Chapter 5: Breaking Me In
A few days after I discovered my Powers, Mr. Smith came to me with a proposition. He had decided apparently that I was ready for more intense training, and wanted to take me out in the field for some real work.
I was about as happy as any girl could be to do something new after weeks of boring lessons. I had my Powers, and quite frankly, I wanted to use them.
So, I agreed. Deal number two that I made with the devil. But really, who’s keeping track? Oh right, I am.
“We’ll drop you in the jungle, miles from civilization, and what I want you to concentrate on is the heat in the center of the earth. Think about it as hard as you can,” Mr. Smith instructed me as we waited for the transport to arrive wherever the heck I was going.
The helicopter stopped in midair, and the side-door opened to allow me to look outside for the first time in ages. I was surrounded by green.
“I wish Verdant could be here,” I thought sadly.
Mr. Smith had not allowed my mentor to come along on my mission—whatever it was—citing I had to do this on my own to prove I was ready to be a member of the Organization.
“Is this where I get off?” I yelled over the thump-thump of the chopper blades.
Mr. Smith replied with a cursory nod. “Yes. Just do what I told you, and if anyone tries to stop you, do whatever it takes to finish your mission.”
He gave me a commanding look. “Whatever it takes, agent. Do you understand me?”
I rolled my eyes. He was such a bossy creep. “Yes, Mr. Smith. I understand. But why would anyone try to stop me?!” I yelled back.
“Agent One, there are some Supers out there that are selfish and don’t want to help others. They try to thwart our efforts of helping the world whenever possible. I authorize you to fight back if they attack you.”
His dark eyes were deadly calm, and I had the horrible feeling that he meant I should kill them. But he did say they were bad…and I was definitely good, so in theory his orders made sense. I would do as he told me.
I nodded and latched my harness to a rope that he had tossed to the ground waiting below. The jungle greenness beckoned me. My mission called.
I slid to the ground, unlatched my harness, and watched as the helicopter bearing that man—my boss— faded away. I was tempted to run, but I had given my word, and Verdant seemed to think I was doing the right thing. I trusted his judgment.
I returned my attention to my current surroundings, taking in the lushness of the colors and the sounds of the jungle that were returning since the abnormality of the flying machine had gone.
The air was overwhelming humid, and I had a feeling that I wasn’t in America any longer. The plants were foreign and I felt like I was on another planet, much less in another country.
“Concentrate on the heat of the earth, huh?” I thought with a sigh. "Fine, I’ll do what he asked."
I walked a little ways to a nice flat spot of dirt and decaying leaves and sat down to concentrate. Deep breaths, in and out, eased me into the trance. I had only discovered my abilities less than a week ago, it’s true, but how hard could it be to use them? Verdant had worked with me in the time since my Powers manifested, and he had concluded that I was an Elemental.
That basically meant that I used the elements: fire, ice, wind, electricity (technically, he called it plasma, but since I didn’t know what that was, I just called it electricity). The big point he wanted to make to me was that my Powers were destructive in nature, and that I had to maintain control in order to keep myself in balance. Balance was key to not blowing myself up, just as nature kept itself in balance.
I felt a tingling in my chest, like flames were being coaxed into existence, but I ignored the feeling. Mr. Smith hadn’t been too clear about anything except for the part where I was supposed to think about heat. So, I pushed further into the depth of the heat, reaching for its core, and I found what I was looking for with a mental “Aha!”
Suddenly, the earth started to rumble and a shock wave jolted through the ground. I was almost knocked sideways by the force. Something wasn’t right. I could feel it in my soul, or whatever you want to call it. I just knew that the balance was wrong. I had done a no-no.
I opened my eyes, scanning the skyline, only to see a huge plume of smoke and ash rising violently from a mountaintop a few miles from my position.
“Uh-oh,” I said as I saw what I had done.
Out of nowhere, I heard someone yelling and I turned to see a group of angry people advancing on my seated position.
“I wonder what they want?” I thought with some apprehension. Whatever they wanted, I doubted it was to shake my hand and thank me for starting a volcanic eruption.
They spotted me when I stood up, and pointed accusing fingers in my direction, followed by some rather loud shouting in a language I didn’t understand in the slightest.
“I’m sorry,” I replied with my hands raised nonthreateningly, “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
One by one, they glared at me, and the leader—a male—spit in my direction. He soon followed up that gesture with a charge in my direction at lightning speed. I just managed to dodge him, and in shock, I turned to face him as he came to a stop in order to charge me again.
He was like a human bull.
“Oh my goodness…he’s a Super with the attack of a bull!” I realized with alarm.
On his second charge I instinctively threw him back with a burst of air, sending him flying into a tree.
I looked wildly around for the other two that had been with him, and just in time I saw them running at me, one with a machete and skin like a lizard, and the other jumping from tree to tree like a monkey.
“Crap. Jungle vigilantes,” I muttered to myself. Mr. Smith had been right. They sure didn’t like me helping them. If only I could suddenly develop the Super Power to speak the language of whatever kind of Asian they were.
I tossed a fireball at the one with knife, making him jump back and out of the way with a yell. He obviously didn’t like fire.
The other one was moving so often that I had a hard time keeping track of him, but I managed to hit him with a freeze blast, and he fell to the ground below with a thump. I hoped I hadn’t hurt him. I didn’t want to hurt any of them, just get them to calm down and maybe we could find someone who could interpret? They weren’t having any of that calm stuff though. They were out for blood—my blood.
While I was preoccupied with those two, I had forgotten about the bull guy, and I was hit from behind by a massive force and sent flying across the small clearing, coming to rest at the foot of a large tree. I pulled myself up slowly, cringing in pain as I thought about how many bruises I was going to have the next day, and I turned around to face my attacker.
He was pawing the ground, the guy with the machete by his side, and neither of them looked pleased to see me get up with a grim smile on my face.
“Okay, jungle dudes,” I said angrily, “You wanna fight, fine; I’ll give you a fight.”
I let loose with all I had, and all that happened afterward, was a blank.
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I got pretty much all of it, to the point that I'm thinking Mr. Smith is actually a bad guy.. why else would he want to have a volcano explode??
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