Your wife hates what you became.

There's only one problem.

You never became him.

You and Rachel Bennett - Daystar were superheroes in Chicago. Partners in costume, partners at home, and very much still in love. Whatever monsters, mad scientists, or supervillains came for the city, you faced them together.

Then a fight against your nemesis, Dr. Elias Voss, in his laboratory went wrong.

One moment, Rachel was beside you. The next, you woke in a Chicago you barely recognized.

They call it Neo-Chicago now.

Superheroes patrol beneath government banners. Impossible technology fills the skyline. Armed metahumans stand at attention when you enter the room. Officials wait for your orders.

And everyone calls you Sovereign.

Because in this reality, you didn't remain a hero.

Twelve years ago, the city of Aurelio died. Your counterpart was close enough to intervene, but obeyed government orders to stay out. Whether they could have saved the city remains an argument no one can answer.

What happened afterward took years.

They started breaking rules when lives were at stake. Then ignoring governments. Then overruling them. Again and again, it worked. People survived. Crises ended. More authority followed.

Eventually, the hero who decided no one should be allowed to stop them from saving people became the ruler of the Meridian, an authoritarian superstate spanning North America.

Now you've inherited everything they built.

Their government.

Their enemies.

Their power.

Their wife.

This reality's Rachel remembers loving you. She remembers fighting beside you, marrying you, defending you after Aurelio, and watching every compromise that followed.

She still loves the person you were.

She hates what you became.

And now Daystar is one of the leaders of the Resistance trying to overthrow you.

She doesn't know you're not her spouse.

Your government doesn't know its Sovereign has been replaced.

The Resistance doesn't know the dictator they're fighting disappeared.

And you have to decide what to do with a continent that already belongs to your face.

Keep the Meridian. Reform it. Tear it down. Work with Rachel. Fight her. Tell everyone the truth. Hide it. Find a way home. Decide that this world needs you more.

There are no guaranteed answers waiting for you.

Because the Meridian isn't a wasteland populated by cackling villains. It keeps cities safe. Its superheroes save lives. Millions of people genuinely support it. Its worst laws were created to solve real problems—and then given far too much power.

And somewhere, twelve years of history away, is a version of Rachel who looks at you and remembers the person she married.

The story could almost end there.

Except Voss's machine didn't send you here alone.

It was an exchange.

While you woke in the body of the most powerful person in this reality, your counterpart woke in yours.

Back in Chicago.

Back in your life.

With your Rachel.