"Tell me this isn't real. Tell me everything we've seen and experienced is a hoax - that it's just some kind of hallucination," Barry (Barry) said anxiously, pacing back and forth.
"I'm afraid... that's true," Sisko said.
"No way?"
"My equipment detected high-intensity residual energy," Sisko explained. "Also, I just checked the data of International Bureau of Weights and Measures, and all the atomic clocks detected anomalies."
"And this is exactly what happens when time goes back," Barry continued, his face instantly turning pale. The room fell into an eerie silence until Ralph broke the silence:
"I quit." He immediately walked towards the exit.
"Oh, calm down. What do you mean?"
"Like I said, I quit."
"You can't just walk away," Iris said.
"Of course I can. When I reluctantly agreed to join, I wanted to fight ordinary crimes in this city and deal with a few Superman types at most. But now I'm facing a monster that can destroy the world with a snap of a finger, and then turn back time as if nothing happened? This is far beyond my ability, and I'm not sorry for the meager remuneration I received."
"Please, Ralph," Barry urged. "I know the situation looks hopeless, but there is still hope."
"Yeah... we're still alive, aren't we? That's good news after all."
"Yes, that's because of his kindness. But if you continue to have this idea, we won't survive long." No matter what others said, Ralph walked out without looking back. His departure dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the team.
"I can't believe he just ran away like that," Wally complained.
"Given the current situation, you can't blame him," Wells said.
"Are you on his side?"
"No, but I understand his choice."
"Then you will also--"
"That's enough, Wally," Joe raised his voice and interrupted him. "Now is not the time for us to have internal strife. We must find a way to solve the problem."
Unfortunately, no one could offer any constructive advice.
The next day, Ian showed up as usual. He acted indifferent to everyone and immediately forced Barry and Wally to accept his test.
This time he became even harsher, pushing them to their limits and testing them for three days in a row before leaving. Whenever they were exhausted, he would give them a bottle of Potions to restore their strength. He would then disappear for a day and return to repeat the process.
By the second week, Wally was eliminated because his connection depth with Speed Force was not sufficient for this level of research, so he no longer participated in the test.
"We are still missing the last piece of the puzzle," Morgana said. "However, we now have enough data to extrapolate the missing link."
"How long will that take?"
"Fifty years. Do you need a specific number down to the second?"
"No need," Ian replied. In hindsight, 50 years is not a long time, especially since they could take advantage of Time Dilation and not have to worry about the passage of time back home.
"So, what are you going to do? Do you need to take more radical measures?" Morgana asked.
"No need. We can push Barry further and collect more data; this should reduce the time required for the final calculation."
"As you wish."
As soon as Ian entered the room, he noticed something strange - he could no longer read other people's thoughts, not just Barry and Wally, but everyone else.
"What did you do?" he asked the speedster.
"You are too powerful and must be stopped. Otherwise, the world may be destroyed because of your whim."
"We were almost successful, Barry. My research is about to be completed, and you will never see me again. Why do you do such a stupid thing?"
"How do we know whether what you say is true or false? Do we have to believe one--"
"There's no need to talk nonsense to him," Sisko said, and the team immediately took action. A set of armor similar to Savitar was embodied on Barry and Wally. But it wasn't just the two of them. Every member of the team put on a similar armor.
Sisko fired several shock waves into the air, opening multiple portals, and countless people walked out. The first thing Ian saw was Oliver Quinn, also known as Green Arrow, and all his team members walked into the room. Everyone was wearing unique battle armor.
Next up is Supergirl (Kara·Dan Vers), followed by her cousin (Superman, Clark·Kent) and a group of superpowers from Earth-38.
Following closely behind are Legends of Tomorrow, a group of people whose mission is to maintain the space-time continuum. All of these members are more or less connected to Flash or Oliver.
The last group to arrive were the speedsters. Ian immediately recognized the first one as Jay Garrick, often referred to as the original speedster in the comics. It took him a moment to recognize the other two.
He did not watch all the episodes of <Flash>, but he accidentally or deliberately watched some video clips from later seasons on the Internet. Therefore, he recognized the two of them: one of them is called Godspeed, and if he remembers correctly, he should be a villain. The other is Barry's daughter from the future.
Ian looked at the team calmly, and his eyes finally fell on their battle armor.
"His calmness makes me uneasy," Diggle said over their communications system.
"This is just his bluff," Oliver responded, not hiding his voice at all. However, Ian ignored him and glanced at Barry. "I'm curious how you put this team together."
"Does it matter?"
"I feel bad about being kept in the dark." Unfortunately, no one answered him, so he had to cast a Divination spell to get the answer. Over the past few years, he had made great progress in this Magic Domain that had always puzzled him. In addition, he found that it would be better if Morgana performed the Divination instead of him.
'It's a Time Remnant,' he thought to himself. He thought he had caught all the Time Remnants, but Speed Force hid one of them and even smuggled it out of the blocked timeline. It was this remnant that brought this team together, and Ian even believed that Speed Force allowed it to access Barry's memory.
He looked directly into Barry's eyes, "I respect you, Barry. Although you felt despair when facing my power, you never gave up, just because you are a hero. Unfortunately, your stupid behavior will lead to the destruction of everything you care about. But don't worry, I am not as cruel as you think - I will not attack this planet."
"Attack!" Barry and Oliver roared at the same time. Unfortunately, their attacks had no effect. A layer of shield appeared around Ian, blocking all attacks. In addition, everyone soon discovered that their bodies were rapidly falling apart.
"What did you do?" Barry roared, but Ian just looked at him calmly without saying a word. He called on all the power of Netheril and cast one of his most powerful laws - Law of Destruction. Therefore, despite all members of the team wearing Speed Force Armor equivalent to Seventh Tier, meaning they could survive the sun's destruction, no one survived the attack.
The speedsters, Kryptonians and Martian Manhunter, were the last survivors. Their strength or physiology allowed them to draw more power from Speed Force, thereby delaying their inevitable death. However, the pain of watching their loved ones die almost caused them to suffer a mental breakdown.
"You could have avoided all of this," Ian said in a cold and ruthless tone of indifference. He pointed his finger at the speedsters and forcibly pulled out their Soul Flame; he didn't care about their last eyes full of regret, Wrath and resentment.
"What are you going to do?" Morgana asked.
"Experience what it feels like to be the speedster with the highest affinity with Speed Force."
"It's supposed to hate us now. Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"I just have to drag its consciousness into a battle with my willpower; that should buy us enough time."
"Now that you've thought it through, let's get started."