The Bolt Episode 3 Unprepared
My name is Sean White. After waking up with no memory of who I was, I discovered I could do impossible things. Inspired by the heroes around me, I decided to put my powers to use and protect the people of Alter City, and find the missing pieces of my past. I am, The Bolt!
The sound of the alarm echoed and rang throughout the entire building. As everyone ran for the exit, all they could think about was the terrifying screeching behind them, growing closer. "Keep running!" One employee said. That same person was grabbed from behind and pulled away from the fleeing group of people. The others looked back as he screamed horribly, then was silenced in an instant. As they kept running, every once in a while, another was lost to the terror behind them. Over the intercom, a voice rang loud, "Remain calm and make your way to the exits. This is not a drill. Please, remain calm and make your way to the exits."
As Peter shut off the intercom, he could only think of how stupid he sounded. How could anyone possibly remain calm at a time like this? They were under attack.
He had the camera footage on his large screen, watching as people ran out of the building as quick as they could. But the sight was painful when he saw one of them suffer the horrible fate even he himself feared. The situation was hard to comprehend in the heat of the moment. No one was listening to his words, he knew that. No one was keeping calm. How could they? If they stopped moving, each and every one of them would die.
As he looked about the footage, he noticed that things were calm. No one was dying anymore, no one was being taken to their demise. Why was this? Why did it stop? Then he knew, when he heard a loud banging on the door to his office.
"SCHREEEEEE!" He heard from beyond the door. Quickly he pulled a gun out from his desk and kept it pointed at the door. His breathing quickened, as much as he tried to calm himself down. It seems he himself failed to follow his own advice. His entire body was pulsing with his heartbeat, full of fear. Full of regret. The doors were then knocked down, falling on the floor in front of his desk. Peter didn't have time to react when the creature leaped to him and stood on his desk, and grabbed Peter by the shirt, pinning him where the wall met the ceiling. The creature let out a loud screech that sent pain into Peters ears.
Two armored guards holding guns came running into the room. "Open fire!" One yells, and the two of them blast the creature with a series of bullets. The bullets bounced off the creatures back, but it was enough to get his attention as he dropped Peter onto the floor. It let out another loud screech and threw itself out the window, crashing through the glass and landing on the street below. Peter watched as it ran down the streets and fled into the shadows of the alleyways.
"Sir," One of the guards said, "Are you alright?"
Peter answered, but kept his eyes on the street, "Yes, yes I am alright."
Sean pushed passed the crowd of people and followed the sirens of the medic truck. He kept his eyes on Peter and let out a sigh of relief seeing he had no more than a few scratches and bruises. But his mood quickly dropped when he saw several gurneys go by transporting dead bodies. "What happened here?" Sean asked himself. He approached Peter and tapped his shoulder to get his attention, "Mr. Morrison?"
"Ah," he said, turning to see Sean, "Mr. White, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Are you alright? I heard that the lab was attacked!" He said, "Who did this?"
Peter shook his head, "I have no idea." His eyes glanced to the building a few times, to which Sean thought was most likely a signal. He understood. So Sean moved away from the crowd. When he was out of sight, he sped into the building.
Sean observed the halls of the building in shock. There were claw marks everywhere. Bodies that had yet to be recovered by medics. Blood was scattered in several places. He became startled when one of the lights sparked unexpectedly. "What the hell happened here?" He asked aloud.
Sean zoomed into the security room, immediately going for the computers. "Thank you, modern security," He said, as he accessed the LightSpeed labs cameras.
The footage was horrifying to see. People dying, the halls being destroyed. He almost couldn't watch. But he had to, because he had found a single frame he needed and paused on it. "There you are," he observed the image of the creature, and confirmed it to be the one he met before. Which begged the question, why did it attack the lab? What was it doing here?
Sean made his way back out carefully as not to be seen. Immediately he saw Peter already walking away from the medic truck, so he quickly approached him, "Peter," Sean started, "What was that thing doing here?"
Peter stopped and shook his head, "Not sure, I do have a hunch though," He sighed, "I think it was looking for something."
"Like what?"
"Well," Peter started, "You met it the other night. Maybe it pieced your connected with this place together."
"So it was coming after me, great." Sean sighed, "I need to find this thing before it hurts anyone else."
"Good luck."
Sean looked over to a nearby cop, taking reports from the people who managed to survive the experience.
"Can you describe what you saw?" Victor asked.
The woman shuttered in fear, despite the fact that the danger was long since gone. She seemed almost traumatized, "I think it was wearing this … pure black armor, it was strong, and it had four eyes!"
"Four eyes?" Victor asked, writing it down, "Was it a meta-human?"
"I don't know if it was human at all!" She yelled, "I just want to go home to my kids, please!"
"Alright ma'am," He said, "Just as soon as the medics patch you up." He started walking away, and said something to himself, "Be heck of a lot easier if the orange blur was here."
Sean, hearing him, starting giving thought to something.
"You sure you can trust him?"
Olive held her bag over her shoulder. Sean decided to pick her up from school today wearing just his average cloths. She stared at him as she awaited his answer. "He seems trustworthy," Sean said, "He helped me with Alex Duncan a bit, against his chief's orders. Plus, since the rest of the ACPD hates me, it would be nice to have someone who's on the force on my side. It's not as though he's a stranger. In fact, he visited me in the hospital when I first woke up."
"Still," Olive reminded him, "He's a police officer. This city's police are anti-Meta-Human. What if he turns on you?"
"Then he turns on me. It's worth a try isn't it?" He asked, "That creature is still out there. IF the police spot it first, having someone on the inside to keep me up to date might be good."
"You forget that we still have the LightSpeed labs satellite."
"That's just a satellite," he said, "It's not perfect. It can find them in the open, but what if they are hiding?"
She took a moment to ponder this. He made a good point. The satellite can only see so much. And if he was friends with someone on the force, then it would definitely help him out when he needed it, "Well, ok," She said, "Just be cautious. And don't you dare tell him your secret Identity."
He smiled, "Wouldn't dream of it."
Police set the yellow tape across the tainted street. Officers were detouring cars and people to avoid the area. In the corner, a man was being questioned about what he saw. The poor man couldn't dare look at the body lying in the street. Victor was used to carnage, but this was on a different level. As he observed the body lying in front of him, he almost puked. The man was lying face up, or what was left of his face anyway. His body was torn into, as though 10 knives were stabbing into him all at once. His body was covered in blood and it spread a few feet around him. There was a gun lying not too far from his right hand, it too had blood on it. "So what do we have?" an officer asked him.
Victor shook his head, "No idea. It looks as though a rabid animal did this. Every mark shouts pure rage," He said, "Get CSI to take a blood test, maybe we can find something starting there."
The officer nodded and walked away. Just afterword's, a blur of lightning zoomed in and hid in the alleyway, only allowing Victor to notice him. Looking up in curiosity, Victor walked into the alley to see The Bolt standing there. "Detective Victor Phillip," Bolt said, "Care to fill me in?"
Victor kept his hand on his pistol. Though he felt like he could trust Bolt, he still relied on his instinct as a cop, "The victim has several claw marks in his chest, face, and limbs. Whatever did this was merciless. He was long dead before it got messy."
Bolt nodded, crossing his arms, "Any Idea who or what did it?"
"Well," He started, "All we found was some sort of green substance in the victim's wounds. What About that creature you chased the other day? The one that was hopping about and taking down helicopters?"
Bolt didn't answer right away. This creature seemed to have been getting busy. Why was it so full of rage? "Could be. I don't know much about the creature. Look, if you get wind of it, let me know, please. I don't want this thing hurting anyone else."
Victor nodded, and looked behind him to see an officer approaching him, "You should go."
Bolt was gone before he was finished.
"Thank you for coming today."
Peter stood at a round table of men and women, dressed in suits and ties. Everyone was awaiting Peter to make his opening speech to the meeting. "I understand the lab has undergone some difficulties," Peter started, "But I want to start off by assuring you, everything is under control."
"Under control?" One woman said, "That creature attacked the lab and you want to call it under control? Do you even want to explain what it was?"
"No ma'am," He bluntly said, "But the creature isn't what I'm here to talk about." Peter grabbed his remote and pressed a button, pointing to the center of the table.
An image of a human shape appeared as a hologram, statistics floating all around it. "What is this?" A man asked.
"This," Peter said, putting his remote down, "It's subject S."
"What does the S stand for?" One asked.
Peter smiled, "Speed-force," he paced around the table, "We've been searching, and here it is. A willing, but unknowing, subject, who has the Speed-Force in his system."
The group looked at him with shock, and some with joy, "So you convinced the Flash to help us?" One said.
Peter shook his head, "Even better," he said, "I found someone else."
"Someone else?" A woman said, "After you lost your last subject? Where did you manage to find another Meta-Human embowed with the Speed-Force?"
Peter chuckled, "That's my secret. The point I am making is that we can finally continue our work. We have the missing piece to the puzzle. I just need more funding."
One man in a white suit, stood up, "Peter, we gave most of our funding for that satellite. Why haven't you been using it to-"
"Find Meta-Humans?" Peter interrupted, pressing his remote. The hologram images change to video of Jack Nichols and Alex Duncan in their cells, "I already have. I told you, I found another speedster."
The man's eyes widened, "The Bolt," He said, "That speedster that has been saving people."
"Yes," Peter said, "He works for me. And if you doubt me again, I'll convince him to go after you. I'm very persuasive," He smiled, "Now, about that funding?"
Peter exited the room, straightening his tie. A woman walks up to him, dressed in a black work dress, "How did the meeting go?" she asked.
"Wonderfully, Rose," He said, "How are the subjects?"
Rose began to read off her clipboard, "Jack Nichols has been very resistant so far, but Alex Duncan is the more promising subject. I suggest step two to be taken with him first."
"Excellent," he said, "Start immediately."
THE NEXT DAY
Abigail was out of luck. She had checked everywhere she can near here. Every house, every orphanage, but none of them ever had someone resembling Sean in any way. She tossed her laptop to the floor after searching for hours. It was stressing her greatly. Sean had no real family. She couldn't find him anywhere. She had been told by her friends that he's almost old enough to care for himself. She understood that, but he was still alone. Just like she was.
Ethan came into the room after hearing the thump of the computer against the ground. He was going to ask what was wrong, but immediately he knew. "Abigail," He started, "This isn't your job to find his family."
"I'm making it my job," She said, "We aren't his parents, and he's all alone. He deserves love from his real mother but it's like she doesn't exist!"
Ethan sat next to her, wrapping an arm around her, "This isn't just about Sean, is it?" He asked.
By the mention of his words, Abigail begins to tear up. This wasn't just about Sean. It wasn't just her need to give back. It was a feeling on a personal level. Because of her son. Because of Daniel, "I didn't do enough for Daniel," She said, already choking on her own tears, "I could have loved him more, but I didn't. And because of that, Daniel is gone. And it's all my fault!"
Ethan wrapped both his arms around her and pulls her close, "Abigail, it wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault. Daniel was a good person. Right up to the end. We have to remember that. If you keep looking back on it like it was your fault, you will never move forward."
Abigail nodded, and leans onto his shoulder, sniffling.
Sean stood at the top of the steps, watching his guardians with worry. He knew that Abigail had a personal connection with his situation, but he didn't fully understand how much until now. He didn't want Abigail worrying herself over Sean, especially now that Sean has taken on a new job during his free time. As he went back to his room and sat down on his bed, he fiddled with his watch a bit, looking down at it a few times a minute. Should he tell them? It would be easier to zip around the city without worrying about keeping up appearances with his guardians. But if they knew, they would always be afraid. Sean knew that what he's doing is not the safest hobby, but it's the only thing in his life that feels somewhat normal in comparison to everything else since waking up.
A sudden faint beeping started, catching his attention. Sean looked to the source and found it coming from his watch. A light on the side was blinking blue, on and off. He pressed the blinking button and words began scrolling across the screen, "The heck …?" he wondered.
"Alter City Harbor"
He didn't fully understand what it meant, but it was enough to peek his interest. He thought about calling Peter and asking if this was him, or if he had any idea what it was. But he stopped himself, and rather decided to go alone, speeding out through his window and onto the streets.
Sean skid to a stop just before the edge, looking into the water below. He found it best not to come in costume, knowing there might have been people there. Luckily only a few people were walking about, getting ready to sail their boats. Sean took another look at the message on his watch. Why did he even bother coming if he didn't even know what he came for? As he looked around the harbor, he kept an eye out for anything that may have seemed strange, or out of the ordinary. "Come on, you called me here," Sean said to himself.
He walked over to one of the boats, and saw a man at the wheel, getting ready to sail. The man wore a large rain coat, "Um, excuse me?" Sean called out, stepping onto the boat.
"Ah!" He yelled, stepping down to the deck, "No, no, no! Off the boat!"
Sean quickly stepped off the boat, holding his hands up in surrender, "Sorry, sorry," he said.
"I just had this deck cleaned, kid!" he said, sighing, "What do you want?"
Sean stuffed his hands in his pockets, sighing, "Has anything strange happened around the harbor lately?"
The man shook his head, "Not that I know of, why?"
"Well," He said, "I could tell you if you let me on your boat," Sean grinned.
The man's eyebrows rose, then he sighed, and gestured Sean to come onto the boat. As he came on, he took his hands out of his pocket and rubbed them together, "So, you could say a little birdie lead me here, and probably-hopefully-for good reason."
"Well I hate to tell you kid," He said, "But nothing strange has happened here as far as I know. Nothing beyond the water."
"What about the water?" Sean asked.
The man walked over to the side of the boat, gesturing Sean to look over. As he does, he sees a strange hint of green in the water. It wasn't everywhere, just near the edge of the harbor, "What is that?"
"I don't know," The man said, "I don't know what it is, only that it comes from the sewer pipes."
"The sewer pipes?" he asked. The man nodded, and Sean looks back to the water.
Then it hit him. He quickly remembered what Victor had said about the thing that attacked the man.
" … All we found was some sort of green substance in the victim's wounds …"
"Green substance," Sean said, immediately running off of the boat.
"Hey kid!" The man yelled, "What's this all about?"
Sean never answered him. Once he was out of sight, he sped down the roads, leaving a speed trail behind.
Bolt's boots splashed into the sewer water, sending an echo down the path of the sewer. It smelled like trash, mixed with blood, oil and water. He couldn't see any farther than a few feet in front of his face. Reaching into his belt he pulled out a small cylinder and pressed the button on the side. The cylinder expanded and formed into a flashlight, "Classic LightSpeed tech," Bolt said, turning on the light and shining it down his path. He moved forward carefully as not to make too much noise in his step. He shined his flashlight onto the walls of the sewer. Immediately he finds trails of green across the walls, and scratch marks scattered everywhere. "You, my friend, have been busy," he said, seeing red trails of blood across the walls as well. "God, what have you been doing?" He said softly.
His earpiece starts ringing, loud enough to echo through the sewer. He quickly answered to turn off the sound, worried that it may end up getting him caught, "Hello?" he said quietly.
"Hey, It's me," Olives voice rang through the coms. Bolt was relieved that it a more comforting voice, especially at a time like this. "Olive," Sean said, "What's up?"
"I wanted to talk to you about something. Something important."
"Olive, I'm a bit busy."
"Please? It's about …that thing I won't talk about."
Bolt stopped for a moment, "You mean the thing like at the fair?"
He received an 'mmhmm' from her.
"So, you want to talk about it now?" he asked.
"Yeah, I guess you could say I need advice from a friend. Can you come over? I'd really like to see you."
Under normal circumstances, he would already be there. But these weren't normal circumstances, "I'm actually …occupied at the moment."
"Oh …oh! I'm so sorry, did I catch you at a bad time?" She asked.
"Kind of," he said, "I'm in the sewers, scared out of my mind. Tracking that creature from the other night. I think it's been hiding out in the sewers."
"That explains how it was able to disappear so quickly. Wait, you're in the sewers right now?"
"Yep," He bluntly said.
"Well, I could hang up so you can focus-"
"No!" he suddenly yelled, causing silence between them. "I uh … want to hear your voice. Like I said, I'm scared out of my mind."
"Sure, of course. Anything."
For the next few moments it was just silence as Bolt treaded carefully through the painfully silent sewers. "So," Bolt started, "That advice you wanted?"
"Sean, it can wait."
"'Bolt', I'm in costume."
She laughed, "Fine, 'Bolt', It can wait until I see you."
"No, no its ok, really, I want to know what's going on."
He heard a sigh, "Ok. I have this …old friend. We haven't spoken in a while. I'm wondering whether or not I should forgive him."
"Well he is your friend right?" he backtracked, "Actually, scratch that, what did he do?"
"Long story short? …he hurt me. Bad. It's become really tough to even think about him but, I don't know how much longer I can just hold a grudge."
"Well, I guess it depends on what he did. But it also depends on whether or not he's sorry," he said, "If he feels guilt, he can learn to be better, especially if it's for a friend."
"You think?"
"Yeah," he said, then a thought crossed his mind, "So, when you say you think about him, were you two …together?"
She laughed, "Sean White-excuse me- 'Bolt', you aren't jealous, are you?"
What threw her off is that he didn't answer her question. Bolt simply kept walking, as she waited for an answer that never came. "Bolt?" she asked, "Sean?"
The sound of extra footsteps caught him off guard. Bolt stopped, and his body sparks in preparation to start running. "Sean?" She called his name again.
"Olive, I think it's here." He said.
"What? Sean, be careful."
The sound that echoed through the sewers resembled metal tapping against metal. Bolt spun around in every direction, trying to keep his eye on every angle. He heard an echo of a screech from all over.
A hand grabbed his shoulder and threw him to the nearby wall, pinning him by the chest. The creature screeched loud at him. "Sean?!" Olive called out.
"H-Hey there big guy," Bolt said, receiving only another screech as a response, "Ok, ok! I can see that you are mad! Just talk to me, please, I can help you!"
The creature's screeches grew quieter. Bolt even noticed a pattern in his screeches. "Y-you're trying to speak, aren't you?" Bolt said.
"YAAAAAA!...Yaaaa….Yooooo…"
It could speak, or rather it was trying to.
"Yaaaa…yoooo…yooouuuu…ssssstaaaaaaahhyyyy….aaaaaawaaaaaaahhyyyy."It's voice was gargled, and quiet when it attempted to form words.
"I don't have to," Bolt said, "I can help. Me and my friends at Lightspeed labs can-"
The creature screeched again, throwing Bolt down into the sewer water. The creature began to run off, and Bolt attempted to run after him. His feet started experiencing hydroplaning and he slid across the sewer floor, crashing into a set of bars. "Agh!" He exclaimed.
"Sean, talk to me! Are you ok?" Olive said, reminding Bolt she was still on the line.
"Yeah, yeah I'm ok." As Bolt recovered, he noticed a massive hole in the set of bars, almost as if it was ripped out. A large screech echoed through the sewers again, coming from beyond the hole. He began to tread slowly through the hole and deeper into the sewers. "Listen!" he called out, "I am not the enemy!"
"LIIIIIIEEEEEESSSS!" The creature jumped out of the water and punched him, then dived back in, hidden from Bolts sight as he recovered from the blow. He shook his head, "I'm the good guy! I just want to help you! You just have to let me!"
The creature came out of the water again, kicking him down into the water. He kept his foot on Bolts chest as not to let his head above water.
"Sean?! Sean!"
Bolt was unable to answer. In fact, he was unable to breath. The creature refused to move its foot from his chest, and he was slowly losing air. He held his breath for as long as he could but eventually it gave out and he began gargling water. He tried reaching for something-anything- to help him get free. As his vision started to fade, he began to panic. His head clouded with images he hadn't seen before.
Doctors strapped someone down to a table. "Keep him down! He's having a panic attack!"
Lightning struck the entire room.
"Turn it off! Turn it off!"
"We can't! It's busted!"
An explosion of lightning consumed them all.
Lightning began sparking from Bolt extraordinarily. His entire body was engulfed with the sparks of light. They spread to the water and electrified it as well as the creature holding him down. It screeched in pain as it finally removed its foot from Bolt, allowing him to sit up and get some air with a large wheezing gasp. The creature screeched one more time before taking off quickly down into the sewers. Bolt thought about chasing it, but he was far too exhausted to do that, as he then fainted back into the water.
Sean opened his eyes slowly, as not to be blinded by the light in front of him. Was he in lightspeed labs? Did Peter find him? He found this to be doubtful in feeling the warm blanket on top of his body. The bed below him wasn't like the LightSpeed med bay. Rather instead of a normal, average bed that made him question where he was and who found him.
"Thank god you're ok."
Sean turned his head to see Olive sitting on the side of the bed, her hand on his chest in relief. "Olive?" He said, "How did you find me?"
She smiled, "Your com has a tracker in it. So I downloaded the GPS from our computer at our lab and tracked you down."
Sean sighed in relief and lets his head sink into the pillow. "If I hadn't been there," Olive started, "Even with your fast healing, you would have gotten hypothermia from the water or something."
Sean laughed, "Then it's a good thing I have you."
Her smile faded into anger and concern, mostly the latter, "Sean, you could have died today, you know that right?"
She was right, even if he wouldn't admit it. That creature could have killed him. Perhaps it was only out of sheer luck that Sean even survived. And eventually, luck runs out. "I know," He said.
"Do you?" Olive retorted, adjusting her spot on the bed, "Sean, you can't go head on into things like this by yourself. It's dangerous! My god, if you were to actually die I couldn't-", She stopped for a moment, " …Sean promise me you'll be more careful, please."
Her voice now sounded scared. Sean hadn't considered how afraid she might have been about losing him. He immediately felt terrible for making her worry like that. He sat up, and moved himself over to her, embracing her in a warm hug, "I'm sorry. I promise to be more careful."
She smiled, and hugged back. For a moment, she didn't care about anything else. This life here, helping Sean, it was good. It was better.
So should she forgive her friend?
Her train of thought changed tracks when she noticed the green stain in Sean's suit, "Sean, I think some of the sewer water stained your costume."
Sean spotted where she was referring to, and his eyes widen, "That isn't sewer water," He grabbed a knife from his belt and scrapped off a bit of the green substance.
"What is that?" Olive asked.
"Blood," Sean said, "It's blood. And not mine."
Olive immediately understood, "The creature."
"Time to get some answers," Sean said.
Alex woke up, feeling bruised and beaten. Pain was echoing all over his body. He struggled to get on his feet, using the walls of the glass cage to support him. He groaned from the agonizing stinging in his wounds. "It gets easier," Jack said from the cage next to Alex.
Alex rubbed his eyes and focused on Jack, "Jack? Is that you?" He asked.
Jack nodded, "Nice to see you Alex," he said, "Honestly, I didn't think they would catch you so soon. But you always were reckless."
Alex laughed through the pain, "Missed you too, Nichols," he sat back down, "So Peter has himself another speedster?"
"I guess so," Jack sighed, "And he packs quite a punch too. But thing is, I don't think he quite knows what's going on. As far as he knows, it seems, he's just stopping bad guys."
"So Peter is using him," Alex grunted, "Just like everyone else. How many more of us has he caught?"
"Just you and me."
The doors to the room opened and a woman with a clipboard walked inside, standing before the two, "Good morning."
Neither one of them answered the woman, who cleared her throat, "My name is Rose, I'll be conducting your experiments today."
"Joy," Alex slumped down, "What is it this time? Gas? Electricity? I was a big fan of that one."
She shook her head and pressed a button on the wall, lifting the cage that kept Alex trapped. "Don't bother using your powers, the cuffs your wearing conceal them." he stood up, and Rose smiled, "If you would please follow me."
The hallway felt like forever to him. It was coated with blue neon lines, pulsing with Light. He had forgotten how high tech Light-Speed labs. He eyed several scientists who walked past them. In one of the room windows, Alex noticed a large seat, like you would see in a dentist. However, the room was blocked off, and everything inside looked as though it was burned. "What happened in there?" Alex asked.
Rose turned her head to him, "A failure," She said, then turned her head back in front of her. Alex felt scared and curious for what was going on, and where they were going.
They entered a large room that looked completely empty of anything except light. "What am I doing here?" Alex asked. Just as he heard the door close behind, he turned and noticed that Rose was gone. "Great," He said, sarcastically.
A voice rang over the intercom of the room, "Hello Alex," Peter's voice bounced on the walls, "I would like to say congratulations, because you my friend have passed the first phase of your …trials."
Alex clenched his fists, "Call them what they are, 'experiments!'"
"Whatever you like. So, now, you are able to move on to your next …experiment."
"And that would be?"
The walls begun to close in on him, being released from their hinges. "Phase 2," Peter said.
After speeding Olive and himself to their lab, Sean took the sample from his suit and places it on a light-table. The table starts scanning the substance, and the statistics appear on the big screen, constantly in flux, "What exactly do we expect to find?" Olive asked.
"I hope to figure out whether or not this thing is human," Sean said. He began to type at sonic speed on the computer, to a point where Olive could not even comprehend his fingers hitting the keys, "Showoff," She said half-jokingly. Sean didn't focus too much on her joke and just continued to type.
"So," Olive started, "Should we show Peter whatever we find?"
Sean stopped typing and froze, " …I don't know. Depends on what we find," With that he continued to type for a moment before stopping again, "Ok I think I got something."
He pressed the enter key and the statistics stopped on the big screen. "This is interesting," Sean started, "It's human."
"Come again?" Olive questioned.
"This thing, when comparing it to the DNA structure of a human being, it matches. But this creature's DNA has been …modified, or rather it's been added onto. Whatever has been added to its DNA, the mix changed him physically as well as mentally," He sat back in his chair, "Point being, this thing is-or was human at one time. Whatever happened, he isn't now. But there is something else."
"I see it actually," Olive said, looking at the screen, "You showed me the DNA structure of a meta human the other day and this-"
"Resembles a Meta-Humans DNA structure," Sean cut her off, "Whatever he is, he wasn't just human. He was a Meta-Human. But now he's a mutated, like a-"
"-A Meta-Mutant," Olive cut in, "Trademarking that right now. It's a Meta-Mutant."
"'Meta-Mutant'," Sean repeated, "Ok, yeah, that works."
Sean stared at the image of the 'Meta-Mutant' on another screen. It was hard to imagine that it used to be human, or Meta-Human rather. But now it was some kind of creature. Did the particle accelerator do this to him? Was he just one of the unlucky ones and the explosion had mutated him? He couldn't see any other explanation. And if that was the case and it was enough to mutate him, that meant he had to be exceptionally powerful. From what Sean could figure out from his fights with the Meta-Mutant, it was fast, and its survival skills gave it an advantage. But Sean had Light-Speed labs technology, giving him a strong scientific background to counter it. "We need to find it before it hurts anyone else," He said. Olive stared at him, wondering why he felt it unnecessary to tell Peter about what they know of the Meta-Mutant.
The police scanner was quite that night. Not too much had been happening since the appearance of that strange creature. People had been too afraid to go out in the day, much less the night. Even as Victor tuned the scanner, there was nothing but small chatter. Part of him was happy for this. He was happy that he could spend just one night not having to worry about facing any Meta-Humans or monsters. But at the same time, the silenced killed him. It reminded him how scared that everyone was at the moment. And if he was to be honest, he was just as scared if not more in knowing he had to be the one to face it.
But that got him thinking as well about another thing. The Bolt. For Victor and the police force, it was their job to protect people. It was their job to take criminals in. But for people like The Green Arrow, The Flash, and now The Bolt, they all did what they did because they could. Some had speed, others arrows. But they chose to do what they did. They chose to save people out of the goodness of their hearts. There was no money. It made him somewhat jealous.
As he continued to tune the radio, he saw a shadow move into the nearby alley. After seeing it, he grabbed his radio, "I've got a 10-66, stand by." He hung up the radio and steps out of the car, grabbing his gun from his holster and keeping it ready as he approached the alleyway. It was dark, the only light came from the street. There was a large trash can and a fire escape, dirt scattered everywhere. But in all the darkness, he could see a figure at the back wall of the alley. It was on its knees, ripping into a trash bag. "Hey!" Victor called out, "What are you doing?"
The being turned around, stood up straight and stepped into the light, letting out a large screech. "Uh oh," Victor said, pointing his gun and firing off a few rounds. The bullets hit, but bounced right off the creatures skin with a ting. It screeched again, and lunged at Victor. He didn't have time to move and the creature grabbed him, throwing him against the wall several times. He dropped his gun as the creature raised him against the wall, smacking him with his massive fist several times. "STAAAAAAAAAY AWWWWAAAAAY!" It yelled, tossing him into the street, and leaping into the shadows.
Victor held his side, groaning in agonizing pain. He struggled to crawl over to the car, and grabbed the radio inside, "O-officer down!" with that he fell, holding his side as he bled.
The streak of white lightning zoomed quickly through the hospital halls, just fast enough to avoid any cameras or people that may spot him. The only trace he left was a gust of wind. As he stopped in room 1-52, he closed the door behind him carefully as not to disturb Victor as he slept in his bed. Bolt slowly walks up to him after locking the door. He observed the sleeping officer with worry, "Victor, I'm so sorry," He said. Though this wasn't his fault directly, he still felt responsible. He should have found that creature after the sewer fight and taken it down. He should have done something more, but he didn't. This creature hurt Victor because of Bolt. Most of the officers were taking things easy as to avoid the creature. But not Victor. Victor chose to stay on duty even after he was supposed to go home for the night. Bolt couldn't help but wonder if he did so for him, as to prove he could handle Meta-Humans. Maybe he can, but this thing wasn't human, at least not anymore.
Bolt took off his mask and sits down next to Victor, who snored silently. He must have been exhausted from that ordeal, "Victor, I admire you, I do," Sean said, knowing Victor probably couldn't hear him, "But you are just going to get hurt doing things like this. I have powers, you don't. The police have no idea what they are really up against," He sighed, "Heck, I don't even know what I'm going up against. But I have to fight it, otherwise it'll hurt people like it hurt you," he paused, and let out an ironic chuckle, "I Guess you would give me the same argument wouldn't you?"
He almost wished he was awake, so he could be sure that he was ok. Instead, he grabbed a small ear-piece from his belt pocket, and placed it on the desk next to Victor. After writing a small note, he put his mask back on and went for the door, opening it and speeding away, a gust of wind hitting the curtains.
Victor shook his head and rubbed his eyes, blinking a few times. The room was blurred only for a few moments until he saw the hospital room he was in. He sighed, and went to grab the glass of water from the desk next to him. Instead, his hand lands on a small device, and a piece of paper.
"What the …?" he wondered, as he pulled the objects toward him, and read the words on the paper.
"IN CASE YOU NEED ME"
-B
Victor smiled, and held the earpiece between his fingers.
"It was human?" Peter repeated, sitting back in his office chair.
"Yeah," Bolt said, "But something must have mutated it. It used to be a Meta-Human, but now it's some kind of …Meta-'Mutant'."
"Meta-Mutant?" Peter questioned.
Bolt shook his head, "Olive's idea. I think it works."
"Whether it works or not isn't the point, Sean. What we need to do is stop this thing. How did you defeat it before?"
Bolt rubbed the back of his head, "I didn't exactly beat it, rather I managed to scare it off. We were both covered in sewer water, then my body started sparking with electricity. It electrified it and he ran off. It was the first time I actually hurt it."
Peter stood up and started pacing, "Of course. You used pure energy against it. Regular punches won't due. The energy you create when you run might be the key to stopping it."
Bolt nodded, and watched as he let his hand spark with electricity, "Ok, so I guess I'll be playing Zeus today," he chuckled, "We need to track this thing down. Any ideas?"
The room started flashing with a red light, as an alarm began to play. "I think it found you, actually," Peter said, observing the camera feed. The creature stood right outside the entrance, "Must have a fight to pick with you. Sean, be-" As he turned around, Bolt was gone, "…carful."
Bolt zoomed outside and stood behind the creature, "Hey!" He called out. The Meta-Mutant turned around and faced Bolt, clenching his fists, "SSSSSSeeeeeeeeaaaaaaannnn," he says.
"You know who I am?" Bolt said, stepping forward, "Then you must know I don't want to hurt you. I want to help you, and no one else has to get involved. Not the police, not Light-Speed labs, just you and me. Please."
Instead of responding, the Meta-Mutant lunges forward at Bolt, "I'm guessing 'pretty please' is out of question?" he said, speeding away as the creature followed him, leaping large distances.
Bolts streak zoomed passed windows, shattering the glass. He put everything he had into his speed, and then some. Bolt would look back a few a few times and see the Meta-Mutant gaining on his trail. The creature landed on several cars, crushing them before he leaped again. "This thing is seriously agile," Bolt said, as he pushed himself to run faster. He made several quick turns in an attempt to confuse the creature, but it was still able to keep up. "Bolt!" Peter said from his com, "Get him to the water!"
Bolt nodded and made another sharp turn, dodging to avoid an incoming car. "Come on! Keep up!" Bolt yelled, looking ahead to the harbor, and skidding to a sudden stop. The Meta-Mutant lands on the ground with a massive thud, cracking the earth beneath his feet. He lets out a screech, making Bolt cover his ears, then stand in defiance position. "Come on!" he yelled, "Come and get me!"
The creature leaped for Bolt, who speeds out of the way, standing a few yards to the left as the creature lands on a boat. It struggled to keep its balance as the boat weaved and shook from its landing. It screeched again and threw a massive energy sphere at Bolt. He just manages to turn his hips and dodge the incoming sphere, only to turn back and watch as the creature tackled him to the ground. "Seeeeeeaaaaan!" It yelled.
"You have bad breath," Bolt said, kicking him off with both feet, and standing up as quick as he could. He ran down the sidewalk and taunted the creature to chase him. He screeched and leaped toward Bolt, who grabbed a lamppost as he ran and let his momentum carry him around, striking the creature with his foot as he came at him. The creature was knocked back and rolled to its stomach. As Bolt landed, he quickly started running circles around it, his lightning trail glowing bright. "Look at the pretty light!" Bolt joked. As the Meta-Mutant stood, Bolt began throwing random punches, keeping it on its knees. "Stay down, stay down, stay down!" He repeated desperately.
The creatures top two eyes glowed blue, and frosty air came out of his mouth. The ground beneath him froze to ice, and Bolt immediately slipped and fell a few yards away, grunting as he came to a stop and holding his side. The creature, stood, and faced him, "Seeeeaaan!" he yelled.
Bolt got to one knee, and looked up, "You are …full of surprises," he said, then clenched his fists and sped toward him. The creature ran toward him as well. As Bolt leapt at him, the creature grabbed him in mid-air, and held him painfully tight. "Agh! Uncle, uncle!" Bolt yelled. It was here he began to understand what he was dealing with. This Meta-Mutant had a range of abilities that he wasn't aware of. He was strong, fast, and smart despite his seemingly predator state of mind. His thought derailed as he was thrown and pinned to the ground.
A car pulled into the harbor, and Olive stepped out and slammed the door. "Sean!" She yelled, beginning to run toward him, and stopping when she saw the monster.
"Olive, stay back!" Bolt yelled.
Startled, the creature takes himself and Bolt into the water with a splash.
"Sean!" Olive yelled, running over to the edge and looking into the water. "Sean!" She yelled again.
Bolt struggled to try and reach the surface. Every time he escaped the monsters grasp, it would just grab him and pull him back down. It would strike him in the stomach and back, severely bruising Bolt. When it struck him in the stomach again, Bolt forcibly released the air he was holding. He began to choke on the water, triggering a strange and painful memory.
"Keep him down!"
"Let me go! Let me go!"
"Stabilize it!"
"I can't!"
A massive scream filled the room, and electricity spread all over.
"Incredible …" Someone said.
An explosion of electricity overtook everything.
Bolt began screaming as he grabbed the creature by the throat, taking it by surprise. Electricity began sparking off of him, spreading through the water and hitting the creature who screeched in pain. As it tried to get away, Bolt would pull it back down as more lightning escaped his body. The water had been completely electrified, to a point where some strands of electricity escaped the water for Olive to see. Bolt screamed louder as a massive amount of lightning sparked from him, and filled the premise of the water. He began striking the creature with his fists, powered by lightning. His scream was muffled by the water, until they rise above the surface, dragging all of the lightning with them. It sparked and spread across the surface of the water. Olive took a step back and watch the electricity fly through the air. Bolt delivered one last punch and the creature goes flying across the water, and Bolt is thrown back in the opposite direction.
The sparks still remained in the water. Bolt floated at the surface, his head just under the water. A voice echoed as he began to black out.
" …Sean! …"
He blinked several times in an attempt to fully awaken. The light in front of his face was blinding, and he thought he was in a hospital bed. But he was once again proven wrong when he felt a hand rest on his chest, and he saw Olive sitting at his bedside. Taking a look around, he found himself at their HQ, in one of the beds put there in case they worked overnight. Olive smiled at him, pushing the hair out from in front of his face. He smiled back, "Hey," He said, "How long was I out for?"
"Only a few hours, thankfully," She answered, "I had gotten worried about you after you went to see Victor. I tracked you to Light-Speed labs when your signal suddenly went everywhere. So I listened into the coms and met you at the harbor. I'm glad I came when I did. You would have drowned," She sighed, "Again," She slapped his arm, "For the second time in two days," She smacked his arm again, "Do you get what I'm hinting at?"
"To be more careful?" He said, rubbing his arm and sitting up, "Olive, what I do is dangerous and I'm sorry, but you just have to accept that."
She looked as though she was going to retort, but she stopped herself. She let her expression drop and she sighed, moving closer and hugging him tightly. Sean wasn't sure if he was hearing things, but he thought he heard her whisper something very quietly. As she let him go, she sniffled, as if she had started to cry. "Ok, I'll just have to trust you then," She gave her best smile, "So, what do we do about the Meta-Mutant?"
He had completely forgotten about that, "Oh yeah, what happened after I passed out anyway?"
"It got up and ran, or swam," She said, "While you were out, I gave Peter a call. He used that satellite of his to try and track it."
"And?"
She sighed, "It left the city. Peter suspects it'll be heading for the nearest city down east."
"Which city is that?" He asked.
She didn't say anything at first, perhaps because she wanted to choose her next words carefully, "It doesn't matter. It's gone. And it's not like you can just leave the city without your parents-"
"Olive," he interrupted sternly, "Which city?"
She could see his determination. She knew that even with the parent's obstacle. He would scavenge for a way to track this Meta-Mutant. But she knew what that would mean and she didn't like it at all. Still, seeing his expression, she eventually gave in, "Anterior City," She said quietly, "Peter thinks the creature is on a path to Anterior City. But he said you shouldn't go after that thing, that it was too dangerous-"
Sean stood up and paced around the room, limping slightly, "I don't care what Peter says." He grabbed his mask from the main desk in his hand.
"Sean, what's gotten into you?" She asked.
Sean suddenly slammed his hands against the table, startling Olive, "I'm the only one that can fight this thing right now! And if this thing is going to hurt anymore people then I have to stop it! It …It knew my name, Olive. Something is strange, between me and him. I get this feeling that there is this connection and I have to find out what it is," He held back a tear, "Please …if there is any way you think will get me over there, please, help me find it."
She said nothing as the silence grew between them. She hadn't seen him get this angry before. Perhaps she didn't fully understand how deeply he felt with his situation. She had seen him be brave, silly, energetic, but not angry, not like this. The unfortunate thing for her was that she knew a way, but she just wouldn't like it.
"Ok," Olive finally said, "Give me some time."
Olive shut the door slowly behind her, sighing. She couldn't believe she was actually going to do this. But this was for the best. Besides, maybe it was finally time. As she entered the kitchen, she saw her mother sitting at the table. She stood there at the door in silence until her mother had taken notice of her, "Oh, hi sweetie," She said, "Back from Sean's so soon?"
She took notice of Olives gloom expression, and stood up, "Sweetie, what's wrong?"
Olive stood there, silent as her mother approached her. She escaped into her mind to think about whether or not this was the best option. But it was, and she knew that this was the only way, "Mom," She started, "I want to visit Charley."
The roof was cold for Victor. It was late and the would rather be going to sleep. But he felt he needed to do this. He held the earpiece between his fingers, and rubbed his arms to keep himself warm. He smiled when he heard lightning crackle behind him, then stop, "Glad you came," He said, turning to see Bolt at the entrance to the roof, hidden as a silhouette.
"There a reason you called me?" Bolt asked.
Victor smiled, "Guess I'm just trying out your gift. I actually wanted to thank you in person."
"For what?"
Victor took a step forward, "For trusting me. It isn't fair that the rest of the police force doesn't trust Meta-Humans. So I'm glad you took it upon yourself to put your trust in me."
Bolt smiled under his mask, "You're welcome. I had to trust someone didn't I?"
They both laugh, and Bolt took a step forward, "I admire what you're doing. Going beyond the call of duty. Just promise I won't find you in the hospital again. I gave you that com for a reason."
Victor nodded and looked at the earpiece, "Yeah, you did. I guess I'll see you-" he looked back up after hearing lightning crackling, to see Bolt gone from the roof, " … That better not become habit," He said.
Sean dropped his bag to the side after closing the door to his house. "Abigail! Ethan! I'm back!"
He entered the living room to see Olive sitting on one of the couches, talking to his guardians, "Um, hey Olive, what are you doing here?"
Abigail turned to Sean, "Olive was telling us how she and her family were taking a trip to Anterior City."
Sean took a moment to process this before speaking, "Come again?" He asked.
"Yeah," Olive said, "My parents and I are spending the weekend in Anterior City. I was asking your parents if it would be ok to take you along."
"Well," Ethan said, "As your legal guardians one of us would have to go with you, and Abigail will be doing that."
Sean took a moment before sitting down slowly in a chair, "Really?"
He couldn't believe it. How did Olive manage to convince her parents to go to Anterior City? And so soon? The situation was almost perfect. He would have two days to find the Meta-Mutant and take it down, "Well, yeah, absolutely, I'm up for it."
"Great," Abigail said, "We can start packing."
Abigail and Ethan leave the room and go upstairs. Sean adjusts himself in his seat and faces Olive, "How on earth did you convince your folks to take us to Anterior City?"
Olive sighed, "Because I used to live there. And I had a friend there."
Sean nodded, "The friend who hurt you?"
"Yeah." She said, "Time I faced the past."
The Bolt
The alarm from the bank rang loud on the streets as the two men ran down the alleyway with guns and money in hand. The police chased after them on foot. "Stop right there!" One yelled. One of the thugs pointed their gun and shot the officer, making the other one stop for his fallen comrade, "Officer down! Backup needed!" He yelled.
The two thugs turned a corner and stopped, panting, "I think we're safe, dude" they laughed, proud of themselves.
Suddenly they heard a strange clanking noise, almost like footsteps from above, "What was that?" one asked, "Is that him?"
"Forget it man! Let's go!"
Suddenly a grapple shot down and grabbed one of the men, pulling him up into the shadows and vanishing with a scream. His scream was suddenly silenced. "Fred!" The other man yelled, looking around and keeping his gun pointed, "Sh-show yourself!"
He was tackled from behind, a piece of metal against the back of his neck. The figure turned him over and moved the blade to the front of his neck. "Wh-who are you?!" The man yelled.
The figure was dressed in a black suit, with a full headed cowl. He had a fully fitted belt, and a backpack hanging on his shoulders. His eyes had a yellow glow, and the rest of his costume followed the same subtle yellow pattern. "Justice," The figure said in a distorted voice, as he drove the knife into the man.
Written by Timelord2024
I do not own The DC universe. This includes the CW Television shows, ARROW, THE FLASH, LEGENDS OF TOMMOROW, and SUPERGIRL.
All Original characters are owned by Timelord 2024
THE BOLT created by Timelord 2024
