The guy next to Barry was himself from this timeline.
He was also Barry Allen, but because his past experiences and family environment were completely different, he was a completely different person from the Barry who possessed the Speed Force.
This guy was erratic, unreliable, and carefree all day long, no different from an ordinary college student who would mess around!
Barry couldn't even imagine that he would turn out like this!
Of course, none of this was the key.
The real key was that this Barry shouldn't have appeared here at all!
How could there be two identical people in one world?
According to the normal timeline, shouldn't Barry return to his original future, see his mother alive and his father back from prison, and continue to live his original life?
Perhaps due to the change in time, Barry couldn't know what his past in this timeline was, but at least he successfully saved his parents, and that was enough.
Memories with family could be slowly created in the future.
But... why did he meet another himself?
Barry couldn't figure out why this was happening, and what made his head ache even more was that the other him in front of him didn't have the Speed Force.
The Speed Force, Barry's superpower, is a special ability that allows him to run and think quickly, and it is his capital to return from the future to the past to change everything.
However, this Barry didn't have it at all!
If his future self didn't help, he might never even gain the Speed Force.
Because in the original timeline, Barry Allen was helping out in the lab.
On that rainy night, Barry Allen, who stayed in the lab, would be struck by lightning, and then various unknown potions, along with the lightning, would strike him, allowing him to gain the Speed Force.
This world's Barry didn't go to work in the lab, so it was naturally impossible for him to gain superpowers at the critical moment.
If this world's Barry Allen didn't gain the Speed Force, then the future Barry Allen wouldn't be able to gain the Speed Force either.
Without the Speed Force, Barry wouldn't be able to go back to the past to save his mother.
Therefore, Barry had to make his self in this world gain superpowers.
For this, he took his self from this world and broke into the lab late at night, trying to recreate the scene of that day, so that his self in this world could gain the same abilities as him.
The result was that this world's Flash Barry did gain superpowers.
But also because the Flash Barry from the future world was struck by lightning, he lost his superpowers.
This was undoubtedly bad news.
What if the future Barry lost his superpowers, then he would be completely trapped in this unrecognizable timeline, unable to return to his original world.
And even worse news was yet to come!
Atlantis actually waged war on the land! Launching tsunami attacks on multiple cities simultaneously!
It was then that Barry discovered that this world's Arthur was not the Superhero Aquaman, but had instead become the King of Atlantis, and was about to declare war on the land!
Barry originally wanted to go to Metropolis to find Superman and have Superman resolve this crisis.
However, after he arrived in Metropolis, he found that there was no Superman in this world at all.
Not only Superman, but Wonder Woman and Cyborg were also absent, and besides them, Barry couldn't find anyone who could stop Aquaman Arthur.
But fortunately, this world did not lack heroes; just when Barry was pacing anxiously, he learned through a TV broadcast that a guy known as 'Sea God' had saved everyone.
The world crisis was resolved, and the Sea God was to negotiate with humanity as the new King of Atlantis, with the negotiation scheduled for today.
This seemed like a good ending.
However, before Barry could even breathe a sigh of relief, Zod, who appeared on TV, made him almost have a heart attack and pass out.
Although this world had no Superman, no Wonder Woman, and no Cyborg, and even Aquaman had become a major villain who wanted to destroy the world.
But unaffected by Earth's timeline, those things that should happen would still happen.
For example, Zod's invasion!
"Only Superman can stop Zod, but… damn it!"
Leaving the bar with his other hippie self, Barry clutched his head, not knowing what to do.
The one who originally stopped Zod was Superman.
Although many people died and were injured in the process, and many parts of Metropolis became ruins, at least Superman successfully defeated Zod and prevented Earth from being terraformed into Krypton.
But now, Superman simply didn't exist in this world.
Who else could he turn to?
That 'Sea God' who seemed to be able to control the sea?
But what good was controlling the sea? Zod's spaceship was in the sky, and once they activated the Genesis Engine, the ability to control the sea alone wouldn't be enough to destroy that alien technology.
And Barry had no idea how to find that 'Sea God'!
He couldn't possibly run to the sea and yell, 'I'm Flash, I want to talk to the Sea God,' could he?
That would only make people think he had gone crazy.
"Oh, right, Batman… maybe there's still Batman…!"
At the last moment, Barry thought of the core of the Justice League, Batman Bruce Wayne.
Since Aquaman existed in this world, and there was another himself.
Then perhaps Superman and Wonder Woman also existed, but they just didn't become Superheroes due to different experiences.
If so, Batman might also exist.
It's just that he might not be Batman; he might be a playboy, or perhaps a philanthropist.
But having a goal is always better than having no goal.
No matter what kind of person this world's Batman was, as long as he could help Barry find the person he wanted to find, then he was a good person!
Thinking this, Barry Allen immediately got up with his other self and headed for Gotham City.
He had to assemble this world's Justice League before Zod destroyed the world!
...
"Are you Atlanteans sure you won't help?"
As Barry rushed to Batman's home, Batman Bruce Wayne, who had re-groomed himself and returned to action, frowned and asked the person sitting opposite him.
The person sitting opposite Bruce was Kevin, who knew about Zod's arrival.
He brought Arthur and Mera with him to Bruce's home to discuss Zod's matter.
Bruce had originally thought that Kevin's Atlantis would help, but from Kevin, he heard a negative answer.
"We can't help. They are aliens, and their warplanes are in the sky while we are underwater. Unless they are willing to approach the surface, most Atlanteans cannot attack at all."
Kevin told Bruce the facts.
Atlanteans were skilled in underwater combat but not in aerial combat.
Moreover, many Atlanteans couldn't breathe the air on land; once they left the sea, they were no different from fish out of water and would suffocate to death in a short time.
Only Atlantean nobles could appear on land.
There were already few among them who were willing to help humans, and even fewer who would sacrifice their lives to help humans.
Kevin, at least, came out to help in his personal capacity and was allowed to leave by the Atlantean council elders; declaring war on Zod in the name of Atlantis was simply impossible.
"But you said you would help in the future…"
Bruce brought up Kevin's previous promise when he invited him to return.
Kevin spread his hands:
"Yes, so here I am, aren't I?"
"Alright, at least you brought two helpers."
Bruce sighed.
It seemed unlikely to count on the Atlanteans for help, but at least Kevin did keep his promise and came to help, which made Bruce quite relieved.
The TV was still showing news about Zod, and Mera watched and asked:
"He's only asking us to hand over his people; it shouldn't escalate to war, right?"
Regardless of Zod's true intentions, at least his current demeanor on TV wasn't as aggressive as imagined.
Compared to Zod, the Atlanteans who had previously waged war on the land seemed more deserving of vigilance.
In Mera's view, as long as the Earthlings handed over the people Zod spoke of, war might be avoided.
Kevin and Bruce, however, seemed a bit too vigilant.
When Mera finished speaking, the three men present remained silent.
Mera's idea was likely the common thought of most people on Earth at the moment.
Zod, from Krypton, did not launch a massive attack after entering Earth, but rather politely asked Earthlings to return his people.
From this perspective, they fit the image of 'friendly' aliens in people's minds.
Many even thought about establishing communication with them to gain technology.
But Kevin knew who Zod was.
Batman never trusted anyone, and even less would he trust Zod from Krypton.
As for Arthur… from the perspective of a tribal leader, he simply didn't believe Zod would travel all the way to Earth just to find people, so he wouldn't trust Zod either.
Therefore, the opinions of the three men present were surprisingly consistent at this moment.
"Zod's purpose is not that simple," Kevin said meaningfully.
Bruce nodded slightly, then looked at Kevin with a hint of curiosity:
"You seem to know this alien? Oh, right, I heard you say you've been to outer space…"
"Not your outer space here, and I haven't dealt with Zod, but I do know him. However, instead of me explaining it to you, why don't we let someone who understands him better explain it to you?"
Kevin ended with a cryptic remark.
Bruce raised an eyebrow, instinctively looking towards the computer nearby.
After Kevin's uninvited intrusion into the manor last time, Bruce had installed surveillance cameras outside the manor as well.
Thus, he could now see on the monitor that two men were walking into Bruce's manor together.
One was looking around everywhere, while the other seemed very familiar with the place, walking directly towards the old castle gate behind the manor.
Twins…?
Seeing the two men's identical appearance, Bruce suddenly remembered what Kevin had mentioned when he came over earlier.
'If one day a pair of people who look like twins come to you for help, you can come to me.'
Kevin had said something similar.
And now, the 'twins' Kevin had mentioned had indeed come knocking.
"They are…?"
"Just as I once said, they've come to you for help."
"So that means you knew Zod would come a long time ago, didn't you?"
Bruce instantly understood everything.
Kevin knowing that someone resembling twins would come to him for help proved that he might have seen the existence of this day a long time ago, knowing that Zod would come to Earth.
Precognition?
Bruce's first thought was this superpower; if Kevin possessed the ability to foresee the future, then it would be normal for him to know about this day.
However, considering Kevin's behavior, Bruce felt it wasn't like that.
If he truly could foresee the future, he wouldn't have come to Bruce to seek information about someone.
Bruce had two guesses.
The first was that Kevin's precognition ability had a limited scope of future events it could foresee, and it didn't provide clear details, only a general idea.
And the other guess…
"Although it's just my guess and may not be accurate, I still want to ask…" Bruce narrowed his eyes, looking at Kevin:
"You wouldn't happen to be a time traveler, would you?"
Just like in the movie "Back to the Future."