THE HOME OF JOE WEST // CENTRAL CITY
Iris came to a halt outside the door, allowing herself two deep breathes to get her breathing under control and allowing her hair to settle back down. Knocking on the hard familiar wood, she grabbed the old cold handle and pushed the door open.
"Dad, I'm home!" Ever since they had been little, Sunday Nights had always been family dinner nights at the West household. They weren't overly religious, her father just always found it important that they spend time together as a family.
"Dad?! Having secured the door, she tossed her keys into the bowl on the nearby shelf. Not even having to look before there was the familiar
clink as the keys settled in. It was all just muscle memory.
"Kitchen."Walking into the kitchen she felt the smile possess her face as she rushed forward, at a normal non-metahuman speed, and grabbed her dad in a great big hug. The smell of the roasting beef and boiling vegetables assaulted her nose, and she could already feel her stomach start to rumble. One of the more interesting side effects of her abilities was the fact she could eat as much as she wanted. She actively
needed too.
Barry had said it had something to do with the amount of calories her body was burning with her enhanced metabolism. All she cared about was that she could treat herself to that bucket of ice cream and pizza on a Friday night, and not even have to worry about it. Stepping back she looked through to the dining room as she heard voices, but was surprised to find that other than the old TV playing some TV show in the corner it was completely vacant.
"Bar running late?"Her concern grew as she walked into the dining room to put her coat on the back of her chair, when she noticed that only two seats had been set at the table.
"No, he called earlier. Said he's got another commitment." Iris felt her heart sink slightly.
"Oh... work?" She turned back to face her father, hands on the back of her chair.
"Not that I know off. He wrapped up the Condiment King case earlier, I don't think he has anything else pressing-" Iris had to stop herself from audibly wincing at the mention of the Condiment King. Some Superhero she was going to be.
"The Condiment King?""Yeah, some costumed freak trying to rob the bank. He was stopped by that woman that has been travelling the city at superspeed helping out."Iris nodded as she pulled her chair out, looking at the TV she was surprised to see an old conspiracy documentary playing. One that Barry had obsessed over throughout his teen years in the hunt for his mother's true killer, looking for people who could do impossible things. People who could do things even mutants couldn't achieve.
"Is that why you're watching this old thing?" she jabbed her thumb towards the television as Joe walked into the room carrying piles of food, sitting it down on the table.
"Well-" He shrugged.
"-we always dismissed what Barry said. We knew about mutants sure, but the Justice Society of America? Invaders? Howling Commandos?" Joe just chuckled to himself.
"It always just seemed like propaganda for the war, I mean. I remember growing up with the comics and the old black and white films."Old grainy black-and-white footage played on the screen, occasionally interrupted by the talking head of a man sitting in an office surrounded by papers.
"I mean, it just seems so riidddiiiiccccc-" Time slowed as her brain sped up. On the screen was an old clip of the famed Captain America, with a couple of other soldiers in weird and wonderful costumes.
She had seen it one hundred and one times, what she had never noticed before was the static and the blur that crossed the screen at this exact moment. That which everyone had always attributed to damaged tape. Instead was a man, a man wearing a winged helmet with a lightning bolt embroidered on his chest. A man, who could move as fast as she could. She snapped back to the moment.
"-uuuullloous." Joe chuckled to himself, and Iris joined in weakly.
As she piled food onto her plate.
"I have a question-"Joe pointed to her plate heaped with food.
"So long as it doesn't lead to me thinking I have my first grandbaby on the way.""Huh?" She looked at the sheer amount on her plate and brushed slightly.
"Oh, no. No, no no. Nothing like that, I've just uh. Had a couple of big days at the gym." She chuckled as she picked up a chunk of meat with her fork, chewing it before continuing with her thought.
"What do you think of this hero going around Central City?"Joe paused for a moment, weighing the question.
"I think her hearts in the right place, and I can't argue that she's done some good.""I sense a but coming-"[coolor=lightgoldenrodyellow]"I don't worry for her, I think she aims to do good and I respect that. Choosing to be something more, to help normal people. I just worry for the other side of things."[/color]
Iris held her fork at her mouth and lowered it back down to her plate.
"What do you mean?""You've seen the news. You've got heroes crawling out of the woodwork, all inspired by this-" He swirled his hand around trying to think of the word, the name.
"Superman." She offered.
"That's the one. Since he came out in Metropolis we've seen more and more of them, and now we have this Condiment King. Who, let us be honest was more a nuisance than a threat-" he didn't know the half of it.
"-I just worry that the threats are going to get bigger, as a result of that. In a never-ending game of escalation."
STAR LABS // CENTRAL CITY
Harrison clambered through the debris of the treadmill. He threw most of it into a pile, heaping it up as it wasn't important. Reaching deeper down he pulled out a battery pack. A smile crossed his face, he could practically
feel the energy pulsing within. This right here, this discovery. This is what would lead him to change the world. Stark and Trask were focused on pushing the mutants and the metahumans down. They didn't even realise how much of an asset they could be, how much they could learn about the world they lived in. The advances they could make to science.
Instead, they were blinded by their ego. Their fear. Men were afraid of what they couldn't understand or explain.
Harrison would understand it, and he would be the face that changed the world.
This speed, this power source that Miss West emanated, coursed through her veins. It was the key. Picking up his phone he dialed a number. It rang out, waiting for the beep of the answerphone.
"Hey, its Harrison. Are you still looking for a power-source for your project?" He held up the battery in one hand closer to his eyes, he could almost
feel the power within it.
"Because I think I have something that you might be interested in."