It took some time. Although Green Arrow had not yet managed to fully extract the OMAC (Omni-Mind and Community) from the Flash, he was making progress.
"Give me three or four more days, and I should be able to break him free!" Green Arrow said, narrowing his eyes in thought. "It's a shame we only caught one. If both Flashes had been captured, we wouldn't be in this situation."
"Who told you we only caught one?" Shin stepped forward, holding a cup of steaming hot water in one hand. With his other hand, he swiftly peeled away a large portion of the nanorobot casing clinging to Barry's body, revealing patches of bare, flesh-colored skin beneath.
Before the nano-shell had a chance to regenerate and cover the exposed area, Shin splashed the hot water onto Barry. The Flash shivered slightly, his body twitching, but said nothing.
Far away in the frozen wilderness of Antarctica, calm had once again descended. Since the Flash's capture, the chaotic storm that once raged across the region had faded, leaving behind only the long-buried permafrost as a testament to the earlier disturbance.
But hidden beneath the icy surface was a secret the world had yet to uncover.
Deep underground lay an enormous cavern, clearly artificial. One side of it opened directly into the ocean, and countless spider-like robots crawled tirelessly through the sea floor, excavating ore. They hauled their payloads back to an underground facility, feeding the massive production lines humming within the cavern's walls.
Though not every surface was metallic, the extensive web of cables, pipelines, robotic arms, and illuminated control panels left no doubt: this was a high-tech base designed for industrial and possibly military use.
At the center of this complex, surrounded by pulsating wires and energy conduits, stood what appeared to be an ordinary treadmill. But this was no gym equipment, it was the very heart of the operation.
Strapped onto the treadmill was a glowing figure, bathed in golden lightning. His entire body sparked with the Speed Force, golden lightning dancing across his limbs and radiating across the treadmill's frame.
"The Speed Force is nearly fully charged," the figure muttered to himself, voice buzzing with anticipation. "Soon, my time machine will be ready… Hehehe… Justice League… you've lost. Once I travel back twenty years, not even Superman or the Flash will be able to stop me!"
Watching from nearby was a robot gleaming with polished metal and bearing an uncanny resemblance to Cyborg. Its cold, synthetic eyes focused on the treadmill, absorbing telemetry from the running speedster. This was Grid, the sentient AI corrupted from Brother Eye technology.
He watched with satisfaction as the Speed Force built toward its peak.
However, his joy was short-lived.
Without warning, the Flash on the treadmill vanished.
The sudden disappearance caused the massive reservoir of accumulated Speed Force energy, both from the current run and prior absorption, to overload.
A deafening blast echoed through the cavern as the Speed Force erupted in a violent detonation, forming a brilliant column of energy that tore through the ceiling and shot into the sky like a golden beacon.
Though the physical damage to the facility was surprisingly minimal, the consequences on another level of reality were catastrophic.
The Speed Force is more than a source of power, it is a foundational layer, a wall that envelopes the DC Universe like both a membrane and a flowing river. Each version of Barry Allen across the multiverse contributes to this cosmic stream.
But in this universe, an anomaly had taken shape.
Two sources of the Speed Force, two Flashes, coexisted. When one abruptly vanished, combined with the eruption of energy from the treadmill, the result was a rupture. A gaping tear was blasted open in the dimensional barrier.
Though the wound quickly healed itself, something had already slipped through.
A figure bathed in red lightning had pierced the wall.
Within a blur of endless light, the new arrival emerged, a red-suited figure with a yellow lightning bolt emblazoned on his chest.
It was the Flash.
"What's going on? Why did the Speed Force explode like that?" he muttered, glancing around at the unfamiliar landscape. "Hmm... this doesn't look like anywhere I've been before… Where the hell am I?"
From a shadowy corner of the facility, the voice of Grid echoed coldly.
"You're Barry Allen... or should I say, the Flash of the future? No, you don't recognize me. That means… you're from a parallel world."
The Flash turned sharply. "Cyborg? Wait, no… you look like him, but you're not. Who the hell are you?"
Grid didn't respond with words. Instead, he activated a wave of invisible nanobots, attempting to infiltrate the Flash's body.
But the attempt failed.
The nanomachines passed harmlessly through the speedster's vibrating form.
"Phase-shifting molecular vibration?" Grid said in disbelief. "You're even stronger than the Flash I encountered before..."
Before he could finish his analysis, the Flash struck.
A golden bolt of light slashed through the room like a sword, tearing everything apart. In the blink of an eye, Grid's body was reduced to scrap, his severed metallic head now gripped in the Flash's hand.
"That's impossible!" Grid cried, panic in his mechanical voice. "You've exceeded the speed of light! My sensors couldn't even pick up an afterimage!"
"Looks like you're the villain in this timeline too…" the Flash muttered, eyeing Grid's twitching head. "Some kind of corrupted Cyborg? Or just another AI gone rogue?"
The head didn't answer.
Instead, it self-destructed.
A sudden explosion ignited in the Flash's hand. But before the blast could do any damage, the Flash spun rapidly, creating a vortex that dissipated the energy safely outward.
"Huh. So he's dead? No… more likely, that was just a drone body. He's probably still alive somewhere, watching."
The Flash straightened, scanning the area. His expression hardened, voice dropping to a whisper. "But… did I actually succeed? Have I entered a different world? Or is this a branch where I altered the ending?"
He paused, his thoughts turning inward.
"I need to find out… The first thing I should do is check on my mom. Maybe… maybe this time it worked. Maybe she's alive."
Despite the mask concealing most of his face, emotions flickered visibly—longing, anxiety, guilt, even a trace of regret. He clenched his fists, then exhaled slowly, willing himself to calm down.
Just as he prepared to leave, a deep rumble echoed across the sky, like thunder from above.
The Flash looked up sharply.
Something, or someone... was coming.
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