Chapter 12
1847 Words
Growing Up
Time passed.
At first, JJ measured it in missions.
Then in seasons.
Eventually, he stopped counting altogether.
The teenager who had joined the organization with a newly repaired voice slowly disappeared beneath years of experience.
JJ grew up.
So did Ricky.
But they grew in completely different directions.
And neither of them stopped looking for the other.
---
JJ's life became more complicated as the years passed.
When he first joined the organization, he had been seventeen.
He was talented, but inexperienced.
He had powerful abilities, but little understanding of the world outside Orion Division.
He had spent almost his entire childhood being told what to do.
Now he had to learn how to make decisions for himself.
At first, that wasn't easy.
He made mistakes.
Some were small.
Others followed him for years.
But JJ learned from them.
His telekinesis became more precise.
Instead of simply throwing objects, he learned to control their movement with incredible accuracy.
He could stop a moving object in midair.
He could manipulate several objects at once.
He could use his abilities without making obvious movements.
His teleportation developed too.
Originally, he could only teleport non-living objects.
Over time, he became capable of teleporting objects over much greater distances.
A coin could disappear from his hand and reappear across a room.
A key could pass through a locked door without the door being opened.
A weapon could be removed from someone's hand before they even realized what had happened.
His physical strength developed alongside his psychic abilities.
But JJ learned something more important than how to become stronger.
He learned when not to use his strength.
That lesson took years.
---
His voice changed too.
At seventeen, speaking had still felt strange.
By his early twenties, it was completely natural.
He developed a calm voice that rarely became loud.
People sometimes found it difficult to tell what he was thinking.
JJ had become quieter in a different way.
As a child, he had been quiet because he couldn't speak.
As an adult, he was quiet because he didn't always feel the need to.
He could speak whenever he wanted.
He simply chose his words carefully.
One of his colleagues once joked about it.
"You barely talk."
JJ looked at him.
"I used to not be able to."
The colleague laughed.
"Fair enough."
JJ smiled.
He had learned to joke about his past.
That didn't mean it no longer hurt.
It simply meant the past no longer controlled every moment of his life.
---
Ricky changed too.
While JJ continued working with the organization, Ricky had built a completely different life.
He moved frequently during the first few years.
He didn't trust easily.
He had learned that his ability could make people uncomfortable.
Some people were fascinated by it.
Others were afraid.
A few tried to take advantage of him.
Ricky learned to keep his distance.
He also learned to control his mind-reading ability.
When he was younger, other people's thoughts sometimes overwhelmed him.
As an adult, he had become much better at filtering them.
He could focus on one person's thoughts while ignoring everyone else.
He could sense when someone was deliberately hiding something.
He could distinguish surface thoughts from deeper memories.
But his ability had one major weakness.
He couldn't read someone who wasn't thinking about something.
And sometimes, people were better at hiding their thoughts than he expected.
Ricky learned not to depend entirely on his powers.
He learned to observe.
To listen.
To investigate.
To understand people without entering their minds.
In some ways, he became more like the detective he had always imagined himself becoming.
---
Neither JJ nor Ricky knew how often their paths came close.
Once, Ricky visited a restaurant only a few hours after JJ had left.
Another time, JJ investigated a building where Ricky had been staying only days earlier.
They both occasionally heard rumors about each other.
None were reliable.
Sometimes JJ heard about a mind reader helping people in another city.
Sometimes Ricky heard about a young psychic working with a mysterious organization.
But there were always doubts.
There were many people with unusual abilities.
Neither wanted to chase every rumor.
So they continued searching carefully.
---
Years passed.
JJ was no longer the inexperienced teenager who had accepted the organization's offer because he desperately wanted his voice back.
He had become one of their most capable agents.
But his relationship with the organization had changed.
He trusted certain people.
He respected some of his colleagues.
But he no longer blindly followed orders.
If something seemed wrong, he asked questions.
If an assignment crossed a line, he refused.
That occasionally caused arguments.
"You were given an order."
JJ would calmly respond:
"I know."
"Then follow it."
"Not if I don't agree with it."
That attitude had once been impossible for him.
As a child, refusing an order could have consequences.
As an adult, JJ had finally learned that obedience wasn't the same thing as loyalty.
---
One evening, JJ returned home after a long assignment.
He was exhausted.
He dropped his keys on the table and sat on the couch.
His apartment was different from the one he had lived in years earlier.
It was larger.
There were books on the shelves.
Photographs on the walls.
A few plants near the window.
It finally looked like someone's home.
JJ looked at one photograph.
It was old.
Very old.
A photograph of two teenagers standing together.
JJ and Ricky.
He had kept it all these years.
He picked it up.
For a moment, he remembered everything.
The organization.
The escape.
The factory.
The nights they spent trying to survive.
Ricky speaking for him.
Ricky making him laugh.
Ricky warning him not to accept the organization's offer.
JJ closed his eyes.
He still missed him.
Growing older hadn't changed that.
If anything, it had made the absence more noticeable.
At seventeen, JJ had believed he would find Ricky eventually.
At twenty, he was still searching.
At twenty-two, he had stopped expecting it to happen quickly.
But he never stopped hoping.
---
Ricky had changed his appearance too.
Not dramatically.
Just enough to make himself less recognizable.
He had grown taller.
His face had matured.
His hair was different.
He no longer looked like the boy JJ remembered.
He sometimes wondered whether JJ would recognize him immediately.
Then he laughed at himself.
Of course he would.
JJ had always been good at recognizing him.
Even when they were children, Ricky could walk into a room full of people and JJ would somehow notice him first.
Ricky missed that.
He missed having someone who understood him without explanation.
He had made other friends over the years.
He had met good people.
He had built a life.
But nobody had ever replaced JJ.
Nobody could.
---
One afternoon, Ricky visited an old bookstore.
He had been searching for information about Orion Division.
He had discovered that several former members had written journals before disappearing.
The owner pointed him toward a collection of old documents.
Ricky spent hours searching.
Eventually, he found something interesting.
A reference to a psychic teenager.
The description was vague.
No name.
No photograph.
But the abilities matched JJ.
Telekinesis.
Extraordinary physical strength.
Teleportation of objects.
Ricky's hands began shaking slightly.
He read the page again.
There was no doubt.
JJ was alive.
He had suspected it for years.
Now he had proof.
Ricky copied down the information.
Then he noticed something else.
A recent date.
JJ wasn't simply alive.
He was still working.
Ricky stared at the page.
"So you're still out there."
For the first time in years, his search felt less like a dream.
It felt possible.
---
Meanwhile, JJ had reached a similar discovery.
Marcus had given him access to some older records.
JJ searched through them late one night.
He wasn't specifically looking for Ricky.
At least, that's what he told himself.
Then he found a name.
Not Ricky's name.
An associate.
Someone who had been connected to him.
JJ followed the information.
It led nowhere.
The person had disappeared years earlier.
But there was a photograph attached to the file.
JJ zoomed in.
In the background was someone familiar.
JJ's heart stopped.
He stared at the photograph.
It looked like Ricky.
Older.
Different.
But unmistakably similar.
JJ leaned closer.
"Is that you?"
He searched the file again.
There was no confirmation.
No location.
Nothing that could prove it.
But it was enough to give him hope.
---
That night, JJ couldn't sleep.
He sat beside his window.
The city lights stretched endlessly below him.
He thought about how much had changed.
He had been five when his life was changed by an experiment.
Seventeen when he escaped Orion Division.
Seventeen when he accepted the organization's offer.
Now he was an adult.
He had a career.
A home.
A voice.
A life.
Yet one part of his childhood remained unfinished.
Ricky.
JJ picked up his phone.
He had tried countless times to find him.
This time, he decided to try something different.
He searched the internet.
He entered Ricky's name.
Hundreds of results appeared.
None were him.
JJ sighed.
He kept searching.
Nothing.
He put the phone down.
Then it vibrated.
JJ looked at the screen.
A message had arrived.
It was from Marcus.
We may have found a lead.
JJ immediately stood.
His heart began beating faster.
He typed:
Where?
The reply came seconds later.
I'm still verifying it. Don't act until I confirm.
JJ stared at the message.
He knew what Marcus meant.
Don't rush.
Don't assume.
Don't get your hopes up.
JJ put the phone down.
For once, he listened.
---
Across the city, Ricky received a message too.
A contact had finally responded to one of his questions.
I know someone who may have information about JJ.
Ricky stared at the message.
His heart began beating faster.
He typed:
Who?
The reply came.
I need time to confirm.
Ricky smiled.
He knew that feeling.
Hope.
He hadn't allowed himself to feel it in a long time.
---
Neither man knew exactly what was coming.
They were adults now.
Their childhood was far behind them.
The boys who had escaped Orion Division together had grown into two very different men.
JJ had become stronger, more independent, and increasingly suspicious of the people around him.
Ricky had become more careful, more observant, and far better at controlling his abilities.
They had spent years searching.
Years wondering.
Years imagining what they would say if they ever met again.
But they still weren't ready.
Not yet.
Because before JJ could find Ricky, he would have to uncover the truth about the organization he had joined.
And before Ricky could find JJ, he would have to discover why so many people were determined to keep his friend hidden.
Their paths were finally beginning to converge.
But neither of them knew it.
For now, they remained separated by a city, years of uncertainty, and secrets neither understood.
The search continued.
And this time, they were closer than ever.
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