What they never tell you about having super speed is how dangerous it can be. Sure, I can run from place to place faster than anyone in a car, but that doesn't mean that it is in any way safer. When you go at the speeds I'm going and run into a car on the road (which is going much slower), it's splat for you. Eww. That was a little morbid, sorry. Let me start again.
My name is Matthew Miller, also known as Queen City's speedster hero: The Whirlwind. When I'm not zipping around my city like a…well, a Whirlwind, or slogging through a boring day at work, I work with this team. We are the ones a mayor or President calls when things get crazy, like for alien invasions, rampaging monsters, villainous masterminds run amok, etc. The only real downside is that we all live in different cities across the nation, so we have to all get our own transportation to where we are needed. And for me to get anywhere in a timely fashion, I have only my two feet to rely on.
This particular trip was prompted by a giant sea monster threatening to wreck New Steel City. So, naturally, the American Metahuman Defense Squad is called in, basically with a text saying, "Get your butts to New Steel ASAP" (I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist). Now I have to run from my home in Queen City, California, to New Steel City, all the way on the East Coast. So, I switch into my sky-blue and silver uniform and helmet, and close my eyes. I take a moment to focus, and start running. The world around me slows down as I get moving. I'm almost out of the city when I see it. A small corner grocery store is being robbed by some jerk in a hoodie with an old revolver. With a sigh, I turn towards the incident. I don't have time for this. I thought. Well, maybe I can stop it as long as I don't slow down.
When I get there, a bullet is already hanging in the air, midway in its journey toward the shopkeeper. Matching the speed of the bullet with my hand, I pull it out of the air and put it on the ground. Now to deal with the would-be thief and murderer. I see he's wearing lace-up sneakers. I pull out one of his laces, and use it to tie his hands together behind his back, and pull his feet out from under him for good measure. After that, I get back to the road and follow the interstate out of the city, heading east.
Much of the journey from there is uneventful until I get to a major traffic jam outside of Salt Lake City. Thinking quickly, I climbed on top of one of the vehicles stopped in front of me, and then, without slowing down, jumped to the top of the next one, and the one after that, et cetera, until I get to where I can run on the road again. And I kept going.
Further along on my journey, I pass through the small Midwestern town that I at one point called home. Brief flashes of memory remind me of why I left after high school, and never came back. I see the teasing laughter of the other kids, the look of worry in my mom's eyes, the word FREAK scrawled in silver Sharpie on my high school locker. I remember how I used to take long runs through the fields alone in the mornings. When I was in the zone, running then at speeds only a little slower than I'm running now, it was the only place I could find solitude, my escape from the daily humiliations and torments of my school life. Something in me compels me to take a detour to my parents' house. Their back door was unlocked, as it always is, so I enter like a bullet. I make a beeline to the fridge, and scarf up the remaining half of one of my dad's famous casseroles (running across the country burns some serious calories). I put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and leave behind a thank you note on the kitchen table. And before the clock on the wall gets the chance to tick another second, I'm back out of the house and hitting the road again.
The road weaved on and on. As I approached the outskirts of New Steel City, almost an hour after I had left Queen City, I saw a disaster about to happen. Some jerk in an SUV was texting while driving, and didn't see that a little kid had wandered into the road in front of the car. I did the only thing I could in this scenario. I rushed up to the child and pushed her out of the way, slowing down as I did it so that I wouldn't give her whiplash while doing so. Unfortunately, my slowing down meant that I couldn't get myself out of the way in time. The last thing I remember before blacking out was the sound of brakes screeching and a sudden thump.
I woke up a little bit later in a hospital bed.
"It's lucky that you heal fast as well as run fast, Mr. Whirlwind." said the doctor.
"Is the girl okay?" I asked.
"The one you saved from the car? She's fine. You're much improved as well, but I still would not advise that you leave now and do whatever superheroing you want to do."
"Sorry, Doctor. Sea monsters won't just wait for me to get back up to 100%. I need to go."
"I figured you would say that. Your costume is folded up on that chair. Go. Save the day, but try not to overexert yourself."
Then the doctor left the room to give me some privacy. I focused my speed, and changed into my uniform at super speed. Then, like a Whirlwind, I ran out of the hospital, towards the fray. New Steel City needed me.
At the coast of the city, I met up with the other costumed heroes of the AMDS, already trying to block the creature's advance.
"Whirlwind here, reporting for duty." I said into my earpiece.
"What took you so long?" asked the Red Phantom, New Steel City's resident superheroine.
"It's a long story."