"What the hell?!"
Before anyone else could make a sound, Kid Flash—standing not far from Heisenberg—was completely dumbfounded.
He had fast reactions, faster than anyone!
So of course he was the first one on his feet!
He charged like a madman toward the Flash who had burst out of the rainbow bridge, roaring a question at him.
"Who are you?!"
"I'm YOU!!!"
The flickering Flash screamed back wildly, then simply kicked out, sending Kid Flash flying backward.
At the same time, he desperately rushed up to Heisenberg and shouted at him at top speed.
"Listen to me, I'm running out of time, you have to listen carefully!
I..."
"You're running out of time?"
Heisenberg suddenly cut the Flash off. At the same time, he stepped in front of the flickering Flash and reached out, taking the frantic speedster's hand.
The moment Heisenberg's palm touched the Flash, the Flash was stunned to discover that his body had suddenly stabilized.
Meanwhile, Heisenberg smiled nonchalantly and explained in a soft voice.
"The original concept of time for all life was established by observing the rising and setting of the sun.
So the sun's divine authority, to a certain extent, touches upon time.
Your power lets you speed up?
Unfortunately for you, I can make you—and everything else—slow down!"
As his words fell, the Flash looked around in astonishment.
Sure enough, even without him activating the Speed Force, everyone around them had fallen into a state of near-paralysis.
"Of course, I didn't pause time. I simply made the world move slower than it originally did, and combined with your Speed Force making you faster than the world...
With that subtraction and addition, you could stay here for hours without any problem!"
Having said this, Heisenberg calmly sat back down in his chair. Picking up his beer, he elegantly crossed his legs and pointed at an empty chair not far away.
"Sit down and talk," he said.
Seeing Heisenberg's gesture, the Flash nodded blankly, let out a long breath, and sat down.
But before he could even speak, he saw another red figure among the surrounding crowd suddenly burst into motion.
Barry had barely managed to activate his Speed Force state. His world had just bizarrely slowed down, and it took him a moment to figure out what had happened.
So Barry, now in his speed state, charged straight at the Flash and roared.
"You're me from the future, aren't you?! I actually outran time?!
I knew I could do it! Haha, I really can!!!"
"For God's sake, shut your mouth, you chatterbox.
Of course, I'm a chatterbox too. We're both chatterboxes. We really shouldn't be wasting time on useless talk right now!"
"Yeah, yeah, so let's get to the important stuff—what does it feel like to run faster than time? Do you fly?"
"Hah, more than fly! Every step we take lands on space-time itself! It's infinitely vast power! Every move we make destroys the world of the next second, and rebuilds the world of the previous second!"
"Whoa, that's awesome!"
"Damn right it's awesome!!!"
The two Flashes immediately threw their arms around each other and celebrated frantically.
Watching this, Heisenberg sighed speechlessly. More terrifying than one Flash buzzing around your ears was, naturally, two Flashes buzzing around your ears...
Seeing this, Heisenberg tapped the table and said solemnly to the two Flashes.
"Hey, fellas, quit celebrating over there. Shouldn't you explain why you're here first?"
"Ah, OK, we'll get ourselves under control!"
"Right, we'll both control ourselves!"
The two Flashes instantly broke apart from their embrace and obediently sat down in front of Heisenberg.
Seeing this, Heisenberg nodded, ready to have a proper conversation with the two of them.
But just then, among the frozen crowd off to the side, another figure began to move.
Superman slowly shook his head, then turned to Heisenberg in slow motion, and then looked at the two Flashes.
After taking in the scene, Clark nodded in understanding.
"I... thought... time... had stopped...
Turns out... it just... slowed down!"
He spoke slowly and deliberately, gradually floating up, drifting lazily into the middle of the three.
Looking at the Flash in slow motion, he shook his head.
"Did... some kind... of disaster... happen... in the future?
Otherwise... Barry... wouldn't need... to run... back here!"
Heisenberg (°_°)...
Helplessly, he raised a hand to stop Clark.
"Kid, you talk too slow. Let me talk to these two.
Let's hear what actually happened!"
"O...K."
Clark nodded.
So Heisenberg looked at the two Barrys and asked softly.
"Which one is the future Barry?"
"Me!"
The Barry on the left immediately raised his right hand.
"Good."
Heisenberg nodded and asked quietly.
"Some kind of disaster happened in the future, right?"
"That's right. Earth was destroyed—or rather, Earth wasn't destroyed, but humanity was.
I barely managed to escape, and then Bruce and I built the Cosmic Treadmill together, which let me travel across sever..."
"Stop!"
Heisenberg crisply held out his hand, cutting off the future Barry.
"Your core point gets too scattered when you talk. I ask, you answer, and stop when you're done.
Also, the Cosmic Treadmill was built by you and Bruce, right?"
Having said that, Heisenberg thought for a moment and gently patted the present Barry on the shoulder, instructing him.
"Have you ever tried sharing your Speed Force with others?
If not, try it now. Get all the members of the Justice League moving!"
"Got it, boss!"
The present Barry agreed readily, then immediately rushed over to Bruce and grabbed his hand.
Then, dragging Bruce along, he connected the hands of every Justice League member.
After that, Barry poured out his Speed Force at full output. Under his influence, everyone in the Justice League entered the same speed environment as the Flashes!
This move was one that Barry in the comics used often, and the TV version of him pulled it out from time to time too.
So it wasn't much of a problem for Barry.
The moment he regained his mobility, Bruce's first instinct was to pull his hand out of Victor's grip.
But the next instant, after he got a clear look at his surroundings, he abandoned that idea.
He could tell that aside from their small group, everyone else was frozen in place, completely motionless!
Noticing that the Flash was holding his hand, he asked quietly.
"Is this Barry's ability?"
"That's right, my..."
"OK, so that's the future Barry. You can travel through time?
So why did you travel through time—because something unacceptable happened in the future?
Earth was destroyed?
We lost?
Or... humanity was wiped out?"
After asking, Bruce didn't even wait for Kid Flash to answer, instead nodding to himself.
"Fine, humanity was wiped out. So how long until this happens? How much time do we have?
A month?
A year?
Too long?
Could it only be a few days?"
"Only..."
"You don't need to say it. Save time. It seems we only have a few days.
Your expression and reactions already told me everything.
Is this related to Heisenberg?
It is, isn't it? So we didn't lose—we were ambushed?
So we were ambushed, a few days from now. Did Heisenberg die?
He wasn't there?
He wasn't there!"
At this point, Bruce nodded decisively, then pulled Kid Flash and Cyborg over toward Heisenberg.
"I think I understand now. Heisenberg is probably going to leave Earth in a few days for some reason, and then Darkseid launches a surprise attack on Earth.
Since this news never reached Heisenberg's ears, his departure likely took the Divine Kingdom and the Kryptonians with him.
Or perhaps we were taken along too.
By the time we returned to Earth, humanity had already been wiped out. So you came back here to warn us, right?"
"Right!"
The future Barry nodded hurriedly.
Seeing this, Bruce furrowed his brow and asked Heisenberg quietly.
"So your banquet today wasn't just a banquet—it was a mobilization rally?
What are you planning to do in the next few days?"
"Countless members of my race are being held in the hands of the city-collector, Brainiac. I intended to bring my people back from him!"
"That's right. This is a battle we all have reason to join. It'll serve as a training exercise and give us early experience with large-scale cosmic warfare."
Bruce nodded, then turned back to Barry and asked.
"Before you came, did you find out the reason Darkseid attacked Earth?"
"Ah, the future you told me about that!"
Barry nodded readily and answered.
"The future you said it was because Heisenberg and the Kryptonians had all left Earth.
Although the Divine Kingdom took two Mother Boxes with it, the third Mother Box kept in Atlantis—while everyone was away—sent word to Darkseid.
Then Darkseid came to Earth, and before Heisenberg returned, he found the Anti-Life Equation the Martian Manhunter had mentioned, enslaving all life on Earth.
Then we came back and faced an assault from seven billion Parademons.
Because Martha, Alfred, Lois, and the others died, Clark's mind was severely traumatized and he was controlled by the Anti-Life Equation.
The Omega Beams then killed tens of thousands of Kryptonians who hadn't had time to sunbathe, turning them all into Darkseid's Kryptonian Parademons.
The war grew more and more desperate. We all became useless dead weight, so much so that Heisenberg sent us and the Divine Kingdom ships away from Earth, while he and Mogo remained on Earth to continue the fight against Darkseid.
Then the future Bruce took Diana's flying shoes and Cyborg's core, built the Cosmic Treadmill, and sent me back from the ship."
"I understand."
Bruce nodded decisively, then pondered for a moment and continued.
"The future me must have provided at least a few reference suggestions. He's been exposed to more than I have, so what did he say?"
"He said there are currently three options. The first is naturally to bring Heisenberg to a few days from now. Heisenberg and Darkseid can fight to a stalemate, and those two Exalted Ones can naturally win.
But this isn't recommended, because the uniqueness of a god must be maintained. Two suns appearing in the same space-time could very well weaken Heisenberg's divine authority.
The second is the parallel universe non-interference theory. He hopes you'll stay put and delay action until those few days have passed, then begin your operations against Darkseid.
That way, at least in your timeline, Earth and humanity should be safe.
And as for the last one!"
At this, Barry looked directly at Heisenberg and continued.
"The last one is to go against the origin itself from the very beginning—to change the future before everything happens, and head straight to Apokolips, the most central world among the countless multiverses.
Bruce—the future you—told you this: Let us carry the flames of war to Apokolips!!!"
/-\
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