As soon as the pair of operators materialised in the open parking lot, Sapphire gasped and cupped her hands to her head.
"Sapphire?" her partner responded immediately. "What is it, Sapphire?"
"Time- being used against its will," she breathed, "And radiation. Dangerously strong radiation."
"Not to us?"
"No," she released her hands. "But dangerous to the people here."
"So he must be somewhere here, then," Steel confirmed. He glanced at their surroundings, but all there was to see is the large, empty parking lot they were in.
"But the question is where."
"He could just be hiding," said Sapphire.
"There can't be absolutely nothing here," Steel grumbled.
"There is a building. It is being cloaked."
"You mean it's invisible?"
"Yes."
They walked a great distance across the parking lot, when Sapphire suddenly stopped.
"The building is right here."
"Right in front of us?"
"Yes. All I need to do is remove the cloaking feature." Sapphire touched the empty space with her fingertips. Instantaneously, a huge, grey wall appeared in front of them.
They stepped back and scanned the perimeter of the building. It was old, grey, deserted, and most unfortunately, impenetrable. No entrance could be accessed. At least not in the conventional way.
Steel stood before a huge shutter and hastily took off his suit. He handed it to Sapphire, who watched amusedly as he forced the shutter open. It required effort, even for someone as strong as Steel. Finally, he gave it one hard push, and the shutters slid all the way up to the top.
Steel dusted his hands and retrieved his suit. Once they stepped through the doorway, Sapphire suddenly exclaimed, "I have stopped aging."
"What?"
"Time has stopped flowing for me." She touched Steel's chest, and added, "For you as well!"
"You said Time is being used against its will, this could well be it."
They climbed down a wire mesh staircase to a platform, where they could look down at the whole warehouse interior. They walked along it, when Sapphire stopped again and called to her partner.
"Steel."
He turned around and walked back to where she was standing.
"Steel, what was your briefing?"
"Why?" he answered abruptly.
"I was given the information that Plutonium is hiding here, and we are supposed to find him. Is that what you have been told?"
"Yes."
"Well that's hardly information, is it?"
Steel tried to look confused.
"Why not?"
Sapphire folded her arms. "Usually we are briefed about the irregularity in Time, and we try to fix it. What has finding Plutonium got to do with it?"
Steel looked her firmly in the eye. "Plutonium is here on Earth, somewhere that he shouldn't belong, and we are here to find him and find out what he's doing here."
"That is all?"
"Yes."
Sapphire's eyes glowed light blue for a brief moment as she tried to read him.
"No, Steel. You are hiding something."
Steel knew that there was no use denying her powers, and so he gave up pretending. He continued down the platform.
"Not now, Sapphire. I can't tell you now."
Sapphire hurried after him, upsetly.
"It's not like Them to withhold information from me."
"No," Steel agreed, descending the last flight of stairs. However, he was blocked by someone sitting on one of the steps. He almost tripped over.
"Hello, Steel," said the person. He stood up from the step and faced him. He was thin, wore a suit and tie just like all the other male elements, and had dark hair and dark eyes. He smiled, but something in his smile looked painful and unpleasant.
"Something tells me you didn't come for a chat."
"Actually, yes. We did come for a chat. Let's chat." Steel climbed down the rest of the stairs, and the other two followed. He went straight to business.
"Why are you here on Earth, Plutonium?"
The transuranic sighed, and put his hands on his hips. "You know why."
"Unfortunately, I don't," said Steel, his impatience growing. "Why are you here?"
The transuranic shook his head and refused to answer. His eyes met Sapphire's, which was a big mistake. Sapphire sent him a mental pulse, which made him oblige immediately.
"This is where I belong. This is where I can be at peace. Where I can be away from all of you!"
"You do not belong here, you belong with us. Why did you escape?"
"Well, because none of you can bother me here. None of you can discriminate against me."
"Tell us, how have we discriminated against you?"
Plutonium laughed uncharacteristically. "You do it all the time! You do it to all twelve of us! What do you call us, Steel? Unreliable? Unstable?"
Steel pursed his lips. He couldn't deny having said those things about them.
"It is true that the transuranics are unstable, Plutonium. That is why we do not allow you on Earth, where you could harm others with your radiation, as well as harm yourself!"
Plutonium sniggered. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm perfectly fine here."
Sapphire spoke to him for the first time, "By being here on Earth, you have caused harm to humans. You have also used Time to prolong your physical state and prevent yourself from oxidising. Both actions are unacceptable, Plutonium."
"So what do you plan to do about that?" he challenged.
"We want you to come back, with us," Sapphire said sincerely.
"Do you really think I will? After enduring the centuries of poor treatment from you? From Them?"
Steel glanced at his partner and told her privately, [I want you to try disabling the Time variance he has used on this place.]
[I don't know how he managed to do it.]
[Find a way.]
Sapphire nodded and went back up the stairs reluctantly, having the slightest feeling that Steel was trying to get her out of the way.
Steel turned back to the transuranic with an expression on his face that was grimmer than usual. "You only have two options. The first is to come with us. And the second is that we terminate you."
"And what if I refuse to choose?"
"We will terminate you."
Plutonium laughed. "No, Steel, you wouldn't do that! You are far too kind."
"You better believe I would."
"Not a chance."
He raised an arm at Steel, and sparks shot out of his hand, flying towards him. Steel was too late to dodge, and was hit directly in the shoulder. He staggered to the floor, but was promptly up on his feet again and darted up the stairs.
Sapphire was outside the warehouse, concentrating with her eyes closed when she heard Steel's arrival. "Steel!" she exclaimed at the sight of his bleeding shoulder.
Steel sat down on the ground and leaned against a wall. "I'm alright. I just need time to heal," he insisted.
Sapphire wouldn't buy it. "That injury could be a lot more serious than it looks. He is transuranic, do you realise that?
"Yes!"
"What did you say to him?"
Steel ignored her, and replied with another question, "Have you found a way to disable the Time variance?"
"I was going to," she frowned. "Tell me what happened, Steel."
"I just tried to convince him to come with us."
"You threatened him."
"More or less."
Sapphire turned away with silent anger and climbed down the stairs back to the warehouse. Too weak to protest, Steel let her go.
She found Plutonium sitting on the step again, and she sat down beside him. He did not object, but asked curtly, "Are you here to set me off as well?"
"I certainly don't wish to," Sapphire said gently. "Please, come back with us."
"Haven't I already told you? I'm not moving," he said firmly.
"Do you resent us that much?"
"Yes!"
"What about me?"
Plutonium looked at her questioningly. "What about you?"
"Do you resent me?" Sapphire asked in a small voice.
Plutonium looked away and gruffed, "Less than most. But I still do. You are one of them after all."
"What about the other transuranics? Don't you miss being with them?"
"I don't miss them any more than I hate the rest of you."
For a while they sat there in silence while Sapphire watched him. Soon, the fear she felt of him turned to pity.
"You don't have to stay here all alone, Plutonium, and damaging the life on this planet in the process. Instead, you can give us a chance. We can change. We can change our perspective of the transuranics. There might be other uses for you."
"And why do I find that so hard to believe?" Plutonium pouted indignantly.
Sapphire touched his shoulder, and said earnestly, "You can trust me."
"Tell me, Sapphire, how loyal are you to Steel?"
She cocked her head to one side, perplexed by the question. "It's my job to be loyal to him."
"So you will do whatever he says, then, as long as it's in your job description?"
"At least most of the time, I'm afraid so, yes."
Plutonium shook his head sadly. "I wish I didn't have to hurt you, Sapphire. But you leave me with no choice." He raised his arm to attack, but Sapphire had already taken his words as a precaution and teleported.
The moment she appeared beside Steel, he shot her a glare with an underlying message somewhere along the line of I told you so.
"Now disable that variance."
Sapphire returned the glare and unwillingly complied, closing her eyes once more. A rhythmic hum resounded in the air, and it took about three minutes for her to override Plutonium's abilities. As soon as she had finished, she coldly stated, "The time variance is disabled, Plutonium will begin to oxidise. What exactly are you planning, Steel?"
Now this was the hard part. Having completed his objective with Sapphire, Steel could now reveal the truth. He shifted uneasily and avoided her gaze. "We are going to terminate him."
"What!"
"It's what we've been sent here to do, Sapphire."
"No." she said in disbelief.
"You've seen how he was-"
"I've seen-"
"He is a lost cau-"
"I've seen how upset he was feeling, I've spoken to him. He was close to trusting me. He was close to being convinced!"
"But not close enough."
Steel headed towards the stairs, but Sapphire caught his arm at the doorway.
"I can't let you," Sapphire shook her head desperately, her eyes beginning to water. He is one of us. He is a friend."
"And I have a job to do," he said with utmost seriousness, and brushed his way past her. Sapphire watched as he disappeared, too appalled to even consider what to do next.
Steel found the transuranic among the shelves of cargo, weak on his knees. His whole face had turned a pale white. With time flowing normally for him now, the contact with air had weakened him.
"What have you done to me?" he croaked, staring down at the floor.
"I'm afraid you leave us no choice," Steel said firmly.
"You wouldn't. It's not like you at all, SteeI. I know you wouldn't."
"Try me."
Plutonium lunged at him and grabbed him by the shoulders, just as Steel grasped onto his. The transuranic released all the radiation he had into him, while Steel dropped his core temperature, aiming to freeze Plutonium to death.
"You won't last long," Plutonium mocked whilst wincing. "That's the side effect of having dreadful powers like yours."
"Neither will you," Steel said through gritted teeth. "Your oxidation won't get you any further."
The two elements struggled. Steel could feel himself freezing over, as well as the radiation dangerously surging through his body. The pain paralysed him. It was unbearable, and for a moment he considered how this could be feeling like for the transuranic. It was only until now that his mind filled with doubt. How could he do this? Were They being reasonable? Weren't there better ways to solve a problem? This was an element in the context, one that had been created together with him, one that had been on his side. How could he kill an acquaintance?
He tried to dismiss his empathy. To kill was his assignment, his duty, after all. How could he oppose Them? That would be detrimental to his job. How could he let his feelings get in the way?
No, they were more than just feelings. They were morals. He had never been fond of the transuranics, but to inflict such pain and suffering upon a fellow element was unconscionable, let alone killing one. Moreover, what would Sapphire think of him from then on, after the deed was done? How could she continue to live with him?
At this point, Steel let go of Plutonium and let himself fall to the floor. The transuranic, however, refused to let go of him.
"What's wrong, Steel? Are you too weak to carry on?"
"I... I can't... kill you..." Steel managed to utter with his whole body shaking from Plutonium's force.
"Didn't you tell me to try you?"
"Stop... Stop, Plutonium... You are in a most... unstable condition! If you continue... to exert your powers, you will explode!"
Plutonium wouldn't listen to him. He did not even notice that his whole body was glowing a bright red. Steel was aware of this and called out mentally, [Sapphire!]
But by the time Sapphire arrived at the scene, Steel had slipped into unconsciousness, and she was just in time to see the transuranic erupt into a flash of red light.
Plutonium was gone.
Steel awoke to drown in the blueness of Sapphire's eyes. He could feel himself still lying on the stone-hard floor of the warehouse, but he was more than grateful to have his partner by his side. She hadn't left him after all.
He decided to use his mental voice, as his vocal cords were sure to be impaired.
[Where's Plutonium?]
[Terminated, as you would put it.]
[I didn't kill him, Sapphire. I really didn't.]
[I know.]
Sapphire was looking at him with an unusual expression, which made her very difficult to read. What was it on her face, grief? Despair? Relief? Concern? Gratitude? Affection? Or all of the above mixed in one? Steel really couldn't tell.
[Bring him back, Sapphire!]
[I can't. It's too late.]
[What happened?]
[Plutonium refused to cease his powers on you, and because of his weakening physical state, he has harmed and killed himself in the process. I couldn't take time back without your order.]
Steel was hit by a huge pang of guilt. His partner had been trying to do everything in her power to save Plutonium, and yet she was powerless against his authority. He could now see why she often mentioned his lack of compassion.
Sapphire seemed to read his thoughts, and told him most unexpectedly,
[I am proud of you, Steel.]
Steel glanced at her questioningly, to which she replied with a weak smile,
[It looks like your heart isn't made of steel after all.]
THE END