Angel Fall +20 Days

“Damn it woman!” This was not the first time Jericho regretted agreeing to Cassie’s idea of training him. He flexed his left arm where she’d just hit him.

“I wouldn’t hit you if you would get out of the way,” she teased.

“I’ve got a blindfold on!”

“You are the one who said you could sense everyone’s water.” She swung at him and he jerked back, dodging the whoosh the broken broomhandle made. “No fair, you are listening to me. Next time we are going to use ear plugs.”

“This is stupid,” he said, trying to follow her voice. He couldn’t see anything through the blindfold she’d put on him. She’d reasoned that if he had to rely on his ‘magic’ senses, they would get stronger. Unfortunately, they only really seemed to work when he was really angry or in danger. Granted, after the welts she’d left on his body, anger wasn’t going to be a problem soon.

They practiced in an abandoned gym, using the open floor space once dedicated to yoga or other classes. Now he stood in a clear space surrounded by buckets filled with rain water while Cassie circled him, whacking him with a rag-wrapped broomstick. Why did he ever think this was a good idea?

“I told you before, superheroes have to practice to learn their powers,” Cassie explained for the hundredth time.

“I’m not a fuc-” he grunted as the broomstick caught him in the abdomen “-king superhero!”

“Don’t lie. We’ve all seen your powers. These bruises will be gone in an hour or two. You are crazy strong. All you need is a costume and you’d be starring in a cinematic universe.”

Now didn’t that just sound crazy, him in a super-suit. Sure, he’s grown up with super-heroes, but little Jericho didn’t see many heroes that looked enough like him to really keep him engaged and he’d left that behind a long time ago. The movies were fun, but he wasn’t really into them other than as brainless action flicks.

Cassie, on the other hand, seemed to really enjoy this heroic shit.

“And what would my suit look like?” he asked, trying to get her talking so he could avoid her next attack.

The pole clacked against the concrete floor. “Hmmm...that’s an interesting question. Considering the whole water thing, you could probably get away with something dark blue, maybe with some black accents?”

“Are you serious? Who am I going to be, Water-Man? River-Guy! No, wait, Aqua-”

Whack!

“Don’t be silly. You’d need a cool name. All those people out there can be inspired by you. Just think of what you did at the protest.”

Jericho rubbed his sore head. He had to admit, she had a point. Ever since stopping the cops he was even more of a mythical figure amongst the survivors. Though he hadn’t fully dispersed the police, his attack had allowed the wounded and injured to retreat. It also allowed some fast individuals the options to break through the police line and into the park. They liberated some of the supplies that were being hoarded so they could actually help the people in need on this side of town. Bags of food, bottles of clean water, first aid supplies...this was all stuff that had never made it to the poorer side of town despite them sitting on all of it for a week or more. Thinking about it made Jericho flush with anger.

“What was that?” Cassie asked.

“What was what?” he snapped

She poked him in the chest. “The buckets, the water started...rippling?”

“What?” He pulled up the blindfold. Indeed, the water was moving, like a stone had been dropped into each bucket.

Cassie frowned at him, crossing her arms over her tight t-shirt. “I didn’t say you could look.” He took a moment to take in her toned, athletic figure, especially how her tights clung to her legs. Before everything went to hell, she’d spent many hours in the gym she told him. He could tell it wasn’t a lie. She cocked an eyebrow. “And I didn’t say you could stare at me either!” She poked his chest again with the stick.

“Ow, quit it. I wanted to see what you mean.”

“Uh huh,” she grunted. “Did you feel it, were you thinking about anything?”

“Yeah, I was thinking about those bastards keeping all the food for the rich folks. It was pissing me off.”

Cassie nodded, her brow furrowed. “That makes sense.”

“Why?”

“Well, think about it, right? You’ve always been in dangerous or emotionally charged situations when your powers have come out, haven’t you? It makes sense that you might need to feel strong emotions to use them.”

Jericho sighed. “Well, that’s not very useful.”

“What do you mean?”

He walked over to the buckets and tapped one with his foot, sloshing the water. “Well, if I have to feel angry or whatever, I don’t really have any control over that. It would be better if I could just…use them.”

“Maybe you will, once you’ve figured out how to control them. Or you will need to feel less strongly to get them working.”

Shrugging, he asked, “And what if I don’t?”

Cassie stepped up to him and gazed at his face with her dark brown eyes. Without warning she smacked the broomstick into the top of his foot.

“Mother fucker!” he said, hopping back on one foot.

She grinned. “There are other ways to make sure you are angry.”

“Oh, girl, you better watch it with that,” he said.

She whacked his shins.

“Fuck, I mean it!” he said, stumbling backwards.

Whack. The pole caught his arm. He tried to grab it but she pulled it away before jabbing his stomach.

He backed away, nearing the edge of the circle. “I said stop.”

She hit him again, this time on the thigh. “Is that what you are going to do when the police are trying to crack your skull?” Whack. “You going to ask them nicely to stop? You think they will listen to a six foot tall black man?”

Whack.

He tripped over a smaller bucket and fell, landing hard on his ass. She raised the handle and he held up his arm.

“I said, STOP!”

The buckets exploded around her. Chunks flew in all directions. Cassie tumbled beneath the sudden deluge.

Jericho gaped at the carnage around him. Water was everywhere.

Except on him. Even his sweat was gone and a dry outline surrounded him on the floor.

Cassie slowly pushed herself up.

“Oh, shit, oh shit. Are you okay?” he said as he scrambled over to her.

Looking down at her drenched clothing, she started laughing.

“Look at you,” she said, wiping the water from her face. “Look at what you did!”

She was right. The once dry floor was soaking. Water dripped from the ceiling. And Cassie was dripping. The buckets lay in pieces, and he was so thankful they were just plastic.

No water touched him. They watched as it recoiled from him, moving sluggishly away.

He grabbed her soggy shoulder and gaped in amazement as the water rolled away from his fingers until the shirt, or at least that part, was dry.

Pulling back, he looked at his dry hand.

“What the fuck is happening to me?”