Pan looked around the small fuselage of the jet at the team he had pulled together. It was a big ask getting them together, to do so without raising suspicion and in such a short amount of time.

There was a lot of risk to what they were doing. To Pan, his newly gained position in The Enhanced Beings Collective, and the lives of all the kids. They hadn’t had the time to train together. He was relying a lot on his knowledge of what they were already capable of, but if they all stuck to the plan, then they’d all be working to their strengths.

There was chatting and laughing amongst the group, the excitement was tangible. But not for Pan.

Tobias came through from the cockpit. “Pan, we need to go now.”

“Ok, lift her up,” he said, patting Tobias on the shoulder. “Listen up guys!” he called out to get everyone’s attention. “We’re about to take off now. In these things, Tobias reckons it’ll take three hours, so sit tight and... thank you again.”

One week ago.

“A secret, unauthorised mission to Thailand to return and get justice for seeds? Sounds just like the thing for the YoungEns!” Tobias said with glee, his eyes twinkling.

“It’ll be dangerous too. It’ll be no potluck dinner,” Pan warned, turning serious.

“Pfft, I breathe danger.”

Pan cocked an eyebrow. “C’mon man, I need you to be aware of the dangers of this.”

“Of course I do, but I’ve been doing this a while. You can count on me,” assured Tobias. “So, who are we asking?”

“Well, I think Otto, and then Ramón, Mykisha and we’ll need Bethany and Bracken for their geographical intuition.”

“Nice,” Tobias agreed.

“But I was also thinking we could also ask Ta’Balshén and Jabeetna,” Pan explained.

“Oh, she’s a total brat, Pan,” Tobias huffed. “I’ve met her once when her dad left Earth and she just seemed so spoilt.”

“Well her father is a Prince, so don’t be too surprised by that. But we can’t also ask him and not her, considering she’s staying with them.”

“Plus she can phase, I guess,” Tobias muttered, coming round to the idea.

“Exactly.”

“Fine. When do we go about and ask them?”

***

The next day. The Facility.

“Oh come on, don’t be cowardly,” Jabeetna chided Ta’Balshén.

Pan and Tobias had just pitched their plan to Do’Lânqwa’s foster children. They’d flown up onto the roof of the building, Ta’Balshén replicating Pan so he could fly Jabeetna up.

“I’m not being a coward,” the grëhman said defensively. “We could just get in a lot of trouble, that’s all. You’ve been here five minutes so you should be wanting to get on my dad’s good side.”

“But it’s so boring around here,” she moaned. “Plus you heard this boy. He needs help to kill his sister.”

“Errr, I don’t quite remember saying I wanted to kill her. Just stop her. From making the Elixir and also arrest her for stealing the seeds in the first place,” Pan made sure to clarify.

“Yeah, I think we will be in so much shit if we kill her,” Tobias agreed, laughing nervously. “We’re definitely not doing that.”

“Fine, but let’s go anyway Balshén!” Jabeetna insisted.

“And if you do agree,” Pan said. “We will need you to… steal a GRAB jet from the hangars here…”

“What?! Are you kidding? I can’t do that!” he erupted.

“I know, I know it's a lot to ask, but we really need you to,” Tobias said with sympathy. If they didn’t go easy on him, he might tell on their plan. “Without you, we won’t be able to do it.”

Ta’Balshén sighed loudly and leaned back so he was laid on his back with his legs dangling over the edge of the roof, looking up at the sky. “Alright. I’ll help. But if this goes wrong, it’s all on you two. Ok!?”

Tobias broke out in a huge smile.

“Absolutely, of course,” Pan assured.

“Are the others all in too?” Ta’Balshén asked, sitting back up.

“Yeah. We rung round to the others last night and Otto overheard Pan and I talking about it, so we had to tell him about it,” Tobias explained.

“So we’ll see you at the end of the week? Will that be on Sunday?” Jabeetna asked.

“Sunday it is!” Pan declared.

***

Back at The Lodge after their return, the pair were sat with Otto by the lake enjoying the last of the day’s sun. There was little breeze in the air so the water was beautifully still, reflecting the forest like a mirror.

“Can I ask something?” Tobias said to Pan. “You were pretty dead set against Brad and Dylan having a group of kids in a team, so why are you now so happy with us getting together now?”

Ouch, he’s right, and I should have expected that question, Pan reasoned to himself.

Otto stopped kicking in the water and moved a curly brown lock from his eyes.

“I won’t change my mind about helping you,” Tobias continued. “I just want you to be honest.”

“Fine. You’re a smart kid. Yeah so I didn’t think it was a good idea. I kinda… still don’t... think it is. I feel guilty that I’ve asked this of you all, that I have managed to get everyone to agree to breaking so many rules to help me. But… I feel like I’ve got no other choice. I need to find out who my sister is, what she wants from me, if anything. And stop her from making the Elixir.”

“Why?” Otto asked. “You had it. Why can't she?”

“Because she’s the leader of a terrorist group, Otto. And if she manages to make it for herself, then she could make more of it for people who don’t deserve it,” explained Pan. Otto shrugged, accepting the answer.

“So if you knew The Sec would’ve given you authority to The Collective going to Thailand, you wouldn’t have asked us?” Tobias went on.

Pan looked at him dead in the eyes. “Probably not, no.”

“That’s fine. At least I know. I’ll still help you though. We’ll prove to you that we can be just as capable.”

“It’s not like I don’t think you’re not capable Tobes. It’s just dangerous. And you’re all so young. Take Otto. He’s ten." He looked at him directly. "Why do you even want to do this Otto?”

Otto looked a little taken aback to be brought back into the conversation. “Well, my dad was a hero then he went missing and we all thought he was dead. I wanted to be like him but then I found out he didn’t die actually and was a bad guy and I don’t want to be like that. So I want to try to do as much good as I can. Plus I thought Brad was going to be looking after me more so maybe if I do this then he might remember me.”

Shit, Pan thought with a sinking feeling. These are all broken kids. What the fuck am I doing?

“We all want the chance to do good, Pan. We have the gifts to do so,” Tobias argued.

“I get it, I do. And I am grateful. I am. I just… I’m just still torn on it.”

“Tobes, will you make me a wall tomorrow so I can practice my leaping tomorrow?” Otto asked, completely derailing the conversation, much to Pan’s secret relief. Was he using them? Was he perhaps beginning to come round to the idea of the YoungEns being a thing?

“Sure thing bro. However high you want it,” Tobias said.

“Pull my finger?” Otto offered with a devilish grin.

“Eurgh no way!” Tobias laughed. He jumped up and playfully pushed him over into the shallow water.

***

“We’re five minutes away!” Boy Beaver yelled out over the in-jet PA system. He had Bracken in the front cockpit with him, ensuring they were headed in the right direction.

The group got ready, putting on their fabric face coverings. They had decided to wear all dark clothing to conceal their identities. Otto was insistent on bringing his blue feather winged cape, but he was still anonymous underneath that.

When Ramón and Mykisha spotted the spare GRAB Team uniforms in the jet, there was a debate over whether they could wear those instead, but considering the nature of what they were doing, and the coveralls being a bit too big and baggy, they couldn’t be seen to be in anything that identified who they were.

Their carrier jet came into land on a secluded sandy beach. It was night-time and the only light came from the moon which bounced off the sea.

“Bracken and Beth, are you good to get us there from here?” Pan asked.

“Easy squeezy,” Bracken replied, and the sibling pair trapsed off into the thick, dark jungle.

They walked for three quarters of an hour in silence and in single file until they arrived at the head quarters for The Order of The Unseen Eternal. The term ‘head quarters’ was a lose definition for what it was.

It was a dilapidated, run down former two storey motel that went round almost four sides of a square shape, with a little gap leading into the courtyard. Outside, vines had run up the billboard sign with its name on it. The windows were all boarded up.

Stood by the entrance were three unsuspecting guards stood round a metal drum fire.

“Right, Boy Beaver and Quarterback, we’ll take one each,” Pan whispered. “On three. One… Two… Three!”

The three boys emerged from their bush cover and stealthily ran towards the guards from outside their peripheral visions.

With a kick, a whack and a wallop, the three guards went down with not much of a sound. Pan gave a wave and the others emerged from their cover to join them.

“Okay, we ready?” he asked them again quietly.

They nodded and split off per the plan.

Pan ascended up onto the roof with The Blue Jay who leapt up himself.

Jabeetna and Ta’Balshén ran off to an external wall and waited, whilst Boy Beaver, The Quarterback and The Venture Kids readied themselves.

Mykisha telepathically lifted the metal drum fire and launched it through the motel’s courtyard and into the window.

Cue the chaos.

The noise and the rapidly spreading fire caused the bad guys to rush out immediately of the buildings, shouting in panic and confusion.

Boy Beaver, The Quarterback and The Venture Kids charged back at them, catching them off guard. Their sizes gave them the advantage of being able to duck and dive quicker.

Pan and Blue Jay jumped from their vantage place on the roof, onto the first-floor balcony for any terrorists who came from the upper floor rooms.

Down below, it was up to Jabeetna and Ta’Balshén, who had now mimicked Jabeetna's form and abilities, to phase through the walls to check the rooms one by one.

“This is mad!” Ta’Balshén whispered excitedly as they entered the first empty room. “AndI feel a bit dizzy!”

“Yeah, I did too when I first started, but I don’t feel it now,” Jabeetna said.

They ran to the opposite wall and phased through into the next. Empty again. At least Mykisha had done a good job of drawing them all out.

“So we don’t know what this Makdu looks like?” she asked, getting Pan’s sister’s name wrong as they approached the next wall.

“Nope. Only she’s a woman.”

“Right ok. Helpful.”

They entered the next room and froze when they saw that it wasn’t empty like the others. A dishevelled, topless, dirty blonde-haired man was sat on a thin mattress on the floor, chained to a radiator and gagged with a metal collar round his neck.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

He looked desperately at the two identical images of an other-worldly teen girl who had just appeared through the wall.

Ta’Balshén relaxed his hold of Jabeetna’s form and reverted back to his own. He bent down to ungag the prisoner.

He gasped for air and puckered his dry lips. “You have to help me!”

“It could be a trap!” Jabeetna hissed.

“It’s ok, I’ve seen him on social media.” Ta’Balshén assured, pulling at the man’s chains.

“I’m Prince Ernst of Norway,” he croaked.

“But he also goes by The Heir,” Ta’Balshén added. “What are you doing here?”

“These are the people who came to my country to steal important seeds. I was just here to arrest them and get the seeds back.”

“So are we!” Ta’Balshén said excitedly. “How can I get you out?”

“The guard with my keys ran out when the disturbance started.”

“Can’t you use your enhancements?” Ta’Balshén asked.

“This collar is stopping me from using them. How is it that bad people just have access to these? It’s really dangerous.”

“Ok, well then let’s see what I can do.” Ta’Balshén morphed into a replica of the Norwegian Prince. When he saw that he was shirtless too, he looked down. “Cor, look I’ve got abs!”

“Be careful!” the Prince warned.

Ta’Balshén went from feeling fine to suddenly feeling intense back pain as an additional pair of arms burst out from his shoulder blades. A combination of the reaction to the strange physical pain and the new limbs themselves caused him to feel unbalanced and he toppled over in front of the member of the royal family.

“Told ya,” Ernst said.

Jabeetna could not stop herself from laughing out loud.

Ta’Balshén got up and steadied himself, finding his new centre of gravity and flexing his new arms, embarrassed. He pulled at the chains binding The Heir and broke them easily, and then did the same with the collar.

“Damn, there’s something about seeing a clone of me with all my arms out,” the Prince mused.

“What do you do with all these?” Ta’Balshén asked, reverting back to his usual form.

“When you’re older, I’ll tell you all about it. Now let’s get out of here.”

“But I'm fourteen,” he argued grumpily. “I am older...”

“We still need to get the seeds and the woman,” Jabeetna said. “You go and help our team out there, and we’ll carry on looking.”

“Be safe,” The Heir said, kicking the room door down and heading out to the action outside.

“I’m sure it would’ve just opened normally,” Ta’Balshén mumbled.

“Ahh shit,” The Heir could be heard saying from outside the room. “You children better come and see this.”

***

The fight had started well enough but amongst the action Pan couldn’t see his supposed older half-sister.

The YoungEns were holding their own down there, but the tide quickly turned when Pan’s danger intuition spiked, giving him acute pain in his stomach. Then moments after, two Ford SVT Raptors appeared, skidding to a halt into the motel courtyard. More Unseen Eternals came out from them, holding guns and shouting ‘stop or we’ll shoot’ in Thai.

They were outnumbered, and now out gunned.

“YoungEns! Stop!” Pan reluctantly shouted to his team.

“Hands up and move to the middle,” someone else shouted in Thai, and Pan translated it to his team in English.

Slowly and cautiously, the YoungEns, The Heir, Jabeetna and Ta’Balshén all congregated obediently, yet hesitantly, in a line.

The men and women with guns motioned for their miniature attackers to get on their knees by shaking the gun muzzles up and down.

A door on one of the Ford trucks opened and a figure got out, slowly walking towards them. The headlamps of the trucks behind her showed a glimpse of shiny metal in her hand.

Pan instantly knew it to be a dagger. His danger intuition was so strong it was starting to make him feel queasy.

“Well, well. I see Terri passed on my message. How sweet of you to personally drop by,” Mukda said in Thai. Then in English, to the group, she said, “And don’t anyone think of using your enhancements to get out of this. One wrong move and my crew will just shoot all of you.”

She walked along the row of kneeled YoungEns and The Heir who Pan was surprised to see, and to see him in such a state as well.

“I had no idea you existed, so I had to come and introduce myself. Sending a letter just didn't feel personal enough,” Pan said.

“So Daddy took his secret daughter to the grave then. How noble.”

“I’m not surprised he did. You don’t look like someone I’d be proud of to have as a daughter,” Pan shot back.

“And I-I’m just here for the seeds, not this family reunion,” The Heir called out.

Mukda turned her attention to the Prince. “I know, and you’ve been chained up for three days having failed. Do you really think I’d keep them here in this dump?” She turned to Pan. “Were you here for the seeds too, baby brother?”

“You have no right to call me that. You’re nothing to me, and you never will be.”

“That will at least mean killing you will be easier on my conscious then.” She paced over to Pan and crouched in front of him. “But that day isn’t today. I feel we’ve just started to get to know each other, and I already see so much of me in you. Your bravery and guts to come and do what you need to do… That’s just like me. So no, today I will take pity on you. It’s what family do.”

“We’re not family.”

“That’s a shame, because we will meet again and you’ll be begging me to be your sister.”

Pan rolled his eyes. “You’ll never see me beg for anything.”

Mukda smiled and stood up, pushing on her knees to get her up. “What about for the life of one your… family here?”

“Wh-what?” Pan stuttered. The YoungEns shifted in panic.

“See, you did come here and hurt my people and make a mess of things here, so someone is going to die for it.”

The group gasped and Bethany burst into tears.

“Don’t you dare!” Boy Beaver shouted angrily, from his place in the line-up.

“Who will it be Pan? What about this crying whiney one?” she asked, pointing her dagger at Bethany. “She’s annoying me, she must be annoying you too.”

“Do not hurt my sister,” Bracken growled, getting to his feet. Mukda’s face lit up with glee.

“You brought a brother and sister with you? And look at how protective he is of her. Why don’t we have that, Pan?”

Pan glared at Mukda, eyes wide in horror and fear, filling up with tears. “No one has to die here. Just let us go. Please!”

“Oh, are you begging me now? I didn’t think you did that. Nope, I’m sorry. You came here with all this hostility and aggression, and someone needs to pay. Maybe it’s just jealousy but I’m just drawn to her brother.”

“Nooo!” everyone screamed, as Bethany wailed hysterically. The armed terrorists raised their guns to quell any disorder. Mukda grabbed Bracken by the shoulder of his black jacket and pulled him away from his group.

“Get this off him!” she shouted in Thai to her men. They tore away at his jacket and shirt underneath, leaving him bare chested. He stood there trying to be brave, his eyes clenched shut as two men grabbed hold of him under his arms.

He began shivering through fear alone, as the temperatures were far too high for it to be from the cold.

“Family,” Mukda said. “They say blood is thicker than water. Let’s see, eh?” She plunged the dagger into Bracken’s stomach causing him to double over with the momentum. Bethany completely lost it and Jabeetna and Ta’Balshén had to comfort her.

The dagger was pulled out as blood poured from the wound and the two terrorists let him drop to his knees.

Pan watched in horror and disbelief at what had just happened.

The group also seemed to hesitate, lingering in a shared suspended disbelief as Mukda and her terrorists got back into their trucks. As soon as they did, Boy Beaver and Mykisha crawled over to Bracken.

In the distance, the trucks pulled off but then suddenly they screeched to a halt. Pan looked up and saw two green caped figures with red hoods and in white body suits land on the hoods of the trucks.

The Unseen Eternal terrorists piled back out of the trucks yelling, “Jambu!” in their native tongue.

The two green figures fought with moves Pan recognised to be Muay Boran, taking down the terrorists with their bare hands.

“Pan!” he heard being shouted, turning his attention away from the fight. It was Boy Beaver shouting his name.

Boy Beaver and Mykisha crawled to Bracken who was doubled over on all fours, pressing against his stomach tentatively.

“Shit, he’s going into shock!” Boy Beaver announced, reaching back for Bracken’s discarded jacket. “Get him on his back slowly,” he ordered.

Bethany came down to her brother’s side wailing and shaking his shoulders. “Jabeetna, please take her away. Otto and Balshén, get me more things I can stop the bleeding with.” Both boys immediately ran off.

“Stay with me Bracken!” Boy Beaver said loudly, placing his own hands on Bracken’s belly. “Fuck! Pan! Pan!”

Pan ran over. “Sorry, I was distracted by that fight over there. They might want to fight us next.”

“We’ve got Bracken to worry about first,” Boy Beaver snapped, grabbing at the towels Otto had just arrived with.

“Are these ok?”

“Perfect. Mykisha, will you press hard on this and we’ll try and stop the bleedin-” The screeching tires of the leaving trucks cut him short. “Pan, let’s check on those two bird people. Heir, come with us. Everyone else stick together.”

Pan, Boy Beaver and The Heir got up and walked across the motel courtyard towards the identically dressed figures, Boy Beaver’s hands covered in Bracken’s blood. The Blue Jay ran up beside the trio swinging his mallet in readiness.

“Hello! Friend or foe?” Pan called out in Thai.

“Friends,” a male said in English.

“We have a friend who is seriously hurt. Can you help?” Boy Beaver asked.

The male who had spoken nodded to the female who ran past them all to be by Bracken.

“Who are you?” Pan asked.

“We’re the Jambus,” he replied.

“You’re birds too,” Otto commented his face lighting up. “I’m The Blue Jay.”

“Oh, we know,” he said.

“Huh? How?” Otto asked.

“We’re part of a group called The Flock and we-”

A roaring sound of two jets approaching in the sky, shining two beams of light down at everyone on the ground, stopped Otto from hearing the rest.

“Ah, shit,” Boy Beaver muttered.

The jets lowered, one on the roof of the motel and the other where the guards with the metal drum fire were earlier. From them, The Astral Sheriff, Holt, Blane and Flip came out.

“I’ve got the kid!” Holt shouted, flying straight over to Bracken.

The Sheriff flew down from his jet on the roof. “Get everyone on Holt’s jet NOW!” he yelled. “We will sort this out when we get out of here.”

“There’s a jet by-” Boy Beaver started to say.

“We found that one already. It’s what led us here. Get everyone on board,” Flip said with little expression, avoiding eye contact with any of the young ones in trouble.

Holt flew past with Bracken in his arms, the YoungEns trudging behind them to the jets.

Pan looked at Flip, but it was hard to know what it was he was thinking.

“Did you get what you came for? Was it worth it?” Flip finally asked out of ear shot of the others.

“We didn’t get the seeds. And Mukda escaped. And Bracken got stabbed. So I’m not sure it was worth it. Fuck, what have I done Dylan?” he mumbled.

“Well you’ve got three hours to figure that out before Amber tears you a new one. Let’s get out of here.” Flip put a reassuring hand on Pan’s shoulder and led him to the jet.