"Barry, what are you doing?! Barry!"
The moment Malrick realized the world was restarting, his mind froze. It felt absurd — like going out for dinner and karaoke, only to get mugged halfway through. Nothing could make less sense than this.
But when his gaze turned toward Central City, his vision stretched across thousands of miles — and he saw Barry Allen, at home, helping his mother cook. Barry was smiling, his face glowing with warmth and affection. How could someone like that restart the world?
Besides, Malrick was still here. If Barry hadn't done it... then who had?
He could feel the flow of time itself cracking apart and reforming. If time was a river, the upstream was drying up while the downstream flooded. And he, standing in the middle, could only wait for the waters to recede — exposing the riverbed beneath. The "fish" in the river — life, memories, everything — would perish. New ones would appear when the waters flowed again.
From that perspective, there was only one explanation: the future Earth must have faced another catastrophe. Without most of its heroes, it couldn't stand against the next disaster. So the Barry of the future had done the unthinkable — he'd reset the timeline.
In the DC Universe, time didn't work like in Marvel's. Marvel created new branches — new timelines. Here, a restart wiped out everything that came before. Everything and everyone would be refreshed — as if respawned in the same world, yet completely new.
Malrick couldn't stop the process. It had already begun. Stopping a world restart was like trying to cancel a system reinstall mid-process — the result would only be total collapse. Unless someone like Superman had entered his "Golden" form again, there was no stopping this. But that kind of idealistic state wasn't something you could simply switch on like a safety catch.
So Malrick didn't hesitate. He gathered everyone he could and ran. He found Diana and Kara sharing cake, and in an instant, transported them back to the hotel room.
Tony was still lying on the sofa, sulking over what had happened the night before. He'd probably be stewing for years — cursing himself every time he remembered it.
"Are you imitating Rose from Titanic now? Head propped up, looking all heartbroken?" Malrick quipped, stepping forward and giving Tony a light smack on the shoulder.
"Time's running out, stop moping, Miss Stark — we need to move!"
Tony sat bolt upright. "Go? Where? What's happening? Wait, what did you just call me?"
"Sorry," Malrick said, smirking. "I just saw a thirty-year-old man wriggling around like that — thought a female Tony from another world had taken over your body."
"Heh, if I was a female Tony, I'd slap you senseless right now." Tony grabbed an Arc Reactor from the table and threw it at him.
Malrick caught it easily. "No time for jokes. Flash has restarted the world. If we don't move fast, we'll be wiped with it."
"Barry? Why would he do that?" Tony frowned. "How much time do we have?"
Diana's brow furrowed. "What does it mean to restart the world?"
"It means Flash went back in time to change something," Malrick explained, "reshaping reality into something entirely new. Time isn't linear. Any change — even a small one — ripples both backward and forward, rewriting everything."
He paused, his voice lowering. "It's not the first time this has happened. In the previous world, it wasn't Kara who came to Earth — it was her cousin. And after the reset... her cousin died."
Kara's expression darkened. "Can we stop him?"
"It's too late," Malrick said simply.
Tony ran a hand through his hair. "Then how long do we have? And how many people can you take with you?"
He was already thinking ahead. A world restart wasn't exactly a catastrophe — but it erased memories, bonds, every trace of who someone was. Even if they met again after, it wouldn't mean anything. The shared past would be gone.
If Malrick could only save a few — Tony, Jarvis — and not the others... what would be the point?
But Malrick just smiled. "Relax. I can take plenty — even a mountain-sized pain like you."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Then what are we waiting for? Move, Mr. Malrick!"
Malrick shook his head. "Not yet. The universe is vast — the restart takes time."
"How long?" Tony demanded. "And what are you planning now?"
"Ten minutes, maybe a bit more. The timeline collapse starts at both ends — past and future — before reaching the present. We still have a short window."
His gaze turned to Diana. She looked anxious — her mother and tribe were still on the far side of the world.
"Don't worry," Malrick said gently. "You know I can cross worlds. I'll take you all with me."
Her eyes brightened with hope. "You mean…"
"Yes," he said softly. "We're taking Paradise Island with us."
He brushed a hand along her cheek. "I'll draw you into my inner world first. Once it's safe, I'll release you."
"Your... inner world?" Diana blinked, puzzled.
"I'll explain later."
Malrick summoned the power within him and pulled Tony and Kara into his inner dimension. Then, taking Diana's hand, he vanished from the hotel room.
In the blink of an eye, they appeared on Paradise Island. After explaining the situation, Queen Hippolyta confirmed that their disappearance wouldn't affect the world's restart — another version of the island would simply reappear. Only then did she agree.
Though Hippolyta distrusted humankind, she and her warriors had never forgotten their purpose — to protect the world. If staying behind would preserve that purpose, she would have refused. But this time, she didn't.
With the queen's consent, Malrick drew the entire island into his inner world. The divine barrier left by Zeus barely resisted him; with a single effort, he detached the island from the ocean floor.
Moved by the Amazons' courage, Malrick turned toward his next destination — Gotham and Central City. He had to find Batman. And the Flash.
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