No More Treadmills!

February 17, 2018:

Impulse, Red Robin and a somewhat recovered Owen all show up at Stark towers to discuss Professor Zoom with Tony and Pepper.

Stark Towers

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Luke Cage, Professor Zoom, Max Mercury

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

To the suprise of actually no one, Tony Stark is building things.

Well more specificly he's analyzing already built things. Sitting in his lab and watching scans and schematics of Genoshan tech scroll by the screen. Every so often there is a pause in his work as he looks at something closer, or pulls the skeletal hologram of the internals out of a power armor suit to study. Pulling weapon systems apart and flinging them away to hang suspended in the air like blue after-images frozen in time.

All holograms of course, none of it actual equipment. No he isn't messing with that until he figures out how the rest of it works.

…and he /will/ figure out how the rest of it works.

It's what he does.

"Dunce! Where are you?" He calls out as he keeps his eyes glued to the glowing images. The little holodrone, proudly still displaying battle damage done to it in the attack on the tower burbles on in as Tony flails around again at the top of his desk until his hand closes on a bag of chips.

Which he starts to crunch on.

"Go down and ask Pepper what are the international laws about countries and islands and stuff? I might need to build one."

…oh yeah. That'll go well.

*

In her office, Pepper is also hard at work, but not with Genoshan tech. Instead, she's busy with the day-to-day minutae of keeping Stark Industries in general and the Tower in specific running. She's rapidly typing at her computer when Dunce — isn't he Ace now? — whirs in through the door.

One flaw in Tony's request: she doesn't truly understand what any of this bots are trying to convey with their non-verbal noises.

Watching the little drone for a moment with her eyebrows drawn together, she finally gives up, locks her computer, and gets her tablet and phone. The only way she's going to know what the inventor wants is to go ask him directly. He's just lucky she doesn't have any meetings left today.

*

Days. Owen was stuck in a hospital for days trying to recover from Zoom using him like a drunken human guinea pig, well mostly from the part where he used him like a drunken human punching bag. Thankfully Owen was able to use his powers to recover sooner than should have been possible. Recover and then eventually, against much protesting from the doctor's sign himself out.

He didn't have anything on him when he was brought into the hospital, and he purposely didn't contact anyone while he recovered. But after a stop home for a change of clothes and some self-medication, Owen's on the move again.

During the fight with Zoom he had purposely tripped the speed sensor at Stark Towers, at least he hopes he did. He also set out a bottle of whiskey in the lab that is normally stowed away in a drawer from disapproving eyes. It was all he could manage while speed fighting across the city with Banana Flash.

Now, making his way into the lab where Tony is working, unannounced and uninvited as usual, Owen opens with "Did you get my love note? Thought about leaving a sexy nude with it but didn't have time."

He is obviously moving slowly, his left arm is in a sling and his face behind sunglasses is clearly busted up still, even with his rapid healing. His right hand is holding a cup of coffee, heavily doctored to his Irish-liking.

*

Can he take the stairs? Is everything repaired that they can actually all be used? It'd sure save people the trouble of being stuck in an elevator with an impatient Speedster. Red Robin should be thankful that Impulse isn't in the mood to race ahead of the elevator just to hit the call button on each floor.

Did they have an appointment? Are they supposed to make those things? Ah, the finer points of reality and the way the world works that Max Mercury has neglected to teach Impulse, likely on the account of having never thought that he'd be letting the young Speedster set off on his own to be with a team without hovering over him every second. Perhaps one of may things that Max might have to apologize to Red Robin if he'd been so informed. It's a wonder Robin hasn't gotten white hairs by now.

"Knock-knock!" Impulse announces, and while he hadn't really bothered to open the door before he came through it, he had felt he should at least knock…somewhere, wrapping a red-gloved knuckle on the nearest wall.

*

Fortunately, Red Robin knows lots of esoteric meditation techniques designed to help cope with stress.

Though there have been times where he was tempted to figure out some kind of power-nullifying kiddie harness device; there's a few other teammates besides just Impulse that it could be useful for. It's not as though he enjoys the position of de facto babysitter, but often with the Titans, and the more informal group some of them belonged to before that, he's the only one with the right combination of 'inclination towards responsibility' and 'someone the others will listen to'.

Sometimes it's like herding cats, though.

Cats that can run at supersonic speeds, or throw trains.

So… You know.

Walking a bit behind the shorter Titan, Red Robin as usual keeps his curiousity about Tony's various projects hidden behind a kind of confident, calm stoicism, even though honestly he'd really like to take some of Stark's more interesting projects apart and see what makes them tick. Although there's always the possibility what makes them tick is 'evil magic', so…

"Mister Stark," the detective says, although his attention, concealed behind the white lenses of his domino mask, goes right to the other, unexpected occupant of the lab. Hidden eyes hood almost immediately. "I think Impulse was hoping to break more of your equipment," he continues, as though he hadn't noticed anything. "You know, for science."

*

He can indeed take the stairs. Which is good for both Impulse /and/ Red Robin.

The drone, Ace to some, Dunce to others..the name changes on Tony's whim and he answers to both…burbles quite elegantly. I mean really. If Pepper could understand him he is /totally/ waxing elequent about Genosha, and island diplomacy, and the cost of artifical islands…man so much information there.

…but Pepper doesn't speak droid. So it just sounds like a bunch of adoreable burbles.

She gets up and the little drone almost sighs before zipping off ahead of her and towards the lab. Buzzing by Owen's head to deliver the message that Pepper is on her way out.

In a new series of burbles.

Tony just watches for a moment before the done just hangs his wing-arms in exasperation.

"…I really should give you a voice box."

But then there are other voices coming as Stark spins round to face them with a suprised look. "Do I have apointments today?" This is angled at Dunce.

Who shrugs.

Stark nods at that, its about what he thought before flashing a grin towards the pair of speedsters. "Well if it isn't two people touched my extra-dimensional powers! I got your message, and where I'm usually a fan of nudes you aren't my type. Try not to cry." He peers towards the obviously wounded figure. "Damn. How are you walking man? Come on. Sit." He waves towards a table before he looks towards Bart. "And you might as well come on in! Now I got both speedsters in town in the same place and all. Both Speedsters are the Red Bird. That's fine with me. I need something to take my mind off the rest of the stuff."

He waves a hand and the images around him dissipear. Banished to the ether as if by magic. "Genosha sucks by the way, I wouldn't recommend going there."

"But breaking things for science is sort of what I do! So lets have at…" A glance towards Owen. "…after I get the med systems out for you. You look like you fell down like a dozen flights of stairs."

*

Pepper doesn't even try to keep up with Dunce. She'll get to Tony's lab when she gets the… oh, hello. She didn't realize Tony had company. Maybe that's what the little drone was trying to tell her.

Her eyes going from injured young man to hyper young man to masked young man, and Tony's words just as she entered register. "If you would all be so kind as to have a seat?" She gestures toward the slightly battered but very homey and comfortable-looking sofa in the corner of the lab closest to Owen. "FRIDAY, could you please have…" she hesitates as she looks at each young man again, "some Acqua Panna and a fresh pot of tea brought down?"

She also taps something into the tablet in her hands, blocking the door where she's standing. So there's no point in anyone trying to escape. That means you, Tony.

*

Slowly moving his head to avoid having it smacked into by Dummy Owen turns to see Impluse. A small smile creeps across his face, as he had meant to check in on Bart after the fire. Honestly! But then there were demon robots and evil speedsters and heroin and really he just never got around to it. But there he is!

Followed shortly by Red Robin. Well shit. Owen's face falls noticeably. Dammit. First Spoiler is at Murdock's place and now Robin is at Stark's, Bats musta got grumpy and kicked all the kids to NY. Owen manages a small head nod of greeting towards Impulse before turning back to Tony.

"I'm crushed. Obviously. I'm walking solely based on stubborness, speed force and decent drugs." Not good drugs mind you, but good enough. And yes, Owen has given in and is now calling it speed force. He's obviously a broken man.

At Peppers entrance and orders he just gives her a half smile and nod. Sitting sounds good. Acqua Panna? Uhm.. sure? Tea? What is it with people offering him tea when he's banged up?

"Whiskey would be just fine."

Yea, she didn't really offer that. He doesn't care. He ambles over to the couch and gingerly takes a seat, finding a place to set his coffee.

*

"Not break on purpose justonaccident -oh! Hey Owen!" Impulse's grin freezes as he takes in the man's state, blinking. Given Robin's behind him, he doesn't notice the subtle reaction from his friend. "Whoa, what happened to you?" It'll probably click in a second.

It should be of no surprise to anyone when his attention is drawn to Dunce-Ace the drone as it goes around the room, and the look he gives Red Robin makes it very clear what he means to say: I want one.

Moving further into the room towards Tony and Owen, and after an attempt at being polite as he greets Pepper, Impulse frowns as Owen speaks up again. "Man, the Speed Force is a hot topic these days," he mutters. There's not much he knows to do that can help the guy otherwise, but the teenager seems to brighten a bit as he thinks of something and whispers to Owen. "Luke's gonna rebuild." Some good news at least?

*

"It doesn't seem like a good vacation spot at all," Red Robin agrees on the topic of Genosha. Of course, the last time he went on a trip anywhere it mostly involved fighting wizard cultists, so who knows? It could even be a step up.

The appearance of Pepper Potts - who the vigilante does recognise, because he pays attention to these sorts of things - he gives the woman a polite nod of greeting, though he's not sure about this whole sitting down in a group thing. At least, given who the group is.

"Tea would be great, thanks," he says. "And one for Impulse, too."

Look someone has to look out for Bart if he's not going to do it himself.

"Have you made any headway on your speedster project?" Red Robin asks Tony, completely ignoring Impulse's desire for a drone; instead, he'll let the speedster talk to the other not-as speedster, though he can't help but worry that Mercer's going to be a bad influence on Bart.

*

"Pepper! Just the person I wanted to see! So what do you think about building a floating island? I'm sure there are some laws about that right? Something international something something…." A pause as Tony looks around. "…oh…right. You three have met Pepper Potts right? The woman who helps me remember my social because I don't even understand how those numbers work." The inventor smirks slightly though towards Owen. "Cabinet on the end of the couch."

Tea and Acqua Panna are sent up, along with a half dozen pizzas. And ibuprofen. Which are carried in via the elevator.

"He ran into Banana Flash's fist. A lot I'm thinking." Stark replies with a glance back towards Owen, though the words are for Impulse. "I got some top line med-tech from Starr here, if you want the help." A pause before he shakes his head slightly. "And yeah…seems like it is. Still a stupid name though." He adds with a smirk as he leans back against the desk.

Said drone hovers over near Bart and burbles at him. Then does a figure eight in the air for fun. Because Ace loves showing off.

"Actually, thanks to Owen? Yeah I did." Stark replies as he glances towards the wounded Speedster. "Him and the jerk streak went on a tear across the city it seems, and Owen ran them though here where my sensor was active at some point in the fight. Now imagine that when I woke up and had /three/ speed force signatures in the log and not just two." There is a smirk at that. "I should be able to get some kind of workable zapper in a few weeks at least."

The inventor pauses a moment. "And…just as a warning, don't go to the Avenger's HQ you two. I'm pretty sure you might just get…slow…for a bit if you try that. Or at least don't go uninvited. Not that you would, just warning and all."

*

"Not if you're on pain killers," Pepper quips back at Owen readily enough when he requests whiskey. It's almost like she's in the habit of telling someone 'no alcohol'. Hmmm.

And then Tony asks about building a floating island and continues prattling on. She lets him do so as she deals with the arriving pizza and beverages, handing Owen a bottle of the high end Italian spring water (like Ozarka, but way more swanky) as well as the ibuprofen. The masked young man is offered tea — still hot in a thermos and with a cup to pour into — and the pizzas are set where they can be claimed by whomever except one, that gets set directly in front of Tony.

As she's setting Tony's pizza in front of him, she looks at him and says, "Do you remember what I told you when you said you wanted to build your own Death Star?"

*

Tony just blinks at that. "…no?" A longer pause. "I slept since then."

*

Pepper sighs. "No, Tony. The answer to both is no."

*

Having recovered from the sight of Red Robin, Owen gets around to greeting Bart- err.. Impulse properly. He raises his coffee cup at him in greeting and calls out "Impulse!" With maybe just a touch more enthusiasm than normal, to really contrast the fact that he pointedly ignores the flappy bird man.

"I got kidnapped in my skivvies outta bed by Banana Flash and tied up for experiments with a hood on a my head… Which sounds super gay sex dungeon when I say it outloud? But I think it was mostly about using me to access the speed force. Which he called, the /positive/ speed force?"

He watches Impulse to see if that means anything to him? He's new to all this speedster talk and wasn't given an introductory pamphlet or anything! But at Bart's whisper about Luke, Owen smiles broadly for the first time in a while and whispers back, "Yea? Oh hells yea! That's awesome." Not so much because Owen cares about getting his old job, but more because someone must have finally busted Luke out of his Owen-esque downward spiral.

"But yea after science experiment time there was punch Owen a thousand times per second time."

Accepting the water and the pills from Pepper with a tight smile and a "Thanks..?" He looks at them, pops them in his mouth and then pulls out a prescription bottle to pop some of those. The water is set aside in favor of Owen digging through the cabinet, pointedly ignoring Pepper's stern warning. He half explains, "It's a speedster thing. I metabolize to heal but then the drugs metabolize out faster… I got it." He is only half caring if anyone is listening to his somewhat accurate explanation as he pours more whiskey into his coffee cup, which is now more whiskey than coffee. He does have to supress a chuckle at Pepper and Tony's back and forth.

*

"A floating island??" Yeah, someone tell him not to encourage Tony because those amber eyes just lit right up. Oh right, tea! Not…Bart's first choice but he won't say no- mostly because Tim's already agreed for him. That's okay though since the Speedster's already once again distracted by Ace, beaming at the aerobatics.

"-ugh, that guy again?" His attention snaps back to like a rubber-band as he frowns between Tony and Owen. The suggestion to sit has thus far been forgotten, but then Impulse flits about like an over-sugared hummingbird so this is per the norm. "Thawne, right?" Wait, no, he's getting ahead of things again. But how many other Professor Zooms were there? Mom would have said something otherwise, right? Ugh, his head's starting to hurt from all this thinking.

Anyway, names don't seem to make much difference when the fact of the matter is that this guy's been a problem and hurting his friends. His brow furrows as he recalls what he'd caught of the news, but the details hadn't really been clear and well, Impulse never really connected Owen to 'speedster' as much as boomerangs.

"Slow? Wait, what? You made something that zaps the Speed Force?" he blinks. Does science do that? He looks over at Red Robin as though the other has the answer to everything ever.

With all the head turning it's amazing Bart doesn't give himself a whiplash as he looks back at Owen. "But why would he need to access the Speed Force?" Squint. "Positive Speed Force..?" Maybe Max would know more about it. The guy's the zen master of speed and practically lives in it half the time. It's really creepy catching him in the middle meditation.

At least the news about Luke does the trick of cheering up Owen, which brings a grin likewise back to Bart's face. And with pizza set out, he finally settles down to sit so he can inhale some food. That'll keep him quiet for five seconds.

*

Being as he is a keen reader of people and interpersonal dynamics - or in this case, a person with eyes to see and ears to hear - Red Robin is getting a clear idea of how Tony Stark is able to keep his act anything resembling together, and it's clear that it's at least 80% Pepper Potts. Otherwise, for the moment he mainly listens - accepting the tea, politely - though when Impulse looks to him for confirmation about whatever they'd done at Avengers HQ all he can do is shrug faintly.

"There's always a way to do something about a superhuman ability," he says. "Even just some kind of blanket 'slowing' like a gravity field…" He doesn't bring up cold, of course. He's not about to out Impulse's potential weaknesses just to help stop Thawne; he's already pretty leery of the talk of detection systems and anything that could 'zap' Speed Force users. Like it or not, Tony Stark was an Avenger, an authority figure, and Red Robin had long been indoctrinated with a distrust of authority and power in any hands other than his own.

Which had its good points and its bad.

"Mercer's mostly correct," Red Robin actually says in support of Owen's partial excuse for his medicated drinking. "I doubt any painkillers would really work for him in the first place, and he'd probably need to drink enough to kill a normal person to affect him that much. Still…" Bart, shockingly, asks the question the vigilante himself was going to. That actually draws a faint chuff of amusement from the young man in red and black.

*

"Hear me out now Pepper, you haven't even let me give my pitch yet! …and I told you the whole Death Star thing was a joke I don't have the power to create a planet destroying laser without having access to a full dyson sphere…" He pauses a moment to consider something. "…I should talk to Green Lantern about that. If there /are/ ways to make full dyson sphere…"

Focus Tony!

"…oh yeah. Island. Look! It's for a good cause and all. I mean really this time. Its just just cause someone said I couldn't build it." A glance then over towards Impulse. "See he agrees with me! Thats one vote!" But then talk of the Speed Things continues and he nods and sighs. "…that totally sounds gay sex dungeon." Is the first thing he says before frowning slightly. "Wait…positive speed force? So…if there is a positive speed force does that mean there is a negitive? Would make sense right?"

A snap of his fingers has a new holoscreen snapping into being. This one with data results for three Speed Force users on it. "…so…that might be why the readings were so far off. It was driving me nuts to try to get the frequencies down right…"

A pause again as he studies the data, moving to the side to give Tim room too. Since the other gageteer in the room might know that.

"And that explination holds up if he's a speedster, Pep. Just let him have the whiskey." A frown again at the data before his eyes turn towards Impulse and he flashes a grin. "Building a better mouse trap." He adds as he steps aside to let Tim look at his data. "Which isn't leaving the Avenger's HQ. I'll figure out something different for here." There is a pause again though as something comes in though his leaps of attention.

"Wait Thawne?" He slowly looks back towards Impulse. "What's a Thawne?"

*

Pepper looks from the masked young Man to Tony and back, conceding that they likely have a better idea than she does what Mercer's limits are. But, she does also risk her fingers stealing a slice of pizza out from in front of Bart to offer to Owen. If he's putting things into his system, he'll need to include fuel.

"No island, Tony." Then the four of them are off on the Speed Force discussion again, and it's honestly just this side of gibberish to her. So, she'll leave them to it, claiming the leftover glass bottle of water for herself.

Settling onto a chair at a nearby workbench, she starts tapping at her tablet again before scrounging up a slip of paper from the workbench, a gold fountain pen from a pocket, writing a brief note, then looking around for Dunce-Ace. Once she spots the little drone, she beckons him over and offers him the note. "Take this to Ms. Nakamura, please, and no distractions along the way. Thank you."

*

*Blink* *blinkblinkblink* What the hell is happening right now? Did Red Robin just voluntarily back him up? Oh crap, Owen is now sure something is seriously wrong with him and he's hallucinating. Is this what it's like when you're dying? Owen slowly manages to close his jaw and just goes back to sipping his whiskey with a little coffee in it. Okay, so maybe he won't make that crack about going to Avengers mansion for sexy fun times with Spoiler. See?! He's basically a hero now, look at all this restraint and good judgement happening!

"He's trapped. We know he's not from here… or… " Owen just sighs, hating that he has to even say this. Partially because Zoom keeps implying the same thing about him. "… from this time, maybe. But he can't get back. He pumped me full of speedforce to harness it, on yet ANOTHER giant fuckin' treadmill. Which why is that a thing?!"

The accusatory question is leveled at no in general, but really what is with speedsters and their treadmill idolatry. Is he going to have to start using one now that's officially a derpy third-rate speedster? Or does he just get like a crappy stair stepper or something?

He gladly accepts the slice of pizza from Pepper. It has been a while since he'd eaten actual food instead of just downing more pills and booze. Because while Owen's explanation is technically correct, so are all of Pepper's intuitions and concerns.

"Also, fuck yea floating island!" Owen has no idea what Tony is talking about but who is against floating islands?! People who hate fun, that's who. And those are probably the same people who find Owen to be insufferable and obnoxious. So, lots.

"Thawne?" Owen echoes. Why does that name sound important?

*

Impulse has his 'I am super-thinking-hard-and-being-serious' face on. It's all in pictures, undoubtedly. That's how he always thinks- in visuals. It gets interrupted by the thought of a giant planet-exploding starbase, the talk of which has him sneaking a look towards Red Robin the closet nerd. Come on, a Death Star would be awesome, right? And…well, yeah, a bad idea, generally, but still awesome!!

Oh, but back to serious thinky-thoughts. Because having a speed dampner is no fun. Impulse has been on the receiving end of having no speed before, and running into walls when you suddenly find out you can't vibrate through them is very painful.

When Tony mentions that if there's a positive then there's got to be a negative side to this Speed Force thing, the teenager boggles. "I…guess?" Yeah, that's the best answer for him to give! He's thinking of Pokemon now. And then his thoughts get railroaded when not only Tony but Owen catch onto the earlier mentioning of Thawne.

"Um. Yeah. -wait, seriously?" Hang on, he'll get back to that as he looks at Owen, and at the question of this strange treadmill obsession, he shrugs. Seriously, he has no idea. "Those treadmills are tricky. And really oldschool but I guess if you want to time travel then running in place really fast to boost it makes more sense than racing at speed in a physical place with obstacles." Wait, did he actually kind of make sense there? Maybe? Just a bit?

"Thawne. Professor Zoom. At least, that's what my mom told me…?" He trails off as he belatedly catches himself from rambling again. A little too late. He's been on such a roll lately! First he goes hanging out with Luke and Danny in costume and then blurts about being from the future, and now this. Well, um, maybe he can play off his mom being an…ex…pert…? Yeaah no.

*

Since he's pretty sure that actually building a Dyson Sphere is well outside of Tony Stark's reach (because let's be honest, if he had anything capable of blowing up planets to get the necessary resources, the planet would've been blown up by now) and that building a floating island would at least require the backing of a major industrial nation, Red Robin doesn't try to quash the dreams of Stark, Mercer and Impulse. In fact, he doesn't even really acknowledge them either, because jeezy petes.

So Pepper is, unfortunately, going to have to wage a one-woman war against these bad ideas: Fortunately, she clearly has a lot of experience with it.

"I don't know a lot about the Speed Force," Red Robin admits, although there's the open question as to whether he'd tell Tony if he did. What he does know, he's mostly gleaned from observation of Impulse, and a few conversations with Max Mercury. He also doesn't let on if his agreement with Owen was because he secretly knows that the Son of Boomerang is dying: He's got one heck of a poker face. "It could be he's talking out his ass about it being 'positive' or 'negative', but I wouldn't really know. And if he's so keen to get out of here, maybe there's a way to just send Thawne to where he wants to be and get him out of everyone's hair."

*

"Mmmm. I don't think he's making it up. It's the second or third time he's mentioned Positive Speed force. So he's either /really/ into this deception or he's telling the truth because he doesn't think our tiny brains can make any sense of it. He seems the type to think that sort of thing." The inventor replies towards Tim. "Besides the data is there. It looks different…almost…polarity reversal? I have no idea how Speed Force works but…thats the best I can come up with on short notice."

"No no just wait till you hear everything. I'll tell you later it'll be fine! But see! Owen agrees with me!" Tony assures her as he flashes a smile at the woman.

The little drone though burbles happily and grabs the note in a single little claw before buzzing Bart on the way towards the stairs.

He's HELPING!

Then though he's looking towards Owen and Bart. A squint of a thought. Slowly he looks towards Impulse. "…your mom told you…" Slowly he raises a hand to massage the bridge of his nose. "…let me guess. You can't tell me what year it actually is cause you're from a different one." He asks the speedster as he stands there. "That is why your signiture is so similar to this Thawne guy. Or Zoom. Or Banana Flash. Or Asshat Speedster. Or whatever you want to call him. And he's also from the future. And stuck here?" This angled back towards Owen before…

…wait…

"Treadmill? Wait he seariously had you run on a treadmill and…" Then back towards Bart. "…wait you can /timetravel/ on a /treadmill/."

There is a long pause.

"I don't even begin to understand this."

*

Despite it looking like she's got all of her attention on her tablet, Pepper is actually listening to the conversation going on in the lab. She sets her tablet aside and absconds with another slice of pizza from Bart's pile to hand to Owen as he clearly needs the food, if the way he accepted the last slice was any indication. Bart will deal. She can always have more sent up.

"You can try to convince me if you want to, Tony, but I really don't think that's something you need to be putting energy and resources into." Not right now at least.

"If this person is from the future and is creating all of this chaos trying to get back, why don't we just offer to help him go back? It's either that, or I slap him with an invoice showing exactly how much it's cost to repair this building after his last 'visit'.

And, while she's up, she opens the pizza box next to Tony and all but puts a slice into his hands. Eat, or else.

*

"That's what I offered!" Oh crap, now he's agreeing with Red Robin. What is going on? Did Zoom beat the Owen out of him? Agreeing with Pepper, though almost equally unlikely doesn't phase Owen, but it should. Mercer continues on after finishing his pizza slice, "I said I'd find him a genius to build a portal and drop him off wherever the hell he wants. But with a lot more swearing. And insults. And maybe the insinuation that he was a petulant child throwing a tantrum and incapable of acting in his own self interest." Maybe.

"He didn't bite." Gee, no wonder when you offer like that.

"Your… mom? Impulse, I'm going to ask a question. Don't. answer. Zip Rockin' Robin there out in the hall and tell him, and he can maybe keep your secret identity intact bucko. Okay? Why the fuck would your mom know that Banana Flash is named Thawne? Again! Don't answer directly." Because if Tim lies to them about whatever Bart says, at least Tim will lie convincingly. Bart has no shot.

"Yea, the paahsitive just stood out among the CRAZY. I never heard Flasssh call it that. "

It's about that time that Owen can feel the drugs taking effect, particularly mixed with the booze. His powers aren't a constant connection like Bart's or Barry's. He has to specifically use the speed force to speed up. So with a quiet "Excuse me.." He blurs for a few seconds, speeding up his healing, burning through the liquor and pain meds. Coming out of the speed burst with a grunt, Owen manages to make it back to his feet.

"Actually I should be going." His voice is clearer now, stronger again. "I didn't mean to stay, I just wanted to make sure you got the readings Tony. And I need to check in on Luke." And crash at Danny's place again, so that he can be reunited with that glorious fancy ass rich person shower and ridiculously amazing guest room. No wonder Luke is still living there.

*

Time travel just screws everything up. Although in Bart's case it's a little more vitally entwined. It's also a colossal headache for people to work out. So of course when Tony practically outlines his background, the younger Speedster just sort of stares at him like he's some kind of mindreader. Another look is shot towards Red Robin as though to confirm that suspicion. No, no. Getting ahead of things again. It's just…putting a bunch of information together. Sure. In that case, well, it does work out that way, although Impulse had dropped in the bits that help fit together.

"Wellllll…."

Don't say anymore, don't say anymore, but that can of worms or whatever has been cracked wide open and anyway it's ultimately all Banana Flash's fault.

"I thought he was supposed to be from a more…present time," Impulse says, and he's trying to be very careful about what he says. It's painfully obvious. His mom hadn't been very informative about anything more than that the Thawnes have had beef with the Allens for… a long time. He is not about to admit that this Zoom guy is like some distant relative, not when he can't even find out where his grandpa in this timeframe is.

Time travel.

His mouth opens and then pops closed as Owen does something very confusing like ask him questions and tell him not to answer WHO DOES THAT?!?! Impulse frowns at him. He doesn't go anywhere though, because he's reached a brilliant conclusion as to how to deal with over-answering or what-have-you. He's just. Not going to answer. Instead he grins, proud of himself for that, oh yes indeedy!

….of course the resulting ends with Owen excusing himself instead, although as the guy gets to his feet, Impulse eyes him. He'd…felt something of that. With the Speed Force. A glimpse of the hurt, but it's gone the moment Owen ceases speeding up his metabolism. "…. Uh. See you around, Owen," he says as the guy heads off, trying not to frown again.

*

When Impulse looks at him again, Red Robin slowly shakes his head; he's pretty sure Tony can't read minds.

Although, does correctly guessing what the speedster was looking at him for suggest that Red Robin is a mind reader?!

He isn't, fortunately.

"Alternate realities are enough trouble without getting into time travel, too," the vigilante says, sipping his tea. Honestly, he doesn't want to be on the receiving end of Pepper's… Encouragement. She's formidable in the same sort of way that Peggy Carter is, although she seems less likely to know how to kill all of them with that tablet of hers. "Whether Thawne is from the future or not is irrelevant… He's not from our future." He doesn't look at Impulse when he says this, though he means it for the younger man as much as he does for Tony and Owen. "Still, if he doesn't want a helping hand back to where he's from…"

He doesn't doubt that Mercer did exactly what he said. Especially with the swearing and the insults. And, quite likely, even a more polite offer sounds like it would've been rebuffed. That's what makes people supervillains after all: Supreme selfishness and an inability to be reasoned with.

Once Owen leaves, there is a subtle, nearly imperceptible shift in Red Robin's posture. It's relaxation, if only by the matter of a degree… Not that he seems inclined to acknowledge it, or explain it.

"It's a special treadmill," the Red Knight supplies helpfully, eventually. "Pretty sure the Justice League have it locked up somewhere. Not, like… Just any treadmill would do it. It's, uh, cosmic? Anyway, I guess we're going to have to forcibly evict this guy after all. It's obvious he doesn't care about the damage he might do here in the process of getting himself back 'home'."

*

Tony Stark isn't a mindreader. Though he knows a few of them. No he's just quick to jump to conclusions. Even quicker to spit out theories. Which is what he's doing. Spitballing. Throwing out information and seeing how it all works. A shrewed look is on his face as he watches Bart, even as he waves towards Owen with a smirk. "I promise no treadmills here!" He calls as Boomerang leaves.

Almost automaticly though he takes that pizza and takes a bite. Then another. Then another.

Just automaticly eating as food it put into his hand. This is about par for his course. Him and Pepper do this dance all the time it seems.

"I've met more people who time travel or dimention hop in the last year than I have the rest of my damn life." The man says with a shake of his head before he draws a deep breath. "Right. So. Cosmic treadmill. I guess thats a thing…" He pauses though as he squints towards Tim. "…wait the League has one?" A longer pause as he fingers his jaw a moment. "Well…if the League has one. And Banana Flash has one…their power draws and energy signitures have to have similar. We might can use that to find his."

*

Seeing that Tony is eating the food once it's in his hands, Pepper goes back to puttering about in the rest of the lab, picking up after Owen now that he's left, taking the empty pizza boxes from around Bart to dispose of, other little things. But again, she's still paying attention to the conversation.

"If you're going to ask for permission to examine that treadmill, Tony, it'll have to be tomorrow. And you need to get at least six hours of sleep before then."

Yes, she does sound like a mom at this point. She's kind of resigned herself to it.

*

Mindlessly gnawing on a pizza crust that would have otherwise vanished in a second, Impulse catches that implication from Red Robin, nodding. He hasn't particularly invested himself emotionally in the potential that he's related to this Thawne, but then that's mostly because he's been far removed from Thawnes in general, including his own mother. His family's complicated.

In the next moment he's no longer holding a pizza crust, and one of the teacups is emptied, the only sign that he's the source of its undoing being the disgusted face he makes. Blech, tea. Why is dirt water a thing?

"Obviously asking for help isn't his thing," he says dryly. "But he's a bad guy, and he hates the Flash. Maybe it's a good thing no one knows where the Flash is right now…" Then he doesn't have to worry about this crazy.

Okay, he's sat down long enough. Impulse springs back onto his feet again before he finishes everyone else's pizza- not that he hasn't made quite a dent in whatever's been provided. Sorry Pepper.

"But what do you do once you find his signature? The guy keeps popping up on his own anyway. It doesn't even seem like he's trying all that hard to keep himself hidden. I mean, maybe I could find him if I just look everywhere." He says that so casually that he can't possibly be joking. …he isn't, by the way.

Someone tell him that's a bad idea, even if it is effective.

*

"Maybe," Red Robin hedges a little. "It's the Flash's, so…" He shrugs his shoulders faintly; he isn't entirely up on the comings and goings of the Justice League and what they do or don't currently have in storage, after all. He tries not to hack them unless absolutely necessary. Sometimes needing to make sure his skills are sharp is an absolute necessity!

And of course, when it comes to the subject of the Flash, Impulse is right. Nobody knows where the Flash - either one of them - currently is. Which creates even more of a dilemma where Tony's potentical ability to find speedsters is concerned.

"Too dangerous," he says, when Impulse suggests just looking literally everywhere. "We don't want to risk him getting his hands on you. In the short term we're going to have to play defense, but once there's an opening…"

The idea of being forced to get six hours of sleep just seems wasteful to Red Robin, who feels lazy when he sleeps a whole four, but as Pepper proves who wears the pants in this particular relationship, the vigilante turns to the speedster and shrugs uncomfortably. Maybe they should leave, the shrug suggests. Before this gets… Domestic.

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