Flashback, Part 1

Nineteen years ago

Bob Null's life changed one Friday afternoon, coming home from high school. Someone was waiting for him. It was a Japanese schoolgirl, complete with uniform, holding a suitcase in her hands. The petite and demure Asian wasn't really his type, but he had to admit she was beautiful. She was standing in front of his rundown apartment building: the two really didn't seem to belong to the same world.

she asked.

he answered, hoping she wouldn't notice how much he was staring at her. She bowed respectfully.

he asked back. When your grandfather is a Nazi you tend to talk about him as little as possible.

Nazi grandfather or not, Bob was a fifteen year old boy in front of a cute girl in a school uniform. Of course he immediately invited her to his apartment.

Once inside, Leiko took off her shoes and looked around, confused. Like Bob, she realized this really wasn't her world.

Bob asked to get a chance to change the subject to something else.

the girl answered. There wasn't the slightest emotion in her voice: she could've given him the weather.

Bob didn't know how to follow that, and just watched her retrieve a picture from her suitcase.

she asked. The picture showed an old black and white picture of Professor Heinrich Null holding a baseball-shaped rock in his hands.

he said, taking her by the hand and leading her to his father's bedroom.

He will never forget how cold her hands were that day.

The object was on his father's nightstand. He hadn't bothered to unpack most of his clothes yet, but the rock had been in its rightful place since the day they moved.

Leiko was overwhelmed and seemed on the verge of crying; even her composure had limits.

Bob asked.

Leiko asked.

Bob asked with a big, warm smile. Leiko turned around to look him in the eye: he was positively towering above her, but she was clearly the one in control.

Leiko's stare was unsettling. She hardly ever blinked and her voice never changed tone.

she agreed.

They talked for what felt like ages. Leiko let it slip that she was fifteen and that she was some kind of prodigy already in college, but that was the extent of what she wanted to reveal. At first she let Bob do most of the talking, intervening only when necessary to avoid turning it into a monologue.

But over the hours she started to talk about her family. How her father had always been cold towards her, more interested in her brothers and in his own career; he was a very important businessman with very, very shady connections. She didn't talk about her mother.

Eventually, the two found themselves sitting on the beach of Coney Island, looking at the sea.

Saying nothing, just happy with each other's company.

she broke the ice with her cold voice.

Leiko answered, wiping the sand off her skirt. Then she looked up at the sky, with a sad look. It was the first time Bob saw any emotion on her face.

she said.

Bob asked. The girl looked like she'd been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders her whole life. He'd been trying to get inside her head the whole day, and this was the first time she didn't bother shielding herself.

Leiko was surprised by Bob's reaction; he grabbed her shoulders and tried to shake her off her shell-shocked detachment.

Bob expected to receive a slap in the face. Instead Leiko threw herself in his arms and kissed him.

It was a long, passionate kiss by a girl who hadn't left any emotion break free of the absolute control she had over herself.

Noriko Null was conceived on the same night.

Today

Scion Corporation Headquarters, Tokyo

Noriko laments, blushing.

Kari says, sniffing.

They are all in the same meeting room, handcuffed to their chairs. Quantum is also there, under the constant surveillance of the Core that floats above him.

Unaffected by his daughter's embarrassment, Bob Null continues:

Kari notes, confused.

Noriko wonders.

The doors open. Leiko Tanaka enters the room, followed by two people with surgical masks and another three dressed with military gear.

she asks.

is the collective question.

she explains.

Noriko understands.

Noriko's silver eyes fill up with electricity. It still hurts, but she's too mad to care.

Leiko acknowledges, gesturing one of the men with surgical masks to come closer. He's holding a syringe.

Quantum quips.

Bob protests, struggling to break free of the handcuffs.

Noriko says; her eyes are blindingly bright now. All of her muscles are tense, pulling the handcuffs away from the chair, but there are hardly any muscles to speak off on her eighteen year old body.

The man with the syringe is coming closer. Quantum is trying to turn into any kind of energy, but the Core's power is preventing him from doing anything. They walked right into Leiko's trap…she was waiting for them the whole time.

Then he notices the room is getting darker. They're right in front of a very large window; he can see there are black clouds gathering above the city, moving unnaturally fast.

One of the armed men is holding Noriko steady while the doctor is about to inject something in her arm. She just needs a little more time.

Quantum intervenes.

If Leiko is surprised by the sudden change of subject, she doesn't show it.

<"Shazam".>

The lightning smashes through the window, headed straight for Noriko. Leiko's men are pushed back, and the syringe falls to the floor.

If this were a normal lightning strike, it would already be over. But this is an update for Noriko's brain: it will take several seconds to complete.

Fueled by the indescribable adrenaline surge that accompanies the update, Noriko breaks free of the handcuffs. Still engulfed in electricity, she punches Leiko right on the nose.

she screams through the pain.

For the first time in her life, Leiko can't hide the fact that she's afraid.