The Queen's Joyride and a First Encounter with the Marauders!

A month later.

In geosynchronous orbit above Earth, a magnificent structure several times larger than an aircraft carrier had begun to take shape.

This was the product of the Star Seeker Project: the publicly announced Orbital Shipyard. In truth, it was the construction platform for Link's first private flagship, the Jokester.

With the technological genius Cyborg, Victor Stone, on board, the project advanced by leaps and bounds. Like a tech obsessive who had found his favorite toy, he linked his Mother Box Core to the shipyard's main computer and did the work of tens of thousands of top engineers.

Apokolips's Psinergy Invisibility Field, Krypton's Crystal Replication Technology, the Magic Rune Array of the Temple on Olympus... Victor integrated these technologies from different civilizations, even different systems of natural law, into the Jokester's keel in a way that defied belief.

The future ruler of the stars was turning from a stack of blueprints into reality before their eyes.

Construction was in full swing, but one person was bored out of her mind.

"Puddin'! I'm so bored!"

Harley Quinn floated beside Link in a pink bunny-girl spacesuit, limp as a rag doll. Her long legs, clad in fishnets, kicked idly in the vacuum.

"Every day, all I hear is welding! No explosions, no car chases, no banks to rob... This isn't the life I wanted!" She pouted, every inch of her pleading for attention.

Ever since Link had taken control of Earth, the Chaos Queen had been practically out of a job. Now that she was in space, she couldn't even find anything to wreck.

Link smiled helplessly and set aside the Divine Runes he had been inscribing on a main armor plate. He affectionately pinched Harley's puffed-up cheek. "Don't worry, sweetheart. Once our Jokester is finished, the whole universe will be