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randomality) wrote2009-11-09 05:46 pm
randomality) wrote2009-11-09 05:46 pm
Reset! - Chapter Three
Summary: Faced with being shipped out to Denver to live with Jay Garrick after the disappearance of Max Mercury, Bart argues to remain in Manchester with Helen. Impulse begins to search for ways to save Max on his own and reaches out to friends and allies. AU.
Disclaimer: DC owns the DCU. Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo.
Helen was at the kitchen sink, rinsing out the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher, when Bart came back inside the house. "I guess I should set a feeder out for the hummingbirds," she remarked with a smile that made the laugh lines on her face deeper. "I should have thought you would like those little guys."
Bart put together the slow syllables, waiting for the sentences to end. It took forever and sometimes it was hard to remember what was at the beginning of the statement by the time the speaker reached the end of it. Though, this time, he managed to keep the entirety of Helen's speech. "What do you feed them?"
"Sugar water," Helen replied, "It's simple enough to make and they're perfectly happy with it."
"Cool." He glanced out the window to see if the hummingbird had returned yet. "Do we have a feeder?"
"I think I have one in the garage. I'll go get it." Several minutes rummaging through the garage later, Helen managed to find the feeder. It was covered in dust and needed a good cleaning, but it was serviceable. By the time she returned to the kitchen, Bart had let Carol in. Helen set to cleaning the feeder thoroughly. It was the sort with a glass container for nectar and four little, red, plastic flower perches.
Carol adjusted her glasses. "Spotted a hummingbird?"
"Yeah," Bart replied as he pulled a soda from the fridge, "It was really cool. Helen's gonna feed it. They eat sugar water."
Carol decided not to make an issue about the term eat for something that is drank. "Yeah. They need a lot of it to keep up with their metabolism. The little plastic flowers are red because hummingbirds really like that color." She stared at Bart drinking soda in his red shirt and laughed.
Frowning, Bart set his soda on the table. "What so funny?"
She waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing. Any leads on finding Rival?"
Shaking his head, Bart pulled a box of microwave popcorn out of a cabinet. "My scouts still haven't found anything."
Helen glanced over her shoulder. "You're sending out scouts?"
Bart put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and set the timer. "Uh, yeah. Don't tell Wally or Jay, okay? I'm supposed to let them handle it, even though they're not finding anything. Wally would probably chew me out if he found out."
Tucking strands of silver hair back into her streak, Helen sighed. "I doubt that, Bart. If anything, he might want to hear that you're sending out your scouts. I would bet that he even forgot that those little guys exist. I did, until you reminded me just now."
"Really?"
After the popcorn was ready, Bart settled down on the couch and watched a movie that Carol had brought over. When the credits rolled, he frowned. "There's something I'm supposed to be doing, but I don't remember what it is."
"Chores?" Carol supplied helpfully. Bart thought about this and then shook his head. She tried again. "Homework?" Bart shook his head again. Carol thought carefully. "Is it anything impulsive?"
"I don't think-" Bart's yellow eyes widened and he sat up. "Grife! There's a meeting today! I'm late! Rob and Wondy are gonna kill me!" In an instant, he was in his red and white uniform and bolting out of the house.
Impulse raced across the countryside in uniform, keeping just below mach. There was no point in ripping sonic booms to rattle walls and shatter windows if there was no emergency, as much fun as it was. The loaned Young Justice headquarters had seen better days, but it was a welcome sight. Slowing down just enough to prevent his wake from causing further damage to the building, he passed through the walls and screeched to a halt in the kitchen. Three other teens were already sitting at the table in a melancholy air. Even through the yellow lenses of his goggles, the mood was blue.
Hesitantly approaching the table, Impulse was expecting bad news. Did he miss another funeral? That could be it. He hadn't heard anything about the services for the fallen Titans, Donna and Lilith. "Guys? What's up?" He almost didn't want to hear the answer.
"Since we turned down the offer to join the Titans," Wondergirl replied, "The JLA has decided that Young Justice is going to disband."
Robin had his green-gloved hands calmly folded on the tabletop. "After the debacle with the Titans, they decided to pull all support for us as a group. Either we operate through approved channels or not at all."
Superboy's voice held a sharp, angry edge. "Three strikes and we're out."
Impulse's jaw dropped. "What?! They can't do that!" He did a double take as the words sunk in. "They asked you to join the Titans, Wondy?"
She nodded silently. Golden hair slipped over her shoulders when she shrugged. "I don't know if I can keep up with school and go to San Francisco every weekend. I don't know if I can make the kind of commitment that being a Titan demands right now. Maybe later, but not now. I have a lot of things to deal with first."
Robin's hands were still folded on the table. "Same here. Coast to coast is a long trip and I just don't have the time for that. There are a lot of other things I need to do. Maybe later, but not now."
"And without the rest of you guys," Superboy added, "There's really no point to it. Besides, we don't need even more mentors. If the ones we have aren't cutting it, the Titans aren't going to, either." He aimed a pointed glance at Robin. "To me, Young Justice wasn't just some little league version of the Titans. My goals were set a little higher." Then his blue eyes darted to Impulse. "What did you say to the offer?"
Impulse's lips twisted and turned to a frown. "They didn't ask." Now that hurt. Did Wally say something to make them pass him over? Did Jessie? "I guess, y'know, since I already did the Titans thing, they thought I already had my chance. That's not fair! They can't break us up! We came together without the JLA and worked without them and saved a lot of people on our own! We didn't have to have their approval! We were just us!"
Superboy shot to his feet. "Exactly!"
Wondergirl stared at Impulse. "You were a Titan?"
"Yeah. Back when Arsenal led the team." Anger and hurt was rapidly dissolving into a massive case of being bummed. "Anyone else want a sandwich?"
Superboy was already striding towards the refrigerator. "Sure. This is our last day here, anyways. Might as well clean out the fridge before we go."
Soon, Impulse had his overstuffed sandwich in his hands and moments later it disappeared into his face. Wondergirl curled her lips. "Bart, the only thing you don't do when you eat is oink."
He ignored her comment and propped his elbows on the table. "So, what are we gonna do now? We can still hang out, right?"
Robin stood up and began to walk to the food-laden counter. "I don't see why not."
Superboy was still putting together his sandwich. "That's how this all started anyways."
A sly grin slipped onto Wondergirl's face. "And if a little trouble comes up while we're hanging, we can take care of it. It's only convenient."
Matching Wondergirl's expression, Superboy added over his shoulder. "I'm liking that. Is it an order from our fearless leader?"
"Not if we're just hanging out with each other." She pushed away from the table and stood. "No group. No leader. Just friends." She crossed her arms and raised her chin in defiance. "And no one can disband that."
After the sandwiches disappeared, Superboy sat backwards in a chair and sighed, "It's gonna be a big waste of all that nice, shiny equipment Snapper scored for us."
Wondergirl peered over her shoulder at the kitchen doorway. "I know. Too bad we don't have somewhere to move it to. Besides just shoving it in storage, that is."
"If we did, we would have a new headquarters," Robin pointed out, "If we have a headquarters, we won't be considered disbanded."
Superboy scratched at the dark stubble on his chin. "And that's a problem how?"
Propping her cheek on her fist, Wondergirl answered, "Because if we were still a team, everyone else would be on our cases and trying to babysit us, if not break us up again." She sat up and glanced around the room. "Where's Bart?" She dreaded losing a visual on Impulse, since there was no telling where he would go or what he would do.
"He could be anywhere," replied Robin as he gave the kitchen a cursory scan. "He'll be back. Back to the headquarters issue, I agree with you, Cassie. We can't have a headquarters if we're operating clandestinely."
"Breakin' out the big words there, Rob," Superboy quipped.
Robin ignored that comment and continued, "Considering our track record, it's probably to our advantage if we operate in a decentralized manner. Communications may be an issue, since we may be monitored." He paused and steepled his fingers together. His domino mask obscured the crease in his brow. "However, we have Impulse."
Wondergirl sat up. "Are you saying we should use him as our own personal Hermes?"
Impulse's voice piped up from the doorway, "Hermes is the messenger of the gods and his Roman version is called Mercury. Like Max!" There was no obvious sign of where the young speedster had disappeared to. There was no armload of candy, no videogame, no random piece of some villian's costume, or toilet paper stuck to the bottom of his boot.
"That's right," she affirmed, "I think I see what you're getting at, Robin. If we need to get everyone together or to send a message to everyone else that we don't want the League, Society, or Titans to hear, one of us will give Bart a call to visit and he will relay the message from there." She looked to the speedster, "Are you okay with that?"
"Cool with me," he answered, "If we're leaving here, where am I gonna park my spaceship? Helen's backyard isn't big enough."
Drumming his fingers on the back of his chair, Superboy was obviously thinking something over. "Hey, Bart... How much space is in the cargo hold again? You think it could store our equipment?"
Impulse zipped to the other room where all of the monitoring equipment was set up and visualized it sitting in his spaceship. He darted back to the other others. "Yep! It can fit. Hey! Could we set it up in there? Like, so it's plugged in and works?"
Raising an eyebrow, Robin tilted his head, "Are the power systems compatible? I'm not sure that any of us have the technical expertise to safely install that system." Immediately, he knew that the warning would go unheeded. He was talking to Kon and Bart, after all. "Well, I guess blowing it up is better than letting it all rust."
Superboy stood up and started walking towards the doorway. "It's also better than just sitting around here and moping. C'mon, Cassie, let's get this stuff loaded."
Wondergirl pushed herself away from the table to join him. "Bart, go look for a new home for your spaceship." Before she could say anything more, Impulse was gone.
In the speedster's eye, the landscape crawled by as he searched for a suitable new home for his vessel. Cars, trains, and people all stood still for him while he navigated around them. He needed somewhere flat enough to land and remote enough that the Max wouldn't be found and broken into. The plains of the midwestern states fit both criteria at first glance, but his choice locations were either farmland or military installations. Wasn't this also tornado country? His mind's eye played out scenes of twisters whirling through the countryside. That might be bad. He wasn't sure how well his prized spaceship would fare against one. Some of those twisters were huge. When the tornadoes got big enough, it was better just to make sure that people didn't get killed, rather than take on the tornado. The ride might be fun for a while, but it the landing sucked.
He veered south and kept a scan on the horizon for anything interesting, slowing or stopping whenever he found a place he wanted to look closer at. It was very open in this area and he wondered if anybody would notice a big, white spaceship sitting in the middle of scrubland. Maybe he should go further west? He kicked dust across plateaus and navigated around ravines and canyons. There were some pretty areas around here and he paused at a small winding river to take a rest in the shade of a steep, rocky slope on the other side. He kneeled down along the water and took a drink, trusting his metabolism to help defend him from any waterborne illness. Where was he? New Mexico? Arizona? Did he already cross the Colorado River? Well, he would know to stop when he hit the Pacific Ocean. Maybe he should start going north? There were some remote areas between the north Sierra Nevadas and the Great Salt Lake. It was real boring to run through. This entire run was getting boring. Impulse ran northwest, crossing over more desert and scrub.
A draft on his knee caught his attention and he paused to check it out. There was a hole in his suit over his right knee. Frowning, he looked for an area where he could sit and fix it. Once seated, he took the edges of the hole in his hands and vibrated the fabric molecules of one edge into the other, merging them together. It was a slow process, since he had to be real careful not to get the mend crooked or clumpy or the result would pull or rub against his knee weird. That was really annoying.
Another plume of dust streaked westward across the earth, catching Impulse's attention. There was a familiar pattern of red and yellow at the head of it, telling him that his cousin was on the move. It wasn't that much of a surprise, since there were only so many speedster-friendly routes across the Rocky Mountains and over the Colorado River. It was the same case with the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The dust comet stopped and turned towards the red on white uniform of Impulse. In speedsters' time, it looked as if the Flash was taking a leisurely jog towards his younger cousin.
Still at an accelerated pace, the older speedster asked, "What are you doing out here?"
"My knee blew out," Impulse replied as he tried to keep the repair in alignment, "I gotta fix it."
"That's not what I meant. What are you doing so far from Manchester?" the Flash clarified.
Impulse was still trying to fix on the tear. He was so close to being done and if he stopped now, the repair wouldn't turn out right. "I'm looking for a place to park my spaceship, since Young Justice is being broken up and we have to leave our base."
Underneath the red cowl, Wally raised an eyebrow. "You have a spaceship?"
"Yeah, I told you about it before," Impulse reminded him, "That's how we got to Apokolips and back. But now I need to find a safe place for it."
"Waittasec, so the spaceship is yours? Personally? I thought that… Nevermind. It doesn't matter." He took a long breath while Impulse finished mending his suit. "Look, Cyborg called me over to help him with something in San Francisco, so I can't help you with it right now. But, I'll help you figure something out later, okay? Maybe I can pull some strings for you and get you some hangar space somewhere."
Impulse smiled brightly and stood up, bending his knee to test the repair. "Really?" It felt okay, but he could tell that there was something different than before.
"Sure. I'd hate to see that thing just rust in the open." Bemused, the Flash shook his head. "So that thing is yours? Most kids your age would be drooling over the thought of getting a car in a couple years. Well, now I know who to call the next time I need to get into orbit. I'll catch up to you later, Bart." With that, the Flash sped away. Impulse brushed the dust from his bottom and ran back to his friends to relay the news.
Disclaimer: DC owns the DCU. Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo.
Reset! - Chapter Three: Just Us
Helen was at the kitchen sink, rinsing out the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher, when Bart came back inside the house. "I guess I should set a feeder out for the hummingbirds," she remarked with a smile that made the laugh lines on her face deeper. "I should have thought you would like those little guys."
Bart put together the slow syllables, waiting for the sentences to end. It took forever and sometimes it was hard to remember what was at the beginning of the statement by the time the speaker reached the end of it. Though, this time, he managed to keep the entirety of Helen's speech. "What do you feed them?"
"Sugar water," Helen replied, "It's simple enough to make and they're perfectly happy with it."
"Cool." He glanced out the window to see if the hummingbird had returned yet. "Do we have a feeder?"
"I think I have one in the garage. I'll go get it." Several minutes rummaging through the garage later, Helen managed to find the feeder. It was covered in dust and needed a good cleaning, but it was serviceable. By the time she returned to the kitchen, Bart had let Carol in. Helen set to cleaning the feeder thoroughly. It was the sort with a glass container for nectar and four little, red, plastic flower perches.
Carol adjusted her glasses. "Spotted a hummingbird?"
"Yeah," Bart replied as he pulled a soda from the fridge, "It was really cool. Helen's gonna feed it. They eat sugar water."
Carol decided not to make an issue about the term eat for something that is drank. "Yeah. They need a lot of it to keep up with their metabolism. The little plastic flowers are red because hummingbirds really like that color." She stared at Bart drinking soda in his red shirt and laughed.
Frowning, Bart set his soda on the table. "What so funny?"
She waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing. Any leads on finding Rival?"
Shaking his head, Bart pulled a box of microwave popcorn out of a cabinet. "My scouts still haven't found anything."
Helen glanced over her shoulder. "You're sending out scouts?"
Bart put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and set the timer. "Uh, yeah. Don't tell Wally or Jay, okay? I'm supposed to let them handle it, even though they're not finding anything. Wally would probably chew me out if he found out."
Tucking strands of silver hair back into her streak, Helen sighed. "I doubt that, Bart. If anything, he might want to hear that you're sending out your scouts. I would bet that he even forgot that those little guys exist. I did, until you reminded me just now."
"Really?"
After the popcorn was ready, Bart settled down on the couch and watched a movie that Carol had brought over. When the credits rolled, he frowned. "There's something I'm supposed to be doing, but I don't remember what it is."
"Chores?" Carol supplied helpfully. Bart thought about this and then shook his head. She tried again. "Homework?" Bart shook his head again. Carol thought carefully. "Is it anything impulsive?"
"I don't think-" Bart's yellow eyes widened and he sat up. "Grife! There's a meeting today! I'm late! Rob and Wondy are gonna kill me!" In an instant, he was in his red and white uniform and bolting out of the house.
Impulse raced across the countryside in uniform, keeping just below mach. There was no point in ripping sonic booms to rattle walls and shatter windows if there was no emergency, as much fun as it was. The loaned Young Justice headquarters had seen better days, but it was a welcome sight. Slowing down just enough to prevent his wake from causing further damage to the building, he passed through the walls and screeched to a halt in the kitchen. Three other teens were already sitting at the table in a melancholy air. Even through the yellow lenses of his goggles, the mood was blue.
Hesitantly approaching the table, Impulse was expecting bad news. Did he miss another funeral? That could be it. He hadn't heard anything about the services for the fallen Titans, Donna and Lilith. "Guys? What's up?" He almost didn't want to hear the answer.
"Since we turned down the offer to join the Titans," Wondergirl replied, "The JLA has decided that Young Justice is going to disband."
Robin had his green-gloved hands calmly folded on the tabletop. "After the debacle with the Titans, they decided to pull all support for us as a group. Either we operate through approved channels or not at all."
Superboy's voice held a sharp, angry edge. "Three strikes and we're out."
Impulse's jaw dropped. "What?! They can't do that!" He did a double take as the words sunk in. "They asked you to join the Titans, Wondy?"
She nodded silently. Golden hair slipped over her shoulders when she shrugged. "I don't know if I can keep up with school and go to San Francisco every weekend. I don't know if I can make the kind of commitment that being a Titan demands right now. Maybe later, but not now. I have a lot of things to deal with first."
Robin's hands were still folded on the table. "Same here. Coast to coast is a long trip and I just don't have the time for that. There are a lot of other things I need to do. Maybe later, but not now."
"And without the rest of you guys," Superboy added, "There's really no point to it. Besides, we don't need even more mentors. If the ones we have aren't cutting it, the Titans aren't going to, either." He aimed a pointed glance at Robin. "To me, Young Justice wasn't just some little league version of the Titans. My goals were set a little higher." Then his blue eyes darted to Impulse. "What did you say to the offer?"
Impulse's lips twisted and turned to a frown. "They didn't ask." Now that hurt. Did Wally say something to make them pass him over? Did Jessie? "I guess, y'know, since I already did the Titans thing, they thought I already had my chance. That's not fair! They can't break us up! We came together without the JLA and worked without them and saved a lot of people on our own! We didn't have to have their approval! We were just us!"
Superboy shot to his feet. "Exactly!"
Wondergirl stared at Impulse. "You were a Titan?"
"Yeah. Back when Arsenal led the team." Anger and hurt was rapidly dissolving into a massive case of being bummed. "Anyone else want a sandwich?"
Superboy was already striding towards the refrigerator. "Sure. This is our last day here, anyways. Might as well clean out the fridge before we go."
Soon, Impulse had his overstuffed sandwich in his hands and moments later it disappeared into his face. Wondergirl curled her lips. "Bart, the only thing you don't do when you eat is oink."
He ignored her comment and propped his elbows on the table. "So, what are we gonna do now? We can still hang out, right?"
Robin stood up and began to walk to the food-laden counter. "I don't see why not."
Superboy was still putting together his sandwich. "That's how this all started anyways."
A sly grin slipped onto Wondergirl's face. "And if a little trouble comes up while we're hanging, we can take care of it. It's only convenient."
Matching Wondergirl's expression, Superboy added over his shoulder. "I'm liking that. Is it an order from our fearless leader?"
"Not if we're just hanging out with each other." She pushed away from the table and stood. "No group. No leader. Just friends." She crossed her arms and raised her chin in defiance. "And no one can disband that."
After the sandwiches disappeared, Superboy sat backwards in a chair and sighed, "It's gonna be a big waste of all that nice, shiny equipment Snapper scored for us."
Wondergirl peered over her shoulder at the kitchen doorway. "I know. Too bad we don't have somewhere to move it to. Besides just shoving it in storage, that is."
"If we did, we would have a new headquarters," Robin pointed out, "If we have a headquarters, we won't be considered disbanded."
Superboy scratched at the dark stubble on his chin. "And that's a problem how?"
Propping her cheek on her fist, Wondergirl answered, "Because if we were still a team, everyone else would be on our cases and trying to babysit us, if not break us up again." She sat up and glanced around the room. "Where's Bart?" She dreaded losing a visual on Impulse, since there was no telling where he would go or what he would do.
"He could be anywhere," replied Robin as he gave the kitchen a cursory scan. "He'll be back. Back to the headquarters issue, I agree with you, Cassie. We can't have a headquarters if we're operating clandestinely."
"Breakin' out the big words there, Rob," Superboy quipped.
Robin ignored that comment and continued, "Considering our track record, it's probably to our advantage if we operate in a decentralized manner. Communications may be an issue, since we may be monitored." He paused and steepled his fingers together. His domino mask obscured the crease in his brow. "However, we have Impulse."
Wondergirl sat up. "Are you saying we should use him as our own personal Hermes?"
Impulse's voice piped up from the doorway, "Hermes is the messenger of the gods and his Roman version is called Mercury. Like Max!" There was no obvious sign of where the young speedster had disappeared to. There was no armload of candy, no videogame, no random piece of some villian's costume, or toilet paper stuck to the bottom of his boot.
"That's right," she affirmed, "I think I see what you're getting at, Robin. If we need to get everyone together or to send a message to everyone else that we don't want the League, Society, or Titans to hear, one of us will give Bart a call to visit and he will relay the message from there." She looked to the speedster, "Are you okay with that?"
"Cool with me," he answered, "If we're leaving here, where am I gonna park my spaceship? Helen's backyard isn't big enough."
Drumming his fingers on the back of his chair, Superboy was obviously thinking something over. "Hey, Bart... How much space is in the cargo hold again? You think it could store our equipment?"
Impulse zipped to the other room where all of the monitoring equipment was set up and visualized it sitting in his spaceship. He darted back to the other others. "Yep! It can fit. Hey! Could we set it up in there? Like, so it's plugged in and works?"
Raising an eyebrow, Robin tilted his head, "Are the power systems compatible? I'm not sure that any of us have the technical expertise to safely install that system." Immediately, he knew that the warning would go unheeded. He was talking to Kon and Bart, after all. "Well, I guess blowing it up is better than letting it all rust."
Superboy stood up and started walking towards the doorway. "It's also better than just sitting around here and moping. C'mon, Cassie, let's get this stuff loaded."
Wondergirl pushed herself away from the table to join him. "Bart, go look for a new home for your spaceship." Before she could say anything more, Impulse was gone.
In the speedster's eye, the landscape crawled by as he searched for a suitable new home for his vessel. Cars, trains, and people all stood still for him while he navigated around them. He needed somewhere flat enough to land and remote enough that the Max wouldn't be found and broken into. The plains of the midwestern states fit both criteria at first glance, but his choice locations were either farmland or military installations. Wasn't this also tornado country? His mind's eye played out scenes of twisters whirling through the countryside. That might be bad. He wasn't sure how well his prized spaceship would fare against one. Some of those twisters were huge. When the tornadoes got big enough, it was better just to make sure that people didn't get killed, rather than take on the tornado. The ride might be fun for a while, but it the landing sucked.
He veered south and kept a scan on the horizon for anything interesting, slowing or stopping whenever he found a place he wanted to look closer at. It was very open in this area and he wondered if anybody would notice a big, white spaceship sitting in the middle of scrubland. Maybe he should go further west? He kicked dust across plateaus and navigated around ravines and canyons. There were some pretty areas around here and he paused at a small winding river to take a rest in the shade of a steep, rocky slope on the other side. He kneeled down along the water and took a drink, trusting his metabolism to help defend him from any waterborne illness. Where was he? New Mexico? Arizona? Did he already cross the Colorado River? Well, he would know to stop when he hit the Pacific Ocean. Maybe he should start going north? There were some remote areas between the north Sierra Nevadas and the Great Salt Lake. It was real boring to run through. This entire run was getting boring. Impulse ran northwest, crossing over more desert and scrub.
A draft on his knee caught his attention and he paused to check it out. There was a hole in his suit over his right knee. Frowning, he looked for an area where he could sit and fix it. Once seated, he took the edges of the hole in his hands and vibrated the fabric molecules of one edge into the other, merging them together. It was a slow process, since he had to be real careful not to get the mend crooked or clumpy or the result would pull or rub against his knee weird. That was really annoying.
Another plume of dust streaked westward across the earth, catching Impulse's attention. There was a familiar pattern of red and yellow at the head of it, telling him that his cousin was on the move. It wasn't that much of a surprise, since there were only so many speedster-friendly routes across the Rocky Mountains and over the Colorado River. It was the same case with the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The dust comet stopped and turned towards the red on white uniform of Impulse. In speedsters' time, it looked as if the Flash was taking a leisurely jog towards his younger cousin.
Still at an accelerated pace, the older speedster asked, "What are you doing out here?"
"My knee blew out," Impulse replied as he tried to keep the repair in alignment, "I gotta fix it."
"That's not what I meant. What are you doing so far from Manchester?" the Flash clarified.
Impulse was still trying to fix on the tear. He was so close to being done and if he stopped now, the repair wouldn't turn out right. "I'm looking for a place to park my spaceship, since Young Justice is being broken up and we have to leave our base."
Underneath the red cowl, Wally raised an eyebrow. "You have a spaceship?"
"Yeah, I told you about it before," Impulse reminded him, "That's how we got to Apokolips and back. But now I need to find a safe place for it."
"Waittasec, so the spaceship is yours? Personally? I thought that… Nevermind. It doesn't matter." He took a long breath while Impulse finished mending his suit. "Look, Cyborg called me over to help him with something in San Francisco, so I can't help you with it right now. But, I'll help you figure something out later, okay? Maybe I can pull some strings for you and get you some hangar space somewhere."
Impulse smiled brightly and stood up, bending his knee to test the repair. "Really?" It felt okay, but he could tell that there was something different than before.
"Sure. I'd hate to see that thing just rust in the open." Bemused, the Flash shook his head. "So that thing is yours? Most kids your age would be drooling over the thought of getting a car in a couple years. Well, now I know who to call the next time I need to get into orbit. I'll catch up to you later, Bart." With that, the Flash sped away. Impulse brushed the dust from his bottom and ran back to his friends to relay the news.