Who fits the profile?

     “Yes.” Just as quick as he fell down to his hands and knees, he was lifted up again and pressed against the impacted wall he was thrown onto just a few seconds prior. A handful of Thad’s uniform’s collar firmly in grasp. “Youshouldhave.” In that same instant the scornful doppelganger is being dragged up the building as Hunter went into a mad dash. Glass shattering from every window in his path as he did so, they stayed still in the air because of time’s delayed progression due to Hunter’s maneuverings.      “Itookyouin–” Repeatedly punching Thad in the face as they ran up. “–TaughtyoueverythingIknew–” They were nearing the roof, having stopped punching and simply throwing him forward when they had arrived. His opponent’s body met with the sun bathed roughness of gravel and patches of asphalt. Hunter had slowed his time down so that Inertia could see him a little bit better.      He wanted him to know who was tossing him around like a ragdoll.

          It really was like he was nothing more than a ragdoll to Hunter. This wasn’t the first time in Thad’s life he had been thrown around or treated like this, but the clone wouldn’t give Hunter the satisfaction of cowing just because he was faster right now. He’d take the pain as he was dragged against window after window. He wasn’t going to waste his time or energy struggling in the older speedsters grip. Thad would save it just for the right time.

          “Tookmein?” Thad rasps, tasting his own blood on his mouth for a moment; his body was constantly on the mend against Hunter’s abuse, “Youthreatenedme!” He yelled, grasping at the gravel beneath him, and quickly got to his feet.

     Leaning back into his chair, he watches her gather her things. She’s cute, he can’t help himself from thinking. Unlike his ex wife Ashley, who– although was beautiful to Hunter in every way– wasn’t cute, y’know?      She was in the field with him, they shared the same passions and at one point, the same life, but she wasn’t Hello Kitty, Thor scribbled notebook bumbling like a deer in the headlights cute.      Did that make sense? He thought to himself. I don’t know.      The former CCPD profiler shifted in his seat and blinked a few times after he realized he hadn’t said anything in the past minute or so.

     “Hey, I know I have no right asking this but–” His thumbs are fumbling with each other as he squeezes his coffee cup. “–I’m in town for a few more days and was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner or something? Y’know, something that’s not this, yeah? Something that’s not, um, professional.      “I could just use the company, that’s all. But like I said, I don’t have the right. So if you didn’t want to, I would understand. Just thought take a shot in the dark.”

“Oh, shit,          Uh…”

He says it with that same kind of barely-controlled frenetic energy that makes her think of crayola, of perfectly ripe lemons; the kind of yellow that isn’t yellow but Xanthic. His fingers move again despite the fact she’d stopped his fidgeting moments before; Darcy swallows a reminder, figures it’s a nervous action. Hunter is more him now than the day she found him laying next to a now-dead SHIELD friend in the hospital.

Does he ask Darcy for dinner because he misses her, or because he misses the person he was when he’d been with her; the zippy, hazy-fast man who didn’t need to fidget when he laid flowers on her lap, when he didn’t seem so… inside himself?

“Oof, that’s probably not…”

Yellow, behind her eyelids. Blooming sunflowers and the strike of red lightning and the smell of laundry detergent, the way they’d both laughed when they tripped and fell onto her couch.

Watching leaked episodes of Orange is the New Black before it got to be too much and she’d lost track of it before it ended.

The flowers, silky petal soft against her fingers.

He’d said the speed had made him a different person, affected his thinking, turned him into something else, something he’d never consider beforehand.

Shirt Rip™

And you thought that some of your teachers were harsh 

Speedster Villains

Bonus + 

     “With the team, yes their goals were much more bigger and ambitious. That was because they had structure, they had a leader who could focus it’s core members with precision and discipline. The leader directed their attention more on the mission objective than their personal vendettas and inclinations.      “But now that he’s on his own, he’s more likely to fall into similar patterns. He can’t help himself. He already had poor impulse control before he was powered, he’s not going to be any better at controlling them when he’s got super speed.” Hunter’s sifting through pages at this point, going over each of the files. Not entirely focusing on Darcy at this point, which wasn’t necessarily a personal strike towards her but the work always did consume him. He was similar to Speed Demon in that regard, when in doubt– fall back into old habits.      “During his time with Squadron Sinister he’s had some formal training in combat, but seeing as how they were a relatively new metahuman outfit,  I don’t imagine they were cohesive enough of a unit for any of those lessons to stick. Especially if you get him to the point of feeling cornered and potentially beaten, he’ll crack under the pressure.      "At that point he’s bound to make a mistake.

     “Gather a team, some of your finest sharp shooters in your department, lure Speed Demon into a narrow space. An alleyway or a corridor in a warehouse, honestly any of the two will do, and keep the pressure on him with sniper fire from above. He’ll be so focused and frustrated on trying to avoid getting hit from atop, he won’t notice one of your men with a shotgun around the corner or somewhere nearby ready to blow one of his kneecaps to bits. At that momentum and with that amount of force, the speedster healing should take some time to reconcile with the trauma he’s experienced. I read the case file where a Jericho-possessed Deathstroke had did the same thing to Impulse, he was down for a week. When he’s then momentarily neutralized, have one of your men collar him with a meta-dampener.      “Yeah,” he clears his throat again– closing the file, “I believe that should be it.”

She’s furiously scribbling notes down as he speaks, the old notebook battered and covered with doodles. Indeed, she has to swerve the instructions to avoid a cartoon Thor cracking open one of the weird M&M commercial characters with Mjolnir, the dark purple (and unprofessional) purple ink she uses smearing across the side of her hand.

When Hunter clears his throat and her hand finally slows to a stop, Darcy chances glancing up at him through her eyelashes. Carefully, she tucks her notebook away, reaches across the table for the file, and has half a mind to look bashful.

“Thanks.       I’m sure they’ll be super thrilled with this.”

Less thrilled with the fact it came from him, and even less overjoyed that she’d had contact with him again and hadn’t immediately cut it short.

“Sooo..”

Her things gather around her like she is the center star of a solar system, ready to implode, messenger bag swung over her shoulder like a violent meteor.

“Listen, if you ever need anything…”

It’s awkward to be offering him anything, but less than it would be to just accept his help and then melt away into the crowd, like, thanks for your expertise, have a nice life, peace.

     “Trusttttt meeee…” The time runner had become a bit more corporeal for Thaddeus’ line of sight, every so often flickering out of sight. But those glowing red hues behind his tinted visors remained present in his unstable form.      “Thefeelingismutual.” Sizing up the clone, the tips of his right middle finger and thumb pressing against each other.            (THWAP!)      Amassing enough temporal energy in his hands to translate and be converted into palpable kinetic energy, Hunter snapped those fingers– pushing outwards a wave of destructive force that shattered glass, split concrete and dented cars.

     Then, he ran. Vanishing again.

          “Fuck.“ Thad hisses out the single word as eyes widen in realization at what Hunter was about to do. He throws his arms up to shield himself before the wave of energy throws him back and against the hard surface of a wall. As the wave of energy subsides his body crumples to the ground with a thud.

Thad gasps out in pain, heart racing as he feels his bones mend within his body. He hated this. He hated this. He hated Hunter. The speedster manages to roll over and get up onto his arms and knees, his body shaking all with pain. He gasps out once more trying to catch his breath.