PART I:
The Good Days
Peter Bowler considered jumping. As he looked off into the mid-afternoon Chicago skyline, he wondered if his life had any real meaning; if there was anything to stop him from jumping. There he was, a fourteen-year old white boy, living in a suburb of Chicago, washing windows after school just so his single mom could keep up rent. He leaned up against the window, smudging where he had just wiped.
"Pete!" Johnny shot out, grabbing him and pulling him away from the window. "C'mon, man! I just washed that and now ya got it all dirty. I ain't cleaning that up." Pete laughed and began wiping off where he had been leaning. Johnny was one of his best friends, and was in a similar situation as Pete. For the few months that they had had the job, they would always go up on the scaffolding together and work, going up to the top of some of Chicago's tallest buildings. In fact, right now they were on the 90th story of the Sears Tower.
Still, Pete looked down, down towards all of the little ant-like people, wondering really if he would be missed. Just as he was contemplating his own death, Johnny slipped on a small puddle of water, fell to the floor, and slid out into the air. Without a thought, Pete jumped after him.
Pete grabbed Johnny by the collar with one hand and the metal coils of the scaffolding with the other. Pete winced as the tightly bound coils split the flesh on his hand. Well, he thought. You've really done it now, Petey boy. Just when you're thinking 'bout suicide, you're gonna die. He shouted one word, sorry, to Johnny as his hand holding the wire gave out and they began falling. They only dropped a few feet when Pete felt a hand grab him by his collar.
"Don't worry," a deep baritone voice came from above him. "I have you now." No! Pete thought, tensing. Now I got another guy whose gonna die. He felt himself being lifted, and looked up. There was Velocity, the greatest super-hero of all time, holding him effortlessly and running up the wall. Velocity had super-speed, given to him by a lightning bolt he could call anytime and place. When the bolt came into contact with him, normal man Harry Kiely's clothes formed into a skin-tight black spandex suit, completed with a large red lightning bolt over his chest.
Velocity lifted them up to the top of the building, where several people rushed to their aide, bandaging his hand and such. After ten minutes of this, Pete expected Velocity to be long-gone. However, he still stood on the roof. When they made eye contact, Velocity motioned him over.
"Pete," Velocity began. "It is Pete, correct?" He nodded. "Good. Listen, I saw how you helped that boy. You could have died trying to save him." Pete nodded, expecting a lecture. "I want you to become my sidekick." Pete looked up at Velocity, staggered.
Velocity sighed. "I knew it," he said hitting himself on his forehead. "I shouldn't have bothered. Why would you want to become a superhero?" Pete shook his head quickly.
"Sorry," Pete replied. "'Just didn't expect an offer like that to be… sudden." Velocity smiled weakly. "But of course," Pete said, looking down off the roof. "Of course it's a yes." Velocity smiled.
"All right then. There's only one thing you can do now," Velocity followed Pete's gaze towards the ground. "You have to get yourself some superpowers."
"How?"
"Well," Velocity said thoughtfully. "I was considering a vat of acid, possibly some nuclear explosion…" Pete's eyes widened in fear. "I'm just kidding, of course. You'll have a lightning bolt to give you wind powers just like I do. All you have to do is call for your bolt."
"Call for my bolt?" Pete repeated, unsure. Velocity told him that whatever call he wanted, just to yell it out and the bolt would come. So, Pete walked to the side of the Sears tower and threw his head back, yelling out loudly towards the open sky. He stood there foolishly, fully expecting nothing to happen.
He was right. For almost three minutes, Pete stood at the edge of the building waiting. It was only until then did he notice Velocity knelt over, chuckling, his long brown hair falling over his eyes.
"What are you laughing at?" Pete rushed up, hands curling into fists, sure he had been duped.
"Sorry, Pete," Velocity stood up and patted Pete on the shoulder. "I actually do want you to be me sidekick. I just forgot that you would need a ring. Not many people now this, but the only way I can get zapped into Velocity-form is when I wear my ring." He showed his right hand off to Pete. On it, a solid gold ring gleamed brightly, etched with a small lightning bolt on the top. "It's this ring that lets the lightning bolt hit me. In this ring is a small, pocket dimension." He screwed up his face. "No, it's not really a dimension. Really, it's kind of like an energy. I call it the Speed Home, because, well, it's the home for speed." Pete nodded, barely following.
"So, I need to get to my home," Velocity continued, "to get you a ring. I live on the other side of the city, so I might take a while, but I'll go as fast as I can."
Pete blinked. When he opened his eyes, even after a small blink, Velocity was still standing in the same spot. Only now, in his hand was a ring similar to the one he still wore.
"Sorry I took so long," Velocity said, handing him the ring. "I had to bust up an armed robbery over at Mama Falco's Pizza." Pete stared at him in awe.
"Am I going to be able to move that fast?" Pete said, slipping the ring on.
"Only one way to tell," Velocity said with a small smile. "Just rub the bolt on the ring and get ready." Pete did so, and seemingly out of nowhere, a large lightning bolt came down from the sky, striking Pete directly. Instead of the hot, burning, painful sensation that Pete knew he should be feeling, he felt a warm and pleasant sensation. His clothes began to meld together into a silver spandex suit, one piece from toe to his shoulders. Pete's shoulder-length blonde hair flew up as electricity surged through his body. A pair of red aviator goggles with orange-tinted lenses covered his face. Finally, an electric-blue lightning bolt appeared on his chest.
His hair returned to normal, Pete looked at Velocity. Velocity smiled.
"Nice costume, Haste," Velocity said proudly.
"Haste?" Haste said. examining his new suit.
"Yeah, I thought Haste kind of fitted. When I told you to yell for the bolt and you spazzed out on me, I thought, 'Wow, this is one hasty kid.' So you're Haste now." Haste nodded his approval. "I think it's time for some super-training, and I don't think that the roof of the Sears tower is a good place for it. Hold on, then." Velocity scooped Haste up into his arms and ran to the edge of the roof, leaping off and soaring through the air.
"Can you fly?" Haste asked nervously. Velocity shook his head with a wide grin and Haste began to scream as they fell downwards. Velocity began to pump his legs furiously in the open air. By pressing hard enough, he constructed an air column that supported their weight, slowing them down enough to safely land.
"Wow," Haste said. "What a rush." And thus, his training began.
"Just close your eyes and concentrate," Velocity told him. "It really comes naturally. Actually, it's not like you're moving fast… more like everything else is slowed down." When Haste opened his eyes, Velocity stood unmoving. In fact, he noticed, everything was unmoving. Haste smiled. He had done it, and made his first jump into super-speed. Suddenly, Velocity began moving at Haste's speed.
"Sorry," Velocity said. "It took me a while to match your speed. Right now, I'd say you're moving at about 300 miles per hour. Now, that's fast for a normal human, but you're nothing but normal now. My top speed is about one hundred and fifty-five thousand miles per hour, just under 200 times the speed of sound. Let's see how fast you can take that tiny body." So, side by side, they shot off through Chicago.
In minutes, they had reached some empty space that was mostly farmland. "Time to pick it up," Velocity said, and began pumping his legs. To them both, their current speed of two-hundred miles per hour was nothing but a jog. As their speed skyrocketed, Haste heard a loud banging noise.
Scared, he shouted, "What was that?" Velocity simply shrugged it off.
"No big deal. That was just a sonic boom. We're only going around seven hundred-seventy eight miles per hour. No biggie." Haste stared in awe. They continued running, at this point almost fast enough to not be leaving footprints.
"Hey, Velocity?" Haste said after they cleared through as small village somewhere in Kansas. "How come we're not disintegrating?"
"Huh?"
"Like, why aren't we turning into bags of jelly? We're moving fast enough be nothing but piles of ooze."
"Oh yeah," Velocity smiled. "I've had a couple scientists look into that, and they found that… well, we speedsters don't have to follow that particular law of physics. Anyway, ready to brake?" Haste looked around. Velocity had led them back to Chicago, approaching the Sears tower. Velocity stopped, going from almost one thousand miles per hour to zero instantly. Haste tried to stop, too, but was unable. He tried to concentrate to make the speed leave him; to make himself drop out of super-speed, but continued. Haste felt a slight breeze as Velocity caught up to him.
"I said stop!" Velocity screamed, his face worried.
"I don't exactly know how," Haste said worriedly. Velocity slapped himself on his forehead.
"All you need to do is do a one-eighty. Just turn around and all the speed negates itself." Haste did so, and felt his speed immediately leave. "Sorry about that," Velocity said, breathing deeply as he appeared beside him. "I figured that it was just kinda common sense."
Two and a half years passed by with Haste happily being Velocity's sidekick. He finally was making some money, doing endorsements and the like, and was able to support his family. He still attended school, though with various breaks to go and save the world. Haste and Velocity became thicker than thieves, which, Haste thought, wasn't a very good expression; he found that when he and Velocity showed up, thieves kind of became every-man-for-themselves. Haste and Velocity dealt with all criminals: ranging from petty thieves to criminal masterminds; it was easy to do all of the crimes when you can circumnavigate the globe by foot. Velocity became the surrogate father that Haste never had. Life was good.
Their happy life, however, was doomed. When Haste was just sixteen, a man known only as Iron Blade came to the city of Chicago. If Iron Blade was a hero, then he would have been the greatest ever to live. Unfortunately, this was far from the case.
Iron Blade came to Chicago on a cold, rainy morning. He rode into town on an over-sized motorcycle, made to fit his oversized body. Iron Blade stood just over seven feet, but weighed well over 500 pounds due to solid, enormous muscle. His skin was tinted gray, and his entire eye was black, almost blacker than his shaggy long hair. He wore a ripped-up leather jacket and jeans, and dangling from his belt was a 37-inch iron scimitar, hence the name. No matter how much research Haste did afterwards, he found no information on where Iron Blade could have come from.
Iron Blade rode his motorcycle right next to the Sears Tower, where everything began. Stopping in the middle of the street, he drew out his scimitar, pointing it at a taxi cab and raising his palm in a "stop" motion. Calmly, Iron Blade walked towards the taxi and raised the hood up. Normally, a Chicago cabbie would be screaming at the guy, but Iron Blade had a certain presence about him.
Iron Blade stabbed down into the oil tank of the cab. He walked several steps away from the car, not noticing that traffic had completely stopped. As the oil was dripping out, Iron Blade drew out a small lighter, lighting it and throwing it into the hood of the car. Instantly, the car blew up, killing the driver and the three passengers. His death count was up to four. Iron Blade smiled.
Retrieving his scimitar from the wreckage (somehow, the weapon remained unhurt), Iron Blade walked towards the sidewalk, where a young mother pushed a stroller carrying her newborn baby. Iron Blade gestured towards the baby, before saying in a deep, slightly slurred voice, "Give me the child." The mother screamed and gathered the baby in her arms. Iron Blade made a quick lung with his scimitar, impaling the woman.
"Foolish woman." He then continued to pick up the crying baby, staring at it for a moment.
Within three seconds, Velocity and Haste were on the scene. Iron Blade calmly walked in front of them. Behind him, the baby laid on the ground beside her mother, its head removed from its shoulders. Before they could say anything, Iron Blade made a lunge straight towards Velocity. He barely had time to enter super-speed and side-step the scimitar. Velocity ran in a quick, 3 block circle, barely taking him a second and a half, gaining speed and driving his fist into Iron Blade's stomach. It seemed that Iron Blade didn't even feel the seven hundred miles per hour of force driving into him. He didn't even flinch.
"Haste," Velocity said, glancing over his shoulder before dodging the scimitar again. "I need some help here. Let's go with Dire Attack Alpha. I think we're going to need the big guns for this one." Haste gulped. Dire Attack Alpha was one of the most serious attack formations they had worked through; they had never had to use it. The main objective of the attack: aim for the head. Velocity broke away from Iron Blade and ran to the side of Haste.
"On my go," Velocity said through gritted teeth, "Ready, set, go!" Haste and Velocity joined both their hands together and began to run around in circles. Finally, centrifugal force lifted Haste off the ground so that only Velocity spun them both around. Moving at over 200 thousand miles per hour, Velocity let go of Haste, sending him flying towards Iron Blade. Feet out, Haste struck Iron Blade directly in his temple, a blow that would, if not take a normal person's head off cleanly, instantly kill them. Iron Blade didn't stagger. Haste and Velocity again stood side by side, breathing deep.
"Your speed attacks do not hurt me," Iron Blade said. "You will have to try something different."
"All right then," Velocity said, his face the poster child for grim determination. "You zap 'em, I'll fry 'em." Haste nodded. They had worked on this formation too. As Velocity began rubbing his palms together, Haste began scooting his left foot across the ground. Haste super-speeded towards Iron Blade, dodging the scimitar blade and reaching his right palm out, touching Iron Blade's skin, sending 120,000 volts of static discharge into Iron Blade's skin. Surprisingly, Iron Blade felt it, wincing a little bit and breathing heavily from built-up pain. Velocity then ran up to Iron Blade, grabbing his neck with friction-burnt gloves ranging in temperatures of 5,250 degrees, half the temperature of the surface of the sun.
Now cringing in pain, Iron Blade lashed out at Velocity with his scimitar. Velocity was able to dodge the blade, but had to let go of Iron Blade's neck.
"All right then," Velocity said, glancing towards Haste. "I'll take him up, you bring him down." Haste nodded and smiled. This was another one of their unused plans, but he was sure it would work. Around where Iron Blade stood, Velocity began to run around in circles. He continued to run, going easily at speeds over 150 times the speed of sound. Finally, after almost forty-three seconds, Velocity created a small speed-tornado, effectively lifting Iron Blade off the ground and into the sky.
That is when Haste went into motion. He shot up the side of the Sears Tower, not stopping when he reached the top, but continuing to run up nothing. When his speed from the building began to run out, he turned around, heading straight down headfirst, pumping his legs to gain speed. Haste ranged the distance between himself and Iron Blade, who was still rising up, at around 200 feet. When Haste was less than ten feet away from Iron Blade, Velocity shut off the tornado that was rising up and allowed Haste to make contact with Iron Blade, driving him earthbound.
As the two soared down, Iron Blade grabbed for his scimitar. Before he could make a stab at Haste, though, Haste jumped away from Iron Blade, creating air columns as Velocity showed him his first day with super-powers. For Iron Blade, however, there was no slowing down, and certainly no stopping. With a sickening crunch, Iron Blade hit the hard Chicago pavement. Velocity zoomed over to where Iron Blade laid on the ground.
"He's unconscious, but still living," Velocity said, raising a limp arm on Iron Blade. "We'll have to change that." Haste looked towards him, surprised.
"You mean, like," Haste drew a finger across his throat. Velocity nodded. "Velocity, you can't." Haste said, walking between him and Iron Blade. "It's not our job to play judge, jury and executioner. That's not our position." Velocity nodded again, a look sorrow plastered on his face.
"If this guy wakes up, there's no telling who he could kill," Velocity moved Haste aside with a hand. "Do you remember when you asked why we didn't turn to jelly when we went so fast?" Haste murmured a quite, "Yes."
"Well," Velocity said. "I told you that we speedsters didn't have to follow the laws of physics. I'm guessing that this guy," He kicked Iron Blade in the side, "isn't a speedster. So let's turn this guy into some jelly. It's the only way." With that, Velocity picked Iron Blade up and set him on his shoulder and began to run.
Haste followed closely behind him, mentally gauging their speed every couple hundredths of a second. As they neared the appropriate speed, Haste considered closing his eyes. He knew this wasn't going to be pretty. Velocity, Haste figured, only needed to increase his speed ten more miles per hour and then….
He shuddered. Then he noticed something else shuddering. Iron Blade was beginning to regain consciousness. Haste looked down, and still clutched in Iron Blade's hand was his ruthless scimitar. Just as Haste was going to say something, Iron Blade raised his hand up and struck the scimitar between Velocity's shoulder blades. In a final movement, Velocity shoved Iron Blade forward, getting him to the proper speed.
Haste could only stare as Iron Blade's molecules tore apart from each other, creating only a slight red haze where Iron Blade used to be. Haste ran up beside Velocity, though he could tell there was nothing he could do. Out of Velocity's back poured a thick stream of blood. Haste stared down at Velocity, and at the place where Iron Blade evaporated, and up at the sky.
Appropriately so, it began to rain, a small consolation to hide Haste's tears. Haste picked Velocity's body up and super-speeded to the hospital. Although he could have taken him to one in the nearby city, he carried him all the way to Chicago. He arrived at Mount Sinai Hospital only seconds later, but to him it seemed like an eternity. At first, everyone seemed to want to know what happened to Iron Blade, but that was only in the split second before they noticed Velocity limp in his arms.
Velocity was officially pronounced dead only two minutes later. Although Velocity died a hero, Haste only cared about on thing: He had died.
