Chapter 28: Too Calm For Too Long

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Chapter 136: I Think Something Happened III

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Ian blinked twice then trice, feeling a bit of the residue heat and energy from the beam, something he feels would be able to deconstruct him to atoms if he wasn't using so many defensive magic spells.

"What in the actual fuck?"

He eyed the surroundings, feeling all the magical barriers around him slowly fading.

Just the remnant heat from the beam seemed to affect the space around them to such an extent. Even the broken-down teleportation station not far from them was slowly being consumed by the heat.

Doomsday however was still hidden under the mountain of flesh though his hate forbid him from completely standing still as some tentacles dove towards Ian like spears, unaffected by the boiling heat.

"I think something happened..." Ian murmured, pretty sure of himself. He rarely imagines stuff that isn't actually there, so he was pretty sure.

His attention returned to Doomsday, teleporting to the other side and releasing a combination of a magic blast, Kryptonite energy, and the modified stone.

Batman looked up at the sky with a frown, observing the prominent green brilliance apparent to even the most normal of eyes, overshadowing the glow of the sun for a split second before fading away.

"As I predicted," Batman mumbled, his eyes shining in a strange light. He was of the firm belief that he understands Ian more than anyone else, and that brilliance only affirmed his belief.

He knows exactly what the result of the explosion would be, and it wasn't anywhere near the current result.

What Batman couldn't observe however was what followed after that, pure darkness. Doomsday was monstrous to such a degree that he survived the explosion, so Ian had to act again.

Ian was still hovering in space, observing Doomsday's remains from a few tens of miles away.

He watched the remnant flesh of the explosion expanding and getting attached to each other, seeking to form again.

"What a monster you are..." Ian murmured before unleashing every speck of Trigon's fire he saved up across the years.

Combined with darkness, it gave birth to the darkest flames overwhelming the space around them in an instance. Ian hid far away, eyeing the blazes of destruction consuming Doomsday.

It was but a simple colossal dark sun, bigger than anything he unleashed before. It blended with the darkness of space perfectly though such a large spot of darkness can be detected.

Ian knows it can because it's stopping light from passing through. If someone was looking at the sun in line with the dark sun, they'd see a dark spot, a trace of what just happened.

Doomsday really didn't have much to do. There wasn't much he could do but be completely devoured in a matter of seconds. His infinite evolution simply wasn't fast enough to adapt to Trigon's flames and Ian's darkness.

"A red beam huh? Yup, Something definitely just happened." Ian returned to earth, using his dimension as a medium to go back. He was definitely targeted, of that much he was sure.

Once he was on earth, he made his way back to the Watchtower knowing there was more business to take care of.

"Where is the Bat?" Ian asked as he entered the Watchtower.

"Unavailable." The AI responded to him before leading him to where the others were.

'Does it have something with what Simon Hurt or Darkseid told me before? A gift left for the Bat. Well, it doesn't matter much, I told the Roses to watch out for Gotham in the meantime, so nothing should go wrong.'

His steps led him to the medical section of the Watchtower where he found some of the Justice League members, namely J'onn, Diana, and the Flash.

There was also Superman resting on a large white bed with bandages all over his person, seeming asleep.

"What happened?" Diana turned her attention to Ian, asking.

"I think something did happen, but I'm still not entirely sure what it was." Ian stroked his chin in contemplation while answering seriously much to Diana's annoyance again.

"Let me ask a simpler question. Was the job done?" She asked again.

"Huh? Oh, you were talking about that, yeah, it's done." Ian nodded, walking up to the side of Superman before bringing something out of his dimension, an exquisite golden tube.

"Let's see how well it works," Ian murmured, opening the vial and bringing it closer to Superman's mouth. It only took an instant for the Flash to act as he caught Ian's hand in place, "What are you doing?"

"Hmm? I'm completing the job I was assigned by Batman. Didn't he tell you?" Ian looked confused though it didn't take him much to understand that Batman is quite secretive even in his friend group.

"Let him do it," J'onn spoke calmly, not seeming cautious of Ian at all.

"Are you sure?" Diana frowned, still unsure.

She of course didn't have a good impression of Ian. First, he's a crime lord. Second, he's the only crime lord in Gotham. That would tell anyone a lot about his manners.

Most importantly, he was indirectly responsible for the robbery of the Hope diamond, and it was stolen under her nose. Moreover, she knows she's not gonna get it back, Batman stressed that very much.

"He's telling the truth." J'onn nodded, his attention returning to the vial in Ian's hand, staring at it intensely.

"It's understandable that you don't know what it is. This product will only launch two days from now with little to no advertisement whatsoever." Ian smiled continuing with his work.

"That... Makes no sense whatsoever." The Flash remarked, seeming confused.

"Well, this thing can only be afforded by a few people. Those at the top because each vial costs one million dollars, so only the very few at the top were informed of its existence."

As he spoke, Ian poured the very little golden liquid within the vial into Superman's mouth, instantly producing a reaction from Superman.

The man's entire body started shining golden for a few seconds as the liquid took effect, healing him completely in what seemed to be an instance.

"This..."

"..."

"Why?" Diana's reaction was a bit different. She was definitely grateful, but, "Why aren't you restricting such a thing? You must know how much help that will bring."

Ian raised his brow at her, glancing at Superman one last time, noticing he was waking up.

"The supply is limited, very limited. It's also very costly to make. I kinda have to sacrifice a lot to make it... Most importantly, it's business. You should understand perfectly how these things work."

The Golden Rose, Ian's newest product was quite the complex thing. Techiniqualy, Victor Fries, formerly known as Mr. Freeze created the formula using the holy energy Ian left for him.

However, only Ian can create it through his staff using that same formula. Ian's control over his staff and the energies within is near perfect, so as long as he figures out an application of the said energies, he can replicate it with ease.

The holy light energy in the third vessel is technically infinite as long as he continuously feeds it his Death force, so he can infinitely create the golden Rose.

The catch though was how much energy is required to create a single drop of the golden rose. It was too massive, limiting Ian to only being able to create five hundred golden roses a month.

"It's called the Golden Rose, and a hundred will be delivered to the Watchtower in a while as per my deal with Batman... Oh, yeah, I've given the Justice League priority, so as long as you order a certain quantity of less than 250 a month beforehand, we can have a deal."

"I.." Diana remained silent for a bit, "I'm sorry for my manners before. I was harsh on you unnecessarily because... I'm sorry and thank you for protecting my home back then."

"It's okay." Ian gently smiled, "I understand. The situation somewhat deserved that response. Honestly, I would've had a similar reaction, and perhaps as an apology give away some cool artifact... You know?"

"..." The Flash could only stare at him, speechless.

"... Hahahaha," Diana on the other hand couldn't help but laugh out a little, "You're exactly as Batman said you were..."

"Hmm, not bad," Ian nodded with a newfound appreciation for the most wonderous of women. He has to say that she deserves that title because...

"Not bad what?" Diana asked with a bit of confusion.

"Well, I didn't think you're also good with distractions. You know, changing the subject from what I clearly insinuated, but well, there are stingy people everywhere."

"I wasn't? And I'm not stingy?"

"And you..." Ian turned his attention to the Flash who seemed to be holding back a lot of words though failing to hide that.

"If you want answers, just find me starting a day from now. A game of cat and mouse you could say, but you only have one year..."

Then he vanished, leaving question marks hovering all over the room. He was certainly an odd individual, but they have a lot of work to do, an example of which was where has Batman gone? Well, I think something happened.

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Chapter 137: Too Calm For Too Long I

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There is a quote Ian has come to live very much, Against boredom even gods struggle in vain. It holds true quite well, and it again goes back to the words in Ian's mind, words he can't remember who they were told by.

I've met a few immortals in a mortal's clothing, but I've met a lot of mortals in an immortal's clothing. One thing Ian knows for sure, he doesn't want to be a mortal in an immortal's clothing.

However, that's exactly what he was at the moment. He is most certainly an immortal, but he is also a mortal. An immortal form but a mortal mind... Is there an irony greater than this?

It's just like boredom, Ian knows of tales and dreams of gods who died due to boredom, either directly or indirectly. Most gods he came across so far felt more like mortals, controlled by circumstances and destiny.

And Ian was no exception. There is however another quote that says the cure to boredom is curiosity, so Ian found himself barely bored in his journey for answers.

He was curious to such a point that he was able to bear what many would call torture. You see, the rose of speed allows Ian to basically become a speedster, in mind and body.

It allows his mind to work at a speed inconceivable to the normal mind to the point it distorts Ian's view of time.

While for others, only a year passed, for Ian, it felt like a hundred years because there were very few moments across the last years where the rose of speed was left diactivated.

He exploited the hell out of the speed force, something very few would be able to do due to just how torturous the experience is to the human mind.

Imagine a snail moving before you on a branch. Imagine it was raining. Slow down the scenery bu a few hundred times and wait for a drop of rain to reach the snail. Await for the snail to make any noticeable movement.

That was basically Ian's daily life by choice. According to what he remembers, such a phenomenon wasn't rare for the Flash, it was just hard to control.

For Ian however, it was under perfect control. For the Flash, it was a process that usually lasts an hour every month or so without his control, and it almost drives him insane with boredom.

Can you imagine watching someone speaking, but every word takes an entire hour to be spoken? How can one not go crazy due to that?

Moreover, Ian upheld himself to living that way for an entire year simply out of necessity. He fought boredom not just with his curiosity for answers, but also because of necessity.

It was also those two things that got him to understand just how broken the speed force is. It also made him wonder why the Flash isn't just the strongest being in all of existence.

It only took him a second to come up with an answer. Not everyone is as committed as him, and certainly, no speedster would be able to handle what he went through.

Such are the ways of necessity. It drives one to achieve things they wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

And well, he did achieve a lot in the last year while staying out of trouble, mostly isolating himself in the House of mystery with the girls.

Just like now, Ian was resting in a strange land, a chaos of colors. He had his back leaning against someone else, both had a book in their hands.

The other person was Raven, adorned in a purple pajama while Ian had a white one. She definitely looked older, like she had grown up quite a lot despite not a lot of time passing since she left.

And she wasn't actually there. It was Ian who was with her, in her dream, literally. It was a cozy dream, the best of dreams for her.

And it was a common occurrence as Ian checks up on her from time to time, going into her dreams through the house of mystery.

All he does is what he's doing now, studying next to her in silence, sometimes she rumbles about her experiences, and he listens.

Sometimes, they talk about magic and other things, but they mostly enjoyed the company.

And like always, he leaves silently, going back into the house of Mystery. Dreams are real physical entities in the realms of dreams. They're real, a place reachable by the willing, but most dangerous of realms.

The House of Mystery brought a lot of surprises to Ian, most thanks to him feeding it his Death force endlessly. One of which was its ability to send Ian to certain dreams, only the ones that have a connection to him.

It not only allowed him to visit Raven without restraining whatever she was preparing to face Trigon, but it also allowed Ian to communicate with any being that dreams of him.

Such an example was Athena. One could say they became quite the good friends, playing games of minds together about one time a week.

Athena was extremely competitive, Ian not so much. Still, he did his best to accommodate her fighting spirit as there was a lot to learn from her.

She was truly a frightening goddess because even with the rose of speed, he still found it extremely hard to defeat her in the mind games.

She wasn't the goddess of wisdom for nothing as Ian continued to grow stronger and stronger by the day, the vessel of speed growing endlessly, meaning his thinking and comprehension speed already increasing.

Yet, despite all of that, he had only come to be even with her, sometimes losing and sometimes winning. He had come to understand why she was largely considered to be the most dangerous of Olympian gods.

On that note, the House of Mystery also changed a lot in appearance. The dimension became much more orderly, becoming one small Island on which the house is situated.

It doesn't look as chaotic as before though Ian can change it at any moment. All it takes is an order, he gave the entity known as the House of Mystery way too much for it not to give him absolute control of it.

Well, it was more like he took away the ownership, gaining absolute control without any need for consent. One might even say he was participating in the act of... Nothing, he had full consent.

Ian came back to the rejuvenating air of the dimension. How could it not when all Ivy did was to leave her touch on it, basically changing the island into a jungle, and decorating the house with nothing but plants.

"Finally!"

Ian reacted instantly, catching the figure jumping at him as if he had predicted it. In reality, Harley jumped at him like a rabbit was a daily occurrence since he told her about a gift he was preparing for her.

He allowed himself to fall back gently with her, and even let her shower him with kisses like always, "Where is it?"

Ian let out a sigh, "Like I've been saying for the past three months. When it's ready, I'll give it to you alright?"

"But you have been saying that for three months!" Harley complained.

"Yup, I shouldn't have told you about it, but there is good news... It should be ready in less than a month." Ian smiled. Even he was feeling a bit of anticipation because he was finally getting out of the house.

"Really really?"

"Yup, really." Ian nodded, getting another shower of kisses from her as she giggle and mumbled.

"Wahhhhh, finally!" She then went to sleep, right there and then. She was the kind of person that would lose the desire to sleep in anticipation of what was to come, and she could finally have peace of mind.

"Really? I guess I also need to relax..." Ian followed after her, closing his eyes in sought of sleep, finally turning off the rose of speed. Time was finally moving normally in his perception.

It was also important to note that this is the first time he went to sleep in months. To a certain extent, he was preparing himself for the life of immortals, what he perceives to be a true immortal.

Whether his perception is right or not remains unknown, something he hopes his sought for answers can solve... Unfortunately, there was no rest for the wicked, "Hm?"

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Chapter 138: Too Calm For Too Long II

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Whether his perception is right or not remains unknown, something he hopes his sought for answers can solve... Unfortunately, there was no rest for the wicked, "Hm?"

Ian held back a laugh, instantly teleporting inside the house and placing Harley on her bed. Next he was in his bedroom, getting attired in a suit, just a simple black vest above a white shirt, black pants, and shoes.

He was in quite a hurry because everything was done with the speed force, "Babe, hand this to Layla, alright? She will know what to do with it... Tell her to tell him it was found by the side of the street."

He placed a green lamp right next to the yawning Selina, getting her out of her reverie with a long kiss before leaving.

"Hum? Huh?" Selina's attention slowly drifted to the lamp, drawing a confused gasp out of her, "By the side of the street? I wish things like this are so easily found..."

She couldn't help but complain at Ian's choice of words. By this point, Selina has done many robberies of extremely valuable things across the world.

She became one of the most notorious criminals even among criminals because they weren't spared either from her preception. Anything that caught her eye, she gets it.

It didn't even matter to her anymore whether she needs it or not, it became more of a lovely hobby at this point. However, the thing in her hand was a bit too valuable because Ian talked about it before.

It was the green lantern power battery, and it's finally ready to be released to the world again.

However, if it was not apparent enough, Ian had more urgent things to take care of, such as the changing world.

Ian sensed it clearly, there was a shift in the timeline, 'Ahh, what a disappointment. I guess more extreme measures have to be taken, or I can just wait.'

Indeed, Ian was quite disappointed in the Flash because he couldn't find him, not even when he left a lot of clues for him.

Well, not exactly. The Flash just couldn't run fast enough to reach the place he wants him to reach. Ian was subtly manipulating him to do something.

However, it seems, "Huh?" Ian frowned, eyeing his surroundings. He teleported from place to place, observing the changes and coming to an interesting discovery.

Gotham barely changed. Ian noticed some changes, but they were few and far in between.

'The Flashpoint doesn't seem to change much, not in Gotham at least... Except for whatever the fuck is happening before me.' Ian rubbed his eyes, making sure he was seeing things right.

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The Flashpoint was something he was expecting. He was quite interested in seeing what it'll change with him as a variable, but... He definitely didn't see this coming.

"Time is quite fascinating, isn't it?" Indeed, this all happened because of time, a crack in time to be exact. It was called the Flashpoint for a reason after all.

It all started with the Flash running fast enough, way faster than the speed of light; to travel back through time and save his mother.

Ian kept in touch with things happening on earth, so he knows most of the Flash's adventures, such as the confrontation between the Flash and Reverse-Flash, the one from this timeline.

One thing led to another, damaging the Flash's psych to a certain extent, so he made the fatal mistake of going back in time, trying to stop Reverse Flash from killing his mother.

As far as Ian remembers, the intricacy of the matter was that the Flash pulled the entire speed force into him to stop his arch-nemesis.

However, he ended up being the bullet-shattering windshield, going so fast that he shattered the timeline and reality.

'He must've been able to achieve such a feat because of his emotions, his desire to save her, so to get him to do what I want, I can...'

A brilliant plan surfaced in his mind, but for now, however, his attention returned to the majestic scene before him.

Ian was hovering in the Batcave undetected by the individuals within. The individuals were two Batmans looking extremely similar.

The only noticeable differences were the colors of their suit. They were still mostly black, but one had a bit of blood red color, especially prominent around the Bat symbol on his chest.

They were both walking about in a circle, observing each other closely with something aking to confusion.

Where one sought answers, the other chose violence as the red-eyed Batman attacked, leaping at the other Batman with a knife in hand, something not normally used by Batman.

Moreover, his attacks were deadly. It was obvious to the evading Batman that he was being attacked with the intent to kill.

They both seemed to be master fighters, but batman seemed to have the upper hand. However, the red-eyed Batman's violent methods made up for whatever gap in skill they had.

The red-eyed Batman didn't shy away from using guns with full intent to cripple whoever is in front of him. The reason or the circumstances didn't seem to matter to him, those were left for later.

If Batman survived, then there are plenty of torture methods to get him to talk. The red-eyed Batman even ignored his adversary's words, trying to tell him to stop or wait.

"Ahh, hello?" They both froze and instantly leaped back, eyeing the other person in the cave.

"Ian?" Batman asked, a bit unsure about what was happening.

"Yeah, I'm not sure if you noticed, but something happened." Ian nodded, smiling at the duo.

"... yeah, I think something happened too," Batman went along with Ian's sarcastic nature, eyeing his red counterpart.

"There is another Batman before me, adorned in a suit made of the same material as mine, and he appeared in my place so suddenly, out of nowhere."

The red-eyed batman remained silent, observing the duo, perhaps planning his course of action.

"Out of nowhere? So you were here before he appeared?" Ian smiled, finding his effect on the Flashpoint to be very interesting.

"Yeah, I was working before he appeared." Batman nodded, understanding that Ian knows something about what was happening.

However, he didn't get his answer from Ian, but from the red-eyed Batman himself as the latter spoke, "You are the one to appear out of nowhere in my place while I was working, so speak, who are you?"

As he spoke, he brought out a phone, seeming ready to activate something, "If things come to an outcome I don't like, I will activate a self-destruction sequence that'll destroy the entire place."

Batman remained silent, his mouth trembling, seemingly finding it hard to speak even a single word. He glanced at Ian just to make sure he was not imagining things.

And only then did he mutter, "Dad?"

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Chapter 139: Too Calm For Too Long III

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Batman remained silent, his mouth trembling, seemingly finding it hard to speak even a single word. He glanced at Ian just to make sure he was not imagining things.

And only then did he mutter, "Dad?"

The only response he got was a bullet to the head, or at least that was what would've happened if Ian didn't react fast enough.

Batman seemed to have hit a nerve because the red-eyed Batman didn't seem happy. In fact, he seemed to be barely holding back his anger.

"I-it's me..." Batman was unfazed as he took off his mask, seeming nervous.

The red-eyed Batman watched with bated breath, and trembling lips as Batman's face came to view, "No... no, that's not possible." He couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief.

He couldn't recognize Batman's voice to know who he was, mainly because the latter changes his voice, but even without it, he still wouldn't be able to recognize it.

What he remembers last of his son was a childish voice, but now that he was grown up, there is just too much difference to be recognizable.

Batman however recognized the man's voice instantly, and he identified it to be his father's despite how inconceivable that is.

But he put things together as Iam's appearance made him sure something supernatural has happened, even if it's this ridiculous to the point the red-eyed Batman shook his head again in denial.

"No, yeah, someone is messing with my head. None of this is true." The subject was understandably a touchy one for him, as it was for Batman.

He was in disbelief even as he looked at Bruce's face. It wasn't too clear, but he was definitely similar to him, and he just felt it... This man was his son.

"Bruce, if the Flash comes here, let him know I will be where the speed resides. Perhaps there can be a solution there... He will explain things for you better than I can."

Then he vanished, leaving the father and son to their reunion. He did Batman a favor by the end, spelling his name for the first time in ever, Bruce.

"Bruce?" The red-eyed Batman took off his mask, giving a view of his face. There was a long silence because despite Bruce expecting to see that face, expecting something and seeing it for yourself are two different things entirely... Thomas Wayne.

Whereas some saw a disaster, Ian saw opportunities, so many chances spurting everywhere. His plans weren't so thorough that they can survive through change, no, they change with the circumstances.

His plans were in constant change, adapting to the circumstances, just like now. Ian clearly sensed the speed force to be weak, extremely weak.

Most importantly, he sensed something he couldn't before, something he was vying for a long time, a surge in a force taking advantage of the weak speed force.

The force was the opposite of motion, something Ian couldn't not desire, but its conduit was a bit too cautious for reasons unknown.

However, the weakening of the speed force got him out of whatever hole he was hiding in.

Finding him wasn't hard for Ian, not when he has plenty of forces and energies in his staff, working together perfectly to allow feats impossible otherwise.

The staff of all things was shaping up very well, but it was still not enough for Ian. He feels like the universe wasn't charitable enough, quite unfair.

And he has a point, his staff only has the following forces and energies.

[First Vessel: Kryptonian energies (Red and Green)]

[Second Vessel: Orange speed force]

[Third Vessel: Light and darkness]

[Fourth Vessel: Magic and Mystic energies]

[Fifth Vessel: Divinity]

[Sixth Vessel: Force Of Evolution]

Yup, the universe definitely wasn't charitable enough to him, so he now has to take things into his own hands.

"Hahahahahahahaahah! Finally! Finallly! I thought I'd fail, but the opportunity was handed to me on a silver platter!" Laughing like a maniac was a very old man, whatever was left of his hair was completely grey. He had wrinkles all over and seemed to be on his deathbed.

His actions however say otherwise. He was standing before a strange machine with his hands in direct contact with it.

And it could clearly be seen that he was releasing bursts of green energy from his palm at a constant rate, unending just like his maniacal laughter.

'The Turtle, quite the fitting name.' Ian who was standing right behind noted, eyeing the short hunched old man.

He was like a Turtle. Even his power has a certain symbolism to Turtles because Ian could see a few things floating around the machine.

It wasn't due to magic, it was because of motion. Motion was denied around him as even Ian who appeared close to him felt the restriction.

The entirety of the place had faint clusters of green energy, denying motion any freedom.

Reality has ways to balance itself out. There was the Speed force, so a counter force needed to exist.

The Speed Force is a cosmic force based around velocity and movement. It is the representation of reality in motion, being the very cosmic force that pushes space and time forward.

Then there was The Still Force, a cosmic force based around entropy and inertia. It's the negation of motion, the opposite of speed, and its conduit is right before him.

"Hehehehahahahah, it told me but... Hahahahahah, so easy!" Turtle laughed even more manically as he turned around, seeming like a madman.

He eyed Ian as if he expected him to arrive, as if he sensed him the moment he arrived.

"Quite stupid huh? I really don't see why it was afraid of you. Escape escape! it said like a fucking bitch coward! Bawk bawk! Fucking chicken, screaming in my head none fucking stop."

Yeah, he was definitely crazy as he scratched his head and yelled, even mimicking the clucking of chickens.

He then eyed Ian more closely as the latter seemed defenseless, remaining frozen before him, "Hamm, I feel it kind... It feels different. What a wonderful Genuina Pig you are. Quite the specimen, ain't that right?"

And Ian was truly frozen in his place, unable to move at all. The moment he teleported inside, he was already under the man's spell, fallen into the trap.

"Ah, right, you can't speak? Let me help you with that." And all it took was a snap of a finger for Ian to regain a bit of freedom, only able to move his mouth and what's necessary for speech.

"It told you? What do you mean by it?" He seemed quite calm much to Turtle's surprise.

"It? Yeah, it. The opposite of what you have. Hehehehe, it's laughable, isn't it? I want what you have, but it doesn't want me to have it, so why should I listen to it? HUh?"

He was certainly mad, but his words at least told Ian one thing. The still Force warned Turtle of Ian's intent as the speed force is likely doing though on a much more hidden scale.

'The speed Force is definitely resisting my speed force, limiting my progress. I mean, whereas the Flash can travel through time, I can only travel at about a thousand Mach per hour, so unfair.'

Once he complained enough in his mind, he asked the most important question, "Oh, and what's that machine? Did you make it to stop me?"

"Huh? You? Don't kid around!" Turtle eyed Ian with disdain before crouching near the machine, caressing it with fascination, "This is for something bigger. This is to stop all motion in existence and break it out of its egg."

He spoke with hate and venom in his mouth, causing a sparkle of brilliant light to pass through Ian's eyes as he chuckled aloud, "I see... You want to destroy the Speed force. Coincidentally, I want to do something similar."

"Huh?" Turtle turned around, his eyes going wide at what he saw... Nothing, and that's the problem. Ian was nowhere to be seen, but his voice could still be heard.

"You see, there are a lot of problems with your powers. Just like there are in almost every power. Reality has a way to balance itself out, so we need to compensate for that unless, of course, reality is our bitch."

"Show yourself!" Turtle was understandably panicking, but he still released the still force with all he can, seeking to protect himself.

"Unfortunately, reality isn't my bitch just yet, so I have to compensate with other things. You didn't. Your powers have too many weaknesses, so here we are..."

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Chapter 140: Too Calm For Too Long IV

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"Unfortunately, reality isn't my bitch just yet, so I have to compensate with other things. You didn't. Your powers have too many weaknesses, so here we are..."

"Lair! This must be an illusion, right? No, I'm dreaming, yeah, that's right!" If he wasn't insane before, then now he definitely was.

"The Flash ended up being a kind of a disappointment. Perhaps I expected too much without using some extreme methods." Turtle froze because he could swear he heard the voice right behind him.

Turtle turned around in horror, finding Ian's right hand on the machine though strangely Ian seemed frozen, meaning the still force was working on him.

However, Turtle felt no glee because he felt himself frozen also. He felt numerous chains surrounding him, keeping him in place.

"Magic, quite the wonderful thing. The interesting thing is that your powers can affect it, but what happens if I can teleport my magic right onto you, just like I did now."

What Ian didn't include however was that his Death force didn't seem to be affected by the Still force at all. It could move freely allowing him to have access to his dimension which is how he could teleport around.

"Wait... That means that you can not do anything to me! Hahahahahahahaha!"

Turtle's laughter was interrupted midway as he heard Ian's words, "Not quite. I really don't have to do much." After which, Ian vanished, leaving Turtle confused.

Not for long though as the scenery around him changed in an instant. He suddenly found himself amidst the darkness, expansive darkness of nothingness.

He felt it immediately, breathless. His mouth opened as if by instinct, trying to take a deep breath with his mouth and nose to no avail. There was simply no oxygen to take in.

Pain attacked him instantly, unimaginable pain spreading throughout his lungs. Turtle however was a scientist, a very good one, so he reacted instantly.

He judged the source of the pain to be a simple phenomenon that happens when in the vacuum of space.

The vacuum of space will pull the air from the body. So if there's air left in the lungs, they will rupture. Oxygen in the rest of the body will also expand.

Such circumstances will cause one to balloon up to twice their normal size, but they won't explode... They'll still die though. Turtle knew that, so he acted quickly, using the still force on himself and his surroundings.

Instantly, he froze. He didn't need oxygen anymore, but he also wasn't functioning nor was he thinking. He was simply frozen in time, indefinitely unless he himself wished so.

"Quite the interesting power, he froze himself completely. Did he set a timer or sometime?" Ian stroked his chin, easily estimating that someone like Turtle wouldn't mind setting a timer of centuries just to live.

'The still force can be negated to a certain extent with the speed force, but not mine... His force is just so much stronger than my speed force due to his connection to its source, but...'

Ian floated down next to Turtle, his hand reaching out for the old man only to stop halfway from him as if it faced a barrier, "Well, this is a nice question to how would frozen time be interacted with from the outside."

Before him was a very faint green barrier, its glow seeming nonexistent, but its durability was almost infinite.

"An almost unbreakable shield of frozen time huh? Lovely, very lovely." Ian nodded in appreciation of Turtle's gift because the latter was unaware that he just handed himself to Ian on a silver platter.

"What a lovely gift. Is this the universe trying to make amends? Well, I'll gladly accept it!" Ian smiled and got to work. What Turtle didn't take into account was Ian's Death force, or perhaps he just didn't have a choice.

Ian noted before that the still force works on him just on an exterior level. It can certainly keep him in place, but it didn't affect his body completely. He could feel his blood flowing smoothly despite being frozen.

His entire insides were unaffected due to what he presumed to be his soul. The still force affected his outer body, but going any deeper would mean freezing his soul, or at least that's his assumption.

His Death force also could swim freely through frozen space and time, but it didn't have much effect alone. However, he can use it to control his dimension and staff, just like now.

His Death force was unleashed, surrounding Turtle freely, and just like before, Turtle was teleported away without consent.

On that note, Ian was quite the controversial figure in the world, mostly because of his shady past and actions. The most controversial of which was the Golde Rose.

As one might expect, words slipped out, then the world knew about it, and everyone wanted it. A full heal potion, who wouldn't want that?

Hell, people even went as far as coming to Gotham to riot under the banner of human health matters or something like that.

It was honestly quite entertaining, how everyone expected him to kindly donate the golden roses, and he would gladly do so if not for something important stopping him from doing so... Something mysterious even he doesn't know of.

It's not like he wanted to keep the profit to himself. He just was unable to do so. He even complained that people were asking too much from someone with a disability like him.

That naturally caused people to hate him which is why he started laughing the moment he teleported Turtle away. If people knew about this, he could imagine them protesting under the banner of TP consent matters!

Ian got a laugh out of his imagination before following after Turtle, appearing right in the middle of a sea of fire, formerly known as Trigon's flames, but now they are under his control as he hovered in their midst, remaining intact.

"As expected of you," Ian remarked, his desire for the forces of the universe only growing by the day.

Despite Turtle being basically teleported directly into the Trigon's flames. It didn't seem to affect him, or more like, it doesn't have time to. If he were to cancel the still force, Turtle would die instantly.

Until then, however, he will remain alive and well... Unless, "Unless my speed force grows strong enough to be able to cancel you, so my dear, why don't you just give up?"

A very very kind smile emerged on Ian's face as he eyed Turtle though, from his words, he definitely didn't seem to be speaking to the man.

To stress the importance of his point to the greater good, Ian brought out the machine created by Turtle himself, "He said it will work on the speed force, so it should work on you in theory... Also."

His staff appeared behind him, shining orange, his actions were obviously a threa... A kind free hint to what could happen in the future if it doesn't comply.

However, there was no response. There was only silence, "No? I see..." Ian shook his head, feeling a bit annoyed.

"I never wanted to do any evil, but I guess I have to... No, it's a necessary evil for the greater good, thus it's good." Ian nodded to himself, taking a deep breath, "Now which curse should I use on her?"

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