"Ha. He's a false god." Thea's tone was dismissive. "Does anyone seriously think you get something for nothing? Wealth and health just delivered to your doorstep? That runs counter to every fundamental principle of how the universe operates. Something is badly wrong here."
Sit back and everything works out? Then what was the goddess of commerce for? Rao was an enemy. That part wasn't even a question.
What Thea couldn't figure out was why the Phantom Stranger and the others had done nothing. They were sitting on the sidelines watching this unfold.
She checked in on Faora next. Her adjutant had taken damage at the genetic level and was in a slow process of self-repair. Conventional treatment wasn't going to help.
She sent word to several of her other contacts on Earth. Deathstroke and Poison Ivy were both with her mother. She let herself breathe.
"I'm going to take a look at this Rao myself."
With those words, she teleported straight to Earth.
She dampened her presence as she landed and took a moment to sense the local time flow before folding herself into it.
The field covering the planet—she didn't break through it immediately. The temporal differential between inside and outside was sharp; if she shattered it abruptly, the physiological shock could kill the frailer civilians. She needed to observe first.
Warm. Bright.
The city she walked through had none of its usual noise. People were still living normal lives, but their faces were all wreathed in happy smiles.
No pickpockets. No robberies. Everyone was courteous and law-abiding, greeting each other warmly when they met and exchanging blessings when they parted. The place felt like heaven.
She watched two white police officers cheerfully give directions to a young Black man. She watched a gang that had run this neighborhood for years helping ordinary residents mow lawns and carry milk.
Everything was beautiful. Everything was uplifting. There were no signs of brainwashing—every person she looked at seemed mentally sound, their wits fully intact. They were simply acting of their own accord, helping others without being asked.
She spotted one of Rao's followers—one Batman had mentioned—long robes, tall staff, who had stopped a biker. A few quiet words. The biker pulled out his piercings, started crying, and began loudly declaring that he wanted to turn his life around. A small crowd formed around him, offering encouragement.
"Praise Rao!"
"Glory to Rao!"
The chants rose and fell throughout the streets, unprompted, welling up from people who seemed genuinely moved. No one appeared to notice that the surge of feeling was coming on a little too conveniently, a little too intensely—as though this were the most natural thing in the world, like breathing or drinking water.
It was paradise. It was absolutely fake.
Thea had spent enough time studying human nature to know what she was looking at. No population on Earth reached this level of collective virtue without outside interference. The performative sincerity made her skin crawl.
Finding Rao wasn't difficult. He wasn't hiding.
He was floating in the open above Metropolis, arms spread wide like a martyr, bathed in light that radiated outward in all directions.
Silver-white armor. Deep crimson cloak. The bearing of someone who had never questioned their place in the world. He had a young face, though his long silver hair added a quality of ancient wisdom, and his eyes—the kind that seemed to read the universe at a glance—combined with those features into something that was genuinely hard to look away from. Regal and serene at once, as though he'd been designed to look like a ruler.
A good face. Excellent presentation.
It would have been better if his chosen perch weren't the top of the Queen Building.
Thea's expression went flat. He had definitely met her before. There was no other explanation for floating directly above her building. Deliberate, down to the last detail.
"So you're Rao." She rose to his level, meeting his gaze without deference. "You look like less than I expected."
She examined his divine energy signature carefully as she spoke.
She'd expected something like H'El—a powerful alien, the kind that could kill a god through sheer physical force, the way Lobo had once managed. But this was a real deity, and an old one: a faith-based god, drawing power from belief. He'd been relegated to history's dustbin long ago, and for good reason.
The faith-based path was accessible and rapid for ascension, but the ceiling was brutal. Of the ninety-five percent of fallen gods throughout history, most had been faith-based. Inherently weak foundation. No staying power. You spent your existence drowning in your believers' petitions—a recipe for psychological collapse or complete personality erasure. Once you lost yourself, you weren't a god anymore.
Apollo and Ares were both faith-based—Apollo had the sun as an anchor and could hold out for a long time yet. Ares, on the other hand, was probably going to wink out as soon as Rao finished eliminating war on Earth.
By conventional logic, Rao's arrival was basically handing himself over to die. But the sheer density of faith he'd accumulated—she could feel it from here—had driven his divine power to a level that defied the conventional model. Looking at him now, she'd estimate he was approaching Highfather's tier.
Rao glanced at her. Calm. Said nothing.
Below, the crowd started shouting.
"Get down from there! You're desecrating the True God!"
"That Queen woman needs to leave the country!"
"God, please—don't let Rao be provoked by this—"
Thea filtered it out entirely. Her attention didn't leave Rao.
"You've done a good job with the brainwashing," she said evenly. "But this is your play? Sending civilians to smear my reputation? That won't accomplish anything. I genuinely don't care."
She had never been a conventional hero. She wasn't going to crumble because people were upset with her. If some of them wanted to test Deathstroke's blade, she could arrange that—a demonstration on ten or twenty of them would send a clear enough message. More than half a year of soul brokerage had stripped away any expectation that ordinary people would simply leave her alone. Moira Queen and Malcolm Merlyn's blood ran in her veins; it had never mixed well with saintliness.
"Thea."
"Thea, please."
Superman and Supergirl flew in from a distance to Rao's side. Both of them were trying to prevent what came next.
"Rao genuinely wants to help Earth," Superman said, earnest as ever. "There's no hidden agenda. Please—trust me."
Kara added her voice, urging Thea to stand down and consider working with them instead. Together, they could build something new.
"New Earth?" Thea looked at both of them. "You sure what you'd be building would still be Earth, and not just Krypton 2.0?" She paused. "You remember H'El, don't you? You remember Zod? They're working together—all of them. According to H'El, we've stopped them twice already—this is the third time. How are you this ready to believe him?"
She studied them carefully. No mental control. No magic. No psychic interference. No technology she could detect. With everything she knew, cross-referencing Guardian Heluba's memories, she couldn't find a single species or individual in the known universe who could reshape a person's convictions this invisibly.