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It took both Sarek and T'Pol to overcome and subdue Spock, and the kids within hearing distance had scattered. Only those caring for the three now sobbing boys remained.
"Jason! What has happened?" Sarek asked as he fought to keep Spock on the floor in the doorway between Main CIC and the Rec Room.
Jason pulled a face. He had not heard the communication that Tommy had received, being too far away from the console, but he had just pulled the information from Tommy's mind. He replied, "I will tell you, once you are in the meeting room. Here, let me." With those words, he turned off Spock's consciousness like he was turning off a light. Then, he levitated the now still body of his a'nirih up into the air. "Come, Grandfather," Jason said, urgently leading him and T'Pol towards the nearest meeting room, with Spock floating along ahead of them.
Timmy and Ricky were still kicking and thrashing about, for their bodies seemed aflame with pain. They were being held and cuddled by Kirk and Bones, who were both trying to help them. Austin was being cared for Brant and Matthew, who were having just as little luck in aiding their friend. Levi, Dylan and Bryce were trying everything they could to siphon off the pain, but nothing seemed to be working.
"What's happening?" Brant asked, over their cries of pain.
None of those in the Rec Room had heard the call that Tommy had just taken, so this was still a complete mystery for them.
Brant had his answer when Draco's transmission came from CIC - and it was his superior hearing that picked it up. His... and Matthew's - not that Matthew needed to hear it from the main console, for his link to Nathan and the rest of the VSO Dragon Command was already afire with the same message.
Brant stood up and moved away from Austin's side and went into Main CIC. His eyes were already blood red, and Matthew suddenly had a premonition that heads were about to roll. "Fuck," he spat as he handed the weakly crying Austin over and into Justy and Dean's care. He followed his boyfriend quickly.
At the weeping Seth's side, Brant asked in a deathly quiet tone, "What happened to Joel?"
Daileass answered, for Draco was now liaising with most of the Dragon VSO, 'From the state of him, he has been repeatedly raped and... and severely tortured.'
"Where? Where did this take place?" Brant asked, his voice as ice.
Daileass pulled up a map while Seth just sat there, crying, and shocked beyond measure.
Only Matthew could follow the blur that Brant became as he tore with vampire speed from the room... and only Matthew was able to move as fast, to keep up.
Back in the Rec Room, McCoy was gently rocking Ricky in his arms when his communicator went off. "Chang to Doctor McCoy. We need you in Camp Bam Bam immediately. We are losing Joel."
McCoy moved Ricky over to Kirk's arms and stood to his feet faster than he would normally have been able to move, considering his age. He opened the channel to Chang and asked, "What the hell? What's happened to Joel?!"
"We can explain, or we can do. Only the latter will save him, Doctor!"
McCoy moved, with as much speed as before, to the bag he had left by the door. Always, wherever he went, he took emergency supplies with him. At the same time, he called the Enterprise, "McCoy to Chapel. Assemble a Vulcan trauma kit and beam to Camp Bam Bam immediately."
A second later, he had his bag in his hand. Doctor Chapel then answered, "Understood. On my way in five."
"Better make it a minute or less," McCoy yelled out before switching channels to link with Daileass. "I need transport RIGHT now! Get me to my godson!"
Less than a second after he had vanished from the room, the three screaming boys silenced as the pain vanished as fast as it had arrived. Now, they just sobbed as they tried to pull their minds back together again.
Chang and Janet worked feverishly to stabilize the slowly fading Vulcan boy on the bio-bed before them, while the other doctors and nurses rushed around getting the items they needed. The door to the emergency ward was locked as soon as Juan had left, thus preventing anyone not authorised to to enter. On the edge of his awareness, Chang felt his brothers gathering outside, but kept his mind focused on saving Joel's life - if it were possible. He'd lost an awful lot of blood. "Where is the Vulcan blood?" he called out for a second time.
"Here!" a nurse shouted back as she rushed up to them and started linking Joel up to a Vulcan blood bag.
"Put that on tap," Janet said hoarsely as she fought to maintain her voice. "We're going to need upwards of 30 units..."
'Here's Doctor McCoy, Chang,' Daileass supplied as Bones popped out of nowhere. Transporters were too slow, while teleporters were now all the rage.
Bones moved up to Janet's side and started scanning his god-son. "What have you done so far?" he asked, while Janet was working on Joel's head.
"Massive trauma to his cranium, with possible brain damage. I'm checking on that, now," Janet said, her voice now, finally, calm, which belied the state of her heart at that moment. Repeating over and over in her mind was, 'No more! I won't have this any more! No more of my kids get hurt, or by God, I'll kill every-fucking-thing - I swear to God I will!'
"Has he been unconscious since his arrival?" Bones asked quickly, his guts twisting with the thought of further brain injury to his sweet little god-son.
Janet nodded, "Yes. Not surprising with this injury."
"That's a good thing," Bones answered, "for if he was awake with these wounds, it would be a sign that he was trying to meld with us - to give us his Katra... that he'd be beyond help. Just pray he STAYS this way."
Janet kept working, but asked, "How could he even wake up in this state, Leonard?"
"He's Vulcan. It's hard-wired into them. Even if they had 78% brain capacity loss, they are able to awaken and meld with the nearest living being. Chang, what are you doing right now?" Bones asked, not looking up from his tricorder.
Chang answered, "Closing the minor wounds. I left the knife wound for you, Dr McCoy. I do not want to go near that one - my experience with these injuries on Vulcans is not as deep as yours."
McCoy nodded, "Don't do more to those injuries other than just sealing them up and stopping blood loss, Chang. Joel will need all his energy for the more life threatening ones - I don't want his energy being used to perfectly heal a minor injury," he said quickly as he scanned Joel's chest. "Damn - seven broken ribs, two compound and open. The knife - God, that is close... - the knife has missed his arteries. If he was human, it would have hit his heart. His left lung has been punctured. Where is Doctor Chapel?"
'Incoming, Dr McCoy, sir,' a nervous sounding Daileass answered as a transporter beam from the Enterprise deposited Dr Chapel and three trauma medical technicians into the room. With them was a large pile of sealed containers, which the four newcomers fell upon and opened as required.
Echoing McCoy, Chapel asked, "What's everyone done so far?"
"We've got him stable for now, but I'm reading massive internal trauma in his anus. Can you deal with that, Christine?" McCoy asked as he swiftly healed the open fractured ribs. Then, "Christ! I NEED ANTONIO HERE NOW! He's going to go into arrest, and I dare not use the bio-bed yet! Someone get that boy here, NOW!"
'Fuck procedure, teleporting him now... sorry, Antonio,' Daileass cried as a near naked nine year old appeared at Doctor Chapel's side. The only thing preserving his dignity was a towel.
"FUCK! What is goin'.... JOEL! Is that why the alarms were going?" Antonio screamed in shock as he rushed to McCoy's side.
"Someone get his hands dried and cleansed! 'Tonio, you need to keep Joel's heart pumping. Only your hands are small enough to do so, once I crack open his chest," McCoy explained as one of the Unit orderlies did as the hugely irritated Starfleet Commodore had ordered and prepped Antonio. "Damn! He's in arrest!" he spat as the alarms on the bed started to sound.
"What about his left eye socket, Leonard?" Janet asked as she placed a Neural Regen Unit onto Joel's forehead.
"Forget it. He's already lost it, and if we don't rush, he'll lose his life too - I need a rib-spreader, and..." and he started reeling off names for equipment while quickly removing the knife that was lodged in the boy's chest.
Opening up Joel's chest was heart-wrenching, but done swiftly. The cracking noise echoed out to where Adam, Logan and the others were gathered. Antonio discarded his towel, for it was just in the way, and immediately grabbed Joel's now still heart - and used all he knew to keep his brother alive...
Meanwhile, chaos reigned outside the Emergency Room doors. Right now, no one who wasn't a doctor was allowed to enter; not even Adam. However, he and the others were all crowded around the window as they watched the doctors work on the slight form of Joel.
Adam was able to keep his cool for less then a minute until he reached his mind out for Alvin, who was in command at the moment in the command centre. 'Alvin, what's the word from Orlando?'
'Nothing yet...' Alvin said, his voice trailing off. He knew what was going on in the room better than probably Adam did. The little boy was burning up his fair share of processors right now keeping up with everything that was going on.
"God Damnit!" Adam muttered softly as he took a few steps away from the window. "Daileass... get me in touch with CIC, now!"
From overhead Adam heard CIC respond. "CIC... This is Tommy, what do you need, Adam?"
"What I need right now are orders... We're ready to go... I just need a target!" Adam was trying hard to hold in his rage.. he wanted a target and he wanted one now!
"Stand by!" Tommy said and closed the channel for a second.
Adam paced back and forth for what seemed like hours, but it was really less then a full minute. Finally the channel opened back up and this time it was Jason's voice that was heard. "Adam... we are waiting for authorization from the Vulcan High Council and the VSO... for now, your orders are to stand by and wait."
Before Adam could reply, the line was closed. Adam knew by Jason's voice that he didn't like it any better then he did.
"Fuck this!" Adam slammed his fist into the wall causing the rough stone to chip away. The crack that echoed out from the Emergency Room made him spin around, only to see Joel's ribs being spread apart by Dr McCoy.
He felt physically ill - not because he was squeamish, but because it was HIS Joel going through this.
Quickly Nathan and Logan walked up to him. "What's wrong?" Logan asked, wrapping his lover in a hug. Knowing Adam as well as he did, he knew the older boy was about to loose it.
"We're on fucking stand-by until some bureaucratic asshole figures out what we should do," Adam was seething by this point.
Nathan sighed. "We WILL obey, Adam. VSO are always tasked with this type of... mmm, however..." Nathan pauzed for a second, then, "Adam; you and a fair few of the others have had VSO training... soooo..." the small boy trailed off, looking seriously at the older teen.
Slowly Adam started to grin as he understood the implications of what Nathan was saying. "You're right; we will obey... however, I do not feel comfortable sending my guys into an area that has no recon done on it." He stopped and looked over at Logan, "Since Chang's busy... I'm putting you in charge."
Logan's jaw dropped as he sputtered out, "But... but... what are you going to be doing?!"
Adam's grin widened a bit, "I'm going to go get some intel." Without missing a beat, he and Nathan turned and started to walk away. "Daileass... get me the Ferrets... I need some help on the ground."
"Uhhh... Adam.... I hate to tell you this, but they transported out right after Juan did. You know them - they are everywhere... and Dave is PISSED about his 'Shiny Warrior' getting hurt... So Dave hand-picked a... umm, a group of them: and left..."
Adam stopped dead in his tracks and looked up, Nathan at his side looking equally curious. "How many of the ferrets did he take?"
"All of them."
Adam and Nathan exchanged another long look. "Oh... shit," Adam breathed out, before he and his blond friend legged it down the hall and out of the Med Bay.
Back inside the Emergency Room, and off to one side, Mercury and Hermes were standing next to Mr Gibson and Ralph. Ralph was on a chair, shaking and sweating, and Mr Gibson looked like he was about to pass out from shock. "In my store... never... never in my life... my store... that poor boy..."
Janet looked over quickly at them, "Merc - take them into the next room. We'll need to talk to them, once we've got Joel stabilized."
Mercury, his eyes streaming tears, nodded. Together with his brother, he carried Ralph out and Mr Gibson followed. I-Cheya and Blackie, however, stayed in the room and simply watched their 'Boy'... and both were crying silent tears.
Once the cheetahs had gotten both humans seated, Mercury asked softly, "What did you see? Did you see the fuckers who did this?"
Ralph, trying as hard as he could to not throw up, nodded. "Yeah," he whispered.
Hermes handed him a photo-fit data-padd. "Can you try and assemble their faces for us, please?"
As Ralph did his best to do so, Mr Gibson asked, "Is there a phone? I need to tell Jerry that he's alone in the store. He don't know what happened other than my son was screaming for me..."
Mercury patted Mr Gibson's arm gently, "Starfleet security will likely be there already. He'll be fine - and I'm sure Daileass will send a message there when he can."
Brant was not the first to arrive on the scene of the rape. Juan was.
Juan appeared inside the storeroom that Joel had been transported from. He looked around, and the blood rage he was in, only deepened further. In front of him lay the tattered remains of Joel's clothing. And there was blood.... lots of blood. A lot of it was Joel's green Vulcan blood, but there was also a lot of red. Human blood. Juan grinned a feral grin, for his thought was that Joel was at least able to make the fuckers hurt a bit... even if it hadn't been enough. The blood that was there, though, was more than enough.
Juan let his mind go, and opened up all his senses. With his mind, he could still sense the evilness of the act that was done here. It was like a stench that cut through everything else... great evil was done here. He knelt down and ran a finger through a pool of the red blood, and brought it to his nose. Not many people were aware of this, but the more enhanced of the Genesis kids that were not hybrid had a sense of smell that almost rivaled that of a dog. Now, Juan was very much the blood hound on the trail of his prey. "I will make this a chase worthy of a song," Juan muttered in a perfect replication of Aragorn's accent. He stood, and jogged out the door. "Your deaths, however...."
Half his mind was on the trail. It had been less the ten minutes since these fuckers finished assaulting Joel, so the trail was still very fresh. Since he knew at least two of them were bleeding, it made following the trail almost too easy for Juan's taste. He enjoyed the hunt as much as he did the kill. Of course at this point, he was not going to let the kill come too quickly. These fuckers had hurt his Joel, and they were going to suffer for it... suffer for a LONG time. No one was with him to stop him from delivering the vengeance Joel deserved.
Two blocks later, Juan stopped and bent down, looking at a splotch of blood on the ground. Someone had fallen here, and one of the other boys had helped him up. 'Good job, Joel. At least two of them are hurting... and one of them is hurting badly,' Juan thought to himself, as he took off at a jog again.
A small part of Juan was actually scared. Not really scared for Joel, although that was there, but Joel was in the best hands possible. No... the small part of Juan was scared about what he could do now. At no point in the past had Juan been this far into a rage. Making matters even worse was the calm way in which he was thinking. Juan was not normally this calm, especially about something like this. But Juan had changed, and in some ways, for the worse.
Had this happened before his two halves were merged, Juan would have simply went off on a murderous rage, killing anything that got in his way. After a little while, he would have calmed down and could be reasoned with. Now, however, he was calm and collected. Save for the glowing bluish yellow eyes, and the multitude of weapons adorning him, if anyone had seen him, they would have seen someone simply jogging down the streets as if nothing were wrong. What that really meant, though, was that his rage was building into something he had never felt before. When it finally was able to be unleashed, NOTHING would survive.
Brant and Matthew raced through the fire-door that Juan had departed from moments ago. Brant took in the scene, saw Starfleet and Vulcan security forces beam in, then he darted back outside. He glanced down and saw the trail of blood, but also scented that Juan had followed after the ones bleeding. And so, he turned and followed the scent from the other three that had been in the storeroom with his little Vulcan brother.
The Starfleet security officers had barely enough time to register that they were there before they had seemingly vanished again.
Outside, Matthew saw what Brant did at the same moment - tire tracks on the tarmac. And so, the game was afoot....
Seconds after the vampire and 'Vampire' had run off, the whole of the courtyard was filled with a seething mass of furry fury. Dave, High Priest of the Shiny and now High Arse-Kicking Avenger of the Shiny Warrior, looked and saw the direction in which the two boys had gone and sped off after them... leading his entire flock behind him.
They had the scent, as well. Now they would find out if 'family jewels' really WERE shiny... after peeling and cracking them open with the very shiny tools they had brought with them...
Scalpels and nut-crackers....
Dr McCoy had patched up Joel's lung and sealed all the bleeding from the boy's chest cavity before closing him back up again. The blood transfusions had increased, and so Antonio was able to leave Joel's heart to beat alone - which had been hard as a Vulcan child's heart would normally beat at over 200 beats per minute at rest. The boy immediately started to help Dr Chapel.
The woman looked up at Janet, who was still monitoring and working on Joel's damaged brain, and whispered, "I will castrate the fuckers who did this. A horse would have done less damage in raping this boy...."
"My boys are already working on that, Christine. I'm sure of it," Janet responded through gritted teeth.
McCoy glanced up at the two, "Castration is too easy. A slow death by Sehlat sounds much more inviting, to me."
Antonio was busy examining the collected samples that he had taken. "Well, five people raped him," he said, emotion void from his voice, for he was in full doctor mode. "Two adults, one teen and two just in puberty, judging by the sperm samples."
"Daileass, can we get profiles on them?" Janet called out.
'Working on it. Ralph has supplied us with descriptions of the five involved. His report seems at odds with the facts we have here - two of them, he says, were being abused as well as Joel... at least that's what he thinks. The others, he has a name for one of them. Corey William Scottman, 14 years old. Ralph has told me that he'd only seen him in school this past week - new to the area. And he also said that he and his gang kept away from this Corey. They were scared of him, but they didn't know why. The two oldest, judging by the DNA profiling Antonio is doing, are the older brothers of Corey - making them Levi Adam Scottman, 18 years old, and Dillon Cameron Scottman, 17.'
"That is going to be tough for Joel to overcome," Antonio whispered. "Being raped by someone with his beloved big brother's name... not to mention a Levi and a Dillon."
"Do you have names for the last two? The youngest?" Dr Chapel asked as she continued working on Joel.
'Not yet. They couldn't have been in trouble with the law since there is nothing on record about them that matches. Still searching.'
Antonio looked up, "Have you tried asking Ark?"
'Ark isn't responding right now. All I'm getting is silence from her....'
Kevin had stopped screaming and thrashing about, and was now in Allen's arms and clinging to him for all he was worth.
Xain and Jake had run downstairs to the communication's console, and while Jake was talking to Tommy, Xain had gone through to the kitchen to look after the baby and let Juana know what was going on.
Upstairs, however, Allen was having a hard time calming Kevin down. What made the situation worse was that Kevin was incapable right now of letting them know what happened, nor why he was in pain. This was more than just frustrating - Kevin was panicking.
In the end, it was Jake who explained. He ran back upstairs and breathlessly told his father what had happened to the obviously missing Joel.
Kevin's pleading, pain filled eyes bored into Allen's soul.
"Jake, stay with the guys here. Artimus, Aphrodite, come with us," he said softly. He looked at Billy, and Billy simply nodded.
"I'll get my brother and Lawrence to come over here," Billy said, "they'll help. Go, quickly!"
Allen stood with Kevin in his arms. Kenny would not move away, however, and it would have been cruel of Allen to make him part from the other half of his soul - Kevin needed Kenny. And vice versa. Allen managed to tap the communicator Kevin kept by his bed, "Allen to Clan CIC. I need transport for five to Camp Bam Bam."
"Ah, you need to dress first..." Jake whispered.
Kevin managed to find his voice to croak out, "N...no time... Sa'ren...."
"Request relayed to the Enterprise - stand by," Tommy responded over the comm, and Allen, the twins and the two she-cats vanished into a transporter beam.
Xain and Juana came upstairs in time to see them disappear, but before Juana could do more than start asking questions, the two little ferret boys, two kittens and the others of Kevin and Joel's children started asking where their Daddy Joel was....
"You need to get cleaned up, son," Mr Gibson whispered to his teenage boy.
Ralph looked without seeing, then blinked a few times. He was head to toe covered in Joel's blood. He nodded numbly, and so his dad went into the adjoining wash-room to start getting what was needed to help his son 'freshen up'.
While he was gone, Mercury and Hermes remained standing either side of Ralph, who simply stayed slumped in the chair. Tears were running down his face, and fear for his new little friend, Joel, made his face a mask of terror. What would he do if he lost his friend only minutes after meeting him? It just wasn't fair. 'Why, God? You took my Mama from me, and my friends, and everything. Now him? Why?'
Jared and Mickey McKendrick, who were staying over in the Camp, came down the corridor to join up with group that had assembled outside of the Emergency Room. They were quickly told the little the Clan had so far assembled about what had happened, and just stood there - livid and stunned and upset.
Jared stumbled away to try and compose himself when he noticed Ralph under 'guard' by Joel's two bodyguard cheetahs - and he leapt to the wrong conclusion in his grief and pain. He drew his phaser and marched in, aiming directly at the bully's chest; the bully he, his brother and two friends had busted Wednesday for harassment....
Spock had been brought out of his mental-suspended state by Jason, and was currently being melded with by Sarek. T'Pol, her face enraged but controlled, was talking with Trip - who looked ready to chew rocks and spit fire - and gently holding the weeping Amanda.
Jason, meanwhile, was on linked-conference call with Queen Elizabeth in London, England, President Bush in Washington, Premiers Li Chan and Romanov in Beijing and Moscow respectively, UFP President Zeral of Andoria in Paris and Administrator Sloan of the Vulcan High Command. Jason had already relayed everything Daileass and Draco had amassed and was now waiting on a response - any response - from the dignitaries on the view-screen.
Administrator Sloan was the first to speak, "This is a serious situation, Division Commander. The child is the heir of one of the oldest of Vulcan Houses, and in direct lineage of Surak himself: if we do not act quickly, word will spread amongst my people and logic will not restrain the desire for blood... Human blood."
Federation President Zeral slowly nodded, "Had this been a prince of Andoria treated so, our warships would already be at warp - Federal Alliance or no Federal Alliance. I have no authority over internal Earth politics, but this needs to be handled swiftly and with expediency."
"I agree," Premier Li Chan said with a serious nod. "We cannot risk angering our Vulcan allies by acting too slowly."
"Nor should we leave justice in the hands of our American brothers," Premier Romanov added in his thick accent. "No offence, but your justice system is soft compared to ours, and I would not allow my own country's legal system to deal with a case such as this!"
President Bush made a slight face, but did nod in agreement. "You're right. I am more than willin' to give Vulcan full control in this case. Hell, I just want this dealt with in any way they see fit and be done with it! I don't want to be the President that is remembered - by who ever is left - as the one who got the Earth vaporised!"
Queen Elizabeth coughed and gathered everyone's attention effortlessly. "I think that the best policy is for the League to release all authority in this matter to the VSO. Anything less than that will cause us... issues. Are we in agreement?"
"We are," Bush responded immediately.
Both Soviet Premiers nodded as well.
President Zeral addressed the Vulcan Administrator, "As per the decision of the Earth's Highest Governments, I hereby grant Vulcan full authority over the Earth to the extent, and limit, of dealing with this situation in any way you see fit."
Sloan nodded, then said to Jason, "Your Division is released in this matter, Commander."
"Heard and acknowledged, Sir," Jason said, his eyes turning blue and a feral smile playing over his face. "It's time to do some righteous arsekicking...."
"Grandson," Elizabeth said sternly, but with a knowing twinkle in her eyes, "you might have authority over me in this matter at this time, but I will tan your behind for you later. Watch your tongue!"
Jason hastily apologised before terminating the signal. He turned to find Spock and Sarek standing behind him.
"Where is he?" Spock asked hoarsely, his eyes holding such raw rage and emotion that Jason wished he could back up a few feet.
"Unit base..." was all Jason could say before Spock turned and picked up his communicator.
"Beam me to Camp Bam Bam, Enterprise," he ordered, his tone brooking no tolerance for delay.
"Us too," T'Pol added. "Five to beam to Utah."
Jason watched as Joel's family vanished into the air, then and only then did he allow his held breath to be released. "Fuck me, but are they pissed or are they pissed?!" He tapped his comm, "Draco! Put me through to Adam in Camp Bam Bam!"
'Not possible.'
"Why not?!"
'Because he, all the ferrets and your other half are rampaging around Orlando at this present moment... and as for Juan? I don't think I should tell you....'
"Oh, Holy Mary, Mother of God..." Jason sighed. "Beam me to Nathan's location... NOW!"
"What the fuck was that?" Dillon growled from the front passenger seat of a 1993 Ford Explorer. "That has never happened before!"
"Don't ask questions you wouldn't understand the answers to," Corey snapped from the back seat as he tried to get his beating heart under control.
Levi, driving faster than was safe through the less populated roads of Orlando, grunted. The eighteen year old was a thug of very few words, after all.
"I'm a mess," Dillon whined. "That little shit's green crap got everywhere!"
"Shut the fuck up and just watch for a tail," Corey snapped again. Then, "WATCH OUT!" he screamed.
It was understandable, his scream. Before their speeding vehicle a huge, seven foot six inch tall, 380 pound tiger appeared, standing on its hind legs. It seemed to be waiting calmly in the middle of the road for them. 'Calmly', however, was relative; to the three in the vehicle, this roid-raged beast of vicious death-dealing badassitude looked ANYTHING but calm. That in itself would have made these three scream and piss themselves... but this rather honked off tiger, none other than our beloved Kuan Ti, also had large blood red wings, eyes that threw fire and sparks out, in his rage, and a sword of flame that looked as if it came out of Satan's worst nightmare.
So yeah... Corey screamed.
Levi threw the wheel to the left to try and dodge the beast, but it was much too late. The Explorer slammed into the irritable Tiger, who brought his sword down and cut the engine block off of the truck - bringing it to a jarring halt. The three brothers leapt from the now completely trashed and tiger-fucked Ford, and started running in three separate directions. Levi wasn't making good time, however, as he had busted open his nose in the sudden stop.
Kuan Ti snorted, dropped kicked the arse-end of the vehicle twenty yards down the street away from the engine block, then vanished. He had something else more important to do.
A few minutes later, Brant and Matthew came speeding up to the totalled vehicle and just looked at it.
"What in the name of..." Matthew wondered as he looked at the engine block that was sitting, smouldering, twenty or so yards from the rest of the pitiful looking Ford. "How?"
Brant ignored the question and cursed, "They've split up... this will take a bit longer. Why can't these inconsiderate fucks just stand in one place to be skinned at my leisure?"
"We'll help! Yes, yes! We'll help!" Dave the Ferret High Priest squealed, his voice - high pitched and funny, normally - was as enraged as ever a ferret could make it.
Brant turned to see the Furry Fury Attack Force that was milling around behind him and his boyfriend.
Matthew heard a beep from his pocket and pulled out his VSO datapad. "Finally! They've got us images of these bastards!"
"Show us! Show us! Show us! Show us! Show us! Show us! Show us! Show us!" Dave demanded, as he and Brant crowded around Matthew, who knelt down so that the entire Ferret brigade could see, too.
Brant was about to give orders when two transporter beams appeared, revealing a black dressed Nathan and a sword-armed Adam Casey.
Adam marched up, then stopped dead, as he looked up and down the street at what remained of the Ford. "Listen, I don't mind you getting shinys, Dave - but doing that to a perfectly good vehicle is just taking your fascination for them a tiny bit too far - isn't it?"
"It was like that when we got here," Brant muttered.
Dave pulled himself up to his full height - which wasn't all that impressive, really - and glared at his Commander. "We did not do that. We would never allow a nice Shiny car to be violated in such a way. And We are not amused at your slanderous accusations!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" Adam said, holding his hands out in a peace gesture. He hoped the insane little being wasn't about to bite one of his fingers off just to show what he thought about heretical Anti-Shiny statements.
"You are forgiven. Now, can we get back to the REAL reason we're here? The Devils of Dullness have split up, meaning that we, the Righteous Shiny Avengers, have to split up to bring the Light of Shiny's Wrath upon their Dull heads! Shall I order my flock to split up between the three of you, or shall I take my forces after one of the Dull Devils?" Dave asked in complete and total seriousness.
Adam gave Brant, Matthew and Nathan a long-suffering look. Then he answered the Ferret, "You and the rest of your... flock... follow me. And listen to me on our link, okay? Nathan - you, Matthew and Brant decide which you'll go after. I'm going now. I've a feeling I should go after the youngest one - from what I feel, he's the leader."
As Adam started off, surrounded by a furry sea of righteous raging ferrets, Nathan called out, "Alive, Adam. He's to be brought in alive. We have to know everything that was going on, and death is sometimes too easy."
Adam nodded absently without turning to look at Nathan. His fingers, however, were crossed in his pocket....
Sammy came around in one of the wards in the Med Bay. He wasn't sure how long he had been unconscious, but it didn't seem as if it were too long. Vishnu was at his side, and immediately reached out to take Sammy's hand. "You feeling okay?" the cat-boy asked gently.
Sammy nodded, "My head feels heavy, but I'm okay. What happened?"
Vishnu grew quiet. "You... you don't know why you started to hurt?" he asked, his voice guarded.
Sammy narrowed his eyes, "What's happening, Vish?"
Vishnu closed his eyes and sighed. Then, he told his boyfriend about Joel.
Just out in the hallway, Allen, the twins and the two she-cats came running up to join the rest of the group. Nothing was said about the unclad state of the three humans. Logan simply smiled sadly at Allen and led him to a side room where there were some surgical garments. Kevin and Kenny, however, moved to the window and just had their faces pressed against it. Kenny had wrapped himself around his smaller twin from behind and just held on as Kevin sobbed and sobbed.
Kenny looked up at Amur Khan, "What's happening?"
Amur placed a paw on Kenny's bare shoulder and whispered, "He seems stable, now, but we've not been told anything. No news is good news, Ken."
Kenny nodded miserably, and went back to hugging Kevin tighter and placing gentle kisses to his cheek. "He'll be fine, Kev. We'll help him."
"I know we'll help him," Kevin sobbed, "but raped? Why him, Ken? He's been through so much! WHY?!"
Kenny didn't have an answer.
Brant and Matthew had elected to track one of the remaining targets together, leaving Nathan to deal with the one bleeding. As Brant had said, it would be easier for a human to follow a blood trail and leave the vampire to follow the one without a trail.
Not that Nathan needed the 'help'. He simply set his mind and unleashed his power. Sensing everything around him, he located not only his target, but the other two as well. He turned and ran off at a sprint, using his telekinesis to propel him at a faster speed than was normal.
'Odd that there isn't anyone outside at this time in the morning,' he thought to himself.
The explanation was simple, however. Cynoeswr the Guardian of Earth was busy: Orlando was currently flush with spiritual forces and everyone living in that area had an irresistible urge to stay inside and hide under the nearest sturdy object...
It did not take him long to track down Levi Scottman. The young man was leaning against a garden wall, trying to catch his breath and stem the flow of blood from his nose. He looked big, mean and ugly to Nathan.
Not that it mattered to a VSO trained stone cold killer such as Nathan Evans. "You know, you're going to be bleeding out of places you never thought you had, shithead. I'd stop worrying about your nose, if I were you." he grated as he came to stand a few feet away from the eighteen year old punk.
Levi blinked stupidly at the tiny twelve year old and pulled a face. "Fuck off, shrimp," he slurred. His busted nose was making him sound even less intelligent than normal.
"No. You are under arrest, under the authority of the Vulcan Special and Covert Ops Divisions. You have the right to a Vulcan trial, to a masive arse-kicking, if you resist - I hope - and to be fucked over royally for hurting MY LITTLE BROTHER!" Nathan finished with an enraged yell.
Levi grinned and pushed himself away from the wall. "I feel like another playtoy has turned up. You asked for it, shrimp. Your ass will feel like it's been fucked by a bull!"
Nathan's eyes narrowed as Levi lumbered toward him. He waited until Levi was about to grab him before darting around behind the eighteen year old and shoving him, face first, into the ground.
Levi came back up raging and spitting blood, for his lip was now split, as well. He charged at Nathan, who sent him flying, with a Klingon move.
Most normal humans wouldn't bounce after such a throw. Somehow, however, Levi did. Fifteen times.
Nathan's eyes were now bright blue, and his telekinesis was on full blast.
The order he had given to Adam was conveniently forgotten....
Dillon was having even less of a good time than his older brother Levi.
Brant had gotten to him. Matthew was sitting on a nearby wall eating an apple as he watched Brant use his Dark Gift to crush the bones on the seventeen year old's fingers and toes.
"You missed one," Matthew said casually, pointing to Dillon's right thumb.
The screams were loud and long.
The last of the three brothers was not in quite so much pain, but he was actually shitting himself just as much:
Corey had never been this scared. He'd never before had to run from anything, and never before had he been this terrified. First, there was that fucking demon-cat-thing in the road - that wasn't really there - and now there was an army of furry little monsters after him.
Every time he turned a corner, they were there... he couldn't seem to outrun them, nor ever lose them. He almost wondered if he wasn't having a bad trip from some drug, except for the hundreds of little cuts all over his body from the razor sharp little claws of the furry demon things.
Running, that's all he could think about right now. Running from the demons and running from the pain. He stumbled when he heard a voice inside his head. Never before had he heard pure rage like this, but now he did:
'Bring him to me... he's mine!'
Corey tried to turn and run the other way, but he was met by a group of at least twenty of the little demon things, walking towards him. Stumbling backwards, he again started to run.
Tears were clouding his vision as he turned another corner, only to suddenly be sent flying through the air by a blow to his chest. He hit the ground hard, and felt all the air rush out of his lungs. Nothing happened for a few moments as he regained his breath, but only when he did, did he finally open his eyes.
When he looked around, he almost shit himself. In a ring around him were a large number of the furry little demons, but standing in the ring with him was a kid a little bigger then he was, holding a sword with the point swinging lazily around about an inch from the ground. He coughed as he got to his feet, backing up slowly from the kid with the sword. "What the fuck, dude?!?! What's going on?" he croaked.
The armed boy smiled, but it was not a smile that eased Corey's mind, in the least. "My teacher would not look kindly upon me, if I killed you without even introducing myself," he said coldly before he flourished his sword and bowed slightly. "My name is Adam Casey. As to what's happening...? Well that is simple; vengeance, that is what's happening."
"Vengeance?!?! For what? I ain't done shit!" Corey protested, as he tried to figure out how to get out of this mess.
"'For what?'" Adam barked out with a laugh. "Did you forget so easily the boy you raped and tried to murder?"
"What?!" Corey laughed, his eyes filling with memories - and evil. Adam could clearly see that. Corey laughed out, "This is about him?!?! What the fuck, dude?! He's was just a little alien shit... who the fuck cares about what happens to him??"
Adam was in his face in a flash, and had the kid by the throat. He held him about two feet off the ground and shouted into his face, "Icare! About five and a half thousand people care about him, and would cheerfully DIE for him! An entire fucking PLANET will likely go to WAR, to avenge him!"
"Why?" coughed Corey around the hand restricting his throat. "He's a weak little shit... what's to care about?"
"Weak?!?!" Adam screamed, spittle fling into Corey's face from a mere inch away. "Joel is anything BUT weak! You're the weak one, fucker!"
Corey managed an evil smile and croaked out, "Yeah... weak. He tried to 'rescue' the two little shits that we was having fun with, but when he saw me, he just about shit himself. So yeah... I'd call him weak."
With a scream of utter rage, Adam hurled the smaller boy away from him, causing the ferrets to scatter. Quickly they reformed their circle around Adam and Corey, making sure that the smaller boy could not get away. "I'll show you weak!" Adam cried out in rage, as he charged at the boy, sword held high. Adam swung with everything that he had, knowing that a normal mortal couldn't move fast enough to dodge the decapitating blow that he was going to deliver.
What Adam was not prepared for, though, was his blade being stopped no more then a foot away from Corey's neck. Stopped by another blade meeting his.
Sparks flew as the swords clashed together, producing a sound like a peal of thunder.
Adam never missed a beat. He was shocked, but his training would allow for no less than an instant recovery. He quickly rolled to the side and brought his sword around so he could face off with the new threat that had rescued the teenage, evil rapist on the ground.
Adam looked over the man in front of him briefly before attacking. The stranger was a nondescript man wearing a black trench coat, and wielding a sword. His distinguishing features were that he was about seven feet tall and his eyes seemed ageless.
Again the swords crashed together, and Adam was again shocked. No normal sword or normal human should have been able to resist the strength that Adam had put into his last two blows.
But Adam did not have time to worry about that, for the fight was on. Blow for blow, the man was able to block everything that Adam threw at him. For a brief moment, Adam started to worry whethef this stranger was actually going to be able to defeat him. The only two people who ever had been able to do that were Master Takamora and Chang. Adam was barely able to spare a moment to make sure that Corey had not escaped, but he had to risk it.
Satisfied that he was not able to get away from the Ferrets, Adam redoubled his efforts to get this mystery man out of his way. This raping, murderous fucker was going to pay, and NO ONE was going to stop him - especially not this weird, tall man.
Unfortunately for Adam, the man was better than he was. Within twenty seconds Adam had had his sword stripped away from him, and the stranger's blade was at his throat.
Slowly, Adam raised his arms in surrender, and surprisingly, the man's blade slowly fell from his throat.
"This one is not to die," the man said, in a voice that seemed no more than a whisper. "His death is not to be at your hands."
Adam could think of nothing to say as he stared at the man in front of him. The man whipped his sword at Corey and said in a slightly louder voice, "Look at him, Master of Arms... look at him, and know him for who he truly is!"
Adam felt his face drain of all colour as he, for the first time, really looked at Corey. Not just with his eyes, but with his mind, as well. Never before had Adam felt so much pure evil from a human or alien; and it was then that he recognized the kid. He had seen him before, from a shared memory... but only what this 'Corey' would look like as an adult, as an older man.
The strange man sheathed his sword, as all the fight left Adam. "You know what must be done. He must not die. He is the 'Opposite and Equal', and his death would shatter all that is."
Adam simply nodded and looked over at Dave. He pointed at Corey, "Bind him... but he is NOT to be hurt any more then he already is." He could clearly read the disappointment in the ferret's face, but they did as they were told.
Adam retrieved his sword and looked back up at the stranger, but the man was gone. Shaking his head slowly, Adam pulled out his communicator to contact Jason.
Jason had had a fairly easy time saving Levi from being beaten to a telekineticly induced pulp by Nathan. He used the simple expedient of suspending Nathan's mind for a second and having Levi beamed to the Yoshuhlnak's brig, then kissing Nathan back to rationality.
"You spoil-sport," Nathan groused moodily once the kiss had done its work.
Jason made a face, "You know the rules, Fire. In such a touchy situation, we MUST follow the letter of Vulcan law, and.... what was that?" Jason looked to where a distant scream had come from. "Oh, GOD! Brant!"
Nathan paled as he also reached out his mind and linked with Matthew's. "We'd better get there fast, Jace!"
"Draco! Transport us to Matthew's location now!"
Draco did so, and both boys appeared before a macabre piece of vampiric 'living' art. Dillon no longer had recognisable arms and legs, and his weakening cries for mercy were barely audible through his screams of pain.
"Brant, you must stop this!" Jason yelled as he strode over to come between the red-eyed vampire and the screaming mass on the floor.
Brant spat back, "Get away from me, Jason. This is vengeance!"
"Is it justice? Is it what the Clan stands for? To punish before trial?"
"I've already found him guilty. I've read his sick, perverted mind. I know procedure as well as you do, Jace!"
"Not VSO procedure, and that is what we're running under, right now."
"By whose authority!" Brant raged. "The Clan has been given power by Vulcan, and only the Patriarch could tell me to stop!"
"I'm Patriarch! Cory is not here, and Joel is down. I'm in charge. As for the authority? The Vulcan High Command, The Federation President and the entire League of Nations! Now stand down, Brandar!"
"No!" Brant yelled as he tried to push Jason out of the way.
Jason stood his ground, his eyes now bright blue and fiery.
Brant squared off. "Don't make me hurt you." His voice was low and dangerous.
Jason remained where he was.
Brant's sudden strike with his abilities was like the Unstoppable Force. Only problem was that Jason had become the Immovable Object. Shining Red Eyes met Shining Blue, and Nathan backed up a few steps as he 'saw' the ripples of mind energy flowing back and forth.
Brant tried to use his Gift on the teen on the floor, Jason shut him down. Brant tried to use his speed to knock Jason aside, Jason used Telekinesis to throw Brant away.
Back and forth they fought, but only over a space of less than three feet in diameter. Brant was slowly getting more and more enraged, but Jason was still as calm as possible. The Welsh boy's nose was running free with blood, and Nathan knew that his lover was in pain - but that was why the VSO went through the Trial of Fire. Pain no longer held meaning.
Brant made one mistake. Just one. In his anger, he opened a part of his mind so that he could strike out at Jason - and Jason's own thoughts swooped in and shut Brant down hard.
Falling like a dead tree, Brant would have injured himself on the ground had not Jason caught him with his power. Tapping his comm, Jason called to Telez, "Brother, beam the bloody mess behind me to the ship's sickbay and keep him alive, if you can."
"Understood, Voice."
The screaming thing that had once been a seventeen year old boy vanished.
Matthew moved over to where Jason was now cradling Brant as the vampire slept. "He's going to be pissed," Matthew muttered.
Jason whispered, "I know."
Then, he broke down in tears. Matthew and Nathan cuddled in either side of the Welsh Patriarch and tried to soothe him, but Jason would have none of it.
"I never wanted to fight him. Not ever. Why did this have to happen? Why Joel? Why? It's not right, brother fighting against brother. It's not fair! WHY?? WHY!"
He cried, and hugged Brant to himself as tight as he could.
"Um, Jace?" Matthew whispered.
"What?" sobbed the boy.
"He won't be too mad. He's now going to have a few thousand US credits to play with," Matthew half smiled.
Nathan cocked his head to one side, "What do you mean?"
"Well, in the Tardis we were betting on who could beat who in the war games? Well, someone asked what would ever happen if Brant and Jace ever had a duel. Everyone bet on Brant, him being undead and a vampire and all..." Matthew trailed off with a wicked grin.
"Don't tell me you bet on Jason!" Nathan exclaimed. "You bet against your own boyfriend?"
Matthew nodded, "Yeah. Brant is my boyfriend and Jace is my best friend - I could have bet on a draw, but... I just knew that Brant would lose in a fight."
"How did you know?" Jason asked, wiping the tears from his eyes. Pointless, as more replaced them.
"'Cos you can put your emotions away and they won't affect you. Brant can't... and you're the sneakiest mother-fucker I've ever seen. You'd exploit that weakness."
Nathan shook his head in wonder, then asked, "What was the odds against Jason?"
"500 to one," Matthew smirked.
"And how much did you bet?" Jason asked curiously as he tears finally came to a stop.
"Oh, not a lot... just my savings," Matthew giggled, his smirk getting a little bigger.
"FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS?!" Nathan and Jason exclaimed.
Matthew's grin became angelic, but both boys could see his horns. "Juan is NOT going to be happy. No sir!"
After a little over ten blocks, he knew he was close. The blood on the ground was very new, and Juan could sense he was in the right area.
What was puzzling him was the fact that these two boys he was chasing were bleeding bad... how the hell had they made it this far so fast? And why hadn't anyone stopped to help them or hinder them?
Then again, where WAS everyone? There wasn't a soul in sight.
Shaking off the questions and focusing more on his rage, Juan hurried on. He was in a somewhat run down suburban neighbourhood, and soon he found himself standing in front of a nicely kept, if some what run-down, smaller house. He could see that the blood trail dripped it's way inside and knew he found where the assholes had gone. Juan grinned to himself as he drew his weapons. No guns for this one, they would be too quick. The swords he was carrying could be used with much less lethal effect, but still able to unleash the Hell he so longed to release. Normally he might have cried out a battle cry, but instead he just calmly walked up to the door and kicked it in.
Juan was ready for just about anything. What he saw when he entered the front room of the house was not one of those things. Due to his training, when he kicked in the front door, his eyes flashed from left to right taking in everything, looking for anything that might be a danger to him. What he saw was anything but. To the left he saw two middle aged people, a man and a woman, both dead - and from the looks of them, they'd been dead for at least a day and a half. In the middle of the room was a broken table and chair. Obviously someone had ransacked this house. What he saw to the right, though, stopped him dead in his tracks.
Two boys were sitting on the floor, one was maybe a year older then Juan, the other slightly older than that. Both of them had bright blond hair that was streaked with blood and dirt. Only one of them looked up as Juan burst into the room, and the tear-filled blue eyes held a pain that Juan knew very well. What stopped him was not that. In the state he was in right now, Juan would not have stopped simply because they looked pitiful. What stopped him was the 'someone' behind them... someone who was cuddling both boys, and someone he knew well.
Kuan Ti looked up, his flaming eyes subdued by the tears that fell from them; his fiery wings holding the two boys tight against his chest. His large striped fur arms clutched both of them gently. He met Juan's eyes, and uttered a single word, "Look."
Juan did.
Kuan Ti's wings moved from around the boys, and Juan saw the state they were really in. His anger evaporated, and he focused his mind. Juan looked deep into theirs and saw the horror of what they had been made to live through. Juan knew that these boys may have been involved in the assault upon Joel, but they did not do so, of their own free will. They were just as much victims as Joel was.
"Look after them, little brother," Kuan Ti said, in a low rumble. "Your elder brothers will deal with the others. I am entrusting these two to you, for now. The one such as yourself will know what to do to make them whole again. Please help them, little brother... they deserve it." And with that, Kuan Ti faded.
Now Juan had the reason for the kids getting here before him. His big tiger angel-brother.
The one who looked up at Juan finally spoke, as Juan put his swords away. "Please... just let us die."
Juan had seen that kind of pain and suffering before. He knew what he had to do. Slowly he walked over, and clutched both boys to himself. They were hurt and couldn't put up a struggle even if they had wanted to.
"Not on my watch..." Juan said softly, then touched the sub-vocal that was in his ear. "Daileass... transport us to the secure med wing, and have a doctor there. I've got two injured, here."
As usual, Daileass' answer came in the form of a transporter beam.
I must point out that editing this chapter didn't take me nearly as long as did the last one. I already know what to expect, at least a bit more than I did in the last chapter. I had glanced at the work in progress of the last chapter, and realized that I would not be capable of reading it twice in a short period of time, and that I had to read it carefully, while I was editing it, so I didn't pay too much attention to the 1st chapter as it was being written.
This chapter, however, was going to have some pay back involved, and I simply couldn't resist reading it while it was in progress.
I wonder just who these two youngsters are. I guess we will need to wait for chapter three or later, to find that out.
Let us hope that there won't be too much time before we can see chapter 3.
I am impressed by this one, and I am very touched by what happened at the end, here.
Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher