A/N: So today is a day for snippets from my files I guess, can't seem to concentrate enough to finish anything new. I'm hoping this will be a fun one. ATF Ezra De-Aging fic -based off prompt on Livejournal-someone is de-aged into a very rebellious teenager who can't help projecting their insecurities everywhere.

*.*.*.*.*.*

"Chris, you guys need to get to Ezra now."

The overly calm, falsely calm tone of the team's medic, a sure sign that something was about to go very wrong, coming through the com had Chris visibly bristling in front of Buck, snapping back, "What the hell do you think we're doing?", into the comm. The sounds of booted feet running down the hallway, would have made it clear to Nathan and JD, observing the chaos around the building from the control center they've taken over, that they'd sped up their pace anyway.

"Place is a damn maze, Nate, and this floor ain't as cleared out as we were led to believe," Buck turned quickly as a noise came from behind him, firing at a man who was hanging upside down halfway out of the ceiling, tile shoved aside, hitting his shoulder and sending him crashing to the ground."They're crawling around like damned rats." The man on the floor made a motion for his weapon, and Buck shot him again, neatly between the eyes this time. Chris had paused, covering Buck, but the second the other man was clear he turned and started running again, Buck on his heels.

"Oh God, Nathan what are they doing to him?"

JD's voice was plain terror-stricken, and another burst of adrenaline flowed through Buck, pushing him on even faster, Nathan's response of, "I don't know what they're injecting him with, JD, I'm sorry, but I don't," the medic's voice rapidly losing the calm he'd been hanging onto, had Chris, at the door that was between them and Ezra now, smashing the butt of his gun into the door handle. Buck was pretty sure that wasn't going to do a damn bit of good, the doors were the kind that slid in and out, you could use the handle to slide it open and shut when it was unlocked but they locked electronically. So far JD had only been having minimal luck in getting them to open quickly, each section's doors controlled by a different program, some much harder to crack than others. The panicked way both the kid and Doc were half-yelling into their mikes now, mixed with the occasional gruff demand from Josiah, clearing another section of the building with Vin, to know what the hell was going on, wasn't exactly getting the job done.

"JD, is there anything I can do on this panel to get us in there quicker?" He asked, moving over to a small electronic screen in the wall by the door.

"Yeah, looks like this one takes a fingerprint scan to unlock, but I think I've got it cracked almost. When I tell you to stick your pointer finger on the little circle," Then, without losing a second on whatever he was doing, Buck was sure, JD's voice lowered, confiding, "Buck, they injected him with something and left him, he's twisting around like you'd think his bones would be breaking and screaming." Buck swallowed down bile, wishing the kid hadn't told him that, and about two seconds away from joining Chris, who was now trying to pry the door open manually. "Put your finger on the circle." Buck did, sagging in relief for a split second when the door wooshed open, Chris running through the opening to keep from falling, Buck following after, casting one eye back over his shoulder to make sure there were no surprises, before he turned his attention forward, expecting to see Ezra in distress. He was not expecting to see an almost empty room, it's only occupant a boy of about sixteen, passed out cold in the middle of it.

"Where's Ezra?" Chris barked, even as he took a protective stance next to the boy, motioning Buck to come over and take his place, then moving to case the room. God, were these people experimenting on kids?

"That's Ezra!" JD was almost shouting into his mike, "Right there, they did something to make him look like that!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Buck snapped, relieved as hell when he knelt down by the unconscious kid to check him that he had a steady pulse, but a little terrified that his teammate just seemed to have disappeared without a trace. Chris, done checking the room for company or any surprises stalked over, looking down at the boy on the floor, frowning as he took in the, Buck had to admit, familiar features. Younger, softer and with a scattering of freckles, but definitely familiar.

It was damned impossible. Maybe Ezra's cover had been blown long before they realized and they'd...kidnapped some kid that looked like him, and...hell, he didn't know, but people didn't age backwards!

"It really is, guys." Nathan sounded far too calm again, whatever this was had knocked him completely for a loop. He'd keep himself on the top of his game until this was over and they were all safe though, Buck knew they could count on that. "We were watching, they..." The false calm broke for just a moment, outrage and revulsion clear in the medic's voice, "the bastards held him down and started injecting with something him and his body just started twisting and changing. It should be impossible, completely impossible, but obviously it isn't."

"He just started screaming and screaming...He was screaming for all of us, and we couldn't do nothing but watch." JD's voice broke on the last word, and there was a muffled staticky sound near his mike a second later, probably Nathan's hand landing on his shoulder. Josiah could be heard praying quietly in the background, along with the occasional muffled thump of his fist hitting someone else's flesh.

"Ezra?" Buck watched in disbelief as Chris knelt down on the other side of the kid, hand moving to check his temperature, and then smoothing back his hair, "Nate, should we move him?"

"I don't know, he shouldn't have any spine or brain injuries, but who knows what all that did to him. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes into shock, make sure he's warm enough. See if you can get him to respond to you."

"Okay," Buck said, "Guys, this isn't funny. This can't be Ezra, and we have to find him!" The explosive expert didn't understand what the hell was wrong with his teammates, Chris could glare at him all he wanted. Yeah, the kid looked kind of like the southern pain-in-the-ass, but like he'd said, people didn't just suddenly become half their age. "Why don't we radio in on the mainline for medical, secure the area and go do our jobs? This is ridiculous, this place still needs to be cleared out, one of our teammates could be hurt, and we're just sitting around playing babysitter! I-"

"Buck?" It was a very soft, very confused, very distressed voice, and Buck froze for a second, before his eyes tracked down to wide open, unfocused emerald green eyes, and fuck, either Ezra had had a kid he hadn't told them about, or the garbage the others were spouting was true. Buck was also pretty sure he had a concussion from the look of those eyes. "You want to leave me Buck?" Buck's mouth about dropped as those wide eyes started to fill with tears. He'd never seen Ezra cry when he was sober, and had only seem him do it drunk twice, and combine how much of a heel he felt with the fact that Ezra at least looked like a kid, and the next thing Buck knew he was scooping him up, all but pulling the limp body into his arms.

"'Course not, just wanting to get you out of here is all. Taking them idiots with the feebies too long to give us the all clear, and we want Nate to get a good look at you." Buck swallowed hard as Ezra clung to him as best he could, panic rising in his voice.

"Please don't leave me, please." Buck's own panicked gaze met Chris's as he tried to murmur reassuringly to the man-teenager?-in his arms and Chris moved forward, adding the weight of his own hand against Ezra's back.

"Never. I don't leave my men behind, Standish." Ezra turned in Buck's arm, reaching out for Chris, who, to Buck's surprise and relief, took him without a second thought. Strange as it might seem when thinking of the hard man in black, Chris was the entire team's security blanket. If Chris told them they were alright, that it was just fine, they believed him. And not just because the man tended to snap if they asked again. "I gotcha." Ezra's whole body seemed to relax, and then he was asleep, and Buck didn't know if that was a good thing or not, but Chris was using his shoulder to stand while keeping his grip on the boy, and surely the most important thing was getting him away from the people who had done this.

God, what if he kept getting younger? Buck was pretty sure he'd read a children's book like that when he was a kid, some science project gone wrong had someone getting younger and younger, until eventually they were just...gone. He swallowed hard.

"Buck!" He jerked his head up, surprised to see that Chris was at the exit of the room giving him a narrow-eyed look of concern, then twisting his head in a move motion when he decided Buck was fine. Chris waited until Buck was on his feet then turned to leave the room, Buck hurrying after him, still reeling.

*.*.*.*.*.*

Five hours later Ezra had a decidedly different attitude then he'd had in the lab, and even though Buck figured he was at least partially entitled to it, he had to admit it was getting awfully tiresome. JD was quietly sniggering at Ezra's tantrum, and Buck smacked him on the head, a bit harder than he usually did, "Quit your laughing." The kid gave him a wounded look and he raised an eyebrow, "Think ya'd like being laughed at if it were you? Hoss's scared, JD." JD darted his eyes back to Ezra, frowned, then looked at the floor. Good. Buck patted his shoulder. He knew JD was both still shook up at what had happened and amazed at seeing one of his "big brothers" younger than him and acting like it, but that didn't mean he wasn't gonna call him on his shit when he needed it.

"This is ludicrous! Ah am a grown man, whatever Ah may look like at the moment, and Ah do not need supervision! There is no reason Ah cannot return to mah own home! Ah pay the rent, it's mah right! In fact, Ah am going to do so, whether you like it or not!" Then, to prove how adult he was he stomped his foot. Okay, Buck was definitely not going to laugh, but he had to admit the flabbergasted look on Nathan's face was kind of funny.

He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not that Chris was still dealing with Travis, trying to convince him the whole of Team Seven hadn't lost their minds. Buck wasn't sure how Chris would react to this, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be fun for Ezra. On the other hand, if Chris had been here he highly doubted Ezra would have dared to throw a fit in the first place.

Still, Buck would rather have Ezra throwing a fit then the panic attack he'd had when he first came around. Josiah'd had to hold him and get Ezra to try and time his breathing to his, Nathan coaching the older man on what to do, and Chris had shoved the rest of them out of the room then, snapping that he doubted Ezra would appreciate an audience-only to turn around and go right back in himself.

Then the little idiot had tried to apologize for it later, coming out of the room with his face neutral and his body tense, curled in on itself, tone quiet and tight, still his voice, but higher, and defeated enough it had broken Buck's heart. So no, the tantrum wasn't okay-and if Ezra actually threw that chart at Nathan and Nathan didn't put a stop to it, Buck would-but it was still better then earlier.

"Ezra, for all we know whatever they gave you could make you sick next, or who knows what. You should probably be in the hospital for observation, the only reason you aren't-" Buck winced as Ezra drew himself up, stung by what Nathan had said for some reason.

"Because Ah am now a freak of nature, and Ah'd probably wind up as some government test study? Yah think Ah don't know that? Next thing Ah know Ah'll be sprouting antlers or turning green! Ah just want to go home, Nathan!" The last sentence was more of a wail than a shout, not like the ones before it, Ezra's face starting to crumple for just a split second before he forced it back to angry, snarling, "None of you have any right to dictate otherwise!", and flinging the clipboard straight at Nathan's head. Nathan ducked, hands flying up automatically to block the chart, but he needn't have, as it was snatched neatly out of the air.

Aw shit. Ezra was in for it now.