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.