Every day it was the same tired rhetoric. The campaign staff racked their brains crafting speeches for Moira. If Thea didn't have eternal life, she'd really think this was a waste of time.
The major candidates were still running around securing territory. Even those at a disadvantage refused to concede defeat, and Moira, maintaining her lead, certainly wouldn't relax either. She dragged the whole team from city to city, working the crowds.
Central City—this was already Thea's third visit in the past six months. Learning today's itinerary included Central City, Oliver had come along to make a cameo appearance.
At this moment, Moira was on stage delivering an impassioned speech about her policy platform. Thea was quietly discussing company matters with her secretary, while Oliver comforted his good brother Barry not far away.
Thea caught a few snippets and felt genuinely sympathetic toward the guy.
Unlike the promiscuous Oliver, Barry's love was truly irreproachable—he loved only Iris West.
And just this morning, the love of his life had moved out of her family home to live with her boyfriend. That boyfriend was not him! When Barry finally mustered the courage to make a final confession with the air of a defeated man, Iris flatly rejected him, probably throwing in lines like "we're friends" and "you're a good guy."
The blow to Barry was no less severe than losing the Speed Force. He grabbed Oliver and poured out his troubles.
Thea felt a bit guilty for finding this amusing—it was wrong, but seeing Barry just made her want to laugh.
Barry would never know that in places he couldn't see, there was actually someone suffering even more than him.
That person was the Reverse-Flash. Because Miss Iris's taste in boyfriends was remarkably peculiar—from among the vast sea of humanity, she'd chosen at a glance a police officer named Eddie Thawne. This handsome, dashing officer was the Reverse-Flash's forty-eighth-generation ancestor! His direct ancestor in the twenty-first century.
His own direct ancestor getting involved with the Flash's future wife—would the child they produced still be his forty-seventh-generation ancestor?
This was source-level assassination of the Reverse-Flash! The problem was he couldn't use force against either of them. Iris was too crucial—in the original timeline, her descendants with Barry included a whole string of speedsters. The Reverse-Flash was wary, not daring to act.
He certainly couldn't act against his own ancestor either. Silver Age Superman could ignore causality and kill his own mother, but the Reverse-Flash lacked that ability. Whenever he saw his ancestor going out to sleep with Iris, he felt his heart threatening to stop. If they had a child, his probability of continued existence infinitely approached zero.
The Reverse-Flash felt like an insect caught in a spider's web. Whichever direction he moved led to a dead end, and the web kept tightening around him.
Anxious and hysterical, yet all of it had to stay bottled up inside. He could advise Barry on Speed Force applications, but on picking up girls? He was powerless to help—especially when his own ancestor was already with Iris.
Pitying his misfortune, angered by his failure to rise to the occasion—that was his attitude toward Barry.
Thea's super vision caught sight of the Reverse-Flash alone in a dark room, pacing in circles like a donkey grinding grain, trying to figure out a solution. Unfortunately, even the smartest brain and the most abundant knowledge were useless against matters of the heart.
Actually, Thea couldn't see what was so charming about the black girl. Barry's obsession was genuinely a waste. Good girls were everywhere—why hang himself on the tree that was Iris West?
While idly pondering this, she heard a commotion in the distance. The bodyguard beside her also reported in a low voice, "Many citizens seem possessed, charging the outer security line."
Speaking of which, being Thea's bodyguard was truly a stroke of luck in the bodyguard world. This employer was a thousand times more capable than her bodyguards—she didn't need their protection at all. Most of the time they just served as human backgrounds. Sometimes when danger appeared, she'd even protect them instead.
Plus, with her explosively high attractiveness and safety rating, the position of Queen Consolidated director's bodyguard had practically become a welfare job.
Thea shifted her gaze into the distance. Indeed, just as the bodyguard described, thirty to forty citizens were charging their position like they were possessed, and farther away, seventy to eighty people were beating each other up.
Somewhat like a magical effect, Thea examined carefully but detected no magical elemental presence. Instead, there was a faint trace of emotional energy. She automatically looked toward Barry in the distance. He nodded lightly, left the crowd, and transformed into a streak of lightning rushing over.
Superheroes dealing with criminals in their own jurisdiction—it was almost an unspoken rule. If there were no local heroes, Thea handling it wouldn't be a big deal. But if there were, it was best to let the locals handle it.
For example, previously in Detroit, when someone planted explosives during a speech, it was defeated by the local superhero Vixen.
The riot was quickly quelled. The scene was too chaotic for Thea to see who was causing trouble, but many citizens had absolutely no memory of what they'd done after regaining consciousness.
This kind of bizarre incident happened every day. If she investigated every single one to the bottom, there'd be no time for anything else.
Thea confidently left the follow-up to the Flash. He was in a foul mood anyway—this could help him clear his head.
That evening, Thea had just finished bathing when she heard urgent knocking at the window. Opening it, she felt a bit dizzy. Oliver stood at the window fully armed. "Barry's in trouble. You protect Mother—I'll go check it out."
He shot several arrows in succession and swung away like Tarzan toward the distance.
Thea's forehead creased with dark lines. Could this kid Barry have a peaceful life? What trouble now?
She activated her super vision and searched for quite a while before finally finding Barry in a small alley.
Good grief—even with his mask on, Barry radiated intense hostility. His usual warmth and sunshine had completely vanished, replaced only by rage and bloodlust.
The direct target of his fury was Iris's new boyfriend, the Reverse-Flash's forty-eighth-generation ancestor, Eddie Thawne. The handsome detective was being beaten rather brutally by the Flash.
As an ordinary person, he couldn't withstand the Flash, much less a darkened Flash.
"Who the hell do you think you are! You think you can just waltz in here and take whatever you want?! Who gave you that right, you stupid piece of shit!"
What were once gentle lips now showed only savagery. In the dim evening light, his gaze resembled a beast that fed on flesh and blood.
Eddie Thawne was completely bewildered, his head full of question marks. Dude, you've got the wrong guy, right? Did I do what you're accusing me of?
At least he was a well-trained young detective with decent combat skills. He executed a roll, drew his gun, and fired a full magazine at Barry.
Already consumed by rage, the Flash gave him a live demonstration of Matrix bullet-dodging, then launched into another verbal barrage.
Eddie Thawne stopped trying to figure out the logic and tossed aside his empty gun, preparing to match fists with the darkened Flash.
Thea deliberately glanced at the Reverse-Flash far away in his lab. She saw the old man so tense that veins bulged on his palms, his nostrils flaring. Several times he nearly transformed to save his ancestor, but each time he forcibly restrained himself.