Chapter 20: Spoopers from the Multiverse
"Wally, Wally, wake up, it's time for Jay and little Iris to send to school."
A familiar and gentle voice woke up the sleeping old 52 Wally, and when he opened his eyes, he was greeted by one of his most familiar faces, his wife, Linda West (Linda Parker). And where he was, the familiar ceiling, also made Wally stunned for a moment, then got up suddenly, walked to the window, looked at the scenery outside the window, and didn't know what to say for a while.
"What's wrong with you? Wally? Linda, who was in bed, in her pajamas, looked at her husband, and this was a bit of an unconventional behavior that worried her.
"I'm back?"
Wally didn't answer his wife's inquiry immediately, but looked out the window at the familiar Canterlot, smelling the fragrance of flowers, the air mixed with the smell of earth, and at the same time subconsciously pinched himself, not a dream!
"Honey? Don't scare me. โ
Her husband's strange behavior caused Linda to get out of bed and slowly walk towards Wally, while also comforting her with words. Unexpectedly, Wally, who was looking at the scenery by the window, turned around and took herself into her arms, Linda could feel the strength of her husband hugging her, and that heart, like holding something that had been lost and recovered, for fear of leaving her hands again.
"I thought I had lost you."
"Haven't I been here all the time, what nonsense are you talking about early in the morning? Are you okay, forget it, I'll send Jay and little Iris to school, you can rest at home. โ
Linda was also worried about her husband's strange appearance, and she also said there that she had not been let go after being held for a while. As soon as he finished speaking, Wally did not continue to hold Linda, but grabbed her shoulders.
"I'll just go, you have a good rest, don't go to work today, wait for me to come back."
"What? Are you going to surprise me a little? โ
"No, just wanted you to know how much I love you and this family."
After kissing his wife on the cheek, Wally got dressed and left the bedroom. In the living room, the familiar car was cooking breakfast, listening to music, bringing the prepared breakfast to the table, and the sound of footsteps on the stairs also made Wally smile. Two small figures also came down the stairs, with a phantom, it was his child, who did not need to be struck by lightning like himself or his uncle Flash, and through the speed of power circulating in his body, he had Jay West and Iris West Jr. who were extremely fast.
The boy is taken from the original Flash Jay Garrick, and the girl is his aunt, both as a tribute. This is what would have been his own life, guarding Canterlot and protecting the world as the third generation of the Flash, and as Wally West, with a wife and children. The two children were chasing and playing in the living room, and Wally shook his head, his body also turned into a phantom, and easily twisted his two children up, and obediently ate breakfast under his father's majestic gaze.
Later, he also drove his two children to school.
"Alright, kids, study hard at school, and, Jay, protect your sister."
"Got it! I'm the youngest. โ
With a mutter, the siblings entered the school gate and began their campus life. Wally, on the other hand, drove a car, living on his own in Canterlot and driving slowly on the city roads guarded, not fast, accustomed to solving all problems with extreme speed, and now he understands that every second of his life is a gift, and he must learn to slow down his pace and enjoy this life.
Soon, I parked my car in the parking lot of the university, as a university professor, he didn't have many courses, but he was also popular with students, after all, such a handsome, young professor is quite rare, but unfortunately he got married early. At the end of the day's classes, Wally also took out his mobile phone, and saw the warning from the Star Lab that he cooperated with above, and some bad guys were making trouble in Canterlot.
The lightning ring in his hand lit up, and the Flash suit stored in it popped out, and Wally also turned into a yellow flash, dressed, disappeared, and began his other identity, the duty of the fastest man in the world today, Flash, to save the city and help everyone, in an instant.
Canterlot, all over the world, left his mark on this day, but Wally enjoyed it. Time passed slowly, and when it was time for his children to get out of school, his wife Linda texted him, she went to pick up the children from school, and Wally was also there to surprise his wife.
He first went to Guangzhou, China, and took his wife and children's favorite dim sum, Flash takeaway, within three minutes, the world must be reached, as long as you are still on earth. Then he went to France, bought his wife's favorite flowers, and with a light step, Wally hurried towards his home, but just when everything was so good, something terrible happened, without warning, without giving Wally any time to react.
In the process of Wally's rush home, the sky turned red without any warning, and the crimson sky flickered in the clouds with blue lightning, and Wally also found that the people and things around him were decomposing, they didn't even know what was happening, they didn't even have a chance to call for help or escape, so they were decomposed, first these innocent people, and then Wally's most familiar friends.
The Justice League, the Young Titans, the world's greatest detectives and the most powerful heroes had no effect at all before such a sudden crisis of apocalypse, and they were just broken down. Seeing all this, Wally could only speed up his pace, and rushed to Canterlot in an instant, his home, and then saw his wife protecting his two children, and the young siblings snuggled up to their mother's side, and after Wally's father appeared at home, he also shouted out as soon as possible.
"Father!"
"Jay! Iris! โ
These were Wally's last words to his children, because then, his children were in front of Wally, and like everyone else he saw, they all disintegrated into pieces, and Wally, the speeder with the fastest man in the world, could not even save his children, so he could only watch them disappear.
"Wally, I feel a little wrong, what the hell is going on..."
The grief of the loss of the children is not over, and the call of his wife also makes Wally concentrate, looking at the person he loves the most, without thinking too much, Wally uses all the speed power in his body to start running around Linda, building a speed force barrier for her, trying to save Linda. But everything he did was in vain, because Linda was right in front of Wally running, starting from the arm, and like the people Wally had seen, it was broken into pieces.
It's just that under the isolation of Wally's speed barrier, this speed has slowed down, but it continues.
"It seems like the end of the world is coming, it's really quite sudden, I'm still waiting for your surprise today, but I..."
Before the words were finished, Linda also disappeared in front of Wally, and Wally, who was trying to save all this, also stopped at this moment, looked at the home where his wife was separated, and knelt down.
"No !!"
What happened was unacceptable to Wally, and then the crimson sky with blue lightning began to destroy Wally's home, and finally, wrapped the desperate and helpless Wally, and everything was reduced to nothingness.
"Wally! Wally! Wake up, are you okay! โ
The familiar voice woke Wally from his stupor, and the white light shone into his eyes, looking at the lights around him, and Barry standing in front of him, wearing a Flash suit, and his current state. Wally, who had not yet recovered from his grief, was also confused, and finally said tentatively.
"Barry?"
"Thank goodness you're finally back, how are you, okay?" Seeing the old 52 universe Wally in front of him regain consciousness, the Flash breathed a sigh of relief and asked there. And for Wally, what happened just now was too real for him to slow down until now.
Looking at the equipment around him, it took a long time to break away from the dream of his wife's separation just now, and confirm that he was still in this nascent universe.
"Is everything that happened just now a dream, or is it a dream for you now?"
"No, Wally, here, that's reality..."
Just as the Flash was talking to the old Wally, across a screen, Batman watched all this, including everything that the old 52 Wally had just experienced in the so-called dream, all on the screen. The red sky and blue lightning, and the appearance of a person being broken down and disappearing, the picture stops when Wally is wrapped in a large hand composed of blue lightning, and Batman squints his eyes and watches it all.
And while Batman examines the old 52 Wally dreams, in his room, Wonder Woman and the disempowered Superman appear alongside, and they also look at what is happening on the screen and then frown.
"Is this what the universe reboots looks like, this is really the first time that I can feel the momentum of the reboot so intuitively through the picture, it's just that why only Wally survived, or in this form of being locked in the barrier of the speed force."
Superman was the first to comment, and Wonder Woman also watched Wally lose everything about his wife and children in the picture, and the return of the memories of the old 52 universe allowed them to eliminate the estrangement between them and the old 52 Wally. Although that memory belongs to the previous universe, as an individual born from a new universe, it can also be said to be their own experience, and Wonder Woman is also a little unbearable to see what Wally experienced when the universe was restarted.
"As much as I know you want to help him, are you sure it's going to help Wally, to make him go through this pain of losing everything again and again."
With his hand on Batman's shoulder, Wonder Woman also said there, and in their words, they can also know that everything that the old 52 Wally experienced just now is just a reproduction of his own universe reboot at that time. It's just that in Wonder Woman's opinion, such a repetitive experience is not too cruel for the old 52 Wally.
"This is the only way, Diana, we can't reverse the restart of the universe. Lost people can't come back, we who are reborn in this universe, everything we have experienced has already changed, whether you and I admit it or not, this is the case, and what Wally needs is to have a good talk with the past, say goodbye to everything in the past, and then start a new life, only by facing the past, can he find his meaning in this new universe. โ
After a long silence, Batman also put his hand on Wonder Woman's hand to answer, at this time, the place where they were, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman teamed up to build, a shelter that is not recorded in the Justice League or the Batcave computer. With the help of Superman's Kryptonian technology, Batman's intelligence, and Wonder Woman's shelter created from the magical materials of Paradise Island.
The idea of this shelter was proposed and established by Batman, who believes that both superheroes and supervillains will have more or less psychological trauma in their long lives, and the accumulation of these psychological traumas will make superheroes or some repentant supervillains unable to face themselves, and then fall, or become the kind of person they hate the most.
As the most authoritative Batman in this regard, not wanting to see his tragedy repeat itself in other people, he created such a shelter with Superman and Wonder Woman. Only the three of them knew the coordinates, but they didn't expect that less than a year after the construction of this shelter, they ushered in the first superhero who needed psychological counseling treatment, the third generation of Flashes from the old universe, Wally West.
"Okay, then I won't bother you two, Wally's side looks like they need my help more."
Glancing at Superman behind her, Wonder Woman gestured to Superman to take care of Batman before leaving the room. In the room, only Superman and Batman, who had lost their powers, were left looking at the picture from the old 52 Wally's dream. After a long time, Superman, who was sitting next to Batman, broke the silence.
"So, Wally was the first?"
โยทยทยท Yes. โ
"Is it possible to skip this formulaic lying step? You built this shelter, and no one believes it if you say you haven't tested it yourself, are you sure there is nothing wrong with this shelter? โ
Sighing, listening to Batman's answer, Superman also complained helplessly, and at the same time asked if this shelter could have the effect in Batman's words.
"I'm not sure, but Wally is definitely not the last, those memories from the previous universe, some people can ignore them, but some, will be too substituent and try to merge with this memory. It's going to make the shelter lively, and you know, not even you and I can escape the cowardly side of our hearts, let alone the superheroes who are still ordinary people. โ
Superman was silent, because he knew very well that even he wanted to make a psychological confession to the camera several times in the shelter, a place where he was alone. Because the videos don't leak out, but self-destruct after telling themselves, he doesn't have to worry about his secrets becoming news.
"So, you must have used the shelter, no wonder your attitude towards that kid in Antarctica has deteriorated before, after all, Zatana and you have known each other since childhood, and now, it's different."
โยทยทยท There are reasons for this, but I can still distinguish where I stand, it is just a memory of the previous universe, and you can even think of it as a real dream. The difference is that I can jump out of this dream and then fade into it over time, some people can't, and in addition, these memories are also a weapon for me, at least so that I can determine how many people who were active in the previous universe have not yet appeared in this new universe. โ
"You really do everything you want, and you dare to say that you can treat this memory as a dream? Do you want to repeat this dream every day? โ
"If that's what you're going to say, why don't we talk about the magical pink kryptonite?"
๏ผ๏ผ
The moment Batman said this word, Superman's whole person also went away, covering his ears, closing his eyes, standing up and saying, "Ah!! Stop, I've got a picture in my head, shut up, I don't want to remember!! โ
Regarding Superman's gaffe, Batman only showed a smug smile, and then looked at Wally, who was comforted by Flash and Wonder Woman in the picture, and his relaxed expression returned to seriousness.
The camera slowly zooms out, showing the full picture of the shelter built by Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, which is a farmhouse located on a golden field, with sunshine, breeze and wheat waves, showing this place like a paradise, and the five metal robots from the Titan Mansion also act as guards for this shelter, covered with high biomimetic skin, they have the same appearance as humans.
The ability to be born with a specific metal gives them enough combat power to protect these superheroes or supervillains who come to seek psychological trauma. Then, the camera zooms out, from the overlook, all the way to the surface of the atmosphere, to the whole of the Earth, and finally, in the form of an observation point appearing on one of the multiverses, a huge spaceship in the shape of a city's brain, with humanoid features on the exterior and multiple mechanical tentacles underneath the spaceship.
In the deepest part of the spaceship, two red rays lit up, showing the appearance of the planet Earth and the shelter on the Earth in front of these two red rays. On the projection screen, there is information about the earth constructed in alien characters, and then a series of alien languages are spoken from the mouths of the owners of these two red rays.
"Earth 0, the beginning of all the stories, the multiverse timeline has once again appeared chaotic from here, including this universe, Darkseid was defeated again, is it your reason again? It's amazing. Well, newborn superheroes, let me see what you do if you interfere with the timeline. โ
Saying this, the spaceship that was supposed to arrive at this parallel universe Earth flashed when it approached the solar system, and it also left the universe where it was located, and shuttled towards the main universe where Kewen was. And on this multiverse earth, in an inaccessible plain, Superman and Batman of this universe are drinking tea in their residences, and Superman and Batman who have taken off their uniforms are enjoying this rare leisure time.
And suddenly, Superman also looked up at the sky.
"What's wrong, Clark."
"Someone just entered the solar system, but it quickly disappeared."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm just dead in name, it doesn't mean that I have no ability, my perception is not wrong, but I don't know where I went now."
"Then I'll send out the satellite to investigate, some clues should be found, I hope it's just passing by." We have finally rested, and now that the earth is developing well, let this peace last a little longer. โ
"Oh, then don't forget, no one passed by last time, and now we can't sit here and have afternoon tea."
"That's right."
The world's best partners in this universe are also teasing each other there, continuing to enjoy this hard-won free time.