Interlude of a Speedster Part 3

Leo splayed his hand and waved it over the gangster's body, encasing him in a strange green glow.

Time began to reverse, only for the man. His body twisted and changed, golden motes of light drifting off of him as his timeline was severed and restructured. The process was slow as the seconds were burned away.

"This is going to take a while, so you might as well take a seat," Leo sighed.

Bree did just that, plonking herself down onto the ground roughly with her legs crossed.

"How's the girl? The one he beat on?" She asked.

"Yeah, she's fine physically," Leo replied, "But you know my power only works on physical things. Memories. They stick around. Whatever she feels like afterwards is up to her own mental state."

"Well… It's not like-" Bree started.

"Okay fine, I won't mess with memories. Look, playing with time is difficult enough as it is. Physical states, resetting the clock on those? Easy peasy. But what if I accidentally erased some memories and not others? It's too risky. I won't mess with minds like that."

Bree started to retaliate, but she shut her mouth fast.

They weren't related by blood, Leo hadn't been wrong when he had mentioned being adopted. But they were still siblings, and as such they'd had this argument what felt like an unlimited number of times.

As far as Bree was concerned, not working on people's minds was a major misstep on Leo's part. What if something really bad happened to someone? Or she made some mistake that just wouldn't go away? Leo wouldn't be able to help then, and he didn't even want to discuss it with her anymore.

"If you're not messing with his head, can you localise the time field to the rest of his body, I want to question this guy," Bree requested. It was something her brother had done for her frequently in the past.

"Whatever," Leo sighed, and the green field receded to just below the man's neck.

Bree scooted forward and tapped the guy on the forehead with the toe of her boot.

"The hell… you doin' to me?" The gangster groaned as he came too.

"Ah, just a bit of temporal jiggery pokery," Bree said, finding herself back in the groove of interrogation perhaps just a little bit too easily. "Now, are you going to answer my questions or would you rather we just leave you here, in a dark street, unable to walk?"

"You're… no hero," The man coughed. Bree only rolled her eyes at that.

"Says the sociopathic child beater. "Look mate, unless you start answering questions pretty sharpish, my brother and I are going to ditch you here and now. You'll never fully recover from what I've put you through, either. Not unless you find a top rate healer."

"Even then, some healers aren't all they say they are," Leo cut in over the top. He was angry, but he wasn't willing to let everything that had happened throughout the night go to waste. "Besides, who knows what a healer would make of your temporally altered body. Their powers might not even work."

The thug was silent for a few more moments, his eyes widening slightly as the truth of what might be done to him started to settle in. Would he even survive the night? If someone else from a gang, whether it was the Devils or some other group, came around they might just decide to finish him off there and then.

"The Devil Riders are expanding," He started to explain, "We've been told to start spreading out into the Northern Quarter by Baphomet. Since Phet got banged up, and the Coventry Mob are weaker than they used to be, there's territory up for the pickings. Devils aren't making any impact in the East, so the North is next."

Bree let the information sink in, "What's going on in the East? Why can't the Devils get a foothold?"

"There's this new villain, they call him The Spider," The thug went on, he actually sounded a little bit scared then. "No one knows where he came from, or what his powers are, but he's practically got a whole private army. At least fifty blokes, Baphomet said. All of 'em with crafter gear. Knock 'em down, they just get right back up. Laser beams that can cut through steel, they say."

Bree nodded, she's heard rumours about The Spider before. It was very rare for someone to come in out of the community, but it wasn't completely unheard of. There were rumours and whispers of people who lived like nomads, out in the wastes, never staying in the same place for too long. Maybe this Spider was one of those, and he'd come to her community to set up his new web.

"Anyway, he's been fighting the Devil Riders just about everywhere. We'll take some ground, then he'll take it right back, it's been going on for months now," the Rider continued. "Baphomet things, now that the Mob are on the down and out, that gaining some ground up there would be easier. Other than that, I don't know anything. Honest."

"What about the other gangs? There's a power vacuum in the North right now. Sure, Baphomet is out looking for a piece of the pie, but I bet he's warned you about someone else making a play for the territory too."

The thug laughed, looking Bree right in the eye. "You really are dense, aren't you. The Northern Quarter is valuable land, everyone's making a play for it. Things are just gettin' started love, there's gonna be a war over that land, just you bloody wait for it!"

The green field around the thug's body dissipated.

"I've wound him back as far as I need to, most of the injuries should be healed. The important ones, anyway," Leo said, taking a step back.

"Waddaya mean, most?" He asked, struggling to get up to his feet, but still stumbling somewhat.

"Come on Leo, let's get out of here," Bree said, ignoring the man. He'd wasted enough of their evening. "Let's get out of here."