Speedfreak #2

"He was brought in during the night. Can't explain how he got here. Wasn't here one minute and then, bang, there he was!"

"Has he explained how he got here?"

"Nope".

The young woman puts her head in her hands. The policeman with her hands her a piece of paper.

"He was found with only this".

She reads it. It says, in very bad handwriting, "I've been a very naughty boy. Lock me up".

"Has he confessed to anything?"

"He came clean during an interview he'd tried to rape a woman in an alleyway but he was stopped by someone who could, allegedly, 'run very fast'".

She sighs once again.

"There used to be a teenager at the local school who could apparently run fast",

"That was put down to LSD in the water supply. There is not a guy who can 'run very fast'. Those kinds of people don't exist, Constable".

"I don't know, m'am".

She looks at him.

"Constable?"

"Well...there's Black Dragon...there's that girl who can become silver...and there's the old stories about the Allies and the Nazis having superpowers in the War. I'm just saying, this world might be weirder than we're comfortable with!"

"If this 'Speedfreak' did exist, he'd be a vigilante. And we catch vigilantes. Don't we..."

The constable sighs.

"Sorry, M'am. I was a huge fan of comic books growing up".

She smiles.

"It's ok. I used to play with Barbie dolls. Process him and we'll send him to the county court later today".

She leaves him as he goes and does what he's told. She looks very cross. She gets out her phone, dials a number and waits.

"It's me. Meet me at the old park. We need to talk..."

****

The Detective walks into a park. It has a basketball court on it. She stands in the middle and looks around to see if anyone's watching. There's no-one. Realising this, she sighs and closes her eyes. As she does, the world around her starts to shriek a little bit before everything goes black and white for her. She opens her eyes and looks around. She looks around and sees everything like an old movie. She's used to this but she hasn't done it for some time so it's a bit strange for her.

She looks around for a bit more before she hears a car alarm going off. Seconds later, Speedfreak appears next to where she's standing. He looks around confused. She looks directly at him but he can't see her. He continues to look around before stopping, looking away from her.

"I'm pretty sure you're here...feels good doesn't it..."

Quietly, she comes out of her black and white world back into the real world. As she does, she smacks him around the head. He takes his hit and comforts his head.

"Ow!"

"Don't 'ow' me, you little shit!"

"Well, it hurt!"

"Good!"

She walks to the other side of him.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"We had a suspected rapist come into the police station late last night with no recollection how he got there. Oh, and he had a note in your handwriting saying that he was a "naughty boy". You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Speedfreak looks sheepish.

"...no?"

"Wrong answer..."

She goes to smack him again.

"OK, YES, I DID IT! For god's sake woman, chill!"

"Jody!"

"What? It's not like I've done something amazingly wrong!"

"You can't go around doing this again!"

"Why not!?"

"Because of what happened last time!"

Speedfreak sighs.

"Why do you care, anyway? You made it very clear how you felt about our relationship!"

"Don't bring that up again!"

"No, Laura, it has to be brought up! You made it clear some time ago that you didn't consider me your brother anymore. So why do you care what I do?"

"Because when you use your powers, it runs the risk of people discovering mine!"

"How!?"

"What if you got into trouble and needed saving? What if Tragedy came back and decided to continue your Eternal Feud? What if SpeedDemon came back and tried to kill you again? What if Darryl Anderson comes back and tries to hunt down Naturals again!? When you use your powers, you attract the weirdos because they see you as a challenge! And, let's face it, I'm the only one who can save you".

"Oh? How? You can phase in and out of existence. But you can't interact with you surroundings when you do! What good's that going to do me if SpeedDemon comes back, huh? Or if Tragedy goes in for the final blow? Or if Mum tries to kill us again? You can't save me anymore than anyone else can".

Laura looks angry.

"IT'S RECKLESS! WHAT YOU DO IS RECKLESS! IT ALWAYS WAS!"

"Not when I as Caretaker it wasn't".

"BEING A CARETAKER IS RECKLESS! YOUR POWERS ARE RECKLESS! YOU ARE RECKLESS"

"Better reckless than boring".

"At least I do a proper job!"

"What? A policewoman? A human job?"

"Detective. And yes!"

"You're not human though".

"I am as far as everyone's concerned!"

"So you'd rather spend your life lying to yourself than be who you're supposed to be?"

"And what's that? A freak? Yeah, sure".

"But we're freaks with the ability to help people!"

"I DO HELP PEOPLE!"

"I PREVENTED A RAPE LAST NIGHT. I STOPPED A ROBBERY LAST WEEK AND I MANAGED TO TAKE DOWN A 12 MAN DRUG RING IN 10 SECONDS. AND WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU? YOU WERE IN YOUR OFFICE BLISSFULLY UNAWARE OF WHAT'S HAPPENING. I'M OUT THERE DOING WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING"

"THAT'S NOT FAIR"

"NO, LAURA. WHAT'S NOT FAIR IS YOU JUDGING ME FOR BEING WHO I'M COMFORTABLE BEING. LET THE WEIRDOS COME. THEY'RE SCARED OF ME AND I CAN TAKE THEM ON. BUT TELLING ME TO STOP IS NOT FAIR".

She sighs.

"I just thought after Mum dying and everything that happened with Alicia, you'd think again before being the Speedfreak again".

Speedfreak's face sours.

"Don't you DARE bring them into this. If you want to be boring and normal, be my guest. But I'm actually making a difference out there".

"You're putting people at risk. And did it ever occur to you that I WANT to be normal?"

Speedfreak laughs.

"You are seriously deluded, Laura. I think you need Visionarie to look at your head..."

"Southampton's a long way to go".

"Not for me".

"I'm warning you, Jody. Stop being Speedfreak. Or I'll stop you myself".

"So, you're threatening me now?"

"Don't think I won't do it. I'll get some Radium and put you down!"

He laughs once more.

"What the actual fuck happened to us?"

"All this shit that comes with being Caretakers happened".

Speedfreak looks around.

"You wanna do threats, fine. Here's mine. You stay the fuck away from me and I'll stay away from you. How's that?"

"I'm serious, Jody".

"So am I".

They look at each once more before Speedfreak zooms off. Laura looks like she's about to burst into tears but she manages to contain herself. She walks towards the exit of the park and back to the police station. 


****


A few hours later, the park is quiet. Swings slightly swing in the breeze as the emptiness becomes almost haunting. But the emptiness soon becomes tainted with the footsteps of a visitor. The visitor sits on a swing and looks around.

"Hmmm...it's good to be back..."

She looks at a rock on the ground. She holds out her hand and the rock races towards her hand but she stops it just before. She looks at it for a moment before clenching her hand quickly into a fist. The rock then crushes and turns to dust. She smiles evilly.

"You're fast, Speedfreak...but can you outrun your past, I wonder..."

She gets off the swing and walks back towards the town...