"Oh, I'm real. Real enough to defeat you! And I did it without your precious gifts, your oh-so-special powers. I'll give them heroics. I'll give them the most spectacular heroics the world has ever seen! And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions so that everyone can have powers. Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super, no one will be."

~ Buddy Pine (Syndrome)

Now that I knew Andromeda's weakness was electricity, I thought it would be easier to beat her. I mean, I can shoot lightning from my fingertips, how hard can it really be to disable Andromeda?

Well, the answer is very hard.

Andromeda was dodging me with the same grace as the first time I'd fought her. It seemed that she knew about her only weakness, and she was avoiding it at all costs.

Andromeda sent a huge piece of scaffolding at my chest. I went flying into the wall, surely creating a White Lightning sized dent. I blasted the scaffolding off of me and back to Andromeda, who dodged it and sent more projectiles my way.

"Why don't you fight me face to face, Andromeda?" I taunted, diving behind a marble counter as she sent a dozen nails my way.

She laughed. "Only if you do, White Lightning!"

I heard bangs as more metal objects hit the counter I hid behind. I looked over the counter quickly, hoping to spot any holes in her defense, but I was quickly met with a huge metal pan in the nose. I dove back down behind the counter, holding my now most likely broken nose.

Let me say first . . . ow!

That didn't feel too nice.

"Wouldn't that be against the point?" I yelled back, my voice muffled through the hand that was holding my throbbing nose. "You claim you already know who I am!"

I could hear the smile in her voice, "Yes, but your damsel over here does not. Well, at least she hasn't figured it out yet. I hope she does soon, though."

I cursed. Well, there goes my attempt at gaining some sort of leverage over her.

"I am not a damsel in distress!" Elise yelled from where she was still tied to the metal support beam.

I smiled at Elise's words. Even as she is literally tied to a stake while a hero and villain fight it out for her fate, she is still fighting to be her own person.

I rolled quickly away from the counter, sending beams of electricity Andromeda's way. She pulled a scrap piece of wood up to cover herself as one of the beams hit, driving her back a couple feet by the force of it. The wood was dark and fried where I'd hit it, but none had gotten through to Andromeda.

Figures.

"Why are we even fighting?" I questioned. "What even are your motives?"

Andromeda sent another piece of metal my way and I dodged. "Because you heroes think you're all chivalrous and moral. You think what you're doing is right, even when it's not. You care more about your next interview and media hit than actually saving lives. Someone needs to teach you a lesson."

"I thought you were just a villain for hire?" I asked, using the moment of distraction to div behind a support beam.

She chuckled, "Oh, yes. But I have found that half the fun is taking down you 'righteous' supers. Just because you have powers, doesn't mean you know how to use them for good."

I felt the beam shake as something hit it. Andromeda was still trying to hit me with as many projectiles as possible.

"But, why? What have I ever done to you? I was just a lowly sidekick until a couple weeks ago. If you can recall that your boss had mine murdered."

I could practically see Andromeda shrug. "In my eyes, all heroes are just children playing at the saving game. The world did just fine with regular police forces and crime investigation agencies. Supers have just made everything more complicated, and maybe without you blasted heroes, the world will be better off."

Was it just me, or did her voice sound closer?

"But just because some heroes are media hogs, doesn't mean they all are. I mean – look at those supers in Empire City. They were just normal kids with some of the highest save rates in the nation. You can't blame all superheroes just because a couple are bad."

"Better safe than sorry."

I suddenly felt myself being dragged out from behind the support beam. I reached to my neck, where the pressure was, but I was only met with air. This was the problem with fighting against supers with telekinesis. She pulled me up until I was right underneath her, but not close enough to touch. I even had a clear view of Elise.

"Here, maybe you're damsel can watch as I crush your windpipe."

The pressure tightened and I couldn't breathe. My lungs desperately needed air that wasn't there. My eyes felt like they were bulging out of my head and my face must've been turning blue. My vision dimmed. I saw Elise's blonde hair over her eyes as she desperately tried to fight her bonds, maybe hoping to find a way to help me.

But I knew it was too late.

There was a crash from the window behind Andromeda and suddenly the pressure around my neck disappeared. I could breathe again.

I greedily took in measured breaths and leaned to the side. My body felt weak from the short time without oxygen. The spots in my vision disappeared as I coughed.

"Did someone call for a super to save the day?"

I smiled, despite my weak state. Oh, how I missed that voice.

"I was doing totally fine on my own." I answered back, standing on my legs shakily.

A super with red and yellow spandex meets my eyes as I stand. He's a bit shorter than me with brown eyes and a strand of brown hair sticking out from underneath his red mask. A triangle in the middle of his chest had an M inside it and his red cape flowed out behind him (Like, seriously? Who still wore capes anymore?).

"Yes, yes you were. I could totally see just how well you were doing on your own. Next time I will let the super villain choke the life out of you before I come save the damsel and defeat said super villain." The Marvel chided back.

"The said damsel is still in peril, boys!" Elise yelled from her support beam.

I smiled at Elise's words. She almost saw me die and the world's most famous super barges in the room and she still isn't in shock.

I called The Marvel in from Empire City before I headed out to this building. Andromeda was Sonic's arch nemesis after all, so I thought Marvel could get her to come, but apparently the recent scandal around them and Tornado meant that The Marvel wasn't currently talking to Sonic. So, I was stuck with the next best thing, The Marvel himself.

I knew The Marvel's real name was Connor Collins (Hell, the whole world knew now), but it felt weird to call him Connor. It's kind of like meeting a celebrity like Jennifer Lawrence and they tell you to just call them Jenn. It feels wrong. Just like Marvel still went around wearing his mask, even though it had no use anymore. He had no secret identity to hide, but it was habit to wear it.

"You are going to owe me a huge favor, White Lightning." The Marvel assured me.

I scoffed, "I'm the one calling in the favor. I will owe you nothing."

"Who's your reinforcement?" Andromeda asked playfully. "The McDonald's guy?"

"Haha, like I haven't heard that one a million times." The Marvel deadpanned. "And who are you? The Purple Man?"

I smiled to myself, loving the fact that The Marvel knew his comics as well as I did.

"You know just who I am, Marvel. I'm the one who keeps beating down your girlfriend. Or, wait. She left you for her ex from high school, the ex-villain, didn't she? I guess she's not as forgiving as most. I mean, one fight and she's out of there. What was it you two fought about? Right. You were being a bit too overprotective and just weren't around enough to actually care for her. Plus, that whole incident a few months back where you chose to save her instead of those innocent citizens, which she never forgave you for – right before the fighting started. That must make you mad."

The Marvel clenched his fists, but didn't retort back. I'm guessing he's had to deal with worse taunts from other villains and random citizens back in Empire City all the time.

"Remember when I was talking about the media hog supers?" Andromeda questions me. "Yeah, your friend here is exhibit A."

Andromeda was suddenly blasted back by The Marvel. I guess the fight was back on.

I tried to electrocute Andromeda for what must've been the hundredth time and she dodged again. She quickly sent me flying over into a pipe by the wall, my back hitting it so hard that it burst. Water went spewing all over the floor, covering me in head to toe and flowing downhill, towards where Andromeda and The Marvel were having a telekinetic fight. Elise and her support beam were thankfully on the other side of the room.

I got up and sloshed through the still flowing water. Andromeda had managed to push The Marvel in a pile of rubble that was ever growing with her powers burying him as much as possible. I sent another burst of lightning her way, but she used another piece of wood as a shield, temporarily taking her attention off of The Marvel long enough for him to break free of the dog pile.

It was when I was sloshing through the water that I got an idea. Andromeda was ankle deep in the water, and I knew that tap water had trace amounts of calcium and magnesium, which were both great conductors of electricity.

"Marvel, now would be a good time to fly!" I yelled. He got the idea and flew into the air. Before Andromeda could do the same, I sent a strong electrical current through the water.

Because of my powers, I was basically immune to electricity, so I was fine. Andromeda on the other hand? Definitely not.

She fell to the floor, unconscious. I carefully absorbed the resident electrical charge in the water before The Marvel settled back down on the ground.

My second order of business was to get to Elise. The Marvel, understanding that the ropes were Merlonium laced, used his telekinesis to cut the ropes from afar with a broken piece of glass. When Elise was finally free, I pulled her to me in a hug.

"Oh, god, are you okay, Elise?"

It was only then that I realized how worried I'd been. Worried that the water would wander over to where she was and I would accidently electrocute her. Worried that Andromeda would suddenly switch motives and try and kill her to hurt me. Worried that The Marvel wouldn't show up and I would die without saving her.

In all the relief of the moment, I probably wasn't right in the head. Maybe that was why I leaned down and kissed Elise. I'd forgotten for the moment that Elise technically had a boyfriend who wasn't White Lightning. She was dating Oliver Storm, a persona I currently wasn't. It was no wonder she didn't kiss back.

I pulled away as that familiar current of electricity passed between us. It happened in all moments of high emotion, including whenever I kissed a girl.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry about that." I apologized. "I shouldn't have done that."

"I-It's okay." She basically whispered, showing the first signs of shock since being kidnapped.

"Umm . . . I know you're having a moment there, White Lightning, but we have a small problem."

I turned to see what The Marvel had indicated. Andromeda was no longer in the water where she had fallen. She was gone.

I didn't know why she abandoned her mission, but instinct told me she was actually scared for once. I'd finally been able to electrocute her, and either her powers were temporarily weakened or temporarily gone. I'd taken away her ability to beat me.

But I didn't care at the moment. Elise was safe and Andromeda was temporarily weakened. It was a happy ending.

I had saved the day, hadn't I?