Chapter Summaries

Wanda began butler training with Alfred at Wayne Manor, where she learned her role required duty, loyalty, and broad skills in service of the Prince family. Meanwhile, Xi Nian encountered the Ancient One in Washington, who told him she had come to see him.

• Wanda arrived at Wayne Manor and met Alfred Pennyworth, whom Diana had arranged to teach her.
• Alfred explained the Prince family's status and told Wanda she did not need to lower her head to others.
• Alfred taught Wanda that a butler needed a sense of duty, including anticipating a master's needs and guiding them when necessary.
• Wanda resolved to devote herself to Xi Nian, and Alfred listed the subjects she would study before revealing that he had purchased her school to arrange instructors there.
• In Washington, the Ancient One approached Xi Nian, addressed him by name, and told him he was the person she had come to meet.

Ancient One revealed that she was the Sorcerer Supreme and invited Xi Nian to visit Kamar-Taj, where he watched the sanctum’s sorcerers practice magic. Xi Nian became interested in learning spells as Ancient One offered to teach him.

• Ancient One drew Xi Nian and Little Huang into the Mirror Dimension and explained that she wanted to invite him to Kamar-Taj.
• At Xi Nian’s request, Little Huang attacked Ancient One, who knocked the souls of Little Huang and Venom out of their bodies.
• Xi Nian accepted Ancient One’s invitation, and she opened a portal that led them to Kamar-Taj in Kathmandu.
• Master Mordo recognized Ancient One’s presence in the Mirror Dimension and led the sorcerers at the training ground back to their practice.
• Xi Nian watched the sorcerers conjure magical shields, whips, and portals, and Ancient One offered to teach him.

Xi Nian declined the Ancient One’s offer to study magic after learning it would take him a hundred years to master the teleportation spell, but discovered Wanda could learn a thousand times faster. He returned home and praised Wanda for her hard work after she came back from her lessons in a striking red dress.

• The Ancient One offered to teach Xi Nian magic, but he refused the duties of a Kamar-Taj sorcerer until she offered him an exception and told him it would take a hundred years and one day to learn teleportation.
• Xi Nian asked whether he could give his place to Wanda, and the Ancient One said Wanda had a thousand times more potential than he did.
• Xi Nian appeared at a Washington intersection and spotted Barry Allen talking happily with a Black girl, so he chose not to interrupt them.
• Xi Nian returned home with groceries, fed Little Huang, and waited for the household to return.
• Wanda came home from her lessons in a vivid red dress, told Xi Nian she had worked hard, and received his praise as he gently stroked her hair.

Xi Nian spent the evening with Wanda and Diana before a mysterious fire at the Amazon Temple revealed a warning from Themyscira. He and Wonder Woman flew to Crete to investigate the burning ruins.

• Wanda wore a red maid dress, shared cheesecake with Xi Nian, and went to bathe while Diana returned home.
• Xi Nian kissed Diana after asking to begin their nightly homework early.
• Wanda rejoined Xi Nian and Diana, and the three watched television together.
• A news report showed the Amazon Temple in Crete burning, and Diana recognized the blaze as a warning from Themyscira.
• After Wanda went to bed, Wonder Woman changed into her heroic attire, and she and Xi Nian agreed to investigate the temple.
• Xi Nian and Wonder Woman landed among the burning temple ruins while local authorities fought the fire.

Wonder Woman and Xi Nian discovered an ancient record revealing Darkseid’s invasion of Earth and the three Mother Boxes. With Themyscira’s Mother Box apparently taken, Wonder Woman planned to assemble the Justice League and prepare for the Apokolips forces, while Xi Nian offered to fight beside her.

• Wonder Woman explained that her mother had used the Arrow of Artemis to ignite the temple beacon as a warning.
• Wonder Woman and Xi Nian entered a sealed underground chamber and found murals describing an ancient war and three Mother Boxes.
• Wonder Woman revealed that Darkseid had once tried to use the Mother Boxes to conquer Earth, but Earth’s defenders had driven him away.
• Wonder Woman said the three Mother Boxes had been entrusted to human powers, Atlantis, and the Amazons, and Xi Nian realized Apokolips forces had likely taken the Amazon box.
• Wonder Woman planned to recruit two allies for the Justice League, and Xi Nian insisted he would fight with her.

After Little Huang unexpectedly transformed Xi Nian into the Tri-Symbiotic Form, Xi Nian struggled to retain his humanity and learned that Little Huang had sensed Starro’s location. He agreed to help Little Huang find it.

• Black Widow left Director Fury’s office after reporting that Xi Nian was an ordinary human, while concealing his ability to increase others’ favorable impressions of him.
• Xi Nian considered using Aunt Diana’s Demigod Physique to counter the Tri-Symbiotic Form’s corrupting effects and resolved to protect her if the Apocalypse faction attacked.
• Little Huang bit Xi Nian, triggering Lord of Kin and causing him to merge with the symbiotes and transform into a Black Cat.
• Xi Nian regained enough control to question Little Huang, who revealed that it had suddenly sensed Starro’s location and wanted Xi Nian’s help finding it.

Tony Stark learned that Black Flash was heading toward Codomatis, where the Starfish Project was being conducted, and ordered Jarvis to rush-build an Anti-Black Flash suit. Black Flash arrived on the island as Tri-Symbiotic Xi Nian in Black Cat form, sensing a murderous aura.

• Pepper Potts urged Tony Stark to rest after days of nonstop work, but Stark focused on developing Iron Suits with Doctor Banner.
• Jarvis detected Black Flash speeding across the Atlantic toward Codomatis, where General Silvio Luna ruled after an armed rebellion.
• Jarvis revealed that Codomatis housed the Jotunheim facility and its Starfish Project, and that Amanda Waller had sent Task Force X to address the threat.
• Stark ordered Jarvis to rush-build the experimental Anti-Black Flash suit.
• Tri-Symbiotic Xi Nian raced across the sea in Black Cat form and reached Codomatis, where he sensed a murderous aura.

Xi Nian, in Black Cat form, reached the island and found the aftermath of a massacre before encountering Task Force X in the rainforest. Black Cat overwhelmed the team’s strongest fighter and survived their attacks, while Amanda Waller recognized it as the SSS+ danger-rated Black Flash.

• Xi Nian arrived on the island’s beach and found the remains of a brutal battle, with no survivors in sight.
• Xi Nian discovered a humanoid weasel-like creature alive on the shore.
• Amanda Waller ordered Task Force X, a team of armed convicts, to continue toward Jotunheim under threat of their implanted bombs.
• The shark-like monster charged Black Cat, and Black Cat struck it flying through several trees.
• Task Force X attacked Black Cat, but its body deflected bullets and resisted energy blasts.
• Amanda Waller ordered the team to stop firing and identified Black Cat as Black Flash, a being with an SSS+ danger rating.

Xi Nian, in the form of a black kitten, subdued Task Force X in the rainforest and learned that they were sent to destroy the Starfish Project at Jotunheim. He suspected the project was connected to the Starro that Little Huang was seeking.

• Xi Nian forced Task Force X to surrender, and Shark King fawned on him as the Cat Boss.
• Xi Nian questioned the team and destroyed their miniature devices, cutting off Amanda Waller’s surveillance and communications.
• Robert Dubois introduced himself and explained that Task Force X was a squad of convicted felons deployed by Amanda Waller.
• Xi Nian learned the identities and unusual abilities of the team’s members, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Second Generation Rat Catcher, Polka-Dot Man, and Nanawe.
• Xi Nian learned that Task Force X was headed to Jotunheim to eliminate the Starfish Project and suspected it was connected to Starro.

Xi Nian let Task Force X continue its mission while riding on King Shark’s head, then seized a rebel military helicopter to give the team faster transport. After Task Force X slaughtered the soldiers aboard, Captain Robert found a woman stuffed in a sack, leaving her identity unknown.

• Xi Nian joined Task Force X as the team’s Cat Boss, and Second Generation Rat Catcher explained that the local rats had fled from him.
• Xi Nian grew impatient with the team’s slow trek toward the capital and Jotunheim, then spotted a rebel military helicopter overhead.
• Xi Nian used his tail to drag the helicopter down and his dark tentacles to steady it before flinging it onto a clearing.
• Task Force X rushed the helicopter and killed the rebel soldiers inside.
• Captain Robert found a woman stuffed in a sack in the helicopter cabin.

Captain Robert’s team rescued Harley Quinn and headed for the rebel-occupied capital in a captured helicopter. As dawn broke, the helicopter approached the leader’s residence but lurched toward the rooftop landing platform instead of slowing down.

• Captain Robert found Harley Quinn alive inside a sack after the team defeated the rebel soldiers in the helicopter.
• Harley Quinn introduced herself to Task Force X and asked how they had brought down the helicopter.
• Harley Quinn treated Xi Nian like a pet and pressed the black kitten against herself, while King Shark Nanawe grumbled about her taking his place.
• Captain Robert said he could fly the helicopter, and the team set off for the capital.
• At dawn, rebel soldiers tried to guide the helicopter onto the residence rooftop, but it lurched toward them without slowing.

Task Force X crashed into General Silvio Luna’s mansion and launched an attack on the rebel forces. Harley Quinn killed Silvio and changed into a dress while Xi Nian watched in his black cat form.

• Captain Robert and Peacemaker landed on the roof as their helicopter crashed and exploded, drawing the rebels’ attention.
• King Shark caught Cleo Kazoo and Harley Quinn, while Polka-Dot Man fell into a fountain and died.
• King Shark charged into the rebel soldiers in the courtyard, and Cleo left with her rat to use her abilities elsewhere.
• Harley entered the mansion, shot a squad of rebel soldiers, and confronted General Silvio Luna.
• Harley shot Silvio, then began changing into the red dress as Xi Nian watched from a table.

Task Force X captured the Thinker and reached Jotunheim, where Xi Nian discovered that the face-hugging starfish were not the Starro Little Huang sought. The chapter ended with the team seeing a gigantic starfish monster imprisoned behind glass.

• Xi Nian marked Harley's new red dress and skin with black paw prints before they joined Captain Robert, Peacemaker, and Shark King in the courtyard.
• Cleo Kazoo returned with the Thinker as a hostage, and Captain Robert ordered him to lead the team into Jotunheim.
• Task Force X drove through Jotunheim's gates, fought their way inside, and forced the Thinker to open the facility.
• Xi Nian identified the starfish attached to two test subjects as not quite the Starro Little Huang was seeking.
• A giant tentacle struck the laboratory glass, revealing an enormous imprisoned starfish monster.

Tony Stark prepared Anti-Black Flash Armor while, at Jotunheim, Xi Nian shattered the glass holding Starro. The events stirred memories for Nick Fury, who recognized Starro in an old photograph from more than twenty years earlier.

• Tony Stark ordered Jarvis to bring him the Anti-Black Flash Armor, hoping to capture the Black Cat that had defeated his armor before.
• The Thinker revealed that the American government had funded the Starfish Project and offered Harley Quinn an archive chip as evidence.
• Peacemaker demanded that Harley give him the chip, while Captain Robert and Second Generation Rat Catcher tried to calm them.
• Xi Nian struck the reinforced glass in his Black Cat form, cracking the wall and threatening to free Starro.
• Nick Fury looked at an old group photograph showing a starfish beside an orange cat and recalled that more than twenty years had passed.

Xi Nian’s rampage helped Starro escape the collapsing Jotunheim Research Institute, while Harley’s mysterious cat-paw mark infected Peacemaker with a deadly venom. As Starro overwhelmed the rebel forces, Xi Nian landed on its head and addressed it.

• Starro dragged Gaius Graves into the prison space and tore apart the research institute as Task Force X fled.
• General Mateosu ordered the rebel soldiers to surround the institute and shoot anything that emerged.
• Peacemaker tried to take the chip from Harley, but her cat-paw mark transferred to his hand and poisoned him until he fell away.
• The cat-paw mark returned to Harley’s neck, where it remained as an unremovable curse tied to Xi Nian’s Tri-Symbiotic Form.
• Starro emerged from the collapsing institute and unleashed tiny starfishes that incapacitated the rebel soldiers and General Mateosu.
• Xi Nian landed on Starro’s head and addressed it.

Tri-Symbiotic Xi Nian fought Starro after the monster mistook him for an enemy, then swallowed Starro and placed it in his Energy Absorption Space. As Xi Nian began to wonder about Little Huang’s past, a platinum-armored Iron Man arrived.

• Starro grew larger, attacked Xi Nian, and warned him to leave the city as Task Force X members escaped the ruined facility.
• Xi Nian struck Starro down, then was surrounded and engulfed by Starro’s miniature starfish and jellyfish-like creatures.
• Xi Nian burst free, restrained Starro with dark tendrils, and swallowed the colossal monster into his Energy Absorption Space.
• Xi Nian wondered how Little Huang had devoured so many aliens and recognized Starro before a platinum-armored Iron Man landed before him.

Tony Stark arrived in the Anti-Black Flash Armor and attacked Tri-Symbiotic Xi Nian after Xi Nian devoured Starro. The chapter ended with Tony freezing Xi Nian inside a thick shell of ice.

• Xi Nian devoured Starro as Task Force X watched from a distance.
• Tony Stark descended in his white-and-gold Anti-Black Flash Armor, and Xi Nian chose to fight him instead of leaving.
• Xi Nian rushed Tony, but the armor’s engines let Tony evade his claw strike despite the strain on its power and components.
• Tony used his armored punch as a feint, then sprayed high-density tear gas over Xi Nian and the ruins.
• Xi Nian swallowed the tear gas, but Tony fired a cooling laser and liquid nitrogen, freezing Xi Nian and the surrounding ground under a thick layer of ice.

Tony Stark’s attempts to stop Tri-Symbiotic Xi Nian failed, and Xi Nian lost control as his dark power overwhelmed Iron Man. Stark deployed the Hulkbuster Armor, but Xi Nian proved stronger and began tearing it apart.

• Tony Stark froze the Black Cat, but Xi Nian broke free and blasted him away before Iron Man engulfed him in flames.
• Xi Nian emerged from the fire unharmed, lost control, and used countless tendrils to bind Iron Man and smash him into the research facility ruins.
• Jarvis urged Stark not to give up, and Stark activated Backup Device Number Two to deliver the Hulkbuster Armor and trap Xi Nian temporarily.
• Stark rose in the Hulkbuster Armor and punched Xi Nian, but Xi Nian matched his strength, pounced on the suit, and began crushing and devouring its armor plates.

Xi Nian defeated Iron Man in his Tri-Symbiotic Form, freed Task Force X from their implanted bombs, and vanished as the form expired. He teleported back to his home bathtub, where Diana and Wanda were showering, and Wanda screamed when she saw him.

• Iron Man escaped after Xi Nian destroyed most of the Hulkbuster Armor and defeated his Anti-Black Flash Armor.
• Xi Nian devoured the Hulkbuster wreckage and used his tentacles to remove and neutralize the miniature bombs inside Harley Quinn, Cleo Kazoo, Captain Robert, King Shark, and the black-furred rat.
• As the Tri-Symbiotic Form ran out, Xi Nian felt himself slip into the void and vanished before Harley Quinn could reach him.
• Xi Nian and the Essence Devourer Cub returned to their original forms, and Xi Nian found himself in his home bathtub.
• Diana calmly told Wanda that someone had come back, and Wanda screamed when she saw Xi Nian beside her.

Xi Nian returned home after a chaotic day and slipped into Diana’s bed to tell her about Starro, Iron Man, and the criminals he had freed. Diana advised him to wear a Guardian Silver Bracelet and act more cautiously, and Xi Nian asked Little Huang to release one of Starro’s clones so they could question it.

• Wanda prepared Xi Nian Italian noodles, but she and Diana ignored his hints that he wanted company in bed.
• Xi Nian carried Little Huang and his pillow to Diana’s room, while Wanda later entered his empty room looking for him.
• Xi Nian told Diana about the Essence Devourer Cub’s request, Starro, Harley Quinn, Iron Man, and the four criminals he had freed from Dream Prison.
• Diana gave Xi Nian a Guardian Silver Bracelet and warned him to control his unstable Tri-Symbiotic Form; she planned to have Batman watch the escaped criminals.
• Xi Nian asked Little Huang to release a Starro clone so he and Diana could talk to it.