Leo smiled warmly, and wheeled Herschel over to the car. As Fargus and the others watched Leo and Herschel, their hearts sunk.

Leo, being a man of his means, had little but a four-seated pick-up truck with a covered bed, and it was in the bed that Leo placed Herschel. Using a pair of bicycle cables, Leo strapped Herschel in, and stepped into the driver's seat.

"Alright, we've got a ripe old passenger, so we're going to take things slowly. Fasten your seatbelts, and we'll get moving."

After a few false starts, Leo's truck rumbled into action. A familiar, soothing roar reverbrated from the truck's innards, filling everyone on-board with comfort. Leo put on some nice, relaxing Carpenter Brut on, and drove off to the clinic.

In just fifteen minutes of fast-paced driving, the truck arrived at Leo's clinic, the Oberschmidt Geriatrics Clinic. Leo was the first out, and unstrapped Herschel with exceeding care. With the help of Gunther, Leo hoisted Herschel down from the bed, and wheeled him into the clinic with Fargus and Peaches just behind. Peaches, amazed at Leo's actions, spoke with genuine concern to Herschel.
"Hey, old timer... are you alright?"

Aria sighed. She might as well share her quarter of it, then. "And I burned three of the prettiest girls in my middle school." Aria whispered. "I burned them, and two lived but were disfigured terribly, and the other... didn't survive." Her eyes filled with tears and her bangs fell over her eyes, hiding them. "I was nine years old. Every single day they'd tease me and taunt me and keep me outcast and... just before christmas break, I snapped. I flung them up in the air in gym class and left them hovering there and burned them and I laughed and laughed and cried and cried until the fire sprinklers came on and put out the fires and I was too exhausted to keep them in the air. Then they were loaded onto stretchers and I was blindfolded and taken in handcuffs and ankle shackles to a mental hospital, and they put me in a straitjacket for a week and the psychiatrists wouldn't even come into my cell, they'd talk to me through a speaker system from outside my room."
Aura put an arm around Aria's shoulder. "And I humiliated half of the football team my freshman year of high school. They invited me to a party, said it would be me and a whole bunch of other girls and there would be plenty of chaperones provided. As soon as I got there I realized my mistake, but it was too late. Before I figured out my freezing power, so I couldn't really do anything. They... hurt me. And I took it and said nothing, and the next day I was walking home from school with them as an "escort" to "make sure that nothing bad happened", and I took them through the park and levitated them into the trees and tied them up with friendship bracelets, levitated the clothes off of them, and filled their lungs and... other places... with so much helium that they talked squeaky for a week. And I just left them there in the middle of winter." She hiccuped, laughed, started crying. "It would be funny if it hadn't been in revenge. If I hadn't wanted them to die slowly and as humiliated as they could be."

Dan, though definitely in minor pain, let out a roaring laugh. "And I'M the creep? Look, I'm shoah you had yah reasons ta do it, but c'mon. It's like havin' a bunch of cleavahs comin' up to a kitchen knife an' callin' it 'edgy'. I know I do fucked up shit, but I ain't justifyin' nothin'. All I done was strictly foah profit an' my own personal gain. Not gonna pretend I got the high ground." He looked at the four other church occupants. "So, we done playin' this game of 'antagonize Rad Dan'?"

Chloe froze and knelt under the pew. Oh, god. Oh, god god god. People knew. It was obvious. It was so painfully obvious. They knew she was a monster now. She shuddered a little and hit her head quietly against the wood of the pew. "Yeah...I gassed some prick." She wiped her cheeks, which were wet now with tears, and forced her head back into the game. There was soon going to be a serious fight going on, probably. A huff of chlorine, involuntary this time, billowed from her mouth and sank slowly to the floor as it was heavier than regular air.

She stood up and bit her lip. "I didn't mean to kill him! I wasn't even there when he died! He attacked me and I didn't even know what was happening until there was enough of the stuff to burn even my nose and he was pulling at my shirt and I was so scared and the next thing I knew he was clutching his chest and hacking like a chain smoker and gasping like a fish and I just...I just ran." She finished the last three words of her run-on tirade in a whisper, looking apologetically from Dan to Jaden to Aria and Aura. "I-I didn't even know what I did until I got home."

She took a seat in the pew, chewing her lip now. "I'm done playing the game of 'Antagonize Rad Dan,'" she mumbled.

He didn't expect different - Jaden didn't really think he was the only one out there without some sort of troublesome backstory. He sighed and glanced at the sisters before looking at them in questioning and then shaking his head thus far they had all said something akin to this, and now maybe the five of them could figure out what that man wanted, and he didn't really even know where to being asking about that. A glance a Chloe and then at the others told him he didn't have any ideas, none of them did he supposed when it came to all the insanity of the night they'd been through.

Honestly, who walks into a pub and cafe and expects to be dragged through the streets of Oxford? He didn't and judging from what was said earlier in the day neither did they. He sighed and glanced at the four Elementals before taking a moment to think about something. So far Aria was complacent as was Aura about trying to get a common ground - well more so than they were with their power basis - and the other two had said something as well He glanced at them again in silence...and it was just that....silence.

"Okay so what next?" he asked finally fed up with the quiet.

Still he supposed his question could have come out a little less sweet-toned, he most certainly wasn't feeling that right now. Jaden huffed as he looked up at the Chapel ceiling and wondered who he made mad in a past life - if that was possible - and then back at the four others. That awkward silence had settled in again and he felt that sensation again for what he knew was the millionth time that night. He leaned against the pew he was next to and slid to the ground before putting his head on his knees as he tried to think of what could be done next. No more antagonizing Dan, first step, second, well....they didn't have a second step nor a plan of action now did they? He didn't that's for sure.

"This is going to be one hell of a long night."

Herschel had strapped on his respirator as he was breathing in through it. His skin was covered in a series of goosebumps which had not fully disappeared yet. He stared at Peaches for a moment, a tad delirious, as both of his eyes twitched a bit. He slowly twisted his head to glance at the man. Slowly he reached for the respirator and pulled off the mask, so he could make sure they heard him.

"Oy vez mear." He said as he glanced at Peaches, "A bit, much. Tad-woozy. Still not the most dangerous thing I've been in." Herschel went back to grab the respirator to put it on. He took another deep breath, as he began winding down.

"If we'ah go in' suggestions, I suggest we foahm a team a' kickass supahcrooks." He chuckled, knowing for certain not one of them would go along with it. "Maybe we could look foah moah elemental shitheads like us. Don't think it'd jes skip from Chlorine ta Copernicium. That don't make sense."

Dan scratched his head. He wondered just how common these powers were... He was getting worried he might not have been as special as he hoped.

Leo wheeled Gunther into the clinic's lobby, prompting the receptionist to hurriedly bring her desk's shutters down. "Alright, Fargus, let's get your problem worked out. Meet me in room 3, I've got a specialized X-ray scanner there. Peaches and Gunther will stay here with Herschel, and keep him company."
Gunther nodded as Peaches rolled his eyes and cracked his knuckles in irritation."Hey, I'm gonna go see if they've got a snack machine here." Peaches wheeled Herschel over to the waiting area, and seated himself across from Herschel. "So... how do you feel about Leo?"

In room 2, Fargus was seated on the table as Leo fiddled with the settings on the X-ray scanner. "Now, since they couldn't get a decent scan over at the hospital, I'm going to take some liberties. First up, we're going to forgo the lead apron; relax, I've got some flushers on-hand just for radiotherapy. Second, I'm gonna up the power a little bit. Just enough to let me see deeper into the bone; it won't be enough to cause any permanent damage, but you may feel a slight pain in your arm and stomach."
"Leo, what the hell are you thinking?!"
"This is a serious problem, Fargus. If we don't figure it out now, the consequences could be dire. Now, step into the machine."

Fargus, doubt wallowing in his mind like an alligator wallowing in a deceptively-deep river, stepped into the scanner. At the count of 3, the scanner was enabled. Fargus's immediate area was bathed in radiation, but Fargus felt no pain whatsoever. Leo stepped out of the room, to examine Fargus's scans. Leo returned, a look of confusion plastered over his face.

"I got nothing."
"What do you mean you got nothing?"
"I mean I can't see shit from your scans! All I have is a silhouette; the radiation was clearly emitted, as you can see from the backgrounds here, it's just that the area around your body caught none of it! It's like you were made of three feet of solid lead!"
"What the hell does that mean?"
"For starters, it means no more x-rays. Hey, you said you got an x-ray before, right? Well, what was different then that's different now?"
"Well, I was pissed as hell at you for tryin' to make me into an x-ray french fry. That's a good start, huh!?"
[color=skyblue]"I don't know how to define it, but there might be a memetic component to this radiation blocker. You didn't want to be irradiated, so you weren't. Hell, this is big news! Fargus, do you know what this means?"
"I don't care what it means. Just tell me what the hell is wrong with my rib! That's what we came in here for, right?"
[color=skyblue]"Alright, fine! Well, since I obviously can't get a scan of you done, I'm just going to have to explain it to you. Hold up while I get some visual aids. You're gonna like the lab skeleton I got... it's made of real bones!"

Detroit, Michigan. Yesterday, 12PM

"Ha! You fools think you can stand before the might of THE PRISMATIC MAN?", a man clad in a suit of prism-covered power armor stood tall as the police fired upon him, blasts of focused heat from his armor melting their bullets into slag as soon as they left the barrel.

"Your puny pellets are worthless against my point-defense belt lasers! My heat-blasts, on the other hand...", he thrust out his chest at a nearby parked car, letting loose a coherent beam of energy from a lens located on his sternum and causing it to explode, "Are more than enough to destroy anything you can throw at me!"

The Prismatic Man threw back his head and cackled wildly as his henchman began to loot the local jewelers of its contents.
"With this suit, nothing can stop us from finding the Ruby of Tekh-Ma! We'll knock over every store in this blasted town if we have to!"

"NOT SO FAST, YOU REFRACTIVE RUFFIAN!"

A man, seven feet if he was an inch and clad in a suit of loose metallic plates bound together by the power of magnetism, came hurtling out of a nearby alleyway.

"Who the devil are you supposed to be?", The Prismatic Man asked.

"You must not be from around here, pal!", Junkyard responded as he bashed his fists together, "Call me Junkyard, cuz you're about to get SCRAPPED!"

The men had been caught off guard when the blast of noxious gas began to disperse thoughout the house, each man clearing out violently to avoid being suffocated by the thick cloud wafting out.

"Do you think Mahmoud got cought in that?" On man asked another in a mix of shock, concern and curiosity.

"Almost certainly." the other replied, eyes fixated on the smokey structure. "It's hard to think even he could last in something like that...Never in my days did I think some punk kids would be able to take him out l-"

The conversation was interupted by the sudden shower of burning wall chunks, a puff of gas exiting out along with the foot that kicked a hole though the incinerated wall.

"Mahmoud? But, how-"

Mahmoud brushed his clothes off and started breathing deeply once he had pushed the other men out of his way. "Nevermind, where are the targets?"

"We lost track of them as the smoke began filling, sir"

Mahoud shouted to himself in Persian before turning to coldly speak to the current leader of his small group. "Find them at all costs; use as much force as necessary to subdue them."


Flying was boring.

Alessa fiddled with the small bag of trail mix she had been given. Trying to find a way to seal it back up when she was done with her handful. Dumb, yes, but something needed to keep her mind busy.

It shouldn't be much longer. Soon I'll be in the NC mountains digging up trilobites and ancient snails.

She closed her eyes and waited for the plane to land, and for her ride out to the Dark Ridge site to get her.

This was going to be a good experience, she could just feel it.

"Speaking of which, does any of us really know how many people are out there like us? right now I'm counting about six or seven."

Jaden was seriously beginning to wonder if he was going insane or not at this point - hell who thought this would be how his day turned out? He knew the minute that Aria and Aura had walked into the Midnight Pub and Cafe that something was different about them - and Chloe too - but he was trying not to pry and then that conversation requirement began and now....Jaden sighed as he looked at the four of them and he tried to conclude what they could do in order to stay together, which, now that he thought about it, also included Dan. He sighed banging his head against the side of the pew as he tried to think and made himself focus in on their options - Dan had made two suggestions - and neither of them exactly sounded wonderful. He didn't want to fight anyone who was like him at this point in time. He glanced to the pixie that was Aria and her sister, then to Chloe and Dan. And then that wonderful theory came into place. Something he felt needed to be said - and it had a bit to do with Dan's earlier mention of people like themselves.

"What if there are a lot of us out there? I mean....I hate to say it but - our powers are based off the periodic table....there are a hundred and eighteen elements on there...so does that mean...." Jaden paused and felt himself shiver.

A hundred and eighteen Elementals were running around the world - Jaden now new of four or five if you counted the psycho who had come to Clay's home.He took a deep breath and looked at them before finishing his sentence.

"Does that mean that there are a hundred and eighteen of our kind out there running around?" Then it grew quiet, and he began to wonder what would happen now that those words had come out.

Chloe shrugged, still recovering from the shock of her little secret having been exposed so quickly. Since it didn't seem like anyone hated her for it, the need to defend herself dissipated, and she now sat fidgeting in the pew. "I'm not quite sure that should be our main concern, unless Mr. Red Tie has more of them on his side...which I suppose, for all we know, could be a very real concern." She put her feet up again in an effort to both look casual and calm herself down. "Like Dan said, it wouldn't make sense to go from chlorine to copernicium. In fact there are gaps between all our elements that don't really make sense if we're the only ones."
"Regardless, I feel like a sitting duck in this chapel."

Jaden nodded in agreement and looked at them while trying to potentially figure out where they could go next - he took a deep breath and looked at the four elementals next to him and took a moment to think over what to do now that they seemed to be on a basis of ease. He glanced at the windows and could barely make out the deep darkness still present.

"Well, its still night out - if we wait until daylight, the priest might come and then we can escape while the students are present and use they to blend in and get out of here."

This honestly, might be their only chance. They had to use the students to hide from that red-tie wearing nutcase. But how? He paused for a moment and then looked to them in questioning as the sound of silence once more came over them.

"So....can we think of how we're going to head to once we get out of here? Oxford isn't safe....but I was thinking that another area of Europe might be a good idea so....anyone speak Italian?"

Aria all of a sudden bit her lip to keep from laughing. "I speak Latin. It's not too different from Italian." She lost the fight and burst out giggling, blushing furiously. "Of course, our parents won't let us leave the town."
"But what they don't know won't kill them." Aura came to stand by her sister. "And it would put us in danger, not to mention them, if we stayed here."
Aria sighed. "Can't we at least text them and tell them we might not be home for a while?"
"And tip anyone off who might have taken their phones?"
Aria bit her lip again. "I suppose you're right. I just don't like the idea of vanishing without a trace." She turned back to Jaden and Chloe and... Rad Dan? Was that his name, really?
"But if we go to Italy, I'm the only one who can actually talk to people, since I doubt either of you speak Latin or Italian, and that'll attract attention, because I look like I should still be in primary school, and what am I doing wandering around the city all alone?" She frowned. "But... Scotland, English is one of their languages. Or we could even head to the US if we can figure out how to stowaway or something. The US would be best for us, probably. So much diversity there and so many people, and they're always doing crazy things. We could hide in plain sight, maybe join a circus or something." She giggled, though she was only half joking.

"Ya know..." the gears in Dan's head were definitely turning now. "Why in the hell ah we even' runnin' from this guy? We got no chance a' escapin', an' frankly no mattah weyah we hide, he'll find us. If he's got a lucrative offah, I say we listen ta him. We'ah all technically criminals already, not a one of us don't got a murdah to ouah name."

Dan was definitely mulling it over in his head, but then another thought came up. "Unless you did somethin' real stupid ta get away from him. Then we might be best off headin' foah the States. Land a' the free, home a' the brave. Safah that way, ya know."

"Yes, but did you notice his attire? Or his presence? America might be our destination but I say we head to Italy - My dad had a contact there named Maria...apparently she was an odd one...I know Clay didn't work out to well, but Maria can get us access to a place where we'll be safe in America....plus....she appears to be someone who knows about well...she knows a good bit. I'm only suggesting going to Italy for a few days at most and then...head to America."

They seemed to be thinking of this option - heading straight to America would be leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, but there was that language barrier. Jaden sighed, was this bring out every secret in your book day? Because he was definitely thinking that it was turning out that way. His eyes landed to Aria and he got a little closer to her.

"You Speak Latin, I can speak Italian - my mother happened to be half-Italian...and my father was a Historian. Personally I think it can be of some use to hop to a few countries and that way he cannot track us fully. So, whose up for blending into the crowds and hopping on a flight to Italy?"

Hopefully this worked - God he prayed it worked.

Dan shook his head, making sure he had listened correctly. "Did ya hear a word a' what I said? If we go on some grandiose world touah, we'ah just gonna end up dead in a ditch oah gettin' towcha'd somewheya. The moah we scooby doo the fuck around, the angriah that middle-eastehn son of a bitch is gonna get. We eithah go straight ta him oah straight to America. These colahs don't run, and all that shit." He was certain that this dubiously-American kid, this "Jobban" (which sounded very wrong in Dan's head) had to be nuts, or slow in the brain. Had he never watched a single fugitive movie or episode of 'Prison Break'? Well, the latter wouldn't surprise him. Dan DVR'd the show, but never actually got around to... He was getting off task. "But if ya really want ta risk ya life ovah the LOOK a' the guy, be my fuckin' guest."

"Okay just a suggestion! I mean do you even know where we could go in America that would be safe? Maria might...I just wanted to make an option!" Jaden was beginning to get a headache.

At the very least they could throw in their own right? He sighed considering the options. He hadn't been out of England in almost two years and now he was heading back to America? God, who had he made so angry that this was happening. He huffed running a hand through his messy hair and looked at Dan.

"Alright, so where did you have in mind to go Dan? Because I gotta say - Large Cities can be a problem if we get into a fight, somewhere that has a small or no population would be good. Hell, a place where its safely hours away from humans would be ideal! So I'm all ears!"

"How 'bout Michigan? Nobody lives theyah, and it's just south a' Canada, if ya feel like runnin' foah the bohdah. Hell, pahts of it ah just north a' Canada. Detroit, foah instance." He wasn't really sure where his suggestions were coming from, but Dan felt reasonably certain that his ideas were all good. Better than Italy, at least. "Maybe Florida. I heah they got Skunk Apes. I always wanted tah see a Skunk Ape. Down in Sarasota, I heah they have a Skunk Ape museum..." but Dan knew he was getting off topic. "Anyways, why in the hell would we want ta fight 'em head on? They outnumbah us by a whole helluvalot, and we ain't exactly professionals. Now, if we'ah goin' by plane, it'd probably be bettah if we chahtah'd one rathah than get on a commercial flight."

Tecumseh, pulled into the parking lot the employee parking lot the next morning and saw Sarah's car already there. e grunted in surprise, he'd thought she was going to sleep in to day for sure as tired as she was last night. Oh well, youngsters were resilient folk. He walked into the office door, since Sarah usually unlocked the door when she arrived, and because his morning coffee was still kicking in. Now rather confused, Tecumseh unlocked the office door, and walked into the sitting room to see Sarah snoring gently on the couch exactly where he'd left her last nigh. Tecumseh chuckled softly to himself, and went to start the morning pot of Coffee.

Ten minutes later, he knelt next to head and waved a cup of fresh coffee, or rather milk and sugar with a little bit of coffee to add color, just the way she liked it, in front of her face. When that had no effect, he tried calling her name, softly at first, and then he rose and stepped back and used a voice he hadn't used in years. He barked her name in his parade ground voice, very loud and clipped, it echoed slightly in the small room, and Sarah woke with a start, sitting bolt up right on the couch. Tecumseh smiled and switched back to his usual business voice, as he handed her the coffee.

"Morning sleepyhead, here."

"Mmmmh, that smells good. Oh I feel terrible, this couch was not made to be slept on!"

"That's why it's called a couch and not a bed silly, go home and relax kid, you earned it yesterday. Besides, you stink."

Tecumseh pinched his nose shut as he said last, which earned him a mock glare as Sarah sipped her coffee, which he laughed at before gently shooing her out the door. She didn't protest much, she was still tired and sleeping on the couch had made her very sore. Working would have been torturous today, so she drove home while Tecumseh went back to work chuckling at himself. Even youngsters have a limit on what they can do before they crash. He looked at his calendar and noticed it was going to be a slow day. Good, he liked slow days. He checked his email, as he did every day, and noticed another email alerting him to the presence of several immigrants currently residing in New York who might be elementals and noted that the previous mentioned leader of a "fiery disposition" had last been seen in Oxford, England. Interesting... What are you doing in England, did you happen to have anything to do with the murder of that pub owner? hmmm, you'd better be watching your step, politicians don't like being scared, and I imagine you're going to scare them all real quick. He erased that email as well, then set his hard drive to back itself up on a cloud while he was out and about. He locked his office door on his way out, stopping to chat with the manager and financial assistant for a bit before heading on out to enjoy the beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly, while a light breeze kept the heat from becoming oppressive. He checked to make sure his phone was on and then set off on one of his favorite trails.