The Elementals

Treachery

"Okay," I announce, and Audrey looks at me. "I'm going to lay down some rules."

"Ah, conditions, how fun." Owen mutters but I ignore him.

Audrey looks slightly pained, but she nods for me to go on. We had docked at port this morning, in another fancy, high-tech, secret base thing.

Also, they had normal clothes there, so I no longer looked like someone's lost shadow. Instead, the others and I looked like average kids on the run in a t-shirts and sweatshirts, jeans, and sneakers. Everyone had picked out their respective element colors, whether they meant to or not. A tan-auburn color for Terra, green for Maple, black for Stella, grey for Steel, white for Oh'Rian, a dark maroon red for Coal, and last but hopefully not least, blue for moi.

"First," I say, "No one goes on a mission alone."

Audrey nods, though grudgingly.

"Second," I start again, and then falter. I hadn't actually thought of a second condition yet.

Thankfully, a short woman walks in, tapping Audrey on the shoulder and giving me an excuse to stop talking. They whisper quietly, and then the lady rushes out, seeming flustered. Audrey turns back to us.

"We have another assignment," She declares. "Everybody get in the helicopter."

Excited by the prospect of action, the others race each other out. I go to follow, but Audrey stops me.

"You're not going." She says, her hand out like I'm a dog she's telling to stay.

"Why not?" I ask indignantly, trying to push past her.

She shrugs, but stays in my way. "Orders are orders."

I go to say "not to me" but it won't make a difference. This is a system that runs on orders. I hate orders. Owen walks past, carrying supplies, and looks at Audrey to check what's happening. He backs out of the doorway fast as he sees our faces.

Audrey jumps at the chance. "Owen-"

"No." he says shortly.

"Please-" Audrey starts but he shakes his head definitively. Audrey changes tactics. "Alright, I order you to watch her." She gestures to me.

"Hey, I don't need to be watched!" I protest and Owen chimes in. We finally agree on something.

"That's an order," Audrey silences our objecting and walks out of the room.

Owen and I stare daggers at each other. "So she's a higher rank than you?" I ask. It's usually how orders work.

He looks repulsed by the fact, but doesn't say anything -which is answer enough.

"How far above-"

He stalks out of the room, cutting off my sarcastic inquiry. As soon as his angry steps and the systematic thrumming of the chopper blades fade away, I walk out of the room.

First, I slip out into the hallway and find the food room. After stuffing my face with cornbread and chocolate milk, I decide to explore a little.

The only places worth mentioning are the room where we get our assignments with the fancy table in the middle, some small rooms like mine where the others probably sleep, and the training room.

I also see a hallway down to a main room with some interesting looking gadgets and computers, but I have to go past the training room, where Owen is, of course. Where else would a hard-core, emotionless secret agent go when given the chance to relax? To work, obviously.

I finally get bored of wandering around the same places, and try to get by. I keep to the wall, though it doesn't help at all, it just makes me feel more spy-like. I'm debating whether to try and go so fast he doesn't see me, or so slow he doesn't notice. I decide to go with the slow method, because I'm not sure I could stay quiet enough if I went fast. Carefully, taking lights steps, I creep past the door.