"Breathe in...Breathe out...Maintain focus..."
Following along with his mental commands, JD sat cross-legged in the center of an empty room, eyes closed with the blue aura of his powers flowing around him. In the air around him, covered in the same aura, were dozens of darts.
Continuing with his breathing, he controlled the projectiles to aim at the blank wall infront of him. His eyes snapped open and they all launched forward with he speed of a gunshot, the sharp points piercing their target and forming a large smiley face with X's for eyes.
JD smirked before standing up, getting the blood flowing back into his legs having been seated for so long. The empty room had been set up for him long ago as a save area for him to practice his powers without causing any damage...it was also a place where he would go to clear his head.
The now 19 year old psionic scratched the side of his head, his fingers running over the three long scars that ran along his right temple and curved down just behind his ear. It took 22 stitches to fix what the entity had done when he and Jodie shut down the condenser last year.
It hurt like hell, and recovery was annoying, but it was a price he was willing to pay as long as Jodie was okay. Besides, he thought the scars made him look badass, although his better half would just roll her eyes at his positive outlook on such an injury.
Their relationship was still as strong as it had ever been, in recent months they'd been staying in one or the others' room and sleeping there for several nights at a time. The development being allowed, along with more freedom for them both, after they risked their lives to close the rift to the Infraworld.
Many of the people at the DPA had even thanked the couple in one way or another for their courage. And from what was said by a few of he scientists, had they not stopped the condenser, the outcome would have been catastrophic on a massive scale.
Other than that, life continued on as usual. But JD couldn't help but think that something was going to be changing, and soon.
Jodie had been feeling the same way, but neither of them could put a finger on it. So instead that decided to remain cautious, just incase. There had been so many curveballs thrown at them throughout their lives, it was hard not to think ahead should another one come around the corner.
Taking a couple moments to stretch his stiff muscles, he used TK to bring his shoes over from the door and put them on before leaving the room. Nodding to a few guards that had been walking past the room when he had left before making his way in the direction where Jodie would be going through a test with Nathan and Cole.
He wasn't allowed in the room during the test, he was considered a 'distraction' and had to wait outside. He didn't mind though...there were other ways for him to be able to see what they were up to.
Arriving at the room, JD leaned against the wall beside the door and sat down. Knees bent with his arms resting on them while he closed his eyes and concentrated. His powers flaring to life for a brief moment before fading into nothing, the psionic's eyes rolling over white as a ghostly image of himself stood up.
Satisfied that his body would remain where it was, JD walked through the wall in his astral-form. Finding Jodie and Nathan sitting at a table in the middle of the room with Cole at a bank of computers off to the side.
The brunette had the usual headgear they needed to wear during tests while Nathan explained to her what the experiment was about.
Hovering close to her, attached together by a long teather of ethreal energy, was Aiden's shapeless form. The entity turning his attention to the new arrival who placed a ghostly finger to his lips, telling him to not give him away.
No one would be able to see him save for Aiden, something they all figured out when he first started using astral projection. It was one of the many reasons he could never sneak up on Jodie this way, the entity would always tell her when he was near in astral-form.
"Ready?" asked Nathan
Jodie nodded, "Yeah."
"Cole?" the professor asked his co-worker.
"Recording." he reported from his station as the test began.
"Now concentrate, Jodie." Nathan instructed, motioning to the various objects laid out on the table before her. "Tell me if you feel anything in particular about any of these objects."
Looking at the items; a photo of a blonde woman, a silver coin, a wooden box, and a hardcover book, Jodie picked up the photo first.
Nothing happened.
Setting the picture back where it had been, she picked up the coin next. Focusing a bit more, trying to trigger...something. But again nothing occurred and she set the object down.
Moving to the wooden box, Jodie opened the lid and found that it was a music box. Her reflection in the mirror under the lid looked back at her while a porceline ballerina in a red dress popped up and started to slowly spin to the soft tune that played.
She felt something then. A buzzing in the forefront of her mind telling her that there was something within the object that couldn't be seen by regular means.
"Do you feel it, Aiden?" she asked mentally. The entity responding with a positive echo as he connected her to the music box. Her eyes turned white as she was pulled into a vision;
"Thank you dad, it's so pretty!" a little girl exclaimed in excitement as she held the music box in her hands.
The image flashed to a much younger Nathan Dawkins who smiled widely at her, "Open it."
The girl opened the box and gasped seeing the tiny dancer twirling to the music. The two of them laughing in joy together as everything went white.
Jodie gasped as she pulled herself back to reality, looking down at the music box with hesitation. "Jodie...?" Nathan asked, garnering her attention. "You okay?"
"Ye...Yeah...Yeah, yeah...I'm, I'm fine." she said, shaking her head as the last dregs of the vision faded.
"Did you see something?" the older man asked, his voice taking on a rather eager tone.
Debating for a moment to tell him what she saw, Jodie decided to be honest. "I saw a little girl...it was her music box."
Nathan drew back slowly, looking a little pale. "...Laura..." he whispered in shock.
A phone ringing broke the tense feeling in the air, Cole reached over and picked it up; "Yeah? Nathan? Okay, I'll tell him." he hung up and turned his chair to face his friend, "Nathan, someone named Ryan Clayton is here to see you. He says you know what it's about."
Nathan perked up, his eyes hardening as he stood up. "Yes...I'll be back in a moment."
JD took that moment to rush back to his body, standing up right as the door opened and the professor stepped out into the hall. "JD? I wasn't expecting to see you here." he said genuinely surprised.
"Eh, I got bored. Decided to check and see if Jodie was done with her test." the psionic replied with a shrug.
"Yeah, we just finished." Nathan said, sounding distracted as he looked down the hallway. JD following his gaze and saw another man, who couldn't have been no more than 10 or so years older than himself, heading toward them.
"Must be that Ryan Clayton Cole said was on the phone." he thought before turning his attention back to Nathan. Finding the professor looking anxious, yet at the same time hesitant. His usually kind eyes hardening like ice chips that briefly melted when the faced the psionic.
"JD, why don't you head in there and be with Jodie. I'll be with you both in a minute or two." he said, his overall demeanor becoming very out of character from seeing the new arrival.
Narrowing his eyes at the man's behavior, JD turned and headed into the room. A feeling of unease filling the pit of his chest, something about all of this was wrong. Nathan had been acting strangely for the last month, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get anything out of him.
But something told him it had everything to do with the man that just arrived.
"Hey, JD. What brings you around here?" asked Cole, he and Jodie both sitting at the bank of computers off to the side.
"What? A man can't come around and visit his favorite lady without being questioned?" JD asked back as he walked over and kissed Jodie who was more than happy to reciprocate. "Ran into Nathan outside...he looked a bit distracted."
"Noticed that too." Jodie said, looking at Cole questioningly. "What's been going on, Cole? He's been like this for a while."
The researcher sighed, "He's been trying to raise money for the lab. It's been bothering him for a while, you know how he can get."
"What about the guy I saw him meeting with out in the hall?" asked JD. "From the looks of things, Nathan wanted to be anywhere than in the same room as him."
"Don't know. Never met or heard about him until today. Gotta be something, though." replied Cole.
Jodie sighed as she crossed her arms and looked at the clock on the wall, "Hopefully we're done soon, I still got a lot of homework to do. It wierd, Nathan complains when either one of us gets bad grades, but he's alwats keeping us up with these tests when we should be studying."
"I'm not complaining." JD said smirking, "Any excuse to not fall asleep on a text book is good enough for me."
His lover smacked him playfully on the arm, "Lazy ass." she muttered smiling.
"Oh, you know you love this ass." the psionic whispered huskily while reaching down and grabbing a handful of of Jodie's perky rear, making her jump and blush deeply. "Just as much as I love this one."
"HEY! None of that in here!" Cole reprimanded before rubbing his eyes, "Damn kids, gonna put me in an early grave."
The couple laughed at the man's grumbling. JD turned his attention to one of the windows where he could see Nathan talking with 'Ryan'. His mind turning over what could be going on that they don't know about.
X
"Listen..." Nathan started, very uncomfortable at the situation that he was now placed in. One that he had been putting off for too long now. "I never...got around to telling them. I need more time."
The other man shook his head, "No, Professor Dawkins, they need to come with me...today. I have my orders."
"Christ, they're only kids, Ryan!" the professor shot back. "My assistant and I are the only family they have...neither of them have any idea what's out there."
Ryan shook his head, "Look, Dawkins, I see your side of it. Alright? I do. But orders are orders, right? And at the very least, you convinced my superiors to at the very least keep them together...that's something." he crossed his arms and gave the older man a pointed look, "Now, are you going to get them? Or do I have to myself?"
Looking toward the room, seeing the two teens talking together and laughing, Nathan sighed with a heavy heart before making his way to the door of the testing room and opening it. "Jodie? JD? Could you come here, please?" he called weakly.
Looking to one another confused, the couple made their way to the door and outside where the two men were waiting for them. "What's going on, Nathan? You look upset." Jodie said, both she and JD sensing the thick tension in the air.
Nathan took another deep breath, "Guys, this is Ryan Clayton from the CIA." he introduced the other man who was standing stiffly and observing the teens with critical eyes. "The agency...wants you two to join their military school program at Camp Peary. Ryan's going to take care of you from now on..."
The silence that befell the hall was so dense, you could hear a pin drop. Both teens looking like they had been sucker punched in the gut by a prize fighter. "...What?" JD said, not believing what they had just heard.
"You have to go with him...today." Nathan added, his gaze cast to the floor at his feet, full of guilt.
"W-Why us?" Jodie said, her voice shaking. "I...I don't understand!"
"This unit, belongs to the CIA." said the professor, "They've been tracking yours and JD's cases, since you arrived and he woke up after the accident. They know what you both can do."
"So you decided to just hand us over to the CIA?!" JD seethed, fists clenched while trying to keep his powers contained. "Is that all we are?! TEST SUBJECTS?! Have us around for a while to poke and prod at then toss when we're not of any use anymore?!"
"Did you ever stop to think about what we would want?!" Jodie demanded, equally enraged at the whole situation as Cole came out of the room to see what was going on.
JD snapped his head around and glared at him, "Did you fucking know about this, Cole?!"
"What? What's going on?" the researcher asked confused.
"Evidentally we've been handed over to the government on a silver platter, and Nathan didn't bother to tell us until right now!" the psionic exclaimed. Cole looking as though the whole floor had been pulled out from under him.
"I...I know this is difficult, for both of you." Nathan said, doing his best to be sincere, "But you need to understand. This is a great opportunity for you."
Jodie shook her head, "You can tell the CIA to FUCK OFF! Because we're not going anywhere!" she shouted, grabbing JD's hand tightly in her own.
"Jesus!" Ryan scoffed, "Listen up, Miss Holmes, I don't give a shit about your pathetic adolescent pouting, alright? You both can rant and rave all you want, but just shut your mouth and do as you're told."
"Hey, Seacrest, why don't you go fuck yourself." JD snapped, not wanting to hear a damn thing out of the agent's mouth.
Ryan rolled his eyes, "Enough of this, let's go!" he reached out and grabbed Jodie's arm...
He was immediately slammed into, his body connecting hard against the closest wall with the psionic's forearm wedged tightly against his throat.
"Don't EVER touch her like that again you fucking piece of shit!" the JD roared, his eyes a blazing, neon-blue with his powers flaring around him like a raging fire.
"It's in your best interest to let me go, kid." the agent leered, the pressure on his throat tightening and making it harder to breathe. While at the same time internally surprised at how he had been easily taken down and restrained.
JD leaned in so that they were nearly nose to nose, "If you lay a hand on Jodie...I will fucking BREAK you. And I won't need my powers for that."
"JD! Enough! There's no need for-" Nathan was cut off when JD's other hand snapped in his direction, the professor became frozen in place before being lifted off the ground and brough over so that the psionic could glare at him as well.
"And YOU! We trusted you! All these years of you telling us we could count on you and that you'd always be there for us! You knew these bastards would come for us and you didn't do anything about it!"
The professor had the desency to look even more guilty that he already had, "They...They were going to separate the two of you." he said solumnly. Making both teens look at him surprised. "Another agency was interested in your psionic powers and wanted you to be part of their ranks to help on the battlefield...but I managed to convince the CIA to keep you both together. If I couldn't keep you here at the DPA, then I was going to make sure that you stayed together...it's the least I could do..."
Another tense silence filled the air. JD slowly lowered Nathan back to the ground and released his TK, sending one more burning leer at Ryan before releasing and stepping away from him and going to stand by Jodie.
"JD...Jodie..." Nathan said, slowly approaching the couple and putting a hand on each of their shoulders with a pleading look in his broken gaze. "Please...do this for me..."
Jodie clenched her eyes, tears streaking down her face. She turned her head and looked up at JD who looked back with hesitation, but also knowing the full weight of what was happening.
They had no choice in the matter. And no matter how hard they fought against it, it wouldn't change anything.
"We'll...We'll go get our stuff..." she finally said with resignation. Taking JD's hand again as they headed in the direction of their rooms.
"Only the essentials," Ryan called after them, "We've got everything you'll need at Camp Peary."
JD raised the hand that wasn't holding Jodie's and flipped him the finger before they rounded the corner. Walking down the halls they had known for the last ten years for the last time.
The psionic led his lover into his room, closing the door behind him just as Jodie completely broke down. Clinging to him like a lifeline as he lowered them to the floor and held her. Keeping silent as she vented all of her grief and saddness.
"I...I can't believe this." she mumbled between her sobs.
"I know, babe." JD said softly back, running a hand through her hair. "You still have me. And I'm not going anywhere." He leaned back and raised her face to meet his, using his thumbs to wipe her tears away before leaning down and capturing her's in a gentle kiss.
Pulling back a moment later, he smiled. "You and me against the world." he vowed. Something they said to one another when things got hard or they had a fight. A spoken promise that no matter what happened, they would always be on each others' side to the very end.
Jodie gave a watery smile back, "You and me against the world." she vowed in return. They took a few more minutes to themselves before they started gathering the few belongings that meant the most to them.
Jodie took few clothes, photo albums/pictures in frames, books, the stuffed rabbit she'd had since she was little and the star necklace JD had given her after they started dating that had her birthstone in the center.
JD took much of the same, including a silver cross necklace Jodie had given him when he turned 18 that he slipped around his neck.
Finished packing, they left their rooms and meet in the hallway between them, each with a duffelbag with their things. Giving each other a reassuring smile, the psionic put his free arm around his lover's shoulders as they walked together to where the CIA agent was waiting for them with Nathan and Cole.
"Don't worry." Cole said, tears running down his dark-colored cheeks. "You both will be great..." he paused a moment, then stepped forward and hugged Jodie. "I'm gonna miss the hell out of you, princess..." he said sadly.
Turning to JD, the psionic held out his hand, but Cole stepped forward and hugged him too. "You watch out for her...you hear?" he whispered into his ear.
JD nodded, keeping his face impassive a Nathan came up to them next.
"I'll come see you two as soon as I can." he said, looking between them, having trouble finding words. "I'll never let you down...either of you. Understand?" The professor hugged them both, "I'll always be there for you, never forget that."
"Have a hard time believing that." JD couldn't help but think heatedly, but kept it too himself for Jodie's sake since she was having a hard time as it was.
"It's time to go." Ryan said, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here at the moment.
The psionic growled, eyes flashing with his powers. "This place has been our home for the last decade...have a little fucking patience, asshole." The agent raised his hands and backed off, knowing full well what he was capable off if pushed too far.
When all the goodbyes were said and done, the couple nodded to Ryan who started toward the entrance of the facility. They followed after him, stopping at the door to gave one final look back.
The place that had been home, the only place they had known for the last ten years, and the only two people which they considered family all being left behind.
Taking it all in one last time, they left the DPA and headed toward the parked SUV waiting for them that would take them to their unknown future...but in the end, even with everything they had known behind them, they still had each other.
And to them, that was all that mattered.