Billy Lanzig is a freshman STEM student at Harbor City University. He's a damn good student and a lifelong tinkerer and inventor, but what he really wants to be is a superhero. A few years ago, Billy was building a Tesla Coil when the coil shocked him, making his body some sort of living electrical generator. At first using his powers to charge his own inventions, he began to develop a suit that would use his own body's electricity to power a lightweight exoskeleton. Billy dons the powered suit under the name Blue Lightning, and hopes to fight crime.

This is Billy's third night out with the suit, as the last two had him totally fail to find any people in need of assistance. He primarily gets around by using motorized wheels mounted in his heels, allowing him to skate through the city at relatively high speeds. Billy's suit also has a wrist-mounted pneumatic grappling hook, letting him latch on to street signs for support in making turns and onto the backs of cars and trucks to gain speed.

As Billy is roaming the city streets, he suddenly sees a purse snatching carried out by a random gangbanger. Using his hook to suddenly brake, Billy fires a knuckle-mounted taser, which nails the hoodrat and zaps the shit out of him. He walks over to retrieve the purse and retrieves it to the lady, all the while gushing about how cool it was that everything worked. When the woman's face lights up in joy, Billy practically melts inside at how good it feels. The woman introduces herself as Cassie Carter, a junior reporter for the Harbor City Standard. In an impromptu interview, Blue Lighting roughly explains his suit and his powers, and that he's fighting crime because "The world could always use another hero." Cassie snaps a picture of Blue Lightning.

The next morning between classes, Billy spots a girl sitting on a bench reading the Standard, with his picture on the front. He awkwardly asks her if he could read her copy, and she obliges him since not too many people are interested in newspapers anymore. Billy admits that he's not one for the news since it's usually so morbid, but the picture of a new hero caught his eye. The girl asks him if he's interested in superheroes, to which Billy sheepishly (he's not exactly mr. social) agrees. She tells him (with some snark) that he's probably the only person on campus who is interested in costumed superhumans anymore. As she says it, the current shot is zoomed out to show that they're in the center plaza of Harbor City University with the HCU Memorial in the center.

Billy is in his physics class taking notes on his laptop when he sees that his battery is dying. Billy laments that when he got home he forgot to plug it into the charger because he was on cloud nine. Quickly and covertly, he slides a finger into the power socket and gives it a little charge. While Billy doesn't notice, this has caught the eye of his professor, John Sakamoto. A shot is shown of professor Sakamoto's desk, which has a water bottle and a current copy of the Harbor City Standard.

After class, Professor Sakamoto asks Billy to stay behind. Billy does, panicking that he's in trouble for something. Mentally he goes over the unscrupulous things he's done, all harmless kid stuff like using the school wifi to torrent music or setting up a pirate cable box in his dorm. Professor Sakamoto asks Billy if he forgot his laptop charging cable. Billy is immediately confused. Professor Sakamoto asks him what dorm he lives in, and Billy reluctantly gives the number. In an instant, the professor vanishes, only to reappear with Billy's cable. In total shock, Billy realizes that his professor has super speed- just like the hero Accelerator. The professor tells Billy what he saw, and that he read the paper while he was out on a morning run. He's put two and two together and knows Billy is the Blue Lightning. He asks Billy to, after all his classes, bring the suit to his office.

Still extremely anxious and unsure about all of this, Billy retrieves the suit, kept in a suitcase underneath his bed, and carries it to the physics building. He considers making a break for it, but remembers that his professor is obscenely fast, and any effort to run would be futile. Billy tells the physics department secretary that he's here for Professor Sakamoto. She informs the professor, and after a second she tells him to go on ahead.

When Billy opens the door, he sees the superhero Accelerator sitting in Professor Sakamoto's desk. Accelerator jokingly tells Billy to close the door behind him. When he does, he takes his mask off to reveal Professor Sakamoto, causing Billy to breathe a sigh of relief. Accelerator is considered to be one of the greatest heroes in all of Harbor City, and has the distinction of being its first. He was also the leader of the Harbor City Sentinels. Accelerator explains that he saw Blue Lightning's picture in the paper and that he was impressed at Billy's display of heroism as well as his impressive interview answers. Starstruck, Billy gives a rough recounting of the events to Accelerator, who smiles warmly at the young boy's eagerness and good nature. Accelerator tells Billy that the Blue Lightning might just be exactly what Harbor City needs right now. At this point a shot is shown of his desk that has the same copy of the Standard from before, his computer, some coffee, and a picture of him with his parents as well as a photo of him with a currently unidentified friend. Accelerator tells Billy come with him, because he wants him to "meet the family."

Professor Sakamoto (who tells Billy to call him Johnny when they're hanging out) gives Billy a ride through town, regaling him with a story about that footrace he had with Speed Demon. They come to Hoving Tower. Johnny explains that when the tower was being completed, the owner, Mr. Fred Hoving, had his daughter Cynthia kidnapped by some Mafia goons. They go in, and Johnny shows the security guard his ID. They go into the elevator, where Johnny selects a certain sequence of floors. There's a pause before a brief "ding" noise, and the elevator heads up. Johnny explains that after he saved Cynthia, he politely asked Hoving to grant him exclusive access to the top floor of the skyscraper. Magnanimously, Hoving offered him two floors, which Johnny took him up on.

The doors open to reveal the Sentinel Safehouse, which Johnny explains was the team's secret base to watch over the city. The Safehouse is a massive multi-story complex, loaded with all sorts of equipment as well as trophies. As Johnny points out all of the features, Billy looks on in awe. As Johnny mentions that the place used to be much more active when the team was together, the shot shows that behind them, above the entrance, is a large empty picture frame.

A funnel-esque drone accosts Billy, which he recognizes as being the Golden Colossus. Johnny explains that "Goldy" makes the safehouse his home, and tells the drone that this is Blue Lightning. The drone flies off, and the Golden Colossus descends the central staircase, formally greeting Billy. Billy is intimidated by the Colossus's massive stature and various surrounding drones, but Johnny explains that Goldy has a bit of a fixation on consent and so he's perfectly harmless. Despite this, Billy still feels uneasy for reasons he can't pinpoint. Acclerator recaps the Colossus's origins, how he was created by Dr. Lycosa to "upgrade" the world, but Accelerator defeated him and taught him that mankind has to willingly accept utopia. The Colossus explains that he's retired from active superhero work to focus on societal engineering and figuring out how to make the world a better place while respecting the will of man.

The Colossus asks Johnny if he informed anyone else about bringing Blue Lightning. Johnny responds that he didn't, and asks why. Suddenly he and Billy turn around to see a very angry Noire. Overwhelmed with inexplicable fear, Billy recoils automatically and looks away. Johnny chides her for using her powers on Billy. Noire concedes and the fear breaks in Billy, but in turn she demands to know why Accelerator brought Billy into the Safehouse without telling her. Johnny answers that he didn't know Noire regularly used the Safehouse, and didn't think to ask. He introduces Billy as Blue Lightning, who Noire immediately dismisses, having never heard of him. Billy protests by mentioning being on the front page of the Standard, but Noire responds by saying she doesn't follow the news. Johnny is frustrated, but tries to hide it.

Noire immediately demands to know if he intends on reforming the Sentinels "since [he] found a fourth member." Billy internally marks the fuck out over being a Sentinel, ignoring the proceeding bitter argument. Accelerator tells Noire that he was just going to float the idea, while Noire reminds him that she works alone. Accelerator demands to know why she uses the Safehouse if she doesn't want to be a Sentinel, to which Noire says that her apartment is in a loud neighborhood and the Safehouse is where she can go to "exercise [her] mind." Accelerator tries to tell her that the city needs the Sentinels, but Noire retorts that the days of posing with the Mayor for a photo-op are long over. Accelerator points out that she was never around for those days, which Noire uses to make her point. Noire also mentions how Bolt Thrower still won't talk to him and El Fuego blatantly told them all to fuck off. The Colossus interrupts, saying that he believes that the time is not right for a Sentinel reformation since Blue Lightning is too untested anyway. Accelerator asks Noire if she'll consider things down the road, to which she tells him to fuck off and floats on to her private chambers.

Goldy apologizes to Billy for having to witness the argument, to which Billy shrugs it off since he wasn't paying attention. He shows him to the workshop, which is loaded with all sorts of mechanical devices. The workshop is an absolute mess, and Colossus confesses that the workshop has not been intended for human use since the team broke up, and so it has fallen into relative disrepair. He begins to clean it up, putting things roughly back in the way Bolt Thrower kept them. He asks Billy to please showcase the mechanics of his power suit. Billy first demonstrates the electric lock on his case, which requires that he run a current through in order to open it. The Colossus is impressed by this.

Meanwhile, Accelerator is in the main hall of the safehouse, looking out the window. As he looks over the city, he wonders if he can ever reform the Sentinels and give Harbor City their heroes back. He gives himself some reaffirmation, noting that he trained Noire while he was in a much darker place and dealing with much worse issues. He says that Blue Lightning shows promise and he can also get the kid to be a hero. He tells himself that there's nothing he can't do with enough willpower. He turns around and we see a sepia-tinted flashback shot of the entrance as it used to look, with the empty picture frame showing all four original Sentinels posing as a team: Golden Colossus and Bolt Thrower on the sides, with Accelerator and Nihl in the center. It's followed by a shot of the entrance as it is now, and Accelerator vows to train Blue Lightning and make things right again.