Chapter Summaries

Su Ming and the others encountered a fisherman whose perceptions Merlin had altered, then prepared to descend into the sea trench Merlin had made. They left the fisherman for the Blackhawk Squad and went on guarded against Merlin’s magic and traps.

• Su Ming and the group found a fisherman counting coins on his boat, and Wonder Woman questioned him about the trench in the sea.
• The fisherman insisted his pyrite coins were gold, while Detective Chimp identified them as worthless and Su Ming explained that Merlin had altered the man’s perceptions.
• Su Ming attached Tenth Metal discs to protect Bobo and Donna from magical changes to their perceptions, and Wonder Woman contacted the Blackhawk Squad to help the fisherman.
• Wonder Woman warned the fisherman to return to port, and he retreated into his cabin to start the boat’s engine.
• Su Ming and the others prepared to descend into the trench as Bobo warned that Merlin could construct magical realities and might have set traps.

Su Ming and his companions followed Merlin’s scent through Hecate’s underwater city to a well, where they descended into a seemingly endless darkness. The chapter ended with the group still falling and Bobo asking Su Ming what to do.

• Su Ming led Diana, Donna, and Bobo to the drained underwater city, where Bobo could not identify Hecate’s Door among its mismatched buildings.
• Strangle tracked the blood scent Merlin had left behind, though it kept appearing and disappearing, while Su Ming sensed that something was watching them.
• Strangle led the group to an ancient well beside the broken statue of Hecate as The Maiden, and Su Ming prepared them for possible magical traps.
• Su Ming, Diana, Donna, and Bobo entered the well aboard the Cloak of Levitation and continued descending for dozens of seconds without reaching the bottom.
• Bobo asked Su Ming what they should do about the endless descent.

Su Ming and his companions escaped Merlin’s Infinite Freefall trap and followed a passage into a moonlit Pocket Dimension. They discovered Merlin had surrounded them with thousands of monsters, leaving a battle ahead.

• Deathstroke used Cosmic Energy to break open Merlin’s Infinite Freefall Pocket Dimension and brought the group to the bottom of a well.
• Su Ming opened a stone door, and the group entered a passage decorated with carvings of moon worshippers.
• Su Ming warned that Merlin likely knew they were following him, while Diana worried about her missing mother, Hera, and the troubles surrounding her family.
• The group emerged into a vast Pocket Dimension containing an ancient domed structure beneath a starry sky and crescent moon.
• Bobo spotted thousands of monsters surrounding them and readied his Nightblade sword.

Su Ming and his companions reached Merlin at the golden door, which Merlin claimed as his own. Merlin raised layers of magical shields and revealed that he had been buying time to take the door away.

• Su Ming summoned hundreds of Orange Lantern Constructs, which slaughtered Merlin’s magical beasts while Bobo watched from his shoulder.
• Su Ming, Diana, Donna, and Bobo flew past the battle and entered the palace, where they found Merlin standing before a golden door.
• Merlin identified Deathstroke and his companions, then showed interest in dissecting Bobo after the ape resisted his Word of God.
• Su Ming drew the Nightfall Greatsword and Godslayer, declared the door his property, and challenged Merlin.
• Merlin floated above them, raised layers of magical shields, and said he had been buying time to take the door away.

Deathstroke broke through Merlin’s magical defenses and wounded him, but Merlin revealed greater power and transformed the battlefield into a frozen plain. As Deathstroke protected Diana and prepared to face Merlin’s next spell, Bobo urged him to end the fight quickly.

• Deathstroke cut through space and shattered Merlin’s magical barriers, then advanced toward the Golden Door and demanded the Alchemy Stone.
• Merlin attacked Diana, Donna, and Bobo with a pillar of fire, but the two Amazons blocked it while Deathstroke struck Merlin and wounded him.
• Merlin healed himself, unleashed overwhelming magic, transformed the surroundings into a snowy plain, and shattered Diana’s shield with a blast of cold.
• Deathstroke covered Diana with the Cloak of Levitation and challenged Merlin to reveal his magic as Bobo encouraged him to finish the fight.

Su Ming, Diana, and Donna interrupted Merlin's spellcasting and struck him with a coordinated attack, but he emerged unharmed. Merlin then enchanted a sword and challenged Su Ming to settle things in a direct fight.

• As the frozen palace grew colder, Su Ming planned for Diana and Donna to attack Merlin while he tried to predict and pin down the wizard's movements.
• Su Ming attacked Merlin with his sword and ten Power Rings, while black barriers and the Amazons' attacks narrowed Merlin's space to evade.
• Su Ming used Force Choke to interrupt Merlin's incantation, allowing Su Ming, Diana, and Donna to strike him and blast him into a crater.
• Merlin appeared uninjured, removed his coat to reveal magical runes, and drew a sword from his pocket.
• Merlin enchanted his sword and challenged Su Ming to a head-on fight before he continued his plan.

Su Ming concluded Merlin was using his thoughts to undo his injuries and arranged to kill him with Wally’s speed. The chapter ended as Wally propelled Su Ming toward Merlin while Diana and Donna attacked from behind.

• Su Ming ruled out Baal’s possession and realized Merlin could be stopped by destroying his head before he could react.
• Su Ming summoned Wally and the Mobius Chair to the underwater Pocket Dimension.
• Wally mistook Bobo’s Symbiote covering for a perverse outfit, and Bobo protested after Strangle peeled it away.
• Su Ming told Wally to ignore Merlin’s motives and carry him at his fastest speed so he could kill the mage.
• Wally charged forward with Su Ming as Diana and Donna attacked Merlin from behind.

Su Ming and his allies defeated Merlin and returned from the Pocket Dimension to Hecate’s palace, where they found a mysterious book and the Alchemy Stone. The orb activated the Golden Door, which began opening and released a chaotic, unfamiliar aura.

• Su Ming, Wally, Diana, and Donna killed Merlin, and the snow-covered Pocket Dimension collapsed around them.
• Wally collapsed from the strain of using the Mobius Chair, and Su Ming praised him before sending him home to rest.
• Su Ming searched Merlin’s belongings, distributed his treasures, and kept a newly written book whose knowledge could summon the Old Ones.
• Donna found a Golden Orb that flew into the Golden Door and activated it.
• The Golden Door began to open, and Su Ming pulled Bobo away as a chaotic aura seeped through the gap.

Su Ming opened the Golden Door and encountered a gaze that flooded his mind with inexplicable knowledge before Strangle shut it. He took the Philosopher’s Stone and left with the others, planning to have it studied while Merlin’s fate remained uncertain.

• Su Ming sent Strangle to inspect the Golden Door, then looked through the opening and saw countless eyes that overwhelmed him with knowledge.
• Strangle slammed the door shut, and Su Ming recovered from the mental invasion with new, unexpected skills in his mind.
• Su Ming pulled the Philosopher’s Stone from the door and decided to keep it, while telling Bobo that nothing important lay beyond the opening.
• Bobo suggested destroying Avalon to prevent Merlin’s return, but Diana objected, and Su Ming explained that Merlin had left no soul behind.
• Su Ming gathered Merlin’s remains and clothes, then ordered the Adjutant to teleport the group to the Hall of Justice.

Recorder arrived at the Golden Door palace, questioned Merlin’s remains, and revealed that Merlin’s plan could have hastened the multiverse’s destruction. Meanwhile, Deathstroke and the others returned to Justice League Dark’s headquarters, where Zatanna remained unconscious and Su Ming said important questions were still unanswered.

• Recorder identified Deathstroke as the figure who had changed the multiverse’s story and questioned Merlin about his plans and death.
• Recorder told Merlin that using magic to look beyond That Door would alert the Origin Court and accelerate the multiverse’s destruction, then left through the Golden Door without reviving him.
• Deathstroke and the others arrived at Justice League Dark’s underground headquarters and visited the unconscious Zatanna in the lounge.
• Diana told Rory that they had avenged his friend Merlin, and Rory left after explaining that Man-Bat had asked him to give Zatanna a bowl of black water.
• Bobo lamented that Rory would not work with them again, while Su Ming said several questions still needed answers.

Su Ming explained that someone besides Merlin was spreading multiverse news online, then learned that a horned enemy had attacked Paradise Island and teleported Hippolyta to Central City. Diana left with Donna to return to the island while Su Ming planned to investigate the online promoter.

• Su Ming showed Bobo headlines about the multiverse and concluded that someone else was promoting the news online.
• Diana cared for Zatanna while Su Ming explained that their universe's altered origins and true Darkseid made it a target for outsiders.
• Su Ming and the others found Green Arrow and Dinah alone in the meeting room and learned that the horned enemy had fought Hippolyta on Paradise Island before teleporting her to Central City.
• Diana decided to take Donna back to Paradise Island, and Su Ming agreed while planning to investigate whoever was spreading multiverse news online.

Su Ming went to the infirmary to check on Cyborg, who had shut down while running self-diagnostics. Mister Terrific examined him and revealed he had a lead on the online messages promoting the multiverse, leaving Su Ming with a potentially useful object to investigate.

• Green Arrow invited Su Ming to take a dispatch shift, but Su Ming declined and went to check on Cyborg instead.
• Bobo complained that people kept rubbing his head, and Su Ming teased him with a suggestion to become a Headless Horseman.
• Su Ming and Bobo found Mister Terrific examining Cyborg in the infirmary.
• Mister Terrific explained that Cyborg had reported a problem with his brain and could not boot up normally.
• Mister Terrific said he had a lead on the online messages promoting the multiverse and tossed Su Ming an object he thought would help.

Su Ming and Detective Chimp investigated a suspicious can of multiverse bean soup and found evidence that its beans came from a radiation-filled parallel world. They headed to the cannery in Gotham to investigate its connection to Darkseid, leaving by teleporting from the Hall of Justice.

• Mister Terrific explained that the bean soup contained heavily mutated beans, and Detective Chimp identified the cannery as a possible lead.
• Su Ming had Strangle taste a bean, confirmed it was a radioactive species from the multiverse, and decided to investigate the cannery.
• Detective Chimp ran from Mister Terrific without paying for the can, so Su Ming paid the fifteen dollars and took it along.
• Su Ming and Detective Chimp agreed they could investigate Gotham without violating Batwoman's warning to Justice League members.
• Su Ming picked up Detective Chimp, and Adjutant teleported them from the Hall of Justice to a place with local customs.

Su Ming joined Batgirl and Detective Chimp to investigate a suspicious Gotham cannery linked to online claims about making money through the multiverse. After learning Batgirl had found false import records, Su Ming offered to keep Batwoman out of the investigation and prepared to search the factory with Batgirl.

• Su Ming met Batgirl and Detective Chimp on a rooftop overlooking a factory and explained that he had entrusted his money to Barbara to manage through the Gotham Police Foundation.
• Detective Chimp questioned Barbara about the investment, and she said she had put the money into real estate outside Gotham.
• Batgirl explained that she had traced the factory's suspicious import records and connected it to a group promoting ways to get rich through the multiverse.
• Su Ming told Batgirl not to involve Batwoman and offered to handle the case while Batwoman searched for Catwoman and the money.
• Su Ming shared hot cocoa with Batgirl and said he would take her into the factory to look for clues.

Barbara, Deathstroke, and Detective Chimp watched a Gotham factory and prepared to investigate its cargo, while Damian arrived on the rooftop as the convoy approached. The group was left facing a suspicious operation that might be bait for Batwoman.

• Barbara laid out a plan to wait for the factory's manager and interrogate him, while Bobo observed that the site appeared to be only a bottling and packaging plant.
• Su Ming said they should enter the factory and use Barbara's skills to trace its communications to its superiors.
• A convoy of vehicles approached the remote factory in the rain, drawing the group's attention.
• Damian landed on the rooftop, accepted hot cocoa from Su Ming, and ignored Barbara's questioning look.

Su Ming and his companions ambushed a shipment at the dock and confronted the woman in white overseeing it. Batgirl defeated her, while Damian and Bobo inspected the cargo and found sealed tanks of preprocessed thick bean soup.

• Damian told Su Ming that Jason Todd was recruiting people to investigate the Hall of Omnipotence with Speedy Roy, Joker’s Daughter, and Scar.
• Su Ming led the group from the factory roof to the dock, where mercenaries guarded a shipment.
• The woman in white checked the cargo as an unseen attack knocked down the workers and guards around her.
• Su Ming and Damian surrounded the woman, and Batgirl challenged her to a fight.
• Batgirl defeated the woman with a spinning aerial whip kick, while Damian and Bobo found thick bean soup in the cargo crate.

Su Ming and his team investigated a soybean scam in Gotham, only to discover that the factory was a trap aimed at Batwoman or Batgirl. An explosion destroyed the docks, but Deathstroke protected everyone, and the group left with phones, vehicles, and a freighter to investigate for clues.

• Barbara took the unconscious mercenary’s phone and began cracking it while Damian deduced that the woman was a disposable pawn who knew little.
• Su Ming explained that the trap had been meant to lure Batwoman or Batgirl, and the warehouse exploded before he could finish speaking.
• Deathstroke used the Power Ring and Symbiotes to shield the team and the unconscious people from the blast, which destroyed the factory and docks.
• Bobo urged the group to leave before the police arrived, while Deathstroke had Strangle collect phones and identification from the unconscious people.
• Barbara found only a call to a disposable prepaid phone, so Su Ming ordered the team to check the other phones, vehicle plates, and a half-sunken freighter.
• Barbara agreed to help investigate and asked the group to leave the explosion site before she faced her father.

The group reached Barbara’s Bell Tower and used its hidden systems to investigate the vehicles and cargo ship connected to their search. Their findings pointed to a concealed underground dock at Gotham’s abandoned Tidal Power Station, and Su Ming said he knew the route there.

• Su Ming led the group through a secret entrance into the Bell Tower, where Barbara activated its hidden computer base.
• Barbara traced the cloned license plates to cars bought in bulk in Washington D.C. and mapped the cargo ship’s repeated trips between Gotham’s East Coast and South Coast.
• Detective Chimp reasoned that the ship’s route suggested an underground supply station and possible Multiversal smuggling operation.
• Su Ming stopped Barbara from contacting Batwoman and said he had memorized Gotham’s sewer system and knew the underground dock’s location.
• Bobo agreed that the abandoned Tidal Power Station was the most suspicious place to investigate.

Su Ming, Barbara, Damian, and Bobo investigated the abandoned Tidal Power Station after discovering that criminals were using Wayne Enterprises’ facility to produce Radiated Soybeans. They defeated the guards and cornered a familiar burly man, who offered to tell them everything.

• Barbara confirmed that the Tidal Power Station still belonged to Wayne Enterprises and said destroying it would not be a problem.
• Batgirl and Damian explained that Bruce’s apparent lack of money did not mean he was bankrupt or short of valuable assets.
• Su Ming’s group entered the power station grounds through the sewers and found punk-haired minions loading Radiated Soybeans into trucks.
• Damian pointed out a familiar burly man near the checkpoint as someone they could question.
• Su Ming, Barbara, and Damian attacked the guards and left the burly man as the only one standing.
• The burly man surrendered and offered to tell them everything.

Batgirl, Robin, Deathstroke, and Bobo captured Master of Extras while investigating Black Hand’s food operation. After questioning him, they learned he had unknowingly moved food from a warehouse and headed there to investigate.

• Barbara restrained Master of Extras, who panicked when he saw Deathstroke and begged the vigilantes not to kill him.
• Damian explained that Master of Extras had worked as a hired thug for Gotham’s major villains and tied him up.
• Master of Extras said an anonymous employer contacted him through the Gotham Job Search Forum and paid him in Bitcoin.
• Master of Extras said he believed he was transporting food and described how it had been delivered to a warehouse without anyone seeing it arrive.
• Master of Extras gave the warehouse’s location, and Damian knocked him unconscious so he could pretend he had not escaped.