It had started with an old radio.
Or rather the remains of an old radio.
Lance had been messing around with it in the hopes of finding a good tune. Unfortunately the little machine was being difficult. Every time he found a really good song, the radio would lose the station in a flood of static. This, combined with a muggy summer heat and power outage, formed a very tired, short tempered, teenage boy who was not beyond slapping the top of a radio to in irritation.
But instead of just being thumped or toppling over, the old radio did something unique.
It exploded.
Now that alone probably should have tipped Lance off that something was very wrong. Radios don't typically explode when most people hit them.
Of course this had been a really old radio.
A hand-me-down from Lance's great uncle George. No one was quite sure when he got it. And that included uncle George. It was generally agreed upon that he had gotten it during his stint as a hippie in the 60's. But again, since uncle George himself couldn't remember what he had been doing during those three months he had disappeared and then reappeared out of the blue, it was largely speculation.
So, as shocking as the event was, it was treated as the inevitable death of a longtime family companion. And the remains of said companion was retired to the dumpster without further ado.
Lance had been left unnerved by the experience. He hadn't been harmed, outside of a few small burns and scratches, but there was something about the incident that had set him off. A feeling.
But every time he got to thinking about it his family would begin giving him worried looks. Lance didn't usually dwell on things, so when he did dwell on something it was noticeable. So, in the interest of not worrying his varied family members, Lance had opted to abandon thinking about the whole thing. He didn't forget it though.
So when he began to be shocked by every doorknob he came in contact with, the feeling he had felt with the radio began to creep back up on him. But he beat it back down to the back of his mind where it belonged.
It's all in my head, he'd remind himself. It doesn't mean anything.
He only stopped reminding himself when the sparks began.
They were small at first. Hardly noticeable. But they grew in size and durability over time. By the time the fall came and senior year started, Lance couldn't ignore what was happening anymore.
It was like there was something, some pent up energy, inside him that was fighting to get out. It jumbled around inside his body and peeked out through every conceivable crack. It oozed out of him every chance it got and only stopped when Lance realized what was going on and thought HARD about making it stop.
After getting over the initial shock of having blue sparks inexplicably jump from his fingers, Lance began to experiment with the energy. At first he just played around with making the energy appear and disappear at will. He found that it was easier to flow the energy to his hands and control it there.
(Lance had tried using his feet on a whim but found that it caused his hair to stand on end.)
This experimentation caused all kinds of accidents. Especially at school.
Every time Lance messed around with the energy in class the lights would flicker. In the computer lab the monitors would turn on and off and more than half the hard drives got fried. It was only after he broke the microwave in the lunchroom that Lance decided it'd be best to avoid experimenting at school.
Mainly because Hunk caught him.
Okay so maaaaybe it hadn't been the best idea to use his blue sparky energy on the lunchroom microwave in the hopes that it would heat his burrito up faster. And maybe he should have checked to make sure there was really no one looking. But Lance had been hungry and five whole minutes had seemed like an eternity.
Lance had placed both hands on the side of the microwave. All it needed was just the tiniest bit of juice. He was Lance, he could handle this!
Several sparks, a small fire, lots of smoke, the sound of a fire alarm, and several sprinklers later Lance instantly began to regret his decision. Especially when he heard the crashing sound of plates and silverware and turned to see his BFF for life, Hunk.
The large boy had just stood there. A stunned look on his face. Mouth agape.
"H-Hunk! Buddy! Uhh, what're you doing here? You're not usually here so early."
"You… th-the microwave…" Hunk stammered.
Lance felt the panic grow in his chest. Both because he realized that Hunk had likely been standing there a loooong and because he could hear the sound of approaching teachers.
"Run!" Lance hissed at Hunk and made a beeline for the door.
"Lance, what did you-"
"I'll explain everything later! Just-Just RUN!"
The old gymnasium hadn't been used properly in years. The only proof that the building had ever been used as such was the two rusted basketball goals on either side of the room. Outside of that the decrepit building looked and felt more like an old warehouse than a faculty building.
Hunk sat against the old bleachers, hugging his knees to his chest as Lance finished up his story. It had been a good story. Really entertaining. His best friend really had the best imagination!
Once he'd finished Hunk chuckled uneasily, "Th-that's a really funny story man. Really. How'd you ever come up with it?"
Lance stared back at him without his usual smug, confident, goofy expression. Instead his brow was creased and his eyes serious. "I'm NOT making it up."
Hunk swallowed.
"C-c'mon man you're freaking me out. Just admit you broke the microwave during some messed up prank."
Lance gave an annoyed grunt and stood up. Marching over to a pile of scraps he bent down a picked up a pipe.
"Uh, Lance?"
He gripped the pipe with both hands and stared at it. REALLY stared at it. His hands clenched the steel pipe so hard his knuckles began to grow white.
"Dude? Buddy? What are you gonna do with tha-"
His voice quite simply died.
Blue electric sparks emerged from Lance's bare flesh and leapt onto the pipe. It crackled and glowed as it engulfed the metal, lighting up the whole room.
Hunk's mouth hung open, mesmerized.
The light began to flicker as Lance's hands shook. Soon the pipe fell from his hands and Lance stumbled backwards and hit the wall. Sliding down to the floor in exhaustion.
Rushing to his friends side, Hunk gripped the other boy's shoulders and held him upright. Even through his clothes Hunk could feel the unnatural warmth emanating from his skin.
He'd only done - whatever that had been - for a few seconds and already the tips of Lance's hair were damp with sweat.
Out of breath, Lance looked up at his best friend with tired bleary eyes and gave a shaky but cocky smile."T-Told you I wasn't makin it up."
Hunk immediately devolved into a series of short nervous ejaculations as he looked at his exhausted friend slumped against the wall. "Oh gosh. Oh wow. Oh jeez."
It took him a moment to regain his composure, but when he did Hunk had a dead serious expression.
"We need to get you to a doctor." Grasping Lance under the arms he hauled the lanky teen to his feet. "NOW."
"What? I don't need a doctor!" Lance wriggled himself from Hunk's grip, stumbled slightly, and leaned against the bleachers for support.
"You can barely stand and I just saw you shoot blue lightning through a steel rod!"
"I'm just a little tired! I've never done that much before!"
"Never done-" Hunk stopped short. "How long has this been going on?!"
"I dunno, a few months I guess."
"A few- Okay…. Alright, I'm taking you to the hospital. We'll get you check out-"
"I don't need to go to the hospital Hunk!"
"You don't know that!" Hunk snapped in a rare display of anger.
"How do we know that whatever this is," he gestured to the still dimly glowing rod. "Isn't slowly roasting you inside out?! You could have serious organ or brain damage or something!
His shoulders falling, the short lived rage seemed to drain out of Hunk as he sat down with a haggard expression. "Just... c'mon man. I'm really worried. I mean, what if yer sick?"
Lance and Hunk had been best friends for years.
Hunk's parents were old friends of Lance's. So the two had been hanging out with one another since before either of them could walk a straight line.
They'd been through a lot together. The early days of school when Hunk would be relentlessly teased for his size, the sudden death of Lance's grandfather, the early shark tank that was the middle school lunchroom; they'd been through it all.
But they'd never had to go through anything like this. Never anything they couldn't talk to a teacher or their families about. And it scared Hunk. This time the issue was practically supernatural in nature. And it was happening to his best friend.
Having regained his bearings during Chunk's rant, Lance sat down next to him and put a reassuring hand on his best friend's shoulder. "I know that. But let's be real Hunk. What would I tell them?"
Lance gave an exaggerated gesture as he play acted. "Why hello there doc! I have a small case of lightning shooting from my hands, would you happen to have a prescription for that?"
Hunk allowed himself to chuckle at this.
He knew that Lance was likely right. If this really had been going on for months, Lance had likely had plenty of time to reflect on the situation. His best friend could be a spaz at times and he wasn't exactly witty. But give him enough thinking room and he could draw some surprisingly apt conclusions.
"Besides," Lance's voice became a bit more serious. "I'm… a bit worried about what would happen. If people knew I mean. What if I'm like a case study or something? The last thing I want is some well meaning group of doctors locking me up. Something like that would tear my mom apart."
It was Hunk's turn to place a reassuring hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Right. Sorry dude. I'm just… well I mean aren't you curious? About why this is happening to you?"
"Well yeah, of course I'm curious. But it's not like I can google this stuff. I wouldn't have any idea how to start."
"What are you going to do then?"
Lance shrugged.
"Learn to use it I guess. I've already got control over it."
Hunk gave him a disappointing look.
"Then what happened to the microwave?"
Lance had the decency to look embarrassed.
"Yyyyeah. Not one of my better ideas."
"Dude. You destroyed the lunchroom microwave. What were you even trying to do?"
"Heat up a burrito."
Hunk groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Okay, if we're gonna do this we gotta set some ground rules."
"Like what?"
"Well for starters, no more lighting in school. If someone other than me finds out it could cause problems."
"Thats… fair." Lance sheepishly agreed.
"Second, we gotta find somewhere outta the way for you to test out your…. Whatever."
"Powers?"
Hunk sighed. "Sure. Why not?"
"Well, why not right here?" Lance waved at the decrepit gymnasium. "No one comes in here anymore. Pretty sure they're gonna knock it down next year. I'm sure to get the hang of it by then."
"I guess. At least for now. Since I can't come up with anything better."
"Sweet! Now all we need is codenames."
Hunk's mind stopped short. He glanced at his best friend whose face had taken on a terrifyingly familiar look.
Lance had an idea.
Not a funny haha idea, or a philosophical idea. It was the look Lance got when he came up with ideas that would frequently result in one or both of them getting into a whole heap of trouble.
"Lance…" Hunk began worriedly.
"Not Lance," he smirked. "Call me Blue Thunder."
Hunk very much wished he had eaten lunch in the classroom that day.