Things were going pretty smoothly, and I was still reeling from the thrill of being able to move as fast as I was. Granted, I wasn't nearly as fast as the speedy man, and I don't think it's possible for me to attain that level of speed. Speed is his whole thing, after all. But this was still a lot better than the way I used to get around.

These pleasant thoughts were interrupted by a startling realization. Because I was so fast, and durable, I might have been running through cars and crashing through buildings this entire time; without even noticing. Okay... don't panic... I could sense the fast guy with this Universal Awareness ability, maybe if I just make sure to check for other living things around me as well, I can make an effort to avoid them.

I continued like this for a while, heading toward the fast man's location, the wind whistling all around me and city sounds blaring in and out. But I was barely managing to close any distance at all. This was seemingly not the same kind of ability he had... I was able to accelerate a lot faster than I could before I'd received my powers, and my top speed was much higher than that of a normal human. But compared to him, I might as well have just been standing still.

Suddenly, he disappeared from my mental radar. The dimensional hopping issue must have kicked in, I thought. I was able to use the time he'd disappeared to close in on where he was, but just as I reached his location, he popped back and just kept running in the same direction as before. I was basically neck and neck with him when this happened, and he was barely within arm's reach. He must have noticed me out of the corner of his eye, because he looked back at me and his eyes widened in surprise.

He stopped, and so did I, ready to finally explain myself to him.

But I forgot, my powers didn't work the same way his did. His speed was something he could turn on and off at will, he could start and stop whenever he wanted. My super speed only made me super fast after I'd accelerated a good amount beforehand, and then I slowly gained speed as I traveled.

This meant the laws of physics applied to my powers, but not to his. So, when I simply "stopped", I did not simply stop running, standing in place, ready to have a conversation with the guy.

I tripped and went hurtling through the air, flipping wildly and nearly crashing through a store window down the sidewalk, on the other end of the street. Luckily the Fastest Man Alive was there. Just before I could smash through the glass, he grabbed me and set me down; safely in front of the store.

"I told you, I can't join your group. And besides, you were plenty fast just now, why do you even need me?" He asked.

"It's not just about your powers, I think it's about your motivations. I get the sense you aren't someone who would back down easily in the face of some of the dangers we might face."

Blur began to look down once I'd said this, and I took this to mean that maybe I was starting to convince him.

"And besides, I can't do what you do, I had to take advantage of your "dimensional hop" thing to catch up. I also think we might be able to do something about your problem, but I can't really promise anything."

"Then why-," He started to interrupt. I didn't want to give him the chance to make a point that I couldn't really argue with, so I just kept going.

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"-If you come with me, we can probably find out. If you don't like what you hear then I'm sure they'd understand you not wanting to be involved. I don't think this is an opportunity you should pass up. And if you really want to help people, what better way than protecting our entire planet?"

Blur finally looked me in the eye, and I could tell that I'd finally sold him on the idea of joining- which was a relief to me, since I barely knew what I was doing.

"I promise, even if they won't help, I'll do everything I can to help you." And I meant it. Besides, what good was my new position as "Defender of the Universe" if I couldn't even use it to help just this one person?

We stood in silence for a few moments, as cars and people passed by us. Sounds of the street permeated the atmosphere, and I could feel the afternoon sun beating down on us. Finally, Blur broke our silence.

"Alright, I guess I don't have much to lose either way. I still have a few minutes left here before I get warped off to the next dimension, so why don't you point me toward the HQ or... wherever you came from? I'll head over there as soon as I get back."

I was happy to hear that I'd recruited our first member- and I was about to answer him, when I realized that I had no clue how to get back to the ship. Just then, there was a flash of light in front of me- and Behemoth stood before us. He looked over at me, and I expected to see a glint of admiration- or perhaps pride. This was my first job, after all. But instead, what I got was...

"You could have done that without wasting so much time." Behemoth told me, before turning to Blur. I could have sworn that I saw a pained expression flicker across his face at the sight of our new Speedster, but I thought that was probably just my imagination. Behemoth was now wearing a business suit, and simply looked like a very tall and professional man- with a black eyepatch over the metal eye. There was no sign of the metal arm, or the mutated arm from earlier- and what was even stranger, was that the people walking around us seemed not to notice the flash of light that brought Behemoth here at all. I thought I'd ask him about all this later.

"Greetings, er.. Blur. I heard most of you guys' convo, and I wanted to say that we can indeed solve your problem." He reached into his pocket, and withdrew a little silver wristwatch. He offered it to Blur, and I watched as Blur fastened it around his wrist.

"What does this do?" He asked, to which Behemoth gave him a little smile. This was the last thing I expected that Metal Mutant to do, and I could sense a degree of sadness behind his expression... but again, I thought maybe it was just my imagination.

"That regulates the frequency at which your molecules vibrate, so you stop phasing out of this dimension at random intervals. I understand that you may have been living other lives in the other dimensions, so you can simply adjust the watch to enable you to phase into whatever dimension you want."

Blur looked absolutely dumbfounded. "W-what? How does something like this even exist?"

"I... wouldn't question it. Someday, you will learn how. But for now, just enjoy it. I.. can imagine what you've been dealing with all this time."

"Now." He said this a little louder, seemingly trying to get the two of us to pay attention. "There is one other person I want you two to recruit. She works at a Walmart Vision Center... I'll let you guys learn more about her when you see her." He slipped Blur a piece of paper, which I assumed to be the address.

Behemoth's eye began to glow, apparently quite brightly as it was visible from behind his eyepatch. I figured he was about to teleport, so I quickly voiced a question that had been burning in my mind for ages.

"Wait, wait, I got attacked by this guy earlier.. Super Semicolon, he called himself. You didn't warn me about him. What do I do if he shows up?"

Behemoth looked me in the eye, dead serious. "Run."

Just then, yet another bright flash of light appeared- and of course, Behemoth was gone, leaving me alone with Blur, technically the first member of my Champions of the Universe.

"You wanna go recruit this chick? That guy handed me an address." He asked me. I was still a little caught off-guard by this whole thing, especially the way Behemoth reacted to me telling him about Semicolon.

"Yeah... let's do it." So Blur grabbed my arm, and off we went.