Date - 03 March 2010
Character Name - Unknown
Location - Vault City, NY
District - Professor Universes Laboratory, High School Point West
Time - 2246 (1046 PM)
'Stop Professor! You'll tear apart time!'
The assistant screamed as a multitude of colours exploded from thin air.
'I'm sorry but I cannot! Everything is wrong! We need to fix it or we could lose everything…'
'Everything?...'
'Yes Kid, Everything we know won't exist.'
The older doctor typed frantically at the white terminal which buzzed and flashed with every code he submitted. The keyboard click and clacked as the electricity crackled and screamed with scathing ferocity. It siphoned in place like a tornado, flashing, electric tendrils reached out to any source snuffing out the power and draining its energy. The assistant reached his hand out, unable to do anything to stop the meltdown which spun out of control, another tendril of electricity struck the young man in the shoulder, melting through his shirt.
'PROFESSOR!'
Then there was a final click, the genius professor turned to face the assistant, with a calm smile upon his face. Realising he was about to disappear from the incoming explosion.
'See you around kid, stay safe.'
Current day - 05th December 2019, 1150 am
Throughout the many eras of time there have been small tears in time and space, with these tears timelines collide, things happen that shouldn't have happened. One explosion in a lab within some High School would cause inconsistencies across time, anomalies you can call them, but Near had always called them 'Tears'. More about that later.
While on his day off from work, he continued his other work, sitting in his small cupboard office, hidden conveniently in his messy one bedroom apartment. His 'goblin lair'. Messy floor, pizza boxes piled sky high. Books slumped across his surfaces, and out of date Japanese and Chinese takeout boxes with a small amount of dingy leftovers at the bottom. And let's not forget about the permanently broken open window, pretty cold for the current winter festive season.
Across the apartment's wooden white wall was memorabilia from his favourite football team, one from back home, Royal Arsenal Football Club, one of London's fastest growing teams. Gaming posters and statues.
Sitting in front of the apartment's wooden table and television, was a dirty blue cushioned couch. Near the window sat a whiteboard with the title; Theo MiiTube ideas.
Across its smudged surface were plans, notes and locations of videos which they could only dream to make.
'Computer, analyse this DNA sample from Everlyn Silva… maybe something will come up and the trail will become hot again.' Edward ordered bouncing his leg furiously, as he sipped from his MIKA MIKA PO mug (an anime girl).
["Understood sir. Compiling the data now. New database created."]
The screen illuminated, pages upon pages of evidence, maps and biographies opened across his long wall spanning screen. Data streamed across the bottom of the screen like a reel, numbers increased as terabytes downloaded in moments.
'Excellent. Computer, what's the situation with the appearance of these 'tears'?'
["My scans indicate these tears have not reappeared since you last encountered them. Oh and sir, what's your obsession with that cup? My scans indicate your way over the age to keep mementos of 'anime waifu' merchandise."]
Edward spat his tea from his jaws, dampening his green cotton pants.
'Motherf-'
["Grow up sir."]
'I'll delete you…' Edward growled, sipping the remainder of his tea like a goblin hoarding its garbage heap.
["No you won't, because you'd need to start all over again….sir. Heh."]
In the top right corner of the screen, a small head formed from the pixels and smiled with a shit eating grin.
As the AI smiled victoriously in the background Edward threw the mug behind him with a CRASH as it landed into the sink, weirdly still intact.
'Typical Japanese products, they're like concrete.'
["don't let your family hear that sir."]
Edwards bravado disappeared immediately as if the fire of banter was smothered by a wet blanket.
'They wouldn't care. They haven't for a while.' Edward grumbled, returning to typing on his blue illuminated keyboard, which clicked with every key one after the other.
Meanwhile across the city, a tear has opened deep underground, in the Promise City Subways oldest tunnels. It ripped open, engulfing a rundown, broken 1980 era train carriage. And a flicker of light emerged, like a fast sudden blink of light, blinding but disappearing as fast as it appeared. The tear was like a window, cracks surrounded its edges where more light appeared through, fragments of the window hovered midair and shifted as the light passed through. Then it zipped away, leaving a momentary streak of yellow electricity.
Edwards' computer had received the alert. All cameras linked to it honed in on the projected pathways whatever came through would go.
["Detection. Tear opened. Location Abandoned Subway Tunnel, mid Promise City. Time elapsed TWO seconds."]
'Two seconds? That's not right. Nothing can possibly come through in that short of time.'
He began surveying the cameras. His high resolution camera immediately honed in on the disturbance.
'Clear image.'
It de-pixelated the image. The AI pieced the pixels together one by one.
'Again, again, again.' Edward repeated, until the image was staring right back at him. A shit eating grin, narrowed eyes and a… middle finger?
The image was of Speeedstar. Black costume, yellow streaks across it, black bracers and boots. His face was covered by a black mask with yellow fins on the side. The speedster had green emerald eyes, and pearly white teeth.
Then he continued to play the footage.
He was gone. Leaving a trail behind leading further down the tunnel.
'Bro. He took the time to flip me off and vanish further down the tunnel…'
["Computer, set a beacon, tonight I go on the hunt."]
Later on 1841pm (6.41pm)
Near leapt from rooftop to rooftop, using his grapple hooks to lunge and catch each ledge, he gripped extra tight, he slipped slightly from the iced over surfaces.
'Computer, call Sunohara.'
There was a momentary silence as Edward stood, brooding, his large arms slightly apart as if he was about to open his furred blue cape to fly. He surveyed below. The streets were bustling more than usual, it was a weekend so it made sense, but this was too busy, too many police cars, too many sirens and too many cops on the beat.
["Sup."] a voice came through, a mouthful of food.
'The image, what did you find? I couldn't find anything.'
["An explosion eight years ago in High School Point West. Two reported casualties. One of them vanished completely.. Emergency services reported disturbances with the area's magnetic field. One casualty was recovered from the site. You have met them"]
'MaxxSpeeed.' Near said silently and bluntly, coming to a conclusion.
["correct."] followed by a slurp.
'What else.' Near pushed.
["Apparently the lab belonged to a…..Professor Universe? Egoooo ALERTTT."]
'What happened to Universe?'
["He apparently vanished when the explosion occurred…. Poor bastard probably vaporised."]
Near made his way to the snow covered ledge, he could see the snow covered skyline, snow fell slowly around him. He watched as lights lit up the streets nearby, his attention was drawn.
He jumped to the roof below, and made his way to the source.
["Near, there's a disturbance a moment ago in the Promise City Bank."]
The vigilante responded by sprinting into the direction of the bank, from the pace he ran he'd get there in maybe five minutes.
The bank was an old 1700s building, coloured white, lined with greek style pillars and an arch roof. When he arrived, he saw the bags of money, staked high. Gold bars covering the road. Members of the public swarmed the area, grabbing whatever they could from the frozen ground. Snatching it from one another, some even fighting over it. A brawl had broken out across from the bank. There was a hole where the entrance used to be.
'Give it here!'
'That's mine!'
The crowd roared, hitting one another, using whatever weapons they could. Bats, metal bars and knives. Someone in the crowd reached into their green puffy coats inner pocket and pulled a pistol.
'HE'S GOT A GUN!' A cry in the crowd alerted the rest. They began to scatter.
Near jumped into the crowd. He glided at speed, slamming his fist into the pavement, his fur blue coat behind him, hood over his head. He placed his black gloved hand over his sword's long hilt.
The crowd panicked even more, those who felt confident even when the gun was unveiled weren't anymore. They fled dropping everything, knowing full well the ghost would be hunting every stolen cent.
*BLAM BLAM BLAM* the shots rang out.
Near stood ready deflecting the shots with his blade. He was expecting another. Only for silence, then the shooter slumped to the side. Immediately something was wrong. Blood leaked from the shooter's head.
Near turned him over, revealing a bloody hole where his brain used to be. Near was surprised but remained silent. His blue eyes widened…
'Merry Christmas!' a voice announced.
Near remained silent again. Watching his surroundings.
The speedster appeared in front of Near, punching him in the stomach. Near grabbed his stomach in response, then the speedster kicked him away, throwing him into the bank wall.
The vigilante dropped forward, falling onto the concrete.
'Auahhhh…..' Near muttering, face down in the snow, he grabbed his head.
'Use some ice for that HEAD!' The voice continued.
The Speedster grabbed Nears hood and then slammed the vigilantes head into the concrete with a thunderous crack. He raised his head again, gripping the hood. He held Near close, Speeedstar grinned sadistically.
'Why so silent Hero?... WOT GOT A F***ED UP 'EAD MATE?' Speeedstar mocked in a British accent, switching from his usual southern American accent.
'You talk too….much….' Near spluttered peering up at the speedster rogue, an aerosol ejected from Nears wrist bracer engulfing the speedster, it was a paralytic cloud, a gadget Near had concocted.
'W-what have you….done?.... My head...what the hell….'
The speedster panicked running in circles, probably a hundred in a second. Before vanishing, leaving that same trail.
Near knelt into the snow, holding his head, it rang, his vision blurry. He stumbled to his feet.
'Sunohara. I found Speeedstar.'
["A fan?"]
'Not so much.'
["did he leave a trail?"]
'Yes.'
["well what are you waiting for? Go"]
Near walked powerfully and confidently towards the trail of crackling electricity that followed the melted pathway towards the Abandoned Subway.
'I need more gadgets… specifically for speedster situations.'
["You have a cache in the bank, the back entrance, and the third middle pillar. The bank was restored by the Kodoma sponsored company; ReStoreCo… I managed to install a cache when the site was vacant."]
'You always surprise me Sunohara.'
"Of course, it's me.'
Near made his way to the back of the bank, he vaulted up its side using his grappler, sirens could be heard swiftly closing in. He needed to hurry. The vigilante climbed up the 10 ft pillar, he used his wrist gauntlet to scan the keyhole to open the cache, with an ejection of mist, it opened revealing a casket of gadgets built into the pillar itself. He pulled pellets from the cache, and wire. He was ready.
The Old tunnel was boarded up, or used to be. Now the wooden planks that covered the end of the concrete staircase littered the ground.
'I wonder what's behind door number one.' He growled descending the stairs.
With each step in the snow covering the old stone steps, it crunched.
'F*** F*** F***!!!!!' He could hear a voice further down the tunnel. It echoed and reverberated throughout the tunnel proper.
Gusts of wind, furious and precise, pushed debris throughout the tunnel, it was cold and smelled like it was closed for decades, of which it was. Near's senses were sharp like the blade on his back. He pressed his gauntlets commlink, a mini computer that connects to his AI powered supercomputer back home.
'Sunohara. My signal will weaken as I go deeper. Track me.'
['Hacking into the subway's surveillance feed now.']
Near stomped forward further into the dingy dark tunnel. It was musky and cold, the air could choke you from the intense cold and lack of air, what air there was, was stale and decades old. Next to the concrete staircase was the faint settling of snow that layered the subways cracked wet ground. The bells of distant ringing could be heard, the thunderous clang heralded midnight. Near brushed his shoulder to remove dirt and grit from his bloodied shoulder. He then disappeared into the shadows, enveloping himself into his furred cape, he entered a vent and vanished into the ventilation system. He could hear Speeedstar tweaking, zipping with wild abandon, smashing walls, glass and hell even random electrical boxes.
'FU-F-F***!' The speedster screamed this time with audible pain. He was circling the site of his arrival. Did he subconsciously know a portal would reopen?
'Struggling Speeedstar?' Near's voice echoed throughout the dark tunnel.
'Ghost?!…H-How did you find me?!' the villain shouted in a panic.
'You left quite the trail. All I needed to do was follow you.'
Near said appearing from the shadows, emerging from them like a phantom. He walked confidently, his hands ready, by his side, they clutched something tight.
'You F*** your not DEAD?!'
'Clearly you weren't strong enough.' Near retorted.
'Time to correct my MISTAKE!'
In a flash, Speeedstar vanished without a trace, but Near knew the lightning fast loudmouth was on a direct course towards him. He had prepared for this. He dropped pellets from his closed fists, with a sizzle and whizz the air became thick, smoke so dense you couldn't see your own feet.
'Huh?! Where are you?!' Speeedstar reappeared discombobulated, looking around frantically.
'Over here.' Near announced driving a fist upwards.
THUMP
Near struck the speedster in the side, then taking advantage of the shock he caused, he injected a syringe, paralysis serum. The speedsters eyes become dilated. Near hit him again to put him on the ground. He then dropped the oil pellets across the already icy stone concrete ground, expecting Speeedstar to stand. Of which he did, grinning with frenzied frustration, his red pupils still dilated.
'DIE!!!!' He spun in place, with reckless abandon, the speed kicked up dirt and smoke, a storm of debris surrounded him, his silhouette continued to spin like a whirlwind, a mini tornado, then eventually only the wind he created remained.
Near waited patiently, the dust and wind had by now dissipated.
'GOT YA BITCH!' A voice cried out, only for.
Then there was a Zip, slip and then SLAM. The speedster slammed with his entire velocity into the tunnel concrete wall, leaving a bloody mark where his body impacted.
'Damn.' Near winced, gritting his white teeth.
'Ahhh…ahh- damn… my head….' Speeedstar was stunned, he stumbled and fell.
'Im taking you in.' Near said, pulling handcuffs from his utility belt. He lifted them up as if gesturing to the supervillain who knelt stunned and confused.
'Reinforced plastic, copper lining, anti-vibration… you ain't going anywhere.'
'N-no…. You're not….-' Speeedstar spluttered…blood trickling down from his jaws. He stood as straight as he could, slowly raised his hands….and flipped them into two middle fingers.
'F*** YOU!!!!'
He screamed defiantly, before vanishing without a trace, leaving a trail of smoke and this time it was more temporary than permanent.
['Rude.'] Sunohara responded over the commlink. Deadpan.
'I think we'll be seeing a lot more of HIM.'
Thank you for reading Chapter 3!
I had fun making this chapter, Speeedstar will be an interesting character to keep including.