The silence in Patty's apartment was warm and heavy with shared secrets. Barry finally pulled away, his hand lingering in hers for a moment.
"I should go," he said softly. "Let you process all… this." He gestured vaguely at himself.
Patty nodded, a dazed but genuine smile on her face. "Yeah. A million questions, remember? I need to make a list."
He grinned. "I look forward to it." With a final squeeze of her hand, he stood. "I'll call you tomorrow."
He didn't run to the door. He simply vanished. There was no gust of wind this time, no blur. One moment he was there, the next, the space where he'd been was empty. Patty stared at the spot, shaking her head in wonder.
---
Barry reappeared in the Speed Lab, the heart of STAR Labs. It was deep in the sub-levels, a vast, circular chamber lined with humming machinery and reinforced to withstand his experiments. It was also completely private. The celebration was still going on upstairs, but down here, it was just him and the hum of the generators.
He leaned against a central console, finally allowing himself a full, deep breath. The fight with Zoom, the invasion, revealing himself to Patty—it had been a tidal wave of pressure. And beneath it all, a constant, subtle hum had been growing in the back of his mind. A new awareness.
He closed his eyes and focused inward.
A familiar, translucent blue screen materialized in his vision, its data crisp and clear.
STATUS UPDATE: CONFLICT RESOLVED. EXPERIENCE ACCUMULATED.
USER: Bartholomew "Barry" Allen
LEVEL: 12
EXPERIENCE: 280/1500
HEALTH: 100%
ENERGY SIGNATURE: OPTIMAL
CREDITS: 5700
A faint smile touched his lips. Level 12. The fight with Zoom, the consolidation of his control over the forces… it had pushed him further than he'd realized. He focused, and the detailed readouts cascaded before his mind's eye.
---
ABILITIES - LEVEL 12 MASTERY
SPEED FORCE
· Enhanced Speed: Can traverse continents in seconds. Time perception is so accelerated that light appears to move in slow, viscous waves.
· Accelerated Healing: Regenerates from a single cell. Near-instantaneous recovery from total physical disintegration.
· Enhanced Perception: Can process the entire data stream of the planet's internet in a nanosecond. Predicts opponent movements by analyzing quantum probability.
· Speed Force Knowledge: Can consciously alter the laws of physics in a localized area. Creates stable, permanent Speed Force constructs.
· Temporal Awareness: Perceives the entire flow of a timeline from birth to death at a glance. Can identify and track temporal echoes.
STRENGTH FORCE
· Enhanced Strength: Can shift tectonic plates. A single punch can alter a planet's orbit.
· Durability: Can withstand a direct hit from a star going supernova. Skin cells can automatically phase to let unstoppable forces pass through harmlessly.
· Force Projection: Can generate planet-wide force domains. Projects concentrated blasts that can punch holes through dimensions.
SAGE FORCE
· Enhanced Intellect: Thinks in multiple dimensions of logic simultaneously. Can out-strategize hyper-intelligent AI from the 30th century.
· Mental Fortitude: His mind is a fortress. Psychic assaults shatter against his consciousness. Can instantly reverse mental attacks back onto the sender.
· Telepathy: Can hold a silent conversation with every sentient being on a planet at once. Can communicate across time, sending thoughts to the past or future.
STILL FORCE
· Time Manipulation: Can freeze time across an entire solar system for up to one hour. Can selectively age or rejuvenate objects or beings.
· Inertia Control: Can nullify the Big Bang. Can make an entire galaxy's worth of moving matter stop dead.
· Time Travel: Flawless, instinctive travel to any point in any timeline. Can exist in multiple time periods at once.
DEADPOOL'S ABILITIES
· Regenerative Healing Factor: True immortality. Cannot be killed by any known means, including conceptual erasure.
· Enhanced Reflexes: Can dodge teleportation. Moves before the thought to attack him has even formed in an opponent's mind.
· Pain Suppression: Does not register pain as a concept. Can operate at 100% capacity regardless of physical state.
· Combat Skills: A living weapon. Mastery of combat is so profound he can defeat gods in martial arts alone.
ADVANCED ABILITIES
· Electrokinetic Control: Can summon and control lightning on a stellar scale. Generate electrical storms that can power or blackout entire civilizations.
· Enhanced Kinetic Absorption: Can absorb the kinetic energy of a planet's rotation, stopping the world without causing a cataclysm.
· Dimensional Awareness: Sees the multiverse as a tangible, interconnected web. Can feel a dimensional rift forming in a universe a trillion realities away.
· Chrono Stabilizer: Creates a permanent "safe zone" around himself where time cannot be manipulated by others.
· Energy Redirection: Can catch a universe-ending blast and redirect it safely into the void between dimensions.
It was staggering. He wasn't just fast anymore. He was a fundamental force, given conscious thought. The new abilities he'd gained earlier had also integrated deeply. Electrokinetic Control wasn't just lightning anymore; it was shaping raw Speed Force energy into solid constructs. Dimensional Awareness was now a constant, low-grade sense, like knowing which way was north.
But his eyes kept drifting to the bottom of the display. A new tab was now active, pulsating with a soft, golden light. It had appeared the moment he'd hit Level 10, a distraction he'd forcefully shoved aside to deal with Zoom.
>> DUNGEON MODULE: UNLOCKED <<
A simulated reality interface for training and resource acquisition. Environments are extrapolated from user's memories, knowledge, and latent fears. Rewards are commensurate with challenge. Entry is at user's discretion.
Warning: Physical and mental strain are real. Failure has consequences.
Initiate Y/N?
A dungeon. His own personal, hyper-advanced training simulator. The scientist in him was fascinated. The hero was cautious. The part of him that was still just Barry was a little terrified.
He had to know.
He looked around the empty lab. This was the place. No one would disturb him here.
"Initiate," he whispered.
The world didn't dissolve. Instead, a single point of light appeared in the center of the room, no larger than a marble. It hovered, spinning silently. Then, it expanded.
It wasn't a violent explosion. It was an unfolding. The air itself seemed to peel back, reality curling at the edges to reveal a swirling vortex of iridescent energy. It was silent, absorbing all sound from the lab. Through the portal, he could see a distorted, alien landscape—jagged, dark crystals thrusting towards a blood-red sky, with faint, ghostly lightning flickering in the distance.
A wave of palpable energy washed over him, carrying a scent of ozone and ancient dust. It was challenging him. Daring him to step forward.
Barry's heart hammered against his ribs. This wasn't a VR simulation. This was real. A pocket dimension, or something even stranger, created just for him.
He took a step forward, then another. The humming of the lab's generators faded, replaced by the absolute silence of the vortex. He stood at the threshold, the energy making the hairs on his arms stand up.
This was it. A new frontier. Not to fight a villain or save the city, but to explore the absolute limits of what he had become.
He glanced one last time at the familiar surroundings of his lab, a final anchor to his old world. Then, he solidified his resolve.
"Alright," he said to the void. "Let's see what you've got."
He stepped through.
The transition was instantaneous. There was no sensation of movement. One moment he was in the Speed Lab, the next he was standing on an obsidian plain, under that oppressive red sky. The portal winked out behind him, leaving no trace.
The air was thick and heavy, gravity feeling slightly stronger than on Earth. In the distance, one of the massive crystals shifted, its tip turning towards him like a predator sensing prey.
A new, simpler interface appeared in the corner of his vision.
Dungeon Instance: The Crystalline Labyrinth
Objective: Survive. Reach the Core.
Reward: 500 XP, 1000 Credits, Unknown Item.
Barry cracked his neck, a spark of gold lightning dancing across his knuckles. A fierce, focused grin replaced his earlier apprehension.
He was no longer just Barry Allen, the Flash.
He was a Level 12 force of nature, and he was ready to train.