I Hate Myself (Superhero Black Hole, part 110)

As if it was on my behalf, Zoe did a double-take, gaping first at Al, then at me, then back to Al again. I would've done likewise if I weren't frozen with shock.

Zoe took over speaking duties. "Seeing as he's an iceberg now, I'll ask: _why_ did you do that, Al?"

Al spoke while still staring at me with those strange, unblinking eyes of his. "Because the You that I know from 1.5 millenia from Now needed me to."

I heard Al say this, but Zoe still had to speak for me. "So..._Future_ Him got you to not only make a _Past_ Him, but a _parallel universe_ version of a Past Him, tell _this_ Him nothing about the parallel universes that I assume you wound up telling those other Hims about?" After struggling through all that, Zoe exhaled heavily in exasperation at the mind-twisting/time-twisting logic.

"Correct," said Al.

"And why did Future Him get you to make those Hims do that to Present Him," Zoe asked.

_Ka_...

"Because he could not know that he would be placed in a universe that was not his own."

_BOOM!_