Chapter 13: [13] In the Electric Festivity

Chapter 13: In the Electric Festivity

—

Peter "Spider-Man" Parker was quite excited about this year's Homecoming. A few days ago, he had asked Liz out—but due to recent circumstances, she wasn't sure if Liz would accept his offer. In the end, he asked her out regardless.

Surprisingly, Liz accepted his invitation.

The only problem was that she kept talking about Enrique for the entire day. That soured Peter's mood a lot. It turns out that she only accepted Peter's offer to dance so that she could get useful information about Enrique from him.

It honestly hurt Peter quite a bit. He didn't hate Enrique for this, of course, as the man never knew that Peter had a crush on Liz. Peter was simply disappointed in Liz.

"Sorry, I must be bothering you," said Liz with a cheeky smile. "But don't worry, my cousin managed to get closer to him. I will ask her to tell him good things about me, so you don't have to do anything of that sort, alright? Just tell me what you know about his likes and tastes."

Then there was that too. Her cousin was close to Enrique? How? When he asked how that was so, she got flustered and refused to answer, saying it was confidential and that she shouldn't share it.

"Well then," Peter gave her a thin smile. "This also is confidential, Liz. I can't reveal the tastes and preferences of a Superhero. That can cost him his life in certain situations."

Peter's eyes were slightly red when he said that, but not caring about the surprised look she gave him, he just walked away. Peter heard Liz calling him, but he didn't respond, making his way towards the gate.

He was planning to walk out of there, to run off and just be Spider-Man for tonight, but right then, something unexpected happened.

– Boom!

An explosion transpired as if a truck had hit the building, and in the next instant, the left wall of the hall burst into a thousand pieces. Peter's [Peter Tingle] had rung like a bell just a moment ago, so he had moved at the right time to jump and push Liz and himself away from the explosion.

Both of them fell on one corner of the room, coincidentally just beside Ned and Michelle who for some reason had decided to come to this event too.

"Guys, what are you doing here...?!"

"H, How is that important now?"

"Yeah, what was that explosion?!"

The three exchanged words as once again alarms went off like crazy in Peter's head. He turned to the side and found the cause of the alarm standing just outside the hole.

It was a slightly blue-skinned man with an aura of electricity around his body that flickered in and out of existence. He clearly looked like a villain.

The villainous man had said something right then, but his words were muffled out by their exclamations.

"Uh…"

"Whoa…"

"He doesn't… look like a normal terrorist." One of the students paled as he realized the situation. The others followed suit. "Fuck."

The students present in this corner all had different opinions on this matter, but one thing was for sure, the situation was dangerous. That guy had made such a big hole in the wall seemingly effortlessly. Peter felt scared. He had never faced an enemy this strong before, unless he counted Magneto.

"P, Peter-!"

It was Liz who exclaimed when she realized the dangers of this situation.

"Call Super-Nova! This guy really looks like a villain!"

Peter was about to do as said, but he paused. No, no, he can't do that. Not only would he be relying too much on Enrique like this—but this was the moment when he could be cool! This was his chance to shin–

– Thud!

"...Hah, die punk!" Flash Thompson shouted as he threw a bottle of water on the villain's face, making his blue lips twitch like a beast.

At the same time, Peter groaned. He realized he couldn't reveal his identity in this place, it was filled with too many onlookers.

Fucking hell.

****

Kleptomania.

The inability to resist urges to steal items that catch your eye. Sometimes, no matter how big the risk of stealing said item may be.

That was the reason why Felicia Hardy, as a super crazy kleptomaniac, didn't think twice before deciding to raid her own school. In hindsight, the target of her greed this time around wasn't anything that expensive. It was a simple paperweight, shaped like an orb with an intricate design inside it.

The location of said paperweight also wasn't anything groundbreaking for a person of her skills. It was the principal's office, and the bald principal adored it quite a bit too. She first saw it a few days ago, the night after Supernova had caught her lacking when she was called to the principal's office after she beat up a guy who invited her to be his partner in the Homecoming and kept annoying her even after she firmly rejected.

Since that day, this orb has been eating her mind. Felicia knew she needed her hands on it.

The slight problem was that she was too late to make her move and so Homecoming came. The logical option now would be that she wait for a while until classes continue so that she could come to the office and swiftly steal it. But… Kleptomaniacs don't follow logic.

Felicia's patience had reached its limits, and she had decided to come to school in the name of attending Homecoming just so that she could steal the paperweight and then leave swiftly.

Expectedly yet annoyingly though, the kids were surprised at her presence. Usually, third-year students didn't attend Homecoming, more so someone like her who's usually so quiet. Thanks to this, the kids thought maybe her beautiful ass was finally coming out of her shell. They didn't stop pestering her throughout the entire day when the football game took place, and even the players did the same after the game ended.

What, did they think she got impressed seeing them throw balls at each other? It was so weird. Gosh, so childish.

Finally, when evening came, unwilling to suffer from the continuous asking out for a dance she was faced with, Felicia decided to "leave." Though in reality, she had just sneaked inside the school at that time.

Once again, Felicia couldn't help but curse her mother for sending her here. She would have much preferred to sneak out in her suit and finish the job, but her mother just had to find out that she was leaving somewhere—and reached her own conclusion that it was the Homecoming. That woman even made her wear a beautiful black dress. Being in her rebellious phase, she found that annoying.

At the very least, after taking her leave from the party filled with students asking for her hand to dance, she managed to slip away to find the Principal's office. She easily got her hands on the paperweight too.

"Hehe~" Felicia giggled to herself as she rolled the orb in her hands, her eyes twinkling brightly. "You are so cute, little thing." She rubbed it against her cheeks, feeling the cold surface and shivering in joy.

Soon after that, she recalled that she should leave. It wouldn't be smart to spend any more time here. She had decided that as she stepped out of the office, just when she heard a loud 'thud' come from the event's direction.

"What now?" Felicia wanted to leave anyway, but as another thud, too loud to be a fight between students, shook the entire building, she stopped.

...For fuck's sake. It was supernatural stuff, wasn't it? Those things just never wanted to leave her alone. Groaning to herself, Felicia put the orb in the pocket of her Black-Cat suit that she was wearing under her dress. Then she ran towards the event.

For a moment, she cursed herself for doing this, after all, what would she even do after reaching there? She wasn't a hero, and she would never reveal her powers. What was the point of going there running? This was Queens, Spider-Man might just be on his way to this incident.

By the time she could reach an answer to her dilemma though, she had already reached the dance hall. Her heart skipped a beat as the scene registered in her head. The entire left side of the wall was missing, a truck-sized hole in it, but the source of it clearly wasn't a truck, proven by the man with a blue aura around his body who stood just outside the hole. Felicia quickly took cover behind the door frame and observed the situation from there.

"H, Hey, kids…" The monster-like man said, sounding confused. "D, Do you know the direction of the nearby hospital?"

The kids yelled in horror when the man took a step forward.

"It appears that… I have a bit of a problem going on… I would like to… see a doctor… but my memories aren't doing me any favor. S-so if-"

His explanation came to a stop when one of the kids, the dumbass named Flash Thompson who Felicia recognized, as he was the cause why she was called to the principal's office a few days ago, threw a water bottle at the villainous man's face.

– Thud!

Fucking idiot. Felicia's internal curse muffled out the exclamation Flash made after that. The villain man stopped in his tracks, his face twitching. Obviously, he wasn't hurt at all. The electric villain paused for a moment before he looked at Flash.

"You… hit me…?"

"Uh—"

"You hit me?!"

"Ahh! Stay away from me!"

The blue man yelled as he ran towards Flash, who could only crawl back onto the floor. Felicia thought it was the end for that idiot. She wasn't heroic enough to try to save him. Yet, at the last moment, a line of Spider-Web came shot out of nowhere and hit the blue man in the face, before he could grab onto Flash.

"S-Spider-Man?!" Flash's expression brightened while the blue man groaned in annoyance, turning to the side and looking around to find the culprit. At least Flash was smart enough to take the chance to flee from his spot.

"Spider-Man?!" The blue man growled out. "Where is Spider-Man?! Help me, Spider-Man! Please!" Yet, no matter how much he searched, he couldn't find Spidey. However, Felicia's sharp eyes hadn't missed where the web was shot from. Thanks to her enhanced senses, she had seen it coming.

Felicia peeked into one corner and found a teenage boy crouching in front of a group of more teens. Peter Parker. Felicia recognized him because of his extraordinary grades.

So that's Spider-Man? A 15-year-old… Felicia concluded. All her fantasies crumbled. Lame.

Here she was hoping the man-spider would be someone old and handsome. But this was just lame. What a pity. Of course, that wasn't important in the grand scheme of things and wouldn't lower the value of the work he does. Felicia still respected him for doing such stuff, no matter what.

But why isn't he coming out to face the villain? The blue-skinned man was still crying for help, throwing lightning around the hall. Though it looked like he wasn't doing it intentionally, all the strikes shook the building with a 'Boom!'. But Peter still didn't make any move. Soon though, Felicia understood why.

There were people right behind Peter, and so was everywhere else in the hall. Everyone had missed the web he shot because of the heat of the situation, but if he did something like that again everyone here will notice. Peter couldn't reveal his identity by coming out, and fleeing this place to change into his costume didn't seem to be possible either since he was guarding his friends.

Felicia realized how bad the situation was. Peter will probably pull something off if things went haywire, but that didn't mean that he could defeat this villain. Now that she knew he was just a 15-year-old, she couldn't entirely bring herself to trust his abilities.

On the other hand, the villain guy destroyed a concrete wall effortlessly. The odds were too great. No, it was she who needed to do something. To allow Peter to at least wear his suit. She was pretty sure his new suit was made of rubber or at least somewhat electric protective. So if he got to change, that should give him an edge against this opponent. But wait, did he even bring his suit here…?

"..."

Felicia paused. She didn't like this. The situation wasn't in her favor. Moreover, she herself was left without anyone noticing due to the position of her hiding spot. So if she wished she could just leave.

"...Fuck." She muttered a curse. Felicia realized that she wasn't selfish enough to leave a place filled with hundreds of kids in the hands of a possible murderous villain. Really, she needed to do something.

Thankfully, she was wearing her own Black-Cat suit because of any emergency where she might get caught in the principal's office. Hesitating for a moment, Felicia moved to the side and took off her dress, lighting it on fire and throwing it in a far place where nobody's eyes could see.

In the meantime, she noticed from the corners of her eyes how one of the villain's accidental lightning beams hit a cameraman standing far from the outside, making his camera burst into flames.

...Haah, I am so stupid. She would definitely die if one of those beams hit her.

…Putting her mask on, Black-Cat activated her powers to summon her tail and ears. As far as the kids were concerned, she had left the event an hour ago, but still, her hair was rare so they might recognize her. But with these ears and tail, it'd help conceal her identity further. Soon, she revealed herself by standing up and walking into everyone's sight.

"Who is…"

"Hey there, glittery."

Black-Cat waved her hand at the dazed blue-skinned man who paused to see her.

"Who…are you…?"

"I am Help," Black-Cat said gently. "You were calling me, right? You want to go to the hospital, I heard. I can show you the way."

"...Really?"

"Yes, really. Let's leave this boring place and see what's up with you? Tell you what, I know this doctor who's my close friend too. I will refer you." Black-Cat lied and walked towards the gate, gesturing for him to follow. "There, come on."

The man looked dazed for a moment before nodding. Black-Cat was happy that the kids understood her intention and didn't throw anything else. Though she was a bit annoyed seeing Peter was trying to call someone on his phone rather than leaving and changing into his suit.

This is why I don't like kids. Ugh. She maintained a calm expression as the villain slowly took a step forward–but right there, something unexpected happened. The electric villain just happened to step on a smartphone that was laying on the floor, probably dropped by one of the students amidst this commotion.

...Fuck.

– BOOM!

The smartphone exploded the moment the man's feet touched it, and in the explosion, both the man and Black-Cat were thrown to either side of the hall.

What the fuck sorta smartphone explodes that hard?! Black-Cat barely managed to catch herself as her feet landed on a wall and she did a flip. However, the man wasn't so lucky as he dangerously hit the wall at breakneck speed. Black-Cat would have assumed he was dead, got his head split open, if not for the audible groan he made a second later.

"You…"

Ignoring the horrified gasps of the students, the villain slowly stood up and glared at Felicia.

"You set me up… you!"

He glared lightning at her—literally. That she barely dodged.

"I- I didn't! I am here to help!"

"Liar! Stop r, running! Die! Die!"

Black-Cat kept dodging for an entire minute, regretting her decision to ever come out, before the villain had seen enough. With a groan, he raised his hand in the air—in her direction where she was cornered—and released a burst of lightning that rushed towards her. Black-Cat couldn't react to an attack at the speed of lightning, so she couldn't dodge it. But her senses had picked up the attack—the lethality of it.

Black-Cat realized that she was about to die.

For fuck's sake. She cursed as the flash of lightning blinded her. I should have just escaped on my own.

She closed her eyes instinctively and waited for her inevitable death. But… Surprisingly, it never came.

Could it be that death wasn't painful? That the scientists were wrong?

Black-Cat slowly opened her eyes and realized that she may not have the answer to that question yet. Because she wasn't dead yet.

"Sup, kitty."

The bright Super-Nova said as he covered her with his cape, his strong arms wrapped around her shoulders.

"I don't know what you are doing here, but I have this feeling that says you did a good job."

"Uh…"

"Now, get out of here."

He grabbed her by the waist and suddenly threw her through the hole in the wall—just like she had imagined when they first met—as she rolled in the air and somehow landed on her feet. Turning her head to look at the school again, she found Supernova grabbing the blue-skinned man by his throat and throwing him through the wall too. Black-Cat panicked for a moment, frightened that the villain would land near her and kill her—but her worries were meaningless as Supernova flew at a terrifying speed right behind him and grabbed him by the neck before flying up into the sky.

"Oh…"

Black-Cat was dazed for a moment as she watched the night sky become bright like the day as two flashes of lightning clashed against each other. When she finally regained her senses, she made a run for her home—unwilling to try her luck any longer. She was certain this incident ate out one of her nine cat-lives.

However, for some reason, she couldn't help but be thankful for it. Because today marked the day when Felicia "Black-Cat" Hardy saw the most beautiful thing in her life.

X-x-X

Enrique flew to Midtown High as fast as possible with Anna in his arms. In a breath, he was in the sky above the school, looking down at the chaos below. Police cars were converging on the scene, but it would take them a few more minutes to arrive, and their presence would likely make things worse.

Enrique knew he needed to act quickly. The reporter who had been recording the situation live was now being dragged away by his colleagues, and no other reporter dared step closer, fearing they'd lose their lives to a stray bolt of lightning. That wasn't ideal for Enrique, as he wanted his heroic deeds to be captured on camera, but there was no time to dwell on that.

"Listen," Enrique muttered to Anna as he began to descend. "I'm dropping you to the side. I will grab the villain by his neck and fly off into the sky. You take care of the kids and get them to safety, alright?"

"A-Alright!" Anna responded, a bit shaken. Enrique noticed she hadn't been in the best mood when he entered her room, and now she was handed the responsibility of looking after a hundred or so students by herself.

"That's good," he said, reassuringly. But there was no time to comfort her further. He had to act. Without stopping his flight, he dropped Anna to the side, just outside the hole in the wall. She landed on her feet and rolled forward skillfully.

Anna watched as Enrique made his way inside the building, and moments later, a woman clad in a black suit was thrown out, soon followed by the electric villain and Enrique.

****

Super-Nova flew forward and grabbed the villain, Electro, by the throat. Then he soared upwards into the sky, his grip tightening around Electro's neck, causing the villain to struggle.

"W-why…!? Why are you doing this?!" Electro cried helplessly, his blue hands slapping against Enrique's arm to no effect.

"I-I just… I just want help… I need…" Electro kept speaking until his eyelids fluttered, and he seemed to be losing consciousness. All the while, Enrique continued flying upwards at a fierce speed where oxygen was scarce.

"Then sleep," Enrique finally said. "Fall asleep, and everything will be fine when you wake up."

"Ah… ah?" Electro mumbled, his eyes regaining some focus. He pressed his blue palms onto Enrique's chest.

– Bang!

A large shockwave burst from that simple gesture, forcing Enrique to release Electro and sending him rolling back meters in the air before he managed to steady himself.

"Whew," Enrique licked his lips. "Powerful." The concussive force hurt. The electricity, of course, didn't affect him; otherwise, he'd lose faith in Mut.

"You are… just…" Electro spoke, his eyes clearer now. Floating in the air, he continued, "Just trying to set me up… just like that girl… you all are… trying to set me up."

It was somewhat amusing seeing 'Jamie Foxx' speak in that confused tone, but at this point, Enrique was getting annoyed. He suddenly had an idea. Electro could be his battery. Well, not 'Electro,' but his powers could be.

Rogue could absorb all of Electro's powers—killing Electro in the process but giving Rogue his powers permanently. She'd become more powerful and serve as a reliable battery source for him.

Enrique didn't overlook that Electro was just a confused villain in this timeline, an innocent civilian at heart, similar to the Amazing Spider-Man timeline. Killing him might not be morally right, but that didn't matter to Enrique. Not at all. If Electro could be useful to him by dying, then he really should die.

"I am trying to help," Enrique lied, looking deep into Electro's eyes. "Calm down."

Electro's expression deformed in anger. "You… are… not! Stop lying to me!" With a beast-like growl, Electro raised both hands, channeling electricity into his palms. He seemed to be getting used to his powers. Then, he released the energy.

Enrique matched the technique step-by-step.

– Bzzt~

The dull night sky brightened as their beams collided. Everything went bright white.

– Boom!

An explosion cleared the bits of cloud around them, throwing both fighters to either side. Enrique regained his footing first, having closed his eyes before the flash, knowing such a thing would happen. The impact hurt; his suit could block direct attacks easily, but shockwaves caused internal pain. Enrique decided to be more careful.

Realizing Electro hadn't regained his senses, Enrique cautiously flanked him in the air, but Electro soon noticed.

"Why are you… running around?!" Electro shouted, his neck twisting to follow Enrique's movements.

"Let me handle it… Max," Enrique said after a pause. Electro—Max Dillon—paused, eyes widening. He didn't expect this suspicious man to know his name. Could this man really help him?

That was the opening Enrique needed. He leaped forward, slamming his knuckles against Electro's cheek. Electro's cheekbones cracked under the force, sending him flying back.

Enrique followed up, but Electro started screaming in rage, bolts of electricity dancing from his body. Fortunately, the stray bolts were too weak to hurt Enrique. He swam through the storm of lightning, landing a punch under Electro's chin, silencing his scream and sending him upwards. Enrique followed, kicking him down in the head.

– Bang!

The next minute saw Enrique going all out with physical attacks against Electro. Punch to the gut, kick to the head, elbow to the nose—an all-out assault. Yet, despite Enrique not transforming into his beast form, Electro didn't go down. It was possible Electro couldn't be knocked unconscious in this manner, perhaps because his electricity kept his neurons hyperactive.

Enrique needed external help. "Goddess, anytime now!"

Immediately, the thunderclouds around them, formed by the electric festivity, crackled. Rain began to pour.

"Ah—argh?!"

Electro's eyes widened as the rain washed over him. He screamed in excruciating pain, his body short-circuiting. Enrique watched as Electro fell, finally losing consciousness, his bright blue body dimming.

Enrique swiftly grabbed him mid-fall. Electro was out cold.

"This is a win, right?" Enrique asked himself. Technically, he cheated. He couldn't have called the rain without Mut's help, but it was a win nonetheless.

"Good then." Now, it was time for Anna to win too.

****

Enrique was oblivious that from a distance, a news helicopter had recorded the end of the fight live. The clip wasn't clear, but viewers were mesmerized nonetheless. One of those viewers was Felicia "Black-Cat" Hardy.

Felicia hugged her pet cat, Onyx, as both of them watched the fight in her room.

"Whoa…"

There was no fucking way he was that hot.

She had managed to safely return home not long ago and had turned on the TV soon after. However, Felicia wholeheartedly regretted that decision now.

Initially, she had turned the TV on to make sure no camera had caught her form, and luckily, they hadn't. The angle of the wall hole where the cameras focused missed her form when she conversed with the electric villain. Later, by the time Enrique had thrown her outside, the electric villain had shot a reporter's camera into flames, so no other reporter had dared turn their cameras on.

That was good news for her. Felicia didn't want her "Black-Cat" identity to be seen as that of a hero. That wasn't her job, and she didn't want to get entangled in it. However, she hoped that was all.

Though relieved her fear didn't come true, she regretted turning on the TV now. She had just seen Enrique's shiny fight.

"Aww…" Felicia hugged her little Onyx tighter, though surprisingly, the cat didn't react harshly this time—mesmerized by the sight as well.

"My kleptomania is acting up, Ony…" Felicia bit her lips as the bright scene on the TV reflected in her eyes. "...Mommy wants that shiny man so bad~" Felicia fell back on her bed and moaned, concerned for her mental health.

On this particular day, Felicia Hardy's blue eyes had caught the biggest gem she had ever seen.