A Little Good Influence | Max Thunderman x Reader

Chapter 22

You were currently in a flimsy t-shirt that Hank had bought from a nearby store after you had thrown up on your sweatshirt, trying to figure out where your powers had come from if you didn't actually have the superhero gene.

Riley, you, Mr. and Mrs. Thunderman were crouched behind a computer inspecting the body scan when you had gone through the power scanner a few minutes ago.

"I'm not seeing anything." Riley muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"Maybe, it wasn't actually you, maybe it actually was one of the Thunder-twins."

You frowned, thinking back to the walk in the pouring rain when a single drop hadn't even touched you, "It came from me, I'm sure of it."

You bit your lip, thinking back to when you had your powers and your lip fell out from between your teeth and you looked at Riley in shock.

"Could an object possibly give someone powers?"

Barb's eyes furrowed, not understanding what you were implying but Riley replied before she could object, "Yes, it can."

Unease brewing in your stomach, you padded over to the table that had your jacket, rings and pin set carefully on it.

"Could this be what was causing my powers?"

Riley plucked the pin from your hands and grabbed a smaller scanner from a drawer in his desk, swiftly scanning the pin and his brows furrowed, "(Y/N), where did you get this pin?"

His sympathetic reaction turned slightly cold and your breath hitched in your throat. This was way more serious than you thought.

"U-Uhm, I got it from a street vendor. Why?"

He turned towards the tense adults standing behind the pair of you, "This is Maenite."

Their eyes widened and you looked between them, "What? What's Maenite?"

They sent you quite a cautious look, "Maenite is a kind of super gemstone. In its pure form, it can give super powers, but this isn't just found anywhere, there's a very limited supply over the world and it's under great security."

You gasped, "S-So, this wasn't me? It was all this rock?"

"(Y/N), you need to tell us where you got this pin from."

"I already told you, I got it from a street vendor."

Your head was spinning lightly and the walls were coming closer. Tears burned your eyes and your bottom lip quivered. Seeing your eyes glass over, Riley quickly calmed down, taking your hands in his.

"Are you okay?"

A small sob bubbled out of your throat and your tears feel lightly on your cheeks, "I can't believe I don't have powers."

He brought you into a small hug, cradling your head as warm tears dropped onto his shirt. Why you  felt suddenly so comfortable him was beyond you, but you allowed yourself to lean into his touch, your hands around your shaking figure.

Although, slowly, the heavy feeling in your chest became lighter even though you didn't think you were over it. Your tears dried and only red rimmed eyes remained. 

Slowly, Riley pulled away from you, "You okay?"

You nodded, frown still on your face. He gently rubbed your arms, giving you a small smile and you managed to crack one back.

"I'm sorry for getting so frustrated back then, the superhero league puts those stones on medals to honour great heroes. They could have easily fallen off and found by that street vendor."

Even though there was a slim chance of that happening, you found yourself naively agreeing to Riley's words.

"Okay."

He rubbed your arms again, "Come on, let's get you some water."

When you were younger and someone got burned, we would always just get some icy water and dip the burn in it. No matter how much the child would cry, they wouldn't let us pull it out. However, it always gave you relief in a few minutes.

However, no matter how much icy water you downed, the burning in your heart wouldn't fade.

Riley had left obediently when you had said you needed to be alone with your thoughts so now you were cautiously sipping on your drink.

"(Y/N)?" You turned around to face the sympathetic faces of Mr. and Mrs. Thunderman. They sighed seeing the dried streaks of tears on your face and runny nose, taking a seat on either side of you.

Barb wrapped an arm around you and you melted into her touch. Your skin burnt with longing and resentment. You needed more water.

 All you ever wanted was to a part of something, but it seemed that faith was constantly against you.

"Powers don't define you, (Y/N). You're so much more than a few super powers, nothing has to change." Hank said, taking your hand in his. Fire crawled between your fingers, an irritation you needed to relieve.

You let out a breath through your nose, wiping it with your sleeve, "N-No, my mother never wanted me to be part of this life a-and I don't think I should be. there was never a place for me before, why should there be now?"

She rubbed your shoulders, you needed her to stop touching you, you needed to dive, "No, don't say that, honey. There's nothing you could have done."

You stood up, pulling yourself from their touch but the burning still lingered. Looking at them with a guilty frown, you said, "I'm sorry, but I've made my decision."

"What do you mean?"

Without a second thought, you dived.

"Adam, is leaving in a couple of days and I think I want to go with him."

Barb gasped and Hank wrung his hands together, "Max is so going to kill us."