^Paolox3_

XY-N

Chapter Twelve
Epiphanies & Transfigurations

The Hunter was awakened some mornings later by a persistent beeping in his visor that indicated that he had an incoming call. He had been hiding near the shores of the Eastern Sea for several weeks, putting his wilderness survival training to good use. Someone had obviously made an attempt on his life and he was, for the time being, content to the let the Authorities and the rest of the World believe that the attempt had been successful. As he wondered whether or not he should answer the call, he realized that there were only two, perhaps three, people in the entire World that knew that he was still alive.

He smiled as he thought of Xyn who, along with Jayk, would certainly know that whoever had sabotaged his Craft had been unsuccessful. The beeping persisted, however, and he saw that it was Acer, the Dealer. The Dealer also knew that he was still alive, as Acer had been the first one he'd been in contact with after the explosion. He ordered the limited comm system contained within his body armor's helmet to make a secure connection using a seldom used and very old satellite in a low orbit of Earth. Hoping that this narrow bandwidth call would go unnoticed, he answered.

"My God, Hunter," the fat man said through the helmet's speakers, "Where have you been? You're big news, you know! The Authority has launched a full investigation into your death! Can you believe it?!"

The Hunter yawned and stretched.

"Acer," he sighed, "Is this purely a social call, or do you want something? I'm really not in business at the moment, I'm sure you can understand."

The Dealer laughed, and the Hunter groaned. His head ached as his Psi ranged out in stealth mode ahead of him as he had been walking through the sparse Forests near the beaches of the Sea. The last thing that he needed was for someone to sneak up on him, but then again, who could possibly be a match for him? He still had his armor and weapons, and his Psi was functioning as well as could be expected. Still, he believed that secrecy would do him more good than full blown public display.

"I simply called to see what your plans were, my friend. YOU called ME up right after the attempt, you'll recall. Scare me to death, then hang up and tell me to let no one know you're alive? What's all that? ARE you quite all right? Do you need a lift to the City, transportation, anything I can do at all?"

It was the Hunter's turn to laugh. "Acer, you overstuffed pervert," he jokingly insulted the Dealer, "I'm walking for a reason, and it's not for my health either! I want to take some time off to think. Much has happened, and I need time to digest it all. Someone just tried to blow me up, I had a horrible round of Maintenance and Servicing right before, and I just had to give that pretty little Mutant Runaway back to his old Master who's an unmitigated ass! I'm really not in the mood to socialize, or work, or even talk to anyone right now!"

"I can relate," the Dealer replied. "You know that I'll manage your affairs for you while you're 'dead', my friend. The reward funds on that little Jayk cutie came through just fine, by the way. It's all in account here in my firm, waiting on you, safe and sound. We could have made MORE if you'd brought him HERE though! Are you sure you don't need anything?"

Again, the Hunter laughed. "With a 20% tip off the top, right?"

"Well, a fat old man's got to make a living somehow, doesn't he? I suppose this means that the search for that 'N' brat of Abrams' is off for now?" the Dealer mused.

"Yes it is. Hard to do when you can't get there from here. Take care, Acer. If I think of anything, or you can find out anything from your spies and contacts, call me back. Thanks."

"Goodbye, Hunter."

The channel closed.

The Hunter raised his visor again, looking over the land. He let his Psi range several leagues back, and he smiled when he began to 'feel' Jayk. It was a hot day, and the young slave was enjoying himself by performing different dives from a high board into the swimming pool. He could feel the lust emanating from Wilson, who lounged on a divan near the poolside watching his naked slave entertain him. The Hunter shook his head and cleared his throat in frustration.

Looks like fun, he sent to Jayk.

He heard a startled cough and then a sneeze and spluttering as Jayk broke the surface of the water. You ARE alive! came the startled reply. I just knew it! Just don't sneak up on me like that!

Sorry. How are you, Jayk?

There was a long pause, and then the feeling of falling and the sudden cold rush of water again. The Hunter then closed his eyes 'saw' Jayk, the sun reflecting in the thousands of tiny droplets on his smooth brown skin, as he plunged. His slim and naked form, dressed only in his silver slave collar, cut the water so gracefully; his long black braids were tied behind his head like a tail, and they flowed out behind him in a black streak. Then Jayk was holding his breath, and the Hunter guessed that he was swimming underwater as the whole world around him turned blue.

I'm fine. I feel good. My Master says that swimming is good exercise to get me back into shape. He's making me eat more than I want to and making me work out a lot, but I feel good.

Has he… done anything to you yet?

It was a very personal question, but the Hunter felt that he had to know. Jayk wasn't exactly fragile, but his Slow Mutant body WAS still recovering from his illness and the thought of the aged young one being abused was intolerable.

No, came the quick reply, touched by a bit of surprise, Just a lot of touching and petting and sitting in his lap and cuddling. That's kinda nice. Plus a little bit of oral stuff. That's it.

Then another long pause, and the Hunter could almost feel the towel being wrapped around himself as he saw the smiling face of Master Ev Wilson through Jayk's eyes. He was scooping Jayk up into his strong arms and carrying him back to the house, Jayk's long arms wrapped about his neck. The aged Mutant looked, for all the world, like a helpless and tired little one.

"It's nap time," Wilson was saying.

Then Jayk leaned up and kissed his Master's rough cheek, only to have him rub his goatee against the side of Jayk's neck. Jayk giggled and squirmed. "Yes, sir," he was saying between laughs, but then he sent I hate being treated like a baby. I'm a hundred times older than he is! And the Hunter could tell that it was all an act.

Bear with it, Jayk, the Hunter replied, preparing to close the connection.

Did you hear Xyn the other day? Jayk asked.

Yes.

Alfred died. Jayk informed him sadly. I miss him.

THAT got the Hunter's attention. What?!

Then came the feeling of being rubbed down, and a warm but rough hand caressing him between his legs. The Hunter started, and he sneered. The thought of those hands touching Jayk there, where his XY-Parts should have been, enraged him; he fought down the urge to reach in and shatter Wilson's Mind. Secrecy, however, was the issue. No doubt, Wilson believed him to be dead as well. Still, there was something about the old butler that the Hunter hadn't liked, and he thought of the strange warnings he had heard that night before the explosion. He listened sharply to Jayk, trying to filter out the noise of a hair dryer. He began to sweat.

Right after Xyn screamed, Alfred died. He had a Breakdown. Is Xyn OK?

The Hunter could feel the pleading in Jayk's voice, feel the sensations of being put to bed, covered, kissed again, and then the terrible longing.

Jayk was crying into his pillow as his Mind filled with memories of Xyn.

I miss him so bad! the young Mutant sobbed. I don't wanna stay here! I wanna go back home, back to my room under the library and sleep in MY bed, in MY bed with Xyn! How long do I have to stay here? Jayk begged.

Jayk, do you know WHY Xyn was screaming? Why you were able to hear him? the Hunter asked, evading the question.

No.

Jayk's sobbing had faded to soft whimpers, and the Hunter could feel him growing drowsy. He was tired from his swim. Still, he felt that Jayk deserved to know. Needed to know.

Xyn's very fond of Tym, Jayk. That little Mutant he sort of adopted when you all raided the Transport ship? You recall Tym, I'm sure. Anyway, someone made an attempt on Tym's life. I know this, because whoever it was after Xyn as well.

Someone tried to kill Xyn!?

Relax, Jayk. Xyn's fine. It was all very subtle, very slow, and he or they almost succeeded. Xyn got wind of it and it made him quite angry. Jayk, Xyn's having a very hard time of it right now. He's growing up, Changing, and his Psi isn't handling it too well. He's got bad headaches, and he misses you as much as you miss him. He caught the ones responsible, red-handed, and well… I don't know how to tell you this, Jayk, but he had them killed.

Good! Jayk replied.

Good?

How'd he kill 'em?

The Hunter was a bit aghast, but he answered, From what Xyn told me, or what I saw, rather, that little Bomber fellow, Adam, blew them into small chunks.

Way kewl! Jayk replied in a burst of enthusiasm.

Settle down! Perhaps not so kewl, though. Dead ones tell no tales, Jayk. There were at least two spies in the Ruins with your Gang. They're dead now. It seems that Chriss and Adam and Kefe came to Xyn's aid. I know it's not much comfort, Jayk, but Xyn isn't alone. He's got friends, and Tym is going to be fine.

What's so special about Tym? Jayk asked in confusion, slipping further towards sleep.

Go to sleep, Jayk, the Hunter suggested strongly, I'll tell you later. Know that I am with you.

I don't like Chriss, Jayk was saying, fighting the urge to sleep, He told me… told me… his ideas… and… stuff… headaches…. Mutant XY's… and he'll…

Then the Hunter felt Jayk fall fast asleep, and he sat down on a large rock near the edge of the Forest to stare out at the Sea that had swallowed up the remains of his Craft. His thoughts ranged back to that terrible cry of Xyn's, and he realized that he'd heard and felt that same kind of agony once before. "In the Ruins," he recalled, "When he woke up and couldn't find Jayk. Gods, what's it like to love someone THAT much?"

But the thoughts of conspiracy that he and Jayk had discussed in the Craft some days before weighed heavily upon his Mind, which was now flooded with things that Xyn knew.

He still couldn't believe he'd done it, when he'd heard that awful scream. He'd reached his own Mind out again, pushing his Psi to its maximum, to fly to Xyn's aid. "I've never even met him, and I'm not really sure I even LIKE him," he muttered, "So why did I do it?" Yet the more he pondered it, the more he was glad that he HAD done it. In reaching out to support Xyn as the young Psion's abilities had begun to fail and his Mind had gone into overload, the Hunter had unwittingly exchanged vast amounts of knowledge with the young Psion deep under the Ruins. They hadn't exactly been a Xyn/Hunter persona, but they'd come close. The whole process amazed him, actually, and he smiled. He was finally beginning to see some connections.

"Damn, I'm good!" He laughed, then paused. "But young Xyn's better."

He leaned back and took off his helmet, letting the sun warm him. His body armor and Suit were still taking good care of him, and reached into a pocket to search for some field rations. He found one, and began to eat as he tried to assimilate Xyn's data with his own in contrast to what was going on.

Since it was the best place to do so, the Hunter began at the beginning of what he knew. Xyn had run away from Facility #32 where he'd been raised since infancy. He was a Psion Mutant, and the Director loved him and wanted to adopt him. However, the Agency wouldn't let him. Xyn was a pure Bio XY, kept in a Maintenance Suit, and he'd been lucky enough not to have been used for Parts. He'd only run away, and then actually only wandered off, when the Facility had burnt to the ground. This was where it all started to get interesting.

Another Inmate who had been adopted out, Edward IV aka H2, had told the Hunter that he thought that Xyn knew about the ones watching the Facility. He'd listened to the little one when he'd stopped by to see Abrams, and found that a Nightstalker had been spotted by H2. H2 had also thought that Xyn knew about it too, from the little one's descriptions of his strange behavior. And then the fire had happened.

The Hunter shivered at the memory of little Edward IV's mismatched skin grafts and how so many of the Inmates had died in a fire in a building that was allegedly fireproof, and that fire meant only one thing. Abrams had said that it was burning too fast, burnt too hot; that pointed straight to the nearest Pyro Mutant, and Jayk had been convinced, somehow, that the Pyro responsible was the one called Chriss. But Chriss, as it turned out, was now one of Xyn's best friends and even helped take care of him when he'd gone catatonic after the raiding of the stolen Transport ship. Yet Chriss was a weak Psion as well, and while Xyn hadn't even known what a Mutant was at the time, it was conceivable that Chriss could have overrun his Mind then and 'made' him wander off.

After all, just walking away from a home and a man who raised you as his own and loved you didn't make much sense. Someone must have 'made' Xyn do that.

But what about the Nightstalker who'd been spotted there? The Hunter remembered watching the Gangs coming across the bridge into the Ruins when Shar had attacked him. That day had been his first hint of contact with the Mind of Xyn, and hadn't he just captured and sold a Nightstalker not long before that? The distances, however, weren't right. How could he have caught that Nightstalker in the Old City so soon after the fire at #32? Yet Chriss' Gang WAS missing its Nightstalker, and the window of opportunity for Chriss to make it back to his own Gang and then to the Ruins was certainly large enough. There was also the possibility of a stolen craft, but again, the distance was too far.

He made a mental note to call Acer and ask about that one, that Nightstalker. Something wasn't adding up there, and he felt that it might be important. Furthermore, there was Jayk's abandonment in the Ruins when he'd killed Kel, Chriss' Gang leader. Kel had wanted to leave the catatonic Xyn behind, and Jayk had turned Beast at the thought and killed him for it. Shar, the leader of the Gangs of the Ruins, had decided to leave him behind to die.

It was strange, the Hunter pondered as he recalled Jayk's pain at that time, how she could have just scrapped all those years of loyalty in a second or two. Hadn't SHE been the one to first rescue him from a life of slavery to Ev Wilson, the Master to which he had just returned him? The resources to pull that one off must have cost her a fortune, and for the life of him, the Hunter couldn't figure out WHY she would do all of that just to abandon him later.

But then there was the Xyn-factor. He and Jayk had surmised that someone, possibly this Kel person, had WANTED Xyn to be left behind so that he could be picked up by someone else. It was also possible that whoever started the fire and got Xyn to wander off in the first place had planned to pick up the little Bio while he was wandering the Forest, except that Jayk had found him first and taken him home with him.

This explained Jayk's abandonment, if nothing else. Jayk had gotten in someone's way, taking Xyn in and later falling in love with him and spending all of his time with him. Teaching him to survive as an Outcast in the Ruins was certainly a noble thing to do, but it also appeared to have clashed with someone else's agenda. With Jayk gone, this mysterious person must have thought that getting Xyn would be easier. Could it have been someone out of Jayk's long and unnatural past history? The Hunter doubted it. Jayk had pretty much outlived everyone he'd ever known, and if it had been, wouldn't Jayk have thought of that person? And again, this bitch named Shar wouldn't have done it, because it made no sense.

"Gods, I hate that woman," he muttered.

He sighed and reached into his pocket. A chill went through him as his hand pressed against something cold and metal, and he pulled the Approved Processors out of his pocket that he'd literally torn out of the head of the dead Kel right before the Craft had blown up. He fingered the various chips, the gloves of his Suit hiding his fingers, and wondered. "I wish I knew what was on these," he hissed, "Because all the signs point to you right now, Mister. But if your Gang was going to join up with Shar's, why would YOU have wanted to kidnap Xyn from her?"

It was then that he turned from his own limited knowledge and began to filter through what he had learned in his intimate mental contact with Xyn.

Xyn didn't even know Kel, but Xyn had known people who did. He had met him only briefly before he'd gone catatonic, but Xyn had been afraid of him. Kel had been pushy, overbearing, and downright rude! He'd largely ignored Tym, a member of his own Gang, having written the little one off as useless and a drain upon their Resources. Xyn had befriended Tym, the very strange and mysterious Outcast that everyone seemed to either overlook or fear, and something in Tym's Mind had pulled Xyn down into catatonia. The Hunter knew, however, and was extremely impressed with the fact that it had not just been that. Xyn hadn't just been unconscious. He'd been out of body and wandering another place, a place of the Mind, that was just as real to those inside of it as the physical World was to those who were not able to comprehend Psionic gifts.

And Jayk, and later Tym, had gone with him to those places.

He ranged farther and farther into Xyn's shared knowledge. He knew that some little Mutant, Dan by name, was Shar's son. This discovery led him to the fact that Shar and Kel were, at one point in time, intimate. He shivered at that thought. "How does a prick like that wind up with a woman like HER?!" he wondered aloud. Yet Dan was an Approved by birth, but his Implants didn't work right; his parents, however, being Runaways, automatically classified the little one as Outcast. He'd been dying when Xyn had shown up, and he had also been Mutated by Defects in the worst ways. Xyn had offered the little one his Suit, which had restored him. That got his attention.

"But why all the trouble to just fix a Malfunctioning little one? There's got to be more to this than just bringing Xyn to them to fix Dan, and that doesn't explain Jayk, either. Besides, Xyn thinks that Dan doesn't even know who his father was. And it also doesn't even touch the idea of who wanted to kill Xyn, or least impair him. Surely if they'd just wanted the Suit and not the person in it, they'd have just killed him outright."

He thought about it harder.

Xyn had taken Tym in once Jayk was gone; even before then. The young Psion seemed to have adopted him on the spot, and again the Hunter touched the fringes of the love that Xyn was capable of. He then thought of Abrams, but the Director of #32 was so far away now, and certainly HE didn't want Xyn dead! He wanted him back, at all costs!

He dismissed that train of thought immediately. Abrams was nothing but a help, and besides, he was a busy man. He had a Facility to run. He had not time for such plots, that was certain. Hadn't the video of him in the rec room proven that?! And wasn't he obsessed with his Craft, which was now quite the moot point, however.

Still, there were more faces in Xyn's Mind. There was another XY, rather, an e-XY Mutant named Adam who was a Bomber. Adam was dismissed out of hand, since nothing had blown up in Xyn's adventures. Adam had been a Runaway slave, much like Jayk, and Chriss' Gang had taken him in. Chriss was an e-XY as well, and the Hunter wondered at that, as he himself was too.

"There seems to be a great deal of emasculation going on around here," he mused.

Another face came to his Mind, and it was the face of Kefe the Nightstalker. Kefe, however, was fiercely loyal to Shar and his own Gang. Kefe had no other memories of any other life than the life in the Ruins, and he liked it there. He also liked Xyn, and had even come at some Psionic urging to risk his own life to save Xyn's… and Tym's!

Instantly, the Hunter focused his thoughts on the strange little one. He thought hard, and a small voice whispered in his Mind. Another chill passed through him, and suddenly he recalled hearing that same voice in Wilson's house! Strangers, it said, Don't talk to strangers.

But what strangers had he met? Who was strange? What was strange? Hell, it was all strange! In the course of only a few weeks, the Hunter's routine life had turned stranger than bad holo-fiction at the theater! Suddenly something in his own Mind broke open, and the image of the strange little one with the pale hair and a sad face assailed him with such force that he almost fell off his rock.

YOU talked to the stranger! he accused, and immediately he thought of Alfred, Wilson's butler! Another image followed on the heels of the image of the old XY, and that was the one that the Hunter had seen right before the explosion. He saw, once again, the image of Alfred's own little XY. The little one that had undergone so much Replacement and Maintenance that he was more machine than human. Alfred was there, arguing with the Craft's computers, and he recalled the uneasy feeling he'd had when he'd brought Jayk 'home' to them.

He recalled the voice whispering to him then, then fleeing like a frightened animal in the dark when the light shines upon it. He remembered the feeling of Alfred's guilt as he'd taken off, and the images of the dying little XY in Alfred's Mind.

YOU! he sent to the owner of the voice, You were there all along, watching! You knew, and were trying to warn me! Why?!

Alfred blew up your Craft, the voice replied.

The Hunter's Mind reeled. The old one? HE had done it? But why?

I know that NOW, he replied, but how do YOU know it?

He then felt the mental equivalent of a shrug.

That's what I do. I just 'know' things. Besides, when you can't get out of bed, there's not much else to do but…

...Spy on ME? the Hunter interrupted.

I was watching out for Jayk, Tym replied.

The Hunter breathed hard. It IS you!

Yes.Suddenly, the Hunter was dumbstruck; he was also scared. Here he was, the ultimate Hunting design on Outcasts and Unapproveds. Runaways the World over had nightmares about him, and he was trembling in the face of the Mind of a sickly little Outcast that was no taller than his waistline! The sheer amount of effort required to do what Tym had claimed to have been doing all along staggered him. There was no way he himself could have done it.

Piece of cake, Tym replied.

Nice to finally meet you, Tym. Now, do YOU know anything else that might help us here? After all, Xyn just came screaming across the World like the God of Destruction when someone tried to kill you. Do your people have any leads, and how is it all connected to me?"

There was a bit of silence, and the Hunter could feel Tym's Mind working. Then he thought of something else – he himself wasn't expending any energy and his head didn't hurt! And if Tym could do this so easily, where was Xyn?

Xyn's asleep, Tym replied, He's sick. Well, not sick, I guess, just worn out. He hurt himself bad the other night. And he doesn't know I can do this. No one does. If anyone finds out, they'll drive me away, make me leave! Please don't tell on me! I don't care if they kill me, but I don't want 'em to hurt Xyn! I was afraid you'd exterminate Jayk, too. That's why I was watching you the whole time. But when I saw how much you liked Jayk, and how good you took care of him when he got sick, I knew you wouldn't hurt him. Xyn appreciates that, you know.

Tell Xyn that Jayk misses him, Tym. He cries himself to sleep thinking about him.

There was another moment of dreadful silence, and the Hunter could feel the hatred.

If this Wilson Master of Jayk's hurts him, I WILL kill him.

What?! How?

Never mind. You know too much already. Shar says we're going to talk about it all tomorrow, or the next day, when everyone is rested up and the damage is under control. We have two dead spies here, both of them Unapproveds, non-Mutant, it looks like. We don't know how they could live in here, in the Ruins, but they did, and one of them was our head Doctor.

The Hunter whistled.

The Doctor wasn't taking care of me right, Hunter. He pulled the plug on me and was gonna let me die. He even had Shar convinced that he was legitimate, and that means someone had to have done some heavy work on his Mind before he got here.

All Doctors are Authority registered, Runaway or not, the Hunter supplied.

Then you better get to a computer and get on the Network, Hunter. After all, you work for the Authority, don't you?

Then Tym's Mind was gone, leaving the Hunter all alone on the rocky beach.

It took Shar and Xyn and the rest of the Mutants in the Ruins a few days to put things back into order. After the incident in the Infirmary, Shar had spent the rest of the night and most of the next morning in the realm of the Mind. With her body seated at the main Network panel in her control room, she swept over the sleeping Minds around her. The only distractions were the few Nightstalkers above, clouding her Psionic findings with their own exhilaration as they leaped from ledges on the old buildings high above the empty streets and prowled the rooftops in search of danger. She carefully filtered these out, continuing her search.

Somewhere in the Ruins, perhaps in the personal chambers near her own even, were four other spies. Two of them lay dead in the makeshift morgue just off of the Infirmary, their bodies, or what was left of them, blown to pieces by the overzealousness of Adam the Bomber.

She sighed as her Psi cruised over Adam's mind, the young e-XY asleep and dreaming of knocking down and blowing up things. But there next to him, much to her surprise, she felt the Mind of Chriss the Pyro. Chriss was also fast asleep, and as she tuned in a bit closer out of curiosity, she felt the warmth of Adam's skin against his own heated body. It appeared that Adam had been afraid to go back to his room alone, and Shar didn't blame him. She moved on with the image of them holding each other close, naked atop the bed's only sheet, warmed by the natural aura of Chriss' body and not needing a blanket. She herself felt warm as she moved on.

Normally, Shar would not have been so intrusive; she was couthe and always respected the privacy of others. However, with circumstances being what they were, she was taking no chances. To find Adam and Chriss in such immediate proximity at that time, was, to say the least, odd, given Chriss' attitudes an opinions. That, and the fact that both of them had mysterious blocks in their Minds – neat and orderly 'walls,' so to speak, that were high and thick and obviously put there intentionally. While she herself knew how it was done, and knew how to break those barriers down, she was afraid to try. There was no way to know what lay behind those walls, and the risk to the two young e-XY's was too great. She would have to think of another way.

Yet it was the very existence of those blocks, and a few others like them, that fueled the fires of her search. Her Mind needed rest, but she dared not take it. She had made her son, Dan, bring a bedroll and sleep in the control room behind a hidden console out of fear for his safety. Somewhere out in her expanding Gang, a Gang that was bringing life and activity back to the Ruins, lurked four Minds that she simply had to find. Her search continued on into the night, as Kefe and the others watched the stars twinkle and leapt from rooftop to rooftop, wary of anyone trying to leave.

Around Midnight, she found one.

At the extreme edges of the buildings that served as housing for the new arrivals, she felt fear and extreme wariness. Someone was up and moving, and carrying something; something that had to be delivered. Shar sharpened her focus, brought her Defenses to bear, and swooped in on that Mind as an owl plucks up a mouse on the fly.

That Mind did not detect her.

"So much the better," she breathed. Kefe! she called out.

In her Mind was an image of the young XY gripping a horizontal flagpole, and he was spinning about it, his lithe body whistling through the cool night air as he let go to arc up and then gracefully land on the ledge of what once had been a theater. How many and where?! his Mind called back along Shar's Psionic link.

Near the last housing unit, headed to the statue of the golden man, Kefe. One. Someone trying to leave. It's one of the four! Hurry!

Not himself a Psion, there was no way for Kefe to alert the others unless they could see his shining cyan eyes in line of sight only. He decided not to take the time, and made his way across rooftops at alarming speeds. Within minutes, his acute night vision detected the dark form of someone moving across the long-abandoned plaza. It carried a knapsack, which was obviously very heavy.

Kefe side jumped from ledge to ledge, each fall bringing him closer and closer to his prey. His glowing eyes dimmed a bit as he blinked more often, and when he was totally sure of the strike point, he jumped.

The stranger was hit square between the shoulder blades and went down hard. Kefe heard the wind whoosh out of its lungs as he used his inertia and the impact to right himself and sail up and over his prey's head. He rolled in the air, spread his arms and flipped, and came down on his feet behind it. The heavy pack had fallen to the ground, and he picked it up and threw it to the point where Shar ordered. Another Nightstalker dispatched by Shar, Geoff by name, caught it up in one smooth move and angled back up towards the rooftops with a grunt. Whatever it was, it was a load.

The stranger grunted, trying to catch its breath, and Kefe waited. It got to its feet, glancing this way and that. Kefe, however, moved behind it with precision. It was looking around for the knapsack, and failing to see it, began to panic.

"What are you doing out here?" the young Nightstalker demanded. The stranger flinched and whirled around to face him.

"Out of my way, Unapproved," a woman's voice hissed at him. Kefe's glowing eyes saw that she was reaching into her loose blouse for something, but as her hand began to withdraw, Kefe drew his blaster and fired in one blisteringly fast movement. He then leapt into the air as the blood began to spray from the woman's ruined hand, her own mini-blaster clattering to the ground. She screamed.

"You meddling little fuck!" she cried out, clutching at the remains at the end of her wrist, "You have no idea what you're doing! You have no idea how important our work is!"

But Kefe was nowhere to be seen. She whipped her head around this way and that, but her assailant was simply not there. "I know you're tricks," she called out, "One of you has the bag. We knew about you Nightstalkers and took precautions! The contents will do you NO good without one of us!"

About then, Shar's Mind struck her much as Kefe's body had.

This time, Shar was not couthe. She tore into the woman's Mind with the full force of her enraged Will. The woman, already weak from blood loss, sank to her knees with a wail. Shar did not let up, however. She could not have possibly cared less about damage to the woman's Mind. Two of her children had almost died from this woman's treachery, and at least two others were huddled together in bed with blocks in THEIR Minds as well. I will have the truth! Shar demanded of her.

And then she ran smack into a 'wall,' much like she had done in Adam's & Chriss' Minds. This time, however, after assimilating all that she could before the mental carnage was to begin, Shar threw caution to the wind and literally blew down the 'wall' with her own Mind.

What she found there did NOT impress her, though. The woman was specially trained to resist Psionic probing, and in fact, she had really no clue who she was or what she was doing. Her entire aim in life was to come to the Ruins, steal medical data padds and records, and then leave to deliver them to someone else. She also had no idea who this someone was. Her only other orders were to kill anyone who interfered with her, and to drop the knapsack near the statue of the Lady with the Torch in the Flats. Beyond that, she had no instructions. And as the wall in her Mind crumbled further, to Shar's dismay, she also had no identity. Someone had done an extensive job of conditioning her Mind.

There was nothing further to be had, other than a sense of being on a mission that was extremely important. Shar caught one other word before the woman gasped her last, and lay dead where Kefe had shot her.

"Xyn."

Kefe and Shar then moved on, leaving her where she'd fallen. A few moments later, another Nightstalker came out of the shadows and threw the dead woman's body down an old storm sewer.

By daybreak, the exhausted Nightstalkers and Shar had only managed to find one other, leaving two still on the loose. The second had been an XY Unapproved, Upgraded, and he had been alone and carrying nothing. Geoff had spotted him atop a moderately tall building, on the roof, panting and exhausted from his stair climbing. The only thing that he had, other than his clothes, was a transmitter. As with the first woman, Shar had blown down the walls in his Mind, but in his case, it had sent him running mad. It had taken two of the Nightstalkers to subdue him, but by the time they had done that, his sanity had slipped away. Shar had found nothing useful, only the urge to use the transmitter. She had ordered them to bring him in, but as they dragged him to his feet he broke away. He ran screaming towards the edge of the roof, and flung himself off.

His insane giggling echoed all the way down, to be cut off with a sickening sound.

This fact left a cold feeling of dread in Shar's very soul, as she envisioned Adam or Chriss running mad in the same fashion; Mutant abilities notwithstanding.

That morning, the Nightstalkers came in and took to their beds. Shar called in the other Psions, with the exception of Xyn and Chriss, and turned matters of security over to them. She sent Dan to Xyn's room with instructions to keep the four in question together until she was rested. Each of the Psions was then subjected to a full Group Mind session, and when Shar could finally rest, she copied Xyn's trick of shutting her Mind off and fell asleep.

The five of them spent a nervous day together, snacking on various things from Xyn's stores in his room and reading books. It was that day that Xyn discovered that Tym didn't know to read as he sat in the old chair, leafing through a book of ancient mythology.

Tym, still too weak to get up under his own power after being down for so long a time, had grown bored and restless. His muscles were very atrophied, and just sitting up without help wore him out. He sighed often as the others chatted or read, and finally he got up enough nerve to ask for help.

"Xyn?" he asked in a small voice.

Xyn looked up from his book. "Yea?"

"Can I come sit with you?"

Xyn nodded and scooted over. Tym sat up as best he could, but soon fell back onto the pillows. He sighed and tried again, breathing hard. Then, to his surprise, Adam came over and picked him up, placing him in Xyn's lap. Tym's face was red.

"Thank you," he said simply.

Adam smiled, returning to stretch out on the old rug next to Chriss who was keeping the room warm for the convalescing little XY. They all told him how there was nothing to be ashamed of, that he'd been so sick for so long that his muscles just weren't strong anymore. They all assured him that he'd get better, and Tym finally began to believe them as he watched Xyn turning the pages. He was warm in Xyn's Suit, and he actually felt good. He looked at the few pictures in the book, popping crew rations from the Transport ship into his mouth, when Xyn stopped.

"I am I going too fast for you?" he asked.

Tym shook his head. "Don't matter. I can't read."

All four of them looked at him. "How can you NOT know how to read, Tym?" Dan asked, "I mean, being able to do what you do and all? Wouldn't you just know how to do it from being in someone else's Mind?"

Tym shook his hooded head. "It doesn't work like that. Reading is a complicated thought process, and just because I can 'see' Xyn doing it doesn't mean I can think like him. I mean, I'd have to BE him to think like HE does. Does that make sense?"

Xyn looked at him and raised his eyebrows. "It makes perfect sense, Tym. If I could do it without hurting myself, I'd show you the cheating way!" He then pulled the little one closer and hugged him, reaching up to touch his cheek and hold his smooth chin for a moment.

"But how can you not learn to read, Tym?" Dan asked again, breaking the silence.

"When you live on the streets alone and run for your life every day, there ain't much time for that," Tym replied.

Dan blushed. "I guess I didn't think of that," he offered, stretching himself out on Xyn's bed. "This feels good after sleeping on the floor of mom's office all night."

Xyn smiled and went back to his book, as did Adam and Chriss. The rest of the day was spent teaching Tym to read as Dan napped and Adam and Chriss lay on the old rug together doing the same.

From time to time, Xyn would look up and see them right up against each other, Chriss wearing only his tattered short pants and Adam dressed in a one-piece slate colored jumpsuit that was a bit too big for him. After a few hours though, Adam sat up and pulled the front of it open. "Is it hot in here, or is it just me?" he asked.

"It's Chriss," Xyn replied.

"Hey!" The young Pyro interjected, "I can't help it!" Then he grinned widely. "So take it off if you're hot."

Adam looked over at Xyn, who shrugged. Tym mimicked his motion, and went back to sounding out short words with Xyn. Chriss, however, was still grinning.

"It won't bother you?" Adam asked nervously. "I thought you didn't like, well… I know you're uneasy with…"

"No," Chriss interrupted, "I think I'm over that now. I realized last night that there's more to worry about in life than being embarrassed about what you are or how you look. For example, uh, take getting killed by a spying Doctor for example? What's being naked compared to that? It bothered me for a LONG time, but I don't think it will now. Besides, it's not like we can DO anything to each other, is it? Being a Pyro's hot work, ya know."

Adam smiled and finished opening the front of his garment. It closed via velcro, and the ripping sound woke up Dan who sat up and looked around, yawned, and went back to sleep. Once free of the hot clothing, Adam kicked it away and stretched. His arms and legs were long, a bit too long, and his skin, while not as white as Xyn's, was smooth and hairless all over. There were little scars here and there from old injuries, which Xyn lacked, but which any other young XY would take for granted and overlook. He was old enough to not quite have the soft appearance of a little one, yet he wasn't overly tall – yet. His musculature had not yet fully begun to develop, and the smoothness of his crotch bore mute testimony to the fact that it probably never would.

He scratched at his light brown hair, just touching the tips of his ears, then turned to lay back down on the rug beside Chriss. Xyn glanced up as Adam was turning, and he noted the shape of Adam's backside and the curves of his body. There were horizontal marks across his round buttocks, areas of skin that were a bit darker then the surrounding tissues. It was not heavy scarring, but it gave evidence to the fact that Adam had been beaten at some point in his life. Xyn's eyes then caught a glance of Adam's emasculation, total and long since healed up perfectly, and for a moment he thought of Jayk. He felt his penis hardening under his tunic, and he pressed his book down on it to hide it, cursing to himself. His eyes teared up, and he was startled to feel a small, gloved finger wiping his tears away.

Me and the Hunter talked, Xyn.

"What?!" Xyn said aloud.

Adam and Chriss flinched and glanced up at them. "It's hard to get anything out of a one-way conversation, you know," Chriss jibed at them. Then he saw Xyn's look of pain. He glanced at Tym, who shot sneered at him. Chriss sighed.

"Be nice," Xyn chided, "And tell me about the Hunter."

"All I wanted to tell you was that he's fine, and Jayk's doing good. His Master's takin' good care of him. He misses you, though. The Hunter wanted me to tell you, said you two were close."

Xyn smiled wanly. "I miss Jayk, too."

"Why do we care if the Hunter's fine, though?" Adam asked, looking up from his book. "He's the LAST thing we want creeping around here."

Tym realized his mistake and made a face. "I'll tell you all when Shar comes to talk," he replied, "Because we had a LONG talk, really, and there's a lot of stuff to figure out."

They all stared at the strange little Mutant for a moment, then the two e-XY's nodded in agreement and went back to reading.

Chriss laid a long arm across Adam's bare back, just across the small of it, and Adam leaned up a bit to put his arm across Chriss' shoulder. They pulled each other closer, and Xyn leaned over and impulsively kissed Tym's cheek.

"Thank you."

But Tym just stared up at him in disbelief, warm and happy and feeling halfway safe for the first time in his life. As Xyn began reading aloud to him again, he prayed that it wouldn't ever end.

It was getting late in the afternoon when Shar finally arrived at Xyn's room. She knocked politely at the door and entered to find them all just sitting around the room. Xyn was still in the old chair with Tym in his lap, and Adam (who had hastily thrown his jumpsuit back on) was sitting on the floor next to Chriss. Dan was laying across the bed, and each of them had a book in his hands. There were empty ration containers and crumbs scattered here and there, and the five of them were the picture of total innocence.

"Now I know something is wrong is here," she joked, stepping across the room to join her son on the bed. She sat and enfolded him in a warm embrace, then looked up at Xyn with her sparkling gold/black eyes. Again, I thank you, she sent.

Xyn nodded, placing his book on the small end table and adjusting Tym's position in his lap. "Anything?" he asked.

Shar shook her head. "Nothing good," she replied in a sick tone.

Adam groaned and Chriss shook his head.

"The Nightstalkers caught two of them," Shar explained, "But their Minds were radically altered. One was carrying data padds from the Infirmary and the other only had a comm-transmitter."

"But there's more, isn't there?" Chriss asked.

Shar nodded and pulled Dan closer to her. Unconsciously, Xyn did the same with Tym and Adam moved closer to Chriss.

"The walls, or blocks, that I mentioned in your Minds were present in these other two as well. They were just as solid and firm, but I penetrated them. The first had undergone extensive Psionic reordering of her Mind, and there was nothing left but her mission. She felt that she was doing something very important. Even her sense of self vanished when I penetrated the wall," Shar told them.

Tym squirmed in Xyn's lap, beginning to feel slightly nauseated. He had a good idea of what was coming, and he also dreaded having to tell them the rest of his story and the contents of his chat with the Hunter.

"The second," Shar stated in a voice full of dread, "Ran mad and flung himself off of rooftop when I broke the barrier in his Mind."

None of them said a word. The two Mutants on the floor looked at each other, then looked up to see the rest of them staring at them. "So what does that mean for us?" he asked in a shaky voice.

Shar thought for a moment, then decided that dancing about the issue would do them all no good. "It means, Adam, that if I attempt to access what's been hidden behind those barriers in your Minds, that the results could be disastrous. You are both powerful young Mutants, and if either of you were to go mad, the results could be devastating."

Adam swallowed hard and looked back at Chriss, who shrugged.

"So what do we do?" the young Pyro asked, putting his arm around Adam's shoulders and pulling him closer. Adam was trying hard not to cry.

Shar spread her hands and looked at them. "We wait. I do not know what to do. I will, however, do nothing that puts you two at risk. I will not take the chance of damaging your Minds. Collateral damage to the Complex here would be nothing compared to the loss of even one of us."

"You didn't feel that way about Jayk," Tym muttered softly, snuggling in closer under Xyn's arm and glaring at her.

The wave of regret and shame that rolled off of her made even Xyn and Adam and Dan gasp in disbelief. She shook back her lustrous black hair and adjusted her small son in her lap, much as Xyn was doing with Tym. "I made a mistake," she offered. "I was distraught and lost Control over Kel's death. Jayk frightened me, and I was also angry. So very angry," she said wistfully.

But Tym would not be pacified so lightly. He couldn't accept her excuse, and being so little, he also couldn't understand what had really driven Shar over the edge into losing Control of herself. He was still too young understand the intimacies between XX's and XY's who were, or had been at one time, so intimate as to produce another little one. Having never known love himself, until Xyn had come along, it was beyond him. He glared at her and shook his head.

"And what more would you have of me, little one?" Shar then demanded, her voice filled with pain. "I made a mistake, a horrible mistake. Jayk is no longer with us, and I hurt Xyn as well in doing what I did. There is nothing I can do to undo that damage – yet – and I live with it day and night! I repaid Xyn's gift of my son's life with breaking his heart. The whole of the Gangs here in the Ruins weighs heavily upon me as well, and they are my ultimate concern. What do YOU know of how I feel?" she threw at him in a superior, mothering fashion.

Dan grinned, and Tym shrank back.

"Rule #1, guys. Little XY's never win the arguments with Mom!" he supplied.

"I never had a mom," Tym mumbled.

"You do when you're here!" Dan stated proudly, and Shar smiled at him

"But back to the Mind barrier thing," Xyn interrupted. "Not that I can do much of anything about it myself, but DO we do?"

"I don't know," Shar admitted. "I also have no idea where the other four spies are. It's possible that they're dead by suicide, or are eluding me somehow if they're that well trained. The other Psions are on it as well, but so far we're having no luck. Everyone that I've cleared so far is watching for strange behaviors, but there are a great many of us here now. It is going to take some time. But in the meantime, I would have more of what happened last evening and the mess that you all made!"

All four of the 'guilty parties' looked at each other and laughed. Shar's head moved as if watching a tennis match while they all chattered at once, each one trying to fill in details that the others might have left out. They told her of Xyn's headaches and strange behavior, Chriss' realization that something was wrong, and then finally Xyn's jumping to the conclusion about her.

"I'm regret what I did last night, Shar," he said softly, when the others had finished their stories, recapping the events of the previous evening.

She nodded in understanding. "You lost Control of your passion, Xyn Psion," she stated in a sympathetic voice, "And I know that feeling all too well. Someone you loved more than you love your own life was in danger, and you did what you thought was right. There can be nothing greater than this, children," she advised in that mothering tone again, "to value another more than you value yourself."

As they all sat wondering at that idea and her use of the archaic word 'children', Tym decided that it was time to speak up. Keeping what he knew in secret would do them no good, and in fact, he realized, it might do them all harm in the long run. "Getting back to last night," he piped up nervously, "There's still some things that don't make sense."

"None of it makes sense," Adam muttered.

"Some of it does, though," Tym corrected, "And I have things that I know that you need to know, too."

Shar stared at him, her Psi running at only minimal levels to keep in touch-and-go contact with the other Psions. "And what do you know, Tym?"

"I-I've been… well, I've been in contact with… with…" he struggled, turning to look up at Xyn, whose eyes were wide with anticipation, "with Jayk and the Hunter."

They all stared at him, mouths agape, and Tym was suddenly frozen by those stares. Then he felt Xyn's warm breath in his ear as the young Psion's lips brushed over the lobe, tickling a bit. "It's all right, Tym. Tell us. Please," he whispered.

But… but… what if they don't like it? What if she doesn't like it? The Hunter's afraid of me, Xyn. HE'S afraid of ME, just like everyone else! What if Shar…

She won't, Xyn sent back, his headache returning with a vengeance, Trust me. Just tell us what you did and how you did it. She won't mind. In fact, she WANTS to know more about your abilities.

But...

I'm not afraid of you, Tym

Tym nodded shyly and faced them. "I talked to the Hunter the other day. Someone tried to kill him too. His Craft, the one he picked Jayk up with, blew up when he left Jayk's Master's house. He bailed out right before though… because… because… well, he knew it was gonna happen." He thought for a moment, looked at their anxious faces, and continued. He suddenly didn't care what anyone thought of him, and if they decided to hate him or be afraid of his strange abilities, that was fine. One thing was certain, however.

The one who held him in his lap DID understand him. He loved him and would, as he had already demonstrated, sacrifice himself to protect him. The thought of that awed Tym as he collected his thoughts, wondering at such a gesture of something far more than corporeal. His courage renewed, he went on.

"Someone got into the Craft somehow and rigged it to blow up when he left this Wilson person's place. It was rigged to go off AFTER Jayk was back in his Master's custody, and it was Wilson's own butler, Alfred, I think. I've been watching the Hunter and Jayk, following them, sort of. When they got to Wilson's, him and the Hunter didn't really hit if off." Tym's face blushed a bit then, but he went on. "The Hunter likes, Jayk. A lot. He wanted to keep him, but the law says no on that. He was going to take him to a Dealer friend of his, but the reward on Jayk's head was too high to refuse. Then he met this Alfred, and something just wasn't right."

"Wait a minute, Tym," Chriss interrupted, "How do you KNOW all of this? You've been bedridden for, well, a long time!"

Tym shrugged his slight shoulders and grinned. "I just DO. I KNOW things. It's part of what I am. Once I meet someone and get a feel for him, I can find him anywhere, anytime."

"And you know what they know?" Xyn asked in wonder.

"If I want to," Tym replied, "It's hard to explain. It isn't just THERE. I have to work at it, but it's not that hard."

"But what of the distances involved, Tym?" Shar asked, "Jayk is in New City Far South! I read about it all on the news, the Craft exploding, the Hunter gone missing and presumed dead. It's all the clatter of the media right now. How is it that you can reach so far? Even the great bridge into the Ruins is very nearly too far for myself, or for Xyn!"

"Distance is meaningless to me," Tym stated flatly, turning to face Xyn. "And when you came for me last night, the Hunter said that he heard you scream when you saw me laying there. He said you 'came screaming across the very World like the God of Destruction."

Xyn's mouth fell open, and Shar bowed her head to him.

Chriss was trembling, remembering how Xyn's Psi had very nearly bowled him over in the past when the young Psion had powered it up.

"I thought Adam was the God of Destruction," Xyn joked in a defensive reflex, embarrassed at their stares of wonder.

"Go on," Shar prompted.

Tym nodded. "Anyway, the Hunter's hiding in the Forest near the Eastern Sea. Everyone thinks he's dead, and he's letting them think that. He's watching Jayk, though. I think he's planning something. But Xyn," he said, turning to face the one who held him close, "He knows everything that you know."

Shar didn't seem surprised. "We've been going over that, Tym. Xyn and Jayk and the Hunter all very close, after the other night. Then, much to my surprise as anyone's, the Hunter came back to help Xyn help you. I cannot for the life of me comprehend him, but I do not believe that we have anything to fear from him."

"Then why'd he take Jayk back to his old Master?" asked, shivering at the thought of being a slave again.

"He didn't have much choice," Chriss told him. "The law's pretty clear on that. Reward or not, he pretty much had to. And if he'd brought him back here, that would have been the end of his career and probably his life. Besides, his craft would have only had just enough power to make it back to civilization before it needed refueled. I don't think he'd have wanted to be stuck here, and he just couldn't keep running in and out. Once you make a trip from the nearest point of civilization to the Ruins, your craft is pretty shot."

"How do you know that?" Xyn asked suddenly.

Chriss' face went blank. "I don't know," he breathed in surprise, "I just do."

Shar, however, twitched an eyebrow as her Psi came up a bit more. "I do know a bit about piloting," she said, scanning Chriss again, "And it would seem that you do too."

"B-but I've been off the ground!" he exclaimed.

"Something is not right here," she pondered, "Tym?" she prompted.

Again, Tym nodded. "The Hunter has some ideas he shared with me. He can't figure out WHY Xyn wandered off the night of the fire. The Facility buildings are supposed to be fireproof, more secure than WorldBanks. But it burnt down. He met a little one who survived the fire, and that little guy says a Nightstalker and someone else were watching the place, scopin' it out for a while. He also thought that Xyn knew about it."

All eyes fell upon Xyn then, and his brows were creased in thought. "I… I just wanted to… wanted to know… I think! I was OUTSIDE for the first time! I just… wandered off."

"But you left your home, Xyn," Shar stated, "And the Adult who loved you. Why did you do that?"

Xyn's face went blank. "I don't know!" he cried.Still, Tym went on with his story. "Xyn wandered off, then Jayk found him in the Forest. Jayk brought him here and you took him in, Shar. Then he and Jayk got to be… well…" Tym stammered, blushing a bit, "... close, let's say. Then on the trip to raid the Transport ship, Jayk killed Kel after I messed up Xyn's Mind. I'm sorry," he apologized again, totally ashamed of himself.

Xyn kissed the little one's rosy cheek, uncaring of what anyone else might think. "Go on," he said softly.

"Then Shar left Jayk behind when he collapsed. You don't know how much I hated you for that, Shar," he stated flatly, "And I'm sorry I said what I did. I just figured that I was probably next, is all."

Shar nodded at him. "You cannot feel any worse than I do, Tym," she agreed.

"The Hunter and Jayk came up with the idea, though, that maybe Kel wanted to leave Xyn behind for a reason, and that Jayk got in someone's way. He thinks that Xyn was influenced to leave the Facility and that the fire was just cover or a way to take advantage of him. Once he was out in the Forest all alone, someone was going to grab him, but Jayk found him first and brought him here. Then Kel decided that if he was left behind in the Ruins, that someone would pick him up there and take him away. Instead, Jayk killed him and that's where I get lost."

They all gasped or whistled in amazement.

Shar however, was shaking her head. "Jayk was left behind on a bad decision that I made," she explained. "I wasn't trying to get him 'out of the way,' as the Hunter seems to think."

"So dumping Jayk was incidental?" Tym asked.

Shar nodded. "If I could undo my actions, I would."

Chriss, however, was sweating profusely and shaking. The temperature of the room was climbing, and Adam was scooting away from him across the rug. "Chriss?" he nearly screamed, "What's wrong?"

"I did it!" the young Pyro cried, his greenish skin dripping with perspiration, "Or, I think I did it! I don't know! It's like I remember doing it, just now, but I know I didn't!"

Shar and Tym could both feel Chriss' anxiety rising. The image of the wall in his Mind came to them, and the 'bricks' that composed it were cracking and shaking as he pounded against it with his own Psi. Then he began to convulse.

"Stop!" Xyn suddenly cried, nearly spilling Tym from his lap. With a great effort, he stood up in one movement and passed the weak little one to Shar. His brows were still tightly creased, and his eyes were wide. The veins in his neck and temples were throbbing, and the 'sound' of his Mind and Psi coming up to full power were staggering. Shar blinked and nearly dropped her two little charges as Chriss fell over backwards.

"Watch where you point that thing!" Adam cried out, dodging Chriss' flailings.

Xyn tolerated the extreme pain, probing at Chriss' Mind. The image of the wall came to him as well, and whatever was behind it made ready to come out. Having never gotten too far into the Pyro's Mind before, Xyn was not familiar with it. He probed carefully, trembling in pain as his head pounded.

"Xyn, no!" Tym cried, "Let me!"

But Xyn ignored Tym's plea, submerging his Mind in Chriss'. Images of flames danced before him, and the bricks that composed the image of the wall in the Pyro's Mind caught fire. Xyn felt himself growing vast and beyond comprehension as he reached his 'hands' into those burning bricks, picking them up and crying out as his Mind interpreted what it found there into something that it could understand. He ignored the rest of Chriss' memories, focusing on what lay behind the wall that he now held in his hands.

Then, to his surprise, he found that it was not a wall at all, but a neat border that surrounded a simple set of memories in a perfect circle. Xyn took that ring of burning stone, held it tight and separated himself from Chriss' Mind.

The Pyro's convulsions ceased, and he lay very still. With a low cry, Adam went to his side and shook him, begging him to wake up, shaking him, and finally slapping lightly at his cheek. Dan bolted from the room, immediately got up to full speed, and in moments returned with a Medkit.

"No one can move that fast!" Shar exclaimed proudly, her eyes sparkling.

"I can, Mom," he said proudly, busting open a foul smelling tube and waving it under Chriss's nose. With his free hand, he tossed a hypospray to Adam who jumped up and quickly injected Xyn with a massive dose of Morphinol.

Xyn sighed and shook his head, his eyes wide.

"Thanks," he sighed in relief.

After a moment, Chriss' eyes fluttered and he sat up, blinking. "What happened?" he asked in confusion.

"Your wall fell," Xyn stated flatly. "You passed out."

"What wall?" Chriss asked in confusion, shaking his head.

"You don't remember?" Adam asked.

"No. I remember reading a book with you when Shar came in, and Tym was talking about the Hunter or something. What happened?"

Xyn's face, however, had gone from blank to perplexed to angry. He trembled not in pain then, but in rage. Chriss and Shar and Tym looked up at him, and somewhere off to the Far South, the Hunter was jerked out of a nice nap under a rather large and hollow tree by Xyn's Mind.

Everyone other Psion in the Ruins, and probably those in surrounding areas as well, also noticed it. Those who knew Xyn, however, ignored it and went back to their duties.

Then, in a voice low and deathly quiet, Xyn spoke. "You burnt the Facility down, Chriss. You had help doing it. Your Gang's Nightstalker told you when to strike. You set fire to it, and had fun doing it. You both took off in a short range Craft once I was out. Your job was done, after all. You went back to your Gang, then came here. It was your Group that the Hunter saw crossing the Bridge. Your Nightstalker, though, went to the Old City for something afterwards, where the Hunter got him. How he got there, you didn't know, or why. But he did, and he's gone now, sold to a Dealer."

Shar then placed Tym on the bed, and stood up. She took Xyn in her arms, pulled him close, and the image of the burning Facility was replaced with an image of Dan in those arms, warm and secure and happy. Xyn was, however, still very angry as Shar merged into his Mind.

Chriss stared in horrified wonder and shook his head, his white ponytail waving as Adam held him.

"Someone sent two members of Kel's Gang to get Xyn out of the Facility," she mused, sifting though the Memories that Xyn had taken.

She gasped as she sorted the memories that Xyn had taken from Chriss, who seemed to be none the worse for wear. Adam was sitting next to him on the rug, holding him as if the young Bomber were afraid that his friend would fall over if he did not hold him up. But Shar went on. "There was a plan… yes… Kel wanted Xyn… not for himself, though. Resources… Kel needed Resources, money. He would have taken Xyn from the Forest if not for Jayk! Xyn was to be…" she faltered, fighting with what she saw.

"Monstrous!" She exclaimed, her eyes filling tears at the betrayal she had just discovered. "Xyn was to be sold to a Dealer for a great price. Someone, a Psion, I do not know him… Kel never mentioned him to me… this person knew of Xyn. But Kel waited, seeing that Xyn would come here, and our Gangs would merge! He was going to have them… the spies… take him from us."

Tym listened closely, assimilating the whole story for later use. He kept his own Mind shielded, and neither Shar nor Xyn realized that he was eavesdropping.

Then her shoulders drooped, and Xyn exhaled sharply.

"That's all you knew, Chriss," he stated to the wide-eyed Pyro, "Someone conditioned you very well, my friend, but the damage is undone. You are in no danger now."

"I… I'm s-sorry, Xyn!" Chriss cried, burying his face in Adam's shoulder. "I didn't… I couldn't do that… not to you!"

Xyn nodded. "I am not angry at you," he said in a soft voice that belied his rage, "Even if you had known then, I would have been nothing more, in your eyes, than a Facility Inmate. I would have meant nothing to you then, and you would have done it in a moment to help your own Gang."

Shar then led Xyn to his bed, and they sat down. With a great physical effort, Tym climbed into his lap once again and wrapped his arms about Xyn's neck. The young Psion, tired as he was from his efforts, embraced him. "Let me help," he offered.

Xyn leaned back and looked deep into his earnest little face. He nodded, as did Shar. The three of them then faced Adam, who still held the trembling form of Chriss in his arms. "What?" he asked nervously.

"Things are becoming clearer, Adam," Shar told him. "Kel wanted to sell Xyn to a Dealer. Recall that I knew Kel for a long, long time. We were almost married, in fact, back in our University days. He meant a great deal to me, and the pain of this betrayal is almost more than I can bear. However, as Xyn said, we didn't know him then. It would have been easy to sell him to a Dealer to further our own cause. But Kel had to FIND a Dealer first, make contact. What better way to do that than to take in a Runaway slave and tamper with his Mind? We may never know who did this to you, Adam, but we must needs have what is behind the barrier which is in YOUR Mind as well."

Adam stared at them, then looked to Chriss. "It didn't really hurt," he offered, "And I swear I don't remember Xyn even DOING anything."

But Adam was shaking his head and beginning to cry. He jumped up and ran for the door. "No!" he shouted again and again, "No! You can't! I won't let you! Stay away from me! I don't wanna die! You wanna kill me is what you wanna do! Stay away!" He screamed, taking off down the hall and running.

Adam was fast, but Dan was faster. Much faster.

Adam had just made the first turn in the corridor when Dan slammed into him at an unbelievable speed. They bounced off of a wall, went down in a tangle, and Dan came up and slugged Adam in the mouth. Blood flew from the Bomber's split lip, and they all felt the power of his Will building as he screamed again.

"Get off me! Let me alone!" The Bomber screamed in agony, clutching at his head. Sweat dripped from his hair and he began to shake as he threw Dan off.

Dan rolled and righted himself, spun around, then dashed forward and slugged him again, his own Mind screaming for his mother.

Then Shar was there, and just as Adam began to release his Will upon Dan, she slapped the neural inhibitor onto his forehead. Just as she was moving in to do it however, she found her little one suddenly behind her.

Adam's eyes went glassy and his jaw dropped open, his lower lip dripping blood and his left eye beginning to swell. He dropped to his knees with a soft moan and just sat there rocking, staring into space but seeing nothing.

Dan was rubbing his hands together, wincing in pain. "Where did you learn to do that?" his mother demanded, checking over Adam's bruised and bleeding face.

Dan shrugged his shoulders. "Kefe," he answered.

"I see," his mother replied in a dangerous, motherly tone, "Interesting device," she said to Xyn, who had arrived with Chriss. "Where did it come from?"

That spying Doctor used it on ME, Tym supplied.

"Ah."

"You didn't have to beat him up so bad," Chriss said to Dan.

"It seemed to be the thing to do at the time," he replied. "Sorry. He just freaked out on me."

Neither Xyn nor Shar mentioned the fact that they had felt Adam's Will building and that he had planned to blow Dan into nothingness. They were, after all, friends, and neither felt that he needed to know. Besides that, all the Psions could tell that it wasn't really Adam's fault. He had obviously been conditioned to break and run under those particular circumstances.

When they had all gotten back to Xyn's room and Shar had tended to Adam's injuries, she turned to Xyn. "Are you well enough to do this again?" she asked.

"I can if Tym helps me," Xyn replied, "My head is hurting again, but I can't take another shot yet and I'm really tired."

"The Suit?" Tym offered.

But Xyn shook his head. "You keep it. You need it worse than I do. It'll fix you up faster if you don't take it off. You know what we're doing?"

The little one nodded grimly and Xyn held out his arms as he sat down on the bed. Tym climbed into his lap again, puffing all the way, and very gently did what he had done to Xyn at the Transport Ship. This time, however, Xyn was ready. He didn't flee that Mind that merged into his own. Instead, he opened himself up as well and accepted it. As they clung to each other on the bed while Shar waited, the mental merging took place and she found herself confronted by such a Mind as she had never encountered before. It was nothing like the being that was Xyn/Jayk. It was totally different this time.

As they joined forces, tentatively, she turned to Xyn/Tym as if offering to let this new Persona lead the way. She followed this one Mind down into Adam's as Chriss and Dan watched in wonder.

The neural inhibitor that Xyn had confiscated from the dead Doctor made Adam's Mind a quiet and still place. Before them stood the image of the wall, nearly perfect and undamaged in the midst of an image of mass destruction. As they rose up above it at Xyn/Tym's suggestion, Shar saw that it was indeed circular and that it cordoned off an orderly set of memories and knowledge. They saw, near the top of it, one brick missing.

He would have gone mad, Shar observed as she stared at the strange things hidden within the barrier.

Yes, the other Mind agreed.

I can bear this alone, she told them. There are things here that you needn't see. There is no reason to expose you this. Help me to take it, to remove this curse from Adam's Mind, then get clear of me. I can more than bear it.

But we're stronger than you are, Xyn/Tym told her.

Shar considered this for a moment, stunned at the audacity, then consented. Very carefully, she helped them do as Xyn had done for Chriss. The wall and everything therein was smoothly lifted out and assimilated by Xyn/Tym in the strange silences of Adam's Mind, restoring him to normalcy. When they had control of it, Shar made sure that they were ready and smashed the barrier, pulling her own Mind out to only observe and see.

Chriss and Dan jumped and yelped in surprise as Shar stood up and Xyn and Tym screamed once. Adam, his Mind closed down by the neural inhibitor, didn't move. Xyn and Tym, still clutching each other tightly, began to assimilate all the information that had been hidden in Adam's mind. For a moment, it looked as if both wanted to jump up and run as Adam had done, but they held fast as Shar filtered out the impending madness. As with the Adult on the roof, had Adam broken through the barrier on his own, he would have certainly gone mad and never recovered.

Xyn/Tym, however, she realized with a start, was far too strong for that as the two of them stared at her with wide eyes and nodded. She let her Psi probe back into the information that they had gathered, realizing that they still had not separated.

"Adam ran away from his Master," they both said in harmony, and Chriss and Dan stared in wonder at them.

"Yes," Shar agreed, "His Master was afraid of him."

"He hated him for being a Mutant," they said again, their voices speaking as one, "His powers went wild when he couldn't Change. He had to run away. He didn't want to die. His Master was going to have him exterminated."

"He was a slave."

"Ever since he was really little. The Dealer cut him for his Master, and his Master liked him… alot…" but they skimmed over those parts, concentrating instead on the Dealer, in the past of Adam's memories, and upon the time that Kel's Gang had taken him in…

Xyn/Tym moved through those memories, of some Hunter, but not THE Hunter, capturing him. He was being carried into a Dealer's shop. The door was open and there was music playing. In Adam's memory, there were cheers and lewd cries of lust. People were ordering things, businesslike, but a fat man slammed the door and the sounds fell silent. He was smiling and wringing his plump hands, ushering the unknown Hunter to another small room. Someone cut Adam's ragged clothing off, and he was helpless to resist; the stun device had still not worn off, and even though he was aware of what was going on, he could do nothing. They were washing him then, hosing him off and scrubbing at his naked little body with rough sponges. Then the tingling feel of the pink shower cream, and all of his fuzz and slight hair – except for his scalp – was washed down the drain.

Frightened and immobile, Adam was being strapped down to a small metal exam table that was just the right size to hold a little one. They were talking about him, and he was crying as the fat man played with his XY-Parts.

"All of it?" he was asking in an anxious voice.

The strange Hunter shrugged his shoulders. "Makes no difference to me, as long as I get paid. I don't care what you do to the little Unapproved. He's just going to die before he's 30 anyway."

Then the fat man was giving him something, and the Hunter was leaving. Adam was crying, trying to struggle, as the stun began to wear off. He was, however, strapped down tight and unable to move. He managed to wince slightly as the Dealer stuck some kind of tube up into his small penis. He was saying something, smiling and sweating. The room was very warm.

"You've got to be the littlest one I've ever cut up, pretty!" He said with a leering grin. "Do you know what I'm going to do to you?"

Adam was trying to shake his head, but he couldn't move it either. "Well, cutie," the fat man said, "I'm going to cut off all of this stuff between your legs. You won't be an XY anymore when I'm done with you! How old are you?"

But Adam couldn't answer him; his voice would not work.

"Ten Cycles?"

Nothing.

"Nine?"

Adam blinked, and the Dealer laughed. "Someone needs to feed you more, then."

Adam managed a whimper as he stared in horror at the tube coming out of his small penis. The fat man was holding a laser scalpel from his Medkit, and he began to play with the little one's scrotum, loosening it a bit.

"Feel good?" he leered.

Adam whimpered again. It didn't feel good. It hurt.

Then the laser began to move through his skin, and it burned. Adam screamed as the beam cut into his flesh, and in seconds, the fat man was dropping his severed scrotum and testicles into a cryo-container. "Now for this annoying little penis," he laughed, "Since you'll never need it anyway, slave!"

Then he moved his hand and Adam watched in stunned fascination as the beam moved around his penis. Little wisps of smoke wafted up from it, and the beam dug in deep. The fat man moved his hand, and Adam's severed penis slid off onto the tubing.

He screamed again as the fat man stuffed a gag into his mouth as tears ran down his face. Then he reached into the Medkit for a rapid dermal regenerator, and Adam howled in pain as the device closed the wound over. The fat man tugged at the tube that was going up into his bladder as he used the regenerator, pulling it downwards as new skin closed over the bloody opening. In a few agonizing minutes, Adam's crotch was smooth and healed, and the tube was coming out of him just above his anus.

The fat man was laughing, and Adam was sobbing in pain and humiliation. "We'll sell you off fast, cutie," he said, "No one will be able to resist one so little and so cute!"

He then injected him with something, the Dealer's hands moving to caress his buttocks as he gave him the shot. He was touching him here and there, feeling at him, and Adam wanted nothing more than to run away… and then he was asleep.

Tym was crying, clutching Xyn as Adam's memories assailed him. Dan was gone, Shar having dispatched him on some errand when the two of them had delved into Adam's castration. Chriss sat watching, listening, interested but not shocked. Adam had told him the story before, and while it had nearly broken his heart, he knew that his friend was over it; at least he had thought that he was over it. Chriss suddenly realized that Adam was probably going to need a great deal of attention when he came to, and the young Pyro found that for all of his past feelings, he wouldn't mind if he were the one to do that for him. He thought about the feel of Adam's bare skin under his own long-fingered hands, the minimal heat from his lithe and small body when Adam had asked to stay in his room the night before. It was not unpleasant, Chriss realized.

"I'll take care of him, Shar," he offered, "If he needs someone."

Shar nodded. "He will, Chriss. He won't remember this, but he'll still remember his mutilation and life as a slave, and he may need you – badly."

Chriss nodded. He thought of Adam in his bed again, as the night before, and suddenly wished that he was there now, holding him, protecting him, trying to make everything all right again. He remembered the look of Adam's smooth form, his lack of XY-Parts, and his own small and relatively useless penis. To his amazement, he found that it didn't bother him. In fact, Pyro abilities aside, it made him feel warm inside.

"Everyone changes, or realizes greater things in time, Chriss," Shar told him.

Chriss smiled, amazed at his sudden epiphany.

He then nodded, and turned back to the bed where Xyn/Tym was still probing at the unconscious Bomber's memories.

The Dealer, Shar was thinking, The Dealer who cut him, who sold him. Who is this Adult? Where is he?

He's a bad man, Xyn/Tym was crying, mostly Tym, Why'd he cut him like that? It's mean! I'm afraid!

It is the past, so fear not. Kel took Adam in as a Runaway slave. It stands to reason… he knew the Dealer… his name… is…" Shar probed harder, and Xyn/Tym let her.

Acer! All three of them spoke at once, and Chriss flinched.

There was then an image of Acer the Dealer, and he was showing Adam, naked and humiliated, to a buyer. His Master, Xyn/Tym murmured. The Master was touching Adam, feeling at his smooth skin all over. He touched him where his XY-Parts should have been, and Adam jerked and gasped. "Feels good?" the Adult was asking, and Acer was laughing at him. Adam wanted to run away, to hide, but the manacles on his ankles and wrists prevented that.

Then he was being taken to his new home, shown his new room, and a tight metal collar was being placed around his neck. "You can't leave," the Adult was telling him, "The collar won't let you." It was a brass finish, plain and with a velvet lining. Adam didn't like it, and he was crying as the Master held him. He was cold, but his new Master wouldn't give him any warm clothes. "Your collar is your entire wardrobe now. I'll turn the heat up for you," he was saying, and then there was a flood of memories as his Master trained him, used him, showed him off to his friends, but never really treated him badly.

There was only one incident where Adam had talked back at him one day, when some things had mysteriously wound up broken. Adam had honestly not known how it happened, but his Master had insisted that the little slave was lying and took him to his room where he bound Adam's wrists to a rope attached to the ceiling. He was hoisted up to his tiptoes, and his Master whipped his butt with a leather belt. Adam was screaming for mercy as the welts rose up on him, red and stinging, until finally he admitted – lying – that he had broken those things on purpose.

His Master then took him down and put some soothing cream on the welts and used him as he always did…

"We are taking too long, and we're tiring," Shar stated.

"I'm sorry. I had to know," the body that was Xyn's said, "I'll work faster."

"It scared me," the body that Tym's replied.

They scanned through more of Adam's memories, most of them a tangled mess until they came to the parts that resided behind the wall. Only one other interesting memory got their attention: Adam's Master was having guests over, but he was late coming in from work.

An Authority uniform! Shar breathed, looking hard at the memory.

"Adams Master was in Authority?! Is that legal?" Chriss exclaimed.

Shar and Xyn and Tym nodded.

"He never mentioned that," Chriss said.

"It could be important, perhaps not," Shar replied, "The Authority is not exempt from corruption, and Hunters and Dealers go hand in hand. Let us move on."

They did that, and in what had lain hidden in Adam's Mind was much the same as what they had found with Chriss'. Adam had been found in the Old City, a Runaway, and Kel had taken him in. He and Chriss had developed a tentative friendship, but some part of Adam remained reserved. Obviously, his life as a slave had left him wary, but Kel spent a great deal of time talking with him until he had found what he wanted – the name of a Dealer.

Acer.

As they delved further, the Psionic trio saw Kel tracking down Acer, with Adam's reluctant aid. Kel wanted to set up a meeting to sell the fat Dealer a little one – a little one that he promised to deliver. As he described this little one, Acer had promised him what he wanted – untraceable Network terminals, and money. Adam had listened as Kel had explained this to them, telling them how it would benefit their Gang and help with his Plan. The description of the promised little one was unmistakably Xyn.

"Somehow, Kel knew about me even then," Xyn/Tym said.

"Kel had to have known a Psion," Chriss added, "But I don't recall any. I never was very good at it though. It wouldn't have been hard to slip one past me."

"But why all of this effort to alter Adam's Mind then?" Shar asked. "If all he did was lead Kel to Acer the Dealer?"

"Kel knew that Adam was a Bomber," Xyn/Tym answered, "If Chriss had been unable to burn Facility #32 down, Adam could have knocked it down. When they had Xyn, Kel would have sold him to Acer. He knew about Xyn, through some unknown Psion that Kel obviously knew but never mentioned. But Xyn got lost in the Forest, and Jayk found him."

It was strange, listening to both Xyn and Tym talking in unison, with Xyn referring to himself in the third person. Chriss marveled at this, longing to understand it.

"So the plan was to have Xyn picked up in the Forest after all?" Chriss asked.

"Adam and Kel were going to do that," Xyn/Tym replied, "and then deliver Xyn to Acer to collect the payment. Adam would be easy to pass off as an Approved XY, just by his appearance. Adam knew that Kel wanted him to go along, to knock something down. Something really big, but Adam would never have done it. Part of the conditioning of his Mind that we removed were orders to do that or go mad."

"Then it all went wrong when Jayk found him instead," Chriss guessed.

All three nodded at him. "That made things harder for Kel. Getting Xyn out of the Ruins and back to Acer would have taken a bit longer, and Jayk was in his way. Kel was very angry with Jayk for finding Xyn first and incorporating him into Shar's Gang. It made his plan to sell Xyn much harder."

"He knew I would never allow it," Shar said in heat.

"Kel would have tried it anyway," Xyn/Tym replied.

"But what was Adam going to knock down, masquerading as an Approved with a fake ID?" Chriss asked.

"The main Authority Center in the New City."

As that memory came to sudden light, the trio took a short break. Adam's slow and regular breathing told them that he had fallen into normal sleep, and Shar removed the neural inhibitor. She smoothed the young Bomber's hair, and tenderly covered him.

"Our Doctor had to have gotten this from a Dealer, Adam said to me," she thought aloud. "They must be rare."

"They are," Tym replied weakly, leaning heavily against Xyn, who was obviously suffering, "I got that much from him before he zapped me with it."

"So here we are," Chriss summarized, "Kel found a Dealer through Adam, somehow knew about Xyn, and used me to get him out of the Facility by torching it. I had our Nightstalker to help, but when we were done, THE Hunter got him in Old City. Kel and Adam were going to pick up Xyn in the Forest, missed the chance, had Adam ready to blow up Hunter Central in the City where Acer lives, then got killed by Jayk. And all along is some unknown Psion messing up our heads all along the way, and we still don't know who that was. We also have a Doctor and Orderly here in the Ruins with a Dealer's slave control device that's rare; a Doctor who wants Xyn and Tym out of the way."

"Loose ends," Xyn/Tym stated.

"Perhaps not," Shar mused. "The Psion who crafted these walls and traps in your Minds, Chriss, must have been very good. I know that I could do it, but it would take time. It is possible that this was done OVER time, slowly, so that no one would notice that he was being tampered with. If there was one thing that Kel and I had, it was time. Of course I knew about his Plan. We worked closely for Cycles on it, even since we were at University…"

Then she paused. "What?" Chriss asked.

"Kel began his Plans while at University. He studied nanotechnology and cybernetics. It is not unreasonable to suppose that there might have been a Psion in hiding at University during that time. I was, until my Breakdown. Chriss, do you remember anyone in your Gang who was not outwardly Mutated, someone intelligent, likely a Runaway Approved, who would have had an interest in such fields of study?"

The young Pyro thought hard for a few minutes, his Mind ranging out and over the members of his Gang. He knew them all well, since his Gang had been small. One by one, he discarded them, hurrying as much he could. He then glanced up at Tym, and an idea came to him. Tym had been picked up very late, only a few days before the trip to the Ruins. But what about the ones who were gone? He began trying to remember those that had left or been captured. Suddenly, a face came to his Mind. A very old face.

Tym gasped in shock, and the Persona of Xyn/Tym broke. Both of them fell over on the bed with a startled cry. "Are you OK?" Xyn asked the little one, his head throbbing and his hands shaking as he picked him up.

"Just a little startled," Tym replied, "and tired. I'm OK though."

"You know this face," Shar prompted.

Tym nodded. "I think I'd better bring The Hunter in on this part," he stated.

"Why?" Shar demanded in surprise.

"Because that face in Chriss' Mind, the old one, is the butler to Jayk's Master Wilson. His name is Alfred, and he's the one who tried to kill The Hunter."

"It's going to have to wait," Xyn sighed heavily, falling over backwards beside Adam on the large bed. "I'm shot."

Shar nodded in agreement. It was only late in the afternoon, but they were all tired from their efforts. They all agreed that it was probably best not to try and move Adam, and Chriss, although he'd just been through the same thing, didn't think he could sleep anyway.

"I don't feel that bad," he told her in a somber voice. "I'll stay here and watch 'em. I don't think I'm gonna be able to sleep tonight anyway."

Tym yawned, and Xyn simply turned his Mind off. It was very clear that the young Psion was suffering, and Chriss checked the time. He gave him a quarter dose of Morphinol, and Xyn's eyes closed as he passed out.

"I'll send Kefe when he wakes up," Shar stated on her way out, "There are still four spies here somewhere, and it's conceivable that there might be another attempt on Tym's or Xyn's life."

"Make sure he knocks, loud and calls out," Chriss said in a grim voice, staring at the three still forms on the old bed.

Shar nodded and closed the door.

"Because anyone who comes through that door unannounced is going to find himself reduced to a pile of smoking ashes," he muttered to himself.

The young Pyro then brought his own limited Psi up, extending it around the room and out into the corridor for a few meters. No one was going to get into the room, one way or another, as long as he had anything to say about it. Very gently, he began stripping off Adam's jumpsuit. It took some effort, but he finally got it off the Bomber's still form. He stared for a moment, then slowly got Xyn out of the old green tunic of Jayk's. Tym, of course, he left dressed in Xyn's Suit so that it could continue its repairs of his atrophied muscles. He simply scooted the sleeping little one up closer to Xyn and watched in wonder as Tym reached out his arm and snuggled up against Xyn, embracing his as best he could.

Chriss suddenly felt his eyes begin to fill, and as he reached for the blankets to cover them, his gaze lingered upon Adam's and Xyn's nude forms. It was such a contrast, Adam being an e-XY and Xyn being intact. A sick feeling began to form in the pit of Chriss' stomach, something that he had never felt before as he reached down and touched Adam's cheek, pulling the edge of blanket up under his smooth chin. Emotions that he had never had to deal with assailed him, and he turned away.

"No wonder he didn't trust anyone," the Pyro sobbed, sitting down heavily in the old chair and burying his face in his hands as he considered what Kel his unknown accomplice had done to them. He thought for a long while about what they had told him, about what they had found buried in his Mind. The image of Adam lying next to Xyn came back to mind then, and he recalled his short conversation with Shar the night that Xyn had run off in search of Jayk.

He'd believed then, totally, that castration would be a good thing for the young Psion. Xyn had already been quite powerful, and his own castration had proven – as had Adam's – that a little XY Mutant could grow even stronger if castrated.

Yet somehow, it now seemed like a bad idea.

Xyn was obviously suffering, unable to use his gift without the help of drugs and some other Mind to help support him. He was Changing, his young body developing well and his Adulthood approaching rapidly. Chriss recalled how he'd felt when he'd seen Xyn naked for the first time, when the young Psion had confronted himself in the antique mirror. It made him feel even worse, and he realized with a start that he felt the same way towards Adam.

It was a long evening for Chriss as he wrestled with his howling conscience and listened as Shar and the others swept the Ruins in search of the four spies.

Kefe showed up some time later. Chriss glanced up from the old book that he pulled from Jayk's vast collection at random as he felt the Nightstalker's presence at the door. Reading hadn't taken his mind off of his long thoughts, and his shoulders were slumped and his head bowed as he let Kefe in.

"You look like hell," Kefe commented, "Why don't you join them?" he asked, gesturing at the bed.

Chriss shook his head and went back to the chair. He said nothing.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

The Pyro sketched in the details of what Shar, Xyn and Tym had found in his and Adam's Minds. Repeating it all didn't help much, and Chriss felt even worse when he was done. Kefe nodded and listened, but said nothing.

"So here I am," Chriss finished.

"Yes, there you are," Kefe agreed, "sittting there feeling sorry for yourself and regretting something that you had no control over. Get over it."

Chriss jerked his head up sharply, his face pained.

"Out with it," Kefe prompted, "What's the rest of it? Something's eating at you."

Chriss pulled his long legs up, his knees just touching his chin. It appeared that he was trying to shrink back and disappear into the big chair. Kefe knelt in front of him, waiting. "It's gonna be a long night," he offered, "and if you don't talk about it, it'll only get worse. Besides, I don't think my nerves can take babysitting."

Chriss sniffled, glancing at the bed where Adam, Xyn and Tym slept.

"Are they OK?" Kefe asked.

He nodded. "Just exhausted," he whispered.

"Pretty bad stuff they dragged outta you guys, Chriss," Kefe prompted.

"I can't believe our own Gang leader did that to us."

Kefe nodded. "But that's not all of it, is it? I can see it in your eyes, Chriss. You've been staring at them ever since I got here."

"I can't explain it," the Pyro struggled, "I mean, you know about… I mean… you know that me and Adam are… that we're…"

"Cut?" Kefe guessed.

Chriss nodded. "Adam said something last night, right before the fight in the Infirmary, and today when they were going to find out what was in his Mind, he freaked out and ran. Dan caught him, Kefe, but Adam was so freaked out that Dan hit him. He hit him hard, twice. Look at his face!"

Kefe looked over at Adam and winced. "That's gonna hurt when he wakes up," he observed, taking in Adam's busted lip and black eye, "But what's that got to do with you two being eunuchs? Adam say something about that, or what?"

Chriss sighed, relaxing his legs and stretching out. He had a small tent in the front of his tattered shorts.

Kefe laughed at him. "I thought e-XY's couldn't do that."

Chriss laughed weakly. "I haven't done that in a long time," he mused.

Then Kefe realized something. "Adam said something that hurt you, and you found out you had feelings for him?"

Chriss stared at him, his pale eyes wide and his mouth open. Kefe grinned.

"I knew this cute little XX once," he mused, but Chriss interrupted him.

"And this has WHAT to do with us?" he asked.

Kefe sighed. "Well, in short, I really liked her, but she just thought it'd be cool to say she was seeing a Nightstalker. We hung out for a while, but then she just…"

"Dumped you?" Chriss guessed.

Kefe nodded. "It hurt, but I TRIED to talk to her afterwards. You need to do the same. What I'm gettin' at is that it doesn't matter if it's me and her or you and Adam. Just because you're both e-XY's doesn't make any difference. You like him, and he doesn't like you?"

"I thought so, but after the fight he was scared and he wanted to stay in my room that night. I… I don't know what… I guess…" But Chriss couldn't put his thoughts into words. Instead, he tapped his temple and Kefe nodded, indicating that he was willing to let Chriss Psi it to him. Chriss did that, and Kefe began to laugh again.

Chriss looked wounded.

"I'm sorry!" Kefe gasped, trying to get control of himself, "It's not funny. Well it is, but it isn't! Here you are, Chriss, a eunuch, just like you wanted to be, and you're in love with Adam, who's cut cleaner than you are!"

Chriss snorted.

Then Kefe turned serious. "You're having issues you don't know how to deal with, my friend. You thought that you wouldn't have these feelings if you got castrated, right? And now that you got 'em, you don't know what to do with 'em. That knot in your stomach when you look at Adam isn't guilt, Chriss. It's love. I don't know how you grew up, but we all know that Adam didn't have much love in his past. It probably took a lot for him to ask to stay with you last night, you know. And if you don't tell him, you'll both suffer for it, like I was sayin'."

"B-but we're… we're both… I mean… it's not like we can DO anything!"

Kefe shook his head and licked his lips, checking into Xyn's stash under the end table. He popped open a field ration and sat back down on the rug as Chriss tried to argue. "It makes NO difference, Chriss. Sex isn't love, and love doesn't mean sex. If YOU can still get what Parts you got left to work, then fine! Do it. Adam might or might not want it, but if he does and you can, where's the harm in it?"

Chriss thought about it for a moment, then exhaled sharply. "THIS wasn't supposed to happen to ME," he complained, "That's why I got cut in the first place."

"You got cut because you felt guilty, Chriss. You didn't like what was happening to you, and you were afraid you'd lose your gifts. Gods, am I glad I have a PHYSICAL Mutation and don't have to worry about…"

Kefe stopped in mid-sentence, however, when Xyn rolled over and moaned. He half sat up, looked around, rubbed his eyes, blinked, and looked at the still forms in bed with him on either side. He looked up at Kefe and Chriss, squinted, yawned, then laid back down. He reached his arm over and pulled Tym back up against him, then fell back to sleep.

"There's no reason you can't have that too, Chriss. Parts or not, you can still love."

"That little guy hates me," Chriss stated, staring at Tym, who was sleeping soundly in Xyn's arms with a smile on his face.

Kefe laughed softly. "He's in the safest place in the World right now, you know."

But Chriss shook his head. "Xyn's loosing it, Kefe," he said. "He's Changing, and his Psi isn't right. It hurts him real bad to use it. He's getting just like I was."

Kefe's eyes grew wide. "So THAT'S what's eatin' you!" he declared with a note of triumph. "You're afraid that Xyn might want to get castrated…"

"But what if it isn't right for him, Kefe? What if he regrets it? What if he feels like I do now? What if, once he's cut, he can't stand it? He seemed so sure the other night. He was mad, yea, but when he looks at it logically… and geeez, Kefe, he's already sexually active. Him and Jayk… "

"Spare me. It's HIS body, and his choice, Chriss. No matter what you say to him, no matter what you do, and no matter how much it hurts you, YOU can't change him. Only Xyn can help Xyn right now."

Chriss touched his crotch, his erection having gone down without his even realizing it. He shook his head again. "I was so sure, Kefe. I was so sure of it that I was going to try and talk him INTO it before all of this."

"Like I said, buddy. Get over it. It's Adam you need to talk to."

Chriss got up slowly and went to Xyn's closet. He came back with a spare pillow and looked at the three young ones in the bed. He then sighed and curled up in a ball on the floor, knocking the chill off of the room before he did.

Kefe sighed and took the chair, picking up the book that Chriss had been reading. He shook his head and put it back in the vast bookcase, marvelling at Jayk's collection. Then he looked up at the light, leaped into the air, and came to rest up in the corner above the door. He got comfortable on the ledge and took up his vigil, staring down at the four sleeping young ones and the door. His cyan eyes shone brightly, and he almost hoped that someone would try and break in.

Shar took a short nap that evening and awoke to tackle the task of going over the padds and other assorted stolen computer disks and components that the spy killed by Kefe had been caught with. The medical padds were not a problem, however disturbing. They contained records and scans of almost every resident of the Ruins, everyone who had fallen ill on the way back from raiding the Transport ship, and two records in particular that upset her badly.

She stared at the padd in her hand, and shook her head as if saying 'no' over and over. She ran her fingers through her lustrous hair, leaned back and stretched, then adjusted her ample bosom. She sipped at the glass of water near her desk and read over the last padd again and again. It was dedicated to Xyn and Tym only, and there was another copy of it formatted for tight-beam binary transmission.

She stared at the data in horror, obviously collected by the one who had masqueraded as their head Doctor. His own history had obviously been false, and Shar cursed herself for not having detected him sooner. The sheer numbers of their colony in the Ruins now didn't matter to her. She swore again. There was enough raw data and scans and hypotheses about Tym alone to reconstruct him from the ground up, given enough spare Parts and Replacements.

Her command of the language, however, excelled to new heights of profanity when she came to the data on Xyn. As with Tym, there were complex scans of him. There were even photos, including Facility records, and vast comparisons and contrasts. She stared in wonder at the brainscans, watching an animated graph go from green to yellow to orange and finally to red. There were areas of the graph masked off in white that she had no idea about, no clue what color THEY would be. It was a graph tracking the levels of various neurochemicals in Xyn's brain over time, and the curve was almost exponential near the days that fell into the timeframe of when Xyn had come to the Infirmary to help Tym and the day that he had been discharged.

She read over these charts again and again, and turned to her Network interface. She called up her own medical records from the University days, hacking into the University d-base with ease. Kel's software and semi-intelligent programs, all Approved Processor based yet with no human brain to support them, did the work in a flash. Of course, the software that ran the Comm-Tell satalite argued with it; it lost. Fast.

Shar took another long drink and nibbled at a field ration from the Transport Ship that he had snatched from Xyn's room. She made a mental note to ask him about his developing 'packrat' tendencies as she compared his data to her own. "Ah, Xyn," she said regretfully, "You look just like I did before I had the Breakdown, and you don't even have a Processor inside your head to Repair!"

She could not, however, make any real conclusions. Xyn was a full Bio XY, and she had been an Approved XX. The raw data might look the same, but other than raising her own little XY, Dan, what did she know of little XY's? It was then that she turned to the dead Doctor's records of Xyn's treatment while in the Infirmary. At least, they were his PRIVATE records – they did NOT match the official ones in the Infirmary logs. What she found in those raised an eyebrow and explained a great many things.

There were two tables showing levels of two different drugs in relation to neurochemical levels. She didn't recognize the names, and asked the computer for verification. "What does Proxylene-8c do?" she asked it.

"Used to treat depression. Increases general activity, stimulates the brain overall. Main use is for Approved Processor adaptation issues."

"And Torviax-6b?"

"Increases anxiety and activity in severly depressed patients. Heightens sensitivity in emotional centers of the brain. Main side affect is debilitating headache. Also useful to supress certain known Mutant abilities."

Shar hissed in disgust. The next drug listed on the padd was a hard to find and very expensive one. She also knew what it did, simply by the name: Testrobynd-11. She verified it anyway.

"XY hormone supplement. Increases endocrinological responses to XY hormones, stimulates the pubertal Change in Defective XY's. Boosts and enhances XY secondary sexual characteristics. Side affects of overdose are increased sexual desire and accelerated Change in young XY's, followed by increased anxiety and headache. Outlawed 5 Cycles ago in favor of Parts Replacements."

Shar began to pace, her vocabulary degrading by the second. The Doctor had been drugging Xyn intentionally, giving him meds that his Pure-Bio body did NOT need. No wonder his Psi had begun to fail and he had been unable to maintain a Group Mind Link! No wonder he was in so much pain and so short of temper! It was a shame, and the thought of Xyn being torn up by those drugs and their side affects was heartbreaking. How could anyone want to hurt him like that?

But of course it was obvious. Someone had hoped that Xyn would give up on his Psi, shut it down to avoid the pain, and then be unable to bring it back up again after so long of a time on the drugs. She wondered at the reason for the hormone therapy, then suddenly thought of Adam and Chriss and their theory.

Shar's blood ran cold. Adam and Chriss were e-XY's, not XY's. They had little to no XY-hormones in their young bodies, and now it appeared that Xyn had enough for all of them! She remembered Chriss explaining his own castration to her, how his abilities and gifts had accelerated as Adam's had. She remembered them telling her how the Change could disrupt Mutant abilities… obviously, someone else had discovered this fact as well and using it to try and keep Xyn down.

She locked the data padds in her safe and then ran back to Xyn's room, warning Kefe in advance that she was coming. When she arrived, she found that Tym had awakened, but that Adam and Xyn hadn't. As she approached the door, however, her Psi warned her. Someone was coming. She smiled.

Kefe, she sent to the Nightstalker, and felt him respond. Make ready!

Kefe understood as an Adult XY came around the corner and into the corridor. He looked this way and that, then went to Xyn's door, skillfully picking the lock. He pushed the door open, and Shar had just enough time to infiltrate his Mind before Kefe struck.

There was one startled cry of pain as the Adult came flying backwards out the door with Kefe upon him. The Nightstalker rained blows down upon him as he gasped for air, the wind knocked out him, and Kefe began to pound his head on the cement floor. Shar scanned him, filtering out the shock and pain. Finish him!

Kefe did that, grasping the Adults neck in his vice-like grip and snapping it like a twig.

Shar cleared her throat, shaking back her hair and stepping out into the corridor. "Do not even think about teaching Dan THAT move," she warned.

"I just can't have any fun!" Kefe lamented.

They searched his body from head to foot, finding a blaster, a padd with Med scanner, and a load hypospray. Shar gave Kefe a short rundown on the data that she had found about Tym and Xyn, and Kefe snorted. "Poor kid," he said, "No wonder he's so messed up."

They went back into Xyn's room, and roused him and Tym from their sleep, trying not to disturb Adam and Chriss. When they were both fully awake, Shar explained what had happened. Xyn's face was grim as she spoke, and he held Tym close in a protective embrace the entire time. Then he turned to face him. "I guess I'll need my Suit back for a bit," he said sadly.

Tym nodded and slid himself out of it. He blushed a bit, and crawled back under the blankets, panting in exhaustion from his exertions. Xyn smiled at him. "Yesterday you couldn't even sit up," he advised. "You're going back in it as soon as I'm done with it. I don't want it anymore."

Then Xyn stood up, and Shar stepped back, placing her hands on her hips and whistling a low note. "My, my," she observed. Xyn blushed, and Tym laughed nervously. Kefe nodded at him.

"Not bad," he commented, "You're almost enough to make a Nightstalker swear off of XX's, you know!"

Xyn took their compliments in stride, once again facing the strange XY in the mirror and sliding into his Suit. It immediately went wild, hissing and beeping and trying to rebalance his Bio chemistry. It lit up blue, and stayed that way. "Dammit," he swore.

"Will it work?" Shar asked.

Xyn nodded. "When it goes white again, I'll take it off. Then Tym's staying in it until he can keep up with Dan!"

"No fair!" Tym protested, "I'll be old by then!"

"What about the Adult in the hall?" Xyn asked.

Kefe smiled. "He's not a problem anymore."

"He was coming to give you a shot of something," Shar noted. "Now we have three left." Then she looked up at the ceiling. "Make that two. The Nightstalkers just took down someone trying to leave." She cocked her head, listening. She nodded. "Another XX with a padd and a transmitter. Nothing else."

"We're no closer than we were," Tym complained, "All we know is that Master Wilson's old butler tried to kill the Hunter, and someone wants us, too. We know Kel wanted to kidnap and sell Xyn, but that's it."

Then Xyn turned, his eyes wide. "What if," he mused, "What if this Dealer STILL wants me? What if he knows someone else who could get to me? It explains the neural inhibitor. The Dealer could have 'plants' inside of Gangs, you know, like the Doc and the Orderly with the cybernetic arm."

"The Dealers could do that, I guess," Tym mused, his Mind working hard. "I think we need to get the Hunter's side of things."

"How can we all do that?" Shar asked, "He is too far away."

Tym began to tremble then, realizing his mistake, and his face paled. "P-promise you w-won't get mad at me?" he almost begged.

Xyn then got up and wrapped the little one in a blanket, taking him in his arms. He shook Adam and Chriss awake, and returned to his chair with Tym. When the other two Mutants were fully awake, Shar filled them in as Xyn tried to calm Tym. Fortunately for Adam, he didn't remember Dan beating him up, although he was gingerly touching at his face. Everyone nodded and tried to reassure Tym that whatever was bothering him would be fine if he'd just talk about it. Finally, Xyn pulled him close and laid a gloved hand on his cheek. He stared into the little one's eyes, red from crying again, and kissed him softly. "Tym, after all we've been through, there is NOTHING you can come up with that's going to make US hate you."

Tym glanced at Chriss, who smiled at him. He drew in a deep breath, and suddenly the room began to distort and ripple, taking on a soft and fuzzy look. Adam and Chriss were sitting on the edge of the bed where Kefe had joined them, and Xyn and Tym were still in the old chair. Shar sat cross-legged on the rug. All of them were staring around the distorted room in wonder. It looked like Xyn's room, but yet it wasn't. There were other hazy and indistinct shapes in the mists at the edges where the walls faded. Then there came a knock at the door.

"Come in," Tym said, his voice echoing in their Minds.

"Am I welcome here?" the Hunter asked as he opened the door.

They all gasped, and Tym felt them all, with the exception of Xyn, powering up for a fight. "NO!" he screamed, "This a Group Mind thing. He's not IN the Ruins. We're all in MY Mind!"

"How can you do this?" Shar asked in profound respect.

"He just DOES it," the Hunter replied. "He's been doing it to me for quite some time. In fact, I think I owe him my life."

"Is this what you've been hiding from us, Tym? Is this why everyone drove you away before?"

Tym nodded, clinging to Xyn as if he were afraid of falling. "I couldn't control it before… before I met Xyn. It used to be real bad, like I became the person I did it to, and they'd become me. They couldn't break out of it, and when they finally did, they wanted to kill me. I almost killed Xyn on accident, but he… he did something for me…"

"All was forgiven long ago," Xyn replied. "You just needed some control." Then he turned to the Hunter. "Now tell us what you know."

"He was watching me and Jayk," the Hunter offered, watching Xyn closely, "Somehow he knew that Wilson's butler, Alfred, had sabotaged my Craft. He warned me, and I got out."

"It doesn't always work that way, though. I think maybe Jayk might have had something to do with it, or maybe Alfred WANTED me to know. At least, I think so."

Xyn nodded as the others stared. He thought he understood Tym's gift.

They then told the Hunter, one by one, everything that they knew and what they had theorized. He nodded and listened intently as Adam and Chriss recited their histories. He listened as Xyn and Shar told him of the blocks in their Minds and how they had removed them. They told him of the spies, the attempts on their lives, all of it coming in flashes and stark clarity in the Group Mind. All of their arguements kept coming right back to Acer the Dealer, however.

"I don't like this," the Hunter said finally. "Jayk was a happenstance in my Hunt for Xyn, it seems. Actually, I thought Jayk was one being set up. Then I return him for the reward, and his Master's servant tries to kill me. From my side of it, I can offer you all this now: Wilson AND his servant could have been heavily in debt to Acer. I deal with Acer, who was dealing with this Kel in pursuit of Xyn. Acer gets 20% of my funds that he handles for me when I bring him a catch. Jayk's reward was very impressive as well, as is the one on Xyn. With me gone, Wilson's or Alfred's debts could have been wiped out as payment. Wilson has Jayk now, and thanks to me, Acer knows about Xyn and Jayk. It may also occur to them to use Jayk as bait. With me out of his way, Acer could have all the reward money for himself, not just 20%. AND one of his customers would have had Jayk back, thanks to me. Besides, I think Wilson knew that I liked Jayk. They might have been afraid I'd come back for him and spoil it all. I DID threaten Wilson, come to think of it," the Hunter mused.

"It would appear that Kel's entire plan was for himself and his Gang," Shar offered. "It failed, but the end result is the same. Acer would have had Xyn, and Kel would have had his own ends, which I can now by no means justify."

"It seems I was wrong about you," the Hunter said to Shar, who nodded to him.

"But what about what they did to OUR heads?" Adam interrupted in a shaky voice. Not being a Psion, being pulled into Tym's Mind was taking its toll on his nerves. Chriss moved closer to him and put an arm around him. "Kel had other plans for us. They failed. Once I burned the Facility down and Xyn left, my part was over. You were going to be used to blow up the Authority Offices when he delivered Xyn to Acer, at least that's what Xyn and Tym found, right?"

Xyn and Tym nodded. "We tried to erase it all, guys. You won't remember it when this is over," they said in that erie harmony.

Adam, however, looked sick and they could feel it. "I'm taking him out," Chriss said to Tym, "Fill me in later?"

Tym nodded, and the two Mutants shimmered and vanished from the Group Mind.

"My capturing your Nightstalker was not part of it, however," the Hunter offered, "and I regret it now. Many of my attitudes seem to have changed. I seem to have stumbled into a major plot here quite by accident."

"But with your Craft destroyed and you gone, who could get me here?" Xyn asked.

"Good question. You have spies among you now," the Hunter replied, "The Doctor part bothers me, though. That seems to point towards Authority following you long before I came in hunting Xyn. And it's hard to tell who put them here, or how long ago. But with the way things are going, I'd blame that on the Dealer as well. Or it could be Abrams. Using drugs to try and eliminate your Psi might be him wanting to hide it, conceal your Mutant status. I might not be the only one in Aurhority after Xyn."

"This is all my fault," Xyn said in a whisper. "Everyone's after ME. Why me?! I should never have come here. Look at the damage I've done!"

"Someone set you up, Xyn," Shar reminded him.

"But what about the barriers in Jayk's Mind?" Tym asked. "I admit, I didn't pay much attention to Wilson. All I got from him was lust. I concentrated on Alfred, because I was afraid he'd hurt Jayk more, somehow. But he didn't."

The Hunter nodded, and the walls shifted again. Xyn's room shimmered and the image of a barrier came into focus. "This is Jayk's barrier," he said, "and as you can see, it's pretty fresh."

But Xyn was growing angry again. He desperately missed Jayk, and he had to know what was behind those walls. Jayk wasn't part of their session, and that bothered him. It was Tym, however, who acted. He stared the wall, and everyone jumped as it fell.

Behind it was Alfred, and in his arms was his dying little one. "Forget it, Jayk," he was saying, "Forget me and him, and move on. Forget being a slave and get out. Go. They won't find you when you go. We'll see to that." And then they were gone, taking a host of other memories with them.

Shar stared in wonder. "Now I know how my impossible plan to get Jayk out the first time succeeded," she said, "I had inside help and didn't even know it. Jayk didn't speak much of his life as a slave to me, and I never forced it from him."

"Alfred liked Jayk," the Hunter said sadly, "But he saw his chance and took it. Perhaps they both did. Eliminating me would have solved a lot of problems. Too bad he's dead now. Jayk really liked him as well. It was very strange how he did it. I wish I knew WHO did it for him, though. If Acer's behind THEIR actions, then there's less to it than meets the eye."

The image of the old one faded as Tym let the walls reassemble. He turned to Xyn. "It would only hurt him if he knew it," he offered. Xyn nodded.

"Thank you. But won't he know?"

Tym shook his head. "He'll just think it was a bad dream."

"Dead?" Shar then asked in surprise.

"Jayk told me," the Hunter replied. "He died when Xyn got our attention the other night! Coincidence? Perhaps. He had a major Breakdown."

"One plan to capture Xyn has failed, but another yet exists. Possibly two. Acer wants Xyn yet, and so does Abrams. So what does that leave us now?" she asked.

Xyn nodded. "It leaves both of us with pricetags on our heads." Xyn replied ominously, glaring at the Hunter.

Xyn and the Hunter stared at each other. "Nice to finally meet you, too," he offered.

Tym caught this. He yawned and hugged Xyn tightly. "I'm tired," he said, wanting an excuse to end the session.

It was clear that Xyn didn't like the Hunter.

They all nodded, and the Hunter headed to the strangely shifting door. "Don't contact me again, Tym," he advised, "I'm going into hiding. I don't anyone to know about me. Let them think I'm dead. I'll call YOU when I'm ready. Deal?"

Tym nodded.

"Thank you, sir," Shar said to him, and the Group Mind disbanded.

It was many months before they heard anything again. The remaining two spies were found, but both went mad when confronted and killed themselves. Xyn recovered quickly, thanks to his Suit, and forced Tym back into it. He took to wearing Jayk's old tunics, which fit well enough. Yet as the days turned into weeks, the young Psion grew more and more withdrawn. When the Hunter left the Group Mind session with Tym, he had turned off his Psi completely and discarded it, secretly despairing of ever seeing Jayk again. On more than one night, he awakened screaming from nightmares of being chased and searching for Jayk. Had it not been for Tym, he would have certainly gone mad.

He seldom spoke, staying in his room, where he would sit and read for hours on end. He spent his evenings in the ragged old chair with the little one curled up in his lap as he made the stories come to life for him, since the little one could not read the books himself. At night, he slept in the big bed with that same little one spooned up against him, warm and secure. By day, he ran the Ruins and soon knew every inch of the place. He ran up and down stairs in long abandoned buildings which rose into the very sky, his young body becoming hard and lithe with each passing day. He let himself fall down old sewer openings to run for hours on end until he emerged into the Brushline. Some days, he would be gone well into the evening, returning from the Forest only when he had filled his pack with the things that he found there.

By nightfall, he would be back in the big room with the little one once again in his lap, listening to tales of forgotten times and heroes too strange to believe. And in the morning, it would all begin again as the days became weeks and the Savage Season and Storms passed. Yet even the Storms with their Rains, which often damaged some of the oldest buildings of the Ruins, did not stop him. And when the Summertime came and the Flats were too hot to cross, he would take his little one with him out into the Ruins to where they could just barely see the spires of the farthest edge of the Old City where some of their friends lived in secret.

One by one, the Summertime days came and went and he grew imperceptibly older and stronger – and bigger. He was never sick, and by the end of Summertime and into Colorfall, the little one was walking again and following his every step wherever he went. Amazingly, before the leaves had all blown off of the trees, he made the trip to the Forest with him to be greeted by what seemed to be an ocean of fire which burned over the tops of them and touched at the deep blue sky.

Finally, on one especially cold and windy Whitetime night, after the little one had fallen asleep in his lap to the tale of how Perseus had crossed the river Styx and descended into Hades, Xyn arose from their favorite old chair with Tym in his well-muscled arms. He put the little one to bed, covering him gently with the heavy blankets, and went to the closet. He pulled the heavy oaken door open and stared in at the too-small and ragged tunics and funny camouflage clothing for hiding in the Brushline. He stared at the clean, white Suit hanging next to them, and scratched up under his shoulder length brown hair at his round ear. He pulled off his hooded sweatshirt, suppressing a laugh, and then slid out of his multi-pocket pants. The rug was soft and warm under his bare feet as he padded over to stand in front of the antique mirror.

He shook the hair out of his blue-gray eyes and gazed at the reflection of the no-longer little one for a long time, lost in the curves and contours of the well-forming body that shone back at him. He flexed his arms, watching the biceps rise. He tightened his stomach, and satisfied with the ridges that appeared from just below the nipples to his waist, relaxed. He was, he realized with a start, becoming an Adult. True, he had only begun to seriously change and had far yet to go. His face was still smooth and his arms and legs virtually hairless. His voice still cracked and warbled on occasion, but he was growing well and fast for a pure Bio. He then became erect, and reaching down to stroke the several inches and enlarged orbs of his XY-Parts, he felt a flash of regret – then shame. He gazed at the hair that grew around them in distaste. His body shivered, and he pulled his hand back. It felt good, but it was also painful. The memory was simply too much, and he just couldn't put Tym through another episode of it. The little Mutant had suffered enough on his own without adding Xyn's suffering and loss to it.

"I cannot go on like this," he whispered to the young XY in the mirror, "I miss him so bad."

The Stranger in the ornate mirror didn't reply.

Then, for the first time in almost a full Cycle, he risked the terrible headache that he knew was coming and fully powered up his Psi.

He had at last made his decision.

All of the planning was finally over. It was time to act.

Chriss, he called out quietly, as Tym whimpered in his sleep. He went quickly to the bed and sat down softly, placing a hand on the little Mutant's brow. Tym smiled in his sleep, a small hand coming up from under the blankets to hold his. Chriss, come to my room before you go to bed. Bring Adam, too.

NEXT PART