A Race Against Time

The apartment was silent except for Danny's steady breathing. He stood in the middle of the room, fists clenched, concentrating.

"Slow it down," Maya instructed, arms crossed. "Feel it. Don't force it."

Danny exhaled. He had been training for a week, pushing himself to master slowing time. But it wasn't as easy as he'd hoped.

He focused on the clock on the wall. The second hand ticked forward. He willed it to move slower, to bend to his control.

A strange energy surged through him. His vision sharpened.

Tick.

Tick…

Tick…

Everything around him slowed. The dust particles in the air hung motionless. Maya's movements became sluggish, her voice stretching into a low, distorted echo.

Danny's heart pounded. He had done it.

But then—his body trembled. A sharp pain stabbed behind his eyes, and the room snapped back to normal.

"Ugh!" He staggered back, grabbing his head. His breathing was ragged.

Maya watched him, unimpressed. "Three seconds."

"Felt like forever," Danny muttered, rubbing his temples.

"You're getting there," she admitted. "But three seconds won't help in a fight. Again."

Danny groaned but straightened up. He had to get this right.

---

Elena adjusted the strap of her bag as she walked into the newsroom. Phones rang, keyboards clattered, and voices blended into an organized chaos.

She dropped into her chair, booting up her computer. Her current assignment wasn't exactly exciting—just an exposé on local businesses—but her mind was elsewhere.

There were whispers about a missing scientist. No police reports. No media coverage. Just gone. That kind of disappearance set off alarms in her head.

"Hey, you alive over there?"

She looked up to see Mark leaning against her desk, holding two coffee cups. He handed one to her.

"You looked like you needed it," he said with a smirk.

Elena took the cup, grateful. "Long night."

Mark sat on the edge of her desk, sipping his coffee. "What are you working on?"

"Just a business piece," she said, leaving out the rest. It wasn't that she didn't trust Mark—she did. He was one of her closest friends. But something about this felt... sensitive.

Mark nodded. "Well, if you need a break, I hear there's a place downtown with killer ramen."

Elena chuckled. "Are you asking me out, Mark?"

He grinned. "Would it be so bad?"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "I'll think about it."

---

Danny sat on the rooftop, staring at the city lights. His body ached from training, but his mind wouldn't rest.

Slowing time was one thing. Stopping it was something else entirely.

He had tried all week. Each time, the energy drained him so fast that he barely lasted a second. But if The Syndicate ever found him, he'd need more than a second.

He exhaled, gripping the edge of the rooftop.

"One more try," he whispered.

Closing his eyes, he reached for the energy inside him. It was like grabbing onto water—slippery, shifting. He concentrated, pulling it toward him.

Everything slowed again. The wind stilled. The city noise faded into nothing.

Danny pushed further.

Stop.

The air turned heavy. The world froze.

Danny's chest tightened. His heartbeat was the only sound in the silence.

He did it.

But his body couldn't hold it.

A sharp pain shot through his skull. His lungs burned. The frozen world shattered—

Danny gasped, falling to his knees. His vision blurred. His hands trembled.

"Not… enough," he muttered, breathing hard.

He had stopped time for barely a second.

But a second could be the difference between life and death.

He just had to make it last.

Danny clenched his fists, his breath still uneven. "I just have to make it last," he murmured again, his voice barely above a whisper.

But how?

The strain was unbearable. Every time he stopped time, it felt like something inside him was tearing apart. Like his body wasn't meant to handle it.

He pushed himself up, still shaky. "One more time."

Before he could try, footsteps echoed behind him. He turned, tense—only to see Maya standing there, arms crossed.

"You look like you're about to pass out," she said. "Again."

Danny exhaled, rubbing his forehead. "I almost had it that time."

Maya scoffed. "Almost had what? A concussion?" She stepped closer. "I get it, Danny. You wanna be ready. But killing yourself won't help."

"I'm not—"

"You are." She pointed at his trembling hands. "Your body isn't built for this kind of strain yet. You need time."

Danny hated hearing that. Time. He had the power to control it, but somehow, he never had enough.

He looked down at the city, the lights stretching endlessly below. "What if I don't have time?"

Maya sighed. "Then we make time."

Danny frowned. "That doesn't even make sense."

She rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. You're improving. But pushing too hard could mess you up worse than The Syndicate ever could."

Danny tensed at the mention of them.

Maya softened slightly. "Look, I'm not saying stop. Just... pace yourself. Otherwise, there won't be anything left to fight with."

Danny exhaled slowly. He knew she was right.

"Fine," he muttered. "I'll stop for now."

Maya smirked. "Good. Because I'm hungry, and you're making dinner."

Danny groaned. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

---

Elena leaned back in her chair, tapping her pen against the desk. The article was done, but her mind was still stuck on the missing scientist.

Something didn't add up.

She pulled up another window, typing in the name again. Nothing. No official reports. No statements.

She hated loose ends.

"Still working?"

Elena glanced up as Mark walked over, resting his hands on the desk. "Thought you'd left already."

"Got caught up in something," he said. "You?"

"Just… checking some details."

Mark's eyes flicked to her screen. "Looks serious."

Elena shrugged. "Just a hunch. Probably nothing."

Mark studied her for a moment, then grinned. "You and your hunches. You always digging for trouble?"

Elena smirked. "Trouble finds me."

He chuckled. "Well, don't let it keep you here all night." He tapped the desk. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," she said, watching him walk away.

She didn't know why, but something about this whole thing didn't sit right.

And she wasn't going to let it go.

Danny leaned back against the couch, his arms crossed as the news anchor's voice filled the living room.

"Authorities are still investigating the sudden disappearance of Dr. Philip Langston, a lead researcher at Orion Labs. Officials have yet to release any details, but sources claim Langston was last seen leaving his office late last week—"

The screen flickered as Maya grabbed the remote and shut it off.

Danny sighed. "You think The Syndicate took him?"

Maya tossed the remote onto the table. "Who else?"

Danny sat forward, rubbing his hands together. "Then that means they're getting desperate."

"Or just careful," Maya countered. "They wouldn't risk grabbing someone like him unless they needed something badly."

Danny exhaled. He didn't like this. The Syndicate had been too quiet lately. If they were making moves again, it meant trouble.

Maya studied him for a moment. "You're thinking about stopping time, aren't you?"

Danny hesitated. "If I could hold it just long enough, I might be able to get in and out before anyone notices."

"And what if you can't?"

Danny glanced at her. "Then I figure out another way."

Maya rolled her eyes. "You're gonna kill yourself trying to get this right."

"I don't have a choice, Maya."

She scoffed. "Yeah, you do. You could actually rest for once. Maybe not destroy your brain trying to break physics every five minutes."

Danny shook his head. "I can't just sit around while The Syndicate keeps taking people."

Maya leaned back, crossing her arms. "You're not a one-man army, Danny."

Danny looked away, jaw tightening. "I have to be."

Maya sighed, running a hand through her hair. "You're just a 13-year-old, Danny. It's not like you can just speed up your age and suddenly be ready to take them on."

Danny, who had been staring at his hands, slowly looked up at her. His expression shifted—thoughtful, almost calculating.

"…What if I could?"

Maya blinked. "What?"

Danny sat up straighter. The thought had struck him like lightning—wild, impossible, but not completely out of reach.

"I mean, time moves forward for everyone, right?" His voice was quiet, hesitant, but his mind was racing. "What if I could… push myself forward?"

Maya's brows furrowed. "You're joking, right?"

Danny wasn't. He couldn't be.

He'd spent weeks feeling weak, like he was barely keeping up. The Syndicate was a step ahead, Maya was stronger, Elena had experience—but he was just a kid. A kid trying to stop an unstoppable force.

But if he could age himself up…

Wouldn't that fix everything?

Wouldn't that make him enough?

Danny shook his head. "I don't think it's impossible." He flexed his fingers, trying to imagine it—what it would feel like to pull himself through time, to skip ahead, to be the version of himself that could fight back. "I can slow time, I can reverse it—what if I can accelerate it, too?"

Maya's concern deepened. "Danny. That's not just playing with time anymore—that's playing with yourself."

Danny swallowed, but he didn't look away.

"What if you mess something up?" she pressed. "What if you can't change back? Or worse, what if it—" She hesitated, her voice quieter now. "—ages you too much?"

Danny hesitated.

What if it worked?

What if it didn't?

His fingers curled into fists. He had to try.

"If I could figure this out," he said slowly, "I wouldn't just be a kid trying to fight back. I could be stronger. Smarter. I could be what I need to be."

Maya shook her head and stood up, frustration flashing in her eyes. "That's a bad idea. A really bad idea."

Danny exhaled, leaning back against the couch. His heart was still hammering in his chest, but the idea wouldn't go away.

If he could pull this off, maybe—just maybe—he'd finally be ready.