Chapter One: Where it All Begins

"You spend every last tomorrow looking back on yesterday. I've been where you are, so many times before; these are the moments when you find what you've been living for. This is where you fall, this is where you get up, this is where it all begins."

-Hunter Hayes & Lady Antebellum

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It was a regular day like every other. Jack, now forty years old and powerless, was halfway through the work day at his automotive shop "Slow Jack's Auto Shop." He had lost his powers with his team and his brother, all save for the smallest bit of speed he could sometimes conjure up. As of right now, he'd managed to use his index finger to make himself a milkshake – and that was the extent of it.

After Concussion had killed his team, Jack was the only original Zenith Team member left, and without any powers worth using in combat, there was no point in keeping him around at the facility. He was sent away twenty years ago, told to just head back home and try live a normal life. So that was what he did, but as one can imagine, it wasn't quite as easy to forget as he had been hoping.

Wiping his hands on an oil-stained rag he'd produced from the back pocket of his jeans, Jack glanced out the window before him momentarily before he would head back to the garage and finish up the job he'd been in the middle of. But out that window, was something that caught his eye enough to distract him. Doing a quick double take, he narrowed his eyes at the beautiful woman in a flattering green dress about to cross the street in front of his shop.

Over the years, Jack had succeeded in developing a typical egotistical, womanizer attitude, so he made his way to the entrance without a second though to get a better look – determined to greet whoever it was if she was planning on coming into the shop. From the threshold, now leaning against the door frame, Jack held his gaze as the woman stood across the street and took off her sunglasses. He wasn't certain just what was so intriguing about her, nor what set her aside from any other woman he'd taken interest in, but something told him that his presence across from her was vital.

She began to cross the road, heading in his direction, which initially pleased him as he hoped for an interaction, but that pleasant feeling soon morphed into utter confusion as an accelerating car came around the corner and sped past her. If the car had hit her, she would have been done for, she was clearly unscathed and yet Jack watched in puzzlement as she held a dramatic hand to her forehead and fell to the ground.

He sensed that something foul was at play, but that looming notion was put aside for the time being as Jack quickly made his way to where she sat in the middle of the road and he picked her up off the ground and ushered her to safety inside the shop before any other vehicles could cause damage. "You sure you're alright?" He reiterated as the two of them rounded the corner, nearing the garage. He didn't understand the situation, but the woman was acting extremely strangely, it was as if she was looking around and waiting for something to appear.

If she responded, Jack didn't hear it. His eyes remained glued on the floor in thought as he tried to piece together the bits and pieces of the circumstances. But his mind was easily distracted, and his vision soon shifted to the woman's shoes. She wore a pair of sky-high black high heels that couldn't have been comfortable – it was no wonder she'd fallen in the street. Thanks to the direction of his gaze, Jack noticed the slight puddle of oil on the ground of the garage a split second before she stepped in it. "Watch out for the –" his warning had been cut short as the woman slipped on the stain and fell to the ground once more. "grease." Though finished his precautionary sentence had been futile, Jack suppressed a sigh as he began to notice a pattern with this clumsy woman.

He knelt down to help her up for the second time since they'd met a few minutes ago and involuntarily locked eyes with her. Up close, he noticed that he'd been correct in assuming she was attractive, but it was her eyes that caught his attention. He figured that he was being senseless, but he currently seemed to believe that he'd never seen eyes such a beautiful shade of electric blue before until this very moment. Suddenly recognizing the sound of the vehicle that had just nearly killed her driving into the garage of his shop, Jack clenched his teeth knowing that he was about to be dragged into something.

"Come on, get up." He said impatiently, pulling her to her feet yet again before turning around to face whatever was to come. He wasn't sure what he was expecting from this strange vehicle, but he surely didn't expect Dr. Ed Grant to step out from the passenger seat. As Jack realized that whatever was happening had something to do with Area 52, he could feel his fists clenching in defensive anxiety. "Grant?" He demanded, as two more men who he assumed were bodyguards of some kind exited the car.

"Zoom!" Grant responded enthusiastically, as if nothing had changed in the twenty years since the two of them had last seen each other.

Hearing the label that he'd been pegged with, Jack felt nearly every muscle in his body tense. "It's Jack." He ordered definitively, "What are you doing here?" Though it was a question, it may as well have been a command.

"We're starting up a new team!" Grant's strangely chipper attitude clearly had not changed, and Jack still felt the need to ridicule it. For the sake of everyone involved, he severely hoped that Grant was kidding about his statement.

"What, men's slow-pitch softball?" While Grant's attitude had not changed, neither had Jack's everlasting sarcastic humour that rubbed so many people the wrong way. To his fear, Jack realized that Grant had not been kidding as he began to explain the logistics of the situation. But the entire situation had left Jack in such a state of shock that he hadn't even been able to listen to the words that Grant was saying until he was interrupted by the clumsy woman. Upon her addition to the conversation, Jack looked over at her in perplexity with a slightly self-righteous look on his face.

"Why is the green dress talking?" At his sarcastic comment, the woman frowned while narrowing her eyes and inhaling sharply. Judging by her involvement in whatever was happening as well as her reaction to Jack's rudeness, he sensed that this would be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

"I'm a psychologist." Her sentence had trailed off slightly, Jack could tell that whatever confidence she had was dwindling in this precarious situation.

"Oh," Grant said rather awkwardly, he had always had a strange way of dealing with things. "this is Marsha Holloway, she works for Area 52."

Looking away from the woman, who was now nothing but tainted in his mind, Jack began to listen to the rest of Grant's explanation. So, it was true, they really were assembling a brand new Zenith Team, even if the last one had gone down in flames. Jack immediately knew that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with this, he was out of the game – permanently. He didn't believe that anything could possibly be different, especially not with these two acting as the brains of the matter. Grant was clearly scientifically intelligent, but Jack didn't exactly have confidence in his judgement, and this Marsha Holloway woman couldn't be anything but ditsy – her good looks confirmed that.

Jack understood why they needed him, he was the only one left. He had all the experience, but he was lacking power, which is why he would be the perfect fit. He could help lead the facility to success but if he disliked the way things were done, he wasn't powerful enough to act out against it. It was for this reason among many that his attitude towards Area 52 and anyone involved with the installation would always be nothing but bitter and resentful. Above all that, he had no interest in being the captain of another Zenith Team – that life was behind him.

Within a few moments, it became obvious that Grant had predicted Jack might react in this way, because he had brought along a little something that would help get the former superhero back to the hidden military installation in Death Valley by whatever means necessary. Though Jack should have been expecting a little brute force, the dart gun – filled with what, he didn't know – still caught him off guard. Apparently, not everyone had been informed about this particular of the plan, so Miss Holloway was just as shocked as Jack was.

"You can't shoot him!" She exclaimed hurriedly before attempting to push the gun away from Dr. Grant. Unfortunately, in doing so, the trigger was pulled, and the dart rebounded off the ceiling once before lodging itself in Jack's shoulder. The last thing that he saw before everything went black was Grant and Marsha – wide-eyed and shocked. "Sorry." He heard her say quietly, but her words bounced around inside his head as the world faded.