THE MOMENT
"Good luck!" Majesty waved at the green-haired girl that just left her house. Then, she spotted a familiar, lean man walking along the sidewalk with his eye on her open door. Instead of the blue spandex he regularly wore, he only wore black jeans with a blue button-up shirt. She turned her head slightly into the house and yelled.
"John! L.S. is here!"
"Coming!" Her husband screamed his reply from deeper in the house. As L.S. cut across the yard, Majesty turned to check on her daughter. The young girl with dark-purple hair sat patiently next to her wooden drink stand waiting for her next customer. Satisfied that she was okay, Majesty turned back to L.S. He was on the doorstep now and stopped in front of Majesty with a worried look.
"Hey L.S., everything okay?" she asked. He shook his head.
"What's wrong?" John asked. Majesty felt his hand on her back as he joined her at the door.
"Can I borrow your wife?" L.S. looked at john, then he looked at Majesty. "I need you to help me... they took my daughter."
"You have a daughter?" John asked. "Since when?" Majesty shrugged John off and stepped forward.
"Details later, she needs help. Who? Where?" Majesty asked.
"Thank you," L.S. said. "I'm supposed to meet them at this warehouse," he gave Majesty a scrap of paper. "It's a trap, I'm sure. Upstart villains trying to make a name for themselves and they want to knock down the great Lighting Strike a peg or two. The truth is, they might be able to. And, my powers aren't as precise as yours," L.S. said to Majesty. "I can't risk hurting my daughter."
"I understand completely," Majesty said. Then, she turned to look across the yard. "Hey Royalty!" she shouted. The young girl turned around. "Wanna go beat up some bad guys?" The girl leaped off her seat and dashed across the yard. She reached Majesty in an instant and nodded her head with an eager smile.
"You guys stay here, you'll just get in the way," Majesty said. She leaned over and kissed John on the cheek. "Love you, be back," she said. She grabbed her daughter's hand and they walked off the wooden porch to stand on the grass. Then, they disintegrated into purple-tinged soil and sank into the ground.
"You have a daughter?" John asked L.S. once they were alone again. L.S. nodded.
"It made my nemesis happy," the lean man shrugged. "I thought I'd give it a go."
"I don't remember you dating anyone...," John said. L.S. chuckled.
"I'm a supervillain, Johnny boy. I may have electric powers, but I'm still a mad scientist at heart; and, science is the only woman I've ever needed."
"You cloned yourself, didn't you?" John asked.
"Maybe a little bit...," L.S. admitted.
"How's that been going?" John asked. L.S. shrugged.
"Other than the kidnapping, pretty good. She's a year younger than Royalty."
"Well now that we know about her, I'm sure Majesty will want to set up some playdates. You know how hard it is for Royalty to make friends. So, what's her name?"
"Electra," L.S. replied with a smile. John chuckled, but L.S. shook his head. "I didn't even know if she would inherit my powers; but, the name just felt right."
"Huh," John nodded. "Did'ja check her favorite number?" L.S.' eyes went wide; as if he'd remembered that he'd forgotten he left the stove on.
"Oh man... I should've asked her that years ago, huh?" L.S. sighed. John patted his shoulder.
"Nah, you can ask when they get back."
"When who gets back?" Majesty asked. John and L.S. turned to see her standing in the yard with each hand holding on to a young girl. Royalty was on her right and Electra, with bright blue hair, was on her left. The girl dashed to L.S. as soon as she spotted him.
"DADDY! THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!" she yelled.
"Hey Sparky, I'm glad you had a good time," L.S. knelt and hugged his daughter. He mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to Majesty again and the woman nodded. "Quick question though. What's your favorite number?"
"40. Why? Are you buying me something? 40 of them!?" She fired off the questions one after the other.
"40?" L.S. looked at John and Majesty as he stood.
"El Alacrán," Majesty said.
"Scorpion," John clarified. L.S. smiled and pulled his daughter closer.
"OH! I LOVE SCORPIONS!" Electra said. "Are you buying me 40 scorpions!!???" She looked up at her dad. He shook his head.
"We'll start with one first, and see how that goes," he said.
"Okay!" Electra cheered. Then, she focused on Royalty.
"I'm getting a scorpion! You can come over and play with it if you want!" Royalty grinned and nodded. Electra tilted her head at Royalty, then smiled.
"You don't say much. I like you, wanna be best friends?" Royalty looked up at Majesty with wide, violet eyes. Majesty nodded. Then, Royalty grinned and stretched out her hand.
"Yes," she said. "We're best friends." Electra shook Royalty's hand.
"Yeah we are!"