Batman summarized what he'd pulled from the interrogation. "There's apparently a Luthor on that world too, but he's not aligned with the rest of them. Even more evil than the others, actually—and he uses magic."
Thea kept quiet. She strongly suspected evil Luthor's magic had been taught to him by evil Thea. As God's former Spirit of Vengeance, she considered spellcraft to be a pretty minor discipline in the grand scheme.
"The enemy has already bared its fangs at us. If we don't strike first, what waits for us is annihilation. And if the battlefield is their Earth rather than ours, we have far fewer things to worry about."
Nobody else wanted to speak first, so Thea took the role of instigator. Being the one to publicly advocate for war would damage her reputation, but she didn't care about that anymore.
The enemy was already coming. The League wasn't so naive as to sit and wait. One by one, everyone agreed to go on the offensive—but none of them had any experience in cross-dimensional warfare. They turned, collectively, to "the expert in the room": Thea.
"As I said earlier, the New Gods of that dimension have their own designation for it, but let's just call it Earth-3." She set the target.
"The place is sealed behind a massive barrier. I can't get in anymore. Neither can Diana. Not Superman, not the Flash—no superpowered hero can cross over. And their evil superpowered counterparts can't come out without using special methods. That's why they sent Pennyworth first as an advance scout."
Batman nodded. He already knew this part.
But his mind moved fast. He caught the implication immediately. "Who put the barrier up?"
"Uh—we call him the Anti-Monitor. You've actually seen him before, technically. He was the one who resurrected at the end of the Blackest Night, out of the Black Lantern central power battery."
Batman pressed. "Is he stronger than Darkseid?"
Thea had to think about this one. Batman's question was a layman's question; she had to put the answer in layman's terms.
"Strictly speaking, the Anti-Monitor is far stronger than Darkseid."
Batman's eyes glazed over.
Thea switched angles. "The Anti-Monitor isn't like us New Gods. We have a ceiling. Past a certain tier, there's no further path up. That's true for me, it's true for Darkseid. But the Anti-Monitor is different. He has no ceiling."
Batman looked like he was being blown sideways by a strong wind. Then what's the point of even fighting him? But he was patient. He crossed his arms and kept listening.
Thea frowned. "Your question is like asking me whether an atomic bomb or a bullet kills people. Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor are completely different beings."
"Darkseid is conquest. He wants every living thing bowing at his feet."
"Truly evil!" the Flash muttered under his breath.
"The Anti-Monitor wants to destroy the universe. The more he destroys, the stronger he gets."
"That's more evil!" Flash gasped again. Thea shot him a glare that finally shut him up.
"So you're saying this Anti-Monitor is weak at the moment. You want to take him out while he's weak. Am I wrong?" Batman thought he had Thea figured out. If she was putting this much effort into organizing a strike, she had her own reasons.
Thea shook her head firmly. "The Anti-Monitor isn't much of a threat to me personally. If I just ignored him, we'd have no real conflict. But destroying the multiverse is carved into his soul as his purpose. He's like a program—tirelessly obliterating one universe, then another, then another. Each universe he destroys, he absorbs all its power. That's the source of his strength."
"Once every universe is destroyed, he'll enter some new form. Maybe a reset, maybe something else—I've never seen it firsthand. While he's burning worlds, I could hide outside the universe. I have that ability. I could bring my family, my friends, all of you along. But would you actually choose that? Watch the universe die while you play deserter?"
Nobody was willing to flee before a crisis had even arrived. Compared to their evil counterparts, the Anti-Monitor was the bigger threat. The heroes were full of self-sacrificing spirit, their integrity levels astronomical. And since Thea—whose own integrity was a scattered wreck by comparison—had been the one to propose it, the plan to march on Earth-3 passed unanimously.
Strike while the iron was hot. The Anti-Monitor had only a sliver of strength left right now; if not now, when? Even Batman agreed they had a fighting chance.
But this wasn't a street brawl. Invading one Earth from another Earth required enormous preparation.
First, they needed reliable intelligence. The interrogation results alone wouldn't cut it.
The Justice League needed someone to run point. Superpowered members couldn't cross over, which eliminated half the roster immediately.
"That assignment—" Batman started to volunteer.
Nightwing cut him off. "Bruce, Gotham still needs you. Let me go."
Laurel, never one to duck danger, claimed her spot. Green Arrow volunteered to back her up. Even the Atom put his hand up—if Atomica could cross over, then logically he could too, and he could shrink himself for reconnaissance. Perfect fit.
The five of them spent the next several minutes arguing each other's merits and flaws, all of them angling to take on the dangerous role.
Batman was eliminated first. Their reasoning was roughly the same across the board: he was too high-profile, too valuable as a rear commander. Charging the front lines was a young man's game, and he was carrying a lot of years on him. He still hadn't fully healed from the last fight with Darkseid.
Green Arrow went second. He was already in the "enhanced human" category—Thea thought he probably couldn't cross the barrier either. Plus, Star City couldn't afford to lose him.
That left Black Canary, Nightwing, and the Atom in the final running.
The debate was heated. Thea sipped her coffee and watched the show, not willing to interrupt—until Diana elbowed her in the ribs, at which point she spoke up sheepishly.
"Small problem, we—" Diana shot her a glare. Thea hastily corrected herself. "I. I haven't actually figured out how to get to Earth-3 yet."
Nightwing already had the upper hand. As Batman's heir apparent, he had overwhelming advantages in combat, reconnaissance, interrogation, and infiltration. If all three went, he'd be the team lead. If only one went, it would be him.
Nobody expected Thea to hit the emergency brake. They'd argued for an hour, and it turned out "how do we get there" was still an open question? They'd been strategizing for ages without finding a path to the other side!
Nightwing forced a smile, barely swallowing what looked like a mouthful of bile. Thea smiled back, apologetic and helpless. Mother Boxes were sealed at Earth-3. All standard cross-dimensional transport methods were sealed.
Even her ankh talisman didn't work. A full Death of the Endless could have ignored the Anti-Monitor's seal without blinking, but she was still in the reserves.
"Then how did those two get here?" Batman had a lot of questions, but this one was actually on point.
"If they can invade us, they must have some method of crossing over, right?"
"After they conquer us, do they go back home?"
Batman transformed into a ten-thousand-questions machine, hurling them at Thea one after another.