Ch.82 Red Flash

The smoke from the Batmobile mixed with the swirling yellow sand, obscuring all visibility behind them. It was at this moment that the car finally emerged from underground, revealing the distant sight of Central City and the sky gradually darkening.

Though it was daytime, Barbatos' dark power was infecting this world, starting from America. The entire sky was slowly turning gloomy, as if enshrouded in eternal night.

"We only have one chance. If we fail, the best outcome we can hope for is to become batteries," Su Ming said calmly to Barry as he watched the relentless pursuit of vehicles in the rearview mirror. His raspy voice, processed through his helmet, sounded distant amidst the engine's roar.

"Batteries?" Barry was confused. Was his energy reserve that coveted?

Su Ming didn't go into detail. Currently, only Superman and Batman had the dubious privilege of being turned into batteries. "If my memory serves correctly, two objects containing the Speed Force colliding will cause the Speed Force to cancel itself out, right?"

Barry nodded, sweat streaming down his face under the cowl. "Yes, I've fought many speedsters. When we fight in our Speed Force-augmented states, it only accelerates our reaction speeds. It doesn't give us the impact force that comes with extra speed."

"And objects imbued with different individuals' Speed Force can't penetrate each other, right?" Su Ming asked again.

"Correct," Barry confirmed.

"Okay, that's the plan then. You keep your foot on the gas," Su Ming said as he pressed a series of buttons on the console. A row of small lights lit up, and a voice prompt said, "Autopilot activated, radar engaged, route established."

"What plan? Explain it clearly," Barry said, frustrated. His stamina was draining like a leaky faucet due to the Speed Force. He was too tired to even properly complain. Lowering his head, he noticed the mapped-out route on the control panel. "Wait, you're not saying…"

Su Ming squeezed past Barry, climbed through the previously cut-open hatch, and leaned out to talk to him.

"Yep, I'm going to play bumper cars."

"Wait! Although colliding with both cars covered in Speed Force would indeed cause them to come to an immediate stop, if you don't have the Speed Force, you'll instantly gain an acceleration of over 3,000 kilometers per second. Even as a super soldier, you'd turn into a meat patty," Barry exclaimed, trying to dissuade Su Ming from his insane plan.

Su Ming casually extended a hand toward Barry. "The smoke will last for another three seconds, so hold my hand and keep channeling some Speed Force to me. As long as I can hit him in the car, I can cancel out the speed."

Barry glanced at the rearview mirror. The blood-red Batmobile was barely visible in the haze of smoke and sand.

The cockpit of the crimson Batmobile wasn't very large. To break through its cockpit and collide with the Red Death at the moment of impact, all while being flung away, was something beyond ordinary imagination.

Although Barry wasn't entirely confident in this plan, the die was cast, and the smoke countdown had only two seconds left.

He gritted his teeth and grabbed Su Ming's hand. Golden lightning once again spread across Su Ming's body.

"You're truly insane." Barry sighed helplessly but then smiled, because even though the hope was slim, it was undoubtedly scientifically sound.

Su Ming released Barry's hand while lying flat on the car roof, golden lightning coursing over his armor.

He looked at the vast yellow sand ahead, pulled the pin on a grenade on his chest, and raised the Sword of Ares above his head, readying himself. "Isn't this what warriors are for? Once I grab him, you use the Lasso of Truth to bind us, then immediately go deal with the Speed Force storm's black hole."

Barry wanted to say something more, but the autopilot initiated, and Bryce's black Batmobile instantly completed a 180-degree drift in the smoke, turning to face the opposite direction.

The two cars sped toward each other, separated by a veil of smoke and sand. In the blink of an eye, without even a chance to blink, they collided head-on, coming to an abrupt stop.

And with Su Ming's rapid deceleration to a standstill, he was launched like a cannonball. Thankfully, the Speed Force protected him, or the immense deceleration alone would have knocked him unconscious.

It happened too fast—so fast there was no time to react.

Having calculated everything precisely, Su Ming had already positioned himself on the car roof. Now, like a human cannonball in a circus, he was launched forward.

The opponent's Batmobile was slightly higher, and this height difference gave him the opportunity.

In the next instant, he felt himself latch onto something. Looking up, he found himself sitting on the Red Death's lap.

The Red Death was just as shocked. Even with his Speed Force-enhanced perception, his mind blanked for a moment. He was just happily chasing down his prey, and suddenly there was a person in his lap?

The Sword pf Ares sliced through the enemy's cockpit and cut into the Red Death's chest armor, but since it wasn't "Nth Metal," it couldn't harm the Dark Knight.

But that was enough.

Su Ming successfully closed the distance and the two were now cramped together in the narrow space, both of them infused with the Speed Force. Su Ming held onto him tightly.

He could even smell the blood and the stench of organs from the Red Death, remnants of his past victims.

"Damn it, you're not the Flash. You're Deathstroke?!"

Three eyes locked onto each other. The Red Death realized that the person before him wasn't the Barry from the main universe he had been chasing, but a man clad in black and yellow armor.

He had initially paid no mind to the sudden appearance of another car alongside Barry's. In the Speed Force, anything could happen. But an additional person was completely unexpected.

Especially since this person, taking advantage of the smoke, was the tactical master Deathstroke.

Su Ming didn't respond. In a battle against a Speed Force-powered Batman, time was crucial. He tightened his grip on the Red Death, his immense strength causing both their armors to screech as they rubbed against each other.

The Red Death realized things were going south. However, in terms of strength, he was no match for Deathstroke, a super soldier. With Barry's timely assist, using the Lasso of Truth to bind them together while he ran towards the Speed Force storm, the Red Death found himself completely restrained.

He couldn't comprehend it. Deathstroke had been defeated by the combined forces of the Dark Knights and was bound to the Dark Tower. How was there another Deathstroke?

The black-and-yellow-masked man had him in a bear hug, his arms bound, with a grenade pressed between their chests. Those crimson lenses on the mask stared directly into his soul, and he heard a raspy voice.

"Let me take you sky high."

"No! Damn it!"

He struggled desperately, punching Su Ming's sides, but with the Lasso of Truth binding them, his punches had little force. The armor made of Nth Metal easily withstood the impact.

Su Ming could feel that, in just a fraction of a second, his side had taken thousands of punches. His bones and organs were damaged, and a flood of bloodthirsty rage and fragmented memories poured into his mind.

The Red Death might have been prepared to face Barry, but not Deathstroke. The durability of the Icon Armor was incredibly high, and he was far from being able to rip out Su Ming's organs.

Though Nth Metal wasn't the hardest material in the DC Universe, it was certainly among the toughest. Comparable to adamantium, it was even more resistant to magical attacks. Numerous multiverse-level beings used it to create tools or spaceships.

If it were Darkseid instead of the Red Death, Su Ming wouldn't have dared to engage like this. But the Red Death's body was merely another version of Barry, making him the physically weakest of the Dark Knights.

Su Ming simply held onto him, waiting for the bell to toll.

Boom!

A massive shockwave erupted between them. Su Ming, clinging tightly with the Lasso of Truth, refused to let go. The explosive force could only be expelled downward, launching them straight into the sky like a rocket.

The Nth Metal armor wasn't damaged, but his chest felt heavy. The consecutive explosions at such close range had severely injured him. He could feel the damage to his internal organs, his vision dimming, but gravity was starting to take effect. They had reached their peak and were now falling.

The different-colored lightning around them began to fade.

Struggling, Su Ming reached into his back pouch and pulled out the Bat-Gold Ore, the reddish-copper metal crystal glowing faintly. Gripping the metal cluster, he twisted his arm and jammed it between them, pushing forward with his injured chest.

The Red Death's chest armor had been shattered by the explosion, leaving him completely exposed. In an instant, the sharp metal cluster pierced through his chest, a mouthful of blood spraying onto Su Ming's mask.

Deathstroke's immense strength, combined with the metal that nullified dark energy, instantly destroyed his heart.

Su Ming used him as a cushion as they plummeted into the desert below.