Chapter Summaries

Su Ming and Kitty discovered that Insomnia had plunged everyone aboard S.H.I.E.L.D.'s spaceship into nightmares and learned that the stolen Dream Ruby had amplified its power. Su Ming decided to enter Natasha's nightmare to study Insomnia's abilities, while the trapped people faced a seven-day limit before their bodies might fail.

• Su Ming and Kitty found the ship's occupants unconscious and trapped in nightmares, and Kitty warned that they had at most seven days to save them.
• Su Ming suspected CAAT had arranged Insomnia's escape and continued searching the ship, passing the sleeping Stature and Hulk.
• Kitty told Su Ming that Daniel had discovered Insomnia stole the Dream Ruby, which had amplified Nightmare's power across the ship.
• Su Ming and Kitty agreed that Daniel should remain in Dream Castle and avoid risking further losses.
• Su Ming entered Natasha's dormitory and chose her as the first person whose nightmare he would investigate.

Deathstroke entered Natasha’s nightmare with Dream of a Thousand Cats and found a blood-soaked recreation of the Red Room graduation exam. He located a Nightmare creature’s presence but learned it had escaped from the Nightmare Domain.

• Deathstroke carried Kitty through Natasha’s snowy dreamscape while discussing how Dream of a Thousand Cats could have taken control of dreams.
• Dream of a Thousand Cats warned Deathstroke that Insomnia could use anyone trapped in a nightmare as a vessel.
• Deathstroke spotted signs of Natasha and crossed the wall into a slaughter-filled arena where her sisters’ corpses lay in the snow.
• Deathstroke recognized the scene as Natasha’s recurring fear of the Red Room graduation exam and searched the Kremlin for her.
• Dream of a Thousand Cats sensed a Nightmare in Natasha’s dream and concluded that it had escaped from the Nightmare Domain.

Natasha fought a nightmare disguised as Yelena until Su Ming and Dream of a Thousand Cats intervened and consumed it. Su Ming explained that enemies were attacking people through nightmares and prepared to take Natasha back to reality for an experiment.

• Natasha fought a nightmare posing as Yelena in a dream that recreated her childhood and the Red Room.
• The nightmare taunted Natasha, trying to draw out her fear and convince her to embrace her violent nature.
• Su Ming distracted the nightmare, allowing Dream of a Thousand Cats to attack and consume it.
• Natasha asked about the fake Yelena and her other sisters, and Su Ming explained that enemies were spreading nightmares across multiple universes.
• Su Ming introduced Dream of a Thousand Cats as a ruler of dreams and said he would take Natasha out of the nightmare before testing whether she could safely return to sleep.

Su Ming tested whether a Tenth Metal patch could prevent Natasha’s nightmares and devised a cheap substitute for wider use. Adjutant then located Kang the Conqueror alive in the deepest level of the Quantum Realm.

• Su Ming placed a thin Tenth Metal patch on Natasha’s head, and Kitty found that she no longer smelled of nightmares after Su Ming knocked her asleep with his golden Frying Pan.
• Su Ming gave Natasha an antidote to wake her and wrote a cheap, ordinary plastic with the same brain-wave-stabilizing properties into the Origin Codex.
• Su Ming said he could no longer see Insomnia’s or the Dream Ruby’s origins in the Origin Codex, though he still planned to target Insomnia.
• Su Ming created a supply of adhesive plastic discs, and Adjutant appeared with a projection showing Kang digging for glowing wild vegetables in the deepest level of the Quantum Realm.
• Su Ming recognized Kang and celebrated that he was alive, while Adjutant warned him that the Origin Codex might make his teasing nickname come true.

Su Ming stopped Nightmare from spreading by using the Anti-Life Equation to prevent people in his controlled worlds from dreaming. He then prepared to awaken those trapped in nightmares and hunt down Insomnia, predicting that it would target Batwoman or Superman.

• Su Ming and Adjutant reviewed the growing number of people falling asleep and suffering accidents as Nightmare spread across worlds.
• Kitty urged Su Ming to stop the spread before Nightmare and Insomnia grew stronger.
• Su Ming ordered Adjutant to use the Anti-Life Equation on every living person still awake in worlds under his control, halting Nightmare's expansion.
• Su Ming planned to use plastic discs and Plastic Resonance to awaken people already trapped in nightmares.
• Su Ming predicted Insomnia would focus on Batwoman or Superman and set out to find and kill it.

Deathstroke tested a button that protected Coulson from a Nightmare, which emerged into the real world and proved vulnerable to light. After Natasha destroyed it with a Flashlight, Deathstroke left Coulson with supplies so he could help others deal with Nightmares.

• Natasha asked Deathstroke when he planned to use his backup plan to control everyone, and he explained it was meant for a situation where everyone turned against him.
• Deathstroke placed a button on Coulson, stopping his nightmare and forcing the Nightmare to emerge from his dream into the dormitory.
• Natasha tripped the Nightmare when it tried to flee, while Deathstroke discovered that it feared light and gave Natasha a Flashlight.
• Natasha killed the Nightmare with the Flashlight, and Dream of a Thousand Cats confirmed it was dead.
• Deathstroke gave Coulson a Flashlight and more buttons, told him Black Widow would teach him how to use them, and teleported away with Kitty.

Superman finished rescue work in Metropolis, where an old woman and a little girl tricked him into drinking Kryptonite-laced water. Surrounded by people wielding Kryptonite weapons, he faced their claim that only Nightmare was real.

• Superman found a little girl's teddy bear in the rubble and returned it to her, unaware that she was suspicious.
• An old woman approached Superman with a bowl of water, claiming she had brought it to thank him.
• Superman drank the water, which transformed into Kryptonite and weakened him.
• The old woman revealed her hostility and challenged Superman's belief that people could be kind.
• The little girl revealed a Kryptonite dagger hidden inside the teddy bear, while others Superman had helped emerged to surround him with Kryptonite weapons.
• The old woman, the girl, and the crowd declared that only Nightmare was real.

Superman was weakened by Kryptonite and surrounded by Nightmares who insisted that only nightmares were real. As his faith in humanity faltered, they prepared to attack him and deepen his fear.

• The Nightmares closed in on Superman with Kryptonite weapons, and he urged them to keep hope in their hearts.
• A Kryptonite-wielding man knocked Superman down as the crowd rejected his belief that people were fundamentally good.
• The old woman who had given Superman the Kryptonite drink argued that people lived amid constant anxieties and disasters, leaving Clark unable to answer.
• The Nightmares decided to eat Superman or make him Darken so they could use his power to spread fear.
• The old woman lifted a Kryptonite bowl and announced a new game as the crowd raised their glowing weapons.

Deathstroke rescued Superman from a nightmare by binding and destroying the Nightmares, waking him in the Hall of Justice. Superman recovered and learned that the nightmare had threatened to drive its victims mad and make them attack people in reality.

• Deathstroke appeared in Superman’s nightmare and immobilized the Nightmares with Dark and Quantum Concepts.
• Deathstroke compressed the Nightmares into a ball and fed it to Kitty, ending Superman’s nightmare.
• Superman woke in the Hall of Justice, thanked Deathstroke, and reaffirmed his belief in hope.
• Kitty explained that Deathstroke had chosen to rescue Superman first and warned that Nightmares could make victims mistake nightmares for reality and commit violence while sleepwalking.

After Deathstroke and Kitty ended the mass sleep at the Hall of Justice, Su Ming gave the heroes adhesive tabs to protect them from Nightmare’s influence. Diana left to find her family and return to Paradise Island, while Su Ming and Kitty considered the nightmares that had affected the others.

• Everyone at the Hall of Justice fell asleep during Diana’s meeting, and she failed to wake Superman despite trying several ways.
• Deathstroke arrived with Kitty and helped end the crisis, preventing Diana from using Kryptonite on Superman.
• Su Ming told Superman he had only been lying on the table and stuck an adhesive tab to the back of his head to keep him awake.
• Su Ming explained that Diana had avoided the nightmares because she had Tenth Metal attached to her head, then gave her tabs and urged her to find her family.
• Diana asked Adjutant to send her to her mother’s house, and Su Ming and Kitty discussed J’onn’s recurring nightmare about his family burning to death.

Deathstroke and Dream of a Thousand Cats discussed the Nightmares pursuing Insomnia while waking the Justice League members from their dreams. After J'onn, Black Adam, Hawkgirl, and Cyborg were roused, Deathstroke prepared to explain the situation, though J'onn remained overwhelmed by his recurring nightmare of fire.

• Dream of a Thousand Cats told Deathstroke that Daniel had sent three major Nightmares after the Sleepless Knights to find Insomnia's trail.
• Deathstroke asked how many Nightmares were loyal to Dream, and the cat estimated that Dream controlled about one-third of them.
• Deathstroke woke J'onn, whose nightmare of his family burning left him crying and trembling.
• Deathstroke and Dream of a Thousand Cats woke Hawkgirl and Black Adam, then Deathstroke erased the monster emerging from Cyborg's nightmare.
• Cyborg told Deathstroke that he had dreamed Grid took over his body and trapped his consciousness in a hard drive.
• Deathstroke told Cyborg to rest and said he would explain the situation after waking the others, while J'onn continued to tremble.

Joker’s hide-and-seek game with Batwoman went horribly wrong when his modified Mouse Trap caused her to slip and break her neck. Unable to accept her death, Joker carried her through the rain and tried to make her respond.

• Joker used Speed 9 to outrun Batwoman and laid a poisoned, modified Mouse Trap in her path.
• Batwoman stepped on the trap, slid across the rain-soaked street, and struck her head against an alley wall.
• Joker found Batwoman motionless and realized her neck had snapped, then shut off the bomb’s timed detonator.
• Joker denied that Batwoman was dead, carried her body on his back, and tried to make her punch him.

Batwoman recognized that a hostile Nightmare was manipulating a dream based on her parents’ murder and escaped it on her own. After confirming she had awakened in the Material World, she prepared to contact the Justice League and catch up on intelligence.

• In a dream replaying her parents’ murder, Batwoman rejected the child’s accusation that she had chosen not to save them.
• Batwoman identified the child as a Nightmare and deduced it was a lackey that had been assigned to torment her.
• The Nightmare transformed into a monster and tried to keep Batwoman trapped, but she woke herself and left it behind.
• Batwoman entered the Batcave, used Tenth Metal to confirm she was awake, and attached a small piece to the back of her head using a method she had learned from Deathstroke.
• After sleeping for two hours, Batwoman headed to the Brother Eye mainframe to contact the Justice League and catch up on intelligence.

Su Ming briefed Batwoman on Insomnia and the Sleepless Knight, while Batwoman hurried to save Gotham’s villains from their nightmares. He left Cyborg to distribute plastic sheets that could expose Nightmares as he went to handle the situation.

• Batwoman contacted Su Ming and demanded information about Nightmare.
• Su Ming told Batwoman that Insomnia had escaped the Dream Realm, formed the Sleepless Knight, stolen the ruby, and might be working with CAAT.
• Su Ming inferred that Batwoman was rushing to save Joker, and she ended their call without replying.
• Cyborg agreed to relay the information and received plastic sheets for identifying people trapped in nightmares.
• Cyborg asked Su Ming to spare people shouting “Darkness endures,” but Su Ming told him to put plastic sheets on them too and left with Kitty.

Su Ming checked in with Elaine and Lucifer, who explained why they could not interfere in Dream’s Nightmare crisis, then considered how Nightmares and reality might relate to CAAT and Hypertime. He left the Hall of Justice to find Bobo and repay the help Monkey Secretary had given him.

• Su Ming called Elaine and Lucifer, and Elaine said she could not interfere in Dream’s affairs because of the balance between The Source and The Void.
• Lucifer confirmed that Gabriel had been rescued, then teased Su Ming, who ended the call in disgust.
• Su Ming told Kitty that God seemed to know about the crisis and that Angels and demons were immune to Nightmares.
• Su Ming wondered whether Nightmares’ relationship with reality resembled the relationship between them and CAAT, and whether Hypertime might be CAAT from Insomnia’s perspective.
• Su Ming gave Kitty a dried fish and decided to go find Bobo to help Monkey Secretary.

Bobo realized he was trapped in a Nightmare replaying his circus past, where his animal companions died in a wagon accident. After escaping the wreck, he was thrown back into a circus performance and faced a cruel, impossible test.

• Bobo recognized the journey in the circus wagon as a memory of his escape and realized the vehicle was about to crash.
• The wagon collided with a train, killing Bobo’s animal companions, including Betty in this altered version of the memory.
• Bobo escaped the wreck with a key and ran toward the forest while humans fired at him, then suddenly found himself back in a cage beneath the circus tent.
• The Animal Tamer ordered Bobo to prove that one plus one equaled two, threatening him with a saltwater-soaked whip.
• The Animal Tamer lashed Bobo and told him he would always be humanity’s toy and would never obtain Fairness.

Deathstroke entered Bobo's nightmare and rescued him from the Sleepless Knights, then helped him wake up in Oblivion Bar. The group realized Insomnia might be targeting Deathstroke's friends, but they did not know where Insomnia had gone.

• Deathstroke and Dream of a Thousand Cats found Bobo being tormented by a Nightmare disguised as an animal trainer, with more Sleepless Knights hidden among the circus animals.
• Deathstroke proved his identity to Bobo with their secret Chinese code phrase and freed him from the cage.
• Deathstroke killed the Circus Nightmares, collapsing the dream and waking Bobo at Oblivion Bar.
• Bobo poured his flat beer into the sink, accidentally washing Cockroach Prophet around, then put a Tenth Metal sheet on his head as protection.
• Dream of a Thousand Cats suggested Insomnia had targeted Bobo to use him as leverage against Deathstroke, while Deathstroke wondered where Insomnia had gone.

Su Ming and Bobo discussed how to protect people from Nightmares and freed Tracy from the Anti-Life Equation’s control. With Bobo staying behind to help the Mystical Realm, Su Ming left with Dream of a Thousand Cats to visit Death while waiting for news about Insomnia.

• Bobo asked Su Ming for more plastic sheets, and Su Ming warned him that stronger Nightmares might enter the Main Dimension directly.
• Bobo found Tracy staring at a wall and repeating a prayer, then attached a plastic sheet to her head to free her from the Anti-Life Equation’s control.
• Su Ming asked Bobo whether their reality could be a fictional dream, and Bobo suggested asking Death about waking from the world.
• Tracy recovered and went to drink cola, while Su Ming learned from Mimi that Death could dream but had never slept or dreamed.
• Bobo stayed behind to help the Mystical Realm, and Su Ming left with Dream of a Thousand Cats to visit Death while waiting for Insomnia’s location.

Harley found that everyone around her had fallen into nightmares, so she chose to enter one herself despite Adjutant's warnings. She awoke in a dream version of Arkham Asylum and set out to explore Nightmare's game.

• Harley found the tenants in her building and her cats asleep in nightmares, then fed the cats freeze-dried human meat from Gotham.
• Harley told Adjutant she planned to enter the nightmare, knowing that Nightmare had organized an army and that Little Bee was watching it.
• Harley went to bed and asked Adjutant to send a Synthezoid to guard her apartment building while she slept.
• Harley suddenly fell asleep and awoke in her old office at Arkham Asylum.
• Harley put on a lab coat, picked up a mop resembling a two-handed hammer, and walked out to explore the nightmare.

Harley treated the nightmare as her own playground, turning Arkham Asylum into a trap for its nightmare entities before the dream shifted her into a hospital. She eagerly answered a call to the operating room, excited to dissect a human brain without consequences.

• Harley walked through Arkham Asylum, greeting the patients and giving them cruel, unsettling answers.
• The nightmare entities disguised as prisoners began fighting each other after Harley provoked them, and she left them to their brawl.
• Harley wandered from the asylum into a bright hospital and found a badge identifying her as Harleen Quinzel, Attending Neurologist.
• The hospital loudspeaker summoned Harleen Quinzel to the operating room, and Harley hurried off, eager to examine a human brain.