Velocity's First Appearance (Origin Story)
Megan Howell was in her bedroom in her parent’s large home in North Bay, looking at the costume lying on her bed which she been working on the last week and a half. About three weeks ago, she had been on a field trip to Astro Labs when a battle had broken out between a supervillain out to steal some invention and a superhero. In the chaos of the fight, Megan had been knocked into some experiment and doused with chemicals. Thankfully none had caused any physical damage, and not within the first week after the incident, she had discovered she could run far faster than normal, even faster than a car. She was also able to do things much quicker, which certainly helped with her homework.
During one of her runs where she had been experimenting with her powers in a park between North Bay and Kingston, Megan had seen a man snatch a woman's purse. Before she had even thought about it, Megan had chased after him, only using just enough of her speed to catch him and grab the purse back for him. Out of pure luck, the purse snatcher had not been inclined to do more to get a purse, and had simply run away. The incident got the fifteen year old thinking that maybe she could use her powers like the members of the Freedom League or the Atoms did. But of course, if she was going to do that, she knew she needed a costume.
So Megan had hit some stores, looking at some Halloween costumes for ideas and had picked up some things there and at sporting good stores. She had then spent the last week or so working on altering a pair of skin tight running pants and long sleeve top. While Megan was not particularly good at sewing, thanks to her new found powers, an hour or so a day of taking time to work on things was more like ten hours at a time.
To the suit she had added a strips along the outside of the arm, legs and side of the torso, with a black and white checkered pattern. She also had managed to put together a matching yellow mask that would cover the upper half of her face and her hair, though she had fixed the back of the mask to allow a ponytail to hang out, but, the blonde teenager had fixed it so a part of a brown wig extended out of the mask in the ponytail. With the mask, she had an old pair of skiing goggles that would help with the wind from running fast. She had not yet found any good boots, so had to go with yellow running shoes for the moment, and a pair of yellow gloves finished the outfit.
Tonight her parents were out at an event at the Midnight Society, so they would not be back until later. While her older brother Jason was home, she rather doubted he would bother to ever check on her, so it was the perfect night to go out and try out her costume. A small smile coming to her face, the teen suddenly became a blur of motion, and a second later was standing there dressed in her costume.
Yeah, this should work nicely. Megan though as she regarded herself in the full length mirror on the back of the door to her room. Satisfied with the costume, the teenager was the off in a blur of movement and out of the house in moments, speeding off down the road to go test out her powers more.
The teenager felt exhilarated as she raced down the streets, easily outpacing the few cars that were out. Now that she did not have to worry about holding back in case someone might see her, she was amazed at just how fast she was able to get and how quickly she was taking in things around her, which seemed to be moving so slow. Before she knew it, Megan was out of North Bay and over into Kingston.
The young teen briefly considered going to some of the western or southern sections of the city, but decided it was probably best to not go too far from home this first night. Not to mention she was not at all certain how well she could handle some of the problems in those parts of town. So for the moment she just satisfied herself with zipping around Kingston, reveling in the feeling of just being able to fully cut loose with her speed for once.
A short while later, she was down near some of the warehouses along the Kingston waterfront when she heard a tremendous bang echo out of an alley she was passing. Looping back around, the teenager skidded to a halt at the mouth of the alley. Through the darkness, Megan saw a police officer pinned against a wall by a garbage dumpster with a man in jeans and a leather jacket standing a few feet away.
"Still think you're going to arrest me?" The man in the leather jacket yelled out as he moved up to grab the side of the heavy dumpster before easily shoving it aside, causing it to crash against the wall of a building some twenty feet away. The police officer crumpled to the ground, still alive but clearly very hurt.
Oh no! Megan thought as she took in the scene, her heart began beating faster as her mind began to race. She had wanted to go out and try at being a superhero and all, but she had been hoping on this first outing she might have something more run of the mill. Not some guy attack a cop who had superstrength, or was at least on that MAX drug or whatever it was called. She was uncertain just what she could do against this guy. Superspeed or not, she was still just a fifteen year old girl. Perhaps she could go try to get help of some kind.
The man walked over to the prone form of the cop, putting his foot on the officer's throat. "That looked like it hurt. But not as much as this will.."
At that moment Megan knew she could not go look for help, or just ignore this. She had to do something, even if it was just distract the guy and get him to try to chase her away from the injured officer.
With adrenaline rushing through her, the teenager streaked forward, a yellow blur as she came up to the guy, swinging her right fist at him as hard and as fast as she could, not really expecting the punch to do much more than get his attention. *WHACK* To Megan's surprise, the punch connected solidly with the side of the man's jaw, spinning him around twice before he fell to the ground a short distance from the injured officer.
Megan continued on past both of them, looping back around slightly to skid to a halt facing the grown man she had somehow just decked. "Hey! No picking on cops while I'm around!" She called out, speeding up her words and tone more than normal.
The man pushed himself up on all fours as he looked around for who had hit him, his gaze falling on the yellow clad teenager. "Hey sweet pants." He says smiling as he climbs back to his feet. "How about you come back over here and try that again."
Whatever slight confidence Megan had been feeling from knocking the guy down quickly faded as he did not seem particularly hurt from what she figured was likely her best shot. But despite the growing terror she was feeling about her prospects in her first fight ever, the teenager kept a somewhat confident outward appearance. "You think you can handle more?" She quipped back at him as she began moving towards the side, waiting for him to rush her and move away from the injured police officer.
Her plan worked just as she hoped, as the man rushed towards her, a scowl on his face. Oh no, oh no… Megan thought as once again began doubting whether this had been a good idea, but as the man closed and his fist started forward, everything seemed to go in slow motion, and the agile teenager dodged aside, the man’s punch missing her, though she felt the air from it as she passes. *WHAM* The thug stumbled a few paces, before his fist slamming into the nearby wall, leaving a small hole in the building where he connected.
"That's funny speedie." He said as he righted himself, but at that moment, Megan was back up next to him, swinging her fist at him once again as hard and fast as she could. *WHACK* Once again she managed to connect, this time with the back of his head, which caused her hand to sting slightly. There was enough force to the blow to cause his head to jerk forward, slamming his forehead into the wall in front of him.
This time when he stood back upright and turned around, his face was twisted in anger. But Megan was already back further down the alleyway, away from both the man and the downed police officer. Growling with rage, the man moved over next to the dumpster he had pinned the police officer with and sent it rolling towards Megan with considerable force.
But as fast as the heavy dumpster was actually rolling, it was lumbering along in the teenager's eyes, and she easily moved out of its path as it crashed into the wall she had been standing near with a loud *CRASH*
"You're going to have to do better than that!" She managed to call out to the man, despite the frantic rate at which her heart was beating, and she came to a halt a short distance away. Just at that point, the sound of police sirens began to draw closer, causing the man to look towards the mouth of the alleyway a moment before focusing back on Megan.
"It's been fun, but I gotta go." He stated as he squatted down and then leapt up onto the roof of one of the buildings along the alleyway and then disappeared from view.
"Another time then!" Megan called out after him, though her heart was beating furiously and she was really glad that the fight was over.
In a flash she was over next to injured officer, kneeling down to check on him.
"Thank you." The officer said, his voice strained as he spoke. "You probably saved my life. Who are you?"
Megan gave the officer a small smile that hide the various doubts she was having at the moment about her oh so brilliant plan of trying to be a superhero. "You're welcome." She replied. "And I'm….Velocity."
Looking up, she saw a patrol car pull to a stop at the mouth of the alleyway. "Your backup's here, so they should be able to take care of you. Be safe officer." She said before she was off down the other end of the alleyway at full speed, gone from the scene before the other officers had even stepped out of their vehicle.
As she ran down the streets of Kingston, the teenager was wracked with self doubt. She was not sure she had ever been as terrified as she had been while fighting that guy in the alleyway. Megan did not even want to think about what might have happened if he had managed to get a hold of her during the fight. Right now, she was not enjoying the chance to cut loose with her powers anymore, she just wanted to get home and get out of her costume.
Later…
Back in the safety and comfort of her parents’ home, Megan made her way back into her room wearing a red bathroom, using a towel to dry her long blonde hair after a nice, relaxing hot shower. The fifteen year old was feeling a bit more relaxed now, the feelings associated with that fight in the alleyway a bit more distant. But she was still thinking that maybe she should get rid of that costume she had made and just give up on this idea of being a superhero.
The young blonde had just gotten into her room when the TV she had left on when she had gone to take her shower had a news report about her and her encounter with that thug in the alley. A news crew was at the hospital, interviewing a woman who was crying.
The reporter went on to say that there was little information about the new superheroine, other than that she appeared to be a young teenager. Then the news cast moved on to the weather.
Sitting down on the edge of her bed, Megan could not help but feel a certain sense of pride knowing that not only had she likely saved that officer's life, she had ensured that his wife wasn’t just another widow of an officer killed in the line of duty. Maybe that superstrong thug had gotten away, but if she had not shown up, the news story she had just seen would have been very different. And if he had just been a normal criminal, like that purse snatcher from the other day, Megan felt rather confident that those punches she had been able to somehow deliver tonight would likely have knocked him cold.
Crouching down beside her bed, she reached underneath and pulled her handmade costume out and stood up, holding it out in front of her. Maybe I can do this.
