112 EXPLOITING WEAKNESS

AN: In the next few chs, you will get some answers related to Elana and Thomas and why she's working for him and all. All the long pending explanations will be explained.

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Later, Bruce and Selina were sitting in their car as Alfred drove them home.

"So, what do you think of Clark?" Selina asked as she looked out the window.

"He is good alright. There wasn't any opening in his posture, so I'm guessing he has awakened his Kryptonian power, but the question is why isn't he becoming the hero he was supposed to become? Considering his age, he should have already dawned on his Superman suit."

"There are multiple possibilities, sir," Alfred spoke up, "Maybe something tragic might have happened which caused him to hesitate, or he might still be in denial of the truth regarding his origins."

'Or, maybe because I shifted many events and changed history, which caused some drastic changes, and he might not even become a superhuman due to that.' Bruce thought with a wry smile. "Could be that, but we have to know which side he will stand when the time comes. A friend or a foe." He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. Today was too exhausting for him.

The next few weeks were hectic for Bruce. The sales of the VR-Tech went through the roof, and with the number of games designed, they now had enough options for players. Bruce had left the official release of the tech to Lucius and the R&D team of his company. Some over-smart people tried to take apart the pods and tried to hack into the system to steal the software. But thanks to the security measures placed within the pods and the mainframe, no one was able to break through those security measures and ended up on the blacklist.

The cops were busy arresting these individuals since the Wayne Enterprise made everyone who bought it sign an agreement stating the system and the pods should never be tampered with. And violating the agreement was considered a crime. Plus, the entire VR technology and everything related to it was completely monopolized by Wayne Enterprise. Anyone trying to copy their work or reverse-engineer them faced heavy lawsuits as a punishment. And considering that Bruce Wayne is one of the richest if not the richest man in the world, coming after their asses with lawsuits and making their life a living hell would be pretty much simple for him. So, after a few weeks of arrests and heavy pressure on those companies by Wayne Enterprises, not a single person or a company was willing to try to breach the system anymore.

******

[Training ground]

"That's the kid?" Floyd asked Bruce as he saw Barry's table. There was a heap of food and drinks on top of it and the boy was eating the food while muttering to himself.

"He is the fastest man alive. Well, he will be. Right now he's in the training session. So..." Bruce smirked at Floyd, "I wonder... The man who never misses a shot against the fastest man alive... Hmm...."

"Is that a bet?" Floyd asked Bruce who smiled lightly as he nodded, "A meeting with your daughter without anyone noticing. I'm sure you are dying to meet her, but Waller... So, train that kid for a week, and show him around the ropes a bit. Break his confidence in his speed. Then push him to his limits."

"Wasn't Diana in charge of him?" Floyd raised his eyebrow.

"Hmm, Diana is too straightforward and pure... What Barry needs right now is a little dose of reality and fear."

"You really want the kid to freak out a bit?"

"Hmm, it would be best if Barry experienced a tiny bit of it, for him to remember the fear of facing a more powerful enemy, it will help him better prepare himself. Besides, he needs to learn that he can't always rely on his speed. We need to prepare him for times when he won't be able to use his speed. Prepare for the worst, practice, and improve in case of the best," Bruce answered, the two watched as Barry downed another bottle of orange juice and took another large sandwich from the pile. He started munching on the sandwich, only now realizing his surroundings.

He dashed up to Bruce, "Oh, Batman, no I mean, Mr. Wayne... I definitely didn't eat all that and was trying to save as much as possible, but you see my body's metabolism..." His head darted towards the small buffet area.

The whole tray was completely emptied with crumbs and empty wrappings littering the surface, while the small piles of empty glasses filled to the brim and an empty pitcher showed that there was a person that had been there previously. "I need to maintain a certain level of calories because you know fast-motion takes a lot of energy..." Barry scratched the back of his neck as his gaze returned to his own mess.

"It's alright. Don't be so uptight and chill out. Anyway, meet Floyd, the best marksman in the world. He will be in charge of your training this week. So, try to learn as much as possible from him. Oh, got some good news for you," Bruce took out a folded paper from his pocket, "Your dad will be out by the end of this week. All the charges against him have been dropped. So, I better see some good results by the week's end."

"You..." Barry looked through the court papers, "This... is great. Mr. Wayne, you..."

"Go and clean up your mess and start training," Bruce turned around and motioned at Floyd, the latter walked along with him out of the room.

"So, how should we begin?" Barry asked Floyd after quickly cleaning up the messy table.

"Well," Floyd took out his handgun from its holster. "For starters, try not to trip or die." He pointed his gun at Barry.

"Hahaha! Nice joke," Barry chuckled for a bit before stopping due to Floyd's unchanging expression. "You are not kidding, aren't you?"

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Before he could get an answer, six bullets rushed toward him. As Barry felt his heart shuddering, his super-fast reflexes allowed him to just barely manage to dodge the bullets by weaving around each and every one of them. After he dodged the bullets he stopped and tried to throw in another joke, but as soon as he stopped, another six bullets...

bang! bang! bang!

...flew straight for him. He ran out of the way only to find another two bullets were already waiting for him to run toward them, while he tried to turn his back to them the bullets were already aimed at that place too. It was as if there were infinite amounts of bullets all aimed and ready to kill him as soon as he made even the tiniest mistake, with no way to escape and run...

After getting shot in his left ankle and right leg, Barry was sent spiraling to the floor where another 4 bullets pierced through his right arm and thighs.

"Gaaahh! FUCK!" Barry screamed at the pain. The four gunshot wounds burned like his whole nerves had burst aflame, an indescribable level of agony permeated his body. Blood was pumping and spluttering, spurting out from his arms and legs.

"Haaa... Just as I thought," Floyd walked over to him and pressed his gun on Barry's forehead, "Bang! You just died. You only run blindly without thinking or could it be that your brain can't keep up with your speed?"

"Aww. Why?" Barry rolled to his back, trying to stop the pain.

"The first rule, stop and look at your surroundings. Second, you can pass through walls and whatnot, so, why didn't you just phase through these shots? Instead, you decided to act cool and dodge the bullets with your speed. Third, if what Bruce says is right, you should be able to phase your body and get those bullets out then accelerate your natural healing. But yet, here you are rolling around and looking like a bitch, crying like a little baby." Floyd continued, "Not a single bruise nor injury could kill you, kid. With your speed, it's simple... So, starting this moment, I will shoot to kill and you will use everything you have to survive, that is if you have anything to begin with. Get up, heal yourself."

****

[Wayne Manor]

Bruce and Elana were sparring as usual. Elana has begun to use almost 70% of her strength.

As a former member of the League of Assassins, whose abilities were said to be equal if not better than the leader, Ra's al Ghul, that man had trained Elana in his special training techniques and methods, but she went beyond his expectations, surpassing him, and quickly became one of the strongest, Ra's al Ghul couldn't control her or force her back, and to his annoyance, her body is attuned with the Lazarus Pit water and is no longer deteriorating like others who are subjected to it. She was special and Ra's al Ghul knew a way to utilize her strength for the league, so he plotted and well, she fell for it.

One day, a mission went against her morale. She was to kill the Wayne family, but after learning the truth behind Thomas's Devil Bat's persona and his mission, she refused to kill him. Then she tried to leave the league and surprisingly Ra's al Ghul allowed her to do that, instead, he asked her to send the league, orphans and people stranded by the society and support from the Waynes, as long as she lived.

In return, he won't touch the Waynes or have any harm fall on them, and the League's assassins would no longer cause problems or attack their businesses. They will instead make sure none gets in Wayne's way.

Thomas who was blinded by rage and was at his weakest point agreed to the terms. He opened an orphanage under a church as the place where the assassins could choose the kids they wanted to take them back to train them as assassins. And he would also send them money from time. It wasn't exactly good after all the kids would become assassins one day and end up dying one way or another, but after learning about the League's power from Elana, Thomas had no other choice but to continue. That was his deal with the league after all.

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Next, Ch: 113: Elana & Talia

Ch: 114: The bitter truth

Ch: 115: Overdrive