Earth 2: Futures End #1 (2014)

It is five years later at Terrifitech Laboratories. Michael Holt is ready to release the u-Spheres to the public in a month, saying that the lines are already forming. Sonia Sato looks at one of them and asks Michael if he thinks civilians are able to handle such technology. Michael answers that they won't at first, but technology changes people to make them better. Sonia adds "or much worse", as she opens a door to a secret room containing a weapon from another world known as Boom Spheres, the only weapon that's capable of killing a god. Sonia thinks that they may need to beef up security to keep them out of other people's hands. Leaving the laboratory, Michael tries to flag down a taxi in order to get to the government demo. The taxi driver that pulls over asks for Earth identification cards, and Michael tries to reason with the driver that Sonia is with him, but he ends up calling them "dupes" and drives off, leaving them to use the helicopter. Sonia doesn't like being called a "dupe", which is what people of Earth 2 have been called ever since they had to abandon their world. Michael tries to assure her that the xenophobia will pass, but Sonia isn't so sure. At the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Michael Holt is demonstrating the T-Spheres to the people who attended the demo when a person wearing special goggles arrives and interrupts the demo. It is Terry Sloan, who has developed the goggles to indicate who is a native Earther and who is not, saying that agents of Apokolips could be infiltrating society and that they need to separate the wheat from the chaff. All the people he sees in the goggles are green, except for Sonia Sato, who shows up as red and is identified as Earth 2. Michael asks what happens to the heroes of Earth 2, and Terry says that there are no heroes from that world, only winners and losers. On Cadmus Island, Red Tornado is left alone in a laboratory, with parts of her body missing and her torso partially dissected and attached to wires. She mutters, "My eyes! He took my..." before she screams. Meanwhile, Michael and Sato try to leave the proving grounds, but the soldiers stop him at the gates, and their goggles identify him as an Earth 2 citizen posing as a native. Michael tells the soldier to check his goggles, but the soldier refuses to believe he is anything but a displaced person and tells him to get on his knees, calling Michael a "dryback". Michael responds by roughly kicking the soldier away and then crashes the checkpoint, telling Sato that he's going to drop her off at the lab and have her lock it down while he goes and finds out what's going on. On top of the Terrifitech Laboratories headquarters, Terry Sloan has a clandestine meeting with another version of himself, saying that they're about to become very powerful -- powerful enough to kill a god. The Terry Sloan in the yellow Mister 08 suit shows the one in the red Mister 08 suit the device that would allow the prototype goggles to misread Michael Holt as an Earth 2 citizen so that they could lock Holt out of his own laboratory and take what is "theirs". Quickly the two Mister 08s take out the security surrounding the laboratory and enter the chamber with the Boom Spheres, threatening the people inside to either stabilize the technology or die trying. Out on the street, Michael Holt realizes that his bank account has been closed and his phone service has been suspended. He also realizes that his laboratory is now being watched, so he heads for the last place that the people will hope to look for him: inside a church. The priest asks Michael if he can help, and Michael says he can't, that he isn't there to convert but simply to dry off. The priest tells Michael that he can always ask God for help. Michael realizes that the priest is right, but doesn't tell him who that "god" is that he can ask for help. At the Epoch Center for Special Children, Michael visits James Olsen, who is bound to a wheelchair and unable to speak, according to a caretaker. However, James does manage to speak, telling Michael that he's got a message. He holds up a strange cube that glows, and soon Michael sees various images and hears cryptic words being spoken to him, one of them being "you must bury the sword in the stone." He soon realizes what he must do. Michael returns to the laboratory, telling the Sloans that he's willing to make a deal: give him back to his life, and he will give them "his favorite toy". Soon the Sloans see that the chamber holding the Boom Spheres has been removed, meaning that "the god-killer is free". Michael and Sonia both leave the laboratory as one of the Terry Sloans asks the other if he knows the difference between a man and a god. The other Terry Sloan feels betrayed by his alternate self, telling him that they had a deal. The first Terry Sloan says that he has found countless versions of himself in the infinite vastness, but while he is many, each god is singular. One Terry Sloan kills the other, but in that instant, the entire laboratory goes up in flames while the other scientists flee to safety. Michael checks to see if Sonia is all right, while the surviving Terry Sloan realizes that he's been tricked, that Michael has programmed the Boom Spheres to sink into the Earth's core so that they will never fall into anybody's hands. Terry Sloan screams and then puts on his mask before getting into a one-on-one fight with Michael Holt. Sonia Sato comes to and has the u-Spheres activate while unlocking the friction dampeners. They now attack Sloan, who lets go of Holt and tells the people that there are no more heroes left in the world. Terry cannot stand against the u-Spheres for long and decides to fly off, though not before Michael comes to and uses the goggles to look at Sloan, indicating that his world of origin is unknown. Michael realizes that that Terry Sloan is not from Earth or Earth 2, and then remembers that Sloan said he was going to protect his world at any cost, though Michael has no idea which world he meant. Sonia reminds Michael of what he said about technology changing people, but asks what it's going to change them into. Michael answers, "Heroes, I hope."