"Darkseid?" Batman still remembered the Dread Lord's towering menace.
"Aliens?" Superman was worried about his remaining relatives.
"Neither. Do you know about parallel universes?"
Everyone nodded. Barry and company partnered daily with Earth-2's Dr. Wells; they knew parallel realities well. Batman had also seen Earth-2's Thomas Wayne from a distance. The concept wasn't foreign.
"There's a parallel universe, with a different designation, where Superman is evil, Batman is evil, where the speedster, Green Lantern, and Aquaman are all evil. Of course, the version of me over there is even worse..."
"On that Earth, Kryptonians use Kryptonite as their power source. They terrorize everything. Gotham at night is ruled by a man in black. Their speedster kills at random for entertainment. Everyone else is his accomplice. That universe hasn't moved to invade us yet. But knowing all this, what are you prepared to do?"
A universe of villains. Thea was telling them about Earth-3. Kanto's reconnaissance had confirmed it: the evil Thea had come from there too. Whether she was still there, Kanto couldn't say. A massive barrier wrapped Earth-3; New Gods couldn't get in.
A few subordinates suppressed to ordinary human level had slipped through the barrier, but their limited capability meant they couldn't gather high-grade intel.
Thea had turned this over many times. Whether the evil version of herself was controlling Eclipso or being controlled by it, a reckoning was coming. And the Anti-Monitor was recuperating there. If he absorbed the full energy of Earth-3's cosmos, dealing with him would become exponentially harder.
Thea wanted to organize a Justice League expedition to Earth-3. She'd even picked the operation name: Justice Eternal.
She had her plan. The League was digesting the news.
They haven't attacked us—and we march on their doorstep? Is that heroism?
Everyone was thinking the same thing. Heroes were used to being ambushed by enemies hiding in the dark, then hit from nowhere, then sent scrambling to regroup after getting knocked around. Nobody was a masochist—who enjoyed living like that, forever peering over their shoulders?
But the other side hadn't made any further move. Storming in first went against everything they'd always stood for.
"Do you have more concrete evidence? Footage from that world, anything?" Batman asked.
"Give me a second. Let me look." Thea closed her eyes and searched. Her consciousness swept the entire planet. Every shielding device, every piece of advanced counter-surveillance equipment—useless against Death.
She found her target quickly. Spatial substitution spells were no challenge for her. All she had to do was put him in front of everyone, and the truth would speak for itself. But there was an internal Justice League issue to settle first.
She conferred with Diana in low voices. They quickly reached agreement. This could be done!
Thea gave Batman a strange look. "They've already begun plotting against us. They sent two scouts ahead."
"Why can't you just catch them?" Superman tried.
Her smile thinned. "If this particular man walks into the Hall of Justice, his appearance is distinctive enough that a certain someone's secret identity would be exposed."
She didn't name him. Everyone knew she meant Batman.
The room fell silent.
"We're the Justice League. Even if we don't share our pasts, we should be able to accept each other's real identities. I'm Clark Kent." Superman went first.
"Thea Queen."
"Diana Prince."
Barry Allen peeled off his cowl. He'd been waiting a long time for this. "Barry Allen."
Green Arrow pulled back his hood too and said, voice low, "Oliver Queen."
"Arthur Curry."
"Ray Palmer."
"Zatanna Zatara."
The two newcomers didn't know what was happening, but they pulled off their masks anyway. "Laurel Lance." "Simon Baz."
Nightwing hesitated a long moment. He and Batman had always moved in lockstep. But remembering he'd left those wings behind to walk his own road, he made up his mind. Off came the mask. "I'm Dick Grayson."
All the pressure landed on Batman.
He was tired. Also a little relieved. Nightwing was out. There was no point in hiding now. He pulled off the cowl. "Bruce Wayne."
Years without sunlight had left his face pale. The Hall of Justice was brightly lit, and the scattered light through the glass made him squint uncomfortably.
Plenty of people already knew his real name. Today just meant peeling off the mask for the record.
He collected himself quickly. He wasn't thrilled that Thea had cornered him into this. He rubbed his forehead. "Can we get to it? Who are the ones they sent?"
Thea didn't teleport yet. She took another far-sight look. "They've assembled a group of Earth villains. Should I grab the ringleader, or pull them all over at once? If it's all of them, we should be ready for a fight."
Need she have asked? Heroes didn't suffer villains. Ambushing a pack of them in one go—what could be sweeter? Even Barry was saying fight, fight, right now.
The young miss tutted, appreciating their enthusiasm, and gestured for everyone to remask.
A flick of her finger. Under Zatanna's reverent gaze, the air filled with intricate tracery.
"Prepare to welcome our guests from afar. Mr. Alfred Pennyworth, from Earth-3."
Batman had made guesses, but even so the identity caught him off guard. He'd assumed someone at his side might have an Earth-3 counterpart—but Alfred? If the other Alfred stood up in front of everyone as a villain, the Bruce Wayne cover would be blown.
The sky-blue teleportation circle activated. When the light faded, four visibly panicked strangers found themselves ringed by the entire Justice League.
Batman's eyes went straight to the elderly man at the center. Identical features to his own Alfred, but the bearing was completely different. Sallow complexion. Purple suit. The more he looked, the more familiar the outfit seemed.
Thea, as if reading his thoughts, supplied the context: "This Mr. Pennyworth murdered his world's Joker. Yes—the Joker who was the heroic dissident fighting Batman's tyranny…"
A sense of displacement swept through Batman. The man practically radiated malevolence. Whatever he'd come for, it wasn't neighborly diplomacy.
Nothing more to say. Fight.
Heroes drew their weapons, already primed and prepared. The villains weren't in anything close to the same shape. Making villains hold a losing line was impossible. The Earth-3 Alfred called for them to charge in formation, but they'd each mentally cut their own deals.
"Giganta, break the line. Copperhead, cover her. Shadow Thief, rear guard." The villain Alfred barked orders crisply. Even cornered, he hadn't given up. He was still hunting for that thin thread of escape.