Encounter? Jay?

Edward was in pain, every passing second felt like they were pulling away at his nerves.

The excruciating pain made him slip in and out of consciousness as they were pumping him with something. He didn't know what it was but he knew that he couldn't take much more or his body might go into shock.

"Don't you think you're overdoing it?" Thanatos asked his boss as they already had what they wanted and that was one of the rarest powers on this planet.

The power to undo everything, he was the one that they sought from the very beginning.

They had searched for such an ability for so long and the fact that it was right under their noses this whole time gave the Razor Riddler the key he had been looking for.

"We need to get it opened…" The Razor Riddler said; this was the reason why he abducted Edward and he wasn't sure how long he had before they were found.

Percepta were in full swing and they were aiming for his head more than ever but he knew that whatever it was inside this casket was valuable.

"We have been at it for hours, he will be of no use if he dies…" Thanatos reminded his employer; he looked unbothered by this.

"He won't die. He doesn't look like someone that breaks easily.." The Razor Riddler praised Edward's resolve as most would have broken by now but Edward was still functioning despite the amount of pain he was experiencing.

"That is because of the deadman…" Thanatos responded, Gina was nowhere to be seen as she had gone out seeing as she had a personal life.

"I wonder what dream he is having…" The Razor Riddler said with a sinister grin.

-

"Michael? I want to be a hero but I will be the greatest hero in the world!" Edward said excitedly and on the bed beside him was Michael.

Sprawled awkwardly on the bed, Michael looked older but so did Edward.

"You keep saying that but no one even knows who you are…" Michael responded, his tongue as sharp as always.

"You say that like you're even known for being a villain. Who was it that went viral for saving a cat on the tree? The most evil man in the world was caught saving a cat?" Edward fired back and Michael kissed his teeth in irritation.

"You're a real piece of work, you know that right?" Michael said and Edward just smiled.

"I cannot believe how different our lives turned out to be," Edward said.

"We haven't come far, we're still nowhere near our goals…" Michael responded as he tapped away at his phone.

"You're such a buzzkill, who are you always texting anyway? It isn't like you have friends," Edward blurted out but Michael looked irritated by this.

"Fuck you and your thoughts! I don't plan to die a virgin like you!" Michael fired back and Edward couldn't hold his laugh because the way Michael responded told him that he got under the skin of his friend.

"What's so funny?" Michael asked him.

"Nothing, nothing! You know, I had a very strange dream," Edward said as the light in his eyes slowly dimmed.

"A dream? Being a hero wasn't enough of a dream for you?" Michael responded.

"Not that kind of dream you fool! I had a dream that you died…" Edward said and he couldn't help the tears building up in his eyes.

He was on the verge of tears because being with Michael right now made him so fucking happy. He couldn't contain his excitement but he was soon snapped back into reality.

"Dead? I did die, Edward," Michael responded and Edward rolled his eyes in irritation because this wasn't the time for Michael to be messing around.

Edward tilted his head to look at his friend but what he saw made him jump to his feet and stumble onto the ground.

Michael's body was decaying with his flesh melting off his bones but this wasn't the most terrifying thing. It was the fact that maggots were violating his body, crawling in and out of it.

"W-What is this!?" Edward muttered and the decaying body got up, casually walking up to Edward.

"You didn't save me, Edward… You allowed me to die," Michael said prompting Edward to clutch his head and hide his face.

He couldn't look at Michael, not with the way he was as he kept muttering that this couldn't be real.

"Hey dipshit, do you still want to be a hero?" Michael asked, prompting Edward to look in the direction the voice came from.

He found that he hadn't moved an inch from his position but he had forgotten about what just happened as well.

"Michael? I want to be a hero but I will be the greatest hero in the world!" Edward said excitedly and on the bed beside him was Michael.

This was a loop and the psychological damage it had on Edward accumulated, it would keep going and going, chipping away at his sanity gradually.

This was the power of the deadman drugs but Edward had experience with it.

Every time the loop restarted, Edward forgot everything that occurred in the previous experience, this included whatever knowledge he got before the loop.

Edward recognized that this was a symptom of the drugs, and then the loop ended, restarting with him having to figure it out again.

Edward was trapped in his mind and there was no one to save him.

-

Jay was done with his task and was free to roam, he had killed Astro and cannibalized him, fucked a nurse at the desk.

He was bothered by what was going on even though he prioritized his brother's safety, this was all that mattered to him.

Jay went to an underground bar for criminals, it was regarded as a haven but with the recent rise in superhero activities, fewer people came to this bar as they feared being targeted.

It wasn't worth the risk but Jay wasn't like everyone else, he was a degenerate.

He visited the bar to get a drink, he needed to cool off before his next task.

The bartender slid a drink right in front of Jay but Jay looked confused as to why.

"Courtesy of that lady over there…" The bartender answered as he noticed Jay's look of confusion.

Jay looked in the direction that the bartender pointed and behold, it was Gina.