Batcave.
Barry had already put on the Reverse-Flash suit, and used chemical reagents to dye the clothes into the classic red and yellow color scheme of the Flash, only then lifting the passive invisibility state.
Having been struck by lightning too many times, he was now completely blackened. From head to toe, only the whites of his eyes and his teeth were White. At his metabolic rate, it was estimated that it would take some time to completely wash clean.
However, this could hardly be considered a bad thing.
In a place like America, it had always been that darkening made one ten times stronger, while washing clean weakened one by three parts. This wave for Barry could be considered an epic-level enhancement.
Thomas stood aside, having waited somewhat impatiently for a long time.
Seeing Barry change his clothes, he immediately spoke: "Is it possible to go back to the past to modify the timeline now?"
Barry didn't speak, his figure flashing and disappearing in place, but the next instant he appeared in place again, his expression somewhat ugly.
"No, I tried it, the current speed is too slow, it can't break through the time barrier at all."
Barry clenched his fists and said through gritted teeth: "It must be that bastard Reverse-Flash. Taking advantage of when I lost the Speed Force, he stole most of the Speed Force in this World, causing me to not have enough energy to perform time travel."
Thomas frowned deeply and asked in a deep voice: "Then what should we do?"
Barry hesitated for a moment: "Unless I can snatch the Speed Force back from within Reverse-Flash's body."
He didn't finish his words.
Actually, there was an even simpler method, which was to directly finish off Reverse-Flash, letting the Speed Force inside his body return to nature, so that he could absorb more Speed Force.
Barry didn't state it explicitly, but with Thomas's brain, he guessed it with a slight turn of thought.
Thomas slightly narrowed his eyes and did not pursue the questioning further.
However, in his heart, the name Reverse-Flash had already been listed on the must-kill list, preparing to formulate a series of plans.
Barry sighed: "But the problem is, we don't even know where he is hiding right now, and we have nowhere to start if we want to find him."
Darian, on the other hand, had a relaxed expression: "Rest assured, this kind of villain usually shows up by themselves in the end. Compared to this, we should care more about another problem."
"Outside, the Amazons and Atlantis have already gone to total war. Wonder Woman and Aquaman, that pair of crazy jerks, only want to kill each other, even willing to drag the entire World down to be buried with them."
"If this goes on, I'm afraid it won't be long before this World is doomed."
Barry listened in a daze: "Is it that exaggerated?"
In his memory, Wonder Woman and Aquaman had always been the images of a superhero, so he wasn't clear how much destruction these two could cause after becoming blackened.
"Not exaggerated at all."
Based on the comic plots he had read, Darian revealed some information: "As far as I know, Aquaman has already captured Captain Atom, transforming him into a humanoid nuclear bomb, preparing to detonate it underwater. The power is enough to sink the entirety of Great Britain, wiping out Themyscira and the Amazons together."
Captain Atom, famously nicknamed the Self-Detonation Hero, had the ability to absorb, store, and release various energies, somewhat similar to Black King, and similarly had an upper limit.
It's just that his ability was even more unstable; a slight accident would cause him to explode, and the power was even more exaggerated than a nuclear bomb.
Because of this, Captain Atom was often used by writers as a living bomb, specifically responsible for driving the plot forward. Every time, he was either self-detonating or on the way to self-detonating.
And this time was naturally no exception.
Barry of course knew Captain Atom; his expression changed instantly, and he realized the seriousness of the matter in a Flash.
Darian continued: "And have you ever thought about a question: even if you go back to the past to fix the timeline, will this timeline be overwritten by a new timeline, or will it spawn a brand new parallel Universe?"
Barry instantly froze.
He truly hadn't thought carefully about this question.
Darian looked at Barry and said: "If it spawns a brand new parallel Universe, then the people here will continue to suffer, and the entire World will slowly head towards collapse. Barry, how can your heart bear to watch all of this happen?"
Of course, he wouldn't let Barry travel through time just like that.
You must know, his dungeon task was to stop the war between Atlantis and the Amazons. If Barry really went back to the past to modify history and erase this timeline, then his dungeon task would be declared a failure.
At the very least, he had to wait until he completed the dungeon task first.
Hearing Darian's words, Barry almost without hesitation said: "We must stop Wonder Woman and Aquaman and save this World!"
Even without Darian's moral kidnapping, he wouldn't easily give up on this World; this was the duty of a superhero.
"Good! Very spirited!"
Darian clapped his hands, then changed the topic: "However, just the few of us is still not enough; we need more helpers."
Barry nodded in agreement: "That's right, we need an alliance, just like the Justice League."
As soon as his voice fell, the system prompt tone rang in Darian's mind.
[NPC Barry Allen has issued a new task to you]
[Task: Salvation Alliance]
[Objective: In the Flashpoint World, form a team to save the World, requiring members to be well-known superheroes or supervillains, with a number of no less than seven people (0/7)]
[Reward: Determined based on the quality of the team members]
Darian smiled slightly: "Rest assured, besides the three of us, I have already selected the other candidates for the alliance."
Thomas was displeased: "I never said I wanted to join your team."
He only wanted to save Bruce back, and had zero interest in saving the World. Even if this World were to be destroyed tomorrow, it would have nothing to do with him.
Darian sighed, putting on a regretful look: "Then what a pity. Originally I was thinking that after the matter ends, I could let you and Bruce have a video chat or something."
Thomas's pupils suddenly shrank, his eyes staring fixedly at Darian: "You can let me see Bruce!?"
Darian chuckled: "I know magic, after all. This isn't any difficult matter for me, but if you don't want to join, I won't force you."
As long as the dungeon task ended and the time flow returned to normal, he could open a chat group for Thomas and Bruce, allowing father and son to have a video call. This operation was indeed not a difficult matter for him.
Of course, the premise was that this timeline wasn't erased.
Thomas's expression changed, he straightened his body, righteous and awe-inspiring: "As Batman, saving the World is naturally my duty. You don't need to say more, I am willing to join."
Barry nodded along: "I'll join too."
With the two joining, the task progress instantly jumped to 2/7.
Darian happily said: "Very good, then our team is officially established, and I've already chosen the name for the team."
"Since Wonder Woman and Aquaman have killed so many humans and destroyed so many human homes, we are the Avengers, so the team will be called the Avengers. How about that?"
Barry:....
Did you pay copyright fees?
Watch out for the World's strongest legal department sending a warning letter.
Just like that, the DC version of the Avengers was officially born.
Next was screening members for the alliance.
What Darian thought of first was naturally the original cast of the Justice League.
Aside from Wonder Woman and Aquaman, those two Justice League members who had already degenerated into villains, the rest were only Superman, Green Lantern, and Cyborg.
Among them, the easiest to recruit would have to be Cyborg.
In the Flashpoint World, Cyborg was the government's direct number one superhero, always trying to form a meta-human united front to deal with the upcoming crisis.
However, hardly any meta-humans were willing to give him the time of day, each and every one expressing that they would only join if Batman joined them.
It had to be said that no matter which World, Batman was deeply trusted, and everyone wanted to tightly hug the thighs of DC's biological father.
Not to mention Thomas was DC's biological Grandpa.
Cyborg had invited Thomas many times before, but unfortunately each time he was directly rejected by Thomas.
Now, as long as Thomas nodded, Cyborg joining the team was practically set in stone.
As for Green Lantern, Darian had checked the information: Abin Sur of this World hadn't died, and had even appeared in public, still being the neighborhood cop of this star region.
So Hal couldn't inherit the ring to become a Green Lantern, and was currently an excellent pilot.
"The Green Lantern didn't choose you, but the Yellow Lantern will not abandon you."
Darian chuckled, having Ultron lock onto Hal's location, and then a streak of yellow light soared into the sky and left.
Coast City.
"Hector, you really are a genius, actually able to perfectly install Queen Industries' Green Arrow nuclear missile onto a fighter jet."
Hal looked at the miniature nuclear missile marked with the Green Arrow symbol in front of him, unable to hold back a sigh of exclamation.
Hector cursed: "But you are an idiot, Hal, actually taking on such a dangerous task to fly into Atlantis's territory and drop a nuclear bomb. What difference does this make from sending yourself to die?"
In the Flashpoint World, these two original archenemies instead became good friends.
Because of this, Hector desperately wanted to stop Hal from doing such a foolish thing.
Right now, everyone knew that Atlantis's military strength was extremely powerful. It was hard to say whether Hal could even break into their airspace, and even if he really threw the nuclear bomb down, it would be very difficult to return alive.
"You think I don't have fear?"
Hal said lightly: "I am also just an ordinary person. I am fragile like everyone else, and I harbor fear like everyone else, but this does not mean that all of us are weak."
"Do not submit to fear, my friend."
Hector opened his mouth, wanting to persuade a few more words.
Suddenly, a dazzling yellow light slashed down from the air, hovering in front of Hal.
That light gradually converged, revealing a suspended yellow ring.
"Intelligent life locked onto. Hal Jordan from Earth, you possess the power to inflict great fear onto others. Are you willing to accept the power of fear and become a member of us?"
Hal:....
Hector:....
Looking at the gaze cast over by Hector, Hal was suddenly somewhat embarrassed.
Having just finished saying not to bow to fear with his front foot, he accepted the power of fear with his back foot. Wasn't this slapping his own face on the spot?
He certainly wouldn't do that.
[Hal Jordan has joined the Fear Corps]
[Hal Jordan agrees to join the Avengers]
Darian received the message transmitted back by the yellow power ring, and seeing the task progress jump forward a bit, nodded in satisfaction.
"Next is just Superman."
Darian still placed considerable importance on Superman, deciding to personally step out to recruit him.
According to the comics he had read, Superman of this World was being secretly detained by the U.S. government.
However, this wasn't a difficult matter for Ultron.
Darian had Ultron hack into the government system, quickly bringing up a top-secret project file codenamed Superman, locking onto the location of a secret underground facility, right beneath the newly built Metropolis.
They didn't waste time, immediately dividing the work and cooperating. Thomas was responsible for recruiting Cyborg, and Darian and Barry were responsible for finding Superman.
Soon, Darian and Barry found that secret underground facility.
Darian didn't have any intention of hiding, directly using a diamond pickaxe to dig out a passage, swaggering straight into the interior of the facility.
Ultron connected to the Base's system quickly, taking control of the entire situation.
Under Ultron's guidance, the two went deeper inward all the way. Along the way, once they encountered Base guards, Barry would immediately strike to knock them out, maintaining their perfect stealth state.
The two thus sneaked deep into the Base, finally arriving in front of a huge, heavy metal door. Printed on the door was a large S logo, which could be described as the answer being written right on the question paper; without looking, one knew who was detained inside.
"Ultron."
As Darian's voice fell, the door in front of them opened automatically.
Inside was a wide space, everywhere covered with red lights, with some simple living utensils placed in the corners.
And at the corner of the wall, lying there was a dried rat.
Ah no, it should be said to be a dried Superman.
Unlike other versions of Superman, the Superman in front of them was skin and bones, pale all over, with a body like a bamboo pole, as if a single snap would break him. This was obviously caused by a long-term lack of sunlight absorption and calcium deficiency.
Seeing two strangers barge in, Clark instantly trembled with fear, showing not a shred of Superman's demeanor.
Come to think of it, being locked in the dark, sunless underground since childhood, and subjected to all kinds of research year after year, what kind of normal personality could be nurtured out of that.
Only Clark was naturally pure-hearted; to think he didn't go crazy under such conditions.
If anyone else grew up in this environment, they would probably have long since turned into a giant baby with a twisted mentality, violent temper, loving to drink milk, and doing whatever they wanted.
Darian stepped forward, trying his best to soften his tone: "We won't hurt you; we are here to rescue you from here. Do you understand?"
"Under... understand."
Clark softly replied, his eyes still carrying an inability to conceal fear.
Darian looked around, recognizing that these red lights imitated the light of a red Sun, which, besides Kryptonite, were a method specifically used to restrain Kryptonians. He didn't know where that bunch of government personnel got this intelligence.
"Ultron, turn off all these lights."
Along with Darian's words, the red light instantly extinguished.
Darian took out a Sun flower from the game warehouse and placed it beside Clark.
As soon as that flower landed, it emitted a soft pale golden glow, like a small cluster of sunlight.
Clark was instantly attracted by the Sun flower. He could feel a powerful surge of energy sweeping over, and every cell in his body was undergoing changes.
He cautiously reached out his hand to touch the Sun flower, unable to help asking: "This is... what?"
Darian explained: "This is sunlight. As long as a Kryptonian absorbs sunlight, they can become stronger."
Clark had a bewildered expression: "I am a... Kryptonian?"
Darian nodded: "Yes."
Wuwuwu!
Right at this moment, the surrounding alarm bells suddenly rang out, and a large number of fully armed guards rushed in.
Clark was like a bristling cat, making an instinctive counterattack against danger. His eyes suddenly burst with red light, and heat vision was about to shoot out to burn this bunch of guards in front of him to death.
But before he had time to act, a hand had already pressed down on his shoulder.
Clark turned his head, seeing Darian looking at him with a gentle expression: "Clark, we are superheroes after all, we cannot casually harm others."
"superhero?"
"That's right, we are superheroes defending Earth, representing justice and peace, fighting only to protect people. As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility..."
Darian, like a life mentor, constantly instilled correct thoughts, guiding Clark, this lost lamb.
Hearing Darian's words, Clark seemed to have triggered some underlying code, his breathing accelerated for a few seconds, and that trace of heat vision slowly receded.
Yet right at this moment, a guard suddenly roared: "Open fire! Finish them off..."
Bang!
With a gunshot, this guard fell to the ground in response.
Darian blew on the muzzle of the Golden Desert Eagle in his hand, and sneered: "This Lord is still talking, what is a child interrupting for?"
Clark:.....
Barry:.....
*******************************
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