Mha: The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol.1

Sinister War P.5: The Night That...

"I can feel 'em coming, that jet of his is high on electricity," Rai announced, which confirmed the upcoming arrival of the three heroes. He stood alone at the very top of the radio tower to keep watch of the sea between Tartarus and the city. His hands itched from both sparks and anticipation as he believed with full confidence that tonight would mark the death of his greatest enemy.

Rai twirled a brown toothpick in between his teeth, rubbing off a distant fragrance of cool mint. To keep himself from subconsciously breaking his body down into sparks, Rai kept himself orally occupied with something small, usually sticking to gum or cigarettes. When his Quirk initially activated when he was young, it took his parents weeks to try and find out how to keep his body materialized. As time grew on, Rai didn't dive too deep into figuring out how to keep his Quirk under control. The sporadic nature of electricity was more useful than condensed sparks, even if the uncontrollable factor negatively affected him.

The one enemy that lived inside his mind simply to torment him. Spider-Man somehow managed to beat him in every match and no matter how hard Rai tried, his skills were always bested by the hero. No amount of surging electricity he sent into Taeko's bones was ever enough to keep him down.

"He always got back up," Rai whispered while he gritted his teeth and subconsciously touched his jaw. Whenever Taeko managed to exploit Electro's powers and misdirection him, he always followed with an uppercut that ended up with Rai losing a few teeth. Countless defeats and puns had driven Rai past a point of logic or reason.

In old days, Rai would've put his priorities on robbing banks and leaving, now he focused every ounce of power on destroying Taeko. Rai viewed his life as the ultimate potential and his Quirk as the greatest force known to man, which is why his sanity began to wear down after every unsuccessful fight against Spider-Man.

His hatred for Taeko had evolved from a simple antagonistic relationship into a deep, seething resentment. Over the years and every battle that Ria lost against Taeko, only added more sparks to the burning enmity. His life was nothing more than a bitter child chasing redemption. His days were wasted and used only as a vessel to keep his hatred alive, as Rai was only still breathing because he needed to satisfy his hunger for vengeance. The only taste his soul craved was killing Taeko in front of millions.

"You'll have your revenge, Electro." Noritaka cooed, scaring Rai with his sudden appearance. The former stood behind him on the tower without the symbiote, however, he held onto the antenna with only his hand covered in the crimson creature. A coy smile stuck plastered alongside his wrinkles, now appearing more aged as the days went on. Rai picked up on the differences in Noritaka's face ever since he acquired the Symbiote, but he didn't bother to speak up against it. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I hope you're not intimated by my presence?"

Rai stared at Noritaka's red hand, more so focusing on the twitching veins. He wasn't intimated by Noritaka, regardless of his psychotic persona. Rai had encountered hundreds of men who all claimed a piece of insanity, he was sure that even himself wasn't all pieced together. Rai wasn't oblivious to his lust for death and the psychiatrists inside Tartarus made sure to let him know of his behaviors.

"Nah man, you ain't scaring me." Rai scoffed, rolling his eyes and turning back around to watch the seas. Noritaka's behavior did annoy him in many ways, the main aspect being that he always maintained a fake appearance. It was easy to see through his eyes and into the soul of a killer, yet, Noritaka tried to sell himself as a partially normal man. "I've seen a lot of crazies in my days, you ain't too different from the rest."

"Tsk, I'm hurt. I hoped to stand out from the rest. I'm not like the other psychopaths, you know." Noritaka replied, placing his hand against his chest in a playful way to show he was sarcastically hurt.