Speed.

              “See now I know you’re completely delusional. Also we’re twins, which mean we look alike. Unless you’re saying your old man hair gives you the upper hand.” He gave Tommy a shove. “What it should do is give us an old friend back… also shut down most if not all of Stark’s stuff for about… five minutes? Give or take a few seconds.”

              “Speed.” He liked it. It was right to the point and it wasn’t something silly like Zoom. But he was confused by other speedsters. Was Barry really so out of it that he hadn’t noticed others? No. No he knew of all the speedsters, and he couldn’t feel the speed force flowing through this speedster. So they got their speed from another source. But what? From the way he had shyed away from the STAR Labs suggestion, Barry was going to have to do this the hard way.

              “Not sure who you’re talking about. Jesse Quick and Kid Flash are both good, but they still fall short to me at my fastest. Even Zoom and Reverse Flash weren’t able to beat me in the end.” No he hadn’t beat either of them on his own, but in the end that hadn’t mattered. He had won.

               Tommy shrugs. If this guy didn’t know who the Avengers were or anything about the X-Men... well that wasn’t his problem. The speedster figures the internet exists for a reason and it’s not his responsibility to fill people in and hold their hand until they catch up. He’s a speedster. He doesn’t have the patience for that.

              “You think that I’d ever let that happen? No one, not even the fucking Avengers, are taking you from me.” He wanted to reach out for Tommy. To shake him and make him see that he had someone who cared. That they were together and they had each other and that was all that mattered. But it didn’t, did it? Tommy had lived a life locked away from the world. Given to parents who didn’t even want him. Forced into being someone who he wasn’t, just to fit in with the status quo the world saw for him. Billy, while still forced into a mold, was on the opposite side.

              “You know I’d fight them to protect you.” He knew it was a line he would never cross for anyone else. Not even Teddy. But for Tommy? Fighting the Avengers would be nothing. He’d become everything they feared he was already becoming. He’d become the Scarlet Witch 2.0 and erase them all from the very fabric of reality. “I’d destroy them if they ever tried to take you away…”

               It’s things like this that remind Tommy he and Billy most certainly are related. “I don’t want you becomming the person they expect you to become for me, Billy. I’m not worth all that. The world needs the Avengers. The world doesn’t need Speed or Tommy Shepherd. I’m not worth a fight, trust me on that one.”