TW PTSD and talking about the crash

March was full of surprises. The first one being that Randy Campbell had returned from his mission and he had found Peter Taylor, Central High's former principal. Mr. Taylor was unconscious, but alive. His medical details were highly confidential as well as the new location of his wife and kids.

Private's classmate and friend, Nicole Dunbar, wasn't with the family. After a long while of waiting, he was finally told that her dad had decided to take her on his work trips. Nicole was able to join on a website called Discord. Their former sixth grade math class called themselves the Desk Society and everyone was on it except for Raj whom no one had heard from.

The agents weren't allowed to tell the Penguins much, even when they questioned an attack on a safe village during the winter. There was a village in India that had been compromised and invaded. The village's inhabitants were alive, but terrified and placed in other villages.

The second was that Mort wasn't going on the sixth grade field trip in April. The boys thought for sure anywhere he went would be a great time for him and he was allowed to have Maurice or Julien's parents sign the papers. It was Mort who said no. Clover tried to get an answer out of him as to why and none came. The boys were highly suspicious and tried several methods, including having Private hang out with him.

Private revealed the reason he was hanging out with Mort and the younger boy sighed sadly. He said he tried to think about being away from Julien and Maurice for a week, but he couldn't without panicking. He'd always been with either one of the teens or with Julien's parents and none of them could chaperone, so Mort stayed behind. He said he was fine with it and he'd just hang out with Eggy's brothers or something.

Around Mid-March, Kowalski finally had a breakthrough in the crash investigation. It had taken a lot of persuading, but the former truck driver had invited the teen to meet at the other end of Central Park. The other three accompanied him.

Kenny was finally told everything and he wanted to go with them, but was scared of actually meeting the man. He requested that Jeffery come too. The two of them hung back a bit, tossing a baseball back and forth.

The rest of the boys looked around until they noticed a man with the gaunt face and haunted eyes sitting on a park bench. He looked towards them and lifted a hand. His eyes widened at the sight of Kowalski. Kowalski hesitated, but was given a reassuring squeeze by Rico.

The man sighed heavily. "Don't hurt me." He pleaded. He looked and sounded like a weak old man, but they were told he was only around forty. That meant that he'd been in his late twenties at the time of the crash.

"We're not a gang." Skipper said. "We're just a group of concerned friends. Out of curiosity, do you have employment?"

"Had odd jobs for a while, now I work at a zoo, not this one." The man answered, gesturing towards Central Park Zoo. "Nothing like truck driving again...is this kid okay to hear these things?" He gestured to Private.

"Yeah, he's alright. How did you know who I was?" Kowalski asked.

"You look just like her except for the hair. She...I heard her struggling to breathe...I tried to save her...blind hope...just hoping she'd somehow turn out okay...she wasn't...what was her name?"

"Maria Harrison."

"Maria...I couldn't save you, Maria...I'm sorry." The man sniffled. "My name is Ellis."

"I'm Kowalski. My little brother is three years younger than me. He was one when she died."

"You were just children." Ellis had a faraway look in his eyes, he shook his head. "What I did...what did I do? Was it...wrong? I tried to save them."

"What do you mean you tried to save them?" Skipper asked.

"That man...I don't know him...his face. He was across from me at the stoplight. He looked at the group at the crosswalk with a face that no one should have. He was planning something and I had to stop him."

"He did it on purpose?" Kowalski asked. "My research indicated it was inconclusive whether he meant to harm or if he was drunk."

"Even if he was drunk, there was no mistaking that face." Ellis shuddered. "I heard he later broke into a coroner's office and then died."

"He destroyed records of my mother. I feel that wasn't just coincidence."

"I believe that. Shame he can't be brought to justice..."

"If my father was behind it, then he's been brought to justice." Kowalski said.

"Your-?"

"He was an abusive man, I barely survived getting away from him. I feel that my mother was planning to take us away from him."

"I couldn't save her and I condemned you and your brother..." Ellis ran his hands through his hair. "Your brother...did he get out?"

"He got out better off than I did. He's actually over there with our cousin." Kowalski pointed to Jeffery and Kenny. "You saved others on the crosswalk. If you hadn't done that, more people might have gotten killed. You possibly saved the other drivers too, they would have started going as soon as the light turned green."

"My family said I killed them...they wanted nothing to do with me."

"They're wrong. You told your side of the story and you made the best decision in the short time before the light changed."

"I lie awake at night a lot, wondering why I didn't die with them. I was hit on my side, that with the swerving caused my load to become unbalanced and...why did I walk away with a broken hip when five people died? One man got paralyzed and wheelchair bound, a young woman had severe brain damage...they were younger than me, early twenties maybe...too young. I can't get her mom's voice out of my head, begging her daughter to wake up. She was going to RIT; her school shirt was bloody and now..."

"Do any of the victim's families believe you tried to save them?"

"The ones who survived, yes. Witnesses were telling them they saw the crazed driver. That and I was helping them instead of leaving. I kept going despite them telling me to stop because I was injured. I didn't care. I wasn't important. I'm not important. Three of the dead's families tried to put me in jail, they weren't witnesses and the whole trial was confusing, they just saw the driver of the vehicle who killed their relatives. One was your mother, I was told they couldn't find family...was there anyone besides you?"

"No." Kowalski said. "Her sister and best friend were killed in an accident about two years previously. The best friend being his mother." Rico half raised his hand, not expecting to be mentioned. "All my mother had after that were her kids. She didn't want her nephew mixed up in her marital issues."

"The last one, his sister still checks up on me. She was on the other side of the street when it happened. I think she was supposed to meet him. He was the youngest at nineteen. She was the same age as the RIT girl, I think. The girl's mom still checks on me too."

"Hold onto the people who care." Kowalski said. "Those are the people who you want in your life."

Ellis was about to respond, but was distracted. The boys turned to see Kenny and Jeffery walking up to them.

Kenny breathed shakily. "M-my name's Kenny. I just found out about everything a few days ago and I'm still not sure how to feel. I just know you're not a bad guy."

"Thanks, kid." Ellis mumbled. "I really tried to save her. She was still breathing and I was trying to stop the bleeding. I didn't know how bad it was until later."

"I wish I'd found my cousins sooner, but sometimes there's not much you can do." Jeffery said, he'd noticed his cousins were becoming emotional. "I was about fifteen when it happened and I was too young to come out to New York. I tried looking for information as soon as I could come out when I was eighteen. The coroner office break in had already happened."

"Yeah...I-I wasn't in a good place. Three solid years of depression. I-" He stopped, looking at Kenny and Private. "I tried several times to-to...stop the depression...but I couldn't. Every time I tried, I just imagined the girl in her RIT shirt like she could have a successful future now. I saw your mom still breathing and me thinking 'she's still there'. I don't know why these hopeless situations stopped me, but they did."

"Because in the moment there was something." Jeffery said. "I became an orphan when my mom died. I lost my aunt and my uncle disappeared with my cousins. I kept the memories of the happy little kids I knew. The toddling one year old who couldn't keep things out of his mouth, and the four year old who was trying to be a mini scientist. I could see my uncle in those memories, but I focused on the kids. I had hope that they were out there somewhere. I also had an unofficial adoptive family, they kept me hopeful and happy about life."

"I guess..."

A car honked. They saw someone wave to Ellis. He waved back.

"I gotta go. I live in Jersey now and I work cleaning the Hoboken zoo."

"You don't want the day off?" Skipper asked.

"Working keeps my mind busy." Ellis said. "You can call the zoo if you want to talk again. I'm extremely sorry for your loss." He told the brothers.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for all the trauma you've endured." Jeffery said. "I hope maybe this talk lifted some weight off your chest."

"Maybe, I'll see in a bit. Bye."

"Bye." The boys said.

The six of them stayed in the park for a while. Kenny cried while Kowalski held him on the bench. Rico leaned his head on Kowalski's shoulder. Skipper, Private and Jeffery tossed the baseball around. Private kept missing because he was looking towards the three on the bench.

"Hey Skipper." Jeffery said after a while. Private had missed again and went to retrieve the ball from a bush. "Thanks."

"For?"

"Being there for them."

"If I'm being honest, Private's the one who really got the ball rolling." Skipper said as the younger teen was returning. "He got Kenny to open up. He was just a scared kid who was figuring out what family was really all about."

"Kowalski was the same, really." Private said. "Just with extra fortified walls."

"Also, thanks for being there for Rico. I've known Rex and the kids forever. All Rico needed was genuine friends. The two at home are more Rikki's friends who care about Rico."

"Well, he bled on me so we almost became blood brothers or something like that." Private said.

"That was scary to hear about." Jeffery shuddered. "Uh...new topic?"

"We're just going through school, trying our best."

"Just be safe, okay? What limited knowledge I have of you four does make me more than a little concerned, but I've been told by multiple people that you guys are capable of defending yourselves and I believe it. Just try your best to be safe."

"We'll try." Skipper said.

They waited until Kenny was ready to leave. The Penguins returned to their house and started to train at Kowalski's request.

About a week later, they got two tip offs that the local law firm was experiencing more technical issues than usual and that they suspected a data breach. It seemed to be targeted towards Rhonda's files.

The first notification came from the agents while the second came from Julien. While Julien's father was attempting to investigate Mikayla's family, a lawyer who worked under him was complaining about not being able to get any further in helping her because of all the issues.

The Penguins investigated the building with permission from Julien Sr. Obviously, much was classified so they couldn't tell the boys anything other than corruptions had occurred. They were unable to trace the origin of the attempted hacker. They seemed to move around, so they couldn't be definitely traced.

"Rhonda's the main target. They want to destroy her case so she can't have any hard proof of her crimes." Kowalski told the boys when they returned to the house later.

"Wouldn't there be tons of files on Agent Twelve?" Private asked.

Skipper nodded. "I was told those were targeted a few months ago, but I think the agents got too close to discovering their location so they stopped."

"Hans." Rico said.

"They wouldn't give him access-"

"No, Hans said spies."

"Oh right, he did say there were spies he didn't know the identities of." Kowalski said. "Blowhole likes to keep his agents separated as possible so no one can turn each other in with names."

"So someone within the organization is one of Blowhole's." Skipper stated.

"Yep, which makes it all the more difficult to trust anyone."

"What can we do, then?" Private asked.

"Just prepare for-"

Skipper's phone was ringing.

"Julien's calling me." He answered and put it on speaker. "Julien?"

"My dad got a security alert that the lawyer office was broken into." Julien said. "He said he was calling George. I think he means your dad."

"Okay, thanks, we'll handle it." Skipper hung up. "Showtime, boys. Kowalski, contact backup. Rico and Private, get our gear. I'll tell my dad we're going."

The boys rode in Rico's car and parked across the street.

The door was unlocked with several signs of being forced open. They could hear shuffling upstairs. They quietly crept through the dark office building. Rico put on the heat seeking goggles. He signaled that there were two people, one on the floor above and the other was one floor above the other person.

"Not moving." Rico said, indicating the first person. "Sitting. Low heat."

"Private, Rico, you go for the one on the third floor." Skipper whispered.

"Yes, sir." Private said.

"Kowalski, you and I will get the one on the second."

Rico gestured for Private to follow as they went upstairs. The shuffling stopped. They got closer to where they saw a light coming from a door.

SWSHH

Rico twisted around to see papers fluttering to the ground from a copy machine. Private stepped away from it.

"Sorry." Private whispered.

The light disappeared. Rico held a hand for Private to stay. He edged forwards until they got to the door. Then he signaled for Private to run to the other side of the hall and downstairs so he could get the others.

Private did so. Rico was hoping the sound would distract whoever was in the office. A minute later, the door opened slowly and a masked person peeked towards where Private's footsteps had faded from.

Rico took the chance to tackle the man inside. The man cursed as they both went to the ground. Rico was shoved off, but got to his feet quickly as did the man. The man took a stack of papers and threw them. Rico dodged and attempted another tackle.

He missed and received a fist in his temple. Rico yelped in pain and blindly punched back. He made contact with the man's arm. Rico jumped back so he could get space as the man tried hitting again. Rico took out the butter tube and squirted it on the ground.

POP

It ended up exploding, sending the greasy substance everywhere. They were both slipping. Rico tried to regain balance as he kicked. He hit the man's knee and got out of the butter puddle. The man was trying to wipe off the butter. Rico took the moment to shove him from behind.

The man went crashing into a desk with a grunt. He tried to get up, but Rico gave him another kick, the masked man was down. Rico panted heavily, trying to shake off the dizziness from being punched in the head. He took off his dirty gloves, pulled out a rope from his bag and quickly tied the man's hands behind his back.

Rico coughed. His chest hurt. He used his communicator watch to signal his team.

"Rico!" Private's voice called. "Are you alright?!"

Rico tried to call out, but his lungs refused to let him get the air he wanted and he ended up coughing until he heaved. The team burst in; Kowalski and Skipper hoisted the man onto a chair and tied him to it, binding his legs as well.

Private got another chair for Rico to sit on and gave his teammate water. Rico nodded gratefully.

"Kitka's knocked out on the second floor." Skipper said. "It looked like she did it to herself."

"You think she broke out of whatever brainwashing happened and she did it in a moment of clarity?" Private asked.

"That's the ongoing theory. Maybe this guy's behind it." Skipper gestured to the unconscious man.

"Dang, if only we had a dog then we'd be doing this like Scooby Doo. Jinkies, I think I know who it was the entire time!" Kowalski jokingly said, grabbing the top of the mask. "It was the butl-WHAT?!"

He jumped like an electric shock went through him as the others yelped, the mask dropped unceremoniously to the floor. Rico groaned in pain, hugging his chest.

"I-is that-?" Private squeaked.

"No...no it's...it can't...why?" Skipper shook his head. "I-I don't get it. It doesn't make sense."

As much as he wanted to keep denying it, he couldn't. The beaten and unconscious form was his brother, Toby. He had a million questions but a wheeze brought him to a more concerning situation. His injured teammate needed his leader.

"Rico?" Kowalski was trying to make eye contact with Rico who was having trouble breathing and his eyes were squeezed shut in pain.

"P-Private, tell Simms where we are, I hear them downstairs, Rico needs medical attention. Then call my dad."

"Yes sir." Private said, his voice cracking, he hurried downstairs.

Skipper was staring at his brother, his mind swirling with questions he couldn't ask. Mostly why? Why are you working for Blowhole?

Kowalski was trying not to panic. He had no idea what to do and he could tell Skipper wasn't able to give him orders. It seemed like forever when agents entered the room and took over. Kowalski asked if he could go with Rico and the medics, Skipper nodded.

Skipper numbly followed the adult agents as they took Toby out of the room. Private stuck by the leader, wishing he had comforting words to say.

Kitka was waking up when they got out of the building. Having known Toby was Skipper's brother, she didn't disturb him. She approached Private instead.

"When he's better. Can you tell him I'm sorry for everything?" She asked. "I'm sorry I hurt you too."

"We know. Your dad told us about your last diary entry." Private admitted.

Kitka gave a slight smile. "Of course he did. Thank you."

"Give yourself credit, you did fight whatever they did to brainwash you."

"It started with headaches last year and no one could remember this video we kept watching."

"Oh wow…we blasted music to interrupt it and Kowalski found a way to reverse the brainwashing. We sent the cure to other schools who reported it."

Kitka looked thoughtful. "Maybe they planned a backup in case you guys stopped them, I did skip school for a bit, something told me I wasn't feeling good and I couldn't understand it. My classmates stopped complaining and I thought maybe my adrenaline seeking lifestyle was catching up to me already. I just know the headaches, buzzing, and voices didn't stop for me."

"Kitka?" Simms said. Kitka looked over to him. "We need to have you file reports, then we'll take you home. We've contacted your parents, they're anxious to see you and we can't take too long."

"Alright then. See you around, Private." Kitka said. "If you'll have me around, that is."

"Skipper probably still has your number, but in any case, here's mine." Private took out a pen and notepad.

ZZT

"Whoops, that was the laser pen."

Kitka snorted. Simms gave Private a regular pen and the fourteen year old wrote down his number. Kitka gave Private hers.

"It's also good to have on hand in case of an emergency." Private said. "Feel free to contact us if you need."

Kitka nodded and left.

Private turned and almost yelped at seeing Skipper so close to him.

"Thanks." Skipper said. "I know I should have had that talk, but-" He looked towards the car where Toby was sitting.

"You don't have to say anything, I understand." Private said, patting Skipper's back gently.