Zoom, Academy for Superheroes: Part 1

The Scientist

"Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry, you don't know how lovely you are. I had to find you, tell you I need you, tell you I set you apart. Tell me your secrets, and ask me your questions, oh, let's go back to the start. Running in circles, coming up tails, heads on a science apart."
-Coldplay

*****

"Alright everyone, good class today!" Dr Lawrence thanked the class before they were dismissed to head to their next destination. Jack was waiting for Marsha to gather her things when he couldn't help notice the undeniable interest Lawrence had in his friend Miss Holloway. He was always talking to her, staring at her with a small smile on his face, or getting all flustered around her, something that a smooth talker like him obviously never did.
The thought of this made Jack roll his eyes and fuelled some kind of anger deep inside. God, the man's here to teach a class, not get himself engaged. He thought to himself as he held the door open for Marsha while they left the room.
"Hurry up, Jack, we're going to be late."
"You were the one taking forever with your damn papers"
"You're the one continuing to walk at such a slow pace."
"You're the one who's going in the wrong direction."
Marsha stopped abruptly when she realized that she had mindlessly followed Jack as he went off towards the training rooms where his next class was, while her own psychology class was, in fact, in the other direction.

*****

"Grant! Have you brought in any information on the imminent threat yet?"
"Yes, sir, apparently we could be in some trouble."
Dr Grant and General Laraby stood in a lab before a big screen. Area 52 was to be faced with yet another imminent threat, and very soon. A being who called himself "Electrobeam." He was coming through a portal that no one had any idea as to where it came from or how it was there. All they knew was that somehow, someway, Electrobeam would be in this world soon.

Jack stood at the front of the classroom before Dylan, Summer, Tucker and Cindy when Miss Holloway knocked on the door, like she always does at this time.
"I'll get it, we all know that she won't actually be able to open it."
Cindy and Summer giggled as Jack swung open the door with ease.
"Would you look who it is."
Marsha wasn't smiling, her mind appeared to be somewhere else at the moment. But Jack didn't notice and continued to joke as he usually would.
"How are you on this fine afternoon, Miss Holloway?"
Marsha didn't seem to have heard him, instead she quickly scribbled something on her clipboard and began biting her nails.
"Or... not?"
"What? Oh, sorry."
Jack chuckled a bit before getting back to the point. "Who do you need?"
She finally looked up at him and he could immediately tell that something wasn't right.
"Actually, could I see you for a second?"
Jack looked at the kids casually before him and Marsha stepped outside and closed the door. The children remained oblivious and continued to chat as usual.
"What is it? What's the matter?" Jack asked, Marsha glanced over her shoulder and lowered her voice.
"I, um, I heard something."
Jack's expression became serious as he pulled Marsha into a nearby utility quiet so they could talk without fear of being overheard. "What did you hear?"
"Something about a serious threat and a portal. I overheard Grant and Laraby talking about it when I was passed by one of the labs about half an hour ago."
Jack rubbed his forehead and narrowed his eyes. "That's all you caught?"
"Oh, and I took these." She said, handing him a small stack of paper, each with the word "Electrobeam" at the top.
"Marsha, how did you get these?"
"The same way you would have."
After reading the papers, they'd finally learned the details. Electrobeam is a man from some kind of parallel dimension, who uses his powers for extreme evil. His powers included teleportation, the ability to control electricity, and he could shoot lightning bolts from his hands. This guy really was a serious threat.

During the last class of the day, Jack and Marsha were at it again with their arguing. The beginning of the argument was blurry, but it lead to Jack making an arrogant hierarchy remark about him having more authority then her, being the teacher and her only a student, which really pissed Marsha off.
Of course, Mr Shepherd's fangroup of giggly girls came to his support, and Miss Holloway's friends were on her side. With one last snide remark from Jack to Marsha and vice versa, the lights suddenly flickered, before all the windows in the room shattered.
The class went from a room full of anger to a room full or pure terror in a matter of seconds. There were plenty of screams as the lights continued to flicker and there was a supernatural wind slowly circulating the room.
Jack was yelling at people to stay calm and get to the back of the room. Some listened, others didn't. There were women who continued to shriek, men who tried to keep their bearings, a woman who stood at the front of the class, frozen in fear and shock, and one teacher who was trying as hard as he could to come up with a plan.
When people finally came to the conclusion that they were going to die, they heard the unmistakable sound of electricity running zthrough the classroom. There, at the front of the class, appeared a man in a flashing yellow suit stood. He seemed to be levitating.
The screams intensified immensely, Jack yelled at them to just be quiet and calm down. Marsha still stood only about 5 feet away from this super villain, until Jack walked over to her and pushed her back with all the other people.
Electrobeam shrieked a few words before he began to radiate with a lightning-like energy.
"Shit" Jack muttered under his breath as people continued to panic. Electrobeam appeared to care less about the regular people in the background, but began shooting lightning bolts straight from his hands at Jack. It was as if he could tell who had powers and who didn't.
Jack managed to dodge his lightning strikes and fight back fairly well. He was getting worried that he wouldn't be able to defeat this one on his own, when he felt someone beside him. He looked quickly to his right where Marsha stood, looking truly terrified but attempting to appear reassuring when Jack made eye contact.
The entire class fled as soon as Marsha joined the fight, realizing how serious the situation was. Jack and Marsha were finally beginning to have the upper hand when the children ran into the room, super suits on.

The 6 teammates faced a real challenge trying to take down Electrobeam. They were down two people, Tucker was hit by a lightning bolt and could no longer fight, and Miss Holloway had been taken by Electrobeam before he disappeared from the room.
The rest of the team were formulating a plan outside of the door to a laboratory. They'd managed to track down Electrobeam and Miss Holloway, but they had to made sure that they had a plan before they just barged into the room and hoped for the best.
Jack hid around the corner while the three children burst into the room, then bolted back through the door. They were seen only for a second, but it was long enough to lure Electromagnet outside and begin a chase for the kids.
Jack used his super speed to get through the door before it closed automatically. He found Marsha in a room off to the side, and they shared a quick, reassuring, hug before going to aide the children.
It took them only a few minutes to defeat Electromagnet, his powers were wearing out. When he was finally finished off, the lights stopped flickering, the wind ceased, the electric hum stopped, the glass was repaired and the team made their way back to where Tucker was. They were exhausted, their powers did have a limit, and they were all close to reaching it for the day.
The children pulled each other in for a group hug, as Jack and Marsha smiled tiredly at each other.
The team had never faced a villain as challenging as Elrctrobeam before, and they wouldn't face a villain like him for a long time to come.