Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money.
A little short set a few years down the road in the Trialsverse. Inspired by watching my little boy and his friends building a base when I took them to the woods this afternoon. Small boys in their natural habitat are fun to watch.
Ranger sat at his desk and looked impassively at the three boys lined up in front of him. "At ease."
They shuffled uncomfortably under his gaze and did their best to stand up straight and look serious. There was a very real chance that they had finally gone too far this time.
"Do you have anything to say? Robbie? Ryan? How about you, Alex?"
All three of them looked at the floor and muttered, "No sir."
"Then I'll outline the situation as I see it, shall I? And Robbie, Ryan, you should know that your parents have agreed that I will be responsible for disciplining all three of you for this. I'll be talking to Hal and Lester later, so don't even think about lying to them about what punishment I set today."
Robbie winced and Ryan swallowed and stood a little straighter. "No sir."
"So, since no-one wants to talk, I'll start us off. Feel free to fill in any blanks for me. Over the past month, the three of you have asked Robbie's mother to take you to the woods several times for a, and I use the term loosely, 'walk'. This you did, knowing that she is heavily pregnant with Robbie's sister and would be walking a long way behind you. While you were on these 'walks' you built a base in the woods. Am I correct so far?"
The three boys nodded, looking at the floor.
"Then I'll continue. When your base was completed you staged an incident at the RangeMan building. Alex," and he glared at his own son, "asked his mother if you two could stay for a sleepover in the apartment last weekend while I was at the Boston office. While you were all there and I wasn't, you exploded a cherry bomb in the dumpster, knowing that whoever was on the building cameras would investigate. While Cal was investigating the explosion, along with every other Rangeman in the building, I might add, since you caused a major security alert, you three 'liberated' paintball guns, ammunition and a camouflage net from the basement store room. Would anyone like to tell me who managed to pick the lock, by the way?"
They shuffled their feet and didn't answer.
"You will tell me how you have breaking and entering skills at age 6, 7 and 11, but for now we'll press on. The three of you then recruited someone, probably LJ, to take you back to the woods, where you used the camouflage net in your base to finish it off and concealed the paintball guns. Am I warm?"
They didn't answer.
"Then this morning, you put your plan into action. You told Tank that Robbie's mother was too tired to take you for your regular walk and asked him to take you instead. Tank, who should have known better than to trust the three of you, agreed. As soon as you were at the woods you took off ahead of him and lay in wait at your base. When Tank reached it you emerged from cover and shot him multiple times with the paintball guns. Do any of you have anything to say?"
"Sorry?" ventured Alex. Robbie and Ryan echoed him. "Sorry. We're really sorry."
"Tank is currently covered from head to foot in yellow paint and will be in pain from the bruising for a week. Do you have any idea how much paintballs hurt? If you hit him in the face he could have lost an eye."
They looked stricken.
"The three of you are grounded for the next month, and you will be reporting to Tank for the next four weekends to work in his yard and do any other jobs that he can think of, the harder and dirtier the better. You will be polite, respectful and show appropriate remorse. Do you understand?"
They nodded frantically.
"Dismissed."
Alex, Robbie and Ryan sprinted for the door before he could think up anything worse for them.
Ranger waited until the door closed. "Did you get all of that?"
Tank's voice emerged from the intercom. "Loud and clear. I'm on my way round."
He walked in a few seconds later and sat down stiffly on the couch under the window. "Sneaky little bastards. We have to start channelling their instincts while we still have a building."
Ranger nodded. "That plan was perfectly designed and executed. There's no way I could tell them, but I was impressed. I still want to know how they broke into the basement store, though."
"Someone's been teaching them B and E. I'll find out who and make sure they know what kind of hellspawn they're dealing with. We can't have them breaking into the gun range at will."
"It's way too late to put that genie back in the bottle. I'm thinking of bringing them on the next training day; maybe taking a few paintball hits themselves will educate them."
"Training up the next generation of Rangemen early?"
"It looks like I'm starting a family business."