Chapter II: A Speedster's Reckoning Part 1
Chicago, IL.
A young speedster made his way down the streets of Chicago with a happy pep in his step. His name was Bart Parker, but he also went by Speedster-Man. At the end of the day, there were only three things people needed to know about him: he runs fast, he crawls walls, and he helps people.
Just yesterday, he and his other super heroic friends had been given an offer they couldn't refuse; to move to Chicago as the newest iteration of the Justice Legion of Avengers. After settling in at their new home, the newly dubbed "Young Justice Avengers" decided to go out and explore their new home city. Tim, wanting to catch up with Peter Payne, decided to stay behind with him and host a horror movie marathon. Karen, who felt too claustrophobic in Purple Labs, went for a quick flight. Donna desired to learn more about human culture, so she went off on her own in her human disguise to travel the city. Ronnie decided to take the weekend off to visit his old hometown in Philadelphia. Kyle was called back into space for an emergency on another world. Jihnorama simply chose to meditate in her room.
As for Bart, he had called Felicity and explained why they would no longer be attending college together. She decided to forgive him under the condition that he would meet her at the North Bridge mall for a peaceful protest against the demolition of a historic building. A few minutes later, he found his girlfriend amongst the crowd, proudly waving a sign that read "So Bad Even INTROVERTS Are Here!"
"Hey, Bart!" Felicity waved, beckoning him to come over. The young speedster hastily ran over to his girlfriend as she introduced her companion. "Bart, this is my new roommate, Suzanne King-Hardy!"
"No way!" Bart's eyes lit up in amazement. "As in the heir to the King-Hardy Hotel line? That is so crash! Nice to meet you, Suzanne!"
"Nice to meet you, Bartholomew." The red head smiled, shaking Bart's hand. "But you can just call me 'Cissie.' Everyone does."
"Cissie it is." Bart nodded before his smile faded.
"Is something wrong?" Cissie asked, uncomfortable at the way he was staring at her.
"Sorry, but… have we met before?" Bart asked, tilting his head in thought. "I'm positive I've seen your face before."
While initially put off by the young man's bluntness, Cissie rubbed her chin as her eyes narrowed. "Hmm, now that you mention it, your voice does sound familiar to me, but I can't quite place the face. That's very rare for me."
"Oh, I know!" Bart snapped his fingers. "One time, my aunt, uncle, and I had to stay at one of your family's hotels for a couple nights while our house was being fumigated. Maybe we bumped into each other in the lobby?"
Cissie shrugged. "That is a possibility. I did pretty much grow up in that hotel."
"Yeah? Well, I hope you and I can be very good friends from here on out." Bart smiled as the group went off to join the protest.
Suddenly, Bart's accelerated vision activated, and Bart instinctively pushed Felicity and Cissie out of the way just as a violent explosion prompted the other protestors to scream in terror. "Stay down and call for help." Bart whispered. "I'm gonna go see what happened."
"Right." Felicity nodded as her boyfriend quickly ran towards the commotion. But as she dialed 9-1-1 on her phone, she failed to notice that Cissie had also gone off on her own.
Bart ducked into a janitor's closet when no one was looking and changed into his new costume. Rushing back outside, Speedster-Man crawled up a nearby wall to avoid the crowd. He nearly lost his grip when he spotted the source of the disturbance. A muscular man dressed in camouflage pants, military boots, and an American flag tattoo on his face was grabbing anything he could get his hands on and throwing them at the protesters. A police car had just arrived, and the two officers quickly drew their weapons.
"Freeze! Put your hands in the air!" When he refused to surrender, the policemen opened fire, but the bullets merely deflected off of his skin. Annoyed, the man ripped a tree out of the ground and threw it at the squad car. The policemen took cover, but nothing happened. Looking back up, they saw something had stopped the tree from hitting them.
"Okay, now, calm down, big guy." Speedster-Man gently set the tree aside before casually walking towards the new supervillain. "We're all upset that the Fazoli's moved to a new location, but that's no reason to throw a hissy-fit."
"Who the hell are you?!"
"The name's Speedster-Man. I just moved here, a while ago. Just who are you?"
"Who am I? I'm the Flag's replacement!" The villain puffed out his chest, showing off the purple veins glowing across his skin. "I'm Patriot! A real patriot who ain't gonna let these worthless, whiny snowflakes ruin America!"
"Oh, yeah. Right." Bart rolled his eyes under his goggles. "And the Russians rigged the election that got the Democrats in the White House, right?"
"Keep laughin', punk!" Patriot snapped. "I'll break you like a rag doll!"
"Okay, I think we've heard enough." Speedster-Man cracked his knuckles, raced forward, struck the villain on the jaw, and recoiled in pain. "What the hell?!" Bart thought to himself as he massaged his hand. "It feels like I just punched a brick wall!"
In response, Patriot delivered a powerful backhanded swipe that sent Speedster-Man into a nearby wall. Thinking fast, the super-swift hero covered his fists with a thick layer of light webbing and raced back towards the Patriot. With his accelerated vision and lightning reflexes, Bart was able to dodge his opponent's blows, but the web padding still wasn't enough to avoid bruising his knuckles from throwing his own punches.
Patriot smirked and gripped Speedster-Man's arm. He then proceeded to slam the speedster onto the ground with terrifying strength. He tried to crush the hero under his foot, but Speedster-Man managed to roll out of the way just in time. Thinking he could outsmart his enemy, Speedster-Man fired another light web at Patriot's eyes. As the supremist struggled to remove the material that blinded him, Speedster-Man continued to entrap him in a larger light web. But Patriot casually tore the webs to pieces, freeing himself to continue his attack.
Speedster-Man's accelerated vision was on overdrive, screaming for him to run away, but his conscience wouldn't let him leave the protestors defenseless. He kept trying to find a chink in Patriot's armor, but the supervillain shrugged off every blow. At last, Patriot managed to grab Speedster-Man and pin him to a wall. He then proceeded to punch the swift hero in the stomach, taking the wind out of his lungs. As Speedster-Man fell to the ground, Patriot continued to punch him in the face, fracturing his goggles and staining the fabric of his mask with blood. He then stomped on both of Speedster-Man's knees, shattering them and forcing his opponent to cry out in pain. To rub salt on the wound, Patriot bent the speedster's arm back too far, dislocating his shoulder while simultaneously crushing his radius and ulna bones. Bart had never felt so helpless before.
"Looks like you were born to take a beating!" Patriot laughed.
"What… what did you just say?"
Patriot clamped one hand around the speedster's neck, ready to land the killing blow. But before he could do anything, a boxing glove came flying from out of nowhere and struck the villain in the face. It wasn't enough to hurt him, but it distracted him long enough for Speedster-Man to vibrate himself free from Patriot's grasp. Looking towards the direction from where the arrow came from, Speedster-Man spotted a familiar archer dressed in leather drawing five more arrows at once. These arrows were equipped with special devices that exploded upon impact with Patriot's skin, forcing him to stumble backwards out of confusion.
Black Arrow shot a flare arrow right into Patriot's eye and rushed over to help Speedster-Man off the ground. "Come on, stay with me!" She shouted. "The SWAT teams are on the way!"
As Patriot tried to rub the spots out of his eyes, he heard the faint wail of police sirens coming from the distance. It was obvious that bullets had no effect on his physiology, but he had no idea what heavy artillery would do to him. Black Arrow carried the injured hero away from the mall as Patriot ran away. The last thing Bart saw before his world went black was the platinum-blonde hair he remembered from his early days in New York.
Purple Labs. One Hour Later.
Bart woke up to the unpleasant sting of an I.V. needle stuck in his arm. As his vision cleared, he noticed the silhouetted figures surrounding his bed and his limbs wrapped tightly in casts. At last, he realized that he was back at Purple Labs under the care of Ralph Richards and his team. "Black Arrow!" He shouted, trying to sit up. "Where is she?! What happened?! Is Felicity okay?!"
"Take it easy, kid!" Ben Steele pushed Bart back down.
"Mr. Parker, you need to relax for a few more moments." Dr. Richards insisted. "Your enhanced healing factor may have healed you quickly, but not correctly. We literally had to cut you open and put everything back into place."
"What?" It was then that Bart noticed that three of his limbs were wrapped in thick surgical bandages. Even with the pain killers being pumped into his veins, he groaned in pain at his sudden movements. He was about to ask where Black Arrow was when he realized that the cold air chilling his facial features meant that he wasn't wearing his mask. "You… you guys know who I am… you've seen my face."
"You needn't worry, Bartholomew." Arani smiled, warmly, as she soothingly rubbed his unbroken arm. "We will all do everything in our power to protect your secret identity."
"Yeah, man. We're no snitches." Larry smirked. "As for your girlfriend and the other protestors, their fine. After the SWAT teams scared away that musclehead, S.H.I.E.L.D. showed up for extra protection."
"How do you-?"
"Dr. Lord's been having us triangulate our satellites around you youngsters whenever you go out." Dr. Richards explained. "No need to call for alarm; we only see you during moments of elevated heart rate that suggest you're in the midst of battle."
"Plus, it's all over the news." Larry pulled out his phone to show everyone his Outstagram feed. "Whoever this asshole is, he's becoming pretty popular with the Alt-Right."
"And Black Arrow? Where is she?"
"We don't know." Ben shrugged. "That girl just dropped you off in front of the building, and the second we turned our backs, she disappeared."
"Alright, my scans indicate you should be healing properly on your own by now." Richards declared, putting away his high-tech medical instruments. "Ben, Larry, let's begin removing Mr. Parker's bandages."
Just then, the infirmary's doors burst open as Karen and Tim rushed in to see their friend.
"Oh, my god!" Karen exclaimed. "What the hell happened to you?!"
"I got beat up… by a very strong man…" Bart groaned as Ben and Larry removed his bandages. "He had… invulnerable skin. Nothing I hit him with did anything."
"Muta-human?" Tim asked.
"No, definitely not." Bart sat up, stretching his back. "He must have been enhanced by someone else. I'm not sure. But I think I know who he is."
"You do?" Karen's eyebrow arched.
Queens, NY. Four Years Ago…
Bart Parker pushed up on his glasses as he made his way out of school, tugging at the strap of his backpack. As he was halfway back home, he heard someone coming up from behind him. Instinctively, he picked up speed and bolted as fast as he could down the street. But just as he reached his home block, his pursuers grabbed his backpack and threw him to the ground.
Frustrated from years of dealing with this kind of abuse, Bart bolted upwards and punched his bully in the face as hard as he could. Unfortunately, this only bruised his own hand, prompting the bullies to laugh.
"You hit like my sister!" Eugene mocked before returning the favor. The punch made Bart stumble backwards against his house's fence, where the bullies continued to kick him as he fell.
"Looks like you were born to take a beating!" Eugene laughed as he and his crew ran off, leaving Bart battered and bruised on the sidewalk.
Present Day.
"Eugene Driscoll went out of his way to beat me up every week." Bart finished, miserably. "I tried to fight back every time, but I was never strong enough. The happiest day of my life was when I heard he'd been sent to juvie for trying to rob a convenience store."
"If it makes you feel any better, you're in good company, Bart." Karen rubbed her arm, uncomfortably. "My tormentor was named Leli Kran-Tzar. She always pulled on my pigtails before Radon was destroyed."
"Mine was Hector Santiago." Tim commented. "Stole my lunch and tripped me up at school."
Bart shook his head as he got up from the bed. "Okay, now that we've established that we all belong in the 'hopeless bullied nerds club,' when is the real Justice Legion coming to help us take care of this?"
"Well, I did call the Flag." Zebediah replied, having just entered the room. "But for the most part, we're going to have to resolve this, ourselves."
"What?"
"I'm afraid S.H.I.E.L.D. has threatened to shut down our operations after this fiasco." The famous neuropsychologist explained. "If we want to continue the Young Justice Avengers, they need to stop this 'Patriot.'"
"Didn't you hear me?!" Bart snapped, furiously. "The person who made my life a living hell just beat me half to death, and I'm still not strong enough to beat him!"
"But you may be fast enough." Richards countered.
"What do you mean?"
"Any material, if struck with a high enough velocity, will be compromised. And, luckily for you, I've done the calculations." Richards sat down in his chair and wheeled himself over to another computer console, furiously typing away at the keyboard to punch in the numbers. "Our satellites were able to track his every move as well as your own, studying his physiology and biochemistry. Based on his skin's density and atomic structure, if you strike him at the proper angle at just the right speed, you could incapacitate him."
Bart glanced over at his friends before turning back to the scientist. "... how fast would I have to go?"
"Factoring his skin's tensile strength, estimated thickness, atmospheric pressure, and air temperature, you would have to strike him at approximately … Mach 1.304."
"You want Bartholomew to punch someone at one-thousand miles per hour?!" Arani spluttered.
"... point five-one-nine." Ralph corrected. "Math doesn't lie, my dear."
"I've never gone that fast, before." Bart remarked as the last of his broken bones mended themselves.
"Not yet, you mean-"
"Ralph!" Arani scolded. "He just recovered from his injuries! We can't expect him to do the impossible after being hurt so badly!"
"He has to, Arani!" Ralph protested. "If he doesn't, then what is he even doing here in the first place?"
"Hey! That's my friend you're talking about!" Karen snapped. "Just let me go after him! I'll put him in his place!"
"Uh, where'd Bart go?" Larry asked, pointing at the now-empty hospital bed.
Karen groaned. "I'm going to fly around the city." She declared. "Driscoll couldn't have gotten far. I'll find him."
Bart watched Captain Hyper fly off into the distance as he sat, perched on the rooftop of the lab. As he looked out over the city, all he could think about was his recent defeat. Somewhere out there was a very bad person, and he couldn't stop him. A strong gust of wind, followed by red, white, and blue lightning finally snapped him out of his depressed thoughts. "Hey, Wally." He sighed, heavily.
"Hey, kid." The Flag nodded. "Mind if I sit with you?"
Bart just scooted over, silently inviting his grandfather's oldest ally to take a seat. The duo looked out over the city before Bart broke the silence. "I'm starting to question our choice in uniform." He remarked, pointing to the star and lightning insignia on the Flag's chest. "Section eight, statue J of the flag code says 'no part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform.'"
"I think that only applies if our costumes are made from real flags." Wally replied. "But I am glad they're still teaching you kids that in school. All that hypocritical ignorance on the internet… it makes me sick."
"Well, actually, they didn't teach it to me in school." Bart corrected. "I couldn't get much sleep last night so I speed-read the code."
Wally blinked in surprise. "You… you speed-read the entire flag code yesterday and you still remember it?"
"Well, yeah." Bart shrugged. "I remember everything I read. Don't you?"
"Uh, no. Usually when a speedster does that, they forget it just as quickly as they learned it." Wally replied, genuinely impressed. "You're the first speedster who can do that."
"Huh… I always wondered how I got through school with ADHD."
An uncomfortable silence hung over the air for what felt like an eternity before Wally spoke up again. "I saw the news feed of your fight with Patriot." He stated. "And I couldn't help but notice that you didn't have your shield with you. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you haven't even used it since Steve gave it to you."
"Of course, I haven't used it! It's Steve's shield!" Bart exclaimed, jumping up from his perch to pace around the roof. "It'd be like using Babe Ruth's bat for bunting practice! What if I break it?! Or lose it?! Or what if… what if he only gave it to me because I'm his grandson?"
"If that's what you think, you don't know Steve." Wally got up from his seat and moved to kneel in front of the younger speedster. "When I got his powers from a blood transfusion, he took me under his wing and taught me how to control my power. But before that, I was just a worthless nobody that couldn't even get the time of day. An Irish orphan left to fend for himself in the slums of Brooklyn. But Steve didn't hesitate to run me to the nearest hospital when I got shot by a Nazi after stowing away on an American u-boat. He took me in. He trusted me with his power. Just like he trusts you to carry on."
"But, I-"
"No, no buts." Wally said, sternly. "He saw what you accomplished when you were starting out, and he was impressed by how well you handled yourself. He saw potential in you long before you started working with him. So if he gave you that shield, it means you earned it. You just have to keep earning it."
Before Bart could reply, his comm-link went off. ["Bart, we've got a problem!"] Tim shouted. ["Driscoll's been spotted again! He's attacking the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that are guarding the protesters! I've already sent Karen, and told her you'll be there to back her up!"]
Bart glanced back out towards the city, again; the thought of Felicity and her friends at the mercy of Driscoll sent a chill down his spine. After sharing a knowing glance with Wally, the younger speedster raced into his room to grab the triangular shield before rushing back to the mall. "No, Tim. Just tell Karen to hang back and wait for me to call for her." He insisted. "Driscoll's mine."
To Be Continued!
Felicity Stacy - Felicity Smoak/Gwen Stacy
Cissie King-Hardy - Cissie King-Jones/Mary Jane Watson/Felicia Hardy
Patriot aka Eugene Driscoll - Risk/Nuke