Fastest Hero In The City

[doubled_speed]

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, OTA
WHERE: Around the City
WHAT: May Madness
WHEN: May
WARNINGS: Potential for violence in Heroics stuff.

1. An Prodigy's Life Open to Anyone At SI

Morning. Tommy didn't always like mornings. SI had more than a few interns who were happy to be up and bright eyed and running around in the mornings. Most of them were high school students, and thus of an age with the most noticeable of their number, the one who was working on a defacto 'we'll hire you once the internship' understanding. That was Tommy Maximoff, a young man fresh out of college early, starting his PhD in the fall, with a shock of white hair and who always came in looking tired.

This morning that was true of like any others. He moved at a brisk walk through the lobby and to an elevator and looked half annoyed to have to hold an elevator open for someone.

"Just get on quick," he grumbled, his hand wrapped around a very large but mostly empty cup of coffee.

And then, ten minutes later he was walking into the R&D division he'd been assigned to, putting his coffee down on a counter before unslinging his backpack from his shoulders. He dragged it open and pulled a box of donuts and another of bagels and put them on the counter.

"Food's up Sci-bros!" he called over the work space, grabbing up his cup and heads for his own desk. Cup goes down, an energy drink is pulled out of his backpack, and it gets cracked and poured into his quad-shot espresso. It was a morning ritual that horrified many.

"Okay, what are we working today?" he yawned before taking a very large drink from his cup. "Is Beck in yet?"


2. Crimson Speed On The Streets Open to All

His watch beeped suddenly in the middle of the work day and Tommy cursed under his breath. Why did there have to be an Avengers call in the middle of the day. He called out to no one in particular that he had to go to the bathroom and rushed out.

And instead of the bathroom, he ran for the stairs. Once he was in them he quickly changed and bolted down the floors at impossible speeds and out into the road. He stopped quickly in his running to pull one person off of the street out of the way of a bus, and kept going toward the alarm for a fire.

"See," he said as he came to a stop, dust and dirt kicking up around the scarlet and silver of the costume of Crimson Speed, "it was my understanding that fire fighters did standard fires. Something weird up here?"

3. Tommy At Home Closed to Wanda and Billy

"Mom! B! I'm home!" Tommy shouted as he came in through the front door. It was later than he had wanted. And later than he'd promised, with him arms loaded with grocery bags. He made his way to the kitchen several beats faster than he really should have been able to manage. But given there were only two people in the world he could use his powers around when he wasn't in costume, he wasn't going to be slow at home.

"Did anyone start dinner, or should I work on a stir-fry? Could do a paprikash, but it would take so long tonight," he kept shouting as he entered the kitchen.

"Stupid bank robbery," he grumbled to himself as he did.

4. Speed Dating (lol) Closed to Kyle

Tonight. Sucked. Hard and fast statements there. Work had been hellish, there had been TWO super incidents he'd been caught up in, and JUST before this second one he'd gotten a text from Kyle saying he'd be late for their date. Which just hurt. Kyle was punctual as hell, and Tommy worked so hard to live up to that with his secret life, so this was just a lot.

At least, he supposed, it gave him a chance to come out to this crime and put a stop to it, and even with his favorite team up potential. Who was still there right now. The Human Kite, Tommy's best friend that he wasn't related to or dating.

"So," he said as he watched a cop out some dampener cuffs on the perp the two of them had caught together, "I know I normally stick around to chat you up after these things, but, uh... I sorta gotta book. My boyfriend, that awesome guy I always tell you about? We're supposed to be having a date tonight and yeah he said he was going to be late so I slipped out to do this, but fuck I'm SO late now and he's gonna be hella pissed. Forgive me?"

Comments

4 lol

[kyley_b]

The Human Kite had been raised in the faith of his human parents, so when he had moved to The City and taken up the life of a crime fighter he'd been delighted to discover that he wasn't the only Jewish superhero in town. He'd been even more delighted to find that one of these other heroes was very handsome. Even better, he'd come to realise not long after that Crimson Speed was the same ridiculously good looking young man from R&D at Stark Industries that he'd accidentally dumped coffee all over one harried morning.

It was the best relationship he'd ever had. Hell, it was the best life he could imagine: the occasional lunch with Tommy during the day at a job he enjoyed, then a solid adventure with Crimson Speed some evening, then dinner and a movie with Tommy another night.

And the whole time, Tommy would say the sweetest things. Which he had, up until this exact moment, thought was him just being romantic.

But now Tommy was ditching him. For him. Kyle Broflovski.

This had to be a joke.

"I'm pretty sure he's not waiting at home for you," Kyle said, smirking.

Re: 4 lol

[doubled_speed]

“No, he’s not. I agreed to meet him halfway to the restaurant,” Tommy mumbled, producing his phone from a pocket.

No texts. How were there no texts yet.

“He might be really mad. He’s never this quiet when I don’t make it on time.”

[kyley_b]

Kyle stares at Tommy for a moment, trying to figure out if this is a prank. Eventually he decides that, no, it really might not be. Tommy has a sense of humour, but not enough patience to really pull something like this off for long.

"Tommy," he says. "I can absolutely tell you he isn't mad. For obvious reasons."

[doubled_speed]

The Human Kite knew his name. His real name. Tommy stared for a moment. Then grabbed the other hero's hand and hauled him away in the quickest flash of his power. In a second they were on top of a building.

"Kyle?" he asked, his voice soft and shocked.

[kyley_b]

By this point in their crime-fighting-duo career, Kyle was pretty used to Tommy zipping him around. It still made him dizzy.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "Are you seriously telling me you just realised it's me?" He couldn't help but laugh. "Dude! I don't even wear a mask, I just cover my hair!"

[doubled_speed]

"It's very distinctive hair Tommy answered. "And I don't look at your face all that much!"

He reached up for his goggles and lifted them free. "What we do is about privacy, Kyle. Damn. Do you know how often we could have been having 'sleepovers' if I'd known? I was trying to keep secrets secret. FUCK!"

[kyley_b]

Kyle laughed his hyena-like cackle, bent over so he didn't give up and just fall to the ground. He managed to get himself under some control, wiping his eyes.

"Oh, Tommy," he said. "I just thought you were saving yourself for marriage or something." He reached over, pulling the other man into a hug. "Oh, dude. Oh my god you're so cute." He looked down, grinning. "I sincerely thought you were either playing a joke, or just being super romantic all this time."

[doubled_speed]

Saving himself until marriage? What sorta bullshit is that? The hug is still a shock and he lets himself enjoy it.

Then he was the one blushing.

"You've been listening to me wax poetic about you!"

[kyley_b]

"I have!" Kyle laughed. "You see why I thought you were just fucking with me?" He nuzzled Tommy's neck. "And now I know you were totally serious about all of it."

Home!

[seeingscarlet]

Wanda only got back recently herself and has just finished changing out of her costume. She's in the kitchen, watching the electric boil water for tea.

It's been a long day, but it always is when you're in the superhero business and most of your team is out of town and your husband is away on a business trip. But even so, Wanda's content. She has everything she could ever want.

"You're a lifesaver. Thank you, Tommy." And if he'll stand still for long enough, he'll get a hug. "I could also make pasta? Unless you and Billy are hungry right now."

[doubled_speed]

"Hey mom," Tommy greets, and he definitely stays still long enough for a hug and to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Pasta sounds amazing. If you want, I can chop things up for a fresh sauce."

Then he was a blur of motion as he put everything away around her in a rush of speed. When he was finished he was already turning on two stove top burners, one for tea, the other for boiling water for pasta.

"SI is a mess of busyness right now, and then there was a bank robbery on the way home, and at least I didn't have a date with Kyle tonight, because that would have been a whole other level of frustrating."

Mostly because he would have come home and worried about clothes. Again. Shut up, he knows he's a disaster bi.

ty for patience!

[seeingscarlet]

She's learned to just stand still and wait for speedster chaos to resolve itself around her. "A fresh sauce sounds nice, but only if you're sure you're up for it. The world won't end if we have sauce from a jar."

She's trying but, you know. Even superheroes can't always have it all.

"Are you all right?" She asks it with a surprising mildness, but he knows her. If anyone has harmed a hair on his head, they're toast. "That sounds like a very busy day, even for you."

never a problem

[doubled_speed]

"It's always a very busy day for me," Tommy sighed, fingers coming up to tug at his hair briefly. But there was nothing that would keep him from helping with dinner.

"I'm up for it, and the world MIGHT end if we did. You know how super villains are. Sometimes they're just a pain and come up with the worst plots."

I'd apologize for the terrible pun, but we both know I'm not sorry at all

[seeingscarlet]

"Yes, the evil saucerer conspiracy." She tries to keep a straight face...and fails. Terribly. "But I think we can handle it."

She goes to the fridge to get the rest of the ingredients they'll need. "I think the cheese tortellini tonight...but what kind of sauce do you want with it?"

[doubled_speed]

Tommy takes a moment to just stare at Wanda, clearly not pleased by what she was doing there. Why, Mom, do you have to embarrass him like this?

"Well, why don't you tell me, miss saucerer," he answered, trying not to laugh too much. "Geez, Momda, you just happen to make me cringe at the jokes. Surely you've got better material."

still not sorry

[seeingscarlet]

Sorry, Tommy. Mom privileges.

"It's pastable...but I will never be as good as your father." She turns to rummage through the fridge and the ingredients she'd need for an alfredo sauce levitate to the countertop. "I have to try my best while he is away."

Re: still not sorry

[doubled_speed]

"I don't have to be good at dad jokes dammit. Not very likely I'm having kids, even if Kyle and me stick together," Tommy shrugs as she moves to fill a pot with water. "But thanks, Mom. I hate it when he's gone, but I get you two sometimes need to split the work."

2

[demjiin]

Kaz had been the one to set the fire in the first place. Now he was leaning on his cane as calmly as if it was a sunny day in the park. He had intended to attract one of the many hero types around but hadn't expected it to be Tommy, personally.

"As I understand it, there's some sort of death ray hidden inside. The fear is that the fire will reach it first, the heat causing the crystal to crack and release the death energy at random."

Kaz didn't seem particularly fussed at the prospect, and indeed he had strongly doubted it would get to that point before one of the many hero types came to investigate. It was still a bit of a gamble on his part, but he liked his odds.

[doubled_speed]

Death ray? Tommy winced, crossing his arms over his chest. Yeah, that sounded bad. And all those fears are good fears. Guess he had to deal with that.

"Guess I gotta go get that out as well. Fuck. Whoever did this is so on my shit list."

[demjiin]

Kaz said nothing, innocently looking back at Tommy. He also made a mental note that Tommy seemed perfectly at home in this altered reality. Which, in an odd way, made sense with his own exceptional abilities making him stand out in Temba.

[doubled_speed]

Perfectly at home indeed. After all, it was something his brother had made. While there were ways he was immune to his brother's mutant powers, there were also ways he was even more susceptible to it. Billy knew him after all, better than he knew anyone else. If it came to it, Tommy would actively be the hardest to rouse out after Billy.

"Dude, don't smile like that, it's creepy."

Then Tommy's gone in a flash. Soon people are appearing outside, rushes of wind coming with it and kicking up all manner of dirt and dust and other things. And a moment or two later, a device was also pulled out. Tommy set it down, carefully, away from the fire, before sitting down next to it with his legs crossed, producing a screwdriver.

Electrical engineering degree, don't fail him now.

[demjiin]

That reply made Kaz think that Tommy did remember him, at least a little. Enough to know that Kaz smiling usually meant something bad was about to happen. It wasn't surprising that Tommy was inside for only a moment before he came back out with the death ray. What was surprising was when Tommy set the death ray down, then sat next to it. But Kaz didn't know how it worked to begin with, he just played arsonist. Here's hoping it wasn't going to kill them all now?

[doubled_speed]

Perhaps it wasn't about to kill them all. Tommy was going to try and not let it. He definitely had the smarts to outsmart this. But when he saw Kaz looking, he waved at the stranger.

"You might wanna move back some. Uh, you got a scarf or something you can spare? I've gotta get this crystal or whatever out, and I'd like to wrap it up in something, you know, soft."

[demjiin]

"I don't know what moving back will accomplish but alright."

Kaz handed over what turned out to be a silk handkerchief since that was the part of a mafia Don's outfit that he didn't know what else to do with. And despite what he said he apparently had no trouble with moving quite a ways back after he did. He watched Tommy's expression carefully while he was still more than a little impressed that Tommy seemed to know what to do to take the ray apart.

[doubled_speed]

It wasn't that hard. Find an access panel, give it a bit of vibration to throw off any anti-tampering systems, then start taking it apart. His hands were a red blur as he took the device apart, piece by piece, at insane speed. Soon enough he was setting the bulk of things aside to grab the handkerchief and wrap it around the crystal.

"Fucking villains. Never sensible," he grumbled before tucking it into a pouch on his costume. Yeah, not ideal for wind resistance, but sometimes you did what you had to do. Then he gathered up the other pieces and looked to Kaz with a nod.

"Hey man, super thanks for the help. Wouldn't have known to look for this."