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Prologue: Daughter of A Legend

A new year was beginning for the school of Sky High. Summer had ended as quick as it came and now the brood of superheroes, sidekicks, and even villains were to return to its heights of educational rules of learning. New students piled out of its rich yellow buses, gawking and staring nervously over its stocked campus and crowded walkways. One among the flock neither trembled nor took the time to gape at its foreboding walls and structure.

Evelyn Elektra, neither nonplussed nor intimidated in the least, stared with vacant disinterest. She didn’t even want to be here. Gracefully, she sidestepped with ease, moving elegantly and proficiently through the throng of bodies blocking her path. This was utterly ridiculous, pointless in both time and effort.

Her mother, well-renown and famous even after her death, hadn’t went to some fancy “academy” for superheroes. She had harnessed and honed her abilities through self-discipline, hard work, and independent teachers, not by an academic establishment no doubt run by power possessing dip shits.

She was informed by her Sensei and foster father, Stick, about the school and her enrollment, telling her off rather tersely all the while that her path and ways must differ severely from her maternal line. She would have to learn about companionship and compassion at a new and modern level, “one not of his own teachings”.

She was starting as a junior, her mother’s reputation giving her access to credits surpassing for both a freshman and sophomore. She was also simply too old to be starting at such a low level for a high schooler.

Sighing heavily in annoyance, she strode toward the gym, following the horde of piling freshman and new students in silence. She wondered with hidden curiosity as to what this “power placement” whispered with such extreme dread among the masses was all about. Seeing how much of a joke this school was already turning out to be, Evelyn was already equating it no doubt to a complete circus show.

The gym was large and expansive enough, with clean and polished wooden floors and white washed walls, reminding her much of a hollowed prison cell.

‘Might as well be,’ she thought glumly. If her mother knew about this, no doubt she would be turning in her grave and looking to haunt Sensei Stick about now. How she had dealt with that stubborn, bull-headed old man for so many years was a question of wonderment for the young Elektra. Perhaps one day the answer for such a question would be given… at present, however, it was highly unlikely.

Hordes of students gathered and grouped together amongst themselves, some whispering and conversing quietly in an anxious fashion, scared and nervous no doubt. Evelyn merely squared her shoulders and gazed around her dispassionately.

A platform suddenly lifted from the floor, emerging with a tall dark haired man standing atop of it wearing gyms shorts and white washed sneakers. He stared at them with a knowing gleam in his eyes and a toothy grin on his face, peering at them expectantly from behind his clipboard. Evelyn disliked the man already.

He introduced himself as Coach Boomer, making the room thunder and tremble by the loud waves emanating from his loud and, by Evelyn’s observation, obnoxious voice. The students around her seemed to quake in fear… to this show of intimidation; Evelyn merely raised a sardonic eyebrow and pursed her lips into a mocking frown. Damned if she was going to “quake” in fear from a ridiculous looking gym teacher…

Boomer noticed her glance, as well as her expression, and knew perfectly well who his “first victim’ would be. Evelyn wasn’t surprised. He looked directly at her while he explained just exactly what this “power placement” test was all about.

Quite frankly, Evelyn already thought it was absolutely ludicrous. Her mother had been a “superhero” but her abilities were trained, not gained through “inherited” powers or abilities. Elektra had been a seasoned warrior of gifted insight and well-disciplined combat. Her father, however, was neither accomplished nor did he surpass Elektra’s strengths and reputations. He would have been claimed “superhero” while her mother, at this particular school, would have likely been penned down as “sidekick”.

How utterly hypocritical…

“YOU!” Evelyn heard Coach Boomer shout, “the girl that acts like a smart ass know-it-all. Get up here. You’re first.”

All eyes of students were set bulgingly upon her, but Evelyn gave neither reaction nor care to it. She didn’t give a shit.

She walked up in silence onto the platform, her face completely devoid of any emotion as she stared vacantly across the flat at Boomer.

“What is your name and power, little girl,” he sneered condescendingly.

“I’m hardly little, Sir,” She replied unflinchingly.

The students around her merely whispered and gaped at her in wonder, no doubt impressed with her set of balls…. ‘And mine are bigger than his. They come in ovaries…’

“You’ve definitely got a mouth on you. NAME!”

“Evelyn Elektra.”

He flipped through his clipboard, read a little off the page, and stopped all movement. His expression revealed only a flicker of surprise and shock before he caught himself… “Daughter of the Elektra…?”

She couldn’t help the smirk of sweet delight that crossed her face at his momentary shock. No doubt, her mother would have done the same.

“My mother kept many secrets involving her personal life,” Evelyn commented dryly, “I was one of them.”

Coach Boomer merely nodded. The expression on his face, however, was a strange one. It was almost like he understood her. “I met her a couple of times. You look and talk just like her… so, what are your powers, kid?”

While their exchanges of words were happening, Evelyn didn’t miss the abrupt whispers of the crowding freshmen around them. Some were in awe and envy, others were hated. She all but ignored them.

“I’m trained in combat of many styles and proficiency with weapons; Alike to my mother, I was taught by the best in the world. Also, I can manipulate elements like my father.”

Coach Boomer’s countenance seemed to change more in respect than anything. More than likely, because of her mother’s deeds and nature. She never really cared about image and respect of classes. She had been a very honorable woman, just as any true warrior would have been…

“Care to demonstrate then?”

Evelyn merely shrugged and pulled out a zippo lighter from her jean clad confines.

Her father hadn’t really been well known, nor had he ever been involved in her life. But, from everything she had learned and observed, he had been the nail in the coffin as far as her mother shielding herself from the world and people were concerned.

As a babe, she had been her mother’s last salvation toward compassion and humanity. She had been the only thing holding her through in this world of corruption and loss. Her mother grieved as a broken woman inside. And it eventually led to only anger and pain.

Those around Evelyn at present didn’t know the woman that her mother had truly been. They only knew and saw her as a legend whispered with dread upon the lips of her enemies.

Feeling eyes on her, Evelyn lit the zippo lighter in her left hand… and then stole the flame of it into her right. The small flame expanded and ignited into a ball, glowing with bright fury within the cup of her palm.

She let it expand and grow brighter. At least, until it was the size of Coach Boomer’s head and then merely tossed it into the gym’s wall. It fizzled into nothingness, the gym’s interior obviously meant to withstand such flammable elements.

Everyone watched in pure silence.

“I know it might have been better had I the ability to manifest it myself. But, it’s the only power I am able to demonstrate.”

Boomer was quiet for a moment, obviously considering her comment. Then, he asked, “You are fostered by Sensei Stick?”

“That would be a given, Sir. He’s my mother’s most respected teacher.”

“Then what about Kimagure?”

“I know and live by it. Here, I doubt that’s of little consequence. It’s a trained skill only gained through mastered discipline, not a power given upon birth. I thought that is all your school bases their tests on here.”

Boomer grinned knowingly. “No wonder you don’t think too highly of our institution then, Ms. Elektra. Here at Sky High we welcome all trained gifts and naturally possessed powers and talents. Congratulations, you’ve just made hero.”

Evelyn merely nodded and heard applause. Though, in all actuality, she didn’t know if that feat of accomplishment was either good or bad. In her own mind, she felt like neither a hero nor a sidekick. She didn’t feel much like anything.

Sensei always said that true warriors were heroes and defined themselves by deeds of compassion, discipline, and honor alone.

Sadly, Evelyn feared one thing and one thing alone:

She didn’t want to become lost like her mother had...