Spectacular World

Lightning Empress

Directly after the Beast fight...

Boy Genius hummed and looked at his device. "Interesting."

Jack sighed. "I hear Nick say that all the time, what does it mean?"

Directly after the fight with the Beast, he had been ordered to go straight to Nightshade by the Victorain. Apparently some people didn't like the fact that he had died and come back and wanted to check on him. That was why he found himself strapped to a metal chair with Boy Genius directly in front of him. Off on the other side of the room, the Victorian floated and kept her arms folded.

"Your body has been fully healed." Boy Genius noticed. The kid set his machine down and folded his arms as he looked Jack up and down. "Last I looked at you, you barely had a few weeks left to live. You were a corpse. One whose very cells had long since burned out. Now though every single bit of damage you ever took has been fully healed. It's actually kind of scary. Humans, even Supers, tend to get banged up as they experience life, and those wounds, though small, can stay with them a lifetime. Not you, though. You look as if you've never once been hit. How did you get a regeneration power this strong?"

"It isn't regeneration." Jack said, shaking his head.

"What is it then?" The Victorian asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I honestly don't know." Jack looked down at his hand and balled it up. "My father called it 'Ruler'."

"Ruler? You mean like Ruler of the Void and Dark?" Boy Genius questioned. "The Emperor said something about that at one time, I believe."

Jack nodded. "In case you two haven't figured it out, I'm the Emperor's son. Don't worry, I'm not evil; I want that fucker dead more than anyone else. He's the reason I am the way that I am. This dark gift I have... Whenever I die, I hear something. It speaks to me. It orders that I return to life. Then it fixes me up."

The Victorian narrowed her eyes slightly. "Is this why you refused my help? You knew that you would return from the dead?"

Jack shook his head. "No. Believe me, I didn't think this power was in me still." He felt his energy flicker across his hand and stared down at his palm as the blue and black mixed together. "I assumed that it was gone for good after what Full Monarch did. He saved my life after all. Even after everything I did."

The Victorian's arms unfolded, and the woman scowled. "And just what is it you did as the Emperor's son? No record shows that he had a son."

"That's because the only one who saw and fought me was Full Monarch." Jack shrugged. "We kept most of the fights out of sight. I assume you saw what I could do firsthand, though, Ruby." He held a hand out and created a blue portal, which caused the number one hero's eyes to go wide.

"You!" She flew forward and grabbed him by his destroyed collar. He was ripped out of his chair and rammed into a wall back first. "You were the guy who created all those portals!"

"Yep." Battery said flatly.

The Victorian gritted her teeth. "I had no idea. I knew you were important. Ocean Empress told me my dad saved you, but..."

"You figured I was just some fodder monster, right? He was the kind of person who would save anyone after all."

"I should kill you." The Victorian hissed. "You aren't just some nobody. You're a big shot villain! Not only that, but you knew about the Rulers and kept that secret from us? Is that how the Emperor came back to life?"

"I didn't know that he was back." Jack grunted as he was shoved further into the wall. "If I did, I would have told someone. He never told me he could die. As far as I knew, this was a gift only Lucifer and I shared."