Chapter 2: God, That's Good!

Date: March 2025

Universe Food catches the public's eyes, ears, hearts... and stomachs.
Universe Food acquires Big Belly Burger and becomes an international chain.
Universe Food becomes an INTERGALACTIC chain.
Universe Food announces its 3 Billionth sale through Big Belly Burger and 1.8 Billionth through all Non-Big Belly Burger Locations.
Universe Food announces four new types of burger: Fire Burger, the US BBQ Teen Burger, the Double Meat, and the Bacon Bomber.
Universe Food: God, that's good!!!
"Well, that's the best news I've heard all day," Winn smiled dryly as he set his newspaper down.
"What?" James asked, looking over his shoulder, curious to see what had caught Winn's eyes.
"Universe Food is bringing out new burgers for its fifth anniversary," Winn replied, tossing James the paper.
"Hmmm," James skimmed the names of the burgers. "Kind of cliché, don't you think?" he asked. Winn pretended to get offended.
"How dare you insult my favorite burger joint?!" he cried, putting a hand over his heart.
"I thought Big Belly-" James began playfully.
"Has been owned by UF for about four years now, so it counts," Winn finished. James only laughed in response. Back in Universe Food's earlier days, when it was still a rival of Big Belly, there had been many heated discussions between Winn and anyone who would listen about which was better. Now that the two had become one, though, the need for arguments was over. James still liked to tease the poor technician about it though.
"Did you want to go out for a burger later tonight?" James asked after a moment, setting the paper back down.
"Do you have to ask?" Winn smiled back and James raised a hand for a high-five.
"You're gonna have to nix that burger plan," Alex suddenly walked through the door, expression cold and hard, like ice.
"What's wrong?" James' face instantly changed into a look of concern.
"Four more aliens have just gone missing," Alex replied darkly, then she quickly led the two back in the direction she had come from, to one of the larger rooms in the DEO. There, upon the giant flat screen, were four faces.
"Scorcher, an Almeracian, a Maaldorian and Draaga" Winn read off with a pained expression.
"Yep," Alex looked disgusted, eyes burning with a quiet but hateful rage. James and Winn both looked at her sympathetically. They knew that she was still bitterly mourning the loss of her younger sister, Kara Danvers. Even though it had been five whole years since the young Kryptonian went missing, Alex was still holding out the hope that Kara was still alive. She just needed to be found. And now, they had four aliens more to find too.
"How are we doing in here, Lenny?" Lex shouted over the screaming of the machinery and the aliens in the background.
"We're doing wonderfully, sir!" Lenny shouted back before gesturing for himself and Lex to step into his private office. It was a small room he'd built off the side of the building and it was completely soundproof. That way, he and Lex could speak to one another without losing their hearing or their voices. Wonderful as it was to watch the aliens squirm and scream like slaughterhouse pigs all the way to their untimely and graphic, agonizing demise, it was very hard to carry out a conversation in such an environment.
"As I'm sure you already know," Lenny began excitedly. "We've opened far more restaurants than other big companies like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Subway and all the others and we've got a giant group of hungry customers flocking in from all over the galaxy."
"Good, good," Lex allowed his eyes to drift shut slowly in pleasure. It made his wicked heart twist with pleasure to think how rich and famous he was becoming off of the suffering of his enemies. His one regret was that he was unable to reveal himself as the genius mastermind behind the whole plan. Since he was still serving 30-some life sentences, however, he'd been forced to allow Lenny to be the face of the company.
"How are our plans for further expansion going?" Lex asked a few moments later, opening his eyes once again.
"Further expansion?" Lenny echoed. "But, sir, we've already dominated the galaxy!"
"I don't just want this universe, Lenny," Lex replied, frowning. "I want all of them."
"All of them, sir?" sensing that Lex was about to have another meltdown, Lenny made himself as small as possible.
"Yes, Lenny, all of them," Lex bit out every word, trying to remain calm. "I want every single universe to know my name! I want you to invent a way for us to reach these parallel universes and crossover worlds. I want every single alien in any known universe to bow down before me. Do you understand?" the Luthor was baring his teeth now and Lenny had the good sense to nod rapidly.
"Good," Lex backed down a little, then he looked past Lenny out the window of the office and back towards the heart of the factory.
For a moment, there was only silence as Lex peered out the window, watching limbs being violently ripped off of still-living aliens before everything was tossed into a giant oven. He watched as struggling, squirming bodies cried out in misery and agony. He watched them try to escape, thrashing and attack their chains. It wouldn't work, though. Lex had been doing this for five years straight. He had everything down to a science by now. He only gave one soft laugh of amusement as he watched one of the many Supergirl clones being held immobile by several giant metal arms hanging from the ceiling. While she screamed her lungs out, the claws placed her on a conveyor belt and held her down as the belt moved slowly forward, pushing her closer and closer to the incinerator. She was finally fully inside the machine and the metal doors clanked shut as she and thousands of other clones were slowly cooked alive, flesh burning and bubbling off to reveal the warm meat beneath.
But Supergirl wasn't the only one being cloned over and over again. The four new missing aliens, along with a vast host of other species, were being cloned as well. The entire left half of the warehouse, which was now far larger thanks to all the expansions done, was nothing but cloning machines. After a few seconds, another fully-formed clone would pop out, and then the giant metal arms would grab hold of them and place them on the conveyor belt where they would walk the same path their billions and billions of predecessors had. To the far right of the slaughterhouse was a giant packaging station where all the fresh cuts of meats were quickly stored and sent out, to be shipped all over the world and the universe. It was a very swift, efficient process that picked up quite the pretty penny.
But once Lex grew tired of watching his beautiful creation, he turned back to Lenny.
"I will be back in one month," he said. "When I return, I should have a way for you to reach these Elseworlds, and I expect you to utilize my technology in full. Do you understand?" he asked, and Lenny had the good sense to nod rapidly.
Just as promised, one month later, Lenny had introduced his company to all of the other known Earths across all the other known universes and it didn't take long for the Universe Food joints to become just as popular there as they had on Earth 38, where it had all began. There was a Universe Food on nearly every block in National City, Metropolis, Gotham, and every other major city in the USA and there were now officially hundreds spanning all of their counterparts. Earth 1 quickly became a breeding ground for the chain and acclaimed superheroes like the Flash and Green Arrow could easily be caught devouring the meat pies of the famous industry, all of the rest of their team eating right along with them.
"The Anniversary Burger is easily my favorite," Barry grinned as he ate his fifth in a row.
"It's got nothing on the Fire Burger!" Oliver replied, and for good measure, he doused his in hot sauce, earning horrified looks from everyone else. But even though the two could not agree upon which burger was better, they and all their friends could agree on how it tasted: "God, that's good!"
Back in Gotham, Batman had taken quite a liking to the US BBQ Burger, a fact that Alfred and Robin liked to tease him on.
"I never pegged you for a fast-food person, Master Wayne," Alfred noted as Batman finished his fifth burger.
"Yeah, if you aren't careful, you won't even fit into the Bat Cave anymore!" Robin agreed cheekily. Although Batman was nowhere near fat, he certainly had gained a few pounds from all the Universe Food menu items.
"If you aren't careful, nor will you," Batman replied with a growl and his Robin had the good grace to look a bit embarrassed. And all across the universe, other aliens were buying up the burgers as fast as possible.
"That's more like it!" Lex muttered when Lenny gave him the news.
"We're well on our way to becoming the first Multi-Trillionaires in the universe!" he cried enthusiastically.
"I don't care about the money," Lex replied with a scoff. He had been born from money and had spent his whole life reveling in it. A billion dollars was nothing to him now. Especially not while he was in prison for life without parole or bail. Sure, the cash was nice, and it did keep everything in fine working order, but this stopped being about business about four years ago. After he dared to acquire Big Belly and spread his influence to the stars, it became about pleasure and pride. He didn't care if his company started giving out burgers and meat pies for free!
What mattered to him now was seeing his legacy fill the heavens and stretch across the cosmos. And what he enjoyed most of all was reveling in the knowledge that, every few seconds or so, another one of his enemies was burned or crushed to death. He had the infinite pleasure of knowing that he got to kill Supergirl over and over and over again, and nothing made him feel more alive!!!
But while Lex sat alone in his cell, laughing manically to himself, and while Lenny continued to run the machinery of the slaughter house, everyone else across all the known universes continued to eat. And eat. And eat. And eat.
"So, no progress at all?" Alex demanded as she absentmindedly ate another Universe Food meat pies. This one had all sorts of sauce and gravy under the crust and it was probably the best thing Alex had ever eaten.
"We're trying our best," Lena replied with a tired expression. She had been one of the last ones to find out about Kara's disappearance, but when she had, her reaction had been even more volatile and extreme than Alex's. After she finished freaking out, she then put all of L-Corp's resources into overdrive trying to find the missing girl. She had no such luck, but she never stopped trying, not even once. Instead, even after she nearly ran her company bankrupt, she continued to search far and wide for the missing Danvers sister.
Five years later, and she was still grieving the loss of her beloved friend just as hard as Alex was, but she managed to regain her composure long enough to get L-Corp back up and running smoothly again. She had also entered a partnership with Universe Food, both of them sending each other money and resources whenever the other needed it. At the moment, it was thanks to Lena that everyone in the room was eating Universe Food. She'd been the one to place the order and she'd received a nice discount on the meal. As much as Lena adored Universe Food, eating nearly a burger a day, today, she could barely bring herself to even look at it. Not when there was renewed hope that Kara could be found!
Alex thought she had found a connection between the disappearance of Kara and the four other aliens despite the five-year gap between the disappearances. It was her hope, now, that they if they could somehow find one of the five missing aliens, they would be able to track the other four down as well. Although the theory seemed insane, both she and Lena were willing to grasp at straws if it would generate any hope that Kara could be found. Lena didn't plan on making the same mistake as before and panicking so much that she nearly ran her company into the ground, but she would gladly allocate a large chunk of L-Corp's budget if it meant helping find and save Kara. Anything for the woman she loved!
"So what's your plan?" the Luthor asked eagerly, food untouched. Nearby, Winn and James were both eyeing it eagerly.
"Well, like I said, we can find one, maybe we can find the others," Alex began. "So I am proposing that we try to speak with the family and friends of the four missing aliens to figure out when and where they went missing. Maybe we can find clues and see where they were all taken. Or at least figure out who, or what, did the taking," she explained.
"And you think that if we can find some commonality?" Maggie asked, sitting beside James and Winn and eating her own burger and meat pie.
"Then we can start researching the culprits," Alex nodded as she spoke, giving a determined look to everyone in attendance.
"There's a problem with that, though," J'onn interrupted. "We would need to look to space and Earth in order to get a full picture of our missing people and we have neither the time nor the resources to do that. And even if we did, who's to say that whoever is doing the kidnapping won't catch onto us and try to hunt us down as well?" he was busily eating a sandwich of his own as he turned Alex's plan over in his head. Maybe when Supergirl was still around, J'onn could afford to go to space. But now that she was gone? Crime had increased and he wasn't sure if he could find anyone with the time or skill to travel the galaxy in order to conduct familial interviews about the whereabouts of the four missing aliens.
"I can handle that," Cat finally added her own two cents into the conversation. "As the CEO of a large reporting company, I can easily get word out across this planet and maybe I can even use my connections to Universe Food to reach into the heavens as well," she suggested. Then, as she took another bite from her meat pie, she explained. "I can send an ad out in the paper to draw in the family of the missing aliens. It wouldn't be too hard for someone like myself to get the publication spread across the country. As for outer space, while that would be tougher, I think it is doable. And I have never been one to back down from a challenge," she added fiercely. She was just as invested in saving Kara as the others were.
"And if Cat can't handle outer space, I can help with that," Lena agreed, referring to her own close ties with the food company. The two CEOs exchanged guarded but respectful smiles as they shook on it.
"Good!" Alex sounded relieved. "Then once we're able to get in touch with the families and conduct interviews, maybe we can find out what happened to everyone. That's when we come in," she gestured to herself, James, Winn, J'onn and Maggie.
"Well, if we know where the kidnapping took place, I can get on that right now," Maggie offered. Even though her jurisdiction only fell within National City's borders, she still knew how to run an investigation. Besides, as an unofficial member of the DEO know, she knew that she could easily obtain a fake license that would give her power anywhere she went.
"I can do the same. I can assist Ms. Sawyer in an early investigation on the crime scenes," J'onn agreed.
"Excellent!" Alex repeated, looking hopeful for the first time in five years. "Then it looks like it's settled!" she and James and Winn were going to stay back in National City and continue to look for Kara while Cat, Lena, J'onn and Maggie would look for the other four missing aliens.
"I think we're finally getting somewhere!" she said next with a genuine smile, and the other four people in attendance smiled back, playfully raising up their Universe Food burgers in a toast. They would find their missing friends, they were certain of it! ... But burgers first.
"Yes, burgers always first!" Alex joked with a bittersweet smile, quoting Kara as she bit into her food. Then the room fell silent as everyone continued to eat and there was only one thing that any of them could think: God, that's good!