The car quickly arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs. As soon as Ethan got out, he saw the head of S.T.A.R. Labs, the famous Dr. Harrison Wells.
Compared to the spirited Dr. Wells he had seen on television, the Harrison Wells before him looked a bit disheveled and downcast.
Though his clothing was still neat and his hair was styled perfectly, not a strand out of place, Dr. Wells, seated in his motorized wheelchair, appeared utterly dejected, perfectly fitting the image of someone who had just suffered a massive blow and was only beginning to recover.
Seeing Dr. Wells, Ethan couldn't help but exclaim inwardly, "The Arrowverse's top actor has finally appeared."
"Hello everyone, I am Harrison Wells. Welcome to S.T.A.R. Labs."
Tony already knew the true identity of the Dr. Wells before him. Even if he hadn't, he could tell that the man in the wheelchair had all his limbs intact, was physically strong, even more so than many ordinary people, and carried an energy within him that was hard to describe.
As a skilled mage, his sensitivity to energy far exceeded what others could imagine. Wells had no idea that his true nature had already been seen through.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Tony Stark."
"Ethan."
"Ada Wong."
"Thea Queen."
The group shook hands with Harrison Wells one by one and introduced themselves. Dr. Wells didn't mind that Ethan didn't give his last name, showing his gracious demeanor perfectly.
"Queen?" When Thea introduced herself, Wells paused slightly. "Is this young lady related to Mr. Robert Queen...?"
"Robert Queen is my father."
"Ah, Miss Queen."
Dr. Wells knew they had just come from Star City, but he hadn't expected the daughter of the Queen family to be among them. His S.T.A.R. Labs didn't seem to have any connection with Queen Consolidated, did it?
However, after letting his gaze linger on Ethan for a moment, he didn't pursue the matter and turned to lead everyone into S.T.A.R. Labs.
"Currently, most areas of the lab are shut down. Many sections were heavily damaged by the accident and haven't been repaired yet, so there aren't many places you can visit."
"That's fine. We just want to take a look and understand the lab's current state."
Dr. Wells hadn't expected these investors to be so easy to deal with. It seemed they weren't here to withdraw their investment.
Generally, when something happened at a lab, investors would come to pull out their funds. If they weren't here to withdraw, there should be no reason to visit personally.
Not withdrawing meant they still had confidence in the project. So why waste time? Were there internal disagreements among them?
Wells didn't care what the investors were thinking. He didn't care at all whether they withdrew their funds. In his eyes, the most important thing was always Barry Allen. As long as Barry became the Flash and reached the level of power he desired, his objective would be achieved.
S.T.A.R. Labs? He didn't care about it in the slightest.
After all, the lab had only been built to facilitate the birth of the Flash.
Now that his goal was nearly complete, with just the final step remaining, the lab's importance had significantly declined. He wouldn't even care if it declared bankruptcy tomorrow.
However, outwardly, he still needed to maintain the identity of Dr. Wells. As the head of S.T.A.R. Labs, he couldn't appear indifferent.
As a skilled actor, he had to play the part. So, he perfectly demonstrated his concern for S.T.A.R. Labs, working hard to show the investors that they should have confidence in both him and the lab.
Whenever Dr. Wells put on his act, Ethan always felt the urge to expose his true identity.
However, remembering that he needed a relatively mature Flash, and knowing that Barry's early growth had relied entirely on Dr. Wells' careful guidance, he suppressed the urge and didn't call him out.
But staying here, following Dr. Wells around the outer parts of the lab and chatting about pointless topics, was incredibly dull.
So, he decided to wander around on his own. After all, in their eyes, Tony was the most important person.
"Where are you going?"
Tony was bored too. When Ethan tried to slip away, he immediately grabbed his arm.
"Don't forget, you're the 'protagonist' of this trip. Don't think you can leave me here to listen to an old man drone on while you run off to enjoy yourself."
"How can you say 'enjoy'? I'm just exploring."
Tony glanced at Caitlin, who was standing quietly to the side, pretending to be invisible.
"If you try that, I'll tell Diana that you've charmed two more young women."
"Two?"
"Isn't Dr. Caitlin Snow exactly your type?"
Ethan glanced helplessly at Caitlin beside him. She had a pleasant appearance, a great figure, and especially well-proportioned long legs...
"You're saying anyone with long legs is my type?"
"Aren't they?"
Under Tony's whispered threat, Ethan had no choice but to continue wandering the lab with Dr. Wells, spending most of the day touring the 'peripheral' sections.
As for the interior? According to Wells, most of the internal facilities had been shut down. Many areas were heavily damaged by the explosion and were unsafe, not suitable for visitors.
By evening, Wells took everyone to a pre-booked restaurant, hosted them warmly, and asked about their plans.
In his mind, since they weren't here to pull their investment, just a simple tour should be enough. After that, they could leave.
After all, there was really nothing worth seeing at S.T.A.R. Labs. The entire lab had once been focused on the particle accelerator. Now that it had suffered an accident and was shut down, all lab operations had halted. There was nothing left to observe.
So if there was nothing to see, why stay?
Yet, neither Ethan nor Tony showed any intention of leaving. The young man named Ethan even said he would be staying in Central City for a while and might visit frequently.
"S.T.A.R. Labs is always open to you."
"That's great."
Ethan could feel Dr. Wells' hidden frustration, but he had no excuse to refuse, so he forced a smile and agreed.
On the surface, the dinner seemed pleasant for both host and guest, but only they knew the truth.
"Are you planning to stay here for the time being?"
"Of course. You know what my purpose is."
"Purpose? What purpose?"
Tony and Ada knew Ethan's goal was the Speed Force. There was no secret about that.
Thea, however, didn't know. Ethan had never mentioned it in front of her.
It wasn't that Ethan felt she shouldn't know. He just hadn't felt the need to bring it up. At the same time, there was no need to hide it. Now that Thea asked, he didn't mind explaining it.
Only then did Thea learn that Ethan had come to Central City, and even invested in S.T.A.R. Labs, to help himself 'grow up.'
"That sounds... like a really ridiculous goal."
Grow up? What kind of goal was that?
After asking further, she finally understood how troublesome it was for Ethan, who had become a god, to try and grow up.
"If you can grow using energy, why not find more... like the energy plane you've already locked onto?"
If you can grow just by absorbing energy, why not find a few more? If one isn't enough, absorb more. Wouldn't absorbing dozens help you grow up? Why go through all this trouble?
"Small planes with pure energy and no life are hard to find. Medium and large-sized universes often contain powerful god races."
So, high-energy universes above a certain size couldn't be touched. And these pure energy micro-planes were rare. Ethan had spent a great deal of effort finding even one, with help from Merlin and the Ancient One.
"Also, completely draining a plane of energy would cause that entire universe to collapse. The resulting disaster... could spread into other universes."
This meant the risk was far too great. It could even affect or destroy the Arrowverse.
Ethan's current method would draw most of the energy from the plane but not completely drain it. At most, the small plane would lose a large amount of energy, but over countless years, it could recover.
"So basically, high risk, low return. That's why you're using this method."
"Exactly."
"And what does that have to do with S.T.A.R. Labs?"
"Because besides what I already have, I need a special kind of power to accelerate the process. Otherwise, it would still take a lot of time."
This catalyst was the Speed Force, and the Speed Force was in Barry Allen's hands.
"So that's it."
Thea finally understood Ethan's purpose for coming here. At the same time, she became curious about Barry Allen and the Speed Force, and asked a question Ethan hadn't even considered.
"If I could master the Speed Force, could I use the real Pegasus Meteor Fist?"
"Uh..."
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ I'll be dropping two bonus chapters for every 10 reviews.
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)