The woman called Giganta had a look that could only be described as overstated. Wild, matted hair. Muscle piled on muscle. A leather vest. Killing intent radiating off her. No softness, no femininity—she looked like a bandit queen who'd carved out a mountain kingdom. You had to look twice to register she was a woman at all.
She sucked in a breath. Her body ballooned outward like a helium-filled balloon, quickly barreling past human scale and climbing toward five meters (~16 ft), ten meters (~33 ft), still growing.
"Tch, what a cheap trick!" Thea stood back and made a disgusted sound. Let this woman keep expanding and her hall would need repairs. Repairs cost money!
For the sake of justice, instant-death magic wasn't on the table. But a few shapeshifting spells were trivially easy. Thea wasn't as specialized as Circe on this front, but she was hardly an amateur either.
Go. Technological mutation or bloodline mutation, it made no difference—one shrink spell and Giganta's body snapped right back to ordinary human size.
Laurel, freshly minted in the League and eager to prove herself, flew in with a whipping kick.
"I've got files on these three. The woman's Giganta—a blood-disease mutation. Copperhead specializes in military combat and jujitsu. Not much on Shadow Thief, probably a meta." Batman wasn't in the field either. He stood on the perimeter, running briefings.
Thea cut in. "I teleported five people over. There's one more hiding. Atom, go flush him out."
Learning there was still work left, Ray Palmer shrank immediately and went hunting the hidden intruder.
The fight was over fast; it couldn't have dragged on. Twelve top-tier heroes against four villains. Even with Thea and Diana sitting out, the villains got cleaned out.
Black Canary dropped Giganta. Green Arrow captured Copperhead.
Shadow Thief gave them a little more trouble. He could hide inside an enemy's shadow—a clever offense-defense combo. Zatanna waited for her moment and unleashed a flash spell that erased every shadow in the room. Barry Allen then knocked him out at a speed no nervous system could register.
The evil Alfred had no powers. The whole thing had been sudden, and he was carrying only a sidearm. Nightwing disarmed him with ease.
Ray Palmer's fight went less smoothly. His target was slippery, repeatedly vanishing from sight. At microscopic scale, nobody else could assist. Superman finally spotted the target with super-vision and, coordinating with Atom, took him down.
Distinguishing local criminals from outsiders was trivial. If Batman knew them, they were local. If not, they weren't. On this, Batman was the final authority.
Copperhead, Giganta, Shadow Thief—selling out their own world for profit, signing on as accomplices—drew universal contempt from the heroes. Thea made the call. They'd all be shipped to A.R.G.U.S. for containment.
Let Amanda Waller sort them out.
With the accomplices hauled away, the two ringleaders took center stage.
Ray Palmer unfastened Atomica's belt—her shrinking rig. Without it, Atomica returned to standard size. Long chestnut hair. Pretty features. Eyes closed, she wasn't speaking—evidently preparing to stonewall. But the slight tremor at the corner of her mouth betrayed her.
The evil Alfred was far steadier. He surveyed the Hall of Justice with composed interest, comparing the heroes' faces against the ones in his memory. He'd been on this Earth for a while, but standing face-to-face with the heroes here was new. A peculiar vertigo crept over him. Two worlds perfectly inverted—part of him wanted to laugh.
But his heart was iron. He tucked the scattered thoughts away and turned to Atomica, voice cold. "Stay calm. They're heroes. Their moral standards are high. Our lives are entirely safe."
He flashed a provocative smile. The subtext was obvious: Kill us if you dare.
The Justice League moved in quiet unison. They gave Batman the space.
"I can see the struggle inside you. You have the power to break your chains. Why don't you use it?" The evil Alfred's voice turned coaxing. He eyed Batman with real curiosity.
Nobody so much as twitched. If two sentences could shake Batman, he wouldn't be Batman.
Thea was more relaxed still. Of every person and god she'd ever met, Batman had the strongest will. Power didn't correlate with will—if anything, they were inversely related. She was exhibit A. The Spectre, the Phantom Stranger—their willpower was frankly trash...
The longer someone lived, the weaker their will. Seemed to be a rule of this world.
Batman looked at the evil Alfred with detached curiosity. "You don't know me. Not at all. Whoever's in that evil world—that's not me."
"I thought another version of me had fallen. Now I see that's not quite the case." He turned to Thea.
Thea spread her hands indifferently. "That world's been sealed off by higher powers. I can't get in anymore. Intel may have gotten warped in transmission."
"If you want more, magic can make him talk."
Batman thought it over carefully. "No. Let me interrogate him alone." He pulled the evil Alfred off to an adjacent room.
The others kept sizing Atomica up, but nobody suggested torturing her. She wasn't a core figure, and women generally weren't privy to the inner circle—that was the prevailing view.
How many men were on the hero side versus women? How many men on the villain side versus women? Among the big players, outside of Thea, were there any women at all?
In this world, women were everywhere underestimated—or cast as figures to be protected. Almost always support roles.
Ray Palmer was busy studying Atomica's belt. Everyone else rested or chatted. Oliver and Laurel—the old flames with their tangled history—ended up sharing a laugh in the same room. Thea found it borderline embarrassing on their behalf. Somehow the two of them were getting along fine.
Superman and Barry Allen talked about the evil Kryptonian and the evil speedster.
Batman came back fast. His expression was grim. He pulled Atomica aside for a separate interrogation. Then he returned to the hall, removed his cowl, and rested his hands on the table, organizing what he'd learned.
"That world's Bruce Wayne was shot dead as a child. Gotham is now ruled by a man called Owlman—a Wayne family member who doesn't exist on our Earth. My older brother. Thomas Wayne, Jr."
"Owlman's partner is also a Nightwing—an evil mob figure. Richard Grayson. There's a Kryptonian there too—codename Ultraman—corresponding to our Superman. The speedster matching the Flash is Johnny Quick. The Green Lantern equivalent is Power Ring. Diana's counterpart is Superwoman. Aquaman's is Sea King. Firestorm's is Deathstorm..."