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#9
JAN 14 |
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“Copycat”
Bart Allen was bored. That in itself was nothing new, but being bored in Las Vegas was somewhat unusual. The slot machines took forever to finish spinning and he’d already seen all the shows except for the Funky Bunch’s tribute to Marky Mark, and he wasn’t willing to stoop that low. He flipped through the newspaper again as he lay on the bed in his lavish suite. “Well, Hanson’s playing again,” he muttered before throwing the paper aside. He looked around the room. “Maybe it’s time to move on again,” he said. “But where to go?” Bart left the room at normal speed to search for a world map to pick what looked like a fun place. Soon he got ahold of a globe and started spinning it, randomly stopping it for new places to visit.
“Let's see... Europe? Nope, done that. The North Pole? Nah, Santa's still pissed at me. Hmmm...” Bart gave the globe a spin at top speed, accidentally sending it flying out the window. The sounds of car crashes and people screaming were heard below.
“Well, at least it didn't happen with the Daily Planet Globe like the last time,” said Bart with a sigh.
Carol Bucklen sat on her last suitcase and locked it. “There,” she said as she stood and inspected the suitcase to make sure it wasn’t going to spring open. “That ought to be enough for a week in Maui.”
She turned as she heard a knock at the door. She smiled. “You’re early, Mike,” she said. She hurried as the knocking grew louder. She opened the door. “You know, I could have been in the shower or something,” she said. Then she saw who was there.
She barely had time to scream before she was gone. The only trace left of Carol after her abduction was her glasses lying on the floor...
A blond-haired teenager smiled as he made his way out of the alleyway. He hurried to a café and began reading his newest book – a biography on Charles Manson. Screams echoed from behind him as the thin trickle of crimson he’d left behind came into view.
His waitress placed a cup of coffee on the table before him and turned to look toward the screams. “What’s going on over there?” she asked.
“No idea,” Jeremy Karne said. “By the way, I’ve heard that hero Impulse has been running around here. Have you heard anything about him?”
The waitress pointed toward the car crash, where luckily no one had been harmed. The globe was spinning due to being spun at top speed. A smile crossed Karne's lips. “He is here.”
Max Mercury was looking through old scrapbooks of when he was training Impulse. The kid was difficult but Max also saw great potential in Bart's powers, and saw the hero that very few people, including Wally, could.
“He's still the same kid,” said Helen as she walked in. “Max, stop acting like the Bart Allen you knew is dead. Is him liking guys really so horrible?”
“It's not just that,” said Max as he turned to face her. “It's – it's that I was the last to know. Joan, Jay, his friends in the Titans...it seems like everyone else he was fine with letting in on one of the intimate details of his life, so why couldn't he tell me?”
Bart soon found himself walking the Strip. He’d hoped that the hustle and bustle of the crowds would take his mind off his problems, but nothing was helping. He didn’t realize that he was being followed.
Jeremy Karne smiled. He’d had to work hard to get pictures of the two who’d been roommates in the dorm room he knew belonged to Impulse. Since the other one had short blond hair it hadn’t been hard to determine which one Impulse really was. Soon.
“So you just heard glass breaking,” Jack said. The RA of Bart’s floor sat beside him as a camera rolled.
“That’s right,” the RA said. “I was getting ready to go down there, but I got detained.”
Ryder fought down a smile. This kid had heard the ruckus and probably locked his door to hide.
“The next thing I knew was that the police were here taking somebody out in cuffs and some weird head mask.”
“Did you see inside the room?” Ryder asked.
The RA nodded. “Broken glass everywhere and a lot of blood.”
Ryder turned back to the camera. “What exactly happened in that room? We don’t know. Did this young Impulse decide to try and murder his roommate? Was it a lover’s spat? Only he knows and he’s not talking. As a matter of fact, he’s apparently gone into hiding. Are these the actions of an innocent man? I think not. But think for yourselves.”
Ryder closed the show and popped the small microphone off the lapel of his jacket. Behind him a staffer was retrieving the mic from the RA and escorting him off the set. Ryder fought down a smirk. By the time he was done, Impulse’s name would be ruined for good.
Grover Adams had arrived at his father's office, where he was planning on taking over the New York wing of Styfl JoyCo. He parked his wheelchair behind his new desk and looked out the window. This was a far cry from where he thought he'd be a few years ago.
Looking across the street at the park, he saw kids running around and playing, something he knew he'd never get to experience again.
“Damn you, Bart Allen,” said Grover bitterly as knew that part of his life was over.
Bart finally returned to his room and ordered dinner. Figuring he had time before the food arrived, he headed into the bathroom to take a shower.
The door to the room silently opened. Jeremy Karne, wearing a bellboy’s costume, slipped inside and quietly closed the door. He winced when the latch clicked, but Bart was unable to hear it over the water. Karne pulled a gleaming knife from his belt and started toward the shower.
Bart was washing his hair and singing Poker Face as the door to the bathroom eased open. Karne silently crept across the floor as the off-key rendition continued.
“This guy deserves to die just for butchering this song alone,” Karne thought to himself as he closer to the shower.
Karne raised the knife over his head and gently took hold of the shower curtain. He tore it back and Bart screamed a shockingly girlish scream.
“Occupado!” Bart shouted as he covered himself. Then he saw the knife. Bart realized that this was just like that black and white movie he saw, the Wizard of Oz. “Are you from the Aaron Carter fan club?” he asked. “He couldn't have received that stink bomb this quickly. I only sent it an hour ago!”
Karne grinned and slashed downward. Bart dove out of the shower to dodge and slid across the room on the wet tile floor. “You know, if you want to talk maybe you could drop the knife,” Bart said.
Karne turned and smirked. “Don’t think so,” he said as he jumped onto the toilet turned on a hair dryer, and threw it onto the floor. As the dryer shorted out on contact with the water, Bart ran back into the bedroom area of the suite. He carefully backed away from any damp areas of the carpet and watched to see what Karne would do next.
He didn’t have to wait long. Karne jumped off the toilet and seemed to fly across the room until he crashed into Bart, knocking him down as well. “You know, I’m really flattered that your feelings for me are this strong, but you’re going about this all wrong,” Bart said.”I just got out of a relationship, and I don't think I'm ready to get back into dating yet, so–”
“Now you die,” Karne said as he knelt over Bart’s chest with his legs pinning Bart’s arms to the floor. He brought the knife to Bart’s throat. “Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re only the first.” He licked his lips as he pushed the blade harder against the soft flesh.
Karne fell to the ground as the blade bit into carpet. His eyes went wide as he looked around. He turned to see Bart standing behind him in his Impulse uniform. “You know, I don’t mind you trying to bust in here and kill me,” Impulse said, “but trying to do it while I’m naked? That’s just rude. Anyone else would have waited until I at least had pants on.” Impulse started toward Karne, who instinctively threw the knife.
Impulse grunted as the knife buried itself in his thigh. He pulled the knife out and threw it aside, then held the wound closed as it healed. Karne, however, wasn’t hanging around.
Karne ran out of the hotel, hoping to lose himself in the crowds on the Strip. He knew he had to lose himself before the kid’s leg healed. He pushed through the crowds as he looked for somewhere to hide.
He finally ducked down an alley to search for a hiding place. He cursed as he saw someone standing in front of him. “Out of my way,” he warned.
The other person smiled. “Relax. I know who you are, Kid Karnevil. I come bearing gifts.” The person handed Karne a futuristic-looking pistol.
Karne aimed the gun in the air and pulled the trigger. Flames erupted from the end of the barrel and sizzled upward. When he released the trigger, the flames vanished. “Cool,” Karne said.
The other person’s smile grew wider. “I’m putting together a little team. Interested?”
“Sign me up,” Karne said as he shook hands with his benefactor.
After Impulse had searched high and low for his attacker, he realized that Karne was long gone. “First Trickster, now this. I'm starting to think that this town has it in for me.”
It was then that a mime showed up in front of him. Impulse screamed and punched him out before running back to his hotel room.
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Next Issue: In Impulse #10: Impulse comes under attack from the newest version of Chillblaine! Plus, the team leader is revealed, and there’s another surprise waiting in the wings…
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