American comics: What kind of evil intentions could Batman have?

Chapter 602 Reverse-Flash Al Bernardswan: Batman's Enemy

Chapter 602 Reverse-Flash Al Bernardswan: Batman's Enemy

Do you remember that moment?

The moment your life truly begins?

When Batman first put on his mask, when Wonder Woman first left Paradise Island, when Superman first pulled open his shirt in an alley to reveal his S-shaped breasts.

Alternatively, let's make the story clearer.

When Professor Reverse Lightning Alberd Swan first observed the Speed ​​Force in the laboratory, the golden lightning flashed with a dreamlike reflection in his pupils.

You took the first step and became a completely new person.

Is it frightening? Or does it feel like you've finally learned to breathe?

You've spent so many years alone, and you're not even sure what you're looking for.

But you finally found yourself, you found your life.

You are no longer alone.

When you come together, it's like babbling brooks converging into a river.

You are telling the same story, you are reaching out to each other as if you always knew they would be there.

And those adventures—did you ever dream of experiencing so many adventures? You saved the universe! And the timeline, and the very existence of this world.

again and again.

Amidst the ruins, Alberd Swan turned his head and looked at Thomas Wayne, who was staring at him.

Poor old Thomas, the father of Batman Bruce Wayne, but he is the Batman of this world, the current Batman.

His youngest son died in an accident when he was 8 years old.

The other person held a gun to Alberdeswan's forehead.

Beside him, Cyborg yelled in a shrill voice, "Are you insane?! You killed Superman?! Fuck Wayne, we need him, he can save the world!"

At Cyborg and Thomas's feet, the emaciated Superman, looking like a skeleton, died a gruesome death.

"No... I don't want this world." Thomas Wayne pressed the muzzle of the gun against Swann's forehead.

"All I want is a world where my son is still alive."

He said.

Cyborg, clutching his head, yelled, "Are you crazy, Wayne? We had a chance..."

Nobody cared what he said.

Reverse-Flash Alberdswan simply looked at Thomas Wayne with pity, at the old man who had gone mad for his beloved son.

He exhaled slowly, and then, before Thomas Wayne could speak, uttered every word Thomas was about to say.

"Swan can change everything, he can bring him back, I have to force him... to bring Bruce back."

Thomas Wayne was stunned.

Reverse-Flash Alberd Swann possesses many abilities; he is a genius who developed the Speed ​​Force. However, mind reading is the one ability Alberd Swann is not among.

That's the talent of Gorilla Grodd. Each of Flash's enemies has a unique ability, and no two enemies' abilities ever overlap or come close together.

But Reverse Flash still managed to do it; he repeated what he was going to say before he even spoke.

Thomas Wayne, with his exceptional intelligence, realized something.

His gun fell to the ground with a thud.

He staggered backward.

"How could you... this... this is impossible..."

"What?" Cyborg asked, bewildered. Even though Victor Stone possessed the most powerful electronic brain on Earth, about three-quarters of his brain was still filled with the muscles typical of a football player. (Note: Although Cyborg's body, except for his heart and lungs, is made entirely of metal, only one-quarter of his head is replaced by metal.)

Thomas Wayne flew into a rage. He jumped up and grabbed Reverse-Flash Alberdeswan by the collar: "You're lying to me, you're lying to me—you bastard!"

He shouted angrily, "You must—"

"You must go back in time and restart this world to change everything. You must do that."

Reverse Flash sadly uttered all of Thomas Wayne's next words, a fact that caused Thomas's legs to buckle completely, and he collapsed to the ground.

And Reverse-Flash finished speaking the second half of his sentence:

"Otherwise, I will stop you forever, until the end of time or the end of my life!"

Swann turned to look at the dumbfounded Steelbone.

"I'm sorry, Victor, but you'll soon forget all about it, so I don't think I need to apologize too formally. And you, Clark."

He said to the corpse on the ground, "Thomas failed to kill you in the previous cycles, but you were killed by him this time. What bad luck. But time will restart soon, and you will be resurrected, so it doesn't really matter anymore."

Batman, Thomas Wayne, lowered his head.

"You've gone back many times, haven't you, Swann?"

He said in a low voice.

"Yes, I'm sorry, old friend," Reverse-Flash said.

"I'm sorry to tell you this so late, but I tried to tell you the whole truth in advance, but the result was that it brought the end of the world sooner."

"You guessed right, that's true. I've come back many times. But no matter what I change, the timeline always leads things to a bad ending."

"My son is dead, my wife has gone insane, my whole world is crumbling! All because you wanted to win against him!"

(Note: This universe is a reflection of the Flashpoint event in the main universe, in which the Flash, in an attempt to save his mother, inadvertently rebooted the entire multiverse under the covert influence of Doctor Manhattan and Reverse-Flash Swann, causing everything to change.)

Faced with Thomas Wayne's accusations, Reverse-Flash Alberdswan did not answer like his past self in the timeline, "I was indeed better."

He was too young then, cruel and vicious. He made Thomas Wayne look around, telling him that the Flash, Barry Allen, was dead, and that this filthy, foul reality was a reflection of Barry Allen's failure.

But he never considered that this world didn't just belong to Barry Allen, it also belonged to him.

This is also the world of Elberdswan.

Therefore, Reverse Flash Swann sincerely apologized to Thomas Wayne, even though he had said this apology countless times in countless reincarnations.

"I'm sorry, Thomas. I've long tried to give you a Gotham as a gift, one without Batman and free from my interference."

Reverse-Flash Swann said, "But no matter how hard I try, Bruce Wayne will not live past ten years old."

"I solved Crime Alley, I solved the car accident, I solved the earthquake, but in the last loop, even though I stayed up all night guarding him, Bruce Wayne still got food poisoning from eating a sandwich made by Martha Wayne. The poisoning reaction was unusually severe, and it developed along with an allergic reaction, causing Bruce Wayne to die at the age of 9 years and 11 months. Martha Wayne went insane as a result and became the Joker again, just like in the previous loop."

Reverse-Lightning said, "And this cycle of reincarnation..."

"Bruce Wayne, 8 years and 3 months old, drowned because Martha let him go to the swimming pool." Thomas Wayne was ashen-faced. "Martha went insane because of it."

"Yes," Reverse-Flash said.

"It's not just Bruce, but other things in this world: Mera's death, the alliance between the Old Gods and the New Gods, the destruction of Earth, the civil war..." Swann said, "I try to postpone these things, but every time I postpone them to the limit, collapse is inevitable."

"Those things will always happen," Reverse-Flash Alberdeswan said slowly.

But the most terrifying thing is not just these.

Look.

You are reverse lightning.

In an effort to save your universe, you repeatedly reset it to the furthest possible timeline before the end of the world.

again and again.

You can only go back a few decades at most, starting with the death of Barry Allen's mother.

You restart the timeline again and again, as if it all has no end.

But you know that's not the case.

One day, this seemingly endless cycle will have to end. Everything has an end, the universe will be destroyed, and the starry sea will dry up.

Yes, that's right. Of all the people, you should know best—

Nothing can live forever.

This terrifies you, doesn't it? The end.

Is that why you never stop? Because you have nothing else?

But regardless, you still chose to do it.

You even start to long for the end.

In one of the cycles of reincarnation, Reverse-Flash Elberdswan roared at the Apokolips army that was about to destroy Earth. He slaughtered all the New Gods until he was covered in wounds and exhausted.

And all of this cycle is being drawn again as Reverse Lightning races at breakneck speed, with the timeline restarting.

Damn it, damn it, let it all end! What price must be paid for this to finally be over? To finally have an end?

Death?

It's no use. In the endless cycle of reincarnation, you have died before, but you soon find yourself resurrected by the timeline.

In one of his cycles, Reverse-Flash Alberdswan leaped from his grave, panting heavily, and touched in surprise the hole in his forehead that Thomas Wayne had shot him in.

The timeline resurrected him; he was in a Schrödinger state where he was dead but not completely dead.

Even death cannot bring you peace.

Stories will always call you back; even death cannot set you free.

Does it make you feel trapped?

Time flows on relentlessly, and the timeline restarts again and again. But you have never stopped, you have never ceased running.

Reverse-Flash finally accepted it all. He accepted the fact that he could never prevent the apocalypse. The future was too far away, the past was too painful to recall, and Reverse-Flash chose to live in the present.

He became friends with Dr. Thomas Wayne, and he is seen holding 7-year-old Bruce.

He was having a picnic with his friend's family.

Even though he knew that Bruce Wayne Jr. would die for some reason in at least another year, and that this happy family would fall apart.

But so what? He can't change any of that.

Live in the moment.

Have you gotten used to these things? Have you long since become cold and ruthless, resetting the timeline to what it was before the apocalypse without batting an eye?

But... in those peaceful moments, between the breaths that fall one after another during the endless apocalypse, have you ever thought about this?

Is this all you can be?

What do you need to do to show all your pain and all your losses?

Reverse-Flash Alberdswan wandered before Barry Allen's grave, leaning against it, lost in thought.

No one can chase after him anymore... everything he did. No one knows, not even Thomas Wayne, who will ever know the memories of the previous reincarnation.

Reverse-Flash, Al Bernard Swann, is forever alone. It's pointless for him to confide in anyone; if the timeline were to restart, he would become a stranger, or even an enemy, to everyone again. Everything he did to maintain order, save the world, and heal crises would become as if it had never happened after the timeline restarted.

Is the world safer now? Or is it that no matter how hard you try, you're just dragging others into your destined tragedy?

No, nothing at all. Everything he did will be erased.

Has the world become a better place? Or is Barry Allen ultimately right?

There was nothing, nothing at all. He had tried to stop the apocalypse, using countless methods and attempting countless times.

Have you ever inspired anyone? Or have you simply become an empty symbol, a machine that keeps restarting timelines, having lost its power long ago?

I think so.

I am Alberd Swan, and I am rebooting my timeline, something I have done many times before.

I am nothing but an empty shell, living in a world before the apocalypse. Trapped in a cage.

"Yes, but look at your life, the life you've built so carefully, yet so empty, going through cycles of reincarnation like going to work, greedily savoring the few warm moments in those cycles, then waiting for the end of the world to come, and then restarting time again."

"You know perfectly well that if you continue like this, your universe will eventually crumble, but you try your best and still can't change anything."

Reverse-Lightning Elberd heard the voice in his ear.

"Listen to me, does your life... feel like the truth?"

Reverse-Lightning heard the whispers, the voices murmuring in his ear.

"You can sense it, can't you? Your life right now isn't enough. You're not living to die. You've been incredibly brave, you've been brave for so many people... Can't you be brave for yourself one more time?"

"Can you see that your life is meaningless, then stand up and make a difference?"

"Can you take that step, just like you did years ago? Are you strong enough to look that lie in the eye, even if you've woven your whole world around it, and then tear it apart at any risk to start anew?"

Reverse-Flash Al Bernard Swann turned to look at the old Batman. The latter, in order to force him to restart the timeline and save his Bruce Wayne, had gone so far as to shoot and kill Superman beside him.

But Reverse Flash knew his hopes would always be dashed.

But no matter how you look at it...

"He's brave enough, can you?"

The whisper was in his ear.

"Okay," Reverse-Flash said.

"I've thought about this for a long time, I know. I agree with your proposal."

"Inspecting Mohal."

"What do you want me to do?"

(End of this chapter)