High Bounty [Closed]

It was quiet on the street in Buffalo, New York. There was snow on the ground, and quite a good amount of it. An old lady and a man dressed for jogging in the cold were the only ones on the sidewalk and a few parked cars sat on the edge of the street. It was peaceful and sane. Then suddenly, the wall of a beige brick building exploded into the street. Out of the smoke and explosion, a figure flew a good twenty feet and into the park across the street. A large group of civilians dressed in warm clothes gathered around the scene, far enough away to be out of harm's way. A civilian noted that he recognized the purple and yellow combat armor of the famous speedster. He yelled out, "It's Celerity!" Gasps and worried looks spread across the people.

Out of the rumble and smoke of the hole in the wall, a built-like-a-tank man stepped into the clear air. He was wearing a thick coat, which only made him look even bigger in size, and an Australian bush hat with gator teeth strapped to it. His pants were thick and warm with a large Bowie knife strapped to his right thigh. He saw the group that had gathered and bellowed a hideous laugh. He made his way slowly to the limp body of Celerity, leaving a trail in the snow with his combat boots. When he reached the hero, he picked up him up by his head and held them for the onlookers to see. In a rough Australian accent the beast said, "This is what being a hero rewards you! Not a sense of glory. Not a moral purity. Pain and suffering. These are the true friends of a hero who tries to stop a powerful man," still holding up Celerity. "This hero. This man thought he could run faster than time itself. He was informed otherwise!" The tank through the body off to the side, where it bounced and rolled another few feet in the snow. "Remember this: If you want to put on a mask. If you wish to be the hero. Think again. Remember what you saw today. Remember that you will die." The man looked back over to where the body of Celerity lay limp on the ground. Satisfied, he let out a chuckle and turned to the building again.

"Not so fast, bulky." The man turned around in confusion to see Celerity getting up, slowly and in pain. "Ha, get it? Nah, it was probably too quick for you," Celerity said in pain, then let out another small laugh for his joke. "You should be dead, mate!" yelled the tank in pure anger. Celerity had a bruised rib and many other pains, he wouldn't deny that. But he was far from dead. The tank looked worried and a flash of fear took over his face. Celerity caught it and prepared himself like was about to run a sprint. "Run," he said in a low and deep tone, staring into the man's eyes with anger.

The tank hadn't even had enough time to turn around before the earth started to crack beneath Celerity's feet. The speedster broke the ground under him and he sprinted to the man, leaving a trail of cracked earth and snow flying behind him. The blur of purple and yellow slammed into the hulking man, causing a loud boom. Both the men flew through the building and out of the other wall into an alley. Celerity managed to slam the man into the wall before falling to the ground because of his bruised rib. The tank, in pain, laughed at the hero. "No matter how godlike you wish to be, you are still a man." He slapped a collar on Celerity. The collar was high tech and bulky. It fit like a neck brace around Celerity's neck. When Celerity gathered himself and noticed what happened, he asked, "What is this?" The tank, in his Outback accent, replied, "Oh, this beauty? Well, mate, it cancels out your powers! You'll be a great trophy for me, and you'll sell for a high price." Warm steam come from the hunter's breath as he spoke. Celerity knew he was finished, looking into the hunter's eyes, his left wounded with an old scar. Unless someone felt like being a miracle and saved him from the bounty hunter.

Spoiler:

Ah, Buffalo, it only two days after Christmas with the family and it was still snowing down as hard as it could. Rey always loved coming to Buffalo during the winter holidays not only because he knew he’d get to see his family but because it never snowed in Georgia except for a couple few rare times. But, when he came to Buffalo the one thing he could always be sure of was that it was going to snow. He was walking through Ellicott Creek Park at a leisurely pace, hands in his jacket pockets and hood covering his face. Sure, he couldn’t feel the cold anymore but it would look really weird if he was walking around in shorts and a t-shirt while everyone else was wearing big snow coats and boots.

Besides all that everything was seemingly alright up until the point that someone came crashing through a wall. He wasn’t sure who the big tank like guy was or who the person he was holding was either, until of course some bystander yelled out a name. It wasn’t a name he had heard too often, but he had read something about the guy from the Phantom Computer. Apparently the guy was some speedster, claimed to be the fastest man alive, but from the data he remembered he wasn’t any faster than Ranger himself was and was nowhere near as fast as Entropus or Jack Maroon. It also looked like he had just gotten his ass whooped by whoever the hell the big guy was. When the big guy started talking Rey just shook his head and ducked off back into a port-a-potty, they really needed to get rid of these.

Taking off the jacket, boots, and jeans he quickly changed into his ‘Costume’ throwing the hood on over his face and slinging a quiver over his back he jumped out. It was time for The Ranger to take action and defend the speedster who got knocked out by the big guy. Moving quickly out of the port-a-potty he sprinted over to a tree and up it onto a stable looking branch. There he watched the fight that was going on wondering just how Celerity was able to keep going. Shaking his head he leaned back against the tree, compound bow drawn now though he took a closer look watching as Celerity rammed the big guy into a wall. Of course the big guy was the one to eventually get up and placed something around the speedster’s neck.

Ranger wasn’t quite sure what it was but he didn’t like the looks of it, cracking his neck he let out a breath, the hot air showing in the space in front of him as he loaded a snare arrow. He wasn’t sure how strong the guy was or how durable he was but his snare arrow would be able to gage the level a lot easier. So, without waiting any longer as he was unsure of the effects the collar were doing to the other speedster he let the arrow fly. He was shooting from the man’s blindside so unless the big man had superhuman reflexes, hearing, or something of that sort the snare should be able to wrap around the man and entangle him just long enough for Ranger to make it over and shove a tranquilizer arrow into the man’s side.

Celerity saw the big guy get hit by an arrow and get wrapped up by wires that sprung from the arrow. The tank fell to the ground, unable to get his arms free. "Aye, what gives?" Celerity got back to his feet and began messing with the collar. "How do I get this off?" asked Celerity. The man just laughed at him, his face in the snow. "Why would I tell you, mate?" replied the tank. So, Celerity awaited whoever had shot the arrow to aid him, if he could. With this collar on, there was nothing Celerity could do. He could feel the pain of his rib growing, which was rather unusual. On a regular day, his pain was be decreasing by now. Maybe it was the collar.

Katsumi was out scouting business opportunities across the country. He had heard a tip about someone needing exactly the services he provided in Buffalo, New York. He hadn't found anything when he got there. Katsumi had looked high and low but this had to be one of the most boring cities he had been in. Just as he gave up on finding anything of interest to him, a wall exploded expelling a costumed figure. A hulking figure than proceeded to pick him up and throw him again after a true but idiotic speech. Villains were so stupid. This though was a good chance to make a quick dollar. Just as Katsumi assumed the fight was over, the hero got up again and displayed his speed powers. Katsumi followed through the now existing hole on the building, pulling on his emergency face mask.
Hiding in the dust from the falling debris on the new entrance to the alleyway, Red 53 watched as the collar was placed on the hero to nullify his powers, and the tank was then wrapped in ropes from a shot from behind. This was actually getting interesting now. Keeping an eye on the direction the arrow came from, Red 53 approached Tank and squatted to get closer to him. "I can help you out with the interference for a reward," Red 53 proposed.

The arrow was released and down he went, easy peasy lemon squeezy, right? Wrong, of course when he went to take off and investigate further, perhaps even get the collar of the other speedster yet another person came up to the scene. Did everyone in the world just decide to show up in sweet 'little' Buffalo, New York today? He groaned shaking his head as he notched a tranquilizer arrow which then proceeded to fire off at the tank man on the ground. He'd be out before he even realized what hit him, which was just what Ranger wanted. He then decided it was just about time to reveal himself to the people down below.

Jumping down from the tree he took off over to the other speedster and spun out one of his electric net arrows, except this was a test arrow he had modified to just emit the electrical pulse. "This might hurt, but it should disable that collar of yours." He muttered keeping an eye on the new man to join the fray. He made a quick jabbing movement to hit the collar with the end of the electrical arrow. Hopefully it would emit a shock just big enough to disrupt the collar and well, pop it off. It also wouldn't harm the speedster if of course he was as durable as Ranger assumed, and surviving what he just did, Ranger was sure he'd be fine.

((Sorry it's kinda short didn't have much to do, annnd Chunk change the topic title to closed so no one else randomly pops in.))

Celerity felt miserable. He was close to passing out when he saw a blurry figure approach the bounty hunter, mumbling something so that only he could hear it. Celerity assumed he was on his side, then again, in his state, it wouldn't matter. His eyes began to close, and soon they stayed shut. He drifted off, the energy within him being sucked out by the collar. Then he jumped up by a jolt of electricity passing through him. The collar had miniature explosions where it was bolted together and fell off the speedster. Celerity never felt more alive. That pulse from the arrow must have kickstarted all the nanobots inside him to overdrive, pumping out more energy than ever before. Celerity jumped up with amazing speed and couldn't stand still. His movements were a little blurry and just little movements.

"Thanks a bunch, guy. You really saved me from that thing. I don't know what it was, but it definitely took a number on my powers. I can't thank you enough, friend. I wish I could, but the way you shot him with that snare thing was amazing. Just in time. I don't know what he would have done if he wasn't tied up at the moment," blabbered Celerity so fast, it was almost impossible to catch what he was saying. He extended his arm to the hooded archer, his movements still leaving a blurry trail behind them. "The name's Celerity."

But before the archer could even extend his hand to meet the speedster's, Celerity ran over the the other man by the bounty hunter with a trail of purple and yellow blur behind him. He stopped right in front of the red masked man. "What did you tell him? I saw you speaking to him just before he was put out, what did you say?" Celerity asked the person, at normal speed this time. He had a dangerous, serious look on his face as he stared into the brown eyes of the stranger.

His nanobots were back to regular pace and Celerity had used the extra energy that was dumped into his molecules. His green eyes studying the man in front of him, and he awaited his answer.

Red 53 was amazed at the recovery speed of the now freed Celerity. He had looked like he was down and out only moments ago but now he was right back to being a blur. Red 53 had tried to keep up with the Celerity's speech at first but that was more difficult than it sounded. As Celerity finished talking to the archer and blurred to be in front of Red 53, Red 53 couldn't help but let his hand drift towards on of his many hidden weapons in case this man wasn't a very good sport. "I was asking if he needed help as you obviously had him quite taken care of between you and your partner. I am a mercenary for hire and two on one hardly seems fair," Red 53 explained, not showing one bit of his amazement at the durability of the speedster.

It wasn't that he healed yet. The extra energy poured into his molecules numbed the pain to almost nothing. But when Celerity used all the energy, his pain came roaring back. He tried to not show it, but a show of pain did slip in his eyes for a moment. With his eyes still fixed on the mercenary's, he replied, "No, it would seem it isn't. Besides, I'm in no shape to fight. Just got my ass kicked by this guy, I'll give him that." Celerity eased his stare and extended his hand, his other hand now holding onto his rib. "Mercenary or not, it's nice to meet new people. The name is Celerity."

Again, before they could shake hands, Celerity was off to a new location with a blur. He was crouched next to the bounty hunter. "I never caught his name. Just his punches and kicks. Not a nice fellow, I'll tell you that." Celerity gestured over to the broken collar, "And that thing is not friendly." He dashed over to them item, swooping it up, and blurred in front of the archer. "Sorry, I completely got sidetracked. It happens. What was your name?" Celerity extend a hand back to the hooded man, with the other hand holding the collar up to his rib. The pain was not getting better, but he was getting used to it. Still, a bruised rib is nothing to play around with.

Ranger watched Celerity run from place to place, never seeming to stop long enough to actually make a noticeable difference. Unless of course you could move at the exact same speed as the man in question and has heightened reflexes like Ranger did. So, although to most people it seemed like Celerity was moving to fast to catch, the purple blur being the only indication of where be was; for Ranger it was quite easy to keep up with him. Not too big on the talking thing while under the guise of The Ranger he simple stood there as Celerity 'interrogated' the mercenary.

Now, although Ranger didn't trust the mercenary there wasn't anything he could really do about him quite yet. If only because he didn't know who the man was and therefore didn't know what crimes he could be arrested for as of yet. Rolling his neck he watched Celerity still moving from place to place seemingly without a care in the world. A chuckle escaped Ranger's lips when it dawned on him that this man truly thought he was the fastest man alive. So, when he stopped to extend his hand finally Ranger took it and shook. "Call me The Ranger, only lasting member of the original Phantoms." He hated that The Phantoms all seemed to have disappeared but, he would get the group started up again some time. Just not right now, when the world wasn't quite ready for it.

"As for that collar you got there, mind if I take it with me? I'd like to take a look at it... Find out how it works maybe even." Sure, he didn't know if the purple lightning man was going to let him take the collar or if he was going to give it to him. But, he figured that in the end he'd give the collar to him because he did save his ass. If he didn't give him the collar well than he could probably get it out of his hands. The man was a speedster and speedsters loved races, if he didn't simply hand it over Ranger would race him for it; and when they tied or he won he would get the collar. Sounded pretty simple in his mind and was honestly very simple when being played out. Hell, a race might not even be needed if Celerity gave him the collar when he asked. Who knows, the man might be gone away before Ranger could even ask his question about the collar.

Red 53 drew closer to the pair, keeping an eye on the going ons. He couldn't help but think of Celerity as a purple and green energizer bunny. This Ranger though bothered him a bit. He was a bit too shrewd, almost as though he was looking for a reason to rid himself of Red 53. When he had mentioned the Phantoms, that struck a memory, but nothing quite noteworthy at the moment. "So where do you think such a nameless thug like this here got a piece of equipment like that? I mean that's not something you can just pick up at a local hardware store," Red 53 inquired.

When the hooded man had taken Celerity's hand, he shook his hand vigorously causing blurs from the movements. He had mentioned the name 'The Ranger' and Celerity made note of that in his mental list of people he owes. As for this group called The Phantoms, he'd never heard of them. Celerity didn't know many people like him, metahumans, that is. He was generally excited about meeting the Ranger. This probably showed in his smirk for a few moments. Then the Ranger asked for the collar. Celerity wasn't too willing to just hand that piece of equipment over.

"This thing just cancelled out MY powers. Why would I just hand it over to you?" Celerity asked with a serious tone. This had changed his generally excited mood to a serious mood. He looked at the collar in question and thought it over for a bit. Ideas ran through his head faster than he could even understand them fully. What if he, no. Should I, maybe. He did, yes. So then, maybe. If I, no. He tossed it up a couple times as he pondered about the item.

Then the mercenary spoke. As hurt as Celerity was, he didn't think the pain made him cringe. He generally didn't like people who played both sides of a coin. Then again, he was too weak to voice his opinion. Celerity looked at the Ranger, sizing up his traits. Then he returned his look at the red-masked man, also sizing him up. Celerity realized he was too weak to do anything. His stance took one of a confident athlete. He turned to the Ranger and tossed the collar to him. "Here. Maybe one day we can meet up again. I'd like to know what you learn from that. Personal interest and all." Celerity gave his smirk and then turned to the mercenary.

"I would guess he's a bounty hunter. I've poked my nose into some places, showing them what corrupt people deserve. I guess one got tired of it and sent big guy here after me. Oh, I didn't catch your name," Celerity said, again extending out his hand. His rib was healing nicely now, barely feeling any pain.

Excited to serious, that was never a good thing with people like this. It made them unpredictable and sometimes a wild card as well, which was not something the Ranger wanted at all. “Because I have the means of figuring out just what makes that collar tick and why it was able to cancel out your powers.” He muttered as the man took off once again. Well metaphorically speaking this time, because even though he didn’t go anywhere he did seem to be off in his own world. Of course just as the thought ran through his head the collar was tossed to him, which he caught and carefully put in a pocket on his belt, one that usually holds a miniature flamethrower or two but was empty as he didn’t have much time to prepare.

“Sure, if I figure something out I’ll contact you; don’t ask how I just will.” The Ranger said then looked to ‘mercenary’ as he spoke wondering how ‘some nameless thug’ like their currently knocked out friend got the collar. As it was bugging Ranger too he spoke up, “anywhere, hired guns get things from higher ups, it certainly wasn’t created by him though.” Speaking of the man, he would wake up soon and Ranger wasn’t too intent on letting that happen, so he walked over to the man and picked him up. Upon doing so he took off over to the cop cars that were about a hundred yards away at around two hundred and fifty miles an hour, getting there fairly quickly. When there he gave them the man then saluted Celerity jokingly he took off at his full speed of five hundred and fifty miles an hour. If only to prove to Celerity that he wasn’t the only speedster in town.
((Ranger exit))