Diana turned her head to the owl, who was swinging himself back and forth like a child on a playground swing.
"Have I really caused so much suffering?"
She was at a loss, beginning to doubt everything she'd ever experienced.
Were her happiest memories built upon the suffering of countless other Dianas from the Dark Multiverse?
If that were true, how was she any different from a criminal?
"Ugh!"
Kathoom abruptly stopped his swinging, letting out a long sigh.
Diana was far too naive. A few words from the Merciless, and her resolve was already crumbling.
It seemed he would have to step in.
"He's lying to you."
Kathoom's voice cut through Diana's spiraling thoughts. "Think back—what did he say to you not long ago?"
"What did he say?"
Diana frowned, trying to recall. The Merciless had said so much, how could she pinpoint which words Kathoom meant?
"This world isn't about love or hate."
Kathoom mimicked the Merciless's tone as he repeated his earlier words.
"He claimed his actions were unrelated to love or hate. But think about his demeanor just now—his hatred was practically overflowing."
"And what does that matter?"
Diana shook her head. "As long as he didn't lie about his experience, then it's true that I've stolen the happiness of countless Dianas."
"And what does that have to do with you?"
Kathoom countered sharply. "Look at Bruce. He's the Batman of the Prime Universe—the biggest beneficiary of all. Do you see him feeling guilty? No! He eats and drinks without a care in the world."
"But that doesn't make it right," Diana insisted. "We're still benefiting from the suffering of the Dark Multiverse."
"So what's your plan? Die to atone for it?"
Kathoom huffed. "The Multiverse is split into light and dark—this result is inevitable. If there's any blame to be had, it's on the one who created the Dark Multiverse."
That person was none other than Barbatos, the Lord of the Dark Multiverse.
The root of it all was a complicated story.
It began with Perpetua, the goddess who created the Multiverse.
When Perpetua formed the Multiverse, she intentionally divided it into three realms: the Material Universe, the Anti-Matter Universe, and the Dark Multiverse.
Her goal was to make the DC Multiverse a self-sustaining system, constantly generating crises that she could harvest as energy.
To manage these realms, she created three powerful beings: the Monitor, the Anti-Monitor, and the World Forger.
But the "dutiful children" discovered their mother's scheme. After a brutal rebellion, they imprisoned Perpetua within the Source Wall, and the Multiverse began functioning as intended.
Originally, the Dark Multiverse wasn't populated. It was merely the World Forger's workshop, a forge for creating new worlds.
The process was simple: successful worlds were sent to the Material Universe, while failures were destroyed.
Barbatos, the World Forger's pet dragon, was tasked with eliminating these defective worlds.
It was a perfect system—until Barbatos betrayed the World Forger and claimed the Dark Multiverse for himself.
He preserved the failed worlds, allowing them to fester and produce power to attack the Prime Universe.
That's where the suffering began.
"If the Dark Batmen really wanted justice for their worlds, they should have gone straight for Barbatos," Kathoom said. "But they didn't."
"Why not?"
"Because either they can't see the real enemy—or they choose not to."
Kathoom's voice dripped with disdain. "Out of all those Dark Batmen, how many are truly victims?"
By the time he finished, Diana was visibly overwhelmed.
The terms—Material Universe, Anti-Matter Universe—were utterly foreign to her.
Understanding their relationships would take time.
But one thing stuck in her mind:
Barbatos.
He was the true root of all suffering.
Not her.
"Thank you, Kathoom," Diana said softly. "At least I don't feel as awful anymore."
"No big deal!"
Kathoom puffed up proudly, about to shower himself with praise when, suddenly, he froze in place, completely motionless.
"Kathoom?"
The unexpected change sent Diana's heart racing. She rushed to the cell bars, reaching out to check on him.
"Don't touch me! I'm fine," Kathoom snapped, swatting her hand away with his wing as he recovered.
"That was… insane."
He muttered, still processing. "Diana, you have no idea what I just saw through Three's perspective."
In the Merciless's Batcave, there was an unassuming laboratory.
Kathoom Three had stumbled into it while flying around, and everything he saw, heard, and felt was shared with Kathoom.
The sheer intensity of the experience had momentarily stunned the owl.
Inside the lab, a mix of ancient books and chemical compounds created a stifling, acrid atmosphere.
Primitive scientific instruments, reminiscent of World War I-era technology, were scattered about.
A man wearing a pig-faced mask worked intently.
The missing Professor Pig—of course, the Merciless had taken him.
At the center of the lab was a pale-skinned boy lying motionless on an operating table, his body covered in stitches like a patchwork doll.
The boy's face was identical to Bruce's, but devoid of any sign of life.
Beside him lay a similarly stitched-together owl, equally lifeless.
Kathoom hadn't anticipated stumbling upon something so grotesque in the Batcave.
"What is the Merciless trying to do?"
For once, Kathoom couldn't guess his adversary's motives.
Replace them with these stitched creations? Frame them for some heinous act?
Unlikely.
Anyone with half a brain could see these abominations were straight out of a horror film. There was no way they could pass for real.
After much deliberation, Kathoom still couldn't arrive at a satisfying explanation.
The bodies were disturbing, but not inherently threatening. Even if they were brought to life—so what?
"Forget it. Whatever his plan is, I'll just sabotage it first."
With that thought, Kathoom directed Three to move closer.
The plushie owl had already cast a Disillusionment Charm, making it invisible to Pig, who lacked any supernatural abilities.
Three easily approached the two bodies.
Kathoom's plan was to implant personalities into the bodies using a technique similar to the owl projector he'd used before.
It was a solid idea, but there was one problem:
Kathoom didn't have enough personalities ready.
"Right now, I've got Three and… two others, both sealed in Voldemort's diary," he mused. "But neither of them is exactly reliable."
The two were:
Sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle.
An adult Homelander personality from the Black Cloak Universe.
Hardly ideal candidates.
As for Three's personality, it wasn't robust enough for the job. It was purely functional and would likely be obliterated if these bodies ever activated.
"Fine. Riddle and Homelander it is!"
Kathoom rationalized that if the Merciless ended up with these two as assistants, it would be a poetic sort of chaos.
With a resigned sigh, Kathoom extracted the diary from his feathers and directed Three to begin the process.
After what felt like an eternity, the task was complete.
"Finished?"
Diana's voice broke the silence. She hadn't understood what Kathoom was doing, and frankly, it wasn't a warrior's concern.
"More or less," Kathoom replied. "If those bodies come to life, the implanted personalities will activate. If they don't… I'm out two personalities for nothing."
The thought of losing them stung. Even if they weren't immediately useful, it felt wasteful.
"Forget it. No use dwelling on it."
Kathoom stowed the diary back in his feathers, turning his attention to Diana.
"You gonna eat the stuff the Merciless brought? If not, give it to me—I'm starving."
"Are you seriously going to eat that?" Diana asked incredulously. "It's the Merciless's cooking."
"He's not going to hurt us," Kathoom said confidently. "Without Bruce here, we're safer than ever."
Being locked up wasn't so bad. They had food, shelter, and even a bit of downtime to orchestrate plans.
Speaking of plans, what was Bruce up to?
"Please don't go recruiting Superman," Kathoom muttered under his breath. "The Merciless has mind control powers, and Clark is always the first to fall for it. Every. Single. Time."
He paused, suddenly remembering something.
"Wait… speaking of mind control… don't I still have Magneto's helmet?"