Author's Note: ~ "text" ~ indicates telepathy

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"Yes, I just heard from HQ," Agent Simmons relayed to Agent Miller. "The perimeter is in place, but not as strong as they would like. There's a concert starting soon, so they couldn't put as many agents into play as they would have otherwise.

"Go ahead and ... " Simmons trailed off because he had found Agent Jones. The man was just regaining consciousness. Simmons ran over to him.

"What happened?" Simmons asked as he offered his hand to pull him up.

"Not sure," Agent Jones said. He was still a bit dazed from Charlotte's mental scream. "I had John, then all of a sudden there was this ... screeching in my head and then I was waking up."

Jones grasped Simmons proffered hand and, with the assist, was able to get to his feet. He wobbled a bit, but was able to steady himself.

"You should go back to HQ and get checked out," Simmons suggested.

"No, I'll be fine," Jones insisted. "Just give me a couple of minutes."

Simmons still had some doubts about that, but radioed Miller to let him know he found Jones and that they needed to re-group. With the perimeter in place, they needed to come up with a new game-plan.

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"Okay, there will be a lot of people in Central Park ... more than usual with the concert," Cara said to Russell. "We should be able to ..."

~ "Cara, what's going on?" ~ Stephen suddenly sent to her.

~ "Ultra is closing in on John and Charlotte. They are in Central Park. Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you." ~ Cara replied.

~ "Training. What do you need me to do?" ~

"Be able to what?" Russell said concerned.

"Hold on, Russell," she said quickly. "It's Stephen."

~ "Can you get to Central Park? John and Charlotte are making their way toward the concert pavilion." ~

~ "Sure. My Mom has been wanting to attend one of those Concerts in the Park. She's not working today, so it shouldn't be a problem." ~

~ "Good. She can check John's arm; he thinks it might be broken." ~ Cara responded.

"Stephen's on his way. He's going in as part of the crowd," Cara told Russell. "Central Park will be crawling with Ultra agents, so we need to be on alert. Since their focus will be capturing John, we will set up just outside of the park."

"Ready to act, when needed," Russell added.

"You take Jody and wait around 68th and Columbus Avenue," Cara ordered. "Mike and I will go to Madison and 72nd Street."

~ "Stephen, Mike and I will be on the East side of Central Park, while Russell and Jody will be on the West side to provide any support you may need." ~

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As Charlotte and John got closer to the concert pavilion, they encountered more and more people. It was both comforting and painful. Comforting in that the more people there were, the better they could lose themselves in the crowd. Painful because more people meant space became a premium. The closer the quarters, the more people bumped into John and jostled his arm, making him realize something really needed to be done about it.

John spotted what looked like a school group outing with kids Charlotte's age. The group was getting settled in the middle of the concert-goers, so they made their way over to it. He immediately sat down and took a moment to check his arm. If it wasn't broken before the agent had grabbed it, it definitely was now. He looked around to see if there was anything he could use to create a makeshift splint for it. Not finding anything, he braced himself for what could be a long, painful night. He kept his hurt arm as close to his body as possible.

Trying to keep his mind off his injury, he kept alert for the agent that almost caught him, plus the other two he had seen when this all started.

"Are you going to be okay, John?" Charlotte asked tentatively, kneeling beside him.

"Yes, Charlie," John said. "I'll be fine. Just need to lay low and get out of here as soon as possible."

Somewhat comforted by that, Charlotte sat beside him and leaned against his good side. John rested his chin on the top of her head, but kept watch. He would never forgive himself if he let Charlie get re-captured by Ultra. For now, they just needed to bide their time until the concert started. Meanwhile, he tried to come up with a plan to get out of here … or at least a way for Charlie to escape.

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As the agents made their way in the direction they believed John went, they heard more and more people.

"What is all this commotion?" Agent Jones wondered.

"There's a concert starting in about 20 minutes," Agent Simmons responded.

"That is probably where John and his little companion went," Jones said decisively. "Come on, we need to make sure all possible escape routes are covered."

The three agents made a beeline for the concert pavilion.

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Teleporting to a hidden location near his home, Stephen ran in the front door and yelled for his Mom.

"In the kitchen, honey," she responded. "What's all the excitement?"

"I had some unexpected free time, saw a notice about the concerts in the park series," he said as he came over and kissed her cheek, "then figured why not take the world's best Mom for a lovely afternoon in the park with her favorite son?"

"Oh? Where is Luca," she said looking around then winked at him.

"Ha, ha," Stephen rolled his eyes. "Come on, Mom, what do you say?"

"Well, I was going to do the laundry," she paused and looked at Stephen. She never could resist those puppy-dog-eyes he would give her when he really wanted something. "I suppose that can wait. I'll go get ready."

"Don't take too long, we have five minutes to get out of here, if you want to make it on time." Stephen yelled after her.

"When does it start?" Marla shouted down the steps while she hurried to freshen up.

Stephen looked at his watch and said "In about 15 minutes."

His Mom came running down the stairs, running a comb through her hair. "15 minutes?! We'll never get a seat."

"Don't worry about it. A friend of mine is saving a spot for us," Stephen fibbed a bit. He figured John is the friend ... they just didn't know they were saving a seat. "All ready?"

"Yes," Marla said as she tossed the comb on the nearby table, "let's go."

Stephen offered his arm, she took it and they exited the house.

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As Ultra set up the perimeter around the concert, Agents Jones, Simmons and Miller caught up with one of the reinforcements.

"John is traveling with a young girl. She is about 5 ft 4 with long blonde hair," Agent Jones provided the update to the new arrival. "Also, John is injured, so it shouldn't be too hard to locate and capture him. His right arm is most likely broken.

The new arrival relayed the information to the other agents on their communications channel.

"They got lucky when they slipped by us before," Jones said to Miller and Simmons, "but now that we have reinforcements, they will not get by us a second time."

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Once Cara and Mike arrived at their assigned spot, Cara sent ~ "John, we are going to get you out of this." ~

~ "How? We're surrounded and I'm injured. It's not looking very good." ~ John replied then looked at Charlie and tried to give her a reassuring smile.

~ "Watch for Stephen. He's bringing his Mom to the concert, he should be there any minute now. He …" ~

John interrupted her. ~ "Cara, just make sure Charlotte gets out of here. We're right next to a school group with kids her age. I'm going to have Charlie leave with them." ~

~ "John, …" ~ Cara tried to interject

~ "I'll be fine … just protect … Charlie." ~ His arm was starting to become inflamed and it was taking it's toll on him.

~ "John, you don't sound too good." ~ Cara tried not to panic.