Time Heals All Wounds

Four Years and Five Months Prior To Speedfreak #1

Joe stands there in the rubble of the town. His suit torn from bits of shrapnel and his skin bruised and bleeding in some places. The battle was over but it was unclear whether the war was too. A young lady runs up to him. It's Alison. However, her suit is different. It's mostly silver with the left hand side of the top being as white as snow, the two sections divided by a red partition. She runs up to him.

"Alison! Where's everyone else!?"

"I don't know! I can't find anyone. Stephi's missing, Laura could be here somewhere, Lucy could be anywhere!"

They look around frantically for their friends. The portal still open in front of them.

"THE PORTAL'S STILL OPEN! WHERE'S JODY!?"

"If the portal's still open...does that mean he's failed!? Has this all been for nothing!?"

They look worried. Suddenly, someone else lands next to them. A winged being. Only the wings are mechanical. A hooded figure stands before them. She then puts her hood down to reveal a very pretty young woman with red hair. Alison and Joe look relieved to see her.

"Lucy!"

"The one and only! Where's everyone else?"

"We were hoping you could tell us!"

"Couldn't see anyone else. Haven't seen anything like this before..."

"That makes 3 of us!"

At that moment, the portal makes a weird noise. They all stand next to each other and watch as the portal destabilises. Alison reiterates her fear.

"He's failed...hasn't he..."

"If he'd have failed, wouldn't we know by now?"

"Unless it's created a new timeline. Meaning that we won't see him again or this timeline will come to an end..."

The portal continues to destabilise. At this moment; 4 more people appear. Laura Kent, Joshua Peterson, Anne Richards and Stephi Aspinall. They race to be next to them. Laura immediately comes running in.

"What's going on? Is he back?"

"Not yet..."

Anne walks next to Joe.

"That portal won't stay open forever..."

"We need to close it".

"How do we do that?"

"I might be able to work something out. But I'll need Laura to phase everyone else out...I might need your fire too..."

Joe and Anne look at each other. They nod.

"Do it".

Anne flies back into the air. Joe looks at everyone else.

"Ok, we're closing the portal. It's destabilising and we don't know what damage it could do. Laura, I need you to phase everyone out. Anne and I will close the portal as best we can".

Laura steps forward and protests.

"YOU'LL TRAP JODY!"

"He may already be lost! Our priority is everyone else here!"

"HE MIGHT DIE!"

"He'd want everyone else safe! Please, Laura..."

Laura doesn't want to do it but she sees the point.

"If he dies, I'll kill you myself..."

"Fine".

Laura walks back and starts to get everyone together to phase out. However, Stephi breaks away from the group. She looks like she's heard something. Laura goes after her.

"Stephi, come on!"

"Wait...I can hear something..."

She closes her eyes and concentrates more. After a few seconds, she opens her eyes again.

"IT'S JODY! I CAN HEAR HIM. HE'S CLOSE!"

They all look back towards the portal expectantly. It rumbles a bit more. 

"Come on..."

A few moments later, a bright light appears in the centre of the portal and Jody runs out of it. Carrying someone. After he exists, the portal starts to close and fade away. Jody doesn't look at anyone. He just falls to his knees still carrying someone. It turns out to be a young woman. Medium height, curly hair. Her eyes are closed and her body looks lifeless. Everyone goes to be around them and they see who it is.

"Shit...", Joe remarks.

Laura goes further into the circle, crouches and looks at Jody head on.

"Jody?"

He doesn't answer. He continues staring at the young lady he's carrying. Joshua looks at Alison confused.

"Who is she?"

"That's Alicia. Jody's girlfriend..."

Joshua closes his eyes in shock and looks back. Laura continues to try and communicate.

"Jody, it's over. The portal's closed. Where are Lake and Collins?"

Jody looks up, completely deadpan.

"They're dead..."

Laura looks at him.

"They killed her...for no reason...so I killed them..."

Jody's expression doesn't change. Laura looks at him, trying to ignore that.

"Then it's over. They're dead. They can't hurt anyone anymore".

"It doesn't bring her back though does it". Jody remarks.

Joe walks into the circle and crouches next to Laura.

"Jody...I'm sorry about Alicia, I truly am, but we won. We stopped them changing history. The Earth is safe".

"She's still dead..."

"I'm sorry about that, but we need to think about the victory we've been given. This was the hardest thing any of us have ever faced and we..."

"They saw her. They saw her there and they took her. They made me give up information I never thought I'd have to give. I even begged for them to let her go. They said they would if I complied. So I did...I did..."

Tears start to stream down Jody's face. He looks back at Alicia's body.

"...They killed her anyway. They broke her neck. Right there in front of me. THEY MURDERED HER. YOU CAN HAVE THIS VICTORY IF YOU WANT, YOU'VE ALL EARNED IT. BUT THIS IS NO VICTORY FOR ME".

They all look sad. Jody continues.

"So, when I got free, I immediately found them, took them both up to the roof of the tallest tower in London. I threw Collins off the roof...and I phased my hand right into Lake's chest cavity and tore his heart to shreds..."

He looks at his right hand. It's covered in blood. He cries uncontrollably now. Laura goes over and hugs him. After they separate, Joe helps lay Alicia's body down in the rubble.

"Jody...I'm so sorry...but there's nothing we can do..."

At this moment, Stephi looks concerned.

"Jody...don't..."

Everyone looks at her, confused. Except for Jody.

"You can't..."

"Yes I can".

"Jody, you'll end this universe!"

"So be it..."

Everyone looks confused.

"Stephi", Alison asks, "What's going on?"

"He's going to go back and change Alicia's death".

"I can stop this before it even starts..."

Everyone looks at Jody. Joshua stands forward.

"Mate, we've just stopped two people from changing time...now YOU want to do it?"

"I know what I'm doing. They didn't. I can stop them from getting Joe's time device..."

Joe steps forward.

"Jody, I get you're hurting, but that could only make things worse!"

"Given this is YOUR fault I don't think you get a vote!"

Laura steps forward.

"JODY! THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

"I'm going back. I'm going to stop them from trying to change history and I'm going to stop them from killing Alicia and putting all of you in danger!"

Joshua steps forward again.

"No, you're not, Jody..."

Jody looks at him. He chuckles sarcastically.

"And who's going to stop me? Huh? YOU?"

Lucy steps forward.

"We all will if we have to..."

Jody chuckles sarcastically again.

"You think YOU can all stop me? HA! Laura, tell them how stupid an idea that is..."

Nothing. After a few moments, Jody looks round and sees Laura staring him down. She agrees with everyone else.

"No...not you..."

"They're right, Jody, you can't".

Jody looks angry now.

"I can. And I will".

Everyone gets ready to stop him. He notices.

"Ha...defense positions...now I can tell you're spoiling for a fight...fine. I'll oblige!"

He runs around them to confuse them. Joshua is the first to try his luck. He gets ready to throw a punch into the spinning blur. However, as he does, Jody breaks free of the vortex and right into him. Joshua goes flying into a nearby shop. Alison looks worried.

"JOSH!"

Alison runs over to Speedfreak. She transform her flesh into silver and starts to throw silver objects at him from her hand. He gets slightly overwhelmed by them but eventually manages to turn his hands into a mini vortex to block them.

"NICE TRY, SILVER SPECTRE!"

He runs up to her and trips her up. She falls flat on the floor. Jody puts his foot on her neck. 

"STAY DOWN!"

Struggling to breath, Alison puts her hand on Jody's suit. It starts to be engulfed by silver. He takes his foot off in order to fight it off. As he does, a huge gust of air comes, throwing him quite far up the street. Joe runs over and helps Alison.

"Thanks..."

"No problem. You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine".

"Go find Josh!"

She does so. As she does, Joe is knocked off his feet by Jody who's run into him. He keeps coming back again and again, hitting him over and over. As Jody goes in for the final punch, he stops and holds his head. He shouts out in pain as Stephi makes a mental attack from afar. Stephi concentrates as she continues the assault.

*Jody...this isn't you...stop. You know I can go deeper if I have to...*

Jody turns and looks directly at her.

"So can I..."

Jody concentrates too and starts to send a ripple effect back to Stephi. Suddenly, Stephi sees many images of everything she fears most. She screams in fear and calls off the attack. She curls up into a ball and tries to fight off the demons in her head.

Suddenly, a huge fireball engulfs Jody and starts to put out the remaining flames on his suit. He turns around. Black Dragon is there. 

"YOU NEED TO STOP THIS"

"NO...YOU NEED TO STOP"

Jody charges at her full speed but manages to get flung back by Black Dragon's roundhouse kick. Jody goes flying but manages to regain control and, again, charge at Anne. This time, she gets out her sword, does a flip and manages to cut Jody's back as he speeds past. Jody lets out a sharp scream. Anne lands as Jody writhes a little bit.

"THE SWORD WAS EDGED WITH MILD RADIUM. YOU NEED TO STAND DOWN NOW..."

Jody looks up at her very angrily.

"YOU POISONED ME!"

Anne smirks. Jody clambers up, much to Anne's amazement. He then shakes his whole body and the radium falls out of the wound, which then closes up. Jody smiles slightly evilly.

"Nice try..."

He dashes over and grabs her by the neck. He lifts her off the ground as she struggles for air.

"TIME TO PUT THE FIRE OUT..."

Eventually, Anne expels flame from her mouth and, in a spectacle of yellow and orange, burns Jody's face. When it all subsides, Anne looks at Jody's face...which looks...different. His face flickers into recovery and out of it. Suddenly, Lucy punches him in the face. He drops Anne, who splutters. Joe runs over to help her. He helps her up and checks she's ok.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?"

Anne looks at Jody, who's currently fighting Lucy.

"Joe, that's not Jody..."

"What!?"

"His face looked different when it burned...like it was a mask..."

Joe looks confused.

"But...if that's not Jody...who is it?"

They watch on for a moment as Lucy battles the angry looking Jody doppelganger. She's holding her own but is slowly getting beaten. Anne gets her sword out once again to try and help but, suddenly, she doesn't have it anymore. As she wonders where it's gone, she suddenly hears a cry of pain and the sound of something penetrating the skin. They look over and see that the Jody doppelganger has plunged Anne's sword into Lucy. Lucy stands still in shock as the man plunges the sword in further and further. Blood pours out of Lucy's mouth. Anne looks amazed.

"NO!"

The man removes the sword forcefully from Lucy's stomach and Lucy plummets to the ground. He looks around and sees them all shocked.

"I CAN DO WHAT I WANT. I AM FAST ENOUGH TO DO WHAT I WANT AND I CAN CHANGE WHAT I LIKE!"

Anne steps forward.

"THEN DO IT IN YOUR OWN BODY...NOT OUR FRIEND'S!"

The man smiles. Very evilly.

"I fooled you for long enough then..."

His form changes. He suddenly becomes someone in a red and white suit. Similar to that of Speedfreak. Joe and Anne's eyes widen with recognition as no one else's does.

"This was much easier than I thought..."

Alison looks confused.

"Who are you?"

"His name's Tamarind Bolt. Aka, Speed-Demon". Joe explains.

"Nice to see you again, Mr Matthews. Nice to see I made an impact on you..."

"You were sucked into the wormhole. How can you be here?"

"Yes, Jody did put me there didn't he. Well, turns out the wormhole led to Darkside Prison. Which, if you didn't know, has a time travel device. I went back in time to try and stop him and noticed that two of his "friends" were trying to change the timeline themselves. They wanted to prevent Jody from becoming caretaker. I could have that! So I killed them while Jody was otherwise indisposed".

"Otherwise indisposed!?" Anne asked alarmingly.

"Oh he's fine. Probably still tied up in 1994 but, hey ho".

"What about Alicia!? Did you kill her too!?" Joe stepped forward.

"Oh, that bit was true. They did kill her. Like a dog too. Well, I always thought she was a bitch so it was rather fitting I think".

Lucy groans. Bolt looks at her and then back at the group. He smiles, chuckles and puts his hands up.

"Sorry about the mess...well, I'm not...but you get the point!"

Anne steps forward once again.

"I will take my sword and I will plunge it right through your throat. I will then take your head clean off and make sure you body can never reconnect with it. And you'll forever be a trophy in my basement".

"Ooooh...those are fightin' words..."

Stephi joins the group after successfully fighting off the demons in her head. She looks over and sees Bolt.

"Oh and, credit where credit's due...I managed to fool your Visionarie..."

"Trust me...it'll be the last time..." Anne says with anger in her voice.

"You've already proven you cannot stop me..."

"I wasn't referring to me..."

Bolt chuckles for a moment before a knife goes through his throat. He struggles for air after it's removed. He falls to the floor and tries to heal quickly. Laura can be seen with the knife in her hand. Bolt looks up at her and manages to splutter:

"This...is not...over...!"

He then speeds off. And everything goes very quiet. They all look at each other and realise they've won...for now. Lucy splutters once again and they all gather round her. Anne runs up to her.

"Lucy...hey...it's ok. You're going to be fine..."

Lucy splutters and chuckles.

"We both know that's a lie..."

They all look sad.

"Stephi...can...you...", Lucy splutters some more, "...make it...a nice...death?"

Stephi looks upset.

"I don't know...I don't know whether I should..."

"Please...just...this once...?"

Stephi isn't sure.

"Call...it a...dying...wish?"

Stephi thinks for a moment, sighs and agrees. She crouches down next to her and gets ready. Lucy looks up at Anne.

"Hey...keep flying...we'll be closer then..."

Anne's starting to cry but she nods.

"See you soon, Reaper..."

Lucy smiles. Stephi puts her hand on Lucy's head. Lucy jolts for a moment but, after that moment, smiles. Her eyes turn all green.

"I can see trees...it's beautiful here...such a beautiful place to be...and the smell of the grass...I love the smell of freshly mown grass...I love it here...I might...stay...for a..."

There's a pause before Lucy's eyes close. She's gone. Stephi removes her hand and starts to cry.

"I hate doing that..."

Alison puts her hand on Stephi's shoulder.

"At least she was happy at the end..."

Anne stares at Lucy's body.

"I'm going to kill him. I don't care who gets in my way...I'm going to kill him".

Joshua nods.

"Oh, trust me, there'll be some serious Karma..."

"We'll get him together..." Joe interjects, "We'll be ready for him next time".

As they pause for a moment, they hear electrical crackling. They turn around and see another portal open. A few moments after it does, Jody appears. He looks battered and bruised but it's really him this time. He catches his breath and looks over Alicia's body. He's reminded of what happened but he reacts differently to Bolt. He looks over and sees his friends all crowded. He runs over to see what's going on. He sees Lucy's lifeless body. He looks shocked.

"Lucy...what happened!?"

They all look at him angrily. Anne stands up and turns around to face him. Her face full of rage.

"Tamarind Bolt".

Jody's face suddenly sours.

"But...that's not...that's not possible...he's dead...you watched it happen..."

"Yeah, well, he survived. And he managed to go back in time to kill Lake and Collins, bring Alicia's body back to this time where he was wearing YOUR face. We all thought it was you until I fried his mask circuitry. He then took my sword and plunged it into her stomach..."

Jody sighs and closes his eyes.

"Anne...I'm so sorry..."

"You should be!"

She punches him in the face and continues to beat him up. Joshua and Alison hold Anne back as Laura tends to Jody.

"YOU PUT HIM IN A WORMHOLE! HE SURVIVED! AND BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T MAKE SURE HE WAS GONE HE KILLED HER! HE KILLED OUR FRIEND AND IT'S YOUR FAULT!"

"Anne, stop, it's not his fault! He didn't know!"

Jody wipes the blood from his nose. Anne calms down.

"You've got a lot to do to make this up to us..."

Jody thinks for a moment.

"How long has she been dead?"

"What?"

"Lucy, how long has she been dead?"

Stephi steps forward.

"3 minutes".

Jody nods.

"We still have time..."

"Time? For what?" Alison asks.

"To save her..."

He turns around, getting ready to run.

"I know a girl..."

He races off, leaving everyone else behind. They all look confused.

"What?" Joe asks, "Now where's he going?"

Stephi knows. She smiles.

"To find a girl he knows. Called Sarah Jones".

"Sarah Jones? Why's she important?"

"Well, according to Jody's thoughts...she can speak to the dead..." Stephi's face is now beaming. "And she might just be able to bring Lucy back..."