New York: Midtown

        Midtown is the heart of Manhattan's business community. With its
lines of skyscrapers and its sidewalks full of people jockeying for
position like cars cruising down Fifth Avenue, the area typifies big city
hustle and bustle. Rockefeller Center with its skating rink, statue of
Atlas, oversized Christmas tree, and lines of tourist buses out in front
makes up Midtown's centerpiece.
        Here and on nearby blocks are clusters of corporate headquarters,
including giants of the entertainment and communications industries from
CBS to GE to Time-Warner, as well as landmarks like Radio City Music Hall,
Saks Fifth Avenue, the Museum of Modern Art, the Pierpont Morgan Library,
the midtown branch of the International Center of Photography, and the
main branch of the New York Public Library (the one with the lions out
front). It's an area in perpetual motion, whose streets are forever being
flooded by waves of people pouring up and out of the subways and in and
out of office buildings, without ever seeming to stop.
        After the evening rush hour, when the people have flooded back
into the subways or back to their cars for the commute back to New Jersey
or Long Island, Midtown becomes a much more sedate place. Because while
many people work in Midtown, far fewer actually live there.

"...so, well, her birthday's coming up. And I think I know her well enough
- I'd better! - to know what kinda thing she'd like. But I want to get her
something -really- off the wall, y'know?" explains Bart Allen, gesturing
sort of vaguely all-encompassingly at Midtown Manhattan. He glances at the
teenager next to him, raising his eyebrows. "And donnnn't mock. When's,
uh..." he pauses, having been about to say 'Spoiler', but still not
trusting their surroundings. "...blondie's birthday?"

The dark-haired teen strolling along the canyons of Midtown with Bart
flips up the collar of his Gotham Heights varsity jacket. "June 17th," he
says with a smile, putting his hands in his pockets. "I looked it up on
the, uh, internet." Tim Drake winks at his buddy, and then looks around at
the grey, post-rain sky. "By then it shouldn't be so topsy turvy when it
comes to the weather." Absent-mindedly he says "You know they say it
always rains on Good Friday?"

Bart Allen glances at Tim. "Good Friday?" he asks curiously. He shoves his
hands in his pockets, yellow cotton overshirt flapping in the occasional
gusts of ozone-smelling wind. For some reason, he doesn't seem
particularly cold, even though he's in short sleeves. At least the breeze
is keeping his hair from falling into his face again. "You mean...hey, is
today Friday or Saturday? I keep losing track."

Tim Drake comes back to his current surroundings and laughs. "It's
Saturday, yesterday was Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday. It
poured all day up and down the East Coast." He gestures with his chin at
the store windows. Off-the-wall expensive or off-the-wall wacky? For wacky
maybe we should go the Village."

"Oh yeah, yeah, okay." Bart eyes Tim. "Are you sure you're not making this
up? I mean, everyone knows Easter Sunday, with the rabbit and everything.
But - well - Valor! It's not like I just -got- here or something, and I've
-never- heard of a Good Friday. I mean, all fridays are good because, you
know, it starts the weekend. But a specific one." He pauses, glancing in a
window, then says absently, "Wacky. And I guess so, okay."

Tim Drake nudges Bart with his elbow. "Hey, don't let me influence you. If
you want to get Cassie something 'uptown', that's cool too. I'm just
brainstorming. It's all good." He looks into the window to see what has
caught the other's eye. "And I know you didn't just get here, man. Didn't
mean to get preachy."

Shaking his head, Bart runs his hands through his hair, then drops them to
his sides. "No! No, you didn't get preachy. If you're serious, then I'm
curious. Guess I have free time for reading, huh?" Another pause, and he
tears his gaze from the window, starting to walk south. "I'm going the
right way, right?" he grins, turning around and walking backwards. "The
Village, right?"

Tim Drake laughs again, Bart's humor infectous. "Yeah, you're going the
right way." As they pass a bike rack, he steps up on it and walks along it
for a few steps. Jumping down, Tim says "So, besides birthday shopping,
what else is new?"

"Hmm. Besides birthday shopping and besides the dumb stuff the, you know,
adults are on our backs about?" Bart raises his eyebrows. "Well, Wally's
kinda screwed up. Not sure what's wrong with him. I think he needs a
girlfriend."

Tim Drake tilts his head. "Screwed up how? I thought he was seeing that
woman Ms. Park?"

Shaking his head, and buttoning his overshirt as he walks, Bart replies,
"No, he broke up with Linda like over a year ago. Right around Christmas.
He's been getting more off ever since. I caught him one morning like a
week ago and asked him what was up. He didn't know, but he said he'd try
to quit pulling, you know, a Superman. Trying to be everywhere at once,
always in costume. I swear it's like trying to nail down greased
lightning."

A look of concern crosses Tim's face as he listens, knowing Bart isn't
just making a Flash joke. "Yikes. I don't know what to tell you, pal. I
didn't know he was being so rough on himself. If there's anything you
think I can do, just say so. But he's got you to look out for him, so
that's good."

Bart Allen starts laughing, shoving his hands deep in his pockets and
looking a little unhappy. "Yeah, well, having -me- to look out for him? I
mean, that's kinda screwy. I'd be worried if I had me to look out for me."

Tim Drake screws up one side of his mouth. "Oh, no, you're not goading me
into giving you the 'give yourself more credit' speech, I know you're just
trying to lighten the mood. We both know you aren't the Screw-up
Speedster. Seriously, what do you think is bugging him?"

Bart Allen laughs again, quietly. "Yeah - so I'm not. But I'm only
sixteen, almost seventeen. Or am I supposed to be seventeen now? I can't
remember. Regardless, it's not like he's senile or anything, he's an
adult, he should be able to take care of himself." Bart looks thoughtful,
glancing idly at windows and passers-by as he goes. He looks at Tim. "I'm
not sure what the thing is, but I know he lost his focus when he broke up
with Linda. I'm pretty sure he just...I don't know, needs someone normal
to ground him."

Tim Drake nods. "I hear ya. Given our 'family business' it's hard to
consider most friends who are in it normal. All you can do is keep telling
him you're there for him." He grins at Bart. "Unless you have someont in
mind to set him up."

Bart Allen grins over at Tim. "I know...no, yeah, I haven't got anyone in
mind." He sighs a little and shakes his head. "I don't even know, you
know, what he digs in girls."

Tim Drake chuckles. "At least it's not femme fatales, like er, the Gotham
franchise owner, if you know who I mean. Bludhaven too."

Bart Allen laughs! "Are you serious? I thought, like, he was above that
stuff."

Tim Drake smirks, as despite the "we're not kids" bravado usually
proclaimed by the young heroes turns to the conspiratory atmospher of
sidekick gossip. "He is, and he isn't. But c'mon look at the villanesses
we go up against. Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Talia Al Ghul. And I can't drop
names but even in when he isn't working, the same kinda women run in
Gotham's social circles." The Teen Wonder's alter ego shrugs. "It's
something about the whole shadow vigilante scene. Even the ones on 'our
side' have it." After a pause, Tim adds "Huntress is hot," tuerning a
little red.

Bart Allen smirks! Widely. "Ohooo, so the mighty Boy Wonder has a little
-thing- goin', does he? A little /crush/?" He starts laughing again, this
entirely-too-amused look on his face. "Not that I blame you. I agree,
totally. Jeez, y'know? Hey is she still running around in that outfit with
the window in front?"

Tim Drake winces and then makes Homer Simpson's drooling growl noise.
"Thank God, no. How anyone could take you seriously in that kinda get-up
is beyond me. I should know, seeing as before me my gig required short
pants. Same for Dinah's fish nets. She's gotten on board with the black
bodysuit. It rules."

Bart Allen laughs, shaking his head. "I dunno. I dug the fishnets. I mean,
I can totally see how the new outfit's more practical, but fishnets - wow!
Man, I dunno." He glances up, then around, just quickly scanning for
freaks in the shadows. "I saw pictures of when Power Girl was in the JLI
and she had one of those cut-outs in front. I don't know why they did it,
but I hope the trend comes back."

Tim Drake laughs. "Ask Cassie to start and see what happens," he dares.

Bart Allen pffts. "She'd beat me senseless! If she caught me."

Bart Allen non-sequiturs crazily then, trying to get off the topic of
Cassie. "If it were two minutes until the end of the world, what song
would you want playing?"

Tim Drake only brieflt shows a looik of surprise as Bart chanmges the
topic, the expression replaces by a knitted brow as he thinks. "Hmmm.
Something by Queen. 'A Kind of Magic', or '

Tim Drake says "'Keep Youself Alive', or 'Who Wants to Live Forever'."

Bart Allen hmms. "I'm trying to decide whether I'd want something witty
and ironic like 'It's the End of the World As We Know It' or 'Tomorrow
Never Dies', or if I'd just play one that fit into two minutes, or if I'd
play something I really loved and wanted to go out on. Like, I dunno,
'Yesterday'. Or Goldfinger's 'It Isn't Just Me' ."

Tim Drake shakes his head. "I tossed it 'It's the End of the World as We
Know IT' exactly because it was witty and ironic. If all bets are off, I'm
not playing the funny boy sidekick with two minutes to go."

Bart Allen grins a little. "I don't know...I don't think it'd necessarily
be playing the funny boy sidekick. I think it'd be more like flipping the
universe off and going out with a grin, instead of being maudlin or
regretful." He inclines his head at a shop a little up the street.
"Coffee?"

Tim Drake nods. "Yeah, and some white chocolate macademia cookies." He
gets a wiseass look on his face. "'Flipping off the universe'. You mean
turning off the power switch, or giving it the one finger salute?"

"Coooookies..." drools Bart, getting this zombie look on his face. He
starts goosestepping to the coffee shop with his arms outstretched, like
from Night of the Living Dead or something, then glances back and gives
Tim the Jersey City fisheye. "Whaddya think? Tho' I'd probably go for the
Double Eagle."

Tim Drake snorts. "Can you imagine the look on the adults' faces - or even
Wally's froends - if during the next cosmic crisis our generation all said
the F-word and flipped off the villian after his melodramatic soliloquy? I
dunno who'd be the most mortified." Tim laughs, on the verge of cracking
himself up.

On the verge? That /does/ crack Bart up, until he has to lean against the
side of the building, holding his stomach. "Oh my god, oh my god - the
villain would be -so- indignant...! Oh man...d'you think they'd disown us
or wanna smack us, more? Or - ahahaa - man, I can see You Know Who getting
all icy mad..." He laughs some more, dropping his face into his hand. "Oh
/man/. Oh man, now I -wanna- do it."

"What a -great- mental image!" adds Bart.

Tim Drake loses it because his friend does, one hind on Bart's shoulder
and the other on his own hip. Still laughing, he's unable to do anything
but nod at each observation Bart makes. As the laughter subsides he says.
"I had Darkseid in mind."

Bart Allen had -just- started taking deep breaths and trying to calm down,
but that sends him off again, cracking up all over again. "Oh man we'd be
so dead, but it would be -so- sprocking /hilarious/!
Ah-haha-hahahaa...*gasp* ooh, jeez...haha!"

Tim Drake pulls open the coffe shop door and shoves Bart in ahead of him,
still laughing. "Yeah, and if the world was actually gonna end, we might
as well, like you said, go out with a grin."

Bart Allen yies and is suddenly faced with about a million beverage
possibilities. He hehs once more, then eyes the menu. "Um...nass. Hey,
what...okay, I have to think a second." The kid starts reading over the
board and deliberating. For a second. "Okay, gotta get me a mocha."

Tim Drake gets a viente Colombian Supremo and the aforementoned copokies
and follows Bart to a seat.

Bart Allen jams himself into the little coffeeshop booth, feet up on the
seat, sitting sideways. He immediately devours his cookie, then starts in
on the mocha, a little slower. "So...I've been trying to not think about
the, er, agency. Did you, um, tell your...dad?"

Tim Drake takes the other bench, sitting dead in the middle. After
drinking some cioffee he says, "You know, I actually forgot. I even forgot
to decide whether I was going to tell him or keep it to myself. I just got
distrected."

Bart Allen snickers. "You know...that'd be a real blow to their egos if
they ever found out." He silently sips for a minute, getting a whip cream
moustache, then licks it off contemplatively. "I know we wanted to take
care of it ourselves, but...I think he'd let us. I mean...I don't know him
except for a couple times I met him, and obviously you know him way
better, but that's the impression I get. Like, it'd be good to tell him
for backup, you know?"

Tim Drake nods. "He'd let us, he trusts me. It took a long time, and he
worries, but he trusts me. I have other people I can tell too." He drinks
some more coffee. "Hey, does Wally ever mention his 'partners' by their
first names? It might make some conversation easier."

Bart Allen looks blank. "...his partners? Oh you mean the Tower people, or
the spacers?"

Tim Drake scratches his chin. "I meant the Tower people, for the
particular point I was making. I know some of them. If you tell me about
the spacers, you might be telling me things I'm not supposed to kknow." He
chuckles. "And this was supposed to make it easier."

Bart Allen shakes his head a bit vehemently. "No -- I don't know 'em.
Either of 'em. Except for, you know, the ones that it's not a big deal at
all for."

Tim Drake nods, smiling. "I think we are talking about the same people
then. The tall guy that looks like I might in ten years - he's out of
Gotham too. If the one is my dad, he's my brother. I can talk to him when
I have to."

Tim Drake says "I'd call him by his name if I thought you knew it
already."

You say "Oh! No, I meant...I'm callin' the one with the ears, he's your
dad. Your, uh, your dad has big ears! The other guy, well, that's cool
too."

Tim Drake nods. "Yeah we are on the same page. I am surprised Wally hasn't
dropped his name by accdent. The original five tower kids are so used to
knowing each other's names it could happen."

Bart Allen nods. "Yeah - well. I think he's pretty careful about that one.
Because, haha, you know you Gotham guys are uptight about that." He grins,
and mock-ducks.

Tim Drake rolls his eyes, smiling. "Gee maybe because we can't run at
lightspeed away from our enemies when they drop by for tea."

Bart Allen laughs. "No, you know I'm just busting your chops." He finishes
off his mocha. "So you'll maybe talk to both?

Tim Drake puts a finger under his lower lip and looks up and to the left,
thinking His shadow on the coffe shop wall seems to get darker, more
substantial. Then he puts his hand back on the table and the spell is
broken. "Let's talk to our gang first, and get back to doing our own
investigation. We'll see if Mister Jones has told my dad's crew anything
and we'll go from there. This is still our gig."

Bart Allen nods. "Right arm, man, farm out," he grins. "Okay. You set? I
wanna pick something up for Cass before we scram."

Tim Drake drains the rest of his java. "Yeah, let's ride. After you score
a present, we should hit a show or something. It's Saturday night in New
York, after all."

Bart Allen grins. "Bloodhound Gang's playing at Irving Plaza tonight.
Should start in about an hour." Bart stands, sets his mug on the counter,
and raises his eyebrows. "After you, bud."

"Age before beauty, perals before swine?" quips Tim, and weaves through
the patrons toward the door to the Manhattan night scene.

"Nasshead," mutters Bart, then chuckles, following Tim out.