The people around were frozen, staring at the electronic screen hovering in the air above them.
Soren's voice snapped them out of it.
"Aren't you leaving?!"
That broke the spell.
Mothers grabbed their children. Reporters stumbled back, abandoning their gear. Civilians scattered like startled birds, fleeing in every direction. Sirens wailed all over. Distant helicopters whirred overhead.
But Soren stayed. "Let's end this."
His Psychokinesis surged again. His hand lifted, and so did the fallen screen. Like a titan wielding a wrecking ball, he hurled it across the square.
WHOOOOOOM!
The ground quaked. A plume of dust exploded upward as the massive structure slammed towards the center of the square.
Max Dillon, the Electro-Man, was too slow to dodge.
He barely had time to widen his eyes before he was flattened.
As the dust cleared, Max's battered form crawled from beneath the wreckage, sparking, bloodied, furious. Arcs of electricity danced across his broken skin like writhing serpents.
"I'm going to KILL YOU!" He shrieked, voice raw with fury and pain.
His rage triggered a chaotic surge. Electricity whipped outward in an uncontrolled blast, latching onto nearby police vehicles, lifting them like toys, and hurling them at Soren.
WHAM! CRASH!
The street erupted in twisted metal and flying debris.
A flicker of annoyance crossed Soren's face. The air shimmered as he vanished.
FWSSH!
Soren reappeared right in front of Max. "For electricity, you are slow." He slammed his fist into Max's gut.
"UURGHK—!"
Max bent forward violently, his breath stolen. Then, without pause, Soren pivoted and launched a brutal roundhouse kick, sending Max flying over ten meters. He crashed to the ground, convulsing.
Soren exhaled sharply.
—ZAAAAP!
Pain shot through Soren's limbs. His fingers twitched uncontrollably.
The residual electricity from Max had disrupted his nervous system.
"Damn… that current's stronger than my light bulb."
Meanwhile, Max groaned, rising from the rubble with singed clothes and scorched skin. Despite everything, he grinned.
"You… you pack a punch, for a doc, but I'm the extraordinary one!"
From his palms, electricity surged, coalescing into a glowing thunderball the size of a basketball.
"Let's see you dodge THIS!"
With a roar, Max hurled it.
CRAAAAACK—BOOOOM!!!
The thunderball exploded mid-air with the fury of a missile. A wave of electricity tore through everything, shattering glass, short-circuiting every piece of tech in the square.
Media cameras died instantly. Drones spiraled out of the sky. Billboards popped like firecrackers. Smoke rose in thick plumes.
People screamed and dove for cover. Cops fell back. Even the bravest among them knew they couldn't handle this level of power.
Soren emerged from the smoke, his coat tattered, hair ruffled.
"This isn't working…" He muttered. Physical has no effectiveness against Max.
He looked down at his tingling hands, then glanced around.
"Electricity... what's its weakness again…"
"...Water."
He remembered, Spider-Man. A high-pressure water hose had overloaded Electro and shorted him out.
His gaze swept the square.
No fire trucks. No hydrants in reach.
"…"
"Then I'll make one."
Closing his eyes, Soren placed both hands on the cracked concrete. A storm of Psychokinesis surged from his core, diving downward searching.
He felt it. Metal tubing. Underground.
"There."
With a roar, he clenched both fists.
CRACK!
The ground split open. A geyser of water erupted into the sky.
SHOOOOOOM!
Under Soren's precise control, the high-pressure jet of water twisted mid-air like a living blob.
"Now stay still Max…"
The torrent slammed directly into Max Dillon in mid-air.
BZZZZZT!—CRACK-POP!
Like hot oil meeting water, his electromagnetic field shuddered. Sparks burst uncontrollably from his body, arcs of lightning whipping in every direction.
"AAAAAHHH!" Max howled, his body flickering with wild, uncoordinated energy.
Soren took it even further.
Streams curved and bent unnaturally, coalescing around Max in mid-air, forming a watery prison. The liquid tightened like a living creature, creating a translucent cage of water.
One end of the cage extended to the cracked street below, grounding every spark of electricity that Max tried to unleash.
Each bolt fizzled out the moment it left his body.
"NO—NO!" Max screamed inside the watery tomb, his voice muffled and garbled.
"It's over." Soren's voice was cold.
Max thrashed, electricity pouring out of his skin, but it was no use. The current ran straight through the cage and into the ground. Power drained from him like blood from an open wound.
"AAAAHH!" The pain was unbearable. His strength waned. His sparks dimmed.
Around them, the crowd finally began to calm. The chaos began to settle.
A slow chant began.
"Doctor Soren…"
Then louder.
"Doctor Soren!"
Then a roar.
"DOCTOR SOREN!"
"KILL THAT FREAK!"
"SAVE THE CITY!"
The voices rained down like a storm on Max's ears.
His eyes widened in fur, his mouth twisted open in a soundless scream, teeth bared like a beast.
Suddenly, his body began to change.
Soren's eyes snapped open. "What the?"
Max's body shimmered parts of him flickered and glitched, his skin replaced by rippling currents. His form blurred, then pulsed with pure electricity.
"Transforming…" Soren said through gritted teeth.
He clenched his fists. The water cage tightened. The pressure increased. The flow around Max sped faster and denser.
FLASH!
A sharp electric streak shot downward, from within the cage, straight into the street.
Soren's eyes caught it.
"No…"
The streak hit a bare wire exposed in the cracked ground.
Max Dillon was gone.
The water cage collapsed in on itself, falling like a curtain from the sky.
BOOSH!
A flood of water drenched the street, washing away dust, shattered glass, and sparks. Everything was suddenly still.
For a moment, the silence was damming.
Cheers erupted.
"Soren! Soren!"
"He did it!"
"He saved us all!"
"Doctor!"
But Soren didn't smile.
He stood silently, eyes on the spot where the electric light had vanished.
"That wasn't a defeat…" He murmured.
"He's learned how to become energy itself. He can travel through electrical circuits…"
He exhaled slowly, wiping water from his face. "Energized transmission."
Around him, reporters gathered what was left of their gear. Some were already shouting into broken microphones. Phones clicked. Photos flashed.
Soren could feel the storm of media brewing. He didn't wait for the questions.
With a shimmer of light, he vanished, teleporting away before the first camera lens could focus on his face.
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
Fellow Phantoms and aspiring Phantoms to be, if you seek to access advanced parts of this story procced to my shadowy realm of p@treon.
PhantomDream