Here is where I make my stand.
Here is where I shall carve out the kingdom
I am destined for.
Bow before the power of Mantis.
Whoa! Get out of the way!
Is it me, or are the world conquerors gettin' mouthier?
He's from Apokolips.
They're all pretty chatty there.
Move out.
Bow down before your better, Man of Steel.
What's the story on this guy?
Civil war back on his home planet.
Guess he thought things would be easier here.
Bad call.
Captain Atom.
I'm okay.
It'll just take me a moment
to adjust to the energy.
What in sam hill is that?
A boom tube,
an extradimensional doorway back to Apokolips.
Got it. Duck.
Nice work, captain.
Thanks, but what's stoppin' him
from comin' right back?
You mean, besides this?
Superman.
Lois Lane, Daily Planet.
Yeah, Lois, I know.
Would you care to comment on what just happened here?
I'd like an interview...
one on one.
I'm pretty sure there's somethin'
I have to do someplace.
You're late.
I was busy. Like I wasn't?
But I've already written the story up and filed it.
So now that we're both off the clock?
Captain Adams.
Captain Nathaniel Adams.
General Eiling, sir,
what brings you—?
What's this?
Orders.
Your commission has been reactivated.
You're back in the Air Force.
I'm committed to the Justice League now, sir.
You also made a commitment to the service, Captain.
Seems to me, you've got a decision to make.
Seems like I never see you anymore.
It's been a while.
That's why I'm trying to make today special.
Where are we going?
You'll see.
What do you think?
A picnic?
I suppose your high school sweetheart loved
this kind of cornball stuff.
As a matter of fact, she did.
I've been worried about you.
It's a dangerous job, Lois,
but you know I can take care of myself.
There's more than one way to get hurt.
You remember what happened to your reputation
when you were under Darkseid's control.
That was years ago.
People haven't forgotten,
not everybody.
I know. Do you?
The way you and the league have been acting lately...
Look, I'm a reporter
and not a public relations person,
but with all the muscle you guys throw around,
you're starting to scare me.
I'll admit, we got a lot of power,
but we only use it to help.
Like when you and Captain Marvel wrecked Lexor City
on national television,
or maybe you mean when you fired
that big space gun in the desert?
We come on a little strong sometimes,
but it's for the people's own good.
That sounds like something Lex would say.
Don't even joke about that.
I'm nothing like Lex Luthor.
Of course you're not.
I'm just saying, you can't serve the public
without their confidence.
It's a question of trust.
So, what's for dessert?
You really know
how to show a girl a good time, Q.
Oh!
When are we going out on a real date?
Shh. Trying to concentrate.
I'm not even in the Justice League anymore.
You're lucky to have me along.
Hardly. You're drawn to my eccentric charm.
Finished.
Me too.
Not quite.
You get what you came for?
I believe so.
If there's a link between Luthor and Cadmus,
I'll find it here.
Which leaves the rest of our evening
tantalizingly free.
There are three terabytes of data here.
I'll be busy for days.
Oh.
Dinner and movie?
It's a start.
Take off your chest plate.
You don't need it.
What are you doing?
I'll die without this. The cancer.
Is gone, Lex.
You're in remission.
No, that's not accurate.
There's no trace of the disease,
as if it were never there.
That's preposterous.
You've got the body of a 20-year-old,
and you don't have cancer.
How?
I don't know.
It might be the vest.
It might be an unexpected effect of the kryptonite poisoning
that gave you the disease in the first place.
I'll continue to study the—
I'm the middle of my physical, Mrs. Waller.
You might be in the middle of a hornet's nest.
Question and Huntress have copied files
from a high-security Cadmus terminal.
What did they get?
Tech Support can't tell for certain.
Maybe everything.
For all our sakes, we better hope
that the encryption on those files
is as good as we've been told.
Finally, the connection between Cadmus and Luthor.
Or something better.
"President Luthor."
Oh, no, no, no.
It's all connected.
Not alternate reality.
Time loop.
Luthor becomes president, Flash is killed,
Superman kills Luthor in retaliation,
superhuman arms-race,
Armageddon,
end of the world...
inevitable.
Is the future immutable?
Can destiny be changed?
Will they allow it?
Screening your calls?
You haven't answered the phone for days.
Ugh, it's rank in here.
Is that you?
Have to try.
Alternative unthinkable.
Q?
Are you all right?
Have to go.
Can't let it happen again.
At least six different ways
I could stop you right now.
But they all involve deadly force, don't they?
And you don't do that.
No. You need me.
You wouldn't be much of a hero without a villain,
and you do love being the hero, don't you?
The cheering children, the swooning women.
You love it so much, it's made you
my most reliable accomplice.
Accomplice? What are you—?
You could have crushed me any time you wanted,
and it wasn't the law
or the will of the people that stopped you.
It was your ego.
Being a hero was too important to you.
You're as much responsible for this as I am.
So go ahead, fix it somehow,
put me on trial, lock me up,
but I'll beat it,
and then we'll start the whole thing
all over again.
I did love being a hero,
but if this is where it leads,
I'm done with it.
Oh, my.
Just a few more minutes, Superman.
It's okay. I can do this all day,
not that I want to.
Something I can help you with?
I hope so,
but I assume you don't want to discuss
your White House weenie-roast in front of a crowd.
I'll be back in a few minutes.
Always wondered what was in here.
Private conference room.
Original members only, yes?
A place where you're free to discuss
your secrets and lies.
You said something about me in the White House.
Not you exactly, another version of you, hm?
Stop dancing around it.
Tell me what you know.
I know what you told everyone.
The Justice Lords,
a parallel-universe version of the Justice League,
came to our world to rid it of crime
just as they did on their own world.
With Lex Luthor's help,
our Justice League managed to rout them
before they could impose their totalitarian will
on our populace.
I also know what you didn't tell anyone
outside of the original seven members of the Justice League.
On that other Earth, so very much like our own,
a Superman so very much like you
killed the president.
Question, no one can know about this.
Or what?
You'll incinerate me too?
I'd never do anything like that.
Wouldn't you?
Didn't you recently try to lobotomize Doomsday
with your heat vision just as the Justice Lord did?
That's different.
It's the same.
A heavily armed watchtower
with an army of proactive heroes,
Luthor running for president.
If it's not quite the same,
it soon will be.
Have you seen Amanda Waller's computer simulations?
Batman told me about them.
Did he tell you all the models predict
that a war between the Justice League
and the government will devastate the planet?
We would never fight the government.
Not even if Luthor was the government?
Predestined.
Flash will die,
you will kill Luthor,
Armageddon inevitable.
Question, I'm—
I'm worried about you.
You're mixed up.
This world isn't like the other one.
We're not the Justice Lords.
Those things you're afraid of will never happen here.
I won't let them.
Question, isn't it?
I believe you took something that belongs to me.
Have you seen the latest polls?
It's beginning to look like you're going to be
our next president,
just like in that other world.
I wouldn't bet against me.
No, it wouldn't be prudent.
I want you to understand something, Luthor.
Although my distaste for you as a human being
is Brobdingnagian,
what I'm about to do isn't personal.
What are you babbling about?
Everything that exists has a specific nature.
Each entity exists as something in particular
and has characteristics that are a part of what it is.
A is A,
and no matter what reality he calls home,
Luthor is Luthor.
If I'm to save the world,
your existence must come to an end
before you take office.
You're going to kill me so that Superman can't.
I'm a well-known crackpot.
The Justice League's reputation will survive my actions,
and Superman's legacy will remain intact.
Interesting plan.
Unfortunately for you, it's not really an option.
President?
Foolish, faceless man,
my campaign is a farce,
a small part of a much grander scheme.
President.
Do you know how much power
I'd have to give up to be president?
That's right, conspiracy buff.
I spent $75 million on a fake presidential campaign,
all just to tick Superman off.
Now...
about those files you stole from me.
This doesn't have to continue.
I can stop you from seeing the visions at any time.
You stole files from our computer.
Just tell me what you've learned.
Topically-applied fluoride doesn't prevent tooth decay.
It does render teeth detectable by spy satellite.
Tell me what you know.
The plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces
are called aglets.
Their true purpose is sinister.
Tell me what you know.
There was a magic bullet.
It was forged by Illuminati mystics to prevent us
from learning the truth.
Have it your way.
This will continue until I break you.
Perhaps, even afterwards.
Jimmy.
Jimmy?
Not exactly.
Some kind of hypersonic signal, right?
Keeps good time too.
What do you think you're doing?
Your little pal is fine.
I was just trying to get your attention.
You guys need a hot line.
A minute, Jimmy.
This better be good.
Question's been missing for almost a week.
Just before he disappeared, he was behaving oddly.
I mean, oddly for him.
He saw a fake tape of you killing Luthor,
freaked out and ran off.
Question, this is Superman.
Come in, please.
Channel's open, but he's not responding.
J'onn should be able to track his location.
Oh, no.
I'll find you, baby.
Not here you won't.
They wouldn't have bothered to dump his comlink
unless they took him alive.
It has to be Cadmus.
But if they've got him, we'll never find him.
Sure we will.
We've been keeping tabs
on Cadmus for months.
We know exactly where they are.
And you didn't do anything?
The Justice League plays by the rules.
We'll move when we have solid evidence, not before.
And we'll move within the limits of the law.
That's why I quit.
The way I remember it, you were fired.
But you may have a point this time.
So?
So you and I will do this together.
And we're doing it off the books.
We're past the lead shielding.
I should be able to find Question with my x-ray vision.
Hold on.
Didn't want you to get hit by a ricochet.
Hold the fort.
I've got some personal business.
Hey, take your time.
A lot of things are starting to make sense now,
Professor Hamilton.
When did Cadmus recruit you?
Recruit me?
I went to them.
How can you work for these people?
Do you know what they are?
Power brokers, politicians, criminals,
and black-ops mercenaries with one thing in common.
Besides, they're humanity's last hope against your kind.
What are you talking about?
Humanity doesn't need protection from us.
I used to believe that.
I thought you were a guardian angel
come to answer our prayers,
but Lucifer was an angel too, wasn't he?
Professor—
You forget, I've been on the receiving end
of your wrath when you brought Supergirl
to S.T.A.R. Labs for medical treatment.
I know what you're capable of.
That's what this is about?
One little scare and you betray us?
You stole Kara's DNA,
violated her trust,
my trust.
The chicken or the egg, Superman?
Next time,
go to the bathroom before you leave for a mission.
Let's go.
Don't be stupid.
Drop it.
Sorry.
Not good enough.
Huntress!
Yeah... okay.
Lean on me.
We're getting outta here.
Secret messages
encoded in amino-acid chains in carb-free breakfast bars.
Come on, baby doll.
It's all right.
It's gonna be a little rough.
I'll take the guards, you get ready to move him.
That won't be necessary, Superman.
Good to see you, captain.
Cover our flank.
I'm afraid you misunderstand.
I'm speaking as an officer
of the United States Air Force.
Bad time to grow a sense of humor, Cap.
No joke, ma'am.
I'm currently assigned to General Eiling's
special projects unit,
and my orders are to prevent you
from taking Question out of this facility.
So how's this gonna go down?