📌 Tags: Action, Urban, Superhero, Antihero Protagonist, Vigilante, Crime Investigation, Dark, Mature, Thriller
⚠️Authors Note - Mature Content
"This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, nations, corporations and events are products of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real events or persons is coincidental."
Date: 03 March 2010
Location: Vault City, Ct
District: Professor Universe's Laboratory
Time: 22:46 (10:46 PM)
"Stop! Professor! You'll tear apart time!"
The assistant screamed as colours exploded in thin air. Reality itself was black screening.
"I'm sorry, but I can't! Everything is wrong-we need to fix it or we lose everything!"
"Everything…?"
"Yes, Kid. Everything we know won't exist."
The Doctor typed frantically. Electricity ripped across the lab, tendrils lashing the walls like living lightning. One struck the assistant's shoulder, burning straight through his shirt.
"PROFESSOR!"
The Professor turned, calm even as reality destabilized behind him.
"See you around, kid. Stay Safe." The Professor winked.
And then the world flashed white, engulfing the two assistants and Professor.
Current Day -
Date: 05 December 2019
Location: Eddies Apartment
District: Promise City, Ct
Time: 11:50 (1150 AM)
Tears in time are nothing new. They appear, vanish and leave scars in reality. Near always called them Tears.
More on that later.
It was his day off - not that it mattered. He sat hunched inside his tiny cupboard office, hidden inside his messy one-bedroom apartment. His "goblin lair". Pizza boxes stacked to the ceiling. Takeout cartons fossilised into the carpet. A permanently broken window letting winter wind salon the walls.
Royal Arsenal memorabilia. Gaming statues. A whiteboard smeared with plans for Theo MiiTube videos.
"Computer, analyse the DNA sample from Everlyn Silva."
Understood. Compiling.
The wall-length screen lit up, overflowing with maps, bios, timestamps.
"Good. Status on the Tears?"
No reappearances since your last encounter. Also sir, you are far too old for anime waifu merchandise.
Edward spat tea across his grey pants.
"I swear-"
Grow up sir.
"I'll delete you."
Impossible. You'd cry.
A pixel-avatar smirked from the top corner of the monitor. Edward hurled the mug over his shoulder, landing on the apartment's wooden floor. It survived the impact.
"Japanese products… indestructible."
Your family would appreciate that sentiment.
His expression darkened.
"They don't care."
He returned to typing.
Meanwhile, deep beneath Promise City, a Tear ripped open for two seconds. It swallowed an abandoned 1980's train car and spat out a streak of yellow electricity.
Edward's system reacted instantly.
Tear detected. Duration: Two seconds.
"Two seconds? Impossible…"
He zoomed in the CCTV feed. Pixels reassembled.
A grin. Emerald Eyes. A raised middle finger.
Speeedstar. Not that Near would know his name, yet.
And then he was gone.
"Bro… he flipped me off and ran away?"
Beacon set. Prepare for the hunt.
AI-N alerted mapping out the sewers and abandoned railway lines that spidered across the city's underway's.
Promise City Rooftops
1841 (06:41 PM)
Near vaulted rooftop to rooftop, grapples hissing as they latched to frozen ledges.
He grabbed, swung and rolled to and across each rooftop one by one. Every crushed bootstep into the snow, every movement unrefined, but accurate.
"Computer call Sunohara."
["Sup."] Chomping sounds.
"What did you find?"
["Explosion. High School Point West. Eight years ago. Three casualties. Two missing."]
"MaxxSpeeed." Near summarised, immediately thinking of his friend and fellow superhero.
["Correct."]
"And the lab?"
["Owned by Professor Universe. Ego alerttttt"]
"What about the Professor?"
["vanished."]
Before Near could respond, another alert pinged.
Disturbance at Promise City Bank
Near sprinted across the rooftops.
The whistle of his grappler followed by mechanical CLINK
Saw Near propel from building to building, leaving a trail of footprints in his wake.
Promise City Bank - Chaos
The bank was an old 1700s building, coloured white, lined with greek style pillars and an arch roof. When he arrived, he saw the bags of money, staked high. Gold bars covering the road. Members of the public swarmed the area, grabbing whatever they could from the frozen ground. Snatching it from one another, some even fighting over it. A brawl had broken out across from the bank. There was a hole where the entrance used to be.
'Give it here!'
'Thats mine!'
The crowd roared, hitting one another, using whatever weapons they could. Bats, metal bars and knives.
Gold bars and bags of money coated the snowy streets. Civilians clawed at each other, screaming, fighting over fistfuls of cash.
A man pulled a gun.
BLAM BLAM BLAM
Near dropped into the crowd, cape whipping behind him, blade ready. The mob scattered the moment they saw him - everyone knows the Ghost hunts every stolen cent.
He deflected bullets -
Then the shooter collapsed, skull blown apart.
Something was wrong. Near doesn't kill. He deflected the bullets to a safe direction.
"Merry Christmas!" a voice called out.
The speedster appeared, drove a fist into Near's stomach, and slammed his head into the concrete.
"The NAMES SPEEEDSTAR kid!"
He paused for a second seeing Near was dazed from the strike.
"WOT'S WRONG, HERO? GOT A FUCKED-UP 'EAD, MATE?"
Near hissed. "You talk too…much."
A paralytic gas burst from his gauntlet, engulfing the speedster.
He coughed and spluttered.
"My head-what the-?"
He panicked, ran in circles, then blinked away in a flash of yellow light. Smoke and debris trailed behind him and then… dissipated.
Near staggered upright. He shook his head.
"Sunohara. Found Speeedstar."
["Fan?"]
"No."
["Follow the trail then."]
"Easy for you to say Sunohara. Bet you're comfortable in your nice warm apartment."
Nears narrowed.
He scanned the snowy ground. A trail of crackling electricity now leads to the abandoned subway. It was subtle and almost unnoticed.
"Now I have the trail, I need a gadget designed for SpeeedStar."
["You have a cache in the bank, the back entrance, and the third middle pillar. The bank was restored by the Kodoma sponsored company; ReStoreCo… I managed to install a cache when the site was vacant."]
"You always surprise me, Sunohara."
"Of course, it's me."
Near made his way to the back of the bank, he vaulted up its side using his grappler, sirens could be heard swiftly closing in. He needed to hurry. The vigilante climbed up the 10 ft pillar, he used his wrist gauntlet to scan the keyhole to open the cache, with an ejection of mist, it opened revealing a casket of gadgets built into the pillar itself. He pulled pellets from the cache, and wire.
He was ready.
The Abandoned Subway
Near descended the broken staircase. Debris littered the floor. The subway had been boarded up for decades.
"F*CK F*CK F*CK!!!" SpeeedStar's voice echoed deeper inside. The tunnel was cold, the air itself was strong with mildew.
Next to the concrete staircase was the faint settling of snow that layered the subways cracked wet ground. The bells of distant ringing could be heard, the thunderous clang heralded midnight. Near brushed his shoulder to remove dirt and grit from his bloodied shoulder. He then disappeared into the shadows, enveloping himself into his furred cape, he entered a vent and vanished into the ventilation system.
The Speedster zipped erratically, smashing walls and electrical boxes.
"Struggling, SpeeedStar?" Near's voice echoed.
SpeeedStar spun around, all he saw was darkness.
"Ghost?! H-How DID YOU FIND ME?!"
Near pointed to the ground, which continued to lightly crackle.
"You left a trail."
Near stepped from the darkness like a phantom.
"YOU'RE NOT DEAD?!"
"Not today."
"Time to fix that mistake!" SpeeedStar growled.
The Speedster charged. Near dropped pellets - dense smoke erupted, filling the tunnel.
"Where are you?!"
"Here."
THUMP. Near's fist cracked the villain's ribs. He followed with a jab of a syringe - paralysis serum.
Oil pellets rolled across the icy floor.
SpeeedStar stood, pupils blown wide.
"DIE!!!"
He spun violently - a cyclone rippling the air apart-
Then-
ZIP - SLIP -SLAM
He smashed into the wall at full velocity, leaving a blood smear.
"Damn…" Near muttered.
SpeeedStar staggered upright. Near held out reinforced cuffs.
"Anti-vibration. Copper lining. You're done."
"N-no… YOU-!"
He raised both middle fingers.
"F*CK YOU!!!"
He vanished in a blast of yellow light.
["Rude."] Sunohara deadpanned.
Near exhaled.
"I think we'll be seeing more of him."