Chapter 3

"So, how've you been?" Russell asked John.

John raised an eyebrow. "Fine."

"Good, good."

Russell nodded a couple times while John waited for the conversation to go somewhere.

"We don't see each other much at work," Russell pointed out.

"You have your hands full with training. I'm busy with my own responsibilities."

"Did Jed ever tell you that we were really good friends?" Russell asked.

"Yes."

"You were there for me when my father died. Jed probably didn't know that, so he wouldn't have told you."

"No, this is news to me," John replied.

"You joined me on my trip to the funeral, all the way to Oregon. You had my back in a bar fight. It meant a lot to me. We were best friends, man."

"I'm glad you had someone with you through that," said John. "I honestly am."

"I had you," Russell said. He held out his hands. "Let me show you what you did for me."

John hesitated.

"You did a really good thing, John. Don't you want to remember it?"

"No," John answered. He looked back at his apartment.

"I'm giving you a chance to know what happened."

"Your account was enough."

"Fine," Russell said as he realized that he was losing John's interest and probably his patience. "Hey, did Jed ever tell you what I did to Roger? And what happened to you before that?"

"Yeah, he did. It was bound to come up."

"Well, I'm sorry about that."

"Thanks, but Roger's the one you should be apologizing to, and you can't do that."

"I know," Russell said. "This is the best I can do. Jed said that I undermined your sacrifice."

"That doesn't bother me. What bothers me is how one of my friends was betrayed and again, that's not something to take up with me. Anyway, I have a long day tomorrow."

Russell groaned. "Really?'

"Yes."

"Any chance you can keep this conversation between us?"

"Probably," John answered. "I won't lie to Jed, but it's not like he's going to be asking about this. And Russell, I understand that we meant plenty to each other and I sympathize with what you must be feeling now, but friendships end all time. You, Stephen, and Cara need to accept that I'm a different person now."

"You don't have to be."

"I want to be. I like who I am and where I am." John teleported home.

"All right," Russell quietly said to himself.

The next day, Jed and John waited for two entourages from the Army and the Marines.

"What is it?" John asked. "Something's been distracting you."

"I found Morgan."

A large group entered the building.

"General Acolito, General Reynolds, thank you so much for coming in," said Jed. "This is John Young, my deputy."

General Reynolds shook John's hand. "Yes, Senator Kelsey told me about you. Pleasure to meet you."

Jed and John led the generals and their assistants to a training room.

"As you would expect, we have Tomorrow People at differing skill levels. We've grouped the experts together against the relative novices," Jed said.

Everyone watched as Bethany led her squad against a group led by Rich. Bethany's team took several minutes to claim victory.

"Imagine how much more quickly this would have ended against normal humans," said Jed.

The Tomorrow People ran through a second simulation to demonstrate their training, this time with the teams being more evenly matched.

Elsewhere, Lorne teleported from the Refuge to a shopping center. He used his telekinesis to start stealing food and putting them into a bag.

Jed and John briefed the generals and their assistants on staff in a conference room.

"These are Bethany Mason, Jared Gonzales, Dan Chen, and Eva Bell," said John, pointing to four pictures on a screen. "They worked at the precursor to this organization and are highly skilled. They would be your strongest assets. Everyone else on your list is also approved by Dr. Price for field work, though we would recommend having any of these four call the shots within the Tomorrow People. It's because of them and other former Ultra agents that Dr. Price has been able to prepare a team ahead of schedule."

"And what about you?" General Acolito said. "Senator Kelsey said you were the first prototype. He said you left an impression."

"John will stay here," Jed said.

"Excuse me, Mr. Young, for talking about you like you're not here," General Acolito said, "but Dr. Price, I was under the impression that as the prototype, Mr. Young would have more training and more preparation than those who came after. I understand he also worked for Ultra."

"Yes, you are correct. However, and to be blunt, I was given full authority over staffing. John's place is here. We do have domestic operations and I want my best agent on them."

It was evident that the generals did not agree.

"I am handing over to you two dozen powerful and well-trained Tomorrow People. Let me keep one to myself," Jed said, smiling.

Someone knocked on the door and opened it.

"Yes, Alexis?" Jed said.

"We might have a local issue that requires our attention."

"John, would you handle this, please?" Jed requested.

John and Alexis walked towards an interface room with ALICE.

"We have a Tomorrow Person stealing food. A security camera caught him, but ALICE wiped the data. This guy is proficient and our scans indicate that he's still going."

"I think I know him. I'll send someone. Thanks."

John contacted Bethany and Dan and they soon arrived in the shopping center.

"See him yet?" Dan asked Bethany while they were scanning the area.

Lorne suddenly bumped into Bethany and dropped some of the food he carried. His mouth dropped when he saw Jed's agents and ran.

"Stephen! Cara!" Lorne broadcast as loud as he could while being chased.

"I'm here!" Cara soon thought. "Take the next alley on your left."

Just as Stephen arrived in the alley, Lorne was hit by a modified dart. Lorne stumbled, but made it into the alley.

Lorne tried to pull the dart out, but found he couldn't reach it on his back. "Something's on my back. It's messing up my powers."

Stephen and Cara approached to help Lorne, but Bethany and Dan caught up.

"Hey!" Dan yelled. "You're not going anywhere."

Cara pulled out the dart. "We're going back to the Refuge."

"He's been stealing and using his powers in public," Bethany claimed. "That means he's coming with us."

Dan put a suppression cuff on Lorne and then grabbed him. Lorne took back his hand and punched Dan with his other hand. Bethany used her telekinesis to fling Lorne into a wall and Cara thrust a knee into Bethany. Dan telekinetically pushed Stephen and Lorne off their feet and onto the ground while Cara and Bethany continued their hand-to-hand fight. Dan continued to push Stephen and Lorne until Stephen started to resist with his own powers.

John suddenly teleported into the alley. The burst of power caught everyone's attention and made them stop. Lorne suddenly looked very nervous.

Cara approached Stephen and Lorne.

John crossed his arms. "I don't want to do this again, so let's make this quick. State your case so I can ignore it and take this guy away."

"He's one of us," Stephen said.

"He was using telekinesis in public to steal food. I thought you had a system for food," John told Stephen and Cara.

"We do," Cara answered. "This wasn't sanctioned."

"So you admit that he violated even your protocols," John stated.

"Yeah, he broke our rules, so let us handle it," Stephen said.

"That's not the way this works, not when he's stealing and using his powers in public."

"John," Cara began until she saw John frowning at Lorne. "What is it?"

"You set this up," John said to Lorne.

John telekinetically moved Lorne away from Stephen and Cara and closer to himself.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lorne countered.

"You wanted to escalate things between us. Why?"

"It's nothing! I was just hungry!"

"What's going on, Lorne?" Stephen asked.

John put a hand on Lorne's head.

"Stay out!" Lorne yelled. Lorne started to recite as many presidents as he could in his head.

Soon, the probe was over. Without addressing anyone else, John grabbed Lorne and teleported away. Bethany and Dan followed.

"Did you pick up anything?" Stephen asked. "All I got were presidents."

"I didn't get anything else. Lorne knows how to block, but I think John still got what he needed."

Stephen sighed. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't change the fact that Lorne succeeded and things got violent."

"This is going to be a mess," Cara agreed. "We need Russell to act now and salvage what we can."

After dinner and after making sure no one was around, Russell teleported into Jed's office. He searched through various cabinets, using his telekinesis to open locks. He finally found a folder of medical charts. He tried to teleport out, but found that he couldn't. When he approached the door, he found that it had a yale lock on both sides; only a key could open it. His attempts at telekinetically manipulating the lock failed. After several seconds of cussing, Russell called Stephen.

"I'm stuck in Jed's office," Russell said, not realizing that John and Jed were nearby, watching.

"Deactivate the chips outside the office," Jed whispered. "Let them come in."

"I need a key to open the door," Russell told Stephen.

Stephen and Cara teleported into the building, outside Jed's door.

"I don't want to shatter anything," Stephen said as he looked around.

Jed finally spoke up. "Well, thank you for being considerate."

Stephen closed his eyes and began shaking his head.

"What did you expect, Russell?" Jed asked. "Did you really think I wouldn't know how to protect my privacy from everyone? Did it not occur to you that I might have an alarm that notifies me when someone unexpectedly enters my office? Normally, you wouldn't have even been able to teleport in, but I must have been half-distracted when I left."

"You were," John said.

"That's not really relevant right now, John," Jed replied. "Shut the chips off, would you?"

John telekinetically disabled the chips and opened the door to let Russell out.

"Well, you're done," Jed told Russell. "I knew you'd be reporting back to Stephen and Cara and I was fine with that because I wanted them to know we're doing good work here, but you crossed a line. Get your things and leave."

Everyone watched as Russell walked away.

"I'm monitoring him," John told Jed.

"Your telepathy is growing," Cara observed.

"You have no idea," Jed replied. "He's doing things that you were doing in the lair and doing it better. That's how we found and tracked a lot of TPs like Rich."

"What happened to Lorne?" Stephen asked.

"I took away his powers," Jed answered.

"Where is he now?" Cara asked.

"He's locked away," replied John.

"Why are you keeping him here?" said Stephen.

"He and some other people are planning something. He needs to be kept out of the equation until John can take care of it. On that note, there was a robbery at a pharmacy going on at the same time Lorne was stealing. By the time we got there, the thieves were gone. You have some more rogues."

"That's from Lorne?" Stephen asked.

"Yes," John answered.

"Do you have any names?" Cara asked.

John looked at Jed, who nodded to him.

"Natalie is back," John explained. "She wants to kidnap me, erase the rest of my memories, and manipulate me into becoming her weapon. She has a few plants at the Refuge."

"Let us help you with that," Stephen said.

"I don't exactly trust you right now," responded Jed.

"We apologize that things got out of hand, all right?" said Cara. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"You're only conceding because Lorne's involved with Natalie, not because he's a criminal. You'll forgive me for having doubts. You certainly have doubts about me, even after everything Russell has seen."

Russell came back and joined Cara and Stephen.

"If there's a new breakout, both our groups will offer that breakout a choice," Jed said. "That choice will not be binding and the other group will not resist. This system has been working so far."

"Yes, it has," Stephen admitted.

"Criminals automatically come to us, no matter the excuse, no matter the crime. That's not up for discussion. My people are becoming better trained every day and we have the full and overt backing of the government, so don't challenge us here."

"Fine, now can we discuss Natalie?" Stephen requested. "Did you get the names of the plants from Lorne?"

"We'll tell you only if you bring them here now and let us handle the rest," Jed replied.

Stephen looked at Cara.

"Who are they?" Cara asked.

"Rosa Loy, Doug Williams, and Max Alvarez," John answered.

Jed handed the Refuge leaders suppression cuffs.

"Do you know where Natalie is hiding?" asked Stephen.

"No," said John. "Lorne doesn't know. She recently moved."

Stephen, Cara, and Russell teleported away.

"I'm going to get a team ready," Jed said.

At the Refuge, Stephen approached Rosa Loy. "Hey, I heard you pulled some nice moves during training."

"I'm just trying to think ahead and be prepared," Rosa answered.

"I also heard you had a coupon for Sports Authority that you're not using?"

"Yeah."

Rosa found the coupon and handed it to Stephen, only to find a suppression cuff on her. Then, she found herself in a cold room.

Russell approached Doug Williams.

"Hey . . ."

"Hi, Russell."

Russell sighed. "Oh, forget the pretending." Russell knocked Doug to the ground with an elbow to the face, then slapped a suppression cuff on Doug and teleported the pair to Stephen and Rosa.

Cara also chose the direct option with Max Alvarez. She surprised him in his room, then landed a punch to the stomach before flinging him into a wall. After putting a suppression cuff on Max, she teleported him to the same room as everyone else.

"What's wrong? What's happening?" Max asked.

"No," Cara warned. "No games. Just tell us where Natalie is."

"Yeah, that's right," Russell said. "We know that you're working for Natalie now."

"Think about Natalie," Stephen requested. "Think about her blonde hair and her overdone makeup. Think about where she's hiding. Where is she? A warehouse? A house? The sewers?"

"It's a house," Cara learned.

"Around here?" Stephen asked. "Suburbs?"

"Suburbs," Cara realized.

"Whoever's thinking, stop!" Rosa hissed.

"Not easy, is it?" Cara remarked. "It's like us telling you not to think of a pink elephant."

"And there's the pink elephant," Russell noted.

"Think about the house where Natalie is," Cara requested. "Leaves. The roof. The windows. The floors."

Cara continued to probe.

"I have it," Cara finally said.

"Let's go," Stephen added.

Meanwhile, Jed and John waited with a team and a small box of syringes.

"They're probably interrogating the plants," John remarked.

"Yeah," Jed replied.

"Or they're still looking for them," John suggested. "Natalie's group might have suspected something's happening."

Derek teleported in. "What's going on?"

The Refuge leaders teleported in with the three plants.

"Sorry," Russell remarked. "They weren't all together."

John glanced at Jed, who raised an eyebrow.

"We have a stake in this, too," Stephen said. "We have a group ready to take down Natalie."

John stared at his former friends and they teleported away.

"Where'd they go?" Derek asked.

"I entered their minds and activated their teleportation powers," replied John. "They're home."

"They found out where Natalie is?" Jed asked.

"Yeah, and I know where."

"Brendan, take these three to holding cells," Jed ordered. "John, show everyone else the way to Natalie. We'll give some people here one last mission before they head to Washington, DC."

"How did we end up here?" Russell asked at the Refuge.

Several TPs in the Refuge joined the three after Stephen telepathically called for them.

"It doesn't matter," Stephen said. "We're going after Natalie now."

Everyone teleported away. When they arrived at Natalie's hideout, it was clear that Jed's group had arrived and already engaged in battle. They quickly joined the fracas. Natalie went after John to inject him with a concoction, but found him too much of a challenge. Eventually, Natalie gave up and telepathically summoned help and someone behind John tackled him. Although John was able to fight back and inject his assailant with the serum to strip powers, Natalie teleported away and reappeared outside and hid by bushes.

It wasn't long before the combined efforts from the Refuge and Jed's team defeated Natalie's group and stripped their powers.

"I'm going to take a look around," said John.

Jed's team started to teleport the defeated TPs away and many from the Refuge returned home.

John walked around to the back of the house.

"I know you're there, Natalie."

Natalie came out. "You remember me?"

"No, but Jed told me what he could about you. I thought you would have teleported far away from here."

"I was waiting for anyone else who might have escaped. Also, I like scorched earth policies, especially literal ones," Natalie responded. She dropped something tiny and teleported away.

During the conversation between John and Natalie, Jed and Derek were left in the house with Stephen, Russell, and Cara.

"Stephen, Cara, join us, will you?" Jed requested.

Russell teleported home. Just as Derek, Jed, Stephen, and Cara left, the device that Natalie dropped landed on the ground and the house exploded.

Jed, Stephen, Cara, and Derek landed with a thump.

"What was that?" Stephen asked.

"Something happened back at the house," Derek realized.

"John's still there," said Jed. "Take me back!"

Derek teleported Jed to the house and Cara and Stephen followed.

"John!" Jed screamed out when he saw the house on fire. He ran to the back of the house.

John was lying on his back, bleeding profusely and coughing up blood.

"Jed?" John asked weakly.

Jed kneeled down and cupped John's face with his hands. "I'm here. I'm here."

John looked into Jed's eyes.

"Get yourself into Limbo, John," Jed frantically said.

"I've been trying," John replied quietly, unable to muster a stronger voice. "I can't do it. I don't even know if I got that power from Roger."

"I want to teleport him to a hospital," Cara said. "I don't care about exposure."

"There's a hospital close by," Derek offered. He got out his phone.

Jed, Derek, Cara, and Stephen all stopped when they realized that John was no longer breathing. His face, looking at Jed, was still.

Cara began to cry and Stephen pulled his hands to his face.

"De . . . Derek," Jed said unsteadily. "Take him to . . . headquarters. Cryogenic chamber. Now." Jed stood up, shaking slightly. He stumbled away slowly.

After Derek left, Stephen hugged Cara. "The explosion will get attention. Go back to the Refuge. I'll be there soon."

Cara complied and Stephen walked over to Jed. Without speaking, Stephen teleported Jed to Jed's apartment.

"I know you and John meant a lot to each other so I am sorry," Stephen said. "The thing is, though, that we lost him, too. Again. And you know that if John had been at the Refuge, with his memories, I wouldn't have had any problem with him spending time with you."

Stephen teleported out.

Alone, Jed collapsed on a nearby sofa and went to sleep.

Thank you very much to the people who have been reading my story and more thanks to the people who have reviewed it. I wasn't planning on doing anything with the romantic tensions between John, Cara, Stephen, and Astrid, but I realize that it played a role in John's decision in the series finale, so maybe I'll add a line or something later on to address it. Rich will probably be back towards the end of the story.

I decided that the characters would be open about everything because it seemed to be the most practical way of doing things. If Jed was going to send John to recruit Cara, he wouldn't be able to hide the fact that not only should John have recognized Cara's picture, but that they also have a history, so Jed would have to come clean. John could have hidden from his former friends that he had no memory of them, but I just didn't want to take this story in that direction.

Thanks again for reading and reviewing. I'll have the next chapter up in a few days.