Multiverse: Deathstroke-Chapter 447: Su Ming’s Plan

The few members of the team actually knew each other from before, many of them.

For example, Poison Ivy knew Black Alice—they'd crossed paths with the Birds of Prey. Meanwhile, Harley knew Enchantress and Nightshade—they were colleagues from the Suicide Squad.

So, aside from Blue Devil, who only knew Batman, the women naturally started chatting.

Harley was the exception—Zatanna had too many keepsakes, and she hadn't finished signing them yet.

Maybe meeting a fan was exciting at first, but now her hand was sore, and she'd only signed half of the thick stack of photos.

But Harley was tough—she doubled down and kept scribbling furiously, while Ivy just stood by with a glass, watching Harley's sweet struggle.

Blue Devil's abilities all came from his suit. He himself was just a decently athletic guy.

His suit was the skin of a blue demon, peeled off years ago by a Knight of the Round Table—none other than today's Demon Knight, Etrigan.

By modern times, that skin had changed hands a bunch, and for some reason, it didn't end up in a sorcerer's collection—it landed in a movie studio.

One day, a stuntman extra named Daniel was told to play a demon in a new film.

The director demanded a breakthrough—something unexpected and unforgettable for the audience.

As an actor, Daniel decided he'd fully convey the demon's inner conflict and helplessness, plus the complex feeling of tasting hellfire and wanting to die but being unable to.

That's an actor's self-discipline.

So Daniel skipped the red demon costumes and zeroed in on the blue one—because it stood out.

Of course it did—the others were movie props, but this one was real demon skin.

Anyway, once he put it on, he gained superpowers. If the guy next door became Iron Man by wearing a metal suit, then wearing demon skin should make him Demon Man.

But who knows what goes through an actor's head—he named himself Blue Devil, zero originality.

Though Su Ming saw him as a magical version of Iron Man, their personalities couldn't be more different. Daniel was honest and loyal, with a strong sense of justice, and he even struggled to make ends meet.

If you're broke and hungry, just get a job!

Nope—he'd accidentally gained powers, so he felt obligated to patrol for free and keep the peace. No time for work.

He could tough out the hunger. Sometimes the bad guys had a burger or hot dog on them—just snatch it and eat.

Once he wore the blue skin, his abilities and fighting style were a lot like Namor, the Sub-Mariner from next door.

Repelling seawater, super strength, rapid healing, tough defenses, flight—sound familiar? His weapon was a demon pitchfork, basically another kind of trident.

"Alright, chit-chat's over. I'll give a quick rundown of the situation."

Bobo hopped onto the bar counter, tapping his glass with a fingernail, letting out a sharp clinking sound.

Next, he laid out the whole story for everyone present, naturally leaving out some details he thought weren't convenient to share.

"Yesterday, I finally got a rare day off and slept soundly through the night. Then I woke up this morning and found out the world's about to end," Blue Devil said, feeling helpless. He was only now learning about everything that went down last night.

And "Black Alice," Lori, didn't know either. The magical world's upheaval hadn't even affected her—she was a superpowered kid mixed in with mages.

Yesterday, she'd just been home with her dad, not noticing anything off.

Enchantress was about the same. Up until a moment ago, she'd actually been stuck in a mental hospital called a "sanatorium," and no one had told her a thing.

Only Nightshade, as a witness and participant in last night's events, had nearly been killed by Witchfire. She clearly wasn't doing great—looking a bit worn out.

"What's our plan?" she asked Bobo.

Bobo naturally threw up his hands—he'd been dragged into this too, after all.

If Bobo teamed up with Batman, he'd obviously follow Batman's lead. Now, with Deathstroke, he also had little say.

So when Nightshade asked about the next step, he just gestured for Deathstroke to take over.

"First off, we're currently pinned to the ground by an alien fleet. They're like someone pouring water into a rat hole, planning to drown us."

Lori rolled her eyes. Getting drowned like rats didn't sound too appealing.

But she knew it was true. She'd noticed the global tsunamis that morning—TV and the internet were flooded with news about it until the signals cut out.

Now, to stay connected, you had to use the quantum comms system at the Hall of Justice—not something regular people could access.

She'd settled her dad in, then got the Shadowpact summons while figuring out what to do.

She could roll with anyone—Dark Justice League, other mage teams, even Vandal Savage's Eternal Council. She'd join without hesitation.

But too bad—Vandal was dead, killed by Lex Luthor. Batman got the intel, and Deathstroke snooped it out.

Doctor Fate and Nabu were dead too—killed by Deathstroke last night, according to the gorilla just now.

The Dark Justice League was a shell of itself. Swamp Thing was weakened, Zatanna turned into a fish, Madame Xanadu was hands-off, and Constantine was in Hell.

As the leader, Wonder Woman was now MIA—missing in action. Forget assembling a team.

The world's chaos needed a united front to fight, and right now, her only option was Shadowpact.

Though Shadowpact had been on the verge of disbanding after Jim's death, as long as Bobo was around, everyone could still gather at the bar.

Of course, Lori really liked Zatanna. They bonded over goth fashion and had tons to talk about. Even if Bobo bit it and Zatanna took over, Lori would still answer Shadowpact's call.

"So we're heading into space to smash those aliens? Then I need to see Superman or Supergirl first," Lori requested.

Turn into Superman for what? He'd still be weak to Kryptonite, and their enemy was Lex Luthor—the universe's biggest Kryptonite collector, with red sun generators to boot.

Su Ming shook his head. "No, our top priority is detoxing Earth."

Everyone's expressions varied. They glanced at each other, except Harley, who was still hunched over, scribbling like mad.

"...Detox?"

"Based on me and Bobo's calculations, Earth's got about 24 hours before it's completely submerged—including the highest mountains."

Su Ming explained his reasoning. Batman thought saving people was the priority, but Su Ming thought draining the flood was key.

Bobo nodded too. "Yeah, and the alien fleet numbers around 100,000. Lex Luthor's likely to interfere with our moves too. That time isn't enough to take out all their ships. We still don't know who the alien leader is or where they're at."

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Su Ming poured himself a drink. "Actually, they're probably on that coral reef in space right now. I saw on the Hall of Justice mainframe that Batman had scoped it out once—just too far to catch the details. But the alien leader's likely there."

Blue Devil rubbed the horns on his head, leaning on his trident. "Then we find a way to raid it and solve the problem at the root."

"Good idea, but they've got a giant sea monster with universe-spanning teleportation. If the enemy bails, we wouldn't even be able to predict it."

Su Ming first gave the honest guy a nod, praising his effort to think, then mercilessly shot down Blue Devil's plan.

Sure, it was brave—storming the enemy's lair and all.

But without enough intel, Su Ming wouldn't rashly hit their headquarters.

Forget how many aliens there were—even just running into Lex's Legion of Doom could mean casualties for his team, something he aimed to avoid.

Go to work happy, come home safe—that was Su Ming's promise to his squad. Every factory gate at Wilson Enterprises had that slogan printed on it.

He'd agreed to help Batman scout the aliens' setup and take a shot at a decapitation strike if the chance came up.

No problem there—the promise didn't have a deadline.

Batman figured the deadline was before the floods swallowed Earth. Well, Su Ming could just push that flooding back, right?

With so many heroes on Earth, if he bought the planet more time, some hothead would eventually trip over the mines. Su Ming wanted to wait for intel and craft a perfect plan.

Way better than charging in blind, no?

So right now, he planned to shunt Earth's water somewhere else.

The enemy was flooding Earth through a portal. All Su Ming had to do was open another portal at the planet's lowest point and dump the water into space, right?

The aliens were filling the bathtub—Su Ming would just pull the plug and drain it.

Batman and the others didn't dare go underwater, scared of turning into fish. But Su Ming, with Venom bonded to him, could totally block out liquid contact.

Could Venom turn into a fish? Nope—it came from beyond the Source Wall, not an Earth critter.

This purple water was a targeted bio-attack on Earth.

Of course, this had to be done quietly—couldn't let Batman or the Justice League know, or they'd nag again.

Stuff like "Dumping sewage into space isn't eco-friendly" or "Irresponsible to the whole universe"—big moral hats like that.

Who cares?!

So while talking, Su Ming dipped his finger in the liquor and scribbled on the table, signaling Ivy to sprout a giant pitcher plant. He tossed Batman's bugged phone inside.

The man-eating sac snapped shut instantly. Under Ivy's command, the plant toddled off to play outside.

Where it went, who knows—but when the planning was done, Ivy would call it back.

"So my plan is to head to the Mariana Trench, to the Trench Kingdom at the bottom. There, we'll use the Shadow Dimension as a bridge to dump the seawater into space."

Hearing this, Bobo bared his teeth a little. He wasn't a fan of the Trench Kingdom.

Sure, they were a branch of Atlanteans, but millennia down there in that brutal environment had mutated them. Even before the toxic water hit, they were already a bunch of fish-headed freaks.

Violent, cruel—not even Aquaman or Mera could get near the place.

Now that those monsters had drunk the alien seawater, who knew what they'd turn into?

If Deathstroke was heading there, the risk was huge. Underwater fighting was a whole different beast from land.