Author's Note: Thoughts indicated with [ text ].

Disclaimer: The Tomorrow People is the property of the CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

The Lair

Stephen teleported into the Lair just barely keeping a grip on his dad, who was still recovering from the tranquilizer. Cara and Jedikiah rushed over to them. Jedikiah grabbed Roger and helped him lay down on the nearby couch. Russell, Charlotte and Morgan also gathered near the scene, anxious to hear the news.

"What happened? Did you succeed," Cara questioned immediately with a bit of worry in her voice.

Stephen shook his head in disgust. "It was a trap!" He kicked the chair and started to pace around the room, unable to settle down from John's intervention and Hillary's deception.

"A trap? How did you escape?" Jedikiah asked fervently.

Stephen stopped pacing and looked down, defeated. "John," he simply stated.

Russell shook his head in disbelief. Charlotte let out a whimper and Russell put his arm around her shoulder to comfort her.

"What?!" Cara looked at Stephen, eyes opened wide with terror. "What do you mean?"

Cara quickly surveyed the area to make sure John was not there. She hadn't seen him leave, but then again, she was too worried about Stephen and Roger's mission to notice much else. She thought to herself [ John what did you do ... why would you put yourself in the line of fire like that? ] She shook her head, knowing the answer ... he was trying to protect Roger, their savior. "Oh, John," she spoke softly.

"He showed up ... tranq ... tranquilized me ... then set off ... to destroy ... the machine ... himself," Roger struggled to get the words out. Jedikiah helped him sit up straighter on the couch. Roger turned to Jedikiah, "Jed ... " His eyes pleaded with him to do something, Roger's worry for John overriding what he knew to be true. If Ultra has John, there was little they could do. "... he ... John ... shouldn't have ... been there."

"You know how John is once he gets something in his head, there's no stopping him," Jedikiah told Roger, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hillary then showed up to stop me," Stephen continued. "She told me it was a trap and tried to get me to go back to the Founder." Stephen laughed incredulously "She thought the Founder would forgive me and welcome me with open arms."

"But ... if John walked into the trap ... " Cara started slowly. She didn't want to continue ... couldn't continue that thought.

"John's strong. He can take care of himself," Russell said half-heartedly, trying to be encouraging.

Jedikiah slowly got up from the couch, dreading what would come next. "John was captured then?" He looked Stephen directly in the eyes.

Charlotte inched closer to Stephen and Jedikiah to make sure she could hear his response.

"I don't know ... he had told me to take my Dad and get out of here, so I did." Stephen looked sad then angry. "I should have gone back to help him, but there were so many agents and the d-chips were activated. We barely made it out."

"Ultra has him," Jedikiah stated as fact, bowing his head in defeat.

"No!" Charlotte cried out. Morgan came over to console the girl.

Tears streaked down Cara's face, but she tried to hold it in. Russell walked slowly to one of the chairs and sat down, his head hanging low.

Cara attempted to reach John telepathically. "I can't reach him."

"You won't be able to with the d-chips activated or if he's unconscious," Jedikiah said.

"We have to find him, rescue him!" Cara started to pace. "How can we do this?" She said it aloud, but it was more for herself.

"You can't," Jedikiah plainly stated. "To try and rescue John from Ultra now would be suicide. The Founder will have him heavily guarded and the whole place will be on high alert."

"But we can't just abandon him," Cara pleaded.

"We don't have a choice," Jedikiah responded.

Charlotte ran over to Jedikiah and Cara. "We have to try! We can't just leave him there!" she implored them. She saw the resigned look on both of their faces. "Well, if you won't do anything ..."

"Charlotte, no," Cara said. She grabbed Charlotte, looked her straight in the eyes and said, "It won't do any good to get yourself captured too. John wouldn't want that!"

"But ..." Charlotte tried to argue, but knew Cara was right. John would want her to stay safe. Charlotte started to cry. Morgan came over and guided her back to the couch.

Cara started to break down again and Stephen came over to comfort her.

Jedikiah walked into TIM's room and stood in front of the window. He feared what was going to happen. Worst case scenario, they would kill John, but not before torturing him to find out where Roger is.

[ John, what were you thinking? ... I know what you were thinking, trying to save Roger again. Stupid, kid! ]

If there was one thing he could count on, it would be John's loyalty to his people. He knew, that because of John's training and his steadfastness, he would die before giving up Roger. He took comfort in that fact, that Roger would be safe. Even with being mad at Roger, John would not give him up. John understood what was at stake.

While lamenting over John's capture, Jedikiah realized he had one more thing he could try to stop the Founder and The Machine. But for that, he needed to get topside as soon as possible. He left TIM's room to find Morgan. He needed to pay a visit to an important goverment official. It was his last play.