Emperor Building, top floor.
Bardi stood before the window, dressed in white. Elegant and dignified, with a domineering majesty, his skin faintly glowing, he nodded slightly as he pondered in the sunlight, exuding an air of otherworldly detachment.
His right hand supported his left, thumb gently rubbing his palm in deep thought.
The room was quiet. Only specks of dust floated through the sunbeams, drifting lazily in the air.
The atmosphere was warm and pleasant, carrying a hint of freshness and rich oxygen.
"Ah..."
Beneath the white, soft quilt, a delicate body lay exposed. Bare shoulders and slender collarbones were clearly visible. Her sleeping face showed fear and coldness, her breathing chaotic. Her brows furrowed, as if she were trapped in a terrifying nightmare.
Bardi suddenly snapped out of his thoughts. He released his clasped hands, stopped thinking, and stepped from the beam of light toward the bed.
He sat lightly at the bedside. His previously commanding and stern expression softened into gentleness. He placed his fingers lightly on Jenny's forehead, her smooth, satin-like hair shining under the light.
Bardi's thumb gently pressed between her brows, brushing over them lightly.
For the longest time, Bardi believed that Jenny's cold and alluring demeanor, with her tightly furrowed brows, would diminish her beauty.
Scenes from the past flashed in his mind.
In the underground research lab, Jenny smiled like a blooming flower, nestled in his chest, sitting on his lap, her fiery figure exuding a suffocating affection.
When they escaped the military base, her evening dress blazed like fire, her swaying figure filled with sorrow. Alone and helpless, she lay in despair on the icy ground, crying blood.
In the pitch-black night of death, she suffered amidst flickering flames and gunpowder smoke. Her monstrous, deformed figure trembled in fear, like a child terrified of being hated by Bardi.
In the end.
Bardi had threatened millions, forcing The Flash to take him through time and space, just to rescue Jenny at the moment of her death.
"Bardi lowered his head and gently kissed Jenny's forehead.
Jenny's restless brows seemed to feel the warmth of his fingers and kiss. His familiar breath mingled with the delicate skin between her brows.
Her expression relaxed, the pain of her nightmare slowly easing.
Her breathing grew slow and steady.
It felt like she was wrapped in the warmest, safest embrace.
Jenny's eyelids slowly opened. Her eyebrows twitched slightly, as if awakening to life again.
From the endless void of darkness, a sliver of light emerged, making her eyelids tremble and shrink. A familiar figure came into view.
"Bardi!"
Jenny was stunned. Her face shifted to panic in an instant. She lunged into Bardi's chest, solid as steel and radiating his familiar warmth.
Her body pressed against him, her exposed chest squeezed against his, her cold face filled with fear, tightening close.
"General Vic is going to come after you!"
"I won't let him hurt you!"
"As long as I'm here, Bardi, you don't have to be afraid!"
Jenny was trembling, her skin slick with sweat. Her terrified face rested against Bardi's chest as she looked around in panic, hugging him tightly, glancing back and forth like a squirrel guarding its precious fruit.
Bardi chuckled softly. Wrapping his arms around her slender waist, he could feel the moisture of her sweat on her delicate skin. The friction made his hand damp.
"Don't worry, Jenny. I've dealt with General Vic. He can no longer threaten us."
Bardi was touched and amused. He gently stroked her damp, delicate waist, taking in her scent.
Her mind was still stuck in the moment when General Vic had tried to kill him.
She still wanted to protect him.
Bardi caressed her back again and again. Jenny, tense and drenched in sweat, slowly relaxed.
Seeing the environment around her was no longer that steel cage, Jenny hesitated. She withdrew her hands from Bardi's waist and lifted her round chest away from his torso. Her flushed white skin blushed bright red.
She raised her hands in front of her eyes to examine them. Her cold expression froze.
These white, slender fingers were not the bloated, bone-spurred hands she remembered. There was no pain in her body either.
With dazed eyes, Jenny looked at Bardi. Her hands trembled as she cupped his face.
Her slender fingers gently brushed across his features, the high bridge of his nose, the corners of his mouth, the scar on his cheek—every feature belonged to Bardi.
"Bardi, this... this is really me. I'm not dreaming, right?"
Tears welled up in Jenny's eyes. They fell like pearls, streaming down in endless drops.
She cupped his neck in her hands, pulled herself forward, and once again buried herself in his chest, breathing in his familiar scent at his neck.
Her crying grew louder.
The room filled with the sound of her sobs.
All the pain she had endured poured out through her tears.
Bardi gently stroked her back. Her fair skin flushed and trembled with excitement. A sheen of sweat emerged again, carrying her scent.
His hand brushed over her moist back.
At this moment, Bardi felt—
It was all worth it.
It was worth blackmailing The Flash with the lives of millions to travel through time and space.
It was worth saving her.
It was worth rescuing this woman who loved him so deeply.
His heart overflowed with emotion and joy.
Everyone who loves you is worth cherishing.
At the same time—
In the vast, desolate starry universe, countless stars blazed brightly in their orbits.
On a white dwarf star—
A barren, white land devoid of any trace of life. In the far distance, where it met the sky, everything was pure white.
Amid this wasteland.
A human-shaped figure stood. Insect-like appendages protruded from his back, radiating a yellow light of fear.
He stood alone in the endless desolation.
Loneliness, despair, pain, helplessness, fear.
The figure stood there, motionless. His eyes were blank and lifeless.
Suddenly, a purple light streaked across the sky like a comet, its tail blazing behind it, shooting toward Earth.
In that instant, Hal's dull eyes flashed mechanically. Yellow Fear Energy surged around his body as he took off in pursuit of the streaking purple light.
"That's... Carol's..."
(To be continued.)
***
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