In a gleaming laboratory identical to the one they'd just left, another Lex Luthor watched the news broadcast.
His counterpart's death played in slow motion on multiple screens.
Instead of horror, his face showed cold satisfaction.
"HAHAHAHA! EVERYTHING ACCORDING TO MY CALCULATION!"
He turned away from the monitors, adjusting his pristine lab coat.
"Your children will walk into their graves because of this!"
Behind him, a cylindrical tank held a perfect clone floating in green fluid.
The nameplate read: "CLONE NO. 4 - ACTIVATION READY"
Lex-Omega pressed his hand against the glass.
"Soon, my backup. But not yet."
"The real show is just beginning."
He approached a massive security door marked with radiation warnings.
A retinal scanner activated, red light sweeping across his eyes.
"Luthor, Alexander - Omega Clearance Confirmed"
"Voice authentication required," the system announced.
"The only good alien is a dead alien," Lex spoke clearly.
"Authentication complete. Welcome, Mr. Luthor."
The vault door, three feet thick, slowly opened.
Inside lay technology that would make Earth's scientists weep.
But at the center, on a pedestal of black metal, sat something that pulsed with malevolent energy.
Not a Mother Box.
A Father Box.
Darker. Larger. Radiating pure domination and control.
"My greatest achievement," Lex-Omega said, approaching the Apokolips artifact.
"Stolen from Darkseid's own throne room during his retreat."
"While that fool Saiyan was busy playing hero, I was taking real power."
The Father Box responded to his presence, red energy flickering across its surface.
He began pacing, hands behind his back.
"What's the weakness of a Saiyan? I've visited dozens of worlds as an incognito researcher."
"Traveled through dimensions, studied extinct races, interrogated survivors."
"But this particular breed... they're an anomaly."
His eyes narrowed with scientific frustration.
"I wish I could contact my alternate selves directly."
"But if I did, the Justice League would trace the dimensional signatures."
"I was almost captured by them once before."
"That Superman with his insufferable moral superiority nearly ruined everything."
Lex-Omega activated a holographic display showing multiple Earth timelines.
Each one had a different version of himself.
Some successful. Some dead. Some imprisoned.
"But this timeline... this is where I win."
"Where I prove that human intellect trumps alien brute force."
Back in the Pocket Dimension Portal
Victor's cybernetic systems suddenly shuddered.
His Mother Box technology detected something that made his circuits scream warnings.
"Wait," he said, stopping mid-teleportation.
"I'm detecting massive energy vibrations."
"Something's interfering with the boom tube."
The portal they were traveling through began to shift colors.
What had been blue energy turned red.
What had been smooth passage became turbulent.
"Cyborg, what's happening?" Clark asked, his reduced powers making him feel vulnerable.
"The signal," Victor said, his voice distorting. "It's anceint signal like mother nox"
J'onn's telepathic abilities picked up something else.
"There's another presence. Powerful consciousness presence."
"Similar to Lex Luthor, but... different. Older. More prepared."
Diana drew her sword instinctively. "A trap?"
Bruce's lightning began crackling. "Of course it's a trap."
"The question is—are our families really in there?"
Victor's scans penetrated deeper into the dimensional rift.
"I'm tracing the power source now."
The boom tube destination changed without their control.
Instead of the pocket dimension Lex's memories had shown, they were being pulled elsewhere.
To a facility that existed between dimensions.
To a laboratory where their families waited.
But not as prisoners.
As bait.
LexCorp Omega Facility
Lex-Omega watched his dimensional monitors with satisfaction.
"Come, little heroes. Walk into my web."
"You think you're rescuing your loved ones."
"But you're really delivering yourselves to me."
Behind him, six figures stood in stasis chambers.
Thomas and Martha Wayne.
Jonathan and Martha Kent.
Henry Allen, Barry's father.
All unconscious but unharmed.
For now.