Bruce barely flinched—just the slightest furrow of his brow. Thea had expected exactly that.
Most people couldn't touch Nekron's signature weapon. A weapon and its wielder shared the same fundamental nature; they were extensions of the same essence. That was the rule.
But the Batman currently standing in front of her still had Omega energy inside him. Not much—but if he stepped back into the present timeline, it would be enough to detonate half a universe.
She pointed at the staff. "The energy in there will neutralize the Omega Effect."
She'd originally planned to flush the death-energy out herself using her own divine power. A willing volunteer saved her considerable effort.
"I just... hold it?" Bruce could tell she was leaving something out. The explanation felt incomplete.
"...If you want it gone faster, you can swing it around. The faster you burn energy, the faster the Omega Effect disperses."
That was enough for him. At least he didn't have to die.
Bruce was a martial arts grandmaster—127 disciplines, by any count. He'd taught Nightwing the short staff; the long staff was no mystery to him. He didn't just flail it around. He practiced. The Wulang Eight Trigrams Staff. The Yaksha Staff. Antiochian knight's staff forms.
His style was eclectic, and Thea, with nothing better to do, suppressed her strength and sparred with him for a couple of rounds.
Half a day later, Bruce was deep in the flow of a form when the death-energy surged. It shot up from his palm, along his arm, pushing toward his heart.
"Let go!" Thea wrenched the staff away and immediately pressed a White Lantern light against the surge, scattering it.
She ran a check. "Done. The Omega Effect is completely cleared. You're clean."
With that crisis resolved, the next problem was getting him home. Bruce had already pieced together enough context about Booster Gold—this older version wasn't quite the dumbass he knew, though the resemblance was there. He'd heard about the chaos in Gotham, the battle for the cowl, the Blackest Night. He wanted to get back.
Thea thought it through. "You can only return to my point in time. Going back to the moment you disappeared is impossible—that section of the timeline has been locked in place."
"By whom?"
"By me. I lived through those events. Unless you're stronger than I am, you can't change any of it. It's... complicated." Even explaining it was starting to make her head hurt.
Knowing he couldn't prevent any of it, Bruce went quiet. The low mood was visible for a moment.
Thea offered him an analogy. "Take Booster Gold—he can appear in my timeline for maybe three seconds before being pushed out. Because there's already another Booster Gold in my present. You'd run into the same issue trying to return to before your disappearance. There won't be two Bruces—but those events are ones I've already experienced. For you, they've already happened. They can't be changed."
She let a small note of pride slip into her voice. "Even if there is no road ahead—the path I've walked is the path that exists. No one gets to rewrite it."
Bruce looked at her for a long moment with an expression she could only describe as 'impressed but not quite able to articulate why.'
With the Omega Effect neutralized, Thea brought Bruce back to Gotham.
The Blackest Night was over. Every Black Lantern had gone dark. The sun had risen again. It would take a long time to settle the chaos—but it was over.
Alfred saw Bruce walk through the door and was so excited he nearly jumped up. Thea hurried to calm the old man down—the last thing anyone needed was Alfred collapsing from excitement, White Lantern resurrection or not.
Alfred thanked her profusely. Not long after, Dick Grayson, Damian, and Selina came streaming in, exhausted from the night's fighting.
Bruce embraced one, then the next. Thea, seeing she was no longer needed, said her goodbyes and slipped out.
Who wore the cowl after this—they could sort that out themselves.
She pushed open her own front door to find Oliver sitting on the couch, while Diana sat nearby with a coffee, keeping him company.
Thea gave a brief summary of the situation with Nekron, then moved to the real subject.
"Can that white light bring people back?" Oliver asked immediately. Diana set down her cup and listened.
"I know what you're thinking. Robert—your father." Thea's voice was level. "I want to bring him back too. But resurrection isn't simple. The person who comes back isn't whole."
"Think of it as a loan. You borrow life-force from the Life Entity to bring yourself back—and then you spend that debt, doing whatever the Entity requires, for as long as it takes to repay."
Oliver frowned. "That's... it? That doesn't sound so bad."
Diana understood. "What Thea means is that the resurrected person will do many things against their true nature. Right or wrong doesn't matter—at minimum they'll act against what they truly want. The Life Entity has no concept of our good or evil. It only cares about what benefits it."
"Exactly. And the Life Entity—strange name for it, by the way—has a proper name. It's called the Entity. And it can command a resurrected person to do anything." Thea paused. "There's also this: life and death are complementary forces. Neither should be exploited—especially not by us."
She looked between them. "If we bring back our loved ones, what does that say to every other hero? Superman's foster father. Barry's mother. Aquaman's father. Hal's father. Do we bring them all back? And what about everyone else? Ordinary people who've lost someone—do they not deserve the same?"
Silence settled over the room.
"You're right," Oliver said at last, his shoulders dropping. "I was oversimplifying it."
She saw Oliver out. Then she changed into comfortable clothes, stretched out on the couch, and settled against Diana, letting herself sink into the rare quiet.
Diana ran her fingers through Thea's gold hair, slow and steady. She had something she wanted to say, but wasn't sure where to start.
Thea noticed immediately—she always did. She tilted her head up. "Something on your mind? Is this still about the resurrection?"
"No. I just..." Diana chose her words carefully. "It seems like you've gone very deep into those dark divine domains. I'm worried it might be—"
Thea smiled. "Like I said in the fight—death isn't a curse. It's not some shadow hanging over everything. If anything, it's a gift. Everything ends. Gods. Worlds. Even this universe, someday."
"Death is life's companion. That's what I believe. Live with a smile. Die with a smile. Maybe that's the only thing I can offer this world."
Diana's brow creased gently. The conversation had already drifted off course.
"But Nekron wanted to destroy us—and though I don't know exactly how he planned to do it..."
Thea sat bolt upright. "You don't know? You—none of you know what Nekron was actually trying to do?"
Diana's expression said it all. What the hell would I know? I spent the whole night fighting in a haze.
Thea stared at her. Then realized: they all had been fighting all night. Every single person. Not one of them had actually known what Nekron was planning. Nekron got defeated way too unfairly.
"Okay. You should know this." Thea settled back down. "Our Earth is the center of the universe—born from a primordial light that, when it touched matter, gave rise to the Entity. The Life Entity. And—actually, that's why Nekron didn't move when we were fighting over the scythe. He was in position to pull the Entity out."