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Chapter 490: Die, or Give Me the Speed Force Technology (1)
2022-10-19 Author: Great Demon Spirit
The main hall inside S.T.A.R. Labs was a circular structure.
A high-end runway, specially built for Barry, was built into the surrounding walls, sturdy enough to withstand the terrifying sonic booms generated by a Speedster's run.
This made it more convenient for Dr. Harrison to observe the changes in Barry Allen's speed with each run, allowing him to calculate the share of the Speed Force to steal without arousing Barry's suspicion.
Stealing too much at once would cause Barry's speed to drop, which would easily raise suspicion.
Don't think that just because Barry Allen seems naive, he's easy to deceive. One of the basic abilities of a Speedster is super-thinking—he can figure out in a second what takes others months or even years to understand.
It's just that Barry never questions this or that, and coupled with Harrison's Oscar-worthy acting, which was full of genuine emotion, Harrison has been able to hide the truth until today.
At this moment, Pietro was running desperately on the track. Below, Harrison and the others were sitting in front of their computers, observing the changing data.
"So, how much has my speed increased?" Pietro appeared before them, panting heavily, his face full of anticipation.
Cisco said with a look of admiration, "Nice job, man. You've gotten faster again."
"By how much?"
"From fourteen times the speed of sound to fourteen-point-one times the speed of sound," Cisco teased.
Pietro's face fell, and his shoulders slumped in disappointment.
He was truly a bit discouraged.
In one week, Barry could go from three hundred times the speed of sound to three hundred and fourteen times, yet he himself had only increased by zero-point-one... The gap was just too absurd.
In the one area he took pride in, his speed, he was utterly defeated, to the point of questioning his own existence.
It was simply a nightmare.
"Don't be like that, Pietro. You're already very fast. If you went to the Olympics, you could win countless gold medals," the blonde Caitlin comforted him.
Dr. Harrison wore his signature smile, habitually parting his lips to reveal his white teeth, giving off a sense of approachability. He said, "Pietro, you've already made great progress."
"But Barry..."
"Barry is special. He's not a Mutant; he got his speed when the Particle Accelerator exploded," Harrison said gently.
Pietro gritted his teeth. "Then should I get blown up too? Maybe I'll get faster! Trust me, guys, I have the confidence for it!"
Everyone: "..."
Harrison rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache. For the instant his palm covered his eyes, a flash of deep annoyance and impatience flickered within them.
The likes of you wants to compare with Barry?
Harrison's face twitched for a moment, his patience completely worn out. He wasn't the real Harrison; he was the Reverse-Flash, a ruthless killer!
If killing Quicksilver or crudely driving him away wouldn't cause his persona to collapse, he would have lost his restraint long ago.
A speed user without the Speed Force was no different from useless trash to him, the Reverse-Flash.
So what if you can run fast? If you're not a Speedster, he can't steal the Speed Force, and he can't go home.
It was a complete waste of time.
Reverse-Flash didn't actually care who he was training, nor did he care about their multiples of the speed of sound. As long as they had the Speed Force, as long as they were a Speedster, he would gladly condescend to train even a pig with immense patience.
But Quicksilver wasn't a Speedster at all. He had secretly experimented with a tiny bit of the Speed Force, and it had shown no obvious interest in Quicksilver.
Perhaps he had used too little of the Speed Force?
No, that wasn't important. It only meant Quicksilver's aptitude was insufficient. If he used more of the Speed Force, it would be a loss for him.
Reverse-Flash lowered his hand and reverted to the gentle Dr. Harrison. "Trust me, Pietro, you will get faster. We just haven't found the right method for you yet. I should take responsibility for that, for wasting more than half a month of your time."
"No, Doctor, it has nothing to do with you. It's my own fault," Pietro said with a grateful expression.
Pietro was an emotional person by nature. Although a bit of a chunibyo, he wasn't stupid. He felt that Dr. Harrison genuinely had his best interests at heart.
Don't blame Pietro, Barry, and the others for being played for fools. The Reverse-Flash's acting skills were maxed out—his expressions, movements, tone, and gaze were simply perfect. Anyone would have been deceived.
"The doctor is right, Pietro. You can get faster, but you need time to grow."
Tony's calm voice came as he and Barry walked into the laboratory.
Dr. Harrison's pupils contracted for an instant before returning to normal. He put on a shocked expression—shock on his face, but rage in his heart.
As expected, that pest Pietro still ended up bringing Tony here. I just hope he hasn't discovered anything...
Harrison didn't dare reveal his killing intent, afraid Tony would sense it.
Pietro turned around, astonished. "Tony? Why are you here?"
"Call me brother-in-law," Tony snorted coldly. "I had no idea you've been troubling these people for so long."
"Oh my god, it's you!" Cisco was incredibly excited, flustered, and his face flushed red. "You're... the Machine Emperor!"
"...Why do you call me that?"
"Cisco loves giving people nicknames, please don't mind him," Caitlin said nervously, hastily covering Cisco's mouth and forcing a smile.
She was terrified because the man before her was a ruthless killer.
Tony fell into contemplation. Back when he went to Vormir for the Soul Stone, Red Skull had also called him that. It seemed Red Skull had seen something within the Infinity Stones.
But that was a minor detail, just a mere title.
Tony was quite nonchalant about it.
All the members of S.T.A.R. Labs were under immense pressure, feeling a mixture of awe and fear towards Tony.
Suddenly, Tony smiled, and the tension vanished. "I've come specifically to visit Dr. Harrison. I hope it's not inconvenient..."
Everyone looked at Dr. Harrison, whose face had gone stiff.
"Oh, of course. It would be my honor. Barry, why don't you take them out for a bit? I'd like to speak with the esteemed Guardian alone," Harrison said, his voice stiff.
The others just assumed Harrison was very nervous.
"Uh, I think we can help too," Barry said uncomfortably, crossing and uncrossing his arms.
"No, Barry, this is a very important matter that only Dr. Harrison and I can discuss alone," Tony said with a smile. "Surely you're not worried I'll harm him? Pietro, you go out too."
Barry gave Cisco and Caitlin a meaningful look, and they left, filled with concern. Pietro gave Tony a suspicious glance, hesitated for a moment, and then followed them out.
Once outside the laboratory, Cisco couldn't help but say, "I heard Tony wants to leave Earth and is recruiting Mutants from all over the planet. But now he's come to see Dr. Harrison alone. Do you think it could be..."
Barry and Caitlin looked at him.
"He wants to recruit Dr. Harrison, and maybe even us!" Cisco said with utmost seriousness, punching his fist into his palm excitedly. "Yes, that must be it!"
"Yes, that's very likely. I know him all too well," Pietro said, coming to a sudden realization. "Maybe we'll still be able to meet up even when we get to another planet."
(end of chapter)
2022-10-19 Author: Great Demon Spirit
The main hall inside S.T.A.R. Labs was a circular structure.
A high-end runway, specially built for Barry, was built into the surrounding walls, sturdy enough to withstand the terrifying sonic booms generated by a Speedster's run.
This made it more convenient for Dr. Harrison to observe the changes in Barry Allen's speed with each run, allowing him to calculate the share of the Speed Force to steal without arousing Barry's suspicion.
Stealing too much at once would cause Barry's speed to drop, which would easily raise suspicion.
Don't think that just because Barry Allen seems naive, he's easy to deceive. One of the basic abilities of a Speedster is super-thinking—he can figure out in a second what takes others months or even years to understand.
It's just that Barry never questions this or that, and coupled with Harrison's Oscar-worthy acting, which was full of genuine emotion, Harrison has been able to hide the truth until today.
At this moment, Pietro was running desperately on the track. Below, Harrison and the others were sitting in front of their computers, observing the changing data.
"So, how much has my speed increased?" Pietro appeared before them, panting heavily, his face full of anticipation.
Cisco said with a look of admiration, "Nice job, man. You've gotten faster again."
"By how much?"
"From fourteen times the speed of sound to fourteen-point-one times the speed of sound," Cisco teased.
Pietro's face fell, and his shoulders slumped in disappointment.
He was truly a bit discouraged.
In one week, Barry could go from three hundred times the speed of sound to three hundred and fourteen times, yet he himself had only increased by zero-point-one... The gap was just too absurd.
In the one area he took pride in, his speed, he was utterly defeated, to the point of questioning his own existence.
It was simply a nightmare.
"Don't be like that, Pietro. You're already very fast. If you went to the Olympics, you could win countless gold medals," the blonde Caitlin comforted him.
Dr. Harrison wore his signature smile, habitually parting his lips to reveal his white teeth, giving off a sense of approachability. He said, "Pietro, you've already made great progress."
"But Barry..."
"Barry is special. He's not a Mutant; he got his speed when the Particle Accelerator exploded," Harrison said gently.
Pietro gritted his teeth. "Then should I get blown up too? Maybe I'll get faster! Trust me, guys, I have the confidence for it!"
Everyone: "..."
Harrison rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache. For the instant his palm covered his eyes, a flash of deep annoyance and impatience flickered within them.
The likes of you wants to compare with Barry?
Harrison's face twitched for a moment, his patience completely worn out. He wasn't the real Harrison; he was the Reverse-Flash, a ruthless killer!
If killing Quicksilver or crudely driving him away wouldn't cause his persona to collapse, he would have lost his restraint long ago.
A speed user without the Speed Force was no different from useless trash to him, the Reverse-Flash.
So what if you can run fast? If you're not a Speedster, he can't steal the Speed Force, and he can't go home.
It was a complete waste of time.
Reverse-Flash didn't actually care who he was training, nor did he care about their multiples of the speed of sound. As long as they had the Speed Force, as long as they were a Speedster, he would gladly condescend to train even a pig with immense patience.
But Quicksilver wasn't a Speedster at all. He had secretly experimented with a tiny bit of the Speed Force, and it had shown no obvious interest in Quicksilver.
Perhaps he had used too little of the Speed Force?
No, that wasn't important. It only meant Quicksilver's aptitude was insufficient. If he used more of the Speed Force, it would be a loss for him.
Reverse-Flash lowered his hand and reverted to the gentle Dr. Harrison. "Trust me, Pietro, you will get faster. We just haven't found the right method for you yet. I should take responsibility for that, for wasting more than half a month of your time."
"No, Doctor, it has nothing to do with you. It's my own fault," Pietro said with a grateful expression.
Pietro was an emotional person by nature. Although a bit of a chunibyo, he wasn't stupid. He felt that Dr. Harrison genuinely had his best interests at heart.
Don't blame Pietro, Barry, and the others for being played for fools. The Reverse-Flash's acting skills were maxed out—his expressions, movements, tone, and gaze were simply perfect. Anyone would have been deceived.
"The doctor is right, Pietro. You can get faster, but you need time to grow."
Tony's calm voice came as he and Barry walked into the laboratory.
Dr. Harrison's pupils contracted for an instant before returning to normal. He put on a shocked expression—shock on his face, but rage in his heart.
As expected, that pest Pietro still ended up bringing Tony here. I just hope he hasn't discovered anything...
Harrison didn't dare reveal his killing intent, afraid Tony would sense it.
Pietro turned around, astonished. "Tony? Why are you here?"
"Call me brother-in-law," Tony snorted coldly. "I had no idea you've been troubling these people for so long."
"Oh my god, it's you!" Cisco was incredibly excited, flustered, and his face flushed red. "You're... the Machine Emperor!"
"...Why do you call me that?"
"Cisco loves giving people nicknames, please don't mind him," Caitlin said nervously, hastily covering Cisco's mouth and forcing a smile.
She was terrified because the man before her was a ruthless killer.
Tony fell into contemplation. Back when he went to Vormir for the Soul Stone, Red Skull had also called him that. It seemed Red Skull had seen something within the Infinity Stones.
But that was a minor detail, just a mere title.
Tony was quite nonchalant about it.
All the members of S.T.A.R. Labs were under immense pressure, feeling a mixture of awe and fear towards Tony.
Suddenly, Tony smiled, and the tension vanished. "I've come specifically to visit Dr. Harrison. I hope it's not inconvenient..."
Everyone looked at Dr. Harrison, whose face had gone stiff.
"Oh, of course. It would be my honor. Barry, why don't you take them out for a bit? I'd like to speak with the esteemed Guardian alone," Harrison said, his voice stiff.
The others just assumed Harrison was very nervous.
"Uh, I think we can help too," Barry said uncomfortably, crossing and uncrossing his arms.
"No, Barry, this is a very important matter that only Dr. Harrison and I can discuss alone," Tony said with a smile. "Surely you're not worried I'll harm him? Pietro, you go out too."
Barry gave Cisco and Caitlin a meaningful look, and they left, filled with concern. Pietro gave Tony a suspicious glance, hesitated for a moment, and then followed them out.
Once outside the laboratory, Cisco couldn't help but say, "I heard Tony wants to leave Earth and is recruiting Mutants from all over the planet. But now he's come to see Dr. Harrison alone. Do you think it could be..."
Barry and Caitlin looked at him.
"He wants to recruit Dr. Harrison, and maybe even us!" Cisco said with utmost seriousness, punching his fist into his palm excitedly. "Yes, that must be it!"
"Yes, that's very likely. I know him all too well," Pietro said, coming to a sudden realization. "Maybe we'll still be able to meet up even when we get to another planet."
(end of chapter)
