Thea mentioning Oliver wasn't just a casual remark. She had a premonition—Oliver could reappear at any moment.
It had been four years since the shipwreck. Many things had shifted direction because of her involvement, but if Green Arrow popped up in the next second, Thea wouldn't be surprised at all.
The Gene Serum still required further observation. Thea wanted to wait for Oliver's return to inject everyone at once. Otherwise, she'd have to give the same long-winded lecture over and over. Just thinking about it was a hassle.
...
Metropolis was gradually heading toward peace. Everything seemed to be on the right track.
Thea was busy with her experiments. Lex Luthor continued to hide in the shadows, planning something. Superman worked his day job while doing good deeds—from fighting criminals to saving stray cats. Occasionally, he and Lois Lane would engage in some public-pleasing activities. The world seemed to have settled down.
"Sister Thea!—"
Running into the lab with urgent desperation was Thea's star pupil, Damian Wayne.
Shado didn't count as a formal disciple due to her messy situation with Oliver; Thea just gave her pointers. Plus, Shado picked things up fast and was already fighting crime with Felicity every night. That left only Damian, this little terror, studying by Thea's side.
They were close. Even Diana had met Damian. Thea never put on airs; she bantered with Damian casually. In a way, they got along better than Damian did with his stiff parents.
Thea ignored Damian's shouting, continuing her experiment. The Super Gene Optimization Serum was basically complete. By her estimate, it was stronger than the Mirakuru inside Deathstroke, likely on par with the Super Soldier Serum from the "universe next door."
But the quantity was too low. She couldn't just keep draining Faora's blood. She needed the final report before testing it on her parents.
"Jason... Jason is dead!" Damian grabbed her arm, shaking it hard.
Thea's gaze remained fixed on the test tube.
"Oh."
Two seconds later, the words registered.
"Jason? Batman's partner? Dead?"
Damian nodded painfully, staring at Thea with desperate eyes.
"Hey! Don't look at me like that. I can't revive the dead." Thea guessed the kid's thought instantly.
Are you kidding? Resurrection? If I had that kind of godlike power, would I still be here messing with test tubes?
Damian had studied magic with her for over a year. He knew the difficulty. Resurrection involved levels far beyond them. He sighed, his small face collapsing in disappointment.
Jason Todd shared many of Damian's views; neither agreed with Batman's "No Kill" rule. Jason was one of the few people in the Batcave Damian could actually talk to.
Jason Todd...
Thea recalled the young man she met that day—stubborn, confident, defiant. Now, a single bomb had taken him.
Thea felt a pang of regret. If she didn't know, fine. But since she knew, she had to go.
She opened a portal straight to the Batcave and pulled Damian through.
The cave was full of people, yet silent.
The "Three Old Men"—Gordon, Alfred, Lucius Fox—were there.
Nightwing, Batgirl, Catwoman, and Talia stood or sat nearby. Seeing Thea and Damian emerge from the portal, they only nodded slightly. No one had the will to speak.
Batman stood alone in the shadows.
Just as Luthor didn't need pity, Batman didn't need comfort. Thea didn't say a word. She simply walked over and lifted the white cloth.
The body had been cleaned. No blood, no dust. But the bruises covering him screamed of the torture he had suffered.
Everyone's gaze gathered on Thea. She was one of the few supernatural beings on Earth.
Even Batman turned his head. The rigid lines of his cowl betrayed a hint of desperation.
Thea checked repeatedly.
"His condition is... weird," she finally said. "He's not completely dead."
"Jason's heart has stopped, but his brain is locked in a hallucination of resistance. Body dead, mind alive. But the window is short. If he realizes it's over, he dies."
Thea crossed her arms, thinking. "He's holding on by a thread."
"Do you have a way?" Batman asked. The urgency was palpable.
Thea didn't answer. She pulled a state-of-the-art Medical Pod from her spatial ring. According to Gideon, this tech was seventy years ahead of Earth.
Hands moved quickly to help—connecting, powering up. They placed the battered body of Jason Todd inside.
Scan. Plan.
Batman was a mess inside, but he forced himself to focus on the medical data. They agreed on a plan. The pod sealed. Mechanical arms blurred into motion.
"And after?" Batman asked, seeing a glimmer of hope.
Thea didn't give him the answer he wanted.
"It's complicated. His heart stopped. He's mobilizing every last bit of vitality to sustain that consciousness. Every second, he is burning through his own essence. The cost is total. I estimate his chance of waking up is less than ten percent."
She paused. "Even if he wakes... he can't fight anymore."
"What about magic?" Batman asked bitterly. He hated magic, but he asked anyway.
"This involves what science calls consciousness and what we call the soul. Magic can't fix this." Thea shook her head.
"...As long as he lives."
Batman's voice was raspy. Not the modulator—his own voice. It sounded jagged, like a hard object grinding against sandpaper.
The pod worked for three hours.
"Heartbeat!" Nightwing shouted, eyes glued to the monitor.
But Thea and Batman stared at the data grimly.
Jason Todd didn't sit up. He didn't gasp for air.
A weak pulse. Just enough to say he wasn't a corpse. But the distance from being "alive"... was an abyss.
What now?
The question hung heavy in the silence.