2014.03.16 - FALSE START: O Speedster, Where Art Thou?

Wally worried that Bart hasn't been seen or heard from in over a day now, decides to contact Max Mercury. Wally leaves a short voice mail and heads off "Max, It's Wally. Bart's run off. I'm on my way--he better be there."

With that, The Flash speeds out of New York, heading south.

Max is there to open the front door, screen and all, once Wally arrives. He ushers the younger man in, waving him to a seat at the kitchen table, and then leans back against the counter, folding slim arms against his wiry torso. "What's all this you say about Bart running off, now?" he asks, frowning. "Isn't he supposed to be at school this weekend? He always calls me before he comes home."

Wally greets Max warmly but still showing his worry. "Hey Max." Wally sighs as he sits down. "Yeah Bart has been gone for a little over a full day now no one has seen or heard from him. I was hoping he had run off here. I caught him out past curfew a few nights ago so I assumed he just did that again. Frankly I don't know where to look for him he doesn't exactly talk to me enough for me to know him. I'm worried sick maybe you can help?"

Frowning, Max nods to this. "Well," he says slowly, "First place I'd check is with his friends." He crosses over to the old rotary phone hanging on the kitchen wall--the kind with a really long, spiraling cord that connects to the handset--and picks it up. Flicking swiftly through a rolodex on the nearby counter top, Max gives a nod and then swiftly dials a number, pulling the dial around neatly for each digit. Then he holds the receiver to his ear, waiting.

After a moment, Max apparently gets an answer. Cracking a hint of a smile, he says into the receiver, "Glad to hear it, son. This is Max Crandall. I'm calling to see if you've heard from my nephew, Bart, lately. He's gone missing from school and hasn't been home." He listens for a moment, the smile fading to a grim expression, and he says in a quieter tone, sounding concerned, "I see. Where are you now, Superboy? I think it might be best if we headed out your way and started taking a serious look around that city for Bart."

Finally, Max says, "On our way. Meet you soon as we can." He hangs up the phone, then turns back to Wally. "Let's head back to Metropolis. I want to look into this personally." He moves from the room, so swift that to anyone but another speedster he'd be invisible, and returns a second later fully dressed in his blue and white Max Mercury uniform. "Let's go, Wally." And he leads the way out the door, headed for Metropolis.

"Yeah I tried everyone I could find or get a hold of that would know Bart. I'm so upset with myself Max the kid keep pushing me away so I don't know much about his life. Maybe if I tried harder." Wally says dejected

"Superboy? ok we are start a thorough search party? alright let's go." Wally says getting up full of new energy at the thought of having a lead on Bart's whereabouts.

Standing on a rooftop not far from the High Line, Superboy scowls as he ends his call. Slipping his phone away, the teen of steel looked around. He was worried about Bart now and waiting for Max to show up with whoever he was bringing. "What the hell is going on..." he mutters to himself as he waits.

In a streak of red and yellow The Flash arrives on the scene. Wally looks around and sees the waiting Superboy. He speeds over and introduces himself "Hey I'm the Flash nice to meet you Bart is my cousin"

A blue and white streak resolves itself just a moment later, and Max Mercury stands there besides The Flash. He offers a polite hand, nodding to Kon. "You must be Superboy. Impulse speaks very highly of your friendship. It's good to finally meet you." He glances at Flash, nodding, and says, "So. The three of us know that Impulse has gone missing. And the last time I saw him was when he came home last weekend. Flash saw him a few nights ago. Have you seen him recently?" As is typical with older heroes, Max is very strict with his use of codenames and personal names.

Superboy's attention snaps to the direction he hears the familiar buzz of a speedster. When the Flash appears and introduces himself, Kon just gives him a look over his sunglasses. "Yeah. I know," he replies. He shakes the offered hand and smirks. "The one and only," he says, puffing his chest a bit. He listens to Max and then nods. When asked if he's seen Bart recently, Kon rubs the back of his neck. "Naw, I just got back from...something. Haven't seen him since before it. Weeks..."

Wally's looks confused at Superboy's reaction to him. Then get's back on track. "So you haven't seen in him weeks that's helpful. well I know the last time he was seen at the school was friday evening. I'm guessing he snuck out, again and hasn't come back. Do you know his usual hang outs?"

"You mentioned you'd checked most of the usual places," Max notes, sharing what Superboy told him on the phone. "It sounds like he isn't anywhere he OUGHT to be. The question is, then, where do we start looking for him? Given his speed, he could be anywhere in the world at this point, and we don't know what state he'll be in."

Superboy tilts his head to the side, pointing at Max. "What he said. Already went lookin' for him," he says. "Yeah...no idea. Did you bring his phone? Maybe he left a clue."

Ultragirl has arrived.

Wally shakes his head "no I didn't search around in his room I didn't think I the right to and I don't need to give the kid another reason to be mad at me. We can go look for it though."

Just then there is some music playing "Oh, Susie Q! Oh, Susie Q! Oh, Susie Q, Baby I love you, Susie Q!" Wally scrambles for his secret pocket "oh that's me my phone"

Wally produces his phone from his secret pocket, and answers it. "Oh hey suzy, how are you holding up?, yeah listen sooz, my cousin is missing, So I'm out around the city looking for him I can't really take you out training tonight. But maybe If you want to come help me search I would appreciate it. Get your 'uniform' though this is kind of a costume only thing."

"Where to, and I will be on my way."

Suzanna had been slowly getting over her situation with her friend. Now there was something much more important. Quickly she gets herself suited up. Much to 10's dismay... She doesn't go out the door but right through da window! Flying at a much faster speed then she can run, she takes off in the direction of the Flash and company. While she certainly isn't breaking the sound barrier, she is most definitely flying fast, Within a minute or so she is coming in for a landing. "You called?"

As The Flash makes his call, Max shakes his head at Kon. "As far as I know, he had the phone with him. I tried calling on the way here. It's going straight to the voice mail." When Ultragirl arrives, Max Mercury is standing near Superboy and The Flash, arms folded across his chest. The older man's features are drawn with worry, though he's calm and composed all the same.

Nodding, Kon takes his phone back out. He's back in his usual costume and looking a lot better than the last time Ultragirl saw him. "Then maybe..." he trails off, trying to access any of Bart's social media pages to see what he can find. When he sees Ultragirl arrive, Superboy blinks. "Huh. It's you."

"Wait, dammit! Wally, you're an idiot! someone check his stuff? Facebook twitters intragrams vines whatever is hot with the kids these days and junk." Wally say hitting his forhead with the base of his palm as Suzy arrives.

"Oh wow new record you were hauling butt! Wait you've met superboy? well anyway That's Superboy, and This an old family friend of mine Max Mercury, Max this is Uh well Her name is suzy she just discovered her powers and I'm not aware of if she's picked out a codename yet." Wally says mustering up a little bit of a smile because Suzy is here.

Suzy nods, "Uh huh! I totally didn't run! I flew here fast as I could. It's ultra quick and it sure beats takin a cab right!" She laughs a little and gives Super boy a smile, "Yep it's me! Totally me! I couldn't tell you the other day because, where would the fun in that be?" She laughs a little more and looks over at Wally, "So Any ideas where he might have gone to?"

"One of you kids might want to check his social media pages," Max notes, glancing pointedly at Superboy. "I'm not so up on that end of things." As Suzy arrives, he gives her a polite nod. "Miss. Thank you for joining the search. I'm afraid we don't have much to go on yet."

Superboy just gives Ultragirl the same look he gave the Flash earlier. Shaking his head, he turns his attention back to the phone. "Already checking," he notes. "He went to a pizza joint he likes..." he trails off. "And Friday night he screwed up posting a pic. Lemme see if I can see where from," he says, tapping and sliding away with a gloved hand.

Wally gets on his phone and starts checking the social media accounts Bart has yet to block him on. "Oh let me that pic, Have the watch tower's computer check it. it might have a better chance to figure out where that picture was taken. Unless, wait a minute, does Bart keep the GPS on his phone on?"

Wally then looks over at Suzy "ok hon I need you to think where would you run off to if your were bored and restless on a friday night?"

Suzy shrugs, "That's totally easy, The Mall!" She smiles without given too much of a thought about it. "Either there or a club or something like that. Worst case I'd totally be hanging out with my ultra cool friends." She gives a little more thought about where a guy might hang out. "Err if he is like ultra fast and stuff, he could be hanging out anywhere though. Is he like close to anyone?"

"As far as I know," Max explains, "Superboy is his best friend. He knows a few local boys back home, and I'll call their parents, but I strongly doubt he's been back near my place. My gut just says he wasn't in the neighborhood." And Max does tend to be sensitive to these things.

"Already on it. I'm JLA too, y'know," Superboy remarks, showing he's uploading the data. Sure he finds it weird as hell to be JLA but he'll say it. "We might have to contact someone else. I might have an idea..." he says, waiting for the upload to finish.

"Good thinking, Superboy!" Wally says excitedly at seeing the superboy is on the smae page as him.

"Suzy, he's been gone a long while I don't hink he went to the mall." Wally says before puasing a moment. Max's words resonate Bart probably isn't anywhere near by and though he is powered and could take care of himself Wally still fears terrible and imagines Bart lost alone and scared. They don't get along but Wally still cares deeply for him. He's family.

"Ok Superboy, what do you have in mind?"

Suzy gives a smiles, "Tell you what, I will go search the malls, just in case! It is totally the best place to get away from it all!" She lifts all, "I will totally keep in contact!" She calls out and zips off! Yeah keeping her under control is going to be quite the challenge.

"Right," Max says, watching Suzy go. He pulls a watch from a belt compartment, looking thoughtful. "Okay. Let's split up for a few hours and see what we can dig up. I'll contact his friends back home, then follow up with every hospital, police, and search and rescue source I can find. Superboy, you work the JLA angle and your other source--see if you can get anything about his phone. Flash, track down everyone he knows at school. Maybe he mentioned something to one of them. We'll meet back here in the morning." He glances around. "Everybody good with that?"

"Another friend of ours," Superboy says, knowing Robin wouldn't be happy if he just came out and said it to one of the older heroes without his say so first. He watches Suzy fly off with an arched brow then turns back to the phone. "Gotcha," he replies to Max, slipping his phone away again once the upload finishes.

"Ok. That sounds like a plan, and I'll call up Nightwing and see if he can't get Oracle to work some cybermagic." Wally says thinkign abotu what he can do, also dreading having to have a chat with the Luthor boy. "Oh ok I think i have some ideas"

Nodding once more, Max Mercury says, "Excellent, gentlemen." He claps Flash on the shoulder and then gives a firm nod to Superboy. "Thanks for your help especially, son. I know Impulse is your friend--and the family's glad of it." He steps back, then, and turns to tear off without further comment, leaving only a faint white-and-blue afterimage in his wake.

To Be Continued...