All characters are the property of DC Comics and Warner Bros. Any other reference material is owned by Disney, Hasbro Studios and the like... Anyway... here's the story...
March 22th- 6:30pm Eastern Time.
Like most Tuesday nights, things were usually quiet but for one group of young heroes that didn't last long.
Bart Allen or Impulse as he was mainly known as, whistled casually as he walked through the warehouse. Since everyone had the evening off, he was in civilian clothes like his other teammates. Finishing off the last of his bag of Lays barbeque flavored chips; he went to see what the others were up to. He spotted Dick and Barbara in the middle of the room with cardboard boxes and papers scattered on the floor.
"What are you guys doing?" Bart asked.
"Sorting through some old papers," Dick replied.
"Yeah, Black Canary and Batman called. Said they needed a certain document for something important." Barb explained.
"Like?" Bart said in a puzzled tone.
"The Hall of Justice is due for an inspection; ya know make sure the building is up to code." Dick answered.
"Oh, maybe I can help you find what you're looking for." Bart offered.
"Uh, Bart remember what happened the last time you helped?" Barb asked.
"Ohh, yeah." Bart answered.
"Good thing Alfred was able to replace the mailbox." Said Dick.
"And get the paint off the Batmobile." Barbara added.
The three of them were talking about the time Bart had helped wash the Batmobile and ran into the mailbox when he stepped on the gas instead of the brake.
Barbara picked up another sheet of paper and finally found what she and Dick had been looking for.
"Phew! Found it." She sighed.
"Great," said Dick.
"That does it!" a familiar female voice rang out.
"Uh-oh, I hear trouble." Said Bart.
"I can't believe you did that!" Artemis exclaimed.
"Hey, how was I supposed to know it was dry clean only?" Wally asked.
"It says so right on the tag." Artemis answered, holding up her damaged olive green jacket.
"Oh… well, I'm sorry." Wally apologized.
"You're sorry? You… forget it." Said Artemis.
She got up and headed for the door.
"Artemis, wait!" Wally called.
"What just happened?" Bart asked, looking rather confused.
"I have no idea." Said Barbara.
2 days later…
March 24th 7:45 pm, Eastern Time
"So…" Bart started to say, looking over at Karen.
"They're still not talking to each other." She answered.
"But it's been two whole days, how long can a girl stay mad?" Bart asked.
"You'd be surprised." Dick replied.
Bart put down his paper plate and chopsticks before walking over to Wally and Artemis. Fridays were take-out night and it was something they looked forward to since it gave them and their teammates time to talk and laugh.
"C'mon you guys, don't you have something you'd like to say to each other?" Bart asked.
"No!" Wally and Artemis replied simultaneously.
Bart quickly backed up.
"Forget I asked." He said.
Later…
"Hey Arty, what are you up to?" Bart asked.
"I quit," she answered.
"Quit what? Not the team." Said Bart.
"No, I'm quitting college; of course I'm quitting the team!" Artemis exclaimed.
"But… you can't! No way!" Bart sputtered.
Artemis looked at him for a moment.
"Oh yeah? Watch me." She said.
Packing the last of her belongings, she picked up her bag and started to leave.
Dick looked up from his laptop.
"Artemis, where are you going?" he asked.
"Yeah, and what are you doing with your gym bag?" Barbara asked, putting down the TV guide she had been reading.
"Look, guys it's not workin' out so… I'm quitting the team. I can't do this anymore." Artemis announced.
Barbara's jaw dropped.
"What?!"
"You can't be serious!" said Dick.
"Listen, I'm sorry but the whole superhero gig is just too much." Artemis replied.
As she headed for the door she bumped into Wally.
"Oof!" he said, running into her.
"Excuse me,"
"Watch it, Wally." Artemis growled.
"Sorry, I didn't see you." He said.
"Well, you'll be seeing less of me because I'm leaving." Artemis told him.
"Say what?! Artemis, come back!" Wally shouted.
Letting out a loud sigh, Wally sat down in a nearby chair.
I wonder if anyone else is in the same boat as I am."
Later that night…
New York City- 11:00pm, Eastern Time
New York was had two nicknames, The Big Apple and the City that never sleeps. For two heroes, it was just that. The sounds of traffic could be heard in nearby Central Park.
"We've been waitin' an hour, what gives?" Impulse asked, as he paced.
"Chill, Bart." Said Bumblebee.
They had both received a call from Red Arrow and agreed to meet up in the park.
"Hey, you two." Red Arrow greeted them, as he came up from behind an oak tree.
"Sheesh, Roy, what took ya?" Impulse said.
"Sorry, it took Tim longer to compile all the photos." Red Arrow explained, handing Impulse a small black and silver U.S.B. drive.
"So, it's all there?" Bumblebee asked.
"Everything you asked for." Red Arrow answered.
The U.S.B. drive contained photos from the Daily Planet that had been featured in a recent interview with Lex Luthor.
"Good, once this stuff is on YouTube there's no way that…" Bart stopped short when he heard a cellphone ring.
"Excuse me," said Roy who pulled the phone out of his pocket.
"Hello? Oh, hey… now? All right, I'll be there." Said Red Arrow before he hung up.
"I gotta get going. Green Arrow called, Icicle Jr and his Dad are in San Francisco. Fisherman's wharf is frozen." He explained.
"Have fun in the city by the bay." Impulse joked.
"I'll send ya a loaf of sourdough bread when I get there." Red Arrow replied, putting his quiver over his right shoulder.
Impulse and Bumblebee laughed.
"Very funny, man." Impulse replied once he stopped laughing.
"Later," said Red Arrow and with that, he hopped over a brick wall and left.
"Well, I guess now we'll go back to…" Bumblebee stopped short when she heard a noise coming from behind her.
"Did you hear that?" Impulse asked.
He pulled back the branch of a shrub and saw two familiar figures standing near a tree.
"Hey, isn't that…?" Impulse was cut off.
"Shh!" said Bumblebee.
"What are they doing here?" Impulse asked.
"I don't know." Bumblebee answered.
"Come 'on, let's go check it out" Impulse suggested.
He and Bumblebee slowly moved closer, trying to stay hidden while making their way behind a large hedge bush.
1 hour earlier…
10:00pm, Eastern Time…
Hardly anyone was up at this time of the night all except for two people.
The Scientist looked out a nearby window and sighed.
Normally, she would be in her dorm but this time she got up feeling restless.
To get her mind off what happened earlier, she sat down at her desk, typing.
"Working late?" a familiar voice asked.
The Scientist froze and turned around.
"Yes, what are you up to?" she replied.
"Nothing, just couldn't sleep." The Ambassador explained.
"Me either," said the Scientist.
"I… uh… thought you might want to try this," the Ambassador replied, placing a paper cup on the desk.
The Scientist raised an eyebrow, not sure how to react.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Something Lex Luthor told me about. The humans call it coffee." The Ambassador answered.
Feeling curious, the Scientist took a sip, she frowned for a moment.
"It takes some getting used to," the Ambassador told her.
"Not bad," she said.
The Ambassador glanced at the computer screen.
"So… what are you working on?" he asked.
"Just organizing some files, nothing special." The Scientist replied.
"I see," The Ambassador said.
He was quickly alerted by the Scientist who was cracking her knuckles.
"Was that you?" he asked.
"Yes," she answered.
"That was…" he stopped short.
"What?" she asked.
"Never mind," he said.
He began tapping his fingers on the desk, obviously bored and paused when he heard the Scientist clear her throat.
Chuckling sheepishly, he stopped and looked up at her.
"Sorry, nervous habit."
He leaned up against the wall and continued to watch her, blinking every now and then.
Licking the back of right hand, he wiped it on his cheek then started working on his eyebrows.
The Scientist glanced at him for a minute before she spoke.
"You take your time grooming don't you?"
The Ambassador paused to reply.
"You noticed?"
The Scientist nodded.
"Just another habit of mine," the Ambassador replied.
The Scientist simply rolled her eyes.
"Right…" she said in a dull tone.
After a while, the Ambassador broke the silence.
"You… uh… want to go for a walk?"
The Scientist stopped typing and looked at her boss.
"With you or alone?"
He snickered at her reply.
"Come 'on," he said before heading for the door.
"What'd I say?" the Scientist asked in a confused tone as she got up.
Moments later…
"You know, Lennox. When you asked about going for a walk, I didn't think you meant going outside." She admitted.
The Ambassador, Lennox turned around to answer.
"You didn't ask,"
"Point taken… why did you want to come out here, anyway?" the Scientist asked.
"Eh, just needed a break," Dax, replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"I understand." Said The Scientist.
"C'mon, I'd like to show you something." Lennox told her.
The Scientist raised an eyebrow, feeling uneasy.
"Trust me," Lennox insisted.
"All right," the Scientist sighed.
After a few minutes of walking down a path in Central Park, they stopped in an area with grass and trees.
"Interesting… I heard about this statue." Said Lennox
He was currently looking at the statue of the famous sled dog, Balto.
"Humans really love dogs,"
"This one saved an entire town by bringing back medicine during some sort of outbreak." Said the Scientist, pointing to what was engraved below the statue.
"In the winter of 1925," Lennox read.
He glanced at the Scientist for a minute.
"You all right?"
"I'm fine," she replied.
"Mm-hmm,"Lennox muttered.
A short time later, he stopped when he got to a patch of grass near a hill. Around this time of the night, the park was pretty much deserted, with the exception of nocturnal wildlife.
"Well, here we are." Lennox announced.
"This is the place you were talking about?" the Scientist asked.
Lennox nodded.
The Scientist looked around for a minute than back at him.
"I don't get it," she said.
"Isn't it obvious?" Lennox asked her.
"Sorry, I'm not following you." She answered.
"Ok… for starters, it has a great view of the city." Lennox pointed out.
The Scientist looked up at the New York skyline; she had to admit the view was a nice one.
"I guess you're right," she replied.
"Seriously, look at the size of this place. Eight million people." Said Lennox
"I don't get why anyone would want to live in a crowded metropolitan city like this." The Scientist admitted.
"I'll say this, it's no different than where we grew up." Lennox told her.
"True," she replied.
The two of them looked at the skyline once more, hardly saying anything to each other. Although they had seen photos and stock footage of Metropolis, Los Angeles and other American metropolitan cities, New York's skyline seemed to be brighter than the others.
Lennox glanced at the Scientist; she wasn't really the kind of person to start a conversation.
Letting out a yawn, she noticed him looking at her.
"What?" she asked.
Lennox snapped out of his thought.
"Oh! Uh… nothing." He sputtered.
"You're sure?" the Scientist asked.
"Yes," Lennox insisted and grinned nervously.
The Scientist gave him an odd look.
"'Kay,"
There was an awkward silence between the two of them but it didn't last long.
Lennox spotted something about four feet away.
"Huh?" he sputtered.
"What is it?" the Scientist asked, looking in the same direction.
"I thought I saw something," Lennox answered.
He continued to look and saw a small bright green light flickering.
"I did, look!" he said, pointing at the light as it came closer.
It didn't take long for the Scientist to recognize it.
"I came across something about this while researching native fauna. They're fireflies." She explained.
"Really? Interesting name." said Lennox
He yelped in surprise when the insect landed on his face.
"Hey! Get off." He growled and tried to blow it off.
The Scientist couldn't help but laugh.
"Well, I'll be." She said.
"Out of here," Lennox sputtered, he shook himself in attempt to get the firefly off him.
The Scientist paused when it landed on the back of her right hand. She had removed her gloves some time ago.
"Would you look at that," said Lennox
The Scientist smiled as she looked at the firefly before it took off.
"That was different," she admitted.
"Sure was," Lennox agreed.
He stopped smiling and looked at the ground.
"There's another reason why I wanted to come out here," he confessed.
"Oh?" was the Scientist's reply.
Lennox sighed and rubbed the back of neck.
"I'm… sorry, I yelled at you earlier." He said.
"Eh, it was…" he cut the Scientist off.
"No, really I mean it. It was wrong and I apologize."
The Scientist stared at him in shock. Ever since they had a bit of a disagreement earlier that day regarding the press conference involving Lex Luthor, neither one of them talked to each other. They also hardly called one another by name.
"I hope you didn't take it personally," said Lennox, leaning against a sycamore tree.
"No, actually I've been called worse." The Scientist replied.
Lennox swallowed hard at hearing this.
The Scientist looked up at the sky.
"It's a clear night," she said.
"I'll say," Lennox agreed.
Although they were in the middle of Manhattan and surrounded by skyscrapers and high-rises, a few stars could be seen in the distance.
Lennox was quickly alerted by a faint rustling.
"You hear something?" he asked.
"Like what?" the Scientist replied.
"It's coming from that bush," said Lennox
Just then a black and white cat walked out. Her fur was semi-long and scruffy, she didn't have a collar, making it obvious she lived on the streets. She glanced at Lennox and the Scientist then looked back in the direction she came, her hazel eyes staring at some nearby bushes. The cat meowed, as if calling someone.
"It's just a cat," the Scientist told him.
"I don't think so," Lennox continued.
Shortly after the cat had come out of the bushes, four kittens followed her. Three of them had black and white fur like their mother and the forth was gray with black stripes.
The Scientist grinned for a brief moment.
She shook her head afterward, trying to snap out of her thought. She had never been the motherly type, though seeing the cat and her kittens made her smile. They were rather cute.
Lennox yawned after a while, he and the Scientist had been out for almost an hour and both of them had started getting tired.
"It's getting late," said Lennox
"I better head back, I've got an early start tomorrow." The Scientist explained.
The two of them yelped when their hands touched. It was an awkward moment. They made eye contact, his orange eyes looking right back at her yellow ones.
"Well… um… good night, Lennox." The Scientist said nervously before she started walking away.
"'Night… Laila," he replied while she was within earshot range.
The Scientist, Laila stopped in her tracks and turned around. She chuckled at hearing this.
"Nobody's called me that in a long time." Said Laila before she and Lennox went their separate ways.
"Are they gone?" Bumblebee asked.
"Yeah," Impulse answered.
Shortly after that, the two of them climbed down from their hiding place in a tree.
"You get all that?" Impulse asked.
"Sure did," said Bumblebee, she had recorded the conversation between Lennox and Laila and had snapped a couple photos of them with her Iphone.
She and Bart snickered, it was pretty funny.
Bart pulled out his phone and started pressing a few buttons.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Bumblebee asked.
"Eh, just sending an email." Impulse replied.
"O…K," was all Bumblebee could say as they left the park and headed back to the warehouse.
Bart snickered,
"This'll be a scream." He said to himself.
Pressing the send button, he tried to keep himself from laughing. Nightwing, Kid Flash and Batgirl were going to get a kick out of this one.
Meanwhile…
"Funny seeing you around these parts." Said a familiar voice.
Artemis froze and turned around.
"Hey Junior, long time no see." She replied.
"It has been a long time, what are you doing out here?" he asked.
He had managed to get away from both Green Arrow and Red Arrow and made his way back to Blüdhaven.
"I needed some air," Artemis answered.
"Oh," was Junior's reply.
He sat down on a nearby bench next to Artemis.
"So, how's the superhero gig going?"
"I quit." Artemis confessed.
Junior nearly fell over, was she serious?
"You did what?! Why?" he sputtered.
"Wall… Kid Flash and I got into an argument," said Artemis.
Junior scratched his head, still confused.
"About what?"
"He washed my favorite jacket." Artemis answered.
"The one your Mom got you after graduation?" Junior asked.
"Yeah, it said dry clean only on the tag. Anyway, it shrunk in the wash." Artemis explained.
"Yikes," said Junior.
"He said he was sorry but…" Artemis stopped and sighed.
"I really liked that jacket,"
"You guys try to talk it out?" Junior asked.
"No, not really." Artemis admitted.
"Call me crazy but I think you should go back there and talk to him." Said Junior.
Artemis' eyes bucked.
"What?"
"Yeah, really, I'm serious." Junior insisted.
"Why is that?" Artemis asked.
"Similar thing happened to me and Tuppence except it was a cat. I promised to take care of him while she and Tommy were out of town. One day the cat got out and… I tried to find him but when I didn't I broke the news to her when she got back." Junior explained.
"And how did that go?" Artemis continued.
"She wouldn't talk to me for a week… then one night when I got home, guess who was sitting at my front door?" said Junior.
"The cat?" Artemis asked.
Junior nodded.
"I called Tuppence and… anyway, it worked out. So, long story short we're friends again." He concluded.
"That's good, maybe you're right." Artemis agreed.
She stood up and looked at Junior with a smile.
"Thanks, Junior. You're a good friend."
Junior smiled back.
"You too, Arty."
"See ya," said Artemis.
She turned to leave but stopped when Junior said something.
"Hey, Artemis."
"Yeah?" she asked, turning around.
"Do me a favor, don't ever change. You're one of the good ones." Junior answered.
Artemis grinned.
"I won't" she promised and with that she and Junior went their separate ways.
The Next Day…
March 26th- 10:30 am, Eastern Time
"Hey Wally, check your email? You're not gonna believe this one." Bart asked as he walked in the room.
"Can't talk now, Bart. There's something I gotta do." Wally answered.
"I understand, it's all crash. Go ahead." Said Bart.
Grabbing a backpack with his belongings, Wally headed out to where his teammates were.
"Hey Wally, what's up?" Nightwing greeted him.
"Artemis hasn't come back and things haven't been working out so…. I'm thinking of leaving too. You guys got Bart so, I'll see you around." Wally explained before heading towards the door.
"Wally, wait! Wait!" Batgirl called.
The next thing she, Nightwing, Bumblebee and Bart heard was the door slam.
"This is bad," Nightwing said after a moment of silence.
"We gotta do something." Bumblebee added.
"But what?" Batgirl and Impulse said at the same time.
"Ya'll got any bright ideas?" Bumblebee asked.
Everyone just groaned, nobody had a plan at all.
"Ok…great."
MORE TO COME…
Chapter 2 is currently the works. Aside from that... feel free to check out my other stories such as Just Another Day in the Neighborhood and Bikes, Buses and Subways.
Ciao for now!