1: Ignition

All it takes is a spark.

Ignition

The water hit his bare back like icicles but it didn't tear his mind away from the thought.
The horror of what he just committed, was it just? was it right? could things have been different?
All of these questions raced through his head.
He raised his right hand and stared at the palm, horrified, as if it had done the atrocity.

His eyes wide with fear, his hand began to shake and his mind drifted back to the memory once more.

********************

Shrill screaming filled his ears, a man chasing a teenage girl through alleys, the girl's speed was deceptively quicker as they twisted around corners, sped through straights and ran through open areas used for parking.
Both were becoming short of breath, it would end soon, the man picked up a lead pipe from a trash can that the girl had quickly passed by.
His eyes focused on this action like a hawk, watching from his perch as the event unfolded.
It was time to move.

Adrenaline shot through the observer's veins as he watched the man throw the pipe at the girls legs tripping her as she ran, her body fell and in the moment she shielded her self with her partially bared arms, the sleeve tore in a tattered fashion, and her arm was grazed, bleeding slightly.
She paid no attention to the pain, more afraid of what was about to happen to her.

The man approached her laughing, manically exclaiming:
"I've got you now" as his arms reached out to grab.

To their sides, a car roof cracked with a large bending noise as if a boulder had fell from the sky at terminal velocity. They both paused and looked to see a hooded figure.
"Leave... her... alone... you worthless trash" a raspy voice commanded... a falsely, raspy voice.
The man stood and watched for a moment, failing to grasp the situation, but surely it caught up and his sick mind finally processed it
"Hah... Hahahahaha" Laughing, his reaction was to laugh "Really kid? what are you fourteen? what are you gunna do huh?"
The boy cringed in disgust, his noise crinkled as though his senses had just been invaded by a foul odor.

"Maybe when I'm done with her, I could try you out too, I wonder if you'll scream as loud"

Rape threats? classy a cynical side of the boy's mind exclaimed
Anger in his eyes, he walked toward the man
"Stay where you are, I'll get to you soon... Heh, I didn't know you were that eager" The man ordered.

The boy halted his feet firmly on the ground, positioned to keep moving at any moment, and with great speed.

"Not only can't you manage to find a woman without having to force it upon her, you choose a girl barely out of her teens... Disgusting." 

"wait... Danny?" the girl exclaimed as she stumbled upon her saviour's identity.

The man's head slowly turned from the girl to the boy

"What the hell did you just say kid?"

"It doesn't surprise me though, you couldn't even tell that I'm out of High School, let alone concealing a weapon" The boy rushed towards the man while taking out a personal defence baton striking quickly for his head; The aim was off however, and the baton struck the bottom of his neck.

The man kicked the boy backward with a winding force, his back struck the concrete, and he swore a loose stone just lodged itself in his back.
He groaned, and raised quickly to his feet, good timing to, as the man was rushing toward him with the lead pipe, swinging straight for his head.

An arm raised to defend his head, his right, the pipe collided and the boy felt pain shoot through the bone.
"..oof.. hyur" he groaned in pain, the blow had knocked his hood slightly askew, showing more features than he had wanted.

He twisted his arm around to grab the pipe, instead of block it, and tried to yank it out of the man's hand, to no avail.
He gripped it harder, and felt something course through his veins, a small electric current zapped into the man's body and stunned him, making him let go of the metal weapon.
The boy flipped it around to grip properly.
He felt the sweat left behind from it's previous owner. 
He struck first with a swing to the man's rib cage, the man was thrown slightly to the side, stepping back to support is weight.
Another strike for the opposite side of his head, knocking the man onto the ground in a daze, but throwing the weapon off to the side as it slipped out of the boy's hand.

The boy stared off to where the pipe had landed, and looked back at the man now on the ground whimpering in pain.
The boy walked toward him.
"No... NO! please! No more..." The man pathetically begged
The man's reaction shocked the boy, and angered him further.
"Really? REALLY?! and what about when she begged for you to stop?! for you to come to your senses and stop acting like a retarded horny animal?!" The boy's voice erupted in a deep growling shout

The boy fell to his knees, resting just about the man's abdomen.
"NEVER HURT HER AGAIN!" he screamed as his hand flew towards the man's face, grabbing it, he squeezed.
Then he felt a massive surge of electricity shoot through his hand into the man's body.
His hand muffled the man's screams as he rived in convulsions caused by the overwhelming electrical current.

Then all noise ceased and was replaced with the slight steaming noise coming from the man's now dead body.

********************

"Danan..." did his ears deceive him? she was calling his name?
The boy roused from his sleep, and he lifted his head of the school desk he had been resting at.

"Did I pronounce it right?" She asked coyly 

In his sleepy daze, he hardly realised that this was real.
"uh, Hey, Angelica, Umm, yeah that's how it's pronounced"
He scanned the class room, and saw no one
"Where is everyone?" he asked, only now fully awakening.

"Well... school's over" 

He stood up slowly, being wary of his low blood pressure, which made him feel light headed, and in rare cases, would cause him to faint, if he got up to quickly.

"Damn it..." he exclaimed, as he saw the clock sitting at 4pm.
"Wait.. did you come back to wake me up?" he asked

She scratched her cheek lightly and looked away
"well... sorta, I had netball practice after class, when I saw that the teacher left you here... I just thought..." She blushed slightly from the accusation that she did something for him

"Thank you" he smiled

She turned quickly to look at him, and smiled back
"Sure, no problem" she beamed.

Angelica turned to walk out the door, her mid length fluffy brown hair, slowly following her.
"Hey... Angelica" Danan raised his voice, as if calling to someone who was quickly about to disappear.

she paused just before the door, and then turned around
"I prefer Angie, yeah?" she smiled

"Can I walk you home" He asked shyly

She made an exaggerated thinking pose

"Hmm... I don't know, you could be a weirdo for all I know" she exclaimed whimsically

She looked at his face for the reaction, then smiled innocently

"How about you walk me to the gate, kay?" She proposed "and... then maybe then we can hang out tomorrow"

Danan laughed at her then followed

"Angie, tomorrow is Saturday"

She looked flustered by that

"Well, FINE, Monday then, Mister 'I don't see people outside of school' " She reacted angrily 

They both paused and then laughed at each other, then walked through the school grounds to the gates, side by side.

However they took the unnecessarily long scenic route.

Weeks stretched into months, and as they enjoyed each other's company they became closer and closer...

"Hey, Angel! wait up" Danan called as he chased after her, just as she was leaving the cafe they had met at for her birthday.

She turned around on her heels, quickly and sharply with a smile almost glued onto her face

"I forgot to give you this" He handed her a neatly wrapped box, with ribbon carefully tied on

"sorry, it kinda looks tacky" he joked in embarrassment "but um before you open it, I have something to ask"

His heart felt like it crawled up his throat in anticipation.
"Do you want to... umm, Do you want to go out... With me... not like to a movie but... permanently, like a thing, like a couple... you know Boyfr..." His voice crackling slowly

"YES!" she interrupted "Yes, Danny, yes, of course yes!" she hugged him almost like a tackle "I've been waiting for you to ask forever!" She bounced with happiness.

That was 3 years ago, back when they were in grade 10 of High School.

They were ecstatic just with each other's company but all that faded away one day.

"I've fallen for someone else..." She told him, and just like that the dream popped like a bubble.

Danan sat there, his face displaying both sadness and shock.

"Danny? I'm... breaking up with you" She said softly with tears in her vibrant green eyes.

Her hair was much longer now, still its deep luscious brown, but now tied back into a pony tail, with two stylishly out of place locks of hair over her face on one side.

The scene slowly painted itself in his mind, it was the same cafe they went to for her birthday, the day he asked her out.

"Because... because it's not fair, for me to start loving someone else and just keep dragging you along, you don't deserve that..." Angelica's voice raised as she started to cry.

It felt as though all eyes were on them, as the cafe went silent.

Danan sat in silence for a moment, watching her cry, the same look still on his face.

He placed his hand softly on the table and lifted himself out of the seat.

"Danny? Danny did you hear me? Danan!" Angie's head turned to follow him as he walked away.

"Yeah... I got it" Danan replied with a serious voice, pausing only slightly, then continuing on his path out of the cafe.

************************

The door clicked shut to Danan's apartment, he didn't turn on a single light to empty the darkness in the room.

Instead he wallowed in it, feeling it was fitting for how he felt.

For about an hour or two he sat at his coffee table with a coffee mug grasped in his hand, over the time he sat there the tea inside had become cold and unappetizing but he took no notice, he had been staring out his 7th floor window the whole time, staring at the electric city below.

He watched, as though he could see her going about her day. 

***********************

The next morning, Danan was brought to his senses by his phone ringing beside his alarm

he reached for it slowly, the screen was a lit brightly, and he pressed the touch screen to answer the call.

He moved it, slowly pushing it up against his face.

"Hello?"

"Daniel, man, it's Vincent, you slept through your alarm man, I'm out front of your door."

Danan rubbed his eyes with his vacant hand

"Unless you're at your girlfriend's again, that'd be awk..."

"We broke up... Yesterday." He cut him off

"S**t, Danny, I'm sorry to hear that... you know what'd be good for you, lets hit the town tonight, get a few beers into you, get you out of that apartment. But first, we have to go to work, the city isn't going to power itself."

The line went silent. Danny just didn't care any more, not even enough to answer.

*************************

"Welcome to Tri-larian Industries, we bring the future to you" The loud speaker boomed out as Danan and Vincent climbed the stairs to their work place

"Tri-larian Electric, the biggest energy supplier in the world. I'm still surprised we managed to get jobs here, I never expected that a year out of high school I'd have a steady job" Vincent struck up conversation

"It's because of the program we went through, the down side is we don't get to use our OPs for university, but the up side is we get a well paying job in return, and training, not many places would just train unskilled workers like that" Danan spoke, breaking the silence he had created since they left for work.
"Ah he speaks!" Vincent's joke fell without applause, so he shrunk back and spoke more seriously "I guess it was their way of helping though, for four years people just out of High School have made up the majority of the country's unemployed."

Danny made an approving groan in response, and left it at that.

Inside the power plant, when they went to go to their separate departments Vince broke the silence
"Well man, I'll see you after our shifts end... try to cheer up okay buddy?" He said in a worried voice
"I'll be okay" Danny responded in a monotoned voice
As he walked away Vincent leaned against one of the walls, crossing his arms and looking at his feet.
He then raised his head, as though suddenly struck by a great epiphany.
"Hey Daniel, did you hear about that terrorist cell that attacked Boston?"
Danan zapped around suddenly with an angry scowl on his face

"Those pathetic murderers need to stop, how dare they decide who lives and who dies for their stupid religion!" Danan erupted and was instantly met with Vincent's laughter "what?"
Vince smiled and shook his head "you're still you" he stood up straight and started walking "see ya!"

*************************

Danan walked around the master control room, which also housed a one of a kind generator that's primary feature is to power the entire facility and, with the help of the supervisor, who's charged with making sure everything is right at the control panels, start up any of the power cells when they go down.
Honestly, Danan didn't understand the supervisors job, but it seems more of a management role than anything else.

It had been about 4 hours into the shift, and Danan was recording numbers for an equipment report of the main generator, this generator's experimental, and because of that, daily reports had to filed to let the company know if it was working well, or if it anything went wrong, the recorded information included temperature, wattage and amps, power output targets and actual power output.

In the middle of writing the report, he noticed something alarming, the power output had skyrocketed since the last report he had done on Friday, and over the weekend the numbers weren't recorded.
The temperature was slowly climbing.
"Sir! Mr. Anderson! get over here!" Danan shouted
The supervisor stormed over "Is there a reason for calling to me rudely?!"
Danny explained the numbers and pointed out the current readings.
The supervisor's eyes widened and his back straightened
"GET EVERYONE OUT!" He shouted as loud as he could
Danan ran over to the master control panel.
"Daniel Campbell, Evacuate!" Mr. Anderson yelled out to Danan
"Sir, if I do this right I can stabilise the generator, and even if I can't, I should at least initiate the facility wide alarm" He shouted back in explanation, as the facility wide alarm began to sound
"Leave now, don't endanger yourself with these heroics!" The supervisor ran towards Danan
now at speaking distance Danan, without even turning to him opened his mouth to speak
"I'm not leaving"
"Then neither am I!, I'm your supervisor and you can't do this alone"
The alarm began to be drowned out by the sounds of the generator
"We're not going to make it Danan, run now!"
"we can do thi..."
A large explosion enveloped the viewing glass of the control room.

Moments later the glass shattered, hitting both Danan and Mr. Anderson as electricity from the generator surged into their bodies, Both let out an otherworldly, and blood curdling scream.
Anderson fainted.
Danan writhed in pain, the electricity arced in his body, his violent convulsions ended in redirected streams of electricity, destroying the surroundings.
Suddenly the pain eased. And then increased with the slightest of pauses, worse than before, as the electricity let out a pulse from the victim's body, collapsing a nearby wall, the debris had no where to fall, but straight onto Danny.

Author's Note

Version 2
Small amount of content added, title changed.
(the electrical themed words in describing Danan are intended)

Imagine it like a movie, or TV series, that's how I pictured it while writing.
(Tri-Larian industries is subject to change, I'm not happy with the name right now, but can't think of a better one)

The chapter is kind of jumbo sized, there was a lot of information I wanted to get across before moving onto the next chapter.

What are your overall thoughts? can I make this any better?

Was the ending scene good or does it need more work?

Reviews

[Luke Morris]

I liked it a lot. The whole time I was wondering what he did at first that made him look at his hands in disbelief. I was very heart-broken when Angel broke up with Danan even though it was short and sweetly written. I couldn't see any grammatical errors that I could tell and it was very intelligently written.

[Lorena Rose]

A super hero story about a man after his first heartbreak. It is relatable and his powers developing is something to look forward to. The main character, Danan has good descriptions and I want to know more about him as an individual. What is his family background? How old is he? I also wonder if Angel will be showing up again, or if she's already played her part. I enjoyed the visuals I got and hope you're writing the next chapter. I do think it skipped around a lot in time and I know writers want to get to the action, but maybe try to narrow down the amount of scenes, like the first scene that should probably be saved for a surprise in later chapters. The characters need more depth, but there are great prospects in this story and the ending was a true origin story for a super hero. I look forward to reading more.

Good luck with your writing and if you have the time, I have a book I am working on myself called Cold's Fire. I would appreciate some help working out the flaws if you have the time. Thanks.