Young Justice Season 5 - The Fifth Generation

Episode/Chapter 13 - Present

"Faster..." Wally repeated tirelessly in his head, "I need... To run... Faster..."

"Wally! Congrats! You're running .05 MPH faster!" Karen Beecher grinned.

"What?! Only?!" Wally panted as he collapsed on the treadmill, sweating an ocean, "I'm so tired... I've never been so tired from running in my life..."

"That's normal, I mean, since you don't have your--"

"I don't need to hear it." Wally coughed as he grabbed his hundredth water bottle and chugged it down quickly.

"Well, at least the speed of your eating hasn't changed." Karen chuckled.

"Gah, what do I do?! I can't stay on the sidelines forever..." Wally groaned, "what can I do?"

"Well, Jaime did show me this yesterday. He told me he picked it up from STAR Labs." Karen pulled out a sheet of paper, "it's a Speed Serum. Gives you speed temporarily."

"It's a drug?"

"Yeah..." Karen shrugged, "it's not tested, but--"

"No thanks." Wally cleared his throat, "I don't take shortcuts like that."

"But it's the only way if you really want your speed back." Karen held out the form, sighed, then set it on the table, "if you decide on anything, it'll be here."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Wally sighed.

"You're so stubborn."

The two turned to the voice at the door of the lab, belonging to Artemis.

"Always have been, always will be." Artemis sighed as she took a bite from... A slice of pizza dipped in gravy and salsa.

"Hey. Sorry, Babe... But I just can't do that." Wally shook his head, "well, I can't make myself do that. It just seems.... Immoral."

"Immoral?" Artemis questioned incredulously, "Wally, Dick says that if there's no other way to get your speed back, there's no way you can go save Bart."

"Bart's the one who took my speed." Wally murmured, "I'm questioning my motives now..."

"Whoa, dude, you're not giving up on him just like that, are you?" Karen crossed her arms.

"No. Not yet, at least." Wally sighed.

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"Wally..." M'gann sighed as she and Superboy stood outside the lab, watching Wally run on the treadmill, "what did he ever do to deserve this?"

"Bart... that traitor. He sure knows how to make himself look bad." Superboy muttered, "he refused to sign for the serum. I'm sure Nightwing's going to make him use it anyways."

"Why wouldn't he, though? It's the only way."

Superboy shrugged, "it's a drug. Wally doesn't trust that. But that's his loss."

"You could be right..."

The two watched for a few more minutes before Superboy cleared his throat, "have you seen Tim lately?"

"I haven't. Which is weird because I went to talk to Dick about it. He didn't know anything about where he or even Damian are."

"That demon? Shouldn't Nightwing be keeping him on a close leash?"

M'gann shrugged, "beats me." She heard footsteps coming down the hall, and she smiled when she recognized the face, "hey, Jennifer! You settling in here okay?"

"Oh yeah." Jennifer smiled, "I was actually just headed to the kitchen, see what I could ravage."

"Yeah, uh, you're good with chemistry, aren't you?"

"Sure, yeah." Jennifer shrugged.

"You see, we had an... Accident, and Wally, Kid Flash, lost his speed. We're trying to put together a serum for him to take to get temporary speed. Do you think you can go help Artemis put it together? Karen has the formula, and Artemis learned her way around the lab."

"Sure. It shouldn't be a problem." Jennifer nodded as Artemis came out to join them, licking the gravy from her fingers.

"Jennifer's going to help you with the serum." M'gann told her.

"Great." Artemis smiled as she waved the sheet of paper, "it's all here. I'll show you to the lab."

"Thanks." Jennifer nodded as she followed Artemis down the hall, taking one last glance at Wally before running to catch up.

- To be continued -