We're so close to the end, y'all! I'm so nervous and excited and I really hope I can deliver for you all… on the blender joke that has been waiting for three years to be told. Let me tell you. Sitting on a giant blender being a plot element has been MAJORLY difficult but I managed.

And as always, a special thanks to analiarvb, icefrozenover, washingtonstub, cobaltqueen, notatroll7, secretlystephaniebrown, NinjaAtticus, Yin, Enmuse, iamalore, the-space-nerd-97, and TGnat for the feedback and support!

Double Time
Chapter Twenty-One: What Matters Most

In some ways, it was simply undeniable how his relationship with Tucker had forever changed him. Such as the fact that they were boyfriends and had a family and Washington's brain was somewhat stuck on repeat when it came to that revelation. Those were undeniable facts.

It was also an undeniable fact that Tucker's penchant for certain expletives had rubbed off on Washington in that time that they were together as boyfriends living as a family with an alien son.

"What the actual fuck?" Wash asked, squinting at the enormous glass display before them. He then looked, somewhat mortified, at Felix. "You have a giant blender? You made a giant blender death trap? How over the top does your evil go?"

"Oh, it goes, Washington," Felix replied sinisterly. "It goes all the way over the top. So far over that people in airplanes feel it flying over their heads. Because that's how far I'm willing to go. That's how far Evil is willing to go to prove the undeniable truth that the world works on one law. Whoever's stronger than you, whoever's faster than you, and whoever's better than you has the right to kill you. And for humans to get any better — for our species to improve to the point that like your alien bastard the norm of our anatomy is to be extraordinary — we have to take charge and take out those who are too weak to stand."

Angrily, Washington pivoted to punch at Felix's stupid smug face. "You can't even give straight answers!"

However, to Wash's pain, the same force field which Felix had used when they first met protected him — a psionic shield of sorts, glowing around Felix protectively just inches from his face where Wash experienced it as a hard stop and a good way to crush all of his knuckles in a single blow.

Recoiling protectively over his fist, Washington hissed at the pain. "Goddammit."

"You know, Locus was really holding out hope for you to see the way, Washy boy," Felix laughed. "After all, you were a Freelancer. You were one of the top superheroes in the game, even if it was only for a hot minute, and as such we could've used you. Could've used any of you for our message. But, of course, besides being a normmie fucker you're also probably one of the lamest superheroes around. I mean. The abilities of a cat? What the fuck does that even mean? You squeeze through tight spaces? You stare into blank space at nothing for hours? Your weakness is fucking water? What does it mean, Washington?" he was laughing. "Ah, well. As you know, my whole schtick is survival of the fittest and, well, Washy boy," Felix reached out with his hand, and though it was far from within physical reach of Washington, he could feel a clutching force on his neck, choking him.

Wash gasped and coughed, the force carrying him up into the air, clutching him, strangling hm, until his feet didn't even scrape the ground anymore. It was then that it clicked — Felix's powers wasn't a shield, it wasn't telepathy — Felix was a full on psionic manipulator. A full psychic force.

"You're just not better than me," Felix said with a toothy smile before tossing Wash back over his shoulder like he was nothing.

The sudden release was jarring, but being able to breathe also gave Wash the ability to finally think straight as well, and while Felix was turning back to the horrified crowds, Washington easily maneuvered himself through the air and stuck his landing.

"Now, what to do with all you normal sheep, all you unproven masses," Felix hummed to himself, tapping his chin.

"Hey, Felix!" Wash roared before propelling himself forward, producing knives from his belt. "Cats land on their feet!"

Felix turned on his heel and seemed genuinely off guard at first, though the slashing motion meant for his head was stopped short by another psionic shield. His tightly controlled smile was tested, flickering with irritation and anger for a moment before he ultimately blew Washington back with a strong psychic blast.

Once again, Wash landed on his feet, but there were still gasps and cries from the crowd of onlookers. Which unfortunately forced Wash to be acutely aware that everything he was doing in that moment was right on display for everyone.

"You're a weakling, but I'll give you this, Wash, you've got the steel balls to keep trying to fight above your pay grade. Maybe that's what Locus saw in you that was such a threat to our mission," Felix thought out loud. He paused and tapped his chin again, a smug smirk. "Speaking of which, where is my favorite tri-powered mercenary?" He snapped his fingers, making a big production of the motion. "Oh, that's right! I know where he is!"

With just as much theatrics, Felix waved his hands to the giant crowd of people, making everyone gasp and cry out again. The reaction only tripled once a spot in the middle of them that had been seemingly vacant filled itself — Locus had the ability to turn invisible. And his horrifying stature was only made more distressing to the citizenry around him when he lifted up his hands and showed that between each finger was a glowing orb of the white hot energy that he had been using the times Wash confronted him before.

Wash's eyes widened and he stepped toward the end of the stage. "Everyone run away from him! He has explosives!" he screamed, immediately causing a rush of panic and horror, people crying out and attempting to do as Wash ordered.

Only, they soon began running face first into a large, bowl like energy, keeping them all contained within the square.

At first Wash was confused, but then he looked over to Felix, seeing beads of sweat trickle down the sides of his face, a smirk squarely on his face as he shrugged at Wash. "What, you expected us to make this easy for you?"

"Make what easy!? What do you want!?" Wash demanded angrily.

"To make a point, dumbass. Obviously," Felix sneered. "I need everyone here to see that there's a goddamn difference between them and us. And that even their chosen hero, the person not only they trust to protect them, but the city officials themselves chose to protect them, sees that en masse like this, altogether on display with the horrors of their true humanity showing… they are nothing as a group compared to the extraordinary, compared to those who with real power in this world."

Gritting his teeth, Washington tightened his fists. "You have lost your mind," he snapped.

"No, Wash, I only tell the truth," Felix explained cheekily. "See, this is all a little test, a little project we've been working on for quite a while. One that's going to test how much of a hero you are and who you're a hero for. Because you better believe, just like every time he's done it before, Locus is going to drop those little balls of his concentrated energy and send every person in my little bubble here straight to a kinetically charged hell. But you also better believe that I'm about to test how your disgusting, normmie boyfriend deserves his head by starting up that giant blender of his own imagination. And without super speed, or strength, or vulnerability, or flight, or anything you better believe those blades are going to chop him up to a nice, lovely little normmie soup right before your eyes." Felix grinned even wider. "Of course, one of these scenarios can be stopped by you. Only one. And the onus, here, is on you to decide which one matters most. Which one is going to be saved — just how little an insignificant, unextraordinary life matters among the new gods."

Washington looked between the crowds and Tucker. There really shouldn't have been any debate, any hesitation. A real hero should have been prepared to take on both on their own. No need for extra time.

And if the needs of the many—

But Wash couldn't even think of the many.

"You're a monster, what kind of choice is this?" Wash demanded angrily.

"I guess you could call it Sophie's," Felix shrugged. "By the by, I might enjoy making long, exhilarating speeches, but don't mistake that for stupidity. I know you're trying to waste time so that you can try to worm your way out of making a real decision here. And, I have to say, Washington, nice try, but the clock is already ticking."

To his horror, Wash could hear the the sound of metal clashing, gears beginning to wind up. He looked to the side as Tucker backed up to press against the glass interior of the giant blender. The blades at the top of the center pillar were picking up speed, and the bottom were starting to follow suit. And the sloped interior beneath Tucker's feet were dragging him toward the blender's blades. "Tucker!"

Almost immediately after, there were massive screams erupting from the crowd and when Washington looked back he could see the people pressing agains the forcefield enclosing them, scrambling to get away from the glowing orbs that Locus had just released among them, all of them rolling out into the crowd, glowing brighter as they prepared to release all of their kinetic energy like Wash had witnessed before.

Locus tilted his head at Washington menacingly. "My kinetic blasts are connected to my higher consciousness, Washington of Freelancer. Which means if you fight me, keep me busy and focused on you for the next few minutes instead of focused on blowing up the citizens of this city to bits, then they can all be saved," Locus informed him darkly. "All but the one not in our trap."

"Blah blah blah — Sophie's choice, like I said, Agent Washington," Felix grinned ear to ear.

"Fight me, Washington of Freelancer, or show the whole world the worth of those who are weak and small," Locus beckoned.

"Alternatively, go home tonight and explain to the hellspawn you've helped raise why he's superior to his chum dad in every way," Felix chuckled. "Get it? Chum? Because that's what the normmie is going to end up being."

Washington's brain was so torn on the options that it all but stopped functioning, to the point that he could only focus on one statement.

"Higher consciousness?" Wash said out loud before taking in the way Felix was sweating. "That's be really bad for a psionic making shields around an entire block then if all those little explosions went off at once," Wash informed Felix at once. "Have fun with that. I have to focus on my family, but fortunately I didn't come alone!"

Felix took a step back in surprise. "What!?" he snarled.

Locus had more of a resigned reaction and quickly turned to hold up his arm and block something.

Tex made herself visible again as she landed and looked angrily toward Washington. "You motherfucker I had the element of surprise! You gave away my position, goddammit! I told you I always wait until they're done with their stupid speeches!"

"I know, Tex, but I don't have time for that!" Washington shouted over his shoulder as he raced to the giant blender and pressed his hands against the glass where Tucker's back was firmly pressed already on the other side. Tucker was shouting something at him, but between the thickness of the glass and the whirling of the machine, Washington couldn't even begin to make it all out. "I'm sorry, I should've figured all this out sooner, I should've been there for you and Junior more and I just… I'm going to make everything right for our family now, Tucker! I promise!" Wash screamed at the top of his lungs for him.

Tucker didn't really react, but his shoe slipped off and was immediately decimated by the blender.

That time Wash joined Tucker in a harmonized "Fuck!"

"Tex!" Wash called out, pulling his knives in between each of his fingers. He looked to see that she was at the moment engaged in an intense combat with Locus. "Okay nevermind, I see you're kind of busy to punch through bullet proof glass." He then looked up and down the machine, taking a breath, and then punching out with his right fist so hard that the throwing knives between his fingers were able to sink through the pleated glass. "Oh fuck it's working," Wash muttered before doing the same with his left fist only slightly higher. "Hold on, Tucker!"

He climbed as quickly as he could, scaling the ridiculously sized blender until he reached the very top of it. It was not an easy feat, but standing on the edge of the opening of the blender made it clear that the scaling was not going to be the worst part.

"Goddamn," Wash groaned, leaning his head back and taking a breath before looking down into the blender cup below. The blades were several layers down to the base, rotating in different directions at different speeds, and some of the platforms' curved blades' path were separated by mere centimeters.

He needed to be calculating and fast and agile, and land on his feet every time without missing a single beat or it would be the both of them that was chum.

"I can do this," Wash psyched himself up. "I can do this—"

Without losing count, Wash leaped past the top most blade, landing on the second as it came down right in front of him. He then leaned back to ride the giant, comical blade for exactly half a second before flipping over the back of it, narrowly missing the next blade and landing on the last.

He was then speeding around quickly, occasionally seeing Tucker as he did so.

"Tuck — Er!" Wash called out each time he whirled past his partner, his boyfriend, the father of his stepson to be. "I—Am—Here!"

"IDIOT!" Tucker cried out.

"You—'re—Wel—Come!" Wash responded flatly, beginning to get immensely motion sick.

"Why—Didn't— You— Unplug— It!?" Tucker cried out.

"Don't—Question— Me — I'm— A — Professional!" Wash snapped back, turning just enough around on the blade to face the pillar at the center, and sure enough, there was a mechanism available to him, he just needed to perfectly thread the needle, throwing a knife while spinning around on a high powered blade trying eviscerate his boyfriend, hit it through a small hole, and jack up the mechanics within the blender's spinning pillar. "Simple," Wash muttered to himself.

By the time they completed what might have very well been the hundredth spin, Washington did notice an small issue that could have made the precision throw a little more difficult to stomach. And that was that Tucker happened to be on the other side of the pillar almost exactly. Meaning Wash being even the slightest bit off in his estimates would spell disaster for them both.

"Dammit," he hissed, crouching even lower to steady himself as much as possible. He took aim.

"Waaaasssshhh," Tucker echoed nervously.

"I'm— Going— To— Save— You—" Wash bared out between his teeth before finally throwing the knife in his hand, trusting his aim to be true.

The moment the knife left his hand, Washington realized just why Tucker was beckoning him, as he slipped from his spot and was being taken toward the blades. Washington heard a CLNK of the knife striking metal but was too concerned for Tucker to turn and check to see if his mark had been met or not.

"Tucker!" Washington cried out before diving full force toward his boyfriend, his partner, and grabbing him, curling tightly around him in full preparation to receive the first cuts of the blade. But when it struck his back, it was hardly at any force at all, more nudging them along the bottom of the giant blender in a carousel type fashion than in a smoothie sort of deal.

Washington opened his eyes, seeing in the periphery that sparks were flying from the pillar. He made the shot. "Wow, I can't believe I did it."

"Wash?" Tucker uttered, muffled against Washington's chest.

Surprised, Wash backed up enough, clutching Tucker's shoulders, to hold him at arm's length. He gave Tucker the full look over. "Oh my god, Tucker! Tucker, I was so worried! I get it all now, you're my boyfriend! I love you! it bothers me when we're not getting along, but it kills me to think you're endangered. And Junior! And our house! And we're a family, Tucker! I can't believe I don't spend more time in your shitty car listening to music I don't care about and the complaining of your asshole friends. Your asshole friends are my asshole friends now! I don't want any of that to ever be under appreciated again!"

Tucker looked at him in a mix of confusion and shock. "You jumped inside of a giant blender to save me, dude. I get it. You went Tucker and now you can't go back."

"I can't. Not ever," Wash assured him.

"Which, I mean, awesome but also… dude, you did even look for a way to unplug it," Tucker pressed.

"Is that the natural response?" Washington asked. "I've never used a blender."

The never learned what the natural response to a giant blender was supposed to be, however, as there was a loud knocking on the glass which drew their attention. When they turned, Tex was leaning against the blender, waving sarcastically before making a fist and punching through the glass.

"You also could've done that," Tucker continued to nitpick.

"I saved you," Washington reminded him.

"Yeah, not very fucking efficiently!" Tucker cried back.

Washington helped Tucker to his feet and looked to Tex. "Where's Felix and Locus?"

"They bailed when the calvary arrived," Tex informed them before throwing a thumb over her shoulder. Behind her lined up Carolina, the Reds, the teenagers, and Junior. The latter, of course, immediately racing to throw himself into his father's arms. "Which means we need a new plan."

"A plan with everyone," Wash announced. "This isn't the kind of city that only needs one hero working for the greater good, it needs all of its heroes working for its greater good. And I know what heroes to start with."

He briskly left Tucker's side and walked past Tex and the others to get to the podiums where Doyle and Kimball were getting back to their senses after Felix's psychic attack.

"Mayor Doyle, Mayor Kimball," Wash called to them, drawing their attentions. "I believe that a third party has been causing a lot of the election woes you're both sick of dealing with. And I think they're also responsible for those deranged super junkies that just tried to decimate you and the city you love. And I think he's been financially backing both of you through hedge funds. Either of you know who that might be?"

The two glanced at each other then to Washington.

"You wouldn't happen to be familiar with the large, golden building in the middle of the better part of the city, would you?" Doyle asked.