In a single instant, Ben brought The Flash back to the Iceberg Lounge.
"Thomas Wayne and Dr. Leslie are gone."
Ben stared at the shattered crystal scattered across the floor, his expression dark.
Batman had entrusted this to him. He'd even helped bring in Dr. Leslie Thompkins—and Ben had still let it slip through his fingers.
The private room next door was a slaughterhouse.
Reverse-Flash had killed everyone inside.
Everyone… except Penguin.
Penguin, Dr. Leslie, and Thomas Wayne had vanished together.
"No… I have to find them myself. Even if I have to search every corner of this city!"
Ben focused, forcing his speed higher.
Lightning erupted from the Omnitrix emblem, crawling across his body in crackling arcs.
The next second, he became a blue-black streak—gone from Barry's sight, leaving only a flicker of electricity that died almost as soon as it appeared.
"Ben—wait!"
The Flash tried to stop him, but Ben was already too far.
Barry didn't chase immediately. If Ben was already running, then Barry needed to think: what's the next move?
He opened the communicator built into his suit.
"Batman. Your call?"
The Batcave
The Batcomputer was reconstructing their conversation—speech that had been accelerated beyond normal perception, taking place outside the Speed Force's "normal" frame of time.
Batman pulled up the Iceberg Lounge's surveillance feed.
"I've got the recordings," he said. "But Reverse-Flash was too fast. The cameras only caught a blurred shadow…"
From the footage, Bruce confirmed what had happened:
Reverse-Flash killed every gang leader in the meeting room—all but Penguin.
That alone was enough to shatter Thomas Wayne's attempt to bring Gotham's underworld under control.
Worse, Reverse-Flash used high-frequency vibration to smash Diamondhead's crystal prison, freeing Thomas Wayne.
After that, every camera feed in the Iceberg Lounge went dead.
One thing was now certain:
A gang war that could swallow the entire city was about to erupt.
Batman was already suited up, carrying a full loadout geared for street combat—tools meant for a city about to catch fire.
"Gotham is on the edge of losing control," he said. "I'm moving to contain the chaos before the gang war detonates. You find Ben—get him to stop Reverse-Flash from pushing this war even further."
Barry hesitated.
"And your father? After this is over—what happens to him?"
Flashpoint was gone. When this ended, what would become of Thomas Wayne—a man ripped from a dead world and dropped into a living one?
Barry felt responsible. Flashpoint existed because of him. And whatever Thomas had done there, he'd also helped Barry survive it.
Batman's reply came cold, carefully controlled.
"He's one of the sources of the chaos."
Bruce already understood Reverse-Flash's true intent.
When this was over—if Thomas Wayne crossed the line, if he became a criminal in the name of "saving" Bruce—
Arkham Asylum would be his only destination.
Barry didn't like hearing it.
He wanted, desperately, for father and son to find a way to coexist.
But that was later.
Right now, they had to stop Reverse-Flash.
"You think you know where he's headed?" Barry asked.
Batman was already in the Batmobile.
"Based on what Ben told me, Reverse-Flash's goal is to force my father to watch me keep being Batman—keep throwing myself into danger."
Bruce's voice didn't change, but the conclusion was sharp.
"He needs a bigger disaster. So… he'll likely go to Arkham Asylum."
A gang war was a nightmare.
But it was still manageable.
Batman's true monsters weren't on the streets.
They were locked behind Arkham's doors.
Arkham—Gotham's infamous "talent market" for supervillains:
Joker. Scarecrow. Poison Ivy. Two-Face. Riddler. Mr. Freeze. Firefly. Mad Hatter. Solomon Grundy…
If that entire roster poured into Gotham at once, the destruction would be beyond calculation—and every day of Batman's life would become a tighter, deadlier high-wire act.
Barry understood immediately.
"I get it. I'll find Ben, and we'll stop Reverse-Flash from releasing Arkham's prisoners."
He broke into motion.
With each step, bright yellow lightning flashed around his feet—until he became a bolt of light dragging a red afterimage behind him.
Iceberg Lounge — Underground, Secret Medical Room
Thomas Wayne and Dr. Leslie were stabilizing Penguin's injuries.
When Thomas had seen the gang leaders dead in the next room, he'd understood right away:
His plan had failed.
He couldn't understand how—how the Speedster he'd killed with his own hands in Flashpoint could still be moving, still hunting.
Stopping Thomas from controlling Gotham's gangs was only step one.
This was revenge.
Reverse-Flash wanted Thomas to watch Bruce put on the suit—again and again—living on the edge of death, forever trapped as Batman.
And Thomas had to admit it:
It was working.
Reverse-Flash would manufacture something even worse, something that forced Bruce to wear the cowl and fight through escalating horrors.
For now, Thomas intended to clean up the underworld mess himself.
And the best bait he could have…
Was Penguin.
On the table, Penguin lay barely alive.
"Stable," Thomas said as the final stitches went in. The surgery was complete. "When will he wake up?"
"You know the answer," Leslie snapped, exhausted. "With injuries like that, keeping him alive is already a miracle."
The operation had gone well—Penguin's life was saved.
But compared to the other gang bosses, who'd been killed with absolute certainty, the conclusion was obvious:
The attacker had deliberately spared Penguin.
Leslie had seen countless trauma cases. The precision here was surgical.
Even with success, whether Penguin would wake was still unknown.
And despite everything, Leslie couldn't deny the truth:
Her old friend—even as Batman—had not wasted his medical skill.
She truly wished Thomas could let go of the obsession and return to medicine.
"Are you really not going to walk away?" she asked quietly. "Come back. Be a doctor again."
Thomas shook his head, eyes iron-hard.
"Don't try. I can't let Bruce keep being Batman."
Leslie didn't argue right away.
She and Alfred were among the few who truly knew Bruce's identity.
And they both wished Bruce could live as a normal man.
Because as Batman, Bruce lived dangerously—every single day.
"I understand," Leslie said. "I've been trying to talk him out of it for years. Every time he comes to me covered in wounds, I'm amazed he's still breathing."
Thomas's fist clenched.
No one understood Batman's life better than another Batman.
That was why the thought of his son becoming Batman crushed him.
Even Martha—who had become the Joker in his world—had stopped laughing when she learned Bruce would become Batman.
"Yes," Thomas said. "That's why I won't let that child keep wearing the cape."
"You still don't get it, Thomas."
Leslie's patience finally broke. She shook her head.
Stubborn. Unmoved. Exactly the same as twenty years ago.
And maybe that was why Bruce inherited the same brutal, self-destructive resolve.
"Bruce is just like you. Nothing breaks him. No matter what hits him."
Her voice sharpened.
"Even if you destroy his family, his career—everything—he will still come back as Batman."
Leslie and Alfred had watched Bruce for years, especially after he returned from traveling alone.
They knew the truth:
No one could change his mind.
All they could do was stand behind him—support him—help him survive the burden when it threatened to crush him.
Before meeting Thomas, Ben had warned Leslie about the things Thomas might do "for Bruce's sake."
Leslie refused to accept Thomas hurting Bruce under the banner of fatherly love.
"As a father, you should focus on what he feels," she said. "Care for him. Help him. Be his foundation—so he can face the crises ahead."
"Enough, Leslie."
Thomas shook his head.
"You just need to watch over him."
He meant Penguin.
As Thomas pulled his cowl back on, preparing for the chaos ahead—
A lightning bolt snapped into the room.
A blue-black afterimage followed.
Ben stood in front of them.
"I searched every corner of Gotham," Ben said, breathing hard, electricity still dancing over him. "Never thought I'd find you hiding under the Iceberg Lounge."
"Who are you?"
Thomas immediately tensed, eyes cold, posture ready.
A Speedster appearing out of nowhere was never a coincidence.
"I'm the one who grabbed you earlier—with Robin."
Ben made it plain.
Thomas's eyes narrowed.
He'd seen Ben revert from Diamondhead back into a human. He knew Ben could transform.
"Hm? A new form?"
Ben now looked like a blue raptor-like Speedster—nothing like the bulky crystal warrior from before.
Different shape. Different power.
Thomas had managed to ambush Reverse-Flash once.
He didn't fool himself into thinking he could do it every time.
"Yes," Ben said quickly. "We'll talk about me later. Mr. Thomas Wayne—there's something you need to know. The real reason you're in this world."
He didn't have time to explain alien transformations.
Gotham was seconds away from falling into chaos.
He had to tell Thomas the truth—now—about Reverse-Flash's plan.
"It was Reverse-Flash who brought you here from Flashpoint."
Thomas's jaw tightened.
"Reverse-Flash… So it was him."
When Reverse-Flash shattered the crystal and freed him, Thomas had already suspected it.
Only Speedsters like The Flash and Reverse-Flash could pluck someone out of a collapsing timeline before it died.
Ben pressed on.
"And Reverse-Flash is a sadistic monster. His goal is to torture your mind—your will—by forcing you to watch Bruce stay Batman."
Ben's eyes hardened.
"He even wants to guide you into hurting Bruce yourself… so he can watch Bruce rise again as Batman and defeat you."
Thomas frowned deeply.
It seemed everyone in this world believed the same thing:
That he couldn't stop Bruce from being Batman.
He looked at Ben—searching, pleading without wanting to show it.
"Is there really no way… to make Bruce take off that cape?"
Ben fell silent for a moment.
Then he shook his head.
"The only way is to solve Gotham's crime problem as much as possible."
He spoke carefully, like someone trying not to lie, but unable to offer comfort.
"Only then will he have time to be Bruce—sometimes. To live the playboy mask a little… or to use Wayne Enterprises to build Gotham into something better."
"Only… sometimes?"
Thomas's hand tightened into a fist.
Ben's answer wasn't enough.
It couldn't be.
Thomas raised his head and looked straight at Ben.
He'd made a decision.
"Tell Bruce this," Thomas said.
"Let's compete."
His voice was low, absolute.
"Let's see… who is the one truly fit to be Batman."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 31
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 27
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 26
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