Black & White

Stephen had always considered himself normal. Despite all the pills he took, the constant headaches, the voice in his head, and sleeping walking into his neighbors' bed every night he really was normal. At least that was what he told himself. Then one day he couldn't lie to himself anymore, because everything changed. He found himself being followed by men in dark suits, and right when he was starting to really get freaked out he'd been teleported away and taken to the secret hideout of the 'tomorrow people.'

"You're special, Stephen." Cara told him. "Not just because you're one of us, but because you have a connection to your father." If Stephen had doubted whether to believe them or not he certainly did now. Just the mention of his 'father' made his blood boil.

"My father?" Stephen repeated clenching his fists. Cara blinked at the hatred and anger she heard in his voice.

"He was kind of our leader." John explained his voice flat and clam. Stephen's eyes snapped to him. John could practically see the darkness rolling off him but at the moment he didn't really care, as long as it gave them a chance of finding their leader.

Stephen couldn't believe what he was hearing. His father left them to go lead a pack of 'homo superiors.' Left him, his brother, and told his mother that he didn't love her, hurt her, for these people. He'd chosen strangers over his own family. In the end though, he'd walked out on them too.

"Well you're going to have to find him without me," Stephen said, "Because I have no connection with him." He knew his mother wouldn't be able to handle it if his father came back. Stephen didn't know if he could handle it.

"Stephen," Cara started taking a step towards him and reaching out a hand but he moved away from her. John watched him carefully. To an extent John could understand Stephen's feelings but he disapproved in how open he was about it. It was immature and possibly dangerous. He needed guidance and John knew he was the one who would have to give him it; or else he might find it elsewhere; somewhere worse.

"Look, you're one of us." John pushed off from the wall he'd been leaning against and approached Stephen. "You can't change that. We're not asking you to like him," Stephen looked at John sharply. "But he's the best shot for our species survival." Reason wasn't something Stephen was listening to at the moment though.

"Just," Stephen looked away from them. "Just take me home." Sighing, John reached out and placed his hand on Stephen's shoulder. In less than a second Stephen found himself back in his room, horribly disoriented and for some reason winded. He wasn't sure he'd get use to that. John stood across from him looking as though nothing had happened.

"You need training. We can help with that." Stephen didn't answer him and John crossed his arms. "If you change your mind, give a shout. Cara and I'll keep an ear out," And with that John teleported. Stephen fell back onto his bed trying to process everything that had just happened. In all honesty the fact that he wasn't crazy and that he had powers was kind of amazing, everything else though he wasn't so sure about.

The following morning he stared at his pills wondering whether the day before had been real or not. He knew it was. So without hesitation he flushed his pills. He'd never take them again. For the first time in a long time Stephen felt good about life.

"What's got you so happy this morning?" his mother asked when he came down for breakfast. He gave her a smile and tried to brush it off but he could tell she was trying to figure out what was going on with him. He kissed her goodbye, something he hadn't done for years but after the flood of memories of his father he felt he needed to, and left for school. He ditched his brother, which wasn't hard since Luca wanted to meet up with his own friends anyway, and found an empty alleyway. John said he needed training, but Stephen didn't see why he needed John to do that. Now that he knew what he was doing, sort of, Stephen figured it wouldn't be too hard. He knew what it felt like so all he had to do was try to do it again. Concentrating, Stephen pictured the facilities closet. The janitor was only there at night so it was always empty during the day; perfect place to teleport to. It turned out to be a lot harder than he had first thought.

In a blink he finally found himself in the closet but he landed on his back and the disorientation he'd felt before seemed worse this time. He groaned and got to his feet. Astrid questioned him on why he didn't meet up with her and how he got to school before her. He tried to change the subject, which worked but he could tell she was still suspicious. For a few minutes Stephen considered telling Astrid, but he knew she'd think he was crazy and it had taken him at least fifteen minutes to teleport so he wasn't confident he could prove it to her. In all likelihood she'd think he was off his meds, which he was, but convincing her, and in all likelihood his mom too, that he didn't need them anymore probably wouldn't go so well. So he said nothing.

He headed home alone at the end of the day, hoping to get another chance to try teleporting again. It wasn't long before he wasn't alone. Glancing behind him he noticed a black SUV following him. Maybe someone else wouldn't have thought it was following them, maybe he was just being paranoid. Regardless, Stephen started running. Another SUV suddenly pulled out in front of him; trapping him. Men in black suits stepped out of the vehicles. Stephen's heart was pounding and he really wanted to run; except there wasn't anywhere to run to. He tried to teleport, thinking the fear might actually make his powers stronger or at least easier to use. He was wrong.

The man who stepped out of the SUV in front of Stephen smiled at him. He was different from the others, probably the leader. Stephen caught to glint of something in the man's hand: a syringe. Trying to back up or just get away from the man he was stopped when the man's hand clasped his shoulder keeping him in place. Cara! He screamed mentally. Apparently the fear was clear on his face.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Stephen." The man said, right before he jabbed the needle in Stephen's neck. The man caught Stephen as he started to fall, his sight was going blurry and everything sounded like it was under water. "I'm sorry about this, Stephen." Then Stephen lost consciousness.

Cara and John arrived too late only just seeing the SUVs speed away.

"Oh my God," Cara gasped. "They got him," she turned to look at John, who while grim faced, didn't seem as concerned as she was. "John!"

"They won't hurt him," she opened her mouth to protest but realized he was right. "Jedikiah won't let them." John said. Cara frowned making John sigh. "We may not like him, Cara, but he's not evil. He won't hurt his nephew."

"We're still rescuing him." Cara replied before both of them teleported out.

###

Stephen opened his eyes slowly. His head was pounding as he sat up and looked around. He was in a room sitting in a chair, a long silver table in front of him. The only thing he didn't see was a door, which was probably why he wasn't restrained in anyway. But even if he had been it shouldn't have mattered because he should have been able to teleport out. It was just as he was staring to concentrate and picturing his room at home that part of the wall swung inwards and the man who had stuck him with the syringe walked in. The man motioned for the other men in suits behind him to stay outside before the door swung shut.

The man seated himself in the chair opposite Stephen and smiled; it kind of pissed Stephen off. He wasn't sure if the guy was smug or trying to be nice, in either case Stephen didn't care. Teleporting took more time than he had but maybe he could use his telepathy to figure out why he was there and what this guy wanted. Stephen had already figured they were that organization 'Ultra' that Cara had told him about but he knew next to nothing about it. Telepathy should have been easier; he should have been able to hear something. The man smiled again.

"You can't use your powers in here, Stephen," the man told him and Stephen wasn't sure whether the shot of fear that went through him was because this guy seemed to see right through him or because he had no real way of fighting back without his powers. He thought about lying; saying he didn't know what he was talking about. Powers? Seriously? You must be crazy. But Stephen took one more look at the man and knew it wouldn't work.

"What do you want from me?" Stephen asked keeping his voice flat and level. The man cocked his head to the side as though Stephen's hostility was completely out of place.

"I just want to talk, Stephen." He said.

"Talk?" Stephen scoffed. "You stuck me with a needle and kidnapped me!" He was glad his anger was growing; he hoped it would overtake the fear he felt. The man frowned.

"I am sorry about that," Stephen was surprised at how apologetic the man sounded. "But it was necessary. I couldn't take the chance you'd teleport away." His anger was fading into confusion. It didn't look like Ultra was going to kill him or anything, but he was a prisoner for the time being. "After all, I've been looking for you for a long time." Stephen's eyes snapped up at that. "Tell me, how is your mother? And your brother? He must be what? 15 by now?" Cold fear ran through him

"How do you know about my family?" Stephen demanded but there was a tremor in his voice. If this man thought threatening his family was going to get him anywhere he was wrong.

"Relax," the man said smiling again. "My name's Jedikiah, Jedikiah Price." He let that sink in for a moment. Price. Stephen knew that last name and the way that Jedikiah had introduced himself he knew it wasn't just someone else with the same last name. Price was his father's last name, which meant this man was his uncle.

Stephen leaned back into his chair trying to figure out what this meant. Sure this man was his uncle, but he had also kidnapped him. He wasn't sure whether he should feel relieved, more at ease now or more on edge. Briefly he wondered why Jedikiah had never come to see them but then realized that when their father had moved them he'd been adamant to keep their name and number out of the phonebook and tried, for all intensive purposes, to make them invisible. Plus he and his brother had their mothers last name not their fathers and 'Jameson' was fairly common.

"I just want to talk, Stephen," Jedikiah said pulling Stephen from his thoughts. "And afterwards you are free to leave." That caught Stephen's attention. He nodded feeling a little better but still confused. "Although I expect you must have a lot of questions about what's happening to you."

"I know what I am." Stephen told him and Jedikiah's eyes narrowed in thought.

"Cara and John?" He asked, but it didn't seem to really be a question, nevertheless, Stephen nodded. "But you didn't stay with them." Jedikiah said, more to himself than to Stephen. "And what have they told you about Ultra? That we're monsters? Evil?" While Cara hadn't used those exact words to describe the organization it wasn't that far off.

"She said you're capturing them," he realized as he spoke that he should have said 'us' but he still considered himself a human and Stephen didn't think that would ever really change. Jedikiah just shook his head.

"It's partly true," Jedikiah said, "But it's to protect them and us."

"I don't understand," Stephen said his brow knit.

"These powers can be very dangerous, they can be used to kill or any number of things." Jedikiah explained. "So yes Ultra 'captures' people like you to do one of two things: cure them or let them use their powers for the greater good. It's the same choice I'll give you." Stephen stiffened. "We don't kill people Stephen, Ultra is not some big evil organization. All Ultra does is try to provide some control and stability to this whole situation." Jedikiah's words made sense to Stephen but then so had Cara's at the time. He ran a hand through his hair trying to figure things out.

In truth what Jedikiah told him was not wholly true. Ultra did kill, but only when their targets were too dangerous to keep alive. Jedikiah figured his nephew wasn't ready to hear that yet and hopefully wouldn't ever need to. He'd lost his brother to the ridiculous notion the 'tomorrow people' had and he hoped he wouldn't lose Stephen too; not when he'd just found him. That was when the wall swung open again.

"Sir, there's a situation."

Jedikiah nodded and stood. "I'll be back shortly; we'll talk more then." Stephen got to his feet as well and was about to protest but the door closed too quickly.

"What's going on?" Jedikiah asked, annoyed that his conversation had been cut short.

"We have intruders." The man told him and Jedikiah growled in frustration but stopped walking.

"It's Cara and John," Jedikiah said. "We'll let them come to us." The whole upper level was insulated so their powers would soon become useless. He drew his weapon though, checking he had enough tranq darts. John and Cara were far better fighters than he was but if he could get a clean shot before they got close enough it would be over quickly. Jedikiah hadn't realized Stephen would basically act as bait for the two people he'd been after for a long time now.

###

Stephen kicked at the wall-door angrily. He didn't like being left not knowing what was going on and trapped to boot. Picturing the part of the hallway Stephen had seen when the door was open he started concentrating. He knew Jedikiah had told him it wouldn't work there but he figured there was nothing wrong with trying. In a split second Stephen found himself out in the hallway. He slid unsteadily on his feet. A wide grin spread over his face. Then he heard shouting and, being who he was, ran straight towards it.

"I can't use my powers!" Stephen heard Cara yell to John. The two of them were surrounded; men in suits holding what looked like guns and for a minute Stephen felt indignant that Jedikiah had lied to him about Ultra not being an organization out to kill people like him. Then he saw what they were shooting: tranq darts. And then Cara and John were caught. Jedikiah stepped forward, gun raised.

"It's nice to see the two of you again," Jedikiah said.

"Can't say I feel the same," Cara growled back glaring. Stephen could see his uncle was going to shoot. While fear hadn't strengthen or made his powers easier to reach, frustration and anger seemed to do the trick because all he had to do was think it and he had teleported between his uncle and what he assumed to be his rescuers. Everyone looked shocked.

"Did you just teleport?" Cara whispered from behind him. Neither she nor John could use their powers at all yet Stephen could. Jedikiah looked as shocked as Cara and John.

"Just let them go," Stephen said, although there was a question in there, an unspoken 'please.'

"There's a lot of history here, Stephen. Things you know nothing about." Jedikiah told him firmly. "Get out of the way."

"Sorry," Stephen said, before he turned and grasped both Cara and John's shoulders, "I can't do that," And then he teleported them as far away from there as he could, all of them landing in the middle of a forest.

"This is why you need training," John groaned as he sat up and put his hand to his head where it had collided with the ground.

"How did you do that, Stephen?" Cara asked him.

"I don't know," Stephen answered truthfully.

"Well, it looks like you didn't need a rescue after all." John said lightly and Cara shot him a look.

"Are you okay?" Cara asked turning back to Stephen.

"Yeah, I…" He wasn't sure what to say about that. Stephen wasn't sure whether he had needed rescuing or not either and not just because he could teleport out. His silence caused Cara to bite her lip not wanting to push like she had with John all those years ago. In the end she couldn't help herself.

"He told you Ultra isn't so bad, didn't he?" She asked trying to sound calm but it came out bitter.

"He says they cure people or make sure they only use their power for good," Stephen ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know that there's anything wrong with that." He admitted.

"Ultra cures us against our will!" Cara was frustrated now. "It's either join Ultra or have what you are taken away from you. That's what's wrong with it." She took a breath, trying to calm down; she didn't want to push him away by coming on too strongly. "We should be able to make our own choices as to whether we keep our powers or not, not them. " She said more softly this time, "Their trying to take that choice away from us, trying to take our free will."

Stephen looked down understanding what she was saying and feeling that what she said made sense too. But then Jedikiah was right, these powers could be used to do all kinds of terrible things. John hadn't said a word the whole time Cara had tried to explain things to the kid. He'd heard it all before, he'd left Ultra because of it, or rather because of her. John didn't regret it though at one point he'd been just as lost as the kid. Where Jedikiah and Cara saw things in black and white, John and Stephen only saw grey. Good and evil in both points of view. John had finally chosen his side and someday Stephen would too.

Stephen got home later than he should have; his mother greeted him at the door quietly voicing her worry before she told him they had a guest. It was Jedikiah. His uncle. Luca had been chatting with him for a while it seemed. Stephen stayed very silent as he sat with his family as they caught up everything that had happened in almost ten years. The whole time Stephen wondered why he was there; to get back at him for what he did? To stick him with another needle only this time one with the 'cure?' Jedikiah finally stood to leave and Stephen immediately volunteered to walk him out.

"Well that was nice," Jedikiah commented when they were alone.

"Why are you here?" Stephen asked cautiously and Jedikiah looked a little surprised at the question.

"Stephen, you're part of my family, why wouldn't I be here?" The look in Jedikiah eyes was far more complicated than his words and Stephen had no idea what it meant. "But, since you want to shift our conversation over to work," he shrugged nonchalantly before placing his hands in his coat pockets. "You have two choices Stephen. Ultra can't risk having someone with your powers freely running around. I trust you not to use them for anything," he paused looking for the proper word, "nefarious. But Ultra's not going to break the rules for me." Stephen blinked wondering whether Jedikiah had asked them on his behalf. Removing one of his hands from his coat Jedikiah held out a syringe. "So make the choice, Stephen. You can be a normal boy if that's what you want. Or you can use your powers to do some good in this world."

Stephen looked at the cure in Jedikiah hand. He'd just discovered these amazing powers and now he had to choose whether to let them go or not. Ultra. Was it so bad? Stephen had no idea what he would do there. But the only alternative was option three: go underground and join the 'tomorrow people.' It wasn't really an option though because he could not, would not, leave his mother and brother the way his father did.

"Alright," Stephen said. He didn't have to clarify the determination in his eyes told Jedikiah exactly what Stephen was agreeing to.

ooooooooA/Nooooooo

Okay, so as you've noticed I changed some stuff. Tomorrow people can kill just like everybody else; I also changed up back stories.