The Elements Series

As I turned the channel I noticed we had come in half way through a breaking news headline. The reporter was a slender, red-haired woman outside a bottle-shop. At first I couldn't grasp what was so important about the story, and then I heard her mention a murder victim. I tuned everything else out then. "...cameras were all taken out, as if from a profession hit, so there is no actual video footage from the event," she began, her deep voice contrasting with her feminine appearance. I focused on the location behind her, recognizing the store from somewhere. There were broken bottles and glass everywhere, as the fire fighters attempted to put out the remaining fires. Even though the store had quite clearly been ripped apart, I felt as though I should know it. Obviously the masculine-voiced reporter was about to inform me. "After being involved in a series of reported robberies in and around Oracle City, an unidentified group of masked criminals have now murdered an innocent employee of De Ja Good Timez." My heart skipped a beat. In the time that the Elements had been patrolling the streets, not once did we hear of a murder. The occasional crime would surpass us, like in any city, but we prevented any serious crimes from eventuating. Now we had, somehow, allowed an innocent member of the public to be murdered. The fact that it was a De Ja property made it even worse. I further considered the accusation that these masked vigilantes were to be blamed for the death of this innocent person. I questioned how we had missed this; how a group of masked vigilantes could have been able to run amok in our city and, most importantly, whether the ninja/masked vigilante was a part of it. Fallon had a similar thought. "The employee of the liquor store, a branch of the multi-billion dollar empire De Ja, was wearing clothes very similar to that of Earth, from the Elements. As part of the stores casual-Friday event for local charities, Joshua Scott had dressed as his hero. Replicas of the superheroes' costumes have been made available across Oracle City though the question now - is dressing like our very own heroes, the Elements, to our detriment? And where were the Elements in our time of need?" My own thoughts began to drown out the reporter's voice. I couldn't believe it. Firstly, the Elements had been indirectly blamed for the death of the innocent man, diminishing our public popularity and support. Secondly, people wearing Elements merchandise may become targets, which was definitely an issue with the release of Reagane & Reanae's upcoming fashion line. Thirdly, a division of De Ja had been attacked, which begged the question - did the attackers know that the Elements were linked to De Ja or was it simply a coincidence? I was speechless. Everybody's minds were racing. There were so many unspoken issues and questions being raised from the story. Each of my friends were addressing the same propblems I had thought of, also wondering if this was some sort of message for the Elements. Our biggest fear was that this may have been the return of Crystallic. "This is unacceptable!" Fallon yelled, suddenly furious with the accusations made. "How can we be blamed for something we had no involvement with?" "Fallon, we promoted ourselves as Oracle City's defence to crime. It could be expected that we would be blamed when we fail to live up to our promises," I answered, annoyed yet understanding. "This is huge," Izzy whispered. "Who are these people?" Wyler spat. "Why have we not heard of them?" I knew she was indirectly blaming Renae. Renae had prided herself as the official technological guru for the Elements. Her role was to ensure we were always in the right place, at the right time. We needed to protect Oracle City from instances such as this. Though I hated Wyler's accusation, I agreed with her. "In other breaking news, a patient has escaped a maximum-security mental institution," the reporter continued. "It is still unclear how the patient escaped, with wardens refusing to answer any questions by the media. The patient, Dr. Gordon Miles, a stem-cell research scientist, was sentenced to life…" "Could it be Crystallic?" Izzy asked, her eyes still focused on the screen. I turned the television off. "Hey!" Fallon whined. "I was watching that." "We need to focus and looking at that reporter is just beginning to annoy me," I justified. "Now I think Izzy has a point." "We have been waiting for their latest attack for a while," Wyler added, further agreeing with Izzy. "It makes sense that they would be using these people as pawns." "This sounds like something they would do," Izzy said. "And they knew that we were connected with De Ja," Wyler confirmed. Still I was unsure how Crystallic had discovered the link between the Elements and De Ja, however they had found out and kidnapped my sister from our apartment. That would mean the attack may not have been a coincidence after all. "I think we are missing one vital fact here, guys," Eli interjected, speaking softly. "The reporter said that the offenders were masked, right? Well who else do we know that's masked?" I internally laughed, having the same thought only a few minutes prior. "No way," Fallon dismissed, knowing full well where Eli was going. "Well it seems logical, man." Though there were much more pressing issues at hand, I had to be impressed at how well Fallon, Eli and I were getting along. After the previous night's blow up, I had predicted that I would be ignored for days. I was impressed to say the least. "This is huge. We know nothing about the ninja. If he has teamed up with this other group of masked criminals..." I added, before being interrupted. "Who said the ninja was involved with the criminals?" Renae said, walking into the lounge room. "Did you hear about the murder too?" Izzy asked sympathetically. "Where have you been?" I asked icily. Renae raised an eyebrow, questioning my ferocious mood. "Yes I did hear about it," Renae responded, smiling at Izzy with a sympathetic smile, before her mood changed when looking at me. "What's your issue?" "You are my issue!" I yelled. "Calm down, Reagan," Izzy soothed, holding my hand in both of hers. "What the hell is going on with you?" Renae asked, confused. An orange haze covered my eyes so that all I could see, hear and feel was the all-consuming rage inside. The energy was pulsating in my arms, legs and abdomen. I could feel the pressure pounding in my head. I felt like I was going to explode. "Reagan, calm down," Eli instructed. "Don't be stupid." "Renae this is all your fault!" I screamed. "It is your role to help prevent this exact thing from happening. Where have you been? Where have you been for the last few weeks? How could you have missed the robberies and crimes that the ninja," I spat the word, "was able to cover? Why can't I hear your thoughts or read your mind? Where have you been going for your errands, which are clearly not De Ja related? I checked." "Reagan," Izzy pleaded. "Calm down." "Where have you been, Renae? Where have you been!?" I had stood up at some point through my rant and I felt weightless. As I looked down I was hovering a foot off the ground. When I looked directly forward it was if nothing had changed. When I took a closer look I noticed that I had telekinetically lifted the couches, with my friends along with it, as well as the coffee table. I concentrated hard on letting gravity bring us all back to the floor. "Are you done?" Renae asked sarcastically. My eyes narrowed at the insult behind her rhetorical question. "No I am not done," I spat. "You have no idea how much your private escapades are affecting your friends and the Elements.