Chapter 9: Machine, Speedster

Chapter 9: Lantern, Half-Machine, Speedster

Another year has passed by quietly.

The only thing worth mentioning was that Arthur actually managed to find his mother indeed when he went to the Trench and into the Hidden Sea.

He was also able to get the Trident of Neptune and is now fully seen as King by Atlanteans.

One day, he called me and said that when I’m free, he would take me to tour Atlantis to have a look.

I was excited of course so I agreed. But there wasn’t a good time to go just yet as I was too busy with everything else.

Now that I finally had the time, I have to go somewhere else instead.

It was time I meet Hal Jordan...One of the best Green Lantern to have existed!..And also one of the worst ones…

Sigh, Hal is a great guy, but in the comics, he actually turned evil at some point due to circumstances...I hope it won’t happen here as well.

I had also leveled up to Level 4(20/400) finally after such a long time of grinding and can now register another character.

I wanted to test if I would still gain Green Lantern’s abilities even though the power comes from the ring itself.

Oh, also, my sync rate with Superman finally reached 100% after years of chatting...it took a long time but I finally can have full use of Superman’s powers!

My status now looks like this:

[Name: Lucas Wayne]

[Level: 4 (20/400)]

[Characters: ]

Seeing the 100%, I grinned and started to look for Hal.

After arriving in front of a bar, I sighed.

Why is it that I have to walk in a bar again…?

However, it seems the heavens are listening to me and delivered. The doors opened with a bang and a person was thrown out.

“Ow!”

Looking at the man who was thrown out, I saw that he was wearing a brown aviator jacket with a name written on the left chest part.

[H.Jordan]

...This must be Hal then…

“Are you alright?”

Since I needed to strike a conversation, I stretched my hand out to help him up.

“Ah? Yeah...thanks.”

Hal was surprised but quickly snapped out of it and took my hand.

Without any effort, I pulled him up.

“Wow, you’re pretty strong for someone your size.”

“Well, I work out. So, do you get tossed out often in this city?”

“Haha, well, that’s what happens if you don’t pay up. You new here?”

Hal scratched his head embarrassingly and changed the topic.

“Yeah. Name’s Lucas Wayne, from Gotham. I was meeting someone and just passed by.”

“Hal Jordan. Wayne huh, you’re that guy with the super-rich parents or something?”

After shaking each other’s hands, Hal asked, seemingly trying to recall if he got it right.

I smiled wryly and nodded.

“Yeah, the rich dead parents.”

“Ah? I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s alright. I’m already used to it. How about you? What do you do around here?”

Hal looked like he finally recalls about it and immediately apologized.

I just waved it off since it was something I was used to dealing with already.

“Well, I may not look like it, but I’m a pilot!”

“That explains your aviator jacket then. What kind of plane do you fly?”

“All sorts of them really. I mainly work to test out aircrafts and make sure they work properly and as it should be.”

Hal started to explain as we walked.

There wasn’t any direction we were particularly going, actually...when I met Hal, I looked at his hand right away.

...The ring isn’t there...which means, Hal still hasn’t gotten the Green Lantern Ring just yet!

Sigh, I guess I can’t do anything about it. It’s not like I know when is the exact time he will get it…

And so, we started to simply chat.

“What happens if something goes wrong then?”

“Well, I would have to test the ejector if it works then.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“...I die.”

Hal sighed. He knew that the chances of it happening are actually high. In fact, his father died in a similar manner as well…

“You’re not scared?”

“I’m not.”

“That’s what you say now...but once it happens, how sure are you that you wouldn't freeze up?”

“...”

We reached a crossing and stopped as the light showed red.

As we stood there, I looked up in the vast blue sky and continued.

“They say Fear is the enemy of Will. Will is what makes you take action. Fear is what stops you and makes you weak. You must ignore your Fear. When you’re afraid, you can’t act.”

Hal looked confused, not understanding what I was trying to say but it’s alright. It may not mean anything to him yet, but I hope he would still be inspired by it one day.

“Everybody has their fears. It’s your choice to ignore them or not. But the moment you give in to fear...then you will no longer be yourself.”

At this moment, the stoplight turns green and I started to cross.

As I walked, I looked back and grinned.

“Don’t be afraid Hal, face your fear head-on, and blast through it! I hope we meet again!”

I didn’t care about his reaction anymore and simply waved away and left.

Hal continued to stand there, confused. When he finally reacted, the stoplight turned red again and a bus drove between us.

The moment it did, I flew away in super speed, enough so that others would only see a blur.

A few months after, I planned to meet Victor Stone next.

Currently, he is still a normal boy teenager playing American football instead of being Cyborg.

He should be about 19 years old at the moment as well. Only 3 years older than me and should be in his 4th year of high school now.

Right now, I am watching him play American football in high school.

Victor had a very athletic body and good senses as well. Naturally, his team won rather easily in the game.

With this win and his abilities, a lot of teams wanted to scout him out. It’s already guaranteed he will get a scholarship no matter which university he chooses.

After the game, the coach led the team to their clubroom and probably started discussing the matter of the scouts.

But Victor didn’t follow them yet. He took out his phone and dialed someone...probably his father.

From what I know, Victor’s father, Silas Stone, is someone who focused most of his time in his research in STAR Labs instead of Victor and didn’t quite approve of Victor doing sports activities instead of studying.

As expected, after saying a few lines, Victor ended the call with a sigh.

I decided to use this moment to enter.

“Victor Stone, correct? That was quite a play.”

“Hm? Oh...thanks.”

Victor looked at me weirdly but still nodded.

“What’s wrong? Something on your mind?”

“It’s none of your business kid. Go home.”

Ahh geez...teenagers are so hard to talk to...oh wait, I’m younger than him…

Sigh, there’s really nothing much I can say to him without being suspicious. So for now...I tossed my business card to him.

“Well, if you say it’s nothing, I won’t press. Name’s Lucas Wayne. This is my contact, tell me if ever you need help on your ‘nothing’, I’ll see what I can do.”

I can see Victor’s expression turn into a surprise. It seems he knew of my name at least.

However, I didn’t stay to wait for his reply and left. Someone like him, it’s better if he’s the one seeking me out instead of the other way around.

After heading back to Gotham, I sighed...there’s still the Flash, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Green Arrow, Captain Atom...so many Justice Leaguers I have to find…

I guess finding them all immediately so soon isn’t really practical. I’ll settle with at least the Flash for now…

Green Arrow is also good but...currently, he is still marooned on that island...I know because there was the news of the Queen’s Gambit sinking over 3 years ago.

By next year, he should be in Russia and would give me the time to meet him by then.

For now, I went to find Barry Allen while I had the time.

Once I arrived in Central City, I didn’t hurry yet to look for Barry in the CCPD. Instead, I went to Jitters to try their coffee...I just wanna know why Barry and the rest keep coming here for their coffee!

“Sorry! Coming through!”

But before I could go in, a man opened the door in a hurry while holding a cup of coffee and ran away!

At least, he tried to...he bumped into me while running and tripped himself, throwing the coffee up in the air.

I caught the cup quickly and looked at the man who stumbled on the ground.

He looked to be around the same age as my brother and had blonde hair as well as a handsome face.

...This can’t be Barry Allen...right?

“Ah! Shoot! I’m gonna be late! Thank you for catching my coffee! Bye!”

While I was still confused, the blonde man quickly took the cup from me and ran away!

Blinking for a while and staring at the disappearing back, I sighed and was about to head into Jitters when I saw something on the ground.

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It was an ID.

[CSI - Barry Allen]

“...”

My face twitched as I sighed. Seems like I’ll try Jitters some other time. It’s time to formally meet Barry…

I walked towards the way Barry ran and arrived in front of a crime scene.

Well, there doesn’t seem to be any deaths though. If there was, I would’ve intervened the moment I heard it.

This was simply a bank robbery. I already knew where the culprits are and were going to go get them later anyway.

By the time I arrived, I can hear Captain Singh scolding Barry for being late again.

“What is it this time Barry? Missed the train again?”

“I uhh…”

Seeing this, I laughed in my head and walked towards them as I spoke.

“I apologize, I was the one who held him up. Here, you forgot your ID.”

“Ah!? Thank you!”

Barry noticed that his ID was indeed missing and hurriedly thanked me.

Captain Singh frowned.

“And who’re you?”

“Lucas Wayne. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Captain.”

I stretched my arm forward and shook his hand.

“What’s a Wayne doing here in Central City?”

“Just wanted some fresh air away from Gotham. I was in Jitters when I met Barry, since I wasn’t a local, I asked him a few things about Central City. I’m sorry if he was late.”

“...Fine. You can go, this is a crime scene. You shouldn’t be here.”

I nodded and left. There was no use insisting to stay and watch.

Seeing as Captain Singh had let him go, Barry sighed and spoke to me when Singh was a bit away.

“Thanks umm...Lucas, was it? I owe you one.”

“No problem. But it is still true that I’m not a local here. If you can show me around later, that would be great.”

“Haha! Alright then! I still have work so I’ll see you later.”

“I’ll be at the Jitters for now then.”

Barry nodded and quickly went back to his work.

After some time, Barry found me in Jitters drinking a latte.

“Hey, you’re here!”

“Sorry, just finished up gathering the data and am waiting for the analysis to complete.”

Barry scratched his head and sat down.

“It’s alright. By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, you seem to be late for work quite often?”

“Ah? Ha...haha...yeah…”

Barry sighed.

“Is there a specific reason?”

“...It’s like this, when I was a kid, my mother was killed by...something impossible.”

Actually, I already knew the reason. I simply wanted to lift some of his burdens by releasing his frustrations from that incident.

“You wouldn't believe this...but it looked like a ball of lightning that killed my mom...Of course, no one believed me then and they all thought I was covering up for my dad who was suspected to have killed my mom...Right now, he’s still serving his time in Iron Heights and...and there’s nothing I can do about it. Ever since then, I’ve been on a wild goose chase on the impossible...”

“A ball of lightning huh?”

When I said that, Barry showed a wry smile, as if already expecting my reaction.

“Well, I believe you.”

“As I thought, you also wouldn’t...wait, what?”

Barry was surprised by what I just said and couldn’t help but look at me weirdly.

I just smiled and looked at my latte when I was sure that no one was paying attention to us.

Suddenly, a white beam was shot from my eyes and into the latte.

This was something that I was actually confused. Superman’s heat vision was obviously supposed to be red...but it turned to white when I do it…

However, there was no one who could answer my question. Not even the DC System.

Seeing the heat vision, Barry jumped up from his seat! I already retracted my heat vision since a lot of people are staring at our direction.

“Y-you...you…!?”

“Haaii, I told you the coffee’s still hot but you didn’t listen. Come one, sit down. Everyone’s looking.”

When I said that, the others heard it as well and immediately lost interest.

Though some snickered at Barry, they didn’t linger their focus on us anymore.

Barry also understood and quickly sat back down again.

“Lucas...you…”

“Have laser eyes? Yes. Something like that.”

Even though I said it, it seems Barry is still having trouble believing it.

“How can that be? Human eyes shouldn’t be able to generate such strong energies…”

“Well, I’m not a normal human I guess.”

“...Why did you show that to me?”

Barry asked. I just shrugged and continued to drink.

“I’m not particularly trying to hide it. It’s just a bit inconvenient if a lot of people know. Also, I wanted to let you understand...that the impossible can indeed happen. If you believe that a ball of lightning killed your mother, I also believe you.”

I laughed while Barry was speechless.

“Besides, I’ve already met a Man of Steel, the Princess of the Amazons, and the King of Atlantis. If you ask me, a ball of lightning is more believable than those guys.”

“Huh? Steel? Amazon? Atlantis???”

Barry was now completely shell-shocked. He probably felt that he actually doesn’t know anything about the world anymore.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you will learn of these in the future. Anyway, I should get going. Thanks for the time...And Barry, do not falter just because of the impossible. Run. Run towards it...and see the impossible for yourself!”

I stood up and waved to Barry who was still surprised.

As I left Jitters, I went to a nearby alley and flew away.

Not to Gotham though, I still need to catch those culprits from earlier.

===

Barry continued to sit in Jitters, staring at the disappearing back of Lucas.

Only after a while did he finally turn his head and saw that there was a piece of paper on the table.

It was a business card.

And on it, the name [Lucas Wayne] was clearly written along with a phone number.

Barry picked it up and inspected the card.

Sure enough, when he turned the card over, there was a note.

[Should you ever need my help, just call.

PS: I left another gift for you, you should get it soon.]

“Gift?”

Barry raised a brow. Suddenly, his phone rang.

It was a notification that the analysis was complete so he quickly left Jitters and to his crime lab.

After noting down the results, he passed the data to Captain Singh.

“These two are the ones responsible for the theft earlier?”

“Should be. According to the DNA and prints left behind, they are the only possible culprits.”

Captain Singh nodded and patted Barry on the shoulder.

“Good work! I’ll have Detective West follow up on this lead.”

Just as he was about to delegate the work, a gust of wind came so suddenly that everyone closed their eyes from the wind.

When everyone opened their eyes again, there were two people in the middle of the precinct. Besides these two were seemingly bags full of cash...

Captain Singh and Barry looked at the two with wide eyes, then looked at the photo in the data that Barry just sent in, then back to the two guys.

Strangely though, there was a ribbon tied on their heads...as if they were sent here as a gift.

“What the-?”

“How did we get here!?”

The two were dumbfounded! They were just enjoying the money when they finally got away! But suddenly, they’re here in the police station!?

Captain Singh looked at the photos again, then to the bags of cash around.

He pulled out his gun and pointed at the two.

“You two are under arrest! Surrender now!”

At this time, the other police officers and detectives snapped out of it and also pulled out their guns.

Being surrounded by guns all around, the two criminals let out a cold sweat and raised their hands to surrender…

Barry watched them get handcuffed and dragged away while still shocked.

He felt something in his pocket and took it out.

It was another piece of paper.

[I’m also super fast hehe -LW]

Barry smiled wryly and muttered.

“This guy sure can catch criminals in a flash…Flash...heh, maybe I’ll call him that.”

If Lucas were to know his thoughts, he would probably be stuck between laughing and crying.

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