Chapter Summaries

Su Ming and his companions explored a past Time Point on Omega Earth, where humans wandered through a dark city in a numb, despairing state. When Jesse tried to question a sleeping man, she discovered his corpse was crawling with maggots, and the people around them swarmed to devour it while crying, “Darkseid Is!”

• Su Ming, J'onn, Reverse-Flash, and Jesse observed the lifeless-looking humans and debated what was wrong with Omega Earth's inhabitants.
• Su Ming suggested finding food, and J'onn led the group onward while Jesse went to ask a passerby for directions.
• Jesse approached a man lying in a corner and discovered that he had been dead for a long time, with maggots spilling from his body.
• The surrounding humans rushed past Jesse to eat the corpse, crying, “Darkseid Is!”
• Jesse returned to her companions, horrified and dry-heaving at the sight.

Su Ming, disguised as Barry, left the group and entered an underground utility tunnel to lure Masked Man into a covert fight. He and Strangle discussed Darkseid’s treatment of humans as Su Ming continued toward the darkness, confident he could ambush his opponent.

• Su Ming protested the Living Dead’s feeding frenzy, then ran off after J'onn said they could not save them.
• Su Ming used Cloak to simulate Barry’s speed and searched for an underground entrance.
• Su Ming found a utility hatch, climbed down, and saw cables and blinking devices in the tunnel.
• Su Ming and Strangle speculated that Darkseid had given Omega Earth primitive technology because he treated humans as a disposable labor force.
• Su Ming and Strangle wagered on what expression Darkseid would wear when Su Ming eventually chopped off his head.

Disguised as Barry Allen, Su Ming lured a gray-masked pursuer into grabbing him and used Strangle to take control. He revealed himself as Deathstroke and planned to bring the captive to Batwoman for interrogation before confronting Darkseid.

• Su Ming pretended to grieve and attempted to run headfirst into a wall to draw out the watcher.
• A gray-masked man seized Su Ming, used Mind Control, and revealed that he intended to take Barry to Darkseid as a sacrifice.
• The man described his plan to torture Barry and reshape his personality, while Su Ming recognized clues about his identity.
• Strangle slipped into the man's collar and took control of his nervous system.
• Su Ming transformed from Barry into Deathstroke and said he would take the captive to Batwoman for interrogation.

Su Ming and J'onn captured the disguised speedster, whom they brought back to the sun base for Batwoman to interrogate. Batwoman identified the prisoner as Psycho-Pirate and began torturing him, while Su Ming called over Gorilla Grodd to help with the questioning.

• Su Ming knocked out the captured enemy, removed his mask, and secretly pocketed it while J'onn recognized him as the culprit.
• Su Ming and J'onn returned to the sun base with the prisoner and sent the gathered troops to carry out their assigned tasks.
• Su Ming secured the prisoner to a giant cross with Nth Metal nails and called Batwoman to see her captive.
• Cyborg woke the prisoner by alternating blasts of freezing mist and hot air, and Batwoman identified him as Psycho-Pirate.
• Batwoman pressed on Psycho-Pirate's broken arm to make him talk, while Su Ming summoned Gorilla Grodd to join the interrogation.

Su Ming arranged for Sinestro to help Batwoman interrogate Psycho-Pirate while the rest of the team ate a lavish banquet. The interrogation continued outside as the group debated its methods and chose to watch a bloody movie.

• Grodd told Su Ming that he had only hired Psycho-Pirate for information and could not persuade him to cooperate.
• Su Ming called Sinestro to help Batwoman interrogate Psycho-Pirate and gave him Fear Toxin to intensify the captive’s fear.
• Su Ming had the Adjutant teleport a lavish wedding banquet to the building while Batwoman and volunteers questioned Psycho-Pirate.
• Bobo criticized Batwoman’s interrogation methods and explained how demons exploited captives’ desires.
• Su Ming reassured the group and invited them to watch a movie, and Cheetah agreed while Damian noted how bloody it was.

Batwoman revealed Darkseid’s plan to overwrite the multiverse through the Speed Force Plane, with Omega Earth’s new Speed Force belt sustaining the loop. The group planned a three-pronged attack, but Su Ming unexpectedly chose to form a fourth team.

• Batwoman interrupted Wade’s wedding banquet and called Su Ming and Luthor aside to discuss what he had learned from Psycho-Pirate.
• Batwoman explained that Darkseid planned to use the Speed Force Plane to overwrite the multiverse, while Omega Earth’s Time Concept Speed Force belt kept the loop going.
• Su Ming warned that Darkseid could send out endless Hypertime Variants unless they destroyed Omega Earth, and Luthor agreed the threat had to be stopped.
• Batwoman proposed three teams to target the Speed Force Plane, the Apocalypse Legion’s controlled planets, and Omega Earth.
• Su Ming rejected the three options and announced that he chose a fourth team.

Su Ming divided the forces for the coming campaign and explained why he needed a secret fourth team, while leading a small group toward Omega Earth. As Diana questioned his distrust of the Justice League, Damian pointed out that her reluctance to trust Deathstroke’s judgment was the real issue.

• Su Ming analyzed Psycho-Pirate’s memories and predicted how Batwoman would assign the teams, then argued that Darkseid would expect three forces and that they needed a hidden fourth team.
• Su Ming revealed that Luthor’s team would absorb the Justice League, while he took Bobo, Diana, Albera, Damian, and Cyborg to attack Omega Earth with a smaller group.
• Su Ming asked Diana whether she would obey an order to abandon civilians in danger, and she admitted that the Justice League would save them regardless of the order.
• Albera, Bobo, and Damian reacted to Diana’s answer, and Damian said she had already proved Deathstroke right by questioning his judgment.

Su Ming's team waited for Luthor's attack and Batwoman's distraction before Cloak drilled through Omega Earth's red atmosphere and carried them underground. They headed toward the planet's core, but a smoke-wreathed figure blocked their passage and fired red beams at them.

• Su Ming explained to Diana and Cyborg that their mission might require killing the brainwashed inhabitants and destroying the planet, then ordered Cyborg to follow his commands.
• Adjutant reported that Luthor's forces had begun bombing Titan, and Batwoman later warned that her team felt watched.
• Su Ming signaled Cloak to drill through the atmosphere and take the team underground, where he warned them to relocate before investigators arrived.
• Su Ming led the team toward Earth's core while hoping to encounter targets who could provide intelligence about Omega Earth.
• A figure surrounded by blackish-gray smoke dropped into the passage and fired two red beams at the team.

Su Ming’s team defeated a Living Corpse Superman and escaped before Apokolips forces could surround them. Su Ming revealed that Darkseid had created the Apokolips Alliance, a team of varied Superman versions, as a tool for managing humanity.

• Living Corpse Superman attacked Su Ming’s group, but Albera’s barrier stopped his charge and Su Ming severed one of his legs.
• Diana, Su Ming, Albera, and Cyborg overwhelmed the wounded Superman, while Damian killed him with the correct Kryptonite Dagger.
• Su Ming had Strangle consume the corpse’s head, then led the team away on Cloak to avoid an encirclement.
• Su Ming told the group that Darkseid had formed the Apokolips Alliance and that the dead Superman had belonged to it.
• Su Ming explained that the Alliance consisted entirely of different kinds of Superman, including Martian, Batman, Robot, hawk-type, and underwater versions.

Su Ming’s team speculated that Darkseid had created seven fake Supermen and considered whether the copies revealed a weakness in his mind. They continued toward an underground Fire Pits site, hoping to find another fake and learn more while keeping Darkseid occupied across multiple fronts.

• Su Ming, Diana, Bobo, and Damian discussed whether the dead Superman-like enemy was one of seven Deathstroke-based clones created by Darkseid.
• Damian suggested Darkseid’s creation of fake Supermen might indicate a mental illness that could be exploited.
• Su Ming explained that their team had to avoid rushing ahead so Batwoman’s team could draw Darkseid’s attention and the three groups could gradually encircle him.
• Diana urged the group to stop discussing their plan and search for another fake Superman.
• Su Ming said Omega Earth had no Apokolips Hall but likely contained underground Fire Pits, and Cloak carried the team along the thickest energy transmission line.

Su Ming and his team found Omega Earth's immense, unguarded Fire Pits, but realized destroying it would collapse the Speed Force Plane and kill the Justice League members trapped there. They withdrew and chose to keep hunting the Apokolips Alliance while seeking another way to help Batwoman and bring down Darkseid.

• Su Ming led the team through underground energy conduits to the Fire Pits, then ordered everyone to retreat because its lack of guards suggested a trap.
• Diana asked why Su Ming feared the unguarded Fire Pits, and Bobo explained that destroying it could collapse the Speed Force Plane and kill its trapped occupants.
• Su Ming told the team that Batwoman and the others were trapped and had said he could destroy the Fire Pits if necessary, but Albera warned that Darkseid was steering him toward that choice.
• Su Ming explained that Darkseid wanted to face Superman and that destroying the Fire Pits would cost many lives while only eliminating one of Darkseid's avatars.
• Su Ming decided to keep hunting the Apokolips Alliance and ordered Cyclone Charge Tornado to drive them through the streets.

Luthor and Brainiac discussed the battle against Darkseid and the possibility of using flesh-and-blood conversion technology, while Su Ming's team investigated an unsettling Earth where living corpses appeared to lead ordinary lives. The chapter ended with Su Ming asking Cyborg to stop so he could question a local.

• Luthor asked Brainiac whether he had considered becoming human, and Brainiac said he might make a deal with Deathstroke if her conversion technology proved reliable.
• Luthor left to speak with Lady Deathstroke while Brainiac warned that using Divinity could let Darkseid seize it and threaten the wider multiverse.
• Bobo worried that the team might be caught in altered time and space, but Su Ming said the world seemed too real and pointed out how strangely normal its living-corpse residents appeared.
• Damian explained that Anti-Life Equation victims should be mindless, while Diana noted that the team had not seen any New Gods.
• Su Ming told Cyborg to pull over so he could question a local about what was happening in their minds.

Su Ming noticed Damian was beginning to treat Omega Earth's living corpses like ordinary people and warned him against being influenced by the city's familiar appearance. He then approached the hot dog vendor and tested the creature by saying, “Darkseid Is,” but the vendor seemed confused.

• Su Ming stopped Damian from approaching the hot dog stand and explained that Omega Earth's familiar society could make them lower their guard around monsters.
• Damian realized that finding money and planning to buy a hot dog had been suspicious, then returned to the car at Su Ming's instruction.
• Su Ming sent Bobo to keep an eye on the Superheroes and walked with him toward the vendor, covering Bobo's head with a plastic bag against the rain.
• Su Ming said “Darkseid Is” to the living corpse vendor, who showed no recognition and kept stirring the onions.
• Su Ming asked the vendor how much the snack cart cost.

Su Ming and Bobo investigated the strange laws governing the living corpses on Omega Earth and discovered that the Goddess was Grail. Su Ming suspected Batwoman had altered the Timeline and realized they had less time than expected.

• Su Ming questioned a snack-cart vendor, who warned that having no job was a crime under the Goddess's rules and hurried away in fear.
• Bobo noted the vendor had treated them as ordinary creatures and discussed the suspicious behavior with Su Ming.
• Su Ming gave Bobo a stolen phone to research the Goddess, explaining that connecting Adjutant to the network could expose it to the Anti-Life Equation.
• Bobo found images of the Goddess online, and Su Ming recognized her as Grail.
• Su Ming suggested Batwoman had affected the Timeline and struck a skyscraper, smashing it apart.

Su Ming drew the Apokolips Alliance’s remaining living-corpse Supermen into a fight, and he and Diana defeated them with help from Strangle and Albera. With the Alliance wiped out, they were left to continue searching for Darkseid’s weakness.

• Su Ming destroyed a building to draw the Apokolips Alliance’s living-corpse Supermen to him, while Bobo worried about the danger.
• Su Ming sent Bobo to the Old Man’s Delight as seven Supermen arrived, then deflected Robot Superman’s Omega Beams and fought the others.
• Su Ming killed the Amazon Living Corpse Superman and gave her head to Strangle to read; Diana prepared to join the fight.
• Diana stopped Bobo from leaving the car, then joined Su Ming and targeted the corpse archer while Albera weakened the enemies with spells.
• Su Ming and Diana killed the remaining Supermen, including the weak Batman Superman, whom Strangle stabbed from behind.

After Deathstroke and his companions killed the Apokolips Alliance, they discussed Batman’s possible changes to the timeline and Grail’s history. Diana argued that Grail might have her own plan, while Deathstroke questioned whether she could safely raise baby Darkseid.

• Deathstroke killed the Apokolips Alliance attackers, and Bobo inspected their remains.
• Deathstroke deduced that Batman had altered the timeline and turned Grail into his pawn.
• Bobo and Diana explained Grail’s abilities, her mother’s mission to assassinate Darkseid, and the Fates’ prophecy about Grail killing him.
• Deathstroke recounted that Grail’s mother followed the prophecy, had Darkseid’s child, and trained Grail as a weapon.
• Diana said Grail was not fundamentally evil and might have a plan of her own after leaving with Darkseid.
• Deathstroke said Grail had passed up a chance to kill baby Darkseid and planned to raise him as a kind person, despite her own history of violent instability.

Su Ming concluded that Batwoman’s plan to use Grail had failed in the original Timeline, leaving the team dead and Omega Earth trapped in a closed loop. After he warned Batman through the Adjutant, the past changed and transformed the present, so Su Ming set out to study the altered world and guide the next adjustment.

• Diana asked Su Ming to speak with Grail before anyone acted, but Su Ming said he had his own plan and explained how Batwoman’s earlier attempt had likely failed.
• Diana urged Su Ming to warn Batwoman, and he said the Adjutant had already contacted Batman and that Batman would trust his advice over Reverse-Flash’s.
• The world broke apart and reformed into a more desolate Omega Earth after Batwoman changed the past, while Bobo noted that their old intelligence was now invalid.
• Su Ming explained that he could observe changes in the present as Batwoman adjusted the past, and he planned to repeat the process until he found a way to save the team.
• Su Ming ordered Cyborg to drive the group into a ruined town to compare its condition with the previous world, while the Adjutant reported that the Red Atmosphere blocked most observations.
• Su Ming spotted something moving through the black sandstorm as the group entered the town.

Su Ming’s team took shelter from a black sandstorm in an abandoned waystation bar and split up to investigate it. Su Ming and Albera found a well sealed beneath the wine cellar and sensed an extremely powerful thought-form inside.

• Cyborg turned into a bright camping lantern as Su Ming shielded the group from the sandstorm with his Green Lantern Ring.
• Su Ming sent Bobo, Damian, and Diana upstairs while Cyborg guarded the bar’s entrances and he and Albera searched the first floor and cellar.
• Su Ming had Strangle place Claymore Mines at the bar’s entrances as an early warning system.
• Albera sensed something unusual in the cellar, where Su Ming and his team found a well sealed beneath a thirty-ton metal slab.
• Albera identified the presence below as a high-energy thought-form, and Su Ming joked that it might be a Vengeful Ghost.

Su Ming and Albera summoned the ghost in the well and learned from Aquaman that Batwoman’s plan involving Hawkgirl’s Nth Metal wings had caused a world overrun by ghosts and undead. Su Ming ordered the Adjutant to warn Batwoman that the plan had failed and to change course.

• Albera formed a Dimensional Restraint Curse around the well, and Su Ming had Strangle lift its cover.
• Aquaman’s ghost appeared and told Su Ming that Batwoman had sent him to hide in the sea, where he starved to death.
• Aquaman explained that Hawkgirl and Batwoman’s plan had failed, leaving the world filled with ghosts and undestroyable monsters that feared light.
• Su Ming told Diana that he would contact Batwoman and warned that reincarnation would not solve the crisis.
• Su Ming ordered the Adjutant to tell Batwoman that the Nth Metal writing activated the Source Wall and that she needed a new plan.

Su Ming investigated Darkseid’s new creations, looking for clues to the ability behind Darkseid’s changing countermeasures. After Strangle consumed one of the giant flies, the swarm outside went berserk, but Su Ming found no new clues and planned to examine more powerful enemies when the Timeline restarted.

• Su Ming left Black Cloud Arthur trapped in the magic circle while Bobo, Damian, and Albera returned upstairs.
• Su Ming and the others found themselves surrounded by giant green fly-like monsters outside the tavern, with Cyborg transformed into a glowing loudspeaker.
• Su Ming dragged one monster beneath the doorway’s light and had Strangle swallow it, releasing a pheromone that enraged the surrounding swarm.
• Strangle told Su Ming that the fly-like creatures had complete brains and were roughly as strong as adult rhinos, but revealed no microscopic clues about Darkseid’s methods.
• Su Ming decided to wait for the Timeline to restart and promised Strangle a chance to eat Desaad if conditions allowed.