"Henry, look at you. Why do you do this, you could be so many things with your size. You could probably even compete with those other people your size in that arena.” implored Damon Cole, one of the parents of the local elementary school and an acquaintance of the dedicated crossing guard.

Henry Stubbins stepped in front of a moving car and held up his sign so that a herd of students could make their way across the street on their way to school.

“Protecting these children matters more to me than anything in this world. That’s why I do it.” he shouted back to the parent, who did not cross with his three children, hoping to extract a deeper answer.

“But anyone could do this job, why you?!”

Henry chuckled and waved Damon through, putting a hand up to apologize to the frustrated driver stuck waiting. The family shuffled through and traffic resumed. Henry contemplated the question, knowing his answer but curious why Damon pressed for one. It had been many years since his daughter Bianca vanished from a crosswalk. He vowed to do anything to make crosswalks safer.

Another group of children began to cross. Henry held his sign and held a stern face at the stalled lanes. Behind the stopped cars, something moved quickly towards him. The force of its movement bumped vehicles aside and whizzed by him and the kids, passing through his domain.

“STOP!” Henry turned his head and shouted. The speedster looked back in the blur of motion, but continued moving, quickly out of sight.

The students were startled, but Henry knew his duty. This was not just unlawful. It was dangerous. It was unjust. He would bring a stop to they who failed to obey.

Once all crosswalks were closed for the day, Henry retired to his apartment. It was not difficult to track the speedster. Apparently, it had been tracked across the country, and now was mapped to be heading towards the coast.

Even at his size, Stubbins knew he would not be able to bring such a powerful being to a complete stop. He would need help.

Luckily, Henry once knew a woman named Alba when he was trying to locate Bianca who might be willing to help. A quick drive to her home and a knock on the door would reunite the two.

“Alba Abernathy the Third, it’s been too long.” Henry smiled charmingly as he hugged the ancient woman.

“Yes, yes. Come in. Let’s begin.” she stated eerily, somehow already aware of the situation.

“Out!”

“OUT!”

“OUT OUT OUT!” shrieked the face protruding from the center of Alba’s back, pressed against the cloth of her shirt. 

“Ignore her, she must not remember you.” Alba apologized.

Henry nodded and entered the dark living room, which was encircled with a red substance, presumably blood. Within the ring was a stop sign and a stop light.

“This ritual will stop whomever you seek to stop. Keep them in mind as I begin. Please… enter the circle.”

Henry recalled a failure in the locating of Bianca many years prior. “Are you sure this will-”

“You know this is different. This will work.” Alba assured him.

“Leave! LEAVE!” screamed Alba’s other face. Alba shook her head and lifted a book, beginning to chant the strange words on the page.

The room quickly began to fade into darkness. Henry could see only himself, the items in the circle with him, and the speedster he sought to bring to justice. His vision, too, began to fade and he felt the worst pain he’d ever felt before losing consciousness.

The crossing guard rose from the ground, but was no longer in Alba’s home. It seemed her ritual was another failure. There was no speedster, and Henry Stubbins found himself at his usual crosswalk. All the children around him, the cars, the birds, the air itself….stopped.

Something felt different. As strange as the stopped world was, stranger still was his body. Henry’s chest was replaced with the symbol he needed the power of, a stop sign. On his arms were red, green and yellow lights. It was obvious the ritual did work, just not as intended. Henry Stubbins was no more. To secure the safety of all crosswalks, he became HardStop.

HardStop focused all his energy to the light on his arm, trying to switch it from red to green. The light would not switch, and nothing but himself would move. The reality of a frozen world set in, and the new hero realized that the speedster would have to wait.