|
#4
JUL 12 |
 |
“Tricked”
The image of Impulse kissing his boyfriend Cody flashed onto the screen in front of the viewing audience. This was followed by a badly photoshopped picture of Impulse clubbing baby seals. Yet another badly photoshopped picture showed him holding a gun to a Vietnamese man's head.
“Wrong!” the voice thundered from the television. Jack Ryder, host of 'You Are Wrong' was on a roll. “These recent photos of young super-hero Impulse are disgusting! If I were him, I’d just disappear!”
As Ryder continued to rant, Bart Allen clicked the channel changer. “Bored,” he said. “Bored bored bored bored bored.” He glanced at the clock. “Class!”
An instant later he’d used his super speed to gather his books and write a paper before he was about to use his superspeed to head to class. That's when a few thought bubbles appeared over his head.
“Bart, what happens when one of your villains decides to come at you through me?” asked Cody.
“Bart, you’ve got to be more careful. You lost control for a second and that might put Cody in real danger,” said Wally.
“I went on what the movie advertisements refer to as a 'roaring rampage of revenge.' I roared. And I rampaged. And I got bloody satisfaction. I've killed a hell of a lot of people to get to this point, but I have only one more. The last one. The one I'm driving to right now. The only one left. And when I arrive at my destination, I am gonna kill Bart... and get my Trix cereal,” said the Trix Rabbit.
Bart just sighed before heading out the door at normal speed.
Cody splashed water on his face as he stood in the bathroom. His head was pounding and the aspirin he had taken had only taken away the pain briefly. He looked up into the mirror in front of him just in time to briefly see an image of someone he'd never seen before, but yet looked familiar.
“What's happening to me?”
Bart chafed as he walked across campus. He hated walking. He had to think about Cody's safety from now on and couldn't risk anyone seeing a speedster run out of their dorm room since it was being watched like a hawk for Impulse to show up.
He walked past a new student who wore a loud Hawaiian shirt and had a bad haircut. Axel Walker giggled. Getting out of Central City was obviously the ticket he needed. Maybe he could get into some trouble here and torment Impulse a bit. The older Rogues may have had a truce with Impulse, but he certainly didn't.
Bart fought to keep his thumbs from twiddling under his desk as the professor in his history class droned on and on. Didn’t this guy know he’d been raised in a virtual environment and already knew all of this?
Oh, right.
As Mr. Stein went on and on and on, Bart just sighed as he looked at the clock. Just two minutes until the end of class, or more like five hours to someone like Bart.
Axel Walker cackled as he threw a T-bomb under a car. He raced away and watched the car blow up. He’d already changed into his Trickster costume so he jumped up and ran on air to see when Impulse would show.
Cody Wyatt was walking across campus when he heard the explosion. He turned and thought about going to see if Bart would show up, but instead headed back toward the dorm room rubbing his forehead. The headaches were getting worse. He knew that Bart would insist that he saw a doctor if he knew. It was bad enough that was having to lie to him about how bad the headaches were.
“Come on, Cody, we haven't done it in forever,” Bart said as he jumped up and down on the bed.
“Bart, I have a headache, I don't feel like it tonight,” Cody replied as he lay on his side. “Can't you go take care of it yourself for once?”
“Fine, but your joystick's going to be cold without someone handling it,” Bart told him as he headed out to the living room to turn on the Playstation after not having played it in days.
Cody paused and pulled a bottle of aspirin out of his pocket. He dry-swallowed three and continued on his way.
“Wow,” Impulse said as he arrived on the scene of the explosion. “Looks like somebody made a mess.”
“It’s about time!” a voice shouted from above him. Impulse looked up to see the Trickster standing there with his arms folded.
“I know you!” Impulse said as he pointed. “You’re that guy who thinks he’s the Trickster!”
“Wrong!” Trickster said. “I’m the one who replaced that old man who used to call himself Trickster. Now let’s get this party started!” Trickster laughed as he threw a rubber chicken at Impulse, who sped out of the way before it struck a bench and detonated.
“Come get me if you can!” Trickster called as he ran away on his air-shoes. He threw razor sharp jacks behind him, forcing Impulse to try and dodge them while also protecting the students.
Trickster laughed and threw powder into the school’s fountain. The water began bubbling and eating away at the fountain itself.
Impulse quickly raced around the fountain and dug a canal for the acidic water to flow into. “Somebody’s going to get hurt if you keep this up!” he warned.
“That’s the idea!” Trickster yelled as he whipped out two yo-yos. He started playing with them and fired them toward Impulse, who had an instant to react as he saw razor blades emerge from the curved edges of the toys. Impulse dodged and quickly knotted the strings of the toys together before running up the strings and punching the Trickster.
“That’s more like it!” Trickster yelled as he threw sneezing powder in Impulse’s face. “Make me work for it!” He laughed as a sneezing Impulse fell to the ground. He stood above Impulse and turned off his shoes. Impulse screamed as the Trickster landed on his chest with sickening snaps.
Trickster stepped off Impulse and turned to look at him. “Let’s see you run with broken ribs,” he sneered.
Impulse grimaced as his ribs knitted themselves back together. Trickster approached him while tossing a T-bomb up and catching it. “Piece of cake,” he said. “My boss is going to love this.”
Impulse smiled as Trickster lit the fuse. “What’re you smiling at?” Trickster demanded. “Are you too stupid to realize that you’re about to die?”
“You forgot something,” Impulse said as he coughed up a clot of blood. “I heal really fast.”
Trickster’s eyes went wide and he threw the bomb as he frantically tried to turn his shoes back on. Before he could get off the ground, Impulse slammed into him from behind and sent him skidding down the sidewalk.
Trickster scowled as he glared at Impulse, his mask peeling loose from his face after the strike. He raised a hand and chattering teeth shot out from his sleeve. Impulse bent over backward to dodge and grabbed the springs that the teeth were attached to. Impulse took off and tied Trickster up with the springs.
Impulse dusted his hands off as he skidded to a stop. “I’ve wanted to try that ever since I saw that movie.”
Trickster screamed with frustration as he tried to free himself. In desperation he tried to use his air shoes to escape. When they didn’t work, he looked down to discover his feet were only covered by socks.
“Looking for these?” Impulse asked as he dangled the shoes from one hand while eating a handful of Trix from another. “Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids.”
From not too far away, a sniper rifle focused its aim on Bart's head.
“That's right,” said the Trix Rabbit. “Just keep bragging.”
“This isn’t the end of this,” Trickster swore. “My boss will never let you get away with this.”
“And who is your boss?” Impulse asked.
Trickster laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Yeah. That's...why I asked,” Impulse replied.
“You’ll find out when he wants you to know, and maybe he’ll pay your little boyfriend a visit, too.”
Trickster’s laugh was echoing in his ears as Impulse raced across campus to the dorm. He threw open the door to his room to discover Cody lying on the floor with an open bottle of aspirin lay beside him. Faster than a blink Impulse had scooped Cody up and was on his way to the local ER.
It didn't matter to Impulse as he raced out of the room that photographers had been waiting for him to show and were snapping pictures as he raced out of the apartment. To them it didn't matter that Cody's health was in danger, they just wanted their shots of Impulse showing up.
Later that night the two returned to the room. “I don’t see why you’re so worried,” Cody said. “I’ve just been having migraines.”
Bart sat down in a chair. “I am worried,” he said. “What if something’s wrong? You were blacked out on the floor. I was afraid that Trickster had found you.” His eyes filled with tears and he bent over. “I was so afraid,” he sobbed. “I'm starting to see what you and Wally have been talking about. What if I'm not able to protect you? What if I come home and I find a note saying you've been crammed into the fridge?”
Cody knelt down and embraced him. “It’s okay, Bart,” he said. “I’m going to be okay, you’ll see.” Cody stood up and took Bart's hand and led him toward his room. “Come on, let's go to bed.”
“But my bedroom's over there,”
Cody lowered his head and laughed. “Yeah, there's another part of being in a relationship that I think you need to know about.”
“Is this about leaving the toilet seat up?”
“Just...follow me,” said Cody with a sigh as he held Bart's hand. Sometimes he wished Bart wasn't so naive, but that was one of the things he loved most about him.
As Axel found himself back out on the streets, thanks to his benefactor, he found himself thinking of new ways to get at Impulse.
“You're going to need some toys that are much more...dangerous,” said the benefactor as he stood in the alley as Axel passed.
“My stuff is the most dangerous stuff in the world,” replied Axel as the benefactor smiled. “But...what have you got?”
|
|
|
Next Issue: In Impulse #5: Cody finds himself in the line of fire once again as his greatest secret is exposed. Can Impulse possibly survive it?
Previous Issue | Next Issue