Future Grodd would stand five meters tall and weigh several tons. With a body that massive, there was no way he lacked physical strength. But strength was secondary—what Thea remembered was that after secret experimentation by the military and Reverse-Flash, Grodd gained psychic abilities, including mind control. Even Eobard Thawne treated him like a hidden trump card.
Grodd was notoriously brutal toward all enemies, but his attitude softened slightly whenever he faced Caitlin. Could it be because, in the original timeline, Caitlin had been assigned here on this very day, and that was how they first met?
Thea probed the little gorilla with her mental power and felt a wave of disappointment. The small, scrawny creature before her showed no abnormalities. Was his future mutation triggered by overwhelming rage? Thea flicked another banana, smacking it right into the little gorilla's face… but the tiny thing merely rubbed its cheek, weak and submissive, not daring to resist.
Maybe she remembered wrong. Or perhaps the mutation came later from human experimentation. Or maybe it was just a gorilla with the same name. Too many possibilities. Thea tucked the suspicion away for later investigation.
Near the end of the workday, more than ten researchers—men and women—invited the two newcomers out for dinner. Thea originally had zero interest, but Caitlin didn't want to decline a welcome meal. With something akin to a pleading look, she practically begged Thea to go. Thea could only agree and tag along for the free food.
On the way, several hormone-overloaded male researchers desperately tried to show off their knowledge in an attempt to impress the two women.
Thea, however, fixed her attention on a quiet Latino man who hadn't said much—Cisco Ramon. His future codename: "Vibe." His abilities would eventually let him open portals between dimensions, and in combat he could unleash vibration blasts powerful enough to incapacitate enemies.
Right now, of course, he had no powers—just like Caitlin. But Thea valued him not for his future combat potential, but for his mind. Even later on, when he fought crime, his true value was his engineering genius. Many of the weapons he invented were on par with Batman's. Even Captain Cold's freeze gun—whose future version Thea had obtained—was originally designed by Cisco.
Thea threw a few freeze-gun–related questions at him, but quickly found she couldn't continue—not because he was clueless, but because Cisco was staring straight at her face, not hearing a word.
"Oh… the decompression module, right! I think maybe if you…" Someone nudged him, and Cisco snapped back to reality. Despite being flustered, he was incredibly sharp; he still remembered her question and racked his brain to give a solution.
After all, the freeze gun was something he would eventually design. The mechanics fit perfectly with his knowledge. Captain Cold was clever and shrewd, but he was still only a high school graduate—there were limits to how much he could modify the original design.
Cisco just felt that this woman—this ridiculously beautiful woman—was somehow asking him exactly the questions he excelled at! His earlier nervousness began melting away. The moment she touched on a subject he understood, he needed almost no effort to explain. From basic deductions to increasingly complex insights, he kept going. Even though he didn't fully understand what Thea was truly aiming for, he still broke everything down step by step.
Cisco didn't have a doctorate. His appearance wasn't striking. Among so many academic elites, he usually blended into the background. Yet later he and Caitlin would become core members of the Flash Team, and even Reverse-Flash would admit that Cisco was like a son to him—not in appearance, but in brilliance. His sincerity and intellect impressed the time traveler from the 25th century.
Cisco and Reverse-Flash were similar to Malcolm Merlyn and Oliver Queen in Star City—mutual admiration and recognition, yet doomed to stand on opposite sides.
Is this gorgeous woman… into me? Cisco stared at Thea, who was focusing intently on his explanation, and could only come to that conclusion. Happiness surged through him, and he poured out every scrap of knowledge he had—relevant or not.
For Thea, his answers were extremely rewarding. As the original designer of the freeze gun, even Cisco's half-developed theories gave her insights Captain Cold had never grasped. With some sorting out afterward, she believed she could build a freeze gun herself.
"When you heat azetidine to 100 degrees and simultaneously add the trimer-structured polymer… would that work?" As soon as she finished discussing the freeze gun, she immediately switched to questions related to the Atom Suit.
These questions were, truthfully, far beyond Cisco's current academic foundation. Ray Palmer's technology was so advanced it even impressed Reverse-Flash. A rookie scientist like Cisco logically shouldn't understand it. Yet he was such a prodigy that he could use Earth-1 scientific principles to speculate on concepts far ahead of his time. They weren't the correct explanations, but they still broadened Thea's perspective tremendously.
As Thea continued firing off deeper questions, Cisco's earlier fantasies were crushed by scientific rigor. He entered full-on researcher mode, responding seriously and meticulously.
The others from S.T.A.R. Labs had joined the dinner mainly to watch the newcomer spectacle, but as the discussion deepened, even they were unconsciously drawn in. They were scientists, after all. Curiosity trumped gossip every time.
This left Ronnie Raymond—who had spent all afternoon preparing fashionable small talk for the dinner—feeling extremely frustrated. Weren't welcome parties supposed to involve light-hearted conversation? Why were they standing in a bar discussing chemical chain reactions?!
To be fair, Ronnie was very composed. Most importantly, he had seen photos of Thea before. Watching the others swarm around her, he secretly smirked.
These idiots… they have no idea.
The chairwoman of Queen Group, worth billions—what makes them think she'd ever go for a normal researcher?
Ronnie's own family background was barely first-tier, giving him access to numerous rumors—some true, some exaggerated. Right now, the most popular rumor in elite circles was this:
Thea Queen had charmed Bruce Wayne.
Together, the two were planning to build some kind of grand "temple"—and many believed the temple was just a cover to test senior-level reactions before announcing a corporate alliance.
Why test reactions?
Simple: Wayne Enterprises and Queen Group were preparing for a marriage alliance.
Two giants merging would shake the economic landscape—so naturally, a cover story was needed.
Compete with Bruce Wayne?
Ronnie Raymond wasn't suicidal enough to try. Thea was never in his dating plans. His goal was Caitlin Snow: similar age, similar background, and most importantly—soft, gentle, and easy to care for.
Thea, meanwhile, spent her weekends on dates with Diana and her free time researching magic and armor. She didn't bother with gossip. Batman dismissed such rumors as beneath notice, so he never clarified them either.
As a result, the rumor simmered quietly in high-end circles. A few people even believed they had insider intelligence and secretly hoarded Wayne and Queen stock, making their prices rise slightly over the next few days.