FCS: Las Vegas

6:55 pm PST November 10, 2004 – Las Vegas, NV

Glen and Londo were seated at the back of the CIC watching the teams as they entered the building, moments later, Glen thought he smelled something. He turned his head for a moment and saw a small boy sitting on the floor behind him watching the big screens at the front of the room with a bowl of popcorn.

When the boy saw that he'd been discovered the look in his eye told it all… he was afraid he'd be in trouble for being there. Glen waved the boy over and had him sit with them.

"Am I in trouble now?"

"What's your name?"

"Fourth, Sir."

"That's an odd name. Is Sir your first or last name? Or are you the fourth Sir, and if so, where are the other three?"

The boy giggled and said, "My name is Fourth."

"Well Fourth, I'm Glen and this is Londo. As far as I know, I'm allowed to have a friend with me here, are you my friend?"

Fourth smiled and bounced his head, "You guys wanna share my popcorn?"

Glen ruffled the boy's hair, then reached in and took a handful of popcorn. The trio then watched the events unfolding on the many screens around the room.

Lance was very nervous, but Justin was there and if anything went really wrong, he could have Icarus teleport the entire team back in less than a second. At that point, all he could do is watch.

As the teams gained entry into the building they were met with very little resistance, at least initially. Alpha team entered into what looked like a lobby area. They crossed the lobby and prepared to enter through another door.

Charlie team, after entering encountered two men who were sitting at a table with their backs to the door. Brudei motioned for his team to enter quietly. They crept up behind the two men Malory used his subvocal to have Icarus teleport the men out. A second later, the chairs were empty.

"Charlie team reporting that we're in, two in custody."

Beta team, led by Hac and Maurice, weren't as fortunate (depending on your point of view). When they entered the building, there were six men all armed with automatic weapons. The men trained their weapons on the boys as they entered. Each member of the team opened fire with their phaser rifles set to heavy stun. A minute later, Maurice tapped his communicator, "Icky, Beta team is in, and there are six guys here who might need a place away from here to cool their heels while they recover from our welcome."

"Hehe, I like you Maurice, teleport for six into the icebox." The men, disappeared almost instantly.

Through the next door, Nightmare started down a hallway. When the hallway ended, he and his men were faced with no less than 11 guys all pointing their weapons at them. Trevois noticed several crates stacked next to where the group of men stood. He, using his telekinetic power, toppled the stack of crates, 6 of the 11 men ended up under those crates.

Simultaneously, the other 5 men opened fire. With amazing precision, the team was able to take out the five men with only one minor injury to one of the Vipers. A bullet grazed the boy's leg. With the importance of this mission, the boy just kept on going.

Nightmare rushed past the fallen crates toward a door he heard a scream come from behind. He kicked the door down and rushed in to find a small redheaded boy tied to a dirty mattress. The man behind him was forcing an extremely large dildo into the boy.

Nightmare walked up behind the man and pulled him away from the boy. By this time other members of his team had entered the room and someone went to help the boy while Nightmare said, "Let's see how you like something even bigger up your ass!"

He literally threw the man against the wall who fell to the floor after he stopped his forward momentum suddenly. He grabbed a pipe attached to the wall and pulled it free. Lifting the man by his neck he held him against the wall. He leaned the pipe against the wall and literally ripped the man's clothing off. With ease, he was able to spin the man so he was facing the wall and within a second was inserting the pipe into the same orifice the man was using the dildo on with the boy.

The pipe exited the man's abdomen in the front. He'd looked down, seeing the pipe protruding from his belly and passed out. Nightmare dropped the man, turned to the Viper standing next to him and said, "I think I went a little easy on him."

As Charlie team was clearing their area of the building, another man who had been hiding decided to make a run for the open door. One of the Vipers saw him and took chase.

As Nightmare continued to search, he heard a noise that seemed to be coming from the ceiling. Listening for a moment he looked up, rolled his eyes, but said nothing. He continued to search for either the boys or more creeps.

Beta team was searching the back room of the warehouse when they came to a door that had a padlock on it. Using his phaser rifle, Maurice melted the lock and opened the door. He looked inside and what he saw brought tears to his eyes.

The Charlie team Viper who had chased the man outside almost started laughing when he saw the man being held on the ground by what looked like 8 human/ferret hybrids.

One of the ferrets looked up and saw the boy and said, "The dull one tried to get away, but no, no, no, he couldn't get past us! We will hold him for you. The Don told us to watch and help if we could."

The boy said, "Hold him tight, and you will all get a ride. He goes with you but only you get to come back!"

"SHINY! We're gonna take a ride!"

Icarus teleported them all away and a moment later the ferrets returned.

Inside the room that Maurice had opened he found 21 naked boys. From the looks of them, they hadn't been fed very well. "Hey guys, I'm Maurice from Clan Short. We're here to take you guys away from this to a place where you can be safe."

A small boy who couldn't have been older than 6 came up and wrapped his arms around Maurice's leg and said, "Thank you! The bad men were gonna hurt me tonight." Maurice picked the tyke up and gave him a hug. Hac was on his communicator talking to Nightmare letting him know that they'd achieved the objective.

Moments later Brent got a call that they'd found the boys they'd captured 14 of the men in the warehouse, there were 6 fatalities. Only one injury to our teams, a minor leg wound. Brent, followed by his security, rushed into the building and found Maurice holding the small boy, both were crying.

"Ok guys, my name is Brent, Maurice and I are going to get you to our medical center to get you all checked out. You're all safe now and under the protection of the Desert Division of Clan Short."

"Icky, 26 to transport to our Medical Center."

"Yes, Sir, Mr. Director, Sir!" The entire group disappeared.

Twenty minutes after they started, Nightmare and the rest of the operation's forces were walking out of the building. Hac walked over to Colin and asked, "Why the long face? We got the kids out and they're all safe!"

Colin then turned and said, "But I only got to waste one guy!"

09:30 pm November 10, 2004 – Desert Division Cafeteria

After getting a report from Dr. Linda in the medical center, Lance and Brent headed over to the cafeteria to grab something to eat. As they were sitting down, Colin stopped by. "Let me grab something to eat really quick, then we can sit down and do a little debrief."

"I'd rather keep my undies on, for now, Colin." Brent quipped.

The look Colin gave him made him wonder if he'd joked at the wrong time.

A few minutes later, Colin sat, looked Brent in the eye, staring him down with a cross expression. This caused Brent to really worry. After a full minute, Colin started laughing. "Gotcha!"

"Ok, overall I think this was a pretty good raid. We were able to achieve our objective and saved the kids. What did Dr. Linda say about their condition?"

Brent sighed before saying, "Of the 22, 12 of them are fine. Dr. Linda will release them in the morning. 5 of them were pretty dehydrated, so she wants to keep them an extra day. That leaves 5 more."

Brent pulled out a list, handed a copy to Lance and Colin then began to read from it, "Four of them will be in the medical center for 2 to 3 days, mainly due to the fact that they were malnourished. Angus Kilkillen, the boy you rescued, Colin, had some moderate damage done 'back there' and Dr. Linda feels it will be at least 3 days until they can fix those."

"Are you sure that's all the names?" Colin went through the list several more times before continuing, "One boy, Adam Fellows, was a friend of Troy French. Troy told me that he saw Adam when he was being held there."

Brent and Lance shared a look before Brent wondered out loud, "Did we miss a boy or was he out… you know… already?"

Lance suggested they talk to some of the boys about him in the morning.

Colin thought about it for a moment before making the suggestion, "What do you think of bringing Troy and maybe Rudy also here. Let him talk to the boys, they should know him, so they would probably trust him enough."

"Honestly," Brent considered, "I think it would be good for him and the others to see him."

Colin nodded. "Good. Tomorrow morning I'll go to St. Mikey's and bring them here."

With that agreement, Lance said, "Brent, we should really check on our sons, then get some sleep. It's been a long day."

Colin smiled, "This is perfect. I'll bring Troy here tomorrow. We'll visit the boys in the medical center, then, once those that are being released are, we'll all come here for lunch. I would be honored to officiate your adoption of the boys during your normal announcements at lunch."

"Thanks Colin, I was going to try to figure out who would make it official. It didn't feel right to me that I officiate over the adoption of our own sons." Brent then wrapped Colin in a hug.

"It's a great way to end a day like today. We have to deal with the worst in people on a daily basis, being able to participate in something that shows the best in people is a real benefit."

Lance also gave Colin a hug and said, "Well, thanks, Colin. I guess we'll see you tomorrow morning. At some point tomorrow, our new family will be moving out of the dorms and into one of the family houses so we should probably go check on the boys and get some rest. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be another long day."

"Sounds good. Good night, you two."

Lance and Brent started on their way when Brent's communicator chirped. "This is Brent."

"Brent, it's Neal."

"Neil! It's good to hear from you."

"I understand you guys had a long day. Is there anything you need from me or Rick?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something good that happened today."

"Why don't you and Lance stop by? Rick and I are still up and will be for a while."

"Okay, we are going to make a quick stop first, then we'll be there."

"Sounds good. See you soon."

Brent then ended the communication, turned to Lance and said, "Why don't we see if the boys are still awake. If they are, let's bring them with us to see Neal and Rick."

"I guess it would be fun to introduce them to their grandchildren."

When they arrived at Greg and Doug's room, they knocked and when Doug opened the door, he saw Brent and exclaimed, "DADDY!!!" Then he literally jumped into Brent's arms, wrapping his legs around the older boy's waist. Greg gave Lance the identical treatment.

Once inside the room, Brent had to stifle a laugh when he saw that everything the boys had was already packed up to move the next day. "We were going over to talk to Neal and Rick to tell them about us adopting you, or actually you adopting us as parents. Do you guys want to come with us?"

Both boys excitedly exclaimed, "YES!!!"

They left the dorms and walked to where Neal and Rick were living. When Rick opened the door and greeted them. "Wow! I'm surprised you have Greg and Doug with you, but it's a good surprise. Come on in."

He led them to the kitchen table. The boys took a seat and as Rick was getting drinks for everyone, Neal came into the room and took a seat, after giving all four boys hugs."

Once Rick had returned with drinks for everyone and took a seat, Brent said, "Well, we kind of wanted to let you know before everyone else knows, but… Greg and Doug have decided to adopt Me and Lance as their parents."

After a momentary pause of surprise, Neal exclaimed, "Great! Congratulations to all four of you!"

Followed by Rick voicing the same sentiment. He then turned to Greg and Doug and asked, "Have you guys decided if you're going to keep your last names or were you going to change them to match either Lance or Brent… or both?"

Brent then asked, "When you adopted us, Neal, we weren't even asked if we wanted to take the last name you and Rick use. I would love to add Rick's last name to my own and be Brent Knocks-Downing."

Lance then added his agreement by saying, "Lance Knocks-Downing, I like that!"

Greg then whispered something to Doug who said, "Yeah!"

Greg then said, "If they're gonna do that, we want to change our last names too. We'd all have the same last names then. Thanks for the idea, Grandpa, and Grand-daddy!"

Rick looked over at Neal and said, "I never thought we'd ever be parents, let alone grandparents. I think I'm going to love spoiling our grandsons."

"We're going to announce it and it will be made official during lunch tomorrow. Before this rescue came up today, we had planned on moving out of the dorms and into one of the houses, but with everything that's going to happen tomorrow, I'm not sure how we're going to work that out."

Icarus interrupted by saying, "That's easy, Brent. When you are ready, just tell me and I'll move everything for you."

"Thanks Icky, That would really help a lot."

They then sat and visited together for about 30 minutes before Lance noticed that the boys were starting to yawn and said, "We should get the boys back to their room so they can get some sleep. After breakfast tomorrow we have a lot to do with the new kids we rescued today. Thanks again, Dad and Papa, we love you."

Rick and Neal gave kisses and hugs to all four of the boys then the new parents and sons headed out.

11:15 pm PST November 10, 2004 – Desert Division – Brent and Lance's room

Director and Assistant Director were extremely tired after the long and taxing day. They began to undress for bed. They'd removed their shirts, shoes and socks and were in the process of removing their pants when Lance started laughing.

"Brent? What underwear are you wearing?"

At first, Brent was confused by Lance's question. What happened next is he came to the realization that Lance seemed to have a pair of his underwear on, this realization caused him to realize that he was wearing Lance's. He started laughing heartily and asked, "Icky, when you changed our clothes earlier after giving us our little swim, did you mix up our undies?"

Giggling was heard over the speakers before Icarus said, "Oops!"

The two boys and the AI laughed. It was the perfect ending of the day.

Once they'd undressed, they climbed into bed and kissed each other good night. Climbed into bed and, cuddled together slipped into blissful slumber.

06:00 am PST November 11, 2004 – Desert Division – Brent and Lance's room

Brent woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his door. 'Maybe if I ignore it, they'll go away.' Brent thought. A moment later the knocking resumed. Brent turned his head seeing Lance still sleeping. "Icky, who's knocking at my door?"

"It's time to wake up, Daddy. You have two excited boys wanting some Daddy and Papa time."

Normally, being awoken after only getting about six hours of sleep wouldn't be appreciated, but Brent thought about the fact that it's the first time he's being awoken by his own sons. He gently shook Lance's shoulder to wake him.

Lance rolled over and continued to sleep. Brent said, "Icky, can you unlock the door and tell them to come on in?" He heard no response other than the click of the door's locking mechanism. Moments later he and Lance were joined by two extremely anxious boys.

"Good Morning, Daddy," the two said in unison (almost) as Doug continued, "why isn't Papa awake?"

Brent smiled and said, "It's not fair, is it… why don't you guys go ahead and wake him."

The two boys climbed into the bed and after giving their Daddy a hug and a wet, sloppy kiss on his cheeks, they proceeded to wake up their Papa. When Lance started to open his eyes, Greg pleaded, "Papa, wake up, it's morning time and we're hungry!"

Lance smiled, opened his eyes and said, "What do we have here? Brent, where did you find the two cutest boys to be our alarm clock?"

Both boys giggled then gave Lance his sloppy and wet morning kisses on his cheek and together (sorta) wished their Papa, "Good Morning, Papa!"

Having successfully woken up Lance, Brent told the boys, "Ok, let Papa get up so he and I can get dressed; then we'll go to the cafeteria for breakfast."

Both boys scooted off Lance allowing him to begin getting out of bed. It was at that moment that he realized that he had a bit of a problem that had popped up overnight. He felt a bit of embarrassment growing until he figured that these boys are his sons; what does it matter if they see him with morning wood.

He tossed the blanket off himself and sat up, then stood and walked over to the dresser to get a clean pair of underwear. He acted like he didn't hear the boys giggling and whispering, "Teeheeheee Papa's got a stiffy!"

Brent turned to the boys and asked, "Did you guys shower this morning?"

Both boys looked down and Doug quietly answered, "No, Daddy. We were excited and wanted to get our stuff moved."

Lance then said, "Babe, why don't we finish getting dressed, go for breakfast, then we can shower afterward."

"That sounds like a good idea. Icky, can you teleport the boy's stuff to the new house?"

In far too cheerful a voice for six in the morning, Icarus replied, "Sure can!"

Lance then asked, "Do we need to pack our stuff up or can you just teleport it from the drawers and closet?"

"It's okay, once you leave I'll get everything over to your house."

"Thanks Icky."

Brent and Lance finished dressing and each one picked up one of their sons and left the dorm room heading to the cafeteria. They got their breakfast and sat down at one of the tables. It was still early and there weren't very many of the boys there yet so they had a relatively quiet breakfast.

Once they were done and their dishes were placed in the bins, Lance asked, "Do you know which house will be ours?"

Brent thought about it and chuckled, "I never thought to ask, maybe we should ask Icky to just teleport us there."

Greg asked, "Can I ask him, Daddy?" Receiving a nod from Brent, he touched his communicator and said, "Icky, can you please teleport my Daddy, Papa, my brother and me to our new house?"

"Because you asked so nicely… sit back down and I'll send you to the living room couches."

Seconds later everyone (Greg with help from Doug's eyes) found themselves sitting on two very comfortable couches in an extremely large living room. There was a glass door which opened to a large yard with a small play area which included a slide and a swing set. On the monitor was a diagram of the layout of the house.

Lance and Brent were looking at the layout when they realized that there was a master suite on the ground floor that had its own bathroom, along with a kitchen, game room and a dining room, in addition to three more bathrooms. Upstairs it looked like there were a total of 8 bedrooms with 4 bathrooms situated between each pair of rooms.

"Man, this house is huge!" Lance commented.

Brent was slightly taken aback by the sheer size of the house but he asked, "Icky, are you sure you put us in the right house? It looks like this house could fit anywhere from 18 to 30 people!"

"Dailass told me that the Division Directors all have big houses because they all have lots of kids."

"But we only have two," he stated only to hear what sounded like every AI in the Clan replying together, "so far!"

Together the family toured the house. They started downstairs and found that the house was fully furnished. The kitchen cabinets were fully stocked so if they needed a snack, it could be prepared without having to go out of the house. The master suite was almost as big as the common rooms in the dorms. In the en-suite bathroom, they found, in addition to the necessities, a walk in shower that was big enough for 4 adults, a standard bathtub in addition to a hot tub.

When they went upstairs and entered the first bedroom they found all of Greg and Doug's things already unpacked and put away. The upstairs bathrooms each had two toilets, four sinks and a walk-in shower.

The boys ran from room to room and when they returned Doug reported, "Alla the bedrooms and alla the bathrooms are the same as this one."

Again both Brent and Lance were amazed. Brent said, "Okay boys, we should get a shower. After that, we can figure out what we're going to do. Papa and I have to go over to the medical center and check on the new kids we brought here last night."

"Daddy, can we go with you?" Greg asked.

Brent thought about it for a moment when Lance said, "Maybe it would be a good idea. There are a couple of boys about their age. Maybe our two can act like our version of Timmy's Tribe and make them feel welcomed."

Brent kissed Lance and said, "I like how you think."

They decided that they'd take a family shower in the big shower downstairs in the master suite. After grabbing towels for the boys, they went downstairs and into the en-suite. When they were in the proper attire for a shower, Brent got the water going and at the right temperature, but only after realizing that the shower had 6 shower heads, in addition to a big one in the center up in the ceiling. There were soap and shampoo dispensers built into the wall.

They enjoyed a shower that allowed them to show the boys how important they were to their parents, and allowed the parents a chance to show each other how important they were to their significant other.

After they finished their shower and dried off, they dressed and decided to walk over to the medical center. Once outside they took a good look at the house. On the door was a big number ten. The house was situated in the center of five houses with five additional houses on the other side of a sidewalk that went in between.

They started walking in the direction of the medical center when they came to a sign at the intersection of two paths. The path they were on headed in the direction of the CIC, Events center, cafeteria and the medical center while the other path had what looked like several townhouse buildings with two residences in each building. The sign had street names on it. The path they were on was called "Knocks-Downing Street" and the other was called "Mikyvis Mile."

Lance started laughing at the sign then said, "Do you realize we live at Number Ten Knocks-Downing Street?"

Brent smiled at the inference and the boys wondered if their Papa had lost his mind. They couldn't figure out what was funny about that.

Doug and Greg walked holding hands with each other with Lance and Brent on the outsides holding the other hand of one of the boys. On their way to the medical center they started seeing other kids heading in the direction of the cafeteria. As Brent was looking around he saw a red-headed boy who appeared to be about 10 sitting on a bench. The problem was he didn't know who the boy was. He turned to Lance and asked, "Who's the boy on the bench over there?"

When Lance looked over where Brent had indicated the boy was, all he saw was an empty bench. Brent couldn't understand it. He knew that he'd seen the boy there but there was no way that he couldn't be seen either on the bench or anywhere near the bench.

Shrugging it off they continued on their way, wishing a 'Good Morning' to different people as they walked.

They arrived at the medical center about 10 minutes before 9 in the morning finding Colin sitting there with two boys. The group approached him and Colin introduced Rudy and Troy to them.

Brent and Lance asked their sons to sit and talk to Rudy and Troy while they talked to Colin for a few minutes.

"Dr. Linda said she'd meet with us in a few minutes, once she'd visited each of the boys under her care, that way she could give us an update on each one."

After looking at Brent and getting a nod, Lance said, "That sounds good. When we do our rounds, I think all four of the boys should come with us."

"I agree, that would probably be the best way to do it." Colin averred.

About that time, Dr. Linda came over and told them she would be ready in about 5 minutes. She suggested that they wait for her in the conference room across from her office. Lance went to get the boys while Brent and Colin headed for the conference room.

Seated in the conference room a few minutes later, Dr. Linda came in with a padd. After wishing everyone a good morning she apologized to the younger kids that the meeting might get a little boring but shouldn't take too long.

"Ok, first off, I'll start with those that are in the best condition since there are so many of them. Then I'll move on to the rest of the boys and give you a bit more detail on each of them."

"That sounds good, Thanks Linda." Brent noticed agreement from both Lance and Colin to that plan.

Linda got right to it. "There are 12 boys who are pretty much ready to go. I assume you'll want to talk to them before they're released."

Lance explained, "We planned on visiting with each of the boys then we will take them over to the cafeteria for lunch. After that, we'll get them situated with clothing, give them a tour so they know where things are ending with showing them where they'd be staying."

Dr. Linda smiled as she said, "You seem to have a good plan, so, let's get on with the information I have for you. As I said, there are twelve boys that I'll be releasing from here by lunchtime. For completeness, I'll give you their names, ages, and a brief overview of their condition."

"Starting with the oldest and moving to the youngest of that group. First is 14-year-old Darryl Ronald Richards. He's a little bit of a late bloomer and looks like he's about 13. With the exception of a couple of them, I am prescribing McCoy Milkshakes for them. Next, there are four 13-year-olds: Giles Hobbs who, it seems, has had some nutritional problems in his life. He looks far younger than he is. If you were to look at him you'd estimate him to be about 10, but physically, he's in very good shape. Then is Alphonso Adcock, he's in pretty good shape with nothing major to report. That brings us to Benny Cole, but he likes to be called Pip. That boy is very well developed for 13. He's told me that he's into a lot of different sports and is physically well off. He seems a little shy so he may have some underlying emotional issues. The last 13-year-old that will be released today is Layton Cody. He's probably in the best physical condition of all of them and also displays a high level of confidence. You should keep your eye on him because I think he'll probably be one of the leaders among his peers. Moving on, there are two 12-year-olds who will join you for lunch today. They are Shadow Jameson and Jaden Riley. Shadow is a bit ahead of the curve as far as his physical development is concerned and Jaden is on the lower end of normal for the development of someone who is 12. There are two 10-year-olds who will leave here today. They're identical twins named Frankie and Johnnie Wells. Both are a bit on the stocky side, so they really don't need the shakes, but I wouldn't discourage them from having one if they wanted it."

All three of the leaders had been taking notes and asked questions about the first batch Linda had told them about. Once all of their questions were asked and answered Linda continued with the last 3 that would be released that day.

"The last few, the youngest of this batch includes two 9-year-olds and a 7-year-old. 9-year-old Bradley Ware is a really sweet kid. Even with everything he's been through he seems to be cheerful and happy. The other 9-year-old is a stocky full blooded Hopi. His name is Mason Tecumseh, but his mother had him using her maiden name which is Jackson. The seven-year-old is Willis Grenville. He seems a bit reserved emotionally but with everything he's been through, it's understandable. That's the group that will be ready to go with you at lunch."

Brent looked over his notes from the day before and asked, "Are there any changes in your opinions of the other ten boys?"

"With the exception of the boy, Angus Kilkillen, my comments yesterday seem to be pretty accurate."

"What do you mean by 'with the exception' of Angus?" Lance asked.

"Let me fill you in on the others first, then we can get back to discussing Angus' situation."

Receiving nods from the three, Linda continued, "There are 9 boys who should be ready to go before dinner tomorrow. All of them were pretty malnourished with one exception. All of them need the shakes, and I need you and them to know that's the case. 14-year-old Vinnie Croft has been malnourished most of his life and it's affected his physical development. Looking at him he appears to be about 11 instead of 14. He's also a late bloomer and it appears that he's only recently started puberty. He has pretty low self-esteem as well. The boy is pretty intelligent so I might suggest you see if he's willing to work with some of the younger clone boys."

"That's a pretty good idea, Linda. Lance, why don't you introduce him to Eric and see if they 'hit it off'," Brent suggested.

Linda continued, "Next is 13-year-old Presley Mason. A day or two of good food and good rest and he'll be fit as anyone else. Next is the exception to the undernourishment diagnosis. He's 12-year-old Chuck Warner. Chuck is a type 1 diabetic. He understands his condition and, frankly, I'm surprised that the men who had him followed a proper procedure for managing his blood sugar. Other than putting the next three on a good diet to help them gain a few pounds, medically there's not much to report on the last few in this group. They are Micha Crisp who is 11, Tristin Wilson also 11, 9-year-olds Rich Sheridan and Bucky Shelby, 8-year-old Ty Wheelcock and the youngest of the group overall, Ace Devin who is 6."

"Is Ace's condition something that will or could be a concern?"

"Not really, Colin. I kept him overnight and will keep him one more night because simply he's very young, and I didn't want to stress him being in another new environment surrounded by a large number of new boys."

Colin was sitting on the edge of his chair when he asked, "What about Angus. He was the boy who was there when I dispatched the man who was… never-mind, he deserved to die."

"Being frank with you, I agree. That poor 11-year-old spent the entire night on the biobed so it could repair some significant damage that had been done to his anal opening and up into his bowels. We woke him up this morning and other than a bit of pain that he complained of, he's doing pretty well. From this point, I'm going to list him as day-by-day meaning that I'll assess him at least twice a day and we can discuss when he gets to leave the medical center."

Brent had been taking notes and his heart went out to Angus. Looking at his birth date he is about a month older than Lance. "Thank you again, Dr. Linda. Lance and I will make sure that they all have an opportunity to heal and grow, knowing they have people who care."

During this entire meeting they four boys had been very quiet. When they turned to check on them after Linda had finished all four had dozed off. Greg was in Troy's lap and Doug was in Rudy's. Linda told them that she needed to get back to taking care of her patients so Colin, Lance and Brent thanked her again before she left.

They decided to wake the boys and get started with their rounds meeting and chatting with the boys.

All of the boys they visited expressed how thankful they were that they'd been rescued. Troy had been remembered by most, but a few hadn't been taken yet, or were held someplace other than where Troy was and their paths never crossed.

Auburn haired 12-year-old Chuck Warner remembered Troy. Mostly because he and Troy were the same age, and he was very attracted to Troy. Being honest with himself he knew it would be someone like Troy who would eventually become his boyfriend.

Troy, for his part, made it pretty clear that he was quickly getting very close to Rudy and was actually getting a little weirded-out over the barely concealed attempts to get Troy to 'notice' him.

Troy asked, "Chuck, do you know what happened to Andy? According to Colin, he wasn't in the building when you guys were rescued."

Chuck looked down before softly saying, "When you didn't come back that night, Andy was really scared for you. He thought that something bad had happened and started making a lot of trouble for the guys who had us. They took him out of the room and we heard him crying. Then we heard a loud thump and his crying and yelling stopped. I don't know what happened to him, but we didn't see him since."

This had everyone in the room a bit choked up. Troy softly said, "Thanks" then turned and left the room.

While Lance, Rudy and the younger boys finished their visit with Chuck, Colin went out to talk to Troy.

"Hey bro, don't give up on Andy yet. We have 15 of those guys in custody and I promise you I will have our intelligence guys work him over until we find out exactly what happened to Andy."

With a tear running down his cheek, Troy walked over and wrapped his arms around Colin, buried his head in the older boy's chest and cried for a few minutes. Rudy had peeked out to make sure Troy was okay and saw his condition. He stepped out of the room and walked over to Troy. He held Troy which allowed Colin to step back. Rudy and Troy held each other for a few minutes and once Troy had regained his composure a bit he whispered his thanks to Rudy. He then sealed it with a personalized lingual probe in search of Rudy's tonsils.

They had saved Angus for last and now at 11:15 am they only had Ace and Angus who had not been seen.

They walked into the room Ace was in and found the boy watching cartoons on the video screen on the wall across from where he was laying. He didn't seem to notice them enter, he was that engrossed in his program. When Doug looked at the TV, Greg said excitedly, "Oh, this is a great one. It's probably one of my favorite shows."

With this, Ace finally noticed that he had visitors.

They talked with him for a few moments before Ace asked Greg barely able to keep his emotions in check, "Why don't you look at me when you talk to me? Is there something wrong with me that makes it so you can't even look at me?"

Greg, using Doug's point of view moved over and took Ace's hand and said, "No, there's nothing at all wrong with you, but you see, I'm blind there's something about Doug and a few other people that when I'm around them, I can sorta 'see' through their eyes."

"Wow! That's kewl!" Was Ace's reply. The two boys then talked for a bit, Greg never releasing Ace's hand.

"Daddy?" Greg said, turning toward Brent, "Can Ace come stay at our house when he gets out of medical?"

Ace looked at Greg then over at Brent and asked, "He's your dad? How can that be? He's only a kid himself."

Greg said, "He's the best Daddy! And Lance is my Papa. They loooooove each other."

Brent then explained that in the Clan it doesn't matter how old you are, if being a parent for a boy is what would help him the most, and the boy wants it to happen, we do whatever it takes to make the boy's desire come true."

Ace smiled and told Greg, "I dunno if I want him to be my dad, but I know I wanna be your friend."

Lance offered, "Ace, if you like, when you get out of here either tomorrow or the day after, you can come stay with us for a few days. If you like it and want it to happen, we'll see if we can't make it so it works out for you. If not, there are lots of kids here who you can be friends with and maybe share a room with."

Ace looked at Lance with a smile and said, "Thank you, Sir."

Lance walked over and brushed the boy's hair off his forehead and replied, "You don't have to call me Sir, Ace. I'm Lance and that's Brent."

They talked for a few minutes more then told Ace they'd be back to see him again soon and headed out so they could spend some time visiting with Angus.

As they were approaching the room Angus was in, Colin whispered to Brent, "I'm not sure that we should have the boys with us, at least initially, when we meet Angus."

Brent, who had been deep in his own thoughts simply nodded. He turned to the four following them and said in a quiet voice, "Guys, until we know more about Angus and how he's feeling, why don't you guys wait here. When we know more, we'll come get you so you can meet your new brother."

Doug looked puzzled, "New brother? Are you gonna 'dopt him too?"

Lance piped up, "In the clan, we're all brothers." This seemed to suffice as an explanation for Doug. When they were out of hearing, Lance turned to Brent and said, "Are you really thinking…" his statement was cut off by Brent simply nodding as he wiped the single tear that was running down his cheek.

As they got to Angus' room, Dr. Linda was just coming out. "Hi Linda, how's he doing today?" Brent asked.

Linda was actually smiling as she replied, "That boy is probably one of the most resilient people I've ever seen. It's almost as if his body is healing at a dramatically increased rate. I haven't seen anything like this except in the enhanced kids.

This cause Colin to raise an eyebrow in a very Vulcanesque manner. Seeing this, Linda offered, "Don't worry, Colin. I ran a series of tests, he's not been 'tampered' with."

Colin nodded, then the three entered Angus' room. On just about every surface near the head of his bed were empty glasses from McCoy milkshakes. Lance called out, "Icky, can you get rid of these empty glasses?"

Instantly the glasses disappeared and on the table in front of Angus appeared three full ones. One of each chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. Angus smiled, grabbed the chocolate and drank nearly half of it almost instantly.

When Angus set the glass down he noticed Colin standing there. The smile on his face intensified as he said, "You're the guy who rescued me. Thank you! Can I give you a hug?"

Colin went over to the boy and the two embraced. His head on Colin's shoulder, Angus said, "You don't look as scary now as you did. You got there at the right time, the one he was gonna use on me next was even bigger."

Colin's eyes got bigger and the colour seemed to leave his face as he pondered the concept of what Angus had just said. The mood was lightened when Angus continued, "But what you did to him gives new meaning to the term 'tearing the guy a new asshole.'"

This caused all of the boys to laugh as Angus merely sniggered.

The door burst open as Doug ran in literally dragging Greg with him. Greg had a nasty gash on his forehead. Doug explained, "He was trying to see if he could remember where obstacles were when I had my eyes closed. He tripped on something and hit his head on the edge of a table."

Just as Lance was going to call for Dr. Linda to attend to Greg's wound, Angus called Greg over to him. He laid his hand on the wound and a moment later removed it. The gash was gone, completely. Angus urgently reached for the half-empty milkshake and drained the glass.

The look on Brent, Lance and Collin's face was one of awe. "How did you do that?" Brent asked.

"I dunno how. I just figured it out when I was with those guys. One of the boys would come back hurt and I'd just fix them. I got really tired and hungry after though, the guys would share what little we were given to eat so I could get over it." Angus replied with a distant look in his eyes.

Linda, who had entered while he was talking interjected, "That could explain why most of the guys were pretty much injury free, just the fact that all of them were underfed."

Brent turned to Angus, "Thanks for taking care of my son. The ability that you have is pretty powerful, other than making you hungry does it hurt you in any other way?" The concern in his voice wasn't lost on Angus.

He reached up and held his arms out to Brent who immediately wrapped the boy in his own embrace. Angus could literally feel the love and concern emanating from Brent as they hugged.

During the hug, Brent told Angus, "I want to have you checked out by some of the Clan intelligence guys, see if we can find out exactly what you can and can't go along with what you should NEVER do."

The hug broke and Angus looked into Brent's eyes. He saw nothing but concern and knew, this was someone who would be very important to him. Lance then took his turn, "Hey, these other guys got hugs and I'm jealous!"

Angus laughed and held his arms out which were filled with Lance. Angus felt the same caring and loving emotion in that hug. Linda had been reviewing the readouts from the biobed and announced,

"Well, with what I'm seeing, if you promise to take it easy and have as many McCoy milkshakes as you want, I don't see any reason for you to stay here."

Brent checked the time and asked, "Dr. Linda, would now be a good time to get everyone who is leaving now ready to go?"

Linda nodded and said, "I'll get them all ready, so you guys can head out in about 30 minutes. It's getting close to lunchtime anyway."

"We'll help Angus get himself ready, not that he has much to pack up. Icky knows all their measurements and he can get them something to wear from here since they all came in naked." Lance thought out loud. Moments later, in the rooms of the 13 boys who were going to leave the medical center, a full set of clothing appeared.

Colin, Brent, Lance, Rudy, Troy, Angus, Doug and Greg were waiting in the lobby area of the medical center when 12 other boys, dressed in their new clothes, started walking into the room. There was a level of combined excitement and apprehension in the eyes of each of them.

As they were waiting, Lance and Brent went individually to each boy to welcome them and explain what was going to happen so they would at least know what was up. When he mentioned that they were walking from the medical center directly to the cafeteria, everyone who had more questions instantly decided to hold them until after they'd eaten.

Once they had all gathered, the group of 17 boys all thanked Dr. Linda who was standing in the room and left the center. Once outside several of the boys expressed the awe they were feeling at what they were seeing around them. Seeing this, Brent told everyone that they'd arrange a tour for everyone after lunch and a trip to the base store. They would also all be assigned their rooms at that time.

Arriving at the cafeteria, all of the boys were again wowed by its sheer size. Lance told them that they were permitted to eat as much as they wanted, but to think about what they were taking so as not to unnecessarily waste food.

They led them to the serving lines and told them they'd meet at the tables in the front of the room. At that time pandemonium broke out as 12 of them set new speed records in sprinting through the serving lines. Once all had their lunches and were sitting at the table, conversation ended as the food was consumed at an alarming rate. Brent got everyone's attention seeing how fast they were eating and said, "Guys. Nobody will take your food from you, just slow down and enjoy it."

This caused everyone to slow their consumption down to more reasonable levels. There was even some conversation among the guys. During lunch boys stopped by to welcome the newcomers and offer any assistance, they might need.

At the end of the meal, Brent stood and got the attention of the room. "I have a couple of announcements to make, if I can get everyone's attention."

The room quieted almost immediately and Brent continued. "As you can see, we have a lot of new faces here today. Last night, with the help of Commander Colin Busch from Des Moines, we liberated a child prostitution ring here in Las Vegas. We were able to rescue 22 boys, 9 of which are still in the medical center but should get out tomorrow."

He was interrupted by a loud level of applause. After a few moments, he got everyone's attention again and continued, "This all came about because of Rudy from Camp Little Eagle identifying Troy French," Both boys stood, "who had been abducted by the same ring. We captured 15 men, which wasn't all of them, some got Nightmared," he noticed Colin smiling, "I have one announcement before Colin had something to say."

After the applause for Colin, Troy and Rudy died down, Brent continued, "If Eric Knocks-Downing would please come up here." Eric got up, a puzzled look on his face and approached. Once he was standing next to Brent, Brent continued, "Eric Knocks-Downing has been doing a great job with the clones here, and in recognition of both the work he's put in, and the work that the Cyclones put in during the recent Battle of Earth in processing those who were displaced, I have appointed Eric as Desert Division's Head of Intake and Orientation. The Cyclones will be reporting to him, each of them being given the Clan Rank of Ensign. I want to offer my personal congratulations and you should all give Commander Eric Knocks-Downing your own congratulations!"

The room erupted into raucous applause which lasted for a couple of minutes.

Eric turned to Brent with tears in his eyes, the two wrapped each other in a hug as Eric cried. When the applause died down, Eric turned to the group and said, "I really have no idea what to say other than I appreciate the trust being placed in me. I promise to do my utmost, with the help of my brothers, the Cyclones, to do as good a job as Brent and Lance, and the others have done. Thank you again!"

The applause again rose to levels that could be heard throughout the compound.

When the applause died down, Colin stood. Within moments, it was silent in the room. Once he had everyone's attention, Colin spoke, "I also want to offer my own congratulations to Eric, I am sure he'll do a fantastic job." Again, he had to wait for applause.

Colin held his hand up which had the effect of quieting the room again. "One thing unique about the Clan," Colin started, "is that we don't follow the mainstream of society when it comes to families. We look at what's best for the people we serve, all of you. This means that you don't have to have adults as your parents unless that's what is best for you and what you want. Additionally, your prospective parents don't choose you… you choose them."

He paused a moment for that to allow that to sink in before continuing, "Along that line, I have a couple of things I am honored to do in my position in the clan. Would Rick and Neal Knock-Downing come join me?"

Rick and Neal stood from their seats and walked to stand next to Colin. "When Neal and Rick decided to join us along with Brent, Lance and Eric, they agreed to adopt them, but those three never chose whether to accept their last name, officially. They have each chosen to do that, so with the powers vested in me by Family Clan Short, of the House of Surak, Family of Sarek of Vulcan officially declare that from this point forward they shall be known as Brent Knocks-Downing, Lance Knocks-Downing and Eric Knocks-Downing."

Rick and Neal hugged the three and after a moment Colin continued, "As I said earlier, you guys get to choose who you want as parents, in that vein, Greg and Doug have chosen Lance and Brent as their parents. So…" at that point, Colin noticed Angus trying to get his attention and he asked, "Angus, did you have something to say?"

Angus stood and walked over with Greg and Doug who had taken places next to Lance and Brent. "I only really met Brent and Lance today, but I know in my heart that they would be the best Daddy and Papa I could ever have, so… if they will have me, I'd ask to be adopted by them too."

Colin was smiling bigger than he had in a very long time when he said, "Angus, normally I would tell any new boy to give it some time to get to know the guys he wants as his parents, but, in your case, I am certain you have already done that. In that, Brent and Lance, will you accept the responsibilities of caring for, nurturing, and raising these THREE boys as your sons?"

Simultaneously, Brent and Lance replied, "We do."

"Have you three decided if you would take on their last name or maintain your own?"

After a quick huddle, Angus spoke for the three, "Greg and Doug wish to have their own last names deleted and replaced with Lance and Brent's, for myself I would like to move my old last name to be my middle name and take Brent and Lance's as my last name.

Colin then concluded, "Then with that being the case, again with the power vested in me by my position within Family Clan Short, of the House of Surak, Family of Sarek of Vulcan, I declare that from this time forward, Greg Knocks-Downing, Douglas Knocks-Downing, and Angus Kilkillen Knocks-Downing."

Again shouts of congratulations were heard throughout the room as Brent and Lance hugged and kiss the cheek of each of their new sons.

Eric then stood getting everyone's attention. "Before you all take off, I would like the Cyclones to meet me at the table to my left for a quick meeting so I can assign two of them to each of the new boys so they can conduct tours, take them to the base store to get themselves enough clothes to start with, and assigned housing. I will arrange a time in the next couple of days to get everyone to the mall so you can buy whatever else you may want or need. I will also have an orientation for all of you right after dinner today, your guides will let you know what you need to do and where you need to go."

Brent was pleased with the fact that Eric was taking his new position so seriously and already seemed to have a handle on what he had to do. He did make sure that Eric knew that if he needed anything, all he had to do was ask him or Lance.

"Well, sons, let's get you home so we can get Angus settled."

Colin stopped them and said he was going to head home. He offered his congratulations once again and reminded Brent that if he was ever needed he was but a communicator away. They hugged then Colin touched his communicator and said, "Icky, can you please send me home?"

Moments later, Colin was gone and Brent and Lance led their sons out of the cafeteria.

=To Be Continued=

Clan Short Archivist's Notes:

It looks like the revitalized Desert Division is hitting the ground flying instead of running. It will be interesting to see where all the new kids end up. I told you that AAKD was here but no one believed me. I am not sure exactly what Nightmared means, however, reading between the lines I am not sure that I want to know.

My remaining question is where's Andy?

The Story Lover

Author's Note:

Oh Dear Archivist, You should know that we never divulge what's going to or could happen in the future... Andy isn't done yet, but you and everyone else will have to wait and see what happened to him. Plus, if you have to ask what 'Nightmared'  means, you probably don't want to know.

I live for feedback from readers, whether they be something you like or constructive criticism. It's through this feedback that any author is able to improve. Should you wish to email me you may do so by clicking this link: Truefan