NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 19

The nearest supermarket was part of a big shopping complex. While there, Juliet picked up new blankets, a battery powered radio, a camp cooking set, some paper plates, plastic cups and cutlery, a cool box and some food. She knew the situation wasn’t ideal, but at least she could make it a bit more workable until they could think of something else, and all of her purchases would help.

The treehouses weren’t double glazed, hell, they didn’t even have real windows, just bits of clear Perspex, their walls weren’t very thick but they were sturdy and didn’t have holes in, which was a help, but with the weather as cold as it had been, they would have to be careful to keep themselves wrapped up warm.

She would have gotten some of the stand alone heaters, but they all needed electricity, which she still had yet to install.

“Right,” She decided as she darted back, trying to balance her purchases as she sped down the road and weighed down by too many bags to manage more than a steady jog, “Find out where Michael vanished to, find somewhere warmer to crash.”

When she got back she checked in on Luna, burying her under three more blankets before settling some of the new stuff in the other treehouse. Once everything was set up, she wrapped one blanket around herself, hid under another three and fell asleep.

When she finally woke up, it was to find Luna was on the phone to someone as she tried to cook using the camping equipment.

“No, she’s still asleep. Yeah I know it’s been more than two days.” Luna sounded worried, “Yeah, I’ve been checking on her. Gave her one of my blankets too. No, I haven’t...” She sighed, “Michael, I’m not going to freeze. Not when I still have two and the duvet. Are you...? Good. I’m glad. Yeah, I know. When Speeds wakes up, I’ll talk to her about it but I’m not going to.” She paused, distaste crossing her features, “No, I’m not going to leave her here. Especially right now.” Luna looked over, concern etched on her features. Her features brightened when she saw Juliet looking back at her, “Gotta go Mikey, she’s come round.”

Luna put the phone down and darted over to her side. “Before you worry.” She said, bringing a glass of water over with her and handing it to Juliet, “It’s a pay as you go sim in a cheapio phone. I popped into town while you were sleeping and picked it up so I could get in contact with my brother.”

“Is Michael okay?” Juliet worried, sitting up and chugging the freezing cold water, the liquid soothing her parched throat.

“Yeah, Shade got him away clear. He’s staying with Spike right now. Apparently our parents are pitching a fit and kicking up as much fuss as possible about their kids being kidnapped.” Luna bit her lip for a moment before sighing, “Mum saw me get dragged into the van.”

“Have you phoned them?” Juliet couldn’t help but ask as she pulled the blanket around herself, cold despite the layers and wondering if Luna’s jacket was a lot warmer than it looked considering that she wasn’t wrapped up.

“Yeah.” Luna nodded, “They weren’t pleased that I couldn’t tell them where I was, but I promised the moment I...” She frowned slightly, trailing off and holding up a hand. Speedster frowned, wondering what Luna had heard that she hadn’t. Then she understood. There were footsteps on the wooden platform outside. A shadow passed by the steamed up window before there was, surprisingly a knock on the door before it opened.

Both girls let out a relieved breath as Juliet’s uncle stepped into the room.

“Mr Rhodes?” Luna looked relieved, “Sorry, she’s woken up now.”

“Lune?” Juliet blinked at her, confused.

“She called me this morning.” Mr Rhodes informed his niece as he sat down on the sofa next to her and checked her temperature with his hand, frowning slightly as he pulled his hand away, “You’ve been asleep for the last fifty three hours and you feel hot to the touch. Can you get some water please?” He looked at Luna, who nodded and shot off to get some. “I couldn’t get away from the house until an hour ago though. Someone from the Government came around to apologise for the other day.” He grimaced, “He did ask me to pass on a message to you and Luna, but I think it can wait.”

“I’m okay.” Juliet reassured him, becoming disconcerted when he checked her leg, having obviously been told about it, only to find the cut had almost completely closed over but looked red and sore. “Uncle?” She asked, worried when he pulled her to her feet, only for her leg to give out, pain spiking up it.

“Come on.” He smiled at her, trying to hide his concern as Luna came back with the water and she chugged that glass down too, “Let’s get you somewhere warmer. I have the guest house, you two can stay there. And if they try and take you away again, they’ll learn why engineers are terrifying.” He smirked evilly.

“You sure?” Juliet worried at him, “I mean...”

“Guest house. You’re using it.” He was determined, “You can live in the treehouse like when you were a kid once it warms up. For now let me worry about problems and just do what you’re told.”

“But...” Juliet trailed off at the look her uncle was giving her, “Can we have breakfast first?”

“I’m not sure it’s edible.” Luna admitted as she poked at the slowly cooking bacon, “Not yet anyway.”

“We’ll take the food with us.” Mr. Rhodes chuckled slightly, as Juliet managed to get weight on her leg, relaxing slightly as it didn’t give out again. “Now come on.”

It took them twenty minutes of trudging through the snow to reach the guest house, by which time Juliet had gotten dizzy, fallen and been scooped up by her uncle. He had already turned the heating on and Luna let out a relieved breath as she stepped from the frigid outside air into the warm interior of the house.

Mr. Rhodes didn’t stop at the door, instead he hurried into the downstairs bedroom and led his niece on the bed. She let out a pained groan as he shifted her leg to take a proper look at it.

“She’s got a healing factor,” Luna worried, hovering by the door, “It shouldn’t still be...”

“Did she stop when it happened?” Her uncle asked, “Or get it treated right away?” He paused when Luna couldn’t answer and shook Juliet lightly, the girl was flushed and slightly delirious, “Juliet, hon, what happened?”

“Cut myself escaping.” Juliet babbled, “Hurt lots, lotsa blood. Got it washed and wrapped. Had to keep using it. Get away. Protect my friends.” Her eyes widened, “Luna!”

“I’m here, Jules.” Luna stepped closer at a gesture from Mr. Rhodes, “I’m okay.”

Juliet’s uncle watched her relax slightly, and then asked, “Juliet, when did you change your bandages? Before Luna took them off to have a look?”

“Didn’t. Never stopped long enough.” Juliet shrugged, she paused and worry crossed her features, “Is it bad?”

“I think you’ve probably got an infection.” He replied, “Nothing serious, but you haven’t been sick since you shifted, have you?”

“You know about that?” Luna yelped.

“When your niece can slam into a tree at a hundred and seventy three miles an hour and the only thing damaged is the tree, you get answers.” Mr. Rhodes replied with a small, tight smile. “I’m going to go get Angela a sec.” Juliet groaned and pulled the nearest available cushion over her head at the sound of her soon-to-be Aunt’s name, “Now, now, no need for that. Angela’s a nurse, she’ll be able to tell what you’ve done.”

“She doesn’t like me.” Juliet complained plaintively.

“Yes she does, she just doesn’t know how to handle you.” Mr. Rhodes sighed, wishing the two women in his life could get along. “I’ll be right back.” He told Luna, who sat on the edge of the bed.

“You should have said something. I figured you’d already healed when you didn’t show any signs of injury at the tunnel.” Luna scolded her, obviously worried.

“Couldn’t stop.” Juliet informed her, her sentences coming in short bursts as fatigue started dragging her back down and her throat gained a tickly feeling, “No time to worry you. Forgot once we got here. Too tired.”

“It’s okay, just next time tell me if you’re hurt. I could have changed the bandages at my house or the moment we reached the treehouse.” Luna shuddered slightly, remembering the way the bandages had been almost glued to Juliet and she’d had to loosen them with water first. “Then you might not be sick.”

“Sorry...” Juliet apologised, tensing slightly when she heard the outside door open and Angela’s voice complaining from the hallway.

“I’m not sure what you expect me to be able to do for cuts and scrapes, love.” She was saying as she drew closer, “But I suppose I can...” She trailed off as she entered the room and took one look at Juliet. Luna swiftly got out of the way as the nurse shot over to her friend’s side. “Juliet?” She asked, a hand on her forehead and grimace crossing her features as she felt the clamminess of her patient’s skin, “I need you to talk to me while I check you over, okay?”

“Not leaving.” Juliet informed her stubbornly.

“No, no, I don’t want you to leave.” Angela reassured her, “But you’re not very well and I need to do some checks and make sure that no one else can catch what you’ve got okay?” With that she checked the leg in question, frowning slightly at the first stage signs of infection, but the almost fully healed scrape. “How long ago did you do this?” She asked.

“Yester...” Juliet trailed off, “Feels like yesterday. Was asleep two days though.”

“Two and half,” Luna corrected, “And was running around on it for a full day before that.”

“That’s not possible.” Angela frowned, “This shouldn’t be this healed. It looks like it should have had stitches.”

“I heal fast.” Juliet replied, chuckling slightly, before coughing, “I do everything fast.”

“Still...” Angela trailed off when her partner put a hand on her shoulder and looked at him, “She’s going to need antibiotics.”

“No penicillin.” Juliet yelped, panic crossing her features.

“No, I know.” Angela sighed, running a hand through her hair, “Jacob already gave me your history and allergies.” She frowned slightly as she realised Juliet was shivering, “Are you cold?” She asked.

“Yeah.” The reply nod was firm, even as Juliet sniffed and started coughing.

“Chills.” Angela diagnosed, gesturing for Luna to bring her a blanket which the other Fused individual did, “I think she’s got an infection in the injured leg, and I think she’s gotten a bad cold or the flu to boot. She should see a doctor. I can’t prescribe antibiotics outside of work.”

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 15

Speedster had come to the same realisation as she shot down the motorway, glad for the almost empty roads as she sped across the country at top speed, leaving a trail of scorched asphalt in her wake.

She heard the first sounds of gunfire as she shot down the nearest alleyway to the standoff, the constant hum of a machine gun being drowned out by the sounds of the sound of an artillery cannon. She didn’t stop as she emerged onto the street, instead building enough speed that she managed to create a twister of snow between the two groups that made both sides stop firing.

With nothing to fuel it, it stopped when she did, sending snow flying everywhere as she stopped in front of the man who looked like he was in charge of the military forces. “Hi.”

“Who the hell are you?” He demanded, anger obvious, “And get the hell out of our way.”

“They call me Speedster.” She replied, “And I think I can save them.” She gestured to the army of robosuits before her.

“You want to save the robots?” The man’s eyes gave away movement behind her and she shot up a lamp post, smirking slightly at the look on the face of the guy who had tried to grab her.

“No,” She corrected as if talking to small child, “I want to save the people inside them. Unless you want to be known as the Major who ordered the Christmas Massacre?”

“They opened fire first.” The Major pointed out.

“They had no choice.” Speedster retorted, “And you sound like you’re three. ‘He started it!’ Honestly.” She rolled her eyes, “Grow up and think.”

“Like we should listen to you, you think you’re a superhero.” The Major spat. “Go home. We don’t have time to humour your dressup games.”

“Give me half an hour.” Speedster tried to bargain, “Half an hour to get in, break the control console and ruin Sawyer’s plans. If I succeed, you won’t have to kill anyone. If I fail, you won’t have lost any men trying to get in.”

“You expect me to order my men to do nothing but sit on their thumbs and accept being under fire for half an hour?” The major looked disgusted.

“No.” Speedster admitted, “But if you actually look, you can see the difference between the robosuits and the normal robots, hell, on my way in I can tag a few in the front so you know which ones are fine to destroy without killing anyone inside. Just let me try and save them.”

“I can’t order my men to just get shot at for half an hour.” The major pointed out. “We have to fight back.”

“Fine. Whatever. I’m going in anyway.” Speedster snapped at him, “Just remember if the robosuits suddenly stop firing at you, stop firing at them. They’re not responsible for their actions and I’m damn well going to make sure Sawyer can’t control them anymore.”

With that she shot into the crowd of robots, doing as she had said she would and tagging the robots without people inside by using them to bounce amongst the crowd and into the warehouse complex.

She landed in front of the doors to the warehouse, mentally wincing as the sounds of gunfire restarted, only to shift to the side as the doors opened and a group of robots stomped out, led by a robosuit. She slipped in behind them before the doors could slam shut.

The corridor was dark, all the lights unlit except for the blinking red lights of security cameras and it took her eyes a moment to adjust, giving the robots in the corridor a chance to whine to life and open fire. Speedster moved on instinct, narrowly avoiding becoming swiss cheese as her Fusion’s reaction times saved her life.

She smashed her way through the robots, leaving a trail of metal and wreckage behind her. She would have worked her way through the rooms systematically but that same instinct that had saved her life drew her onwards, into the central hub of the building which was surprisingly empty considering the horde outside.

She glanced around, taking in the machines used to equip people with the robosuits, the teaching area for retraining people in how to walk once they had been treated and two small groups of robots and noting the lack of robosuits, suggesting that they were all outside, protecting the warehouse by being human shields and walking, unwilling, weapons.

“Who are you?” She jumped slightly and wheeled around to face the speaker, who was on the gantry above her. She glowered up at the huge, fat, egg shaped man with the ridiculous moustache as he continued, “And how the hell did you manage to wreck my robots without any weapons?”

“How do you think?” Speedster smirked at him before glancing around again, looking for a control panel and figuring it was probably in the office behind him, “Who do you think had the World Sphere before you? You’re not the only one who can got a power up you know.”

“World Sphere?” Sawyer asked, “Is that what it’s called?”

“Look,” Speedster interrupted, “We could do this all day. I could explain things, you could then ask more questions and we’d be back and forth till the cows come home, but I don’t got time for that. So how about we skip the chatting and you tell me how to switch off your control thingy and I prevent a massacre? Because seriously, your human shields aren’t going to be there much longer if you don’t turn off that damn machine.”

“Well I can tell who you’re not Fused with.” Sawyer smirked, “You don’t banter anywhere near enough to be Fused with a certain pest.”

“I figure I’m the upgrade.” She snorted, “Version 2.0, now with more kicking your ass and less pointless posturing.”

That made him chuckle, not that she got to see it as something nearly blindsided her and she only just avoided the metal arm swinging at her out of nowhere. She skidded across the floor, finding breaking difficult on the smooth surface, and got drawn into a brawl with the nearest group of robots, leaving a pile of wreckage strewn across the floor.

Then the robosuit that had attacked her from the shadows was on her again, forcing her to dodge repeatedly as she refused point blank to injure the poor person inside.

“Bloody hell, Doc.” She complained as she narrowly avoided a third and fourth swing, “This thing’s almost as fast as me.” She ran circles around it, recognising it as she did so as the robosuit containing Dr. J. Styler, and shot up the stairs behind it, bringing herself face to face with the wanna be tyrant. “Not. Now, control panel. Where is it?”

Sawyer took a swing at her himself, one which she dodged so easily that it was almost a joke.

“Okay,” She shrugged, “Don’t tell me. I bet it’s in here.” She darted around the fat man and into the office he had been stood in front of, wincing at the computer screens in front of her as she stopped to look around.

With no clue of how the computer she was working on actually functioned, she couldn’t help but wish she had brought Luna or Mako with her as she tried to work out how to shut down the control signal. She tried everything obvious she could think of and was just moving to try the much less subtle variant of stopping the computer when she was seized by the back of the catsuit and chucked across the room.

She slammed into the wall hard and before she could recover, she was pinned against it by a metal coated hand to her throat. She struggled against the robosuited Doctor’s grip, gasping in what little breath she could take past the metal digits, as Sawyer entered the room, looking pleased with himself.

“You honestly think that I’d have placed my control signal hub somewhere this obvious?” He asked the struggling girl, who could barely hear him over the roaring in her ears. “You disappoint me.”

“Screw. You.” She gasped out, trying a moment longer to pull the hand away from her throat before her eyes rolled back in her head, closed and she went limp in his grasp.

The moment she did so, the robosuit released its grip and she collapsed forward for a moment, before opening her eyes and ducking underneath the bot’s attempts to grab her, practically dancing out of his range. “Nice...try...” She smirked at him as she caught her breath.

“There’s still some faults.” Sawyer admitted, eyeing up the robosuit as he did so. “But nothing that won’t be worked out with time.”

“I don’t...plan on giving you any.” Speedster informed him before practically vanishing on the spot and attacking him, sending him tumbling into his computer system. The electronics started sparking dangerously as he pulled himself out of the smoking console.

“You little...” He trailed off as she smacked him back into it.

“Where’s the control hub?” She demanded, glowering at him, narrowly dodging the robosuit as she did so.

“Why would I tell you?” Sawyer asked, looking pleased with himself for some odd reason as he glanced at the damaged computer screen and reached for a switch.

“Because I’m going to keep kicking your butt if you don’t?” She asked, “And why are you so happy?”

“It’s on the roof, if you have to know.” He answered her, still smirking, “Not that it matters.”

“Why?” She asked warily.

“Because goodbye, that’s why.” He replied as he flipped the switch.

“Wha...ack!” Speedster yelped as the floor vanished underneath her and she tumbled to the floor below. She landed safely but the trapdoor closed behind her, leaving her stuck in a fenced off area of the ground floor that was made up of floor to ceiling metal fencing. Expecting to be able to crash through it easily, she went from zero to sixty in point two seconds, only to get a powerful electric shock that sent her crashing to the ground the moment the fencing fell.

Trembling with the side effects of the jolt, she pulled herself to her feet and looked up at the control room just in time to see something escaping through a newly opened hole in the roof.

“S...Shit.” She stammered, shooting up the stairs and bouncing off of the railing and the wall to get through the hole in time to find that the robosuit containing Dr. Styler was trying to move the control signal hub. “D...Don’t even think about i...it.” She managed, glowering at the pair.

“You? Again?”  Sawyer grumbled, examining her like she was a puzzle. “You’re human, that should have kept you long enough...”

“N...none of us are completely human anymore, S...Sawyer.” Speedster pointed out, pushing her tired and aching body into a strike on the robosuit, causing it to lose its grip on the control hub which went flying off of the roof and crashed to the floor, breaking into multiple pieces and causing the signal to cut off. “H...HA...argh!”

 Speedster’s triumphant crow as the robosuits stopped firing and starting panicking or freaking out or just standing still and the robots collapsed, was cut off as Sawyer drove his floating vehicle into her and she went crashing off of the roof herself, hitting the asphalt car park floor hard.

The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Sawyer getting away in his hovercar, despite Doctor Styler’s best attempts to stop him.

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 14

Luna’s mother had provided her with a stocking to open before breakfast, only a little thing with five presents in but it was nice to feel included even if it meant she got woken up at six. After the stocking presents had been opened, she helped cook the full English breakfast that the family shared before those who wanted to go to Church went to do so while Juliet and Michael stayed behind and played with the board game that had been slipped into Michael’s stocking.

Once everyone was back and the roast turkey had been put into the oven to cook, they all settled in the living room to open the presents under the tree. They were halfway through doing so when Michael’s phone went off.

“Sorry.” Michael apologised as he pulled it out of his pocket, “What the...?” He murmured as he flipped it open, “Spike? It’s Christmas Day, mate. You know I’m busy until... what?” There was silence from Michael for a minute or so, then he scrambled across the room, face white and eyes wide, turning on the TV despite the objections of Luna and his parents.

“Mikey?” Luna asked, worried as he seized the remote and flipped over to the news channel where a harried looking reporter was reporting from the top of a building.

“What you see below me,” She was saying as the camera panned across a horde of robots and robosuited individuals, all of whom were stood between the military and the warehouse Speedster had scoped out a week ago. “Is a standstill that has been reached by the military and the robot army belonging to Sawyer. The military are hesitant to attack the people trapped inside the now fully controlled suits of metal armour, while Sawyer seems content to ensure that no one can enter the complex while his forces raid banks and shops.”

“It’s Christmas Day!” Luna protested, forgetting about her parents for the moment as they watched a cannon unfold from the arm of one of the robosuits and open fire on the armed forces opposite. “There’s a rule!”

“Our rules, not his.” Shade pointed out, irritation obvious and having shoved Michael aside easily to watch this for himself. “It’s a clever plan.” He continued, wishing he had thought of it himself, “Using innocent bystanders as shields for his robots. They can’t open fire without being accused of massacring thousands of disabled people.”

“Michael!” His mother sounded disturbed that her son seemed almost approving of what was going on.

As the military finally seemed to make up their mind, a burst of air sent everything that wasn’t nailed down flying. Luna palled and shot out the living room door, able to hear someone moving upstairs. Shade followed at a more sedate pace, easily able to hear the argument going on upstairs.

“Speeds, you can’t!” Luna was protesting, “Not alone!”

“There’s no one else, Luna.” Speedster snapped back, “None of the others are close enough and no one else can get close enough quickly enough. They’re firing on the cops, it won’t be long until they start firing back, innocent bystanders or not. I won’t let that happen. I can’t. This is my mess, I have to fix it.”

“And you’re changing into your costume from the film why?” Shade asked, poking his head around the door, watching as Speedster struggled with the zip on her catsuit, “You’re not a real superhero.”

“Because,” Speedster explained as Luna, who still looked torn about what was going on, batted her friend’s hands away from the zip and helped her do it up, “If I don’t wear anything that’s mine and at least try and hide my features the military may not trust me, but they shouldn’t be able to use facial recognition software either.” She finished as she slipped her mask down over her face, her eyes watching the pair carefully from the slits. “Now if you don’t mind...”

“Actually, I’m not here to stop you. You were told you had to clear up your messes.” Shade shrugged, “I just wanted to make sure you had this to give him. If he’s playing with the Club’s heroes, he needs to know the villain handbook.”

“You guys have a handbook?” Speedster looked amused despite the situation.

“Speeds, hang on one sec and I’ll come with you.” Luna promised, shooting into her room to get changed.

“Yes we do. Don’t read it, it’s for villain eyes only.” Shade nodded, watching his sister go, amused, “Also you’re not taking her, I need her.”

“No, I know I’m not.” Speedster reassured him, feeling weird in doing so, “I’ll make sure he gets this. You guys watch the TV, I’ll be on shortly.” With that she shot out of the building, waiting only until she had reached the road, at which point Shade heard one of Speedster’s signature sonic booms.

“Was that...?” Luna looked panicked as she slipped out of her room, half changed.

“Gone.” Shade nodded, amused at her reaction, “She had no intention of taking you. You’ll just slow her down.”

“But...” Luna looked hurt.

“Go get out of that mess.” Shade sniggered, “And do it fast. One of us will have to explain things to our parents and would you rather it was me?”

“No!” Luna yelped, shaking her head and darting for her room, “Very much no.” She continued as she shut the door behind her. Shade chuckled and headed downstairs, to where his parents were picking up everything that had been blown everywhere in Juliet’s first burst of speed.

On screen the military were setting up rather big guns and Shade couldn’t help but wonder with an amused detachment, whether Speedster would make it in time. Despite her speed, it was going to come close.

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 8

“Considering the lack of robots running around before the World  Sphere went missing?” The Other Luna pointed out, “It’s a logical assumption.”

“Yeah.” Speedster allowed, “Yeah it is.” She looked thoughtful but not too worried, “It’s not as big an issue as you’re making out though. Just because Buttnik’s Fused, doesn’t mean that he’s going to attack people or go after us. It really all depends on which version of Buttnik we got and how much the person he’s Fused with allows the Personality Contamination to take hold of them. I mean your brother’s Fused with your Fusion’s most dangerous adversary and yet bar that brief stint when you first Fused, you two have done little more than get into arguments. There’s been no serious attempts to take over the World, only a few Shadow Games and most of them aimed at other people and no, thankfully, attempts to brainwash other...what?”

“That last one?” Luna, the original one, looked apologetic as she took over, “I caught him at it a couple of months back, now I can’t work out if he’s doing it when I’m not looking or whether he’s stopped.”

“Great, so your brother might be building an army, got it.” Juliet groaned, “Okay, so maybe my point’s not quite as valid but I still have one, we’ve only got to worry about Buttnik if his Fusion lets the Personality Contamination make him into a tyrant. And let’s be fair about this, even if he does, in the current climate how would he possibly afford to do more than make a few robots out of junk?”

“Sell the bots, make a profit, build more.” Luna pointed out, “Or get a grant or a loan from somewhere.” She paused looking a combination of mischievous and actually concerned, “Rob a bank maybe?”

“Heh,” Speedster couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her at that idea, “Okay, at least if he robs a bank we’ll know what he looks like because his face’ll be plastered all over the news.” She paused, “So why did you panic when you couldn’t find me?”

“Because I know what Shade’s like with me and you’re this guy’s number one enemy.” Luna pointed out.

“Yes but he doesn’t know that.” Juliet reminded her, “And hopefully by the time he does, he’ll have gotten himself settled. Perhaps be willing to be a bit more sane about this. I mean as long as he’s not trying to take over the world, I’m quite happy to let him play with his robots. Who knows they might be useful.”

“And if he tries?” Luna asked, worried.

“Then I guess I’ll have to decide what I’m doing.” Speedster sighed, “I mean right now I only really keep myself between the Villain Fusions and their plans because it seems like a good idea to keep our heads down and I don’t want anyone getting hurt, them included.” She started pacing the living room, dropping her backpack as she did so, “If he tries, and I mean really tries, I guess I’ll have to do the same for him too. But it won’t be because I’m who I am, it’ll be because I can’t let him hurt anyone. Him being Fused is my fault, so I should be the one to deal with the fallout.”

“You won’t be alone.” Luna promised.

“Of course not, I have you guys.” Speedster grinned at Luna, even as she thought of ways to keep her friend out of the fighting. Living, breathing minions, Luna was an ace in the hole for. Robots who had no mind to play with and no way of feeling fear or being tricked by illusions... she couldn’t let Luna get involved and she WOULD ask Shade’s help if it came to it.

Even Michael’s evil self would find a way to protect Luna from the bots, if it meant that he could still fulfil any plans he had. She would just have to appeal to his pride and his greed. It wouldn’t be that hard.

“Anyway, this could all be moot.” Speedster pointed out, “Just because there’s robots around, doesn’t mean it’s Buttnik. It could be some random grunt from G.U.N. From their robotics department perhaps, or someone on the robotics and engineering course might have lost a project or two. I’ll worry about it when we have a bit more evidence of trouble. No point worrying till then.”

“I suppose.” Luna allowed, visibly trying to brush away her worries. “I was just worried. You don’t normally vanish off the face of the Earth. What were you doing anyway?”

“Treehouse.” Speedster grinned as Luna’s eyes lit up in realisation, “It’s nearly rebuilt. I’ll have to show you tomorrow or Wednesday.”

“Why not today?” Luna asked, a little confused and excited to see what her friend had been up to.

“Paint’s drying, the place smells to high heaven right now. Trust me, it’s not something you want getting up your nose.” Juliet’s grin made Luna even more curious than she was already, “Besides, you need to catch me up on what’s been going on around here besides the ‘bots. Have the others calmed down at all yet, or should I spend another week or two down there?”

“Considering we break up for the end of term in less than a week, if you vanish again I’m going to hunt you down and sit on you.” Luna grumbled at her. “You’re supposed to be coming to stay at ours over Christmas, remember?”

Juliet paused for a moment and then grew sheepish. She had forgotten about the fact she was supposed to be staying with her friends this Christmas. She hadn’t even really been thinking about the holiday despite the fact that it was less than a fortnight away now. Luna had offered her a place to stay months ago when it had become obvious that her uncle’s new wife had no intention of letting her spend any time hanging around the house for the holidays. She was still going to drop by, her super speed meant that she could be anywhere in the country on Christmas day and still make time to visit, but she had needed somewhere else to stay and Luna had decided that she wasn’t allowed to be on her own on Christmas Day so her house was not a viable option.

Speedster hadn’t really looked forward to being on her own for the holidays, but she honestly had been both surprised and amused by the sheer amount of effort Luna had put into ensuring not only that Juliet could stay with her family over Christmas but that she would have her own space and somewhere to hang out away from the family members that would descend upon the Roberts household over the three day period.

 Michael had seemed to welcome the idea too, which made her feel a little less like she was intruding. Shade had sulked, but then she knew him well enough by now to know that Shade was happiest when everyone around him was miserable. It probably had appealed to him for her to be stuck in her home, alone, during the festive season.

“And the others?” Speedster hesitated to ask, unable to help but wonder if they still wanted to punch her lights out.

“Mostly calmed down.” Luna shrugged, “Most of them have pretty much decided that it’s our problem and they don’t care as long as they don’t have to deal with it.” She smiled slightly, “Mako did say that she would help if trouble came and she could find a big enough stick and Gold is looking forward to a brawl, but then Gold always enjoys a brawl so I’m not sure if that’s an indication of ‘I can help’ or ‘yeay, an excuse to get in a fight.’”

Speedster just chuckled at that. Gold had fused with a rather excitable ‘young’ demon who had a bottomless pit for a stomach. Unless he was eating, and as far as she could tell he was always eating at the moment, he was looking for a good fight to get into. She had gotten into a sparring match with him before and had swiftly worked out that while he didn’t look particularly strong, it was better for her if she didn’t let him land a blow. He was fast and he was strong enough to injure her even with her increased durability.

Mako on the other had was powerful and looked it. She was built like a bodybuilder and was much, much faster than she looked. Mako couldn’t keep up with her, no one could, but the girl was the one who came closest to managing it. Mako wasn’t as good with hand to hand as she was though. The other Fusion had had fencing lessons and preferred to use a weapon rather than fight with fists and feet.

Not that she couldn’t if she wanted to, it was just that the only ones who could spar with her were members of the Club and even then she had to pull her punches with anyone but Gold. If she landed a punch at full strength on Juliet it took her a day or more to heal properly and she was the one club member who could bounce back the fastest from any injury.

“Oh, by the way, Bookworm’s back in town.” Luna grinned at her, changing the subject abruptly and looking rather happy about it.

Speedster blinked at her, confusion obvious for a moment before grinning back, “That’s great. So she’s all better, right?” She asked. She had been worried about Bookworm, who had had to go home after contracting swine flu a month or so ago. To hear that the smartest member of the Club was not only better but back on campus was a relief.

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 6

“Spike,” Luna grumbled as she let go of the door handle and started knocking on the door, “Snap would have been carrying too much stuff to bother pulling a prank like this.”

“Sorry.” Juliet sighed, slumping down onto one of the tables, trying not to feel like the walls were closing in. She hated being inside for any length of time as it was, yet alone being trapped indoors. Then she spotted the partly open window just above head height, “I didn’t think they’d take it out on you too.”

“Mikey, open the door!” Luna bellowed, shaking the door on its hinges before turning to the dejected looking girl, “I’m the one who dragged you shopping, and I’d rather they were aiming our way than picking on the others again.” Speedster just nodded as she moved round the room and pulled a table under the window. Luna wandered over, curiosity obvious on her features as Speedster climbed up onto it and poked her head out the open window. “Speeds?”

“I could get down from here.” Juliet replied, “Its only one floor up.”

“You might, I’m not so sure I would without breaking something.” Luna sounded thoughtful as she joined her friend in looking out the window, “At least if I jump, there’s a ledge, look.” She indicated the ledge in question, “If I edge around that and climb in that window,” She pointed, “I’m pretty sure that leads onto the main corridor.”

“And if you fall, I’ll catch you.” Juliet agreed, liking this plan better than just sitting around or shouting their heads off until someone came and unlocked the door. At least this way they weren’t waiting on someone who might not come to the rescue till morning. “Toss our bags down?”

“My laptop...” Luna hesitated.

“It’s either that or try and carry it around the ledge.” She reminded the other girl who honestly looked like she was considering it. “Fine, okay, toss my bag down. It’s not got anything breakable in it.”

When Luna nodded, Speedster carefully climbed out of the window and jumped from the ledge to the ground, rolling as she hit the floor and coming out of it standing up. Her bag came next, ruining her triumphant grin by smacking her in the head and causing her to back up a little as Luna clambered out of the window, backpack on her back.

“You alright up there?” Speedster couldn’t help but ask as Luna considered the route for a moment or two.

“Yeah,” Luna nodded, thinking about something for a little longer before turning around, letting herself down using the ledge and dropping the last couple of feet to the ground safely. “Just that seemed easier.” She grinned at her friend.

“Just be glad security didn’t see us pull that stunt.” Speedster chuckled back, “Or they would have pitched a fit.”

“So where’re we now?” Luna asked, looking around at the disposal bins and piles of cardboard and rubbish.

“Behind the Student Union building I think.” Speedster considered, starting to climb the wire fence. “There’s a road on the other side of the fence.”

“Sounds good to me.” Luna nodded, wincing in sympathy as Juliet reached the top, which had barbed wire wrapped around certain parts, and got her hand spiked for her troubles.

Luna didn’t fare much better as she joined her friend on the other side of the fence and by the time she had reached the ground she had torn her tights and cut her hand open. “You do realise Shade is probably going to find this hilarious.” She warned Speedster who just let out a frustraited huff.

“If this wasn’t his idea I’d be surprised.” She admitted, “Trap the two claustrophobic Club members in a room and leave them? Seems right up his alley.”

“Actually it seems kind of tame for him.” Luna huffed, “I mean I love my brother, but he can be incredibly vindictive when he wants to be. He’s not shy about it either.”

“So...since we don’t appear to be flavour of the week at the moment,” Speedster sighed, “How about you come over mine. I have that film you wanted to watch. The Avengers?”

“Sweet!” Luna grinned at her, before pausing, confusion spreading across her features, “Wait, why do you buy DVDs? I thought you couldn’t watch them anymore.”

“I can’t, not without the flickering between frames driving me nuts or giving me a headache.” Speedster shrugged, “But I can still listen to them and I get a good idea of what’s going on from the sounds. Besides, if I have the newest DVDs I have an excuse to invite people round.” She poked her tongue out at Luna who chuckled back.

“Fine, fine.” Luna giggled, “And I can work on my essay at the same time.” She tilted her head at Speedster. “Should we pick up snacks? Or...”

“No, I’ll cook. I’ve got stuff in for lasagne, sweet and sour, tikka or chilli dogs.” Luna grimaced at the last, causing Speedster to grin, “Okay, okay, not chilli dogs.”

“Chilli is fine, chilli dogs yuk.” Luna grouched, “Sweet and sour sounds good, what with?”

“Pasta, rice, stir fry?” Speedster offered, thinking about what she had in the house as they walked, “Would have to pick up some stir fry veg, but I have the noodles and the pork in.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Luna nodded, “We’ll stop by the corner shop on the way to yours and...” By the time she got to ‘and’ Speedster had vanished in a blur of blues and greens. “Twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen,” She started counting down, continuing to walk towards Juliet’s house, partially amused at her friend and her inability to wait for anything, “Six, five, four, three, two...”

Before she could hit one, Speedster had returned carrying a grocery bag, inside of which was a pack of stir fry veg. “Sorry, would have been faster, but the self scan till was so slow.”

“Everything is slow compared to you, Speeds.” Luna waved it off, wondering once again how her friend put up with moving at her pace, “Don’t worry about it.”

“Got bigger things to worry about than a slow till.” Speedster nodded, causing Luna to wince slightly as Juliet’s constantly flickering moods headed back towards frustration and worry. “I’d be happier if I just knew where the damn thing had ended up.”

“Look, I know it’s a problem, I’m not saying it isn’t, but constantly worrying about it isn’t going to help. You can’t do anything about the missing World Sphere until we get a lead and that’s not going to happen until someone does something really stupid.” Luna informed her friend, “So there’s nothing you can do for now.”

“But...”

“I know it’s an unusual concept.” Luna teased, “You waiting for anything, but you don’t have a choice this time I’m afraid.”

“Waiting is a bad plan.” Speedster grouched, “I’d rather do something about it now, before we run the risk of being revealed to the whole world.”

“Speeds, I have a question.” Luna sighed, “When you shoot off and do things like buy your shopping at the sort of speed you do, or do your rounds at top speed, do you really think that no one pays attention?”

“No one’s ever said something.” Speedster frowned, confused about what she was getting at.

“No one would, unless they get really curious.” Luna sighed, “But every time you do something like that, or one of the others uses their powers around normal people we run the risk of discovery.”

“So what? We’re just getting away with it?” Speedster asked, confused. “I mean surely if we’ve been noticed there would have been consequences by now. I mean it’s been almost a year.”

“People ignore the weird if it makes their life easier.” Luna chuckled at her, “As long as we’re not doing anything to impact on their lives negatively they really won’t care what we get up to. Hell the people whose houses are on your route are probably just happy to get their mail before midday.”

“People are weird.” Speedster looked confused at that. She had honestly expected a bigger reaction from the normal people of the city. Knowing that the Club had been ‘outed’ for probably as long as they had had powers and yet not a single member of the public had said anything to them disturbed her slightly. She had expected shouting, riots, lynch mobs. Not ‘oh well, as long as it stays away from us who cares?’

“That hasn’t changed since long before we Fused.” Luna grinned at her, “People have been weird for a lot longer than that. We’re just so weird we actually notice now.”

“Heh. I suppose.” Speedster chuckled slightly, before a wicked smirk crossed her features, “Fine, you know what?” She scooped Luna up bridal style, “Hang on. I want to show you something.”

With that she shot off, careful to keep her speed down enough to not be too fast for Luna to cope, but fast enough that she was one with the wind, dodging around cars, vans and pedestrians as she shot across the country.

“Speeds?” Luna asked, confusion obvious as Juliet slowed down, breaking slowly instead of her usual complete stop and slide, going gently for Luna’s sake.

“Wait right here.” Speeds grinned at her before shooting off.

Luna looked around, confusion coursing through her as she realised that Speedster had brought her to a small clearing in a forest in the middle of nowhere. In the trees above her there was a small wooden building which was joined to another one by a walkway that looked like it was almost rotten through.

A rope ladder, relatively fresh in comparison to the rest of the building work, hung down from the builidng’s balcony. Unable to resist the pull of her curiosity, Luna clambered up the rope ladder to find that the tree houses looked like someone had been working on them recently.

“So this is what she’s been up to when we haven’t been able to find her.” Luna realised as she brushed her hand against the recently replaced railing. 

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 5

Juliet spent rest of the day was spent ordering a new driver’s license and cancelling store cards, leaving Luna to head home alone. By the time she was done she was tried, pissed off and ready to kick someone’s butt. She resolved the issue by going for a long run that took her around the coast of the country, before having a nice hot bath, turning off her phone, turning off the majority of the lights and settling down with a good book.

She paid for it the next day when her phone turned back on when her alarm went off to reveal she had sixty missed calls and forty nine messages on her answer machine. Most of them were from the Club, demanding details and wondering if the rumours were true about her World Sphere going walk abouts. There was one, however, from the police station, who had found her purse, devoid of bank cards, her driver’s licence and cash but with her store cards still in place, and an empty jewellery box and were holding them at front desk for her.

She did her rounds in record time, determined to not let the events of the previous day allow her to have a lazy day. She may have been the fastest thing alive, but she wanted to be faster. Since she had no one to race against anymore, she could only ever improve by pushing herself when she went for a run or doing her rounds.

Picking up her stuff was a chore. Without any way to prove the purse was hers, the police officer at the desk had her go away and come back with her passport in order to prove she was who she said she was. It wasn’t that it took her a long time, but just the inconvenience of running around in circles meant that when she joined Luna and Michael at lunch time, she was in the frustrated huff.

“No luck?” Her friend asked as Speedster fielded yet another call from a Club member and promised to fill them in at the weekly meeting tomorrow.

“Yes and no. I’m still out a hundred and fifty quid, my driver’s licence, my bank cards and a World Sphere, but I have my purse back.” Juilet waved the purse, a Nightmare Before Christmas one that Luna had bought for her the previous year, at her. She let out a frustrated huff. “I’m just annoyed it happened at all.”

“As you should be.” Michael scolded, irritation obvious on his features. “It was ridiculously careless of you to leave your handbag lying around where anyone could get at it, especially if you had your Sphere in it.”

“I didn’t.” Speedster protested, then paused and winced, “Or I thought I didn’t. It had to be at the coffee shop, because even when we were trying on clothes our bags were with us in the changing rooms.”

“The brats perhaps.” Luna suggested, thinking about it carefully, “I mean we did have to shoo them out from under the table two or three times, they might have grabbed things then.”

“Or someone took my things while I was distracted by shooing the brats.” The speed freak agreed.

“You shouldn’t have had the Sphere with you.” Michael grouched at her, “Do you have any idea of what...”

“Don’t Mike, just don’t.” Juliet groaned, “I know alright. I know I screwed up and that the others are going to tear me a new one. I also know that this could bring an end to the secrecy we’ve been insisting on for our safety. But there’s nothing I can do about that now. All I can do is deal with the fallout when it happens.”

“Your mess, you’re cleaning it up.” Michael grouched before getting up, chucking his rubbish in the trash and stalking out of the student union’s dining hall.

The pair of girls watched him go, one frustrated, one resigned, before Luna turned to Speedster with a slight smile, “If you need my help...” She offered reassuringly.

“Thanks Luna.” It was a help, knowing that Luna had her back. Juliet was pretty sure that even the other ‘HeroFused,’ ones like herself and Luna who had merged with heroes from other worlds, were going to be furious with her over this. It would be justified too, she couldn’t help but think.

As she searched the city centre high and low, she was kind of hoping that by tomorrow she would be able to say ‘Yes, the World Sphere was stolen but I was able to get it back, see?’ and show it off to the rest of the class. Unfortunately for her, she had no luck on that front. The enchanted Sphere was well and truly lost, despite her constant searching.

She got a real hint of the anger she might be facing from the others when she rejoined the group in order to finish recording the scene from the day before, when Hex blasted her into a wall hard enough that she felt something give in the wall, heard something crack and collapsed at its base, pain coursing through her.

“Cut!” Snap sounded both concerned and impressed at the same time after Hex gave her scripted spiel about the heroes never defeating her and made her dramatic exit, “I’ve got everything I need now.”

“Oh I’m sorry.” Hex smirked down at Speedster, who wasn’t entirely certain which Hex was apologising to her. “Did I miss the padding?” She asked, hints of sarcasm obvious as the illusion fell and revealed that not only had Hex missed the padding, she had dented the wall that she had blasted the hero into. “Maybe next time I’ll be a little more careful of what I’m doing when it’s something important.”

Juliet didn’t respond, not entirely trusting herself to speak when the world was spinning like mad, making her feel nauseous. She got the less than subtle jab though and, as Luna helped her to her feet, she couldn’t help but notice the evil looks she was getting from Spike.

“Sorry.” Luna whispered as she helped her behind the screens so they could get changed, “I swear I only told Mikey. I didn’t expect everyone else to find out this fast.”

“It’s...it’s okay.” Speedster stumbled over her words, leaning against a table to remain upright as Luna undid the zip on her catsuit. “They would have had to found out at some point, I wasn’t going to be able to hide it forever.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t expecting Hex to hit you so hard because of it.” Luna looked embarrassed, like what had happened was all her fault.

“Hex just wanted an excuse to smack me around.” Speedster reminded her friend with a shrug, “Besides, I think she gets one free hit considering how much trouble we might be in.”

“You can’t let everyone in the club get one hit in.” Luna disagreed, “You could get really hurt if they all hit you as hard as Hex did.”

“I screwed up.” Speedster pointed out, “I really really screwed up. And now the rest of the Club might have to deal with the consequences, I’d be pretty damn pissed in their places too.”

“So what’s your plan?” Luna asked, wincing as Juliet slid her catsuit off of one shoulder and she saw the bruise that was already coming up, “Just let everyone hit you and then deal with the fallout once you’ve recovered from the brusing?”

“I don’t bruise anymore, my durability sees to... ow!” Juilet protested as Luna poked the blue and black spot on her left shoulder blade.

“This says otherwise.” Luna tutted at her. “Still think it’s a god idea?”

“No, but unless you have a magical time machine that can take us back to the exact moment the theft occurred and we can stop it from happening, I really don’t have a choice but to take the blows.” The speed freak grinned, “Besides it’s kind of ironic, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?” The comment confused Luna.

“Well I’m the one who was the biggest advocate of keeping our powers a secret and not letting anyone find out about how we got our powers and yet I’m the one who lost my orb.” Juliet pointed out.

“It could be worse.” Luna sighed, starting to pull her own costume off, “At least, if the Sphere can still Fuse people, they won’t know there’s a club of us out here who’re like them, so if they cause trouble they won’t drag us into it.”

“No, but if they get into trouble because of something they haven’t done, they won’t have us around to bail them out either.” Juliet reminded her, a grimace on her features, “And I know all of this, I just... I’m just worried. I’m allowed to be.”

“Well you are the boss.” Luna teased.

“Oh don’t you start too. It’s bad enough Snap thinks that I have some sort of right to tell the others what to do. I’d like to point out that while I might be Fused to a main protagonist, the one I’m Fused to isn’t the one who’s good at planning ahead and thinking things through. No, my Fusion is better at thinking on his feet and letting the wind take him. I’m the wrong sort of person to ask if you want long term planning and ways to herd the pack of cats that belong to this club.”

“I don’t think you are as bad as you say you are.” Luna sighed at her, “I just think you need to stop thinking about what your Fusion provides you with and concentrate on those skills you had before the Spheres. You’re letting it...” Luna trailed off as the lights in the room went off and they heard the door to the outside lock.

“Stay here.” Speedster frowned, edging out from behind the screen and carefully making her way over to the door. It was, much to her disgust, locked, but at least once she was there she could find the light switches. “So, Spike or Snap?” She asked Luna, who came over and tugged on the door handle, frustration obvious.

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.”