Convergence #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

In this issue, we hit the problem that I knew we were going to face:  we encounter a group that I don't recognize, but that seems to be extremely important to the story.

Thomas and Grayson use the "Batmobile" that they borrowed from Bruce to re-join the team just in time for them to take out Telos' drones (this world's version of the para-demons, I guess).  Thomas lets the heroes know that no reinforcements are coming, since every city is fighting for its life.  The Deimos guy that the team encountered last issue says that he knows how to defeat Telos if they just follow him, and, despite their misgivings, the Earth 2 heroes decide that they have no choice.  (I buy that.  I mean, sure, he's totally the witch leading them to the gingerbread house with candy, but they really don't have another choice here.)  Thomas decides to stay, and Grayson stays with him.  Thomas reveals that he didn't go with the team to the center of Telos because he's got no more Miraclo and he knows that someone followed them from Gotham; he wants to make sure that they don't go after the team.  On cue, the pre-DCnU crowd of Morrison villains appear, and Thomas detonates himself to kill all of them.  Grayson is spared (since Man-Bat was carrying him above the explosion at the time), but he's shot in the gut by the Joker.  Somehow, getting shot in the gut results in Dick not feeling his legs, but Telos snaps the Joker's neck before he kills Dick, because he wants Dick to tell him where his friends are.

Meanwhile, Deimos (who we're clearly supposed to recognize) leads the Earth 2 heroes to Skataris, a city in the center of Telos.  (I think that we're supposed to recognize it, too, but I'm not 100-percent sure.)  Deimos says that he was dethroned, but I'm no sure who dethroned him.  Someone named Monarch (the person that I first thought to be the usurper) tells someone named Degaton that he would kill him and their jailer if he had access to his chronal powers.  Degaton says something equally combative, noting that he can't fight Monarch because of their "jailer's pet."  Said pet seems to be a woman named Shakira, but she places them -- with the other "Masters of Time" -- in some sort of stasis because Deimos needs them.  So, is she the jailer or the pet?  If she's the jailer, who's the pet?  Again, I feel like we're supposed to recognize the characters, and it would all make more sense if we did.  But, I don't, so, as usual in this series, I'm lost.

** (two of five stars)