Thunder and Lightning

I woke up with a start. I tasted blood in my mouth, and I looked around the bare, familiar room. Today was the mark of my third week held hostage by the Dyad. Surprisingly, I hadn’t been hypnotized at all. Rahmi, or, should I say Jasmine, visited every day. She brought my food trays, and we spoke tersely. I was often visited by Omega. At first, she angrily hurled questions at me about Chloe. But when she realized I wasn’t giving up her daughter, she moved on.

The recent interrogations had been weird. Omega had inquired about all sorts of thing. Things like his favorite restaurant, his real name, his favorite color. It was really weird.

But today there was a strange energy to Jasmine when she entered.

“Thunderstrike.” she greeted, her eyes dancing. I blinked.

“What?” I asked suspiciously. She giggled.

“Come with me.” she said, and hauled me up. Handcuffed and wearing a grey jumpsuit like a real prisoner, I followed. I could use a shave and a haircut, and I walked with a limp, since my leg hadn’t properly healed. The Dyad’s medic said I’d probably have a limp forever, though there was mechanical solutions that could fix that with ease.

Jasmine led me into a dark room, and gestured me to sit. I did, and she unlocked my handcuffs and fastened me to the seat. I saw a big mirrored pane of glass and flipped it off. Jasmine touched her ear, and slapped me across the face.

“Gift from Omega.” she smirked. I blinked as Jasmine left the room. These weird orbs descended from the ceiling, and floated to my head. They reached out with their claws and touched my head. I sucked in a breath as the world went dark.

———

Meanwhile....

Paige was losing her fucking mind. She finally got over her last boyfriend with a really nice guy, and then he got captured. She was so pissed at herself. She was probably one of the fastest heroes yet couldn’t dodge a bullet? It’d been three weeks, and Chloe was losing hope, Paige could see that clearly. Hazel wasn’t much better. Despite Chloe assuring her Hazel’s feelings for Jeremiah weren’t real, the girl seemed distraught. Paige felt kind of bad, actually.

Chloe burst into the room, eyes wide.

“What?” Paige frowned. Chloe hauled the girl to her feet and dragged her to the living room, where Hazel was intently watching TV.

“Reports are coming in of an octopus monster living in the sewers. More recent witnesses describe a human young woman with him, allegedly Lexi Maureen, the missing woman from three weeks ago. She seemed to have some sway over the beast, eyewitnesses recall. The mystery is deepening, for sure.” the news anchor said.

“What? A **** octopus?” Paige accused crossly.

“Octopi can squeeze into anything. If this Lexi girl can really control this thing, she could easily sneak it into the Dyad base through the sewers! If we cause a distraction, and Lexi pilots it in...” Chloe suggested.

“This octopus is killing people!” Paige shot back.

“Well, yes. But it’s been significantly less since it took Lexi. And it only kills men, so at the very least, we’re fine!” Hazel pleaded.

“Fine! Fine! We can go check the sewers.” Paige huffed.

———

I woke up in bed, in my bedroom. For a minute, I had a weird memory flash of a sterile cell, but that went away quickly. I glanced at the woman beside me. My gorgeous girlfriend, Rahmi Khan. Her natural, amazing bust was on display in just a lacy maroon bra, and she wore some short shorts, showing off her olive skin.

“Stop staring.” she grumbled. I chuckled and got up to get ready.

As I was brushing my teeth, my phone buzzed. Police scanner.

“You got that, right?” Rahmi called.

“Yeah, I got it, babe!” I called. I grabbed my bodysuit and strapped it on. I put on the mask, and Rahmi wolf-whistled as I flipped up the hood. I shot her a smirk as I dived out the window. I lifted my wrist and grappled onto a roof and swung in an arc as I hustled through the city.

I landed in front of Monarch City National Bank, and the cops glanced at me.

“Hostage situation. Don’t get them killed.” the captain growled. I nodded, and ran towards the building, only for it to explode. I was sent flying backwards and crashed into a police car. I was dazed, and hands hauled me up. I glanced at a police officer.

“What the fuck happened?” he screamed. My ears were ringing, and I touched some blood on my forehead. The police ran towards the wreckage of the bank, and I jogged after them, as Voltage landed beside me, and she put her hands on my face.

“You OK?” she asked softly. I nodded, dimly.

She glanced up at her mech, and pushed some buttons on her gauntlet, and it dropped down a rifle, which she checked the mag on.

“Ok. Babe, listen up. Vortex has been spotted in the area, and we need to take them out.” she said, and pushed the mag back in, handing it to me. I hefted the rifle and followed my girlfriend down the street. She turned down into an alley, and tossed lightning bolts at the Vortex soldiers, but they held up energy shields that bounced her bolts to the ground. Then they snapped out their energy swords. I ran in, swinging the rifle like a club then spun it after braining one of the Vortex soldiers and shot another one point blank in the face.

———

“He’s responding well to the simulation, ma’am. This could be an amazing way to deal with heroes while we extract their powers.” the lead scientist said. Omega nodded.

“I don’t know what you mean by extract.” Omega leered.

“Ma’am, Alpha said that that was the mission.” the scientist frowned.

“Alpha was wrong. He plays dress up and doesn’t much care for ****. No, this is a method of brainwashing to create a new line-up of agents. The Dyad will rule Monarch City.” Omega chuckled.

“Of course, ma’am.” the scientist nodded. Omega turned to look at Thunderstrike. The admittedly handsome superhero had his eyes closed. The screen beside his head showed a first person POV of him fighting Vortex alongside his girlfriend, Voltage.

Omega was damn proud of her genius for making the simulation program, officially called Platinum Mind. Alpha had named it, and as much as Omega loved her brother/husband, she hated his naming skills.