Arc 2: + Power Outage +
Episode 1.2: - Circuit Failure -
“ Rocking a new costume, I see. What happened to the good old white, black and blue?”
“ Well, yellow’s the new lightning in town, you see. One thing’s for sure. It makes laundry easier.”
“ I bet. Now, we heard about your scuffle on the street with the leader of the Wild Pack yesterday. Down near Washington Avenue? ”
“ Yeah. I've been trying to help Dakota PD stop the feud that's been happening between the Wild Pack and the Blood Syndicate. Let's just say both gangs got really peeved 'bout me intereferin' with their right to kill one another.”
" You didn't get hurt too bad, did you?"
" Hurt? Please, Rubber. Nothing can touch me."
Why was it always the windows?
Dark spots danced in Virgil’s eyes, brushing shards of glass off his jacket. Several oranges rolled aimlessly on the ground beside him, some relatively unharmed by his landing whilst others were squashed underneath his weight. Standing up with a grumble, he ignored the faint scent of sweet. Ending up in a greengrocer’s wouldn’t have been his first choice but at least the fruit made the landing softer. The crash had scrambled his mind, jumbled it up until he could no longer tell what day it was anymore. He readjusted his googles and stared through the open broken window.
What was he doing here in the first place anyway? The answer soon came to him in the form of a tip jar jiterring relentlessly before toppling off the side of a counter. Then, the ceiling above him began to shift. He first confused the rumbling for an earthquake and then, corrected himself. Dakota City hadn't seen an earthquake in over fifty years. The entire world was shaking up and down that he couldn't make sense of where was up and where was down.
BOOM.
Oh, right.
BOOM.
Him.
BOOM
The source of the shaking arrived around the corner, leaving cratered footprints in the concrete with every step they made. It sounded as if a Tyranosaurus Rex with diabetes was taking a tour of the city. He wasn’t sure if there was a word in the dictionary to describe how big the man’s feet were. Huge? Ginormous? Colossal? His knees were slightly bent, as if he was preparing to take flight at any moment. It would have been comical, if it wasn’t for the fact that there were remnants of dried blood stuck on his heels. His corn-rowed hair was hidden underneath a red cloth bandanna. Underneath the man’s shades, a thick cigar was stuck in his mouth as he stared at Virgil as if he was nothing more than a bug to be crushed.
“ Ya must be a crazy interferin’ with ma businezz, Kilowatt boy." Kangor drawled his words lazily in a thick Jamaican accent. “ Washington Avenue is ma territory and everyone knows what happens if you get in an animal’s territory.”
“ Some business you’re running, Tim!” Virgil flicked off several squashed fruit peels off his shoulder and winced at the bruises beginning to form on his backside. He raised his hands in front of him in a placating manner. " Look, we don't have to fight. We can settle this like civilised -"
Kangor leapt towards him mid-speech, one leg raised outwards to kick him. You didn’t expect a man with such abnormally sized feet to be so nimble. Virgil rolled out of the way just in time to avoid becoming a human pancake.
" Da name is Kangor." The Bang Baby criminal wrenched his foot free from the ruined shelf. “ Now, step out before you get stepped on.”
“ Step out?” His fists glowed with lightning “ We’ve only just begun this dance, Kangor.”
Kangor skipped out of the way to avoid getting drenched in a gout of electricity. It was almost infuriating how deceptively quick the Jamaican was, dancing around him in a slow yet efficient manner. The din of his stomps filled his ear, not enough to distract him from dodging a elephant-sized foot. The back wall of the small store was pulverized into smithereens by Kangor's twenty-inch long boots.
“ Dance? I doubt a little boy like you can handle my style.”
“ Style?” Virgil gave a wild grin as he backed himself against a rack of ripening bananas. “You’ve got as much style as your choice in footwear.”
There! Static ducked underneath a wide kick before delivering a stinging payload of electricity into Kangor’s opengut. The Bang Baby’s face contorted in pain for a moment, teeth gritted in annoyance before shoving Virgil back with his left foot. Virgil wheezed, his back slamming into a shelf of homemade jam jars that rattled upon impact. He’d just hit him with enough volts to knock out a man. It looked like the Bang Gas changed him on the inside as well as on the outside. Kangor's confident gait had been broken now, stopping every once in a while to catch his breath as he eyed Virgil with a conviction to kill.
Playing cockroach was only going to get him so far. A construction site half a block down. If he made his bets right. Virgil leaned against the store shelf behind him, steadying himself as Kangor charged towards him. At the last minute, his right arm snapped out, radiating electrical energy, and a volley of jam jars flung itself into the Bang Baby's face. Kangor yelled out in surprise and spat jam out of his mouth, Static taking advantage of the distraction to summon a nearby man-hole towards him. Virgil grabbed onto both sides of the manhole, legs squirming in the air as he pulled himself up onto the levitating cast-iron disc.
“ That all you got, Kangor?" He taunted from on top his surfboard. " I hear they’re looking for an Easter Bunny mascot in Utopia!”
Kangor growled, wiping apricot jam off his face, and began to chase after Virgil.
The construction workers wisely began to flee the scene, dropping whatever they had on hand, and ran away from the ongoing brawl between the two super-powered youngsters.
" I hear they're looking for
“ You ain’t gonna be saying no more words when I squash you into da ground -”
Unable to change his trajectory mid-fall, Kangor fell with a splat into the pool of wet cement.
“ I've got this sinking feeling that you'll be more willing to cooperate now..."
" You! Gemme outta dis mess!"
" Sure, you just hang tight." " In the meantime, there's a great coffee shop down the next bend. I'm aching for an macchiato after all that trouble you put me through. Is there anything you want?"
" Iced latte."
So, how’s the life of being a teenage superhero?”
“ Well, it’s probably one of the worst jobs ever. No pay, you can’t use it for your CV and no insurance either. ”
“ There’s gotta be ups as well as downs, man. Something tells me you ain’t no Mother Teresa.”
“ Well, some of the shops down in Upper Hemingway do give personal discounts to me while I’m on the scene.”
“ I’d bet. You got any special person in your life yet, Static? With a magnetic personality like yours and all the fame you’ve been cumulating.…..”
“ I know what you’re trying to do, Rubber. Stop teasin’ me like that. It ain’t gonna work.”
“ “ Chillax, bro. I was just playing with ya. So, one of our listeners asked this question that I think has been on everyone mind for quite a while.”
“ Shoot.”
“ Is Black Lightning your Dad?”
“ Is that the new principal?”
“ Good morning, everybody."
" Oh, come on. You can do better than that!"
" That's what I like to hear. I am glad to be honoured with this prestigious position and will continue to build upon the legacy that Principle Forrester left behind."
There were several chuckles and hushed whispers followed by the silencing hisses from teachers to keep quiet. From what he heard, Principle Forrester had ‘resigned’ after Shocker had torn up the dorms at Hemingway High.
" I'm not here to teach you about how to maintain your GPA. How to get into Ivy-League universities. How to succeed in your academics. I'm here to teach you how to exercise your responsibility to choose."
" The responsibility to choose a better life for yourself. The responsibility to do good from wrong. The responsibility to recognize when something is wrong. The responsibility to take care of yourself and be the best person you can be for other people and you."
“ When I see Hemingway High, I don't see see potential. All of you, no matter where you come from, who you are or what you did in the past, share that same potential. I believe that we’re not aiming to prepare you for the future at Hemingway. We’re making the future at Hemingway High and that future starts with you."
“ 'Cause in Dakota City, you always have a choice, and it's your job to find out what that choice is."
" That sounds like a lot that I'm asking of all of you, but, I'll be behind you. Every step of the way to support you in your journey."
“ I’m starting to like this guy already.” “ You’re lookin’ a little lost, V? Something on your mind?”
“ No, no. “ “ I just didn’t get enough sleep, last night.”
“ Everything all right there, Static? It’s not too personal a question, is it - “
“ Personal? Nah. Look, for the final time, there ain’t no relationship between Black Lightning and me. End of story. Nada. Zilch. The sooner that everyone abandons that tired, old rumor, the better everyone will be. ”
...try sourcing your tungsten filaments from lightbulbs. They should provide enough resistance to produce enough light.
Your confidant, Herman Schultz You sensed it, didn’t you?. Virgil shook his head.
It’s just an illusion. The lamp bulb behind him flickered like a trapped firefly.
Is that what you’re telling yourself? His computer monitor flickered uncontrollably before resuming its soft hum.
“ This is Robert Hawkins. If you’re interested or have questions about Freeman Community Center, please leave a message at the - “
Ever since he’d revealed that he was Static to Dad, it didn’t have the reaction he’d expect him to have.
“ Ahem.”
“ Whaddya want? Can’t you see I’m busy here, Sharon?”
“Apparently.” “Virg, this is the tenth time you’ve called Dad today”
“Can’t he spare some time for me?”
“I remembered you were supportive of him in the beginning.”
“We both were.” “C’mon, sis, don’t you feel that the house is a little more empty now?”
“Look, Dad still cares for the both of us, alright? It’s just that….he loses sight of the smaller picture once in a while.”
“ Besides, we still have each other, you dork.”
“Night, Virgil”
“ Night, Sharon.”
“ Robbery in progress at Dakota City Bank. All units on route…”
“ Seems like these nights get longer and longer…”
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