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Darkened clouds gathered across the city, cupping uncontainable lightning. Electricity snapped through airy fingers, brightening the night sky in newfound definition. As quickly as the thunder made its presence, it faded with a threatening, diminished rumble.
I tap the earbud buried in my ear, underneath my cloth mask, “Wraith?”
“Puppeteer, I’m in my post, where are you?” She was on top of the building across from me. From a distance, she was perched on the edge, narrowly looking down at me.
“Coming up,” I took my grapple from its holster, pointing up towards the ledge of the building’s rooftop, “I barely see the top of this building,”
“It’s the storm,” She scoffed, but agitation layered beneath her words. I found out that it’s a habit for her to replace her discomfort with frustration.
“I actually like the weather tonight,” I tugged the grapple hook to make sure it was secure to whatever it latched on to. The device zipped me upwards with ease, in seconds, I scaled the wall to reach the edge, hanging on by the hook. Climbing over the ledge, I whipped the hook back in its socket, then put it back in the holster.
“You like the mistiness? The soon heavy downpour? The thunder?”
“Not in combat but in general,”
She sighed, her exhaling breath brushing the microphone, I winced. “Your insight isn’t exactly helping, Puppeteer,”
I sat down on the edge of the rooftop, letting my feet dangle off the ground. Its soreness throbbed in a relaxed way, the weightlessness helped. “Sorry," I muttered, arguing with Wraith was the last thing I needed, especially if she was in a mood. The rain and thunder is an asset and disadvantage to all three sides— heroes, vigilantes, and villains alike could use the mistiness as cover, rain for a clever purpose, and lightning to startle someone. Even the largest of villains and heroes could wince at a lightning’s strike, even nature could remind us that we are not Gods. We are not invincible. And that is what scares anyone. Even villains.
Wraith paused for a moment, as if allowing me to think, “No, Puppeteer, I am sorry. I don’t want either of us hurt because of this weather,”
I smiled faintly, at least she was annoyed without reason. “I didn’t want to be here at Mustafu, especially with the recent attacks, I know we’re going to have encounters tonight,”
“We have to protect that school, heroes are stretched thin between the inner city and here,”
“So I’ve heard,”
“If you need backup, you can call me,”
“Same as me, Wraith,”
We quieted, and it started to rain. It wasn't a soft, gentle orchestra, that’s when I love the rain. Instead, the water was heavy, each drop long and plummeting, roaring on clothes and roads, flooding the streets and giving unprepared people like myself showers.
I grabbed my knife, secured it in a holster on my thigh, and pulled the soaked mask to tear holes in the nose area.
I need to invest in a new mask .
Careful not to cut my face, I punctured through the mask, and with my fingers, ripped open a hole big enough to breathe through.
The city lights grew brighter, umbrellas popped in the distance where explorers walked in-between convenience stores and restaurants.
“Wraith?”
“Yes?”
“I’m worried,”
“About what?”
“Everything,”
“Do you need a moment?”
“Yeah,”
I cut the call. I couldn’t risk anything to be revealed, even Wraith knew that. Even if it was just to call for an ear to talk to, it couldn’t be anyone from my school, but it certainly cannot be a vigilante.
So I whispered out to the world. Why? Because the world’s language could never be understood by normal ears, yet it could understand me. It would not share what I have to say. It will not figure out my life because it already knows it. The world will understand and speak through its downpour, in its rumble in the distance, in its shifting clouds, in the intense winds. It could be a form of companionship: the sky a face, the clouds its features, the rain and thunder as arms.
Did the world respond? I will never know.
I tapped the earbud. Unanswered. I am left unanswered.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Wraith sighed, “I understand why you cut the line. It is good that you keep your…secrets close to your chest, you can’t let yourself down. You never know what I can do with that kind of information,”
“I know,”
Her microphone brush against clothing, I could only assume that she stood up, “Puppeteer, I would step away from the edge if I were you,”
“Why?” I pulled my feet to the ground reluctantly, lifting myself to stand.
“There is a blue-suited man beneath your building, I thought it was a cop but after looking for a while, I didn’t notice any police cars, and I checked the police station units—“
“You can do that?”
“With a little help—but that doesn’t matter now. I think there is a villain below you,”
At this point, I was backing to the center of the rooftop, grapple hook in hand, “I can come down,”
“No. Don’t. You’ll be wasting your advantage,” I put my grapple back in its holster.
“I can’t even see him. Is he to my left? Right?”
“To your right, but don’t fall off,”
I approached my right side, careful not to slip on the slick concrete, and craned my neck to try to get a look from atop. I see him, despite the mist and shadows, a garish, electric blue jumpsuit made him stand out.
Electric blue…
“Wraith, I think below me is Electro,”
“Electro?”
“He’s a new villain with a lighting Quirk,” I stepped back from the edge as nervous sweat pricked my palms, “And we’re in a thunderstorm,”
“You certainly do your research,” She sighed, “Let me come over,”
Before she had the chance to move, a metal screech stabbed the air with frightening force. It sounded as if an object stabbed and pulled concrete.
“The villain is scaling the wall,” Wraith uttered with calculated urgency. Glass shattered from her end of the line, her Quirk in action. When I turned my head, glass shards surrounded my partner, each piece blended together in a glittery, whitish storm of its own.
“Can’t you shoot glass at him?”
“I’m trying ,”
From only a slight glitter in the sky, shards shot at Electro precisely.
“Did you get him?” The screeching continued, and hadn’t hesitated.
“My aim—“ Wraith shot another shard in frustration, a piece of glass ricocheted with a surprising amount of force, she missed the target.
Meanwhile, something on the ground to Wraith’s side attracted my eye. Blue flames licked the ground, a figure unleashed them at the bottom, his bold appearance noticeable from even afar, I could identify him, he often appeared on the news.
He leapt and used his fire to propel himself upwards. His Quirk was fierce enough that not even rain could extinguish. He reminded me of Endeavor, how he advanced villains from the sky using fire.
“Wraith, Blueflame is below you—“
Before I could get another word out, Electro leapt over the edge with a wide, crazed smile evoked by electricity.
Sometimes I wished my Quirk was elemental, so in moments where nature acted in my favor, I could feel as invigorated as Electro did now.
His hand extended to the sky, drawing in crackling lightning above us. Thunder slammed his palm in a roar. He landed smoothly with his arm still stretched towards the swirling clouds.
What are you planning?
Why are you in Mustafu?
I commanded my Quirk latch onto his consciousness, slowly prying it open to use, I needed to make openings, to stall myself in time for Electro not to snap my concentration.
“What do we have here?” Electro gawked, “Puppeteer, is it?” He lunged forward, bolt in hand.
I broadened my stance, a white, intense heat flashed my vision. Tilting my head back, a strike crackled and ceased, its pointed edge where my forehead would’ve connected with if I hadn’t dodged. Burn marks marred the surface of the rooftop.
My Mind Control snaked around his head, trying to find the best angle to where to intrude. How well should this go? Would Electro be this predictable? He was supposed to be a talkative, foolish villain like any other encounter.
He chuckled, “You vigilantes always think you have it figured out,” He stepped forward, “On your own,”
He is right. There are most things I could do on my own. I think.
Electro was so predictable.
Electricity continued to charge on his palm, it sparked and ringed his fingers like jewelry, “You heroes bite more than they could chew. It’s devastating,”
As if on cue, blue fire sprouted from Blueflame’s hand, its powerful heat brushed my frontside even from a distance, the flames bolded in warning. Wraith painfully yowled, was his attack effective?
Glass shattered.
I tapped my earbud, “Wraith,”
But this time I was being predictable.
If I was smarter I would’ve saved myself a lot of time.
A large boom followed when an attack came from the sky, a lightning’s spearhead lethally pointed at its target.
Time slowed.
My heartbeat hammered against my ribcage, what do I do? Adrenaline sweetened its taste around my body, what do I do? Hot sweat suffocated skin, what do I do? My thoughts rummaged. What do I do? Memories flipped through my mind, as if I was holding my life from the first page and moving my thumb down across pages of text and flashes.
Move. It read. Electricity singed my hood, MOVE.
I stepped back with trembled feet, and a beam of lightning struck in front of me, its heat flared in my face as rain cooled my skin. Flinching from the loud crack, I hadn’t noticed the two hands that held onto my shoulders. I also hadn’t noticed that my heels were leaning against the edge of the rooftop. For a moment I thought it was Wraith holding onto me.
But it was Electro.
It was quiet for a moment. Between us I thought the rain had stopped.
Even masked, he could see my eyes, which I knew were wide in terror.
“You suit the scared look, wear it more, hero,”
And with that I was pushed off.
My grapple hook—
As a learned reflex, I pulled the grapple hook from its holster and aimed it at the building across from me, towards Wraith. But as I was about to pull the trigger, Electro grasped its hook with one of his gloved hands, a current of static channeled throughout the gadget, I grimaced. He shut down the gadget, the button I pressed urgently failed to shoot out the cable.
I was hanging diagonally from the edge, my only support was this villain, who held the hook loosely with contempt.
I wired my jaw shut, I will not have my last words be unanswered pleas.
“Look at the situation you got yourself in,” My mind control doesn’t have to be inherited, it could be learned. With the slight twist of language, he could put the blame on me, and control my thoughts.
Akira you’re going to die. And it’s your fault.
I’ve never had my heart beat so fast. I was going to die. There was no nearby hero to catch me in the fall, there was no vigilante to kick the villain’s knees and pull me up, there was no mercy in this villain’s eyes, why are you so cruel? I wanted to ask, I still had questions yet to answer. Why are you so pathetic? I wanted to say a last, snarky remark, but I was crying. I truly am the pathetic one now, crying underneath my mask.
I’ll die unknown, no, I’ll die figured out when the paramedics find my bones crushed in and skin bruised and teeth knocked out, they’ll unmask me and find my face. Find out that I, Akira Ito, have been attending U.A Academy for two years while having a secret vigilante life.
“This is when I let you go. Puppeteer, I’ve heard better from you. I've heard of a cold, calculated vigilante that did anything to get the job done. I don’t know what happened to you today. But don’t cry,” His voice calmed from its original, mad tone, “you’ll learn your mistake today,”
He let go.
I outstretched my arms horrifyingly, pressing the button for the cable to trigger, “NO!”
My mind control unleashed itself uselessly.
I hate my Quirk.
Would this be my last thought?
Where’s Electro?
The villain was gone, a figure stood over me.
You hate me? Its words boomed in my ears, drowning out the rain, drowning out my thoughts.
After everything I’ve done?
You don’t understand—
No, no Akira, I do understand. You wish to be Quirkless, you think that I’m only a burden to you, that you’re someone cursed with ME forever. Have you ever thought that I am cursed with YOU? YOU have caged me in my own mind. And I am not ‘it’ I am not ‘your Quirk’ I am Sukai. I am not your tool.
I know you're angry. I know you’re waiting to spite me. I can’t channel you. You’re unraveling from my grasp. Do this one thing for me. Or else we’ll both die.
One thing? It scoffed, One THING? I’ve saved you more times than we can count. Ever since you thought that you could handle villains like Electro on your own. Well you can’t. Not without me.
I can do things without you, Sukai.
Who is falling down a building?
A hand caught my wrist, Electro’s chest slammed against the concrete from my weight.
When he looked down at me, those eyes were empty.
I was controlling him.
No, Sukai was controlling him.
Outdoing me again.
The hand pulled me up easily, under its command, under a visceral, yet thought-out command, Sukai sent adrenaline to strengthen his muscles to manage to pull me up. The most frightening part of this experience was my breathing, ragged and heavy, as if suddenly oxygen would disappear. My Quirk’s energy applied pressure to my head, then drew towards Electro’s consciousness in a throb.
My conscious, no, my thoughts pushed forward, Sukai placed me in control again.
I physically reigned my Quirk back by pulling my fingers in a fist. He was well controlled already. I just need him to knock himself out so that he doesn’t have enough time to fight.
Electro’s thoughts were persistent, his voice drifting in the back of my mind as I manually forced our consciousnesses apart so that I won’t have to hear anything he’ll have to say. Sometimes opponents figure out that their thoughts are heard by me, and casted disturbing visuals or an intense internal voice. Despite my faint curiosity, fatigue started to bore its fangs on my shoulders, tearing through my arms. I couldn’t pay the expense to take a look at his memories, after all, I have never explored that terrain of my Quirk. And I never plan to.
“Mind cage,” I croaked weakly, holding out my hand to him to direct the rest of the adrenaline-fueled Quirk to attack his mind. Electro’s head pulled back, as if it was too much effort to raise it, his eyes rolled back and closed as he collapsed on his knees, then on the ground.
For a moment I looked down at him, kneeling down, I wanted to see his whole face completely, he was half-masked, hiding for what I could only assume was a horrible face. I stood back up. I am not proud of what I did next but it was anger behind my actions, taking rationality and contemplation behind. My left leg aimed for his face. Twice I will kick him. For what he did to me. He should be thankful I am not pushing him off the building. First, I kicked the side of his face, then his chest. Electro, still unconscious, reacted weakly to my attacks, shifting to his right.
I could defeat this villain without you.
He won’t be able to stand after I’m done.
I kicked him thrice, then again, and again.
After a while it was a blur. It was only my leg and wrath and a practice dummy below me.
“Puppeteer!” Wraith’s voice was at the back of my mind.
She pulled me back while I held his collar, my fingers unfurled as I was yanked back, “What are you doing?” She hissed, her pink hair took a darker shade from the rain.
I hadn’t responded at that moment, seething, “He deserves it,”
“Stop it Puppeteer—“
“You don’t understand,” I flicked my wrist away.
Wraith held onto me firmly again, I took for granted how much harsher she could’ve been, “Yes I do, now stop it before you do something that you regret. Now calm down,”
She had this look in her eyes that penetrated through whatever wall I tried to put up.
I faltered, sighing, “Whatever, I’m going to zip tie him,”
She let go of my wrist, yet her grip lingered. Wraith crossed her arms as I turned my back from her and kneeled down at Electro, the smallest trace of blood trailed on the corner of his lip. I didn’t hold the slightest guilt, turning him over and hauling his arms behind his back before grabbing makeshift handcuffs from my hip. I pulled his wrists close together, loosening the zip-ties with my left hand. After a little struggle, I got them loose enough to wrap around his right wrist, then I did the other, before tightening. I hope your skin goes blue.
“So what happened with Blueflame?” I muttered out of spite. I know that she wouldn’t be able to defeat him on her own, at the intensity of his power, I just wanted her to admit it.
Wraith came up from behind me, sighed with a roughened edge, and crouched down to hold on his wrists and ankles before hauling him up around her neck. Her knees were like steel, supporting her own weight and whatever luggage she carried. Sometimes I forget about her raw strength.
“I wasn’t able to take him on my own,” She began bitterly, “I had to call for backup, but he got away. Thankfully, he wasn’t head towards U.A., there's a patrol pursuing him now,”
A part of her costume was damaged, with her right side completely charred black, some skin peered through the holes on her costume, the exposed skin had blisters and redness that clearly irritated any time her arm contacted the villain’s clothing.
“I could hold him,” I offered.
“We both know that you can’t carry him,”
What was that supposed to mean? “Give him to me, Wraith, your pride can handle it,”
Her plum colored eyes narrowed, “Fine, Puppeteer, just don’t kill him on our way there,”
Wraith roughly gave the body to me, having him slung around my shoulders, after balancing him, I managed to have him secure. Despite my neck and back protesting, I could not let my injured partner strain herself any longer.
“How do we get down?”
She rolled her eyes, “What do you mean how? I’ll go by the stairs and you grapple down, what’s wrong Puppeteer? What’s wrong with you today?”
“Okay, okay,”
Wraith shook her head as she headed towards the stairwell. She wasn’t going to simply climb down the stairs, she had her own, pretty way to ascend and descend stairs. She swung from bars, leapt, and took falls to scale walls quickly. If there weren’t any stairs, she would make up her own, creative way to get back to the ground or to a rooftop. This city was her playground, and our home.
I took my grapple hook from its holster. Would it still be jammed? I aimed it at the building ahead of me and tested it out, pressing the trigger repeatedly. Obviously not.
I sighed irritably. I threw Electro off of me and turned him around with my foot. I bent down to put my grapple hook near his hand, I extended my own hand to use my mind control. My Quirk easily threw itself in his brain, unconscious people were more vulnerable to control. I searched for the section of his brain that controlled the Quirk and its doing, I found it after a couple of moments.
This was the tricky part. Getting the Quirk to actually be used. I breathed in and out, reached out, electricity sparked in his mind, it was chained by sleep, begging to be released as thunder rumbled and crackled in the distance.
Just a little bit, I touched his hand, direct contact helped more, it made mind control less straining.
Turn it on.
Electricity let itself free with direct flows, attracted to my device but also to the rain around us, it was tempting to let the Quirk release itself, let it fry Electro alive, but he’ll fry me too, and Wraith wouldn’t be too happy with my brutality. Finally, the cable whipped out from probably a button pressed earlier, then retracted back.
The world faded in and out, and my fingers began to tremble. Stay awake. I tapped my ear bud, “Do you have water?”
“Yeah,” Wraith muttered.
“Give some to me when I get down,” Hauling Electro over my shoulders, I snatched my grapple hook from the ground. I aimed at the building ahead of me and launched the hook to its edge. “Thanks,”
I leapt over the edge, letting myself fall to feel my stomach flip and adrenaline fire out once more. Despite the heaving weight on my shoulders, I had landed on the wall and carefully descended back to the ground.
Tonight was worth this thrill, despite what could happen, nothing could convince me how much more alive you could be with something to run after or to run from.