Phoenix Rising

Janet reviewed the read out for the three boys one more time and sighed. For the last three hours, she's led a team of doctors trying to stabilize all three boys, and heal the worst of their injuries. From all her experience, Janet was surprised they were alive; especially the one that had his testicles and penis crushed.

Janet looked over to Dr. McCoy, who transported in shortly after they started working on the triplets to help out. "Well LeonardLeonard, I think we're just about ready to wake them up," looking around at all the doctors and other technicians. With a wave, she called them all over to crowd around the large display on the far wall.

"Okay, one last time, lets get a full update on our patients. Chang, why don't you start with your patient." Janet said as she brought up the information on Patient John Doe A, as they were calling him.

"Very well mother." Stepped forward next to the display to point out specific details, Chang commented. "John Doe A is an approximately ten year old male. The major issues were severe electroshock therapy being delivered to his reproductive organs as well as severe beatings by multiple objects over his entire body. He had several broken bones that had healed improperly, as well as several infected wounds. Had we been restricted to Earth technology, he would have had a long and hard recovery. As it is, the only real lasting condition that we will have treat is several months worth of severe malnutrition."

Janet then moved onto Dr. McCoy, who was the lead doctor for John Doe B and his report was very similar to Chang's, save for McCoy using a few more explicatives, and throwing in what he would have liked to do to the people who did this to the boys.

Janet tried not to, she really did, but she could not help smiling at Leonard's colorful choice of words, even in this situation. However, it was then time for her report. "Patient John Doe C had the same problems as his other brothers save for what was done to his phallus and testicles shortly before we arrived. Thankfully, I have all the equipment I need here to totally re-grow his testicles and the reconstructive surgery on his phallus was a complete success. He will be a little tender down there for a while, however, once I replace the fake testicles with his new ones, he will recover hundred percent."

She looked around at her team and saw all smiles. Even Chang had a smile, a small one, but a smile none the less. "Good job people, this was a tough one, but everyone performed exceptionally. Now I think it's time to wake them up, and start on the hard part of their healing."

Janet was about to start tapping commands into the monitor when Juan's voice came from the corner where everyone had forgotten he was. "You cannot do that yet mom."

---

"So what is this place you have here Commander Casey?" Master Quel asked some time later. Right now, Tommy and Elwyn were getting used to their new shapes, and being taught by Captain Liuella, and First Commander Huthel, on how to do the change.

"Please sir, call me Adam. There's no need for formalities among friends." Adam got a simple smile and nod from the older man. He then sighed and began to explain what Camp Bam Bam was. "This is a place where children can come to be safe, and find a home."

The older man stopped and looked at Adam with questions all over his face. "But, what about their parents? Surely not all of these children are orphaned!"

Adam sadly shook his head. "I'm afraid that they aren't. I've had to rationalize it to myself like this. Right now there is an epidemic amongst the people of Earth. Parents don't seem to care about their children the way they should." Adam took a deep breath, but quickly continued. "I don't mean all parents... not even most parents, but just this one country alone has over three hundred million people in it. Unfortunately, even if it's only one percent of parents that don't care about their kids, that's still a lot of children that have no one to take care of them. So that's what this place is for."

"I am sorry Adam, I do not mean to upset you, but I can simply not understand parents not wanting their children." Master Quel stated.

"I can't understand it either, but that's the unfortunate truth right now. We are trying to fix that, but first we need to protect the children; then work on redeeming the parents." Adam started walking again, and the man fell into step beside him. "Would you like a tour of the base while your Admiral and the Commander train my sons?"

"I would like that." He said, then chewed his cheek for a second before asking about something that had been bothering him. "Adam... I mean absolutely no disrespect, but there is something that has been bothering me."

"Master, I understand that you are from a different part of the galaxy. Please say what ever it is you need to, and I will not take offense. Actually I think someone talking straight to me might be a refreshing change." Adam said while chuckling.

Master Quel couldn't help but laugh as well. "I understand completely what you mean Adam. When around my own people, I cannot find anyone who will disagree with me. Not because I am always right, but on my world, I am the leader of our religious sect." He paused, and Adam turned to look him in the eyes. "What I wanted to ask is this. I find it difficult to understand how someone as young as you can possible be in command of something so large, when you yourself should just be acting like a child."

Adam ran a hand through his long black hair trying to figure out how much to tell this man. He had done a brief scan of the man's mind and found nothing that set off any alarms, so he decided to be honest. "That's a very long story , but I'll be as honest and brief as I can. My brothers and I are not normal children. While I was born normally, I was genetically altered after my birth. My brothers were genetically engineered then implanted into a woman. Once they were born, they were genetically aged to make them older and able to be trained. Once we were ready, we were trained for one thing and one thing only... war."

"You mean your own government used children to experiment on?" Quel seethed in outrage.

Adam only nodded, and then dropped the big bomb. "You saw the cats?" When Quel nodded, Adam continued. "They are actually a genetic hybrid of humans and some of the big cats you would find on this planet. Also, experiments that this governments military did."

Quel's eyebrows raised, and he started to chuckle. "I mean no disrespect for your hybrids, however, there is something you should know about my people. We have been at war for the last three hundred and seventy five years with a race called the Felinare. When I first walked into the room where we met, I thought for a moment that they were actually Felinare." Both Adam and he chuckled over that comment.

"There is something else I would like to ask if I may." Quel looked once again at a random kid walking by.

"Of course." came a cheerful reply from Adam.

"I have noticed many of the children here wearing a rather interesting looking bracelet. I was wondering if you could tell me about it."

Adam had to stifle a groan but looked around at the kids close by. His eyes settled on a child about twelve years old who was wearing one. Calling him over, Adam took the youngsters wrist and showed it to the Eryradain Master.

"What does the 'WWJD' mean on it?" He queried while looking at it.

Adam dismissed the now grinning boy before turning to Quel. "Well it's hard to explain really. The 'WWJD' is used mainly to refer to a religious figure on this planet named Jesus. Basically the bracelet is meant to make the person ask themselves 'What would Jesus Do?' However, with in the Unit, that's what we call ourselves. It used to mean something slightly different,"What Would Juan Do?"

"I am guessing that I would need to know who this Juan is before I would understand the reference?" Quel lifted an eye brow obviously not understanding.

"The long and the short of it is this. Juan is one of my younger brothers who has a rather unique outlook on life. If there is someone who he thinks is a threat to his family, he prefers to kill first and ask questions later." Adam couldn't help but chuckle at the look on Quel's face. "The interesting part is very rarely is Juan wrong. So far, he has never even hurt someone who did not deserve it."

"Yet Juan ALSO wears a "WWJD" bracelet," Adam explained to Quel.

"He asks himself what would he do?" Quel questioned curiously.

"No," Adam laughed trying to figure out how to explain this one. "He wears it to ask himself 'What Would Joel Do?'."

With a smile, Quel added, "I take it Joel is another brother who has a calming influence on the obviously temperamental Juan?"

"To put it mildly. Juan becomes a little teddy bear around his Joel," Adam smiled softly and sadly. "Which is why you've not met him yet. Joel was hurt yesterday, and Juan is with him right now."

The older man simply shook his head, then cocked it to the side. "What is that sound?"

Adam had to think for a moment, most of the time, he simply blocked out sounds that were not important to him while he was in the base. When he figured out what the man was talking about, he smiled. "It's a musical instrument called a piano." He motioned for the man to follow him, as they turned into the music room.

Sitting with his back to them, was an eleven year old boy fingering a tune on the piano. Adam signaled Quel to stay quiet and just watch. 'The boy's name is Alex. He's extremely shy and will not be able to play if he knows people are watching. However, I think you may be in for a treat.' Adam sent to the man telepathically.

A single sharp nod was all the response he got, and then they both stared transfixed as the boy started to play a song. His small fingers glided over the keys of the baby grand piano, evoking a haunting tune. When he started to sing, both Adam and Quel were shocked by the emotion the boy put into the song. While he had no professional training, the boy had power and control that was unbelievable. His high pitched boy soprano voice was crystal clear, and he was pulling emotions out of his hidden audience.

Please, please forgive me,
But I won't be home again.
Maybe someday you'll look up,
And, barely conscious, you'll say to no one:
"Isn't something missing?"

You won't cry for my absence, I know -
You forgot me long ago.
Am I that unimportant...?
Am I so insignificant...?
Isn't something missing?
Isn't someone missing me?

Even though I'm the sacrifice,
You won't try for me, not now.
Though I'd die to know you love me,
I'm all alone.
Isn't someone missing me?

Whispered:
Can you stop the fire?
Can you stand to fight her?
You cant stop the fire,
you wont say the words.

Please, please forgive me,
But I won't be home again.
I know what you do to yourself,
I breathe deep and cry out;
"Isn't something missing?
Isn't someone missing me?"

Even though I'm the sacrifice,
You won't try for me, not now.
Though I'd die to know you love me,
I'm all alone.
Isn't someone missing me?

And if I bleed, I'll bleed,
Knowing you don't care.
And if I sleep just to dream of you
I'll wake without you there,
Isn't something missing?
Isn't something.......

Even though I'm the sacrifice,
You won't try for me, not now.
Though I'd die to know you love me,
I'm all alone.
Isn't something missing?
Isn't someone missing me?

(Copyright Evanescence)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5RmCBpfBUk

Neither Adam, nor Quel could stay in the room. When they got outside, Adam saw Quel was openly weeping; but then again so was he. "That was absolutely beautiful. I could feel the anguish that the lyrics spoke too with my soul. Is.. is that what the child had to live with?" Quell asked, the anguish evident in his voice. Adam couldn't bring himself to answer, he didn't need to, his eyes answered for him.

---

Juan looked around at the three boys that he had been working with over the last few hours; at least it had been a few hours in his head. He doubt much time had passed in the outside world, which was good. What he couldn't get past right now were these three boys. He knew all three of them were N-Gen, but he hadn't realized how special they were.

"Okay Madison, I want you to try something a bit more difficult." Juan said as he was now instructing the triplets in the full use of their abilities. Now that they were all N-Gen, their abilities were greatly increased from what they had before.

Juan started them all through their paces making sure they figured out and understood, in a safe environment, what the upper levels of their powers were. Of course, this was also turning out to be a very good learning experience for Juan. He had never really developed his Telepathy or his Empathy past what was needed; now he was being forced to teach someone else how to use theirs. Madison was easy to teach as he was a primary Telekinetic, the same as Juan.

Maddox being a primary Telepath, and Malcolm being an primary Empath, forced Juan to develop his own powers. He had to figure it out quickly if he was going to be able to teach them anything. So over the last few 'hours,' Juan pushed the three of them to increase their understandings of what they could do now, and most importantly how to control it. Juan comprehends very clearly that an N-Gen who can't control their abilities is a VERY dangerous person.

So far, Juan has been very impressed with the three boys. Even though they are just learning how to control their new found powers, they are doing much better than Juan had done when he started his training. The thing he found so interesting is how they seemed to be able to draw on each other, and use that to augment themselves. Right now, he was pushing Madison and watching him do things that he shouldn't be able to do yet, but simply can since he is getting 'help' from his brothers.

Juan had never seen nor heard anything like it, but then again, other than the twins Jamie and Jacob, Juan wasn't aware of any multiple birth N-Gens. He knew, when this was over with, and he let the triplets out of his head, he would need to talk to Jason about it.

It was really great to see how the boys were progressing. They had been here for quite a while, relatively, and the triplets seemed to be handling things decently. Of course, Juan hadn't let them have the time to dwell on anything, so that helped to. Soon, though, it would time to take the next step in their healing.

Later that evening, Juan sat the boys down around the campfire he had made. Juan has tried his best to make the kids feel like they were on a camping trip, with no worries outside of the little forest glade they were in. He had even taught them how to hunt and trap when they first got there, Now, he was letting them do all the hunting, cleaning, and cooking of the food. At first it was pretty bad, but now they were doing an okay job of it.

'Ahhh... just in time!' Juan thought to himself as he stretched out with his mind. Earlier, when he separated himself from this place long enough to talk to his mother, he asked her to set a few things up for him; it looks like she got everything set just as he had asked. "Hey guys," Juan called out and the three boys looked over at him curiously. "Just wanna let you know, a friend of mine is coming out to camp with us. If that's okay with you three?"

The three boys looked back and forth at each other in that way that told Juan they were communicating. He didn't bother listening in, certain things should be allowed to be private. As expected, when it was time for 'the brothers' to speak, it was Madison who did the talking. "Is he nice?"

"Yeah he is," Juan said smiling. "Lets just say he's one of the few people I really trust to help out. You three are family to me now. I wouldn't bring someone here who was gonna hurt you."

The three boys looked at each other, then back to Juan and in unison nodded. "We trust you Juan." Madison said with a small smile.

Maddox jumped in and offered his two cents as well. "If you say he's okay, that's good enough." Morgan just nodded his agreement. Juan had been working with the youngest of the three to speak up more. It's not that his brothers were running all over him, it's just that the boy would rarely speak. But, Juan reasoned after what happened to Morgan, he could understand it.

That was actually the main reason he was calling his friend in. It was just a few days ago, that Juan realized that the brothers knew what happened when Adam rescued them, and more importantly, they knew it was Morgan who killed the bad guys. They didn't know exactly how he did it, but they knew he did.

Juan looked over his shoulder as someone came into the clearing. He smiled at the man until he heard the brothers cry out with fear. Juan spun around as the brothers cowered behind him, placing him in between the man walking into the clearing and themselves. "It's okay guys. I promise he won't hurt you."

Dr. Phil raised his hands up and very slowly walked into the campsite. He gently lowered his backpack to the ground and sat on a log as far away from the kids as he could while still being inside the fire light. When Juan came and talked to him a few hours ago, Phil knew he was in for a rough time., When he was informed he would have as much time as was needed to work with the kids, since they were inside of Juan's mind doing it, he agreed to help how ever he could. Phil thought back to when Juan walked into his office earlier.

**Flashback**

Phil sat back in his chair after showing his latest patient out when a knock came on the door. When he called out for who ever it was to enter, he was surprised to see Juan walk into the room. For a moment, Phil thought seriously about hitting his flask, but then he noticed Juan's eyes. He'd never seen anyone with glowing blue eyes.

Knowing by the look on Juan's face that something was going on, Phil simply motioned for Juan to take a seat. "What's going on Juan? What can I help you with?"

Once Juan was seated, he took a deep breath and started to explain the situation. "I don't know if your aware of it, but about 20 minutes ago, Adam rescued a set of triplets that have been abused, uhmmm severely."

Phil sighed, knowing he wasn't going to like where this was going. "How bad?"

The man watched as a tear welled up and fell from Juan's eye as he spat out, "BAD!!!"

Now Phil was shocked. He'd never really seen Juan show this kind of emotion, even when Juan was discussing what his history was, Juan never allowed himself to cry. "What's happened?"

"From what I have learned so far, and they still haven't told me everything, they were 'sold' by their step-dad to a group that was able to 'handle' them, after he found the three brothers playing around with each other sexually. They're just eleven year old boys who are very close. They were just learning about their bodies, yet this asshole went nuts, beat them, then sold them off. The assholes that bought them used them to make videos and then sold them to people who got off on watching kids gets sexually tortured. When Adam found them, one of the brothers, Madison, just had his male parts completely crushed. They were told they were going to be making a 'snuff' video that day. None of them knew what that meant, but they were killing the boy so some sick fucks could get off on it." Juan jumped up out of the chair and started pacing with even larger tears dropping from his face.

He stopped and looked at Phil with a look that set the man back some. Never in a human, had Phil seen such a feral look as he saw on the face of the little innocent looking boy. "Unfortunately, when it happened, Madison started the conversion to an N-Gen and fried all of their minds."

Phil was shocked, but quickly saw this as an opportunity to figure a few things out. "What do you mean by conversion?"

Juan sighed as he dropped back into his chair. "It's like this, there's people who carry the gene to become an N-Gen. When something happens to them that causes their powers to emerge, they start the conversion. Now, you have to understand, this shouldn't be happening yet on a genetic level. Yes, there are people that carry the gene, but the human body is not set up to go to this level yet. For whatever reason though, it started. When someone starts the conversion, they are in danger of burning out their mind cause it ain't ready to handle it yet; so they need help. That's what I did for the triplets, I built the bridge for them so they wouldn't burn out. So now they are N-gen."

Phil was confused, but also somewhat scared by something Juan said. "How many people did this boy kill?"

"Welllllll," Juan started, "he didn't actually kill them, physically. From what I've been able to figure out, he broke their minds by forcing all the pain that he went through over his entire time there into theirs in a split second. Obviously a human brain can't handle that sort of thing, so they fried. And, it was eight adults."

"Wait," Phil said shocked, "an untrained N-Gen could kill eight people in an instant?"

Juan smirked which did not make Phil feel any better. "Easily. N-Gen's have power that can be frightening even to me. I mean think of it this way..." Juan said as every piece of furniture in the room raised up in the air by about a foot. "This doesn't take a lot of energy, yet I am lifting a lot of weight, especially your damned book cases. Now imagine that sort of energy being released inside someone's mind. See, with N-Gen's, the only real limit we have is the number of rooms that have been set up in our minds."

Phil sat there taking it all in. "How... how many rooms are there in a N-Gen's mind?"

Juan shook his head slightly. "It depends on the N-Gen. The more practice one gets at using their powers, the more rooms get created. To put it as easy as possible, when someone becomes N-Gen, they get the same amount of rooms, with the same base abilities. However, it's then up to the individual how strong they want to make each aspect of their powers. It is up to the individual and how much effort they put into practicing to make themselves more powerful. Things like that."

Juan let that sink into Phil's head for a moment before hitting him with even more information, simply to make his head spin a bit more. "Jason Evans is the most powerful of the N-Gen's when it comes to telepathic abilities. I figure he could probably take control of a hundred different people and make them do what he wants."

Giggling at Phil shocked expression, Juan continued, thinking how much fun this really was. "That's cause Jason concentrated on the telepathic side of his powers. However, if he got into a straight up telekenetic fight with me, I'd kick his ass, even though he's been an N-Gen longer. It's all in where we have concentrated our efforts."

Phil was in information overload, but was thankful for the education that Juan had given him. However, something stuck in his mind. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Juan actually had a difficult time with this next part. Never before in his young life, save for his mom and dad, had Juan ever considered saying this. Even now that it was time, he found it hard to get the words out. "I... I need your help with them."

---

The three band mates, from the Country music group Rascal Flatts, walked into the dining hall and looked around at all the kids in the place. "There's got to be hundreds of kids here!" Gary whispered in a mixture of shock and sadness as he looked around the room.

"Actually there's just over eight thousand kids that have been rescued in the last week currently housed here." The three men turned and saw a kid walking up to them. He looked to be about twelve years old with sandy blond hair, green eyes, and wearing a flight suit. He stuck his hand out to Gary first, and the man took it, while the kid introduced himself. "I'm Billy Reynolds, second in command of the UNIT's air wing, and I volunteered to help show you guys around, and answer any questions you might have."

Billy went around and shook hands with the other two, and couldn't help but giggle at the look on Joe Don's face. "I know what you're thinking... 'how could a twelve year old be second in command of an air wing?' Am I right?"

Joe Don blushed slightly and started to stumble on his words as he tried to come up with a response. Billy beat him to it. "Don't worry about it Mr. Rooney, not only are we used to it, I personally, can fully understand your skepticism. If it weren't for the fact that I'm living it, I doubt I would really believe it. Heck there are times I wake up and have to pinch myself to make sure I actually am living it." Billy giggled again, and spoke a bit softer so only the three men could hear. "Of course waking up next to my boyfriend every morning doesn't hurt either."

Gary quickly changed the subject because this one was uncomfortable for all three of the men. "You said that you guys rescued over eight thousand in a week?" When Billy nodded, Gary couldn't help but ask. "Where'd they all come from?"

Billy thought for a second on how to answer that, then a thought struck him. "I could of course answer that, but I think you might get a better idea, by talking to some of the kids. You'll find most of them will be brutally honest with you. However, I'll have to ask that you respect their wishes if they appear like they don't want to talk. Most of these kids have a deep seated fear of adults, and with good reason. However, most of them have come to realize that they are completely safe here and that none of the adults here will try to hurt them."

"So you're just going to let us walk around and talk to anyone we want?" Gary said with incredulity.

Billy shrugged and smiled sweetly, "sure, why not? Something you need to understand, at least one out of every five of the kids in this cafeteria have had three years of very intense special forces training; I doubt you would be able to tell who they all are. Just keep that in mind when you start asking them questions."

---

"It's okay guys, really," as Juan turned to face the brothers. Juan knew that these three were not stupid, and by turning his back to Phil, meant that he trusted Phil not to attack him from behind. "I know you don't trust adults and I can't blame you. But remember what I said. I trust him, and since you guys all know what I've been through, if I trust him, that's saying a lot. Please.. just give him a chance?"

Slowly, all three nodded, and backed away. Not a single one of them took their eyes off of Phil, but they at least sat down and didn't run away. Juan tapped the side of his head, and Phil nodded. Next thing the doctor knew, Juan's voice was filling his head. 'It's not gonna be easy, but you gotta earn their trust. We got as much time as we need in here. We've already been here almost two months.'

Phil nodded and thought for a second before thinking 'back' to Juan. 'I think I might have someone else who could help.'

Juan cocked his head to the side, then a slow smile appeared on his face as Phil filled him in. When he was done, Juan was grinning fully, 'and you say he is waiting?'

'Yup, all you gotta do is bring him in. Your mom put him to sleep the same time she did me.'

'Oh this is gonna be fun!' Juan stretched his mind back out, and right where he was supposed to be, Juan felt the other's mind. With hardly any effort at all, Juan brought him in. 'Damn, I must be getting better at this!' He thought to himself as he turned to warn the brothers about their soon to be arriving helper.

"Okay guys, Phil here has asked his son to come and help out." The three boys nodded, then Morgan spoke in a voice that Juan barely heard, as he was tucked up underneath Madison's protective arm. "He... he has a son?"

"Yeah he does. He just adopted him a little while ago. Now, you remember how I told you guys that I was made?" Juan said as he crouched down in front of the brothers. There were times that Juan couldn't really believe that the brothers were older than he was, and this was one of them.

Madison took up his role as spokesman again. "Yeah. You told us how you were made in a lab, then put in a woman, then born."

Juan nodded thinking back for a moment on how difficult it was to make them understand when he first told them. "Yeah... well Phil's son is like that too. But, he's a bit different than I am."

Maddox leaned forward a bit, his excitement outweighing his concern of Phil's presence; at least for the moment. "Is he a cat-kid like your brother Khan?"

Juan was about to respond when a voice came from just outside the fire light. "I would think not! No cat could be as good as I am!"

Juan looked over and couldn't help but groan as the first thing he saw was the sparkles on his hat. The reflections dancing in the fire light. The three boys laughed with excitement as the short, thin, fur covered High Priest Dave came skipping into the campsite and moved right towards the brothers. Reaching into one of the many pouches on his belt, he pulled out three different shines. of the first was a big diamond, the other was one of Daileass's (Techno babble here), and the third was a worn down broken piece of an old soda bottle that glimmered in the fire light.

Once he passed out his shines, he went over and jumped into Phil's lap, gave the man a very wet kiss on the cheek, then snuggled up into him.

Once the shock wore off of the three boys, Maddox almost gasped out. "You're... you're a..."

"Ferret! Yup yup yup. That's what I am. And what's better than a ferret? I'll tell you what's better... NOTHING! Well... there is one thing, and that's a Ferret with a Shiney Daddy. Like I's got!"

Madison, forgetting his fear of Phil, slowly moved over to Dave, and hesitantly reached out to touch the furry creature. When his fingers met fur, the boy chuckled and started to scratch Dave on the chest. "Ohhhh... yeah... that's the spot!"

Soon all three brothers were petting and scratching Dave, and he was in heaven. Not a single one of them realized that they were standing right in front of Phil who was still holding Dave. Juan grinned, and one single tear of happiness fell from his eye. There was still a lot of work to be done, but the last two months had been worth it just to see this.

---

It was several hours later that the three members of the band, met back up in the rooms that they were given. Before heading off to talk to the kids, they agreed to only spend an hour. Not a single one of them got out of there in less than four. Gary LeVox, the lead singer, was the last one to get back. One look at his two band mates, told him they were having the same reactions that he was. "Damn...."

"Yeah... that about sums it up." Joe Don said as he put his guitar to the side. He had been doing what he always did when he was upset, he was playing music.

"I can't believe some of the stories that I heard. I mean... well I don't mean they made it up, or are lyin' or something. It's just so hard to believe that people could do all of that." The disgust evident in Jay's voice.

"I know what you mean. There was this one kid that I talked to." Gary said as he sat down on the couch opposite to his friends. He paused as he shook his head. "He told me about his older brother. I... I just can't believe what the kid went through," looking up to meet the eyes of his two best friends, though he couldn't meet them with the tears that were flowing. "Jack... the kid I talked to,he and his brother had everything. A good family, lots of friends, you know, everything a kid should have. His brother was already being scouted by pro baseball teams, he was smart, good looking... he had everything. Then, then his parents found him in bed with a friend... another boy." Gary couldn't keep going... he broke down in sobs, and Jay quickly went over to him, sat down, and pulled Gary into a sideways hug, simply holding the man as he cried.

"Less then three months later," Gary said as soon as he found his voice again, "he... he killed himself. The entire town turned on him, and his parents wouldn't even let Jack grieve for his brother. There was no funeral, there was nothing. Jack said with in a day there was nothing left in the house to even say he ever had an older brother. His parents forbade him from even mentioning his brothers name." Gary stopped and wiped his eyes, looking over at Jay, he smiled sadly then turned towards Joe Don. "At twelve years old, Jack knew better than to throw away his own brother, no matter what. A twelve year old knew what was right and wrong better than his own parents did. I... I wish there was something we could do for these kids."

"Well, maybe there is." Daileass's voice came over the speakers causing all three men to jump slightly. "Sorry guys, I wasn't listening in on purpose. I was actually going to tell you all something, but heard that Gary was upset, so I was listening to see if there was anything I could do."

"It's okay Daileass, we know you wouldn't do anything wrong. So what's up?" Jay said standing up and moving over to the computer screen, where the boy's face showed up.

"Well, I'm sure you don't know this, but four days ago UNIT Radio went on the air. See, a couple of the kids got together and decided they wanted to start a radio station. They talked to me about it, and I brought it to Logan. He almost immediately agreed, so I got the equipment they needed. I even went so far as to buy almost every single kid friendly song out there so they could play just about anything they wanted to. Anyways, the reason I brought it up is this. About ten minutes ago, they got a call for a request. Wanna hear?"

The three guys looked at each other and shrugged. "Uhh... sure."

"Okay, here it goes."

"... and that was the song 'Free' done by the Zac Brown Band." A young voice said, obviously not trained in talking on the radio, but not doing too bad. "Now, lets go to the phones and take another request, here on UNIT Radio." There was a pause and then they heard a phone pick up into the microphone. "Hey there... Who's this?" The boy's voice asked.

"This is Jack!" A young boys voice exclaimed over the speakers.

"That's him!" Gary said as he shot to his feet.

"Hey there Jack... Can I guess what you want played?" The announcers voice said with the hint of amusement

"Yeah, but Harry your not gonna believe who's here!" Jack spoke so fast that people had a hard time understanding him.

"Woooo... slow down there mate. Who's here, and where's here?"

Jack was heard giggling by everyone listening. "Here silly, in the base!"

"Okay... so who's here?" Harry said trying to hide his amusement at the little fire ball on the other end of the line.

"THEY'RE here... you know the guys that do my song!" All three men could actually hear Jack bouncing up and down in excitement.

"You mean Rascal Flatts is here?!" Harry asked, his excitement going through the roof.

"Yeah... and Gary... you know the lead singer... he sat down at our table and... and he talked to us!"

"Oh man! That is so cool!" Harry the DJ said. "So you wanna hear your song?"

That seemed to sober Jack up right away. "Actually no... I wanna hear something a little more up beat. Could you play another song for me. Just like all their songs? This one fits a mood, and it really fits my mood right now."

"Okay, so what song by Rascal Flatts would you like to hear?"

"Unstoppable." Was Jack reply, and almost as one the three men burst into tears. Obviously they knew the song well, and knew what it meant. Or at least, what it probably meant to this young boy.

The song started to play with out another word by either Harry or Jack. Gary couldn't help it, he started to sing along with himself, while the other two quickly grabbed their instruments and played along. Not a single time did they bother wiping their tears.

So, so you made a lot of mistakes
Walked down the road a little sideways
Cracked a brick when you hit the wall
Yeah, you've had a pocket full of regrets
Pull you down faster than a sunset
Hey, it happens to us all

When the cold hard rain just won't quit
And you can't see your way out of it

CHORUS
You find your faith has been lost and shaken
You take back what's been taken
Get on your knees and dig down deep
You can do what you think is impossible
Keep on believing, don't give in
It'll come and make you whole again
It always will, it always does
Love is unstoppable

Love, it can weather any storm
Bring you back to being born again
oh, it's a helping hand when you need it most
A lighthouse shinning on the coast
That never goes dim

When your heart is full of doubt
And you think that there's no way out


CHORUS
You find your faith has been lost and shaken
You take back what's been taken
Get on your knees and dig down deep
You can do what you think is impossible
Keep on believing, don't give in
It'll come and make you whole again
It always will, it always does
Love is unstoppable

Like a river keeps on rolling
Like the north wind blowing
Don't it feel good knowing
Yeah

CHORUS
You find your faith has been lost and shaken
You take back what's been taken
Get on your knees and dig down deep
You can do what you think is impossible
Keep on believing, don't give in
It'll come and make you whole again
It always will, it always does
Love is unstoppable

Love is unstoppable
So you made a lot of mistakes
Walked down the road a little sideways
Love, love is unstoppable

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIpm7D7zats

 

Rascal Flatts 'Unstoppable' Copyright 2009

 

 

 

As soon as the song ended, even though all of their faces were streaked in tears, the men had huge smiles on their faces. "I think you guys know what you need to do and if you don't, let me make it clear." Daileass said, as the door opened, and something not very many people here had even seen before, flew into the room. It was a small remote control helicopter. "Just follow my little friend here, and he'll lead you to where you need to go."

The three men had a feeling they knew what was going on, but were not 100% sure. With a little trepidation, they followed the little flying machine out into the hallway.

---

"Okay guys... do you all think you're ready to go back to the real world?" Juan asked, several weeks after Phil and High Priest Dave arrived. The three boys looked a bit scared, but also excited. Which, was quite a shift from where they were just a few weeks ago.

That was a simple testament to not just Phil, but a lot of it could be credited to Dave. Juan wouldn't have thought it, but Dave was actually a genius, and seemed to know exactly how to pull the boys out of their shells. Ever since that first day, there was almost no time that Dave was away from Phil. That forced the boys to learn to be around an adult male, if they wanted to get to know Dave... and they did.

Phil said very little at first, slowly though, Dave drew him into conversations by asking what he thought about things. When it finally came time to talking about what the boys went through, it was almost two weeks into Phil and Dave being there. Every time they would talk about things, it was Dave doing most of the talking but always perched on Phil's lap.

Slowly, over time, Phil would get more and more involved in the conversations; which lead to the boys slowly trusting him more. When it finally came time for Morgan to go through what happened to him at the end, and what he did, it wasn't Juan or Dave that comforted the boy, it was Phil.

From that moment on, Morgan was almost glued to Phil's side, and as a result, the other two were around him as well. Juan pretty much sat back and watched as something beautiful developed between the triplets, Dave, and Phil. Juan was privileged enough to watch a family form. Of course, there was a down side to this. They were learning things from High Priest Dave. When they left, these three were going to be holy terrors. Of course, Juan's training didn't hurt either.

He spent a lot of time with the boys teaching them Chang's Martial Art; or at least the basics. He would not go into anything more advanced with out Chang present. It was the proper and honorable way to do things. It also allowed the boys to work out a lot of their anger issues. Juan was actually impressed by how much anger they had to get out. He knew one thing for sure. When they left the glade, and they were able to be physically trained, all three of them would be hell on the bad guys. Which was just fine to Juan.

Sometimes, he actually wished the training was more real. Because of where they were, the boys would not gain any sort of muscle memory. While they would know in their minds what to do, they would still have work on doing the physical training to build up their bodies to match what their minds knew. However, Juan's training cut down how much time they would need to train by quite a bit.

Juan was brought back to the present time when Maddox came up to him, and wrapped him in a hug. "Thanks Juan. Thanks for everything."

Juan actually had to fight back tears. It just wasn't good for his reputation to be crying this much, but dammit if he couldn't help it. "It was no problem Dax. I am just glad you guys are getting better."

Another set of arms wrapped Juan in a hug as Madison joined in. "We love you Juan. Your the first one that's been really nice to us since mommy died." Juan shut his eyes tight trying his hardest to fight the tears that just would not stop.

The final straw was Morgan coming up to complete the three way hug, a four way, with Juan right in the middle. Using his empathy just like he was taught, Morgan took all the love that the three boys were feeling, and turned it straight into Juan. "No matter what happens out there, we'll always know who saved us, and love you for that. Adam might have rescued us, but you're the one that saved us, and we will always love you for that."

"OH GOD GUYS!!!" Juan cried, tears flowing freely from his eyes. "I'm gonna kill that little Elf when we get outta here. He's made me soft!"

Both High Priest Dave and Phil burst out laughing at Juan's oath. "Don't worry Juan!" Dave hollered, "we won't tell no one that your just a big softy at heart!"

"You better not... or I'll be having me a Ferret Skin run on my floor!" Everyone cracked up when Dave stuck his tongue out at Juan. Finally, Juan joined in on the laughter, and as soon as Dave was in range, he pulled the furry little guy into the hug, which ended up a mass of feet, arms and fur on the ground as the boys laughed and cried all together.

When they got back to their feet, Phil came over and all the boys somber-ed up knowing it was about time to leave the place that had become their home. Juan looked the boys over one last time and spoke with a very thick voice. "You guys got one hell of a dad in Phil, and even a hell of a brother in Dave. But always know... if you need ANYTHING... anything at all... all you have to do is call my name and Daileass will make sure I get to you as soon as possible; no matter what. If I can't get to you, someone else will. You never have to worry about being hurt again. I make that vow to you. Okay?"

The three brothers nodded and once again the three boys slammed into Juan in a tight hug. This one didn't last very long, and when they were separated, Juan sent out the silent message that they were ready to go back to reality. He just hoped that everyone would be ready for these three.

---

Jory and Will were standing next to Fluffy, and the two Eryradain officers watching as Tommy and Elwyn got used to flying around. They had been flying around playing an airborne game of tag for the last twenty minutes. Not a single word was said by those watching, simply because they could not get over the beauty of watching the two 'Phoenixes' fly around over head.

At first, the two boys/birds were flying around hesitantly obviously trying to get used to their new forms, and trying to get used to flying. Then, almost magically, instincts that neither boy knew they had took over and they started flying around as if they were meant to. Which in a way they were.

Will spoke softly to Jory, never once taking his eyes off the two flying birds in the air. "You have any idea how jealous I am of them?"

"Yeah...." was all that Jory could get out, as he watched the two boys come in landing near them. Tommy had tucked his golden colored wings and seemed to be heading right for them. Suddenly, he threw his wings out to their full span of over twenty five feet, pulled up hard, and started back winging to slow his decent. With out a sound, Tommy landed about ten feet in front of the small group, with Elwyn landing right next to him. Both birds ruffled their feathers, tucked them to their sides and made an almost musical laughing sounds. Tommy was the first one that started to change his shape, and all of them watched in awe. First, the feathers started to melt away while the legs elongated and the flame red beak started to pull back. The beautifully colored down disappeared leaving behind it smooth unblemished skin.

It only took, maybe twenty to thirty seconds, before both boys were standing in front of the small group completely naked; once again, looking fully human. Tommy was the first one to speak as he almost shouted out "that was soo wicked!"

"YEAH!!!!! I Can't wait to show my village what I can do now!" Elwyn grinned and bounced up and down with excitement.

"Personally, I can not wait till you can fly over the capital city so that all the Eryradain can see that indeed our Gods have returned!" First Commander Huthel said with a bit of dreamy contemplation.

"What do you mean by that?" Tommy asked, the grin sliding from his face.

Huthel shook his head and looked down at the two boys. "Well surely you realize that you must come back with us. We are at war, and you are prophesied as the ones to bring us victory."

Tommy stared at him with open shock as Fluffy started a deep grumble in her throat, that made the man step back. With out a word, Tommy and Elwyn took off at a flat out run into the base. Fluffy held the men back for a moment, then turned and followed.

Jory turned and looked at the two men. "My guess is Tommy and Elwyn do not want to go anywhere."

"But... But... they have to. Surely their parents will understand when it's explained to them." Huthel sputtered.

"Well I can't speak for Elwyn, but I can tell you right now. Tommy's parents will not force him to do anything he does not want to. And if you try to force it, you will have a shit storm on your hands that you cannot handle." Will said as he and Jory turned and walked away. Leaving two very stunned Eryradain officers standing there.

---

Editor's Notes:

Wow, now that was a Juan that I did not see coming!!! He really helped the triplets! All that work, time and training he gave them. He gave so much of himself and thought enough to get Dr. Phil's help too. I think we have not heard the last of all of these guys!!

It was cool picturing what Tommy and Elwyn were doing while flying and how descriptive everything was. I could really see it all happening and the changing was awesome. Roland really put a lot into this. What will be interesting is to see what Tommy and Elwyn will do about helping out the Eryradain! Will they, won't they and if they do, who else is going to help?

I cannot wait to see what Roland has up his sleeve next!!!

Till next time, this is your friendly neighborhood editing puppy!!!

Boxerdude!