To whom it may concern,
My name is August Heart, and I am the fastest man alive. When I was a child, I had a very set belief of principles on how the world works. Rules like gravity kept people on the ground, the sun heated the planet and theoretical elements were theoretical. Then one night, the night my brother was killed, I saw something impossible, something that did not conform to the rules. I have spent my whole life, using science and my intellectual gifts to chase the impossible and then one day, an accident, the Particle Accelerator explosion made me the impossible. I now have a clear path ahead. I will forge a new path using science to create things that were once thought to be impossible. I will also use my speed to keep this city safe and make my brother proud. Meet Central City's guardian and protector, Godspeed.
Central city was calm today, as nothing was going on. It was normal, people went to work, kids were in school and everyone enjoyed their day. For August Heart, today was his day off from work. So, what was he doing? He was hanging out with his friends at STAR Labs. Cisco, Caitlin and Dr. Wells.
Growing up, August had always been something of an oddball due to his intellect. He matured much faster than his peers, and this led to him not having friends, it got worse when he got to MIT, while he got on well with his roommates, he could not form a close bond with any of them due to him being far above their level. This led many to think that he was snobbish as a result of his academic exploits and it bred resentments against him and because of this it made him very glad to be a part of the team. A team that was filled with intellectuals just like him.
Cisco even had a mannequin set up in front of the cortex so that August could keep his suit there. The suit wasn't on display as August was trying to make some adjustments to the suit and perhaps even add a HUDD display vision system. It would be designed to handle August's moving at extreme speed, and have some other little goodies like night vision, thermal vision and even an enhanced scope and still transmit it back to STAR Labs to be seen at real time. Plus, he planned to make it glowing white just like the lightning that his eyes generated when he ran and he was adjusting the lightning bolt headsets to be added to the suit.
Even though it was August's day off, Dr. Wells wanted to keep him busy and train him some more in his powers, specifically his ability to multi-task, which took the form of him playing ping-pong with Cisco, OPERATION with Caitlin and chess with Dr. Wells, all at the same time.
Caitlyn tried to get a piece from the game but the buzzer went off. "This game isn't even remotely anatomically correct." Caitlin said in anger as August zoomed over and got his piece.
'That's not the point, Dr. Snow." August said as he then was playing ping-pong with Cisco.
"Then what is the point?" Caitlin asked.
"To have fun." August said.
"And to continue your ongoing training. We're testing the speed of your mind by pushing your ability to multi-task." Dr. Wells said as he made his move on the chess board and August zoomed over, moved a pawn, then zoomed back to ping-pong to score on Cisco and then zoomed back to hit his timer.
"I'm waiting on you, Dr. Wells." August said with a smile as he went back to playing ping-pong.
All of this was laughably easy for him so much so that he had added one more thing to do to train his mind. He had a book on the fundamentals of AI and the principles of Machine learning open and was studying it and multitasking at the same time.
"This is no problem for me at all." August said as Dr. Wells got buzzed and he zoomed by and took his turn.
"Checkmate." August said as Dr. Wells zoomed over to see how he lost.
"Wait, checkmate?" Cisco asked in shock.
Just as Dr. Wells was about to say something, their computer went off.
"Armed robbery at Fourth and Collins." Cisco said.
August sped to Fourth and Collins where he saw the group of four robbers that stopped the armoured truck with a tow truck. August quickly zoomed by and knocked down the robber getting out of the tow truck, he then punched one of the robbers holding one of the guards at gun point. He blurred around at super speed and then hit the other robber who was guarding the hostage and then he jumped onto the armoured truck and knocked the guy who was trying to steal whatever was in the armoured truck to the ground.
The guy who tried to steal what was in the armoured truck took off his mask as he saw a blur run by. Then one of the armed robbers shot one of the guards trying to run away. He shot him in the back and got on his bike and left. August sped back and went to check on the guard. He saw the bullet had hit the guard's shoulder and he was in pain.
"Where's the nearest hospital?" August asked in his comm.
"St. Andrews. Seven blocks north, two east." Caitlin replied after a moment.
"Call the ER, and tell them they have an incoming GSW." August said as he picked up the guard and took him to the hospital while the robbers left.
…
After August saved the guard, he felt a bit dizzy but he shrugged it off and decided to go visit an old friend. Before he was adopted by the Easters, he had stayed at St. Peter's Orphanage in Central City and the woman in charge was called Mary. She had been his first friend. It all started one night. Back then, nobody believed what he saw that night, the kids usually laughed at him and alienated him but they didn't do anything drastic but then one night, the kids had him cornered in an alcove and were taunting him, trying their best to make feel sad or cry. He might have been a child but the incident had matured him far faster than his peers. He ignored them, consoling himself that one day, with his intellect, he'd be so far above them that he would be able to crush them like bugs whenever he wanted to. Okay scratch that. Forget maturity, he wanted them to hurt but there was nothing he could do about it, so he pretended to be mature all the while chanting in his mind, the marvelous way he would torture them when he came into power in the future.
The kids not getting a rise out of him, and seeing the expression on his face, accurately judged that he was looking down on them. With anger, they began to beat him, trying to wipe off that superior smirk taunting them off of his face. And just as he resigned himself to the beatings, she showed.
He smiled at the thought. She had fought them off with her hands and feet, saying that since they liked to fight so much, they wouldn't mind fighting an old woman like her. The kids were all cowed by her behavior and didn't dare to move after that because no matter how stubborn a child at St. Peter's was, or how intelligent or whatever, the thing they all had in common was that everybody loved Mary. She'd taken them in as her own to the point that even for those that did not get adopted, there was no feelings of discontent, because they still had Mary.
After that incident, Mary began to talk to him, to try to get him to open up and not be all closed up inside, the first time he told her about that night, she didn't disregard him or look down on him like others did, she nodded her head and told him that she believed him. She told him that there were things in this world that could not be explained but were truly there and that if he wanted the whole world to believe him, he would have to prove it someday and when there is proof without a shadow of doubt, at the moment, others would have no option but to bow to him.
After that, she sat with him more and more. She tried to get him to socialize with the other kids but she wasn't a miracle worker and stopped after a few attempts and then perhaps recognizing his maturity, she'd sit with him for hours talking to him, she introduced him to subjects he had never thought about before and would argue with him for hours trying to give him at least a semblance of childhood.
He stopped at the gates of the Orphanage, completely lost in thought. He was brought out of his nostalgia when the door opened and a little head poked out.
"Grandma Mary says if you have nothing to do, you should go elsewhere and not just linger in our driveway like a hooligan." It was a little girl with a cute red ribbon on her head that had spoken. She was dressed in a summer dress filled with polka dots and butterflies and seemed like a butterfly herself with her airy demeanor.
"Hem..hem… I'm coming in." he said clearing his throat in an embarrassed manner. 'Who knows what that woman is saying about me inside' he doubled his steps and entered the building.
Mary seemed like she had not changed at all. She still had that smile on her face, one that widened the moment she saw him striding into the house.
"August, my little one, you're awake," she came over and gave him a hug.
"Yes, Mary. I've been awake for a while now. I'm sorry I could not come to see you sooner." He said as they separated.
"Pish..posh… I told you to stop coming here years ago and to live your life well, I thought you'd finally taken my advice until I heard you were in a coma. Almost took out my poor heart, you foolish boy" she chided in a friendly tone. At that moment, the little girl with the ribbon, tugged on Mary's dress, "Grandma Mary, what's a coma?" August had to smile at this, Mary looked like a deer caught in headlights, she froze, unsure of how to answer the question, "Eh… You see… its…"
"It's the kind of sleep that Snow White had before the prince came to wake her up." August decided to help her out causing Mary to give a sigh of relief opposite him. With the crisis averted, he brought out a few gifts for the little kids and spoke with Mary for a little while. She was exhilarated when she heard he had started working at STAR Labs, knowing that it was something he'd dreamed of doing since he was a child.
After a while, he left reluctantly, and noticing that the building was getting more run down, he promised himself mentally that the moment he was able to, he would rebuild this place for her and make it bigger and better.
…
Upon getting back to STAR Labs, he went back to his floor to work on his suit and added the HUDD display interface as well as upgrading the lightning bolt headset in his mask.
He was about to make some more upgrades, when Caitlin's voice sounded at the intercom, telling him to come down to the cortex.
"Armed robbery at Stagg Industries. Someone just dialed 911. Hurry!"
Taking the half-finished suit, he sped off to Stagg Industries, the robbery was already over and the robbers were about to escape in their getaway car. He was about to pursue, when he felt a sharp pain in his head and he keeled over on the ground.
"August!"
"August!!!"
…
August opened his eyes to see the ceiling of the med bay at STAR Labs. He sat up on the medical bed, as Cisco and Wells were in front of him, Cisco collecting medical data.
"You lied to us." Caitlin scolded him, stalking to stand behind August. "How could you not tell us you're experiencing dizzy spells? We're your doctors." She demanded, her arms flailing in the air a little as she paced around, behind August's back. "God knows what's going on inside your body." She walked around the bed to stare down the speedster, "Your cells are in a constant state of flux. You could be experiencing cardiopulmonary failure or a transient ischemic attack." August gave her a smile as he recognized her worry stemmed from genuine concern.
"Mini stroke." August said, smiling at the frantic doctor, "Probably not."
"You of all people should know that in science, we share." Caitlin scolded, "We do not keep secrets." She strode away, her heels clicking angrily past the bed, as August's face fell, resignation dripping from his expression.
"Wow," Cisco stated, "I haven't seen anyone make her that angry since Ronnie." He handed Dr. Wells the tablet they had August's data on, before following the woman outside of the medical setup.
"Ronnie was Caitlin's fiancé?" August asked Dr. Wells, curiously, "The one that died the night of the accelerator explosion?"
"Yeah." The wheelchair bound doctor replied, "He is missed." August looked away, "Now, Let's figure out why this is happening to you."
The scientist had set up the cosmic treadmill inside one of the closed rooms, with a windowed viewing area. Behind the treadmill, Cisco had taped together a wall of boxes, Cisco re-entered the room, the door shutting with a click behind him.
"We're all set." Cisco spoke, as August stepped down from the treadmill and walked over to the cardboard wall, he stared at it, worried, "A little padding. Just in case." Cisco stated, before walking around it.
"Yeah." August replied as Cisco walked through the door to the viewing booth, joining Caitlin and Wells inside.
"Let's do this." August replied, as he started to walk and then ran faster and faster.
"Heart rate, blood pressure, nerve conduction all normal." Caitlin read off their display monitor.
"For August." Dr. Wells added, looking it over as well.
"Brainwave function above standard limits." Caitlin continued, before being interrupted by a triumphant laugh from Cisco.
"My cosmic treadmill never fails to astound me." He declared, a giant grin on his face as he watched it work in front of him.
"Caitlin." Wells gestured to the display, having spotted the problem, "Look at the glucose levels."
"Oh, my God. Of course." Caitlin sighed, almost groaning at the realization that it was something so simple.
"Right?" Dr. Wells asked.
"It was so obvious." Caitlin groaned, as Cisco peered at the screen from the opposite end of the table.
"Glucose levels." Dr. Wells concluded, before turning the mic on, "August! We think we know why you keep—" before he could finish his sentence, August's motion stopped and he flew into the boxes filled with packing peanuts with a thud, the treadmill slowing down automatically with a whir, as Caitlin grimaced. "—passing out." Wells finished, realizing the irony of the situation.
…
With a groan, August sat up from the bed, "I passed out again?" He asked, as Cisco and Caitlin helped him get up from the bed.
"Total metabolic failure brought on by acute hypoglycaemia." Caitlin explained.
"I'm not eating enough." August concluded looking at Caitlin, "So an I.V. bag and I'm good to go?" he asked, turning to look at Cisco, who scoffed and put his hand on August's back turning the speedster around to give him a view of all the drained IV bags.
"Try 40." Dr. Wells announced, drawing August's attention, as he sighed, "Guess you were thirsty." He joked, straight faced as he lifted his cup to drink from it.
"We're gonna need to fashion you a new diet based on your metabolic changes." Caitlin explained to August, before walking off to her desk.
"I've done a few calculations." Cisco stated, coming around August, to lift a finger into the air, "You need to consume an amount equal to roughly 850 tacos," he concluded, and August's jaw dropped a little, before Cisco had a revelation, "Unless we're talking cheese and guac, which is like a whole other set of equations." August's head moved forwards and back laughing mentally at the absurdity of the statement.
"For Mexican, I recommend Tito's." Dr. Wells stated, drawing Caitlin, Cisco and August's attention, as they stared in confusion, "On Bruckner Avenue?" Caitlin gave a confused glance to Dr. Wells, "Best burrito in the city."
…
The next day, August was hard at work in his lab, recently while working on his suits, he had touched upon an epiphany and he was trying to put it all down on his board before it all went away. His lab was scattered with papers torn and squeezed all over the floor with the only neat area being his desk where he had kept his books on AI and Machine learning that he was reading. He felt like he was getting to a crucial part when a siren rang.
"Get to the cortex, August" Caitlin's voice came from the intercom. "An armed gunman is shooting up Stagg industries humanitarian event."
Racing to the location provided, he got to the scene to find chaos, he quickly evacuated two security officers from a hail of bullets and after dumping them outside, returned to evacuate the rest of the innocents when he froze in horror.
Crouching on the stage beside Simon Stagg was Mary. She had told him she had an investor's event later that evening but he had never asked where simply being happy for the Orphanage's good fortune to meet a good Samaritan.
Beside Mary, was the little girl from the afternoon with the pink ribbons in her hair, trying to hide her whole body behind Mary's in a desperate bid for protection.
But what really made his blood run cold was a masked man was shooting recklessly at the stage and Mary seeing this had used her body to protect the little girl crouching and hoping for a miss.
August froze where he was. His mind urged him to move, to RUN, to save them but he was just stuck there in shock watching the bullet creep closer and closer. By the time he forced himself to move, it was too late, the bullet went through Mary's chest, a splatter of blood hitting his mask, he caught her before she fell and then sped off with her.
Upon reaching the hospital, there was no one outside, he lay her on a stretcher, his hands still putting pressure on her wound, his mask off as tears rolled down his face.
"Help!! Somebo-"
"Shhh…little August, you know people shouldn't see you like this." She said raspily coughing up blood.
"I don't care about that Mary, I cant let you die." He was about to scream again when she interrupted him.
"You left Hailey back there, August. Please go take her away. I am old. Its okay for me to go but I would be committing a sin if I let you leave her there just because of me."
More tears dripped down his eyes and, in a flash, he was gone, only to arrive a moment later at the event location. Hailey had fainted, probably from shock and was face down on the floor. August was about to pick her up and go when he saw one of the armed men point a gun at him. A sudden burst of anger filled him and he flipped on his mask and lightning sparked like never before. Usually when he ran, he felt peace and bliss but now all he felt was anger, a good person was dying because of these animals, they didn't even deserve to lick the ground she walked on and yet such degenerates dared to shoot at her.
The lightning intensified and his body vibrated obscenely. In a flash, he descended on them without holding back, striking down about ten masked men only to see them vanish after his hands went through them. His brain quickly sped through a list of possibilities and he then observed that all the masked men were the same height, and even the same shoe size.
"Freaking clones," he snarled.
Looking at the mass of black clad men which were beginning to retreat upon seeing a few of their number hit by a hazy image that couldn't be seen, he noticed one that showed a bit of strain and with perspiration on his brows and he was off.
Lifting him by the neck, lightning covered his being, making him look like an avenging god. He was filled with fury. "YOU KILLED HER, SHE WAS A GOOD PERSON, NEVER DID A THING WRONG IN HER LIFE AND YET YOU KILLED HER, YOU…ANT!" with the vibration on his body acting on his vocal cords, he sounded very scary and it showed on the masked man's face as he struggled furtively trying to get away.
August raised his other hand, and it began to vibrate furiously, he leveled it at the man's heart. "FOR YOUR CRIMES THIS EVENING, I WILL BE YOUR JUDGE, JURY AND EXECUTIONER. I SENTENCE YOU TO DEATH!" His arm cut cleanly through his heart not even causing a spray of blood. He dropped the body on the ground and just as the other masked men began to disappear, grabbed Hailey and sped away ignoring the screams in his headset and the siren sounds of the incoming cops.
…
Mary's POV
So this was how her life would end.
Not in a blaze of glory. Not from stopping an incident in one last victory. Not with a loved one with her little kids, old and young around her, knowing that she had lived out a full and memorable life.
No.
Instead, she would die alone, while lying on this stretcher; bleeding out from a traumatic wound on her chest from an armed robbery.
There are voices in her ears screaming for help, 'Oh… is that little August again… I don't want him to see me like this. Let him remember me the way I was. He did grow up to be a good man though.' She tried to smile at that thought and only succeeded in coughing up another mouthful of blood.
'Will you be alright, little August. You've always help deep pain inside, a darkness kept at bay. Will you truly be okay?'
But at this moment, there's nothing she can do. She's dying here slowly. Alone.
They're still pleading and she tries to talk back to them, to reassure them, but she only chokes on the blood rising in her throat, and spilling past her lips.
She wonders what they'll tell the kids. Will they tell them the truth? Or will they make up a lie to save their innocence?
You'll be dead; No need to think too much about it.
Her subconscious whispers and she huffs quietly in morbid amusement. She finds herself wanting to call August and Hailey one last time. Before August, she'd never had favorites, she'd loved them all equally but that green eyed child had touched her heart like none had and after he had gone, Hailey had come along to give her happiness in her old age.
The pain is fading now, along with Mary's life, as she's becoming more and more numb. She can barely even hear the voices anymore, or even the noises around him. She's becoming almost as oblivious to the world around her, as it is to her right now.
She's surprised with how content she is with dying alone. She would have loved to have had somebody, anybody, that she loved next to her, but this...this wasn't all that bad. Especially now with the pain being numb.
At least she wouldn't be a burden to anybody. But she's content with the fact, that she's at least dying while being, feeling, loved. Mary knows that her family, old and young love her.
And that's all she really would have wanted. Death is calling.
It's your time, it says. And she's okay with that, because she's lived a good life. It's been tough, and just horribly messed up at times, but that didn't mean that there weren't any good times.
There were plenty of those.
The one time when she watched a whole marathon of Disney movies with August for the first time, with her claiming-these are masterpieces, August, and I am appalled that you do not realize that. He laughed, and God, that made her happy now just thinking about his laugh, and replied with-whatever you say, Mary.
Or the time when she and the kids had gone camping; and even though, Hailey had nearly drowned -Hailey, what did I tell you about standing in the canoe? -it had still been one of Mary's favourite memories with his Hailey.
The sun's basically set, now, and it's almost poetic with how it does so in perfect sync of her final moments. She and August used to love watching the setting sun, and every Sunday, they would wake up early, and each watch the sunrise.
A habit that he had even after being adopted, even when they were hundreds of miles apart.
Blood continues to bleed into the stretcher below her; staining it a rich, black colour. Seems she's been wheeled somewhere. But she's numb to the pain of the bleeding wound. She always thought that death was this awful, lonely, and dreaded thing that was inevitable in everyone's life.
Maybe it was.
But she found that she didn't seem to mind it too much. Mary had had plenty of time to enjoy her life.
Her only regret is that she didn't do it enough.
But she's still at peace with the life she had lived; even if it had been cut too short. Her eyes slowly fall closed, and she knows that her time is up now. She's not sad.
In the moments before her eyes close, Mary sees a white figure carrying a figure in pink. 'My children are here after all,' she thinks but she's slipping from reality and being drawn into a blissful state of unconsciousness. The sun is set now; the golden, and vibrant rays having settled as she fades away.
She wants her last thoughts to be genuine and full of love; even if she is the last one to ever know them. And she figures, what better way to do that, than to be thinking of the people that you love?
August, Hailey, Joe, Jessica, Ben, Damon and Karen, you all mean the world to me. And I hope you all realize that. Just know that...I'm okay with this. I'm at peace. And I hope you can all be, too. I... love you guys. And we'll meet again. I'm sure of it. Just remember that with every sunset... there will always be a sunrise...
And with those final thoughts...Mary Anders took her last breath.
...
August watched the doctors try to her; futile attempts being made at trying to bring back the old woman. August's bloodied hands wrapped around Hailey as he sobbed quietly, as he looked at the broken and bloodied body of the woman, he considered his mother.
But only later on would he realize that the old woman had died with a smile on her pale lips.
There would be a small funeral the next week, full of white lilies; Mary's favourite.
It was almost peaceful, as the sun would begin to set with the funeral, only to rise once again with a new day. Later on, the older kids that grew up under her would discover would mourn the loss of a real mother, but no one but August and Hailey would understand the true loss.
August takes a break from STAR Labs and the questions and possible looks of condemnation. He locks himself in his apartment for days, didn't talk with anybody or go out, didn't answer his phone or email messages. The staff at STAR Labs and his foster parents begin to fear that he had experienced a mental breakdown and decide to break into his apartment only to get the shit scared out of them when an older, motherly female voice greets them as soon as they step foot into the house. They were warned that "sir" was asleep in his lab and that it was inadvisable to wake him, as he had been awake for seven days straight and needed the rest. Cisco had felt uncomfortable with his friend staying alone in a state like that, with only this strange "voice thing" for company, and had crashed on the couch for the night, after he had checked in on August.
Late in the afternoon the next day, August introduced the team to a two and a half days old Evolution versus Emotion, or EVE, his new AI creation. Cisco looks sorrowfully at his friend whenever he would refer to the program as a "she" instead of "it", always thinking that August was unnecessarily hurting himself with making the program just like his late caretaker, and he left even more reluctantly than he would have the night before but but August kicked him and the team out telling them he would see them at STAR Labs the next day.
As they leave, they take a glance at the laptop and see an image of Eve made out of codes looking just like Mary had with a smile that shone as bright as the rising sun.