Nikola forced the air into her lungs as the lightning raced across her arms. It started in her chest, making a tight circuit around her shoulders, before shooting out at the pillars across the room. There was enough power to kill anybody unfortunate enough to be hit by it in mere seconds. Yet that wasn’t enough. More power. More force. The woman knew she could put in more energy without breaking a sweat. It was mere will that needed her to push further along. Her body could take it.

The arcs in the air began to heat the room to an extreme degree, the light being formed enough to blind any normal human. But Nikola wasn’t normal. She’d known that for over a decade now, having trained her ability for more than half that. If she could master the abilities that chance had granted her, she could move up in the world. She could become what she dreamed of since she was a kid. But it required many steps, the first being that singular increase in power. She needed more.

The room was filled with more and more, her entire body starting to emit the arcs. Stress-tests were great like that, no accuracy truly required. The room soaked up the energy, filling the metres up. Nikola had no idea where the energy went, though she knew the room could take a beating. Even when firing at her maximum for several minutes, it hardly seemed fazed. Some smoke would appear, yes, but everything would be in pristine condition by the time that she stopped. Those nanobots truly were frightening when it came to keeping buildings whole.

“You can stop now,” a voice on the intercom sent to her, Nikola slowly dampening her power under a mental blanket again. It wasn’t instantaneous, of course. She’d do nothing more than frying herself if she tried to contain all the released energy at once. Closing the barrier slowly and steadily was the way to go, even if it took a full minute before random sparks stopped appearing from her skin. There was a reason they called her by her hero name. “Good work, Tesla. The room will be readied for exit in a moment. Please stay where you are.”

Nikola sighed as the pent-up energy finally hit her, the hour of training finally getting back into her bones. While she used her powers, she felt invincible. Nothing could truly hit her in that state, not bullets or people able to get close to her. She was a fortress of lightning, one with the ability to destroy anything she wished. For now, however, she needed to figure out how to control what was destroyed and what wasn’t. While she did have the raw power, controlling it at the maximum output was still one of her weaker points.

The door opened up, the room having been cleared of all remaining parts. When working with powers of her degree, it was always best to be sure of nothing accidentally killing one of the other regulars. The idea of suddenly being enveloped in the abyss just because Caos had forgotten to clean up after himself was something Nikola was very happy about being mitigated by proper protocols. Granted, those protocols took out a lot of her day but they helped keep the centre as safe as it could be.

Her workday had already finished a while ago, her eight scheduled hours of the day fully over. When mixing that in with the hour of a physical workout and then an hour of working out her power, Nikola’s day hadn’t been the shortest one. Usually, her days were quite shorter but the lack of trained personnel was getting to them. Taking more shifts was the way to make the streets safer and only God knew how much they needed to put up an image of endless protectors. If the homemade villains figured out how strained their budget was in recent months, Nikola was sure their workload would’ve been doubled.

“What I wouldn’t give for one day without petty theft,” the woman muttered out loud, stretching her tired arms. Even when having the body of a Lightning-User, the extreme use of her power still got to her limbs sometimes. They had grown awfully resistant to the element in recent years yet being at her maximum still did leave some after-effects. Nikola hoped it could be fixed with more training… or some actually edible dinner. If she played her cards right, she could run by the shop before it closed.

Her training hadn’t been too long, after all. While her attempts at mastering Chain-Lightning had been an uphill battle, she had been making some improvements lately. It wasn’t enough that she trusted herself in using it to restrain any evildoers but it was more than enough to make her continue going down that route. Chain-Lightning was the ability that any Manipulation with the ability to influence the Electromagnetic field dreamed of using. The people around the globe loved the skill, the idea of being the incarnation of Zeus reaching the hearts of all. Nikola couldn’t say she wasn’t one of them, having too many movies of her old favourites doing just that. If only she could actually master it soon. While patience was one of the few talents she prided herself with, there was a limit with everybody. And hers was slowly closing in.

Going through the building, the woman noted a familiar scent. It wasn’t one she smelled too often, the person behind not normally being around in the city. And, anyway, cigarettes had been outlawed for nearly two decades, making the smell more than rare. Hastening her gait, the woman went towards the only place she knew for sure that the source would be. Hallways were gone through at a slightly inappropriate speed, doors opened up with button-mashing, before, finally, the woman saw a face she hadn’t seen for the better part of a year.

“It’s nice to see you again, Nikola,” Harold said with a wide grin, taking in the woman’s hug with the comfort of an old friend. Even when the man was nearing seventy, he still had the presence of one in his thirties. The suit could have been changed around however… that golden cape was never something Nikola had liked to see. It glittered too much. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been doing quite well, Lux,” Nikola answered in a weak attempt to make the retired hero use her hero name. “Remember that we are in an official facility. We’re meant to use our code names.”

“I think just about everybody knows my name at this point, Tesla,” Harold answered, accentuating her name just the same as she had done his. “But it isn’t like anybody is around to hear us. This place is much emptier than last time I came around.”

“We had a few lucky people transfer to Sector fifteen to help with the recent surge attack,” Nikola explained, the words seeming to ring deaf to the older man’s ears. That was another point she’d always dreaded about their former leader. He really couldn’t keep his head straight in casual settings, always needing to walk around and look at everything. Maybe that's why he’d chosen the observation room. Taking a glance through the nearby window, it was possible to nearly see the entire city from here. A beautiful view for any person not accustomed to the heights. With how many times Nikola had been forced to power her way through a tasteless lunch in the same she stood, she couldn’t say the sight brought her too much joy.

“Ah, I did hear about that. It is quite extreme how violent some of the Augmentation users can be. One second they’re sitting at a cafe and the next they’re ripping civilians apart,” Harold said, unintentionally reminiscing about some of the tougher parts of his former career. Nikola had read his achievements. She knew that some of them were worse than others.

“I am happy to see you, Lux,” Nikola said in an attempt to get away from that dreadful topic. She hated thinking back to her previous low points and she couldn’t imagine her old teacher feeling anything different. “But I must ask why you are here. I said I would come over on the holidays, and we’re still a month away.”

“Trust me, Tesla, there is nothing I would wish for more than to visit you earlier than usual, but that isn’t something I can do,” Harold said, his face turning a little grim. Nikola felt her own falling as well. Her old teacher was a free-spirited type, always upbeat at some level. Seeing his smile fall and his eyes becoming downcast, she knew that bad news was coming. “I am sure you have seen the news by now. The esteemed Hero-Killer.”

Nikola had indeed heard that name many times now. It had been front news for a few days in a row, the people not able to believe that one of the top heroes could do without a mighty fight to seal them off. The actual identity of the dead was still under wraps, however, the public only knew that somebody had died. And since the woman wasn’t too connected with the upper brass, she hadn’t been informed who had fallen.

“Am I to guess that it’s somebody from this city that died?” Nikola said, wondering who it could have been. There were only two branded heroes currently residing in the city and neither seemed able to die without fighting. One of them was without a physical body, for the sake of all, and the other hadn’t slept for decades. How either of the two could have been killed without anybody noticing was outside of her understanding.

“No, but it is one who grew up here. It’s also one of the people I knew from the very start,” Harold informed her. An active hero in his seventies… it took just a few moments of thought before the woman knew the truth.

“Quickfix?”

“Indeed,” the old hero confirmed. Nikola took a deep breath, stepping away from the man as she came into her own mind. Quickfix had been one of the oldest heroes still running. She hadn't met the man more than a handful of times professionally but she had been connected to him outside of the workplace. The old man had been a good friend of Harold's, that being the likely reason the Sun himself had deigned to visit her city. To hear that somebody, as experienced as Quickfix, had died without a fight, though… it was hard to believe.

“Anything that could lead to who killed him?” Nikola said, noting the distaste in her mouth as if her verbal acknowledgement of the man’s death made it solidify. She wasn’t happy with this, not able to come to terms with it.

“We have nothing,” Harold confessed. “He died silently at a park with a knife wound to his throat. Even if it had been a surprise, that old geezer should’ve been able to heal himself without issue. I can only imagine that he was taken by extreme surprise and bled out before his mind could figure out what was happening. He had been slowing down these last few years. His power wasn’t anything serious but his skill with it was what allowed him to reach such heights. Even now, I… sorry. Give me a moment.”

Filled with emotion, a toughened face was put on a show as the old took deep breaths. Nikola didn’t comment, knowing the old men had been good friends back in the day. Even with all the controversy surrounding Harold, he’d had a few loyal people stick around.

“Are any of the old ones coming around?” Nikola asked as the man she’d looked up to for the two years she’d worked under him regathered himself. “I haven’t heard of any additional security measures.”

“There’s just a handful,” Harold said, waving away her concerns. “Every major Branded hero is under strict guard when they aren’t active now. Even if others wanted to, they wouldn’t have been allowed to come here. No, it will just be me and a few of his remaining family members.”

“Well, do say hi to Lois from me. It’s been too long since I’ve last seen her,” Nikola requested, thinking back to when she’d seen that old woman. It had to have been, what, three years ago? It had been some time since they’d last hosted a summer gathering. Heroes had become more distant in recent years. It wasn’t good for the collective.

Or maybe Nikola just hadn’t been invited since Harold wasn’t too popular anymore. It could have been either.

“I will if she’s there. She likely already got her chance to say goodbye before they brought him over here. His will specified his resting place to a very specific degree,” Harold said. “He wanted his body to be used for science here. It isn’t what I would’ve done but respecting a dead man’s wishes is more important than petty opinions.”

Nikola noted the location of the body. It would be down in the underground where the organisation was digging through the former heroes. It was a gruesome act but the world at large was still unaware of how most abilities worked. Getting the chance to study it further with every introduced specimen only made sense.

“He was always out to help others rather than himself,” Nikola agreed, growing some form of a smile. That old man had been all over when she’d cut her skin on a piece of paper. She could imagine the man happy at knowing he could help thousands even after his demise. “How has life in Sector 45 been treated, by the way. Last I heard, you were finally able to get a consistent connection for your television.”

“That damned Sector has it out for me more than any other place I’ve lived,” Harold instantly complained, though his voice was filled with compassion more than any kind of anger. “The entire area around the house had been rid of the flesh-eaters. The amount of times I found them digging through my trash is unreal.”

Nikola did find some sick amusement from that. The man was living in a city every lifeform avoided due to a certain biological monstrosity and he was complaining as if it was a mere pest. Or, maybe it was just that to the old hero. She knew more than most others what he could do when he set his mind to it.

“Then do remember to close the lid next time,” Nikola reminded him. “God knows you could barely remember to close the front door when leaving our house back in the day.”

The wide eyes that slowly formed on the old man didn’t bring the woman any sense of security.

“Please tell me you have gotten rid of that habit.”

“I believe that I will hurry along to say my goodbyes and then see if there aren’t too many of those damned things living in my house now,” Harold said before some light appeared in his eye. “Before I leave, however, I must ask one thing of you, Nikola.”

“It’s Tesla, Lux,” Nikola corrected.

“Right. Tesla, I need to make sure you heed my warning,” the old hero said with a roll of his eyes. “The world is becoming more dangerous. I understand that you mainly go out on your own right now. While I likely can’t stop that from happening, I want you to promise that you’ll be safe. We don’t need another death so soon.”

“I will try. Don’t worry,” Nikola promised, letting the old man leave with a comforting heart. The woman, on the other hand, couldn’t help but sigh deeply. Her past was getting too real. An old teacher, an old friend died, and… her old position was still the same. What was next? A certain vigilante had to make an appearance soon to let the set be complete.

Not letting the bad news get to her too much, however, Nikola set off once again. Just a few minutes and she could be out of the suit, out of the building, and then well on her way to get to the shops before they closed for the day. With how active the nightlife was in the city, one would have expected the shopping centres to stay open during more than daylight hours yet the shop owners seemed to have missed the potential profits from exhausted heroes who didn’t have the time during the day.

Getting into the changing room, the woman relaxed. She nearly had her mask off before the in-built radio screamed into her ear. Groaning in frustration, nearly having been able to disengage with the system, she sent the mental confirmation as the call connected.

“Tesla!” the voice from the other side positively shouted. Nikola felt her mood drop with every second passing. “I need your help, like, right now.”

“What do you need, Songstress?” Nikola asked in the most professional manner one could do while dreading the next lines. From the fact that it wasn’t the teleporter calling, it was already clear that it wasn’t absolutely vital.

“I have backstage tickets to the Hailstorm show tonight but I forgot I have work as well,” the voice on the other end said, clearly hysterical. If the sound wouldn’t have gotten through perfectly, Nikola would’ve made a few swears. “Can you please take my shift? I promise I’ll make it up to you!”

… One of the most important things for heroes was the ability to make connections with other heroes. This meant Nikola couldn’t be brutish, couldn’t say how much she wanted to jump into her comfy bed at home and sleep for eighteen. Instead, she had to be forthcoming and assist the newer heroes who somehow passed the exam.

“You owe me for this,” Nikola said, wincing at the excited screaming of the other. Those same vocal cords were able to incapacitate and woo any criminals in moments yet it could also annoy the highest degree. The woman didn’t want to know about the singer’s vocal range that much.

The call disconnected and the hero by the name of Tesla mentally prepared herself for another eight hours of work. A hero killer was running around in the streets and she was ready to find the petty thieves while barely alive. At some level, she wondered how she was going to keep her promise to her old teacher while also not being the biggest of asses.