Elementals: A New Era: Book One

Chapter Twelve

Luke stirred awake with a grunt, his chest ached and his feet felt cold. He began to push himself up on the bed he lay in, shifting the sheets as he went.
"Hey hey hey, you're okay, Luke," Andrew's voice was the first thing he heard as his senses began to slowly return.
"Where are we?" Luke asked, feeling his eyes unable to open.
"You're in the infirmary," Braxton's voice entered his ears. "You're safe."
"Just... take your time," Andrew added. "You've been badly frostbitten. I don't know why you went out there in a t-shirt and shorts, now you're suffering because of it."
"I didn't know Dustin would leave me to die," Luke replied as he slowly managed to open his eyes and see the older man staring at him.
"What happened out there? The others found you face down in the snow."
"I..." Luke thought back to the fight with the man who... "That man!" He exclaimed, a sharp pain entering his chest as he tried to lean forward.
"What man?"
"Do you remember the other day when you brought me here after I was beat up? When Zero and I fell out of the window?"
"Of course I do."
"Where did you find me?"
"In the lobby, you were slumped over one of the seats, unconscious," Andrew explained.
"That's not what I remember," Luke shook his head. "I remember making my way up to the command center and then collapsing. But then... there was a man down in the Undercity, he was Neo's body guard. Big man, Andrew's height, much more toned, but he was in thick Metal Armor all the time. He was there, he must be a Metal Elemental because he lifted the train car and flew away with it, and the others. But when he spoke to me, I had heard his voice before. On that day. The memories came back, when I was lying there against the wall, he found me." Luke began to cry. "Andrew he... he knew all about me, he knew my past, my Powers, he..." Luke remembered the pain the man had caused. He had been beaten. His injuries had been fairly minor when falling from the window, but that man had inflicted much more onto him. "He hurt me. He called me useless. He said I was a failure." Andrew reached out and wrapped his arms around the boy as he cried.
"He's not here now," Andrew started.
"He'll be down there, waiting."
"Zero can handle him, don't worry."
"Avalanche and Jinx are also down there," Braxton began. "They won't let anyone get hurt."
Luke nodded and leant back into his bed, relaxing his breathing and wiping his tears.
"Here," Andrew handed him his cube and smiled as Luke closed his eyes and focused on the cube.
He shifted it a few times, pulling the pieces off before replacing them, turning the cube, shifting it back and forth. Luke smiled and looked around the room, the three of them were alone, a television mounted on the central pillar of the room displayed some sort of announcement. Luke smiled at Andrew for a moment before his attention was brought back to the TV, something was wrong.
"Who is that?" Luke asked, pointing up at the screen. It showed a man in a purple suit standing at a podium, addressing a growing crowd of civilians and news outlets.
"Oh that's..." Andrew turned the TV up so they could hear the address. "That's Minister Lancaster, the new Minister of Development, he was appointed today when the old Minister stepped down."
"That's Neo," Luke explained, seeing the man he'd reported to the night before.
"Wait, are you sure?"
"Yes! That's the leader of the Undercity. Turn it up."
"And now we take you back to Minister Lancaster," the female news reporter began. "Who, I hear, has some interesting proposals?"
"Thank you for coming today," Neo began. "For those who do not know, I am the new Minister of Development, and I believe that I have what it takes to make this city great again. Let me start with a question, one I pose to you all that will hopefully help us reach the future we all want. Do you know what The Agency is? Or how it runs? What it does?" He paused for a moment, allowing the crowd to murmur and question. "They claim that they are there to protect us, peacekeepers, they call themselves. But from what? Elemental Enhanced People? Elemental Powered Animals? The very thing they create? Why should one facility, one company, have the power to control every part of our lives? They look after our infrastructure, our military, our very protectors. But if you think about it, why do we need these things? Well what if we were attacked by an EEP? We'd need the help of the Elementals to help take them down, and the help of the military to make sure that the civilians are unharmed, and then we'd need their help to rebuild our infrastructure if buildings were damaged. They are an all encompassing microcosm. But what if they weren't needed? What if there were no EEP attacks? Then what? Wouldn't they go out of business? Wouldn't all the shareholders lose money? Now I'll pose another question to you. Have you ever heard of the EED? Or Elemental Enhancement Drug? Maybe you know it as TF Juice? Where do you think that comes from? My predecessor said it came from the Undercity, but it couldn't come from there right? That's just a scapegoat, trying to push the blame onto those far more unfortunate than you or I. I pose this question to you. What if The Agency is making it?"
"What the fuck is he on about?" Andrew asked, disgusted at what he was hearing.
"They need there to be EEPs for them to have a job," Neo continued. "Without the Rogue Elementals, there wouldn't be an Agency. And maybe we could take the money that was pumped into this useless part of the city, into something that could help flourish those that can't look after themselves. I'm suggesting that we cut all funding to The Agency, investigate their higher ups, and take that money and invest it into The Undercity. Help bring these people out of squalor and into the sunshine. Now many of you might not believe me, say I'm crazy, and that these are conspiracies. But think about this, the other day there was an attack on a supermarket downtown. An EEP ran rampant and nearly destroyed the building. Boy was it a good thing that The Agency was there to stop them, am I right? But what was their response time? Instantaneous. It took less than a minute from when the creature went rampant to when one of their own was leaping into the fray to save everyone. One of my sons was there, he witnessed it all. Please come on stage and let's talk about it."
The man ushered for someone to walk onto the stage, the man had short brown hair and wore round glasses, a cast covered his left arm, he seemed nervous to speak.
"What the fuck?" Andrew sat up and looked concerned. He quickly pulled his phone out and tried messaging someone.
"I was there," the man spoke. "The initial blast threw me against the wall, I broke my arm, and then a young boy, maybe twelve, ran into the building and tried helping people."
"They're sending in children," Neo added. "To fight these creatures that they're creating. Thankfully no one was killed during this fight, but several people were injured, including my son. We have to put a stop to this."
"I have to go," Andrew stood and ran from the room, his head down the whole time.
"Andrew?!" Braxton called.
"Let him go," Luke watched the man leave, knowing exactly where he was going. "He'll be okay."
A sudden explosion rocked the city, people on the TV began to scream as smoke rose from a nearby building.
"They're attacking," Neo began. "The Agency does not want me speaking of their atrocities, they're sending those monsters after me. Give me control of the military and I'll stop them. Give me control and they'll never create these monstrosities again." As he spoke, several ear splitting howls and screeches from various animals echoed throughout the city. The cameras turned to a large Gorilla standing on a nearby building, threatening to throw Fireballs about. The cameras cut out and the feed was quickly cut back to the news anchors in the studio.
"Where the fuck is everyone?" Braxton exclaimed.
"They'll need you," Luke spoke.
"I don't..."
"Fuck it then," Luke threw off the covers and tried to stand. He collapsed onto his knees, his feet blue and swollen and in pain. "Heal me."
"You can't..."
Luke groaned and concentrated on his Powers, feeling them wrap around himself and hoisting him up until he stood upright, floating slightly above the floor. "I'm going out there. You can help out, or you can stand here in fear. But I bet you that the others are out there fighting for their lives. And for the lives of everyone down there. We can't sit by."
Luke launched himself out the nearby window and surveyed the city, dozens of explosions rocked the city, Elements were flung in every direction. He didn't have time to think, he flew towards the nearest plume of smoke.