Rocky gasped. "But- what happened?"

"I don't know! Everyone else was in the back yard and I went to go to the bathroom. When I came back, I found a note next to the phone. His backpack and a bunch of clothes are gone." Barry showed her the note.

Rocky grabbed it while Barry tried to get a hold of Skipper.

"Seven-four? What does that mean?" Rocky asked. The numbers were the only thing on the paper.

"Skipper! Kenny's disappeared." Barry said, putting his phone on speaker.

"What?!" Kowalski's voice yelped.

"He left a note that said 'seven-four' and that's it." Barry said.

"Rocky, you've got to go after him. He has no idea where he's going." Skipper said. "I'll let my dad know. Here's Kowalski."

Rocky told him she'd drive around. She hopped in her car and drove off.

Barry went inside to find his foster mother on the phone with George Sorenson. Jackie, Beck, and Barry decided that another car would be helpful. Steven, the foster father, also took a car with Carlos in it. Carlos was good at spotting things and could be of help.

Barry stayed on the phone the whole time.

"How long ago did Kenny disappear?" Kowalski asked.

"I found out five minutes before Rocky got here." Barry said. "I was trying to get hold of Skipper's house. I didn't know his cell number and had to text Allie who had to text Marlene who finally sent it back to Allie and then to me."

"I thought you had his number." Kowalski said.

"I did, but Carlos changed all my contact names to Batman…I've been texting people for the past week. What does seven-four mean?" Barry asked.

"It means he ran away." Kowalski said. "When he was four, I was seven. At the time, I got beaten pretty badly and I had always told him to run to Izzy's house if anything went wrong. He managed to do that and ever since, we called that 'seven-four' because something went wrong and we needed to run and hide. He's trying to disappear."

Beck opened her mouth to ask a question, but Barry shook his head. She looked out the window, hoping to spot Kenny.

"Where would he go from here?" Jackie asked.

"I don't know, probably underground." Kowalski said.

Jackie slammed the brake, causing the other two to yelp.

She looked at the entrance to a subway system. "He doesn't know how dangerous the underground levels are." She said.

"What just happened?" Kowalski asked.

Jackie didn't respond. She got out of the car and the other two followed her. They entered underground.

A crowd of people were pushing past each other to get on and get off.

"Look!" Barry said, spotting a familiar dark red.

The three of them slipped onto the train before the doors closed. Barry showed Jackie that he had lost the connection with Kowalski.

"Where are we going?" Beck asked.

"This subway is going towards Manhattan." Barry answered. "Roy lives the other way."

Jackie didn't say anything. She kept watch on the small boy who was trying to hide behind his backpack. He sat with his feet up on the seat and his face buried in his bag. He hadn't seen Barry and the girls yet.

"Stay here a minute." Jackie said.

She got up and sat next to Kenny, the other two kids still in her sight.

"Hey." Jackie said.

Kenny stiffened immediately and tightened his grip on his bag.

Jackie looked around; making sure no one was paying attention. She pulled something out and poked Kenny with it. She caught him before he could fall over.

No one seemed to care that she took him off at Central Park with Barry and Beck.

Barry carried the backpack while Jackie had Kenny on her back. She noted how thin he was. They exited the underground.

Kenny started to stir. She put him down on a bench.

"Why?" He groaned.

"Because I could tell you weren't going to come quietly." Jackie answered.

Kenny sprung to his feet and started running. The other three ran after him.

He panted, losing energy. The others had more energy than he did. He bolted across the street, causing one of the drivers to swerve and nearly crash into another. A couple of cars slowed down, effectively slowing Jackie, Barry, and Beck.

Jackie hurried after Kenny with the other two trailing behind her. Beck complained of tiredness and Barry said his foot hurt.

"He's going to Allie's house." Barry said.

Jackie stopped. "Do you know where Allie lives?" she asked.

Barry nodded.

He led the way, the three of them walking this time.

They saw Kenny's retreating back as he turned onto Allie's street.

He was already inside by the time they got to the door.

Allie let them in, saying that Kenny had locked himself in the bathroom.

Jackie told the younger kids to stay in the living room as she approached the bathroom. She knocked on the door, but received no response.

"Kenny, you can't hide in there forever." Jackie said. "This isn't your bathroom. I want to talk to you."

No response came.

Jackie sighed and pulled a hairpin from her pocket. She picked the lock and managed to get the door open.

Kenny was sitting in the corner and looked up in shock.

"I've known how to pick locks since I was two." Jackie said. "It's a valuable skill to know when your older foster siblings decide to lock you out in the snow without a jacket or shoes. Not even a hat was given to me. I had a worn set of pajamas and very holey socks. Let's talk."

Allie and her grandmother entertained Beck and Barry with stories in the living room while Jackie and Kenny sat on a bench in the back yard. Kenny stared at his knees as if they would tell him what to do.

"This is going to sound corny, but I know how you feel." Jackie said.

"No you don't…"

"Yes I do. Kid, I've seen things worse than you have. Heck, I've lived through worse and that was how I basically began my life." Jackie said. "My mother was killed in the middle of the divorce settlings, and then I was abandoned by my 'father'. He didn't care about me; he poisoned her and admitted he would have killed me because he preferred another family. He cheated on my mother and made her seem like a bad person. Not even his parents wanted anything to do with me. My mother's parents had died before I was born. The only person who wanted to take care of me was not allowed to because he didn't have a license to foster me. My life was a series of horrible homes with either mean parents, mean foster kids, or just too much going on. They didn't want anything to do with me. When I was four, I was transferred to a different home. I was sent to a hovel of demons. They lost my paperwork and I disappeared off the face of the earth. In that place…it's not even worthy to call a home…I was beaten daily and I was taken advantage of…I don't want to go into detail, but they did the worst thing imaginable. They took my innocence…only one of the boys was kind enough to leave me alone. He didn't touch me, he helped me escape. I escaped after one of the boys killed himself by drunk driving. My attackers were one less, but it got worse. The youngest boy acted like a brother by telling me to run. He covered for me as I made my escape with a ton of cash and as much food and water as I could carry."

"Then what?"

"I was heavily injured. I had broken ribs from my last beating and they weren't healing properly. I was limping from a swollen and ugly looking ankle. I kept running, not wanting to be forced to return. No one looked twice at me. They didn't care for a smelly, broken, ugly looking girl."

"You're not ugly."

Jackie smiled. "Thanks. But back then, a bruised face that had a bloody and gross look…well, that didn't work out so well. I was starving by the time I got to New York. I hid myself in an alley and prepared to die. I was only five and I was thinking of dying."

"But you're not dead."

"No, but I almost was. Somehow, Mom found me. By mom, I mean Elizabeth Henderson." She smiled. "I have no idea how she heard me over all the background noise, but she heard me whimper and move something in the alley. She discovered me and took me to the one place I never thought I'd have. She took me home."

"I don't have a home…"

"But you do have safe places." Jackie said. "The Sorenson house is safe. And so are the houses of your friends. Private, Ramona and Allie seem like really good friends."

"And Rico's."

"And the Henderson's house. You're always welcomed there. I know that one day you will find your home. Just know that we're your family and you have tons of safe houses with everyone who told you they accept you. They really do. They'll accept your every strength, weakness, perfection, and flaw; they'll love you no matter what. It took me over ten years to realize that."

She gave him a hug.

The two of them came back inside and Kenny apologized for frightening everyone.

"Kenny, we really do know how you feel." Barry said. "But it's not all broken promises. We kept ours to bring you and Kowalski back. To make sure you never have to go back to the past."

"We promised to love you and that's what we'll do." Allie said.

"It can be bad sometimes, but you're more lucky than other kids." Beck said. "My brother's in a wheelchair forever and he can't talk to me anymore."

"That's a little different." Barry said. "That's true though, but you and I were never abused."

Beck nodded. "That makes sense."

Kenny smiled at her. "I think I'll be okay."

"If not, then we'll be there for you." Allie said.

"Yeah, we're your friends." Barry said.

"We'll catch you when you fall. If you fall, we'll pick up the pieces." Jackie said. "We're not going to let you two disappear. Your brother thought he was going to be hit for breaking a plate by accident."

The others looked puzzled.

"I was visiting Brian for spring break and I met Kowalski…"

Rocky and Kowalski were having a dish cleaning competition while Sapphire was scrubbing a pan.

"This will not come out easily." Sapphire said. "I'll be right back."

She set the pan down and left the kitchen.

The others were chatting in the living room.

They heard the door open and a bunch of greetings being shouted. Rocky rolled her eyes.

"I'll let the loud ones know you're here too." Rocky said.

Kowalski nodded and dried the wet plates.

Rocky entered to see her brothers and a girl with black hair.

"Jackie!" Rocky said. "Nice to see you again."

"You too, Rocks. What's going on?" Jackie replied.

"Not much, just clea-"

CRASH!

They jumped and turned to the kitchen.

Sapphire and George got there first. Rocky and her brothers brought up the rear and Jackie tried to peer over their heads.

"N-no…" a faint whimper said.

"Alright, clear out!" George said, shooing his curious children away.

Skipper slipped into the kitchen. He saw a broken plate and Kowalski cowering on the floor, curled up in a corner.

"Kowalski?"

"I-I didn't…I-I'm sorry…p-please…I-I didn't mean it…wet…slipped…" He mumbled incoherently.

"Kowalski, it was an accident. You're not in trouble." Sapphire said.

"Hey, what's going on?" Skipper asked.

They tried to get closer, but Kowalski shot up suddenly, smacking his head on an open cupboard door. He cried out in pain and immediately covered his mouth.

"Kowalski!"

He ran out before Skipper could do anything else. He hid in the guest room and tried to gather his breath.

He heard a small knock on the door, but ignored it. The person knocked louder the second time.

When he kept ignoring it, the person entered anyway.

"Hi, are you okay?"

Kowalski turned to find a girl he didn't know. She looked at him with an expression he'd not seen before. Understanding?

"I'm Jackie." She said.

"Kowalski." The boy mumbled.

"I remember Barry talking about you and Kenny."

"Barry?"

"Don't tell anyone, but I know what Barry gets up to." Jackie said. "He's my foster brother."

"Does he tell you everything?"

"No, but Skipper tells his brother, Brian, who tells me. Brian is my boyfriend."

Kowalski sighed. "I overreacted, didn't I?"

"I can't say I've never seen a reaction like that before."

Kowalski looked puzzled.

She sat on the bed next to him.

"I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. But I've seen that reaction in kids who have been abused or who are afraid of being punished. I've been that kid before." She said. "I can tell that you've been hurt before. I've seen a similar look in Barry's face. Disappointment. Broken promise."

"Why is he afraid of going out for ice cream?"

"When was it asked?"

"Last semester, they wanted to celebrate the end of finals with ice cream after school and Barry acted as if it was going to smack him in the face."

"He told me once, 'three strikes and you're out'." Jackie said. "The first time ice cream after school was promised was the day his dad died. His dad said that he was going to pick Barry up after school and go get huge double scoops of ice cream. His dad got hit by a car right before Barry got out of school. He was five years old. The second time was when his mother died. She was very weak and dying in the hospital. She said that she would be fine and that they could all go out for ice cream when she got out of the hospital. Needless to say, Barry got his heart and a promise broken all over again not even three years later."

"Was the third time when his sister left?"

Jackie nodded. "She promised him ice cream and a big surprise afterwards. I'd never seen such a defeated looking child. He was only eight and he looked like he'd seen a war. His eyes were puffy from crying; he barely spoke or ate for ages. He never really believed anyone would take him for ice cream without anything happening. It was a rough year as I was going through problems of my own and Barry wasn't being paid enough attention to. He was shattered and needed someone to pick him up."

"What happened?"

"I got my act together and started acting like a sister." Jackie said, smiling. "He grew attached to me quickly and learned that he was safer. He's a great kid, even if he does stupid things sometimes. He can be reckless if no one reels him in. Skipper knows a lot of this. He knows that Barry needs to have discipline and freedom at the same time. He knows that Barry's been hurt before. Have you been hurt?"

"Yes…" Kowalski whispered. "We've been hit. Mostly me, though. I never let him hurt my brother if I could help it. I was the only one who cared about what happened to him…now he has other people who care."

"So do you."

Kowalski shook his head. "Not me. I'm-"

"If you say worthless, I will give you a wet willie." She held up her finger.

Kowalski laughed nervously.

"Kowalski, they want you too. Brian said that his mom's going on about how helpful you were and how much she just wanted to scoop you up give you all the love she could. They care about you too."

Barry turned pink when he realized that Jackie told the reason why he didn't like promises.

"Is that what happened?" Kenny asked.

Barry sighed. "Yeah…I guess that's out. I'll tell the others as soon as I figure out who my contacts are."

"Your contacts?"

"Carlos changed them all to Batman."

Kenny gave a small smile. Beck started laughing.

Once Kenny had arrived at the Sorenson house, Rocky informed them that he hadn't spoken more than three words since she picked him up. The only words he said were 'hi', 'bye', and 'thanks', the first word directed at Rocky and the last two towards Barry's foster family. She had tried to engage him in conversation, but he didn't respond.

Kenny sat on the bed across from Kowalski, staring blankly into space as Rocky was told what happened. Rocky's immediate reaction was to express the desire to pound her older brother. Skipper stopped her by saying that it would be counter-productive if they wanted to reverse what had been done.

Toby popped in to apologize, but Kowalski could tell that the older boy didn't honestly feel sorry for what he said. He was still wondering why it was such a big deal. Kowalski didn't try to explain something he thought was pretty obvious.

The others shared Kowalski's belief as they shooed Toby out of the room.

"Kenny, you're not a burden." Kowalski said. "Come on, bro, talk to me."

Kenny refused to respond.

"Kenny, Toby's a butt, don't listen to him." Rocky said. "There's tons of people, most of them my family, who will agree that Toby has no self control. He says the first thing that pops up in his head. His bark is worse than his bite."

"He's all talk." Skipper said. "What matters is that you're safe and you're with family. We care about you."

"I want to join." Kenny said hoarsely.

The others looked puzzled.

"I want to help you guys in whatever you're doing."

Kowalski realized what he was talking about. "Kenny, you're too young-"

"I'm four months older than Private." Kenny shot back. "We're already involved. Barry's foster sister is in the organization. Mr. Campbell was attacked in front of us. I think we deserve to be part of it, even if we don't get much action."

"They could be backup. PARK B has shown themselves worthy." Skipper said. "However, I feel that it's dangerous. Our mission to Africa might have been short and relatively simple, but I have a gut feeling that it's going to get harder."

"Could PARK B at least be the protectors of the school and the apartments? We could tell you things that are happening." Kenny's eyebrows rose hopefully.

Kowalski, Skipper, and Rocky exchanged looks.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind joining either." Rocky said. "Mom says I'm not allowed to even think about it until I'm eighteen."

"So, why not?" Kenny asked. "And you can't say I'm too young when Private's on your team. Where's Rico, I want his opinion…wasn't he staying here?"

"Yeah, but he decided to visit with Private for a couple of days. Private has to fly back home soon. How about I invite them both here and we can talk about it?" Skipper asked.

"Okay!" Kenny said. "Kowalski, you haven't said anything, what are you thinking?"

Kowalski took a deep breath and pushed himself up. The others waited for a response, but it never came. He stood up with a wince and limped out of the room. Skipper tried to follow him, but all Kowalski did was enter the bathroom.

Sapphire came up to ask the teens if they wanted to help out with dinner. Kenny went back to silent mode after Kowalski left. Skipper and Rocky went to help their mother, leaving Kenny to his thoughts.

Kowalski still hadn't come out of the bathroom ten minutes later, so Kenny rifled through his backpack for a video game. He discovered that he had a Game Boy Advance SP and a Nintendo DS. He smiled as he remembered Ginger's story about how her cousin nearly fell over when he was told that Kenny never played videogames. For some reason, this complete stranger decided that he had an extra and to just give him a DS with Pokémon Diamond in it. Private's cousin, Daniel, had given him an earlier version of the device with Pokémon Leaf Green. He still couldn't comprehend why two people who lived on the other side of the world and barely knew him, would want to just give away something like this.

He hadn't played his games in a while because he had wanted to focus on school, but now he was tempted as he picked up the Advance SP and started playing. He stuck by his starter, Squirtle, already having brushed past the first gym.

"Rival Rival wants to battle." He laughed to himself. Daniel had suggested something silly or funny for when they encountered the rival character.

Kowalski was finally coming out of the bathroom when he heard Sapphire call them down for dinner. He gripped the rail tightly as he limped down. He had to hold on as Toby came rushing down the stairs as impatiently as Barry.

"Yeah, thanks…" Kowalski muttered under his breath, trying not to lose his balance.

Rocky appeared at the bottom, asking if he needed help. He shook his head.

"Kenny, dinner's ready!" Rocky said, loud enough for the younger boy to hear but not too loud that it would frighten him.

Kenny appeared at the top of the stairs just as Kowalski managed to get to the bottom. The younger boy was still playing the game.

The boys sat at the table as Skipper joined them.

"Game away, please." Sapphire said.

Kenny looked confused.

"Geez, don't you have any manners?" Toby asked. "Mom's rules say no games at the table, I'll take that." He whipped the game out of Kenny's hands. Kenny blinked in shock.

"Toby-" George started.

"There." Toby smirked, ignoring his father. "Maybe I'll take it off your hands for you, you don't need-OW!"

Kenny had punched him. He shot out and managed to yank the game from Toby's hands. He inspected the device and gasped. The screen was frozen and the cartridge was gone.

"Whoops!" Toby said with a devilish grin.

"TOBY!" George barked. "That's enough!"

"Hey, no worries, I was leaving anyway." Toby said. "Sorry." He said insincerely. He brushed past Skipper on the way out, dropping the game on his brother's food.

Sapphire had been trying to hold down Skipper and Rocky from going after their brother. Kowalski was holding himself back from hitting Toby again. He was rather surprised that Kenny retaliated.

"You know, I don't think that this is what nutritionists had in mind when they said more iron." Skipper said, trying to lift the mood. He inspected the game, now covered in ketchup. "Ash Ketchup, get it?"

Rocky snorted.

"Kenny, are you alright?" Kowalski asked.

Kenny remained silent. He simply started eating his dinner, ignoring looks and questions from the others at the table.

The Sorensons tried to keep the usual dinner conversation going on, but they couldn't avoid the awkward pauses. Kowalski tried to partake in the conversations while keeping an eye on his brother at the same time.

"I'm finished, may I be excused?" Kenny asked.

Kowalski opened his mouth, but Sapphire spoke.

"Sure, just leave your plate there." She said.

"Thank you for dinner." Kenny said before he returned to the bedroom. He decided to start on Pokémon Diamond, naming his rival Barry.

He was up playing for a while, not noticing that he started to drift off.

Kowalski wished he had his phone when he entered the room. Kenny's phone had been smashed against the wall and Kowalski's had been used as a weapon…it was a terrible weapon…

Kenny was asleep on top of the sheets, fully dressed, and still holding his DS. The game was still on.

Kowalski gently took the device out of his brother's hands. He removed a blanket from his own bed and put it on top of Kenny. Kenny shifted, but stayed asleep.

The older boy looked at the game.

"What should Monkey do?" He read. "Run? Oh, no, can't run away from trainer battle." He shook his head. "Really, we can't trip him and leave? Geez…Okay, scratch? Oh no, I killed the blue penguin…sorry, Piplup…I…defeated Barry? Why's Barry in this game-wait, Barry's not blond…okay, bye Barry…geez, he's as impatient as the real Barry…I should save the-oh golly, someone just HAS to interrupt. Who is this old guy and why do I care what he says?"

Kowalski shook his head, saved the game, and then turned it off. He looked over at his sleeping brother.

"I can't let you get hurt again."

"Psst!"

Skipper stood at the doorway, motioning for Kowalski to follow. The two of them entered Skipper's room and shut the door.

"I got a message." He opened the communicator watch. "Call Rico and Private"

It took a while for Rico to answer his watch, then one minute to pinch Private awake.

Private grumbled until he saw Skipper's watch on.

"Hey, soldiers." Agent Simms said. "Can you all hear me?"

"Yeah." Rico and Private said sleepily.

"What's going on?" Skipper asked.

"It seems your mission to Africa was a distraction. They didn't want you to get in the way of their mission again."

"What? Was the school attacked?"

"No, but your Principal has disappeared. There's no sign of him, and a few other schools suddenly lost some board members."

"Right before grades go out?" Kowalski asked. "Wait, Mr. Taylor has a family, where are they?"

"And Nicole Dunbar, she's one of my classmates." Private said.

"For now, they've been moved to a safer location." Simms said. "We've gotten word that someone was able to hack the system, someone who was there for a week or less."

"Rhonda!" Private gasped.

"What?!" Simms yelped. "Please tell me you don't mean Agent Twelve? Here's a picture."

A blurred picture flashed across the screen. The boys were able to confirm that it was Rhonda.

"She's an agent?" Kowalski asked.

"Yes, on Blowhole's side. We believe she may have planted a tracking device on Miss Dunbar which led them to your principal's house."

"Can you be sure that she didn't plant tracking devices on anyone else?" Skipper asked.

"We're checking that now, if we find anything else then we'll let you know. For the moment, I want you to try to remember anything else suspicious and report it to me. Anything you find around can be helpful."

"Why were those guys after Mr. Campbell?" Private asked. "And why did two of them go into the girls' restroom?"

"I think they wanted a distraction while the others tried to get rid of Agent Campbell. It would then be easy for Rhonda to plant herself as a spy." Skipper responded. "They probably didn't predict Private being in the room or Kowalski trying to see if his brother was alright."

"That's pretty spot on." Simms said. "Just keep an eye out and take care boys, we'll be in contact."

Skipper ended communication. Kowalski's watch showed Private's T-shirt.

Rico was falling asleep on Private's shoulder. Private nudged him and the screen jolted before the two of them appeared back on the screen.

"Sorry." Rico said.

"What do we do now?" Private asked.

"We do as Simms said; keep an eye out for anything suspicious." Skipper said.

"So, basically there was no point in waking these two up?" Kowalski asked.

Rico laughed.

"There was, so we could identify Rhonda as one of Blowhole's agents and be on the alert." Skipper said. "We should meet up to conduct some investigations. Meet me at the HQ at 0900."

"What?"

"Huh?"

Rico and Private looked puzzled.

Skipper sighed. "Nine in the morning." He said. "And I want no complaints or I'm making you come at six."

"Alright, we will be there, promise!" Private said.

Rico nodded. "Yes sir!" He saluted, shifting the screen again.

They ended communication and decided to head to bed.

A/N: Skipper: We told you Kenny was unharmed! And yes, Tammy is from Camaraderie.

Kowalski: We know the backstory on Jackie wasn't as important, she's not going to be a main character so you don't have to worry about that.

Private: Rico found TK at last! We thought TK was hiding, but the author was just getting ready for school. TK started school Monday, which means chapters may come at a slower pace, but chapters will come for as long as TK can keep going!

Rico: Read, Review!

The Penguins: See ya later!