It was straight madness all over Earth. It showed how apocalyptic their Earth had become. This made everyone confused about what just happened. The last they saw was the break of Source Wall and there was an exposition of a war in some pictures.
They didn't understand what the hell was going on. In Themyscira, Batman who Laughs came with a prisoner to deliver to Diana who was working under Perpetua. The prisoner just said two words to Diane before being led away.
"Diana, Remember!!!"
Diana was confused but didn't show any facial expression in order not to alert Batman who Laughs. Meanwhile Batman who laughs was having a meeting with the New Justice League composed of Harley Quinn, Robin King, Dr. Arkham, Diana and other small-time villains of the DC universe.
But then they heard a sound from the forest nearby. The Batman who Laughs turned his head and said
"Is that you Bruce? Come out. I can sense you. Let me guess. The Cloak of Erasure given to you by Z long ago. My.. My... You have started using magic. But you forget.. I know you Bruce... I am you. It's useless to hide in front of me."
Bruce finally showed himself with a badass suit and cloak which didn't fit his style exactly but it was helping him mask his presence.
"That is the thing... Bruce... You know him... But you don't know Batman." Wayne said as he put his hands high up in the air. And in the middle finger there was a Ring. A Black Ring that was glowing in the dark.
A Black Lantern Ring.
Everyone gasped when they saw this scene. The series was just blowing the minds of people now. A Black Lantern Ring wielded by the Good Batman. This was not something anyone expected. They knew that the stakes were high here but this was too much.
"What the hell happened in that universe?"
"This is a nightmare. Nope.. This is a nightmare.... I refuse to believe it."
"We need to be more serious in our preparations."
Bruce used the Lantern Ring to make zombies of all the people who had died on the lands before. Batman who Laughs brought his own army of Batman. Plastic man -Batman, Penguin -Batman, Etrigan-Batman....
This was an epic fight. When the fight started, Diana sneaked away to meet the prisoner. In there he came to know who the prisoner was. Wally West on the body of Dr. Manhattan. It was there she finally understood what had happened.
"Explain to me Wally. What happened? Why is the world like this? Last I remember, we were going to confront Perpetua with the power given by Dr. Manhattan, the positive forces. We used them. What happened that we have fallen so low?"
"In order to understand this you need to understand that the thing that holds the positive multiverse, has its dark side too. We live on the positive multiverse because we have the Anti-Crisis energy. Anti-Crisis energy is based on truth. The past, the future is what gives fuel to the Anti-Crisis Energy. The past no matter how dark it was, we learn from the past. The past makes what we are and makes us better. And the future, the hopes, the dreams represents the future."
"But the Anti-Crisis energy is what we call living at Present. The people who live on Anti-Crisis Energy are only living in the present. They don't care about the past. They don't care about the future. Their selfishness, their short sightedness makes them unable to look beyond a certain point. The Justice League lost against Perpetua in the fight. We lost. And because of this Perpetua was able to reshape the multiverse as she wishes. Making us unable to remember the past. Unable to think of the future. We, the Justice League are the few people left with traces of the Anti-Crisis Energy. We need to save the people. Make them remember the past. Make them have hopes for the future. Only then can we take the fight to her...."
But while she was talking with Wally, Batman who Laughs sneaked inside the prison.
"Pretend that I am not here and continue with the conversation. I like the story of yours."
Diana was visibly shaken when Wally had spoken about the past.
"We are in an endless loop Diana..." Wally said. Diana meanwhile looked at Batman who Laughs.
"You are not going to stop me?"
"Ahh.. No.. You see, I have my own plans..."
"You are betraying Perpetua."
"Oh that I have always done. I want to make this world into my own nightmare world. Not in the image she wants." Batman who Laughs said.
"Then you can both go to hell.." Diana said as out of nowhere she took out her chain saw that she had been using and blasts Batman who Laughs with it. And with this single move the famous Batman who Laughs died, with only the head remaining intact.
But did he really die?
---
Read 80 more chapters on my p@treon.com/thelightedghost