Second Chance [1] [Complete]

Chapter 20: The Truth About Earth-76

Third Person Perspective

Why the truth hurts so much?

Earth-38

We're right where we left off previously, Ben is going to tell the truth about earth-76, about what you really happened.

Kara: What's the truth, Ben?

Alex: What happened to Earth-76?

Ben took a deep breath and he closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them.

Ben: On my earth, heroes weren't just vigilantes, after the government found out there were so many heroes, they called us in. Told us we could either work with them or against them. Some heroes agreed, some didn't. Eventually those that didn't, joined us, but in the beginning, that wasn't always the case.

Ben goes to the table and picks up the flash drive.

Ben: All throughout my Central City, there were cameras, every time something recorded it'd go to this flash drive.

Ben held up the flash drive.

Ben: Years went by, heroes were loved not just by people but by the government. Our government actually listened to the people, there wasn't corruption or blackmail. Our president made it his mission to listen to the people of the world.

Jonn: Sounds like heaven, all things considered.

Ben: Yeah, you'd think so. But...eventually the flash and I found out it was a cover. The flash and I found out the government were secretly aliens in disguise.

Kara: Aliens?

Ben: Some say they were always there, while some say they had just arrived. Eventually the heroes of the world came together and put an end to the aliens and finally our government was free.

Memories started to flood Bens mind as he began to remember earth-76.

Ben: A year later, something arrived. A man....or an alien. No one knew who he is. No one knew what he was.

Alex: Who?

Ben: They called him darkseid.

Irma's eyes lit up hearing that name. She's heard rumors of a powerful being who hid in the shadows.

Irma: But he's a myth. A legend.

Kara: You've heard of him?

Irma: Yeah. I used to hear rumors of a man who wanted to control everything. He destroyed planets, he killed just for the thrill. He made monsters under the bed look like fairytales. I just thought he was a legend.

Ben: Darkseid was no legend nor myth. He was real. Realer than you or me. He attacked, he slaughtered, he could make you feel as though you were already dead.

Ben started to think about the destruction Darkseid caused.

Ben: You see, I don't hide what happened to earth-76 because I'm some big bad hiding in the shadows. I hide it because the things I saw are things you could only see in your nightmares. I seen heroes beg for their lives, I seen the very people who swore justice fall to their knees as Darkseid took over.

Ben looked at Kara with noticeable pain in his eyes.

Ben: I seen Darkseid make Superman beg for his life to end.

Kara: Clark?

Ben: Clark stood a foot away from me as he begged Darkseid to be put him out of his misery. If a man like that can make the man of steel beg for his life, for the very thing that made him whole, what do you think Darkseid could do to a normal hero like Batman who would beg for his life?