Powered Individuals

Chapter 4 - Missed A Spot

I honestly expected worse punishment from a superhero agency, but mopping floors with two gloomy supers was pretty bad. I guess we deserved it, though. Well, more like I deserved it. The other two were only here because they fought instead of trying to help me control myself.

    My jaw throbbed as I stuck the mop into my bucket of water and wrung it out. Getting punched in the face by an angry girl was never good, and I found out why: she could give a wicked fractured jaw.

    After Ruby punched my lights out, I was apparently dragged to the infirmary and was let rest for a day or two before I woke up and was told that Merlin had condemned me to mopping the sparring rooms with Tristan and Ruby. I thought it was pretty fair because I did end up destroying more than just Kai's pride when my powers went out of control.

    At the current moment, I was swabbing the sweat deck in  gross grey uniform while getting watched over by a six foot tall guy in a blue robe. His face was expressionless, but he seemed nice. Although, no one was talking so I decided against making small talk.

    "Missed a spot," the robe-guy grumbled in a deep voice. He pointed to somewhere close to Tristan and I lugged my bucket over there to mop. When I set my mop on the floor, I accidentally splattered some water on Tristan's shoes. He angrily glared at me and left a huge puddle of water on the floor so I would have to mop it up.

    "Why are you so rude?" I asked. Tristan rounded on me.

    "Why are you so destructive?" He shot back. "We wouldn't even be in this mess if you had just controlled your stupid powers. Who even let you in this place anyway?"

    I stopped and looked at him, mustering up the nastiest look I could give him. I threw my mop to the ground and stalked out of the sparring room.

    Behind me I heard: "Missed a spot."

    "Oh shut up, Nerve!"

——

I threw open the door to a training room and yelled out in frustration, shooting an extra-hot bolt of lightning at the target on the far wall. The wooden circle exploded into a million shards of splinters. Why are people so infuriating?

    I stared at the blasted target and slowly calmed down my breathing. I didn't have to get this angry over one person, it was too irrational. I dragged my feet over to a wall and slid down it, placing my head in my hands and taking slow breaths.

    It wasn't even my fault that I had these powers. It was my father's. At the thought of him, I grunted and another bolt flung at the far wall, this time it wasn't intentional.

    I could feel the electricity zooming through my muscles as it prepared to go haywire again, and I tried to keep it controlled but it was too much. For the first time in my life I felt what it was like to get hit with my lightning, and it didn't feel good at all.

    "What the hell! I didn't know it hurt this much," I sucked in a breath through my teeth and kept trying to control the electricity. I could feel the tingling of the lightning intensify and I let out a yelp of pain before I gave up. There was an explosion of white and black light and then I opened my eyes.

    All of the walls were blackened by the blow, and through the door I could see a rectangle of black from the doorway on the wall out in the hallway. At least it was confined to this room, otherwise we would have had some serious problems.

    I got up and walked out of the room like nothing happened. Now let's see Tristan clean that up.

——

I sat at dinner, still mad at Tristan, and picked around my food. Winter was happily munching on the salisbury steaks and didn't let my melancholy mood bring her down. She was humming a tune to herself and was lost in her own little world while I was moping around and absentmindedly stabbing my food.

    My ears perked up when I heard the sounds of talking outside the cafeteria. I turned my attention toward the doorway and saw Merlin, Ruby and Tristan walking past. I left my food and walked out the door despite Winter's questions.

    I peeked around the doorway and saw the trio disappear around the corner. I quickly followed and flattened myself against the wall, looking around the corner to see the three standing and talking in the hall. I picked up the last of the conversation.

    "I've gotten an urgent call for help from the Penna, a winged species that lives in the clouds. One of their guardians, Aer, has come to me asking for assistance. They are under attack by some kind of mutant that they don't know how to stop. You two are the top of your class, so I expect that you will take this down with ease?" Merlin asked, looking between the two. They both nodded their heads and Merlin concluded their session. "Good, we leave in ten minutes, get everything you need together and we will ascend. Thank you."

    Merlin left them and they turned around. I quickly made my way back to my room, skipping the rest of dinner. This was totally something I wasn't going to miss out on. It was a chance to redeem myself, and I was going to take it.