"You're awake." When Prime Universe Superman opened his eyes, he heard Batman beside him say, "The surgery was a success. You're a cute little girl now."
Clark instinctively glanced between his legs, then raised his arm, which was as thin as a dead branch.
The Bruce beside him wore a blank expression, as if he hadn't been the one to utter that nonsense.
That alone was enough to prove that the Bruce Wayne beside him wasn't the Batman of the Prime Universe. He wasn't wearing his Batman uniform. Instead, he was dressed in rags, like a homeless man who had just crawled out of a dumpster.
Prime Universe Superman calmly sat up, only to find himself wrapped in refugee's clothing. His Superman uniform had vanished as well.
He looked around. They seemed to be sitting on the corner of some street, among a group of refugees. More refugees were curled up around them.
"Where is this? Who are you? Did you change my uniform?"
"Calm down, old boy with a son." Chen Tao said, "It's only an illusion constructed on your body by the Metal Spirit. Haven't you ever seen a mage? To be honest, I count as half a mage, even though I basically don't understand any of the fundamentals. And... I'm Batman from a certain parallel timeline, while we're saving the DC Multiverse—assuming that's what you intend to do now that you've just woken up."
"Saving the DC Multiverse... So our enemy is... And, uh, yeah, I've seen mages." Prime Universe Superman's mind was in turmoil. He sat up, then avoided a refugee walking past him so the man wouldn't bump into his body, which was covered by a biological field, and fall like he had struck a stone pillar.
"This is an arena in the Multiverse Merge."