Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 82: Ch.81 Red Death

Chapter 82: Ch.81 Red Death

The roar of engines behind them was deafening. The sky was filled with yellow sand kicked up by the vehicles, forming a massive sandstorm. From the distant quicksand black hole, intermittent bursts of red lightning shot out, accompanied by a harsh, screeching noise.

Among the vehicles chasing them, a red Batmobile was leading the charge. Although its outline still resembled a Batmobile, it was covered in red fleshy masses and veins, making it look bloody and grotesque.

Inside the car sat a person clad in red armor, laughing maniacally as he pursued them.

His armor appeared as if it had been fished out of a sea of blood, with red ceramic plating covering his entire body. A white Bat emblem adorned his chest, slashed through by a red lightning bolt, as if splitting the Bat symbol in two.

Su Ming couldn't see his face, only those blood-red eyes staring straight ahead, red Speed Force lightning surging from his body.

He was the Red Death, a crazed Batman from another dark multiverse.

It was a tale from the dark multiverse of Earth -52.

"You're always too late. You should've given the Speed Force to someone else long ago."

At that time, the Batman of Earth -52 was fully armed, pointing a freeze gun at the Flash of Earth -52.

What had happened to this Earth? We don't know for sure, but we do know that Batman's entire family had been slaughtered. The entire Bat-Family, except for Batman himself, was murdered.

Batman attempted to seize the Flash's Speed Force to fulfill his long-cherished wish—to be fast enough to stop things before they happened.

Even fully armed, he was still defeated in battle by the Flash, knocked to the ground. But Bruce no longer cared about friendship; all he cared about was the Speed Force.

He exploited Barry's sympathy. As Barry reached out to help him up, Batman injected Barry's leg with a super-cooled agent made by Mr. Freeze. In an instant, Barry's leg was encased in ice. Batman calculated that Barry would only need three seconds to shatter the ice with his Speed Force, but those three seconds were enough for him.

When Barry awoke from unconsciousness, he found himself strapped to a Batmobile powered by a Cosmic Treadmill, with Batman planning to crash into the Speed Force to gain its power.

In a flash, the scene returned to Gotham City, a place riddled with crime. The Scarecrow was about to kill someone when, suddenly, a red figure appeared out of nowhere and ripped out his heart.

"My name is Bruce Wayne. I am vengeance. I am justice. I am—the Bat-Red Death!"

This Batman didn't fully gain control of the Speed Force. It fused him with Earth -52's Barry. He controlled the power and the body, while Barry, like a ghost, resided in the depths of his mind.

In the blink of an eye, the Red Death killed all the criminals who had plagued Batman for years. In his mind, the Barry who was merged with the Speed Force tried to stop Bruce from descending further into darkness. But at the same time, the sky turned red—this Earth was about to be destroyed.

Bruce still wasn't fast enough to save everyone. He failed again.

But then a voice came, telling him he could find a new home, a new life.

It was the Batman Who Laughs, using Barbatos' power to travel through the dark multiverse. The commotion was too great. Bruce's reckless use of the Speed Force had completely altered the timeline. A crimson storm of lightning destroyed his own world.

The world's destruction was like fireworks lighting up the night sky, catching Barbatos' interest.

The Barry in his mind tried to dissuade Bruce from listening to him, but Bruce was eventually drawn into the Dark Knights.

After arriving in Central City of the main world, he caused a Speed Force storm in the city, causing many people to lose time and rapidly age. The Barry of the main world came to fight him and led him out of the city, battling in the suburbs.

Their speed was so fast that every inch of grassland in the suburbs was trampled thousands of times in an instant, turning the entire area into a desert.

Barry was no match for him and was defeated in their first battle, nearly killed, but saved by Doctor Fate.

After a Justice League meeting in the House of Heroes, Barry took Superman to the Fortress of Solitude to activate the Cosmic Tuning Fork and send Superman to the dark multiverse to rescue the Batman of the main world. Afterward, he fought the Dark Knights again when they arrived.

He couldn't fight them all alone and had to retreat. But the Red Death pursued him. They returned to the outskirts of the city, now a desert, where the Red Death triggered a Speed Force storm, forming a massive black hole that sucked everything underground, creating a huge subterranean void.

The Red Death, mastering the Speed Force, no longer needed strategy or tactics. He brought his toys from the dark multiverse, countless Speed Force-powered autonomous war vehicles, to chase down Barry.

Barry had no choice but to enter the Speed Force dimension to race against him, only to accidentally collide with something and fall into Earth -11, which led to the events of the previous story.

"Run! Keep running, little girl! I'll catch up and rip out your liver!"

Now, the Red Death, driving his red lightning-spitting Batmobile, was relentlessly chasing them. The black hole formed by the Speed Force storm was devouring everything, warping the world around them.

Su Ming floored the accelerator, trying his best to head towards the exit.

The Red Death wasn't in a hurry. Although his car was also lagging behind, he had plenty of toys around him, all those vehicles equipped with various lethal devices.

Massive, bloodstained devices.

There were gigantic circular saws attached to mechanical arms, hammers, chains, battle axes, and so on, all glowing with a crimson light.

"I have to admit, when you didn't have the Flashmobile, escaping into the Speed Force dimension was a good choice." Su Ming glanced at the rearview mirror. Those modified autonomous war vehicles, being lighter in weight, were gradually closing in from all directions.

"Thanks for the compliment, but do you have any ideas now? My Speed Force can't last much longer." Barry's face was pale as he poured golden lightning into the engine, sweat streaming down his head.

In the comics, Barry lost this battle, captured by the Red Death, and taken back to Gotham to be strapped to the Dark Tower as a human battery. It could be said that Barry once again played a minor role in a major event.

However, the previous accident had altered the world, allowing Su Ming to finally arrive here.

The Dark Knights' strategy was to separate the Justice League, preventing them from gathering, and defeating them one by one.

Now, the problem was, the Red Death's anticipated one-on-one battle had changed. The unexpected addition of Su Ming happened to be someone familiar with his weaknesses.

"Running away isn't the solution. In fact, we have a local advantage. Let's deal with him first." Su Ming pressed a few buttons, and the Batmobile spewed out smoke, something Bryce had taught him as a parting tip.

After neutralizing the quicksand's speed, the cars appeared to be moving slowly, but in reality, their speed had reached an immeasurable level. With the Speed Force infusion, they were moving at thousands of kilometers per hour every second.

The Red Death's car could go even faster, but he was playing a game of cat and mouse.

Barry licked his dry lips, looking at Su Ming: "Alright, Slade, I'm listening. If we die, we can at least be companions in the Great Beyond."

Su Ming shot him a glare: "First of all, if we do die, we won't be going to the same place. You'll be in heaven, and I'll be in hell. Secondly, humans may be destined to die, but today is not that day."