2014.03.15 - FALSE START: Accelerati Incredibilus, meet Magnus Interruptus

On days when the weather back home isn't perfect, Bart Allen has been known to go running around the planet to stretch his legs and catch some sun. On days when the weather's especially good, he's been known to do the same, just getting caught up in the joy of running on a nice day. Today was a bit of a spit-the-difference day, but either way, it ends up with Bart suiting up into his Impulse garb and setting off across the planet at an exuberant pace.

It's not like sprinting, really. It's the runner's high with no end. It's like flying, only lower and with endless stamina.

So it's in this state that Impulse decides to take a detour. He cuts across the Mediterranean, headed toward the area he'd seen discussed in school so often recently: Genosha. He makes a few passes by at first, so fast and far enough out that nothing particular would even be detected. With each pass, the temptation grows. He could totally do it. Of course, Max would kick his butt from here back to the 30th Century if he found out, but who's going to know? It's not like anyone could catch him. Not IMPULSE.

[And that's how Bart Allen made one of the worst decisions of his young life, but don't worry, kids--it gets better!]

Another pass and he's sure of the distance. He makes a wide loop, skirting a big U-turn across the sea, and then he makes the charge. Up a wave, just enough angle to catapult himself skyward--and after a few seconds of air time, Impulse impacts against the speed-resistant barriers surrounding the island. For a moment he's worried, but then his acceleration, fueling his Speed Force aura, propels him forward against all plausible laws of physics. He strains against the barrier--

And he's suddenly through! Landing full tilt, he blazes across the Genoshan landscape, and--feeling a splash of the old runner's high that got him into so much trouble when he first arrived in this time period--Impulse gets the SECOND worst idea of his life. Or at least, of the day. He heads straight for Magneto's throne room, right at the top of the spire, and plunks his butt right down in the Imperator's own throne. Casually, Impulse kicks one leg up over the arm of the grand seat, withdrawing a phone from the pocket of one boot.

Selfie time!

And just like that--moving substantially slower than Impulse, but still at speeds that far, far exceed anything a human body should be remotely capable of--Magneto flies from behind the throne, travelling with a lazy grace through the air, his face set hard in focus. To Bart, it looks like someone taking a lazy dive through the water, turning and rotating in place.

And then, abruptly, a massive gravity field is pressing against him. It's not magnetism, it's raw gravity--that thing that keeps his feet bolted to the ground when he runs--and the force of it is enough to crush a grown man under his own weight.

The Imperator points a finger at Bart, and then, something happens that does go faster than Bart can blink--a bolt of lightning explodes from Magneto's fingertip, arcing through the air at the speed of light itself, and striking the massive, metal chair Bart is sitting in.

The Imperator abruptly slows, hovering in place, looking drained. He's still moving faster than almost any vanilla human could, but the original speed of his attack is slowed immensely.

In real-time, there's a blur, Bart, then a red blur, and a shocking bolt of lightning. Magneto stands, staring coldly at Bart, the explosive force of a functional 250,000 volt taser crackling around his splayed fingertips, ready to lash out again the moment that Magneto senses Bart attempting to disrupt the gravitational field surrounding him. Speedsters are fast, but there aren't many who are faster than thought--and Magneto can sense gravity moving at the speed of thought.

"If this was an assassination attempt, it was a poorly conceived one," Magneto says, staring coldly at Bart. "...Impulse. Speedster," he says, quickly identifying Bart. He advances on the boy, keeping that crackling sphere of lightning at bear to threaten him should he twitch voluntarily. "I am surprised you breached my defenses."

 Magneto just tased you bro!

 Impulse ...and all I got was this stupid T-shirt!

Impulse's brain is fast--very fast, in fact. He can think faster than most humans ever dream of it, perceiving reality at such accelerated speed as to be staggering. If he's focusing his mind on a task, he can put the fastest computers known to humankind to shame in his ability to absorb and react to stimuli, especially in the physical sense.

Sadly, he's also got a real problem with paying attention to things.

So, from Bart's perspective, things play out a bit differently. He's paying attention to the image on his phone screen, not to his surroundings, which ANY veteran hero could tell you is a rookie mistake to end all rookie mistakes. (Y'know, like, permanently.) So, for a solid second after the electric blast strikes, as Bart's fingers and feet are still twitching from the shock, he's wondering dazedly: "What gives? That's now how flashes are supposed to work!"

The pun might be funny in other circumstances. Or if he'd even realized he was thinking it. However, his phone's flash--along with the rest of it--is toast, laying shattered on the ground. Bart himself lies dazed and dazzled under the force of Magneto's power, and it's several more seconds before he even starts to realize just how wrong things have gone. More embarrassing still, he can't even conjure a proper heroic quip! All he manages, as the situation dawns on him, is:

"Oh. CRAP."

Magneto can't think as fast as Bart. No one can. But when it comes to the fabric of reality itself being warped, Magneto can feel it as effortlessly as a spider feels a web strand being tugged upon. So he very deliberately keeps a constant, flickering pressure on Bart, his face hardset, and adjusts the energy field that encompasses the entire spire. The Speed Force is still there--still palpable, still accessible--but there's a sense of falling down a well, of the increased difficulty of getting the momentum Bart needs to really do what a speedster can do.

Magneto makes several quick gestures, and steel lashes out, wrapping around Bart's wrists and ankles, locking him in place. The throne crackles once with electricity, a web of that shocking taser surrounding the boy.

His best trap set, Magneto takes a deep breath and lowers his hand six inches, sweat pouring down his brow. "I think... that will hold you for now," Magneto says, nodding to himself as he deftly weaves the reality of the trap together around Bart. "Amazing. I felt the bow wave of you running ahead of my magnetic shield," Magneto says. "Impossible. Utterly impossible. And yet here.... you are." He eyes Bart curiously, now, finally dropping his hand as the Spire takes over powering the readily-charged electrical chair, just waiting for Bart to test his new bonds. "I am extremely curious to know how you defied the fundamental forces of reality itself," he says, his voice low and dangerous.

Not good. Definitely not good. Even Impulse's go-for-walkies-and-stop-for-ice-cream-hey-is-that-a-dog-I-should-pet-it brain manages to focus on the presence of Magneto in front of him. Blinking wide eyes behind his goggles, he says, "You weren't supposed to catch me! This totally ruins it!" He glances down at the floor, noting his fried-and-smashed phone, and groans. "Aw, man! I knew I shoulda got an Otter Box!" He frowns at Magneto, trying not to show any fear despite his circumstances. Kid's got moxie, at least.

"Speed's what I DO, duh! And I wasn't here to assassinate anybody. That'd be seriously NOT COOL. Plus, I'm pretty sure this is, like, diplomatic something-something, right? I can't go around killing world leaders! That's like the biggest score killer of all. I mean, like BVVVT. Instant high score down to ZERO. Who do you think I am, THE PUNISHMENT?" Or someone. Of course, that's when Bart decides he's had enough. Usually that works well for him when he wants to get away.

This time, it's a mistake.

Snap, crackle, BZZZZZZZZZZT! Bart Crispies. Or at least, that's how he feels right now. Electrified gravity fields, he decides, TOTALLY SUCK. For a moment he just sits there, dazed, and you can practically see the little birdies (look close, they're Robins) flapping around his head. After a moment, he gathers his wits enough for more witty banter.

"Ow."

"That was a low amperage shock," Magneto advises Bart, his tone cold and commanding. He reassumes his posture as Imperator, walking over to a little buffet table and the, very un-imperiously, wolfing down an entire plate of entrees. "If... you try to do that again, I will up the amperage. If you know anything about basic physics, you should know that 250,000 volts of electricity at .00001 amps is mildly unpleasant. 250,000 volts at 1 amp will fry you in place. Bear in mind that only my considerable focus is keeping you from experiencing that watttage. So." Magneto turns back to the buffet and gives Bart a few minutes to think about his predicament, wolfing down food as fast as possible. Accelerating his reflexes to that level--nearly to Bart's speeds--came at no small cost, and he's paying that with the need to consume calories.

It takes Bart a couple of seconds longer to recover this time. When he does, he proves he's not quite as dumb as he looks--he doesn't try the same escape method again. "Okaaay," he says with a touch of a pained moan, "Got it. Cutscene. Probably a Quick Time Event. Opportune moment. Daft like Jack." After this stream of near-gibberish that only a geek could possibly decipher, Bart looks toward Magneto, his expression showing at least a hint of the respect anyone with two brain cells to knock together would be dredging up just now.

"So, I'm sorry I sat in your chair, okay? I hope you're not planning to call my parents or anything, 'cause they won't be born for like a thousand years or something, and I'm pretty sure they charge for transtemporal long distance even if you're the King of the Mutants!" Well, at least he has half a clue who he's talking to. And he's not trying to escape any more, for now anyway.

Magneto just shakes his head and holds a commanding finger up, eyes closed as he tries to regain his composure. Even without words, it's a gesture demanding utter silence, and one that few people would be foolish enough to ignore.

"I should have recognized it. Time dilation. They come here, they all come here," he mutters under his breath. "Why do they find me?"

Magneto looks to Bart. "But I do not sense you are a recent comer to this timeframe. You have been here for some time. This was no assassination attempt. Were you just... bored?" he demands, aghast. "Are you so foolish that you would attempt to invade my home for lack of new ... movies to watch?"

Impulse does shut up at that gesture, if largely because it reminds him of a similar move his mentor, Max Mercury, makes when he wants silence--and it's proved unwise to cross him. He waits, not quite patiently but at least quietly, for Magneto to ask him a question before he pipes up again.

"Well, yeah!" the speedster admits. "I was running by, and I saw your flying island, and I was like, 'Cool, I've got to check that place out!' Then I remembered you had a throne, and I HAD to get a pic. I've been thinking of getting an Instagram account. Or at least a Tumblr." He pauses again, looking a bit sheepish, and says, "Anyway, I didn't mean to hurt anything, Mister Magneto! It was just--like--the ultimate dare, you know?" Because that's rational. Except, not.

Magneto just stares at Impulse. It's unblinking, and it's made all the worse by the fact that Bart can't move, can't run, and can't wiggle away from it. For a man who looks barely in his thirties, there is a sternly patrician expression that only someone who's lived a long and hard lifetime can muster. It's a reprimand without a word, and laden with meaning.

"Imperator. Imperator, is the correct form of address," Magneto corrects Bart after making the boy sit still and quietly for a full thirty seconds. "And congratulations. You are now sitting iin my throne. I believe my security footage has a photo of you being shocked senseless. You drooled." Magneto stalks towards Bart, hands behind his back, and leans forward, staring at him with hawklike eyes.

"Now tell me how you bypassed my shield," he says, his voice low and full of menace.

Impulse gulps. There's something definitely scary about that look. Even Bart, oblivious as he can be, can pick up on the raw presence. If he hadn't already learned the lesson not to run, he'd have tried to be halfway back to Metropolis by now. But Bart, for all his shortcomings, is not an idiot. And he DOES have a survival instinct, once it gets around to being triggered. So, he gingerly licks his lips, gives the barest nod, and tries to give an answer.

"Well, Mister Imperator, sir," he says, his sincerity not even a question. He's as boldly and plainly innocent as the nose on his own face. "The thing is, your shield couldn't stop me because, well--I mean, I guess it would have if I were just going fast, but--I go FASTER than that." He pauses, brow furrowing, as he tries to think how to explain it. Physics are definitely not his thing. "Are you asking me how I go fast?" His confusion is as obvious as it is sincere.

There's a beat and Magneto closes his eyes, just fast enough to suppress a moment of inexplicable rage at Bart's ignorance compounded with his intrusion. "Yes, young man. I want to know how you go fast." He takes a step back, then another, then the electrical field dies around Bart, though the walls of the room itself crackle with potential energy. Magneto has just turned the entire room into a giant Faraday cage, and a solid, impenetrable wall of force surrounds him, reality itself lensing around him in a mind-warping effect. "Show me how you ran that quickly." The restrains slick and disappear from Bart's joints, giving him reign to stand and move about the throne room--but no furthur.

Cautiously, Impulse rises from the throne, wincing as he half expects a shock, but he gives a relieved sigh as he stands all the way, stepping quickly away from the throne. Clearly, that is a BAD place to park yer butt, Bart. Noted.

Holding his arms out to his sides, he says, "I just--go! Like this!" Then he blurs into motion with a *ZWIP!*--and suddenly he's standing beside the buffet, munching idly on a crab puff. He makes a bit of a face, asking, "Wow, don't you have any tartar sauce for these? They're kind of awful without it." Okay, so maybe he IS a bit as dumb as he looks. Or something.

There's another *BZZZRT* and Bart is on the ground, twitching. Magneto is standing over him, hands behind his back, and regarding the boy impassively.

"'May I please have some tartar sauce, 'sir'," Magneto corrects Bart. "'Thank you for the food, 'sir'," Magneto says. He straightens. "I do not abide rudeness to anyone in my presence, and as you are not a guest, and I am not your host, you are insulting me personally. And I am within my rights to take corrective measures to educate you. When you ask politely to share some of my food, you may have some. Or I can shock you again," he offers diffidently.

Impulse blinks hazily up at Magneto, and while he's a bit indignant at being zotted again, the worst part is--he has to admit the villain's right. That WAS rude. And the villain being right is just a little brain-tweaking at the moment. Still, as Bart slowly sits up again--very slowly, for him--he manages to sputter, "S-sorry. Uh, s-sir! I didn't mean to be rude. Didn't think..."

Well, if that isn't just the story of his life.

Lifting his head, Bart offers a polite smile at Magneto. It comes out a weak grimace, but the effort is honestly there. "I'd ask for some food, but I think right now I might barf. Uh, sir!" His brain seems to find its speed again, and he adds hastily, "But thank you for offering, sir." He totally has manners! When he remembers to use them.

Wow. Max is REALLY going to kick his butt when he gets home. Not only did he Bart caught by a villain, but the villain had to lecture him on good manners!

Magneto nods approvingly. "Better. Take some time to compose yourself. When you are ready to eat, you may eat." He goes to his throne and sits upon it with a comfort that belies the steel of the seat, settling comfortably into place and steepling his fingers. He can't stop Barry from using his speed force, but he can make sure that if Barry tries to plow through the six-inch thick reinforced steel of his private throne room, he'll get a hell of a shock. "Tell me more about this force that propels you, young man," Magneto orders Bart. "Where does it come from? How do you resist friction--air pressure? You move faster even than my son, Piotr."

As instructed, Impulse takes a few moments--he's glad for them, really--before he stands up, brushing his hands along the backs of his thighs and backside as if he were trying to shake off residual static electricity that leapt so treacherously up through the floor. Or whatever that stuff was. It's definitely beyond him.

After a moment, Bart says cautiously, "Thank you, sir." He cautiously picks up a piece of a handful of cheese bits from the table. Then he walks (rather gingerly) over to stand near Magneto. The cheese vanishes in an eye-blink, and he stands there looking very seriously thoughtful. "Well, I don't know too much. I guess I should have paid more attention in training. But, well. I was born with this REALLY strong link to the Speed Force, so I'm not like most of the others. I've been super-fast my whole life. It's really HARD for me to slow down. I just, I feel it, like... all the time! It's hard to sit still, mostly." Except for when you've been tazed a few times in close succession. That'll really take the wind from one's sails.

"Oh! Sir," he adds belatedly, just in case.

"Better," Magneto says, supporting his chin on his hand. He eyes Impulse with scrutinizing eyes, absorbing the boy's every motion and mannerism as a hawk gauges the way a mouse might run. "I think that is more hyperactivity than your inherent gifts, young man," Magneto points out, regarding Impulse with an irritated tone that's growing more mild with the boy's ongoing polite manners. "Can you... generate a small amount of this 'speed force'?" he inquires. "Rather than directing it inwards--some display I could observe and absorb," he says, his tone one of polite command.

Impulse grins sheepishly in spite of himself at Magneto's comment about hyperactivity, offering, "Well, my gramma told me that the speed probably caused it. I was born moving at, like, hyperspeed. They had to lock me in this VR pod that slowed me down so I didn't, y'know, EXPLODE or something." At the request to generate Speed Force, Bart reaches up to scratch his wild head of hair, looking thoughtful.

"That's kind of hard," he tries to explain. "The Speed Force is more like, um--have you seen Star Wars? It's kind of like The Force. It's not something you MAKE, you just... kinda... use it?" He waggles his hands in front of him, palm to palm. "You can pull it up, but I don't really GET how. My teacher, Max Mercury, has this friend--Doctor Morlo--who has some gizmos that can do that. It kind of, like... pulls it in when we use it, or something?" He gives a helpless shrug, clearly not being much on the science end of things.

Magneto considers Impulse patiently for a good three minutes, long enough to leave the young man squrming uncomfortably. Very few people can stare really well--blinking, but keeping eye contact, and maintaining that level of dominance in a situation without any effort. Every time Impulse goes to move, Magneto clears his throat and points at the ground just once.

He gets to his feet and moves to a wall communicator, speaking into the grille. "Arlen, bring up my mobile analysis station," he requests of whomever is on the other side of the grille. "Code Faraday," he adds, belatedly. He turns back to Impulse and just.... stands there. Again. Staring.

This time, it takes five minutes, Magneto keeping Impulse anchored in place by sheer force of will, until a knock comes on the other side of a sheer steel wall. It slides open long enough to admit a trolley filled with sensing equipment. Magneto seals the door again, trundling the little cart full of gadgets in, and gestures for Impulse to approach.

"This is going to take a while, my young friend," Magneto explains. "Show me what you know of the Speed Force, teach me what you have been taught, and I assure you that you will be fed and treated well. As long as you are helpful, and polite."

And with that, the studying--and instruction--begins.

To Be Continued...