Chapter 2: Impulse Scores Big
As Jacob awoke the following morning, he discovered another perk of becoming a speedster: he didn't wake up tired in the morning.
Normally, he would find getting up in the morning, with his brain still asleep, especially on school mornings.
This time, however, he woke up bright eyed and cheerful.
He quickly changed into his clothes for the day before dashing downstairs to get his breakfast.
At the table, his dad was waiting for him.
"Ah, good morning, Jacob" he said happily, giving his son a hug. "So, how's my young speedster doing today?"
"I'm doing great, dad. I've just discovered another perk of being a speedster: not being tired in the morning".
"Well, that's good to hear. Perhaps now you won't be so grumpy before going off to school".
Jacob then got his breakfast and sat at the table before ploughing through his bowl of cereal in a matter of seconds.
"Oh yeah, I just remembered something" his dad said to him.
He placed the morning newspaper in front of him.
As Jacob looked up at the headline, he couldn't help but smile.
Mysterious speedster foils bank robbery
Jacob picked up the newspaper and began to breeze through it.
4 men have been apprehended by an unknown "speedster" during an attempted bank robbery last night.
Late last night, four men, each armed with shotguns, drove their van through the front doors of the Federal Reserve Bank and began to hold the bank clerks hostage, where they then proceeded to begin breaking into the vault.
However, their heist was interrupted by the arrival of a "red-and-white clad speedy superhero", as one of the hostages put it.
The "Superhero" then proceeded to take the four men down in "a matter of seconds", knocking three out and incapacitating the fourth one.
The "superhero" then left the scene just before police could arrive.
When asked by one of the hostages about who they were, the "superhero" simply referred to himself as "Impulse".
"I don't know who or what they are, or where they came from, but Impulse saved our lives, so we can definitely be thankful for that" another hostage said about the hero.
The group of hostages have managed to describe "Impulse" as "young, medium height, thin, dark haired and blistering fast on their feet".
According to an unnamed police expert, this description matched that of the DC character by the same name, who was famously one of the sidekicks of "The Flash" one of the original seven of a superhero team called "The Justice League".
In the DC mythology, the secret identity of Impulse has often been Bart Allen, grandson of Barry Allen (the second Flash). However, the likelihood of our "Impulse" being the same Bart Allen is nonexistent. So with all these things taken into account, there is one question left on everyone's lips: Just who is Impulse?
Underneath the text was an artist's depiction of Impulse with the caption: Impulse- Fact of Fiction? To be perfectly honest, most artist depictions of people looked like a mugshot of sorts. This one, however, looked like a full blown picture in a comic.
Jacob couldn't help but smile at this. He was already starting to become known.
However, he then realised something.
"Wait, dad. What about the guys at the lab? They were there when the accident happened and saw the tests I went through".
"Don't worry about that. Everyone in my lab is sworn to an oath of secrecy. Nothing gets out unless I approve it, so you don't need to worry about them"
"Great. Thanks".
At Saint Augustus High, people had a tendency to gossip. When something happened, a few groups of people would talk about it. When something big happened, a lot of people were talking about it.
Today, however, everyone was talking about one thing.
"Did you see the news report?"
"Weird, huh?"
"I know right?"
"There's no way its possible"
"Maybe they're bluffing".
"Perhaps Impulse is real"
"They sound dangerous"
"Well, Impulse seems friendly"
Jacob chuckled to himself as he walked through the front doors, ready to begin his second day of the school year. Whilst knowing there was a small risk of being discovered, he'd decided to keep his Impulse costume hidden deep within his huge backpack, so he could respond to sudden events if need be.
But firstly, he needed to head to his locker to get his gear.
However, heading towards his locker, he grinned at the sight before him.
His two friends, James Wilson and Stuart Thorpe were waiting for him.
The three then met next to Jacob's locker.
For a short moment, there was silence. Then, huge smiles began to appear on their faces.
"Did you see-"
"Yes"
"Like it?"
"Like it?! Dude, this is the greatest thing ever!"
"I know, right?"
"Right!"
The group shared a laugh, giving each other a high five.
"I never thought I'd see the day" Stuart said to the others. "Superheroes. And in own home city, none the less"
"Oh, I just remembered something" Jacob said to the others, pulling the newspaper out of his bag and showing it to the others.
"Check out that picture". James said to the others, in awe.
"Cool or what?"
"If only he was here right now. I'd ask for his autograph"
"What are you losers drooling over this time" came a harsh voice.
The three nerds rolled their eyes.
Duncan Smith wasn't the type of person they wanted to hang around with. In fact, he was the type of person that just annoyed them.
There were many things they hated about him: his stupid jock football shirt, his ridiculously white teeth, the way he talked to girls, his egotistical attitude, the fact that he picked on nerds even though he himself was technically a nerd. Essentially, Duncan was your typical high school Jock/bully in the senior year.
But what they hated most about him was the fact that he was incredibly popular.
He tore the newspaper out of Jacob's hands and looked at it.
"Oh please. Don't tell me you nothings are fantasizing about your gay men in spandex again. God, just get a life, already"
He then chucked the newspaper into a nearby bin and swaggered off, leaving the three nerds seething.
"God, I hate that imbecile" Stuart muttered.
"Impulse would probably hate him too".
"Don't worry, you guys. He'll get what's coming to him eventually".
Four Days Later
As the days had gone by, Jacob had been able to easily balance his time as a civilian and his time as Impulse.
What's more, as he'd done what he'd done, he'd slowly developed a fan following.
He'd found multiple small blogs about Impulse on the internet, most of them reckoning that Impulse was either A: Real, B: Friendly or C: Both.
As for his night time patrols, he'd found himself slowly managing to improve his fighting style. In fact, the night before, he'd been able to knock out a mugger with one precise roundhouse kick to the face.
His father had also been able to help out whenever possible, modifying his suit with a thermal imager and a holographic geiger counter in his goggles.
Jacob had originally asked why he'd fitted a Geiger counter, but his father simply replied "just in case".
Now, the increased following behind Impulse hadn't been completely hater free. A number of cops in the police force had taken a real dislike to Impulse, claiming that if he was real, he was nothing more than a freak of nature who deserved to be sent off to hell.
But they were probably just jealous that he was doing their job better than they were.
In fact, things had gotten so big that now, the mayor was going to give a press conference on Impulse, due to be broadcast live on TV as well.
Now, it was no small secret that the mayor didn't think that Impulse was real. The man was a devout christian, who was unable to suspend his disbelief at anything. If something "strange" happened, he would often be one of the first to shoot any thinking that it was real out of the sky.
As Impulse looked out over City Hall, he glanced at his watch
8:50pm.
The mayor's press conference was at 9:00pm
"I'd better continue patrolling" Impulse said to himself. "It'll kill time whilst I wait. Perhaps I'll look at the industrial district again".
Impulse then dashed off towards the Industrial District, looking for trouble.
Thankfully for him, however, when he reached the district, he soon found it.
Looking over towards an old warehouse, he spotted five suspicious looking guys, dressed in black and all brandishing guns.
They were standing around a large, unmarked shipping container.
"So, where's this going again?" One of them asked.
"Hell, I don't know" Another replied. "We just need to wait until the boss gets here".
"Okay. But still, don't you think this is a bit much? I know he wants to be able to run things in this city, but isn't this taking it a bit far?"
"Maybe. I don't care, though. All I care about is getting paid".
Impulse switched on his thermal imager, trying to identify what was inside the container.
Unfortunately, however, he couldn't see anything. All he could see was one large cold spot.
"Well, whatever's in there can't be any good". He said to himself.
He went over to a hole in the roof of the warehouse, looking down on the five guys before jumping over the edge before landing on one of the five, breaking multiple bones and rendering him unconscious.
Impulse, however, was absolutely fine.
His sudden arrival had caught the other four off guard.
"Wh-What the hell?"
"It's that Impulse kid! Kill him!"
However, as the four tried to fend him off, Impulse just simply leapt up at one of the others, knocking him down before delivering a punch to the face, rendering him unconscious.
Using the momentum, he then flipped into the air before delivering a kick to the face of the second guy with the back of his feet, knocking him out.
The third guy was also put down easily when Impulse slid him off his feet and delivered a chop to the back of the neck.
The fourth guy looked as if he was about to faint. In fact, he was too scared to pull the trigger on his shotgun.
Impulse decided to get things done quickly.
Suddenly, in a blur of red and white, he bolted up to the man before leaping into the air and delivering a hard sucker punch to his face, knocking out some of his teeth and rendering him unconscious.
"Right then, now to see what's in that container". The speedster said to himself.
However, as he began to make his way towards the container, he stopped as he noticed something.
The Geiger counter on his HUD was clicking as the needle was moving.
He stepped closer.
More clicking.
Whatever was in that container was radioactive.
Taking a few steps back for his safety, Impulse pulled out his mobile and dialled 911.
It rang for a few moments as he held it up to his ear.
"911 emergency, what's your problem?" asked a voice on the other end.
"Hello, police? I seem to have encountered something you might want to check out in the industrial district".
"Okay, state your problem, please".
"Well, I came across a few suspicious looking individuals in an old warehouse, each armed with shotguns, standing around a shipping container, saying that they needed to wait until their boss got there".
"Okay, which warehouse are they at?"
"I didn't see any markings, but you'll know which one. It's the one with a giant shipping container. Anyway, I've managed to knock those guys out, but my Geiger counter is going crazy every time I step close to the container. There's something radioactive inside it".
"Roger that, we'll send our units out immediately to investigate".
"Great. Thanks".
He hung up before checking his watch again.
8:55pm
He shrugged.
"Meh. Whatever" he said to himself before bolting off, back to City Hall.
When Impulse returned to standing on top of City Hall, waiting for the mayor, he noticed that a few police cars had turned up, so as to give the mayor protection when he arrived.
He also noted the media crews standing near to the podium where the mayor would make his appearance.
"I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they seem I'm real" Impulse said to himself, grinning.
As the time drew nearer, a small crowd of other people also gathered, waiting to hear what he had to say.
Then, finally, as exactly 9:00pm, the mayor himself, Nathaniel Larson, flanked by police commissioner Frank Drummond, appeared on the steps of City hall as the cameras flashed and the news crews started filming.
Nathaniel stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat before beginning.
"Greetings, Chicago. Now, as you are no doubt aware by this point, there have been supposed reports of an apparent "speedster" by the name of "Impulse" who has been sighted in this city, doing the job that our police force is doing. Now, I know I'm probably not going to be the first to speak out against these reports, but I will anyway. It's just not possible. I mean, come on. We have a damn good police force that patrol the city day and night, keeping citizens safe. And yet people say that they saw a teenager in red and white spandex blaze past in the blink of an eye, doing the job of a policeman even better. To me, these aren't the tales of a hero. These are just false claims made by those who doubt the CPD. Besides, there's no factual text in the world, religious or otherwise, that states that people can run faster than sound. So let me rephrase it again: Impulse isn't real".
Just then, a small envelope dropped onto the podium in front of him.
Curious, he picked it up and slowly opened it.
On a small piece of paper inside was a message.
Are you sure about that?
"THERE HE IS!" Yelled out a person in the crowd, pointing towards a shadowy pair of red boots on top of City Hall. "IT'S IMPULSE!"
As they all turned to look, Impulse dashed down the side of the building in the blink of an eye before stopping in front of podium.
"TA DA!" He yelled out, holding out both his arms.
For a short moment, there was silence.
Then, the large group of people erupted into wild cheers and applause as the cameras began flashing.
Impulse bowed courteously.
Behind him, the mayor had a look of utter shock on his face. He had just said that Impulse wasn't real. Yet Impulse was standing before him. It was as if he'd just been pantsed in front of the entire crowd.
The police commissioner, however, was just plain amazed at the fact that Impulse was both real and fast.
"Well, it's been crash, but I've gotta run. Adios!" Impulse said to the crowd as a group of reporters got closer to him.
With that, he took off down the road in a blur of red and white.
As the crowd tailed after him, the commissioner said something into the ear of the now red faced mayor.
"Still don't think Impulse is real?"