American comic book: My Father is Superman, am I just an NPC?

Chapter 258 The Mysterious Paradox!
Inside the central hall of the Star Labs.

The others, of course, also felt the earth-shaking tremors. The control room was in chaos, with equipment shaking and lights flickering on and off.

Cisco and Caitlin stared in horror at the apocalyptic scene outside the window. Barry was also jolted awake from his memory analysis by the violent shaking and alarms, tearing off his helmet and looking around blankly.

"what happened!"

Before they could even figure out what was going on...

Crimson lightning, like an ominous sign, suddenly appeared in the control center of the Star Labs, and the iconic reverse-colored battle suit sent chills down the spines of everyone present.

“Reverse Flash!” Barry Allen exclaimed, almost jumping up from the chair in the memory analyzer. His face was filled with shock and anger. It was also his habitual thinking that made him subconsciously connect the violent tremor and the terrifying explosion in the distance with his nemesis.

"You were behind that earthquake! What are you trying to do now?!" That's just the kind of personality the young Flash has; he's easily and stubbornly convinced of the information he's conjured up in his mind.

In general.

Those familiar with Reverse-Flash would often use this opportunity to manipulate or verbally attack the Flash. However, at this moment, Alberd Swann's mind was already filled with the anxiety of the chaotic timeline and the obstructed path home, and he had lost his usual leisurely mood of teasing the Flash like a cat playing with a mouse.

"Like you, I'm searching for the culprit who altered the timeline."

His gaze, like a cold scanner, quickly swept over Barry, confirming that the man was unharmed except for being frightened, especially since the Speed ​​Force core remained stable.

"I do not believe!"

The Flash, of course, disagreed.

"I don't need you to believe me. Just do what you're supposed to do, The Flash." Reverse-Flash's voice came through the mask, carrying an impatient coldness.

He didn't answer the question about the nuclear explosion, nor did he even glance at Cisco and Caitlin. His crimson figure blurred slightly, as if he would turn into lightning and disappear again at any moment.

"Stop!" Upon seeing this, Barry disregarded the fact that he was still connected to the analyzer. His Speed ​​Force surged instinctively, and he wanted to break free of the wires binding him and give chase.

He is indeed very fast.

It got much faster today.

Unfortunately, Reverse Flash was much faster than before! The instant Barry moved, Reverse Flash seemed to have anticipated it. The crimson figure turned back at a speed far exceeding Barry's reaction time. Instead of attacking vital points, it precisely and skillfully kicked Barry's shinbone, which he had just exerted force with!

"Crack!"

A sickening crack of bone breaking echoed clearly in the control room.

"Ah—!" Barry let out a piercing cry of pain, his whole body slumped into the chair as if his bones had been removed, his forehead instantly covered in cold sweat, and his face turned deathly pale.

His right calf was bent at an unnatural angle.

It's obviously a fracture.

This time, Reverse-Flash showed absolutely no mercy. His figure solidified again amidst Barry's cries of pain. He leaned down, his crimson mask almost pressed against Barry's face, contorted in agony, and said in a low, threatening voice, "I told you, do what you're supposed to do. Don't get in my way."

After saying that, before anyone could react, Reverse Flash was engulfed in blinding crimson arcs of electricity. He vanished from the control room as if erased by an eraser, leaving behind only the pungent smell of ozone, Barry slumped in his chair groaning in pain, and Cisco and Caitlin, who were both stunned into silence.

After a few seconds of dead silence, Cisco and Caitlin seemed to snap out of their daze and rushed forward in a panic.

"Barry! Are you alright?!" Caitlin's voice was choked with tears as she looked at Barry's obviously broken leg, completely at a loss. Hindsight is always 20/20 with these people.

After all, in the blink of an eye, they couldn't keep up with the speedsters' pace.

Cisco was also pale, wanting to touch it but not daring to: "Oh, my friend, your leg... your leg reminds me of the turkey leg my mom used to give me for Christmas."

He's not very good at talking, but he likes to talk a lot.

"..."

Barry winced in pain.

They gasped for breath.

He really wanted to yell at them, "Do I look like I'm alright?!", but the intense pain and the cold warning Reverse Lightning gave him before it left forced him to maintain his last shred of sanity.

Therefore.

Barry began to ponder why Reverse-Flash had appeared and what he wanted to do. As if he had just thought of something, he suddenly looked anxiously at his two emotionally unintelligent partners.

"Don't worry about me... Quick, go find Dr. Wells! Reverse-Flash's target... might be the Doctor! He definitely wants to kidnap the Doctor and use him to carry out some kind of conspiracy!"

The Flash gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, and forced out a sound through clenched teeth. It's true what they say, stereotypes are terrifying; the stereotypes surrounding Reverse-Flash perfectly illustrate this point.

Of course, his analysis is not without merit from his perspective. Reverse-Flash has targeted Dr. Wells multiple times, attempting to obtain information about the Speed ​​Force and future technologies.

However, no one knew that it was just Reverse-Flash, a show orchestrated by Dr. Wells himself. From beginning to end, Wells and Reverse-Flash were the same person.

“You’re right! He’s very likely targeting the Doctor! After all, no one in the world knows the Speed ​​Force better than the Doctor!” Cisco and Caitlin’s expressions also turned grim upon hearing this.

Yup!

The doctor just went out alone!
It must be very dangerous now.

The two exchanged a glance, not caring about anything else. Caitlin stayed behind to quickly stabilize Barry's injured leg, while Cisco immediately turned around and rushed out of the control room, shouting the Doctor's name loudly along the corridor.

Shortly after Cisco ran out, the sound of a wheelchair turning came from the other end of the corridor. Dr. Harrison Wells appeared quickly, pushing his wheelchair with a look of "surprise" and "concern".

"What happened? I just heard a loud bang and Barry's shout? Is there something wrong with the equipment?" Dr. Wells' voice was filled with "just the right" anxiety.

When he saw the mess in the control room and Barry lying in a chair, clutching his broken leg and sweating profusely, his expression froze and then became extremely solemn.

"Doctor! I'm so glad you're alright!" Cisco breathed a sigh of relief and quickly explained, "It was Reverse-Flash! He suddenly barged in, injured Barry, and then disappeared!"

"Reverse Lightning?! That's impossible!"

Dr. Wells wore an expression of disbelief, his voice rising eight octaves, "I clearly upgraded the lab's defense system! How could he have broken in so silently?!"

This guy's acting skills are indeed far superior to those of Hollywood stars. There's not a trace of acting in him; he reacts exactly like someone who has just learned about this situation.

“He’s faster, Doctor.” Barry spoke weakly, his eyes filled with resentment and confusion, despite the excruciating pain. “Perhaps… I’m not the only one who’s gotten faster today.”

Even now, The Flash still doesn't know why he's become so fast. However, if he can inexplicably become much faster, perhaps Reverse-Flash can also receive this gift from the Speed ​​Force?
That's what he thought.

"Perhaps." Upon hearing this, Dr. Wells adjusted his glasses, his eyes behind the lenses flickered for a moment, and then he revealed a thoughtful and serious expression.

"Regardless, the most important thing now is to treat Barry immediately!" He immediately displayed his leadership qualities, directing, "Sisco, Caitlin, quick, carefully help Barry to the medical room! His leg injury can't be delayed! We must give him emergency treatment right away!"

The scientists at Star Labs are not only skilled in scientific invention and research into superpowers, but also possess medical expertise comparable to that of major hospitals.

After all, practice makes perfect.

Sometimes the Flash gets seriously injured several times a day.

“Okay! Barry’s condition is indeed a bit frightening.” The two quickly did as instructed, carefully lifting Barry and moving him toward the medical room.

Dr. Wells followed behind, maneuvering the wheelchair as he spoke in a heavy, analytical tone: “Reverse-Flash went too far this time… Such injuries would certainly leave a lifelong disability on an ordinary person. Fortunately, Barry is a speedster; his cellular activity and self-healing abilities far surpass those of ordinary people, and in some respects, even surpass the regenerative abilities of Superman, that powerful alien.”

He began to seriously analyze the physiological characteristics of speedsters, trying to divert everyone's attention from Reverse Lightning's true purpose for breaking in.

how to say.

This analysis inevitably contains some of his boasting and pride about himself as the fastest, and it may also be because Reverse-Flash has not yet seen Superman show his idealistic side.

No one else has seen it either.

So Wells's statement did manage to intimidate everyone present.

He continues to output.

"As for why Reverse-Flash suddenly barged in..." Dr. Wells pondered, as if struggling to reason, "Perhaps, like Barry, he also discovered that his speed had suddenly gained an inexplicable boost today. He doesn't understand why, and feels confused or even panicked, so he wanted to check on you, Barry. After all, your powers originate from the same source. And injuring you... might be a warning, or to ensure that you won't interfere with his investigation?"

He cleverly explained Reverse-Flash's violent behavior as a form of "research" and "prevention," successfully guiding Cisco and Caitlin's thinking in the direction of "the speedster's abnormal speed," temporarily concealing the deeper timeline chaos behind it and his own secrets.

Meanwhile, at Star Labs, "Dr. Wells" calmly directed the rescue efforts and successfully swayed the thinking of several people. On the other side, the real Alberd Swann, clad in the Reverse-Flash suit, had transformed into a crimson lightning bolt tearing through the rain, hurtling towards the location of the nuclear explosion at top speed.

Anyone who has studied speedsters will understand what this means.

The Wells who just appeared in the lab was clearly just a "time remnant" he created using the Speed ​​Force to deal with any unexpected situations there and to create an alibi.

The remnants of time are indeed very useful, while his true self needs to personally verify the truth of the nuclear explosion and... investigate the potential factors causing the timeline chaos.

Wells's account of the remnant of time is not entirely without truth.

Reverse-Flash broke the Flash's leg because he didn't want the Flash to interfere with him during this time. After all, if unimaginable changes occurred in the future, there would be no point in him continuing to support the Flash.

"Damn it! Who is that Ian?! And what caused this explosion?! There's no record of a nuclear explosion anywhere tonight!" Reverse-Flash roared.

He quickly reached the edge of the nuclear explosion zone. Even from a considerable distance, the onslaught of heat, intense radiation, and the pervasive aura of destruction made him extremely uncomfortable. Speedsters weren't invincible; faced with such pure physical destructive energy, he dared not easily venture into the core area.

then.

He stopped, and beneath his scarlet mask, his sharp gaze pierced through the pervasive dust and radioactive smoke, looking down at the mushroom cloud that was still rising and churning.

The sight before him made his pupils shrink!
In that death-filled sky, two figures were locked in a frenzied battle at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow! One of them was the familiar blue and red—Superman Clark Kent! And the other… was a three-headed, six-armed, and incredibly bizarre-looking speedster!
“Savita? No! Savita doesn’t look like this!” Reverse-Flash realized he had once again fallen into a blind spot in his knowledge; none of the speedsters he had recorded in history matched this person’s characteristics.

His eyes kept flashing.

He stared intently at the area where the battle was taking place.

I saw.

The battle between the two superhumans centered around several objects gleaming with an ominous metallic sheen. These were several more nuclear warheads; clearly, the military had launched more than one. Since Superman wasn't yet the general's son-in-law, perhaps the military also harbored the intention to use the nuclear weapons to eliminate him.

In short, the one that just exploded was only one of them, and it was probably accidentally triggered during the struggle. It's impossible to say for sure about Reverse Lightning, since both sides were covered in dust but were unharmed.

"Damn it! Give it to me!"

Superman is yelling in frustration.

He intends to push them to higher altitudes or into outer space.

Meanwhile, the other speedster with three heads and six arms hovered around Superman like a ghost, using his speed to interfere with his movements and even trying to steal the nuclear warhead!
"Do you know how powerful Doomsday grows after eating this stuff? You have no idea! You just made me lose one, but luckily I have plenty of mine in reserve!"

"When Doomsday resurrects, I'm going to show off everything in Doomsday's mouth!"

The monster's voice had a deep, reverberating quality. Both of them were incredibly fast, leaving countless afterimages in the air, and the shockwave from their collision cleared away the surrounding dust.

"Doomsday! That damn madman! He's trying to amplify Doomsday's power!" Reverse-Flash immediately guessed what was going on. Lex Luthor's conspiracy and the government's panic were no secrets to him, since they were all recorded in history museums. However, he hadn't guessed that today was the day Superman would fight Doomsday.

After all, Reverse-Flash only cared about things related to The Flash; he only remembered the approximate time of other events. The only thing he was certain of was that there shouldn't have been such a strangely-looking speedster among tonight's Superman-related events. After all, Reverse-Flash remembered every speedster in history.

Not only were the bizarre speedsters unrecognizable to Reverse-Flash, but what truly terrified him was—

"That speedster... how can he be so fast?! Even Superman can't keep up with his speed!" Reverse-Flash clearly saw that although Superman's movements were incredibly violent, with each punch capable of shattering mountains, he always seemed to be half a beat slower in front of that three-headed, six-armed speedster.

If the speedster hadn't seemed so fixated on grabbing Superman's neck, he might have easily outmaneuvered him. After all, the grayish-white arcs of the Speed ​​Force formed a terrifying Speed ​​Force domain, a domain that made even Superman's super speed pale in comparison.

"Oh, what an unbelievable speed!" Greed, like a poisonous weed, festered wildly in Reverse-Flash's heart. He was a speedster from the future, deeply versed in the secrets of the Speed ​​Force. Because of this, he also knew a forbidden formula that allowed him to forcibly seize the Speed ​​Force of other speedsters and claim it for himself!

The surging, primal, and powerful Speed ​​Force emanating from this monster speedster was an irresistible temptation for Reverse-Flash!
If he could obtain this power, his plan to return to the future would be completely unhindered! It would even be terrifying enough to forcibly break through time with speed, rather than relying on the Speed ​​Force!
"Looks like I'll be on Superman's side today," Reverse-Flash muttered to himself, as if justifying his actions.

He then took a deep breath and began running wildly in place, accumulating the power of the God of Speed.

A blinding crimson lightning bolt gathered around him, emitting a buzzing sound like the shrill cries of thousands of birds. He seized an opportunity, taking advantage of the moment when Ian seemed focused on dodging a powerful punch from Superman, and suddenly hurled the accumulated crimson lightning like a spear—this was the attack technique of the advanced Speedster.

Lightning contains immense energy, including the reverse speed force of Reverse Lightning. He was confident that if it hit, he could freeze that monstrous speedster for a moment, creating an opportunity for Superman to deliver the fatal blow!
"The fastest person in the world can only be me!"

Crimson lightning tore through the sky with a frenzied force, carrying an aura of destruction and the ambition of Reverse Lightning, shooting straight toward the only speedster among the two locked in combat in the air!
Monster Speedster seems too obsessed with Superman's nape.

There was no reaction.

However, just when Reverse Flash thought he was about to succeed, another change occurred!

The crimson lightning he threw seemed to hit an invisible wall dozens of meters away from Ian and Superman, and suddenly stopped! Then, a fair, slender hand that seemed to belong to another world appeared out of thin air and gently and casually pinched the violent crimson lightning.

Like pinching a noisy firefly.

"How is this possible!" Reverse Lightning was shocked and stared in disbelief at the scene before him. His full-force attack had been so easily blocked?

He stared intently, and saw a figure appear between him and the battlefield, seemingly out of nowhere.

It was a woman dressed in an elaborate and brightly colored Lolita dress, her face covered by a hazy black veil, making it impossible to see her features.

Against the backdrop of this apocalyptic downpour and nuclear explosion.

She held an exquisite black lace parasol, her posture as elegant as if she were attending an afternoon tea party, completely out of place with her surroundings, exuding an eeriness and disharmony.

"who are you?!"

Reverse Lightning shouted sharply, and the crimson lightning around his body surged again, putting him into a state of high alert.

"Also a speedster?!"

It's no wonder Reverse Flash is suspicious; after all, there has already been a speedster with no historical record, so it wouldn't be too surprising if a second one appeared.

Moreover, except for the fastest.

Reverse Lightning doesn't believe anyone can catch the lightning it throws out.

"Hehe, Swann, this should be the first time you meet me, but it will be the last time I meet you—yes, we've had quite a few interactions."

"But for you, those are things that haven't happened yet." The woman in the black veil gently turned the umbrella handle, and the crimson lightning bolt held between her fingers vanished silently like a docile pet. She raised her head, her gaze behind the veil seemingly falling on Reverse Lightning, with a faint, almost imperceptible smile.

“That boy will die in this time and space, but definitely not today, and it won’t be you who writes about him.” Her voice was ethereal and otherworldly, as if it came from another dimension.

"Hmm?" Reverse Flash's alarm bells rang in his mind. This woman gave him an extremely dangerous feeling, far more so than the three-headed, six-armed monster in the air.

"What do you mean?!"

He was already filled with doubt and suspicion, and his mind was conjuring up all sorts of things. The smarter a person is, the more they think, and the more turbulent his heart became after hearing what the other person said.

"Call me the Time Lord, Swan, the eternal nightmare of you speedsters..." The woman in the black veil, of course, was Lady Paradox, and she continued speaking in her unique tone.

“Since you’re so eager to challenge the fastest, then your opponent tonight will be it…” she said, casually raising her free hand.

He made a light sweeping motion through the air beside him.

"Zi la——!"

It was truly unexpected and incredibly mysterious. The Paradoxical Lady had actually created a strange, high-speed force field, blue in color, with its edges constantly collapsing and reforming.

only.

The color of the Speed ​​Field was not the vibrant gold of Barry, nor the reversed crimson of Reverse Lightning, nor the chaotic gray-white of Ian. Instead, it was a blue that represented the Time Lords, echoing the "ultimate power of time," and was also the color of TARDIS.

"What are you doing!"

Immediately afterward, under Reverse Lightning's gaze, which felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, a hideous figure slowly crawled out of the eerie speed field.

That was... a time ghost!
However, this undead was unlike any Reverse Lightning had ever encountered before.

"No...this is impossible..."

Reverse Lightning's voice trembled with extreme fear. He had encountered time spirits before, and even created them himself; he shouldn't have reacted so violently.

but.

Who allowed this time-traveling ghost to appear, wearing a tattered, filthy battle robe, yet whose style and color were still recognizable! And that robe was exactly the same as his own!

Reverse Lightning isn't stupid.

He knows what this means!
"No!!!!!"

Reverse Lightning tried to mask its inner terror with a trembling roar.

The time-bender clad in the Reverse-Flash suit raised its head, its empty eye sockets burning with crimson, hate-filled flames, and locked its gaze fixed on Elberd Swann. It let out a silent roar, filled with an obsession to destroy everything, and transformed into a bolt of black lightning, lunging forward!

Reverse Flash trembled all over, his legs felt weak, but he knew he still had to run!

"escape!"

"Escape to a place where even time can't catch up with you!"

This is the only instruction the brain gives to Reverse-Flash's body.

no way.

When he saw another "self" with his own eyes.

When he appeared before him in this form of a ghost, utterly abandoned by time and eternally suffering, the extreme fear that came from his instincts instantly overwhelmed all his reason!

(End of this chapter)