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Chapter 27: Sorry, really…

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Enrique regretted wishing to get caught in camera earlier. 

Because now that he was indeed caught in the reporting helicopter’s camera, it might be a bit hard to dodge questions about what happened to Electro after this incident is done with. Sure, Enrique wasn’t obliged to answer the public; but the case was entirely different if SHIELD decidedly got involved.

Sadly, something told him that SHIELD indeed would get involved in this, sooner rather than later.

‘...No. It's not important as long as Anna gets this power-boost.’ 

Enrique concluded at last while flying down to the spot where he noticed Rogue still helping the students get out of the school.

It has been nearly 15 minutes, and most of the students have been rescued. Very few people remained still inside the school. But now that Electro was gone, the rescue could be done by anyone, Anna wasn't needed here.

When he lowered his flight enough, everyone in the nearby vicinity had stopped whatever they were doing to rather look at him. Their eyes were filled with a mixture of awe, gratefulness, and quite a bit of envy from the kids in particular.

“That's enough, Rogue.” 

Enrique called out, making Rogue turn to find him floating over her head. 

“The enemy’s been dealt with. I believe the police force can manage the civilians now.”

As he said so, he turned his head to the nearby police officers who had reached the scene by then.

“That's not a problem. Is it, officers?”

“Uh- no, no, of course not.”

A largely built officer, with the badge of a Sergeant, quickly shook his head. 

“The New York Police Department is already very grateful to you and your…  sidekick here, for the help provided. We will take care of the more humane things ourselves. Please, don’t mind leaving if you are busy.”

From his side, an officer of lower ranks whispered into his ears– something about if this was okay to do without asking higher officials, which made Enrique decide it was time to leave quickly.

He nodded at the officer. “Thanks. We are in a bit of a hurry.”

Then he lowered to grab Anna by her waist, who was wearing a troubled expression.

“But, Supernova, we can still-”

Anna tried to whisper to him, but he just made a ‘hush’ sound in her ears.

“No. We have to be quick. Otherwise Electro may wake up and flee.” 

Enrique said.

* * *

Luckily, Max "Electro" Dallon hadn’t regained his consciousness and therefore hadn’t made a run for it from the almost-forest-like area in Highland Park where Enrique had tied him up and left to find Anna.

It seemed that the beating, coupled with the short-circuit Electro had gone through was too much for him to just shake it off and wake up suddenly– even with his enhanced body.

“So… what’s up?” asked Anna, sounding rightfully confused. “Why haven’t you handed him to the authorities yet?”

Enrique and Anna walked closer to the restrained villain as Enrique chuckled a bit.

“I have a better plan.” he crouched down beside Electro and poked his forehead with a finger, making electricity start flickering around it. “I can harness his energy as my own, if he cooperates– or is in a state where he can’t resist. That means if I have him in my arm’s reach, I will be tons of times more powerful.”

Enrique’s electricity generation wasn’t limitless, unlike Electro here. Enrique spent his own energy to create the electricity, so it could get very tiring if he kept shooting it– tiring, even for his Super Stamina’d body. There was also the fact that he had a limit on how much voltage he could produce. He hadn’t tested the limits, but it wasn’t so great– enough that a newly awakened Electro could match, and even somewhat overpower it.

In the end, he was just the ‘Avatar’ of an Egyptian Goddess who was probably only this powerful because of her Witch-powers rather than her Sky ones– so obviously, even though he had earned a mostly clean win against all his enemies at this point, he was limited to many degrees.

“Problem is, I can’t keep him around me. He is narrow-minded and already somewhat mentally broken, after gaining his powers.” Enrique explained further as he looked up at Anna. “Sure, I could probably fix him up if I spend a few months behind him, but why do that when I have you?”

Enrique stood up and walked over to Anna, who still looked confused, and put his hands on her shoulders.

“Listen, Anna. I have some knowledge on your type of powers. You must be confused why I am telling you this, as your power absorption is temporary– but trust me, you can do this.” Enrique said. “If you touch him long enough, if you absorb his powers enough, you will gain his powers permanently.”

“...?!”

“In that scenario, not only will you be of help to me, but at the same time, you will be more powerful than usual– as you’d have your personal fighting power, rather than having to borrow Ava’s every time. You get it?”

Anna’s eyes widened a bit at that and she finally understood his point. She had never touched a person long enough– she was scared– so of course she didn’t know this yet.

Problem was, Electro might as well die if she were to touch him enough to steal his powers. In the comics, Anna stole the powers of Captain Marvel and as a result the blonde space girl had fallen into a long coma– though slowly, she did regain her power back once she woke up.

Electro wasn’t as strong as Captain Marvel.

So…

Electro would most likely die if Anna touched him long enough.

But Enrique didn’t feel bad about it, no. He wouldn't justify his actions by saying Electro was destined to be a villain or something idiotic like that, it was more on the lines of that he couldn’t physcially care for strangers. He just grew up that way.

“....”

Yet, Anna Marie seemed to hesitate.

“...What’s wrong? What are we waiting for?” Enrique frowned at her. “Anna?”

“That…” Anna slowly bit her lip and looked away, her shoulders shifting uncomfortably under his grip. “Can… Can I not do that?”

Enrique’s frown deepened.

* * *

Anna Marie felt uncomfortable and ungrateful under his confused frown.

Her eyes couldn’t look into his, not even for a moment.

Anna lowered her head and kept biting her lips. 

“I…I just…”

“Stop stuttering. I am not going to eat you.”

Enrique released a sigh and gently released her shoulders. 

He rubbed his brows with his fingers and said.

“Tell me truthfully, is it because of what you saw yesterday at the gym?” he asked while looking at her, a bit annoyed. “I already told you about this, Anna. You and I aren’t a couple.”

“...” 

Anna's eyes trembled and she bit her lip harder once. Then she looked back up. 

“It’s not about that.”

“Then?”

“I…I don’t want to permanently steal this guy's powers.” Anna said and nudged her chin at the unconscious Electro. “Just look at him. His skin is blue… and the rope binding him has burned off a little, possibly by the stray electricity of his body. I saw his body brighter when he was conscious, so that just means he probably can’t touch anything while awake. Most of the things just melt."

“...”

She looked back up at Enrique, her  eyes teary. “I don’t care about the blue skin, if I could help you then it’s not a big of a sacrifice. But… Enrique, I already can’t touch any living beings, I am not ready to lose my ability to touch inanimate objects too.”

Enrique's frown melted away.

Anna could feel tears trailing down her cheeks, but she couldn’t care about it. 

She just stared at him, at his strange expression, with her eyes burning with tears.

“...I see. Sorry."

Enrique abruptly said and his expression grew suddenly gentle.

He walked over and brought her to a hug.

“I am sorry. I didn’t think this through.”

"...."

Anna became speechless for a moment. 

She hadn’t expected him to react this way. She had thought that maybe he would force her to do it, or at least look at her disapprovingly before leaving– and maybe even tell her some harsh words.

But this? This almost reminded her how gentle he truly was, even though he wasn’t the most loyal man out there.

“Really, I apologise. I must come out as such a bastard, justifiably so. You poor little thing.” he kissed her head. “If you have any curse you wanna yell at me, feel free to start anytime.”

“....”

She felt his arms gently pat her back. His arms lovingly embracing her, pulling her closer to his chest.

Anna's feelings twisted into one another as she felt her stomach twist like the flap of butterflies.

Anna hugged him back and broke out in tears.

'…Seriously, Anna you dummy.' Anna cursed herself. 

To think she blamed him just because he liked to play around a little…

A man like him didn't deserve to be cursed. 

Never.

How could she ever repay such a kind man?

* * *

Unlike his usual self, Enrique wasn’t saying these things with the intention of manipulation.

He genuinely felt bad for not thinking about how Anna must feel. Actually, he hadn’t even thought of the problem of touch at all.

‘To be fair, it’s not as if Electro's power isn’t controllable. If I take what I remember from Spider-Man: No Way Home as canon,’ Enrique thought to himself. ‘Electro could control his powers enough in that movie to turn on a television with a mental command, enough to not burn everything that comes into contact with his skin. His skin colour was normal too.'

He stopped himself from thinking. These were just excuses, he admitted. To reach that level of control, months– if not years– of practice was needed. This fragile little girl wasn't ready for that.

There wasn’t any real reason to be mad at her, she had a point, and even from his perspective she felt so weak and pitiful.

It’s not as if he hated Anna. Quite the contrary, actually. She was sweet, quite likeable and a bit cute too, sometimes. So he couldn't be mad at her.

Besides, it’s not as if not having a battery by his side will hamper his job that much. Sure having that power will make his job easier, but it was negligible. It wasn't enough to force this frail little girl for that.

Enrique kept patting her hair as she sobbed on his chest.

At one point, she stopped and only soft muffles were heard.

“There, there, calm down now. Remember, if you don’t like doing any particular thing I tell you to do, you can always tell me outright. This is not beauty and beast and I'm not a monster in human skin. It's not as if I am going to force you or anything.” he kissed her head.

Anna sobbed. "Enm…"

“Come on, let’s return home.”

* * * 

He was too kind to her. Anna didn’t know if she deserved that– not after how she forgot about him just a week after entering Xavier’s. Not after how she dared to feel betrayed even after he explained that they weren’t dating so he could and should fuck around with other girls. Not after misunderstanding and assuming his next actions, only to be proven utterly wrong.

Anna wished she could keep hugging him like this a bit longer, but at the same time she questioned if a person like her deserved this man's caring hug.

Anna drew her face back, quickly wiping her tears away and then looked up at him with an apologetic expression.

“I am sorry, really…”

“Don’t be. I should be sorry.”

Enrique replied quite casually as he proceeded to walk over to Electro to pick him up with one arm.

“...What about him? What are you going to do to him?” Anna asked, feeling ashamed that she couldn’t do the one job she had– to absorb power– and because of that Enrique will probably have to deal with meaningless hassle.

“Grab my other arm tightly.” Enrique ignored her question and said as she did just that without any protest. “Also, there is a chance we might come across men in black outside our villa. Don’t freak out, alright?”

Anna looked a bit curious at what he meant, but she just nodded rather than asking about it– not trusting her voice to not break.

Then, Enrique took off in the air.

A minute into the flight, Anna’s eyes widened a little as she indeed found men in black standing right outside their villa, with rows after rows of black coloured cars parked to the side.

Soon Anna Marie would learn that, just because she failed to do the only job she had, Enrique had to deal with a potentially lethal, super-secret organisation named S.H.I.E.L.D.

She couldn't be more ashamed.

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