The Supes

Chapter 15: Ha Ha I Left You on a Cliff Hanger

POV: Aqua
Cunningly, I leaped over a fallen tree and just nearly dodged an arrow. I could not see the shooter nor get away from his or her arrows, which were shot from random places in the canopy of this forest of torture. My breaths were short and raspy and a cramp was gnawing at my stomach as I scrambled across the loose terrain. I stumbled behind a rock to catch my breath.
How could I defeat someone if I couldn't even see them?
Suddenly, the sound of arrows being notched and shot could no longer be heard. Carefully, I peaked over the rock to see if I could spot him or her. It was neither a him nor a her for it was an it. Three fist sized holes were perfectly lined up one on top of the other on a tree trunk just before the trunk disappeared into the thick leaves. These holes could be seen on several trees strategically placed around the forest. Arrowheads were peaking out of each hole. My mind swarmed with ideas, but none of them ended very well for me.
Oh wait. I can just turn invisible!
"Idiot." I scolded myself as I slapped my hand to my head.
I had just gotten this ability and kept forgetting to use it to my advantage when the time called for it. Then, another thought arose in my mind. My heart dropped and tears brimmed my eyes.
"Don't think about it. Don't think about it." I repeated to myself in a whisper, shoving the memory deep down into my subconscious.
I took a deep breath and concentrated. A prickly sensation itched my skin and I vanished. Delicately, I stepped over fallen branches, twigs, plants and leaves, not making a single sound. Beads of sweat formed at the top of my forehead as my heart thumped hard in my chest out of the sheer terror of making the wrong step and blowing my cover. Soon, I fell into a rhythm and became calmer. The sound of an exotic bird's squawk echoed around me and a slight sprinkle of rain began to fall. Out of boredom, I began being consumed by the thoughts that I was trying so hard to suppress. I thought about all of the moving around my family had done and how my parents always gave us the same lame excuse: "Your father has gotten a new and better job opportunity."
Of course my father rarely worked at all. He didn't have to, for he had already made a large profit from his popular sandal brand, so I always thought we moved around because he was getting tired of the places we were living in. This made the most sense but was very odd because we lived a life of luxury staying in mansions to cute little beach houses. The one similarity to our homes was that we always had to be near the ocean. In fact, the last place we had lived in was a houseboat, so I suppose he was always trying to move us closer and closer to the ocean for he, similar to me, had a strong connection with the ocean as well and felt at home when he was near it. No matter the size of the house, it had to be near the ocean I guess for my father to approve it. This explains why we lived in a small houseboat.
Although it was a bit small, it was still very cozy and comfortable and had a great view of Kuhio Beach. I was supposed to have surfing lessons there (the only kind of outside activity I was interested in partaking in) as an early birthday present from my parents. At least that was before my birthday actually happened and I got all of my powers.
I remember I was out practicing my surfing that day alone, paddling out to catch a wave when I began to feel nauseous. My hands started shaking and my body began shivering even though it was ninety degrees out. Then, I collapsed and fell off my surfboard and sunk beneath the surface. When I woke I saw a sea turtle swimming above my head. It swam right over me not noticing anything as if I was just another pile of seaweed. At first, my main thought was that I had died, but then the surrounding shapes darting in and out of every nook and cranny of the ocean floor came into focus. The rough coral reefs accompanied by colorful fish that came in a variety of flickers of light danced around everywhere. Then, I realized something. I had no air to breathe. There grew a burning sensation in my lungs as I struggled to make it to the surface but I was very tired and couldn't swim another stroke. My mouth was forced open and gallons of seawater poured into my body. However; instead of passing out I felt rejuvenated. It occurred to me then that I was breathing underwater. At first I freaked out, scrambling to reach the surface, but then I realized how awesome this could be. To be like the people in my comic books. Like Squirrel Girl... Okay maybe not her but the rest of them. A whole new sense of excitement boiled inside of me from this realization. For hours and hours I swam under the sea, testing my ability until I realized how late it was. The once vibrant blue sky was now fading into a more pinkish-orange glow.
I swam for our house, dried off and slipped inside unnoticed. Smiling the entire time as I silently snuck into my room, hidden from the rest of my family. Suddenly, I felt my stomach muscles harden and a longing pull towards the ocean. After a while of trying to fight the urge, I finally got up and walked towards my window and opened it. The tugging feeling only increased. I tried to plant my feet on the ground to stop myself as I was drawn closer and closer to the water. A salty sea spray misted my face as I poked my head out the window. Waves were at first lapping against the house and then started violently hitting it's hull. One wave splashed just high enough to reach my window. Instinctively, I raised my hand to shield my face from the blast; however, not a single drop of water touched my face or even my hand. There in front of me was the wave in its pre-impact position frozen in place. My eyes widened and a grin appeared on my face. After a few seconds of awing at my new power my hand began to shake as the water remained suspended in the air. Abruptly, I pulled my hand away, causing the wave to lose all of its momentum and fall back into the ocean. The drawing feeling that I once had dissipated as fast as it had come. All was at peace as I stared aghast out my window.
"Aqua! Dinner time!" yelled my mother from the kitchen.
"Okay Mom." I sighed not even fully understanding what my mom had asked me.
Finally, I pulled my eyes away from my window and brought myself back to my bedroom and reality. I was then shocked by how out of breath I was when I had only walked a few steps.
"Aqua!" she bellowed now phissed, "Does she even hear me Clark." she cried to my father.
"One second Mom!" I replied now loud enough for her to hear.
With one more look out the window to make sure nothing else trippy  was happening outside of it, I bolted to the upper deck where my family was enjoying their glazed salmon. All throughout dinner my mind was firing out theories and questions forming a giant mess. In fact, I was so lost in thought I didn't even pick up my fork.
What's happening to me? Did anybody else see what I did? Did I even see correctly what I did? Did it even happen? Was I hallucinating? Was it a dream? Did I almost die?
"Aqua. Aqua? Sweetie? Earth to Aqua." my father said with a questioning look.
"Hmmmmm?"
"Are you alright?" my dad asked now concerned.
"Yeah." I responded.
"You seem a bit off like you're in a different land." he said.
"Nah. Just...just daydreaming" I quickly lied.
"You just seem so much quieter than usual." my mom added.
"I'm fine, really."
"Okay." my mom said squeezing my hand.
Then, another crazy thing happened. My skin felt prickly and I heard my mom shriek in terror as she retracted her hand. I looked down at my hand, but it was nowhere in sight.
"What's wrong Amy?" cried my dad.
"Looo...Look at her hand." my mom wavered pointing at where my hand once was.
"Ahhhhhh!" my sister Ivy screamed.
"Dear god." said my father clearly appalled.
He reached over the table knocking glasses over and swatted at the area where my hand would have been. I felt his hand come on contact with mine and just like that, my hand reappeared. My family remained silent and awestruck. No one dared to speak. After a few more minutes, I couldn't take it anymore and so I placed my napkin onto the table and sprinted back into my room. Raking my hand through my hair, I sat down on my bed and observed my hand.
This has been the absolute strangest day of my life.
Luckily, now my hand was staying visible, but my mind was spinning and I felt shaky. I decided to go where I was most comfortable; the ocean. Gracefully, I belly flopped out of my window and splashed into the sea. There, I spent the rest of the night observing the stars on a seaweed covered rock with the gentle, calm water brushing ever so slightly against it and the moonlight shining down on me. That was one of my last good memories I had, for the next day my parents shut me out of the world by moving our houseboat far out into the ocean and locking my windows. They kept a watchful eye on me and tried their best to explain the situation.
"Honey, you're very sick. It's a very rare disease that runs in our family and it's highly contagious. These pills will help prevent you from having any more...uhh incidents." my parents would say.
Not one of those pills went down my throat. I didn't see it as a disease, I saw it as a gift (I was thinking of X-men). Instead of popping pills I learned how to control my abilities and realized that I wasn't the psychotic one in my house.
A couple days after the dinner fiasco I had discovered my shapeshifting ability when I accidentally turned into my sister. That was the only way I could escape my own little prison by pretending to be someone I wasn't. However, this was fine because I could then get some fresh air outside...and then get badly sunburned five minutes later and retreat back to my room where I would spend the rest of the day on Instagram. So I guess the morale of the story is pretending to be someone you're not can be pretty awesome but also cause bad things like sunburns and the only friend you need in the world is your phone.
A month later was not as great though, for that was the day when that sales lady came and blew up my house and destroyed my family...
I was dragged back to reality when a round of firearms open fired on me.
How'd he find me? Heat sensors? Dammit why does he have to have every cool spy gadget?  ←-------
I dodged, leaped and finally found yet again another place to hide. It was a river. A couple days before I had been kidnapped, I had discovered and somewhat mastered the art of shapeshifting into water. Another strange, prickly sensation came across my skin, causing me to turn transparent and liquefy into water. The guns held their fire as they could not see my figure anymore in the water. I did not know what the shooters would do if they saw something strange moving in the river, but I didn't want to take and chances, so I had to remain still and relaxed. Of course when I tried to go with the flow my own body parts began drifting away from me. Flowing down the river was alright at first. It was very tranquil and I could almost feel my worries metaphorically washing away from me. At least, this was the case until the current of the river increased and I heard a pounding sound. Before I knew what was happening I was thrust off the riverbed and into the air down a cascading waterfall. Bracing myself for impact I closed my eyes as best I could with being water and all. All of the sudden an idea concurred into my head. Since I had just gotten my powers, they weren't very strong and so I could only move small amounts of water, but it was worth a shot. I shapeshifted back into my normal self and began attempting to manipulate the water below me to in some way rise a bit and break my fall instead of jagged rocks impaling my body. After several vigorous tries I attempted it one more time. With the last bits of my energy I thrust my hands forward at the water below. Groaning and feeling myself drift off from my lack of energy a wave of water began to rise slowly. It looked as if it's curls of caribbean blue water and white foam were reaching out to catch me in which they did and lowered me safely back to the normal water level. My body sunk into the somewhat shallow water where I peacefully rested on the silky sand bottom.
When I woke, I felt something poking and prodding my leg. I opened my eyes to see a small figure poking me in the leg with a stick. Then I realized it was the same little girl I had tried to rescue. She suddenly, felt my gaze upon her and dove quickly behind a nearby tree, but her curious eyes left the cover of the large trunk and took a peek at me anyway. Abruptly, she tore her eyes away from me and continued to hide. Slowly, I stood up on the beach that I must have drifted to and walked over to her. The poor thing was shaking with fear and had tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Hey. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." I cooed, trying my best to talk calmly to her.
I was never really the best with small children.
"Are you all alone?" I asked.
She nodded.
Damnit! No, Aqua you cannot leave a little girl in this crazy murder forest to fend for herself.
"Are you looking for someone?" I asked.
"My sister." she answered quietly.
"Uhh...Well, I'm sure your sister is heading towards that bunker we heard about over the announcements. I was already heading to that southern area so.... I guess you can come with me?" I offered immediately regretting it.
"Yay!" she cried leaping onto my leg to hug it and not making this experience any better.
"What's your name?" I asked feeling already very irritated and tired.
"Ruby." she answered brightly.
"Well Ruby, could you please let go of my leg?" I asked.
"Okay." she said releasing me and giving me a wide adorable toothless grin.
I had to admit, she was adorable. At least she was better than Ivy, who always treated me like a freak back home. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad.
"What's your name?" Ruby asked as we began wading through the wide brush of the rain forest.
"Aqua."
"I like your name." she commented.
"Thanks." I said realizing how awesome of a name it really was and causing me to like Ruby a little bit more.
"So how old are you?" I asked with a bit more enthusiasm.
"Five." she replied.
"Five? Wow! I'm fourteen." I said really enthusiastically trying to get her to smile, which don't mean to brag but she did.
The farther we walked, the more I realized how much in common I had with little kids. They had to take a lot of potty breaks and loved to nap and nap some more and eat food and watch TV. Ruby especially was great. She did all the talking, so I didn't have to attempt to come up with any conversation starters. Ruby talked about simple nice things that contained no drama which was also great. She loved dogs and to go swimming at the high school pool in her town of Juno, Alaska. And best of all her constant chatter and rambling kept my past from distracting me.
When she was just about to tell me about her other sister I saw it. A camouflaged metal house half hidden in a hill. It was the bunker.
"We actually made it." I breathed in disbelief.
As Ruby was about to step towards it, we suddenly heard someone talking. Signaling for Ruby to be quiet, I hid with her behind a bush and peeked over it to see who the person was and if they were a friend of a foe.
The source of the noise was Jess and some other girl with a long, white braid that reached her lower back. Realizing there was no threat of danger, we began walking towards them. It was then that I got a better look at Jess's friend. At first I thought she was just resting on the ground, but as we got closer, I saw from Jess's concerned expression that they girl had passed out.
"Aqua? Oh, thank god. Finally a familiar face." she sighed with relief.
"Who's this?" I asked.
"This is the girl that that evil scientist guy was talking about. You know the one who was supposedly from Antarctica and was loaded."
"Is she okay?"
"I don't think so. She kept saying how she was very hot and tired and needed water. And then bam! She passes out and I've been dragging her around ever since then."
I knelt down next to her to get a better look (Not in a creepy molester way. Just in a regular creepy way.). She wore leggings that were a dark leathery fabric and a long sleeve shirt made entirely out of animal fur that's sleeves were rolled up to her shoulders. Decorated on her exposed eskimoan arms were Silver swirls and snowflake tattoos. Suddenly, a little moan escaped her mouth and her eyes opened a little.
"Oh hello there." she smiled sitting up happy to see me apparently, "I'm Cryst..." but before she could finish this sentence she threw up right next to me.
"Well, hello to you too." I said.

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Wazzup guys. Thanks for reading!
I forgot to mention this before but please feel free to comment on this. I love seeing the hilarious comments people leave on stories just try not to be too mean. (I really can't handle constructive criticism that well at the moment. I get mad at spell check sometimes for correcting my spelling.) 
What are the tattoos on Crystal?
Will Aqua ever be as a good a superhero as Squirrel Girl? (she's an actual Marvel character look her up.)
Will we ever meet this bitch Ivy?
Does Ruby have any abilities?
Well, none of these questions will be answered in the next chapter but maybe in some chapter very far away. So keep reading and find out what happens next week.
SUPES OUT!