Gateway City

February 20

6:58 A.M

"Adeline, why are you still awake?" Han asks, seeing me sitting upright in my bed.

"I can't sleep," I admit.

It's barely been 5 hours since my return from Bialya.

As soon as I got home, Haneul was waiting for me on the couch. He has been concerned for me as of late, what with my nightmares and all. But I wasn't expecting him to be home. I thought he went to go and do some training with his brothers.

But there he was. Sitting on my couch, and waiting for me to go to bed.

That is, until I woke up 5 minutes later from another nightmare.

"Your brother ordered you-"

"I know, I know…" I interrupt. "And I am getting tired, but I just keep tossing and turning."

"Do you need more charms around your room?" He asks, beginning to swirl his fingers around. His red magic lighting up my dimly lit room.

I shrug.

"I don't know…" I sigh. "Maybe it's just my subconscious being over active… I'll talk to M'gann about helping me with it."

"As you should," Han nods, blowing his magic away. "But for my peace of mind, I'd rather you be asleep before I go to the Cave."

"You have a mission?" I ask as he sits on the edge of my bed.

"No, but Kyung wanted to meditate on the pier, and he may be the strongest of us, but his meditating could use some work," Haneul explains.

"So, how are you putting me to sleep?" I ask with a tired, but curiously teasing look in my eyes.

"Very carefully," Han smiles, leaning in to kiss me.

As his lips meet mine, I feel his hand reach up, brushing my cheek, and threading through my loose hair.

As he does, I feel my eyelids grow heavier, even though they are already closed, and I feel the energy draining out of my system with every passing second.

I feel Han pull away, and slowly lower me onto my pillow.

"Goodnight, Princess," I hear him whisper in my ear as my mind goes dark.

Mount Justice

10:05 A.M

E.S.T

I'll admit I didn't expect to be immersed into a translation investigation walking through the Zeta.

Nightwing, Robin, and Beast Boy were gathered around a holo-screen, Nightwing explaining to the two that the Kroloteans were after something.

"Apparently the Kroloteans were snatching humans to use as guinea pigs. They were hoping to find something… Something inside us," The former boy-wonder explains.

"What?" Robin asks, the aspiring detective.

"If I am to guess," I interject. Recognizing the g-gnome on the screen from my past in Klarion's dimension. "It looks like a gene that Klarion and the other witches used to talk about. Of course there is almost no comprehensive way to pronounce it in any Earth-based language."

"The nearest translation is 'meta-gene'," Nightwing adds.

"What's a meta-gene?" Robin asks.

"Never met-a-gene I didn't like!" Beast Boy jokes.

I roll my eyes at the boys' attempt at humor.

"Warning:" The automated computer system alerts us. "Unknown energy impulse detected."

A ball of electricity begins to form in the center of the room, lighting up everything down the dark corridors.

Nightwing and I push Robin and Beast Boy behind us. We are the most experienced after all. If something were to go horribly wrong, we need to protect them at all costs.

I know Adeline would be devastated if she lost Robin and Nightwing.

The ball of light grows bigger, until it forms into a bullet shaped machine with wires sticking in every which way, and orange glowing under it. Probably from the immense heat it is giving off.

The lightning dies down, and a latch on the machine switches down.

I ready my magic as Nightwing takes out his Escrima sticks.

"Stand ready," Nightwing orders.

Robin extends his bo-staff, and Beast Boy takes a fighting stance.

The latch opens, and smoke comes piling out.

A grey, human form can bee seen through the thick fog, but not enough to eliminate the form as a threat.

Nightwing and I tense up, and prepare for a fight.

Then, a kid, no older than 13, jumps out from the machine, crouches on the floor, and pops back up with his arms in the air.

"TA-DAAH!" He smiles widely at us.

The kid is wearing a one piece, tan suit with a red lightning decorations up his torso. His arms and feet are covered in the same color red, and his suit flows up and around the sides of his face, connecting to a yellow visor with red rims.. His moppy, ginger hair is left free on the top of his head, but it does not cover the golden lighting molds coming out from where his ears would be located.

"Intruder alert. Intruder alert," The cave warns everyone.

"Computer: Lock-down cave," Nightwing orders.

"Well, I think we found our 'unknown energy impulse'," Beast Boy states.

"Impulse? That's so crash! Catchy. Dramatic. One word. Like Nightwing," He rushes, and talks around us too fast for my sight, and ears to follow. "And Robin. And Haneul. And Beast Boy. Except that's two words. Blue Beetle is two words. Hey, is he here too? Nevermind. Impulse can find that out for himself! Ha ha ha!" He laughs, taking off down the hall impossibly fast.

"You two. Take him down. Now," Nightwing orders.

Beast Boy turns into a Cheetah, and Robin chases after the two of them down the halls.

"We're… Crash?" Nightwing asks himself.

"Is that what the kids are saying these days?" I wonder, giving Nightwing a confused look, and shrugging my shoulders.

"Move to the side," Nightwing orders, tossing silver marbles on the floor.

I do as he orders, and sure enough, the… Impulse comes back through the corridor.

He avoids the marbles by running up the side of the wall, pausing on our side to take a moment to bask in his little victory.

"Ha ha! You can't catch me that easy-"

Nightwing interrupts him by using his weight and pushing Impulse over with his elbow.

Impulse falls over, and Nightwing wastes no time in cuffing him, while I use my magic to freeze him in place.

"Now that was crash," Nightwing taunts the boy.

"For you maybe. Me? I'm totally feeling the mode," Impulse moans in pain, looking down at his shackles.

"You're a tourist? From the future?" Beast Boy asks Impulse.

After we set him up in a seat, Nightwing visualized me handing him a microscopic tracker. I told the team that when we are in a situation where talking over a telepathic link is inadvisable, that they would send me an image of me doing, or making something that would help us in our quest.

I slip him a magic formatted Sub-cutaneous micro-tracker, as he exits the room. Oddly specific, but I'm sure he has his reasons.

"Why so surprised? Half the meat at Comic-Con are from my era," Impulse states. "Look, look, look, guys, we should all be friends. I'm really one of you! Part of the heroic legacy, right? My name is Bart Allen. You know, grandson of Barry Allen? The Flash?"

"Noted," Garfield states. "Not believed. But noted."

"What's not to believe? I've clearly got Flash's speed, his amazing good looks, frankly, I can't wait to meet him. Uh, you know, back when he was in his prime," He recovers.

"Well, Bart. Coming all the way from the future, you must have worked up quite a thirst," Nightwing states, entering the room with glass of water.

"Thanks," He says, taking a few large sips, before he pauses. "Oh! Ah, you're trying to get a DNA sample. You need my spit. Hah, that's such a 'Dick Grayson' thing to do."

"How did-?" Robin asks.

"See? I know stuff only a future boy would know. Dick Grayson. Haneul, who look suspiciously like a kid I-eh- Tim Drake. Garfield Logan," He lists off.

"Your name is Tim? And yours is… Dick? And laughing noodles?" Garfield asks.

I glare at the boy.

'I don't look like a kid… do I?' I wonder.

"Oops! Spoilers! This secret identity thing is so retro. I mean You can call me Impulse. Or Bart. Or Bart Allen. Or Bart "Impulse" Allen. It's all crash," He says.

'What does any of this mean? Crash? Spoilers? Dick?' I wonder.

"Is it possible he might actually be telling the truth?" Robin asks Nightwing and I silently. "Could he really be from the future?"

"I could seek his mind," I offer. "But what I see will only be images he puts forth. So for all I know, he could be creating images for us to see. It would be better for Miss Martian to do this." I inform.

"Tell us something we don't know… yet. When do I become leader of the team? When do I join the Justice League? When do I get my own reality series?" Beast Boy rattles off at the Speedster.

"Sorry, BB. Never was the best history student. Besides, we can't risk altering the time stream. We do that, we're all feeling the mode," Bart explains.

"And the mode… would be bad?" Beast Boy raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"Doesn't get any worse. Always better to crash the mode," Bart smiles at us.

"Uh. Noted…?"

"Recognized: Malcolm Duncan. A-10," The computer announces.

"Ooh, Sounds like a door opening somewhere!" Bart exclaims. I hear a rattling sound, and faster than we could all comprehend, Bart freed himself from his shackles. "Aaand, that's my cue. Bye-bye!"

He takes off towards the door.

"Don't worry, the peregrine falcon is the world's fastest bird!" Beast Boy states, turning around, and transforming into said Falcon. "He won't get away."

Beast Boy takes off in the direction of the Impulse, and disappears around the corner.

"Doesn't stand a chance, does he?" Robin asks.

"Nope. Impulse is too fast," Nightwing confirms. "But at least we can track him."

"You planted a tracer?" Robin asks. "It will fall off at his speed."

"It won't. He drank it," Nightwing smirks.

"Sub-cutaneous micro-tracker in the water," Robin states. "Nice."

"Oddly specific pays off, I see," I smirk knowingly at the former Robin.

"Thanks. He's making a beeline for Central City," He reports.

After a second, he pulls out his phone, and dials a number.

"Hey," He says. "Need your help… There's this kid- No, Wally, not like that! He claims to be from the future. Went on about being the grandson of -get this- Barry Allen… That's what we thought. I need you to intercept him in Central. He's coming for Barry… Good luck." He hangs up.

"Han, I need you to separate the D.N.A from the water, and put it into the centrifuge," Nightwing orders. "We're gonna test Bart."

After I separate spit from water, and place it into a centrifuge, Nightwing and I wait for the results while Robin waits for the results.

He wants to be a detective, so Nightwing has been teaching him the ropes on the law, deductive reasoning, and how to use the machinery in a crime lab.

"So Addie's still having those nightmares, huh?" Nightwing asks out of nowhere, leaning back on the bench.

"She said that they're going away…" I say.

"Han," Nightwing gives me a look. "Come on now. You know she's only saying that so you don't worry about her."

"I know," I admit. "I knew the first night she said that my charms helped. But I trust her enough to tell me when they become too much."

"I'm not saying you don't trust her," Nightwing defends. "I'm just saying she doesn't want you to worry about her," He says as I sigh. "Look, Han, I know we aren't the best of friends. Huh, we're barely acquaintances. But Addie is my sister. I know how her mind works. She's not going to say that something is bothering her if you're already worried about her."

"So you're telling me to lay off?" I accuse.

"For now," He admits. "Until she knows that you aren't coddling her. She hates being coddled," Nightwing smiles as if he were remembering a time when he had possibly tried to 'baby' her.

"Don't I know it," I agree. "I do worry for her, but… I guess I could let her try and work it out…"

"That's all I could ask for," Nightwing nods. "I have a-"

"Guys," Robin interrupt us. "Results are in."

Nightwing pulls out his phone, and dials Wally's number for the second time today.

After getting a hold of the former Kid Flash, Robin had shown us what went down in Central City while we awaited the D.N.A results.

A man by the name of Neutron nearly destroyed the entire city in search of the Flash. But he was eventually taken down with the assistance of Wally, Bart, and the eldest Flash, Jay Garrick.

"So, Impulse's DNA matches up with both Iris and you, Barry," Nightwing reports to the four speedsters in the room. "And this thing is giving off both zeta and chronotron radiation."

"Which is, based on pure theory, what you'd expect to find radiating off a time machine," Wally adds.

"Which means you are exactly who you say you are," Flash agrees.

"Hah. Told ya! Anyway, it's been crash. But the future awaits. I gotta run. Ha ha! See what I did there with the "run"? That's for you gramps-"

"Bart, thanks for coming. I look forward to meeting you again for the first time. And watching you grow up," Flash waves as Bart made his way over to his time-device.

"That will be crash," Bart agrees, giving Barry a long hug.

"So long!" Bart waves as he hops into his time machine, and closes the hatch, we all await for the same sort of exit as the dramatic entrance, but nothing happens except for a poof of smoke. It just stays in the same place it arrived in.

"Maybe he's traveling forward one second at a time?" Beast Boy tries.

"That's not how time travel works," I burst the young changeling's bubble.

The hatch flies open again, this time with an irritated Bart hoping out.

"It's not working! The whole thing's fried!" Bart exclaims angrily, kicking the machine.

"Can you fix it?" Flash asks.

"I'm a tourist, not a chronal expert," Bart argues. "Look at me! I'm trapped in the stupid past. I'm so moded."

"If you like, I could have one of my brothers fix it," I offer. "Hwan is pretty good with machines-"

"No, the entire mainframe of the machine melted," Bart interjects. "There's no way to tell what's iron, and what's lead…"

My eyes narrow at the speedster.

'If he thinks that I will believe such foolishness-' I think. 'I'm not sure I shall trust this child… even if he is the grandchild of Barry Allen…'

Heya! I said every other week... right...? Anywho... here it is, and I love responses :D (I figured you'd all like this a day early... I'm also really antsy to get this one out...)

Luna Star Phantom: YES. It was in my area, and I went as Sally because I could. And I P.M'd you the rest, but for the others reading, I do not plan on doing Addie in the video games, and probably not 'The Killing Joke' either. It didn't really catch my attention, and it wasn't all that great in my opinion... (PLEASE DON'T KILL ME FANDOM)

Boyy2K: Yay! I try to do the best interpretation of the characters as I can! That actually meant a lot to me :D

Anime hotty lover.18: I can't wait for the next review to come out. XD (#writingthisinclass)

EirinnOFMyth: Yes. Jay indeed.

-Gargoyle77