Chapter 7

Jedikiah led the way to John's cell, Sam followed close behind dragging Cara roughly by her arm. Cara felt sick, she couldn't supress the overwhelmingly daunting feeling that whatever Ultra had brought her here for, it was going to be bad. Her arms were cuffed behind her back and she was being dragged along by a woman, whom she could tell was well trained.

Jedikiah slowed as he approached a reinforced steel door, there were two guards posted outside. He turned to Sam, "When I signal for you, bring her in."

-TTP-

Truth be told, John was feeling a bit stir crazy. He had been left alone for the past two days as he recovered from his last "interrogation" with the founder. While he still felt exhausted from the amount of power he had exerted, he was itching for an excuse to get out of his room.

When Jedikiah entered the room, John sat up eagerly, looking up at the man with expectation.

"Good morning John." He said with a smile. Dread dawned on John, causing his stomach to somersault. Jedikiah didn't grin without purpose, he had an ace up his sleeve and John got the feeling he was about to play it.

"Good morning," John mumbled in reply, eyeing Jedikiah suspiciously.

"Hands behind your back." He gestured for John to turn around, cuffing him when John compliantly did so. Jedikiah placed a supporting hand on John's shoulder. "In a minute, you will see something you don't like." Jedikiah's voice was gentle as he spoke to John, his voice radiated tranquillity, like the voice a parent would use to calm a child after a nightmare. "But your behaviour will affect the outcome of this situation, so I need you to stay calm."

He walked over to the cell door, turning back to warn John one more time. "Behave yourself, John. Don't do anything I'll have to punish you for." Jedikiah hesitated for a moment before banging the door twice signalling for them to enter.

A guard entered first, moving to stand by John grasping him firmly by his arms. That's when Sam dragged Cara in, she struggled at first, until she saw John, calling his name in desperation before Sam shoved a hand over her mouth, effectively gagging her.

John's eyes widening a fraction when he saw her, he fought with himself to remain in control. This could not be happening. He tried to speak but "Sam… Please," was all he could muster. She sent him a wicked grin in return.

"There's going to be a change in regime, John." At the sound of Jedikiah's voice, John sent his fiercest glare in his direction. But Jedikiah knew John well and he could see just as much fear in the boy's eyes as anger. "Firstly, you're going to start training and sparring again with Alex and Sam every morning. At first, it will be two hours of basic exercise to improve your stamina, followed by an hour sparring and an hour of weapon training. But ratio's may change depending on where we find weaknesses. Then in the afternoon, we'll focus on accessing all that secret power of yours which, by the way, is where Miss Coburn will come in."

"Why are you doing this? You already got me. Why d'you need her?" John voice was empty, he stared down at the floor. Cara had never seen this side of John. He looked miserable, and the helplessness in his voice made him seem young, too young.

Jedikiah's eyes softened as they scanned over John. "The founder thought you would need an extra incentive to keep you from running. He's also making sure all TP's in your group are given the cure, those who fight will be executed. There's nothing left out there for you, John." John flinched at his words. Jedikiah stepped towards him, lifting his chin so their eyes met. "This is all for your own good son, you belong here."

Cara watched the scene unfold, sickeningly. She knew that Jedikiah cared for John, so how could he treat him this way. The way Jedikiah gave John caring parental gestures while telling him that his friends were going to be harmed disgusted her. She couldn't imagine how confusing it must have been for John growing up here, with a man who treated him in such a twisted way.

"If the morning training goes well today and Alex is pleased with your progress, you may see Cara at lunch before your afternoon session." Jedikiah gestured for Sam to take Cara away. "Well done, John. You handled that much better than I thought you would. Alex will come to collect you in about an hour or so, eat something before he does." As if on cue a guard entered, with a litre bottle of water and a tray carrying various fruits and cereal. Jedikiah and the guards left the room quietly, leaving John to his thoughts.

-TTP-

As promised, half an hour later, a man in his early 30's entered John's room. He was of bigger build than John, broader with bigger muscles and slightly taller. His hair was cut short, in the typically neat soldier fashion. He smiled when he saw John, it was the first friendly smile John had actually seen during his latest visit to Ultra.

"Johnny," his grin widened, "Get up, time for training." Alex extended his hand to help John up, not failing to notice the sombre look on John's face.

The first hour of training was mostly comprised of running laps at various speeds around the track in Ultra's gym. John had to admit it felt good to exert himself after spending the last week locked up. Although, Alex's cheerful disposition also helped to improve his mood. Alex was had always been kind and optimistic, even when John was a kid. John had been years younger than the other recruits but Alex had always looked out for him, always making sure to include him. Having said that Alex was a slave driver, John remembered just how much so when they moved on to circuit training.

The circuit was composed of skipping, inclined press-ups, burpees, sit ups and weights. Alex said to spend 1 minute at each station and with each full circle the time at each station would increase by 30 seconds. They would continue till Alex said to stop. About 45 minutes later, Alex finally told an exhausted John that they could stop. John collapsed back onto the floor catching his breath, while Alex was out of breath but still standing. He gave them both 15 minutes to recover, before Sam walked in ready to spar.

The rules were simple; no powers were allowed in to be used in fights, only your body was allowed to be used to take down your opponent (no weapons) and when an opponent taps out you release them. Other than that, anything goes. John held his own fairly well in the one to one sparring against Alex. He had taken a largely defensive strategy during their fight, not wasting his limited energy attacking and assessing Alex's fighting style. After he felt confident of his assessment, he let Alex attack again, this time blocking Alex while simultaneously delivering a flat handed blow to the neck, he quickly followed this up with a round house kick. Alex fell back to the floor, and immediately John was on top of him in the full mount position attempting to get Alex in a triangle chokehold. Alex grinned at John's effort, bridging his back and throwing his arms tight around John's chest. He blocked John's arm and placed his leg over John's ankle, bridging his back again to roll them over so Alex was in the better position. Alex and John continued to for better positions until Alex managed a sleeper chokehold, causing John to quickly tap out.

Next up was Sam, she could see John was exhausted and used it to her advantage, Sam fought viciously, attacking John with fierce blows every chance she got. As John was exhausted and Sam was in peak condition it didn't take long for her to finish the match. He could already feel bruises forming under his shirt and was not looking forward to fighting with Sam tomorrow. After the fight Sam left, she had barely spoke a word to him or Alex during the sparring. Alex quickly dismissed her attitude, "Don't take it personally, she's like that with everyone nowadays."

"She has a right to be mad at me. So do you." John replied curtly.

"It's not your fault they executed people John, you didn't know." Alex said with indifference, John wondered how Alex could talk about the execution of their friends with so little emotion. This was the first difference he had noticed in the boy he used to know. "Besides after Killian left and started blowing things up, it was only a matter of time before they started to wonder about us."

Alex then escorted John up to the range where they met with Jedikiah. He was led into a bullet proof cabin, which opened out into a shooting range with multiple targets at the end.

"When we leave, we will lock the door behind us. I will then remotely give you access to the guns, you will take the rifle and shoot at the targets. When you're done you will put the gun back, I will remotely take away your access. Only when the guns safely locked away will I unlock the door. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." John said in a mocking voice, he will still angry about this morning's surprise and his eyes glistened with defiance at the thought of using a weapon against Jedikiah.

Seeing John's eyes light up with defiance, Jedikiah slipped a hand to gently onto his neck, pulling him forward as if telling him a secret. "Just remember, if you do something stupid, bad things will happen to Cara." He whispered in the most calming voice he could muster, somehow this made his voice feel more threatening.

He locked John in the range and gave him access to the guns, feeling a tinge of regret about lying to John, saying his behaviour could protect Cara. Jedikiah knew full well it couldn't.

While John finished shooting, Jedikiah and Alex discussed his performance today. Alex was brutally honest about John's performance, claiming his levels of stamina had dropped and his fighting ability had decreased dramatically. However, he also mentioned that John had not complained once during their work out, while he needed to improve, he had made an effort in the morning session.

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