CRDP Case Files

Case of: Jackson/Thorpe Experiment

Chapter Twenty-one: Meeting the allusive Pan

XXXXX

Gunther dropped his bag, muttering about perverts. He glanced up

when Archer walked into the room with a smile. He glared at his mate
seeing the smile on Archer's face just widen. He continued to watch as
Archer unpacked, seeing the man was prefect about putting his stuff
away.

"What's on your mind, baby?" Archer asked, seeing Gunther looked at

him.

"I'm still not sure what to make of your brother." Gunther said
shrugging slightly. He heard Archer's low laugh before to the man
turned to him again.

"He takes a bit of getting use to. But he's harmless." Archer said
sounding rather amused. Walking over Archer wrapped his arms
around his mate, feeling Gunther sigh as the kid rested against him.

"Thank you." Gunther said pulling back. He looked up at the man,

watching as Archer smiled slightly before leaning to kiss him.

"Come on, we need to have those test done." Archer said looping his
arms around Gunther shoulders he led the way from the room they
would be sharing. It was a short walk down to the lab, and when they
entered the found Ran arguing with his assistant.

"All I'm saying is that some of these test won't matter." Ran said
glaring at the woman.

"We don't know what is happening yet Ran, you could be dying for all
we know." Maggie hissed back.
 "Dying?!" Gunther asked sounding panicked. Both Ran and Maggie
wiped around, each of them surprised at seeing Archer and Gunther
back so fast.

"No we are not dying." Ran stated glaring at Maggie.

"But you don't know how long you'll live, or how fast you actually
age." Maggie said not backing down when Ran turned on her.

"Damn it, I didn't have Archer bring his mate so you could terrify the
young man." Ran roared, causing Gunther to take a step back.

"Face reality Ran, you made him bring Gunther so you could make
sure they boy's test were wrong." Maggie said turning towards Archer.
"Lets start your regular checkup and test."

"Ran?" Archer looked at his brother.

"Go, she's right. We shouldn't rule anything out yet." Ran said softly
before turning to Gunther. "I can start your blood work Gunther."

Archer nodded, before moving to follow after the woman. Gunther

watched him go, before turning to Ran. He could see something run
across the man's face before it was replaced by amusement. "We come
on so I can stick you."

"That's not funny." Gunther grunted. He followed the man where Ran
had already pulled out needles and stuff. He paused before turning
back to Gunther.

"You have that blowing up thing under control right?" Ran asked,
seeing Gunther smile.

"Mostly, but make a wrong move and I might panic." Gunther said
with an evil smile. Ran laughed, before motioning to the table for
Gunther to jump up on.

"Take off the shirt, I'm gonna have to check your heart and lungs."
Ran said pulling on latex gloves. Gunther pulled off his tee shirt. He
 watched as Ran started to take blood, he hated this part and really
wished he didn't have to do it again.

He was quiet as Ran told him to lift his arms while the man checked
his lungs. Then his heart, he stiffened slightly when Ran walked
behind him. He heard the man's sharp intake of breath and knew he
was looking over the scars on his back.

"Arch said they were bad, but I never thought it would be like this."
Ran said. Gunther jerked when the man touched him. "I could fix
these."

"No." Archer said, seeing Gunther look back at him.

"But Archer." Ran started.

"No I don't want you to do more then figure out why he's not healing."
Archer said standing firmly against his brother's gaze.

"Fine." Ran said turning back to Gunther. "Let me see your ass."

Gunther's eyes widened before the kid jumped from the table. "The
hell I will."

"Gun, show him the marks I left." Archer said coming up behind the
boy. Gunther looked at Archer before glancing at Ran again.

"They're the freshest right?" Ran asked seeing Gunther nod. "Then
drop your drawers boy."

"Can I blow him up?" Gunther asked as his hands went to the zipper
of his pants. He glared at Archer as he lowered his pants and boxers so
Ran could see the marks.

"Damn that had to hurt." Ran said whistling low. Walking over he
looked at Archer before pushing the needle into one of the cuts.
Gunther cried out, hissing low as Archer grabbed him. "Sorry."

"Arch…" Gunther sounded almost close to tears. Reaching up he

touched his mate's face, making sure to keep eye contact with the kid.
"I need to take a scraping." Ran said shifting behind the kid again. He
paused when no one answered him, seeing how Archer was looking at
the kid. Taking the scraping, he tucked them away. "I'm done."

Gunther pulled his pants back up, turning to look at Ran. He was quiet
as Ran started the test, his tongue clicking as he worked. Dropping
into a chair Gunther waited, his mind going back over what Ran had
said about fixing the scars that ran down his back. He glanced at
Archer who was leaning against the doorjamb. He would have to find
out why Archer was against it.

"Gun?" Gunther looked up when Maggie spoke. Turning he looked at

her, standing as she came into the room. "I'd like to finish your
physical."

"Okay." Gunther said following the woman from the room.

"Tell me why?" Ran said not looking up from his work. He waited for
Archer's answer, wondering if he would need to rephrase his question.

"Because they show what he went through, they show his pain as well
as his healing. And making them go away won't make the scars we
can't see go away." Archer answered. He saw Ran turn around to face
him, his eyes narrowed.

"His healing or yours?" Ran hissed.

"Don't do this Ran." Archer said pushing away from the doorjamb. He
sighed, his mind turning back over the last year. From the moment he
saw Gunther laying in that hospital bed fighting for his life, he had
been completely captivated. And then seeing the fire in the kid's eyes
had fired his lust. "Ethan was my brother, and I never felt like that
towards him. Because it would have been wrong."

"Didn't matter Arch, look at Bo and Simon." Ran said quietly.

"They were sick Ran, Thorpe made it so we weren't attracted to our

own kind." Archer said. "I loved Ethan I admit that, I was protective
of him and Filly, but it doesn't compare to what I feel for Gunther. I'm
willing to walk to hell and back to keep that boy beside me."
 "You were at one time willing to walk to hell and back for Ethan."
Ran stated softly.

"I never had sexual attraction for Ethan, I admired him as a person,
and loved him as a brother." Archer said. "Just the way I love you."

"It's not your fault that Ethan and Filly are dead." Ran said softly.

"I couldn't protect them, I didn't realize how strong Simon was."
Archer said turning away from him. "I was out of my element when it
came to him."

"He was sadistic Arch. He took pleasure in hurting people, he's better
off dead." Ran said turning away.

"Archer?" Gunther said from the doorway, he could feel the tension in
the room. Walking over to his lover, Archer wrapped an arm around
Gunther's shoulders and led him from the room.

XXXXX

Gunther watched as Archer closed the door. He was glad that dinner
was finally over, and they had sometime alone. He started to strip his
clothing from his body when he heard Archer make a noise. Stopping
he turned to Archer seeing the man was watching him.

"What?" Gunther asked.

"You never let me undress you anymore." Archer said moving

towards him. He let his hand slip into the opening of Gunther's shirt.
"I like to slowly undress you."

"Oh." Gunther said his eyes half-closing as Archer stoked his chest.
"Then by all mean, go ahead."

Archer smiled, shifting to lean to suck on Gunther's neck. Letting one

arm wrap around Gunther's waist he slowly slipped the buttons from
their holes. Gunther moaned, tilting his head back to give Archer more
access to his neck. Pushing the shirt from Gunther's body he started to
steer the kid towards the bed.
"Arch…" Gunther muttered, hearing the man growl low in his throat.
He yelped when Archer suddenly dipped low grabbing him around he
knees and tossing him on the bed. His eyes widened as he watched
Archer advance on him, seeing the man was sporting the black strips
by his eyes and the yellow pupils.

Reaching out he took a hold of Gunther's waistband. Leaning he

dropped a kiss to the boy's stomach while his hands slowly undid the
button. A smile finding his face as each inch of pale flesh was
uncovered. Licking down as he pulled the kid's jeans down. Dropping
them to the floor, Archer took a deep breath pulling his control back
under control.

"Archer?" Gunther asked leaning up on his elbows. He saw Archer

looked up, the man's face pained and he looks very close to the night
that he killed Simon. But Gunther doesn't find the fear as he did the
first time that he saw Archer like that. "Arch?"

"Hang on." Archer said dipping his head down again. Gunther was
worried; he went to move only to have Archer stop him. "Please
Gunny stay still."

"Arch?" Gunther sounded scared all of a sudden. Archer reached up,

gently touching the kid's face.

"I won't hurt you." Archer watched as Gunther smiled slightly. Just
before the kid nodded and fell back onto the bed where he relaxed. He
didn't stay relaxed for long; Archer's mouth descended on his body.
His eyes widened, he could feel the urgency and tightly held control in
Archer's movements.

He cried out Archer's name when he felt the man's fingers probing his
entrance. Feeling a finger slip into him, Gunther twisted slightly.
Another groan escaped him, spreading his legs as he pushed his hips
down to impale himself deeper onto Archer's finger. He muttered, not
even sure what he was muttering.

Archer moved up his lover's body, eyes blazing as he took in

Gunther's tousled look. Smiling he let his hand fist in the sheets.
 Wrapping his arms around Archer's body, letting his thighs fall open
to allow Archer room to settle over him. Letting his eyes lock with
Archer's he smiled.

"Love you." Archer hissed shifting. Suddenly he was pushing into his
lover's body, he watched as Gunther's eyes widened. He could see
pain briefly flutter over Gunther's face, but was soon replaced with
pleasure. His lover moaned, as Archer thrust a smile finding his face.

"Arch!" Gunther hissed, his fingernails digging into his lover's back
and shoulders. Wrapping his legs around Archer's waist he met the
man's thrusts. "Arch, touch me!"

"I…can't…I'll…" Archer trailed off, his trusts becoming slightly

violent. "I'll…end up hurting…you again."

"No." Gunther said wrapping himself tighter around his mate. Closing
his eyes he moaned as Archer's thrusts slowed slightly. Archer was
making sure that he didn't make any more cuts or scratches on
Gunther's body and he was grateful to the man.

Gunther arched up sharply his orgasm was close. He muttered

something but it wasn't really coherent. Leaning he kissed the man,
letting his fingers bury in Archer's hair. He cried out as orgasm took
him, his eyes wide. He could feel Archer closing in on his and closing
his eyes smiled as he enjoyed the ride.

XXXXX

"Ran?" Maggie said having come to apologize to Ran for her earlier
behavior. She stopped slightly behind him seeing what was on the
monitors. "RAN!"

"What?" Ran asked looking up from the paperwork he was doing. He

looked at the woman, before looking at the monitors she was staring at
wide-eyed.

"You pervert!" She hissed, yet she couldn't seem to take her eyes away
from the image of Archer and Gunther coupling.
 "No," Ran started. "That's not it, Maggie."

"Oh really?" She asked crossing her arms over her chest. "And what
would your brother say when he finds out that you're watching him
and his mate in a very intimate moment?"

"I'm monitoring his and Gun's heat patterns." Ran said shifting over
slightly. Punching a few buttons, he nodded towards another monitor.
Maggie watched, seeing that the heat indicators where normal when
the two men started. She could see the heat in Archer raise quite fast,
and quite high.

"And what do you take this as?" She asked seeing that the heat from
Archer wasn't normal, not even for him. She glanced at Ran waiting
for an answer seeing the man shrugged.

"I don't have a take, maybe it has something to do with raising

passion. It's hard to say, really." Ran replied not looking up from his
work. Stopping he looked up to the monitor to his brother was about
done. "I should get a blood sample while they're at it."

"Ran!" Maggie hissed again. But Ran didn't listen to her, getting up
the man headed out of the room. Making his way quickly to the room
he knocked on the door. He heard noise from inside, after a few
seconds Archer voice called out.

"I need a blood sample." Ran yelled through the door.

"Go away!" Archer hissed, and Ran could hear what sounded like a
laugh from Gunther.

"No I need one now, while your bodies are still fresh from orgasm."
Ran called out hearing all sorts of curses from his brother. "Please?"

"Fine." Archer said. Ran walked through the door, seeing that they
were still pressed together. He made his way to the bed, seeing that
both we're watching him. He blushed, suddenly realizing what he was
doing.
 "I'm sorry, it's just that I want to get to the bottom of this." Ran said
pulling out what he needed to take the blood samples.

"It's alright Ran." Archer said shifting. Gunther groaned lightly, his
cheeks blushing as he brought both Archer's and Ran's attention to
him. "Sorry baby."

"It's okay." Gunther said quietly as he looked away. He was quiet as

Ran took blood, and when the man finished he looked back at them.

"Thanks." Ran said leaving the room. He walked back to his lab, he
needed to process the samples and take a minute to calm down. He
hadn't realized how strong the smell of sex would be, or the fact that
he found himself aroused by it. Shaking his head, he closed the
doorway and got to work.

XXXXX

Gunther made his way back into the building. He was still cursing Ran
and Archer for putting him in the position he was in before. He hated
the fact that Ran had seen him like that and the fact that Archer hadn't
felt the need to pull out. His face heated again, wishing that he could
put it out of his mind. Looking up he saw Ran; hating the fact the man
was looking at him funny.

Gunther walked by, clinching his teeth when he heard a snicker.

"Screw off Ran."

"Sweet little boy." The man said. Gunther turned back, surprised to
see how close Ran was to him. Taking a step back he bumped into the
wall, his eyes wide as he looked at the man.

"Ran?" Gunther said.

"You smell like him, its radiates from every pore of your body." Ran
said reaching out to grab the kid. Pulling him close he buried his nose
into Gunther's neck and inhaled.
"Ran, let me the fuck go." Gunther said struggling. His eyes widened
when he felt Ran's hand cupped his ass. Hearing the cold laugh that
came from the man, Gunther felt fear hit his stomach.

"Archer can't have you," The man said pulling back slightly. He licked
along Gunther's neck, slowly until he got to the kid's ear. "He doesn't
deserve you."

Gunther went cold, his eyes wide. He started to struggle again when
Ran started to rub against him. Reaching up he pushed against the
man's shoulder. "Let me go!"

"Get your hands off my mate." Archer's voice was cold. Gunther
watched the man pull back, and looking his eyes widened. Standing
beside Archer was Ran and Maggie.

"Oh god." Gunther hissed pulling away, yet the man holding him
didn't let go.

"Feisty little bitch, isn't he?" The man said. Gunther felt tears prick his
eyes as thoughts went back to Simon. Pulling away Gunther hissed
when the man didn't let go.

"Hands off Pan." Archer hissed moving towards the man. Pan grinned,
pushing Gunther away from him as Archer launched himself at his
brother. His fist caught Pan in the face, making the other man stagger
back.

"Ah, are you mad Arch?" Pan asked his eyes blazed as he looked at
Archer.

Gunther watched the two go round and round. He could see it now his
mistake, with his mind preoccupied at the time he hadn't noticed the
differences. First off Pan's hair was longer, and the man's eyes were
cold. And there was a small scar that ran down the right side of Pan's
temple.

"He's mine and you can't have him." Archer hissed hearing Pan laugh.
 "Aww are you still mad about that ball I took?" Pan asked ducking
Archer's next swing.

"You popped it!" Archer hissed staggering back as Pan's fist

connected. He growled low, a hiss escaping him.

"You're such a cry baby." Pan laughed low. "And maybe we should let
your 'mate' decide. Hum? Let him feel what it's like to have a real man
between his legs?"

"He's mine!" Archer hissed even lower.

"I want him!" Pan hissed back. "You never could keep a hands on
your toys."

Gunther glared, tired of being called a toy. He listed to the two men
argue still, he looked at Ran seeing the man didn't look really worried.
The fear that Gunther had been feeling was slowly turning into anger
as they argued who deserved him more.

"That's enough!" Gunther hissed he turned raising his hands. He

watched as Archer tackled Pan just before the window that was behind
the fighting men exploded. He watched as both Archer and Pan looked
at him. Pan stood, and Gunther raised his hands again. "Don't move."

"Gunny." Archer started, seeing his mate glare at him.

"Don't, don't you dare start." Gunther hissed his entire body shaking.
"I am not a toy to be thrown around, and if you want to be able to
touch me ever again, you had better start explaining!"

"Gun." Archer started again, only to see his mate raise his hands
slightly higher. Archer glanced at Pan seeing the man was fighting the
urge to smile. "Stop it, he could blow your ass up."

"With what?" Pan asked, his eye widening as the light above his head
blew. Taking a step back the man looked at Gunther.

"It's okay Gunther, Pan wouldn't have ever hurt you. He was playing,
we've always had a rivalry between us." Archer explained.
 "You're telling me, that he did it to amuse himself?" Gunther hissed
glaring at Pan, but the man just smiled at him.

"No kiddo I did to piss off Archer." Pan grinned. "Now put down your
pretty little hands."

"Fucking grow up." Gunther hissed, just before he growled slightly

and walked away. When Archer tried to touch him, Gunther just
growled slightly.

"Nice." Pan said watching Archer's mate walk away.

"Shut up." Archer hissed looking over at Ran and Pan. Seeing the
twins were smiling at him, shaking his head he turned back to
Gunther's retreating back.

XXXXX

Mercer looked up as he walked into the bookstore. He glanced at Adir

beside him, seeing the boy was looking around with interest. He
wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders, and proceeded to make
their way towards the front of the bookstore.

"May I help you?" A man asked he looked between Mercer and Adir.

"I'm looking for an Aston Keaton." Mercer said. He waited for the
man to say something, but after a few minutes Mercer raised an
eyebrow.

"It is him, he looks like Archer." Adir said softly smiling as the man
turned to him. The man in front of them had longish black hair that
was pulled back into a ponytail, the same facial features that Archer
had. But his eyes were blue.

"Okay Aston let me explain why we're here." Mercer started.

"You're Mercer Devin Teford, computer hacker. One of the best." The
man said seeing surprise come to Mercer's face. "And you are Adir
Shen."
 "Yeah." Mercer said looking at Aston.

"I can't help you, sorry. I washed my hands of that when they told me
it didn't work." The man said turning away. He started to stack books
on the shelf that he had been working at.

"Please, my guardian needs your help." Adir said quietly, he watched

as the man stopped, before Aston slowly turned to him again.

"And what we that have to do with me?" the man asked.

"You are his father." Adir said hearing the man laugh.

"Sorry kid, I'm not any ones father." Aston said. He could see that
Adir was watching him, and for a second felt something from the kid.
"You're psychic, like me."

"Yes, but you should have seen that." Adir replied looking at the man,
he met Aston's blue eyes.

"I try not to scan people too deeply when the walk in." Aston said
shrugging. "Besides your friend has a pretty good cover on you."

"He is my protector." Adir shrugged, looking over at Mercer who was

watching them.

"Listen, we need help." Mercer said, seeing the man shake his head.

"No, I spent five years of pain and heartache. I'm done." Aston said
walking away. Mercer and Adir watched him walk away. Mercer
cursed when his phone rang, and turning he answered it. Adir watched
him for a few minutes, seeing that Archer was checking in. He walked
towards the man, waiting silently to see what he was doing.

"You move like him sort of." Adir said softly, he saw Aston glance at
him. "My guardian Archer, he was part of the project."

"And how old is this Archer?" Aston asked.

"He is around twenty four." Adir said seeing the man just nodded. He
couldn't read Aston, which wasn't surprising since Aston was psychic
also.

"How many are there?" Aston asked as he placed books on the

shelves. He tried to act like he wasn't interested, but in fact now that
what they were saying was sinking in he was.

"There were originally thirteen, but only four remain alive. At least
they think it is four, Ran and Archer are the only ones I know." Adir
said softly.

"I see." Aston said looking over when Mercer joined them. He could
see something was bothering the man, but somehow he was blank.

"Do not worry, he does it to me all the time." Adir said laughing
softly. He looked up at Mercer and it faded slightly seeing that
something was wrong. "Archer and Gunny are okay?"

"Fine, but they found the body of a Ken Richardson this morning."
Mercer watched, seeing Aston has stopped putting the books away.
"Ran is sending me the files he found, hoping I can crack them."

"Aston?" Adir asked concerned for the man who was pale in front of
them.

"Are you sure, it was Ken?" Aston asked suddenly hastening to put his
books down as he made his way towards the front of the store.

"You know Ken? You've kept in touch?" Mercer asked concerned as

he followed after the man.

"Yes, I have with a few. Ken was suppose to be out of town this
week." Aston said picking up his phone. His hands shook, and he
looked at the two men in his shop. Mercer and Adir were quiet as
Aston made his phone call, his voice hushed. After several minutes he
hung up the phone and was quiet.

"Aston?" Adir said, seeing the man look at him.

"His wife is still at the hospital, that was her sister." Aston said softly.

"I'm starting to think that they are targeting people who worked in the
Jackson/Thorpe experiment." Mercer said, seeing Aston look at him
again. It was a few seconds before he continued. "Well Thorpe is
missing, and Jackson is in a mental institute. And now Mr. Richardson
is dead."

"They might go after Aston if they find out that he was the bases of
the program." Adir said softly seeing both men look at him.

"He's right." Mercer said nodding his head slightly.

XXXXX

"So why are you here Pan?" Ran asked looking at his twin as they ate
dinner.

"Well the first reason was because you were looking for me, second I
felt a change in me." Pan said casting a leering look at Gunther.

"What kind of changes?" Ran asked softly.

"Small things, first off I've felt off for the last month." Pan said taking
his eyes from Gunther and looking at Ran. "It's really hard to explain,
just something hasn't felt right. So I figured I stop here before going to
hunt for Simon and Strips."

"Simon is dead." Archer said seeing Pan met his eyes. "He went after
Gun, and I killed him."

"I see." Pan said. His eyes went back to Gunther, but this time they
were soft. "I'm sorry you had to see our brother that way."

"Thanks." Gunther muttered softly. He was still angry with all three
men, and he wasn't very hungry.

"Gun?" Archer asked, seeing the kid look at him. "Are you not feeling
well?"

"I'm fine." Gunther said. "Just tired."

 "Well after the meal, I have some news." Ran said seeing them all
look at him. "The test results on Gunther's scrapings should be done."

"And? What have you learned so far?" Archer glanced between Ran
and Gunther.

"I have learned that you're giving off some sort of secretion." Ran said
and Pan laughed. It was loud and had all of them looking at him.

"Sorry." Pan said. They fell quiet, and the meal proceeded without any
more interruptions. Once they were done, Gunther helped Maggie
with the dishes and then they headed towards the research room. He
slowed though when he saw the three men look at him.

"Something wrong?" Gunther asked suddenly fearing the looks.

"No nothings wrong." Ran said shifting from where he was sitting.
"Come, we figured out that your body isn't healing because of the
secretion that is being given off."

"Alright." Gunther said moving to stand beside Archer.

"I'll give you a shot, and in a day or two, you should be back to
normal." Ran said seeing Gunther nod again. He pulled up his
shirtsleeve while Ran prepared the needle. Once that was done, he sat
back down looking at Maggie and Gunther.

"What's wrong?" Gunther finally asked.

"Well…" Archer started looking at his two brothers before all three
looked at Gunther.

"Yeah?" Gunther tapped his foot as he waited.

"Maybe we should start with the first shift." Ran said seeing Gunther
agree. "When we we're ten, our DNA shifted, at least that's what Dr.
Thorpe called it."
"Okay." Gunther said although he didn't know what that meant. As far
as he knew DNA didn't shift or change unless done by an outside
source.

"Anyways, for most of us it was simply nothing more then our senses
heightening. Like Archer, his nose became so sensitive that he could
smell people entering the compound from the gate. His sight became
slightly better, but with others, like Simon and Bo it allowed the
animal in then a little more freedom." Ran explained.

"So the ones that were hunters, became even more dangerous." Pan
said softly. "It didn't take them long to assert that aggressiveness to
our caregivers."

Gunther nodded; he had heard part of this when they found out about
Archer. "And you put the worst four down?"

"Yeah, and they did more test. Seeing that our DNA wasn't exactly
stable." Ran said seeing fear come to Gunther's face. "Not that it's in
danger of falling apart, it's just changing little by little every day."

"Oh." Gunther swallowed; it really scared him to think that something

bad would happen.

"What we've gathered by the test done on the three of us, and the
remains of the others, is that this shift is major." Ran said. "It most
likely will be a complete shift, not just our senses, I'm thinking our
complete makeup."

"And that means?" Gunther wanted to know.

"I can't say for sure." Ran shrugged slightly. "Once the shift completes
you may not see any chance in appearance, or there could be."

"Are you sure its gonna be big?" Gunther asked.

"From all our test, yeah." Ran said seeing Gunther nod. He was quiet
as Gunther looked at Archer before turning and leaving the room.
"You gonna be okay?"
"Yeah." Archer said turning back to Ran. He noticed that Maggie had
also left the room looking slightly ill. He was silent as Ran excused
himself and left the room.

"So how long have you and your mate been together?" Pan asked
moving to sit down by Archer.

"A year, but we've hit several rough patches." Archer said looking at
his brother. "How'd you get the scar?"

"Was shot in the face, barely managed to move to live." Pan said. "It
burned pretty bad, and well this is what was left."

"Oh." Archer said. He knew that the normally healed with very little
scaring, so it had to be a pretty bad wound to leave that scar.

"And Gunther, how did he get the scars on his neck?" He asked,
hearing Archer laugh. Yet there was no humor in his laugh. "Arch?"

"The military made this thing, I guess kind of like us." Archer closed
his eyes briefly. "Only they redid the DNA until they had mutant
monsters. And they let it loose, and it attacked Gun and after being
nearly shredded, Gunther blew it up."

"And he lived." Pan stated it, sounding like he wasn't sure yet how to
believe that.

"He was up walking in a month, the scars are horrible." Archer said
getting up. Half way across the room he stopped and turned back to
his brother. "He survived encountering these beast twice, he survived
having our psychic throw every emotion back at him, and his family's
abandonment of him. He's a survivor."

Pan watched Archer leave, his mind going over everything he had
learned since coming back. All that was left out there was Strips, and
he was reluctant to chase the boy down. But they needed to find out
what was happening, and he would feel better knowing that they were
all there in the event of it being something big.
XXXXX