[center][h1][color=orangered][b]I M P U L S E[/b][/color][/h1][/center]
[hr][center][sub][b]The Future [color=yellow] ♦ [/color] 62 Years Ago [color=yellow] ♦ [/color] 2030 
Happy Harbor, Rhode Island[/b][/sub][/center]

The ground shook and the sky thundered as the world Bart Allen knew was slowly torn apart. Huge expanses of ground cracked and split miles in each direction, cities collapsed in eruptions of dust, and the oceans boiled away. The very air itself burned his lungs with every shallow breath, and the purple flashes of energy far above brought with them deafening explosions that rattled the young man to his core. 

It had only been five hours since the World Devourer had begun feasting upon the planet itself. Less than three since the first sign of structural damage to the Earth's surface. Merely an hour following that when the ozone layer had been ripped from the atmosphere like a bandaid from flesh. Thankfully, the citizens of the planet, what little remained, would be long dead before they suffered from the unfiltered radiation of the sun. At best estimate, the world had less than a dozen minutes before complete and total annihilation. 

Max Mercury had made sure to utilize every single second left to its fullest. 

Shortly following the arrival of the cosmic colossus that now loomed over the Earth and blotted out the sun, the one-time history professor turned resistance fighter turned adoptive father had put the final stages of his plans into motion. Or, relative motion. If there had been any onlookers remaining to witness, the pair of Bart Allen and Max Mercury would seem to be entirely unmoving. In fact, Max and his young mentee were holding a comprehensive conversation that had been lasting for nearly five hours but spanned decades worth of information. At closer inspection, the lips and lower jaws of the two speeders would appear entirely as a blur; their conversation taking place at such a heightened tempo that their voices were virtually soundless. 

It was a monumental effort, even for the two of them, but it was one that must be taken. Everything hinged upon their exchange. Upon the attention and memory of one seventeen-year-old boy whose thoughts were dominated by the realization of what he was about to leave behind. 

"Do you understand?" The older man asked after delivering the final, critical piece of instruction. "Can you do this?"

Bart grit his teeth and nodded. His muscles were sore, his head ached, and he knew that the moment he reverted to normal velocity the tears that had begun welling up hours ago would finally spring forth. 

"Yeah," he choked out. "I know what I have to do. All of it. I promise I won't forget."

Max smiled softly and pulled the boy into a hug. "I know. I believe in you."

The two stayed like that a moment longer, though to the outside world nothing seemed to change. 

"Max, I—"

"I'm afraid there's not much time left, kid. Even for us. I don't know about you, but I'm about at my limit." Max pulled away gently and turned towards the sky where the inconceivably monumental figure could be seen amid the stars. "And the moment we slow down is the moment you need to be gone. I know there's still a lot left to say. Not even a lifetime of words could change that. But this has to be it, kiddo. It's now or never."

Bart bit down hard, forcing the anguish he felt down inside. He knew Max was right. Even though part of Bart didn't want to go through with the plan; didn't want to leave. 

Max stepped back and gestured toward the hunk of metal a few feet beside them. "It's now or never," he repeated softly as if reading Bart's mind. 

Nodding once more, the teen steeled himself and entered the machine. The interior was barely large enough to house his body, and the exterior was only mildly better. It contained no inner controls, no visible circuitry, nothing at all to distinguish the highly sophisticated yet crudely constructed device from a random junkyard art piece. The only accouterments were a series of straps along the back wall meant to secure the passenger during the journey. The apparatus had been designed with one goal in mind, and its preprogrammed routine would take over the instant it was engaged. 

As Bart fastened the straps across his shoulders and waist, Max approached and set one hand on the thick hatch door that hung open. In his other hand was a small device with a single touchpad button displayed; the normally blinking red light to indicate its safety was disengaged was frozen in time. 

"I'd ask if you're all set, but we both know the answer to that," Max said.

The younger speedster looked away to gather himself before he dared to speak. When he did, he looked the man who had raised him the last twelve years in the eye and said with absolute conviction, "I'll find a way one day, Max. I'll make it back. I'll fix everything, I'll do just as you said, and then I'm going to find a way back. I don't care if it's not possible. I'll do it."

Max smiled back at the boy. "Kid, I believe you can do anything you set your mind to. It's why I know the future's safe in your hands."

As he moved to close the hatch, Bart caught Max's arm. 

"Thank you, Max. For everything. I..." He hesitated, the words caught in his mouth, unable to come out.

Max's smile only grew larger. He knew what Bart had wanted to say. And that was all he needed. 

The hatch closed and the locking mechanism settled into place. The two maintained eye contact through the tiny viewport as Max raised the device in his left hand up high, his thumb hovering over the screen just an inch above the red button. 

Bart watched as his mentor suddenly dropped to regular celerity. The onrush of fatigue Max must have felt in that moment as his body screamed in pain caused him to stumble slightly, but he remained upright and smiling. Bart didn't dare do the same for fear of losing consciousness and missing even a nanosecond of seeing Max's face one last time. The older man's lips moved slowly, the time differential meaning Bart couldn't truly hear the words, but he could tell what was said just the same. 

"I'm proud of you, son."

Then Bart's vision was cast in a disorienting white glow as the inside of the time machine he was strapped into seemed to rock back and forth, and the youth was jettisoned into the past.