Outsider Chronicles: Meta Not Para
There are plenty of people with powers in this world on both sides of the fence. I'm not that different from them, with one exception. I'm not a Parahuman. Instead, I'm the Fastest man alive and I will save my hometown.
And we're back! Enjoy!
Chapter 2
After two weeks of zipping around the city, beating up muggers and dropping them off at the police station, I was earning quite the reputation for myself. It helped that I was doing an excellent job of avoiding both the PRT and Protectorate by virtue of being much, MUCH faster than anything they had. Even Velocity wasn't able to keep up with me for long. Or at all really. I was much, much faster than him. The guy could outrun cars on the freeway. I could outrun supersonic jets. I think I was making him feel rather inadequate.
There was a lot of rumours going around on PHO, including a few that said that I might be Velocitys kid, although that one was put down rather harshly by the PRT and Velocity himself, as well as a combination of AllSeeingEye and WingedOne doing an excellent job of pointing out inconsistencies with that theory. The two played of each other quite well and hit the idiots with a one two move that was rather impressive. Although I did have to wonder if WingedOne was actually Ziz trolling the world or someone else. Maybe Hawkgirl or something. I wouldn't put it past this world after doing a bit of research into current and past Capes that called the Bay home.
Apparently, around 12 years ago when Marquis was still active, there had been a duo of rather deadly vigilanties who made Shadow Stalker look like an amature, both because they didn't need to pin people to walls to make a point, but also because they didn't just go after street level crime. No, Arrow and Huntress were known for taking out most of the unpowered organized crime in the Bay, taking down multiple corrupt businessmen and were even credited with taking out both Iron Rain and the Allfather after they went to far and refused to listen to their warnings to fuck off and leave the Bay alone. The Archery Duo had faded from the public eye a couple of years after Marquis arrest, although there were a few times that they popped up again with impressive results, and then vanished completely about two years ago and had not been seen since. I would not be at all surprised to discover that they were the inspiration behind Shadow Stalker, although they were nowhere near as bad as that psychopath. Sure, a few people got pinned to walls, but they were very good at making it hurt without there being any risk of death.
Other than discovering that Arrow was apparently a thing, I'd made some slight modifications to my 'costume'. It was still basically just street clothes, but I'd swapped my plain red hoodie for one with a lightning bolt emblem on the chest, my jeans for hard wearing and reasonably lose combats and my shoes for hard wearing shoes. While my Aura protected my clothes from simply bursting into flames from the sheer friction, my clothes still experienced some wear, so I needed to make sure they were high quality. I fully intended to get a proper outfit at some point, but that could wait for now.
Currently I was zipping around downtown, heading back from dealing with a high speed chase between a gang moron and the cops that the PRT wouldn't get involved with because the guy wasn't a Parahuman. I sorted it out by virtue of disarming the idiot and sticking him in the back of the police car. I was just passing the local arcade when a flicker of movement caught my attention. I skidded to a stop and looked up to see Glory Girl sat on the roof looking rather morose.
Due to long experience dealing with the Alexandria Package at school, I knew that look to mean that she and Dean had had yet another fight. Honestly, it was getting a bit silly. Sure, the relationship had always been a little unstable, but over the past couple of weeks, they seemed to be getting into fights at least once a week. It had gone far beyond just Vicky being short tempered and into outright relationship self destruct territory. It was rather hard to watch considering I liked both of them and I didn't like to see my friends upset. With that in mind, I decided that it was time for me to be a hero in a way that didn't involve punching someone in the face and zipped off to get just the thing to cheer Vicky up.
Victoria Dallon sighed deeply. It was the sort of sigh that most people were unfortunately very familiar with, the sigh of a person who knows that their relationship is on the rocks but has no idea how to fix it. Thats not to say she didn't know the cause, how could she not when it was her? She was well aware that most of the fights she and Dean had were a result of her short temper and her pride often resulted in Dean being the one who had to apologize, even though he hadn't done anything. The guy more than lived up to his Cape name, but there's only so many times that a guy could be pushed before he got sick of it and put his foot down. Chances were that the next fight the two had, and there would be one, would result in a permanent and messy break up.
Vicky sighed again and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her shins. She didn't want that to happen. She liked Dean, really liked him, and she didn't want to hurt him or lose him, but thats exactly what would happen if they kept going like this.
A sudden and very heavy gust of wind suddenly jolted her out of her thoughts, along with the tub of ice cream that appeared under her nose. The blond nearly jumped out of her skin and snapped her head around to look at the red clad speedster who had just appeared next to her.
"You seem down," he said, "Wanna talk about it?"
Vicky blinked and glanced between the Speedster and the icecream in his hand.
"I...how did…" spluttered Vicky.
"I have a few female friends, so I know what a depressed girl in need of ice cream looks like," said the Speedster with a smirk, "Plus, I'm hungry and food always tastes better with friends."
Vicky raised an eyebrow as she took the tub from him and glanced at the label. Somehow it was her favorite flavor from her favorite parlor.
"Friends?" she asked.
The Speedster shrugged as he popped the top of his own tub.
"We're both heroes and I like making friends," he said, "Better friends than enemies, right?"
"I...guess," said Vicky, "So, if we're friends, mind telling me your name?"
The speedster paused.
"You know, I've been so busy running around lately, I haven't actually thought about it," he said.
Vicky snorted.
"Better hurry up before you get landed with a name like Chubster," she said.
"Didn't he pick his own name?" asked the Speedster.
"True, but that doesn't mean they don't suck at it," said Vicky with a grin, "Knowing them, you'll end up with a name like the Streak or Quicksilver or something."
"How would they get Quicksilver when I wear red?" grumbled the Speedster, although he was still grinning.
"Never underestimate the PRT PR department," said Vicky, "Sometimes I wonder if they don't deliberately do it to persuade new Capes to join the Protectorate so they can change it."
"I think your giving them to much credit," said the Speedster, "Then again, I do have a habit of seeing the good in people a tad to much…"
Vicky burst out laughing, making the Speedsters grin widen. Once she calmed down, Vicky smiled at the red clad teen.
"Thanks, I needed that," she said.
"Don't mention it," he said, "Always happy to help."
He tossed the empty tub of ice cream off the roof. Before it even landed in the bin, he was gone in a gust of wind, leaving Vicky with messy hair and a smile. The guy was annoying, but he was very good at cheering people up. In fact, his mannerisms were almost familiar to the blonde…
Vickys eyes widened and she glanced down at the tub in her hand.
"No way, it couldn't be," she muttered.
Director Piggot sighed as Miss Militia finished her report on the Wards progress. Technically, it should have been Armsmaster giving it, but considering the mans well known lack of people skills, Miss Militia was a much better choice.
"Alright, thank you Miss Militia," she said as the military themed hero sat down, "Moving on, I want to know any information we have on the new Parahuman running around the city."
She'd received reports on his activities of course, but this was the first full meeting since his debut and it wasn't vital enough to call a dedicated meeting, rather than letting the issue keep for the regular monthly meeting.
"Well, we can safely say that his speed doesn't work anything like Velocity's," said Dauntless.
"Oh?"
The Spartan Hero nodded.
"I saw him dealing with some muggers a few days ago," he said, "He didn't even slow down when he hit them, but it was clear that he hit them with full force and strength. Whats more, hes been reported picking people up and moving them around at high speed. I think he must project a field of some kind around his body to protect himself, his equipment and anything or one hes holding."
"Hes a lot faster to," said Armsmaster, "I managed to clock him when he ran past the PRT building and he was clocking in at just under Mach 1. I have no reason to assume that that was anywhere close to his top speed."
Velocity groaned and let his head drop to the table. Piggot ignored the put out Mover in favour of continuing the questioning.
"Has anyone made any progress on actually making contact?" she asked.
"Are you joking?" said Battery, looking annoyed, "Any time we get close, he just runs off. I get the feeling hes deliberately avoiding us."
Piggot frowned. That...didn't bode well. While it seemed that he was doing a lot of good for the city by taking out petty criminals, she wasn't comfortable with the idea that he could be avoiding making contact with the PRT.
"Alright, keep trying in any case," she said, "We need to at least try and get him to join before one of the Gangs do. I don't like the idea of someone that fast working with the gangs."
"With all due respect Director, if we can't catch him, what makes you think anyone else could?" asked Triumph.
"Because they might not be as polite as us," said Piggot, "Now, if thats everything, we should…"
"Hold on a sec, we've forgotten something!" said Assault.
Piggot sighed. Something told her this was going to be something that earnt the annoying Striker a smack from his wife.
"What?" she asked, "Do you have something else to report?"
"No, but we still haven't given the new guy a name," said Assault with a grin.
Piggot paused. That was actually a very good point. They really needed to figure out a name for him to put on the reports.
"Thats...actually a good point," she said, "Any ideas?"
"The Flash."
Everyone turned to Armsmaster, who was looking down at his note book, apparently oblivious to the looks he was getting. A moment later, he looked up and noticed the looks.
"What?"
"Nothing, its just you don't usually have any suggestions," said Miss Militia, "So, why the Flash?"
Armsmaster shrugged.
"I'm not really sure," he said, "It just seems appropriate."
"Your not wrong there," said Piggot, "Alright, if there are no objections, the new Parahuman will be known as the Flash for now."
There was none.
"Alright then, meeting adjourned," she said and walked towards the door.
"Actually, there is one more thing," said Armsmaster, making Piggot sigh and turn back to the room.
"What?" she growled.
In answer, Armsmaster held up an arrow with a green head and fletching and Piggot went gray.
"Oh god," she breathed, "Hes back!"
"Oh god!" squealed Sophia Hess in a very un-Sophia like way, "Hes back!"
"Who's back?" asked Dennis as he picked himself up from where he'd fallen off the sofa at the normally stoic girls sudden squeal.
"Arrow, the Vigilante!" said Sophia, completely without her usual venom, "Ohh, I wonder if I could get his autograph?! Ohh, I wonder if Huntress is with him? EEEEE!"
The other Wards watched, nonplussed as the moody girl danced around like a loon, looking more like Missy on a sugar rush than the Shadow Stalker they were used to.
"So, is anyone else surprised that she likes those two psychos?" asked Dennis.
"No," said the rest of the Wards in unison, before going back to what they were doing.
"Thought not."
Thomas Calvert sighed as he dropped his keys in the bowl by the door and walked into his living room. It had been a very long day for both timelines and he couldn't wait for an evening of relaxation on at least one of them. His plans were coming along nicely and by his estimate, it would take a little more than another two years for his plans to come to fruition, especially once he got his hands on his newest pet. The acquisition of the Travellers would only help his progress.
He'd just poured himself a glass of expensive whisky and taken a sip when his finely honed senses informed him that he wasn't alone. He stiffened. With his extra timeline, he wasn't in any real danger, but if someone was in his house, he needed to know who it was so he could take action. If it was a random breaking and entering case, he'd make sure the idiot got the beating of a life for crossing him, but there was always the risk that someone had figured him out.
The wannabe Bond villain slowly put his glass down, before whipping his sidearm out and spinning around. Before he could even think of pulling the trigger though, an arrow shot out of the darkness and pinned the weapon against the wall. Calvert froze, his eyes going wide as the blood drained from his face. He knew that green fletching, hell, everyone who still remembered Marquis time did and anyone with their fingers in less than legal pies dreaded seeing them.
"Hello Calvert."
Calvert swallowed at the unnaturally deep voice from right behind him.
"Arrow, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked, inwardly quite proud that he managed to keep the fear out of his voice.
"I think you know the answer to that," said the vigerlanty, "Tonight is a warning. I'm back and I won't take kindly to any more of your little games in my city."
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," said Calvert, "I'm just the a PRT consultant these days."
"Don't lie to me Coil," said Arrow, "One warning. Leave this city or even your little power won't save you."
Calverts eyes widened, but before he could say anything else, the Timeline was ended by an arrow through the heart.
Right, I'm going to end this here. Its a tad short, but the last one was long, so it balances out.
I don't think I need to spell out who Arrow and Huntress were, do I? Yes, that will be a plot point in the future.
I'm not really sure if I did a good job with Vicky and Dean's relationship problems or not, but it seems reasonable to me. And yes, Vicky did figure out who the Flash really is, mainly because Barry's about as subtle as she is at times and Glory Girl isn't stupid. In all honesty, you can probably guess where I'm going with that.
I planned right from the start to have the PRT be the ones to name Flash, mainly because I planned to use it to push yet another implication. No, Armsmaster isn't going to be an antagonist before anyone guesses that.
Eeesh, Arrows in fine form here. Hes definitely no Hero, thats for damn sure! Easy to see why Shadow Stalker holds them in such high regard though. And yes, that will be a point of contention later, especially since I plan to have someone else take up Huntresses identity.
And with that, I'm done. Next time, the Unnamed Bug Girl goes out and encounters a Dragon, the Flash and a mysterious hooded man. Should be interesting. Don't forget to leave a review!