Tara Strong : Legacy of Speed [Comic Entry]

A cold November morning in a hospital. The fifth floor's maternity ward was bustling, as a new baby was about to be born. five people were gathered around one spot: a soon to be mother on the bed and father, two doctors and a mid wife. They were all trying their best to calm the woman on the bed as she went through labour. Things were happening all around the ward and all the attention was on the mother, even as no one was watching her. Everyone had a part to play, whether it was getting towels, heating water or, for the doctors, checking papers. And then, at one moment, everyone stopped. A single noise had resounded all around the ward, two noises in fact. the first was one that had been heard for quite a while, the screams of the mother. It was the second noise that made everyone stop and look towards the bed. Because, in place of the five original people around the bed, there was now a sixth. For just there, on the bed, a cry was heard. The cry, of a newborn baby.

Instantly, the baby's cries had silenced the entire ward. Everyone's jobs were now different. The doctors, who had before been looking at papers, were now examining the baby, making sure she, for it was clearly a girl, was healthy. To their dismay, they found something that was, not so much bad with the child, just not right. The child's lower body was much weaker than other baby's. Her legs were much thinner than the rest of her body, leading them to realise that she may have to live her life on a wheelchair. This was something they could not tell the mother, so they took the father to one side and told him the truth. His first reaction was anger, the fact that his newborn little girl could possibly never walk in her whole life. Live her life stuck in some wheelchair. But, worried that his wife would notice his anger, he calmed down. This was not something she needed to know at this moment. Little did he know, that there wouldn't be any other moment. For, at that moment, there was a scream from the mother.

The midwife, whose job it had been to gather towels and hot water, was now helping the mother through the childbirth process. She had noticed that a larger quantity of blood had been lost during the childbirth, which had worried her. This did happen to some mothers, some of which did not survive the childbirth. This lead her to ask the mother how she was feeling but the mother only replied that she was full of joy, not that she was in any pain, which clearly she had to have been. The pain worsened, and the mother had to scream. The father was at her side instantly and, knowing that she was about to die, the mother took her baby in her arms and whispered two words to her. No one else could hear but the mother, the father, and the little baby. The words were a wish, and that wish struck the father at his very core. The thing his wife had said was something unattainable for the crippled baby, but the mother was still oblivious. For the mother, unknowing of the disabilities her daughter possessed said this. her last words before she died. "Live Free".

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9 Years Later

As the years progressed, Tara's, named after her great grandmother, condition gradually worsened, making her have to spend her days in a wheelchair. This, coupled with the death of her mother shortly after her birth, made her the focus of most people's pity, something she completely despised. The last thing she wanted, in her situation, was for people to feel sorry for her. She had asked many times for them to stop and, although their pitiful words had stopped, she still saw the glances. She couldn't stop people pitying her no matter how hard she tried. It drove her crazy. Her father knew that she hated it as well. He began to focus on how he could help her, how she could live up to what her mother had said. Tara's dad began to look into the mutants, a group of people that had started appearing all over the world. These beings always seemed to possess strange and unusual powers. He begged the government to let him do research on the mutants, thinking that they would somehow possess some way to heal her daughter, to give her the ability to walk. To let her live, truly free.

To his extreme delight, the government agreed to let him examine the mutants, mainly because they were scared of them and wanted to know more themselves. The father didn't know the reason, or care. He was fully authorised to examine the mutants, so he was able tyo find a few of them and began his testing. The three mutants weren't very important. One had the power to manipulate fire, he was the trickiest but was able to be put down by being drenched in water. It was something the father hadn't liked nor wanted to do but, to find a way to give little Tara the ability to walk, or even stand up, he was willing to do anything. The fire user drowned quicker than a normal human would, an evident weakness of his powers. The other two weren't as dangerous, one who could stick to walls, like a spider, he was put in a glass dome with minuscule air holes, trapping him, and one was someone who could turn his body into food, like spit out soda. He was pout in another dome, for it seemed he couldn't do much in the way of escape. The powers the mutants possessed were very unusual and the mutants themselves appeared to be completely different in all aspects but one. They all possessed a certain gene that, when the father examined his own DNA, was not present. The gene that could create a mutant. The father, had just found what would come to be known as the X gene.

WC: 1,030/1,000

Tara's father has been able to make the gene into an injectable liquid. He was very excited and already knew his first test subject: his own daughter. His intentions were good, hoping to cure her lower body condition, but he had not fully tested the formula on any other human being, or animal. He was in the dark on whether it would even work. He had no idea of the capabilities of the formula and yet was one hundred percent sure it would work. He hadn't told the government yet, in fear of them shutting down the project in case of failure. he wanted to make sure that the serum worked, before telling his bosses. If the formula didn't work, then they wouldn't be told. however, if the formula did work, then the news would get out, somehow. To be perfectly honest, he had no idea what was going to happen.

When Tara was told of what her father had done, she was amazed and excited at the prospect of legs. It frightened her a little bit, but her excitement greatly overwhelmed her fears. Her father injected the formula into her but, to her great dismay, nothing happened. Straight away, she hadn't expected much but, after a few hours, her emotions greatly dropped. She was completely depressed and disappointed, not at her father, but at the formula. Her depressions made her lock herself in her room early and she just went into bed and laid down, falling asleep. Her dream then was astonishing, in many ways.

In Tara's dream, she was running, and running fast. Her first reaction was curiosity and complete happiness but, after thinking how impossible the prospect was, since she had given up on the serum, she got annoyed, but still ran. She thought that her dreams were mocking her, showing her what it would be like, impossible as it may have been. But, for the brief time she was in that dream, she enjoyed herself. She just kept running, straight along the roads, into a grassy field. For the first time, exhaustion and balance made her stop. She tried to stand but her legs were unbalanced, untested. Knowing that it was time up, she woke up, in a grassy field.

Her first thought was worry, she was away from home and had no idea where she was but, after thinking how small everything looked, she looked down at her legs and saw that she was standing. Everything she had just witnessed in the dream, it was all a reality. She jumped into the air, full of joy, until she saw a vehicle racing down after her. Looking at the path behind her, it made her think a massive bullet had ran through, but it had stopped where Tara was standing. With a gasp, she realised that not only could she walk, but she could run, and run really fast. Focusing on the vehicle once more, Tara realised that it was her father, who explained he had drove after Tara after she had taken off. His face had no worry on it, simply elation at the prospect of her daughter being a Mutant, and having a power that was just what she wanted. She was fast, really fast, and it was amazing.

The government had similar feelings, being impressed with her father's advances in technology and DNA mixing. They wanted him to do other tasks, none of which he could share with his daughter. Tara began to see less of her father than she would have liked, but she didn't mind at all. It was obvious that the government would give her father more challenging tasks after creating the serum that cured Tara and gave her abilities. Tara wasn't bothered about not seeing her father, it meant she could see the world. She could run from one state to the other, and still make it back for dinner. Her new abilities made life much easier, both for her and for her father. Now that she was cured, Tara's father didn't have to take her anywhere. If her father was late for a meeting, it ended up being the other way, tara would run her father to his workplace, and then do whatever she wanted. She felt empowered, indestructible, almighty. Her speed was her passion. She challenged boys that had insulted her to races, and completely annihilated them in the races, leaving them feeling bad. The pitiful glances finally stopped, something that made Tara crazily happy. To finally have her wish, and to stop people annoying her when they though she couldn't see. Her infuriation, and condition, were both cured, making her life perfect. Extraordinary and full of adventure, the true way for a life to be lived.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her father felt exactly the same way as Tara, but he had more important jobs to do. His main task was to produce a formula to be able to tell which power a human would get if the serum was injected into them. To do this, he needed to take in more mutant test subjects and experiment on them, as well as try to find out what gave them what powers. Some of the subjects were less willing than others and, in a few cases, those mutants had to be put down. Her father tried to take in mutants with harmless powers, like someone that could see through walls. All the powers were different, even for family. In the case of families, the powers were similar but, unless the cases were very rare, there were some slight differences in power, maybe a difference in element, like plant or wood manipulation, or something like that. A slight change that made a rather large difference in power. There were some cases where the subject's parent was just more in tune, and so had better control, which was why the child wasn't as powerful. Some cases proved that the child was stronger than the adult but that was very rare, almost being non existent. All through this, Tara's father felt pain at harming the lives of innocent mutants but, after thinking it was for his daughter, he became fine with it. If he only knew where it would lead him.

Word Count: 1,038/1,000

Total WC: 2,068/4,000

One day, after coming home from Europe with the shopping from that morning still in her hands, Tara walked into the house and she saw it, or at least, what was left of it. The house had been completely ransacked. There was broken glass, destroyed items of value, and other things that meant various things to Tara. In her room, all her souvenirs from all of her travels had been broken. This left her saddened for a moment, before she thought of her father. Running to his room, she found no dead bodies, which both relieved her and frightened her. No dead bodies and, although the house was destroyed, nothing had been clearly stolen. Whoever had done this hadn't found what, or who, they were looking for. Worrying about her father, as it possible he had whatever they wanted, or he was what they wanted, Tara ran over to his office in town, to find the fire department already there.

It only took a few minutes to get there but, once she was, she could see why many people were looking at the building, and why she had seen people run the other way in mobs. Her father's office, with her father inside, was burning. Fire engines were there, trying their hardest to put out the fires, but none of them were going in until the fire calmed down a bit more, which it showed no sign of doing. The firemen were baffled at the fire, but there was nothing they could until it was gone. All they could do was try their best to quell it, keeping the hoses primed on the raging inferno.

Tara ran to the policemen keeping up a barrier to protect the citizens, and she begged them to let her in. She had to save her father, he would still be in there. Of course, the police said it was suicide and kept her away, but that wasn't going to stop her. She was a superhuman, she wasn't going to just left her only parent die because someone said so. She had the power, and she had a reason, that was all that was needed to do good, sometimes the reason wasn't even needed. So she acted like she was running away, until the policeman turned around. Once he did, she turned and, using her powers, sprinted past him into the burning building, looking for her father. She scouted the first floor and saw nothing of interest, so she ran upstairs, which to a bit of planning, as the stairs were burning. Even so, she managed to get to the second floor and it was there, that all the questions of the firemen below were answered. the reason that the blaze was not calming down, even with the fire hoses.

In front of Tara was a young boy, she assumed it was a boy at least, standing amidst the blaze, completely unaffected by the masses of heat burning the building around him. This was because, as Tara looked closer at him, she realised that he was the fire. This boy was all covered in flames, like they were parts of his body. He was shooting streams of fire out of his arms at the building around him, in every direction. Tara, not thinking, shouted for the boy to stop and, almost instantly, the flames stopped around the boy. The building was still on fire, but the flames that had enveloped the boy's body as well as the flames coming out of his arms, had ceased. This is when Tara could tell that he was in fact just a little boy, only around ten years of age. He looked at Tara, with a cold stare that shook her right to her bones. "Stop? You want me to stop? You know, that's what my father asked, but that didn't stop the pain. My father was killed, because he wished for freedom. He didn't want to be locked up, he wanted to live like a normal human being. And yet, he was killed because society thought his power was too dangerous. I don't see why I must stop. Now," his face changed, from an angry stare into a cold, smug smile, "from one orphan to another, one mutant to the next, this world is full of people that wish to destroy our kind. You have to live free. Don't let them take you." Then, with a plume of fire, rising up to the roof of the building, the boy was gone, but the fire remained. With her mind confused, Tara stopped trying to find her father, and she ran back to her house, grabbed what she needed, and ran away. No one would know she was gone, there was no one there to stop her or care. She just ran, sleeping outside towns and cities, trying to think why someone would kill her father.

She knew it was the fault of a mutant, but which one? She could blame the fire boy for physically killing her father, she assumed at least, or she could blame herself, which she was. Her father wouldn't have had anything to do with mutants if not for her condition. It was her fault, for being born weak, that her father was dead. This is what she thought, how she felt, for a few months. The anger at his death changed from Tara to the mutant, that boy. Her father was well respected in the village she lived in, there was no reason that anyone would have wanted to kill him. Knowing who to blame, Tara began to search for information on what her father had been studying, and why anyone would have wanted to kill her. She looked for many people that could know anything but it was one day, when she was on the brink of giving up, that she received a phone call from someone who said they could help, if Tara was willing to do something in return. She had to work for him, but first she would have to meet him.

Word Count: 1,011/1,000

Total Word Count: 3,079/4,000

A dark alleyway in New York city, that's where I had to go. I had gotten an anonymous message saying to go there. I did not know who the message was from but, as I had nowhere to go and no one to go to, it was my best bet to live. Besides, there was two things I had to ask the man. One was to ask how he had gotten or found out about me, since I hadn't told anyone who I was. Also, the man's message had really piqued my interest. It had said very few, only "I have information on your father. Come to an alley of New York and I will find you". Straight away, I knew that that was where I had to go, New York was where I had to be, it was my only lead. After so many years searching for an answer, I had been giving a chance to prove myself and possibly find the bastard that killed my father. To kill him was the plan, providing it was even that mutant. However, all the evidence pointed towards him. The child, which made him not in control of his powers as he could have been, which made him prone to powerful, and dangerous accidents. Other than that, there was the fact that his, my dad's, office building had been on fire, the exact power the boy had possessed. Hardly coincidental I think. And, if that was too little to convince anyone, which was unlikely, there was the child's words to me before he departed in fire as he had. He had mentioned his father, who had wanted to live free, and he had called me an orphan, which meant that my father was dead. I sincerely hope he was just playing with my emotions, and that my father is alive somewhere, just waiting to be found. Unlikely, but if nothing else I can hope. Now... where was that street.

Walking down the alleyway, I think to myself how different my life could have been if I had been normal, if I had been born without a defect. Sure my father might still be here with me, his research would have never happened, never beginning this, and I wouldn't have been pitied but, even further back, an even bigger change in my life. Maybe mother would still be here today. I'm not sure if it was my fault she didn't survive birth, or if she had a problem but, if it was my fault, and if I hadn't been born with a problem, maybe I'd still have a mother. Hell, maybe I'd have siblings, a brother or a sister. My life would be so different if I'd been born normal. The only problem, which may sound selfish. If I had all that, a mum, a dad, possibly a brother or sister, would I rather have them, or my power. This power has changed me in ways I could never have imagined, would I really want to give that up, to make my life normal, and boring? Would it really be worth it?

My pondering was soon interrupted by a strange man, wearing all black, with his face hidden in the shadows. His eyes were the only color I could see on his person, a deep, if a little intimidating, sky blue color, one that made you think he wasn't looking at your face, but he was looking inside your mind, and into your soul, if such a thing existed. He only said one thing, in a voice as shady and intimidating as his looks, "Strong?" He could have meant many things by that question, but it was obvious what he meant, and I just answered with a nod, my mouth too afraid to work. Then he smiled, something I could only faintly see and it was so fast and so faint that I might have imagined it. He then spoke again, this time making proper sentences, lessening the intimidation that his aura exemplified. "So, you wish to know more about your father, and what his research was about? This and more I can tell you, on one condition. I am an ambitious man, and there are certain things I wish to accomplish that I can't be seen doing. That's where you come in, you shall work for me until I see it fit to tell you about your father. If you fail any jobs, you won't know anything. If you argue, you'll learn nothing. If you are angered and kill me, you will never know about him. This is my offer to you, take it or leave it. Your choice, but think how much you wanted this. How many years has it been since that night, the office fire." He obviously noticed my bewilderment and astonishment, as he laughed. A deep, mocking laugh that sent shiver down my spine. "Oh yes, Tara. I was there that night, I saw what happened, and I saw what you did. Now you see, there are things are your father he wouldn't want you to know, but I shall tell you. Things that will make you despise him, and things that will make your stomach churn. Your father was a scientist, if that term is used loosely. He experimented on many different test subjects, and killed many, just for you." "No, no that can't be right, his test subjects were all volunteers, they all wanted what was best for me." "Ha, you think any of the subjects even knew about you? Of course not, your father just told them nonsense so he could mess about with their DNA. They had no idea why, they were all told nonsense and because one of them wanted to be free, and not locked in a tank, he had to be killed" Just then, everything clicked into place, and Tara fell to her knees. Everything that had been said to her, the fire child talking about his father wanting to be free, this man saying the mutant test subjects, that one had to be killed because he wanted freedom she couldn't believe it. She had to know more, but the man had already stopped talking, and was not going to say anymore until Tara said, "You promise to tell me everything about him?" "All I know, you'll know." Standing once more, ready for anything, Tara asked, "What do you need?"

WC: 1067/1000

Total WC: 4146/4000

Topic Complete