CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Uriel watched as his minions patrolled the city. No, he wouldn't call them minions; he'd call them grateful followers. Ones that believed what he was doing to be what would help both worlds. And he wasn't going to be apologetic about it.

Mother Nature and Father Time had banished him; he managed to escape without getting put into an ethereal prison where he knew he would never see the light of day. No matter what they tried to do now, they previously made a grave mistake and would never be able to redeem themselves. He had the government o his side, having watched them from the very beginning of time, having been on Earth for so long, he knew their weaknesses and exploited it.

It had taken a lot of his power, a lot of his energy to put himself into the bodies of so many personnel but it had been worth it. All of those in Boston, humans and elementals alike—awakened and dormant—they were under him. Standing atop of the large business office, he watched with satisfaction as those that were still inside the buildings, trying to hide from him, were dragged out, kicking and screaming before being separated and taken to the camps that were specific to him.

It had been the fault of those on Earth; they had given him the idea. All of the different interment and concentration camps they had come up with over the years, it was way too easy to see what they had done over the years—taking POWs and watching how they directed their wars and conflicts—just by adding in his own powers of life, death, and manipulation, he had taken the couple of weeks that those Elementals had been gone and used it to bring his plan into fruition.

Giving a short sigh, Uriel gently gliding down from the rooftop and landing on the ground next to the large bus that was being use to transport those out to their respective camps. He went over to the marine that stood aside the truck, a high powered rifle held steadfast in his hands. When he saw Uriel coming, he stood up straight and gave a salute.

"Sir, there are no elementals found in this building, they are being transported to the human camp right now," He said.

"Good job, Kross," Uriel said in his low, velvety smooth voice. He shifted his eyes, watching s faces filled with fear pressed against the windows around them. Cheeks, streaked with tears, women held each other, comforting each other. Men tried to stay strong for the women, not showing the anger, fear, and confusion they felt as they were finally found. "Have you found Diamond?"

Uriel had known there were going to be those that were on the side of the Elementals, many of the ones that were still in Boston, some from the neighboring cities had flown in and started a resistance against him, so far they hadn't been able to help. However, there were those civilians that wanted to help them out, Diamond being one of them.

He had been working along with the Elementals long enough that it would be hard for Uriel to turn him to his side. He had tried once before, when he instructed the original capture of them in the State House, then he had turned and sided with the Elementals and was now gone.

No matter, he had the rest of who was important to them.

"No, sir," Kross replied. He looked over as there was a commotion at the front of the bus. Those that were in the front had tried to get back off once more, throwing punches and thrashing around as the marines that had surrounded the bus fired back upon them. Using the butts of their rifles, they pushed the civilians back onto the bus and closed the doors. "He must've run off with the resistance, we can't find him anywhere. But we haven't given up; when one of us goes AWOL there is always a quick and swift punishment to that action."

Uriel nodded.

Kross turned back to the bus and the marines that stood around it. He was the commanding officer of that little faction, Uriel's mark had been placed upon him and he was going to get the job done. "Move out!"

Stepping back, Uriel watched as a couple of marines climbed onto the bus, guns pointed at the passengers and Kross got back into the armored truck that would direct them to the camp for humans. Turning around, Uriel started towards the building that had just been occupied. Holding out a hand, a large, white orb of energy shot out an enveloped the building. He lowered his hand and smirked.

Whatever or whomever had still been inside, hiding, wasn't alive anymore. He had made sure of that.

Death was nothing short of a passing thought to him, especially those that deserved it. He still remembered the deaths he had created that had been the most satisfactory to him. He had tried to kill Akito and somehow he managed to hold him off, that had been his first major setback. It damaged him enough so that it took a long time for him to regroup. It was why he had chosen to put himself into the body of someone almost permanently. It had taken years as he popped form person to person, then he had finally found someone that could take on his energy; and that was where Trethaway came in. The man was smart; he had a lot of knowledge and power in him and knew it would be a great place for him to hide out while he tried to regain his energy.

The man was unassuming, who would think that a college professor would be the one that would harbor one of the most dangerous beings from the Elemental World? He had been living in peace and quiet for a long time, regaining his strength day by day, almost back to his normal self when those five young adults teenagers had gotten in the way; Nathan Reeves, Christian Manning, Reed Jackson, and Kristen and Renee Hiroshima. And as time went on, they continued to dig into the existence of elementals over and over and he couldn't help but get angry.

The discovery of the Element stone of light, their constant times of trying to get into contact with him, to expel himself from the professor…it was maddening, pushing all of his hard work back as far as being banished to Earth in the first place. So he struck back and attacked them at least once, to show them his power and then had disappeared, going off the grid and lying in wait. The wait had been long coming until the time they had been perfectly vulnerable.

Getting to Reed and Renee had been the easiest. There they were in their house filled with children back in Australia. They had completely let their guard down; despite the work they had continued to do with Elementals in secret. It had been such a quaint family picture, four kids running around, the youngest just learning how to walk, all scattered throughout the house. That's when he had seen the energy of an awakening elemental accompanied by his own energy. He had watched the family long enough to know that some of them were marked b the curse that he had placed upon Akito; the one awakening must've been one of them. Concentrating hard on the power, he took command of the awakening fire elemental and used the power to set that fire that had ultimately taken the lives of those he wanted.

It would've been better if all those inside had perished, but he was glad that the two were out of his way.

Then he had found Christian and Kristen and that's where his plan originally failed. Christian was supposed to have been in the car with his wife, not his daughter. He had lied in wait as they drove along and then struck, using his powers and immediately taking the life of Kristen when he had a clear shot. The car had crashed and he was incensed to learn that it was his daughter that had been in the car, not Christian. He had become even angrier, seeing that he couldn't even kill the daughter. But he had noticed that she had some of his energy in him as well, another one affected by the curse.

He had to keep her alive.

Then Nathan had all but disappeared and when he had reappeared he seemed to be doing Uriel's' work for him, so he was spared. But he kept a close eye on Christian as long as he felt he needed to, waiting until it was time for the inevitable, for the worlds to fall apart and he could come back and conquer both.

"It's only a matter of time," Uriel murmured.

"London, please stop crying. Everything's going to be OK."

London lifted her face from her hands, wiping away her tears. She looked over at Mr. Moseby, Esteban, Carey, and Kurt as they sat around her with the others that had been assigned to their bunk. If they could call it that. It was more like a…farm of some sort, the ones that Bailey had always been talking about.

Or was that a barn?

She didn't know. Nor did she care. Things had gotten worse since having gotten off of the SS Tipton. She wasn't stupid, no matter what people thought of her, something was going on. There were so many inconsistencies in her memory and events that had gone on around her. And the next thing she knew, the Tipton hotel had been attacked and everyone had been captured and transported to the camps before having been separated.

She had seen a lot of the Tipton staff go one way while she was directed another and forced into the barn. She had heard the little whispers, that those that were sent off to the other camp had some sort of powers or had tried to fight back in extraordinary ways. She didn't know what to believe anymore. Not even her wealthy father could help her now.

"No, it's not!" She turned to Moseby, who sat by her side, arm around her shoulders.

He had been more of a father to her than his own father had been. And while he was doing his best to stay strong for her, she could see how worried he was. "If what you said about Zack and Cody is true…why haven't they come to help us? It's been weeks since they disappeared and they haven't come back to try and help us. They've abandoned us."

"That's not true, London," Kurt said firmly. "They've been helping Boston and everyone that's been oppressed as long as they've had their powers." He shook his head. "They wouldn't sit back and watch as the city gets taken over. They managed to defeat the last threat, they can defeat this one."

"Then where are they?" London's repeated question continued to stay unanswered.

She had been asking for the blond twins and their friends for as long as Uriel first made his appearance. London had gone flying down to the suite on the 23rd floor, knowing that Zack and Cody had to have been the reason for that huge explosion. But when she entered the suite she found Kurt, Carey, and Mr. Moseby all staring out the window with different expressions of worry.

"Alright, what did they do to Daddy's hotel?" She snapped.

"Zack and Cody aren't here, London," Carey replied quietly. Her hands were clasped together in front of her, knuckles turning white from the force of the blow. "They're gone." Her voice was sort of flat, but still held a lot of emotion that any mother had for her children.

"What do you mean they're not here?" London walked over to the group of adults as they continued to look out the window and look out the window, and followed their gaze. She gasped when she caught the tail end of the portal closing. "What is that?"

Carey and Kurt had changed a glance with Mr. Moseby and explained to them what they knew about Zack, Cody, their friends, Elementals, and their guardians. London absorbed as much of the information as she could understand, but it was all so surreal. Powers? Guardians? Elementals? It sounded like something out of a comic book.

But still…it explained why Maddie and Julius always had to drop their plans at the most inopportune moments and run off. It explained the bruises that Zack and Cody sometimes had. It explained the standoffishness that Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, Sydney, and Crystal had towards her. It explained a lot and part of her was surprised she hadn't figured it out before. But the twins had always been a little weird.

And now here they were, in captivity without knowing what was going to happen next. She had seen that man, with the flowing black hair; she had seen how he killed people without touching them. Was that going to happen to them?

"You have to put faith in Zack and Cody and their friends, sweetie," Carey whispered from her other side. She reached over and gently ran her fingers through the hair of the Asian girl. "They've done this so long and they haven't given us a reason to stop believing in them."

"There're rumors going around that there's gonna be a resistance of some sort," Kurt murmured. "Not form our side, but from the Elementals side." He tilted his head vaguely in a different direction. He sat hunched forward, arms wrapped around his knees, eyes directed towards the opening of the barn, but speaking to his friends and family. "There are more out there than we originally thought. Things'll work out."

"And what if they don't," London whispered.

There was a brief moment of silence.

No one wanted to think about what would happen if they failed.

"They will."