Godspeed

49. Dead or Alive

"So how does it work? Your grand plan?" Barry asks Wells after he ran back from Jitter's.

"Well it's really not that grand at all, Barry. In fact, it's rather simple" Wells stands up with a soda cup from Big Belly Burger,"We use the Particle Accelerator"

Barry laughs in disbelief,"The Particle Accelerator? The last time that happened, you caused an explosion that hurt a lot of people"

"This time, the accelerator will operate exactly the way it was designed to. Except, instead of two particles moving in opposite directions, colliding at the speed of light in the inner ring, we're only going to inject one particle into the accelerator and if you can go fast enough, Barry, if you can hit that particle with enough speed, you will punch a hole right though the fabric of reality" Wells makes a punching gesture,"and you will create a portal connecting this time to infinite times"

"A wormhole" Barry states.

"Through which one might travel back to the past, say, to the night your mother died or forward to the future, to, say, my time" Wells confirms.

"You said if I run fast enough" Barry stops him,"What happens if I don't?"

"If you don't achieve the desired velocity, Barry, you'll die" Wells says and Barry sighs, turning around before walking out, closing the cell.

He ran home and sat in the bed he once shared with his girlfriend.

Who is now dead.

He sat with his head hidden in his hands, the thought fully sinking in now.

His thoughts overtook his brain once again.

Now it was about how much he missed Tori.

He missed her voice and her skin. He especially missed her lips and her touch.

He wished he could have her back and he thought maybe he could.

Maybe he could if he saved his mom.

Maybe he would somehow always find his way towards her, he hoped.

He hoped because now he made his decision.

***

"According to Wells' calculations, Barry super-speeds inside the accelerator ring. Once Barry reaches optimum speed, we then launch a hydrogen proton into the accelerator" Stein explains the next morning in the cortex.

"Once the collision happens, a wormhole forms, opening a gateway into time itself. It's at that moment I plan on shouting something along the lines of 'Eureka' or possibly 'Excelsior'. I'm uncommitted" the professor rambles.

"What do you think?" Barry asks, turning to his friend.

"I mean, on the one hand, it does make a kind of sense. On the other hand, why? Why-why would you ever consider doing this?" Cisco begs.

"You know why" Barry looks at him sadly.

"So, for this to actually work, how fast would Barry have to go?" Brooke asks.

"By my estimates, Mach Two at a minimum" Stein replies.

"Minimum?" Brooke asks in disbelief.