In Central City, the apartment.
Legend has it that the magical treadmill could take speedsters through time and space or even through various parallel universes. It was actually no different from common gymnasium equipment.
At least Luke didn’t see anything special.
Except for the running belt that was made of special anti-friction material, other parts were common.
These days, Barry spent more energy on things like coordinate reading, space-time anchoring and so on.
“You can use this to go back to the main universe?”
Luke looked at it suspiciously while the Flash was warming up.
He didn’t want Barry to run ahead or too far back.
In case of bad luck, he would fall directly into the Metal event in the future and face Barbatos and the Batman Who Laughs.
Or in the past, in the Kingdom Come event, meeting the Justice Society of America.
That would be awful!
“Of course.”
Barry nodded affirmatively. This wasn’t the first time he had used the Cosmic Treadmill.
In terms of time travel, no one was more of an expert than him, except for the Reverse-Flash.
“Believe me, Luke. You will see another Clark soon.”
He, the Kryptonian cousin, and Thomas Wayne were the only ones in the apartment. The other party had reminded them to forward the letter to Bruce properly.
The scrawny Kal-El, on the other hand, was left to stay happily at the Flash’s mother’s house while he waited for dinner.
The truth behind this distorted time and space was too cruel.
After careful consideration, Luke and Barry chose to hide it.
“Let’s get started.”
Luke touched his chest. There was a photo of him and Diana, hidden in his suit.
This was the only trace of his visit to this world.
As long as the Flash broke through the time barrier again and returned to the time and space of the main universe.
Everything here would go up in smoke and collapse.
‘We will meet again. ‘
Luke’s lips were raised. He and the proud Amazon Princess had already made their final farewells.
Barry nodded and looked out of the window with eyes full of nostalgia and reluctance.
“Goodbye, Mom.”
Compared with Luke’s deep parting with Diana, the Flash’s inner feelings were even more complicated, and the choice he faced was even crueller.
The Kryptonian cousin and Wonder Woman could still meet in the main universe, but Barry’s mother would never come back. Her fate was firmly fixed at the moment of being murdered by the Reverse-Flash.
“Do you need to go say goodbye again?”
Luke saw Barry’s sad expression and couldn’t help patting him on the shoulder.
“Don’t think too much when running. The more you hesitate, the slower you’ll be.”
The Flash shook his head. This was the mistake he made; he needed to correct it.
“Thank you, Luke, but … this is my responsibility.”
After making a decision to leave his excess feelings behind, Barry turned the Cosmic Treadmill on and started running.
Twists and wisps of tiny lightning seemed to connect to an illusory space, forming a substantial force field that covered the whole apartment.
Luke felt the strong surge of the Speed Force, like a surging wave, constantly releasing energy.
Soon, the rapidly expanding Speed Force field wrapped him up, taking the two figures in the apartment with it out of the wrong time and space that shouldn’t exist in the first place.
Boom!
“Ah! This is … I see three timelines; why?!”
Barry broke through the barrier of time and opened a wormhole.
However, there were three different timelines in his eyes.
Like a fork in the road!
“This is … the reality that once existed.”
Luke didn’t fall into doubt. The three timelines were the distorted Flashpoint that would collapse, the former main timeline, and the New 52 parallel universe in the future.
“Barry, don’t hesitate and follow your heart! As long as you focus on yourself, you will return to the right timeline!”
The firm and powerful voice clearly reached the ears of the Flash.
In his heart, he had to continue to accelerate, frantically marching along the parallel ‘channel’ of the past and future, history and reality!
Glittering and flashing, all kinds of memory fragments went by.
In the next moment!
Barry saw himself!
The one who opened the wormhole, ready to change the established facts and save his mother!
The one who caused all these mistakes and countless tragedies!
“I know how you feel, but you have to stop, you have to … stop!”
The energy of the Speed Force burst out, supporting the Flash to accelerate once again and break through the limit.
He grabbed the other ‘self’ and threw him to the ground.
Flashpoint was rewritten!
Boom!
The invisible sound echoed endlessly as if the long river of time and space had collapsed and disintegrated, triggering an endless chain reaction.
Earth, multiverse, superhero, Justice League …
The trajectory of fate was constantly changing as if being moved by a pair of invisible hands.
“Barry …”
The energy tide of the Speed Force slammed into Luke. He was separated from the flying Flash and entered a completely different time stream.
…
…
“Barry, what’s the matter with you?”
The Flash, whose consciousness fell into darkness, suddenly woke up and saw the face of his adoptive father, Joe.
“Are you too tired lately? If you can’t handle it, go home early and get some rest.”
The familiar voice sounded in Barry’s ear, and everything seemed so far away, so trance-like, like a dream.
“Please, we have spent 18 hours on this case. Being too anxious isn’t a good thing.”
Joe comforted him.
Barry looked down at the information at hand. The words ‘The Rogues’ and ‘Captain Cold’ were vaguely visible on it.
“Joe, do you know Superman?”
He hesitantly asked.
“Of course, Metropolis’s Superman? Who wouldn’t? He also made the front page of the Daily Planet last month for saving people from a plane crash!”
Joe looked at Barry with a strange look on his face, not understanding why the other party was asking that.
“Nowadays, all kinds of superheroes and super-criminals emerge one after another. The world is changing too fast; the police are going to be useless.”
Hearing Joe’s ramblings, Barry clenched his fists in excitement.
He succeeded!
This was the correct time and space of the main universe!
‘But where’s Luke?’
Barry, who had calmed down, frowned as if he remembered something.
He touched his jacket pocket, where there was a letter that had crossed time and space.
The ‘gift’ that Dr Wayne gave him was still there, but where was the Kryptonian cousin?
…
…
“Is this the decade you stole?”
Luke didn’t make it to the main universe, or to be more precise, someone stopped him.
A naked man with blue skin.
“You know … a lot.”
The naked man sat in mid-air, his eyes indifferent, without a trace of emotion.
Behind him, there was a large clock-like palace, where the mechanical gears clicked and rotated with absolute mathematical harmony and perfection.
“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?”
The naked man with blue skin calmly looked at Luke. No one could see his inner thoughts.
“Luke Cavell, Superman’s older cousin … Are you satisfied with this answer, Dr Manhattan?”
Luke tried to restrain every slightest mental fluctuation to prevent his opponent from sensing his mind and reading his thoughts.
“You’re not Kryptonian.”
The man named Dr Manhattan shook his head and said so.
“You are a person who came to this universe from … other places, just like me. “
