This chapter is also a gift. You still know who you are. Happy Birthday, I hope you have a wonderful Amazing day! You're my favorite reader too!

I don't own Trollhunters. I don't own Maxsteel.

Enjoy my lovelies!

Chapter 2

Jim turned to Claire, and lifted her off her feet. He walked them back to the corner of the room, carefully stepping over the unconscious bodies. He sat with his back against the wall and crossed his legs. He placed Claire across his lap, and as gently as he could, took her small broken arm in his large hand.

Her arm was completely bruised black, blue and yellow, blood was still coming slowly from where her bone broke through her skin.

He looked up to see how Forge was handling his broken arm. He saw Max without his helmet and Steel, trying to help him up. The two badgering him 'what the hell were you thinking?' and 'why would you do that? They aren't a treat!'

Jim felt a pang of guilt as he had snapped the man's only arm, but it quickly went away. He turned to Claire and whispered,

"Are you ok if I clean it?" He asked.

Claire nodded. And her brown iris' turned a dark purple, preparing herself for the pain.

Jim set to work cleaning the laceration as quickly as possible, while trying to be gentle. His tongue caressed her skin, and cleaned the blood away. He had to pause a few times to clear his mouth of her blood so he wasn't just spreading it around. Claire winced when he actually got to cleaning the cut and not just around it.

As soon as her arm was clear of blood, Jim set to getting her blood out of his mouth so he could kiss her.

The unconscious soldiers had been cleared out, and taken somewhere else.

He looked at his mate who lay content in his lap, her head against his chest, she smiled up at him and spoke as her eyes returned to their normal warm brown.

"It's feeling better already, thanks Jim." She smiled, and he licked her tear stained cheeks. His ears twitched as he heard boots stomping in his direction. He looked up to see Commander Ferrus with an angry look on his face. Max and Steel followed at a safe distance. Jim looked up at him from the floor, his tail sat still, curled around his legs with only the tuft of fur at the top twitching.

A light growl sounded in Jim's throat as his pupils narrowed. He cocked his head and gave an innocent toothy smile. "Something I can help you with?"

Anger flashed across Forge's face, "Why you little… what kind of a sick twisted creature are you?" he yelled.

Jim steeled his face, "What kind of a sick twisted human are you?" Jim snarled back.

"What is that supposed to mean?" The commander asked, like he truly didn't know.

In one swift movement, Jim stood and set Claire down beside him. He stood naturally on the balls of his feet, and snarled. "Is that even a serious question? Because I'm not sure if you're just that stupid, or your morals are worse than mine." the more Jim spoke, the more his teeth clenched and barred.

The commander stared at Jim, not breaking his gaze.

"You shoot me and capture me without reason. Than, you deliberately kept me away from Claire. You tried to blow us up. Then you restrained my mate and used her as a hostage. And you ask me, what kind of 'sick twisted creature' I am?" Jim growled.

Forge yelled back with more ferocity. "I have my reasons!"

"WHAT?!" Jim roared, "What are they? Because from my point of view, you didn't like that there was someone who was able to beat Max, so you locked me up. You were warned that if Claire wasn't there when I woke up bad things would happen, but you kept her away. And what reason would you have, for blowing up a room with your nephew in it, then using my mate. My injured mate, to try and get me to back down. Which was the stupidest thing you've done all night." Jim roared, taking steps forward as he spoke. He paused regaining his composure. "I may not be human anymore, but even a monster like me is better than what you did."

Jim turned and started to walk back to Claire when Forge's voice stopped him, "I'm not done with you!" He yelled.

Jim turned back and grinned like a demon. His cat like eyes made fierce by the rumble in his throat "Oh, trust me, you are." he let his face fall to anger, "You're not even a threat to me from where you stand now, and you were barely one before. So stop kidding yourself, and get your arm taken care of. If the doctor asks, it's a comminuted fracture." Jim said, his face no longer showing any emotion.

Forge huffed and walked out of the room, leaving Jim, Claire, Max and Steel alone.

-0-

Jim rolled his eyes as the Max and Steel came forward. "Great uncle you got there. Oh, and thanks for doing absolutely nothing when he had Claire in a vice grip." Jim snarled.

"We apologize," Steel spoke, "Commander Forge, is normally not… A terrible human being."

"Honestly, I've never seen him this on edge." Max said.

Max's eyes glanced over to Claire, who was held close by Jim's tail and arm over her shoulder. Still clutching her arm, which was now clean of blood and the area where the skin was broken already sealing itself, though incredibly bruised. Her arm was nearly completely purple and black.

"Steel, call dad in here so he can get a cast on Claire." Max said quietly to his floating alien partner. He then turned to the other two "Claire, is your arm already healing?"

She nodded, "Just the skin though."

"How?"

"You saw me cleaning Claire's cuts. Don't go beating around the bush, I've had quite enough crap for one night." Jim said, his narrowed eyes scanned the boy.

"See, when you say cleaning…" Steel said.

"He means licking." Claire finished.

"Anyways… I had Steel call my dad. He knows how to set a cast so he should be here any minute." Max said.

"Thank you," Jim said, visibly relaxing.

"Hey Jim," Max said. "I think you're kinda cool. Even if you did break Ferrus' arm." Max smiled.

Jim laughed, "I do, actually, feel a little bad about that, but not much. Everything else, attacking people and all, was done purely on instinct. So I hope no one was hurt too bad." Jim ran his hand nervously up his horn.

"They'll be fine. It's no worse than what they deal with regularly. I just don't think they were expecting to get knocked out so fast!" Max said.

"Oh, and sorry for throwing you across the desert. I was angry for being knocked out of the sky."

"It's fine. I haven't had anyone to beat me up for a while. But how strong are you? You stopped a punch from strength mode like it was nothing!"

"Stronger than I look."

They all laughed, then Jim heard footsteps coming from the hall. He looked at the man in the doorway and froze, his body went still, and his tail dropped as if it didn't have any muscle. Claire took immediate notice, "Jim are you alright?"

Max's voice covered her's, "Hey dad, she busted up her arm pretty bad. It needs a cast, can you help us out?"

The man walked closer, eyeing Jim. The man looked just like Max, just older and taller, darker hair, with the same intense blue eyes.

Jim stumbled until his back found the wall, and just stared at the man. Claire was at his side, trying to get him to snap out of his sudden stupor. He felt like he had the wind knocked out of him, and was dizzy.

"Hey Max, Steel. Who are your new… friends?" He asked, a friendly smile on his face.

"This is Jim, and Claire. It's kinda funny because you have the same name. Jim, Claire, this is my dad…" Max was about to introduce his dad when Jim interrupted.

"James Lake." Jim said, from the wall. Eyes panicked and wide. His tail still hung dead.

The man's face fell from a warm smile to a deathly glare in seconds, then calmly but dangerously asked. "How do you know that name?"

-0-

Jim grew up without his father, but that was fine. He knew that his dad and mom split up on good terms, he even left Barbra with the house, the car, the money, and her son.

Jim was named after his dad, James Lake. but he had always preferred Jim, just like his dad did. And although he never knew his father, or what had happened to him, he was not a stranger to how he looked. Jim had a small book of pictures of his father and his mother, when he was younger he would study them, that way if he ever spotted the man. He would know who it was.

After many years he stopped looking, but never forgot the face of his father.

-0-

The man raised his voice more, "How do you know that name?!" he yelled.

"Dad, what is it? That's not even your name." Max said quietly.

"Jim, are you alright?" Steel addressed the man.

Claire palled, when she realized what who the man was, her mate looked like he was about to pass out. She helped him stand as best she could with her good arm.

She whispered under her breath, "Jim, are you sure?"

He gave a determined nod, and steeled himself. He stood to his full height and faced the man.

"I'll ask you one more time…" The man yelled, but Jim cut him off.

"James Lake, Barbra lake, and James Lake Jr." Jim spoke in a firm but quiet voice.

The man's shocked look was quickly replaced by anger, and surprise. "Tell me how you know those names." He spoke solemnly.

"Because, I'm James Lake Jr." Jim didn't dare move. "Barbra Lake is my mother. And James Lake Sr. is my father." Jim ground out the last words as tears came to his eyes.

The man stumbled back, visibly shaken.

"Ok, but I don't get it. My dad's name is Jim Mcgrath. Not, James Lake." Max said matter-of-factly.

Steel laughed, "And then that's not even his real name."

The man spoke quietly, "Max, I want you and Steel to go, uh, go help clean up. There's quite a mess in the detention cells." his voice was far away. They stood there for a moment before doing as he was told. Once he was out of the room, the man collapsed on the floor. And stared at Jim, then buried his head in his hands

Jim was brave enough to move one step, but that was all. The silence in the room was deafening. He didn't know what to do, his dad was right there, and he couldn't move. Claire stepped forward, and took his hand, coming to the rescue like she always does. He couldn't love her more.

"Sir?" Claire said, smartly not using any of his names. His head popped up, and looked around for the source calling his attention. "My arm, it's kinda broken. Max said you know how to put casts on." She smiled at him kindly.

He got off the floor dazed and walked over to the counter and started pulling out medical supplies. "Come over here," he said.

Claire pulled Jim's hand and walked over to the counter. Righting a fallen chair the man called her over. "Sit down right here, and put your arm on the counter." He said distantly. Claire did as she was asked, but couldn't get Jim to move any closer. He began wrapping Claire's arm in the first layer of linen.

She cleared her throat, "So, uh, what can I call you?" she asked.

The man shook his head, "I… I have no Idea." he paused. "Jim might be too confusing. And I haven't been called James in…"

"17 years." Jim said.

The man silently opened another package and began wrapping Claire's arm in cotton fluff. "I'm sorry, I don't know what to say." He said looking at Jim.

Jim sighed and took a step closer, when the man flinced he didn't go any further, he looked at the ground, trying not to snarl. Claire smiled back at him, his ears perked up and his tail began to sway gently behind him. He walked a few steps further, not stopping when the man's eyes showed fear.

Jim spoke in his most human tone possible. "Hi, My name is James, but you can call me Jim." he reached out his five fingered hand for the man to shake. The man stared at the rough blue skin for a minute, then took his hand.

"My name is Ja'em Mk'rah, but you can call me dad." He gave a forced smile then returned to Claire's cast. Putting on the last layer of wet purple mesh around the rest of the cast. Jim stepped back several steps.

"And…" Jim heaseatated, "You're an alien." Ja'em's head shot up. "Max, he told me he was half alien. And if your his dad…" Jim paused. Then Claire said what he was thinking.

"Wait, Jim. That means your half alien." She said.

"Or at least I used to be." Jim stared at the wall.

"Uh, if you don't mind me asking, son, what are you?"

"Currently… extremely overwhelmed." he paused, his tail swished around behind him in an excited, agitated way. "But, as of what I thought I was last night, half troll. Now, I'm half human, half troll, half alien…"

"Babe, you suck at math." Claire laughed. He finished the cast and it just had to dry. "But you're right, if you were already half and half of one thing, then would that make you ⅓ of everything? Or ½ troll and ¼ human and ¼ alien?" Jim shrugged.

"Wait," Mk'rah said. "What happend to make you… half troll?"

"Simply put, the end of the world." Jim said.

"I… I'm confused." His dad said.

"Jim had to fight a greater opponent, and in order to win he had to become half troll." Claire said. But this explanation did nothing to the bewildered look on the mans face. She sighed. "Magic. It was magic."

His brows furrowed and he glanced between the two. "Magic?" he deadpanned.

Jim nodded. "A grumpy wizard gave me a crappy destiny." Jim laughed, then paused and his face got angry. "Oh my gosh, if Merlin new about this I'm going to…" he started growling when Claire interrupted.

"Take a deep breath. That's what you're going to do."

"Claire, how did you break your arm?" his dad asked.

"Pht…" Claire laughed. "The start to this night. Jim and I were exploring the desert, when your other son, knocked us out of the air. Jim was able to stop the fall from killing me, but I broke it on the landing."

"Wait, what do you mean knocked you out of the air?"

"We were jumping the mesas. He had autopilot on, said he was basically asleep. Mid one of my jumps he rammed into us." Jim explained.

"Jumping the mesas?" he looked surprised.

"But it's feeling so much better now. Thank you for casting it." Claire said. Waving the dry cast around.

"That, you can thank Barbara for." He smiled. "She practiced on me for a month straight."

"Back when she was training to be a nurse." Jim said. Silence ensued for a moment, then Jim had an epiphany. "Wait… I have a brother." his face lit up, and a broad toothy grin crossed his face. "Claire, I have a brother. An alien half brother… Man Toby would flip… oh my gosh I broke my uncle's arm…"

Claire giggled at his sporadic, child like behavior.

"Jim," His dad said suddenly. "I'm curious, how have you been able to safely expel your Turbo energy?"

Jim froze, "I'm sorry, my what?" he asked then crouched down.

His dad looked worried, he righted one of the fallen chairs and sat adjacent to Claire. "This," he said holding his hand in front of him for Jim to see. From his hand, blue light started to illuminate and swirl around it. Then he let it dissipate into the air. "It's Tachyon Unlimited Radiant Bio-Optimized energy. Or, simply put, Turbo energy. Being Tachyon or even part Tachyon, your body naturally makes it. Max said he started generating it a few months before he turned 16. The scans Steel took said that you generated it at a similar rate that Max does. But If Max doesn't use it, or doesn't have Steel to siphon the extra energy. He goes critical and… well, he kinda explodes. Releasing the energy in ways it's not supposed to, which could potentially kill him. So I'm curious, how you've been able to safely release the energy."

Jim looked at Claire, she shook her head "You don't think…" she said.

Jim stood and pulled the amulet out of his back pocket, "Tell me if this is the energy your talking about." He paused, after his dad nodded at him, he spoke. "For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command." Around his body, the armor formed. Leaving what was thought to be magic smoke, evaporating off of him. "Is… is that turbo energy?" He asked.

His father stared in awe, and nodded. "Where did that come from?"

"You'll have to be a bit more specific." Jim laughed.

"The armor. Was it like, shrunk and contained in that thing, or were you already wearing it and it was disguised by a hologram?" He asked excitedly.

"No, it's magic, and it came from the amulet." Jim said, tapping the device on his chest. Then pulled it off, letting the armor disappear again in a puff of energy.

"We thought that the 'blue smoke' was just magic residue. Jim, do you think that it did that for the other trollhunters?" Claire asked.

"I don't know, one of the first things Blinkey told me was the the amulet's actions would be unexpected, because I was a human… or half human…" Jim stared into space for a moment. "This is really throwing me off." His ears perked up, "Wait, does mom know?"

"Barbara? Know that I'm an alien… no." Ja'em said breathing out a long sigh and shaking his head.

"Jim, has your mom ever dated someone from her own species?" Clare teased.

"As far as I'm aware… no." Jim said, sighing in kind to his dad.

"Wait, what does that mean?"

"Currently, mom is dating something called a Changeling. It's similar to being half troll, only they can look human if they want… sorta."

"I'm not gonna ask."

Jim sat on his calves, and using his tail, discreetly beckoned Claire to come over. She got up from her chair and sat on Jim's thigh. He wrapped his tail around her casted arm, turning it over and looking at it from all sides. "Nice job, dad."

Claire initiated a quick nuzzle with the top of her head against Jim's cheek which he reciprocated. And got a weird look from Ja'em. Jim shrunk down, looking ashamed and quietly whimpered. Claire elbowed Jim in the side, and grabbed his ear.

"Jim, don't you dare berate yourself for that. I initiated that, and this isn't public and you aren't wearing the glamor mask. This is your dad, who is an alien. And you've got three different spices DNA running through your blood, so if he doesn't understand that your going to have some strange habits that don't belong with any culture, then that's his own fault. But it seems to me like he's a good guy. So, stop beating yourself up over it." Claire scolded, letting go of his ear.

Jim's ear twitched, and he smiled at her, and moved in to kiss her.

Ja'em was taken aback by the display against Jim, and was even more surprised when his son, produced a inhumanly long tongue and licked the girls face, her smile only brightened at this action, as she leaned into the kiss.

"Well, um… that happened." he paused, then leaned forward in his chair. "Jim, can you… uh, do you want to tell me about this…" He gestured wildly at nothing in particular.

Jim chuckled, but was excited that his dad wanted to know about him. "Well, my instincts are really strong, and they have me do things that used to be weird, but aren't now. Like, the sounds I make, anyware from purring to roaring. Or my tail, it does weird things, like this." He held up Claire's casted arm in his tail. "Or with Claire, like, how I took out all those guards trying to find her… sorry about the tank, those are probably really expensive. And instead of hugging, it's nuzzling. Or instead of a kiss it's a lick…" Jim paused. "I'm weirding you out aren't I?"

"No! No, keep going. This is actually really interesting. What else?"

Jim's ears perked up and his smile widened. "Well, ever since I became a troll everything is heightened. Like my taste, vision, hearing, my sense of smell is incredibly strong. But it's not just my senses. My emotions are always on edge, and crazy. It's sometimes hard to find a healthy medium between rage, and elation."

"And Claire," His dad turned his attention. "You're Jim's girlfriend?"

Jim's ears drooped, and he glanced at the incredibly interesting floor. Claire smiled at his shy display and turned back, grinning. "Hmmm… No. I'm Jim's mate."

Ja'em sat up straight in his chair, and stared at her for a moment, then with a sigh he leaned back in the chair, running his hand through his hair. His eyes turned to Jim, who still found the floor to be interesting. "Jim?"

Jim's head shot up, and stared at his dad. "Yes…?" he said slowly.

"Would you, um… maybe tell me, uh, what that's about…? I'm just trying to understand, all of... this…" He gestured to Jim. "So I can get to know you." Ja'em smiled, his eyebrows were pressed.

Jim's back straightened, and his tail unwound itself from Claire's cast. It moved in wide sweeps behind him curling in different ways. He looked at Claire, she nodded at his dad for Jim to tell him, and his eyes smiled.

Jim was resisting the urge to go and hug the his dad, pick him up and nuzzle him, but he didn't want to freak him out. The man was actively asking questions so that he could understand him. And what's more, Jim could tell he was being honest and genuine. The only other person who had done that was Claire.

Jim smiled a toothy grin, "Well," he started. "For some reason, my behaviors are more… animal than most trolls, and sometimes, in my head, I see things differently. Like back when I was human, Claire actually was my girlfriend. Now, I see her as my mate. And I do things for her, that I wouldn't really do for anyone else." Jim laughed.

"Like slicing tanks in half? And rollaly pissing off Forge?"

"No, I do that for free." Jim laughed. "I mean things like… well, I have to be around her. Especially if I don't know if she's safe, I don't like leaving her for long periods of time. And her arm, I cleaned the blood off, and her cuts heal better with my saliva…"

"And it helps with the pain." Claire added, her head rested on Jim's arm.

His dad had propped himself on his elbows, which were resting on his knees. Litening and nodding intently.

"I'm also a lot faster and stronger." Jim smiled.

"I would almost say that's a side effect of the turbo energy, but you're half troll… so I don't know. Jim how long have you been like this?"

"A little over two months." Jim said.

Claire stared into the distance, "It feels like it was a lifetime ago." she muttered.

"And, how did… what happened to make you half troll? Why?"

Jim gave a low growl, shaking his head. "War always comes with a price."

-0-

Max and Steel left the room confused and headed to prison blocks. He had Steel change his looks so he was in his jacket and jeans.

"Hey Steel, what do you think that was about?" Max asked, they passed the launch area and tank that had been sliced clean in two.

"I'm not sure, but I don't think I've seen Jim so angry before. Your father Jim, not troll Jim."

"Your right. You think he was trying to get rid of us?"

"With the 'go help clean up the detention cells'?" Steel did air quotes with his metal arms. "Most definitely."

"Besides, how much damage could Jim have done?" Max said, but as him and Steel turned the corner of the holding cells, they couldn't believe the damage.

The cell that Jim was in, had a long deep gash in the metal on the inside of the force field, wires sparked. The walls around the the hall were dented and had claw marks dug into the wall. The normally sealed, thick, heavy steel door, had been pulled off the hinges and thrown back, bending it in an odd shape.

Max and Steel stare in the doorway at the disaster Jim had left in his wake to get to his mate.

"Wow…" Max said.

"Yup." Steel replied.

"So if this was a cop-out…"

"Let's leave."Steel said. Max turned and walked out, Steel followed.

-0-

They walked down the empty corridor with no purpose.

"Hey, Steel?"

"Yeah, Max?"

"I've been thinking. James Lake, it's not a Tachyon name, it's a human name. So, what was all that about? Your were with my dad since he left Tachyon, do you remember that name?"

"Max, you know as well as I do. I can't remember much of anything before you activated me."

"Yeah, I know. But Jim said something…"

"Jim said his name was James Lake Jr. and he thought, and called you're dad James Lake. What are you thinking?"

Max stopped walking, Steel flew in front of him and hovered.

"Either James Lake was someone dad new, or he was dad." Max said, brows furrowed and his jaw clenched.

"Max, there are some pretty heavy implications that come along with that." Steel said.

"I know, but you said it yourself. You can't remember anything, and dad was so freaked out at that name. What else could it be?"

"I don't know Max, but since the Makino invasion. Forge, your mom, your dad, they've been pretty straight with us. Don't you think we could just ask?" Steel suggested.

"Hmm, probably. But with the way dad kicked us out, I don't want to take any chances. Let's go turbo stealth and see what we can find out first."

Steel rolled his eye, then then said. "Alright, let's go."

"Go Turbo, Stealth." Max said, Steel linked with him and then they became camouflaged. Heading toward the room where he had left his father, Claire, and Jim, he silently ran past the other N-tech agents, and an angry Forge Ferrus with his only arm in a cast. He approached the room and came to a slow walk.

He entered, Jim's head looked in his direction for a quick moment then turned back. He watched the three converse, Jim sat on his calves, only the balls of his large feet and toes were touching the ground, his tail twitched and swayed, and his ears flicked every couple seconds. Claire was sitting on Jim's thigh, her arm now in a purple cast. His dad sat in one of the cushioned chairs, he was resting his elbows on his knees, then sat up straight.

-0-

Jim was enjoying telling his dad about himself, He told him about how he saved the world from Gunmar. His dad was happy to know that both of his son's had saved the world.

Jim also learned a lot of things as they spoke. Claire sat quietly on his leg, and her head rested over his heart. A few times, when she rubbed her head against him after a distressing part of his stories, he had to bite back a purr.

He had learned, that after his dad was once the one with Steel as a partner, and that Steel was also an alien. Something called an Ultralink. And that Steel was with him when he lived in Arcadia for a very short two years. His dad was only supposed to be hiding there, he wasn't planning on getting married and having a kid. Jim found that his dad didn't actually want to leave, but purposely began slowly disting himself from his mom, so she wouldn't be broken up over the divorce, his dad said he hated himself for it.

When Jim asked why he had to leave, his dad laughed and said in a mocking tone, "To put it simply, the end of the world."

He had deserved that. Jim smiled and listened intently about how the enemies his dad had faced. how he and Steel flead Tachyon as it was destroyed. His new life with Molly and Max, after he left Arcadia. Then the Turbo S.T.A.R. accident.

He was just about to tell him what happened after he woke up when Jim heard quiet footsteps in the hallway, as they came closer Jim looked in the doorway for a brief moment. He saw nothing, but eyes don't always see what's there. Turning back to his dad, Jim's eyes dilated to form catlike slits, his tail began to twitch and swing, calculating. His ears flicked as he listened to the footsteps walk deeper into the room. His dad paused his story sat up and looked at Jim's changed demeanor.

Claire lifted her head and whispered something humanly inaudible, "Jim what is it?"

Jim sniffed the air, his nose scrunched up as he tested the air. Then a joyful grin spread across his face as his pupils returned to round circles and he spoke. "Little brother's here" He whispered.

Ja'em spoke. "What?"

Jim grinned, and put his finger to his lips quietly shushing his father. He heard Max's heartbeat behind him. With his arm that was draped around Claire's shoulder, he tapped her leg. Claire stood and gave a fake yawn and stretched.

Jim stood and walked up to Max not looking in his direction, Max's heart rate and breathing sped up and shuffled nervously. Jim sighed then put an arm on his invisible shoulder. Max gave a startled yelp and the camouflage dropped.

"You know, the last person who spied on me saw something that made him very uncomfortable. I don't suppose you want to watch me give Claire a bath do you?" Jim laughed.

Max jumped again, away from Jim. Steel and Max both yelled in surprise, scrambling away. Jim doubled over laughing harder.

Ja'em stood, he and Claire snickered a few feet away. "Man I wish I could have seen your face." She said.

In a flash of Turbo energy, Max was back in civilian clothes. A grumpy look on his face as Steel flew out of his chest with the same look on his face, only half an eye showing. The grumpy look only increased Jim's laughter. Max and Steel's faces' lost their disgruntled facade and shook their heads.

"Sorry." Max squeaked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"How did you even know we were in here?" Steel asked, flailing his arms around.

Jim composed himself, "You're not very stealthy, at least to me your not. The other two didn't hear, or see you. So good job fooling the purebloods." he snickered. But they both looked confused. "I could hear you, and smell you."

"He's impossible to sneak up on." Claire giggled.

"Hmm, well with ears as large as those I suppose he could hear anything." Steel exclaimed.

"Steel!" Max yelled. "Be nice."

"What? I'm just saying."

"He's fine Max." Jim said, then turned to his father. "Umm… Ja'em," Jim said. "So, we gonna tell them?"

Jim wanted nothing more than to run over and hug Max, and tell him that he was his older brother. In his head he felt the need to, but if his father had sent him and Steel out of the room in the first place, and he didn't know if he was comfortable sharing this information with his other son. Jim respected that, but hoped he would get the chance to tell Max that they were brothers.

Max and Steel looked royally confused.

Jim stared at his dad, waiting for the answer. Ja'em's face changed from moment to moment, unsure, excited, scared. He opened and closed his mouth several times. Jim stood waiting while his tail whipped the air behind his back. Jim pulled on his horn and waited more.

-0-

Ja'em didn't know what to do. He was a freaking alien engineer and he didn't know what to do. For the first time in his life, he was completely at a loss. His son, no. Sons, stared at him so did the girl and the ultralink. Jim wanted to know if he was going to tell Max, but for all that implied he didn't know if he should. he just stood there, his face contorting in all sorts of expressions. He opened and closed his mouth on several occasions. He looked like a fish. The silence was becoming too much. He would have to say something soon, luckily Steel came to the rescue and spoke.

"Jim, er, Ja'em. I think Max may have already know what other Jim is meaning to discuss."

No, that wasn't coming to the rescue. That was dragging him closer to the fire.

Then Jim spoke, "What is it you think you know?"

Cryptic, nice. Jim seemed to know how to handle these sorts of situations really well, in the back of his mind, Ja'em felt a burst of pride. It was quickly chased away with the thought of his past life and his current one colliding.

Moly never knew about Barbara, let alone about James Jr. he was unsure if he wanted her, or Max to know. Although it didn't matter, Max was clever and he figured out most everything about N-tech without Forge telling him. A stupid decision really on his brother in-laws half.

"So um, dad…" Max said, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Steel's memory is still damaged, and he doesn't remember anything before I activated him. So he doesn't know how long you were on earth. Or where you went before you and uncle Ferrus founded N-tech… So…"

"If you have one human name now, what's to say you didn't have a different one before." Steel spoke.

"Or, a different life." Max said firmly.

Max would definitely figure it out and he already was beginning to, if he hadn't already, but he was grateful that Jim had asked and not just told Max, he was considerate and cleaver, even though he wanted very badly to tell him. And Ja'em knew more secrets being held from Max and Steel would not be a good thing.

Silence filled the room.

-0-

Jim's tail and ears twitched uncomfortably in the silence. He could hear four sets of heartbeats and Steel's circuits buzzing. A small, animal whine came from his throat, and he could almost smell the anxiety in the room.

Claire took notice, she always did. She came around behind him, and running her hand down his tail from below the base near his spine to the tip of his tail, guided it around her waist, then laced her fingers with his. He squeezed her tightly, eternally grateful for her.

He wanted to speak, but it didn't seem right to call his dad by his alien name, or either of his human ones. And he couldn't call him dad, not unless his father gave his consent to share knowledge, it wasn't entirely his secret to tell. Then Max said what he wanted to.

"Dad?" Max said. His eyes were full of concern and his eyebrows pressed. Steel hovered next to him, with his arms hanging limply.

"I don't want to keep secrets from you and Steel." Jim's dad said, and his heart Jumped. "Max, I know how frustrated you were when Forge refused to tell you anything, about… anything. And yes, I did have a life before I met your mom and founded N-tech."

Jim could barely contain himself, he was stepping slowly in place and his tail tightened and loosened repeatedly around Claire's waist. He heard her whisper so only he could hear. 'Calm down babe, just wait.'

Then his dad said the best thing ever. "Jim, you tell them. I need to sit down." he turned back to his chair and sat, half smiling at them.

He about lunged forward, but a small hand on his chest stopped him before he could.

"Jim, you might want to explain before you tackle him." Claire smiled up at him, her eyes shining.

"Oh… right." Jim ran his hand up his horn. Thinking about how to tell Max. "hmmm, oh! Max, remember how I told you I was half human, and half troll?"

Max nodded, his eyes picking apart of the information.

"Okay so, that was an unintentional lie. You see, I'm part human, part troll, and apparently I'm part Tachyon." Jim's face was covered in a huge uncontainable toothy grin.

Max and Steel froze, and Max's heart rate skyrocketed. But he stood still.

"I'm impressed, you got them both speechless. You are truly incredible." His dad's eyebrows were practically at his hairline, and a small smile spread across his face.

"Hey!" Steel yelled

"Wait," Max spoke. "So, what you're saying is…"

"I'm your brother." Jim said smiling.

-0-

Max didn't know what to think, or if he knew how to think.

Jim, had just announced he was part Tachyon. And with all that Jim and previously implied… his mind was racing. He heard his dad say something, then Steel yelled in response pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Wait," he said shaking his head, "So what you're saying is…" That you're my brother. He thought.

"I'm your brother." Jim echoed his thoughts. The smile spread across his face couldn't have been any wider, his tusks stuck out and his eyes sparkled.

"Well, that explains the Turbo energy." Steel said in Max's head.

He wasn't sure how he felt about having Jim as a brother though. He was a seven and a half foot blue creature with horns and a tail. He had weird behaviors, and a cool sword, and cool armor, and he took out over half the N-tech agents without trying, and his dad seemed to like him.

His dad, Max thought, our dad.

Weather he wanted to or not, Jim's contagious smile won out. Max decided that weather he liked it or not, Jim was his brother.

Max smiled back at Jim, and resolved he did like it.

But he still had no clue what to say, like at all.

-0-

Max was smiling at Jim, but he wasn't saying anything. He didn't know what he was thinking, and he didn't like the silence in the room. Jim's throat produced sound, but the only thing that came out was a low whine. His mind was overwhelmed with all sorts of information, but most of all, his brain was telling him to go meet his brother. Jim had a new need to protect his younger sibling, and nuzzle his face, then playfully wrestle the boy. His instincts were overwhelming him, and it took a lot of willpower to keep them in. He tried to talk again, only for another whimper to sound.

Great job brain, you broke me. Jim thought.

He looked down at Claire, standing at his side. Her hand held his tail firmly, she was watching Max intently. Jim let a small whine out to get her attention. She looked up at him. He wriggled his tail in her hand.

"Oh, sorry." Claire whispered and let go of his tail. He bent down and with a small flick of his tongue kissed her forehead. Slowly he took a step toward Max, his tail snaked behind him.

His ears twitched as he fought his instincts, a small inaudible purr escaped him and rumbled in his chest, and was glad he was the only one who knew it was there.

Having been so focused on the matter at hand, Jim didn't hear the other person coming toward the room until he entered and announced his presence. Jim dropped on all fours, and while not taking his thinning eyes off the newcomer, backed toward Claire.

"Hey, Max, Steel. Chief wants to see you, pronto! He's really mad!" The young man came in on a skateboard, he had grey brown hair. He wore a lab coat with the arms ripped off and a pair of headphones. As he entered he was tapping some kind of holo-screen from a metal arm brace. As he looked up he asked. "And, do you know what happened to his arm? Well, arms?" Then he saw Jim, he shrieked and as he stumbled his skateboard slipped out from under him leaving him on his butte.

The sight snapped Jim out of his low to the ground position and he couldn't help but laugh with everyone else in the room.

"Who needs Toby to break the silence when we've got this guy?" Claire laughed.

Jim stood and gave Claire a sad glare.

"Sorry." she looked at the floor downcast. Jim felt a pang of guilt, he hadn't meant to make her feel bad, he just sorely missed his best friend. He lifted her chin with his tail, but whipped his head back at the body on the floor when it moaned in pain.

"Ey, ey, ey!" he said. He got up and looked up at Jim with shock. "What is that thing?" Suddenly, the headphones around his neck sizzled and sparked. "Hey, what gives?!" he said as he ripped the smoking tech off his neck.

Jim rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself, "Claire, no warning?" he whispered to her.

Her eyes still purple she glared at the man. "I'm getting sick of hearing it." she whispered back.

The sound of his dad clearing his throat caught their attention. "Berto, now is not the best time for Max. I'll go talk to Forge." he turned to Max and Steel. "Boys, I don't want this going any further than Berto, Kat and Jefferson. And… let me tell you're mother and uncle. Jim, I have no control over you. If you decide to tell Barbara, well…"

"I'll let you know before I tell her." Jim smiled and nodded as his father left the room.

-0-

Berto, looked around the room at everyone. Jim had called the creature, Jim… It looked humanoid, he wondered if it was a new kind of alien. As he stood, he towered over everyone by at least a foot. The creatures bare feet sat weirdly, only the toes and balls of his feet touched the floor, the arch of his foot was long and it didn't look like his heels were meant to make contact with the ground. The way he stood his knees were always slightly bent. With dark horns, and a tail similar to a lion's. But he was blue.

Berto had no Idea what the elder scientist had ment, but apparently was allowed in on some sort of secret. His eyes drifted over to Steel.

Steel threw his arms up as if caught by the police. "Don't look at me."

He looked at Max, who rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding everyone's gaze. Berto's eyes flitted to Jim's tall figure walking closer behind Claire, it's tail wrapped around her wrist a few times. What's that about?

Max and the blue figure stared at each other smiling for a second, then Max spoke. "So was dad saying we could tell Berto? Or was he telling us to?" The blue one shrugged.

"You're all a bunch of idiot boys! You have zero communication skills." Claire yelled, and pinched the bridge of her nose. Jim snickered, "Max, could you introduce him…" She pointed at Berto.

"Duh!" Max facepalmed. "Berto this is Claire, she's what happened to Forge's robot arm. And this is Jim… my… brother." Max couldn't help but smile at his words. Glancing back at Jim, they both smiled wildly. Berto froze.

"I'm what happened to Forge's real arm." Jim chuckled lightly. He was slightly surprised to hear it, him, talk.

Berto thought about it, and laughed. Figuring it was just a joke.

"Ha, good one Max. You almost had me." he laughed.

Max's smile fell. "I wasn't kidding."

-0-

Jim smiled when his brother introduced him. He liked the sound of it spoken out loud by none other then Max, his brother.

Berto thought he was joking and laughed at the so called prank, then Max looked almost hurt.

"I wasn't kidding." he said brows pressed.

Berto looked back and forth between the two, then to Steel who pretended not to notice. Then looked at the only possible sane person left in the room, Claire. His mate just giggled and said, "Don't look at me, I'm human!"

They all stood in an odd circle, a half troll, a half Tachyon, two humans and an Ultralink.

"Berto, was it?" Jim asked, even though he already knew. The man nodded. "So, I'm one fourth human, I'm half troll, and I'm one fourth Tachyon. Ja'em, or Jim, is my dad."

"Oh, um, that makes sense, I guess." Berto shook his head, "No, no it doesn't"

Max spoke up, "Before my, uh, our dad founded N-tech he had another life…" Max looked at Jim with a half smile, asking for him to explain more.

"Our dad, lived in Arcadia for two years before he left. In that time, he met my mother, and married her. They were married for about a year and a half before he left. I was around six months old. He said that he left to fight Makino with Forge, and later met Molly and married her, had Max…" He paused. "My family got a lot bigger in the short space of a few hours." He sighed deeply, his tail moved in sporadic bursts.

"Yeah, this just got a bit too personal for me…" Berto said, kicking up his skateboard.

"You heard what Jim said, no further then Kat and Jefferson!" Steel said.

Berto nodded and skated out of the the room, looking dazed.

"So, um, how old are you?" Max asked.

"17, I think I'm just over a year older than you, little brother." Jim smirked.

"Oh that's cold." Max smiled.

Claire giggled at their behavior, acting like brothers already.

Jim's tail wriggled around him, his ears flicked against his head, and he was licking the teeth on the inside of his mouth.

"This room is too small, and I've been in here for too long. Think Uncle Forge would flip if we went outside?"

"Most definitely," Steel said, "But that's never stopped us before." A small pictogram of a smiley face showed in place of Steel's eye.

Jim laughed at the robot, he clenched and relaxed his fists repeatedly, becoming anxious in the room, having stayed there for a long period of time. He was also getting hungry.

"I'd like a breath of fresh air too. And I wouldn't mind pissing off Forge again." Claire said.

"Ok, I get that he was being totally terrible. But he really is normally a really good guy. Just paranoid and brusque." Max said. "Give him a chance please."

"Everyone deserves a second chance, especially family. And I've forgiven worse." Jim smiled. "But can we please go outside, before I go nuts?"

"Yeah, follow me." Max said, and with a wave of his hand beckoned them out into the hall.

"Say, there wouldn't happen to be any sort of small rodents in this desert of yours, would there?" Jim asked as he followed Max and Steel down the hallway, Claire walking next to him, she snickered at the question.

"Um, yeah I guess. I've seen some rabbits around… Why?" Max replied.

"Uh, first, I need to know how comfortable you're gonna be with me?"

"What does that mean?" Steel asked. Getting questioning looks from the pair from over the shoulder glances.

"Well, I do some things that you're going to think are really weird, or strange, or discusting. And when I'm around others I have to fight my instincts, so that I don't do something that others wouldn't want to see. So my question is, how much am I going to be able to be myself around you?" Jim's ears fell slightly. He waited for his brother to say something like, 'just act like a human would' but he didn't.

"Jim, you took out over half the base, single handed. I'm fairly sure you weren't even trying. Not even I could do that, You may be part Tachyon, but you're also part troll. I think that's pretty cool. So you do you, Bro." He smiled as Jim's ears perked up and his tail swayed a bit more quickly than before.

"Thanks Max, the only other person who lets me be myself is Claire. It means alot." Jim said. He laced his fingers with Claire's.

They entered the large enclosure where the tank had shot Jim, the halves of the machine lay there in two. "Was that you?" Claire asked, Jim nodded, his ears folded against his head as he slouched, slightly embarrassed. They had a good laugh about the tank.

They got to the center of the hollow mountain and looked up at the skylight.

"I'll fly you guys out," Max called Steel and transformed into 'turbo flight mode' covering his face and body in his armor.

"That was super cheesy." Claire said.

"The cameras love it." he laughed.

"That's right, dad said you're a public superhero." Jim nodded. "Also, I'll get out on my own. I don't think you'll be able to lift me."

"Why?" Steel asked from Max's chestplate.

"Because I'm basically made of stone." Jim shrugged.

Max stepped back as if surprised, he couldn't tell with the helmet on.

"How are expecting to get out?" Steel asked.

"You take Claire up, I'll follow you out." Jim laughed and let go of Claire's hand.

Max wrapped his arm around Claire and hovered off the ground, waiting to see what Jim would do, their legs dangled in the air.

Jim laughed at his brother's curiosity. He looked around at the walls and decided on the best spot to scale the wall. Once he picked the point, he ran at it and sprang from the ground reaching a small ridge for his fingers to grasp about 20 ft above the ground. Holding on with one hand and his feet planted against the stone, he looked behind him grinning.

"Dude!" Max yelled. "That was sick!"

"Pht…" Jim snorted. "Wait till I get outside. Then you can be impressed."

Jim grabbed the ridge with his other hand and launched himself up. He probably looked like a jumping spider to the others. As he climbed his tail swang around moving to compensate for ballance. Grasping the small cracks and rocks on the wall, Jim climbed with surprising speed. Once on a ledge near the top he jumped from the edge up and out of the skylight, landing on top of the mountain.

He took a deep breath in, smelling the cool night air. The soft breeze brushing his skin, and the moon almost at its peak. Max landed next to him and set Claire down.

"Gotta admit, I do like the smoother landing." She said.

"Hey!" Jim admonished.

She shrugged.

"That was amazing! How did you do that?" Steel said, leaving Max's chest in a puff of energy.

"Just did. Besides, you ain't seen nothin yet." Jim glanced at the steepness of the mountain and grinned. "Race you to the bottom!"

"Hey, no fair. You got a head start." Max yelled. He cackled madly as his two legged sprint changed to four legged, running down the face of the steep mountain. Jumping from one ledge to the next, somersaulting down the the side, and before he reached the bottom he pushed off the mountain jumping for the ground. Sticking the landing and looking Bad-A. A feral grin crossed his face as Max, Steel and Claire landed and Max's flight suit disappeared leaving the regular covering, without the helmet. The indignant looks on Steel's and Max's faces', which only made him cackle harder.

"Not fair." Max walked up to him and punched him in shoulder.

Instincts needed to be satisfied.

Jim shoved him back (gently) and pounced on him knocking him over.

"What's not fair?" Jim smirked, standing over his brother.

"This." Max yelled as he pulled his legs to his chest and drove his feet into Jim's chest, sending a few steps back. Max threw a couple punches, some hit Jim and he laughed as they did nothing. The others he dogged or blocked. He swiped a few times with his claw like nails, but that didn't do much against the others suit. Jim managed to trip him once with his tail, but Max learned quickly to watch the tail.

Jim lauged, and charged with his head lowered, sending Max sliding back on his feet with an undignified 'oof'. Suddenly, his eyes lit up like small blue fires and he ran back with speed that wasn't his, catching Jim off guard. That was something. Max collided with him and took him to the ground.

They sat up on the ground, and laughed together. Jim started purring, and when he realized what he was doing it was too late. He immediately stopped and shrunk in on himself, lowering his ears and wrapping his tail around him where he sat. burying his head between his knees and grasping his horns. Than he felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Max's.

"Hey man, don't do that. It's good. I told you to just be yourself. And I meant it." He looked up to see his brother's eyes, the same eyes he had. The intense blue that could show the coldest of looks or share the warmest moments.

Jim smiled, his ears still folded back, Max nodded. Jim threw his arms around his brother and his tail wrapped around the other, Max hugged him back. When they pulled apart Jim spoke.

"Brother."

"Brother." Max replied.

-0-

Claire watched Jim land as they flew down. Looking swol as ever with the sleeves of his shirt tightened against his arms. As they landed Jim was laughing madly at the other two. Max marched up to Jim and punched his shoulder. He probably didn't expect for Jim to fight back, for a moment she was worried that Jim felt threatened. Than she watched Jim, his tail wasn't agitated, it was showing his excitement. Her and Steel watched the fight play out.

"Should we stop them?" Steel asked her, his tone voiced concern.

She shook her head, "No, I think Jim just learned some new instincts." She laughed.

"What do you mean?" Steels face replaced with a question mark.

"Ok, so Jim has different instincts than a regular human… Or Tachyon… Wow this must really be throwing him off. Anyways, his troll half has him do things that most of the time would be considered animal." Claire started, she was about to continue when Steel spoke.

"And animals have different instincts toward different members of their families. After he found he had a brother, his range of instincts grew." Steel threw his arms around.

Claire smiled at him and stared for a moment.

"What?" He asked.

"I'm just glad there is someone with some brains, out in the field with Max." She snorted.

They watched as Jim tripped Max with his tail, and laughed as his face plowed into the dirt.

"So, if they're play-fighting, you know like a pair of cubs. Who do you think will win?" Steel asked.

"Hm, I haven't really seen Max fight. I know Jim could and already has beat him, but he wouldn't want to hurt him now. So there's a good chance that Max could win, or Jim might just throw the fight." She smiled as she watched Jim play with his brother.

"You're right. Do you think Max could actually do any damage against him?" Steel humed.

"Mmm, no. He once got hit in the face with a fire extinguisher at a couple hundred miles per hour and laughed about it." she said, but not paying attention.

Steel looked at her with an exclamation on his face. Unsure what to say he turned back to watching the fight, his arms dangled from his body.

"So Max's armor, how does that work? Their dad said that you generate it. And it seems he can only put it on or change it with you?" Claire asked, turning to face the Ultralink.

"Well, he can't change it without me. But it doesn't actually come off. It's disguised kinda like a hologram. I control the steel suit, and if I wanted to I could control Max. Kinda like a puppet, but I don't like to do that. It's what most Ultralinks do, and I deserted Mackino's army for a reason." he floated and stared at her.

"Ja'em told me Jim and I about that. Thanks for saving the world by the way." She said.

Steel bowed, "At your service, lady Claire."

They watched the fight further for a few more minutes.

"I bet you ten bucks he rams him in the stomach." Claire said. No ten seconds later, Jim rammed his head into Max's gut, sending him sliding back on his feet. A good 20 yards.

"I don't have to pay it if Max uses his Turbo energy to run back at him." They watched Max's eyes light up and run at Jim with inhuman speed. Jim's eyes went wide, the others speed surprised him enough for him to hesitate and Max collided with Jim knocking him over.

"Even." Claire nodded. Silently impressed at how well they both knew their partners.

The boys lay laughing in the dirt and sat up. They were sitting silently, then Max's eyes widened slightly and looked at Jim. Suddenly her mate curled in on himself, burying his head in between his knees and grabbing his horns. Claire's heart fell, Jim must've purred. She knew how embarrassed he got when he purred around others. She about ran to her when Steel flew into her path.

"Wait, I think Max is handling it." He said quietly. Then turned around to watch.

In the distance, Claire could see Max put his hand on Jim's shoulder. Her mate's head shot up to see who had touched him. Then Max spoke, it was hard to hear at that distance, but the still night allowed it.

"Hey man, don't do that. It's good. I told you to just be yourself. And I meant it." He said. Claire's heart went out to Max, the kid was almost a complete stranger, and he was accepting him. She knew it meant the world to Jim, especially because they were brothers.

Jim threw his arms around Max, he tensed for a moment then wrapped his arms around Jim. when they pulled away Jim said something she couldn't hear. Then Max repeated it.

"Brothers."

About 32 pages. And this is one of the short chapters...

R&R Please.