Allen was about to return to his world, but he had one more thing to do.
He found himself in a rather expensive hotel, perhaps paid for with Bruce Wayne's money; of course, Allen had saved their lives, so it was the least they could do.
However, Allen hadn't come to this world alone; a girl was locked in the room next to Allen.
"I'm not excited about dealing with her," Allen murmured regretfully.
"Do you want me to torture her a bit?" Wednesday used a serious tone and spoke casually, but Allen knew that if he gave permission, she could truly torture Harry Osborn's subordinate.
No, calling this girl a subordinate was too much; she was nothing more than a puppet for Harry. While Harry had his issues, it was impossible to feel sorry for someone capable of manipulating a girl like that.
Similarly, Allen felt no pity for her. If he didn't have his system and a reliable Wednesday by his side, who knows what would have happened?
Allen entered and saw the girl in a corner.
"You have an entire private room, and you choose a corner—you're a peculiar girl," Allen sat in a chair as he looked at Nikky Clover, who continued hiding her face with her black hair and didn't respond.
Allen waited for a few minutes and saw that she had no intention of responding; she just remained silent.
"Do you know what a false accusation entails?" Allen asked, narrowing his eyes.
"..."
Seeing Nikky's eyes, Allen knew she didn't care about what would happen to her.
Allen sighed as he looked at Nikky with some disdain, "You must have had a difficult life. Let me guess, you were bullied in school..."
Nikky trembled.
"Perhaps because of the way you dressed or for some stupid reason?" Allen covered his face, feeling conflicted. If she were a complete lunatic or a psychopath, this could be resolved without remorse. "Then Harry appeared as the prince charming, and you decided to die for him?"
Nikky looked at Allen for the first time, but her eyes seemed empty; she must have been broken. "I knew he was just using me, but I thought if I did this, I could change... but I guess I just fooled myself."
"I'm not a hero, no matter what they say about me... I can't show so much kindness to someone who tried to destroy my life, regardless of the sad past you've had, I can't."
If Allen were a completely kind saint, he wouldn't have killed Doomsday because he knew Doomsday was just a monster created by a madman in a cruel experiment.
"I know... just kill me if it makes you feel better... I don't care," the girl replied as if her life didn't matter and stopped reacting. It seemed she had already accepted her fate.
Allen sighed bitterly, preparing to make another one of those difficult decisions. It seemed life enjoyed making him do these things. He took out a pair of dark glasses and put them on, then took out the neuralyzer.
"I'll tell you what's going to happen... Nikky, I'm going to modify all those horrible memories that haunt you, and I'll make sure whoever did that to you pays... I promise that at least your life will be better."
The girl's eyes regained their light, and she looked at Allen in silence before smiling beautifully. "Thank you."
Allen was paralyzed for a moment as he saw her, and he weakly smiled before pressing the button...
...
Allen stepped out onto the balcony to get some air and stayed there for a while, looking at the view of Metropolis, a truly big city he never expected to visit.
DC is known for having many fictional places in its universes; in fact, it's known that the DC Earth is larger than the Earth where Allen lives.
Allen chuckled, "Technically, all those places are real in this world."
"Allen..." a timid girl came out behind Allen, calling him softly.
"What's up, Nikky?" Allen responded without turning back.
"I was just wondering when we'll go back, and I'm scared of heights," the girl smiled awkwardly while clinging to the door.
Allen looked at her; she had a ponytail that revealed her black eyes and a cute face. She had Asian features that made her look younger than she was.
It might sound rude for Nikky, but Allen would place her a step below the trio of beauties everyone knows, with her biggest flaw being her lack of feminine charm and curves. Nevertheless, she was still a cute girl who wouldn't have trouble getting a boyfriend.
Allen could only sigh, watching the girl laugh at her fear. The contrast between this Nikky and the other one was too much, making Allen feel disgusted for those who harassed her to that extent.
'I swear I'll find them, I'll hunt them down, and I'll make them pay,' Allen doesn't justify himself, nor does he believe that making Harry and anyone who drove Nikky to that extent pay absolves him of brainwashing her; he's aware of that. Moreover, now that Nikky has forgotten everything, this "revenge" is nothing more than a selfish action to make himself feel better.
Nikky got angry as she cursed the architects of this building. "Damn it, who had the stupid idea to make transparent floors on a balcony on the twentieth floor?"
Allen approached her and briefly stroked her head before entering. "Let's go, and remember, no revealing secrets."
Nikky saluted like a soldier, "Roger, Captain, I won't tell anyone that Allen Walker, the albino, is the Allen Walker from our school."
Nikky was a short girl, which made her more adorable when she did these things.
"Heh, I'll trust you, Sergeant Nikky," Allen played along.
She lowered her head as she grabbed her new dress. "It's the least I can do for you after you forgave me."
Nikky remembers what she did to Allen, but she doesn't remember why she did it or any of the bad things that happened.
There's a moral dilemma similar to this with assisted suicide; is it right or wrong for a doctor to help a person die?
To be completely objective, it's wrong for someone who has spent their whole life studying how to save lives to take one.
But if we consider the context, with a man or a woman, it doesn't matter, someone with a terminal illness spends their last days suffering pain and agony and begs to be disconnected. Is it bad or good to disconnect them?
Allen believes that his decision with Nikky was mostly gray.
Allen often makes gray decisions...
- I saved an entire city but had my mental health as a priority, not others' lives.
- I saved Diana from Doomsday because I liked her; if it had been someone else, I wouldn't have risked my life.
That's why Allen dislikes the way everyone is treating him in this world as if he were a hero or something.
[I still think you're not a bad person...]
"..."
Allen didn't know how to respond... He doesn't want to carry expectations that he might not be able to fulfill.
[A person can be selfish and still be a good person.]
'Thanks, system, that's not necessary, I'm fine,' Allen thought in response, but still, the words from his system made him feel better.
Allen returned to his world after bidding farewell to Diana; she seemed to smile with a playful look as if she enjoyed Allen's ignorance.
In the end, only Superman appeared to thank him for everything.
Allen liked this type of Superman—a simple and kind man. Often, different versions of Superman ended up being obsessed heroes imposing their ideals on others.
The idea of Superman shouldn't create a god on Earth or a perfect hero... but rather something simpler, purer. Superman should be a good man, just that, a good guy who traveled the world lending a hand to those in need. That kind of Superman was, to Allen, the best Superman.
After seeing many versions of Superman, both evil and "good," Allen felt that the idea of Superman was becoming distorted.
Allen took Clark's hand in a final farewell, and Clark smiled; definitely, this Superman was one Allen liked.
As only Diana and Clark were present, Allen decided to open the door without worry; they were trustworthy, although no one without the system's permission could cross it anyway.
"Bye, Clark."
"See you, Allen," Superman chuckled. "Haha, did you want to give away my identity?"
"Haha, I only used your name when no one was listening."
"See you, darling~," Diana approached and whispered in his ear before laughing and walking away.
"See you... honey," Allen responded with a bit of amusement.
Allen crossed the white door with a puzzled Nikky by his side and Wednesday in his head.
...
Allen returned to his world and looked at his phone, surprised that only an hour had passed since he left.
He took out his round glasses from his inventory, and his hair turned black, which caught Nikky's interest.
"Mr. Allen, you can destroy a city easily, why hide your face?" Nikky tilted her head.
She had seen all the news in DC and knew what happened in Metropolis. Also, Allen gave her a small amount of information about where they were and how they arrived, attributing it to his mutant powers without mentioning the system. Nikky was shocked to watch all the videos of Allen against Doomsday and to know that her classmate was a superhuman mutant.
"It's complicated," Allen replied, adjusting his glasses.
Tony Stark's approach to revealing his identity was too heavy for Allen. If he did it, he wouldn't even be able to go to the store. Moreover, now the albino Allen is in everyone's sights, and Allen knows because he checked the statistics of his last stream.
Returning to the topic of the time that has passed since he left, he witnessed the Justice League fight and then fought near nightfall against Doomsday. Lastly, Allen woke up in bed with Diana the next day, so a day must have passed.
But his phone, synchronized with the network's date, said it was still the same day he left.
[Host, we must also obtain the anchor if you want to get out of this temporal chaos...]
"I understand... I genuinely dislike messing with time."
(A:N: I'm also against doing weird things with time; it can easily get confusing, so we won't touch on that too much.)
"Captain, what do we do?" Nikky tugged on Allen's sleeve as she blinked.
She seemed to have adopted a subordinate approach toward Allen, which was strange because this girl seemed like a lunatic willing to stab people just yesterday.
"We need information," Allen decided not to let Nikky go yet; if there was any problem with the previous incident, he might need her help.
...
Indeed, at the main entrance, they found reporters interviewing students.
When Allen heard what had happened with Harry, he didn't believe that the bastard had been arrested.
"I forgot to tell you..." said Wednesday the cute doll lying on his head, she could speak in a way that only Allen heard, while Allen spoke to her through their mental connection when there were other people around.
"Well, he deserved it," Allen closed his eyes and shrugged. 'Thanks, Wednesday, you're pretty amazing.'
The girl in his head didn't respond immediately, making an awkward pause for Allen. "Are you trying to seduce me with cheap flattery?" Wednesday asked, pulling Allen's hair.
'How did you come to that conclusion? No, I'm not flirting with you,' thought Allen as his mood improved.
Is it strange to have a mini Wednesday Addams in his head? Yes. Does anyone care? If it were someone else, perhaps, but if it's the bland and unimpressive Allen "Potter," well, the answer is as you imagine, no one cares if Allen brings a chibi Wednesday.
Of course, Wednesday could make herself invisible, but Allen didn't mind having her visible; in fact, it was adorable.
"Where are Gwen and MJ?" Allen looked around in the crowd but they weren't there.
Allen checked his phone notifications and saw over a hundred missed calls from Gwen and MJ, sending shivers down his spine.
Allen immediately called the pair of girls to find out where they were. They had gone to the police station to testify and said they had been trying to contact Allen to do the same, as he was Harry's target.
Allen shook his head, knowing this wouldn't even reach court with Harry's lawyers. Nonetheless, he went to the station, where he was greeted with a hug from Gwen.
"Idiot, I was worried about you," Gwen held onto Allen silently, and Allen responded to the hug.
"I'm sorry, Gwen, I should've contacted you immediately," Allen spoke sincerely, even if it was something he couldn't avoid due to the circumstances. He didn't want to worry his loved ones.
They both hugged, and MJ watched with warm eyes, while Nikky behind Allen felt embarrassed watching them hug.
They both separated a little, but she didn't leave his arms.. They looked at each other in silence, sharing a long conversation without saying a word.
George Stacy appeared just now, seeing his daughter like this. He wanted to get angry but remembered his wife's words.
"We have to accept that Gwen will live her life one day."
George Stacy decided not to interrupt; as much as he wanted to deny it, Allen was a man worthy of his daughter. However when he finds out about his son-in-law's secret tastes, perhaps he won't be so pleased.
After a while, George got impatient and coughed, which made Gwen startle and ran for cover behind MJ.
"D-dad, it's not what it looks like!," Gwen tried to make excuses, but even the most gullible person wouldn't be fooled into thinking that a couple looks like that, they're just friends.
MJ wore a blank expression; since they became friends, she felt that Gwen used her as a shield quite often.
"Hello, George," Allen, on the other hand, greeted Gwen's father with total confidence.
"Stop hugging my daughter in broad daylight, kid" George seemed to threaten Allen, but Allen knew he wasn't serious.
"Should I do it at night?" Allen's daring words stopped George in his tracks.
MJ and Gwen opened their mouths, not believing what they had just heard. Nikky didn't know where to hide to escape.
You don't need context to understand how daring those words are.
Allen saw the serious look on Gwen's father, but he didn't back down; he knew that sooner or later, he had to overcome the wall called George Stacy if he wanted a relationship with Gwen.
'Give me your daughter' was what Allen's eyes said.