Author's Note: Sorry about the delay, computer problems happened. As you all will soon find out, this is a loooong chapter. Regardless, keep your eyes peeled for some Easter Eggs. Not gonna say what they are, that's for you all to find. Enjoy.
Finish Line
For minutes, it had dominated the city life of Jump, all attention directed towards the bright glow of the Transpacific Pyramid spire. From when it was at its brightest, to dulling, to gradual rebrightening, no one was sure what it was going to do next.
There was still no explanation for what was going on. The landmark building itself had gone into evacuation while law enforcement charged in, looking for any evidence of what was causing this.
Phones were out, recording the whole thing. A few livestreams were active with commentary about the event being broadcasted to the internet and beyond. Swears were common. Quick recaps were made. Oddly enough, questions about safety were lacking.
Then the spire began to dull again, slowly losing its brilliance. Any waning attention was renewed, and repeated questions of what was going on were resurrected. This time, however, the dulling continued until the glow shut down completely. A momentary hush fell over everyone nearby or who had a good view of it. Then the activity resume, law officers demanding reports from those inside if they had found or done something. Shocked livestreamers expressed themselves quite loudly. Any one else pointed up to the spire while animatedly talking with anyone nearby.
The only thing anyone could agree on was that they had no idea of what had happened. Soon enough, the next thing was what this was all about in the first place.
It was really getting hot in here. Having the kind of outfits they did, practically skin tight depending on who you were, it trapped heat in, so plenty of them were uncomfortable and sweaty. All the fighting had masked it, but not that it was all starting to calm down, it was harder to ignore.
But ignore they would all continue to do. Regrouping was the first order of business, and whether it was a conscious choice or not, they had returned to the enormous room that had been used to keep their local speedster busy for the past few days. Two of the murderous thieves were incapacitated, and Red Robin winced in empathy at the sight of burned hands.
He had run into Cyborg earlier, and from there had continued the search for the man in the wheelchair and his simian friend. Then Wonder Girl with Beast Boy ran into them and he had gotten the news about their targets.
From there, it was regrouping with Raven and Starfire and then locating Impulse. Out of all the fights, only one remained in doubt. Inertia was still unaccounted for, which meant that they all needed to be on high alert.
But how were they going to fight him? With his superspeed, the imposter could run circles around them. They needed to find Impulse and find out what happened there.
And maybe do something about all this heat while they were at it.
"Sorry. I had to do something before I found out how much of a lie the cake was," Cyborg had apologized, and no this wasn't the first time.
"You need not be so frequent with your apologies, my friend. I, myself, find it quite comfortable," Starfire told him.
No one was willing to make any kind of retort to that. The earnestness was too genuine to do that.
"What are your scans telling you? Is this thing shutting down?" Red Robin asked instead, trying to distract himself.
"Yeah, all the energy flow has stopped going upward. I managed to take care of the generator that was part of that myself. Right now, we still have lights because the whole place is tapped into the grid. Without the ventilation, this place is going to have quite a few problems with overheating," the cyborg reported.
Which meant there would be inevitable damage to the circuitry and wiring. Electricity always produced heat, and when routed continuously, that heat was continued to be made. Without a means to get rid of it, the heat would build up until it started melting something important. Though it would be uncomfortable, it was in everyone's best interests if they did nothing about the heat issue.
"So where's Speedy gone to?" Beast Boy asked, wiping at his forehead. "Think he's okay?"
"Ah, you're worried about me! I knew you cared!" Only after those words were said did a soft breeze move past the group of teens, which admittedly felt nice. However, the speedster in red and white had just been located, and figures, he found them first.
Quickly, Red Robin did a once over on the teen from the future. He looked a little beat up, the white of his costume was scuffed up, but none of that seemed to affect the cheerful disposition. Damn, it was almost like night and day with Inertia. What did it say about his observation skills that he had overlooked this? It didn't feel good, that much was true.
"What happened with Inertia?" he asked, taking a few steps closer to the speedster.
From behind yellow-colored lens, Impulse made eye contact with him. "I was just starting to turn things around, get my second wind, you know? Well, the tables were turning and he just ran off. I tried to chase him but he was gone."
"You didn't find him?" Raven pressed.
"I looked," Impulse replied, shrugging his shoulders and putting his hands on his hips. "No idea where he went."
"So he could still be here for all we know, or he made a strategic retreat," the cloak and hood wearing girl concluded.
"We're going to have to do something about him. We can't let him run around and just wait for him to come after us again," Wonder Girl pointed out, ignoring how Impulse snickered at her unintentional pun.
That was the problem, though. As Impulse unintentionally proved seconds ago, trying to find a speedster was not easy. They came to you, not the other way around. That this one had chosen to side with the bad guys, for whatever reason, there was still the chance he would want revenge for this crazy plan going bust.
Then again, they didn't really have a good idea of what Inertia had wanted in the first place. Why kidnap Impulse and take his place, when only the kidnapping was necessary? A simple distraction with those thieves would have been more than enough. Why the impersonation? That was the one part that made no sense.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want him to kidnap me and take my place again, would we?" Impulse said, but there was something about his tone that was really...off.
"Ye...yeah…" Cyborg agreed slowly, looking away awkwardly.
Another big difference was making itself known as Impulse was much more animated than his imposter. Red Robin could see the speedster's eyes exaggeratedly looking at the rest of them, zeroing in on one individual at a time. "Oh, come on! Seriously!" the teen from the future exclaimed! "How did you guys not know that it wasn't me!" Arms threw themselves out, stretching away from the lithe body. "It should have taken you, like, five minutes! I bet he was so quiet and that should have been the big giveaway!"
Ouch. So very ouch. Impulse wasn't wrong there, because Inertia had been quiet the whole time, so quiet that it should have raised red flags. There had been the times he felt something was off...but...he had ignored it or pushed it aside.
It was as if there was a group consensus that a quiet Impulse was more preferable and there was no need to rock that particular boat.
"Impulse, I think we should save some of that for later," he began, and automatically, he knew that was the wrong thing to say.
The confirmation was Impulse suddenly inches away from his face. "No, I think now's a really good time to talk about it." Literally spinning around, the speedster demanded to the rest of them, "I want to know! Why was it so much of a surprise to find me here? Why didn't you figure out that I had been replaced? Look at me! It's kinda hard to do that! My energetic personality! My cool moves! My handsome looks!" Impulse paused for a moment. "Oh yeah, clone. He's got my handsome looks. I can let that one go. But my personality and moves! How did none of you figure it out!"
Talk about awkward. Red Robin found himself sharing helpless looks with the rest. There was a reason, he realized. It didn't take long to figure it out, and you didn't need to be the World's Greatest Detective. Voicing it, though, that was a look in Raven's direction, and for once, she was ignoring him.
"Well?" the speedster demanded. "What do you guys have to say for yourselves?"
There was a time and place, and these were neither, yet it was all being forced. Naturally, Wonder Girl took the lead, because tact was never her thing, and beating around the bush was a tact to ignore. "You're right, he was quieter. Is there anything wrong with that?"
Red Robin's cape was pulled against him as a red and white blur flashed its way to the armored blonde. "Aha! So you did notice!"
"Listen!" Wonder Girl snapped as she grabbed the smaller male's shoulder. "For once, can you listen! No one here is going to say it. I don't want to say it. But since you won't give it up, then I'll have to say it. You're annoying. And not in a good way. Yeah, Beast Boy can be annoying too, and also not in a good way, but he also knows when to shut up and lay low. He knows when to give it a rest. He knows there are times to listen. You don't. You keep trying to force something on us, force us to be people we aren't. So when it stopped, we were relieved. Is that what you want to know?"
Impulse has stilled, and the lack of any movement was very concerning, especially now that all the details that differed between him and Inertia were really making themselves known. The lack of all the movement and noise, damn that was the biggest giveaway, and it deserved to be repeated.
Suddenly, Impulse whipped his head around, looking at each of them again. "This isn't true, is it? I mean, Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman, the whole truth spiel they have going for them, yeah, but really! It's not like that, is it?"
The silence that answered him was really all the confirmation that could be given.
Unexpectedly, Beast Boy spoke up, shifting his weight from one leg to the other as he spoke, "He listened. Instead of talking over or all the time, he would listen. Then he would talk like he understood. He talked like you were a friend."
"But we're all friends, aren't we?" Impulse desperately exclaimed.
"What do you know about us?" And Raven was entering the fray. "Something that isn't in whatever history you were taught. What do you know about us as people? What do you know about the Flash that aren't stories?"
Distress and uncertainty were all that could be made out from the expression on the speedster's face. It was as if his world was falling apart and nothing he could say could fix it. There was no way running would fix it either. Looking at them in quick succession had the same level of success, his body practically twitching with the need to do something to make this all better.
And then that body, the one that always had to be on the move stilled. Distress was replaced with hurt, and uncertainty with solemnness. "Maybe you're right. I don't know you. I don't know any of you. And you know what, that hurts. Because everything I heard made you all out to be some really good people. Guess the joke's on me, huh?"
Red Robin could only feel his stomach dropping. That...hurt. That all Impulse had ever known about them, about him, were good things… Of all the things in the world to disprove, they had to do it with something positive about them. What did that say about them?
The vigilante knew this feeling. It was the feeling of getting to not only meet, but know your hero, and then be let down. It was like that with Batman; so much excitement to see the legend himself, the one that had inspired him, and then find his young, teenaged self on the Dark Knight's bad side from the get go. Now that was a let down, but it had to be the same feeling that Impulse had right now.
So how would he do this differently? Because he wasn't Batman, and maybe, this time, that was a good thing.
"There's nothing any of us can say that can make this any better. It sucks," he stated plainly. "It always sucks when a person you've heard so much about turns out not to be who you thought they were."
"No kidding," Impulse cut in moodily, crossing his thin arms over his chest.
Deserved that, totally. "We aren't the Titans that you know of us as. We're not those people. Yet. Maybe one day, we could become them, but that's not who we are. We're gonna make mistakes. It's practically a rule. And you know what? We're going to continue to make those mistakes. Again, and again, until we finally learn. And yeah, it's more than a mistake that we let ourselves get suckered in by Inertia. It's a fuck up. I really don't know what to say that will make this any better for you."
Impulse huffed, shoulders rising and falling with the gesture. "You're right about one thing. I don't know if there's anything you can say. I mean, I was stuck on a wheel for I don't know how long because they never turned off the lights or told me how long I was running, and when you're doing something like that for so long, you start thinking. That's all you can do, except for run, but you don't have a choice with that. They only let me rest for a few moments, did you know that? And they fed me some nutritional crap that tasted horrible. And only water! And the monkey didn't like me! What I'm trying to say is that when they only think you can do is think, you think about something awesome happening, like the guys you thought would be your friends busting in and kicking ass. Then you find out how replaceable you were."
What could you say to that? Nothing. At least if you could feel anything, then there was nothing you could say.
"I mean, I get it. I can't stay still and I can't stop talking. That's what everyone keeps telling me and I can't help it," the aggravated speedster continued, now adding pacing. "That's who I am. I always need to keep moving because, I don't know, I just do. That's like telling the sky to stop being blue, or the Earth to stop moving around the sun, or Raven to stop being dark and gloomy! That's not going to happen! And I've tried! Before! Before I even came here from the future, and it didn't work. I couldn't be the dark and serious guy who takes everything seriously, so I decided to be me! Because I hope I'm a good guy and it's not because I have a Flash in my genetic pool!
"And everywhere I am, everywhere I go, people just end up not liking me! And I get it. Because people like things to be calm and normal and those are things that I'm not and never will be. You can tell yourself you don't care, but you do. You always do. And every time you meet someone new, you hope that they won't hold it against you. But who am I kidding? I didn't fit in in the future. I fit in in the past. I don't fit in with Team Flash or you guys or anywhere. That's the story of my life."
If he hadn't felt like shit earlier. Then again, he never asked either. To be honest, he hadn't thought...and maybe that was the problem. He hadn't thought. He hadn't thought anything through, and now here they were, with a kid on the verge of breaking himself down and with an audience no less. The pacing was increasing in speed, and the teen in question kept moving left to right and back, a straight path and always turning around at the same point to reverse it.
At this rate, they might get a groove in the floor. Damn it, there had to be something he or anyone could say that might be able to pull the speedster out of a well-deserved funk, and help to start the healing process.
"It all sucks," Cyborg spoke up. "I know how it feels to not feel like you can fit in. I mean, look at me. I kinda stick out. I'll never be able to go anywhere without attracting attention. And whenever there's attention, people talk, and they try to hide it, like doing so makes it better. One reason or another, none of us fit in anywhere. We're not a team. Maybe we don't have to be. Maybe we can be something better than a team, but it means...it means we gotta be honest with ourselves and each other."
"Yeah!" Beast Boy agreed, stepping in. "We help each other with our problems, because no one else will. And if we're going to be different, we might as well do it together. And do some of that honesty thing. And tell each other when we're not being smart, or when we need to let something go, because sometimes we find out stuff that maybe we should be better off not knowing. Because knowing can hurt too."
"If I may," Starfire volunteered, "it is circumstances like these when we need each other more than ever. I've known someone who felt just like you. I have seen where that path goes." The Tamaranian fell silent for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts. "I know of the pain such thinking can lead to. I wish...I desire to help you through this time of misfortune, if you will allow me to. I have tried to force my aid before and I have found it...does not succeed.
"I can see that you are hurting, and it also hurts me to know that I am a cause for it. It was not my intention to do so, and that we have failed you is inexcusable. But please offer to us your forgiveness, and I swear, if only for myself, that I will be worthy of your trust."
Impulse stared at the alien exile for a moment, then lowered his head. Shaking it, he remarked, "I can't stay mad at you, Starfire. You really are too nice to be mad at."
"And I accept your positive feedback." Starfire chimed back, smiling sunnily. The Tamaranian's ability to brighten any situation was paying off here, and allowed a foothold.
"I think I speak for most, if not all of us, that we feel the same as Starfire," Red Robin stated. "We messed up and did wrong by you. Do you think you can forgive us?"
In his head, he was fully aware that that question was so simple. Corny, and simple. It was like something out of a cartoon, one for kids. Little kids. And here he was asking it to a superpowered teen from the future. This was his life now.
Even from beneath those yellow-colored lens, he could see how Impulse's eyes moved to him. They stared right into vigilante with a power he had not thought the speedster capable of, but today so far had been one of many surprises. What he would say next, it could go one of two ways. Right now, the masked teen had no clue which way it was gonna go.
No matter which one it was, he would completely understand.
"Aah, who am I kidding? I can't hold a grudge to save my life," Impulse suddenly said. Throwing his arms out, "Who's up for a group hug, huh?"
Okay. He was surprised, and didn't completely understand, but was grateful all the same. Roll with it, Drake.
"That was fast," Raven remarked. "Just a few seconds before, you're giving us the third degree, and now you're okay?"
"What's the point? It's all in the past now. It's all relative," Impulse said dismissively, as he lowered one arm while physically waving the other. Then, for a moment, he became more solemn. "You can't really do anything about the past. Why would you? The one thing I have learned is that you've always gotta be running forward. The past is only going to weigh you down." Then his face brightened, "But at least I can always guilt trip you now!"
Which meant getting something out of them. It made sense now.
Still, the vigilante preferred the more upbeat attitude. However, he was going to try and have a much more in depth talk with the speedster, something more private. In his mind, it still was not okay, but then again, how could you ever make such a mistake okay again?
"Oh how typical. Such a heartwarming sight and touchy-feely words to go with it. How nauseating."
Impulse frowned. "I didn't say any of that—oh wait." The red and white speedster was a blur, keeping close to the group of teens while scouting the immediate area. Less than a second, Impulse had stopped, and Red Robin turned his gaze in the direction that the teen from the future was facing.
Standing between them and the doorway to this expansive room was the green and black form of Inertia, and he was holding what looked like a hexagonal cylinder, one that looked heavy and quite long as both of his arms was holding it up. It must have been a foot, a foot and a half in diameter, and maybe four feet in lengths. To sum it up, it looked very awkward to hold.
"And we were just about to come looking for you," Impulse declared, speaking for them all.
"Right," Inertia scoffed. "Do you really think you could have found me? If I didn't want to be found, you wouldn't. You only see me now because I let you."
"And what are you up to now?" Red Robin demanded, take a feet steps closer to Impulse's side. In his mind, he tried to think of something, anything, that might let him stand a chance against someone with superspeed, but was currently drawing up a blank. How do you fight someone who moves not only faster than you, but at a speed that was extremely inhuman? How do you hit that? How do you stop it?
"Glad to know someone can get to the heart of the matter," the blond speedster mocked.
Then someone else cut in. "Okay, what's your deal?" Huh, Beast Boy of all people, and he sounded pissed. "What I want to know is why you're shacking up with these guys? Why do you want to turn people into monkeys?"
Inertia shook his head, tsking. "Oh, you gullible idiot. I don't care if these pawns succeed or not. It doesn't matter. They were only a means to an end, and they have fulfilled their purpose. My plan was never some cockamamie science project. Hell, I don't even care for what my original plan was anymore. Not as long as I'm in that idiot's shadow for the rest of my life." A glare was fired at Impulse who didn't look the least bit affected by it. "So now, I'm on plan B," the green and black speedster continued. "Trust me, this one will be a doozy."
"Now I know that slang doesn't exist in the future. How long have you been back in the past anyway?" Impulse quipped.
"Does it matter?" Wonder Girl retorted. "He's come back for an ass-whooping, and I say we give it to him."
"I'm loving the taste for violence, Cassie, but right now is not a good time," Inertia replied. "Then again, time is relative, especially in the next few minutes or so. It's going to be the bomb, really."
"Alright, so you're holding a bomb," Cyborg interrupted. "That's your plan B? To blow us all up? Man, and here I thought you were up to something special."
"Caught on, huh?" Inertia taunted. He hefted the bomb he held in his arms a little higher, drawing a flicker of attention to it. "Well, this is no ordinary bomb. There's no uranium, no nitro, no anything you might find in this era. No, this is a bomb powered solely by the Speed Force. Who knows what it'll do if I set it off right now? Oh, I'm sure it'll level the immediate area, wipe Jump City off the map, and who knows what else?
"This is a reason why I threw my lot in with these losers. I needed someone with some engineering and technical prowess to build a little something special for me. The Flash guards his too well, so I needed one of my own, just in case. It's why I lent him so much tech from the future to build it. Naturally, that paraplegic used a good chunk of it to build his anti-evolution machine, but the true machine I needed built is right behind you."
A green and black blur removed the antagonist speedster from sight, but his voice gave away his new position from behind them. "Tell me, Bart. Do you recognize anything familiar about this giant hamster wheel? When you think about it, how much punishment it took from all the running you did on it, how is it that it is still in one piece?"
By the time Inertia had reached that point in his monologue, the rest of them had been able to turn around and see him standing in front of the proverbial hamster wheel itself. Still in his arms was that Speed Force-powered bomb, but his back was turned to them, at least until the blond head turned to look at them over the shoulder.
"This is going to be new to all of you. I don't think anyone but Bart here even knows what they're looking at, or even heard of. It is one of the most advanced pieces of technology in this era, though only its blueprints managed to make it back in the future."
"Whoa, whoa, buddy, I think you're moving way too fast here, and since it's me saying that, you know that's saying something," Impulse said.
Inertia rolled his eyes derisively. "I'm talking about the Cosmic Treadmill, you nitwit. The means in which a speedster can gain direct access to the Speed Force itself."
Cosmic Treadmill? What the hell was that?
"Oh, I get it," Impulse exclaimed, voice rising in recognition. The double take was so quick that they all missed it. "Wait, that's a treadmill?!"
"Yeah, that's right, little Impulse. You could have left it the whole time; all you had to do was run fast enough to leave this plain of existence," Inertia sneered back. "Not even the restraints would have been able to stop you. Of course, once inside, there's no getting out, so while you would have escaped, you wouldn't have been able to get back and try to save these nobodies from me."
"And all I'm hearing is talk, talk, talk. Get to the point," Wonder Girl snarled. Someone was not taking being called a nobody quietly.
"Is it not obvious already? A bomb powered with energy from the Speed Force detonated here would cause a lot of damage. What if the same bomb detonated right in the middle of the Speed Force itself? The same force that causes time to move forward and in no other direction? What do you think that'll do?"
Okay, they were starting to get into some really weird places here, but the only thing that made any sense was that none of that could be any good. Yeah, that a bomb was involved already made this not good, and right now, the masked teen did not want to find out what would happen.
"Okay, Thad, what you're talking about is crazy talk. Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't do it," Impulse pleaded, taking a step forward while extending a hand out. "You don't know what'll happen if you do!"
"And isn't that the fun part? Nobody knows what'll happen and nobody will know differently." Though Red Robin could only see a part of Inertia's mouth, it was pulled back in a manic smile, one that could almost rival a certain Gotham clown. That kind of smile was never a good thing.
"You got one problem, man," Cyborg stated, his arm already transforming. "We already broke that damn thing. You're not going anywhere with any bomb."
"You only broke the siphoning machine. The treadmill can operate without it. Really, all it needs is someone to run on it. It's how I had it designed in the first place," Inertia countered. Fully turning away, the green and black speedster bade, "I would say see you around, but something tells me that's not going to happen. So much for the Teen Titans."
That was the problem with speedsters. Sometimes you couldn't argue with them or try to run after them, because they moved too quickly. So happened next happened too fast for them to act.
Inertia ran, carrying his bomb in his arms, leaping onto the wheel of a treadmill, and began running on it. Giving credence to his claims, the wheel's tread moved under the speedster, a green and black jetstream trailing behind him. You could practically see what looked like small bolts of electricity dancing around him, color brightening around his dark form until—
It was hard to describe. It was nothing at all like seeing a certain DeLorean vanish. Light itself had seemed to stretch, the fabric of reality itself seemed to pull and then the natural order reasserted itself. Crackling bolts of what had to be Speed Force energy was all that remained where Inertia had once ran, and even that died out until all that was left was silence.
"That can't be a good thing," Beast Boy commented, ending the silence.
"I don't know about any of you, but what just happened scrambled some of my processors. What the hell happened?" Cyborg demanded. The tall teen turned sights onto Impulse. "This sounds like more your thing. What's going on."
Impulse, by then, had lowered his arm, but stared right at the treadmill and did not immediately answer. He was acting uncharacteristically, and had he not seen the real imposter just vanish, this would have been a moment where he would have wondered if the red and white speedster had been replaced again. Shoulders rose up as the brunet speedster took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly.
Red gloved hands curled into fists, but not so tightly that they trembled. In fact, the teen's body was tensing, and this filled the Gotham vigilante with a little dread. What he was reading here was putting him on edge, and he was not sure he was going to like what he thought was about to happen.
However, Impulse spoke up first before Red Robin could try to circumvent anything. "I don't know if you'll be able to follow even if I did try to explain. Don't worry about it. I'll handle this."
It was a terrible feeling, knowing that what was about to happen was going to happen, and there was nothing you could do to stop it. Impulse disappeared into a red and white blur, one that had leapt onto the hamster wheel of a treadmill and was racing his way off this plain of existence. The bolts of energy that had wrapped around Inertia did the same with this speedster, the streak of red and white lengthening behind him until the same sensations of stretching, pulling, and reassertion happened.
When the light dulled, they were now down two speedsters. The quiet that followed was like a pall, and the next unknown amount of time the funeral they were all attending.
A pair of legs hobbled down the hallway, weakly carrying Jinx who once upon a time had been in much better shape. She was hurting, hurting in a way she had not felt in such a long time. It was going to be months before she was back in peak condition.
As much as she wanted to disembowel that green twerp, she had to give him credit. This was the first time her own power had been used against her. The memory of seeing all that metal falling towards her was still so clear. She had wanted to blast it all away from her, but there was only one problem. Her power only acted on bad luck; to use it then would have only made everything worse.
Yes, not even she was immune from her own power.
Right now, with how hot things were getting and the fact that any and all signs of the giant machine they were all in much more silent than it had ever been before, she had a hunch that it was starting to fall apart.
Unless they could confirm that their current employer was still in control, now would be a good time to jump ship. Sticking around, that could only invite imprisonment. These goodie-goodies didn't seem the type to just leave everything where they lay.
So right now, she was seeking out their escape route, and really, knowing who they were, they had only one surefire way out. It was the only one she trusted.
Now where was Kyd Wykkyd?
She had tried to hail him with their communicators, but so far, the teleporter and the rest of the team was silent. That created a sinking feeling; there was some denial because there was no way all of them could have been beaten. Every other time they had clashed, it was their side that came out on top. They owned, and it wasn't the other way around.
Soon enough, in an ironic turn of luck, she found Wykkyd. Then she saw the state of his arm. Oh...that was not good. Still, it was another nail in their coffin of failure, and she had to ask herself what the hell had happened.
That could wait until later.
Reaching Wykkyd's side, it took a lot of effort to kneel down, and sharp spikes of pain ran up her legs and hips. Placing a hand on the teleporter's shoulder, she gave a soft shake, followed by a harder one when he didn't immediately respond.
It was a good sign when a pair of red eyes blinked up at her. It was also to be expected that he didn't say anything, though what could be seen of his face was contorted into a pained grimace. At least he could hear her, or so she believed, and that was all that mattered.
"Do you think you can do a teleport?" she asked point blank. Then before she could get any nonverbal answer, "Do you think you can do several? Everything's going to hell, and we need to vacate immediately. So can you?"
Jinx definitely did not like the way Wykkyd's arm looked. Oh, and there blood too. Ew.
The teleporter, for his part, gave a nod. It was a slow one, but right now meant all the world to her.
"Right. Start with me, get the others after. We're going back to base," the pink-haired leader commanded. A second later, a cape blocked all sight.
Impulse had to come to a screeching stop. That was no exaggeration, because another step and he would have been flying off into what looked like a multi-colored void of colors. No one color seemed to touch any of the others yet at the same time they overlapped some how. Really hard to describe. But wait, there was more. In every single color, you could see an image, always moving, and each image was of something different.
They all had people. Some were sitting around. Some were running with explosions all around them. Others were talking, some were playing sports, some were in vehicles—land, air, sea, and space—and the clothing always came from different periods of time.
Heck, some weren't human. Yeah, aliens. There were even monsters, maybe some demons, in other images. Anything you could image—hey, that one looked like—! No way! That looked like two Flashes over there! And over there! Why was Flash and some other guy fighting some guy in tights in a cape? What was with the mountains in the background anyway? Oh, and that—! That wasn't Flash, but there were wings—oh, that had to be Hawkgirl and boy was that outfight tight! Fitting. It was tight-fitting. Huh, looked space-age. Oh. Must be her doing something with Thanagar.
Oh, and over there! That looked like a planet was tearing itself apart! Neat. And there! Oh. Well, he had heard the stories, but if that was Wonder Woman...she was really looking hot tearing that multi-headed whatever it is apart. Was that a sword she was holding? Is that what a sword looked like?
Hm. Who was the guy in the ridiculous costume and why was he being held up by another guy with a glass dome over his head? Wonder who they were. There were so many images all over the place. Say, that looked like another monkey but with armor on! Definitely not Mallah so...Grodd maybe? And next to that...a very big guy with arms behind his back, firing laser beams from his eyes that did this whole zigzag thing which led to a pink alien with three eyes and looking very pissed off and he ended where some battle between two Lantern Corps were taking place.
There was so much around, and that also included those floating pieces of rock or land or whatever you wanted to call them. Some were flat and empty, others had outcroppings of rock, and some had things on them. Vehicles of some kind? One way, way, waaaay over there had an escape pod from a Functionary battle ship—don't ask. So that meant the others had to be...things people used. Frak, on the little floating island he was on, there was what might be a primitive plane, the kind that only flew in the air, and well, it was so primitive.
He was going to say something about it, especially to the person who tapped his shoulder, but as soon as he had turned his head, a fist striking him several times rapidly in the face happened, and then he was thrown further onto the piece of rock that he had once stood on. As he picked himself back up, Impulse shook his head, then—oh hey.
Just a few feet ahead of him was Inertia's bomb. He was close enough to see a panel on it, one with a display screen and...oh, you have got to be kidding! Was that…? Was that…! That was! That was a freaking timer! Why?! Why have a ticking time bomb in the middle of the freaking Speed Force! It made no sense!
"I knew you were going to show up, Bart," Thad taunted from behind him. "I just had to wait. Before I cause untold destruction to the time line, I wanted one more chance to have some fun with you."
"Um, what's with the clock?" Because there were some things that were more important than dramatic moments. "Why did you put that there? It's...stupid."
Hmm, that sounded like a frustrated growl. When you were around them enough, you could tell the difference between growls.
The growl ended with a long, sharp intake of air-hold on, was there air in this place? His body was still acting like it was, the chest expanding and contracting, so what if—and then a soft exhale. "Actually, the clock is for you."
Impulse looked over his shoulder, staring blankly at his clone. "I don't get it."
Inertia smirked. "Don't think I don't have some idea of how this place works. Time moves forward—out there. Here, in the very thing that moves it? Time is relative. Past, present, future, all of it exists right here, right now. It's all relative. That doesn't mean there isn't some order to it. Have you actually checked the counter?"
Hadn't really done that because that fact it was there in the first place had been waaaay too distracting. Hold on, let's check this out. Oh wow, that was not how any clock should be working. When he had first returned his attention to it, the time read 10:01, but then it was 27:29, and after that 0:09, and then 1:00:57.
"Figured it out? This place is messing with it. It's pretty much a random time. But all that needs to happen is that it shows zero, zero on each digit. The bomb goes off, and everything goes with it. I have no idea when it's going to happen, but it could happen at any time."
Impulse felt his face harden as he became more resolved. "Then I'll just have to stop it before—"
He tried racing to it, to dismantle the bomb somehow, but then Inertia was at his side, clamping down on both of his wrists. The red and white speedster dug his feet into the earth beneath them, pushing forward with his arms while the green and black speedster grinned nastily back at him.
"—come on, I was in the middle of a line that was totally mode, and you know it!" Impulse snapped out from behind clenched teeth.
His grip still on the red and white speedster's arm, Inertia overextended the limb then jabbed forward his black-covered elbow right into the brown-haired original's face. A foot hooked around a white-covered ankle and pulled. Down Impulse went, though he managed to catch himself with a suddenly free hand. Weight slammed down onto his back, and pinned him to the ground, a knee digging into his back.
"And it gives me great pleasure to take that away from you," the blond speedster said. Strain and pressure decided that it didn't want to be ignored, especially since Inertia still had one arm held in his grip and was now pulling that limb up his back and—ow, ow, ow, Ow, OW!
"Get off!" Impulse snarled.
"Not yet, I'm enjoying this too much," Inertia retorted.
Eyeing his free hand, the red and white speedster quipped back, "Enjoy this!"
Lifting his free hand up, he began to vibrate it rapidly before stabbing it down into the rock underneath him and sending up a large cloud of dirt particles.
A large leathery hand pressed itself against his face. Mallah groaned as consciousness had finally returned to him. Blinking open his eyes, and shutting them when light pained them, the modified gorilla began to push himself up against the wall that he had been laying against.
His back had been in a poor position, and now his spine was sending complaints. Muscles in his back were cramping, but that was nothing some movement could not work out.
Right now he needed to remember...the girl and that boy. The green boy had interfered, that much he remembered. The speed of that leap augmented with the girl's strength, and then the blow after blow until he could no longer remain conscious…
The smoke brought him back to full clarity. Up ahead and down the hallway, he could see the dark cloud wafting through an open doorway—
"No!" he cried out and shoved himself back onto his feet, running as fast as his body would allow. The heat was growing stronger the closer he approached, and his fear of what might still be in that command center pushed him forward. Throwing his thick arms out, he caught himself on the doorway, grunting and holding back a snarl at the heat that had been absorbed by the metal.
It wasn't quite an inferno in there, but there was a fire. Obscured by smoke, he was barely able to identify the wreckage of the chair...crashed...no body in it…!
Memories of another fire had him screaming again and throwing himself into the burning room. He had to find him, before it was too late.
Before there was nothing left to save.
Arm cocked back, Impulse raced to his evil twin—you could call him a twin, right? He was his clone so it counted, right?—with full intention to knock him out. The blond speedster smirked as he knocked the would be punch to a side easily, slamming a palm into the heroic speedster's chest and shoving him back.
Only taking two steps back, the brown-haired speedster went into a run, going to his left and making a turn to try and get the definitely evil speedster in the side. A green and black blur took Inertia out of Impulse's way—a miss!—but that didn't trip him up too bad. A full U-turn had him heading back after the blond.
Throwing a fist, he tried to punch, but Inertia leaned to a side, dodging it. Okay, let's use the other fist, and that was dodged with the other speedster leaning in the opposite direction. A third punch was caught, his white arm pulled forward and overextending it, and then hits from his left and right snapping his head in the reverse order.
A hand gripping the front of his costume pulled and he was flipped to a side and on his back. The following daze lasted half a second, the detection of movement from above put him on alert, and he rolled out of the way of a green-colored boot.
On his hands and knees, Impulse made another charge, and when he was close, he channeled as much speed into his arms as he could to throw a rapid-fire...erm...well, it was a ton of punches that made the air in front of him waver and shimmer in front of him. Let's see this douche handle this!
And that douche was handling this, moving at speeds that, well, only Impulse knew he could reach, as well as the Flash, let's not forget about him, and each and every punch was pushed to a side, flat out blocked, and dodged. What should have been an awesome sight to see was ended when a black-covered arm slipped past the barrage, and a green-gloved hand chopped into an elbow, throwing one of Impulse's arms out of sync.
The rest fell apart after that, a white-covered arm was batted away, then a series of well-placed punches nailed him a different spots on his torso, with one last hit getting him in the cheek. Falling back, Impulse was proud to say that he still remained standing, but now there were a bunch of spots were sharp, shooting pain radiated and his cheek felt like something heavy had run into it.
In front of him, Inertia stood in a casual stance, arms crossed, and watching him with evil eyes, because that was totally an evil look he was giving him. Something about the smirk was really pissing the red and white speedster off, and so he dashed forth…
...and had Inertia tripping him by stepping out of the way, a single foot sticking out to catch his. The ground was harsh, and now what part of his face that wasn't covered with his headgear was scraped.
Brown hair was pulled back, then his handsome mug of a face was slammed into the rock under him. He could feel his head being turned left and right as his face was grounded into the ground.
"Come on, make this a bit more exciting," Inertia taunted from above. "You might have come out of the test tube first, but that isn't helping you against your little brother here. Show me what you're made of, because otherwise, I'm just hitting a sack of meat."
Planting his hands into the ground, Impulse struggled to push himself up, if it was only to pull his head away from the surface it was being rubbed against, resistance from his clone twin applied pressure to keep him down. One arm blurred as an elbow was thrown back, all resistance from Inertia ending as the green and black speedster pulled away.
Not even stopping, Impulse was back on his feet, spinning around and charging. He threw he had no idea how many punches, tapping into as much of the Speed Force as he could to accelerate each and every one of them. To his frustration, Inertia was also doing some tapping of his own and once again, blocking and dodging each and every punch.
Catching one arm, Inertia pulled on it, pulling Impulse forward, and then the palm of a hand slammed into the red and white speedster's chin. Teeth jarred with one another as the brown-haired teen from the future's head snapped back, his feet leaving the ground-
One after another, heavy blows jackknifed his body, one in the stomach, another in his chest, and then a kick that threw him away like something with no bones or something. Something raggy. His body bounced against the ground at leave once before going into a short roll where he came to a stop.
"Baaarrrrt," Inertia singsong while slowly strolling his way closer. "Oh, Baaaarrrrt. Can you do me a favor and put up more of a fight? As fun as knocking you around is, I want to get an actual fight from you. You can do that for me, right?"
Panting, Impulse spat out some spittle, then rubbed at his mouth with one hand. Turning his head, he eyed his nasty clone, taking in the guy that once looked so much like him, but pretty much dyed his hair and costume to look more evil and...and behind him some ways a way was that bomb that could go off at any time.
This was unfamiliar territory; normally he was the fastest guy in the room, thank you very much, and everyone else was way too slow. How he moved, how he handled bad guy, everything depended on his speed. A fat lot of good that did against someone who was just as fast.
The fate of the world depended on him kicking bad guy butt, though. So that was what he had to do, what he was going to do. If Inertia could keep up at this speed, then maybe what he had to do...was go even faster than that.
Everyone was tense, and it stemmed from the same reason.
No one had any clue of what was happening or what was about to happen.
Only a minute ago had Inertia vanished into what he claimed was the Speed Force, and Impulse had chased after him. Now there was only the six of them, standing around, trying to figure out what they could next.
And that was the problem.
No one here knew what to do. No one knew if they were a second away from whatever Inertia was planning to happen, and based on the speedster's words, there was a good chance none of them would know that anything had changed.
"Anybody have an idea how we can go after them?" Wonder Girl finally broke the deafening silence.
"Half the crap that was being spouted off went over my head. This is the first I'm hearing about cosmic treadmills and messing around with time streams and all that," Cyborg answered, gesturing to the large hamster wheel that was much more than any of them had imagined.
"What course of action is there for us to take?" Starfire wondered.
"I think it's simple," Wonder Girl stated, punching a fist into her palm. "We follow them into wherever they went."
"And how do you suggest we do that?" Raven cut in. "No one else here has superspeed or any influence over this Speed Force. The fact that no one else around here has shown any aptitude for it only means we may not have any options."
"And we're just going to let that kid do the fighting for us?" Wonder Girl demanded incredulously. Swinging out an arm, "We've already left that kid to be worked half to death in this place, and let ourselves get tricked by a body double! He has no reason to want to help any of us, but he still went after that prick, and what I'm hearing is that we're not going to do anything about it?"
Red Robin had been keeping to himself, listening to the building argument. Wonder Girl had summed up how shitty the situation was, especially their part in it. While there was nothing more he wanted to do that to atone for it, what could they do?
"Is there anyway we can follow them...wherever they went?" Beast Boy wondered.
"Not unless you can run as fast as those two can," Raven remarked, though her tone of voice made it sound like she was snarking.
The vigilante felt a second's worth of epiphany, followed by a moment's worth of doubt. However, he still threw it out there with some hope. "Have you spent enough time with him? Them?"
The cloak and hooded girl turned to him. "Get to the point."
Seemed like he might've lost her. "You've got a feel for the rest of us, right? That means that even in a city of millions with all the projecting they do, you could find us. Have you spent enough time with either Impulse or Inertia to do the same?" Red Robin pressed.
"You might be on to something," Raven admitted, "but I've only just been able to grasp Inertia, but he has, I know now, considerable control over his emotions. Impulse not so much, but I haven't been able to spend enough time, ironically enough, with him. Even then, the application would be different. With you all, it's space and distance. Here, we might be dealing with a new dimension and that is one aspect that I haven't experimented with."
Damn, and he had hoped he had been on to something. For lack of something better to do, he looked around and took in the surroundings Other than the lot of them and that circular treadmill, there were the unconscious bodies of two of the thieves they had been dealing with, Mammoth and Shimmer. There was also that massive terminal for siphoning energy from the treadmill. Last but not least there were still some of those large batteries filled with—!
"What about Speed Force energy?" he abruptly asked, whipping his head back to Raven.
Raven frowned. "Explain."
"They kept Impulse here for days, making him run and collecting Speed Force energy. Whatever they were able to get, they put them in these batteries. You know, the large canisters?"
Surprisingly, Starfire seemed to be the one to pick up on what he was thinking of. "Are you suggesting that because they siphoned this energy from Impulse that it contains a signature unique to our friend?"
"That's what I'm hoping," he said, turning to acknowledge the Tamaranian before returning all of his attention to Raven. "It may be energy, but it was energy produced by Impulse, and it's connected to the Speed Force. From what I know about you, your powers have unique affects and manipulate the world differently than the rest of us. Is there the possibility that you can locate Impulse through this hypothetical energy signature?"
Raven didn't answer immediately, but that was a cause for worry. She was thinking it over, debating it internally, trying to poke holes in the argument and see if it still held up. That much of her thinking process is what Red Robin had been able to deduce about it. Whereas the others would think more of the lines of "can I do it," Raven thought "how am I unable to do it."
"I can try, but this is going to require a lot more than usual," Raven eventually said, her words carefully measured. "This isn't using the physical attributes of an individual, this is using energy with a hypothetical signature. I'm going to need an anchor before I try anything."
"We have an anchor on the boat," Beast Boy suggested.
Raven threw the shapeshifter a dead look. "I'm talking emotional. In this case, I'm going to need you, all of you, to serve as this anchor. Then….then I can try and see about using this energy in the manner you're suggesting."
"And how are we going to be this anchor exactly?" Cyborg asked, eyeing Raven warily.
Instead of giving an immediate answer, Raven took in a deep breath, one that everyone could heard. That couldn't be good. That she was hesitating this much meant there had to be something about this she didn't like, and if Raven was so reluctant to talk about it instead of being blunt…
"The anchor is metaphysical...but it has a physical component," Raven was finally able to admit. "I will need physical touch…and since I do not possess full knowledge of the situation, more specifically knowledge on the Speed Force, I will need multiple individuals involved."
That was it? Well, Raven was adverse to physical touch, so this might be a real problem for her. At the same time, what did she mean by physical touch? A hand on the shoulder? Shoulders barely touching? Something bigger than that?
"So when you say you need to be touched," Wonder Girl spoke up, speaking slowly, "what do you mean by that?"
Impulse was pushing himself to his limits, and like anyone with any connection to the Flash, he was pushing beyond those limits. His body had all sorts of speed energy crackling off of him, but this is what happened when you began pushing. He had seen it before.
The increase in speed was evening the odds. Where Inertia was constantly blocking and hitting him, the blocks were slower now, which meant he was starting to get through the guard. Unfortunately, even the edge on speed did not mean a full hit, not yet.
There was no wind at this pace, if there could even be wind in this place, He threw a punch, and he could see how tense his evil clone was, reacting nanoseconds later than the blond was comfortable with, yet the fist was parried. Expecting this, the red and white speedster pulled back his other arm and threw a punch with that. The green and black speedster barely pulled his head back in time, but the red-gloved fist grazed the headgear.
Going low, the third punch tried to swipe into the ribs, and got the imposter to curl his gut back to avoid it. Got him; the fourth was a hit and it was right into the stomach. You could see Inertia's body shake from the hit, and then Impulse was twisting out of the way of the counterattack, a palm with curled fingers ramming past him. The follow-up jab almost got red-coved ribs, but that was a graze too.
Clamping down on the jabbing arm, Impulse pushed up and over, throwing Inertia to a side. Without waiting to see how the clone would land, the brown-haired speedster made a dash to the bomb He was like a picosecond away when he spotted a flash of green and black, so diverted his direction to the blond speedster.
He barely slid out of the way of the jutting palm, pulled away from the following swing, ducked under the punch, spun around the failed grab, and found himself unable to resist giving a shove to the clone's back. As Inertia stumbled, Impulse raced around him, heading for the bomb again.
He had just put his hands on it when he was tackled from the side, both of the speedsters going into a roll. A green, booted foot kicked him off and quickly enough, the two of them were blurs once more.
Side by side, they ran, trading blows and blocks, each one trying to get one over the other. Impulse felt some strain, keeping pace instead of running ahead, channeling as much accelerated speed into his punches and parries without breaking apart—you know what, forget that.
Letting his whole body nearly vibrate, he zoomed on ahead, practically nearing an edge of this floating island and leaving Inertia in the dust. Making a hairpin turn, he raced head on for his imposter, stretched out an arm and—clothesline! His arm pulled back with the blond's torso, but eventually threw off the center of gravity and sent the evil clone down to the ground, landing on his back and momentum bouncing him forward.
Coming to a stop and leaving a couple of foot-sized trenches in his wake, Impulse turned his upper body around to get a look at—and there came the sudden wash over of weakness. He wobbled and fought to keep his balance. Whoa, that was something. Using that much Speed Force was taking a toll on his body. How much longer could he keep this up?
Not long, but it wouldn't matter if that bomb went off, he realized. And to the bomb he ran, hands outstretched to try and stop the thing. The little timer was showing 0:02, then 4:56, then 7:54:13 then 5:47—
—urk!
His hands had been on either side of the panel when another arm had snaked around his neck and pulled back. Oh come on! From behind, Inertia grunted, pulled back and up, and spun around, throwing the red and white speedster as far as he could.
In midair,, Impulse rolled his body, unable to fully do much since, you know, speedsters were so much better on ground and without anything to push off of, it was kinda hard to speed anything up. Oh yeah, hands, now how could he—upp, about to touch down on the ground, let's get those feet aimed and perfect landin—-!
He was rammed from the front, pushed and shoved back until his back slammed into the side of the antique plane he had completely forgotten about. His head was angled just right, and since he hadn't closed his eyes, he could see Inertia pinning him against the plane, arm pulled back and fist incoming.
It was impulsive, but the brown-haired speedster threw his head to the side, the fist almost getting his ear, but flesh against metal was always a one-sided thing, you know, since metal won practically every time. His blond imposter pulled back, holding his injured fist tightly, and committing a major fight no-no.
Who was Impulse not to show him why? Kicking his feet into the air, he bent the knees, put his feet against the side of the plane, and launched himself forward, tackling his clone. There was no rolling this time, only Inertia landing on his back with the real Impulse on top of him. Grabbing the blond by the front of his skin-tight costume, he pulled him up while throwing a fist down.
Wham! Right in the face did he strike him. A second wham because Thad here totally deserved it. A third just because, and a fourth because it felt right. Each time, the back of Inertia's head went back and into the ground, doing that at least four times with his body growing limper with each hit.
After a fifth hit...couldn't think of a reason for that one, Impulse glared down at the evil speedster, taking in deep breaths through his nose. He noticed how some blood was starting to dry at the corner of the blond's mouth, how some bruises were starting to form on the exposed parts of his face, and how his eyes colored yellow by the lens over them stared back challengingly.
Clasping down on the top of the imposter's head, fingers digging through blond hair, Impulse pulled back a fist and snarled, "You're the worstest bro I've ever had!"
A green-gloved hand grabbed the wrist of his extended arm. There wasn't even a smirk when Inertia replied calmly, "And...the only one you've ever had."
It was rare that Impulse ever felt anything like anger, but right now he was feeling it. His fist came down, amplified with speed force. Inertia's other hand slipped in to catch up, but for once, he was unable to stop it. The back of a green-gloved hand slammed into the blond's face, pillowing much of the blow, but not enough to not get knocked silly.
Shoving himself off his imposter, Impulse once more raced for the bomb, not understanding while his vision was slightly blurry.
Raven studied the, for all intents and purposes, battery, and after encasing it in her power, she could detect the energy within it. She was surprised at its feel, because the best way to describe it was potential. It was the power of possibility with the limitation of permanence after usage. If she took it a step forward, and concentrated to an extent that she rarely did, she could feel the faintest of traces of this energy everywhere.
Concentrating that hard took up too much, so she would not be doing any investigations with it for the time being. Really, all she needed for confirmation that there could be a trace of Impulse in this energy was also enveloping the large, circular treadmill in her black-colored power, and comparing any and all traces of the energy that lingered.
It wasn't surprising that the half-life of this energy's charge was incredibly short. With a lot of effort, she was able to single out a signature that was identical to the one in the battery. Unfortunately, the only other signature held a lot of similarities that made it blend in with the desired signature.
Still, theoretically, it was enough for her to potentially follow after the speedsters. Now for the rest of the preparations.
That meant the anchor.
"Does anybody else feel stupid?" Beast Boy wondered out loud.
"Man, just don't." Cyborg shook his head.
"Is there an issue with our current activity?" Starfire wondered.
"There is nothing wrong," Raven intervened. "Physical connection with another person tends to act as anchor in and of itself. For our purposes, I'm going to create a psychic bond between all six of us, similar to that of a rope. From there, I will access the Speed Force Energy and use that to try and find where Impulse and Inertia went. If all goes well, we may be able to make a way into the Speed Force."
The five of them that weren't her were standing in an incomplete circle, each holding hands. To her right stood Cyborg with a free hand, followed by Beast Boy who linked to Starfire, who held a hand with Wonder Girl, who was interlocked with Red Robin, who stood to her, Raven's, left.
"Shouldn't one of us be waiting, ready to jump into whatever portal you make? I mean, aren't we putting one too many people into this anchor?" Wonder Girl asked.
"As far as I know, there shouldn't be a portal," Raven denied. "I will be projecting my astral self into the Speed Force while using Impulse's signature to follow him to his exact position." Taking a deep breath, Raven, though, went over her explanation some more, going over the plan that was hastily made and already keeping her doubts to herself. "When we start, I need you all to be focused. Any change in your emotions or your thoughts could be enough to break this psychic rope apart, and who knows what will happen to everyone if that does happen."
"Um, would you care to enlighten us what might happen?" Red Robin asked, his posture becoming uncomfortable.
"Our minds could be fried or cast out of our bodies into an extradimensional plane of existence unknown to man, or erased, or scrambled amongst the individuals here. It's hard to say."
"That sounds very distressing," Starfire remarked, troubled.
"So that is why, for once, everyone needs to remain as calm as possible." A pointed look was sent Beast Boy's way. Green eyes returned the look with some confusion. Great. "I would like to reiterate one last time that what we're about to do has never been done before, so a lot could go wrong. I can't even guarantee that we'll be able to pull either Impulse or Inertia back here. They may both be trapped there with no way out."
"We still have to try, though," Red Robin said. He looked out at the rest of them. "This is the time to back out. Say the word, and I don't anyone will blame you. Hell, I don't know if this is going to work or if we're about to upset the space-time continuum or whatever, but I'm in."
"Let's make it easier on everyone, if you want out, just let go of the hands and back away," Wonder Girl cut in before a cheesy roll call of volunteers could happen, gaining Raven's gratitude in the process.
What followed was a moment where everyone looked at one another, each person making eye contact with another, then moving on to the next. There was uncertainty, a lot of worry, and quite a bit of anxiety, and Raven did not need to be an empath to be able to figure that out. Would there be someone to break the link and back out, choosing to preserve their own hide, or would they hold tight and press forward with this suicidal madness?
Whether it was because no one wanted to be the first, or peer pressure was real, or even conformity itself, no one was tearing their hands away, at least not yet, and Raven figured now was as good a time as any.
"Since no one is running for the hills, I assume we're agreeing to do this." Without waiting for confirmation, she took her place between Cyborg and Red Robin, snatching their hands, and began to concentrate. Any doubts she knew she had were shoved to a side and buried for safe measure. Such affect would undermine her, and that was the last thing anyone needed.
Deep within, she could feel the power, always there, always tempting, and she reached deep into it. Then she let it flow out of her, guiding it to the battery, to envelop and devour what was in it. Meanwhile, she searched for the other five minds around her, reading them and linking them, not just to one another but herself. Then she allowed herself to take hold of the signature still written in foreign energy.
It was a psychic juggling act, but so far, she was holding together. Taking in a deep breath slowly, as she exhaled, she spoke the words that would put everything together, and hopefully not kill anyone.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
5:47:19. 13:10. 59:01. 00:06.
Crouching in front of the bomb, Impulse moved his hands all over it, trying to figure out how to open it. It was sealed tight, which wasn't that predictable? Why was it some days you couldn't get rid of a bomb?
Sure, he could try and pick it up and throw it, but it would still be on, so no, let's not do that. Come on, come on, there had to be a latch somewhere—oh frak it.
Holding his hands out, he began to vibrate them to the point they were blurs, and then the speedster went to work. If he could take it apart the normal way, then it was time to get creative. If his hands had been all over the bomb before, then you hadn't seen nothing yet—oh score! He managed to pop out the front.
Why were there so many wires? So much circuitry? And so much...other things? And why was the face of the not so ticking clock not taken out as well? Oh no, it was 00:04—oh wait, now it was 2:57. Forget it.
He felt his hair being pulled back, and now he was remembering someone he had only forgotten about a second ago. Seriously, how was Inertia still—oh yeah, with superspeed came superhealing kind of. What would take anyone else hours or days or months to heal from, a speedster powered with the Speed Force could even speed up the natural healing process itself. Next time, make sure the next speedster he fought was completely unconscious.
Impulse began batting away the green-gloved hand that was attempting grab some other part of his body, then reached back for the innards of the bomb. His hair was released as Inertia was practically on top of him, snatching for his arm. Bending an elbow, Impulse jerked the joint upwards and stretched out his other arm only to have to run interference when the blond went for that limb.
It went like this for several seconds, Inertia trying to stop him, Impulse pushing away any and all grabs while reaching for the bomb. Then, someone changed tactics, and that was Inertia who instead of going for the arms went for the shoulders. Heaved back, Impulse found himself lifted a few inches off the ground then thrown away. It was easy to land on his feet, but that was second only to the fact that now between him and the bomb was his clone.
Inertia was breathing heavily, glaring at him. His shoulders lifted high with each breath the imposter took. "No. You don't," the blond growled.
"You don't really want to go through with this. You could kill everyone!" Impulse tried to reach out to the other speedster. Yeah, there was bad blood between them, the less said the better, but was Thad really going to go ahead and maybe get himself killed too? Thawnes were all about seeing their handiwork.
"I don't care about everyone else," Inertia spat back. "This…this is all about you. About showing you how inferior you are, how I am the better. Rule of two, remember? And you remember the last part of it, right? One has to prevail over the other, somehow, someway, because there is only room enough for one. That's how it always worked, before Wally, before your ancestor, even before Garrick. And now it's the two of us, and only one can stay. We both know who's coming, and he won't leave without one.
"But instead, how about we break the rule, just this once? Let's shatter the laws of reality, let's succeed where Eobard failed, and make us a Flashpoint. New rules. New everything. How about it, Bart?"
"Thad, you're starting to sound a little crazy," he replied, his body tense.
"I've never been more sane in my life." Inertia raised a hand to the side of his head, a finger placing itself against the headgear. "I had no idea how the Speed Force would affect the timer, so also installing a manual detonator is looking like a smart idea. I could have blown us up a long time ago, but with you too close to your precious victory, I'm going to have to call it."
Grife, this could not get any worse. But wait!
"Where's the detonator?" Impulse asked. "Where are you hiding it? The costume is skin tight, so unless you stuck it—"
"It's right where my finger is, you moron!" Inertia snarled. "Unlike you, I made additions to my gear. I'm more than prepared, and I'm ready to go out with a bang."
"Come on, there has to be something worth more than...whatever this is suppose to mean to you! Is detonating a Speed Force bomb in the Speed Force and doing who knows what to it going to make you happy?" Impulse protested.
Inertia was still for a moment. "No." For a second, the red and white speedster had hope. "Seeing your face for one second when you realized that you've failed will." And hope died a horrible, agonizing death, punctuated with the large smile that the green and black speedster flashed at him.
Inertia applied pressure, pressing whatever unseen button was on that headgear, triggering the bomb…
...triggering the bomb…
…and triggering the bomb…
...which was not exploding.
"What the hell?! Why hasn't it…?" Inertia swore whipping his head around to glare at the bomb.
"Yeeeeeah, about that," Impulse said, drawing his clone's attention back to him. Holding out a hand, one that had been closed into a loose fist, he opened it to show off small pieces of metal, wires, a few small pieces of circuit board, and a microchip or two.
Once more, Inertia whipped his head back to the bomb. "When—!"
"It was when you were grabbing at me like a minute ago," Impulse explained, shrugging his shoulders. "Whenever you were trying to grab one of my arms, I used the other to grab something, anything. Then, I kept trading whatever I held from hand to hand until I saw that clock turn off. That's when you threw me away, remember? And I couldn't resist letting you think that the bomb was still alive and all and I wanted to see if I couldn't talk you down first because, you know, superhero, and well…"
Unable to resist, he held the hand with the miscellaneous bomb parts over his head and cried out, "Ta da!"
Inertia's mouth fell open, and it took way too long for a sound to finally come out. "When…? I didn't even see…"
"Moving faster than I ever have, that's how!" he exclaimed. "Now, if you'll excuse me—" his torso turned, his arm bent and cocked back before becoming a spinning blur. With as much speed and force as he could muster, he threw the tiny bits and pieces of bomb...pieces out into the Speed Force itself, the small objects scattering like some kind of scatter effect or some such. Bet they didn't have an equivalent back in the past. "—and there! Good luck getting that bomb to work now!"
His clone's face was a mask of horror watching as what were certainly important components of his bomb fly out into...whatever it was you called it in this place. Even if he could run, there would be no way to figure out where each piece went or how to get back to this island in particular.
Then the blond's face began to tighten, the jaw closed, and the visible skin began to turn red—say, was that a guttural growl he could hear?
A green and black blur slammed into him, and a green-gloved fist rapidly punched into his face. "I'm going to rip you apart!" the blond shrieked. "Tear off your legs! Your arms!" Having to use two hands, Impulse caught the punching fist before it could try to be best friends with his face. Inertia wretched his punching fist away only to ram a kicking knee into the red and white speedster's side.
At first he stumbled, trying to catch his balance, but then Impulse dropped down to the ground to avoid the swinging punch that had tried to strike the back of his head. Landing in a crouch, he stuck a leg out and spun his body, kicking Inertia's legs out from under him. The green and black speedster went into an impressive handstand, pushing off with his hands to flip over and land on his feet.
The two speedsters charged simultaneously at each other. Impulse went low, ducking under any attack and shoulder tackled his imposter in the gut. Inertia was pushed back, his feet digging into the ground. Impulse grunted as he felt two heavy blows strike him in his back, then a third into his ribs. Deciding to return the favor, he pulled an arm back and jabbed his fist into the other's ribs, see how he liked it.
His arm was grabbed and pulled up, Two jabs found their way into his ribs. Impulse caught the third, but the black-clad arm twisted in his grip and broke free. His clone repeated that action, only with the rest of his body, and Impulse had to catch himself before he nearly fell. His hair was yanked, again, and both of his red-gloved hands shot up to block the fist that nearly smashed into his throat.
He was bent over from the blow into his stomach. He returned the favor by puling and hyperextending the arm he still held onto by the fist, deliberately twisting as much as he could from his current position. Inertia spun his body around to get instant relief, his free black-clad arm wrapping around Impulse's waist. With a heave, the imposter pulled the red and white speedster up, his feet no longer having contact with the ground, then dropped him only for Impulse to have a knee ram into his tailbone.
He gave out a cry as he fell onto the ground; it was hard to tell but either that was shock from a nerve or something broke. He was pulled back onto his feet by the blond speedster, which he tried to throw an elbow back but only got air. A fist impacted his face, but he took the chance to raise and curl his arm around the extended arm and capture it. With his other arm he finally landed a punch of his own to the furious clone's face, and since he could, got a second punch in.
Inertia forcibly yanked his arm out of Impulse's hold, then lunged with both arms stretched out. There was none of the controlled movements that the green and black speedster typically had, and for once, Impulse was able to read that. Doing what he did best, he dashed between those arms, slipped his hands up to clamp down on Inertia's shoulders, and pulled while throwing his head as had as he could.
His clone's face hit the top of the red and white speedster's head. What? Thought it was going to be a forehead to forehead kind of thing? Been there, done that, it was not fun. Bet Inertia was feeling the same way though. You know what? Let's really make him dislike it.
Removing his hands from the blond's shoulders, they clasped down on either side of Inertia's head and pulled. Bam, another headbutt to that identical face. Pulling back one arm, he gave it a windup first before going in for the finale, hitting the Thawne in his chest and knocking his clone several feet away. Inertia's back crashed onto the ground, and his body continued moving forward in a way that his body flipped, ending with the blond on his front.
Panting, Impulse made to take a step forward...and then fell to his knees. His sides were starting to kill him now, the rib jabs really making themselves known. Had something cracked or fractured down there? All the adrenaline must have been blocking it. Give it a minute, with some accelerated healing, and he'd be good for another round.
Grife, he could see Inertia slowly starting to push himself onto his arm, or an arm as one hand was pressed against his head.
In a second, he knew that this was what it was gong to be. The two of them were going to keep at this, hitting and hurting one another until finally one was unable to move. Neither would be slowing down and...well, never thought this was how it was going to end, really. He didn't know if he had it in him to...kill Thad, and all Thad wanted to do was kill him. And then after? Well, whoever won was stuck here unless Thad had the crazy idea of having a way out just in case. He did have a way out of here, right?
Then again, from the way he had spoken earlier, this might be the one time Thad hadn't thought that far ahead.
Instantly, he could feel the...change. Slowly looking to his left, he could hear what sounded like a bird, shrieking, as a black column of...stuff tore its way into existence. From the stuff, what looked like wings stretched out, and two glowing eyes, red in color, pierced straight into him.
Quickly., Impulse, I can't hold this open for long. Reach me, as soon as you can!
Oh hey, that sounded a lot like...okay, so why was he hearing Raven and why was it here of all places? She wasn't that powerful was she? And why would she...no, why would they make an effort to follow after him? Why do...whatever it was they had done, and for a guy that they hadn't known had been replaced by an evil clone?
Well, the answer was obvious, wasn't it?
A quick glance to Inertia really amped up the tension. The blond had spotted the black Raven thing, and the angry expression on his face did not look like a good thing. Then, the clone's eyes made contact with his, and the snarl turned into a sneer, baring a lot of teeth.
Both of them were blurs, Impulse running faster than he ever had. He couldn't let Inertia beat him to the Raven portal thing; now that the jig was up, there was no telling what Thad was going to do to the first person he got his hands on. They were going to need him, a member of the Flash family.
After all the effort, there was no way he was going to let the Titans down.
At the last second, he jumped, stretching out an arm, reaching for the Raven portal.
There was a flare of black and then it wisped away, leaving nothing of itself behind except the scream of a bird that echoed throughout the Speed Force. The cry had masked the sounds of an impact on the ground, one of the two speedsters unable to reach it in time.
A speedster who was now stranded.
Pushing himself up, Inertia whipped his head back and forth, searching for something, anything, that was not the Speed Force. He had recognized almost immediately what the presence of a black bird in this place was, a way out and back to the real world. For a second, the thought about leaving Bart here while he tormented the Titans back there had been a lovely little fantasy, and one he had every intention of fulfilling.
Except the exit was gone. So was Bart. All that was left was him.
He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, eyes wide and jaw clenched. Desperately, he searched the tiny, rocky island he was on, even running about, searching for anything that might have been left behind, a means he could use to get out.
All he found was the bomb. The now useless bomb that had some extremely important components missing and scatter who knows where. Somehow, that twit had gotten to the part that controlled the detonation of its payload. Now it was just a container for Speed Force energy with no way to break it open with deliberate explosive results.
It was useless.
And he was trapped here.
For once, not planning an exit strategy had backfired, and horribly so.
Unable to control himself, Inertia released a furious scream, one that sounded throughout this shifting void with no one else to hear it.
Everything was disorienting, and the whole reality pulling sensation, though there was the distinct feel of something...plopping. That was the best way to describe it. How else could you describe it when your mind was linked to several other people and you were getting to know them in ways you never thought possible.
Images of men with alien weapons shooting them at her; an orange-skin Tamaranian with black hair turning her back while she reached out with a hand, screaming for help as she was dragged away by Gordanians; a man who had half his face burned and was holding her mask in one hand and a gun in the other; sitting on a cot with a thin blonde girl who was levitating several rocks around her hand, setting foot in a new world while her brothers snarled and screamed after her; standing before a very pretty set of gold armor, which would soon enough…
So images, so many that made no sense and others that made all the sense imaginable and passed through her mind and for who knew how long. Then the plop, and it all ended.
Wonder Girl was resting on the floor, feeling dazed and confused and needing to hit something or someone. That feeling would have to be left unsatisfied for now.
Eventually, she was able to refocus on the here and now, on the ring of teens who were all on the floor themselves, and on a teen who laid facedown on the floor in the middle of them. She wanted to laugh, because, somehow, miraculously, they had done it.
Impulse was back in the building.
Alone.
"I think my systems are starting to reboot," Cyborg moaned.
"I myself feel as if my biological processes are also rebooting as well," Starfire agreed. "I may need some time."
"Did it work?" Red asked, somehow and not surprisingly being the first one to recover enough to get a scope of the situation. "Can anybody…?"
Feeling humor, and the beginning of a good mood, she threw him a bone. "Look in front of you, Red. On the floor. I think it's a boy."
Said boy was, for once, not being a bundle of movement, uncharacteristically lying still. You could see how his body lifted and feel with each breath he was taking, so he was still alive. For a second, though, she wondered if he was the right one; they had fallen for a replacement before. Who knew what had happened in the Speed Force? For all they knew, they could have somehow switched costumes.
"Hey," she said, reaching out and giving the speedster a shake. "Are you all right? Are you...the real Impulse?" Because that really needed to be said, tact be damned.
Impulse's body gave a small spasm, but it soon became clear what that was for. The snort gave it away, before the speedster rolled onto his back, giving a merry laugh once he was face up. "That...that was so...crash."
"Is something broken?" Starfire wondered.
"Probably, a lot of stuff, but nothing that won't heal," Impulse remarked loudly. Pushing himself up onto his elbows, he looked around with a very wide smile. That smile shrunk with each passing second, eyes darted around as if searching for something or someone. "Did you get him? Does anybody see Inertia anywhere?"
Now that he mentioned it… Wonder Girl perked up, her eyes moving around the place, searching for any sign of green and black. You would think with Impulse laying on the floor like he was, the same would be said for the other speedster, but so far she saw no trace of him.
"I...was only able to hold on long enough for one," Raven admitted, her words coming out slow. It was like it took effort and energy to speak for herself. "Even then...it was a miracle I was able to hold on for as long as I was able to. I grabbed the first to reach me and that's all I was able to do."
"So he's stuck in the Speed Force?" Cyborg summed up. "What about the bomb?"
"Heh, I took care of it. There's not going to be any sudden distortions in the space-time continuum or anything like that," Impulse answered flippantly. As the armored blonde looked at the younger teen, she noted how he wasn't being what she recalled as energetic; there wasn't a lot of movement from him, and so, she knew she had to ask.
"You are Impulse, right? Bart? No one's pretending to be you, right?"
Some might say time and place, or at the very least use some tact, but she didn't have the energy to waste on it. She was going to be blunt, and if it turned out she had a reason to be worried, hopefully she'd be able to do something about it before superspeed took matters out of all their hands.
Impulse didn't answer immediately, which meant what? Would an imposter answer immediately or was this another trick? Eventually, a sigh, so seemingly uncharacteristic came from a kid who suddenly looked both young and old at the same time. "Yeah, it's the real me this time. I'm...I'm just really, really tired."
"Would you like to get out of here?" Red offered, sitting up straighter. "Do you need any help?"
Impulse shook his head. "Nah. I…" What was with all the trailing off lately? "...I think I need to be alone for a little while. today , no, the whole week, has been really rough."
"Dude, you know we're here for you, right? I mean, we're here for you now," Beast Boy spoke up.
"I get it, but right now, I need to think. I need to go for a run," the speedster answered.
"Are you not tired? Have you not been running for an extended period of time?" Starfire asked, and there was no mistaking the concern in her voice.
Glancing at the Tamaranian from the corner of his eye, Impulse assured, "You don't need to worry about me. Something we speedster gotta do….is to run."
"Are you coming back?" That came from Red, his voice really, really soft.
Wonder Girl was expecting a ready, "of course!" but when that didn't happen, she started to catch on to what Red was implying.
"I don't know," Impulse admitted as he shakily got back onto his feet. As if that was a signal for the rest of them, they all started picking themselves off the floor. "Guess you'll know when you know. I have a lot I need to think about."
And then there was no more time. You could barely see the blur, but all that needed to be known was that their boy from the future had left, leaving the six of them behind. No one said anything. What could be said? Not even Wonder Girl felt the need to throw in some snark or ribbing at Red's expense.
Because it was all fucked up. Not noticing the replacement, going along with the act without asking questions, letting the poor kid find out at a horrible time, and then stranding the imposter who knew where after all the quality time spent with him. She felt like she was a sack of shit, and deserved to feel that way. Judging by some of the guilt she was spotting in the others' eyes, she may not be alone in this feeling.
"So now what?" Cyborg eventually asked, breaking the silence.
Red gave a loud sigh. "I'll take care of it. I need to make a call."
Looking away from the masked teen, she could guess who the call was being made to.
That was one conversation she found herself glad she wouldn't need to be a part of, and that fact alone only made her feel worse.
The sign listed the name of the city and its population at last count. So it was close to the city limits, and fortunately a limit that had very little in population. It was the best for this little meeting, one that Red Robin knew had to be done as soon as possible.
He didn't mince words, he told it all, all the bad, all the good, everything, and then waited for response.
The Flash wasn't making eye contact with him, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. The superhero and Justice Leaguer looked just about as uncomfortable as the masked teen did. There was a bit of relief to see this kind of reaction, because Red Robin had been expecting something close to how Batman would have responded.
So there was what felt like certain doom wasn't about to fall down on his head.
"I had no idea," Flash eventually said. "If I had known all that Thawne business hadn't been wrapped up, I wouldn't have put you guys into that position. And you say Bart's taken off? Haven't seen him since?"
Red Robin nodded in confirmation. "I have a feeling he wants to be alone, and I don't blame him. He's been through a lot lately."
"And he hasn't bounced back yet," Flash picked up, lowering his hand. "This is all kinds of screwed up, but I'm gonna handle it. Don't you worry, kid."
"You know how to find him?" he couldn't help but ask. "He's pretty fast—"
"And you're talking to the fastest man alive," the Scarlet Speedster interrupted. "I know the best places to look, in might take a few minutes, but this isn't his time, and there are only so many places."
He'd take the reassurances, as much as he'd allow himself. Looking away from the hero from Central City, the teen vigilante glanced back at Jump. With everything that had happened, there was now a lot of activity happening. There was a bit of a dispute happening between the League and the A.R.G.U.S. organization over who had jurisdiction over that hidden base underneath the Transpacific Pyramid. Who knew who was going to win that argument, but right now, it was none of his business anymore.
"I'm gonna make this up to you guys," Flash said, drawing Red Robin's attention back to the Leaguer. "After everything that's happened, I'm going to make this right. I don't care if we were busy with some Greek Gods possessing people, I'm going to do right by you guys. It can't be easy keeping how many superpowerd kids on a single boat. You probably had to deal with a lot more problems than you're telling me right now."
"It's okay, we're figuring things out," the masked teen said.
"No, no it's not okay. I don't know how long you've been trying to hold things together, but it shouldn't have to be that way," Flash cut in. "I'm going to see what the League can't do about this. I mean, if you think about it, it's a miracle that whatever you kids have been doing hasn't gotten you into too much trouble. But you know, and I know camping out in a boat can only last so long. And how are you feeding them all? I don't think anyone in their right mind would stand to let things stay as they are."
Had this little conversation happened months ago, he would have been jumping on it, because finally, here was someone taking charge of it, who could do something by taking charge. Even now, he wanted to jump on it, and let someone from the Justice League handle it.
But what did it mean? Really mean? Even with plans to disband, he still considered these teens his friends. Would the League taking charge mean that they would have to separate? Be sent to all corners of the country? Sidekick themselves to an established superhero? How would that work?
He had to ask.
"I...don't know," Flash admitted. "I don't know how the others are going to react. Right now, it's a whole thing with A.R.G.U.S. and us not getting along, so…"
Maybe it was rash. Maybe it was bravado. It was definitely irrational. It all came together, having the Gotham native state with no hesitation whatsoever, "We all stay in Jump."
"Uh, come again?" A fast man he was, it seemed like even the Flash could be slow sometimes.
"The others, this is the one place they feel comfortable. I know at least one is going to throw a fit if you try to break them apart," Red Robin explained, gesturing with an arm back to the city. "The way they sometimes act, all it takes is one taking the lead and the rest will follow, whatever the decision is. It's kind of an all together or not at all kind of thing. They may not agree, but they'll follow through."
"You guys are that close, huh?" Flash responded. The speedster was now looking at Jump himself, as if seeing the group of superpowered teenagers without being blocked by the city. "That might make things hard...unless…"
"Unless?" the masked teen prompted, repeating that last word.
There was a glance thrown his way. "There might be a way. I'm going to need some more time on it, but if you want these kids to stick together, then I'm going to need your help."
Recalling what help he had been asked to do the last time, there was some caution when he asked, "What kind of help?"
"You mentioned in that story of yours that you had planned to break up the rock band you got over there. You want my help to keep them together instead of going all Beetles, then I need you to stick around, and not be a Yoko Ono, you get me?"
He had absolutely no idea what a Yoko Ono was. "You lost me there for a second."
"Figures. Kids don't know their rock history anymore." Was that a headshake of disapproval? Because it looked like one. Then louder, "Basically, you are sticking with the group, or this is not going to work, you hear me? You do that, and I'll handle the rest."
The way Flash talked, it really did sound like someone taking charge. Could he sound like that one day? Questions for later, and speaking of, there was one more he had to ask before making any agreement.
"What about Bart?"
"I'll handle Bart. You go back to Jump and keep an eye on things. Don't do any breaking up, alright?"
Gazing onto the city once more, Red Robin already knew what his answer was going to be.
You could guess what his answer was, couldn't you?
"This is most unexpected and disappointing."
Jinx kept her head up, unwilling to look down. To do that was to admit to even more weakness, and now was not the time for that. Especially not with the General boring holes into her injured body.
They had all escaped. Even Mammoth and Shimmer were retrieved, which was a bit of luck in and of itself. They had all been beaten, injured in ways they shouldn't have been, and now they were back in the H.I.V.E.
A man who looked older than dirt, and no matter what military training he claimed to have, was unable to stand upright without his back hunching him slightly forward. You could still give him credit with his uniform, firmly pressed and professionally worn, though the half cape that draped over one shoulder was a bit much. Way too gaudy for this millennium.
At least there was no hat, though that might have been an improvement. Skin that look so old it appeared leathery stretched thinly over a bald head, and the way it seemed to bulge in the back was off putting. Sunken eyes that look like they were about to turn to dust glared into her, demanding answers that she had already put into her report.
Apparently, those details weren't enough.
"You are the best that the H.I.V.E. has to offer," the general who called himself Immortus thundered down on her. "How did one of your skillset and abilities not only fail to kill some nobody upstarts, but return to base in such disgraceful appearance? How were you bested? I would ask our client, but he has not contacted us or has answered our requests."
Typically. It sounded like that man and his pet gorilla went down with the ship.
"Everything is in the report," Jinx began to answer, but was then rudely cut off.
"I've read the report, but that only gives me scant details. I want to know specifically how you were defeated. Who were these people that bested you?" Immortus snapped.
The report was full of facts, yes, but again, those facts were always tailored to either make them look better or not as bad. Was the state of their injuries that bad that downplaying them in the report meant a full on interrogation?
Seeing how those crusty old eyes dared her to lie, she gave in. Because there was a reason why she had plaster wrapped around her torso and an arm. There was a reason for how mangled Kyd Wykkyd's arm was. Why Mammoth's hands were burned to shit. Why Shimmer could not break the fetal position that she now assumed. Why Gizmo was so quiet and focused on tinkering with some new gadgets, refusing to speak.
So she told the General everything. From the moment they arrived at their client's lair, covered the multiple robberies, described the involvement of that one speedster, explained what the client's wacky plan had been, and of course described the various encounters with the group of nobodies who kept showing up.
She reported everything without using the language to highlight them at their best and to downplay them at their worst. At least, not completely. And she left out how they had bristled under the client's authority.
When all was said and done, the General looked thoughtful, which meant nothing. He could still want her head after this. Despite his name, none of the operatives under his command were as long lived as him. In fact, there tended to be a high mortality rate, if she was not mistaken.
Whatever sentence she now faced, it began when Immortus musingly said, "This is not the first time I have come across that description." A bony hand clad in a dress glove tapped at a chin thoughtfully. "Of the assets we were able to retrieve from the Church of Blood, those descriptions matched the ones we were given after that client vanished. Our operatives reported similar descriptions in Gotham at the same time another of our clients was arrested and incarcerated. This can no longer be mere coincidence."
Huh, this was the first time she was hearing about any of that, but frankly, she was not surprised. H.I.V.E. had a long reach, and tended to interact with other criminal enterprises. Mostly it was to supply metahuman soldiers, other times there were deals in place. None of it ever concerned her, because she was hired out muscle, and nothing else.
"Three times is too many times," Immortus continued, turning away from her, that half-shoulder cape he wore whooshing through the air. "Three clients, all unresponsive or imprisoned. Each time coincides with these interlopers. If this continues, who else will we lose? It cannot be allowed to continue."
Jinx kept silent. Speaking up now had no benefit of her living, as far as she could see right now.
"If these interlopers desire to continue interfering, then the H.I.V.E. will answer," the General stated, his voice rising, booming.
"Nothing less than their deaths will be acceptable."
Author's Note: Again, sorry for the delay, and I hope this long chapter was worth the wait. On that note, can anyone guess the Easter Eggs? Some of them? All of them? As always, information about what comes next will be in the next chapter, and hopefully all of my computer problems will have been resolved. Thanks for reading.
