Chapter 6
Earth-21
"Jor-El?" Clark called out, after he and Lois had been suddenly transported to the Fortress of Solitude via flash of light.
"Kal-El, my son," the disembodied voice of Jor-El announced. "This universe and those that remain are nearing their end. A great battle, unlike any you've faced before, lies ahead of you."
"That's quite obvious already, Jor-El," Lois pointed out. "Tell us something we don't already know."
"I'm sure you didn't bring us here just to tell us that," Clark stated. "And why is Lois here too?"
"To prepare her for the challenge you and all of your allies are about to face," Jor-El stated.
Clark and Lois frowned as the latter said, "Prepare me? How?"
As if in response, a bright light shot into Lois' body, while Clark stared at his wife with concern. After a few seconds, the light disappeared and Lois took in a deep breath.
"Lois, are you all right?" Clark asked.
"I feel... great all of a sudden," Lois replied.
"What did you do to her, Jor-El?" Clark demanded, despite having a feeling he already knew the answer.
"I imbued your wife Lois Lane with strength that she will need," Jor-El explained. "Saving the Multiverse will require as many heroes as possible."
"So I have the powers of a Kryptonian... again," Lois said, remembering the time when Jor-El had given her Clark's powers for a day.
"It is not the powers that Kryptonians gain under a yellow sun that I granted you, Lois Lane," Jor-El stated. "You are far stronger and far faster than an ordinary human, but significantly weaker than a Kryptonian."
"Oh," Lois nodded in understanding. Balling her hands into a pair of fists with a grin, she added, "Well, in any case, I'll be able to do some serious damage to our enemies during this Crisis that's claiming an infinite number of Earths."
"Kal-El, I am proud of the hero that you are now," Jor-El said. "All the trials that you've endured, before and after embracing your destiny, have led to this day." With a surprising hint of emotion in his voice, he added, "Farewell, my son. And farewell to you too, Lois Lane."
"Thank you, Jor-El," Lois replied with a smile.
"This isn't farewell, Father," Clark said with grim determination. "Just like every other major threat I've encountered over the years, the Anti-Monitor and his Crisis will be stopped and the world will be saved."
"Good luck, both of you," Jor-El said.
Clark grabbed Lois and flew off in a red and blue blur.
Ollie, Chloe, Clark-93, Lois-93, Linda, and little Roy, whom the former two didn't want to let out of their sight, were in the Metropolis Watchtower building when Clark, with Lois in his arms, arrived.
"What happened to you two?" Ollie wondered.
"Jor-El brought us to the Fortress and gave Lois powers," Clark explained, surprising the others.
"You have powers now?" Chloe asked her cousin.
"In Jor-El's own words, I'm far stronger and far faster than any normal human, but not quite on the level of a Kryptonian," Lois explained.
Clark-93 looked at his counterpart in surprise. "Our birth father Jor-El is alive in this world?"
"No," Clark answered. "He did die on Krypton, which I assume is the same for your version of him. The Jor-El I was talking about is his artificial consciousness that resides in my Fortress of Solitude."
Clark-93 frowned. "Your Fortress of Solitude? What is that?"
"I guess you don't have one in your world," Clark realized. "The Fortress is a remnant of Krypton that contains all the knowledge of the universe. It's located in the Arctic Circle."
"And it has the artificial consciousness of your father?" Clark-93 asked, intrigued.
"Which he created himself back on Krypton to serve as my guide and mentor on Earth," Clark explained.
"I never had anything like that in my world," Clark-93 said. "This Fortress sounds like quite an interesting place, especially if it's a remnant of our home planet."
"So how strong are you now?" Lois-93 asked her counterpart.
Lois turned to Ollie and grabbed him by the front of his Green Arrow suit. With the tip of her thumb and index finger, she effortlessly lifted him off the ground, while the others watched in surprise and some amusement.
"Strong enough to lift a fully grown man with just my fingertips with as much effort it takes to pick up a pencil," Lois answered with a smirk, before putting Ollie down and letting him go.
"I'll try not to feel the least bit insulted by you comparing my weight to that of a pencil," Ollie remarked.
Lois smirked. "You're lucky I didn't say 'with less effort than it takes to pick up a pencil'."
"Same difference, Lois," Ollie said.
A few minutes later, a portal suddenly opened as Earth-78 Superman, Clara Kent, John Jones, Bart, Earth-192 Flash, Tess, Alexander, Lois-64, Bruce, Barbara, Dick, Diana, John Stewart, A.C., Victor, Dinah, and Andrea all arrived from Earth-192.
Clara was stunned to meet the Clarks of Earth-21 and Earth-93 (especially the former, whom she noticed resembled her quite a bit), as well as this Earth's Lois Lane, Chloe Sullivan, and Oliver Queen. The five of them were equally stunned to meet Clara, with Earth-21 Clark and Lois recalling that Alexander and Lois-64 had told them about meeting the Earth-111 superheroine. Clara was also surprised to see Linda, due to the latter looking like her biological mother, before Clark told her that Linda was a version of his cousin Kara, whom Clara mentioned didn't exist in her world.
Seeing Clara for the first time made Clark feel as if he was meeting a long-long twin sister he never knew existed. Even after his experiences with Clark Luthor and the other Supermen with different faces, this felt even more peculiar. If the look on her face was any indication, Clark could tell Clara had similar thoughts on her mind. In fact, the meeting between them was obviously far stranger for her than it was for him, since Clara didn't have nearly as much experience with other realities as he did.
"A female Clark? Just when I thought we'd seen it all," Ollie remarked.
"Tell me about it," Lois said. "If there's a female Clark, then that means there must be..."
"A male you," Ollie finished.
"You never know, Ollie," Lois said. "Maybe one day I'll meet ace reporter Louis... Louis Jonah Lane."
"Since you're quite new to the Multiverse experience, I imagine meeting multiple guy versions of yourself on the same day is very weird for you," Chloe said to Clara.
"You have no idea," Clara replied. "I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only Kala Jor-El or Clara Kent in the Multiverse, since every other version of myself that I met so far is a guy."
"Given how big the Multiverse is and how very similar certain Earths are, it's entirely possible that there are other Clara Kents out there," Earth-21 Clark pointed out. "Even if they don't look exactly like you."
"I suppose you have a point," Clara said. "But with all these worlds getting destroyed by the anti-matter wave, chances are those other me's are already dead."
"I'm afraid that's very likely the case at this point," Clark told her. Producing a smile, he added, "But we'll get through this. Together. That's what we're all here for."
Earth-1
Oliver, Barry-Red, Kara D, Kara K, Astra, Cisco, Caitlin, Harry, Ralph, Jay, Allen, John-90, Slade, Deathstroke (who had decided to tag along with his Earth-1 counterpart), Roy, Thea, Sara, Laurel-One, Laurel-Two, Adrian, Black Lightning, Anissa, and Jennifer emerged from a breach outside the S.T.A.R. Labs building.
"So this is what it's like to enter a portal to another universe," Adrian commented.
"You get used to it eventually," Laurel-Two told him.
"Where exactly are we?" Black Lightning wondered.
"We're definitely not in Freeland," Anissa remarked.
"We're outside of S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City, Missouri," Barry told them.
"Missouri? That's a long way from home all right," Jennifer noted.
"So, right now, Roy, Thea, Sara, our Laurel, Slade, and I will head to the bunker and reload our gear with everything we'll need," Oliver stated. He turned to John-90 with a slight smile. "You're welcome to tag along if you want."
"Sure thing, Oliver," John-90 nodded, knowing exactly why the emerald archer had suggested that. "I don't see why not."
"Adrian and I, in the meantime, will make a quick stop back to our Earth and do the same," Laurel-Two said.
"Gonna need as many trick arrows and gadgets as possible for this particular fight," Adrian said with a smirk.
"If any of you don't mind, could my daughters and I have a lift back to Freeland so we can let my wife and a friend of ours know what's going on before we join the battle?" Black Lightning requested.
"We don't want them to worry, so we'd really appreciate it if someone can get us there as quickly as possible," Anissa added.
"That can be arrange," Kara K volunteered. "I can fly you there and back in a blur, literally."
"I can already fly and quite fast too," Jennifer pointed out.
"In that case, I can just carry you two then," Kara K said to Black Lightning and Anissa.
"And while all of that is going on, Harry and I are gonna try to locate the source of the wave," Cisco stated.
"I can help with that too," Jay offered.
"All right," Barry said, before glancing at the others. "Let's get to work, everyone."
Earth-50
Wayne, Prince, Kal, Barry-Blue, Vic, Arthur, Hal-50, and J'onzz led Kent, J'onn, Shazam, Conner, Courtney, Wally, Jesse, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, Green Arrow of Earth-222, Black Canary of Earth-222, Harley Quinn, Firestorm, and Blue Beetle into the Justice League headquarters room. Alfred Pennyworth had been taken aback by the unexpected arrival of so many superheroes at the Wayne Manor, but, as a man who had long ago grown accustomed to the fantastical aspects of the world, took the situation much better than most people would've in his position.
Robin approached Wayne and asked, "So is there a version of me here?"
"There was," Wayne answered, grimly.
"Was?" Robin frowned at Earth-50 Batman's use of past tense. "Are you saying that I'm... dead in this world too?" First, the young Teen Titans leader had heard about what happened to his Earth-222 counterpart, and now he was getting the hint that this world's Dick Grayson was no longer alive either, which made him wonder how many versions of him across the Multiverse had met such an unfortunate fate.
"Yes, you are," Wayne answered.
"How did it happen?" Robin inquired.
"I don't wanna talk about it," Wayne stated.
"Come on, I just wanna..." The fierce glare that the Earth-50 Batman suddenly gave him made Robin stop talking immediately.
"All right, fine, you don't have to tell me then," the young hero said. "This isn't my world anyway."
"Is it just me or is his glare scarier than our Batman's?" Blue Beetle said to Firestorm.
"Couldn't tell the difference," the latter replied with a shrug.
"His glare looks the same to me," Harley remarked.
Earth-192
Batman of Earth-222 (or 'Dark Knight', as he had agreed to be called to differentiate him from his counterparts) was silently watching Supes and Kal-El, who were conversing with each other. The two Supermen reminded him of better times, back when his universe's Superman had been the all-loving Boy Scout hero that children and adults alike looked up to.
"Something happened with your world's Superman, didn't it?" Batman of Earth-192 asked as he approached his counterpart. "And your world's Wonder Woman too? I noticed the way you and your team were looking at them."
Knight sighed. "To make a long story short, after the Joker drugged him, tricked him into killing his pregnant wife Lois Lane and inadvertently setting off a nuclear bomb that destroyed all of Metropolis, Superman stopped being the hero, the symbol of truth and justice, that he once was." The Earth-192 Batman widened his eyes in horror as the Earth-222 Dark Knight continued. "It all started the moment he plunged his arm through the Joker's chest, ripping the madman's heart out right before my eyes. Lost in his grief, pain, and anger, he went down a very dark path of tyranny and evil, becoming everything he stood against and killing anyone who dared to oppose or turn against him. Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Damien, and others joined his One Earth Regime, while I founded the Insurgency to put a stop to his madness."
"Funny," Batman responded. "Earlier, I encountered with a version of us who enjoyed being judge, jury, and executioner all-too-well. As with your world's Superman, the Joker was his first victim and everything went completely downhill from there. He also killed his world's Superman out of some misplaced belief that Clark was guaranteed to become a threat someday."
"Perhaps his belief wasn't as misplaced as you think," Knight suggested with a sigh, knowing firsthand that the possibility of a Superman turning rogue was a very valid concern. "At any rate, it sounds like this counterpart of ours lost sight of who he once was just like my Superman."
"It wasn't easy coming face-to-face with Earth-99 Batman," Batman stated. "A version of us who actually enjoyed killing..." Behind his cowl was a haunted look that expressed how much the situation had affected him. Even meeting his Justice Lords counterpart years ago hadn't been so perturbing. Of course, Lords-Batman had been redeemable, while the retired Batman of Earth-99 was clearly beyond reach. There was also Owlman of Earth-64, whom he and his Earth-21 counterpart had fought during the Nazi/Doomsday mess on Earth-1, but that was different since Owlman hadn't been a Bruce Wayne. Instead, he had been Thomas Wayne Jr., the twin brother of the deceased Earth-64 Bruce. Looking his Insurgency counterpart in the eyes, the Earth-192 Batman said, "Be glad you weren't the one who had to meet him."
"And you be glad your Superman has no desire for world domination and cold-blooded murder," Knight retorted.
"Touché," Batman said. Frowning, he asked, "Who is Damian, by the way?"
"My son," Knight answered, somberly. "Though he stopped being that the day he killed Dick."
"I'm sorry about everything you had to go through on your Earth," Batman apologized, placing a hand on the Insurgency leader's shoulder. "I wasn't always on the best of terms with the Dick of this world, but losing him the same way you lost yours would be devastating."
"It's safe the say most versions of Batman would feel exactly the same way," Knight pointed out.
"Agreed," Batman nodded.
"Before you left Paradise Island… I mean, Themyscira, did you have to participate in a contest to become Wonder Woman?" Diana-76 asked her Earth-192 counterpart as the two Amazon heroines were conversing.
"You competed in a contest?" Wonder Woman asked, incredulously.
"That's right, although Mother didn't approve of me doing so," Diana-76 nodded.
"So you managed to convince your mother to change her mind," Wonder Woman deduced.
"Not exactly," Diana-76 said. "I wore a disguise during the contest and, when I won, she allowed me to leave the island anyway."
"That's different from how I started out," Wonder Woman recalled. "I simply stole my armor when the world was under the threat of an alien invasion, during which I left Themyscira and aided the other heroes in stopping it. After that, we formed the Justice League."
"It's very interesting talking to you," Diana-76 said with a smile. "Or myself, since you are an alternate me. We're so alike in many ways and yet…"
"So different in many ways too," Wonder Woman noted.
"I've always been very open-minded, but even I never could've imagined that I would ever experience something on this scale," Diana-76 said. "The idea that other realities exist and that they're currently in danger of ending because of a great evil… not to mention that I'm one of these Paragons, who are crucial to saving all of existence."
"Even for all of us from this world, this is the biggest crisis we'll ever face," Wonder Woman said.
"How many versions of you... of us have you met?" Diana-76 asked, curiously.
"Four in total, counting you," Wonder Woman answered. "There are the other two from Earths 50 and 21, both of whom you've already met, and another that I met some years ago who had… turned to darkness and became a tyrant along with the other heroes of her world. She and the others strongly believed that they had made a better world, but that wasn't the case. Meeting that version of myself was a glimpse of what I could become if I ever lost faith or went too far. Admittedly, there are times when I have unnecessarily lost my temper, but I try my best, for the most part, to be a champion of peace."
"That makes two of us," Diana-76 said. "Even when physical force against our enemies is necessary, it is love, compassion, and a desire to bring peace that ultimately does the best job of keeping the world safe."
"Absolutely," Wonder Woman agreed.
"Nice suit," Supergirl of Earth-192 said to Galatea. "It looks pretty heroic compared to what you used to wear."
"I guess you're right," Galatea said. "As Kal put it, the leotard wasn't exactly practical. I'm Power Girl now."
"Power Girl? Not a bad name," Supergirl-192 commented. "It actually sounds cooler than 'Supergirl'."
"If you wanna use it, go right ahead," Galatea said. "I mean, we do live in different universes now."
"Nah, it's okay, I'll just stick with 'Super' since that's what I'm used to," Supergirl-192 decided. "Power Girl is yours. Wow, a couple of years ago, I never imagined that you and I would be having a friendly conversation like this. No offense, but before, I saw you as nothing more than an enemy built for the sole purpose of killing me. I never considered that you were capable of having any humanity or redeeming yourself, but I was proven wrong."
Galatea sighed at the reminder of her past actions. "I don't blame you for ever thinking that way about me. No amount of words or 'I'm sorrys' could make up for what I've done."
"Well, you're gonna help the rest of us save the Multiverse," Supergirl-192 pointed out. "If that doesn't spell 'redemption', I don't know what does."
"I'm sorry about your Lois and all the other people you've lost in your world," Supes said to Kal-El with great sympathy.
"I miss them every day, especially the mother of my son," Kal-El said. "But one thing that keeps me going is knowing they'll always be close to me." He pointed to his chest. "In here. What about your Lois? Does she know that you're..."
"I finally told her last year, the day after the Lexes warped our mind," Supes said. "She was quite shocked at first that Clark Kent of all people was Superman, but at the same time realized it made sense in hindsight."
Kal-El nodded and smiled faintly. "That described my Lois' reaction too, once I told her my secret identity."
"For years, I always figured that it was better to keep the truth from her, so that my enemies wouldn't..."
"Target Lois to get to you," Kal-El finished.
"Exactly," Supes nodded. "But after a while, I realized that was merely an excuse. And now that she knows, letting her in is one of the best things I've done and our relationship is currently stronger than it's ever been."
"I'm very happy to hear that," Kal-El said. The Earth-96 Superman may have lost his own wife to a horrendous tragedy, but he was genuinely happy for the other versions of himself who were in good relationships with their respective Lois Lanes.
Supergirl of Earth-222 walked over to the two Supermen and smiled. "Hi."
"Hey," Supes and Kal-El replied in unison as they turned to her.
"It's unbelievable," Supergirl-222 said as she regarded them and noticed the kindness in their eyes that was completely absent in her Kal. "Both of you are my cousin, but yet so... different from the one in my universe. It's refreshing to meet versions of Kal who are still heroes that give people hope instead of being a dictator who instills great fear in those he once swore to protect."
"It's unfortunate that the Kal-El of your world went down such a terrible path," Kal-El said.
"He wasn't always evil," Supergirl-222 said. "My Kal was a hero once too, but after losing his wife Lois and their unborn son, along with his entire city, in a senseless tragedy, he changed. In some ways, he became even worse than a lot of the people he fought."
Kal-El looked down, reminded of how he'd felt after losing his own Lois. He, too, could've allowed his grief, pain, and anger to thoroughly consume him, but having young Jason in his life, the promise he'd made to Lois right before her death, and knowing that she, Jimmy, Perry, and all the others who had perished in the Joker's attack wouldn't want their hero to transform into something unpleasant motivated him to carry on as the world's hope-inspiring protector.
"I wish I'd gotten through to him and tried harder to convince him to go back to the way he was," Supergirl-222 continued, regretfully. "Sometimes I wonder if I could've prevented Kal from taking that dark turn in the first place had I made it to Earth sooner. He could've been the kind of cousin that I could look up to, even though I'm technically older than him."
"I once encountered a Superman who went down a similar path," Supes recalled. "That version of me killed his world's Lex Luthor, who was the president of the United States, and became obsessed with imposing order, going as far as lobotomizing criminals with his heat vision to force them into obedience and having no qualms taking lives, which goes completely against what we stand for."
"He sounds no better than my Kal," Supergirl-222 noted.
"Believe me, it was terrible," Supes said. "Seeing what my Justice Lords counterpart had become was a grim reminder of how easy it is for someone with our powers to lose control after crossing the line even once, which is why whenever I do feel such temptations, I immediately remind myself why it's extremely important to never forget the lessons and moral values I was taught by my adoptive parents."
"That goes for both of us obviously," Kal-El said. "As Pa Kent once told me, 'You never meet hate with hate, son. You meet it with compassion. You meet it by being an example of the best in us, and inspiring others to do the same'."
Supes gave his Earth-96 counterpart a nod, indicating he'd been told the same thing.
"That's something my cousin has completely forgotten," Supergirl-222 said. "Ever since Batman sent him to the Phantom Zone, I've been doing my best to fill Kal's shoes and be the Kryptonian protector that Earth desperately needs. To redeem the reputation of the House of El and convince people that this crest could once again be a symbol of hope." She pointed to the symbol on her chest. "It's not always easy though. There are still many people who distrust me and fear that I will one day take over the world like my cousin did. But I don't let that stop me from doing my part to keep the world safe."
"Unfortunately, there will always be people who will not trust you, no matter how much good you do," Supes pointed out as he thought back to the time that Darkseid had brainwashed him, the Cadmus mess, and what the Lex Luthors had done with the Book of Destiny. "That's one of the unappealing aspects of doing what we do simply because of what we're capable of."
"On the bright side, however, regardless of how some people may feel about you, fighting the good fight and providing everyone with the security of knowing that someone is out there protecting them without expecting anything in return is a reward in itself," Kal-El added, smiling as he placed a hand on Supergirl-222's shoulder.
The Girl of Steel smiled, touched by the words of the two Supermen, who were kind, compassionate, and absolutely nothing like her cousin. She was about to continue the conversation when the opening of a portal suddenly drew her, Kal-El's, and Supes' attention.
The Monitor emerged from the portal with Kal-El's teenage son, Jason White.
"Jason," Kal-El called out, pulling his son into a hug.
"Dad," Jason replied, before the two let each other go. "What's going on? Where are we?"
"You are on Earth-192," Novu told the teenager. "The red skies you've just witnessed on your world, right before I brought you here, is the result of..."
Suddenly, the Metro Tower started shaking. Alarmed, all the heroes, as well as Jason, rushed to the windows and looked outside to see the Quantum Tower rising out of the ground, stopping once it reached full height.
The Monitor disappeared into another portal, while heroes prepared to go outside on their mission to defend the Tower.
Earth-21
"Dad is dead in this world?" Clara asked in horror and disbelief after Clark had told mention the death of his adoptive father to her.
"It was my fault that he died," Clark said grimly with a sigh.
Clara frowned. "Your fault? How?"
"I turned back time to save my girlfriend at the time from getting killed in an automobile accident," Clark explained as Clara noticed the guilt-ridden expression on the former's face. "The alternate turn of events led to Dad dying of a heart attack on the same night the accident happened in the previous version of that day. I guess you never went through an incident like that."
"I've never time-traveled myself, but I did meet a group of heroes from the future once," Clara said.
"Let me guess, the Legion of Superheroes," Clark said, knowingly.
"How did you know?" Clara asked, looking at him in surprise.
"Because I met them too," Clark told her. "And I've worked with them multiple times, in both the present and future."
"Your world has some intriguing differences from mine," Clara noted. "For one thing, I guess I'd be married to my best friend Lois if I hadn't been born a girl. Also, the Oliver I know isn't a vigilante archer called Green Arrow. He's just your average billionaire from Star City. And Tess certainly isn't a red android with tornado powers. How did that happen to her, by the way?"
"She was killed by her brother Lex and later brought back to life in digital form, eventually gaining the android body she has now," Clark explained.
"That's… quite a unique story," Clara commented.
"What are Lex and Tess like in your world?" Clark asked, curiously.
"Well, Lex has been dead since the meteor shower that I came to Earth in," Clara explained, to Clark's surprise. "As for Tess…" She sighed. "She and I were best friends for a few years before things went south between us... and we became enemies. Recently, we've been on better terms, but I'm not sure if Tess and I will ever truly be like we once were."
"Your relationship with Tess sounds very much like mine with Lex, who didn't die in the meteor shower on this Earth," Clark noted. "Like you and Tess, Lex and I were best friends until we became enemies." Clara frowned in surprise at that as Clark added in a regretful tone, "I always hoped that I could save Lex from himself, but eventually he was too far gone. My Tess struggled with darkness for a while too, but she overcame it and now she's a hero like the rest of us."
Clara smiled. "That gives me even more hope that my world's Tess could do the same. She does regret her past actions, so that's a step in the right direction."
"I wish I could say the same thing about Lex," Clark said with a note of sadness. "But he only got worse and worse as time went on. Last year, he…"
Suddenly, the Watchtower started shaking. Clark, Clara, Clark-93, Superman, Linda, and John Jones flew outside, while Bart and Flash raced after them on foot. The heroes stopped at the sight of the Quantum Tower rising out of the ground.
"The Quantum Tower," Superman noted.
Clark was unnerved by how much the Tower reminded him of the one that Zod had built to turn the sun red. Turning to the others, he stated, "This is our cue to get in position and protect that Tower at all costs."
Earth-1
In the cortex of S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco, Caitlin, and Harry were working on the computers, with Ralph standing near them, while Barry-Red and Kara D were comforting Jay and Allen, who were both distraught and grief-stricken after having just found out that their worlds were among the latest casualties of the anti-matter wave. The two elder Flashes had wanted to inform their wives – Allen's Tina McGee and Jay's Joan Williams – about the Crisis, but the extrapolator devices failed to open breaches to Earth-3 and Earth-90, which could only mean that those universes no longer existed.
Kara K was conversing with Astra about their lives on Krypton, comparing the differences in history between their respective versions of the planet.
Black Lightning and his daughters were present as well, having already returned from Freeland after filling Lynn and Gambi in on the Crisis.
Oliver, Laurel-One, Sara, Thea, and Roy, along with Adrian, Laurel-Two, John-90, Lyla Michaels, Slade, Deathstroke, Nyssa al Ghul, and the latter's sister Talia, soon arrived in the cortex. The archers had filled their quivers with as many arrows, including trick and explosive ones, that they could bring, while Thea had made sure to bring her katana, and Slade, Deathstroke, and Lyla had made sure their guns were fully loaded.
Upon meeting her late husband's Earth-90 doppelganger, Lyla had been momentarily happy to see John alive again, only to almost immediately realize that it wasn't Diggle, which Oliver, to Lyla's disappointment, had confirmed.
As Mar Novu then appeared soon afterwards, everyone immediately turned to him.
"What now?" Oliver inquired.
The Monitor informed the group of heroes that he'd managed to locate the source of the anti-matter wave – a powerful cannon that was unleashing a concentrated stream of the deadly white substance and wouldn't stop until every world in the Multiverse was consumed.
After it was decided that Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, Harry, and Black Lightning would go to the location of the anti-matter cannon, while the rest of the heroes stayed behind to prepare for the inevitable battle against the enemies who would very soon show up, Novu opened a portal that the four aforementioned heroes entered.