An annoying, insistent knock awoke Taylor sometime during the night, and, with a groan, he rolled over and looked at the alarm clock. 2:15. He let out another low groan and tried to ignore it, burying his face back in the soft, hotel pillow and wishing himself back to sleep. Another knock, this time more impatient and even louder. Rolling over onto his side, Taylor cupped one hand around his mouth.

"ZAC! GET THE DOOR!"

Moments of silence, and then a clearly audible and unhappy growl. "ISAAC! GET THE DOOR!" Zac yelled, his voice not even muffled by the walls. More knocking, this time sounding almost angry.

"DAMN IT, ISAAC! GET THE DOOR!" Taylor and Zac yelled in complete unison. Seconds later, there was a creaking sound as Isaac pulled open the door to his little room off the main hotel room and stepped out into the hallway.

"All right, all right," he muttered. He made his way to the front door, positive that Taylor and Zac had already fallen asleep. After more pounding on the door, Ike threw it open to reveal two guys standing there. The hallway lights were glaring, and so Ike was forced to squint.

"Whatdya want?" he asked groggily, suppressing a yawn. The two men glanced at each other.

"We just need to ask you a couple questions," the first one finally said, being vague. Ike glanced at his watch.

"At two fifteen in the morning?" he asked incredulously. The second man nodded.

"Yes. We're with the government."

Isaac's eyes widened, and he was suddenly wide awake. "The government?"

The men didn't deign to give him an answer, instead, they started firing questions at him.

"Where you in the vicinity of Market Square Arena this previous evening?" one man asked, referring to the arena that they had performed at in Indianapolis just a few hours before.

"Uh, yeah, we were," Ike replied, slightly confused. The two men shared a glance.

"Why were you there?"

Isaac shot them a glance as if they were utterly stupid. "I, along with my brothers, were performing."

"So you were backstage?"

"Uh…yeah," he replied in a 'duh, dipshit' tone.

The two men looked panicked. "Where are your brothers?" the first asked, pushing Isaac out of the way and walking into the darkened hotel room.

"Asleep-HEY! What are you doing?" Isaac demanded as the second man shoved him against the wall, pulling his arms behind his back.

"You are hereby under the protection of the United States Government," the man said coolly, pulling out some handcuffs.

"Under the protection? Is this how you protect your citizens? By arresting them? And what the hell are you protecting me from?" Isaac demanded as the man secured one of his wrists. "Aw, come on man, it's cold outside, and I’m wearing boxers," Ike finally whined. "At least lemme put on some pants!"

The government agent nodded and Ike made his way down the hallway to get some pants in just enough time to see the other guy walk into Zac's room.

Zac, who was curled up in a ball underneath his mass of blankets, was suddenly wide awake as a blast of cold air hit him. Some official looking guy was standing over him, the blankets on the ground, the lights glaring into his eyes.

"Zachary Hanson?"

"Uh, yeah-"

"Please stand up and put on some pants, son," the guy ordered. Zac, not knowing what else to do as he eyed the handcuffs that the man held, scrambled out of bed and pulled on some jeans. Almost immediately, he was handcuffed and led out into the main room, where Isaac was sitting on the couch, biting his bottom lip thoughtfully.

"Ike, what's going?" Zac asked timidly as the guy shoved him down on the couch. Isaac looked up and over at him.

"All I know is that these guys show up at our door in the middle of the night, ask me a couple questions, throw me against the wall and slap a pair of handcuffs on me while saying that I’m now under the protection of the U.S. government," Ike admitted, shrugging as he spoke. Zac nodded, not knowing what to say. Suddenly, there were loud shouts from down the hallway, and Zac, Ike, and the other government guy who was sitting with them listened.

"What the fuck? Who the hell are you? Who let you in? It's two thirty in the morning! What the hell are you doing waking me up this early?" Pause as Taylor stopped to listen, and then he started up again a moment later. "HEY! I can get my own damned jeans, thank you very much!"

Ike shook his head. "You knew the boy wouldn't come quietly."

Taylor was being forced down the hall. "What the hell? Arresting me and saying I'm under protection of the U.S. government? What kind of fucking freak are you? Hey! I can walk on my own! Stop shoving me! Damned bitch-boy intern," Taylor muttered. He finally shut up as he dropped onto the couch, and at the 'intern' comment, the other guy smirked.

"Now can someone please tell me something?" Zac spoke up calmly. When the two government agents nodded, he blew up like a time bomb. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

The two men looked taken aback for a moment, but then the first guy shook his head.

"We'll tell you later…we have to move out. Now," he said, motioning for them to stand up. Nobody moved.

"Tell us, now, or I'm not moving," Zac threatened, kicking his bare feet up on the coffee table and waiting patiently.

The two men sighed and shared a look, then the second guy nodded.

"I'm Agent Hammonds, and this is Agent Michaels. Okay, look, tonight, backstage at MSA, there was a signal sent to Washington D.C., a threat, actually. It was coded and sent very wisely so, that with all those people in the building, the person who really sent it could not be caught immediately. Now, we have an idea of who did it, rather, the organization who did it. We need to catch these people…it's dire that we catch these people. Now, we believe that anyone who was backstage for any extended period of time is in extreme danger, so this is why we are here. To put you under the protection of the government and whisk you away for awhile so you can't be found, but you can also give us some very important leads," he explained quickly, glancing at the clock.

"B-But you'd have to 'put under protection' hundreds of people!" Taylor exclaimed in disbelief.

"No, we've narrowed it down. Just a couple dozen. The rest of your family has been taken care of, and, needless to say, they came with us much more easily," Michaels said, shooting Taylor a pointed look.

"Wasting time, I see," a new voice said from the doorway. All five looked up to find a girl standing there, leaning casually against the door jam, watching them with liquid violet eyes. "Well don't just sit there and stare like idiots! Come on!"

"Okay, come on," Hammond ordered. The boys stood up, still bewildered. The girl, who actually seemed to be in her early twenties, shook her head.

"Un-cuff them, and let them get dressed properly. I swear, you two are the worst house guests," the girl stated, not moving from her position by the door. The two agents grudgingly un-cuffed the boys and allowed them to run and get dressed. The tension in the room was high, and the girl's arrival just heightened it.

"So," Zac began after they had been in this huge, black van for nearly an hour. "Who are you?"

The girl, whose arrival had been so precise, looked over at him from where she was flipping through the magazine.

"Oh, I'm government agent Thompson, but just call me Krisalyn. I hate being formal," she said, flashing them a bright smile as she shook her brown hair back from her face.

"Okay…now tell us about yourself," Zac ordered as kindly as he could without actually asking her politely. Krisalyn laughed.

"Okay, well, I'm Krisalyn Thompson, and I grew up in Chicago, Illinois. I'm twenty-three years old, and I have a three year old daughter, Sheelagh. I enjoy biking, reading, and acting. Anything else you'd like to know?"

Zac, after a moment's thought, shook his head, almost regretfully. "Nope, not a thing that I won't find out later." He stopped, a yawn overtaking him as his eyelids grew heavy. "Wait, I take that back. When are we going to get to sleep?"

Krisalyn shrugged. "I don't know, hon, but not for awhile. You could be like your oldest brother over there and just fall asleep leaning against the window."

"And risk fans seeing me drool? Ha! Not a chance!" Zac exclaimed good-naturedly. Krisalyn smiled at him.

"Kid, stop worrying so much about how you look and just seize the opportunity! Get some sleep!"

Zac shot her a look of feigned hurt. "And stop this oh-so-interesting conversation?"

"Hey! Are you saying that I'm not interesting?" Krisalyn demanded, hiding a smile, as she stared at Zac. He thought a moment, chin in hands, before answering.

"Why yes, yes I am."

"Both of you shut up!" Taylor suddenly exclaimed as he moved around in his seat to get more comfortable. "Unlike you two, some of us are trying to sleep!"

Zac held back a laugh. "He's usually much more pleasant," he said a few moments later. "But only when he's had enough sleep."

** ** **

Finally, well into the new day, the boys were led from the van and into a large building, which Hammond was saying was a large civilian boarding building, but nobody was paying attention. Hammond had been droning on and on for most of the trip, and it was now automatic for the three boys to simply ignore him.

"You'll be staying here for awhile, hopefully the whole time that you're in this program, but we might need to move you, should the need arise," Krisalyn said as she led them inside to the little check-in counter. Yes, there's a check-in counter.

"Mommy! Mommy!" a small voice called as they began walking towards a corridor that led off of the main hall. Krisalyn looked around, and a broad smile brightened her face as a little girl ran over to her.

"Sheelagh!" she greeted, kissing her daughter's forehead as she picked her up. "Zac, Taylor, Isaac, meet Sheelagh, my three year old daughter."

"Hi!" the over-enthusiastic girl greeted with a wide grin. The three boys mumbled greetings in reply as they continued to walk down the hallway behind Hammond, Michaels, and Krisalyn.

"Okay, these will be your living quarters for the-" Hammond began, but was cut off by a loud screaming.

"NO! LET ME GO! YOU CAN'T KEEP ME HERE! YOU HAVE NO PROOF! YOU COCK SUCKING LEECHES! LET ME GO!"

"Oh, by the way, this is also a prison for traitors," Michaels said as they all turned to watch two men drag a girl, no older than Zac, down the hallway, kicking and screaming.

"What are they doing to her?" Ike wondered as they disappeared around a corner.

"Merely taking her to her cell. Remember that organization that I was telling you about…the one that sent the signal? She was part of that organization."

Everyone was silent for a moment, the screaming and shouting having faded, as they walked along. Finally, Krisalyn motioned for them to follow, and she led them through a large door into what appeared to be a house of some sorts.

The main room was huge, with a TV, stereo system, et cetera. There were a couple hallways that led off of the main room, no doubt going to bedrooms, bathrooms, and other areas of the such.

"Here is where you will be staying. The door locks securely, and be sure not to let anyone who doesn't have an ID on them inside of here. Am I clear?" Hammond demanded, glaring at the three boys.

"Yeah, yeah," came the vague response from all three boys, their attention, wavering before this, now dead and trampled in the dust. Hammond and Michaels left, and, after hesitating a couple minutes, Krisalyn, still carrying Sheelagh, left as well, closing the door behind her.