Absolute Power #3 (2024)

The vast majority of America's superheroes and villains have been depowered and imprisoned. Only the few who managed to escape the Fortress are still at large, and the Brainiac Queen has Jon Kent searching the planet for them. Waller orders Failsafe and the Queen to begin "global operations". Doctor Mid-Nite wakes up on the beach on Themyscira, and discovers that Global Guardian took his ability to see in the dark, rendering him truly blind. Nightwing and Mister Terrific come down to the beach to round up Doctor Mid-Nite and the other heroes who arrived there when they teleported out. Terrific explains that he chose Themyscira as its magical cloaking field hides it from Kryptonian senses, and Nubia has begrudgingly allowed them to stay for a short while. Starfire asks how they can fight Jon Kent and Zealot asks Wally West if her still has the Kryptonite he took from the Fortress. He warily admits that he does and the others demand that he hand it over to use in case Jon finds them; but Nightwing shuts that down immediately, saying that Jon is a casualty, not an enemy. He tells the remaining heroes that the last thing Waller will expect is a counterattack and they are going to hit back hard. Hal Jordan hands out the weapons he took from the Hall of Order, to put them on a somewhat level playing field with Task Force VII. Nightwing assigns Wally and Hal to return to the Hall of Order and retrieve any intel on the Amazos they can; and a team lead by Aquaman to infiltrate the O.S.S. Reve and extract Time Commander. The rest of them teleport out to try and rescue any heroes still in the field that they can, while a squad lead by Donna Troy will stay behind to protect the island. Failsafe and the Brainiac Queen begin abducting foreign metahumans from their home countries, in flagrant violation of those states' sovereignty. After the Great Ten are captured, the Chinese government order the Ministry of Self-Reliance to respond to the unwarranted American aggression; but before they can do anything Failsafe breaks into their headquarters. He announces that the Bureau of Sovereignty have broken away from the United States and is now an independent world power. He arrogantly tells the Chinese that they should be thanking the Bureau for combatting the global threat of metahumans and reveals that the Brainiac Queen has stolen all their classified data, implicitly threatening to use it against them if they try to stop the Bureau. As Failsafe flies back to Gamorra, an uncharacteristically agitated Waller calls him and says that Task Force VII are not operating at peak efficiency. Failsafe runs a remote diagnostic and discovers that they have absorbed personality traits from the heroes they stole powers from. Waller's usually calm demeanour completely breaks at this and she begins screaming and swearing at him, but he tells her that he will simply reboot them to restore their original program. Although he assures her that the reboot will be almost instantaneous and not cause any problems, Velocity's reboot causes him to momentarily stumble, allowing Barry Allen to dash ahead. He gets a call from someone speaking through a voice modulator, who tells him to get to Gamorra and into the lower levels of the prison as soon as possible. Barry manages to lose Velocity and runs to the island. Aquaman's team get on the O.S.S. Reve but run into Bizarro. Arthur and Wonder Girl try to hold him off while Blue Beetle and Red Tornado go looking for Time Commander. Even with their stolen weapons, Bizarro is too strong for them to hold him off for long, but Aquaman is able to put him out of action with the Black Mercy. They run below decks, where Beetle and Tornado have found Time Commander and freed him from his cell. Black Alice attempts to stop them but Yara Flor cold-clocks her from behind. Deadeye runs in and shoots Red Tornado in the head and the heroes retreat back to the portal with Time Commander. In Costa Rica, Batgirl and Zealot try to rescue Black Orchid from Depth Charge, but he is too powerful. Two new heroes called Cadejos and Rana Dorada run in to help them and hold Depth Charge off, telling the others to run for the portal. Waller and Oliver Queen watch this on a viewscreen, and Oliver tells Waller that no matter how much misinformation she puts out, she can't fool everyone. The heroes will always inspire more people to emulate them, but she will never be able to inspire people to her cause. Back on Thmeyscira, Artemis and Io help Mister Terrific set up a magical trap. However, as soon as it is ready the Brainiac Queen projects herself through the advanced Amazonian technology, having tracked Red Tornado's A.I. to the island. She and the mind-controlled Jon Kent attack the island, and Big Barda attempts to shoot Jon with a Kryptonite bullet, but Nightwing knocks the gun out of her hand. He tells her that he and Terrific secretly set something up and goads Jon to attack him on the ground. As soon as Jon lands he triggers Mister Terrific's trap and all the magic of Themyscira blasts into his body, purging it of the Queen's circuitry. The Queen tries to regain control over Jon, but he uses the link between them to send all his memories of superheroes and the truth of the good they do into the Queen's mind. The conflicting data causes the Queen to freeze up and glitch. Waller, screaming with rage at Jon for "hurting" the Queen, takes direct control of the Queen's body and attempts to kill Jon with it, but Batman Boom Tubes in with Waller's Mother Box and uses it to send the Brainiac Queen to Pluto. Superman also runs in with Zatanna; he tells Jon that Aquaman rescued Jay from the Reve and they hug. Zatanna also reveals that they found the Dark Roads and can now move around undetected; and Wally also returns with detailed technical information on the Amazos. Nightwing says its time they took the fight straight to Waller, but then notices that Batman is missing. Batman, stops Time Commander from sneaking away and tells him that he will help them restore the heroes' stolen powers. In the Metahuman Detention Centre on Gamorra, Barry Allen finds the Multiversal Bridge and a map of the Multiverse. He realises Waller is building a Multiversal army, and a band of evil speedsters from across the Multiverse attack him from behind.