Chapter 119: You call this a little different?
2023-10-23 Author: Rowing Without Oars 233
"So, you're completely fine now?"
Orin Vale looked at Barry beside him. As the two walked out of the restaurant side-by-side, Barry was still holding a hamburger in one hand and a hot dog in the other, furiously stuffing food into his mouth.
"Pretty much," Barry said, forcefully swallowing a large mouthful of food. "In fact, I've never felt better. How should I put it... I know many people might think getting struck by lightning is terrible, that there would probably be aftereffects or something."
"But I really don't feel anything wrong. I even... feel completely refreshed."
Saying this, he took another vicious bite of the hot dog.
"I think I get it."
As Orin Vale spoke, he never stopped his scan of Barry. He was certain now; the bracelet's record was correct. Barry was indeed the source of that time-space energy reaction.
The current Barry was practically a walking Speed Force Reactor. The concentration of Speed Force energy within his body was even higher than the average power level scanned by the Detector in the Speed Force Space.
"You haven't felt anything wrong since you woke up?" Orin Vale asked.
"Nope. Oh, except that I'm always hungry and have to eat a lot," Barry mused while eating. "Oh, and for the past two days, I've felt like everyone has slowed down."
"Everyone does things so sluggishly. For instance, you go to a shop and order breakfast, but by the time they serve it, it's already lunch..."
"Ah, and my computer. It's as slow as The Turtle, but the IT guys insist it's perfectly fine. I mean, can't anyone else see that it practically groans and takes forever just to boot up?"
Barry was still rambling on with his complaints. Orin Vale roughly understood now. The Speed Force had already begun to affect Barry's body, but he hadn't fully realized it himself, let alone discovered his superpower.
Perhaps it hadn't awakened yet?
Maybe something is needed to trigger his instinct, like flipping a switch for the Speed Force, to make him realize what he's capable of now...
Bang.
A gunshot.
Orin Vale was instantly on alert. His Light-Quantum Brain operated at high speed, and the stimulation of his instincts made everything in his vision seem to slow down. The endless stream of cars on the road, the bustling crowds on the sidewalk—everything slowed down in an instant.
He whipped his head around and immediately saw the bullet spinning in mid-air. The parted air seemed to form a spiraling vortex trailing behind the bullet, as if it were arduously pushing its way through the heavy air.
A sniper.
But why?
First of all, it couldn't be a shot at him. After all, he was using a non-existent, fabricated pseudonym; no one should be after him... Well, General Lane might want to skin him alive. But sniping was clearly an overreaction. Besides, Orin Vale visually traced the bullet's trajectory and quickly confirmed the target.
Someone wanted to kill Barry Allen.
Just as he was about to follow the trajectory further with his eyes, he suddenly heard Barry speak next to him.
"God, why has everyone gotten so slow!?"
Orin Vale turned around and saw Barry staring wide-eyed, looking around in a daze, utterly astonished by the "Time Stop.AVI" scene filling the street.
Clearly, his Speed Force had activated.
Was it because he was being sniped? Was it some kind of instinct for danger within his body?
Orin Vale was puzzled, but at the same time, he had already swiftly recorded the Speed Force data that radiated out at that moment.
The Flash is the source of the Speed Force. Every drop of data that could be obtained from him was priceless, a key to a deeper analysis of the spatiotemporal principles of the entire DC Multiverse.
"Huh? You can move too?" Barry quickly discovered that his companion beside him also seemed unaffected by this eerie effect.
"Yes. I only suspected it before, but now I'm certain," Orin Vale nodded, speaking to him via Telepathy. "That lightning gave you a superpower. This is your ability."
The Speed Force granted Barry all sorts of physics-defying abilities, allowing him to speak at super speed in the frozen time-space as if it were normal. Orin Vale, on the other hand, was communicating with him through Telepathy.
"A superpower!?" Barry's eyes went wide.
"Yes, it seems your ability is mainly super speed, though it's achieved through some kind of special energy field. It just lacked a trigger before. Now that someone is sniping you, it might have triggered your superpower instinct..."
"Wait, wait," Barry rubbed his temples. "Someone's sniping me? How—Shit!?"
Only now did he notice the suspended bullet in mid-air, inching its way toward him with great difficulty in this space of frozen time, like a snail struggling to climb a vine.
"God, is that a sniper bullet? Someone shot at me? But why would anyone shoot at me?"
Barry panicked instantly.
"Don't be nervous." Orin Vale shrugged. "At the speed this thing is flying, you could calmly sit down, finish what's left in your hands, go back, use the restroom, wash your hands, and come back, and it still wouldn't have reached you. What's there to be afraid of?"
"Oh, right." Barry was pleasantly surprised. "Doesn't that mean I won't have to be afraid of bullets anymore?"
Orin Vale chuckled. What's a bullet? In the future, you'll be one of the most overpowered beings in the universe, the multiverse's reset button...
"Wait, doesn't this mean... you have a superpower too?" Barry realized with a start. "You can be as fast as me? Wait, your organization specializes in dealing with superpowers... Are you going to arrest me? Are you going to use me for research?"
"Relax, Barry, I'm not going to arrest you. I'm not really... uh, let's talk about that later," Orin Vale said. "Compared to that, aren't you more concerned about who's trying to assassinate you right now?"
"Of course I am. But how can I... Oh, right," Barry slapped his forehead. "I can follow the bullet's trajectory to find him. Anyway, it's not like that gunman can go anywhere else."
"You're already getting the hang of it," Orin Vale smiled.
Thus, from Deadshot's perspective, the situation became quite bizarre.
He found his spot, set up his gun, and locked onto the target. Perfect angle, one hundred percent certainty, he fired a shot.
Then, before the shell could even hit the ground, the target in his scope vanished—both of them.
Lawton froze, dumbfounded for two seconds.
Where'd they go?
The next moment, a heavy impact sound echoed from behind him.
Lawton was startled and quickly spun around, on guard. He saw that the young man who had been in his scope just a second ago had already smashed headfirst into a gate on the rooftop behind him. The impact dented the metal gate, and the man, trailing blue lightning, fell hard to the ground.
"My nose..." Barry groaned, clutching his nose.
Lawton stared, eyes wide, at the figure who had flashed here like a ghost, crashed into the wall, and collapsed to the ground as if trying to pull a scam.
What the hell... the spot he was just aiming at was at least one or two thousand meters away, right? He just flashed over here in an instant?
That son of a bitch lied to me!
You call this 'a little different'!?
(end of chapter)