Impulse {The Flash/Arrow}

Eight

Clicking sounds echoed through the room as Cisco snapped readers onto the suit that Bart had been wearing when he traveled back in time. We were about to send him on the experiment to hopefully fix his disease, and it was nerve racking to say the least. When I suggested that we sent Bart on a worldwide trek, I didn't think that Caitlin would actually make it into a possibility. It was honestly just a random idea that popped into my brain, and I hated the idea of staring it in the face now. We didn't know what would happen to Bart if he were to do this. There was no possible way of knowing if he would be able to run across oceans and mountains and through terrain that none of us have experienced before. When we presented the idea to him, I was silently hoping that he would turn it down and think that it was too much of a challenge for him. But, as always, he seemed more than eager to attempt the nearly impossible run. He offered to race Barry, and against my initial judgements, he agreed to accompany him. It was beneficial because, if anything were to happen to Bart, Barry would be there to get him back here to Caitlin.

As Cisco continued to talk Bart through his course, my attention veered off into small room where Wally was running on the treadmill. I moved myself to stand behind Caitlin, seeing that his numbers were well below what Barry's were. I didn't go so far as to compare him to Bart because no one was as fast as he was. If he were around when Zoom was plaguing the city, I'm pretty sure that he would have been able to take him down within seconds instead of months like we had. After examining his MPG readings, I looked around his vitals signs to see how his body was holding up. His heartrate was much higher than it should have been--something that was expected since he seldom ran like this--and his blood sugar was steadily declining. That wasn't the best sign, but Caitlin knew how much he was able to take without pushing him over the limit. As if on cue with my thoughts, she sighed heavily as she wrote something on her clipboard.

"He's barely reached 250 MPG, and he's already on the verge of passing out." She stated to me before telling Wally that he could rest. As he slowed his pace, she turned to face me. "This isn't a good sign for him."

I smiled softly at her. "We all started out rough, Cait. I'm sure that Barry wasn't running much faster than that when he was first affected by the particle accelerator." She nodded slightly. "If we just keep training him the way we have, he'll get faster."

"Have you started training him yet?"

I shook my head. "No. We haven't been able to find time between his class schedule and my work schedule."

"Along with your work here." She added.

I nodded. "Exactly."

"Well, maybe you should start teaching him the fundamentals while Bart's running his course." She suggested. "If anything happens to him, Cisco or I will inform you immediately so that you can be there for him."

"Are you sure?" I asked, hesitant to leave Bart alone on such a dangerous mission.

She put her hand on my shoulder with a small, reassuring smile. "Bart's tough, just like his grandmother. And Barry will be there to make sure that he's okay. You don't have anything to worry about, Ashton." She looked towards Wally. "Wally needs your help a lot more than Bart does."

A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I nodded in agreement, thanking her softly before walking into the room where Wally was. He was sitting down on the treadmill, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. I could tell that he was feeling the effects of his running, and he was probably beating himself up for not being able to run as fast as Barry or Bart was able to. I could only imagine how that must have felt, and I set out to do what I could to help him. I took the place next to him on the edge of the treadmill, putting my elbows on my knees and folding my hands in front of me. He did the same thing, and we sat in a comfortable silence for a moment. I was waiting to see if he was going to speak first, but it became apparent that he wasn't feeling up to it.