Capítulo 235: Echoes of the Past
Two months ago, a diamond had been brought back to Earth.
Along with this diamond came the memories of everyone who had encountered Soren in that alternate timeline of the Injustice League.
Cyborg dreaming was something Victor never thought possible.
In his dream, he experienced a terrifying period—he had witnessed Superman go on a rampage across Earth, destroying the entire Parademon army.
He had even been Superman's right-hand man, helping establish a dictatorial regime on Earth—monitoring the entire world under Superman's command without a moment's rest…
The dream left him feeling horrible after he woke up, as if his hands were as bloodstained as they were in the dream.
…How could this be?
How could such a thing happen?
How could Superman, because of the Joker, become such a ruthless dictator?
How could Superman, who loved Earth more than anything, bring himself to harm it?
Even his advanced cybernetic systems struggled to process such a nightmare.
That day, he thoroughly checked his internal systems, suspecting that a supervillain might have implanted a virus in him—but nothing.
There was nothing wrong with him. No anomalies whatsoever.
And yet, for several days, he kept having the same dream.
Moreover, the events in the dream were so coherent.
In the dream's final moments, he was still aiding that Injustice Superman.
He helped Superman disable the defenses of the Red Sun Prison, and Superman had even thanked him.
—Victor was on the verge of a system crash from the torment of this damned dream.
The dream's imagery replayed and analyzed within his systems 24/7.
Yet the more he reviewed it, the more the codes in his system started to destabilize—it didn't feel like a dream at all, but something that had actually happened.
That's when he noticed that Diana seemed to be suffering from the same nightly torment.
These nightmares were almost devastating to Diana.
Victor had known her for years, yet this was the first time he saw true pain and confusion on her face.
She vanished for an entire week, returning to Themyscira to seek answers.
Diana had already begun to understand that these dreams might be actual memories.
It was possible that she really had once aided Superman in establishing a dictatorial regime on Earth, all for the "world without war" that Superman had promised her.
She had been so determined that she even broke ties with her closest friends and allies.
When she returned from Themyscira, she wore a black cloak, her face grim, with her sword strapped tightly to her back.
...By then, more people had begun to recover their memories.
It wasn't just her and Victor—Hal, Barry, Arthur… all of them had experienced that hellish world together.
Diana sought out Batman.
She removed her cloak's hood in front of him, her Athena sword resting heavily on her back.
"I assume you've remembered as well," she said to Batman. "I suppose... apologizing to you now for my actions may be too late."
Batman stood at the entrance of the Justice League's conference room, his sharp gaze fixed on her.
"Diana," his voice was rough, "From the day you left Themyscira, you've held onto a single belief—defeating Ares, the God of War. You despise war, and you've sought absolute peace, and that Superman offered you exactly what you've always pursued—complete peace for all of humanity. You thought that would vanquish Ares, but in reality, he fed off the war between us. The greater the war, the more powerful he became."
"That isn't the outcome you wanted, is it?"
Diana nodded solemnly.
Diana's expression was sorrowful.
Her once fierce eyes lowered as she gazed at the silver bracelets on her wrists, now feeling like shackles. "I... chose the wrong path in my quest to defeat Ares. Everything I did to assist Superman—I deserve punishment for it."
Batman stared at her in silence for a long time, his gaze deep and unreadable.
It wasn't until she saw the figure behind him—a man in blue battle armor, wearing a red cape—entering the hall with heavy steps, that her eyes widened in surprise.
"…Superman? Why are you—?"
"This is the punishment I deserve."
Superman stood not far from her, the red 'S' symbol on his chest darkened to an ashen black, like charred coal.
He looked like a statue emerging from the shadows, or perhaps an ancient tower weathered by centuries.
His red boots were firmly planted on the ground, like the foundation of a long-standing monument.
"…Everything you did was because of me. You were simply pursuing your own ideals," he extended a hand toward Diana, a hand now marked with visible veins and subtle wrinkles, as though time itself had stripped away its youthful strength. "You don't have to carry this burden alone, Diana. The weight of these chains was never yours to bear—this was always my sin."
Diana's gaze slowly moved from Superman's outstretched hand to his arm, and finally to his face.
She shook her head gently, looking into his sky-blue eyes. "No, I know what I did. If I had stopped you in the beginning, maybe none of this would have happened. But I didn't—"
"I deserve to be judged just as you are."
Batman's gaze cut past Superman's shoulder, locking onto her with precision.
His eyes were sharp as blades, but there was also a tempered quality to them, as if they had been forged and hammered in countless trials, now steeped in the quiet coolness of resolve.
"Diana," Batman spoke, his voice low and firm, "If you believe you deserve punishment, like he does, then make protecting this new world—this world so many have sacrificed their lives for—your lifelong sentence. From this moment on, you must stand watch over it without rest. You must fight every force that tries to destroy it. You must dedicate your life, divine blood and all, to the defense of this world. That is the punishment that fits your crime."
"No one can stand in judgment for the lives lost, Diana. Only you can decide what punishment you deserve. Only you can choose how to atone for what you've done."
The Dark Knight stood in the doorway, backlit by the faint light, casting a long shadow that stretched like a sharp spike into the meeting hall.
Diana stared at him, her clenched fists slowly loosening.
She stood upright, solemn and resolute, nodding in acknowledgment to both Superman and Batman.
Now, Diana sat across from Cyborg, watching the surveillance footage from the exhibit hall displayed between them.
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