The Four Elements and Their Sins

Whiplash

The group had finally made it back to the house after Jake had gotten his beard and hair trimmed. He now had a low stubble and his hair trimmed and faded on the side yet still leaving enough on top to push it backwards.

"Y'all go ahead and go to the sparring room. I'll meet you there in a bit, I'm gonna get some repairs done on the suit in case I need it." Jake said as he lifted a box full of the suits broken pieces inside the house.

As he approached his room he noticed the door was open. He placed the box quietly on the bed and his hand began to glow bright red. As he approached his closet Jake heard shifting and things being pushed around.

He leaned against the wall and prepared to confront the person. He took a deep breath and turned on his heel as he walked into the closet.

"Freeze buddy!" Jake called out.

He was caught off guard when Abbie stood up quickly with a terrified look on her face.

"You're back!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's a long story... why are you in here?" Jake asked as he let his hand fall.

"I was just looking for some..." Abbie tried to think of something clever but nothing came to mind.

"I wanted to look at the stones. I figured if they needed a tone of mechanics to contain their power I thought I could try and help you out." She spoke in a defeated tone.

"I took them with me because I don't trust anyone with 'em not even Anthony... I didn't take you for a tech geek... since our first encounter you said you were a cop." Jake said in a joking tone.

"I had to get you to the city somehow." Abbie laughed.

"I guess so, me and the others were gonna spar a bit. To get our martial arts skills up a bit. Wanna join?" Jake asked.

Abbie gave a smile and nodded.

"Sure, I'll see you in there I guess." She spoke cheerfully as she left the room.

Jake watched her leave and sighed. He closed the closet door and walked back towards the bed. He grabbed the box of the broken suit and shoved it under the bed. He removed the stones from his arm and placed them in a metal box and lifted the box by the handle.

He made sure no one was watching than moved a chest of drawers. There, in the wall was a large safe. He typed in the numbers '1-0-4-0' the safe gave a creak and the door swung open. Jake slowly placed the box in the back of the safe and put his finger on a slider on the wall of the safe and as he slid it up the box slowly lowered out of sight. He shoved the door closed once more and pushed the chest of drawers back into place.

He stood up and walked out of the room. As he closed the door his phone vibrated. Jake lifted it from his pocket and saw that it was a call from a blocked number.

He hit the answer button and expected nothing but Thatcher.

"What do you want?" Jake snapped quickly.

"I'm just wondering, were you expecting to hide away in your house? It's so large I figured I'd give it a downsize... oh and by the way. Duck." Thatchers voice boomed.

Jake turned around as a large missile ruptured the house. The explosion knocked Jake right through a wall and into his room. Fire soon took over the living room and roared loudly.

Jake slowly got to his feet. He limped slowly towards his computer and fell into his chair. He quickly went to the security cameras and tapped on 'Sparring Room'.

"Cameras down" Jake muttered. He felt his leg and from his knee to his ankle it ached greatly. He thought for a moment and held his watch to his mouth.