Chapter Text
"This is JYP News' Yang Jeongin reporting live from the scene of a dangerous attack committed by the infamous Villains dubbed the Antis. Several Heroes have emerged to fight the dangerous Villains, including the famed Stray Kids, who are Korea's new group of Heroes. Our cameras have already spotted Stray Kids' Princeps and Cerberus nearby. It's only minutes before-" Jeongin yelped in pain as a laser seared his shoulder, burning part of his shirt off.
Clutching his arm, he looked up at his attacker. It was Thrice. One of the most dangerous Antis. Thrice was known for targeting the famous group of female Heroes, Twice. Jeongin found the name "Thrice" to be pathetically unoriginal but decided not to comment at the moment.
Thrice grabbed the cameraman and aimed his camera at her face, letting the audience see her manic smile. "Keep it rollin', boys," She smirked and strutted towards Jeongin, grabbing him by the neck of his shirt. "Aw, poor little boy, are you scared?" She sang mockingly, tracing his cheek dangerously with a sharp, red-painted nail. Jeongin flinched sharply as she pressed his cheek harder. A sting ran through the nerves of his skin as she sliced a small cut across his cheek. He could feel a drop of blood pearl on the smooth surface of his skin.
"Listen up Seoul! Us Antis are ending the reign of Heroes today, and there's nothing you can do about it! Now let me show you what'll happen to humans who misbehave. Just in case you were thinking about doing so…" She grabbed Jeongin's neck with her other hand and pressed her nails against it hard. Looking up through watering eyes, Jeongin could see Thrice's eyes glow redder and redder. One of her powers, he recalled, was shooting infrared lasers out of her eyes. That explained what happened to his shirt, he numbly thought as her nails dug further into the soft flesh of his neck, drawing blood.
He closed his eyes, hoping no one was still watching the broadcast. He didn't want them to see this. What if his parents were watching? This wasn't the first time he had been in a dangerous situation because of his job, and Jeongin had suffered greatly for it. His mom especially had tried to convince him to quit, and now Jeongin was wondering if he should have. Then again, he had met his best friends at his job, and he wouldn't trade them for anything. Although, Minho would definitely yell at him if he got out of this alive.
A burning heat started to build up between him and Thrice and he braced himself for the searing blaze of the lasers burning into him. Instead, heard a deafening crack and looked up just in time to see the sky split apart with brilliant blue lightning.
A bolt arced through the sky as if Zeus himself had thrown it. It raced towards them almost faster than the eye could follow in a calculated curve, but Jeongin could tell that at its current movement, it would miss the villain by mere centimetres. He had to do something, and fast. Before the bolt of lightning hit the concrete ground next to them, Jeongin kicked Thrice away, sending her falling onto the ground just as the bolt hit the ground. The two collided and Jeongin winced at her scream as the villain convulsed.
A dark-clothed figure stepped in front of Jeongin just as he fell backwards from shock. The figure wore a familiar black costume highlighted with electric blue, lightning-shaped streaks. A matching blue cape fluttered behind him regally in the soft breeze that circled around them. Jeongin stared open-mouthed at the Hero as he looked back at him and offered him a hand. "Nice kick." The Hero noted before asking, "Are you okay?" His voice was concerned but strong. Jeongin nodded, too awestruck to speak. The Hero before him was Scintil, 'The Lightning Hero of Seoul". He was part of the elusive group of Heroes, Stray Kids. Under his black and blue domino mask- which was framed by messy black hair- Jeongin could see his bright blue eyes, crackling with electricity. Jeongin had only been a reporter at JYP News for a year or so but had been able to meet so many Heroes while reporting. Scintil was one of his favourites simply because he always seemed to care about the civilians greatly and was one of the few Heroes who didn't cause a ton of destruction, even though his power would easily let him. "Um, Jeongin? Are you hurt?" Jeongin snapped his eyes up to those scintillating blue irises and rushed to respond, realizing he had been staring for a while.
"Ah, Mr. Scintil, s-sir! I'm sorry, um, I-I'm f-fine." He accepted the Hero's outstretched hand with a shaky smile and let the Hero help him up. Scintil smirked at him cheekily and brought Jeongin's hand up to his scarlet lips. His lips were extremely soft- almost too soft to believe and Jeongin felt his cheeks burn bright red at the action. He stammered out a quick, "M-Mr. Scintil-" but was interrupted as the Hero gently dropped his hand and gave him a small salute.
"Sorry, cutie, but I have to go now. Y'know, superhero duties and all that, but if you're ever free then call me." He winked with a devilish grin and took off in a sprint, heading back towards the fights taking place in the city. Jeongin stood on the side of the street awkwardly, rubbing his hand as he tried to figure out what had just happened. At least the camera filming him had stopped working when the lightning bolt hit the ground, he thought numbly as he walked back towards the JYP News Center where he worked. He didn't think that he could deal with his hyungs teasing him about Scintil's meaningless flirting. About halfway to his workplace, Hyunjin- Jeongin's best friend and photographer for JYP News- ran up to him in a hurry, sweaty and out of breath. He flipped his black hair out of his eyes and worriedly asked, "Are you okay, Jeongin? I was out in the city taking pictures of the Heroes for the paper and I heard you were reporting. Hey- you're bleeding!" He gently touched Jeongin's neck and Jeongin saw his crimson-stained fingers as he pulled back.
Jeongin waved off his concern and smiled at his hyung excitedly, now out of his shocked state. "Those are shallow cuts, Hyunjin hyung. They'll scab over real' quick. More importantly, you won't believe what just happened!" All the way back to their workplace, Jeongin told him about his encounter with Scintil and everything that had happened. The younger was positively gushing about the Hero, completely oblivious to Hyunjin's knowing smirk and the little sparkle of blue in his brown eyes.
...
It would be days later when Jeongin would recall that Scintil had known his name.