Connecting the Dots: Perception

Terrific, we need you in the conference room.

J'onn, is this important?  thought back Mr. Terrific.  By this point most leaguers knew how at least make their thought conversable with the Martian. We have a developing situation in Dakota, Steel and one of the visitors went down.

I'm on my way up, I'll handle it.  But we need you in the conference room, you need to hear what the girl has to say.  Grab Blue Devil too, and Green Arrow if you can find him.  I've already contacted most of the leading members, they'll be there too.  

All of them?  J'onn, what exactly is this?

There was no reply, and Mr. Terrific simply turned from the console with a sigh.  "Stargirl, STRIPES.  Get in there and provide backup for Steel if he needs it."

"Something going on?"  Green Arrow questioned as Terrific strode for the door.

Shrugging, the other answered.  "Apparently, that one girl has an earful.  They're calling in all the important ones.  You too, for some reason.  Come on."

"Me?"  Arrow arched an incredulous eyebrow as he fell behind the scientist.  "Hey, I'm the League's resident hippie.  Whadda they want me in there for?"  The two passed a silent Martian.  "J'onn, what's going on?"

"You'll see," came the tight-lipped response.  "Better hurry.  Terrific, is Flash still searching Gotham?"

Terrific offered a short nod.  "Still no sign.  He says he'll keep it up, though."

"I'll tell him to search harder.  It's more important than ever that we find that boy."

------------

"Do not try to run, boy."

"I don't run," snarled Sasuke, struggling upright to face this new upstart.  He spat blood on the ground.  "Not from anyone.  Who are you and what did you just do?"

"I am Uriel, angel of…"  The red-haired man stopped and appeared to think for a moment.  "I am the Spectre."  He finally decided.  "The angel of vengeance."

"Are you now."  Momentarily, Sasuke wondered when he'd learned what an 'angel' was.

"As for what I did," continued the green-clad man, "just now I teleported you out of Gotham and healed your wound.  And bestowed True Hearing upon you."  He added as an afterthought.  "It will be useful for you to understand your surroundings for the next couple days."

Sasuke merely arched an eyebrow.  "You have a poor idea of vengeance."

"I am more than that," replied the other.  "But I think you will find my ideas to be quite enough for you."

This time, Sasuke snorted.  "I do not need your help.  I shall revenge my brother's murder on…"

"You misunderstand me."  The sheer ice in the angel's voice caused even Sasuke to pause.  "It is you I am here to deal with."

------------------------

"You're sure?  It's one of your friends?"

Neji gave a clipped nod without breaking stride.  "One of my missing companions.  Tenten, a team member of mine.  She's due north of us."

"That's around the blast origination point.  A whole block of the city's torn up from the explosion."  Steel glided overhead, one hand clutching his massive hammer.  "You think she was the one that hit us?"

"Doubtful.  Tenten's chakra capacity is far below norm, and her talents are mostly in weapon management.  Unless she has somehow acquired a rocket launcher of some…"  Neji's voice trailed off as he caught sight of something ahead.

Steel saw it too.  "Heads up!"  He cried, swerving in mid-air, just barely dodging the bolt of green energy that smashed into the building just behind him.  Neji, who had not waited for Steel's order, came out of a roll and broke into a celestial spin, just in time to deflect a charged shock of lightning.

"Damn!"  swore Steel, still hovering.  "What're THOSE two doing in Dakota?"

Neji didn't bother asking who 'those two' were.  Constant practice had heightened his Byakugan's attention to chakra-less signatures, and these two malefactors were QUITE evident.  One was large, skeletal, and nearly entirely composed of metal; the blue-haired lady beside him crackled with a disturbing amount of raiton energy.

Most importantly, though, they were both clearly in pursuit of Tenten.  He could see her now, struggling to lift up some other figure off the ground.  There was no way she could escape them.  "Steel…!"

"I see her now, kid.  Sonofa… she's got Kid Flash with her!"  Putting on a fresh burst of speed, Steel called back, "Listen, I'll hold them off!  You grab the others and get back to the Javelin!"

The hero shot away before Neji could argue.  Though a part of him sincerely doubted whether the other could take on both the attackers, the more practical side of him squashed that feeling.  The mission comes first, he reminded himself grimly, trying not to think of his experience in the Sasuke retrieval mission.

Neji dashed down the street, pushing aside pedestrians, vaulting over speeding cars, running over buildings in his hurry.  Chaos swept around him as citizens fled from and police rushed toward the scene of destruction.  Far ahead, his enhanced vision saw Steel plow into the two villains, sending the woman flying with a single blow from his massive hammer before engaging the enormous cyborg in hand-to-hand combat.  The sight only made him run faster—Steel didn't look like he could hold for long.

He was dashing through the shattered buildings now, and the lack of obstacles made things easier.  Sure, flaming buildings were still crumbling around him, and the terrain was a little tricky, but at least he didn't have to worry about running anybody over.

There!  In ordinary vision, Tenten was a blob of burnt black and brown against the flaming debris, in Neji's eye, she was a gleaming beacon of chakra.  In either perspective, she was clearly weak and in pain.

"Tenten!"

A pair of wild eyes flew up to meet him and something whizzed past his left ear.  "Neji!"  she gasped, lowering the weapon she was carrying.  "What… you're… how did…?"  Her eyes hardened suddenly.  "Is this a genjutsu?"

"Don't start."  Neji dropped just alongside her.  "We need to go.  Now.  My friend is dealing with your pursuers, but…"

"Haven't had genjutsus yet… bald guy didn't know about chakra… Is it really you, Neji?"

"Yes.  We have no time to discuss this."  Neji stooped, picking up the tattered form of the red-yellow teenager at her side.  "There.  Come quickly, there's a…"  Neji searched for the word 'jet' in Japanese, "…vehicle waiting over here."

"I… I…"  Tenten swayed and collapsed.

A hiss of nervous frustration escaped Neji.  With difficulty, he stooped and shouldered Tenten's limp body, letting the gun fall from her hand.  He struggled to his feet and made back toward the city as quickly as was safe.  Steel looked to be doing better now, but Neji wasn't taking any chances.  Once in the city, he could hope for police back-up, and the Javelin probably had some defenses he could use.  Besides the League had to…

Pain seized his muscles and wrenched them in.  Every nerve in his body was burning, throbbing, shriveling with a kind of frenzy.  He barely even felt himself hit the ground, and even as the pain left, his arms and legs refused to move.

"Hiya, kiddo!"  A pair of feet materialized before him.  Pushing through the pain, Neji forced himself to focus on his attacker—a tall, pale woman with electric blue hair.  Hadn't she been slammed across the city?  "Not a bad run, but going toward the city was practically the worst thing you could do."  She smirked as her hands crackled with energy.  "Not that it makes that much difference."

---------------------

"Does that feel any different?"

"Yes… yes.  Much better, thanks."  The faceless man appeared somewhat distracted.  "Yes, thank you.  Thank you very much."

"You're… welcome?"  Ino had thought that characters like Sai and Lee had long ago used up her capacity to be freaked out, but this guy took the cake.  Even apart from the fact that he HAD NO FACE, he kept muttering all sorts of things under his breath, things that didn't make sense even in English.  "So long as you're feeling better."

"Yes, I'm feeling better.  That wasn't a Zoroastrian ritual, was it?"

A blink.  "Uh… no.  No.  Who're the Zorro Asians?"

"Excellent."  The man laid back on the bed.  "Zoroastrians use natural energies to merge with the psychic web and seal souls.  Could end up in the Macy's nail clippers line.  Zoroastrians…"  His face achieved a new focus.  "Zoroastrians have connections to Mayo clinic and Fisher-Price line of children's toys.  Remember to avoid.  Bad for…"

The woman at the end of the bed cut in at this juncture.  "Don't mind him."  With a nervous laugh, she offered, "He's had a bit of a shock just now."   She patted the man's hand with a purple-gloved palm, trying to smile and bite her lip at the same time.

Ino's eyes narrowed.  True, she didn't know this couple, and certainly not this man, very well, but she DID know gossip, and her 'juicy-story-detector' was blaring.  Something was going on here.  She could… but no.  J'onn had expressly told her never to use it for private ends.  And truthfully, she felt a little afraid of releasing her newfound abilities, now that she'd finally managed to corral them.  She'd used them in the battle, sure, but sending messages to open minds was immensely different from prying information from closed ones.

So instead, she just shrugged and put away her medical kit.  "Yeah, Sasuke has that effect on people.  He's just lucky he didn't get hit with any major genjutsus, could've driven him insane."

"HUNTRESS!"  The man sat up straight suddenly.  "47% of children conceived in Gotham become steady customers of the Starbucks coffee chain!  Wireless signals employed by the company affect…"

"Later, baby.  Later.  It'll be fine."  Huntress patted the man's hand again.

Pausing in her work, Ino frowned doubtfully at the patient.  "Maybe I ought to get J'onn-sensei.  Sasuke might have tried something…"

"No, no, he's fine.  He's always like this."  Again Huntress offered the girl a nervous smile.  "You can go now."

Ino's eyelids tightened in suspicion a few more millimeters.  "No, I think I should stay."  She smiled.  "After all, you said you weren't feeling well either.  Maybe if I had a look…"

"No, no.  That's quite all right.  I don't want to be a bother.  You can go now."

"Oh, it's no bother," assured Ino, moving past the stretcher to the oddly nervous Huntress.  "I mean, you told us where Sasuke was, so we kinda owe you anyway.  And since I'm here…"

"No, really, it's fine."  Huntress backed up a few steps, knocking into a tray of instruments.

"It'll only take a few minutes, I promise.  I just want to make sure…"

"Don't let her!"  Question suddenly ordered from the bed.  "Teleporting ninjas have proven links to the Mayan hair salon!  Techniques probably involve energies from Tibetian alien artifacts, could prove harmful to the child."

"VIC!"  Huntress nearly screamed, eyes wide in shock and embarrassment.

"What?"  Ino glanced from one to the other.  "Child?"  

Suddenly, her medical training kicked in.  Unfit condition.  Morning sickness.  Child.

Ino's hands flew to her mouth it unleashed a squeal.  "Ohmigod you're pregnant!"

----------------------

"Me?"  Sasuke turned, with just the slightest roll of his eyes.  "You're here to deal with me?  Of course you are.  Everyone is, it seems."

"That is merely one of the matters we will have to address," commented the Spectre.

"We will address nothing."  Chakra sparked about Sasuke's hand as the sound of chirping filled the air.    "I've talked with enough idiots today, and I've just decided not to bother anymore."  His remaining eye flickered to red as he charged forwards.

The tall pale man in the green trenchcoat didn't flinch.  He didn't gesture.  He didn't even so much as roll his eyes.  He just stood there, burning green orbs staring at Sasuke as the teenager charged for him.

…Sasuke was dead, his mutilated carcass lay on the floor in a thousand pieces, each piece individually alive and full of pain…
…an eyeless corpse lay on the floor, a pensive Madara above it.  Sasuke felt both holes in his head, he felt the stone-cold death filling him…
…the fires crackled and chuckled as they shriveled their way through his skin and muscle…
…alive, alive now, but in the thousand tortures of a genjutsu-induced nightmare…
…the raspy warmth of wood thrust through his heart…
…bits of bone dug into the soft flesh of his brain, freeing it to the chill of air…
…water slowly bubbled through his lungs and smothered him….
…Sasuke was dead…

"Now that we have established who will be deciding what," continued the Spectre calmly, once again in front of a very-much-alive Sasuke in the gloomy alleyway.  "Let us address the first of those matters I was talking about."

-------------------------

Elemental affinity.  Neji reviewed mentally.  The aptitude a ninja has for jutsus involving a certain element.  In his case, lightning.  Though it did not, theoretically, limit the ninja to jutsus of that single element, training usually focused on strengths, so few learned jutsus outside their affinity, apart from a few low-level ones for emergencies.  Kakashi-sama was an exception, as was Sasuke.  And, of course, kekkai genkai users like Yamato-san, but as most people only had one affinity, most only learned jutsus of a certain type.

Neji was rather regretting that training fixation at the moment, as his body lay rigid on the city street.  Elemental jutsus were ALREADY hard enough in this world, it seemed, and the few wind jutsus he knew barely did anything to this… electric lady.

Fortunately though, as a lightning type, the shocks wore off quickly.  Even more fortunately, this lady seemed rather talkative.

"Metallo thinks he's all that, y'know?  Like, 'ooooh, I'm the big bad robot guy who beat up Superman.'  Psh.  That's not so hard, the guy's powered by a chunk of Kryptonite.  Any two-bit thug can take out Superman like that.  I just about took out the whole city.  CITY, kid."

"Most interesting."  Neji could finally move his jaw.

"Yup."  The lady nodded, seemingly oblivious to the police gathering at the other end of the street.  "Sucked energy out of the whole place and let it out into Superman.  Gave him the headache of his life, I'll bet.   And then the jerkass had to go and wear rubber gloves."  Suddenly blasting a lightning bolt in the direction of the police squad, she frowned at Neji.  "Does that seem like cheating to you?  It sure does to me.  When I was a newscaster… well, not newscaster, but I was a radio personality…"

"I can believe it."  grunted Neji.  Feeling was coming back into his legs.

"…well, I woulda knocked him for unfair play.  Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah.  Metallo.  Idiot."  She gave a small nod of satisfaction.  "I mean, they tell us to stop Kid Flash, and the guy's like, 'okay, Livewire lady, you stay out of this and let the man handle it.'  And he goes and fires his enormous big meta-beam, cause that's TOTALLY going to work, and the kid just dodges it, because helllloooo?  Fastest thing alive?  But me, I'm lightning fast.  Like, literally, I AM lightning.  So I just shoot through the electrical system, catch up with the kid, and shock him through the leg.  Piece of cake.  Nothing Metallo could do, because that guy's an idiot…"

"So you've mentioned."  His hands were working now too.  Slowly, imperceptibly, he collected chakra in his palms, molding it, focusing it.

"…No, you don't get it, though.  I mean, he's a REAL idiot.  I've got Kid Flash down, right?  And yet, he has to go and shoot AGAIN, because, you know, he just wouldn't be macho if he couldn't let loose an incredible burst of pointless power."  She snorted, sending sparks from her nose.  "Men.  Anyway, he does that, and of course he blasts out half a block just with it.  Completely misses the kid, somehow hits YOU guys instead, and limits me incredibly because he knocks out all the power lines in a mile radius.  I mean, a city is my HOME.  Tons of power lines, tons of batteries, tons of electricity just SITTING around waiting for me to up and grab…"

Neji shot up.  He rolled forward and jabbed out with a fist laden with chakra, aiming straight for the woman's midsection.  It connected…

And the sheer shock knocked him backward.  Livewire's skin was, predictably, charged.

"You BRAT!  That hurt!"  The lady was at his side in what seemed like no time at all, hands, skin, eyes, even hair crackling with anger.  "That is IT!  I don't care HOW badly Luthor wants you idiots alive, I'm going to…"  Her voice trailed off as the crackling around her died slowly down.  Perplexed, she stared at her hands.  "Okay, what the hell just happened?"

A solid block of concrete landed on her, neatly missing Neji by inches.  A few minutes later two steel girders and an enormous tank of water crashed over that.

"Ha!  Take that!"  The new voice made Neji look up.  A few feet above him in the air, a dark-skinned boy in a flowing blue jacket and a strange mask was pumping his fist.  His teeth were bared in an enthused grin, and his dreadlocks flowed in the wind.  He stood on what appeared to be a floating trash-can lid.

Flying.  Neji allowed himself a small sigh.  Of course he can fly.

"Another of you brats?"  Livewire was back, crackling into life a few feet away now.  "Scram.  Don't you know not to poke your nose in other people's business?"

The flying boy's eyes narrowed.  "Hey lady, I'm Static."  His own hands began to crackle with a now-familiar energy.  "And Dakota City IS my business."

---------------------

Silence closed over the room like the lid on a coffin.  Assembled heroes, aliens, and demonic-like incarnations stared in disbelief at the two ninjas at the end of the table, who simply writhed with embarrassment.     From his position just behind them, Superman did his best to keep his face confident and impartial.  He was the leader, after all.  It was up to him to keep things together.

For the moment, though, he had to get the two teenagers out of here.  They'd been through their story three times now, and Hinata, who'd borne the brunt of the shock and disbelief, looked about ready to burst into tears.  Naruto was holding up well enough, but even he might explode if this kept on for much longer.

"If no one has any questions for our two ninjas…" he paused as several heroes lifted their heads, "…any URGENT questions, then, I think we'd better dismiss them."

"Half a moment."  Green Lantern spoke up.  "You two kids are SURE you can't remember where you met this weird guy of yours?  Or who the old man with him was?"
"No."  Hinata squeaked.

"Uh… nah.  Nah," confirmed Naruto, much less convincingly.

Superman shot Green Lantern a look. Let it go for now. The dark man frowned but shrugged and leaned back.  They could get J'onn to probe later, right now it was obvious they'd get no more out of the two.  "Anything else then?  No?  Okay."  Glancing back at Lantern, he continued, "GL, take these two to Deck 9.  Lodge them in the guest quarters and get some people to look after them.  The others too."

He didn't need to spell things out for the ex-Marine.  Neither Naruto, Hinata, nor any of the other ninjas were to leave the base until the League had decided what to do with them.  For the moment, they were essentially prisoners.  Superman couldn't tell whether the two ninjas picked up on that, but it made little difference.  They had to stay here.

He waited for the door to whoosh shut behind Lantern and his charges before turning his gaze to the gathered heroes.  "Blue Devil.  Dr. Fate.  Etrigan.  Zatanna.  Was that information reliable?"

Zatanna, a slight figure dressed in a show magician's uniform, toyed with her lip nervously.  "The Spectre exists, I can tell you that much.  Never really seen him as a human, though, so I can't answer for that."

"The girl's words have the stench of truth to them," growled the half-demon Etrigan.  "However, it is unusual for the Sword of Vengeance to walk incarnate.  That he should choose to do so, and to this girl in particular, is troubling."

"I knew there was somethin' weird about that one.  Can't ya just have Wonder Woman use her lasso thingie on them?"  Blue Devil jerked his head toward the Amazon leaning against the wall.

"We could try, but I'd like to reserve that.  Using it would give them the impression we don't believe them."

Blue Devil snorted brimstone.  "From the sounds of things, we don't."

"We have enough votes from you guys, I think we can take their word for it.  For the moment, anyway."  Superman cast a long glance around the room.  "Now.  Time to discuss what to do about it."

-----------------------

"We have much to discuss, Uchiha Sasuke."

"Go ahead then."  Sasuke snorted, feeling his leg.  "Talk all you want."

"I see you do not plan to listen, then."

"There is no need," shrugged the ninja.  "If you are here to punish me for killing Itachi, then nothing that you do will make my life worse.  If you are here to turn me from avenging his death, then you are simply wasting your breath.  If it is anything else, I am not interested."

Spectre sighed.  "That is the key matter for discussion, Uchiha.  You constantly think that everything in the world revolves around you and your petty revenge.  You lack… perspective."

Then suddenly Sasuke felt a great rushing sensation, and became aware that the ground, the city, the world itself were shooting away from he and the strange red-haired man.  He caught just a fleeting glimpse of his body, lying in the alleyway, before they were above the buildings, and had barely time to appreciate the size of Gotham before they were moving through the clouds.  Then they were somehow  out beyond the clouds even, and the ground below them shrank and shrank until it became a great green globe, floating against a star-spangled background.

And still they went rushing.  They swept past another great globe, and another and another.  The circlet of planets disappeared into the great blackness and they began to shoot past stars.  They dashed past a great swirling blue globe, and the remnants of a dying star, with the fragments of a disintegrated planet about it. Upward and outward they shot, out into the depths of space, and Sasuke caught a glimpse of the great whirling pattern of stars beneath them.  Other groups of stars appeared.  They shot past them, above them, going farther and father out, until even the galaxies were becoming dim dots.

Finally his companion spoke.  "This is a fraction, and just a fraction, of one universe, Uchiha Sasuke.  Tell me, where, in all this universe, is your vaunted destiny?  Of what importance is your exalted vengeance?  Where are you, even?"

Sasuke glared and did not answer.  

"Think you that the universe of your world is smaller?  That you are somehow 'greater' or of more impact in that one, than you are in this one?"  The red-haired man turned on him.  "You could die in this instant and the universe would continue to operate.  All of earth might be destroyed as we stand here, and yet, the difference would not be noticeable."  

Leaning closer, the man let his burning green eyes bore into Sasuke.  "You, Uchiha Sasuke, are but one pitiful mortal upon a tiny planet in an eccentric universe.  I am far older and far more powerful than any being you can comprehend, and I tolerate your existence only because my Lord demands I must.   Yet, it is not said that I must tolerate you as you are."

An even more violent rushing sensation seized Sasuke, and before he could blink they flew back through galaxies, stars, planets, and cities, back to the alleyway, and he once again was sitting on the ground of the alleyway.  Strangely exhausted, he collapsed against the wall, panting slightly.

-----------------------------

Ohshitohshitohshitohshiiiiiiiiit…

Virgil Hawkins was not, by any standards, a coward.  He'd faced down everything from flaming smog monsters to giant armadillos to world-destroying computers.  And really, as far as scary factors went, an electric lady with blue hair was really pretty low on the scale.  Especially one as hot as this one.

In fact, if he wasn't fighting for his life, he might try to ask her out.
Static controlled electricity.  He could pull energy from wires, batteries, even from latent charges hidden in everyday objects.  Used properly, he could direct it to induce magnetic forces and manipulate metal.  He constantly lived with the sense of the titanic power throbbing through the city, feeling every spark and  charge in the world about him.  Under certain circumstances, he'd even made giant Bat-Signals out of lightning.  Electricity was Static's toy.

Electricity was this woman's LIFE.  It coursed through her veins, shot from her fingertips, crackled from her spores.  She could shoot through metal or anything else that could conduct her.  And from what he was feeling, she generated more lightning than a hydroelectric dam.

The electrical field flared as he felt her pull lightning from the power lines and send it shooting at him.  Some he deflected with his abilities, some he dodged (inasmuch as that was possible), some he just took—electricity didn't hurt him much, after all.  He felt about in the sea of churning power and touched the latent charges in the metal poles of a chunk of concrete.  It went whizzing at the lady, missing her only by inches as she leapt away.  Growling, she turned on him and sent a bolt of lightning straight at him.  He whipped up his shield and felt the charge dissipate.

Man, he wished he'd paid better attention during Gear's briefings on villains.  He kinda knew this lady—or at least remembered hearing about her.  Wire something.  Came from Metropolis.

Metropolis.  Dangit, he was fighting one of Supes baddies!  He wasn't getting paid enough for stuff like this!  (Momentarily, the thought occurred to him that he wasn't getting paid at all, but he brushed it aside).  Superman-level brawlers were supposed to stick with Superman!  Or the League!  Where was the League on this one?  If they expected him to take on this one solo, they BETTER be ready to finally let him in to that flying space station of theirs.  Heck, they'd been keeping him out of the League for years because he 'wasn't ready' and yet he was somehow ready to handle somebody like this?  C'mon!

The charge slamming into Static's shield suddenly abated and he sensed her, shooting off again deeper into the city.  Glancing over, he saw a speck of white dashing down the street at breakneck speed.

Here we go again, he sighed mentally, dashing after the villain.  She's after White-Eyes.

Maybe that white-eyed teenager scurrying on the ground was Justice League.  Ran freakishly fast.  Virgil doubted it though.  Sure, the guy had been trying to help—chucking daggers and smashing lampposts and generally knocking the lady off balance—but mostly he'd just been trying to get away with those other two teenagers.  

Whoever that guy was, the lady was clearly after him.  She wasn't really focused on Virgil, she kept trying to block the one guy's path.  Static might've felt insulted by that if it hadn't been one of the main reasons he was still alive.  In any case, the white-eyed guy was nearly as good at dodging her as she was at blocking him, and so far he'd made some good headway through the city—quite impressive, seeing as how he was carrying two bodies and all.  

Anyhoo, between that his dodging and Static's attacks, they'd given Wirewosshername quite the run for her money.  He didn't know where the guy thought he was going, but so long as he kept Miss Electricity distracted, Virgil didn't really care.

There!  He sensed the surge in the electrical system moments before the woman materialized in White-Eyes path.  In a fluid path of motion, the teenager below him dropped both passengers, went into a spin and leapt into the woman, ending with a solid blow to the woman's midsection.

"Sonofa-"  The woman doubled over, giving the teenager enough time to leap back, grab the others, and leap over her.  Virgil couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw the guy leap off the telephone pole.  

Unwilling to think about that more than he needed too, Virgil focused on the electrical field, finding latent charges in a water tower atop the apartment building.  Need to be tricky with this lady. He reflected as he sent it crashing over into the street.  Can't just zap her like I do with most baddies.  Of course, it would help if he knew what specifically he SHOULD do against her.

The tower hit the pavement with a resounding CRASH, sending water exploding in every direction.  Virgil felt electricity flare through it, briefly, as it met the woman's lightning.

And then the woman was throwing the lumber off her, a new fire smoldering in her eyes.  "You little BRAT!"  She screeched.  "I am seriously getting T.O'd with you!"

Again the shock blasts shot at him from every direction.  But Static couldn't help noticing… they felt weaker than before.

CONTINuED IN PART II.  LINK IN DESCRIPTION