"I thought it would take you a bit longer to notice me."
The speedster sensed the Kryptonian tearing through the air toward him and simply stopped running. He wore a red-and-yellow suit similar to the Flash's, but inverted in color—yellow was the dominant tone.
Catching up to him, Joey immediately identified him: "Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne."
The man racing across Western Europe was indeed Reverse-Flash, the lifelong archenemy (self-proclaimed) of the Flash, Barry Allen.
In the distant 25th century, Eobard Thawne gained his powers by recreating the accident that gave his idol, the Flash, his abilities. However, through a twist of fate, he became the Flash's sworn enemy.
Unlike the Flash, Reverse-Flash lacked restraint. He had traveled back in time countless times, attempting to kill Barry Allen before he ever became the Flash—but he ultimately discovered he could never succeed.
Because Reverse-Flash's connection to the Speed Force came from his study of Barry Allen, the Flash had to exist for him to exist.
This dependence drove Eobard Thawne mad.
Viewing the Flash as his ultimate enemy, he made destroying him the sole purpose of his life. He attacked Barry across different points in history, plotting from the moment Barry was born how to inflict the greatest possible suffering.
Reverse-Flash stole Barry's first love, erased his childhood friends, and even traveled back in time to murder Barry's mother—framing his father for the crime.
This act created a perfect time loop between the Flash and Reverse-Flash.
Because of his mother's death and his father's wrongful imprisonment, Barry Allen became a forensic investigator, working tirelessly to uncover the truth behind the case and clear his father's name.
Then, one stormy night, while working late in his lab, Barry was struck by lightning—thus beginning the story of the Flash and Reverse-Flash.
Reverse-Flash looked at Joey, who had recognized him instantly. His expression shifted from surprise to realization, and then to a grin.
"Ha, I see now! You shouldn't know who I am—I've never revealed myself. So if you do, that means you're an outsider too. That explains why I still can't overwrite this timeline after Barry Allen's death—there's an external observer interfering."
As a speedster, Reverse-Flash could easily match Joey's pace. Within a single second, they exchanged hundreds of lines of dialogue.
"Superman, how do you like the world Barry Allen created? Just as he wished, his mother lives—but in exchange, thousands upon thousands of others will die."
Sensing the hostility in Joey's gaze, Reverse-Flash cloaked himself in the Speed Force, leaving behind afterimages to make himself harder to hit.
"Don't even try it. Heat vision may travel at light speed, but it can't aim at light speed."
"If I were you, I'd focus on something more urgent—like how the Western European plains will start sinking in 62 seconds."
"And you, Superman—I've already calculated it. You're not fast enough to evacuate everyone in time."
Reverse-Flash had originally been observing the war between the Amazons and Atlantis on the British Isles, curious how it would unfold. But the sudden appearance of this overwhelmingly powerful Kryptonian made him abandon any idea of intervening.
This Kryptonian might not be able to kill him easily—but he also lacked a reliable way to kill the Kryptonian. His margin for error was zero, while his opponent could try again endlessly.
"How about this—we make a deal?"
Reverse-Flash realized this might be his moment to act.
"You alone can't evacuate everyone in time. But with me—the fastest man alive right now—we definitely can."
Joey glanced toward the advancing seismic wave and asked casually, "You don't strike me as the type to help for free. What do you want?"
Reverse-Flash beamed at the expected response.
"What do I want? Simple—I want the entire United States."
"Anyone with eyes can see that you and your Kryptonian partner are about to establish a new world order. And from what I can tell, you're nothing like that boy scout in blue I used to know."
"In this new world, someone like me needs a place to stand. Give me control of America, and I'll help you relocate all of Western Europe's population to Asia Minor."
Joey rejected the offer.
"The human world doesn't need someone like you ruling it."
In his plan, the world would continue functioning much as it had before—just with small improvements. And in those improvements, there was no place for people like Reverse-Flash.
"Oh, that's unexpected!"
Reverse-Flash found this Superman even more different than he had anticipated.
"You'd rather let half of Western Europe die than give me a small piece of your world?"
"I never said I'd abandon them."
Even as he spoke, Joey's eyes were meticulously scanning the crustal structure along the seismic wave's path. He already had a rough solution in mind.
"Don't project a speedster's way of thinking onto others, Reverse-Flash. I'm not a speedster."
In Joey's view, instead of racing against time to evacuate hundreds of millions of people, why not simply use Kryptonian strength to stop the earthquake itself?
A seismic wave is, at its core, a form of energy propagation through a medium like the Earth's crust and oceans. Disrupt the energy or block its transmission, and the quake ends.
Before leaving, Joey gave one final warning:
"Don't get in my way. The new world has room for anyone willing to live normally."
"But you—you're like a fast, annoying fly. Don't make me waste time swatting you."
"Relax, Superman. I won't interfere this time—but I am curious to see what you'll do."
Joey's threat didn't faze Reverse-Flash. He was more interested in watching how Superman would stop a disaster of this scale.
"What will I do? In your time, do people still play with building blocks? Stopping an earthquake isn't much harder than snapping a few pieces together."
With that, Joey plunged straight into the Earth.
Reverse-Flash followed close behind.