Speed Kills
Jump-chan here! Sorry, but I will be the one giving the description for this story. So, James was accidentally thrown into a Chain. As recompense, since we both have to follow the rules, when he made his build, I allowed him a bit more leeway and another Capstone Perk from a different CYOA.
And, another one of these. This time, there is a bit on narrative leeway around a couple of rules and limits. Nothing too bad, but noticeable. Also, while technically an SI, the additional memories make them different from me, so it is more like an OCI. That said, let's get on with it.
Chapter 1
I woke up to a gun pressed to the back of my head, and the odd feeling of memories slotting themselves into my head without pain. On a screen in front of me, positioned to be just where I could see it, I saw my new –they've always been- family. Behind them, there were more gang members with guns. The threat was obvious. But why would- oh. There was the attack, a conflict between the E88 and ABB, and this body was shoved into a cupboard. My memories say that I just wanted to get away, and then I Triggered.
I was confused after waking up, I ran around, nocking into gang members on both sides with super speed, my power activating in fits and starts, before finally falling to the ground and hitting my head. And that leads to now.
"Awake? Good. Here's how things are going to work. You attack me, your family dies. They attack their guards, they die. You will be working for the Empire. Working against us will lead to your family's death. Your name will be Zoran, and an outfit will be provided in a couple of days. While you wait, you are to learn the rules. You will get one video-call a week to check on your family. Am I clear?" I said nothing, but he seemed to take that as a positive response. He walked out, and the screen turned off.
I just sat there, contemplating my bad decision making. This is not what I thought was going to happen when I choose Gang Pressed. Almost two months. Then the Protectorate should be falling over themselves trying to help me.
XXXXX
The next couple of days were both incredibly boring, and incredibly frustrating. I had finished the rulebook I was given within a minute, my power lending itself well to reading far faster than the average human can. Simultaneously reducing the possible burning paper due to friction bit, and making myself turn the pages at super speeds while my reflexes are increased in order to act normally at those speeds does not lend itself well towards keeping someone's attention.
I also know I am being watched. I know why, they are being smart about the Parahuman whose sole attachment to the group is the threats made on his family, but I don't like it anyway. My needs are taken care of, but I have nothing to do, and I think that is making them somewhat nervous.
Reading the book another time won't help me, I can almost recite it in my sleep by this point. What would help is actually getting to do anything. I've even gone so far as learning how to float with my power.
The way that works is a bit odd, but it makes sense when you think about it. My power allows me to redirect and reverse the effects of friction and momentum, as applied to me and whatever I'm touching, with no hard, upper limit. I can make that momentum just enough to lift me off the floor and keep me there, and then increase or decrease my momentum enough to rise or fall.
But once I'm in the air, I can't change my direction. This is due to the same reason that anyone else in most worlds, without a dedicated power, can't change their direction either. I don't have anything to push against to redirect that momentum, and my power means I don't meet enough air resistance that I could have used to do so.
So, I can fly in any direction I want, and then either fall or rise even higher. But once I change my direction to directly up or down, I can't change it again without falling back to the ground. It does mean that I can walk on the ceilings and walls of buildings, for the same reasons.
While I was messing around with that, my door opened. Looking at the person who entered my room, I saw Cricket. After a moment, I started lowering myself gently back onto my bed. Taking out a whiteboard, since apparently, they believe my power somehow made me unable to speak, I wrote out a note. Either that, or they're just using it to fit their image of my Cape identity somehow.
The note read, 'Floating, not true flight.' I don't want them to overestimate what I can do, that might get me killed, but nor do I want them to know exactly how my power works. She didn't do anything other than throw the package in her hands onto my bed, then she left. In the package is apparently my costume, the one bought from the Jump doc Item section.
Its base is a darker grey than my hair, which in color is a match for Kakashi's. The suit somewhat baggy, yet tight enough that it is unlikely to catch on things while I run around. As a design, it has blue and green lightning bolts, with the green ones matching up to my C53 tattoos. It also has a hood, as something to protect my head, and a visor to obscure my eyes and catch a bit of attention that would otherwise be focused on the rest of my face.
There was also a manual about its capabilities and the way to repair it or make more, as the Jump doc said. In world reasoning? My guess is that they don't want to waste time other people could be using to be doing other things when I have the speed to do it myself, and when I would need to repair it I wouldn't be able to do anything for fear of letting the world know my identity.
I then finished the manual. And then I read it again. And again, fifty times over because it is something somewhat new to do, and this is a very good costume that I want to keep in good repair. There was another note in with the package, and although I wasn't reading it many times over, I was very happy for what it said.
The message boiled down to the 'boss' noticing my boredom, taking it as the need/enjoyment of conflict most Capes have, and saying he understands the violent needs of lesser people, that he is allowing me to fight in the cage matches that some members of the E88 host so long as I don't let on about my power. All of it was written much more subtle, of course, but that's the gist of it.
Fighting isn't my favorite thing to do, but at this point I'll take it. And I do have the first drawback level of A Bad Influence, so he Isn't wrong. I also took the Lessons of Adversity perk, allowing me to forever grow from combat. Limiting myself to not use my power with make that perk work even better.
But I have to wait a few hours longer, since it is still light out, and those fights aren't technically legal. But that's fine, I've waited days by now for something to do, I can wait a few hours more.
XXXXX
Arriving at the building, which doesn't look any different from the ones around it although I guess that's the point, I knocked in a certain pattern. Any other pattern would have either had a bunch of gang members out and ready to fight, or just the greeter letting in the person as a normal house guest. Guess there's a reason he said that it was some of the member hosting these cage matches.
Going down the stairs to the basement, which had been excavated for the purposes of something else, maybe a wine cellar? I don't know, but I do know that there are several, and they are all used for whatever purpose they were constructed for when not being used for illegal activities. Makes it a bit harder to lock people up if all evidence of fighting can be hid with two minutes of moving things around.
Anyway, back on track. Down the stairs, there was a bit of a crowd already. Two people were in the ring, and both looked about evenly matched. And then one of them decided he had the other trapped with no way to escape, and tried to strike with everything he had. That didn't go so well for him, and when his opponent dodged, he couldn't recover in time to block. And thus, his opponent took the win. However, both of them were quite exhausted by the end of it, and so it looks like he's going to sit out for now.
Taking my chance, I went up to fight next. The person who seemed to be in charge looked around, found someone who, if I had to guess, would be roughly my equal, and told me the rules.
"New kid! You'll be fighting him. Rules are: no killing, no weapons, no trying to attack the watchers, and the fight will only last 15 minutes, if one of you are thrown out of the ring, or can no longer fight. No one wants to watch two kids beating each other to a pulp for an hour. Start!"
As soon as he said that, my opponent jumped at me. I was ready for that, however, and redirected his strike. He seemed to know how to fight to some extent, because he pulled away quickly and kept me from taking advantage.
I was the next to strike, although my opponent blocked my attack. He was quick to counter, and while I couldn't dodge, I could and did move to let him catch me somewhere less damaging. This back and forth went on for a while, until I managed to knock him out of the ring. Then the next person came forward to fight, a little better at it than my first opponent, although I still managed to pull out a win.
On my third fight, I lost. Nothing special about it, I had several minor injuries from my previous fights which didn't help, even if I have pretty much infinite stamina. I didn't leave just yet, watching a couple more fights. Soon enough, however, I collected my money and left for the meetup point.
XXXXX
That continued on for the next week, making me stronger as I fought. Nothing special, not in this world, but I did at least gain something like a Brute rating of one or two. Nothing extraordinary, but still nothing to scoff at when my power let me keep all the momentum I can safely handle when hitting something with my super speed.
After the week ended, it appeared that the boss caught on to my growth. He had, apparently, been observing me through cameras, or left a lower member to do it, and connected how much stronger I got to how hard I was challenged. Fucking gang leaders with intelligence. So now, all of his Capes are allowed to fight me to the best of their abilities, so long as they don't kill me or somehow permanently maim me in a way that Othala can't heal.
So, yay, my strength and endurance and whatever is going to skyrocket, but boo, because the gang know even more about my powers. Nothing has happened yet, but it will soon, I can feel it. And I fully expect Hookwolf to be the one to take up that offer more often than not, so long as his other duties don't stand in the way. Which could really hurt.
But that doesn't matter right now. What does is the bullets flying past my face. The police had found out about some building being used by the E88 for something I didn't care enough to remember, and then the E88 had found out about plans for the attack, and I was sent to take care of it as a kind of debut.
So, while the cops were shooting at the building, I sped around, just a blur to everyone else. The fact that I am going fast enough to be nothing but a blur to the naked eye is an indication that I am holding back. The power based off the Hero Battery isn't a Mover power, and its description had you going too fast to be tracked by electronics. I can go even faster that.
Regardless of how fast I can go, right now I am going more than fast enough for my reflexes to be up to dodging bullets. Right then, I decided to end this 'fight'. All that could be seen to anyone else was a blur of grey cloth, green lightning, and the shimmer of metal, before the crack of bones being broken rang out, close enough together to almost sound like a single drawn out note, and the police were all lying gently on the ground.
All the shooting from both sides stopped almost instantly, and I slowed down to almost normal. Looking over to the gang members that seemed to want to just kill the cops, of which there were more than a few, I waved them off. There is a bit more work to be done, and I still have to take these cops to the hospital.
Should anyone ask, I do have reasons for doing so beyond just not wanting to kill people and take away the families of other people. That is my main reason, but if they press, I have others I can tell them that they should accept.
Going back and forth with the bodies of the disabled police officers in hand took a couple of minutes, even with how fast I was moving, but I got it done. And after that, I'm just done with today. Sighing, I went to help with moving whatever's in this building somewhere else.
XXXXX
"Why did you just hand the police over to the hospital, knowing they would just be healed by Panacea the next day?" One of the Empire members, who I don't recognize, asked. There was curiosity in their tone, and a hint of rebuke.
'Do you want the personal reasons, ethical reasons, or the pragmatic reason?' I wrote back.
An eyebrow raised, and most of the rebuke was gone from their next statement. "Give me all three."
I followed my orders, although I had to continually erase and write something else down due to the size of my board. 'Personal is I didn't want to kill them, nor make someone else lose a family member.' Obvious hint is obvious. 'Ethical only adds that people shouldn't kill, which I don't care about in some circumstances. Pragmatic is I can get to anywhere in the city in order to stop attacks on the Empire's assets, whereas the Merchants and ABB cannot. Nothing lost save perhaps a bit more people that they can use to try and attack us with, which won't help when I tear through them like wet paper.'
"And if they call in the Protectorate or get some kind of Tinkertech?"
I looked at him, deadpan expression going mostly unnoticed due to my costume. 'The first isn't going to happen, not when they obsess over keeping the status quo. As for the second... aside from the question of where they might get the money to buy something like that, they still have to hit me in order for it to be of any use. I can be just as fast as Velocity, and I still have an effect on the world around me at those speeds. I can hit them before they manage to use their Tinkertech, should they ever get any.'
"Fine, you're off the hook." As he walked away, he mumbled, "Some of the other members might want to think things through like that. We'd have total control if even half the people who join up have even half as much sense."
Hearing what he said, I snorted to myself and thought, 'Of course no one who joins has any common sense. That is part and parcel of being a Nazi, modern or old.'
XXXXX
And that's where I'll end this. Both of the latest two stories are basically variations of each other, and I mostly copied and pasted the description and beginning note for each. Note that there should be similarities in their characterization, though I don't know how well I did with that. The plot of both should start out roughly the same, but that will quickly be done away with soon enough.
Also, take note that, while the description of this character's power is similar to the one Framework gave to Lilith's combat suit, there are major differences between the two. Zoran's is much more powerful, and it also affects his momentum rather than just friction. There is also no limit to the speed he can go, just that the forces involved are reduced to safe levels for him where he acts on the world. Lilith will be unable to do that floating trick, no matter how hard she tries, because her power was built for and now locked into only affecting her friction, for example.
Framework has the edge in versatility, Zoran in the sheer strength of his power. Both will be capable of amazing feats, but the way they would accomplish those are different. Zoran rushes in and attacks head on, Framework thinks around it and creates some monster capable of countering the problem.
And that's it for now, I'll see you in the next chapter of whichever story I manage to update next.
