Chronos, Chapter 20 (Patreon)

Chapter 20 – Speed Kills

Speedfreak was your generic speedster. He wore the generic speedster costume (his colors were black and yellow) for the same reason most speedsters did: practicality. See, when you’re moving near the speed of sound, any clothes that aren’t going to be shredded by the wind are probably durable enough that them getting snagged on something as you run by is going to cause problems. Picture the jerk you get when you accidentally catch a coat sleeve on a door handle, and now ramp it up to the point where either your shoulder is dislocated because of the forces involved or the handle rips out of the door. Either way, bad news, right?

That meant there were no convenient things like shoelaces I could tie together, and then tie back like they were supposed to be after Speedfreak tripped. His boots were cinched tight with clasps, rather than shoestrings or Velcro. Same with his gloves, and any other part that needed to open up. So, not really anything I could do with his costume, unless I wanted to risk tipping my hand.

Which is not to say that I couldn’t do anything. The chemical plant was normally kept clean, since accidents can be really nasty when chemicals are involved, but Bronze had been here for a bit already, and had caused a bit of a mess. Currently, Speedfreak was running up to meet Bronze, making sure to keep his feet on solid ground.

Looking around, I found a piece of copper pipe that had broken off the plumbing in the break room when Bronze ‘redecorated’ it. It was only an inch in diameter, but that was just fine. After first putting on gloves to avoid any fingerprints being left behind, I picked it up, and placed it just under Speedfreak’s outstretched foot, so that he would land on it. Then, I stepped back, out of the way, and switched my Freeze Time for my Untethered Time power, becoming invisible, while my mind sped up enough that I could still see Speedfreak clearly.

The speedster stepped on the pipe, as expected. Just as I planned, the pipe rolled, sending him off balance. It wasn’t enough to make him kiss dirt, but he did stagger for a couple steps, stalling his speedy advance and ruining his chance for a surprise attack.

Bronze wasn’t about to question his good fortune, not yet. With a roar, he swung his fist at the speedster who was suddenly not that speedy, and caught him square on the jaw. I saw a tooth fly out, as Speedfreak’s head snapped around from the impact. The guy wasn’t built to take a hit, after all, and relied on his speed and mobility for much of his defense.

Speedfreak was clearly stunned by the sudden reversal, as he flew back five feet and hit the wall. The only reason he was still on his feet was because of the speedster-shaped indentation in the wall. Honestly, it was impressive that the speedster hadn’t been knocked out by that punch. But that wasn’t going to help him in the heat of the moment, as he tried to get his wits about him.

Bronze, though, knew better than to allow Speedfreak too much time to recover without some fresh wounds to distract him. Reaching out to the all but immobile speedster, the strongman grabbed him by the face, and threw him across the room. I took that moment to Freeze Time, and moved a forklift, used for moving pallets of finished product from the end of the line to the warehouse for shipping, a couple feet forward from where it had been parked.

Going back to Untethered Time, I watched as Speedfreak, who before had an unobstructed path to a date with another wall, caught the outstretched tines of the forklift with his lower back. A scream of pain was ripped from his lips as he bent backwards over the tine, and then fell to the ground. He might not be dead, but he was definitely in pain. He certainly wasn’t doing anything more than spitting up some blood at the moment.

“What’s the matter, quickshot?” Bronze smirked, as he stalked forward. He was being cautious, just in case Speedfreak was playing possum. Not a bad call, typically. “Where’s that motor mouth today? You’re not looking too good, you know. Maybe you need to take a nap!”

Speedfreak snarled, revealing the gaping hole in his smile as he managed to get to his feet. Spitting out more blood, he looked at Bronze with hate-filled eyes. “Lucky hit, bitch. You’re not going to get another one.” He moved, as well, circling Bronze, looking for an angle. But he was moving at a normal person’s speed.

“Sure, punk. You slowed down, though! Take this!” Bronze roared, and charged forward. Speedfreak was too hurt to use his full speed, which would have easily avoided the attack. Instead, he simply rolled with the punch, deflecting enough of the impact that he only suffered a bit of a bruise. “The normal you would never have been hit by that!”

Speedfreak grimaced at the taunt, but he wasn’t out of the fight yet, though. He was hurt, but his head wasn’t ringing anymore. He clearly intended to keep going.

The speedster moved fast, fast enough that he would be little more than a blur to the unaided eye, and launched a flurry of punches at Bronze. Unfortunately for the speedster, even a flurry of a hundred punches won’t do any good if the individual punches aren’t enough to break through the protection a target in place. Speedfreak wasn’t like Lightspeed, who could do something he called an ‘infinite mass punch’, or something like that. He was just a mid-tier speedster. Too much for normal types to handle, but not strong enough to bring down Bronze.

I froze time again as Bronze started his next punch, a powerful uppercut. Speedfreak was already moving out of the way of the punch, his full speed returning. That wasn’t something I wanted to allow. After all, I was counting on Speedfreak’s death, to force Bronze out of the picture. So, I took the liberty of repositioning him, the same way I did with the heroines I took advantage of. Now, instead of dodging out of the way, Speedfreak was lined up perfectly to take the blow on his chin.

I untethered time again, and watched as Bronze’s fist connected perfectly. A perfect punch, straight to the jaw, with all the villain’s super-strength behind it. Speedfreak’s eyes rolled back in his head, even as he was launched into the air. He was out like a light, but his current trajectory was more problematic.

SPLASH!

The speedster flew over the side of the chemical vat, and splashed down inside like a rock into a pond, sending green ick into the air. Thankfully, I was far enough away that none of it got on me, but Bronze wasn’t so lucky. Oh, the acidic green liquid didn’t actually hurt him, but it was definitely burning through his suit in a way that indicated drowning was not the biggest threat to Speedfreak’s continued career.

“SPEEDY! NOOO!”

That yell got both Bronze’s and my attention. Standing at the roll-up door to the factory floor was the rest of Speedfreak’s team, the Protectors. That yell was Lady Liberty, seeing her friend and colleague get knocked into the vat.

Mechatorque, the Protector’s ‘gadgeteer’, cursed, and fired a bolt of lightning from his Mechazapper 3000 at Bronze. Yes, all his devices had names like that. Still, poor naming sense did not mean that they were ineffective, as Bronze grunted, feeling the impact of that hit. “Double L, get Speedy out of there! We’ll take care of this guy!”

And take care of them, they did. By the time Lady Liberty got into the acid bath, grabbed Speedfreak, and flew out, Masquerade had already shot Bronze with the gun she made out of her own powers (no clue how that worked), Scarlet Sentinel had cut him with her sword, and Cheetah had pounced on the villain, knocking him to the ground. And, unlike Speedfreak, their attacks clearly HURT the man.

Lady Liberty was silent as she descended to the ground, and everyone saw why. Speedfreak no longer had a face. His costume was durable enough that it resisted the acid, but his flesh was not so lucky. The skull was clearly visible, and the acid had not only partially eaten his eyes, but had also gotten into his mouth. Even if had still been alive, he wouldn’t have lived long.

The leader of the Protectors stood up, with fire in her eyes. She was untouched by the acid, but her costume was not, since she did not normally have a need for it to be indestructible, like Speedfreak’s was. As she stepped forward, her costume fell to the ground, leaving her naked. But she clearly did not care about that at the moment.

Normally, when she fought, Lady Liberty controlled her strength. She was one of the five strongest beings in the world, if you looked only at raw lifting power. She constantly controlled herself, to keep from hurting people too badly. Bronze had only just managed to stagger to his feet, when Lady Liberty launched herself at him. She wasn’t controlling herself now.

With a sickening squelch, Lady Liberty’s face met Bronze’s face. And then Bronze, too, no longer had a face, as her fist continued, and exited out the back of the supers’ skull. With disgust, Lady Liberty flicked her wrist, and sent the newly minted corpse flying into the wall, leaving a new indentation to match the one Speedfreak had left not two feet away.

The team somberly gathered around their leader. Without saying a word, Scarlet Sentinel pulled a wipe from one of the pockets in her utility belt. She usually used them to clean blood from her sword, but now she offered it to Lady Liberty. By the time she had her hand clean, Mechatorque had retrieved a spare costume for her from his Finite Infinite Storage Tank. He liked the gag of saying he was going to FIST things, apparently, but he wasn’t joking now.

The team was silent, until Lady Liberty was dressed again. When she turned back to look at them, Cheetah is the one who spoke. “What now, Liberty? What do we do now?”

Lady Liberty took a deep breath, and said, “Masquerade, have the police secure the area. Mechatorque, once the coroner picks up the—” her voice caught in her throat, “the bodies, I want you to take care of the forensics, personally. Speedy was cocky, and arrogant, but he ought to have been too fast for Bronze to catch. Something happened here that threw things out of balance. I want to know what, and I want to know who is behind it.” Masquerade and Mechatorque just nodded, wordlessly.

“Scarlet, get in touch with the Liberty Belles, and let them know what has happened. Let them know that we… will be stepping back from active duty for a few days, at least until after the funeral. They’ll need to take up the slack.” Scarlet Sentinel nodded, like the others.

“Cheetah, send word to Quartermaster.” She paused, clearly not wanting to say what she was about to, but not having much choice. “With the retirement of the former Lady Liberty, and the deaths of Black Mask and Speedfreak, we are now below the mandated threshold of members. We need to put out the call for applicants, to bolster the ranks. We cannot be caught shorthanded if a crisis breaks out.”

“What about you?” asked Masquerade.

“I’m not done punching things. I need to go someplace where I won’t hurt people. If you need me, I’ll be on the moon.” The team just nodded to her, and she flew off, into space. A moment later, they started moving, to carry out her orders.

I took that as my queue to leave. While the results had not been quite as I had planned, it was still a wonderful day’s work. Bronze was out of the picture, a little more permanently than I had wished, but that was fine. Now, I just needed to get my priestess to induct Skye’s husband into my cult, and the first steps of my plan would be complete.