"Hold on. Stop. I said stop." Jude put a hand up. "First, confirm this for me. We're going to the Dark Multiverse."
System: Clarification. The assignment's destination is the Dark Multiverse. The transit point is The Boys universe. These are separate.
"What's the connection between them?" Jude asked. "One is a multiverse of existential despair and the other is a different kind of despair. Why can't we go directly to the Dark Multiverse if that's where the mission is?"
System: The Dark Multiverse contains entities operating at a creation and destruction tier—Perpetua, the Bat Who Laughs, Barbatos, among others. Based on capability assessment, direct contact between this universe and the Dark Multiverse is strongly inadvisable. If the Smuggling or Group Transit skills are used to create a direct connection, there is a greater than ninety percent probability of attracting the attention of one or more of these entities. When two universes are directly linked and exchange matter or information, the gaze of Dark Multiverse deities extends through that link. Result: this universe becomes accessible to those forces. Corruption begins at the point of contact. World danger levels escalate rapidly and permanently. This is not a side effect. It is the mechanism. Dark Multiverse entities exist to locate, infiltrate, and consume positive matter universes.
"When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." Jude had seen videos about the Dark Multiverse back in university. The concept had just been introduced to DC at the time, and the internet had caught onto it. He had never read deeply into the comics, but he had absorbed the general shape of the continuity.
Matter universe. Antimatter universe. Dark Multiverse.
He tried to reconstruct it.
System: Summary for reference. The positive matter universe is the primary DC setting—the worlds of Batman, Superman, Flash, the Justice League. The vast majority of DC stories occur here. The antimatter universe is its mirror: structurally identical, morally inverted. The heroes of the matter universe have counterparts in the antimatter universe, but those counterparts are inevitably villains. The Crime Syndicate and the Anti-Monitor are its representative figures. The Dark Multiverse is the most unusual of the three. It shares surface features with the matter universe but is inherently unstable, flawed at the point of creation. Its heroes are weaker, sometimes absent entirely. These are universes that should never have lasted. They were destined for dissolution, to be broken down and repurposed as raw material for new creation. Instead, they were preserved and weaponized, transformed into a reservoir of soldiers for entities seeking access to the positive matter universe.
"It's like Cthulhu," Jude said slowly, "except the things on the other side have human-readable logic, so you can actually identify them as enemies." He exhaled. "And even observing it directly draws their attention. Any contact introduces corruption. You can't touch it at all."
System: To be precise, the consequences of a direct connection exceed those of a standard apocalypse. If this universe is accessed by Dark Multiverse forces, the world's setting collapses immediately to the Metal Events tier. The attention of multiverse-level entities from both the positive and antimatter universes becomes possible. Curses, demons, and high-order forces begin active infiltration. Barbatos's full offensive capability is activated across a cascade of positive matter universes. The countdown to the destruction of a significant portion of the DC multiverse then begins.
"Okay, I get it, that's enough." Jude cut the explanation off. "In plain terms: if we go directly to the Dark Multiverse, we die, this universe dies, and we take an uncountable number of parallel universes with us on the way out."
System: Correct. Including but not limited to the Elseworlds universes, the Dark Knight trilogy universe, the Lego Batman universe, the Fleischer animated universe, the Batman animated universe, the Flash television and movie universes, and approximately ninety percent of the comic book multiverse.
"Right." Jude sat down on the edge of his bed. He let the silence sit for a moment. "That's a lot of Batmen to be responsible for."
He turned to Clark, who stood completely still, waiting.
"Mind if I have a glass of water? I need to think."
"Of course. Sit down." Clark crossed to the kitchen, filled three glasses, and returned. He used a brief application of his heat vision to bring the water to a precise temperature. Jude watched him, feeling briefly normal by comparison.
"Thank you." Jude took the cup. Batman accepted his without comment.
So, not the Dark Multiverse directly, Jude thought, resuming the internal conversation. Which means The Boys transit. But why that one specifically?
System: Two criteria apply. First, the transit universe cannot be a DC universe. Any DC universe connecting to the Dark Multiverse will draw Barbatos's attention, and that attention extends along the connection chain. Barbatos has no interest in non-DC universes and will not follow a path into them. The transit universe must therefore exist outside the DC multiverse entirely. Second, the transit universe must be structurally close enough to DC to minimize the resources consumed in the journey. Proximity between universes correlates with similarity of structure.
Jude thought about it. He started counting on his fingers.
"The Deep is Aquaman on a reduced budget. Homelander is Superman, but every single thing that makes Superman good has been replaced with something worse. A-Train is the Flash, except the Speed Force is cocaine. Translucent is Martian Manhunter, somehow. Queen Maeve is Wonder Woman. Lamplighter is Green Lantern. Black Noir—"
He stopped.
"—Batman."
He stared at the middle distance.
"These two universes have completely different themes and cores," he said. "The Boys is a fundamentally different project. It's not trying to do what DC does, it's trying to say something about what DC does. The whole point is that the heroes are—"
He stopped again. The line of thought was going nowhere useful.
"Is there a second option? A different transit universe that isn't a cesspool of corporate superheroes with documented war crimes?"
System: Invincible Universe detected. Transit cost: three million dollars.
"Three million dollars?!"