Who Needs Superheroes?

Chapter 16: The Generator

I want to apologize for taking so long to update. As soon as I had gotten my writing groove back, writer's block gave me a shove and I've been stuck all month trying to write this chapter. I hope it was worth the wait!

We moved through the dark passageways, turning corners and passing mysterious metal doors. Finally, we came to the end of the hall. The steel door looked familiar and I soon found out that it was the same door that I had previously gone through with Lauren. The smooth metal disappeared instantaneously upon the contact with Jeanne's hand and she stepped through the jelly like portal with no discomfort.

Wearily, I followed her to the other side, putting all my effort into walking through the gelatinous substance. Stepping through to the other side of the mystic doorway, I found myself back in the cave that held the life of Agartha. The usual excitement hummed through the air and I found myself intoxicated by the surroundings. Children flew around in clusters, chasing each other and throwing strange glowing lights which I suspected to be a part of their superpowers.

A brown haired and light skinned young boy flew towards me, chased by two girls with identical red hair that had been braided in pigtails. The only distinguishing factor was their dresses; one wore a red garment, the other a yellow. They giggled and called out to the boy, taking turns trying to throw a strange yellow jelly-like ball at him. Right before the boy flew into me, he veered up and flew with his belly towards the cave roof, up and over the pursuing girls. Their giggling faces turned to shock as they crashed right into an invisible wall. Stunned, they fell to the ground, inches away from our feet.

"Girls, you know you aren't supposed to use your powers without adult supervision, especially not on a poor boy who is outnumbered," Jeanne scolded with a disciplinary tone, replacing her arms back at her side. The girls, rising to their feet and brushing themselves off, looked up at Jeanne with shameful looks. The expression of the girl dressed in red changed and she looked upset.

"But he took Fluffers! We had to get him back!"

"Fluffers?" Jeanne asked with a quizzically formed brow.

"Our favorite teddybear! He said that Fluffers would be much happier with him, but that's not true! Fluffers told us himself," the red dress girl whined. She stomped her foot on the ground and scrunched her face up, tears brimming her eyes. The girl in yellow sat motionless, watching her sister begin to throw a tantrum. I liked her better already.

Jeanne's look turned from confusion to understanding. With a smirk, she splayed her hand out in front of her and the retreating boy suddenly seemed to also hit an invisible barrier. Stunned, he fell out of the air a few feet, but not before hitting another invisible surface and sliding back towards us. The unseen barrier carried the boy right to our feet, where he lay motionless for a few seconds. Sucking in a deep breath, he bolted up from the ground and attempted to jump back into the air, but another one of Jeanne's walls stopped him.

"What's your name?" Jeanne asked the mischievous boy.

"Marcus," he replied meekly.

"Now Marcus, I think you have something that doesn't belong to you. Something tells me that you're going to give it back. Am I right?" The boy frantically shook his head in agreement and pulled the teddybear out of thin air, handing it back to the girl in yellow. Her face lit up and she began to stroke the stuffed animal's head. Jeanne smiled and continued. "Go on now. I'm sure your parents are wondering where you are," she ushered and without a second thought, the boy took off, zooming through the air back towards a row of houses.

The red dressed girl's face returned to its giggling state and together, the girls flew off, a 'thank you' lost in the wind.

"You handled that well," I said to Jeanne.