Old Thomas glanced at the Flash, thought for a moment, then walked back to the Batplane, gesturing for the others to follow.
Old Green Arrow was cursing internally. Follow? Follow my ass! Can't you see I came in a truck? You're flying a plane and expecting me to chase you in a truck?
Thea was speechless. Both the Queen and Wayne families were among the world's wealthiest, yet without her intervention, her world's Green Arrow would probably still be riding around on a motorcycle fighting crime. Old Robert's equipment was equally pathetic.
She'd originally thought Bruce and Oliver were different, but watching old Robert and old Batman now, she finally understood where the problem lay—neither father nor son in the Queen family knew how to convert wealth into combat capability.
Making eye contact with Caitlin, a sheet of ice formed beneath the truck, lifting it up to chase after the Batplane.
"Whoa?!" Cisco's eyes went wide. He'd thought Caitlin's abilities were limited, but apparently they were quite substantial.
Thinking about how his buddy Barry had super speed and Caitlin now had ice powers, he wondered: what about him?
He vaguely remembered Thea mentioning something about being "one step away" from his powers—a phrase that any intelligent person could understand.
He gently elbowed Thea. The young woman looked at him questioningly.
"You said before that I have powers too?" Cisco asked carefully.
"Yeah." Thea was half-asleep, confused why he was bringing this up now.
"Am I close to getting them? What do you think my ability is?" Envious of his two companions, this timeline's Cisco didn't reject the idea of having powers.
Barry and Caitlin also looked over curiously.
Thea scratched her head. Hadn't he seen Reverb's abilities? Oh right! She suddenly remembered—Reverb had been erased, so theoretically none of them had seen him.
But it didn't matter if others forgot; she remembered. Cisco's power had tremendous potential. After all, everything has a vibrational frequency. If properly developed, he could easily be a top-tier hero.
If Cisco's physical condition improved further, he could tear through air like Whitebeard in One Piece and trigger tsunamis.
Unfortunately, his body could only manage a few shockwaves. Even the evil version of Cisco hadn't fully developed the ability.
Drawing on her memory, Thea projected the evil Cisco's combat footage onto a water-mirror spell for them to watch.
"Me? That's me?" Cisco saw his evil counterpart mixed in with Killer Frost, but he had absolutely no memory of ever seeing this person.
Barry and Caitlin looked equally confused. Thea didn't want to explain too much. "See this guy? That's your ability—creating vibrational waves and traveling between different worlds. Cisco, your power is truly formidable."
Seeing an evil version of himself left Cisco speechless for a long moment. Suddenly thinking of something, he frantically patted himself down. "You mean my powers are already awakened?"
Thea glared at him—he was too slow. "They awakened the moment you followed me to this world."
Ignoring Cisco as he sat in the truck practicing what looked like air-splitting palm strikes, Thea knew powers weren't that easy to master. They could train properly once they reached the Batcave.
The group traveled through Gotham's ruins, finally stopping at a subway entrance. Old Batman led the way as they got out of the truck and walked inside.
Looking at the cave's impressive collection of trophies, those who'd never been in a Batcave couldn't help but ask Thea, "Is this Batcave different from ours?"
Indeed, in the eyes of the masses, the Batcave was extremely mysterious, while Thea—who regularly took selfies with Batman and Superman to win over voters—was known as one of the few people to have entered the Batcave.
Thea looked around. "Not much different. That giant coin over there was seized from Two-Face, and that big dinosaur up front was supposedly brought back from an adventure with Robin..."
There were some differences between this and the original timeline's Batcave—some things she'd seen, others she hadn't.
"You know him, don't you? You're friends?" Old Thomas walked ahead, his attention immediately drawn when he heard Thea introducing the collection. As for who "he" referred to, it wasn't hard to guess.
Thea nodded. "Good friends. He's a great man. I taught his son for about two years."
She didn't mention how, because of Ra's al Ghul, Batman had nearly become her relative...
"He has a son in your world? What's his son like? Does he take after him?"
Thea recalled Damian's bratty face and smiled slightly. "Stubborn, intelligent, persistent. An excellent kid."
Behind his mask, Old Thomas's weathered features showed a brief smile. Though he quickly composed himself, Thea still sensed the old man's exhaustion.
"Um, this might be rude, but would you like to visit our world? In our timeline, both his parents died that night."
Thomas Wayne's steps faltered briefly before he recovered, shaking his head firmly. "My son is dead. I don't need a replacement, and I'm sure he doesn't either."
Though the old man refused her offer, their relationship had grown considerably closer.
When he learned she was old Robert's daughter, he finally showed some emotion. Though he didn't say it aloud, Thea could guess he was thinking: That old bastard Robert has such a beautiful daughter? You've got to be kidding me!
This world's old Thomas had been a doctor in his early years, secretly working with Gotham's crime families on businesses involving substances like "washing powder." But after that fateful night's shooting, he'd survived and gone into hiding, only to don the cowl again after his son's death, fighting for humanity and for Bruce.
His body had long since deteriorated, sustained only by a drug called "Miraclo" that maintained his physical capabilities at the cost of his lifespan.
Thea planned to discuss his condition later. First, they helped Barry with a checkup. Even though Steppenwolf's blade hadn't hit anything vital, this through-and-through injury needed further treatment.
"Who's this guy?" Old Thomas's medical bay had another patient lying on the operating table with a pained expression. If not for his faint breathing, Thea would've thought he was dead.
"A poor soul. Train derailment—I found him critically injured under a bridge. I sensed a strange power within him, so I brought him back. He's been in this state for several days." Old Thomas unwrapped Barry's bandages, examining the wound while answering Thea's question, then applied medicine and wrapped fresh bandages.
Heh. That was all Thea could do to express her displeasure. She definitely didn't recognize this guy who was barely clinging to life, but she'd experienced this kind of coincidence many times before.
Dead people, Poison Ivy, Gorilla Grodd—various people who shouldn't have survived were now lying before her, waiting for rescue, in exactly this state.