Chapter 8

John lay down on his bed, exhausted. Jedikiah had deemed him worthy of a visit from Cara after the morning's training session; he was waiting for her to arrive.

While waiting, he checked himself over, surveying the damage from this morning. Sam had left some pretty hefty bruises, littered all over his torso. His throat felt sore from the sleeper chokehold Alex had used and when he looked in the mirror he could see the faint bruises caused by the same hold. He had forgotten how intense Ultra training could be, his training routine with the tomorrow people had been nothing compared to this.

Jedikiah entered the room with a tray carrying two plates of food, followed by Cara and the two armed guards escorting her. He placed the tray of food on the bed, beside John.

"As a reward for your cooperation this morning, I have arranged for you and Miss Coburn to have lunch together." He gestured to John to give him his hand, slapping a cuff on it when he did and attaching the cuff to the railing of the bed. He gestured for Cara to do the same, cuffing her to the opposite side of the room and handing John and Cara a plate of food each. "You have half an hour and remember we are watching you." He indicated to the camera above the door. "And we can hear you." He smirked as he and the guards left.

"Did they hurt you? What happened?" John urgently asked, as soon as they were alone.

"No, no. I'm ok. Irene isn't though. They shot her." Cara couldn't look at John as she said it.

"Oh." Now it was John's turn to avoid her gaze. "Did anyone else get hurt?" His voice was quiet.

"I don't know, they separated me from the group so I'm not sure what happened…What happened to your neck John?" She pulled forward trying to get a better look, eyes ablaze with concern.

"It's nothing, it was just from sparring with Alex this morning." John shrugged noncommittally. Cara was not satisfied with the answer but thought it best to move on, she didn't want to argue in the short amount of time they had together.

"D'you know what Jedikiah's got planned?"

"No. I'm not sure what he's up to, but I've got a feeling it's gonna be bad." John voice sounded empty, like he had resigned himself to defeat before the afternoon had even begun.

"I'm scared, John." Her voice cracked as she said it, her eyes staring at John with such intensity, such expectation, that he didn't know how to respond. He couldn't lie to her. Everything was not going to be ok. Escape attempts from this part of the building were near impossible and if they were caught it would be worse. He glanced at the camera, knowing what he would say could cause them problems, but she needed to hear it.

"I know." He looked her in the eye. "But, you can't give up Cara. I don't think they'll kill you, not if they're using you to control me. And that's what's important, staying alive. You have to stay alive, because they can't be on high alert for ever, one day they will slip. And when that happens, promise you'll run. That you'll take any opportunity to you can to get away from here."

She stared at him for a moment, tears still in her eyes, considering. "Only if you do the same. They don't own you John, don't let them take your life away from you. Promise me, John."

"I promise." The words were barely above a whisper, but Cara heard them.

"I do too."

"Well isn't that sweet." Both John and Cara looked to see Jedikiah standing in the doorway. Cara was removed from the room. "You're not really listening to her are you, John" He sounded angry. "I rescued you, from your foster father, who was probably going to beat you to death. I saved your life, brought you here, where you were given enough to eat, taught how to defend yourself, given a good life. You threw it all away, to live underground like a rodent." Jedikiah was now yelling, John had never seen him lose his cool before. "I am not trying to take your life away John, I'm trying to give you a better one."

"You experimented on me." John said, defensively.

"You volunteered; I didn't want you to do it. I gave you plenty of chances to opt out."

"You made me kill your brother, my friend."

"I had orders from higher up. I couldn't stop that. But it doesn't change the fact that Ultra gave you enough food to eat, an education and a safe place to sleep at night when no one else wanted to help you." With that Jedikiah walked out, leaving John still chained to the bed.

-TTP-

When John entered the room, Cara was already tied down to a chair, the chair was secured to the floor. Her bounds looked tight, she was well secured. Two guards escorted John the seat opposite her, uncuffing his hands from behind his back and securing them to the arms of the cold metal chair. His chair faced hers and he could see the fear in her eyes as she looked at him.

The founder was present, watching them both with amusement. He briefly wondered how long John would hold out before new found abilities took control. Looking at John's face now, he didn't think he'd be waiting too long and this concerned him greatly. Jedikiah was supposed to have taught him better, emotions were weaknesses. This girl made him vulnerable and John should have known better than to let that happen.

Electrodes were placed on his scalp monitoring his brains electrical activity, his heart rate and blood pressure were also being monitored throughout the session.

It had been decided to subject Cara to physical pain, if the founder attacked her mentally she wouldn't last long enough, he wouldn't have enough time to assess John's power and how much control he had.

The guards started her off with a beating, John was distressed by watching this but not nearly distressed enough to cause a spike in his power. After 10-15 minutes, the guards decided to intensify the experiment, whipping out a knife and gently running across her skin, staring at John with a broad smirk across his face. John thrashed against his bounds, giving the guard a murderous glare. The founder smiled at his behaviour, enjoying it.

The guard increased the pressure, cutting against Cara's skin, causing her to cry out. John struggled with his bonds more violently, the guard behind him held him back, restricting his movement. The blade was pressed harder against the already formed cut, Cara screamed, tears streaming from her eyes. This was enough for John, power pulsated from him, blasting from in a circular motion pushing everything in the back towards the walls. His heart rate raced at 190 Bpm, unhealthily high.

Cara's chair had been blown back, wrenched from the metal bolts previously securing it the floor. She must have hit her head as she was blasted back, because she was unconscious. John stared down at her in horror.

The founder was impressed, Jedikiah really knew how to motivate John, the girl proved very effective. When John had lashed out, he had recovered fairly quickly, using his telekinesis to hold himself mid-air, preventing his body from crashing into anything.

He noticed the guard who had been cutting Cara, he had been badly impaled by the knife he was using. This was good, it could mean that John had subconscious control of his abilities.

"Enough for today." He ordered medics in to take care of the wounded, while John was escorted back to his room. A medic had accompanied him, monitoring him for symptoms of shock.

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