"What the-!" Was all Jayla could say. She stood just staring at the boy in shock, as he stared back. He looked to be the same age as her. He had black hair, and amazingly bright, crystal blue eyes. He was wearing black jeans, black boots, and now she realized a black jacket zipped up. He was wearing dark blue fingerless gloves on his hands that still were held up in midair.

"Who are you?" The boy asked.

"Who are you?!" Jayla asked, slightly alarmed.

"Sorry." The boy put his hands down. "I got scared when you came in. My name is Justin."

"Oh. I'm sorry to." Jayla said. "And my name is Jayla."

He nodded slightly. They stood there awkwardly for a moment. Then Jayla spoke, shattering the silence.

"So how did your powers happen?"

"This is gonna sound weird." Justin said. "But I'm figuring it was when a little girl sold me some kool aid. Nasty as heck, but the smile and pleasing eyes forced me, ya know?"

"Wait really?!" Jayla exclaimed. "Some little boy sold me some lemonade. I should have suspected something though. He was by himself on a fake floor...." she trailed off, remembering it. "Where did you find this little girl?"

"I was walking home, and looking at my phone, when I turned down our street. I was pretty darn certain it was our street, since I walk it almost every day, but when I looked up, there was a dead end. A street light lit up the place revealing a little girl sitting at a card table with a few cups of juice, then that's where she sold me one." He stopped, a distant look in his eyes.

"Yea. Pretty weird once I say it out loud." He said.

"Seems, deliberate, doesn't it?" Jayla said.

"Yea, but why?" Justin pointed out. "Why would someone give us... superpowers. That feels weird to say, because there was no such thing before."

Jayla sighed, going over and sat against the wall.

"We're just some freaks." She said sadly. Justin listened, his expression turning sad. "That's why I had to run away."

"Yea. Me to." Justin said. "Couldn't imagine what officials would do once they found out about me. Probably destroy the house, because I know darn well my mother wouldn't give me to them." He wavered when he said mother, obviously missing her. He went over, sitting next to Jayla.

"We'll work something out." He reassured her.

^~^~^~^~^

Jayla and Justin had talked a lot of the day. He appeared tough on the outside, but besides actually being tough, he was also really kind and funny at times. She told him about her powers, and he told her besides water, he had strength, (he demonstrated by punching a hole in the wall) and flight.

He explained the night after he drank the kool aid stuff, he felt like he was going to die. He sill felt bad the next morning, and his mother gave him some jello and ginger ale to have. He said he was left alone since his mom needed to attend a meeting for work. He felt miraculously better suddenly after she left. Then he sheepishly said he accidentally destroyed their living room. He said his thoughts about why he should leave, so he packed a bag and came to the abandoned building.

Jayla had told him what had happened to her also, then her plans of what to do.

"I think practicing our powers is a good thing." Justin said. "But the superhero thing, more than it seems."

"What have we got to lose?" Jayla said, stunning them into silence.

"I guess not much." Justin said softly. "But for today, I vote for exploring the rest of the building."

"Definitely." Jayla said.

They got up and proceeded down the stairs.

"How many floors you think is in this bulding?" Jayla said.

"Dunno. Probably twenty some by the height." Justin said.

They stepped onto the next floor, which was just as empty as the last two. Dust everywhere and stray garbage. They kept going down floors, but encountered the same for the next 15 floors down. They stepped onto the next floor, and this one had a door at the bottom of the steps. Justin stepped forward and opened it for Jayla. She stepped through, and was surprised to see this floor was the ground floor. The entrance area actually. The floor looked to be made of marble, long past due for a polishing; it was covered in a layer of grime. There looked to be a set of double doors in the front of the room, but they had been boarded up from the outside. A wooden reception desk stood straight ahead of the doors, and a large cracked pot sat beside it, probably once holding some sort of plant. An old sofa and chair were shoved against the opposite wall, and the table that stood beside it had cracked down the middle. A few picture frames lay on the floors having fallen off the walls. Jayla also noticed a large coat closet to the right of the reception desk. There were two large windows on either side of the front doors, the glass long since shattered.

"Wow." Justin said, walking behind the counter. He rummaged down on the shelves. "Looks to have been an old office complex." He said, holding up a yellowed flyer, reading it. Jayla went over to stand beside him. There was many boxes of papers on the shelves under the desk, and things you would normally find at a desk. Some pencils, a stapler, a roll of tape, scissors, and...

"Look!" Jayla said, grabbing a dusty gold key that had been hanging on a nail on the inside of the shelf.

"That could be for anything." Justin said, glancing at it.

"But it was here, meaning it could be for something here," Jayla insisted.

"Maybe." Justin replied. "Hold onto it then."

Finding finding nothing else useful under the desk, they walked over to the window and peered out. The building was pushed away from the street, and a old yellow plastic fence surrounded it, holding it off limits for reconstruction that would probably never happen.

Jayla kept looking out the window, and Justin went over to the chairs. He picked up a picture frame that had fallen near them. Shaking off the broken glass of the cover, he wiped his hand gingerly over the photograph. Kayla came over and looked at the picture. It looked to be the team that had worked here previously.

"I wonder what shut this place down," Jayla said.

"Dunno," Justin said, setting the photo face up on the chair. Justin picked up another photo, and Jayla walked over to the coat closet. She tugged on the doors, but they barely budged. She tugged again, and they squeaked open. She looked inside, seeing a ton of coat hangers upon a rod, and a rotted umbrella leaning against the side. But she noticed something else to. Behind where the umbrella used to be, was a small golden lock, now dull, bit noticeable. She recognized it instantly as the same gold the key she was found was. Her heart beating, she took the key from her pocket and put it in the lock. She turned it slowly, and with a small click, it unlocked. A small panel opened under the lock, meaning to serve as a door handle. She pulled it open slowly. She expected to see some sort of secret space, or a compartment, but all she saw were stairs, and the blackness below.

"Justin...." she said slowly. "I found something."