Chapter Summaries

Su Ming set a trap around Harley and Ivy while investigating the changes to God and the universe’s countdown to destruction. He learned from Doctor Manhattan that the Comedian’s Badge contained the missing ten years and arranged for Manhattan to hold his lantern rings until he reached a place where he could not use them.

• Su Ming shared a meager celebration with Harley and Ivy, then planned to wait for Joker or The Batman Who Laughs to make a move.
• Su Ming summoned The Upside-Down Man and briefed the Endless on God’s abnormal condition; Destiny said God’s Body was being transformed into an insect egg, so they agreed to wait.
• Su Ming met Doctor Manhattan and learned that the Comedian’s Badge contained the universe’s missing ten years in a repeating quantum structure.
• Doctor Manhattan confirmed that the lantern rings Su Ming had received as gems in the past were created from the rings Su Ming gave him in the future.
• Su Ming handed his lantern rings to Doctor Manhattan to keep on the external Timeline before leaving for a place where he could not use them.

Su Ming rested in Marvel, expanded Wilson Enterprises, and planned a school for war orphans before crossing into another universe to seek technology that might help him overcome Kang the Conqueror. The chapter ended with an Arctic expedition led by Captain Witwicky discovering something ahead in the snow.

• Su Ming learned that time passed at nearly the same speed in Marvel and DC, then asked Gin about the company and the search for Wakanda.
• Su Ming told Gin to buy land on Long Island for a school that would educate war orphans and place them in jobs after graduation.
• Su Ming turned the Peace Hotel into a nightclub, sent Monark to join Captain America's team, and avoided taking on the role of Sorcerer Supreme.
• Su Ming left Marvel through a World Barrier and headed toward a universe with a mechanized planet, hoping to find technology useful against Kang the Conqueror.
• In 1897, Captain Witwicky led an Arctic expedition across Greenland's ice when the sled dogs began barking at something ahead.

In 1897, Witwicky uncovered a metal giant beneath Arctic ice, and its eyes flashed red when he struck it. In the present, his descendant Sam failed to sell Witwicky’s glasses and went with his father to buy a car, where a one-eyed man bought a yellow-and-black Chevrolet from the dealer.

• Witwicky fell through the ice into a crevasse and found a huge metal giant beneath the glacier.
• When Witwicky struck the frozen giant with an ice pick, its eyes glowed red and blinded him temporarily.
• Sam tried to sell family antiques online, including Witwicky’s glasses, but sold only an old comic collection.
• Sam’s father took him to Bobby Bolivia’s used-car lot, where Sam rejected several old cars and admired a Dodge Challenger he could not afford.
• A one-eyed man made Sam uneasy, then paid Bobby five thousand dollars for a yellow-and-black Chevrolet.

Su Ming found Bumblebee at a used-car lot and forced the Autobot to stop resisting by threatening to urinate into his gas tank. After Bumblebee sabotaged the tires, Su Ming had the car loaded onto a flatbed and took him away, leaving his plans to approach the Autobots and acquire the Allspark still ahead.

• Su Ming tracked Sam to a used-car lot and identified Bumblebee as the beat-up Chevrolet he wanted to take.
• Bumblebee locked the car door, but Su Ming tore it open and bought the vehicle from Bobby.
• Bumblebee refused to start, so Su Ming threatened to urinate into the gas tank, prompting the car to start.
• Bumblebee flattened the tires, but Su Ming summoned a crane and flatbed to haul the car away.
• Su Ming rode off with Bumblebee while Bobby and Sam's father watched, and Bumblebee left tear-like streaks of cleaning fluid on the windshield.

Su Ming revealed himself as Deathstroke to Bumblebee and met Optimus Prime’s Autobots, then proposed an alliance to retrieve the Allspark and stop Megatron. The Autobots sheltered near Sam’s home as they considered the danger and Su Ming’s request.

• Su Ming took Bumblebee to a remote canyon and ordered him to contact the Autobots after warning that Barricade had found Sam.
• Bumblebee summoned Optimus Prime and the other Autobots, who landed in the canyon and met Su Ming instead of Sam Witwicky.
• Su Ming identified himself as Deathstroke, urged the Autobots to hide from satellites, and directed them to shelter beneath a bridge near Sam’s home.
• Su Ming proposed borrowing the Allspark and fighting Megatron, prompting Ironhide to doubt his ability to face the Decepticon leader.
• Optimus Prime explained how Megatron’s plan to drain other stars had sparked the Cybertronian Civil War and how both factions had pursued the Allspark to Earth.

Su Ming bought Sam’s glasses and diary, then lured Barricade to a scrapyard while Bumblebee sent the star-map data to Optimus Prime. When Barricade attacked, Su Ming killed him with Godslayer and left Bumblebee stunned.

• Su Ming learned that creating an independent thinking module would require the Allspark and the Matrix of Leadership, then arranged to obtain the Allspark and help Sam.
• Su Ming bought Sam’s glasses and diary for thirty dollars, then spotted Barricade disguised as a police officer and fled with Bumblebee.
• Bumblebee scanned the glasses and sent the star-map data to Optimus Prime as he led Barricade to a scrapyard.
• Barricade attacked Bumblebee at the scrapyard, and Su Ming pierced Barricade’s chest with Godslayer, killing him.
• Su Ming walked over to the stunned Bumblebee and asked what he had said about protecting him.

After Su Ming proved he could kill Barricade, Optimus Prime agreed to cooperate with him in exchange for Cybertronian technology. The group reached Hoover Dam to retrieve the Allspark, and Su Ming prepared to launch a direct assault.

• Ratchet reported that Su Ming had destroyed Barricade with one blow, and Su Ming challenged Optimus Prime to recognize his ability to eliminate Megatron.
• Optimus Prime offered to trade a supercomputer mainframe for Su Ming's help, and the two formally agreed to cooperate with a handshake.
• Su Ming told Optimus Prime about The Fallen and the Star Harvester, then the Autobots prepared to travel to Hoover Dam with Barricade's body.
• At Hoover Dam, Optimus Prime sensed the Allspark inside and explained that Arcee could enter because she was close to human size.
• Su Ming decided to enter Hoover Dam with his helmet on and take the Allspark, accepting that the plan would amount to a direct assault.

After returning from the Transformers world, Su Ming checked that his trip to DC had not altered its timeline and learned that more than half a year had passed in Marvel. Gin showed him the enormous school Wilson Enterprises had built in Montauk, and Su Ming was left eager to see the completed campus.

• Su Ming returned to Marvel with a Cybertronian Adjutant made by Wheeljack, then learned from her that the date was February 2, 1943.
• Su Ming traveled to DC and confirmed that he had returned to the exact moment he had left, with Harley and Ivy still together in the apartment.
• Su Ming called Gin, who arrived and told him that he had been gone for more than half a year.
• Gin showed Su Ming a map of the school Wilson Enterprises had built on land bought in Montauk with help from Vodka and Jos.
• Gin said the school covered 2,000 hectares and included ordinary facilities as well as marshland, a beach, and a forest.

Su Ming inspected Loyalty Academy and searched for a principal, then asked Ancient One for a recommendation. Ancient One sent Master Hamir to assist him, leaving Su Ming wary that he was being drawn closer to becoming Sorcerer Supreme.

• Su Ming approved the academy’s design, named it Loyalty Academy, and told Gin to arrange political instructors.
• Su Ming toured the campus, ordered road improvements and changes to the photographs and dormitory arrangements, and noted that the school still lacked students, teachers, and a principal.
• Su Ming visited Ancient One at the New York Sanctum and asked her to recommend a principal, but she refused to relocate Kamar-Taj to his campus.
• Ancient One summoned Master Hamir, whom Su Ming recognized as Kamar-Taj’s Guardian and an excellent cook.

Su Ming chose Hamir to manage his new academy, with Ancient One arranging for Hamir to recruit magically gifted children for Kamar-Taj. After returning to New York, Su Ming prepared to travel to Europe and investigate Hydra’s Infinity Formula research.

• Ancient One explained Hamir’s family’s long service to the Sorcerer Supreme, and Su Ming appointed him to manage the academy.
• Ancient One asked Hamir to bring magically talented children from the school to Kamar-Taj, and Su Ming agreed.
• Mordo told Ancient One that Mephisto wanted to negotiate, but she refused to discuss anything beyond allowing him to recruit Ghost Riders in the Main Dimension.
• Su Ming and Hamir returned to New York, where Su Ming arranged for Hamir to prepare for his new post at the company.
• Su Ming planned to travel to Europe to check on research into the Infinity Formula and consider taking it from Hydra.

Su Ming visited the London Sanctum to gather intelligence, then negotiated with SSR to recruit a female teacher for his school. He secured Lorraine’s transfer by arranging her promotion to Second Lieutenant, and she became his new recruit.

• Su Ming left Hamill with a Moral Character textbook and traveled to the London Sanctum, where a Great Mage told him that Experiment 9527 was alive and being studied.
• The Great Mage briefed Su Ming on the occult war, the Howling Commandos’ troubles, and SSR’s situation in London.
• Su Ming stored his equipment with Ancient One, then contacted Colonel Phillips and offered SSR support in exchange for a recruit.
• Colonel Phillips announced that Lorraine had been promoted to Second Lieutenant and transferred from SSR under Su Ming’s authority.
• Su Ming introduced himself to Lorraine as Slade Wilson and welcomed her to her new assignment.

Su Ming secured Lorraine’s transfer from the SSR and planned for her to train girls at Loyalty Academy. After finding no Infinity Formula at a Hydra outpost in Corsica, he abandoned that search and headed for the Polar Bear’s territory to seek Leech Serum and students.

• Su Ming explained that Lorraine had been assigned to Wilson Enterprises and would become a teacher at Loyalty Academy, training the girls he had recruited.
• Colonel Phillips clarified that Wilson Enterprises had built a real school, easing Lorraine’s concern about Su Ming’s request.
• Su Ming promised the SSR canned fruit and mosquito nets, then left London and retrieved his equipment from Kamar-Taj.
• Su Ming traveled to a Hydra outpost on Corsica, found only blue energy batteries, and took some for study.
• Su Ming gave up searching Hydra bases for the Infinity Formula and decided to seek Leech Serum and recruit students in the Polar Bear’s territory.

Su Ming planned to locate Leviathan’s Red Room by tracking its supply trains into Siberia. Inside the facility, Natasha Romanoff and the other girls endured brutal training as Dotty was ordered to kill her best friend Anya, leaving their survival uncertain.

• Su Ming reasoned that the Red Room needed frequent deliveries of human test subjects and other supplies, so he planned to identify its train by watching Siberian railway schedules.
• The chapter showed the Red Room’s underground classrooms, where instructors forced the girls to watch a film and punished Dotty for her answer.
• Anya answered the instructor’s question about controlling people through pain and received an extra slice of bread.
• The instructor sent the girls to kill ten prisoners barehanded, then ordered the injured Dotty to kill Anya that night while telling her Anya had received the same order.
• The instructor revealed that Dotty was her favored candidate because she was prettier, and that Red Room graduates had to kill friends and classmates before sterilization and Leech Serum made one the Black Widow of her class.

Dotty was ordered to kill her best friend Anya by morning, but Anya refused to fight and revealed that the Red Room had chosen one survivor from every class for years. Dotty was left holding Anya as she realized the instructor’s favor meant she was being shaped into the class’s killer.

• Leviathan ordered the Red Room to graduate Dotty’s class early after the previous Black Widow disappeared and Hydra advanced its search for the Winter Soldier Program.
• Anya brought Dotty hidden bread and comforted her, but Dotty suspected that her friend might be trying to kill her.
• After Anya kissed her forehead and returned to bed, Dotty decided to make Anya kill her so Anya could survive the instructor’s order.
• Dotty tried to choke Anya, but Anya understood that Dotty had been assigned to kill her and refused to fight back.
• Anya told Dotty that only one girl survived each class and revealed that their ill-fitting red dresses had belonged to the corpses of previous students.
• Dotty embraced Anya and cried as she realized the instructor had singled her out to become the class’s killer.

Su Ming infiltrated the Red Room in Siberia to rescue the girls and find the Leech Serum, while Anya and Dotty struggled to decide how to survive together. He reached the underground laboratories and discovered the facility’s victims, leaving him to continue toward the living prisoners.

• Anya and Dotty refused to kill each other and discussed escaping the Red Room despite the lethal Siberian cold.
• Su Ming located the Red Room after tracking it across Siberia and silently killed the guards and military dogs outside.
• Su Ming entered the compound and descended underground, killing sleeping Leviathan soldiers while collecting money for girls who might want to return to their families.
• Su Ming reached the research levels and found several girls’ mutilated bodies in a morgue beside a running crematorium.
• Su Ming covered the dead girls and continued deeper into the facility to rescue the survivors and search for the Leech Serum.

Su Ming infiltrated the Red Room, killed its staff, and stole the Leech Serum before reaching the trainees’ dormitory to rescue the girls. He freed one trainee, but she immediately attacked him, revealing that the girls had been trained to treat rescuers as enemies.

• Su Ming interrogated a researcher about the Leech Serum, then killed him and followed his directions to the Chief Scientist’s suite.
• Su Ming defeated a skilled older woman who attacked him, killed the Chief Scientist, and took the Leech Serum, research documents, money, and jewelry.
• Su Ming cleared the remaining floors and guards, then entered the girls’ dormitory and began unlocking the trainees’ handcuffs.
• After Su Ming freed one little girl and told her to wait outside, she attacked him from behind, while another cuffed girl tried to kick him.

Su Ming freed the girls imprisoned in the Red Room, but their conditioning made them distrust his rescue despite his efforts to prove he was not a guard. He found Natasha and promised to take everyone who was willing to the United States, while the other girls still hesitated to leave their cells.

• Su Ming explained that the girls had been trained to distrust anyone who offered to free them, and he tried to reassure the first girls by sharing details about Natalia.
• The freed girls stayed in their room, and Su Ming continued unlocking cells while the others watched him from their doorways.
• Su Ming tossed guards and weapons outside the cells to show the girls what had happened, but they still suspected a trap.
• Dotty and Anya attacked Su Ming when he entered their unrestrained cell, then took weapons and debated whether he was rescuing them.
• Su Ming identified Natasha by her lack of a Russian accent, foiled her attempt to steal his gun, and learned she trusted him because of his connection to Wolverine.
• Natasha agreed that Su Ming was rescuing her, and he told her he would take all the girls to the United States if they chose to come.

Su Ming freed the girls from the underground facility and offered them the choice of going home or leaving with him for his school. None chose to return home, and Natasha, Eva, Dotty, and Anya prepared to follow him.

• Natasha helped the girls take weapons from the dead guards, and Su Ming told them they could move freely and would wait three days at the exit upstairs.
• Natasha and Dotty decided to follow Su Ming, and the girls discovered that the instructors had all been killed.
• The girls gathered warm clothes and supplies, cooked potatoes in the cafeteria, and searched the building for food.
• Su Ming offered the girls money and a safe route home, but none accepted because they feared their families would be endangered.
• Su Ming offered to take the girls to his school, where they could learn useful skills instead of killing; Dotty questioned him, and he invited them to sign up for cooking.

Su Ming brought the rescued trainees to Loyalty Academy, where he offered them a choice between learning to fight and pursuing ordinary lives. After destroying the cabin and leaving Leviathan a false Hydra message, he entrusted the girls to Hamill, Gin, and Lorraine before departing again.

• Dotty questioned Su Ming about why he was turning trained killers into chefs, and he said he wanted them to live as people and choose their own paths.
• Su Ming sent a message away with the living Cloak, then taught the girls about hope as they watched their first sunrise over the snow.
• Su Ming introduced himself as Slade Wilson, revealed his Deathstroke identity, and brought Hamill through a Teleportation Portal to lead the girls to Loyalty Academy.
• Dotty saw Su Ming destroy the cabin and its underground passage with a blue cube and leave Leviathan a false message reading “Hail Hydra!”
• At the academy, Su Ming told Gin to let the girls rest and asked Hamill to keep them from killing anyone before he left to handle other business.
• Gin welcomed the girls and explained that they could continue learning to kill or choose not to, while privately dismissing the academy’s Grimoire as unusable brainwashing.

Lorraine welcomed the rescued girls to the academy, where she assigned them a seaside dormitory and promised them a safer life. As the girls settled in and kept their Red Room past secret, Su Ming left for Faerûn to obtain storage bags.

• Lorraine arrived late to the welcome ceremony and learned from Gin that the girls had been rescued from a warlord who meant to raise them as gladiators.
• Lorraine promised the girls comfortable lives without killing and chose Seaview Villa as their dormitory; Hamir told them, "No killing."
• Natasha and Eva settled into their new room, agreed that the girls would keep their Red Room past secret, and fell asleep feeling safe.
• Su Ming traveled to the Hasbro Universe to find storage items, considered several kinds of bags, and used Cloak's help to slip away after Heim nearly noticed him in Faerûn.
• Su Ming arrived in Waterdeep to look for storage bags.