Elle was getting tired of the police station. How long did it take to deal with things? She had her head rested on Chris’ shoulder.After a couple hours of talking to the detective and his people, and several failed attempts to reaching anyone at home, the police decide to drive them home. But the kids insisted that they drive them to the Thomas’ house instead. They tell the detective that they needed to work on some homework with them, school project. The officer was against it but relented. Chris mentioned that they could keep trying to reach their parents from there. The gang was relieved to find out that the twins were home. When asked, Mrs. Thomas said they had an early dentists appointment. Each had a cavity or two to get filled so they took the whole day off. That gave Elle a sense of relief. At least they weren’t being held hostage somewhere. The police give the full details of what happened. Ivy and Paul’s parents are shocked and ask if the kids were all right. Elle was feeling a little more calmed down at the moment, but she had a bad feeling something was coming to ruin everything.Once the police were gone, Paul and Ivy pull the gang up to Paul’s room to give them the real story. Chris and Jackson go over the real details, with the spark in the bubble of oxygen. “Who do you think they really are?” Ivy asks them.The gang just look at each other. “The bad guys. That’s all I need to know.” Jerry says, with a serious tone.Chris snickers briefly. “Whoever they are, they want us bad.” “I’m gonna go try mom and dad again.” Elle says as she gets up and walks to the bedroom door without warning. She needed them now. Chris was one thing, his Spark helped, no doubt, but she just needed mom and dad to hold.She trots down the stairs and asks if she could use the phone. Mrs. Thomas had no problem with it. Elle quickly dials the number and puts the phone up to her ear. She uses both hands, cradling it like it was something precious. Perhaps it was. She turns her head to see Chris watching her, intent and worry on his face. Her brothers, with Paul and Ivy, come down the stairs soon thereafter. She just shakes her head as no one has answered yet.“Let me try my pce.” Chris says holding his hand out. Elle nods her head slightly and hands the phone over. After about as long as Elle took for her to try he hangs up the phone.Elle takes Chris’ hand. “I wanna go home.”He nods. “Let’s just go home guys. Maybe they left a message for us.”“You kids need a ride?” Mr. Thomas asks them from the kitchen. “It’s no problem.” Elle is the first one to take him up on his offer on the ride. The gang tell Ivy and Paul they’ll keep them posted on any developments. Elle has them drop them off at her pce. They thank him and tell Mr. Thomas they can walk to Chris’ house. He wishes them good luck and says goodbye.They rush to the door, Elle taking the lead. She takes out her house key and opens the door. “Mom!? Dad!?” She shouts out as she swings the door open.The boys following right behind her. “See if there’s a note anywhere.” Jackson says.Jerry runs to the patio door to check if they might be in the backyard. Jackson runs upstairs while Chris and Elle search the living room for a note. A quick search which leads to nothing. Elle feels a hand on her shoulder. “They could just be over at my pce or at the jobsite.”She nods. Chris calls for Jerry and Jackson and the four of them run to his house.Chris lets them in, and they do the same search, with no greater results. Until they reach the living room. Taped on the screen was a piece of paper. Elle runs over and snags it off the television screen. She quickly reads it to herself.. Come to the address below if you want to see your parents. And if you involve the police or any w official, then they will be hurt.Her heart sinks. She has to lean against the television to keep from falling down.Jackson takes the note and reads it aloud, then reads the address. “Rochester?”Jerry points to the back of the paper. “There’s something on the back.” Jackson flips it over. “What the…? ‘Daddy’s waiting. See you soon, pumpkin. My darling, Elle.’”Her blood turns cold. Her dads never called her pumpkin. But maybe her real dad… She nearly has a nervous breakdown from confusion. What was going on? She wraps her arms around herself. Her mind running wild with thoughts of what kind of torture her parents could be going through. Chris is there wrapping his arms around her, leading her to the couch.“Maybe someone is just trying to scare us. That’d be something the suit guys would do.” Jackson ponders.“Maybe.” Chris says as rubs Elle‘s back. His touch made her feel better, but the fact that their parents were apparently kidnapped and taken away didn’t make her feel a hundred percent.She leans her head against his shoulder as the stress of the day soon sends her drifting off to sleep. * * * * * The beeps of medical equipment wakes him up. Larry opens his eyes a crack and regrets doing so. The light from above nearly blinding him. It was as if the whole ceiling was one big light fixture. He tries to move his head to the side but it’s held fast. In fact he can’t move at all. He tries to move the rest of his body but can only manage to wiggle a small amount. Something has him bond tight. Larry moves his eyes around after adjusting to the light. He was lying down in what seemed to be a hospital room. But how the hell did he get here. And where was here anyway. The st thing he knew he had arrived at the site, he met up with the Prowman’s. Then this weird noise started ringing in his ears…A door opens. “Hello Mr. Talvert. Pleasure to finally meet you.” A man’s voice greets him. “Welcome to my b.”He struggles to look around, but can‘t see anyone “Who are you? Where am I?”“I am the Director of this facility. A b much like the one you pn on building.” The man tells him in a pleasant voice.It was coming from behind him, at his head, out of site. “What do you want from me?” Larry asks, getting upset. He begins to raise his air power. “I am a researcher, the same as you Mr. Talvert. I am merely conducting some research.”Larry’s power wasn’t responding. He couldn’t even raise his chi. What was going on?“Oh and just to inform you, your wife and business partner passed with flying colors. Although I was disappointed in Mrs. Prowman. No special power at all. No problem, we can cure that.” Ariel? Simon and Melissa?“Where are they?” Wait a minute. “Chris. Where are our children?!”The Director chuckles a bit. “I would assume that they are on their way here as we speak. I had my men make sure they knew of our location. I would gather they will be here within a day or two.” Larry’s mind was running frantically trying to comprehend everything.“For now Mr. Talvert I wouldn’t fret too much. You will be reunited shortly. For now you can just y back and rex.”Larry feels a needle prick his neck. His body soon begins to tingle and his consciousness fade swiftly.“I look forward to the results of their testing.“Son of a....” Larry manages before he succumbs to the drug. * * * * * Chris wakes up with a start. He had fell asleep while talking with Jackson and Jerry. Guess the stress of the day got to him. Elle is still asleep by his side.He looks at the clock, nearly ten. He rubs his eyes and hears Jackson and Jerry talking in the kitchen. Chris gently pulls himself away from Elle and goes out to talk with them. “Hey, you finally woke up?” Jackson says.“Yeah.”“We just got up ourselves. Figured we could use a good nap.” Jerry tells him. “Elle still asleep?” He looks over into the living room.“Yeah she is.” Chris felt bad. He wanted to help her more, but didn’t know what to do. “You guys think of a way to get to Rochester?” He asks, hoping they’ve thought of something. Jackson shakes his head. “I did call the taxi company, but they don’t go that far. It’s around fifty miles.”Fifty, miles? Damn.They hear Elle moan from the living room. Chris goes to her.“Hey. You sleep good?” Elle rubs her eyes as he sits down next to her. “Chris?”“Yeah, you feel better?”She takes a deep breath as she rubs her eyes. “Yeah. What time is it?”“Little before ten.” Her face goes a touch grim. “Ten?” She stands up and asks if they’ve found a way to get to Rochester.“We’re working on that. Jackson called the taxi pce, they won’t go that far.”Elle huffs. “Then we call one of my dad’s people.” She walks off toward the patio door, swaying a bit from lingering sleep.“Wait, where you going?” The boys follow her. “Going to go home to get dad’s address book.”Chris quickly shuts off the lights and locks up the patio door. The boys follow Elle to the stream and they surf the short way to the dock. Once there they trot up to the patio door and enter.Elle quickly moves to the phone and flips on the light. She takes the bck address book and starts flipping through it. “Who you gonna call?” Chris asks.Elle quickly shoots Jerry a stern look. Who just as quickly shuts his mouth. Chris then realizes what he said. He suppresses a snicker.Elle goes through the pages, stopping at one, she sets the book down. Chris looks at the name. Seth Lockwood.“Who’s he?” He asks. “One of our parents good friends from California. He also tried to teach us surfing. Even though we sucked.” Elle smirks, rolling her eyes.As Elle dials she holds the receiver up to her ear, Chris puts his ear up closer to it so he could hear better. Not that he couldn’t use his air powers to listen in.“Hold on.” Elle hit’s the speaker button on the phone and hangs up the receiver. The phone rings through the speaker.“Hello?” A friendly sounding man answers.“Is this Seth Lockwood?” Elle asks.“Yes it is. Hey, is this Elle?”“Yep, how are ya?” “Good, though I wasn’t expecting to hear from you, so te for one.” Seth ughs a bit.Elle pauses. “Uh, yeah. Actually, we need your help.”“Help? What with?”Elle gives her brothers and Chris a worried look. Chris can tell she’s afraid to ask.“Hey Seth, it’s Jackson.” “Jackson, how’s it going? You guys in trouble?”“Well, our parents are, we think.” Jackson tells him about the note and the suit guys. He also mentions to Chris that Seth knows about their powers and all. And that he was a Shade attuned himself. One who could control the shadows. Back home on his old world they were experienced martial artists. Often skilled in the assassin arts. Though they rarely used them inside Guardian influence. “I see.” Seth says. “So you need a ride to Rochester with a chance to break into some pce holding your parents. With a possibility for a little action using our powers…” Seth sounded serious, but Chris could hear the sarcasm in his voice.Seth ughs. “I’ll be right over.”The gang cheer. “Woo, ninja time! Take two.” Jerry hollers as Elle ends the call and hit’s the speaker button again.She gres at her brother. “Yeah, ninja time. For Seth, cause he knows how to be quiet.”“Well, we’re elemental ninjas. And that’s the thing, we’re not normal ninja’s, you see? They would expect us to be quiet, but what they would actually be hearing is the sound of the elements moving. And thinking that it was…just the wind, so to speak…” Chris has to roll his eyes. He was reaching, big time.“They’d drop their guard and, bam! We got’m!” Jerry smiles wide.“Jerry.” Elle stutters, trying to follow up. “I now realize you have two element powers. Earth and…bullshit.”“Elle!” Jackson ughs. The boys couldn’t believe she said that. She quickly covers her mouth with both hands as she starts ughing. Jerry was taken aback. He could say anything. Chris has to lean back against the wall to keep from falling over. He was ughing so hard tears were rolling down his face. Elle goes and hugs Jerry, apologizing for her remark. Although she was still ughing. Jerry just stands and grimaces. Chris couldn’t believe how chipper she was despite knowing that their parents were in trouble. A few hours ago she was practically breaking down. Perhaps she was over that knowing they were heading to Rochester? Maybe that nap did more good then he realized. Either way, he liked the perky Elle far better.