"So who wants to take it?" Scott asked. He didn't want anyone to know but Nuts scared him, she scared him so much in fact that he had trouble referring to Nuts as Nuts out loud. Kirstie called him a teddy-bear, Avi called him a coward. Maybe he was a cowardly teddy-bear. 

"Take what?" Avi asked. They were in "Outside". It was called outside because the floor was covered in grass and had a skylight that let in natural sunlight, it was the closest any of the teenagers had gotten to the real outside. 

"The punishment," Scott clarified, he was playing with Kirstie's hair as she dozed with her head in his lap. "We're obviously going to get one." 

"Scott's right," Kirsite said not bothering to open her eyes. "Nuts is obviously upset, she's going to do something."

"Avi'll probably get the worst of it," Kevin said, he was leaning against the wall reading. 

"Why in the world would you say that?" Avi asked, snagging the tennis ball he was throwing against the wall out of the air. 

"Obviously it's because Nuts hates you," Kirstie answered, shifting a little on Scott's lap. 

"Shut the fu-"

"Language."

"-Fudge up," Avi corrected with a glare in Kevin direction. "I had no idea she hated me. I thought we were best friends." 

"I don't think Nuts has enough of a heart to be anyone's friend," Scott added dryly. Avi glanced over at Scott in surprise nearly missing his tennis ball. 

"Wow Scotty, I'm proud of you," Avi said. "I never thought that you'd ever say anything that scratched the surface of mean." 

"Oh shut up Fire, don't make fun of him," Kirsite said finally opening her eyes, even if it was just to shoot a glare in Avi's direction. 

"I wasn't making fun of him," Avi grumbled. "I was simply stating my immense surprise."

"I didn't think you knew what the word 'immense' meant," Kevin noted, still not looking up from his book. 

"Oh shut up, I'm not that stupid," Avi shot back and then glanced at Kirstie. "Seriously Water? You'll protect Air from my sarcastic comments but when Kev makes one about me you don't say anything?"

"Kevin's statement wasn't sarcastic," Kirsite, even though her eyes were closed, raised an eyebrow. "It was just a pure fact." 

"I know what immense means!" Avi complained.

"Really?" Kirstie asked. "What does it mean?" 

"Well fu-"

"Language!"  

"-ck me!" Avi finished not even bothering to glare in Kevin's direction. "Umm... it means that..."

"Immense: extremely large or great, especially in scale or degree. Synonyms include: huge, vast and enormous," Kevin said almost boredly, still not even bothering to look up from his book.   

"I was going to say that," Avi defended.

"Right," Scott scoffed.

"Like you knew!"

"I know what immense means," Scott said calmly and focused on the braid he was trying to do in Kirstie's hair. 

"Well know I can't ask you what immense means because Kevin just shouted out the definition," Avi huffed and threw the tennis ball extra hard at the wall. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

~*~

"Line up!" Nuts yelled. The four of them scrambled into position. Kirstie wrapped her fingers around Scott's more for his comfort than her's. "Since all four of you have displayed violation of the rules, it seems the punishment has to be dealt out. Since Kirstin seemed to lead this assault on the rules, she will be coming with us for the capture of Void. Kevin will then be placed into Kirstin's room for lock-down until we return. If I hear word of anyone leaving their designated room, the next punishment won't be as nice. The punishment will take place tomorrow." Nuts then turned on her heel and left, leaving the four of them stunned. 

"They can't do that!" Scott broke out, glancing at the girl who suddenly was hanging onto him for support rather. "They can't force you to do anything you don't want to do! It's just not right!" 

"Scott-" Kirstie started, her voice was steady but her complexion was pale. Ever since Nuts announcement she had drained of color. 

"What can I do? What will I do?" Scott was going into panic mode, but Kirsite snapped him out of it.

"Scott!" She practically yelled. "Relax, everything will be fine. By refusing Nuts I was asking for it, but you guys don't have to do anything, so relax." Kevin and Avi just stood there stunned, staring blankly at Kirsite. 

"I can't believe they're doing this..." Avi murmured.

"Come on guys, let's go Outside, it always helps to clear our mind," Kevin said, always the peacemaker. 

"It helps to clear your mind because your Earth," Avi grumbled, but followed Kevin nonetheless. 

Usually Outside was spent in chatter, they spent it goofing off and poking fun at each other, but this time they couldn't think of anything to say. What the EE was doing made them too appalled to do anything but sit in silence. Kirstie was going to have to use her powers against one of their own. 

"Can't we do anything?" Kevin finally asked. Scott found himself nodded in agreement.

"We can't," Kristie snapped. "We are absolutely powerless against the EE. As much as we think we don't need them, we do. They taught us how to control ourselves, remember when Avi was caught? There were times when the building caught on fire. The EE taught you how to control it, the EE taught us how to control ourselves. Maybe the EE will do the same for Void." 

"How can you think that way?" Avi growled. "I nearly burned the building down because I wasn't even in control of myself. If we had been given a chance to teach ourselves, to grow up with parents that loved us, maybe things would have been different. The EE wasn't made to help us control ourselves, it was made to control us. The EE isn't faced with any problems because the whole world knows that Elementals are under their control. They feed false information to the world and make us seem like the monsters. If it weren't for the EE we might be seen as superheroes." 

"Is that what you think this is about?" Scott cried. "Us being superheroes? This is about us! Us being treated like a science experiment. Sure, the EE may have helped us, but Avi is right in one factor, the EE is trying to control us, and that isn't even the worst part. Guys, the EE is succeeding. We are being controlled. Kirstie is going to help capture Void because of them. We are going to stay in our rooms all day tomorrow because of them. We drill, we get up at the same time everyday, we eat the food given to us without complaining, we think censored books are normal, all because of them. We've only rebelled once in our entire lives and look where it got us? Three of us are room bound and the other one is doing what they originally asked anyway. So no, this isn't a matter of changing the world's view of us, it's a matter of freedom. Something none of us have."