Too Slow (Redline)

Parable floated somewhat high above one of the most active streets in L.A. The hero's body was calm and vibrating at a somewhat high speed, although he really wasn't moving that fast. No, Parable was simply keeping his mind slowed, so he could pick apart every little detail on his patrol; meanwhile, he was really only moving at half the speeds that would require such a halted view of things.

Cars crawled by, people were frozen in their steps, and birds attempted to flap their wings through stiff air, that appeared just too thick to cut quickly. Parable smiled, L.A was such a beautiful city. The teen's power had its faults, but it did allow him to truly take in the beauty of everything around him, and at least that much he could appreciate.

The speedster continued to take in the scenery, as he patrolled leisurely and weightlessly through the sky. He had come across no hard crime today, he had easily stopped a mugging or two, along with a few other minor crimes, but nothing beyond that. Secretly, the man behind Parable's mask knew that horrible things had to be happening somewhere, but that would always be true; he could only hope that the lack of visible activity, meant that  he was making some impact on the city. At the very least Parable figured that he must be making the criminals careful, a good thing; having to be careful meant taking more time to do what you wanted to accomplish, which equated to less time to commit other crimes, and that in theory meant less illegal activity overall.

The teenager behind Parable's mask was considering packing it up for the afternoon, when a rush of movement caught his eye. Wait, a rush of movement? Parable had only ever seen a being that was godlike in his powers, be capable of moving fast in his slowed world view.

Life was a blur, an agonizingly slow blur. Ever since the fall of OCEAN and the disappearance of Sai, Scott was lost, living in a haze. But time, time passed so slowly. When he was at first alone, in the time before OCEAN he had not been aware of it. The long nights toiling alone on his suit and stretched days filling his time passed with ease. He was doing his job. That was all that mattered. But Sai had opened his eyes to the loneliness. He had been lonely and only with his band of warrior brothers and sisters had he found a home. In that time he never thought he would have to go back, back to a world so small.

After OCEAN fell Scott had returned home to LA. It seemed like the right move to make. After all he had started his crusade without OCEAN, he could continue it on as though the organization had never happened. But quickly he learned that this was a lie that he had told himself. With every day stuck in his minimalist apartment he felt his sanity erode. He was not doing the kind of good he had with OCEAN. The impact was not the same. Once he had taken on powerful supervillans across the globe, now he fought petty crime in the streets of a spiritually dead town. He was lost without his home, spending every night staring at the ceiling waiting for his lungs to give out and his quest to end. It was not that he wanted to die, but more that he did not know what to do. It seemed that he had forgotten his purpose, how to live. For now he was just surviving.

Speaking of surviving, it seemed that today was one of the days he would need to take his survival in to his hands. The medicine he used to sustain his tattered lungs was running low and without it he would be no good as Redline. It was essential that he get the much needed medication. Luckily, LA was not wanting for medical facilities which stocked a derivative of the drug that he would manufacture. So Scott would once more slip into his skin and speed out of his dismal rat hole of an apartment as Redline.

Ripping through the streets, he could feel the wind buffet his face, hear the screech of set off cat alarms as he raced past them all to the hospital that was his target. Though he may have lost OCEAN he had not lost his God given speed. In fact he seemed to be growing faster by the day, increasing his abilities but also further slowing his perception of time. The was he saw it, this was a punishment for his own self loathing, dragging out the agonizing hours into days. This slowing of time became even more evident as he encountered an orderly as he blew threw the open doors to the emergency room.

Looking at the young man Redline watched the delat in the man's reaction as he came to realize that a silver blur had come zipping through the front entrance. No doubt he would call the police. Redline was not well liked in the LA area. In fact he was wanted for at least two dozen murders. All of them had been the kind of scum that could only be dealt with in death. The world was a better place without them. But all the same, the alerted authorities were as good a reason as any to get to the supply of medicine fast.

And that he did, storming at full speed through the Emergency room before reaching their stores of medications. Throwing open the sealed door his faded pale blue eyes would take in the room. A cool breeze from inside chilled his exposed skin as he gazed on his goals. Taking a step inside he would feel his lungs clench in his chest. Sharp raspy breathes tore through his throat as he began gasping for breath. Not now he scream in his head as he fell to a knee, clutching his chest with left hand. With the other, he'd reach up to his mask, turning a knob to release the relieving medication to his ragged lungs. But as he awaited the bitter taste of the medication, he was instead met with a choked hiss as the tube delivered only a puff of air.