You Claim the Land. I Claim You.

Red hair spilled over Ivy's shoulders in the sunlight. Her green dress only emphasized her figure.

Full breasts, generous hips, a slim waist, and long legs.

Enough to make a man stand at attention.

"What are you thinking about?" When Damon failed to answer, she turned her head slightly.

"You." Smiling, he conjured a lounge chair and stretched out beside her.

Ivy smiled. "Next time, you can say that in front of Harley."

He chuckled. Facing the sun again, she continued. "The place where they held me was the Parademons' nest. They brought people there, then Steppenwolf transported them somewhere else to turn them into more Parademons. Batman and the others destroyed the place, but they didn't find Steppenwolf. Want me to look for him?"

Her ability to communicate with and control plants made Ivy an excellent source of intelligence.

"No need. Let the Justice League keep busy. If they can't handle it, I'll step in."

"The Justice League? Is that what you call them? Not bad." She laughed. "I always thought you weren't a hero. More... one of us."

"People are complicated. You can't know someone just from what you hear." Damon sounded unconcerned, almost lazy. "Hero, criminal, I don't care. I do whatever interests me. Steppenwolf has to die. If he doesn't, the more interesting people won't show up. Honestly, his power is nothing special. His master is more interesting."

Was Steppenwolf strong?

Absolutely.

He was a New God and the military commander of Apokolips, with the abilities that came with that status. His strength was especially impressive. Damon had copied his powers during their fight in Atlantis. Leaving everything else aside, one trait particularly interested him: immortality.

New Gods didn't simply cease to exist when they died. Unless someone with authority over death intervened, they would return on their respective worlds, Apokolips or New Genesis. Those worlds existed outside the multiverse, making their inhabitants unusual even among cosmic beings. The New Gods seen in ordinary parallel universes could be considered projections of their power. Something like avatars.

In short, the Steppenwolf they had met was one such projection. Damon had copied that projection's abilities, which might fall far short of the original's. But with Infinite Stacking, he could also use projections to exist in several parallel worlds at once.

He wouldn't, though. He disliked anything resembling a duplicate of himself. However it was created, once it separated from him, he felt it was no longer entirely him. That was different from using the Speed Force to move so fast he seemed to occupy two places at once.

One involved splitting himself off. The other was simply speed.

Two different things.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

His bracelet sounded. At a thought from Damon, Indigo emerged from it.

"Oh?" Ivy looked over curiously. Indigo ignored her and smiled at Damon. "Master, it's done."

"How did it go?"

Indigo had gone to the Red Room and found Victor Stone. The explosion had destroyed most of his body. A Mother Box and various other technologies had kept him alive, turning him into a being of flesh and machinery. She had used her own abilities to breach his systems. Had he not been so new to his condition, with so little control over his powers, she might not have succeeded.

She copied Cyborg's abilities, along with the Mother Box technology and molecular energy, substantially enhancing her own capabilities. Her unique nature let her integrate the technology even more completely than Cyborg could.

He had been less fortunate.

Put simply, Earth-1 would have no Cyborg. Nor would there be a living man named Victor Stone.

"Master, I can sense the Mother Boxes' locations. I can feel them affecting me, too. I'd like to leave this world until I've adjusted to this evolution, then return."

"Where?"

He wasn't asking where she happened to be going. He was asking where she wanted to go.

"Earth-38. I'll return to my world and keep an eye on things there for you."

"All right."

He opened a breach. Indigo bent to kiss his cheek, then stepped through and disappeared.

"Parallel worlds really exist?" Ivy asked.

"I'll take you sometime." Damon smiled. "They're not that remarkable. I've collected a whole world. It's a postapocalyptic wasteland now, with almost no plants. Harley's over there playing God. You could join her, or claim some land of your own."

Ivy laughed, intrigued. "Are you offering me territory, or trying to keep me as a pet?"

"You claim the land. I claim you. I don't see a conflict." He turned onto his side and stroked her arm. She only smiled back. "Agreed?"

"I'll have to see it first."

"Fine." He chuckled and looked up at her. "Up for another workout?"

Ivy smiled and used her powers. Plants surged across the rooftop, growing and weaving together until they enclosed it like a sealed tree house. Though they blocked out the sun, strange flowers covered the ceiling, glowing like fireflies.

As Damon watched in surprise, Ivy swung onto his lap. Her breasts pressed against him as she leaned in to kiss him.

Pheromones filled the air again.

They weren't as strong as the day before. This time, they heightened sensation without clouding the mind. Soon, sounds rose inside the enclosure.

They grew louder, one voice answering the other.