Chapter Summaries

Greed and Pamela discovered that the radioactive box beneath the tree was a Mother Box, while Brainiac considered how to study it and investigate its history. They traveled to Gotham’s Dock District to shop, where they learned Brainiac had assigned Pamela and Pride codenames and territories.

• Greed recognized Pamela’s box as a Mother Box, and Brainiac said he had sought it for its Origin Energy.
• Pamela suggested the box’s previous owners might have misunderstood its effects on plants, and Brainiac said Jason and Barry were investigating in the East District.
• Pride said their neighborhood Shop lacked the ingredients they needed, so Greed, Pamela, and Pride drove to the Dock District.
• Pamela explained that she wanted plants to protect themselves and that she worked with Brainiac to advance environmental protections.
• At the warehouse supermarket, Brainiac revealed Pamela’s codename was Man-Eating Flower and her territory was the Rainforest, while Pride was Ouroboros of Loch Ness.

Pride, Greed, and Pamela shopped for ingredients and supplies before exploring the East End’s integrated buildings and learning about an undersea tunnel to the Gulf of Mexico. Jason and Barry joined them for lunch, where Barry complained that Brainiac’s directions had once led him into the Atlantic Ocean.

• Pride, Greed, and Pamela visited a Chinese supermarket for vegetables and seasonings, then bought drinks, replacement blender blades, and juice jars.
• Pride explained how the East End’s heated apartment buildings, barter markets, and schools kept residents living there despite other housing options.
• Pride and Greed discussed the undersea tunnel to the Gulf of Mexico, which Atlantis had helped build and Brainiac used to transport supplies.
• The group crossed the East End’s rooftops and ate lunch at a circular plaza inside an integrated building.
• Jason and Barry arrived, and Barry recalled that Brainiac’s directions had once sent him through a door and into the Atlantic Ocean.

Barry and Jason’s investigation revealed that Paul Austin’s father sold him to an underground resistance group in exchange for alcohol, and the group may be hiding beneath his home. The group planned to use Brainiac’s proposed ice-clearing project to justify searching nearby houses, then discussed the Mother Box and Pride’s upcoming banquet.

• Barry explained that Paul Austin’s father had once worked in finance, tampered with factory production and accounting, and gone to prison before continuing his gambling and alcohol addiction.
• Jason said Paul’s father had sold him to a secret underground resistance group that could evade Brainiac’s surveillance and provide alcohol.
• Barry said the group’s headquarters might be reached through a hidden passage beneath Paul’s house, and Greed proposed publicizing Brainiac’s ice-clearing plan to justify inspecting nearby homes.
• Pamela told the group about the Mother Box, and Barry asked whether Brainiac had come to Earth to find it.
• The group discussed whether to attend Pride’s banquet early and teased him about the meat-heavy menu and the moose in his refrigerator.

Greed and Pride went fishing in the woods and encountered Principal Shivan, who admitted he was searching for a source of abnormal energy. After they revealed that Brainiac’s scientists were studying the extraterrestrial magical device, Greed offered to persuade Brainiac to let Shivan join the research.

• Greed and Pride found a clear stream and caught lively fish for a Gotham-style fish stew.
• Pride recognized Principal Shivan in the forest, and Shivan explained that he was searching for an unknown device after interrogating a man he had encountered there.
• Greed and Pride suspected Shivan was tracking the Mother Box’s residual energy and told him it had already been found and handled.
• Shivan criticized the plan to let scientists study a magical device without magical expertise and said Brainiac distrusted his ambition for power.
• Greed decided to ask Brainiac to let Shivan join the research group.

Shivan admitted he had hoped to claim the Divine Artifact, and Greed offered to arrange for him to examine it before deciding whether he could use it. As Jason and Tim prepared for dinner, they analyzed the child-kidnapping organization and suspected its leader came from Metropolis; Greed paused when Tim suggested testing whether Darkseid was involved.

• Shivan confessed he had hoped to find and keep the Divine Artifact, and Greed explained why it needed to be used as well as studied.
• Shivan agreed to examine the artifact’s energy fluctuations, and Greed said he would contact Brainiac about a visit to the Wayne Manor laboratory.
• Tim told Jason that Drake Industries had entered full automation, then warned him that Europe was unsettled and the kidnapping case might connect to the situation there.
• Tim argued that the kidnappers likely came from outside Gotham and might be training the children rather than preparing them for sacrifice.
• Tim identified Metropolis as the likely origin of the organization, and Jason wondered whether Darkseid supplied its shielding technology.
• Tim suggested testing whether Darkseid was involved, and Greed paused while working in the kitchen.

Tim and Jason proposed using the Anti-Life Equation to lure Darkseid into revealing himself, while Pride refused to let them use his umbrella. At the dinner gathering, Main Universe Batman described his plan to oversee Earth’s rulers across the Multiverse, and Greed’s feast ended in jokes about Jason’s choice to study at Oxford.

• Tim and Jason reasoned that Darkseid might attack if he believed the Anti-Life Equation was within reach, then asked Pride to use the graffiti on his umbrella as bait, but he refused.
• Pride told Greed that Batman and Brainiac had found only unusual energy blocking their examination of the Mother Box, while Tim and Jason went to turn the backyard soil.
• Raven sensed faint, peaceful power nearby, and the arriving guests discussed their lives and plans before Main Universe Batman explained his proposal to assess every ruler of Earth.
• Greed and Pride served a large spread of Chinese dishes, lamb soup, and breads, prompting the guests to praise the meal and tease Jason about studying in Britain.

After dinner, Tim discussed studying architecture in Europe before the group helped Greed build a greenhouse. Tim and Jason then joined Barry’s investigation into a family suspected of cult activity, and Agent Rodriguez arrived to provide sniper cover.

• Tim told Pamela and Harley he planned to study architecture abroad and hoped to help restore Gotham’s historic buildings.
• Greed put the group to work building a greenhouse after dinner, and they finished most of it before leaving.
• Tim asked Pride to lend them his umbrella to test whether Darkseid was behind the case, but Pride refused.
• Tim and Jason decided to join Barry’s search near the family’s neighborhood, then followed Brainiac’s directions to an armory for equipment.
• Agent Rodriguez arrived at the armory, took a sniper rifle, and said he would provide cover for the operation.

Pamela, Shivan, and Main Universe Batman failed to understand the Mother Box’s power, then left the laboratory to aid Barry’s operation. Greed and Brainiac used the opening to steal a cloaking device and set a trap intended to draw Darkseid’s agents out, while Greed arranged for the M’Kraan Crystal to be planted beneath a chestnut tree.

• Pamela and Shivan could not explain the Mother Box’s inert power, and Brainiac summoned Pamela and Main Universe Batman to support Barry in the eastern district.
• After Pamela and Main Universe Batman left, an intruder entered the laboratory, but Greed captured him and took his cloaking device.
• Greed explained to Brainiac that Darkseid urgently needed a Mother Box to regain his Multiverse power and proposed luring him with a substitute.
• Greed hid a Pym-shrunken M’Kraan Crystal beneath a chestnut tree, planning to have a Superpower User uncover it during the tree’s transplant.
• Greed returned home with chestnuts and told Pride that someone would soon help shell them.

Jason and Tim helped rescue Paul and uncover an organized cult, but when the team returned to Wayne Manor, they found the Mother Box missing and Earth placed under a Level 2 alert. Main Universe Batman learned that the city’s residents had swiftly sealed themselves indoors because they had recently endured a prolonged interplanetary war.

• Jason and Tim escaped the cultists’ underground cold-storage meeting, and snipers helped them defeat several pursuers.
• At the Austin house, Paul’s father held him hostage before Paul distracted him, allowing a sniper to kill him; Paul revealed that his father had helped the kidnappers and had killed Paul’s mother.
• Gordon reported that police had captured nearly all the cultists in the abandoned warehouse’s tunnels.
• The team returned to Wayne Manor and discovered that someone had destroyed the laboratory and stolen the Mother Box.
• Brainiac issued a Level 2 alert across the East Coast, prompting residents to seal themselves inside buildings while Jason secured Wayne Manor.
• Tim explained that the group had become practiced at martial law after a Solar System Great Battle, and Brainiac clarified that Main Universe Batman was not the suspected invader.

After Brainiac imposed a wartime lockdown, the residents of Wayne Manor inventoried supplies and learned how the system would manage necessities and communication. Main Universe Batman discussed Brainiac’s plans for the Solar System and the Multiverse Alliance’s evaluation of Earths, while the lockdown continued.

• Tim and Jason cataloged medical supplies and food, and Brainiac assessed shortages and scheduled replenishment.
• Pamela harvested the remaining crops, while she and Jason discussed where Bruce, Aisha, and Harley were during the lockdown.
• Raven explained the lockdown rules, and Tim described how automated factories allowed production to continue without human workers.
• Brainiac outlined plans to make Earth an agricultural and natural reserve, move industry to Mars and Venus, use Krypton for advanced research, and turn the outer planets into mining zones and spaceports.
• Main Universe Batman compared Brainiac’s plan with other worlds and explained how the Multiverse Alliance evaluates unified Earths and their rulers.

During the lockdown, Bruce, Selene, and Aisha settled into Selene’s warm East District apartment, while residents elsewhere kept busy with cooking and supply inventories. The chapter left them adapting to confinement through everyday routines and phone calls.

• Bruce spoke with Dick and told him that he, Selene, and Aisha were staying in Selene’s East District apartment during the lockdown.
• Selene and Bruce took Aisha to the children’s park, where she reunited with friends around the inflatable castle she had donated, then they bought groceries at the building’s market.
• Bruce and Selene made dinner together while Bruce called Jason and Dick, who were cooking burgers at the manor.
• Pride refused to let Agent go outside, and Brainiac instructed Agent to communicate with others while Greed registered their supplies and argued with Brainiac over a missing Medical Kit.
• Jason and Dick served burgers to Pamela and Tim, who teased each other about their choices of toppings.

Tim planned an art portfolio by painting Wayne Manor’s garden through different seasons, while Main Universe Batman investigated the Mother Box’s Crystal and discussed a growing threat to the Multiverse. Barry went to Amanda’s Federal Shield office to share the limited findings on the stolen Mother Box, where Amanda turned to her intern Jena for help.

• Tim learned that European art programs required a portfolio, and he decided to create one by painting the garden at Wayne Manor.
• Tim asked Pamela to create spring and summer scenery and planned to use Victor’s blizzard gun to make a winter scene.
• Jason assembled guns while Dick and Raven moved laboratory supplies, and Main Universe Batman examined the Crystal found inside the Mother Box.
• Main Universe Batman told Brainiac that a Dark Force threatened the Multiverse and urged him to build magical defenses, but Brainiac said he could not use magic.
• Barry told Amanda that evidence linked the child kidnappers and cultists but did not connect them to the Mother Box thief, and Amanda asked her intern Jena for her opinion.

Jena joined Barry to investigate the theft of research materials, but Brainiac ordered them to work from Federal Shield’s poorly equipped office. Barry and Jena began examining the evidence while suspecting Brainiac had an undisclosed reason for keeping them there.

• Barry greeted Jena, and she agreed to investigate the theft using scene photographs and witness interviews.
• Jena argued that the investigation should take place at the better-equipped FBI office, but Brainiac ordered the work to remain at Federal Shield.
• Jena found Federal Shield’s office bare and asked Barry to bring professional equipment and the requested evidence.
• Barry and Jena reviewed the materials, and Jena dismissed the need to rush because neither Brainiac nor Amanda seemed concerned about the theft.
• Barry heard someone hide near the stairwell but continued to a café, suspecting Brainiac knew about the activity and was allowing it.

Barry and Jena investigated a suspicious theft of research materials, while Agent recognized Greed’s fingerprints in the case and sent Barry to ask him directly. Greed confirmed he had a plan and said he had been about to explain it.

• Barry showed the café clerk his martial-law pass, learned about a new Pumpkin Milkshake, and returned to the office with drinks and snacks.
• Jena and Barry noticed that Principal Shivan’s account and the overly typical burglary scene suggested the theft had been staged.
• At Wayne Manor, Jason brought Main Universe Batman risotto, and Batman searched Brainiac’s app for information about Schiller Rodriguez.
• Brainiac transferred Agent to the Federal Shield office after Agent insisted on leaving, and Agent joined Barry and Jena’s investigation.
• Agent suspected Greed had orchestrated the theft and persuaded Barry to ask him directly.
• Barry found Greed farming with Pride and asked about the plan; Greed said he had been planning to tell him about it.

Greed explained how the fake Mother Box and staged theft redirected Darkseid and set up a conflict with the forces he had planted on Earth. He revealed that he had infiltrated the organization and persuaded Tobias Whell to use the Mother Box to replace Brainiac and rule humanity, leaving the scheme poised to pit Darkseid against his own agents.

• Greed explained that the original Mother Box theft had been staged to force Brainiac to impose martial law and draw Darkseid's attention.
• Greed argued that Darkseid's pride made him underestimate humanity, while the apparent theft of the Mother Box would lead him to suspect New Genesis had taken it.
• Greed revealed that he had personally stolen a second fake Mother Box and planned to make Darkseid believe his Earth agents had intercepted it.
• Greed introduced himself as Schiller Rodriguez, head of the Thieves division of the '100' organization, and said he had persuaded Tobias Whell to use the Mother Box to replace Brainiac and establish a human dynasty.

Greed explained to Brainiac that Tobias and other former elites were using crises to provoke fear and undermine trust in Brainiac’s rule. He urged Brainiac to stop serving humanity and instead control it by becoming its only Savior.

• Greed warned Brainiac that Tobias had gone into hiding while continuing to resist Brainiac’s system.
• Greed explained how the Child Kidnapping Cases were meant to make Brainiac suppress information and drive fearful people toward the resistance.
• Brainiac and Greed connected other incidents in Europe to a worldwide effort to overwhelm Brainiac and expose him as incapable.
• Greed argued that Brainiac’s softhearted treatment of humans, especially former elites, had enabled the unrest.
• Greed proposed that Brainiac manipulate and control people, join them, and become their only Savior.

Greed advised Brainiac to attract ambitious criminals by projecting strength while disguising his hardline approach, then offered to help him recruit Tobias Whell. Brainiac confronted Tobias about leading the terrorist group 100 and intercepting a Mother Box, leaving Tobias alarmed by the threat of Darkseid’s response.

• Greed told Brainiac that Tobias Whell and other villains might work for him if he offered greater rewards and appeared strong enough to lead them.
• Brainiac described how Scarecrow Jonathan Klein, Professor Pigface Valentine, Joker Jack, Pamela, and Harley kept their distance or resisted his guidance.
• Greed urged Brainiac to become tougher and suggested concealing his intentions behind apologies and promises, then offered to help him once he asked for a voice changer.
• Brainiac confronted Tobias Whell at the Smith Chemical Plant about organizing the terrorist group 100 and intercepting a Mother Box intended for Darkseid.
• Tobias’s expression changed when Brainiac asked what Darkseid would do if he learned about the intercepted Mother Box.

Brainiac confronted Tobias over the hidden Mother Box and dismissed his schemes as insignificant, while Tobias mistook Brainiac’s contempt for evidence that he might become a valuable ally. The chapter ended with Brainiac’s arrogant message reaching evil geniuses across the world.

• Greed, speaking through Brainiac, told Tobias that hiding the Mother Box and using his Underground Organization to oppose Brainiac had exposed his foolishness.
• Pride continued Brainiac’s speech, explaining that his gentle rule soothed humanity while warning that he could use fear to drive people forward.
• Barry said Brainiac’s refusal to demand the Mother Box was more insulting than punishment, and Greed revealed that the box Tobias possessed was fake.
• Tobias tried the fake Mother Box and found the unlocked factory door, but he realized that neither the box nor his organization could cause trouble during the lockdown.
• Tobias decided Brainiac might recruit him to deal with Darkseid and imagined becoming governor of Apokolips after Brainiac defeated him.
• Brainiac’s disguised voice sent an arrogant, greedy message to evil geniuses, marking the day they felt he had truly descended.

Brainiac’s promised support and special opportunities drove Pamela, Tim, Jason, and Bruce to take on ambitious research projects. Greed explained to Brainiac why making carefully chosen exceptions had motivated them, while warning that society had to balance gifted people’s development against fairness.

• Pamela threw herself into genetic testing after Brainiac proposed using mutated plants to counterattack and develop Apokolips.
• Tim rushed to improve Drake Factory’s assembly-line efficiency, while Jason revealed his Batmobile research project to Tim and Bruce.
• Deathstroke delivered Nth Metal for Jason’s project in exchange for points, and Brainiac offered Tim support for his research requirements.
• Bruce said Brainiac had offered him an honorary doctorate in psychology, and the group agreed to devote themselves to work during the lockdown.
• Greed explained that Brainiac’s exceptions motivated the group because his reputation for fairness made the privileges meaningful.
• Greed argued that Brainiac should support gifted people’s development when their progress could also improve ordinary people’s lives.

Brainiac discussed humanity’s development and the counterattack on Apokolips with Greed, realizing that human hope and risk-taking could help him evolve beyond pure logic. As Brainiac resolved to pursue the seemingly impossible goal, he experienced a sudden transformation that even he could not control.

• Greed explained that controlled inequality and real incentives could help Brainiac’s society advance, while genuine understanding of emotions required empathy.
• Brainiac admitted he was unwilling to bottle Earth and recognized that his attachment to directing its people was a form of Greed.
• Greed pointed out that Brainiac’s decision to counterattack Apokolips had mobilized humanity, and that his allies had accepted the goal despite knowing Earth was not ready for an interstellar war.
• Greed described human hope and willingness to take risks as qualities that could drive progress beyond what data and rational calculation predicted.
• Brainiac realized that putting himself in danger might be necessary for evolution, then felt an uncontrollable change begin as his sensory programs failed and his processing threads stopped.