Seeing her stop mid-sentence, Cisco curiously followed her gaze.
His vision was far inferior to Thea's, but his awakened powers had significantly improved his physical attributes. Squinting for a while, he finally understood why Thea had fallen silent.
A rust-covered iron sign, riddled with blood and bullet holes, lay by the roadside. It read: "Star City - 15 km (9.3 mi)."
Thinking of how this world also had Superman and Star City, he figured many things must exist here too. He wisely shut his mouth.
What Cisco could deduce, Thea naturally understood even better. She'd seen an identical sign on her original Earth—same style, same font. For a moment, Thea felt like she'd returned home.
She smiled self-deprecatingly and shook her head, casting the thought aside. This couldn't be her home, and her home wasn't here.
But the overlap between the once-prosperous Star City in her memory and this desolate, dead city before her eyes still touched a fury deep in her soul. How many of this world's Star City acquaintances were still alive?
Though those people theoretically had nothing to do with her, thinking of Moira, of Oliver, even of herself lying in a pool of blood in this world—she couldn't remain detached.
Though she hadn't mastered the Rage emotion enough to use it freely, she'd made some progress.
Countless pale red cyclones swirled around her body. Thea quickly reined in her emotions, but one thought had already formed: Steppenwolf must die!
Where the Holiday Plaza should have been now lay piles of corpses—Parademons, yes, but mostly ordinary citizens. Regardless of their status in life, before the enemy, they were all pitiful humans.
The streets were filled with chaos and depression. This city had been completely abandoned. Without super-vision, relying only on mental perception, the entire city probably had fewer than a hundred survivors.
"Cisco Ramon, do you regret coming here?" Cisco was even more agitated than her, his lips trembling. The devastation before him clashed too sharply with his worldview.
Normally, he just hid behind monitors watching Barry whoosh around defeating enemies without experiencing any danger. He even had leisure to give villains nicknames—far too playful in Thea's opinion.
Now, directly facing this bloody reality, his convictions had completely crumbled.
Being a superhero wasn't just about glory—it carried that weight in your heart.
Regret? Honestly, Cisco didn't have Barry's strong convictions. He'd joined Team Flash more to find personal value, not out of unwavering determination to help others.
This guy's neutral alignment far outweighed his lawful good one. He'd reached this point mostly pushed along by friendship.
"I don't regret it!" Despite his bitter expression insisting he was strong, Thea could only shake her head and sigh. This kid had a long way to go before becoming a true superhero. She took out the figure and continued tracking Barry.
They stopped and started. The good news: Barry's position hadn't moved. The bad news: he was hiding in an underground structure, and a layer of lead severely obstructed her vision.
As Cisco gripped his gun and cautiously moved forward, Thea sensed something wrong and stopped him.
An arrow immediately embedded itself in the ground two steps ahead of him.
"Whoa!" Even though the other party hadn't gone for the kill—it was clearly a warning—Cisco was still startled. This brush with death was a first for him.
He quickly turned to look at Thea. He had a powerhouse superhero beside him—nothing to fear!
But this glance chilled him halfway. Thea was staring intently at the black-clad figure who'd jumped from the opposite wall, bow drawn and aimed at them both.
Not knowing why Thea was frozen, Cisco hastily raised his pistol. Whether it worked or not, it was his only lifeline.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, his best friend Barry burst out in a flash of yellow lightning. Cisco had never felt that yellow streak so comforting.
"That guy?..." He pointed at the black-clad figure above, asking Barry. Barry waved for him to stay quiet.
"Barry, who are these people?!" The black-clad figure's voice was aged and weary, but his hands were steady, the arrow trained unwaveringly on them both.
The Flash struggled to find words. Pointing at Cisco: "This is my friend Cisco Ramon. We're together with Caitlin. As for this one..."
He glanced at Thea, unsure how to phrase it.
"I'm Thea Queen from another parallel spacetime. Hello, Robert Queen." To say Thea's emotions were stable would be a lie. After all, seeing a relative who'd been dead for eight years standing before her was disorienting.
Fortunately, she was mentally prepared and quickly accepted reality. This old man had nothing to do with her!
The black-clad figure was, of course, this world's Robert Queen. Having met Barry and Caitlin earlier and learned about parallel spacetimes with some skepticism, now seeing his daughter from another spacetime left his composure far less stable.
His voice trembled as he struggled to draw the bowstring tighter. "Do you have any proof?"
Thea didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What proof could she provide? They were from two different spacetimes—their experiences would naturally differ.
"Hey, believe me—in our spacetime, she really is that Robert Queen's daughter. She's not an enemy." The Flash rushed to mediate.
Thanks to his warm aura and sunny image, Robert Queen finally lowered his bow. A daughter from a parallel spacetime? How absurd!
Robert Queen slowly emerged. Thea couldn't help but stare—green cloak, black eye mask, graying beard, carrying a bow and arrows. This was Green Arrow's outfit!
Seemingly knowing her confusion, Flash quickly explained: "In this spacetime, Oliver died in the shipwreck. Robert Queen is the current Green Arrow."
"Wow..." Cisco was about to exclaim when Flash covered his mouth. This matter was best glossed over—unrelated people should pretend they hadn't heard.
"No need to worry about me. This isn't my spacetime." Thea emphasized again, both for them and herself.
"This isn't a place to talk. Let's go to our hideout." Robert Queen kept examining Thea's appearance. Though the facial structure was vaguely similar, the details were a hundred times more refined than this timeline's Thea. Even though he was long past the age of appreciating beauty, he still found this Thea impossibly beautiful.
This isn't my daughter! When he saw Thea rise into the air without any equipment, the thought only strengthened.
With Flash carrying Cisco, the four moved quickly. In an abandoned house, they opened a hidden door by rotating a mechanism and entered the underground.
The underground space wasn't large—just a few restrooms. Food and medicine lay scattered on the floor, and the air carried faint traces of blood and chemical odors.