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Sarek and Amanda walked into the waiting room with Trip and T'Pol, and all four were met by Allen and Logan. Sarek asked bluntly, "How is he?"
Allen replied, "Stable, but still in surgery. Leonard won't elaborate yet, and the tension is taking its toll on us all — more so on Kevin. He won't leave the window out in the hallway, and Kenny had to force him into some hospital pyjamas. Where is Spock?"
"Out there arguing with the orderlies, but they won't let him into the room," Amanda sighed. Her face was pale and her legs unsteady.
"Please sit, Amanda," Allen said, gesturing to the nearest chair.
After she had sat down, Sarek sat next to her and looked up at Allen and Logan, "Do you have anything that you can tell us?"
Logan sighed and sat down opposite the Vulcan Ambassador, "Not much. What do you know already?"
"Only what that fucking Code Draco broadcast revealed," Trip spat out before slamming his fist into the nearest wall. "I just want to know what has happened to my grandson, who did it, where they are and how long it will take me to put them balls first into a Warp plasma stream!" he yelled in frustration.
Ordinarily, T'Pol would have tried to calm her husband, but one look at her face told Logan that she thought her husband was intending on being too easy on the perpetrators. Logan cleared his throat and looked back at Sarek, "What we know is really what we've seen from the window ourselves. He had a knife stuck in his chest — from the angle, it looks like the one who attacked him didn't know much about Vulcan anatomy. Which is a good thing, for it would have killed him had he been human. Other than that, we couldn't see much."
Sarek's hands were already balled into fists, and he started shaking with impotent rage once he heard about the knife. "I will kill them myself. I swear it. I have over a hundred of your years left to my life, and I swear I will make their dying last that long," he said, his voice quiet and like ice.
Allen nodded slowly before moving to the door to check on Spock. He saw the Vulcan man standing with Kevin, Kenny and Sammy pulled in front of him — and none of the four could tear their eyes from the window. Next to them, Mike Reynolds and Vishnu were watching them carefully; ready to help if any of them needed it. Allen turned back and moved to the nearest chair, "Spock is with my two and Samuel. It's quiet out there for now."
"That will not last," T'Pol stated slowly, as she forced her husband to sit before sitting next to him. "It will get very noisy soon."
Amanda looked directly at Logan, "Any word on those that did this?"
Logan shook his head, "Not yet. My partner and Nathan beamed out about twenty minutes ago, and I think my little brother Juan was already gone by that time. If anyone can find the fuckers, it's them. Sorry for the language."
"Do not apologise," Amanda smiled sadly. "I've heard worse in all my years. Said worse as well."
Silence then fell on the room. Logan got up and walked across to where Jory and Will were standing with Billy, Donna and Tristan and tried to get them to sit as well. None wished to.
It was all a waiting game, now.
"Adam to Jason," Adam Casey said into his communicator.
"Receiving... ouch, Nath'! My nose won't bend that far!... sorry, Adam. What is it?"
Adam blinked. "What the hell have you done to your nose?"
"Had a mind-fight with Brant. The strain gave me a nose bleed. Nothing serious. What's up?" Jason replied.
Adam rolled his eyes before reporting, "We have our target ready. Do we take him to Utah, or...?"
Jason answered easily, "Well, at least he's alive by that statement. Put a call into Telez and have him beamed to my ship. The other two are there as well."
"That answers the problem I was foreseeing," Adam muttered.
"Agreed. In Utah, there's too many ways for someone to get in there and take vengeance before we can get all the information."
"To be honest, Jace, I am one of those who feels that way. I nearly killed this one myself, but - someone - stopped me."
"Who?"
"Got no idea. Some huge guy with a sword and then, once he'd made me... there's something you need to know about this boy, Jace. Tell you when I see you. Anyway, the big fucker just vanished as if he wasn't there at all. Weirdest thing I've seen," Adam replied. "See you back at the base?"
"Certainly. Things are going to go south with all this, and I need information before they do. The whole Earth-Vulcan alliance is hanging on this one. Jason out."
Adam touched the comm-badge again and called out, "Adam Casey to Telez, I have someone for transport."
A second later, Telez answered, "Is it the human male in the middle of a ring of small furry fuzzballs?"
"That would be the little shit, yes," Adam stated firmly.
"Is he in need of medical treatment like his older brothers?"
"Apart from a sore throat and a few cracked ribs, not much. I wasn't gentle with him," Adam replied as he gave Corey a quick glance. "Oh! Neither were the ferrets. He's cut all over."
Corey was crouched in the middle of the ring of said ferrets and glaring at Adam fiercely. There was little fear in his eyes, now. Since someone had stopped Adam from killing him, Corey felt emboldened.
"You were much easier than Brant was on the one called Dillon. You don't want to see the mess we have on the bio-bed. Okay, transporting the fifth and last of them."
As Corey was snatched away by a Vulcan transporter beam, his eyes widening in shock, Adam asked, "There were five? I thought it was just these three!"
"Correct. Juan has the last two with him in Utah.... Jesus Christ! Who attacked this one with a weed eater?!"
"Like I said... the ferrets," Adam laughed shortly. Then he stopped and asked incredulously, "You mean Juan let his targets live?!"
"Apparently. Good thing, too. VSO Command would have been a little upset otherwise. Chat later, my human friend. I have a lot to do and little time to get it done in. Telez out."
"Wonders will never cease," Adam muttered as he closed his own link and walked up to Dave and the other ferrets. "Time to go home," he said softly.
Dave nodded, then asked, "Who was that Dull Twit who called us 'Fuzzballs'? I want to have a few words with him to bring the Fear of Shiny on him!"
Adam barely held his laugh in. "Telez is your Joel's brother, and his cousin. And he is also as nuts as you, my little Davey Fuzzball!"
Dave scowled at Adam for a moment then shrugged. "You will regret that 'Fuzzball' comment," he muttered as he turned back to his flock.
Adam shook his head. Dave had totally missed the 'nuts' comment... Sighing with a long suffering sigh, Adam called Daileass for mass transport.
Ollie appeared through the doors from the Dining Room, having just transported over from Wales, and ran over to where Timmy, Ricky and Austin were recovering. Iori was being carried by him, and was gently deposited next to William and Duke before Ollie fell into the three boys' arms to sob with them.
Levi looked at his two brothers. "There's no more we can do here, but you stay with them. I better check on Uncle Joel."
Bryce nodded, "I don't feel anything bad's happened, though. Yet I know something bad has. It's strange."
"I know," Levi fretted. "Look after them. I'll be back when I c..."
Quint appeared suddenly and said, "I was off playing when I felt you three calling. Getting back into Alpha Prime was difficult for some reason. What's happened?"
"Joel's been attacked," Dylan said urgently. But before he could explain, Telez' voice came over the comm system.
"Could one of the Mikyvis please call me quickly? I have an... unpleasant issue."
Levi exchanged a long look with Dylan before sighing and reaching to tap the comm-badge on Austin's chest, "What's wrong, Uncle Tel?"
"One of Joel's attackers is in a bad way here and we need him in good order to run the official investigation. Brant more than did a number on him. Could one of you heal him up for us, please? I know it's not something you'd really want to do, but it is something we need."
Levi's eyes hardened for a brief moment at the request. Dylan and Bryce started swearing and shaking their heads.
Quint sighed himself, "Bloody soft hearted mortal lovers. Telez, I shall come. If it's what I think it is, it will be a lot of work for the Mikyvis to do anyway. I'd have an easier time with it." And with a flash of light, he vanished.
Levi, his eyes wide at his friend's outburst, looked back and forth between his brothers.
"Your friend is... a little strange," Dylan said diplomatically in a quiet voice.
Levi nodded absently before vanishing away to go to Joel's side.
Bryce squeezed his little brother's shoulder, "Come on. Our brothers need us 'soft hearted mortal lovers'... Quint can be a reeeeaal prick at times."
"Yeah," Dylan echoed.
Kirk, who was now at the other end of the room talking to Justy, suddenly had a message from Chip Dodds on the Enterprise, "Sir, we have an issue. A serious issue!"
Kirk's eyes widened. He opened his own communicator and asked, "What can be worse that what's happening already?"
"The orders we just got in from my brother, sir."
Kirk felt a thrill of dread run up his spine. "And those orders were?"
"To target the location of my nephew's rapists... and destroy it. Now, I wouldn't normally be too upset by such an order, but the current location of three of them is Jason's ship, the Yoshuhlnak, and the other two are in Camp Bam Bam... Like I said... we have an issue... wait... now he's signalling that if I don't open fire right now, he'll beam up and... the rest is a bit graphic. He's pissed, Admiral!"
Telez led Quint through the ship to the Sick-Bay. "Thank you for coming, Quint," he said. "I'm sorry I had to ask, but..."
"Don't apologise, Andorian. I am not led by my heart as you are. If you need something, I'll do it if I agree," Quint said softly.
In reality, hearing that Joel had been attacked had seared his soul, and the little Q was not taking it too well. He had therefore fallen into his people's natural tendency to distance themselves from what they deemed 'the Lesser Races'.
Telez did not react, but if he had, it would have been with a very Vulcan style rise of an eyebrow. "This way, then," he said diplomatically as he entered the Sick-Bay and moved to the bio-bed containing what was once a normal looking 17 year old human. Dillon was, thankfully for him, in forced sedation.
"Interesting," Quint said after looking Dillon over for a moment or so. "His bones have been turned to liquid. I was right — Levi would have been hard pressed to fix this. Shouldn't cause me an issue, however," he finished, snapping his fingers.
Dillon was instantly 'normal' again.
"There. Beam him or whatever to the brig. I'm going to see Levi," Quint said before vanishing instantly.
Telez coughed to himself before signalling for a VSO security officer to carry the still unconscious Dillon to the brig to join his brothers. Then, once he had left the Sick-Bay, he commented on the now departed Q-boy, "What a fucking prick!"
Nathan appeared in the Entrance Hall of the Med-Bay and quickly made his way to Spock's side. The Vulcan had just finished a comm-chat with Kirk, and was looking a little more put out that he had been moments before. Nathan decided that talking to his a'nirih right now would not be prudent. Instead, he cuddled in with Sammy and the Thompson twins. "What's the news?" he asked, looking in through the window to see Dr McCoy working on Joel.
"Dunno," Kevin trembled. "They won't say anything."
Sammy glanced at Nathan, "I say that's good news, but I'm still nervous. He don't look to good in there."
Nathan could do nothing other than agree. Joel's face was pale and wan, and the skin covering his thin body seemed almost lifeless — at least from this distance.
He would have given anything to be in there right now, just to know what was going on.
Spock was feeling just as powerless. He turned and went to find his father - he needed another meld to help calm himself.
"I need something to eat," Sammy said weakly. "I didn't finish my breakfast and I feel all shaky."
Vishnu nodded toward the waiting room where Spock had just gone to, "We can get something in there, Sammy."
Mike, standing close by, came over and took both their hands — settling the matter. He led them after Spock, and they disappeared through the door, which closed behind them.
Kevin ignored it all, and continued to watch what was happening to his beloved. Kenny and Nathan simply stayed and hugged themselves around the hurting little boy.
Inside the Emergency Room, the tension of the past half hour had decreased a lot. Joel was, in fact, in far better health that when he had arrived.
"That's all I can do for now," Janet said as she moved from the head of the biobed. The unit she had placed on Joel's forehead was still working, but it was on standard settings now.
Bones nodded, "His brain will now either heal by itself or not. Vulcans are extraordinary in that regard. Take a break, Dr Hayes — you too, Antonio. Christine and I can manage for now."
Antonio nodded. Before he left the bio-bed, however, he moved around to reach Joel's head. He then lent down and kissed the little Vulcan's cheek. "Love you, Joel. Please let this be the last time I see you on a bio-bed, okay?" he whispered with tears beginning to form in his eyes.
Bones watched with compassion as Antonio turned and ran sobbing from the room to be caught in a hug by the boys watching outside. He thought to himself, 'At least they'll get to know the details by someone who can explain them more on their level.' Bones then turned back to continue working on Joel, "Christine, we need to use the bed, but his energy levels are too low. I'm out of ideas, here."
Daileass was quick to respond, 'Ah, Doc? I've just gotten some information from a... friend. It'll appear on the monitor to your right.'
"From this Ark character you mentioned?" Bones asked as he handed his tricorder to Chang who put it away.
"Who?" Doctor Chapel queried as she looked up briefly from the small child on the bed.
'An AI friend of the Clan,' Daileass supplied, hoping they would leave the questions there. He and Antonio had slipped up earlier in their panic, and now he had to cover the fact that Ark didn't want Starfleet to know about her.
Bones grunted before looking over the monitor. "Mmm. Okay, I can live with standard earth treatments. Christine, get me an IV. I'll replicate what we need. Then the Bio-bed can run on full power mode." He then turned to Chang, "Son, go outside and be with your brothers. Thank you for everything, but you've done enough, now."
Chang mutely nodded his head, "Thank you, Doctor." He turned and quickly joined Antonio with the others, outside.
Janet had moved into the next room to check on the boy and his father that had called in the rescue for Joel. After looking around at the soaked state of the room and its occupants, she looked at the only other adult in there. "Mr Gibson, right?" she asked, as she reached to shake the man's hand. She stopped the motion when she noticed Joel's blood all over her. "Excuse me, I need to wash up first," she apologised wearily. "It has been an exhausting half hour."
"Understandable, and no need," Mr Gibson said softly as he took her hand anyway. "I had his blood on me too. Is he okay? He's too sweet a child to have been through this. Please say he's okay."
Janet looked at the man, then at his son, Ralph — who was sitting with the two cheetahs and Jared and Mickey. "He'll be... okay. I think. There's some things we don't know yet, but he's out of the woods, as they say," she answered before raising her voice and asking Mercury, "What happened in here? We heard the sirens for the fire alarm going... and what happened to your brother's ear?!" she finished with a shout as she rushed over to check Hermes.
"It's nothing," Hermes muttered, his ear wiggling painfully. It had a small hole that had seemed to be punched right through it. There seemed very little blood, however.
"He's gonna get a ear-ring — at least until it heals," Mercury giggled softly. His giggles didn't last long, however.
Both cheetahs were filled with remorse over Joel. They were detailed as his guard, and they had let him down badly. They were notlooking forward to Adam getting a hold of them.
"This is a phaser wound!" Janet tutted softly before asking, "Who did this?"
Jared meekly raised his hand, "Me, Mrs Hayes. I'm sorry, but I thought Ralph here was the one who had hurt Joel, and... well..."
Janet put the pieces together quickly, "So you acted like Juan. I'm going to have a long talk with you later, young man. And with him — he's a bad influence on the rest of you."
Jared quickly hid his 'WWJD' bracelet, and smiled meekly at her.
Before she could do more than turn back towards Mr Gibson, the son in question sent a message telepathically to her. Juan's voice was serious and concerned all at once, 'Mom? Do you think you can come to Treatment Room 3? I've got two boys here that really need some help.'
Janet narrowed her eyes. 'Didn't you run off after the bastards who did this to Joel?'
'Uh, yeah... and I found the two I was chasing, but...'
Before Juan could finish, Janet was off and running. She left the room Mr Gibson and the others were in, turned right and ran down the corridor, before skidding into Treatment Room 3.
'Are you sure? Five of them?' Kevin sent as tears flowed from his eyes. He had to use his telepathy, no matter how shaky he was with it, for his voice had betrayed him completely.
Antonio nodded sadly, "Yeah. Five. It's all strange, though, because..."
They were distracted suddenly by Janet as she tore out of the room next to the ER, her face as angry as when she had been working on Joel.
Kevin focused his mind at her the best he was able, and since he was in full empathic mode right now — having been surrounding himself in the love he felt coming from his twin, Nathan, Chang and Antonio — he easily felt her rage.
He also picked up the disjointed thought from her that Juan had caught two of Joel's attackers.
He pulled his empathy back in with one fluid motion of his mind and icily started down the corridor towards the door Janet had darted into. Antonio had said that it had been five boys hurting and raping Joel. Five. Well, two of them were in that room: and Kevin felt a perverse pleasure in the thought that soon he would have their testicles in his hand... and that he would be crushing them.
Slowly.
Then he would get nasty.
He strode into the Treatment Room to see Janet standing with her arms on her hips and glaring down at Juan. Juan seemed to be standing as if to protect the two boys who were cuddled together on the bed behind him.
"Explain, Juan. Why should I help them?" Janet asked, her voice frosty.
Juan opened his mouth to explain, but then saw Kevin standing ridged in the doorway. "Oh shit," the small half-Klingon sighed.
Janet spun around.
Kevin wasn't looking at either of them. He was staring in horror at the state of the two boys. The blood on them. The red blood and their wounds... and the green. The green, Vulcan blood that was around their privates.
With a snarl of pure hatred, he leapt into motion directly for them. Both boys squealed in terror and cuddled in further together.
Kevin made it all of two feet before slamming into an immovable object. Juan.
"No, Kev! Don't!" Juan exclaimed as he easily held the straining boy back.
Pushing with his feet, and not ripping his eyes from the two on the bed, Kevin only snarled over and over. Pure rage and unthinking vengeance was in his eyes. He was not even acknowledging the fact that someone was blocking his way. He was beyond rational thought.
Juan sighed internally. Nothing he could say right now would break through to Kevin. He had himself experienced more than anyone's fair share of 'blood-rages'. He knew that Kevin would either have to expend it on the objects of his hatred — which Juan could not allow — or to expend it trying to get to them.
With another resigned internal sigh, Juan became almost like a brick wall to stop Kevin.
The smaller boy kept pushing against the larger one, at first not realizing that he was not getting anywhere. Slowly, Juan saw some rational thought creep back into Kevin's gaze, and tried again to get through to him, "Kev - stop, okay? They're not the bad guys here. They were hurt too, and... oooppphfffff!" Juan's breath rushed out as Kevin used the palm of his hand to smartly swat at his balls, causing him to lean forward ever so slightly. Thump! Juan was on his back, having been neatly judo thrown by the far smaller and lighter Kevin.
"Sonofabitch!" Juan cursed as he back-flipped to his feet and quickly got between Kevin and the bed. Another two feet closer, but again, Kevin found his way blocked.
Now fully aware that someone was preventing him from reaching the objects of his wrath, Kevin got slightly pissed. He flipped his hand at Juan's crotch again, but Juan was now expecting it and grabbed Kevin's wrist. Using a move that Juan himself had taught him in the Tardis, Kevin got his hand away and then aimed a light but distracting blow to Juan's Adam's apple in the same movement. Juan saw it coming and ducked his neck and head to the side, but....
Again, unstable due to the unexpected and seemingly logical strikes, Juan was tossed to the floor.
"Fuck this fucking shit!" Juan yelled as he had to, once again, race his Klingon ass off to get between Kevin and the bed that the two boys were on.
"Language, young man!" Janet scolded.
Dragging Kevin back toward the door was tough, even for him.
The reason?
Juan dared not do anything that could hurt Kevin.
When Joel had melded with him in order to heal him of his split personality, and again to 'de-program' him, Juan had experienced all of Joel's life as if it were his own. This was an experience shared with Adam, Logan, Jory, Will and Chang. They had all lived Joel's life as if they had been Joel. They had felt his pain, his grief, his fear — his love. All as if it were their own. Therefore, in a way unique to those who had melded that way with the dear little boy in the ER, Juan loved Kevin as much as Joel himself did. Not a love such as that between himself and Koth, for that was his own. No, this was a love that was loved vicariously through a life that had been relived by all the core of the UNIT.
Juan could no more hurt Kevin than Joel could.
But neither could he allow this sweet boy, his brother Kevin, to get to the two boys on the bed.
Both boys were the reason Joel had been seriously hurt — but not because they had caused it directly.
Joel had tried to save them; and in doing so, had become seriously hurt and abused, himself.
If anyone was to kill them, thinking it were vengeance for Joel, Joel's pains and sorrow and hurts that he was now having to go through would be rendered meaningless.
Juan was NOT about to let HIS Joel's sacrifice be made in vain. Not a chance in hell.
Yet that was now the quandary he faced. He could easily stop Kevin. A smart blow to the side of Kevin's head would render him unconscious... but he couldn't bring himself to hurt a boy he loved as much as he did Joel.
It was just not possible.
And it was bloody frustrating for the now irate Klingon.
Janet watched all this, guessing at Juan's reasons for restraint. Also, just by watching how passionately Juan was defending the two beaten and bleeding boys cuddling and crying in fear on the bed, she knew that they could not possibly be guilty of hurting Joel. At least, there was enough reason for her to give them the benefit of the doubt; enough until her son could get the time — which could be a while ahead, judging by how the fight was playing out — to give her the details. She moved over to them and, with a gentle smile, started scanning them with her tricorder. After seeing how much pain they were in, she quickly used a pain suppressant hypospray to help.
Meanwhile, the fight was fast becoming very dirty. One sided, but dirty.
Kevin threw punch after punch at Juan, while his mind seethed with hatred and a thirst for revenge that was directed at the two innocent boys on the bed. His feet flew with precision and force at the wall that Juan had become, and he used everything that he had learned while in the Tardis.
It wasn't enough, though.
He wouldn't fail his love; he just couldn't... and so he changed his tactics....
Suddenly.
He leaped up and wrapped his legs around Juan's chest and drove his left thumb into Juan's left eye. At the same time he viciously latched on to Juan's ear with his teeth. He began to dig into the eye with his thumb as he literally tried to tear the ear off with his chompers.
Juan was slowly getting more and more impressed with this wiry little terrier now growling and chewing on his ear. The change in tactics was interesting, and highly imaginative. It was even giving him ideas himself for future fights of his own.
Juan actually grinned and inwardly chuckled. Yes, Kevin was a fighter that he would feel honoured to have at his side in a battle, and a brazen little terror all on his own.
He was beginning to really like this little guy: not simply due to the love via the memories from Joel, and neither due because of Kevin's relationship with Joel — This was just for Kevin himself. Yes, Kevin was going to be a great friend, all in his own right; and Juan couldn't be happier that his Joel had such a lover as to defend him this way. Yes, Juan suddenly decided. He liked Kevin.
That was, of course, until he felt Kevin's teeth begin to tear his ear off!
'Okay! Like is one thing, but this fucking hurts!' Juan winced as he used his telekinesis to unlatch Kevin's teeth. He quickly got Kevin out of the leech-like death lock the small fighter had on him and started to put him into a hold that would, 1) keep him from becoming a Klingon-Cannibal and, 2) not hurt him.
Juan was just so thankful that he had focused his new N-Gen abilities on pure telekinesis. Yes, he could read minds if he wanted to, and yes, he could sense feelings, but really — he only cared about how much damage he could cause. The things he could do with a Colt .44 and TK would make Clint Eastwood proud.
That proficiency saved him from having to go through the painful experience of having to regrow a body part — again.
Which, Juan decided, was a very good thing indeed.
Getting Kevin into a lock, however, was even more of an 'experience' for Juan. He was just so damned slippery, sneaky and small. Every time Juan pinned an arm down, he would have a nipple viciously pinched by the small, insane-seeming Kevin. Each time he had both arms pinned, Kevin... somehow... got both legs up and around his neck, trying to either break it — no danger there, since Juan was now basically Klingon with all the wonderful redundancies built into the species, like reinforced spinal column — or, more likely, to distract him.
It was while they were rolling around on the floor, more or less top to tail, that Kevin managed to make Juan nearly piss himself in fear. The smaller little street-fighter had shoved his hand down the front of Juan's pants and used his thin, strong, boney fingers to grasped Juan's dick - then he started to pull on it... very hard!
No fucking WAY was Juan going to risk having to regrow THAT! Koth just wouldn't be happy. No sir. Neither would HE!
Juan scrambled, while trying to avoid the kicking feet to the face, to dislodge the hand that was trying to make his dick either extend way beyond its natural length, or to remove it (either of which, Juan decided in panic, would be extremely painful). He managed to do so, but did end up feeling very sore 'down there'. Then he yelled in pain as Kevin started doing a piranha impression on his inner calf — little teeth marks were being forcibly indented into Juan's leg at a rapid speed.
As Juan tried to tighten his belt (to prevent a replay of Kevin's 'penis-removal' attempt) as well as simultaneously stop the fiendish chompers from ingesting his left leg, he received a well placed kick to the head — Juan was just grateful that Kevin was wearing hospital slippers rather than boots. 'Tae Kwon Leap be DAMNED!' Juan grouched to himself as he used his chin to hold down one foot, his forehead to deflect the other, his left hand to hold his pants tight and his right to pull away the still nibbling and biting Kevin.
Yes, Kevin had now officially seriously impressed Juan; and sealed a friendship that would last until the ending of the Universe. Somehow, Juan just knew it.
'Mmm... that future thing that Jace warned me might happen? Maybe... or it... OUCH! GODDAMNBASTARDFUCKINGHELLCUNTSONOFABITCH! This HURTS!' Juan screamed in his mind.
Kevin had outdone himself — he had ripped open Juan's fly and gotten back inside Juan's undershorts. His wiry fingers had somehow managed to dig their way to where he had retracted his balls to just after the first 'groin swat' (another one of those Klingon redundancies. If you have four balls, you need to have a place to hide them in a fight. So you retract them!).
Then, not satisfied with freaking the poor Klingon kid out, Kevin started poking them; with his very hard little fingernails!
"NO FUCKING WAY!" Juan yelled as he rolled to one side, his hands instinctively clasping his hurt, precious boy-jewels. It was just what Kevin had been seeking. He leapt for the bed.
He never made it, for Juan was now holding him floating in the air with his mind. "God DAMN, Kev! That HURT!" he groaned as he got to his feet and reached to pull the thrashing and fighting boy into his arms.
"Kev?" Kenny's voice came from the doorway.
Kenny, and others that Juan didn't have time to identify, had been watching everything since the little boy had vanished. They had not tried to intervene, though. Especially not Kenny, for he knew what his brother was like, and Rory would not like to be the boyfriend of a eunuch! He was, however, surprised at how well his brother was fighting — the dirty, Chicago street fighting was something Kenny knew about in his brother, but the martial arts? 'Boy, he's learnt a lot!' Kenny thought to himself in shock.
"Kev! Stop! Please! You're not going to help Joel like this!" Kenny yelled, trying to get his voice through to his soul-mated twin.
Juan turned to look at Kenny as he brought Kevin into a full, chest to chest hug. "Your brother fights like a devil. I LOVE this guy... at least I will, once my balls, dick, leg, face and ear stop throbbing! OUCH!" Juan screamed as Kevin hammered both palms against his ears at the same time. As Juan dropped him to the floor, Kevin brought his knee up to connect sharply with the larger boy's groin. "Damn, now both my ears hurt!!" Juan grouched, completely unfazed by the ball-strike.
"OWWWW! What the HELL do you have in your pants?!" Kevin cried out as he dropped to the floor and massaged his very sore knee, his mind suddenly more rational.
Juan looked down at him and said, while rubbing his sore ears, "You hit my pelvic bone rather than my nuts. They retract into my body, little brother. I thought you knew that since your fucking fingernails went on a 'Discovery Channel Special' exploration of my nether regions!"
Kevin numbly shook his head. Now that his senses had returned due to the unexpected pain in his knee, all the emotions that had been buried by his rage came crashing back down upon him. He buried his face in his hands and started sobbing. Hard.
"Get in here and hug him, for God's sake!" Janet said to Kenny and the other boys standing there looking gob-smacked. Chang especially looked impressed, for he had trained Kevin a lot in the Tardis; but had never seen the boy exhibit this type of adaptation, improvisation and sheer balls-out 'spunk' in any of the simulations and duels. Yes, Chang was more than a little impressed. He and the others, however, did run over and cuddle around the boy in question. Disobeying Janet was a sure fire way to a whole world of hurt.
Janet then looked at Juan, but he was already on his knees and holding Kevin against himself, chest to chest. Kevin was latched on like a limpet, his legs hooking around the Klingon's waist and his arms around his neck, and he was sobbing like the broken-hearted child he truly was. "Good," Janet smiled tenderly, "at least you're doing the right thing. Well done; and I'll excuse all the language. This time."
She then replaced the firehose that she had taken from the wall in order to spray both of them down. She was glad that they had stopped when they had so that she didn't have to do so, for another soaking wet Treatment Room was the last thing they needed right now. Jared had already seen to the first one.
Kevin continued to sob for a few moments before quietly calming down. His twin and other brothers were behind him and speaking soothingly to him, and Juan was murmuring gently into his ear. Then once he felt able, he leaned back slightly from Juan so that he could look at him. "Juan?" he asked, his voice small and pain-filled.
"Yes, little brother?" Juan said as he held the small boy gently with one arm and pushed Kevin's sweat soaked hair into some semblance of order again with his other hand.
"Why'd you stop me? They hurt Joel!" Kevin asked, building hurt showing more and more in his eyes. "I thought you loved Joel..." he whispered. He felt confused. Totally confused and heartbroken. Juan loved Joel, but Juan was protecting two of the five that had hurt and raped his Vulcan husband. And yet, he was being loving and gentle with him right now, and cradling him as if he was his precious child and/or brother of his own. "Why?"
"Because," Juan said in a soft voice, "Joel would have wanted me to. Joel tried to protect them."
At seeing the confused look, Juan stood up and carried Kevin over to the two boys who were now asleep on the beds. "I know you can do it, so look in their minds. See for yourself, why."
Kevin looked down at them and felt bile rise in his throat. But he forced it back down. Joel had told him enough about 'his cuddly Juan' to know that Juan would never withhold his hand from killing without a very good reason.
He concentrated hard and seeped his mind into each boy in turn; first the older, then the younger.
What he saw made him start to retch, and Juan had to quickly grab a bucket for Kevin to throw up into.
"Oh... oh no... and... and I nearly... Oh... Poppa! Poppa!" Kevin started to cry helplessly as he looked towards the door.
Sure enough, Allen was standing there, along with Mike Reynolds and Sammy. The noise and shouting had brought them. Allen walked over and took his sobbing son into his arms. He looked down at Juan and laid a hand on the Klingon's shoulder while using the other to hold his grieving boy tight. "Thank you, Juan. I saw most of what happened. You... thank you for not hurting him, and I'm so sorry he hurt you. You... I'm touched and honoured by that. You are a good brother, and a worthy Clan member. Never believe otherwise."
For the first time ever, people other than his direct family saw Juan blush. He shuffled his feet — and rubbed absently at his admittedly sore bollocks — and muttered, "It was nuthin'... uh... thanks, sir."
"Call me Allen," Allen smiled before rubbing the top of Juan's head. Then he carried his weeping child out and back to the waiting room.
The last thing Juan saw was Kevin open his eyes and lock them with his own. Something passed in that moment. Something exactly like that which always passed between Juan and Joel when they locked their gaze.
Friendship. Brotherhood. Trust...
... and Love.
Meanwhile, Levi had appeared with Bones and Chapel in the Emergency Room. "Anything I can... do... oh, Uncle Joel..." he trailed off as he got his first look at his uncle's body and face. "What did they do to you?" he whispered as hot tears began to trickle down his face.
Bones looked over from the IV he had finished inserting into Joel's arm and beckoned the small boy closer. "He's okay for now, Levi, but there are a few things we're still worried about. Also, his eye — those bastards cut out his left eye. There's nothing we can do about that... but maybe you can? I don't know if it's something you're capable of, but if you can do anything...."
Levi nodded as he walked up and gently took Joel's left hand. He held it tight and stroked the back of it with his other hand. "Oh, Uncle Joel! I'll check, Uncle Bones," he whispered as he sniffed back his tears. He extended his hand over Joel's missing eye and closed his own. His hand started to glow; brighter and brighter it became, but....
"I can't!" Levi whispered in shock, pulling his hand back and opening his eyes. He blinked up at Bones. "It... nothing happens, Uncle Bones. I can't affect him at all! I can't... I can't even read his mind! Nothing, his scars, his pain... I can't do anything!"
Bones sighed, "Don't worry, Levi. It was a long shot, anyway."
"But you don't understand," Levi whined as tears once again started to flow down his face, "I should be able to return his eye. I've done more before! We all have! Peter even gave someone their HAND back! Why can't I do anything here?"
Bones had no answers for him, so he simply shrugged, "I don't know, kiddo."
Quint appeared with a flash of light, and his eyes narrowed at seeing the state of Joel. He composed himself quickly and moved up to Levi. "What's wrong?"
"I can't give him his eye back! It won't work, Quint! Nothing works on him!" Levi cried.
Quint patted Levi's arm gently, "Here — let me try." He snapped his fingers.
Nothing.
Quint's mouth dropped open. "No way! This isn't right at all! DAAAAAD!!!" he yelled.
Bones jumped as another man suddenly appeared out of a flash of light in the room. "I wish you people wouldn't do that!"
Q half smiled at the doctor, but looked at his son seriously, "What was that scream for?"
Quint explained.
Q narrowed his eyes in anger as he was told about what had happened to Joel, and then curiously scanned the boy on the bio-bed. "What was done, here... it is beyond any of us to fix, children. There is an energy at work that reaches beyond any High Race. I am sorry, Levi. We cannot return the Shaper's eye. Not even the Doctor could. A Guardian has done this."
Levi's eye narrowed, "My Friend wouldn't... wait. You don't mean...?"
"Vae'Za, the Fallen Guardian of Dimension," Q said softly. "His prison — it has weakened. It must have, for only a Guardian can over-match us. Somehow, Vae'Za has reached and touched the Shaper... there's nothing we can do. Any injury he has sustained is beyond our ability to heal."
"If this is true," Bones interjected, "then how is it that we — Janet, Antonio, Christine and I — managed to save his life and heal him with our equipment?"
"You are not High Race," Q explained patiently. "The Guardians are True Immortals and as Ageless as the Universes. Invulnerable to anything higher than you mortals; you Younger Races. And therein is their only weakness: The Young Races can affect them. But it is like a pebble affecting an ocean. You could all — every mortal from every universe, dimension, timeline — join up and fire your most powerful weapons at the Guardian of Forever. It would hurt him. Like a speck of sand in your eye. Then, you'd be obliterated if he chose to do so. Vae'Za is a Guardian. Forever's brother, his Twin. You can heal Joel's wounds as far as medically possible, for you are not one of those he has need of a defence against, so you can undo as much of his work as is possible. No Middle Race nor High Race can, just as we cannot do more than distract a Guardian with a direct assault."
Bones looked down into Joel's sleeping face and laid a gentle hand on his forehead. "Then we shall do all we can for him," he swore. "I just hope we are wrong about some of this..."
Jason was waiting for him when Adam appeared in the Command Centre of the Unit. The ferrets that were with the tall black haired teen all scampered away, hissing and spitting to themselves about their Shiny Warrior, while Adam moved close to Jason. "You need to see my mind, Jace," he said quietly. "There's something about that 14 year old cunt you need to know."
Jason nodded and probed into the older boy's mind. Then his face twisted, "Jesus. We've got a major fucking problem, don't we?"
"Yeah," Adam nodded as he sank down on the nearest chair. Alvin looked over before throwing a Jolt Cola to his boss, then at Jason's look, another was tossed to him. "We're going to have a lot of pissed-off people, Jace. I almost fucked up big time when I almost killed that boy. What are you going to do?"
"First, I need to talk to the two in your Med-Bay — the two Juan brought in. He sent a mind message to me about five minutes ago saying that things aren't as they seem. Which matches with what I've pulled from Antonio's mind as well."
"You can do that over this distance?" Adam asked, sounding impressed.
"No biggie," Jason smiled sadly. "I've already been in the kid's mind before, so I can find him easily whenever I need to. He don't know, though."
"Isn't that against procedure?" Adam asked, not looking too thrilled at the revelation.
Jason shrugged. "I'm tasked with protecting Clan Short, and I'm given licence to do anything necessary in order to achieve that goal... which I'm failing at miserably... first Montana and now Joel. I should be executed for my failures," he trailed off as he too sank into a chair, and looked miserable. He took a sip of the cola, and then started to brood.
Adam reached out and laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, "You can't be everywhere at once, Jace."
"I know," Jace whispered, "but it feels like I should have been."
Adam nodded, "I felt the same about the battle last week. I should have saved them all. I shouldn't have let them die. I should have been there, everywhere, and taken every bullet. It's a vicious cycle, little bro, as I've been told recently."
Jason laughed, but it was void of humour. "Exactly what I was told. Don't make it easier to accept though, does it?" he asked, a lopsided grin on his face.
Adam gave him a matching one, "Not at all."
'Ummm... Adam? What would you say if I said Juan was having his ass handed to him by Kevin Thompson?' Daileass asked suddenly, and his voice held an uncertainty as if not sure to be shocked or amused.
Adam looked at the ceiling, "What are the current odds?"
'Don't know. Juan's too busy trying to keep his dick from being ripped off to give them to me...'
Jason sighed as he rose to his feet, "No rest for the wicked. Let's go find out what's happened now, bro."
"Speak for yourself, Jace," Adam half smiled as he picked up the shorter boy and slung him up to a piggie-back ride. "I prefer no rest for the righteous."
Then, running at full speed, Adam lit out from the Command Centre for the Med-Bay. Hence the reason he was carrying Jason — he could run really fast!
As Adam got to the lift, the door opened by control of Daileass, and he leapt.
"FUCKING HELL!" Jason yelled.
There was no lift there, and Adam and he dropped like a stone. Daileass had placed the lift just below the level of the doorway to the Med-Bay level, and Adam landed easily. He did not exit the lift shaft, however, but rather looked up at the white-faced Welsh Patriarch floating down towards him with his eyes shining blue.
"YOU PRICK! You scared the shit out of me! I nearly needed a clean pair of underwear after that stunt!" Jason yelled as he landed on the giggling Adam's back.
Adam quipped as he started running again, "Chicken! You want to live forever?"
"Personally?" Jason giggled as his heart rate decreased. "Yes! I had considered trying for that. So nerr nerr boo boo!"
Daileass gave a half of a chuckle. 'I will pass that request on to the Micky Meese, Jason.'
As Allen left the Treatment Room with Kevin in his arms and Kenny trotting alongside in concern, Janet pressed a button on the wall and called for nurses to help with the two boys on the bed. Then she turned to Juan. "I will say it again, you impressed me and I'm very proud of you, my little soldier," she said as she drew the now furiously blushing boy into her arms.
"Mooooom! My image!" he giggled shyly as she held him close.
She pushed him back to arms length and looked down into his face, "I'm your mom. I'm allowed to say such things. Now," she added, looked down at the boys sleeping in each other's arms to escape their pains and memories, "I would still like to know what's going on here. I've checked their DNA and both match to the sperm samples taken from Joel's anus. Yet you're defending them, and Kevin seemed satisfied that they are innocent. Please explain."
Sammy took a few steps into the room upon hearing that, "What was that?! They raped Jo..."
"Sammy," Mike said, his voice guarded and controlled as he placed a firm hand on his son's shoulder. "Wait for Juan to explain, please." Mike did not look too pleased either at what had just been revealed.
Sammy furiously shrugged off his dad's hand, but did wait. He glared at the two recumbent boys, and his nostrils flared at seeing the green blood that was covering their nether regions.
Juan just looked at his mother and dumped all that he had taken from the kids' minds about their ordeal.
Janet staggered, clutching her head. Juan was immediately holding her around her waist and repeating, "Sorry! Sorry, Mom! I... sorry! It shouldn't have hurt!"
Janet shook her head as the jumbled images slowly sorted themselves out slightly. Sorted enough, at least, that she could see an approximation of what the two hurt boys had gone through. "Th...thanks, Juan. Okay... owww... right. Okay, they are not to blame. Now, all I want you to do is start practising that telepathy of yours. Okay?"
Juan nodded mutely as she gave him a brief hug before she moved around him and back to work on the two boys.
Sammy marched over, his face a little less angered and now filling with curiosity. "Okay, Juan — what's their story?"
Juan looked up at him, "Shall I show you, too?"
"Ahhhh," Sammy muttered, glancing at Janet who was still rubbing the temple of her head, "No. I'll look for myself, thanks. I don't fancy a headache, bro!"
Juan nodded with a half grin, and then hovered protectively at the foot of the bed as Sammy moved around it to take the two boys' hands into his own.
A minute or so later, a tear trickled from Sammy's eye as he said, "Daileass. Make a log. These boys are under full Clan protection, as of this moment, if that has not already been done."
'Logged, Sammy,' Daileass replied.
Sammy tried to smile weakly at Juan, but more and more colour seemed to bleed out of his face. Something about the images he had retrieved had affected him deeply — more so than by witnessing what two abused boys had gone through. He turned and ran out of the room and passed his suddenly overly-concerned father — he fell down to the ground in the hallway, and threw up all that he had recently eaten. He continued to heave and retch long past the time his stomach had been emptied, while Mike and Vishnu rubbed his back and whispered to him, trying to calm him down.
It was the sight of Mike and Vishnu holding a now dry-retching Sammy, and Allen standing nearby holding a sobbing pair of twins, that greeted Jason and Adam as they ran down the hallway.
"What happened?" Jason asked.
Adam added, looking at the uninjured Kevin with a careful eye, "And who won?"
Allen nodded his head towards the Treatment Room and went back to whispering comfort to the two boys in his arms.
Jason exchanged a long, telling look with Adam before sighing and making his way into the room. Juan was the first one who greeted them both, although 'greeted' may not be the right word.
"Do I have to fight you fuckers, too?" he asked, warily looking both his brother and Jason over.
Adam blinked. "No," he said slowly, "I wasn't planning on fighting you, lil'bro."
"What about you?" Juan asked Jason bluntly.
Jason shrugged, "I wasn't planning on it either, Juanikins. I was just wondering what caused the kick off, and why no bets were placed!"
"I'll kick your ass later for calling me that," Juan said as he glared at Jason. Then, "Here. Take what happened from my mind, Jace. I'd dump it into yours, but I gave Mom a headache when I gave it all to her... You need to train me later, Jace."
Jason grinned as he simultaneously took a glance into Juan's head, passed it all over to Adam, while also pulling Juan over for a hug. "Okay, I'll train you after we've finished the current crisis. Thanks," he smiled. "I'll still need to read them myself. I'll do that after we've seen to Sammy and the others outside."
As the three boys turned to go back into the hallway, Adam giggled at Juan, "Soooo... what was it like to have all four of your balls poked by Kev's fingernails, then?"
"Ewwwwwww.... aaauuuurrrgh! Don't remind me!" Juan shuddered.
Jason started chuckling.
"Don't laugh! How would you like me to do it to you?" Juan bitched grumpily.
Adam pressed his lips together tight so as to not let even the slightest hint of a giggle escape, while Jason simply squeezed Juan's shoulder sympathetically. When they got back to where Sammy was crying in Mike's arms, Jason knelt down and took the boy's face in his hands. "Can I see what's hurting you?" he asked tenderly.
Sammy blinked and nodded slowly, and so Jason quickly scanned everything there.
Juan, meanwhile, was next to Allen and patting Kevin's back gently. Allen sat down on the nearest chair so that Juan and Kenny could more easily soothe Kevin's tears. "He learned to fight that well, yesterday?" Allen asked Juan, his tone soft.
Juan nodded, "Yeah. In the Tardis. Felt like five minutes, but I remember over three years. He learnt a LOT, but I never expected him to fight like THAT."
"Nor I," Chang added as he came close. "I rated him as proficient, but what I just witnessed has elevated my opinion of Kevin's ability far above that."
Allen looked up in order to smile at the Asian boy, but his eyes narrowed in concern. "What is it?" he asked Chang, taking in the boy's pale face.
Chang shook his head and backed away a few steps before turning and going up to where Adam was standing.
Allen sighed. 'These poor kids should never have had to go through any of this shit,' he thought soberly to himself. Then the air itself seemed to crackle as if with electricity. Allen turned quickly to see Jason stand to his feet, his face iced in fury and his eyes blazing.
Both Adam and Chang backed up in shock, for the sheer energy they could feel being pulled in and around Jason was of a level they had not felt before.
"Adam Casey," Jason said, turning his upon blue eyes to the older teen.
Adam straightened, "Yes, Jason. How can I assist?"
"I will require the use of your training rooms later — preferably one that you do not mind being trashed beyond all recognition."
Daileass answered in Adam's place, 'We are already preparing rooms for the Vulcans —- after the bill for coffee tables, doors and other miscellaneous shit that the Clan Compound has had to pay in the few days that Spock and Sarek have been there, me and my brothers kinda figured that a nice 'rage-venting' area would be needed. Especially as we now have three Vulcans here — each of which is more pissed off than the other... making it an ever increasing vicious circle.'
"Good plan," Adam muttered as Jason turned and marched off into the Treatment Room. "Now where is he going?" he asked no-one in particular.
Sammy murmured softly, "To read the minds of Brad and Stewie."
"Who? Oh, those two boys Juan was guarding?" Adam asked as he and Chang knelt down next to Mike.
Sammy nodded before turning his face back to hide it against Mike's chest. Mike looked at Adam, "What got Jace that pissed off?"
Adam shrugged, but Sammy replied for him, his voice muffled, "It's not about the two boys... but about me..."
"Why?" Mike asked. He rubbed circles against his son's back, "What's happened?"
Sammy shook his head quickly and just started sobbing softly again.
In the Emergency Room, the two Q had gone, leaving just Levi to stand with Doctors McCoy and Chapel. Janet entered with two nurses and got both sleeping boys settled onto a Bio-Bed each, a few beds down from where Joel was also peacefully sleeping.
"Excuse me," Jason said, his voice filled with authority. It was not cold, nor frightening, but simply brooked no opposition.
Janet looked up at the black garbed boy, "Can't this wait?"
"No," he shook his head. "I need to see their thoughts and memories for the investigation. I will not interrupt what you are doing to assist them."
Janet nodded and watched as Jason gazed at the two recumbent forms now on the two biobeds.
After a moment, Jason sighed and tapped his comm, "Voice to Commander Xolan."
"Yes, Voice. I am receiving you," came the elderly Vulcan's response.
"I need a Kolinahr Master here for counselling."
"Indeed," came the response. "I am already on standby with the rest of the Dragon. Transporting in thirty seconds."
It was precisely thirty seconds later that Draco transported the elderly, white haired Vulcan man to the Room. "These are the subjects?" he asked Jason in his emotionless voice.
"Yes. The eldest is Bradley John Guy, and the youngest is his brother, Stewart James Guy. Both have been through terrible abuse at the hands of the three now on-board the Yoshuhlnak, but Samuel Reynolds has temporarily blocked a lot of their trauma when he looked into their minds not ten minutes ago. I have just taken a mindscan, but they now need some urgent counselling. You are the best that I know and trust, Grandfather," Jason answered.
Xolan moved between the two beds and said, "I shall mind-meld with them both at the same time. There shall be no need to awaken them. In fact, it will be less traumatic for both if this is done on a subconscious level." Over his shoulder, he said to Janet, "You and the other healers may begin. What I will do will not be disrupted by your ministrations."
Janet nodded as Xolan's fingertips touched both boys' faces, and she and the two nurses began to work on their many injuries, not to mention their rape trauma.
"Thank you, Grandfather Xolan. Would you like me to arrange some Spice Tea for when you have finished?" Jason asked as he gently touched the oldest boy's hand tenderly.
"I would certainly like that," Xolan stated. "Thank you."
Jason smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes. He nodded and left the way he'd come in.
Back out in the hallway, Adam was looking with worry at Chang. "Spill," he said.
Chang shook his head. "Not here. Later. Maybe," was his short, terse response.
'Okay. Here instead. Spill, bro,' Adam sent to his brother firmly, but included an emotional warmth and hug.
Chang sighed in the stillness of his mind. 'I am finding it hard to compartmentalize this current situation, brother. Joel is close to my heart, and to see the results of his... his rape brings back all my memories of my own. And of all the pain. My Klingon side is desirous of bloody vengeance, testicular mutilation of the perpetrators, and other such extreme actions.'
'Oh. You're only a little pissed, then,' Adam sent wryly.
Chang made a face at him just as Jason returned. Jason said, "I have cleared both boys of any wrongdoing, however they are both going to be in danger until we can contain the rumours and get the truth out."
"Then they did rape Joel?" Adam asked, not sure where this was leading.
"Yes and no," Jason sighed as he looked down at Sammy in Mike's arms. Mike was still sitting on the floor, and wishing he wasn't quite as old as he was. His butt was going numb. "I'll have to explain later. I'm going to call a meeting once I've scanned Joel and the three arse-holes on my ship."
Both Chang and Adam nodded seriously, and Adam said, "I'll have a guard posted over the two of them. Joel too."
"The cheetahs and Artemus and Aphrodite are already watching," Jason said as he pointed back up the hallway to where the four G-Cats were looking in through the window of the ER.
Adam's eyes narrowed. "There are things going on that don't add up, Jace. We need those things explained quickly. Right now I'm torn between busting all four of them down in rank and replacing them as Joel's guard detail, or giving them hugs."
Jason half smiled, "Go with the hugs for now. I agree with you in that things don't add up, and no one had any idea of what was going on until it all burst in on us. If Daileass, Draco and Ark were unaware, I'm sure that those four had less chance of being able to either. Regardless of the three AIs, both I-Cheya and Blackie are inside the ER and both look pissed and miserable. If they were unaware, then everyone else would have been anyway."
"Point," Adam muttered. "Don't mean shit for the military, but good point."
"What are you going to do first?" Chang asked Jason.
"Joel. I want to spend some time with him first. Uncle Mike — can you get Sammy something to eat and then settle him down for an hour's rest or something? I won't call the meeting for at least that long," Jason said as he looked into Mike's eyes.
Mike nodded, "Sure thing, if someone will help me up."
Jason gestured and Mike levitated up with Sammy in his arms.
Mike put his feet to the ground and moaned about getting old and wizened before moving off towards the nearest canteen carrying his precious child. Vishnu padded along quickly at his side.
Jason then looked Chang full in the face, "You're pushing yourself to hold on, aren't you?"
Adam's eyes narrowed as he looked at his brother and then at Jason.
Chang straightened, "I am fine, Ja..."
Jason laid a gentle hand over his friend's mouth. "Link with me. Both of you," he said softly as his eyes started to glow blue.
Chang looked ready to refuse, but at a look from his brother, he nodded. He and Adam linked hands with Jason, so that all three were in a triangle shape, and both of their eyes started to glow as well...
"What do you wish me to say, Jason?" Chang asked as they sat in a very Japanese looking room that was the representation of Chang's mind.
Jason crossed his legs into the lotus position as they all sat down. "The truth," he answered simply. "You have not been 'feeling' the same to me since you came back to life yesterday. That is expected now that you're thinking more like a Klingon, but now your mind is very... unquiet."
Adam spoke first, "I already asked this. It's Chang's Klingon nature that's pushing on his emotional control is all, Jace."
Jason smiled at Adam, then glanced out of the corner of his eye at Chang, "Isn't it funny how we can pull the wool over our loved one's eyes so easily, Chang?"
Chang sat straighter, "I have not lied, Jason."
"No," Jason nodded in agreement, "but you have withheld the full truth. What is the matter, brother?"
Chang remained ramrod stiff for a moment, then trembled ever so slightly. "Joel," was his eventual one word answer.
Jason and Adam waited.
Chang sighed, "I see him. Right now, I can see him lying there. Bleeding out. Raped. Gang raped. Dying. And it pulls at my heart." The Asian boy bowed his head and wept, which brought both the others to his side in an instant to cuddle in next to him. Chang lent his head on Adam's shoulder while being cradled between them both and forced out more. "I cannot stop reliving what I went through. Everything I suffered before Father told them to stop. I cannot get the memories behind the walls. I cannot partition it as I do to everything else that is stressful. And I feel anger. Burning anger that I am afraid I will not be able to control much longer... I need help..." he finished, his voice barely a whisper.
Adam smoothed Chang's hair while tenderly cupping his brother's cheek as he looked into Jason's eyes. "What has made his walls fall, Jace?" he asked as he started to rock slightly, comforting Chang.
Jason shrugged and simply said, "Joel. He is the cause."
Adam looked puzzled.
Jason explained, "The Doctor had a talk with Sammy on Tuesday. He said that Joel's very presence changes others. More or less. Joel is filled with love. Automatically, others will return that love. Most of those who have met him are, without realizing it, in love with him as he is in love with them. It is just the degree that changes. Most take it and run with it as brotherly love, but really? It's more. Which is why Chang is like this. Deep down, his heart is reacting as if that had been Korris."
"Why am I not..." Adam started, but then he stopped and blushed. "Ah. I did, didn't I? I was going to kill that rat-bastard I caught."
Jason nodded slowly. "Yup."
"Why aren't you going off the rails, Jace?" Chang asked, and Jason glanced into his eyes quickly. It wasn't often that his Vulcan-like Asian brother and friend would use the contraction of his name.
"Well, I... I am VSO," Jason said softly. "I... I feel it, but I have been trained to go beyond what I feel and do the job anyway."
"So have I. I have trained my mind, as has Father. Why have I broken like this while you have not?" Chang asked.
Jason closed his eyes. "I have been through the Fire. Let me ask you this: neither of you wish to become VSO, correct?"
"Correct," both responded.
"Adam has already sworn to Red One, and he knows about the Trial. Chang, do you swear to never breathe a word about what I will show you to anyone not Black level VSO? Not one word to those who have not taken the oath? On pain of death?" Jason asked seriously as he opened his now pain filled, memory laden eyes and stared at Chang.
Chang nodded. "I swear."
Jason let his eyes blaze out for a moment, and all his memories of the Trial of Fire flooded into Chang's mind. Chang started, then impulsively pulled Jason closer to embrace him.
"That is why I can still be me and investigate this without losing it... so far, at least," Jason murmured. "Also, I have not yet seen Joel for more than a minute. It will not be 'real' to me until I do."
Chang nodded against Jason's head which was held against his shoulder.
After a moment more, Jason pulled back, "But anyway; this is about helping you, Chang. I have trained you, but not in advanced Vulcan emotional techniques. I can help you with that, now, if you wish?"
As Chang nodded, Adam asked, "Wait a moment! If Vulcan control is so good, how is it that we have Spock, Sarek and T'Pol about ready to blast a hole in the universe?!"
Jason again shrugged as he said, "They are blood relatives — very close blood relatives — of Joel. It's hard coded into Vulcans on a primal level. Having children and raising them to adulthood on Vulcan was once a deadly struggle, and many children did not reach the age of seven. Nowadays, it is still hard, but the hard coding is still there. If a child is injured, hurt, attacked or killed, the closest blood relatives will go into a blood-rage that would make that wolverine, Logan, seem like a calm little puppy-dog. It's ONLY their logic and emotional control that is keeping ANY form of tempering with them at present. Soon, they will NEED to vent — and God help the nearest walls, floors and stationary objects when they do."
Adam thought about it for a moment, then nodded in understanding. "We'd do the same for our own kids, only Vulcans would to a higher power? Like, times...?"
"You don't want to know," Jason responded with a light smile as he grasped Chang's hand. "Okay, bro. This won't take long. Open your mind and watch what I'm doing..."
Once Jason had finished teaching Chang, and Adam as well in part, the three boys separated their minds. Jason sighed as he glanced up the hallway to where the four G-Cats were standing by the ER window. "Now is where I see if I will flip out or not," he muttered to them both.
Chang laid a hand on Jason's shoulder and squeezed. "If you do, we will be there to help you, too."
Jason smiled sadly and started to walk up towards the ER, but he stopped as he drew alongside Allen and his kids and Juan. Since the mind-teaching had taken only a few minutes in real time, none of the others there had moved much. Jason leaned down to kiss Kevin's forehead, and he said, "I'll see if they are ready for visitors in there, okay, cariad?"
Kevin blinked at him tearfully and nodded.
Juan added a small smile before cuddling back in with Kevin and his twin.
"Thanks," Allen said. "Oh, Jace? Could you ask someone to get me a coffee? I don't want to move these guys just yet," he added softly.
Chang moved closer, "I will get that for you, Mr Thompson. Jason needs to fulfil his duty right now."
Allen smiled his thanks, as well as admonish the Asian boy about being too formal.
Chang chuckled, sounding much like his boyfriend. "How do you take your coffee, Uncle?" was the last thing Jason heard as he walked away and entered the ER.
Jason just stood there, looking down into the now changed face of his Vulcan brother; and cried. The sunken shape where his brother's left eye had been tore his heart out. He brushed a hand through Joel's curly hair briefly before reaching out and trying to sink into his brother's mind - only to find a blank wall. Nothing. He could not enter at all.
"I can't read him either, Uncle Jace," Levi supplied tearfully. "It's like a space, a blackness. I can't either."
Jason sighed and laid one hand on Joel's forehead and another on the boy's chest. He lifted his hand quickly and looked at the pendant that his hand had covered. It had throbbed against his hand the moment he had touched it. Then he noticed something, "Where's his Family Crest?"
"It wasn't there when he arrived, Jace," Bones supplied.
Jason tapped his comm, "Tel, does one of those three fuckers have Joel's Family Crest on them?"
"Just a moment, I'm on the bridge. Running the scan-trace for it, while I make my way to the brig," Telez answered.
Jason continued to gently stroke Joel's beautiful hair, trying to untangle it as best he was able while he waited for his Andorian brother to get back to him.
The response came a few minutes later, "That little dark haired fucker, Corey, had it on him... thieving little cunt rat bastard... sorry, Jace! I had to break both the wanker's arms to get it off of him."
"He'll heal... least ways, he WOULD if he had the time to..." Jason spat back. "I'll get it from you in a few minutes."
"Okay... miserable fucking..." Telez broke off as the signal ended.
"He's been spending too much time in Wales," Bones said consideringly. "He was once a nice, well spoken Andorian. Now he sounds like a damned Tellarite!"
Jason tried to smile, but failed. He looked down into Joel's face and placed his hand back over that strange pendant. "Why didn't they manage to take this from him too?" he wondered aloud.
"It can only be taken with his death," Levi said weakly. "Which... which was probably why they tried killing him. Think about it, Uncle Jace; if they couldn't get that off, they'd have asked Uncle Joel to do so. But he would have had to say the truth..."
"Bastards," Jason whispered.
"His neck was bruised, likely from them trying," Bones added.
"F... sorry. I shouldn't swear," Jason apologised.
Bones shrugged, "I don't care, boy. Swear as much as you want."
Levi covered his ears.
Jason shook his head, "I don't feel like... wow!" He jerked his hand away from the pendant for a moment. "I felt him. Joel's mind. Crying! When I touched this!" he said as he lowered his hand back. He then reached out to sink into Joel's mind.
What he found there was complete pain, chaos and terror.
With all the power he possessed, he brought peace to his brother's mind.
His eyes were glowing brighter than the dawn, and Levi had something happen — something that in other times would have been normal. Now, however, it was anything but. The Darkness of the Fallen Guardian was getting stronger, and Levi could no longer read the future.
He did now, however.
Surrounding Jason were wings: Lo'Garn wings.
And he was crowned, gold circling a very Klingon seeming brow.
And he bore a name... a title; a new title...
'Prince of the Ka'Inri'
"Jace! Jace? Is that you?" Joel's voice echoed through the images of blood and pain and bodies that were thrusting and moving all around Jason. "Jace! Help me, Jace! Save me! It hurts, Jace! It hurts!"
Jason could barely hold his own mind in place through the chaotic images of Joel's whole life all throwing themselves at him, never mind find the frightened Vulcan within it all. However, he could do nothing other than try. He pushed pictures to one side, and pain to another — only to have more of each replace them instantly. "Jesus, I can't do this," he wept, feeling all of Joel's life as if it were his own. "Help me..." he wept, prayed.
Joel was suddenly there, before Jason, curled into a ball on the 'floor' of the room in the little Vulcan's mind. The images had suddenly stilled and the pain was distant — but not gone. Jason rushed to his brother's side and pulled him into his arms, "I'm here. I'm here, cariad." Internally, Jason sent out a brief prayer of thanks, before returning to kiss and cuddle his wounded and hurting brother.
Joel sobbed and sobbed, squirming and shaking in the Welsh boy's embrace.
'What can I do? What can any of us do?' Jason thought furiously.
Sing
'Huh?' Jason looked around but saw no-one. Yet his heart told him that 'someone' else was there. 'Sing? Sing what?'
Sing
Jason's mind shuddered back from what he believed the source of that 'voice' was, and simply opened his mouth...
I place the words on your tongue
... and Jason sang:
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Saviour, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He'll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.
Blessed Saviour, Thou hast promised
Thou wilt all our burdens bear;
May we ever, Lord, be bringing
All to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright, unclouded,
There will be no need for prayer—
Rapture, praise, and endless worship
Will be our sweet portion there.
(Joseph M. Scriven, 1855)
As he sang, all that he needed from Joel's mind came rushing into his own. He hadn't gathered it, nor even started looking for it. It just appeared, fully formed, in his mind. It ordered itself and linked itself up with the information from Bradley and Stewart. Jason could only smile his thanks at the 'Whoever' was there. Then, as the words faded from his tongue, he found that Joel was now asleep — truly asleep.
Jason formed a bed with his mind and laid his beautiful hurting brother upon it, pulled up a blanket, and tucked him in. That small act of comfort was all Joel needed to murmur lightly and for his sleep to deepen further.
Jason opened his eyes to find himself back outside of Joel's mind. He looked down at his brother, and saw the more relaxed look on the little Vulcan's face.
'Thanks, Jesus,' Jason sent... somewhere. "Uncle Bones?" he asked, looking at the doctor.
McCoy smiled at him, "Yes, son?"
"Is it okay for Kev to come sit with Joel, now?"
McCoy nodded seriously. "Of course. Go tell them."
Kevin and Kenny ran in at Jason's call, Juan followed slightly more slowly. He sighed sadly as he took his first look at Joel's changed face. Before he could get to where the others were at Joel's side, McCoy stopped him. "What the hell has happened to you, boy?!" he asked in shock as he took in Juan's cuts, bites and half chewed off ear.
"Shut it, gramps, or I'll set Kev on you," Juan grouched.
McCoy rolled his eyes, "Sit, boy. I'm going to get that ear sorted out before you go anywhere near Joel. He don't need you bleeding on him."
"It'll stop soon. Won't take long to heal," Juan said as he looked up at the Starfleet doctor.
McCoy just pointed at a stool, and Juan sat with a sigh of resignation.
After McCoy had finished with the ear and the other obvious marks of damage on the young Klingon's face, he asked, "Anything else?"
"Ummm..."
"I tried to pull his dick off," Kevin said from the bio-bed without turning around.
McCoy sighed again and used his tricorder to scan Juan's groin. "Good God, Kevin! Okay, you," he said to Juan, "get on that other bed right now. That must be as painful as all hell!"
Juan grouched more as he climbed onto the nearest empty bed. It was painful, but he'd had worse. He was about to say as much when he noticed the look in McCoy's eyes. In them was a look that said that there wasn't much else the good doctor could do for Joel, so he simply wanted to feel like he'd achieved something. Juan sighed again and lowered his pants and shorts.
McCoy took less than a minute to remove the damage Kevin had managed to 'pull off' on Juan's precious 'bits'. "There. No more fighting boys from Chicago," he said with a slight grin.
"Tell me something I don't know... he don't fight fair!" Juan muttered, trying to smile, but Joel's presence had a negating affect on levity.
Jason, still standing by the door, did manage a slight smile.
Less than two minutes later, he watched the four boys take up their guard positions around Joel. Kenny and Levi were on the left, cuddled together and holding Joel's hand. Kevin was on the right, gripping his husband's hand in a death grip. Cuddled around Kevin was Kevin's new best friend.
Juan.
All had tears flowing down their faces.
Jason then sighed and signalled Telez for beam out. Inside he had a well of bubbling rage that he needed to vent. What he had told Chang seemed to no longer hold true — that he could refrain from acting on his love for his Vulcan brother.
He disappeared in a beam of transporter energy, leaving Joel in the best care in the universe...
Editor's Notes:
First of all, I apologise for taking so long to get this chapter edited. I had a ton of things hit me all at once, and finding the time to sit down and devote the proper amount of time to this was very difficult.
I certainly hope that Joel — and the others — will be able to get past all this trauma and that things will be put to rights. I am going to keep my fingers crossed that all will be well with everyone, eventually. I must admit that I have a bit more information than I am able to impart to you. I mean that I could tell you some of what will happen, but then I would have to kill you.
Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher