Chapter 7: Lazy Afternoon (sort of)
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The title today is brought to you by Kingdom Hearts 2 ost.
"Every man is guilty of the good he did not do."— Voltaire
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
I grumble and turn around in bed, unfortunately facing the window with light streaming in through the curtains.
"Cole, hey man you okay?"
I don't want to give Zeke an answer. I'm too exhausted from last night. Gotta go back to sleep.
"Cole it's like 11.30. We got battery selling to do. Where and how long have you been out all of last night?"
I groan.
"Fine, sleep as long as you want. You'd better call me then when you wake up." I hear his footsteps leave, but then he stops.
"Oh yeah, Tristan snuck into our apartment last night and left a box of food outside our door. Wish we could thank him but...anyway, see you later Cole".
Zeke walks away and I continue my slumber, brushing his words off as a dream and toss myself back to the door.
It is hours later when, my left eye opens followed by my right, then the rest of my body creaks awake as I sit up and yawn loudly, stretching my arms and rubbing the sleep sand out of my eyes. I look to the clock at the top of my room door, it was now 1 in the afternoon. I yawned again and undressed slowly, noting from my underwear it was that time of the month again, and got into the bathroom.
I couldn't bathe normally anymore due to my condition but eventually I'd found a solution to that. After all, I didn't want to smell like shit forever. I turned on sink tap and placed a basin under the running water. After it filled up, I turned off the tap and grabbed a stool to sit on, a sponge, soap and placed the basin close to where I sat. From another clock in the bathroom, I timed myself as I wet and soaped the sponge, scrubbing myself clean from the dirt and grime of the previous night from my unimpressive face and breasts to my tall, toned legs. I then quickly rinsed my hair, dried myself off with a towel, had lunch in the form of a instant noodles, brushed my teeth and left the Fortress.
I made my way on the usual route to our illegal shop on Harold Avenue, getting glares from many as I walk on by the ironically dull streets of the Neon District.
"Hey!" A man runs to me from a corner and I almost would have blasted him if he hadn't said, "You're the Electric girl right? I need your help".
The man was of African American descent, a bandage around his head and his left eye, "A clinic three blocks down this road has been taken over by the Reapers, do you think you could get rid of them?"
"Sure." I replied. "Not a problem".
I crack my knuckles, letting sparks dance around them as I quickly approach the clinic. As I plan what to do, a Reaper emerges from the glass door with a citizen in his grasp and pulls the trigger of his shotgun, spilling innocent blood on the roadside. People who gaze upon this sight steam and flee as fast as they can. Not me though...
I shoot a bolt of lightning at the Reaper before he can see me and take out the rest of the Reapers above and below just as easily, while getting a few bullet scrapes and punches on me. With all the Reapers down, I sit on one of the chairs inside the clinic and heal by draining the electricity out of one of the televisions inside. I'll admit, it was kind of a dick move but there were worse ways I could have healed myself. I take my leave, well that is until I'm stopped at the entrance by the injured black man from earlier.
"Thank you. Thank you. I am very grateful for your service".
"And who are you exactly?" I ask.
The man stands up straight, "I'm the one who runs this clinic. How about I return the favour by patching up those wounds of yours?"
"No thanks," I decline, "They'll heal up pretty fast".
"Well, anyway, come back here anytime and we'll treat your injuries for free".
"You serious?" I say shocked, "You're really kind".
"Don't mention it, anything I can do for someone who saved my business".
I said my goodbyes and dialled up Zeke, telling him to meet me at the 'Training Ground'.
I'd met up with Zeke at a stop sign and explained to him what happened the night before and what happened today, apologising for everything. Zeke, being his usual self, laughed and forgave me pretty easily and I thought that maybe one day, if he made it big, he'd be the greatest boss ever.
We then raced each other to the 'Training Ground', the codename for a nearby scrapyard that had been abandoned after the Empire City Blast. After I discovered my power, Zeke had led me here to train every three days. It was a secluded place away from prying eyes where I sort of learnt how to control my powers and developed new ones with Zeke's help and his vast comic book knowledge. Hell, we even gave each of my abilities a name and I sort of screamed out each one like an Shounen character for the heck of it while practicing them. We had fun goofing off while learning basically. Man, if only school were more like this...
"Word spreads fast huh?" Zeke asks as he tosses me a trashcan lid like a heavy weight frisbee."Yeah," I say grabbing it, "People sort of have a love/hate sort of relationship with me now".
I look at both sides of the lid. "So...what are we doing today?"
"Well," Zeke started, "Do you remember an old television show called 'Static Shock'?"
"Oh my God. It was one of my favourite cartoons as a kid." I say fangirling and in a split second became doubtful, "But his power was electromagnetism, not electrokinesis. I don't think I can levitate shit the way he did".
"It's worth a shot though." Zeke shrugged, "After all electromagnetism is in fact a by-product of electrokinesis. Besides, that shockwave Fus-Ro-Dah thing you can do is kind of an electromagnetic ability. Maybe it just needs to develop a bit more before you can get to doing the more advanced stuff. Come one, try lift it up".
I placed it down but before I could get to my magic act, my message ringtone starts playing. I snap my phone open and see a text from Mory:
Good Job Coleen, the power is fully restored to North Beach.
There are three more substations that are offline though, I'll send you the coordinates as I find them.
P.S. I got a call from the EMT in your area. Says you helped him get his makeshift clinic back. You should help more people Coleen, keep an eye out for them, they might return a lot of favours.
"So who is it Cole?" Zeke asks.
"No one," I lie, "Just an ad".
"Alright then, let's get to it".
I stepped back and focused my power on the lid, blue sparks appeared but all it seemed to be doing was slowly burning it to a crisp. It felt like roasting a marshmallow. I try imagine levitating it and focusing on the action but, all I do is make it jump a little.
"Nice," Zeke says,"You need a bit more effort though".
"I think what you mean is my electromagnetic abilities need more practice".
"Like I said." he nods. "Let's keep at it".
30 more tries and mostly failures later, I have accomplished lifting up the lid ten centimetres from the ground using my electromagnetism and holding it there for 15 seconds. It's pathetic. I fling the lid away with a shockwave, giving up. The world around me starts to go black and white slightly. Damn, I need more energy. I stand up clumsily and Zeke rushes to my side, holding me up.
"Whoa Cole, take it easy".
"Sorry, I guess more advanced powers kind of take a toll on me. I need-"
"I got it." He hands me his cellphone. "Drain my phone battery".
I nod and grab his phone. The electrical currents swim into me and I feel the last of it vanish as soon as colours return to the world.
"Well, I guess that's enough for today." Zeke clapped his hands, "What now?"
"Actually," I say, "I don't mind practicing a bit more and I think, I may have an idea".
"Like?"
"Stand back Zeke." I ordered him.
I aim my hands at the ground.
"Cole what are you-"
I create a shockwave that launches me several feet upwards above the scrapyard and I kick, doing a 360 degree backflip in midair. Then, I'm plummeting leg-first. Six feet away from the ground, I do a twirl and fire my 15 second electromagnetism ability on the ground, causing myself to hoverandfloat down gently and land as gracefully as a ballroom dancer without leaving a dent in the ground.
"Whoa," Zeke says, "That was a really cool stunt man".
"Yeah," I say, "Although I'm not sure it would be effective in battle".
"What do you mean by that Cole, I'd say that move's pretty useful. Once you master that, maybe one day you can also throw objects, big and small, while you levitating them".
"Sounds good." I say stretching. "I'm still kind of worn out though. Can we go to the nearest substation?"
"Sure Cole, it's why I picked this place anyhow. It's five blocks away from the substation you patched up last night anyhow".
He pulls my hand and after I drain some energy, Zeke and I spend the rest of the day walking about town for a while and later in the evening, we binge watch the last 15 episodes Stardust Crusaders on a horribly lagging internet, laughing and commenting to each other about the sheer ludicrousness of this anime. It was just too bad moments like these would never last forever...
A short filler chapter with Zeke and Cole shenanigans as promised. Sorry I don't know much about electrical terms and stuff and the fact that Cole is suppose to gain Electromagnetism in the sequel. Anyway...Who's excited for the Egypt Arc of JOJO?
Next split chapter: 8. Thunderstruck (Part 1)
Part 2 chapter 8 name to be revealed...
Until next time
-Cladinblack15