raisetheearth | Action + Video

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Action + Video

My name is Jason East, and I am the fastest man alive....

It's a peaceful late afternoon in whatever city you might choose, people are milling about, going about their business. A group of people are standing around a television watching a news broadcast discussing an odd phenomenon in the Western US dubbed the "Los Angeles Lightning Bolt". The tone is about the same you'd hear people talking about the Loch Ness Monster, though there's a mention that the local military is asking anybody to come forward with any information. They flinch as a sudden gust of wind rushes past and look around for the source to find nothing.

A long time ago, the world changed forever and my life was never the same.

A young woman lets out a cry of dismay as the dog she's walking slips loose of her grip and rushes out into the street, into the path of an oncoming car. A sudden flash of light and the animal is safely back in her arms.

All of a sudden, I could move faster and do anything in the blink of an eye.

A group of kids messing around in the park, climbing trees, doing kid stuff. A boy loses his grip and falls... and that flash of light rushes by, depositing him safely to the ground several yards away.

Now, I use my powers to help people and protect the world. I am...

Finally, his path takes him to his final destination. He comes to an abrupt halt at the waiting door, reaches out...

... actually getting way ahead of myself. That's not actually how it all started.

... rings the doorbell.

Let's back up a little to the beginning.

As the door opens up, Jason greets the person on the other side with a smile and holds up the pizza box to his customer.

"One large with extra cheese in thirty minutes or less."

Or A Network Option If You're Not Into Pizza
[The video comes up on a road in the middle of the unending wastelands of the Western USA. Off in the distance is a military vehicle, probably a checkpoint. The video holds on this image for a little while before somebody speaks from offscreen.]

Okay, see that? I just passed by there and found one of General Miller's Finest sleeping on the job so I'm gonna do my civic duty and wake him the hell up. Watch this.

[The device recording is set down and fiddled with, leaning against something, a rock or whatever, and then the grass around it is ruffled by a gust of wind breaking the still air. Several seconds tick by, holding on the parked vehicle.... and then suddenly a bolt of yellow lightning tears by it at an incredible speed and the car is visibly jostled by the force of its passing. The driver's side door opens up and a soldier immediately stumbles out, tripping all over himself and coughing in the dust cloud.

There's now a yellow lightning bolt spraypainted on the side of his truck.]

Holy crap! [The voice is back, almost at the same time as anybody watching can register that the camera's been picked up and is moving... just stupidly fast if the blur of the background is any indication. The young man holding it looks back over his shoulder before turning to the screen laughing.] Oh, man, that guy looks pissed!

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...I meant that it sounded more like work than a prank.

[Yeah. She's not exactly selling this well.]

And last I checked I was a student, don't have a job.

[Except she doesn't really go to school anymore. ...And she works for questionable people.]

That could change pretty fast, depending on what kind of scrape you might find yourself in. I don't think there's a person on the Network who hasn't had to rely on someone else for help at some point.

Jason East? I'm Arlene Machiavelli. Nice to meet you.

So what did you do before all this, and what do you do now?

[Well. Dima's response comes about half an hour later. Sorry, he hadn't clocked himself before, so he needs to go run around for a bit. He doesn't even need to convert the miles to kilometers, though.]

That's much faster than I can go. I run about 250km per hour.

[Rakka can't really recognize the surroundings, but wherever it was, it certainly wasn't anywhere near the spot Jason was once in. She knew that the was probably only going to feed into his ego...

But she had to.]

That was amazing! I've never seen anyone go that fast before!

[...Wait.] Um, are you... on fire?

[Still number one. Alright.]

Well I was always pretty quick.

That's still pretty damn fast though. Hell of a rush huh?

Uh huh....

[He's still not totally convinced. He's known people who would have actually considered that "work." Hell, he was one of them a few years and a stretch behind bars ago.]

Well, it is a kind of prank. If you think about it.

Maybe. But I still haven't seen much to tell me that you guys are the ones to call if that happens.

You too.

[Aha... but there's the big question, huh? He pauses for a second, wincing just a touch before shrugging.]

Hmm... nothing special, just got by and made ends meet. But now I'm holding the record for fastest pizza delivery of all time.

[Another pause and he furrows his brow a bit.]

Which is... not that impressive until you know that I've got that record at five restaurants in three cities across the country.

[She'd be right about that. His dumb grin just gets even wider until....]

... What?

[He looks over at his shoulder sharply just in time to see that smoke suddenly turn into a few tongues of flame.]

Oh, shi--!

[Down the video goes as his phone tumbles from his hand to the ground. It rests there a moment as he struggles just off screen with his jacket. Then a flaming jacket lands right in front of it, followed a foot quickly stomping out the fire. He sighs heavily once it's done for.]

... Aw, man. Not again.

That pause and look of surprise might have been worth questioning but the second Weller looked up and locked eyes with the young man on his doorstep beneath the brim of his corporate pizza chain cap, something hit. The excited on his face faltered, his eyes going blank as that bizarre feeling struck again. That feeling of emptiness....

He was running as fast as he could, surrounded by lightning and bursting into a large chamber. A huge mechanical device sat in the center and the rest of the room... seemed like the sight of a massacre. Police officers lay dead on the floor and... someone, the man he'd just met at the door was lying in the middle of the machine, beaten to a pulp and bloodied.

Nearby... was the man in yellow, holding somebody, ready to kill. Zeroing in on the yellow-suited figure, he ran as hard as he could and hit him....

And just like that, he snapped back to reality, shaking his head. What the fuck...? That was another one of those memories and... oooooh, great, he'd probably just been standing there like a goof, staring.

Crap.

"Uh... sorry. Kinda spaced out there for a second." He blinked a few times, shaking his head to try and shake the odd feeling off and salvage some measure of cool. "I, uh... I read your paper. The one on the alien spacecraft?"

"It better be. I've got the record." An odd claim, probably, considering there was no waiting car idling in front of the house. Just a deliveryman who apparently did his work on foot.

Still, there's a strange feeling he can't seem to shake. Like he's seen this guy before. Weird.

"That's... twenty-five, eighty." He answers, checking the bill attached to the pizza box. "Plus tip."

That's the important part. It's how he makes his living, after all.

Uhh...

[And before Rakka's eyes, the whole video suddenly goes blurry. She hears him panic and then sees the smoking jacket get flung to the ground. Seems like things suddenly didn't seem so hot. Heh.

...Well, this was a little awkward.]

Is everything okay? Y-you're not on fire?

I guess. I think I'd rather see and experience it though, that sounds more fun than thinking about it.

Blaise's parents are both out for the evening, so he sees no point in cooking. Not that he had cooked lately anyway. He'd recently told his parents what had happened between him and his first boyfriend. They had been as supportive as he had imagined, if not more so.

Tonight, he was staying in, with video games, soda, and a soon-to-be-delivered pizza.

He pauses his game when the doorbell rings and flicks on a few lights as he gets up on his way to the door. He gives a wavering smile in return to the delivery man.

"W-wow... that was really fast." He reaches to the wallet he kept at the end table beside the door, opening it before reaching for cash." U-uhm... h..how much is it, again?"

It depends on who's doing the calling, to be entirely honest. The kind of impression you make does matter.

"..."

Weller frowned, as he saw the way the reaction played out on this young man's face. He stared for a moment longer, recognizing the signs of a pulse on his face.

"That I am," he replied. "That I am. Honestly, I'm surprised. I rarely ever meet people who recognize me from my work. However..."

He stared at him more seriously. "You know me from something else, don't you? Because I'm very sure I know you."

"Thirty minutes or less. We take our guarantees really seriously." He answers the comment with a grin, before pulling up the paper bill and checking it. "That's... $25.80."

Despite his grin though he's kind of picking up on this kid's mood. He's no stranger to people going through a tough time and he can see that look in this guy's face. But that slips by his attention when he looks past Blaise to see that whole video game setup behind him.

"Whoah. Nice."

"Right, right, of course..." Martin trails off there, because he's just gotten himself an Echo, and he is pretty sure they've done this before. Weird. "...have you delivered here before?"

Fortunately, Ronnie has picked up on the pizza there, and he's showing up at the door behind Martin. "That fast! That's awesome--keep the change." And he's handing Jason three twenty dollar bills, because this is what you do if you're a professional football player and someone has brought your pizza that fast.

Oh... you deliver pizzas, huh?

[She sounds gently amused, but... it's safe to say she's probably no longer flirting with him. Even when she hears that record, pizza delivery is pizza delivery.]

You've never thought that professional sports or something might make more money?

Blaise pulls out $33.00 from his wallet, he always likes to tip more than he's supposed to. He feels it makes a real difference to the delivery guy, and Jason was really fast. As he gets ready to hand the money over, Jason's reaction causes him to jump a little. He looks up at Jason, then follows his gaze behind him.

"O-oh." He gives a weak laugh at his startled reaction. "You... you like video games?"

He considers inviting Jason in if he doesn't have any other deliveries for the night. It'd be nice to have a second player and someone to talk to. And Blaise isn't so talented that he can eat a whole pizza by himself. His face might look somewhat pensive as he turns back to Jason, handing him the cash.

Well. Good thing you found that out, or we wouldn't be having this little talk, then.

[He shrugs, smirking.] Hey, I ain't complaining. Whoever's running that show over there's a real asshole - I was there for a bit a few months back.

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