Chapter Text
The bullets hit him harder then he remembered, he had been shot before but the impact was stronger maybe because he was older and softer.
Cold... it was starting to get cold...
DAD!
"Owen?" He saw a shape fly by him then a dark shadow.
Was he on the floor? When... when did he fall?
It was getting so cold...
"Get it out, please get it out" Someone sobbed.
Oh... no that shape he'd seen that shape...
Batman? Why...why was Batman here?
Cold, it was so...cold but not as cold as his heart was.
Owen poor Owen.
He had just found his son again, had so much to tell him and now he'd...
Flashes of images flew through his mind: Meloni and their wedding against a purple sky constellations that were totally alien to earth, Owen being born reddishwhite and slimy but still the most beautiful thing he's ever seen, holding him for the first time his skin soft and dewy.
His rare greenish-gold eyes that Digger loved so much.
Melonis heartbroken face as she sent them back to the 21st century.
Sam and his clever smile.
Giving Owen up for adoption...
"Sorry...so...sorry" he whispered.
Then he was gone.
Though neather of the greaving men in the room heard or noticed.
Boiling... it was boiling and he couldn't breathe the godawful heat was everywhere it was red, horrible dark red.
'What? What happened?'
He could see light flickering above him kicking his legs and pumping his arms with everything he had...the pain was horrible he just had to get out.
GetoutgetoutgetoutGETOUT!
Finally breaching the surface with a gasp he started swimming to the edge he could see fire and others thrashing in the corner of his eye.
What felt like an eternity he made it, grabbing the edge and frantically pulling himself out crawling a short distance away from the edge gasping and wheezing blinking the red water out of his eyes Digger got a sudden good look at his hands.
He could see bone and what little muscle was left, It was as if the flesh had been melted off or boiled...
Heart thudding in his ears fear rising to terror he slowly looked back at the water he climbed out of.
Phlegethon the boiling river of blood.
Chaos wasn't a strong enough word to describe the horror.
Humans couldn't speak the language that could anyway.
Dark fires flared up on the edges of the river as lava like blood bubbled and exploded without rhythm, rapid boiling bubbles burst and the poor bastards in the river shrieked, wailed and screamed as they boiled swaths of skin dragged along the with the current.
Then the assault on his senses began, the horrific sounds of billions of people being tortured, the people screaming as they fell from the blackened sky some landing in the river others landing on the sharp stalagmites howling and they slid down clutching at their ruined guts,the crunching of bones, the ripping of flesh, the smell of rancid blood and shit and gore filled the air like a nauseating miasma, the sticky blood glued to his skin and the neverending volcanic heat.
His hands were healed now, you healed fast here if only so you could be tortured more.
He knew where he was.
He had been here before.
"Hello Georgie Porgie Pie"
Whipping around in shock George laid eyes on someone he never thought he'd see again.
Samuel Joseph Scudder.
"Welcome back to hell".