Well, I picked up a few more follows, favourites and reviews so thank you to those people!

CHAPTER THREE

There were very few weaknesses that Cara was willing to admit to, but one thing she'd freely tell people was that she knew absolutely nothing about ballet dancing. Yet there she was, in the middle of the audience. Not so long ago, she'd have teleported past the doorman and found an empty seat. But having access to Ultra's funds had caused Stephen to go respectable, so, against her instincts, she'd agreed to buy a ticket like everyone else.

She quickly picked out Sophie among the dancers. Not a lead role. That would be too much to hope for. But a role all the same, one that required skill and dedication. And one that she was doing well enough at to make Cara smile with pride.

She didn't know much about dancing but she knew what she liked.

"You looked good out there,"she remarked as she leaned against the door of Sophie's dressing room.

Sophie looked at her and smiled. "Cara! I didn't know you were here!" Her expression grew suddenly worried. "Is it safe for you to be here?"

"It is now. Ultra's gone, Sophie. Or possibly being run by us, we haven't quite made up our minds about that one yet. The point is, no-one's hunting you anymore."

Sophie let out a sigh of relief. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that."

Cara gave an ironic smile. "No, I kind of do."

Sophie looked contrite. "Yeah, sorry. I forgot."

Cara sat down at the dressing table next to her. "Which kind of leaves you with another choice to make."

Sophie was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…now that these powers don't make you a target, do you want them?" Cara took her sister's wrist and pulled back her sleeve to reveal the D chip bracelet that Cara had given her. "I could remove this here and now, make you one of us again. You can still have a life, still have a career. And we can help you control your powers. It might actually be quite cool."

Sophie swallowed hard. "You're sure this would be all right?"

"Trust me. Big sisters know these things."

Jedikiah was projecting an air of unaffected nonchalance. It contrasted neatly with the glowering expression of Senator Kelsey, who was staring out at him from his computer screen. "You promised me results, Doctor Price,"Kelsey snapped. "You promised me that we'd be heroes. And you have given me nothing!"

Jedikiah raised an eyebrow. "Did you not get all those reports I sent you?"

"Yes, of course I have…"

"Then you'll know I've recruited and trained a number of paranormals."

"Yes, your so-called Homo Superior. So you say. But what I want to know is when your army will be ready for deployment."

Jedikiah gave a deliberate pause. "Soon."

The comment was designed to enrage Kelsey and it succeeded. "What do you mean 'soon'?"

"Senator, I've promised you an army and I will deliver. But an army is not something I can produce overnight. At the moment, I have but a handful of troops at my disposal. They could be useful for small operations but anything large scale… If you want to risk wiping them all out when I don't have replacements available, be my guest."

"We'll hold off for now,"Kelsey conceded. "But we don't have unlimited time."

"Oh, don't worry. New ones are coming in all the time."

John glanced for a moment at the printed photograph he'd been given before approaching the young man sleeping in the alleyway. "Randall?"

The youth looked up wildly, jumping to his feet and backing against a wall. "Who are you?"

John held up his hands placatingly. "It's okay. I'm like you."

Randall looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

John took a step towards him and Randall teleported, appearing behind him. He turned to leave but John stopped him with a telepathic message. "Randall, wait."

Randall turned round, intrigued. "That was in my head, wasn't it? I've heard voices in my head before, people's thoughts. Just things I've picked up at random. But that…that was you. You were able to speak to my mind."

John gave him a sympathetic smile. "It's something we can all do. You too."

"How?"

"Well, we can show you."

"We?"

"There's some people that know about us. They helped me when I broke out, trained me, taught me to use my powers to help others. They can do the same for you." He held out his hand. "You interested?"

Randall shrugged. "What have I got to lose?" He took John's hand…

…and they teleported to Jedikiah's training centre. Randall looked suddenly uncertain as he saw the black-uniformed troops. "Who are these people?"

"It's okay,"John told him. "They just want to give you a few tests. Go with them."

Randall still didn't seem entirely certain, but nodded and allowed himself to be led away.

"Very good, John,"Jedikiah remarked. "We managed to avoid any unpleasant kicking and screaming."

"I think he'll respond well to therapy,"John agreed.

"Well, it's nice to know some people can be sensible. We've had a breakthrough…but I'm not expecting these ones to come quite so quietly."

Stephen, Russell and Astrid had reconvened back to the briefing room for another one of Irene's show and tell demonstrations. The screen showed a map of the city. "Tim and I have been doing a bit of research work,"she explained. "We've been tracking all the incidents of paranormal activity and trying to find out what they are." She pressed a button and a series of lights appeared, scattered across the map. "Now, these are all the robberies we've identified as being carried out by Natalie's group. They get in, they do the damage, they teleport out."

Astrid looked hard at the screen, struggling to see a pattern. "They look pretty random,"she admitted at last.

"They are,"Irene agreed. "But…" She pressed another button and another series of lights appeared… except these were all clustered together in one building. "Every time they teleport away from one of their raids we pick up a spike in paranormal activity from here."

Stephen stared hard, understanding the implication. "Natalie's base?"

Irene nodded. "That'd be my guess."

"So what do we do now?"Russell asked.

"We go and get them,"Stephen replied.

Astrid mulled it over for a second. "I'd be okay with that."

They were interrupted by the entrance of Cara and Sophie. "Good news,"Cara commented, patting her sister on the shoulder. "I've got us another recruit."

"I'm not saying I'm moving in with you guys or anything,"Sophie stressed. "But it would help for you to teach me how to use my powers."

Astrid smiled at her. "Good to see you again."

Russell gave Cara a playful punch. "You're back just in time, home girl! We are just about to do some serious beating up of the bad guys!"

Cara grimaced. Next to her, Sophie's expression shifted to equal parts fear and weary resignation. "Is it too late to change my mind?"