A/N: We do own all the characters.

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Six teenagers were seated around the glass table, which was trimmed with steel. Sitting tensely at the head of the table was Nina Acharya. Nina glared down at the contraption before her, and brushed a few strands of shoulder-length black, violet-tipped hair behind her ears. Her hands ran over the contraption in front of her, hands brushing along it as she looked for any sort of error. It appeared to be a clear, wireless laptop like many people carried these days; only there was no sign of any computer chips. Two long, airtight glass tubes ran along the sides, with what looked like a lavender mist inside of them.

Next to Nina, on her right, was Michael “Mike” Kirbitz. A blank look came on his face as he stared at the objects for a moment. Abruptly, the young man then blurted out, “What good is this going to do us?” A frustrated sigh escaped his lips as he drummed long fingers on the glass. Nina stopped for a moment to glare up at the tall, dark-brown haired young man. At the moment, the eighteen year old couldn’t take any nonsense. After all, there was a life and death matter at hand. Mike stood a good foot over Nina, but he cowered slightly. Even thought he was the holder of ice and water, Nina could be intimidating sometimes. Mike was dressed plainly, only caring to wear jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt that had the letters “GBMS Swim Team” in faded letters. Very unprofessional. Nina on the other hand, chose to wear a dark purple business suit that complemented her hair impeccably. Also, a white lab coat with many pockets was worn over the suit, protecting the clothes. A pair of silver rimmed glasses was perched on her nose, shading dark brown eyes that held a commanding tone to them. She seemed pretty wise, and there was no doubt about what power she held – Time.

“Do you have any idea what this is?” she snapped, as she hesitantly pressed down on one of the keys on the laptop like object, then finally turning her gaze to the machine in front of her, watching the symbols run across the screen. It had better work…

“Of course he doesn’t,” spoke up another, Elizabeth Kingston. Straight, light brown hair fell to her shoulders, framing her face in layers. Jade optics, normally hidden by dark sunglasses, peered solemnly at the rest of the group. She cast a vaguely irritated glance at Michael, also waving her hand around in a vague manner. “He was too busy staring at Alyssa.” The light-haired girl brushed a relatively short strand of hair out of her eyes. The girl chuckled inwardly, shifting slightly in her seat. Elizabeth wasn’t the kind of person you’d see traipsing around wearing short-shorts and some wacko looking tube top. She was way more conservative. Well, compared to that anyway. Dressed in leather pants and a simple white tank top, she looked every bit dangerous. At her hip, firmly placed in its holster, was her gun. Her gun. A dark aura emanated from the object, but no one seemed to mind. It was as if they were used to it. This girl was a no-brainer. One could tell she was of darkness.

At this, the teenager down the table furthest from them lifted her head off of her arm. “Huh?” she asked groggily. “What’d you say? Oh no. What did you do this time Elizabeth…” Alyssa trailed off, her dark optics gazing at her friend intently. Long frizzy brown hair cascaded past her shoulders, falling to near her hips. At the moment, a single, plain-colored headband held the unruly locks back. The young woman was dressed in black dress pants, complemented with a pale yellow shirt. A golden, heart-shaped locket dangled gently from her throat, shimmering softly in the light.

“I didn’t do anything!” Elizabeth replied.

“Right…” spoke up Anish Abrol, who was sitting across from Alyssa. Like Nina, he seemed to be from India. Neatly trimmed black hair was spiked up slightly, a contrast how it had been the year before. Last year it was long and gelled back. God knows how long it took for him to do his hair… It looked like he came back from work or something, because his crisp business shirt was unbuttoned a bit and wasn’t tucked into his gray pants. The keeper of Psyche tapped his foot on the floor impatiently. He, like Nina, didn’t have time for this nonsense. What if they got caught?

Just as Elizabeth was about to respond, Nina cut her off. “I think it’s working,” she said finally, her eyes tearing away from the screen for a moment. Various signs of relief were displayed on their faces.

Mike glanced over at Nina as she typed on the keyboard of foreign symbols, and voiced his thoughts. “What good will this does us? Even if Nina can reveal who’s been chasing us, it’s not going to do us any good!!”

“Mike,” Elizabeth hissed warningly.

“What? It’s not like we can be going around killing people high in the government! If they are in the government, that is, Mike responded, meeting Elizabeth’s glare. “Even if Nina can make a time window for that long-”

“She can’t,” interrupted the sixth teenager that had remained mostly quiet during the debate. “You know what it takes for her to even hold one of those things for a few minutes,” the young man, Geo Peterman said. He was a very striking person indeed, with brown-blonde hair and piercing cerulean eyes. Looking into his eyes could be kind of unnerving at times. He was dressed casually in gray sweatpants and some random black shirt that draped easily over his lightly muscular frame.

“And even if she could,” Elizabeth spoke up once more, “the window would alert whomever is after us.” She rubbed her temples wearily. “I wish we knew the name of this group or whatever.” All the group actually knew was that some of the members of this group were people gifted with the strange power of shape shifting. The combined power of a few shape-shifters could be deadly. Also, some stranger beings… or animal-like creatures had also gone after them, presumably also from this group.

“It’s the best chance we’d have!” interrupted Mike hotly, slamming his hands on the glass table, shaking the object. Nina glowered at Mike once again, using a hand to steady the wireless computer before her. “Ah. If you don’t mind, please don’t shake the table.” The oval lamp above them flickered off, sending them into a temporary darkness. “Great job, Elizabeth,” Mike snapped at her sarcastically, while choosing to ignore Nina.

Elizabeth scowled at him. “Nina, can you please freeze time or something so I can kick his-”

“Elizabeth, shut up.” This comment came from Mike.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“NO!”

“Fine!” Elizabeth threw up her hands, making the exchange finally end. “Have it your way! I won’t shut up!” Mike faltered, realizing his mistake.

“Well-I didn’t mean-” he stuttered.

“Will somebody turn on the light again?” Alyssa muttered.

“Why?” Elizabeth asked, “Afraid of the dark?” a wicked smile covered her face. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Kirbitz will keep you safe.”

“Shut up,” Mike and Alyssa groaned simultaneously, slight blushes on their faces.

“Are they blushing?” Nina asked, leaning forward.

Elizabeth smiled. As mage of darkness, her eyesight was clear in the dark, even clearer than in the daylight. “Yup.”

“Geo,” Anish whined, “Can you please turn on the lights?”

“Why?” Geo asked.

“Because,” Anish said, and smiled broadly, “I want to see if they really are blushing!”

“Good reason.” The young man lifted a hand, and pointed his index finger at the lamp. Without much effort whatsoever, the small light flickered back to a start. Geo waved his finger once again, making the flame burn brighter, filling the room with light once again. Doing such things was so trivial to him.

“So what is that?” Mike spoke up.

“And he says, changing the subject…” Anish muttered, earning a glare from his efforts.

“It’s a DNA computer,” Nina told him, sounding exasperated.

“So what’s taking you so long?” Mike asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Mike, you remember about five months ago, when we were in France, we had to steal this thing?” she glared at him, “Because some idiot, who will presently remain nameless, screwed up our plans.”

Mike pretended to act innocent, and turned to Anish, “I know what you mean. Anish is such an idiot.”

“If he’s an idiot you must be dumber than a rock,” Nina mused aloud.

“I think he’s already dumber than a rock,” Elizabeth said.

“Hey!” Mike cried out.

Alyssa sent a furtive glance at Nina. She raised one hand in front of her, and then shook her head rapidly. “Wait a minute. Did I hear you defend Anish?” A knowing smile appeared on her face. “I see how it is.”

“Well. To tell you the truth, I like him a lot better than… Mike.”

“You like Anish more than anybody… Duh…”

“…”

“See? She can’t deny it!”

“And neither can Anish…” added Geo, staring at the other boy.

A strange look came on Anish’s face as he glared at everybody. “I do not like Nina.”

“See. Told you so,” Nina muttered, faltering slightly. “I am so right. Hand it over Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth scowled, and folded her arms across her chest. "What we really need is a mind reader to prove that Anish is lying... Of course, he had to be the one that can read minds....” she sighed, and folder her arms.

"He likes Nina," Geo repeated.

"See?" Elizabeth said, dropping her hands to the side, "Geo could be right!! Therefore the bet isn't off!"

Anish looked horrified. "You bet on this?!" he yelled.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Why would it bother you?" she challenged.

"Because the bet involves me," he retorted, crossing his arms. Anish shot Nina a glance, who was sitting in her seat, eyes closed and hands on her lap. "Nina, is what they said true...? Why'd you guys make the bet?"

Nina opened an eye irritatedly and then sighed. "I only did it to humor Elizabeth. She wouldn't leave me alone about it."

"And.... you still didn't answer the question," he muttered crossly staring at his shoes, while running a hand through his raven hair. Once again his glanced at the black-and-violet haired girl expectantly. "I am waaaitttting."

Nina slouched in her seat, meeting the young man's gaze head on. "I you are so curious, go ahead and sift through my mind. You're the psychic one." The tension crackled in the air, and what Nina had discovered on the DNA computer was forgotten. Alyssa watched Anish intently waiting for his reaction. Inwardly she sighed sadly. It would be no good if our group falls apart right now. The rest focused their gazes on Nina. The keeper of Time was normally a very "non-violent" person, if you don't count the mini-fights she had with Alyssa and Elizabeth. She also didn't use her power often.

Geo shrugged awkwardly, staring at the air before. As the one blessed with Weather, he had also had reined in the power of Electricity. He could be a very... shocking person at times. His cerulean gaze focused, attempting to see whether any sparks were created in this "battle".

Elizabeth sighed, leaning back in her chair, one shin on the side of the table. Her jade eyes were focused on the palm of her left hand. A spiraling black ball of flame, rimmed with a dark blue appeared and disappeared at her will, sending a cool, tingling feeling down her arm as she did so. Nina and Anish continued their glaring, and she waved her hand in a sharp motion, the fire turning into a tornado-like formation before encircling her hand like a snake.

Annoyed at the silence, she tossed the flame unto the desk where it burned, slowly melting a whole through the glass. "Lizzy!" Nina screamed, breaking eye contact with Anish.

"Look, Emma's waiting for us outside. We need to get back there... Onto the streets. Where it is safer. And Nina needs to concentrate on figuring out -" She stopped abruptly, hissing in a sharp breath. A sharp pain jutted into her lungs, making her breath raspy. She focused her power into her mind as she felt a fuzzy tickling there-she knew enough to know the feeling of someone reading her mind. There was a slick, sickening feeling to it, alerting her to the fact that it wasn't Anish pulling some kind of prank.

"Elizabeth?" Nina leaned forward. Elizabeth's eyes flashed from jade to black rapidly as she braced her hands on the desk.

"They know we're here," she whispered.

"The cameras!" Nina said sharply, frantically saving the work she had completely on the laptop. Shutting the top, she slipped it into her suede suitcase. The cameras that Geo had stopped began to move. Geo turned his gaze to them, focusing on them, pushing out with his power to disconnect their electricity. The light above them went out, the sudden shortage shattering the bulb.

"They're here..." Anish said, feeling out to the blackness with his mind and immediately feeling the sick, nauseating aura they gave out. Get a grip on yourself! He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of bad thoughts. Shutting his eyes, the holder of Psyche tried to concentrate. He needed to find the ones who were encouraging such bad use of psyche. It was kind of like trying to find the IP address of an Internet user. In the dim corridors of his mind he began to follow the “trail of power” that had been left by the one trying to break into there minds. A dark purple color surrounded him, and his grip on arms of his chair became greater. So close, so close. The trail began to fade slightly, giving the black-haired boy the clue that he was nearly at his destination: the mind of the psychic who had gone against them.

"We're so screwed," Mike said fiercely. He watched, only aided in a dim light from the windows, as Alyssa ran for the door, cursing inaudibly when she found it was locked.

The security cameras stopped abruptly, and the room was bathed in silence. Anish focused on the lock on the door, trying to get it open. "It's no use," he cried out, "They've bound the door...” He didn’t realize that he could use his powers to open the door, if he put in a little more effort.

Nina clutched the suede case that held the DNA computer, feeling useless. She couldn't do much at the moment - not without risking the information she'd found.

Elizabeth peered through the dark, releasing her power, letting it course through her body, struggling to maintain it. Her eyes shifted to a ghostly blood red, glowing in the dark. She caught what looked like a velvet shadow passing over the gray, natural shadows in the room. Elizabeth brought her hand up quickly, a blackish ball of fire forming at her palm, and shooting outward, almost piercing the shadow figure, which moved at the last second. Elizabeth swore beneath her breath, temporarily losing track of the figure. When she caught it again, it was leaping toward her. For a brief second, it froze midway through the air, gray covering it, until it burst into color, and into the shape of a Bengal tiger, it's claws stretched out toward her.

Geo immediately jumped into the way, tackling Elizabeth to the ground. He lay protectively over her, glancing back every so often at the shape shifter. Electricity seemed to hum in the air, gathering over the brown-haired boy. Geo’s eyes hardened as he brought the sparks together, shaping a makeshift shield. At the moment, none of the Elite could waste their energy on these tools of whatever group was trying to kill them.

The striped animal clawed at the shield, trying to pierce it. It growled loudly as the glittering bits of energy shocked it. Geo sighed slightly, averting his gaze to Elizabeth who was looking at him thankfully. A different roar was heard in the air. The animal hand abruptly shifted, changing into some other deadly form. Soon a tuft of golden mane became visible. Geo continued to hold up his shield, just in case the shape shifter, now in lion form, decided to attack. The lion had other plans, realizing that he would not be able to get to the Elite of Weather and Darkness. The lion’s deep crimson optics landed the nearly prone form of Anish, who was still concentrating on finding the enemies’ psychic. The lion’s fangs widened into a malicious grin as it advanced toward the absorbed boy. This would be too easy. My masters shall be happy.

The trail of power in his mind was nearly fading… Anish then saw it. The person using their powers to seep into their minds. A jolt of shock went through his body. It was… Anish opened his eyes.

The lion then took the chance to pounce, jaws opened and mane bristling. If one of the Elite were eliminated, the rest of the group wouldn’t stand a chance. Everyone’s gaze landed on the ferocious animal. The Elite were frozen; they didn’t seem to help their friend and partner. It was Nina who then took action. She brought her hands in front of her, palms facing forward. Closing her eyes, she delved within her, looking for her power. Soon a gray smoke surrounded her hands, and floated around the room, covering everyone and everything, except for Anish. Nothing moved, not even an inch. Nervously Nina strode to Anish, tapping the young man on the arm. “A-Anish?”

But the boy was paying too much attention to the lion that was frozen in mid air before him. Nina touched her temples, closing her eyes. Dizziness was taking over. Holding timeframes could be quite exhausting, even more exhausting when she had to hold one for a couple hours a day or two before. She weakly tapped the keeper of Psyche again. “N-Nish?”

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A/N: w00t. I created the funky, idiotic ending. XD Hope you liked it! Lizzy Beth says hi! XD