Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 02:57:17 +0900
From: YoDawgs Bl.net <yodawgs.blnet@gmail.com>
Subject: Invisible War 4

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been extremely busy in school, and I
know you're tired of hearing this, but it's the truth. You will be duly
rewarded for your patience in this chapter.

Chapter Four: Settling In.

"Harry Blake Andrews." Brown chimed. "I couldn't decide what to call you,
and since Mark called you by both your middle AND last name, I was
confused."

"That's right..." The straw-blonde headed Australian replied. He seemed
preoccupied, as he sat on one of the many futuristic looking chairs in the
darkened room, facing Brown, who had also taken a seat. "Hmm... now I
wonder what we're going to do next."

The Australian had a smooth, fair body with a decent sprinkle of brown
freckles around the shoulder and chest, and a very athletic form. Unlike
Brown, the upper part of his head was blonde, while the lower part around
his ears and neck were dirty blonde, much like Jaeger's full head. Like all
the senior members, Harry had built up his body so firmly and along with
the gel, was ripped, although he did not look it. Brown wondered how his
skin would feel against his fingers.

"Say, Harry."

"Yeah?"

"You want a massage? I've been trained in the medical field, and I'm sure
you could use some rest and recreation."

The Australian snapped out of his reverie.

"Oh, go on then, mate." He undid the buttons on his shirt and allowed his
torso to be shown. Brown smiled, and pressed his thumbs into the firm chest
that was Blake's. He felt strings and strings of tension, and set to work
easing them out.

"I'm not... used to this sort of contact." Blake said nervously, tensing
involuntarily with every touch from Brown.

"Don't worry. You'll soon forget about it." To emphasise his point, he
began a series of quick depressions of pressure points all over Blake's
body, particularly on his chest on shoulders.

"Mngh... ahh... god... ohh!" the Australian moaned passionately with each
depression. His half-opened brown eyes stared vacantly into Brown's grey
irises as he became lost in another world, as he leant back against the
plastic chair he was seated in.

"Told you this would be good." Brown commented, and deliberately knuckled
Blake's kidneys with slightly more strength, causing a tensing of the body
and a sharp intake of breath as Blake sighed appropriately. His navel was a
deep dark hole, just like Lee's and his nipples stuck out like pink
rosebuds against his chest. Brown knew that they were extremely sensitive,
perhaps even more than Jaeger's. He decided to risk it, and gently brushed
his thumbs over them.

"Uhh!" Blake gasped, as the pink buds were stimulated, although for a split
second. He made no effort to ask for more, but thrust his chest upwards
slightly, as if wishing and hoping for more. Brown grinned. He knew that
the Australian was too embarrassed to request additional teasing, probably
because he was ashamed of his nipples. Well, if he kept his mouth shut, he
wouldn't get any.

Brown stimulated all Blake's body parts except those two pink nubs, and
after a short while, began to notice Blake visibly tensing, and moaning
much more when he felt Brown's fingers lingering on his chest. A few more
seconds passed, and Blake finally gasped,

"P...Pleaaaase... just... touch... them... nnngh..." He sat up straight in
the chair, thrusting his chest and arching his back at Brown.

Brown tweaked the Aussie's pink buds very gently, and Blake started
violently in the chair.

"Awwww!! God, Mike!"

"Okay, okay." He began to earnestly knead the nubbins between his thumb and
forefinger. He admired the sticky-smooth tender texture that the pigmented
flesh yielded, and took pleasure in massaging them. Not as much pleasure as
Blake, however. The blonde boy, like Jaeger, went limp with a long groan
and collapsed forward onto Brown, who quickly pushed him back onto the
chair and continued pleasuring him. After two minutes of incessant,
passionate moaning, and in the spotlight of the rest of the team, Brown
released his hold on Blake's buttons and eased off.

Blake sat panting on the chair for a few more seconds, eyes closed, before
returning back to his former state of mind. He nodded a quick Thank You to
Brown, and pulled out a pen from his breast pocket and continued on his
paperwork on a pad that he had left lying under the chair. His shirt still
hung open, revealing his fair torso. Brown decided to explore this strange
place.

There were three rooms in the darkened quarters, each facing a main hall,
where most of them were gathered in various states of dishevel. Lewis had
found a couch, and was reclining on it, nursing the nipple that had been
pierced earlier. Brown decided that he would give Lewis some medicine to
ease the pain later. Maybe he would try the new Edirol painkillers that
were tenfold more effective that standard morphine. Perhaps not.

"G'day, how are ya? Going anywhere?" Matthew Silver tapped him on the back,
sounding exactly like Martin, who was chatting with Harrison. He had grown
very slightly over the past month, facial features becoming more angular in
shape, and chest developing slightly more. He still retained the angelic
facial features, however, Brown noticed with relief. He glanced down at
Silver's stomach, and was hit by a sense of dismay as he spotted an ugly
bruise directly above the navel; Roberts' favourite striking spot. He would
massage that later.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna take a look around this place. Pretty big, don `cha
think?"

"Yup. I'll tag along, if you don't mind."

"Course not." He ventured toward one of the rooms, and the door slid open
as he approached. Taken aback, he inched slowly into the room. There were
two beds of large proportions laid opposite each other. Untouched, the
blankets looked extremely cosy, and the temperature of the room was
slightly higher than the living room's. Both boys shed their black tops and
threw them upon the shiny floor.

"Wow." Silver looked around. "We're going to sleep here, aren't we?" Both
brothers had a habit of stating the obvious.

"No, we're gonna eat here. Damn, man. Why do you always hafta say unneeded
things?"

"What? Unneeded things? What?" The New Zealander stared at Brown blankly.

"Oh, forget it." He pounced on Silver and pinned him atop the nearest bed,
finding as much flesh as possible on Matthew's torso and tickling
it. Silver choked and wheezed as he bucked in response to the stimulation.

"D-don't!!" he choked, gasping as he tried to fend Brown off with his
hands. He was, of course, unprepared for the assault and merely held off
the inevitable: uncontrollable laughter and frantic bucking. They scuffled
about on the bed for a few minutes, taking turns to be the victim as each
person fought off the other. Brown was not particularly ticklish, but he
laughed anyway just for the fun of it.

There was a sudden frantic thumping of footsteps on the metallic floor, and
the futuristic door slid open. There stood Martin, even more flushed than
usual, panting from the exertion of padding across the lavatory from the
other end of the long apartment to the bedroom. He stared at them for a
moment, and then pounced onto the bed, assisting his brother. Brown
eventually found himself overpowered and arms forced upwards. Matthew
pinned them down with his knees, while perched atop Brown's chest. Martin,
on the other hand, began running his hands all over Brown's body, trying to
find his most ticklish spot.

As a matter of fact, it was his navel and underarms, so Martin had relative
ease in finding them. Brown felt a fingernail scratch across his protruding
navel, and screeched and hooted for all he was worth.

"Oh, so this makes you scream, eh?" he vaguely heard Martin under his
shrieks and vain struggles. "Well, you're going to be doing a lot more
screaming then." The finger began ruthlessly tickling his navel, and he
nearly cried with mirth.

"Awwwww! Stop, please! I beg you!" he managed to yell out as Matthew also
began digging his ribs and armpits, sending him into a near frenzy of
laughter. His stomach began to hurt with every laugh, and he started
wheezing instead, letting out resigned "Uhh..."s as Martin repeatedly ran a
finger over his navel. Presently, both brothers eased off, and the trio lay
on the bed panting.

"Ugh..." Brown groaned, nursing his aching stomach, fatigued from laughing.

"That's what you get for messing with the Silvers." Martin mocked, idly
stroking his brother's platinum blonde hair. The bed suddenly shifted, as
if something, or someone, was beneath the covers.

"What was that?" Brown asked no one in particular.

"Goway... tryin-to-sleepmmm..."

The voice had a faint familiarity to it, despite its muffled state.

"It's Hans!" Matthew whispered excitedly. The Swedish boy really was a deep
sleeper. He apparently had slept through the entire cacophony a few minutes
ago, and had only just woken. His shirt hung on the bedpost, unnoticed.

Lying exposed above the covers was extremely cold, despite the given room
temperature. Jaeger must have set his regulator to a suitable
temperature. If not, what harm would it do if it suddenly "calibrated
itself."? At least, that was what Brown hoped to tell Jaeger in case he
happened to completely wake up. The three of them crept up to the head of
the bed and slowly peeked under the covers. Jaeger was lying on his back
with his hands spread out above his head. His entire torso was exposed, and
once again Brown's heart dropped into his stomach as he admired Jaeger's
physique and above all, those pepperoni-sized nipples that were truly a
wonder, besides Lee's.

"Wanna tickle him?" he heard one of the brothers whisper.

"No! He's my companion." The other muttered.

"Oh wow, look at his tits, man. Must be the size of ping-pong balls, mate."

Brown burst out in silent laughter at that comment. He crawled under the
covers and very slowly ran a finger across one of Jaeger's large nipples.

"Aww..." the Swedish boy groaned softly, shifting in his sleep.

"Cool!" Matthew exclaimed softly. "Let me do it." He pinched both of
Jaeger's pink nubbins and began rubbing them robustly. Jaeger groaned a
little more loudly and began thrusting his chest upwards towards the source
of the pleasure.

"I think that's enough for now." Brown said. Martin yawned.

"I think I'm going to crash for awhile. I actually planned to come in here
to have a nap, but..."

"So what made you run?" Martin just stared at Matthew as if it was the most
natural thing in the world.

"Oh." Brown realised. "But you don't even look the same. How can..."

"Blood is thicker than water." Was all Matthew would say. Martin lay down
beside the sleeping senior member and draped a hand over his chest. Jaeger
awoke partially, blinking at them sleepily. He spotted Martin reclining
beside him, shivering, and gently pulled him into an embrace, causing the
red-bodied twin to sigh softly as the heat was shared.

The other Silver and Brown basked in the hotter temperature of the Swedish
boy and crept silently out of the room.

The living room was in the same state of noisiness as when before they
left. Fuchs had found a seat beside Lewis, and was now slumped in it,
looking exhausted. Lewis, on the other hand, seemed to have fallen asleep,
one hand on his chest. Lee, of course, was engaging in vociferous
conversation with Harrison and Blake, both who seemed to disagree with
whatever point he was trying to put across. Roberts occasionally put out a
word, but was occupied with the paperwork that Blake apparently had handed
in to him. Brown remembered his thoughts about easing out Matthew's bruise.

"Hey, Matt."

"Yeah?"

"Is that bruise bothering you?"

"It hurts when I touch it and when I bend over."

"Okay... lie down on that couch, willya?"

"Why?" Brown stared with a sleepy-eyed look at Matthew. "Oh." The
platinum-blonde twin wordlessly pattered over to the navy-blue couch and
lay down, head on hands. Brown walked over to the dozing Lewis.

"Hey, Cayden."

"Yeah."

"Could I have some gel, please?"

"Sure, mate." Lewis pressed a few buttons on his regulator and a thin
stream of gel oozed from his navel. Brown collected it, nodded his thanks
to Lewis, and headed back to Silver.

"Okay, try to control yourself." The blonde haired boy looked stunned.

"What?" he shot out, right before Brown applied the gel to his bruise and
began digging in.

"Urrrghhh...Awwwgh..." he began moaning in earnest, both from pain and
pleasure.

Brown massaged that blue spot until it faded away and was replaced by a red
mark, and then considered himself satisfied. Silver lay there, flushed from
the experience, panting softly.

"That was excellent, mate."

"Want some more?" The New Zealander looked embarrassed.

"Only if it's not too much trouble."

Brown grinned, and began massaging Matthew's chest. The twin groaned and
threw his head back onto the couch as he savoured the feelings. His
pound-sized almost-invisible nipples began to grow erect with the
touches. Brown bit his lip to stop from laughing, and very gently ran his
fingers over the very light pink nubbins. Matthew shuddered, and let out an
"Ahh..."

He rubbed them a little harder, and Matthew groaned.

"Oh man... unghh... feels awesome, mate."

"You wait till you get the gel. That's what Cayden always says."

"Ah... right... sure." Matthew was too lost to comprehend the meaning of
Brown's words. After a few minutes of soft moaning from Matthew's side,
Brown eased off slowly. Similar to the other members after they had had
Brown's massages, he lay there with his eyes shut for a few moments,
breathing in and out slowly.

"Thanks, Mike. Now I know why everyone seems to just want to cling to you."

"No problem. You know I'll always be there for you."

"Ugh, I don't feel like getting up. What are we doing next?"

"I'll ask Cayden." Brown padded over to the British boy.

"Hi."

"How're you doing?"

"Err... Matthew wants to know what we're gonna do next."

"Oh, he does, does he? I guess just sitting around here isn't sufficient
for him. He must have some form of action. Well, you can tell him that
we're free for the time being, at least until your instructors arrive for
your training. It'll be a couple of days just lazing around. As a matter of
fact, I'll show you round our institution here, and the places around it."

"Oh, that would be great. Thanks. How's your..." he motioned to Lewis'
chest.

"It hurts a little. I'll never get used to the pain."

"Ah... well. Do you want me to give you something for that?"

"Oh no, no. I'm fine. Really." He fended Brown's hands away as he tried to
touch the afflicted area.

"You sure?"

"Of course. I just want to have a bit of shut-eye for now. Thanks for the
offer, I appreciate it."

There was a sudden thump as Fuchs, deep in slumber, fell sideways onto
Lewis' feet. Brown lifted the German boy's torso up and leant it back
against the couch.

"You might want to carry him inside the bedroom." Lewis suggested. After
all, Fuchs was relatively small.

Brown sighed, and gently slung Fuchs' torso over his shoulder. He lifted
him with relative ease, and slowly carried him to the bedroom. Fuchs was
surprisingly heavy; Brown had to grunt a few times as Fuchs shifted, and
tottered precariously a couple of times. Finally, it was over. He dumped
Fuchs on top of the bed where Martin and Jaeger were snoring and then left
the room. Fuchs could handle himself there. Brown heard the sheets move as
Fuchs attempted to burrow under them.

He retreated back to the living room and engaged in intense conversation
with the rest of the team. Throughout the afternoon, he managed to give
Harrison and Lee massages before his fingers began to turn fatigued. The
only person whom he had not touched was Roberts. That he could do without,
he thought. Finally, Lewis arose with a groan and headed toward the
kitchen. Brown heard him pottering about in the kitchen for awhile until a
delicious smell of fried onions made his mouth water and his stomach
growl. He now realised that Lewis was the person doing the cooking,
ludicrous as it may have sounded.

He retreated back to the couch and sat down, trying not to rush into the
kitchen and eat whatever it was that Lewis was cooking. He closed his
eyes. There was a great heave of the couch and then Matthew Silver faced
him.

"You know, you haven't done my back yet." He commented reproachfully.

"Alright, alright. Turn around."

After much grunting from Matthew, Lewis exited the kitchen laden with two
dishes; one contained a large wad of mashed potatoes, and the other held
the beef stew that Brown enjoyed eating. The smell nearly overwhelmed him,
as Lewis hurried into the kitchen again after placing the food on the large
table that was in the centre of the living room. Brown leaped to the table
and was in his seat before the rest of the team members had even moved a
muscle. Out of the corner of his eye, Brown spotted Roberts entering the
room where three of the members were asleep.

After a few moments, Jaeger staggered out of the bedroom and took a seat
beside him. He stretched, but no clicks were heard. Jaeger tried once more
to release the gas from his spine, but sighed in exasperation as he failed
once more. Brown reached out and turned Jaeger's back to face him. Then, he
found the links in Jaeger's spine that would cause most of the gas to exit,
and pressed down deeply.

There were six satisfying cracks, and Jaeger groaned and groaned with
relief, leaning slightly on Brown. He pushed Jaeger back onto his seat and
waited anxiously for Lewis to return with the food. He dug in viciously
when Lewis finally returned with the dishes for the food to be dealt upon
and a massive load of carrots and broccoli. After he finished, he lay back
and nursed his bulging stomach with a groan.

"So, Hans. You've never told me your life's history. Where were you born?
How was your family like? How did you get enlisted?" he managed to croak
out after a few minutes. Jaeger perked up.

"I was born in Stockholm, in some hospital I can't recall. We lived in a
nice little town just outside the city, and I remember looking out every
morning into the sun rising over the mountains. It was cold... very cold,
and I always used to sit on the radiator warming myself while my father
typed on his laptop. He was always busy; drafts for the government, that
sort of stuff. My mother did most of the work with me. She made me do
Mandarin and English as soon as I could talk. I learnt Swedish in school,
of course.

Then, two years later, my brother, Niklas, was born. I never knew how much
I could love one irritating little brown headed tyke, but I did. And very
much indeed I did. I used to sit with him all day long, just playing,
teaching him how to do this, do that. Everything was great.

Then, three years ago, we were supposed to go for my cousin's wedding. I
was sick that day. Didn't feel like going. I begged Mom and Dad to let
Niklas stay with me, so that I could have some company. They were
adamant. He had to go. And so they went. I never saw them again. I remember
Cayden coming up to me the next day, leading me away from my much loved
home. I couldn't believe it. But time consumes, and I allow myself to get
lost in work. What was mine, is now lost. I have to live with myself. And
guess what, it hurts every single day."

He smiled sadly, green eyes gazing downward at the table. Brown felt a
twinge of pity and sadness pulling at his heart. He leant forward to grasp
Jaeger's broad shoulder, and the Swedish boy grinned at him.

"It's okay, I've gotten used to it." Jaeger tried to reassure him. "At
least I have you, and that's more than just a memory to me. I feel some
sort of connection between us. Like we were destined to meet. And I'm
glad. Very glad, that I've met you, Michael Brown."

"Same here." That eased the tension. Jaeger pulled him to his feet and
draped his arm around his shoulder. Together, they walked to the room, in
the wake of the other members. Lewis sighed softly behind them and began
tidying up the remnants of the delicious dinner.

"Shouldn't we go help him?"

"Nope. It only takes a couple of minutes to get it sorted. He took these
sacrifices when he decided to become leader."

"Ah."

Brown was feeling a little sleepy. He decided that instead of chatting or
reading, or even tinkering with his XM8, he would go straight to bed. And
that was exactly what he did. He crashed down upon the bed where Jaeger and
Martin were slumbering upon less than two hours ago and tried to go to
sleep. Jaeger followed suit, but lay atop him. The Swedish boy was
surprisingly light, but Brown also had grown stronger over the past months.

Brown reached out and began running his hands over Jaeger's smooth
torso. The blonde boy allowed some sighs to exit him as his chest and
stomach were stimulated. Brown, on the other hand, enjoyed the quality of
Jaeger's body, and savoured the warm sensation that Jaeger was giving off
along with his skin. A couple of grooves here and there confirmed the
presence of Jaeger's ribs. Brown also was greatly aroused by Jaeger's
rising and falling body as he breathed. He continued running his fingers
over the Swedish boy's front. A sudden indentation suggested his navel, and
Jaeger stiffened slightly as Brown touched it.

Brown sniffed at Jaeger's hair and noticed that it smelt slightly of
peaches. Must be his shampoo, he thought, and nuzzled his face into
Jaeger's smooth hair. There was a faint noise of disapproval, and Brown
looked around. He spotted Fuchs, kneeling on the sheets with a frown on his
face. Jaeger had taken his favourite spot on the bed, atop Brown!

"Aww, so sorry, Fritz. Why don't you lie on Matthew for awhile, I'll join
you in a moment."

"It's not the same, man." The German boy pouted.

"Okay, okay. Just hang in there for awhile. It'll only be for a few
minutes." He did not want Jaeger off him so quickly. He had had
insufficient time to fully explore the Swedish boy's torso, every nook and
cranny of it. And so he did, over the timeframe of the next ten minutes,
touching places that made Jaeger stiffen involuntarily, sigh, or let out
moans of varying strength.

When he eventually ran his thumbs over Jaeger's large nipples, there was a
sharp intake of breath from the boy.

"I don't know why, but they hurt a little." Brown struggled to keep from
bursting out in laughter, as he remembered Matthew's pinching and pulling
of Jaeger's nubbins earlier. His stomach contracted as he tried to hold his
breath in.

"What?" Jaeger asked suspiciously. "Is there something I'm supposed to
know?"

"Oh, nothing at all, nothing, nothing..." Brown quickly replied in an
offhand manner, trying in vain to divert the blonde's attention.

"No, tell me. What... AHH, GOD!" He cried out, as Brown took hold and
pulled the large tit in the middle of each nipple. "T-tell m-m-me whaaaat
h-happened, mngh!" he managed to gasp out between moans.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Brown said soothingly. "Just enjoy this feeling
while you can."

Jaeger moaned and groaned passionately until Brown finally released his
hold on the sensitive pink protrusions. Jaeger sighed deeply, and fell
asleep in under a minute. Brown very gently pushed him off, and he was
immediately greeted by a lighter weight in the form of Fuchs upon his
torso. The German boy sighed very softly as Brown stroked his back.

"Oh Mike." Fuchs sighed. "Don't know what I'd do without you. You've been
so kind to me ever since we've met."

"Ah, it's no problem. That's what friends are for, right?"

"Yeah..." Fuchs shifted, rubbing his chest into Brown's. It was more
pronounced now, due to all the workouts and conditioning that Lewis had put
them through. Brown eventually fell asleep with Fuchs still semi-conscious
atop him, and he felt the German boy lovingly pet his torso just before he
dropped off.

"Morning, mate. Time you got up now." The weather outside looked gloomy
through the plastic windows, and Lewis was kneeling half-shrouded by the
light. Brown blinked.

"Did you sleep on this bed?" he yawned, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, I did. Why?"

"I didn't notice you."

"You were too busy with other things, I imagine." Brown went red as he
remembered Jaeger atop him.

"What time is it?"

"It's a little over half past ten. Yes, I know." He said, rolling his
eyes. "It's a little later than the time we used to wake up in that crummy
old bunker in England."

"Oh, thank god."

"Well, there'll be quite some changes in the way things are done
now. You'll have your advanced training in the mornings, for about three
hours. And then, you'll condition yourselves for maybe another half
hour. Then, I'll make an excellent lunch for all of you, and we're free for
the whole day. You do, of course realise that you need to study for the
examinations, yours in particular, which will eventually come out at the
end of your course. Medicine is a very hard field, but I think you'll excel
in it. There's something about you that makes you an expert with our
bodies."

Brown went red again. Lewis had apparently observed him very carefully
while he was in close proximity to the other members of the team.

"When does my lesson start?"

"Oh, we're free today, mate. Central command wants us all to settle in
before they start anything. Someone will be over to lecture you all on the
going-ons of the Coalition, and you'll need to go for a dinner tonight in
headquarters. I've ordered proper clothes for all of us, so we'll be going
in those."

"Oh right. So what do I do now?"

"Whatever you want, mate. Except going back to bed. I need to make both
beds and that's difficult with you on one."

"Okay, okay." Brown rose and freshened himself in the comfortable warm
bathroom before heading out into the living room. Jaeger was sprawled upon
the couch, flicking through channels in the television. He appeared to be
watching the news at the moment, and Brown very faintly caught the voice of
the reporter saying that Russia had yet again been bombed by the
terrorists. Brown found it very funny why the terrorists never had their
own country, but were organised into cells and had personnel equalling more
than a million.

Everyone else was still seated at the table, and was in the midst of
breakfast, which was nothing more than cereal. Brown joined in, and glanced
at Blake's black watch. There were many dials upon it, and it had
everything a modern digital watch had. Blake noticed him looking.

"Like it? I got it from our equipment store below. Plenty of gadgets and
nifty little devices there." He said. "Oh, by the way, I really enjoyed the
massaging you gave me yesterday. Hope I'll have more of that, if it's
possible."

Brown grinned. "Of course."

"Thanks." They ate in silence. The rest of the day passed without many
events. Brown lazed on the couches and periodically entertained members who
wanted to be massaged. Finally, it was time for dinner.

"Okay, guys. I've ordered these formal clothes for you to wear after this."
He held up a two piece suit. A white shirt with a black tie along with
matching dress trousers were wrapped in plastic. The team groaned. They had
to spend the whole evening clad in those uncomfortable clothes.

"Now take your showers. I expect all of you to be out here within the
hour." Lewis himself rushed to the toilet in the bedrooms. As this was not
the bunkers, they had to each wait their turn to be in the shower, and
Brown quickly took a spot behind Jaeger. The new bathrooms were extremely
pleasant and warm; Brown found pleasure in showering there, and took
advantage of the hotter water along with the fragrant soap.

After he finished, he donned the black trousers and white shirt before
fastening his tie and pulling on the black jacket. He checked his hair in
the mirror, and attempted to make it behave by applying some of the UH-16
Gel that was perched on the corner of the large basin. He had a vague
suspicion that it was Blake's due to the smell of it and Blake's
ever-styled hair.

Finally, they went down the elevator, smartly dressed in their suits, and
followed Lewis past the receptionist into a meeting room, which was
decorated and set for a banquet. Brown's stomach began to growl and his
mouth water as he saw and smelt the many varieties of food that were
available for consumption. Thirty eyes cast their sights on them as they
entered, and Brown quailed slightly at the immense attention both he and
his team were receiving.

He hurried after Lewis and sat beside him at their designated table. The
table was covered by a large, black, silk cloth and was round in
shape. Everything was extremely corporate, and formality was the main theme
of the evening. Brown chatted with his team mates for awhile; they looked
extremely slick and coy in their outfits. Lewis donned a patterned yellow
tie which matched his hair, while both the Silvers had on identical blue
and black striped ties, which in turn matched their piercing blue
eyes. Brown himself was dressed in a plain bureaucratic suit; black tie,
jacket and matching trousers. Fuchs, as usual, was seated beside him, and
hung on to every single word he said.

Brown looked around. The room was filled with boys of the same age category
as their team. One single, lone bald man stood at a pedestal that was at
the far end of the board room. He looked around the room with a faint air
of disdain and pompousness. He obviously thought that he was superior to
every single person in the room. Armed guards, the same age as them, stood
at the far corners at the room, carrying G36 assault rifles. Brown wished
that he had thought to bring along his M8. It was probably lying beside the
bed where they had slept the night before.

"Boys, if I may have your attention for just one moment. Please." The man
spoke as if he was a principal at a school, Brown thought with dislike.

"Since all of you are new here, I'd like to instil one principle into your
mind. You!" he pointed at Lewis. "Come here!" he barked. Lewis hesitated
for a moment, but a hurried over to the podium a moment later.

"Remove your shirt!" Lewis, shocked, stared at the man. The skin on the
man's bare head glistened from the light. Brown was taken aback as well, as
Lewis removed his jacket, threw it upon the podium, and finally pulled off
his tie while unbuttoning his white shirt, revealing his torso. He stared
with intrigue at the bald man as he threw his shirt onto the ground.

Quick as a flash, the man drew a Glock 18 pistol from his belt. Brown
watched in horror as the bald man fired two bullets into Lewis' fair chest,
one on each breast. Lewis' abdomen contracted slightly as each bullet
penetrated, and he stood swaying for a few seconds, staring with shock at
the bald man. Then, he let out an "Uh..." of pain, and staggered back.

One more shot rang out, and one last bullet found its way into Lewis'
stomach, two inches below the navel. Lewis dropped to his knees with an
"Aargh!" as his knees hit the carpeted floor with a dull thud. Another two
more shots were fired into Lewis' abused torso, one in the solar plexus and
the other three inches below, nearly on the navel. This time, Lewis felt
the pain.

"Ah! Aaargh!" he cried out, as each bullet penetrated his body. His abdomen
contracted and relaxed subsequently as he tried to deal with the pain. His
breathing became ragged.

Brown and the rest of his team mates watched in absolute horror as Lewis
fell onto his back from the kneeling position with a nerve-racking
"Uhhhh...", arms stretched out above his head, which contained his
scrunched up face. The squad leader moaned one more time, and was
motionless.