Chapter 26: Searching for Enlightenment

Late-June, 1986

Charlie POV:

Bob’s idea of bringing Chen to see Ibera caught me by surprise.

At first I was against it, but then it made sense because he could never escape! He was never going back to Earth anyway. Ibera even ‘constructed’ a virtual jail cell just for him.

Rex was thinking that he might try using his ‘Chameleon’ ability to assume Chen’s identity. That would put him in position to more readily flush out and arrest all of the subversive or crooked Agents. The problem with that was his voice. Chen was high pitched, where Rex was like me, a bass or baritone. Jeremy had a near perfect voice, but wasn’t as versed in the inner workings of the CIA or even the NSA to pull off a long term identity switch of that nature.

I kept thinking that it might be time to give Dad my last ‘Big Gift’. If he had Chameleon, Teleportation, Invisibility, Psychokinesis and Mind Control, he could seamlessly assume Chen’s role. If I gave my remaining small gift to TJ, the two of them could work together. That, along with Rex and Jeremy’s help and insights would have to expedite ferreting out at least the worst of the bad apples.

The downside, like with Rex, would be Dad’s voice. While it wasn’t as low as Rex’s he would struggle with matching Chen’s high tenor pitch.

The good thing was, we had a week to figure out what to do.

Jeremy discovered that Chen was on a 10-day furlough (vacation) and wasn’t expected back for another 8 days.

I couldn’t help but wonder if somebody wouldn’t try to contact him when the plane crash was discovered. In our ‘interrogation’ that question never came up. He had told us the operation was ‘off-the-books’, so there was a good possibility that Chen was the only one with knowledge of it. We did have both his personal cellphone and SAT phone. We could be standing next to Chen in two seconds, so we weren’t completely without a plan. We just hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.

We had a lot to do in the meantime.

Sometimes, when you get in a big hurry to get home, you overlook available opportunities. Like we no sooner popped home, ‘called’ Greg and the girls and engaged in some much needed hugs and kisses, when we realized it was 3:00am.

We could have slept in the 5^th Dimension, then arrived home fully refreshed.

Ooops.

At least we were all in the same boat.

We had 12 hours until our parents arrived to take our kids for a ‘babysitting weekend’.

Jeremy, Rex, Sheila and Joni had just, somewhat reluctantly, gone home to get some sleep. The more the 11 of us are together, the harder it is to part. Even if it is only a couple hundred feet away.

Mary giggled that she had some unbelievable news for me.

Greg was chuckling, “Buddy ... things are going to get very interesting, very soon!”

“Any hints?” I asked jokingly.

“Let’s all get some shut-eye and we’ll talk later.” Greg chided, “After we get some sleep. Besides, the little ones are all asleep and with any luck they won’t wakeup for a few hours.”

Getting naked and cuddling with Sarah and Mary felt even better than it had the very first time we’d ever gotten together. Feeling their nubile, soft bodies rubbing lovingly against mine was heavenly. I felt like it had been months since we’d been together.

Mary sensually and gently guided my semi-hard cock into Sarah’s moist, tight pussy. Sarah husked, “Don’t rush, Baby, but don’t hold back, either. We both need you tonight. Fill me up with your hot essence, then just fill Mary with your warm love lance and let’s get some serious sleep! Giggle.”

“I love it when my lovers’ plan comes together!”

Sarah giggled, then started thrusting her hips, “Well, quit joking and start stroking so we can ‘cum’ ... together!”

Within a few passion filled minutes she got her wish. Then Mary got hers.

I was the lucky genie who got to sleep with his cork still plugging her sodden bottle!

It was delightful to wake up still intimately attached to my soulmate.

I would pulse my cock, impishly and she would squeeze her sweet pussy amorously in response. It was lovingly intimate.

Sarah had Sissy nursing on her breast right next to us, while CJ was still asleep in his crib.

I thought of Bob and Greg. I smiled, ‘seeing’ that their nights had gone like mine had. I looked over at the clock and saw it was after 10 o’clock.

“Hungry Mama! Hungry.” CJ chirped.

That’s when it hit me ... he didn’t flash ... he TALKED. AND, he was standing in his crib, shaking the top bar!

I wanted to see just how much he understood.

“Hey, Little Man, when did you learn that? Mama’s busy right now, just hold on a second!”

“I gotta poo-poo Daddy, come help me?”

My mouth flew open and Mary and Sarah were giggling like crazy.

“Surprise, dear”, Mary tittered, “Go hold him over the toilet so he can poo-poo and pee-pee. Somehow or another, the little devil is almost completely potty trained already!”

I almost tripped over my own two feet hustling over to CJ’s crib. He was pulling his diaper off just as I got him over the toilet seat. The shit found the right spot, but he sprayed most of his pee onto the floor. Not surprising, since his little bottom was just barely past the inside edge of the seat. I would be getting him a kiddie potty first thing this morning. Even that would have to be modified since he was still so small.

This had ‘Grey Grampa’s’ fingerprints all over it ... I could almost hear him cackling.

Greg WAS mentally cackling, “You don’t know the half of it yet, Buddy! I’ve got some coffee brewing, see you in the kitchen.”

“I take it you knew about CJ’s talking? Are any of the other kids talking yet?”

“No, not yet, but, if I know my little Mio, it’s just a matter of time. CJ mentally talks to all four of them constantly. CJ and Tyler are thick as thieves, too. It’s funny watching CJ try and explain to Tyler that he has to be with his ‘Sissy’ too. Come on down, my Brother, the coffee is almost ready!”

I joined Greg, intent on talking about CJ and his surprising recent ‘maturation’. He sidetracked me, though, concerned about my recent exploits that he hadn’t been a part of.

His first comment hit me square in my insecurities.

“Charlie, do you think you guys have bitten off more than you can chew?”

When I thought about it, there were so many individual, but, related things he could have been referring to, I was at a loss as to which one he meant.

I just cleared my throat and sighed, “Yeah, but, humor me and tell me which specific thing you’re referring to?”

He patted me on the back, “I know you, Charlie. Last night when I was listening in, you seemed more indecisive than I’ve ever seen you. I was taken by surprise that you didn’t attack that Humbacker asshole with more vehemence than you did. Then, when Bob didn’t just kill Chen, that surprised me. You know how I am about using too much brutality, but, HE had it coming. Oh, just what did you guys do with him, anyway? You all disappeared for a while.”

“We left him with Ibera in a ‘virtual’ jail cell. That was Bob’s idea. We need to keep him on ice until we figure out the best way to get the identities of all of the crooked Agents. We discovered there’s a veritable cesspool of them between all the different Government Agencies! It could take us years to unravel all of the different connections and ties to organized crime. We want to keep Chen around to answer questions when they come up.

“You mentioned Humbacker. Well, I DIDN’T let him off. I plan on using him to lead me to all of the ‘untouchable’ white-collar criminals. He knows them much better than any Agency could. He doesn’t know it, but I’m checking up on him every day ... I want him to think I forgot about him. When I catch him fucking up, I’ll make him regret it. But, to your point, I feel like I really am out of my league...”

“You need to get Pops involved. You know that, don’t you? Rex is great for strategy, but, I have a feeling he’s out of his element as much as you are.”

I hugged my friend’s shoulders then summoned Dad.

His reply made me laugh, “Good morning, Son. You’re not ‘calling’ to cancel our babysitting weekend are you?”

“Oh, Hell no! I’ve got enough people who wanna kill me, I don’t need to add all of our parents to that list!”

Chuckle, “Good, you had me worried there for a minute. What’s up?”

I sighed, “I think I just need to talk to my Dad...”

There was a pause. “I’m not surprised, Son. I’ve sensed that you’ve been a bit overwhelmed ... I have a feeling, though, that I don’t even have a clue what’s been going on.”

“That’s the understatement of the century, Dad.”

“How about if your mom and I come over a little early. Do you have somewhere we can talk?”

I had to laugh, “Sure do ... be ready for a surprise. It’ll be the first of many if my guess is right.”

“See you around 1:00?”

“Works for me!”

Bob had wandered in to join us. Both he and Greg were chuckling, “Are you planning on taking Dad on a trip?”

“Yeah. Zeus, then maybe Ibera. Oh, Bob, did Greg tell you about CJ’s latest... ‘developments’?”

Bob’s eyebrows rose, “No. What did my little buddy do now?”

Greg smirked directly at me, then grinned at Bob, “You mean, besides talking better than most 5-year-olds?”

While Bob stood there, open-mouthed, Greg began flapping his arms and laughing and nodding his head. I gasped, then I’m pretty sure I passed out. The last thing I remember was Bob screeching, “You’ve gotta be shitting me!?”

Greg kept me on my chair until I got my wits back. Bob was still shaking his head. I added, “And ... he’s nearly completely potty trained! This morning he TOLD me he had to go poo-poo! He waited until I got him over the pot before he took his morning dump! Speaking of which, I’ve got to get one of those kiddie potty chairs. Hopefully the smallest one made so he doesn’t fall in.”

Bob started laughing like a loon. “Ohhh brother, do you have YOUR work cut out for you...” He said, patting my shoulder.

Greg clopped Bob on the back, “No, WE... we have our work cut out for ALL OF US. Just who do you think CJ’s first ‘students’ are going to be?!” He said, flapping his arms again.

Bob’s eyes popped wide open and it was his turn for his eyes to roll into the back of his head. His goofy grin was now replaced by utter open-mouthed stupefaction.

We heard giggling coming from the stairs leading up to my room. Mary had CJ, Sarah had Sissy and Linda had Erik and Olivia. Jamie was holding Tyler, standing in the stairway leading to her’s and Greg’s bedroom.

CJ was babbling, “Down mama, let me show Daddy!”

Mary set CJ on the floor. He immediately tried standing up and after some wobbly attempts, started walking towards me. He fell twice before frustration set in on his little scrunched-up face. Then, as I gently spoke words of encouragement, he stood once again. This time, though, just as he appeared to be falling on his butt, he levitated and floated precariously over into my outstretched arms. It was a distance of only about 10 feet, but, Bob and Greg were nearly catatonic.

The other babies were mentally calling out to CJ. Mostly it sounded like they wanted him to come back to where they were. They were all getting rambunctious to try what CJ just did. CJ looked into my eyes, “I go see Sissy, Daddy!”

I chuckled, “Ohhh no you don’t, CJ. Why don’t you stay here with me for a bit? We need to talk.”

I was just short of freaking out myself and somehow I needed to try and curtail any further attempts to fly. It was cute, but, if he were to try without one of us watching him, ready to catch him, it could end badly. He was never more than 3 feet above the ground, but he could easily crash land on his head.

Even though Mary had more or less encouraged him to ‘show Daddy’, she agreed that we probably needed to nip this in the bud.

If we could.

Everyone gathered around the kitchen table. The dads were entertaining the kids while the moms made breakfast. Having both Sissy and CJ kept me busy. Tyler, who was on Greg’s lap, was mentally babbling with CJ. Erik was trying to join in the conversation, but, seemed to be getting ignored. Sissy and Olivia were in a world of their own. Their squirming suggested they wanted to be put in their playpen. Bob nodded at me and we put them both in. They soon cuddled together and started quietly babbling at each other.

Now it was just ‘the guys’ at the table. Watching and listening, both audibly and mentally, was most interesting. As much as I wondered about CJ’s advanced communication skills, it was apparent he was becoming frustrated that his siblings were now so far behind him. I’d just made that discovery when CJ looked me in the eyes, “Daddy, why does Tyler not understand?”

Greg snorted, “Mio, Tyler is much younger than you. You need to be patient and just try and help him like you’ve been doing.”

He looked at me wide-eyed, “What is patient? I try to help Tyler, but he doesn’t get it.”

And that summed up my problem, too. A 5-year-old brain, in a 6-month-old body. Mary sat down next to me as the girls brought us out some bacon, scrambled eggs and toast.

She kissed me warmly, “We’re just going to have to be firm, but patient with CJ. Remember, he didn’t really ask for this, either. He understands more than you think, though, and has for some time. We do need to try and make him understand that we don’t want him trying to fly, yet.”

I chuckled, “Amen to that ... He needs to learn how to walk first!”

Bob and Greg helped me work on the back yard, getting it ready for our get together tonight. The construction had made quite a mess, but, a hose and some ‘mental muscle’ made quick work of cleaning up the worst of the dirt and dust that had settled on everything. The pool had been totally covered, so we took care uncovering it and everything was fine.

Rex and Jeremy came over and the five of us soon had things as ready as could be. Sheila and Joni seemed to love helping out with the babies. Rex admitted to us that if we could ever find the right place it would be fun to have all of us living together. I chuckled to myself, now understanding Dad’s eagerness to move into Stan’s old place.

When we finished our preparations, the guys sat down at the patio table to discuss our next moves against Rafael and the crooked elements of the CIA and NSA.

With Viktor out of the loop, we considered not even attacking Rafael right now.

Jeremy, Greg and I were on the ‘no’ side, while Rex and Bob stressed that Rafael was still set up to carry on with his human trafficking, drugs and piracy. He was also complicit in the attack on the Coast Guard vessels. Not to mention the fact that some of our ‘Co-op’ conspirators were involved in his illicit activities, too.

Then there was the fact that all of those mercenaries were anxiously looking forward to getting back to plundering. We needed to put down as many of those rabid dogs as possible.

That seemed to be the deciding factor for us to go through with our plans. I felt we needed to capture Rafael and Lorenzo, to glean as much inside information as possible about how they and the Co-op interacted.

I was happy that Rex saw the benefits of running all this by Dad first, to get his take on it.

I wondered who might want to go with me when I took Dad to see Zeus.

I didn’t have to wait long, as Dad came over very early, saying that Mom wanted some extra time with the babies.

Suuure she did!

When I suggested that Dad and I take a short ‘trip’, ALL of the guys wanted to go!

When we asked the girls if they minded, there was much tittering before they told us to go and have fun!

So we did.

I’d previously told Dad about how I got my powers, but I don’t think he believed that I’d actually told him the truth. He figured I’d been speaking metaphorically. The stunned look on his face when Zeus and Hera greeted us made me laugh.

Zeus surprised all of us, “Welcome my friends. Ahhh, I see you’ve finally brought your father, Charlie. Lenny, your son is one of the most amazing young men I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. He and his friends have renewed my faith in helping humans.”

Dad smiled widely, then after giving me a glance, looked back at Zeus, “Thank you sir. You know, I’ve had dreams where I think I’ve seen you before. The night, many years ago, after I helped the CIA with their first ‘test case’, I could have sworn you told me to be careful. Did that really happen?”

Zeus got needled by Hera before nodding, “Yes, that was me. I’d just realized I made the wrong man my Catalyst. Sherman was a very bad choice, especially when I saw how eager you were, with the meager abilities Sherman had accorded you, to do good deeds. You see, before I made Charlie a full Catalyst, I just picked people at random. Then I would watch them for a short time to see if they would be suitable. A person must have some natural ability to make use of my gifts. Both you and Sherman were strong in the ability. Sherman was the result of my haste.

The wisest thing I ever did was making your son my secondary Catalyst. I was truly hoping that he would eventually bestow some of his gifts upon you. I’ve been watching you both. Now that your son and his Family and friends have helped me get rid of all my mistakes, I would like to make you my third full Catalyst!

Do you accept that responsibility?”

Dad was momentarily at a loss for words. He kept looking at me, Bob and Greg. Greg clopped him on the back, “Well Pops, personally, I think you should go for it! Charlie, Rex and Jeremy are in this huge caper that I think is over their heads. We could really use your help and wisdom...”

Zeus chuckled, “As you can see, Lenny, these young men are also wise beyond their years. To recognize that they need guidance is a mark of their maturity.”

Dad grinned, “I feel like I have a lot to learn ... I accept your offer and will try and make you glad you entrusted me with whatever abilities you give me.”

Zeus chuckled, “I’m giving you the full set of Unbound Catalyst abilities, along with the gift of ‘Knowledge’, that I gave Charlie and Jeremy. I’m also upgrading their abilities, so all three of you will be the same. They’ve already more than proven themselves as being worthy. You’ll find that you’ll already know how everything works. Talk to your son, Bob, about the perils of Time Travel, especially into the past. He had a rather complicated adventure that I’m about to show you, if Charlie and the guys don’t mind?”

I agreed, and Zeus played the ‘Cliffs Notes’ version of everything that we’d been involved in, including Bob’s ‘revised’ Reality and how he’d ‘fixed’ it.

Dad was beyond flabbergasted!

He was also getting a crash course on all of the things he could now do with his new abilities. The more he learned, the more he wanted to learn. When Zeus mentioned visiting the 5^th Dimension portal, Greg cackled, “Bob, once Ibera meets Pops, she’s going to fall in love with him. You might lose your girlfriend!”

Bob clopped Greg on the back, “No chance, I’m HER Catalyst, now ... ooops!”

Now we were ALL giving Bob the stink-eye. I huffed, “And just WHEN were you going to tell us about this, little brother?”

Hera and Zeus were chuckling, Hera smirked, “Charlie, my sweet boy, you might want to ask your lovely wife if SHE has any surprises she hasn’t told you about yet...”

I could only shake my head. Zeus chuckled, “My Son, you’ll find that when it comes to our wives, we’re always the last to know ... anything!”

Dad laughed, “Amen to that! Well boys, shall we go visit Bob’s girlfriend, before it gets too late?”

I just grinned, “Dad, you’re going to be amazed at the time dilation factor when we come here or go to visit Ibera. The ladies at home will only think we were gone for a few minutes!”