Draped against the warm light of the morning sun was the curvaceous body of Elisha Westwind, whom according to my experience, was as annoying as she was beautiful. Her piercing black eyes complimented her full lips as she questioned me for hours as I took a rest on her campsite. Her dirty brown hair, dressed in a ponytail, swayed side to side, her hands unstoppable as she took a notepad and started scribbling down everything she noted differently about me.
"So you're not an undead who was granted eternal un-life by a wish from a powerful yet eccentric wizard?" She asked for the fifth time, though this one had a wizard in it.
"No, I'm merely a-thank you- superhuman." I answered again, taking the can of cooked beans she handed me. It turns out that a regenerative ability comes at a great price: hunger. Thankfully, my new companion had a truck-full of canned goods, though most of it was chili beans, asparagus, and corn. Still, to a starving stomach that recently went through almost 10 G's of force, these cans are a god-send.
"Like superman?" She asked, swallowing a spoon-full of baked bean before spitting it out. "Phew! Ugh. Don't know how people eat this shit? How are you on your 3rd can?"
"Don't like it either, but I'm so goddamn hungry right now. And yes. Like superman."
"So does that mean you'll be a superhero"
"Hah. Of course not. Why would you think that?"
"Well, you know what they say: With great power comes--"
"Great obligation to a society that will most probably take your help for granted."
"Well--"
"Great interest from both local and foreign powers that will inevitably capture, experiment, and dissect me"
"Alright--"
"Or inject me with something that'll make me compliant enough to be trained as a breeding bull. Either way, they'll be able to reproduce their own personal vat of super soldiers."
"Alright, fine. Jeez!" She waved her hands to stop my cynical reasons, a hesitant smile adorning her freckled face. Her hands then went to her waist, holding it akimbo as she spoke with a faux southern twang. "Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine and rainbows?"
"Oh, I am. Trust me. But a lot of 'sunshine and rainbow people' gets fucked over, so I try my best to not be that."
"Alright, consider my mind changed." She answered, stashing her notepad into her orange hiking jacket's side pocket.
"Why are you here, anyway? I thought nobody hiked past this mountain."
"Where'd you get that idea? People hike up this mountain too. The storm just had an enormous surface area."
"Wait. Did the storm hit other cities, too?"
"Yeah, you didn't know? It wasn't just a single storm. Multiple typhoons appeared in major cities all over the world, there were even reports of smaller towns getting hit too."
"Holy shit. What's the government doing?"
"Usual shit. Slow, but they've sent a few hundred planes around the country, parachuting goods into the city and coordinating with local and federal governments. There's supposed to be an impromptu meeting next Friday in the U.N. headquarters."
"Well, I guess I know my plans next Friday." I whispered to myself, noting down her valuable and, possibly, classified information. "So the canned good are for charity?"
"Yeah. Wanted to find my friends and thought might as well hit two birds with a stone. Now, my turn. Why did you tell me about your powers?" She hurriedly asked another question, dodging further questions about why she was trekking alone on an enormous mountain.
"I didn't. You stumbled into me, remember?"
"Yeah, but you willingly--"
"Begrungingly."
"--accepted my help. You also could've just flew away the moment your body healed enough to swallow 4 fucking cans of beans, Mr. Edgelord!" She pointed to the corner of the log I was sitting on, littered with 3 haphazardly opened cans of beans.
A chuckle escaped me as I dropped another can at the pile before picking up another one. Such is the life of somebody who has a, metaphorically, nest of healing ants in his body. "You can call me, Jerry."
"Ew."
"Its short for Jericho, asshole."
"Oh, that's better."
"Anyway, I figured it wouldn't hurt having your help, seeing as you're a Westwind. I heard they're pretty generous." I said with a knowing smile as I watched her visibly cringe and shudder at my mention of her surname. "C'mon, who hadn't heard of the Westwind Chronicles?"
"Jeez, thought we'd part ways before you could think of that." A sheepish smile appeared on her face.
"Don't worry about it. I've met bigger names." My words seemed to soothe her worries, though her former approach towards me seemed to have mellowed down. The woman seemed to have retained a semblance of restraint and embarrassment. That's good to know. "Also, I was just really thankful for your help. The woman who raised me from perdition had instilled many things from me, but one of the most important ones was to always, and she means always, repay your debts."
"Wow. She sounds intense." She said as she packed up the equipments we had used. "But I guess you need to be to raise someone like you."
Standing up and limply helping her clean up, I let out a sharp chuckle. "You had to be to survive rural Italy."
The cleaning took no more than a few minutes and Elisha, for all of her annoying questions, was rather responsible for her part in preserving the environment as she took out a bag, which she put all our garbage inside of. Placing our garbage atop the trunk of her chrome Nissan Titan, Elisha entered the driver's side before opening the passenger's. Her hands repeatedly tapping its leather chair, motioning for my body to sit on it.
"C'mon, I'll drive you to your place." She supplied her gesture, a hopeful smile on her face.
Despite my ability to fly faster than a bullet, it took me a few hours just to reach the largest mountain range in North America accurately. So with my skill and luck, it will probably take me until the high noon to reach my home. "Sure, it's just a north of here."
The truck trembled under my weight as I entered it. I have yet to fully master restraining my strength, but one could hardly fault me for it, seeing as it had not been twenty-four hours since I discovered it.
Vroom!
The truck emitted a deep growl as Elisha turned her keys. The mountain ranges are now being bathed in the light of day, shedding light on our environ, allowing us to see the incoming group of people.
A frustrated, light-skinned, tall blonde, accompanied by two other grunts with varying expression of annoyance, trudged up the hiking trail and towards the truck. It was safe to say that I did not like the look on their faces, so too did Elisha as she tightened her grasp on the steering wheel. Her eyes welling up as she hurriedly pressed the car pedals, but she soon stopped, my hands on her shoulder..
"What's up?" I asked, as if my ears could not pick up the increased heart rate and the sight of the sweat dripping on her back.
"It's them. I came with them here," she said through giant huffs and gritted teeth. Closing her eyes to not remember whatever memories she experienced not too long ago. "Before you crashed. They were going to rape me."
Oh, shit.
Well, this is awkward. I went meek at her sudden confession. My thoughts then racing towards a possible and appropriate response to her words, though none came to mind. All throughout the latter parts of my childhood, I had been closely involved with women of different genders. They have, through forced or voluntary, means enabled me to gain respect and admiration for the female species as a whole. In fact, when my younger self browsed through libraries to find historical contexts of female history, I was blown away by the sheer determination they shown and horrified by the laws of a bygone soceity that deemed them inferior to their male counterparts.
I contemplated seeking vemgeance in her stead, seeing as I am quite literralty the strongest man in the world. Which, I know, is quite ironic seeing as I had just recounted my feminist ideology. But I wondered the idea of Cassandra or Rian being in her position, what would have I done then? What will I do now? Elisha is my friend. Well, close acquintance and she has helped me quite a lot. Thus, I concluded a single answer, but to accomplist it, one must first have consent.
"Not to be a white knight or shit like that, but want me to do something?" I asked, opening my car door to let in the fresh mountain air, hopefully helping her to breathe through whatever was happening to her. "I could kill them for you."
"What!? Jesus, god no." Appalled by my suggestion, she hurriedly shook her head in refusal, but a thought seemed to have bloomed in her mind as she looked at me, then at the men who were rapidly approaching the truck. "Just hurt them. Bad."
With a decisive nod, I disembarked from the truck and closed the door before swaggering towards the men. A grin escaping my face as my hands wrapped cracked my neck, thoughts racing as I soon found myself increasingly excited at the thought of having a live target practice.
"What the fuck are you looking at, man?" The left-most grunt, fairer-skinned than his leader, said, as he walked faster, passing by the other two, straight towards me. Most probably in hope of waylaying me so that the blonde could trouble Elisha.
The grunt and I soon came face to face, his body squaring up to me. He must have thought his toned muscle underneath his grey shirt would intimidate me. My smile widened at his actions. "Oh, please! Talk to me when you can pop an egg between your abs." I mocked as I deftly grabbed the hem of his clothes and yanked him upwards towards the direction of the Twin Lakes.
"ARGHHHHHHhhhhhhh..."
Whoosh!
Although my accuracy left a lot to be desired, I would hazard a guess that he'll land in the lake. He whizzed past his buddies as his body sailed the boundless sky, growing smaller and smaller until I and his companions can no longer see him. My smile widened some more, reaching up to ears as I gazed towards the others and saw their horrified expression. My face might have been too giddy for once they saw my smiling face, for the other dark-skinned grunt screamed and ran backed the hiking path.
I then focused my attention towards the other two as solemnity replaced my radiant smile. "Now, for the rest of you... I am Jericho, and I'm here to punish you."