Chapter 4: Acceleration

Romaine's POV

The constant beeps of the heart monitor regressed to the back of my mind. It was now so intune with the back ground that if it stopped, I wouldn't notice.

I stared at his practically lifeless body. Does everyone I know turn into a speedster? Comical yes, but still a question to ask. Usain, Donte, now Dondre. Hmm.

"I wonder who's next" I thought softly outloud, as I glanced over at Cassandra.

She didn't seem too happy that our time out got ended like that. I'm at a loss for words with everything that's happened lately, and I don't even know what to say to her.

I felt Dondre's temperature with my hand on his neck. He had a slight fever, but nothing to worry about. I had a lot of questions, but I'd just have to wait until he was awake.

It was late, almost 7 PM, I had to get Donte home by 8. I gazed at Dondre one more time before I had to leave.

I had spoken to Cassandra about we'd do. The plan is to maintain his vitals and monitor him until he wakes up, apparently he's in some kind of stasis. I just hope his stasis doesn't last as long as a coma normally does, I don't think I can wait that long.

"Come on." I prompted Donte, taking up my things ready to leave

"Ok..will you tell me who that guy is now?" He reposed the same question that he has been for hours

"He was my friend. The only actual friend I had I think" I answered him

"Well where did he come from?" He presses

"Can we not do this right right now?" I asked him

He moaned as we stepped into the elevator.

As I faced Cassandra I figured I'd leave her on a good note, I know how annoying it must be to have to take care of someone until they indefinitely wake up.

I've never used her nickname before, other than one or two times, this times I decided to use it, just to see if she'd allow me to.

"See ya later, Cas" I said, with a wave to be polite

She looked at me and turned away, she didn't seem annoyed or anything, so I guess it's fine.

~~~~~~~

I've been checking up on Dondre every day for an entire week. It came back around to Saturday and I was starting to lose hope on him waking up early.

It was midday, but you couldn't tell by the lighting in the lab. Everything's a lot darker than outside.

"How's his condition?" I asked Cassandra when the elevator doors opened

"He's been doing fine, his condition's been improving since the last couple of days." She responded getting up from her chair walking over to the medical room

When we got in there he looked the same as before. Didn't seem to change between now and yesterday. Same pale face, same steady heart beat, vitals signs slightly different than before.

"I estimate that he should be waking up today." She said, smiling

"Wait, really?" I asked her surprised

"Yep. He should be up and running in no time. No need to worry." She said

"Thank you so much" I said, feeling the urge to hug her

She went over to check his vitals again, I went up to my usual spot, beside the heart monitor.

"You know..." she said, "I enjoyed our time last week. Even if it was interrupted."

Her bright smile put me into shock; she never smiles, and when she does, it's only slight. I straightened my posture as she came up to me.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." I said gently, my hands slowly moving towards her cheeks.

As our faces grew closer and closer together, time slowed down, it was the most nerve racking experience. The air was intimate, we would now put behind our lives of senseless arguing and start a new one, with happy memories. Nothing could ruin this moment, or I've spoken too soon.

Dondre groaned, starting to move, followed by his heart rhythm speeding up. We both backed away from each other, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Cassandra went to the other side of the bed to take Dondre's vitals again. Dondre started fidgeting and rocking, signaling that he was gaining consciousness.

"Dondre, buddy, are you ok?" I asked him my hand on his head

He groaned as a response

"He's stable." Cassandra informed, "He's waking up, but we need to wait for him to fully recover first before he can get up."

"Ok, good. That's fine." I confirmed

I had many questions to ask Dondre, and I planned to do so as soon as he was able to speak clearly. I needed answers, not more waiting.

~~~~~~~

An hour later I was finally able to get something out of him. He seemed to be doing fine. He sat up, spoke and heard clearly, but I guess his stamina must've been low, or similar feelings such as numbness in the feet.

"You want more water?" I offered him

"No, no..I'm fine" he said

"Ok..well..you mind telling us what happened to you? How did you get here?" I asked him, Cassandra at the foot of his bed keenly listening

"Well..uhh..I don't know where to even start.." he said

"How about the beginning: when you went missing." I said

"Ok.. well.. uhh.. we went over to the school to check out the explosion. Romaine told us to split up and look for people to help. But as soon as we did, I was kidnapped by one of those shadowy guys and brought to some underground base in the hills. I was kept there and tortured for months by this guy called Black Zero. But then the last time he came to torture me I felt some kind of spark inside of me. I noticed everything around was slowly and I could move at a very fast rate. My thinking was sped up, I felt my heart beating faster than a man could run. And I felt so much went up energy inside me, that when I released it in a shout then electricity came off of me like an explosion. It broke the shackles and I ran free. Black Zero was close behind me bit when I came into the city he disappeared. I couldn't control myself and was running all over the place. When I saw you I knew you'd be able to help me and all the fear went away. I was able to stop at your feet but barely able to breath at that point. Then everything went black and I ended up here." He said

"Well..that's a lot man...I'm sorry you had to go through that. Tortured for months. I'll make sure Black Zero pays for what he did." I responded

"Thanks.." he said, before going back to sleep

Guess I was right about his stamina. And I was also right about Black Zero; the heartless bastard tortured my bestfriend for nearly an entire year. I can only imagine what he's been through. And all for what? Why did Black Zero do it?

Cassandra indicated that she wanted to talk to me in the next room. I silently agreed and walked with her into the Main Room.

"Evidently he's been through a lot" she noted

"Yeah. We need to track down Black Zero and stop him before he can get anyone else." I agreed

"Hold on. We both know that you're basically the fastest and smartest speedster we have, and you still don't hold a candle to Black Zero. You need to prepare and think of a strategy to beat him. And trust me, when the time is right, he'll find you." She reasoned

"Well ok then. What do we do about Dondre then?" I asked

"We could use him as an asset to the team, but first I'll need to make sure that he's completely stable." She said

"Ok right.." I didn't know what to say or do from that point

"I got pizza!!" Donte's voice bellowed through the place as he presented to us a large pizza box.

Well, props to him for always being there to break the tension, but at the same time, his times of appearance are usually a but too coincidental.

"That's why you're here late? You were busy getting melted cheese on bread?" Cassandra criticized

"Well no I got a but sidetracked but I got pizza to make up for it." He explained, his smile was so innocent it makes it hard for you to be mad at him

I think Cassandra felt the same way, because she dropped the accusatory attitude almost immediately and just scoffed.

"Well..what kind of pizza is it?" I asked

"Oh don't worry I kept it plain cheese." He said

"Ok good, then I'm in." I said

Cassandra eyed both of us and went off back into the medical room.

"I'm going to test Dondre's speed stats and post vitals. Make sure you save a slice for me." She said

"Uhh yeah, sure thing." I said, exchanging weird looks with Donte

I'd like to see Dondre running and all but I haven't eaten all morning and frankly I've been feeling a bit itsy without any coffee for a whole week. Everytime I tried to go or asked Donte to get it for me my plans were shut down by none other than Ms Control Freak herself.

~~~~~~~

When Cassandra came back with Dondre's results I expected to hear good news, and was even a bit nervous that, like Donte, he's faster than me.

"So..?" I promoted her expectantly

"His vitals are good but his running is sloppy. He's clumsly, wavering, and frankly, compared to you, he's a sloth." She informed us

"Woah.." I couldn't believe it

I ran down to the speed lab at a normal pace, followed by Donte. I saw Dondre sitting on the ground in running gears panting for his life.

"Dondre" I called out, "Are you ok?"

"That....that girlfriend of yours sure is difficult..." he said between pants

"Well she's uhh.. she's not my..- What happened to you?" I tried my best to change the subject, wondering how much he saw of me and Cassandra when we were by his bed.

"I was just running laps around but I couldn't get the hang of it. My balance is majorly off and I nearly tripped multiple times. And she says I'm nothing compared to you guys." He said

"Well.. yeah.. but..that doesn't mean you still can't be a part of the team.." I said

"Well that explains why you look so bad.." Donte commented

"No..I..I don't belong here.. you guys have something special going and I don't want to ruin it with my worthless speed." He said

"Yeah well you're not ruining everything. We'd all love if you stayed. You're my..our friend." I encouraged

"Thanks." He said

"No problem." I said extending my hand to help him up

When he accepted my offer and stood up, Donte and I exchanged suspicious glares.

"How about we have a little race?" I offered Dondre

"Sure I guess. We all know who's gonna win." He said

Donte snickered and the both of us simultaneously switched floors, got our suits, ran back down to where Dondre was, changed in front of him, returned our normal clothes to the recreational room and went back to stand before Dondre, all in super speed... taking less than ten seconds.

The look on his face was priceless. Donte and I broke out into pure, unrestrained laughter.

"How were you so fast? And your suits are amazing. That was just...so cool.." he said

Being that all he had was friction resistant sneakers, there was no need for him to change.

When I signaled to go into the speed tunnel Donte and I were the first in, Dondre realizing a bit later. Guess his super speedy reactions aren't active.

We made multiple laps around. Nearly a thousand actually. I decided to hold back on my speed and run barely in front of Dondre, so that he wouldn't feel so bad, but Donte didn't exactly take a hint and decided to go all out. He even decided to throw in a few loop-de-loops just to show off.

I bet it must've looked amazing; seeing dark blue, light blue, and yellow electricity blazing around and around.

When we stopped Donte and I knew we could go on but Dondre was on the floor desperate for air. He really is a new speedster, but even so Donte and I weren't like that when we first got out speed...although..I was in pretty terrible my first time, I could've barely walked at that point.

When we took Dondre back up to the main room of the lab, Cassandra had just finished the only slice of pizza we left for her.

"How did it go?" She asked

"Went well enough, noobie here's having trouble maintaining breathe whilst running." I said, teasing him

"Well..? Did he make the decision to join us..?" She asked

Donte and I had already taken our coals off prior to entering the room, for a more casual feel. We all looked to him who had his hands on his knees still breathing heavily. After a while of watching him waste oxygen he finally maintained his breathing. He straightened up, gulping, before raising his head confidently and agreeing,

"Yeah, I'll join the team."

"Yippee!" Donte cheered

We all started clapping before Cassandra exited the room. She walked back in with a brand new suit and presented it to Dondre, saying,

"You can't very well fight crime without a suit."

Dondre's mouth dropped in awe and excitement

He promptly took the suit and ran to the next room, he changed into it as fast as he could. The only explanation I have for him changing rooms is probably because he either knew he wasn't fast enough for us still not to see him whilst changing or he was afraid he would trip or something.

In the event of the first one all I'd have to do is just calm and relax my mind so I could view things at a normal pace, I surely wouldn't want to see anything. And I know for a fact that Donte would do the same.

When he sped back into the room he seemed quiet proud of his new suit. And it looked great on him. Though it was light blue and had a similar color palette to Donte's suit the yellow lightning would differentiate the two. And with his bottom half being dominantly dark you'd see his like mine too. Looks like Cassandra just combined mine and Donte's suits actually if you ask me. There's no doubt it still looked good.

Most of his torso was a relaxing electric blue, alone with his lower arms and head. The rest of his suit was a very very dark blue. His upper legs and upper arms were dark blue stripped with the same color that fills his suit. On the lower torso you could see the transition between the electric blue and the super dark blue. There were black pads lined with gold on his shoulders and knees. His head was completely covered, minus the top of it where his hair is along with his nose and mouth. His eyes were surrounded and joint by a patch of gold. And I didn't know what to make of his feet.

"I-....I love it! Thanks Cassandra." He said, sounding very excited

"I'm glad you like it." She said smiling

"Soo.." I started, "any ideas for a name..?"

"Well..no, not really.." he said

"Well I noticed something during your tests.." Cassandra said, "Despite your sloppy performance, your speedster talent was clear to me; you have the ability to reach your maximum speed faster than these two."

"Wait, really?" I said

"Woah.." went Donte

"I mean that's kinda cool but that's not a name." Dondre pointed out

"I'm getting there." She said, "how do you feel..about Acceleration?"

"Has a nice ring to it." I commented

"Yeah, true." Donte agreed

"I like it." Dondre confirmed

"Good." Said Cassandra

"Dondre," I walked up to him, putting my hand out, "Welcome to The Order of Speed."

"Wow..thanks guys. I..I don't know what to say.." he said, after shaking my hand.

~~~~~~~

Time had foregone us and before we knew it we all had to go our separate ways now. Dondre didn't have a place to stay so Cassandra opted to have him sleep in her couch upstairs.

When Dondre and Donte were in the elevator having their own conversation, I went to say goodbye to Cassandra.

I opted for a hug when we were close and she gently squeezed my body, as did I hers.

"He needs to be aptly trained." She said softly, "I believe his performance rates can be increased exponentially. I'm trusting you to be his mentor, assisted by me ofcourse."

"Ok, thanks for trusting me I guess." I responded...not the ending I was really looking for

"So that's what you've been working on all week?" I asked

"Well..that and scouring the net and removing all media of our little encounter with him." She confessed

"Well it was really nice of you to do that for him. Thank you..." I said, the air around us slowly transforming

We started to have another moment where out heads were drifting towards each other again, but she then pulled away hers, as if she was hesitant. As she drew away her body from out of my arms and walked away I realized that Donte and Dondre were watching. I suppose that was to be expected as we were in perfect view of the elevator. Also not the ending I was looking for.

The other two had already changed out of their suits and were well ready to leave. So they were just waiting on me. I changed back into my casual wear and ran into the elevator.

"Took you long enough" Donte teased

"Oh cut him some clack" Dondre reasoned, "he was spending time with his girlfriend"

The two laughed as I tried to explain the fact that she's not my girlfriend. Eventually I gave up as they wouldn't listen to reason. And Donte sure didn't let me live it down on the walk home.