him it would be 'illogical' to tell us before he had all the facts.'
Adam paused long enough for what he said to sink into Juan's head, then moved on. 'Then you have Cory. Remember, he hasn't been a leader very long, and personally I am very pleasantly surprised that he hasn't made more mistakes like this. He don't know us really yet, doesn't know what we can handle, what we can do. Both he and Spock probably think that it's best to hold this information close to the chest, till they figure it out.'
'Yeah, you're probably right.' Juan said softly. 'I just don't like the fact that they told me not to tell you.'
'Again, I'm sure they had their reasons, and I know in my heart that it wasn't malicious. Just keep in mind, They don't have a Logan, so they need time to think things through.' Adam said with a laugh as he saw the look on Logan's face. 'And by the look I am getting right now, Logan is almost to the point of having everything figured out.'
Juan laughed though the link. 'I'm sure he is. Well now that I know Logan's dealing with it, I don't need to worry anymore. Which is why he scares me so much, by the way... Just let me know if you need me for anything."
'Will do bro.' Adam said as he sent a mental hug across their link. 'You take care of yourself, and try to have some fun.'
'I'll try... but they haven't let me kill anyone lately. Hell Mama Teri doesn't like it when I carry my guns around.' Juan pouted causing both Logan and Adam to laugh as the connection broke.
Adam turned and looked and Logan fully. "So what do you think."
"Well... you're the one that always says he likes a challenge... And uh... This one's earth shattering..." Logan said with a grin. Adam groaned, grabbed a pillow and started to beat Logan with it.
Logan retaliated with his own pillow, gales of laughter now echoing through out the room. Elijah and Cole looked at each other, hesitated for only a moment, before they each grabbed a pillow and joined in.
Adam and Logan were both pleasantly surprised by the clones actions. As soon as the impromptu pillow fight was over, Logan and Adam gave the two slave boys their just rewards for their actions.
**End Flashback**
Logan elbowed Adam as the screen came to life showing the drawn and concerned faces of Cory, Sean and several others. Cory, doing exactly as Adam would hope, cut right to the chase.
"Please tell me that you have somehow figured out that both Ark and Starfleet were wrong, and we are all worried for nothing." Cory said with a bit of hope and optimism.
Unfortunately, Adam had to crush his hopes. "I wish I could, but so far everything that we have is also confirming this."
Seeming to deflate a little, Cory said softly. "I was afraid you were going to say that. Any other developments?"
"Yeah there is." Adam said after a moment of delay. The worry on his face gave away that this was not going to be good news. "From everything that we've seen, which is basically everything that Star Fleet has, everything that Draco got from the Vulcan's and a few sources that I am not even sure about, all say the same thing. This is an attack. Someone, far outside of what we understand being scientifically possible is attacking us."
Waiting for something, anything, from Cory, Adam got slightly upset at seeing Cory very cool, collected, and 'logical' face staring back at him. Finally, Adam just kept going, trying hard to keep his anger in check. "We've decided to attack the problem by first getting a way of getting everyone off the planet, then once that's handled, we will start trying to figure out who is behind this. Unfortunately, since we have such a short time frame, I doubt we'll be able to do anything about those that did this, till after the Earth has been destroyed."
"We are aware of the possibility of this being an attack. However, you are correct that we must first deal with evacuation, then we can look into who has perpetrated this attack." Cory seemed to shift from Vulcan/Logical mode, back to being an actual human again, as his face shifted to concern rather than emotionless.
"I don't know how you feel about this Adam, but I believe it might be best to leave the facts about this being an attack out of this conversation. I don't think it will do any good since we don't really have anything we can do about it. Please don't stop trying to figure out if it can be stopped, but I think the wisest course of action is to simply deal with this as something we can do something about, rather than let everyone know someone is killing our planet when there is nothing that we can do about it."
Adam stared daggers at Cory for many seconds before he silently nodded. "God I wish I could turn off my emotions as easily as you do." Adam muttered angrily.
Cory simply shook his head sadly. "No you don't Adam. For me it is a good thing, but for you... No, I think it would be more of a hindrance to your abilities then it would be a help."
Adam thought for a few moments, then nodded. "Okay Cory, we'll play it your way. Part of me detests the idea of with holding this information from our family, but another side of me says, why bother. It doesn't do them a damn bit of good with out an enemy to attack. Let them focus on what they can effect, rather than something they can't."
"Exactly." Cory said, then got a wry grin. "Hell we may make a Vulcan out of you yet."
"Please don't curse me!" Logan said with a laugh, making sure everyone knew he wasn't being serious.
Things calmed down for a few minutes as the other division directors joined the call. Once they were all in, Cory started off by congratulating Kieth and Prez on their wedding. Adam felt kind of sorry for them, since they hadn't had a chance to really celebrate it.
The entire time that Cory was explaining to people about what has been figured out about the Earthquake, Adam and Logan stayed silent. This was not the time for them to get involved.
When Cory handed things over to Adam, he took a moment to look at all the Division heads. A few of them were not really with it, whether it was because they had little to now sleep, or for other reasons, Adam knew that some of them didn't really need to be involved in the rest of this.
"Thanks Cory. I'm sure that most of you are pretty much in shock over all of this, I know I was when I first heard about this. But here's the thing. I don't want any of you to panic yet. Right now, we have teams working on solutions and possible fixes to the problems, at the same time, we have even more teams working on just how to move the entirety of the worlds population to safety if something can't be worked out."
Adam took a moment to let what he said sink in, it was obvious that some of them were over loaded, while others were still in a state of shock.
"Tell you what guys, I know some of you won't want to get into the details of whats going on, so if you want, some of you can drop off, and then let the AI's take notes and give them to you after. Logan and I can always answer questions, or take suggestions when you come up with them, or at the least, Daileass will know as much as we do, and be able to answer any questions."
Several of the Division directors decided to sign off, and Adam couldn't blame them. Once he was sure that all that were left wanted to be there, he continued, leaning forward in his chair slightly. "Don't get me wrong here guys, this isn't gonna be easy. The teams we have working on trying to fix the problems aren't coming up with anything doable yet. Daileass has accessed everything Star Fleet has on this sort of problem as well as giving us real time information as soon as the Federation scientist sent it to Morrow, and they've been pouring over it. We haven't given up yet on being able to save the planet, but honestly, it ain't looking good."
He grinned at everyone, in the way that only he could, while letting the words sink in. "Now that we got the bad news out of the way, I'll let Logan tell you all the good news."
Adam sat back in his chair, as Logan stood up and started to pace. "For anyone who is interested, we've come up with what we think will be a time table for when things will start to kick off. Obviously this is not going to be just one major earthquake that will destroy the world. The quakes will start soon, and then get steadily worse till finally the crust of the planet simply tears it's self a part. Understand, when this is all said and done, there will not be a sustainable earth to come back to... unless we plan on waiting for several million years. To quote Ark...'There is an escalating series of tectonic activity, not yet detectable to standard Earth equipment, that is leading to a series of massive, world-wide earthquakes - and all the signs are that these earthquakes will build upon themselves, shatter the tectonic plates of the Earth, and cause an extinction level event.' What this means is when the earthquakes are done, the Earth will not be able to sustain any sort of life. Not to mention anyone that might possibly still be on earth when this all falls apart has no hope of surviving." He paused and couldn't help but chuckle as he heard someone say, "This is the good news?"
"I'm getting to that." He responded. "The reason I am saying this is so that no one thinks that we can evacuate the Earth, and then come back when things have settled back down. Now, I'll move onto the good news. We've already started working on making the micro worm holes that allow the AI's to communicate with the Archnanian home world, big enough to accommodate moving people through them. We already have people on both Archnania, and the Training Planet working on setting up sizable cities for people to live in. Once Star Fleet figures out where they can be re-settled, those that want to go, can, although I am sure that some people will want to stay. The training planet has no indigenous population to worry about, while the population of Archnania has already agreed to allow a large number of the Earth's population to stay there indefinitely as long as they agree to living with in the environment, and not trying to destroy it.
We're not sure yet when we're gonna start being able to move people, but it will have to be in the next two to three weeks. By then the governments of the world will know, and we'll have to work with them on how to do it. Something that is going to be difficult for us to deal with is, there will be some people that refuse to leave, possibly a large number. Honestly, I'm not sure what to do about them. Can we in good conscience allow them to stay? Can we force them to go? That's something we're gonna have to wrestle with in the future. But for now, I think that's enough to get everything started. Again as Adam said, if anyone has any ideas, feel free to let us know... we'll look at anything that anyone come sup with. Just let me, Adam or Daileass know."
Logan sat back down, and waved his hand towards Cory. The strain that this was causing was evident on his face. Cory leaned in towards the screen. "Guys, you've been busting your asses. Take tonight, snuggle up with each other, and you're boys. Attack this in the morning. That's an order."
Before either of them had a chance to reply, their screen went blank, then Daileass's face appeared. "Take his advice bros. If not, I'll tell mom, and you know she'll be pissed."
Adam sighed as he relaxed into the bath. It had been a busy few days since he came to Russia. First he almost lost his lover, his Logan, when they found the Slave kids, and Logan nearly lost his mind. Then there was the attack on one of the Strike Teams, only one member survived that. He felt almost bad for the people that did it, because Logan was already in a foul mood when it happened, then he called for them to be brought before him. Hell Adam didn't even think he wanted to be there for it.
He let himself relax in the bath as his mind wondered through everything he had learned while he was helping Logan re-program the slave boys. According to Dr. Ron Teeper, between Logan and Adam they had been able to do far more than was expected. That didn't make Adam feel any better, though, there were still two boys who would probably never be anything more than slaves. One of them was imprinted on Adam, and the other Logan.
The boy had really changed Adam's impression on slavery though. Yeah it was still mostly a horrible thought, one person owning someone else. It went against every fiber of Adam's being. However, there were cases where the person just 'needed' to be owned by someone.
Adam was surprised when he found that with in the slave sub-culture there was actually very little abuse of these kinds of people. People worked hard to fit a master and slave together, and make sure that everything was done with the Slaves well being in mind. While it still bothered him greatly, it was something that was really starting to open his eyes.
Adam glanced at the clock on the wall, and sighed. Almost two thirty in the morning, Thursday November 4th. He'd been a part of the clan for a week and a half, and honestly it felt like a lifetime. He sighed again, and stood up out of the relaxing bath. Immediately, Elijah ran up to him with an open towel. Wrapping it around Adam, the boy began to dry the older boy.
After drying off, he went and opened his closet. Pushing past all the uniforms he had, Adam very rarely wore anything other than fatigues or his uniform, he found a pair of black jeans, and then a nice black button down shirt. He sat on his bed and pulled on the pair of cowboy boots that Sammy had got for him. Sammy was meaning to give them to him when they got up to Montana, but of course that never happened.
He ran a hand through his now close cropped black hair. He'd never allowed them to cut it in the lab, since it was one of the few things that he had control over. Now though, he'd had it cut short, and while it took some getting used to, he was starting to think he really liked it this way.
He wrestled with himself for a few moments, as his eyes fell on a pack that was sitting in the corner. What was in that pack was the entire reason for his trip tonight. He knew he had to make it quick as the sun was about to set on the east coast of the United States, and he didn't really want to do this after dark. He went over, picked up his pack, and shouldered it. "Sorry little guy," Adam said to Elijah as he walked up and hugged his boy. "This is something I really need to do own my own. When I get back, we'll take some private time doing anything you want, so start thinking about it. Okay?" Elijah nodded a bit fearful, and Adam knew it was still very hard, in the best of times, for Elijah to think for himself, but he was getting better.
Telepathically he called out to Daileass. 'Hey, I need a favor.'
'Anything for you.' Daileass said sadly. He knew what was going on, and what Adam was about to do.
'I need you to teleport me, but please... unless the world is going to end... again... don't let anyone bother me.' Adam said half way joking. Ever since the mental conversation he'd had with Cory, and then the teleconference a couple hours later, Adam had been making jokes about the end of the world.
'Of course Adam, where would you like to go?' Daileass already knew, but knew Adam needed to say it.
'Patriots point please.... just off the bridge where no one will see me appear.' Adam's request was soft and resigned. Daileass's answer was Adam finding himself next to the bridge that connected the mainland to the island, and of course, no one else was around to see him just appear.
Pulling on the ball cap that he had, he started to walk across the bridge. It was one week since the funeral, and he was shocked to see the number of people who were milling about. He was hoping that no one would see him, but as he reached the two Marines that were standing to either side of the bridge, he saw both of them stiffen and start to salute. With a quick hand signal and a shake of the head, Adam told both of them not to salute. As funny as it may have sounded, Adam wanted to be there not as the commanding officer of the UNIT, but as a friend and brother to those that had fallen. He wanted to blend in, not be mobbed by all the people there. He did nod to the two soldiers as he passed and they nodded back.
Once he was on dry ground, he was once again shocked at how many people where there. His eyes narrowed as he saw someone had set up a both of some kind to the right of the bridge. Not knowing why it was there, Adam walked over to it. He saw a kindly only man sitting behind the booth, decked out in a military uniform complete with the combat service medal from the Vietnam Conflict. Sitting in front of him, on the table were stacks of folded flyers. Adam picked one up, and was about to open it when the man spoke. "Hi there... is this your first trip to the Patriot's Point Monument to Brotherhood?"
"The what?" Adam asked having never heard that term before.
"Patriot's Point Monument to Brotherhood." The man answered. "That's the name that has been given to this place. Are you here to learn more about what this place is all about?"
Adam sputtered for a moment, he was totally not prepared for this. "Umm... I.. I just came to see what was going on here. I'm not really sure what happened, and why."
The man got a somewhat sad, but patient look on his face. "You really should pay more attention to what's going on around you son... the world is changing, and changing quickly."
Adam made sure his face didn't portray the annoyance he felt at being patronized, and simply went along with the man. "How's it changing?"
The man looked Adam up and down, and then asked. "How old are you son?"
"I'm fourteen, and my name's Adam."
The man smiled. "You can call me Doc... that's what everyone calls me. See.. I was a corpsman in he Army during the Vietnam Conflict... you've read about that in history class right?"
Adam smiled to himself... if this man only knew half of what he knew about that war, he wouldn't have asked that question... but he was here playing a normal kid, so he simply nodded and said, "a bit."
The man nodded and smiled. "Good... did you read that, how sometimes the enemy would use children to attack our forces... they would sometimes strap bombs to real little kids, like six or seven years old, and tell the kids to walk up to a large group of soldiers. When the kids did, they would blow up the bomb killing the kid, but also killing or wounding a lot of our soldiers. It got to the point where we would have to kill kids before they got close to us... " Doc had gone eerily soft when he was speaking about this, and Adam didn't need to use his telepathy to know that the man was reliving a time when he had to do just that, and his heart ached for the kindly old guy that he was talking with.
After a few seconds of silence, the man shook his head and re-focused on Adam. "Oh.. sorry about that. But anyways... as I said, the worlds changing, and it's happening because finally the kids have stood up and said 'no more.'
"What... what do you mean?" Adam asked the man. He wasn't sure if he really liked where this conversation was going.
"When you look around here, you'll see monuments dedicated to over one hundred people. Very few of them were out of there teens... hell a good number of them weren't even in their teens yet. But every single one of them gave their lives to help out others that they thought of as family. That's the meaning behind the name of this place... 'Patriot's Point Monument to Brotherhood'." Doc put extra emphasis on the word brotherhood.
Adam was about to ask another question, when the man looked behind him, and stood up quickly. "Turn around, and you'll see something amazing." Doc said, so Adam did. All around the area, everyone had stopped their milling about, and watched as a rag tag group of six people marched from bridge, and were heading towards the flag pole in the middle of the monuments.
Doc spoke softly, as almost everyone else had quieted down as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Adam noticed that the two Marine Guards at the bridge were now standing at perfect attention. "Everyone morning at sunrise, and every evening at sunset, a group of people come out to either raise the flag, or retire it. Very rarely is the group the same, but it always has members from many different groups in the area. Tonight, it looks like we got members of the VFW, (Veterans of Foreign Wars) the local Elks club, and members of one of the Boy Scout troops."
Silently they watched as the group marched up to the flag pole. They stopped, and on a command from one of the older VFW members, wearing his full dress uniform, four of the members stepped forward. One of the scouts, a kid of maybe thirteen years, smartly grabbed the ropes on the flag pole, and started to slowly lower it. As one, every military, ex-military, and scout member saluted. Doc was no exception, and just on instinct Adam snapped to attention, yanked off his hat, and saluted as well. Doc noticed, but did not mention it. Those who did not salute, all had their right hand placed over their heart.
Standing on top of the small knoll behind the monuments, someone started to play a bugle. The haunting sounds of Taps rang through the air as the flag made it's slow decent down the pole, into the waiting arms of the other scout.
"The boy playing the bugle is Elliot Tanner. He's one of the local scouts, and is out here twice a day to play the bugle. He's the only one that has been here every day for this little ceremony. If you really wanna know why I say the world is changing, and the kids are the ones responsible... talk to him." Doc said gently, as the Honor guard started to slowly fold the flag. Adam fought it, but could not stop a single tear from falling.
Once the flag was completely folded, the man who had it, handed it over to the other scout, who was maybe twelve. They formed up, and with everyone dropping their salute, they moved back out. Again though, Doc's words were soft, and only meant for Adam. "Every time it's the same. The Flag is always carried out by the youngest member of the Honor guard, again representing the youth that this place honors." Adam looked at Doc, and saw that the man had a tear in his eye as well. "Go on General... talk to Elliot... I think it will do you some good."
Adam gasped, and Doc almost laughed. "I knew it was you since you came across the bridge, but I also knew that you probably didn't want everyone to know. So I played along. Now... go talk to him."
Adam simply nodded, and made his way to the bugle player, Elliot, not exactly sure what he would say yet, but knew he would have to say something.
"Hey." Adam said as he got up to the fifteen your old looking boy who was just putting his bugle away in it's case.
"Hiya." He said as he closed his case and turned around. "Hows it going?"
"Not too bad I guess. I heard your playing, and was just wondering about it." Adam said not really knowing what else to say.
Elliot smiled and held out his hand. "Well... what did you wanna know?" He asked after Adam shook his hand.
"Well, I guess I wanna know why you do it." Adam couldn't believe that he was not able to ask more intelligent questions.
Elliot gave a sad smile, and looked out towards the monuments. "I feel like almost anyone one of the kids could have been me."
"What do you mean?" Adam asked not really sure where this was going.
"Well... I'm in foster care myself, and I have to thank God every morning that I found a really good home. I mean I could have easily been in a home that would have made me run away. Then I could have been like them."
Adam didn't know how to reply to that, but didn't have to worry about it as Elliot quickly grabbed his case, and moved to where the monuments were at. "Obviously I never met any of these kids, but I kinda make up stories about them every once in a while. The ones here, and the ones still alive have kinda become like hero's to me."
"Why's that?" Adam asked, not really liking anyone looking at him like a hero.
"Well... these are the kids that looked up at society and said 'never again.'" Elliot looked to see if Adam got it, and Adam didn't... so he continued.
"See... I look at this whole Clan group as a bunch of kids that have decided that since some of the adults weren't going to do what they were supposed to, the kids would do it themselves." Elliot was really rambling on here, but thankfully Adam was quick enough to keep up. "There's a bunch of adults out there that do care, but it seems like a lot of the ones in power are simply in power cause they can be, not cause they care about us. The Clan has started to force out those people, and put in the ones that really care. It's gotten to be dangerous for the adults in power to not care about the kids, and that's what I really like."
Adam wanted to stop him, and correct a few things, but Elliot charged on. "Not to mention the fact that they get to play with really cool shit too. I mean look at this kid." Adam looked down and noticed they were standing in front of Dennis's grave. "This kid was flying a helicopter! He was only my age, and flying a damned helicopter... how cool is that? Not to mention the fact that he died to save a bunch of his family. You know I ask myself almost everyday if I could have done that.. and you know what. Even though I would love to answer yes... I really don't know if I could be that brave. See that's what the Clan means to me, and you know something else. There's a lot of people who see shit like this, and are pushing to change things. I mean have you heard of Tom Collins yet?"
Adam shook his head, having never heard that name before. "Tom Collins is a guy who is running for the senate here. He's someone who actually cares about kids. And not just someone who says he does... he's got a huge record that say he does. He knows that we're the future and he's gonna try and make sure we get every chance to make our future better. Some people don't like him cause he's all about forcing kids to take responsibility, and making sure they do their best in school, but I think that's great."
"What do you mean making kids take responsibility?" Adam asked, still not really understanding.
"Well it's simple really. A lot of people have been going with the whole thing that kids aren't being taught to be responsible for their actions... or that some kid was abused so that makes it alright to abuse another kid. That's bull. You know, just last month, some kids were bullying another kid, and the one kid ended up killing himself. The bullies said they knew it was wrong, but did it anyways. Well... If Collins gets in there, he's gonna try and make it so that bullies get a just punishment, and that people can't get away with all the bullshit they do now. Not to mention trying to actually make schools teach kids, instead of just testing them. That always annoyed me. Teachers don't teach anything other than what's in the textbook, and then only what gets tested on. Most of that doesn't really matter. I mean what good does it do to know that Washington was the first president of the US if they don't teach us WHY he was. You know what I mean?"
Adam could only nod, as he'd never been to public school he couldn't really answer, but what the kid said made sense. "Of course there's a lot of people in this country that don't like any change, and they're really bitching up a storm. I don't know if you heard but there's a lot of people that don't like the Clan because they are going out of the normal way of doing things, and getting things done." That statement lost Adam and Elliot must have realized it, cause he laughed a little and spoke again.
"Sorry I get kinda excited when I am talking about this. Lets see if this makes sense. The Clan is doing a lot of things that aren't 'by the book' and that's pissing a lot of people off. Instead of using the local social serviced department to get kids out of abusive situations, they are just taking them to Utah or Orlando, or where ever, or finding them different homes that have people that can take care of the kids, but most importantly love them. Most of the really old 'stuck in their ways' types hate that. Personally I think it's great... cutting through all the bullshit... but they see it as a threat to their power. Am I making sense now?"
Adam had a lot he wanted to say, but just decided not to say anything. He had a chance here to get some information from someone who wouldn't tell him only what he wanted to hear. "So you said your a foster kid?" Elliot looked at him for a moment wondering where that topic change came from, but nodded, so Adam asked the question he wanted to. "Are they all as bad as I have heard? I've never lived in a foster home, so I don't know what it's like."
Elliot got a far away look in his eyes and started to talk. "I've been in foster care all of my life. I never knew my birth parents, and no one has ever told me why I am not with them, but that doesn't really matter. I've been in six different foster homes that I remember, and now I live in a group home. For the most part the foster homes weren't terrible. I mean I didn't get abused in any of them, but two of them came close. Not in the physical sense, but in those homes, they made it very clear that I was simply tolerated. Three of them were okay, but again, it wasn't a family, it's not like I was invited into their family, I was simply a guest. One of them was great. I went there when I was ten, and lived with them until I went to the group home two years ago. From the first moment I got there, I was considered one of the family. They treated me and my foster sister just like their own kids. That was the happiest time of my life."
"What happened?" Adam asked, really wanting to know what happened.
"Well... when the foster parents tried to adopt me, the Social worker had no choice but to put me in a new home. They have regulations that state that they do not want foster kids and foster parents getting too closely attached. 'It's harmful to the child, when they have to be moved if they are too attached to the foster parents.' That's a direct quote from the Social Services staff manual.
Adam was about to explode when he heard that but kept his face neutral. "I thought you said the place your living now is good?"
"Oh it is.... don't get me wrong. I'm happy to be there instead of some of the other places I know of, but it's not where I want to be. Where I live now is the kind of group home where kids come out of it better then they were. It's really a nice place with people who care, but there are over thirty kids living there with only five adults... while it's a nice place, it's not a place to feel like your a part of a family... if you know what I mean." Adam nodded... that was really his greatest fear... there are so many kids at the Unit base... can that really be a family? So far yes, but who knows about the future.
"Let me ask you this," Adam started, "if you had your choice would you go back to that foster family?"
"In a heart beat... I mean I like where I'm at, as I said, but there I had a real mom and dad." Adam simply nodded then looked over to the Marine guard that was standing by the bridge, sending a telepathic message to the man, he asked him to contact Corporal William Jackson of the local Police Department, and ask him to meet Adam here. Seeing the man nod, then talk into his mic, Adam turned back to Elliot.
"Well... we'll just have to see what we can do about that. Why don't you call your old foster parents and ask them to meet us here?" Elliot looked at him with wide eyes.
"What... why?" Elliot now looked very confused.
Adam couldn't help but grin. "Oh... I'm sorry... I never introduced myself. I'm General Adam Casey of the Clan Short Special forces division."
Adam watched in wonder as Elliot's eyes filled first with shock, then awe, then, very slowly, with hope. He started to reach for his mobile phone when tears of joy started pouring from those same eyes. He almost slammed into Adam for a massive, wordless hug before turning back quickly and fumbling with his mobile. He was a teenager, after all. Crying wasn't right.
As he started to dial in the numbers he felt Adam's hand close around his shoulders and turn him around. He looked into the Clan General's eyes, and found that Adam, too, was crying. Just like him.
"I've learnt something in my time," Adam said softly as his few gentle tears fell. "Tears are neverwrong, never a sign of being weak... and all men should be able to spill them. I believe it's what makes a man a real man... if they can cry." Then he hugged the teen hard, as both wept. For once, these tears did not make Adam sad.
They made him smile.
Once they had parted, and after Elliot had started to dial again, Adam remembered about the backpack filled with little things that he wanted to leave at all the graves; little tributes to each of his fallen family members. But the look in Elliot's eyes as he tried to make his phone call made Adam realize that THIS was a better tribute than ANY little trinket he had gathered.
'Yeah, it was all worth it,' Adam thought to himself as the boy cried and blubbered into his phone.
"D...Daddy? Dad... I... It's me, Daddy..."
'Maybe this shit was worth it after all.' Adam smiled to himself as he felt and allowed a few happy tears to trickle down his face.
He felt a pair of invisible, strong, fur clad arms surround him in a hug. "Yeah, it was. And thanks, brother," Kuan Ti's voice whispered in his ear.
"... I'm coming home, Daddy... I'm coming home."
Kraig was tired, tired but happy. They had spent all night working with Jesse and James with the idea they had, and now, things were ready. The entire idea was centered around the new intake building. It was situated just to the east of the palace, and in front of the main quads.
It was a huge single story building that had one purpose and one purpose only. The processing of the incoming kids. It sounded so clinical and detached, but that's what it was called. To the Teddy Bear Strike Team, which Jesse and James were now unofficial members of, it was the welcome center. Now, they just had to test everything they have done, and made sure it worked.
Even though it had started out as an idea that Jesse and James came up with, Kraig was the one who made it all happen, so when it came time, he was the one voted to test everything out.
He stood outside the welcome center and waited. He didn't have to wait long for a Strike Team to appear in the 'drop off zone' with four kids, the oldest looking to be about nine.
Kraig approached the group, just as the commander was starting to herd the kids inside. "Hey guys." He called out as he jogged to catch up to them.
They all turned and looked at Kraig with a question. He was wearing civilian clothes, so they didn't recognize who he was. Immediately the rest of the strike team close ranks around the rescued kids, while the commander stepped forward to intercept Kraig. Inside Kraig was beaming with pride at the actions of the strike team.
"What can I do for you?" The commander, wearing a silver lieutenants bar, asked politely.
Kraig kept his hands where they could be seen, and slowed down to a stop in front of the Lt. "Going for my ID." He said softly and waited for the Lt. To nod before reaching into his back pocket. The entire strike team tensed for a moment, but when Kraig pulled out a wallet, they relaxed slightly. He flipped it open to show the Lt. his ID. The kid started to salute, but Kraig quickly waved him off. "I'm dressed like this for a reason." He said softly, to which the other kid nodded.
Sensing the tension leave the air, the new kids calmed down considerable as the Lt. turned around and addressed them. "Hey guys, this is Kraig Anders. He's one of the good guys."
"Thanks Dwayne." Kraig said as he approached the small group of kids and squatted down. "Hi." Kraig started out simply as he smiled to the four kids, three boys, and a girl. They all were dirty, and looked like they'd missed more then a few meals. "You guys know why you're here right?" He asked gently.
The oldest boy, a nine year old with shaggy light brown hair, nodded. "These guys rescued us from the cops that wanted to throw us in jail. They said we'd have a better life here."
Kraig nodded, "yup." He said with a smile. "That's right. The first thing that we've gotta do is go into that building behind you." He said while pointing. They turned and looked at the building, and Kraig was glad that they'd had the new one built. The old was was very functional, no doubt about it, but it was a military building. It wasn't open and inviting. This new one, built over night with the help of Peter Lambert and his construction crew, was much more open and inviting.
"Once we get in there," Kraig continued, well spend some time with a nice boy or girl who will get some information from you. You know, name, the day you were born, where you were rescued from, and any brothers or sisters you might have. That way we can go rescue them if they need it, or at the very least, put you guys back together if you want."
Seeing one of them, a boy about seven, get excited, Kraig figured he'd hit on something there. He made a note to himself to make sure he looked into what they find out from the boy, Kraig continued. "After that, we'll take you to a place where you can get some new clothes, shoes, things like that. After that, we'll get you cleaned up, and make sure you get some good food to eat. By then, you'll probably be really tired, so we'll end up with a quick stop at the clinic to make sure you're all healthy, then you'll get to pick out your rooms."
The youngest one, a cute little blond boy who was maybe four or five raised his hand slightly and spoke in a soft voice. "Can... Can my sister and me stay together?"
Kraig smiled broadly and nodded. "Of course you can, if you two want to stay together and even have a room together, we can do that. We're also going to introduce you all to some new friends that will always be able to help you out if something comes up. So what do you say we get started?"
All four of them nodded, so Kraig stood up straight, and offered his hands to the youngest two boy, who took them. The oldest boy, and the eight year old girl followed behind as Kraig led them into the 'welcome center'.
Kraig stayed with the four all the way through in intake process. Even when it came time for them to sit down with the intake processor, and Kraig wasn't technically allowed to be with them, he made sure that they could see him, and he could see them. At first this was supposed to just be Kraig making sure that they new processes worked properly, but now, it had turned into something a bit more personal.
The first one that was done was the middle boy, Seven year old Yuri. Kraig opened his arms wide when the boy approached him, and Yuri giggled as he jumped into them. "That wasn't so bad was it?"
"Nope." The little boy giggled as Kraig dug his fingers into the boy's side. "She was nice."
"That's good to hear." Kraig said as he set the boy down, just in time to squat down and open his arms for nine year old Dima to crash into him. He was giggling up a storm as Kraig lifted him up and twirled him around twice, before putting him back on his feet.
As soon as Dima stepped back he looked up into Kraig's eyes and spoke softly, almost nervously. "The boy there said that we could have rooms with someone else if we wanted."
"Sure," Kraig answered with a smile. "If you wanna share your room, you can."
"Cool, can Yuri and I share? We've been best friends for more than a year." Dima asked excitedly.
Kraig looked over at Yuri to see what he thought. The big smile and nodding head said everything he needed to know. "Sure thing kiddo. How about after we go to the store and get you some stuff, we figure out where you're room will be."
Both boys were grinning and smiling. Yuri grabbed Dima in a hug and started bouncing around. Kraig laughed loudly at what he saw, until he saw the other two walking towards them. Gasha, the eight year old girl was wiping away some tears, while the four year old Milek was holding her hand and looking confused. Kraig quickly moved over to them and knelt down in front of both, pulling Gasha into a hug.
Before Kraig could ask, Gasha started talking in a sob riddled voice. "The lady said.. she said we could have a new mommy or daddy."
Milek looked up into Kraig's eyes, he asked in a quiet voice. "Are mommies and daddies nice? I never had one."
Kraig's heart just about ripped out of his chest. He chocked on his own tears for a second, before he was able to say anything. "Yeah Milek, mommies and daddies can be real nice." He waved the other two over to where he was at. Once they got there, he spoke to all four of them. "I was gonna wait till later on to ask, but what Gasha and Milek just said, makes me wanna do this now."
He moved them around so all four were standing right in front of him while he knelt there. He wasn't sure where to start, but he soon found the words simply tumbling out of his mouth. "A while ago, a met a boy, a little older then you are Milek, who had no mommy or daddy. In less than an hour, he wormed his way into my heart, just like you guys are doing. A few weeks later, I asked if he wanted me to be his daddy, and he said yes."
He paused for a moment trying to keep his own emotions in control. "I'm telling you this because I want to know if you guys would let me be you're daddy?"
The four kids stood there in shock for a second, and Kraig started to worry if he said the wrong thing, when Gasha spoke up softly. "Will you make us do..." She never got a chance to finish, as Kraig broke down in tears.
"Oh God no. I would never do that." He said as he pulled her into a tight hug. At first she was stiff, fearing what was going to happen, but then she allowed herself to relax. With out letting go, he spoke to all four of them. "Part of my job is to rescue kids that are being hurt. I would never hurt any of you, and.." He paused as he pushed Gasha away enough so he could look in her eyes. "..And I promise that I will never let ANYONE hurt you like that ever again."
Gasha threw herself back into his arms, quickly followed by the other three. She was saying one word over and over again, and Kraig couldn't stop the tears as he heard it. "Daddy."
When they appeared inside the 'store' area, the first thing that happened was a five year old boy attacked Kraig. "Hey Daddy!" Frankie cried out as Kraig scooped him up and twirled him around like he loved so much.
When Kraig set him down, he looked at the four, somewhat fear filled kids, then back up at Kraig. "Are these my new brothers and sister?"
Kraig smiled lovingly down at the five year old ball of energy and nodded. Immediately, Frankie walked up to Gasha and put his arms around her waist. "Hi big sister. I'm Frankie, what's your name?"
Smiling hesitantly, she softly said "Gasha." While putting her arms around him.
"That's a cool name. I had a big sister once." He said suddenly sad, but then he looked up in her eyes and smiled. "She says you're just as good as she was."
A year ago Frankie would have doubted that the boy could talk to his dead sister, but he's seen so much in a short year, that he believed it completely now. Of course, hearing his five year old son talking in perfect Russian wasn't really surprising anymore either.
Frankie then looked at the three boys, and immediately went to them, and grabbed Milek and Yuri's hands. "Some on, you guys are here to get the stuff that you need. Let me show you all the really kewl stuff!"
That left Kraig to lead Gasha to the girls section. "Where are we?" She asked after the boys ran off.
"Actually we're in one of the warehouses that Clan Short owns, and set up for just this purpose. Most of the kids that we rescue have nothing of their own, so these paces have been set up to make sure that you guys don't just have the basics, but have good stuff that you like." He asked through a grin that appeared when she slipped her hand into his as they walked.
"But, well how do we pay for..." She started, only to be gently cut off by Kraig.
"You don't. Clan Short has more money than most countries. This stuff is free. If you want other stuff later on, you'll get an allowance..." Seeing her lost look, he explained. "Every week, you'll get some money that you can spend on anything you want."
"Do I have to... you know... do sex stuff for it?" Gasha asked, dreading the answer. However, with the things she's seeing here, she'd do it if needed.
Frankie stopped, and squatted down in front of the eight year old girl. "No Gasha. I told you before, and I'll tell you a million times if I need to. You'll never have to do that stuff again. You get the money simply by being here. You'll have to go to school and do you're best, you'll have to help pick up the rooms we live in, and help me keep track of the boys, but that's it. We're a family now, we might make mistakes a long the way, but I promise you I will ALWAYS love you and look out for you."
Kraig smiled as he saw her tears. He really didn't think the girl had had to many times where she cried happy tears. Seeing them now made him sure he'd down the right thing. "Come on," He said as he stood back up and took her hand. "I think I know where there's some really pretty clothes you can get."
An hour later, found five excited kids, and one tired but happy almost adult. Kraig was sat down in the back of the store, and one by one, each of the four new kids, directed by a little five year old drill sergeant, changed into each of their new outfits, so Kraig could see. Once that was done, he got the pleasure of being shown everything they got for themselves, from new toothbrushes, to a clock radio. Watching Milek hold the 'Power Ranger' toothbrush to his chest, like it was his most prized possession made Kraig tear up a bit, both happy that the boy was so happy, and sad, because it showed how little the boy had in his life.
Once that was done, Kraig gathered all five kids up and spoke seriously to them. "Okay guys, here's the deal. There's two more things that we need to do before we're done. One is to go show you where you live now, and let you pick out you're rooms. The other is a surprise. All the new kids coming into the Clan from Russia are getting something new. So, which would you guys wanna do first, see the surprise, or go check out your new home?"
The four new kids looked back and forth between themselves for a moment, before Frankie spoke up. "Dad. I don't think the pod'll fit all of us..."
"Oh sorry little man, I guess I forgot to mention. While you were off leading the guys around, I had Daileass move all our stuff into a new town house here in Russia. We still got the Pod rooms if we want them, but I figured since we got a bigger family, we need a bigger house."
The grin on Frankie's face was worth the work Kraig put into making sure everything was set up. The boy turned to the others and said proudly. "I told you he thinks of everything!"
Before anyone could say anything else, Misha's voice sounded from Kraig's communicator. "Kraig, sorry to interrupt..."
"No problem Misha, what's up." Kraig said as he held up his hand to quiet down the five excited kids.
"Well I just thought you should know. You're team has asked that I keep you away from you're new house, as they set things up for you."
"Oh boy." Kraig said with a grin. "This should be good. Thanks Misha."
"No problem, and don't worry, I'm making sure they don't go over board." The mischief in the AI's voice was evident, and Kraig wondered what his team was trying to do that Misha wasn't allowing. After a moment, he figured it best not to think about that.
"Well guys, I guess that makes our decision for us. We're gonna head back tot he welcome center for the surprise." Kraig said while he stood up and gathered his kids around.
"You'll love it." Frankie said right before they disappeared and re-appeared back in the welcome center.
In front of them was a huge sign declaring 'Bear Cave' in several different languages. Frankie started towards it, only to have Yuri grab his arm. "You can't go in there!" He said in shock.
Frankie grinned back at the boy. "It's okay. Gilbert's in there. He's cool!" With that, he grabbed both Yuri's and Milek's hands, and started to pull them towards the big brown door.
"Are you sure it's safe?" Gasha asked up to Kraig, who just smiled and nodded. He took her hand, and began to walk towards the door.
When Frankie got close to the doors, the large set of double doors started to open on their own. Standing just behind the door was Gilbert. Frankie screamed with joy, dropped the two boys hands, and ran to embrace his bear.
The four new kids stood there wide eyed as not only did the bear hug back, but when they separated, Frankie grabbed Gilbert by the hand, and almost drug the bear over to meet them.
"Gilbert!" Frankie said with a grin. "These are my new brothers and sister!" Frankie then pointed to each one as he names them. "That's Yuri, and Dima, then Gasha and her little brother Milek... he's four!"
Kraig waited, and silently laughed as he watched the four kids react to Gilbert not only turning his furry head to look at each as Frankie said each name, but laughed as each one got a look of shock and disbelief, as Gilbert walked up to each and hugged them. "Welcome to the family." Gilbert said in a cheery voice. "It's good to see that Frankie has brothers and a sister to play with now."
"What... What is it?" Gasha asked in a shocked voice.
Kraig took a moment to gather all of the kids around him, as he sat down on one of the benches. "Gilbert is a part f the surprise I told you about. He's a teddy bear that's bonded with Frankie. Gilbert's his friend, but also his protector. He helps to make sure that no one can hurt Frankie, or do bad things to him."
"But isn't that what you're supposed to do?" Gasha asked, her eyes welling up with tears. Kraig could almost feel the trust that she had placed in him, breaking. He sobered up immediately, and pulled her onto his lap. She allowed it, but was very stiff.
"My sweet princess." He started. "Of course I will. That what daddies do for their little girls. The teddy bears are different. They're you're friends. They'll be there with you when you go out and I'm not around. They're programmed to protect you if something happens, and I'm not there, or something's happened. I want to make sure that nothing ever happens to you, which is what the bears will do."
He could see the wheels turning in her head as he spoke. He figured out what was going on with her though. She was finally allowing herself to be a kid, instead of the little mom she's had to be for Milek. Dr. Phil had spoken about this during one of their training classes. Little kids who have had to be the grown up, then suddenly find themselves allowed to be the kid they should be, will sometimes revert back to being even younger than they actually are, trying to re-live what they lost. They'll still have problems at times when they feel they need to be the grown up, but those will come less and less as they learn to trust the person they are 'giving' that power to. Kraig listened and remembered the lesson, but he never really saw it till now.
"Think about it like this." Kraig said. "When we were at the store a few minutes ago. The four boys went off by themselves while I took you around. There was no chance that someone would try to hurt them there, but if we were somewhere else, and they went off like that. Wouldn't you want someone there to protect them if someone tried to hurt them?"
Her eyes went wide, and the tears started to flow, although for a different reason now. "The bears... they can protect Milek?" She asked in a cracked voice.
Instead of answering her directly, Kraig looked to Gilbert who was watching everything with a sympathetic look. "Gilbert, what would you do if someone tried to attack Frankie?"
Instead of answering, Gilbert held up his right 'paw' and slowly extended the six inch blades off the back of his fingers. All four new kids looked in awe at the blades, as Gilbert then retracted them. Finally the little bear spoke. "No one will hurt my friend. Or his family." He said in a very serious voice.
The four kids looked back and forth between each other for a second, before Milek walked up to Gasha. "Can I get a teddy bear?" He asked softly.
Gasha looked back and forth between Milek and Kraig. Finally she looked at Kraig and said. "Can we get bears?"
He smiled gently at her. "If you want them."
Looking back to Milek she smiled. "Daddy says we can." Which caused the little boy to jump up and down.
He grabbed her hand, pulled her off of Kraig's lap and shouted to Frankie. "What'do we have to do to get bears?"
Frankie and Gilbert scrambled to get in front of the little boy dragging his sister along, the other two boys and Kraig followed behind, at a slightly more sedate pace.
When they got into the room, the five kids skidded to a stop, their jaws on the floor. For Frankie, who'd only had his bear for less then a week, it was unbelievable the different types of 'bears' they had now. For the rest, they didn't know which way to look first.
In front of them was a short, long desk where a few older kids, as well as bears were typing away on computers, behind them, all over the cavernous room there was maybe thirty kids running around, even a few older kids, including teenagers. They were out numbered almost five to one with a variety of 'bears'. There was the traditional 'teddy bear', but there was also Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls running around, princess dolls, cowboys, and spacemen, robots that changed shape into jeeps or cars, big cats, wolves, actual bears, and the list goes on.
Kraig, who knew a lot of these things were in the works, slowly walked up to the four kids. "Okay guys. You remember that ID card I gave you and told you to hang onto?" Getting four nods, as well as all of them fishing it out of their pockets, he smiled. "Okay, go up to the desk, and give them you're card. After that, just go out there and make friends. When you found one you really like, and have made friends with it, simply ask it if it will be you're friend. If it says yes, then come back up here and see me. I'll be at the desk. We'll make everything official and then you can go back to playing, until the rest are done. At which point we should be able to go home. Sound good?"
He barely got nods from the kids before they were off and running, making a short stop at the desk to drop off their ID cards.
Adam looked around as they transported into the area, and was surprised at what he saw. He expected to see a trailer park or something similar, but what he saw was totally different. The homes that were built here were one with nature. There were no cars, no trash strewn all over the place, nothing that one would think of when they thought of a poverty stricken Native American reservation. However, what really got him were the fact that all over the place, they could see wild animals just walking around. Of course many of them scattered when they saw Fluffy.
He spun as he heard a little girl scream, and suddenly they were surrounded. People started coming out of all the houses to see what was going on. Someone in the crowd cried out "ELWYN!" and suddenly a woman pushed her way through the crowd and ran up to the group, when suddenly she stopped and fell to her knees. "OH MY GOD!!!! DANIEL!!"
She must have been calling to her husband because suddenly a huge mammoth of a man pushed his way through the crowd, took one look at Elwyn, then looked to Adam and then behind Adam to where Tommy was poking his head from around Janet. Elwyn didn't waste a moment, as he ran up to his mother and father, and then started to pull them back to Tommy... or as they knew him... Kieran. Adam and rest simply moved out of the way to allow the family reunion to happen. The only one to be pulled in right away was Ronnie.
Adam was amazed at the man Daniel. He was easily the largest normal human he had ever met in person. He stood easily close to seven feet tall, and weighted probably about three hundred fifty pounds, and he was not fat. However, just looking at the man beside Tommy and Elwyn, you could easily tell that he was their father. They had the same color eyes, and the same kind of face.
Within less than two minutes, the celebration seemed to have gripped the entire community. People were still making their way to the group and almost everyone had wanted to at least touch Tommy once, to make sure he was real.
That's when the father cam over to Adam and his group. He walked right up to Joe, and stuck out his hand. "I want to thank you for bringing my boys back.. both of them." The man had tears flowing down his face, but made no attempt to wipe them away.
Joe took his hand, but pulled the man into a hug, saying something to him that not even Adam's ears could hear. The man leaned back and looked oddly at Adam, but came over to him.
"Your father says I actually have you to thank for saving my son... well both my sons?" It was clear that the man wasn't really sure how to take that.
"It was absolutely no problem Mr....." Adam said, not sure of the man's last name.
"It's White Horse... and I'm actually the chief of my people. Normally we would not allow outsiders here, but since you brought home my sons..." He paused briefly trying to get his emotions back under control. "Since you brought them back... you are all part of our tribe... our family."
Adam grinned, grabbed the man by the arm, and before anyone could say anything else, the two of them, and Master Quel, were off and talking by themselves.
Twenty minutes later, the impromptu party was broken up when Tommy ran over to Elwyn, grabbed his hand, and started to pull him away from the group. Both boys were grinning, as they leaped onto Fluffy's back, and she raced away. It took Logan a moment to realize, but no one made any mention of Fluffy other than to comment on how big she was. No one seemed to mind the boy jumping on her back and riding her like a horse either.
As soon as they got a few houses away, Tommy gave direction on how to get to the house that Adam, Quel, and their dad was at. They both jumped off the back of Fluffy, and ran inside.
Elwyn was the first through the door, and he simply squealed and ran to his father. Tommy stopped dead though. He knew the 'thing' before him was Elwyn's.... his dad... but he didn't recognize him. Instead of the big blond man that Tommy recognized, there was this huge, eight foot tall thing with huge teeth, big muscles, and even bigger claws on his hands. His entire body was covered with a fine coat of blond, almost white fur. His back was hunched over some, and to be blunt, he looked like an eight foot tall killing machine.
Elwyn ran up and jumped into the beast's arms, laughing and giggling like a mad man. Adam was standing there with a smile on his face, trying not to laugh, but then he saw Quel. Tommy wasn't sure how he knew that it was Quel, but he was positive. The creature standing next to Adam was easily the same size as Fluffy, but instead of fur, it appeared to have armored scales all over, and teeth that appeared much like a saber tooth tiger.
When Elwyn climbed down off his father, he went and stood next to Tommy. "We can change now too daddy!" Elwyn said with obvious pride.
"So I was told... but this Adam here, refused to tell me what you can turn into." The big bear thing said in surprisingly clear English.
Elwyn grinned, looked over to Tommy who nodded, then giggled to his dad. "You better sit down first..."
"Why?" the man asked as he did so, right there on the floor in the front room. By the time Tommy and Elwyn had shifted, their father had already passed out.
Over the next hour, Tommy and Elwyn's parents were brought up to date about who they really are, and where they come from. Being the chief of the tribe, Daniel sent Elwyn and the two boys the were at the Unit base with them, to go gather everyone together for a tribe meeting.
After they left, Daniel explained that during their official meetings, they all wore their "spirit form." When asked by Adam, Daniel explained that they believed that when they were ready to have their first change, they had to go find their spirit guide. Their first form was the spirit guide giving them their form.
Quel stopped himself from laughing, as he knew the truth... but these people had to come up with something to explain what they were, since they lived among the locked form.
In three hours, when the sun peaked in the sky, they would give thanks to the Great Spirit... and then they would have their tribal meeting. That is when they would all find out both about Tommy and Elwyn, and about the Eryradain coming to them. It would be an interesting time.
"So what do you think this means? For us I mean?" Elwyn asked Tommy while they were waiting for word that they could show their new forms to the tribe.
Tommy sat down behind the building they were waiting behind and motioned for Elwyn to do the same. "I should have told you this before." Elwyn looked puzzled so Tommy kept going. He reached out and started to rub Fluffy's flank, and started to talk as he looked out at the distant glowing camp fire. "You know how we can talk to animals? Well Adam can talk to me like that. He can talk to anyone he wants like that really."
Tommy could tell that his brother was impressed, just because he knew he would be. But he never looked over to his brother, and just kept looking at the stars that were just coming out. "You think we can see where we come from?"
Before his brother could answer, Tommy kept talking. "Everything Adam has learned about our people, he's told me. You know we're some kind of Gods right?"
"I don't know why... but yeah... I know." Elwyn said while moving over so he could wrap an arm around his younger, by four minutes, brother.
"They're gonna take us from our homes... I just know they are." Tommy said trying not to cry. "Adam said they've been fighting a war for a really long time. Now that they found us, they need to take us back to show all their people that the Gods have come back to save them.... I don't wanna be a God." Tommy lost it and buried his head into Fluffy's side who twisted her head back and licked the side of his face.
Inside both of the boys heads, Fluffy's voice was heard. Never before, except in his dreams, had Fluffy used words. Mostly it was images, and the like... now it was words. "Worry not young ones. Both of the people you call father will not abandon you. Nor will I." She bent her head a little and licked Elwyn right in the face.
Elwyn giggled, but it faded as soon as he looked into the determined eyes of the huge panther. "You are both my cubs... No matter what happens, I will stay with my cubs." Tommy was still crying, but now for a different reason. He threw his arms around his feline friend and hugged her tight. From the other direction, another set of arms wrapped around her.
Adam stood off to the side with his family while Daniel began to speak to the assembled 'tribe.' According to their records, all the remaining Eryradain on Earth were here. As soon as the sun peaked, everyone there removed what little cloths they may have been wearing, and they shifted.
The first thing Adam heard was Quel gasping in shock, and the other two with him gasping as well. No one else seemed to hear it, but Adam did. "Master... what's wrong."
Quel leaned down and whispered to Adam so as not to disturb everyone else. "It would take a long time to explain, but I will say this. In our culture, there are three tribes. The tribes are based on what form you can change into... or more precisely, what type of form you can change into. While the tribes are friendly and work well together, they just do not interbreed." He pointed off to a couple that were holding hands.... well more like, in the case he pointed out... paw to flipper...
"Tsar?" Misha asked into the air of the small room that Alexei was doing his studies in. He jumped a little but actually welcomed the distraction. Sergei had insisted that he keep up with his studies. 'What good will you be as a Tsar who has no education?' The man had said with a smirk when he left him in the room.
"Yes Misha?" The boy asked hoping that something was going t save him from his work.
"You're presence is requested in the 'War Room', as soon as possible." Misha said officiously.
Alexei closed his books with a small smile. "I will be right there."
Two minutes later he walked into the War room, and almost got run over by one of the Chipmunks. "Sorry!" He shouted as he ran to the other side of the room.
Alexei smiled as he walked over to the other side of the room where Adam and Logan were standing watching a bank of monitors. "What's going on?" He asked as he looked at the monitors. Not knowing what was going on, all he saw was several different groups on missions of some sort.
"The basics are this," Adam started never looking. "In the US, there is a large company, Zorro Communications, that also had a charitable arm, running several orphanages. They were raided tonight, and the conditions those kids were living in...well they are the stuff of nightmares." Adam said gravely. What little Alexei has heard about Adam's life, and what he's went through, made him shiver at that statement.
"There have been, and will continue to be several arrests made of the people responsible for this. However, there is going to be a cataclysmic fall out over all of this, that will, we believe, have a significant impact on you're country." Logan said taking over for Adam.
"Like what?" Alexei asked, feeling the starts of a pit in his stomach.
"When the news hits about what's happened, there will be a run on the stock for Zorro Communications. People will want to dump stock of the company before they loose a lot of money from the criminal investigations, and civil suits that will follow. However, with as large, and interconnected to several other companies, that they are, there is going to be a run on the stock markets of several countries, causing a massive crash through out the entire financial system of the world." Logan was meeting Alexei's eyes the entire time, and knew that Logan wasn't beginning to tell him how bad it really could be. Which, with what he did say, scared Alexei deeply.
"How... How can one company cause the downfall of the entire Earth's financial markets?" He asked in shock.
"That is something that you will have to learn at a later time." Sergei said, making his presence known behind his ward. "However, understand that it can, and from what I just heard young Master Logan say, it will."
Alexei looked like he was close to tears. "So... I'm on the verge of getting my country back, only to have it collapse around me?"
"Not necessarily." Simon, the Chipmunk, spoke up as he came over. Alexei looked at him with hope in his eyes, silently begging him to explain.
"We've got a plan, and if it works, Russia should be able to come out of this mostly unscathed, and hell... depending on how we play things, you might come out of this even stronger than you are right now." Simon said grinning.
"How is that possible?" Was the shocked response from the young Tsar.
"That is a very good question." Sergei said as well, skepticism dripping from his words.
"Well... you have a few things working for you. You're markets just closed, which means that most of the damage won't hit till the morning. We're about to head off the Wayne Manor... the home of a good friend, where we'll be using every resource we have to stem the flow of blood when the announcements hit in about 30 minutes. We'll be putting so much money into the markets that it will hopefully stop the worst from happening. However, if you were to go out there and make a statement, it should make it that Russia not only doesn't feel the effects of it, but may actually regain a lot of the power that it's lost over the few years."
"What do I need to say?" Alexei asked, a glimmer of hope in his eyes, and dreams of recapturing the power and world standing that had been lost since his grandfather died.
Alexei stood in front of the podium, wearing his official robes, and crown, watching the monitor as the press release was being made about the Zorro Communications raid that happened in the United States. To his right was Adam and Logan in their full dress uniforms. To his left stood Sergei in the robes that signified his station as top adviser to the Tsar. Next to him stood General Krolikov, and Cadet Captain Azarov, both in their full uniforms. Alexei knew that he needed to project power and leadership when he spoke to the Russian people. Having this group with him, did that, and told his enemies that Alexei was not toothless, like some of them might think.
The room was full of reporters from not only St. Petersburg, but form all around the country, and some from outside, transported in by Misha. Alexei had sent out an invitation to any and all press persons that wanted to attend, and over three hundred agreed instantly. It had been a long time since the press had the option of hearing directly from the Tsar, and not the Premier.
They all sat there silent and stunned at what they were hearing and seeing. The statement itself was damning, but to also see the conditions the kids were living in, and the hearing what was going on during the rescue was enough to make a few of the reporters vomit, and several more to be on the verge of it.
Alexei was prepared for it, but no amount of preparation could really blunt the disgusting images he just watched. When the screens went blank, the red light on top of the TV cameras came on, and Alexei knew that he was now live on every Television set, radio, and internet connected computer in the country.
For a brief moment, all that Alexei could think about was hoping that his voice didn't break when he spoke. Unfortunately, the stress of the situation, and what he just saw, made it happen in the first sentence.
"Good afternoon to the people of Russia, to my people. I am sure you are all as horrified as I am about what we just saw. I will get into this in a moment. Before I do however, please let me introduce you to the people standing on the stage with me. To my right is General Adam Casey, Commanding Officer of the Clan Short of Vulcan, Special Forces Division. Next to him, is his chief intelligence officer, General Logan Hayes. To my left is my most trusted adviser Sergei Petravich, General Yuri Krolikov, the Commanding officer of The Imperial Guard, then The Commanding officer of my personal Guard, as well as the Commanding officer of the Imperial Military Academy, Cadet Captain Damien Azarov."
Alexei paused for several moments as the reporters scrambled to write down all the names. Once he gave them what was an appropriate amount of time, he spoke again. "What we just witnessed is something that will be burned into my mind for the rest of my life. This sort of thing should be condemned by everyone, and IS condemned by the people of Russia. The treatment of children in this manner is not only unacceptable, but it is evil. If nothing else, the Good Lord above commands us to not allow this to happen, and when it does happen, to stamp it out. The abuse of children for the sake of profit should not, and will not be tolerated."
He paused as he took a sip of water. He wasn't thirsty, he was just letting his words sink in. When he began again, his voice was no less intense. "However, we are now faced with a large problem. On the split side of your screen, you can see that the run on the stock markets has begun. Due to this, I am taking many drastic measures to protect Russia from the repercussions of one companies greed. As of this moment, the Russian Stock Market is frozen. I am personally guaranteeing the wealth of those individuals that have monies in the stock market. You will not loose anything because of the actions of one company. Second, I am instructing all financial institutes to not take any drastic measures. There is no need to worry about the wealth of this country." He paused as he leaned forward slightly in his chair. "The Government of Russia, backed by Clan Short of Vulcan, will ensure that no matter what happens to the world's economy, no one in Russia will suffer, or will loose anything. However, for those of you that wish to try and aid us, by infusing wealth into the economy, will be rewarded greatly.
There is an effort underway as we speak to soften the blow to the world's economy. An effort which I am in full support of, and encourage all those who can, to join in with. As soon as this news conference is over, there will be instructions given on how to contact us for information. Understand, I will not tolerate anyone trying to disrupt the running of this country, or the recovery of it. Any and all riots and disruptions will be dealt with quickly. There is nothing to worry about as far as the state of personal or governmental wealth due to the actions of Zorro Communications.
Again Alexei paused allowing time for those in the room to catch up. When he began again, he was still just as intense as he was earlier. "To change the topic slightly. On Monday, I asked the help of Clan Short, to aid me in not only taking back the Country from those that wished to destroy it, but to also help in crisis that many of our young citizens find themselves in. Since that time, more than eight thousand children have been rescued from horrific situations. This was not as isolated a problem as I had naively hoped. Our own Imperial Military Academy was rife with abuse and corruption. This is simply NOT acceptable.
To that end, I am instructing all government and public offices, military installations, hospitals, fire departments, schools and anywhere else can handle it, to open your doors to any and all children in need of help. If you can not help them, then contact us, and we will be able to. My grandfather led the greatest nation on this planet, and it pains me to see that we have slipped so far. It will change. It will change, starting with the youngest of our nation. They will be protected and nurtured, they will be loved and cared for. If you are a parent and cannot find it with in you to love your children, then we will do it for you. If you are someone who enjoys abusing kids, we will find you, and will we stop you.
However, if you are someone who feels you can open you're heart to a child, do so. If you need help, call us. Do not let you're financial, or any other situation stop you from helping a child in need. Not only will you be rewarded in the next life, but you will be rewarded in this one as well. Our children are the future, and Russia will have a very bright future, so help me God."
With out saying another word, Alexei turned and strode from the room. The reporters too shocked to try and ask any questions until after he was already gone.