Throughout the world, Power Uppers are the hottest drug on the market. A single pill allows any Normie to obtain the power of a Super. The drawback? They're also highly addicting and the cause of most financial ruin.
Tayla wants nothing to do with s...
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"You're so full of crap! There's no way I'm a Super. Seriously. . . " Tayla waived the curling iron. ". . .How did you turn this thing on? I know you did something to my mind."
"I swear, I didn't. It was all you."
"I'm almost sixteen. Don't superpowers normally manifest before the person is five? How the hell did I go ten years without the slightest inkling of power? Answer that, genius."
Max shrugged. He couldn't answer it and she knew he couldn't. While it's true she didn't know much about actual Supers, there had never been a single case of a Super having their powers manifest after the age of five. Tayla held the curling iron out to him, shaking it.
"Turn it on again."
He shook his head, clicking his tongue. His eyes scanned the red wasteland of the dead lands before he grabbed her wrist. Max dragged Tayla toward the burnt shell of a former restaurant. The ordering station stood in pieces covered in dust with dead weeds growing out of the cracks. He waived a hand toward it.
"Touch it and tell it to power on."
Tayla raised an eyebrow. "You want me to power on the ordering station?"
Max nodded.
"This ordering station? You want me to power it on? The headless chicken with wires sticking out of it's neck and clearly hasn't been used in who knows how long?"
"If you are what I think you are, then it won't matter. So long as the electric components are still inside of it, you can turn it on."
Tayla rolled her eyes and placed a gentle hand on the rim of the metal. "Power on."
"Say it like you mean it."
"Except I don't mean it. I think you're insane."
"Just try it, princess. If I'm wrong, nothing will happen and we'll continue to stumble around blindly. If I'm right, then you can unlock that stupid curling iron thing and we can get the hell out of the dead lands before we melt." Max tugged on his shirt, shaking it. She couldn't blame him for that. She already felt like she was secreting so much bodily fluids she could be her own water slide.
Tayla sighed and touched her hand to the machine again. Max's breath brushed against her ear when he leaned closer.
"Focus on the machine. Will it to bend to your desire," he whispered. "Feel the energy churning within your body and focus your mind on that energy."
Tayla closed her eyes, releasing a slow breath. Her fingers twitched against the rigged edge of the onetime neck of the robotic chicken. A prickling wave traveled down her arm, pooling in her fingers. Green energy flickered and sparked from the wires, rising up and curling back into the shape of the chicken's head. Numbers, one's and zero's, scrolled through the energy, undulating in a waving pulse. Muscles tightened in her arms, her fingers dragged against the metal. Wind whirled through her ears, singing with the power coursing through the chicken.
