Time is running out, the dark clouds are hovering not far above in the sky, and Barry doesn't hesitate any longer. He immediately starts dismantling the large container, hoping that this seemingly thin glass jar is sturdy enough.
His speed is so fast that even Briss and Cindy on the road outside the scrapyard can only see a blaze shooting up from the ground, trailing a streak of electric light straight up, tearing through the pitch-black night sky.
It's unclear what's happening, but it's evident that something has indeed gone wrong with the underground lab. Yet when they look up, all they feel is the rain pouring down on their faces.
At this moment, Barry has already completed the dismantling. He takes a deep breath, glances at the pitch-black ground, then grabs the huge liquid container and leaps off the rocket.
The rocket flies for just a few more seconds before exploding as it touches the cloud layer, like embroidering a golden little flower on a black velvet curtain.
This isn't Barry's first fall from a height; he's done it countless times. He can run up a building from the side, and naturally, he can run down from it. Now he needs a place to regain his footing, just a touch is enough.
His speed is incredibly fast, yet Barry's biggest shortcoming is that he can't fly. Speedsters can ignore most physical laws, but they must create friction with the ground to run forward.
And now in the air, with nowhere to gain a foothold, he can only hold onto the large container in free fall; the lightning of Divine Speed extinguishes from his body.
Right now, he is a meteor, still carrying deadly poison.
The heavy rain blurs his vision, the whooshing wind fills his ears, and water stains cover the entire glass jar, eager to make contact with the venom.
Barry tries to keep his eyes open; he needs to see a landing spot to slow down again on the inner wall of the silo and safely bring the container back to the ground.
However, due to the wind's influence during his fall, it seems he has deviated a bit and won't be able to touch the inner wall of the silo. Instead, he will fall directly into the dark center of the silo.
"Oh crap... This is bad..."
Barry mentally grumbles to himself; indeed, going uphill is easy, but coming down is hard. Even if he doesn't crash to death, the container of venom will definitely explode.
As he's thinking of a solution during the fall, he notices Deathstroke appearing at the spot where he was standing earlier, in a corridor midway up the silo, looking up at the sky.
Su Ming holds his head, enduring the rush of numerous memories, and with the last bit of Divine Speed in his body, quickly found Barry's location. Barry is different from other speedsters. Other speedsters consume Divine Speed as they run, while Barry generates it with every step, though unfortunately, not in mid-air.
Now, with his extraordinary vision, he can see Barry falling from the sky.
Rain and mud are falling along the inner wall of the silo, turning the supply port midway up the wall into a Water Curtain Cave, with muddy water falling onto his armor and helmet but it doesn't obstruct his view.
He looks at the deep silo in front of him; it's impossible to say how deep the darkness goes, and there's nothing on the surrounding walls to leverage. With just a moment's thought, he has a plan and immediately puts it into action.
Su Ming steps back a few steps, bends down, and his ten fingers dig into the steel grid floor. Many factories or military bases are designed this way, as such grid floors provide anti-slip features and do not retain liquids.
With a forceful lift, the metal lets out a twisty explosive sound, breaking all the weld points and screws on the floor. A solid steel grid, two meters long and more than a meter wide, is pulled up by him.
He props the floorboard with his left hand, draws his sword with his right hand to slice across, and amidst the splattering sparks, both the steel plate and his sword break. Discarding the damaged weapon, he lifts the steel plate with both hands and, quickly calculating Barry's falling trajectory, he throws the plate fiercely to the other side.
With a powerful swing of his arms, the plate, weighing over a hundred kilograms, flies out like a playing card.
"Step on it!"
The shout echoes with the sound of wind and rain inside the silo.
Su Ming's calculations are equally precise; the data from gravitational acceleration, wind-caused deviation angle, and the parabola of the steel plate all work together, instantly giving him a clear answer.
Barry, during his fall, steps on the steel plate, gaining a point of leverage. With a swift maneuver, Divine Speed activates instantly. He stomps the plate down into the abyss, and with the rebound, runs onto the inner wall of the silo, beginning to circle and decelerate.
Seeing golden lightning form rings before him, Su Ming knows it worked. He stretches his neck and steps back a few paces to give Barry space.
Soon, Barry, still holding the giant container, appears before him.
"Put it down, cover your mouth, I'll check the container first."
As Barry is about to speak, Su Ming interrupts him and starts inspecting whether this spooky container has leaked.
The answer is no, although it's wet, it's all rainwater.
"Great, we're safe."
"Phew..." Barry laughed, grinning as he rubbed his arm and wrist, patting his chest to catch his breath: "I can't leave it here, can you help me hold it? It's really a bit heavy."
Indeed, this weight might not be much for the rest of the Justice League, but for Barry, beyond his divine speed, he's just a tech geek with always subpar physical strength.
Su Ming picked up the big canister, which looked like a transparent super pressure cooker, probably containing one or two hundred kilograms of venom, looking all greenish.
"Looks like we've saved Gotham." This weight wasn't an issue for Su Ming, he lifted the canister and chatted with Barry, seizing the opportunity to build rapport.
"Yes, although I don't know if the stuff inside has the same effect as described in the console data, but I think... yes." Barry widened his eyes, nodding and shaking his head: "I'm a bit hungry now, my heart is pounding, it'd be best to replenish some high-calorie food."
"Let's properly place this thing first, then temporarily seal this underground facility. Actually, you could try the cuisine from Turkey, like roasted camel hump," Su Ming suggested while looking for a secure place like a safe, though such a proper place didn't actually exist.
"I noticed earlier that you have a high compatibility with divine speed, are you sure you're not a speedster who lost his divine speed?" Barry recalled the previous events, feeling something was strange, he indeed could very briefly grant divine speed to things he touched.
But that was supposed to last just an instant, yet when Su Ming simply intended to leave after Barry patted his shoulder, he realized the divine speed lingered much longer than expected.
The plan was meant to last only a fraction of a second, but the divine speed lingered for more than two seconds, which was entirely unexpected.
Su Ming didn't know the reason, in the comics Deathstroke did acquire divine speed, but it was through technology and not this simple patting: "I'm not, and I have no interest in your divine speed either."
All around, the walls were embedded with huge metal cans, deeply buried underground, and beneath the steel grid plates underfoot, there was nothing but bottomless darkness. The entire facility was unsafe, but for now, it had to be left as is, leaving it to Briss for future handling.
After all, she's the one with money.
They first put the big canister back in the control room, studied the console a bit, sealed the launch silo, then left, locking one door after another behind them until they finally returned to the surface.
Across the street, Cindy and Briss stood by the roadside. Cindy found a large billboard to shelter under, smoking beside a pillar, while Briss kept her distance, standing on the curb, letting the rain freely run down her Bat Cloak.
"Sorted out?" she asked.
"Mm, that cat was no cat, it's a magic creature that can launch rockets... I went to the sky just now, did you see it? Whew, if it weren't for Slade, I would've been a goner."
Barry laughed and told her, turning around to gesture in the air.
"Nicely done, but we still have more trouble." Briss wrapped her cloak, pulled a black remote from her belt, and pressed a few buttons on it.
Su Ming stood with Cindy, avoiding the heavy rain, and also pulled out a cigarette to smoke. The cigars he brought were out, now smoking the ordinary ones he stole from the supermarket last time.
Cindy glanced at him, though his armor was undamaged, many parts had their paint scraped off in the blast, particularly the shoulder plate was seriously affected.
"Off playing superhero again?"
"No, just an extra service for a fee," Su Ming shook his head, leaning against the pillar, his bones issuing relaxing cracking sounds. He knew it looked like saving people, but it was more about self-preservation: "I'll bill Briss later, settle everything when it's done."
Cindy indifferently blew a smoke ring, her bright red lips curving into an arc, watching as raindrops passed through the smoke, the next moment, a perfectly round smoke ring was torn apart by the wind.
"If you're leaving anyway, does that mean all the money's mine?"
Su Ming did want to take some money to Earth-0, after all, sometimes money can be useful. Green bills or a large denomination note could certainly boost Deathstroke's mood, suppressing his bloodthirsty desire from another angle. But the money from Earth -11 wouldn't be spendable at all on Earth-0.
He had noticed this before at Harley's place, as Harley Quinn tossed her change all over the place, there were even a few bills on the sofa where Su Ming sat, he accidentally saw them while talking to her.
The US Dollar in the Main World is genuinely US Dollars, printed with former Presidents of the United States depending on the denomination, issued by the United States Federal Reserve Bank.
Here, although also called the dollar, its full name is the Beautiful Amazon Yuan, all denominations bore the likeness of the Amazon Queen, issued by Paradise Island, which clearly couldn't be used outside. If he really brought it over, it would probably be less valuable than one with the Jade Emperor printed on it.