Chapter 1

It was cold… very, very cold. I lay alone in the room, I was past the point of shivering and now I just lay there. I could see the frost on the freezer walls, the frost that threatened to crawl to my dark skin and freeze me to my very core. I had to stay warm, I had to stay alive. There couldn't be much more time left in my punishment. I had already been in here for too long, I could already feel my heart struggling to keep me alive. How much longer could I keep this up. How much longer could I fight off this cold. There was a noise outside the door of the freezer. It filled me with hope that my mother would have found me, that she would save me. I was wrong, instead I heard the clanking of bottles and knew it was my father stumbling through the house. Looking for an object to release his frustration on, if only for a moment. Tears rolled down my eyes, and before they could hit the floor they froze to my face, until a pool of ice clung to my face, burning me. I needed to get warm, I needed to save myself, I needed to get out. I needed to make him pay… if only for a moment I needed to rebel against the monster who called himself our father. I had to make him pay.

These thoughts kept playing over and over in my mind, haunting me. I could never get free from my icy cell, I had given up on that many years ago. I only had to endure until my mother came home and set me free, wrapping me in her warm embrace and telling me that it wash't my fault. I only had to last a little longer, only until 6 o'clock. That's all the time I needed until she would pull into the driveway and come to save me from him. My six year old mind couldn't process that she had finally given up on him and that's why she had loaded bags into her car this morning, so she could leave and never come back. I was too long to understand that I was alone in this world, this cruel unforgiving world that would continued on, endlessly trying to break me, to break my will. My six year old mind did realize one thing, my father had forgotten me, left me to die in his icy punishment, and with this reality in my site I began to weep. My body shaking with fear, sorrow and I lay there burning up precious calories, my father opened another bottle of vodka and poured himself a glass. Looking over at the clock he waited for the woman who had been cheating on him for over six years. He knew something that she didn't, something that angered him once again. He knew that he was unable to have children, that her child was the product of her deceit and he also knew that he was powerless to stop her. He knew that because of his inability to care for himself any longer that he relied on her. So instead of hurting her, he would torture her child until she would come home. That's the whole reason he bought the meat locker that the boy would lay in every day. Just long enough that he would wish for his death, then she would come home and caress the child, calling it "your son" "our child". She knew it wasn't his, and she laughed about it every night as she lay down in their bed together, begging him to change. Why else would she believe him and leave her child with him every day? Because deep down… she wanted him dead too.

The mother of the suffering child avoided looking into the rear view mirror, knowing that if she did she would turn around and go home to her husband. Go home to the child that she had to love, the child of the endless torture she endured every week at work. The child of her boss, the CEO of a very prestigious company, a man well credited and recognized not just in the community where they lived, but world-wide. Everyday he would torture her with words, and then words weren't enough so he began to touch her. When she attempted to tell the police they just shrugged it off, "Why would a white man with a twenty something trophy wife want a forty year old black woman like yourself? If you attempt to tell these lies again, we will be forced to make an arrest. Not of him, of you." When he found out he punished her, and nine months later Devontai was born. At first she thought it was her husbands, then soon she began to see the twitch in his jaw line as he became angry, the same twitch his father got. As time passed there was more and more evidence of the true nature of who that child really was.

In the past few years she grew to despise her son. Over the past few months she began to hate being at that house, abused by her memories almost as much as being at work. It was a few days ago that she decided to leave, abandoning Devontai left her cold inside, but she knew that the alliterative was not any better. Without looking back she continued to drive, tears of joy rolling down her cheeks as she felt sweet, sweet release.

The clock read 6:30. The man drinking at the table stood up and walked to meat locker that held the child. If she was this late it meant that she had went to see his father. That was the only conclusion that he could come to. As he took another drink he thought back to the day of his wedding, looking at he beautiful face through the veil over fifteen years ago was the happiest moment of his life. Their marriage was a hard one, but they made do. After losing his job over seven years ago, she got a job at a big company and helped to pay all the bills. It was a few months after that when she started to show, it was then that their marriage started to fall apart.

"What am I doing… he's my son." the mother turned pulled a sharp U-Turn and started driving home. She knew that she would be home before too long. She only hoped that the twenty minutes it took to get home would be soon enough. She knew how violent her husband could become if she wasn't home on time. She pushed the accelerator and hoped she made the right decision.

"I need to get warm…" I said, my throat beginning to close up. I could no longer feel my hands and feet. I tried to stand without success, only managing to stumble a few feet closer to the locked freezer door. "It's so cold… I need to get warm." The door to the freezer burst open and my father walked in. He looked around for a moment before seeing me laying on the floor a few feet to the left of him and about four feet in front. With only two feet between me and the back corner. A look of disgust crossed his face.

"Stand up!" He yelled, and without waiting for me to attempt it he walked over and kicked me in the ribs. "I told you to stand up! Do what I tell you to do." he kicked me in the ribs again, knocking the wind out of me. I folded up in pain. "Come on, can't you listen. Stand up!" He kicked me again, and I tried to roll away from him, but as I started to turn he kicked me in the back. I felt a tear and a pop, and my vision went dark for a moment before I was grabbed by the shoulders. "There, now go into the kitchen! Hurry before I change my mind!" He pushed me, and I managed to take a few steps before once again falling. Unable to move my arms fast enough to catch myself I landed face first, feeling another tear in my chest.

The woman turned onto a back road. She felt that something was wrong, she felt in her bones that if she wasn't home soon she wouldn't have a son to come home to. Pushing the accelerator even farther, she flew around another corner. She was only a few minutes away. Hold on Devontai…. hold on just a little longer son! Please, just a few more minutes. Tears started to stream down her face, making it hard to see. She didn't care if she crashed. She had no clue if her son was even alive, the only reason she continued to drive was in hope that she would get one last word with the child that she loved even though it was HIS son.

I climbed back to my feet, and limped into the back room of the house. My chest still hurt and I had to hold my rips in order to breath correctly, but I tried my hardest to ignore the pain. I made it into the kitchen table before collapsing onto the hard floor. My head hit the side of a chair with a loud CRACK! There were black dots all across my vision as I rolled over to look up at my father. He grimaced and spit on me, leaving me on the floor. I'm so cold… I need to get warm… I need to get warm.

He heard her pull into the driveway, and he felt a shock as he looked over at her son. He knew that this time he hand gone to far, and as he watched her slam her car door and sprint to the front of the house he cursed himself. There was no time to hide the boy, he would have to endure the consequence… or he could get rid of them both. It wouldn't take too long to hide their bodies in the meat locker and leave in her car. There was enough money in the bank that he wouldn't have any problem living on for a few months. He walked over to the sink and grabbed a long knife, looking first to the boy then to the front door. The lock clicked into place and he ran across the house to hide.

I watched my mother open the front door, then run to my room screaming my name. I tried to speak, but I couldn't make a sound. I lay there alone on the cold ground, wheezing. Each breath hurt, and I kept thinking of how cold I was. The feeling was returning to my hands, they too were cold. I closed my eyes and felt the tears that had frozen on my cheeks thaw out. They dripped to the floor. I heard a sound next to me and saw my father walk slowly toward where my mother was. I wanted to call to her, tell her that he was holding a knife, tell her that she was in danger. Instead of my warning only faint whining sounds came from my mouth. They were so soft that not even I could hear them. I have to save her… I have to stop him… I have to get warm.

My hands felt suddenly warm. This new warmth felt almost alive, and using the little bit of strength I had left I leaned my head forward and saw that my hands were on fire. Fear gave me strength and I waved my hands desperately trying to put out the flames. The fire was thrown from my hands and hit the wooden walls, beginning to spread rapidly. I rolled onto my stomach and pushed off of the ground, slowly rising to my feet. I put my hand down on the wooden chair for support putting one foot in front of the other. I walked slowly away from the table panicking as I saw the fire spread to the hallway that my mother and father went down. I looked over and saw him dragging her into their bedroom. He didn't notice me, he didn't notice the flames, but I noticed him, I noticed her, and most of all I noticed the fact that her chest didn't rise and fall. I felt my mind snap, felt my heart shatter into a thousand tiny pieces. I felt my mouth open in a silent scream and I raised my hands torching the hallway, the flames consuming the entire distance between the walls.

The last thing he saw before the flames consumed him was the look of rage in the boys face. In the second it took for him to be consumed by the flames he felt not fear, but contentment. He knew that this is what he deserved, he knew that after all he had done that death by fire was far too generous. His last thought was of the world and how it was just.

As I stood standing on the railing of the Lincoln Bridge, I didn't know what is was that brought up these old memories. It had been over ten years since the night of my parents death. I was almost twenty now and I still sometimes found myself thinking about the night I discovered my powers. Shaking my head I returned to the task at hand. I scanned the water again looking for the Queen Elizabeth, I had been informed that there was a particular passenger on board who had raised enough attention over the passed few months that someone in my line of work was needed. The pay was decent, so I didn't have much trouble getting on board. There was still no site of the boat, so I hopped down to the sidewalk and lean against the rail. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out my phone.

1 New Message

"Hey Devontai it's Jack. I had to get another burn phone. Your target is on its way. Remember this is a Class A, so don't get cocky. Visual Conformation is required."

It was the usual situation so I just kept searching the water. Waiting for them to show up, I knew they eventually would. Jack had never failed me when it came to work. He knew that if he did he wouldn't live to do it again. Failure was not an option when you hunted down experience Benders for a living. If they were able to get away then I would lose not only a lot of my money and time, but people would start to see that I wasn't the person who I claimed to be.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I reached in and pulled it out. I checked to see who it was before I answered.

"Devontai? Hey it's Sydney. Are you busy tonight?"

"I'm busy right now, and I may be for a few hours. Why what did you have in mind?"

"I wanted to know if you could come over. It's been a few days since I talked to you. Are you working?" she sounded worried. I guess anyone who knew what I really did for a living would be.

"Yea, I'm working."

"Oh… who is it this time?"

"Someone named David O'Hair. He's a Metal Bender." I said, taking the card with his name and abilities out of my pocket. "It says that he can't Bend Earth or Sand. So this shouldn't be a problem."

"I worry about you…" There was a long moment of silence in which she was waiting for me to say something, to reassure her that I was going to be fine. I said nothing so she just sighed. "I'll be here to let you in when you are done… I love you."

'Thanks, I'll be there." I hung up in a hurry, because somewhere down river there was a small cargo ship with the words Queen Elizabeth written in large gold letters. It was time for work.

I jumped over the railing to the river below. About halfway down I began shooting quick bursts of flame towards the water, slowly my decent till I landed. I resurfaced completely unscathed. A smile crossed my lips as I started to swim toward the boat, knowing that I would meet it about 100 yards away. I love this job. I thought, as I began to think about exactly how I was going to kill him.

I started climbing up the side of the Queen Elizabeth, using a maintain ladder to easily climb up undetected. Reaching the top of the ladder I silently rolled to the wooden floor of the deck. There was no one around, and as far as I could tell this was all fake cargo. I closed my eyes and probed the nearby area for signatures of heat, finding a smile cluster of about ten people twenty yards to my right on the level below me. I ignored them, I doubt that he would be around other people. My instincts served me well, because a few yards to my left, on the middle level was a single heat signature, completely surrounded by metal, and they were closed off. He's trying to hide. Even went so far as to seal himself in his room. So, now no one will be able to help him. That's too bad.

I walked over the the area of the deck that was directly on top of him, then set my hand on the metal. A thin column of white hot fire poured out of my hand, slowly turning the metal red. I kept checking in on the cluster of ten people, making sure that they didn't get any closer to me. They didn't of course, they just stood there carrying on their conversation as if nothing else in the world mattered. Looking back at my hand I saw that the metal was now beginning to melt, dripping to the level below. I turned up the heat, no longer paying attention to the people across the deck. After about ten minutes there was a large enough circle that I could drop to the level below me.

Being careful not to get too close to the molten steel, I jumped into the hole and landed on top of the Metal Bender. I took a moment to catch my breath, then I leaned down and knocked.

"Hey, I know your down there. Come out." My right hand was set ablaze. "I'm here to kill you." I knocked again, then stomped my foot. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

"I didn't hurt those people! I swear to God, it wasn't me." His voice sounded panicked. I love it when they beg. "Please, just leave me alone."

"Yea, I don't care if you did what you're being accused of. You are worth $400,000, dead or alive. I prefer dead because dead people are a lot easier to carry around." I smiled a wicked smile… one that had been known to make my enemies wet their pants and lose control of their bowels. "On top of that, I just like to hear people scream."

The wall of his cage behind me tore open and he started to run, pulling the walls open in an attempt to run across the level faster. He was headed toward the ten heat signatures I sensed earlier. I love it when I run. I jumped to the deck and started running, throwing my hands behind me and using fire to propel me forward. I was gaining on him, but I only needed to be a few seconds behind. That would give him enough time to tell the other people who were aboard the ship. They would all be Benders, so I would actually have a fair fight… maybe. I really doubt it though, I can never get a fair fight.

I arrived at the staircase a moment after they started to pour onto the deck. Half of them held guns, the other half were in positions for Water Bending and Fire Bending. The shooters acted first, firing at my chest, they unloaded round after round at me, but not a single bullet made it within an inch of my body. As soon I had seen the gunmen I took a deep breath, then pushed fire out all around me. The bullets burnt up in the flames around the gunmen realized they weren't doing anything, the Water Benders acted next. I jumped back, propelling myself four yards into the air and fifteen yards back with fire. A massive wave landed where I was a moment before. The second I landed I shot lightning into water, electrocuting the three Water Benders. They fell onto their backs, twitching. I took off to the right, running at my top speed, without the use of Bending. The two Fire Benders threw several streams of flame that struck the wooden ground behind me.

I jumped into the air, landing on the nearest cargo container. Then, with a deep breath and I thrust of my arms in their direction, I threw all of their own fire back at them, throwing them overboard. That left only then gunmen, who saw what I had done and ran below deck. I took inventory of the heat signatures around me…. the Metal Bender was directly behind me, one floor below. I barely had time to turn around when he burst through the deck, landing noisily to the floor.

"You didn't give me time to get my weapons ready." He said, opening up the coat he was wearing. David was a toned Asian, somewhere around 25. He was wearing a black trench coat and a metal belt. When his coat flew open small metal marbles flew into the air and became hovering around him in a circle. "You caught me off guard before, so I didn't have a chance to get ready to fight. I'm ready now."

"Are you sure? I let you get away this last time." I smiled at him, and there was fear in his eyes as I trailed my finger through the air, a thin stream of electricity following my fingers. "1… 2… 3…" I shot a bolt of lightning at the nearest metal ball, it started a chain reaction that ended up jumping to the remaining ones in his coat. He was shot back a few feet into a cargo hold. I took a few steps towards him, letting my hand catch fire. "You see, when fighting a Fire Bender, you have to be very cautious when Bending metal. One in ten Fire Benders have the ability to Bend lightning. For a Metal Bender like yourself." I chuckled, the fire in my hand rose and formed a small ball. As I continue talking it compressed into a much smaller, hotter ball. "That's the ultimate weakness. So, If I were you… I'd run." I threw the ball at him and with a desperate attempt to survive he Bent the metal around him into a makeshift shield. Upon touching the steel, my fireball exploded shooting him through the other side of the cargo hold. He landed some thirty yards back, coughing and looking around , trying to find out how he had been unable to protect himself. I took a few more steps, then with a flick of my wrist, his burst into flame. He screamed for a while, then he was silent.

"If a Fire Bender really understood Bending, he would have noticed that to Fire Bend you have to vibrate the molecules in the air with Ki, and then feed your flame with that same Ki. That's why Fire Bending is the hardest to condition. With practice…" I set my hand on his blackened corpse. "You learn to vibrate the molecules in a persons body to violently, they explode." I took a picture and sent it to Jack with the caption, "That was too easy. They paid too much." I called Sydney.

"Hello?"

"Hey Sydney, it's me." I said, still looking at the Metal Benders corpse. "Is that offer still open for me staying over there tonight?"

"Yea, why?"

"I finished up work early. I'll see you soon." I hung up and jumped into the air, propelling myself with fire. Much too easy. As always though, it went exactly according to plan.