"You're kidding, right?"
"No," the girl giggled as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"I don't believe you."
"Maybe you'll find out later tonight," she grinned, running the tip of her finger down the bridge of his nose, "what's your name?"
"Oh, so we're getting personal now?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"Just kidding. Name's Jon. Short for Jonathan. You?"
"Cassie," she replied.
Hours later, the two were engaged in you-know-what. They were getting very heavily into it when Cassie raked her fingers through his hair, then let her nails dig into the back of his neck. Distracted from the task, his left hand flew to where he was now bleeding. It was only when he touched the spot that he realised what he had done.
"Oh crap," he breathed, sitting up suddenly.
She fell to the bed with a surprised cry, before trying her best to get back onto him. He pushed her away and quickly got up, frantically rushing to get dressed.
"What? It was only a scratch!" she said defensively.
"I know, I know. Um. Sorry, I just remembered something I forgot to do. I have to go," he brushed over, grabbing his shirt and heading for the door.
"Are you kidding?!" she watched after him as he opened it.
He suddenly flew back into the room.
Hitting his back on the end of the bed, he coughed as he collapsed to the floor, before quickly finding his feet and backing off. Guffrey was standing in the doorway with what could only be presumed as a teleporter just behind him.
"Jacob," the look of satisfaction and purpose on his face was unmistakable.
"Jacob?" the girl looked between them, having pulled the sheets over herself.
"I prefer Sheldon," he offered, before high tailing it to the window.
Guffrey lunged after him but he made it onto the fire escape and started down.
"Dammit," Guffrey cussed under his breath, before turning and putting his hand on the teleporter's shoulder.
"Down," he ordered.
Sheldon looked back as he heard the girl scream at the sight of the two suddenly disappearing. Guessing what had happened, he began to keep a closer eye on where he was headed. When he was close enough to the ground he leapt over the side, landing into a crouch before taking off down the street.
Guffrey emerged from the building to see him running west.
"Too many people," the teleporter shook his head.
"Head him off a couple of blocks up, I'll follow."
He nodded, then disappeared. Guffrey took off at a jog.
Sheldon glanced over his shoulder a couple of times, bumping into some people on the street as he did so. He began trying to work out in his head what he was up against. If Guffrey had a teleporter, he needed to stay in the public eye. But he also had no idea of what power Guffrey had with him and that was his worrying variable.
He rounded a corner and stopped in his tracks. The teleporter was emerging from a nearby alley. Before he could react, they'd made eye contact.
"Damn," he cursed, backing into the crowd and quickly crossing the street.
He made it about three blocks before he saw the teleporter up ahead again. Shaking his head incredulously, he backtracked to the nearest subway entrance and hurried down the stairs. There was no train waiting.
Making his way through the crowd, he quickly shrugged his shirt on, covering up the scar in the process. He made his way to the edge of the tracks, looking either way with caution.
Guffrey caught the teleporter by the shoulder.
"Don't you dare let him jump in front of the express," he said between his teeth, "I don't know how desperate he is."
"I got it," the teleporter murmured, making his way through the crowd.
Sheldon continued looking either way, looking like no more than an impatient passenger, until he locked eyes with Guffrey. He gulped slightly, before starting to move off in the other direction.
Unnoticed, the teleporter sidled up to his side.
Just as Sheldon reached the end of the platform, a train finally came through. Guffrey kept his eye on the boy, not for a moment indicating where the teleporter was.
Just as the train hit the platform, the teleporter lunged forward. Grabbing Sheldon by the shoulders he tossed the both of them onto the tracks in front of the train, in the meantime teleporting out. Guffrey smiled to himself, before walking down the remainder of the stairs and finding a secluded corner. Making sure no one was watching, he teleported himself out.
~*~
One second Sheldon thought that his life was over, the next he was in a white walled room.
He and the teleporter fell forward onto the hard floor as the momentum from the subway carried through. The teleporter landed on top of him, but immediately stood up and backed off. Sheldon took a moment to get himself together before darting up to his feet.
"Where are we?" he demanded, noting the only door to the room was behind his chauffer.
The man just smirked, before a moment later Guffrey appeared beside him. Sheldon's face went white.
Guffrey closed his eyes for a moment as he searched out the power he needed, before settling his gaze on the young man before him.
"Welcome home, Jacob."
"No," Sheldon pointed at him in disbelief.
"Oh yes."
He slipped into Sheldon's mind, taking the time to carefully block his atom manipulation power and also hold him docile. He had him walk over to him, and Guffrey slid his hand around the back of Sheldon's neck as he looked him in the eye.
"It's good to see you, Jacob. You had a lot of us fooled you know."
Sheldon couldn't reply if he'd wanted to.
Guffrey hesitated, basking in the moment with a small and unsettling smile, before taking a step back. He sent out a telepathic call and a moment later another man entered with some pieces of chain.
"We'll give you a similar welcome to what young Christian had. You did manage to outlast him after all. Technically," Guffrey mused as the teleporter helped the newcomer chain Sheldon's arms tightly across his chest.
When they were done, he released his hold on Sheldon's mind. He blinked, before testing the pull of the bonds.
"You'll never get all of us," he said defiantly.
"I'll settle for the ones that are still alive," Guffrey reasoned.
"Chris won't-"
"Don't you worry about Christian. I'm sure he'll be seeing you in no time," Guffrey waved him off before turning to the teleporter, "take him to solitary."
"You have no idea who you're messing with!" Sheldon called back over his shoulder as he was pulled from the room and down the corridor, "just you wait! I've got people looking for me!"
"No doubt," Guffrey rolled his eyes as he brushed his hands off.
He sighed and closed his eyes as he heard the bolts being undone on the door down the hall, then telepathically sent the message out to everyone within his telepathic base range.
Jacob Scully is in the building. Nine.