Tales of a Kind

by Red Warrior

One-shots of the Brotherhood of Guardians. How much chaos can they cause?

Disclaimer: I don't own the Brotherhood, Knuckles, the Dark Legion or Constable Remington. I made up Leno the Echidna and the Legionnaire Meron. Nothing else to say, besides that this is the first one-shot of many others to come. Enjoy.

Part One: Innocent Child

Spectre the Echidna couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd longed for it for years, had dreamt about it, had thought it has become something impossible. He would have never thought it would come today, and yet here he was, listening to…

Listening to silence. Just plain and peaceful silence.

He sighed, and his sigh was the only sound that rang through the corridor. Music to his ears. It has been like that since this morning, count four hours ago…

He'd woken up as he did everyday, dressing quickly before making his way to the kitchen. When he'd entered, he'd instinctively brought his arms in front of his face, expecting pieces of bread and plates to be hurled at him by his crazy sons. He'd winced in advance, waiting for the usual smacking sound resulting of Athair whacking Sojourner's head with the pan. He'd braced himself for Thunderhawk's loud yells and Locke's mocking snickers.

But none had come.

When he'd opened his eyes again, he'd noticed the clean table, and the plates and glasses neatly pilled up in the sink. He'd blinked once, twice, before assuring himself he wasn't dreaming. He'd eaten breakfast quietly for once, the only thing that could be heard in the kitchen being his chewing sounds.

Then he'd gotten worried. Something terrible must had happened to his sons, such behaviour didn't look like them. He'd left the kitchen and stridden in the corridors, breathing a sigh of relief when he had seen Athair snuggled in his bed, sound asleep. His fourth son had decided to sleep in. He had found Sabre in the surveillance room, going on his duties, and Thunderhawk and Sojourner watching television. He'd seen Locke working quietly in his lab, playing with the wires of a new machine of his. Nothing special, the usual science-focused routine.

And here he was now, enjoying this peaceful – and well-earned – silence. But curiosity killed the cat, and Spectre was about to discover that when, seeing Locke leave his lab, he decided to look at his machine more closely.

He opened the door to the darkened room, blinking to get used to it. But when his eyes couldn't adjust to the darkness, he blindly searched around for a light switch. He found one, and flipped it off.

After that, all he remembered was a bright beam of red light… then he blacked out.

XXXXXXX

Locke the Echidna stirred as he walked out of the kitchen of Haven. While working he had gotten thirsty and went to get a glass of water. But now he was ready to go back to work on his cellule-modelling machine. He was rather proud of himself; soon he would be able to manipulate cellules, maybe not on an entire body, but that would still be a benefit to science.

Smiling to himself, he opened the door of his lab… and stopped dead in his tracks, his only reflex being a horrified scream that brought the rest of the Brotherhood running to him. They all stared bewildered at the sight in front of them.

There, on the floor, Spectre's helmet laid tangled in the black robes the eldest member of the Brotherhood usually wore. Only one problem: Spectre wasn't in them.

Rubbing sleep away from his eyes, Athair yawned. "What's going on?" he asked tiredly.

"Grandfather Spectre has vanished!" Locke exclaimed, panic rising in his voice.

"Say what!" Athair was instantly jolted awake, floating towards the black robes and helmet with tears in his eyes. "Poor, poor Fourth father! What happened to you?" The flying one began wailing at the top of his lungs, as the others winced.

"Now let's think. There has to be a rational reason for-" Locke began, interrupting himself when he saw something small and pointy stick out from under the metallic visor. He realized with fright that it was a muzzle when the head followed. It was apparently a baby echidna, a black one with big red eyes; and everybody stood gaping as they realized who it was…

"Father!" Thunderhawk bellowed. "What happened to you?"

The small echidna lifted his big eyes to meet the lavender one's, and emitted a baby noise that looked more like a coo. Sabre was going to say something when Athair cut him off, squealing in delight. "Aw, isn't he cute!" he cried. He scooped the baby up in his arms and began cooing all over him. "Who's the cute baby? Who's the little cutie?"

"Ahem… Athair, I think it is my father you're talking to," Thunderhawk rumbled.

"Who would have thought Grandfather Spectre was so cute when he was a baby?" Athair said cheerfully, and little Spectre squeaked happily while trying to catch a rainbow-coloured spine.

"Yeah… whatever… but who could have done this?" Sojourner asked.

Locke pondered it over, pressing his hands together. "I guess… something must have happened to Spectre. I'm not sure of anything but… if anyone I'd blame it on Enerjak." The scientist nodded; this surely looked like something Enerjak would do. "We should go at his palace and-"

"Sure," Sojourner sarcastically replied. "Like we're going to knock on the door and say "Hello Enerjak. Look, you've changed Spectre in a brat, that was funny and all, now could you please change him back?" Sure that'll work."

"So what? We wait and let my father endure this?" Thunderhawk roared at the top of his lungs. "We stand aside and forget him! No way boys!"

Little Spectre's eyes welled up with tears as he heard Thunderhawk's loud shouts. He began to whimper as Athair cradled him against his chest. "Ssh, ssh, little one. You have nothing to worry about; you know how loud Grandfather Thunderhawk can get at times. But he won't harm you. Ssh, ssh…"

Athair's soothing voice calmed the small echidna, who snuggled in his arms and fell asleep. The flying echidna smiled broadly and looked at his sons and grandfathers. "See! See! He likes me already!"

Locke shook his head, helpless. Now, who's going to make Athair behave? "Second father," he began again. "I really think you should-" but Athair cut him off by bringing a finger to his lips and making a shushing sound.

"Be quiet! He's sleeping," he whispered to them. He smiled at the baby in his arms. "Can we keep it? Please?"

Thunderhawk gritted his teeth. He was glad his father couldn't see this… well in fact he could, but he didn't understand. Or so Thunderhawk hoped… All right, moving on. "Athair, we can't let Father Spectre down. Now hand him over to me." He held his arms out as Athair floated a little higher, cradling baby Spectre to his chest.

"Nope! You'll crush him with your big paws!" the flying one said.

"Listen up there; I didn't crush Sojourner when he was a baby – which, now that I think about it, was a big mistake-" Sojourner shot him a dark glare, "-therefore I won't harm my father. Hand him over."

"Not till you say the magical word," Athair said in a singsong voice.

Thunderhawk sighed in a big display of exasperation. "Could you please hand him over to me?"

"Not that one."

At that, Thunderhawk had to blink. "What do you mean, not that one? Which one, then? I don't know any other!" He was becoming rather irritated with Athair, and wanted nothing but to grab his father and bang the flying one against the wall. He finally sighed. "Never mind. Keep him, as long as you don't do cartwheels among others things."

By now, baby Spectre's eyes were open and staring at the exchange between his sons. He suddenly seemed to realize he was held several feet above the ground, because he clung desperately to Athair's shirt and squeaked. Locke widened his eyes. "Be careful, Grandfather! You're going to drop him!" He flailed helplessly as the baby struggled some more, getting ready to catch him were the little one to fall.

But Athair immediately landed and calmed little Spectre. "There, now, nothing to be afraid of. I thought you would enjoy flying-"

"And I'm the one with big paws. I'm laughing so hard, help me, I'm suffocating," Thunderhawk said, sarcastic. But he dropped his act when he saw the little black echidna was still squeaking, and now crying as well. "What have you done, now?"

"Nothing, I don't know why he keeps crying," Athair said, confused.

"Maybe he is hungry," Sabre shrugged, speaking for the first time since the beginning. "Babies use to cry and trash around when they're hungry."

"You mean, Locke used to beat you senseless on the head and scream his lungs out when he was hungry," Thunderhawk corrected. "Your son isn't a generality, you know."

Locke just glared at his fifth father, deciding to keep his comments for himself. Sabre sensed his son's anger and thought he had to change the subject. "So, what are we going to do?"

"What else, feed him. Babies drinks milk, if I'm not mistaking."

"Thanks, oh Great One, we couldn't have figured it out without you," Thunderhawk grumbled. He was still sore from earlier, and decided to annoy everyone that made a comment. Yes, that was Thunderhawk.

However, Athair scratched the back of his head. "Milk? I don't know, after Sabre was born, his mother was the only one feeding him. I always wondered why I couldn't feed Sabre, but Crystal-La never told me."

Sojourner slapped himself as the others three just shook their heads. "Grandfather… please don't tell me you don't know why females are more inclined to feed babies than males," Locke whispered. "Even I know that!"

"Yeah, even he knows that," Thunderhawk mumbled. And to think he's supposed to be the one with medical knowledge. Edmund help us. "Let's feed him, anyway."

"And just how are we supposed to do that?" Locke asked. "It's not like any of us could-"

"We get the picture, Locke," Sojourner cut him off.

"Well then I can get him a bottle of milk!" Athair cheerfully exclaimed. "And tea, and orange juice, and toast, and everything that I know he will love! I can also-"

"Athair," Thunderhawk said in a soft yet anger-containing tone of voice. He pressed his hands together in order to prevent himself from strangling Athair to death. "Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you right now, my dear and loved Third son."

"See," Athair smiled. "You do know the magical word!"

Then the next thing our loved flying echidna knew, Thunderhawk's fist collided with his face and he blanked out.

XXXXXXX

Three hours and some doing later, they were all in Haven's kitchen. Athair was sitting on the counter, pressing an ice pack against the side of his face where Thunderhawk had struck him. Sabre and Sojourner were seated around the table in the middle of the room as Thunderhawk walked back and forth, baby Spectre in his arms. He was trying to calm the crying little one down, but soon found himself loosing his patience. What the hell are you doing, Locke?

They've been waiting for Locke for three hours, now. The red scientist was asked – read "forced" – to go to Echidnaopolis in order to buy a baby's bottle and some maternal milk, since there has never been any in Haven. What was keeping Locke from coming back sooner was beyond Thunderhawk.

Finally Locke bolted in the kitchen, panting as he slammed the items on the table. "The vehicle wouldn't start!" he explained quickly. "I had to push it down a street to make it start, and that's when I ran into Knuckles! He looked at me oddly when he saw the bottle and the milk; he caught the wrong drift, I think!"

"Shut up and hurry, already," Thunderhawk rumbled as his father pawed at his chest, his little hands getting tangled in the lavender one's vest. "Father, don't play with that. Edmund, I would have never thought I'd say that one day." He chuckled, amused, when Spectre got a hold of his bearded chin. "Hey! Let go!"

Serves you right. Locke chuckled darkly as he prepared the bottle for his grandfather. He then realized how absurd this sounded; he was going to feed his grandfather – his one hundred and seventy years old grandfather – a bottle of milk. Better take pictures so we can tease him once he's back to normal. He released a few more chuckles as he securely closed the bottle, and then handed it to Thunderhawk. "There you go, Third father. You'll be the one feeding him, since he seems to have taken quite a liking to you."

"But – I don't think I know how to do this," Thunderhawk mumbled.

"Don't worry: he knows."

As soon as the bottle was in Thunderhawk's hands, little Spectre grabbed it and nursed for all he was worth. He settled down in the lavender echidna's arms, happily enjoying his meal as the others males stared at him. Even Thunderhawk found his heart slowly melting as he watched his father eat… drink… whatever.

Thunderhawk sat down on a chair, his eyes still locked on the dark baby in his arms. A small smile found its way to his lips. Who would have known… He was jerked out of his train of thoughts by a sudden and brief light, and when he looked up he saw Athair hovering in mid-air, a camera in his hands. "Aww, that was just too cute!" he squealed.

Athair, you son of a… Thunderhawk growled and deposited baby Spectre in Sabre's arms. "Hold him for me a few minutes, will you. I've got something to say to this fourth son of mine…" He then took off after Athair, who has sensed danger was on the way and floated out of the kitchen. Thunderhawk chased after him, his arms held in front of him as if he wanted to strangle him. "Get back here! Give me that camera!"

Sabre, Locke and Sojourner stared dumbfounded as the two echidnas ran – and flew – down the corridor to whatever part of Haven hazard would lead them. They were brought back to reality when Spectre let out a tiny burp, and snuggled up in Sabre's arms before hugging the bottle and dozing off into dreamland.

"Well, now we can to Enerjak's fortress and see what we can do about Grandfather's… accident," Sabre said, gently getting the bottle out of the tiny black arms and setting it on the table.

XXXXXXX

Why did Dad have those baby items?

Knuckles pondered that thought over and over as he walked absently in the streets of Echidnaopolis. Seeing his father with this baby bottle was so… uncalled for. And it triggered so many unpleasant thoughts; like his father had had another child, so many things he couldn't nor didn't want to believe.

He shook his head and realized he was near Echidnaopolis' Police Station, and thought it would be nice to greet his not so long time friend, Constable Remington – and by the way seek a little advice.

Knuckles walked in the station, nodding to Leno who was Remington's assistant. "Hello, Leno," he saluted. "How are things around there?"

"Just the usual: criminals, murderers, kidnappings among others things," Leno shrugged, his deep blue fur contrasting with the bright sunlight. "Nothing new. What brings you here, Guardian?"

"To be honest, I'd like to see Remington. Is he here?"

"Well, Constable Remington is in his office right now, and has been in there since this morning. I don't know if you can see him; he said he didn't want to be disturbed. And then he gave his menacing look, you know the one with the eyebrows and all." Leno chuckled. "He said he was working on something important."

Knuckles couldn't help a smirk to creep across his face. "Was Komi-Ko with him then?"

"No, she wasn't."

"Then I don't know what's so important for him. Can I see him anyway?"

"Sure, help yourself. But don't be surprised if he chops your head off. Who knows what he is doing right now?"

"Yeah, thanks however, Leno." Knuckles walked towards the door of Remington's office. Important, my foot. He is probably phoning Komi-Ko and doesn't want his men to know about the things he says. Well, knowing Remington, that could be considered important…

Chuckling, Knuckles knocked on the door. "The Guardian here would like to speak to you, Constable!" he called jokingly. However he grew serious when there was no answer. "Remington? Are you here? Rem?" Oh, wanting to play games, are we? Well I'll play. Knuckles opened the door… and stopped dead at the sight that greeted him.

There, sitting on his desk, was Remington… in a baby form! Knuckles blinked at the little brown-furred echidna with a single black lock of hair on his head. What in the name of the seven Chaos Emeralds happened! He regained his senses when he realized Remington was chewing on his gun – and on the wrong end of it! "Drop that, Remington! Let go of this gun!"

The little echidna raised his shimmering blue eyes towards him, blinking confusedly. Knuckles approached him swiftly and slipped the gun out of his little arms, sighing in relief. Then tears filled Remington's eyes as he began to whimper. Knuckles rolled his eyes. Oh no, no it's not happening…

Then a wail rang through the entire police station.

Knuckles put his finger to his lips and made a shushing sound. "Ssh ssh! Be quiet, Remington! Ssh! Here, I'll give you your toy back, one second!" Knuckles proceeded to get all the shots out of the gun and handed it to the shrunk Constable. "There, now stop crying, will you!"

Remington squealed in delight and hugged the gun close to his chest as Knuckles sighed. Well, I surely wasn't expecting that. This day just keeps on getting weirder! Great, now what do I do? He couldn't alert the other EST members; they would freak out and accuse Knuckles and many others things he didn't want to think about. The young Guardian pinched his nose, deep in thoughts. Think, Knux, think! Idea!

Knuckles chuckled. Remington was going to hate him, but… Better him than me!

XXXXXXX

Leno the Echidna slightly shifted his dark brown eyes as he heard the door of his boss' office open, before returning to whatever paper he was reading – then widened them and stared back.

He couldn't believe his own eyes: the Guardian Knuckles was getting out of the office… with a brown baby echidna looking exactly like Constable Remington! "Guardian! B-but… how? What's going on?" he asked, panicked.

Knuckles frowned, and he tilted his head on a side. "What do you mean? Oh, him?" He motioned to the little echidna pouting in his arms. "Didn't Remington tell you? He had a son with Komi-Ko, and I'm supposed to baby-sit him today. Really, you didn't know?" Knuckles put on a fake incredulous expression, and hoped the assistant would buy it.

Leno got up from his chair behind his desk and went to Knuckles. "No, he didn't tell me."

"He must have thought that the EST members would believe he was softening up, so he kept it down, I guess."

"Shame, the little one is really cute. Hello there," Leno said, waggling a finger in front of the baby's face. He just stared with his big blue eyes, blinking every now and then. "Amazing how he looks so much like his father! Brown fur and even dark hair, he could be mistaken for Constable Remington as a baby!"

Knuckles chuckled along, but inside he thought otherwise. Yeah, he could be… let's hope he's not going to catch the right drift. "Well, see you then. And by the way Remington says he doesn't want to be disturbed, and has in mind to sleep at the station tonight. So don't bother to warn him when you'll leave."

Leno was still for a second, then shrugged. "Oh, well, if that's what he wants. I didn't think he has so much work to do. See you later, then, Knuckles."

"Yeah. Later." And with that, Knuckles was out of the police station and striding in the streets, wondering why the hell he had decided to go through that. The young echidna ignored his little counterpart, actually chewing on one of his red spines, and wondered who could help him. I better go ask Dad. He is the genius of the family after all, maybe he can help me on that one.

And before he knew it, Knuckles was running towards the limits of Echidnaopolis, ignoring purposely the astonished stared he was getting from the passers by. He had to reach Haven, and the sooner would be the better!

XXXXXXX

"Lady Kommissar!" a Legionnaire shouted, running to catch up with Lien-Da as she walked in the Dark Legion's quarters. "Lady Kommissar, please wait!"

She turned to him, frowning. "What is it, Meron? How many times did I tell you that you weren't allowed to run and yell in the halls?"

"I beg your pardon, Lady Kommissar, but I think there's something you should see! In the surveillance room!" The Legionnaire panted, exhausted and terrified by the reaction he was going to get. Yet Lien-Da just blinked, and allowed him to bring her to the aforementioned room. There the Legionnaire pointed to a screen, and Lien-Da realized it was the camera watching the entrance of the fortress. Imagine her surprise when she saw the Brotherhood of Guardians land in front of the door!

Oh, no, what do they want now? She sighed; of all times those backwards fools had to show up… oh well, why fight it? The sooner she would deal with them, the better.

XXXXXXX

What was Sabre seeing was just plain… odd.

There they stood, the entire Brotherhood of Guardians – including Spectre in Athair's arms – in front of Enerjak's fortress… and yet nobody was in sight. It seemed like the Dark Legion has entirely vanished from this place.

"Why, they don't expect us to knock, do they?" Thunderhawk rumbled.

Sojourner shrugged. "Well, one way or another, we have to open this door." He walked up to the huge door, and knocked lightly on it. Thunderhawk nearly fell over on the ground; now his son was being a fool as well.

But the lavender echidna did a double take when the door actually opened, revealing an annoyed-looking Lien-Da who stood her, arms crossed and tapping her foot on the ground. "Well, what do you want?" she growled.

Thunderhawk's anger spilled over. "What do you mean, "what do you want"? We should be the ones asking that question! Look what you did to my father!" The lavender echidna pointed to baby Spectre, fully awake and staring at Lien-Da with big incredulous red eyes.

Lien-Da's eyes widened the second she saw Spectre. "Black Hell… what happened?"

"Why do you care? And besides, why are you asking that, you should know better than anyone because you did this to him!" Thunderhawk rumbled. He got even angrier as he realized Lien-Da wasn't listening to him. "Are you even hearing what I'm saying, girl?"

"How long has he been like that?" she asked quietly, making Sabre shudder unconsciously. He had never heard Lien-Da being so calm, and in truth he didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.

"Since this morning, I guess," he answered shakily.

Lien-Da frowned. No, it can't be… "Come in. We'll see what we can do."

She walked inside as the males looked at each others, some frightened and some confused. Has she just allowed them to enter Enerjak's most guarded and most sacred place? No, surely not, she must have mistaken. "What do we do now?" Locke asked, gulping.

"We go and follow her," Thunderhawk said in his strongest tone of voice. He didn't want to sound as afraid as he felt. "This is the only way to bring Father back." And he stepped in the palace, striding and holding his chin up as he earned himself some appalled stares from some passing-by Legionnaires. The rest of the Brotherhood followed Thunderhawk quickly, with Spectre happily clapping his hands.

Lien-Da led them through many corridors, and they finally stopped in front of a black-wooded door. "These are Great-Grandfather's private quarters," she explained. "Don't worry, I haven't brought you here so he can kill you," she quickly added when she saw the Guardians' widening eyes.

"You did a great job in reassuring me," Locke mumbled under his breath. He was elbowed by his father. This is no time to be sarcastic, son. She could help us.

Yeah, like that will ever happen. The day the Dark Legion will help us, I'll kiss Thunderhawk, Locke sent back. Sabre merely rolled his eyes and turned his attention towards Lien-Da once again. The female was speaking again. "I think Great-Grandfather will be more than happy to see you – especially if you can help."

"What do you mean?" Sabre asked, frowning.

"You'll see."

Lien-Da opened the black thick-wooden door, and the Guardians exchanged quizzical looks. Even Spectre was silent, scanning the dark place with his big red eyes. Athair hugged him close. "Well, what now?"

"Come on, sons," Thunderhawk said, before adding. "And Father." They all came into the room, unconsciously watching out for traps of any sorts – only to stop dead in their tracks at the sight of who was sitting on the bed…

There, apparently freshly cleaned and pretty annoyed, a baby-version of Enerjak was pouting, arms crossed in front of his little chest. He turned his head when he heard the door open, and began waving a Chaos Emerald-shaped rattle around as he realized who was there. Lien-Da sighed and picked the small one up, wincing when he whacked her upside the head with his rattle.

The Guardians were all staring, jaws dropped, and Sabre thought that if his eyes widened a little more they would pop out of their sockets. Spectre actually looked curious and tilted his head on a side; Enerjak just stuck his tongue out at him.

"Great-Grandfather has been like that since this morning," Lien-Da explained. She adjusted little Enerjak in her arms as he began to crawl over her shoulder. "That's why I was surprised when I saw one of the Guardians was… well, looking younger, so to speak." Lien-Da sighed, exasperate, as Enerjak went to jump out of her arms. She finally put him back on his bed, now looking huge for such a small child.

Sabre caught sight of Enerjak's gold and blue armor, lying on a chair beside the bed. Just as it did with Spectre, Enerjak's clothes remained the same size. Strange…

"Oh, that's what we forgot!" Athair exclaimed, pointing at Enerjak.

"What?" Sabre asked, confused.

"The diaper!" the flying one gasped. "We forgot the diaper!"

Sabre looked more closely at baby Enerjak – and yes, the little one wore a blue and gold diaper. What this just an analogy to his armor? Or a joke?

"A chance Grandfather Spectre didn't-"

"We get the point, Athair," Thunderhawk interrupted him. "Just keep in mind my father isn't likely to make a mess when it's not needed. Even in a baby form, he still has his principles."

Sure… we are just lucky he isn't anything like Enerjak, Sabre thought bitterly, watching his enemy struggle to bite his tail, and ending up wailing his lungs out when he saw he couldn't. At least Grandfather Spectre is quiet…

XXXXXXX

After figuring out the Dark Legion had nothing to do with Spectre's actual situation, the Brotherhood decided to go back to Haven – agreeing reluctantly to bring Lien-Da and Enerjak with them. Locke had promised he would build a machine to give them back their true appearance, or at least try.

Here they were, now. Trying to decide if they could trust Lien-Da enough to show her the entrance to Haven. Thunderhawk was bellowing that the second Enerjak would be normal again, she would call up her Legionnaires and attack them. Sojourner only nodded at every phrase his father yelled, while Sabre and Locke just looked at each other and shrugged.

"I guess it would be only fair, since she allowed us entrance in Enerjak's castle," Sabre reflected.

"Yeah, but what if we can't trust her?" Sojourner asked.

"Which, at the moment, is a very big if!" Thunderhawk rumbled. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at Lien-Da, almost snarling. "Nothing proves that this isn't just a big trap! What if you changed Enerjak like you did with Father just to make it look like you're innocent? What if you knew we would lead you to Haven, and planned an attack?"

Lien-Da rolled her eyes, and shifted Enerjak in her arms. The small red echidna was trying to catch a butterfly. Athair smiled when he saw his so-called enemy catch the little insect – and froze when Enerjak ripped the coloured wings off. Dear Aurora, we are lucky Grandfather Spectre isn't like that… He averted his eyes when Enerjak began cackling evilly.

After a few words – and a few punches – it was decided Lien-Da was to come into Haven, but under the condition she wouldn't tell a soul about it. The Guardians knew full well she wasn't going to keep that promise, but they tried to not think about it.

But when the door of the elevator opened, Locke widened his eyes for he wasn't expecting what he was seeing. Knuckles stood in the elevator room, seeming rather exasperate and holding a baby brown echidna in his arms. Oh no, no more babies. I think I saw enough of them today… "What's going on, son?" he asked.

"I was going to ask you the same question," Knuckles grumbled. "How come you're always hiding in this so-called sanctuary of yours, but when I happen to need your help you're not here?" The young Guardian sighed. "Well, never mind. I've got a problem here."

"Say, we've got two problems here," Sojourner stated like it was a challenge.

"What do you mean?" Knuckles' eyes widened when he saw Enerjak and Spectre. "Oh no, them too?"

What does that mean, "them too"? Oh Edmund don't tell me… "Why do you say that, Sixth son?" Thunderhawk asked, trying to keep his temper down although he felt an exasperate roar travelling up his throat.

"Well, just so you know, the little one here happens to be Remington."

I won't yell… no, I won't yell… "Since when has he been like that?"

"From what Leno told me, since this morning."

Thunderhawk couldn't take it anymore and released a desperate and wild cry that bounced off Haven's every wall. "Why did it all have to happen today?" he yelled. "Why did all of these problems have to happen on the same day, on the same morning? Why why why why why!"

"Calm down, Grandfather," Athair shushed him. "You're scaring the babies."

"I don't give a damn!" Thunderhawk roared, and even Enerjak fell silent.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Athair is right," Locke said, thinking fast. "There has to be a link between these three accidents, since they appear to be of the same nature. Hmm, I wonder…" He suddenly snapped his fingers, a smile breaking on his face. "I know! Let's go to the lab!"

The red echidna took off towards his beloved lab, quickly followed by the others. All ten echidnas – including three babies – burst into the lab, where Spectre's helmet and dark robes still laid on the ground. Locke turned to the other, a triumphal look on his face. "We found Grandfather Spectre here this morning," he explained. "That means something must have happened in this room."

Makes sense, Sabre thought. Since Lien-Da swore it wasn't because of the Dark Legion, and I can hardly imagine Remington doing something that could end up like this, the origin is probably in the lab. He felt like a fool for not thinking about it sooner, but kept silent because he knew he would vex Locke. However, Thunderhawk decided otherwise.

"You mean," the lavender echidna growled, "we ran around like headless chickens, so far as going to that forsaken castle, helping our worst enemy, while all along the answer was in your lab?"

"Yes, I guess."

Thunderhawk grabbed Locke by the collar of his lab coat, shaking him back and forth. "You fool! Couldn't you have it figured out sooner? Now the Dark Legion knows where the entrance to Haven is! Worse, Enerjak is in Haven, Enerjak! Does it ring a bell? And now we're bound to help our sworn enemy, all of this because of you, you brainless animal!"

"Calm down, Fourth father," Sabre said, concern for his son written all over his face. "We're just as guilty as Locke, since anyone could have figured out that what happened to Grandfather Spectre was a result of whatever that had happened in the lab. Now pleases put my son down; he might prove to be useful."

Thunderhawk glared at Locke, but finally released his hold on him. "You're lucky I'm not my father. He would have ripped your head off."

"Yeah, I'm so glad," Locke grumbled in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"Hey, what's that?' Knuckles asked while pointing a medium-sized gun-shaped metallic machine.

Locke forgot all about his fight with Thunderhawk and beamed. "It's my latest invention. I designed this machine to manipulate, renew and heal cellules just by optical contact." He walked over and patted the metallic gun. "This way I can heal every wound, manipulate cellules to change their roles, and even create new cellules to renew old ones. The machine is functioning by a polar inversion of the static energy I found was filling Haven. Great, isn't it?"

The red scientist turned to his companions, who were all staring open-mouthed.

"Did you understand anything?" Sojourner asked his father.

"I lost track after "latest invention"," Thunderhawk answered, baffled.

Locke humped and crossed his arms. "Science killers," he muttered angrily. He then widened his eyes as he saw baby Remington crawl over to his machine and begin to chew on the laser-firing end of it. "Hey, let go of that!" Locke picked Remington up, and turned to Knuckles. "I thought you were supposed to look after him, son."

Knuckles scratched the back of his head, ashamed. "Sorry… he just seems to like guns a lot."

"Some parent you would make," Thunderhawk snorted.

"Hmm, let's not go there," Locke said while handing a whimpering Remington over to Knuckles. He then snapped his fingers in a triumphal way for the second time in less than ten minutes. "I've got an idea!"

"No, please, no more ideas for at least… the rest of your life," Thunderhawk groaned.

But Locke went on ignoring him. "We'll just have to play the recording of what happened this morning! Putting cameras everywhere wasn't a bad idea after all!" A jumpy Locke bolted out of the lab, running towards the surveillance room.

Lien-Da turned to Sabre. "Is he always like that?" she asked.

"Only when Grandfather Spectre isn't around," Sabre sighed.

XXXXXXX

After discovering what exactly had happened to Spectre, Enerjak and Remington, Locke was convinced – once again read "forced" – to reprogram his machine to give the three echidnas their true appearance. The others were discussing in the lab as the red echidna sorted out handfuls of wires. Athair was sitting on the ground, happily playing with the three babies.

"Who knew your machine would change people into babies, eh Locke?" Thunderhawk called smugly. "And to think you're the mechanical genius here… shame."

"I must have made a mistake while building it, no big deal," Locke shrugged.

"I still don't get why Enerjak and Remington were also struck, though" Sojourner said.

"Remember what Locke said?" Sabre said. "His laser is supposed to function by simple optical contact. Means you just have to look at it."

"Oh, right." Silence. "And… so what?"

"So Enerjak and Remington could have been hit by it through a screen. Let's imagine: Enerjak could have hacked into our computers, seeing as the Dark Legion is far more advanced in technology than we are-" Locke gave him a dark glare, before resuming working on his machine. "-and maybe Remington has been watching Haven thanks to the satellite system." The others looked at him oddly. "Hey, I'm just supposing!"

"Imagining is more like it," Thunderhawk grumbled. He turned to Locke. "Have you finished yet?"

"I would like to, but something is missing," Locke called from under the machine, his head popping out. "I need a power supply to get the new part to work, but there isn't any left in Haven. I used the last one this morning on one of the computers."

"You can't get anything right, can you, boy?" Thunderhawk shot angrily.

Before Locke could send back some insulting thing, Lien-Da brought a hand to her cybernetic spines and opened a little panel. "Here you go," she said, handing Locke a power supply. "You need it more than I do."

"But-" Locke began.

"Keep quiet. We have plenty of them at the HQ, anyway."

Locke stared at her for a few seconds, and took the little capsule. "Thanks, I guess." He got back to work, clipping the power supply in place.

Sabre grinned and crouched next to the machine, lowering his head into Locke's field of vision. "Now, son, what did you say about the day the Dark Legion will help us?" he asked teasingly.

Locke shot him a deadly look that said clearly: Don't even think about it.

Sabre was about to say something else when Athair's cry cut him off. "Look at this! Look at this! Oh I can't believe it!" He turned, and sure enough here little Spectre was walking shakily on his own. Athair, close to tears, was floating next to his fourth father. "I feel so proud! The little boy is all grown-up!" He squealed and hugged Spectre while Thunderhawk and Sojourner shook their heads.

Small Enerjak shot a dark glare in Spectre's direction and proceeded to crawl over to Remington, who was watching the commotion with his head tilted to the side. The red baby echidna poked the brown one on the shoulder; Remington squeaked with surprise, then with pain when Enerjak poked him harder. They began fighting, and it took Knuckles and Thunderhawk to separate them.

"What happened?" Knuckles asked while cradling a whimpering Remington to his chest.

"I don't know!" Thunderhawk grunted while trying to hold a kicking Enerjak. He spotted Lien-Da. "Come and get your darn kid, girl!"

"What do you mean, my kid?" Lien-Da bit back.

"You're sounding like a married couple," Sojourner chuckled. A swat upside his head from Thunderhawk shut him up.

At the word "married" Athair's head shot up. "Did I hear someone speaking about marriage?" he asked while putting Spectre on the ground.

Sojourner smiled and elbowed his father. "Haven't you heard? Thunderhawk and Lien-Da are getting married! And seeing a Locke can't fix his machine they've decided to adopt Enerjak!" He smiled smugly, and his eyes widened in horror. "Wait a sec… that means Lien-Da would be my stepmother! And Enerjak, my brother! Edmund, help me!" Locke rolled his eyes as Thunderhawk and Lien-Da jerked away from each other.

"I wouldn't go near him even in my worst nightmare," Lien-Da spat.

"Same here," Thunderhawk shot back.

Their argument was interrupted by Locke announcing: "Finished."

XXXXXXX

It was decided Enerjak was to be brought back to his castle, and Locke gave Lien-Da Haven's frequency so she could see the lab through a screen, and eventually Enerjak would be changed back to normal – if you could call his insane-self normal. The Guardians knew it was risky, but it was better than let Enerjak run free in Haven.

Remington was brought back to his office as well, and Knuckles was given the same directives. If they couldn't remember a thing, then they were better off not knowing. Or at least, that was what Locke thought.

"Okay," he said as he made the final adjustments on his machine. "Remember: only Grandfather Spectre has to see the light beam. I don't know what might happen if someone else does – I don't want to think about it. So everyone's ready?"

Thunderhawk, Sojourner, Sabre and Athair with Spectre in his arms nodded. "Okay then. Here goes nothing." Locke closed his eyes tightly and flipped a switch…

There was a beaming sound, followed by some others almost sickening noises, and when Locke thought it was over he flipped the switch off. He risked a glance, and grinned when he saw he has done his work well.

Spectre, now fully grown, was still cradled in Athair's arms. Only he had crossed his arms, and glared at his fourth son with red angry eyes. "Could you be so kind as to tell me what is going on?" the dark one asked coolly, but you could feel the fury in his voice. But when Athair opened his eyes, he was startled by his grandfather's red eyes and gave off a yelp as he dropped Spectre. The black echidna fell unceremoniously on the ground, blinking.

"Ah, and to think I have "big paws"," Thunderhawk snorted. "How cautious…"

"I was surprised!" Athair protested. But he smiled and got something out of his pocket. Thunderhawk growled when he recognized it to be the photo of him feeding Spectre.

"Don't you dare…"

"Look, Grandfather, you were so cute!" Athair cried, shoving the photo against Spectre's muzzle.

"Hmm," the elder said. "I take it it's safer to not ask any questions…"

"You bet it is," Locke sighed as Thunderhawk made a grab for Athair. Well, at least, we got out of this mess. I wonder how the others are doing…

XXXXXXX

Constable Remington slowly opened his eyes, shaking his head as Knuckles quickly turned the computer off – he had visualized the whole getting-back-to-normal-self session for Remington to see.

"Gods, what happened?" the brown echidna asked tiredly. "I can't remember anything except checking on the Guardians… Knuckles? What are you doing here?" Remington looked around and saw his unloaded gun lying on the table, the shots no so far from it. He also spotted his green EST vest and his hat on the ground. "What happened here?"

Knuckles scratched the back of his head. "It's a long story, Remington. A very long story."

Remington was about to reply when Leno burst into the office, a group of the Constable's men behind him. "Hello, Constable! I called Komi-Ko up to congratulate her, and she said she didn't know what I was talking about! She really does play it well, doesn't she? But no us in hiding anymore, Constable, the entire station knows about your son! Come on and celebrate!"

The brown echidna had to blink twice to register what he was hearing, then he turned to Knuckles. "My son?"

"A very long story indeed…"

XXXXXXX

Somewhere near the Floating Island…

"What kind of trick is it?" a booming voice roared. "I demand an explanation! And who the hell put a… a diaper on me! Lien-Da, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Well, Great-Grandfather, you see… it's because of the Guardians, they-"

"The Guardians! Always those stupid Guardians! Just wait till I find where they are hiding, and then I'll make them pay!"

"Oh, by the way, Great-Grandfather…"