Astrid pulled on one perfect curl from her head as she bit her lip, a tell-tale sign she was anxious. The backpack she was wearing slowly slipped down and was adjusted accordingly. She pulled at the sleeves of the ratty jacket John had given her, trying to get warmer on her walk to the subway. A sigh escaped her when the object of her worry became the focus of her thoughts.

John. He had been gone for two whole weeks before they truly started to become concerned. Ten months had passed and he hadn't resurfaced or made any attempt at contact which wasn't like him at all. Just like every other time Astrid thoughts landed on John, the only reason she could conjure up was that John had left because he couldn't handle being human and being around all of the homo-superiors at the same time.

It was unfair. Why wouldn't he tell her before he left? Why wasn't she enough for him to stay? Astrid didn't think they were in love or anything but there were feelings and potential for such a good relationship.

Astrid shook of the train of thought before she got too deep into unnecessary hypotheticals. She readily arrived at the subway station without noticing. She made it underground and onto the train by thinking trivial thoughts. Groceries, feed the cat when i get home, moms birthday, homework were all looping in her mind.

A quick text was sent to Stephen so he would know to teleport her into the lair, no need to stop the train. After his prompt arrival, they smoothly made it to the underground hideout. His technique become more show-offy each time.

There were barely any people there, just Astrid, Cara, and Stephen. Everyone else was at the "Refuge" aka ultra's former base of operations. No one else knew John was missing except for them and Russell, so most investigations to find him were done here. Another part of the reason was probably because you had to struggle to find quiet topside nowadays. Russell was currently on babysitting duty making sure the green tomorrow people were not getting into any trouble, an idea that probably wasn't the smartest considering he was Russell.

"TIM, seen anything yet?" she inquired as she rushed to his system.

TIM had been going through live video footage of all of New York City for a match to John's face and most of the country for telekinetic signatures matching his- just in case. He was doing this while also looking for breakout nonstop, it must take a toll on his system. Cara doing her best to find him telepathically as well.

"Nothing yet. My apologies, Astrid." the program's posh accent dictated.

"You have nothing to apologize for TIM," she articulated carefully, trying to keep the dejected-ness out of her voice and failing. She gave a weak smile to no one.

Stephen, coming up from behind her, started to tried to give her another "never lose hope" speech before Cara interjected.

"We should just stop trying. He obviously does not care about us. This is a futile waste of time."

Cara had been cold before but this was a new level. She had been different ever since the day that the founder had been expelled by Stephen. Cara used to care more, but after that day she started to become a whole new person and bit by bit, one Astrid was sure she didn't like.

"Finding John is not a waste of time! There is no way he's forgotten us! There has to be something wrong. We must find him." Astrid was quick to rush to John's defense despite the doubts that had been plaguing her as well, " Tell her Stephen!"

"Huh?" he jumped out of a stupor. Astrid noticed how tired and out of it Stephen was all the time. His exhaustion was probably due to the work he was juggling- at school, being the co-head of the tomorrow people,training large groups of newly discovered homo-superiors, training Luca at home after his recent breakout, and so many other responsibilities that rested on his shoulders.

"Maybe you should rest." she suggesting, her face softening.

"Yeah, I think there are some leftover cots over there," Cara's face mirrored Astrid's. And when she saw him rise in protest, she argued:

"You really need the sleep."

He simply nodded his head, too tired for words and made his way over to the corner for a much needed nap. The only thing Astrid and Cara could agree on was Stephen's welfare, seeing as how he didn't have time to care for himself.

The two stubborn women glared at each other before stalking off to two separate sides of the room to do their own work. Astrid took out her homework while Cara trained her abilities on a doll that she was probably imagining Astrid's face on. Astrid was much less than envious of it. If Cara physically did not kill her, then her evil glare might. While Astrid admired who Cara used to be, she did not appreciate whatever alien replaced her.

The homework she was doing was light and easy because, although she hadn't gotten into the original art school because of the incident with Ultra, she did have a pleasant back-up school that was only ten minutes away from the hideout. But it was before she was even done, when TIM's monitor began to beep.

"John's been spotted!" TIM announced.

Astrid rushed over to the screen to see where the pin point had caught him. Cara grabbed her and they teleported to the locations before TIM even had the chance to say:

"In front of The Refuge"