Illusions And Dreams

Before Billy could think any further, a massive explosion erupted from the glass dome above!

A streak of red and gold armor shot into the exhibition hall, moving so fast it was almost a red blur.

From Iron Man's palm, an electromagnetic pulse cannon fired, aimed directly at the robbers.

The pulse instantly fried all their weapons with an overcharged electromagnetic field!

"You guys really ruined what could've been a nice, relaxing morning," Iron Man grumbled as he hovered in midair, launching another repulsor blast that took out the leader of the gang.

Superman and Angemon immediately sprang into action, freeing the trapped students from the robbers.

Angemon grabbed Billy and another child.

Just as he was about to speak, the gang leader, who had been knocked to the ground by Iron Man's blast, suddenly lifted his head.

His face was covered in blood as he glared at Angemon.

Iron Man pushed the leader's head back down, but something was terribly wrong.

The leader's eyes bulged unnaturally, like two round baseballs, the whites streaked with blood.

His facial muscles were swelling and twitching grotesquely.

He gasped for air and forced out a few words: "…for… Darkseid…!"

Angemon's face changed instantly.

As the last syllable left the leader's lips, the entire museum began to shake violently.

Angemon looked up to see the surroundings rapidly disintegrating, as if being swallowed by some monstrous, abyssal maw.

The world itself was turning to dust!

"Soren!" Clark's voice called out as he grabbed Angemon by the arm, pulling him upwards with unstoppable force.

But in Soren's hand, Billy was shouting in terror, his voice filled with panic: "Help me! Please, Angemon, save me! Save me!"

A dense, endless darkness surged toward him, swallowing everything in its path: the walls, the glass dome, the floor tiles, the exhibits, the visitors, the sky, the land—everything disintegrated into particles like flowing sand, devoured by the black void.

Soren desperately tried to hold onto Billy, but somehow, his grip slipped.

His fingers slowly slid away from Billy's hand, and he watched helplessly as Billy fell into the abyss right before his eyes.

"Save me!!!" Billy's wide, terrified eyes locked onto Soren's as he let out a distorted scream.

His skin began to crack, glowing brighter and brighter with red light from within, as if he was burning from the inside out.

In the final moment before he fell, his body shattered into billions of fragments, turning to ash.

"Billy—!!!"

Soren screamed his name, just as a blinding white light struck him, searing his eyes with its intensity.

He jolted upright, gasping for breath as if suffocating, his hands instinctively clutching at his throat, his entire body trembling. "Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy..."

In the midst of his suffocating nightmare, someone wrapped strong arms around him, forcibly prying his hands apart and gently patting his shoulder, the voice deep and steady, radiating calm and reassurance. "It's alright, Soren. It's over. Don't be afraid, we're all here."

Under the soothing words, Soren gradually began to calm down.

His chest rose and fell less violently as his breathing slowed.

He shuddered, still gasping for air, his dry eyes wide open as he lay trembling in someone's embrace.

Billy's terrified eyes continued to haunt his vision, vivid and inescapable, no matter where he turned.

The eyes of a child whose innocence had been completely destroyed stared back at him, relentless.

A hand gently stroked his hair, "Soren, look at me. Focus. You're safe now. Everything's okay."

Soren's stiff, unblinking eyes slowly shifted upward, and he finally looked into the face of the man before him.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, deep-set features, and a face both handsome and dignified.

"Captain."

Soren panted lightly, his hand weakly clutching at Steve Rogers' sleeve, "W-Where am I... Is Batman alright?"

He immediately realized his voice was so hoarse and rough that it sounded like grating sandpaper.

Soren froze for a moment, but paid it no further attention.

Steve placed his hand over Soren's, his tone calm and steady, "We're in an underground lead mine in northwest Alaska. It's our hidden base. Superman can't find this place for now. Batman's already undergone the first round of surgery. They're preparing him for a second round."

Soren blinked blankly, his expression still somewhat dazed, as if he didn't know how to arrange the muscles on his face to form a suitable reaction.

His gaze quickly drifted away from Steve, focusing instead on the void above. "…Oh."

The room was simple, with grayish-white lighting, and the lead-lined walls cast a dull sheen.

In the corner, piles of medical equipment lay stacked haphazardly.

This was an emergency infirmary, hastily constructed in the midst of chaos.

…And this, this was his reality.

The sunlight, the flowers, the bird songs—they were all just a dreams.

Even the vivid red cape that had fluttered at his window was nothing but a figment of his imagination.

He should have noticed the inconsistencies sooner… Where in this world would there still be such a vibrant, brilliant red cape, like a handful of hot blood poured over his sinking soul?

Slowly, he lay back down.

Steve helped him adjust the pillow beneath his head.

As his back pressed against the soft cushion, a sharp, excruciating pain shot through him.

But Soren, dulled by fatigue, barely reacted.

He simply glanced down at his chest.

Thick white bandages were wrapped around his torso, crisscrossing over his entire upper body.

"…You have a large gash on your back. We've already stitched it up," Steve explained, his gaze following Soren's to the bandages.

He frowned deeply. "Did Superman do this? Did he rip off your wings?"

Soren shook his head gently.

In his Angemon form, some minor injuries could heal on their own, but wounds that were too severe would affect his physical body.

Like now—when he had forcibly torn one of his own wings from his body.

The gash on his body meant that the wing would never regenerate again.