A/N: People should applaud me, I say! When was the last time I updated this much in one week? Bow down beyotches! -snickers-

Chapter Four

The CRDP team, Caleb noted, was made up of very different, but very extraordinary, individuals. The leader, Archer, as Ran had explained earlier was his brother and thus was why the Drifter got no readings. But the others, as they stepped onto the property and now before him, were open books.

The first he focused on was somewhat new to his powers, a young man capable of mass destruction with a mere glance, very dangerous but also sorrowful. Caleb didn’t dwell on why, it wasn’t his concern, he just needed to know what he was up against. He felt a strong emotional bond through this kid’s mind that led straight to the cat-man beside him and took that both of them were wary of him. He shook his head at the stupidity, it was through these emotional tunnels that people like him were able to, if of a mind, to dig into the mind of their supposed other half.

The second was around his height, if a little older, his glasses holding the glare of the lights atop him. He was of a mechanical mind and was actually able to speak to computers and from angry vibes he was radiating as well as his glare, Caleb had no doubt that this one knew just what he was capable of. And was not at all pleased with the knowledge of his capabilities much less the fact that he would have to demonstrate them on a member of his team. This one had a blockage, something that, like the cat-men, seemed impenetrable. A brick wall. But again the bond was present, only with the smaller male to his left that he proudly held the hand of.

The quickly turned his attention to the little fellow. Very short in stature, with soft blond hair and haunting purple eyes that. He was one that, at first glance, one would assume a girl, but staring down at his face he could see a few small masculine features that proclaimed him a boy. A powerful psychic, was what the is kid was, capable of great telekinetic powers and bonded to a point of weakness with the angry man. If Caleb had a mind to, he could surf right through this one’s channels and right into his boyfriend’s body that previously seemed un-enterable.

What surprised him with this one, wasn’t his capabilities, he had met very powerful people before and wasn’t impressed. No, this one was neither wary nor angry, he seemed … comforting and welcoming. Caleb’s brow furrowed and he found himself physically backing away from the boy, not used to the rush of kindness he felt the boy push at him. He wasn’t used to kindness or welcomes, especially not from people as powerful as him. It unnerved him and sent him down an emotional route in his own mind that he had left a long time ago. Not liking the feeling, he quickly moved his mind onto the next.

A tracker, paranormally gifted and body attuned. He seemed to share the mechanical guys scorn, naturally angry at something that could overtake him without even trying. But then, prodding his mind a bit, Caleb found that this one was given to prejudice and anger quite frequently.

“Caleb?”

Ran’s voice had him coming back to his own thoughts and he quickly raised a brow to acknowledge him, hoping he didn’t seem too suspicious with his trespassing. “Yes?”

“This is the CRDP, these are all members of the Center for the Research and Development of the Paranormal,” he explained, “I trust them to keep our endeavors secret and under control.”

“Yea, we’ll keep things under control,” the gruff tracker said lowly, “You just make sure you keep that thing under control.”

Caleb frowned and opened his mouth to tell the guy what he could do when Ran’s brother reprimanded him.

“Casimir, enough,” Archer’s voice was low but stern and had the mouthy man immediately shutting his mouth. Turning his attention to Caleb, he began introductions. “My name, as I’m sure Ran has told you, is Archer Keaton and I run this bunch,” Caleb nodded in acknowledgement and listened as he continued. Turning to the boy beside him, with whom he shared the bond, he said, “This is Gunther Havelock, weapons and tactical. To his left you’ll see Mercer Teford, computer expert.” Caleb wasn’t surprised by the angry grunt he received and merely raised a challenging eyebrow that seemed to piss the guy off all the more. “The little guy is-”

“Adir Shen,” the ‘little guy’ said, interrupting his boss and extending a hand, “Psychic and spook. Both jobs I do very well.” He had barely finished the sentence before Mercer jerked him back just as Caleb took another step away from him.

“That’s right, man, you had better be scared,” Mercer growled at him.

“He’s not backing away because he is scared, Merc,” Adir said, casting an annoyed eye at his lover. “Really, what does he have to be scared of?”

“Then why?” this from Casimir.

“I believe he was doing Merc a service by keeping his hands off of me.”

“Then he’s a smart guy,” Mercer grunted, eyeing the fellow.

“ Or he just doesn’t want to inadvertently hurt you through me?” Adir answered, though from his words one could tell he was unsure.

“Don’t try to read me, kiddo,” Caleb spoke for the first time, giving the kid a light smile. “I’m a Labyrinth.”

Adir smiled back and pressed his mind a little harder in an effort to fit the scrambled pieces of the guy’s mind together. But oddly enough, they just kept moving continuously, like a clever blocking that broke down and mixed up everything. “I’d say that’s an understatement!”

Mercer sighed and looked down at Adir, “Shen, do you always have to make friends?”

Adir laughed at that and Archer took this opportunity to roughly continue his introductions, though it was obvious that he wasn’t pleased at being interrupted to begin with. “And that’s Casimir Norville, research and tracking.”

“Thrilled,” Caleb said, “I’m Caleb Parker. A wandering Drifter.”

“Archer, I thought you were bringing one of the girls for experimentation?” Ran asked, bringing the groups attention to him.

“Both are rather indisposed, Ran, so I’ll have to be one of the guys,” Archer answered, his eyes softening when resting on his brother only to harden into stone when turned back to Caleb. “But I’m warning you, kid, you fuck around and we will dispose of you. Got it?”

“Always,” Caleb sighed, saddened but used to the treatment.

Ran nodded, “Okay, I need one of the guys with obvious power. I want to see Caleb exercise a small part of it and take down vitals and blood from both guys.”

“Why?”

“I want to see if any of the components within Caleb are spread to his host when he is possessing them,” he said, frowning at the frowns that were now being directed to a stoned faced Caleb. He hated to see the youth treated in such a way by anyone, but to see it from those who also help abilities, it was just sad. And damn unnecessary. “I’d like to get this over with, so if you would, choose,” his voice definitely had a bite when he said this, surprising the others in the room.

Archer, whose eyes had widen in shock at his brothers tone, immediately turned to his team, “It’ll have to be either Gunther or Adir,” he said, going against the rage he felt at such a creature entering and using his mate.

Mercer snorted at that, “Well, Adir damn sight cannot-”

“I’ll do it!”

“Damn it, Shen!”

“It’s settled then, follow me gentlemen,” turning about, Ran led the group into a testing group and gestured the two young men to sit in seats in the middle of the floor. The chairs were about three feet or so apart with vital machines and brain wave hook-ups beside each, safety straps lying in wait. The other men were asked to sit across the room, and not to interfere, the latter part was more for Mercer’s sake as the man was presently pacing like a tiger in his worry as he stared at his lover. Going to each male, Ran hooked them up and hit record on the vital screen to ensure the information was saved so he could be sure to go over the waved more than once.

When he was finished prepping them, he stood back and waited for the group to settle, “Caleb, whenever you’re ready.”

His feared power, never being a hard one to conjure up, he immediately got to it and slipped from his body. The screen beside him slowed, his brainwaves turned to straight, uninterrupted lines while his heart rate slowed to a sluggish pace that kept repeating the same dull thump over and over. No jumps, no jerks, it was all perfectly even.

When he entered Adir, the screen gave a quick and sharp jerk before Caleb obviously took that into hand and calmed all his vitals to a steady pace not unlike that of his own body presently. He was sure not to toy with anything in Adir’s mind, not wanting to damage the boy in anyway, though it was true that given the inclination, he could do just that. He had always liked to transfer, finding a peace in being free of all bodies peaceful and even the entrance into another body gave him a calm, satisfied feeling as he relished the dark and learned the persons powers in seconds. He could feel a presence in the back of his mind and knew it was Adir, the presence seemed a little stronger in the boy but still, for all intents and purposes, useless and harmless to him. Not wanting the boy to panic, he sent him waves of assurances and comfort.

Hearing Ran call his name he immediately jerked his head up and answered with the boy’s soft, if enunciated, voice, “Yes, Doc?”

Mercer, who had come a bit closer to view Shen and ensure he was safe, gasped when those eyes hit him. Shen’s though they were, they were glazed and murky, direct and – he couldn’t help but think it – evil. And when the boys face contorted to form words and then a stretched, open mouth smile, he knew it. “You’ve got to get that fucker out of him!” he shouted, his first instinct to go over to his lover paused when those eyes turned to him.

At Ran’s look, Archer quickly came and restrained the man. “Calm down, Mercer, he won’t hurt him. It’s just a test.”

“Well, get it the fuck over with!”

Ran nodded and turned back to the possessed boy, who, he had to admit, despite looking like Adir Shen, had eerie, clouded quality. The movements of the head were halted and reminded him of a puppet being handled by a string, all movements were a series of many jerks. “Caleb, there is an empty can on that table,” he pointed to the table and watched as the head jerked slowly in the direction until he was looking. “Can you levitate it?” Caleb did so without hesitation. “Bring it forward, in front of me.”

They all watched as the thing moved over in a leisurely pace, a symbol to them of how easy such a request was. The can stopped a foot before Ran’s face. “Now I want you to distort it while I get the blood samples.” At the boy’s jerky nod that consisted of his head falling to his chest only to jerk back up, Ran quickly went about the blood work.

Caleb, in Shen’s body looked right at Mercer, taking a dark pleasure out of the worried look of the man, he hated being hated and times like this were the only times he got any retribution work working at. Smiling oddly, he began to crumble the can and un-crumble it, sometimes to perfection, sometimes stretching it’s limitations. Mercer’s jaw clenched and eye jumped with each crack or creak of the can, his eyes on those of his love. Caleb felt positively spiteful and laughed a bit in his head – that is until he took note of little Adir’s sadness, matching the sadness of his lover. He immediately felt contrite and closed his mouth, hoping Shen understood that he was sorry for saddening him.

“Done, you can return to your own body, Caleb,” Ran said, moving the vials to a secure table before turning back to the men. The can was set down perfectly and unharmed upon the floor and a moment later Adir’s vitals jerked once more before going back to normal, if a little rapid from his experience. The flat lines of Caleb’s began to move at a more human pace as he came into himself.

He barely had time to open his eyes before and angry Mercer, who had been released by Archer a moment before crashed into him. Knocking both him and the chair backwards. Caleb was not only caught unaware, but was defenseless, the safety straps held fast his chest, abdomen and wrist and the way Mercer was atop him, there was no way he could use his legs for anything. He grunted a bit as he was hit, rather used to the treatment, he knew better than to clench his jaw less it be broken by a too hard punch.

“Mercer! Stop it!” Adir tugging at his own restraints. “He didn’t hurt me!”

“You don’t know what I saw, Shen! He is fucking evil!” Mercer hollered back, his fist drawn back to plant another punch on the already bloody face.

Caleb closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the punch to land and hard. When it didn’t he opened his eyes to see a snarling Ran holding a shocked Mercer up by his collar.

Ran was livid, he felt more like a beast at that moment than ever before in his life, the cat within him was roaring, clawing at him, demanding to be released and to have retribution. Never mind that Ran wasn’t sure why he felt this way, but he did and every time he scented the blood that poured from Caleb he lost a little more of himself to the cat within him. Mouth snarling as fangs gleamed he pulled Mercer closer to him and roared a predatory roar that had Archer stepping in.

Archer, unsure what the hell was happening snatched his teammate and friend away from his brother and stood before him. “Ran? What’s happening?”

The snarling man felt his body hunch over, his body prepared to change into the form of a big, deadly cat intent on getting to he who had shed the boys blood, no matter the cost.

The leader of the CDRP had never before seen his brother thusly but nonetheless, recognizing the shifting position, he crouched low and hoped to fend off an attack without bloodshed.

“Ran?” A muffled voice called from the floor, “I know that now probably wouldn’t be the best time … but could you get me out of this chair before I choke to death on my own fucking blood!” From the sound of his voice one could tell he was trying to control his temper.

Ran twitched and snarled again at the group before moving over to set the chair up and hastily unstrap the boy. The frowned when Caleb jerked away from his hands, obviously pissed, as he reached for the boy’s face to assess the damage. He didn’t know why, but the boy’s shun seemed to hurt him in a deep way. A way he didn’t understand. But then, Ran thought, fighting down his anger and looking around the room, from his kneeling position beside the boy, at the startled people within it, he didn’t understand a lot of things lately, particularly about the way he was acting.

Caleb, however, was beyond pissed as his eyes met with Mercer’s form and was shaking with his rage. Standing, he took hold of the bottom of his shirt and brought it up to wipe the dripping blood from his eye nose, mouth and cheeks that it had dripped on. Pulling down his shirt he glared at Mercer who, holding his boyfriend in his arms, glared back. He felt his busted lips pull back as he snarled at the man, “You… you don’t understand what you could have done,” he said lowly, his voice menacing and not his own. “What I could do … to you and everything fucking thing else!” The voice was putrid in his mouth as were the words but he couldn’t stop them. This part of him had not been touched since he was last captured by the government and was tested in ways that could only be described as torture.

This rage that was within him had a voice and no conscience, it was he and yet a part he had long hidden away. This was the rage that most of his kind gave into and allowed to destroy life after life. Each Drifter had it and it was each Drifter’s will that kept it at bay. But when times of pain and intense anger came about it drifted to the surface and fought for supremacy of the mind and control of the body. It was Caleb’s duty to keep it down and away from the surface and he normally fought and won, but sudden triggers gave the rage an advantage and Caleb struggled with it to kill it down so he could take control.

A fierce, inhuman roar emerged from Caleb’s blood reddened lips just before his body hit the floor, much to the amazement of the crowd within the room.

“What the fuck was that?” Casimir murmured, his eyes on the limp body that had crumpled to the floor only moments ago, the sound of that voice lingering in his ears.

“That… was a monster,” Gunther, who had been silent until now, whispered. His hand finding Archer’s and gripping it. He was well aware, through previous events, the feel of such a thing.

“A monster, perhaps,” Ran said softly, moving to kneel beside the boy and take his now frail-looking form in his arms. “But a monster you,” he glared at Mercer, “helped rise with your ridiculous temper.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Shen asked softly, hesitantly, unused to not being able to read others to tell for himself. And while he was unhappy with Mercer for his actions, he had seen what had frightened the man so in his mind and couldn’t help but feel cherished that his lover was so frightened for him.

“I don’t know,” the scientist said, laying the boy down on the examination table and feeling for his pulse, sighing in relief when he heard a steady beat. “But I think so.”

“Ran,” Archer walked toward his brother, his voice low as he asked, “What happened to you a moment ago. You were nearly a monster yourself.”

Ran blinked and shook his head, not sure what to say. “I honestly don’t know, a few days ago I was scolding him for his forwardness and come-ons, now I’m roaring and attacking over his pain.” He shook his head as he said the words, not understanding what the hell he was feeling.

“Is he…?” The darker brother asked.

“I don’t know. I thought Maggie was but… I’ve never been so mixed up and so provoked in my life.”

His brother sounded so vulnerable that Archer actually rested a hand upon his shoulder. “I know exactly how you feel. I’ve got one of my own,” he said, removing his hand to throw his whole arm around the other man’s shoulder. He had never really bought into the whole ‘Maggie’ thing, always taking note of the woman’s absence in intimacy –both physically and emotionally. It wasn’t that he disliked the woman, quite the opposite in fact, she was a sweetheart, but she wasn’t for his brother even though he had hoped that she somehow turned out to be for Ran’s sake. But with all his proclamations and silent infatuations, Ran had never experienced that animal instinct with her as he had over the unconscious boy before him, which was a true sign that he had found his mate.

Ran grunted, not sure what to think. He didn’t have time for it anyway, he thought, looking back over the boy. “I’m going to see to his face, I think all of you should go home for now. I don’t want a repeat of today.”

Archer nodded in understanding and gestured to his team to head out.