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Tell me who you love!

Summary:

When Ember McLain was alive, she was a vigilante in Gotham City, working side by side with the Dynamic Duo. As Prima, she was bold, attention-seeking, and reckless—traits that alienated her from the larger hero community, which struggled to handle a teenage vigilante like Ember. She was a mess in both the good and bad sense of the word, but one dark day, Ember perished in a fire. The hero community was shocked but not surprised—they had warned her that her reckless acts would one day lead to her death. In time, they moved on, barely remembering the girl who once fought alongside them, her name fading into obscurity.

But even death couldn’t keep her away. One day, it seemed she had returned to the city she once called home, ready for a second round—more unpredictable, more dangerous, and with unfinished business.

Notes:

Chapter 1: The Spark

Chapter Text

Ember McLain was invisible. At least, that's what it felt like.

Her parents were too busy with their work, with each other, as the two were very much in love, or literally anything other than their daughter. They saw her as nothing more than an unfortunate byproduct of their love.

She had "friends" at school, but they were fake and didn't include her in anything. Even her Teachers treated her badly.

When she spoke, no one listened. When she cried, no one heard her. When she learned to play the guitar, everyone ignored her. When she insisted that she would become someone—someone famous, a rock star!—everyone rolled their eyes and continued to disregard her, not even giving her a second of their time.

But then something changed, she changed, everything changed!

And it was amazing!

Like everything in Gotham, it started in a dark alley and involved crime, because of course it would.

Ember was on her way home from school, passing through the streets and alleyways of Gotham as she always did. After all, the Gotham alleyways were different back then, they were a bit safer than they are today, but only by a hair.

Suddenly, she heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being loaded.

At first, she froze, just like an ice sculpture in the middle of winter.

Then she screamed, a deafening scream. One that had no business being as strong and loud as it was. One that could only be compared to a scream from an angry Banshee.

Ember could see plasma-like sound waves emanating from her mouth, dispersing around her like a blast of energy. The force knocked the robber unconscious, leaving him on the floor with bleeding ears. Just before he could continue breaking the law in the area, the sound waves vanished into thin air, as if they had never existed.

Ember stared blankly into the air, her gaze drifting everywhere and nowhere. She was frozen in place, and time seemed to stretch as seconds passed by; each one felt like an hour. Ember's trembling hands gripped her throat before she could react. Her focus shifted from the thug standing in front of her to the dark alleyway ahead.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately for Ember, the alley and the surrounding streets were empty, as they usually were at this hour. After all, there is a reason why anyone who doesn't live there thinks Gotham is a city of vampires.

Ember didn’t know what happened next; her body seemed to move on its own. Her legs raced faster than they ever had before. Deep down, she realized that if she could maintain this pace, she would already be an Olympic runner.

After an exhilarating run, Ember's feet guided her back to the only place in the world that truly belonged to her—the only spot outside of the old music room in her house where she felt completely herself.

She opened her creaking door, tossed her bag by the door, and collapsed face-first onto her bed and pillow.

After five more minutes of screaming into her pillow, overwhelmed with adrenaline, fear, and excitement, she rolled over. She stared at the slightly peeling ceiling, which was decorated with old star stickers, and began to contemplate what she would do next and what it all meant...

Because what does all this mean anyway?!

Since when does she have powers?!

Since now? Since forever? Is she even the same now?

No, no way! She was absolutely not hallucinating; the broken glass and the unconscious robber were too real for her taste.

So what? was she Metahuman?

What will her parents think? Maybe they already know... Is that why they ignored her?

Is that why everyone ignored her?

Is she the last to know about this?!

Why?!

How?!

Seriously, how?

And what now? Should she just pretend none of this ever happened and just... go back to how it was? To how it always will be?

And why does it always have to be like that?

It's not!

She doesn't have to pretend to be someone in the future when she's a rock star. Not when she can be someone now! Someone everyone admires or at least loves.

After all, with great power comes even greater responsibility! Or something like that. Not that she remembered the saying exactly, after all, she stopped reading that comic a few months ago.

And she has powers so she has to do something with them...

She has to be someone...

She has to be a superhero!

After all, Robin is just a kid and he's kind of a superhero, even if he's just a sidekick. And in the comics, there were plenty of heroes who were about her age, only a few years older than her.

That was it then!

She's going to be the first teenage superhero ever! And she's going to be amazing!

Chapter 2: The Rise of Prima (part I)

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

For the past month and a half, only three things have filled Ember McLain's mind.

Music, Superheroes and her Newfound Powers.

Everything else had faded into no more static, like background noise on a forgotten radio station. Homework, gossip, family dinners (if you could even call them that).

Ember had something real now. Something loud. Something that couldn’t be ignored. Not anymore.

She was going to be someone.

She was going to be a hero!

Her mind was constantly buzzing. Bits of song lyrics, flashes of comic book panels, half-formed thoughts about what she could do next. Sometimes she'd wake up in the middle of the night and just write, not really knowing if it was a song or a plan or both.

In class, she stared blankly at the whiteboard while her pen doodled flaming guitars, new name ideas, weird sound symbols, maybe even a rough costume sketch or two.

Her teachers still didn’t notice; no one did.

But this time, Ember didn’t either.

She didn't stop or flinch. She wouldn't dare look back; she just sank deeper and deeper.

She read every superhero article and comic book she could lay her hand on, listened to all the stories and rumors, and carefully examined every picture of a hero she could find.

her notebooks were filled with sketches of potential superhero costumes and ideas for a superhero name.

In her thoughts, she couldn't help but wonder what kind of superhero she should become. Should she be mysterious and dark like Batman? Perhaps she could be a ray of hope and sunshine like Robin or Superman. Or maybe an invincible warrior like Wonder Woman?

Every day after school, she snuck off to the junkyard tucked behind Gotham’s forgotten rail yard. The perfect place for a girl to scream without being heard… or so she thought. The first time she cut loose and really let go, she shattered an entire wall of rusted car windows with one wail.

And it felt Amazing.

After that, Ember made the junkyard her sanctuary, and so she continued day after day for weeks.

It seemed like every day she learned something new about her advice or her clients.

Every day things started to become so much clearer and more understandable.

And just so so right.

Notes:

Don't worry, there's a sequel, I just don't have the energy to write it now for a few reasons, I hope you enjoy it anyway.