CHAPTER FIVE

"This place is a lot bigger than it looks on the outside," remarked Kai.

"That's because we are underground," said Damon, "Look at the floor, see how it's slowly going down, it has been for some time. I would say that we've been underground for the past ten minutes." Mike looked around nervously. Ever since been trapped in the crevice by Furio and his subsequent imprisonment inside the Magna Defender, he had been extremely nervous when encountering underground or enclosed spaces.

"You know something Damon?" he said, "I've been here several times and I did not know that. Now I do. Thank you for wrecking that for me."After another five minutes of walking, they finally reached their destination. A reinforced eight inch thick titanium door that could only be opened by use of a level one clearance key card. There were also three different security camera watching their progress and unbeknownst to them, fourteen cutting lasers that would activate provided the wrong key card was inserted.

"Here we are," said Mike.

"All of this?" said Leo, "Just to hold a body?"

"Wait till you see," said Kai gravely as he swiped his key card. The door slid away with a silent hissing sound. The group entered the room and the door automatically closed behind them, adding to Mike's claustrophobia. If possible, it was even colder and Kendrix, despite the fact that she was now wearing Leo's jacket, shivered. The only thing that grabbed any attention was a covered bench in the middle of the room. Mike partially removed the sheet covering the bench to reveal the face of a dead child, her face completely white and lifeless.

"Who is she?" asked Leo.

"The reason we're at war," said Kai.

"No," said Kendrix softly, tears running down her face only to freeze, "We would have still found a way to kill each other because that's what we humans do. All we do is kill and destroy and little girls her will always be caught in the middle of it."

"Do you want to wait outside," said Mike not unkindly.

"No," she said quickly, "I'm fine. I'm sorry, I need to go." She quickly left the room and Leo could hear her sobs outside. He started after her but Damon pulled him back.

"What are doing?" he demanded, "She needs help."

"We're only here for you benefit," said Damon, "So if you go know, her pain is for nothing."

"Alright," he conceded, "Keep going."

"She was shot on the day you left," said Mike. He removed the rest of the sheet to reveal the most horrific site Leo had ever seen. The child's body was absolutely riddled with bullets. He held back his feeling of revulsion and asked who she was.

"She's a native child," Mike said emotionlessly, "And she was shot fifty-seven times and it was a military issue weapon that did it. It threw the natives into an uproar and when they demanded explanations Stannon gave nothing and war was declared. It was then that Maya threw off all pretence of neutrality and joined the natives. And the thing is, I can't blame her. But... she took the Quasar Sabre before leaving. We haven't seen her in an active battle ground but there have been reports of her from our night scouts. Last night there was a massive thunder storm and they were able to see her in the light. Logically, this means that something big is coming and they're saving her for it. And whatever it is, it can't be good."

"What do we do?" asked Damon, "We agreed to hold on a decision until you came back but what do we do if she is in an attack? Can we really kill one of our own?"

The look in Leo's eyes was truly chilling. He now had something to protect and there was absolutely nothing he would not give up to end the war one second earlier.

"I'll do what's necessary."

Kendrix leant against the wall sobbing, feeling her tears freeze before they even finished their descent down her face and they stuck to her face like cold beads of glass. She shivered, even with Leo's jacket on which had his comforting scent but did nothing alleviate the cold. She was positive that if she was warm she would be able to control her turbulent emotions. Suddenly warmth whipped through her filling her body with miraculous heat.

"You know," said a voice conversationally, "I can really see the advantage of these fire powers." There was only one person who could make Kendrix smile like that.

Leo.

He looked different. Somehow. It was difficult to place. He was almost... glowing?

"How are you doing that?" she asked with amazement.

"Something I learned on Aquitar," he said, "I was so desperate to see something that wasn't water and suddenly I was shooting fire from my hands as if I were morphed. I think we could all do it if we tried- TRIED!" he exclaimed as a loud crash was heard outside, "Oh that's it. Mike, Kai, Damon! Get out here!" The three rushed out.

"What?" said Damon, "Are we under attack or something?" Leo ignored him and went straight to his big brother.

"Mike," he said, "You said when the scouts saw Maya there was a massive thunder storm right?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, "And?"

"Was she morphed?" Leo asked.

"No," came the reply.

"This is very bad," said Leo, "Everyone get out!" The team followed their leader towards the exit of the morgue. "Kai," said Leo, "What's the weather forecast for this afternoon?"

"Sunny day. Why?"

"Then why do I hear thunder," he said opening the door. Outside was a raging thunderstorm smothering the buildings in a blanket of unceasing, windblown torrential downpour. "What time is it?" he yelled over gale.

"Two o'clock!" Kai shouted back, "This storm shouldn't even be here!"

"It's Maya," yelled Leo, "She's learnt how to use her powers unmorphed! She's coming right now!"