Earlier, Bruce had relied on Barry Allen's abilities. Otherwise, no matter how fast he was, it would have been impossible for him to extract the Infinity Stone and ensure Stark's survival in the mere moment it took the Creator to turn his head.
All of it depended on the nearly omnipotent Speed Force.
One had to admit, the Speed Force was practically a cheat code.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, so quickly that no one around even noticed anything was wrong.
Only Quicksilver sensed something at that moment.
But even he didn't actually witness it.
Inside the mental prison, at Barry Allen's cell door, Lego Batman eyed the curled-up Flash up and down, a bit curious.
"I remember you work in the forensic department, right?"
Though few bats would listen to the Flash, every one of them knew Barry Allen's job.
Regardless, someone working at the police department, especially in forensics, inevitably had to deal with dead bodies.
Still, Barry Allen's current behavior was a bit odd.
"That's different," Barry said, lifting his head after hearing Lego Batman's words. "This was working inside a living person's brain — and a hero's at that. One wrong move could have killed him."
"And yet you succeeded."
Lego Batman didn't give Barry the chance to continue speaking; he cut him off directly.
"Remember, you were saving a life. Besides, you know very well what that sick bastard would have done to Iron Man."
Hearing that, Barry vividly recalled the twisted expression on the Creator's face when he faced Stark.
Clearly, the Creator's hatred for Tony Stark was intense.
He wanted to torture Stark.
When Bruce had decided to use the Speed Force to rescue Stark, Barry had already been released from his cell, ready to act at any moment.
This also allowed Barry to clearly witness the Creator's attitude toward Stark.
The look in his eyes made it clear: if Stark had really fallen into the Creator's hands, the suffering he would have endured would have been unimaginable.
Considering everything, the current outcome was actually not bad.
Of course, Bruce had been paying attention to the situation inside the mental prison.
He trusted that among the bats in his mind, one would find a way to comfort Barry.
Stark finally breathed a sigh of relief, realizing the Creator truly had his eyes on Stark's armor.
Although he had already prepared a backup plan, he wasn't sure if it would succeed.
If the Creator was too cautious, then the measures Stark had left behind might not work at all.
"Thanks."
Stark knocked lightly on the nanotech helmet forming around his head, and the helmet slowly retracted as if it had a life of its own.
Bruce didn't respond to Stark. Instead, he began a superficial scan with the device next to him.
Only a surface-level scan.
For example, the fight between Thor and Hulk had already been completely pulled up by Bruce.
Now, as a Thor who had lost his godhood, he was little more than a mortal in an energy suit.
He was clearly outmatched when facing Hulk.
Having completely escaped his predicament, Stark looked at the situation unfolding on the screen and knew that they had suffered a setback.
But it was only a temporary failure.
He believed he could still turn things around.
Bruce glanced back at the now-freed Stark, frowning slightly.
"What's wrong?"
"It's going too smoothly."
Bruce couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
From every angle, things seemed to be progressing far too easily — whether it was reaching the prison in the Negative Zone or rescuing Stark from the Creator.
It was all too easy.
Then, a figure appeared abruptly.
"Reed was right. You really did tamper with things."
Quicksilver stood at the doorway, eyeing Stark — now moving freely again — and focusing his gaze on Bruce.
After they had left, the Creator had instructed Quicksilver to return to the original spot.
Bruce had extracted the Infinity Stone too quickly — as if he had been fully prepared in advance.
At the time, Quicksilver had been certain the Infinity Stone inside Stark's head was intact, untouched.
There was no way anyone had removed it beforehand.
Thus, for Bruce to extract it so swiftly, there had to be something suspicious going on.
"Looks like I disrupted your plan," Stark said, turning to look at Bruce.
"I think you should be more worried about yourself right now," Quicksilver said, speaking directly to Stark.
"Because the Creator will be thrilled to learn that you're still alive."
Leaving those words behind, Quicksilver disappeared without a trace.
Bruce said nothing but immediately re-entered the mental prison, setting his sights on Barry Allen.
"I get it."
Without Bruce needing to say anything, Flash already understood what the bat wanted.
As the prison door swung open, Flash grabbed Bruce's wrist and sped toward the prison's boundary.
To the outside world, this was nothing more than an instant.
Stark had just opened his mouth to say something when he saw Bruce's black suit subtly shifting.
"Hey, what kind of tech is that? I don't remember nanobots having that kind of function," Stark said, clearly curious about how Bruce had managed to instantly transform his suit into a dazzling golden armor.
"Just focus on your job."
Like Quicksilver before him, Bruce left only those words behind before vanishing without a trace — so fast that Stark couldn't even tell how Bruce had left.
For speedsters, even a split-second difference was enough to put distance between them — unless there was a huge gap in speed.
There was indeed a difference between Flash and Quicksilver's speeds.
Now, Bruce, empowered by the Speed Force, had already reached Quicksilver's final destination.
Only to find Quicksilver already standing beside the Creator.
"Look, look. My ally was hiding such a fascinating secret. I bet a lot of people have no idea that you, little bat, could transform like this."
The Creator, naturally sensing Bruce's arrival, turned to face the golden-armored figure with a wide grin.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Invisible Woman Susan and the Thing, Ben, wore expressions of utter shock.
The Creator's sudden appearance had already left them stunned — they had believed they had dealt with the already-insane Reed Richards.
However, even the Bat had now changed his appearance, showing up here in a completely different outfit.
And it seemed he had arrived following behind Quicksilver.
"We are allies. Shouldn't we be honest with each other?"
The Creator wore a pained expression, as if Bruce's failure to inform him of these changes was deeply heartbreaking.
"But I'm not really in the mood to discuss the changes you've undergone right now. I still need to properly host my two dear friends."The Creator didn't pay much attention to Bruce's transformation.
In his eyes, Bruce's golden battle armor was merely another technological invention.
Although the Creator had once told Tony Stark that the room housed the two smartest people in the world, he had never truly let down his guard around Bruce.
Even though this Bruce wasn't exactly the same as the Batman from the comics, the Creator remained extremely cautious.
Now, it seemed wise that he had always kept a wary eye on this Bat.
Otherwise, it would have been easy to be caught off guard by whatever Bruce had planned.
Naturally, Quicksilver picked up on the Creator's meaning: this Batman was now considered one of his own.He found in Bruce a kind of amusement he had never experienced with Stark.
But Bruce didn't spare a glance for Quicksilver.Instead, his attention was fixed on Susan and Ben, who stood frozen, too shocked to even speak.
With a single step, Bruce activated his Speed Force.In an instant, he appeared beside Susan and Ben.
Quicksilver saw Bruce's movement clearly but was still a step too slow.
"Looks like our alliance has collapsed, hasn't it?"The Creator showed no anger at Bruce's actions; he spoke the words calmly instead.
Bruce gave no reply.Golden lightning flickered across his body, and a golden bat symbol formed around him.
"This isn't good," the Creator muttered.
At the same time, he activated the emergency protocols aboard Alpha-1.
All the doors began to rapidly seal shut.Of course, the Creator knew that such measures were useless against speedsters like Bruce; he had no intention of actually trapping him.He just needed to delay him, even slightly.
Golden lightning and bat-shaped energy began wrapping around Susan and Ben.
Once both of them were fully shielded, Bruce bolted away.His target was clear: the wall at the end of the corridor.
When Bruce had moved through Alpha-1 earlier, he had noticed something—perhaps out of Reed's confidence in Alpha-1's strength, he had designed the corridors along the outermost edges.
This allowed Bruce to have a clear view of the outside—and more importantly, made it much easier to break out from within.
"Boom!"
Even though the Creator had evolved his powers to a new level, he still couldn't clearly see how the speedsters escaped right in front of him.
All that remained was a pile of shattered debris from the corridor, proving that Bruce had smashed his way out.
Quicksilver had already taken off after him.
The Creator slowly walked over to the ruined corridor, gazing down at the sprawling view of New York City.
"Stark has fled," he said.
At that moment, Kang the Conqueror arrived beside him.
"Did you secure the Infinity Stone?" Kang asked.
"Of course," the Creator replied, after which he no longer paid attention to the escapees.
As for Stark—if he had caught Stark once, he could easily catch him again.
That arrogant playboy would eventually fall back into his hands.
"So, our next step is to calculate which universe we'll need in the future. When will we secure the final Infinity Stone?"
"We'll need a bit of help for that," the Creator said, projecting an image.
The projection showed the Herbitron robots, currently digging deep into the Earth's core.
The final Infinity Stone was located at the Earth's center.
However, every time the Herbitrons dug down to a certain depth, they would be completely melted by the core's intense heat.
There was simply no way for them to reach the stone.
"So, would you be willing to help me bring back Jonathan Stone—the poor soul who's been suffering in the mutant concentration camp?"
Kang glanced at the Creator.Without saying a word, she vanished from sight.
"We'll take it slow," the Creator said, turning his gaze outward.
Meanwhile, during this brief conversation, Bruce had already carried Susan and Ben to safety, landing on the ground by using the hovering aerial carriers around Alpha-1.
"Wow, wow, wow! This is the first time I've met someone who can run as fast as I do!" Quicksilver exclaimed, arriving on the ground the same way as Bruce.
"Do you really think they'll trust a mutant like you?" Bruce asked, locking his eyes on Quicksilver.
"At least they trust me more than they trust you," Quicksilver shot back.
With a stomp, Quicksilver burst into speed.
But Bruce wasn't the type to just stand there and get hit.
Enhanced by the Speed Force, Bruce's reflexes had undergone a massive transformation.He easily reacted to Quicksilver's attack.
Golden lightning wrapped around Bruce's body, and in a flash, he turned and began running.
When it came to running, Quicksilver had never conceded defeat to anyone.
Seeing Bruce sprinting away, Quicksilver immediately chased after him at full speed.
At such extreme speeds, even running up a vertical skyscraper felt like walking on flat ground for Bruce.
He quickly curved around the building and charged straight toward Quicksilver.
As they were about to collide, Bruce didn't attempt a physical clash.Instead, he unleashed a bolt of Speed Force lightning.
The bolt blasted open the road right in front of Quicksilver.
Quicksilver reacted in time to the sudden change in terrain, but his attention was now fully occupied by the broken road.
And in that split second, Bruce appeared right in front of him.
At that moment, Bruce struck—landing a heavy punch right into Quicksilver's chest.
Quicksilver was sent flying.
Before he could even hit the ground, Bruce grabbed him midair and slammed him hard against a wall.
Even with Quicksilver's strong physique, the impact left him in pain all over.
He slowly knelt down, trying to recover.
Bruce stood still, towering over him.
But Quicksilver gritted his teeth, slammed a fist into the ground, and once again entered his extreme-speed state.
(End of Chapter)
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