The Crazy Adventures of Aqua Girl

Chapter 45 - Tomorrow Morning

After dragging Rachael back to my apartment in a state of excitement (on her behalf) and dread (on my behalf), I folded the note into my pocket and continued my day, keeping it out of my mind. 

"This top would look great on you, Cass!" Rachael exclaimed, shoving a blue frilly top in my direction. I sighed and examined the item of clothing. No, thanks. It was a pastel blue off-the-shoulder top with frills around the hem. 

"Nah, I'm alright." I muttered, hooking it back on the shelf. We were in San Francisco's shopping district, clutching Starbucks drinks and aimlessly walking around. I glanced at the watch on my wrist. 2:10pm. Ugh. Time seemed to slow whenever Rachael took me shopping.

"Are you sure? What about this one?" Rachael handed me an identical top, but it was pink this time.

"Rach! You know I hate pink! Can we just go into Hot Topic now?" I groaned, practically itching to get my hands on some new Twenty One Pilots merchandise.

"In a minute. You can wait outside if you like." Rachael replied, gazing at another rack of clothes. Sighing deeply, I trotted out of the store and taking another sip of my Unicorn Frappuccino. Damn, these drinks were good. Sugary, but good. 

As I watched the crowds of shoppers walk past in the mid-afternoon heat, in the distance I noticed something flying, something much bigger than a bird. 

For God's sake. 

The unidentified flying object continued to approach the shopping street I was stood on. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, echoing through the street. Screams erupted from the crowds and everyone ducked, turning back to watch as the flying object zoomed overhead. Squinting, I noticed the distinctive ice blue colour of the suit. Ice Woman. Once she had passed, the crowds began to return to normal, as people realized that this street wasn't under attack. 

"Hey, I bought a few things. Let's go to Hot Topic now, if we must." I whizzed round to find Rachael standing behind me.

"Ah! Er..yeah sure!" I exclaimed, glancing back behind us in the direction Ice Woman was heading. Normally, I would've dashed home, changed into my suit and raced after her. But I knew this wasn't the right time. I had literally just patched up my friendship with Rachael, it wouldn't be smart to run off in the middle of a shopping spree with her. Eventually, after a quick stroll down the street, we reached the glorious store of Hot Topic, aka any band lover's heaven. I had to fight a squeal as we approached the Twenty One Pilots section. My previous thoughts on Ice Woman were banished in an instant.

"Now be quick, I hate it in here." Rachael complained, unlocking her phone and probably logging onto Hot Topic's free wifi.

As I was told, I quickly scanned the piles of t-shirts, and ended up choosing a few new t-shirts. Rachael shoved me towards the tills, and soon we were back into the open air. 

"Let's go to Sephora. I want some more makeup."

Ugh.

Later that evening, after eating dinner at Rachael's house in the suburbs, I found myself in my bedroom watching (you guessed it) Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi. As the end credits rolled onto the screen, I noticed the time. 8:50pm. Blaze Boy would be here in 10 minutes. Luckily, my mother was out. With Brian. I wasn't putting much attention in her direction, though. I wanted nothing to do with Brian. Suddenly, a knock on my window threw me out of my thoughts. Sure enough, it was Blaze Boy, in full glory. Lit up by my bedroom light, his red cape bellowing behind him. I padded over to my window and lifted it up.

"Hey." He exclaimed, beginning to climb in. I stopped him and pushed him back outside.

"Not here. Mom might get back any minute. Meet me on the roof." I hissed, climbing out of the window after Blaze Boy. He took off from my window ledge and shot up to the roof in a few seconds. Meanwhile, I began climbing up the drainpipe. This drainpipe must've been made out of concrete or something. It had been holding my weight for over 10 years now. After I had shuffled up the drainpipe and made my way onto the roof, I found Blaze Boy sat near the spot Rachael and I sat last night. Meetings on the roof were becoming common.

"So, what did you want from me? That wasn't good, you know. This morning." I stated, sitting down next to him. "I'm trying to keep my normal life separate from you know, Aqua Girl and all that. I don't need you following me around the city."

For a split second, I caught a glimpse of a different Blaze Boy.  His eyes flashed with pain, sadness. In a blink it was gone. The normal, smirking Blaze Boy was back.

"Well, I apologise, Miss Cascade. But what I wanted to talk about was that ElectroNite has plans. Big plans. Plans that we need to stop." Blaze Boy replied, looking back over at the city lights.

"Plans? What do you mean?" This didn't sound too good. Something about Blaze Boy's tone of voice told me it would involve flames, water and bruises. Blaze Boy sighed before replying.

"Quicksilver. He snuck back into ElectroNite's headquarters. I'm not too sure why, probably to impress you or something, but he listened in on a meeting. ElectroNite plans on releasing a huge ball of that weird serum over the center of San Francisco. You know what that means, right?"

Shoot.

This was bigger than I anticipated.

Releasing a large volume of serum over the city? That meant any superheroes that were going about their day to day business would turn bad. And there were a lot of superheroes in this city. Some famous, some not. Some just had amazing powers. Those powers being on the wrong side would be fatal. If not for all of San Fran, but for most of America. Possibly the world.

"But when will this be? We can get planning. We need more people on our side. More supers." I declared, looking over at Blaze Boy's masked face.

"Tomorrow morning."

I swore.

"Look, Cass, Aqua Girl. We only have three of us, against a supervillain. You, me and Quicksilver."

"We can't do this, Blaze Boy. No. I refuse. This is stupid!" I cried, standing up and thinking of what could happen. Death. No, I was too young. I wanted to live for at least a hundred years. Maybe do a marathon at the age of 100. I didn't want to die.

"We can at least take a shot! We can't throw away this shot! Imagine what could happen if we don't even try!" Blaze Boy protested, standing up alongside me.

"No! This is stupid! Why the hell was I even graced with these powers anyway?!" I yelled, breaking down. I squeezed my eyes shut and instantly felt two strong hands on my shoulders, reassuring me.

"Cass. Please do this with me. If you don't agree to this, it'll only be me and Quicksilver. We need you. I need you. Please." He murmured, looking into my eyes. I looked away, thinking.

If I didn't agree to this, it would be my fault if the serum was tipped over San Francisco. If all the superheroes went rogue.

I didn't want that blame.

"Fine." I muttered, shrugging Blaze Boy's hands off of my shoulders.

"Yes!" Blaze Boy exclaimed, fist bumping the air. 

"But, there's one condition." I continued, smirking slightly.

"What?"

"You've got to buy me 10 tubs of ice cream."