The Beginning Spark

A late night stroll through a brightly lit city is a pleasant prospect. At this time of night, most of the normal people were asleep, tucked away nice and warm in their beds. He was alone for the night, as far as he was concerned. That was how he liked it, in all honesty. It was nice to take a walk through the streets and truly appreciate the city when there was no-one staring at your unusual appearance or whispering about you, or hugging their children close to stop you getting near them.

Ah. Great. He'd gone and depressed himself. He hated having feelings, that was for sure. Plus the fact was, like most superheroes, he had a lot of issues and whatnot to get over. Suddenly, he froze, ears straining to listen. It was a girl. She sounded distressed.
"No! Get off me! I told you ages ago, we're through, just let me go!"
Lightning knew these streets like the back of his hand now. He hurried down a side street, through the maze of alleyways. He stopped just short of re-entering the main road. He could just about see the big guy pinning the girl to the wall, but not the girl. It was clear enough that she was struggling though, not consenting to whatever he was doing. He had her by the shoulders, keeping her in place as he tried to kiss her. Her shirt was torn and he had a gun in his pocket, and for another thing, he was clearly a mutant. A giant spider where his head should have been, legs and all. Great. He had to handle this with care, that was for certain.

Gathering his nerves, he stepped out onto the street and held his hands out, charging up. "She said no, so step away." He snapped. This drew the big guy's attention.
"Who called you, bug zapper?"
The girl turned to him, bright blue eyes full of fear. "Help me!"
"Now now, Kitten." spider-head scolded. "You be a good girl for your Fangy-poos." He gripped her by the chin.
"Let go of me, you ass!"
If he just shot, he would undoubtedly injure the girl as well. Letting out a groan, he powered down and charged in, ducking beneath the stick-like limbs and striking up with his elbow. It had little effect. Again, he struck up, the exoskeleton jarring his forearm, but this had the desired effect as his armour smashed the strange beast's jaw. He released the girl and moved back, but Lightning kept close in, trying to strike again and again as out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl run. Hitting out with his left arm, he reached to the man's pocket with his right hand, reaching for the gun, but the next thing he knew, he was airborne. Spider boy had pretty strong legs for an invertebrate.

Good thing Lightning was agile. He managed to twist in midair, arm outstretched to catch him at the end of the fall. He would keep that momentum up, push himself off the ground and get himself upright. His hand caught him and he went to push himself off, but pain shot through his forearm, and he fell sideways, scraping against the asphalt. He pulled his injured arm to his chest with a hiss of pain. Looking up, he found the spider form looming over him, gun in hand. Probably thought the Titan was already down and out. Well, a good thousand volts would soon sort that out.

Lightning got to his feet as Fang convulsed, walking over and trying once more to disarm him. It was difficult with only one hand, and the human hands of the spider creature naturally fought back, digging his clumsy fingers into the trigger. There was a bang and a flash as the gun went off, but Lightning barely registered much else. He slammed his foot into the villain's mouth and charged up again.

Everything seemed to blur together then. He went to walk away, got a good way down the road as pain blossomed in his gut. He realised he'd been hit by the bullets, and then he heard something as though through water. Muffled and distorted. He turned just as Fang charged in, spitting out some thick, sticky substance. It wrapped around Lightning's good hand and insulated his power. He gasped as the man charged him, knocking him away. Damn it. Pain shot through him, he arched his back in response and kicked out. His foot connected and he sent a shock through to help kick things up. There was a smash as Fang slammed through a window. It looked like he'd blacked out, and Lightning was willing to chance it. He took off down the main road until he reached another alley.

When it opened out back onto a main road, he'd lost track of where he was. He was disorientated. He needed a moment to get his bearings. That was in no way a lost fight, he told himself as he forced himself to press a hand against his wounded belly. It would get okay soon enough, he told himself. How far away was Titans Tower? Turning up to see them at one in the morning would be no bother if he really needed help.
"Oh my god!"
He looked up at the sound of the voice. The girl from before, the one he had fought to save. She was okay. Uninjured. She ran up and pulled him onto a tight hug. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" She drew away then, taking in the face of her saviour. "You're a Teen Titan...?"
He gave a slight nod.
"Wow...I thought they all hated me." She shook her head, clearly in some form of shock. She glanced down at herself and saw a small stain of red. Her attention went to him and her hands flew to her mouth. "He shot you..."
"I'll be fine." The Titan insisted in a strained grunt.
"No, you need a doctor. You have to go to hospital!"
"I can't afford a doctor!"
"You're a Titan, it'll be fine." She grabbed his wrist and pulled, but dropped it with a gasp when he cried out. "Sorry!"
"I think my arm's broken..." He explained meekly as the girl took out her phone.
"You relax, okay? I'm going to make sure you'll be okay. My name's Kitten, by the way."
"...Lightning."
"Cool name."
He wasn't sure what happened next, because the next thing he knew, he was waking up in a strange bed, surrounded by bright lights and distant voices. His left arm was bound in bandages, as was his abdomen. Slowly, his vision became sharper (probably as sharp as it could go. He was pretty sure he had some form of visual impairment) and he saw the girl from before, sat beside him. Holding his hand and running a thumb over the back of his hand as she spoke to someone, recounting what she knew of what had happened. She glanced over and saw he was awake, and she beamed.
"Morning!"
"Morning...?" He responded blearily.
"How do you feel?"
"...Okay, actually..."
"I'm so glad you're okay, thank you so much for helping me."
"It is...merely my job." He answered softly, smiling at her. He was acting uncharacteristically meek, he could tell. Maybe it was the blood loss, mixed with the way the light shone on this girl's golden hair. He didn't think he'd looked at a young lady with such thoughts in his head before. I mean, he'd seen girls and thought they were pretty and that he would love to get to know them, but this was different.
"Yeah, but the Titans hate me." She began as his thoughts raced through all this stuff. "Especially the main ones. I think they'd only help me if I'd die otherwise because, well, I guess they're sick of me. I guess for good reason...I'm a pretty unpleasant person to be around."
"I don't think you are unpleasant." Lightning argued at once.
She seemed surprised by this. "You seem real nice yourself, actually."
He let out a little laugh then. "Funny. Robin and Cyborg both say I am an irritating delinquent..."
"You don't get along with them either, huh?"
He gave a slight nod. "I had a fight with the robotic one not too long ago. I did something he did not like so he insulted my faith so it sort of escalated...I don't think he'd be too happy to see me...perhaps it was best I came here in the end..."
"Wow...so I guess you're on a similar page to me, huh?"
"Perhaps."
"Do you live in Jump City?"
He hesitated then. "Sometimes."
"Sometimes?"
"I travel. I never stay in one place for too long."
"Good thing you were stopping by then, or who knows what would have happened?"
Lightning gave a hum of agreement. "It would be nice to stay in touch..."
"Yeah, sure! How though?"
"Simple." He replied, handing over a communicator. "It is a little damaged, but I cannot give you my brother's, and it still receives information fine. I can talk to you through this."
She stared at it in shock, and then at him. "Are...are you sure?"
"Anything...for a friend."