pertwk Chapter 198 The Death of the Flash! The Future Visible Through Reverse-Flash
Chapter 198 The Death of the Flash! The Future Visible Through Reverse-Flash
Chapter 198 The Death of the Flash! The Future Visible Through Reverse-Flash!
"Seriously, Batman. I don't understand why you have that sour look on your face, and why you sent Reverse-Flash to help the Flash, and you even included me."
Chen Tao and Killer Croc sat in the stealth aircraft, traveling at supersonic speed through the blood-red, hazy sky of the Crimson Realm.
The crocodile said somewhat sullenly:
"We already know now, don't we? That gorilla Groot—"
"It's Gerud," Chen Tao corrected him.
"That's a gorilla, and a super psychic at that, no less powerful than the bald Bane who turned Bane into a zombie, not the tree-man next door."
“Yes, yes, Grodd,” Killer Croc said, “but I still don’t understand. We already know about both Turtleman and Grodd, oh, and that mastermind who likes to wear a Superman suit and hide his face in the shadows to look like Scarface—it’s all out in the open!”
The crocodile said, "What's there to be afraid of? What are you worried about? To be honest, although I've always been very confident in my intelligence, I'll admit that you're a little bit smarter than me."
With one hand, he activated his ability, gripping the instrument fixed to the control panel that allowed him to see the material plane within the Crimson of All Beings; his other, scale-covered arm was hooked around Chen Tao's seat, and he patted Batman's seat with his hand or claw.
"Even I can think of several ways to make things difficult for the gorilla and the turtle, don't you have any ideas?"
He said, "Reverse-Flash, The Flash, and you who can turn into a Kryptonian with red eyes, plus me and the thugs we can call at any time."
"Nightwing is my Robin, not a thug."
Killer Croc, dressed in Robin's uniform, glared at the bull with his bull eyes.
"I'm your Robin! I'm going to get angry if you say that."
"..."
Chen Tao was speechless.
"In short, I feel this battle is completely predictable. What other key factors could influence the outcome? The Rogue Gang?"
Chen Tao sighed.
"Use your brain, Wellen." He adopted a lecturing tone towards Robin. "What's being overlooked?"
"What?"
The crocodile stared with its big, blinking eyes.
Chen Tao sighed again.
"Who brought us to Elsa's office?"
"Reverse Lightning."
"Recall the specifics, Wellen."
"Oh, okay." Killer Croc answered honestly, "He said he found the Madon family's stronghold, so we went straight there from the Red City. We originally wanted to rescue Barry's girlfriend, Patty, but it turned out she wasn't locked up there at all. Instead, we accidentally discovered Gorilla Grodd and Turtle Man—"
"That's the problem."
Chen Tao said, "It went too smoothly."
"?"
"The heroes sneaked into the Demon King's lair, only to overhear his entire plan? Not too early, not too late, just at the right time, and I even discovered the mastermind behind it all at once?"
Chen Tao said, "Everything is too deliberate. It's too cliché, so cliché that it makes me want to laugh."
"But we've already witnessed it with our own eyes..."
"What you see is fact, but not the truth, Wellen. This must all be a Reverse Flash conspiracy. If I had any faith in him before, I have absolutely no faith in him now."
Killer Croc opened his mouth, finding it difficult to express himself: "Just because Reverse-Flash took us there? Why? You told me about Reverse-Flash's background last time. Didn't you already cooperate with him, having Barry send him back to his own time? Didn't you tell me his goal was to go home?"
"To be precise, Reverse-Flash's purpose was to replace The Flash, but when he realized he couldn't do it, that purpose became to torture The Flash."
"I'm getting a little dizzy," Killer Croc said.
"When he discovered that this goal was also unattainable, he finally settled for second best and left the present to return to his own time."
Chen Tao paused for a moment, then said:
"So do you understand what this means?"
"What does that mean?"
"This means that Reverse Flash will always act irrationally because of the hatred in his heart."
Chen Tao answered him.
"No one understands Reverse-Flash better than me. What he wants is for Barry to know that he is the murderer of his mother, to hate him with a vengeance, yet still have to send him back to the future. That would give him a climax."
A peaceful plan to return home? Even if he temporarily convinced himself to accept it, the darkness and hatred within him would still involuntarily drive him to sabotage the plan.
"I had long suspected that Swann was not such a settled person, but I never expected that he would not stop even for a moment."
Chen Tao narrowed his eyes: "Reverse Lightning is a speedster. I have no idea what he's been doing behind my back. Nothing could be more dangerous than that."
Swann deliberately exposed Grodd the gorilla, the turtle man, and the mastermind behind them to us, undoubtedly to conceal a deeper purpose. I must add another layer of security to my plan.
"Ah, I think..."
Chen Tao ignored Killer Crocodile. From the other party's perspective, his deduction seemed to be nothing more than the delusions of a paranoid lunatic. But only Chen Tao knew that it was by no means unfounded.
Reverse-Flash's move seems very deceptive. If he hadn't read the comics, he might have already been distracted and was enthusiastically devising a plan to deal with the gorilla and the turtle.
Unfortunately, he had seen it; this was a mistake Reverse-Flash hadn't anticipated, which would naturally lead to a completely different outcome. He knew Reverse-Flash all too well. Human behavior is driven by their character; they cannot defy their instincts.
"We've arrived."
Chen Tao glanced at the instruments, then maneuvered the plane to land on the red desert.
He and Killer Croc jumped out of the driver's seat, and Killer Croc opened the door.
"Where is this?"
He asked.
Midtown Hospital.
Chen Tao replied, "Another key figure in the Rogue Gang, Captain Cold's sister, Mirror Master's girlfriend, the Golden Glider, Lisa Snart."
Chen Tao said, "Her physical body is recuperating here."
"Physical body?"
Chen Tao didn't explain to Killer Croc, but continued, "Whatever Reverse-Flash's conspiracy, whatever he wants to do to the Flash..."
He and Killer Croc stepped out the door and stood at the entrance of Midtown Hospital.
"As the Flash's number one fan, how could I not come to their rescue, Little Red? Of course, I also have the bargaining chips the Rogues want, you know..."
Chen Tao said.
"Captain Cold needs to eat too. And Golden Glider obviously does too."
He said this with a hidden meaning.
……
……
……
Let's rewind to shortly after Reverse-Flash and Chen Tao first met. At that time, the Flash, Chen Tao, and Killer Croc were in the Void Bar, trying to find out the whereabouts of the Weather Wizard from the Magician.
Reverse Flash, meanwhile, was alone, and...
run.
I am Reverse-Flash, Elberd Swann.
No one understands The Flash better than me.
Nobody knows exactly how much effort I put into becoming the Flash.
Ever since I traveled through time and was shocked to discover in a 21st-century museum that Reverse-Flash, the Flash's historical enemy, was me, I have never given up trying to replace him.
How I wished The Flash would disappear.
I traveled back to the night Barry Allen became the Flash, and tried to stand in front of him and be struck by the lightning that gave him the Speed Force.
I failed.
When I tried to replace The Flash, I was almost excluded from objective existence.
The lightning bolt passed right through me, as if I were just a phantom, an insignificant obstacle, mocking me, mocking my powerlessness.
I have finally discovered a paradox.
The first requirement for me to become Reverse-Flash: there must be Barry first, he must become the Flash... and then I will become Reverse-Flash!
The person I hate the most!
The person I'm willing to pay any price to kill!
...I must live, or I will die.
I'm about to go crazy with anger.
I want to get revenge on The Flash. I want to make him suffer.
Research tells us that childhood is a crucial time for shaping one's personality, and also the most vulnerable time. Many personality traits mature during adolescence and influence a person's entire life.
I was going to ruin The Flash's life, and that's exactly what I did.
I once erased Barry Allen's good friend "Dougie" from the timeline.
This is great. Barry exists, and I still exist, but Barry Allen had a lonely childhood. I ruined his childhood and caused him immense suffering.
This feeling is addictive.
So I murdered Barry's mother, just like in the history presented in the museum. Anyway, like with Dodge, it won't affect Barry becoming the Flash; I just wanted to make him suffer.
I was wrong, terribly wrong.
I wiped out The Flash, which almost wiped out myself as well.
First, my already imperfect connection with the Speed Force nearly collapsed, and I found myself trapped in this primitive era.
Then, as the future solidified like cement, I once again felt that dying feeling of being about to be erased from objective reality.
This terrifies me.
And then what? Hahahaha! As soon as the thought "I must train Barry and turn him into the Flash" popped into my head, the feeling of being erased stopped, and the timeline stabilized again.
How ironic.
God knows how many times I've looked at Barry and wanted to chop him in the heart! But countless times when I was about to do it, that sense of being erased reminded me:
If you actually make a move, you'll die too!
How ironic, how ironic!!!
I gave up in the most painful way. In the end, I couldn't change anything. I could never replace him. I was forced to create him with my own hands.
I can only grit my teeth and become part of the Flash legend once again, then slink back to the future where the Flash still exists.
I have to do it. What else can I do? Should I continue living in this primitive era? Every day I live here, every day I see the Flash being loved by everyone, is immense torture for me.
I've almost resigned myself to my fate.
almost.
That's what I thought until Batman approached me.
Reverse-Flash, Elberd Swann, clutched his head and slowly squatted down on the ground.
Countless new memories surged into his mind, and the future, present, and past were undergoing unprecedented upheavals.
He saw the Flash howling in agony, his body enveloped in the Speed Force and Stasis Force, vanishing into thin air.
He saw "Alberd Swann" dressed as The Flash, standing in front of a tombstone with the inscription:
Dedicated to the eternal Flash, who died in battle against Darkseid to protect the world. He deserved the title of Flash; he was a true hero, and his name will live on forever.
He saw a newspaper article that read: Two weeks after the Flash died in front of the whole world, a new Flash has appeared… Is he still the same Flash? Batman claims…
He saw his 25th-century self gazing with utmost reverence at the Batman statue…
An idea popped into Reverse-Flash's mind. He knew this action would definitely lead to the Flash's death, but do you know what's interesting?
"Hahaha, hahaha..." Reverse Flash's eyes widened, veins bulged on his face, and countless blood vessels seemed to burst his eyeballs. Intense ecstasy washed over his heart like a surging tsunami.
To his ecstatic surprise, the moment the idea popped into his head and he decided to put it into practice, he did not feel that familiar sense of "being about to be erased."
And this means...
Barry Allen is definitely dead!!!
Reverse Lightning was laughing softly and maniacally:
And I, Alberd Swann, will don the Flash suit and continue his legend!
……
……
……
Then... let's turn back time to the present.
Reverse-Flash avoided Batman and Killer Croc and went to a secluded place.
He turned on the communication.
A man whose body was half mechanical appeared on the other end of the communication. The El family’s exclusive S-shaped logo was painted on his chest. The logo was so authentic that the angle of the S was perfectly correct. Even Superman would think it was no different from the clothes he was wearing.
It was as if a real member of the El family had painted it for him.
He is the mechanical superhero, Hank Henshaw.
After the spaceship was destroyed, a cosmic ray permanently altered him, turning him into some kind of immortal mechanical life form.
Darkseid of Apokolips discovered him and gave him a body, making him a minion of Apokolips.
"I have done as you said."
The mechanical superhero's voice was as calm as a real machine.
"I betrayed both the Turtle and Groud to you. Remember your promise: kill the Flash, Reverse-Flash."
He said, "Otherwise, you know the consequences."
“Of course, sir,” Reverse-Flash said, “but is it really normal for you to expose yourself directly to Batman’s sight?”
He said, "I thought you would pretend to be Batman's friend and then turn on him at a crucial moment, rather than openly telling Batman that you're not a good guy."
Reverse Lightning stroked his chin. The other person's behavior was strange, as if they were hiding something.
"This is none of your business."
Reverse-Flash blinked. This really wasn't his concern; he only needed to make sure the Flash…
So he simply gave up on discussing the issue.
"Rest assured, sir, Batman trusts me completely, and everything is under control."
He said, "The Rogues' civil war will be the prelude to the Flash's death!"
That's not the time.
Reverse Lightning thought to himself silently.
"Foolish guys."
(End of this chapter)