Chapter 2: Chapter 2

When I woke up, I was laying in the bed again. I blinked my eyes, rubbing my hand across my face Wiping away the gunk from my eye. “Charles? Charlotte, where are you?” I loaned out. My head was still pounding. What the hell was that? I took off the duvet and laid my feet on the ground.

In came Charlotte, a glass of water and a packet of Vadvil in her hand. “You ok, Reggie?” I nodded, grabbing the water and popping out a Vadvil, washing it down with the water.

I looked at Charlotte, a pained expression on my face. “Charlotte, I—I can't be here!” I got out of bed, feeling the pain in my head begin to numb. I knew that this wasn’t my life. I wasn’t Reginald Franklin. I was a parasite, a… “Reggie!” I didn't try to use my powers, not knowing if I had any control of them, even with my memories as A-Train. I was pushed back to the bed by Charlotte's hands on my shoulders.

“Get back in, Reg! You passed out! If you had done that at Vought… you could be naked on a slab, having your blood drawn right now!” I sat down on the bed, putting my back to the headboard and leaning on it. She was right. If Vought had seen that, I could have been sedated in a locked room, away from all other Supes, with tubes in my arms and legs as they drained me of my blood. Just to figure out if they could give whatever took me down to Homelander.

Dear God! The memories that I inherited from A-Train were filled with so many shitty, crappy moments but the worst was what he had done to Robin Ward. He literally swallowed one of her molars. It had only been a few hours since then, but I could remember it going down.

 I could remember the metallic taste of her blood. The way that her molar scraped my throat as I swallowed it. It filled me with such a… a. I immediately ran to the bathroom, not noticing the beige carpet below my feet becoming singed by lightning bolts that flashed on my feet, striking the floor.

I slammed open the toilet, breaking the porcelain white lid and vomited inside of it. After a few seconds, I went dry. Then it was me waiting out the storm as I dry heaved. Each lurch was more painful than the last as I vomited my stomach acid. I cried, groaning before each heave. Finally, two more heaves and it was over. I put my hand on the toilet seat in exhaustion.

I stood up, exhausted and sweaty, my mouth tasting like acid. I went to the sink, rinsing out my mouth. I turned around, eager to lay down again after vomiting. In the doorway stood a worried Charlotte. “Reggie, that girl you ran over, she really got to you.”

“I'm the fastest man alive but I wasn't fast enough to see that I was about to run through someone. What is the point of this hero gig if I kill those that I'm supposed to save!” I yelled, crying, remembering the puddle of her blood on the street. I couldn't get the broken face and scream of Hughie out of my head. Seeing it on TV was nothing compared to actually being there, being the one who caused it. It was so much more damning, shameful. That scream was one of sadness, fear, anger, fright. In that moment, I knew the sound that a man would make at the depths of his despair, at rock bottom. I felt a strike across my cheek.

An angry Popclaw looked at me, a drop of blood on her released claws. “Reggie, snap out of it!”, she screamed. “I know that you feel guilty, but you look like you are about to die!” She put her hands on my cheeks. “Reggie, you killed someone, and you know that. Even if you did, don’t kill yourself over it. You were on V! If you had stopped taking it like I told you, this might not have happened. But we can’t change the past.” She let go of my face and stomped into the bedroom.

“Char, what are you doing?” She opened her nightstand drawer, pulling out a red go-bag, the Compound V bag. She walked back into the bathroom.

 “We are done with this, Reg!” She opened up the go-bag, pulling out the V and dumping it into the toilet. She threw the case onto the floor. She lightly slapped my face, “Look at me, Reg. We are done with that poisonous shit, Reggie! Okay?" I looked into her eyes and that’s when I saw it. I saw what A-Train sees in her.

I saw what any person sees in their partner. It wasn’t the sexiness, it was the love that she held, the love that she poured out to him, to me. She didn’t care about the fame, the endorsements, the money, the powers. All she cared about was him, me.

In both Charlotte and my brother, Nathan, that was where Reggie put all of his care, everyone else just didn’t rate that far. They were background noise in the constant clamor of fame and adulation, but I wasn’t him. I wouldn’t do what Reginald did. I would care for what was mine. I wouldn’t take the drugs, just to be faster and I would own up to the promises and mistakes that I had made. I nodded at Charlotte. “No more V, ever again.” I said, kissing her cheek and pulling her in tight to my chest.

I looked down at the toilet, setting my face as I saw the blue liquid that was in the toilet. I would never take it again, no matter how fast or strong it made me. I didn’t know that lightning flickered in my eyes as I became set in my determination. This was the first step in my life as the fastest man alive. It was also my first step as Reginald Franklin aka A-Train.

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