The Center: Smells Chapter 9 by Jennifer Sue Copyright  © 2010 Jennifer Sue All Rights Reserved.   “Children should be seen and not heard,” was the too often used phrase that was physically hammered into his budding consciousness before he even realized he could think. It became the toddler’s mantra.

Chapter 9

The gurneys had been placed in a semi-circle with the each foot end lowered eighteen inches and touching so the friendly smiling faces of Dani, Liz, Christopher, and Lise would be their first sight. The quads awoke in their twined pairs, the smaller set first followed by the bigger set about forty five seconds later. Dani was using her empathic soothing talent to the max.

“Good morning,” Christopher spoke as they became aware of their surroundings. “You’re safe with us. You’re secured to the gurneys for your own safety. As soon as you’re fully awake, we’ll release you.”

The quads looked about in confusion and with a great deal of anxiety. They saw they were in a secure room but and felt the smiling teens were genuinely concerned for their well being. As they looked at their siblings, they couldn’t help but notice how they’d physically changed yet their quad sense told them who they were.

“You’ve physically changed, we call it transitioned,” Christopher went on once they’d digested what was going on. “Right now we’re in an unused ammunition bunker on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. It’s 7:35 am, the morning after what happened at the mall. You’ve been unconscious about twelve hours.”

(Quad speak Version-1 followed.) “The mall," "those soldiers" "came out" "of no where." "They said" "they were" "with the" "Department of" "Homeland Defense" "and were" "there to" "foil a" "terrorist plot." "Then they" "ordered everyone" "to get on" "the floor." "Once they had" "everything" "secured" "they came" "to us" "to take us" but granddad" "tried to" "stop them." "The leader" "shot him" "in the" "head" "then a" "ball of" "fire jumped" "out of me" "then nothing."

Christopher, Dani, Liz and Lise looked at each other and shook their heads. They’d heard of twin-speak, but quad-speak? They noticed that apparently when the quads spoke individual portions of a conversation, they did so in a definite rotation. The larger male began followed by the larger female, then the smaller male, and finally the smaller female. They would eventually discover their cyclical speaking always started with and followed the same rotation. If one or two were somewhere else, the conversation of the remaining quads simply skipped over the missing. Even more amazing was that each quad speak V-1 had each speak the same number of times. If four of them were talking, the total number of phrases was divisible by four, if three spoke, it was divisible by three, if two, then it was divisible by two.

“Wow,” Christopher chuckled. “Do you always talk like this?”

(Quad speak V-2.) “Sometimes, but other times we all talk together,” the quads replied as one before continuing. “What happened? How did we change? Where are our grandparents? Who are you?”

Christopher chuckled and looked at Dani. “Dani, is it safe to release them?”

“Sure,” Dani giggled. The group each went to a gurney to release a quad.

As the quads sat up, they saw Kris, Luce, Ray, and Brose by the back wall. They uneasily noted they were holstering their weapons.

“We were back here just in case there were problems,” Kris smiled as she came forward. “Some people who go through the transition go rogue. They're a danger not only to themselves but others. We have no choice but to put them down. Dani Marks, Christopher Duncan, and Clara Belle are empaths. They've been monitoring you to see if you're safe. Obviously you are. Liz Keyes is our healer. This is Master Sargent Luce Xiang, Ray Lomax, and Brose Shamrock. Welcome to The Center, you're now officially a part of us. I'm in over-all command of The Center. I'm Kristyn Keyes. I hold the rank of Chief Warrant Officer. The Center IS an actual branch of the Department of Homeland Security. We rescued you from your kidnappers."

Dani spoke up. "What are your names?"

(Quad speak V-1) "We're" "the" "Conrad" "Quads," "Stephan, "Stephanie," "Michael," "and Michele." They spoke in the same rotation as earlier, biggest male, biggest girl, smaller male, smaller girl.

"Well, welcome aboard," Kris smiled. "I'll speak with you more a bit later. We're going to get ourselves something to eat and drink, then we'll bring some back for all of you. I should have our schedule in hand for our return to The Center."

After Kris and crew left, Dani began to explain about the tainted water and how they had all been effected by it. From the loss of their mother through the first emergence of their talent and the transition during the second emergence. She explained transitioning was the time their bodies changed as they had experienced but the fact they hadn't changed sex was baffling.

"We have a preliminary diagnosis of you’re your talents," Dani said. "Michael, you said a fireball came out of you at the mall. We saw another come out when you transitioned. You're a pyrokinetic. Michelle, you are the exact opposite. Even though you didn't see it, you quenched the fire ball at the mall and here when you transitioned. You're a cryokinetic. Stephan, you're a photokinetic, you can control light. Stephanie, you're an umbrakinetic, you can control dark. The floor is cold on your bare feet so sit side by side on a gurney and we'll push you into the next room where you can watch your transition.

The quads were mesmerized by what they saw.

(Quad speak V-1) "About the way" "we were dressed," Stephan and Michael began as their faces turned a deep crimson.

"It's cool," Christopher chuckled. "Back at The Center I spend most of my time as Tina. We're fine with cross-dressing, gay, lesbian, whatever as long as the relationship is between a consenting pair. We don't allow promiscuity or bigotry."

"Tina is my girlfriend," Dani added as she squeezed Christopher's hand. "It's the best of both worlds cause I've got a boyfriend who understands girls."

(Quad speak V-1.) "Our grandparents" "were cool with" "us cross-dressing" "even in" "public." "They just" "insisted we" "remain paired." "Where are" "our grandparents?” "Were they" "injured?"

At that point Kris and crew returned with a cart laden with clothes and another with food and drink. All eight dove into the makeshift repast with gusto.

"We'll be leaving in an hour," Kris informed them. "We've got you some basic undies and sweat suits to wear. Once we get back to The Center, we'll get you decent clothes. Our med staff will give you a thorough work-up.

"Kris,' Dani asked. "Has there been any word on their grandparents?"

"Nothing definite," Kris replied. "You said they were with you in the mall?"

The quads nodded as one.

"We've found the burned bodies of an older man and woman in the remains of the food court," Kris said with as much consolation as possible. "They were found near the epicenter of the fire ball. The man had been shot in the head, the woman had her throat slashed. They were dead before the fireball burned them. No one has reported you missing so we can assume they were your grandparents. I'm sorry."

Dani, Christopher, and Lise stepped up and pulled the tearful quads into a group hug. Their empathy would help them deal with the grief.

"That also means no one is looking for you," Kris spoke up once they began to settle down. "We'll find four unidentified bodies near your sizes to burn beyond recognition. They'll be 'found' in the food court wreckage later today. We'll see to it your entire family is cremated and the ashes spread on the ocean."

(Quad speak V-1) "Can we" "get our" "grandparents" "ashes" "instead of" "dumping them" "in the" "ocean?" "We'd like" "to bury" "them with" "our mom."

"Because of what we're doing we have to make it look like the ashes are being sprinkled in the ocean," Kris explained. "We can't let the funeral home or cemetery that handled your mom be involved for security reasons. However, we should be able to arrange that your grandparent's ashes are not dumped in the ocean," Kris replied. "We'll bring them back to The Center. We can store them or you can keep them in your rooms. After a year, we should be able to safely go to the cemetery and have a private service to inter them atop your mother."

The quads smiled their gratitude in their sadness. These people did seem to genuinely care about them. Once they regained their composure, the quads dressed in the undies and sweat suits before slipping their feet into flip-flops. As they dressed Dani explained the necessity that ALL transitioned could never contact their families and have to assume new identities. A lot had issues walking away from their loved ones but the quads would at least have closure.

As a group they all walked to the front of the bunker. They were surprised to see eleven more transitioned packing up gear. Introductions were made and the quads were welcomed. The 34 people loaded into three M35 two and half ton canvas topped army trucks. The truck with the quads and Liz, Christopher, Dani and Lise had four soldiers at the rear, the other trucks had three soldiers. A fourth truck was loaded with all the monitoring equipment they'd used during the transition as well as the med kit. Even the clothing, gowns, and gurney blankets were packed for shipment. No equipment with a 'memory' was left behind. In a close column they drove out to the runway where their aircraft was waiting to whisk them back to the Center. They boarded under strict security. The wounded soldiers would follow in two days. Even if their wounds left them disabled, they'd have jobs and support. The Center took care of it's own.

Once airborne, for the five hour flight, most of the team finally could relax enough to get a little sleep. They'd been going for over twenty four hours. Dani, Christopher and Brose sat with the quads and talked. Brose was still too wound up even try to rest so she explained all that happened at the mall and afterward. The twins were aghast at the carnage Brose so calmly described and her part in it all and how she had single handedly taken out their guards, dragged them away from the site, downed an armed helicopter, then killed two and captured three of the bad guys at the end. They also realized she wasn't bragging, just simply stating the facts. She made it seemed as if she'd merely done what had to be done. They couldn't believe she'd shot down a jet and a helicopter with a pistol until she pulled it from her vest. After removing the magazine and making sure there wasn't a round chambered, she passed it to the quads. They were surprised by it's heft and bore. Their grandfather had trained them in firearm use and safety. They'd handled .22 pistols and rifles with ease. But the size of the .50 caliber Desert Eagle was a bit mind boggling.

(Quad speak V-1) "It's hard" "to believe" "we actually" "survived a" "plane crash." "Why would" "someone want" "to kidnap us?"

"You have powerful talents," Dani explained. "There were two transitioned working with the bad guys. One was a damper, a person who can suppress other people's talents. When Michael popped the fireball, Michelle reacted by popping an ice storm to counteract it. The damper shut all four of you down at that point. That's why you can't remember anything. The damper was intended to keep us in check long enough for the rest of their team to make their getaway. The damper knocked us on our butts."

"Fortunately Brose has a secondary talent in that she seems to be able to shield her mind from intrusion," Christopher said. "She was able to bull her way through the dampening and put a round from her Desert Eagle in the damper's head. Then while the rest of us were recovering she followed the bad guys out the back and caught them in the parking lot while you were being loaded into their vehicles. They opened up on her but she dove behind a dumpster then threw a stink bomb at them."

"That's my talent," Brose smiled. "I grew up on a hog farm. I can create smells and pop them anywhere within a two hundred meter area. The one I used at my first emergence killed thirteen of the bad guys when they came to kidnap me."

(Quad speak V-1) "You can" "make a smell" "so bad it" "kills people?"

"I probably can," Brose said. "But what I use is a concentrated hog manure stench that nauseates. They can't do much more than hack and cough, then drop to their knees and vomit. I didn't know what I was doing on the farm so I kept the stink so powerful they began vomiting blood. Most actually suffocated on what they brought up."

"Except for the guy you blew apart," Christopher said with a shudder.

(Quad speak V-1) "You" "blew" "a man" "apart?"

"Not there, I just made the gases in his gut swell until his innards exploded. Last night the guy that shot me," Brose paused to point to the three holes in her vest. "wasn't so lucky. The impact knocked me down and I hit my head on the tarmac. By the time I regained my senses he was coming over to finish me off. He had the drop on me so I couldn't try to shoot him, so I put everything I had into expanding the gases in his innards. I guess I overdid it because his entire torso blew apart. His shoulders arms and head fell one way while his hips and legs fell another. Everything in between just splattered over about ten meters."

“That explains your messy uniform,” Christopher nodded as he, Dani and the quads shivered at the graphic image yet amazed at how complacent Brose was as she nonchalantly told them what she'd done.

“Yeah, I’ll have to make sure to bring a change of clothes on any future missions,” Brose sighed. “I thought I’d left the messy part of my life behind when I came to the Center.”

"Anyway, Brose tagged their vehicles with GPS marker bullets, then started taking out the bad guys with the Desert Eagle," Dani Continued. "By the time the rest of us got out the back of the wall they were tearing out of the parking lot. That's why were able to track them to the airport."

"At the airport we split into our four squads to try to get to the jet but they'd blocked all the ways in so we had to fight our way in," Christopher picked up. "Lara, who is a pathfinder, and Brose broke off from the fire fights to make their way through the forest to the runway. Lara was beat by the time they got through but Brose can run a marathon in near record time. She headed out to the runway just as the jet began to roll. She tagged the plane on the right side, rolled underneath it as it passed over her, then shot up the left engine."

The quads looked at Brose in growing amazement. Brose smiled weakly in response, obviously a bit embarrassed by the attention her actions had drawn.

"Six guys from the nearest rear guard ran out to the runway to snag the SUV's the guys on the plane had abandoned," Dani went on. "They drove down the runway right to Brose who took them out, one by blowing him apart like she said. Then as the plane got about a quarter mile away the left engine blew apart. It sent the plane into a left turn and down. It crashed into a bog in Double Trouble State Park. Thanks to the tags we were able to pinpoint the crash site."

(Quad speak V-I) "We've often" "visited" "Double Trouble" "State Park "with our" "grandparents." "It's beautiful" "and such a" "neat place" "but really" "a pine barrens" "wilderness."

"That it is," Brose smiled.

"Kris rearranged our squads and sent two units to the crash site from opposite directions," Christopher picked up. "Brose got permission to run there. Brose ran over five miles, most of it through the park. The first unit arrived on site about a two minutes before Brose, the second squad about three minutes later. Both squads had to slog their way through the bog but Brose was right there. She found the survivors waiting to ambush the squads and the guards with you."

The quads looked at brose in even greater amazement marveling that anyone could run through the pine barrens much less in the dark.

"Brose used our two squads as a distraction while she cut the guards throats and secured you. When she signaled she had you, the squads attacked. Brose dragged you away, then waited. A rescue chopper tried to land in a clearing by the spot you'd been held but Brose put a bullet through the pilots head and it crashed killing everyone on board. Then when the rest of the surviving bad guys got to where they'd left you, Brose killed two and captured the other three."

(Quad speak V-1) "So basically" "Brose is the" "one who" "rescued us."

"I just happened to be on the scene when action was needed and I did it," Brose demurred. "I'm just a member of the team. I don't like killing, but I'm really good at it.”

"Brose can do things most of us can't even begin to do," Christopher declared. "We had an Iron Man Race a few weeks ago. Twenty six and a quarter miles biking, two miles swimming, then twenty six and a quarter miles running. Brose ran the marathon portion AFTER doing the biking and swimming in near record Olympic Time."

"I'm just a lot stronger than I look, have great stamina, and am an expert marksman," Brose demurred blushing.

"Yeah," Dani smiled. "She can bench press over twice her own body weight."

"I'm not supergirl," Brose sulked. "Hey, what's your favorite flower?"

The quads were baffled by the sudden direction change in the conversation. After a moment's hesitation they spoke (Quad speak V-2) "Lilac."

Almost instantly the air around them was filled with the soft, spring fragrance of blooming lilacs. A look of surprise was clearly evident on the faces of the quads.

"I'm an odourkinetic," Brose pouted. "I don't just do stink!"

"Brose is also our resident aroma therapist," Dani chuckled. "We've had to set up a fragrance request page on our school web site for mealtime in the cafeteria. We’ve got it set up now that Brose fills a high pressure air tank with a fragrance, then the staff can add it to the ventilation system so Brose doesn’t even have to be there.”

(Quad speak V-1) "So this" "Center place" "is it some" "sort of" "really weird" "military academy" "for kids" "like us?"

"In a way, yes, but it certainly isn't like a normal military academy," Dani explained. "First of all, we all consider it home and we think of each other as a big family. The Center is a secure facility... secure from outside intrusion. Inside the complex we have a great deal of freedom. There are rules but they're common sense rules."

"For one thing, we all have a school uniform we have to wear," Christopher said. "I usually wear the girl's uniform and present myself as a girl. None of the teachers, staff or other students bat an eye if one day I show up as Christopher and the next as Tina, my girl name."

(Quad speak V-1) "Students," "so are we" "students" "there?"

"Most of us are," Dani picked up. "A few like Kristyn and Max are excused from classes because of their positions."

(Quad speak V-1) "We noticed" "they were" "in charge" "and Kristyn" "said she" "was in" "overall" "command." "So are she" "and Max" "some sort of" "ROTC Military?"

"Kristyn holds the rank of Warrant Officer W-2 in the regular army," Dani explained. "She is in overall command of the our operation which we call The Center. We have three bases, Alpha Site was the first and primary base, we recently opened a Beta Site base in the Rockies and are preparing Gamma Site as a third base. Max is regular army Warrant Officer W-1, Base Commander for the Alpha Site. Dan Davidson is W-1, Base Commander at the Beta Site. They are in over-all command of their base and any excursions. The soldiers and adult staff attached to each base all report to the base commanders. The base commanders report to Kristyn. Kristyn reports to Colonel Harris, our military attache, and he reports to the Secretary of Homeland Security and the President. We are a secret division of Homeland Security. Our mission is to collect as many transitioned as possible to give us a home and a safe accepting place to live as well as to protect the country from terrorist attacks like the one that went down last night. In return for being given a safe place to live we are expected to go on missions to help retrieve transitioned, or in a few cases, put them down if they go rogue."

(Quad speak V-1) "What do" "you mean" "by going" "rogue?"

"Imagine someone with your pyrokinetic ability who gets super pissed off in a shopping mall," Dani said. "You saw the mess you made in just a few seconds. If your sister hadn't doused it, it would have been much worse. Now imagine that person walking through the mall burning everything, then moving into the parking lot, then the houses. A rogue is someone who has transitioned who uses their talent for death and destruction."

The quads nodded their head.

"Another concern is other groups trying to snatch us," Dani went on. "It was just such a group we faced tonight. They were out to grab you with no concern about anyone or anything that got in their way. You saw them kill your grandfather without blinking an eye. They want transitioned to become a part of their organization. They brainwash or otherwise corrupt you, then use you for crime or assassinations. There were two transitioned with them tonight, both dampers. That's what knocked you out when everything went down."

"The problem is we don't know how many bad guy groups are out there," Christopher added. "We've identified three so far and one of those we've pretty well taken down, at least in this country, but the leaders are still out there."

"Then there's the problem of the public learning about our abilities," Brose spoke up. "Imagine how terrified they'd be of us. They'd hunt us down like witches or the CIA would use us for espionage."

"That's why we live in The Center," Dani agreed. "It's for our own safety, but it also allows us to be kids... at least most of the time. The school is great. We take normal school classes in the mornings, then in the afternoon we work out to train ourselves to be physically fit and how to best use our talents while controlling collateral damage. Brose can hurl a stink bomb with pinpoint accuracy two hundred meters."

"We live in two person dorm rooms we're allowed to personalize," Christopher added. "Each person has their own desk top computer in the room and an I-phone with tons of apps for use outside the room. The cafeteria serves three meals a day plus there is prepared food, drink, and snacks available around the clock. We have a lounge where we can hang out, there are game rooms with mall type arcade games, rooms to do role playing games, as well as music rooms for playing an instrument or just listening. The school rooms are nice, the teachers are all great, we have our own medical center with doctors and shrinks, we have gyms, work-out rooms, an Olympic size indoor/outdoor swimming pool, an indoors track with soccer field inside the track, basket ball courts, volleyball courts, handball, you name it, we've got it. If we don't, just start a petition and if you get enough signatures, we get it. To the best of my knowledge, everything we've petitioned for we've gotten. We also have a cross country bike/running/walking track."

(Quad speak V-1) "The Center" "really sounds" "great!" "Do we" "get to" "chose our" "roommates?" "Will they" "split us" "up to" "different" "bases?"

"We try to let everyone pick their roommate," Dani said. “As far as splitting you apart, I don't see that happening. When we transfer people to another base, we ask for volunteers. We draft if we don't enough volunteers. What others have done is volunteer as a group to avoid splitting up friendships. We do all we can to keep couples, like Christopher and I, together. I'm sure they'll do the same for you."

(Quad speak V-1) "Kristyn and Max" "seem to be" "our age," "right?" "So how" "can they" "be Warrant" "Officers" "in the army" "and in charge" "of everything," "even adults?"

"Colonel Harris was in charge at the beginning, but he was looking for some of us to show leadership, decision making skills, guts, and the ability to make instant life and death decisions while still doing what's right. Kristyn was the first to show she could handle it. She's chosen the rest of our leadership. The idea is that we know the stress being transitioned creates, we also know the dangers a rogue presents. Those of us here before Kristyn was given command resented the adults trying to make us into normal kids. We'll never be normal. Don't get me wrong, they were trying their best and we were treated well, but with one of our own in command, it's a lot better. The adults and staff all respect us and accept Kristyn’s authority."

The conversation then turned to Quad’s life before yesterday. Like all the transitioned, their mother had died in childbirth. Unlike the others, their conception had been the result of a gang rape of their sixteen year old mom by five jocks from the high school football squad. The boys had only received probation but as a group had been ordered to pay child support for what had already at the time of the trial been recognized as quadruplets. Their maternal grandparents, who had their child when they were in their mid-forties, had been outraged by the gang rape and probation but made sure the five rapists each paid their hundred dollar a month child support. Only once when they were toddlers had the quads joined their grandparents picketing the parent's home of a recalcitrant rapist. They'd called the tactic legal public blackmail.

From an early age the quads had displayed their identicalness and sense of interconnection, part of which manifested itself as cross-dressing. The doting grandparents could see that what the quads were doing was second nature to them and not some sort of deviant behavior. To their credit they researched cross-dressing and instead of forbidding it, set up guidelines.

Their grandfather had served in Vietnam during the war and was proud to be a vet. Their grandmother had been a hippieish war protestor. Over the years their opposing views blurred and blended until they became proud Americans who wanted people and the government to be responsible for their actions. They felt anyone or any organization, including the government, who made excuses for failures or shortcomings demonstrated a sure sign of weak virtues and ethical corruption. They instilled those feelings into the quads with their words and actions.

"Have you picked out new names," Dani told them when the conversation dwindled. “You have a chance to pick names you feel appropriate for you.

The quads sat for a few minutes silently mulling choices while looking at each other. (Quad speak V-1) “We’d like to” “use the last” “name of Clover” “out of respect” “for our savior” “Brose Shamrock.” “For our” “first names” “we selected” “what we” “think are” “appropriate names” “that reflect" "our talent." "Michael is a" "pryokinetic" "so his name" "will be" "Blaze". "Michelle is a" "cryokinetic," "so her name" "will be" "Snow." "Stephan is a" "photokinetic" "so his name" "will be" "Sonny." "Stephanie is an" "umbrakinetic" "so her name" "will be" "Shadow." "Will they" "be okay?"

“They'll be fine," Dani chuckled. "Your quad speak will really take a bit of getting used too."

Everyone smiled and settled back to rest. Dani and Christopher dozed off cuddled together. The quads were to busy with their own thoughts about the abrupt change in their lives and the loss of their grandparents. Brose sat back and cried silently. The quads wanted to name themselves in her honor. That felt good and terrible. She had killed so many people. Despite her thinking of them to be on the same level as rats, it still hurt. In the thick of the fighting she'd gone into rat-kill frenzy. She became a cool, calm, and calculating killing machine. She'd nearly beheaded the two guys with her Bowie knife yet she never blinked and eye. It was only once she'd been relieved by Max and the others that she almost broke down and cried. Now the faces of those she'd snuffed flashed before her eyes. She was afraid to go to sleep.

By the time the plane landed, Brose was the only one who had not dozed. Kris could see how exhausted she was and Dani confirmed her inner turmoil and lack of sleep. "Brose, you did a fantastic job," Kris told her as she shepherded her away form the others. "I think you need to talk with Dr. Tipps as soon as possible. Go take a shower, I'll send her to meet you at your room. You can talk in private."

Brose wearily nodded. Slipping into the armory she placed her weapons and kit in her locker. Then she headed for the showers.

She felt better after a long hot shower. Dr. Tipps was waiting inside Brose's room.

"I heard what you did," Dr. Tipps consoled. "Even though you did what had to be done, it still hurts."

Brose nodded, then the tears began. "I was so cruel and ruthless," she sobbed as Dr. Tipps wrapped her in a warm hug. “It was like a drug. The more I killed, the better the high. I'm really one sick bastard."

"No you're not," Dr. Tipps soothed. "When it was all over you cried. A cruel and ruthless killer would not have cried. They'd have killed the prisoners to watch them die. Even when you were in your 'killing zone' you were able to differentiate right from wrong. You communicated with your team, you pulled the quads to safety, those are not things a cold blooded killer would have done. Brose, being upset about what happened proves you're a good person and an excellent soldier. Now, lie down and get some sleep. I'll give you a shot to help you doze off."

Brose felt the exhaustion sweep over her as the injection swam through her veins. She was asleep before Dr. Tipps left the room.

It was nearly noon when Brose awoke the next morning. She was stiff and starving. After taking a hot shower, she slipped into a set of fatigues to head down to the Cafeteria. There she joined Dani and the quads. After exchanging clipped pleasantries, she set to eat. As she went back for her third helping she could no longer ignore the stares she was getting. As she placed her tray on the table she surveyed the room.

"All right, I'm a killing machine," she scowled. "I grew up slaughtering rats in the sewers beneath the hog barns on the farm. Twice a year from the time I was eight I had to crawl into the sewers with a Bowie knife and a .22 pistol. It would take me all day to crawl through about five hundred feet of thirty six inch pipe and five thousand feet of thirty inch pipe then crawling backwards to get out. If I didn't kill the damn rats they'd bite me. Imagine spending all day crawling through hog shit and rat gore in those narrow pipes killing anywhere between three to five hundred wild rats each time. The hog shit and rat guts got into my clothing, soaking me through to the skin. I had shit in my ears, up my nose, in my mouth, in my eyes. I had to reload the .22 from a gunny sack I pushed in front of me as the rats tried to bite me and squirm past. I hate the bastards! All I did yesterday was think the bad guys were rats. Are you happy now? I'm a trained killer, so don't even think of fucking with me!" Tears were rolling down her face as she stood with her fists clenched so hard her entire body was shaking.

By that time everyone was looking at Brose with horror clearly etched across their faces.

"I was at the farm when we retrieved Brose," Lise stood up. "The smell was horrendous. I also saw that Brose did what had to be done yesterday. She took prisoners, shot down a jet airliner and a helicopter with her Desert Eagle, and rescued the quads. Brose is a hero."

Lise smiled at Brose and began to applaud, others joined, and soon she was surrounded by a standing ovation.

Brose wiped her tears with her sleeve, then nodded her head. "I'm sorry I blew up. I don't like killing people, even if they deserve it. I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact I'm so good at it. Please excuse my poor behavior."

"No problem Brose" someone shouted. "I'd want you by my side on any mission," someone else added. The kudos flowed around her as Dani pulled her into her seat for a warm hug.

After the embarrassment of her outburst, Brose finished her meal and headed to the armory to clean her weapons and vest. The Desert Eagle was covered in gore as was the Bowie knife and vest. It took her two hours to clean everything. Then she sat down with the armorer to have the bullet holes in the vest patched and to request a few changes to the locations of the gear that had shown a slight inconvenience in combat.

As she left the armory, her I-phone buzzed with a message. She was wanted in the base conference room for a debriefing. Sighing she headed to the offices.

The secretary sent her right in. Max, Kristyn, and Colonel Harris were waiting at the table.

"You did good last night," Max smiled. "We expected a lot out of you but you far surpassed our expectations. You apparently scared the bejesus out of the prisoners. They've been spilling their guts about everything. They worked for a known terrorist organization based in Germany. Not even Interpol suspected they had the resources to pull off what they did yesterday. Intelligence from the plane and chopper indicate a link to the Syndicate, but it's still to early to tell if they're cooperating or if one has taken over. The terrorists identify themselves as the Annihilate Zionism/Imperialism Front, or AZIF. Their name says it all."

"The preliminary investigation of the assault revealed an intermixed semi-hidden trail amongst several terrorist groups," Mac continued. "With the cooperation of the Russians, we discovered the Russian built jet was originally sold to Iran. The fingerprints from six dead terrorists revealed they were ex-US military who served in Iraq. Two were Muslim. The crew of the jet was Canadian and apparently innocent victims who had been hired from a Toronto based charter service to make the flight. They had filed a registered flight plan in Toronto and had entered US Airspace bound for the RJ Miller Ocean County Airport. The fact the crew members who had survived the crash were executed only added to the consensus they were dupes in the plot. Flight plans and maps found in the wreckage indicated they had planned to head to St. John's in Newfoundland to refuel before flying on to Germany. This led to the suspicion their was a neo-Nazi connection since it was known there was a neo-Nazi link to Al-Qaeda."

"On the surface there would seem to be little to unite the Aryan racialist of the neo-Nazi movement with the terrorists of radical Islam," Max added. "To the neo-Nazis, Muslims are almost all members of "inferior" races; and to the Islamic terrorists, the neo-Nazis are almost without exception either atheists or members of fringe quasi-Christian sects. Yet there has been close cooperation between Muslim extremists and Fascists ever since the founding of the Nazi movement in the 1920`s. For all of their differences, Muslim extremists and Nazis have always been united by a common group of beliefs and goals: hatred of Judaism, conventional Christianity, hatred of democracy, and a desire for the destruction of Israel and the United States."

"Hopefully we cut off their head yesterday," Max concluded. "We couldn't have done it without you. In fact, if you hadn't been there, they would have made good their escape."

"Rescuing the quads is a coup," Kris began. “The preliminary tests show they are unique in many ways. Their quad-ness is impressive. We've discovered they are unique even among quadruplets. The Clover Quads actually consist of a combination of fraternal and identical siblings called super twins. Each has one identical and two fraternal siblings. Identical twins are the result of a single fertilized egg splitting into two embryos, each carrying the same genetic material. Since the original eggs were intersexed the fertilized eggs had XXY chromosomes. When eggs with XXY chromosome split the result is one XX and one XY twin who are genetically identical in every way but sex. This happened to both sets of supertwins. That explains why they didn't change sex during the second emergence as they were no longer intersexed. Their intersexed status had ended when the egg split to form identical twins. The dual identical twins are also the result of superfecundation, the fertilization of two separate eggs inside the mother during the same fertile cycle by sperm from separate acts of sexual intercourse. In other words, the quads had the same mother, but each set of supertwins had a different father."

"I addition, they have some sort of mental connection or they couldn't do the quad speak," Kris added. Preliminary testing shows their talents are exact opposites within each supertwin set. Moreover, it appears they can combine their powers, feeding energy from three into one, thus making the one far superior in abilities that anyone we've ever seen. If they had fallen into the wrong hands almost anything could have happened."

"Brose, you showed outstanding courage, superior intellect, and phenomenal leadership skills yesterday," Kris said. "To a person, everyone on the mission has said they would be more than happy to be by your side on future missions. You showed everyone what you're capable of accomplishing. Effective immediately you are being promoted to Staff Sargent. Congratulations."

Brose was blown away. "But at lunch," Brose began.

"At lunch you showed the people who will now be under your command that you are one tough person and put them on notice not to mess with you," Colonel Harris cut her off. "Welcome to the United States Army Sargent Shamrock."

Brose shook his proffered hand, then those of Kris and Max. She was still in a daze as she left the office.

Luce was waiting for her. "Well Staff Sargent Shamrock, you've been seconded to me. You’ll continue to go on missions while I teach you the ropes and get you a proper uniform. I've been told I'll be Base Commander at Gamma Site, and I'll need someone tough to back me up. You're the girl. Welcome aboard!"

"Thank you Master Sargent Xiang," Brose smiled. When she was a guy she'd daydream of joining the Army and becoming a hero. Dave had been waiting for his eighteenth birthday to do just that. Now, just four months past sixteen, Brose was a tried and true combat veteran and a staff Sargent. Life couldn't get better than this, could it?

The end?