Chapter 142 – When They Arrived
The scan came back clean.
Completely normal.
Dante's blood, his cells, even his neural activity—everything pointed to one simple truth.
He was human.
No traces of the Speed Force. No echoes of the Void. No anomalies, no signatures, no residual lightning.
Just a man.
And that, strangely, was both comforting and terrifying.
Because they all knew—if the Velocity-9 had somehow opened the door to the Void Force again, it might send out a ripple. A signal. And if that force ever came back… it wouldn't be gentle this time. It wouldn't whisper. It would scream.
But nothing came.
No lightning. No echo. No shadow from the void.
Life moved forward, slowly but steadily. The city had quieted. Godspeed clones had vanished for now. The team resumed their normal rhythm—scanning, monitoring, working.
Days passed.
Then weeks.
Until the day they came.
Inside the Cortex, Barry stood beside Patty, watching the monitors as Cisco pulled up reports from ARGUS. Caitlin was calibrating a new medical scanner, and Wells was deep in silent thought as always.
Dante leaned against the wall, a cigarette between his fingers, the ember flickering as he exhaled a stream of smoke toward the ceiling. His eyes, always a touch too sharp, scanned the room quietly.
And then he felt it.
It was subtle at first—a whisper under the skin, a breeze against the soul.
He spoke without thinking, almost absently.
" It's coming ."
The moment the words left his mouth, the air shifted.
A streak of orange lightning cracked through the room, followed a split-second later by a blur of vibrant blue.
The wind rushed through the Cortex, scattering papers, rattling monitors.
When it settled, standing side by side were two young speedsters.
One with warm orange lightning and confident posture.
The other with wild blue lightning, a bright grin, and energy bursting from every cell.
Nora Allen.
Bart Allen.
Barry and Patty's children.
From the future.
Barry's eyes widened with awe and disbelief. "Nora?"
"Hey, Dad," Nora said, smiling warmly. "Sorry for the dramatic entrance."
Patty blinked. "Bart…?"
(They know about him because nora told them)
The boy grinned ear to ear, bouncing on his toes. "Hi, Mom. First time meeting! Super weird, right? Oh, wow, you're even cooler in person—!"
Caitlin stared, stunned. "This is Bart? As in Impulse?"
"Present!" Bart snapped into a mock salute. "Straight outta 2040."
He zipped around the Cortex in a blur, tapping buttons, poking monitors, asking questions nobody could answer fast enough. His mouth ran faster than his feet, spewing out slang and tech jargon from a future they could barely follow.
Cisco chuckled, shaking his head. "Okay, this one's gonna be fun."
Wells, intrigued but cautious, kept an eye on both of them. "Why are you here?"
"Time ripple," Nora said quickly. "Something stirred. Something big."
"We came to check it out," Bart added. "Also to make sure nothing stupid happens."
And just like that, the air in the room turned serious.
But not for Bart.
For Bart, something else had already grabbed his attention.
He turned his head, sensing someone who felt… different. Not just out of place, but charged. Like a storm wrapped in skin.
His gaze landed on the man in the corner.
Red eyes. Red hair. A scarless face, yet hardened all the same. A lit cigarette dangled loosely between his fingers, his body language screaming stay away even as his presence pulled people in.
Dante.
Bart's heart kicked in his chest. He didn't know why, but something about the man struck him deep.
The way he stood.
The way he watched.
The smoke curling lazily past his face.
He looked… younger. Untouched by time. Less broken.
But still dangerous.
Bart couldn't stop staring.
He blurted out the first thing that came to his mind:
"Uncle Dante?!"
Dante raised an eyebrow, unfazed. He tapped ash into a tray and gave Bart a lazy glance. "What's up, kid?"
Bart's mouth dropped open a bit. "Damn, you're hot when you're young."
The entire room froze.
Patty coughed awkwardly.
Barry's eyebrows hit the ceiling.
Cisco actually snorted.
Caitlin blinked rapidly.
Nora facepalmed. "Bart!"
"What?" Bart defended himself. "I'm just saying. I mean—in the future, Uncle Dante's got black hair and a gnarly scar across his jaw. He's... cool. But this version? This is like... model-catalog-Dante."
Dante took a long drag and smirked. "Thanks, I guess."
Nora shook her head. "Sorry. He doesn't have a filter. Or a pause button."
Barry chuckled and approached Dante. "Uncle dante , huh?"
"I didn't know I got adopted," Dante muttered.
Nora stepped forward. "You're more than that. In the future… you're family. You've always been."
Dante didn't respond at first. He just looked at her. Really looked.
Orange lightning flickered gently around her fingertips, but her eyes were kind. She spoke like she meant it. Like she knew him.
A version of him he hadn't become yet.
And that unsettled him.
Bart grinned again, completely oblivious to the tension he was stirring.
"Man, Uncle Dante used to train me when I was a kid. He taught me how to punch without breaking my wrist and how to throw knives in the dark. We used to race. He always lost but told me it was part of his plan to build my ego."
Dante raised a brow. "That sounds like me."
"I told you you're cool," Bart said with a smirk. "And mysterious. You have this grumpy-but-awesome vibe that just—"
"Bart," Nora cut in. "Focus."
"Oh. Right." He snapped his fingers and pointed at Dante. "But I still don't get it. You look normal. But you're not."
Dante's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"
Bart tilted his head. "Something's in you. I can feel it. Like... like there's thunder hiding behind your skin. Like lightning's waiting to break loose. And it's not just Speed Force. It's... something else."
The room fell quiet again.
Everyone turned toward Dante.
But his face gave nothing away.
He crushed the cigarette in the tray, exhaling one final puff.
"Cute theory," he said flatly.
Then he walked out.
Leaving silence in his wake. But his eyes was sharp and his mind was thinking about something he can't say out loud
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