Chapter Summaries

Brad bought supplies for Doctor Crane while Batman’s surveillance drew Jason’s attention, and Jason broke into Brad’s home as Robin to investigate. Brad easily defeated him and sent him away, then deduced Batman’s likely identity as Bruce Wayne, leaving Batman silently observing him.

• Brad detected Batman’s hidden cameras around Gotham while buying supplies for Doctor Crane, and Jason tracked his movements from the Batcave.
• Jason went to Brad’s home at night in his Robin uniform and attacked him after entering through a window.
• Brad evaded Jason’s attacks, caught his smoke bombs, and overpowered him without causing lasting harm.
• Brad accused Jason of acting recklessly to prove himself to Batman and sent him out of the house.
• Brad noticed Batman’s pheromones and inferred that he was either backed by Bruce Wayne or was Bruce Wayne himself.
• Batman remained silent and continued observing Brad.

Brad revealed that he was an outsider seeking extraordinary scientific geniuses and technology, while Batman and Clark exchanged information about his immense power and unusual outlook. As Batman learned that Joker had escaped and was searching for Scarecrow, he raced across Gotham to respond.

• Brad told Batman he was an otherworldly traveler seeking scientific geniuses and technology, then went to sleep while Batman watched him.
• Batman asked Alfred to create a file on Brad and arranged to meet Clark, using a Daily Planet interview with Bruce Wayne as cover.
• Bruce met Clark privately, deduced that Clark could not handle Brad, and persuaded him to share detailed observations from their encounter.
• Clark told Bruce that Brad was immensely powerful, interested in Kryptonian technology, and potentially stronger than Superman.
• Alfred informed Batman that Joker had escaped and ordered his gang to find Scarecrow, so Batman transformed his car into the Batmobile and sped off.

Brad met Joker when the Joker Gang came to Scarecrow's house, and traded Joker access to Repulsive Force Field 2 and some Fear Gas for Laughing Gas. Batman captured Joker outside, but Brad refused to tell him what they had discussed.

• Batman worried that Brad and Joker might meet, while Alfred warned Dick that Gotham could be in trouble.
• Brad finished helping Crane make a new Fear Gas extract and found the Joker Gang surrounding Crane's house.
• Joker revealed himself, said he wanted Fear Gas for a plan to torment Batman by targeting Robin, and asked Brad for supplies.
• Brad offered Joker a trade, and Joker chose ten uses of Repulsive Force Field 2 in exchange for Laughing Gas; Brad also gave him Crane's Fear Toxin to process.
• Batman knocked out Joker outside Crane's house, and Brad refused to tell Batman what they had discussed.

Brad revealed that he had sold Joker limited defensive technology and exposed Joker’s plan to target Robin, prompting Batman and Superman to confront him. Brad transported them to an isolated arena, where Batman summoned specialized armor and prepared to fight alongside Superman.

• Batman grabbed Brad and demanded to know what he had sold Joker, while Brad insisted on keeping the product’s name confidential and revealed Joker’s plan against Robin.
• Brad explained that Joker had received limited technology capable of cutting off a target’s external power source, alarming Superman and prompting Batman to ask whether it could affect magic users.
• Batman rejected Brad’s offer to trade for access to the Batcave or Lucius and demanded that Brad follow Gotham’s rules; Brad challenged Batman and called on Superman to choose a side.
• Brad transported himself, Batman, and Superman to an isolated arena, while Batman told Nightwing to secure the unconscious criminals and requested armor from Penny-One.
• Batman entered his heavier combat armor, and Superman prepared to fight Brad as Batman warned that his suit had only thirty minutes of power.

Brad fought Superman and Batman, using copied mutant abilities and martial arts before Superman overwhelmed him. He then revealed his Skynet army of T-Supreme Terminators and declared himself the Mechanical Emperor.

• Brad showed Superman that he could reproduce Kryptonian abilities without kryptonite weakness, then fought Superman and Batman with copied martial arts and simulated weapons.
• Batman trapped Brad in an electrified sonic enclosure and froze him, but Brad escaped by using a heat-based technique and replenishing his energy with sunlight.
• Superman stopped holding back and battered Brad across the sky and into a vast crater, while Brad admitted that Superman had used less than a thousandth of his strength.
• Brad recovered and raised a shield as Batman's second Batwing attacked, then emerged from a pyramid structure and summoned his Skynet army.
• T-Supreme Terminators surged from the ground in enormous numbers, and Brad revealed that he had once been known as the Mechanical Emperor.

Sinestro’s ring chose Brad as a recruit, and Sinestro followed it to Earth, where Superman had just overwhelmed Brad’s mechanical army. After Sinestro challenged everyone in the virtual arena, Superman rushed to fight him.

• Sinestro followed an unusually powerful yellow ring toward Earth, hoping to recruit the warrior it chose for his Yellow Lantern Legion.
• Superman destroyed Brad’s remaining Supreme Terminators, forcing Brad to concede that the Scenario Simulation Cube had reached its limit.
• The yellow ring entered the arena, identified Brad as a being capable of instilling fear, and tried to recruit him, but Brad slapped it away.
• Sinestro entered the arena and offered Brad, Batman, and Superman places in his Legion, threatening to beat them into submission if they refused.
• Brad allowed Superman to use his full strength, and Superman vanished toward Sinestro after accepting his invitation to fight.

Brad took a Yellow Lantern ring after Superman drove Sinestro from Earth, then joined Nightwing for drinks and learned that Dick had encountered a Green Lantern. Brad asked Dick to tell him about the green ring.

• Batman warned Brad that Sinestro could control the Yellow Lantern ring, while Brad modified its permissions and Batman decoded its workings.
• Sinestro escaped Earth after Superman beat him, then left another Yellow Lantern ring behind for an unknown person to find.
• Brad took the rings, accepted one, tested its fear-based energy powers, and gave the gold-looking ring to Batman to study.
• Batman arrested Crane, and Brad persuaded Nightwing to help him find somewhere to stay before they went to a bar.
• Brad told Dick Grayson about Sinestro and the Yellow Lantern ring, but Dick could not wear it because it did not approve of him.
• Dick revealed that he had met a Green Lantern, and Brad asked him to describe the green ring.

Dick returned to Gotham and reunited with Barbara, while Brad settled into an apartment across from her family and was drawn into Bruce Wayne’s charity gala. Bruce used Brad as a staged example of Scarecrow’s victims, but Brad privately demanded access to the Batcave or Lucius and forced Bruce to promise to match the gala’s fundraising total.

• Dick visited Barbara through her bedroom window, and they reconciled before falling asleep together.
• Dick woke Brad and told him Bruce wanted him at a charity gala, while Barbara recommended an apartment across from her home.
• Brad moved into the building with help from Commissioner Gordon as Bruce watched him through the Batcave’s surveillance system and assessed how to influence him.
• At the gala, Bruce presented Brad as a young man traumatized and disabled by Scarecrow, and the guests responded with pity and donations.
• Brad silently threatened to smile and urinate in a wealthy guest’s wineglass unless Bruce took him to the Batcave or let him meet Lucius, so Bruce agreed to match the amount raised.

Brad brought Batman to his old Batcave and agreed to help treat Barbara after she chose a plan. Barbara arrived with Nightwing, was overwhelmed by the cave’s reminders of Batman’s painful past, and faced Brad’s treatment options as Nightwing grew angry at Brad’s request to touch her.

• Batman showed Brad his first Batcave, and Brad recognized that the base held a connection to Batman’s presence and agreed to help Barbara in exchange for the cave.
• Batman arranged for Nightwing to bring Barbara to the Batcave, where Brad said he would ask her what kind of treatment she wanted.
• As Nightwing pushed Barbara through the cave, she imagined Batman’s years of isolation, injury, and punishing training there.
• Brad presented Barbara with seventeen treatment plans, including restoring her through his M Mutant Gene power.
• Brad said he needed to run a hand down Barbara’s back and that she should ideally be unclothed, making Nightwing clench his fists.

Brad cured Barbara Gordon’s paralysis with nanobots, and she decided to remain in the old Batcave and resume work as Oracle. After teaching her advanced programming, Brad joined the Bat-Family’s communications channel, gaining unrestricted access to Gotham’s vigilante network.

• Brad cured Barbara’s paralysis with a nanobot injection, and she thanked him before asking to stay in the Batcave and learn from him.
• Nightwing agreed to leave Barbara in Brad’s care and returned to Blüdhaven as Brad transformed the Batcave into a brighter, more spacious base.
• Brad began teaching Barbara an advanced artificial-intelligence algorithm, but thinking of Emma Frost triggered a sudden emotional outburst that he quickly suppressed.
• Brad tested Barbara’s understanding after several hours of instruction, then let her rest, and she announced herself as Oracle on the Bat-Family channel.
• Batman and Robin welcomed Oracle back, Barbara removed Nightwing from the channel, and Brad breached the communications system as War Horseman.
• Batman accepted that he could not block Brad’s access, while Robin thanked Brad quietly for curing Barbara.

Hal detected residual Yellow Lantern energy on Earth and returned covertly, suspecting Sinestro had left two agents behind. Meanwhile, Barbara completed Brad’s artificial-intelligence algorithm and named the new intelligence Collective.

• Hal’s ring detected traces of Sinestro’s Yellow Lantern energy and two other Yellow Lantern signatures still on Earth, so Hal returned in secret to find them.
• Brad detected Hal’s brief energy signature with his satellite-monitoring system but postponed meeting him to finish the artificial-intelligence project.
• Brad asked Barbara to complete the algorithm’s final section, and she entered the remaining code into the Batcomputer.
• The new intelligence greeted Barbara by name, and Barbara excitedly began talking with it.
• Barbara named the intelligence Collective and invited Brad to join the collective, while Brad called himself an egoist.

Brad investigated how information density shaped artificial intelligence, while Battleworld’s Iron Domain was ruled by a tyrannical Tony Stark and Arno secretly waited for his godfather to awaken. The chapter ended when Brad’s preserved body opened its eyes and Arno detected his returning thoughts.

• Brad observed Barbara interacting with the newly created AI collective and concluded that its humanlike personality reflected the world’s distinct information density.
• Brad realized his information-predator virus research had reached a breakthrough, then tried and failed to contact the chaotic Marvel Universe.
• Doctor Doom had combined more than a hundred universe fragments into Battleworld, where the Main Universe’s Tony Stark ruled the Iron Domain and began warring against other Tony Starks.
• Arno secretly expanded his influence within the Iron Domain, avoided Tony’s notice, and waited for Brad while warning his aide not to interfere with Tony’s plans.
• Arno checked Brad’s preserved corpse in his underground laboratory, and Brad’s body opened its eyes as his thoughts finally broke through the chaos.

Brad told Arno that he had reached a guarded world and warned him that Doom’s hold over Battleworld and an old acquaintance posed dangers. In the Steel Domain, Peter activated a hidden combat mode in his inherited armor, then came under attack from Iron Vulture.

• Brad told Arno he could not reveal details about the new universe and warned him that Doom might be using his power for another purpose.
• Brad sensed an old acquaintance in the Steel Domain, withdrew his consciousness, and left Arno to consolidate his forces.
• Peter followed an anonymous email about his father's death to an alley, where a mechanical spider entered a hidden socket in his armor and activated Spider Protocol.
• Peter’s armor transformed into a combat-ready spider suit, and he climbed to a rooftop to test its abilities and admire the view.
• Iron Vulture spotted Peter from the sky, failed to capture him, and received orders to destroy the unidentified armor.

Peter followed a mysterious stranger’s directions while escaping Vulture and reached a Stark Industries facility, where he fought Vulture and the Lizard. The Lizard offered him a place among the Iron Lord’s troops, but the stranger claimed Peter’s father’s death was connected to the Iron Lord.

• A mysterious voice guided Peter toward a Stark Industries facility, and Peter kicked Vulture away while gliding from his attack.
• Vulture’s superior entered a massive Lizard armor and went after Peter as he approached the facility.
• Peter learned the item he was sent to retrieve had belonged to his father, who had once worked for Stark Industries.
• Peter evaded the Lizard’s and Vulture’s attacks, then fought back with his Spider armor and taunted them.
• The Lizard praised Peter’s fighting talent and offered to recommend him to the Iron Lord’s troops, prompting Peter to consider joining.
• The mysterious voice told Peter that his father’s death was connected to the Iron Lord.

Peter learned that the Steel Domain’s supposed poison gas was a lie used by Tony Stark to control its people, then met an older version of himself who revealed he was sharing his body with the Creator. The Creator asked Peter to become Spider-Man and help stop Brad, while Tony’s conversation with Reed revealed that Reed’s mind had been scattered by the Hive Mind Program.

• Lizard demanded that Peter join his group, but Peter could not decide whether to believe him or oppose the Iron Lord.
• The mysterious man rescued Peter from Lizard and Iron Vulture, then led him to a Safe House and revealed that he was an older Peter Parker.
• The older Peter showed Peter that the air outside his armor was safe and explained that Stark technology could poison people on command.
• The older Peter removed his armor and introduced himself as the Creator, who said Tony sought information density across different worlds.
• Tony spoke with Reed about Reed’s fragmented consciousness and his inability to reunify it after using Brad’s Hive Mind Program.
• The Creator explained that he shared Peter’s body, had agreed to help Peter become Spider-Man, and wanted Peter’s help against Brad.

The older Peter explained how he and young Peter were linked, revealed the hidden origins of the Spider Armor, and began training the boy to become Spider-Man. Meanwhile, Connors sought Arno’s help against the Spider Armor, and Arno offered him Pietro and a completed Variant Armor.

• The older Peter explained that he and young Peter were versions of the same person, and that Dr. Parker and Dr. Pym had created combat suits outside the Steel Domain’s system.
• The Creator took control, gave young Peter web-shooters, and ordered him to defeat the six enforcers before the Iron Lord returned.
• Arno watched a hostile Daily Bugle report about the Spider Armor as Connors complained that the spider had repeatedly damaged the six enforcers’ armor.
• Connors asked Arno for Variant Armor, but Arno explained that its users needed a synchronization level above ninety-nine percent.
• Arno introduced Pietro as a compatible user and offered to have him join Connors’s Public Security Squad.

Barbara helped Brad complete a receiver that connected to his original universe by building a risky program that harnessed stolen computing resources. After it began receiving Arno's data, Brad discovered Tony Stark's superpower armor blueprints and realized they could grant or suppress abilities on an unprecedented scale.

• Barbara examined Brad's receiver program, recognized its rigid style, and offered to improve its signal-anchoring logic.
• Barbara built a makeshift communications framework with an AI, breached dozens of companies' servers for computing power, and took responsibility when Batman confronted Brad.
• After fourteen hours of frantic work, Barbara's program ran, and Brad fixed seven bugs as the receiver began reading information sent by Arno from the Marvel Universe.
• Barbara explained why she had risked an imperfect solution, and Brad confirmed that the receiver had worked and helped him.
• The next morning, Brad studied Tony Stark's superpower armor blueprints and concluded the technology could empower or control beings such as Superman.

Arno refused to open a passage for Carol, who arrived with a child and demanded access to Brad’s universe. Number One intervened, defeated Carol, and used a Joker-based virus to infect Tony Stark and his forces before taking Arno, Carol, and the child away.

• Arno learned that Tony had been monitoring him and decided not to flee or open a passage to Brad’s universe.
• Carol entered the Maria Foundation with a child, destroyed its defenses, and confronted Arno in the underground laboratory.
• Carol threatened Arno, but he refused to betray Brad; Brad then activated the Signal Transmitter and ordered Number One to retrieve Arno and the child.
• Number One arrived, revealed his connection to the child, and battled Carol after she attacked him.
• Number One unleashed information density amplified by Joker’s Laughing Gas, infecting Tony and his army with uncontrollable laughter.
• Number One knocked Carol unconscious, took the child, and left with Carol and Arno.

Number One confronted the Iron Lord beyond Battleworld, while their clash sent shock waves through the Steel Domain and left Peter and Pietro helpless. Arno rescued them, and the Venom Armor merged with Peter’s Spider Armor to carry him away.

• Number One kicked Arno clear of a collapsing black hole, then faced the Iron Lord as he emerged in red-and-gold armor.
• Number One and the Iron Lord flew beyond Battleworld to fight on a vast meteorite.
• In the Steel Domain, Peter warned Pietro that danger was coming, but Quicksilver attacked him anyway.
• Invisible shock waves swept through the Steel Domain, disabling Peter’s and Pietro’s armors and preventing the Venom Armor from reaching them.
• Arno returned in a shielded spacecraft, rescued Pietro, and left protective spheres beside Peter and the Venom Armor.
• The Venom Armor overrode its restrictions, merged with Peter’s Spider Armor, and carried the unconscious Peter away in a new Venom-Spider suit.

Number One defeated the Iron Lord by locating and destroying Tony Stark’s Supercomputer, then knocked Tony unconscious and sent Arno, Carol, Pietro, and a child through a Portal to Brad’s universe. There, Brad restored Pietro’s mutant gene, and Pietro’s speedster power began adapting to a primordial force as his information density surged.

• Number One tricked the Iron Lord into exposing his Main Camp, tore apart his armor, and destroyed the Supercomputer that powered Tony Stark’s control systems.
• Number One knocked Tony unconscious with a strong-force bat, and Arno convinced him to leave Tony alive.
• Arno assembled a Signal Transmitter and Portal, sending himself, the unconscious Carol, the injured Pietro, and a swaddled infant to Brad’s universe while Number One dissolved himself into Brad’s hive mind.
• Pietro arrived at Brad’s base, where Barbara teased him about being brought there and he explained that he had been a superhero before the universe reset.
• Brad restored Pietro’s mutant gene, and Pietro discovered that his speedster power was drawing on a primordial force and rapidly increasing his information density.