Adrian pressed his foot down on Ma Dong and spoke without hesitation, "You are not a god. I am the real god." With a slight increase in pressure, the man beneath him was crushed instantly.
Ma Dong died before he could even demonstrate the power he bragged about. His so called divinity ended before it began.
Adrian lifted his foot and stepped away, then walked toward Rachel. His gaze shifted briefly to Barry, studying him with quiet curiosity.
Barry's strength was underwhelming.
Even setting aside the Speed Force, he was nowhere near the level of Bart. That explained why Adrian had defeated him so easily earlier.
So this was what a newly awakened speedster looked like.
The thought passed through Adrian's mind as Dr. Wells rolled his wheelchair down from the stage and approached.
"I didn't expect our President to visit Central City," Wells said.
"President?"
Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco all froze.
The current President was Homelander.
And the man who had just crushed Ma Dong so effortlessly… was him?
Barry's mind raced.
Cisco, who spent half his time online arguing and digging through news, reacted first. "That's why he looked familiar. He's Homelander."
Caitlin's expression grew complicated as she looked at Adrian. She was no shut in. She followed current events, and she knew his reputation.
It was not a good one.
"Why is he here?" she asked quietly.
"No idea," Cisco replied, pointing toward Rachel. "But he clearly knows her."
Rachel stood beside Adrian in silence, her earlier defiance gone. She looked subdued, still affected by his harsh words.
"Barry, don't take it too hard," Cisco said, patting his shoulder. "If that's Homelander, you were never going to outrun him. You're barely pushing past 1,000 kilometers per hour. A guy like him probably goes beyond Mach 10."
Barry glanced at Adrian, his expression uncertain. "He's a speedster too. Maybe he could teach me something."
Cisco stiffened. "Yeah, don't do that. His track record with metahumans is bad. You saw what he did to that weather guy. One step, and he was gone."
Caitlin folded her arms. "I've heard he's locked up plenty of people like us. You should hope he doesn't notice you."
Barry frowned. "Have you actually seen any of that?"
Cisco shook his head. "No, but while you were in a coma, things changed. He took control of the country. Metahumans started disappearing."
Caitlin cut in, her voice low. "Cisco, you're forgetting something. He hears everything."
Cisco's face drained of color as he clamped his mouth shut and cautiously glanced at Adrian.
Barry stayed quiet, thinking.
Omniscient. Omnipotent. All hearing.
If even part of that was true, then calling him a god might not be far off.
Adrian ignored them completely.
His attention remained on the man in the wheelchair.
"You recognized me a long time ago, didn't you, Dr. Wells?"
Wells smiled faintly. "To be precise, when you took to the sky. Your… presence is hard to miss."
Adrian's eyes shifted briefly toward Barry. "What interests me more is the accident at S.T.A.R. Labs a few months ago. I want to hear exactly what happened."
"Of course."
Wells carefully explained the particle accelerator explosion, his version matching what had already been released to the public.
When he finished, Adrian was silent for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"You left out the most important part."
Wells tilted his head slightly. "And that is?"
"Lightning."
Adrian turned his gaze to Barry. "That explosion created the storm. Lightning struck certain individuals, and those people changed. That so called god I just killed was one of them."
Wells' expression tightened, just for a moment.
"I want all the data from that incident," Adrian continued. "No omissions."
His tone left no room for argument.
"And I'll be taking Barry Allen with me for a while."
"No."
Wells' refusal came immediately.
"Barry's abilities are unstable. He hasn't even figured out what he wants to do with his life yet. He's not ready."
"No one is ready," Adrian replied flatly.
He began walking toward Barry.
"You created the lightning, Wells. But you don't control what it made."
"Mr. President," Wells said, his voice firm now, "give me time. Everything S.T.A.R. Labs achieves will belong to the government."
Adrian stopped and looked back at him.
"I'm not negotiating with you, Wells," he said coldly. "I'm giving you an order."
===
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