The Storm of Elements

Paralyzed Elevator Ride

The first words that come out of my mouth are, "Um.......how about.......no." 

Goodwin grins. "You're still quite the eloquent speaker, Miss Cooper." 

"And you're still the worst person I've ever met," I retort. 

Jake puts his arm in front of me before I do something foolish like freeze his mouth off. He looks at his father straight in the eyes. "Why?" 

For a brilliant scientist, his mind isn't so bright. He looks at him, confusion flickering in his eyes. "Why, what? Why am I the worst per-" 

"No, Dad." I look at him because he hardly ever calls him that. "Why do you have to do this?" 

"If you're referring to giving the world exactly what it wants, that's pretty self-explanatory." 

"The world doesn't want or need to be changed in the way you're going to make it!" Jake objects. 

"We humans are incredibly, unbelievably greedy," Goodwin says calmly. "We will do anything, have anything to make our lives easier. For the people, that means having my reactors to energize their homes. For me, that means unleashing my formula into the air, unbeknownst to them. And I suppose for you, that means ending my production of them." 

"You never gave us a choice when you gave us our powers," Lenae tells him. "Just like you're not giving the rest of the world a choice. All that matters is you and your success. You're the greedy one." 

Goodwin shrugs. "Possibly. But the difference between our endeavors is-" he motions to his guards to come forward "I always win. It's all about moves and countermoves. I'm always a step ahead." He looks at Gray and grins, his expression smug. "Thank you for keeping me updated, Gray." 

I look at Gray in disbelief. "Does he mean what I think he means?" 

Gray can't meet my eyes. "Depends on what you're thinking." 

Goodwin laughs. "You were immediately willing to trust him again, Miss Cooper. That was one of your many big mistakes. His loyalty has always been to me, his second father. He would not betray me so easily." 

Peter sneers. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted him. Once a snake, always a snake." 

Gray glances at me, his chocolate brown eyes full of sorrow. It's just a quick glance, but I understand. I still know he was forced.  None of this is his fault. 

To show I get it, he had no choice, my eyes pointedly send him a message of forgiveness. 

Gray looks away, and teleports into shadow. 

"Now that that's over with," Goodwin says, looking bored, "guards, detain these children." 

As the guards surround us, their guns pointed, I think about what he just said. Moves and countermoves. Always a step ahead. I thought we had the upper hand, if I look back at our other successes with fighting him. We destroyed his research facility in Wisconsin, we escaped alive, we defeated his errand boy. We've done pretty well. 

But now that I'm thinking about it, I hate to admit it or even think about it, he's right. We escaped the Wisconsin facility practically unharmed because he wanted us to so he could watch his surprise happen. We got out on his terms, not ours. And sending in Gray at my childhood home was meant to rattle me, which it did. And he let us escape. Goodwin anticipated us coming here eventually, and now he knew we'd trust Gray, although his true intentions were of turning us in. Have we really become that predictable? 

If we get out of this alive, we need a new tactic. 

I feel the barrel of a gun dig into my back. "Get moving." I whirl around, fully prepared to blast this bozo in the face, then get distracted by a large, red and black tattoo on his neck. I recognize it as the symbol of the Marvel superhero Deadpool, when Jake made me watch a bunch of superhero movies with him one day after I told him I haven't seen half of them. I don't know why this distracts me so much, but it makes me temporarily unaware of what's going on until they shoot something at my arm. I yelp and look down. It's another one of those small metal devices that clamp onto the skin and- 

I feel my legs give out as an electric shock runs through my body. 

-paralyze you. 

A guard catches me and tries to hold me up, but I can't stand. I'm in so much pain I can barely think straight. 

I'm vaguely aware of the Rave guards shooting the other Elementals with the devices and getting pretty much the same reaction. Peter and Jake seem to be the strongest, which is no surprise. 

The guard holding me up scoops me in his arms and holds me like I'm a baby and weigh nothing. I try to fight back, not wanting him to touch me much less hold me, but I can barely manage to move my head to see what's happening. 

Jake violently struggles with the guard forcing him down on his knees, his eyes full of anger as he watches the guard hold me. "Get your hands off of her." 

Then they shoot him with another metal device and he's shocked into unconsciousness, his shoulders slumped and his head hanging down. 

They put us in the elevator. It's a big elevator, somehow able to fit all these guards and the seven of us teens, along with Goodwin. I watch in despair as the doors slide shut in front of me, blocking out our mission. 

We failed. Goodwin won this round. 

Goodwin presses the GL button, and the elevator starts ascending. I notice he glances at his son, unconscious, being held up by his guards. There's something different in his expression. Is it remorse? Regret? I can't tell. 

I find my voice, although it's hoarse. "It's not too late to stop this, Goodwin." 

He turns around to look at me. "Of course it's not. But, contrary to your hopes, I don't want to stop this. This is the product of all my research these past seventeen years. I will not give up the chance to see my work in action so readily." 

The elevator dings, and I see that we've reached ground level. The doors slide open slowly. 

At first, I'm confused when I see her standing there, waiting for us. She's standing with one hip to the side in her navy jumpsuit, the Shadow signal gleaming in the light over her heart. Her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, the scar over her eye looking even deadlier. The barrel of her gun aimed towards us. 

Sara Falcon smiles at Goodwin. "Sorry to show up uninvited, but for their safety and yours, turn over my Elementals."