บท 12: Clean Slate

-Narrator POV-

...

His father is seated at the table while Kaminari had just handed him a mug of black coffee. Kaminari soon joins him and asks what's this all about.

"If you Sir had to fly all the way across the Pacific to talk, it's either very good or very bad." Kaminari expressed his curiosity trying to hold his anxiety at bay.

"Well, not across the Pacific, had almost no clouds, had to hitch clouds all the way through the Americas until arriving at Alaska." His father explains as he takes a sip of the coffee.

Speaking so nonchalantly about casually traveling halfway across the world in a matter of hours spoke wonders about Maxwell Kaminari's power. Even retired, he's still a force of nature with his quirk: Electromagnetism.

"Anyways, I was told your collar was unlocked. How did it happen?" Maxwell frowned his forehead as he waited for Kaminari's explanation.

"I... don't know, Sir..." Kaminari looked down, ashamed. "I didn't do it on purpose... I would never take it off even if I wanted it too, Sir! You know that! Everything was so su-sudden, I barely had tim-time to think... Please Sir, you have to belive me!" Kaminari was close to another panic attack, Maxwell's composure hasn't change, it wasn't the first time he witnessed this.

"Son, calm down." Maxwell leaned foward and placed the palm of his hand on top of Kaminari's head, activating his quirk.

Kaminari almost immediately relaxed, he knew what his father had done, one simple gesture that one would think was a father's expressing empathy and understanding had other meaning. Maxwell's trump card, the ability that made him a Special Class Hero: Neural Impulse manipulation, the ability to manipulate the bio-electricity of others. His mastery of his quirk achieved such high levels that he was able to control the electrical discharges that travel alongside the nerve fibers within organisms.

Kaminari remembered, how thugs would surrender at the mere touch of his father's hand, how a defeated villain wouldn't keep fighting after defeat, for his father blocked the neural impulses that activated the villain's quirk, being able to control their movements as if they were puppets by manipulating the electricity used by the nervous system to send signals to the entire body. That's the power of Maxwell Kaminari, that's the power of Supercell, the Special Class Hero.

He wasn't beyond using it on his own child when outbursts like this would happen. After the death of his sister, Kaminari could only be controlled by his father.

"Better?" Maxwell asked.

"Yeah... I asked you to never do this again, Sir." Kaminari is visibly upset at his father.

"Yes... I'm sorry, Son." Maxwell looks ashamed for doing this at his son. "Let's start again, shall we? From the start?"

"Yes, Sir..." Kaminari takes a moment to recollect his thoughts.

"As you know, the villains attack was sudden. One of them, a grotesque figure, had a teleportation based quirk and split the classmates into various zones. I was warped alongside two of my classmates, we were attacked almost immediately by villains. I had to use my quirk to fend them off and protect my friends."

"Was it when the collar was removed?" Maxwell is intriged.

"No, Sir. After we defeated them, I rushed to aid two other classmates who were surrounded by villains. I managed to defeat all but one, who had an electrical immunity based quirk. He took me hostage and almost killed me, but he broke the collar instead." Kaminari was deeply embarrased, but held the details of how he was taken hostage.

"So you're just going to leave out rushing desperate at the villain and not noticing the second one?"

Maxwell's couldn't help himself. This detail could only be known if he was there, denouncing how he knew about it: Mind reading. He could read thought waves as electromagnetic pulse signals.

"Seriously, Sir? First you puppetmaster me and now you can't even respect the privacy of my own thoughts?" Kaminari is once more visibly annoyed at his father, these boundaries were deeply made known.

"Look, now it's reasonable to ask that nothing is being left out. Your collar was off, son, and I wasn't here to help contain you. God knows what could've happened, the entire prefecture was in danger."

"Gaslighting? Really? " Kaminari walked out of the table.

"Raio, please, I-... I'm worried, okay?" Maxwell had to open up.

"I'm scared of losing you, son."

"Sending me to a school on the other side of the world where you and mother won't have to deal with me for the next three years is a reasonable way of being scared." Kaminari can't hold his frustration any longer.

Maxwell got up and walked towards the balcony.

"I regret this decision since the day we left you at the airport."

"Mother didn't seem to, though." Kaminari is frustrated beyond reasoning.

"Give her a break, she lost two children, Raio." Maxwell tried to reason with no avail.

"I KNOW THAT! I KILLED ONE OF THEM, YOU FORGET?!" The tears couldn't be held back any longer. The entire prefecture's power grid fluctuated.

Thunder rumbled above their heads, the thunderstorm was being directly influenced by the both of them. Rain started to pour as Maxwell looked at his son.

"Please, stop torturing yourself. Ana's death was an accident."

...

"I talk to her everyday, you know? She's my company when not at school." Kaminari held her portrait.

"And so do I, oddly enough. I tell your mother I go do 'hero business' at the agency and then go to her grave. Her smile brightened even the darkest of days." Maxwell's eyes were full of tears.

...

A moment of silence was held.

"Stopped raining, walk with me, dad." Kaminari's request was odd, but Maxwell followed as they went out of the apartment.

...

Few minutes later, both speedsters arrived at a isolated forest area.

"Why you brought me all the way here?" Maxwell is understandably curious.

"You'll see. I've been using this place to train by my own." Kaminari proceeds to put his hands on the collar.

"Raio, what-"

*ZzzzzPang*

Lightning struck Kaminari as an explosion engulfed him. Soon the lightning became part of his very essence, but he was counscious this time.

"Why would you do that?"

"How long you have until you need to go back?" Kaminari voice echoed throughout the forest. Maxwell hesitated but eventually looked at his watch.

"Five hours." He understands what his son wants, he takes off his jacket and unties his tie. "Standart ruleset, do not hold back."

Maxwell body started to lighten up as he produced his own electrical aura. "You may start whenev-"

Kaminari advanced towards his father at lightning speed, his arm helding a bright bolt of condensed electricity pointed right at Maxwell's face.

*CRACK!*

The impact leveled the terrain behind Maxwell, vertical lightning tendrils tore nearby trees, the dust barely had settled before Kaminari realized he punched the palm of his father's hand, barely moving a meter backwards.

Maxwell grinned with pride.

"You're faster than last time, good. Gotta even the odds." Maxwell spoke as Kaminari braced for impact.

Maxwell body is infused with electricity, he looks like the embodiement of a violent thunderstorm, the power is concentrated at the palm of his hand into a magnetic bomb of condensed electrical energy. Kaminari tries to get of the way but his hand is magnetized already.

"Repel." Maxwell unleashed the electric bomb at point blank range, the explosion so bright the night seems to turn into daylight, the soundwave broke remainder tree trunks off the ground.

...

The dust settled, Maxwell looked for his son, but he vanished.

...

Kaminari got up, looking where he was at, about a kilometer into the forest. "Almost." He says as he's ready to run back.

"You're counscious, that's an improvement." Kaminari looked up, his father was flying above the treeline. Small lightining tendrils shooting from his shoes and hands propelled him into the air.

"Four hours and fifty eight minutes." Maxwell announces as he flies upwards.

Kaminari also starts to levitate, meeting his father at the the same height, inside the thunderstorm above.

They both charge against each other, the clash creating thunderous soundwaves and lightning flashes that lit up the skies above.

...

"Two hours and twenty minutes left, that was amazing, son." Maxwell's expresses proudly as he gasps for air. "You truly improved, even your electrical healing. Your electrokinetic combat is outstanding." He sits on the dirt next to Kaminari, who is laying defeated. The night sky clears, the storm clouds dissipate.

"You saw me at 100%, Sir. I need to be able to control myself if my collar ever comes off again, I can't wait for you to stop me." Kaminari got up and seated as he layed next to a tree.

"Have you... heard anything about Nikolas?" Kaminari was nervous to even ask, but the need of knowing any news about his brother was stronger.

Maxwell hesitates.

...

"Not as much as I've hoped. These months after your departure I've been looking for him, investigating possible sights. South America, Central America, Africa... But I can't seem to find nothing."

"That's why you haven't been answering my texts and calls, I presume." Kaminari is hurt at the thought of remembering the missed calls.

"I would be lying if I said yes, Son. I've been trying to cope with all that has happened. Letting myself heal is difficult. Answering your calls would be forging a lie that everything was alright. Forgive me for abandoning you." He approaches Kaminari and lifts him up, hugging him harder than last time.

"It's okay, just say something when I call." Kaminari welcomes the hug.

...

"Your need to be independent of the collar, you're refering about the U.A Sports Festival, yes? There are battle trials at the end, your collar may hinder your performance. But do you really want to get rid of the collar?" Maxwell needs to know.

"Not get rid of it, stop being dependent of it, of you. Can you help me?" Kaminari hopes of a positive answer.

"Short term? Yes. Long term? No. But I can see to it that someone else can help you. For now, get up, we have two hours left." Maxwell is hoping he can do the best in the short amount of time he has.

"Shall we begin?" Maxwell asks Kaminari as he generates more electricity. The latter does so as he also coats his own body with electricity. "Let's make this count, Raio."

"Yes, Sir!"

...

Season 1 ends.