Lightning Empress

Battery looked at all the statues around him with a frown. He had never actually gotten to see what was in the Enforcers tower, but he always heard rumors. Statues of all the previous Lords resided here. They would magically appear, seemingly out of the blue, once a Lord passed on. It didn't have the very first Lords, the powers themselves, nor did it have any current Lord. But those that died... Those were everywhere in this room.

His eyes were drawn to one statue, though—one of Cinder.

"Do you have any idea where the next Lord of the Sun could end up?" Lady Time called back to him. She was already climbing the stairs up to the top floor where the others would be waiting.

"Why do you think I would know?" Battery asked.

"Well, you did find the previous Lord." She shrugged. "Oh well. We'll find them before the villains. We have to." She walked up the stairs going up a curve and being out of sight.

Once he was sure she was out of eye and earshot, he approached the statue of the kid, looking up at the features. Examining the girl made of stone, he felt his heartbeat faster. Maybe it was a feeling of regret, sadness or a sense of loss? Or maybe it was a feeling or unbridled rage. He couldn't tell. This heart was so foreign to him now.

Fifteen years, he had lived with that shard inside of him. Fifteen years of it suppressing his power. Now that heart that had been damaged and eaten away was gone. The heart touched by Full Monarch, gone. What was inside of him now was that which belonged to the Emperor. The heart of a Giant. The heart of Alpha.

Battery placed a hand on the statue. A swirl of emotions crowded his head, but he pushed through them settling on one. Anger. He summoned his power, giant hands forming around the statue. He watched the stone crumble to rubble on the ground as it shattered. He heard the Victorian had done something similar with the statue of the Emperor. When his final fight with Full Monarch came to an end, he too had appeared in this room. His statue hadn't lasted long and its destruction at the new number one hero's hands was the reason the world was so willing to believe he died.

Little did any of them know his kind always come back.

He quietly watched the crumbling statue fall apart before finally turning and following after Lady Time.

The stairs looped around the entire tower. It was an old building, maybe as old as the Lords themselves, and even amongst Supers, it was quite odd. Eventually, though, they reached the top, which was almost like night and day. Whereas the Tower was old and formed from crumbling stone, this room was brand new, sleek iron with air conditioning and a large round table that they could all sit at. The others were already there.

"Oh no! What the hell is he doing here?!" Drake asked, letting out a growl. In Wyvern's seat, Drake had come in her place. His sister hadn't been the same since the Beast fight and had retreated to Boy Genius's base, where she had refused to come out. Drake glared at Battery, fire dripping down his lips.

"I could ask you the same thing. You're not even an Enforcer." Battery snorted.

Drake's eyes went wide, and he stared at the other heroes around him. "Wait? Did you guys actually make this jackass into an Enforcer? Are you all insane? We all practically saw him die! The dude was a severed head! Do you know what happened last time a hero died during the Beast attack? They came back as a Calamity! Legend is still trapped in the city we left him in, growing his army, and you guys are fine with this zombie on your team?"

"Ocean Empress placed in her will that she'd like for Battery to take her place if anything ever happened to her." The Victorian stated. She had cleaned herself up and wore a fixed suit that Boy Genius gave her, though everyone could tell she was out of it. Her eyes had heavy bags under them, and she was slouched a bit.

"The Beast always brings a Calamity with it! What if it's him?!" Drake demanded.

"Then we'll kill him." Mister Man grumbled.

"Why are you all being so casual about this-"

"We need the help." Boy Genius cut Drake off. "I understand your concerns. Rest assured; I've already scanned Battery's body. Whatever Legend became, he isn't the same. He's willing to help us, and we can't be picky about who we take on at the moment. He's spent two months fixing up the city. I think if he was a Calamity then he'd have already struck. I should remind you, Drake, you are here on behalf of your sister. Please don't make me kick you out."

Drake gritted his teeth and dropped back into his chair. "It just feels wrong... Something isn't right. The Beast always causes something to happen. Why hasn't anything happened this time?"

"Who's to say it hasn't?" Lady Time took a seat at the table and slumped down on her arms. "The Beast once attacked during the war with the Emperor. We didn't have a Calamity-level threat after that because we lost Full Monarch. His death was the Calamity, and the entire world went to shit. We all saw that girl in action. She wasn't just the new Lord of the Sun; she was the next Full Monarch. It's practically a joke how much stronger than us she became in that moment. What's even the point of us..."

Battery took his seat at the table and rested his head on his elbow. His eyes slowly scanned all the members. Drake was here in place of Wyvern and kept glaring at him. The Victorian, the world's strongest Super, looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep in the last two months. Mister Man looked cranky and paranoid. He had replaced his lost cowboy hat with a new silver one and now sported bigger guns. Beta looked the same as always and was also silently taking everyone in, recording them with his camera. Fable's eyes were closed, and the man was snoring softly, already unconscious. Boy Genius had turned thirteen recently, though he didn't have time to celebrate it since he had been busy dealing with his prison, and Lady Time looked just as depressed as the Victorian. Finally, that left the three new members.

Ocean Empress, Max Lightning, and Old Dog were dead. Those three spots had remained open. It took a while for a slot to be filled as the Enforcers had to get the go-ahead of the Hero Branch, and it typically involved a lot of behind-the-scenes work. Being an Enforcer meant you were now in charge of a full city, had the full funding of the Hero Branch, and ran your own team. Old Dog had run the Watch Dogs, Max Lightning the Clouds, and Ocean Empress had Reservoir.

Now, three new members would be taking over.

Battery locked eyes with Pretty Face. The pop star idol. That was who Lillian had selected as their new leader. Dean Ward hadn't placed Poseidon onto the Enforcers and instead gave them the singer. The guy who had run away during the Beast fight and locked himself into a vault with the other rich members of Oleander. Pretty Face flinched a bit and looked away as Battery's glare drilled into him. Ultimately, though, it was the person seated next to Pretty Face who truly got Battery's attention.

Whenever a disaster happens, new Supers are born out of it. Some people would find that their powers grew and evolved, while others who had been normal humans would suddenly awaken as Supers. Lightning Empress had only been working for two months now, and yet she had already taken the world by storm, doing Max Lightning's duties. She had nearly wiped out all crime in his city.

Her hair was long, going all the way down her back, having grown out at an incredible speed. It was a deep grey color, like a stormcloud. Her eyes were a bright red, crackling with electricity. She didn't wear a mask, but pure lightning dripped around part of her body. Just like Ocean Empress, she was basically naked and was using her powers to cover herself up. The lightning flowed like water, covering her chest and rear, almost like a bikini of sorts. Parts of her skin were also covered in clouds that hugged her body, forming gloves and boots. She didn't seem too bothered by the amount of skin she was showing off, though. In fact, she didn't seem to be all there. Her eyes had a dreamy look in them, and her head nodded back and forth as she stared up at a crown forged out of lightning that wrapped itself around her head.

The newest Lord of the Sky and Weather. Lois had ditched the Whisper persona and had seemingly completely changed herself. That was, if it was even Lois that was in the driver seat...

"What are you doing here?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Hmm?" Lightning Empress slowly stared at him and cocked her head to the side, nearly falling out of her chair.

"Shouldn't you be with Myth? You're part of team Pantheon."

"I left it." The girl giggled.

"Why?"

"Does that bother you?" Her head cocked to the other side, and her hair swept back and forth as a calm wind filled the room. "What about it? It's a trash team. Besides, it only has garbage Supers now that the Lord's dead. If I'm going to reach my goal, I'll need real power. Your power." She repeated the exact same thing he had said to the Victorian word for word, almost slapping him in the face with it. "That's how you feel, right? So, you shouldn't be bothered about me being on Pantheon or not, right? That was unless you're worried about poor Myth?"

Battery's energy flickered out, but he quickly got it under control and looked away. "Yeah. I don't care. Just don't slow down my new team, Whisper."

"It's Lightning Empress now."

"Whatever."

Boy Genius cleared his throat, slowly getting the attention in the room back on him. "So that everyone knows, I was the one that asked us all to have this meeting. Not only so we could get to see our new members, but I have some things to discuss. It's mainly to do with the Immortals."

The room shifted, and that despair that had been in them grew worse. "What about them?" Mister Man groaned.

Beta's head opened up a bit and a hologram gushed out of the cracks, forming across the table. It took shape, turning into the map of a city. Then it changed and flicked to another city and another. Rose, Oleander, Lillian, Daisy, Dandelion, Daffodil, Violet, Gladiolus, Nightshade, Chrysanthemum. These ten places were where the Enforcers ruled. Rose belonged to Victorian, Daisy belonged to Lady Time, Dandelion belonged to Mister Man, Daffodil belonged to Wyvern, and Violet belonged to Fable. Oleander, Lillian, and Gladiolus had been commanded by Old Dog, Ocean Empress, and Max Lightning, but would now fall under the control of Battery, Pretty Face, and Lightning Empress, respectively. Chrysanthemum used to belong to Legend, but it had been removed from the Ten Great Cities list. Finally, that left Nightshade, which wasn't actually a city; it was a prison that Boy Genius and Beta both ran.

Slowly, the hologram settled on the image of four cities. Oleander, Lillian, Rose, and Dandelion. "The Immortals are a group of five Supers," Boy Genius explained. "Each one is far stronger than any Super should be able to reach. I believe it's because they all share a power source, which in the past allowed Lucifer to rival the Lords. Now that it's being split five ways, though, he is no longer considered a Calamity level threat. That doesn't mean he isn't strong, though. Every member of the Immortals should be treated as a high-risk villain. I brought us all here to discuss what they call the Murder Games, which will likely be starting soon."

The Victorian was the next one to speak. "During the Beast attack, the villain Uriel was able to escape Nightshade." She said slowly. "Nightshade is made to hold villains we can't easily kill. Even chucking Uriel into deep space only ever slowed him down. Normally, it would be impossible to escape Nightshade without a means of teleportation on the level of the Emperor's sword; however, while we were all distracted and busy with the Beast, Uriel was able to slip away. He only ever tries to escape whenever his master calls for him."

"The Murder Games are held every few years." Boy Genius flipped through the holograms showing the four cities. "There is a sort of pattern to it. Out of all of our cities, I believe these four are the most likely to be hit."

"Does Oleander even still count as a city?" Drake questioned.

"That's a good question." Boy Genius frowned. No one was able to get ahold of Laps, the head of Oleander's Hero Branch. "At this exact moment, Oleander is mainly in the hands of Ward, the head of Lillian's Hero Branch. Currently, their main focus is on rebuilding the bridge and allowing those stuck in Oleander to get out. They'll have to access Oleander's value, determine how expensive it would be to fix it, and decide if they want to fund it. This is one of the reasons I asked for Battery to come here. Currently, due to the situation of Oleander, it is doubtful you'll be given much funding or a team until it is fully settled. They may decide to scrap Oleander altogether, in which case you'll be asked to be transferred to another much smaller city such as Iris or Poppy. You do know what'll happen if you turn them down on this, right?"

Battery didn't say anything and instead kept staring at the image of Oleander on the hologram. It showed off the city before the Beast attack. He had always heard Old Dog loved his city. Looking at it now compared to the state it currently was in he felt he could sort of see the same values that the old hero had.

"I find it doubtful that Oleander will be attacked and turned into the grounds for the Murder Games, but just in case, we'll treat it the same as the other three." Boy Genius stated. "Lillian, Oleander, Rose, and Dandelion will be our main focus. We'll be posting more heroes there, especially in Lillian, due to its overpopulation problem. I'll be doing rounds as well, using my drones to see if I can detect anything. Lucifer isn't like the Beast, though. It's hard to stop his little games once they do start."

"How long do we have to prepare?" Mister Man asked.

"We can't say." The Victorian said, letting out a frustrated sigh. "It could be in a week or two, or they might take a month to get ready. They'll be a bit busy setting everything up, but once they get started, then that's it."

Lady Time piped up. "We should monitor the low tier villains. Lucifer isn't going to entertain the possibility of some gang accidentally finding his preparations. Strange activity, mass gang disappearances, groups teaming up with no provocation."

"He might already be set up and waiting, so there might be nothing that changes until the games start." Drake huffed, He continued to stare at Battery daring the hero to say something else, but Battery didn't take the bait. The man just looked bored.

The Victorian turned in her chair, looking toward her daughter "Lois, you are a part of the Enforcers, now. Any predictions or changes in the paths?"

Lightning Empress took a moment to respond, the room going quiet as they all waited for some insights from the new Enforcer. "It's Lightning Empress while I'm in costume, Victorian." The young hero responded, a dreamy look still in her eyes as they followed some unseen shapes in the ceiling.

"Well, Lois, I'm proud that you're here. I knew you would grow strong, despite your rough start. I'm sure your father would be happy that you have finally reached your potential" The Victorian responded with a tense smile. "Regardless, you have a lot of new responsibilities. Feel free to ask Boy Genius for assistance whenever it's needed."

"Oh? So now you decide to speak to me as an equal? And all it took was dad dying. Yeah. I'm sure he'd be proud of you, mother."

An awkward silence grew in the room until Fable let out a snore that could almost be felt across the room. Mister Man shook his head and sighed moving on past that issue, "We'll just have to be ready to deal with the Immortals where they appear. They might not be a Calamity level threat anymore but they're close to that dangerous power level."

"We'll stop them." Boy Genius clenched his fist and nodded his head. "We won't lose again. That said… That does bring me to my next topic."

"Which is?" Pretty Face asked, raising an eyebrow.

The young hero took a deep breath and looked from the Victorian then back to Battery. "The Hero Branch wants to hide the fact that Cinder is dead."

"No." Was both Battery's and Victorian's blunt response.

The hero lifted his hand up in a calming gesture. "Let me rephase that. They're going to hide the fact that she's dead."

"They can't do that!" Lady Time said in shock. "Why would they do that?"

"It's the same reason they haven't revealed the fact that the Emperor is alive, or that Avalon turned traitor." Mister Man snorted. "They don't want to cause panic."

"There are some merits to be had from keeping the death secret." Beta piped up. "For example, it causes the villains that would look for the pod to stop, allowing us more time to locate the next Lord. It also allows Cinder merch to be sold at a higher profit than if she is dead."

"I'm not letting it happen." Battery said calmly.

"Aw, do you still care for her?" Lightning Empress asked cocking her head to the side.

"Do you not?"

"She's dead. What does it matter what happens to her image."

Battery growled but Boy Genius once again raised his hand. "Listen. This is happening. It's out of our control. Victorian, you remember your agreement, right? You'll be expected to go along with it. All of us will. Even if we don't like it."

Battery folded his arms and closed his eyes. "We'll see about that."

There were a few more conversations that were had. Mainly on the state of the Hero Branch, new up-and-coming heroes, or Sub Enforcer teams, though Battery barely paid it any mind not bothering to listen. He had gotten most of the information he needed. He never joined this team to actually be an Enforcer. It was just so he would know when and where a Calamity was going to appear. He planned on stopping them all, after all.

If his story didn't end, then he would make it into everyone else's problem.

Soon, it was time to leave, and the Enforcers began to depart, all of them exiting the tower. He got a few nasty, looks from Drake, but he mainly ignored the kid and instead had his eyes glued onto his former team member. The other heroes were quick to leave, taking to the skies or some other means of transportation that they had. This left just him and his former teammate. "Did you really quit Pantheon?"

Lightning Empress gave a goofy grin. "Does that bug you? I guess that's all you can really feel right now huh? That sense of anger and rage?"

"Lois would never leave Myth during a time like this." Battery's eyes narrowed. Blue, and black, blue and black, blue- Over and over the color shifted bouncing back. Inverting again and again and again with no regard. "The only thing I can think of that makes sense is the fact that you're not actually Lois? Loudest Thunder. The first Lord of the Sky! That's your name."

The girl didn't look surprised or startled by his words. Her goofy look just grew, and she lazily shrugged. "Maybe that's who I am. Maybe I really am Lois. Or maybe I've become something in between. It makes me wonder how you know about this. I might be the Loudest Thunder. Maybe..." The girl looked up at the sky above feeling her energy crackle out just like Battery's and her smile broke for a moment. "I changed, didn't I? When my father died, it all sort of clicked. My existence. It was for this moment, wasn't it? I became a Lord. This power must be how all of you felt. I always felt so useless being so weak, yet now..." She stared down at her hand, and for a moment, her smile faded. "It's so scary. I feel like I'm going to explode any second now. I hear it. Constantly whispering to me. It won't shut up." She winced and grabbed at her head. "Over and over, it talks. Is this what drove Wish mad? Is this what Hope had to put up with? The Loudest Thunder just won't get out of my head. He keeps feeding me his power. He wants me to get stronger, but this is... I don't know. I feel like I'm too strong now."

"So, you are Lois then. At least for now. A Lord would never be worried about the power they have."

"How do you know so much about our kind?" The girl wondered.

"I don't actually." The man gritted his teeth. "Most of the information I gathered was newly discovered or things I put together slowly. For example, I didn't think any of you Lords would ever have to be worried about the Ego inside of you taking you over."

"The Ego?"

"It's sort of a soul." He explained. "Supers sort of have two souls, I guess you could say. For most, that soul is simply a mirrored version of themselves. Their true power is who they are. For Lords, though, they can have more than two. This is because they have not only their soul and their powers soul but the soul of the Lord's power that exists within them. At first, I thought it was just something that had to do with Full Monarch. I didn't know if it was actually a trait all Lords shared until the attack with the Beast. It was also a trait I didn't know that I had."

"So, you do hear the voice? I'm guessing that's how you came back from the dead? A trait the Rulers have hmmm?" The girl looked him up and down and he knew instantly she was using her power. Slowly, the air around her began to twist and change. She was seeing the Paths. Lois, Loudest Thunder, or both, whoever was in control it wasn't the Whisper he knew. The words she said next confirmed that. "You'll die again." She gave him a kind smile while saying such dark words. "Once more your life will come to an end, and you'll crumble away losing more of your thoughts and memories. This time though it'll be at your own hands. You'll willingly accept your death and cause it becoming the Ruler you were meant to be. That's what I see your stories being."

"You bitch." His energy exploded out of him forming around his fist, but he never got the chance to throw the attack out. In an instant his hand was grabbed and held by someone. He glared back finding himself looking into the eyes of the Victorian.

"That's enough." The number one hero said in a stern tone. "Lois leave."

The Lord of the Sky poked her tongue out at Battery and took to the sky floating away. Battery glared at her one last time as the clouds twisted and swallowed her up. "Why'd you stop me?"

"I'm not going to let you hurt my daughter." The hero said sternly.

"Oh, so now you care about her? Besides is that thing even really Lois! She's changed!"

The Victorian folded her arms and stepped away from him. "You know, I could say the same thing about you." The light swirled and took shape in front of her forming into a massive greatsword the size of a bus. It laid flat on the ground, and she stepped onto it and offered a hand toward him. "You can't fly right? I'll escort you back to Oleander."

Battery frowned but slowly stepped up onto the sword. Slowly, the blade began to lift off of the ground, and they began to float, going higher and higher. The air got colder, and soon, they were among the clousd in the sky drifting away and leaving Rose City slowly behind.

He eyed the woman up and watched as she sat on the edge of her weapon. She allowed her legs to hang off, kicking them back and forth. "Who are you?" She finally asked him.

He looked away from her. "Jack Larison. Or Battery."

"Is that who you really are? Even after changing?"

"You're wrong. I didn't change. This was how I always was. This is who I am. Before the war, before Full Monarch. I'm the real Jack Larison. I didn't change, I reverted" Battery spat at her, his heart pounding as he felt anger rising, along with a wet sensation dripping from his nostril. He reached up finding some blood was dripping from it. "I'm still me. For now."

"How did you come back?" The woman asked. "Are you like Lucifer?"

"In a way. It's called a Ruler. I found out I was one during the war when I first died. This was my second death. Full Monarch had saved me the first time. Put me back together and made me whole." Now that he died again though all that effort was gone. "I don't know where the Rulers come from, I don't know how many there are. Maybe it's like the Lords and there can only be four. What I do know is that it doesn't let our stories end. It keeps us alive. Over and over. It revives us from the dead. The Emperor became one as well toward the end of the war. I thought Full Monarch broke the curse. I thought he cured me of it and killed the Emperor for good. I was wrong. When I died I expected to stay dead but yet here I am. Forced to go on."

"Is your death the reason you're action the way you are?"

The aura around Battery seemed to dim a little as he leaned back. "Emotions. That's a big part of the cost. Love, kindness, affection, they're all suppressed when it brings us back. Memories as well. It takes bits from our early life and shatters them each time it brings us back. That's its price. The thing in me… It only leaves room for anger and hate, stokes them up like a coal engine. My mind's being messed with, making it hard to remember how much I cared for the kid. Hell, it's a struggle to even regret what I did to Sky. They weren't my actions, exactly, but it's still on me. This thing would never let go of me. I was a fool for thinking Full Monarch saved me. Its claws are wrapped around my soul—bit by bit. I felt my memories shatter and vanish. It broke part of me. Part of my soul. My Ego. Replaced with a tainted horror. I'm sure that when I die again, more will be taken. It'll bring me back, but I won't actually be me. My body will belong to it. Just like what happened to Legend, just like what happened to Lucifer, and just like what happened to my dad. That's my fate. My story."

The Victorian gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "I won't let something like that happen. You're a member of the Enforcers. You're still you, right? You were pretty good at avoiding death up to this point, so just don't die. And maybe relax a bit more. Besides the anger issues nothing has really changed has it?"

He slumped down a bit and nodded. "Yeah... Yeah, I'll just keep living." He knew that was a fool's errand, though. How much of himself had already been corroded and broken down? The others wouldn't let him sit on the sidelines. It was only a matter of time before he had to face his father again. "So why did you really want to take me back to Oleander?"

The Victorian's smile faded, and she looked out at her city. "When you first revied Boy Genius ran hundreds of tests on you trying to figure out if you'd end up like Legend. You have the same energy as him. I never heard of a Ruler before until my battle with the Emperor but that's what all of you guys are right? Basically evil Lords? You promised me something though. You made a deal with me. In exchange for letting you join the Enforcers you would use the power that you have for something. Do you remember what that was?"

"My memories only get destroyed when I die. Anything made after a death I can recall just fine." The man said letting out a snort. "In other words, yes. I remember our little deal. I assume you want to take me up on my 'offer' then?"

"That's right." The woman nodded. "The place where the Emperor died. The one with all the worms. I'll be waiting for you there." Battery stood up and walked to the edge of the sword. They had finally arrived over Oleander. He looked down at the city below and took a step forward walking off. Right as he began to fall the Victorian spoke up one last time. "We'll settle who's the strongest there. Me or you."

Battery dropped from the sky falling toward his city. Up above he could truly see all the disasters that it had been hit with. All the ruins of the towers, the cracked streets, and the hobbled-together homes of the people. They were still trying to go on though. Hope hadn't vanished. He bet that thought would have made the kid happy. Even if only a little.

He landed on his building, cracking the roof a bit. His sudden entrance caused Purrfect to jump a bit. She got into a battle stance but calmed down when she saw it was just Battery. "Oh, Teacher! For a moment, you had me worried. Nothing happened while you were gone, but the Giant guys wouldn't listen to me-"

Battery didn't even look at the girl. He heard a loud buzzing from his belt and reached down finding his phone. He pulled it out and stared down as a broadcast appeared on it. One being sent out to the whole world. One by the Hero Branch introducing their newest member. A member that looked very familiar to him...

"Purrfect, I have a job for you."