False Gods | The Prime Archives #3 ✓

twenty-two

"Can't believe he burned down a church," Zach murmured as he carefully stepped through the charred remains of Trinity Mission Church in downtown Los Angeles. "Isn't that, like, a guaranteed one-way ticket to hell?"

"I don't think that's how Christianity works, Neon," Samantha—a.k.a Tempest—said as she doused a flaming piece of wood with rain from a miniature storm cloud floating above her head.

Shrugging, Zach continued zipping around the scene, his green energy trail illuminating the night.

Stella stood at the front of the destruction, her hazel eyes narrowed as she tried to piece together a picture in her head using the information she gathered during her debrief and a short conversation with the Atlas agent on site.

The entire scene had been zoned off from the public with metal gates and yellow police tape. Bystanders stood beyond the barriers, their cellphones snapping pics of the wreckage. She heard vans pulling up to the sidewalk across the street, likely local newscasters looking to get the inside scoop.

She glanced at Orion. "Mind keeping them back for me? I don't need this breaking out before we get a handle on it."

He nodded curtly at her before flying over to the reporters. Out the corner of her eye, she watched him gently keep them away from the scene. Eventually, they directed their attention and questions to him.

While he was a little unsettling to be around, he sure was helpful.

Elsewhere, a few officers hung about nearby in their cruisers in case Stella and her team had any questions for them. She wasn't sure she would need them. Soon, she'd have all the intel she needed to go after the people who caused the fire in the church.

At around seven that evening, Atlas agents alerted headquarters of an attack in the seedy neighborhood in southern California. The initial operation had been a simple arrest; they had been tipped off that two Primes were seeking refuge inside the church from those in the neighborhood. After the operation went south, Atlas agents called in for backup. Shortly after that, the church caught fire and the suspects escaped.

From the looks of things, the pair of Primes in question weren't anything to scoff at.

Her presence would surely be needed.

After dragging herself out of bed, Stella responded to the call and assembled a small team that consisted of Neon, Tempest, and Orion. She decided to leave Blur, Slugger, and Field behind. She knew how much the boys needed their beauty rest.

Stella and her team arrived in Los Angeles two hours before midnight after receiving the alert. They were met by an Atlas agent who survived the attack on the church. Judging by the ash covering their clothes and the current state of the religious building, she knew exactly who was involved.

Oscar. Otherwise known as Inferno.

The last she had heard any news about him was from a few days ago when a convoy in the same city was attacked. A young pyrokinetic had been rescued from the Atlas caravan—presumably by him.

She wondered how he knew who Atlas was transporting. There was a chance that he didn't. He probably had just gotten lucky. After all, he had been hitting Atlas-owned containment units for the past three years freeing captured Primes.

"You said there was a girl with him?" Stella asked the Atlas agent accompanying her group as they sifted through the rubble for any clues.

The agent nodded while cradling their injured arm. "Affirmative, Starchild. Might've been ten, eleven. Twelve? I dunno. All I know is that she had the same powers he did."