Crimson Reef ✔ A Superhero Origin Story

Chapter 16

By the time I got back to where I left Benji, my palms were tingling with nervousness. I can't wrap my head around what happened over the last couple of days. It's surreal.

My eyes flickered around the littered streets looking for the man I abandoned an hour ago. My heart clenching in my chest, just considering losing him again.

He's not here anymore.

Where is he?

They came and took him. They have your little girl too.

I need to go help them.

It's a trap, Nataline. They're going to kill you.

"Not if I kill them first," I muttered under my breath, before jumping into the water.

What's your plan?

Get in, get them, get out.

That simple, eh?

Are you going to criticize or help?

Help with what?

I don't know yet, I'll let you know.

I swam to the bottom of the reef, to a shipwreck I knew was there and touched my feet to the ocean floor. Pausing to consider that I was actually standing on the ocean floor, I run my fingers through my hair.

I looked at the ship, and coral came flying out of my palms, the dark water no competition. It went over the ship, dejected, I pulled back and tried again.

It felt like I was playing Angry Birds, each try getting me to aim better and get closer to the target. After the fifth try, the coral managed to wrap around the ship in a matter of seconds.

You're wasting your energy! You're going to need every thread of it, to face them.

It's not a waste, look.

The large ship was shrivelled into a ball, the size of a car. The ocean was silent as I swam up to the rig, power surging through my body.

When I reached the surface, I paused, closing my eyes. I could feel the emotions on the rig, they came to in waves. It was almost like I could tell where the emotion was being transmitted from, like a sonar.

Fear was coming from the office in the rig, there were three people there, each more afraid than the other.

More fear, but mostly confidence, was emitted from another group of people further inside the rig, there were six, maybe seven in a room.

Concentrating I could place about fifty people standing in my way, between me and my daughter and Benji. I could sense one of them only, right in the middle of the rig. Two confident auras with her.

Aurora was happy but confused, which told me that her father was there with her.

Benjamin was probably being kept in the lead room, to control his powers. He's too valuable for them to kill. Or at least that is the fairytale I'm spinning to myself.

I jumped onto the rig, the coral releasing the metal rails as my feet touched the floor. That was a lot easier than I anticipated. Confident, I walk towards the first of my obstacles. Their fear creeping into my head. For a second I feel overpowered by it, my feet slow down to a stop.

Think about Aurora, the ocean called, a vivid memory came into my head. Aurora and I giggling in her bedroom after we challenged each other to a tickle-fight.

And as fast as the fear came in, I pushed it out. I could feel it flow out, tingling through my body, much like the coral.

I flung open the door, it flew and landed with a crash against the railings behind me. The three men held their guns towards me with shaking hands. I looked into their eyes, then I could feel their fear expanding. They looked at each other and dropped their guns. The coral shot out and secured the three against the wall, much like a spider web.

I strode past the men and made my way down the corridor. The next group of men and women were more confident, bullets came flying the second I came into view. My coral made a shield in my palm, catching the bullets as they came towards me. When their guns made those empty, clipping sounds, I released my shield and the bullets came clattering to the floor.

They looked at their guns, then to me, before running towards me. The coral came out then, wrapping around each man and woman. I stared at the strings coming out of my palms in wonder. Seven different strings, each wrapped around an individual enemy. I broke off the ends and tied them to a pipe in the back of the room, before striding out into the corridor.

Each group I met became easier and easier to overcome. I stopped outside the door where I could feel Aurora and paused. Do I risk getting Benji first? Or do I rescue her and leave Benji here?

If I get Benji and we don't make it back here in time, will Josh really harm his own daughter?

You know that you're an idiot right? The ocean interrupted my thoughts. If you rescue Aurora and defeat the bad guys, Benji would be a lot easier to release, as there will be no more bad guys.

I rubbed my eyes in frustration. Biting my bottom lip, holding back an angry response. She was right. I am an idiot. I put my palm on to door handle, and open the door...