by Ali House
“Hey, Adair,” Nathan called out.
The woman turned around. She was twenty-five years old but her wide purple eyes and short stature made her look like she was sixteen. Adair was a soldier, but she spent most of her free time in the lab.
“Wow, you look like crap,” Adair said bluntly.
“Don’t ask. I want to know about that thing that neutralizes Elementals.”
“What do you want to know about it?”
“Well, will it work on anyone or do you need a different device for each element?”
Adair paused to think. “The latest research shows that Elementals use the same part of the brain whenever they call up their power. The device neutralizes that part of the brain, so it should work for any element. Why?”
“Just asking.” He looked around the room. “Do you happen to have one on hand?”
“We’re still in the testing phase back on the island, but from what I hear, it’s going well. If I can get the schematics sent to me, I could have tech whip one up for you.”
“See if you can do that. I might need one in the near future.”
So far so good, Kit thought. She had told Zenyth, Naydir, and Cale about the bar and then going back to the house with Nathan. She left out a few details, but she told them everything Nathan had said to her. When Kit got to the part where Vaughn burst into the house and Nathan pulled a gun, Zenyth shouted a loud “I knew it!” and listened to the rest of the story with a large, inappropriate smirk on her face.
After that, Kit had to omit everything to do with her powers. There was no mention of pushing Nathan over with a blast of air or how she’d tried to summon water to put out the fire. Thankfully there was enough excitement in the story without her indiscretions.
“So this happened because he saw you and Bryanna together on the tape?” Cale frowned. “That’s a bit far-fetched.”
“Well,” Kit said, “there were other things. I mean, he’d noticed Vaughn following us, and he’d found out that Bry worked at Tattooed and didn’t live on Briton. I’d also agreed to go back to his place, when I really didn’t want to be there.” There was no way she was going to mention calling out the wrong name.
“Wait,” Naydir said. “How did he get that video of you in the mall?”
She shrugged. “He didn’t say.”
“Those videos aren’t public property. Mall security watches them, and then the suspicious or interesting ones are passed onto the ISS, but the public shouldn’t ever see them.”
“If Tecken’s got a spy in the ISS, then they’d be able to get a copy of the fight,” Zenyth said. “It wouldn’t be a big deal for someone to make a copy of something like that and sneak it out. Well, depending on what department they’re in.”
“So there’s definitely a spy in the ISS.” Naydir considered the thought. “If Nathan became that suspicious of you, Kit, then he’s doing something wrong.”
“Of course, if Kit hadn’t made him suspicious in the first place…”
There it was – the comment that Kit had been expecting Zenyth to make.
“How did I make him suspicious?” she countered.
“If you weren’t going to sleep with him, you never should have gone back to his place,” Zenyth shot back.
“And if I hadn’t done that, you’d be angry with me for not getting his address,” Kit replied. “Besides, he said we were just going to talk.”
Zenyth snorted and rolled her eyes.
“I’m going to call Triton,” Naydir said, quickly moving out of the room.
Cale stood up as well. “As much as I’d like to watch the two of you battle it out, I’m exhausted.”
Zenyth gave Kit another look. “Whatever,” she said as she stormed away.
Sitting on the couch, alone in the living room, Kit knew that she had screwed everything up. She had been the wrong person for the job, and now she had to deal with the consequences. Vaughn had been shot, the only place they could link to Tecken had burned down, and Nathan would likely disappear forever.
Some super-powerful Six-Elemental she turned out to be…
The police combed through the ruins of the house but they were unable to find anything suspicious inside. They put surveillance on the site, but nobody of interest had been seen so far. The house wasn’t currently owned, but it wasn’t for sale. It had fallen through the cracks. Triton was looking for other houses that had been forgotten, but it would be a tedious task.
The police knew about Nathan’s gun and they’d been given the photo Vaughn had taken of him. It was great to have a viable reason for arresting Nathan, but Triton suspected that it was too late. Nathan would have to go into hiding after such a high-profile incident, and might possibly get sent back to Tecken. At least the streets would be safe.
They’d taken a large step forward, but also a step backwards. They knew for certain that Nathan had a gun, but they still couldn’t positively ID him as a Tecken soldier. The Centre refused to do anything without a positive ID.
And then there was the problem of the civilian team. Three of the team members had been compromised, which might lead Tecken back to the other members, if not all the way back to the ISS. Triton didn’t know what this meant for the project, but he suspected that it wasn’t good.
“Nathan, Jermaine wants to see you,” Christian called down the hallway. “It’s bad.”
Nathan groaned and turned around. He didn’t want to deal with this right now. Carter, in Medical, had just finished Nathan’s check-up. The pain was still intense, but Carter confirmed that it would go away eventually and that he would regain full use of his arm. The burn on his shoulder would take a while to heal and would likely scar.
After his visit to Adair last night, Nathan had gone to Jermaine to report what had happened. Well, to report most of what had happened. He’d left out a few details here and there, and said nothing about his suspicions about Katherine being the Six-Elemental or about shooting Red. Jermaine hadn’t been happy about the scuffle or about the house burning down, but he couldn’t find any fault in Nathan defending himself. He was mostly angry that Nathan hadn’t gone to him with his suspicions, but he couldn’t deny that something good had come from it all. After a blunder this big, the ISS would have to put a stop to any civilian teams they’d put together.
If Jermaine was angry, then the news of the shooting must have gone public. Jermaine hated projectile weapons, even though Erikson was okay with them.
“Did he tell you why?” he asked Christian.
“No, he’s just cursing and yelling, like always.”
Not a good sign. Jermaine was in charge of them while they were on Stanton, but he was too high strung for such a high position. He was always getting angry over the least little thing – especially when Nathan was involved.
When Nathan reached Jermaine’s office, he listened at the door. Sure enough, he could hear swearing on the other side. He sighed, raised his right hand and knocked.
“Get in!” the voice on the other side yelled.
Nathan opened the door and stepped into the office. Jermaine’s office was just big enough for a desk, two chairs and a couple of filing cabinets. It would have been more comfortable without the filing cabinets, or the second chair for that matter, but Jermaine didn’t care much about comfort.
“Sit down,” Jermaine said.
He obediently sat in the second chair.
Jermaine was behind his desk, fuming. “Are you a complete moron?!”
Nathan decided not to answer the question.
“I’ve just received word,” Jermaine continued, “that there’s a police bulletin out for a man carrying a gun. That man looks a hell of a lot like you.”
Nathan continued to be silent.
“You never told me anything about your gun being involved last night!” Jermaine slammed his hands down on his desk. “I have told you a hundred times to keep that thing inside the compound! I don’t care if Erikson plans on abolishing the gun laws once he’s in power. Ri
ght now it’s an illegal weapon. What if the ISS figures out that you’re not in their database?”
“Then put me in the database.”
“I’ve got Tech working on it. That, however, won’t fix the problem.”
Nathan shrugged. “So?”
“So you’re officially confined to the base! You’re not allowed outside anymore.”
“What?!” he jumped to his feet. “You can’t do that!”
“If you leave this base you’ll get picked up by the police. And since you’re a hundred percent guilty, it’s in my best interest that you not get caught – and therefore you’re confined to the base.”
“But I can’t stay here. I’ve got to do something.”
Jermaine laughed bitterly. “You’re not going to die if you don’t have sex.”
“No, something else – something important.”
“I doubt it. Now get out of my office. I’ve got to call Erikson and let him know that one of his soldiers was stupid enough to get a police warrant on his head.”
Nathan wanted to stay and fight, but he knew that it wouldn’t do any good. Once Erikson heard about what happened, he’d insist on confinement. As much as Nathan hated Jermaine, he wouldn’t be able to disobey a direct order from Erikson.
Being confined to the base meant that he wouldn’t be able to bring in Katherine. He didn’t want to tell anyone else about her, in case they thought he was insane, but he had to do something. He needed help.
He hurried to the science room, hoping that Adair was inside. Thankfully Adair was hard at work.
“Were you able to get the schematics?” Nathan asked.
Adair didn’t look up. “Yeah, they sent them over this morning. I’ll get tech to work on right away, so it should only take a couple of days.”
“Good. I want it as soon as possible.”
“I haven’t told anyone that this is for you. Of course, because of your confinement you might find it difficult to use.”
“How do you know about that? That just happened.”
Adair shrugged. “News travels fast around here.”
Nathan sighed. “Look, I have something to tell you that you can’t tell anyone about – especially not Jermaine. Jermaine would think that I’m totally crazy, and he wouldn’t be the only one.”
“Am I someone who would think it was crazy?”
“You might be. You might also be curious enough to believe me.”
Adair turned away from her work, intrigued. “What is it?”
“I need this device in order to bring someone back to the base.”
“Why?”
Nathan paused. “Because I think that this person might have six elements.”
It was Adair’s turn to pause. Nathan knew that she was wondering if this was real or a joke.
“I’ve seen her use three,” Nathan continued, “and I saw the Tattoo for a fourth.”
“Four elements?”
“I know what I saw and what I felt. Electricity, Air and Water. She wasn’t great with Water, but she used those three within twenty minutes. I’ve also seen her Electricity and Ice Tattoos.”
Adair absentmindedly ran a hand through her hair. “But we would have heard if a person with six elements was in the ISS database. The Followers of Six would be shouting it from the rooftops.”
“Not if she hasn’t told anyone. I think she’s kept it a secret, so I need to get her here before anyone else finds out.”
“That’s going to be tough. You’re talking about kidnapping someone who’s apparently the most powerful person in the world. I doubt she’d walk in here of her own accord.”
Nathan knew that she wouldn’t. Maybe she would have a couple of days ago, before he pulled a gun on her, but he didn’t suspect that she was anything other than a normal girl. Also, Red had been following their every move and he would have been suspicious if she didn’t leave the building.
“So how should we kidnap her?” Nathan asked.
“Give me some time to think about it and I’ll get you an answer.” She paused, lost in thought. “We’ll only have one chance... In order to pull something like this off, we’ll need more than the two of us, so you’ll have to tell a few others.”
“Will do.”
“Just don’t tell Akola. She’ll laugh at you and then probably punch you in the face.”
Nathan nodded. “Wiser words were never said.”
Adair turned back to her work and Nathan left the room.
When Kit arrived home from work, she went straight to her room and locked the door behind her. After changing into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt she sat on her bed, closed her eyes and took in a few deep breaths.
She’d been locking herself in her room for five days now, ever since the incident with Nathan. On the weekend she barely came out of her room, and the only reason she left the house was to go to work. She only ate when her hunger became distracting, and whenever she crossed paths with someone in the house, she ignored them. She’d received more than a few strange looks, but nobody said anything.
Vaughn was back at the house, recovering from being Stanton’s First Gunshot Victim In Over 70 Years. Triton had managed to keep the press away from the house, but the story had spread through the island and on to the rest of the Segment.
Now that Vaughn was okay, Kit avoided him like the plague. It appeared that he hadn’t said anything to anyone about his suspicions and she wanted it to stay that way. Whenever she looked at him, she saw that same confused look on his face. She couldn’t bring herself to lie to him and there was no way she could tell him the truth, so avoidance would have to work.
Kit took another deep breath and tried to clear her mind. She opened her eyes and looked at the candle on her desk. After a few seconds the wick burst into flame. She concentrated on the flame and tried to make it grow, but it would only dance around. Eventually she realized that something was holding her back. As much as she wanted to control the flame, she was afraid of it getting out of control and setting the house on fire.
She moved onto Ice and sent a cool breeze to take out the flame. Trying to build up enough of a wind to blow out the flame was tiring, but she did it. She’d have to really concentrate on this one to make it stronger. Truthfully, she had to concentrate on all of her elements. Earth and Water were just as rusty. Air was better, but not as strong as Electricity.
For some reason, Water was the hardest for her to control. She’d brought in a glass of water to practice with, but she had to keep refilling it whenever it spilled everywhere, which was often. She’d tried controlling the water back into the glass, but it refused to obey her. It was like it had a mind of its own and that mind belonged to a rebellious teenager.
Earth was difficult for another reason. Her room was on the second floor, so there was no soil around for her to practice with. She could go out to the back yard and start pulling up the ground, but that would be a bit conspicuous. Maybe she should purchase a plant…
What she really needed was a secret place to practice. Her room was private, but it lacked supplies. She needed a place that was private and secure, where she could work on every element, but there was no such place that she could think of.
More than anything she wanted to smash something. She wanted to tear everything apart until there was nothing left. She never would, though. There would be no point to destroying everything, and the destruction wouldn’t make her elements stronger.
She wanted to give up and just be done with it, but that wasn’t an option anymore. She had to try; she had to get stronger. The past five days had resulted in minor improvements in a couple elements, but it wasn’t enough.
A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.
“What?” she asked, her tone not hiding any of her annoyance.
Vaughn’s voice answered. “You’ve been in there for hours. You should get something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Are you sure?”
Ignoring him,
Kit stood up and walked over to her desk. She wished that she had some kind of guide for how to do this properly. Trying to improve one element was hard enough work – how was she ever going to improve all of them?
She picked up the nearest book and threw it across the room. It hit the wall with a satisfying ‘thud’.
“Kit?” Vaughn’s voice called through the door. “Are you okay?”
She wanted to tell him to go away, but the words wouldn’t come.
“Kit?”
She weighed the pros and cons of letting Vaughn into her room. If she refused, he might continue talking through the door. Or he might go to someone else. She walked over to the door, opened it and gestured for Vaughn to enter. Once he was inside the room, she shut the door, keeping her back to him.
“What do you want?” she asked, leaning her head against the door.
“I need to talk to you about what happened,” he said.
“I would prefer if you didn’t.”
Vaughn paused. “Kit, I need to know if what I saw was true.”
She had decided to lie to him and tell him that it was a side effect of the shock from being shot, but then she made the mistake of turning around and looking him in the eyes. Instead of saying that he’d made it all up and that he should probably get his head checked, she said nothing.
Tears started to well up in her eyes. Turning away from him, she cursed herself for not keeping her emotions in check. She was so frustrated at everything. She knew that crying wouldn’t solve anything, and the fact that she couldn’t stop only frustrated her more.
She felt Vaughn’s arms wrap around her, holding her close. She didn’t want him to hold her like that – she didn’t deserve it after getting him shot. If he was mean, she’d be able to deal with it, but she couldn’t handle him being so nice to her.
The moment was broken when Vaughn opened his mouth.
“Kit, I have to know. Are you really what I think you are?”
She wanted to be angry by the question, but she was tired of being angry.
“I’m not,” she said, stepped away from him. “You think I’m something, Vaughn, but I’m not. I’m not powerful or strong or anything that you think I should be. I’m a failure.”