Compared to Thea—who'd already mastered two colors of the Emotional Spectrum—the anger in this guy's body was trivial.
Interestingly, what granted him power wasn't the emotional spectrum itself but dark matter that had seeped into this world through spatial rifts during the Particle Accelerator explosion. The dark matter had somehow combined with the red paint in a delicate fusion, giving the middle-aged man his abilities.
Thea attempted to communicate with the anger emotion. The connection wasn't smooth. On one hand, she didn't possess this emotion herself. On the other, the amount of emotional energy in this guy's body was pitifully small.
As an ordinary person—one without special training—his capacity for emotional energy was extremely limited.
This so-called Rainbow Raider could control normal people for five minutes at most. Against someone with strong willpower, his effectiveness dropped even further. Sending the Flash into a rage had been the peak of his ability—and that only worked because Barry had just been dumped by Iris and was already in a dark emotional state.
Compared to Thea, the middle-aged man's emotional reserves were like a single drop of water versus an entire ocean. She'd tried twice and failed both times—she feared that applying even slightly too much force would drain what little emotion he had completely.
What to do? Using an individual as a vessel for anger—ordinary human minds were far too fragile in the face of such power.
Thea lowered her head in thought, taking quite a while before devising a makeshift solution.
Enhance this guy's abilities. Increase his absorption rate for emotional energy.
She sealed the middle-aged man's consciousness and teleported back to her underground laboratory in Metropolis.
She instructed her subordinates to collect various red materials—paints, blood, minerals—anything remotely connected to the color red.
Thea tested each substance one by one, ultimately discovering that red paint still produced the best absorption and conversion effects for him.
She ordered her people to submerge him in a paint vat daily, on a fixed schedule. As for the possibility of him breaking out once his power increased dramatically—Thea had considered that too. Theoretically, the magical seal could suppress his consciousness for ten years. To prevent accidents—like him suddenly developing a new personality or something equally absurd—she also set up triggered alarms throughout the chamber. Any irregularity would alert her immediately.
At peak capacity, the middle-aged man's anger emotion would reach Red Lantern Corps levels at best. That tier of power was beneath her notice now.
Returning once more to Central City, Oliver still hadn't come back. Thea chatted with Moira for a while before heading to bed.
The entire campaign team spent three days in Central City, visiting the city council, police department, and schools. Aside from hospitals—which still weren't welcoming to the young Miss Queen—everything else went smoothly.
The team didn't linger, moving on to various major cities. With several power brokers backing her behind the scenes, Moira's approval ratings began climbing steadily.
The enthusiastic atmosphere reached its explosive peak when they arrived in Star City. Whether genuine or not, at least the citizens put on a show of gratitude. Moira excitedly shook hands with every supporter, and the campaign team felt they'd gained tremendous prestige.
The young Miss Queen was equally thrilled by the honor her mother received. To say all these citizens were completely spontaneous, acting from the depths of their hearts—nobody would believe that. Still, Thea hadn't mobilized this many people. Star City's largest central plaza and two neighboring blocks were packed solid—conservatively estimated at a hundred thousand citizens actually present.
Remove those who'd been compensated, and you still had seventy or eighty thousand.
Those were die-hard supporters, proving that Moira's eight-year administration in Star City had earned genuine public approval.
Thea felt immensely proud of her mother.
Star City was Moira's base. The other candidates didn't dare hold rallies here. Moira basked gloriously in her home territory, harvesting countless accolades before continuing her journey.
Ten days later—Gotham.
Moira's tour had passed the halfway point. Multiple polling agencies viewed her victory optimistically. Barring explosive revelations, her chances looked strong.
Facing the future occupant of the White House, Gotham's business and political elite had to show respect.
For instance, Batman appeared at the campaign event in his Bruce Wayne persona. He'd always maintained a relationship of limited cooperation with the U.S. government, military, and even A.R.G.U.S.
Now, with Moira about to enter the White House, this created an awkwardness he couldn't quite articulate.
With previous presidents, he'd operated primarily through intimidation—cutting their power, standing mysteriously at windows, slipping important intelligence into Batarangs and tossing them onto the President's desk or chair.
That wouldn't work now. This was Thea and Oliver's mother. Behind these two siblings stood a whole roster of heroes—Wonder Woman, the Flash, Black Canary, and more. Unless Batman wanted to split the hero community in two, he had to show respect. His usual aloof methods needed tempering.
Honestly, this role reversal made Batman uncomfortable. He advocated cooperating with the government, but Thea and her circle's connection with the government seemed overly intimate—it didn't align with his principles.
Still, he had no choice. His tech couldn't stop an election. He could only watch silently as events slid toward an outcome he disliked.
"You've looked tense for three minutes now. What's wrong?" Bruce stood beside Thea, lips barely moving as he spoke quietly.
Thea was equally puzzled. Three minutes ago, she'd felt an indescribable oppression. It didn't feel like a crisis warning—more like her divine status or the Source itself was alerting her to something.
"Something feels like it's about to happen. This is the first time I've had this kind of premonition."
"Is it about your mother?"
Thea concentrated carefully, then shook her head definitively. "No."
"Diana, then?"
This time Thea focused even more intently before shaking her head again. "Absolutely not."
"That's strange. What exactly are you sensing?" Batman was thoroughly confused. He hated things beyond his control—unfortunately, those were usually the big problems.
Thea rubbed her temples, her golden hair becoming thoroughly disheveled—though with her explosive charisma, she somehow gained an additional air of disheveled beauty, drawing sidelong glances from several nearby people.
But she was too irritated to consider her appearance. Facing Batman's question, she couldn't answer—suddenly, she just felt tremendous psychological pressure weighing on her heart.
For one instant, she even thought Darkseid was attacking, but quickly realized that was nonsense. The Boom Tube portals weren't opening—no matter how powerful the old tyrant was, he couldn't reach across dimensions.
What could it be? If not Darkseid causing trouble, was it something cosmic?
Thea didn't think so. Apart from ultra-exceptional beings like the First Lantern and Nekron of the Black Lantern Corps, she was confident she could handle anything else.
That left only one answer—the problem was on Earth.
Leaving a duplicate at the event for cover, Thea flew directly out of the atmosphere. Using super-vision combined with artificial intelligence, she scanned Earth for sudden incidents.
Metropolis, Gotham, Central City, Star City—she checked the cities most prone to trouble, finding nothing. She even looked toward deep Africa and Brazil's rainforests, guarding against suicidal cultists.
Still nothing. All Earth's inhabitants seemed to be living their lives in an orderly fashion. Occasional bank robbers appeared, but she couldn't see how they'd threaten the planet.
As she prepared to scan a second time, Gideon's message came through: "Central City waterfront, south pier—witnesses report a tsunami forming."
Central City again? Thea was speechless. Could they even live normal lives anymore?