chapter 31: reunited

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I ran into the living area, which was engulfed in flames. I checked if anyone was in any of the rooms before running into another area. There was a loud explosion coming from the entrance. I was surprised to see that the facility was empty. It would appear that Mrs Wormwood had the place evacuated. There was another explosion from the living area, so I returned. Jack was standing at the other end of the room, in between two pillars of fire. I activated my suit, and stepped forward. My new suit was black and white. The sleeves stopped at the palms of my hands, leaving my fingers open.

 The sleeves stopped at the palms of my hands, leaving my fingers open

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"Well if it isn't The Sparky Speedster," He turned around to face me.

"I prefer The Prince of Pace," He laughed.

"Nice suit. Shame it's going to be burnt to a crisp. Along with you," The flame pillars beside him became more aggressive.

"That's what you think," I ran towards him and he shot a beam of fire at my chest, stopping me.

"How do you have the ability of pyrokinesis?"

"Stephen McGinley. I absorbed his powers," He fired a ball of fire at me, but I dodged it.

"I've waited years to meet you. Years to finally kill you, and become the fastest man alive. Now, I get my opportunity," I coughed and looked around.

"Catch me if you can," I ran around the facility, and he wasn't far behind me. I could feel his heat behind me, reaching out to grab me. I stopped suddenly, and he carried on running. He stopped at the end of a corridor, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. He slowly turned to face me, and we both fired beams at each other. There was yet another loud explosion as our beams collided. The walls started collapsing, and he ran past me. I followed him to the shop entrance. He had a large piece of glass held against Mrs Wormwood's neck.

"Jack, this has gone too far. Let her go," He pressed the glass against her neck, and a line of red appeared on her.

"No," I started moving towards him, but to my surprise, Mrs Wormwood was able to hold me back. Blue magic ran across her hand as she held me in place.

"Mrs Wormwood..."

"Go. Protect yourself. I can handle this," The red line on her neck got darker. I closed my eyes and sighed before running away. Flames erupted from the shop.

"I can't do this," I said to myself. I ran back to the shop. The front wall had been destroyed, and there was glass everywhere. Mrs Wormwood was kneeling by Jack's side. Her blue magic was flowing from his chest to her hand.

"Mrs Wormwood, we've got to go,"

"No. I'm holding him down. You go," There was a hissing sound coming from beneath us.

"No, we have to go now," I ran towards her, picked her up, and started running. I hadn't left the shop when there was a third, and final, explosion. This was the biggest one. The blast had sent me flying. I pushed myself up, and looked to my right. Mrs Wormwood was lying motionless on the floor. I put two fingers to her neck to check her pulse. Nothing. I ran my hand through my hair and heard sirens.

"Always the sirens," I ran as far away as possible. I had nowhere to go now. Wanda seemed safe in Scotland, and I didn't want to put her at risk. The police would find my fingerprints everywhere and try to track me. I didn't want to put Wanda at risk.

1 year later...

I spent my time skulking around the north of England. Wanda and my mum had tried calling me, but I ignored them in case they were being watched. I hated not being able to talk to them, because they were the two people that I loved the most. I didn't have anywhere to stay, so I spent all my time running. I had to 'borrow' food from market stalls so that no-one would recognise me and inform the higher authorities. It sucked. I just wanted to be with Wanda. I missed her embrace. I missed her smile, and her laugh. I missed her. I'd visited Roanemouth multiple times, wanting to go and talk to my mum, but I couldn't. I still felt guilty for what happened in Portugal. I'm the fastest man alive, why couldn't I have saved her. Why didn't I? I still think about that every day.

It was night. The moon was full, and shining over Newcastle. I walked into a pub and went to the toilet. I looked in the mirror and had a flashback. A flashback to the vision Wanda made me have after the fight in Joburg.

"Beard. Purple guy. Big, purple guy," I said to myself as I stroked my full, unkempt beard before leaving. I walked down the street and my watch vibrated. I received a text from Vision.

"URGENT. We need you in Edinburgh," Heart racing, I activated my suit and ran up to Scotland, breaking the sound barrier on the way.

"Sam, scan for nearby heat signatures" I said as I ran through Edinburgh.

"There are five unique heat signatures coming from that train station,"

"Make that six" I ran into the station, and saw some weird alien thing standing before three people. I shot a beam of energy at the alien thing, but it disappeared after a short while. The three people turned around to face me, and I smiled upon noticing that it was Nat, Sam, and Steve. Nat smiled, and I walked over to them. Wanda stood up and ran over to me. I hugged her tightly and spun around.

"I've missed you so much," She said into my shoulder. I kissed her and Steve cleared his throat.

"Sorry, Cap,"

"New suit," He said, looking me up and down.

"You've copied my beard," I said, noticing that he had grown a full beard just like myself.

"Saves time in the morning," He smiled, and we hugged. I hugged Nat and shook hands with Sam.

"When did you get new powers?" Wanda asked.

"I'll explain later. I heard something happened in New York. And now aliens in Edinburgh. What the hell is happening?"

"Let's get you on the jet," Steve said, and we walked to the quinjet.

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