Pain

An electric shock suddenly struck from top-to-bottom. His body vibrated and his vision became blurry. Aaron collapsed onto one knee.

Pain. Blood-curdling pain shot down his left leg. The Speed **** wasn't cooperating–it was punishing him.

"S-shit…" Aaron cursed. Unbearable didn't do it justice; it was like pulling a muscle except amplified a thousand times. For a moment, he feared he wouldn't be able to walk again. "W-what the hell was that?"

He took a minute to compose himself. He was panting, feeling pathetically exhausted and drained. Every cell in his body seemed to be drained of its energy.

Aaron had thought about the red-haired Flash–the one Chloe crushed on. The fact that he, the Chosen One, couldn't replicate his speed meant only two things: one, Aaron was too weak right now. Or two…

"His speed isn't in the realm of possibility." A hand over his mouth, he steadied his breath. Fuck, he hadn't anticipated that at all. That kind of backlash and pain was totally foreign to him. "I can't give up just yet though. Another Flash, think of the other one. The blonde…"

This time, Aaron uttered the spell in his head. A change of pace–to further test his abilities.

"Make me as fast as the Flash!"

There was pain again but this wasn't unbearable. This time, he could take it. His legs were filled with pain but that pain quickly faded, replaced by a surge of energy. Lightning crackled from the ends of his fingertips. He stared at it in wonder.

Then he ran.

It worked. Yellow lightning followed his trail, a sign that the Speed **** had accepted his command. It was like running through water. He felt soft and tingly at the same time. It was strange. It was empowering.

If it hadn't been for the Speed **** containing his momentum, he would have destroyed the warehouse with his newfound speed. He was easily lightspeed. Perhaps hundreds or thousands times faster. Time had effectively stopped.

He ventured through Gotham City with a fresh perspective. It was strange seeing everybody frozen. The cars, the lights, the people, the crime…it was all completely still.

'So this is how the Flash sees the world? It's as beautiful as it is sad."

The first place he went to was his work place. He saw Todd and Noah laughing at the staircase. It must have been their lunch break. Then he went up. He zipped through the complex fleet of stairs until he was at the top floor.

A large, imposing door stood in his way. The entrance at the base of the building had been while the doors at the staircase could be opened and closed without anyone noticing. This behemoth required a fingerprint scan to open. How could he get in? Two guards stood by the door and a secretary was at a desk behind. Aaron didn't want to risk a drastic measure.

'What can you do with super speed? Create hurricanes, vibrate quickly, cause electricity…' Aaron thought for a while, recalling what he knew about the Flash. 'Phasing. The Flash does it all the time. I'm pretty sure he said on a TV show that he does it by vibrating his body and cells.' A dirty thought came to him. 'Huh. I could have a vibrating dick. Interesting. I'll test it later.'

He calmed himself down with a breath and started vibrating. It was difficult to do at first. While he maintained his immense speed, the world remaining frozen, there was still a tinge of anxiety at what he was about to do.

It was a slow, gradual process. Aaron was careful with his feet in particular. He didn't want to slip down to the center of the Earth, after all. Slow and steady wins the race. He raised one foot that was vibrating faster than the molecules of the door and was able to cleanly slip through. It was like magic except if it was scientific. Then the other leg went through, his feet making sure to plant themselves on the other end.

The remainder of his body phased through the door.

'It worked. Nice.'

Aaron wasn't too worried. He understood the principles of phasing well. He had watched documentaries on it. Although the science behind it wasn't exactly clear, he had seen the Flash over and over again. The movements were imprinted in his head.

The door had been secure for a reason. It was a meeting of executives and the top dogs of Wayne Tech. Their expressions were deep in conversation. Not a single one of them could tell that a man vastly faster than light was here, their eyes unable to capture sufficient light to see him.

"Hey, Iman," Aaron greeted. She sat amongst the big boys of the company like a silent black cat. Her hands were folded in front of her eyes and her posture was upright and disciplined.

Super speed of this magnitude was actually a really fucked up ability. He could do anything to anyone here and they wouldn't know what happened. He could yank their pants down. He could steal the panties of the female members. He could unzip the flies of the men.

Aaron grimaced. 'If I had gotten this power before, let's just say Batman would have to add an unsolved case under his belt.'

Aaron likely would have committed one large bank robbery with this super speed and then relaxed for the rest of his life. Easy peasy.

Now, he had morals and conscience. He left the Wayne Tech building with nothing but a freshly brewed cup of coffee. Nobody could tell the plastic cup was gone.

The remainder of his training was spent understanding the Collective ****. While the other forces seemed intriguing, the potential of endless knowledge was much more appealing to Aaron. He could, as Manhunter suggested, become nearly omniscient.

As a means of practice with the Collective ****, pulling out and storing information, he decided to sharpen and enhance his culinary knowledge and skills.