Elementals: A New Era: Book One

Chapter Eight

"Marvelous job, boys," Neo spoke as he knelt at his table, flicking through the papers going over their mission. The large armored man standing idly by his side, staring straight forwards. "If everything goes according to plan, we should have everything we need by the end of the week."
"What else do we need?" Mikaido asked as he paced behind Matt, who knelt opposite Neo.
"Well, the biggest thing is TF Juice," Neo began to explain. "And there is a fairly large shipment of it coming in by train in a few days. That's the next big mission, I'll be sending a crew to retrieve the cargo and bring it here."
"Why is TF Juice being shipped into the city in the first place?" Matt asked.
"That doesn't matter, we have to get it," Mikaido slammed his hand down on the small table. "If this could turn the tides, we have to take it."
"I have to ask though, were you both aware that D.A.R.E was right behind you?" Neo asked them with a concerned look. "Moments after you shot the man up, they were there fighting back. What happened?"
"What's D.A.R.E?" Matt asked, looking back at Mikaido.
"An evil group," Neo replied. "They want nothing but to hold us down and keep us here. They've erased all records of us and our existence, and this is the only way we can retake a place among the topside. They believe that working alongside Elementals will bring about peace, all while pushing us further and further beneath their boot."
"They're nothing but trouble," Mikaido echoed. "Best stay away from them."
"I wonder if that kid..." Matt spoke to himself quietly.
"You're both dismissed," Neo spoke up. "Find a room to sleep in and we'll reconvene tomorrow."
"Yes sir, thank you sir," Mikaido saluted the man before grabbing Matt and pulling him out of the room.

*****

Luke winced as the Healing Water converged on his wound and began heating up. He grabbed the pillow and put it over his head before screaming into it, eliciting a laugh from Avalanche at the back of the room.
"Yeah? You like me suffering?" Luke cried out.
"You got stabbed, and a little bit of warm Water has you crying," Avalanche retorted as he walked around the Infirmary, checking on other patients.
"Don't listen to him," Braxton added as he stood next to Luke's bed. "He's just a big brat."
"And yet you love me," Avalanche called back.
"Yeah whatever, Frostfang."
The Infirmary door slid open and Andrew walked through, followed by Stacey and Tsubaki.
"Hey bud, how's the healing going?" Andrew pulled a chair next to the bed and sat.
"It hurts!" Luke screamed as he muffled himself once more with the pillow.
Braxton looked up at Stacey with a smile on his face, she stood with her weight on her left foot, her arms folded.
"Do you wanna tell him everything?" Andrew asked, also looking back at her.
"Oh, yeah sure," he pulled her jacket down and tried removing the look of concern from her face. "Hey Luke, I'm glad you came away from that fight," She started as she sat on the edge of the bed. "That was a really brave thing you did today, usually we would go and do a briefing like we did the other night but Andrew filled us in on pretty much everything. We have the footage of those kids and we'll be running our facial recognition systems to find them."
"What about the thing I fought?" Luke asked, pulling the pillow away from his face.
"He's down in holding," Tsubaki added. "We aren't sure how to turn him back to normal, but we will work hard with Zero to cure him."
"Hopefully they don't attack again," Luke joked. He suddenly felt bad that no one laughed, instead he sighed and continued to try and endure the pain in his side.
Andrew sighed. "Can we have the room to ourselves?" He asked, looking at Tsubaki and Stacey.
Stacey nodded and began walking towards the door, Tsubaki followed before turning and looking back at Luke. "Luke, you have earned your place on this team. Thank you."
"How's Mason?" Luke asked once they were alone.
"He may be as skinny as a twig, but he's strong, he'll be okay. A little shaken up by me tackling him to the ground, I mean I'm no twink myself so that must've hurt. But yeah, we've been messaging all day and he's really happy to have met you. He'd like to hang out more sometime, granted we don't get attacked again," Andrew replied, a smile on his face.
"I hope I never get attacked again, this shit hurts," Luke joked.
"It doesn't get any easier!" Braxton called from the back of the room.
"Thanks for looking after him, Braxy!" Andrew called back.
"Get some rest, okay? Tomorrow we'll work on figuring out how to turn people back once they've had the TF Juice," Andrew spoke as he stood and rubbed the young boy's head.
"Night Andy," Luke called as the man left. Andrew pulled the finger to him as he walked out the door, leaving Luke to pull the covers up and investigate the gash in his side. It was bloody and deep, but the Spike had missed all of his organs. The shimmering Water that now coated and filled the hole was slowly mending him from the inside out, its magical properties knowing to repair his blood vessels, his flesh, his muscles, his skin, all of it reforming back to his normal self. He'd have no scars, no markings, nothing to remember the attack by. And he wondered if every battle would end with him in the Infirmary. Luckily for him, he had used a small portion of Power to contain his injury within himself, no blood or guts moved from the wound once the Spike had been removed, and he'd forgotten about it until they'd gotten back to The Agency, where he felt light headed from constant use of Power. Now he lay snuggled up beneath the blankets after his first mission as an official Agent. He smiled as he felt the dream world take control.