Barry hadn't given in. Of course he couldn't believe Brad. What exactly was the Speed Force? S.T.A.R. Labs was one of the country's leading research institutes, and it had been studying him ever since his awakening without uncovering much of anything. Who did this guy think he was, boasting that he could grant the Speed Force to everyone in the world?
Brad didn't argue. Instead, he took out several Nanoballs on the spot. Drawing on Iron Lord's superpowered armor technology, he printed a pair of seemingly unremarkable running shoes before Barry's astonished eyes.
Leaving aside Brad's nanotechnology, which went far beyond anything amateur researchers or even military scientists could achieve, the sight of those running shoes crackling with Speed Force lightning was enough to tell Barry that Brad probably wasn't bluffing.
Especially when their reluctant test subject, Barbara, took off her heels and slipped her black-stockinged feet into the running shoes with a miserable expression. Sensing the Speed Force trembling in displeasure at having a new speedster forcibly shoved into it, Barry began scratching his head in agitation.
"Who... exactly are you? You're not planning to destroy Earth, are you?"
Faced with such terrifying technological prowess, Barry began wondering whether Brad was some higher-dimensional lifeform amusing himself among mortals. Even the way he looked at Brad grew fearful.
"Do I really have to explain myself to everyone? Superman in Metropolis and the local Dark Knight have both asked me similar questions."
Brad pulled a newspaper reporting on one of Superman's rescues out of the pile of clutter and pointed at it.
"You know Superman, right? Even he didn't object to me staying on Earth, yet you keep assuming the worst of me."
Unlike Gotham's gloomy, antisocial Batman, who had psychological issues and violent tendencies, most of this Earth's superheroes had