The girl was dying.
Her skin was pale, her body shaking as she curled up on the cold metal floor of the cell. Each breath hurt. Her arms were thinner than they should have been, veins glowing faintly beneath her skin.
She was alone.
The cell door slammed open.
Guards dragged her out before she could scream.
They strapped her into a pod inside a massive underground laboratory—white walls, glass panels, machines humming like insects. Scientists moved fast, emotionless.
Screens lit up.
Her heart rate spiked.
Needles pierced her skin, pumping glowing liquid into her veins.
She screamed.
Outside, the impossible happened.
The sky darkened.
Thunder rolled.
After a week of clear blue skies, a lightning storm formed directly above the city.
The scientists stared at the monitors in disbelief.
Deep underground, beneath an abandoned subway station, a man walked alone.
He held a playing card between his fingers.
The Ace of Spades glowed faintly.
The card pulsed—tracking something.
Two guards stood in front of a massive tunnel entrance.
The man stopped.
Pulled on his mask.
Then he ran.
Gunfire exploded.
"IT'S HIM!" one guard shouted. "THE SON OF THE SUN—ACE!"
Bullets passed straight through his body as it turned into flame.
Ace solidified mid-stride, grabbed one guard, slammed a knee into his stomach, and dropped him.
The second guard fired point-blank at Ace's head.
Ace turned his face into fire.
The bullet passed through.
Ace stepped closer.
"Small boys think they're strong just because they've got a big, scary gun," he said calmly.
He punched the guard unconscious.
"Don't bring a gun to a flame fight."
Back in the lab, the girl screamed as energy surged through her body.
The city lights went out.
Every building. Every street.
Darkness.
The scientists panicked—then activated emergency lights.
Cells opened throughout the underground facility.
Prisoners ran free—children, mutants, terrified people.
Ace stood in the dark hallway, lights flickering behind him.
"Is anyone missing?" he asked.
"They took Emma!" someone cried.
Ace nodded.
"Take this," he said, handing a freed man a gun. "Wait at the front. Only use it if you have to."
"Yes, sir."
Ace turned and ran.
In the lab, a guard noticed something floating toward him.
A playing card.
Slowly spinning.
Ace stepped out of the shadows.
"I'm here for the girl," Ace said. "I won't stop until every one of you rots in a cell for what you did to these kids."
"This is the fourth time you've interfered, Ace," a scientist sneered.
"And it won't be the last."
The card touched the guard.
Two cards exploded—controlled, precise.
The guard lived.
Ace didn't smile.
One scientist injected himself with a glowing serum.
His body twisted.
Metal tore through flesh.
He became something massive—an iron monster.
Ace sighed.
"How scary. Big teeth, too."
The monster threw Ace through a wall.
Fire exploded from Ace's hands—but the monster didn't burn.
"I thought you were the great Ace!" the monster laughed. "Where's your winning card?"
Ace flicked a King card into the wall.
It stuck.
Another card glowed on the monster's back.
"You're made of iron," Ace said calmly. "So I made something smarter."
The monster laughed—then screamed as his body was dragged toward the card, metal screaming as it collapsed inward.
Ace turned away.
Lightning cracked the lab open.
Emma floated above the pod—hair white, body made of pure electricity.
Thunder shook the city.
People looked out their windows as the worst lightning storm in history raged.
High above, a man in a white suit watched from a rooftop, smiling.
Elsewhere, mafia bosses gathered in silence.
Something had changed.
Ace stepped toward the girl.
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I can help you."
"I'M A FREAK!" she screamed. "GET AWAY!"
Lightning struck where Ace stood—but he moved.
"Your power's too strong," Ace said. "Just like mine was."
"I can't control it!"
Ace removed his mask.
"Look at me," he said. "I survived. And you will too."
She hesitated.
Then reached out.
Ace ran—dodging lightning—and grabbed her.
He threw a card into the sky.
The lightning vanished in a massive explosion.
The city thought it was fireworks.
Ace held the exhausted girl in his arms.
"You did great, Emma," he said. "Let's get you out of here."