AN: This story is basically a series of character explorations about Speed. Because why not? He's awesome.

Gravity

Idiot that he was, Wiccan was on the top of the skyscraper fighting the suicidal maniac—one of those "purifier" people who hated mutants, and aliens, and homosexuals, and people with unnatural white hair—and he didn't see that the building was about to blow up.

Speed did see, and he immediately took action, running to grab his brother in his arms and jump off the top of the skyscraper as it blew up just a split second later.

He held tight to his brother as they fell down, down, down, the heat of the explosion searing against their skin.

For Billy, everything was happening so fast, he'd only just barely even registered the fact that he and his brother were falling, the world rushing by at dizzying speed, and oh gods they were going to die, weren't they? This was the end, this was it, he was screaming with his very last breath.

But for Tommy, everything was moving in slow-motion. He watched the building explode in a mockingly beautiful flower of vivid red, orange, and yellow destruction. He saw the reflection of it in the windows of the nearby buildings that he was slowly drifting by. He watched the dark hair flicker and whip gently back from Billy's face, and he could see his own reflection in those terrified, wide brown eyes.

He smiled, even though he knew his brother couldn't see it. He'd gotten them out of the way in time. They were going to be okay.

Spinning in the air, Tommy turned so that he would land on his feet, brother held safely in his arms, bridal-style. The speedster would absorb the entire impact, and Billy would never even touch the ground.

Gray concrete came up gently against Tommy's feet, and he bent his knees to absorb the slight shock waves, before he straightened up easily.

This was nothing. He was a speedster, he'd crashed head-first into solid rock while moving faster than the speed of sound. Gravity was so much slower than he was.

"You okay, bro?" he asked, glancing down at his brother. "You aren't going to make me carry around you like this, are you? 'Cause I really don't want to miss out on the fighting. It's way too much fun."

Billy blinked as he realized they were no longer falling, and they weren't dead. He also realized he was being carried in his brother's arms, bridal-style, and as if he hardly weighed anything.

"What just happened?!" he said, as Tommy apparently decided that he was perfectly fine and set him on his feet.

"The building blew up," Tommy said. "I didn't exactly want my twin brother to get blown up with it, so I grabbed you and jumped." He smirked slightly. "But I'm afraid your cape got kinda charred from the heat of the explosion."

"You jumped from the top a skyscraper?!" Billy exclaimed, eyes wide as he glanced around at their burning surroundings. "How did we even survive?! I didn't even feel anything!"

Tommy shrugged. "I landed on my feet," he said simply, even as his gaze slipped past his brother's face and his eyes hardened to green diamond.

There were still more "purifiers," and one of them had just raised a gun and was shooting at them.

Tommy moved his brother out of the way, then reached out leisurely to snatch a bullet out of the air as it zipped by, glaring at the piece of metal, then at the man who'd shot it.

Billy blinked as there was the sound of gunfire and he was suddenly several feet away from where he'd been standing, his brother next to him frowning at a bullet held between his fingers.

"I really hate these guys," Tommy hissed. He glanced at his brother. "Would you like to finish these losers, or should I?"

"My turn," Billy said, raising his glowing hands as his eyes locked on the rest of the suicidal maniacs.

Later, after they'd finished with the "purifiers" and gotten back to the mansion, Billy turned to his brother.

"How did you know you'd survive that fall? That you could jump from a skyscraper, land on your feet, and be perfectly okay? Are you sure you're okay?"

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Of course I'm okay," he scoffed, holding out his hands and turning in a circle to show off his physically perfect being, then zipped off, changed from his Speed outfit into a t-shirt and jeans, then zipped back. Then he did a flip, just to prove that he could. "See?" he grinned smugly.

"But how did you know?" Billy inquired, curiously and, strangely, concernedly.

Tommy frowned at him. "Um, because I'm a speedster. Duh. Special physiology, remember? Gravity doesn't mean too much to me. If I can crash into things at superspeed and be perfectly okay, then I can take nice, leisurely fall from a skyscraper. I mean, it's not even that far to fall. It was really boring. Diving off the top of Angel Falls—now that's fun! And getting tossed out of an airplane is even better!"

For some reason, Billy's brow furrowed. "You've gotten tossed out of an airplane?"

Oh. That was why.

Tommy just rolled his eyes again. "Perhaps 'tossed' was the wrong word," he amended, before smirking slightly. "There's a lot of things I've done that you don't know about, little brother."

For some reason, Billy did not seem the least bit reassured by this. If anything, he seemed even more concerned. Tommy fought the urge to roll his eyes again.

Whatever.