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Spark’s
An Oath of Blood & Thunder
Part 4/4

Well kids, where did I leave off? Right, the bar scene. So, I knew I couldn’t just fight them as me. No, I had to come up with a hero identity. Good thing I happen to know about 40 heroes or so. So, I spent the next month going to these heroes, asking for advice on hero persona and fighting styles. First guy I went to was Leonardo Harding, A.K.A. K-Force. I think he’s a member of the Black Panthers, I dunno. Anyways, he taught me how I can use my new found Electric powers for basic brawling in close combat situations. Leo is a good teacher and a good friend, but he tends to have short patience. Luckily, my Uncle Pat took over for brawling. You see, when he was in the Family, he had to start out as a simple Button man brawler, so he knew how to fight pretty damn well. “I woulda become a boxer if it paid as much as the gangster shite did” he always tells me. After that, I went to Banshee Punk, a sonic powered vigilante and an illegitimate trainer for heroes. She used to be a super Enforcer in the Irish mob up in Boston, but she became a hero when she got sick of her work. She taught how I can actually blast my electricity at my enemies. See, a lot of people just assume you can become a hero in a week after you get your powers. NOT TRUE! Becoming registered by the Freedom Phalanx is like going to the D.M.V. You hate the wait, but it pays off eventually. You gotta take blood tests, a urine test, drug tests, psychology exams, physical exams, motor skills tests, power training courses, and a second urine test. It is very uncomfortable having a guy in a Longbow uniform watch you go pee.

So, after about 1 month, 2 weeks, 9 hours, 30 minutes and 18 seconds(what, I was bored, I kept up time), I was waiting in line at the Hero Registration Department while Uncle Alex went to Icon to try and find a costume for me, trying to think up a name in about 5 minutes. Grandma told me to think of one the night before, but I stay’d up too late watching a rock concert on MTV that was in IronHelm, NY. The band was...crap, I don’t remember. So, I was thinking up names on the line.  “‘Electron’? No, too obvious and boring. ‘Shock-Wave’? No, taken. ‘Loud-Lightning’? No, the guy in front of me took it”.

“Sir, can I help you?”

I was already at the register desk. There sat Edwin Jenkins, the guy with the most boring job on earth. “Hero Registration Clerk”. I heard he has a brother in the Rouge Isles working for Arachnos. “Villain Integration Department”, I think he works in, which is the same thing as “Hero Registration Clerk”, but you get to break people outta jail.

Kenny: uh, I’m here to register as a hero.

Edwin: *looks me over* what, as “Average Joe”? If so, that name is taken.

Oh, I had my normal clothes on. Like I said, Uncle Alex was taking care of my costume.

Kenny: No...I haven’t thought of a...

Then it hit me like a chick who just caught Uncle Pat starring at her ass.

Kenny: SPARK’S! My name...is Spark’s!

Edwin: *looks thru files* Wow, it’s not taken. Just fill out these forms and you’re good to go. Have a nice day “Spark’s”.

After an hour of filling out forms, I was finally a registered hero! HUZZA! So, after a quick celebration at “River dance”(which involved a tequila contest), I went to meet Uncle Alex in Steel Canyon. We met up at Icon and he handed me a belt. It was a belt with a metallic band and a yellow jewel at the center. I looked at him confused, but all he did was chuckle down at me like some little kid whose telling you a secret. Did I tell you he’s about 7 ft tall? He is and he’s built like a horse.

Uncle Alex: Put it on in that alley and press the jewel. You’ll see.

So I did and what happened shocked me at first. Now I knew how heroes changed costumes so quickly. Suddenly, my face was black as night(literally), I had on a rounded yellow eye mask and my hair was yellow too. On my torso, I was wearing sleek tights with yellow lightning going on my arms and sides. I was wearing buckled leather gloves with lightning on the wrists. I was wearing baggy cargo pants with the same yellow lightning pattern, tucked into MP combat boots. Uncle Alex walked into the alley with a broad grin on his face.

Kenny: Groovy!

Uncle Alex: c’mon. Pat has got something else for ya in the loft.

Ugh, I still can’t believe I said “Groovy”. Jesus Christ, I sounded like a hippie. Anyways, I changed back into my normal clothes with a simple twist of the jewel and we took the train back home to Kings Row. As walked back to the loft, Uncle Alex pointed out different area’s I should hit for information on whoever firebombed my apartment. I remembered them perfectly as I watched cops and heroes foil robberies and purse snatching’s.  When we arrived at the loft, I had discovered the Uncle Pat had renovated the whole place, making it a perfect base of operations for me. My grandmother sat in our new couch wearing paint splattered overalls, holding my sleeping Uncle’s head in her lap. She smiled warmly as we came in.

Grandma: he’s all tuckered out. Been working all day on this place for you Kenny, I hope you do right by him.

1 week later

after a week of planning, I had begun my war against the Skulls. I took to the streets and performed a few Electric noogies on newbie Skull brawlers. Most didn’t know anything about the fire, thinking it was just a Hellion arson. But I got some answers out of a Death Head gunner on Thursday at 3 AM. I was flying over the Gish, holding him by the ankle yawning. Oh, I found out I can fly the day after I registered as a hero. I had to go back and re-register to include that power set. So, as we were flying towards Royal Refinery, he cracked.

Death Head: OKAY, I’LL SQUEAL! CROSS-BONES! He was hired out by The Family! They wanted that lady in there dead. We’re holding an initiation party for him, The Marrow brothers are making him a Bone Daddy!

Spark’s: where is this party going to happen? The Gish?

Death Head: Nah, in Steel Canyon, where that old rave club used to be, Paragon Dance Party. Please, put me down!

So, I dropped him off at PPD and went to see Uncle Alex. He told me that there were rumors of Skulls using that place as a base for initiations and that PPD was scheduling a raid on Friday, exactly on the day Cross-Bones would be initiated. It was the perfect time to catch him and humiliate. And to gain justice.

It was Friday night and our forces were 30 strong. Uncle Alex was leading a SWAT team from PPD while I was working with a crack team of heroes, all of them friends of my late mother. I went in first to perform some reconnaissance work, using a Crey hologram projector to disguise myself as a Grave Digger Brawler. I snuck into the entrance and saw about 90 Skulls partying. In the main area of the Club, I looked in from a hallway and saw dear old Eddy Cain.

He was surrounded by Bone Daddy’s I knew from Police reports. All were high ranking members of the Skulls, but the only two missing were the Marrow Brothers. Eddy seemed right at home with them, now wearing the uniform of a Bone Daddy. They were all laughing about something and slapping Eddy on the back, talking about “Tooth Breaker Jones” and something about his head. Then, I saw two Grave Diggers carrying a headless body of a Bone Daddy with Shadows lingering around the rim of his neck. I then looked at my watch and saw it was one minute to 9 PM. It was show time.

I sent an electric ball thru a nearby window to signal to alert the PPD SWAT and the Heroes. Then, I changed into my costume and flew into Cross-Bones at mach 3. Ya know, it hurts when you fly into somebody.  It’s like running into a wall. Anyways, I grabbed onto him as I rocketed out of the club and threw him into an alley. Citizens scattered in fear as Eddy stood up, his fists wrapped in shadows. I then wrapped electricity around my fists as well, but I did something that scared Eddy, real deep down.

I put on a madcap grin.

Cross-Bones: You’re going down, Hero!

Spark’s: Promises, promises darling. Keep teasing and I won’t take you seriously anymore.

Cross-Bones: what are you, a damn queer?

Spark’s: no, I’m Spark’s, Straight, and damn proud of it! And tonight dear Eddy, is the worst night of your life.

I launched myself at him, catching him in the gut. I rolled to the right, just in time to avoid his fist slamming down into the pavement. I landed 5 or 6 electric hits on him in rapid combos and was about to land a Thunder Strike on him, but he grabbed me by the throat. He grinned maliciously as he began to crush my neck. Then, inspiration struck from and old saying. I reached up and put my hand over his right eye and grinned like a madman.

Spark’s: “Eye for an Eye”, Eddy!

Cross-Bones: MY NAME IS CROSS-BONES, YOU SPARKIN’ PIECE OF SH-!!!

But I didn’t get to here what I was a piece of. Because I had sent an electric bolt straight into dear old Eddy’s eye. I basically fried it out of his skull. God, you should have been there. When he screamed, it echoed all thru Steel Canyon. Hell, I bet guys in BricksTown went “what the hell was that?!”. As Eddy let go of my neck, he staggered back out of the alleyway, clutching his burnt out eye socket. It was then that I heard a truck screeching rubber, coming down the street fast as hell. Eddy had staggered out into the middle of the street, screaming for his mother, when a mac truck hit him at an excess of 50 MPH. I heard Eddy’s spine break and I saw him fly into the other side of the street. Maybe I should have flown in and saved him. I knew he wasn’t dying, I knew he was only going to be paralyzed. The truck hit him just right. Lucky, but too lucky. I flew over to Eddy and floated above him, just looking down at his face. Oh, someone had called an ambulance already, so I didn’t have to worry about saving his sorry ass. Then, as I heard the ambulance coming down the street I said to Eddy:

“Gotta fly Eddy. I don’t have all night to babysit you. I’m a hero now and I have to go protect and serve. Nighty Night. Oh, and this was for Delia Harkenson.”

And with wave and a grin on my face, I flew back to the burnt out remain of that club and helped PPD SWAT and the other heroes round up the last of the Skulls. We didn’t get the Marrow Brothers, but we got a lot of their generals that night. As the last of the SWAT vans drove off, I flew back to Kings Row, back to the Gish and looked at the burnt remains of my apartment. Then, I felt a tear fall on my face. No, it wasn’t a tear...it was a raindrop. I looked up at the sky as it let loose thunder, rain, and lightning. My oath was far from complete, but I knew I had gotten justice for my mother...and I knew she gave me that rain and thunder for me. And then...I laughed my ass off.

2 weeks later

Eddy was now in hospital wing of the Zig, Uncle Alex was facing a promotion at work for his leadership of the SWAT strike on that Skull club, and things were going ok for me. I had been a hero for about a month now and I had already received membership into a super group called the SideShow Freaks. Good group, the bunch of them. The cops were only to get 2 names out of Eddy though. “Jasques Bocor” & “Oakes”. I had no idea who or what either of those were, so I knew me and Uncle Pat had out work cut out for us. But hey, we got all the time in the world. Sides, what’s the point of being a hero if ya can’t have some fun with it?

The End...OR IS IT?!
“God Doth Loveth his little Jokeths


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