Disclaimer: I do not own any of the superhero legacies or code names that are mentioned at any time in this story, DC Comics does. Any character that is not in DC I have made up so please do not steal them without permission from me. All characters and situations are fictitious. Scenarios in this story (to my knowledge) have not been used in any run of DC Comics. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 4: Useful Training?
Stretching my body as I looked at the equipment in front of me, Green Lantern and Superboy were both murmuring to each other, looking from me to Robin, who was bouncing on the balls of his feet next to me, ready to go. I had to admit that going up against Robin to test my agility on his training equipment was going a little too far. Especially for my first training session of the day. It really made me feel the few pounds of flab on my lean body that I had added since my Impulse days when I saw the obstacle course for the first time. Back then, there had only been five obstacles. Now? Ten of them. I may be faster than Robin, but while I've been relaxing as a normal teen, he's been training the whole time. Wonder Girl and the archer, the current Speedy, were sparring on the other side of the room as I stepped up to the beginning of the obstacle course next to Robin. Splice, the guy that looked like a human/computer/animal mix, put the last mat underneath the first piece of equipment in front of me.
"All is ready Green Lantern! This should be good..." I shot him a dirty look.
"I'm not that rusty, Splice." Green Lantern flew into the air as a green stopwatch appeared next to him from his ring.
"Let's hope not. Robin. Kid Flash. The two of you have four minutes to get to the finish line. You are allowed to use any powers or tools at your disposal but are forbidden to fall onto any mat. You must at least touch each piece of equipment once. Your time to beat is one minute and nine seconds. Robin's current best time is two minutes and fifty-six seconds from six months ago." I glanced at my cousin for half a second before turning back to the course. "If you do fall onto the mats, you must restart at the piece of equipment that kicked your ass. Ready." My leg muscles started clenching in anticipation. I've never lost a race in my life against anyone. "Set." My yellow boots adjusted in my stance. "GO!"
I was off like a shot, shooting through three obstacles in less than five seconds until the fourth obstacle forced me to slow down or get entangled in ropes. I was still ahead by one piece of equipment as I got to the seventh obstacle which was a very high rope net that I had to jump up to get to. Barely hanging on, I managed to start crawling upside-down along the net with my legs through the holes, aiming for the next obstacle when Robin caught up to me. He somehow managed to squeeze himself through the net and ended up above me; hopping across to the other end while I was still hanging on in the middle. As he made it to the next piece of equipment, the vibrations of him hopping on the net made my grip slip and before I knew it, I was on my back on the soft mat, gasping for breath after it got knocked out of me.
"Ow." My body was already getting sore as I rolled out of the mat, looking up to see Robin struggling with one of the last obstacles.
Even though my muscles were already protesting the abuse I was putting them through, I was not about to give up. Getting up to my feet, I backed up, eying one of the poles that were holding up the net. Superboy landed next to me but before he could say anything, I ran for the pole and raced straight up it to the net, leaping in midair above it with my arms out and my legs tucked up underneath me, hanging there for a second. I landed on top of the net, making it wobble crazily, but I rode it out, running on top of it before taking a speed-leap off the edge and hopping off a pole that was holding the next obstacle up before I landed right on the ninth piece of equipment directly in front of Robin.
My sudden landing startled him enough that he had to do a balance check on the moving beam, windmilling his arms for a moment before I grabbed his wrist. The two of us used each other's balance to get to the last piece of equipment. Robin grabbed one of the first turning grips, letting it whip him around to another one to the side. Pausing for a moment, I jumped up, trying to reach the top bars that were holding the grips, but as soon as my fingers brushed it, a jolt of electricity arched from the bar to my hand and I fell back to the little platform, shaking my tingling hand.
"Robin, time!" I looked over to see my cousin with his hands on his knees, taking a few deep breaths before he looked back at me with a smirk on his face.
Grumbling to myself that I'd been beaten for the first time, I grabbed a hold of one of the turning grips, but as soon as I put my full weight under it, it spun me around a few times before launching me down to the mat face-first. I tried again and again to get through the last obstacle, but I kept getting thrown down to the mat. Every time I put my weight on one of the grips, it would spin me a random way. By the twentieth time I was in the mat, Green Lantern called time. I was face-down on the mat, groaning as my arms twitched uncomfortably, cursing the tenth piece of equipment as I felt someone pat me on the back. I managed to lift my head up to see Robin smiling down at me.
"Nice try, KF. I sometimes have trouble with the last one too." Green Lantern and Superboy landed as I managed to crawl off the mat. Superboy and Robin helped me to my feet before Superboy clapped me on the back.
"Maybe you'll get it tomorrow." I groaned as he turned to Green Lantern and Splice. "Pay up, gentlemen. Robin won." Green Lantern reluctantly gave Superboy a $20 before turning to me.
"Alright. Thirty minute break before your next training exercise. I suggest you rest for ten minutes before you brush up on your sparring skills for this next one." I gave him a glare as I sat back on the mat again.
Thankfully, it didn't take ten minutes for my body to stop hurting so I ran to the kitchen to find something to quickly shove down my throat. I was raiding the fridge when Ethan came in out of costume.
"Hey, KF." I glanced behind me with a slice of pizza already in my mouth and smiled at him. "Thanks for helping me out with that one obstacle." I took the piece of cold pizza out of my mouth.
"No problem, man." Shoving the pizza back in my mouth, I pulled a large bowl of cut-up watermelon out of the fridge and set it on the island counter next to where Ethan was leaning as I took one last look in the fridge before closing it, gnawing my way through the pizza in my mouth as Ethan spoke.
"I'm surprised Green Lantern didn't put you under again. He was under strict orders from the League to use the sedative." I shrugged as I swallowed.
"He said that if someone attacked the Tower, he'd rather give me a fighting chance than leave me helpless." Grabbing a piece of watermelon, I shoved it into my mouth, sucking on the juices.
"It makes sense. All of us hated seeing you lying there unconscious day after day." He grabbed a smaller piece and stuck it in his mouth, swallowing it as I grabbed another larger piece and shoved it into my mouth. Ethan stepped back from me for a moment, looking at me. "I'm glad you like the suit. That older one you had on was too outdated." I cocked an eyebrow at him, not able to talk with the watermelon drooling out of my mouth. "I designed your suit about a year ago when I got bored one night. Every element about it from the speedster boots to the comm-link I upgraded. The style I guessed at, but since you chose the Bart Allen Kid Flash costume above the others in the Flash Museum, I chose the right inspiration." Managing to swallow the watermelon piece, I smiled at him.
"Yeah, it reminds me of the Bart Allen costume more than the others. Thanks, Ethan. But why did you make one in the first place?"
"I guess I knew you'd someday be back. Once a hero, always a hero. Especially us, cousin." I smirked at Ethan as he put another watermelon piece into his mouth before going to change into a fresh Robin costume.
The two of us were back in the training room about twenty minutes later, watching Superboy and Wonder Girl spar; both using their strength until it ended in a draw when Green Lantern came in along with a 17 year old guy I'd never seen before. The new guy grasped Robin's hand in greeting.
"You're late, Aqualad." The newcomer's eyes fell on me.
"Whoa. What'd I miss?" Superboy shrugged next to me.
"Not much. Robin beat Kid Flash in the obstacle course like I knew he would." Aqualad smiled and held his hand out to me before we shook hands.
"I'm Aqualad. You can call me Matt when I am out of costume. It is a privilege to meet you Kid Flash, I've heard much about you." I smiled back at him, but before I could introduce myself, Green Lantern got our attention.
"Alright Titans, we're each going to play a little game." He held up three pairs of old-fashioned metal handcuffs. "It's called catch the speedster." My eyes widened as I stuttered.
"W-wa-wa-wait a minute, what...what do you mean catch the speedster!?" Green Lantern put his hands up to get me to calm down a bit.
"Easy, Kid Flash. You'll have a sporting chance. Give me a moment to explain. Now, in light of what's been happening lately, we need to try and make it harder for Kid Flash to be caught, so this is going to be good for all of us." I grumbled under my breath before Wonder Girl elbowed me. "One by one, each one of us is going to get into the sparring ring with Kid Flash. Our job is to get these handcuffs around his wrists AND ankles, effectively immobilizing him." I could hear a few snickers among the others. "But Kid Flash will also have handcuffs that he needs to put around our wrists for him to win. We can use whatever is at our disposal whether it be powers or gadgets. I myself will start first. Kid?" He stepped into the ring and held a pair of handcuffs out to me, smiling. "Let's see how long it takes."
I narrowed my eyes at him as I stepped into the ring, grabbing the handcuffs before streaking to the other side of the ring. Green Lantern palmed the two pairs he had as he stepped into the middle, watching how weary I was of him. His power ring started glowing as I streaked to another part of the ring behind him. I took one glance at the Titans, who seemed to be taking bets before I was surrounded by green light that lifted me into the air. Handcuffs snapped around my wrists before I started vibrating violently. The green energy couldn't take the sudden strain and I landed on my feet, starting to run in a circle underneath him as I vibrated my arms, feeling the handcuffs go through my wrists and fall to the ground.
The wind that I was creating blasted through the training room as I got a chance to snap one side of my handcuffs onto his left wrist, but before I knew it, I face-planted into the mat. Green Lantern, in all the confusion, managed to actually use the wind I had generated to get the handcuffs to snap around my ankles. I felt his knee go into my back; not too hard but just to keep me down. He dragged my arms behind my back as I struggled under him and the second pair of handcuffs snapped around my wrists. He fell back, catching his breath as I grumbled.
"Nice first try. It was actually harder than I thought." I heard the others snickering as I vibrated my wrists and ankles out of the handcuffs, standing up again in a bit of a sour mood.
"What does this do for me?" Green Lantern unlocked the handcuff that I'd managed to get around his wrist.
"It shows the weak points you might have when under the pressure of being captured by any possible kidnappers. It's very useful for the rest of us too."
Out of eight matches, I was caught four times. Green Lantern, Superboy, Aqualad, and Robin were the only ones to fully catch me. It took awhile for Superboy, and Aqualad totally cheated by pulling a tidal wave out of the pipes surrounding the training room, but Robin had me on my face within fifteen seconds of our match. He relished my capture by sitting on me for an extra five seconds, but I was grateful he was the last one I had to go up against, so I let him gloat as I tried to catch my breath. Luckily, or unluckily as it might be, the Titans' alarm went off then, ending the training for the day as Robin gathered his team and left Green Lantern and I at the Tower to fend for ourselves.
For three days, Green Lantern pushed me through unusual training. When he was convinced that I'd conquer one, he would move on to a different tactic again and again until the morning of the fifth day. I trotted into the training room, ready for another round of catch the speedster when I heard shouts coming from an open door on the other side of the room that I'd never seen open before. Peeking inside, I saw everyone but Superboy in a small control room that was reading out specs on a dozen different screens. Through a thick, plexiglass window, there was a larger room that looked completely made out of metal, like a high-tech lab. Everyone was rooting Superboy on as I saw him running on a treadmill that was half the size of the room. He was topping out at just under the speed of sound. Superboy suddenly leapt into the air, floating and catching his breath before Matt turned to see me.
"This is an exciting day, Nick." I cocked an eyebrow at my newest friend.
"Dude, what's going on? Is that what I think it is?" Teague, out of his green glowing costume for once, glanced at me as the treadmill powered down from Superboy's run.
"It's a treadmill built a long time ago for measuring high velocity beings. Superboy was testing it out for us to see if it was still functioning properly before you jump on." The boy of steel knocked on the thick door on the side of the control room. Splice, who finally told me his name was Seth last night while watching a movie, opened it for Superboy and gestured for me to come with him as he went through the door and down the few steps.
"Let's see what you can really do, speedster."
I followed him, not noticing Ethan and Teague flipping switches in the control room as I hopped down the few stairs and up onto the treadmill. Splice pointed out a few things to me, like the bar that was a few feet above my head that, if something went wrong, I could jump and hang onto while the treadmill slowed down. As I stretched my legs on the treadmill, I watched as things came out of the walls that looked a lot like lightning rods. It was true that the static electricity that came out of my muscles could give someone a pretty good jolt and the electric current would only become stronger the faster I ran.
Splice closed the heavy door behind him. It took another minute before the others were ready for me to begin. I began at a slow jog, testing how the treadmill moved. It kept a perfect pace with me as I started a slower run. A speaker in the room screeched to life before Ethan's voice came through.
"Come on, Kid Flash. Open up the throttle. Let loose. Show them what a real speedster can do!" I took a deep breath as the electricity from my body started arching to the rods around the room. They want me to cut loose? Open up the throttle that I've kept a lid on for so long? Alright!
Chapter 4 End
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