Enter Electro!
Mikhael was enraged. Nobody cared that he was around, let alone alive?! Everyone had merely tolerated his existence, and when that bet went wrong…left him to perish. But they were fools. That generator had breathed new life into him, gave him a new role to play in this show called life.
He touches the hood of a nearby red car. The lights turn on, and the horn starts to ring uncontrollably. It immediately starts to speed forward and crashes into a nearby tree.
“Fascinating. These meager sparks of energy bend to my very will! Fitting of the name Electro, is it not?” He said to himself, reveling in the odd power he’d been reborn with.
He thought to himself of those who wronged him, who looked down upon his greatness.
The sirens and horn of the car continue to sound, until someone finally comes out.
"WOULD YOU KEEP IT DOWN OUT THERE?!" An elderly lady screams as she comes out of her home, waving her cane.
Instead, Mikhael chose to bring the entire junkyard to an electrifying chorus of lights and sound! To those around him, it was like nails on a chalkboard. But to him? A fine symphony the likes of which none could compare!
"Fine! Do whatever the hell you want!" The old lady shouts as her street is filled with the worst sounds currently known to man.
"...youths these days." She mutters as she slams the door behind her.
He couldn’t resist. Belting out a truly villainous laugh, he realized what this turn of chance had granted him. If this town had some so-called “hero”...
…Then one would only expect a villain to follow behind.
And if there wasn't?
Then the town best get ready to welcome their electrifying new overlord.
That, and he was still owed twenty dollars.
"Alright…easy does it…" Hero slowly reaches out for the balloon and tugs it out of the tree branches slowly. "...there you go." He jumps back down from the top holding the balloon and passes it back to the kid.
"Yay! Thank you, Mister Spider-Man!" The boy gives a big friendly smile as he holds his balloon once more.
"Really, thank you, he was absolutely devastated." The mom speaks up and says.
“It’s no problem. Happy to help!” Hero replied, a sheepish grin under his mask. "Is it your birthday today?" He asks, pointing at the words on the balloon in bright yellow saying 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY'.
“Yeah! I’m turning five today!”
“Well, happy birthday, kid! Oh, I’ve gotta go. Have a great birthday!” Hero swings away as he hears a cat meowing nearby.
He lands near where he heard the cries and looks up.
"Alright, this is the fifth one of you so far. You better not scratch my face when I get up there."
This time, the void black cat didn’t scratch him, instead simply purring as he brought it down from the tree.
“Wonder whose cat this is…could just be another stray…but there's a collar.”
Semi-quickly, so he didn’t make the cat panic like the third one he’d saved, he got the pet home to their owner.
"What's with these cats running away from homes and into trees? So glad no one in this town owns pigeons." Hero says to nobody as he drops off the cat.
He thinks to himself. Maybe it’s just something cats do for fun? He wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter that much. His first week as Faraway’s local superhero had been a good start. Stopping a bank robbery, recusing cats from trees… hell, he’d even stopped someone from trying to mug the mayor! All in all, it seemed like nothing would-
Nope, not thinking it. He knew that basically every time someone even thought of that phrase, something would nearly instantly go wrong. He’d just keep cool and keep being a hero. For once, Kel had given him a good idea.
There was nothing wrong, and if there was, nothing he couldn't fix, right?
…and he thought of the phrase. Slowly, in his head, he counted to five.
1…2…3-
A massive explosion came erupting from the junkyard a few blocks away, crackling with energy.
“...well, a hero’s work is never done.”
Hero shoots a web line onto two street lamps, walks back as he tugs on them, and releases, launching himself upward. Flying through the air, he lands on the ground in the Junkyard on two feet, one hand on the dirt, right after he had lightly grazed the top of the gate around the area.
“Jeez, it’s loud!”
Amongst the energized junk and rubble, a lone figure stood upon it all.
“And so he arrives, like a bug towards the alluring zapper! Tell me your name, my all new nemesis!"
“Uhm, it's Spider-Man, but my friends usually call me…Man?"
“Good lord, your jokes are horrendous! No matter. I am your villain for today, one chosen by the grand fates that guide this world! Reborn from the ashes with the spark of life…I AM ELECTRO!”
"Uhm, okay, Mister Electro…sir, or whatever. Could I just ask that you…don't cause giant explosions or make things float anymore? It's freaky, and also ridiculously dangerous-"
“AND LET THIS POWER GO TO WASTE?! NEVER!” “Electro” shouts, crackling with energy. He aims a hand at Hero and a massive bolt of lightning nearly tears his head off if he hadn't dodged.
“WAIT, YOU'RE ACTUALLY SHOOTING LIGHTNING OUT OF YOUR HANDS?!" Hero shouts in slight panic. "I THOUGHT THAT WAS JUST AN EXAGGERATION!"
“Only now you realize my strength?! OF COURSE YOU UNDERESTIMATED ME! EVERYONE DID! THEY LOOKED DOWN UPON ME, LEFT ME TO DIE UPON THE GENERATOR’S COLD SURFACE AS THE ENERGY BURNED ME TO A CRISP! BUT NO LONGER! FATE GRANTED ME NEW LIFE, ONE I’LL USE TO EXTINGUISH YOURS!”
"THIS TOWN WILL BE MINE! AFTER I DEFEAT YOU, I’LL REFORGE MY FORM INTO PURE ENERGY! NONE CAN STOP ME, AND AT LONG LAST I’LL MAKE THE WORLD MY STAGE!"
"Uhm, not that I wanna critique the ideas coming from your very definitely electrically fried brain, but I for one think you're absolutely insane, and I'm not letting you do any of that!" Hero says, taking a defensive stance.
“OF COURSE YOU WOULDN’T! YOU’RE A HERO, AND I’M THE VILLAIN THAT FOLLOWS IN YOUR WAKE! FOR EVERY ARMORED AVENGER, THERE’S A VILLAIN FOR THEM TO FACE! Unlike those cretins however…I’LL END YOUR RUN AT ISSUE NUMBER ONE!”
Another bolt of lightning is shot from his hands, this time a continuous beam. Hero quickly moves, shooting a web onto a broken car hovering on energy and pulling himself over.
"Current isn't too strong." He mumbles to himself, a slight feeling on his hands and feet touching the vehicle.. "But I think he can change that, gotta move quick!"
“WHY DON’T WE AMP THINGS UP?!” Electro shouts, blasting the junkyard with electricity and laughing maniacally.
Hero quickly jumps off as the car he was just standing on bursts in electricity. Mid-air, he quickly processes his surroundings and web pulls himself over to a plastic dumpster.
“YOU THINK I’LL JUST LET YOU INSULATE YOURSELF AND GET AWAY WITH IT?! WELL, THAT PLAN’S ABOUT TO CRASH AND BURN!”
With that, he shocks another battered car, restarting its engine and sending it towards the dumpster.
The dumpster is launched into the air spinning, and Hero finds himself out and in the open air.
"Alright, here goes nothing! Please work please work please work!"
Hero shoots two threads at the spinning dumpster, and as the top is open, launches it down onto the flying electric maniac.
“GAH! WHY YOU…ah, I see. Those things upon your wrists look rather important…but NOT ANYMORE!”
Electro fires a bolt of lightning, which Hero ducks, but it swerves back around and hits his wrist shooters.
Hero winces as he watches his shooters start to malfunction and shoot out a gooey liquid.
"Great, no webs."
“IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT?! PATHETIC! Well, if this fight’s another scene in our show called life…THEN ALLOW ME TO TAKE YOUR FINAL BOW!”
At rapid speeds, the field is littered with bursts and bolts of energy, echoing with a maniacal laugh. Hero ducks and rolls as he panickingly tries to stay alive.
"No webs, no dumpster, come on, think… think! What should I do…"
"...ugh, well, I guess fisticuffs it is."
He immediately regrets that, receiving a painful electric shock the moment his fist connects.
"Okay, no punching as well."
Only one other option: RUN!
With that, Hero leaps over the junkyard fence and runs away, a cackle following behind him as he does.
“GO AHEAD, RUN FOR YOUR PATHETIC LIFE! LET MY NAME COURSE THROUGH YOUR THOUGHTS LIKE LIGHTNING, AND BRING YOU NOTHING BUT FEAR! I, ELECTRO, WILL FIND YOU, AND WHEN I DO…YOU’LL BE REDUCED TO ASH!”
Hero slams the door behind him as he pants uncontrollably in his room.
That wasn't just intense, that was goddamn terrifying.
Superpowered people that shoot lighting. Okay, that was real. Like, actually real.
How does a spider even win against a battery? Specifically, a battery that shoots lightning out of his hands and makes broken junk float using electricity?
…Hero doesn't wanna think about it. He needs rest. He takes off his suit and winces as it lightly grazes some bruises. He throws on a white shirt and shorts and heads downstairs.
"Hero! You need to see this." Kel says. "By the way, you ran in like mad all of a sudden just now, what happened?"
Hero turned to the TV and pointed. "That happened."
"-a human capable of controlling electricity seen in the local Faraway town. Experts have seen a conflict between them and local supposed 'Superhero' 'Spider-man'. OSCORP has publicly come out and stated that both this electric individual and the local hero are under their interests, and as such, local authorities will not interfere so OSCORP can use their own private security to secure these two strange supernatural beings."
“Oh COME ON! How the hell is that even legal?!”
"Oscorp…argh…Oscorp isn't just a small tech company, it's huge, worldwide. The fact that Closeby city is just a bus drive away means they have the power to do so, whether the law says they can or not." Hero says, rubbing an injury on his shoulder.
“In other related news, a sudden string of break-ins has sprung up across Closeby City’s various tech companies. Both Oscorp and Stark Enterprises reported missing items, including parts of formerly top secret projects that had been due for unveiling. The culprit of these robberies is currently unknown, and security cameras were found either offline or dismantled at the scenes.”
"Maybe I should extend my patrol range…"
“Woah, maybe not yet. If I’ve gotta be the voice of reason, then something’s gone wrong.” Kel said. "Besides, you've still got to deal with that scary electric guy. I swear, he looks like someone I know!"
"Well, he's from our town, right? Has to be. We're not so small, but we're not too big either." Hero notes.
“Yeah. Ugh, who even is this guy?!”
“He was crazy tough, probably insane, and kept making both electricity puns and stage jokes…weird.”
“Stage jokes?”
"Kinda. Like, stuff like 'The world is my stage' and 'Time for your final bow'. Complete jerk."
"That, and he fried my web shooters. I’ll need to insulate my shooters, and fix them. They're totally busted."
“…stage jokes…WAIT I FIGURED IT OUT!”
"Uh, good for you…whatever you…figured out. I'm gonna need to do something right away." Hero says, walking towards the basement.
"W-WAIT NO, IT'S REALLYIMPORTANT-!...and he's gone." Kel says with a groan as the basement door shuts.
"Maybe if it's all coated in plastic? No, that doesn't work…what else…"
"Ugh, how do I insulate something this small? Don't tell me I'll need to re-make it all from scratch."
Hero scratches his head. "A strong material that doesn't conduct…I have something on the tip of the tongue…what is it?"
"...no, I'm thinking of poor conductors. I can't possibly have something completely immune. Brass? Tungsten, maybe? Carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium…all these work, but I need something more easily available."
"Maybe…" Hero digs around the random junk until he finds his old broken electric guitar. "Ugh, I wish I didn't have to see you again. Wait…”
He holds it up and cracks it open with his knee. Hero tugs out a couple of wires and places them on the wooden table.
"Alright, I'll need to take out the insulation layer, let's see…"
Hero takes the rubber off and finds what he's looking for. Thermoplastic.
"Now, I'll need to melt it down with something. Or maybe I'll just bend it and fit them in? Ugh, but it might be better without gaps, and the inner workings need to be insulated properly as well."
As he got to work, he could faintly hear Kel saying something.
“Nerd.”
Hero looks down at his shooters. It took him a long while, and nearly burning his shirt, but with a broken kitchen oven and several cut up plastic containers for molds, he managed to successfully cover his shooters in thermoplastic, plus the insides of them.
“Let’s see Electro mess ‘em up now.”
“But just to be safe…” Hero finds a nearby power socket and turns it on. Holding a web shooter, he nervously fires a web right at it.
…nothing. Then again, whatever that guy had was probably a hundred times stronger.
Hero was just going to have to take that risk.
Walking up the stairs, he proudly showed off his revamped web shooters to Kel.
“...You alright?”
“I’VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING FOR AN HOUR NOW! I FIGURED OUT WHO ELECTRO IS!”
“Huh? Does that even matter now?”
“Wha- YES! Look, if we can figure out how and why he became…this, we’re one step closer to figuring out his weakness! All super villains have one!”
“It’s kinda obvious already: just ground his electricity. But sure, who do you even suspect?”
“Remember that little brother of those baker twins?” Kel says, pulling up a photo of the mentioned twins, with one blonde-wigged boy standing in the middle with an annoyed expression and pose. “That’s him! I’m sure of it!”
“...Mikhael? I dunno. Sure, he was…annoying, but nowhere near villainy!”
“Well, SOMETHING must have happened to him! Like, you know, getting bit by a, uh, walking battery?”
“Well something happened, that’s for sure.” Hero replies. “But right now, someone has to stop him before he destroys the neighborhood.”
“But he’s like, my age, you know? We can’t actually kill him, can we?”
“I’m not gonna kill him! Just make sure he goes to jail, like a supermax prison or something!”
“...I…aight. Just… don’t get hurt, ok?”
“I…can’t promise that.” Hero says. “Electrokinesis is a tough power to fight.”
“Then…uh…” Kel struggles. “Just…don’t die?”
“That I can promise.” Putting on his suit, Hero swung off to bring the fight to Electro.
“AT LAST! THIS TOWN’S PITIFUL LITTLE POWER PLANT! GOD, WHY DO WE EVEN HAVE THIS?! WITH A POPULATION OF 200, THIS HARDLY-nevermind. TIME TO BE REFORGED!”
Electro grunts as he charges up an energy blast, and launches it at one of the massive energy generators. In an instant, the entire area starts to spark heavily, as it goes into what can only be described as overdrive, emitting yellow electricity all around it.
“You’ve had your fun, Mikhael…if that’s even you, but you’re about to be grounded!”
Electro turns to where he heard the voice and gets hit in the face with a web.
“ARGH! WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?! I ABANDONED THAT NAME WHEN I PERISHED UPON THAT JUNKYARD GENERATOR! FOR THAT, I’LL SKIP THE DRAMATIC SPEECH AND DECLARATION OF HATRED…INSTEAD, WE’LL SKIP STRAIGHT TO THE PART WHERE I FRY YOU LIKE A DOUGHNUT AT A COUNTY FAIR!”
A burst of lightning hits Hero in the chest and he’s blasted back with incredible force, colliding against a street lamp.
“Okay…that’s the first strike…ow…”
Hero scrambles to his feet and pulls himself on top of the lamp, right before another bolt zapped him.
"So just quickly fill me in, what's with your dream of becoming 'Pure Energy'? Sounds kind of impractical, don't you think?"
“AS A BEING OF PURE ENERGY, I’LL BE INVINCIBLE! UNSTOPPABLE! NOT LIKE YOU’D EVER UNDERSTAND, SPIDER! HOW ABOUT WE END THIS…WITH A SHOCKING FINALE?!”
Hero ducks another bolt. "Honestly that would make this ending a little unsatisfying, how about we keep this going for a little longer? Oh, and until you lose."
Hero jumps into the power plant, webs and pulls in one of the many generators lying around, before throwing it straight at Electro.
A massive explosion is caused and Electro is knocked onto the ground himself.
"YOU DARE USE MY OWN PLAN AGAINST ME?!"
"Yeah, I do! Got a problem?" Hero says, before shooting a web right at Electro and pulling himself in for a kick.
“Thank god for rubber soles…”
Electro retaliates with a burst, which Hero narrowly avoids, and the ground under him is left with yellow sparking cracks.
"GRRR…STAY STILL AND LET ME STRIKE YOU DOWN!"
"Strike me down and I'll become more powerful than you could possibly imagine!"
"ENOUGH WITH YOUR INCESSANT PRATTLING!"
"What? You didn't get my joke? Well now I'm sad!"
“ARE YOU NAUGHT BUT A WALKING CLICHE?! HOLD STILL AND LET ME END THIS!" Electro flies and dashes right into Hero, crashing them both into a generator.
Hero grunts and quickly pulls himself away, shooting a web at Electro's head and slamming it against the ground. Electro grabs the web and tugs Hero within range, pushing him back with a delayed zap. Not much damage besides a somewhat bad sting (and most likely wound) on his shoulder.
"Come on! I don't wanna hurt you! I have a brother your age, you know?" Hero says before sliding under Electro's feet and kicking him in the back.
"I HAVE SIBLINGS TOO, BUT I'M NOT THE ONE COMPLAINING!" Electro replies before throwing a massive energy-infused punch at Hero, which he quickly ducks to avoid. Hero counters with a web to the face.
“Been waiting an hour or so to say this…and I’m sorry, but…YOU’RE GROUNDED!”
Swinging the web, Hero slams Electro into the ground repeatedly. He continues over and over for a bit.
"I really hope you don't die from this...please don't die from this…"
Hero pulls Electro up standing and launches one final punch in the face.
“Ghhh…this isn’t over…” Electro says, the yellow electricity slowly fading from him.
"I'm afraid it is. Hope you enjoy jail, or supermax juvenile prison or whatever." Hero replies, tying him up and hanging him from the nearest lamp post.
Hearing police sirens, Hero takes his leave, not before leaving a note for the cops.
“Use something non-conductive for restraints. Courtesy of the one and only Spider-Man.”
The officers read the note.
"Non-conductive? The hell would we have something like that ready?" Marieth says, note in hand.
"No damn clue. But this thing’s supposed to be OSCORP's, isn't it?" Thomas replies, looking at the destruction before the both of them.
"We can't just give a mega corporation a criminal, you know that."
“Especially with that track record of theirs. Maybe SHIELD?”
"Nah, I don't trust those guys either. Plus, he's just a kid. Uhm, let's just hold him at the precinct for now." Marieth walks over to the police car and speaks into the radio. "Uhm, 10-2 following up on the power plant disturbance, requesting back-up with some rope…or anything that doesn't conduct electricity that we can hold the criminal with."
Before the radio could respond, a strange blue mist flowed through the plant, distorting the sight of nearly everyone there. When they could finally see again…Electro was gone. Instead, a simple note sat where he once was.
“Catch me if you can, coppers. Signed, M.A.”
Marieth sighs. "Uh, scratch that, we're gonna need a full on investigation team down here. Plus, whoever we had doing that odd fishbowl wearing robber case."
Further away, a low laugh emanated from the forest.
“Heh, good to know you’re not dead, Bossman! While you’re out, though…this place’ll regret crossing either of us. Mysterio will make sure of it.”
"...who?" Electro questions. "I don't- I don't know who you are with that fishbowl over your head."
"It's not a fishbowl! Why does everyone think it's a fishbowl?!"
“…whatever. If a villain team-up is what you desire…then let the show go on.” Electro says, cracking his neck and stretching out of the web. "Well, my new comrade, what can you even do?"
"I can do this." The glass helmet wearer takes out a small disc and throws it. What seems to be a tiny snake made of light appears.
“It’s as they say: only believe half of what you see.”
"...by the way it only lasts 10 seconds."
The light flickers and the snake eventually disappears.
"Uhm…" Electro pats his new friend on the back. "We'll…get you new gear."
“I’ve done some fine work of my own on these illusions, but we’ll do plenty more! Well, a plan certainly helps.”
“Indeed.”
It was late that night, but Basil couldn’t sleep. Another case of spending an hour on a phone, of course. Well, nothing a good midnight stroll wouldn’t solve!
Basil put on his jacket and took a walk. His nerves have eased up a little recently.
He looks up at the sky. He's lucky Faraway isn't so badly light polluted that he could see the stars. Mari loved the stars. So did Sunny.
…why did Sunny leave? Basil felt so alone without him. Like something was constantly off.
“...It’s beautiful out here. Sunny, if you’re alright out there…here’s hoping you’re also looking up at the stars, eheh.”
After a moment of thought, he prepared to turn back home…but the path was blocked by a giant cloud of bright green mist, which quickly flowed over him.
Scared and coughing from the mists, he passed out on the sidewalk, unknowing of what awaited him.
Hours passed by, and Basil finally awoke.
“…ugh…where am I?” He pressed his hands against the green surface around him, the material feeling tough but squishy…almost like a cocoon.
He tries to get up. Not an inch moved. Was he being kidnapped? Was he in a body bag? Did he die after breathing in that gas last night?
Panickedly, he slammed his fist into the green surface around him. Blow after blow, but not a dent at all.
“H-help! C-could someone get me outta here?!”
As if on cue, something broke through the green surface, and sunlight filled Basil’s eyes. Standing up, he noticed two things. First, he was still on the walkway from last night. Second, a him-sized vine was what broke his confinement…which was apparently a him-sized cocoon. Ew.
As quickly as it had arrived, the vine slipped back into the cracks of the concrete.
“…huh?” He mumbled, confusedly walking home, a slight stagger in his step.
Informing Polly that he was fine, he went to go calm his nerves by doing what he knew best: tending to his garden.
"Everything is fine, haha…I didn't wake up in a cocoon in the ground, haha…just a regular day…with my garden."
Noticing the apple tree had finally grown fruit, he went along to try and shake some from the branches…when another vine burst forth from the ground, gathered each of the apples, and handed them to a now terrified Basil before submerging into the soil.
"...what…was that…?"
Stumbling back indoors, he grabbed the laptop Polly had given him for his birthday last year and frantically searched for any idea of what had happened. His confused googling showed a few unhelpful interests, namely a few fantasy novels, before he found himself upon an old news article.
“Terrigen mist spreads across America…people across the nation gaining superpowers from inhaling the gas…I-is that what happened?”
Basil looks down at his shaking hands.
"...I'm…I…I have superpowers?"
He walks outside slowly once more. He just as slowly raises a hand right at one of his grown sunflowers. It starts to morph and change at his command.
“I…I…huh.”
The plant had become comically large, big enough for someone to sit on.
Slowly, Basil walks over and a staircase of vines emerges to give him a way up.
“M-maybe this isn’t so bad, haha…”
Basil takes a seat on the very top of the sunflower.
"...wow, yay, I have powers…haha…" Basil says to nobody, as he feels the cold sweat drip down his face and body trembling.
He needed to calm down. So, he did the one thing he could think of at the moment: use the giant sunflower like a rocking chair.
That was a surprisingly fun-filled half an hour, just rocking back and forth on a humongous flower. Like something out of an old novel.
It was scary. It was fun. It was nerve-wracking. It was fantastic. And it was…oddly calming.
…maybe for now, he'll keep this to himself.
Or maybe…
A thought Sunny would approve of came to him. Hero had mentioned needing some tomatoes for a recipe of his. How about a bit more?
Reaching out towards his tomato plant, one of the once unripe fruit quickly ripened and became…large, to say the least. A tomato the size of the strange cocoon he’d woken up in, and that he needed help from a pair of vines to hold without dropping.
This’d be hilarious, seeing Hero’s confused face at the sight of it.
With a light chuckle, he began his walk towards his friend’s home. This would be photo-worthy for sure!