PART II

Velocity's Funeral

And

The Legacy He Left

For Haste

The funeral for Velocity was monumental. It was held in Washington, D.C., in a special burial ground for fallen heroes. I stood, clad in my silver uniform, accepting condolences from people I didn't know, though some said I had saved their life. I was Velocity's closest thing to family, and I was treated as though I was his son throughout the proceedings.

"Haste?" I heard a voice calling me, a deep and assuring voice. I looked up from my shoes and found myself face-to-face with the world's greatest protectors: The Ultranationalist, an embodiment of the patriotic spirit and a pretty nice guy; the Genie, possibly Velocity's best friend who had the ability to infuse himself with a magical genie; Tornado and his sidekick Whirlwind, who could control wind; and Halfling, a girl who was neither dead nor alive and had the powers of the afterlife while the body of a mortal. It was Tornado who had called me.

"Listen, Haste," It was still Tornado; "We understand that you're upset about this, but you have to realize that he sacrificed himself for a good cause."

"If there's anything you need," the Genie said softly, tears shining in his eyes. "Just give any of us a call. We'll be there." Everyone nodded their consent to this. We all continued talking for a while, mostly of Velocity, some, of the shoes that I had to fill, as if I hadn't already thought about it. After several hours, with only us heroes remaining, the Ultranationalist nodded goodbye to everyone and spread his wings into the sky, closely followed by Tornado and Whirlwind, riding a large gust of wind they created. Halfling gave me an awkward hug, took three steps, and teleported.

"The city of Chicago is yours to protect now," the Genie, the only one who still remained. "Really, anything you need, just give me a shout, and I'll hear it no matter where I am." We shook hands, sharing a moment to give our final respects to Velocity. "Want me to give you a lift back to Chicago?" I gave a weak smile and accepted. The Genie waved a hand in front of my face, and him and I both rose into the twilight sky. I stared down at Velocity's tomb, visible even from that altitude. Then Genie and I sped away into the sky.

In Velocity's will, the short will that it was, it said only one thing:

I leave all of my possessions, physical and monetary, to Peter D. Bowler, alias Haste, who was my faithful sidekick and faithful friend.

I considered it, and it was only then that I realized that I was Velocity's friend. In his will, I received his large estate and his bank account, a sum that was well into the millions. A portion of the money went into a fund for college, but I was still left with more money that I had ever had in my entire life. And thus, my solo heroics began.

I let Chicago down my first two months as a solo hero. At that time, I was still in remorse and also trying to adapt to the new speeds given to me by Velocity's old ring. I fought crime, but poorly, and Chicago's crime rate went higher than since Velocity became I hero. Whenever I would fight crime, I would feel like I had to live up to the expectations set by Velocity. In truth, it was because I did.

After two months of failing sometimes even to stop bank robberies, I got a visit from the Genie and the Ultranationalist.

"Hey, Haste," the Ultranationalist said in his kind, deep voice. "We just wanted to come and see if you were okay and to do something…" He paused, and I looked at him, waiting. Before I could react, I felt a large, purple hand slap me across my face. I staggered, and stared up at the Genie, who had created the hand.

"Whoops," he said with a grin. "I just thought that you, maybe, needed to slap out of it. See, it's funny, because the saying is snap out of it and I slapped you so…" His voice trailed off.

"Peter," the Ultranationalist said, and I cringed. I had never been called Peter while in my costume. "Velocity knew the risks when he decided to use his gifts for good. He died destroying someone who, if left unchecked, could have taken out Chicago one by one. Velocity was a hero, through and through."

"Chicago is your city now, Haste," The Genie had finally stopped laughing. "It's yours to protect or destroy. Right now, you're leaning to the latter. Pull it together, man!" For several hours, we continued talking about Velocity, the same as at the funeral, but more personal. It was during those hours that I fully realized that I wasn't a sidekick anymore. I was Haste, super-hero, and that's all that I was. I needed to straighten up.

To make a long story short, I did. In the next two years, I worked my butt off, between school and super-heroics. In that time, at risk of sounding clichéd, I journeyed from a boy into man. Also, in that journey, I read every book in the Chicago Public library. It took me about an hour moving at one of my top speeds, but I felt that it was necessary, for some reason. I read every book, from the children picture books to the encyclopedia.

"Why'd you do it?" a reporter asked me one day. "Wasn't there something better than you could have been doing?" I smiled at him. There was only one way to answer his question: use really big words.

"I am in the humble opinion that at that precise instantaneous hour I could use my capability and capacity to broaden my intellect and overall mental efficiency." That's what he gets for messing with a guy who not only read but memorized the thesaurus. And with that, I sped away.

I was truly living on cloud nine. I began not only defeating evil, but truly bettering society. For the second time in my heroic life, however, sorrow was destined to come in the middle of my euphoria.

It happened when I was sitting in a small restaurant, wearing normal clothes. I had already run my rounds around the city, and I hadn't gotten any calls from any other heroes for help. I sat on a swivel chair up on a booth, sipping a cold pop, glad to be well and glad to be on top of the world. I loved to come to this restaurant because they often served me free food. Velocity had decided to tell the world his secret identity and I had followed suit even before he died. He figured if a villain came to hurt someone he loved, he could be there before they could pull a trigger. Plus, it wasn't as if people wouldn't notice a lightning bolt coming out of a blue sky to give us our speed… or rather, me my speed.

I heard a loud scream coming from the outside, almost a block and a half away. I jogged outside, the waiter shouting to me that the drink was on the house and rubbed the ring with my pinky. I looked up into the sky, watching the lightning bolt come out of the sky and strike me where I stood. I felt the familiar surge of energy enter me as my new costume wove itself around me.

After I had finally reconciled Velocity's death, I changed my costume as an honor to his memory. The only changes that I made were switching the color of the bolt on my shirt from electric blue to the red that was formerly on Velocity's shirt. I also no longer wore the goggles.

I took off, super-speeding in the direction of the scream. A block away, I saw where I was headed. The Sears tower loomed overhead. Then I saw whom I was saving. A young boy, no older than 14, was falling straight down at a speed of five feet per relative second (a second to me at super-speed is a lot longer than an actual second. The only problem was that he was only seven feet from hitting the hard pavement. I closed my eyes and sprinted as hard as I could, counting his feet from the ground. I retched as I realized that I wasn't going to make it. Still, I sprinted as hard as I could, my molecules buzzing around as I charged ahead. I was three feet away from the boy when he hit the ground.

The boy died instantly, his innards spreading out around him in slow motion. I screamed aloud as I was covered in the wet blood. I turned around, stopping and staring as the boy died. Everyone else around me screamed. I couldn't believe myself. As a hero, there were always casualties, but villains always caused them. Not this time. This young boy's death was directly my fault. I could have and should have saved him.

I did the only thing I knew how to do. As the crowds advanced on me, asking why I didn't save him, I ran. Within a second, I was supersonic. I sprinted as hard as I could. I don't know if I was trying to run away from it, or if I was just trying to burn off some steam. As I ran, I could only think of myself, and how I failed that boy, and how Velocity could have saved him. That boy was just like me, falling off the Sears tower. Velocity saved me, and he did it with a smile on his face.

I ran like a never ran before. Raw energy crackled off of my body as a circumnavigated the world, running across the water like it was rock and over mountains like they were speed bumps. At the speeds I was traveling, my molecules were so loosely packed together so that I passed through solid objects like they weren't there. I ran faster than I had ever run before, and faster than Velocity ran. Every time I passed through North America, I was sure to steer clear of Chicago. I went faster and faster, my eyes tinted yellow with lightning.as my speed increased.

It was after I had run around the world almost one hundred times that I bothered to clock my speed. I was traveling at exactly light speed. I was moving faster than anybody had ever moved, and on foot to boot. I then made a mistake: I traveled faster. I broke the light-speed barrier, and I felt myself leave the earth.

I literally tore a hole in the universe. Our dimension does not allow for objects to travel faster than the speed of light, so I was thrust into another dimension. No, it wasn't really a dimension. Really, it was kind of like an energy field. I had entered the Speed Home. It was an area of pure white light. I kind of just floated there, unsure. I moved, unsure, which felt incredibly slow though I still moved at light speed. I was sure that I was to be trapped forever. Then I heard a deep baritone voice.

"Don't worry. I have you now." My eyes snapped wide open, scared. That voice was Velocity, and those were the words when he first saved me.

"Velocity, is that you?" I said, my eyes searching for the source, though I found none in the blinding light.

"Haste! Hello, my old friend. How have you been? I hope you are keeping Chicago safe. This is the Speed Home, in case you didn't know yet." I did. "This is where speedsters go when they… pass on. I am now part of the Speed Home, and it is not your time to be here yet. That is the only reason you have a physical embodiment here."

"So," I said, hoping wherever I was looking was the correct place. "I'm not dead?" He responded no. "Good. So, am I just here?" He responded yes.

"I never knew that a plus-light-speed travel would result in coming here," Velocity said. "I'm glad that it did. That young boy's death was not your fault. If you had not gone as fast as you could have, then I would be disappointed in you. But I saw you sprint to him. I saw your body pulse as fast as it could."

"Velocity, I'm begging you! I think that I still have some good to do in the world. I need to be with the world. I need to comfort that boy's family. I need to…"

"Silence," Velocity said softly. "I am in a firm belief that everyone deserves a second chance, especially for a boy as great as the one that you were unable to save. Have fun with yourselves." I felt myself turning in the air, my body contorting to different positions. Then, with a sudden burst of speed, I was back in our dimension. More specifically, I was in Chicago. Then I heard a scream.

I sprinted again, seeing the boy fall. Though this time, he was at the top of the building. I turned my body ninety degrees, running straight up the building. I lowered my speeds so he could see me, and scooped him up in my arms. I took him up to the top of the building and set him on the roof. After the nurses and paramedics on the top of the building checked to make sure he was okay, I beckoned him over. After a few pleasantries, I looked the boy, Jake, in the eyes.

"I want you to be my sidekick."