Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Shane quickly defeats the Furies, Lashina and Gilotina, whose strength depends heavily on their weapons. Lashina’s electrified whip burns his hand, but his newly acquired super-healing repairs the injury almost instantly.
• He kills Lashina with her own whip, then kills Gilotina with her sword. Their fight leaves a vast rupture across Apokolips and destroys many Parademons.
• Desaad threatens Shane on behalf of Apokolips, Granny Goodness, and Darkseid. Shane argues that Darkseid has not personally arrived and that Apokolips cannot reliably catch him across the universe.
• Shane warns that he can keep returning to attack Apokolips, disrupting its campaigns for Darkseid. Desaad panics and offers information about Virman Vundabar, but Shane ignores the offer.
• Shane burrows into Apokolips and repeatedly strikes its core. He waits in space until the planet finally explodes, then disappears.

Character developments

• Shane reveals that the Lazarus Pit experience has completed his abilities by giving him super-healing. He remains calm and matter-of-fact in battle, and increasingly presents himself as a persistent strategic threat, not merely a powerful fighter.
• Desaad shifts from taunting confidence to fear once he understands that Shane could obstruct Apokolips’s larger mission and provoke Darkseid’s wrath.
• Lashina and Gilotina show fierce loyalty to each other, but their reliance on specialized weapons proves insufficient against Shane’s overwhelming strength.

Significant themes

• Power versus equipment: Apokolips’s weapons are formidable, but their wielders are vulnerable without them—and Shane’s raw strength ultimately overwhelms both.
• Fear and deterrence: Shane uses the possibility of repeated attacks to threaten Apokolips’s ambitions, turning his resilience and mobility into leverage.
• Violence and destruction: The chapter emphasizes Shane’s merciless efficiency, culminating in the destruction of an entire planet.
• Ambition and consequences: Desaad fears not only Shane’s assault but its effect on Darkseid’s long-term campaign.

Character interactions

• The Furies fight together: Gilotina cries out for Lashina, then attacks Shane in retaliation. Shane defeats both without hesitation.
• Desaad confronts Shane through a vast Parademon formation and threatens him; Shane responds with mockery and a calculated warning about Apokolips’s vulnerability.
• Desaad attempts to bargain by offering information, but Shane proceeds with destroying the planet.

Plot points and events

• During a cold, rainy night in Gotham, Wilson Morgan flees a pursuer through the alleys. Three days earlier, he had left the hospital before fully recovering so he could reopen his struggling dry-cleaning shop and help cover the medical costs of his hospitalized wife and daughter.
• His hardship reminds him of the extensive welfare programs Bruce Wayne once funded through Wayne Enterprises. Wilson recalls joining the mass protest that denounced Bruce and helped drive him out of the company—an act he now regrets, wondering whether Bruce had genuinely been trying to help Gotham.
• After the Amazo virus outbreak, Wilson retained the ability to control electricity. Inspired by Batman’s disappearance, he used a cheap mask to patrol as an amateur hero, even protecting a neighboring bakery.
• Wilson joined a group of similarly minded would-be heroes, imagining they might form a new team. At their next meeting, however, he found them murdered by a skilled figure wearing a red mask. Now that same armed killer is pursuing him.
• Wilson turns to fight, gathering blue electricity and throwing a lightning spear at the pursuer. The chapter ends before revealing the outcome.

Character developments

• Wilson shifts from hardship and nostalgia into remorse over his past role in Bruce Wayne’s public disgrace. Though physically weakened and burdened by family responsibilities, he has found purpose in trying to protect others. The murders force his idealism into a desperate fight for survival.
• Bruce Wayne, seen through Wilson’s memories, is portrayed as a once-earnest benefactor whose public humiliation and arrest preceded his withdrawal from civic life and apparent transformation into a playboy.

Significant themes

• Collective blame and regret: Wilson recognizes how public outrage helped destroy programs that once supported Gotham’s most vulnerable.
• Compassion versus cynicism: Bruce’s welfare work offered hope, but the city treated it as betrayal.
• Ordinary people seeking purpose: Wilson’s modest attempts at heroism arise from empathy and the absence of Batman.
• Idealism confronting violence: The hopeful idea of forming a hero group collapses when Wilson discovers its members dead.

Character interactions

• Wilson remembers participating in the crowd’s abuse of Bruce, contrasting that past hostility with his present regret.
• He protects the absent bakery owner, Mr. Luca Paul, out of sympathy for someone whose livelihood depends on his shop.
• Wilson’s attraction to one of the amateur heroes adds a personal, lightly comic note to the group’s tragic fate.
• His final confrontation is with the red-masked killer, whose pursuit turns Wilson’s fledgling heroism into a fight for his life.

Key events

• After Shane returns from destroying Apokolips, Rachel spends over twenty minutes reprimanding him for acting recklessly and failing to consider the danger to Earth or how he would get home.
• Shane argues that Desaad feared him enough to prioritize killing him over attacking Earth. Desaad had also provided a means to track Virman Vundabar, hoping Shane would investigate Apokolips’s internal conflict instead of remaining its enemy.
• Shane believes Desaad is shifting the blame onto the exiled Vundabar, who may have been forced out as a rival adviser. He has no intention of making peace with Apokolips: he plans to pursue Vundabar while ensuring Apokolips cannot return to the universe unharmed.
• Rachel opens a portal to Gotham for Shane and uses magic to dress him in his old white stealth outfit. After he leaves, she privately considers examining the universal body he used, supposedly to prepare it for possible future use.
• In Gotham, Shane finds Jason restraining Wilson Morgan, a powerful man who retained his abilities after infection with the virus. Jason says Wilson is the only infected person with a genuinely good heart, but he is holding him down because Wilson refuses to believe that a group with Parademon-like signals meant to recruit him harm.

Character developments and interactions

• Shane remains confident and strategically perceptive, but Rachel’s scolding highlights his recklessness. He reveals that he is manipulating the conflict between Desaad and Vundabar while staying hostile to Apokolips.
• Rachel shifts from anger to uncertainty when Shane explains his reasoning, then helps him return to Earth. Her private interest in his body suggests growing personal attachment and curiosity.
• Desaad is shown as calculating but frightened of Shane: he weighs the danger Shane poses against the risk of failing Darkseid.
• Jason is frustrated by Wilson’s refusal to trust him, despite his claim that he is trying to protect him.
• Wilson is defiant and convinced Jason is inventing a justification for slaughter, setting up a conflict over trust and the alleged recruiters’ intentions.

Significant themes

• Power and deterrence: Shane’s ability to strike and escape makes him a strategic threat even when Apokolips might defeat him in a direct battle.
• Manipulation and shifting blame: Desaad tries to redirect Shane’s anger toward Vundabar, while Shane recognizes that this does not absolve Apokolips.
• Trust and moral judgment: Wilson sees Jason as a murderer, while Jason believes Wilson is dangerously naïve—a clash between personal conviction and claimed protection.

Key plot points and events

• Shane and Red Hood (Jason) return to an apartment with Wilson Morgan, a captured middle-aged man whom Jason has gagged and bound. Wilson realizes neither vigilante intends to help him.
• Jason explains that he built a radar to track energy linked to Apokolips, hoping to find the Dark Side Club. Instead, it led him to groups of Gotham residents who retained powers after the Amazo Virus.
• These people initially seemed to be hiding from authorities, but Jason discovered that many were committing crimes and acting with sudden, extreme violence. One gang even seized an orphanage and injured three children while trying to use them as hostages.
• Jason concludes that the virus may have altered the survivors’ minds as well as their bodies. After he wiped out the gang, new energy signatures appeared across the city—suggesting someone was deliberately sending powered people to distract him.
• Jason has contacted specialist investigators from his original universe and sent them evidence for testing. Their findings are expected soon.
• He then identifies Wilson Morgan as an unusual person he encountered shortly before dawn, setting up the next stage of the investigation.

Character developments

• Jason shows methodical detective work and deep anger at the powered gang’s attack on children. He also reveals his willingness to use covert contacts and resources from his former universe.
• Shane initially jokes that Gotham already has plenty of criminals, but recognizes that Jason is right: ordinary people becoming murderous so suddenly is abnormal. He trusts Jason’s judgment and supports his investigation.
• Wilson is frightened and resentful, but remains silent and out of the conversation.

Significant themes

• Power and corruption: The survivors’ new abilities seem tied to disturbing changes in their behavior.
• Manipulation and misdirection: Someone may be using the powered residents to keep Jason occupied and conceal the Dark Side Club’s activities.
• Moral responsibility: Jason’s response is driven in part by protecting vulnerable children, while Shane reflects on the danger of judging Gotham residents through stereotypes.

Character interactions

• Jason reports his findings to Shane, who questions and then accepts his reasoning.
• Jason’s gratitude toward Shane is evident: he credits Shane with helping Gotham survive the virus outbreak and says this is why he is willing to work with him.
• Wilson remains a restrained bystander as the two discuss the case, unaware of the full significance of Jason’s discovery.

Summary

• Jason briefs Shane on Wilson, a dry-cleaner who gained electricity-controlling powers while his wife and daughter remain hospitalized. Unlike the violent superpowered gangs, Wilson initially used his abilities to patrol Gotham and help people. Jason calls him rash and foolish but acknowledges that he is unusually clearheaded.
• Wilson, who has been bound and forced to listen, challenges Jason’s claim that the gangs are dangerous, suspecting the news reports are fabricated and the attacks staged. As he watches Jason and Shane speak casually rather than threaten him, he starts to question his assumptions. He realizes they likely kept him alive because he may be useful, and wonders whether the people he thought were his allies had ulterior motives.
• Jason says a medical report due the next day should help confirm whether the Amazo Virus can alter people’s minds. Shane notes that cases involving Mia and Plastic Man support that possibility, though Plastic Man’s unusual physiology makes testing difficult.
• Shane reveals that his conflict with Apokolips has become permanent: he destroyed the planet and killed several New Gods. Jason treats the danger as inevitable, but warns that Shane may now face recurring assignments across universes. Their focus turns to Virman Vundabar, whom Shane learned from Desaad had long ago been expelled from Apokolips.
• Jason and Shane infer that Vundabar may be using the Dark Side Club as a means to regain Darkseid’s favor. Shane gives Jason Vundabar’s old Badge of Honor, which bears his energy signature. Jason agrees to try using it with the Radar to locate him, while jokingly objecting to being treated as Shane’s technician.
• Shane then discovers that a week has passed on Earth during what felt like less than a day on Apokolips. When he asks if anything major happened, Jason quietly tells him that Batman has disappeared—this time by choice.

Character developments and interactions

• Wilson shifts from angry certainty toward doubt, recognizing that Jason and Shane’s behavior does not fit his image of murderous villains. His changing perspective is the chapter’s clearest personal turn.
• Jason shows a pragmatic, investigative side: he explains his findings, tracks evidence, and focuses on the next lead. His subdued announcement about Batman suggests the disappearance weighs on him.
• Shane brings crucial information from Apokolips and supplies the badge, but his destruction of the planet has made him a target for future conflict. His casual manner contrasts with the seriousness of his situation.
• Jason and Shane work together as investigators, trading information and theories with familiar ease. Their banter—especially Jason’s complaint about being treated like a technician—underscores their rapport.
• Wilson’s earlier hostility is largely ignored by the two men, which ironically helps him reassess them.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Wilson’s assumptions about Jason and the gangs begin to unravel as he observes their actions and hears evidence.
• Power and moral choice: Wilson’s initial use of his powers to help others contrasts with the gangs’ violence and the possibility that the virus can distort people’s minds.
• Trust and evidence: The characters rely on reports, medical examinations, and investigative tools to distinguish truth from manipulation.
• Consequences across worlds: Shane’s actions on Apokolips and the difference in time between dimensions show that choices in one realm can reshape life—and create danger—in another.
• Absence and uncertainty: Vundabar’s loyalties and Batman’s voluntary disappearance leave the characters facing unresolved questions.

Key events

• Batman disappears after the synthetic virus that killed Shane mutates into a second-generation strain lethal to humans on Earth.
• Jason explains that Bruce had been stretched between several duties: protecting Gotham, searching for Shane and Rachel, pursuing Jason, and handling Justice League crises. He was also consumed by guilt over believing he had caused Shane’s death.
• Batman traced the virus to an ordinary Gotham resident—the first carrier. After killing Shane, the virus evolved inside that person and became deadly to local adults.
• The outbreak killed adults across thirteen households in Crime Alley; three families lost every adult, leaving only children. After ensuring the children were cared for, Batman vanished.
• Nightwing and Oracle have been unable to find him, and the Justice League has not been informed.

Character developments and interactions

• Jason recounts events while repairing his modified radar, revealing both his knowledge of Batman’s private struggles and his lingering resentment. He believes the outbreak finally broke Bruce, whose physical and emotional condition was already deteriorating.
• Shane is shocked to learn he was not the virus’s first carrier, and connects the outbreak to a similar virus from his own world, which he calls “scourge-like.”
• Wilson, quietly listening on the floor, recognizes the news report about the Crime Alley outbreak and confirms its real-world consequences.
• Jason and Shane discuss the virus and Batman’s disappearance; Jason briefly teases Shane about resembling someone called Death Angel.

Significant themes

• Guilt and responsibility: Batman sees Shane’s death and the later civilian deaths as his responsibility.
• The cost of duty: Bruce’s attempt to serve Gotham, the League, and those he cares about leaves him exhausted and isolated.
• Consequences beyond intention: A virus devised to kill Shane evolves into a threat to ordinary people, demonstrating how dangerous unintended outcomes can be.
• Loss and abandonment: The children left without parents echo the wider damage caused by the crisis, while Batman’s disappearance leaves his allies facing another loss.

Key plot points and events

• Shane admits he is angry at Batman for developing countermeasures that helped the Amazo Virus exploit its way into killing him. He believes, however, that Batman’s research alone could not have killed him: Vundabar’s tampering and Darkseid’s Omega Effect were responsible for his immediate death.
• Shane and Jason trade dark jokes about how they once imagined taking revenge on Batman. Their conversation ends when Jason gets the Radar working.
• The Radar detects an unfamiliar marker, which may correspond to Vundabar. Jason locates it in Little Italy, once Falcone territory.
• Shane cautions that the signal could be a trap and that Vundabar might escape if alerted. Wilson volunteers to go in as bait, reasoning that their enemies may want him alive. Shane agrees, and Jason secretly equips Wilson with tracking devices.
• Wilson reveals that he is willing to take the risk partly because he idolizes Batman. Jason mocks the idea, while Shane denies being a Batman fan. Jason threatens Wilson for asking whether he and Shane admire Batman too.

Character developments

• Shane acknowledges his anger at Batman but distinguishes it from his desire to find the true cause of his death. He shows caution and strategic thinking rather than rushing toward the suspected target.
• Jason reveals the intensity of his old revenge fantasies, but remains focused and practical when the Radar activates and when preparing Wilson for the mission.
• Wilson shifts from a frightened captive to a hesitant volunteer, showing courage—or at least determination—by offering himself as bait. His admiration for Batman surprises the others.

Significant themes

• Revenge versus understanding: Shane and Jason both harbor violent fantasies, but Shane is also intent on identifying the actual people responsible for his death.
• Caution and deception: The uncertainty around the Radar signal reflects the danger of confronting a manipulative enemy like Vundabar.
• Unexpected courage and idealism: Wilson’s willingness to help, driven in part by his admiration for Batman, contrasts with the cynicism of Shane and Jason.
• Humor amid danger: Their banter briefly lightens the scene before the potential lead on Vundabar shifts everyone into serious action.

Character interactions

• Shane and Jason challenge each other over their respective grudges against Batman, exposing both their bitterness and their differing attitudes toward revenge.
• When the Radar identifies a possible target, they quickly coordinate: Jason maps the location, while Shane questions whether it is safe to act on the lead.
• Wilson offers to serve as bait; Shane accepts, and Jason equips him with trackers.
• Wilson’s Batman fandom provokes dismissive reactions: Shane walks away from the question, while Jason responds with a threat.

Plot points and events

• In a rain-soaked, darkened Gotham, wounded Wilson Morgan flees through alleys, trying to escape the man pursuing him.
• He hides in bushes near a damaged, unpowered street. Red Hood arrives on Batman’s former motorcycle, carrying a pistol, and taunts Wilson while searching for him.
• As Red Hood nears Wilson’s hiding place, a truck’s headlights and horn distract him. Wilson uses the opportunity to escape across the grass.
• Red Hood shoots the truck’s driver, but the driver’s foot remains on the accelerator. The truck crashes into Red Hood’s motorcycle, then a railing and fire hydrant, before overturning.
• Red Hood survives and searches the area, but Wilson has disappeared; the rain soon erases his tracks.

Character developments

• Wilson Morgan is injured, exhausted, and terrified, but his desperation helps him seize a narrow chance to escape.
• Red Hood is shown as a patient, methodical, and sadistic hunter who enjoys frightening Wilson. His pursuit is briefly disrupted by the truck.
• The truck driver, whose identity is unclear, intervenes by charging Red Hood, though Red Hood shoots him.

Significant themes

• Fear and survival: Wilson’s terror shapes his every action, but instinct and opportunity keep him moving.
• Predator and prey: Red Hood frames the chase as a cat-and-mouse game, emphasizing his cruel control.
• Chance amid danger: The truck’s sudden arrival creates an unexpected opening for Wilson.
• Gotham’s devastation: The darkness, damaged infrastructure, and abandoned streets reflect the city’s continuing crisis.

Character interactions

• Red Hood speaks directly to Wilson from nearby, threatening and taunting him to provoke fear.
• Wilson cannot confront Red Hood and instead hides, then escapes when the truck distracts his pursuer.
• The driver’s attack interrupts the hunt; Red Hood responds by shooting him, but the runaway truck crashes regardless.

Shane and Jason staged a chase to make Wilson appear to be a frightened victim and draw Vundabar into revealing himself. Wilson woke in an enemy hideout, where his convincing performance left the black-robed man nervously monitoring him.

• Jason worried that Wilson's performance and their rushed plan might fail, while Shane explained that Rachel had placed a soul-protection spell on Wilson.
• Shane said he and Jason needed to catch Vundabar off guard by sending Wilson directly into his sights.
• Wilson woke in a basement with a wounded calf and pretended to be confused and afraid.
• A woman tending Wilson claimed that her group had rescued him from the Red Hood and that their driver, John, had sacrificed himself.
• Wilson questioned the woman about the driver, and she improvised a tearful answer while Shane watched through Rachel's magic.
• The black-robed man monitored Wilson with Mental Power and worried that he might have exposed their deception.

Shane and Jason infiltrated the hideout to rescue Wilson, who used an improvised emotional story to fool Hert and a Dark Side Club scientist. Wilson left with Hert to meet the superpowered refugees while the scientist reported to Commander Vundabar, revealing that the group was waiting to earn a powerful being’s favor.

• Shane warned Jason that a concealed attacker was approaching Wilson, and Jason armed himself while Shane slipped into the shadows to intervene.
• After receiving Shane’s telepathic warning, Wilson embraced Hert and convinced her and the black-robed scientist that her apparent indifference to John’s death came from overwhelming grief.
• The black-robed man withdrew his attack and revealed that he was a Dark Side Club member rather than Virman Vundabar.
• Hert told Wilson her real name and said the refugees had gathered through the Underground Forum, then offered to take him to meet them.
• After Wilson and Hert left the basement, the black-robed man used a metal device embedded in his wrist to report that everything was normal to Commander Vundabar.

Shane grew impatient with Vundabar’s refusal to reveal himself and used Rachel’s Soul Magic to manipulate a black-robed Dark Side Club member into speaking honestly. Vundabar began explaining his history and why he had targeted Monarch, leaving the disclosure unfinished.

• Shane decided that waiting for Vundabar to appear was intolerable and threatened to destroy Apokolips repeatedly until Desaad captured him.
• Rachel used her Soul Magic on the black-robed man while Shane hid in the Shadow Dimension, making him reveal his excitement to Vundabar.
• Vundabar recalled how the Dark Side Club’s repeated attempts to contact Darkseid had failed and how he eventually took command of the group.
• Vundabar explained that he had infiltrated the Anti-Universe, recognized Darkseid’s influence, and identified Monarch as a threat more dangerous than the Justice League.
• Vundabar said Monarch’s past self was dead and that victory seemed near, then began offering the black-robed man more information.

Vundabar revealed that he planned to use Wilson Morgan as a vessel for the Dark Lord by driving him to embrace his inner darkness. Shane confronted Vundabar through a Boom Tube after Hermes intervened, leaving Vundabar cornered and in Shane’s grasp.

• Vundabar explained that Wilson Morgan’s resilience made him the ideal subject for a dark ritual that would summon the Dark Lord when Wilson fell into darkness.
• Vundabar sensed an intruder and tried to escape through a Boom Tube, prompting Shane to move against him.
• Hermes used a Scepter to redirect Vundabar’s Boom Tube to the Man in Black, exposing Vundabar to Shane.
• Shane charged through the portal and confronted Vundabar, who realized Hermes had saved Shane and admitted his plan had failed.
• Shane knocked the Mother Box from Vundabar’s hands and let him speak before placing a hand on his head.

Shane left Vundabar barely alive and began studying the Mother Box on the Twilight Asteroid, while Wilson confronted a group of former Dark Possessed plotting a bank robbery. The confrontation ended in chaos when a disguised person killed the others and took Wilson away, revealing that the figure was Joker.

• Shane dragged Vundabar around the asteroid, then pinned him to a cave wall and began examining the Mother Box.
• Hert brought Wilson to a room full of armed criminals planning to rob Gotham's largest bank.
• Wilson refused to join the robbery and declared himself a superhero, prompting the group to aim their guns at him.
• Rachel warned Shane and Jason that Wilson was in danger, but then reported that someone had shot the others dead.
• Rachel discovered the killer had been disguised and had green hair beneath a wig, and that Joker had taken Wilson away.

Shane and Jason investigated the slaughtered gang and discovered that Joker had escaped with Wilson despite Shane and Rachel's attempts to track her. Jason feared Joker might learn of Vundabar's plan, though he admitted her actions could not be predicted by ordinary logic.

• Shane returned from the Shadow Dimension and ended Vundabar's suffering after finding him dead and ruined.
• Jason entered the blood-soaked room and concluded that Joker had hidden in plain sight before killing the gang members.
• Shane searched the area with his Force Field senses, while Rachel explained that her Soul Magic could not mark Joker and had lost track of her.
• Shane searched from the sky but found Gotham's darkness disorienting and returned without locating Joker.
• Jason collected evidence and hoped Joker did not know about Vundabar's plan, then explained that Joker acted on whatever she found interesting.

Wilson woke tied to a post and found himself captive in a dark room with Joker, who questioned him about Gotham’s recent changes and her missing friend. He admitted that he knew a little about what had happened, leaving Joker’s response unresolved.

• Wilson woke taped to a wooden post and realized he could not reach White Hood or Red Hood for help.
• Wilson tried to escape with lightning but stopped when the heat burned against the tape.
• Joker approached Wilson, lit a lighter, and frightened him with her appearance before setting up a desk lamp.
• Joker spoke about Gotham’s plague, the Justice League’s infection, and the groups of superpowered people gathering in the city.
• Joker asked Wilson why her friend had disappeared and was no longer rounding up Gotham’s superpowered troublemakers.
• Wilson told Joker he knew a little about the strange events in Gotham.

Joker forced Wilson to tell her what had happened to Batman, then decided Batman was still in Gotham and vowed to find him. After freeing Wilson, she declared that his resistance to the virus made him special and that they would team up.

• Joker dismissed Wilson’s attempt to discuss the virus and asked where Batman had gone into hiding.
• Wilson told Joker that Batman had disappeared after believing he had gotten people killed, then pieced together a mostly accurate account of recent events under threat of being shot.
• Joker became distressed at the thought that Batman had been broken, insisted he was still in Gotham, and vowed that only she would find him.
• Wilson unexpectedly told Joker that he believed Batman would not go down so easily, which excited her.
• Joker cut Wilson’s restraints and showed him the ruined trackers, concluding that his resistance to the virus made him special and announcing they would team up.

Shane and Jason investigated Wilson’s disappearance and learned Joker had been unconscious around the time Flash woke up, likely after receiving a gift from her counterpart in another world. Shane was left facing the possibility that Joker’s connection to Wilson’s disappearance was part of a larger threat.

• Jason took Shane to the Batcave, but Shane waited outside because his outfit resembled Death Angel’s.
• Jason searched Batman’s records and discussed the situation with other members of the Batman Family.
• Jason told Shane that Joker had disappeared around the time Flash woke up.
• Jason said they believed Joker had received a gift from her counterpart in another world and had likely been unconscious during her absence.
• Shane realized that Joker had not simply appeared out of nowhere and that her merged mind could have suffered a violent mental storm.

Jason told Shane to stay out of his investigation into Joker, warning that Shane might attack both Joker and Wilson before confirming Wilson was safe. Shane agreed to hold back and discovered Batman had transferred an immense sum into his account, then sent Jason money and flew off considering a vacation.

• Jason explained that Shane was too impulsive to help investigate Joker and might attack Wilson before checking whether the Dark Ritual still affected him.
• Jason revealed that Batman had deposited the money he had promised Shane into Shane’s account after Shane was presumed dead.
• Shane checked the account and was stunned by the enormous balance, while Jason guessed Cyborg had helped make the transfer possible.
• Shane agreed to rein in his desire for revenge, asked Jason for his account details, and sent him money.
• Jason tried to say he needed two hundred thousand, but Shane sent twenty million and flew away thinking about a vacation.

Shane returned to the Teen Titans' base while worrying about powerful enemies and uncertain allies, and Rachel encouraged him to keep growing stronger. When Tim and the Titans mistook him for an invading Viltrumite, Shane played along and confronted the team as they feared for their lives.

• Shane and Rachel discussed the possible Olympian mole, with Shane suspecting Ares while remaining unsure who had helped Apokolips.
• Shane admitted he felt overwhelmed by the powerful beings around him, and Rachel urged him to set his sights higher.
• Rachel used magic to make Shane's hair longer before he arrived at the Teen Titans' base in San Francisco.
• Tim mistook Shane for a Viltrumite invader, threw explosive Batarangs at him, and raised the alarm.
• Kara attacked Shane, and he broke her nose and threw her from the smoke while the Titans watched in fear.
• Shane emerged pretending to be a young Viltrumite and demanded to know where his traitor brother was.

Shane tested the Teen Titans while pretending to be a Viltrumite invader, and they used a coordinated trick to attack him. He revealed that their blows had barely hurt him, then attacked Blue Beetle as Superman was on his way.

• Jaime claimed that the Teen Titans supported the Viltrum Empire and said they had recruited a powerful being from another species.
• Billy Batson transformed into Shazam and struck Shane with magical lightning, while the other Titans helped Kara and prepared to regroup with the Justice League.
• Shane flew back onto the rooftop unharmed, criticized the Titans, and watched Shazam, Donna, and Tula take a stand together.
• After sensing Superman approaching, Shane feinted at the front line and slammed into Blue Beetle.
• Shane pinned Blue Beetle, chopped off his energy cannon, and raised a fist to continue the attack.