NaNo2013: Speedster's Secrets: Part 22

“Fine, fine.” Snap was surprisingly okay about it when she phoned her up. Having seen Speedster get hurt on national television, she had been going nuts when she hadn’t been able to get ahold of anyone and had driven herself into remaking her costume, just in case she had ruined it. She had apparently also made her a present at the same time so she could come and collect it when she came back to Leicester.

By Sunday afternoon Juliet had been cleared by Angela to leave the house and while Luna had been driven back to uni by Juliet’s uncle, Speedster ran back to Leicester, taking a doctor’s note with her for work. Not that she needed to work a normal job anymore, but she didn’t feel like getting fired from a relatively decent training route.

Considering the frantic Christmas period it was rather nice to return to relative normality. Though Juliet was wary of anyone new who seemed overly interested in her, she managed to settle back into her life rather well. With the busy Christmas period for post long over, work was almost dead in comparison, giving her plenty of time to start building up data for Bookworm’s thesis.

It was two weeks into getting the data for Bookworm when she had a shock. As she turned into the last turn, heading for home, a second runner matched her speed and worse, passed her.

Well there was no way she was having that. She pushed herself harder, overtaking the second runner, who to anyone but her would just appear as a black and red blur, but to Juliet’s vision looked like a tall, reedy male with black and red spiky hair.

The guy smirked at her, overtaking her again and moving in front of her, forcing her to dodge around him or slow down. She chose the former, shooting around him and pushing herself to her current limits, expecting to lose him easily, only for shock to settle in a second time as he boosted past her.

She skidded to a halt, staring in the direction he had gone. Before too long he had doubled back and stopped in front of her, looking pleased with himself. She knew him, she wasn’t sure how. Something about his posture and attitude rubbed her the wrong way. Not to mention his speed. She was the fastest thing on the planet, so where the hell had this guy come from?

“Who are you?” She demanded, glowering at the guy who smirked back at her.

“You’ve forgotten me? Guess Fusing with a girl wrecked more than just your speed.” The guy chuckled at her, causing her temper to start rising. She clamped down on it hard, not letting him get to her when he was so obviously trying to get a rise.

“Where’s Sawyer?” She demanded, well aware the robotics expert was the only one with a World Sphere whose Fusions would know hers.

“The Doctor?” The guy asked, seeming amused still, “Shouldn’t you be dealing with his plans by now? I mean I escaped a week ago and he had your friend long before I got Fused.”

“My friend? He hasn’t...” She trailed off as something in the back of Speedster’s mind started poking at her, her temper flaring again in response to it, “If I knew where he was or what he was up to, I would have stepped in by now.”

“You’re really oblivious.” The guy looked highly amused at that realisation, “He’s Fusing people left right and centre, building up a small army of robots and you’re not even aware he’s up to something. Even though your ‘little brother’s’ in trouble.”

Juliet mentally froze, temporarily disabled by the burst of rage that coursed through her systems and then she was on the guy, knocking him over and glaring down at him, one foot on his chest, “Where?” She demanded.

“That struck a nerve.” The guy looked slightly less amused now as he stared up at the girl who suddenly didn’t seem like the same confused wimp from before and instead looked dangerous.

“Sawyer. Where?” Speedster demanded again, not entirely in full control of her actions.

The guy gave her directions and before he could ask any other questions, she was gone, shooting off the way he had told her to go. She shot up and across the county, arriving at a small compound which seemed to be surrounded by robots.

“Bingo.” Speedster murmured quietly, pulling her phone out of her pocket and dialling the secure number she had been given. “Hey, Rowena?” She asked the moment someone picked up, hoping it was her handler. “I’ve found Sawyer, I’m going in.” That was all the message she had time for as she slammed the phone shut and started making her way across the compound to the sliding doors.

He had to be waiting for her as the doors slid open far too easily and there was only a token resistance on the other side. She was expecting a trap, so it didn’t overly worry her. She was fast enough to get herself out. She just had to explore enough to ensure that the guy wasn’t actually telling the truth.

The building was dilapidated and falling apart. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was the best he could afford or get now he didn’t have all of Dr. Styler’s funding behind him. There was a worrying amount of robosuits around, all of whom seemed to be in ‘robot’ mode, suggesting that there was a control module around somewhere that she would need to trash.

Part of her felt guilty for having more pressing concerns right now then the safety of those in the robosuits, the rest was focused on finding her brother, despite the fact that in this world she didn’t have a brother.

Taking down the small group of robots that made up the ‘army’ in the hallway, she darted into each of the side rooms, but was only able to find a new robosuit machine, explaining where Sawyer’s new robosuit minions had come from. She sabotaged it, messing with some of the wiring before heading back towards the corridor.

As she stepped back into the hallway, she heard Sawyer’s laugh echoing down from the main room. With no other options left to her, she headed that way.

Sawyer was waiting for her in the main hanger. He smirked as he saw her enter, gesturing to someone out of sight before calling down. “So, you finally showed up.”

“It’s not my fault you finally decided to do something smart and hide away.” Speedster shrugged, nowhere near as calm as she was acting as anger bubbled away under the surface, drawn there by the thought of the man before trapping yet more people in metal suits that they couldn’t control. “I didn’t think you had it in you to do something clever.”

“I would suggest that you don’t start off my insulting me, brat.” Sawyer growled, “Not with the leverage I’ve got.” He pressed a button on a remote and a shutter opened to reveal an unconscious girl in a heap on the floor in a cage not unlike the electrified one he had tried to trap Speedster in.

The girl on the ground was younger then her, thirteen, fourteen at most, had long yellowy, orange blonde hair which was white at the tips, her eyes were closed but something instinctively told Speedster they would be a bright blue, and there was obvious bruising on the girl’s arms and face.

Sawyer’s mood turned towards amusement as Speedster froze up, two personalities warring for a moment, before she let out a furious growl, her hands bunched into fists and she wheeled around to glare at him.

“You bas...”

“Ah ah ah, Speedster.” He smirked at her, cutting off her snarl with a shake of his finger, “You should watch your language in front of children.”

“If you don’t let her go, I’m going to turn you into sushi.” Speedster was practically vibrating as she took a step forward.

“You know, I was expecting you weeks ago.” Sawyer continued, ignoring the furious threat, “You were never this slow to react to my plans in the old world.” When Speedster didn’t respond to him, he glanced down and found she was examining the cage, “I really wouldn’t.” He suggested, “The last one didn’t agree with your human physiology very well, remember?”

She didn’t care whether she got hurt or not. Not if she could get the girl in the cage away from Sawyer.

“You know, I’ve been at this for weeks. She wasn’t even the first, I was actually aiming for your rival in speed, tried all sorts to try and force the Fusion, I even spent ages breaking minds. You see I’ve made a discovery. You and your friends were of sound mind when the shift happened, so you just absorbed the personalities and memories that you were given. But if a mind had been broken in advance, then the so called ‘primary personality’ was the one that was subjugated. So I spent a while taking people no one would miss and destroying their minds.” He smirked as shock and disgust crossed her features and the trembling grew stronger, “Your little friend in there doesn’t remember who she was, not really, all she remembers is what the Fusion gave her. She’s more Mobian than human now. Most of my new robosuits are the same, either they Fused with the wrong person or their damaged minds snapped before I could try it, but none of them remember their human lives properly.”

“How many?” Speedster managed, her voice trembling as badly as her body, “How many lives have you ruined?”

“Improved you mean?” He asked, thinking it over, “Making them better by giving them skin of steel and minds like computers? All in exchange for forgetting their past troubles?”

“How many?” Speedster snapped again.

A soft, pained groan distracted her. Speedster’s sharp, emerald gaze darted over to the source of the noise. The girl was waking up, blue eyes flickering open before closing for a few seconds as she let out a second groan, hand going to her head.

“Ah, about time.” Sawyer continued gloating, “It turns out I was wrong, girl.” He said, causing both Speedster and the girl in the cage to react by looking at him, “Turns out your hero did come after all. Shame it took her so long.”

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 15

Speedster had come to the same realisation as she shot down the motorway, glad for the almost empty roads as she sped across the country at top speed, leaving a trail of scorched asphalt in her wake.

She heard the first sounds of gunfire as she shot down the nearest alleyway to the standoff, the constant hum of a machine gun being drowned out by the sounds of the sound of an artillery cannon. She didn’t stop as she emerged onto the street, instead building enough speed that she managed to create a twister of snow between the two groups that made both sides stop firing.

With nothing to fuel it, it stopped when she did, sending snow flying everywhere as she stopped in front of the man who looked like he was in charge of the military forces. “Hi.”

“Who the hell are you?” He demanded, anger obvious, “And get the hell out of our way.”

“They call me Speedster.” She replied, “And I think I can save them.” She gestured to the army of robosuits before her.

“You want to save the robots?” The man’s eyes gave away movement behind her and she shot up a lamp post, smirking slightly at the look on the face of the guy who had tried to grab her.

“No,” She corrected as if talking to small child, “I want to save the people inside them. Unless you want to be known as the Major who ordered the Christmas Massacre?”

“They opened fire first.” The Major pointed out.

“They had no choice.” Speedster retorted, “And you sound like you’re three. ‘He started it!’ Honestly.” She rolled her eyes, “Grow up and think.”

“Like we should listen to you, you think you’re a superhero.” The Major spat. “Go home. We don’t have time to humour your dressup games.”

“Give me half an hour.” Speedster tried to bargain, “Half an hour to get in, break the control console and ruin Sawyer’s plans. If I succeed, you won’t have to kill anyone. If I fail, you won’t have lost any men trying to get in.”

“You expect me to order my men to do nothing but sit on their thumbs and accept being under fire for half an hour?” The major looked disgusted.

“No.” Speedster admitted, “But if you actually look, you can see the difference between the robosuits and the normal robots, hell, on my way in I can tag a few in the front so you know which ones are fine to destroy without killing anyone inside. Just let me try and save them.”

“I can’t order my men to just get shot at for half an hour.” The major pointed out. “We have to fight back.”

“Fine. Whatever. I’m going in anyway.” Speedster snapped at him, “Just remember if the robosuits suddenly stop firing at you, stop firing at them. They’re not responsible for their actions and I’m damn well going to make sure Sawyer can’t control them anymore.”

With that she shot into the crowd of robots, doing as she had said she would and tagging the robots without people inside by using them to bounce amongst the crowd and into the warehouse complex.

She landed in front of the doors to the warehouse, mentally wincing as the sounds of gunfire restarted, only to shift to the side as the doors opened and a group of robots stomped out, led by a robosuit. She slipped in behind them before the doors could slam shut.

The corridor was dark, all the lights unlit except for the blinking red lights of security cameras and it took her eyes a moment to adjust, giving the robots in the corridor a chance to whine to life and open fire. Speedster moved on instinct, narrowly avoiding becoming swiss cheese as her Fusion’s reaction times saved her life.

She smashed her way through the robots, leaving a trail of metal and wreckage behind her. She would have worked her way through the rooms systematically but that same instinct that had saved her life drew her onwards, into the central hub of the building which was surprisingly empty considering the horde outside.

She glanced around, taking in the machines used to equip people with the robosuits, the teaching area for retraining people in how to walk once they had been treated and two small groups of robots and noting the lack of robosuits, suggesting that they were all outside, protecting the warehouse by being human shields and walking, unwilling, weapons.

“Who are you?” She jumped slightly and wheeled around to face the speaker, who was on the gantry above her. She glowered up at the huge, fat, egg shaped man with the ridiculous moustache as he continued, “And how the hell did you manage to wreck my robots without any weapons?”

“How do you think?” Speedster smirked at him before glancing around again, looking for a control panel and figuring it was probably in the office behind him, “Who do you think had the World Sphere before you? You’re not the only one who can got a power up you know.”

“World Sphere?” Sawyer asked, “Is that what it’s called?”

“Look,” Speedster interrupted, “We could do this all day. I could explain things, you could then ask more questions and we’d be back and forth till the cows come home, but I don’t got time for that. So how about we skip the chatting and you tell me how to switch off your control thingy and I prevent a massacre? Because seriously, your human shields aren’t going to be there much longer if you don’t turn off that damn machine.”

“Well I can tell who you’re not Fused with.” Sawyer smirked, “You don’t banter anywhere near enough to be Fused with a certain pest.”

“I figure I’m the upgrade.” She snorted, “Version 2.0, now with more kicking your ass and less pointless posturing.”

That made him chuckle, not that she got to see it as something nearly blindsided her and she only just avoided the metal arm swinging at her out of nowhere. She skidded across the floor, finding breaking difficult on the smooth surface, and got drawn into a brawl with the nearest group of robots, leaving a pile of wreckage strewn across the floor.

Then the robosuit that had attacked her from the shadows was on her again, forcing her to dodge repeatedly as she refused point blank to injure the poor person inside.

“Bloody hell, Doc.” She complained as she narrowly avoided a third and fourth swing, “This thing’s almost as fast as me.” She ran circles around it, recognising it as she did so as the robosuit containing Dr. J. Styler, and shot up the stairs behind it, bringing herself face to face with the wanna be tyrant. “Not. Now, control panel. Where is it?”

Sawyer took a swing at her himself, one which she dodged so easily that it was almost a joke.

“Okay,” She shrugged, “Don’t tell me. I bet it’s in here.” She darted around the fat man and into the office he had been stood in front of, wincing at the computer screens in front of her as she stopped to look around.

With no clue of how the computer she was working on actually functioned, she couldn’t help but wish she had brought Luna or Mako with her as she tried to work out how to shut down the control signal. She tried everything obvious she could think of and was just moving to try the much less subtle variant of stopping the computer when she was seized by the back of the catsuit and chucked across the room.

She slammed into the wall hard and before she could recover, she was pinned against it by a metal coated hand to her throat. She struggled against the robosuited Doctor’s grip, gasping in what little breath she could take past the metal digits, as Sawyer entered the room, looking pleased with himself.

“You honestly think that I’d have placed my control signal hub somewhere this obvious?” He asked the struggling girl, who could barely hear him over the roaring in her ears. “You disappoint me.”

“Screw. You.” She gasped out, trying a moment longer to pull the hand away from her throat before her eyes rolled back in her head, closed and she went limp in his grasp.

The moment she did so, the robosuit released its grip and she collapsed forward for a moment, before opening her eyes and ducking underneath the bot’s attempts to grab her, practically dancing out of his range. “Nice...try...” She smirked at him as she caught her breath.

“There’s still some faults.” Sawyer admitted, eyeing up the robosuit as he did so. “But nothing that won’t be worked out with time.”

“I don’t...plan on giving you any.” Speedster informed him before practically vanishing on the spot and attacking him, sending him tumbling into his computer system. The electronics started sparking dangerously as he pulled himself out of the smoking console.

“You little...” He trailed off as she smacked him back into it.

“Where’s the control hub?” She demanded, glowering at him, narrowly dodging the robosuit as she did so.

“Why would I tell you?” Sawyer asked, looking pleased with himself for some odd reason as he glanced at the damaged computer screen and reached for a switch.

“Because I’m going to keep kicking your butt if you don’t?” She asked, “And why are you so happy?”

“It’s on the roof, if you have to know.” He answered her, still smirking, “Not that it matters.”

“Why?” She asked warily.

“Because goodbye, that’s why.” He replied as he flipped the switch.

“Wha...ack!” Speedster yelped as the floor vanished underneath her and she tumbled to the floor below. She landed safely but the trapdoor closed behind her, leaving her stuck in a fenced off area of the ground floor that was made up of floor to ceiling metal fencing. Expecting to be able to crash through it easily, she went from zero to sixty in point two seconds, only to get a powerful electric shock that sent her crashing to the ground the moment the fencing fell.

Trembling with the side effects of the jolt, she pulled herself to her feet and looked up at the control room just in time to see something escaping through a newly opened hole in the roof.

“S...Shit.” She stammered, shooting up the stairs and bouncing off of the railing and the wall to get through the hole in time to find that the robosuit containing Dr. Styler was trying to move the control signal hub. “D...Don’t even think about i...it.” She managed, glowering at the pair.

“You? Again?”  Sawyer grumbled, examining her like she was a puzzle. “You’re human, that should have kept you long enough...”

“N...none of us are completely human anymore, S...Sawyer.” Speedster pointed out, pushing her tired and aching body into a strike on the robosuit, causing it to lose its grip on the control hub which went flying off of the roof and crashed to the floor, breaking into multiple pieces and causing the signal to cut off. “H...HA...argh!”

 Speedster’s triumphant crow as the robosuits stopped firing and starting panicking or freaking out or just standing still and the robots collapsed, was cut off as Sawyer drove his floating vehicle into her and she went crashing off of the roof herself, hitting the asphalt car park floor hard.

The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Sawyer getting away in his hovercar, despite Doctor Styler’s best attempts to stop him.