Electrik

10 years ago, Hero Academia’s park

-Did you finish the essay for tomorrow, Louise?”

-Yeah. You?” asked the girl, her mouth full of bread, cheese and lettuce. 

-I didn’t do it.” Arthur nonchalantly opened his friend’s pringles and kicked a pigeon with his white sports shoes.

-When are you planning to do it?”

-Never, it’s not any fun!”

The red haired girl turned to her friend. She let go of her sandwich and stood up from the bench.

-You can’t just stop doing your homework and expect to graduate! You’re not even fourteen and you’re already screwing your life”

-I won’t graduate anyway. I’m the only one that was accepted even though I don’t have a real power.”

-Yes you do have a superpower. You must java one, you have blue hair, it’s not a natural hair color!”

She stood in front of the blue haired boy with her hands on her hips. He was eating her pringles and getting crumbs on his Hero’s Academia hoodie. 

-You know, you’re too serious… You never have any fun.”

-I can’t, I’ll have the time to have fun when I’ll have a diploma and a job.”

-Yeah… You know you will. You have control, it’s literally what defines you.”

-You have control too, not in the same sense, but you can do amazing things. You are so smart. You can have a great career, if you try.”

She took her sandwich and sat back next to him. He took her in his arms and asked.

-Are you sure of the career you want to have.”

-We don’t have a choice. Super power holders have to become super heroes… Otherwise…”

She swallowed a huge bite and shivered. Thinking of her family.

-Yeah. But we have powers. We have more than every one. We could rule the world.”

Next to them, a trash can exploded.

-What!” she was startled by her friend’s statement. 

She immediately blushed and rose up to clean the mess she made.

-Why don’t you use your powers to clean everything.”

-I don’t want to.”

Then, all the trash went onto the air and magically went back into a nearby trash can. Right next to said trash can, a boy was standing, his hand smoking like he just used his power : telekinesis, the same one as Louise’s. 

He was handsome, with blond hair, blue eyes, white teeth… 

-Are you okay, Louise? Is this boy bothering you?” He pointed at Arthur.

-Leave me alone Zack.” She washed her hands, grabbed her pic nic and turned to the boys. She then walked past them, in the direction of the boarding school buildings.  

-Where are you going?” Arthur asked.

-I’m leaving, you’re both acting like kids.”

Zack and Arthur looked at each other. 

They both loved Louise, but Zack loved her gorgeous head of curly red hair, her huge blue eyes, her smile, her pale skin, her freckles… 

While Arthur loved her powers, her intelligent stare, her perseverance, her courage, her hopeful personality, her dark backstory… 

---

15th of july, City center,  

-Foxy, let’s go!”

The red headed girl with a fox mask was running next to a blond boy. Her heels rang on the cold metal floor.  

-Are you ready, Lionmane?”

-Yes.” He answered, turning in a corridor. The girl followed him. They got to the roof. 

He pushed against his earpiece and made eye contact with a man on another building’s roof, in front of them.

-We did it!” laughed the girl.

-Yeah. We did.” The boy didn’t look so happy. He was holding a bag full of folders and documents. He opened one of the binders and looked inside. “Foxy… You should see this.”

 Someone spoke in his earpiece…

-Ok…”

-...”

He looked at the superheroine next to him : “At three, jump.”

-One.” she said.

-Two.”

-Three.”

They both jumped as the building behind them exploded. 

They were frozen in two giant floating soap bubbles that the man was controlling. He brought them to him and they noticed another man, in the same balck superhero uniform. 

-Let’s go.” He made a portal and all four of them entered. They found themselves in the busy hall of Heroes Headquarter. 

-Thanks guys!” Said Zack/Lionmane, grabbing Foxy/Louise’s hand. They both walked to an elevator and got in. 

-Great job out there babe!” said Louise. 

They kissed. 

When they got out of the elevator, she noticed he was still holding the folder with the papers he had wanted to show her earlier. 

-Is this important? What is it?”

-Yeah. I think.” He ignored the second question and knocked on a door.

-Enter.”

-Hello boss.”

-Hello Lionmane, hello Foxy. Great job out there today. Do you have the documents we asked for?”

-Yes sir.”

-I see… Did you look at them beforehand?”

-No sir.” Said Zach with a perfectly still and stoick expression.

-You’re lying, Lionmane. I thought you knew better than to lie to me. That was a dumb decision, and you aren’t smart enough to understand any of this anyways.”

-But sir, I bet Lionmane wasn’t…”

-I don’t need your opinion Foxy. We wouldn’t want to have a bad team relationship, do we.”

-No sir. Of course not.”

-Then just listen.”

-Yes sir.”

-I have made a very important decision after looking at the documents you have given me.”

-What is it?”

-Do not interrupt me, Lionmane.”

-Yes sir.”

-I think… It might be crazy, but I think… Our good friend, Electrik is still alive.”

-Arthur! What do you mean! He is dead… We… We saw him die before our very eyes.”

She looked at her gloved hands. They all knew that the gloves hid scars, scars from the death of her friend.

-Illusions Foxy, illusions. I thought we had taught you well to separate what enemies want you to think and what you are thinking at Hero’s Academia?”

-Yes sir… But…”

-It might seem impossible, but look at this.”

He turned the open binder to face them. The first page was a picture of Arthur’s face. He wasn’t smiling. His blue hair looked just like it had ten years ago, like sparks flying out of his head. But he looked older. He wasn’t a fifteen year old boy anymore. The picture had been taken recently, he looked older than twenty, about their age.

-It could be a drawing. Or photoshop.”

Zack grabbed his girlfriend by the shoulders. She looked like she was about to throw up, slap their boss, or cry. Or maybe all three. 

-No, I know it is real.”

-And what are we going to do about it.”

-Well, you know the rules. He has powers. We take him, capture him, interrogate him. If he wants to be a superhero, he’ll be one. He is good. He had a good instruction at Hero’s Academia, with the two of you. He disappeared…”

-Died, sir. He died.”

-Well, he was thought dead right after his graduation. At fifteen, since he had a hero’s instruction and had a diploma at fifteen.”

-Well… Sir… How do we find him.”

-We’ll give you instructions in the morning. How about the two of you go to your apartment and have a good night of sleep. It’s almost ten p.m. and you had a very full day.”

-Yes sir.”

---

15th of july, LionMane and Foxy’s apartment

-I can’t believe it!” Louise’s eyes were wide, and, even without her fox mask, her freckles and small nose made her look like a lost and scared fox.

-I can’t either… You know, it might not actually be true. It might all be a trick.” 

-Well… We saw him die, and now he is alive.”

-Or not.”

They got into their pajamas and decided to have dinner. 

-Do you want to make something or order pizza?”

-Order pizza.”

-Yeah, sure.”

Fifteen minutes later, the pizzas were delivered to the Heroes Headquarters front desk. Zack asked for it to be sent up to their apartment and a fifteen year old young new heroin brought it up. 

-Here you go Lionmane, thank you for your service.”

-My pleasure. Thank you for the pizzas.”

---

Nine years ago, City center

-You need to leave me alone.”

-Electrik, you are a new hero, you aren’t experienced. You need to listen, young man.”

The old and the young heroes had been arguing for a while when they got a call. 

-Hello boss.”

-Hello team. I have news. The villain has managed to escape, but we can still burn and make the building explode. I need Electrik to set fire to everything. Lionmane and Foxy will make everything explode around them and Walry can teleport them to the Headquarters once everything is done as I asked. It should be easy enough.”

-Yes sir.”

The four heroes got out of the hiding place and the oldest gave Arthur a bag.

-You’ll find here what you need for the fire. I’ll go to keep watch outside.”

Arthur got to work. They heard a loud bang, like a gunshot. Zack went out to check on the old hero.

-Guys. We have a problem.”

-What?”

-Hum… Walry was shot in the head. He is… pretty much dead.”

-But then, he can’t teleport us out. And we’re locked in the building.

-We’ll worry about that later. I lit the fire, there is a window we can escape out of. That way.”

Tehy entered the lab, which was starting to burn. All the products, ingredients nad poisons were exploding around them. 

-Get to the window!” Arthur screamed. “Fast.” Smoke filled the room. 

Zack got out and managed to climb on the roof. 

-We’re lucky it’s the last floor.”

-Yeah.”

Louise was waiting for Arthur.

-He’s stuck somewhere in the smoke. I need to go get him.”

She tried to walk to her friend. She saw his silhouette on the ground. Then somebody walked in. He shot Arthur, and tried to shoot Louise too. She ran and collapsed on the window, almost falling out of the two hundred stories high building. Luckily, Zach caught her and lifted her body onto the roof. He looked at her face. She was pale, but okay. Her heart was beating and she was unevenly breathing. But her hands were badly burned. 

---

15th of july, LionMane and Foxy’s apartment

-I thought of something.”

-Me too.”

-You first.”

Louise breathed in. 

-It might be crazy, but I think that Arthur’s power wasn’t his brains. He was smart, yes, but it wasn't all.”

-Do you think it has something to do with him dying and being alive?”

-Yes. But I don’t think he was resurrected from the dead or anything like that.”

-No, I don’t think either. However…”

-However, he could have a power of regenerating and invincibility, or at least resistance or tolerance to pain, gunshot, and being burned.”

-That’s a possibility….”

-Every thing is possible.”

-You’re right.”

They both ate some more and went to bed. The next morning, their alarm clocks rang. They woke up and put on their clothes and masks to go to work. When they arrived at their boss’s desk, he told them to sit down.

-I have news. Electrik contacted us. He is alive. He asks for both of you to turn up in twenty three minutes at this address, on the two hundredth and fifth floor.”

-That’s where he supposedly died, isn’t it?”

-Yes.”

-Are we going to go?”

-Yes.”

They got there a minute early, and immediately started to talk.

-Are you sure it is him.”

-Yes. Our boss would know if it wasn’t. He can read and control minds.”

-You’re right.”

Then, they saw Arthur. He came out of the hiding spot they had hid in, a broom closet and looked at his friends.

He had changed. His hair seemed dull, his eyes were empty of emotions, and his face was pale. He spoke in a monotone voice that wasn’t his but sounded familiar.

-You have stepped into my trap. I will now kill you.”

-Arth… Electrik, sorry… What are you doing?” Louise was more confused than scared.

-I am attacking you.”

Then, they recognized the voice :

-It’s our boss… He is mind controlling ypu, isn’t he?”

-I don’t know what you two are talking about.” The voice sounded nervous. There was no doubt about it now. 

-You know how to stop a mind controller.”

They both rushed to grab him by the arms. Louise started to speak into his ear.

-Arthur, we are your friends. You know us. We are here for you. You have a resilient mind, you are smart and strong. You can shake this off. Stop fighting us, start fighting the voice inside your head. It’s not you…”

His eyes shone and his hair flashed with electricity. 

-Arthur?”

He turned to his friends.

-Do you mean Electrik?”

-You’re back!”

-Yes, and we don’t have time to rejoice. We’ve got a villain to defeat. A supervillain!”