Barry Allen didn’t have time to react.

One second he was helping a woman cross the street, the next—click. Something cold locked around his wrist. Sleek. Black. Alien. A red LED blinked once.

Then the voice came—flat, synthetic, and merciless.

“If you stop moving, you die.”

Barry ran.

He didn’t ask questions. Didn’t look back. He took off like instinct, like survival, because the second he slowed to think, the device beeped louder. When he tested his phasing, it sent a shock through his body. Not a warning—a punishment.

Every step, every second, the thing adapted. It learned his speed.

No way to outsmart it.

No time to call anyone. Batman was tracking some rogue vigilante in this area anyway—some teenage ghost he hadn’t been able to catch. Not even he knew who she was. Rumors. Footage. Shadows.

Barry kept running.

Four minutes passed. His lungs burned. The band got hotter.

Then, suddenly—she was there.

Standing on the edge of an empty construction site. Hood low. Eyes hidden. She didn’t speak. Just tossed a black box in his path.

He stumbled, barely dodging it. “What the hell—?”

“It’s for the bomb,” she said, her voice even. “Keep running.”

The device she threw unfolded midair—tech unlike anything Barry had seen. Not WayneTech. Not STAR Labs.

“Who are you?” he asked, circling back. “Why are you helping me?”

She didn’t answer. Just tapped a button.

Pulse.

The band on his wrist sparked violently—and then went dead. It fell, clattering to the ground, inert.

Barry stopped running.

He stared at the girl. She stared back, unreadable.

“How did you know?”

She gave the smallest nod toward the city behind them. “I have my ways.”

Then she turned, walking straight into the scaffolding, fading into shadow like she belonged to it.

“Wait—what’s your name?”

She didn’t look back.

“you don't need to know yet.”

Then she was gone.

And for the first time in a long time, Barry wasn’t sure if he’d just met a new ally… or someone who could outrun him without ever taking a single step.