A Certain Scientific Superhero Book 1: Lightning Flash

I Come Bearing H2O!

January 12, 2011, St Louis Children's Hospital

"Come on, Mikoto... wake up..."

"Get off her, Rob! Give her some room to breathe!"

"Yeah, she got shot!"

"Don't try to tell me you aren't worried!"

Mikoto groaned, and she heard a beeping beside her head increase in speed.

"She's waking up!" Mikoto recognized this voice as Wally.

She blearily opened her eyes, wincing in pain as fire spread through her chest.

"Be careful." Red Arrow said. "You got a pretty nasty hit."

"What was it?" Mikoto asked, her eyelids drooping from exhaustion.

"Technically, it was a pellet gun." Wally explained. "But it was laced with some toxins that made it feel way worse."

"Oh."

"Do you need anything?" Robin asked quickly. "Water? Food? Medical attention?"

"Er, water would be nice." Mikoto replied. "And I think the medical attention is kind of a given."

Robin rushed out of the room, grabbing a cup.

"He knows there's a sink in the bathroom, right?" M'Ghann inquired.

Wally shrugged. "If he does, he doesn't care."

"So, what happened?" Mikoto asked, trying to ignore that her chest felt as if somebody was branding her.

"You were about to jump, until somebody shot you." Wally explained. "We have no idea who... as soon as you felt better, we were gonna look at the security cameras."

"Security cameras?" Mikoto raised an eyebrow. "At a circus?"

"Yep." Red Arrow replied. "We actually put them up while you were talking to Haly."

At the mention of this, Mikoto's blood ran cold.

"You and Dick were actually supposed to be twin Talons, the first of your kind."

"So, what was that talk about, anyway?" M'Ghann asked.

"N-Nothing!" Mikoto said quickly. "It wasn't anything... he just wished me luck, was all."

They didn't need to know about this. Mikoto could handle it.

"I come bearing H2O!" Robin dashed back into the room, a glass of water in his hand... if his eyes weren't covered by sunglasses, they would be bright. "Laced with pain killers!"

"Thanks." Mikoto smiled as she took the glass, gulping it down. She felt... closer to him. The memory had sparked something within her.

"Alright," Putting the 'DO NOT DISTURB' sign on the door, Robin reached into his utility belt to get his gauntlet, before activating the computer inside it.

"Do you bring that everywhere you go?" Mikoto asked.

"Never leave home without it, first thing Batman taught me!" Robin grinned.

Wally snorted. "Yeah, more like 'never go to the bathroom without it'."

"The Déjà vu is returning."

"I can fix that!" Wally paused. "I think you actually ran off."

"Yeah, you're the thinker!" Mikoto snorted jokingly.

"Déjà vu strikes again!" Robin gasped dramatically, before pressing play on the security footage.

There was Mikoto, about to jump into the pool. Robin was standing directly behind her, on the trapeze platform with Raya behind him. To Mikoto's utter embarrassment, she saw Robin was blushing.

Robin chuckled nervously, before skipping to a different camera. There, she saw a man in a black owl mask pull out a gun, before shooting Mikoto in the chest. As Mikoto fell, her eyes rolling back, the owl-thing looked straight at the camera, yelled something unintelligible, before disappearing.

"That was..." M'Ghann started.

"Creepy." Wally finished.

"What did the owl say?" Red Arrow inquired. Robin was silent, beginning to tap something into the computer.

Eventually, you could just barely make out the words:

"It should have been you!"

Mikoto froze, her face paling. The conversation with Haly rushed through her mind, and the monitor beside her started to beep even faster.

"'It should have been you'..." Robin muttered. "It was after he shot Mikoto... so maybe he was talking about her?"

"But then why was he looking at the camera?" M'Ghann argued.

"Maybe he knew we would look at the footage?" Wally guessed. "I mean, nobody saw him take out the gun."

"You'd think somebody would have noticed that mask, though." Red Arrow pointed out. "It's rather disconcerting."

"Actually, it's completely concerting." Robin objected. "It's a circus; any bystanders may have just thought he was part of the show."

"In the audience?" Wally raised an eyebrow.

Mikoto frowned, coming out of her trance. "You'd think somebody would have noticed..." she muttered. "That sounds so familiar..." her eyes shot open.

"Dummy Check!" she blurted.

She was met with three pairs of confused eyes.

"Dummy Check." Mikoto elaborated. "It's an esper ability... it lets you not be noticed to the naked eye, but you can see them in cameras, or mirrors."

"That is possible." Red Arrow agreed.

"Yeah, but then couldn't he have just climbed up there or something?" M'Ghann said.

"That's too complicated." Robin shook his head. "No, the simplest method would just be to shoot her."

"But why look at the camera? That completely defeats the purpose!" Wally remarked.

Before anybody could answer, a doctor with long brown hair and emerald green eyes that looked the age of Red Arrow burst into the room.

"ATTENTION, PATIENT AND CITIZENS!!" she yelled. "YOU NEED LEAVE RIGHT NOW!!"

"What kind of doctor are you!?" Mikoto yelled as the doctor yanked her up. The pain killers had stopped the agony, but she still felt like she had a severe case of heartburn.

"I'm the kind of doctor that isn't a doctor!"

"That doesn't even make sense!"

The doctor glared at her. "I'll have you know that I am Elena Natsuko, the Scorch Blazer!"

Mikoto's eyes flew open. "You're the sixth Level 5!"

"Fifth, technically." Elena pointed out. "But, anyway... MOVE IT!!"

"Why!?" Robin shouted as he grabbed Mikoto's other arm. "Why should we listen to you!?"

"Because!" Elena huffed. "I'm on your side!"

"What?"

There was an explosion that shook the building.

Elena gritted her teeth. "I don't have time for this!!" She punched Robin in the jaw, knocking him back.

Elena continued to run down the hall, giving Mikoto the doctor's coat to cover herself. "Where are we going!?" Mikoto yelled over the alarms.

"Where do you think!?" Elena snapped. "Mount Justice!"