"They raised me to be a Hero. To be their legacy. They taught me right from wrong, good from evil, selflessness from selfishness. I was trained to harness my powers and use them for good, coming from a long line of heroes it was expected. I learned from my father and eventually surpassed him. Or so I thought. In the end I failed them. I failed everyone. My mother, my father, my grandfather, and her. How do I keep running after that?"
To Be The Fastest
Chapter 1: When Sideways Turns Inside Out
Planet: Earth
Reality: 45
Date: July 7th, 2045
Time: 22:45
"Hah Hah." His lungs felt as if they were on fire. The sound of blood dripping onto the concrete roof echoed through his ears. He was tried to move his arm, but grimaced when he tried.
His arm was broken. When did that happen?
Bringing his hand to the broken arm, he immediately felt something squishy under his jacket's sleeve. Well that at least explained the dripping noise. It was the blood from his arm.
'I can't fight with one arm.' He thought while looking at the useless limb, 'I'm going to have to pop it back into place. My healing will take care of the rest.' However if he did this incorrectly then it would only get worse in the long run.
Yet, he didn't care. In order to win, he has to go to great lengths. He'll deal with the fight now and worry about the consequences later. Preparing himself for the act he was about to commit he looked up at the night sky.
He noticed lightning appear every few seconds, hidden behind the darkness of the clouds. It almost made him forget where he was, who he was, and why he was here.
While most looked upon a thunderstorm with fear or annoyance, he saw what others didn't, what others couldn't. He saw freedom. A thunderstorm could appear and disappear at a moment's notice. The lightning within could strike anywhere. It didn't need an anchor or a tether. It was simply free.
That's why he was so envious of lightning. It wasn't bound to a single directive or target. It sturk what it wanted and when it wanted.
He let out a tired sigh, since when did he become so melodramatic?
With a grunt he popped his broken arm back into place. It took all of his willpower to not let out a scream of pain. He then flexed the arm to test it and while it did hurt, it was still functioning somewhat properly.
He then slowly got up from is kneeling position and slid into a fighting stance with practiced ease. Slowly he crept up to the ledge, where a figure stood.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" The figure said with maniacal glee. "This city, I mean, is how it should've always been," He turned around and spread his arms out wide. "In ashes."
When the figure turned around he was able to get a better look at him. The figure looked to about seventeen, he wore an open dark red leather jacket over a black skin-tight flex shirt that had a yellow lightning bolt in the middle of his chest, black jeans, and black combat boots. He had short black hair and sea green eyes.
"Bastard!" He ran towards the figure leaving lightning so yellow it was indistinguishable from gold in his wake. He formed a fist, as golden electricity began to envelop his arm, and cocked back.
The figure merely let out a sigh of annoyance
The figure's eyes began to crackle with red electricity and he waited for the right moment. The right opening, and it came. When the punch was a few inches away from his face, he sidestepped and delivered a speed laced punch to his face.
The punch sent him tumbling a few feet before his back hit the concrete guardrail. He gritted his teeth in pain and moved to get up again. Yet the figure was already upon him, his red electricity crackling around his body.
Faster than the blink of an eye he released haymaker after haymaker, punch after punch. Was he trying to break him? Humiliate him before killing him?
He wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing him break.
The figure ended his fist frenzy and lifted him up by his auburn hair, while simultaneously kneeling down so they were face to face. Blood dripped from his eyebrow onto his eye. Still he managed to muster a hateful glare at his enemy.
"What's with that look Inertia? You brought this upon yourself." The figure spoke as if he was chastising a young child. The tone in his voice caused Inertia's glare to darken.
He picked up Inertia by his jacket and threw him towards the ledge. Inertia was sent tumbling a few yards until stopping at the ledge. His upper body and left arm hung off the ledge giving him a full view of the city.
His city.
"This is your fault you know." The figure stood next to him and gestured towards the city. Inertia looked at his city with sadness and disappointment, but his disappointment wasn't towards his city but to himself.
"... How? You caused this Velocity." Inertia spat out his name as if it was snake venom. The now named Velocity raised an eyebrow, before his face twisted into an angry scowl.
"Me!? You don't get it do you!? You need to stop running away from the truth Inertia!" Velocity grabbed him by the hair and yanked it back. Giving him a perfect view of the city.
"What truth!? That I tried…" Velocity cut him off with a right hook to the face. Velocity then picked up his head again and forced him to look at his failure.
"That you tried to play God?"
Inertia looked away from his city with eyes full of shame, "I…just wanted to save her." He spoke hesitantly to the villain. He looked at the destroyed city with shame.
How could one life change so much? One life. The person was important to him, but not to history! She wasn't the president. She wasn't a queen. Hell, she wasn't even a hero. She was just an average girl.
So why!? Why couldn't he save her!? Why couldn't he be selfish just this once!?
The one person that mattered most to him. The one person who supported him. Who inspired him to take this life. To live this life.
"You wanted to save your sister. You missed her so much," Velocity mocked him. He then picked Inertia by his faded yellow jacket and threw him into a slab of concrete. "And in a supreme act of selfishness you blasted the timestream straight to hell!"
Inertia couldn't find the drive to get up. No matter how much he want to refute him, to blame Velocity for this, he couldn't. Deep down he knew his rival was right.
He was a hero. He knew from the moment he put on that suit that this life wasn't his. Not anymore. That anybody associated with him could be a target.
He was taught that being a hero meant placing the people above yourself. That when it came down to it, all heroes would eventually lose someone important. That with their abilities it was easy to lose their way. Become something that could potentially endanger numerous lives.
As the old saying goes, You die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.
He became the villain that his mentor, and his mentor's mentor, fought so hard to defeat.
Suddenly his suit felt heavier and his chest felt tighter.
"And you wanna know the real beauty of all of this?" Velocity gestured towards the collapsed buildings, rubble, and fires with a wave of his arm, "I didn't have to do anything! You did this. To your own city no less!" He gave out a maniacal laugh and turned towards the city with his arms spread out wide.
"I was going to kill you, but I like this better. This will be your legacy. This city will mark you as the greatest failure of your family. For today was the day Terrence Allen, son of Bart Allen and Great grandson of Barry Allen, failed Central City!"
Inertia's green eyes widened in shock and disbelief. He had forgone everything that was taught to him. He was taught to be selfless yet he was selfish, he was taught to save lives but he took them instead, he was taught to move forward yet he didn't.
How could he call himself a Hero? If he just traded one life for millions?
"H-how do you know who I am?" Inertia stuttered weakly. Velocity looked over his shoulder and spoke with so much hate it made Inertia flinch.
"How wouldn't I know you Terrence? This," He paused for a brief moment to find the right word to get his point across. "Race between us goes back years, decades. In a time where we weren't even a thought." Velocity turned around and paced back and forth.
"You see before we were even born, we were meant to be enemies. Rivals in an infinite race. Opposites of one another, Reverses, if you will." He then gave a wide psychotic smile.
"Remember the time when you were at school and fell down a flight of stairs that broke your leg? But you felt someone push you? How about the time your mother's garden was in flames and you took the blame? Or, my personal favourite, when you left your front door unlocked and your house got robbed?" He stopped pacing and turned towards Inertia with shit-eating grin.
"All me. Every bad day you've ever had was because of me!" He turned towards the destroyed city and gave out a maniacal laugh. A laugh so twisted it would've even made the Joker pause.
Every bad day you've ever had was because of me!
Every.
Bad.
Day.
A look of horror makes it's way across Inertia's face as the realization dawned on him. The police couldn't find the killer, not because he was good at covering his tracks, but because he simply didn't exist. He was too fast to leave a fingerprint.
"I-It was you?" Anger filled his voice and the sentence became an angry snarl. Velocity, however, took it in stride and gave him another smile. Then he spoke five words. Five words that unleashed the angry inside of Inertia. Five words that would send him to a fate worse than death. Five words that led to him learning an undeniable truth.
"Yes, I killed your Karen!"
That you don't fuck with a descendant of the Flash!
Inertia gritted his teeth and rocketed towards the unaware Velocity. They both were sent barrelling down a twenty story building. While falling both speedsters began trading blows.
Their arms crackled with speed force energy. They tossed haymaker after haymaker. This was their final showdown and the both of them knew this. Only one of them were walking away from this. While trading blows Velocity continued to mock Inertia.
"You're slowing down Inertia!" Velocity punched Inertia in the face.
"Slowing down? You can barely keep up!" Inertia retorted with a punch to the gut. Halfway down the building boty speedsters righted themselves and started to run down the building.
With a Krakoom, both speedsters rocketed through the destroyed central city. Trails of gold and red lightning littered the city. Running side by side, trying to gain the upperhand on one another.
Inertia tried a backhand fist. Anticipating the attack Velocity slowed down by a fraction of a second. Spotting an opening Velocity sent a punch to the small of Inertia's back.
Inertia's speed and the sudden attack sent him tumbling a couple of yards at highspeeds. He crashed into a destroyed car and the initial impact dazed him. He saw stars and desperately shook his head in order to clear his vision.
Seeing his rival open Velocity rushed forward, grabbed him by the collar of his faded yellow leather jacket, and with all of his might threw him into another car. The impact caused blood to erupt from Inertia's mouth.
Velocity then ran towards Inertia, hand vibrating at sonic speed and aimed for his heart, what he didn't expect was for Inertia to charge him! Inertia brought up his right hand and delivered a sonic uppercut sending the evil speedster several feet in the air. He then jumped up, with his arm coated with gold electricity, and brought his hand down on his chest.
Velocity coughed up blood and turned to his side. Inertia looked down at the coughing speedster with anger and disdain on his face. Soon Velocity's coughing turned into soft laughter.
Inertia scowled at the insane speedster, "What's so funny?" Why was it that he always got the crazy ones? Even Batman didn't have to deal this nonsense.
"You still don't get it do you?" He let out a bark of laughter before turning on his back. "What do you think caused the city's destruction? You going back in time did this, yes. But if one event is replaced than another must take its place." He spoke condescendingly.
Inertia, having had enough of the manic's attitude, grabbed him by his collar and lifted him up so their faces were a few inches apart. "What nonsense are you going on about?!" He demanded.
Velocity just laughed at his futile attempt to threaten him, "Nonsense? Surely you, in all of your wisdom, can figure it out," He then gave him a condescending smirk, "if not, well~"
Inertia's grip slackened as he became lost in his on thoughts on how this could've happened. Seeing his distracted state, Velocity swatted both of his arms away and ran behind him to put him in a choke hold. "Letting your guard down? Really? And you're supposed to be one of the heroes of our generation." He shook his head in disappointment. Feeling inertia struggle he tightened his hold.
"L-let me go!" Inertia struggled even more. The results were still the same. Noticing that Inertia wouldn't stop Velocity wrapped his left arm around his neck to keep him in place and reared back his right arm.
"You brought this upon yourself, you arrogant fool." He stated coldly before unleashing punch after punch on his kidney from his back. With each punch Inertia shouted out in pain and his struggles slowly started to lessen. It took ten punches for him to stop trying to free himself.
"Are you calm now?" All he got in response was silence, "You call yourself a Hero, but look what you did. You sacrificed millions, if not the whole planet, for the sake of one measly little girl." The red-clad villain spat out with such hate and venom Inertia had to hold back a flinch.
"...You're wrong," He muttered, but it lack any conviction, almost like he was trying to convince himself and failing, "her death wouldn't have changed so much. Wally's children, Damien's path in life, and…and" He couldn't even bring himself to continue.
"Ah, but it did. When you decided to play God you created ripples in the timestream. Think of it like this; you break the sound barrier and you get a sonic boom, but break the time barrier…"
"...and you get a time boom." Inertia's voice was barely a whisper as he spoke. He knew where this was going. He knew what he did. Deep down he wanted to blame Velocity that he did all of this, but Terrence knew, he knew, that he was to blame for this. He betrayed himself, he betrayed all that he stood for, all that his family stood for, he felt a tear run down his face.
"So you realize it now, don't you? You, in all of your supreme selfishness, tossed away the lives of millions for the sake of one unnecessary girl. Ripples of distortion leaked out from the moment you saved her. Creating what we speedsters call a Flashpoint."
Velocity turned them so they could see a skull shaped spaceship in the sky, "In mere moments this world will be obliterated and there isn't anything that the heroes of this reality can do to stop it. Resistance is futile, even now they throw away their lives for this false and meaningless reality."
Inertia coughed up blood, "W-what about you? You'd be caught in the destruction too?! Are you really going to throw away your life just to get what you want?!"
Velocity just chuckled darkly, "As a wise man once said; 'Totally worth it'." Velocity then let him go and kicked the small of his back sending Inertia tumbling along the ground. "You are correct though. I will get caught in the destruction and I will die," He stalked towards Inertia's downed form slowly, like a predator with its prey, "but I still have enough time to make you suffer!"
Velocity kicked his downed form again, sending Inertia tumbling along the ground before colliding with a large slab of debris. Inertia propped himself up and spit out a way of blood from his mouth. He could hardly breath, fighting non stop and getting kicked around mercilessly didn't help him in the slightest.
The red speedster then ran forward and kneed him in the face with enough force that if he wasn't propped up against something his head would've snapped back. He then unleash multiple punches and kicks at high speeds. Inertia was in so much pain that his vision was starting to dim and blacken. Was this really how it was going to end? Beaten to death at the hands of a psychopath with the blood of millions on his hands?
He numbly looked up to see Velocity prepare to unleash a red lightning laced punch at his face. When suddenly the ground started to shake with enough power the destroyed buildings around them began to crumble. Seemingly knowing what started this event, Velocity snapped his head towards the direction of the skull shaped spaceship. "Damn. Thought I had more time."
Protruding from the ship's underbelly was a beam of white light that created a shockwave effect, and was sending a wave of energy in their direction about the size of huge, huge, tidal wave. Everything that it passed was bath in a white light. Never to be seen again.
Break the time barrier and you get a time boom.
He could save everyone. He could save the world. He could stop this timeline from being created. He could save EVERYONE.
At the cost of Karen.
Could he do it? Did he have the will to go through with such an act? Could he really go through with letting her die? Did he even have any resolve left to commit such an act?
'Seeing you out there, saving lives, I've never been filled with such pride in another person before. Hell, when I first saw you on tv, I wanted to be just like you!'
Why?
'Because silly, you're so selfless! You risk so much for others I can't help but smile! While there might be other heroes like Batman, Wonder Woman, Blue Beetle, Superman, and Green Lantern, you'll always be MY hero! I'll always love you Terry!'
He couldn't help the watery smile that made its way onto his lips, 'Yeah...Yeah that's enough. That's all I need.'
The atonement lies here.
While Velocity was distracted, Inertia, no, Terrence got to his feet. Grim determination, and resolve solidified on his face. He rose to his feet in a shuddering mass of blood, flesh, sweat, and bone. His uniform was tattered to pieces, his jacket was missing it's right sleeve and it's left was shredded from the shoulder down.
Blood dripped from his mouth and onto his chin. Blood and sweat dripped down into his right eye so much that it was permanently closed, but that was fine. All he needs is one eye and both of his legs. He looked towards the tidal wave of unstoppable energy and then towards the open area of the, soon to be devoured, world.
He knew what needed to be done. Think of those who you love most in your time of uncertainty. Only then can you go beyond your limitations.
Velocity noticed him and where he was looking, "Are you really thinking what I think you're thinking? When will you fools understand?! First Barry, then Wally, then Bart! You're entire family is full of fuck-ups!" He snarled with an impressive amount of hate. Hate that could not be born on a whim, but hate born from years and years of distaste and experience.
"It'll never be the same," He continued, "Even if you let me kill her, even if you manage to stop your past self, even if you kill her yourself. It'll change nothing! You've been here too long to warrant such a possibility!"
Velocity turned back towards the impending wave of doom and spoke with a cold emotionless tone, "This timeline has already been solidified. This world, this reality, is already doomed. You can't do anything to change that! I'm tired of you heroes thinking you can go and do anything you want without consequence! That you have the right to be praised as such," He turned around, eyes full of hatred, disgust, and madness, "You and the other heroes have the audacity, the audacity, to assume that you can dictate the lives of those you fight and protect!"
"Who gave you that right?!"
Terrence stood silent for a moment before speaking, "You're right," His face contorted, as if he had tasted a lemon, and he balled up his fists, "I'd like to think that I did this because I genuinely wanted to help others. I wanted to think that I was the most selfless person out there, but I'm not."
Lightning started to crackle along his form and seep out of his eyes, "I'm as selfish as they come. I became a Hero to make my family proud. To finally garner attention from my heroic family. I wanted to be acknowledged by those around me." He closed his eyes, let out a deep breath as if an unimaginable weight had been removed from his shoulders, and reopened them, "I don't deserve the title of Hero, I never did and probably never will, but still."
Terrence knelt down and got into a running position.
Velocity looked on in anger and disbelief.
"I will save as many lives as I can!" Terrence shouted at the top of his lungs before taking off at high speeds. Leaving Velocity in the dust.
Velocity snarled, "I won't let you!"
The world was a blur of colors to Terrence. The wind blew like a storm of blades against his body. His lungs burned from their over usage, yet he remained determined. He felt his stomach searching for carbs that weren't there, yet he remained focused. He felt the energy of the speed force crackle underneath his skin.
His nerves burned with purpose, fuelled by the speed force and his unwavering will. Every step, every stride, was executed with the sole purpose of rectifying his mistake, his lapse in judgement. To undo this distorted reality.
When the speedster approached the city limit he had already broke the sound barrier. The scenery was stretched out to insane and absurd lengths. He ignored it. He ran faster than this before. This was a snail's pace compared to what he could really do. Each stride left the ground as quick as they touched it. He was a blur to the naked eye.
No one would stop him. Not Brainiac, not Velocity, not even himself.
Soon enough, however, Velocity caught up with him. Intent on stopping him from correcting his mistake. "I won't let you!" The red clad speedster sent a jab towards Terrence. He effortlessly dodged the strike by slowing down a margin and picking up speed as soon as the strike missed.
They started to trade blows as their speed began to increase. No matter how many times they landed a hit or was hit they kept increasing speed. This was not a time for words, but action. They were blurs of crimson and gold. Dodging and attacking with the grace, elegance, speed, and tenacity of men who had nothing left in the world.
Then he felt it.
The speed force calling out to him.
The lightning that began pulsing around them took on a deep blue color. It reacted calmly, like it was inviting them home. The lightning arced around their bodies before jetting out a few meters in front of them. The lightning crackled and circled around a few meters off of the ground before stabilizing into a portal.
A portal big enough for one person.
At that realization, everything got a hundred times more serious. This was do or die. Win or lose.
First Place and Second.
Speed force energy leaked out of his eyes and coursed throughout his entire being. He couldn't afford to lose now. Not when he was so close to rectifying his mistake. Not when he was about to correct this timeline.
He was Terrence Allen. Great-grandson of The Flash.
And The Flash never loses.
He ignored Velocity in favor of the finish line. He put all of his energy into his legs. His feet propelling him forward with each step. He had stopped breathing a long time ago, instead focusing on running faster, faster than he had ever gone before.
It was in these few seconds that a victor would emerge. Both speedsters were neck and neck, fuelled by two drastically different purposes.
One wanted the world to burn for what it did to him. The other wanted to correct the mistake that brought on such a world. Both fuelled by selfish desires that wouldn't allow either to lose. In these few seconds, in these few meters, was a test. A test of their resolve.
Whose resolve burned the brightest? Whose willpower was the strongest? Whose desire to win was the greatest?
"Nothing will change you incompetent fool!" Velocity bellowed into his right ear, "In the end, I win! You lose!" Velocity moved to punch him in the face, but Terrence reached out, caught the punch, and spun him around and threw him into the impending wave of death. In that moment time seemed to slow to a crawl.
Velocity's body was in the air, parallel to the ground, and facing towards him. Terrence locked eyes with his reverse and wished that he hadn't.
Velocity's eyes were filled to the brim with victory, hate, malice, loathing, and satisfaction. (On a side note: Terrence wondered if such a look was even possible) His mouth was formed into a condescending smirk. One of those 'I know what you don't know' smirks. He moved his lips, but no words came out. But due to Terrence's high speed thought process and skill at lipreading he was able to tell what he was saying.
I still win.
And then he was gone.
The speedster shook his head as he was nearing the portal.
"If my plan works, you wouldn't have needed to die like that."
Terrence ran inside the portal.
Then the world was bathed in color.
/
"Terrence!" A male voice from behind him, yelled at the top of his lungs, it was filled to the brim with desperation, fear, and despair. "You have to stop! You'll kill everyone!"
Inertia kept his pace, but allowed himself to look over his shoulder. Running along his drift was himself, or more accurately, an alternate version of himself. His arm was stretched out as he tried to catch-up with him. He was warning him, telling him to not save Karen, to let her die for the sake of the world.
"I know! That's why I have to change things! I have to let her die!" Just saying it made his heart clench. It almost made him want to just stop and become on with the speed force, but he had a mission. One that he will see through, till the bitter end.
"I'm not talking about that! If it was that simple, we wouldn't be having this conversation! I would've let you be on your merry way, but what you're about to do, it'll change the very reality of our world! It'll never be the same, everyone you've ever known won't exist!"
The alternate version of himself was now gaining on him, the distance was starting to close, something he couldn't allow, "As long as the people of earth are safe, whether it be my own or another, I couldn't care less!"
"I'm sorry Terrence…" Inertia's other sounded both regretful, and sorrowful, but nonetheless still caught up to him, then tackled him, before he could reach his destination.
In another world it would've worked, stopping flashpoint and resetting everything to how it once was. But that wasn't the case here. Once both of the speedsters clashed, an explosion was created, hurtling both of them off of their feet. "What did you do?!" Inertia yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice having a slight echo to it. Both speedsters tried to regain their footing, but both were running so fast it was next to impossible.
"I don't know! This wasn't supposed to happen, none of this was supposed to! We should have never saved Karen in the first place!" His other screamed as he got too close to the tunnels edge, causing speed force lightning to strike wildly, "The speed force is trying to correct us! It's trying to get rid of us! Permanently!"
"What do we do?!" Inertia asked his other as he was forced to dodge another lightning bolt, "Kinda running on fumes here, dude!"
His other was silent for just a moment, but to a speedster, a moment is everything. Inertia thought he wasn't going to say anything, and was about to speak, but he was cut off.
"Terrence." He spoke in a calm and resigned manner, "We both know how this is supposed to end."
"No! Are you some type of idiot! We don't tra-"
"Shut up!" His other yelled at him, effectively silencing him, "I'm a future version of you. I know everything about you and then some. I know what choice you'll make in life, the good and the bad. I won't lie to you, all the choices I've made in life have been the bad ones, but that doesn't have to be you Terrence, you could be something greater than me, greater than all of the speedsters."
His other then grabbed him, and started to force as much speed force lightning around them as he could muster, "And even if you don't believe that, just believe this."
His eyes leaked speed force lightning as he gave one last smirk, the smirk of a man who knew he was already dead, "It's okay, even if you don't believe it, you're still a hero.."
"Wait! No! You can't! We don't know-"
Then with another explosion, everything went black.
/
Planet: Earth
Reality: ?
Date: ?
Time: ?
The first thing that greeted him when he hoped his eyes was the clear blue sky. The sun and its heat was beating down on him hard, so if he had to guess, he was somewhere along the west coast of earth.
Assuming he was still on earth.
Sitting up, he noticed that he laid in the middle of a carter that was a few meters deep, it's webbed cracked surface originating from his position, indicating him as the center and cause of the carter. He brought a hand to his face and began to vibrate it at an incredible speed.
'Still got my speed, so that's a plus.' He slowly stood to his full height, and began to walk out of his crash site. Once he stepped out he noticed a sign along a road.
"So it looks like my still on earth." He said to himself as he read the sign, "San Diego, huh? Aren't the Titans set up here? Guess I'll see for myself." He was about to run, until he noticed the state of his clothing, if it could even be called that anymore. "But first? Gotta get new threads."
Later…
Having found a nearby mall to borrow clothes from, Terrence stepped out of one of its numerous restrooms wearing brand new clothes. He was wearing a black button-up shirt with its sleeves rolled up to his elbows, blue jeans with a few rips along his thighs and knees, and black high top converses. All in all he didn't look bad, if he had to say so himself. On his left ring finger was a golden ring with a lightning bolt in its center, the very same thing that housed his costume.
"Note to self, repair superhero suit as fast as possible."
He began to walk out towards the plaza when heard a poink, "What the hell?" As he kept walking towards the exit, the poinking kept getting louder and more frequent. He stopped by the exit, his hands on the handle as he looked outside, "Okay, I ask again. What the hell?" What greeted him was shocking to say the least.
Golden balls were bouncing all over the place, causing damage to both the area and the people, and at the center of it all was a Hispanic boy screaming. Now normally he would've ran in there and stopped the kid from hurting anyone else, but that look on his face stopped him.
The kid looked like he was afraid of having his powers and what having them meant. Noticing that both the kids screaming and powers have stopped, he opened the door and called out to him. "Hey! Hey! You good, man?"
The big Hispanic kid turned towards him in fear, "N-no, no I'm not good! W-what's happening to me?!" The kid was looking at his hands, as if they held some sort of answer for him. Terrence though took this as a good sign, so he wasn't some lunatic blessed with powers, he could work with this.
"You too? Shit! I thought I was the only one without answers, but hey. At least no one can say you don't have balls." He chuckled good-naturedly, opening that the kid would laugh too. He didn't.
The kid just looked at him in silent disbelief, "Are you seriously joking right now?! How are you not freaking out right now?! Who even are you?!"
Terrence just shrugged, "Eh, from what I've learned, joking helps people relax, and I'm Terrence Allen, by the by. Nice to me you.." He trailed off so he could get a name.
He just blinked at him, "Oh, I'm…!" He was the cut off by a police officer, judging by the uniform, practically tackling him to the floor.
"Police! You mutant son of a bitch!"
Terrence made to help him out when he felt a strong grip on his shoulder, and it took all the restraint he had to not flip the guy over his shoulder. "It's best if you just compiled, son. Both you and your friend are already facing numerous charges as is." Another cop advised him, with his other hand going for his stun gun.
The officer hoisted the kid up on his feet, and began walking him in an escort position, "Keep walking."
"My name is Fabio Medina!"
"Just keep walking Fabio." The officer roughly shoved him forward, forcing him to walk. While Fabio didn't resist physical, he did have something to say in his defense.
"I didn't even do anything! Neither did Terrence! In fact he was actually trying to talk to me instead of trying to arrest me!"
"Ain't a cop, but I appreciate it." Terrence chimed in with a cheeky smile on his face, "Also the fuck's a mutant?" He looked over his shoulder and asked the cop that was overpowering him, and if you couldn't tell, he meant that sarcastically.
The officer though just looked more pissed off, "Oh, so a mutant sympathizer and a cheeky brat, the boys down at the station are gonna have fun with you!" He roughly shoved him forward, and he would've landed on his face, if he didn't have superhuman reflexes.
He looked back once more, but instead of being mad, he gave a look of mock disgust, "Don't swing that way bro, I like tacos, not sausages. But hey, I don't judge man." He shrugged at the officer's growing look of anger. Was he scared? Hell no! He was actually really, really, really, pissed off. It actually took all of his restraint to not fuck his life up sideways.
"You son of a..! The officer looked like he was about to punch him, until a gold ball smacked into his stomach, folding him in half. It was honestly hilarious, how quick his face morphed from anger, to pain, and to fear in only a matter of seconds.
He didn't have enough time to actually laugh, as he was already moving to dodge the balls, not with his speed, but with his natural abilities. This wasn't how he was planning to spend his day, but beggars can't be choosers. 'Already fucked up one Earth. Definitely not trying to ruin this one too.'
"Freeze!" One of the officers boomed as he pulled out a stun gun, aiming it at Fabio. Terrence's mind slowed down to a crawl as he analyzed the situation he was in, on one hand he could use his powers and stop Fabio from getting tased, or, or he could keep his powers to himself a little longer and just dolphin dive Fabio out of the way. Actually why was he even debating this, he knew what he was about to do. Even if he didn't like it.
"Look out!" He jumped and pushed Fabio out of the way. "Ggwsakkk!" And took a stun gun to his thigh. Life and its numerous choices are a bitch. Terrence dropped to the floor with a thump. "Sonuvabitch that fucking hurts." He spoke into the ground, slightly angered that stun guns actually worked on him, a speedster.
Life was so unfair.
"Terrence!" Fabio yelped in shock as he looked down at the boys prone form. This somehow stopped the manifestation of his powers, and the officers took that moment of weakness to try and take him down.
"I suggest you come quietly, boy. Unless you want to end up like your friend over there, freak." One of the officers gestured towards Terrence spasming on the ground, "Both of you are still going to jail, but I suggest you make a smart decision."
Fabio, then looked at Terrence, then back at the cops, then at Terrence, then back at the cops, before his eyes turned wide and continued to look at them. Or more accurately, behind them. Eventually they saw his look and turned around to see what had him wide-eyed. Then they became wide-eyed as well. Noticing that there was a tense silence, Terrence looked up and was completely shocked as well.
Standing there was a group of six people, three guys, and three women. The guy in front was decked out in a black and red body suit, and wore some type of black mask, with a giant red 'X' where his eyes would be, and slightly to the right was, probably one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, she had long blond hair that ran down to the smile of her back, with two long bangs running down her face and stopping just below her chest, bright blue eyes that were set into a glare, and…
"Oh my god, I think I'm in love…" Terrence whispered as he looked at the blonde haired goddess in front of them. What she wore, was basically a black crop top that exposed her chest and stomach, black short shorts with black stockings, and on her shoulders was a giant glowing sword. Terrence looked at the sword, then at the cops, "Oho man! You guys are soo boned!" He laughed from the ground, "Wait. Do people still say that?"
"No one's going to jail, now how about you back up from these two, before things really get out of hand." The man in the black and red threatened. Normally this whole setup screamed 'super villain team must defeat!' But since he got tased, he's just going to see how this plays out.
"That means back away from the mutant guys." The blonde haired girl spoke, her voice was both beautiful and intimidating, "Oh and his friend too." She added, though she sounded as if she didn't care, at least as much as she did about Fabio.
"Damn, I'm an afterthought?" He mocked whined from the ground, "That is both rude and hurtful lady!" He didn't think she heard him, so he was more than a bit surprised when she addressed him.
"Quiet boy. The adults are talking." She spoke back, her tone neutral and unrevealing. Though that didn't stop the speedster in the slightest.
"Well from where I'm looking either you've aged incredibly well, or we're the same age, so if you're an adult then, by default and common sense, so am I."
She didn't say anything in response, but she did glare a little bit harder at him. Though the conversation did seem to knock the cops out of there stupor as they all pointed their guns at the group.
"Oh-oh my god!" One of the cops pulled out a cellphone, dialed a number and put it to his ear, "Dispatch this is car 82! We-we have a c-code 47." Terrence could tell the cop was scared for his life, the guy was practically shaking like a leaf, and so were the other cops. He had to do something, not to save the group of metas(cause who else would dress like that?), but to save the cops, before they do something stupid.
The guy in the white ensemble raised his arm at the cops, "Don't we all?" Before Terrence even realized it, he was already moving, not at regular boring speed, but at his superhuman speed. He ran towards the cops and, while they were still in their hands, he unloaded and dismantled their pistols, well except for one that he took. He didn't know how fast it took, he's been doing this for so long that he lost any real sense of time.
Once he was done he stopped in front of the group of metas, his right index finger up and twirling his recently acquired pistol on it, he heard a gasp from behind him, so that meant he must have impressed somebody. He gave the cops a cocky smirk as he stopped twirling the gun, and unloaded it, including popping the chamber.
"How about we all calm down before we do something we'll regret, yeah?" Terrence then turned towards the metas, "Names Terrence, nice to meet you guys." He didn't fully know what was going on, but he had a gut feeling this had to do with Fabio being a mutant. None of them looked overly shocked by his powers, just surprised that he actually had them.
"Scott." The blonde short haired woman in the back spoke, "You said there was only one mutant here." The woman was dressed in all black clothing that showed off the middle of both her chest and stomach, and she had some sort of trench coat that stopped just above her ankles.
Before Scott could answer, Terrence spoke, "Not a mutant, honey. Don't even know what that is." He flashed her a cheeky smile, before tossing the pistol back to the cop he stole it from, who fumbled to catch it, "And you. Try to be less trigger happy, if my parents didn't raise me right, you'd be laid out on the floor."
That got one of the cops to dial his smartphone once more, "B-back up! We need back now!" He then noticed how loose change, the dismantled pistols, and anything that both small and metal begin to float, "Oh shit! It's Magneto!"
Terrence turned around to see the white Darth Vader, who's name was Magneto, to see he had one arm stretched out at the cops. Huh, so he wasn't going to kill them after all, good to know. So the guy had control over metal? Or more accurately, small metal objects. Less scary, but just as dangerous. Strangely enough though, his ring was unaffected, also a plus. Meant that the guy wasn't a total novice with his powers.
"Eva, now." The short-haired blonde woman, 'I really need to know both her and the sword-chicks names.', told the black haired girl standing next to her, who wore some type of cross between a jumpsuit and skirt.
Eva's eyes glowed a bright amber, "Okay."
"You can do it."
It happened fast, but not fast enough for him to miss it. A blue bubble engulfed the officers and started to expand outwards, stopping just a few feet away from Fabio, but still managing to cover most of the plaza. "Holy.." Terrance whispered as he walked a little closer to the bubble. He noticed how its occupants were practically frozen, not covered in ice, but almost as if….
"Shit."
"I-I did it!" Eva gave a little cheer, before her sight start to swim, "Whoo, dizzy." Terrence didn't know how to react, though he knew it shouldn't have affected him in the slightest, but just the thought of someone else having power over time, unnerved him to say the least.
He, more than anyone present, understood how tempting and how damning such a power could be. He couldn't tell her to stop using her powers, they barely even knew each other. Maybe…he could teach her? Sure it was a shot in the dark, but it was better then having some out of hand woman going through time killing people she didn't like.
"See I knew you could do it." The blonde woman spoke with pride at seeing Eva's accomplishment.
"Yeah." Terrence agreed with a quick nod of his head, "Power to control time, that's some scary shit you got there, lady. Not as cool as superspeed, but it comes pretty close."
Both of the women jumped in surprise, though Eva was the only one to gasp, "Oh. It's you...Terrence, right."
He gave her a smirk, "Terrence is the name and speed's my game." He gave both of the women mock bows, though the blonde muttered something about 'speedsters', "Nice to meet you both." He raised his hand for a handshake.
Eva eagerly took it, "Nice to meet you too! I'm Eva, but I go by Tempus!" She gave him a bright smile as she continued to shake it.
"Emma." The short haired woman said, "And what do you mean you're not a mutant? Are you an inhuman then?" While inhumans were uncommon outside of their utopia, it wasn't exactly unheard of. Though at his blank face, she had the feeling he wasn't one either.
"Inhuman? Well, my powers do classify me as superhuman, but I get the feeling that isn't what you're asking about." He scratched the back of his head in both frustration and confusion, "Where I'm from people with powers are called Metas, Metahumans to be exact."
Emma raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "Did you get your powers in a freak accident? That's how humans that aren't born either a mutant, or inhuman, manage to get powers."
Suddenly the rest of the group, including Fabio, converged on both Emma and Eva, "Emma, Eva! We have trouble!" Both women instantly looked alarm as the other blonde woman spoke.
"What is it?"
Then as if on cue, multiple purple robots, each varying in size, with wires exposed along the neck, legs, and arms. They had bright red eyes and some sort of power core in the middle of their chests.
Magento spoke, his tone both grave and indifferent, as if he had dealt with them before and understood how dangerous they could be.
"Sentinels."
A/N: Funny thing, this is one of my early works, back when I just wrote when I was bored out of my mind. I actually just stumbled onto this on accident, and I just decided to just say fuck it and post it. Though I will admit I do kind of like it, though it is pretty choppy at best and terrible at worst. But I promise, promise, that Agent Spyder, if you read it, will take precedence over this. And if you somehow read, Unyielding Vibrations, I'm gonna try and pick that back up too. It's just been a while(more like a year) since I've touched it, and I'll explain why on its next chapter(if I ever get around to uploading it). So anyway about this chapter.
1-Terrence Allen: So you're all probably wondering why he isn't being all broody and an edgelord, it's actually really simple: He's running away. He's emotionally and mentally trying to distance himself from his last universe, while also not forgetting the mistakes he's made. Of course there will be moments where it'll start to leak through, but only during rare, carefully planned moments(for instance that paragraph before the story is one of the moments), but during the rest of that time he's trying to not go insane from the grief. Cause we all know, a superhero(much less a speedster) falling to grief is something everyone wants to avoid.
2-Relationships: Not my strong suit, but I'm gonna take a stab at it anyway. I'm kind of leading towards a TerrenceXCuckoos, but that's only if I can make it work. And if not then that'll be that. But as far as the other cast, you'll have to wait and see.
3-Past: Terrence's past is going to be leaked at throughout the story, especially his relationship with Velocity. Mostly his past will deal with the events that lead up to his Flashpoint and what happened during Flashpoint.
Hope you stay for the ride, and if not, so be it.