4 The Call

Harold rushed urgently in to the general's office. "General Richardson, sir, we're getting reports of strong elemental activity from a somewhere in western Montana."

"Run the satellites again, Lieutenant. This had better be true," the general ordered.

A robotic voice could be heard over the intercoms. "Satellite check commencing in: 3, 2, 1." A lightly colored green line passed through the town. A red blip appeared on the screen.

"My God, we've found it!" exclaimed the general. "Get a unit out there right this instant! We need to find them before Crom does," he yelled to the lieutenant.

"Sir, the closest officer available that can handle this situation is Officer Ash Hassel in Idaho. But she's only been out of the academy for a year."

"Send her in, Lieutenant. For all we know this person could be mentally ill, or just plain crazy."

"I'll send her in right away, sir," Harold replied obediently.

• • •

A phone started ringing on a nightstand. "BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ," the ringtone yelled obnoxiously.

A girl, about 19 with bright red hair, leaned over and looked at it. "Oh, the lieutenant is calling. This better be good. Ash speaking," she answered the phone.

"Ash, it's Harold. We have a situation," said the voice on the other end of the call.

"Harold, I'm not taking night shift again. You know what happened last time."

"Not this time, Ash. We have reports of strong elemental activity in western Montana!"

"Elemental activity? Are you serious, Lieutenant? Does the general know?"

"He made me run the satellites twice, it's legit. Our main unit is out on a classified mission. You're the only one we can send in. Think you can handle the challenge?"

"If the general says so, then yes. I'll go out there and take them in. Do we have an exact location?"

"No. Our satellites aren't advanced enough to pinpoint exact locations. Maybe if it was a weaker use, but the dot was too wide to be more accurate."

"All right, I'll go suit up. Give me any and all updates on this when you get them. I don't want to go in too blindly. Ash out." She hung up the phone. She got up and went over to her closet. She had a secret place for her work uniform, so that no one visiting would find it on accident. In her secret place, she also kept a small device that could detect elemental power. When she looked at it, the light on it was flashing. "It's closer than I thought."

She grabbed her black suit from the place and put it on. It fit loose enough for comfort, but tight enough to look kind of sleek, and made from very breathable material. It was two pieces of black-colored fabric with a belt to keep them together. She grabbed a small device from under her suit called an E-D, or Elemental-Disarmer. It temporarily disarms an elemental from their power so they can more easily get a hold of the crazy or bad ones If they need to. "Just in case," she said putting it in her pocket. Over her suit she put on a pair of loose jeans and a normal t-shirt to hide her uniform.

She checked to make sure she had everything and went out to her car. She pulled out her phone and called the lieutenant. "Come on, I don't have all day," she said to her ringing phone. He picked up. "Got anything on the location?"

"Yeah, we've gotten a more specific place. Somewhere called Brooks Town. Seemed to be in a high school, so we need you to get in there and meet this kid. We're making you an identity now so you can enroll."

"Keep my name, I've never been to Brooks Town so no one should know me. And it's a lot easier to remember my own name."

"Will do, Ash," the voice on the other end of the phone answered. A pause. "Okay. You're Ash Hassel, 17, a senior in high school. Just transferred over from Wichita, Kansas. We're sending a guy from Montana over there to give you your new paperwork and whatnot."

"Sounds good, Lieutenant. I've got Brooks Town put into my GPS and I'm headed that way. Says two and a half hours, so I'll be there by about four o'clock."

"Good luck, kid. This seemed pretty powerful, so you're gonna need it. Got your E-D? Good. Think you'll be able to fire it?"

"Yes, Harold. I'm not a kid anymore. I've fired plenty of things in my life. I've been training for a while now, you know."

"I know, it's just different when you're actually aiming at a living person with something that could actually hurt them."

"Don't worry, Lieutenant. I'll be fine. Ash out." She hung her phone up. "God, doesn't he trust me at all? I'm an adult, I can take care of myself." She sped down the highway to get to Brooks Town. Her speed so high both to show that she can, in fact, take care of herself and to spite Harold for thinking she couldn't.

Her accelerated speed got her there a half hour early. She went to the post office, as she always did when arriving for an assignment, and met the black haired man with her papers. She gave him the code word and obtained her papers. Then she went off to enroll in the high school.

At the high school, the last bell of the day rang right after she got into the office. While enrolling, she noticed a boy staring at her as he walked by. She smiled at him and gave him a little wave. With a face almost as red as her hair, he gave her a hurried wave back and quickly walked up to whom she assumed to be his friends. She finished up filling out her paperwork.