Thicker Than Water (A Superhero Story)

[Shadowwell]

Thicker Than Water
​

Sometimes, I wish I was never born with my powers. I mean sure, they can be awesome at times, but they come with quite a bit of baggage, for me at least. The problems start with my parents, kind of, my mother, bless her heart, was normal, my father however was a Superhuman. For the short time he operated he went by the name Soldier Boy, had enhanced physical attributes and such. It is with their parent however that it gets interesting, my paternal Grandfather was a WW2 vet, not only that, but he was one of the first public Superheroes, my maternal Grandfather, was one of the first Supervillains.


That would not be a problem, except at that time, few if any laws or codes about Secret Identities existed. Sure, they each had one, but it was more of a formality, the public new who they were. My Dad’s dad was the Commander, had powers similar to my father, but more advanced, though not a one man army, he was as effective as one. Mom’s dad was called the Phantom, no one was sure what exactly his powers were, but during his time, he was nearly uncatchable. If it was just this, I could live with it, but nearly every member of their families had powers, an anomaly and were involved in crime, fighting it or committing them.


As for who I am, I am a man, with powers far beyond my understanding, trying to live my life separate from the squabbling Hero and Villain communities.

 

[Jtec]

So what are these "powers" and why are they genetic. Enhancing something implies external environmental influences which are completely separate from a mutation in one's genes.

 

[Shadowwell]

So what are these "powers" and why are they genetic. Enhancing something implies external environmental influences which are completely separate from a mutation in one's genes.

That was just to serve as a synopsis of sorts, real info and such would come as the story progresses. As for your question, the Powers are Superpowers and Magic, magic potential is rare and is dependent on your blood, whereas superpowers are dependent upon the Super/Meta Gene, part of that is expalined in the Prologue chapter.

 

[Shadowwell]

Prologue: Effects of Heroism
​

Within a room, that looked more like some media exaggerated image of a conspiracy theorists room, stood a woman. She was tall, standing at just a few inches short of six feet, and she was beautiful, not in a hot way that most people thought of beauty, but in a classical elegant way. She had long auburn hair that cascaded down her back in curled tresses, even being dressed in a tank top and sweats, unquestionably casual attire, could detract nothing from her elegance and beauty. She was a Princess, a rarity certainly, even rarer would be that in the Country she is from, she actually holds some amount of power.

Things would have been very different had she not met him, 8 years ago, things would have been very different indeed. It happened at a ball, well the equivalent of one, she was young at the time, and she had only just turned 20. She had been standing idly in a corner, gazing at all the lavishly dressed fools gallivanting about like peacocks. Though she was a Princess, the only one in fact, she had tried to distance herself as much as she could from matters at Court. The whirring of a helicopter overtook the sounds of revelry, and a silence emerged.

Though many guests had arrived in a similar manner, none of them were so disrespectful as to arrive so unfashionably late. When the chopper became closer, the crowd became froze with fear, as missiles left the chopper and cleanly destroyed the nearest guard outpost to the event. Soon enough other choppers emerged and dozens of armed assailants sprang from them. The remaining guards put up a valiant effort but it was no use, though they were well armed and well trained, their opponents were more so.

Even worse, they were Juicers, the street term for those who gained powers from repeated use of a certain serum. Not every serum was the same, most low level street varieties lasted a short time and many were mixed with addictive drugs. What they did, was temporarily awakened the powers of the Super Gene, and could permanently awaken them in some rare cases, though most Juicers powers were tied to the Serum, so they would be relatively useless without it.

The intruders made short work of guards, though a few broke off from the main bunch to loot the partygoers, the vast majority were following a largely built imposing man. They were going from person to person, pushing most aside, but killing a select few. As they came closer and closer, the Princess realized what they were doing, though it seemed relatively random, they were weeding out those in line for succession of the Throne, even as far down as the 56th in line.

As that unfortunate man fell to the ground, blood leaking from his crushed form, they approached her vicinity. They did not even need to observe or check her, to see who she was; her appearance was rather well known. She had not hidden, mostly due to being frozen with fear; she was still in the corner of the room, where she had been for most of the ball. The apparent leader was largely built, extremely so, not even the bulky armor everyone wore could disguise that fact.

He like most of his men had a set of vials strapped to their waists in protective casings first designed back in WW2 when Serums were first invented. As the leader approached her the others with him broke off and started to round up everyone. Soon enough the only individuals standing were the intruders and the Princess. The larger man gazed at her for a time, ad appraised her, soon enough he opened his mouth and spoke.

“Dear Princess, I have been wanting to meet you for quite some time. My name is Victor Armstrong, and unfortunately I am going to have to be the one to end your life today. Do not get me wrong, I was once an avid supporter of yours, unfortunately, your lack of enthusiasm and involvement concerning affairs of Court, have led to this Purging. Do not appear so disheartened and guilty, this would have happened regardless. Unfortunately it is time.”

As the man finished speaking he gave a somewhat sad sounding sigh before he backed up. The Princess looked on in fear as the man raised a palm towards her before clenching it. She cried out in pain and terror as she felt herself be lifted off of her feet and a force started pressing against her body. It was then that something truly strange happened, a fog rolled in. It was readily apparent that is was no natural fog however, simply by its color alone. The fog was darkness, not just an inky blackness, but an actual darkness that flowed over and clung to all it touched.

The intruders nearest to it pivoted and fired on it, with their firearms and their powers, none risked moving into it or within melee distance. A near silence emerged as the men with weapons started reloading; it was then that the fog exploded into action. It flowed over those that had tried attacking it, more gunfire could be heard, but that was silenced soon enough. As the fog flowed forward the unconscious bodies and dismantled weapons of the intruders were revealed as the fog of darkness released them.

The leader of the group turned around, but not before using his power to toss the Princess at a wall. As her form impacted against the wall, she crumpled and fell, semi-conscious to the floor, the leader watched this before turning around to get a bearing on the situation.

“Damnit.” He exclaimed “It’s Shade the fuck somehow tracked us down, EVERYONE ATTACK, JEFFREYS, GET THE SUPPRESSORS IN PLACE.”

After yelling orders to his men, he faced the mass of fog, no, Shade. He raised an arm towards it, and used his power, as he did Shade and the fog moved forward. Several holes and gaps appeared in the writhing mass of fog, as a result of Armstrong’s power. Inside the fog, a dark figure literally oozing darkness was fighting skillfully with the poor souls his fog drew in. The fog would billow out from his form to fill the holes made by Armstrong.

As the figure fought and disabled most of the attackers, it bought time for the second in command, Jeffreys, to set up their trump card for dealing with other superhumans. Suppressors were the closest thing to a nullifier that existed, true nullifiers were impossible, and any facsimiles were faulty at best. The minute the suppressors were activated, the mass of fog started to be compressed. Soon enough, the figured that could be glimpsed inside the fog was revealed. Shade was tall, over six feet at least, but not taller than Armstrong, he was nowhere near as muscular, but still had a toned build, from what could be seen. Shade turned towards the leader, who was in front of the remaining intruders and spoke.

“Hello Armstrong, surprise seeing you here.” He gave a chuckle before continuing. “Ok, that was a lie, we both know why I am here. You made a mistake robbing the Merchant, you might have gotten away with this whole foolish endeavor, but I owed them a favor. Anyways, let just get this over with.”

Following his words, Shade exploded into motion, though his powers were lessened by the Suppresors, they were still present. He took out Jeffreys and his team, not bothering to mess with the Suppressors they had set up not long ago. Even without the use of his fog, he made relatively short work of most of those present. Soon enough every combatant except for Armstrong and Shade, was either dead, unconscious, lying broken on the ground, or incapacitated in some way.

Shade was breathing evenly, while Armstrong, though unharmed, was in a much less composed state. He was seething with rage and incredulity, though he like most that were a part of the Superhuman world had heard rumors of Shade. It was said that when he was young, someone had captured him when he first started out as a Villain. That man subsequently vanished, as did the organization behind him. Shade came back after that, changed, he was more powerful than he had been, and swiftly established himself in the super-powered community as a villain everyone wanted to hire.

With a bellow Armstrong launched himself at the smaller darkness clad man. The already impressive punches and kicks exhibited by is physique was being further enhanced by the use of his power. He sent a flurry of jabs and kicks at Shade, which the other man dodged with ease. Though he was stronger and more powerful physically, Shade was even more so. He dodged most moves, and those that hit her parried with a skill beyond the years of most people who have not trained for a lifetime.

They went about fighting for a relatively long period of time, the moves of Shade that connected, were absorbed by Armstrong’s power. The stalemate ended when Armstrong delivered a particularly devastating right hook. Had it connected it was possible that the fight could have ended for Shade, it didn’t however, so the fight went the other way. Shade did a swift roll backwards, the absence of Shade caused the momentum to carry Armstrong forward, into Shade as he rose from his roll. He grabbed Armstrong’s arm and rolled back, in a motion similar to a throw or jackknife maneuver.

Shade didn’t let go however, instead most of his body, twisted and flowed, in a way a human shouldn’t be able to. Only Shade’s arms remained solid, the rest of him flowed and moved until his form solidified and Armstrong’s arm was pinned behind his back and wrenched upwards. Usually such a casually done move would only cause pain in its recipient, here however, an audible crack could be heard and those present all winced. Shade gave a forceful push, causing Armstrong to stumble forward, the arm dangling lifelessly at his side.

Before Armstrong could react Shade gave a leg sweep knocking the large man to the ground. A cheer from the crowd resounded, with a few of the bolder ones retrieving their personal effects from the fallen intruders. During all this, Shade approached the fallen Princess, his footsteps calm and even. She jolted into a more conscious state as a voice emerged. It was pleasant and soothing, though still deep and gravelly as it was when Shade had spoken earlier.
“Hey Princess, ah, you are still conscious? Surprising. I am about to heal you, you are probably about to experience a pain greater than any you have ever felt, but you will live, so please, bear with it if you can.”

Moments after his words faded, tendrils of darkness impacted against her. They wrapped her in a cocoon of fluid darkness, always moving, though that was difficult to see. At first she felt nothing; any noise made was smothered by the void she was in. She could not move, nor speak, even if she wished to, but she didn’t, she was too preoccupied with the pain she was experiencing. It wasn’t just a pain of the body, no; it was a mind and soul searing pain that eclipsed everything else.

She could feel things one does not normally feel, she could feel her individual cells pop, burst, scatter, then reform. This could be felt throughout her body, things bursting, and then reforming, from her cells to the constructs they formed. Her skin peeled and blistered, before healing and reforming, leaving behind a smoother pristine skin than had been there previously. As her body was repaired, a soothing warmth was left behind.

Her body was not just repaired, made whole, it was made better. Her muscles became capable of greater strength, tendons and joints gained greater flexibility. Similar changes were occurring throughout her body, Shade’s ‘healing’ was not healing, in the truest sense. What it did, was returned things to the state they should have been in if they were not sullied by impurities. Though she would not be a superhuman, when this was over she would be better than most non Superhumans could ever hope to be, and her build would stay the same, just improved.

Soon enough she returned to consciousness, this was highlighted by the signals her body was getting as the cocoon surrounding her melted away. Her reborn body was more sensitive, and what normally would only be unpleasant was rather painful. As she came to terms with the changes somewhat, and the stimulus lessened, she heard the same calming voice.

“You’re welcome Princess. Do not think of me as a hero, I was here due to less than virtuous intentions. You should be okay, be careful though, the healing process had some effects that you might have some trouble coming to terms with.”

As more friendly personnel and choppers could be heard arriving, her savior, Shade left in a flash of black, his remaining fog dissipating slowly. The authorities and their assistants checked over the remaining guests, the Princess included. After they finished checking her out, the Princess gazed off into the horizon. Though most people would think she was in shock, the truth was she was planning. She would find her savior, she would meet him again, no matter what it took. She had access to the resources of an entire country after all, she just had not used them at all up to that point.

As the Princess broke out of her reminiscence she gazed at the map in front of her, and circled a City, the City of Cross Timber, on the shores of Lake Eyrie. She broke out into a pleased grin and spoke to herself. “I have found you, my Shade, soon enough we will meet properly.”

 

[Shadowwell]

Chapter One​

James Williamson was having a less than stellar day, though that was not an uncommon occurrence for him. Though his superhero identities weren’t exactly a secret, few went through the effort of discovering them, let alone acting on that knowledge. There were some however, some villainous punks with just enough power that they had delusions of grandeur, that would go after him. Such an incident was happening currently, a certain Super, known as Bruiser, had assaulted him as he left his classes for the day.

Most Villains left him alone, just due to the prestige of his grandfather’s Moniker alone. James had taken it for a time, wanting to make his grandfather proud. He was far less powerful than his Grandfather, Marcus, Phantom, had been in his prime was untouchable during the night. James could generate a fog of darkness, and he could control and tweak everything within that darkness. That was not the extent of his abilities, but one of the many things he shared with his Grandparents, on either side.

He was not the only superhuman at the school he was currently attending, but was one of the few that was not currently registered or active. Bruiser, also known as Bruce Donovan was a low level Villain who was heavily involved in the criminal activities within Darkholme University. He was once an up and coming boxer, but was fined and banned from any sporting events after his power manifested during a particularly brutal championship match and accidentally killed his opponent.

He acted as muscle for some of the more organized criminal organizations operating out of Cross Timber. That was not what he wanted to be doing though, as a boxer, he had tasted fame, greatness, and prestige. That was the reasoning behind the current attack Bruiser was directing towards James.

“Come on Bruce, you don’t have to do thi-?!?!?”

James’ last plea towards Bruce was interrupted by an attack from the larger man. James rolled out of the way, the ground being cracked by the force of Bruiser’s gravity enhanced punch. Moments after Bruiser removed his fist from where it was embedded in the concrete. He fully righted himself before gazing at James and speaking. His voice was surprisingly cultured and refined, despite his brutish appearance.

“I can’t do that James, You might be more skilled than I, but you are two engrossed with staying and appearing to be normal. I on the other hand, have been embracing my abilities. Now stand up and fight me, you pansy.”

James simply sighed; he stayed silent, not responding to bruiser. As the more muscularly built man threw another punch, this one was blocked, instead of dodged, the force behind the punch pushed James back. He wrapped an arm around Bruiser’s limb and tried to launch him backwards, but was unable to due to Bruiser’s power. James was then sent flying; he impacted with a thud against the brick walls of the alleyway. He picked himself up from among the crumbled remains of the bricks from the asphalt, which was cracked with old age and disrepair.

James closed his eyes for a brief moment, as he did so Bruiser moved towards him preparing to finish the fight. As the large fist inched closer and closer, time seemed to slow down, just as it was about to hit, James exhaled. At that point, everything changed, darkness flashed and the entirety of the alleyway was consumed by darkness. Just as soon as it appeared, it vanished; the scene it revealed was one rather different from what had been in the alley before.

James was standing, leaning against the brick wall, much as he had been, though the rest of the alley was very different. Bruiser was unconscious on the ground, his clothes were in tatters, numerous bruises and marks could be seen on his body. The more notable changes however, involved the alley itself, the wall that had been damaged when James hit it was repaired, even the asphalt covered ground was less cracked than it was, but still bore the marks of time.

He gazed down at the unconscious and barely breathing form of Bruiser before shaking his head. James had been breathing heavily; even such a seemingly casual display of his power was more than a bit taxing on him. For the past several years, he had stopped exercising his powers and had instead started to become more involved in more normal ventures. This had understandably caused degeneration in his skills, though he could handle over ambitious fools like Bruiser easily enough, truly powerful villains could potentially deal with him.

Even if some powerful villain did take him on, there were few who would go against his family; his Grandfather’s alone had contacts among many notable active and inactive Heroes and Villains. He reached into his faded pants to pull out his cell to call an acquaintance to deal with Bruiser, at that moment however, an enchanting voice called out from behind him.

“That will not be necessary James; I will have someone deal with this fool.”

James sighed before placing his phone back and turning around. He gazed at the familiar intruder and drank in her from. She was shorter than his 6 feet 3 height by a good half foot, though it did nothing to detract from her allure. She had short blonde hair just long enough that it framed her heart shaped face. She wore a pair of dark blue jeans that encased her hips like a second skin; she wore a colorful plaid button up shirt.

Altogether the get up matched with her hair and eye color, a mesmerizing royal blue, made her look very much like the stereotypical image many had of a country girl. Truthfully though, due to her very nature, she could wear a burlap sack and still look better than most women prized for their beauty. IT was just how she was made, literally, her powers had to do with beauty and maintaining it in a sense, this led to her being nearly immortal and surprisingly capable in a fight.

After a time, James finally spoke. “Hello Jess, last I heard you had left the group you grew up in, the Sins, and now joined some big shot Villain group, what was it called, the Society I think it was? Anyways, what are you doing here; I washed my hands of all of you when I left.”

There was a brief pause before Jess known in the Villain community as Lust, responded. Her voice was less alluring; it held a solemn vulnerability to it, hinting at the truth of what lurked beneath the shell formed by her powers.

“I know why you left all of us, but I truly have missed you James. That by itself is reason enough for me to be here, but that is not the only reason. The Society has sent me here to keep an eye certain operations they have going on within Cross Timber.”

She then turned and started to stride away, her shoes tapping rhythmically on the hard asphalt. The tapping stopped as Jess paused and looked back over her shoulder to address James a final time. “Stay safe James, and don’t worry about the fool, I will send someone to clean the area up, least I can do for you.”

Just before she turned and continued walking away, James gave a sigh and nodded, Jess beamed in response before giving a final wave. James watched as she walked away, he gave yet another sigh before tearing his eyes from her form and stepping backwards. If anyone was watching, he would seem to fall through the shadows of the alleyway; this was one of the abilities he shared with the original Phantom, Shadow Walking. It was also called Shadow Travel, it was simply put, the ability to traverse and navigate one’s way through shadows and darkness to a destination.

Just outside the house he was staying at, his form emerged from the shadows between his home and his neighbor’s house. As the thin film of darkness covering his form melted away a cry of surprise erupted from somewhere behind him. He turned around to look, but his vision was obscured by a mass of shockingly red hair, as the person who gave the cry fell forward. James’ arms shot forward as he caught her, as he pulled her up she stumbled once more accidentally pushing her body against him.

As her body impacted against him, she, Candace Marie Clark, blushed, the pink hue spreading across her pale flesh at a rapid speed. She righted herself swiftly and pushed herself away from him, she hid her face from him in embarrassment. She recovered after some time; James just leaned back against the side of his house, keeping an eye on Candace as an amused smirk graced his features. This was not an uncommon occurrence with her, she blushed easily.

Although she was a rather powerful Super, her unique upbringing and her inherent clumsiness made her shy away from any sort of work Supers usually partook. She was one of the few from his life as an active participant in Hero and Villain affairs, that he kept in contact with. When he moved here, she followed after him, she had been planning on transferring to a different college, Cross Timber coincidentally happened to house Darksome, so it all worked out in the end.

The first time the two of them met, Candace was being harassed by a group of thugs working for the local organized crime group. She had been operating her parents floral shop, had been for a while since they were killed. In order to keep it running, she had to take loans; few legitimate businesses would finance such a risky endeavor, so she had to go to less scrupulous individuals. For a time she was able to keep up with the payments, as her powers aided her in making the shop carry unique and popular varieties of flowers and plants.

Unfortunately, a recent fight between two supers, one with fire and one with ice powers, ended up killing most of her plants. This caused her to have to dip into her emergency funds, but it only got worse from there, other incidents wore away at what extra funds she had. Eventually she began missing payments, which was what led to her current situation. Though she was powerful, there were limits, she was specialized in that, she could manipulate plants freely, altering them at her will.

However she could not make them do something out of their own nature, not so casually anyways. Had the harassed her at her shop, she could have dealt with them easily enough, but away from there, in an area bereft of soil and natural life, she was powerless, or nearly so. They accosted her just as she left a specialty store some distance from her house. It was an occult shop, ran by a powerful individual, who was a practitioner of magic and other things. The shop was a mysterious thing, when you needed to buy something it just appeared, but after you finished, it disappeared.

It was at this moment, that the 3 men came up to her, and started harassing her. The leader of the group was an enforcer for a local Italian crime family. His name was Luka Brasini; he was the illegitimate child of the local Mob Boss. His powers, seemed mundane, making him stronger than most humans could be, but also boosting his other attributes. That however was not the true effect of his abilities, he could control biology, simply put, he could shift his skin and bones, even blood around, and that of others as well.

He was arguably, one of the most dangerous Supers in the city, currently, it was one of the reasons he was considered the right hand man of his father. He was arrogant, ambitious, and cocky, but he also knew who he could and could not offend within the city and the country to a lesser extent.

“Sweetheart, you knew what would happen if you failed to keep up with the payments. You read the fine print; you knew this would happen that was why you were here right; you were buying wards to protect your shop? That is a no no Miss Clark, you see, it does not set a good example for us if we let someone indebted to us make our services obsolete. Though you do not take protection from us, the point is still the same; we must collect sooner than later.”

The man finished speaking, as he did so, he directed one of his cronies to grab her. A slimmer, lankily built man moved forward and mad movements to grab Candace; she pushed him away before he could get a good grip. As he regained his balance Candace tried to flee, but the other man moved into her path and blocked her way. Luka moved behind her, preparing to strike her, his raised arm was stopped by something, he froze and a chill ran down his spine as a voice most in the city feared came from behind him.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Luka, Luka, Luka, see, we have a conflict of interest here. While I could care less what you do to people in your own territory, I am no saint after all, but for you to go so brazenly into a place belonging to your superiors, I am thinking maybe I should just make good on my threat to erase your little group. No you know what, I got an even better idea, I’m sure I could have some people take out the Syndicate, your protectors, how does that sound?”

Luka and the other two men started shivering and trembling, knowing full he could make good on the threat, and that it wasn’t truly a threat, more a description of what would happen if they went against him.

“T-that won’t be necessary Mister Williamson sir, we will get out of here, but she owes us money.” Luka stammered in reply.

“No, I think not, you see, now that I got a good look at this one, she seems to be quite my type. Yeah, I think I shall keep this one for myself. You can go back to Giovanni and tell him that he can take her worth out of what he owes me.”

Luka and his goons nodded and fled swiftly, stumbling all over themselves as they did so. James walked closer; Candace started trembling at the sound of his shoes tapping on the ground. He reached out and started tilted her head up, so he could look at her more closely. Despite the fear she was feeling, the gentle and soft tone in his voice, a far cry from harsh cold tone it possessed before, calmed her down somewhat.

“Do not fear me Red, I mean you no harm. Fools like that, only understand a certain tone, a certain way of doing things. Though I am no saint, I am not enough of a sinner to take advantage of a fearful lady such as yourself. Come, follow me, you will want to get those magic doohickeys of yours set up in case some fool tries to go against me and those I represent.”

He looked into her eyes for a brief moment before removing his hand from under her chin and turning away. As he started walking, Candace picked up her bag of good and followed after him. Though she still felt fear, he had saved her, and she would give him the benefit of the doubt in this situation, regardless, she would be safe once she reached her shop.

After a while James broke from his reminiscence and appraised her once more. She was wearing faded overalls that were perpetually stained with dirt and smudges. They hung loosely off her hips, being baggy enough that her figure was somewhat hidden, but tight enough in the right places to hint at what lay underneath. Her face was bare of makeup and nearly unblemished but for some dirt smudges here and there. Many would consider her plain, not cute, or beautiful, or alluring, just plain, though others would be attracted to that plainness and even consider a type of beauty.

His voice was dripping with amusement as he spoke. “So, have you recovered Sweet Candy?”

At his voice and the words he spoke she looked up, her blush deepening. Her voice was meek, but pleasant and quite audible as she responded. “Yes, James, you know I get easily surprised, and don’t call me that.”

At her response he ran a hand through his short hair as a sheepish look crossed his face. “Yeah, sorry for that, didn’t expect you to be back here, forgot your classes were rescheduled for another day. I was also not in the right mind when I travelled back he-“

He was interrupted as Candace spoke. “Sorry, James, but could we take this inside? I have been working in my garden for quite a while and from how it sounds, this might take a bit.”

James nodded and followed her as she walked through her back door into her house. As they passed through the garden a few of the plants leaned towards him. He let them pass over him briefly before they snapped back to the same positions they were in previously. Candace turned around as they entered her place; she made a sweeping gesture as she spoke.

“You know where everything is; make yourself at home while I clean up.”

He nodded absentmindedly as she glanced at him a moment before wandering off, losing clothes as she went. Meanwhile James glanced around her place; it had been some time since he had last been here, several weeks at the least. She had many plants scattered around the house, the area around the backdoor lead to an open kitchen area. He moved towards the table there and pulled out a seat. He was about to sit down, before he thought better of it, he moved to a set of cabinets above the sink and searched around for what he needed.

He pulled out a bottle of cognac, something he had gifted her awhile back once. He pulled two snifters, brandy glasses, out of an adjacent cabinet. He sat them down on the table along with the bottle before pulling a second chair out and sitting down. He sat there in silence for a time, thinking of things, he went into motion as the sound of the shower in the distance stopped. As Candace came out of the shower, she was dressed in a pair of faded dark blue pants that were much like the overalls she was wearing previously in some aspects, she wore a red tank top, which emphasized her curves.

James gazed at her for a bit, his eyes lingering on her, as she blushed he looked away and gesture towards the chair. She dropped the towel she had been drying her hair with onto the back of the chair before lowering herself into the seat. She gazed at him worryingly as he poured out a sizeable amount of Cognac for the two of them in their respective glasses. Neither of the two of them were such casual drinkers, usually they drank alcohol only on special occasions or when there was bad news.

He caught her gaze and responded with briefly. “You’re going to need it, trust me.”

She nodded in acquiescence and accepted the glass he held out to her. She had just taken a small sip as he spoke once more.
He spoke casually, but with cautiousness in his voice.

“So, I ran into Jess today.”

Any further words he was going to say was interrupted by Candace exploding into a series of hacking coughs as the cognac spewed from her mouth. Moments later she yelled in between fits of coughing.

“WHAT?!?!?!?”