Chapter Summaries

Su Ming reunited with Constantine in the Overlook Hotel and asked him to help find two hidden rooms. Constantine agreed after learning Zatanna was unconscious from Merlin’s attack, provided Su Ming sent him back to Justice League Dark headquarters afterward.

• Su Ming recognized that Constantine had used him as a magical beacon and introduced him to Magik.
• Constantine said he had escaped Eternia after Skeletor took the Queen, and Su Ming asked him to investigate the Haunted House.
• Su Ming explained that they were inside the Overlook Hotel and needed to find two hidden rooms.
• Su Ming told Constantine that Merlin had attacked Zatanna and that her soul was damaged, prompting Constantine to agree to help.
• Constantine prepared himself with a cross and holy water, then asked Su Ming to stand behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

Constantine used Magik’s energy to reveal room 217 in the haunted hotel, and Su Ming led the group inside to investigate. They found Jack’s frozen zombie chopping at a bathroom door, confirming that the suite was haunted.

• Su Ming let Constantine secretly borrow Magik’s energy while casting his spell.
• Constantine’s spell caused room 217 to appear in the corridor, and Su Ming opened its door.
• Su Ming, Magik, and Constantine entered the suite and heard chopping sounds beyond the messy bedroom.
• The group followed the sound and saw Jack’s frozen zombie swinging a fire axe at a bathroom door.
• Constantine concluded that an evil spirit had killed Jack in the hotel.

Deathstroke and Magik escaped the Overlook Hotel through a glowing door and arrived at a ruined dragon’s nest in the Inner World. As a dragon flew toward them, Magik urged Deathstroke to fight it with her.

• Jack the frozen Zombie announced his arrival, and Deathstroke sent Constantine to deal with him.
• Constantine shot Jack and poured holy water over his corpse, driving him away and restoring the hotel room.
• Deathstroke sent Constantine back to Justice League Dark headquarters on Earth-0 with two bottles of liquor.
• Deathstroke and Magik entered the hotel’s Door of Light and found themselves amid a foul, corpse-strewn nest atop a mountain.
• Magik spotted a dragon approaching and asked Deathstroke to slay it with her.

Su Ming and Magik traveled through the Inner World, where Magik killed a giant mutated beast and Strangle scavenged its ruins. They then reached an apparently deserted wasteland hamlet and entered a makeshift windmill tower, hoping to find technology.

• Magik killed the enormous winged monster while Su Ming supported her and Strangle searched the ruins for valuable relics.
• Strangle found only worthless humanoid synthezoid parts, broken revolvers, and saddles, and Magik decided not to take the monster's oversized, foul-smelling head.
• Su Ming asked the Adjutant for another portal, and she directed the group four thousand kilometers southeast.
• Su Ming and Magik flew to a small hamlet, where Strangle detected no living residents.
• Magik spotted a sheet-metal windmill, and Su Ming suggested its generator might power useful appliances.
• Su Ming opened the windmill tower's door, and a skeleton fell out as he hoped the structure contained worthwhile technology.

Su Ming, Magik, and Deathstroke explored the windmill’s machinery and discovered it belonged to the Northern Central Positronic Group, a corporation that had survived the apocalypse and rebuilt as a cyberpunk industrial power. After explaining the dangers of its Synthezoid technology, Su Ming recovered a hard drive from the terminal.

• Su Ming examined the windmill’s machines while Magik restored their power, lighting the tower.
• Deathstroke identified the terminal and equipment as products of the Northern Central Positronic Group.
• Su Ming explained how the corporation had rebuilt its power in the Middle World and used Synthezoids to deceive people.
• Magik reacted with alarm as Su Ming described the corporation’s manipulation of human relationships and desires.
• Su Ming inserted a hard drive into the terminal and reflected on the risks of pursuing perfect Synthezoids.

Su Ming and Magik searched Windmill Tower for information about the Dark Tower’s twelve synthetic Guardian Deities, then entered another door and arrived in storm-struck Maine. They found the town of Harrison swallowed by deadly Mist and realized they had taken another wrong turn.

• Strangle searched the terminal’s database, and Su Ming explained that twelve synthetic animals made by the Northern Central Positronic Group had become Guardian Deities of the Dark Tower’s beams.
• Su Ming planned to capture the soulless mechanical gods for research, collected useful relics with Magik, and led her toward the door at the top of Windmill Tower.
• A violent storm struck Harrison, and the next day a thick Mist descended, killing people and driving survivors into a supermarket.
• Su Ming and Magik walked through the Mist, where Su Ming recognized the Maine setting and realized they had entered the wrong world.

Su Ming and Magik traveled through the mist-shrouded town, where Magik fought off a group of shadow creatures. They continued searching for the supermarket and a way out, with Su Ming asking Strangle to find living people.

• Su Ming relied on Strangle's senses to map the streets as he and Magik searched for a door out of the mist.
• Strangle warned that fast-moving creatures were diving from the sky, and Su Ming told Magik to prepare for battle.
• Magik killed the attacking monsters with her Soulsword, leaving flat patches of shadow on the road.
• Su Ming examined the shadows, then urged Magik to keep moving and look for the supermarket.
• Su Ming asked Strangle to track the scent of living people in the town.

Su Ming and Illyana crossed the fog-shrouded town, discussing whether the many Merlins across different universes were connected. They reached a barricaded supermarket and asked the people inside to let them in.

• Little Sprout guided Su Ming and Illyana east through the mist toward the supermarket.
• Illyana speculated that the Dark God Merlin might be Ultimate Merlin, but Su Ming said there was no evidence and noted that Merlin variants existed across many worlds.
• Su Ming and Illyana discussed Merlin's resemblance to Dracula before Su Ming spotted the supermarket ahead.
• Su Ming explained to Illyana that fictional works could differ from the realities they depicted, then advised her to analyze unfamiliar worlds carefully.
• Su Ming and Illyana found people barricading the supermarket windows, and Su Ming asked a startled courier inside to open the door.

Su Ming and Magik waited outside a darkened supermarket while frightened townspeople argued over whether to let them in. Scarlett arrived with her followers and declared herself Noah, insisting that the group must believe in her to survive the monsters in the Mist.

• Magik killed the dog-spider monsters that had followed Su Ming and the others through the parking lot.
• Su Ming and Magik waited outside as townspeople gathered behind the boarded-up supermarket windows and debated whether to open the door.
• Deathstroke claimed that he and Magik had escaped the monsters by running fast, while the young Black man insisted that the Mist made the town safer.
• Scarlett arrived with an organized group of believers and claimed that God’s angels would spare those who prayed with her.
• Deathstroke pretended that he and Magik were hungry and exhausted, but Scarlett refused to open the door and demanded that they believe in her.

Su Ming agreed to retrieve medicine from a pharmacy in exchange for entry and supplies, then secretly prepared a deceptive delivery while listening to the supermarket residents argue. He and Magik planned to use Compound V to stir up trouble, but Su Ming insisted on protecting the Mist and keeping their main objective in mind.

• A supermarket manager offered Su Ming and Magik food, water, and entry if they brought back antibiotics and painkillers from a pharmacy about a thousand meters away.
• Su Ming accepted the deal, then led Magik around a corner and returned to eavesdrop on the residents.
• Su Ming used Strangle to remove labels from medicine boxes while Magik suggested adding a substance to make the residents obedient.
• Su Ming chose to package Compound V as health supplements, and the Adjutant supplied Deep Sea Fish Oil boxes and labels.
• The residents argued over whether to admit Su Ming and Magik, who should control their weapons, and who should risk going out for medicine.
• Magik asked whether they should kill the residents or use a Zombie Virus, but Su Ming refused and said they needed to protect the Mist and focus on Merlin, the representative.

Su Ming and Magik entered the supermarket with medicine, where the trapped survivors fought over supplies. Su Ming gave David a false identity and described the monsters in the mist, leaving David frightened as the mist outside grew thicker.

• Su Ming made himself appear sweaty and returned to the supermarket with Magik, using toy guns to convince the survivors to let them inside.
• The survivors rushed to seize and hide the medicine, and Su Ming watched as the struggle turned violent.
• Su Ming discussed human survival instincts with Magik while they observed the crowd.
• David introduced himself, his wife Stephanie, and his son Billy to Su Ming, who claimed to be Bruce Wayne with his cousin Barbara Gordon.
• David asked whether the town could be saved, and Su Ming said monsters had consumed its inhabitants and described a flying creature in the mist.

Su Ming, disguised as Batwoman and using the name Bruce, gave David and his family Compound V disguised as Deep Sea Fish Oil. David gained superhuman strength, and Su Ming watched his transformation with satisfaction.

• Su Ming exposed a person secretly gathering canned food while the townspeople fought over medicine, and David chose not to confront them.
• Su Ming warned David to protect his family and secretly handed him boxes of supposed Deep Sea Fish Oil.
• Su Ming exaggerated the fish oil's benefits, and David read its claims before giving it to his wife and child and drinking some himself.
• David's eyes turned red, and he crushed glass beneath his knee without being hurt.
• David declared that he felt like Superman as Su Ming and Barbara watched him, and Su Ming called the result wonderful in an unfamiliar language.

Su Ming used diluted Compound V disguised as Deep Sea Fish Oil to give David and his family superhuman abilities, then stirred the supermarket survivors into a scramble for more. He planned to trade the doses for supplies and later let the temporary powers wear off, leaving the survivors to face the loss of their newfound strength.

• David, his wife Stephanie, and their son Billy gained superhuman strength after drinking the diluted Compound V, and David accidentally knocked the security guard unconscious.
• Su Ming presented the drug as Deep Sea Fish Oil and persuaded the survivors that the changed world could have changed its effects too.
• The fat manager, a lumberjack, a woman, and the Prophet's fanatics all competed for the fish oil while Magik watched Su Ming with an odd smile.
• Su Ming demanded the survivors fulfill their promise of food and water, so they rushed into the supermarket's food section to gather supplies.
• Su Ming planned to make the survivors work for temporary doses, then let their powers wear off and watch them lose the hope they had gained.

Su Ming distributed Deep Sea Fish Oil that gave most people superpowers, while secretly giving real fish oil to the red-haired Prophet and the fat manager. As the newly empowered survivors wanted to leave the supermarket and seek more supplies, Su Ming encouraged them to set out on their own.

• Su Ming handed out Deep Sea Fish Oil, and most of the people who drank it gained strength and agility, while the red-haired Prophet and the fat manager showed no change.
• The Prophet condemned the others as sinners, and the manager ran toward the restroom after his stomach began to hurt.
• Su Ming confirmed that he had secretly given the pair real oilfish oil instead of Compound V, causing their distress.
• David told Bruce that the empowered survivors wanted to leave the supermarket, and Su Ming agreed that everyone should travel separately and advised them to bring enough gasoline.

Su Ming sent the supermarket survivors out to seek the Deep Sea Fish Oil treasure while he and Magik stayed behind. He ordered the Adjutant to turn the survivors’ journey into a wider adventure across the Mist, leaving their fate uncertain as the story became a series of experiments.

• Su Ming told the departing survivors to search for the Deep Sea Fish Oil hidden in the Wilson Group’s pharmaceutical warehouse, while David chose to take his family out of town in search of sunlight.
• David’s family and the elderly couple left the supermarket, and the other survivors followed; Strangle’s Black Mud had secretly kept nearby monsters from reaching them.
• Magik praised David’s hopes for his son, and Su Ming agreed to give his family a chance to pursue their future.
• Su Ming ordered the Adjutant to spread more Deep Sea Fish Oil across North America and turn the original plan into a continuing adventure for people traveling through the Mist.
• The Adjutant reported that five billion doses had been produced, and Su Ming told her to hide them in unexpected places as well as pharmacies.

Deathstroke and Magik found a portal in the supermarket’s cold-storage room and arrived in a rainy Maine town. Doctor Doom contacted Deathstroke with a theory about Element Zero and asked to borrow his Cosmic Cube, which Deathstroke agreed to discuss after his vacation.

• Deathstroke told Magik that the people left in the supermarket would have to survive on their own after Strangle’s suppression ended.
• Magik found a glowing passage behind the cold-storage door, and she and Deathstroke stepped through into another Maine town.
• Doctor Doom contacted Deathstroke and explained that he had discovered a microscopic structure in Zero Matter, which he named Element Zero.
• Doom theorized that Element Zero was an amniotic membrane beyond the Multiverse, surrounding each universe at birth.
• Doom asked to borrow Deathstroke’s Cosmic Cube to test his deduction, and Deathstroke agreed to meet him after his vacation.

Deathstroke and Magik explored the Dark Tower Multiverse while discussing Doom’s discovery of Element Zero, then used a newspaper to identify their location as Derry Town in October 1957. The article warned of a month of heavy rain and a potentially catastrophic flood, leaving them with a clear clue about the danger facing the town.

• Deathstroke considered how Doom had separated Element Zero from Zero Matter and recognized the discovery as an important clue.
• Deathstroke refused Magik’s offer to handle the mission alone and said they needed to take the Dark Tower Multiverse before Merlin could prepare.
• Magik applied her teacher’s method for investigating a world by examining its time, place, and people.
• Magik found a recent copy of Derry Town’s local newspaper in a toolbox at a construction site.
• Deathstroke and Magik read an article predicting weeks of heavy rain and warning that a flood could devastate Derry Town.

Su Ming and Magik watched George chase his paper boat through the rain in the world of It, knowing a monster waited in the sewer. When the boat washed into the drain, George encountered Joker, who offered it back and tried to tempt him with a balloon.

• Magik recognized the world as It, and Su Ming reasoned that the story had just begun and the way to the next world lay underground.
• George chased his paper boat through the flooded streets while Su Ming and Magik followed.
• The boat swept into an uncovered sewer drain, and George scraped himself as he rushed after it.
• George heard laughter in the sewer and saw Joker holding his boat and a bunch of balloons.
• Joker teased George with the boat and offered him a balloon, while George remembered his father's warning not to accept gifts from strangers.

George met Pennywise in a storm drain and nearly got pulled into the sewer before Deathstroke and Su Ming intervened. They dragged Pennywise out to make him perform, while George fled in terror.

• Pennywise told George that a storm had blown him and his circus into the sewer, then offered him a balloon in exchange for his paper boat.
• George reached for the balloon, and Pennywise grabbed for him with yellow eyes and sharp claws.
• Deathstroke seized Pennywise's wrist and told George to go home and avoid playing with paper boats on rainy days.
• Su Ming claimed Pennywise's circus owed him money and dragged him from the storm drain, ordering him to perform an Egyptian Snake Dance.
• George screamed and ran away after seeing Pennywise pulled from the drain.

Su Ming and Deathstroke questioned Pennywise, who revealed that he was Derry Town itself and discussed how imagination let people perceive him. Pennywise transformed into a spider and described feeding on children and exploiting adults, while Su Ming suspected he was a manifestation of the collective unconscious.

• Su Ming and Deathstroke dragged the laughing Pennywise to a secluded grove, where Magik noted his golden eyes and Deathstroke questioned him.
• Deathstroke injected Pennywise with Fear Gas and gave him a Mushroom Cigar, but Pennywise showed no apparent reaction.
• Pennywise claimed he was Derry Town itself and death, and asked whether the town's dead might have gone to a better world.
• Pennywise said he had seen Gunslingers before and mentioned Roland, whom he found too practical to notice him.
• Pennywise transformed into a giant spider and explained that imagination faded with age, while adults' dark fantasies made them easy to manipulate.