Be Prepared For Anything | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Be Prepared For Anything | Previous Challenge Entry
By Art Westefeld
09/12/19
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Belinda Snow, better known as Speedster, lived by the motto borrowed from the Boy Scouts, "Be prepared."

In a world with superpowered adversaries, as well as common criminals that a superhero had to deal with, it was a reasonable mindset. She did a double take, though, when she saw someone who looked like her dead father running patrol in the city. Regaining her composure, she picked up her pace to trail what she believed was an impostor.

‘Of course,’ she reminded herself, ‘there was that recent experience with time travel and there was a chance that this was a similar situation, with her dad popping into the future.'

She stayed on his trail until the county jail came into view. Just as she would, he phased right through the fence and wall to enter the jail. She followed, vibrating herself to invisibility as she did so. She came up behind him in the records room, as he rummaged through inmate records. He stopped at one, and in a voice devoid of her father’s calm timbre he growled, “Got you, you killer!”

Still invisible, she crept up behind him to see what file was so interesting to the man who looked like her father. She had to suppress a gasp when she saw that it was her father’s old foe Jester. She followed him to the housing area where Jester was held, curious to see what would happen, confident that with her speed she’d be able to intervene if needed.

An instant later, the elder Speedster slowed down right in front of Jester. He grunted, “So here’s where my daughter’s killer was put.”

Belinda was confused. Her father had died years ago, and she was still quite alive. The elder Speedster started to vibrate his hand as he carefully aimed for Jester’s chest. Realizing what he was about to do, she dashed in front of Jester and shouted, “No!”

He pulled his hand back before plunging it into her body and snarled, “Look, girl, I could only kill him once in my home dimension. I plan on getting my revenge for his killing my daughter as many times as I find new dimensions to kill him in. Now get out of my way!"

“I’m alive here and now.”

Jester looked from one gold cowled figure to the other, “You’re his daughter? Shame I never learned who he was.”

Belinda ignored his snarky comment and focused on the Speedster in front of her. “You’re from another reality, where I’m dead? How did you get here?”

He answered her with an unheroic sneer on his face. “My world’s answer to the Light Force, the Judges, were able to alter their communication equipment to allow for multiverse viewing. I learned about it after helping them put down a riot. When I saw this clown still alive,” he motioned at Jester, ”I felt angry enough to home in on the frequency of your Earth and execute him before he escapes again and kills any more innocents.”

She responded in a pleading tone, ”What happened to you and the Light Force that turned you into a murderer?”

"World War III hit, and many of the Light Force lost their families, and anarchy became the rule of the day.” He shrugged. “They decided that since they had the power they’d take over the world to maintain the peace. I joined up with them to restore order in America. After killing off all the politicians, I went to work dealing with the criminals. The resources spent on them could be better spent on decent folks.”

Her father's words horrified her. He sounded like one of those nuts on late-night talk radio. Still, she had to protect Jester. Her oath to protect all life required it.

Pushing the Jester onto his bunk she declared, “To kill him, you have to get past me, and you’ll never be fast enough to do that!”

Seeing his muscles tense in preparation to try and get around her, she vibrated Jester into the basement. As she sank into the floor, she heard the sounds of guns being cocked where she’d been a moment earlier. She secured Jester and raced back to the confrontation between her "father" and the guards. As he began to disappear with the vibration pattern to return him home he spat “Well, you may have made it impossible to kill Jester here, but I can still kill that scum in other worlds.”

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