...I'm back again, motherfucker! New chapter, same author, same characters, same everything.
Let's get started.
DREAM Labs
Experimentation Lab
7:30 p.m.
*PANT PANT PANT*
Those were the sounds of the wiry Hiccup Haddock as he struggled to keep up with the same pace that the giant treadmill was currently operating at. Hiccup himself had seen better days running; his eyebrows were furrowed, his mouth open and panting, and sweat was dripping off his forehead as he kept on struggling on the device.
Everyone else, sans Dr. Hiddleston, behind the looking glass either held cringing looks of sympathy, or in Jack's case, faces were scunched up to contain their laughter.
Rapunzel was the first to speak up. "Um, uh, geez Fearless Leader, you run slow even for a normal person."
"Slow's an understatement, Blondie," Merida snarked, her arms crossed and eyes cringing at the sight.
Hiccup, still running pathetically on the treadmill, had enough energy to say "Fuck *pant* off *pant* Merida! It's harder than *pant* it looks!"
Dr. Hiddleston, observing through the glass with a glare on his face chose to intervene. "Alright there, I think I've put you through enough." He pressed the space bar on the computer in front of him, which stopped the treadmill. Everyone else walked around the glass, past sthe sliding doors, and into the treadmill area, with the physicist wheeling behind the group.
Hiccup was hunched over, wheezing from sheer exhaustion at the running. "Sorry to be so blunt here Mr. Haddock, but that was pathetic what you just did," Hiddleston mentioned, folding his hands.
"Yeah, yeah I know, don't remind me," the former speedster retorted. "What's happening? Why is my speed gone?"
"I'm thinking of that answer Hiccup. Now," the doctor paused, wheeling around Hiccup, "this metahuman can harness and drain electricity, thereby milking you of your speed."
"Hold on; where're you getting at, Professor X?" Jack intervened.
"In a minute Jack. Now, I'm sure that anyone who's taken biology knows that muscle movement is controlled by the brain, which is sent signals by neurons, the messages in the form of electrical impulses," Dr. Hiddleston began. He looked at Hiccup and continued. "When you had your super speed Hiccup, the electrical impulses stacked up, meaning you were like a walking fusebox, but you're not expelling electricity-"
"-and he was able to drain me because of it!" Hiccup finished. He walked in front of everybody and faced them. "That's why when he zapped Merida last time, nothing happened."
"Ugh, don't remind me," the redhead commented. "Alright, keep goin' nerds!"
Hiccup rolled his eyes and continued. "Also, I've noticed something. Why hasn't my speed killed anyone I've come into contact with?"
"Ah! That I can answer!" Hiddleston rang out, smirking. "Do you ever feel strange when you move, Hiccup?"
"Sort of. Like that feeling you get when you're about to get shocked by a hot shirt that came out the dryer. Why?"
"You have an aura. An aura generated whenever you move that protects you and others from the friction of super speed. This-"
"Speed Force!" Anna beamed, a radiant smile on her face. Everyone in the room stared at her. "W-what? It's a cool name, right?"
"Meh, it's alright," Elsa responded. "Continue on, please."
"Right," Hiddleston answered. "This 'Speed Force' as Anna put it, is what's kept you alive all this time."
"Ok, ok, look Doc, I just need the answer to one question: how do I get my speed back?" Hiccup reaffirmed.
"I'm not sure Hiccup. We just need time-"
"Time is something we don't have!" the brunet shouted, startling his teammates. "Hamill could could be out there anywhere! Causing havoc as we speak! I need my speed back as soon as fucking possible!"
Hiddleston stared at Hiccup for a few seconds before wheeling away from him and the rest and out of the experimentation lab. Hiccup palmed his face into his hands as everyone had their reactions.
"Wow Twinkle Toes, never seen you this amped up before," Jack said, moving next to Elsa.
Astrid moved toward her friend. "Jay, calm down, we're gonna take down this electric douchebag, no problem."
"How exactly?"
"The ideeit has somethin' there," Merida began, leaning against one of the cabinets, arms folded. "Lass time we fought 'im, we had to summon a tornadoo to stop 'im."
"So imagine if we don't have that anymore," Rapunzel stated, levitating off the ground, her legs Indian crossed. "This is gonna be tough."
"No doubt," Jack retorted. Jack, along with everyone else, slowly started to move out from the experimentation lab
Hiccup stared at his red super suit, currently mounted on the wall. He narrowed his eyes at the suit, crossing his arms. "Hey, hey, lightning rod?" Anna rang out, moving toward her 'crush.' " What's up?"
The 'lightning rod' sighed and turned his head toward Anna. "I've-I know I haven't had my powers for long Anna, but it feels like they've been with me all my life. I feel as if in that suit, with my super speed, I'm a better version of myself."
Anna put her hands to her mouth and shook her head rapidly; what was he saying? How could he have thought that way? Surely he didn't think he was solely defined by his powers?
But she remembered during her conversation with Astrid that she herself sort of thought the same way; her so-called admiration came from what she saw in comics.
"No," she whispered. "No Hiccup, y-you can't honestly think-"
"But deep down I do Anna," he answered. "Without my speed, I feel like the old, dorky Jay Haddock that was constantly ragged on, the tardy one, the slow-poke."
"Oh, don't say that. Trust me, it's not the power that truly counts. It's what's in here that does." Anna pointed to her heart to drive home the point.
"Thanks Anna. Right now, I'm-no, we're- gonna need a miracle."
DREAM Labs Secret Chamber
7:48 p.m.
Dr. Jude Hiddleston paced around the podium in the center of the room, his hands formed into tightly clenched fists, and his face scrunched into a death glare.
"Good evening Dr. Hiddleston," the voice of Gideon hummed out.
"We have a problem Gideon, we have a big, big problem. Apparently the project has run into a few...setbacks. I need you to do a search on future articles relating to the Night Fury."
"Certainly," Gideon responded. Hiddleston gazed at the screen as it conducted it's search. After a few seconds, Gideon's voice emerged once more. "Zero results."
"Try again," the physicist growled. He gazed once more and got the same results.
"Zero results."
"Once more, Gideon."
Looking toward the scene, to his dismay, Gideon said the same results. "Zero entries."
"TRY AGAIN!" Hiddleston roared out, slamming his hands on the podium, his hair sashaying back and forth due to the gesture.
"I'm sorry sir. The results speak for themselves."
Hiddleston fell back onto his chair and folded his hands under his chin, his hair obscuring his eyes; something had to be wrong here, couldn't it?
DREAM Labs Lobby
7:56 p.m.
"Twinkle Toes!" Jack turned toward Hiccup. "We just got news of a guy terrorizing the downtown part of Arendelle using mirrors."
"Gaston!" Hiccup growled out. His face settled into an expression of grim seriousness as he moved toward his teammate. "Jack! I want you to take Merida, Rapunzel, and Astrid down there to take care of this!"
"Aw, why I stick around and fight Grizzly Adams?" Jack whined, prompting an eye roll from everyone else.
"This is serious, Jack," Hiccup continued. He placed his right hand on Jack's shoulder. "I'm counting on you and them to take him down. As of when you walk out that door, you're the big man in charge. You're my lancer, and right now, you need to go!"
"Lancer?" the icy jokester questioned, looking confused.
"TV tropes term. Go! Take the people I've told you to."
"But what about Snow Angel and Anna?"
"They're staying with me, in case Hamill comes around. Now go!"
Jack nodded and turned toward his back-up group. "Come on, you heard Twinkle Toes!"
"We're lissenin' to ye, really? God help us all," Merida snarked. The three touched their bracelets (Astrid just put her face plate on) and they were all clad in their super suits.
"Let's move out!" Jack announced, and with that, the four were all out of the door, leaving behind Hiccup, Anna and Elsa.
"Are you sure you made the right choice Hiccup?" Elsa asked. "Knowing Jack..."
"Don't worry Elsa," Hiccup started, moving toward a chair and sitting at the table, "I'm sure Jack and everyone else can do it."
"I hope you're right."
Behind the DREAM Labs infrastructure
7:53 p.m.
Alvin Hamill, clad in a dark blue outfit with a hood over his head, gazed at the back of the building that was responsible for everything.
"Alright lady, I'm here," he spoke, his left hand up to an earpiece.
"Good. Now remember, don't lose it in there, we need them, especially Mr. Haddock, alive. Now, go on with your objective." The voice tuned out as Alvin caught sight of a fusebox on the building. He ripped the door off the box and grabbed a hold of the two thick wires in said box. He pumped electricity through them, his eyes glowing blue. In a matter of seconds, the two wires sparked out, blowing out the power of DREAM Labs, but there was something else: the entire city behind him became shrouded in darkness.
Alvin moved away from the fusebox and blasted the door which was the back entrance of DREAM Labs.
Back Inside
Hiccup, Elsa and Anna all jumped as soon as the power went out. All three looked around the lobby.
"The hell?" Elsa said, startled.
Anna and Hiccup looked at each other. "He's here," Hiccup said, a grim look on his face.
And with that, the chapter ends.
Next issue: A 'Man in a Black Suit' arrives and terrorizes our heroes. Who is this man? Stick around to find out.
And always, read and review. I appreciate it. :)
