Seeing the two old men agree to her deployment, Thea handed the coordination work to them. Due to the Spectre's interference, she still needed to train Barry Allen to counter Zoom.
The Batcave's equipment was still top-notch. Even three years after the war broke out, the various tech devices were somewhat more advanced than her original timeline.
Dr. Harrison Wells was helping Barry test his speed. The result was clear from his exceptionally stern old face.
"He can't outrun Zoom." The doctor's tone was calm and certain, brooking no argument. Facing his declarative statement, Barry—who'd been running until his tongue nearly hung out—felt deeply dejected.
"Why is Zoom so fast? Is it because he absorbed other speedsters' abilities? And why is his lightning blue?" Barry felt out of his depth, venting complaints he didn't expect anyone to answer.
Dr. Wells's expression remained impassive as he glanced at Barry. "I once created a velocity serum..."
"You!—" The Flash glared at him furiously. The old man acted like he hadn't noticed.
Thea facepalmed. Talk about straightforward! Even if you don't disguise it much, just admitting it so openly—have you never been beaten up?
Seeing Barry about to take drugs to chase Zoom, she quickly grabbed the impulsive kid.
"I've studied your Speed Force a bit. It's a fascinating ability. You might prefer to explain it scientifically, but I have new insights from a magical perspective."
"The Speed Force is a concept representing the word 'speed' itself. It's a product of universal consciousness."
Her mystical rambling left the science-oriented people completely bewildered. Dr. Wells squinted at her, wanting to call it nonsense, but his daughter held him back.
"If you can't increase speed through scientific means, you could try my method."
Thea waved her hand, displaying a 3D Earth in the air. "Everyone in our lives depends on speed—walking, eating, everything involves motion and speed. My method is to extract a small portion of speed from all things and add it to Barry. That way he can suppress Zoom and eliminate him."
This preposterous process left the science-minded people only half-understanding, but Barry's kindness raised a concern.
"Won't it harm ordinary people?"
This idea had actually occurred to Thea while creating rings in the Green. Temporarily grafting a portion would completely allow crushing the drug-enhanced Zoom.
She calculated mentally. "Theoretically harmless. After you extract their speed, everyone will just be a few seconds slower. This borrowed speed is extra—I can only lend it to you temporarily."
Seeing them accept this method by default, Thea began calculating nodes and creating collection devices. This combination of magic and science was novel to everyone. By evening, they'd created ten devices.
Wells still didn't quite believe in something with no scientific basis. Thea calmly let him install and test it on site.
Devices covering Gotham and the eastern United States were routed through the Batcave. Thea told Barry to run a few laps to warm up.
When Barry reached maximum speed, she pressed the switch on the device.
Instantly, except for Thea, everyone in the Batcave felt slightly sluggish, while correspondingly, Barry's speed increased fractionally.
Wow! Those who knew their stuff understood that at this high speed, every tiny improvement came at an enormous cost.
Just looking at Zoom—so drugged up he could barely think straight—showed how difficult speed improvement was. Whether this method could surpass Zoom, she didn't know. After all, the human body had limits to how much speed it could bear. Zoom's ultra-high speed hadn't developed overnight. Barry needed an adaptation process to find his body's limit before calculating final results.
Thea gave Barry the ten node installation locations and told him to install them himself.
She then checked on Cisco's training. This goofball felt some urgency, but his combat talent was inversely proportional to his research talent. As strong as his scientific ability was, his combat skills were equally pathetic!
Hoping he could tear through the sky, trigger earthquakes, and create tsunamis was unrealistic. Better to develop in a more devious direction.
Using minimal force for maximum effect—abilities weren't about raw power but proper application. At least for Cisco, that was the only option.
"Cisco, you're an excellent scientist." She spoke graciously. Cisco's expression was odd—he wasn't stupid. He knew this conversational technique: praise someone before criticizing them.
Thea conjured an image of Bane and continued, "Your physique can't handle greater vibrations. At minimum, you'd need to be as strong as this to unleash fifty percent of your ability's potential."
As Batman's nemesis, Bane's reputation was well-known. Cisco looked at Bane's build, then at his own, and smiled awkwardly.
Even if he ate and trained constantly from now on, he'd never reach Bane's level—over 6'6" (2 meters) and 300+ pounds (136+ kg) of pure muscle.
"But you have your advantages. You have a scientific mind. Vibrational ability is a gift that will let you experience the beauty of the multiverse. Barry's ability comes from an unknown space we can't observe. Zoom's probably does too. If you can find that space..."
"Should I go inside it?" Cisco's emotions had been swinging wildly from Thea's words, making him speak without thinking.
"..." Thea looked at him like an idiot. Too rushed to play word games with him. "You can seal that space's exit. Even if it's only a millisecond delay, in the battle between Barry and Zoom, it'll secure Barry's victory."
Oh! Cisco looked enlightened, staring blankly at Thea. You're so devious!
Leaving Cisco to figure out how to block Zoom's connection to the Speed Force space, Thea figured that with his intelligence, once Barry installed the nodes and they tested it a few times, he'd work out a solution.
If used unexpectedly, no matter how fast Zoom ran, it wouldn't matter. Thea even thought that with such momentum, a one or two-millisecond delay without Speed Force assistance might make him fall and die from the impact.
On another side, Alan Scott was diligently studying ring usage. Caitlin couldn't use rings in this timeline, but her experience remained, so she could offer guidance.
"Whirr whirr" came a sound as a white figure drew an arc, gracefully flying into the Batcave.
Thea glanced over. Slender build, giant wings—this must be this world's "ultimate combat power," Hawkgirl, right?
What a sad story! This Hawkgirl seemed a bit better than the one in her memory—not quite as dim, appearing sharp and capable. At least superficially...