Chapter Summaries

Su Ming discussed how the Guardians of the Galaxy had awakened Star-Lord with an enema and reviewed the Dark Multiverse’s remaining worlds. He and Dream of a Thousand Cats turned to checking Dark Multiverse -11 for nightmares and Crisis Energy.

• Adjutant shut off the Guardians of the Galaxy’s artificial gravity, and Star-Lord woke up and sprayed feces through the ship while the crew dodged it.
• Su Ming explained that the urge to use the toilet, combined with Mantis and Moondragon’s Psionic Power, had likely awakened Star-Lord.
• Dream of a Thousand Cats warned Su Ming that nightmares might exploit the Dark Multiverse and come into contact with Crisis Energy.
• Su Ming said that forty-one worlds remained in the Dark Multiverse and that The Forger had spent six months building Origin Earth for Little Superman.
• Su Ming asked Adjutant to display surveillance footage from Dark Multiverse -11 so they could see what another version of him was doing.

On Earth -11, Batwoman and Cindy discussed the Sleepless Knights’ growing threat and the failure of plastic sheets to protect people as the Nightmare spread. Batwoman planned to seek a solution and hired Cindy to carry out her plan, promising extra payment.

• Batwoman visited the Jester in Arkham Asylum, but left without responding to the Jester’s claim that they had made each other.
• Cindy followed Batwoman through Arkham and reminded her that she had helped obtain the magical plastic sheets from the Adjutant.
• Batwoman said the sheets had initially helped Gotham, but Sleepless Knights had begun hunting people who wore them as they entered reality in greater numbers.
• Cindy argued that the Amazon Council could not handle the crisis and that Earth -11 needed reinforcements from the Multiverse.
• Batwoman said she had requested aid from Justice Incarnate but expected them to be busy, then told Cindy to carry out her plan.
• Cindy agreed to hear the plan after Batwoman promised to pay her more.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) and Cindy Moon (Silk) plan to use the Cosmic Tuning Fork to counter Nightmare's influence on Earth-11.
• Su Ming (Deathstroke) watches their plan unfold and agrees it's feasible but not in his possession.
• Deathstroke decides not to intervene immediately, wanting Earth-11's heroes to suffer more.
• He plans to use the Justice League as an excuse to delay lending the Tuning Fork.

Character Developments

• Kitty Pryde shows curiosity and understanding towards Deathstroke's decisions.
• Deathstroke reveals his disdain for Earth-11's Amazon Council, Aquawoman, and Wonder Man.
• He shows manipulation skills, planning to use the Justice League as a scapegoat.

Significant Themes

• Darkness vs. Light: Deathstroke's dark nature is emphasized, contrasting with the light of the Justice League.
• Manipulation and Power Play: Deathstroke's strategic thinking and manipulation skills are highlighted.
• Delayed Gratification: Deathstroke's willingness to wait for a better outcome, rather than rushing in.

Character Interactions

• Deathstroke and Kitty Pryde share a casual, almost playful interaction, with Kitty showing understanding of Deathstroke's darker motivations.
• Deathstroke interacts with Gwenpool, who is annoyed by his intrusion but shows no fear.

Gwenpool enjoyed a carefree life funded by Deathstroke until he summoned her to help with a small task. After she left the dream, Deathstroke explained her story-crossing ability to Kitty and warned that her powers needed limits.

• Gwenpool reflected on her comfortable life on 40K Earth and wondered why Deathstroke had summoned her after a long absence.
• Deathstroke told Gwenpool to change clothes and dry her hair before helping him with a small task, and she walked out through a panel-like ray of light.
• Kitty teased Deathstroke about keeping Gwenpool, and he explained that she was a Deadpool variant from a parallel world.
• Deathstroke explained that Gwenpool could move between comic panels through Story Continuity, then cautioned that her unstable mind made restrictions necessary.

Su Ming briefed Gwenpool on the crisis involving Insomnia, CAAT, Hypertime, and the Omniverse, then secretly assigned her a role in his plan. The chapter ended with Gwenpool accepting the job and signing Su Ming’s contract in exchange for a small spaceship.

• Dream of a Thousand Cats questioned what Su Ming wanted Gwenpool to do, and Gwenpool returned after changing and identified the cat as an External Force.
• Su Ming explained the current crisis and his theories about Insomnia, CAAT, and the recent changes to DC and Marvel’s realities.
• Gwenpool struggled to adjust to the altered cosmology, then asked Su Ming what he needed her to do.
• Su Ming secretly wrote instructions for Gwenpool, who questioned the plan but agreed to carry it out.
• Gwenpool bargained for a small spaceship, and Su Ming presented a contract that she signed without reading.

Su Ming discussed the danger of CAAT with Kitty while Batwoman searched Christopher Lucas’s Nightmare for clues about Insomnia. Batwoman followed the sounds of mining and attacked a Joker-shaped nightmare that tried to lure him into a game.

• Su Ming told Kitty that he would not reveal his backup plan yet and warned that CAAT might threaten universes simply by existing.
• Batwoman realized he had been drawn into a Nightmare and suspected the forest belonged to Christopher Lucas, the insomniac whose body had become an empty shell.
• Batwoman changed course toward clinking sounds after recalling that nightmares had been mining in the forest.
• A Joker-shaped nightmare offered to betray Insomnia if Batwoman played a game with it, but Batwoman refused to trust it.
• Batwoman stabbed the fake Joker in the belly with an Nth Metal Batarang and lifted it off the ground.

Batwoman tracked a sound through the Insomniac’s dream and found Christopher Lucas arriving home with a birthday cake. The scene revealed a happy family in the dream, while Batwoman watched from the forest.

• Batwoman stabbed the Joker-shaped Nightmare with a poisoned Nth Metal Batarang, leaving it laughing uncontrollably and unable to fight.
• Batwoman dismissed the Nightmare as unrelated to Joker and continued searching the forest for Insomnia and clues about Christopher Lucas.
• Batwoman followed rustling sounds through the dry woods until he reached a clearing with a house.
• Christopher Lucas arrived in a 1982 Ford Bronco and carried a cake toward the house, while Batwoman identified him as a former Gotham construction worker.
• A red-haired woman and three children greeted Christopher at the door, taking his cake and embracing him as Batwoman watched from the trees.

Batwoman witnessed Christopher’s memory of his family’s happy home shifting into the fire that killed them, then learned that Insomnia was controlling a Nightmare as its mouthpiece. She chose to investigate the fire within the memory, despite the risk that Insomnia was using the case to delay her.

• Batwoman examined Christopher’s dream home and inferred that it had once stood in Gotham’s western suburbs.
• The peaceful scene changed into a burning house, where Christopher mourned his family and demanded to know who had killed them.
• A Nightmare controlled by Insomnia confronted Batwoman, and she asked who Christopher believed had killed his family.
• The Nightmare melted away after telling Batwoman to find the murderer, and Christopher’s memory of the family home began again.
• Batwoman decided to search the house for clues while distinguishing real details from those shaped by Christopher’s memories.

Su Ming and Deathstroke used a new Spider Totem to watch Batwoman’s dream, discovering she had entered the Nightmare of Christopher Lucas, whose family had died in a fire. Batwoman stayed at the family’s birthday table, apparently waiting for the fire as she investigated the case.

• Adjutant reported that the new Spider Totem had been installed on Batwoman, allowing it to infiltrate her dreams.
• Su Ming, Deathstroke, and Kitty activated the Spider Web to observe Batwoman’s dream while they waited for Insomnia.
• The group saw Batwoman sitting with Christopher Lucas’s family at a birthday party in Lucas’s home.
• Su Ming recognized that Batwoman was in Lucas’s Nightmare and believed she was using empathy to understand the family before the fire.

Su Ming contacted Batwoman inside her dream and used an unconventional answer to establish his identity. He learned that she was investigating the birthday party and its dead child, but had not yet solved the case of the arsonist.

• Su Ming asked the Adjutant to secure communication with Batwoman through the Spider Totem and monitor the dream for Insomnia.
• Batwoman demanded proof of identity, and Su Ming told her the Totem was hidden in her underwear while her body stood in Arkham Tower.
• Batwoman accepted his presence without further questioning and asked him to speak.
• Su Ming teased Batwoman about the child's birthday party and asked whether she had found the arsonist.
• Dream of a Thousand Cats complained that Su Ming and Batwoman were both sick and should speak plainly.

Su Ming and Batwoman examined Christopher’s dream of the birthday party and ruled out several causes of the fire, including suicide by his family and involvement by Joker. They narrowed the remaining possibilities to Christopher, an accident, or an outside arsonist, leaving the cause unresolved.

• Su Ming inferred that Christopher’s family had recently moved to Gotham because no relatives or neighbors attended the birthday party.
• Batwoman pointed out clues that ruled out the wife and daughters as likely arsonists or suicide suspects.
• Su Ming used the family’s expensive pie oven to conclude they had been invested in their home, making suicide unlikely.
• Su Ming listed Christopher, accidental ignition, and an outside arsonist as the remaining possibilities.
• Batwoman confirmed that Joker had not yet become notorious at the time, making him an unlikely cause of the fire.

Su Ming and Batwoman investigated Christopher’s family’s fatal house fire inside a Nightmare, while Kitty identified the people and threats in the dream. The scene abruptly shifted from a birthday meal to the fire, revealing that Christopher had lost ten hours of memories.

• Su Ming argued that Joker’s theatrical methods and Christopher’s likely reaction made Joker an unlikely cause of the fire, and Batwoman agreed not to question him.
• Su Ming suggested inspecting the bedrooms, but Batwoman stayed at the table and continued investigating on her own terms.
• Kitty said the birthday cake was a Nightmare, the family were illusions, and many weak Nightmares waited in the forest, including one infected with The Batman Who Laughs Virus.
• The family’s birthday meal flickered into the burning house, and Christopher screamed outside while Batwoman remained untouched by the illusory flames.
• Batwoman recalled that the clock had shown two in the morning, and Kitty concluded Christopher had lost ten hours of memories.

Deathstroke and Batwoman debated why Christopher’s dream omitted ten hours of memories, with Batwoman proposing that trauma had hidden the truth of his family’s deaths. Batwoman insisted on investigating the suspected arsonist, while Deathstroke remained focused on finding Insomnia and stopping Nightmare.

• Deathstroke considered Christopher’s missing ten hours of dream content suspicious and wanted to find evidence that Christopher had set the fire, even if they had to fabricate a culprit to secure his cooperation.
• Batwoman suggested Christopher’s memory loss could have resulted from post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Batwoman theorized that a woman had murdered Christopher’s family, spared him out of obsession, and later set the fire to destroy evidence.
• Deathstroke questioned whether Batwoman wanted to find Insomnia or simply pursue the case, and offered faster ways to ease Christopher’s doubts.
• Batwoman rejected Deathstroke’s approach and remained determined to uncover the truth about the arsonist.

Su Ming followed Batwoman through the burned house as she investigated the fire’s point of origin. Batwoman ruled out both floors and concluded that the fire had started in the basement.

• Batwoman went upstairs to inspect the fire damage while Su Ming watched through her viewpoint and discussed his past with Kitty.
• Batwoman examined all four upstairs rooms, and Su Ming proposed comparing their conclusions in a guessing game.
• The house alternated between its burned state and its original intact appearance as Batwoman assessed the clues.
• Batwoman concluded that the fire had not started on either floor and that its point of origin was in the basement.

Su Ming and Batwoman investigated Christopher’s dream house and found evidence that its basement fire had not been accidental. They uncovered bloodstained clothes linking Christopher to serial murders, leaving Batwoman to face the possibility that his family’s deaths did not make him an innocent victim.

• Su Ming explained that a melted bathroom faucet gasket suggested the fire began in the basement, while Batwoman cited warped windows as evidence.
• Batwoman kicked open the basement door and searched boxes of clothes as Christopher arrived carrying a cake.
• Su Ming identified bloodstained clothes with small holes as evidence that Christopher had murdered victims with tools such as screwdrivers.
• Batwoman said Christopher’s children were innocent while examining the clothes, and Kitty wondered why it could not smell the blood.
• Su Ming suggested Christopher had disposed of victims in the garage and questioned whether his family could be considered innocent if they had benefited from his crimes.

Batwoman followed Su Ming’s lead into Christopher’s garage and discovered a woman’s corpse on a bloodstained metal table. She began examining the body and found something in the victim’s handbag, but did not reveal what it was.

• Su Ming said the case was solved and that they needed to inspect the garage.
• Batwoman crossed the dining room, where Christopher’s family continued eating cake, and broke through the locked garage door with her Bigfoot.
• Batwoman found a middle-aged woman’s naked corpse on a bloodstained metal table in the sealed garage.
• Batwoman examined the victim’s neck and wounds, then searched her handbag and found something she kept to herself.

Deathstroke reconstructed how Christopher’s presumed-dead victim woke up and took revenge on his family, and Batwoman found evidence that supported the explanation. Adjutant’s database search revealed that the woman survived the fire for another year before dying in a suspicious car accident, leaving Batwoman to decide whether to close the case.

• Deathstroke theorized that Christopher had left the woman alive in the garage, and she later attacked his family and set the house on fire.
• Dream of a Thousand Cats agreed that Christopher had mistaken living prey for dead, while Batwoman found white powder and a lighter in the woman’s bag.
• Batwoman checked the woman’s driver’s license, and Deathstroke ordered Adjutant to search Gotham’s death records.
• Adjutant found that the woman died a year after the fire in a car accident, and Deathstroke pointed out that the evidence suggested she had been murdered.

Batwoman exposed the truth about the woman Christopher believed he had killed and used the shock of his daughter’s birthday crown to wake him from his nightmare. Back in Arkham Tower, Deathstroke waited to see whether Christopher would provide useful help, while threatening a horrific backup plan if he had lied.

• Batwoman entered Christopher’s birthday-dinner dream and announced that she had solved the case, causing the illusion to collapse into his nightmare-ridden forest clearing.
• Batwoman showed Christopher the dead woman’s license and told him that the woman had lived another year after the fire and was already dead.
• Christopher resisted the truth and tried to undo the events in his dream, but Batwoman showed him his daughter’s paper crown, stopping the nightmare and waking him.
• Batwoman returned to the corridor on the fourteenth floor of Arkham Tower, while Kitty and Deathstroke discussed Christopher’s awakening.
• Deathstroke threatened to use Origin Creation to torment Christopher if he failed to provide valuable help or had deceived Batwoman.

Batwoman took the comatose Christopher from Arkham to the Batcave to use her memory-reading machine, rejecting Deathstroke’s suggestion to have Strangle read his mind. She prepared to stimulate Christopher’s brain so the machine could retrieve his memories and reveal his connection to Insomnia.

• Deathstroke suggested taking Christopher to New York so Strangle could read his mind, but Batwoman said she had her own equipment.
• Batwoman carried Christopher out of Arkham and flew him to the Batcave.
• Alfred helped Batwoman place Christopher on the Final Machine and brought her chocolate cookies.
• Batwoman prepared to give Christopher stimulants and connect the machine’s electrodes to his brain.
• Kitty asked for chocolate cookies, and Deathstroke gave her a bag while they waited to learn what Christopher knew about Insomnia.

Little Rich failed to calculate CAAT's location and decided to seek inspiration by relaxing with Little Guy. Elaine and Lucifer discussed Deathstroke erasing The Old Man and Lucifer's uncertainty about CAAT's true nature.

• Little Rich concluded that his calculations could not locate CAAT because his level was too low, and Little Guy suggested trying a different approach.
• Little Rich took Little Guy to New York for ice cream, hoping a break would help him recover an inspiration from Nightmare.
• Lucifer told Elaine that Deathstroke had erased The Old Man from every Timeline and that people now worshipped Elaine as God.
• Elaine worried about owing Deathstroke a favor, and Lucifer reassured her that Deathstroke believed in equivalent exchange.
• Elaine asked Lucifer what CAAT really was, and he described it as something that seemed capable of being anything but might actually be nothing.