Before the doctor could ask any more questions, the door sprang open and a man stepped inside. She had short brown hair combed neatly to the side, brown eyes, a single ear piercing, and a crisp white lab coat.
"Doctor Hale," the man beside Leon said, straightening up.
Hale ignored him, turning the tablet so both of them could see. A holographic display flickered above it, showing a pulsing, unstable wave pattern.
"This is you," Hale said. "Or more specifically… the energy inside you."
Leon blinked. "Okay, but that looks like a heartbeat drawn by a drunk person."
The first doctor let out a sigh. "He's not entirely wrong."
Hale pinched the bridge of her nose. "This reading matches a signature we've only theorized about in controlled environments. Tachyon residue. But here's the strange part: it's stabilizing inside your body instead of dissipating."
"So? Seriously, can you use language I actually understand?" Leon said.
"It means we don't know," Hale answered bluntly. "And that's why we need to run tests."
Before Leon could respond, the door opened again. His dad finally entered, holding a grocery bag filled with fruit… and looking like he hadn't taken a full breath since he left the house.
"Leon," he said, setting the bag down quickly. "Why didn't you call? Why didn't the hospital call? What happened?"
"I… I didn't know what was happening," Leon admitted.
"You collapsed outside the house. Do you understand how terrifying that was?" his dad said. "One second you were gone, the next you were—"
"Sir," Doctor Hale interjected, "your son is stable. But he was exposed to a form of energy we don't fully understand yet."
Leon's dad stiffened. "Energy? What kind of energy?"
"Tachyon-related phenomena," Hale replied.
She continued, "Mr. Gordan, we require consent to perform deeper scans. If your son is producing or containing tachyonic activity, we cannot release him until we understand the risk."
Leon snapped his head toward her. "Release me? I'm not a prisoner."
"Yes, we know you're not a prisoner," she said calmly, "but someone suddenly developing these powers can be risky."
After a few more hours, Leon was finally allowed to leave the hospital. They were cautious but after his mother begged nonstop, they agreed to discharge him. Still, they warned he wasn't allowed to return to school until they were certain nothing else would happen. And he had to have regular check-ups for around a week before any normal activity.
Back in his room, Leon sat on his bed, thinking. It was every kid's dream to have a superpower. Every kid imagined beating down villains and saving the day.
"But the most important thing," Leon said out loud, "is that I have to be careful and never reveal my identity."
He glanced toward his window.
"I also can't just wander the streets looking for villains to fight all day. Although… this is Chicago. I could probably open the window and see people going at it."
Leon knew that the most important thing about a hero after his superpower was his costume; he also knew that he couldn't go around with a lame costume.
He turned on super-thinking. Well, it wasn't like the name suggested. It just helped him think faster, nothing to do with him thinking smarter; it also helped with processing power.
From the tests that the doctors did, he had figured out a whole bunch about his powers.
It turns out that his body is automatically in rest mode; when hit with dopamine, stress, or just pure willpower, it can turn on.[1]
His superspeed doesn't just affect his eyes, it affects his entire body. So healing super-fast or thinking super-fast are by-products.
And lastly, he gets hungry the more he uses his power, and if he doesn't eat, then his body will either go on rest mode or pass out.
His mom was right downstairs making dinner. Leon knew that he couldn't just become a hero overnight, especially since they knew all of his powers and were told most of them. They would also know if a random hero in Chicago suddenly appeared and was able to move fast and stopped crime; as soon as their son got superspeed, they would be able to clock it.
Leon had thought this all through though. The first step was to make a design of the outfit; it would take days and research for the right materials and stuff. He didn't want people to catch him lacking in some ordinary clothes like some other superheroes. He was still short on creativity, but in due time he would learn all the secrets to creating the suit.
"It's weird how I'm thinking of all this the second I get powers! It's so exciting!!"
The second thing he prepared for were sites of vantages, places where he could keep food or rest without being caught. It would be pretty obvious that he was using his powers if he kept on getting hungry and eating every day. As said previously, as long as he doesn't use his powers, then the amount of food consumption he takes in would reduce. His parents would catch on if he was always in a constant mood for food.
The third thing he would have to do is scan the whole of Chicago for security cameras. The main problem with this is that Leon was afraid that when coming back home or going to his vantage, he would be caught on security cameras, and he would be exposed. Obviously, he knew that he couldn't outrun the security cameras at his current speed, but soon enough he would be able to.
The fourth thing he would do is observe Chicago for places of low and high crime. While the crime level isn't as dangerous as other states due to them having literal superheroes and supervillains, it doesn't mean that it isn't as bad. The regular crime rate in Chicago is high, and if Leon could target the specific areas, then he would be able to efficiently stop it.
"Obviously this is all before I reveal my identity. I want to be like a myth, like someone others would debate whether or not they exist before I come out. I also want a really cool name."
"Leo!!! Dinner is ready!" his mom called out.
Leon turned off his super-thinking, promptly closed the door to his room, and walked down the stairs. He could already smell the amazing food that was downstairs.
"Damn, is she preparing a feast?" he said while walking down. He saw his dad sitting on a chair browsing through his phone and his mom laying down the final plate.
She gave him one petty smirk before saying, "Took your time, speedy boy," she mocked.
"Ehh?"
"I was expecting you to be faster, since you have the ability to be fast and stuff, you know," she explained.
"No, I got you, just wasn't expecting it," Leon replied. "Either way, thanks for the food. It looks delicious. This is nearly as much food as we had on Thanksgiving!"
"C'mon, even you know that's a stretch," his dad replied, getting up from his chair and walking next to the table seat. He gave Mom a kiss and thanked her.
"Woah, okay, lover-birds," Leon said, backing away. "Y'all can have this one to yourselves."
"Awee, don't spoil the mood, Leo. It's your special day!" his mom said, sitting on a chair.
Leon walked back and sat down with his family.
"And can't we have a little fun? We haven't seen each other in years!!" his dad said.
"Huh? What do you mean 'in years'? Anyone who got snapped didn't even feel like years had gone by," Leon replied calmly. "So technically it is Mom who should be the one saying it."
"Same thing," his dad grumbled.
"Let's just enjoy this," his mom said, grabbing the hands of us all. "Don't want to let the food get cold!"
As soon as she said that, his dad quickly retracted his hand and took a piece of chicken faster than Leon could blink. He had purposely done that since he knew that his mom's chicken was Leon's favorite part of the meal.
"What's this? The boy with superspeed is slower than a regular citizen like me?" his dad mocked.
"I'll show you slow," Leon said.
He turned on his powers and took the other piece of chicken, then took a meat sausage and some of the mac n' cheese. After swallowing it all, he turned off his powers and stuck his tongue out.
"Gosh, you guys are so childish," his mom said, giving them the eye. "Eat slowly, be careful not to choke, and don't play around with the food, goddamn it!"
Leon was shocked for a minute before reverting back to his normal self. He had almost forgotten what it was like with his dad back, how much fun they had. It was a shame that he had been gone for all these years.
"No can do, madam!" his dad mocked and snatched another piece of food that Leon was going to grab.
"Hey, that was mine," Leon said, giving his dad a puzzled look.
"You sneeze, you lose! And don't even think about using them powers. What's the point of eating this if you're just going to get hungry right after?" he said with food still in his mouth.
His mom just smiled at their shenanigans. They continued to eat and banter and do stuff that family does, you know, the typical family stuff.
[1] Further explanation here. Yes this would mean that if he was told of some bad news his powers would activate for example at a funeral his powers would activate. Also with dopamine so stuff like gooning, gaming or gym would be activities a lot slower for him. So it's not always a positive and he can't control it in SOME scenarios.