Chapter 1 : Speed
A seven year old girl comes running down the stairs of the house, excitement filled the air as she let out a little giggle.
"Daddy! Daddy!" She squealed in delight.
When she finally gets down the stairs she runs over to her father, he picks her up and asks, "Were you good today?"
"I helped mommy with all her things and I did everything she told me to." The little girl tells her father happily.
"Alrighty, since I promised we can go after dinner." He tells his little girl.
He puts her down and she starts to run around the room in yelling yay. She was so excited, she loved when her dad would take her to the race track. Her father sets his keys on the table and then heads into the kitchen to see the girls mother cooking dinner. Her father kisses her mother on the cheek before grabbing some plates and silverware putting them in their designated places on the table.
"Speed honey, go wash up for dinner." Her mother calls out to her.
"Okay, mommy." Speed replies.
Yes, her name is Speed. But she's names after her father's father. Every few generations the name Speed get's passed down. It's a tradition. But there's a lot of irony to it. Speed loves it when her father drives her in his race car and she's always telling people she wants to race cars just like her dad.
Speed runs up the stairs to the bathroom and washes her hands in cool water. After she's done she dries her hands on the towel near by and runs back downstairs and grabs her glass of apple juice from the living room coffee table. She puts it on the table and gets into her booster seat with ease.
Her mother puts a little bit of everything on her plate and sets it down in front of her. She picks up her fork and waits for her parents to get food before she digs in. As she eats the only thing she can think of is going to the race track with her dad.
After dinner she runs upstairs washes her hands in the bathroom and then to her room to get changed into the outfit she always wears when she goes to the race track. She slips on her shoes and runs down the stairs and waits by the back door for her father.
Her father grabs the keys off the table and heads to the door. "Be careful alright. I want you both home in one peice." Her mother tells her father and Speed.
"Don't worry mommy, we will. We always are. Right daddy?" She says to her mother.
"Right." Her father says, reassuring his wife.
They head out the door and she quickly runs over to her dad's car. "Come on!" She says, pure excitement radiating off her.
Her father opens the door and puts her in the backseat and buckles into her carseat. He gets into the driver seat and puts the key into the ignition turning it. The car roars to life and he pulls out of the drive way, heading to Central City's Speed Way.
This was the track that everyone wanted to race on. It was the one that people travelled hundreds to thousands of miles to race on and to watch people race on. It had different oppsticals and jumps. It's an amazing race track. Many years later more tracks like this will be made with harder oppsticals that will cause Speed's family much pain and sorrow.
Anyways he pulls into the raceways parking lot and parks the car. George gets out and gets his overly excited daughter out of the car and puts her on the ground. He shuts the door and locks the car and Speed grabs his hand as they walk torwards the enterance. Speed couldn't help but bounce as they got closer to the enterance.
When they got to the entrence one of Georges' coworkers walks over to him and Speed saying, "Heya Speedy."
"Hi Roger!" She repies to him excitedly.
"So whatcha doing here?"
"Daddy's showing me his car." She replies.
Everyone knew what they were doing there at the race track. Usually you're not supose to let a kid ride with you in the race car for safety reason but that never stopped Speed or George.
"Well be careful, cars can be dangerous." Roger tells Speed and her father.
Roger didn't mind that he was doing this. Plus he even did it himself with his own kids that loved the race track and racing in general. Yeah that's setting some bad exaples but he didn't mind, plus it was his raceway anyhow. He could do what he wanted.
And with that Roger left Speed and her father. Speed happily followed her father as he lead her to his car. She squealed when she got to it. Her father unlocks it and gets inside. Speed walks over to her father and he picks her up putting her in his lap. He shuts the door and fixes the seat belt so the two of them could fit.
He puts the key in the ignition and turns it, the race car roars to life. A giant smile appears on Speed's face. Her dad puts his foot on the gas peddle. "Just like last time."
She nods and smiles. Putting both hands on the stearing wheel her father pushes on the gas pedeal. They continue to drive straight until she comes up onto turn. She turns the stearing wheel with ease. They pull up to the small patch before the ramp and her dad presses the break.
"Why did we stop daddy?" Speed asks a little upset.
"Because I want you to listen. Listen to her engine and then when it's time tell me when to punch it." Her dad replies.
A girl with redish brown hair comes running down the street, dodging people left and right. She walks into the Central City police station and takes the elevator up to the actual police station. The bottom floor is the court house. Why it's like that, I have no idea.
She walks over to the counter and asks, "I need to fill out a report for Water's Raceway. I was one of the drivers that was attacked by Mr. Garrison."
The lady looks up and asks, "I need your name and date of birth, please."
"Speed Racer, January 19, 1989." The Speed replies.
The lady at the desk looks at her and then at her desk. She looks back at Speed before saying, "My son loves you, we watched your race the other night! Congrats on the win!"
She hands Speed the report and says, "If you have any questions feel free to ask and can I have your autograph?"
Speed lets out a small chuckle before saying, "Sure, what's your sons' name?"
"John." The woman says, excitedly.
Speed signs a piece of paper and then grabs the form. She walks over to the chairs and sits down. She looks over the paper before a hord of people come running in holding signs that say : Speed Racer we love you!
She doesn't take any chances before running up the stairs and runs into the forensic lab. She slides behind a filing cabinet and doesn't come out until she hears one of her fan girls ask the man standing behind his desk, "Did you see a girl with redish brown hair run by here?"
"Yeah I think she's in the parking lot. You might want to hurry." The man says to the crazy fan girl.
The girls take off running and Speed gets out of her hiding spot. She walks over to the man and says, "Thanks so much for that."
"No problem and who are those girls." He asks.
"Oh it's nothing...I better get back down stairs." Speed says before walking towards the door. She stops and asks, "What's your name?"
"Barry Allen." Barry replies."Yours?"
"Speed." She says walking out the door. She heads back downstairs and fills out her report. Once she's finished she gets into her car and drives off to S.T.A.R. Labs to meet up with Cisco.
Iris walks into Barry's lab and he's still standing there shocked, he just met the person he's liked ever since high school. "What's up with you?"
"I just met Speed Racer..."He says very in audioble.
"What was that?" Iris asks.
"I just met Speed Racer!" He says louder, breaking into his happy dance.
Iris gigles at Barry's reaction and Joe comes in and sees Barry giving Iris a look that says 'what's up with him?' "He just met Speed Racer."
"Oh yeah, didn't you go to school with her?" Joe asks the two.
"Yeah, she use to race the guys all the time." Iris replies.
Little Speed closes her eyes and listens to the engine just like her father said. After a couple of seconds she opens her eyes and says, "Now!"
Her dad smiles and punches it like he said he would. That's when he knew she'd be a racer when she got old enough and she knew he'd be one hell of a racer.
Four years later and Speed's eleven. Her father has a big race on the knew track that was just built over in Starling City. This race track had the normal stands but it also had booths for the racer's familys with two screens. One screen would have the race on it, the one everyone would be watching in the stands and then the other one was so you could see the race from the driver's point of view.
In the beggining Speed loved it...but she nore her mother would know what they would witness by the end of the night.
Her father had to leave early so he could get ready for the race that would take place an hour later. Around 6:45 they left the house and went to Starling City. When they pulled into the parking lot Speed is beeming with excitement. She even tried to get out of the car while it was still moving.
"Speed, I know you're excited but you've got to wait until I stop the car." Speed's mother tells her.
Speed nods and when the car isn't moving she gets out and happily runs to her mothers' side of the car and opens the door. Practically dragging her to the race track. They get brought to the special booth and the screens come to life.
They wait impatiently until the race starts.
On the second to last lap her father heads through the tunnels his opponents are a lap away from him so he slows down some. Plus the tunnel was pretty slippery from the last lap. Yellow light danced around his car as he slams on the breaks. A man dressed in yellow steps in front of the camera and then that's when it gets' shut off.
Speeds mother quickly get's up and says, "Speed, honey, stay here."
Tears start to streem down her face as she stared at the screen, praying it would turn back on and show that her father was okay. She looks at the other screen and sees the tunnel that her father in was ingulfed in flames. They never recovered the body of George Racer. The only thing that was left was a pile of ash next to the badly burnt car.
That night was the night Speed's mother never watched another race.
Once Speed gets to S.T.A.R. Labs she quickly puts her car in park and shuts it off taking the keys out of the ignition. She grabs her S.T.A.R. Labs pass and heads upt to the cortex.
She walks over to Cisco who was working on something and says, "Hey Cisco, what are you doing?"
"Well Speed, I'm working on..." He turns and looks at me asking, "Speed! When did you get back?"
"I got back last night. I had to go and fill out paperwork at the CCPD so I thought I might come by and see what you're up to." She tells him.
"Speed Racer, you're just the person I was looking for." I hear Dr. Wells say from behind me.
I turn around and say, "Hey Dr. Wells. What have you been up to? Congrats on getting the particle accelerator finished."
"Thank you Speed. Can I have a word with you for a moment?" He asks.
"Sure." Speed replies as she follows him out of the cortex and down the hallway.
"Well I know that you're a pretty famous racer so I was wondering if you would mind cutting the rope for us at the grand opening tonight?" He asks.
"I'd be honnored, Dr. Wells. Thank you for the opportunity." Speed says.
She leans over the balcony for a quick moment before something pricks her neck. She quickly grabs the side of her neck saying a quick ow.
"What happened?" Asks a very concerned Dr. Wells.
She removes her hand to see only a little bit of blood. "I'm okay Dr. Wells it was probably a bug or something."
She looks at her watch and says, "Well I'll be here for the party before the opening. I'll see you around 6:45."
Dr. Wells nods and then Speed heads back into the cortex hugging Cisco really quick before heading off to find Caitlin. Caitling and Speed have been basically the best of friends when Cisco got a job at S.T.A.R. Labs.
She heads down the other hallway until she comes into the room seeing Ronnie and Caitlin being cute and adorable. She walks in and says, "Hey Caitlin."
She pulls away from Ronnie and runs over to me, pulling Speed into a hug saying, "Oh my gosh, Speed I missed you much. When did you get back?"
"I got back last night. I had to fill out some paperwork at the CCPD and I figured I'd stop by." Speed says hugging her back.
They pull away and Speed says, "Well I better get going, I have to pick out an outfit for tonight."
"You're coming?" Ronnie asks.
Speed says before walking out of the room, "Who do you think is cutting the ribbon?"
And with that she walks out of S.T.A.R. Labs to her car, heading home to get ready for the opening tonight.