Disclaimer: NEW chapter and I'm still not the owner.

This has all been betaed by the lovely FATEISoverrated in like- two weeks! Amazing person, isn't she?!

Part Two: Ticking

Chapter 11: Set

Wally was prepared to race. To run. To utilize his kinetic energy to it's full potential and thereby moving at an extreme velocity through the air. He was all set to go. Except until he wasn't. Apparently there was a lot more to moving with speed than just running. Go figure.

"Alright, first things first," said Jay with his military-gym-teacher style attitude that was, surprisingly, not even close to being scary like Coach Saunders back in Keystone, "We get started on coordination. The worst thing about being a speedster is the switch between speeds. Makes a person think you're damn clumsy, but it works out better than you'd think where the whole civilian identity is concerned."

Wally nodded. He almost wanted to take notes, but there was no blackboard, and he still couldn't actually write anything down beyond numbers without tearing the paper or breaking pencils. Typing was marginally better, but he had to type like a cave-man and he worked so slowly that it was almost not worth it. That is, until Aunt Iris said that he wasn't allowed to practice speed until he finished his homework. He knew it worried Jay that his pace was slow, so he had to try harder and slow caveman-typing was worth it so that Jay didn't think he was broken or something.

"The easiest way to start working up the shift in speeds is to work on reflexes," continued Jay, seemingly unaware that Wally's thoughts abandoned Jay's speech in the moment he paused.

That was an issue all speedsters had, according to Jay. Apparently, because a speedster's mind worked at a naturally faster pace, they could think miles ahead if they weren't really concentrating on the task in front of them. It's why they were considered to have an attention deficit disorder of some kind. But he really couldn't help it. In the time it took the average person to breathe, Wally could do calculate the derivative of a logarithmic function and the integral of said function. Twice.

"Wally?" said Jay, looking amused, the Flash barely concealing a grin.

Crap.

"Er, sorry," said Wally, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, "I missed what you said."

"I said that we're going to train your reflexes," said Jay, grinning, "By playing a very fun game of dodge-ball.

That was when Wally noticed the large bag of balls, that must have appeared from thin air (or the radio-shack or airplane garage), sitting at Jay's feet. Wally paused, and dropped his head. His entire face fell and he almost wanted to cry. Instead of getting to run and watch the colors blur and move at the speed of light- he was playing dodge-ball. This was going to suck. Worse, he was going to make a complete fool of himself in front of his idols and they were going to realize why exactly Wally barely managed to scrape a 'C' in gym. It had nothing to do with his mother's laments that the bigger kids had an advantage. His dad had the right idea. It was because he was a scrawny, uncoordinated klutz that couldn't catch a ball for peanuts.

"Relax kid," said Jay easily, mistaking Wally's nerves as excitement rather than fear. "All we're doing is training your reflexes to dodge at high speeds. Barry and I'll give you a demo. Flash?"

Immediately the Flash stepped up to the plate, giving Wally a quick wink though it was hard to tell from behind the cowl. Then he turned his attention to Jay, as he moved to the center of the runway. For a second, everything was quiet, and then, there was a sharp piercing sound as the air was cut by a large ball roving through it. The ball flew through the air, dicing and ripping at amazing speeds before it slid through and headed for the Flash.

The Flash, for his part, stood perfectly still as the ball flew at him. Once it was half-way towards him, he moved out of the way, just leaving enough time for the ball to crash into the ground, leaving a small crack in the asphalt. The Flash grinned, as he called back, "Going easy on me?"

Jay chuckled in response. Wally's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. How was he going to dodge a ball going as fast as a car? Or faster than that even!

"You're turn," said Jay with a nod, "We'll start slow, one ball at a time. Just duck out of the way, alright?"

Wally merely nodded.

Stepping up to the center of the runway, Wally turned to see Jay, giving him a smile. Barry was waving from beside Jay, having already sped over to wait with the other man. Jay lifted a ball, and tossed it into the air, making it seem harmless as he did so. Then he turned to Wally, and with a whip of his arm, he flung it at him.

Wally stared in shock at the ball. The aim was impressive as the ball spun in the air. No wonder Jay had been on the football team as a kid. It moved so fast that it started to pick up some fire at the edges as it flew towards Wally.

"Dodge!" yelled a voice, suddenly finding its way into Wally's head and his body reacted the only way he remembered how to.

He jumped to the side, watching the blackened rubber land a few feet away before tripping on his own two feet, and landing in a heap on the ground. His heart was pounding and he could barely breathe as he stared at the ball ahead of him. Had he actually dodged that?

"Kid?" came a worried voice, and Wally turned to see Uncle Bar- Flash, standing above him, looking concerned.

"Di- I- That really happened?" asked Wally, a bit stunned.

"You're doing great kid!"

Wally turned to see Jay, standing before him as well. He felt a bit envious as he looked at the older two Flashes, both grinning encouragingly at him. Wally licked his lips as he stood up, his legs a bit wobbly still.

"You're reflexes are starting to work. Let yourself relax. Feel the speed," said Jay soothingly, "Let's keep going, okay?"

"Yeah," said Wally shakily, as Jay lead Barry away.

He was once again standing in the middle of the air strip, waiting for Jay's call. He heard Jay's yell of 'Now!' before he saw the ball coming at him. This time the angle was lower, aiming for his legs rather than his torso. The speed was the same neck-breaking speed it had been before, and Wally reacted instinctively, as he ducked to the side. This time without tripping.

"Now!"

A second one came after the first, this time from a different angle and it was soaring through the air, making its way to hit him. Wally frowned, as he stared at the angle. He backed up four steps, and as predicted, the ball landed in front of him. Had he been in his spot, the force of the ball's impact with the ground might have been enough to disrupt his balance, but it wouldn't have struck.

Suddenly there was a little 'click' in his mind. This was physics! If he was able to estimate the ball's trajectory he could possibly determine the position it would hit. Of course, he could hardly do the entire mathematical process but-

"Now!"

He could probably use a base model and rework it for the situation. The thought was cut off as he rushed slightly to the left, avoiding a ball that narrowly missed his shoulder. Bad guess. He'd overestimated the ball's path and almost ran into it. The next ball coming at him was coming low and almost looking to be rolling through the air, just hovering over the air-strip as it bounced twice on the ground. Safely Wally stayed where he was, letting it roll away to the left of him.

"You're doing great Kid!" called Flash, grinning immensely at the situation, "Ready for two on one?"

Wally gaped at his uncle, unsure. Jay was still throwing the balls, and he was still dodging. One ball had grazed the top of his shoulder, and he'd just felt the ball's hit. The costume had absorbed the friction of the blow, but other than that, this was easy. He still had to work on that model, but this was easy.

"Ye- Yeah!" he called, and to his surprise, rather than Uncle Barry picking up the balls, Jay was. He was sending them two at a time, using his advantage as a speedster to send them at faster speeds than Wally was prepared for, and from various angles.

Out of the corner of his eye, Wally noticed that his Uncle Barry was speeding around and collecting the balls on the ground that were surprisingly still intact and toss-able. He'd managed to grasp the basic models for the pathways the balls could take and he had a pretty good idea of how to predict their movements and where he should go, but other than that, it wasn't too much math. He noticed now, that he was definitely moving faster than the balls. It was getting easy to duck this way and that.

In fact, it was so easy that Wally was now prioritizing in his own mind the differences in when each ball would hit. Ball B from the right would hit later than Ball A from the left, so he could afford to wait in Ball B's pathway for a few seconds before ducking away. In this haze of balls flying, nobody sought to warn Wally of the third ball now entering the arena thanks to his Uncle Barry.

As the ball whizzed past Wally's torso, the boy having ducked at the last second, he turned to see a grinning Barry holding a ball up and bouncing it before he suddenly whipped it with a tremendous force at Wally. This ball was going faster than the ones Jay was throwing. As if Barry's entry into their game had spurred Jay on, the balls themselves were moving faster. To Joan and Iris, it was just blurs of reds and blacks and blues, spinning around as they moved, and then stopped to reveal which speedster was where, or which ball was going where and landing and splitting asphalt below it.

Some were so fast, Wally had to react instinctively and duck out of the way, while others were moving so slow that Wally had to blink thrice and just walk a few steps and watch it fall away. He didn't realize he was grinning as they continued to play their game. At first he didn't recognize the laughter that started to bubble from his lips, pouring out in a way he'd never felt before while playing sports.

The once difficult-to-attune senses were reacting instinctively, his mind still faster than his brain as he moved. The model in his mind was still there, but it was muted. Almost like an afterthought to consider later on. He found himself able to hear the ball, sense the shifts in the winds around him. It was like his body had become hypersensitive. Every movement around him was registering in his senses. It was so amazing. He could tell the speeds that were heading towards him before he saw the ball themselves, and then he just knew where to move. Like he was some kind of fortune-teller.

"Alright! Time!" called Jay, his words moving at a hyper-speed to register with Wally's speed.

The boy grinned as he came to a stop, bouncing on the balls of his feet. His kinetic energy was pulsing through him, struggling to be contained. He wanted to run. To be released. To finally achieve that speed catharsis that he could only dream about late at night before his tired mind shut down.

"Canwerunnow?!" begged Wally, as Uncle Barry came over and ruffled his hair, laughing at the pink-faced boy before him and his enthusiasm.

"Well done!" called Jay, grinning as he came over, "Only one hit! I don't think I've seen anyone attune to the speed as quickly as you kid. Took me a couple of days before I could figure out how to deal with everyone moving at different speeds around me. Took Barry a... month?"

"Two weeks," said Barry grudgingly, but his grin betrayed no hurt at the subject, "I could switch speeds like I could breathe, but being able to sense speed took me two weeks to figure out without hurting myself or anyone else in the process. And it took the kid what, two hours?"

"I did it better than you?" squeaked Wally, eyes wide in shock as pride filled his body. He had done better than the Flash.

"Probably means he's got a natural feel of speed around him, but his body can't regulate it," said Jay thoughtfully as he stroked his chin, "Like the opposite to you. He's struggling to figure out his own internal speeds, and you can regulate the internal speeds at ease. Huh. Another speed mystery."

"What about you then, Jay?" asked Wally with a small frown, "And what does that mean? I can't control my own speed but I can control the speed around me?"

"Not control the speed around you, per say," said Jay easily, "Just you're extremely aware of the speed around you. I've never heard of anyone that could control speed, but I'm hardly the speedster expert myself. Anyways, what it means is that you're a bit more different from me and Barry. Every speedster is different, don't get me wrong, but you're a bit more different. I've probably got a closer understanding to the speed style that you've got, but overall, my speed's a lot more like Barry's in the sense that I understood my own speed before I was able to process the speed around me. You're working backwards kid; you've got full control and understanding of speeds around you, but absolutely no control of your internal speeds."

"Could it be because of his age?" offered Barry, seeing Wally's confused look, "Teenagers hardly have control of themselves at this age with all the hormonal changes. It could be why he's struggling to set his speeds."

"Could be," said Jay with a nod, and then a stern expression came across his face, "But it definitely means that we need to change his regimen. I should have realized when we were doing the mental training. He wasn't regulating his heart rate on his own, but he was more focused on attuning his heart rate to Joan or myself. And I encouraged him thinking he was figuring out how to differentiate between average speed and speedster speed. He's probably got no understanding of it at all. No wonder he's still struggling with reading! He's got nothing to compare his speed to when he's reading! Shit!"

"So- I'm messed up?" asked Wally, eyes wide and the excitement from earlier fading entirely as he stared in horror at Jay. He'd never seen the older speedster so upset! All because him being a screw up.

"Calm down Jay," said Barry sternly, before giving Wally a gentle smile and wrapping an arm around the kid, "And you're not messed up kid. Jay's just upset because all the mental training you've been doing wasn't actually of any help to you at all. It just means that we've got to work on a new training set for you."

"So- Does that mean I'm not going to be able to run with you?" asked Wally, swallowing at the idea, and biting his lower lip.

"Course not kid," said Jay, tilting his metal hat upwards and sighing, "It just means that there's no way in hell you're going to be ready for school this year."

"Oh," said Wally, a small grin on his face, "That's okay I guess. I'd rather train with you."

The two older speedsters laughed at Wally's suggestion, and Jay reached out and ruffled his hair. He exchanged a look with Barry that went over the kid's head, and replied instead, "No can do kiddo. You're still going to go to school; we're just going to have to train a lot longer. But I guess that means more body exercises. Let's grab some water and start part two of your training."

Iris was prepared when the boys abandoned whatever animated discussion they were having and came over. Automatically, two bottles of water were thrust at Barry, two at Wally, and three at Jay. At once, the three tipped the bottles backwards and gulped the water in unison, making Joan chuckle as she continued her sewing. Apparently she had decided to make Wally some authentic Flash pajamas themed to match the older Flash and Barry's Flash after the boy had pointed out he had no merchandise themed for both Flashes, or Jay's Flash.

"How's it going?" asked Iris with a small smile.

"He's like a mini-speedometer of sorts," said Jay with a chuckle, "Kid can sense speeds like nothing I've ever seen before."

"I'm-I'mdrop- dropping out of school to train!" said Wally, his speed regulating as he slowed himself to match Iris and Jay's conversation. Iris froze for a minute, before immediately sliding her eyes to Barry and raising one elegant eyebrow.

"I'll explain later," said Barry with a chuckle, "And he's not dropping out!"

"Not like I need school anyways if I'm going to be a superhero," continued Wally, ignoring Barry entirely.

"Who needs a secret identity," said Iris wryly, "And I thought you wanted to be a scientist-superhero?"

"Oh yeah," said Wally, crestfallen at the idea.

Joan just gave a little laugh in the background before saying, "So I'm assuming you boys are having fun?"

"Tons!" said Wally with a grin, "Did you see us out there?!"

"You were all such quick blurs, but we saw the gist of it. Iris took some pictures and recorded a bit," said Joan with a nod, "Are you hungry?"

"Nah," said Wally with a shrug, "We're going to do part two of the training now!"

"What's part two?" asked Iris with a questioning glance, "Running?"

"More winding than running," said Jay with a nod to Barry, who immediately returned the nod and rushed ahead to the garage for the jets.

"Winding?" asked Wally, looking a little lost.

"It's like running, but short distances and around objects," explained Jay, "No clear-cut running yet. Barry's going to set up a few hurdles and you're going to go through the obstacles, getting faster and faster with each run through. Once you've run through the course and reached your maximum, Barry and I are going to start switching the course up. You'll keep running, but it's like speed sensing with immobilized objects. You've got to anticipate something in front, behind, or beside you and know where to move. Barry's not bad at it, I took to it with ease. I have no clue what that means for you, kid. Either you'll be able to move through the course like a fish, or we'll be at it for a while."

"And then do we run? Like together? To like Kansas or something?" asked Wally, impatient.

"And then we can run. Well, this exercise is sort of running, but you're on your own, and it's contained" acquiesced Jay with a nod and a smirk, "You need these skills though, being able to predict where to move and react without a thought. If you can't tell what's where and what's going to move and how, you'll crash into a lot of things and hurt yourself or the people around you."

Wally nodded solemnly, before turning to hear Barry's call. With a last wave to his aunt and Joan, he followed Jay out to the course.

The course Barry set up was deceptively easy. He'd used the poles that he suspected Bruce left specifically to help with training, like he had with the balls, and created a very simple hurdles course. There was a small wall to jump over first. It was brick, and set up wide at the corner. About three or four kilometers away. Then there were ten tires to step through. About five kilometers away from the tires were three large poles to wind around. The poles were spaced a kilometer apart each. Finally, Barry had set up a narrow gate about two kilometers away made up by two small fence-like structures that you had to move through before repeating the course. The course was widely spaced, with spaces between everything and probably about ten kilometers between the last obstacle and the first wall. Plenty of room to move and play. It was made up in a circular shape, like a circuit.

"Alright, start of walking through the course," said Jay, resuming his role as gym teacher, "Go slow and steady; get a feel for it, even if it feels silly. Once you're comfortable, speed up and start running. Just keep going until you can't get any faster."

"It's going to get pretty boring by the time you get there, but Jay and I are going to time you and measure your speed to get an idea of what we're dealing with," said Barry with a nod, "So don't be surprised if the changes don't come too soon."

Wally just nodded hesitantly, before he jumped over the small brick wall, barely a foot high. Then he was stepping through the four tires, going slowly and getting a feel for stretching his legs as he hopped. The poles were easy to wind through, and he strolled through them before crossing the narrow wall, which was actually a bit wider than Barry had intended as Wally went through it with ease.

He repeated the process three times, each time getting a little more confident as he slipped through. Finally he called out, "I'm going to start running through it!"

"Go ahead," replied Jay, his sensor out as he headed to the narrow wall escape and stood, ready to take readings of Wally's speed. Reluctantly, Barry followed and glanced over at the sensor's screen.

Wally began to run, slow still. It was just a jog really, an average, normal jog as he huffed through the course, looking for the entire world as bored as Barry felt. After he clocked through the wall, his speed was barely clocking 5 miles an hour. However, that began to change as he gradually picked up speed. By the fourth run through the course, he was running at 13 miles per hour and barely breaking a sweat. This was the first time Barry had gotten a chance to see Wally actually moving, actually picking up speed. The dodge-ball game wasn't like this slow, tandem dance that was picking up tempo. It was too sudden and jerky and Wally had hardly been going at a fast, running pace. This was running in all its grace. Like ballet.

He got faster still. Barry's eyes had to adjust as the kid started to slowly blur. By the eleventh run through the course, he was at 98.7 miles per hour and still gaining in speed. Barry watched, as the kid went into a red, kinetic blur that was circling now, a small laugh tinkling through the air, barely heard at the speed Wally was moving, but enough for Jay to chuckle beside him, and Barry to crack a grin. He was at his twenty-fifth run through the course, and the speed he was touching was almost 320 miles an hour. And still gaining.

"Haven't seen the kid go this fast," murmured Jay, as he glanced at the sensor. If Wally kept going at the pace he was going, he could easily pass the sensor's measly limit of eight hundred miles per hour. They may have to break out the sensor for measuring air-plane speeds that Bruce probably left lying around somewhere. Probably to hook up the results to the Bat-Cave.

"He's something, alright," said Barry, as Wally reached 600 miles per hour by his fiftieth run through, the sound of the kid running through the air filling Barry's ears. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Iris and Joan standing and watching, their mouths open and grinning wide. It was really something, to see the kid at work. It wasn't a real run by no matter, but it was fast. And it was proof. Proof of something they'd only ever seen hints of. Proof that the one day of seeing Wally speed through their house was real.

"Keep your eye on the kid," said Jay softly, "If he keeps letting go like this, he may touch sound."

And Barry watched, eyes hungry as he stared at Wally, just making out the kid's delighted expression as he weaved through the barriers and obstacles, light on his feet like Hermes himself. The red hair was whipping around Wally's face, as the wind current he was creating whipped by them, probably reaching Iris and Joan and blowing a cool breeze. There was a light funnel of air dancing above the kid.

But sound barrier.

He was just touching about 650 miles per hour, twice as fast as his first time running, but not enough to break sound. He had started to hover at that speed. Probably as stretched as he was for now. He'd need practice with speed. But Barry found himself unable to care. Because this was good. This was more than good. This was awe-inspiring all on its own. And Barry was content to just watch.

Hal felt like a real jack-ass when he arrived. At first, he hadn't expected what he saw, really. He'd been stunned as he flew over Washington State, and came to the address Batman had told him. The first thing he saw was a red blur, running in circles in the middle of an abandoned airstrip. He'd assumed it was Barry, and started to soar down, letting the ring lead. Then he'd actually seen Barry.

And holy fuck that wasn't Barry running.

There was the kid, running. Like really running, but not real at the same time. He was just cycling through some weird course Barry had set up. Jay was moving some tires, rolling them in and trying to mess the kid up, but that little red blur kept at it. Hal could only stand there, breath caught in his throat as he watched him move, dancing and the sound of laughter just tinkling through his ears. His throat stuck, and he couldn't help but stare. It was beautiful. Like the first time he'd ever flown in a plane. Mesmerizing.

"Green Lantern- Back-up required! Have you got Flash yet?! Why is his comm off?" came the annoying drawl of one Superman himself.

Right.

He wasn't here to observe.

Hal dove into the situation, easily adding his own ring's light to the obstacle course to signal his entry in. He created a few poles, and the kid winded through them, before suddenly realizing what they were. As if on cue, he wheeled off his circular course, and Hal had to change the poles into a hand to pluck the kid out of the air before he crashed into something. He winced at sudden bang into the hand, more for the kid's sake than himself.

"Uncle Hal?!" cried Wally, staring at the man, looking dazed, "What- Green Lantern- What?!"

"Hey kiddo," said Hal with a wink, as he landed on his feet, bringing Wally down.

"What- Why are you here Hal? In costume?" asked Barry, uncertain as he sped over, "And that was dangerous just tossing in like that."

"Are you going to join us?!" asked Wally, looking bright and cheerful.

"Sorry, no can do kid," said Hal, glancing at Barry. The Flash's face fell, as he realized why Hal was here.

"A mission? Seriously?! I had the day off!" said Flash, looking ticked off.

"It's in Star, you and I are the closest to respond. Ultra Humanite, Metallo, Volcana and Killer Frost are robbing a museum of a large diamond or something. John just took out a chunk of heroes for an off-world mission, so we're closest and fastest to respond. Superman's already on site, Green Arrow's trying to sneak away from a board meeting as we speak," said Hal apologetically, "and Batman's pissed your comm was off. I told him I'd get you."

"I turned it off for a reason," growled Flash.

"You're leaving?" asked Wally, face falling in his little red Flash costume.

"You're making a mini-Flash?" asked Hal, indicating the costume, but was ignored as Flash bent over his young nephew and sighed.

"I got to head out kiddo," said Flash with a grimace, "But I'll be back soon and then we'll run together for real. Be good for Jay, okay?"

"Kay," said Wally, shrugging and failing to hide the disappointment on his face.

"C'mon Barry," said Hal, and the two headed to the zetas.

The last thing Flash saw was his nephew's disappointment expression before he was beamed away.