Thea's question wasn't difficult to answer. For someone at Ethan's level, even with a cheat-like power such as the Speed Force, the Reverse-Flash still couldn't gain an advantage in terms of speed.
Maybe the comic version of the Reverse-Flash, who could reach light speed, might give Ethan a bit of a headache, but only just.
As for the Reverse-Flash in front of him, whose speed was merely at the sonic level, Ethan didn't even consider him a threat. Ethan's speed wasn't inferior to this world's Flash or Reverse-Flash. In fact, he was even faster.
When one couldn't dominate even in their strongest area, and every other aspect was completely suppressed, it was no surprise the Reverse-Flash suffered.
Only then did Thea begin to get a more intuitive sense of what the power of a god was. So she continued to ask, what if the opponent had a speed advantage?
Ethan didn't even need to think before responding, "The Force will guide your way."
She probably wouldn't understand the meaning behind that line just yet. But if her strength continued to improve steadily, she would one day understand what Ethan meant.
Both the Force and the Cosmos involved "precognition." Jedi Knights could sense and connect with the Force to predict an enemy's actions and trajectory. Similarly, the Eighth Sense within the Cosmos system encompassed many mystical abilities, precognition being one of them.
In other words, once a practitioner of the Force or the Cosmos reached a certain level, they could foresee an opponent's actions and respond in advance. This was especially true for beings like Ethan, who had begun to grasp the laws of the universe.
Of course, achieving this required sufficient strength. If the gap was too great, even knowing someone was about to chop off your head wouldn't help. You wouldn't be able to dodge or block it. Not to mention that those with weaker power would struggle even to perceive the power trajectory of a stronger being.
This was the issue Thea faced, so all she needed to do was focus on increasing her strength. As her strength grew, she would gradually master such abilities, and there was no need to rush.
The days that followed were uneventful. Dr. Wells acted normally and made no sudden moves. He no longer questioned Ethan's frequent appearances at the lab either, as though Ethan were officially part of S.T.A.R. Labs.
With repeated interactions, Caitlin and Cisco slowly dropped their guard. After realizing that this wealthy guy wasn't hard to get along with, they reluctantly started to become friends with him.
The most important thing for Ethan was Barry Allen, who had now started acting as the Flash. His abilities were improving steadily, and after consecutively defeating two metahuman criminals, yellow lightning had begun to appear around him.
At the same time, Barry's adoptive father, Joe West, joined the team.
When he saw Ethan and Thea, he was clearly surprised, unsure why there were suddenly two more young people around.
"I thought there were already enough young folks on this team. Turns out they're even younger than I imagined..."
Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin weren't that old, but Thea and Ethan were clearly even younger.
"Why are there two kids here?"
"Uh..."
Barry opened his mouth but didn't know how to answer. When he woke up, Ethan and Thea were already part of S.T.A.R. Labs, so he had never questioned their presence.
"This is Ethan, one of the investors in S.T.A.R. Labs. And that's Miss Thea Queen. Queen Consolidated in Star City is her family's company."
"So?"
Joe looked toward Caitlin, clearly waiting for more of an explanation.
Now that the Flash team had formed, they were bound to face dangerous metahuman criminals. Why were two young people involved in something so risky?
"Honestly, I'm not sure why they're here either."
Caitlin opened her mouth, hesitated for a moment, then simply tilted her head and gave a helpless look that said, "I'm not the one in charge." So Joe had no choice but to go ask Dr. Wells directly.
To Ethan's surprise, Wells's answer to Joe's questioning was not what he had expected.
"Because the two of them aren't ordinary people either."
"What do you mean?"
Everyone, including Barry, turned their attention to Dr. Wells. Ethan glanced at him and instantly understood his intent. This guy didn't want Ethan to simply reap the rewards, so he revealed a little about Ethan's background, trying to draw him into the game.
Dr. Wells probably thought this would put Ethan in a difficult position, but that only showed how little he understood him. Ethan didn't care in the slightest if people knew about him.
Dr. Wells had only hinted at a little, which was clearly just probing Ethan's bottom line. But even if he flipped the table and revealed everything about Ethan, Ethan still wouldn't care.
"You were also affected by the particle accelerator?"
Cisco thought Ethan was like Barry or the other metahumans in Central City, who had been transformed by the dark matter explosion and gained special abilities.
"So that's why you've been hanging around here?"
He assumed Ethan had come seeking help, and Caitlin was already picking up medical tools, ready to give Ethan a full-body examination. It was almost her automatic response at this point.
"No, I was in Star City when the particle accelerator exploded."
"Then... her?"
Cisco looked at Thea, and Caitlin changed direction to approach her instead.
"I was in Star City too."
Cisco looked at the two of them, a bit puzzled. Had Dr. Wells just been joking earlier?
"I'm indeed not an ordinary person, but my abilities have nothing to do with the particle accelerator."
Ethan gently spread his hands, then made a subtle lifting motion. Everyone around him suddenly felt like an invisible force was lifting them off the ground, their feet slowly rising.
"Whoa! Whoa! Take it easy, man!"
Everyone instinctively struggled, but they couldn't stop what was happening. They floated about half a meter above the ground and then hovered steadily in the air.
After a full minute, just enough time for them to realize it wasn't an illusion, Ethan let them descend again.
Even Barry immediately began checking himself for anything strange. Why had they all suddenly floated?
"What was that?"
Cisco wanted to ask if Ethan had altered gravity or used some other trick to lift everyone, but Ethan's answer made him doubt his ears.
"Magic."
"What? What did you say?"
"Magic."
Ethan's answer stunned everyone, even Harrison Wells. He hadn't expected Ethan to say it so bluntly.
Then, everyone watched as several glowing orbs floated from Ethan's hand. Right before their eyes, the orbs transformed into fire, water, ice crystals, lightning, earth, and more. He even turned an ordinary pen holder into a lively, bouncing rabbit. With so many miraculous displays, only "magic" could explain it.
Everyone's expressions showed their worldviews had been turned upside down. Cisco was even tugging at his hair, staring at Ethan as if he were a monster.
"You still don't believe me? Want me to turn you into an animal so you can feel it for yourself?"
"No, no, no. I just don't know how I'm supposed to respond."
Cisco had no interest in becoming an animal. That didn't sound fun at all. Caitlin felt the same. When Ethan turned to look at her, she quickly shook her head like a rattle drum, her golden hair flying into a tangled mess.
At this point, Joe West finally reacted to what had happened. He clutched his chest, took a few steps back, and leaned against a table for support.
"I think I'm hallucinating. My head's spinning, and my heart's acting weird..."
"Just rapid heartbeat from the shock. Take a few deep breaths and try to relax."
"I don't think I can relax."
Thea stood quietly to the side, watching everyone's reactions. Suddenly, she understood why Ethan didn't bother hiding his identity. Aside from the fact that it was pointless, this kind of scene was actually pretty entertaining.
It took a full half hour for everyone to calm down enough to think and talk normally again.
Wells had recovered earlier, but he remained silent, just sitting there quietly. He was probably analyzing the truth behind what Ethan said and wondering how to deal with a magician.
As for Ethan's earlier claim about having a connection to Zeus, the King of the Gods, Wells didn't buy it at all.
"You said you use magic? Are you sure it's not some kind of weird superpower?"
"Magic can also be seen as a type of superpower. The difference is, unlike the metahumans in Central City who gained powers suddenly through the particle accelerator explosion, magic is something that must be studied and trained."
Cisco's eyes lit up.
"So you mean, you were once a normal person, but through learning magic, you gained these abilities?"
"Not entirely accurate, but close enough."
Cisco wanted to ask more questions, but Joe suddenly reached out and stopped him, raising the question that concerned him most.
"I don't care if it's magic or something else. I just want to know, you came all the way from Star City. What exactly is your purpose?"
Ethan looked at Joe. As expected of a seasoned detective, he had quickly pinpointed the key question. Why had Ethan shown up at S.T.A.R. Labs? He didn't believe it was a coincidence.
Without hiding his intentions, Ethan pointed at Barry next to him.
"I came here because of him. I need Barry to help me with a small favor."
(To be continued.)