Speedfreak #1

"My name is Jody Kent. I'm 20 years old and I've had an odd life. Firstly, I'm one of a twin. My twin sister's called Laura and, well, she's annoying. But I love more than anything. Siblings can hate each other but still love each other. Even alien ones. Oh, that's the second thing. I'm an alien. I'm from a planet called Eden which is the constellation of Ursa Major. We're a humanoid race and we kind of created the human race. It's a long story that I'll get to some other time but all you need to know is that my planet have been interfering in Human affairs for most of its history. As for me, I'm not sure how Laura and I ended up on Earth. I know we weren't born here but we did grow up here. So I guess that makes us human by assimilation? I don't know. Oh, and another thing I should probably mention. Every single person born on Eden can regenerate their health to be at 100% health all of the time. We do have one weakness but we'll come to that at a later date. Everyone also has...abilities. These abilities vary but we all have them. I guess the people of Earth would call them 'superpowers' or something but, hey ho. If you hadn't already guessed, I have super-speed. I am, as far as I know, the fastest man alive. Kinda like The Flash from DC Comics except...real! And Laura can 'phase out of existence'. Although people would probably call it invisibility. She can remain out of sight but, while she is, she can't physically interact with her surroundings. Which is kind of cool. That's not everything though. There's still one important element of our lives I'm missing out. But to understand that, I need to explain what's happening now..."


Trillingham. November 2015.

The night was dark. It was one of the darkest nights that anyone had experienced for a long time and it was cold. So cold. A young lady was walking home alone in the cold. She'd just been on a date and the date had not gone too well. So, not only was she cold, she was angry.

While walking in a particularly poorly-lit area of town, she made her way past an alleyway. As she did, a figure jumped out behind her, grabbed her and dragged her back into the alleyway. The woman kicked and screamed as she remained helpless to stop the man attacking her. The man pulled her up and pushed her against the wall. She started to cry with fear.

"Stupid night to be walking alone, love! There are some dangerous people about!"

"Please, just take what you want! I'll give you what you want just please don't hurt me!"

"You ought to be careful making an offer like that...because you don't know what I want..."

He strokes her face. She whimpers with fear.

"But as you offered...we can start with your purse. How much money do you have in there?"

"I have...I have...£30 I think..."

"That's definitely a good start..." He said pulling out a knife and pointing it at her. "Get it out..."

Scared, she did what the man asked and removed her purse from her handbag. She holds it out for him to take.

"Open it yourself...", He said calmly.

She does so and produced the money and hands it to him. He snatches it from her.

"Phone?"

She gets out her phone and hands it to him. He snatches that too.

"Anything else you want to give me?"

She desperately rummages through her bag to find something of importance. She doesn't find anything important. But she does find some mints. She gets them out to show him. He looks confused. She offers him the mints in the vague hope he's take them and leave her alone. He smacks the mint out of her hands and hits her. She falls to the floor.

"You stupid girl...You stupid, stupid girl..."

She cries more as she realises what's about to happen. The man stands over her and lifts his arm with the knife in it.

"You prepared to give me anything else!? DO YOU WANT TO BARGAIN FOR YOUR LIFE!? I DIDN'T WANT TO KILL YOU BUT IF YOU'RE GOING TO INSULT ME LIKE THAT, I DON'T HAVE A CHOICE!"

"PLEASE! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!"

"TOO LATE NOW, BITCH!"

He raises his arm higher with the intention of plunging the blade into the crying woman. But just before he goes for the plunge, a purple light appears behind the attacker for a millisecond before disappearing. The man throws his arm down into her chest expecting the knife to go in but finds a banana hitting her instead. The woman screams for a moment before she too realises that she's being attacked with fruit. They both look at each other confused.

"What the hell?"

"Didn't you have a knife before?"

"Yeah, I did...but..."

As he looks confused, another voice can be heard.

"Things were getting too fruity for my liking so I felt it was time to intervene".

The pair look at the entrance of the alleyway. A figure dressed in blue and black can be seen leaning against a wall, playing with the knife. They look confused.

"FRUITY! You see what I did there? I made a...a...pun?"

They look confused.

"Jeez. Tough crowd!"

The attacker walks towards the man.

"It's you, isn't it? That guy that runs around everywhere. The Flash or something?"

"The Flash? Come on, man! He's a comic book character. I'm the real-deal!"

"I ain't seen you before..."

"Yeah well that's because you're new to this shit aren't you! So allow me to introduce myself. I'm Speedfreak. I'm a guy who can run stupidly fast and the guy that's going to kick your ass and deliver you to the police station 10 minutes up the road. Sound good?"

"Is this town that crap that it needs a purple man to save it? You look like Elton John's wardrobe came to life!"

Speedfreak looks offended.

"Now, was that necessary, sir? I mean, come on! It's not my fault you're about to get your ass kicked by a guy in a purple and black suit! Plus, the Government keep cutting resources and funds to the police force so, what can I say, desperate times and all that. Don't worry, miss, you can go home very soon".

"She's staying here!"

"Oh no she isn't..."

"Oh yes she is..."

"OH no she isn't..."

"Oh yes she...wait...are you doing panto?"

"Yup. And I'm really happy that I managed to get you do to it. It's genuinely amazing when I manage to make a criminal look so utterly stupid. It's one of the best things about this job".

The attacker pulls out a gun. The woman screams again. Speedfreak doesn't flinch.

"That's a very big gun...Compensating for something?"

The attacker fires a couple of shots but Speedfreak catches them. The attacker looks surprised when he sees Speedfreak holding the two bullets he just fired. The bullets drop to the floor.

"Yeah, maybe you didn't hear the part about running stupidly fast? It's ok. That parts gets glossed over quite a bit!"

The attacker, in a panic, fires the rest of the bullets. Speedfreak dodges every single one. After the gun is emptied, in a flash, the blue light engulfs the attacker. When the purple light dissipates, the attacker has gone. Speedfreak is also nowhere to be found either. The woman looks around confused before getting up and looking around. The purple light returns.

"Oh, just so you know, you can go home now!"

He speeds off again. The rush of the getaway goes through her and ruffles her hair. She smiles with relief, picks up her things and goes.