Under that compassionate gaze, Barry Allen completely broke down.
He huddled in the large electric chair, his wrists rubbing against the cold metal handcuffs, oblivious to the scrapes that broke his skin.
Warm drops of blood slid down the rust and dripped onto the puddled ground, where they were quickly washed away by the rain.
He didn't want to die; he just wanted to find out the truth about his mother's murder and prove his father's innocence. He didn't even care about the title of superhero anymore.
"Um..." Barry swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing as he spoke weakly.
"Actually, I don't necessarily need to gain superpowers. Maybe there are other ways to stop this war, right? Like negotiating at the United Nations? Or trying to reason with Diana and Arthur?"
Thor didn't even give him a proper look, turning instead to Thomas Wayne, who was standing next to the electric chair.
"Is it tied up?"
Thomas, with an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips, locked the final hydraulic latch with his rough fingers, making a crisp click.
He turned his head and sized up Thor for two seconds.
"I guess in your universe, those who oppose you don't fare any better." Thomas spat out the tobacco residue in his mouth, took two steps back, and watched coldly.
Thor didn't respond to that.
He raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and gently waved it towards the oppressive dark clouds above the rooftop.
This time, he didn't use those complex laws of power; he simply relied on the immense divine power belonging to Thor within this body to forcibly take over Gotham City's weather system.
Boom!
The already gloomy sky suddenly exploded.
The torrential rain began to fall without warning, the large raindrops pounding against the metal pipes on the rooftop with a crackling sound.
Deep within the clouds, blinding blue and white arcs of electricity surged wildly, weaving together into a massive electric grid of death.
Barry sat in the rain, instantly soaked to the bone, the cold rainwater streaming down his pale cheeks.
He pressed himself against the back of the chair, forcing out a smile that was a hundred times uglier than crying.
"We really don't need to do this! I believe we must have other ways to stop this war! Let's think about it some more..."
"Aaaaaah--"
Before the words were finished, a bolt of blue lightning as thick as a bucket tore through the rain and struck the specially made bat kite in mid-air with pinpoint accuracy.
The high-voltage current surged along the traction line and instantly poured into the lightning seat.
Barry began to convulse violently.
The chemical bottles on the shelf above the seats shattered all at once under the violent energy.
Unidentified red, green, and blue potions, mixed with shards of glass, were violently splashed onto Barry amidst the lightning.
The electric current penetrated the skin and flesh, filling the air with a pungent, burnt smell.
The first lightning bolt had barely stopped when the second and third followed in quick succession.
After being chopped five times in a row, the commotion on the chair completely ceased.
The charred figure slumped limply, its head hanging down, wisps of white smoke rising from its chest, no longer heaving.
Death Tetiyu took a step forward, her high heels splashing through the puddles.
"He seems to be dead." She turned her head, her voice soft, as if discussing the withering of a flower.
Thor wiped the rain off his face and glanced at her.
"Then why don't you hurry up and pull him back?"
Death Tetiyu chuckled softly, raised her slender fingers, and gently pressed them against the charred corpse from a distance.
Invisible ripples spread through the rain.
The life force that had already dissipated was forcibly forced back into that broken body by an irresistible power.
"Cough!"
The charred remains on the seat jolted violently, and withered fingers gripped the armrests tightly.
Barry opened his eyes, the whites of his eyes bloodshot, and he was breathing heavily.
He looked down at his charred, peeling skin, then at the three people around him.
"I..." Barry's throat was so dry it was practically crackling, "I feel like I just went to Hell, was it just my imagination?"
Thomas Wayne walked over and picked up a new box of chemicals.
"It wasn't an illusion." Thomas rearranged the vials on the shelf above Barry's head, gesturing with his chin towards Death Tetiyu. "It was that pale-skinned woman who brought you back to life."
Barry followed Thomas's gaze and shuddered.
He swallowed hard, trying to make a sound from his parched throat.
"I think we really need to talk this over!" Barry shook his locked shoulders frantically. "This is going to Deadman! I just died once, right? Absolutely dead!"
Death Tetiyu stood with his hands behind his back, bent slightly, and approached Barry.
"Don't worry," she said with a smile, "Every time you die, I'll bring you back, until you successfully regain your superpowers."
Barry's breath caught in his throat.
What kind of Hell joke is this?!
You two are devils! You're absolutely devils!!!
Thor stood aside, inwardly scoffing. This woman pretends to be gentle, but she's darker than anyone else.
"Continue." Thor snapped his the Snap.
boom!
Another bolt of lightning struck.
"Aaaaaah--"
For the next half hour, a horrific cycle unfolded on the rooftop of the Wayne Manor.
Lightning struck, chemicals were poured on him, and Barry died.
Death Tetiyu waved, the Soul Stone was returned, and Barry was resurrected.
Thomas sets up the potion, Thor summons lightning.
Thomas initially thought the plan was utterly absurd, but by the seventh time, he had become completely numb to it.
He even started calculating in his mind whether the remaining chemical plant inventory in Gotham City would be enough for these lunatics to wreak havoc.
The eighth time.
The ninth time.
The tenth time.
As the tenth jolt dissipated, Barry once again became a smoking corpse, a strange distortion suddenly occurred in the shadow of a clock tower a few kilometers away from the Wayne Manor.
A red and yellow shadowy figure paced restlessly back and forth in the darkness.
Reverse-Flash Thawne is going crazy!
He traveled across time to follow Barry Allen, to witness his despair after losing everything, and to personally destroy his nemesis's life bit by bit.
But what's going on now?
What on earth are those three lunatics doing?!
Tie his favorite toy to a chair, strike it dead with lightning, resurrect it, strike it dead again, and resurrect it again?!
Is this exploiting some kind of cosmic loophole?!
If she keeps hacking at him like that, even if that terrifying woman forcibly pulls Barry Allen's Soul Stone back, his mind will completely collapse and he'll become an idiot!
What kind of idiot the Flash is he even playing?!
What he found even more unbearable was that these people had no idea about the elegance of the Speed Force!
A physical lightning strike combined with substandard chemical agents? That's an insult to the Speed Force!
"A bunch of lunatics!" Thawne cursed through gritted teeth.
He raised his hand, and a wisp of scarlet Negative Speed Force flickered at his fingertips.
Thawne twitched his fingers slightly, silently stripping away a sliver of pure essence from the Speed Force and sending it flying along the gap in the timeline toward the rooftop of the Wayne Manor.
On the rooftop, wind and rain raged.
Aside from Thor and Death Tetiyu, no one noticed this rat causing trouble in the timeline.
Thor's gaze didn't linger on Barry at all.
His attention was fixed on Death Tetiyu from beginning to end.
Each time Death Tetiyu raises his hand to revive Barry after death, that fluctuation of rules transcending the birth and death of the universe will briefly appear in the air.
Thor's Heaven-Defying Comprehension was working wildly in his mind.
The Law of Death!
The Law of Reincarnation!
The Law of the End!
These three powers of law, which transcend ordinary laws, were completely exposed by Thor during Death Tetiyu's ten unsuspecting uses.
A massive influx of information flooded his mind, Thor clearly perceived the absolute coldness of the Law of Death, the endless closed loop of the Law of Reincarnation, and the sense of annihilation that the Law of the End possessed, erasing everything.
A faint grayish-white light emanated from the surface of his body, a sign that the power of law was beginning to take shape, but he quickly suppressed it with the power of thunder.
Within just a few minutes, I had a complete grasp of these three principles.
They made a killing!
Thor suppressed his elation; this trip to the Flashpoint Universe had been well worth it.
He not only witnessed the birth of a the Flash, but also emptied the coffers of the second sister of the Endless.
Just then, Death Tetiyu suddenly turned around.
She ignored Barry, who had just been infused with the Speed Force by Reverse-Flash, and stared intently at Thor.
A hint of surprise flashed in those deep black eyes.
"Am I pretty, Thor?" She tilted her head, her long hair motionless in the wind and rain, her voice tinged with a hint of teasing.
Thor completely ignored her flirting.
He stared at Death Tetiyu's pale neck, and a sigh unconsciously escaped his lips.
Your rules smell so good!
It's practically a mobile treasure trove.
These words had barely finished forming in his mind when, before Death Tetiyu could react, a sudden change occurred.
Barry Allen suddenly arched his back in his seat.
"Ugh--"
A suppressed roar was forced out of his charred throat.
The next second, a dazzling golden lightning bolt, so bright it stung the optic nerve, exploded outwards from Barry's center!
The violent energy instantly evaporated the water on the rooftop and blasted the heavy electric chair into pieces.
Golden arcs of electricity leaped wildly through the air, emitting a dense barrage of crackling sounds.
The Flash Barry Allen, is Rebirth!