Author Note: NaNo2013

So that's NaNo over for another year. I actually finished on the 20th at around 2am but I thought I'd update in increments for you guys. I've left it open at the end for a reason. I want to be able to play around in this universe next NaNo or when I'm bored and they have so many more stories to tell that I'm looking forward to it.

Must admit it's been awesome to see my reader count shoot up over the course of this project, I was wondering if any of you have any opinions on what's gone on. Feel free to post if you do. I've left the comments open for everyone.

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 30

“Well you see, that wasn’t our only base. We have more. They’re just waiting on orders from me. Grabbing all of you at once was too big, too obvious. Taking you lot one at a time, now, that’s the route to take.” He gloated, “And you just made yourself the first victim.”

“You do realise, if I disappear, my friends will hunt you down and several of them aren’t like me. I don’t kill, they’ll shred you.” Speedster pointed out, “I’m the rule keeper, the voice of reason. You take me out, you’re opening yourself and many others to a world of hurt.”

“I don’t really care about anyone else.” He smirked at her, “And who would you prefer we grabbed. The soldier? The martial artist? The film student?” Speedster growled slightly, “How about the Gamer or the new freak?”

“Don’t you dare touch them.” Speedster could feel the power rising again at the thought of her friends in danger, but even as she tried to clamp down on it she knew that she wouldn’t be able to control it for too long without Luna around to help her keep her temper.

“We don’t need to.” The man informed her, “You’re here. We can start with you and believe me, we have so many experiments to run you’ll do just fine for months.”

“You honestly think you’ll be able to hold me for months?” Speedster asked, amused even as she fought with the growing power. “You couldn’t do it for three minutes, yet alone months.”

“It’s really simple.” The man shrugged it off, “All we have to do is stop you running and you’re caught. You’re not that special after all.” He chuckled. “Now,” He looked at the man behind her, “Take Miss Speedster to the jet. We’ll be going up to the Scotland base and it will be easier for all concerned if she doesn’t have to follow the plane.”

“Come on.” The gun nudged her, causing her to move towards the plane. As she started climbing the steps, she faked a stumble, tripping up the stairs and causing the barrel to lose its position. She swept out the gunman’s legs before darting away, getting halfway across the hanger before he opened fire, getting off six shots.

Only one hit, piercing her left side. She let out a pained cry and tripped, rolling as she hit the floor. Her hand going to her side as she continued rolling, managing to get to her feet, pain coursing through her, and keep going.

“You idiot! Are you trying to kill her!” The new leader demanded as the gunman started shooting again, missing with every shot. “Shit!” He yelped as Speedster started her tornado trick, managing to sweep up every human in the hanger in the blue, glowing whirlpool of energy, before flinging them in every direction.

The new leader groaned as he opened his eyes only to realise that he was collapsed at the bottom of a wall, being glowered at by Speedster, who had a gold aura that kept turning itself off and on, her eyes flickering between green and red too.

“Wha...what’s happening to you?” He asked, staring.

“Run.” She suggested, her voice harsh not just from the pain, but from something deeper. “Now.”

He took her advice, darting out of the hanger and into the waiting arms of the police, who, alerted by Rowena and her men who had tracked Speedster’s phone signal to the airstrip, were waiting for them.

“Sa...Save me!” The man begged, pointing towards the hanger, trembling in fear.

When the police entered, Speedster left, hanging around just long enough to ensure they arrested the rest of the men before shooting off to check on her friends. With the man in charge in custody she felt it was finally safe to go and make sure they were okay.

Her phone went off, alerting her to a text message as she darted through Newcastle, taking the long way round and burning off some of the energy that had been trying to take her over. It let her know where her friends had been sent to be checked over. Noting that it was a normal hospital, not some hidden lab in the middle of nowhere, she headed there, instead of for the ruined base.

The moment she stepped through the door, the nurses were on her, noting the blood and dealing with the bullet wound. Then it was off to the secure room where the others were waiting to be looked over.

“Speeds!” Tails looked relieved, grinning at her. “Another war wound?” She chuckled, gesturing at her side.

“My first one in this world.” Speedster corrected, pausing when a very tired but worried looking Luna stepped forward, moving towards her cautiously.

“You...” Luna raised her hand as if to slap her, hesitated for a moment and then lowered it, “Juliet... you...” Luna trailed off, as it not sure what to say.

“It’s over.” Speedster promised, “They won’t hurt us anymore. That’s their entire leadership dealt with.”

“You’re sure?” Mako demanded sharply, worried about possible attacks while they were here.

“He said as much himself.” Speedster nodded, glad to be able to reassure her friends of that little fact.

“Good.” Mako relaxed as much as she ever could in hospitals considering her phobia of the places. “I could do with a good rest.”

“As could the rest of us.” Luna agreed, dragging Speedster over to a chair by her and Tails. “We really need this break.”

“You’ll get one.” All of them jumped as Rowena stepped into the room, looking around and counting heads for a moment before smiling slightly, “Ah good, I see you’re all here.”

“Why I oughta...” Gold got to his feet, only to sit back down again at a snap from Speedster.

“No, it’s fine, Speedster.” Rowena shook her head, “It was us who had the leak that led to today’s events. It’s only right that he be mad at me.”

“What happens now?” Luna asked her, “To the men? Are they just going to go to jail?”

“We’ve arrested them.” Rowena informed the group, “And they will be tried and locked away for a very long time. You won’t have to worry about them again. In fact that’s not your job anymore. Your consultancy job regarding this group ended the moment the police arrested them.”

“So we were bait.” Luna got it first.

“Less bait, more an incentive.” Rowena corrected, “Bait suggests that you lot were helpless and quite frankly between the lot of you, there’s not much you can’t do, so I don’t believe it fits.”

“What about the other groups out there?” Speedster asked, “The other ones he talked about? Are we just going to be an ‘incentive’ to draw them in too?”

“Yes, and no.” Rowena frowned slightly, “Once you’re all healed up, we’ll have a proper meeting and settle everything. For now just be reassured by the fact we have men watching the hospital. You won’t get into trouble here.”

“So what, that’s it?” Mako demanded, “Good job, now get better and go home?”

“Pretty much.” Rowena nodded, “Until the next time something insane...” She trailed off as outside the windows darkness seemed to swarm across the skies and spirits appeared out of nowhere, walking the Earth and frightening the civilians outside out of their minds.

Rowena looked out of the window, turned to the group, smiled slightly and, with far too much enthusiasm chuckled as she headed for the door, “Looks like you lot have another job to deal with.” She paused and looked over at Luna, “And this one might be more your speed than hers.” She gestured to Speedster. “Good luck.”

With that she exited the room, leaving the group behind to work out the best plan of action.

“So...” Luna sighed as everyone turned to her, “Who wants to bet my brother has something to do with this?”

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 29

Luna looked exhausted as the Shadows faded enough to let them see through them but it was easy to see she had been victorious, as a woman who in any other situation would have been composed and as unreadable as stone was on the floor rolling around, giggling like a lunatic.

Since it was quite probable that that was, in fact, what she now was, Speedster chose to ignore the woman as she stepped into the room, moving to her friend’s side and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Luna?”

Luna pulled away, wheeled around and glowered at her, her eyes flashing gold for a moment before Speedster was sent flying through the glass wall by a burst of Shadows.

“Oh shit!” Luna yelped, realising who she had blasted as Tails helped Speedster sit up, “Speeds! I’m so sorry.”

“No, no,” Speedster got up with only a slight wince, “I made you jump, it’s fine. Happens to all of us. Ready to leave this mad house?” 

“Almost.” Luna nodded, “That was the top dog...”

“Top bitch you mean.” Speedster grumbled, earning herself a pair of amused sigh from her friends.

“As I was saying,” Luna continued, “That was the top dog, but we need to fry their systems. They have Bookworm’s data and Snap’s footage, all of it. She was gloating at me about it.” Ruby red eyes glanced over her opponent before turning back to her friends, “Her right hand man could use it to activate the second cell if we don’t go and catch him and get rid of that data.”

“Get me to a computer and I can erase everything they have.” Tails nodded, confident in her abilities despite having never seen their systems before she had been brought her.

“Alright.” Speedster decided, “Tails, can you get in from the computers in that security room?”

“Should be able to.” Tails nodded, finding it a little weird for Sonic to be thinking ahead, instead of running with whatever came to mind and then having to remind herself that Speedster wasn’t Sonic, “What’re you thinking?”

“Do you know where her second is?” Speedster asked Luna, gesturing to the crazed figure on the floor.

“She said top floor.” Luna nodded, “In the main office, though what he’s doing there...”

“Self destruct sequence activated.” A woman’s voice called through the PA system that had, since the start of the escape, been bellowing about a ‘code Red,’ “Emergency evacuation advised. Building will self destruct in ten minutes.”

“Plenty of time.” Speedster grinned at the other two, who were looking nervous, “Tails, how much weight can you carry?”

“Why?” Tails wondered aloud.

“Can you carry a person?” Speedster insisted.

“No.” Tails shook her head, wondering what Speedster was thinking.

“Alright,” The supersonic speed freak seemed to decide something, “Let’s go.”

“Speeds?” Luna asked.

“You can’t keep up with us, so I’ll carry you.” Speedster grinned at her, “We’ll stop by the computer room and then we’ll get the hell out of here.”

“Self destruct sequence activated. Emergency evacuation advised. Building will self destruct in nine minutes.”

“Right.” Luna nodded, mentally preparing herself for high speed travel. “What about the second in command?” She asked as Speedster scooped her up and then shot back the way she had come, Tails close behind. They made a brief stop at the room where their stuff was, grabbing as much as they could carry before speeding down the hallways again.

The electronic voice called out that they had but four minutes remaining by the time Tails could confirm she had erased everything from every system connected to the building’s network. Speedster snatched up Tails and hit the fastest speed she knew her friends could handle.

They were just shy of three minutes until they were clear when they reached the rest of their friends, who had been waiting for them outside the building, having already handled the mooks.

“What took you so... Speedster!” Mako yelped as the speed freak dropped off Luna and Tails, everything they were carrying and her own load, before darting back into the building.

“Self destruct sequence activated. Emergency evacuation advised. Building will self destruct in two minutes.”

Speedster knew her friends were going to kill her when she got out of here, but she had to check. Had to make sure everyone was out. There hadn’t been anyone else in the cells in the basement, they had checked that on the security cameras. In the rest of the building, however, there had been plenty of goons, most of whom seemed to have evacuated, or be almost there.

Once she had gotten everyone out, there was one last thing she needed to do. As the woman announced one minute remaining she sped up to the top floor, where a helicopter pad had quite recently seen use. She could still see the flying vehicle in the distance as the first explosion happened inside the building and the floor beneath her shook. With a second boom, the floor gave way and it was only her reaction time that stopped her from tumbling and going squish beneath falling rubble.

She paused for a moment, considering the distance to the ground far below, where her friends were running away as fast as they could. It was too far for her to jump, at least without something for her to bounce between. Something she was provided with when, with a third boom, part of the wall exploded out, shards of it going everywhere.

She grinned, adrenaline pulsing through her as she leapt from the roof, her own speed making her faster than the falling debris. She bounced between parts in a flash of blue and white, a sonic boom following her initial movement.

She passed the group, slowing only to tell Mako where she was going and then shot off after the helicopter, easily catching it and following, unable to just leap up and catch it.

Instead she followed it to an airfield, sneaking around to where it landed and catching the pilot and his passenger by surprise.

“You were supposed to blow up!” The passenger complained at her.

“Sorry, you’re not the first to try that and I have a funny feeling you won’t be the last.” Speedster shrugged, “But I don’t think you’ll be trying it again.”

“Why not?” The passenger asked as the pilot pointed a gun at Speedster, “You’re not gunna be around to stop me.” With that the pilot fired.

Speedster dodged, taking down the pilot before tackling the passenger and knocking him to the ground. “Oh I think we’ve already stopped your plans,” She informed him, “All your computers are wiped, your building’s blown sky high, your men are gunna be arrested soon... I think we win.”

“You really think that Consultancy Program is what it seems?” He asked, thinking about getting up and changing his mind. “That ‘Rowena’ is telling you the truth? Her Program is just another way of doing what we were doing!”

“Oh, and what’s that?” Speedster asked, making a mental note to ask Luna what the woman had said. Having missed the main monologue she was missing a lot of information.

“Testing your powers! Making you find out exactly what you can do!” The man gesticulated. “Seeing if they were transferable!”

“What?” She deadpanned, stepping forward and watching him scuttle back.

“They aren’t, by the way, not by anything we tried.” The man sulked.

“Good.” She felt more relieved about that than she should. “You want to know why you and Rowena are different?” She asked. “You take, she asks.”

“For how long?” He cackled at her, “She works for your stupid government. How long do you think they’ll let you get away without being tested, registered, hidden away forever? You should start running now. Because there are more where I come from. More who will want to capture you, experiment on you, dissect you and figure out how you tick.”

“As long as I’m around, I won’t let anyone harm my friends.” Speedster informed him, “And they’re no pushovers either.”

“There are ways. There are always ways.” He snarked back, his eyes flickering to someone behind Speedster. She moved, narrowly avoiding the crowbar that had nearly come down on her head and sweeping out the legs of her attacker.

The second in command shot to his feet and leapt at her, taking advantage of the distraction to attempt to tackle her. It didn’t work, as she darted around him, causing him to go crashing to the floor.

“Nice try.” She smirked down at him. “But you’re light-years away from ever catching me.” Something cold, hard and cylindrical pressed against the back of her neck, causing her to let out a slow, even breath. Even her reaction time couldn’t stop a bullet from hitting her at point blank range.

“So you think.” The man smirked at her, getting to his feet again, calm restored now he was back in control. “You see you made a mistake coming alone.” He said, moving towards the nearby hanger, the gun at her neck forcing Speedster to follow. “This entire airfield belongs to our, well probably my group by now, considering your friend erased the mind of one of the senior partners and was Gaming the other one when I left.”

“Did you know someone would follow?” Speedster asked, considering her options and getting thoroughly sick of being someone else’s prisoner, “Or was it a lucky guess?”

“Oh a little of both.” The man informed her, “We guessed someone would follow if we had to made a hasty escape, but we couldn’t be sure who it would be, or if it would be one of you ‘consultants.’” He made the term sound derogatory. “That it is, makes this sweeter.”

“Oh?” She kept him talking as they entered the hanger, several routes occurring to her if she could get the gun away from her. 

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 28

In the end they actually had to leave her there until the MegaMuck dissolved. They had no idea of how long it would take and Speedster knew that it would depend on the mixture, but by the time she could actually stand again Luna had finally gotten a turn and had managed to work her way up to her.

“Oh thank god.” Luna breathed the moment she spotted her.

“Don’t come any closer.” Speedster warned, watching the three hazmat suited guys still struggling with the mess on the floor. “MegaMuck, stickiest substance ever.”

“Is that why you didn’t come back?” Luna asked, “Because we were worried and Tails is freaking out.”

“Couldn’t, I got stuck.” Speedster shrugged, “Sorry.” She grinned slightly, “But hey, once this stuff dissolves I’ll catch up to you. Keep going.” She pointed out a safe path, allowing Luna to get going.

She wasn’t too worried as the last of the MegaMuck gluing down the three guys dissolved before the last of the mess pinning her did the same and she got reshackled, pulled free and dragged back to the cells.

Luna didn’t lose. The bad guys had made this a game. They didn’t stand a chance.

She was more worried, however, when not twenty minutes later their cells were flooded with men who looked severely pissed off.

“Take it Luna won then.” She smirked at one of the men, who reacted by backhanding her hard enough that she hit the floor.

“Yes. Now shut up.” He snarled at her, a second thug pulling her to her feet by her hair.

“Sure, whatever,” Speedster agreed easily the moment he let go, refusing to let them see that that had hurt, “But wouldn’t this whole walking thing be easier if I could actually move my legs properly?” She asked, making out that the short chains connecting her ankles was hindering her more than they actually were.

“Don’t.” The first guy said, when the second moved to unlock the shackles around her ankles, “She has superspeed, moron. Free her legs and...”

There was a crash from Mako’s cell, causing both the men to turn in that direction. That was all the distraction Speedster needed, she managed to pickpocket the keys from the second guard, who didn’t even notice. The speed freak kept a close eye on everyone as they were half dragged, half marched up to a shortcut through the maze, an elevator that went straight up the middle of it, and were shoved into a room where, in glass walled room above and to the left of them, the Shadows were swirling like mad.

“Okay, I’d like to point out that if that’s your leader in there, he’s not walking out again.” Speedster snorted, “And bringing us up here won’t make Luna stop. She won’t even know we’re here till the game’s over.”

“Just shut up and wait here.” With that the small army of goons left the room, locking the door behind them.

“Seriously?” Gold sniggered, “How many was that?”

“I counted twenty three.” Speedster replied, pulling the keys out and unshackling her legs and wrists before moving down the line, “Now, it looks like Luna’s busy so we’re going to have to work in two teams.”

“Oh?” Mako asked as Speedster freed her and she started breaking the chains of those Speedster’s pilfered keys didn’t work on.

“One group to get the main group of us out, one group to back up Luna when she’s done dealing with the boss. She’s going to be exhausted and they probably won’t let her leave easily, so we need to get to her before the Game finishes.”

“And you’re putting yourself in that group.” Sparks frowned at her.

“Actually I was going to suggest that I was the only one in that group.” Speedster admitted, “You lot can get out easier if I don’t hog the best fighters for myself, and I’m fast enough to get up there even if I lose my way, so...”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Mako scowled at her, “They know how to deal with you, you need back up.”

“I only got caught because of the MegaMuck.” Speedster shook her head, “I can get in and out easily now I know to watch out for it.”

“I’ll go with her.” Tails’ voice came from the back of the group as she pushed her way to the front, giving Speedster an amused smile as she did so, “I can handle their tech and I know how to dissolve most MegaMuck concoctions quickly.”

“That leaves you guys to get the hell out of here.” Speedster looked at Mako and Gold, who didn’t look pleased at the idea, despite the logic behind it.

“If you’re not out within twenty minutes of us escaping, we’re coming back in after you.” Mako informed her with a grimace.

“Deal.” Speedster agreed, certain it wouldn’t take that long.

Shorty started it off, using his alchemy to form an exit in the walls and making Speedster grin at the thought that it would be practically impossible for anyone to contain the teen for any length of time when he set his mind to it. Mako led the escaping party, while Gold brought up the rear, aided by Sparks.

Speedster and Tails didn’t wait to see them go. They didn’t have time if they wanted to reach where Luna was before the Shadow Game ended. Speedster rocketed off, instinct telling her that Tails would keep up at this pace and pleasantly surprised when it was true. It wasn’t anywhere near her top speed, but it was fast enough that the mooks still hanging around and reacting to the escape attempts couldn’t draw a bead on them.

The pair of them worked together in a way that spoke of years of familiarity. Juliet’s mind slipping into the mind and instincts of the life she had Fused with when she had gained her World Sphere. In comparison to some of the bases the pair of them had assaulted over the years in the other world, this was laughable. The two underground layers had obviously been the booby trapped ones, the ones prepared to hold them. The upper floors, the ones above ground, were ridiculously easy to traverse in comparison and though the building was complicated in design, it didn’t take them long to get a feel for the layout.

Speedster didn’t realise she had lost Tails until she had to double back two corridors and a set of stairs, where she found the other girl raiding a computer room. “Tails? Now? Seriously?”

“I’m just...” Tails spoke from her position under what looked like a security console, an unconscious goon off to one side, “Adjusting the... there we go!” She crowed.

Speedster caught movement on screen and spotted the huge security shutters, which had been blocking off several of the corridors they had tried to go down, rise and put themselves away.

“Nice one, little sis.” Speedster grinned at her.

“Now we can go.” Tails blushed slightly, always pleased to get a compliment from the much more experienced and older former hedgehog.

“Right. Luna.” Speedster nodded, shooting off again. Tails caught up, amused when she managed to push Speedster into a slightly higher speed by trying to overtake.

Now the shutters were up, it was obvious that the building was laid out in a spiral pattern and they zoomed up and around the building, dodging goons as they went, pausing as they reached the fourth floor when Speedster heard a rather familiar ringtone.

“That’s my phone. My new one.” She commented to Tails once the younger girl had realised she had doubled back for something and returned to find out what.

“Give me a sec,” Tails grinned at her, hacking the electronic lock on the door to find a room full of the stuff that had been confiscated from them upon capture.

“Speedster’s Super Family Funfair. Good clean fun for all the family.” Speedster managed to find her phone and answer it before it stopped ringing.

“Very funny.” Rowena’s voice was just dripping sarcasm as she replied, “We have been trying to get a hold of you for almost a full day now and when we happened to send someone around to your house we found the door knocked down and the house looted. Sitrep. Now.”

“So you’re not the ones who caught us?” Speedster double checked, just in case, trying not to think about all her stuff having been stolen.

“Miss Rhodes, I can assure you it’s not us.” Rowena informed her, “Though I can assume this has something to do with the moron we caught downloading sensitive information on the Consultancy Project. Now report.”

“Can I get back to you on that?” Speedster asked, “I’m kind of in the middle of a breakout.”

“Giving details on the move is an important part of the job, Speedster.” Rowena tutted, “Move and talk.”

“Okay.” Speedster agreed, darting off the moment she had filled a backpack with things she was pretty sure her friends would miss if she left them behind and glad Tails had thought to do the same, making a mental note to come back when they had a moment. “Some point a load of hours ago, I don’t know how long exactly I didn’t have a watch, they kept drugging us and we’ve been underground, I got into a fight with a Fused male with black and red spiky hair and red eyes who has superspeed like me and appears to know my Fusion.”

She turned down the next corridor before she continued, “He gave me a crystal of some kind that I can hand in when I get out of here that showed me images, supposedly of things to come and then left. Not long after he vanished, I was assaulted by a couple of men who shot me with a tranq gun.”

“And that was when you went down?” Rowena asked.

“Ha! No way.” Speedster chuckled, happy to gloat at someone who wouldn’t yell ‘ego check’ at her, “No, I trounced those two and then darted back to the house to find Luna and Tails under attack. Luna had gamed most of them...”

“Explains the ‘pile of crazy’ in the police reports on the break in.” Rowena sounded like she was nodding.

“But I gave them time to get away. Got hit by two more darts before I went down.” Speedster continued, “And woke up in a cell. The bad guys have been testing us and what we can do by getting us to run a gauntlet. One of us gets out, we all leave.”

“A game?” Rowena sounded amused.

“Yeah, you’ve got it already.” Speedster chuckled again, “Luna won, first time.”

“And yet you’re in the middle of a breakout?” Rowena questioned.

“Luna’s Gaming the Leader. She’ll be knackered by the time she finishes.” Speedster explained, “Tails and I are going to go get her out safely. The others have already left the premises. If you want a location, you’d probably be better off phoning Mako or...wait, I have their phones...bloody bad guys.”

“We can get your position from your phone.” Rowena sounded amused, “Do try not to die before we get there.”

“Please, I’m Speedster, they have to catch me first.” She came to a dead halt in front a glass wall, behind which the Shadows were just beginning to fade, “Now excuse me, I have a job to do.” With that she put the phone down. 

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 27

“What?” Speedster asked, having not been aware for any of that.

“They took blood and dna samples from all of us, you included.” Luna informed Speedster, “We’ve been taking bets as to what they’re using them for. Currently top theory is super soldier army.”

“You guys are such nerds.” Speedster chuckled, easily able to see the group arguing over such things. “So if we’re all here, why aren’t we out already? There’s no way they should be able to take us if we work as a team.”

“We were waiting for you to come around.” Snap replied, “One less person to worry about and one more butt kicker available. Except you’ve been out longer than the rest of us, like hours and hours longer.”

Speedster sighed and struggled to her feet, wavering for a moment before stumbling over to the door. “Yeah, I got hit by three darts.” She informed them, managing to look up and down the narrow, whitewashed corridor full of identical doors and see a couple of faces. “Also someone’s going to need to break my chains.”

“And this is why super strength is better than super speed.” Mako informed her, her door practically exploding out of its hinges as Mako hit is so hard it went flying across the corridor. “Guys?”

One door changed shape and opened of its own accord, another opened in a burst of purple light, yet another was knocked off one of its hinges and swung forlornly in the corridor.

In moments the other doors had been busted down, restraints broken and Speedster was scouting the base as best she could.

“The doors to this corridor are locked. I did find an office though that probably should have had someone in considering it was linked to security cameras monitoring our cells, but we got lucky and they were just coming back from a bathroom break.” Speedster informed them. “They’re currently in a supply closet.”

“Locked doors aren’t much of an issue.” Mako flexed her muscles, confidence radiating off of her as Luna started flicking through a bunch of cards she had pulled out of a hidden pouch she kept close to her chest, her eyes already shifted from purple to red.

“No, but we don’t know what’s on the other side.” Sparks pointed out. The tall, broad shouldered male with hair in various shades of purple, looked around, a thoughtful expression on his features, “We shouldn’t just break the doors down.”

“I have a question.” Shorty piped up, the Alchemist had a manic expression on his features, a slightly evil smirk that had the others worrying. “Why don’t we just go through the walls? I mean they’re expecting us to go through the doors. I can make holes, Luna’s creatures can make holes, hell I bet Speeds could bust through a thin enough wall if she was going fast enough.”

“Or I’d go splat.” Speedster pointed out, “But I get your drift. Going through the doors when we can go through the walls is a bad idea. And if we get lucky and hit an outside wall, we can just leave.”

“Exactly.” Shorty grinned at her.

“Alright then, this is going to seem daft but pair up.  Each pair is to watch each other’s back. Buddy system, got it?” Speedster asked, looking around. When everyone nodded she found herself with both Luna and Tails waiting to pair with her.

“Okay, no, I can’t pair with both of you.” Speedster shook her head, not wanting the pair to get into a row about it, “So you can pair up with each other, that way I can keep an eye on both of you.” She smirked at the startled and slightly irritated look the two girls shot at each other. “In fact,” She looked around, “Can everyone make sure that they have at least one offensively powered member in their pair?”

Several already prepared pairs split up, changing so that everyone had someone who could back them up.

“Speedster?” Sparks asked, stepping up, “I’ve got magic, but no really offensive spells, so if you’re not taking Luna or Tails...”

“Sure.” Speedster nodded, irritated slightly by having to have someone with her, but knowing it was both right and fair. Even if the person she was partnered with couldn’t keep up. She and Sparks took point, Mako and her partner bringing up the rear.

Speedster scouted ahead, Sparks watching her back as she moved up the corridor ahead of the main pack. While it was Speedster who found the release switch for the electrically locked doors, it was Sparks who saw the movement from one of the side rooms.

“Speedster!” He yelped, purple glow surrounding the man who leapt at them, stopping the attacker in their tracks by floating them in midair.

The speed freak wheeled around, glowering at the startled man. “What do we have here?” She asked, looking him over.

“Ha, hahaha, hahahahahaha.” The captured man started laughing, “You’re all screwed. So screwed.” He managed as the horde caught up, “They’ll pump this area with sleeping drugs in a minute and...” There was a hissing noise, “Hahaha, there it goes.”

“Shit.” Speedster yelped, darting for the electronic switch, only to get a nasty electric shock when she slammed her hand down on it. Mako went the more direct route, smashing down the door, only to find another door beyond it, and another door beyond that in an airlock system.

“Screw it.” Shorty snarled, clapping his hands together before pressing them against the wall, transmuting a doorway that led out into a corridor, only for them to dart into what they thought would be clean air to find more of the same tainted smelling air waiting for them.

“We’re underground!” The guy Sparks had captured cackled, “You won’t get out. Not unless you find the stairs before you all pass out.”

“What’re we in, some kind of bloody dungeon?” Mako grouched, even as Shorty swiftly worked out angles and transmuted his way through walls, trying to find a passage to the surface, and Speedster left Sparks behind to dart around the underground level to find the doors upwards.

The air grew thicker the longer they took, a couple of them trying to get answers from the manically laughing guy. The smaller members of the party collapsed before the bigger, the ones exerting themselves following quickly. Speedster had just found the door marked ‘exit’ when she finally succumbed to the poison in the air.

When she came round, she was back in her cell.

“Damn it.” She hissed, noting the fact her door had been fixed and this time her ankle shackles were attached to the floor. “Everyone okay?” She called.

Not everyone answered to start with, but slowly over the course of the next hour or so everyone role called in.

“So that didn’t work.” Mako sounded surprisingly cheerful considering what had just happened.

“No, no it didn’t.” Sparks spoke up, “So what’s the plan now?”

“We would suggest,” A voice spoke up from speakers embedded in the ceilings of the cells, “That you don’t try anything else funny. You see we have people watching you carefully and should you try to break out enmass again, we’ll just knock you out again.”

“Who are you?” Mako demanded, fuming.

“That’s not important.” The voice replied, “We have a game for you all. A simple game. And if just one of you win, you can all go home free.”

“And if we lose?” The Other Luna was in control now, unsurprising considering they were being challenged to a game.

“You can keep trying, one after another, after another, in the order we choose.” The voice informed them, “But each time you lose, we get to run an experiment on you.”

“I’ll play.” The Other Luna spoke up, “I’ll go first.”

“No.” The voice disagreed, “You won’t.” Speedster heard one of the doors slid open, “Mako will.” There was a pause then, “Oh, and if you try to break your friends out, the game is over, for everyone and the deal is off.”

“I get it, I get it.” Mako grouched, “Guys, I’ll be back for you.”

“Good luck.” The Other Luna spoke up, sounding like she was pacing her cell.

“Thanks.” Mako started down the corridor and vanished out of audio range.

Speedster couldn’t help the half grin, half grimace that appeared on her features when someone started singing the words to ‘Still Alive’ from a popular game. The whole situation felt very ‘Aperture Science’ she had to admit.

“I spy,” She spoke up, lying back against the floor when she had finally had enough of tugging on chains that wouldn’t move, “With my little eye something beginning with S.”

“Seriously Speedster?” Chi complained.

“Why not? It’s not like we have anything else to do for now.” Snap commented, “Is it speaker?”

“Yup.” Speedster nodded, despite the fact the only person who could see her was the people watching the cells through the security cameras. “Your turn.”

“Okay, I spy with my little eye, something beginning with...” Snap trailed off as there was a loud crash and a bunch of men stalked past, carrying something. There was the sound of something hitting the floor hard and a door sliding shut and then the voice spoke up.

“Next.” It called, another door sliding open, “Gold.”

“You know,” He said as one of the men entered his cell and unshackled him, “I’m really beginning to regret giving them our Club names.”

By the time it was Speedster’s turn, she was beginning to seriously wonder if they were ever actually going to let her have a go. The moment she was loose, she shot off, speeding up the corridors until she found the ‘exit’ sign again, breaking through the doors.

She shot up to the next floor, only to find another maze of locked doors and corridors.

“We’re bloody rats in maze!” Speedster hissed, narrowly avoiding a trap, one that had blood on, suggesting one of the others had run afoul of it. Her reaction times saving her where others would have failed, only for her to run afoul, just shy of the second set of ‘exit’ doors, of a horrible sticky substance that caught her feet the moment they impacted with it, gluing her feet to the floor. A substance her mind insisted was MegaMuck.

“Ewww.” She complained, the MegaMuck making a horrible sucking noise as she managed to pull one foot free, only to fall on her rear and end up glued down completely.

She did, however, get the delight of watching three men in hazmat suits attempt to traverse the MegaMuck coated floor and end up just as bogged down as she was. 

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 26

“You’ve changed. You’re not as strong or fast as you were.” The guy commented, trying to look tough though it was hard to take him seriously with a frog on his head, “And the Doc’s building something that could...”

“If you mean that metal rip-off, I’ve already trashed it.” Speedster smirked at him, “When I rescued my little brother. Thanks for the details by the way. Shame you couldn’t be bothered to actually help.”

“I had better things to do then get myself caught again.” The guy retorted, “Or watch you get yourself killed. You’re not Sonic.”

“No, I’m not.” Speedster happily admitted, “I’m not him, I will never be him. I might have some mad, Sonic like moments, but I’m not him.” She looked at him for a moment, then offered her hand, “You want a hand up?”

He considered the hand for a moment, before grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the water.

Speedster let out a startled yelp just moments before she hit the surface, the part of her mind that wasn’t her own panicking when the water closed over her head, only for the rational, human mind to kick that part in the nuts and get her to surface calmly. At least as calmly as it could while plotting homicide.

The guy looked rather pleased with himself for the three seconds it took for Speedster to launch herself at him, the brawl he had been trying to instigate while they had been on the roads, now shifting to the water.

She was actually winning until he use Chaos Control to freeze her in place, circling her for a moment, before sending her crashing into the trees back on shore.

“C...cheat.” She spat out, glaring at him as he moved towards her.

“What? You think we’re all gunna play by some handbook?” The guy demanded, circling her again, “Yeah, the Doc knows about that.”

“You’re not a villain.” Speedster pointed out, her memories playing up again as she tried to keep her front to him, refusing to let him get a sneak attack in, “You’re not a hero either, but you’re not a villain, so what’s your part in all this?”

“My part?” The guy asked, looking thoughtful for a moment before smirking slightly, “I suppose it’s making sure this world we’ve been dragged to and Fused into doesn’t crumble around our ears.”

“What do you...?” Speedster let out a sharp gasp as the guy shoved a crystal into her hand, a sphere shaped one with images flickering around the inside ball, and it dragged her into its stored images.

Speedster struggled to stay afloat amongst the tide of memories that attempted to wash her away. Getting bits and pieces of the big picture but not the full details. When she finally managed to pull her metaphorical head free, the guy was gone, but he had left her a small brown bag and a note.

“The bag’s for the crystal, don’t lose it Faker. Shadow.”

“Great.” Speedster complained, still trying to piece together exactly what she had seen, regaining her footing and glowering around at her surroundings, trying to see if she could work out where the pest had gone.

When she couldn’t see him or any hints of his tracks, she let out a frustrated grumble and headed for home, still puzzling over the images she had seen in the crystal. Some things had been obvious, World Spheres and robots, herself fighting. Others less obvious, some giant monster coming through a portal, a giant mechanical clocklike spider with time seeming to go backwards around it, an entire world being coated in Shadows...

She couldn’t know if they were real or not, if the images were past of future. It wasn’t helpful and all Shadow’s actions had done was give her the mother of all headaches.

“Stupid bloody faker with his stupid bloody orb of headache inducing plus seven.” She grouched as she shoved the crystal in the bag and then in a pocket, scowling as something pulled up the gravel, headlights on full beam, blinding her. “Ow!” She yelped, covering her eyes momentarily as she tried to get her sight back.

By the time she had someone had exited the vehicle and so had at least three others. Blind to what was going on but not deaf, she was still blinking sunspots away when the first of the men tried to grab her, causing her to duck under his attempts and dart away, only to crash into a second man.

She floored him, using tricks her sensei had taught her in order to escape, and was just about to leave, leaving the third one standing, when the fourth fired something and she felt something hit her in the back of the leg.

Dizziness and drowsiness instantly washed over her as she pulled the dart out, but rather than lie down and accept what was happening, she fought back, managing to knock out the two men and escape the backup. Darting home as fast as possible in order to both get somewhere safe and ensure the safety of her friends before she passed out.

She reached the house only to find her door was hanging off the hinges.

“Luna!” She darted in, adrenaline keeping her awake, fear coursing through her, “Tails!”

“Speeds?” Luna’s voice was wavering from the back room, “Is that you?”

“I...I’m here.” Speedster shot into the back room, trying to ignore the way her house had been trashed in her concern from her friends. She stepped into the backroom to find Luna looking absolutely exhausted, shielding Tails despite the fact the goons who had gone after them were unconscious. “Are you alright?”

“I...no...” Luna admitted, exhausted beyond reason after challenging all twelve men. “My Other Self’s out...” She admitted, wavering on her feet. “We took them all...Tails is awesome by the way. Her booby traps? Totally cool.”

“Good. I’m glad you feel that way.” Speedster was pleased, even as her world spun and her legs started giving out. “Glad you’re okay...” She fell forward.

“Speeds!”

“Sonic!”

Both of her friends darted forward, moving to catch her and neither quite getting there. Speedster glanced up, trying to work out how she had ended up on the ground. “I...hi?” She asked.

“Speeds, what happened?” Luna worried at her as Tails started examining her for injury.

“Puncture wound.” Tails stated, noting the rip in Speedster’s trouser’s and checking the injury, “Speeds?” Tails asked, “Did you get tagged?”

“Yeah. Goons in cars.” Speedster nodded, “I don’t... we need to move...”

“I’m phoning Rowena.” Luna mumbled, pulling out her phone only to pause when she heard footsteps storming the building, “I haven’t called her yet.”

“Round two.” Speedster forced herself to her feet, “Go. Now. I’ll hold them.”

“No, I won’t...” Speedster’s glare cut Luna off. Once Luna was settled, Speedster looked to Tails.

“I’m trusting you to get her out, little sis.” Speedster saw Tails’ back straighten and her reply was a short, sharp nod, “I can hold them while you escape out the back. Now go.”

“Be careful.” Tails nodded, before helping Luna out the back way. Speedster had only just lost the sound of Luna’s disagreement with the plan when the first men came around the corner.

She managed to take down three before they tagged her again, twice, and had just managed to take down another two before they pinned her long enough for the sedatives to kick in. Despite her best efforts she spiralled away into darkness, chased by the words, ‘About bloody time, she’s got enough drugs in her to knock out an elephant. Now where’s that second group? They have to have grabbed the other two by now.’

When she came around again, it was to the sound of low whispering and frantic plans. It wasn’t just Luna and Tails talking either. There were other voices, other Club members present. She let out a groan as she tried to move, only to find out she was hampered by a combination of her own body, which was still recovering from the sedative they had pumped her full of, and the metal around her wrists and ankles.

“Speedster!” She let out another groan as the call echoed around her sore head but her head turned in the direction of the call, even if she couldn’t see them through the wall between cells. “Aw man, they got you too?”

“R...role call.” She managed, though her tongue felt heavy in her mouth and she felt like she hadn’t had a drink in far too long.

She sat up and experimentally tugged on the chain connecting her wrists, scowling as she found that she had no real give in the bindings. Something started bothering her the moment the list of her captured friends started. Every one of them in the cells were hero or neutral Fused, not a single Villain had been caught.

In fact as they all listed off their names, she noticed that it wasn’t the all of the hero or neutral Fused, in fact there was a disturbing pattern and she wasn’t the only one who saw it.

“Is there anyone here,” The Other Luna asked, her tone frustrated, “Who didn’t sign up to Rowena’s consultant thing?”

No one answered except for Tails.

“Knew it was too good to be true.” Gold sounded like he was grimacing from a couple of cells down. It was hard to tell when the only way to see out into the corridor was through a tiny, barred window in the rather thick looking door that was above her current head height and she didn’t trust her feet. “I mean seriously? Being paid to be a Superhero?”

“It might be a leak.” Chi spoke up, “Someone in her department leaked our details to the bad guys who grabbed Luna and Speeds, and they acted on it.”

“Whichever it is, I’n totally going to bust some heads when we get out of here.” Mako growled, “I don’t appreciate being used as a lab rat.”

Author Note: Ennead: Season Zero update

Here

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 25

Thinking about the safety of the Club led Luna to dart into the kitchen, starting the kettle boiling before phoning up her brother. “Hey Mikey...yeah, I’m okay why do you ask?”

She frowned slightly as her brother complained about the blackouts starting up again, meaning that Shade was up to something and didn’t want him knowing about it, and he’d try and work out what it was, but would she please be careful.

“Great.” She grumbled, her Other Self’s words spilling from her lips, “As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, he’s pulling this now?”

“I know, I know.” Her brother replied, “Wait, what other stuff? I thought the World Sphere wasn’t a problem anymore, cause you got sorted out?”

“Oh you have no idea...” Luna groaned, pouring herself a cup of tea, “Do you got an hour or three?” She asked him.

“Not right now.” Michael replied, “But if you phone me again in about and hour and a half I will do.”

“Okay.” Luna nodded, though he couldn’t see her, “For now, just watch out for Speeds, okay? She unlocked a new power today and it’s not very stable.”

“What? She gunna explode?” Luna winced at the excitement in Shade’s tone as he shoved her brother aside.

“No, but she might make you explode, so don’t aggro her, okay?” Luna asked, “I like my brother in one piece.”

“Please, there’s nothing she can do that I can’t handle.” Shade snorted, ill amused at her lack of confidence in him.

“Unless you can turn gold, grow spines and gain an aura that can melt metal, I’m going to class her new Super form as scarier than you. Sorry Shade.” Luna retorted.

“She can do what!?”

“I’ll explain later.” Luna promised, “Just don’t annoy Speeds in the meantime. Now I’ve got to go, I have the entire rest of the Club to warn.” With that she put the phone down.

It took her half an hour to ring round everyone and ensure they would be at the Club meeting that evening, by which point her tea was lukewarm and Tails had reassembled the laptop she had been working on and was happily surfing the net at a speed that Luna hadn’t seen the laptop reach even when it had been brand new.

“Told you I could get it working better.” Tails chuckled at her surprise, “Tech likes me.”

“I’ve got class to go to, are you going to be alright if I leave you on your own?” Luna asked, finishing up her tea.

“Yeah, yeah.” Tails waved it off, considering the giant CRT TV Beastie of Doom, “I’ll find something to do, don’t worry.”

Luna couldn’t help but do just that as she headed to class. She continued to do so for the greater majority of the day and only really relaxed when Speedster and Tails showed up for the Club meeting that evening. Ten minutes late, as per the norm for Speedster, but they got there.

“Hey Lune.” Speedster slumped into a seat next to her, Tails settling on her other side, “Wanna take a wager?”

“What on?” Luna couldn’t help but ask.

“How many people will want to know who the sprog is.” Speedster gestured to Tails who looked confused.

“What’s a sprog?” She asked Luna.

“No dice.” Luna shook her head, “You’re going to have to introduce Tails anyway if you’re going to have her hanging with us. And a sprog,” She turned to Tails, “Is a kid. A young one normally, but Speeds gives out joking insults like they’re candy. You’ll get used to it.”

“Something’s don’t change then no matter which dimension or body I’m in.” Tails sighed, amused despite herself.

Bar Brawl, who wanted to challenge the golden form of Speedster, stating that the idea of a golden fighter set of memories from his Fusion, it was generally agreed that causing a Super form type reaction was a bad idea. Tails was welcomed by most of the group, those few who were worried or wary generally keeping quiet about it and the whole meeting’s plan fell completely to pieces when Rowena walked through the door, armed guards in tow and proceeded to attempt to hire as many of them as she could for her ‘consultant group.’

Once that little fiasco was over Speedster fled the meeting, not wanting to get drawn into further conversations about the government and what being a ‘specialist consultant for the justice department’ was like, leaving Luna to walk Tails back to Speedster’s place.

“I was hoping she’d stop taking off so often once things had settled down again.” Luna sighed as she opened the front door with the set of spare keys she had had cut a week ago.

“Sonic never really settled down anywhere for any length of time.” Tails responded, more used to her friend taking off at high speed than Luna. “Sometimes I was lucky if I saw him once a fortnight. I know the others saw him less than that.” Tails saw Luna wince and despite her envy she did try to reassure her, “Look, Speedster seems a bit more grounded than Sonic was, so I don’t think she’ll vanish the same way. Just... be prepared for it if it happens. You can’t tie the wind down.”

“I suppose.” Luna couldn’t help but agree, “How did you prepare for it?”

“I kept myself busy.” Tails shrugged, going back to ‘her’ laptop and turning it on, “Always had something to build or improve or some blueprint to change. I had several patents I could play with. Or if I needed to get out the workshop I had the Tornado.” She paused, a grimace settling on her features, “How old do you have to be to get a pilot’s licence here?”

“I have no idea.” Luna admitted, “Why?”

“Because I’ve been flying planes since I was four.” Tails informed her, “And I’ve been flying under my own steam for longer than that.”

“Somehow I doubt you’re old enough here.” Luna informed her, looking apologetic.

“Great.” Tails didn’t look happy about that as she slumped back onto the sofa and snatched up the cushion that Speedster had hidden under earlier in the day.

“Hey, just because you’re not old enough to fly here, doesn’t mean you can’t build things. I’m sure if you ask Speedster she’ll get some stuff in for you to play with.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve got a decent amount in a bank account thanks to the government lady too.” Tails informed her, “They took DNA samples so they could work out who this body actually belonged too, but for now the accounts under Miley Prower. Miley! It’s worse than Miles!” Luna couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. “Oh sure, laugh it up.” Tails grouched.

“My name’s actually Mira.” Luna informed her, “But everyone’s called me Luna for so long I answer to it faster than my real name. Trust me, the teasing I used to get wasn’t much fun.”

“Mira?” Tails paused to think for a moment, then got it, “Mirror, right."

“Mirror, mirror on the wall...” Luna grouched.

“People suck.” Tails informed her, relaxing into the sofa a bit.

“Only some of them.” Luna shrugged, slumping down next to the younger girl, “Speedster’s great, Mako and Snap are fun too.”

“Sonic was awesome.” Tails agreed, somewhat sadly, “I’m not sure what to make of Speedster.”

“Give her time, she’ll grow on you.” Luna promised. “My brother would say she’s like a fungus that way.”

Luna grinned slightly as Tails let out a bark of laughter at that, the first one she had heard since Speedster had rescued her. “So, you any good at video games?” Luna asked, “Because Speedster has a huge collection here that she can’t play anymore...”

“She has problems with the flickering too?” Tails asked, even as she moved to have a look at the consoles and games.

“That’s a thing in your world?” Luna looked surprised.

“No, that’s a supersonic hedgehog thing.” Tails tried to explain, “Both Sonic and Shadow suffer from it. I do Sonic’s computer stuff and Rouge does Shadow’s. Otherwise they both end up with...” Tails trailed off, “Oh boy...”

“What?” Luna asked, wondering if she should be worried.

“Shadow. He got Fused but he escaped.” Tails worried, “He’s out there, running around without any sort of base or rest stop and he and Sonic never got along. If they run into each other...”

“There’s going to be a fight isn’t there?” Luna grimaced.

“Probably...”

There wasn’t a fight going on, but only because Speedster was damn well determined that she wasn’t going to participate in one, taking the obnoxious guy’s attempts to tackle her as obstacle training. Pushing herself to her upper limits to avoid him smashing her into the ground, she was hard pressed to keep up this sort of speed and dodge his attacks.

“Hey...asshole...” Speedster gasped out as she rolled under an attempt to knock her block off and kept going, the red and black blur not far behind, “What the hell... have I done to you?”

Frustratingly the guy didn’t reply, just took another chance to attack her. Speedster slid to a stop, causing him to pass right in front of her, then shot off to the left, diving into the undergrowth. He gave chase, she could hear him following her but it wasn’t until she came to a dead halt in front of a lake that she finally decided she might be in trouble.

Not that she could resist ducking at the last moment when he tried to leap at her, causing him to go splashing into the icy cold water.

“Now you’ve had a chance to cool down,” Speedster commented, “Can I ask what that was about without you trying to punch my lights out?”

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 24

They made a brief stopover at a supermarket that sold clothes just to let Tails pick up something that wasn’t dirty, weeks old and ruined. Then it was back to Speedster’s house, where Speedster cleaned herself up and left Tails to do the same. When the younger girl came back downstairs, her long hair in damp pigtails, Speedster informed the pair of them that as long as they didn’t wreck the joint they should feel at home, leant Tails her old laptop to play around on and look stuff up and proceeded to crash out on the sofa.

“I wouldn’t worry,” The girl who Speedster had insisted was called Tails, or Miles if Luna wanted to tease her, commented as she glanced at the young woman who was sprawled on the sofa, out like a light, and then went back to fiddling with the internet on the laptop, taking to it like an pro, “Sonic always used to crash after he transformed. Speedster’s probably the same.”

“Transformed?” Luna asked, settling on the nearest chair to the girl, who had sprawled on the floor, realising that this was the perfect opportunity to actually learn about one of the Worlds their Fusions had come from.

“Yeah.” Tails nodded, looking confused for a moment as she looked at something on screen then surfed away from the page she was on, “I don’t think Wikipedia’s a reliable way to gather information. It doesn’t seem to have any firm sources and I swear this page changed when I refreshed it.” She commented aloud, causing Luna to smile slightly.

“Our lecturers don’t think so either.” Luna chuckled, “It can be edited by anyone, you see, even if they’re wrong, so you can’t trust it.” She looked curious, “How did you find Wikipedia?”

Tails frowned slightly, “We had computers and search engines in our world, it’s not hard to translate it to here.”

“You do?” Luna looked surprised for a moment, then looked sheepish, “Sorry, Speeds told me you didn’t remember anything from before, so I thought...”

“Nothing from here.” Tails corrected, “At least nothing but the basics. But I remember our world,” She gestured to herself and Speedster, “Perfectly.”

“This is Speedster’s world.” Luna pointed out, “She was born and raised here.”

“I...” Tails trailed off, not wanting to get drawn into a discussion about it, “You wanted to know about Sonic’s Super form?” She asked Luna, glancing up again for a moment.

“Speedster’s,” Luna corrected her, “But yes.”

“Same difference.” Tails shrugged, before something occurred to her and she smiled for the first time, “Is there a screwdriver around?”

“Why?” Luna asked, confused.

“Because I can probably make this run faster if I clean this out and check the connections.” She gestured to the laptop.

“You don’t even know how it works.” Luna pointed out, even as she hunted for the tiny screwdrivers Juliet kept in the drawers, deciding to let Speedster deal with the problem when she woke up.

“I’m good with tech.” Tails replied, already shutting down the system when Luna came back with the items, “I have been since I was a kit. It’s almost instinctual now. Thank you.” She took the screwdriver kit and started dismantling the laptop, “How much do you know about Sonic?”

“That’s the name of Juliet’s Fusion. He’s a blue, supersonic hedgehog.” Luna listed off, “And he comes from Mobius.”

“That’s it?” Tails asked, looking a little hurt, “Nothing else? No friends or anything?”

“She was worried about a little brother when she first Fused, before the memories were absorbed properly,” Luna nodded, “That’s you?”

“That’s me.” Tails confirmed, “My big brother, I guess I should say my big sister now, was super fast before I even met him but I found out why during a huge fight with Doctor... With the guy you guys call Sawyer. Both my big sister and the Doctor were caught up in an explosion of Chaos energy during a lab experiment on the Chaos Emeralds... do you even know what those are?” She asked, glancing at the sofa when Speedster groaned quietly and pulled a cushion over her head and smiling softly.

“Speedster explained about them once, saying she was glad they didn’t exist here.” Luna nodded, keeping her voice down, “They’re seven gems with insanely dangerous magical powers, like end the world dangerous, and they should never be allowed to fall into the hands of bad guys.” Luna paused and face palmed, “They were experimenting on those?”

“The Doc was, my big sister was helping.” Tails nodded, “The Doc absorbed the negative Chaos, Son...Speedster the positive. It’s why she can...could change into her Super form. I’m not quite sure why she still has one here though.” Tails looked more confused at that then she did as she opened up the laptop and started fiddling around.

“When we Fused,” Luna started explaining, “Our bodies changed to better suit the Fusions we were gaining. The Chaos energy probably carried over.”

“That works.” Tails allowed.

“So that’s what the gold glow and the spines were about?” Luna asked, “The positive Chaos energy expressing itself?”

“Yes and no.” Tails pulled a face that Luna just knew meant she wasn’t going to like what she heard.

“What?” Luna asked warily.

“So...Speedster and I’m going to keep doing that until I get used to this,” Tails complained, “Only ever changes like that when she’s got all the Chaos Emeralds or completely loses it. If she changes because of the Emeralds it’s not normally too bad, she can normally keep tabs on what she’s doing. But if she changes because she’s lost it...” Tails trailed off, but the wince informed Luna that the results weren’t good.

“How bad?” She couldn’t help but ask.

“She’s never killed anyone.” Tails defended her sister, “Come close a couple of times, but never actually killed anyone. Lots of property damage though, and she can be careless about people who are in the way when she’s in Super form.” The girl sighed, “I wish I had my tools.” She complained as she examined the circuit board, “My suggestion? If she’s glowing like that and you’re in the way? Get away as soon as possible. There’s only one person who’s safe from her when she’s like that and that’s me.”

“Speedster and I have been friends for years, she wouldn’t...”

“I wouldn’t suggest trying that theory out.” Tails interrupted, despite Luna’s certainty, “She might not mean to, and she’s always sorry after, she sulks and kicks herself for weeks, but she can’t control it. That form’s like a weapon, it’s got to be fired at something or someone once loaded. The best way to deal is to get out of the way and stay there. Trust me on that.”

“What causes it to wear off?” Luna asked, “She’d reverted to her normal form when I reached her on the roof, is there a way to force that change?”

Tails paused, tapping the screwdriver she was using against her chin as she thought, “Not sure. I know she can only maintain it for a limited time before she exhausts herself and has to revert. I know I can talk her down sometimes too. I’ve never really thought about it. She doesn’t do it often and most people just get the hell out of the way now.”

“I’ll have to let the others know.” Luna murmured thoughtfully, “Not all of us Fused with heroes. The Villain Fused need to be warned not to aggro Speeds.”

“Probably smart.” Tails agreed, mostly hoping that they wouldn’t have to deal with anyone else’s insane plans.

“Don’t tell them I turn into a psycho loony.” Speedster grumbled from beneath her cushion, making both Luna and Tails jump, having thought she was asleep, “I’ll manage fine as long as you two stay out of harm’s way.”

“Speeds?” Luna asked.

“Despite everything Sawyer did, I managed to keep my temper right up until you got hurt,” Speedster peeked out at Tails from beneath her cushion, not quite emerging yet, “So I figure I can probably keep on top of this thing as long as you two are okay.”

“But I’m not...”

“Tails is my sibling.” Speedster’s gaze turned to Luna, “You’re my best friend. I’m going to care if you two get hurt and if you dare say I shouldn’t, I’m going to come over there and, and...” She trailed off, “Something I’ll think of when my brain doesn’t feel like mush. Overcooked mush.”

Tails looked like she wanted to say something, a confused, hurt and slightly angry look on her features, but she let it slide, well aware Speedster wasn’t entirely coherent right now. Especially when Speedster rolled off of the sofa, pushed herself to her feet, staggered slightly and then headed for the stairs. “Now, if you two are going to talk, I’m heading to bed for a nap. Please don’t kill each other.” With that she vanished upstairs.

“Oops.” Luna looked sheepish as she watched Speedster go.

“Yeah. Oops.” Tails murmured, trying to feel like she hadn’t been kicked. She had to remember that this wasn’t her Sonic. Sawyer had gloated as much. The Sonic she knew was Fused with Speedster and Speedster didn’t know her. Not properly. There was enough of Sonic in there to create a reaction when she was hurt or standing up to Super, but there didn’t seem to be enough of one to remind the other girl that in their world, they had been best friends.

Instead Luna, who as far as Tails could see, had no way of keeping up or making herself useful, had taken her spot at Speedster’s side. Of course there was a good chance she was underestimating the other girl. Luna had been brought into the lab by those government guys to help. She obviously had some gifts, Tails just couldn’t see what they were.

Luna, for her part, was feeling just as off about the girl she had been left with in the living room. Speedster had been her first friend in years and she knew it was crazy to be worried, but she just didn’t want anything to happen to her friend.

It didn’t help that in the entire year since the Fusion, Speedster had never changed like she had today. Not until ‘Tails’ had come into her life. Luna didn’t know whether it was something Tails had done, or whether Sawyer had used Tails to push Speedster past breaking point, but the girl was dangerous for her friend.

As, if Speedster was right, was she. The thought wasn’t reassuring, that if she got injured, it might cause the same reaction. However the form was brought on, it was going to be a danger to anyone in the Club who wasn’t her. She was sure Tails was wrong and that it wasn’t just the new girl who would be able to make Speedster stop mid rampage, but she didn’t want to line up the Club members to find out which ones could and which couldn’t. Especially if Tails was right and it was only those who were really important to Speedster who could get between the Super form and its target without getting hurt.