Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 143: Ch.142 Doctor Manhattan

Chapter 143: Ch.142 Doctor Manhattan

"Dammit!" Su Ming's curse echoed, but by then, he was no longer in the Batcave.

The Joker's inadvertent action had put him in a tight spot.

Looking down at the small badge in his hand, he realized it was just a yellow round pin, the kind many Boy Scouts or children had, sometimes even given out as fast food restaurant freebies.

But this one was special. It had several bright crimson blood splatters on it, arranged in a pattern that couldn't be wiped off, as if they had fused with the badge itself.

It was a smiley-face badge, with two black dots for eyes and a simple curved line for a mouth.

Yet with the eerie bloodstains, Su Ming immediately recognized what it was.

This was the Comedian's badge.

In *Watchmen*, the Comedian was fond of wearing it on his chest. Ozymandias, another member of the team, tried to kill him, but Doctor Manhattan saved the Comedian at the last moment, teleporting him from a deadly fall to safety in the ocean.

However, the badge had fallen during their struggle, stained with the blood from their fight.

Originally, the *Watchmen* universe was a standalone world, but when DC rebooted their universe with the New 52, the editors merged the *Watchmen* world into the main DC universe, placing this inhumanly powerful figure deep within the main universe's space.

The *Watchmen* story was set during the Cold War, and the inhuman blue man was a representation of America's overwhelming power, given a plethora of over-the-top abilities by the creators.

In the original comic, there was a famous line:

"There were no gods, but now there is, and he was an American."

Indeed, Doctor Manhattan was like a god. Although he wasn't involved in the multiverse concept, within any single universe, his powers were supreme.

He existed and yet did not exist simultaneously, a complete quantum being capable of predicting the future, creating and destroying worlds, manipulating time, altering causality, and disintegrating particles.

And that was just a portion of his abilities.

If he wanted, he could erase beings like Barbatos with a single thought.

However, while God operates through faith and divine powers, Doctor Manhattan operates through quantum theory—one through theology, the other through science.

Of course, God is powerful because He exists across multiple dimensions, whereas Doctor Manhattan is confined to a single universe.

*Watchmen* is one of DC's most successful comics, telling the story of a superhero known as Ozymandias. Deeply troubled by the looming threat of nuclear war, he orchestrates the assassination of his teammates and manipulates Doctor Manhattan, turning him into a global enemy for the sake of world peace.

When Doctor Manhattan, under Ozymandias' control, obliterates several cities, showing his inhuman and dangerous power, humanity unites against a common enemy, leading to world peace.

Once the dust settled and Doctor Manhattan discovered the truth, he agreed with Ozymandias' actions and silently took the blame, leaving Earth for the cosmos.

Before leaving, he killed Rorschach, another teammate who planned to reveal the truth to the world.

Rorschach believed Doctor Manhattan had been wronged and that people needed to know the truth.

However, as a quantum entity, Doctor Manhattan had lost all human thought processes. He only understood consequences, believing that world peace and Earth's survival were more important than the truth.

If Rorschach exposed the truth, nuclear war would erupt, and the lives lost would have been in vain.

Thus, he obliterated Rorschach with a single thought.

When the worlds merged, Doctor Manhattan appeared in the main DC universe, retaining his original essence.

He believed that those who threatened the world's existence had to be dealt with, and no accidents were allowed.

Over the years, his methods had evolved. He stole ten years from the main universe, and no one knew where that time had gone.

Only a speedster, Wally West, Barry's nephew, noticed that everyone in the universe had lost ten years, though his information was still vague.

With Wally's warning, Batman conducted an investigation in the Batcave and found something embedded in a stone: the Comedian's badge.

Bruce didn't know what the badge was for, so he kept it in the Batcave as a decoration. Despite much study, he made no progress in understanding it.

It was just an ordinary aluminum pin with a simple iron clasp on the back, painted in common colors. In Gotham, such trinkets might sell for about five cents each.

But Batman always felt that there was something unusual about this badge, though he could never figure out what.

Su Ming had a theory about the missing ten years: Doctor Manhattan likely extracted that time to create a temporal and spatial prison—an incomplete, isolated world.

A world with no heroes or villains, just a plain, peaceful world under his control.

Based on Slade's previous experiences, Su Ming suspected that he had been imprisoned there by Doctor Manhattan.

Doctor Manhattan could infinitely extend that time. If he wished, he could make those ten years last an eternity or keep resetting that period.

Perhaps Slade knew too much, and Doctor Manhattan decided to imprison him for life. Or maybe Slade carried some harmful concept that needed to be quarantined.

In any case, within the temporal prison of those ten years, Slade had lived through countless lifetimes and illusory existences.

But all of that was disrupted by Su Ming's sudden appearance.

Deathstroke had broken out of prison.

Doctor Manhattan may have noticed these changes, but for some reason, possibly considering the new Deathstroke worth observing or for other unknown reasons, he didn't confront Su Ming immediately. No one could understand his thoughts.

However, the moment Su Ming obtained the Comedian's badge, he established a direct connection with Doctor Manhattan and was promptly "invited" over.

Su Ming looked up to see numerous distant planets slowly rotating. The light in the universe was gentle but not warm. Beneath him was a golden and blue structure resembling a palace, its architectural style brimming with mathematical beauty. Every angle and slope was meticulously calculated, as if it belonged to the future.

He floated in mid-air, able to breathe freely despite being in space, all thanks to the being before him.

A giant blue-skinned man, over ten meters tall, and completely nude.

This was Doctor Manhattan, a former human who had become completely rational.

Su Ming had been prepared for this and wasn't afraid of Doctor Manhattan. His own brain was now protected by X-metal, the origin of the DC universe. Doctor Manhattan wasn't capable of penetrating it to read his thoughts.

Most importantly, Doctor Manhattan was arguably the most rational being, like a supercomputer. As long as you made sense, your safety was assured.

Su Ming casually opened the clasp on the back of the badge and pinned the smiley-face badge to the chainmail on his chest.

He did harbor thoughts of revenge against Doctor Manhattan for what Slade had suffered, but that was merely an idea, and no one else knew about it.

"Outsider."

A standard American accent echoed in his ear, as Doctor Manhattan's pale, star-like gaze fell on Su Ming.

Like Su Ming, Doctor Manhattan floated in mid-air, sitting cross-legged with a blank expression. He was the only "person" in the DC universe who never smiled.

"Doctor."

"You know of me, which suggests you may be from a higher dimension. But you've altered the course of history, shrouding the future in mist."

Su Ming smiled faintly, aware that the butterfly effect of his being a time-traveler was unavoidable. "That's not necessarily a bad thing. Nobody wants a completely certain future."

"..." Doctor Manhattan fell silent, but only for less than a second. He then nodded slowly. "Your conclusion is partially correct. I have examined the thoughts of 50 billion humans and alien beings across the universe. They do not need a certain future. Although some are drawn to fortune-telling and other forms of future prediction, these desires stem from fear of the unknown."

"Then, can you send me back to Earth? We're done here."

Su Ming toyed with the badge on his chest, subtly hinting that, like the Comedian, he had no particular allegiance—he was simply a man with a mission.

"Denied. You cannot stay in this world any longer. The World Forger, Monitor, and Anti-Monitor are all dead. I must do my best to repair it," Doctor Manhattan stated calmly, as if Su Ming had merely broken a vase and he was the forgiving host. "Before that, you must leave. You do not belong here—that is also a fact."

The Monitor is dead? What the hell?

If the DC world were a boiler, then those three were responsible for its maintenance, fuel, and waste disposal. Without them, everything would be fine as long as nothing went wrong. But if something did, there would be no one left to fix it.

"Isn't change a good thing?"

Su Ming stubbornly asked, not wanting to leave. If he left now, when would he receive his mission reward? He hadn't even had the chance to indulge in the pleasure of spending freely.

Though Slade's memories included such experiences, Su Ming had never personally enjoyed them!

Memory is a flimsy thing. Regarding past expenses, Slade hadn't cared much. He didn't become a mercenary solely for the money; it was more about satisfying his bloodlust.

So the memories were more like, "On XX day, Luthor's payment was received. On XX day, took my daughter to Burj Al Arab for seafood—was decent." That kind of thing.

Su Ming wanted to experience firsthand how Slade had come to that "decent" conclusion.

"Some believe time

is linear. Others think it is like a tree or a web. Yet you still cannot see the true nature of time. Change is not always good."

The blue figure added, leaving Su Ming somewhat puzzled.

Su Ming knew that Doctor Manhattan finding him was inevitable, but he hadn't expected it to happen so late.

"Fine, you can send me away. But can you at least let Batman pay me what he owes first?" Su Ming spread his hands and calmly said, "Debt repayment is a universal truth—that's my hard-earned money. At least let me see it."

"Currency, a human means of transaction, used to exchange material goods." Doctor Manhattan remained expressionless. "But currency cannot even circulate between different countries, so it will be useless to you once you leave. I can give you something universally valuable across any universe to sustain your life."

With that, he waved his hand, and a bag appeared in Su Ming's hand.

Opening it, Su Ming found several beautifully colored stones—red, green, all shining brilliantly from within the bag.

"Gems?"

"Energy. Only energy has universal value." Doctor Manhattan immediately explained, not "concealing" this concept.

Su Ming sighed inwardly. Oh well, patience is a virtue. When the time comes, I'll figure out how to deal with this exhibitionist.

"Since you're sending me away, can I at least choose where I'm going?" Su Ming inquired, deciding to go with the flow. He did have a place in mind.

"Reasonable."

"Good, then. The Source Wall has a breach. Can you throw me outside it?"

Su Ming wasn't sure if his speculation was correct. No one knew what lay beyond the Source Wall.

However, he and his colleagues had joked about it back in the real world, with people speculating that it led to other universes, like *Detective Conan* or *Pokémon*.

Su Ming had a different view. If there were other worlds, wouldn't they likely be other comic universes?

Of course, it was also possible that there was nothing outside the wall—just the source itself. In that case, Su Ming might end up as space debris floating in the unknown.

But now was the time to test his theory. He was willing to gamble. After all, with things like this, the probability was always fifty-fifty.

With X-metal inside him, Su Ming had a connection to the DC world. He'd find a way back.

Doctor Manhattan's original plan might have been to imprison him within that period of stolen time or send him to a specific dimension, like Limbo or the Speed Force, but Su Ming didn't intend to follow his orders. He had his own plans.

Doctor Manhattan finally entered the longest contemplation since their meeting. The strange matter beyond the Source Wall was something even he couldn't understand.

His quantum particles would be absorbed by the Source Wall.

When the wall cracked recently, he had tried to send some quantum particles outside to investigate. He even stretched time infinitely, spending hundreds of thousands of years exploring.

But some great force kept hindering him, making him naturally forget the thought. Something was stopping him.

He could sense it, but he couldn't describe it or fight against it.

What lay beyond the wall remained unknown, and so did the man before him.

Without clues, perhaps letting the unknown remain unknown was the best decision.

Without emotion and thinking differently from ordinary people, he arrived at this conclusion after various calculations.

If Su Ming wanted to leave, it meant he could be negotiated with. If Rorschach had been this compromising, Doctor Manhattan wouldn't have killed him.

But speculating about or negating past events was pointless, so he dismissed the thought.

Doctor Manhattan raised a finger, letting his actions speak instead of words.

A flash of blue light, and Su Ming vanished once more.