DC: A New Beginning-Chapter 74: Past
Viktor, who had been resting with his eyes closed, heard Tom’s words and opened them with a somewhat resigned expression.
"By the way, when you see me later, please don’t pay too much attention to some of my behavior."
Tom watched Viktor with a hint of amusement.
"Why?"
Viktor couldn’t quite handle being stared at like that. He raised both hands and rubbed his face.
"I wasn’t in a great place back then. I’d lost a lot of blood, and I was a little... mentally unstable."
Tom said nothing in response.
The scars worn into his skin by years of hard labor faded and disappeared, and his messy hair turned jet black and glossy.
In the blink of an eye, a full thick beard appeared as he hadn’t once groomed himself in his Superman throughout these five years.
Even though Viktor had already seen Tom switch between his normal form and Superman many times over the years, it never ceased to amaze him.
"How is that even possible? Is that really something Superman is supposed to be able to do?"
Superman had no interest in explaining.
He tilted his head back to look at the sky, casually tossed aside the jacket he’d been wearing, and revealed the classic black suit underneath.
This ridiculous, seamless outfit change made him feel even more speechless.
Superman launched into the sky, dragging Viktor like a kite, straight up toward the sky.
Viktor looked into the distance with a touch of nostalgia, and he still could not see that familiar silver-white escape pod anywhere in sight.
Even though his escape pod had been set with Earth’s coordinates, it hadn’t sustained any damage like Kara’s ship during the journey.
It was still flying very fast.
"How come the expression on your face looks like someone returning to their home after a long time away?"
It seemed that the Viktor from the past was awake now, but Superman asked quietly.
Viktor was quiet for a moment and didn’t answer.
"...How far does your bio-force field actually reach? I should’ve only just passed Mars’ orbit, right?"
That wasn’t changing the subject.
He was truly shocked.
Back then, Batman had told him that from the moment he entered the solar system, he had already been within Superman’s range of perception.
He’d been too stunned then to actually do the math at that time.
The closest distance between Mars and Earth is still fifty-five million kilometers, and thinking about it properly now was absolutely insane.
But very soon, Superman’s brow furrowed.
"Hostility."
"...Actually, perhaps I’m mistaken. I’ve seen that kind of look too many times before, like the Earth is your personal property.
Before long, Viktor spotted the escape pod, currently traveling at near-light speed.
After a few moments, the pod was beginning to drift to a stop.
Through the window, Viktor could see his own past self, battered and broken, looking utterly pitiful, struggling with great difficulty to crawl out of the cryogenic pod.
His past self was judging the distance to Earth, probably planning to break open the escape pod and fly there by himself.
Superman approached slowly.
Viktor quickly covered his face with one hand.
But even without looking, Viktor could sense his past self stubbornly raising his head and releasing killing intent toward Superman.
Once his past self finally lost consciousness and Superman carried him back toward Earth, Viktor felt like he’d barely escaped from a deeply embarrassing part of his own history.
Superman glanced at Viktor, who had started furiously rubbing his face all over again.
"It seems I misjudged. Compared to who you were back then, you’re actually quite a reasonable and gentle person now."
Viktor said nothing. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
He sank back into a long silence, following Superman to the Batcave beneath Wayne Manor to watch his battered past self receive treatment from Batman.
Viktor watched himself fall unconscious in bed for three days.
Then Viktor watches that careful, cautious version of himself get along with Tom in an outwardly decent manner while simultaneously absorbing every scrap of information about this world from the television.
It wasn’t until his past self went out fishing with Tom, and Viktor watched the spray of the waves, that he gently dove down on the small wooden boat.
"I think I’m almost back to normal."
Tom made a sound of acknowledgment, eyes focused intently on the surface of the water. Even though he was holding a fishing rod, he was clearly doing something else.
Viktor paused for a moment.
He narrowed his eyes and secretly released a force field into the water.
Yes, not only was his body nearly adapted to the chaotic spacetime energy, but he’d also managed to adapt to the bio-force field the Superman had been wrapping around him for the past however many years.
Though he always had a feeling that the force field he had awakened through evolution was not quite the same as Superman’s biofield.
After watching for a moment, Viktor’s face turned red with anger.
"You were herding fish with your bio-force field this whole time?!"
Tom finally glanced at him from the side.
"How much longer can you stay in this time period?"
Viktor rolled his eyes.
"It’s hard to say exactly. Maybe a few more hours?"
Tom nodded.
"I hope this time has helped dissolve some of the aggression inside you. Your control over your power is precise enough, but your mind, your instincts, still want to solve problems through the most brutal means possible."
Viktor smiled with his mouth but not his eyes.
"You’re stronger, so you make the rules. As long as you’re still on this Earth, I’ll naturally follow whatever ’rules’ you see fit."
Tom let out a sigh.
He and Viktor had discussed this topic more than a few times over the years.
No matter how he tried to reason with him. Viktor either refused to listen or answered with silence.
When the past Viktor grabbed two fish and started rising quickly to the surface, Tom set down his rod.
"You know I don’t want you to simply submit to force."
"That’s how I lived for fourteen years. I’m used to it."
As his past self jumped up out of the water and into the air, Viktor closed his eyes and began meditating again.
Suddenly, Tom’s voice entered his ears.
"Do you want to become a superhero?"
Viktor’s brow tightened slightly, and he opened his eyes at once.
His past self was standing with his back to Tom, gazing out at the ocean, but Tom, the one who had just spoken those words, was clearly looking at the present Viktor.
The past Viktor was looking out at the sea with his back to Tom, but Tom, who said those words, was clearly looking at him.
...
The evening fell.
After watching his past self being led into Wayne Tower by Bruce Wayne from a distance, Viktor drifted down from the air, slipped in through an open car window, and settled into the smoothly moving old sedan.
He tugged at the seatbelt behind him and clicked his tongue twice with a somewhat complicated expression.
"Push the accelerator a little harder. I’m almost at my limit."
Tom pressed the old car so hard that it rattled loudly, and the engine roared hoarsely as it rushed into an abandoned processing plant in Gotham City.
As Tom turned off the engine, Viktor took out two locators and tossed one of them to him.
Then the two of them disappeared from inside the car.
...
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