Powered Individuals

Chapter 3 - Watch It

Going down to the breakfast, I didn't expect anything big to happen. Boy, was I wrong.

I walked with Winter and it was my first full day at the agency. I still wasn't sure what to expect from the organization, but I figured that a building full of supers was going to bring something interesting.

Winter and I sat down and waited for breakfast to be served. There was some sort of commotion going on a couple tables over, so I was naturally curious as to what was happening. They were being loud, and I had ears.

There was a large group of kids ranging from young teens to mid-20s hanging around a single table. As one of the kids shifted, I saw that they were clustered around some pompous-looking guy who seemed to be acting like he owned the world. I nudged Winter with my elbow and jerked my head in his direction.

"Who's that?" I asked. Winter just shrugged and picked at her recently delivered food.

"His name's Kai, don't pay any attention to him. He's basically a walking villain target, not gonna lie. He thinks he's the greatest guy here, but honestly he sucks," she finished, glaring at the guy. I looked back at him and we made eye contact. He winked, incredibly flirtatiously, at me, and I wanted to puke right then and there.

I held back my bile and shrugged it off. Before I could even shovel any of my food into my mouth, there was a scraping of chairs and I looked up.

Kai and his posse were coming right for our table.

I decided that I was going to pretend that I didn't see him and go back to my food, but then he slammed his hand down on the table and made me drop my fork and I so wasn't going to let that creep leave alive.

I glared upward at him and saw a gross smirk on his face. I hadn't even spoken a word to this guy and I immediately didn't like him.

"Hey pretty lady," he breathed. I didn't gag, but I almost did. "You new around here?"

"Yes, and, quite frankly, I enjoy breathing so could you maybe back up to oh, I don't know, Saturn?" I snapped at him. His friends laughed, surprised at my brave words. Kai tensed and leaned a little closer to me, suffocating me further.

"Was that an insult?" He growled. This time I looked him straight in the eye.

"Obviously, but maybe you couldn't hear it over that big ego of yours; allow me to repeat it a bit louder: YOUR BREATH SMELLS LIKE HORSE CRAP."

This time some of his friends had to leave because they were trying to hide their obnoxious laughter. The cafeteria went silent after my remark and Kai almost turned purple. His eyes burned with rage but I held my gaze.

"Meet me out in the courtyard in two minutes. Let's settle this." Kai pushed off the table and stormed out a door, his friends following. I looked over at Winter and saw her gaping at me.

"Okay you are officially the coolest person I have ever met," the speedster rushed out after a second of silence. I got up from the table, and the whole room stared after me as I walked out the same door Kai did.

And straight to my first duel.

——

"One on one, full power unleashed, keep it clean kids," the official, a guy about my age, looked at both of us and backed up into the slowly growing crowd. After a count of three, the ref swung an arm down between us and whistled loudly.

Kai cracked his knuckles and suddenly his fists grew to the size of a small truck. I stepped back a little.

"Okay that is so unfair," I exclaimed. What had I gotten myself into?

"You insult me, you pay the price. No one gets away from me that easily," Kai sneered back.

He swung his arm back and aimed straight for my face. I rolled out of the way just in time and the crowd booed at me. His other fist came for me and this time I jumped on top of it when it collided with the ground. I opened my palms and let electricity surge through me. I thrust my hands onto his large fist and watched as my lightning ran through his hand and then his arm, and before it reached his shoulder he roughly shook me from his hand.

I noticed that he moved a significant amount slower the bigger his fists were, so I figured if I made him angrier he would make his fists larger to have a bigger impact. Easier said than done.

I narrowly dodged another fist he swung and trashed my first plan; it would be too dangerous for me or anyone in the vicinity. I picked myself off the ground and let my electricity crackle at my fingertips.

I curled my hand into a fist and, when I knew I was fully charged, started running toward Kai. He reacted too late and I threw a thunderous punch into his stomach. Black lightning rippled across his skin and he flung backwards, crashing into some bushes and shrinking his fists. I knew he was knocked out, but the beast inside of me had come free. I wanted more.

Without hesitation, I stalked toward Kai and watched as he struggled to get up. His eyes widened at the sight of me and my lightning and he sprung back up almost immediately.

"No, no! You win! I'll leave you alone! Please don't hurt me again!" Kai backed away from me. He was holding his stomach with one arm and I could see tiny cuts from the bush starting to bleed on his forehead.

I raised my fist again, fully charged, and swung another blow, this time toward the guy's chest. His eyes closed quickly and he flinched away, but nothing hit him. He cracked an eye open and was just as surprised as me to find that my arm was suspended in midair.

"What the-" I started. Kai took this opportunity of confusion to bolt. Smart kid.

Suddenly, before my eyes, a boy materialized out of thin air. He was the one who was holding my arm from punching Kai and finishing him off. This made me angry that I was stopped from finishing what I started, so I took the kid by one of his arms and flipped him over.

He landed onto the ground with an oomph and I was about to blast him with electricity too when a shrill voice cut through the air.

"STOP IT! TRISTAN I SWEAR TO ANY AND ALL GODS THAT IF YOU ARE SOMEHOW INVOLVED I WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE!" A girl pushed through the crowd and eyed the boy. Angrily, she walked over and hoisted him up, pointing an accusing finger to his chest.

"How many times have I told you to stay out of fights?! Get your ass out of here before I kick it to Vilero City," the girl growled. I felt bad for the Tristan kid, but he held his ground.

"Maybe this all would have been resolved sooner if you weren't too busy sleeping instead of supervising like Merlin told you to do!"

"You know how important my sleep is, Tristan!"

"Well apparently it's more important than keeping your education, Ruby!"

I stood there, dumbfounded, while the two bickered. My adrenaline keeping my powers at bay faded, and I suddenly felt a tingling in my hands. Mini bolts of leftover electricity sparked out of my fingertips. They shot the ground around me and left burn marks in the grass. Ruby and Tristan didn't seem to notice as my powers started to malfunction.

Soon enough, my lightning was striking everywhere. The crowd ran away, fearing for their lives while the pair kept on arguing, totally oblivious.

"Uh, guys?" I started, barely keeping control on my overload. They didn't break. "Hey, could you help me?"

The two would have started punching the living daylights out of each other if a giant bolt of black didn't strike the ground between them. They abruptly stopped talking and turned to see me: flailing in the grass with electricity flying everywhere, looking like a fish out of water.

"Should we do something?" I heard Tristan ask. Ruby roughly shook her head and stalked toward me. I was still struggling, and on the verge of an explosion, when Ruby came about a foot from my face. She swung a fist back and it came hurtling at me with impressive speed.

I felt pain and then I blacked out.