Previously, Inertia launched an all out strike against the Titans! The evil cloned counterpart to Impulse hired Deathstroke the Terminator, Mammoth, Jinx, Gizmo and Dr. Light to take out the Titans and bring them to Inertia's secret lair, all as part of Inertia's elaborate plan to destroy Bart Allen.

Inertia has already completed the first part of his evil scheme by capturing Impulse and trapping him in suspended animation, helpless as his friends fall prety to Inertia's schemes. As the Titans fight for their lives, we now take a look into the mind of a comatose Bart Allen...

Titans Forever #12

"Risk It All, Part Three"

With Special Guest Co-Author David Brashear

As the Titans fought for their lives against Inertia's hired lackeys, Inertia remained safely in his lair, watching over the combatants. He smirked evily to himself as he took a break and wandered over to the glass cylinder holding his comatose cousin, Impulse.

He had wires attached to his bare chest to monitor his heartbeat, and an oxygen mask over his mouth as the hero floated in the green gel like substance. He was unconscious to the world, lost in his own dreams. Inertia lightly tapped the glass, like a child would on a bowl of goldfish.

"What are you dreaming of in there, cousin?" Inertia asked. "Are you dreaming of your little girlfriend? Or of your idiot friends? Oh, to know what sickeningly sweet thoughts are running through your head right now."

As Inertia watched him, Bart continued to dream of the past...


Two Years Ago, shortly before the break-up of Young Justice

"How could you do this?" Carol yelled as she threw the magazine at Bart while they stood in his bedroom. While Bart had gone to the little speedster's room, Carol had noticed a magazine sticking out from under Bart's bed. If it had been a Playboy, she might have forgiven him, after all, what teenage boy didn't read a Playboy at least once?

But this was a Playgirl.

"What do you mean?" Bart asked.

"This!" She grabbed the magazine, opened it and shoved the centerfold into his face. "Am I that ugly?"

"Carol," Bart said as he pushed the magazine away. He wasn't completely sure why he was looking at the magazine. Lately his teenage hormones had been catching up to his 5 year old body and he didn't know how to control it. "You don't understand. I'm just…"

"Forget it," Carol said as tears ran down her cheeks in spite of her fury. "You're just gone. I'm not going to let you play your games with me anymore. I never want to see you again."

"But I love you," Bart whispered as he began crying as well. He was still confused about the emotions running through him. He loved Carol but, at the same, seeing those pictures gave him feelings that were conflicting for him, and deep down Carol had started to realize that Bart might be bi-sexual. She loved Bart, but she knew that if she didn't let him go now and he realized that he was gay later... No, she had to end things now before she was hurt even worse.

"No," Carol said. "I loved you…but you obviously don't love me or you wouldn't be looking at pictures like that!" Carol's face went red as she exploded. "You wouldn't be looking at men like that if you loved me!" Carol turned and ran out of the house, leaving Bart crying in the middle of his bedroom.


"You broke up with your girlfriend? Damn, dude, I'm sorry," Superboy said as they were fighting in the training room.

"It hurts, I really loved her," Impulse said as Superboy tossed him to the ground.

"So, what broke you two up? She couldn't handle the double life?" Superboy asked as Impulse sat up. He wasn't his usual happy self, which Superboy found disturbing.

"Something like that," Impulse told him. He knew he couldn't tell his friends the truth about what he was going through. Not after the way Carol looked at him after she found the magazine.


A few weeks later, Bart and Preston were filming a homemade movie at the railroad tracks. Preston's dream was to get into movie making and Bart was glad to help. It was the summer before junior year and Carol had gone away for the summer to travel with her brother.

Bart made it a point to run all the way across the ocean to see her whenever he got a spare moment. As he was setting up the camera, Preston was checking out the train tracks to make sure the shot would be right. As he walked, his shoe got stuck in the rail just a train was approaching.

Bart looked up from the camera and saw Preston was in trouble, struggling to get free. He ran forward, pulling Preston out of his shoe just as the train rushed by. Both young men fell into the grass, tumbling down the hill until they came to a stop.

"That was close," said Bart as he was lying on top of Preston. "Are you all right?"

Preston just stared up into Bart's eyes and pulled him down into a kiss. Bart had no idea what was going on but didn't resist. It was then that Bart realized that he was actually enjoying what was going on.


Later that day, the rest of Young Justice had just finished taking down Killer Croc, who was terrorizing the city. All but Impulse, who was flat on his back after taking a punch from the villain, one he should been able to easily avoid.

"Bart, this isn't like you, you should have seen that punch coming a mile away," Robin said as he helped him up. "Are you okay?"

"No," Impulse whispered. "I'm not."

"Want to talk about it?" Robin asked as the others took Killer Croc away.

"You wouldn't understand," Impulse said as he ran off. Robin just sighed as he realized he had to get to the bottom of this before whatever was going on destroyed his friend.


"Bart, look at me,"

"I am looking at you,"

"You're reading a comic book,"

"I'm a multi-tasker,"

Preston sighed as he grabbed the comic book away from Bart. "We need to talk about... what happened."

"Can you narrow it down?" Bart asked. "We've been doing a lot for your movie."

"We kissed," Preston awkwardly said.

"Oh... that," Bart said as he reached for his comic.

"Bart, I... liked it," Preston told him. "I liked it... a lot. I didn't want to say anything because of what happened with Carol, but... I've liked you for a long time. I just never said anything because you were into her so much."

"I like you, too, we're best friends," Bart told him with a laugh. "What does us liking each other have to do with anything?"

"No, I mean, I LIKE you," Preston said. "I mean, as in... I liked kissing you. As in... I'd like to do it again."

"I really liked it, too," Bart said as he ran a hand through his hair. "I shouldn't be liking boys, Pres. But when I'm with you, I don't know, I feel like-"

Preston pulled him into a kiss as Bart closed his eyes.


Bart and Preston had been secretly dating for two weeks, neither unsure of how to tel ltheir friends and family that they had fallen in love, although Bart still had feelings for Carol. But there was no way she'd take him back now. Besides, she was already making plans to transfer to another school. He'd hurt her, the first true love of his life.

Now whenever he looked into Preston's eyes, he saw something that made hi m want to protect that love with everything he had.

"I won't lose this one," Bart promised himself. "I'll be 100% faithful, I'll treat him like a prince. Maybe if I love him hard enough, he'll never want to leave me. And 'll start by telling him who I really am. He needs to know that I'm Impulse."

Bart had left the letter on Preston's locker, but the more he wrote, the more he wanted to confess his love. Three pages and a well written love poem later, Bart got around to the point and told Preston to meet him in the park on the swings. He'd dressed up in his best clothes, and was holding a rose in his hand. If Preston understood his double life, then he'd ask Preston to officially be his boyfriend and let their friends and family know about them.

The seconds ticked by, which turned into minutes, which turned into hours. It was almost midnight as Bart started to realize that Preston wasn't coming. He'd never sat still that long for anyone or anything, but when it came to Preston, he had all the patience in the world. He started to worry and rushed towards Preston's house, where he saw the police cars and ambulance workers on the sidewalk.

"What's going on?" Bart asked, still holding the rose.

"Kid fell and snapped his neck," the officer told him. "Died instantly."

Bart saw the cloak covered body, only seeing the shoes. The shoes that belonged to his boyfriend.

"No," Bart whispered as the rose fell to the ground. "NO!"

It wasn't long after that Young Justice had disbanded, leaving Bart Allen truly alone.


It was six months later, which seemed like twelve eternities for Bart. He'd given up on life, and only left the house to walk to school and back. No Carol, no Preston, no Young Justice, and Wally was busy with his own kids now. His guardian Max had tried everything to get Bart to start enjoying life again, but it was no use. Bart had taken that part of himself and buried it deep inside of his soul, and it was slowly eating away at him. It would only be a matter of time before it completely destroyed Bart. For the time in his life, he was feeling true emotional pain and he hated every second of it.

"Hi, I'm Cody," said the young man as he found Bart sitting on the front porch, looking at a picture of himself and Preston, who'd recently died. "I just moved in next door. Are you all right?"

"Yeah," replied Bart sadly. "No, I mean...it's a long story."

Cody saw the picture and sat down next to Bart. "That your friend?"

"Yeah, he died six months ago," replied Bart as he looked at Cody. "He was actually more than a friend."

The two started talking and realized that they had a lot in common. Both loved comic books and video games, and both wanted to help people. Cody was going to be a doctor, and was going to go to UCLA before heading off to medical school later. It took a long time, but by the time they were about to start college, Bart was sure. He'd all but given up his life as Impulse outside of the rare Flash related crisis. All other time was devoted to Cody Wyatt. Even though both young men liked each other, they both agreed that dating so soon wouldn't be a good thing. It took almost two years, but Bart finally got up the courage to ask Cody out.

"Bart, are you serious?" asked Cody as he sat with Bart in the park the week they were to leave for UCLA. "You want us to... go out?"

"I like you, Cody," replied Bart as he ran a hand through his hair. "I haven't liked anyone like this since..."

"Preston?"

"Look, Cody, I want us to be together, but there's something you have to know if you say yes,"

"What is that...Impulse?"

"You knew!?" asked Bart in shock.

"I knew," replied Cody. Like Bart, he started devoting his every waking moment to the other young man, eventually realizing who he was when he had to sneak off. "And I don't care. It's not Impulse that I'm falling for. It's you."

The two leaned in to kiss as Bart pulled back. "Wait...what's your answer?"

"Shut up and kiss me," ordered Cody.


"You're gay?" asked Robin as he saw Impulse after almost two years of no contact.

"I'm still into girls, but I'm also in love with Cody," replied Impulse as the two were watching a warehouse as Robin waited for a robbery to happen. "There has to be word for this, but I have no idea what it is."

"Bi-sexual?"

"But I just got here," Impulse told him as Robin rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "You're the only one I've told because...I trust you."

"Your secret's safe with me," replied Robin. "So, do I get to meet this guy and give my approval?"

"Soon," promised Impulse.

"I think my guys are making their move," said Robin as he saw a truck pulling up. "Want to help?"

Impulse was already halfway across the street as Robin sighed. When would he ever learn?


"I don't know what you're dreaming about in there, cousin," Inertia said as he looked at Impulse floating helplessly in the cylinder. "But rest assured, whatever sweet dreams you are having will soon turn into your darkest nightmares."

TO BE CONTINUED...