This story is for Rubyx1's January writing competition.

     One fun fact about this story is that it is an exact set up for Phoenix Clan 2 (The Phoenix Clan is the sequel series to A Walk Through Gosmanion).

     "The Phoenix Clan was created by six teens who knew that the world was broken. They had been in many adventures of the past decade. Although mostly made of kids, the Phoenix Clan is considered a huge world power made of highly skilled agents." The trainer paced the floor while beefing his students. The small gray meeting sized room's technologies proved to keep the young kids in further awe.
     The trainer continued. "The story isn't all good however. In this line of business you will need to put your life on the line, and we don't know how you might be tormented, just be ready for the worst. Many Phoenix Clan agents have died, you could be next. If you pass on, who knows if you will get a reasonable burial. Remember, it is better to get away alive than to die by dragging an already dead body away; just don't commit mutiny.
     "The original six and their two side agents joined because they wanted to help get rid of the major life threatening evils, and they were well qualified for the job as they had already taken part in missions." The trainer stopped pacing in the middle of the room to face the line of ten students. The seventeen-year-old looked in the directions of the kids, some looking scared, some looking brave, some looking like they were trying to look neutral, and some looking determined. One thing connected them all on appearance though. They all were in the room together wearing and holding beginner Phoenix Clan gear. "You all have the same black protective suit covered in gadgets and with the Phoenix Clan emblem on your upper left. You have the same weapon, an energy gun. Most kids chose not to need to wield such a thing. Now I ask you, why have you given part of your life to be here?"
     A short silence ensued. At last one black-haired twelve-year-old, the same as the others, spoke. "Not every kid gets the choice to not wield a weapon like this. Some need it in self-defense, some are lured into a situation where it is their way to live with a profit. I take up this weapon so others might not. I take up this weapon because my town needs me."
     The trainer stared at the kid and raised his eyebrows. "How so?"

*********************************

One Year Later:

     Jason stuffed his spare gun in his backpack and quickly looked up. "David! What are you doing in the launching bay?"
     David looked at the stunned agent before him. "Just because I lead this organization doesn't mean that I don't care about personally comforting my agents. I know very well the stress of a field agent, I was once like one! I fought in battles much like one that this could turn out to be. Your home planet of Arcien was the center of my second official mission!"
     Jason's head jerked up and his eyes widened. "That was you who helped save the Arca and the kidnapped children! I was like three or four at that time, but my brother assured me that the best agents would help protect me! I can't believe that that was partly you!"
     "It was, that is partly why I feel so attached to making sure this mission succeeds. I'm not the only one either, every one of the other five Phoenix Clan founders were on that mission too."
     "And this is my first mission, I'm very glad you would actually grant me command of a troop for this. It's very important to me."
     "Kevin, your trainer, also wanted me to deliver a message to you. He seems concerned for you, ever since your first day here when you told him why you joined he's stuck his neck out for you." David reached into his pocket to whip out a messily folded piece of paper.
     "Thank you."Jason took the paper from David's outstretched hand and began to read it out-loud.

"'Dear Jason

     As long as I knew you I knew that there was something different about you. You were always the most determined one of my students, I knew that your village was the reason behind it. I wish I could be on your mission with you, but I must tend to my students. You have done well, I pray you can find and solve the problem you are sure there is.

Your friend, Kevin."

     The two stood in silence for a short time, but soon David broke the silence. "I understand how you feel, yet I would like to know, are you hiding something?"
     Jason's eyes began to turn red, a single tear slid down his face as he almost pleadingly looked at David. "I really wish he hadn't died, he had been such a good friend. It's just that that stupid accident had to come and mess everything up! Kevin died only one day before this mission, and I am sick of it!"
David gave him a sympathetic look. "I know, many of us are, he trained lots of students in his time, and he was very loyal."
     "I need to tell you something, I have never told this to anyone here before. Sit down," Jason commanded.
     David slowly lowered himself onto a crate while examining the airships being loaded at that moment.
     "As you know, my town was a center and hideout of smugglers, they essentially ruled the place.  What I didn't tell you was that most people were raised for it to be basically a requirement to join a smuggler gang. My older brother was one of the unlucky people to be kidnapped into one."
      "That's awful!"
      "It gets worse. We figured the smugglers were eyeing him more closely for the past week, Dren, my older brother, would sit at his bedside murmuring to himself with folded hands. He could have been praying, which is my hope, or he could have been in too great of fear to think straight. On his eighteenth birthday we, and his few friends he could get away with, gathered in our living room to celebrate. We had streamers, balloons, and even a banner saying happy eighteenth birthday. Just as we were gathering around the cake with our punch, three smugglers dressed completely in black smashed through the window below the banner. They grabbed him and tried to yank him away. Two friends fought back and ended up being whipped in the face with a baton. One friend fell on the ground with a bloody face, and one was followed up with a shot to his stomach. The three smugglers ran away with my screaming brother.  I stared after them in fear and rage! How could they take my brother like that!  From that moment on I vowed to never let a smuggler get away with anything again.
     Not even the friend shot in the stomach could get away. We ran him in the direction of the town healer's house. Two smugglers from a different gang ran up and elbowed my mother in the head, next they took the friend. I couldn't let this happen, I mustered all the twelve-year-old strength I had in me, this I used to punch on smuggler in the head so hard that he fell to the ground.The other smuggler almost helped him, but in the end, he ran away.  I punched the smuggler who I hit to the ground five more times, at that point he was pleading for mercy. I didn't grant him that, I pulled his machine gun with traditional old bullets out of his vest and pressed it into his stomach. He screamed from fear, but before he could grab me I pulled the trigger.  Blood splattered everywhere as the light from the explosion flashed in the dark night. He even began to scream and cry, when I stopped, his tear-filled eyes closed and he bled out."
     "Jason! That's terrible! Both what happened to your group, and what you did to that man!"
     "I know, but I was too mad. I ran off into the forest, attempting to find my brother. Eventually I gave up and stowed away on a ship to the main planet. From there I stowed away to Mali, I instantly joined the Phoenix Clan with the intention to stop the smugglers and find my brother and his friend."
David paused hesitantly. "Well it looks like that is what you will be doing now. Just don't kill anyone you don't need to."
     "I'll try." Jason ensured.
     "Good, hopefully I'll see you later after you complete your mission."
     "Thanks."

     After David left, Jason glanced around examining his troops as he stepped to the weapon rack. Everything seemed perfect, everything was going according to plan. The three airships' engines began to rev up to prepare for launch. After snatching a ballistic energy gun and a telescopic energy sword he walked over to the main ship.
     Each ship looked the same, but on was twice the size of the others. Instead of climbing in the back hatch, however, he walked under the right wing. He pressed his hand on the now cool underside of the wing where he ran his finger on a metal strip that would help generate the static shield. Outside the hanger protected by a thick energy reflective maleniatave gate was just sand and sky as far as the eye could see.
     "I'll be coming for you brother. Finally I can leave this sandy dessert for my dreaded forested home on Arcien.

     "Last call for mission two to Arcien! Go to hanger three!" The speaker system boomed through the building.
     Jason awoke from his dream as he heard the ships firing up to launch power! He ran and leapt onto the ramp from the side. Three other Phoenix Clan agents also showed that they had been late. They ran in from the doors in the back of the hanger and snatched a random weapon. The three had all been assigned to a different ship, so Jason helped one climb aboard the lifting ramp.
     "All aboard!" Jason yelled. "We are ready for launch!"
     The ship's gate closed, revealing the Phoenix Clan emblem on the outside. When the gate in front of the ship opened, the team soared into the blue. Jason couldn't control himself, he got out of his seat and ran to the pilot's room. He stared out the front and admired the sight.
     "Space, at last I can see myself coming back for you family. This time I won't let it be the same, I won't tremble at the sight of a smuggler, they will tremble at the sight of me."

*********************************

     "We are now on the dark side of the planet, prepare for decent." The pilot's warning rang through the ship. The whole crew obeyed and strapped themselves in their seat.
     Jason felt a weird tingling feeling throughout him, the pilot must have turned on invisibility field. The flaw with this was that they couldn't have the static shield on at the same time, because they used the same wiring. The good news proved to be that they could now enter with a lesser chance of being seen.The blue jet strip's light in the back couldn't be hidden though, all they could do was spread out the light. Besides, the invisibility field made them just a little more than opaque, not invisible. They still needed to be cautious.
     Getting up, Jason ran forward to the cockpit. Only he could navigate them to a safe spot near his village. "Hold on! You'll need my help before you can fly in without being seen!" Jason pushed passed the seats on either side of him to get to the front.
     "Jason, you want to navigate us in?" The pilot turned to him.
The co-pilot broke into the conversation. "He was the only one of us to be here before, I suggest we listen to him."
     "Great," Jason agreed. He walked up and leaned on the dashboard for stability. "Do a sharp turn right, then do a wide turn left so that you are never within two miles of the village."
     The pilot grabbed a radio and shoved it in Jason's hands. "Tell the other ships."
     "Fine." Jason lifted the radio to his mouth. "Do a sharp turn right, then do a wide turn left so that no one is within two miles of the village. Don't be within a mile of the other ships either. Once we are east of the village regroup facing the village one mile away from it, there is a hidden field just barely big enough for us all."
     "Thank you leader." The co-pilot's words stunned Jason, he had been given the respect of a mission leader on his very first real mission!

     At last they landed in the dark of night. "Let's go!" Jason commanded. He briskly walked down the aisle to the exit. "It will be more important to have the static shield up than being opaque! Change to static shield!" He shouted back to the cockpit.
     The ramp opened just as he reached it. He found that the other ships, being purely troop transports, had almost finished unloading. Jason adjusted the gun strapped to his back into a more upright position for easy deployment.He then turned around to shout instructions to his fellow soldiers.
     "Remember, there are different gangs of smugglers. Although their guns aren't as powerful as ours, they fire very fast and far. Being hit will knock you flat if it hits you on a protected area, if hit enough times in a protected area the protection won't work. You can often tell what gang they are in by a small emblem on their shoulder, or the color of their protection. I need five agents to go with me, the others should be in groups of at least four. Often the smugglers go in groups too. Three groups at least should stay here to be ready when someone presses their emergency alert button.

     "Where are we going?" One of his teammates asked him as they walked in the direction of the village.
     "I have something I need to do. I haven't seen my mom in over a year, and I need to talk to her. She is also probably the one we can best trust.
     The group started running as they neared the town. Each of them maneuvered so as not to be seen by any potential threat. Jason halted abruptly as he saw a smuggler down the ally! Everyone else halted as he stuck out his hand.
     "That is my house that he is in front of." Jason made a motion as if he planned to grab his Phoenix Clan blaster, but one of his troops grabbed his arm to stop him.
     "Don't kill anyone you don't need to!" He hissed. "Besides, aren't we trying to get to your house stealthily?
     Jason bowed his head toward the ground. "Right, I made David a promise, Let's go, he's out of sight. I'm going to try to climb in the window facing the alley with two others. The other three of you should try to stay out of sight while protecting us."

     Everyone passed a round of nods at this suggestion, a fact that made Jason very satisfied. After Jason got in the window by manipulating the latch with a magnet, he helped two others in while everyone outside moved to different parts of the building.
     "Mom!" Jason shouted in a whispering voice. "Mom!"
     "Who's there?" His mom asked sleepily, she must have been partly sleeping. "I am no mom anymore, all my sons are either dead or kidnapped."
     "What! Tommy, the eight-year-old, is dead! That makes me the last Heartfield besides you."
     At this, his mom ran down half the flight of stairs to the curve where they could see each other.

     "Jason! Is that you?" She ran down the rest of the states. "You look so... powerful!" She jumped and grabbed on to him and began to sob. "I thought that you were killed or kidnapped by the smugglers! After you killed that man and ran into the woods I was sure they had got you. The worst part was that we couldn't look for you, the smugglers wouldn't let us out.

      Just a few weeks ago two black coated smugglers came to our door. That's the same gang that took Dren. They grabbed Tommy and dragged him outside, I screamed and ran to stop them to no avail. They forced him on his knees and tied his hands behind his back. They told me that if they didn't say where you were they would kill him.I obviously didn't know where you were, I told them that the blue gang must have killed you already, since you killed one of them. They didn't believe me, so the put a gun to his head and fired. I screamed and leapt at them when I saw what they were going to do, but it didn't work. They threw me back and left saying that I would be in worse pain at the loss of all my children than if they had killed me there. I had only to grieve."
     Jason panted louder, his muscles tensed up, and his eyes began to stare angerly. "I will kill those monsters," he growled. "I will cover the ground with their blood and bodies!"
     "No Jason, they will just kill you." His mother warned.
     "We come with an army of thirty highly skilled agents with powerful weapons! They will die!"
     "Jason," one of his team members put in. "We aren't supposed to kill anyone we don't need to and I believe that rule is just!"
     "Fine, have it your way," Jason retorted. "What else is that there must be a double agent for someone to know that I am alive all of a sudden.

     A small warning flashed on all the Phoenix Clan agents' wrists. "Someone has spotted ten smugglers approaching the town in a triangle formation from the west! Prepare for a battle!" Jason spoke through his watch to his other team members outside to inform them that they inside would not step back from the battle.
     Jason turned to his mom. Hide, don't let them know you are with us."
     "What are you doing?" She asked back.
     "I am not the weakling I was when I left, I have changed every day since my brother Dren was kidnapped. Now get hidden as far down as possible!"

     Jason ran to the west facing window and propped his gun from his back on the windowsill. The other two with him ran to the door and next to it. "I see them," Jason informed." He began to hear what they were saying as they came closer to the house.
     "Remember, we are to make this fast and easy," the leader of the group said. "She wouldn't dare to resist us, she has no outside hope."
     "So master, we just walk in and kill her?" One of the other soldiers asked.
     "Exactly, she refused to give us information anyway."
     "Very good."

     Jason aimed his gun at the leader who was now marching toward the house with his soldiers behind him. He turned to his watch and once again mumbled something. "They want an easy kill, well we'll make this the hardest one they've ever had! No outside hope, pfff." Jason counted down from three to when they should fire. "Now!"
     Energy blasts flew through the air as six different soldiers including the leader dropped dead! The firing continued, killing another soldier before the remaining ones could fight back! From that point the fighting turned worse, those three became prepared. Return fire made it that they could no longer fight as easily.
     "Look out!" Jason screamed as a bomb flew through the front window of the house. Everyone dove for the exit whichever way they could, even through the walls!
     Jason spun around, realizing who he had left behind. "Mom!" He yelled as the explosion occurred.
     One smuggler picked up on the meaning of this statement. "Hey guys! It looks like she has been lying all this time! Jason is here now!"
     Jason proved too distraught to make any move, he just watched the wreckage for any sign of life.
     After what felt like an hour, a board moved. His mom climbed out still hiding behind the rubble so that she wouldn't be such an easy target.
     "Mom!" Jason called.
     Jason wasn't the only one to notice his mom, however. A smuggler yelled across to his side upon sight. "Look! Mrs. Heartfield is alive! Let's complete our mission now!"
     Mrs. Heartfield appeared not to notice, she ran straight into Jason's arms in the open. "Jason! Don't you fight, let me..."
     Jason screamed and dove with her to the ground. "Mom look out!"
     Red laser light flew through the air near Jason which made it that it became hard for Jason to open his eyes. The two of them landed amongst the rubble again, and Jason hugged his mom. That's when Jason realized that something was off. His mom had gone limp and her eyes closed. He pulled his hands away quickly, blood and blood shards were scattered all over his thin rubber gloves. He inspected the body and found four blackened wounds from shots with a laser and explosive piece.
Jason could contain himself no longer, he grabbed his energy gun again and marched straight at the smuggler who had killed his mom, while shooting at the others. "Unlike what you most likely wish, the last remaining Heartfield will not be so easy to defeat. He has survived your gauntlet long enough and soon you will have to survive his. This is what happens when you inflict tyranny for too long, one person escapes and comes to stop you instead. You will find that the last Heartfield has plenty of heart!"
     At that point all of the other smugglers were killed, the last one seemed too in fear of the ferocious Jason approaching him to fight, he just backed away slowly. Jason yanked out his sword and activated the blade. A small metal sword projected from the handle and a beam of energy surrounded it. Jason walked right up to the smuggler with it and hit him to the ground. Before the smuggler could react the sword was in action cutting off a piece of fabric of the smuggler's shoulder.
     "This is the Multi Planitarial Shipping crest? You were issued by someone in the universal government on the main planet?"
     The smuggler nodded fearfully.
     "Well then, it looks like there is much more here than meets the eye. Doesn't mean that what you did was right though." Jason raised his energy sword and thrust it through his chest. "No one helps ruin my family and gets away with it." He pulled out his energy sword and stowed it away in his belt.

     "Jason, one of your agents is wounded!" one of his teammates called.
     Jason ran up to see that he was shot in the leg, but the other's seemed to have it under control.
     Suddenly Jason caught sight of two blue coated smugglers running from the center of the village to the northern part of the woods! That gang kidnapped Dren's friend! The ones he had just helped kill wore blue uniforms, but they had a crest on them, that showed that they were in different gangs.
     Jason darted after the two, leaving his teammates in bewilderment. "Forget the team, I need to do this." Jason mumbled to himself. He followed into the woods for a long way, until he saw a looming black cargo ship in front of him. Jason ran a bit further passed the smugglers by hiding in the woods. Once the smugglers had passed him again on the small path he stepped back on.
     "Who are you?" Asked the smuggler who he had been following. Apparently he had turned around. Jason darted far away from the path, into the woods. The smuggler followed. Jason threw a branch back to try and stop him, but it only slowed him a little.  The smuggler threw a rock which clobbered Jason in the head.  Jason hit the forest floor with a thud.
     "Jason!" The smuggler whispered and shouted at the same time. The smuggler pulled off his helmet.
     "Hato? You were Dren's friend that got kidnapped! Come on, we're getting you out of here."
     "No! Don't get me out of here, there is no other job for me. I need this job!"
     "There is another job we could probably get you, you should come."
     "No Jason, you don't understand, no-one else would accept a smuggler. Besides, your capture would bring me a big reward."
     Jason hit the emergency beacon button to alert the other Phoenix Clan members that something was wrong where he was. "You aren't going to capture me, are you?"
     "Sorry about this Jason, I did like you." Hato pulled out a stunner and pointed it at Jason's face.
     Secretly, Jason pulled out his Phoenix Clan blaster and aimed it at Hato's side. "I'm sorry about this too."

     Simultaneously they fired and got hit, both lay asleep, Jason because of the stunner, and Hato because of the pain.

*********************************

     Jason awoke in the command ship with a small headache. "What happened?" He asked.
     One worker replied. "We captured Hato. He is under medical attention, but he keeps trying to get out and back to his smuggling job. He must have been partly brainwashed."
     "Anything you could get out of him?"
     "Well we thought we would give you a try."
     "Send me in," Jason determined.

     Jason was put in a secure well lit room where Hato was being treated. "So Hato, anything you need to tell me?"
     "Hato looked a Jason in bewilderment. I can't believe that you got so powerful, when I was kidnapped you seemed so weak."
     "Anything else, like, what is on that ship?"
     "Cargo, weapons, bomb parts, you know. We also have an Arca who seems to have figured out what is going on more than we have, we were going to bring him to the main planet to kill him."
     A look of success came over Jason's face. "That is just what I need, I am going to get that Arca and blow everything else up!" Jason ran out with Hato yelling after him.
     "Wait you can't blow up the ship, I'll be fired!"  Hato yelled.
     Jason turned his head to face him while running. "Sorry Hato! I have more important plans!"
     "But Jason! I'll lose my job!" At that point Jason was out of earshot and far in the woods.

     Everything was far easier to see now that it was day. Jason ran the path to the ship as if he had done it a million times. When he got closer he heard a noise of an airship taking off. He had made it just in time. The ship was rising from about forty feet off the ground. Jason fired a missile at the ship's bottom, counting on the fact that a heavy robotic Arca could survive the explosion. Although Arcas were robots, they were also living things that have their own life cycle. Fire erupted from every part of the ship as it came crashing down in pieces! All the smugglers who were inside lay dead, but as suspected, the Arca survived.
     "Come with me!" Jason yelled. "We need to take you back to the Phoenix Clan headquarters to get the information out of you!"

*********************************

     Twenty agents armed with guns, including Jason, awaited the arrival of a black pod containing the Arca. The Arca didn't fit on the ship. Everyone stood in the middle of the sand on the Phoenix Clan headquarters home planet of Mali. A streak of fire could be seen coming down from the atmosphere. After a few seconds of light, a black parachute opened up and the capsule slowly descended from the sky to the ground.
     "What do you have for us?" David asked the Arca as the front of the pod popped off.
     "As a start, someone in the universal government is directing all of the smuggler gangs, but the gangs don't know that." The Arca informed.
     Jason spoke up eagerly. "Where is my brother?"
     "You can find out in a small room inside the universal government archives dome, all the known written smuggler information is in there. You will need a laser tube reader to get the information, as it is written in the Arca format for added security."
     David and Jason smiled as David stated, "Jason, I am moving you up to the rank of general. I think you had better go to the main archives though. Better prepare yourself, this is the most secure place known to exist."
     Jason became overjoyed, he was the most happy he had been in a long time. At last he might find his brother.

     Sorry about how long this is, it is about 4,950 words.