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Chapter Text

The night sky was filled with stars. It always was, of course, only normally they couldn't be seen. Light pollution, Elena's physics teacher had called it. The bustling metropolis filled the night with lights from buildings and streetlamps and cars, and the stars were drowned out. But now, everything was dark and quiet. It wasn't just Elena's street where all the lights were out. The entire city had lost power. The only buildings that bore lights of any kind were the city's three hospitals. The closest was Children's Memorial, a place that Elena knew only too well.

It was a perfect night for stargazing. The air was crisp and clear. Summer was just starting to turn to fall, so the light breeze was welcome. Elena adjusted the soft cap covering her bald head and stared up at the innumerable stars. She pulled out her phone, intending to look up how to find constellations, only to find that it too was dead. After a moment's irritation, she shrugged and returned the phone to her pocket.

The sound of the door opening behind her made Elena turn her head. She saw her dad coming down the stairs. “How's it going, pumpkin?” he asked.

She gestured up at the sky. “I haven't seen this many stars since that time we went camping,” she said. “It's beautiful, isn't it?”

A small smile crossed her dad's face. “That's my girl,” he said. “Always trying to find the bright side.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

He sighed. “We've lost power everywhere. Anything that runs on electricity is dead. The car won't start, phones aren't working, and even batteries don't work. There's only one person who could be behind this.”

“Electro-Man,” Elena said. Her dad nodded. “Captain Justice will stop him,” she said. “The heroes always win, right? Until then, I'm going to enjoy the view.”

The door opened again, and Elena's mom came outside, holding out a sweater. “Put this on,” she said. Elena rolled her eyes, but pulled on the cardigan.

Elena's sister Molly emerged a moment later, carrying a bowl of chips. “How did people live before electricity?” she asked. “It took me forever to find my way around the kitchen by candlelight.”

“I was looking for constellations earlier,” Elena said. “But the only one I know is the Big Dipper.”

Their mom pointed. “See that line of three stars?” she asked. “That's Orion's Belt.”

Elena looked. “I think I see it,” she said. The four of them sat together on the stairs, talking and passing the chips between them.

All too soon, the city came screeching back to life. Streetlights flickered on, televisions began blaring, and the stars were once again hidden behind the neon sign identifying Crawford Tower as the city's tallest building. With a sigh, Elena carried the nearly-empty bowl of chips back inside.

“The city was thrown into chaos tonight as homes and businesses lost all electrical power,” proclaimed the news anchor. “Electro-Man has claimed responsibility for the catastrophe.”

“I know what to tell the Meet-a-Hero Project,” Elena said. She'd been offered the chance to meet one of the city's heroes through a program aimed at children battling life-threatening illnesses. It certainly didn't make up for the hell that was chemotherapy, but it was a nice gesture all the same.

“Oh?” her dad asked. “Who do you want to meet?”

Elena pointed at the television, where Electro-Man was monologuing about bringing chaos and destruction. “Him.”

Eric watched an unfamiliar woman enter the bar. Newcomers were rare at Friendly's, so she stood out for that if nothing else. Dark skin, short curly black hair, barely five feet tall, maybe early or mid-thirties. She was dressed casually and carried a large bag over her shoulder. She sat down on the bar stool next to Eric and ordered a beer. Then, to his shock, she turned towards him and asked quietly, "Are you Eric?"

"Who wants to know?"

“My name's Victoria Wright,” she introduced herself. “I'm with the Meet-a-Hero Project. We help children with life-threatening or terminal illnesses--”

“Yeah, yeah, I've heard of you,” he interrupted. “You're responsible for all of Craig's photo ops.” 

“You're on a first-name basis with Captain Justice?” Victoria asked. Craig Crawford, multi-billionaire business mogul, was also the only superhero in the city who had revealed his secret identity to the public. He had been the city's most famous hero even before going public with his identity.

He scowled at her and took another pull of beer. “What does the Project want with me?”

“We had an...unusual request come in last week,” she said. “I was told that you could put me in contact with Electro-Man.”

“Told by who?” Eric asked suspiciously.

Victoria snorted. “Do I look stupid?”

Eric grinned at that. “It was worth a shot. So, what, some kid wants to see him get beaten up?”

“Oh, no,” Victoria said. “He's got a stunt double for that.”

“A stunt double?” Eric sounded almost offended.

Victoria nodded. “You understand, for liability reasons, the Project has...reservations...about trying to involve the villains directly. But we did have someone request to meet Electro-Man.”

Eric couldn't hold back his laugh. “That's a good one. Who put you up to this? Claudia?” He looked around, but his fellow supervillain was nowhere in sight.

“I never joke about our kids,” Victoria said. “Look, can you help me or not?”

“It'll never work,” Eric said. “Security would shoot him on sight, if the heroes didn't find out about it first.”

“I thought of that,” Victoria told him. “I've been in contact with the people in charge at Children's Memorial and we've worked out an arrangement.” It had taken hours upon hours of phone calls, e-mails, and meetings with nearly a dozen different people. She'd been bounced from department to department, laughed off the phone at least twice, and memorized how to navigate the hospital's automated phone system. “It helps that Electro-Man has a reputation for leaving the hospitals out of his...uh...”

“Schemes?” Eric finished for her. She nodded. “Well, what about the heroes?” he asked. “If they got word that he was going to be there...”

“I've thought of that too,” she said. “I'll discuss all of the details with Electro-Man himself.”

“Congratulations,” Eric said. “You've found him.” He made a fist and opened it to reveal a ball of crackling blue electricity.

Victoria let out a startled gasp and pushed her chair back. “Well,” she said. “Nice to meet you. Will you help?”

Eric's respect for her climbed several notches. He'd half expected her to bolt. “I'm still not convinced this isn't some elaborate joke."

With a sigh, Victoria reached into her large bag and pulled out a file folder. There was a photograph held on the front with a paper clip. The photo showed a teenage girl, bald and clearly looking unwell, but still smiling. “This is Elena,” Victoria told him. “She's sixteen years old. Has two more rounds of chemo. Her dream is to become an electrical engineer...if she recovers enough to go to college.”

That "if" was like a punch to Eric's gut. He picked up the photo and studied it for a long moment. “Why does she want to meet me?” he asked.

“She admires you,” Victoria said with a shrug. “The request came in the day after you cut the power to everywhere but the hospitals. Maybe she was impressed by that.”

“Well, it's nice to know someone appreciates all my hard work,” he said. That had been his biggest stunt to date, one that had taken him months to plan. The hardest part had been leaving everything working at the hospitals. Despite all of the trouble the power outage had caused, no one had actually died, for which Eric was secretly relieved.

“Look, it's not my job to judge these kids. For whatever reason, she'd rather meet you than anyone else,” Victoria said.

“And if I tell you to fuck off and never try to contact me again?” he asked.

Victoria sighed. “My backup plan is to have your stunt double win a fight against Captain Justice,” she said. “But it won't be the same.”

Eric snorted. “Good luck getting Craig to agree to that one,” he said. “All right. I'm in.”

Victoria's face broke into a wide grin. “Really?” she asked. “Wonderful! Welcome to the Meet-a-Hero Project.” She held out her hand for Eric to shake.

He briefly considered zapping her, decided against it, and shook her hand firmly. “You're a very trusting woman, Victoria Wright,” he said.

“Cynics don't last long in my line of work,” she said simply. “Now, can we set a date and time for your visit? I was hoping we could do it some time in the next couple weeks.”

“I'd rather not discuss it here...” Eric began.

Victoria nodded and reached into her bag again. “I thought of that too,” she said. She pulled out two identical, cheap-looking cell phones and slid one across the table to Eric. “These are pre-paid and completely untraceable. Call the number that's programmed into your phone. I'll need you to give me a three-hour window on the day before your visit, and then another call fifteen minutes before you actually arrive.”

“Burner phones?” Eric asked with a smirk. “Someone's been watching too many spy movies.”

“If you've got a better idea, I'd love to hear it,” Victoria said defensively.

“No, it's fine,” he said. Eric slid the phone into his pocket. He'd check it over at home to make sure Victoria was telling the truth. “I'll be in touch.”

Chapter Text

It was nearly midnight when Dragon Rider, the city's newest hero, came across Doctor Claw and her Cybots attacking a car. His metallic armor gleamed in the streetlights as he ran up to the woman with a cybernetic right hand. She was currently using the prosthetic's stylus attachment to control her robots from a tablet. The robots were humanoid in shape, but their faces were completely blank save a single lens in the middle of the forehead.

One Cybot pulled the driver out of the vehicle while two more began tearing it apart. Doctor Claw was so engrossed with coordinating the Cybots' attack that she didn't notice the hero's approach until he kicked a Cybot away from the car's rear tire.

"Dragon Rider! You're always ruining my fun," Doctor Claw complained. "I'm just teaching this gentleman a lesson." She gestured to the driver of the vehicle, who struggled to stay upright as the Cybot grasped his rumpled coat.

"I'm not as think as you drunk I am!" the driver slurred.

At that, Dragon Rider froze. Doctor Claw stared as Dragon Rider pulled back his arm for a punch and stopped inches from the driver's face. The armored hero was visibly holding himself back.

"Why'd you stop?" Doctor Claw asked. "Here I thought you were going to do something interesting for once."

"Sorry to disappoint," Dragon Rider said sarcastically. He turned away and muttered, "Revenge doesn't actually solve anything, revenge doesn't actually solve anything…"

"Are you talking to me, or yourself?" Doctor Claw asked, grinning. I didn't think anything could get under his skin. Guess he takes "friends don't let friends drive drunk" seriously.

Dragon Rider spun back towards her and spat, "I have no reason to think you'd actually listen to me."

She had to admit, that was a fair point. "So, what?" she asked. "Are you going to call the cops on our friend here instead?"

Dragon Rider shook his head. "Not if I can help it."

Doctor Claw's graying eyebrows shot up. "Oh? And here I thought you'd be all about Metroville's finest." Captain Justice, the leader of the city's heroes, was certainly never hesitant about getting the police involved.

Dragon Rider snorted. "Not since they pulled over my best friend and harassed her for Driving While Muslim."

She winced sympathetically. Trying not to sound too concerned, she asked, "Is she all right?"

He nodded, once. "They didn't do anything worse than scare her. If they had, I'd probably be on your side now…"

"Oh, now that is interesting!" Doctor Claw said, delighted. She'd learned so much about her nemesis tonight.

"And I need to shut up before I reveal anything else," Dragon Rider said. "As for this guy, I was thinking of taking him home on the Dragon Cycle. And throwing his car keys down the storm drain."

"Oh? What happened to revenge not solving anything?" she asked lightly.

"I feel like that's an adequate consequence," Dragon Rider said.

"Mm," Doctor Claw agreed. "Better than getting his brains punched out, at least." Dragon Rider looked away at that but didn't contradict her. "So, who is it that you're definitely not taking revenge for?"

He snorted. "Nice try."

She shrugged. "It was worth a shot. You go ahead with that, I'll get the Cybots to move his car to the loading zone over there so he'll get a nice parking ticket too." She grinned. "Nice working with you."

"We're not—!" he protested, then sighed. "Just this once."

Victoria waited anxiously at the front desk of the hospital. Fortunately, Electro-Man was easy to spot. He wore his signature white suit with red-and-white lightning bolt emblem. A black hood covered his whole head except for eyes and mouth. A yellow cape and black boots with matching lightning bolts completed the ensemble.

"Here's your visitor's pass," Victoria told him. "The hospital's main condition for allowing this visit is that I escort you at all times."

Electro-Man nodded in understanding. He held out a gift bag. "I…I got a couple things to give the kid. Should we have security look at it?"

Victoria looked at him askance. "You're offering to have it searched?"

"Listen, I want this to work as much as you do," Electro-Man told her. "If that means dealing with red tape, I'll put up with it."

They walked over to the security desk. The security guard eyed Electro-Man warily but began pulling the items out. "Let's see…lightning bolt necklace, a t-shirt that says 'My best friend is Electro-Man,' two books on electrical engineering, and…uh…action figures?" He stared at the lumps of plastic that were clearly supposed to resemble Electro-Man and Captain Justice, if they had been painted by someone who had never held a paintbrush before. And was painting in the dark. "Did you make these yourself?"

Electro-Man chuckled good-naturedly. "Oh, believe me, if I had they'd look even worse. I dunno, I got a chuckle out of 'em."

The security guard nodded. "Anyway, none of this is dangerous. You're good to go."

"Thanks, Todd," Victoria said.

Electro-Man carefully repacked the bag. He and Victoria walked down the hall and got into the elevator that would take them to the patient rooms.

"Does she know I'm coming?" Electro-Man asked.

"Her parents do. Elena just knows there's someone who wants to meet her," Victoria answered as they walked towards the room. "Here we are." She knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Elena called.

Electro-Man opened the door and stepped in. "Hi, Elena. Victoria's told me a lot about you."

Elena's face broke into a huge grin. "What? NO WAY! Dude, that is a great costume."

"Thank you," he answered. Victoria introduced Elena and her parents, Elena's mother pulled out her phone to take photos, and the group began to chat.

"Mom, Dad, did you know about this?" Elena asked.

"We knew for a while that Ms. Wright was trying to make this happen," her dad said, "but we didn't know when until yesterday."

"I'm honored, Elena," Electro-Man said. "Ms. Wright told me that you're the first person who's asked to meet me."

Elena eyed him skeptically. "My friend George told me he got to help Captain Justice fight you last year."

Electro-Man leaned in and said in a stage whisper, "That must've been my stunt double."

Elena froze with shock. "Wait. No. You're the real Electro-Man?"

Electro-Man nodded. He leaned away from everyone else and pulled up a ball of crackling yellow lightning in his right hand. The ball grew as he spread his fingers and disappeared when he closed his hand in a fist.

Elena's grin grew even wider than Victoria thought was possible. "HOLY FUCK!" Elena exclaimed. "Uh, sorry Mom. Dude! You're really him! I—I can't—this is the coolest thing that's ever happened to me!"

Electro-Man couldn't help but grin himself. "Stop, you're making me blush."

"Can I ask you something?" Elena said. "About when you cut the power last month?"

He nodded. "Shoot."

"Did you get the idea to cut the power everywhere except here from The Day the Earth Stood Still?"

"You are the first person to make that connection!" Electro-Man told her. "I'm impressed. You are a very intelligent young lady, with excellent taste in movies."

Elena shook her head. "Oh, I wouldn't go that far. I like the cheesy stuff, too. I'll watch anything with aliens or mad scientists."

Electro-Man's eyes lit up inside his mask. "Have you ever seen Plan Nine from Outer Space?"

Elena nodded. "Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!"

The next hour and a half passed quickly as Elena and Electro-Man discussed their favorite movies. An alarm on Victoria's phone interrupted the conversation.

"I forgot to mention there was a time limit on our visit, too, " Victoria said apologetically. "We've got about ten more minutes." She couldn't tell who looked more disappointed, the man in the costume or the girl he'd come to visit.

"Oh! Before I go, this is for you," Electro-Man said. He handed Elena the bag of gifts. Elena immediately put the t-shirt on over the shirt she was already wearing and got her mother to help her put on the necklace. She admired the books and burst out laughing at the bootleg action figures.

"Where did you find these guys?" she asked.

"It's not hard if you know where to look," Electro-Man said. "I'm honestly kind of proud that the bootleggers thought I was worth including in the lineup."

"And look! They even got one of your eyes in the right place!" Elena said. "But seriously, thank you. For everything. This was amazing."

"Anytime, kiddo," Electro-Man told her. "And thank Ms. Wright, too. None of this would have been possible without her."

Elena turned to Victoria. "Thank you so much. I couldn't have asked for anything better. This is so much more than I was expecting."

Victoria beamed at everyone. "I'm glad."

Elena's mother nodded. "You really went above and beyond. Both of you."

The group made their goodbyes. Victoria felt an immense sense of relief as they made their way back to the front desk. If nothing else, today proved that Electro-Man could be trusted with further Project events. "I'd say that was a resounding success," she remarked.

Electro-Man nodded. "Nice kid. So, you know that phone you gave me? If there's ever another request like this one, you can call that number again."

She hid her grin. "All right. Good work today."

Chapter Text

Dr. Claw stood behind a statue in the park, directing a group of 3 Cybots as they proceeded to turn a wooden park bench into kindling. The ugly metal bar that once divided the bench in half clanged on the pavement, along with the commemorative plaque thanking Craig Crawford for the donation.

She sighed as Dragon Rider appeared and began fighting the robots. Pressing controls on her datapad, she directed them to surround him. His voice, too quiet for her to hear in person, came in through the bot's microphone. "I see she's improved the fighting AI again." Although three at once was proving to be a challenge, he managed to knock one down with a powerful kick. As he fought the other two, the third bot recovered and threw the armored warrior into a lamp post.

Dragon Rider let out a whoosh of air, then slid to the ground. The large silver belt around his waist fell off. Instantly, the rest of his bright green armor, topped with a helmet that resembled a dragonfly's head with big orange eyes, disappeared. Face-down, the man who had been Dragon Rider groaned weakly and reached for the belt.

"What the hell?" Dr. Claw whispered. "Where did his armor go?" She spoke into her own microphone connected to the bots' system. "Number three, retrieve that belt." The robot moved to obey, grasping its metallic fingers around the oversized belt buckle.

"Wait!" the man cried weakly. "You can't!" Slowly, panting for breath, he rose to his feet, and Dr. Claw saw the face of her nemesis for the first time. Boyish, handsome features. Short black hair that he brushed back from dark eyes that turned up at the corners. And much younger than she'd been expecting.

"Jesus fucking Christ, how old is he?" Definitely young enough to be her son.

The shock of this reveal was enough to distract her from what he'd been planning to do next. "Give it back!" he demanded. When the bot didn't comply, he pulled his arm back for a punch.

"No," she whispered, horrified. "He wouldn't."

There was a crunch and a crack as the bot's camera went dead.

"Idiot," she muttered, deciding to reveal herself. The young man was cradling his right arm as the bot with the broken camera spun around in circles, unable to orient itself. "Cybots, return!" she ordered. Two obeyed. The third, still unable to see, began marching off in the opposite direction. With a sigh, she tapped the datapad to disable the bot entirely.

"So…Doctor Claw…we meet again," the boy said, teeth gritted with pain.

"That wrist looks broken," she remarked. Panic flashed in his eyes, replaced by confusion when she made no further move or remarks. "Do you make a habit of punching metal without your armor?"

"It…it's got my belt," he protested weakly. They both realized at the same moment that the disabled bot still held it. He tried to run towards it and stumbled. Doctor Claw reached for him and managed to keep him upright.

"Easy," she said. "Looks like you've sprained your ankle, too." She gave him a once-over. "The 'Doctor' part of my name isn't just bullshit, you know. I do have an actual medical license. I can take you back to my lab and—"

"No!" He jerked out of her grasp and took several cautious steps backwards. "I—no, that's fine, I can get myself to the hospital." Pause. "As soon as I get that belt back."

Dr. Claw shook her head. "I'm going to take that with me for analysis. I'm dying to know how it works."

"It's useless without the keys," he said, referring to the set of different-colored keys that allowed him to change forms.

"So we find ourselves at an impasse," she said. "Because the keys are also useless without the belt, I assume?" When he didn't respond, she continued, "Incidentally, what happened to your armor?"

There was a long pause as the boy considered something. Finally he said, "Give the belt back to me and I'll show you."

Her eyebrows shot up. "You can't use the armor without it, can you?" He turned away, and she knew her hunch had been right. "So if I keep it—"

"Yes, you'll have won," he said. "And what a great victory that will be for you, huh? Stealing a belt buckle from an unarmed man?"

She snorted at that. "Unarmed man? You can't be a day over seventeen."

"I'll be twenty-one in…on my next birthday!" he shot back.

She did a quick bit of math. "Christ, you were still in high school when we started fighting! Did you even have a license for that stupid bike of yours?"

"How dare you! The Dragon Cycle is cool!" he protested. "Also, yes I did, and also also, your stupid robot still has my belt."

She sighed through her nose. "How about a compromise?" she suggested. "You let me patch you up in my lab, and then I'll give the belt back to you and send you on your way. Deal?"

His face paled at the further mention of her laboratory. "How about you give me the belt right here, and…you can record my transformation with your datapad. You should be able to learn something from that, right?"

She pursed her lips. "Fine." She stalked over to the deactivated Cybot, removed the buckle from its grasp, and held it out to the boy. Although he was still in pain, he visibly relaxed. He reached for the buckle with his left hand and awkwardly held it in place above his waist. A belt appeared from inside and snaked around his waist automatically, locking itself in place. He fumbled for the keys, which he must have grabbed right after he'd fallen, and considered his options. The keyhole that allowed him to change forms—and must activate the belt in the first place, she realized—was on the right-hand side.

From her own early days of only having the use of one hand, she knew better than to offer advice. Rather than attempt to use his injured hand, he reached around with his left and, after a few false starts, managed to place a pale blue key inside the lock. "Ready?" he asked.

Oh, right, he'd offered to let her record this. She opened the datapad's camera and nodded.

He closed his eyes and turned the key. "Henshin!"

A deep voice—coming from the belt, she suspected—announced, "Unlock! Ice Dragon!"

She hoped the camera had been able to record something, because the transformation was too fast for her to see. The blue key controlled his ice armor, which maintained the general look of his main form in a color that matched the key. Armor at his shoulders resembled icicles and, most pertinent for his current situation, twin ice beams appeared on each arm. He used the left one to brace his right wrist in place and let out a sigh of relief that could be heard even through the armor. He repeated the motion on his sprained ankle.

There was an electrical whine as the Cybot closest to Dragon Rider moved from standby to fighting mode. "Shit!" Dr. Claw hissed. She jabbed at the datapad and fully deactivated the remaining two bots. "They, uh—"

Dragon Rider chuckled lightly, some of his usual swagger returning. "Seems we've both learned something about how the other operates today," he said. He cleared his throat and added, "Thank you. For returning the belt. You are an honorable adversary."

"And you're an impulsive idiot," she shot back. "Besides, you're right. Stealing a trinket is no way to defeat one of the city's great heroes."

He saluted and turned to go. "See you around, Doctor Claw."

"I'd better not!" she said sharply. Not with that wrist, anyway. "I'll need at least a month to repair the damage you've done today."

"Really?" he asked, surprised. "I didn't think it was that bad."

She sighed through her nose. "Go on, get out of here before I change my mind about examining you myself." At that, he stumble-ran to the motorcycle with the gaudy dragon head mounted between the handlebars. Shaking her head, she walked over to the bot with the broken camera and began to drag it back to her van.