Phillip got to the Agency and went down to the interrogation room. What he saw next would haunt him for the rest of his life.

The boy had longish dark hair that went just past his ears. He was very small and thin. But the boy's color was very pale he was sweaty. He looked sick and like he was in pain. The boy was just staring at a spot on the wall. It didn't look like the boy was even aware of what was going around him. He was completely zoned out.
Agent Jenkins looked relieved that Phillip was there to replace him. The air in the room was very tense.
"Oh thank god. I can't watch this anymore. He's going to kill him." Jenkins whispered to Phillip as he left the Interrogation room.

Phillip took his place and Henderson shot Phillip a dirty look, "What the hell are you doing here, Prince?"

God, Henderson was such a prick. He knew Doctor Smyth wanted him to work with Henderson because of all the talk about how Phillip was getting special treatment. He needed to pay his dues like the other Freshman agents but Phillip felt like the only perk he got was his stepfather's old desk. Other than that he was having to pay a lot more dues than the other freshman agents. "I am here to relieve Agent Jenkins, sir. It's morning."

Henderson was a cranky middle aged balding man who was perpetually always in a bad mood. Phillip was pretty sure his stepfather Lee had done something to piss off Henderson years ago and Phillip was paying the price for that now.

Henderson looked at Phillip like he was a piece of dirt on the bottom of his shoe, "Fine just stay over there and stay quiet. I know a mama's boy like you has a delicate composition and you don't have the stomach for this type of thing."

Phillip gave him a dirty look but held his tongue. He could do this. He looked at the boy though. The poor kid looked like he was almost ready to pass out. They should have had medical check him out first and then have his mother interrogate him. His mother would get better results.

Phillip watched as Henderson started screaming questions at the boy. Henderson was frustrated. Henderson's tie was loose and he seemed angrier than usual. Phillip could tell this had been going on for a while.

When Phillip had talked to Francine this morning. She had told him that the interrogation had started around 2AM. Phillip watched as Henderson grabbed the boy by the hair and pulled his head back. "Talk dammit! We can leave this room if you would just talk, you little bastard. The G12 is obviously not doing its job. Maybe the third dose will be the charm."

The boy was small and thin. Injecting him with more couldn't be safe. He didn't want to watch Henderson torture and kill a child. Screw this. He wasn't going to hold his tongue. "Whoa he's just a little kid sir. You could kill him if you inject him with another dose of that stuff. Not to mention that you're violating all of his rights and going against procedure. The boy is obviously injured. You should have brought him to medical first."

Henderson looked at him. "Stay out of this Prince. Why the hell did they send you down here? All you ever do is get in my way. You think you're so special because of who your parents are. I am the senior agent. You need to follow my orders."

Phillip was getting angry. What was going on wasn't right. He could care less about his job. If Billy or Francine saw this. They would stop it too. He was sure of it. "Yeah, well I don't follow orders that involve me watching you torture and kill a child."

Henderson was getting angrier, "He's not a regular child, Prince. These Karbala kids. They aren't even human."

Phillip's baby brother was one of these kids. It wouldn't matter to him if when they finally recovered Alex if he had killed a bunch of people. He would still love him. He was his family. Phillip knew that this boy probably had a family somewhere that loved him and missed him just as much as Phillip missed his baby brother.

Phillip snapped. "They are human. And there's obviously something wrong with his arm and you cuffed him. That has to hurt. Has anyone from medical even looked at him? He's sweating and he's the wrong color. He's probably not talking because he's hurt, and you gave him too much of that stuff. Let me bring him to medical and then my mom should interrogate him. She's had the best success rate of getting information out of these kids than anyone."

A little vein started popping out on Henderson's forehead "Get out Prince! I'm putting you on report. I don't care who your Mommy is or who your stepfather was. You're interfering with my interrogation."

Phillip wasn't going to take this shit. Screw his job. He was going to help this kid. The boy would probably die if he didn't intervene. Phillip would not be able to live with that.

"Fine put me on report. But I'm not going to let you kill a kid and violate his rights. The Agency would be held liable. Whoever this kid is, he probably has a family."

Henderson got up into Phillip's face and yelled. "Get out before I make you get out!"

Phillip glared back at him "Make me."

Then Henderson lunged for Phillip, and Phillip blocked him and punched Henderson right in the face. Henderson fell on his ass.

Phillip looked down at Henderson on the floor and muttered to himself, "I'm so fired."

Phillip went to the boy and uncuffed him. The boy whose eyes had been focused on the wall looked up at him. His big brown eyes with gold flecks looked at him like he was saying thank you. God this kid's eyes were like his brother's. But this kid was way too young to be his brother. His brother would be ten years old now. This kid was too young.

The color of the hair and the kid's eyes were right though. But there was no way this was Alex. He was much too young. Phillip undid the cuffs. Then he noticed the boy's arm was really hanging wrong. The boy's arm was probably broken.
This poor kid must be in so much pain. No wonder he wasn't talking.

"You aren't going to kill me, are you, kid?" Phillip said to him as he undid the cuffs and picked him up. Phillip made sure to try and not touch his broken arm too much.

Phillip knew he was doing the right thing. If he did end up getting fired over this. Then so be it. The Agency wasn't what he thought it was anyway. He had signed up to help people. Hurting little kids even if they were trained mercenaries was not something he was going to have the stomach to do. Henderson had been right about that.

He carried the boy to the medical wing of the agency. He walked in and saw Doc McJohn. He carried the boy over to an empty hospital bed.
Doc McJohn looked at Phillip, "What happened to him?"

Phillip sighed, "Karbala kid they brought in last night. Henderson went a little too heavy on the G12. I think his arm might be broken too and he handcuffed him. He should have brought him to you guys first. He violated so many of this kid's rights. It's a major cluster."

Then Phillip took one of the restraints on the bed and secured the boys feet and his good hand.
"Sorry about the restraints kid. But I heard you took down three grown agents last night. I tried not to make them too tight. These guys will fix you right up and the lady that is going to ask you questions later. She's a hell of a lot nicer that the douche that you just spent a few hours with. I'll come check on you later if I don't get fired."

The boy looked at Phillip with terrified eyes. It was like he was asking him not to leave. God there was something about this kid. Phillip almost didn't want to leave him alone. But he knew he was in good hands. "I'll do my best to come back and visit you again. Trust me about the lady you'll see later. She won't hurt you or inject you with anything."

The boy just nodded at him in understanding. It was weird that he felt such a connection to this kid. It had to be because he reminded him a little of his brother.

Phillip left and went back up to his office. It was still early. His mom wouldn't be in until around 11. God, he was going to get fired. He decided to start packing up a box of his stuff. What was he going to do with his life now? He had wanted to be an agent ever since he found out about Lee. Lee had been the coolest guy he had ever met. He had been more of a father to Jamie and him than his own father ever had been to them.

Lee had been the first boyfriend of his mother's that seemed to genuinely care about Jamie and him. When Lee moved in with them for the first time in Phillip's life he almost felt like he had a real father. Lee was so good to Jamie and him. Phillip really missed him.

What was he going to do with his life now? Maybe he could just become an auto mechanic. Lee had left him a lot of money. He could use that money to buy an auto shop. Working on cars wouldn't be that bad.

Phillip grabbed an Iron Mountain box from the vault and started putting his stuff in it. When the door to his office opened.

Francine walked in, "What are you doing with the box?"

Phillip put some items from his desk in the box "Just getting ready to get scooched."

Francine raised an eyebrow, "Why on earth would we scooch you? You are the best Freshman agent we've had since your mother. And you have a leg up on her because you can actually fire a gun. Put your stuff back in the desk."

Phillip sighed, "I guess the word hasn't gotten downstairs yet. I punched Henderson. I violated a direct order. I just couldn't watch him kill a kid. I know these children can be dangerous, but they are still just kids. My brother is one of those kids"

Francine gave him a sympathetic look, "Well Henderson does have a very punchable face. I can't say I'm not a little jealous that you got to be the one that got to do it. If that even is what really happened."

Francine winked at him "Agent Stewart was in the room too. The way Stewart told it was that Henderson lunged for you and well tripped over his own feet and his face hit the table. That you did not do anything but speak up that Henderson was violating procedure. That you trying to make sure that the Agency didn't get sued."

Phillip was confused, "What? That's not what happened."

Francine gave him a keep your mouth shut look. "Yes, it is. Henderson is probably the one that is getting scooched. Not you. He should have taken the boy to medical first. The boy was injured in the fight. God if he had given him another dose of that stuff it probably would have killed him. I mean I know these children are dangerous, but they still have rights. If we find that boy's real parents. They could sue the agency into oblivion."

Phillip nodded, "Well even if you aren't going to scooch me, I signed up to the agency to help people. Not to watch people torture little kids. I'm not sure I can do this anymore."

Francine smiled, "You did the right thing, Phillip. Lee would have been proud of you. Henderson is lucky it was just you. If Lee was still alive, Henderson would have been in the medical wing right next to the boy or worse. You minus well actually get some of the special treatment you are accused of getting."

Phillip smiled at her, "Thanks Francine. That's true. I miss Lee. You called my mother in, right? I think the boy will talk. He was responding to me when I helped him. He looks a little like my brother but he's too young to be him. I think my mother will get the best results from him. You ran a DNA test against him, right? Even though he's too young to be Alex."

Francine nodded, "We check every single one of the kids against your mother's DNA first. No matter how old they are. You know that. It just takes a little bit of time. But this child really is different. He's too young to be one of the warehouse children but he still has the brand. He also has a normal haircut. Most of the boys that we recover have buzzcuts. Also, we have the footage of the fight last night. I sent the file of the fight to your email. You should watch it. The way the boy moves is incredible. He's part of something new. He has to be."

Phillip looked at her. "Well, my mom will get it out of him. I'm sure of it. She's incredible with these kids. But that's not good if Karbala is starting up again."

Francine sighed, "I know. I put out some feelers to my contacts at the FBI to see if there is an uptick in missing children again. Karbala has been quiet in the US since the warehouse explosion. We put a crimp in their US operation with that raid. But we didn't take them down completely. We also didn't recover all the children. If they are rebooting the Karbala kids in the US. We may be able to get more funding and resources again. It may help us find Alex or what happened to him."

Phillip nodded, "I sure hope so. It kills me that Lee gave his life to rescue Alex and he is one of the very few children that we didn't recover that day. If we do ever find him though. My mother and I do know he's not going to be the sweet little kid he used to be. The more time that goes by, the harder it's getting to believe that we will find him alive."

Francine nodded, "I know. But your mother and you can't give up hope. We will find him or find out what happened. I'll make sure that you have all the agency resources available to help him. Alex is one of our own. I am not going to let the Agency give up on that ever. It's the least we can do for Lee."

Phillip smiled at her, "Thanks Francine. I hope we get some answers from this kid. Henderson almost killed him. This boy I have a feeling about him. I feel like my mom is going to get information out of him. His eyes aren't like the others. They are very expressive. He seemed terrified. The other kids their eyes are usually dead like a zombie's. He is different. What if we just grabbed a regular kid off the street by mistake?"

Francine pointed to his computer, "Watch the footage, Phillip. You'll see this is not a regular child."

Phillip went to his computer and went to his Email. He opened the file with the footage. It was dark and grainy surveillance footage. He watched as the boy walked towards Billy's house.

Then about six agents swarmed him as he started to walk up Billy's driveway. One of the agents tried to grab him. The boy flipped the fully grown agent on his back. Phillip felt like he was watching an action movie. The boy's martial arts skills were incredible. He knocked down another agent. Then the boy roundhouse kicked another in the chest that went for him. It was awesome.

But then Agent Forbes tackled him. Agent Forbes was about 6'4 and 300 pounds. The footage was grainy. But Phillip could see that was when the boy hurt his arm. Phillip saw the defeat and sadness reflected in the boy's face. He could see exactly when the boy just give up and Phillip's heart broke for him. There were too many agents. The poor kid never stood a chance. This kid was just cool. Phillip was going to make sure he did everything in his power to help this boy find his real family.

Notes:

I bet Phillip is not going to have to make much of an effort to reunite the boy with his family.

Next chapter - (Amanda's perspective) Amanda comes to the agency to speak with the boy. She knows exactly who this Karbala kid is.

Also I just realized that because we don't get Matty's perspective at all in this version. His name might be confusing if you are reading this and haven't read any of the other stories. His real name is Alexander Matthew Stetson. He doesn't remember being Alex. He prefers being called Matty.