American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

Having received Wayne's signal and the encouragement and recognition from his partners in the mental connection, Barry Allen used the second power he possessed, or rather, the power that truly belonged to him.

The Speed Force.

Lightning spread through the void, and everything seemed to be rewinding. Clark and the others, like flickering images, were frantically pulled back along with Barry's figure.

When everything returned to stillness and time resumed its normal flow, Barry Allen found himself on a familiar street.

The GG signs and news screens on the street were playing an impressive scene.

Superman, Clark, tragically killed his own kind—General Zod.

Watching the cheering crowd around him, Barry pulled up his hood, lowered his head, and hailed a cab heading towards Gotham.

...

Bruce Wayne descended from the manor into his constructed Batcave. In the darkness, he sensitively detected something amiss ahead. Alert, he stood on the descending platform, grabbed the railing, and leaped out.

"Who are you?"

Wayne asked from behind the figure standing at the edge of the underground water.

"Barry Allen, one of the members of the team you will form in the future. From one year from now." Barry turned around and looked at Bruce in the Batsuit.

Bruce Wayne simply stared at Barry in silence.

"Don't you have any questions, Mr. Wayne?" Barry looked at the silent Wayne, somewhat bewildered.

"This is absurd."

"I know it's absurd, but what I'm saying is true. The future Mr. Wayne told me some of your innermost secrets to convince you."

"No need to say those. I want to hear what happened."

"It starts with a time traveler named Steve..." Barry pondered for a moment, then recounted everything he knew, including the energy, Thanos, and the unfinished final battle in the future.

After finishing, Barry spread his hands, looking troubled. "I want to change something, but my power alone is too weak."

"So, we need to stop Steve's actions and seal the ring he's wearing to buy us more time, right?" Wayne summarized what Barry was trying to say.

"That's right." Barry breathed a long sigh of relief. "Because of the energy's diffusion, it attracted Sinestro of the Yellow Lantern Corps, and the entity Sinestro carried resonated with the energy here, attracting Thanos. And Thanos led to a series of subsequent terrible events. We can't control Captain's possible arrival, but we can control and delay Thanos's arrival."

"That will be difficult to do," Wayne said.

"Why?" Barry looked at Wayne in surprise.

"If that power is as magical as you say, then once it appears, it has already affected our world. Gotham is a good breeding ground. Not mastering the knowledge Steve teaches means we have to face the chaos caused by the energy; mastering it means we become part of the infection. Unless we can detect Captain the moment he arrives and control him, we might be able to delay some of the infection. Of course, that's just a possibility.

This energy may have been born for infection and diffusion. Do you know the exact time of Captain's arrival?"

"Twenty-five days from now. You personally learned this time from Captain," Barry thought and said.

"There's still some time, isn't there?" Wayne shrugged.

"Do you really believe me?" Barry felt the smoothness of the situation was somewhat unreal.

"I don't believe you, but I'm good at waiting," Wayne said. "No one knows about my new identity except Alfred. The fact that you found this place is already worth thinking about. Everything will come to light in twenty-five days, won't it? But until then, I want you to stay here."

"I still need to gather other members," Barry said, looking embarrassed.

"Your words will be more convincing after the facts appear," Wayne glanced at him.

"Actually, there's no need to be so troublesome."

A deep, familiar voice that terrified Barry rang out from the darkness as a third party.

Bruce Wayne turned around and saw a purple giant nearly three meters tall walking out of the wall.

"Thanos!" Seeing the newcomer, Barry's face was filled with disbelief. He shouted, "You should have arrived at least three months later. Why are you here now?"

"Why am I here now? That's a good question, child." Facing Barry's almost collapsing shout, Thanos simply smiled and patted his head with his large hand. "Time is a force of rules. While playing with it, you will inevitably be arranged by it. It can solve many problems, but when there is more than one person who masters it, its backlash is also quite powerful."

"Why?" Barry looked at Thanos standing in front of him. He even had the urge to forcibly use the Speed Force again for another time travel. But he couldn't guarantee that Thanos wouldn't follow him on his next trip.

"You also control time?" Wayne scrutinized Thanos, sensing a strong and deadly threat from this strange, non-human being.

"Space and time are Luke's specialties. His research on both far exceeds your imagination. He has various technical measures to deal with these aspects.

If the universe is described as a system, the reversal of time is like returning to a certain time node in the system. Coincidentally, I also have some of the authority of this universe, and I also have the power to back up time.

When I overwrite the reversed and changed timeline with the backed-up time, all your changes and reversals are in vain. Admittedly, returning to the past seems to give you countless new paths, but in reality, time doesn't give you many choices. Under the overwrite, you will return to the origin of everything no matter what.

No matter how many times you travel, how many times you change, how many times you struggle, the end of time a year later is still me. Luke's energy and I are already something you can't erase from this universe."

Thanos raised the glowing Infinity Gauntlet, and time around him seemed to accelerate. His voice seemed to come from far away, yet also very close, but each word fell clearly into the ears of Barry and Wayne.

PS: Thanks to the silent peak classmate for the reward.

PS1: I originally wanted to write some cycles, but thinking about it, it doesn't seem necessary.