Chapter Summaries

Batwoman and Joker trapped the Norse pursuers in laughing-gas-filled sewers, then went looking for their chieftain. At a Chemical Plant, an undead skeleton prepared a mixture beside an unconscious Superman and fought off Diana and Supergirl while Harley waited for a chance to rescue him.

• Batwoman watched Joker’s explosives collapse the parking-garage floor and send the Norse pursuers into sewage laced with laughing gas.
• Joker admired the incapacitated pursuers, and Batwoman told him their chieftain was still at large.
• Batwoman and Joker headed off to find the Norse leader as Joker joked about their hunt.
• An undead skeleton brought Superman into a dark Chemical Plant workshop and poured ingredients into a vat.
• Diana attacked the skeleton to protect Superman, but it stole her Lasso of Truth and kicked her away.
• The skeleton pulled Supergirl down with the lasso and taunted her and Diana while Harley waited outside for a chance to take Superman.

Diana and Kara fought the skeleton in the factory but were unable to overcome his skill, and he incapacitated them after his drug finished processing. The skeleton escaped with the drug and Milkman Superman, leaving Harley behind.

• Diana and Kara attacked the skeleton, but he dodged their strikes and countered their moves while protecting the factory workers.
• The machine finished processing the drug, and the skeleton used Diana’s lasso to bind her before incapacitating Kara with green smoke.
• The skeleton sampled the powder, filled a black sack with the drug, and found Harley trying to drag Milkman Superman away.
• The skeleton seized Milkman Superman, escaped through the factory window, and disappeared into the night.

Harley, Diana, and Kara recovered after the skeleton escaped the factory, then followed his trail. The skeleton encountered the Angel Statue, resisted its ability, and knocked it through several skyscrapers before continuing on with Milkman Superman.

• Harley helped Diana free herself from the lasso, and they helped the weakened Kara to her feet.
• Harley tasted the skeleton's remaining powder and identified it as a happiness-inducing drug intended for Milkman Superman.
• Diana carried Harley out of the factory while Kara followed, and they headed after the skeleton.
• The Angel Statue confronted the skeleton in the street and demanded that he hand over Superman.
• The Angel Statue's power incapacitated nearby pedestrians, but it had no effect on the skeleton.
• The skeleton kicked the Angel Statue through several skyscrapers and continued onward with Milkman Superman as the unconscious pedestrians began snoring.

Diana, Kara, and Harley followed the skeleton through Future city and watched him use medicinal powder to awaken a receptionist at a strangely uniformed company. After identifying himself as an old acquaintance, the skeleton was granted access to an elevator and went up with Superman and the powder.

• Diana, Kara, and Harley followed the skeleton while trying to stay hidden and determine where he was going.
• The skeleton entered a company where all the employees wore matching brown trench coats, pinstriped trousers, leather shoes, and felt hats.
• The skeleton flicked medicinal powder at the receptionist, who abruptly reacted and seemed to regain awareness.
• The receptionist treated the skeleton as an ordinary visitor after he showed her a note from his bat-emblem notebook.
• The receptionist called her boss, described the skeleton as an old acquaintance, and directed him to an elevator.
• The skeleton carried Superman and the medicinal powder into the elevator and went to meet the waiting boss.

Harley, Kara, and Diana followed the skeleton into a mysterious company, where the receptionist recognized them as the boss’s friends. Meanwhile, Batman and the Joker traveled through a city beset by looters, and the Joker described his plans for the enemy Batman he expected to encounter.

• Harley walked confidently into the company with Kara and Diana and told the receptionist they were with the person who had arrived earlier.
• The receptionist let the three women use the elevator, saying the boss knew they were coming.
• Kara worried they might be walking into a trap, while Diana prepared to defend them as they rode to an unfamiliar upper floor.
• Batman knocked down looters in the streets as the Joker talked about the crowds watching their performance.
• The Joker said he wanted to skin the ancient barbarian Chieftain Batman expected to face and make himself a skintight suit from the man's skin.

Batwoman and Joker made their way through Earth-40K’s chaotic streets while Joker tested Batwoman with a grisly suggestion and a riddle. A giant Norse Warrior emerged from the mist to challenge Batwoman, and Joker decided he wanted the warrior’s skin.

• Joker suggested that Batwoman skin the Norse Warriors, but Zorn ignored the proposal to avoid revealing his different personality.
• Batwoman fought off Black gunmen and answered Joker’s riddle that the city’s most expensive thing was something from outside it.
• Joker laughed at the chaos as a burning car crashed nearby and white mist froze looters into blue-skinned ice sculptures.
• A four-meter-tall Norse Warrior emerged from the mist, threatened Batwoman, and declared that he would hang her head over his fireplace.
• Joker grew angry at the warrior’s threat and decided he wanted the man’s skin.

Batwoman and the Joker confronted Edvard Olafsson and his Frost Army as the Adjutant sent in a Synthezoid Legion to contain the invaders. Batwoman prepared to fight the King of Frost while the Joker supported her, and the battle spread across the streets of New York.

• Edvard Olafsson led the Frost Army through the mist, and looters opened fire before the armored warriors overwhelmed them.
• Batwoman asked the Adjutant to lend her a Synthezoid Legion while she and the Joker took on the King of Frost.
• Batwoman equipped herself and the Joker with Rogues' Suits designed to withstand freezing attacks.
• The Adjutant teleported in the Synthezoid Legion, which formed ranks and attacked the Frost Army.
• The Joker threw laughing-gas grenades at Edvard, while Batwoman used the Synthezoids as cover and advanced to test his weaknesses.

Tuxedo Skeleton secretly communicated with a skull preserved in a tank, while Diana, Kara, and Harley watched without learning what they discussed. The skull revealed that it had failed to stop Blank and had preserved humanity’s souls in a technology-created Negative Zone.

• Tuxedo Skeleton used a bat-emblazoned notebook to converse with the skull in the tank as Diana, Kara, and Harley tried to observe.
• The skull said it had noticed Blank sixty years earlier but had been unable to stop her from spreading everywhere.
• The skull explained that it had tried to use the power of crisis to rewrite humanity’s Future, but had been reduced to a head and managed only to save Jason.
• The skull revealed that it had used its technology to upload people’s consciousnesses into a quantum-theory Negative Zone, preserving their souls.
• The skull described the Negative Zone as a space of possible states calculated with imaginary numbers and said it had become an alternative form of technological immortality.

Harley guessed the skull was Lex Luthor as he spoke with the Tuxedo Skeleton about Blank and the many Timelines she controlled. The Tuxedo Skeleton left with the unconscious Milkman Superman, and Luthor invited the Justice League members hiding outside to enter.

• Harley wrote her guess that the skull was Lex Luthor in Diana's palm, and Diana agreed.
• Luthor said Blank ignored him and that the Timeline remained under quantum control, while the Tuxedo Skeleton suggested someone in New York City could help.
• The Tuxedo Skeleton revived Milkman Superman with medicinal powder, then Luthor activated Artificial Kryptonite and made Superman collapse in pain.
• Luthor asked whether the powder was meant to counter Blank, but the Tuxedo Skeleton indicated he had other preparations and knocked Superman unconscious again.
• The Tuxedo Skeleton took Superman and the sack through a secret elevator, and Luthor called for the Justice League members outside the door to come in.

Lucifer visited Izanami-no-Mikoto in Yellow Springs Hell to ask about people whose wishes were coming true without a price, using a notebook from Amon. Izanami-no-Mikoto said she did not know who could grant such wishes, and Lucifer asked who she had wished to see him.

• Lucifer drifted along the River of Forgetfulness and met his ex-wife, Izanami-no-Mikoto.
• Izanami-no-Mikoto complained that Lucifer had not visited their son Takehiko, and Lucifer mocked their son’s behavior in Ireland.
• Lucifer told Izanami-no-Mikoto that Deathstroke was powerful and dangerous, and she said she had been avoiding him.
• Lucifer gave Izanami-no-Mikoto Amon’s notebook about people whose wishes had come true without a price.
• Izanami-no-Mikoto said ghost deities usually demanded payment for granting wishes, so Lucifer asked who she had wished to see him.

Diana questioned Lex Luthor about the Tuxedo Skeleton, then followed him with Harley and Supergirl after he left his building. As they pursued him, they discovered an owl had been tracking them from Gotham, and Harley suspected it belonged to the Court of Owls.

• Diana asked Lex Luthor who the Tuxedo Skeleton was, and Lex said he did not know his identity and had only exchanged intelligence with him about Blank.
• Harley dismissed Luthor's answer and led Diana and Supergirl out of the building to pursue the Tuxedo Skeleton.
• The women spotted the Tuxedo Skeleton studying a map under a streetlamp before he carried Superman and a black sack away at a run.
• Diana carried Harley as they followed the Tuxedo Skeleton, while Kara confirmed that an owl had been tracking them since Gotham.
• Harley suggested that the owl might belong to the Court of Owls and that its members may have survived the crisis in this Timeline.

Batwoman and Joker struggled against King of Ice as his magical armor, healing, and freezing mist overwhelmed the synthezoid troops. Batwoman tried an incendiary attack and found a possible opening in his slow handling of nearby enemies, but the battle remained unresolved.

• Joker reset his broken arm and fought alongside Batwoman against King of Frost, while the ancient army was nearly wiped out and thousands of synthezoids were destroyed by the king’s freezing mist.
• Batwoman told Joker that King of Frost’s magical armor and Super Healing made him difficult to injure, and Joker used Clayface’s weakness to cold to suggest heating the enemy.
• Batwoman hurled Apokolips-made Incendiary Bombs at King of Ice, but the flames failed to harm him and seemed to energize him.
• Adjutant deployed more synthezoids to block King of Ice as he charged Batwoman, and she identified the two seconds he needed to deal with nearby synthezoids as a possible weakness.

Diana, Harley, and Kara followed the Tuxedo Skeleton as he carried Superman through the city and discussed the Court of Owls. When the skeleton stopped to face an unseen enemy, Harley spotted someone hiding in a building and guessed the enemy was invisible.

• Diana told Harley and Kara what she knew about the Court of Owls and said she would kill any remnants they encountered.
• Harley joked about buying donuts and teased Diana, prompting Diana to threaten to tie her up while Kara tried not to listen.
• The Tuxedo Skeleton stopped, dropped Superman and the burlap sack, and took a boxing stance as if he had sensed an enemy.
• Diana, Harley, and Kara hid in an alley and watched the skeleton, while Harley pointed out a figure behind a thirtieth-floor window that the others could not see.
• Harley guessed the enemy was invisible and said the skeleton could defeat him before they performed an autopsy.

Harley watched Translucent prepare to ambush Tuxedo Skeleton and explained her understanding of Satan worshippers and the three Satans. The team discovered that The Spectre was attacking the skeleton, leaving Diana wondering why he had joined Blank.

• Harley inferred that Translucent planned to distract Tuxedo Skeleton with gunfire, then steal Superman and the black cloth sack for Blank.
• Harley recalled that ordinary Satan worshippers gained no power from sacrifices because none of the three Satans accepted them.
• Translucent opened fire on Tuxedo Skeleton, whose tuxedo was riddled with holes by an unseen attacker.
• Diana recognized the attacker’s Ghost Bullets and identified him as The Spectre, an undead sorcerer obsessed with immortality.
• Diana questioned why The Spectre had joined Blank despite having no major conflict with the Justice League.

The Tuxedo Skeleton endured The Spectre’s magical gunfire while protecting his sack and Superman, dancing to provoke the invisible attacker into revealing himself. Diana explained how The Spectre could be exposed, while Harley teased Kara; the skeleton eventually resumed his journey, leaving the heroes to watch.

• The Tuxedo Skeleton shielded his sack beneath Superman and danced through The Spectre’s invisible attacks without falling.
• Diana explained that golden Nth Metal or a virgin touching The Spectre’s spirit body could reveal him.
• Harley teased Kara about the second method, and Diana rebuked her for discussing it.
• The Tuxedo Skeleton stopped dancing, hoisted Superman and the sack onto his shoulders, and continued onward.

The Spectre ambushed Tuxedo Skeleton in physical form, but the skeleton shrugged off his attack and punched a hole through him before he vanished. Diana and Harley discussed how to stop the ghost, and Harley hoped Tuxedo Skeleton would use New York’s abundant electricity against him.

• Diana and Harley agreed that Tuxedo Skeleton was more likely to win against The Spectre, while Kara tried to shift attention away from her private life.
• The Spectre manifested behind Tuxedo Skeleton and tried to tear off his head, but could not dislodge it.
• Tuxedo Skeleton turned and punched The Spectre, blasting a hole through his chest and making him vanish.
• Diana explained that physical attacks could not kill The Spectre and suggested sealing him with magic, while Harley argued that they should kill him because he served Blank.
• Diana considered using her divine power, and Harley thought Tuxedo Skeleton could use the city’s electricity to attack The Spectre.

Tuxedo Skeleton carried the unconscious Milkman Superman through Gotham while The Spectre harassed him, and the women followed as the deadline on their Timeline approached. The skeleton entered the sewers to limit the ghost’s options, while Diana asked Brother Eye to predict where he was headed.

• The Spectre’s repeated attacks and disturbances wore down Tuxedo Skeleton as he carried Milkman Superman, and Diana worried that they were running out of time to find Doctor Manhattan.
• Harley argued that the skeleton had a plan, and Tuxedo Skeleton avoided a patch of banana peels before opening a manhole and jumping into the sewer.
• Kara explained that the narrow sewer would restrict the Spectre’s ability to attack, while she could track the skeleton through the ground with her Super Vision.
• Harley confirmed that The Spectre’s Thought Bubble had followed the skeleton underground, so the women stayed aboveground and followed his route.
• Diana contacted Brother Eye and asked it to deduce where Tuxedo Skeleton was heading.

Brother Eye identified several possible goals for Skeleton, and the heroes realized he had stopped in Central Park, New York’s critical point. Skeleton began disabling the unconscious Superman with Kryptonite as Wonder Woman and the others rushed toward him.

• Brother Eye listed three possible reasons Skeleton was moving, and Harley proposed that his destination might serve all three purposes.
• Kara spotted Skeleton stopping in central New York, and Diana took Harley and flew with Kara toward the location.
• Skeleton emerged from a manhole in Central Park and dropped Superman beneath a glass tree.
• Skeleton dislocated Superman’s limbs, and Superman woke in pain but could not move or fly because Skeleton held Kryptonite.

A skeleton tormented Superman with Kryptonite and prepared a strange ritual, leaving him confused about its identity and worried that his allies might attack it. When unseen forces moved the Kryptonite, the skeleton forced Superman to reveal a figure in the mist and shot it with a Bat-Gun.

• The skeleton covered Superman in Kryptonite and arranged more pieces in a circle around him.
• Superman called the skeleton Batwoman to stall, and it made a Batman joke before laughing silently.
• Superman worried that the skeleton might be Batwoman and that his rescuers could mistake it for an enemy.
• Several Kryptonite pieces moved by themselves, and the skeleton forced Superman to exhale frost that outlined a hidden figure in the mist.
• The skeleton shot the figure with a green beam from a Bat-Gun, and Superman heard a scream before the area fell silent.

The skeleton used Batwoman's Proton Pack to disperse The Spectre, while Diana explained the Spectre's link to the Orb of Finality. The Angel Statue returned as a colossal monster and attacked Superman and the skeleton, who stopped her sweep with one hand.

• Diana recognized the Proton Pack as Batwoman's weapon and wondered how the skeleton had obtained it.
• Diana told Kara and Harley that The Spectre could revive through the Orb of Finality, which Merlin had created as a phylactery.
• The Angel Statue returned more than three hundred meters tall and swept her tentacles toward Superman and the skeleton.
• The skeleton stopped the Angel Statue's attack with one hand, leaving himself and Superman essentially unharmed.