Back up to Speed (IC, Solo)

[Thevshi]

North Bay, Freedom City, New Jersey

Tuesday, February 11, 2014; 6:18 AM

 

The sound of an alarm clock ringing for the third time in the last eighteen minutes pulled Megan Howell out of the half sleep she had fallen back into.  The young woman's hand shot out towards the nightstand at speeds beyond what the human eye could easily follow, slamming the snooze button once more to silence the annoying alarm once again. 

 

But this time, Megan did not close her eyes again.  Instead, she glanced at the room around her as her eyes adjusted to the faint darkness.  The cold that had crept into the bedding on other side of the large bed reminded her that Robert was still back in England dealing with a few family matters and attending a conference back at Cambridge.   

 

Letting out a slight sigh, the blonde haired young woman sat up, reaching over to turn off the alarm.  Once that was done, Megan was then up from the bed and had moved through the master bedroom and into the spacious master bath in a blink of the eye.  A few moments later, she was climbing into a hot shower to help shake off more of her drowsiness, which should do until she was able to get some coffee.

 

As the hot water ran over her, Megan closed her eyes for a few moments, thinking back to the various changes over the last few months.  It had been toward the end of October when she and Robert had returned from what had been for them, six years in the Null Zone.  Of course, because the Null Zone existed outside of normal time, to the rest of the world, they had not been gone long at all.  Having returned with a six year old son, the pair had needed to make several changes to the lifestyles they had been leading.

 

One of the first things Megan had done was to revel to her parents (and the later her older siblings) that she was Velocity, a secret she had kept from her family since she had been a Sophomore in high school.  Naturally her parents had been quite shocked to learn their youngest daughter was also a superhero, not to mention that they suddenly had a six year old grandson. 

 

Megan and Robert had then begun looking for a place in Freedom City to purchase together.  It had taken nearly all of November, but Megan had finally located a wonderful mansion in the northern, slightly more rural part of North Bay.  The house came with extensive grounds, something Lawrence had become accustomed to growing up in the Null Zone.  So Robert had more or less permanently relocated to Freedom City, although he was making bi-weekly trips back to England, though usually for only a couple days at a time and they had all spent the latter half of December and New Year's back at Robert's family estate in England.  And of course, for Megan, there had been getting back into being more active with the Freedom League. 

 

Shutting off the water, Megan then exited the shower to dry her hair, get dressed and otherwise ready for her day.  For the most part, her morning routine took mere moments, one of the benefits of having superspeed.  But once she was dressed, Megan made her way down the dim hallway of the large mansion at a normal speed as she made her way to her son’s bedroom.

 

The door to Lawrence's room was halfway open, as it often was, allowing some light from the main hallway to shine into his room so it was not too dark.  Megan stopped at the door briefly and looked down at the sleeping form of the six year old.  But then she turned on the lights as she called out.  "Lawrence, time to get up and start getting ready for school."  The figure on the bed began stirring as Megan added, "get dressed and the come downstairs for breakfast."