Electrode waits for the Circles to leave before storming to their lab. With everything that’s happened recently, Leto being forced to participate in a government-sanctioned raid, losing over 500 kind, loyal workers, the Circle Heads pledging themselves to Electrode. It’s too much. They need to blow off some steam.
They slam the heavy metal door shut, storming to the CD player in the corner. They turn it on and press play, letting their mind be lost to the music. They go over the experimental blueprints that they had drawn up last week, deciding to try and make something. Gods, they need to do something that wasn’t absolutely vile. No matter how good it felt in the moment, it always felt worse afterwards.
It needed to be done, though. All of this needed to be done. Life dealt them a shit hand with one decent card, and fuck they really should be used to the cards she keeps giving.
The CD ends, and Electrode hits play again.
They continue working, letting the music slowly take them away.
It ends, they hit play.
They work.
The third time it ends, the third time Electrode presses play, they stand and listen to the slow beginning, shaking as it continues and grows in intensity. As the song hits its climax, they finally let out a scream, a burst of electricity coming from them and causing the player to burst.
“No fuck fuck fuck no.” They snap out of their emotional stupor and open the player with some amount of difficulty. The CD inside is charred, and they slowly take it out. The disc is completely ruined.
“No, fuck, no this can’t be happening. Not today.” They cry out, feeling the lost sensation of anxiety rise up in their chest. “I can’t- it’s all I have.”
A plastic CD case is held in their peripheral vision. Electrode turns and sees Virtue holding it. “Have mine.”
Electrode shakes their head. “No, no, that’s yours. I-I won’t-”
“They were yours more than they were mine.” Virtue emphasizes. “I wasn’t there when it went down, but I was there when you joined.” Electrode looks at Virtue, who’s holding back tears. They pull their best friend close and hug them, sobbing into their shoulder.
There’s a mumbled train of ‘thank you’s and ‘I’m sorry’s from Electrode.
There’s a knock on the open door, and Electrode pulls away at record speed, eyes no longer red and a grin on their face.
“Leto! Welcome to the lab! Let me show you around!” They walk to the ex-hero, who looks exhausted and haunted. Virtue’s eyes trail Electrode with a hidden sadness. They place the CD next to the player. They take a deep breath, holding it for a moment, and finally lets go.
Zephyr goes back to the warehouse. TW for death and minor allusions to violence
Zephyr didn’t know that the Agency had bugged her room until she was sent to lead a raid into Electrode’s warehouse. She, some low tiers, and a small police force, were dropped in and, no matter how hard she tried to stop it, she couldn’t. She realized too late.
This is the last thing she wanted. The people who work for Electrode aren’t evil, just desperate. She, too, would have taken Electrode up on the offer of a job if it weren’t for the goddamn life-long contract.
Most of them aren’t even Powered. Virtue isn’t even Powered.
The low tiers and police blow the first few doors down with explosives. There’s sirens and workers running to what are obviously safety shelters. Many of them are gunned down before Zephyr can say ‘no’.
The man with the lanyard and pins stares at her, blood seeping through his shirt, and she sheds a tear for him. When none of her entourage are looking, she goes to him. He gives her his space pin and whispers his last words to her. She closes his eyes and rushes off to try and stop more bloodshed.
She gets to the Work Room before the heroes and police, seeing Virtue and Electrode. Electrode looks furiously at her, and she chokes back a sob. Zephyr falls to her knees and presents the pin, trembling.
“I’m so sorry.” She whispers. “I didn’t know until it was happening.”
Virtue and Electrode share a look, neither looking happy about it. Electrode steps in front of Zephyr. With sharp eyes, they analyze her, and nod.
Her nerves are on fire as her body moves without her command. She walks behind Electrode but in front of Virtue, who has adorned a simple white masquerade mask. She tries to move, but her body won’t listen. Why can’t she move?
The rest of the entourage arrive, covered in blood, and Zephyr wants to throw up. They ready themselves, the head captain saying something about this being the easy part. Zephyr wants to laugh. She’s the strongest of them and not once in three years has she ever been able to get close to the green-haired villain. Today was the closest she’s ever gotten.
They ready their guns and Electrode laughs. Their distorted voice sends shivers down Zephyr’s spine and obviously unnerves the offensive group. Virtue tugs on Zephyr’s elbow, dragging her away.
“You don’t know what you just set in motion.” The distorted voice cackles. She looks back and sees Electrode explode in a mass of lightning bolts.
The hero-police force are thrown backwards, some sustaining burns and some not rising.
“Find the detonator!” One of the heroes yells, and Zephyr knows deep in her bones that this wasn’t a trick or invention. This was Electrode’s hand being shown, and everyone was looking at what they had played instead.
The anti-gravity boots activate, making Electrode hover above them, and Virtue shoves her into a room and closes the door just as the screams start.
Zephyr stares at Virtue, who seems unnerved, with horror. Flashes of her interaction with The Drain coming back, not much, but enough. Her nerves suddenly settle from the burning sensation they had been feeling before. She steadies herself, gasping on sobs. Virtue is looking with emotionless eyes peering through the mask.
“He-” She heaves out. “I didn’t even know his name.” She finally lets the tears out, sobbing as she holds the bloody pin to her chest. “I couldn’t save anyone.”
Virtue grabs Zephyr as she collapses, gently letting her down onto the floor so she can lean against the wall.
“They knew the risks.” Virtue whispers. “We’ll send money and condolences to any family or friends they had.”
Zephyr barely keeps back a wail. So many families torn apart that she could have prevented. If only she had- if only she had-
Electrode walks in, mask thrown into a corner, and not a speck of blood on their suit. They and Virtue exchange whispers, and then they set their gaze on Zephyr. She wants to curl up and die, she failed.
Electrode’s ungloved hand gently touches her own. “Their deaths aren’t because of you.” They say with certainty. “If they were, then you wouldn’t have this.” They touch the space pin. “You wouldn’t have cared.”
Zephyr wants to fight them, tell them how wrong they are, but she’s so tired. She wants to sleep forever.
Electrode squeezes Zephyr’s hand gently. “We’re going to get justice.” They whisper, voice deathly sharp. “You can join us in it.”
Virtue looks at Electrode with surprise. “But what about-”
“Fuck it all. I just lost 500 good, hard working people and I’m not gonna let the government glorify the 20 that caused this massacre.” Electrode cuts them off. “I’m not gonna hide anymore, either. Call the circle heads, we meet in two days.”
Virtue nods and leaves the room. Zephyr tries to curl into herself, but Electrode doesn’t relinquish their hold on her hand.
“Zephyr.” They say, much softer than they have been all day, more like the way they are when they fight. “You’re gonna see a side of me that’s unlike what you’ve seen. I hide the way I am around the circles from you, and I hide the way I am around you from the circles. If you want to join my cause, I’m gonna wait until after the meetings. If you wanna leave, leave. I already have a way to get you out of that shitty contract and I’m using it.” They say, and Zephyr’s breath solidifies in her throat. What do they mean?
Electrode looks at them. They have freckles, light and dusting the area right under their eyes. “Leto, please believe me when I say that I won’t let you get hurt or die. Not now.”
She wants to scream at the use of her civilian name. She hasn’t been Leto for so long now.
Electrode seems to recognize this, as they say one last thing.
“Don’t lose who you were.” They plead. “I did. I did the moment I made my moniker. Don’t make the mistakes I have.”
They stand up and go to leave, but Zephyr Leto calls out Electrode’s name.
“Who are you when you’re not Electrode?” She asks, and Electrode looks sad.
Leto is sitting on a bed. It’s been a few days since the meeting, and since walking into what clearly was a private moment between Electrode and Virtue. They were kind enough to give her a room with a bed, a dresser, and a night stand. Not that any of them have been used much, she hasn’t been sleeping hardly at all.
She feels wrong being here. Between the crushing guilt she feels for causing hundreds of deaths, and the punch in the gut that the meeting was, she obviously doesn’t belong.
It’s not that she doesn’t want to join, but she also . . . doesn’t want to join. It’s hard for her to understand. On one hand, Electrode said that they could get her out of the contract. The pay is good and it’s not overwhelming. But on the other hand, Electrode is dangerous and potentially violent. They had no trouble killing the unit that raided the warehouse (not that it wasn’t justified).
There’s a knock at the door, and Leto opens it to reveal Electrode. Without their mask, which is strange even days later. She doesn’t think she’ll ever truly get used to it.
“Hey, how you holdin’ up?” They ask, cautiously coming in. Leto’s noticed that they’ve been careful around her. Like she’s going to break into a thousand pieces at any moment, which is more true than she likes.
She takes a deep breath. “Okay, I guess.” She mutters, avoiding their golden eyes.
Leto hears Electrode take a deep breath. “Okay. Have you made a decision yet?” Their voice is timid and soft, unlike anything she’s ever seen of them. Like they’re scared.
She nods.
“What is it?”
Leto opens her mouth, and pauses. “I- Electrode.” She looks up at them, hoping that her face doesn’t show how much it hurts to see them. “I don’t think I want anything to do with Powers. Not anymore.”
They nod, eyes looking hurt. Gods, they look exhausted. “I can set up a place for you, complete anonymity. Or if it worries you that I’m doing it, I can have Virtue or someone else-”
“No.”
Electrode stops, looking shocked. “Leto, I have the resources-”
“I said no.” She looks Electrode down.
“I can make a new identity-”
“I don’t want you to-”
“Let me fix this goddamn it!” Electrode slams their fist onto the nightstand, sparks of electricity shattering the mirror and coming off of them like tiny lightning bolts. Leto scrambles back, remembering the true extent of Electrode’s power.
The bolts of electricity are reigned back quickly. Electrode is shaking, looking at the cuts on their hand from shattered glass.
“I’ll have someone clean this up. Good day, Leto.” They whisper, turning and leaving before Leto can get a single word in. She stares at the mirror shards on the ground.
Things are going to change, and they need a good face for it.
Leto hasn’t talked to Electrode since the fight. Honestly, she hasn’t even seen the villain since that night. While an admittedly very large part of her is thankful for that, a small part of her is worried. Electrode is loud. They’re boisterous and high-energy and loud, so not seeing or hearing from them is just . . . strange.
Virtue has been keeping her up to date, though. Although much colder than they had been the first time they officially met, Virtue kept Leto in the loop. She knows, because of Virtue, that Electrode did indeed sue the States Hero Agency in her name (something that she wasn’t entirely against but still felt some anxiety over).
Apparently, Electrode has a law degree, and they’ve been working for weeks to make sure their case is tight, collecting evidence, and finding witnesses. Oh, also, apparently (honestly she’s not too sure), Electrode will be representing her! Electrode, a villain, representing Zephyr, a hero. Oh the irony.
Leto’s currently making sure her account is all set straight. She got scouted and recruited young, signed onto a binding contract she didn’t understand. The forced sexualization of every hero, with any hope for non-skin tight spandex suits thrown right out the window. Working two jobs to pay rent because the Agency doesn’t pay any of their non-S tier heroes. The blackmail, with civilian identity on the line.
There’s a sharp rap on the door, and it opens to show Virtue on the other side. The villain walks in, sitting in the desk chair. They pull out a letter that is addressed to her on the front, and open it. They take out a letter, clearing their throat to read it.
“Leto Marcella AKA Zephyr, We the American Agency would like to remind you of your listing as a B-Tier hero, and the importance you hold to the local area. By following through with your legal actions, you are potentially putting your fellow citizens at risk. Sincerely, the Agency.” They close the letter, dark eyes scanning Leto. “You do realize that Electrode put a no-go zone over the entire state until everything is all said and done with, right?”
Leto looks at her shaking hands, blinking back tears. God, she hadn’t thought this through when she started, had she? She was the first defence of this area, as the local B-Tier. She could have put the whole place in danger. But she hadn’t, because Electrode had declared the whole place under their protection. Oh God, when did it get so bad?
There’s a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she looks up to see Virtue standing above her.
“Come. There’s someone you really need to meet.”
They walk towards the door, and Leto follows in a fog, still thinking of all the ways it could have gone wrong. They walk downstairs and down a long hallway. Leto’s shoes click against the metal floor, while Virtue is entirely silent. Like they aren’t even there.
In a brief flash, Leto remembers overhearing that Virtue is their lead information-gatherer.
Virtue stops in front of a wooden door, knocking gently and opening it. They lean their head in and whisper something, before stepping back. The door opens all the way, revealing a pale brunet with light brown eyes. They have a long strand of hair that falls in the center of their face, stopping and curling up just at the end of their nose.
They smile, closing their eyes slightly and holding out a hand. There’s a small lightning bolt tattoo peeking out from under their shirt.
