Impulse {The Flash/Arrow}

Two

"So, why are we out here?" I questioned, stepping down from one rock to another, watching Cisco somehow skillfully jump from rock to rock.

"This location has the strongest reading out of all of the other ones." He answered simply.

"And you think that this has something to do with the singularity?"

"Correct."

"I thought that it wouldn't cause anything like this, though." I thought aloud.

He looked back at me as I landed behind him on the rocky shore. "I think--and I really pray that I'm wrong--that this may have something to do with the amount of quark and exotic matter that we used in order to rip another breach in the universe. After seeing what happened with Wally and the lightning bolt, I don't want to take anymore chances that another psycho villain could come through and wreak more havoc."

"But we opened the singularity months ago." I pointed out. "Wouldn't something like this happen right afterwards?"

He shook his head as we began walking. "Not exactly. Sometimes, the after effects of something this can take weeks or months to become apparent. Hell, we might even see some of the effects years from now due to how it would need to develop in the elements."

"Just one more question: why did you think that it would be a good idea to investigate this when it's freezing outside?" I questioned, referring to the bitter cold enveloping me. "We could be inside eating warm food or doing literally anything else that's warm besides this."

"Are you going to complain the whole time, or am I going to have to gag you?" He was trying to sound intimidating, but I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Sorry to offend." I chuckled. "This just wasn't exactly how I planned on spending my off day. Granted, I am glad that you got me out into the world, but I was hoping that we could have done something warmer."

"Well, I figured what with Barry and Stella both at the precinct you would enjoy the outing so that you wouldn't be too bored."

"Not if it causes pneumonia." I said to myself.

"You're not going to get pneumonia, Ashton." He groaned slightly, making me smile. "Just tough it out. We won't be out here for more than hour or two."

I sighed dramatically before helping him set up some of his energy readers. To any other person outside of our team, the objects would have looked strange, and the readings would have seemed like they were in a completely different language. Thankfully, I'd been reading numbers and graphs like this since I was in grade school, but I still wasn't able to understand how the quark matter readings were so high. They were at least three times the readings that you would see in any laboratory, and it was strange to see them on Earth. I thought that the only place where you could get readings like this were on stars due to their high temperatures. The strangest thing about the occurrence was that it was actually colder in the spots where the quark matter was the highest. In reality, it should have been hotter, but it was the complete opposite, and it threw me for a loop.

"Are the lower temperatures caused by the blast from the singularity?" I questioned, looking up from the tablet in my hands to see the same confusion I felt plastered on Cisco's face.

"I don't know." He answered honestly. "It could be, which would explain why it's so puzzling."

I nodded in agreement just before the wind started to pick up violently. It blew my hair behind me faster than I was able to comprehend, and I took a few steps back due to the sheer force of the hurricane-like winds. There was a sound of thunder and a few flashes of lightning, but there was no rain above us. I looked around to see that the lightning was contained to a small area just in front of us where I had gotten the most readings for protons and quark matter. I furrowed my brow at the rushing wind and storm-like sounds and visions in front of me, not understanding what was happening. Cisco ran over to where I was, pulling me back towards the wall of rocks behind us as the lightning and thunder became more violent. A large blast of wind threw both of us backwards onto the rocky ground, but, thankfully, neither of us hit our heads on any of the rocks surrounding us. Almost as soon as we hit the ground, there was a large crashing sound, and everything else became peaceful and silent.