Chapter 44 'Charging' the TemPad

While comforting the sobbing Kara, Austin was also constantly thinking about how to resolve this crisis. Although he already had a plan in mind, he didn't know if it could be successfully implemented and didn't dare make any guarantees.

After a while, Kara's emotions had stabilized quite a bit. This was the first time she had broken down crying in front of someone else, so she felt rather embarrassed, keeping her head lowered to avoid showing Austin her face.

"Do you have a way?" After a long period of silence, Kara spoke up.

Hearing this, Austin let out a soft sigh. He gazed at the rising sun, as the morning sunlight spilled onto the earth, giving a warm feeling on one's face. Then he smiled and said, "There's always a way. But first, I need you to trust me, okay?"

Kara did not respond, which Austin took as acquiescence to his words.

Austin gave a faint smile at this. As he stood up, he said, "Stay here and bask in the sun, it's good for your body. I've left some clothes here, you can change into them later. I need to go make some preparations. If you feel better, you can come find me downstairs. Everyone there is on our side, you can trust them."

After finishing, Austin pulled open the door to the rooftop and headed back inside. He still had one very important thing to do.

By the edge of the rooftop, leaning on the railing, Kara sensed Austin's departure. Only then did she slowly raise her head. She silently wiped away the tears on her face. To be honest, she didn't know what to do next, nor did she know what meaning there was left for her to go on living.

The only belief she had always held onto was to raise her cousin into adulthood. Now that her cousin was dead, she suddenly felt an icy sense of relief, an ethereal feeling, a feeling of emptiness.

It was as if she herself were a drifting water weed, bobbing along with the wind, yet never having a place she could rely on — she couldn't find any more meaning in life.

Everything around her became silent. Even the chirping of birds grew softer. Despite the sunlight shining down on her, Kara couldn't feel any warmth. Leaning on the railing, she stared blankly at the sky with lifeless eyes and heaved a sigh.

On the other side...

Upon returning to the Batcave, Austin discovered these people really worked fast. In just a little over ten minutes, the old Batman had already assembled an iron chair with Barry Allen's help. It just looked rather strange, reminiscent of the tiger bench, an ancient torture device.

Aside from that, Batman was also trying to generate artificial rainfall. To accomplish that, the Batplane's assistance would definitely be required. Fortunately, Gotham itself was a city that often had overcast and rainy weather, greatly reducing the difficulty of inducing artificial rainfall.

Next to him, Barry Allen from the main universe was helping to assemble an enormous bat-shaped kite which later needed to be flown high into the sky. It would then release a small electrical charge to attract lightning, allowing Barry to be struck by lightning.

Pietro and the young Barry Allen had returned, having gathered all the necessary experimental liquids in the shortest time possible. Next, they just needed to complete the bat kite and have Batman do the final adjustments before they could begin.

Seeing this situation, Austin couldn't help but nod slightly. Witnessing the efficiency of these people, he definitely felt envious. Just look at these superheroes, every single one of them was a technology expert. That went without saying for Batman, but even the Flash had a deep understanding of physics, chemistry, and so on.

In contrast, while Austin wouldn't describe himself as utterly useless, other than his knowledge about the plotlines of these multiverses, he really didn't have much else substantial to offer.

Rather than dwell on those thoughts, Austin collected himself and then waved at the young Barry Allen who was chatting with Pietro.   

Noticing Austin's gesture, the young Barry Allen was startled for a moment, seemingly puzzled as to why Austin would suddenly want him.

"What's up Austin? Do you need me for something?" Seeing Austin nod at him, the young Barry Allen arrived before Austin in a flash, asking excitedly.

One must know that ever since obtaining these powers, he had been constantly 'screwing up'. The Barry Allen from the main universe seemed to really dislike him, always having a long face. Even when he only wanted to cheer the other Barry up, what more than Batman who treated him like he was invisible and completely ignored him?

Austin and Pietro were the only two who would talk to him properly, greatly increasing the young Barry Allen's good impression of them.

Looking at the young Barry Allen, Austin took out the time controller(TemPad) that he had been keeping close to himself.

"Actually it's not anything major. My device ran out of power, and normal energy sources can't provide it with energy. So I need your Speed Force lightning to help me 'charge' this little gadget."

The TemPad had built-in energy conversion functions. In other words, any energy source could 'charge' it. It was just the charging speed would differ according to the strength of the energy.

The best energy sources would of course be massive sources like nuclear or rocket engines. Iron Man's arc reactor and Green Lantern's power ring should work too.

Austin had tried using the 'Scepter of Zeus' to release lightning to charge it, but soon gave up. Even if he used up all the electricity stored in that scepter, it couldn't charge the TemPad by one percent. It would undoubtedly be extremely time and effort-consuming.

Therefore, Austin set his sights on the Flash. The Speed Force was an exceptionally mystical power, containing terrifying amounts of energy. Otherwise, speedsters wouldn't be able to freely travel through time.

One must know that in many major events, aside from being sacrificed, at which time did the Flash not end up becoming a lab rat on a treadmill, providing powerful energy for those villains? This showed the might of the Speed Force that even many villains coveted.

"What is this thing? Looks so strange, is it a game console?" The young Barry Allen took the TemPad and fiddled with it curiously, but still couldn't figure out its origin even after examining it for a while.

"You don't need to care about what this thing does. You just need to know that it's very important to me. So, Barry, I'll have to trouble you."

"No problem, leave it to me!" The young Barry Allen excitedly thumped his chest. The feeling of being needed by someone was just too great. He was very willing to help others, but he blinked in realization.

"Uh...how do I charge this thing?"

Hearing this, Austin stroked his chin and pondered briefly before speaking.

"If I'm not mistaken, you can perhaps try taking it outside and running a few more laps."

(End of The Chapter)...To be continued.

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