17 - A Farewell

[A/N: Working on the dialogue of Batman and other characters, please do tell me your thoughts after this chapter]

Suddenly, Diana, unresponsive mere moments ago, lunged out of her chair and reached towards her waist, grabbing for a nonexistent weapon.

"Calm down Wonder Woman, you are back!" Firestorm spoke, stepping forward into Diana's view, with his hands raised and a nervous smile.

Standing in the corner of the room, I noticed Batman was staring at Wonder Woman, seemingly deep in thought.

"W-What? I'm...back?" She stuttered, eyes focusing on our surroundings, looking towards me, she drew a sword and her lasso, "You...are you responsible for all of their suffering?"

"Responsible for their suffering? Are you asking if I'm the cause of the Great War or the suffering of the people in the Wasteland?" I asked, tilting my head to show confusion.

"Both."

"Ah, then no, I am not responsible," I replied since it was technically true and not true.

"You...If not you, then who is responsible?" Diana asked.

"Ah, the person who is mostly responsible for that world turning for the worst, would be a pantheon of Gods eventually led by the God named Todd Howard," I told Diana, totally not throwing the blame towards someone else.

"This...Todd? Is he still alive?" Diana asked, with a stern glare.

"I believe so, though I do not know if a variant of his exists on this Earth."

"I shall search for this...Todd Howard, you better have not spoken false, creature," she told me, venom evident in her voice.

Technically I did not lie, so Todd Howard, if you do exist in this universe, I give you my apologies, your life will surely be filled with troubles ahead.

It seemed that her time in the game may have made her a bit...tense, multiple deaths and near-constant battles would do that I suppose.

"It seems you three need some time to gather your thoughts, shall I be seeing any of you again soon?"

"We will be back, creature," Wonder Woman stated.

"Call me Zeref, calling me just 'creature' sounds kind of offensive," I spoke honestly, watching them soon leave.

'Well, I kind of expected this meeting to end in a fight...' I thought to myself, also wondering if there really was something that calmed them down and becoming completely aggressive.

...

[POV Change]

Meeting at a nearby rooftop, the three heroes looked down past the edge towards the cafe, each had varying thoughts about the place.

One was concerned and cautious.

Another was afraid and perplexed.

The last was Angry and...sad.

Diana was pacing back and forth on the roof, her mind still clearly lost in thought, but her body was ready for any sudden action.

Batman who was staring intently at her, finally spoke after what felt like minutes of silence, "Firestorm, leave."

Although It seemed Firestorm was about to say something in return, they shook their head and ended up flying away, leaving Batman and Wonder Woman alone on the roof.

"Diana..." Bruce started only for Wonder Woman to interrupt, "Why, Bruce? Why would humanity cause such suffering to itself? Why would the gods let such atrocity be committed without preventing it?"

"I don't know," Batman replied, his eyes focusing on the cafe, thoughts swirling in his mind, yet his face still stoic.

Turning back to Diana, Bruce spoke, "That world may be just a game to that...thing, but it's real."

"Did...Did you see?" Diana asked, sadness in her voice.

"Yes. Why did you kill them?" Bruce asked, gaze stern.

"What would you have me do? I was mortal in that world and those mons...people, those people tried to kill me...and they succeeded once, what would they have done if left alive? They would have 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 and 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒅 on the few people left in that wasteland, and with how that land was, who would have brought justice? Justice to all those killed, ra***, robbed and gods know what else? I had the chance, so I stopped them, permanently," Diana replied, crossing her arms and stopping, giving Bruce an intense look.

The silence was her answer as Bruce looked back to the Cafe, his thoughts unclear to her, with no reply, she continued, "Bruce...that...thing in there, I can only guess it has to be at the level of the Gods, and possibly even more...its presence was...troubling...and if its words are to be true...it plans on creating more worlds as 'entertainment.'"

"I know," Bruce stoically replied before turning to her, "I will set up some cameras to watch over this store, I set up a few taps in the store, and placed a tracker on the two individuals in the store. If this creature really is a threat, we will need help, but for now, we can only watch, and learn."

"Bruce..." Diana started, only to be interrupted by Bruce, "Don't worry, I'll also begin looking into this 'Todd' person, if they exist on our planet, I'll find them."

"Thank you...I will head home. I have much to think about," Diana told Bruce, before leaping away from roof to roof until Bruce could no longer see her.

As if a weight was left off his shoulders Bruce let out a long sigh as he gazed to the store.

Bruce didn't know what to think.

Diana killed 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘴 of people in that 'Fallout' world, some not once, but 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 times, but that planet was currently just anarchy, Bruce doubted there were any governments, anyone to keep the peace and bring justice, so he could understand that killing them would have prevented them from doing more harm, but Bruce still believed there could be another way...

Sure, it would take time and a lot of resources and effort, but Bruce honestly believed most men and women could be turned good with the help of others, the people in that world were no different.

You never know what one person could be capable of, he could be a criminal one day, but eventually help save thousands of people. People should always have second chances, there's 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 a better way.

Bruce didn't really know what to think when it came to the entity in the shop that called itself 'Zeref.' The goods it offers could save countless lives, but some of them could also end so many more, Bruce knew that if any military force managed to obtain and reverse engineer the drugs in the store, wars would become even bloodier.

Who knows, if a country managed to obtain and mass-produce all of the drugs in that store themselves, they may get bold and start eyeing their neighboring countries.

That's not even considering the goods purchasable through the creature's 'credit system.'

If any country managed to obtain an army's worth of those 'Assaultrons,' then he had no doubt that some countries would immediately declare war on others due to the abrupt change in military power.

Just based on what he saw with his own eyes and the witnesses' testimonies, he fully believed that just a few of those robots could conquer a city, let alone what even a hundred or a thousand 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 do.

It was a tough situation, on one hand, the items that the creature sells could save countless lives, and on the other, the items it sells could end the lives of countless more.

Then there are the 'Virtual Games' that the creature spoke of, and they might have been just 'games' to the creature, but to both Diana and him, that world was too real to be a 'game.'

From his observations, he could clearly see that each and every 'NPC' thought and felt, they had their own dreams and expectations, and they felt pain, happiness, and every other emotion.

That world...was real, and, while Bruce didn't want to antagonize a creature that Diana claimed was 'God-like' he wouldn't hesitate to do so if it posed a threat to Humanity and Earth.

As for what the creature talked about regarding a 'Multiverse' concerned Bruce even more. If what it said was true, there could be countless worlds where everything Bruce knew, could be flipped on its head.

What if there was a world where the heroes had the opposite values they had here? Such as a variant of Superman who was a mass murderer? Or a variant of himself that was a villain?

It horrified him, especially if there were ways for those same variants to travel the multiverse and eventually enter theirs. Bruce had much to prepare, he would need to have countermeasures for a lot more things now, including the creature, and many things he never even accounted for.

Bruce gazed down at the Cafe and in the next moment was gone, leaving not even a single trace behind.

Minutes later, a dozen small cameras were set up around the area, having coverage over every nook and corner of the area and the cafe.