This thought went through Dawn's head as she stood in the shadows watching the red hire car pull up to the curb. Its occupants emerged and made their way to the door of the house, in plain view of her. The Earth, the one in the jacket with the hood pulled over his face. The Fire, the woman with the blue hair whose length changed each time Dawn saw her. The Water, the one who flowed and changed with anything - a power to suit any situation. The Air - the one that was inside them all, and could not be resisted by their mortal lungs. And moving slowly, almost dejectedly behind them, the Void - the one who was an absence in herself.
Dawn realised the pointlessness of the analogy. There was another who was absent, and there are only five elements in ancient Japanese culture. But as she watched them march up to make contact with the winged one, she could not help but wonder at the existence of something in this world for which there was no analogy. Never before had there been beings of such power - even the likes of Hitler, Alexander and Stalin were mortal, and could be shot, and would die. But these.....these creatures were unique. Of course they flocked together.....and of course they seek out more like themselves. It was the logical step after the fiasco in Hong Kong.
She put a hand on the gun at her side to comfort her. Soon, when they were not ready, it would see use. They would pay for what they had done to her - to her organisation, to her dream. She had watched helplessly through the cameras in their hoods as those monsters had torn her men to shreds as if they were so many strips of paper going into a shredder, and with them had died her dream. She had tracked them this far, but was not ready yet. She slowly removed her hand from the gun and faded further back into the shadows. Now was not the time, but soon. Soon these beasts would pay for all they had done.
And then there would be an analogy for everything...