Blurring intot he house, as that is what the Flash does, blur, because he
runs so fast, moves tot he kitchen table carrying a rather large and
awkward, but affordable and portable, box. He setsit down and
automatically begins scratching his head. "Bart!!," he calls out to you,
"I have something for you up here!"

As soon as the magic words fly out of Wally's mouth -- not please, not
THIS SECOND, not anything even remotely similar, but 'I have something for
you!', Bart appears. "Hey! What? Whadjabringme?" Immediately, he's all
over the box. Up down and under, not bothering to read the sides, or
anything, just madly examining it."A box? What do I use it for? Is it to
prop up my bed? How'd you know I broke the sid- err..."

Wally knows about the bed already. Linda mentioned it when after she went
down t pick up some things, and seeing the state of the room, turned right
around and went straight upstairs again to tell Wally how bad it all was.
Wally just stands there, hands on his hips, sliding his mask back to talk
to you. The box, a big one, is kinda' funky with orange sides and there is
a slip on top taped to it. "It[29~'s a computer, Bart, actually. Something
that is likely far beneath what you grew p on, but it should help you with
your homework. Ron, the guy down at Computer.Com Land said this was likely
the best one for you. Somehting about simple installation and use, or
something, but offering the top of the line in stuff."

Bart Allen blinks at Wally. "Oh. So like...it's a Mac?"

"Actually, yeah. Said something about it being an 1-Mac? Or an Eye-Mac?
I'm not sure. I really wasn't paying attention. I just accessed the fund,
and got it for you." He frowns at himself for not having listened better.
"I normally leave these things up to Piper. Well, you know, if you don't
like it, we can take it back and get another one. Whatever you want."

"No, no -- that's cool," says Bart, shaking his head and starting to take
the tape off. "Preston said Macs were good with graphics. I can make a web
page! Does it have Adobe? Did it come with a scanner? Or one of those
things....a...to put stuff on hard copy. And a clicky thing? And a CD Rom?
And...what was that other thing he said..." Bart pauses, and wrinkles his
nose. "Umn. I can't remember. Oh! A modem!"

Wally nods and he looks to the slip of paper that was taped tot he top,
ripping it off to get a closer look. "Well, the modem thingy is build into
it, it says here, along witht he speakers and a CD rom player. It says it
is the ultimate in-home package for getting onto the internet. That's
good, right?" He looks to you at that. "Says nothign here about a scanner,
or a printer, but I think you mean a mouse and it has one of those. I can
get you a scanner and the other stuff, if that will help and ... wait, er,
who is Preston?"

"Umn. Preton's this guy I know at school. He's neat. I can just use the
scanner at school, it's no biggie." He grins, and hefts the box. "Can I
bring it upstairs?"

Wally nods and oves to help you carry it, him on one end and you on the
other. "Sure. It's supposed to be like a four or five step process wo get
the entire thing together and on-line, in like eight minutes. Thought
thatw as your style, and Ron said it had a futuristic look. I'm not sure
how futuruistic though... anyway... it's good to know you're making
friends. Preston is a friend, right?"

Wally rambles on as he moves to the fridge to get some bottled water that
he remembers that Linda put in there for him this morning. "I've already
contacted the phone company, toget you a second line, which you'll have to
share between your phone and the computer now. You can set it up anyhere
int he house that you want. Now, Linda wanted me to estabish some 'rules'
which I only think ae fair, like if you don't do your homework or
whatever, then you can't play on the compter until it is done. Fair?"

Tape ends up in a crinkled, sticky mass stuck to the inside of the trash
can, and packing peanuts start to decorate the room. Bart pauses, snorts,
and collects them, stifling a giggle. "Cheez Doodles are packing peanuts
with cheese sprayed on them. And okay. That works." He's not mentioning
that, y'know, he does his homework at Mach 20.

Hey, as long as it gets done, and done *properly* that is all Wally cares
about. Not needing to take it slow, if you can make it work. It is what he
did. But, he watches you with fascination as he sips his water. "You'll
have to teach me some stuff about computers and technology. Most of what I
know I go with on the fly, or what I can remember. Maybe liek how I am to
help you witht he Speed Force and your powers, you are meant to help me
get with the times?"

Bart Allen blinks. "Get with the times?" Bart stand in the middle of the
room, looking between Wally and the iMac and rubbing his nose. He looks
doubtful. "Imina learn this as I go, too. Preston's teaching me. It's not
like anything I ever played with. Maybe he can teach you at the same time?
He digs it, it's all good with him. The only thing that ticks him off is
slow learners." Bart grins impishly. "An' that's not gonna be a problem.
He's not doing anyhing this afternoon. Can I ask him over?"

Wally nods, "Sure." And the next thing you know he is handing you the
phone. "I think it is great that you are making friends witht he kids at
school. It was the hardest thing for me to do ... and if Preston can help
us both, well ... any friend of your's is certainly a friend of mine." He
smiles.

Bart Allen grins. "CoooOOOoool," says he, totally holding up his end of
the Bart book. Or something. Right. He takes the phone and initially
misdials, but hangs up before it rings. He makes a concerted effort to
slow down, and gets it this time. "Hey, Preston! My couson Wally -- right,
the one I live with -- got me an iMac! Wanna come over an' play with it?
Neither of us knows how to work it." ... "Hey! Hey, no need for that! Oh.
Directions? Here's Wally." He hands the phone to his cousin.

Wally smiles as he takes the phone back. Everyone in Keystone City knows
who Wally West is. "Actually, Preston, give me directions to *your* house
and then ask your parents if it is okay if I bring you over. Kay? Sure,
it's really me. Yep, honest. Go ask them." Wally looks to you, as he moves
to receiver away from his mouth. "He's asking." And then a brief pause
later Wally speaks tot he phone again. "OKay, great, on my way." He puts
down the phone and says, "Be right ba-...," Swooooosh! He's gone, but he's
back in an instant, carrying and setting Preston down, "...-ck." Wally
grins, and Preston waves to Bart, not all that impressed witht he Flash,
but wowing at the iMac already. "Cool, Bart. I wish my dad would get me
one of these."

Bart Allen blinks, and kinda winces, and gives Wally a look that says,
'Why do I even bother? I shouldn't even bother. It's not worth it. Not
for...no. Okay. Fine. Who needs a secret ID? So what if the Joker knows
where I live? It's the /same freakin' address/.' It's an eloquent look.
Then he grins slightly, and pokes Preston. "Am I gonna break it if I
follow the directions? Directions suck. Can I download ska stuff? Can I
make it play music? Can I make a webpage?"

Wally winces as he sees that look from Bart. What ... what can he say to
make it better? This is who he is and well, he likes being public like he
is. He doesn't want to change that, but should he for Bart?

Preston shakes his head to Bart as he begins to pull the iMac out of the
box and setting it up. "You can download anything you want, really. And
this baby is so cool you can play Cds while you do that." He smiles to you
and starts plugging things in. "And I can show you how to make a web page,
sure..."

Wally sees that the two of you are bonding over this, and fearing he is
going to screw things up more he finishes his water and darts off just
suddenly, to go bug Linda at the office for a few.

"Whew," Preston sighs contetly as Wally leaves, "I was wondering when he
might go..."

"Why?" asks Bart, puzzled. He rubs the back of his neck (ooh! fuzzy!) and
frowns, peering out the door. "I wonder where he went. I thought he wanted
to know how it worked, too." The look he flashed Wally was kind of a
'resigned/surprised/exasperated/sheepish' look. It's more of a 'I shoulda
known better' look than a look that puts blame or anger or even annoyance
on anyone. Then he flops down into a seat, looking up at his friend.
"Wally's cool. He's not, like, a real grown-up. Hey, how do you get the
top of your hair to stay kinda flat? Oh, you missed my mop head. People
kept ruffling it. It was annoying. How long did you know the Flash was my
cousin? Am I stupid to hope no one really knows who I am? Or like, do you
think that if I just don't tell anyone I live with Wally West no one'll
know? Or does it really matter? Should we bring this upstairs before we
hook it up or anything?"

Preston shakes his head to you as he pulls up a chair to sit beside you,
as he plugs the mouse intot he keyboard. "No, here is fine. But, we need a
phone line to plu in, in order to do the on-line stuff. Have something
like that around here?" He figures he'll hable that before moving onto the
big stuff. But, once he is seated he ... he sighs. "Look, Bart, I really
want to be your friend, maybe more than you know, and so I hope what I
have to say won't change that ... look, sure, Wally is cool," he says
looking to you, "Who here in Keystone *doesn't* love The Flash? While he's
great and fun, he's also 'out of reach.' I mean, he's a part of the JLA.
The JLA. The guy like saves universes, and lives down the street. It's a
bit much to take, at times. Whereas someone else is even cooler..." He
trails off for a secnd. "Impulse is a great hero. Someone who is our age
and doing something good because he can, who fights for kids like us. I
think that is great. And ... and I can only hope that I can call him my
friend..." Preston looks a little shy at that, turning back tot he
computer to speak now as he feels he has to ramble on. "Perhaps I'm your
biggest fan, I don't know. I've followed you since you first appeared
publically, and scraped together what little I could from the news. And,
well, I saw you when you first got in town with Wally, going into Al's
Barber Shop, I think, and well.... I just basically put it all together."
He smiles a little as he turns the computer on. "But, I'm not going to
tell anyone. Kids at school were wondering, but I covered it for you,
saying you were just as much an Impulse fan as me, if not more, and that
is why you look like him. To imitate him. Because... he's cool." Preston
leans back as the imAc begins to load. "Oh, and I get my hai to stay like
this with gel."

First grinning, then laughing, Bart shakes his head. "Wow. Wow. That is
/so/ cool." He claps Preston on the back. "That's great. Thanks. Cuz
like...I'd really rather as /few/ people know as possible." Standing up
and stretching -- he doesn't stay still for long -- he glances around.
Phone line. Phone line. "Let's find a phone line last. I dunno where Wally
put 'em. Gel makes your hair stay in one place? And I don't guess anyone
says you're cuuuuuute (he makes a face) and tries to ruffle it, right?" He
looks at the back of the iMac, then raises his eyebrows. "I thought there
were supposed to be more wired on the back of one of these. And of course
you're my friend. I wonder if Wally would mind if I stuck stickers on
here? And I guess it's kinda hard for me to see Wally as unreachable. He's
my cousin. And like...nevermind. He's just normal to me, I guess. And
Linda thinks my room is a wreck."

"It is," Preston laughs with you now, relieved. "But, it's a cool mess. I
like it. It's very you. It works Bart. Linda, well, that's just more of
the 'Man' trying to keep you down," he grins, joking. "And I'd sticker
this sucker up, any way you like... phone lines, might be next to the
phone upstairs? Oh, and Bart, you'd better get used to the idea of people
thinking you're cute, especially Mary from History...." He grins, widely,
to you.

Bart Allen gahs! "Gah! Cooties! /Mary/? She's /scary/! She's always
stealing my stuff!" He shakes his head, and hefts the monitor, and starts
upstairs with it. Er, the monitor whatever. I dunno what these guys look
like! He notes, huffing, "You gotta meet Cassie. She's /awesome/. Friend
of mine from New York. She was gonna stay here for awhile, but Artemis
decided to train her, so I didn't get to spend any time with her this
summer. But I'm sure she's back at school now and I can go chill with her
there. If the teachers don't kill me." He winces. "Grife, this is heavy!"
He blurs and disappears, sticking the bit of computer upstairs and comback
for anything that's left.

"I could have helped," Preston hurms as he slides his hands into the
pockets of his slightly baggy jeans, beneath his sweater. The computer,
btw, is nothing more than a monitor, keyboard and a mouse, and a power
plug-in cord. "BUt, yeah, that Mary. I think she takes everything 'cause
she likes you. At least that is what Emily, her friend, told [31~me at
lunch the other day. Girls. Man, you just can't deal with them, unless you
have a lot of money to get their attention." He grins, kidding. "I've
never left Keystone," he says suddenly, "So maybe you could take me to New
York to meet her some day..."

Bart blinks, and raises his eyebrows at Preston. "Really? Sure. Anywhere
else you wanna go? You don't look heavy." He automagically plasters a
couple band stickers on the sides of the box -- er, monitor -- and
rearranges the mouse and keyboard a couple times. In a whirlwind of
agitated motion, he clears off a couple of sitting surfaces, and flips
through the manual. "And that Mary...grife. She can just /like/ me, then.
She weirds me out."

Preston calmly moves to sit beside you, at the keyboard, and a couple of
clicks and plug-ins later, he has ti ready to go, without glancing at the
manual. He turns it on, and the start-up sound souns. "Really," he sighs a
little[31~, "My dad has money and lots of it, but he's always busy so we
never get to go anywhere." Seems like a sore spot with him. "Must be
nice,t o just be able to zoom off anywhere," he sighs, as the desktop
appears. "She weirds me out too, Bart, but I took care of that already and
said you had a girlfriend back from the town you came from before, and
mary seemed to understand that and now she likes Jason, that kid that eats
paste." He makes a face.

"..." Bart definitely /looks/ nonplussed. "I'm not sure how I like that
either. Does that put me in the same category of the boy who eats paste?"
He pauses. "On second thought, don't answer. I don't want to know." He
shakes his head, then looks with wonder at the computer. "Damn, you
started that fast. It was off and in pieces, and now it's on. What does
that do? And that? And where do you put the disks in? I have a disk! It
has pictures on it. A picture Cassie gave me's on there, too. How do I
look at them? And where /do/ you want to go? Pick someplace."

Preston seems to keep pace with you well enough, as though he has waited a
long time for the chance to do this sort of thing, as he smiles a little
as he tries to speak. "It doesn't, really, as the only reason she likes
Jason is to get to his older and cuter brother Mark, so don't worry.
That's the trash, where you delete stuff, so be careful with it. That's
the icon for the desk top, where you can store stuff. You know about
computers, right? I though I read somewhere you were from the far, far
future. I bet that was neat. Cool... wany way, this is where you put CDS
in, as the iMac doesn't have a disk drive so you should ask Wally for one
to add on, and you can look at the pictures by putting the disk in[29~ and
clicking on them. It's that easy. And ...." He turns to look at you.
"Where should I go?"

Bart laughs. "Where do you want to go today?" He yeeps, "Don't kill me
don't kill me don't kill me!" From the other side of the room, he blinks.
"No disk drive? How do you save stuff? I thought you were supposed to be
able to save stuff or something. Or was that those really big disks? The
ones that bend?" He holds his hands in a shape -- eight inches square. "I
saw a picture like thig big, once, and that was what they were for, it
said. That big. Yeah, the far future. We don't have computers. Or at
least, I didn't see any. I was just in a big VR thing. There were little
things that were flat like a CD case and you could type in them, though.
Jenni called them omnipads. I don't remember much from there. I didn't
even meet her in my when. She was too little."

"Jenni?" He asks, still trying to keep up as he points and clicks and
seems to be working to customize your desktop for you. Soon pics of
Impulse are on the screen, witht he little icons being other Flash
symbols. "You can you save stuff ont he computer itself. It's got 4gig of
space, so not like you can fill it up, if you'rereasonable with it. But
that's why you need to ask Wally for the attachable disk drive." He grins
and turns back tot he computer, ignoring the where he wans to go question
on purpose. "I found a whole bunch of ska sites..."

"Yeh, my cousin. My other cousin. She's still in the 30th Century. Ska
sites? I'll ask Wally, yeah. Maybe he can get a printer, too. Hey, neat!
Where'd you get those pictures?" The kid peers over Preston's shoulder at
the screen. "4 gig? Holy Valor." He straightens, and crosses his arms.
"But really. Where do ya wanna go? I know New York...where else?"
Persistent kid. And...well...he feels so dumb at computers...here's
something /he's/ good at.

Preston frowns as he clicks and shows you the growing list of favorites
he's saved for you under the Internet Explorer. "There are a couple of
Impulse sites out there, not many, and well, I have a couple of ictres I
scanned at school saved on my dad's computer's office space, that he
doesn't know about,t hat i downloaded onto your computer for you. Thougth
you might like them." he stands now and motions for you to take the seat
and look at the sites. And really, he can't avod the question, so ...
"30th Century, wow.... I ... I don't know, Bart. I've always wanted to see
the world, to travel, meet people, help them, reach out ... but I'm stuck
here. I've have to get premission first anyway, and dad would say it
wouldn't be sensible."

Bart Allen slides into the seat and flips around a bit, then swivels the
chair and blinks at Preston. "Dude, we could be in London right now and he
wouldn't know any better. It's not a big deal. I could even set something
up so I got beeped whenever the phone rings here so we could get back. And
why wouldn't he say it's sensible? You don't need a passport, you don't
need a ticket, you don't need money, you don't even need a lot of time. It
takes me..." Bart pauses and looks at the ceiling, calculating, then his
eyes drop back down to his friend. "...about ten seconds to get to the
other side of the world. I think. Just lemme know ahead of time where ya
wanna go so we can wear coats or whatever."

Preston frowns a little as he is confronted with what he has always wanted
but now ... well, to ask this of you? He thinks it is a lot to ask you to
be his friend, and so, today he'll leave it at just that. "We have school
in the morning. 'Sides, we should save that for like tomorrow. One step at
a time, you know," he smiles a little as he moves to sit down behind you
somewhere while you click and point and stuff, looking at your stuff.
"What made you come to Keystone? Settle here? I thought you were in New
York on your own with the Titans?"

"Hokay," shrugs Bart. To him, it's really not a big thing -- but it's hard
to communicate that. "Tomorrow sounds good." He follows a link to a Bart
page, and grins widely. "Grife. This is freaky. I should make a me page.
No one'll go to it, though. What made me come to Keystone? Well, um, the
Titans thing...started not working out. Really. I'm still in a team but no
one knows about it, which is okay. We're the New Bad Young Things.
Sometimes we're a band, but not usually. But I kinda just didn't live at
the headquarters anymore, so I kinda moved in with Wally. But not really
for real until a little bit ago. I stayed at Dinah's house a couple times.
And Keystone rocks."

"I suppose," says the boy who has been trapped here all of his life, as he
looks at the assortment of posters and pictures on the walls. "It makes
sense really.... but, you know what? Hey! Hey! What if you *did* do a
page, as Bart Allen, glorifying Impulse! That would solidify your cover
story witht he kids at school, plus you could do some great 'insight' and
have all the latest inside scoop, as *well* as avertise the New Bad Young
Things on-line! Kids our ag is who you should appeal to, and who were be
all over looking at your page, and then get behind you guys!"

Bart scratches his head. "But that's like...really egocentric." He raises
his eyebrows. "And wouldn't a lot of insight point /more/ to the fact that
I'm really Impulse? I mean, the more you know, the more you're under
suspicion? I mean, it's gonna be weird at school...like...I can't see
putting posters of /me/ in my locker. Maybe posters of the NBYT, but there
aren't any. So maybe I'll make one. But really. I mean like...y'know? And
the NBYT isn't really solid yet anyway. I think I'll just put a bunch of
Impulse links on my page, and maybe some Cassie links. And ska. Lots of
ska."

Preston smiles and nods and sits there rubbing his chin, thinking, lots.
"I didn'tmean like little secrets, just like insights as in why he does
the good deeds he does, being a potential hero kid, to represent all kids.
That's *really* cool about you, Bart. I didn't mean you should give
yourself away. But, I can help witht he page if you want. Just kinda' let
the kids of the world know what you are about,a nd that you can be there
for them in a way." He doesn't mean to pressure you, if that is what it
seems like. This is just how he sees things, for the time being. "I don't
know..."

Bart Allen blinks. "Okay. Cool. Yeah, if you help, that'd be good."

Preston stands and smiles, "Sure, I'd love to." And he glances at his
watch, frowning. "I'm... I'm late. Bart, I gotta' go. Er, I'm wondering
why my dad hasn't called already, flipping out... I shouldg[31~o... I'm
sorry. See you at school tomorrow? Neat iMac, and ... thanks."

The young speedster nods silently, eyes searching Preston's face, then
glancing at the iMac. "Sure," he says cautiously, then more easily. "Sure.
Come over whenever you want, Preston. I'll get Wally to talk to your dad
if you want."

Preston hurms and shakes his head. "Oh, it's nothign, certainly nothign
for The Flash. Just, well, he works alot and when he's home he likes to
have me home too, not that he has time for me, but ... he's my dad.
Nothing bad." Preston smiles and looks up as he hears a honk. "That's
likely him. Seeya', Impu-... er, I mean Bart." He gives you a wink and
then a thumbs up 'your secret is safe with me' gesture.

Bart Allen grins. "Cool. I'll seeya tomorrow."

-FIN-