The Storm of Elements

Escape?

"You let them ESCAPE?" 

Goodwin's voice is loud and full of anger. Gray made himself become used to all of his tones of voice over the years, so now he's impervious to his yelling fits. 

He holds the comlink on his wrist up to his mouth. "No, sir. I let them go." 

"For what purpose, then, did you let them go? To allow them to return with all of Shadow at their backs and destroy us?" 

"No, sir. I let them believe they won because I've seen in their minds they will not give up. If they think they beat me, then they will feel confident and come back to fight again. But thanks to your formula, their powers are still in the conversion process, and aren't exactly working how they should." 

"So my surprise worked after all," Gray hears Goodwin muse thoughtfully. "I knew it should've gone off by now. That's excellent news for us. We may have an advantage here." 

"Yes, sir. I will take any opportunity we have to strike them down once and for all." 

"No, we don't need that yet. For the time being, I want you to bring them all in alive. I want to run diagnostics on each and every one of them. Especially Jacob, since his powers have probably grown since last month. And perhaps if we hold them in our facility, that 'top-secret' agency Shadow will attempt to rescue them. That is when we'll strike them down once and for all." 

"So your orders are......." 

"Find where they're staying. Then capture them and bring them all to me." 

"I know where they're staying already, sir." 

"Oh? Tell me." 

"They're currently checked in at the Loews Atlanta Hotel. In the rooms 224, 228, and 310. They have some kind of bodyguard staying in 310. He's the one who drove the van in their 'escape.'" 

"How do you know all this?" 

"One of our agents is already there, remember? She's been keeping track of them and each time they leave the hotel. And I found out their rooms on my own. I may have done a bit of surveillance myself." 

"This is good. If it comes to it, we could easily send in a squad or two of our guards to draw them out. Then we could send you in to retrieve them and bring them to me. I know you're strong enough. You will not fail me." 

"Yes, sir. What did the press say about the explosion of Jamie Cooper's house?" 

"Exactly what I told them to say. It was an old, dilapidated house. The Rave Scientific Institution bought the lot and wrecked the house in hopes to build a small lab dedicated to research on the jellyfish known as the Portuguese Man of War. Except, unbeknownst to them, the real reason is simply war." 

"You are the Portuguese Man of War, sir." 

"Don't flatter me. And do not worry, Gray. We will catch the Elementals and make them pay for what their agency did to your mother. I promise we will." 

"Thank you, sir." 

He cuts off the transmission, and looks at the burnt and dirty pile of rubble that used to be my house. 

Yep. He definitely destroyed a part of my legacy, all right.