Chapter 99: Rewind

Romaine's POV

Aimlessly walking around in an infinite void, I struggled to remember why I was here; or where 'here' even was.

The ground then lit up in a pattern I could swear I've seen before.

"What the..." I muttered to myself

Looking at the pattern, it more so vaguely looked like a grid.

"Grid-like patterns...where have I seen those before.."

It wasn't until a giant clock appeared in front of me and a blue light lit under my feet that my memories started coming back.

"The Doomsday Clock.."

Looking up at it, the time read 23:45

"15 Minutes to Midnight.."

When my Time Remnant saw it the clock read 23:55. Meaning relative to that, I had more time than him. But that didn't help me in the slightest with predicting how long until the Apocalypse.

"Why are you showing me this?" I gritted my teeth, "You already took away the love of my life..on top of everything else..I can't just bounce back from this..You took her away from me..I can't go on..give her back to me..please..."

In the next instant I found myself on my knees, feeling as my eyes swole with tears.

"Give her back to me...I'll do anything...please...just give me another chance...give me the power to protect her...I'm begging you.."

Breaking down into tears, the hopelessness filled my mind, not seeing any possible way out of this.

Though unnoticed at the time, all my pain started to get numb, and once again, a spark went off in my brain.

The only thought I had then was to run, I could think of nothing else but to run.

Darting off into the infinite void of the Grid, I felt myself getting much lighter, not even aware of the electricity sparking from me.

The faster I ran, the more environment around me began shaping into a cityscape, resembling that of Montego Bay. And the further I went, the more I'd see the events of earlier replaying backwards. I could see a bright light off in the distance. Charging right through it, everything faded to white; and when my vision returned, I found myself in the cross position Vertex had been holding me in

"I despise those who speak so ignorantly about science. People like you are no better than dogs." He said

"What in the..." In this situation I had no time to think or react to my circumstances; I needed to focus on my current situation

Now holding up four fingers like he'd done before, I was starting to feel the wickedest sense of deja vu. The world around me now also had a much darker tone.

Pieces of rubble were thrown towards me just like I remember, though this time they were going at an extremely slow pace. It wasn't until weaving out of their projectile paths that I realized what was happening; it wasn't the projectiles going slow, it was me going fast.

With that knowledge, I relaxed my body to return to normal speed.

"Did I just-" My self inquiry was interrupted by even more projectiles from Vertex

"I thought Boss said he took away your speed." He commented

"Well he did, I'm kinda on the same page as you buddy." I answered as I dodged them

"You're quite the nuisance aren't you."

Lowering his arm, Vertex opened his palm, trapping me in a state of inertia like last time.

Once again I was frozen in place, unable to move at all. Before I could even think of what to do, the panicking speedstress appeared on the scene, knocking away Vertex; releasing me from his power's hold.

"C-Cas-.." I stuttered, helplessly happy to see her alive again

"Looks like I made it in time." She stated

"Yeah, this time." I mumbled

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing." I smirked, taking a fighting stance facing Vertex, "Though it looks like someone's finally come out of their shell."

"So then you knew?" She guiltily inquired, taking a similar stance beside me

"Ehh, I had a feeling something was up with you when I came back; Apple's Eye."

"Well it's been almost 2 months, I haven't exactly told anyone."

"I see. Well I assume you planned on telling us at some point."

"No, not exactly..."

"Gotta admit I'm slightly hurt by that, but alright."

At this point Vertex was already back on his feet and was ready to strike at any moment.

"Can I ask how you knew I was going to die? You seemed more distressed than if it was any normal danger."

"My Speedster Ability: Foresight. Ever since I gained my speed I've been able to involuntarily view endless possibilities of the future. Usually I predict the one that's most common but earlier there was only one possibility: you dying. I guess I was wrong though; on my way over here it all suddenly disappeared."

"Interesting. Though your foresight was right earlier. Do you know how to use your powers?"

"Future Romaine taught me all the basics, and I picked up a couple extra stuff too."

"Perfect, what do you say we take him then? If we bombard him fast enough won't be able to freeze us."

"Try to keep up then."

The two of us standing against Vertex as suit-less speedsters rung a sense of irony in me. With a smirk glistening on my face, I surged my body with electricity.

"Oh, that won't be a problem." I muttered before darting towards Vertex

Reasonably she was shocked, though easily caught up with me.

As we started our assault, Vertex sent multiple objects into orbit around him as protection.

"On your left!" Cas called out to me

I was confused at what she meant considering she was on my right, which was when I got barely missed by a projectile that went speeds exceeding that of a bullet.

"Close one." Despite the situation, the thrill of once more being a speedster made me smirk, "Damn I missed this."

We ran in tandem towards Vertex, evading every projectile thrown our way.

"Three on the left, two on the right, and one from ahead." Cas informed

Trusting in her foresight, I used the Apple's Eye to aid in dodging the remnants of buildings that were hurled at me.

Breaking through his defenses with no trouble at all, I was able to land a speed punch directly to his face. The impact of my attack echoed a loud sonic boom, nearly deafening the two of us.

"Maybe I should hold back next time." I rubbed my knuckles, staring as he got thrown through several buildings

"Yeah, if there is a next time." Cas rebutted

"I highly doubt I just killed the man."

"Well luckily for you, you're right about that." Cas dismissed, retaking a fighting stance, "But unluckily for us, things are just getting started."

Following Cas' revelation, all the buildings in the area were seamlessly uprooted and began orbiting the air; and at the center of it all was Vertex, levitating in the air above.

"Oh so he's one of those villains." I mumbled, "What'd I expect from one of Black Zero's Hunters huh?"

"Stay on your toes, he's getting a lot more serious."

Vertex clenched his fingers, simultaneously splitting all the buildings into thousands of shards that were now covering the sky.

"Romaine Green and Cassandra Bolt," he called out, "let this be the end of your plague upon this city!"

"Not good. At the speeds he's been able to fire things so far, I estimate his max force to be at least five times the speed of sound!" Cas observed

"So if any of those things hit us we're as good as dead." I finished

"He has us pinned Romaine, he's covered enough of the area to be able to get us even if we try to escape."

"What are the chances of us winning?"

"Four out of a Million so far, though either of us gets severely injured."

"Then screw it." I muttered, getting into the sprinting position, "I'll just make my own future."

"There are too many possibilities, I can't tell where to go or how to dodge them."

"Cas, I'mma gonna need you to trust me here. Once they start falling, run. Go as fast as possible towards him. And no matter what happens, don't stop until you hit him."

"Behold the capabilities of science!" Vertex shouted, "Ultimate Force, Petrified Rain!"

As the sky of projectiles discharged towards the ground, Cas raced towards him, leaving me in place left to do my part. I accelerated my body on the spot in order to increase my perception; slowing everything around me. Though despite that, they were still falling at an alarming rate.

Up to this point I've only ever enhanced my reaction time with my superspeed or Augendae, never both. But now it was time to gamble everything I had.

Slowly taking in a fresh dose of oxygen, I pumped my body full of enhanced blood.

"Augendae, 100,000 Fold."

My blood levels spiked, my muscles swole, and every nerve in my body felt like I'd just taken in a fresh cup of coffee.

"And now, Synapse Blitz!"

Displacing myself from where I was to above Cas' head, I was now able to react fast enough to the falling projectiles.

Channeling whatever strength I had, I destroyed every particle in her path and didn't stop until they were all ground to mere dust.

Cassandra's POV

Though Romaine's instructions confused me at first, I chose to forego my foresight and put my trust in him.

When the projectiles started their descent from the heavens I ran as fast as I possibly could.

In every instance where I was supposed to be ruthlessly torn to shreds by projectiles, Romaine somehow teleported over me and punched all the matter to powder. Somehow this boy manages to amaze me more everyday.

Approaching the nearest building in the blast radius, I applied everything Future Romaine had taught me in wall running and quickly summited the structure. Then without wavering in speed or momentum, I jumped off the peak of the building, channeling all available energy into my fist, and finally knocking Vertex out of the air.

"So that was a Speed Punch." I commented, doing my best to land on the ground safely, "I should probably hold back next time."

Dondre's POV

"Dondre," the Prince called, "I suggest you get off your lazy ass and go help Taylor; there's no telling what could happen."

"You people are unbelievable." I mumbled, "So it'll somehow be my fault if she dies when it was her decision to go out there in the first place?"

Reluctantly going into the elevator, I left the building and ran out to Taylor's location.

Looks like Melany had already beaten me here, so if she's here then why the hell was I sent out here.

"Well someone's clearly in a bad mood." Melany commented

"Not exactly in the mood for this right now Mel," I said, "let's just get this dude and end all this."

"Guys we can't let him get away again." Taylor empathized, "If he does then we might not get another chance like this."

The three of us stood facing him and Spectre.

"Well he's clearly outnumbered, so we can just get this over with." I said

-"Don't be so hasty lad,"- the Prince stopped me, -"Be reminded that Spectre's able to create some form of gas that can cause you to hallucinate."-

"Well if we're gonna stay here as scared woosies then we'll be here all day. We've gotta do something."

"What happened to you Dondre?" Melany questioned, "It seems like you changed in only a matter of minutes."

"I'm fine. I just wanna get this over with."

Midas took the opportunity to take out a hand gun and emptied around half his clip at us. There wasn't exactly much of a point to that since we can easily move faster than the speed of some measly bullet.

"That's it, I'm charging him."

"Dondre wait!" Taylor called out to me as I ran towards him, "If any of Midas' gold bullets touch you, you'll lose your powers!"

From hearing her utter those words, I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Don't you think that was something you probably should've mentioned before?" I belted

"I think that's far enough, young hero." A villainous voice spoke from Midas' direction

"Double Dial." I gritted my teeth, "Why are you here?"

"Just following orders, Acceleration."

As he raised his hand to do his gesture, Melany screeched and raced towards me.

The next thing I knew, he'd opened his control field, but Melany had pushed me out of his range; leaving herself as his victim. And in the following instant, they disappeared.

"Melany no!" Taylor screamed

"Damnit you fool." I muttered

-"I've lost contact with her, they likely transported through time similar to when Romaine encountered him."-

"We should be taking our leave as well." said Spectre

Before I could even move, they disappeared in his mist.

"Damnit!" I shouted, "Not only did we lose Melany, but now they're gone!"

"I'm sorry." Taylor whispered

"Yeah you should be. Because you're to blame for this."

Needing to clear my head, I turned off my comms and ran off.

Romaine's POV

Seeing Cas like this in this particular setting fueled the blazing fire I had for her in my heart even more.

"Great work out there today." I smirked

"Couldn't have done it without you, partner." She smiled back

"We should probably go and help the others now." I suggested, trying to hide my panting

"You should probably rest first," she advised, holding me up by the shoulder, "you seem to have exhausted yourself with that technique."

"Nonsense. Let's help the others."

Suddenly it was as if all the adrenaline that was numbing the pain had vanished. In a single instant I was fully aware of all the pain my body had sustained; and after helplessly vomiting blood, I fell out of Cas' arms unconscious on the ground.