Discover Top Posts Tagged with #wallywednesday

voice of reason

The only thing he can think is, I’m not fast enough. Over and over and over again, he thinks the same thing. He’s not fast enough to get there in time, to save them both. He’s not fast enough to rescue his sister, to save his mentor. He’s not fast enough. He’s never been fast enough. He can’t phase through objects or throw lightning or do anything that The Flash can do, because he’s just the sidekick. What was it that Snart had called him, when they first met? Baby Flash. Hero lite.

Barry could do this, he thinks. Barry could tap into the speed force and go faster, run harder, move quicker. If it was Wally and Iris who were trapped by the Reverse Flash, if somehow their positions were switched, Barry would get there in time.

He shoots past one of the turns he needs to take and barely slows down in time to avoid the wall of the building he’s about to run into. He stops next to the building and tries to remember the exact route Cisco told him to take before they all ran out of the building. He remembers he needs to turn a few streets back, and then he runs straight for about six miles before the road curves and he has to make a slight left; after that, he’s supposed to run for another twenty miles and then another left that should put him in the general vicinity of the place Barry was fighting Thawne for his and Iris’s life. Or was he supposed to take a right? Was he even supposed to run for a mile once he makes that turn? He can’t remember the exact route, and Cisco didn’t have an exact destination in mind when they planned the rescue.

Thawne’s message had said something about holding Iris at the place Barry and his mom had taken their last outing together, and then Barry was gone. His suit tracker had shut off, and they knew it wasn’t Barry’s doing because he couldn’t override the suit’s GPS tracker. Not anymore. Cisco explained that something would’ve had to phase through it to make it malfunction, and in an instant Wally was suited up, ready to go.

They made a plan; Wally would run ahead and search for them. Caitlin would be following the signal of his tracker, but they wouldn’t be able to direct him from the van. Not with Caitlin driving and Cisco trying to vibe to identify the exact location of the Reverse Flash from another world. He took off, and they followed, and now there was no one to tell him where to go. How was he supposed to be a leader if he couldn’t even remember directions? They were counting on him and he couldn’t remember where he was going.

“Damn it,” he mutters, slamming his fist into the brick. “Damn it damn it damnit damnitdamnitdamnit.”

“God, that doesn’t even sound like English anymore.”

Wally pressed the comm closer to his ear. “Caitlin?” he asks, hopefully. It was a woman, definitely, and it didn’t really sound like her but he knew that when Cisco was vibing, signals like this could be easily distorted. He hopes it’s her, finally able to contact him from the mobile command van.

It doesn’t even occur to him that he’s so much faster than they are, that they are probably still stuck at a light a few yards back.

“Uh, no,” the voice says. “I’m Linda. I’m a friend of the team, I guess. Cisco called and told me they had an emergency and to get over here. He said you would need help.”

Wally takes a deep breath, tries to steady himself, to stop freaking out. “I missed a turn,” he explains.

“I can see that,” Linda says. “But I’m going to make sure you don’t miss anymore. So how about you pick up the pace, kid.”

He rolled his eyes, biting back the sharp retort. But he started focusing anyway, taking another deep breath and tapping into the speed force. Lightning crackles in the air, and Wally takes off, shooting back the way he came.

“Take a right,” Linda directs, and Wally does, turning gracefully and picking up speed along the straight road. “Where are you headed, anyway? There’s nothing around the point you’re running toward.”

“We’re not sure,” Wally admits. “Reverse Flash told Barry to meet him at the place him and his mom had their last outing, and then Barry was gone. He didn’t even whisper the location under his breath or anything helpful. We think it’s around that location, but we’re not sure.”

Linda hmms so quietly he can barely pick it up over the comm. “How old was Barry when his mom died? Oh, and take the slight right once the road splits.”

He is glad she’s there, because he could’ve sworn he as supposed to take a left here. “I think he was eleven.”

He keeps running, and thinking about Barry and Iris, though his panic has decreased exponentially. Linda’s soft breathing in his ear gives him something to focus on besides his own panic and his own worry. “You’re heading toward the harbor, right?” Linda asks.

“Yeah.”

“There’s an old aquarium around there,” she said. “It closed down around nine years ago. If I were a betting girl, I’d put my money on that being where the meeting is supposed to take place. Barry seems like the kind of nerd who would love aquariums.”

He absorbs this, glad to have a possible location to start his search. “Cisco and Caitlin totally missed that. How did you remember that old aquarium?”

“Because I was also the kind of nerd who loved aquariums.”

She tells him to take a left and then another right in quick succession. He passes over the point where Barry’s tracker went dead, and it’s a goddamned miracle that he even catches the glint of light on metal that makes him slow down. A ring, bright and gold and glittering with diamonds, sits discarded on the sidewalk of a desolate street, and Wally realizes instantly why he stopped. It’s Iris’s engagement ring, and he can feel the faint pull of the speed force coming from it; as an object that represents their incredible bond, the speed force is mildly attracted to it, mildly attached. Barry must’ve noticed it, too. That must’ve been why he stopped. Thawne set a trap to disable Barry’s trackers.

He picks it up and slips it into one of the few concealed pouches Cisco added to his suit.

He keeps running.

“You’re getting close,” she murmurs over the comm. “The aquarium is just a few hundred more feet. Go straight, and... take a left.”

He turns at her direction, finding himself in front of a large building with faded paint, the words Central City Aquarium still visible even at night. “It’s eerie,” he says, staring at it. He thinks his mom took him here once when he was younger. He has the impressions of a memory of this place.

“Are they in there?”

He breathes in through his nose and tries to concentrate, to see if he can feel the accumulation of the Speed Force. Max could do that, he knows. Max would’ve know if Barry was in there. “I don’t know,” he says, his voice on the precipice of desperation. “I’m not like Cisco. I can’t sense people from other worlds. I don’t know--”

“Then I guess you’ll have to go inside,” she says, and her voice is calm. It breaks the flurry of this thoughts, steadying him. She’s so cool under pressure, he thinks. If she’s a friend of the team, then she knows what’s at stake, knows that Barry is in there, that Iris is in there. And yet, unlike Cisco or Caitlin, who get excited or shrill or anxious, yelling when things happen, she is calm. Collected. “Be safe, Wally.”

He walks up to the door. “Thanks, Linda,” he says, and opens it.

#wallywednesday

Trending Tags

Recently Viewed Tags

#wallywednesday