The trip to midtown was an experience, to say the least. The air ripped right by me as I was brought to midtown. The air was pushed around us both as Nate ran causing its force to push back somewhat. Nate mitigated it somewhat with whatever he was doing with his extra hand. The rest of the force was put on me and the extra-padded hoodie I had put on. Now I was extra glad to because I almost had the wind knocked out of me and had no way of getting it back until the trip was over. Despite his warning, I stiffened up as we went faster and faster. I was going as faster than a fighter jet but instead of an atmosphere-pressurized cabin, I was on the outside of this ride and feeling every second of it. I didn’t see much through my goggles. There was a blue of light blue sky and white cloud streaks in the upper third of my vision and then there was also the black streaks of asphalt Nate ran on. In between those alternating colors were the buildings which weren’t any particular color, but they all mushed together to become shades of grey and beige.

We slowed to a stop gradually once we approached 13th street. As we came to a stop I felt the force of the G’s on me, but it was manageable. He had probably had to run other people around at super speed. It would never be my preferred method of travel, but I could see the appeal if I could get used to the G’s as fighter pilots did. I stumbled back up to my feet as I got up and looked around.

Where there had once been almost a dozen buildings there was now rubble and people working to clear it. Some people had power tools and some larger machinery for the larger fallen pieces, but most of it was being cleaned up by superhumans who all had super strength or something similar. Mixed in with the concrete was wood and broken glass. Some workers were going around and cataloging the damages and what was going out of large trailer trucks carrying the rubble elsewhere.

“I would think that this would go by faster with superhumans, but you have to bring in power tools as well. I guess I just thought that it would almost be done by now.”

“If the insurance companies want it done within a week or less then they can pay someone more powerful than myself to vaporize everything here. That does mean that the scraps here won’t be reused and processed into something else in another project. It is just a matter of how much time and money it costs them to use the different options. Usually, a complete one-day wipe and rebuild by the end of the week are only available to working superhumans for their houses and a few other people. Occasionally historical buildings may get the same treatment as well. Such as the older cathedrals and more recently the Westminster Bridge.”

“How long did you say you’ve been cleaning this stuff up?” I asked.

“I have been here five days while others have been here since the place first got leveled. It has been a pain to go through the debris and try to both clean up and categorize it without messing up the crime scene so to speak. We’ve got to be extra careful around some of this stuff because the case is currently unsolved. The detectives are spread thin between a few different cases honestly. It isn’t my favorite thing to do of course, but the people in the area appreciate it and while it is hard labor it keeps my mind available for other things. Like talking to you,” he said as he lifted up another piece of concrete.

“What would you rather do? Fight supervillains? Be thrown into walls instead of cleaning them up?” I asked. Nate put the concrete piece in the oversized truck trailer.

“Sometimes beating up a villain or two would be nice, but they are generally a pain to deal with both during and after the fight. There are so many legalese things that need to occur after I have captured them. Insurance claims have been taken, recordings and witness statements, clean up, repair,” he said waving to the destruction of the buildings. “Sometimes it is much easier to help someone get to work who is running late or is missing their cat. It leaves a better impression than this and gives people something more to talk about than QuickStep is working down on 13th street with the destroyed buildings for the fifth time in a row.”

“Why are you down here for ‘the fifth time in a row’?” I asked him.

“Mainly because I was one of the first heroes on the scene as I always am. I was already a convenient pick also because of my unlimited stamina. It is great with running, the ladies, and when they need the clean-up done quickly. Especially when I am being paid great to get it done quickly here while other work at other demolition sites.”

“So, when is this supposed to be cleared out and done, ready for rebuilding?”

“I would like to get it done in the next four or five days, but once it is done I have to move back to the other clean-up project until it is finished, or I get called for something more important.”

“What is this other clean-up site? If it isn’t likely to be finished before you are done here then how much of a mess did a supervillain make there?”

“Much more of a mess. A large high rise collapsed and only half of the people were able to evacuate in time.”

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah. It came down and damaged the surrounding buildings as well. Some of the other buildings can be repaired just fine but two will have to come down. The businesses and apartment owners have already left them. Some super’s went ahead and knocked down the two buildings in a controlled destruction after it was approved. All that is left is to clean up the mess of about two and a half buildings worth of rubble and crap.”

“How do you deal with it all? The death and I would think the responsibility to save people.”

“It definitely takes time and some numbness to it all I guess. The world will never be perfect, and I certainly won’t. I can only do what I can to help with the powers and now responsibilities given to me. I took up the fight to be QuickStep barely knowing what I was stepping up to do and be. Then I won and I had to learn even more. Now I have found my rhythm you could say. Things have gotten a lot better, and I have improved in my abilities through training and experience. At least enough that I have held my title against several siblings and cousins.”

“I can barely imagine that. Knowing from such a young age that you are expected to fight for this prestigious title between everyone in your family. I would expect some family bonds to break after some of those transfers of power.”

“It has happened in the past. Luckily not to my family in recent generations. I know that you have been talking to Rachel and probably Tabitha too about their transfer of power and I don’t blame you. You are somewhat of a businessman after all but avoid family topics with them, especially now. You weren’t around for the last title fight that caused a transfer of power. It wasn’t great. Let them sort it out internally and worry about your own problems for a while. There is no point poking at these things while everything is in flux.”

“I will keep that in mind when I speak with Tabitha later today or tomorrow.”

“So, what actually brought you out here? I have never seen you out of your warehouse except for a few exceptions. Why do you want to be here?” Nate asked.

“Well, part of it was that I wanted to get out of the house. That part of the story was true. But the other part was that I found the story that was told strange, I guess. I wanted to see this place for myself. Robots just came out of an unmarked storage or warehouse place here and decided to destroy a bunch of buildings. It just sounds like a dumb thing to do.”

“Well, that is what the detectives are for. They will find out why the robots were released. Who the owners of them are. Why they would waste the money to do so and why they targeted this area,” said Nate.

“It is just fascinating to look at and try to figure out. Were there any people around when they attacked? What time was it?”

“The buildings were attacked, and robots flooded the street in the morning fairly early. I got here around 9 AM. The only people here were the first shift workers of the day opening their stores and some of the early customers. The robots occasionally targeted people but that was only if people approached or stayed inside as the stuff was destroyed and maybe a few other cases. Why else do you want to know? There is nothing here for you.”

“I want to keep my mind busy with something else for a while. Especially when it is a mystery like this. I know the detectives will likely figure out who did this by the time you are finished cleaning stuff up. So, what stuff still needs to be done here?”

“If you want to look around the surrounding four buildings they are currently waiting for the clean-up to get a bit further along and for inspections to be done before repairs start. They are all empty now and it might interest you.”

“I’ll go check them out so that you can get back to working without me as a distraction.”

I left him there to check out the other buildings. Nate returned to his work and became a blue blur running around the area dumping the junk into the dump trucks and trailers. I really had been holding him back from doing his job while talking with him.

The first building I visited was to the left of the damage. It was an older fishing shop for the lake behind the shops and street. The walls had cracks in them and some of the windows were broken. I walked around to the front and stepped inside. The door had already been removed. Inside there were a few things on the walls but everything for sale was already long gone as Nate had said.

I wasn’t sure exactly why I was still hanging around this place and around Nate anymore. I guess part of it was boredom, but maybe more than I realized. This shop wasn’t even one of the ones owned by John or his associates. I’m not sure what I was even trying to find.

I continued to look around the emptied store. Pretty much anything valuable that could be easily removed had already been. The rest was likely too expensive or large to move. And it was unlikely that people would want to steal from a store that not only has everything else removed but also has workers passively watching it along with superhumans.

I left the building fairly quickly after entering. It was nice to look around like it was a museum, but there was ultimately nothing for me to do inside.

I walked into the next building. This one was on the opposite side of the rubble field to the right. This one seemed to have experienced more damage, but I guessed that it was mostly exterior if they had allowed it to stay up instead of tearing it down with the rest. This one also had its door removed. The single-floor building at four rooms. The first was the entryway and main shop. Behind it seemed to be a worker area and backroom. Beyond that were two storage rooms and what was left of the bathroom. Everything had been stripped clean of the storage areas. Empty boxes littered one of the storage areas. I moved them around and saw no labels on their outside. As I stepped outside of the storage room I heard a ticking sound. I turned my head and looked around as I stepped back.

After being startled by the sudden noise there was ticking for a brief second longer than a flash of white. I could feel the heat and tried to turn away. I covered my face with my hands as I was thrown back. The explosions heat covered me for a brief second as shrapnel from the building hit me. I rolled back. My clothing prevented the worst of the heat, so I only had to deal with the pain from scratches as stuff impacted me. A few seconds after the explosion radiated out my body shifted, and I was reminded of a recent sensation. It was only after that I had realized that Nate had grabbed me after the explosion went off and took me outside. The sudden change threw me off almost as much as the explosion. I stupidly tried to get to my feet but fell back down. I had covered my body pretty well and had worn my insulated hoodie today, but my legs had no such comfort. A little blood was running down my legs. None of the pieces were larger than an inch, but there were several dozen. I took a few calming breaths as I adjusted myself on the ground. There was a spike of pain, but it subsided quickly.

“I’m going to go grab some medical supplies. You stay right here,” said Nate as he looked over me worryingly. He super sped away before I could respond.

When he reappeared a few seconds later he was carrying with him a medical bag. With some scissors, he cut up my pant leg and began looking at the wound. He took out want looked to be a tattoo gun. He jabbed it into my leg. Before I could cry out the gun released its medicine. The paralytic numbing flooded my leg, and I could no longer feel much under the point where he stabbed me.

“This will only take me a second. Luckily I can do this at superspeed,” said Nate.

“What?” I said confused as some of the effects of the drug had started to take hold in my head as well.

In a blur, he took tweezers or something similar and removed all of the glass and other stuff in my leg. One second later before the blood started coming out he was done with the first step and was on to applying some antiseptic stuff. I felt that step much more than the last. Then finally about five seconds later he began wrapping my leg in a set of bandages.

When he was done he moved on to my other leg. After another ten seconds, my other leg was wrapped up. My pants are in tatters with only the shortest of shorts on with an uneven cut along the base.

“Thanks. This numbing stuff is great,” I said.

“I’m glad you like it then. I want you to stay here for a bit while everything sets in. How are you feeling?”

“Good, considering the situation. I’m glad I had the tear and heat-resistant hoodie on. It would have been a lot worse otherwise. If I am to continue following you around then maybe I should make some modifications to my pants as well.”

“Yeah do that. I have to put this back and then write up a report. This is going to be so much more work,” he said mostly to himself.

“Sorry about the mess. I guess you will be staying longer tonight then.”

“You don’t need to worry about it. These things should have been checked earlier. The entire block will have to be swept for bombs and explosive material now.”

Nate ran off to do his thing while I waited. The antiseptic ointment seemed to have some other qualities as well because I could feel the paralytic of the shot going away but everything else staying mostly the same. I suspected that they had some other qualities, but I couldn’t go around checking right now because Nate came back with a clipboard.

“I need you to fill this out for insurance purposes and legal stuff. It shouldn’t take too long.”

I grabbed the clipboard and began filling it out. It was fairly basic stuff and I only had to double check one thing, which was my insurance, on my phone because I had never needed it until today. I handed him back the clipboard

“I think I am ready to go back to the warehouse now,” I said to him as I stood up unsteadily.

“I don’t think that is the best idea. I could…”

“I just need to grab some stuff including new pants at the warehouse and then I will head straight to the hospital to have them check me out. I should be fine. I will have the autopilot take me the whole way there,” I said.

“I would rather be more careful, so we are going to go slower on the way back. That healing paste is good but isn’t that good.”

Nate ran me home a little slower than before. We ran about as fast as a car on the freeway, so I was better able to appreciate the ride back to the warehouse. The ride wasn’t too uncomfortable except for a few times when he had to adjust his grip to carry me. He said he was sorry, but it still sucked. We passed cars and they looked so strange going at half the speed we were going. Where the cars were going around us was one of the few things I could keep track of while we peaked at over one hundred miles an hour for a few seconds going downhill. Nate slowed once again as he turned into the warehouses. He set me down gently. I stood up carefully, my legs spiking with the pain occasionally.

“How are you feeling? Do you need anything?” asked Nate.

“I will be okay to drive. I’m just going to grab the rest of my stuff inside and then I will head to the hospital. I don’t want to keep you here longer than you have to. I feel bad that another building came down giving you more work to do. You will have at least an extra day or two of work,” I said.

“As long as you are sure that you can get to the hospital without any more problems. And don’t worry about the extra work. It only means that I am busy for an extra day or two, but I will be paid for the unexpected overtime which will be nice.”

“At least there is that decent upside. Thanks, Nate for everything. I know you are just doing your job, but you saved my life. Thank you.”

“Maybe now I can get a discount on stuff from your shop.”

I laughed. “Yeah maybe.” I punched in the code on the door, and it started opening. “See you around.”

“You too. I’ll check on you later after my shift. Bye,” said Nate before turning into a blur and heading back towards midtown.