Moving Forward

Meeting of the Five

Kota's POV

"North, you called this meeting so it is only fair that you start us off." I had a feeling I knew what North was going to say and that our brothers would support him. I had to admit that it was something I had done a lot of thinking about on our flight home. Stephen's sweet face haunted me. It made me wonder how many other kids like him never learned to communicate because no one took the time to teach them. Then I asked myself if it was something I could do. My answer had been yes, it came out very strongly from deep inside me. As if my heart was deciding for me.

"I would like our team to choose a Children's Home to adopt. With the problems found on our team registration and only allowed to do the Ashley Waters job, we have a lot of free time on our hands. I say we should put it to good use and help kids who need to be shown that others care." North must have given this a lot of thought because it showed as he continued. "We have all been perilously close to being in their position; the only thing that saved us is that we had someone step in to care for us. I'm not talking about Mr. B and Doc, they were kids themselves. We don't have to do it on our own, Uncle said he would help. We could ask the other adults and for support from other teams. We have a good example to follow; we just need to get started on lining everything up."

"We would have to have it fully planned before we approached Mr. Blackbourne," I was frowning. "It isn't a normal charity that the Academy supports."

"Bullshit," North scowled. "Raschel Ericson is more Academy then we will ever be and her team is making it work. Their team only has three members and there are seven of us, you can bet your ass that they will support us in this."

"North is right," Nathan spoke. "She is High Council, it doesn't matter that she is young. The High Council finds the charities that need the most help for us to assist. Sven is supporting them, which means they will add it to the list."

"I like the idea," Gabe joined in. "While I enjoyed helping the girls with their makeup, I had just as much fun playing Hide-and-Seek with the younger ones. While I may be hyper, I don't have a tenth of the energy as they have. When Luke and Victor return to the team, they can help. It will be great because they will already know what to do." His brothers looked down at their hands, avoiding his glance. Gabriel frowned. "What?"

"Luke and Vic aren't returning to the team when they finish college," North decided to be blunt. "We fucked up. Mr. B fucked up. Instead of congratulating Vic for an amazing feat, we joined in with Mr. B and acted like jackasses. We have been carrying Doc for years without complaint. Yet, we couldn't do the same for Vic who has financed our team from the beginning. Haven't you noticed that Mr. B no longer has his car and is living at Doc's? Vic was supporting him and his grandfather had everything reclaimed after Mr. B's temper tantrum. The suits, Doc had to empty his savings to pay for them. Luke is the only one who stood up to Mr. B on Vic's behalf, now they no longer trust us and without trust, there is no family."

"Fuck no, we are brothers, they have to come back." Gabe's tone was frantic as he looked at Kota pleadingly.

"They both told me just before we left that they would never rejoin the team, they preferred the team they are on now." Kota informed him. "While they are willing to be our friends, we have to earn back the right to call them brothers. They aide the Lead Team and are training to be members of the High Council, they like the freedom it gives them."

"We need to tell Mr. B, he will convince them to come back. He won't let that little bitch keep them from us." Gabe freaked out on us. "She is just using them, playing off Vic's fame and Luke's looks. She doesn't know the first thing of what it is like to suffer, she will ruin them."

Tilly stormed from her room, letting the door slam behind her. Her eyes filled with fury. "North, call Uncle and tell him to bring the file. He will know which one you are talking about, Kota, look up the name Sang Sorenson on the net. In fact, all of you look up the name as we wait for Uncle to arrive." No one dared to disobey her; they had never seen Tilly this angry before.

Nathan's POV

I wasn't as concerned as the others were, I already knew the truth. I figured that Gabe should be damn glad that Luke and Vic wasn't here, they would be kicking his ass into next week. Not that I blamed them if they did Gabe was going to feel like a douche once he learned the truth.

The rescue of Sang Sorenson had been big news for weeks and again when the trials started. Pictures of her had covered several front pages of the newspapers all over the world. The level of abuse she had suffered at her young age had been devastating. For weeks afterwards, the news channels had Analysts discussing the mental harm this had done to her. The fact that she was Raschel Ericson, daughter of Sven Ericson, billionaire and Champion Street Fighter, drew even more news coverage. In my opinion, the most powerful photograph was of a man holding her with great care as another used bolt cutters to cut a metal collar from her neck. They had chained her to a tree like a dog, while she wore only a light dress in the snow. Yet, I also liked the one of her holding her father's Championship Belt as he held her up high as if he prized her more than the belt. The sad thing was that both of her legs had been in casts. Her hair had been short like a boy's, as if it was just growing in. There were others, the woman had enjoyed taking pictures of her handy work. There had been mention of another girl living in the home, but she hadn't suffered any abuse.

Seeing the pictures and reading the articles, I understood the reason Sven had made the rules about only HEA movies allowed. In her world, humans were the monsters. I won't lie, my father used to beat the hell out of me after my mom left, but never to this level. Sven had kept her in a bubble to allow her to heal and was slowly allowing her to spread her wings. I'm surprised he hadn't killed North and Doc.

Did I regret not telling my brothers about her? No, it wasn't our business. Tilly told me in confidence, she wanted me to understand why The Ericson's house was the one place she did not watch her scary movies. As for Gabe, he needed to learn to control his mouth before he drove Luke and Vic away for good. It wasn't the swearing so much as it was jumping to conclusions and then condemning an innocent person by jumping to false denouement.

North's POV

Seeing the photos and reading the articles. Is this the mission Uncle told me about; I asked myself? He had never told me the little girl's name when I asked, I figured out why. The child he had rescued was Raschel Ericson, except her kidnappers had called her Sang Sorenson. I bullied an already traumatized girl and body slammed her for good measure. To top it off, I told Doc to knock her out with a shot. Fuck, Sven should have killed me. Her reaction to me made sense now and I had to admire her for fighting back. Hell, she was still small and I had loomed over her, I must have made her think one of her nightmares had come true. I was grateful she only called me Bully Boy and moved to the other side of the room. She could have run from the room screaming as if an ax murderer was after her. By the end of the visit, she didn't seem as afraid of me. That she was ready to forgive me. I think she had taken satisfaction in knowing that she had kicked my ass and then got to watch her father wipe the gym floor with me. Hell, if she wanted to use me for a punching bag, I would gladly let her because I knew I deserved it.

I buried my face into my hands, which were resting on my legs, letting out a groan. I hadn't needed to know this, it had been bad enough to begin with. Why not stick a knife in my heart and twist it in deeper? I wondered if this is what Uncle had warned me about when I first came to live with him. He had told me it was okay to be angry, but I had to learn to channel it in a good way. He told me to find a hobby that required physical labor that it would help me work off the anger. That I would end up hurting someone otherwise; even when I didn't mean to.