Thea felt no anger at the old professor storming out. After all, he was slamming Felicity's door, not hers—nothing to do with her.
She just gained new appreciation for how stubborn these old folks could be. Was it really necessary to react so strongly to some changes in life form?
Ronnie Raymond's expression was equally grim. Though he wasn't as outstanding as Cisco and Caitlin, he'd been selected by Reverse-Flash back then because he had genuine talent. The things Thea left unsaid weren't hard to guess by connecting the context.
Making excuses about his chaotic thoughts, Ronnie also quickly left.
Both patients had run off. Good thing this wasn't a hospital, or they'd really deserve a beating. They didn't even pay their medical bills before running!
With no more patients, the three women had nothing to do. Thea had just finished with the flying carrier and planned to rest a couple days. Felicity had made a habit of playing hooky. Caitlin didn't want to return to Central City.
Reverse-Flash, estimating he could be exposed at any moment, was frantically training Barry like a madman. Apparently, the stronger Barry's abilities became, the faster his own Speed Force recovered. With Thea as a major intelligence source, Caitlin basically understood the whole story.
On the other side, Cisco was completely confused, not knowing what medication the usually easygoing Dr. Wells was on to push Barry so hard.
Barry also wore a confused expression. He was high-IQ among superheroes but lacked key clues. Unless he connected Reverse-Flash with the Dr. Wells persona, he'd never find the truth.
Currently, three ladies with nothing to do could only agree to go shopping.
Thanks to Star City's years of social stability, numerous large shopping centers and commercial streets had set up shop here. Star City's economic output had surpassed the battered Metropolis and Gotham, making it a veritable commercial capital.
Thea pulled along Felicity and Caitlin, then dragged out Raven, who was on break from high school and staying home.
Then somehow she discovered several women from Green Arrow's team spacing out. Perfect—not one missing. She dragged them all together for a shopping spree!
Green Arrow's Shado; the Black Canary, Laurel Lance; the White Canary, Sara Lance; and finally even the Demon's Head's younger daughter, Nyssa, were forcibly pulled out.
Eight women—they bought everything they saw. None of them were truly poor. Sara and Nyssa were both trained assassins; money was just numbers to them. Though Laurel and Shado were ordinary public employees with moderate incomes, their boyfriends Oliver and Tommy were loaded. They wielded their boyfriends' credit cards like weapons.
Various spring and summer clothes, handbags, accessories—they bought piles of everything. Laurel particularly loved black fishnet stockings, so they all accompanied her shopping for half the day.
Initially thinking this was just Laurel's personal interest (flirtatiousness), unexpectedly all the women were quite enthusiastic. Felicity, the wild child, needless to say. The remaining Caitlin and Raven chose black stockings. Sara Lance chose white stockings. Nyssa, who had a complicated relationship with Sara, also half-reluctantly selected a few pairs.
Thea originally had no interest in stockings, but seeing the women enthusiastically trying them on, she selected several colors too.
Perhaps she should encourage Diana to try them when she got back? Both she and the long-legged goddess never wore stockings. Maybe Diana in stockings and heels would be more conducive to mental pleasure during comprehensive sparring sessions? The Goddess of Trade and Wealth thought somewhat wickedly.
All merchants offered home delivery service. Swipe the card, package it up, and someone would naturally deliver to the address—no need for the women to carry bags after buying. After a frenzy of shopping, they then went to work out and soak in hot springs.
Lying in the comfortable hot spring, Thea couldn't help thinking—should she form a female Justice League in the future? Actually, this world had quite a few female heroes, but they basically existed as appendages to male heroes, suffering hardships first and enjoying benefits last. People only knew to praise Batman while completely ignoring Batgirl, Huntress, and Batwoman behind him.
The Green Arrow team had the same problem. More women than men, and while men shouldered heavy responsibilities, the hero world's neglect of female heroes was somewhat disheartening.
If Thea didn't rise up, the future Justice League would only have Diana as a female founding member. Even a high schooler like Cyborg could become a founding member, yet the capable and experienced Barbara could only play supporting roles in the Bat-team. This reflected the current state of male and female heroes.
The framework for a female Justice League gradually took shape in Thea's mind. First important metric: combat power. Thea herself and Diana were currently world-class top-tier fighters. Supergirl and Faora could be absorbed. Also, Raven's true strength was incredibly fierce—she just didn't like using it.
There was also plenty of intermediate strength. For example, the women present, several women from Batman's team, Aquaman's wife and her companions. Actually, the numbers were quite substantial.
Thea lay beautifully in the pool, fantasizing about the evil deed of splitting the Justice League.
At this moment, a female assistant approached and whispered, "A Mr. Barry Allen wishes to see you."
Why was Barry looking for her? Thea thought briefly and immediately realized—it must be about the old professor and Ronnie. She gave Caitlin a look, letting them continue playing while she wrapped herself in a bathrobe and came to the rest area.
"Uh, hi..." Seeing her in just a bathrobe with her legs on full display, Barry was momentarily dazzled and nearly bit his own tongue.
After quite a while, he remembered his purpose and coughed. "About Professor Stein's situation, Miss Thea—do you know how to handle it?"
As expected. Thea understood. The old professor wasn't unaware of his physical condition; he just clung to a thread of hope. Now, as a human nuclear bomb, he was accumulating energy every minute. If he lost control for even a moment, there'd be a nuclear explosion. Can't say how large, but leveling Central City's six million people would be no problem.
Barry, who could feel sad all night seeing a child trip, now had a nuclear bomb beside him. No way he could feel at ease.
Unfortunately, Professor Stein wasn't a bad person but rather an old professor full of justice. This left rookie Flash completely lost on what to do. His only solution was to seek help.
"Professor Stein's emotions are very unstable. I kept him at S.T.A.R. Labs. Do you have any way to resolve this?" Barry looked at her with some hope.
Thea nearly laughed aloud. He's really something—leaving a human nuclear bomb next to Reverse-Flash. Did he even consider Reverse-Flash's true inner feelings?
Reverse-Flash must be internally cursing up a storm right now. Secretly making a move to kill the old professor and eliminate future trouble would feel great temporarily, but there was a ninety percent chance the old professor would explode directly. With Reverse-Flash already injured by the cold gun and his Speed Force not recovered to its peak, he couldn't outrun a nuclear blast radius. His chance of dying was higher than his chance of breaking through the time barrier to return to his original timeline.