Chapter Summaries

Batwoman identified Saru’s death as a frame-up and helped Jason recover the happiest memory he had traded away. Meanwhile, Su Ming planned to track down Machine Head, but the Counter-Attackers suddenly arrived and attacked him.

• Batwoman found Darkseid’s name written in blood and declared that Saru’s death was a frame-up.
• Batwoman told Jason to reclaim the price he had paid to Saru and lead the heroes to the Timeline.
• Jason opened Saru’s safe and recovered a Crystal Ball containing his happiest childhood memory with Batwoman.
• Su Ming explained to Bobo that Adjutant could analyze Machine Head’s armor’s energy traces to locate him.
• The Counter-Attackers emerged from a Teleportation Portal and charged at Su Ming.

Su Ming’s group fought the Avengers after they attacked under a misunderstanding, aiming to knock them out so Rabbit could explain the situation. The battle began across Stark Industries Tower’s exposed top floor, where Silver Witch prepared a spell.

• Su Ming assigned Roger to fight Major Max, Multiverse Captain, and Wundajin; Jesse to handle the Blue Behemoth and ordinary agents; Albera to face the Avengers’ Enchantress; and Bobo to fight American Crusader.
• Deathstroke blocked Multiverse Captain’s Cosmic Energy beam and met Wundajin’s axe with the Nightfall Greatsword, blasting open the tower’s roof and walls.
• Rabbit let Major Max strike his steel chest while trying to explain that the fight was a misunderstanding.
• Jesse dodged the Blue Behemoth and knocked out Red Yaksha, Marksman, and Kite Girl in a rapid series of attacks.
• Silver Witch floated above the battlefield and began casting a spell that appeared capable of destroying the building.

Silver Witch and Albera traded magical attacks while Bobo was forced to fight American Crusader, who blamed him for Machine Head’s death. Bobo’s Nightblade repeatedly blasted the Crusader back, but the stubborn warrior refused to give up as Deathstroke subdued the other opponents.

• Albera bombarded Silver Witch with fireballs, preventing her from completing a powerful spell while Silver Witch dispelled each attack with silver magic.
• Bobo tried to convince American Crusader that Machine Head’s death was a misunderstanding, but Jack angrily accused him and his allies of repaying the Counter-Attackers’ help with murder.
• Bobo attacked with Jim’s Nightblade, whose magical fire blasted American Crusader backward despite the warrior blocking with his shield.
• American Crusader recovered and insisted he would keep fighting until Machine Head’s death was avenged, while Bobo tried to stall for Deathstroke.
• Bobo struck the Crusader’s shield again, knocking him back, and mocked him for boasting that he could fight a gorilla all day.

Deathstroke’s team captured the Avengers’ remaining fighters while the Blue Behemoth rampaged through the damaged building. With his teammates taken prisoner, American Crusader faced Deathstroke’s demand to surrender.

• Jesse asked Deathstroke how to handle the berserk Blue Behemoth, and he said the giant was no longer an obstacle.
• Deathstroke explained how he had defeated the Multiverse Captain and Wundajin, then gave Jesse chocolate and handed her Wundajin’s axe to inspect.
• Albera complained about fighting the Silver Witch, so Deathstroke sent the Cloak of Levitation to capture Laura Cynthia Neilsen and gave Albera alcohol.
• Captain Rabbit brought Major Max to the group, and Deathstroke concluded that the Silver Witch had injured herself attacking the rabbit’s sturdy body.
• Deathstroke gathered the unconscious prisoners and ordered American Crusader to surrender, threatening to kill Red Yaksha first if he refused.

Su Ming and Bobo explained that Machine Head had faked his death and framed Su Ming, clearing up the Avengers' mistaken revenge attack. The freed captives began blaming one another, while the drunken woman urged them to fight as Su Ming's team prepared to deal with Machine Head.

• Su Ming sent Bobo to face American Crusader, who surrendered to protect his teammates.
• Su Ming and Bobo explained that the burned body could not have written the death message and that Machine Head had staged his own death.
• Silver Witch and Captain Rabbit helped convince American Crusader that Multiverse Captain's account had misled the team.
• Multiverse Captain, American Crusader, Australian God of Thunder, Major Max, Red Yaksha, Marksman, and Beetle Girl blamed one another for the attack.
• Su Ming released the captives, and Bobo warned that their argument could turn into a fight.
• The drunken woman encouraged the captives to fight so they would not learn about Su Ming's plan to find and kill Machine Head.

After the Avengers blamed Blue Behemoth for their attack on Deathstroke, a burst of black light engulfed Stark Tower and made it vanish. Deathstroke’s group escaped to the Statue of Liberty, where Bobo suspected Machine Head had weaponized an Oblivion engine.

• Su Ming explained that Batman’s investigation had exposed a flaw in 40K Earth’s defenses, so Scarlet Witch had merged the Inner Planes and built a new Chaos Dimension as a backup.
• The Avengers agreed to blame Blue Behemoth for their attack on Deathstroke while he rampaged through the street.
• Deathstroke accepted their explanation and asked some Avengers to capture Blue Behemoth while Bobo prepared to explain The Flash’s disappearance and Machine Head’s possible role.
• Black light surged from Stark Tower and began reducing the building to glowing particles, so Deathstroke called for Plan E.
• Adjutant teleported Deathstroke’s group and the Avengers to the Statue of Liberty, where they watched Stark Tower disappear and Bobo suggested Machine Head had turned Oblivion engines into weapons.

After Machine Head’s betrayal and Stark Industries Tower’s destruction, Bobo persuaded the Counter-Attackers to confront the rampaging Blue Behemoth. Deathstroke’s team then tracked down the scorched head of the Deadman, leaving them with a lead to pursue.

• Bobo told the Counter-Attackers that Machine Head had defected to Darkseid and arranged the tower’s destruction, though he admitted they did not know why.
• Bobo warned the Counter-Attackers about Darkseid, while Captain Max asked whether he could improve people’s appearance or keep them young.
• American Crusader asked what they should do, and Bobo directed the group to recover Blue Behemoth, who was tearing through Manhattan.
• The Counter-Attackers apologized to Deathstroke and went through Silver Witch’s portal to stop Blue Behemoth.
• Hellblazer asked whether Deathstroke could still find Machine Head, and Deathstroke had Adjutant locate the Safehouse where the Avengers had met.
• Deathstroke sent Jesse to retrieve the scorched Deadman’s head, and Jesse returned at once with the head and its shoebox.

Deathstroke and his companions summoned the burned victim’s soul in the sewers and learned that his name was Syed, Stark Industries’ head of security. Syed identified his killer as his boss and friend, Machine Head, Nito Stark, but did not know why he had been murdered.

• Albera used the victim’s burned head to summon his soul with Hell Magic in the sewers.
• Deathstroke offered the ghost a chance to take revenge, and the ghost agreed to answer questions.
• The ghost identified himself as Syed, Stark Industries’ head of security and Machine Head’s friend and bodyguard.
• Syed confirmed that Machine Head, Nito Stark, had killed him, though he did not know the reason.
• Arabelle threatened Syed with Mazikeen, and he began cooperating with the group’s questions.

Deathstroke and the others questioned Syed’s soul and pieced together why Machine Head had killed him and the women. They uncovered Nito’s elaborate body-double scheme and sent Syed’s soul back to Hell.

• Syed recalled entering Machine Head’s suite without knocking and seeing him remove his faceplate, giving the group a possible motive for the murders.
• Deathstroke and Su Ming reasoned that Machine Head had likely killed Syed and the women because whatever Syed saw threatened Machine Head’s life.
• Bobo questioned why the murders had happened shortly before the group arrived, and Deathstroke explained that Machine Head had delayed them to exploit Syed’s Kagemusha plan.
• Su Ming explained that Syed had worn spare armor and posed as Machine Head while Nito carried out other preparations, then Nito returned, killed the sleepers, and burned the bodies to fake his own death.
• Su Ming told Albera to send Syed back to Hell and asked her to have the jailers reduce Seth’s daily lashes.

Deathstroke and his companions left the sewers and discovered that a black rain of Omega-powered nanomachines was transforming people into cyborg monsters. As civilians fled the city, Adjutant identified the attack as Machine Head’s work.

• Jesse judged the burning ghost guilty, while Albera explained that souls could end up in Hell because Heaven had closed its doors.
• Su Ming and his companions considered what Machine Head had been hiding and decided to seek Big Pepper for a first-generation Ark Reactor.
• The group emerged from the sewers to find New York in darkness as crowds fled through the streets.
• Bobo spotted black rain falling in the distance, and Albera recognized its clouds as those stained by the earlier pillar of light.
• Adjutant reported that Omega-powered nanomachines were capturing people and turning them into winged cyborg monsters.

Su Ming and his companions decided not to fight Machine Head’s nanite plague, leaving the immediate crisis to the Avengers. Captain Carrot departed to help the people in danger, while the others continued toward their larger pursuit of Machine Head.

• Su Ming dismissed the Nanite Swarm as less useful than his Stitched Monster Virus, while Adjutant reported that Big Pepper was near Times Square and preparing to evacuate.
• Su Ming refused to join the fight against the nanites and Ultron robots, explaining that Machine Head wanted to delay them while he escaped.
• Captain Carrot chose to leave the group and help the Avengers despite knowing Machine Head might be manipulating him.
• Su Ming gave Captain Carrot a bundle of Roaches and said he could represent the group as he went to help.
• Jesse, Detective Chimp, Enchantress, and Johnny Quick stayed with Su Ming and continued on the flying carpet.

Deathstroke rescued Big Pepper from the chaos on Earth-8 and demanded the Ark Reactor Machine Head had replaced in her. After Jesse Quick recovered it, Deathstroke learned Big Pepper was innocent but chose not to tell Jesse.

• Bobo approved of the girl choosing to travel with Deathstroke, while Deathstroke summoned Superboy-Prime to replace Captain Carrot.
• Deathstroke and his group flew through the city, picked up Big Pepper, and carried her to a wheat field outside the city.
• Deathstroke told Big Pepper he needed her Ark Reactor, but when she denied having it, he knocked her unconscious with the Golden Frying Pan.
• Jesse Quick searched Big Pepper and found the diamond-shaped Ark Reactor, which Deathstroke handed to the Adjutant for investigation.
• Strangle examined Big Pepper's memories and found she was innocent, but Deathstroke kept that from Jesse.

Su Ming and his team narrowed down Machine Head’s possible hideouts by analyzing Ark Reactor signals and ruling out likely decoys. A signal moved beneath the South American Rainforest, and Su Ming prepared to confront Machine Head there.

• Su Ming ordered the Adjutant to take Big Pepper back to Sepulk for reformation and asked her to map Machine Head’s seventeen possible hideouts.
• Bobo and Albera identified six likely decoys, leaving eleven locations for the team to investigate.
• Su Ming deployed Alien Queens carrying the Stitched Monster Virus to the remaining locations to flush Machine Head out.
• A signal began moving beneath the South American Rainforest, revealing Machine Head’s location.
• Su Ming prepared to confront Machine Head and ordered the Adjutant to teleport the team there and cut him off.

Deathstroke and his team waited in an underground base to ambush Machine Head, who was fleeing a zombie horde. Little Superman struck him with enough force to smash him through the floor and into the Earth's crust.

• Deathstroke led the team through a tunnel into the underground base and sealed the entrance behind them.
• Machine Head arrived in the corridor, trapped between Deathstroke's group and the zombie horde.
• Little Superman attacked Machine Head, but his Heat Vision barely scratched the enemy's sturdy New Genesis armor.
• Machine Head tried to escape by striking the ceiling, while Deathstroke, Enchantress, and Jesse joined Little Superman in attacking him.
• Deathstroke used Force Choke as the team hindered Machine Head, and Little Superman punched him through the floor into the Earth's crust.

Deathstroke tried to lure Machine Head out of his tunnel by taunting him and forcing elephant dung into it. Machine Head finally burst out of the underground passage in a dung-covered suit.

• Little Superman blasted Machine Head with Heat Vision while Deathstroke asked him to stop so he could speak with Nito.
• Machine Head fired an energy blast at Deathstroke from below, but Strangle’s defenses absorbed it, and Deathstroke used the attack to light his cigarette.
• Deathstroke called for an African elephant, then had Strangle control it and make it defecate into the tunnel.
• Little Superman objected to the idea of drinking water squeezed from elephant dung while Deathstroke began explaining his Law of 'It Smells So Good'.
• Machine Head exploded the dung pool and shot out of the tunnel in a brownish-red figure streaked with green.

Su Ming humiliated Machine Head with an elephant and taunted him into revealing his new godlike body, while the others mocked his appearance. Machine Head revealed that he had sought a handsome face so he could marry Big Pepper, and Su Ming prepared to attack him.

• Su Ming had Adjutant bring in an elephant to cover Machine Head in dung, then sent it away before the fight resumed.
• Su Ming taunted Machine Head about becoming one of Darkseid’s New Gods, prompting Machine Head to discard his armor and reveal his transformed appearance.
• The gorilla, Albera, and Jesse reacted to Machine Head’s new looks, but their criticism left him furious and humiliated.
• Machine Head said he had traded everything for a handsome face so he could marry Big Pepper.
• Su Ming inferred that Machine Head also wanted power from the Great Darkness and raised his Lightsaber as the zombie groans in the corridor fell silent.

Nito revealed a new gray-energy form and fought Little Superman and Deathstroke after his secret base was destroyed. Ultron arrived with Machine Head and a vast robot army, turning the fight against the heroes.

• Nito swallowed a strange mass of air, formed angular gray armor, and destroyed the secret base with a punch.
• Little Superman engaged Nito in an aerial brawl while Su Ming protected the others and joined the fight with Strangle.
• Su Ming attacked Nito from behind, but a Mutated Omega Beam redirected and blasted Nito away from the strike.
• Ultron appeared, rescued Nito, and declared his loyalty to his creator.
• A vast Ultron Legion flew in, and Detective Chimp explained that the robots had arrived too quickly for him to warn the others.

Deathstroke and Little Superman turned Machine Head’s robot army against him and killed him. From the information gained, Su Ming learned that Darkseid had killed Destiny and taken the Book of Destiny, leaving Darkseid’s desperation clear.

• Little Superman threatened to use more of his strength against Machine Head, but Deathstroke warned him about the risk to Earth-8’s population.
• The Adjutant hacked Ultron’s network and took control of the robot army, which turned on Machine Head and restrained him.
• Little Superman seized Nito and helped Deathstroke confront Machine Head, who revealed no useful trump card before being beheaded.
• Strangle consumed Machine Head’s head, and Su Ming concluded that Darkseid had killed Destiny and taken the Book of Destiny.

Su Ming theorized that Darkseid had given Machine Head a story from a parallel future, possibly letting him interact with objects across Timelines. After the team discussed the limits of that theory and reassured Jesse that Machine Head was an Alien, Superboy-Prime searched the corpse for the object, making Jesse vomit.

• Su Ming guessed that Machine Head had eaten a story tied to a parallel Timeline, perhaps a seed that existed as a physical object elsewhere.
• Albera worried that Darkseid could use parallel Timelines to kill the team, but Su Ming said he was the only version of himself and could outmaneuver Darkseid with Timelines.
• Little Superman compared Darkseid's actions to creating separate comic-book futures, while Su Ming cautioned that his explanation had no evidence beyond Destiny's death.
• Jesse became upset at the sight of Machine Head's headless corpse, and Bobo and Superboy-Prime reassured her that killing an Alien was acceptable.
• Superboy-Prime searched Machine Head's body for the object he had eaten, and Jesse vomited at the sight.

After defeating Machine Head, Su Ming and the others searched his remains for clues, then used Ultron robots to put on a fireworks display for Jesse. The team celebrated briefly before Little Superman asked Su Ming how they would find and kill Darkseid.

• Little Superman searched Machine Head's corpse and found only a gallstone, while Jesse struggled with nausea and Deathstroke tried to comfort her.
• Deathstroke burned Machine Head's remains, then used Cosmic Energy to reduce them to molecules.
• Su Ming ordered Adjutant to turn the Ultron robots into fireworks, and their display lifted Jesse's spirits.
• Bobo watched Jesse's mood improve and silently praised Deathstroke for helping her recover.
• After the fireworks ended, Little Superman asked Su Ming how the team would locate and kill Darkseid.