Chapter 26: World's reaction to Allen Walker
Doomsday was a terrifying creature; its roars froze the bodies of those who heard them. Its gray appearance, red eyes, and those bones harder than diamonds protruding from its body gave it a nightmarish look.
And its power... a power so immense that it made Superman bleed with just a couple of simple punches, no kryptonite, no magic, no strange powers, pure strength and power. Doomsday managed to instill fear in all who saw it.
A monster among monsters, with an immortality capable of bringing it back from death, with the ability to adapt to its opponent's attacks. Regardless of whether they were physical, energy-based, cosmic, or magical, given enough time, Doomsday would adapt and become immune or, worse, become more powerful.
It was such a terrifying monster, and its havoc was broadcast to the entire DC world by brave reporters and a few videos recorded by civilians. However, unlike Marvel, their view was more distant, and they couldn't see every detail.
But it didn't stop all living beings on the planet from feeling the kind of battle taking place in Metropolis.
People witnessed their most iconic and presumably most powerful superhero, Superman, being gravely injured time and time again.
They also saw a level of power that Superman had never displayed before, reaching the point where this battle posed a threat to the entire planet.
Initially, the villains were ecstatic to see Superman bleed, suffer, and have the possibility of losing. However, as the fight intensified and the stakes rose, everyone fell silent because this was not just a classic battle between superheroes and villains; it was a fight to the death with the fate of the Earth at stake.
If Doomsday won, the Earth could bid farewell—simple as that. Sure, there are opponents on this DC Earth who could confront him, but with each passing second, Doomsday grew more powerful. After a hypothetical victory against Allen and Superman, he would reach a power level too high to be defeated by anyone else.
While there are evil villains, only a small portion would be happy to destroy their world. I mean, this is their planet, their home, and the only one the majority inhabits. Why would they destroy it?
One thing is to break the law, steal, or even kill, but destroying the Earth is different—it's a scale that most villains aren't willing to tip. Many of them began to cheer for Superman and Allen in their fight against Doomsday.
The terrifying truth about Doomsday's existence made the unknown young man fighting alongside Superman even more impressive, occasionally appearing more powerful than the Man of Steel and Doomsday.
With a white trench coat that seemed to defy gravity and move at will, emitting a faint white glow, the young man looked small compared to Doomsday. Yet, the young man with snow-white hair stood in front of the overwhelming apocalyptic monster.
A fierce struggle ensued, a battle in which no one could intervene without risking their lives.
Allen's Red shocked people with its destructive power.
Blue made many tremble as they watched a part of Metropolis easily swallowed into the sky.
But even with such a massive display of power, no one feared Allen because of his actions during the fight.
...
"Mom!" a girl screamed, clinging to her mother as the walls, ceiling, and floor shook.
They tried to flee, but a part of their building collapsed, trapping them. Doomsday's terrifying roars shook the atmosphere like the trumpets of the end times.
The mother embraced her daughter, taking cover under the table—that's all they could do.
Overall, Metropolis is a city with low crime rates, thanks to Superman. But there are occasions when the Man of Steel couldn't prevent the city's destruction. When facing opponents like Lobo or Grundy, Superman sadly sees destroyed buildings and sometimes innocent lives lost.
It's one of the hardest things Superman has to endure—not due to a lack of power but because he's forced to restrain himself. His serious blows can cause more destruction than protection.
A creak sounded above the heads of the mother and daughter, it was inevitable; the buildings weren't designed to withstand the shockwaves caused by monsters of that caliber. Both screamed, but the ceiling never fell.
The girl opened her eyes to see that both her mother and she were shielded under tons of debris by someone.
"Mom, hehe, Superman saved us~" the girl innocently pointed above their heads.
"This?..." the mother glanced for a moment and sighed in relief, then smiled, embracing her daughter with tears in her eyes. "No, darling, this time it was someone else."
"Really?" the girl was surprised, innocently.
This scene was repeated in thousands of places, dozens of thousands of places. Evacuating in such a short time was impossible; it was ludicrous to attempt it when a single blow from Doomsday could destroy entire blocks in a city as densely populated as Metropolis.
Make no mistake, Allen is not a saint or a savior; he just wishes not to kill innocent people with his hands. But if Allen were in mortal danger and had no choice but to abandon all those people, he would, even if it left a terrible taste in his mouth... perhaps, he might, that's what Allen thinks.
However, with Clown Crown and the Six Eyes, Allen managed the impossible—fighting Doomsday while protecting every person and animal close to the battle.
This was a selfish act on his part. Nobody would blame him if he focused solely on defeating that thing; however, that's not what Allen wanted.
The next day...
All media outlets had the same message; all population censuses indicated the same thing.
CNN: after a census for the third time, authorities report that the number of casualties during Superman's biggest battle to date was... Zero. There are no victims... no deaths! Not a single one in the entire Metropolis!
Daily Planet: People and pets are safe. It's one of the most astonishing things I've seen. We can confirm that no one died even when Metropolis suffered massive damage. People just wonder, who is he?! And where is he?!
While Allen emerged as a hero in DC, in Marvel, the reaction was different.
Allen's existence was recorded in the eyes of the Marvel world; many were affected in different ways.
For some, what caught their attention the most was Allen Walker himself: a mutant with immense power that might be capable of altering reality and traveling through different universes.
For others, the existence of a different world was more impactful. This changed what was generally known about the universe and confirmed many theories. It was both amazing and alarming to many.
One thing that also grabbed public attention was the fact that DC exists! This blew up the internet; many people went crazy, and the popularity of DC skyrocketed astronomically.
Perhaps not as significant as the former, but there was also a large number of women who simply erupted in anger, cursing Wonder Woman, without apparent reason... However, due to the previous news, this went unnoticed.
Allen's stream ended with around thirty thousand live viewers, but the clips went massively viral. With dozens of millions of views on many platforms in a single day, they even made it to serious news where their veracity was questioned.
BBC World News: Are you telling me that someone is so disgustingly rich that they spent a hundred million dollars on CGI and special effects just to make people believe in a live broadcast that DC is real?
Of course, that made no sense, especially considering that nobody thought it was CGI. After all, superhero battles like Ironman have been aired in the news, and the idea of another world wasn't so far-fetched.
...
In an office, Nick Fury, better known as the spy among spies, a man of color with an eye patch, director of a super organization, and with seven hundred secrets in his pocket, was having some coffee when a woman burst into his office.
"Director Fury, you have to see this!"
"What?" Fury almost spat out his coffee at being interrupted this way.
Although this annoyed him, he knew his subordinates would only interrupt if it was really important.
Nick Fury looked at the screen, and soon his eyes focused, his face turned serious.
"Commander Hill, why is the albino boy who abducted one of my best agents thirteen years ago fighting alongside Superman?"
"I don't know, sir..."
"Maria... nothing leaves this room; information about Allen Walker is classified from now on."
The woman looked uncomfortable. "That's another issue, Director... that information no longer exists."
"What?"
"All files of Natasha Romanoff mentioning Allen Walker no longer exist," said the commander, concerned. This meant the protected information had been altered and stolen, and they never found out.
"You're telling me someone hacked into our secret files without us noticing?!"
"I don't know..." Maria Hill didn't know what to say.
Fury sat down as he analyzed the information.
"Allen Walker" Fury knows that name, after all, it's the reason why Natasha, the Black Widow, "retired" from being an active agent.
Fury treated this as an important matter because Natasha was one of his best agents. However, at the same time, he ensured the information was protected from dangerous hands, yet somehow, the information was leaked.
Since then, the security systems have been changed many times. Fury has come to think that SHIELD has internal leaks, so his trust in SHIELD is slowly dwindling.
It became more frequent for him to also start hiding information from SHIELD.
"Commander Hill, from now on, declare everything related to Allen Walker as classified."
"Yes, sir," Maria Hill hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Director Fury, do you think all of this is true?"
"Maria, if you knew everything I know, you wouldn't ask that question," Fury stood up and took out a phone; after a few moments, someone answered, "Professor Xavier... do you remember the favor you owe me?"
"You don't have to say it, Fury; I know the reason for your call," Charles paused before continuing, "I don't know if the young man's powers are of mutant origin, but I couldn't find Allen Walker anywhere... I can't confirm if he can block me somehow or if he's truly not in this world currently."
"I understand, thank you, Professor X."
"Fury, if he is a mutant, I'd like to include him in my new mutant academy..." said the voice calmly on the other end of the phone.
"I'm sorry, Charles, but Allen is a personal matter," Fury replied.
The professor fell silent for a moment. "Do you want to turn him into a weapon?"
"Believe it or not, it's not about that this time. I made a deal with Natasha, and she fulfilled her part, so I have to protect Allen Walker, even if he turns out to be an Omega-level mutant," Fury declared while searching for a file in his drawer.
"Hahaha, Fury, you're a great liar, but for people who know you, they know you're not that good a person; you'll use the 'protection' as an excuse to get to him before anyone else," accused Charles with a sharp tongue.
Fury didn't get angry and continued calmly, "I don't want to hear that from the man who gets into the minds of everyone on the planet."
"..."
"I'm sorry," Fury apologized.
"No, I got carried away too... I'm sorry," Charles also lowered his voice.
In Allen's world, the existence of mutants was different from the classic story where the X-Men were found. It's true that Charles Xavier once aimed to found an academy for mutants as it was supposed to be.
This was to teach young mutants, who lived in fear of anonymity, to control their powers and provide them a safe space for growth without judgment. However, for various reasons, Charles Xavier delayed it.
The creation of the mutant academy was just beginning, and the existence of mutants in this world tends to be ignored by the general public.
Charles hasn't given up on his idea and wants to create that academy. He has started contacting the first students.
(A/N: You probably noticed by now, but the X-Men are just being born in this world, so all the original characters like Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, etc., are young—some even younger than Allen.)
...
Allen ignored everything that had happened regarding him and just sneezed, looking exhausted, sore, and, worse, frustrated.
"Someone must be badmouthing me, probably someone from my chat, that son of a..." Allen grumbled.
He had tried to be intimate with Diana, but unfortunately, he realized that every bone in his body hurt, and he could only caress the beautiful woman. However, it wasn't all tragedy—Allen now knew every part of Diana's body like the back of his hand.
[Host, look at the bright side; you avoided a relationship with a woman you just met.]
"Allen~"
Diana came in wearing an apron and carrying a tray of food. She offered to cook something for the tired Allen.
Diana acting like this gave Allen chills, but she looked cute, so he accepted.
"Diana... aren't you going to tell me what all this love for me is about?" Allen looked at the woman seriously.
"No spoilers, Allen~" Diana smiled playfully and left the tray aside before sitting on the bed next to Allen.
"Well... I'll wait," Allen sighed, unable to do anything else; it was easy to tell she wouldn't say anything.
Diana blinked, eyes fixed on Allen's lips.
This left Allen stunned, "Haven't you had enough?"
"It will never be enough, but we'll continue next time you come back~" Diana caressed Allen's cheek and then pinched it lightly while smiling.
Allen raised an eyebrow, "You're very confident that I'll love you in the future, Diana..."
"Allen~ you're going to love me madly, and it will be soon~" she declared with all the certainty in the world as if she could see the future.
Allen was left speechless at her response. It wasn't a promise from her, not a goal—it was something inevitable and absolute in her eyes. Diana believed that Allen would fall in love with her no matter what. Allen's heart skipped a beat for a moment as he looked into her eyes.
Diana smiled, kissed Allen's cheek, then stood up. "You should go back to your world; those girls must be worried about you."
"How do you know that?... You know what? I won't ask anymore; something tells me it'll only make everything more confusing."
Allen stood up, and with Diana's help, he dressed; she offered, and Allen couldn't say no, even though it was embarrassing for him.
Diana's hands put a shirt on him while he observed her every move; she seemed to have done this many times before.
'System, what do you think?'
[She is your woman... I believe she will be
your woman in the near future.]
"..."
[Since we are now like explorers without a compass, it's possible that in the future, we'll connect a gateway to the past of this world, and at that moment, she'll become your wife or something like that.]
'So, you thought the same.' Allen was annoyed with himself and decided to blame himself for being a wretched womanizer.
Allen smiled and hugged Diana, "You better make up for this uncertainty in the future."
Diana gave him a provocative look, "You'll see~"
Both smiled and bid farewell with a small kiss; for Allen, it would be a month before seeing Diana again, but for her, it would only be a second.
Allen decided that once he met Diana and whatever had to happen happened, he would return a second after leaving this world to teach this seductive woman a lesson in bed.
...
Unbeknownst to Allen, many things were happening, including a hammer that fell somewhere in New Mexico.