Michele & Michael
Time: Noonish
Location: In anneighboSan Francisco
Interactions:
"Eeeyy mami, wanna have some fun?âMichele looked behind her to see a couple of guys leaning against the edge of the building on the entrance to an alleyway. âNo thanks,â she replied sweetly with a slight shake of her head. Various thoughts were running through her mind as she remembered the time she lived back in Brazil. People, especially women, had to have a good head on their shoulders to avoid the everyday bullshit they had to put up with. Here in the states, it was nowhere near as bad, but that didnât mean you didnât come across an asshole or two every now and then.
She continued walking and not a moment later she felt a tug on her arm. One of the guys had approached her, with a rather strong grip at that.
âCâmon, we promise itâll be fast," he smirked, motioning at his friend to join him.
âThis is mi amigo, Jorge, heâs looking for a pretty girlfriend like you."It was then Michele decided enough was enough. With her free hand, she reached inside her purse to pull out a switchblade. Jorge noticed what was going on in time and kicked her hand, knocking the weapon down to the sidewalk. He then grabbed that same wrist while his other hand wrapped around her neck to push her against the building. By then, his friend Miguel who had done all the talking had let go of her.
âOh you think you a bad bitch, huh? Well we worse," Jorge added in a threatening voice. Michele attempted to kick him but he pushed himself against her to avoid being hit.
"Whoa! What the fuck is this!" Michael's angered voice boomed as he approached briskly. Miguel quickly put himself between Michael and Jorge.
"How bout you back up and mind your fuckin' business! Keep it moving moreno!" Miguel nodded his head in the direction he felt Michael should be moving while keeping his eyes on him.
Michael clenched his jaw as he looked past Miguel.
"Move!" Michael attempted to forcefully push past Miguel who grabbed him and in that instance electricity discharged from his body. It wasn't lethal, but enough to make the man release him all while falling backward to the ground due to the sudden jolt to his muscles.
Jorge looked behind him, seeing his friend taking a fall. He got enraged, the palm of his hands warming up until they became hot enough to burn. Michele took the chance while he was distracted and kneed him in the groin, taking him by surprise. The man took a few steps back, curling in pain and that's when Michele punched him in the face with all her might. She didn't hesitate to duplicate herself, and Jorge's eyes widened when five bodies were suddenly on him. Michael had also been taken aback by the sudden appearance of Michele's duplicates. He kept his distance, unsure what to do next, something he might regret later
Michele then picked up the knife and with one knee knelt by his shoulder. "VĂĄ para o inferno," she whispered about to fatally stab him in the face.
"Wait!" Michael called out instinctively, with his hand outreach.
"Huh?"Witnessing sudden electrical sparks danced across his fingertips caused him to stop in motion, recoiling from the sight of his newfound powers.
Someone called out to her. Michele turned her head and noticed the man who had arrived to help her. The look on his face was...
interesting, almost as if he were surprised by his abilities. Confident her clones would take care of Jorge, she handed the blade to one of them and stood up to face him.
âThanks for your help. Are youââ Michele stopped, realizing just then her wrist and her neck felt like they were on fire. âOw! What did he do?â She looked down and noticed the red mark on her wrist. Was the bastard going to burn her alive?
"It's not a problem. I was just uh⌠wait, what the hell⌠did he do to you?" Concerned, Michael took a step toward Michele, noticing first-degree burns in the shape of the thug's hands on her neck and wrist.
"He's an alteredâŚ" Michael said softly, almost as if he was commenting entirely to himself as he glanced f at the man at the mercy of the woman's clones.
"You are tooâŚ" Michael wasn't sure what he should do now, but staying here wasn't a good plan. He looked around and noticed a few onlookers.
"We should get out of here. Walk, drive, or skip, I don't care either way. The cops aren't going to be cool if they show up and I find us⌠in this." He motioned his hand towards the clones and the two men on the ground.
"I agree.â
One of her clones then got up, smiling at Michele as she handed over the weapon. She hadnât stabbed the man, merely held the blade against his neck. Still smiling, she simply disappeared from sight as so did the rest. âIn here,â Michele motioned towards the alley, having Michael follow her. She could see the other side led into a street that wouldnât have so many prying eyes on them. âYou saved me back there, I owe you.â
"It was nothing. You and⌠the others did most of the work." He commented humbly.
As she walked rather briskly, Michele was holding her injured wrist, feeling the heat radiating to her hand. âWhatâs your name? Iâm Michele.â She looked behind her to see if anyone was following them, but no one had entered the alley.
"I'm MichaelâŚ" He furrowed his brows as he kept up with Michele.
"Do you need to ice it?" He looked around as if he was going to find a mystical pallet of ice bags.
"I probably should, yeah...â
They walked some more until they reached the other end of the alley. Michele looked both ways, seeing business going on as usual. âAlright, we should be okay for now. Come on.â
She then headed in the same direction she was heading before. âCare to come to the store with me? I feel like I might need more than just ice."
"Sure thing." He had no reason to decline. He wanted to help, and this was the first altered he had met outside of Floyd, Rita, and Luna. He gave her a warm smile before the two headed to the store. The cashier had stared frequently at Michele, wondering how she received those burns. The cashier also had stared at Michael, wondering if he was the culprit. Like any other large city, people minded their business, so wondering was the most the cashier did outside of cashing the purchase of an ice bag, two blue gatorades, and a pack of spearmint gum. Michael paid, not giving Michele a chance to retort. He was deliberate about it.
Once the two exited the corner store, Michael took a swig out of one of the gatorade bottles before dumping both out. He then filled the empty wide-mouth bottles with ice from the large ice bag. He offered one of the bottles to Michele.
"Use this for your neck and give me your wrist." He aimed to help her out ice on both spots at once.
"Is home close?"Michele extended her arm while putting the bottle up to her neck. Upon contact, she winced a little in response to the pain. âYeah, itâs not that far, just two blocks away. Iâve never even seen those guys before,â she added, shaking her head.
A while later, the two arrived at Micheleâs apartment. As soon as one entered, the kitchen was off to the right and the living room area to the left. There was a dining table in between the two spaces near the balcony, that which was straight ahead, taking the entire length from wall to wall. Her bedroom would be off to the far left corner as the balcony extended to the bedroom as well, and the bathroom was off to the right behind the kitchen. It wasn't on the scale of Floyd's condo, but the place was nicely set up. Tidy, like a one-bedroom ought to be.
âCome on in.â She held the door open for him, inviting him inside. His eyebrows raised, but he didn't hesitate to take the invitation to enter. He shut the door behind him and followed Michele into the living room area to take a seat on her chocolate brown sectional couch. He sat adjacent to her, giving her a clear viewing of the now black television screen.
"Powers⌠I still can't believe it. I got into a superpower fight. If you can even call it that." Michael chuckled trying to make light of the very bizarre situation. Knowing powers existed and having them was like night and day.
âTheyâre something alright,â Michele went on, âitâs just a matter of getting used to them. And to think, had I been back in Brazil I would have never had my own. Not that I can fly or walk through walls,â she added with a bit of a laugh, âbut itâs definitely something to get used to. If I may,â Michele pulled away the bottle of ice to give her neck a break. She also repositioned herself to make herself more comfortable, "I think you need to figure out how to control your power and you also need to figure out just how powerful it can be. I heard there have been numerous cases of Altered accidentally killing themselves because they werenât aware of their own strength." Michael winced at the thought of that happening to him. Dying from his own powers would be horrible.
"It's like a weapon in a wayâŚ" He took a pause, knowing Michele's words were the hard truth.
"You seem to have a good grip on yours. Mine aren't the same, but there should be some type of likeness, right?" He held his hands out, cupping them. Michele backed away just the slightest, a bit preoccupied as to what would occur.
"If I focus on my hands, I can make itâŚ" bluish-purple electricity started to course and gather in his palms.
"There!"âSee, thatâs good! You concentrated on what you needed to do and you made it happen. Iâm not gonna lie, it took me a while to get the hang of it."
"The only problem is, Sometimes I do it without trying to. During that scuffle⌠and at work which almost made me lose my job. Did your powers ever go without you trying to?"âThey did, yes, thatâs how I found out about them. But the learning process shouldnât take all that long, you just need to find a safe place to practice.â It seemed easier said than done for Michael, but what else was he meant to do. His powers weren't that crazy anyway. He basically had taser hands.
"So kind of like anything else in life. Practice makes perfect." It was then Michele realized something. âOh, um, Iâm sorry I didnât ask you before, do you want anything to drink by the way?"
"Sure, what do you have? You take me as the exclusively water type of person." He jested.
She got up, laughing a little. âIâve learned not to judge people too quickly,â Michele added, walking over to the kitchen, âso if you want juice, I have that. If you want something a little bit
stronger, I have too,â she smirked and he smirked back.
"I'll take stronger for sure. What's your poison?" He was glad to have met Michele? She was friendly and was someone he saw himself spending time with.
âUnfortunately, I donât have just one...rum, wine, tequila, or vodka?â
Michele poured herself some wine, not wanting to drink anything too heavy this early in the day. She then walked over to Michael and handed him his