Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League Unlimited.
Rest and Relaxation
Chapter Four: Different Tastes
Although most cities never truly slept, Central City seemed to be the exception. It never truly came alive until the random time of 11:00 AM, which was, bizarrely enough, the time Wally West naturally rose from his slumber. He was never sure if it was his metabolism that made him sleep longer, or it was just him. The speedster honestly couldn't remember a time when he didn't have his powers, and that suited him fine. He didn't know what he would do without his powers; he didn't want to know.
And so, at roughly the stroke of 11:00 AM, Wally would wake up and begin his morning ritual of dancing to an obscenely loud and irritating song. That is, if he didn't have to go to work. Which, fortunately for him, he didn't have to do today, or this entire week. Yawning noisily as he walked over to the stereo, Wally mentally went through the different songs he could play. He had already done 'Kung Fu Fighting' for a few days… now it was time for something different. The trademark Flash grin spread across his face as he made his selection.
"Perfect…" he mumbled to himself absentmindedly, putting in the appropriate CD and selecting the track he wanted. He turned up the volume and pressed play. Wally pumped his fist in time with the incredibly loud music.
"WHA! HUH! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHIN'!"
"WALLY!"
The Flash ducked his head in shock as the enraged voice of John Stewart assaulted his ears.
For all of his incredible abilities, Wally had a tendency to let details disappear from his mind as he slept. It was probably a result of his short attention span, which was in turn a result of his increased metabolism. Although he apparently didn't have much of an attention span before he got his powers (at least, according to his uncle and aunt), so Wally guessed his powers had just made him worse. In any case, he would sometimes forget certain things.
Like the fact John Stewart, otherwise known as the superhero Green Lantern, was sleeping on his couch.
"Turn that off! Now!"
Moving as fast as his limbs would allow, Wally quickly turned off the music and smiled sheepishly.
"Uh… sorry. Kinda forgot you were there."
John glared at him for the longest time, but his resolve eventually faltered as his need to sleep overcame him. "Just keep it down."
Wally grinned, and thought about the irony that a trained military guy like John would like to sleep in past noon as he got his breakfast. Although, Wally hadn't seen him in his natural routine, so John could very well be an early to bed, early to rise type. It just seemed that every time he had any kind of contact with Wally that lasted overnight, he would end up being run ragged some way or another.
Flash grimaced at how nasty that sounded in his head, and how it must have looked to the other five Leaguers back in the day; John going to visit Wally, and always coming back looking tired.
He shook his head and ate his customary five bowls of cereals and ten slices of toast in the space of about ten minutes before dashing into his room and suiting up. When he wasn't working at the Police Station, he liked to spend more time as the Flash around the city; make the people feel like they're important to him. It was also a way for him to blow off some steam; he was still worried about Bart, and what exactly to do about him. Seeing as how he had all but officially told Bart he could be a superhero, Wally couldn't very well go back on his word now.
As he pulled his red cowl over his head, Wally grimaced at the thought of telling his parents their son was the next in line to the Flash mantle. He tiptoed behind the loudly snoring John (Wally thanked God that the door to his room was so soundproof, or he may have never gotten to sleep) and sped out of his apartment building and into the city.
The Flash grin now permanently affixed to his face, Wally shot down the street, feeling the wind blow against his face and hearing the greetings and admiring shout outs from the public.
I love this city.
He passed a construction site on his way, and quickly back-pedalled to the entrance, jogging on the spot so as not to lose his momentum. One of the builders looked up from his work and waved.
"Hey Flash!"
Wally waved right back. "Hey, Ted! How's it going?"
"Pretty good! Thanks for stopping that Heatwave nut last month! He could have really put a cramp on our building plans!"
"No problem. How're the kids?"
"They're doin' great. Thanks for those Metro Tower tour tickets; they loved 'em!"
"Good! Great talking to you, Ted!"
"You too, Flash!"
He flashed a grin and sped off down the street, heading for the bridge that linked Central City to the Keystone area. As he sped down the road, he recognised one of the drivers of a car, and slowed his run down to walk alongside.
"Hey, Diane!"
She turned in mild surprise, but then quickly grinned as she saw who it was. "Oh, hi Flash! How're you today?"
"Doing pretty good; just going for my morning jog, y'know?"
Diane laughed good naturedly. "Those special soles you recommended for my shoes are working wonders! Thanks for the tip."
"No problem. Where're you off to today?"
"I've got a job interview." She looked at an approaching sign. "And this is my exit. See you later!"
"Good luck with the interview!"
Wally sped down the street and towards downtown Keystone. As he approached a junction, two police cars shot across, sirens blazing. Flash quickly altered course and followed. Putting his fingers to his earpiece, he pushed the button that tuned it to the Central City Police frequency. He listened intently.
"All units, all units, disturbance in-"
Wally didn't require any more information as a car was tossed into the air above him and over his head. Making a quick U-turn, Flash put himself in the path of the falling car and extended his arms, churning the air in front of him by whirling his arms at superspeed. At first it seemed as though the wind from his arms would blow the car back in the other direction, but Wally adjusted the strength of the wind so as to gently ease the car down to the ground. He ducked his head next to the window.
"You guys all right?"
The man and woman in the car nodded, both grimacing.
"Call an ambulance and have them check you guys out for whiplash, okay?" After giving a quick thumbs up, Wally was once again down the street and heading towards the disturbance. As he approached the scene, he noticed something green.
He groaned as he approached.
"Oh, great. The Top."
He came to a halt in front of the whirling green blur, his hands on his hips in the usual Flash fashion.
"Isn't this getting a little old, Top?"
The miniature green tornado came to a quick halt, revealing the green and yellow striped costume of the Rogue called The Top.
"Not at all, m'boy. This kind of thing never ceases to entertain me!"
"You're kinda weird, you know that?"
"My old friend Benjamin used to tell me the same thing. He couldn't tell the difference between a Chardonnay '91 and a Chardonnay '92, either. So I killed him," Top said nonchalantly.
Flash grimaced. "Just shut up and let me take you to jail, all right? I've got friends over, and family problems… I really don't need this right now."
Top shrugged. "Fair enough. All you have to do… is catch me," he said, smirking as he began whirling once again, becoming the same small green tornado as before. It always reminded Wally of the Tasmanian Devil. The Top, still spinning, shot down the street.
"Oh, please," Wally muttered, before taking off down the street after the criminal.
Within little time, Wally had caught up with the spinning villain, and was running alongside him. Backwards.
He grinned and put his hands behind his head. "Y'know, this really wasn't the best strategy. It's kinda hard to outrace the Fastest Man Alive."
"Couldn't agree more. But let's see how fast you are when you're losing your breakfast."
An overpowering wave of nausea suddenly overcame Wally, making him dizzy and blurring his vision. He stumbled and fell, sliding across the ground at such speeds he actually bounced down the road like a flat pebble on water. He skidded to a gradual halt, and pulled himself up to his feet, resting his hands on his knees as he took deep breaths. The Top came to a halt in front of him.
"You see, Flash, I started to get these nasty headaches while I was in prison. I thought I was dying. The doctors certainly thought so. But then I found out it was just my abilities evolving. Changing. Adapting… so I could beat you. I can change the way your eyes perceive everything around you. I can spin your world around… and turn it upside down." He smirked. "The ultimate control."
To prove his point, he bombarded Flash with another wave of nausea, and this one was not so easily staved off. Wally groaned as he fell to all fours and vomited onto the floor, the world spinning out of control around him, his eyes almost throbbing with pain. The Top knelt down next to him, still projecting wave after dizzying wave of nausea and dizziness through Wally's head.
"Let me put it this way; you leave me alone… and I'll leave you alone. Because you can't even touch me… and neither can anyone else."
He span away, leaving Wally to slowly gather himself and push himself shakily to his feet. Several bystanders got out of their cars to help him, but he waved them off, offering them a reassuring smile to show them he was okay.
He put a hand to his head in an attempt to ease the throbbing pain that was pulsing through his head.
I just know John isn't gonna like this.
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"And you didn't think it was a good idea to call for backup?" John barked, glaring with all the intensity his glowing green eyes would allow.
"Hey, it's not like I knew he had a new power!" Wally said defensively, shooting the same glare back. "It just caught me off guard. Next time I'll handle it."
"How? You can't even get close to him."
"I'll figure something out."
"This kind of problem can't be solved by improvising. You've got to plan it out first."
Wally groaned and leant against the wall of the elevator. "But I don't want to…" he mumbled, causing John to sigh.
"Look, just tell me next time you're going on patrol. I'll be able to get at him with my ring without having to get too close."
"Fine," Wally grumbled.
"Fine."
The elevator was silent as they approached their floor. Wally absentmindedly watched the lights flick down as they ascended the elevator shaft, and John preoccupied himself looking at the floor numbers. The doors opened as they reached their floor.
"I still think it's stupid," Wally mumbled as they stepped out, walking towards the medical bay.
"It's not stupid; it's called being cautious."
"Same thing. I still say we can wing it."
"Well we can't. You tried that and got beaten. Badly."
"Beaten, schmeaten. I'll be able to find a way to beat him next time, easy."
John sighed. "All right," he said, raising his arms in surrender. "But at least let me be there to witness your great victory."
"Can do," Wally replied with a wink.
As they approached the door to the medical bay, John noticed Green Arrow and Black Canary talking as they walked towards them down the corridor. The billionaire archer was carrying an arrow with a small buzz saw attached to the end, and was in the process of showing it to his significant other.
She cocked an eyebrow incredulously. "A buzz saw arrow?"
"What? You don't like it?"
"No, it's fine… It just seems a bit… self indulgent."
"Self indulgent? This might come in handy!"
"Oh really? When?"
Arrow paused. "Uh… I…" he looked up at Flash. "Hey, Wally, help me out here."
Flash glanced at Canary and just shrugged. "It's stupid."
"You're just saying that because of Dinah. What do you really think of it?"
"It's…" Wally sighed. "Really cool." He smiled apologetically at Black Canary. "I'm sorry! It is!"
"That's fine, Wally. You'll just pay for it at the poker game on Thursday."
The speedster looked over at Green Arrow, who was whistling innocently. "Dinah's coming now, huh?"
"She found out," Arrow offered, shrugging. "You try dissuading her."
"Why?" Canary asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Is that a problem?"
Flash put his hands up defensively. "Uh… no, I uh… well, that is…"
The doctor came into the corridor through the medical bay door. "Ah, Flash, I-"
"What's that doctor? You need to see me in the medical bay right now? You do? I'll be right there. Sorry Dinah see you later bye!"
He shot into the medical bay, grabbing the doctor and pulling him inside as he went. John chuckled to himself and shrugged to the couple. Green Arrow just gave John a knowing look before continuing on his way. John paused for a moment before Arrow left, and considered asking him about what was on his mind. After a second's hesitation, he shook his head and opened the medical bay door.
"Oh, John!"
The Lantern turned to look at Green Arrow.
"Yeah?"
"You want to come to the poker game on Thursday? My place, 8:00?"
John shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah. Sure."
Arrow smirked. "Good. Bring your wallet."
With a smile and a shake of his head, John went into the medical bay, where Bart was already on his feet, anxiously jumping from one foot to the other as the doctor talked to Wally about something or other.
"So here's all clear? He's free to go?"
The doctor nodded. "As far as I can tell, he's perfectly healthy. Well, it's above perfect, as you well know."
The speedster nodded and blew out a breath. "Yeah, I kinda do. Thanks doc."
"No problem. Just remember, you've got a check up next week."
Wally offered a small salute in response. "Aye aye." He turned to face his cousin. "C'mon Bart, let's go. You need to call your parents and tell them you're okay."
"Can I go on patrol first?"
Wally's eyes bulged. "Can you what?"
"Can I go on patrol before I call my parents? I want to get a feel for the city."
John let out a brief burst of laughter at Wally's shocked reaction. The speedster scowled at him, and John put his hand over his mouth to shield his grin. Ignoring his amused friend, Wally turned his attention back to his younger cousin.
"Bart… I really think you should talk to your parents before you-"
"But they're just gonna say no."
"Yeah, but… maybe they've got a point. I mean, if you went home, your dad could teach you how to use your powers, and then you-"
"But Dad always said that 'experience in the field can teach you more-"
"'-than theory ever could', I know, I know," Wally sighed, annoyed at being undone by his own mentor's sage advice. He groaned. "All right, all right. But we haven't got you a costume yet, so-"
Bart waved a dismissive hand. "Pffft. I've taken care of that."
"You-" Wally blinked and calmed himself. "You've taken care of that?"
Bart nodded excitedly, and then sped off. Before Wally could even stand up, Bart was back in a new costume. John cocked his head to the side as he considered the costume Bart had somehow whipped up.
His thick brown hair stuck out of the top, similar to Wally's Kid Flash costume, though that seemed to be one of the very few similarities. The colours and their arrangement were different to the Kid Flash costume, with no lightning bolts to be found, except on the red ear pieces. Instead of a golden yellow, Bart had opted for a pale almost egg white and a ruby red colour, the red running up the inside of his costume in a thick line while the white covered the rest. Two yellow eye pieces, almost like goggles, shielded his eyes, making him almost look like a pilot.
Bart grinned. "Say hello to Impulse."
"How'd you make that?"
"The Atom did it for me. He said something about… owing you for all the times you'd come into his lab and 'helped' him."
Wally responded almost robotically as frustration gripped his voice. "Oh, did he? How interesting. I will have to thank him for that."
"Yeah, isn't it great?"
Wally sighed and looked over at John, who just shrugged. Flash put up his hands in defeat.
"All right, fine. But before we go, I've gotta talk this over with the other guys."
"The other guys?"
"The, uh… original seven. They want to talk about it."
"Oh, okay. But after that, we can go out on patrol, right?"
Wally sighed. "I guess…"
Bart pumped the air with his fist and excitedly shot over to the elevator. John started walking over to join him.
"I still think Kid Flash is better…" Wally crossed his arms and grumbled the entire way to the elevator.
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John tried to avoid eye contact with Shayera across the large table, although she wasn't exactly forthcoming with her eye line either, giving him little to worry about by the way of awkwardness. Clark cocked a sceptical eyebrow at the conclusion of Wally's story.
"And you just… led Bart over to the window?"
Wally nodded blankly.
"This being the same window where you got your powers."
Wally hesitated for a moment, and then nodded again.
Letting out a sigh, Shayera buried her face in her hand. "Oh, Yom Shigureth…" she muttered, causing even J'onn to smile slightly.
"Hey – how did I know it was going to happen again? It's not like I chose to give Bart super speed. Believe me; I'd rather he didn't have it."
John bit back his frustrated reply to Wally's defensive attitude.
"But he does, and his future status is what we are here to discuss. Not whether Wally was at fault or not," J'onn inserted, and Wally gave him a grateful nod for his support.
"Well? What should we do about him? Offer him membership?" Diana asked, leaning forward in genuine curiosity. John had to admit that he shared her interest in the subject; there hadn't been anything much to discuss in the recent meetings; just status reports to file and such. To have something to debate and discuss was something of a novelty.
Clark shook his head. "No. He's too young."
"So's Stargirl, but she came anyway," Wally responded.
"No, S.T.R.I.P.E was invited into the League, and Stargirl just followed him along for the ride. We couldn't split them up, so we had to give her membership. I don't want to have to do that again."
The Scarlet Speedster sighed. "Okay, so what do you want to do? Leave him solo?"
He sighed. "No… I just think he needs some more training before we start putting him on the field where the lives of others will be dependant on him. Not to mention the risk to himself."
"Look, I wasn't much older than him when I started in this business, and look how good I turned out."
The room went silent, and Batman coughed.
Shayera leaned forward to break the silence. "What do you want Bart to do, Wally?" Shayera asked, and Wally nodded gracefully.
"Thank you, Shayera. I think that Bart should… uh…"
"Do you want him to join the League?"
"Well, I… no, I guess. I'd rather he worked with me," he said, as though he was only just realising his opinion.
Clark cocked an eyebrow. "Alone?"
"No, I was thinking of taking my Great Aunt Irma with me. Yes, alone."
The Man of Steel raised a defensive hand and spoke gently to the speedster. "We're just trying to sort through this, Wally. There's no need to get snarky."
"You guys are treating me like I'm some stupid kid who can't do anything right. How am I supposed to react?"
John cleared his throat. "He has a point."
Superman, obviously not appreciating John's comment, sent him a subtle glare. Anyone who wasn't one of the original seven wouldn't have seen anything unusual, but any of the original seven Leaguers knew when Clark was glaring at them.
"Can we just put this to a vote, please?" Shayera asked, sighing.
Clark nodded. "All right. Shayera, what do you think we should do?"
Shayera shrugged. "I think he should stay in Central City with Wally."
"Right," Clark said, nodding. "J'onn? What do you think?"
"I believe we should consider what Bart wants to do. According to both Wally and John, Bart wishes to remain in Central City with his cousin. I believe that that is where he should stay."
Wally nodded in approval, the Flash grin returning with a vengeance. Clark turned to Diana, who was sat at his side.
"Diana? What about you?"
"Invite him into the League," she responded. "That way, we can keep an eye on him, but he still gets contact with Wally."
Flash leaned forward in protest. "But he d-"
Superman raised a silencing hand. "Wait your turn, Wally. I think he should join the League on a training basis. Once a week or so he'll come to the Metro Tower, and we'll train him in the use of his powers. Eventually, we'll slowly move him up to field missions."
Wally scowled in disbelief. "What? That's-"
John gave him a warning look, and Wally stopped in mid protest. Clark turned to John.
"What about you, John?"
"I think we should go with what Wally says."
Clark cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yes, really."
Clark turned to Batman, who thus far had made little contribution to the discussion. In all honesty, he remained so still and stony that John sometimes wondered if he didn't fall to sleep during the meetings.
"Bruce? What about you?"
The Dark Knight was silent for a moment before responding, not moving once. "I think you should let him do what he wants."
"You- what?"
Batman rose from his chair and walked to the doors. They slid open, and the Dark Knight lingered in the doorway. "What's the worst that could happen?" he said dryly, before stalking away, the doors sliding silently shut behind him.
The remaining six Leaguers sat, mildly flabbergasted at what they had just witnessed. Batman? Siding with Wally, of all people?
Said speedster slowly turned around to face the rest of the heroes assembled around the table, his arms crossing and a cocky Flash grin on his face.
"I'll just go tell Bart the good news, shall I?"
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John tried to ignore Wally's grin as they descended in the elevator. After they passed the 43rd floor, John snapped.
"Could you please just wipe that thing off your face?"
"What? I won. I never win in those meetings. It's always 'that's stupid, Flash', or, 'you need to look at the big picture, Flash'. Now it's all… well, not… that."
John sighed. "So what do you want to do first? Go patrolling with Bart, talk to his parents, what?"
"Uh…" Wally cast his gaze upwards as he thought to himself. "…tell you what; we'll call his parents from the Metro Tower front desk before we go on patrol. That way, everybody's happy."
John cocked an eyebrow, and Wally sighed in defeat.
"Fine, they're not exactly gonna be crazy about it, but if they let me do it as a kid, then why not Bart?"
"It's very different when it's your kid."
Flash scowled and looked John straight in the eyes. "Hey. Barry and Iris were- are like parents to me." He looked over at the control panel. "Barry was more of a father than my real dad ever was, anyway."
Before John could reply, the doors to the elevator opened, and Wally stepped out, the Flash grin once again on his face as walked into the foyer. Pausing for a moment before leaving, John slowly followed.
"Hey, Bart!" Wally looked around the crowded foyer, ducking his head and standing on tip toes to see over the heads of the staff walking around the foyer.
"Uh… Bart?"
He looked back to John and shrugged. He took to the air and surveyed the foyer from above. Seeing no sign of the younger speedster, he looked down at Wally and shook his head.
The Scarlet Speedster sped over to the reception desk, and John floated down to join him.
"Hey, Tina. Have you seen a kid, about yae big, wearing a funky costume with yellow goggles, calls himself Impulse?"
The raven haired receptionist thought for a moment. "Messy brown hair, right?"
"That's him."
"He left a note for his cousin…" she looked up at him, "which I guess is you."
Wally took the note. "Thank you very much, Tina."
"My pleasure. You should come by here more often," she said, winking.
Not quite knowing how to respond to that, Wally just gave a nervous smile and turned around to read the note. He sighed and slapped his hand against his head.
"Oh, great…" he groaned, handing the note to John.
Hey, Wally. I kinda guessed that the Justice League would say yes, so I thought I'd start patrolling without you. See ya later.
Bart.
"C'mon," Wally sighed. "We've gotta stop him before he does something stupid."
He sped out of the Metro Tower, sending various papers flying in the wind. John sighed.
"I don't think he's the only one we should be worried about…"
The Green Lantern of Sector 2814 flew off in pursuit of two speedsters.
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(A/N: A cookie to anyone who saw the reference to the episode 'To Another Shore' that I subtly (as an elephant) shoe-horned into this chapter.
Next chapter: Impulse is loose in Central City. Unfortunately, so is The Top…
Reviews, please.)