The Grandmaster had probably been clever in his youth; he was an Elder of the Universe, after all. But now his IQ matched those little blue men's, and his appetite for play far outweighed his appetite for serious work.
The fact that he had blundered into her universe with no reconnaissance, no preparation, said it all.
Krona's threat was a game to him. Whether the game might cost him his own life had clearly never crossed his mind.
Thea had built up some experience handling long-lived beings. The best approach was to scare them. They were too strong, lived too long. In the ordinary stretch of their days they were dulled to almost everything. But the moment a real threat to their existence appeared, they would rouse, at least a little.
"I haven't fought in years..." the Grandmaster mumbled.
Thea was at a loss herself. Fate had pushed her to the front lines again.
If she wanted to become the second Lady of Death, she needed the Life Equation. The Equation lay behind the Source Wall. Even setting aside the matter of the universe detonating, if the Emotional Spectrum Reservoir wasn't recharged, could the Equation even still be extracted? No one knew.
The question came back to where it had started. She needed Kyle Rayner. She needed the seven Entities.
Two universes with different rules being yanked toward each other for forced fusion: from her vantage point, the odds of detonation were ninety percent. And the chain reaction could take seven or eight parallel universes with it.
Krona, this mad scientist, was hoping to find the answer to creation inside the explosion.
Even if the merger somehow succeeded, this universe and Marvel's would blend. The rules might rewrite themselves. Whether the Equation would still be behind the Wall, no one could say. Unless she was willing to give up on the Equation and resign herself to the underworld for the rest of her existence, she had no choice but to step up and stop this.
Her expression was bleak. The Grandmaster thought it over and finally gave her the coordinates of his universe, in his own framework of measurement, of course.
She listened, working in parallel to translate it into her own system.
She was lucky. Teleportation in both universes worked on broadly similar principles. With her training, a moment's thought was enough to crack the conversion.
"I'll go over first. The rest of you wait for my signal." No point dragging this out. At a minimum, she had to see what Krona's current level was. Sending Superman ahead to test the waters served no purpose. If she could win, she'd grab Krona and drag him back. If she couldn't, she'd run.
Diana stopped caring what anyone else thought. She pulled Thea aside and asked her in a low voice, "Is it dangerous? I'm coming with you."
She knew her lover too well. Thea was a lazy creature. Unless absolutely forced to it, she rarely took the front line herself. The fact that she was rushing to the head of the column meant only one thing: the enemy was extraordinarily dangerous.
Thea stroked her hair. To the Grandmaster's astonishment, and the Justice League's pointed not-looking, she gave Diana a deep kiss right there.
"Even if I can't win, I can still run. The rules of the two universes have already started to bleed into each other; there's nothing alive that can kill me." She said it with quiet confidence. The worst-case scenario was being beaten to the brink of death. Death itself wouldn't die first.
The two goddesses held each other for a long moment before Diana let her go.
The Amazon's eyes were steady. She took two steps back.
Thea ran the coordinates one more time and opened a portal her own way.
Time, space, dimension, location: those required calculation. The balance of force on the other side was an unknown, and she had no intention of dropping in directly in front of her enemy. She needed to observe first, quietly.
She changed into her Goddess of Death attire and adjusted the landing point to Earth on the other side. Even if her power were halved, she doubted Earth had anyone who could hold her there.
Diana looked at her the way a wife sees her husband off to war, eyes full of feeling.
"I'll take a look and come right back." She turned down every offer of help and stepped through the portal.
The dark transit was disorienting; the differing rules of the two universes set her head spinning briefly. The moment her feet touched solid ground, she ran a fast check. Good news: her power held at roughly seventy percent here.
Her five-dimensional abilities were gone entirely. Her magic was significantly weakened; she'd need to re-learn this universe's magical rules. Her divine power was likewise dampened. But she'd already moved past the limits of the Source. Tied as she was into the deep law of the world, she could still draw some power from this universe.
Self-check complete. With confidence restored, she finally had the bandwidth to look around.
Dark clouds blotted out the sun. The heavy weather pressed at the chest. Her brow creased faintly. She was on a stretch of grass. Not far off, she could hear the rhythm of surf. Despite minor differences, she could tell: this was Earth. Marvel's Earth.
She didn't have time for a longer look. Two men, not far away, were eyeing her with naked hostility.
The one on the left was a muscle-bound brute, built on Superman's scale. In his right hand, a hammer. He wore a black leather vest, a long red cape trailing behind him. The kicker was his face: golden hair, heavy brows, a thick beard, eyes shadowed with power. He had presence even at rest. Combine that with the costume and the hammer, Thea got there fast. This had to be Thor.
If that one was Thor, then the man beside him, dark green coat, black hair, pale complexion, had to be Loki.
For a beat, Thea couldn't fathom what those two were doing here. The sky was heavy, no people around, the grass thick. Were they practicing wrestling?
Her face went a little strange, which, paired with her entrance and her outfit, did her no favors. Thor, who had at least begun engaging the important organ known as his brain, was staring at her hard.
"You're Hela? I am Thor, son of Odin." Phrased as a question, but the certainty in his voice was unmistakable.
Thea was caught flat-footed. What was she supposed to say? Hero, you've got the wrong person; I think I jostled someone on my way through the portal. Your sister's probably right behind me.
Instinct answered first. "Really? You do look like him." Thor was an Avengers heavyweight. No need to escalate.
Loki, standing beside Thor, picked up on something. The supposed goddess of death didn't seem as ferocious as the legends made her out to be.
He spoke. "Perhaps we can talk this over."
Thea had no use for this turncoat. She valued family, and Loki was clearly not the type.
Her brow knit. She pointed a finger at him. "You don't look like Odin!"
She wouldn't let personal feelings derail the mission. With her real goal in mind, she said clearly, "Catastrophe is coming to this universe. You'd best gather your allies and face it together."
Loki gave a cold laugh. "You think the two of us aren't enough for you? You need everyone in one place to satisfy your bloodlust?"