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 11

The last caused Speedster to shudder. Luna could appreciate why. She had been claustrophobic before her Fusion and while having a second personality’s strength to draw on had helped, she still struggled with small, enclosed spaces. Speedster’s claustrophobia had kicked in post Fusion and while it wasn’t serious enough to have her avoiding small rooms and locked doors, it was bad enough that she spent the greater majority of her time outdoors if she could help it. The idea of being locked in a small, padded room for months at a time was terrifying to the super fast, super stubborn young woman.

“Exactly.” Luna nodded her agreement, “So you’ll wait?”

“I’ll wait, for now.” Juliet agreed, “But I’m reserving ‘I told you so’ rights if I don’t get to talk to him before he starts trying to take over the world.”

“Deal.” Luna agreed as they turned the corner, “Now how are you going to apologise to Snap?”

“I dunno.” Speedster admitted. “I didn’t think it would matter when I dropped off the map. She did say she had so much footage to edit that she would still be doing it in January.”

“She missed a scene.” Luna explained, “And we tried it with just me and Chi but she said something was missing and it didn’t play out right. Didn’t help the script was written with you in it too and we had to improvise.”

“Well we’ll get this sorted, then I’ll speak to Mako and Bookworm and I’ll get the robot issue sorted too.” Juliet still sounded a little irritated but Luna was just pleased that she seemed to have calmed down. Speedster was normally quite a level headed person, she had a few ego issues, normally controlled by a quick ‘ego check,’ but none of them had seen her as mad as she had been when she had seen the news.

That hadn’t just been Speedster talking then, though. Luna was fully aware of that fact. She just wondered what her friend would be like if she ever let go of her temper properly and flew into a real rage.

They were the first to arrive besides Snap. The film student and director jumped on them the moment they arrived, launching a scathing tirade at Speedster for just disappearing on them. Juliet took it in her stride. Considering how mad the Club had been at her, she had not expected it to matter if she vanished for a few days. Though admittedly she hadn’t originally planned on heading off for a couple of weeks.

She appeased Snap, and the others of the Club who were mad at her for vanishing, a little by providing the gifts she had bought out of the paypacket that had come in just the day before. They weren’t as fancy as the ones she had originally planned to get, but Luna’s suggestion about shooting down to Bath had been fruitful and she had managed to pick up thirty or so pretty Christmas baubles for less than a hundred pounds.

“Bribery?” Michael asked, having been one of the last to arrive for the recording session, though there were plenty of others yet to get their gifts from Juliet. The rest would be given out at the last club meeting of the year.

“No, Christmas presents.” Juliet scolded him. “Just like every year.” She sighed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you guys, but these aren’t ‘please forgive me’ gifts. I didn’t think you’d be too worried.”

“You’re an idiot.” Spike commented as he helped set up the last camera, his present, a golden star which she had drawn a smiley face on, reminiscent of the Power Stars in Mario. “Just because we’re cross at you, doesn’t mean we aren’t going to worry when you drop off of the face of the planet. What if it had been something serious?”

“Yeah,” Chi, the young man who was the last member of the ‘hero’ party in the film and who had pulled Brawl away from her at the Club meeting, chimed in, “I mean you can’t hog all the good fights.”

“Awww, was someone jealous?” Speedster teased, quite willing and happy to change the tone of the meeting to something a little lighter hearted and playful. “Tell you what, the next time I shoot off to save the world, I’ll invite you along. If you can keep up that...”

“Ego check.” Three voices chorused, causing Juliet to start laughing as Luna, Snap and Spike all blinked at each other in bemusement before they started chuckling too.

“I’m never going to get to boast again, am I?” Juliet jokingly complained to Chi when she calmed down.

“Not as long as we’re here.” Chi shook his head, smiling as he did so.

“Damn.” Juliet pretended to sulk as she snatched up a copy of the script, “Am I changing for this scene or not?”

“Not,” Snap shook her head as Juliet swiftly read through the lines, committing them to memory as she read them through a fourth and fifth time, “This is a meeting of the heroes during their day to day lives. What you’re... okay, why are you covered in paint?”

“Because I’ve been doing D.I.Y. and didn’t have time to change out of these clothes before Luna dragged me out of my front door.” Speedster responded, “Do you need me to change?”

Snap considered her for a moment, before shaking her head, “You know what? No, no, I can use this. D.I.Y. got it.” She made a note on the pad of paper she had taken to carrying with her everywhere. She paused, “What have you been building? Because you haven’t been at home. We checked. Lots.”

“Personal project.” Speedster shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it. “Back home.”

Luna watched her for a moment, a questioning look crossing her features as she caught Juliet’s eyes. When the speed freak shook her head slightly, Luna decided that if the others asked her, which they tended to do if Speedster was keeping to herself, she wouldn’t say a word about the treehouse. If Speedster wanted it kept a secret, she wouldn’t say a word.

“Fine, fine, don’t share.” Snap grouched, “But at least put photos up. Otherwise none of us will believe you can build anything. After all, we remember what happened to that shed you tried to help put up.” When Speedster went bright red in embarrassment, Snap considered herself victorious and chuckled as she went to double check the cameras. Not that she didn’t trust Spike to know what he was doing but it was her project and she was going to keep on top of everything.

Speedster glanced down at her clothes, brushing off the worst of the dirt as she noticed just how grubby her clothes were. Embarrassment settled in a little as she did so. She didn’t tend to think about what she was wearing very often, there wasn’t much point when it ended up windswept and rumpled after not too long. Snap’s tone had been one of ‘you’re wearing that?’ though and it had made her a little self conscious.

“Note to self,” Juliet murmured as they took their places and she read through the script one last time before they started, “Either start living in running clothes or get changed before I go anywhere Snap from now on.”

Luna, who had already memorised her script while she waited for Speedster to actually return home from her travels, chuckled quietly at that. “I’m not sure it would help.” She pointed out, “She would still comment on it if it looked like that.”

“True...oh, here we go.” The conversation stopped as Snap counted down from ten, counting them into the recording.

Speedster’s unfamiliarity with her lines caused a little bit of difficulty, but after only a little addlibbing they got the scene recorded and it was a much happier Snap that shot off with the data disks from the cameras, leaving Luna, Speedster, Spike, Mako and Michael to talk about what had been in the news.

“So, robosuits,” Mako commented as they settled on the railings outside the building, watching the snow falling on the campus, “What do we think?”

“I’m not happy about it.” Speedster admitted, “But Luna says I need to stop and step back and actually think before I go and rush to see the Doc in charge of the project.”

“Might be a plan.” Mako nodded, “Though when you do go, if you want backup...”

“Thanks.” Juliet grinned at her, relieved to have a little bit of backup even if she didn’t think she would need to call anyone in to help her.

“Well you can leave me out.” Spike snorted, “You caused the mess and I’ll step in if something happens here but this is my turf, I ain’t going looking for trouble outside of it unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“Is that a ‘I’ll help if trouble comes here’?” Mako asked, amused at the stubborn and lazy shell skinned young man.

“Yeah, yeah.” He waved it off, not particularly happy about the whole situation but refusing to let his territory get invaded by some idiot looking for trouble. There were enough of those as there was, without another joining the club.

“What about you?” Luna looked at her brother.

“I’m staying well out of it.” Michael snorted at her, “Knowing Shade he would take the opportunity presented by a distraction to cause the biggest possible mess imaginable.”

“Yeah, that sounds like him.” Luna sighed, just glad that she had managed to work out a way to work with the Other Self that the Fusion had given her. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have another personality in her head that she couldn’t work with and had to watch out for at every opportunity.

It was why she gave her brother so much leeway when his Other Self was on a rampage and why she insisted that her Other Self tried to help Shade change, rather than remove that part of her brother entirely.

“So what? We doing this between now and Christmas? Or are we saying hahaha, sod this for a game of marbles, it’s too cold and too close to Christmas?”

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 10

“I’ll print it out.” Zara sounded apologetic as her printer whirred to life, “How do you manage with your phone?”

“I barely ever use it, that’s how.” Speedster grumbled as she scooped up the sheets and considered them carefully, “Huh, you seriously think I can hit these sorts of times?”

“You’re the one who said that you wanted to keep improving.” Zara pointed out, “I’m just trying to help.”

“Hey I never said I wouldn’t try this out.” Juliet grinned at her, “I was just surprised. You were the one who never thought I’d reach mach speeds after all.”

“I’m still mostly convinced you won’t break the sound barrier.” Bookworm admitted, “But then I was also convinced you would never be as fast as you are now and I was wrong so...”

Juliet smirked, “Just because I don’t have another Speedster to race against, doesn’t mean I’m not going to try my damnedest to reach my full potential.”

“Another Speedster, isn’t that a terrifying thought?” Zara deadpanned, causing Juliet to grin.

“Awww, what’s the matter, Bookworm?” Speedster chuckled at her, “Too much awesome for you to handle?”

“Ego check.” Zara responded automatically, watching, amused as Juliet paused, sighed and then laughed, hanging her head sheepishly.

“Sorry.” Juliet chuckled.

“I’d quite like another runner like you to compare results against.” Zara waved it off, “Just not two of you. I’m not sure I could fit your egos in the room. I’d have to host our meetings on campus.”

“It’s not that bad.” Speedster protested.

“Juliet, I hate to tell you this, but I’m surprised that your ego fits through a door, yet alone in my room.” Zara sniggered at her causing her to let out a huff but just let the insult slide. “Now, take those tests and I’ll give you a call when I need you for my project.”

“Sure.” Speedster nodded, still examining the sheets. She knew the course that was on the paperwork, it was one of the first that they had worked out between them, back when she had been more willing to stare at a computer and take the headache that came with it. Nowadays she just pretended to be computer illiterate. It confused people at work, who couldn’t understand how someone from her generation could possibly not know how to use a computer, but it worked ninety-seven percent of the time.

“I know it’s a slightly longer course than the one you’ve been training on recently,” Zara frowned slightly, “But if I’m going to  start regulating the results for my thesis I need to start using a more regulated course and the one you’re running at the moment has too many obstacles for you to get through.”

“It was good practise at dodging at high speed, but I see your point.” Speedster allowed, “I don’t mind anyway, I know you normally go over a route thoroughly before you suggest it to me.”

“As well as I can considering that I’m normally stuck using Google maps.” Bookworm frowned slightly, “If it deviates too much, tell me and I’ll rework it.” Speedster nodded, “Now shoo.”

“I’m going, I’m going.” Speedster chuckled, letting herself out of the building and heading back towards her place. She made one brief detour to pick up dinner things since she wasn’t sure what she had in the house. She got back to find Luna on her sofa watching the film she had promised she could watch weeks ago and after offering her some grub she opened the fridge door, only to shut it again swiftly with a grimace at the smell that emanated from it.

“Hey Luna?” She asked as she started preparing the food she had bought and made a mental note to clean out the fridge after dinner, “I’m instating a new rule. If I forget, remind me?”

“If you tell me what it is, I will.” Luna chuckled, leaning back on the arm of the sofa in order to see into the kitchen.

“If I’m going to be away for more than two days, I have to leave you the keys so you can raid my fridge.” Speedster replied, prepping veg and meat for fajitas as she did so.

“Does it have its own ecosystem?” Luna asked, giggling as she turned back towards her film, still half paying attention to her friend’s antics in the kitchen.

“Ecosystem, economy and parliament.” Juliet’s reply caused a bark of laughter to emanate from the living room. The film was just ending by the time the food was cooked and as Juliet passed Luna a plate of food and slumped back onto the second sofa, her own food stacked high on her plate, Luna flicked over to the news.

“In groundbreaking news, scientists have recently discovered there might be a way for those crippled by age or disabilities to regain full use of their limbs.” The newscaster was saying as Luna alternated between munching and trying to pick the next dvd, “The robosuit system, invented by Dr. J. Styler, allows those whose skeletal systems have degraded to walk, run and take part in activities that they haven’t been able to do in years.”

“Luna.” Speedster’s tone was flat as she called her friend. Startled, Luna turned to look at Juliet, who was, for the first time since her Fusion completely still, staring at the screen with a look that was equal parts disgust and anger, “Tell me you’re not seeing what I’m seeing.”

Luna turned towards the screen and let out a startled gasp at the sight she beheld. “There’s no way...”

“Looks like there is.” Speedster let out a low growl, ignoring the headache beginning to form behind her eyes as she beheld the ‘robosuit’ which was little more than a full body metal suit, attached to a human form and controlled by computers via directions from the person inside. “I think I’ve found Buttnik.”

“What was his name again?” Luna asked, scrabbling to remember as the news report ended.

“Dr. J. Styler.” Speedster answered easily, getting to her feet. “And I think I had better pay him a visit.”

“Speeds, you can’t just walk into his office and demand to speak to him, not after an announcement like this.” Luna pointed out, “You’re going to need to contact his office and try and arrange a date, say it’s for part of your journalism course or something.”

“But I’m not on a...”

“I know you’re not,” Luna interrupted, “But you might be able to blag it. Hell, talk to Zara, she’s doing a physiology doctorate. This is totally related to her studies. She might be able to get you in.”

“Zara’s already chosen her thesis subject but it’s worth a shot.” Speedster allowed, thinking as she paced up and down the living room. “I need to speak to him, make sure he knows he’s not getting away with it again...”

“Oh...oh!” Luna’s eyes widened as she beheld her friend, “Juliet! Stop.” Furious emerald green eyes flashed in her direction as Juliet stopped mid step to wheel around and stare at her.

“Yes?” Speedster demanded.

“Jules, you’re not thinking like you right now.” Luna pointed out carefully, watching the girl whose body language was all wrong. She recognised the posture and posing now as the same as when Juliet had first Fused, back before the personality contamination from her Fusion had settled down properly. It probably didn’t help that when they had Fused, they had gotten a small dose of the memories of the person they were Fused with and this would have triggered those memories. However she had to pull her friend back. “Stop for a moment and think about this carefully. You’re not the hero of a world right now, you’re a postwoman who might be about to interfere in something that doesn’t concern you.”

“But...”

“I know what those looked like.” Luna held up her hands, her tone placating, “But what if this Doctor isn’t evil? What if he’s actually trying to use the memories and knowledge he gained to help people? Do you really want to put a stop to that.”

“No, but...” Speedster huffed, “You don’t get it, Luna.”

“Then explain it to me, because dashing off to confront someone you don’t know, in some unknown location seems like a pretty bad plan to me. You should at least get some intel first, maybe ask Bookworm or one of the others for...” Luna trailed off as her phone rang, “help, one sec.”

Speedster resumed pacing as Luna answered the phone, which was ringing to the tune of some Egyptian piece of music. “Luna speaking. Hi Mako, yeah I saw, so did Speeds.” When Juliet waved at her, Luna grinned slightly, “She says hi. Sure, sure. Okay. Wait now? But... Speeds isn’t going to want to...okay, we’ll be there shortly. Bye.”

“Now what?” Speedster asked as Luna put the phone down.

“Snap needs footage, tonight, for her project hand in on Friday. Apparently she needed it a week and a half ago, but someone,” Luna gave her a sharp look, “Wasn’t around and wasn’t contactable. Anyway Mako says she’ll talk with us about what was on the news while we’re there, so maybe we can come up with a saner plan than yours.”

“My plan is fine.” Juliet grouched.

“No, no it wasn’t. Give us a chance to come up with a better one. If we haven’t thought of one by the end of recording, you can go be crazy.”

“I don’t think it’s crazy to want to nip this in the bud now.” Speedster grouched as she grabbed a few things and shoved them in her backpack, before following Luna out the door.

“No, it’s completely reasonable.” Luna allowed as she guided her friend to where Mako had said for them to meet, “But you have to have a plan. You actually need to know where he is, where he works and have an appointment. If you go storming in, talking about something someone did in another world, you’ll get kicked out. And possibly thrown in the loony bin.”

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 9

“Yup, apparently she would have been back last week but her parents wouldn’t stop fussing at her.” Luna was just as pleased. She had been amongst the group who had helped Bookworm’s parents help her grab all of her uni work she needed and get to the car. It hadn’t been a pleasant experience and she had been worried for ages.

“So what does she think about the current situation?” Juliet couldn’t help but ask.

“What do you think?” Luna sniggered, “She’s just looking forward to getting to work out what changes have been made during this new person’s Fusion.”

Speedster wasn’t surprised by that. Bookworm had slowly but steadily compiled a full list of their powers and abilities over the course of the last year via constant and persistent testing. ‘Any experiment worth doing was worth doing at least three times’ was a quote that had haunted most of the club members over their testing periods.

She couldn’t complain too much though. It had been Bookworm who had realised that yes, it was possible for her to get faster if she tried and had given her a training regimen to try. She was looking forward presenting the results to the scarily smart young woman at the first opportunity she had.

“She did insist that you went and visited as soon as possible though.” Luna added. “She was most put out to find out you weren’t hanging around the city at the moment.”

“It seemed safer.” Speedster shrugged, “Especially after there was nearly a brawl at the meeting.” Luna just sighed, unable to argue with her on that front. “She back in her halls or where?”

“Classes are over for the day, so she should be in her halls or in the lab, not sure which.”

“I’ll check in a minute.” Juliet decided, unpacking her tools from her backpack and grabbing a quick snack. “You coming with?” She asked Luna, who shook her head.

“Nah, I think I’ll crash here for a little bit.” She replied, “Mickey’s not home at the moment and I’m letting Shade get his ‘evil’ plan out of his system.”

“Should I be worried?” Juliet frowned.

“Considering someone saw him buying out every roll of cheap tin foil from the local shops, I think the only thing I have to be worried about is if he bought super glue to go with it.” Luna chuckled, “I swear that boy is just seeing how many small things he can get away with before my Other Self snaps and tries to sit on him.”

“Fair enough.” Speedster grinned back, “Alright, catch you later. If you’re still here when I’m done with Bookworm, we’ll order in?”

“Pizza?” The reply was plaintive causing Speedster to chuckle. Luna was almost as much of a gannet as she was, though neither of them could keep up with Goku. Though everyone’s appetites had increased after the Fusions, suggesting that they required more calories in order to fuel their new abilities, certain members of the Club had bigger appetites than others.

“Lots of pizza.” Juliet agreed, remembering that Luna alone could take down a twelve inch beast of a pizza without much effort and she could scoff down one and sides in record time. She started mentally making a list of what she wanted on her pizza as she left the house, closing the door properly before zooming off down the road and towards town and the halls where Bookworm normally lived during term time.

She was halfway there when she came across the first of the robots that Luna had told her about. Coming to a complete stop in front of it, almost skidding along the icy, slippery pavement into it and missing by inches, she examined the robot. Instinctual wariness, part of the personality contamination from her Fusion, kicked in as she stayed out of its reach, but circled it, trying to get a feel for the droid and what it could do.

There was no obvious weaponry on the robot. In fact as she scanned the droid, she felt relief bubbling up inside her. Luna’s worrying had gotten her a little bit nervous, but the tin can in front of her didn’t look like much of a threat. In fact she was pretty sure she could take down a small army of these with her eyes closed and her hands tied behind her back.

She paused when that thought crossed her mind and mentally kicked herself. ‘Ego check.’ She reminded herself as she darted around the robot and shot down the road towards her friend’s place.

Bookworm had obviously been warned that she was on her way as she was waiting for her outside the gates. She let the speeding blur in and watched as her friend skidded along the floor and stopped just short of sliding into the fence on the other side of the quad.

“You’re letting your breaking slip.” She commented as Speedster moved over to her side.

“No. Snow.” Juliet pointed to the white substance all over the floor, “Breaking is an absolute nightmare with the ground like this.”

“Get used to it.” Bookworm snorted, ushering Juliet inside and up to her flat which seemed rather empty considering the time of day. “So,” The smartest member of the Club said as she shut the door behind them, “I got an email from some of the others.” She watched Speedster flinch, “Is it true you’ve lost your World Sphere?”

“Yeah.” Juliet admitted with a wince, “It got knicked.”

“Well that sucks.” Bookworm shrugged, “Do you have your speed results for the last month?”

“No?” Juliet blinked, confused, having expected to get more of an earful from the Doctor to be. “I wasn’t sure if you would want it right now. I can get it from my digital dropbox if you want it?”

“Please and thank you.” Bookworm nodded, causing Juliet to flip open her phone and access her dropbox, attaching the file and sending it across to Bookworm’s email account. Bookworm practically pounced on the email, dragging her friend into her room so she could look at it on her big screen. “I can see where the snow hit.” She pointed at the results where Speedster had slowed down considerably for a week.

“I got used to it pretty quickly.” Juliet shrugged, unconcerned about the weeklong slow down when she considered the results for the following couple of weeks, “It’s just breaking that’s still a problem.”

“I can see that.” Bookworm allowed, before pausing and turning to look at her, “This wasn’t what I wanted you to come over for.” She admitted, sheepishness seeping onto her features. “I was hoping you could help me out with something.”

“Oh?” Speedster asked, curious, “What kind of help?”

“I...uhh.” Bookworm trailed off, “I have to start work on my thesis after Christmas and I was hoping I could get a hand.”

“Yes, but considering I graduated from a music degree and you’re taking a doctorate in physiological science, I’m not sure how I can...” Speedster trailed off, “You’re serious? You want to study me for your thesis?”

“The whole Club actually.” Bookworm admitted. “What the Shifts did to change us from normal people into what we are now.”

“You can’t honestly think that’s a good idea.” Speedster frowned, not entirely sure Bookworm had thought it through. “Thesis’s get published. Anyone could read it and find out about us!”

“Snap’s openly using the Club for her project.” Bookworm pointed out defiantly, “And she’s not planning on hiding her film. Last I heard she’s got plans on publishing it online and possibly seeing whether you guys would be willing to make more.”

“She hasn’t told us about that.” Juliet’s scowl deepened.

“No, she hasn’t told you.” Bookworm huffed, “Or Luna either since she can’t keep a secret for love nor money.”

“Great,” Juliet groaned, “Just great.” She sat back on Bookworm’s bed and considered her friend carefully, “So you seriously want to use us as our thesis project? Present us as a scientific fact?”

“Can you think of anyone else who ever had a thesis like it? This would be a completely new, ground breaking research. And I already have results both from before and after the transformation in your case because I have your marathon training times available.”

Juliet blinked at her, “You’re going to use the times that mapmyrun posted to my facebook wall as the baseline for ‘before?’”

“Yeap, and the speed results you’ve been giving me since you started my training program for ‘after.’” Bookworm nodded.

“I suppose it could work.” Speedster allowed, “What about the others, they don’t have results you can use for ‘before’ and ‘after’?”

“Spike’s pretty easy to work with, his ‘shell’ is obviously not normal. Shorty’s pretty normal but his alchemy isn’t, I can test the bounds of that. Without trying human transmutation of course.” Zara listed off, “Hex has photos of before she changed, I might even manage to help her shift some of that weight that suddenly appeared and I have ideas for the others too.”

“If you can do it without endangering the Club, I’ll play along.” Speedster nodded, “But you have to keep your results safe and secure and give us warning before you hand it in.”

“Deal.” Zara looked relieved, as if she had expected to get into more of an argument with her. “So, want the training plan for next month?” She asked, turning back to her computer.

“I thought I had one for next month?” Speedster looked curious as she glanced at the screen, only to wince and turn away from the backlit console.

“Sorry, still no luck with the contacts?” Bookworm frowned.

“It’s not the light.” Juliet explained, “So the contacts take the glare off, but they don’t help with the flickering. Nothing can.”

NaNo 2013: Speedster's Secrets: Part 2

“Oh...” Juliet paused, realising she had been had. She did not get to say anything else about it though as they were joined by another member of the Club. The huge, broad shouldered Nate, stepped through the door and glanced around, a scowl settling on his face for a moment when he saw that it was only Juliet and Nicola around.

“Hi Spike.” Nicola waved, earning herself a smile from the young man. She was fully aware his problem was not with her, but with Speedster, who had kicked his butt a few times over the last year despite his ability to breathe fire and the hard, almost iron strong shell that had formed along his back.

“Hi Snap,” His return wave was friendly, though the glower he gave Juliet as he turned to her was much less so, “Speedster.” He nodded unhappily.

“Spike.” Juiliet nodded back, unsurprised. She knew she was less than popular amongst those in their group who had Fused with villains from the worlds linked to their Spheres. It was the price she paid for being one of the voices of reason that had spoken against revealing their powers to the world officially and stepping in to prevent anyone who tried to use their powers against someone who wasn’t super powered. As she packed her World Sphere away, Nate moved over to the equipment to double check it before they started filming. Since it was Nicola’s project but Nate’s equipment, she chose not to object when he fiddled with one or two things, though she did start arguing with him over the placement of one of the cameras when he started moving the one in the back corner to get at the screen.

Speedster wisely backed away from the conversation that was slowly turning into a row and moved over to the costume box, picking out the items from the pile that belonged to her costume. Since this was a super hero project, Snap, who had been good at sewing even before she had Fused with a costume designer from another dimension who created new costumes for her friend on an almost daily basis, had created a costume for each of the heroes and the villains.

Juliet’s costume was mostly blues and whites, with hints of silver as highlighting. Unlike some of the others there was no cape and not only because it would slow her down.  While some of the others who were taking part in the project thought capes looked awesome, she had decided they were a hazard years ago. They could get caught in too much and they could be grabbed by the bad guy and either ripped off or used as a choking hazard.

While she did not have to wear the superhero get up when she was not acting as a superhero onscreen, she did kind of like the way it had been tailored to her exact measurements and her colour preferences. The costume had no stupid little skirt like some anime heroine costumes did and instead consisted of a pair of an almost skin tight, short sleeved lycra catsuit that was just loose enough she could hide a sports bra underneath it and a pair of deep treaded tough boots with the same sort of support as her running trainers, making them one of her favourite pairs of shoes. If they hadn’t been for the costume only she would have asked Snap if she could wear them everywhere.

She had no hood or full face mask, instead her catsuit came with a domino mask that was in blue with silver markings that made her eyes stand out. As masks went it wasn’t particularly effective at hiding her true identity but it was only meant to be symbolic for the movie anyway. She wasn’t too worried about someone working out who she was and what her powers were from student project that would never be seen past Snap, the Club and her tutors anyway.

As Snap and Spike continued to argue about camera placement and equipment, Juliet was joined by one of the twins. Mira looked tired as she slumped down at Juliet’s side and her flinch as her brother walked through the door was enough to let Speedster know that there had been another ‘debate.’ The twins had Fused with two people from the same universe, but unfortunately for them Mira had Fused with the hero while her brother had Fused with one of the villains and both had developed the split personality disorders that went with those people along with the powers.

“You okay, Luna?” Speedster worried at her friend. She felt particularly protective of Luna, since she had been the girl’s first friend at the university and had seen people try and take advantage of the girl who was surprisingly innocent considering her age and life experience.

“Yes, no. I don’t know.” Mira admitted as she glanced over at her brother. “We finally came to an agreement with him.”

The emphasis she put on ‘him’ told Juliet exactly who she was talking about. Unlike Luna, her brother didn’t consider his ‘other self’ part of him. Instead he tried to ignore his psychotic personality and contain the mayhem it caused. The way Luna did it, she could work with her other personality, even hold conversations and figure things out together, much the way the hero she had Fused with did. The way Michael did it meant that when the psychotic personality escaped the saner one’s chains, something bad normally happened.

And somehow Luna had managed to come to an agreement with it.

“How?” Speedster asked, shocked. She had only narrowly escaped having to deal with the lunatic and that had only been because Luna had thrown herself in the way first.

“Well when I first realised it was Shade I was dealing with, not Michael, I stepped back to let my other self deal with it since she’s better with our magic than I am.” Luna explained, reminding Juliet that Michael refused to use his Club name where the psycho variant of him used it rather than his real name. “But he didn’t want to fight.”

“Is he sick?”

“I did wonder that. I mean Mikey gets the worst colds around this time of year and if he doesn’t catch the flu at some point it’ll be a miracle.” Luna shrugged, “But no. It turns out he’s figured that we’re not a threat to his taking over the world and as his sister I should be working with him, not against him.”

“But you are, and you shouldn’t.” Speedster frowned, confused.

“Oh I know we are...I am.” Mira grimaced slightly as she realised she was talking about herself as two people again. Technically with her split personalities she was right, but that didn’t mean she liked admitting it out loud even around Juliet who knew the truth. “No one else in the Club can use the magic we can, it was part of our Fusion even though we should need the focuses in order to wield them.”

“So did you tell him you weren’t helping him take over the world?” Juliet asked, still confused by this turn of events.

“I did.” Luna nodded, amused by something, “He said that I’ll change my mind and that it’s apparently far too much effort to try and take my powers when I’m so genre savvy, so he’ll try a different route.”

“And that should worry me more than it does.” Speedster scowled, glancing over at Michael who had gone straight over to Spike and pulled him away from the row, the pair now discussing something that she wasn’t sure if she should be worried about or not.

“Oh and apparently he’s not too worried about you either, since he’s the only Villain Fusion in the entire club who doesn’t have to worry about catching you first.” Mira warned her. Juliet scowled as she realised that was true. The type of magic that Mira and Michael could wield meant that once the magic was in motion it wouldn’t matter how fast she was, she would have to stop and play their game because there would be no other escape.

“If you didn’t get into a fight with him, why are you so tired?” Speedster couldn’t help but ask.

“All nighter on coursework.” Mira chuckled, “I haven’t actually slept since yesterday.”

“Are you going to be alright to...you know?” She gestured to the crate of costumes and then around at the cameras and the props set up.

“I should be.” Mira shrugged as she pulled her own costume out of the box. Unlike Speedster’s costume, Luna’s had the itty bitty skirt, but an imperial purple one over tiny black lycra shorts, along with a tight imperial purple tank top, all of which had gold markings made from golden thread. Luna had a cape, one that was black on the outside and purple on the inside, and her black boots were knee high and had slight heels. Her domino mask was black with gold markings around the edge. It made her look more like a villain than a hero, but considering Luna’s insane hair colours, it suited her. “I have access to coffee and sugar. I’ll be set until I crash tonight and hey, I don’t have to worry about Shade stabbing me in the back anymore.”

“Which is always a good thing.” Speedster agreed, standing up and heading for the screens set up at the back of the room. There were two groups of screens there, both with pieces of paper attached to them. One had a blue ‘M’ on while the other had a pink ‘F.’ The two girls headed behind the latter of the two and got into their superhero costumes. By the time they were done the others who were to be involved in today’s recording had arrived and they had been joined behind the screen by villainess of the short film.

“G’afternoon Hex.” Speedster nodded to her, earning herself a grunt and the evil eye back. The other girl, who had Fused with a powerful but particularly smart witch, wasn’t one for conversation at the best of times and considering the books Juliet could see poking out of her bag, she assumed that there was a lot of coursework Hex was skipping out of doing in order to be here.

“We are taking this outside aren’t we?” Luna asked nervously as she poked her head around the screens and considered the size of the room, “I mean we’ve never tried using our powers in such a confined space before and...”

“If you bothered to remember the script, that’s kind of the point.” Hex reminded her, a small smirk on her face, “I, the bad guy, am going to get to kick your butts because you’re too inexperienced with your powers, Speedster can’t move at full speed in such close quarters when you lot are around and Chi isn’t here.” She paused and poked her own head around the screen, thinking for a moment before saying, “If it helps, I’ll try and make sure you hit the padding.”

“You are looking forward to this way too much.” Speedster grouched, knowing that she was about to get her butt kicked and not looking forward to having to let it happen. She wasn’t at as much of a disadvantage indoors as the others seemed to think so she could defend herself if she was allowed but it wasn’t in the script so she was going to have to let Hex send her flying. It wasn’t going to be pleasant but it was the price they paid for using their powers to make up for special effects.

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secrets: Part 1

“Right then,” Juliet commented to herself as she looked up and down the last road of her delivery route, “It took twenty minutes yesterday, I bet I can do it in nineteen today.”

As she reset her stopwatch, she tried to ignore the fact that it was probably a bad idea to be even trying to break her record today with all of the ice and snow that had started to become a regular feature on her route the closer she got to Christmas. It wouldn’t have been quite so bad if there had not been a fresh snow fall overnight, hiding the most treacherous patches of ice underneath a layer of freshly fallen, still quite powdery snow.

But then she relished a challenge. She would not be pushing herself to improve if she did not. Not with the skills she had acquired.

“Right.” She spoke to herself as she pulled the last pile of letters out of her bag and moved to press the button, “Three, two, one...”

She pressed the button and suddenly there was not a postwoman any more, but a blur of red and black that shot up the road, a figure appearing briefly at each door in order to post the letters through before vanishing back into the blur.

The blur was just reaching the final door when she slipped on one of the hidden patches of ice, went tumbling and crashed into one of the parked cars, sending the last few letters everywhere.

“Ow.” Juliet complained as she picked herself up, wincing slightly as she rotated the shoulder that had hit the car first and started picking the mail up. It was not the first time she had hit something at that speed, when she had first been adjusting to the powers the World Sphere had granted her, she had not been very good at breaking at all. She had improved in the last year but the rapid healing that she had gained had been incredibly useful this time last year.

She posted the last mail and then hit the button on the stopwatch, glowering at the clock for its time of fourteen minutes and seven seconds. She knew she had only dropped those two minutes because of the crash, but it still ticked her off.

At least, she thought as she dropped off her equipment home and got changed, she was done for the day. Super speed was cheating, but it meant that she finished her rounds much earlier than any other postman or woman and when she was done with her route, she was done for the day. This meant that today, as on most days, she had the entire afternoon all to herself.

Or she would have if she had not been called by one of her friends from the Club last night to double check that she was okay for filming today. She did not mind too much. Nicola, aka Snap, was in her final year and Juliet remembered what hers had been like. She was quite happy to do almost anything to make the stress of that year easier on her friend.

And since Snap was a film student, with a project to do that involved creating a short film, if this meant going in and acting for a while, she was good with that. Especially considering the genre involved played to the strengths of the Club.

She darted across town, weaving through the traffic and darting onto the university grounds. She had to slow down as she hit the padestrianized zone in order to walk at what should be a normal pace but was slow enough to Juliet’s mind that she was practically at a snail’s pace. It did not take long, however, for her to reach the building she needed and find the studios where her friend was waiting.

As she walked through the door she found that Nicola had her back to the door and had not even noticed her enter, causing her to grin as she said, “I hate ice.”

The offhand comment from nowhere made Nicola jump and wheel around. When she saw who had spoken she let out a heavy sigh and glowered at the speaker. “Juliet, seriously, a little warning when you arrive. Please?”

Juliet just continued to grin as she shucked her work boots, a pair of boots with heavy treads for her favoured trainers. Emerald green eyes dancing in their amusement, as she took a moment to let her chocolate brown hair down and brush it tidy before putting it back up.

“How was work?” Nicola grumbled as she turned back to her cameras, the small, black haired, brown eyed girl trying not to get ticked off at her friend.

“Eh, busier then yesterday, not as busy as tomorrow.” Juliet shrugged, moving over to see if she could help, “With Christmas coming up fast the post is just in heaps when I get there in the mornings. Deliveries are a breeze though.”

“With your skills, yeah.” Nicola couldn’t help but be amused at that as she finished setting up, “You’re early.”

“I’m always early.” Juliet boasted, “It’s hard not to be.”

“Speedster, your ego is showing again.” Nicola poked her in the chest, a wry smile on her face as Juliet paused for a moment before looking sheepish. “Honestly, I thought you had that under control.”

“I’m allowed to boast occasionally. You should hear some of the others after a couple of rounds.” Speedster responded, settling at her side for just long enough to pick out the props belonging to her before pacing the room, unable to stay still for more than a few moments at a time without something big to focus on.

“You lot have been drinking?! In public?” Nicola’s yelp caused Juliet to pause and chuckle.

“No, no. Don’t worry.” Juliet waved her concern off. “If we’re going to get so drunk we’re boasting, it’s done in the halls, well away from anyone else. After all, I’m the only graduate in our group.”

“And as such you’re supposed to be the responsible one.” Her friend grouched at her, “You know, trimming the excesses and stopping bad ideas like that?”

“Hey, in my defence I’m not anyone’s boss.” Speedster complained, “And if you remember, Snap, I never agreed to referee our little group. I’m not a teacher or their parents, so I don’t actually have the right to tell anyone what to do.”

“But you’re...” Snap trailed off at the sharp look Juliet was giving her. Nicola knew what was wrong. Speedster didn’t want to sit on anyone, because she remembered all too well what had happened when everything had first changed for the club and one of them had tried to suppress the changes and hadn’t been able to take the fact they were no longer ‘normal.’ Just trying to behave to another’s rules of normality had sent one member of their club crazy and another had ended it all after getting chased by police. “Oh...right.” Snap breathed, looking apologetic, “I’m sorry, Speeds.”

“It’s fine.” Emerald eyes shifted away from Nicola, towards the window where she could see snow beginning to fall, “I just wish...”

“You didn’t know they would do that, you couldn’t have.” Snap reminded her. Thinking of last December, almost a year to the day now, when everything had changed so drastically for about thirty or so lives. “Besides, it wasn’t you who found the first set.”

Juliet’s response was to pull something out of her bag, a smallish box, probably about five inches long by five wide and just as tall. She opened it and pulled out a small sphere that from Nicola’s perspective seemed to emit a bright glow. She knew what it was though.

“You brought your World Sphere?” Snap asked, moving over to get a proper look at it and see what images it was providing today.

“I don’t leave it anywhere unattended.” Speedster replied with a soft tone and slight scowl. “It’s not safe, not after...” She trailed off as the images inside the glass ball shifted from roaming green hills to a city not unlike venice, which had a great, decorated torch which they knew was lit only once a year, during an important festival.

“No, and with your house full of builders at the moment, I suppose it’s probably better than it doing to them what it did to you.” Snap agreed, reminded as the images passed some houses, that Speedster didn’t really have much peace and quiet. Between club gatherings and problems arising and work and builders, the oldest of their number often found herself with no way to unwind without going for a run. And nowadays that was getting harder and harder with the roads steadily being covered over in ice and snow.

The closer it was getting to Christmas the more enclosed they were all feeling though. For some of them it wasn’t too bad. The club members like Snap, who had not ‘Fused’ to super powered individuals, didn’t mind the cold weather curtailing expeditions outside to parks and long runs through the woods. For those like Speedster whose Fusions had resulted in gifts of power, the fact that they couldn’t let off steam once every so often was becoming a nightmare and it was even worse for the girl in front of her.

Speedster had been a runner before she had Fused with the fastest being amongst all the individuals from the world. A being who, in his own world, was never still for more than a few moments or when he was sleeping. She wanted to be able to run and it was often only her job which allowed her to blaze round town at full speed.

“Have you tried wellies?” Snap couldn’t help but offer, wondering if they would help against the cold, wet, frozen ground and allow her friend to speed along without worrying about breaking a leg or worse.

“Wellies?” Speedster blinked at her for a moment, conFusion obvious at the sudden subject change, “For what?”

“For running in the snow,” Snap chuckled, amused by the other girl’s conFusion. “Unless you want to crash again.”

“How did you know I crashed?” Juliet yelped, wondering if Snap had precognition and had not told them yet.

“I didn’t.” Nicola smirked at her, “I just guessed. You’re the one who confirmed it.”