Hal's temper was as hot as ever. Post-resurrection, he'd forgotten his stretch in the Underworld—he only vaguely recalled that he'd died and come back. No memory of what happened in between.
"Why's this guy still calling the shots?" He pointed at Batman and asked the League as a whole. At the same time, his gaze flicked involuntarily toward Thea. Even without the Underworld memories, some part of his subconscious expected her to push back.
"Don't look at me. My power output's too large and the portal's too small. I can't get through yet." She rubbed her temple as she said it. Somewhere the others couldn't see, she was already actively suppressing Earth-3's evil world-will.
Her avatar wasn't in position yet, and her main body suppressing a world-will from this side was extremely draining. Even once the avatar arrived and they could pressure it from both sides, it would take at least two days to subdue it.
She didn't want to bring this up—not because she loved quietly bearing burdens, but because the world-will had nothing to do with the League. No need to add that kind of psychological weight to ordinary people. Batman had faced Darkseid—ask him if he'd been afraid. Of course he'd been afraid. He'd just used his iron will to crush the fear and buried himself in work to cope.
But Batman was one of a kind. If ordinary people learned about something as metaphysical as a world-will, would their minds crack? Would their worldview collapse? Hard to say.
"Star City on Earth-3 is dead silent. Nightwing still has no idea what happened there. Central City is controlled by Johnny Quick, so that's out as a landing zone. Metropolis has Ultraman. I recommend we stage in Gotham first. Against the Anti-Monitor, that super-threat, if this Owlman has any sense, he should cooperate with us. We face a common threat from outside the universe."
Batman laid out his reasoning. To back it up, he produced a thick folder of data Nightwing had specifically gathered. Earth-3's Owlman had shot his own parents dead—the League would consider that evil without question. But he ruled Gotham with his own definition of order. He wasn't a reckless, random killer. Batman thought it was worth trying to bring him over.
Honestly, nobody else knew the Wayne family well. Having someone who knew the local terrain would be a plus. Superman was about to nod agreement.
"...Uh, sorry. Your plan isn't bad. But if we try it in the next two days, we're going to fail." Thea had to cut in.
"Why?"
Thea sighed inwardly. Why does this guy have so many "whys"?
If she said it openly—in the Justice universe, justice wins; in the Evil universe, evil wins—it would be a psychological gut-punch to every hero here. What made heroes heroes was their persistence. If she told them that no matter what they did, justice would win in the final moment anyway, what would that do to them?
If we're going to win no matter what, I'm going home to rest. Putting herself in their shoes, Thea knew that's exactly what she'd think.
She couldn't dodge the question forever. She opened a private mental channel and explained it to Batman alone.
Batman had to accept it passively—in a telepathic channel he couldn't speak anyway. He thought about it briefly, decided it sounded dubious but couldn't be ruled out (world-will being something invisible, intangible, and impossible to capture with his tech) and gave her a nod, accepting it tacitly.
The rest of the League didn't know what they'd just said—but wisely, no one asked.
"Then we execute Plan B. We hit Ultraman's Fortress of Solitude. Attack begins from space."
Thea figured Batman had prepped a stack of contingency plans. Taking out Ultraman first was a solid opener—Ultraman's impact on Earth-3 civilians was enormous. Under the world-will, Thea estimated he'd probably escape in the end, but they could still do serious damage.
She wasn't joining the early-to-mid-combat phase at all. Whatever they wanted to do was fine. She nodded. Green Lantern Hal agreed—space combat was where he could shine without constraints. Superman also agreed.
Nightwing had sent back plenty on Ultraman's atrocities, and Superman, uncharacteristically, showed anger. "I want to beat Ultraman myself."
Thea jumped in with another splash of cold water. "...Uh, sorry. You probably can't take him."
Like his old friend Batman, Superman asked, "Why?"
"That guy uses Kryptonite as his main energy source. I estimate that Fortress of Solitude is packed wall-to-wall with Kryptonite. If you go in, you're not coming out."
Superman went quiet. One or two pieces of Kryptonite, he could brute-force through. Hundreds or thousands of pounds piled together? Willpower had a ceiling.
"He can absorb Kryptonite, but he'd still be hurt by yellow-sun energy, right?" Batman asked.
Thea nodded. Batman casually pulled a Yellow Lantern ring out of his belt. "This can hurt him, right? It simulates stellar wavelengths. I remember Yellow rings can charge Kryptonians—which means in reverse they can damage Ultraman."
Hal Jordan, Superman, and Diana all gave Thea a funny look. Thea was fed up. You pulled that out openly because you know I won't punch you, right?
Batman kept the deadpan expression going. "The ring's out of juice. Needs a charge. Your energy system is strange—I haven't cracked it yet."
Thea forced a dry chuckle. She had plenty of things she wanted to say, but with the whole League present—and Oliver and Diana both giving her the let it go eyes—she swallowed them. Fortunately she didn't care about the Yellow ring these days. Shaking her head, she pulled a brand-new charged power battery from the void and tossed it to him. "Ultraman's yours to handle. We'll count you as a temporary member. Recite the oath somewhere private—no one will see."
The rest of the plan came together quickly. Two phases: the Seven Corps and Batman would hit the Fortress of Solitude, then link up with Superman to attack the Watchtower. After that, pick the next target based on the situation.
The Crime Syndicate didn't get along internally. That was their opening to pick them off one by one. And Batman was starting to actually feel the so-called evil world-will.
If he went after Ultraman, there was no way he'd kill him—which meant Ultraman had a high chance of escaping. But Batman was the one who'd taken the assignment. So was he influenced by the world-will, or was Ultraman simply not meant to die here? Hard to tell.
"Ultraman has killed countless. He's not like Owlman. Evil is in every one of his cells. Destruction and slaughter are his methods. If you want to kill him, you don't need to carry that weight." Diana tried to comfort Batman.
Thea figured he wouldn't kill anyway. He'd volunteered for Ultraman—let him handle it. Worst case, she'd send a few Yellow Lanterns to finish the job. As for Ultraman killing Batman—the probability was so low it could be ignored.