Chapter Twenty Two

Unknown Energy Impulse

February 28th

When Morgan had run away and joined a team of teenage superheroes, she hadn't really expected homework to be part of the deal.

And yet here she was, studying up on some of the Team's former missions.

In her years of solitude, Morgan had always had a lot of time on her hands. Not having any friends tended to do that. The girl was also someone that hated feeling idle – one of the main reasons why she kept fighting Nightwing over going on missions – so she'd used a lot of her spare time on doing her homework. In the past five years, there was not a single school assignment she had missed a deadline on. The same day the work had been assigned, she'd go home and spend hours on it. She'd write the very best she could and then she'd go back and delete the best parts, add spelling and grammar errors, and make sure the assignment only just barely met the length requirements.

In her attempt at seeming as average as possible, she always made sure that her work was somewhere between a B and a C – with the exception of biology where she kept her line of straight A's intact. Even so, she always made sure to do a really good piece of work first so her intelligence wouldn't suffer from her average work. Morgan wasn't stupid. She knew that if she got herself used to only getting C's and B's, she'd eventually forget how to write something good enough for a top score.

Still, it stung her pride a bit every time she intentionally answered a question with the wrong answer.

Anyway, the point was, because of all her spare time, she'd gained a very clear work ethic, always making sure her work was done before its deadline. So all of her school assignments were already done and she had an entire Sunday to herself. Since joining the business, she obviously suddenly had much less time to actually do her homework, but it was also a lot easier to do now because she'd stopped intentionally worsening the quality of her work and now only needed to worry about doing her homework once, as well as she could, without having to edit it afterwards.

Despite having less time to do her homework, she always managed to find time for it anyway. She was getting used to sleeping less because of all the late night patrols she was doing anyways, no use trying to maintain a normal sleeping pattern. Some days were worse than others and she'd started drinking buckets of coffee on those particular days.

Today was not one of those days thankfully, and she'd gotten a good night's sleep the day before, resulting in an entire day where she had nothing to do but her usual training routines and spar with Nightwing. So she found a way to stave off the boredom.

Another thing she'd done to waste away time in her former eventless life was read. She read a lot, for hours on end. And she'd gotten good at it, reading faster than the average teenager.

So, now that all of her homework was finished, she'd already going through her usual training exercises, the Cave was strangely devoid of people to hang out with and Nightwing was busy doing something on the Cave's computer – she thought he'd said something about decoding some Krolotean data but she wasn't sure, she hadn't paid attention at the time – she had found an alternative use of her time. She'd asked her mentor if they had any of the Team's history written down and he'd downloaded a long list of summaries of their former missions onto her computer. All of the documents contained the date and then a brief summary of the missions in itself and then a slightly longer explanation of how the mission had actually went – Morgan soon learned that basically all of their missions were supposed to be covert but always ended with the Team blowing shit up. The only reason the Team was still allowed to go on was probably because they always managed to show positive results despite their slightly chaotic approach. After the mission layout there was a complete list of all the people that had been involved in the mission. She learned more about people like Psimon and Devastation and many others.

Sighing and stretching her back to free it from the crick it had developed from Morgan slouching in her chair for several hours, she exited the document she was currently reading – A mission where the original members of the Team had saved the entire Justice League from – As far as Morgan deduced – a very secret, very exclusive and very evil boy band that called themselves the 'Light' that had managed to gain control of the Leaguers. With, if she understood correctly, pieces from an ancient squid? Something like that, the arm of a squid found in the ocean and kept safe in Atlantis had definitely been involved.

After having poured over the stories for several hours now – okay it hadn't really been several hours, she'd started reading around eight and it was currently ten, so only two hours – Morgan found that she definitely needed a change of pace. And perhaps breakfast too.

Stretching her body as far as it would go, she sighed contently. On this particular day of staying indoors and doing nothing, she'd chosen to wear a black pair of sweatpants, no shoes or socks, and a white tank top with a large Superman logo on the chest. The first time Connor had seen it, he'd frowned in disapproval but hadn't said anything about it. Morgan seriously enjoyed the discomfort her fellow team mates showed whenever she wore a shirt with a superhero logo on it. Watching them squirm as they contemplated whether they should yell at her or leave it alone only to always decide to leave it alone was just hilarious.

Leaving her room, she headed for the kitchen. Upon reaching her destination she grabbed an apple from the fridge and stuffed a protein bar in her pocket. It would have to do for breakfast today, she decided, feeling too lazy to prepare a proper meal.

Afterwards, she went searching for some of her team mates. Most of them were enjoying the slow weekend and had stayed home or gone to the city, so Morgan knew only Nightwing, Garfield and Robin remained.

Knowing that she'd most definitely find Nightwing in the main room, she headed for it, hoping the other boys would be there as well.

She was in luck apparently, as the two younger teenagers were approaching Nightwing from the other side of the room just as Morgan did.

"Decryption completed." Announced the computer's emotionless, female voice. "Translation completed."

Robin and Beast Boy reached Nightwing first as he stood tall behind the transparent screens. "Is that the Krolotean intel?" Robin excitedly asked him.

"What Krolotean intel?" Beast Boy quickly inquired. Morgan came up next to Nightwing, watching the work he was doing on the screen even though she wasn't really sure what she was looking at. She needed to get Nightwing to teach her how to navigate their systems at some point.

Nightwing launched into an explanation to Garfield's question. "The data files M'gann and J'onn recovered on Malina Island before it was destroyed."

"Huh." Garfield nodded. Clearly he hadn't heard about this intel either. "Noted."

"Well," Morgan said between a mouthful of apple. She quickly swallowed to avoid spitting pieces of apple everywhere as she talked. What would probably be considered unattractive. "What does it say then?"

"Apparently the Kroloteans were snatching humans to use as guinea pigs. They were looking for something specific. Something inside us." Nightwing sounded confused, which Morgan decided couldn't be a good thing. She knew her mentor was smart. Like, crazy smart. If there was something that confused him, it would undoubtedly cause them trouble.

"What were they looking for?" Robin wondered, his own face drawn into a confused but intrigued mask.

Nightwing sighed. "There's no English word for it. The nearest translation is meta-gene."

Morgan leaned in closer to read the words on the screen. There was no description of what this meta-gene thing was, what it supposedly did or why the Kroloteans would go looking for it in humans. As usual, they didn't have the answers. Or, well, they had the answers. They just didn't understand them.

"What's a meta-gene?" Robin and Morgan asked at the same time and their eyes met through the transparent screen, a small smirk quirking on both mouths.

Garfield poked at Robin's side jokingly. "Never met-a-gene I didn't like!" He quipped.

"Warning!" The computer suddenly announced loudly and Morgan nearly jumped out of her skin, dropping her almost finished apple to the floor.

"Jesus!" She exclaimed as her heart rate spiked for a moment. She feared she'd never get used to the computer suddenly speaking out loud.

"Unknown energy impulse detected." It specified the threat.

Outside the Cave, Morgan could hear a booming clash of thunder. Immediately behind them – Morgan nearly jumped out of her skin for the second time in one minute – bursts of lightning erupted from a giant hovering circle of blue light, and as the two of them turned to face the threat, Nightwing pushed Morgan behind him, holding a protective arm out in front of the three younger heroes.

If she hadn't been a tad bit freaked, Morgan would have rolled her eyes at his over-protective behavior.

Nightwing took a few steps back himself as the lightning grew in intensity, the gritting sound that always associated with electricity assaulting Morgan's ears. She felt her wings flutter in agitation all on their own behind her, the charged air in the room making the hairs on her arms rise.

The blue ball flickered, revealing a machine of some sort in its middle. Eventually, the blue lights disappeared entirely and the machine dropped to the floor with a loud clang.

It was bell-shaped and old looking, like it had been used quite a lot or had been built from scraps of other machines. Smoke rose from it as the loud whirring sound that had accompanied it stilled.

The sound of a new mechanism from the machine signaled that a door was probably about to be opened. This also meant that someone was inside the machine.

Nightwing was immediately all business, his two eskrima sticks in his hands. "Stand ready." He ordered.

The three teenagers behind him all took defensive stances, Robin pulling out his electrified staff.

The latch at the front of the unknown machine opened, emitting a huge cloud of smoke. Morgan thought she could see a figure moving in the middle of the cloud.

In front of her, Nightwing grit his teeth and tightened the hold on his sticks, preparing himself for an attack.

A brown haired, lean and relatively short boy – standing a few inches shorter than Morgan – clad in a skintight white and red suit suddenly emerged from the grey smoke, spreading his arms out wide as if expecting a round of applause at his mere presence.

"Ta-da!" He shouted happily.

The four heroes all slouched slightly in disbelief.

"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" The computer kept blaring, only adding to the chaotic scene.

"Computer," Nightwing, the first one to recover from the shock, sternly spoke out loud. "Lock down Cave."

Garfield was the next to recover and, always the one with a humorous line, he pointed out the obvious. "Well, I think we found our unknown energy impulse."

The mystery boy decided to join the conversation. "Impulse? That's so crash!" His voice was extraordinarily cheerful and energetic as he spoke, which made Morgan suspect she'd grow very tired of him very fast. "Catchy. Dramatic. One word," He listed quickly. Before Morgan had even seen him move, he was behind Nightwing. "Like Nightwing."

He moved towards Robin, wrapping a fond arm around his shoulders. "And Robin."

Suddenly he was all up in Morgan's face and she took a startled step back. "And Sparrow."

"And Beast Boy." He finished, proving that he knew all of their names. "Except that's two words. Blue Beetle's also two words. Hey, is he here too?" His rapid speech barely left room enough for him to breathe, let alone for any of the others to even understand what he said, which was probably why none of them had interrupted him yet.

"Never mind." He said before running, faster than Morgan's eyes could follow, into the opening of one of the halls that led into the more private part of the Cave, the part where she and Beast Boy and the others lived. "Impulse can find that out for himself!" He declared and then he was gone, his laughter mockingly echoing inside the Cave.

"You two," Nightwing motioned for Robin and Beast Boy. "Take him down. Now!"

Robin and Beast Boy narrowed their eyes in their resolve and charged after the much faster boy.

"We're crash?" Nightwing repeated the intruder's words, obviously wondering what that meant.

"You know they're never gonna catch him, right?" Morgan pointed out. "He's too fast."

"I know." Nightwing grabbed her forearm and they hid behind a wall as Nightwing pulled a handful of small metallic balls from one of his pouches. "They're just a distraction while we set up a trap." He offered her some of the metallic spheres and Morgan accepted them before he quickly ran across to the other side of the hallway opening. "He's bound to come back this way at some point. We'll be ready for him." He explained.

Nightwing threw his own handful of balls into the hall and Morgan followed suit, watching in satisfaction as the floor was evenly covered by them. The fast kid would have a hard time maneuvering those, especially at his speed.

A moment later she saw the red and white blur that was the intruder as he sped down the hall. Expecting him to fall over, she was both disappointed and awed when he spotted the trap and simply ran up the walls and over the ceiling, his perfect arch landing at the end of the hallway.

"Hah!" He exclaimed, obviously finding their little trap ridiculous. "You can't catch me that eas-urgh!"

Nightwing, possessing speed Morgan had witnessed several times but was still impressed by, was upon the boy in an instant, the powerful punch to his chest sending him to the floor as all air was knocked out of his lungs.

Pulling two pairs of handcuffs out of his belt, Nightwing secured the boy instantly before standing up, staring down at his captive. "Now that was crash." He concluded.

Now that was hot. Morgan secretly thought. Realizing her thoughts, she shook herself awake.

"For you maybe." The boy on the floor sighed, only sounding slightly less hyper. "Me? I'm totally feeling the mode."

"You're a tourist? From the future?" Robin asked doubtfully, clearly not believing the crap story the kid had been feeding them for the past five minutes. Morgan crossed her arms critically over her chest and raised a skeptical eyebrow at their prisoner, who was currently seated in front of them, handcuffs still around his wrists and ankles. On Robin's other side, Garfield's face was locked in a similarly doubtful expression.

"Why so surprised?" He aked with a laugh. "Half the meat at Comic Con is from my era."

The three teenagers kept the skeptical expressions on their faces so the kid apparently decided to attempt another tactic. "Look-look-look, guys." He quickly rambled. "We should all be friends, I'm really one of you. Part of the heroic legacy, right?" He widened his eyes innocently, his voice friendly and excited. "My name is Bart Allen. You know, grandson of Barry Allen? The Flash?"

Garfield crossed his arms over his chest in disbelief but apparently decided to humor the boy. "Noted." He shrugged. "Not believed. But noted."

Truthfully, Morgan wasn't actually sure if she believed the kid or not. He didn't seem like the lying and deceiving type and she wasn't getting any menacing vibe from him so she didn't think he was planning to hurt them. But at the same time, his ludicrous story about being a tourist from the future that also happened to be the grandson of The Flash just wasn't possible.

"What's not to believe?" He persisted. "I've clearly got Flash's speed, his amazing good looks.. Frankly, I can't wait to meet him!" He winced slightly like he'd said something wrong. "Uh, you know, back when he was in his prime."

Behind them, Nightwing suddenly came up. He'd been absent throughout their small interrogation and Morgan wondered what he'd been doing. "Well, Bart." He began, almost sounding friendly. "Coming all the way from the future, you must have worked up quite a thirst."

Morgan watched as her mentor offered the handcuffed boy a glass of water, which he accepted with thanks.

He took two sips of the water before his eyes widened in realization. "Oh!" He exclaimed. "Ah, you're trying to get a DNA sample. You need my spit!" He spit into the glass and Nightwing removed it, apparently having gotten what he wanted. "Hah, that's such a Dick Grayson thing to do." The boy – Bart, Morgan supposed she should call him – said.

It took her a small moment to realize what he'd said.

He'd called Nightwing by his real name.

A name only a few of the heroes knew – a name she only knew by accident.

Nightwing took a startled step back and Robin's eyes widened "How did-?" The younger boy wondered.

"See?" Bart triumphantly chuckled. "I know stuff only a future boy would know."

Seeing as his hands were bound in front of him he lifted both of them to point. "Dick Grayson." He moved onto Robin. "Tim Drake."

Morgan's eyes widened and she stored away the name in her brain for later research. Now all she needed was Batman's secret identity and Morgan would have totally screwed over their obsession with secrecy.

All thoughts of the Bat-kids secrecy flew out the window when the hyper youth pointed at her next. "Morgan Gray-" He grimaced and Nightwing narrowed his eyes at him as if daring him to finish that sentence with what he thought he was going to finish it with. "Sorry, Morgan 'Jørgensen'. Your name is just so hard to pronounce." The kid quickly explained, laughing unconvincingly. "I swear I called you West or something last week."

A few seconds of weird silence reigned after that.

Bart quickly shook it off and changed the subject. "Anywayyy, and that's Garfield Logan." He pointed at Beast Boy.

Beast Boy apparently hadn't known the names of the two bat-boys before the future kid had told him because he pointed doubtfully at Robin. "Your name is Tim?" He asked and Robin – Tim – looked decidedly sheepish and uncomfortable. Beast Boy turned to Nightwing next, a grimace on his face. "And yours is Dick?"

Morgan snorted in an attempt to hold in her laughter as Nightwing trained a glare on Garfield at the way the green boy had said it. Nightwing aimed his glare at her afterwards, not pleased with her obvious amusement.

"Don't worry Gar, that was roughly my reaction too when I found out." She chuckled.

Beast Boy turned to her. "Wait, you knew?"

Morgan shrugged. "Accidentally."

"Oops!" Their prisoner exclaimed. Apparently the attention had strayed from him too long for his taste. "Spoilers! Man, this secret identity thing is sooo retro." He prattled on. "I mean, you can call me Impulse, or Bart, or Bart Allen. Ooh, or Bart "Impulse" Allen." He shrugged as if the reveal of his secret identity didn't bother him at all. "It's all crash."

There was another pregnant pause as Robin turned to Nightwing. "Is it possible he might actually be telling the truth? Could he really be from the future?"

Morgan watched as Garfield squared his shoulders and approached their prisoner. "Tell us something we don't know yet." He demanded. "When do I become leader of the team? When do I join the Justice League? When do I get my own reality series?" The boy listed, bringing his face closer to Impulse in an attempt to appear menacing.

Nothing could bring Bart 'Impulse' Allen's spirit down apparently because he simply shrugged. "Sorry, BB, never was the best history student." He offered apologetically. Morgan wondered if that was just because he didn't want to tell Garfield that he was never going to do any of the things he'd listed. "Besides, we can't risk altering the time stream. We do that, we're all feeling the mode."

Morgan was starting to get seriously intrigued about what the boy meant when he said 'the mode' and that things were 'crash'. Maybe they were the same as 'sucks' and 'awesome' in the future or something like that.

Not that she actually believed he was from the future. Obviously.

Garfield's face contorted into a look of confusion. Apparently, he didn't really get the other guy's way of speech either. ".. And the mode would be.. bad?" He hesitantly asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Doesn't get any worse." Impulse sounded slightly deflated. "Always better to crash the mode!"

"Uh." Beast Boy said. "Noted."

Above them, the computer suddenly spoke out again. "Recognized. Malcolm Duncan. A-1-0."

"Ooh, Sounds like a door opening somewhere." Impulse declared. "Aaand, that's ma cue."

He started – was he vibrating? – right out of his handcuffs and stood up before any of the four teenagers had the chance to lunge for him. "Bye-bye!"

The sped at which he not only ran but also talked had the four heroes fighting to keep up with him and they all just stood around for a second before snapping out of it.

"Don't worry, the peregrine falcon is the world's fastest bird." Garfield explained, holding a pacifying hand up. "He won't get away."

The green skinned boy transformed into a falcon and soared out of the room.

"Doesn't stand a chance, does he?" Robin pointed out a moment later.

"Probably not." Morgan agreed.

"Nope." Nightwing added, handing Robin the glass. "Impulse is too fast. But at least we can track him."

Nightwing made the holographic screen re-appear in mid air – a trick that always awed Morgan – and brought up a map.

Robin looked at Nightwing in impressed surprise. "You planted a tracer? But it'll fall off at his speed." The younger boy pointed out.

"It won't." Nightwing contradicted, a slight laugh in his voice. "He drank it."

Robin held up the glass Impulse had been drinking from and studied the water. "Sub-coetaneous micro-tracker in the water." He declared and Morgan finally understood. Nightwing hadn't really needed a DNA sample, he'd just needed the boy to drink the water so he could track him. "Nice."

"Thanks." Nightwing said, sounding very pleased with his own work.

Morgan decided she liked when her mentor sounded happy. He seemed less rigid and more welcoming than usual.

"He's making a beeline for Central City." Nightwing revealed a minute later once he'd locked onto the speedsters location.

He pulled out his phone and dialed in a number in one fluid movement. "Hey." He greeted once the person on the other end of the line answered the call. "Need your help. There's someone headed for Central City. I think he's trying to find Flash."

Nightwing launched into a brief explanation of what had transpired in the Cave in the span of the last thirty minutes, Robin and Morgan watching from the sideline.

"This has been such a weird day." Morgan tiredly complained, holding a hand to her forehead to stave off the headache that was coming along. "And it's only half past ten in the morning."

Robin shrugged. "Trust me, you learn to roll with it in the end. Anything is possible in this line of work."

"So I've gathered."

Nightwing, having finished his phone call, put away the cell and turned to the two shorter teenagers. "Wally will take care of it. Now all we can do is wait."

And wait they did. For several hours.

After her usual spar with Nightwing – sometimes going three on three with Robin and still getting her butt royally kicked – Morgan had eaten lunch and settled back into her room, resuming her previous reading.

The Team had been on countless missions in the past six years and the list seemed endless, but Morgan was determined to at least skim through most of them. She wanted to be able to understand what the others were talking about when they mentioned some older mission. She wanted to stop feeling like she wasn't properly a part of the Team.

She knew that with time, she'd gain her own stories with the Team – She already had some, like the mission she'd gone on with Robin, Blue Beetle and Lagoon Boy, but that one incident wasn't really enough – and share in on their inside jokes. She wanted to feel properly 'initiated' in a way.

She didn't doubt that most of the people on the Team, if not all of them, accepted her and viewed her as part of their team, but she needed to truly feel like it herself too.

Just another reason for her to wish she'd get to go on some missions.

But she didn't push the issue. She had promised to stop begging. And she had the feeling that the sooner she stopped nagging Nightwing about it, the sooner he'd actually let her go. She needed to prove that she was 'mature' enough to go on missions.

Personally, she didn't get why he got to decide when she was mature enough to go. He was only half a year older than her or so. And he'd been going on missions for a decade already. Surely if he had been ready at nine years old, she was ready at eighteen.

But, as promised, she didn't push the issue.

Didn't stop her from silently complaining about it in her head.

It had become common that the Cave was missing some of its usual residents during the weekend. M'gann left to stay in her uncle's apartment, claiming she'd promised to water his plants, and Connor sometimes went to visit his adopted parents. If the weekend was slow, La'gaan would go to Atlantis and practice his magic to keep it evolving.

Leaving behind only Garfield, Mal and Morgan. But Mal, being a very busy social butterfly, was rarely home. It was only Morgan and Garfield who didn't have anywhere else to go.

Or at least, Morgan didn't before. Now she could always visit her mom if the Cave was too boring.

She wasn't sure if she'd follow through with that plan too often though. She'd feel bad for leaving Garfield to stay at the Cave all by himself.

There were always a few heroes hanging around the place, obviously, except for at night when everyone had gone home to their families.

And Morgan would feel bad for leaving Garfield in an empty Mount Justice. The boy was a terrible cook, he'd live off of toast for days.

Morgan emerged from her room some time later, and much like earlier that day, she went in search of her mentor, Robin and Beast Boy.

When she stepped into the main room of the Cave, she found herself greatly wishing she'd at least put on a pair of socks and perhaps attempted to tame her hair somewhat.

The future kid, Impulse, had returned. And with him he'd brought Flash, Flash Senior (At least, that was what Morgan mentally dubbed the grey haired and wrinkly man in a seriously outdated Superhero costume) and Kid Flash.

Everyone else was in the room too. Nightwing, Mal, Robin and Beast Boy. In the middle of the room was the 'time machine' still firmly in place, separating the speedster family from the four other men. She felt her cheeks redden and she kept her gaze firmly on the floor when everyone looked up upon her entry.

Thankfully, Nightwing redirect the attention when he spoke up from his perch behind the holographic computer screen. "Impulse's DNA matches up with both Iris and you, Barry." He revealed. "And this thing is giving off both Zeta and chronotron radiation." His voice was laced with impressed wonder, as if the thing in front of him shouldn't be possible.

"Which is based on pure theory." Kid Flash clarified and Morgan understood Nightwing's wondrous tone. "It's what you'd expect to find radiating off a time machine."

Barry seemed pleased by this and placed a hand on the shortest speedster's shoulder. "Which means you're exactly who you say you are."

"Hah! Told you!" Bart cheered. He waved briefly at his relatives and took a few backward steps towards his, apparently, actual time machine. "Anyway, it's been crash, but the future awaits! I gotta run."

He laughed at his own joke as several people in the room facepalmed at the pun. "Ha ha! See what I did there with the 'run'? That was for you gramps-"

"Bart." Flash interrupted his grandson. "Thanks for coming. I look forward to meeting you again for the first time.. and watching you grow up."

A soft look took over the hyperactive boy's face. "That will be crash." He agreed and enveloped his grandfather in a hug.

Then he pulled back and saluted the room. "So long!" he cheered and slipped inside the machine, closing the latch.

Several silent and tense seconds passed as the time machine stayed in place.

"Shouldn't something have happened by now?" Morgan pointed out.

"Maybe he's traveling forward one second at a time?" Garfield suggested, shrugging his shoulders in his confusion.

A moment later the latch was kicked back open. "It's not working!" Impulse groaned and kicked the machine angrily. "The whole thing's fried. Piece of junk!"

"Can you fix it?" Barry asked.

"I'm a tourist, not a chronal expert." Bart clarified.

Morgan's heart sank in her chest. First because she felt bad for the boy who was now stuck in the past for good. Then because she realized that she'd have to put up with his hyperactive ass for far longer than she knew she had the patience to.

"Look at me!" Bart yelled, throwing his arms up in defeat. "I'm trapped in the stupid past. Ugh. I'm so moded."

Part of Morgan couldn't help but think that he didn't sound as surprised and 'moded' as he claimed to be. She didn't rest on the thought for long.

"Guess you'll be needing a place to stay." Nightwing spoke up first, always the practical one. "You're welcome to stay here for as long as you need."

"That won't be necessary." Flash Senior spoke up, placing a fatherly hand on the young boy's shoulder. "He can stay with Joan and I."

"Really?" Impulse asked, a large grin on his face. "That'd be so crash! Hanging out with my great grandparents!"

"Of course." The older man smiled. "We'll enroll you in school tomorrow."

Impulse's face fell. "Erh, I think I'd rather stay at the Cave."

"That won't help you much, kid." Morgan drawled. "The moment I had settled into the Cave they sent my ass to college."

Impulse's face fell even further and Morgan's dry words elicited a few chuckles from the two oldest speedsters.

"Come on, Bart." The oldest man in the room said. "Let's go."

The Cave cleared of speedsters in a moment, and soon the others went to do their own thing.

Nightwing, as Morgan had expected, stayed by the computer, his attention undivided.

"What a strange day, huh?" She spoke up, trying to strike conversation.

There was a newfound tension between them that Morgan was afraid to pinpoint the origin of.

"How did your reading go?" Nightwing less-than-tactfully changed the subject.

She let him. "I've gotten through two fifths of your missions by now. You guys have been busy." She answered, wringing her hands in a clump of curls. "Lots to catch up on."

Morgan wondered why she suddenly felt nervous around her mentor. Why the tension was there.

But she didn't need to wonder. Morgan already knew.

She wondered if he was thinking the same thing as she was at the moment.

Had Impulse seriously been about to call her Morgan Grayson? And if so, had it really been a mistake as he'd claimed?

The thought that in some future, alternate or not, Morgan and Nightwing would literally marry sent her heart racing like nothing else.

The worst part was that she wasn't sure if it was a good racing or a bad racing. She only knew that she was starting to fear that her heart would literally beat so fast it'd simply stop working.

"Will.." Morgan paused and swallowed a lump. "Are you and Robin staying for dinner?"

Morgan cursed herself for feeling nervous about asking him. She'd asked him the same thing several times before. Other members of the Team stayed over for dinner all the time. Nightwing had stayed too sometimes.

Why should this time be different?

"No." he answered shortly and Morgan tried to tell herself it wasn't a lump of disappointment and embarrassment settling in her stomach.

"At least, I'm not. Robin might." Nightwing closed down the screen and turned to her. His face as unreadable as always and Morgan found herself annoyed with the stoic mask he seemed to always slip into place. She knew he had emotions, he'd shown them plenty of times before. Why did he feel the need to maintain the 'leader' persona when they were the only ones in the room? He knew Morgan didn't take it seriously anyway, so why even bother?

Morgan took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, straightening her back. "I guess I'll see you around then."

She left the room, the sound of the Zeta tube activating following in her wake as Nightwing disappeared.

I thought it'd be fitting to post a chapter on the first of december! I'm so excited for christmas! It kinda sucked last year because my dad had cancer, so I'm counting on this year being much better!

I swear, writing a character that talks really fast is so difficult to get right because you can't show that he talks fast because it's in writing. Anyway, Bart's here! Yay! Finally moving on with the real plot.

And I just want to remind everyone that Bart's reality/future is, technically, an alternative one because once he goes back to chance stuff, that old future is gone. So some things may not happen in this reality which did happen in his. Just reminding you..

Also, most of you guessed correctly. Morgan is a Gryffindor. (Which makes me feel unoriginal, but this is the character I created okay, I didn't actually have much say in how she developped. She kinda decides for herself. Anyway, I'm a Slytherin, so at least this proves I didn't just write a character exactly like me, right?)

Somebody pointed out that Bart becomes B23 when it comes to Zeta travelling. And yeah, he does. But Morgan arrived on the Team before him, and since the number is just decided after how many people are already on the Team - or has been on the Team - it wouldn't make sense for him to get a smaller number than her. So because she came first, she'd number B23 and he's B24. Yup. Feel free to complain if you want.

Fun fact: Morgan prefers to read classics. She figures they have to be good for them to still be popular after so many years. Some she likes, some she doesn't.

(Thank you Aurora340 for suggesting a fun fact theme! if anyone else has any ideas for themes, tell me in a review and I'll be more than happy to use your suggestions!)