radiothebook Chapter 194 Reverse Lightning: Who the hell is the villain?
Chapter 194 Reverse Lightning: Who the hell is the villain?
Chapter 194 Reverse Lightning: Who the hell is the villain?
"Professor Wells... what exactly is going on?"
"Barry Allen asked."
"Oh God, I really want to say something witty, but I just can't."
Cisco maintained a "I'm frozen" expression: "Even Snider wasn't that scary."
He muttered to Catherine beside him, "I'd rather have Captain Cold pointing a freeze gun at my head than be around a laughing lunatic from Gotham—at least Captain Cold wouldn't kill indiscriminately. But did you see Lord Wayne switching between cold indifference and bursting into laughter just now?"
Catherine seemed to be deep in thought.
She was thinking about the fact that the other person called Dr. Wells "Swan".
"Dr. Wells, are you going with him?"
The Flash, Barry Allen, stopped Reverse-Flash Swann, who was turning his wheelchair to follow Bruce Wayne out of the lab: "He...he won't do anything to you, will he?"
"fine."
Reverse-Flash had no interest in talking to the Flash. His mind was in turmoil. One moment he was thinking about what he should do if Batman found out about his affairs, and the next he was wondering how to shut Batman up if he couldn't kill him.
"Barry, I'm sorry, I have something to do right now." He said this as he tried to get out of the car in his wheelchair.
But he was stopped by the Flash again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Batman walking slowly at first, then suddenly start running, making a phone call as he ran.
What does he want to do?
A strong sense of unease lingered in Reverse-Flash's mind, but he still had to reassure Barry Allen in front of him.
"Dr. Wells, as you know, I can't just let you go out like that in your wheelchair... with Mr. Wayne."
Looking at the other person's sincere expression, Reverse Flash just wanted to give this idiot a supersonic chop to the forehead.
But he still had to patiently make up lies for him:
"I'll be fine. Mr. Wayne is... I just... what? You want to come along? No need! Hey, give me some privacy..."
Five or six minutes later, Reverse Lightning finally arrived at the lobby on the first floor of the Star Labs in a hurry, sitting in an electric wheelchair and taking the elevator.
Even though he longed to speed away from The Flash as soon as he was out of sight, reason still made him abandon this risky endeavor.
They were too close; if Barry found out, all his efforts would be in vain.
The more dangerous the situation, the less you should panic.
He quickly drove his electric wheelchair, ignoring the receptionist's calls, and rushed out of the door on the first floor of the Starry Sky Laboratory.
Clang!
The first sliding door closed behind him. Reverse Flash continued to move forward in his wheelchair, observing the situation outside through the semi-transparent glass:
Traffic was heavy, everything was normal.
He can reach the street directly by passing through the two sliding doors next to the outermost revolving door.
Whoosh!
He passed through the outermost sliding door, and then...
Reverse Lightning stopped moving the wheelchair.
A flash of red lightning streaked across the sky, and within the extremely short timeframe beyond human reaction time, he quickly retreated back into the revolving door, then reopened the first sliding door, attempting to return to the first-floor lobby of the Star Labs.
He failed.
He sighed, returned to his wheelchair, pushed it out of the revolving door, and then slowly pulled out a Flash-style uniform ring from under the wheelchair seat.
He did this because at this moment, what appeared before Reverse Lightning was not the bustling street he should have seen, but a vast, blood-red desert.
Swann turned around and saw that the revolving door and sliding door behind him had all turned into flowing mud, which finally condensed into a mud monster nearly three meters tall, wearing Robin's ridiculous yellow and red uniform.
and many more.
Robin's uniform?!
Isn't that the villain, Mudface?!
Reverse Lightning's face turned grim.
Someone replaced the original main entrance of the Star Lab with a portal, while Mudface transformed into a second revolving door. The glass next to it also conjured up images of the street outside, luring him through the first door and into the trap.
rustle……
Reverse Lightning heard a sound, like the sound of some kind of multi-legged animal walking on the sand.
He saw Poison Ivy emerge from behind a small, blood-red sand dune.
Isn't this just another villain?
Poison Ivy was sitting on a walking Rafflesia, completely protecting herself with layers upon layers of vines.
What's most eye-catching are the dozens of vines that sprout from behind her, each one holding... well.
Take it...
Uh... what is that thing?
fuck!
Reverse Lightning looked closely and realized that what was being held on those vines were actually freeze guns!
"Hahaha, Reverse Flash! You're finished! We've been planning to deal with you for a long time!"
He saw Mudface pull out a freeze gun and point it at him. The expression on that mud-faced man was like he was under the influence of nitrous oxide, his mouth stretched all the way to his ears.
"I've been called in to fight again, how annoying."
As Poison Ivy piloted the plant monster beneath her, she muttered to herself, "Making me do research and then having me fight—this is utter exploitation!"
"That's not what you said when you were bragging to me about how many trees you planted in the desert today."
Beside her, Deathshooter sat inside a mech.
"Since you've accepted the funding for environmental protection, you should fulfill your responsibilities."
"Deadshot Floyd Lawton said."
He was equipped with an even more outrageous freeze cannon, the barrel of which was now directly aimed at Reverse Lightning.
"And I'm ready to end the mission."
Alberd Swann donned the yellow Reverse-Flash uniform in an instant.
He originally wanted to say, "Batman, come out and face me," but he was unsure whether all of this was orchestrated by Batman.
If it's the Batman he knows, he probably wouldn't be hanging out with so many villains... right?
The freeze guns these villains are carrying are clearly different from Captain Cold's. Are they from Mr. Freeze's technology? Yet they still counter the speed of the speedster.
Reverse-Flash began to regret that, both before and after his time travel, he had devoted too much energy to the Flash and other superpowered individuals, and had not collected any information about Batman.
He turned his gaze to the three villains who were gradually closing in, but soon he heard the voice of Batman, Bruce Wayne, coming from behind them.
"Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, Mr. Swann. There is no concept of time in the Red of All Beings, so I'll just greet you like this for now."
"What exactly do you want, Batman?" Reverse-Flash was somewhat heartbroken. He couldn't believe that Batman was hanging out with this group of villains, but he forcibly suppressed this feeling of regret and instead asked more rational questions, trying to gather information about the other party:
How did you know me?
"And what do you know?"
"you……"
He bombarded Chen Tao with a barrage of questions, but Chen Tao didn't answer them directly. Instead, he continued speaking on his own:
"I'm sorry I didn't have everyone come out to greet you, Dr. Swann. I've already sent Killer Croc and Nightwing, who was leading the team, away from the Crimson Realm. After all, they're just mortals and might not be able to face a speedster with such murderous intent."
When he spoke of murderous intent, it was as if he were describing himself.
Reverse Lightning tensed his muscles little by little.
"Batman," he asked, "what exactly do you want from me?"
Reverse-Flash, Elberd Swann, was prepared for a desperate fight. His opponent had clearly come prepared; it was a trap specifically set for speedsters, and he had simply stepped into it.
This trap was specially made for him—or, of course, for The Flash?
Batman came with ill intentions.
Reverse-Flash finally saw Batman's true face as Batman emerged from behind his three allies and stood before him.
He keenly noticed that the other person's uniform was somewhat different from what he knew:
Batman's uniform was no longer the black, pointed-ear mask that half-covered his face, but a navy blue hood that covered his entire face.
This change weighed heavily on his mind.
Something must have gone wrong with Batman, making him different from the history he knows.
He heard the other person open their mouth, ignoring his obvious aggressive stance, and smoothly recount his life story.
"Your name is Alberd Swann, born in the 25th century..."
The other person knew him inside and out, and this feeling of someone knowing him so well made Reverse-Flash feel terrible. If he had been planning how to lie to Batman before, that idea was now completely shattered.
The worst has already happened; Batman knows far more than anyone imagined. And he also knows very well that a superhero like Batman would never let him off the hook.
Reverse Flash is ready for a fierce battle.
He saw Batman walk past the three men and straight up to him.
"Reverse-Flash, Elberd Swann, what is your purpose in coming to the 21st century?"
This question startled Reverse Flash.
"Is this the final question before the battle? Well, if you want to know, I'll tell you."
Batman has already revealed his true colors, so there's no point in holding onto such useless information as what his purpose is. Even if he doesn't say it now, Batman will find out when he actually starts to carry it out.
He said, "My goal is to get the Flash to help me open a portal and send me back to my time."
Reverse Flash stalled for time with nonsense while pondering how to clean up the mess.
He must ensure that nothing about what's happening now reaches the Flash's ears, thus altering history, and he must also ensure that Batman doesn't die, preventing a butterfly effect.
This is an incredibly difficult project, and Reverse Lightning is already finding it a bit of a headache.
This Batman seems to know everything; we can't let him continue to associate with the Flash.
Reverse Lightning pondered silently.
As he was thinking this, he suddenly noticed that the tense atmosphere on the field had paused.
Then he heard Batman's strange voice.
"So your goal is to create the Flash and have him take you home, right?"
"Yes," Reverse Flash said. "What's wrong?"
Then he saw Batman wave his hand, and the three villains looked at each other, then all put away their weapons and walked back behind the dunes.
"What do you mean, Batman?" The other party's actions made Reverse-Flash, who was ready to fight, lower his fist.
"We need to talk," he heard the other person say. "Since your goal is to go home, why go through all this trouble?"
"Because I have a blood feud with The Flash for killing his mother, I killed his mother," Reverse-Flash said. "And The Flash will one day realize that I am Reverse-Flash, so I must use enough leverage to force The Flash to..."
But Batman quickly interrupted him: "Nonsense, you didn't kill Barry Allen's mother."
Eh?
"I did kill..."
Reverse-Flash wanted to say something more, but Batman interrupted him again:
"Even if you killed him, why admit it? Just say you and Barry were good friends in the future, not enemies at all. You two happily conducted lightning experiments together, and you had the exact same accident as the Flash, and then..."
That seems to make some sense.
Reverse Flash fell into deep thought. Meanwhile, Batman in front of him became more and more engrossed in his tale, even beginning to chant.
"You two were comrades-in-arms and friends, but one time you encountered some kind of crisis, and the Speed Force accidentally sent you two traveling through time, resulting in the death of Barry's biological mother."
"This is all due to mistakes made by both of you and Barry. Remember, emphasize that it was a mistake made by both of you, and give Barry some of the blame. Now, Barry has gone back to his time, but you can't go back, so you don't know how to go back either."
Reverse-Flash said, "...That's right, I killed the real Harrison Wells and impersonated him, but I am still a criminal."
"No, who said you killed Harrison Wells?"
Reverse-Flash felt his mind go blank as Batman so easily denied his crimes. He kept hearing Batman's voice repeating:
"You were just walking along the roadside feeling lost because the Speed Force wasn't enough to get you home, when you noticed someone had been in a car accident. You went to help him, only to be shocked to discover that he was Harrison Wells. You were stunned because historically, Harrison Wells was the Flash's mentor, and now he's dead here."
Batman got more and more excited as he spoke:
"Then you suddenly realize that this is a time loop. The Flash once told you that he had a good friend and mentor when he was young, Professor Wells, but he never told you why that mentor is not by his side now."
"And now you know why, because you've realized that you are that mentor!"
Reverse-Flash stared blankly as Batman raised his hands: "That way, the hatred between you and the Flash is completely wiped clean. It's a perfect logical loop. You can simply ask him to help you go back to the future as his future friend. Do you think Barry Allen would refuse?"
Wow! Thank you so much to the patron of "Long Island Without Snow" (长岛没雪), this book has gained its second patron!
(End of this chapter)