Chapter Summaries

Lin Li’s Thunderstorm matrix spread apocalyptic cloud rings over Central City as he gathered energy at the clock tower, and Martin feared it would create a singularity capable of destroying Earth and the solar system. Wade Eiling’s forces reached the evacuated clock tower, where he realized Lin Li had created the storm.

• At STAR Labs, Martin explained that Lin Li had adapted Firestorm’s abilities into a Thunderstorm matrix that gathered energy and controlled gravity to form a singularity.
• Martin admitted he had no way to stop Lin Li’s matrix, leaving Wells, Cisco, Caitlin, Ronnie, and Martin watching the storm with concern.
• Wade Eiling learned that the storm’s electromagnetic interference kept fighter jets outside Central City and ordered his troops to assemble Hartley’s magnetic gravity device.
• Hartley explained that his device was designed to restrain the Lightning Rider by using his electrical energy and electromagnetic field.
• Wade Eiling led his army to the evacuated clock tower and realized Lin Li had created the thunderstorm cloud rings.

Wade Eiling’s military forces surrounded the clock tower and tried to destroy it, but Lin Li intercepted their grenade and appeared in the sky. Tony challenged Lin Li to fight again after receiving Super Adrenaline, while Wade used their confrontation to buy time to assemble a magnetic gravity device.

• Joe reported that the military had taken control of the clock tower area and that chaos was spreading through Central City.
• Barry told STAR Labs that Wade Eiling’s soldiers had surrounded the clock tower.
• Wade Eiling ordered a soldier to fire a heavy grenade at the clock tower, but Lin Li struck it with his spear and detonated it in midair.
• Wade Eiling sent Tony to buy three minutes while his soldiers assembled a magnetic gravity device.
• Tony attacked Lin Li with a car door and demanded another fight after taking Super Adrenaline.

Lin Li and Tony fought a brutal, evenly matched battle after Tony injected himself with Super Adrenaline and transformed into a massive, steel-colored powerhouse. Lin Li’s strongest Electromagnetic Cannon Fist blasted Tony back, but Tony remained standing.

• Lin Li refused to clear Wade Eiling’s devices and declared that his power and intelligence were invincible.
• Tony injected Super Adrenaline into his heart, transforming into a towering, metal-skinned brute with immense strength.
• Lin Li and Tony traded powerful punches, demolishing the ground as Barry and Wade Eiling watched from afar.
• Lin Li and Tony unleashed their strongest attacks, and the Electromagnetic Cannon Fist sent Tony skidding back more than ten meters.
• Tony endured Lin Li’s strongest blow and remained undefeated.

Lin Li and Tony fought fiercely, with Lin Li eventually wearing down Tony's drug-enhanced strength. Wade Eiling activated Hartley's device to pin Tony to the ground, but his smile froze when he looked toward Lightning Rider.

• Lin Li and Tony exchanged powerful blows as onlookers and reporters gathered beyond Wade Eiling's military cordon.
• At STAR Labs, Ronnie, Caitlin, Wells, Cisco, and Martin watched the fight and discussed Lin Li's terrifying strength and potential.
• After more than three minutes of fighting, Tony's drug began to wear off, while Lin Li grew exhausted from the relentless battle.
• Lin Li struck Tony with another Electromagnetic Cannon Fist, driving him back and forcing him to drop to one knee.
• Wade Eiling activated Hartley's device, which pressed Tony face-down into the ground and left him unable to move.
• Wade Eiling looked toward Lightning Rider, and his smile abruptly froze.

Lin Li resisted Wade Eiling's magnetic-gravity device and used its intensified magnetic field to crush a Jeep into a small metal ball. As Wade Eiling and Hartley realized Lin Li controlled electromagnetism, Lin Li began walking toward them.

• Wade Eiling saw that Lin Li remained standing despite the magnetic-gravity device, while Tony lay motionless and bloodied on the ground.
• Lin Li resisted the device's magnetic lines and used them to lift a Jeep and compress it into a palm-sized metal ball.
• Wells told Barry that the device had intensified electromagnetic reactions, making Lin Li's control over magnetic lines even stronger.
• Hartley realized Lin Li controlled electromagnetism rather than merely metal, and Wade Eiling admitted his research had misidentified Lin Li's abilities.
• Lin Li walked toward Wade Eiling with his steel spear as Hartley feared the consequences of facing him.

Lin Li confronted Wade Eiling and used his spear to deflect the soldiers’ gunfire and explosives. Barry repeatedly intervened to save Wade and a soldier, while Lin Li left Wade’s fate unresolved and challenged Barry over his promise not to kill anyone.

• Wade Eiling ordered the soldiers to fire, but Lin Li deflected bullets and explosives with his spear as he advanced.
• Lin Li threatened Wade Eiling with his spear and said he wanted to break one of his legs in retaliation.
• Barry rescued Wade Eiling just before Lin Li’s spear struck him, and Lin Li said he would not kill anyone in front of Barry.
• When Barry pleaded with Lin Li not to hurt anyone, Lin Li aimed his spear at a soldier and threatened to trade the soldier’s life for Wade’s leg.
• Barry rescued the soldier, while Lin Li moved beside Wade Eiling and praised Barry.

Central City descended into unrest as criminals acted in Lightning Rider’s name, while Barry and the STAR Labs team planned how to stop Lin Li. They agreed to test Lightning Rider the next morning and prepare for a larger confrontation two days later, as Wells headed to the Time Vault.

• Lightning Rider’s defeat of the Steel Giant and claim over the Clock Tower fueled chaos and criminal worship across Central City, while The Flash and other heroes fought to protect the city.
• Barry returned to STAR Labs and complained that criminals were committing crimes under Lin Li’s banner as the Thunderstorm matrix grew darker.
• Cisco revealed that he had completed a light-emitting device intended to restore Lin Li, and Barry reassured him that the team would help.
• Oliver proposed testing Lightning Rider’s combat strength, and Wells described plans to modify Wade’s magnetic-gravity device while Ronnie and Martin offered to merge into Firestorm.
• Oliver assigned the team to stabilize Central City that day and test Lightning Rider the next morning, while Wells went to the Time Vault after the group dispersed.

Lin Li continued his plan to create a black hole and return home, while Reverse-Flash confronted him over the danger to Central City and the future. The chapter ended with Reverse-Flash preparing to fight Lin Li.

• Wells checked the future in the Time Vault and saw that The Flash and Lightning Rider still fought crime together in 2024.
• Lin Li operated the Thunderstorm matrix from the Clock Tower as Shanshan 2.0 created abnormal weather.
• Reverse-Flash arrived at the Clock Tower and challenged Lin Li over his actions.
• Lin Li said Shanshan 2.0 would help Reverse-Flash return home and protect Eddie, but Reverse-Flash accused her of driving Lin Li's plan.
• Reverse-Flash decided Lin Li was too far gone and prepared to fight him.
• Lin Li put away his spear, charged himself with thunder, and challenged Reverse-Flash to show his speed.

Reverse-Flash ripped out Lightning Rider’s heart, but Lin Li survived because the Resurrection Coffin rebuilt it from his cells. Lightning Rider then trapped Reverse-Flash in immobilized air as Barry raced toward the clock tower, while a black suit of armor failed to escape a closing spacetime wormhole.

• Reverse-Flash used the Speed Force to pass through Lin Li and tear out his heart, then crushed it.
• Lightning Rider revealed that the Resurrection Coffin let his body construct thirteen hearts and absorbed the heart’s scattered cells to make a fourteenth.
• Reverse-Flash threatened to rip out Lin Li’s brain, but Lightning Rider slowed and trapped him in air that had become like glue.
• Cisco warned Barry that a yellow-suited speedster was fighting Lin Li at the clock tower, and Barry recognized his mother’s murderer and ran there.
• Barry emerged from a spacetime wormhole near Laser Way Enterprises and headed toward the dark clouds as a black suit of armor failed to escape the wormhole before it closed.

Lin Li defeated Reverse-Flash with an electrostatic control field, then used him to push Barry to become faster by withholding the answer to his identity. Barry chased Reverse-Flash but soon returned, asking Lin Li whether he had created the sky.

• Lin Li trapped Reverse-Flash with an electrostatic control field and knocked him unconscious when he failed to phase through it.
• Barry arrived, recognized Reverse-Flash as the man who murdered his mother, and demanded that Lin Li hand him over.
• Lin Li refused to reveal Reverse-Flash's identity unless Barry reached Mach 2, despite Barry pleading about his mother's murder and his father's wrongful imprisonment.
• Lin Li kicked Reverse-Flash awake and sent him running, and Barry raced after him in pursuit.
• Barry returned shortly afterward and asked Lin Li if he had made the sky.

Lin Li confronted a Barry Allen who had arrived from a different world, but Barry mistook him for a villain threatening Central City. Barry attacked Lin Li with lightning, unaware that Lin Li absorbed it, then ran away to prepare another move.

• Lin Li recognized Barry's white-background lightning emblem and realized he had come from the future, but Barry said he did not know Lin Li and believed he had landed in an unknown parallel world.
• Lin Li told Barry to leave, but Barry insisted that he restore Central City's stormy sky before going.
• Barry attacked Lin Li by hurling a ball of yellow lightning at his chest, and Lin Li absorbed the electricity without being harmed.
• Barry asked whether Lin Li had another weakness, then ran 5.3 miles away to prepare a move that had once knocked down Steel.

Barry rescued Barry 2, his future counterpart from another world, after Lin Li knocked him unconscious, and brought him to STAR Labs. As Caitlin treated Barry 2, the team speculated about why he had traveled to their world and whether Barry’s speed could enable time travel.

• Lin Li punched Barry 2 away, and Barry caught him before discovering that he looked just like himself.
• Barry learned that Barry 2 came from another world and the future, then took him away from Lin Li.
• Barry brought Barry 2 to STAR Labs, where Caitlin began treating him and the team reacted to seeing two Barrys.
• Cisco and Martin speculated about Barry 2’s journey, and Martin explained his theory that time travel involved moving along spacetime.
• Cisco suggested that Barry’s Speed Force could let him travel through time and that reaching Mach 2 might help Lin Li return.

Barry and the others prepared to test Firestorm's strength as part of their plan to restore Lin Li, while Lin Li remained at the Clock Tower and rejected a fan who believed in him. The chapter ended with Barry catching the falling Lightning Female Knight after Lin Li struck her with lightning.

• Barry 2 refused to reveal who had murdered Barry's mother, telling Barry he would have to learn the truth himself.
• Wells warned Ronnie and Martin to accept the Firestorm fusion fully, and Ronnie reassured Caitlin that Lin Li might be able to separate them afterward.
• Barry, Barry 2, Wells, Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity prepared to test the Lightning Rider's strength, with Oliver set to command the battle.
• Lightning Female Knight approached Lin Li by helicopter and pleaded with him to explain why he had turned against Central City.
• Lin Li called her too noisy and severed her thigh with a bolt of electrical energy.
• Barry caught Lightning Female Knight as she fell from the Clock Tower.

Barry rescued Lightning Female Knight and promised to help Lin Li return to normal before joining the others to confront him. As the battle preparations continued, Wells considered the danger Lin Li posed and prepared to use nanobots to control Tony and ensure his death.

• Barry caught Lightning Female Knight after Lin Li threw her from the clock tower, and she begged him to help Lin Li before fainting.
• Barry returned to face Lin Li alongside the other Barry, Firestorm, and Green Arrow, while Diggle prepared to support them with a sniper rifle.
• Wells left the control room and visited the recovering Tony in the surgical ward.
• Wells concluded that Lin Li might turn against him once he returned to normal and decided that Lin Li should die.
• Wells took out a syringe and a sphere containing brain nanobots, intending to control Tony and ensure his death.

The Lightning Rider fought Green Arrow’s team above the clock tower while they used coordinated attacks to try to force him to the ground. He remained airborne and countered their weapons, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Barry confronted the Lightning Rider over his treatment of the Lightning Female Knight, and the Lightning Rider dismissed her as a fly.
• At Green Arrow’s command, Firestorm attacked the Lightning Rider with fire while Diggle and Green Arrow followed with sniper shots and arrows.
• The Lightning Rider dodged the attacks, and Green Arrow’s explosive arrow detonated behind him.
• The Lightning Rider formed a black dome from his spear to block Firestorm’s flames as he resisted being pushed toward the ground.
• Barry 2 fired supernatural slime at the Lightning Rider’s thruster, but the Lightning Rider cut the shots apart with arcs of lightning.

Lin Li, as Lightning Rider, fought Firestorm in the sky until the Electric Field Convergence Device forced him to land, where the two Barrys tried to wear him down. He adapted by channeling electromagnetic power through his arm and aimed a projectile at Green Arrow, leaving Barry to notice the danger.

• Lin Li and Firestorm fought in the air, with Lin Li struggling to overcome Firestorm’s regeneration and agility.
• Cisco proposed using the Electric Field Convergence Device to disrupt Lin Li’s flight and electromagnetic control, and Barry went to activate it.
• Barry 2 and Firestorm combined tornadoes and fire against Lin Li, but Lin Li redirected steel spears and forced Barry 2 to dodge.
• The Electric Field Convergence Device weakened Lin Li’s flight and control, so he descended to the ground as both Barrys circled him with Speed Force lightning.
• Lin Li fused the steel spear into his armor and built an energy conduit in his arm, then aimed a small projectile at Green Arrow while Barry sensed something was wrong.

The Lightning Rider shot Green Arrow with a superconducting railgun, severing his leg as Barry and the others watched in horror. As Barry 2 carried Oliver away for treatment, Oliver urged Barry to stop Lin Li.

• Barry left the lightning ring and ran toward Green Arrow as Lin Li aimed the Lightning Rider at him.
• The Lightning Rider fired a superconducting railgun round that pierced Green Arrow's thigh and severed his leg.
• Barry, Barry 2, Felicity, and Diggle cried out in grief and attacked Lin Li, but the Lightning Rider dodged Diggle's bullets.
• Barry held Oliver and blamed himself for asking him to help, while Barry 2 took Oliver toward STAR Labs for treatment.
• Oliver joked that he was still alive and urged Barry to go stop Lin Li.

Barry confronted Lightning Rider after Oliver was sent back to STAR Labs, but Lightning Rider injured Firestorm and threatened Diggle. Barry 2 rushed in to stop him and was caught and slammed into the ground.

• Barry was sent back to STAR Labs, where Caitlin and Felicity treated Oliver's wounds and Felicity wept over his broken leg.
• Barry told Lightning Rider he would not give up and would bring him back to normal, but Lightning Rider challenged him to reach Mach 2 and threatened Firestorm.
• Firestorm attacked Lightning Rider with a pillar of flame, but Lightning Rider shot through it with a railgun projectile and severed Firestorm's arm.
• Barry repeatedly attacked Lightning Rider at high speed but could not break through his icy armor.
• Lightning Rider aimed another projectile toward Diggle, but Barry 2 arrived and Lightning Rider caught him by the neck.
• Lightning Rider put away the projectile and slammed Barry 2 into the ground, leaving him dazed and coughing blood.

Lightning Rider defeated Barry’s team while Tony took the light radiation emitter and rushed to the clock tower despite the danger to his weakened body. Tony arrived in his steel-coated form and launched a powerful attack on Lightning Rider.

• Lightning Rider smashed Barry 2 unconscious and threw him toward Barry, who confirmed he was still breathing.
• Caitlin told Cisco that Tony was missing, and Wells revealed that Tony had taken the light radiation emitter to support Barry.
• Caitlin warned that another dose of Super Adrenaline could drain Tony’s cells and kill him, leaving the team worried they could not stop Lin Li.
• Tony leaped across Central City and landed behind Barry at the clock tower, carrying the light radiation emitter.
• Tony threw the emitter aside and punched down at Lightning Rider with explosive force.

Lin Li fought Tony as the Thunderstorm matrix malfunctioned, while Wells sent Barry to use a photic radiation device under the pretense of restoring Lin Li. Lin Li realized Wells was behind the anomaly as Tony rose from the rubble and charged again.

• Lightning Rider and Tony clashed, and Lin Li hurled Tony into a building that collapsed on him.
• Wells told Barry to use the photic radiation device with Tony to restore Lin Li, and Barry prepared to act.
• Wells secretly intended to destroy Lin Li, and Lin Li recognized him as Eobard Thawne, Reverse-Flash, after more lightning struck from the Thunderstorm matrix.
• Tony climbed from the rubble without showing pain or emotion and charged at Lightning Rider.
• Lightning Rider pointed the Demon Claw at Tony, and a pellet appeared within it.