บท 217: The World Without A Boy Called Soren Hargreaves (Part 8)
If Clark so much as thought about launching an attack, Ant-Man could immediately destroy his nervous system, reducing him to a mindless, unfeeling shell of a man.
Batman's gaze lingered deeply on Clark's eyes.
Then, in his usual measured tone, he said, "You have fifty-two seconds to return to the prison, or Ant-Man will detonate a bomb inside your brain. You don't want to know the consequences of that."
Clark responded, "There's no need for such vigilance, Bruce. I have no intention of opposing you anymore."
"Forty-five seconds," Batman said.
Clark let out a bitter smile.
"Bruce, that proton beam collider you've built in Europe—that time machine—it's too dangerous to let Barry power it. It will drain the Speed Force from him in mere picoseconds. I think I'm the better candidate for the job."
Batman shot him a dark glance and finally stopped counting.
He wasn't petty enough to ask Clark where he had gotten the information.
Perhaps, even while Soren was still alive, Superman had already known they were building collider components all around the world.
With a hint of mockery, Batman asked, "Do you think I'll let you leave here so easily?"
"I know none of you trust me anymore, but Barry's life is far more valuable than mine. Let me take his place. If we really can turn back time, if there's even a chance that we could…"
His voice cracked, choking on the words he couldn't bring himself to say—the deepest, most agonizing desire of his heart.
It was like a dreamlike bubble, floating in the endless abyss of his despair, a fragile hope that he would give his life for, yet one that could burst at any moment.
But he didn't care anymore.
—As long as there was even the slightest chance, a one-in-a-million or one-in-a-billion chance, that Soren could come back to this world he loved, Clark was willing to give everything, even his life.
Even the faintest glimmer of hope was enough to set his soul ablaze, to ignite a fire in his despair.
Batman stared at him silently for a while, then finally spoke in a slow, measured tone: "The proton beam collider will rewind time for the entire Earth. The risks are immense. You could very well die in the process—though I suppose that's exactly what you want, isn't it?"
Clark gazed at him and said, "That's why I believe in you, Bruce. You will make it work, won't you? Rather than let me have my way—" he paused for a moment, "you'd rather see this world restored to what it once was."
Batman remained silent.
"Consider this my atonement," Clark said softly, lowering his eyes.
Batman stood there for a long time.
The two men—both tortured souls, both beaten down by fate over and over—faced each other from across the end of the world.
After what felt like an eternity, Batman finally spoke, his voice cold and raspy: "In one month, I will activate the collider."
Clark lifted his head to look at him, a surge of overwhelming joy flooding his heart.
It was as if a light had returned to him, radiating through his whole being: "Thank you, Bruce. Thank you, thank you—"
Batman silently watched him return to his cell.
In the following month, Clark pushed himself relentlessly, orbiting near the sun, desperately and greedily absorbing its yellow rays.
He sought to take in every last drop of energy he could, as if his body were a massive, unprecedented battery, swelling with the sun's power.
He was determined to absorb even the tiniest bit more, to stay in the sunlight just one more minute, pushing his body beyond its limits.
He could see his cells becoming grotesquely overfilled, bursting from the overwhelming intake of solar radiation.
Yet, at the same time, his power continued to grow at an astonishing rate.
Still, it wasn't enough—he needed more.
He had to amass enough energy, a force capable of shattering the temporal dimension itself, to activate the collider.
Clark's insatiable hunger for the yellow sunlight had pushed every cell of his body to the brink, his body grotesquely mutating, his organs shifting, his skin splitting apart.
By the day Batman activated the collider, he had nearly turned into a monster.
But he felt no pain—only unbridled joy.
If he could bring Soren back, if Soren could once again walk this world, he would gladly offer his life in return.
Batman, along with Iron Man, Dr. Banner, and others, stood in the collider's control room, observing Clark from a distance.
Just before pressing the activation button, Batman asked Superman once more, "Are you sure you're ready?"
Clark answered, "I'll give it everything I have."
"I've set the time just before the Joker destroyed Metropolis," Batman said.
Clark nodded his head.
Before stepping into the collider, he turned back to Batman and said, "...If we succeed, when you encounter the version of me in that timeline, kill me immediately."
Tony Stark interjected, "Don't worry. Even if Bruce doesn't do it, I'll gladly take care of it."
"Thank you," Clark nodded at him, then turned around and walked into the collider without hesitation.
The collider began to power up.
When the countdown from the computer ended, Clark clasped his hands together, unleashing a cataclysmic surge of power from within.
The energy from the yellow sun exploded miles beneath the Earth's surface, igniting the colossal proton beam collider—a machine built from the combined wealth and technology of all humanity.
The high-energy synchrotron accelerated, and two streams of protons collided.
This collision twisted the fabric of spacetime, instantly traversing the entire continuum from the birth of the universe to its end.
Time bent like a trampoline net, and on both sides of that net, protons from one universe collided with those from another.
The collision spanned across billions of galaxies, generating endless quantum entanglements.
Clark's body disintegrated into particles within the proton stream, as if scattered by solar winds, becoming indistinguishable from the protons that had always existed in the universe.
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