The U.N.I.T.

Everyone that had been outside came running back in when the loud rumbling started along with the ground shaking, and soon there was a large crowd standing just a few feet away from the slowly lowering wall. Janet meanwhile, concerned, had pulled Joe off to the side, away from that growing crowd.

"Joe, what the hell is going on?"  Janet asked, with the concern evident in her voice, but Joe didn't respond, other than to take her by the arm and lead her away to somewhere with a bit more privacy and where, hopefully, he would have regained a little bit of control before the explanations began.  Nothing was said between the two of them, which only increased Janet's concern, all the way up to the room that the boys were sharing together.  Joe found that he was a little bit more in control of himself by the time they got to the room, at least.

Then they were nearly run over by Juan as they entered.  They looked at Juan who had several of the large bags they used to transport rifles in his hands, with one of them even slung over his shoulder, as he left the room in a dead run, yelling back over his shoulder, "Hey guys, sorry, gotta go, Adam needs me,"  as he rushed down the hallway towards the staircase.

Janet looked over at Logan with a questioning look. But she only got a shrug of his shoulders as he said, "no clue, about 2 minutes ago, while we were going over one of the rifles, he looked up like he was listening to something, then just started tearing ass around the room, saying that Adam needed him, the rifles and radios, then he said something about a hidden room and nothing else.  What's going on?"  Logan asked, beginning to get frightened when he finally saw Joe standing there, pale as a ghost, and visibly shaking.

Joe just shook his head, and went over to one of the bunks. Dropping down onto it, and burying his face in his hands. Logan, seeing that, now looked very upset, and turned to face his mother, asking worriedly, "Mom, what's wrong, what is it? Is Adam alright?"

Janet, not saying anything, looked at Joe for a moment and moved to take a seat on the bunk next to the one Joe was sitting on, then looked at Logan. 

"Mom?" the boy asked, with increasing dread, as Janet said,

"Logan, honey, Adam is just fine, why don't you come over here and sit next to me."

Logan was still not sure what was going on, since Joe still hadn't looked up from where he was sitting, but he did as his mother had requested; breathing a sigh of relief at the news that Adam was okay, but the look on Joe's face still scared the heck out of him, as he moved to sit next to her.

"Logan, have you ever noticed an amulet that Adam wears around his neck?" Joe asked in a voice devoid of emotion, without raising his head, Logan hesitantly nodded that he did, saying a soft "Yeah," but not understanding why he was asking about it, as Joe continued.  "Has he told you anything about it?"

Logan looked off into space for a second, thinking back to the pain filled memories that Adam had confided to him.  "Yeah, he said his mother gave it to him, the night she dumped him on that street corner in Los Angeles." 

Logan was startled when Joe's head shot up and he looked at Logan with a very intense look.  "His Mother?  Did Adam say where she got it?"  Joe asked softly, but with a voice filled with intensity.

"Ummm…if I remember correctly what Adam told me, he said his mother got it from his father, just before he ran out on them. His mom told him that his father said something like,"Here's something to remember me by." It was the same thing she told him when she gave it to him. Why?"

Joe didn't answer him but, instead, got up and walked over to his bag, where he rooted around in it for a second.  When he was done, he had pulled out two items.  One was another Celtic Cross on a chain, very similar to the one Adam wore.  While the other was a flask; out of which he took a long pull, before he went back to sit down.  "I want to tell you both a story, but I also need your word that you won't say anything to Adam, until I talk to him."  Joe said, as he sat there nervously fingering the cross that he now held in his hand.

Janet and Logan both agreed, but Logan had to ask a question.  "I don't think I understand, what's going on, and what does this have to do with you and Adam?"

Joe took a deep breath before answering.  "I'll explain what I think is the 'how' in a minute.  But the 'what' is this," he took another swig from the flask before looking at Logan and softly saying, "I think Adam is my biological son."

Logan just sat there with a completely stunned look on his face by what Joe had just said.  Joe, meanwhile, took a moment to collect his thoughts before he started his story. 

"It all starts with a story that's been in my family for many years, and how it was, that my grandfather was a multi billionaire, who somehow, in the end had nothing.  According to the story, this gold mine had been in my family since the west was starting to be settled.  My forefathers settled here in this part of Utah, and claimed this canyon as theirs.  When it was discovered that there was a lot of gold under the ground, they became enormously rich, over night.  With the amount of gold they were able to pull out of here, it made them rich even by today's standards, which of course meant they were filthy rich by the standards back then.  The land was passed down through the family for many generations, until the late 1920's when the mine dried up, and my great grandfather sold it to the government.  They still had a lot of money though, and that was passed down to my grandfather when his father died. 

I was very close to my grandfather, as my parents were too wrapped up in doing the social thing, and protecting the "Casey name," to be parents to me.  They even named me Joseph Alexander Casey III, to honor my grandfather, they said, although it was more like kissing up to him.  My grandfather was more like a father than a grandfather to me, and my parents didn't mind at all, because it was obvious I was his favorite out of all the grandchildren, and they thought that it would mean that when he died, they would get a bigger share of his wealth.  When I was in high school, he started to suffer from Alzheimer's, and he was eventually forced into a nursing home, after my parents, along with my aunts and uncles, forced the courts to declare him incompetent.  I was furious with their greed, but my grandfather told me not to worry, as he had everything taken care of.  I had assumed this to mean that he had a solid will that could not be contested.  But it was still a very difficult and sad time in my life, to see what they did to him.

The anger I had, though, was nothing compared to what my family had when they found out somehow that my grandfather had spent almost every cent that he had.  They were even more pissed when they found out the only thing he had was this mine, and that he had left it to me.  My oh so loving and caring family even tried to contest that part of the will, but were not able to get around the will my grandfather had left.  He and I had many good laughs at everything that was happening, as my family tried to figure out where all the money went to. But they were never able to figure it out before he died. 

My grandfather was the one who encouraged me to fulfill my dream which was nothing even close to what my parents wanted.  They wanted me to be a "successful member of society, and I wanted to join the military.  I visited my grandfather for the last time the day before I was to ship out for advanced training. 

**Flashback**

Nineteen year old Joe Casey walked down the halls of the "Retirement Home" in his brand new military uniform.  He wanted to show it off to his grandfather, before he shipped out the next day for advanced training, having already completed basic.  He walked up to the door to his grandfather's room, hoping that this would be one of those days where his grandfather still had his wits about him.  To his relief, it was. 

"Hi Granddad."  Joe said, as he walked into the room.  Joseph Casey Sr. looked up from the book he was reading and beamed, as Joe walked in. 

"Ahhh, if it isn't my little soldier.  Come here, Joey, and give this old man a hug." The old man said, and Joe was only too happy to comply as they sat talking for almost an hour, before Joe said that he had to get going so he could pack up. 

"Joey, before you go, I have something here for you."  Joe Sr. said, when Joe announced his impending departure.  "I'm not sure how much longer I'll be around, and I wanted to give these to you, before you left, that way no one else can get their greedy hands on them."

"What's that, Granddad?"  Joe asked, while moving to the side of the bed. 

Joe Sr. reached over into his night stand, and retrieved two gold chains.  Attached to each chain was a very intricately designed Celtic Cross.  Joe knew right away that, while these were not all that expensive, they must have held much sentimental value, just by the way his grandfather was holding them. 

"I don't remember if I ever told you the story of how I met your grandmother."  Joe Sr. said, his voice echoing memories from the past, as a soft smile came across his face.  "I first met her in school, where we fell deeply in love, and our first date was to this traveling fair that was going through town.  It was there that I saw these two amulets on sale.  I bought them both and gave one of them to your grandmother, while I wore the other.  They weren't much, but they symbolized the love that we had for each other.  We never took them off till the day she died.  I kept them, thinking I could give them to one of my boys when they found their true love, but none of my boys were worth getting these, so I want them to go to you, but you must promise me something."

Joe just nodded, not really sure what, if anything, he could say to what he had just learned.  His grandfather had to take a break from this for a second, and Joe helped him take a sip of water before he continued.

"Joey, I want you to promise me that when you find your true love, the woman you want to marry and spend the rest of your life with, when you find this woman, I want you to give one of these to her." 

Joe nodded as he took the two amulets from his grandfather, promising the old man he thought of as a father, much more than his own, that he would honor that request, then he hugged him goodbye for what, sadly, would turn out to be the last time.  Two months later, while he was still at advanced training, he got word that his grandfather had passed away.

Eight years later, he finished his tour of duty with the Army Rangers, and moved into civilian life, electing to settle down in Barstow California, where he took a job in a security firm.  It was there that he met a wonderful young woman named Lisa Arpin.  Even though she was only twenty, and Joe was older at twenty-seven, they hit it off rather well, and within a year's time, they were dating steadily. 

Things were going very well for them, and Joe was just about to ask her to marry him when the shit hit the fan over in the Middle East.  August 2nd of 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait; thus starting operation Desert Shield.  Joe was watching what was going on with great interest, and on the 22nd of August, President Bush authorized the first call-up of Selected Reservists to active duty for ninety days.  The next day, Joe got a phone call telling him that since he was an Officer in the Rangers, he was being re-called to active duty, and needed to be ready to ship out in two days.

Of course, this threw Joe and Lisa's plans to the wind, and after he told her about being re-called, he dropped to a knee and proposed to her.  They were married the next day, by a Justice of the Peace, and planned to have their honeymoon after Joe got back.  The night before he left, as they lay in bed after a serious love making session, Joe came to a decision and got out of bed, walking over to his packed bags.  He withdrew one of the amulets that his grandfather had given him, looking over it and thinking back to the promise he had made to his grandfather before going back over to lie down next to Lisa, and telling her.  "Lisa, I want to give this to you, it was my grandmother's.  My grandfather gave it to me before he died, and he told me to have the one I love and want to spend the rest of my life with wear it; that, my beautiful one, would be you.   I want you to wear it, and remember my love for you every time you touch it."  This brought tears to Lisa's eyes, and soon they were lost in their passion again.

**End Flashback**

Joe had been staring off into space for most of his story, lost to time and his memories.  Janet and Logan had simply sat there transfixed with the tale as Joe softly told it to them.  Finally he shook his head to clear it, looked at the amulet in his hand, then at the now nearly empty flask, and with a quick motion, drained the last of the flask's bitter alcohol, setting it down next to him, and then continued.

"I shipped out the next day, and by the time I arrived in the Middle East, there was already a letter waiting for me from Lisa.  We wrote back and forth every day for the next 2 months, when suddenly, the letters just stopped.  At first I wasn't too concerned, figuring that either the mail was slow, or she decided to only write once a week or something.  After two weeks of no letters though, I started to wonder what was going on.  I tried to call the apartment that we had rented, but all I got was a message that the phone had been cut off.  I tried to get a hold of one of my friends, but it was almost two more weeks before I could get him and ask him to look into things for me.  When I called him back a week later, he said that there was no one at the apartment, and when he asked around, he found out that Lisa had moved out about three weeks previous, and had left with another man."

"I was broken hearted, and did the only thing I could think of; I buried myself in my work.  I couldn't face it. The woman I had given my heart to just walked away with someone else. When it came time there wasn't really any reason to go home anymore so, I decided to reenlist.  After eight more years' active duty, I got offered a position to help train someone."  Joe said and a small smile came across his face.  "That someone turned out to be Adam.  I rode out the last four years of my time there, and retired last year."

Something seemed to occur to Joe at this point and he looked up at Janet.  "Janet, something I don't understand.  I was helping to train Adam for almost four years, yet I never saw the amulet before this?"  He let his voice trail off as the question was obvious in his statement.

"I was there the first night they brought him in, and I saw it then.  I figured Dr. Marcus wouldn't want something to remind Adam of his life before, so I hid it for him so Marcus couldn't take it.  After Adam woke up, I gave it back to him, and asked him what he wanted to do with it.  He decided to hide it, and only bring it out when he was alone."  Janet said simply. 

**Meanwhile back in the Cave**

Everyone stood in shock as the wall came down fully opening up to a very large, but very dark cavern.  The rumbling of the wall moving down had just subsided when another, however, quieter rumbling started.  A few seconds after that happened, lights started to turn on in this cavern, showing them that it was indeed a massive structure.  They stood there in opened mouth shock as they looked into the now lighted area before them.  It was easily the size of two football fields stacked next to each other, with the ceiling being close to one hundred feet above them.  They also noticed that the area was bigger then they first thought, as they saw what appeared to be another large doorway at the other end of the huge open space.  That door was open, and the lights were on there as well.  Looking in there, everyone could see many doors and possibly side passages moving off.

But the thing that surprised them the most was what was sitting on the ground off on the right hand wall.  "Oh my fucking God," breathed William, "Is that what I think it is?"  He started to move off towards the object of his astonishment when Adam stopped him.

 

"Hold on, we wait for Juan with the weapons and radios, I don't want to go in here with out a little more firepower than the sidearms we have."  Adam said while trying to shake off the dust that the wall moving had caused to cascade down on everyone.  He slipped into command mode as soon as it started happening, not knowing what was back there, but knowing it had to be rather important to be hidden the way it was.  It never did occur to him to think about why, the only thing that he had left from his mother, was the key to opening this new area.  He was still staring wide eyed at what was before him, when he heard a loud thud behind him.

"What the fuck.. over?" Juan said as he came to a sudden stop and the bag he was holding slipped from his hand causing everyone who had been gawking to jump in surprise.

"Juan, get your ass over here and get that bag open."  Adam barked as he spun and looked at Jack.  "Jack, how many of your kids can handle either pistols or rifles?"

Jack looked surprised at the question, but then seemed to understand.  He quickly looked around, and then called certain boys up to him.  "These guys can handle either one." 

Adam just nodded and looked the boys over.  "Okay guys, here's how it's gonna work.  We go in there in groups of three.  Each group has at least two weapons, and a radio.  Jack if it's okay with you, I want at least you to stay here and coordinate with everyone else."  Jack looked kinda surprised for a second, but Adam continued, already knowing what Jack was going to say.  "The reason I'm asking you is because if we find anyone in there, and they try to escape, I know you won't have trouble pulling the trigger if needed."

Jack slowly nodded at that plan.  "Yeah, okay, you're right, Dave and I will stay up here, along with Tommy, and hi…, ummm, cat, and direct everyone by the radios."  He then turned and looked at the kids.  "Alright, listen up.  We're doing as Adam said, but I also want a few more things.  First, you're to check in at least every five minutes, if you don't I will move another one of the teams to where you last reported in, to search.  Whoever uses the radios, I want you to report only the relative facts about what you find, and where it is, I don't want a bunch of chitter chatter on the air.  If you run into any problems, I want you to back off and wait for help.  Do NOT confront anyone you may find by yourselves.  Is that understood?" 

Everyone nodded that they agreed, then Adam and Juan started to pass out the weapons and radios, while Jack sent one of the kids running off to get a notepad and a couple of pens.

Once everyone was ready, they headed into the cavern.  William, Bill, and Ronnie were going to check out this large room first, since Bill would be able to help even in his wheelchair.  William was slightly surprised when Bill took one of the pistols, ejected the clip to make sure it was loaded, then chambered a round.  The way he did it left no doubt in William's mind that Bill had some experience with hand guns before. 

Now that they were ready to go, they went directly to the thing that caught William's attention at first.  Soon they were standing in front of a large, two rotor helicopter.  William let out a little whistle of astonishment, then turned to Bill.  "Do you know what this is?" 

Bill looked up at him with nothing short of astonishment in his eyes.  He took a moment to formulate his answer.  "Ummm, yeah... it's a Boeing MH-47 Chinook helicopter."  He looked it over for a few more seconds, before saying, "Actually, I think it's the 47E model.  The Special Forces version; if I'm not mistaken though, I think this is the prototype."

William was now definitely impressed, he hadn't even thought it was the prototype, until Bill mentioned it, but after looking it over a bit closer, he realized that the older boy was right.  "Okay, let's look around here and see what else we can find.  Bill, you and Ronnie look on the outside, and see what there is to see.  Don't go too far away, until I get done checking the inside."  He got nods from the other two boys, then went to go inside the helicopter.  While he was climbing in, he was able to hear Adam and the other's clearing the other rooms, and seeing what's inside of them.

Adam was slightly worried about his group, as he had Donnie, and one of the other bullies, but he figured he could control them, and with what was going on, they would be more wrapped up in what was happening than any thoughts of retribution they might have.  They were the last group to head out, and thus they were the ones that went the farthest into the cavern before finding an area to search. 

They came to a doorway at the back of the hallway, and with Adam covering him; Donnie opened the door, then moved back.  When Adam entered, he found himself in a stairway, both leading up and down.  Adam made a quick decision, and started to go up the stairs.  When they reached the next landing up, there was only a door as this must have been as high as this new complex went.  They went through the same procedure as before with Donnie opening the door as Adam covered him, then Adam moved out into the room.  What he saw was a huge room easily twice the size of the one they found below, and it was obviously meant to be a hydroponics area, as there was nothing but area's to grow plants, and other such things.  Adam had the boys spread out, but made) sure they were able to keep everyone else in sight, and they went about searching the place.

Jory and his two companions were the next ones to reach the stairway having found nothing but office space in the rooms that they had checked out.  Hearing Adam and his crew up the stairs, Jory decided that his group was going to go downstairs.  When they reached the landing one floor below them, they were surprised to see stairs going down further.  After consulting with Jack over the radio, they got the go ahead to go down to the lowest level they could find.  They ended up going down two more levels until they reached the third one down.  Once they radioed in how far they were, they proceeded to enter and start to search this level.

They were all shocked when they moved into the area, because they were in what looked to be a locker room area.  Moving through here, they soon found themselves looking into two different rooms.  In one room was a set up that would have made any fitness club envious, while in the other room was an Olympic sized pool, complete with diving boards.  They moved on from there, and were soon looking into the other rooms on this level.  They found a rather large library, and room, that looked to be set up to be able to record music, as it had a "sound" room, and enough instruments of various types to outfit a high school band.  The biggest shock they got on this level though was the last room they came to.  It had a very large and thick door on it that took Jory's full strength to open.  When he did finally get it open, they were looking at a room that brought back many memories for Jory.  The room they were looking at could easily be identified as a chemist's laboratory.  As they searched through this room, they found that it was fully stocked with many chemicals.  Jory was aware however, that many of them would probably be useless by now, as some of them had a very short shelf life, and it was obvious that this place had not been opened in many years.

Juan's was the third group to reach the stairs, and after getting word from Jack, they moved down two flights of stairs, and entered into the second level down of the compound.  What they had found up to this point was not very exciting as they seemed to have only discovered housing units on the ground level.  They were soon finding things on this level that were a bit more exciting.  The first room they came upon looked to be a security room.  After contacting Jack with what they found, they soon moved on, with Jack saying he would send someone else down to check that room out as it had many monitors that were probably hooked up to various cameras spread throughout the complex. 

Next they found what were probably offices for many different people, as well as one large office that could only be accessed by a "secretaries" area.  Another room they found looked to be a somewhat high tech conference room that Juan could only equate with a "situation" room.  After searching through many other rooms that were all about the same as the ones they already found, they came to the end of the hall.  There they found a very large and thick door that was locked.  After searching for a few seconds, they found a key hanging on a peg nearby.  Using the key, they were able to open the door, and Juan's jaw hit the floor.

What they were looking at was obviously the main armory for this complex.  There were rows upon rows of rifles stacked up on one wall, along with many unopened cases lining the other wall.  In a case in the middle of the room were many different styles of hand guns.  There was also a long table in the middle of the room with an assortment of tools.  They went through and Juan was able to identify almost everything they saw.  The little boy was almost giddy with this find and he was bouncing around like a kid on Christmas morning as he went around and told the other two boys what he found.  At one point he stopped short and just stared at what was before him in complete awe.  On one of the racks, he even saw an assortment of missile and rocket launchers ranging from LAW rocket launchers to even a few Shoulder mounted Surface to Air missile launchers.

Juan actually thought that nothing could make this any more exciting, till they came to the back of the room, and found another closed and locked door.  When they found the key, and opened this one up, none of the three boys could speak for several minutes as they took in what they found.  The room was rather small compared to what they had seen so far, being only about thirty feet by thirty feet, but it was absolutely filled with valuable items.  They saw stacks of gold bars, along with other precious metals. When they finally moved in, and started opening the drawers they found that were mounted to the walls, they found those filled with precious gems of all sorts.  They decided not to radio this in, as they weren't sure if it would cause the others to stampede down here and look for themselves.  So instead, they each took a few items to take back with them.

Chang and his group were the last to reach the staircase and descend.  They only had to go down one flight of stairs and soon they were cautiously making their way through what must have been more berthing areas, and offices.  Once they had those rooms cleared, they moved on and soon found a hospital of sorts.  They saw one large room that was meant to hold non critical patients, as well as a room set up as an ICU.  They also found three rooms that were obviously meant to be operating rooms, and a room that was meant to be an emergency room.   What really surprised Chang was how well equipped the rooms were.  Obviously some of the equipment was outdated, and  had been replaced by either better, or smaller versions, in modern hospitals, but all in all this set up was one that could easily handle most medical situations.  The biggest shock though, came when Chang went over to a cabinet that housed medications.  When he took out one of the bottles, he saw the expiration date on that was for 1984.  Chang knew that that particular drug had about a two to three year shelf life, so that meant this place was stocked either in 1981 or 1982.  They were about to keep going, when they heard another large rumbling coming from somewhere down the hall, and they quickly moved to investigate.

William was just getting to the cockpit, when Bill called out to him from outside the helicopter.  "Hey Will!  You gotta come see this."  William quickly made sure the cockpit was empty, and then he made his way to the back door and out. He quickly spotted Bill and Ronnie looking at something, and jogged over to them.

"What d'ya got?"  He asked when he got over to them.  Bill was holding what looked like the controls to a large elevator, and looking around, William quickly saw that there was a large elevator set into the floor.  The thing was easily big enough to fit the Chinook on.  He looked over to Bill, then moved onto the elevators floor, and raised his rifle to a ready position.  "Okay Bill, hop on and let's see where this goes." 

Ronnie wheeled Bill onto the pad, and then Bill pressed the button to start them descending.  Once they started moving down, and cleared the floor of the first level, they saw another large open area, about the same size as the one right above them.  William thought that he was ready for just about anything after seeing the Chinook upstairs, but he was soon proved wrong.  Standing against the far wall were five more helicopters.  Against one of the other walls, they saw five military style Hum-Vee's as well as two bigger troop transport trucks.  Next to those, were five early eighties style black SUV's. As they off loaded and started to look around, they also found that there were a few different fuel pumps marked with Diesel, Gasoline, or A-V Fuel.  They also saw that this place was set up with everything that would be needed to work on the helicopters including both tools, and many spare parts.  However, the most surprising thing was the large table that sat in the middle of the cavernous room.  On it was numerous backpacks that obviously held parachutes.  Hanging from the ceiling were many more parachutes that were hanging there in preparation to be loaded into the backpacks.

William was shocked, but still had his wits about him enough to question Bill.  "Okay Bill, what kinda birds are those?"  He asked while pointing to the helicopters lined up against the far wall.  Bill took one look at them, and then looked back at William with a "Duh!" expression.

"Oh come on Will, give me a tough one why don't you.  Those are Bell UH-1H Hueys.  Only the most numerously produced helicopter in the world."  Bill said almost with a bit of scorn in his voice, but moved over to them as quick as he could and started looking them over.

About thirty minutes later, all the various groups met up back at the entrance to this new compound and were talking rapidly about what they had found.  Obviously it was Juan's group that got the most attention as everyone wanted to see the gems that the boys brought back up with them. 

This was the sight that greeted Joe, Janet and Logan as they made their way into the cave from the outside.

Juan was the first one to notice that they were there, and quickly yelled, "Daddy, look what I found," as he ran up to the trio, and thrust out his hand, holding a rather large sized diamond. 

Joe barely gave it a glance, and ruffled his hair, saying absentmindedly. "That's nice Juan."  He looked up and saw Adam looking at him with a look of concern on his face.  Joe had to wipe his eyes, to clear away the tears, and then taking a deep breath said to Adam.  "Adam, I need to talk to you for a minute, please."

Adam just nodded, concern written clearly on his face, as he walked over to Joe, and asked.  "Joe, what's wrong?"  Joe didn't answer him right away, but put his arm over Adam's shoulder and led them to the entrance of the cave. 

Everyone watched as Joe led Adam away, and Juan moved over to Janet for comfort knowing somehow that something was not right.

"Mom, what's going on?"  Juan asked as he slid under Janet's arm forcing her to hold him close. 

Janet didn't answer right away as she looked down at Juan, but then after gathering her thoughts, she spoke in a very soft voice.  "Juan, honey, Joe has some news for Adam and he's not really sure how Adam's gonna take it.  And to be honest, I don't either."  She said as she watched Joe and Adam.

Juan was about to ask another question when he heard Adam shout in a voice filled with a mixture of pain and anger.  "What the fuck do you mean you're my father?" 

This of course caused everyone to look over in their direction again as some of them had gone back to talking about what they found below before the outburst.

Joe was trying to keep Adam calmed down, as he told him what he thought he needed to and with tears in his eyes said.

"Adam, I don't know how to tell you this, I just found out, but your mother….your mother and I were married, we…it was just before I deployed on active duty and…Adam….she must have been pregnant when I left but please believe me, I swear I never knew…"

Adam had been staring with increasing disbelief as Joe spoke, but now tore himself out from under Joe's arm and stood there staring at him; the anger plainly visible.  "That's fucking bullshit!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Mom said that you left us, and ran off with another woman, that you didn't care about me, and ran off after you found out she was pregnant."  Adam had tears in his eyes too, but they were not the same tears of sorrow that Joe had in his.   "You left me, and 'cause you did, mom couldn't handle it, and she dumped me on some street corner like ya would the trash.  It's your fault she did that, and.. and if you hadn't I wouldn't have been made into this.. this... FREAK!"  Adam screamed that last part out, which shocked everyone, but what he did next no one could have expected.  As Joe said in an anguished voice "Adam no…." Adam lashed out with a punch to Joe's chest that sent the larger man flying back and into the wall of the cave.  Joe had barely hit the ground when Adam was on top of him throwing punches to anything he could hit.

Everyone stood in shock as Adam hit Joe, and he went flying.  Then it took a few more seconds, before anyone could react.  Juan was the first one that moved, and he ran over to Adam screaming for him to stop, almost begging, with his own tears in his eyes.  Adam couldn't or wouldn't hear and just kept hitting Joe, over and over again completely lost in his rage and pain.  All the years of pain, hurt, anger and loneliness were coming out in one massive tidal wave that the young boy, for all his ability just wasn't prepared for and couldn't handle, while Joe was just trying to cover his head and face from the vicious attack that Adam was giving him.  When Juan got to Adam, he literally grabbed the older boy, and threw him off of Joe sending him flying.

Juan quickly looked at his father and whispered in horror at the sight before him "Daddy" as a sob escaped his throat.

Juan had thrown Adam a good 20 feet away, but Adam was able to twist in mid air, and land on his feet.  Seeing this Juan moved quickly to stand between Joe and Adam  then looked at Adam with fear and confusion in his eyes, yelling but in a voice that was filled with those emotions, "Adam, what…what are you doing?"  Adam just looked back at him with nothing but feral rage in his eyes. 

Seeing that scared Juan more than anything had up to that point, but he was determined not to let Adam hurt his daddy anymore even if he had to hurt Adam to stop him.

"Don't get in the way Juan; I will go through you if I have to."  Adam said in a snarl, as he started to move towards Juan and the now unmoving man lying on the floor. 

Juan stood his ground, and soon everyone could see his eyes shift from his normal brown eyes, to those eerie Yellow Eagle ones.  "You want him, Adam; you'll have to go through me to get him."  The young boy said with a firm if reluctant determination evident in his voice.

Adam for his part didn't react except to charge the younger boy, and try to tackle him to the ground.  Juan side stepped at the last second, and used Adam's own momentum to throw him further away from Joe.  Juan didn't give Adam a chance to recover as he went after him.

Tommy was standing there and staring in shock with tears running down from his eyes.  He looked in a daze over to Fluffy who had been "talking" to him, and just nodded.  Fluffy then let out a very loud cat "scream" and launched herself towards the fight, to the gasps of the others, but, right before she got to the two combatants to everyone's surprise, she launched herself high into the air, and easily jumped over the two boys, landing right next to Joe.  She then placed herself over top of the now unconscious man and waited there in case she had to protect him.

Meanwhile the fight between Adam and Juan was truly a titanic battle as the brothers who, moments before would have died to protect one another, were now hitting each other with blows that could easily have broken normal people's bones, if not kill them out right.  However, Adam was stronger and faster than his little brother, and soon, Juan was on the ground, and struggling to get back to his feet from the many blows his brother had delivered.  Adam spun and saw Fluffy now standing over the prone Joe, and started to walk towards her.  Fluffy gave a growl of warning, but Adam was too far gone to care.  He was almost there, when he felt someone put their hand on his shoulder.  Adam reacted instinctively; as he spun around, and delivered a crashing blow to the head of what he thought was Juan.  As nothing else could have Adam was shocked out of his rage as he saw Logan go flying back, and hit Juan who had just got back to his feet, sending both boys sprawling to the floor.  Because Adam thought it was Juan, he had swung low to try and hit the smaller boy in the face, but since Logan was a bit taller then Juan, Adam had hit him right in the shoulder, and he had heard the sickening crack as Logan's shoulder snapped under the assault.

In absolute horror Adam just stood there looking at Logan on the ground as his friend, no, his lover, lay there writhing in pain from what Adam had done to him.  The one person who meant more than life itself to him, and he had just hurt him terribly and could have just as easily killed him.

Gasping, Adam whispered, "Lo…Logan" as he looked up at everyone and saw the looks present on all their faces and in their eyes.

Spinning around Adam then looked over and saw the crumpled form of Joe, lying on the ground, and a small puddle of blood running out from under him.

His...His Father...and...and

 It was all too much and a now very dazed, confused and scared little boy, horrified at his actions, shaking his head, cried  "Noooooooooo" in a mournful voice, as he stumbled away from the sight before him muttering in tears through the sobs racking his body, "I... I'm soooo sorry" as he broke out into a run in the direction of the newer section of the cave and was soon gone from sight.