Earlier, at The Hall of Justice, on a world far away...

The Justice League, the Titans, and Lois were gathered in the presentation room as they played back the footage from Kate's helmet camera. Lois gasped as she saw her husband get stabbed through the abdomen by the monster. The video ended with Jon throwing the Batarang through the hole, and cutting into the monster just as the hole winked out of existence.

"He's alive." Conner said, clapping Jon on the shoulder triumphantly. "It got him, but he's alive, because of you."

Jon rubbed his neck bashfully. "I hope so. He had a couple people with him, I hope they could help."

"Next time we see a signal like this, we need everyone on-site." Wonder Woman said. "The League, Titans, everyone we can find. When it pops up, we do whatever we have to to keep the portal open long enough to get through, defeat the creature, and bring Clark back."

Batman nodded. "Agreed. Based on the location, it's safe to assume that if another portal pops up, it should be somewhere near Metropolis." Bruce turned to Nightwing. "Can you have the Titans on rotating patrols throughout Metropolis for the foreseeable future?"

Dick nodded. "You can count on it. First sign we get, the Titans will be there."

Conner grinned, and shot Bruce a thumbs-up. "Faster than a speeding bullet!"

Later, at the ruined Vought International research facility, on a world far away.

"Is that the reactor?" Frenchie asked Superman with bug-eyes as he set the small box down on the concrete floor of an intact section of the building, next to a laptop computer on a table, a cluster of antennas and a small satellite dish.

Superman nodded as he opened his laptop, and inserted a flash-drive with the Vought International logo on it. "Hypothetically, it can run my computer, a couple lamps, and the satellite uplink for at least two, three years... Or it can open a fairly large hole in reality for a few minutes."

"Where have you been keeping this?" Hughie asked.

"At the North Pole." Superman replied as he opened up the file explorer, and opened the flash drive.

Hughie opened his mouth, then shut it, shook his head, and changed the subject as Superman sifted through the files on the drive.

"Do you... Like, do you do the two identities thing back where you come from?"

"I have to. Superman can do a lot of good, but sometimes, Clark Kent does just as much, if not more. Plus, if I was Superman all the time, my wife, our kids, our friends, they'd never get a moment of peace... Not from the press, the public, or people like Homelander."

"Do you have a lot of people like him back home?" Hughie asked.

Superman shook his head. "Not exactly like him. Most of them aren't quite that extreme, and the ones who are don't have his powers. I've never run into anyone who runs as hot and cold as he does, though. He cooperated a lot more than I thought he would this time."

"Homelander's a special kind of crazy." Butcher said, handing a few tubes of paper to Frenchie. "He's got a textbook case of BPD, and people like that will destroy everyone around them, given half a chance." Butcher's eyes grew vacant, and appeared to stare off into nothing for an instant, before he snapped back to reality. "That's why he's dangerous. It's not just what he can do, but the fact that he can and will turn on a dime. You've got super-senses," Butcher said to Superman. "Did he ever show any signs he was nuts until right before he started actin' like the entire nuthouse?"

"No. He seemed smarmy and a little self-important, but I didn't expect him to ask me to stop saving people."

Butcher scoffed, and shook his head. "Of course you bloody wouldn't."

Frenchie sorted through the tubes of paper, found the one he was looking for, and popped the end open to pull out a large map.

"What was in that gas you used on Yl'geth?" Superman asked Frenchie as the latter unfurled a map of the ruined facility.

"It was a concoction of equal parts DTPA, Prussian Blue, and Potassium Iodide." The Frenchman replied.

"All drugs meant to counteract radiation poisoning." Superman replied. "Smart thinking. You found it by tracing the radiation signature, I presume?"

"We hacked the city's nuclear radiation detection system to do it." Frenchie said, proudly. "Not that it was 'ard."

"I think setting up in the courtyard out back gives us the largest operating space." Butcher interjected. "We'll put our base of operations in the concrete bunker on the outskirts, and run the power out to the device."

"My thoughts exactly." Superman replied. "Minimizes our exposure, puts the target out in the open, and keeps the operation further from third-party involvement."

"Speaking of which," Frenchie interjected, handing Superman a list written on paper. "Tell our new friends we need some additional supplies."

Butcher pulled another piece of paper from his coat pocket and handed it to Superman. "Add this to what we need, too."

Superman scrutinized the lists. "Five-hundred feet of high-voltage insulated cabling, supercapacitors, remote trigger mines, massive quantities of DTPA, Potassium Iodide and Prussian Blue, materials to aerosolize them, forty empty gas grenades, three grenade launchers, and an FGM-148 Javelin AAWS-M with missiles." Superman looked up at Frenchie and Butcher.

"The mines keep it contained, the gas weakens it, then you and Homelander wail on it until it's close enough to the portal that I can fire off the Javelin and send it flying into the void."

"I get what you're going for here, but I'm going to have to make a few changes to get the right effect out of some of this."

"What, too deadly?" Butcher asked with a barking laugh. "We're pushin' the thing into a gravity well, it's not gonna survive that."

"I know, and the Javelin is a single-fire system with a thirty-second firing time, and a minimum reload speed of fifteen seconds, and requires two operators." Superman said. He grabbed a pen from the table, and made a few changes to the list. "Even in ideal circumstances, the fact that it's shoulder-fire leaves you vulnerable long enough for Yl'geth to close the distance and disarm, disable, and dispose of both operators, and that's assuming the first rocket hits. Give me a couple of hours, I can rig up something better."

"You can-" Frenchie began, then shook his head. "Oui, I believe you. You built a fucking nuclear reactor that fits under one arm without it melting down..."

"Anything else?"

"No, no, no."

Superman nodded.

"Alright. I'll go get the item, and our supplies..." Superman trailed off. "And our friend." He added. Then, he flew off.

"This feels strange." Frenchie said.

"What part of it, specifically?" Hughie asked, leaning against the table. "My life hasn't felt normal in weeks, I'd like to know what you think is strange."

"Us, working with a supe." Marvin said. "One who wants to work with us."

"Oui."

"So what am I, a tag-along?" Annie asked, dryly. "A groupie?"

"Dunno yet." Butcher said. "Whatever happens tonight, though, when it's done, we'll know a lot about each other. Times like these, you find out what's in people's hearts... So, you stickin' with us, even though your boss is comin' here?"

Annie looked Butcher dead in the eyes, and nodded.

"Alright, now we're all in agreement, let's make things look presentable. Gotta make sure that cunt thinks we know what we're doin', eh?"

The others spread out and got to work, but Marvin lingered near Butcher.

"Butcher, something about this is bugging me."

"What?" Butcher asked MM.

"Hughie's doin' this because he's an idealist at heart. Starlight's here because he is. Frenchie wants to help because Kimiko does, and god knows why she does anything... I'm helping because you wanted me to... Why're you okay with this? I didn't hear anything you two said, but I saw you guys talkin'. You don't have to tell me anything you said, I just wanna make sure we're still on the same page."

"Right now, I just want to clear the playing field." Butcher said, sharply. "Got too many pieces on the board. And... Fuck, as much as I'd love to be the one to snuff Homelander out myself, Superman promised me that if Homelander puts so much as a single hair to harm on one of us, he's gonna end him, and I'm betting the star-spangled cunt doesn't have enough self-control to keep his cool."

"And you think we can trust Superman's promise?"

"I don't know, but he didn't ask for anything before spilling the details on Becca. Maybe that's worth something."

"That's what you're banking all of this on? Faith? Didn't think I'd see the day you'd have any."

"Not faith, a calculated risk."

Superman arrived at Seven Tower, and landed on the helipad. Homelander was already waiting for him by the rooftop door, with the case containing Yl'geth's severed arm in one hand.

"Superman!" Homelander exclaimed with a broad, fake grin. "Miss Stillwell said I should meet you here. Any trouble with the data she gave you?"

Superman shook his head. "Not at all. My people and I should be able to have a working dimension gate in a couple of hours. Once we're done, we'll have the creature dealt with, and I'll be out of your hair." Superman held up the lists. "We just need a few supplies to make sure things go smoothly."

Homelander smirked. "I'm sure we can accommodate your requests. Anything for a... Cousin from another universe, or whatever."

Superman raised an eyebrow.

"Something the matter?" Homelander asked.

"You're more chipper than I expected."

"Well, we just saved the city." Homelander replied. "We did good! Isn't that reason enough?"

"You got a popularity bump, didn't you?"

Homelander scoffed, and made a dismissive gesture. "That's not important. We saved thousands of lives!"

Superman nodded suspiciously. "I'll take your word on that."