NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 23

Blue eyes widened and turned on the girl on the other side of the cage bars as their owner got up and moved closer, watching the girl on the other side of the bars like she was a puzzle. “S...Sonic?” She asked, tone so full of hope and fear it was painful.

“It’s alright, little bro. I’ll get you out of here.” Speedster promised, just barely keeping control of the raging power inside her that wanted to rip Sawyer into tiny pieces. “And it’s Speedster now.”

Before the kid could reply, Sawyer cackled slightly and something large and metallic shot out of the nearest door. It was fast, almost impossibly fast. It didn’t quite match up to Speedster though, who easily dodged the incoming attack.

The metallic silver humanoid didn’t stop, doubling back and forcing Speedster to go on the defensive, pushing her back as she tried to defend herself against the powerful, heavy blows. Speedster managed to knock it back, using her speed to give her the momentum to send the robot crashing to the ground on the opposite side of the room.

Speedster slid to a stop in front of the cage, shielding her little brother/sister while keeping her sharp gaze on the robot. It wasn’t just silver, she realised as it picked itself up. It wasn’t really silver at all, more like a steel grey and though she hadn’t been able to see properly at speed, she could see that the greater majority of its metal plating had in fact been painted blue. A cobalt blue that was eerily close to her natural hair colour.

“I couldn’t resist seeing if I could build something to match you in speed.” Sawyer gloated, “It’s superior to you in every other way, thinks faster, smarter, punches harder, even actually strategizes, unlike you.”

“Ah but it doesn’t look anywhere near as cool as me.” Speedster shot back, watching the robot carefully. “Needs to be at least twenty percent cooler for that.”

“Metal Speedster doesn’t need to be as cool as you in order to annihilate you.” Sawyer snorted, sounding offended.

“Well it ain’t as fast eith...ack!” Speedster yelped as the metallic version of her launched itself at her, the pair crashing through the electrified fencing and landing heavily on the other side. Metal Speedster bounced upon impact with the ground, his systems knocked offline by the electricity, and slammed into the prisoner who went crashing into the metal fencing.

Sawyer’s cameras couldn’t pick up what happened next, but he heard the girl scream in pain and then there was an explosion of light and heat and energy and the cry stopped.

A golden blur emerged from the damaged cage, both delighting and terrifying Sawyer in the same moment as it came to a stop to reveal Speedster, the prisoner in her arms, but not the same Speedster who had challenged him to start with.

This Speedster was golden blonde, her normally warm emerald green eyes a vicious, angry ruby red. As she glared up at him, all hints of humour and sassiness squashed, he took note of the golden spine like protrusions emerging from her back that seemed to be made up of the same energy that surrounded her in a fire like aura which seemed to do no harm to the girl she was carrying, but was merrily melting the nearby metal.

“So you can go Super.” Sawyer considered his options, wondering just how in control she was. He didn’t remember the form before him very well at all. It was never around for very long. All he remembered was that it was a threat. “I didn’t think you could, considering you’ve had no access to Chaos energy.”

Speedster carefully set the prisoner down, gesturing for her to get out of the way. The girl wasn’t stupid, she scurried to one side, getting away from the danger as Speedster darted forward, launching herself upwards and knocking the stupid little hovercar thing out of the air.

Sawyer tumbled out, hit the floor and bounced, twice before laying on the ground, groaning in pain. Speedster didn’t give him time to recover, launching another attack that sent him crashing into the wall the other side of the room.

“Get up.” She snarled at him as he collapsed into a heap at the bottom of the wall. “Get up so I can knock you back down. Just like you did to all the people whose lives you’ve ruined.”

Sawyer realised, as he pushed himself into a sitting position, only to see her preparing to attack again, that it might have been a rather bad idea to have pushed the other Fusion this far. “Speedster, let’s be reasonable about this...” He tried.

“Reasonable?” Speedster laughed, not a mirthful laugh, but a harsh, bitter one, “You want to be reasonable? After what you’ve done? I should destroy you for everything you’ve done.”

“But you’re Sonic!” Sawyer panicked slightly as she moved towards him, backing into the wall, almost trying to press himself into it, “You don’t kill! You’ve never killed!”

“This time I have no qualms about making an exception.” She growled at him, still moving towards him, steps slow, steady and measured. She wanted him panicking, he realised, she wanted him frightened and aware of every last second he had. This wasn’t the same girl he had been dealing with before, this wasn’t even the Fusion of the girl. This was something new, something vicious.

Something dangerous.

“Sp...Speedster, think about this.” He babbled, scrambling to one side and darting for his hovercar, only to get cut off by a blur of golden light which knocked him back against the wall. “You...You’re not a killer. You finish me, you’ll have to live with that for the rest of your life. Can you live with that?”

“If I don’t, you’ll never stop.” Speedster retorted, “You’ll just keep wrecking lives. I can stop you, here and now. So I should.” Sawyer’s eyes closed and he threw his hands up to defend himself, only to pause the blow never came.

The prisoner had stepped between Speedster and her target, arms spread wide, shielding him from her ‘brother’ despite his actions.

“Son...Speedster?” The girl’s voice was trembling, fear etched in her posture, “No. You can’t.”

“Move, Tails.” Speedster demanded, anger obvious.

“No.” The girl emphasised with a shake of her head, “He might deserve it, but you shouldn’t.”

“Tails...” Speedster took a step forward, ‘Tails’ didn’t move.

“You won’t hurt me, no matter what we look like or what form you’re in, I know you.” She told the threatening figure before her, “And I know you’re better than this. Don’t kill him. Hand him over, let the authorities deal with him, wreck his robots, destroy his base, I don’t care, but don’t kill him.”

Sawyer almost didn’t dare breathe and draw attention to himself as Speedster seemed to consider the other girl’s words. He didn’t know why ‘Tails’ was standing up for him, but he wasn’t going to question it when it could save his life.

He had just about made up his mind to make a break for it when something silver and blue erupted from the former holding cell, launching an attack on the golden girl that caused her to lose her intent focus on him.

He spared only a millisecond to wince at the sounds of metal being bent out of shape as Speedster went to town on her metallic counterpart, making a dash for the hovercar and managing to get it airborne before she was done turning it into scrap metal.

Ruby red eyes glowered after him for a heartbeat, before their owner was bouncing off of the nearest crates, then off of the wall, tucking in the middle of her bounce towards him, the golden energy spines taking a chunk out of the bottom of his hovercraft.

Then he was away, out through a hole in the ceiling, while Speedster came to a screeching halt down below, tumbling for a moment, leaving gouges in the floor behind her.

The main doors slammed open, startling Tails and causing Speedster to drop into an offensive pose, in case they were under attack again, only for Rowena and Luna to dart through the door, both hesitating for a moment, though Luna’s was more obvious.

“Where’s Sawyer?” Rowena asked, looking the pair over.

Speedster didn’t answer, instead she took another leap, this time managing to get through the hole in the roof and would have gone after the barely visible speck in the sky, except she got three steps, stumbled as it felt like she took an invisible blow that drained her of all the energy she had had at her disposal just moments ago, and collapsed to her knees as the aura vanished, taking all of the changes with it.

It didn’t take Luna long to scramble up the fire escape and join her, darting over and trying not to show her shock at the fact her friend’s hair was its natural cobalt blue colour. “You’re not supposed to go do these sorts of things without me, remember?” Luna scolded as she helped her friend to her feet.

“The robosuits...” Speedster mumbled, beginning to fall asleep and trying to stay awake to deal with what needed to be dealt with, “There’s a control hub around here somewhere.”

“We’ll find it.” Luna promised her friend. “Come on. Rowena’s gunna want a debrief before you can sleep.” With that she helped Speedster off of the roof.

She had gone through tired and back out the other side into awake again by the time Rowena was done lecturing her about ‘giving proper locations’ and ‘not running off without back up’ or ‘hiding abilities that we should know about.’ This was good as it allowed her to hover around the facility until Tails was cleared for being in the outside world, though the robosuited people required more time in order to ensure there were no other control systems Sawyer had left in place.

Luna didn’t like to tell her friend that she was pretty sure the only reason they were letting Tails go with them, was because they knew exactly where they could pick her up from if it was necessary later.

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secrets: Part 22

“Fine, fine.” Snap was surprisingly okay about it when she phoned her up. Having seen Speedster get hurt on national television, she had been going nuts when she hadn’t been able to get ahold of anyone and had driven herself into remaking her costume, just in case she had ruined it. She had apparently also made her a present at the same time so she could come and collect it when she came back to Leicester.

By Sunday afternoon Juliet had been cleared by Angela to leave the house and while Luna had been driven back to uni by Juliet’s uncle, Speedster ran back to Leicester, taking a doctor’s note with her for work. Not that she needed to work a normal job anymore, but she didn’t feel like getting fired from a relatively decent training route.

Considering the frantic Christmas period it was rather nice to return to relative normality. Though Juliet was wary of anyone new who seemed overly interested in her, she managed to settle back into her life rather well. With the busy Christmas period for post long over, work was almost dead in comparison, giving her plenty of time to start building up data for Bookworm’s thesis.

It was two weeks into getting the data for Bookworm when she had a shock. As she turned into the last turn, heading for home, a second runner matched her speed and worse, passed her.

Well there was no way she was having that. She pushed herself harder, overtaking the second runner, who to anyone but her would just appear as a black and red blur, but to Juliet’s vision looked like a tall, reedy male with black and red spiky hair.

The guy smirked at her, overtaking her again and moving in front of her, forcing her to dodge around him or slow down. She chose the former, shooting around him and pushing herself to her current limits, expecting to lose him easily, only for shock to settle in a second time as he boosted past her.

She skidded to a halt, staring in the direction he had gone. Before too long he had doubled back and stopped in front of her, looking pleased with himself. She knew him, she wasn’t sure how. Something about his posture and attitude rubbed her the wrong way. Not to mention his speed. She was the fastest thing on the planet, so where the hell had this guy come from?

“Who are you?” She demanded, glowering at the guy who smirked back at her.

“You’ve forgotten me? Guess Fusing with a girl wrecked more than just your speed.” The guy chuckled at her, causing her temper to start rising. She clamped down on it hard, not letting him get to her when he was so obviously trying to get a rise.

“Where’s Sawyer?” She demanded, well aware the robotics expert was the only one with a World Sphere whose Fusions would know hers.

“The Doctor?” The guy asked, seeming amused still, “Shouldn’t you be dealing with his plans by now? I mean I escaped a week ago and he had your friend long before I got Fused.”

“My friend? He hasn’t...” She trailed off as something in the back of Speedster’s mind started poking at her, her temper flaring again in response to it, “If I knew where he was or what he was up to, I would have stepped in by now.”

“You’re really oblivious.” The guy looked highly amused at that realisation, “He’s Fusing people left right and centre, building up a small army of robots and you’re not even aware he’s up to something. Even though your ‘little brother’s’ in trouble.”

Juliet mentally froze, temporarily disabled by the burst of rage that coursed through her systems and then she was on the guy, knocking him over and glaring down at him, one foot on his chest, “Where?” She demanded.

“That struck a nerve.” The guy looked slightly less amused now as he stared up at the girl who suddenly didn’t seem like the same confused wimp from before and instead looked dangerous.

“Sawyer. Where?” Speedster demanded again, not entirely in full control of her actions.

The guy gave her directions and before he could ask any other questions, she was gone, shooting off the way he had told her to go. She shot up and across the county, arriving at a small compound which seemed to be surrounded by robots.

“Bingo.” Speedster murmured quietly, pulling her phone out of her pocket and dialling the secure number she had been given. “Hey, Rowena?” She asked the moment someone picked up, hoping it was her handler. “I’ve found Sawyer, I’m going in.” That was all the message she had time for as she slammed the phone shut and started making her way across the compound to the sliding doors.

He had to be waiting for her as the doors slid open far too easily and there was only a token resistance on the other side. She was expecting a trap, so it didn’t overly worry her. She was fast enough to get herself out. She just had to explore enough to ensure that the guy wasn’t actually telling the truth.

The building was dilapidated and falling apart. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was the best he could afford or get now he didn’t have all of Dr. Styler’s funding behind him. There was a worrying amount of robosuits around, all of whom seemed to be in ‘robot’ mode, suggesting that there was a control module around somewhere that she would need to trash.

Part of her felt guilty for having more pressing concerns right now then the safety of those in the robosuits, the rest was focused on finding her brother, despite the fact that in this world she didn’t have a brother.

Taking down the small group of robots that made up the ‘army’ in the hallway, she darted into each of the side rooms, but was only able to find a new robosuit machine, explaining where Sawyer’s new robosuit minions had come from. She sabotaged it, messing with some of the wiring before heading back towards the corridor.

As she stepped back into the hallway, she heard Sawyer’s laugh echoing down from the main room. With no other options left to her, she headed that way.

Sawyer was waiting for her in the main hanger. He smirked as he saw her enter, gesturing to someone out of sight before calling down. “So, you finally showed up.”

“It’s not my fault you finally decided to do something smart and hide away.” Speedster shrugged, nowhere near as calm as she was acting as anger bubbled away under the surface, drawn there by the thought of the man before trapping yet more people in metal suits that they couldn’t control. “I didn’t think you had it in you to do something clever.”

“I would suggest that you don’t start off my insulting me, brat.” Sawyer growled, “Not with the leverage I’ve got.” He pressed a button on a remote and a shutter opened to reveal an unconscious girl in a heap on the floor in a cage not unlike the electrified one he had tried to trap Speedster in.

The girl on the ground was younger then her, thirteen, fourteen at most, had long yellowy, orange blonde hair which was white at the tips, her eyes were closed but something instinctively told Speedster they would be a bright blue, and there was obvious bruising on the girl’s arms and face.

Sawyer’s mood turned towards amusement as Speedster froze up, two personalities warring for a moment, before she let out a furious growl, her hands bunched into fists and she wheeled around to glare at him.

“You bas...”

“Ah ah ah, Speedster.” He smirked at her, cutting off her snarl with a shake of his finger, “You should watch your language in front of children.”

“If you don’t let her go, I’m going to turn you into sushi.” Speedster was practically vibrating as she took a step forward.

“You know, I was expecting you weeks ago.” Sawyer continued, ignoring the furious threat, “You were never this slow to react to my plans in the old world.” When Speedster didn’t respond to him, he glanced down and found she was examining the cage, “I really wouldn’t.” He suggested, “The last one didn’t agree with your human physiology very well, remember?”

She didn’t care whether she got hurt or not. Not if she could get the girl in the cage away from Sawyer.

“You know, I’ve been at this for weeks. She wasn’t even the first, I was actually aiming for your rival in speed, tried all sorts to try and force the Fusion, I even spent ages breaking minds. You see I’ve made a discovery. You and your friends were of sound mind when the shift happened, so you just absorbed the personalities and memories that you were given. But if a mind had been broken in advance, then the so called ‘primary personality’ was the one that was subjugated. So I spent a while taking people no one would miss and destroying their minds.” He smirked as shock and disgust crossed her features and the trembling grew stronger, “Your little friend in there doesn’t remember who she was, not really, all she remembers is what the Fusion gave her. She’s more Mobian than human now. Most of my new robosuits are the same, either they Fused with the wrong person or their damaged minds snapped before I could try it, but none of them remember their human lives properly.”

“How many?” Speedster managed, her voice trembling as badly as her body, “How many lives have you ruined?”

“Improved you mean?” He asked, thinking it over, “Making them better by giving them skin of steel and minds like computers? All in exchange for forgetting their past troubles?”

“How many?” Speedster snapped again.

A soft, pained groan distracted her. Speedster’s sharp, emerald gaze darted over to the source of the noise. The girl was waking up, blue eyes flickering open before closing for a few seconds as she let out a second groan, hand going to her head.

“Ah, about time.” Sawyer continued gloating, “It turns out I was wrong, girl.” He said, causing both Speedster and the girl in the cage to react by looking at him, “Turns out your hero did come after all. Shame it took her so long.”

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 21

“First off,” Rowena replied, “The queen and the government wish for me to pass on their thanks for dealing with the Christmas Day Crisis. I’ve also been asked to pass on this.” She passed Juliet a check, the number on which made the speed freak blink.

“Umm, did someone write too many zeroes on this?” She asked.

“It’s hush money.” Luna spoke up, her eyes flickering red, alerting Juliet to who was really in charge of the body right now. “They pay you a large amount, you keep quiet about the screw up.”

“Quite right, Miss...?” Rowena asked as she offered Luna a check too.

“My name’s Mira, but I answer faster to Luna these days.” The Other Luna replied, “May I?” She asked, taking the check and grinning slightly as she saw the number on it, “That’ll pay off my uni debts and then some.”

“That was the idea.” Rowena replied, “You should be able to live quite nicely on that figure for a while, and there would be more where that came from.”

“You didn’t answer my questions.” Juliet pointed out, “And what do you mean more?”

“Those men, the ones who grabbed you at the battle and held your friend hostage?” Rowena explained, “They used to belong to a Government group that was disbanded about fifty years ago. You see the Dimension Orbs? The things you call World Spheres? This isn’t the first time that they’ve appeared. There’s a set in every country. We thought we had ours locked up tight.” Rowena seemed irritated to say the least, “The first thing we knew about you lot Fusing were the reports coming in about a supersonic postwoman in Leicester. They, however, seemed to know long before we did. On the one hand, that was their jobs, before the government disbanded them. On the other once you lot were officially public it meant they could scoop you up before we could get to you.”

“So they were supposed to hunt down Fused people like us?” Luna asked, ill amused.

“They’re supposed to bring them in, get the information on who can do what and then release the Fused who haven’t done anything wrong.” Rowena frowned, “Guilty until proven innocent. Being Fused isn’t a crime, but if you use the powers you’ve been given to do a crime, then that’s when they were supposed to step in.”

“Except we never did anything wrong.” Juliet pointed out.

“No, you didn’t and they no longer work for the Government. It was decided that they were no longer needed when the previous regime decided to lock the Dimension Orbs away for good.” Rowena explained, “They were absorbed into other departments or let go. About a year ago the secure facility we were holding the Dimension Orbs in was attacked and they were taken.”

“A year ago?” Juliet saw the connection.

“Yes, about the time that you lot got your hands on them.” Rowena nodded, acknowledging her recognition. “We weren’t too worried when we found out a bunch of anime and video games nerds had gotten their hands on the orbs. Especially when even your villains started making rules and regulations to govern themselves.”

“You were really just going to let us organise ourselves?” The Other Luna looked disbelieving.

“That stopped being an option when Sawyer opened hostilities.” Rowena shook her head, “It’s now essential that we get that information and that we sit down with you and the others of your... alignment.”

“Align...” Juliet chuckled slightly when she got the nerdy reference, “Sawyer has been classified as my problem by the others in our group.”

“So it’s only you who we have to put on payroll.” Rowena nodded her understanding.

“No.” The Other Luna shook her head. “I won’t let Speedster go alone again. It’s not happening.”

“Lune...”

“No, Speeds. We’re a team, you always said so.” The Other Luna shook her head. “You can’t do what I can and vice versa. And the others, Mako, Chi and Gold, possibly Sparks and Shorty too, they’ll want a chance to join the squad if we’re making a squad.” She looked at Rowena, “Are we making a squad?”

“Not as such.” Rowena looked amused despite herself, “But I’ve been told to hire those who are willing to work with us to keep on top of such problems.”

“Problems like Sawyer?” Juliet asked.

“And anything other trouble a Fused might cause or specialist cases.” Rowena nodded. “At any time we might need you, hence why we’re willing to pay you enough to live on.”

“I won’t kill.” Juliet informed the government agent, “That’s something I will never do. No matter how much you pay me.”

“You don’t have to.” Rowena allowed, “In fact we’d prefer if you didn’t. You see we really would rather that you stopped the crisis as it was ongoing and left the sentencing to the courts. You’re not judge, jury and executioner, you’re a consultant. An expert consultant with certain gifts and the rights to arrest the cause of the problem. But a consultant none the less.”

“If I’m a consultant, I want the rights to refuse to accept a job.” Juliet nodded, seriously considering it.

“That’s fair enough.” Rowena nodded, “And you?” She looked at Luna, “Do you have any questions or rules?”

“It won’t interfere with my university course?” Luna asked, taking control of the body again, “And you’ll let me follow whatever path I choose?”

“As long as we can get a hold of you at any time.” Rowena nodded, “And it’ll be me getting in contact with you, on a secure number.”

“So you’ll be our handler?” Juliet asked, still thinking.

“That’s right.” Rowena acknowledged, seeming pleased by the smooth sailing.

“What about the others?” Luna asked, “Will you approach them too?”

“I’ve been asked to hire everyone who might be willing and keep track of everyone who isn’t.” Rowena nodded as Hall took down their contact details, “Unless you want to provide those details?”

“I wouldn’t give that information to the other group, I won’t give it to you.” Juliet shook her head, “Sorry, but you need to ask them yourself. It would be rude for me to give you their contact details and powers without their permission.”

“We’re paying you.” Rowena pointed out.

“Not yet you’re not.” Juliet smirked back, “And this check doesn’t count. This is hush money. Not wages.”

“A fair point.” Rowena allowed, “Alright, we’ll be in contact.” She turned to leave. “Oh, before I go,” She turned back to them, “There’s a possibility of action in the near future, you will be recovered by then, won’t you?” She looked at Juliet.

“Should be.” Juliet nodded, feeling much better already and with only two days left on her medication. “I have what we call a ‘healing factor,’ it means I get sick quick, but I recover faster.”

“Good. And good to know.” With that Rowena left the property, her goons in tow.

“So what?” Robert looked at his niece, torn between amusement and irritation, “You’re a sponsored superhero now?”

“No costume.” Juliet pointed out, “The bad guys stole mine.”

“That’s not the point.” Her uncle snarled at her.

“They’re offering to pay me to do what I needed to do. And they’re offering to continue to pay me.” Juliet shrugged, more concerned than she was letting on, but trying to play it down, “I can do anything I want with my life. Anything. All that means is being on call 24-7 for an emergency that will only come up when Sawyer causes it. I can do that.”

“You’ve seen the films, comics and cartoons. You know the life expectancy of superheroes.” He growled at her. “You’re being paid to drive yourself to suicide.”

“I’m being paid to save lives and fix my mistake.” Juliet shook her head, “The side effects? They’re worth it.”

“I hope so.” Juliet’s uncle grumbled, stalking out of the room.

“Any chance of me being able to go for a run without you sitting on me?” Juliet asked Luna who shook her head and pointed at the sofa. “Didn’t think so.”

“Bad guys took your costume?” Luna asked, worried as she settled at her side and leaned into her.

“Yeah, I need to apologise to Snap.” Juliet winced, “She’s gunna kill me.”

“Nah.” Luna chuckled slightly, “If you offer to pay for a replacement...”

“That could work.” Juliet chuckled, “Not that I have her...” She paused as Luna shoved her phone under her nose, “Do you even have her number?”

“Some of us actually write things down on paper.” Luna teased, “Go on, get it over with. The sooner she can remake your costume the better.”

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 20

“But...” Luna trailed off as Angela looked at her.

“What am I missing?” She asked, glancing over her patient.

“We can’t take her to a hospital.” Luna told her, “Not at the moment, we’re being chased by the...”

“Actually you’re not.” Mr. Rhodes corrected her, “That was what the Government agent that visited earlier was here about.”

“But they said...”

“They used to belong to a section of the Government,” He explained, “But they were disbanded because of cost cutting years ago. They’re not actually affiliated with the Government in anyway, but they like to pretend they are. After your kidnapping and the fight at the Chunnel, the Government finally realised they were still active and are now trying to do something about it.”

“Bout bloody time.” Juliet grouched.

“So is it safe to take Juliet to a hospital?” Angela asked, worried.

“Dun wanna go.” Juliet shook her head, “Dun wanna be kidnapped again.”

“Sweetheart,” Jacob sighed, “You need to see a doctor. And they don’t make house calls anymore...” He trailed off, “Actually, the on call Doctor does.”

“That could work.” Angela acknowledged, “I think it’s Bob on duty too. He’ll help. His daughter’s a superhero fan and she’s going nuts over Speedster. He might keep it quiet in exchange for an autograph.” She teased, pleased to see that, for the first time, she actually got Juliet to chuckle. “Give me a minute.” She stepped out of the room, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

Within twenty minutes she stepped back into the bedroom, accompanied by a rather tired, but excitable looking elderly man, who went over all of the normal checks, did a few tests, prescribed bed rest and a course of penicillin and went on his way with an autograph from Speedster.

Angela shot out to get the medicine in question while Jacob helped Luna transfer a few things to the guest house and get a hold of her parents. They understood her reluctance to go home. They too had had a visit from a government official, who had told them the truth about the group chasing their children and that they were probably being watched.

It was agreed that it would be safer for Luna and Michael to stay away from the family home until this was all settled, but they would have everything sent up to the university halls when term started again so they could have all the stuff they had taken home.

Not that Juliet was aware of any of this for a few days. It was three days before she did anything but sleep, manage a few bites so she could take her pills and drink some dioralyte to help her body avoid dehydration, and then sleep some more.

Luna was curled up on the sofa, working on something on her laptop, the news going quietly in the background when Juliet finally emerged from the bedroom, almost a week later.

“Oh thank god.” Luna almost dropped her laptop in her haste to get to her feet, putting it down less than carefully before darting over and hugging her friend.

“Hey.” Juliet hugged her back, “Sorry I worried you.” She paused as Luna pulled away, “Shouldn’t you be back at uni by now?”

“Two days.” Luna shook her head, “And the Government want a meeting with the pair of us before I go back. Your uncle phoned your boss by the way. You have to get a sick note for the last couple of weeks, but they hope you get better soon.”

“I just want this all to be over.” Juliet complained, slumping onto the sofa, where Luna scooped up her laptop before slumping down onto the couch next to her, leaning into her friend as she got back to work, “How’s Michael?”

“He’s already back at uni.” Luna shrugged, “Spike took him back yesterday, he doesn’t seem too worried. Something about Gaming every fool that tried to attack him until either they ran out of goons or they got chased off.”

“Or you took out their leader.” Juliet mumbled, both pleased and annoyed to hear of no signs of Sawyer in the news.

“The Other Me took out their leader, not me.” Luna pointed out, adjusting something on screen before glancing up at the screen. “I can change it to a radio station if you like.”

“I don’t really mind what you have on Lune.” Juliet waved it off, “Have you heard much more from these Government guys?”

“Not really, just that they’re trying to track down the group that kidnapped us and they want to talk to us.” Luna replied, frowning as she readjusted the text and fiddled with something on a list of numbers. “The Other Me thinks it’s a trap.”

“Oh?” Juliet asked, curious, shifting slightly so Luna could get more comfortable.

“Yeah,” Luna nodded as she adjusted herself so she was much more comfortable without digging a bony shoulder into her friend’s torso and yet still sprawled across the sofa, “Mum and Dad kick up a fuss because I got kidnapped by the Government for being friends with ‘Speedster.’ And then suddenly they’re not government affiliated? Screams either trappish or ‘whoops, we got caught.’”

“Trappish isn’t a word, but I get your point.” Juliet considered, “When’s this meeting?”

“When we tell them you’re up to it, they want one as soon as possible.” Luna replied, sighing and deleting two entire paragraphs and starting again. “Dunno why.”

“Guess all we can do is wait and see.” Juliet sighed, closing her eyes and resting her head against the back of the sofa. When she woke again, Luna had left her laptop open on the sofa and was just coming back with a pile of sandwiches.

“Here.” Luna grinned at her, “You might want some of these.”

She put the plate on the table next to them and moved back as Juliet, who hadn’t eaten properly in over a week, dove into the food and started devouring it. Two plates of food later, a hot shower and a warm drink later, Juliet felt more human and more able to take on whatever the government was up to.

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take them very long to get to the guest house once Luna phoned the number she had been given to tell them Juliet was awake and aware. The new group was there within minutes, Mr. Rhodes in the lead, refusing to let them talk to his niece without him present after the state he had found her in.

There were four men who showed up and two women, the younger of whom seemed to be in charge as the men waited outside, ranged around the property and guarding the car, and the two women entered after introducing themselves as Rowena Brown and Laura Hall.

Brown waited until the girls were settled, seeming amused by the hulking bear of an uncle hovering in the background and the way Juliet never seemed to get truly comfortable, was constantly twitchy and tried to keep both herself and her aide in her sight at all times.

“Hall, I think Miss Rhodes might be more comfortable if we disarm.” She said with a small, amused smile, placing her gun on the table in front of Juliet. It was with more than a little surprise that they watched Hall drop not just one gun, but four, two knives and a garrotte wire onto the glass topped surface. “Hall is my bodyguard.” Brown explained, “So she’s always well armed. Not all of us have super powers after all.”

“Excuse me, Ms Brown,” Juliet frowned, “But I have a question.”

“Go on, Miss Rhodes...”

“Juliet.” The girl in question interrupted, “Or Speedster, I answer to both.”

“Call me Rowena.” The agent replied, “What’s the question?”

“Who were those guys?” Juliet asked, “And what did they really want with us?”

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 18

Luna was relieved to hear from her, having worried about her from the moment she had left the house. Luna promised to pass on messages to the Club for her before Speedster put the phone down and shot off again. She would have talked to the others herself, but all her numbers had been on her mobile phone and that had been at Luna’s house.

Speedster paused as it struck her that while she had left her mobile behind deliberately, she had left it in the in bin outside Luna’s house in Chew Magna.

“Shit.” She muttered as she darted for another pay phone, needing to tell her friend to get the phone as far away as possible or chuck it in the lake. She swiftly dialled her friend’s mobile phone number and tapped her foot impatiently as the phone continued to ring and ring and ring. “Come on, come on.”

“Hello?” Luna sounded a little frightened, tipping Juliet off to the fact something was wrong.

“Luna?” Juliet asked quietly, unsure of who might be listening in.

“I’m very sorry but I don’t want anything, so please don’t call this number again.” With that Luna put the phone down.

It was obvious what had happened, but it was too fast. She hadn’t taken that long to get out of the country and she hadn’t really had a chance to plan much further than ‘get her stuff, get out of the country, make sure she’s seen doing it.’

The pay phone started ringing. Automatically Juliet picked it up, still flustered and trying to work out what to do. “Hello?”

“Miss Rhodes, don’t put the phone down.”

“If you’ve harmed one hair on her head, I will rip you apart.” Juliet threatened, pushed to close to breaking point and sick of the man stalking her already.

“No need for that, Miss Rhodes.” The agent replied, “We have no intention of harming Miss Roberts, we just wanted to have a word with you. If you come in quietly, I swear we won’t bother her further.”

“You’re an asshole.” Juliet hissed at him.

“I get that a lot.” The man sounded amused. “There will be a group waiting for you on the English side of the channel tunnel.”

“Fine.” Speedster replied, between a rock and a hard place and not particularly happy about not being able to do much about it. “I’ll be there in less than an hour.”

“Good.” With that the phone clicked off and Juliet burst into a bunch of profanities that had the locals staring at her.

One mistake, one simple, stupid mistake and she was cornered. She couldn’t let them harm Luna and if she didn’t go back they could. She had to go. Well, she didn’t have to go, as Shade or Spike would remind her, she always had the option of walking away. She couldn’t bring herself to take it, but the option was there.

She sped back up the coast of France, reaching the channel tunnel and becoming further irritated when she saw that there were suited goons there, all of whom seemed to report something when they saw her and then left her alone.

She got the money changed back at the same station, confusing the teller at the window, and then shot down the tunnel, narrowly avoiding one of the shuttles that constantly went up and down the dark, narrow passage that passed under the ocean.

There was a group of six goons waiting for her on the other side. They led her to a group of rather large black vans with tinted windows. There, in front of one of the back doors of one of them, stood the man who had been the primary focus for her anger so far.

“Where’s Luna?” She demanded as she hung back. Though surrounded, she wasn’t caught yet and she was wary of handing herself in if her friend wasn’t safe.

The man gestured to one of the goons, who moved away from the pack, the rest shifting to cover the gap he left. The suit opened the back doors of the truck to the left of Juliet and Luna was escorted out, her hands cuffed behind her back, blinking as she stepped into the sunlight from the dark back of the vehicle.

“Jules...” Luna paled when she saw her friend, realising that for all her attempts to prevent them knowing it was Juliet on the other end of the phone, they must have managed to get ahold of her friend after she’d been taken away.

“You promised you wouldn’t bother her if I came in.” Speedster’s emerald eyes flickered towards the leader of the band of assholes, anger obvious as she tensed, ready for action.

“That was before we realised she had powers too.” The man replied, a small, amused smile on his features. “Her brother too, but he got away.”

Speedster glanced around, her sight taking in details at much greater a speed than any normal human could. The five around her were armed, as were the two by Luna and the ringleader. She could dodge the bullets, she had already proved that. But Luna’s safety was more important and she couldn’t.

She glanced at her friend, relaxing slightly when she saw Luna’s eyes shift from the amethyst purple they had turned post Fusion, to their ruby red hue. When the Other Luna nodded slightly, Speedster took that as the cue to move, seeming to vanish from the spot as she burst into action, taking down her guards before they could react, knocking down the two with Luna and as the ringleader drew his weapon, she knocked it out of his hand, allowing the Other Luna to call down the Shadows and start a Shadow Game with him.

While Luna and the ringleader were caught up in the darkness, Speedster found that the small group hadn’t come alone. Several more goons piled out of the doors of the vehicles, and at least two radioed for back up.

None of them seemed entirely sure what to do though. With their leader out of action, they were hesitant to attack the girl who had easily taken down seven armed men. Especially when it was obvious she was willing to do the same to them and quite possibly able.

“Look,” Speedster spoke to them all, “I don’t want to fight you all. It doesn’t feel right kicking your butts when you’re just following orders, but I will if you don’t let my friend and I walk away.”

That did it. Those who didn’t really want to fight backed off, while those who felt insulted that she didn’t even consider them a threat launched themselves at her or drew their weapons. 

Speedster blurred into action, moving too fast for anyone to aim at properly. She slammed into one of the men, sending him tumbling into two others, before disarming the ones pointing guns aimlessly, sweeping up all of their weapons and hurling them into the open van.

Then she stopped and glowered around for a moment, giving a couple of the morons a chance to try again. Frustrated, she darted back, allowing them to crashing into each other, before using her tornado trick to scoop the pair up and slam them into one of the vans on the opposite side to the one holding the guns. Only once it was obvious that no one else was going to try anything did she slow down to a visible speed.

The wall of Shadows dissolved as she did so, revealing a babbling mess of a Government based stalker and the Other Luna who had gotten hold of the keys and was unshackling herself. She glanced around, amusement obvious when she saw the piles of thugs, and then turned to Speedster. “I believe we can leave now?”

“Yup.” Speedster nodded, finding herself worryingly pleased with the sight of the man who had been hounding her babbling like a lunatic on the floor. “Unless anyone else has any objections?”

When no one stepped forward again, she scooped the Other Luna up and darted off. She shot up the country, finally stopping and letting her friend down when they reached the treehouses.

“You okay?” Speedster worried at her friend, well aware that since Luna didn’t have a Millennium Item, channelling the Shadows always left her exhausted.

“I’ll be fine.” Luna had taken over halfway through the ride up country, wobbling slightly as she staggered over to the rope ladder. “I just need to sleep. I was more worried about you. I mean they kidnapped me to get to you. They didn’t seem to want more than that before Shade started throwing magic around.”

“Sorry.” Juliet apologised, guilt seeping in. “If I hadn’t left my phone behind...”

“I fished the phone out of the bin and chucked it in the lake the moment you left.” Luna shrugged, “They seemed to know my name and that you had come to ours for Christmas. So I doubt it was the phone that drew them to my house.”

Speedster let out a frustrated groan as she moved to help her exhausted friend climb the ladder, just as tired herself but knowing she had to get Luna settled and some food in before she could collapse herself. “My manager wanted to know what I was doing over Christmas. I didn’t even think not to tell him. Why would I? I wasn’t wanted by the Government then.”

“Not your fault.” Luna shrugged, already starting to fall asleep on her feet as she reached the top and Juliet had to herd her into the second treehouse, where a bed was already set up. Juliet made a mental note to get more blankets from the local supermarket as she made sure her friend was comfortable, before promising to be back as fast as possible and shooting off.

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 17

Though she was unsure where she actually was, once she hit the motorway it didn’t take her long to find a city that was far enough away from the complex that she could pause and treat her injury. She wasn’t sure where to go to get it sorted though.

She had no money, no phone, no cash and no way of getting any. Going into a hospital was her most likely option, but she didn’t have a severe bleed, so she could be in the waiting room hours, by which time, they could have caught up with her, and she couldn’t be sure anywhere else would be able to treat it properly.

In the end she stumbled into a pharmacy, giving a false name and scenario as they cleaned the wound, bandaged it tightly to keep pressure on the wound and sent for an ambulance.

She was long gone before the ambulance arrived.

Trying to work out where to go was a nightmare. Her house wasn’t safe. Her uncle’s place was just as dangerous. Work was out. There was no way she could go to any of her friends. She was alone, had no food, no real clothing bar the torn scrubs, no way of getting more and was in deep trouble.

Skipping countries wasn’t really an option when she couldn’t afford anything over there and had no I.D. and while her replacement debit card had come through the post, that had been at Luna’s house when she had shot off and if she used it now, the government would be able to track her.

Her best bet was to grab her card from Luna’s, shoot up the country, take all her money out in somewhere in the north of Scotland and then shoot back down the country and possibly out of it all together and just use cash.

“Sorry Luna.” She mumbled as she made up her mind that that was the plan, darting down to Chew Magna where Luna’s parents’ house was, only to find the Other Luna and Shade in the middle of a blazing row that seemed to somehow involve her of all things.

“Get out of my way Shade.” The Other Luna was snarling, Shadows swirling around her, drawn by her anger. “I’m going to get my friend back and you can’t stop me.”

“I think, dear sister, I can.” Shade snapped back, his own Shadows roiling around him, “You are not going to walk into some government facility just to get that waste of space back. She’s threatened all of our safety! I’m not letting you risk yourself. Not when I still need your power.”

“You want it so badly?” The Other Luna growled, “Come and...”

“Stop!” Speedster shot between the pair, easily able to see where this was going and not wanting the pair to get into a Shadow Game.

“Juliet!” The Other Luna lost control of the body to the original, the Shadows vanishing in a heartbeat as she darted over and hugged the tired and injured speed freak.

“I’m not staying, Lune.” Speedster admitting, pushing her friend away, looking sheepish as she did so, “I just came for my debit card and a change of clothes.”

“I should Game you on the spot.” Shade snarled at Juliet, causing her to push Luna behind her to protect her, despite the fact that Luna was currently stronger than she was.

“Probably.” She admitted, “But I’m doing everything I can to prevent them coming for you guys too.”

“You’re hurt.” Luna fussed at her, dragging her away from her brother, who seemed to be peeved to say the least at the fact he was suddenly being completely ignored by his sister.

“I’m fine,” Speedster tried to reassure her, “I just need my card and my clothes and I’ll go.”

“You’re not fine, this isn’t fine!” Luna shook her head, gesturing to her leg, “Or this.” Luna’s fingers brushed Juliet’s throat and she let out a startled and pained yelp as she put pressure on bruising she didn’t even know existed. “Sorry.” Luna looked contrite as Juliet gently brought a hand to her sore throat, wondering just how bad she looked.

“It’s okay.” She murmured, “You’re worried. I get it. But I can’t stay here. They’re going to be looking for my friends as it is. Really if I had a say we’d all be getting the hell out of here, everyone in the Club, but it’s not possible. So I’m going to lure them away. It’s safest for everyone.”

“You’re just running to protect yourself.” Shade accused.

“I’m not you, Shade.” Speedster snapped at him, “I don’t leave friends and family in trouble.” She paused, eyes widening for a moment before she glared at him, “And how did you know I was being held by the government?”

Luna blinked for a moment, startled, before turning to her brother. “All we saw on TV was her being taken away in an ambulance.” Luna stared at him, “They put a call out for information at the same time, cause she had no I.D. on her and had only identified herself as Speedster...”

“It wasn’t me.” Shade defended himself, “Spike told Michael he had phoned up, hoping to get some information on how she was. When they started asking too many questions, he put the mobile phone down and chucked it in the river but the damage was already done.” He smirked slightly, “If it had been me, I would have told them she was a serious threat to national security and watched the fallout.”

“You’re an idiot.” Speedster snorted, “But I concede your point. For once. Spike just made a mistake. It happens. Now, can I get changed and get my card please?”

“Come on.” Luna dragged her friend inside to the spare room, “You’re lucky that mum and dad are out. They weren’t happy that you wrecked the living room until I explained that was you on TV. Then they kind of got it. They don’t want you in the house, but they got it.” Luna helped her pack up the remaining unopened Christmas presents as well as the opened ones and the clothes Juliet had brought with her, before slipping out of the door in order to let her get changed.

It didn’t take her long to get dressed properly and finish filling her backpack with the things that were scattered around. “Luna?” She asked as she finished and glanced around.

“Yeah Speeds?” Luna asked as she poked her head in the door.

“I’m sorry about this. About all of this.” Speedster gestured around to the world in general, “I didn’t expect...” She trailed off.

“I know.” Luna reassured her. “If we need to get in contact with you...?”

“Its better you don’t, to be honest.” Speedster told her, “If they think you’re in contact with me, they might make you call me in or something. I’ll phone once I’ve skipped countries, payphones are only traceable while you’re using them after all.”

“This isn’t right.” Luna complained, hugging her best friend tightly, “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“No. I haven’t.” Speedster agreed, “But I still have to go. Or everyone will get hurt. And I won’t let that happen.”

“Alright.” Luna nodded, hugging her for just a few seconds longer, before letting go. “But what if Sawyer comes back?”

“I don’t know.” Juliet admitted. “I really don’t. I feel like I should stay and fight but it’s obvious I can’t. Maybe I’ll make a day trip to the country.” She teased slightly, trying to lift Luna’s mood slightly. “I hear robot smashing’s a pretty relaxing pastime.”

“Only for the one doing the smashing.” Luna’s glower wasn’t particularly scary and only served to make her look adorable, “For everyone else its heart attack inducing.”

“Lune...” Speedster couldn’t help herself and ended up ruffling her friend’s hair. “It’ll be okay. You’ll be okay. Hell, you can get them to forget about you. Your Other Self has the Shadows, remember?”

“I don’t care about me, I just want them to leave you alone.” Luna complained at her.

“I’m toast.” Speedster shrugged, “You’re not, not yet. Now, I’d better get going before I bring them down here. I’m sure they’ve probably got some way of seeking out my trail.” With that she shot off, heading up country to start with and going into a bank to withdraw as much money as she could possibly take out there before withdrawing even more at the cash machine.

With a decent chunk of cash behind her, she darted back down the country and headed for the Channel Tunnel, figuring it for her best bet to get across the water unnoticed.

It would have been a great plan if she had headed there first, but her joke about Italy and China being nice this time of year had caused the guys in suits to set up a presence everywhere within it.  

It worked in her favour, as she shot past them, allowing herself to be seen by no less than seven guards before shooting down the tunnel at high speed and emerging into France.

She transferred about two hundred pounds into Euros at the chunnel’s exchange point, deliberately picking that one to allow the guards on this side to see she intended to stay for a while. Then she was gone again, darting down to Bordeaux before she phoned up anyone.