Distant Elemental

Autumn, Fulgora and Blaise reached their crossroads. Just as they did so, another scientist sprinted past, heading down the corridor labelled ‘Sub-Elemental Ward’.
“So which way?” asked the scientist, looking at them.
“Sub-Elemental Ward of course.”
“Prove it,” he spat at them suddenly, and they knew right then that he had been suspicious the whole time.
“With pleasure,” replied Autumn. She held out the little weed she had pulled from the ground before, and everyone watched as it grew, split, and encircled her arm. The scientist watched with interest.
“You’re pretty good for a sub, but you know we don’t have much use for Nature Subs.”
“I can think of a good use.”
Without warning the weed thickened past what it ever could naturally. It shot out towards the man, wrapping around his throat, and pulling him upwards. He struggled, coughing, and slowly turned red before them.
“Autumn!” cried a shocked Fulgora.
“Okay, okay.” She dropped the man before punching him out with a plant-like fist. He was unconscious when he hit the ground.
“Alright,” said Blaise, rubbing his hands, “now we’ve got the whelp out of the way, I want to see the Fire Subs, then use them to find out where the four girls are being kept.”
“Well I want to see the Nature Subs.”
“It’s natural for us to want to see our own sub-elementals,” said Fulgora rather wisely, “but we can’t spend too much time here- once we’ve learnt the location of the others, we’ve gotta go. For all we know, guards are being called to us right now.”

“Here’s the deal. If you try to get your little friend out of there, you’ll break the glass inwards and cut her to pieces. If you keep on trying to attack us, we’ll electrocute her to death, and you get to watch. So either you see your friend die, or you do as well tell you.”
Nayru hissed. Andromeda lay panting on the floor of the sealed chamber. She couldn’t find any way past their predicament; the man had spelt it out just the way it was. He knew it, too. The aged man smirked at Nayru, who had no choice but to listen to him.
“What do you want from me?”
“It’s quite easy really. We want your full co-operation with whatever we want to do with you.”
“Which is?”
“Testing of course. After that, we’ll find many uses for you.”
“What uses?”
“Oh, we’ll think of them as they come. If you do what we say, we won’t hurt your friend.”
Nayru looked across at Andromeda. She didn’t believe the words spilling from the man’s mouth; he’d probably do about anything to gain control of their powers. Andromeda was shaking and panting, obviously still in pain. She constantly looked down as though refusing to meet Nayru’s gaze.

“Fire subs!” Blaise roared, and burst into the room.
“There’s the nature subs!” Autumn twirled on her feet and let herself into a different room. Fulgora heard the instant uproar and continued down her corridor. The lightning sub room should be here somewhere...
As she watched, a door opened at the far end of the corridor, and out came the scientist who had gone past them before accompanied by two guys around Fulgora’s age. She knew instantly, from the static in the air, that they were lightning subs.
“The water element has awoken and is causing difficulty; we need you two to intervene.”
“Against a fully-fledged water elemental?” the first one, tall, skinny and with frizzy orange hair, gulped. He wore jeans and a t-shirt just like the other who was of a more medium build, but had the same frizzy hair, though brown. They both looked slightly wild, as though they’d just stepped from a wind-storm or a jungle. Fulgora watched as they approached. Were these the only ones?
“I don’t want to fight that!” the one with the brown hair stopped. He looked slightly worried with his eyebrows furrowed down to a point.
“You two are the only lightning sub-elementals. You don’t have a choice.”
“But I don’t want to-” the brown-haired one paused as Fulgora took a step towards them. Both he and the gangly one swivelled their heads to look at her.
“...you?” they both looked horrified.
“What is it? Who are you?” snapped the scientist.
“Oh, just visiting,” said Fulgora pleasantly, “now did you guys say you needed help with the water elemental?”

Fulgora ran along the corridor with the two lightning elementals.
“You came here just to help us?” one of the queried. The scientist panted along behind them.
“Of course,” she replied coldly, “the water elemental has always been my enemy.”
Fulgora had neglected to tell Blaise and Autumn. She guessed the elementals might have been separated, and so hoped they would find someone else from the information they gained now. It could only be that way- she was the only one who could prevent what was about to happen. Blaise would only set fire to something, and Autumn couldn’t fight lightning. The effects of electricity to the body Fulgora knew only too well. She would not allow her friends to get hurt in a lightning fight.
“Here we are,” said the tall sub-elemental. He opened a pair of those swinging doors, and the four of them walked in.

Nayru swivelled as she heard the sound of doors banging open. Immediately she felt the static in the air and flinched slightly. She could turn to ice and fight that way for as long as was necessary. She breathed in deeply and prepared herself when she heard the crackle of the electricity in Andromeda’s cage again. She turned, hearing her scream rent the air, and stopped suddenly.
The electricity in the cage now coursed around Andromeda. It lifted slowly from her and struck the glass instead, going a strange green colour as it did so. Nayru gasped as she watched. She swivelled back to look at the subs that had just walked into the room and amongst them, smiling slightly, was Fulgora, one arm raised towards the cylinder.

“What’s going on here? You two!” one of the men barked towards the subs, “cease what you are doing immediately! You are supposed to be attacking the water elemental! We will deal with you severely if you fail us now!”
The two boys both shook their heads and backed away, frightened looks across their faces.
“So, are you guys going to help me, or do you agree with what this organisation does?” Fulgora asked them gently. They looked at her, fear in their eyes, and stayed silent, merely shaking their heads.
“I’ll ask you again. Will you help me? Or will you hinder me?”
Once again they both shook their heads, dumb-struck by fear.
“Then you have no need for your powers.”
“No-”
“Wait-”
The two automatically started to spark in anticipation of what was about to come. Fulgora looked at them with contempt.
“Do you really wish to fight me?”
The two men in the background could be heard yelling in their direction, but the three took no heed. Fulgora took one step towards one of them, and in an instant, he had lifted his hand and shot a bolt of energy at her.
Fulgora breathed in deeply. Instead of the slow, shallow breathing she was used to, she breathed in very slow, at a one-two-three-four-five pace. She breathed out at this same pace, one-two-three-four-five, and again, and again. As she did so, things slowed around her. She watched as the dark-haired guy lifted his arm and flicked his wrist in a peculiar fashion, and it seemed to take an age to happen, though he moved faster than most. His expression changed slowly as his eyes focused upon her abdomen and the spark appeared. Fulgora frowned, and stepped to the side, watching the energy carve its way slowly to the air and reach the point where she had been. She now walked up to the guy, who was still pulling his arm back as his eyes widened; only now was he realising Fulgora was no longer standing where he had shot at her. Fulgora slowed back to normal time.
“That didn’t work well, did it?”
Instantly able to convert to slow-time, she struck him in the chest. She automatically drained the energy in her body down to the ground, earthing in, and sent more electrons to the ground in order to drain the ones the guy had in his body- essentially short-circuiting him. As he slowly bent over, she turned from him and walked over to the other, who could not move away fast enough, and did the same to him. Converting back to normal time, she watched them fall to the ground, defeated in an instant.
“You!” called one of the men. Fulgora looked at them.
“What?”
“What did you do? What did you do?” he sounded enraged.
“What does it look like I did, idiot? Are you that stupid? Or do I need to spell it out for you? Your little lightning-subs have been drained of their powers. Serves them right, too.” She looked down at them darkly.
“I won’t do anything more to you; that’s all you deserved. Anyone who uses their power for the wrong reasons doesn’t deserve it.”
“Fulgora!” cried out Nayru happily.
Fulgora turned to Nayru, a wide smile across her face.
“Long time, no see. You’ve changed.”

Blaise lifted a guy off his feet and slammed him into a wall. “Take me there, now.”
Blaise walked out into the corridor, dragging the guy behind him, who squirmed and tried to get out of the grip, but couldn’t. Blaise met Autumn, who was sporting her own girl elemental with a vine around the throat. Autumn gave a wide grin.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
“Does that mean there are no more of your sub-elementals left in this building?”
“Something along those lines. For you?”
“Same.”

Just as Fulgora walked over to Nayru to look at the predicament of Andromeda, Blaise and Autumn burst into the room.
“Sup bitches?” Autumn asked as she walked in, grinning widely. Blaise and Autumn dropped off their subs with the other two, now normal humans.
“Hey, how and why did you get here before us?”
“Wait, that reminds me.” Fulgora turned to Nayru. “Where’re Ashleigh and Skye?”
“What? They were taken too? We haven’t seen them. We need to get Andromeda out now!”
“Well, this is interesting.” Everyone looked across as the three men approached, surrounded by their shield as Nayru and Andromeda knew. Fulgora learnt this quickly enough as the lightning bolt she directed at them from her hands bounced off and struck the ground.
“Let Andromeda out now,” Autumn growled at them.
“Sorry, we can’t do that.”
“Okay fine,” said a suddenly relenting Autumn, “I’ll just have some fun with you till you decide to change your mind.”
“Sorry young one, but I don’t really see how-” they were cut off as the crawling creeper the twirled around Autumn’s torso now slithered across the ground to reach the shield. It thickened at an incredible rate before wrapping entirely around the shield like a massive serpent around its prey. Once more it wrapped around, and then knotted itself neatly. The younger man who had created the shield raised one eyebrow questioningly as Autumn laughed. In an incredible display of strength, the plant tendril, thicker now than most average trees, lifted the shield easily like a ball and threw it across the room. The men rolled about, yelling, until they hit the floor. Instantly Fulgora was beside them.
“Too easy,” she said.

With a flash Nova appeared in the cell ward. He looked through them all quickly, seeing none of the elementals. In another flash he was at one of the experimental stations. He frowned at the scientists scurrying around, feeling the fear starting to overwhelm him and the gurgling of his stomach seeming to rise as though he was going to throw up, but he moved on quickly. He flashed through numerous rooms, skipping past scientists and fellow subs alike. Finally he found himself in a specific torture room, watching from the corner behind a table he knew only too well the contents of which it contained.
“The necklace fell off,” explained Ashleigh. “By the time I realised, it was too late. I didn’t mean to get separated, and I didn’t have any choice but to stay with them. Imagine what they could have done to me had they thought I was their enemy. You know very well. Look at the damage I already sustained on my wings. I was having a hard time flying already- and that wind elemental!”
“Who, me? I love it when people talk about me!” Skye laughed, having just entered the room. Her limp was pronounced as she stalked over.
“Nice to know the truth about you,” she said seriously. “Now that I know you’re a massive bitch, I won’t mind dropping you from a cliff next time!”
“Skye?” Bianca and Lily looked afraid.
“That’s right bitches, you’d better be afraid! I’ll rip your fricken heads off!” she yelled at them.
With a flash, Nova was amongst them. “She’s not alone,” he said slowly.
“You!” cried Bianca and Lily at the same time, staring at him. Nova merely looked at them. Bianca created a fist of darkness that shot towards Nova. He opened a red portal just before it reached him, and the arm of darkness was swallowed. Another portal appeared beside Bianca’s head and the arm shot out, hitting her and knocking her unconscious.
“Hey, that’s not fair! It’s my turn to do some damage!”
Nova looked at Skye before taking a step back. Skye squealed with delight and advanced towards Lily.
“No, please, don’t hurt me! I didn’t do anything to you! It was Bianca who called in the organisation- I didn’t want to be a part of it- I wasn’t there!”
“I can feel your fear, Lily. Fear usually comes with guilt, and I can feel that too. The air tells me many things.” Skye sounded only slightly insane. She lifted Lily up with a gust, and sent her spinning around the room towards Ashleigh. Lily bashed into Ashleigh and both cried out in pain.
“That’s what you get for messing with a Wind Elemental, bitches! Now come on Nova, we’ve got a job to do!”
Skye flew from the room, giggling as she went. She ignored the pain in her leg, concentrating on keeping herself airborne as she followed Nova. He teleported quickly, slipping through space every few metres so Skye could follow easily enough. He led her through many different experiment rooms until finally they found the right one.

Blaise walked past Fulgora and reached out towards one of the men. He assumed the shield had broken as he picked up one of the middle-aged men and threw him through the air. He hit a wall and slid down slowly, coming to rest on the ground unconscious. The young man seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. The last man, the second middle-aged one, stood slowly.
“You never asked me what my power is,” he said with a small smile.
“I don’t give a shit,” said Blaise, “just tell us how to get Andromeda out.”
“Oh but I think you will, once you know what it is.”
“Oh? I really don’t think I will.”
Fulgora cried out instantly and hit the floor. Blaise whirled around.
“What just-”
Nayru grasped her head suddenly, whimpering in pain.
“Nayru!” Blaise sprinted towards her, but too late. As though she had been hit over the head with a baton, her eyes suddenly unfocused and she tumbled. Blaise caught her just in time.
“Nayru!” he shook her gently, pulling back her hair and checking her pulse. She breathed slowly, completely out of it.
“You bastard!” Autumn screamed, advancing towards the man. He waggled a finger in her direction.
“Now, now. Do you want the same thing to happen to you or your little friend?”
“Who, me?”
Everyone looked over at Andromeda. All they saw was a swirling vortex.