CHAPTER FIVE

Zack looked over at Cody and the twin boys glanced at Patrick and Noah as well before they wet blasting forward, their powerful wings increasing their speed as the seconds passed. Zack was always aware of the different air currents at different heights, and while he would periodically shift up and down to keep on the different air tracks he became aware of a blast of wind in their faces, slowing them down.

"What is that?" Noah called, his quieter vice almost lost over the wind. Zack knew he had to practically bellow to be heard; whatever was ahead of them must have been big.

"No idea," Zack called back. His hands started to glow red seconds before becoming engulfed in flames. "Don't let your guard down, though. It could be anything." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Cody pushed him out of the way as a black ball came rocketing between them. Cody spun around and shot a rush of hard water at the ball, causing it to implode in mid-air. "Another smoke bomb?"

"That's not smoke man," Patrick said. He shook his head before moving his hands over his mouth. "That's actual smoke; I can smell the carcinogens in it as well. It's an actual bomb." His eyes shifted for a moment before he gave a jovial smile, which was inappropriate for the situation. "These guys are finally stepping up and trying to blow us out of the air. I'm impressed."

"Don't be," Zack said firmly.

Part of him wanted to laugh and smile as well. Not only did it actually feel good to be back to fighting; as much as he liked being able to have time off, he liked the hand to hand combat as well as the feeling of knowing how strong he was. Alternatively, it was interesting; in a way to know that whoever was really trying to get rid of them was starting to think about different ways to really defeat them. He couldn't stop the millions of thoughts that ran through his head, many of them having to be with who could be after them this time? The Elemental beings appeared to be gone and everyone else around the city, if not the world, appeared to worship them in some way. He had seen early on, however, that as many people loved you, there were going to be come that hated you.

And Mom said spending so much time watching Wrestling was going to be bad for me, Zack thought with a slight smirk. He, Cody, Patrick, and Noah continued flying until he felt a distinct change in the air around them. Coming to a quick stop, Patrick almost crashed into him and had to fly directly upwards to avoid a collision.

/What is it, Zack? / Blazen asked.

/You don't feel that? / Zack replied, his eyes slowly shifting back and forth. He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Whatever it is, it must be pretty far, if you couldn't see it back there. We must have been going for over a mile by now." He flicked his hair out of his face. "I can't even see anything."

Cody raised a hand and rubbed his chin. "Maybe it's just—"He was cut off by one of the bomb hitting him in the stomach.

Zack immediately turned away as a burst of fire rushed towards him. He could deal with the extreme heat, something he enjoyed about having his fire powers being that he could even handle things right out of the oven or even lie on the burning asphalt without a shirt without being burned. However it didn't come without some sort of consequence, if he got too warm it would eventually become dangerous to his health as he learned once, running around with almost a 104 degree fever and not feeling any different. The other being that if he got too much sun he became sluggish and lazy.

It didn't mean he couldn't absorb it either. After shielding his face, Zack turned back around and held out his hands, taking in the fire that exploded around Cody. "Cody, are you ok?" He called.

The dust cleared and Cody lowered his arms, dropping the large bubble of water that had covered him. "I'm good," he replied.

"Head's up!" Noah's voice caught their attention. He held out his hand. "Thorned Affection!" His weapon, a large hammer, appeared in his hands. He pulled his arms back, as if he was holding a baseball bat, and with a cry of effort, he swung it forward and blasted another bomb back towards the direction it came.

Patrick floated back down from above the three. "Guys! There are a bunch of helicopters heading this way. And by a bunch; I mean there are a lot!" He started to fly backwards, his large, leathery dragon wings encompassing around him. "We're going to need the others' help."

"Let's go!" Zack agreed. The four boys flew back towards their friends, who were still waiting for them. They all landed on the ground, waiting for whatever it was that Zack had to say. "There are a lot of helicopters headed this way and there are some guys in there with smoke bombs and regular bombs."

"So whoever they are, they really want to get rid of us," Crystal said. She bobbed her head back and forth. "What else is new?"

"My thoughts exactly," Rhuben agreed. Her hands started to glow a dark mixture of purple and black.

"Don't hold back guys, whoever this is, whatever they're working with, they're going to do their best to see that we're destroyed." He slowly smiled. "Let's give them a run for their money." The sound of the rotary blades caught his attention once more and he and his friends turned and watched as the copters came over the horizon and flew towards them. There were about twenty of them, each carrying three people, and one being the pilot, the others hanging out the sides.

One, Zack could see, was carrying what looked like a rocket launcher and as far as he was concerned, that's what it was. He turned his head and looked over at Riley, who had moved up to his side. "Flamethrower!" The two cried and thrust their arms forward, sending a stream of fire up towards the leading copter. Riley's flames that held a dark, almost black, tinge around the edge combined with Zack's, which held a lighter color around the edges, forming one stream that engulfed the copter. The burning vehicle crashed to the ground in front of them, the rotary blades having melted and snapped off.

Zack grimaced and looked away from a burning body that had been ejected once the helicopter hit the ground. He hoped at that point he had become desensitized to the whole thing, especially having been shot at and held captive so many times over the years. Nothing was worse than having an innocent life taken, but these were people that willingly risked their lives to entrap them.

"Thunder blast!" Patrick rubbed his hands together; creating friction then shot a bolt of electricity up into the sky. The clouds darkened and large bolts of lightning shot back towards the ground, striking the helicopters and forcing them to the ground as well. "Now we got an even playing field." He cracked his knuckles before charging forward as the men climbed out of the helicopters, weapons drawn. Noah smirked and spun in a quick circle, bringing his arms to his chest then back out, sending a gust of wind filled with bolts of energy forward, cutting through some of the men as well as the helicopter.

"Earth Spirits!" Sydney called, thrusting a hand up into the air. His glowing hand turned from a light blue color to a brown-green. Bringing both hands up, the ground reacted, creating two slabs of condensed dirt out of the ground. Sydney clapped his hands together and the two slabs rocketed into each other, crushing one of the men in between them.

"Rock cracking!" Tapeworm placed his hands on the ground as well and lifted his arms over his head, arms quaking with effort. The ground slowly started to open, and a large boulder came out from underneath the ground. He swung his arms down and the rock flew a few feet before crashing into a helicopter and rolling backwards, knocking a few men out of the way until it came to a stop. Tapeworm then ran forward and brought his arm up, knocking a gun out of a guy's hand. He grabbed onto the man's neck and drove his knee into his gut, knocking him to the ground.

Crystal ran forward and rolled over the back of one man, striking out her foot and catching the other in the face. She created and ice spear in her hand and heaved it at another one that came up on her left. It embedded itself into her shoulder and she created a few more, throwing them at him as well. A few missed but some continued to embed themselves into his arms. She gritted her teeth when he continued to converge upon her. Hands grabbed her arms and forced them behind her back. "Let go!" She wiggled back and forth, struggling to knock the man that held her off. She lowered her head, squeezing her eyes shut, focusing hard. /Dricer, I need your help/. She looked up as the man pulled the icicle out of his shoulder and continued towards her, gun drawn.

"Any other sudden movements and you'll regret it."

Crystal smirked, her entire body glowing a bright blue. Dricer, the white tiger, suddenly appeared by her side and roared loudly before bringing up a paw, claws sheathed, and batting the man on the side of the head. The blow knocked him straight to the ground, gurgling as he fell heavily onto his side. Dricer then turned back around, his tail smacking the one that held his mistress and knocked him over. Crystal stumbled forward once her arms were free. "Nice timing." She gave him a quick hug around the neck before swinging up onto his back. Reihu soared overhead, landing on a man and diging his teeth into his neck before turning and pouncing on another one.

Rhuben ducked under a flying fist then shot out her foot, kicking a gun out of her face. "Darkness atom bomb!" She brought her arm back then threw it forward, as if throwing a baseball and launched four balls of energy towards oncoming men that headed towards her. Two crashed into the ground, sending a shower of dirt everywhere. The other two landed on the heads of two men, causing them to scream in pain and fear, bringing their hands up to their heads and falling to their knees. Their screams increased as Rhuben slowly clenched her hands into fists. He waited a few moments then opened her hands, allowing the two men to fall to the ground. She stood over them, looking down into their thousand yard stare.

They weren't going to recover from it.

Bailey, having two different being to use the powers from, tapped into Geneva's power and shot beams of white light towards the men whenever they came her way. Each time it would strike something, even one of the men; it would burn a hole through the object. She tried to keep down the wave of nausea that filled her each time she heard a shriek of pain or a scram cut off by her own hand or from around her. Unlike the others she still hadn't become used to her capture becoming a daily occurrence, she wasn't used to having to see so many people die just or become hurt just to stay free. Nevertheless, Bailey continued to fire off the beams whenever someone would come close to grabbing her.

Zack moved as if he was on autopilot, streaming flashes of fire left and right, melting guns whenever he got the chance. Otherwise, close hand to hand combat was the way he preferred to go. It was a way for him, for a moment, to try and get an idea of the one he was attacking. He would away get a good look at the other person's eyes; were they malicious, tired, or holding a sense of fear? More often than not, as he had found from the last battle with Mother Nature, those that were sent in by the SWAT team, the army, or any faction like that, had been young men who were being thrust out into, most likely, their first time going out on the field. He felt bad for those that ended up having to face them, suddenly sucked into a world they never knew existed or had seen before. He usually went easy on them, a broken arm or leg, just so they would be able to live on and hopefully get away from it all.

"Cascade Crush!"

A wave of hard water flew from Zack's right and smacked into a man that was converging on Zack's left. Zack whipped his heard around to see Cody land to the ground by his side, his wings sliding back into his shoulders blades. Cody reached out and nudged his brother in the ribs. "You owe me."

"I owe you a lot," Zack replied. "But not as much as you owe me." To punctuate his point, he turned and thrust out his hand, throwing a ball of fire up into the air. It came back down and landed on the head of a man coming up behind Cody, immediately igniting his entire body. "Case in point."

Zack was suddenly hit on the back of the head, his vision exploding in stars. He rolled onto his back and brought his hands up to shield his face, but stopped when a gun was pointed at him. The man that stood above him glared chest heaving up and down. There was a trail of blood coming down the side of his head. Zack moved his eyes upwards, trying to find Cody, but couldn't see him. All around him he could still hear his friends fighting that gave him a little bit of hope.

"Try it and I'll have a bullet in your brain faster than you can think," the man warned, noticing Zack move to clench his hands.

Zack lay still, allowing the harsh words to settle into his brain. He was stronger than most people, nearly invincible to anything that could come his way. It annoyed him a bit, to think that his life was going to end just by one single bullet. He had broken arms, legs, and bruises, cuts and scars. He had been tortured and held captive, starved for as long as he could remember, having to run from whoever was chasing him, lost his parents because they found out about his powers. And it was all going to end because of a simple bullet. Talk about ironic, he thought. My obsession with drawing guns and stuff for years and it's going to be what kills me.

"Hasn't your mother ever told you not to play with guns?" Zack finally managed to rasp out.

The man smiled the corner of his mouth lifting. Zack was vaguely aware of this finger slightly adding pressure to the trigger. A gun shot rang out and a lightning bolt rushed by Zack and the man so closely that Zack could feel the intense heat coming from it. Seeing that the man had frozen, though the gun was still pointed directly at him, Zack slowly tilted his head back to see Aaron standing up, holding onto a small pistol with both hands. His eyes were trained in his direction so intently Zack was sure that he had suddenly managed to regain his eye sight. Aaron squeezed the trigger once more, but this time a bright beam of light coming out, blinding the man. Zack leaned back on his hand and flipped to his feet, kicking the man between the legs before striking him in the face with a hard drive of his elbow.

The man crumpled to his knees, one hand holding onto his groin. However, it was as if he hadn't noticed his hit to the face as he started to bring the gun back around. Zack leaned back on his right foot, ready to hit the man in the face, and then froze when there was another gun shot. This time, instead of there being a element related bullet flying out of the gun, blood erupted on the front of the man's face and he fell back to the ground.

Zack lowered his foot and whirled around to find a familiar figure walking up to them, holding up an ak-47 as he did so. Zack nodded and gave him a grim smile. "Diamond," he said in greeting.

Diamond nodded back, training his gun on the man.

Zack took a deep breath and looked around. Riley grabbed a man's arm and bent it back far enough until she heard a crack and the man fell to his knees with a scream. She then brought her knee up at the same time she grabbed the back of his shirt and drove his forehead into her knee. The force of the blow as well as the speed she exhibited broke the man's neck. She lifted him up and threw him a few feet away from her before wiping a hand across her forehead, smearing blood as she did so.

"Is everyone OK?" Diamond called, lowering his gun. Now that the danger had passed there was no need for it anymore.

Zack looked back around and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that his friends were OK, walking back to him. Some of them had blood on them, otherwise they all appeared OK. Everyone gathered back around and Zack turned to Diamond, holding out his hand. Diamond took it and shook it firmly before doing the same to Cody. "Perfect timing, didn't think that you'd make it in time," Zack remarked.

Diamond shrugged, reaching up to rub his beard. "I told you before I always had my eyes on you." He lifted the strap of his gun then replaced it, in almost a nonchalant manner. "And I always keep my promises, especially when I'm indebted to someone."

"So what was that?" Bailey asked, bringing her hair back in a ponytail. "I know people want to see what we're up to, but that was different."

"No shit," Riley agreed under her breath, continuing to rub at the blood on her forehead. "I don't think WingzCorp even attacked us that hard before." She lowered her hand, blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Of course we knew we didn't have complete clearance from the government or anything—"

"Those are from the government, yes," Diamond interrupted. "But not from any faction I'm familiar with." He walked over to wreckage, where the flames had died down and studied the insignia on the side. He tilted his head to the side. "Might be something new." He then rolled his head back towards the group of teenagers. "Would have been nice to get someone to talk to before you shot them out of the sky."

Patrick raised an eyebrow, placing his hands on his chest. "Excuse me; mate, for thinking it was better to keep my life."

"For once you actually think logically," Noah remarked, then rested his arm on his brother's shoulder. Patrick didn't react to the remark other than a quick roll of his eyes.

Diamond turned back to Aaron, who had his arms at his sides, loosely holding onto the gun. The older man held out his hand and Aaron finally shifted in his direction, placing it in his palm. Diamond looked it over for a few minutes. Sydney took a step forward and spoke up, "I designed it using the energies from each of our powers, having researched them for a while. And with the energy I managed to acquire using machines capable of detecting nano particles and atoms I—"

"Condensed the power of the element to a solid structure so that it is now able to be made into a bullet," Diamond continued. He nodded over at the young boy. "That's genius."

"Aaron helped," Sydney added and the blonde boy gave a slight smile.

"Do you have idea of what's going on?" Cody asked, changing the subject. He glanced around at het carnage that lay by them. "Normally we have some sort of idea as to why we're being attacked, but this time it came out of nowhere."

"Not that we're entirely surprised at this point," Tapeworm agreed.

Diamond nodded. "We have reason to believe that one of the nation's best kept secrets has been realized and they need you all to power it," he said. He pulled a walkie-talkie off of his belt and spoke into it rapidly. Neither Zack nor the others were able to tell what had been said. "C'mon. We need to get out of here before the city's officials try to talk to you. Even with the things they know about Elementals now, it'll take longer than ever to get the paperwork done."

A smile wormed its way onto Zack's face and he and his friends started to follow Diamond out of Liberty Park. Zack looked up at the sky as the sun came back out from behind a cloud, the light coming out as the dark battle had ended. How symbolic. He rolled his eyes, suddenly reminded of all of the English classes he had tried to sleep through. What I wouldn't give to be back there, not worrying about this all the time…not wondering when it will finally end. Zack lowered his gaze from the sky and scanned the front of the park that had been untouched.

As they neared the entrance he looked at the people that walked by and then did a double take before stopping completely. Had he really seen what he thought he just saw?

"What?" Cody and Bailey flanked his sides. Bailey glanced at him in concern and Cody followed his gaze, trying to see what it was that caused his brother so much distress. "What is it?"

"Zack, are you OK?" Bailey placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. Out of the corner of his eye, Zack could see Cody watch the movement his frown deepening.

"Cody." Zack turned to his brother, his eyes searching his. Cody looked back at him, eyes narrowing slightly, waiting patiently for Zack to continue. Behind his twin brother, Zack could see Diamond continuing to walk away, knowing that the three would catch up when the time was needed. "I…I think I just saw Mom and Dad."

Christian took the walkie-talkie back in his drawer and rested his hands in his lap. How could this have happened? How could they have continued to work on those plans when they had been chasing after the kids, after everything that happened in the State House. He should have known it wouldn't be completely forgotten. He let his guard down and now it he was paying the price for it.

Fuck!

Christian lowered his forehead to his desk top, taking in a couple of breaths. Once he regained his composure, he lifted his head once more and reached out, picking up a picture frame that had been put facedown and stared at the picture. His eyes moved over the figures in the photograph, causing him to smile at his former self at twenty-two years old, his arms around his best friends, Reed Jackson and Nathan Reeves, as well as Ruriko—who at that time had started to go by Renee—and Kristen standing at the ends. Things had been so much easier back then, where they were shut in their own laboratories, doing whatever research they had been studying at the time.

Who knew it would have all blown up in their faces, leaving him as the last one to survive it all?

Christian replaced the photograph and turned away, going back to his computer. He sucked in a deep breath and licked his lips before moving his fingers at warp speed, traversing deep into the internet as quickly as he could. If he stopped at any moment, he could get caught, taken away, and questioned. After Core's disappearance, he knew Zack, Cody, and the others wouldn't be able to go on. He couldn't be tortured again, he would never give up the information he knew, but if he was held captive like that again…

Christian leaned forward into his computer screen as he came to a locked screen. Gritting his teeth for a moment he leaned to the side and looked at the scarp piece of paper resting beside his computer and fed the complicated code into the computer.

"Yes…"

The whisper that escapes his lips nearly startled him as the room was otherwise silent. Files opened up on the computer screen and he quickly found the one he wanted. As soon as it opened, different scientific journals popped up in his face' top secret videos and documents. As each one passed by and opened for him, he could tell they were all about the same thing. What he and his colleagues had wondered was truly possible. It was the same thing he had been researching around the time his wife and brother and sister in law had been murdered in cold blood.

Time Stop.

A/N: Whoo! Fight scenes! Even though this chapter was from Zack's POV I always preferred to write the fight scenes jump between characters in an abrupt way rather than have scene breaks of smooth transitions. I always found it easier to read. If you don't remember Diamond, he was introduced not he last story as one of the men that was trying to capture Zack, Cody, and the others.

This story is going to have more romance in it, especially considering what they all have gone through has affected them throughout the last few stories. I wanted to really focus on the fights and trying to answer questions. I'm going to try balance it in this story because it's not only psychological, physical, mental, and emotional things they have to go through as their personal relationships are affected as well, as you have seen in recent chapters.

Anyway, I hope you all liked this chapter and I'll update soon. I might even have Help Me, Save Me and Intuition uploaded soon as I don't want there to be a really long gap between when those start and when Save Me From Myself had ended.

Cheers,

-Riles