Thanks to The Star Swordsman, Inspector Brown, RubyVulpix, and Shaded-Sky for reviewing! And I'm sorry for the long wait - I was on a vacation and couldn't update.

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Chapter 4: The Element's Lair

Violet opened her eyes and found herself wondering if she actually had - wherever she was, it was an extremely dark place. She couldn't even see her hand when she held it a few inches in front of her face. Where am I?

Then it all came back to her: the dance, their abduction, and being driven away and knocked out. Mia! Where's Mia? She called out, "Mia! Are you there?"

A faint voice answered, "Over here." It came from Violet's right.

"Are you all right?"

"Fine. How about you?"

"I'm okay. Do you know where we are?"

Suddenly the room was flooded with light. The two girls had a hard time keeping their eyes open for several minutes. When both had adjusted to the abrupt brightness, they could see that they were in large metal cells. Footsteps approaching made them look up, and they saw a tall, thin woman with long blonde hair approaching.

"I see our little captives have awakened," the woman purred silkily. "Welcome to the lair of The Elements!"

The woman's statement sparked something in Vi's memory. "Tempest! What do you want?" she asked coldly. Earlier that year Tempest and her supervillain team, The Elements, had assisted Syndrome - her family's archnemesis - in his plan to conquer the world. Team Dynamo had just barely managed to foil it in time.

"I want to control the world, of course! And you two are going to help me." Cackling evilly, Tempest continued, "You see, at this very moment my brilliant team is working on a project so devious, so ingenious, that you two will not believe your eyes when you see it!"

Violet was used to villain's monolouging bravado. "Okay, that's peachy for you, but we'd kind of like to know if you're ever going to let us go..."

"Perhaps we will, perhaps we won't," snarled Tempest. "At any rate, I don't feel like telling you either way right now. You two just sit back, relax, and wait for us to complete the Power-Thief."

Each raising an eyebrow, Mia and Violet barely managed to remain silent. Mia was dubious about what Tempest had said; was there really such an invention as a "Power-Thief", and if there was, would it even work? It was Mia's experience that most villains' intellects were far below those of rocket scientists (or even the average high schooler).

On the other hand, Violet was more concerned. She didn't think Tempest would be making such a big deal over this "Power-Thief" if it wasn't at least a bit legit. After some thinking, she decided to be cautious and always keep on her toes, and advise Mia to do the same.

"I bet you're both just dying to know what my Power-Thief is, aren't you?" Tempest asked smugly.

"Why not?" Violet made her face into a "mask", a skill she'd learned from her father: show no emotion to your enemies, or you're a goner. "Go right ahead."

Cackling like a witch, Tempest said proudly, "The Power-Thief is my own creation. What does it do, you ask? Simply stated, it drains supers of their powers and stores them within itself. Then it transfers those powers to someone else, in this case, ME!" She jabbed a thumb into her chest to emphasize. "That's what we're going to do with you two. As soon as the Power-Thief is completed, that is," she added, frowning with annoyance. "It's taking a tad longer then I thought it would."

Yeah, that's because your team has brains the size of a flea, thought Mia sarcastically.

"Well," Tempest finished, whirling dramatically and walking toward the exit, "I'd best go check on those imbeciles. Ta-ta!" With a little wave of her fingertips, she was off.

Mia turned to Violet. "Wow. There's a psychotic chick for you."

Nodding in agreement, Vi smiled. "Yeah, but I think she's serious about this Power-Thief thing. I hope Tony and Sam can find out where we are..."

"No way! We can rescue ourselves! I won't play damsel-in-distress, thanks," retorted Mia.

"Well, sure, but it might be a good idea to have help; you know, just in case."

"Ehh, maybe," Mia answered, grinning mischievously. "If only to make them feel important and macho."

Although they were joking around like they so often did, both were secretly terrified and praying someone would find them before it was too late.

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