[Comprehensive] Retirement of the brave

What is a human being made of?

Upward desires, occasional uncontrollable emotions, and easily touched hearts, people are made up of these.

Theodore, who returned to Gotham, held the rope to control the high-hanging sword in his hand, hiding in the darkness.

He watched the brother he had never seen come back from the dead, wearing an ugly red hood, bumping into Bruce again and again.Words, weapons, thoughts and ideas are intertwined into insoluble contradictions.

Theodore was beginning to feel tired, mental fatigue weighing on his body.

—if his death was the reason I was overlooked, neglected, then why was he treated the same way I was when he returned.So the root cause is just me, I'm not the one expected, right? ——

With that in mind, he caught the bat dart that was accidentally bounced into the main artery of Jason's neck, "This farce is enough."

"Who the fuck are you?" / "We need to talk."

The former is from Jason, still smoldering, the latter from Bruce, who is talking and talking but not letting his guard down at all.

"There is no need for that." Introducing yourself or talking about it is the same.

Theodore looked at Bruce, into his eyes through the gray visors of his helmet. "You still seem to think that killing people, for whatever reason, is a mistake."

He's uncharacteristically calm, and that calm reminds Bruce of something bad.

"Listen to me, killing people doesn't solve the fundamental problem. Fear and dread may give you temporary success, but it won't be forever."

"Like Gotham and you?"

Bruce was slightly silent, "—that's right."

"Then it's better to do it better." Theodore said casually: "Let the world dance with shackles, I believe it is also a good performance."

"Bruce, you've traveled a lot, so have you seen people who are in pain? Struggle to survive life and war, become numb to hunger and poverty. People say the law always protects the rich or the powerful Man, when you have the latter you generally don't lack the former."

Bruce returned silence, convinced that he seemed to see in Theodore's eyes the heavy, breathless desperation, the desperation he knew so clearly that he couldn't deny it.

"Gotham is not the only place sunk in darkness." Theodore nodded affirmatively, "Even if there are no clowns, no lunatics, no super criminals, some places are shrouded in more haze than ten Gothams .”

There was a sarcasm on the corner of his lips, and he was mumbling, looking like a little lunatic stimulated by the terrible reality.

"Hope is in their hands, but it's as illusory as soap bubbles. The law will punish the QJ, it will punish the murderer, it will send them to hell with a bullet, even if those guys never think they have done anything wrong. Then the world is still As usual, 20 years, 50 years, [-] years, the same thing happens again and again."

"The world hasn't changed for the better." Theodore turned cold and said expressionlessly: "The law only gave those victims a comfort, and turned around and made them face more victims."

"So what do you want to do?"

"As I said before, let the world dance in shackles. Human beings are too free, and they can do everything they want. Therefore, the most fundamental justice is to kill people to pay for their lives, and to pay debts. A three-year-old child also knows this."

The projection of the bat light is still projected on the dark night sky, and the remote sense of Batman's stop is like a frozen monument.

Jason couldn't help but said, "I thought I was the one who was crazy, do kids nowadays dare to say that?"

"I'll stop you," Bruce said.

"You can't stop me." He had already retreated to the edge of the building, and the corner of his clothes was rolled up by the wind.Theodore took a deep look at him, and suddenly smiled, "Hey, Batman, let's hear a joke. Everyone knows that killing people pays for their lives, so guess what, you stuffed Arkham's books like a stamp collection. Those lunatics, how many times have you saved them from the fate they should have paid for?"

After he finished speaking, he fell down the stairs on his back. Jason's pupils dilated slightly, and he tried to reach out to grab him, but his fingertips just missed the soft corner of his clothes.

Jason poked his head out and looked down. The ground was clean, and there was no broken cake as expected.

"He won't die." Bruce silently withdrew his subconsciously extended hand, and added as if to cover up: "He has some abilities that can't be analyzed yet."

"Uh, interrupt," the doctor, who couldn't stay idle in circles in the Batcave, leaned in front of Theodore, raised his hand and said, "This sounds a bit, um, rebellious period? Okay, so that's everything beginning?"

Theodore rubbed his forehead with a headache, "I was just a young man at that time, and yes, that was the beginning of everything."

"From that day on, I owed the strength from that person more often, and lost the bottom line more and more. If at the beginning I just wanted to make the person who made the mistake pay the due price, then I began to find that for that person Human beings are no different from animals, insects, and plants, they are all beings with souls.”

"You're lost." Bruce said in a complicated tone.

"Yeah, I'm lost. The power swells me up and makes me gradually start to see things from that person's point of view, forgetting that we're not in the same place ourselves."

"what have you done?"

Theodore sighed, "I try to apply justice to all life. All killing that is not based on survival is wrong, and killing for life is replaced by the equivalent that those who take life must pay for life."

What would happen then, Bruce thought silently, probably even if he accidentally trampled to death an ant on the road, he would be ordered to pay for his life, which is really hell.

"You have failed." Obviously, otherwise, according to this requirement, the earth would be empty except for newborn babies.

"Yes." Regarding this, Theodore was very frank, even with a little bit of annoyance that fit the appearance of a child, "I never thought that that person would treat himself as an earthworm that could not die even after being cut into several pieces, in another world. There is even a part of the soul left behind."

"Oh——I see," the doctor jumped up excitedly, "Your body could have covered your soul, but you used power, and for another part of the soul with the same origin, this leaked power is As evident as a fire in the dark. And so they drew each other, hoping to be one again."

"That's it."

Suddenly thunder and lightning flashed in the sky, and the thick lightning shattered the phantom, the power grid was intertwined, and the whole world looked like cracked porcelain.

"Enough, I know!" Theodore suddenly jumped up and shouted towards the sky.

He stepped out of the treatment cabin, "Okay, I know that the last time is always short, I hope you can make the right choice." Theodore smirked and said: "Congratulations, that part of the soul in that world It's a little urgent. You can go back to the real world."

"How?" Bruce grabbed his wrist. "Who is that guy you've been talking about? What do you mean by the last hours?"

"It's just what you think." The place where Theodore stood became the boundary between the two worlds, and an electric barrier stood in the middle.Behind him, a figure with black hair reaching shoulder length and half his head was standing with his back facing him holding a scale in his hand.

The battle in the void was coming to an end. The experimental subject was bound by the chains transformed by the white sword and could not break free. The man in black robe with the crow mask was also surrounded by the white sword that had transformed into countless clones, and there was nowhere to escape.

"It's finally over," Hei stretched his waist, "If you don't go back, that guy will find a bunch of things for me to do."

"Yeah," the man in black said the same, "it's over."

He took off his hood and mask, revealing a face and a pair of shining golden eyes in Hei's unbelievable gaze, with soft white hair hanging down obediently behind his head.

"Evan!" Saul, who turned over and fell off the bed, woke up, and suddenly saw the boy floating in mid-air through the window.

Bruce opened his eyes, sat up suddenly, and found himself lying in front of the control tower of the watchtower.The last memory of reality is that they had a meeting to discuss things about Theodore.And the last memory in the dream is the child swallowed by the light.

"Having such a dream experience, knowing that I have been loved, to be honest, I am very happy. Well, I am probably the most honest person in the family except Dick." Said the child.

The other members of the Justice League are lying in various places in the watchtower.Some people rubbed their eyes and woke up.

Gentle light emanates from the earth and spreads to all parts of the universe in the blink of an eye. The awakened Zhenglian members hurried to the observation window facing the earth. Flash Barry blurted out, "Isn't this the kid who popped up suddenly before?" ?”

Bruce saw it too, the kid with eyes closed in the light, "Theodore."

"It's time to make a choice. Out of fairness, I give this authority to every life that has the ability to choose."

The same content was told to their respective worlds by the mouths of Theodore and Ivan.And the truth of the world's imminent destruction was told to them in the form of dreams long before they were about to wake up.

"Choose one, erase me, and the world will be safe."

"Option [-], destroy the other world that will collide with this world, and this world will be safe and sound, no one needs to die."

"Option three, admit that you have done unjust things, apologize to those affected by it. And answer, whether there is real justice in the world, if you do something wrong, you must pay the price."

"Limited time, 30 minutes. Those who do not make a choice after the timeout will choose the third option by default."

A bright red countdown appeared in front of everyone, and panic spread rapidly among the crowd.

"What should I do?" Some people panicked and hoped to get an answer from the people around them, but the people around them were also at a loss and panicked.

Tony and the Avengers, Bruce and the Justice League all held emergency meetings.

Bruce, whose air pressure was obviously low, projected three options into the hall, "There is no doubt that it is unjust to kill a person for the sake of most people, and it is also unjust to choose to destroy another universe in order to preserve one's own universe. But the third option," Bruce was silent for a moment, he thought of what Theodore said, "Maybe most people will think that justice exists, but most people will also think that justice is not absolute, and nothing is absolute." Black and white." argument.

So he said firmly: "From a literal point of view, the third option is really leading people to deny the existence of justice, or to verify how many people can realize their mistakes."

The same conversation was going on on the side of the Avengers. Thor desperately wanted to rush to Ivan but was restrained by Loki with magic.

"Okay, I get it, that's Aiwen, I know. But do you really think it will be useful for you to rush over now? Brother, how many ants on the earth do you think will choose to trade his life for their own safety? Or do you think everyone can honestly admit their mistakes?" Loki responded to Thor's glare with a sneer on his face.

Yes, no matter which world, no matter how the heroes choose, they cannot influence the whole world—not just the people on Earth but also the countless races in the universe.

Politicians and high-ranking rights holders are the first to make choices. They know in their hearts how many things they have done that have nothing to do with justice, but to make it public and apologize?What a joke, just let that guy who popped up out of nowhere die.Anyway, he caused the matter, so he should be responsible, shouldn't he?

The second group of people who made choices were criminals and gangsters who had done many wrong things. They were not good people in the first place, and they did not hesitate to choose between themselves and others.Even, there are a few who don't think it's a big deal to watch the excitement, choose option [-], just want to see what the destruction of the universe will look like.

Alvin and Theodore, whose actions were announced to the world.

In the former world, there are still many people who have repeatedly blocked the alien fleet from the barriers outside the earth. Leaving aside some radicals who think this is a kind of overprotection, a kind of alternative captive people, Aiwen people say Definitely a hero.

In the latter world, Theodore is also placed in the god position in the hearts of many people who have avenged their vengeance.For example, victims of Arkham criminals, desperate people who have been bullied, people who have been QJed, etc.

So most of the people hesitated.They haven't been mad enough to ruin another world, so their eyes are constantly wandering between the first and third views.

As for the heroes, they chose the three options without hesitation after trying all kinds of methods but ended up with no results.

The people from Zhenglian talked for a while, and when it was Superman's turn, he shrugged, "Well, I have to say that my battle damage is a bit beyond the standard, B, I want to apologize to you, if you don't mind, I can give you You pinch some diamonds or get a small planet made of precious metals to pay off the debt."

The atmosphere suddenly became more relaxed, but then became more dignified.No way, the next one is the apologetic Batman.

"Wait, B, where are you going?"

Bruce has walked to the portal, "Earth."

The author has something to say: Well, the end is coming soon, do you want to guess the ending?Or book an episode in advance?