Post by HoM on Mar 22, 2017 6:26:51 GMT -5
Previously, in JUSTICE LEAGUE…
MA'ALEFA'AK, the twisted brother of the MARTIAN MANHUNTER infiltrated the team using his twin’s superheroic identity, and fractured them straight down the middle within seconds!
Subtly controlling the Justice League’s actions, MA'ALEFA'AK used them to capture dozens of fire-themed villains, until BLUE BEETLE, the only member of the team free from his control, managed to shock his teammates out of their stupor, at the cost of his own mind!
With BEETLE comatose, and half the team-- namely BIG BARDA, HAWKGIRL, HAWKMAN, MAJESTIC and MISTER MIRACLE-- lost in space thanks to an errant Boom Tube, what’s left of the Justice League-- THE ATOM, BATMAN, CYBORG, DOCTOR LIGHT, THE GUARDIAN and WONDER WOMAN-- along with BOOSTER GOLD, must take the fight to MA'ALEFA'AK, a being capable of transforming his body and mind to defeat any threat, all while the true extent of his plans as yet stands unrevealed!
With all this in mind, please join us now for the continuing adventures of the JUSTICE LEAGUE--
JUSTICE LEAGUE
Issue Sixty-Two: “Burning For You”
HoM / FLINCHUM / BOWERS
Laputa was still when the small team of Justice Leaguers arrived. Batman led Cyborg and Doctor Light slowly through the halls that had been trashed before they evacuated less than an hour before. They had some inkling of where Ma'alef'ak had gone, down in the cargo bays where they’d last seen Green Lantern too.
As they crept forward, Doctor Light illuminated the way, the emergency lighting completely offline, while Cyborg’s sensor array sent out signals through the immense compound, hoping to find something for them to go on.
Batman wore a fire-resistant version of his costume, and Doctor Light had been given a similar, less Bat-themed version of the same thing. Cyborg was built like a tank, but to protect himself from their own weapons-- which they were willing to unleash full pelt if they spotted Ma’alef’ak-- he’d reconfigured his body to create protective armour around his flesh-components.
“I’m reading an odd energy signature in the air,” said Cyborg.
“Define odd,” said Batman.
Cyborg ran the information through his databanks, hoping to find a match. “It’s familiar to me… and… huh. There we go: Erdel energy. Instant teleportation energy.”
“We need to get down to the cargo bay. We need to see what’s down there,” said Batman.
Doctor Light turned to Batman. “Do we think he’s gone? Transported somewhere?”
Batman considered that. “Likely. Cave, are you reading us?”
The Guardian’s voice came over the comms channel. <Loud and clear, Batman. Recommend you head down into the cargo bay. If he got out…>
“Understood and on our way,” said Batman.
The trio headed downstairs one floor at a time via the stairwells; Cyborg had disabled the elevators before he had abandoned ship with Blue Beetle and the Guardian, and they weren’t willing to try and bring anything back without knowing if Laputa was fully under their control.
Eventually they came to Cargo Bay 12. The door was sealed, but Cyborg prised it open, his elbows and shoulders hissing as his hydraulics overpowered those behind the immense door frame. It was dark inside, but Kimiyo created an orb of pure light that she sent up into the air, and what they saw shocked them.
“What on Earth…?” asked Doctor Light.
“Well, that’s an Erdel Gate,” said Cyborg.
She remembered the theory. “I read about those… a gateway from one place to another; potential immediate interstellar travel.”
Batman checked the controls, but they were disengaged. “…An unfocused flare of Erdel transportation energy bought J’onn J’onzz to Earth in the fifties. The science was refined by numerous other institutes. You can build one gate here--” He paused, and tapped his ear. “Atom, just tell them yourself, we’re secure here.”
There was a flash of energy and the Atom emerged from Batman’s head and grew to full size. He brushed himself off before he looked around; he too was wearing a fire-resistant uniform. “Sorry. As I was saying to Bats, you can build one gate here and connect it to a gate you build elsewhere. Someone must have built one on Earth and one on… wherever. Let me see what I can get from the computer.”
The Atom joined Cyborg next to the console and they managed to get power to it, while Batman and Doctor Light observed the gate itself. “It looks like he stripped the island for components to build it,” she said.
“I think we can guess where this leads,” said Batman.
Doctor Light nodded. “Mars.”
Booster Gold paced the floor of the medical bay next to where Blue Beetle had been hooked up to all kinds of equipment. His breathing was stable, but he’d not responded to any of Wonder Woman’s attempts to draw him out of himself, so he just lay there, eyes closed, his heart rate beep-beeping on the monitor beside him.
“I need to do something…” mumbled Booster.
“There’s nothing you can do right now, Michael,” replied Wonder Woman.
“My best friend is in a coma thanks to that-- that-- thing you guys are hunting, and I’m just standing here being useless,” replied Booster.
She disagreed. “No, you’re supporting your friend, and when the moment is right you’ll know what you have to do.”
Gold scratched his chin. “What I have to do…”
He pulled off his cowl and slid to the ground, his back against the cupboard containing all the medical supplies Batman had accrued. Pennyworth was talking to the Guardian, no one else paying any attention to what was going on down on their platform.
“You look exhausted, Booster. What were you doing before you came here? Are you willing to divulge that much?”
He really wasn’t. Booster and Rip Hunter had been investigating a temporal anomaly a year into the future. They couldn’t enter the anomaly, they couldn’t see beyond it.
According to the readings Rip took, it was as if someone had knotted the lines of temporal potentiality together for a whole year, and it meant there was a temporal dam that they couldn’t look into.
If you travelled ahead of it, everything was fine, if you looked behind it, everything leading up to it was even better. No threats present, no Per Degaton causing troubles in the future, no Chronos Brigade raiding the past.
“We can’t enter the knot. My Time Sphere can’t penetrate it,” explained Rip.
“Then how will we figure out what the cause is?” Booster asked.
“We could set the Time Sphere down a day before the knot forms. We could live through it. But then we wouldn’t be able to get out until the year passes, and when the year passes… all the accumulated events on the timeline will release… like a flood, and overwrite the future. It’s like… standing in place, while the world keeps turning. We’ve got a year to figure out how to stop it, how to unravel it, or everything that occurs inside will redefine the future.”
Rip looked at Booster and smiled at that.
“You don’t understand what I’m saying, do you?”
“Don’t patronise me, I get it, you went pretty layman’s there. But who could have done something like that?”
“It would take an immense amount of power… I could… jury-rig the Time Sphere into doing something similar, but… why would I?”
That was a good question, and it posed another, thought Booster. “Are you saying it might be you?”
Hunter rubbed her chin. “Who knows, Mike…”
“Not soon after their conversation, Booster and Hunter’s heads had screamed. Something was picking at the psychic surgical scars left in Beetle, and because of the nature of the work, it meant they were informed immediately. Rip couldn’t venture into the timeline, he wanted to keep the Time Sphere away from that era… so close to the temporal knot, any entry into the 21st century was tempting fate. So he sent Michael in ahead, and waited to pick him up, hovering in the 20th century until he received word.
“You look exhausted, Booster. What were you doing before you came here? Are you willing to divulge that much?”
Booster waved his hands at Wonder Woman to get her to drop it. “Caught me on the tail end of a bender, Di. Nothing more to it.”
She sighed. Her gods-given gifts meant she knew he was lying, but it wasn’t her place to pry. She turned and headed back to where the Guardian talked strategy with Alfred, and left Booster to ponder the situation.
“We’re in this together now, ain’t we, bro?” said Michael.
There was one option he’d wanted to avoid. Rip had told him it was too dangerous. But this was Ted…
He picked up a chair and dragged it next to his best friend’s bed. He sat down, cleared his head, and put a hand on Kord’s forehead. He closed his eyes, and after thinking long and hard about the psychic connection created by the Blue Martian all those months ago, he slipped out of his own body and fell into Blue Beetle’s mindscape…
“I truly believe this to be an astonishing piece of craftsmanship,” said Ma'alef'ak, running the length of Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth through his scabby, green hands. On one end, John Stewart, Green Lantern of Earth, was restrained, but the more the malicious Martian pulled on it, the longer it got.
Ma’alef’ak had reverted to his pure Martian form, away from the form he’d taken that matched that of his brother, J’onn. His skin was scabby and dark, covered in raking, clawed scars-- self-inflicted in boredom, John might have guessed. He was tall and lanky, easily seven feet tall, but Stewart couldn’t tell from his angle. His eyes were a deep, dark scarlet, unlike the vibrant crimson of J’onn’s. He looked like he’d been through the wringer, but more than likely that was due to his physical form taking on a visage fitting of his broken psychological self. He was a monster, so he might as well look like one.
He smiled as the lasso reached the necessary length, then looked down at John. “What do you think?”
Stewart looked up, sweating profusely, unable to even try to free himself from the restraint thanks to Ma’alef’ak’s psychic powers. He knew the bindings were unbreakable. He knew that he was induced to tell the truth on contact with it. And worst of all, he knew his ring was depleted. The Martian was in his head, stamping down on his willpower. He couldn’t form a construct. And now he was playing Q&A with his enemy.
“Y-yes.”
“Good dog,” said Ma’alef’ak, patting him on the head.
He turned his attentions toward the device he’d constructed on the surface of the planet. Dozens of fire-themed villains were strung across its numerous arches, Ma’alef’ak’s own flesh matter digging into their brains ready for him to reconnect to it and create some kind of circuit.
“Do you want to know what this is?” he asked.
“Yyyesss,” drawled John.
“Oh, you are good for humouring me. It’s a psychic resonator, built with techno-organic components. The techno aspect? Well, I caused all the satellites around the planet to crash. That’s a lot of raw material. And underneath the surface of Mars are countless ancient Martian technologies that my dear brother didn’t bother dismantling during his numerous returns to our home world. Combining the two and you get the first part of the device. Are you following?”
John groaned and couldn’t help but nod his head.
“Good. Now, the organic components are me. I’ve sent psychic spikes into the brains of everyone here, which is like… cracking open their skulls to expose the brain without all the physical trauma. Their brains are raw nerves, ready to be picked at. It’s a beautiful piece of work, if I do say so myself.”
“B-but w-what d-d-does it do?” asked John.
“I’ve said too much-- so let me show you,” said Ma’alef’ak.
He stretched up so he was in the middle of all the arches, and began to thread the lasso across the bodies of every single pyrotechnic villain he’d coerced the Justice League into capturing. They were vegetative, their eyes open but their bodies unresponsive. Soon, they were all wrapped up, and then Ma’alef’ak extended his body at the edges so that threads of bodily matter reached out to every single psychic spike embedded in the brains of his captives. He was connected to his victims. And they were connected to him.
“I’m going to be honest with you. I didn’t need the rope, but it’s going to make it easier to get to the root of this. I have a question for you all. Can you hear me?”
There was a series of grunts and moans from the villains all stuck inside the psychic resonator, but no more than that. John looked up and gritted his teeth, hissing an acknowledge of the question against his will. He strained against the lasso but couldn’t get free, so instead he rolled onto his back and arched his hand upwards, towards the ceiling away from him. He pooled all his thoughts into the ring, and stopped thinking about trying to escape.
“My question is simple: Why do you love fire?”
The villains screamed as the answer was pulled from their brains, and Ma’alef’ak bucked as his body was suddenly filled with information. He could feel their love. He could feel the dance the likes of Heatwave and Snowflame had with the flame. He could see that even though he’d been burned so many times, Firefly would never stop his love affair with the burning. Fire Fiend, Fire Disciple, Slag, Scorcher, Sakki… their answers empowered him, and slammed against his own absolute fear of fire.
Deep in his psychic self, a wall began to crack.
They kept speaking, over each other, shouting, screaming, whispering-- Flambe’s love affair started with a box of matches, Pyra-Maniac’s sense of freedom was based in the idea that she could always burn the world down; Slagg… Incinderella… Doctor Phosphorous… Heatmonger… Arson Fiend…
Cracks spread in his head. Ma’alef’ak screamed. He was so enraptured by the answers being fed into his brain, that he didn’t notice John Stewart’s ring spark up-- but it would be too late now, anyway. The Martian bucked, fell forward as his body began to smoke. His scars hardened, his flesh became a carapace, a shell, and he was screaming so loudly that it nearly drowned out the begs and the sobs of his captives. Everything was being taken from them-- their love-- their life-- and being fed directly into the psychic self of Ma’alef’ak.
“In… Blackest… Night…” hissed John.
Using every ounce of his willpower and the very last ounce of energy inside his ring, he sent a flare through the ceiling, onto the surface of Mars, and into the skies above it.
Above the world that a long dead race knew as Ma'aleca'andra, a symbol formed-- a Green Lantern badge-- but it was too late-- Ma’alef’ak was already changing--!
Fragments of personality fell into one another overhead. Booster saw the continent-sized slab of humour-- he could tell what it was thanks to the aura it gave off-- slam into the sparse islands of cynicism. They mashed together and reformed as a whole. Ted’s brain was trying to put itself back together. A second after that, the shapes separated, losing cohesion. Clearly, his brain was failing at the task.
“You’ve sure had some cowboys in here,” mumbled Booster Gold.
He tried to focus on the continent. It made him smile, it made him chuckle, and he knew that only one man had ever made him laugh like that before. And he was losing him. No one could last in this state for long.
What did it look like from the outside? Was Booster keeled over? Was he comatose now, or did it look like he was sleeping? That’d do his reputation no favours… and that was good, wasn’t it?
“Ted, I haven’t got the time to crawl around in here, I need to know--”
The floor under Booster’s feet gave way, and he plummeted down the void that was Ted’s mindscape. He cried out, tried activating his suit’s flight capabilities, but he wasn’t really in the suit, was he? He looked at his body, and found he was dressed in his Gotham U football gear.
Oh, was that how it was going to be?
Micheal hit a cerulean surface with a harsh bump, and nearly slid off its sleek surface back into the void. He clutched at the smooth floor, found no purchase-- he was about to continue falling-- when a hand reached out-- and grabbed him--!
He was yanked up, and there was Ted. Parts of Ted. He was in costume and he wasn’t in costume and there were fragments of him absent. He was missing his left eye, part of his head. It wasn’t horrible, it wasn’t gory, there was just an absence. Like jigsaw pieces were missing.
“Hey! Man, you’re here! You’re here!” Booster went to embrace his best friend, but the Beetle composite held his hand up, pushing him back with his palm. “Oh-- what?”
Beetle shook his head.
Booster looked harder at his friend. His face wasn’t exactly all there, even beyond the fragments missing. His skin was smooth, like the surface they were standing upon. Like plastic. Like a mannequin.
“You’re not really here.”
Beetle nodded.
“You’re what? His immune system? His heroism? Some kind of metaphor?”
Beetle shook his head.
“Where is he then?”
Beetle pointed down.
Booster looked at his feet. They were standing on a perfect sphere. Guardian had mentioned something about this. Ma’alef’ak had been searching for Kord’s core-self. The psychic purity every man, woman and child had within them. A back-up personality of sorts. Even though his personality had been reduced to rubble, this is where they could bring him back-- and that’s what the Martian had wanted to destroy.
“Oh, well, aren’t you handsome.”
Beetle nodded once more.
“Cheeky.”
Beetle shrugged.
Gold knelt and moved his face close to the floor. “Okay, you sent that thing to save me. So I know there’s still part of you functioning. I guess you didn’t… know, or maybe like the Guardian enough to make an appearance for him? Or maybe…” He looked up at the Beetle simulacrum. “…Maybe you didn’t want to show your hand when the guy who did this to you was floating around inside with him.”
Beetle nodded again.
“But it’s me. It’s your best damn friend. I’d do anything for you. And I--”
Up around him, the darkness of the void was beginning to change. Previously, there’d been an endless darkness, but now the black twisted. There was finally substance there. Like cave walls closing in. Black, scabby scar tissue inside his head. Fingertips began to push out, trying to get out--
“-- I need you to wake up, man. You’re my brother. And I know… I know I wasn’t good to you. I know that I let you down. And maybe you remember, and maybe you don’t, but I know I betrayed you. But I did it for the greater good, and isn’t that… what… what we’re all about? Uh, like Wrath of Khan? Yeah, I know, I know, I pretend not to care, I pretend its stupid, but it’s a classic where I come from, bigger than, what’s-it-called, Rosebud. No, uh, Citizen Kane, yeah. But yeah. ‘The needs of the many… What I did… I thought I did for the right reasons… but I shouldn’t… just… just come on, man… come on!”
Booster slammed his fists against the surface of Ted’s core personality, and saw that his hands were no longer bare. He was back in his uniform. What was that about? Maybe… it was due to the fact he didn’t feel like a hero unless he was side-by-side with his friend? That he felt like a fraud, even though he traversed the timeline in a big, round, cramped time machine and saved civilisations? But here, with his best friend in jeopardy--
A hand gripped Booster’s shoulder-- he looked up-- the Beetle simulacrum was gone. He turned-- and Batman was standing there. Except his face twisted between the seconds-- Batman-to-Ma’alef’ak-to-Batman-to-Ma’alef’ak. Behind the Dark Knight were the rest of the team-- the people who weren’t there when Ted needed them-- and they were twisting and changing, and their fists were raised and they were about to attack--
--Booster grinned and swatted Batman’s hand off his shoulder. “Oh, it’s a fight you’re after? C’mon, then. Let’s show you why I’m the joke of the superhero world.”
Angela Spica was monitoring the security cameras on Laputa, making sure Ma’alef’ak didn’t make another appearance. Not that she’d be much good. He was as fast as Superman, as powerful too-- if not more. If she saw him, it’d either be a trap or too late to do anything about it.
An alert popped up in the corner of the computer screen, and she wondered if Batman didn’t have ad blocker enabled, but when she read the tab’s header, she immediately clicked it and the alert enlarged-- showing her something that made her turn to the others immediately.
“Umm, guys?”
The Guardian and Wonder Woman were across the room with Alfred, while in the medical area Booster was slumped over Beetle-- was he asleep? Didn’t matter. They turned their attention to Angela and were surprised by the footage of an immense Green Lantern symbol that floated above Mars that she’d drawn their attention to.
“What in God’s name?”
“Yeah, I don’t have any idea what’s going on, but I think John might be on Mars?”
<That maps to what the Erdel Gate’s control console is telling us,> said the Atom, rejoining the comms channel.
<How do you know?> asked Cyborg.
“There’s a flare above Mars. He’s telling us where he is,” said Wonder Woman.
<Ma’alef’ak will be there too,> said Batman.
“That’s not all, guys,” said Angela. Something else was visible in the background of the footage. A ship of some sort, an unrecognisable configuration, but it was nearing Mars as the flare began to dissipate. She fed the footage to the team on Laputa.
<Whoa… what is that?> asked Cyborg.
<Zoom in on the base of that ship,> said Batman.
Underneath the strange craft, Majestic was visible, an elaborate rocket pack strapped to his back. He was holding a platform over his head, and on closer inspection, you could see four people in EVA suits clinging on for dear life.
“We need to get to Mars!” said the Guardian.
“It might be too late…” said Angela.
She was typing furiously on the computer, a calculation that the Guardian didn’t recognise, but she was tense, and he’d very rarely seen her like that.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Light travels at approximately 186,282 miles per second, right? That means that flare was sent at least fifteen minutes ago. Whatever’s happening on Mars… it’s already happening-- or happened. We’re seeing the past.”
Majestic arched the jury-rigged training platform toward the surface of the planet, the flare dispersing as they neared. He’d been able to construct make-shift EVA suits for the rest of the team, but he found that prolonged exposure to the vacuum of space didn’t bother him much.
He smashed through the ground and emerged into the oxygenated cavern where Green Lantern was wrapped tight by the Lasso of Truth, and where a ten-foot-tall creature was currently screaming in agony as his body popped and snapped, skin shredding as a new form emerged from underneath.
In less than a second, Green Lantern was freed from the Lasso of Truth, but he was too weak to speak-- he barely managed to point behind Majestic when the creature smashed a psychic bolt into them both, sending them sprawling.
Big Barda and Mister Miracle landed next, followed by the Hawks.
The creature tore away the last shreds of green Martian flesh from his new body, throwing it away in wet, papery scraps. He’d grown too big for that form, clearly. Every move it made, its body creaked and snapped, joints popping as it grew accustomed to its new body.
Its head was elongated like a normal Martian, but there were mighty gashes across its body that you could see alien fire burning inside. Its upper torso was thick, with spiky shoulders leading to talons, four claws on each hand. Its lower torso was connected to the top by a thinner stomach, but the fires burned so bright it was hard to see details. It looked at its hands, then at the Justice Leaguers who’d smashed onto the scene.
Barda careened forward, fists raised-- her Mega-Rod had been demolished in the earlier skirmish with Majestic-- and slammed them against the creature’s head, but it plucked her from the air and swung her into the cavernous walls of the area. Mister Miracle drew magno-rope from the interior of his cape and shot around the creature’s ankles, hoping to wrap them tight and topple it over, but it flexed its legs and the nigh-indestructible New God composite snapped. He swung round to check on Barda, who was pulling herself forward, out of the woman-shaped hole her impact had created.
Majestic recovered from the psychic attack and shot toward the creature, swinging fists with such violent intent he didn’t hear Hawkman shouting at him. After he heard the low buzz of the shout under his blows, he turned, and finally understood Katar’s words-- “Stop! You’ll bring the roof down on top of us!”
Majestic looked at where he’d been punching, and saw that it wasn’t the creature, but a wall. He’d managed to tunnel even further into the cavern, away from the battle. Where had the creature gone? He spun around and was surprised to see the creature behind him, and it thrust its hand into his chest and squeezed his heart. He screamed and collapsed, then the creature slipped through the floor and vanished from sight.
“Where did it go?” asked Hawkgirl.
A long, taloned hand reached up from the ground and shredded Kendra’s wings, then grabbed Katar by the torso and slammed the two Hawks together, knocking them out by sheer force. It floated upward, and hovered over Big Barda and Mister Miracle.
{You’re… here… for Ma’alef’ak… but Ma’alef’ak has left… the building…}
Mister Miracle glanced over at Barda. “Ma’alef’ak? J’onn’s brother?”
{He… was… I am not.}
Shaky-legged, Majestic shot out from the tunnel, fists levelled at the creature. He plunged into the creature, who cried out in shock.
“Majestros, no--!” screamed Barda.
He looked down and saw the broken body of Mister Miracle in his hands. He’d been deceived again! He turned around, and the creature was behind Barda, claws raised. It slashed down across her back, and she lurched forward, but Majestic could do nothing in time.
The creature laughed, a bone-rattling chuckle that rose from its throat and left its mouth like a cackle. {This… is delicious…}
“Get out of my head!” screamed Majestic.
Its voice was like honey, sweet and seductive while scratching against the insides of the listener’s brain. It was a goblin, or trickster, digging deep into the meat of their brains, trying to pry secrets out, and even though the nanites were putting up a strong front, Majestros could feel them begin to pop and die in his head, and if the pressure kept on, they’d soon all be dead.
The creature discarded Barda and stepped toward the alien warlord. {You pride yourself… on your superior Kheran physiology… but you’re just as easy to play with as the rest…}
Majestic clubbed his fist against his chest defiantly. “Stop hiding behind mind tricks! Stop hiding behind my friends! Face me! Face me!”
The creature grinned and took a step forward. Where its foot touched the ground, the floor sizzled as stone burnt-- it melted-- but Majestros stood his ground. As he watched the creature approach, his vision blurred. The thing twisted and shifted. It split in three then back again. The walls behind the thing screamed, bodies entombed for millennia-- it was playing with his mind!
“Face me…” said Majestros, and then he flung himself forward, into battle.
Booster Gold had never particularly trained for psychic warfare. He moved instinctively-- flight-mode activated in his suit-- and arched across Ted’s mindscape, dodging Green Lantern’s ring-blasts, keeping a step ahead of Wonder Woman as she flew toward him-- why did she keep switching from her usual form, to a Ma’alef’ak-infested version, to being naked? What was going on in Ted Kord’s brain?! He tried to avert his gaze, but that meant she gained on him, and with one big punch, he was sent careening toward a fragment of Ted’s psyche. He bounced off fear-- the emotions ran through Michael like a spine-crawling shiver, then propelled himself forward.
Who was he dealing with here? Batman and Wonder Woman, sure. Wait-- did Batman just flip to being naked as well? What was going on here? Green Lantern, sure-- a gold shield zipped past Booster’s head and he saw that the Guardian was surging toward him-- how were they all flying? Big Barda and Mister Miracle were smashing the big pieces of Ted’s self into smaller pieces on their way here-- what damage was this doing to him? Barda aimed her Mega-Rod at him-- and a blast of Apokoliptian energy dissolved the growing piece of anger that orbited nearby, and caught Booster in the chest.
As he spun backwards, and unbeknownst to him, Green Lantern set a trap with his ring-- Mister Miracle chased after the injured hero, forcing him toward an area of the void, and then Gold was suddenly surrounded by an emerald orb. He slammed his hands against the surface, but to no avail.
The Justice League floated toward him. No. It wasn’t going to end like this. He flipped a switch in his gauntlets-- from energy projection to absorption-- and funnelled the hard light into his suit. He knew he couldn’t hold onto something like that forever, so he immediately discharged it at Green Lantern, sending him reeling back.
“I’m not getting anywhere here, am I?” asked Booster.
The Ma’alef’ak constructs crept toward him. They were more Martian than Justice Leaguer now. Was this a visual representation of the attack Beetle had suffered hours previously? Booster looked at the glowing blue orb that skimmed the bottom of the mindscape. What if…
Hawkman shrieked and raked Booster’s back with a bladed weapon that was now growing out of his hand. Batman was a horror show. Hawkman had wings and claws and talons. They were twisting. Becoming more severe. Gold allowed himself to plummet to the cerulean surface again, and gripped it with the palm of his hands.
“They’re going to kill me in here, Teddy. They’re going to actually kill me. I don’t know if I can survive something like this. It’s my brain-- my mind-- paying a visit to your head, isn’t it? If I die in here, does that mean I die out there? You need--”
Green Lantern smashed Booster’s back and he cried out, collapsing against the glowing blue floor. It throbbed, and there was something in there-- like a heartbeat-- Wonder Woman landed and kicked Booster in the side, sending him spinning toward Big Barda-- who slammed her Mega-Rod into his ribs with such force that he stopped spinning and landed with a crack against the floor. He cried out. The twisted Justice Leaguers barrelled toward him, and began to attack. He covered his head, tried to make himself small, but he didn’t fight back.
“Teddy-- I-- I-- I need you to save me-- oh, God-- they’re going-- going to--”
The ground gave way. Every fragment of shattered psyche shot outwards, plastering the charcoal, cavernous walls of the mindscape. Blue light filled the air, and the simulacrums of the Justice League vanished. Booster Gold closed his eyes as the light became too much, but felt a warmth spread over his body, and all the psychic damage incurred on his mental-self was healed. When the warmth faded, he felt someone kick his shin, then opened his eyes.
Ted Kord-- not Blue Beetle-- was standing there, hand extended. “Get up, old man.”
“Teddy?”
“Ray and Victor have prepared the Erdel Gate for reactivation-- you need to go now,” said Angela.
Wonder Woman felt naked without the Lasso of Truth, but she was ready for battle. The Guardian had raided Batman’s armoury and even though the armaments were non-lethal, he felt better about the coming confrontation with a little something extra at his back.
Lurching backwards, Booster yelled, and caused the assembled Justice Leaguers-- and Alfred and Angela-- to ready themselves for a fight. The brainwave monitor hooked up to Beetle that had been a single, straight line was now moving erratically, building up to something they hadn’t seen for a while.
Beetle didn’t move, but Booster was hopping around, shaking off a weird tingly feeling in his extremities. Diana looked down at him, Booster looked up at her, then he immediately looked away, blushing.
“What’s wrong, Booster?”
“I think… I think… I think Ted will make it…”
“What do you mean?”
Alfred checked the brainwave monitor. “They’re returning to normal, your majesty.”
“How is that possible? What did you do?” asked the Guardian. He dismissed the train of thought. “There’s no time. We’re about to mobilise on Ma’alef’ak. It can wait. Good work, though. Colour me surprised.”
Diana looked back at the medical bay. “Booster, Alfred will continue to monitor Ted. Are you coming?”
Gold looked up at her and grimaced. “I’m just… a screw-up. I don’t…”
“Now or never, flyboy,” said the Guardian.
“…I’ll just get in the way,” said Booster, turning away from the others.
He’d achieved one thing, but maybe, in that moment of victory, he’d overstepped. Maybe that was too much. He was better here, supporting Ted. He’d done enough already.
The Guardian looked angrily at this and was about to say something harsh, but Wonder Woman shook her head and they stepped through one portal into--
--Where Batman’s team was waiting.
“Per the readings Beetle took before stepping through, the air is oxygenated, there’s an artificial atmosphere where we’re going,” said the Atom.
Batman checked the flamethrower he’d ‘borrowed’ from Firefly. It spurted liquid fire. Everyone was ready for battle with a Martian. Their minds were shielded, they were prepared for a war unlike any they’d fought before. It was a terrifying thought. Martians were adaptive fighters. Capable of reading your mind and using the knowledge inside against you.
“Everyone ready?” asked Wonder Woman.
“As we’ll ever be,” replied Doctor Light.
They’d established that their minds were now protected, thanks to Cyborg and the Guardian getting out from under his thumb without him realising what they were planning. That gave them an edge. They could fight. And maybe, they could win… against a being with powers beyond Superman, but with one weakness they could exploit.
“Activate the Erdel Gate,” said the Guardian.
There was a sound like waves lapping against the shore, and the surface of the gate shifted in colour.
Majestic was thrown through and landed awkwardly with a thud on the far side of Cargo Bay 12, his limbs twisted in directions that shouldn’t have been possible. The others were taken aback, but they didn’t have a chance to question what had happened-- Big Barda followed, sliding across metal in a bloody heap, joined by a ravaged Mister Miracle and the feather-plucked Hawks.
Finally, Green Lantern flew through the open tunnel, only to be caught by Wonder Woman. He was groggy, his face a bloody mess, but he gripped Diana tight and whispered, “He’s here.”
The team looked at the tunnel, Batman aimed his flamethrower and pulled the trigger-- only for the liquid fire to be caught by the creature that emerged from the event horizon. The flames pooled in the thing’s hand, then joined the rest of the inferno that flowed under the surface of the creature’s carapace.
“Fire didn’t work,” growled the Guardian.
{You will soon learn… that fire… is no longer your ally.}
“Is that… Ma’alef’ak?” asked Doctor Light.
The creature dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. {Ma’alef’ak was my genetic descendant. I am what the Martian race once was. I am Pyyrus; I am the Burning Martian… and you… you… are doomed.}
The battle between Pyyrus and the Justice League lasted less than ten minutes. When the smoke cleared, and there was so much smoke, and so much fire, the cargo bays at the base of Laputa were a ruin. The east tower had been split open, and the generators that allowed the blast shield to be effected gutted completely.
Pyyrus floated above the headquarters of the team and laughed, then headed toward North America. He drifted invisible, until he stepped down in a familiar city, far from the team, and near where he wanted to make his final mark on the world before creating something brilliant and new and terrible.
He looked at the Midway City sign, and with a flare of his eyes, reduced it to ash. {Blue Beetle’s home town. You gave Ma’alef’ak such a hard time, didn’t you? This will be a wonderful place to end absolutely everything.}
“Knight-1, this is Knight-2-- I’ve got something damn weird going on right now, are you on the board?”
Booster Gold looked at the Cave’s computer, and Alfred hurried over when he recognised the voice coming through on the communication channel. A visual representation of Nightwing’s symbol was at the bottom of the screen, and his voice caused audio waves to dance in tandem with them.
Pennyworth cleared his throat and opened the line. “Knight-2, this is Bishop-1. We’re having quite a difficult time of it right now; Knight-1 is on assignment with the Justice League. Shall I contact Knight-3?”
“Nah… Robin isn’t going to help, chief.”
Booster had appearances to keep up. That of a fool. Of a joke. His appearances had led to his friend’s current state-- it was his meddling, his removal of memories that had left Blue Beetle in the vegetative state he was now recovering from. He hadn’t moved from his best friend’s side, but the brainwaves had stabilised. He wasn’t lost anymore. He just had to wake up…
Booster closed his eyes. Maybe he was looking at it from the wrong perspective. Perhaps his meddling had allowed Earth’s heroes to have a fighting edge against Ma’alef’ak. Ted had fought with all his mind to reprogram the nanites that short-circuited the evil Martian’s psychic thrall… maybe he’d helped. But now wasn’t the time to debate that. No one could know the truth. He was the timeline’s-- the multiverse’s-- greatest protector, on assignment by Rip Hunter, sworn to secrecy, and if people figured out he wasn’t as much of a hot mess as he made out, then all the hells he’d helped prevent from coming to pass might reign down a hundred-fold.
Gold rushed over so he was next to Alfred then leaned forward to address the mic. “Nightwing, this is Booster Gold. What do you need?”
“Booster… ah, I mean…”
Gold gripped the edge of the computer console. “We’re having a really rough goddamn day right now, kid. I’m offering to help. Let me help. Talk to us!”
“Nightwing… this is Blue Beetle… tell us what’s happened…”
Alfred and Booster looked behind them, where Ted Kord had pulled himself from the gurney. He was still covered in wires, but he was clear-eyed. In fact, there was a clarity there that the duo had never seen before, and his eyes seemed to be crystal-clear and vibrant blue, some odd side-effect of what Booster had achieved in his mindscape perhaps?
Nightwing’s tone immediately changed. “Beetle? Oh, man; that’s great news-- Okay, here’s what’s going on--”
MA'ALEFA'AK, the twisted brother of the MARTIAN MANHUNTER infiltrated the team using his twin’s superheroic identity, and fractured them straight down the middle within seconds!
Subtly controlling the Justice League’s actions, MA'ALEFA'AK used them to capture dozens of fire-themed villains, until BLUE BEETLE, the only member of the team free from his control, managed to shock his teammates out of their stupor, at the cost of his own mind!
With BEETLE comatose, and half the team-- namely BIG BARDA, HAWKGIRL, HAWKMAN, MAJESTIC and MISTER MIRACLE-- lost in space thanks to an errant Boom Tube, what’s left of the Justice League-- THE ATOM, BATMAN, CYBORG, DOCTOR LIGHT, THE GUARDIAN and WONDER WOMAN-- along with BOOSTER GOLD, must take the fight to MA'ALEFA'AK, a being capable of transforming his body and mind to defeat any threat, all while the true extent of his plans as yet stands unrevealed!
With all this in mind, please join us now for the continuing adventures of the JUSTICE LEAGUE--
JUSTICE LEAGUE ROLL-CALL:
THE ATOM | THE BATMAN | BIG BARDA | BLUE BEETLE |
BOOSTER GOLD | CYBORG | DOCTOR LIGHT | GREEN LANTERN | THE GUARDIAN |
HAWKMAN | MAJESTIC | MISTER MIRACLE | WONDER WOMAN |
Before Majestic could land the blow that was guaranteed to kill Hawkman, something in his brain screamed and he reeled back, clutching his temples. The rest of the assembled Justice Leaguers all experienced the same psychic shock, and it took seconds for them to stagger back to their feet.
The only person unaffected was Hawkgirl, who raised her pernach in a defensive posture.
Just like Katar’s father, Carter Hall, she had taken to adopting and restoring weapons from the past, and the mace, with its flanged tips, ticked a lot of boxes for her. She’d have to remember to thank Carter for the recommendation, if she survived this--
“Wh-what happened?” asked Mister Miracle, his head throbbing.
Hawkgirl hadn’t lowered her weapon. “Majestic went crazy! He attacked that Jack Marlowe guy*!”
*Justice League #60
“I don’t recall…” started Majestic, rubbing his temples tentatively. He’d not felt this bad since the beating he took at the hands of Ares, an actual God of War*, but he couldn’t see any wounds across his body. He thought hard, and that hurt even worse-- a psychic attack, perhaps?
*Justice League #51-52
“I have to admit, he’s not looking so crazy now,” said Mister Miracle.
“But Mother Box tells me we were just in a fight, and my heart is racing… ” added Big Barda.
“All right, everybody stand down, we’re clearly not fighting now,” said Hawkman, raising his hands, his weapon latched to his belt.
“Katar…” Kendra was confused at their passivity. She’d seen Majestic go crazy with his Zoom Vision, ravaging Jack Marlowe with a glance. They’d battled him into a Boom Tube, and now they were here-- nothing had changed, just their location! How could everyone be so calm in the face of this?
“Just… let’s figure this out, my love,” said Katar.
“I can see it… something has changed in our brain chemistry,” said Majestic.
“What do you mean?” asked Big Barda.
Majestic rubbed the bridge of his nose, and focused again on his teammates. “The nanites used to allow our instant, telepathic communication have redistributed around our brains, they’re emitting some kind of rogue signal.” His eyes adjusted, performing a deep scan on Hawkman’s body after spotting something that concerned him. “And Katar--”
The Thanagarian’s eyes narrowed. He’d just been scanned and knew what that meant. “Now’s not the time, Majestros.”
Majestic opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but if Katar didn’t want him mentioning what he’d just seen during his scan of his body, he would have to respect that. Now really wasn’t the time, as he said…
“…Hawkgirl is the only one without the nanites, which would explain… her current disposition toward me.”
“No, my current disposition toward you is explained by the fact Blue Beetle called and said you’d been driven crazy! Before we could take you out, you blasted Jack Marlowe with that Zoom Vision of yours. We Boom-Tubed you to this training space John has been building, and now we’re standing here chatting!”
Big Barda shook her head. “Mother Box agrees with Majestros. Our brain chemistries were twisted by some kind of psychic assault; the nanites are correcting it. For an attack to override the measures in Mother Box, it must have been powerful.”
“That settles it then. We need to Boom Tube back to Earth, speak to Blue Beetle, and get to…” Mister Miracle checked his cape, his belt and then the numerous pockets hidden about his suit, but could find no trace of his Boom Tube generator. “…That’s weird.”
Big Barda was surprised at the absence of his device, so checked for her own, but she too was missing their ticket home. “How could we misplace them? I can barely remember the last day… vague images, but nothing more…”
“Better than me, it’s all a blank,” said Hawkman.
Hawkgirl felt her agitation increase. “No! Don’t you remember? Martian Manhunter told us we weren’t needed, so we went home. We… why does… wait-- why does that sound so wrong?
“My memories are reasserting themselves, no doubt due to my superior Kheran physiology.” Majestic gestured toward the New Gods, “Yours will presumably soon follow. The Martian Manhunter made seemingly innocuous suggestions and they were all met with covenant*. I fear… we have been under his control this entire time. His psychic thrall has been removed thanks to the nanites, but we’re far from Earth.”
*Justice League #59-60
“If the Martian Manhunter has gone rogue, we need to get back there,” said Big Barda.
“Even flying under my own power, it’ll take days,” said Majestic, noting how close they were in orbit to Pluto.
“Okay, so we’re standing on a moon that Green Lantern started converting into a training space. What did he call it? The Circus Maximum? What options do we have?”
Majestic smiled as he realised they were sitting on top of a technological goldmine. “Give me five minutes. I might have an idea.”
JUSTICE LEAGUE
Issue Sixty-Two: “Burning For You”
HoM / FLINCHUM / BOWERS
LAPUTA:
Laputa was still when the small team of Justice Leaguers arrived. Batman led Cyborg and Doctor Light slowly through the halls that had been trashed before they evacuated less than an hour before. They had some inkling of where Ma'alef'ak had gone, down in the cargo bays where they’d last seen Green Lantern too.
As they crept forward, Doctor Light illuminated the way, the emergency lighting completely offline, while Cyborg’s sensor array sent out signals through the immense compound, hoping to find something for them to go on.
Batman wore a fire-resistant version of his costume, and Doctor Light had been given a similar, less Bat-themed version of the same thing. Cyborg was built like a tank, but to protect himself from their own weapons-- which they were willing to unleash full pelt if they spotted Ma’alef’ak-- he’d reconfigured his body to create protective armour around his flesh-components.
“I’m reading an odd energy signature in the air,” said Cyborg.
“Define odd,” said Batman.
Cyborg ran the information through his databanks, hoping to find a match. “It’s familiar to me… and… huh. There we go: Erdel energy. Instant teleportation energy.”
“We need to get down to the cargo bay. We need to see what’s down there,” said Batman.
Doctor Light turned to Batman. “Do we think he’s gone? Transported somewhere?”
Batman considered that. “Likely. Cave, are you reading us?”
The Guardian’s voice came over the comms channel. <Loud and clear, Batman. Recommend you head down into the cargo bay. If he got out…>
“Understood and on our way,” said Batman.
The trio headed downstairs one floor at a time via the stairwells; Cyborg had disabled the elevators before he had abandoned ship with Blue Beetle and the Guardian, and they weren’t willing to try and bring anything back without knowing if Laputa was fully under their control.
Eventually they came to Cargo Bay 12. The door was sealed, but Cyborg prised it open, his elbows and shoulders hissing as his hydraulics overpowered those behind the immense door frame. It was dark inside, but Kimiyo created an orb of pure light that she sent up into the air, and what they saw shocked them.
“What on Earth…?” asked Doctor Light.
“Well, that’s an Erdel Gate,” said Cyborg.
She remembered the theory. “I read about those… a gateway from one place to another; potential immediate interstellar travel.”
Batman checked the controls, but they were disengaged. “…An unfocused flare of Erdel transportation energy bought J’onn J’onzz to Earth in the fifties. The science was refined by numerous other institutes. You can build one gate here--” He paused, and tapped his ear. “Atom, just tell them yourself, we’re secure here.”
There was a flash of energy and the Atom emerged from Batman’s head and grew to full size. He brushed himself off before he looked around; he too was wearing a fire-resistant uniform. “Sorry. As I was saying to Bats, you can build one gate here and connect it to a gate you build elsewhere. Someone must have built one on Earth and one on… wherever. Let me see what I can get from the computer.”
The Atom joined Cyborg next to the console and they managed to get power to it, while Batman and Doctor Light observed the gate itself. “It looks like he stripped the island for components to build it,” she said.
“I think we can guess where this leads,” said Batman.
Doctor Light nodded. “Mars.”
THE CAVE:
Booster Gold paced the floor of the medical bay next to where Blue Beetle had been hooked up to all kinds of equipment. His breathing was stable, but he’d not responded to any of Wonder Woman’s attempts to draw him out of himself, so he just lay there, eyes closed, his heart rate beep-beeping on the monitor beside him.
“I need to do something…” mumbled Booster.
“There’s nothing you can do right now, Michael,” replied Wonder Woman.
“My best friend is in a coma thanks to that-- that-- thing you guys are hunting, and I’m just standing here being useless,” replied Booster.
She disagreed. “No, you’re supporting your friend, and when the moment is right you’ll know what you have to do.”
Gold scratched his chin. “What I have to do…”
He pulled off his cowl and slid to the ground, his back against the cupboard containing all the medical supplies Batman had accrued. Pennyworth was talking to the Guardian, no one else paying any attention to what was going on down on their platform.
“You look exhausted, Booster. What were you doing before you came here? Are you willing to divulge that much?”
He really wasn’t. Booster and Rip Hunter had been investigating a temporal anomaly a year into the future. They couldn’t enter the anomaly, they couldn’t see beyond it.
According to the readings Rip took, it was as if someone had knotted the lines of temporal potentiality together for a whole year, and it meant there was a temporal dam that they couldn’t look into.
If you travelled ahead of it, everything was fine, if you looked behind it, everything leading up to it was even better. No threats present, no Per Degaton causing troubles in the future, no Chronos Brigade raiding the past.
“We can’t enter the knot. My Time Sphere can’t penetrate it,” explained Rip.
“Then how will we figure out what the cause is?” Booster asked.
“We could set the Time Sphere down a day before the knot forms. We could live through it. But then we wouldn’t be able to get out until the year passes, and when the year passes… all the accumulated events on the timeline will release… like a flood, and overwrite the future. It’s like… standing in place, while the world keeps turning. We’ve got a year to figure out how to stop it, how to unravel it, or everything that occurs inside will redefine the future.”
Rip looked at Booster and smiled at that.
“You don’t understand what I’m saying, do you?”
“Don’t patronise me, I get it, you went pretty layman’s there. But who could have done something like that?”
“It would take an immense amount of power… I could… jury-rig the Time Sphere into doing something similar, but… why would I?”
That was a good question, and it posed another, thought Booster. “Are you saying it might be you?”
Hunter rubbed her chin. “Who knows, Mike…”
“Not soon after their conversation, Booster and Hunter’s heads had screamed. Something was picking at the psychic surgical scars left in Beetle, and because of the nature of the work, it meant they were informed immediately. Rip couldn’t venture into the timeline, he wanted to keep the Time Sphere away from that era… so close to the temporal knot, any entry into the 21st century was tempting fate. So he sent Michael in ahead, and waited to pick him up, hovering in the 20th century until he received word.
“You look exhausted, Booster. What were you doing before you came here? Are you willing to divulge that much?”
Booster waved his hands at Wonder Woman to get her to drop it. “Caught me on the tail end of a bender, Di. Nothing more to it.”
She sighed. Her gods-given gifts meant she knew he was lying, but it wasn’t her place to pry. She turned and headed back to where the Guardian talked strategy with Alfred, and left Booster to ponder the situation.
“We’re in this together now, ain’t we, bro?” said Michael.
There was one option he’d wanted to avoid. Rip had told him it was too dangerous. But this was Ted…
He picked up a chair and dragged it next to his best friend’s bed. He sat down, cleared his head, and put a hand on Kord’s forehead. He closed his eyes, and after thinking long and hard about the psychic connection created by the Blue Martian all those months ago, he slipped out of his own body and fell into Blue Beetle’s mindscape…
MARS:
“I truly believe this to be an astonishing piece of craftsmanship,” said Ma'alef'ak, running the length of Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth through his scabby, green hands. On one end, John Stewart, Green Lantern of Earth, was restrained, but the more the malicious Martian pulled on it, the longer it got.
Ma’alef’ak had reverted to his pure Martian form, away from the form he’d taken that matched that of his brother, J’onn. His skin was scabby and dark, covered in raking, clawed scars-- self-inflicted in boredom, John might have guessed. He was tall and lanky, easily seven feet tall, but Stewart couldn’t tell from his angle. His eyes were a deep, dark scarlet, unlike the vibrant crimson of J’onn’s. He looked like he’d been through the wringer, but more than likely that was due to his physical form taking on a visage fitting of his broken psychological self. He was a monster, so he might as well look like one.
He smiled as the lasso reached the necessary length, then looked down at John. “What do you think?”
Stewart looked up, sweating profusely, unable to even try to free himself from the restraint thanks to Ma’alef’ak’s psychic powers. He knew the bindings were unbreakable. He knew that he was induced to tell the truth on contact with it. And worst of all, he knew his ring was depleted. The Martian was in his head, stamping down on his willpower. He couldn’t form a construct. And now he was playing Q&A with his enemy.
“Y-yes.”
“Good dog,” said Ma’alef’ak, patting him on the head.
He turned his attentions toward the device he’d constructed on the surface of the planet. Dozens of fire-themed villains were strung across its numerous arches, Ma’alef’ak’s own flesh matter digging into their brains ready for him to reconnect to it and create some kind of circuit.
“Do you want to know what this is?” he asked.
“Yyyesss,” drawled John.
“Oh, you are good for humouring me. It’s a psychic resonator, built with techno-organic components. The techno aspect? Well, I caused all the satellites around the planet to crash. That’s a lot of raw material. And underneath the surface of Mars are countless ancient Martian technologies that my dear brother didn’t bother dismantling during his numerous returns to our home world. Combining the two and you get the first part of the device. Are you following?”
John groaned and couldn’t help but nod his head.
“Good. Now, the organic components are me. I’ve sent psychic spikes into the brains of everyone here, which is like… cracking open their skulls to expose the brain without all the physical trauma. Their brains are raw nerves, ready to be picked at. It’s a beautiful piece of work, if I do say so myself.”
“B-but w-what d-d-does it do?” asked John.
“I’ve said too much-- so let me show you,” said Ma’alef’ak.
He stretched up so he was in the middle of all the arches, and began to thread the lasso across the bodies of every single pyrotechnic villain he’d coerced the Justice League into capturing. They were vegetative, their eyes open but their bodies unresponsive. Soon, they were all wrapped up, and then Ma’alef’ak extended his body at the edges so that threads of bodily matter reached out to every single psychic spike embedded in the brains of his captives. He was connected to his victims. And they were connected to him.
“I’m going to be honest with you. I didn’t need the rope, but it’s going to make it easier to get to the root of this. I have a question for you all. Can you hear me?”
There was a series of grunts and moans from the villains all stuck inside the psychic resonator, but no more than that. John looked up and gritted his teeth, hissing an acknowledge of the question against his will. He strained against the lasso but couldn’t get free, so instead he rolled onto his back and arched his hand upwards, towards the ceiling away from him. He pooled all his thoughts into the ring, and stopped thinking about trying to escape.
“My question is simple: Why do you love fire?”
The villains screamed as the answer was pulled from their brains, and Ma’alef’ak bucked as his body was suddenly filled with information. He could feel their love. He could feel the dance the likes of Heatwave and Snowflame had with the flame. He could see that even though he’d been burned so many times, Firefly would never stop his love affair with the burning. Fire Fiend, Fire Disciple, Slag, Scorcher, Sakki… their answers empowered him, and slammed against his own absolute fear of fire.
Deep in his psychic self, a wall began to crack.
They kept speaking, over each other, shouting, screaming, whispering-- Flambe’s love affair started with a box of matches, Pyra-Maniac’s sense of freedom was based in the idea that she could always burn the world down; Slagg… Incinderella… Doctor Phosphorous… Heatmonger… Arson Fiend…
Cracks spread in his head. Ma’alef’ak screamed. He was so enraptured by the answers being fed into his brain, that he didn’t notice John Stewart’s ring spark up-- but it would be too late now, anyway. The Martian bucked, fell forward as his body began to smoke. His scars hardened, his flesh became a carapace, a shell, and he was screaming so loudly that it nearly drowned out the begs and the sobs of his captives. Everything was being taken from them-- their love-- their life-- and being fed directly into the psychic self of Ma’alef’ak.
“In… Blackest… Night…” hissed John.
Using every ounce of his willpower and the very last ounce of energy inside his ring, he sent a flare through the ceiling, onto the surface of Mars, and into the skies above it.
Above the world that a long dead race knew as Ma'aleca'andra, a symbol formed-- a Green Lantern badge-- but it was too late-- Ma’alef’ak was already changing--!
BLUE BEETLE’S MINDSCAPE:
Fragments of personality fell into one another overhead. Booster saw the continent-sized slab of humour-- he could tell what it was thanks to the aura it gave off-- slam into the sparse islands of cynicism. They mashed together and reformed as a whole. Ted’s brain was trying to put itself back together. A second after that, the shapes separated, losing cohesion. Clearly, his brain was failing at the task.
“You’ve sure had some cowboys in here,” mumbled Booster Gold.
He tried to focus on the continent. It made him smile, it made him chuckle, and he knew that only one man had ever made him laugh like that before. And he was losing him. No one could last in this state for long.
What did it look like from the outside? Was Booster keeled over? Was he comatose now, or did it look like he was sleeping? That’d do his reputation no favours… and that was good, wasn’t it?
“Ted, I haven’t got the time to crawl around in here, I need to know--”
The floor under Booster’s feet gave way, and he plummeted down the void that was Ted’s mindscape. He cried out, tried activating his suit’s flight capabilities, but he wasn’t really in the suit, was he? He looked at his body, and found he was dressed in his Gotham U football gear.
Oh, was that how it was going to be?
Micheal hit a cerulean surface with a harsh bump, and nearly slid off its sleek surface back into the void. He clutched at the smooth floor, found no purchase-- he was about to continue falling-- when a hand reached out-- and grabbed him--!
He was yanked up, and there was Ted. Parts of Ted. He was in costume and he wasn’t in costume and there were fragments of him absent. He was missing his left eye, part of his head. It wasn’t horrible, it wasn’t gory, there was just an absence. Like jigsaw pieces were missing.
“Hey! Man, you’re here! You’re here!” Booster went to embrace his best friend, but the Beetle composite held his hand up, pushing him back with his palm. “Oh-- what?”
Beetle shook his head.
Booster looked harder at his friend. His face wasn’t exactly all there, even beyond the fragments missing. His skin was smooth, like the surface they were standing upon. Like plastic. Like a mannequin.
“You’re not really here.”
Beetle nodded.
“You’re what? His immune system? His heroism? Some kind of metaphor?”
Beetle shook his head.
“Where is he then?”
Beetle pointed down.
Booster looked at his feet. They were standing on a perfect sphere. Guardian had mentioned something about this. Ma’alef’ak had been searching for Kord’s core-self. The psychic purity every man, woman and child had within them. A back-up personality of sorts. Even though his personality had been reduced to rubble, this is where they could bring him back-- and that’s what the Martian had wanted to destroy.
“Oh, well, aren’t you handsome.”
Beetle nodded once more.
“Cheeky.”
Beetle shrugged.
Gold knelt and moved his face close to the floor. “Okay, you sent that thing to save me. So I know there’s still part of you functioning. I guess you didn’t… know, or maybe like the Guardian enough to make an appearance for him? Or maybe…” He looked up at the Beetle simulacrum. “…Maybe you didn’t want to show your hand when the guy who did this to you was floating around inside with him.”
Beetle nodded again.
“But it’s me. It’s your best damn friend. I’d do anything for you. And I--”
Up around him, the darkness of the void was beginning to change. Previously, there’d been an endless darkness, but now the black twisted. There was finally substance there. Like cave walls closing in. Black, scabby scar tissue inside his head. Fingertips began to push out, trying to get out--
“-- I need you to wake up, man. You’re my brother. And I know… I know I wasn’t good to you. I know that I let you down. And maybe you remember, and maybe you don’t, but I know I betrayed you. But I did it for the greater good, and isn’t that… what… what we’re all about? Uh, like Wrath of Khan? Yeah, I know, I know, I pretend not to care, I pretend its stupid, but it’s a classic where I come from, bigger than, what’s-it-called, Rosebud. No, uh, Citizen Kane, yeah. But yeah. ‘The needs of the many… What I did… I thought I did for the right reasons… but I shouldn’t… just… just come on, man… come on!”
Booster slammed his fists against the surface of Ted’s core personality, and saw that his hands were no longer bare. He was back in his uniform. What was that about? Maybe… it was due to the fact he didn’t feel like a hero unless he was side-by-side with his friend? That he felt like a fraud, even though he traversed the timeline in a big, round, cramped time machine and saved civilisations? But here, with his best friend in jeopardy--
A hand gripped Booster’s shoulder-- he looked up-- the Beetle simulacrum was gone. He turned-- and Batman was standing there. Except his face twisted between the seconds-- Batman-to-Ma’alef’ak-to-Batman-to-Ma’alef’ak. Behind the Dark Knight were the rest of the team-- the people who weren’t there when Ted needed them-- and they were twisting and changing, and their fists were raised and they were about to attack--
--Booster grinned and swatted Batman’s hand off his shoulder. “Oh, it’s a fight you’re after? C’mon, then. Let’s show you why I’m the joke of the superhero world.”
THE CAVE:
Angela Spica was monitoring the security cameras on Laputa, making sure Ma’alef’ak didn’t make another appearance. Not that she’d be much good. He was as fast as Superman, as powerful too-- if not more. If she saw him, it’d either be a trap or too late to do anything about it.
An alert popped up in the corner of the computer screen, and she wondered if Batman didn’t have ad blocker enabled, but when she read the tab’s header, she immediately clicked it and the alert enlarged-- showing her something that made her turn to the others immediately.
“Umm, guys?”
The Guardian and Wonder Woman were across the room with Alfred, while in the medical area Booster was slumped over Beetle-- was he asleep? Didn’t matter. They turned their attention to Angela and were surprised by the footage of an immense Green Lantern symbol that floated above Mars that she’d drawn their attention to.
“What in God’s name?”
“Yeah, I don’t have any idea what’s going on, but I think John might be on Mars?”
<That maps to what the Erdel Gate’s control console is telling us,> said the Atom, rejoining the comms channel.
<How do you know?> asked Cyborg.
“There’s a flare above Mars. He’s telling us where he is,” said Wonder Woman.
<Ma’alef’ak will be there too,> said Batman.
“That’s not all, guys,” said Angela. Something else was visible in the background of the footage. A ship of some sort, an unrecognisable configuration, but it was nearing Mars as the flare began to dissipate. She fed the footage to the team on Laputa.
<Whoa… what is that?> asked Cyborg.
<Zoom in on the base of that ship,> said Batman.
Underneath the strange craft, Majestic was visible, an elaborate rocket pack strapped to his back. He was holding a platform over his head, and on closer inspection, you could see four people in EVA suits clinging on for dear life.
“We need to get to Mars!” said the Guardian.
“It might be too late…” said Angela.
She was typing furiously on the computer, a calculation that the Guardian didn’t recognise, but she was tense, and he’d very rarely seen her like that.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Light travels at approximately 186,282 miles per second, right? That means that flare was sent at least fifteen minutes ago. Whatever’s happening on Mars… it’s already happening-- or happened. We’re seeing the past.”
MARS:
Majestic arched the jury-rigged training platform toward the surface of the planet, the flare dispersing as they neared. He’d been able to construct make-shift EVA suits for the rest of the team, but he found that prolonged exposure to the vacuum of space didn’t bother him much.
He smashed through the ground and emerged into the oxygenated cavern where Green Lantern was wrapped tight by the Lasso of Truth, and where a ten-foot-tall creature was currently screaming in agony as his body popped and snapped, skin shredding as a new form emerged from underneath.
In less than a second, Green Lantern was freed from the Lasso of Truth, but he was too weak to speak-- he barely managed to point behind Majestic when the creature smashed a psychic bolt into them both, sending them sprawling.
Big Barda and Mister Miracle landed next, followed by the Hawks.
The creature tore away the last shreds of green Martian flesh from his new body, throwing it away in wet, papery scraps. He’d grown too big for that form, clearly. Every move it made, its body creaked and snapped, joints popping as it grew accustomed to its new body.
Its head was elongated like a normal Martian, but there were mighty gashes across its body that you could see alien fire burning inside. Its upper torso was thick, with spiky shoulders leading to talons, four claws on each hand. Its lower torso was connected to the top by a thinner stomach, but the fires burned so bright it was hard to see details. It looked at its hands, then at the Justice Leaguers who’d smashed onto the scene.
Barda careened forward, fists raised-- her Mega-Rod had been demolished in the earlier skirmish with Majestic-- and slammed them against the creature’s head, but it plucked her from the air and swung her into the cavernous walls of the area. Mister Miracle drew magno-rope from the interior of his cape and shot around the creature’s ankles, hoping to wrap them tight and topple it over, but it flexed its legs and the nigh-indestructible New God composite snapped. He swung round to check on Barda, who was pulling herself forward, out of the woman-shaped hole her impact had created.
Majestic recovered from the psychic attack and shot toward the creature, swinging fists with such violent intent he didn’t hear Hawkman shouting at him. After he heard the low buzz of the shout under his blows, he turned, and finally understood Katar’s words-- “Stop! You’ll bring the roof down on top of us!”
Majestic looked at where he’d been punching, and saw that it wasn’t the creature, but a wall. He’d managed to tunnel even further into the cavern, away from the battle. Where had the creature gone? He spun around and was surprised to see the creature behind him, and it thrust its hand into his chest and squeezed his heart. He screamed and collapsed, then the creature slipped through the floor and vanished from sight.
“Where did it go?” asked Hawkgirl.
A long, taloned hand reached up from the ground and shredded Kendra’s wings, then grabbed Katar by the torso and slammed the two Hawks together, knocking them out by sheer force. It floated upward, and hovered over Big Barda and Mister Miracle.
{You’re… here… for Ma’alef’ak… but Ma’alef’ak has left… the building…}
Mister Miracle glanced over at Barda. “Ma’alef’ak? J’onn’s brother?”
{He… was… I am not.}
Shaky-legged, Majestic shot out from the tunnel, fists levelled at the creature. He plunged into the creature, who cried out in shock.
“Majestros, no--!” screamed Barda.
He looked down and saw the broken body of Mister Miracle in his hands. He’d been deceived again! He turned around, and the creature was behind Barda, claws raised. It slashed down across her back, and she lurched forward, but Majestic could do nothing in time.
The creature laughed, a bone-rattling chuckle that rose from its throat and left its mouth like a cackle. {This… is delicious…}
“Get out of my head!” screamed Majestic.
Its voice was like honey, sweet and seductive while scratching against the insides of the listener’s brain. It was a goblin, or trickster, digging deep into the meat of their brains, trying to pry secrets out, and even though the nanites were putting up a strong front, Majestros could feel them begin to pop and die in his head, and if the pressure kept on, they’d soon all be dead.
The creature discarded Barda and stepped toward the alien warlord. {You pride yourself… on your superior Kheran physiology… but you’re just as easy to play with as the rest…}
Majestic clubbed his fist against his chest defiantly. “Stop hiding behind mind tricks! Stop hiding behind my friends! Face me! Face me!”
The creature grinned and took a step forward. Where its foot touched the ground, the floor sizzled as stone burnt-- it melted-- but Majestros stood his ground. As he watched the creature approach, his vision blurred. The thing twisted and shifted. It split in three then back again. The walls behind the thing screamed, bodies entombed for millennia-- it was playing with his mind!
“Face me…” said Majestros, and then he flung himself forward, into battle.
BLUE BEETLE’S MINDSCAPE:
Booster Gold had never particularly trained for psychic warfare. He moved instinctively-- flight-mode activated in his suit-- and arched across Ted’s mindscape, dodging Green Lantern’s ring-blasts, keeping a step ahead of Wonder Woman as she flew toward him-- why did she keep switching from her usual form, to a Ma’alef’ak-infested version, to being naked? What was going on in Ted Kord’s brain?! He tried to avert his gaze, but that meant she gained on him, and with one big punch, he was sent careening toward a fragment of Ted’s psyche. He bounced off fear-- the emotions ran through Michael like a spine-crawling shiver, then propelled himself forward.
Who was he dealing with here? Batman and Wonder Woman, sure. Wait-- did Batman just flip to being naked as well? What was going on here? Green Lantern, sure-- a gold shield zipped past Booster’s head and he saw that the Guardian was surging toward him-- how were they all flying? Big Barda and Mister Miracle were smashing the big pieces of Ted’s self into smaller pieces on their way here-- what damage was this doing to him? Barda aimed her Mega-Rod at him-- and a blast of Apokoliptian energy dissolved the growing piece of anger that orbited nearby, and caught Booster in the chest.
As he spun backwards, and unbeknownst to him, Green Lantern set a trap with his ring-- Mister Miracle chased after the injured hero, forcing him toward an area of the void, and then Gold was suddenly surrounded by an emerald orb. He slammed his hands against the surface, but to no avail.
The Justice League floated toward him. No. It wasn’t going to end like this. He flipped a switch in his gauntlets-- from energy projection to absorption-- and funnelled the hard light into his suit. He knew he couldn’t hold onto something like that forever, so he immediately discharged it at Green Lantern, sending him reeling back.
“I’m not getting anywhere here, am I?” asked Booster.
The Ma’alef’ak constructs crept toward him. They were more Martian than Justice Leaguer now. Was this a visual representation of the attack Beetle had suffered hours previously? Booster looked at the glowing blue orb that skimmed the bottom of the mindscape. What if…
Hawkman shrieked and raked Booster’s back with a bladed weapon that was now growing out of his hand. Batman was a horror show. Hawkman had wings and claws and talons. They were twisting. Becoming more severe. Gold allowed himself to plummet to the cerulean surface again, and gripped it with the palm of his hands.
“They’re going to kill me in here, Teddy. They’re going to actually kill me. I don’t know if I can survive something like this. It’s my brain-- my mind-- paying a visit to your head, isn’t it? If I die in here, does that mean I die out there? You need--”
Green Lantern smashed Booster’s back and he cried out, collapsing against the glowing blue floor. It throbbed, and there was something in there-- like a heartbeat-- Wonder Woman landed and kicked Booster in the side, sending him spinning toward Big Barda-- who slammed her Mega-Rod into his ribs with such force that he stopped spinning and landed with a crack against the floor. He cried out. The twisted Justice Leaguers barrelled toward him, and began to attack. He covered his head, tried to make himself small, but he didn’t fight back.
“Teddy-- I-- I-- I need you to save me-- oh, God-- they’re going-- going to--”
The ground gave way. Every fragment of shattered psyche shot outwards, plastering the charcoal, cavernous walls of the mindscape. Blue light filled the air, and the simulacrums of the Justice League vanished. Booster Gold closed his eyes as the light became too much, but felt a warmth spread over his body, and all the psychic damage incurred on his mental-self was healed. When the warmth faded, he felt someone kick his shin, then opened his eyes.
Ted Kord-- not Blue Beetle-- was standing there, hand extended. “Get up, old man.”
“Teddy?”
THE CAVE:
“Ray and Victor have prepared the Erdel Gate for reactivation-- you need to go now,” said Angela.
Wonder Woman felt naked without the Lasso of Truth, but she was ready for battle. The Guardian had raided Batman’s armoury and even though the armaments were non-lethal, he felt better about the coming confrontation with a little something extra at his back.
Lurching backwards, Booster yelled, and caused the assembled Justice Leaguers-- and Alfred and Angela-- to ready themselves for a fight. The brainwave monitor hooked up to Beetle that had been a single, straight line was now moving erratically, building up to something they hadn’t seen for a while.
Beetle didn’t move, but Booster was hopping around, shaking off a weird tingly feeling in his extremities. Diana looked down at him, Booster looked up at her, then he immediately looked away, blushing.
“What’s wrong, Booster?”
“I think… I think… I think Ted will make it…”
“What do you mean?”
Alfred checked the brainwave monitor. “They’re returning to normal, your majesty.”
“How is that possible? What did you do?” asked the Guardian. He dismissed the train of thought. “There’s no time. We’re about to mobilise on Ma’alef’ak. It can wait. Good work, though. Colour me surprised.”
Diana looked back at the medical bay. “Booster, Alfred will continue to monitor Ted. Are you coming?”
Gold looked up at her and grimaced. “I’m just… a screw-up. I don’t…”
“Now or never, flyboy,” said the Guardian.
“…I’ll just get in the way,” said Booster, turning away from the others.
He’d achieved one thing, but maybe, in that moment of victory, he’d overstepped. Maybe that was too much. He was better here, supporting Ted. He’d done enough already.
The Guardian looked angrily at this and was about to say something harsh, but Wonder Woman shook her head and they stepped through one portal into--
LAPUTA:
--Where Batman’s team was waiting.
“Per the readings Beetle took before stepping through, the air is oxygenated, there’s an artificial atmosphere where we’re going,” said the Atom.
Batman checked the flamethrower he’d ‘borrowed’ from Firefly. It spurted liquid fire. Everyone was ready for battle with a Martian. Their minds were shielded, they were prepared for a war unlike any they’d fought before. It was a terrifying thought. Martians were adaptive fighters. Capable of reading your mind and using the knowledge inside against you.
“Everyone ready?” asked Wonder Woman.
“As we’ll ever be,” replied Doctor Light.
They’d established that their minds were now protected, thanks to Cyborg and the Guardian getting out from under his thumb without him realising what they were planning. That gave them an edge. They could fight. And maybe, they could win… against a being with powers beyond Superman, but with one weakness they could exploit.
“Activate the Erdel Gate,” said the Guardian.
There was a sound like waves lapping against the shore, and the surface of the gate shifted in colour.
Majestic was thrown through and landed awkwardly with a thud on the far side of Cargo Bay 12, his limbs twisted in directions that shouldn’t have been possible. The others were taken aback, but they didn’t have a chance to question what had happened-- Big Barda followed, sliding across metal in a bloody heap, joined by a ravaged Mister Miracle and the feather-plucked Hawks.
Finally, Green Lantern flew through the open tunnel, only to be caught by Wonder Woman. He was groggy, his face a bloody mess, but he gripped Diana tight and whispered, “He’s here.”
The team looked at the tunnel, Batman aimed his flamethrower and pulled the trigger-- only for the liquid fire to be caught by the creature that emerged from the event horizon. The flames pooled in the thing’s hand, then joined the rest of the inferno that flowed under the surface of the creature’s carapace.
“Fire didn’t work,” growled the Guardian.
{You will soon learn… that fire… is no longer your ally.}
“Is that… Ma’alef’ak?” asked Doctor Light.
The creature dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. {Ma’alef’ak was my genetic descendant. I am what the Martian race once was. I am Pyyrus; I am the Burning Martian… and you… you… are doomed.}
The battle between Pyyrus and the Justice League lasted less than ten minutes. When the smoke cleared, and there was so much smoke, and so much fire, the cargo bays at the base of Laputa were a ruin. The east tower had been split open, and the generators that allowed the blast shield to be effected gutted completely.
Pyyrus floated above the headquarters of the team and laughed, then headed toward North America. He drifted invisible, until he stepped down in a familiar city, far from the team, and near where he wanted to make his final mark on the world before creating something brilliant and new and terrible.
He looked at the Midway City sign, and with a flare of his eyes, reduced it to ash. {Blue Beetle’s home town. You gave Ma’alef’ak such a hard time, didn’t you? This will be a wonderful place to end absolutely everything.}
THE CAVE:
“Knight-1, this is Knight-2-- I’ve got something damn weird going on right now, are you on the board?”
Booster Gold looked at the Cave’s computer, and Alfred hurried over when he recognised the voice coming through on the communication channel. A visual representation of Nightwing’s symbol was at the bottom of the screen, and his voice caused audio waves to dance in tandem with them.
Pennyworth cleared his throat and opened the line. “Knight-2, this is Bishop-1. We’re having quite a difficult time of it right now; Knight-1 is on assignment with the Justice League. Shall I contact Knight-3?”
“Nah… Robin isn’t going to help, chief.”
Booster had appearances to keep up. That of a fool. Of a joke. His appearances had led to his friend’s current state-- it was his meddling, his removal of memories that had left Blue Beetle in the vegetative state he was now recovering from. He hadn’t moved from his best friend’s side, but the brainwaves had stabilised. He wasn’t lost anymore. He just had to wake up…
Booster closed his eyes. Maybe he was looking at it from the wrong perspective. Perhaps his meddling had allowed Earth’s heroes to have a fighting edge against Ma’alef’ak. Ted had fought with all his mind to reprogram the nanites that short-circuited the evil Martian’s psychic thrall… maybe he’d helped. But now wasn’t the time to debate that. No one could know the truth. He was the timeline’s-- the multiverse’s-- greatest protector, on assignment by Rip Hunter, sworn to secrecy, and if people figured out he wasn’t as much of a hot mess as he made out, then all the hells he’d helped prevent from coming to pass might reign down a hundred-fold.
Gold rushed over so he was next to Alfred then leaned forward to address the mic. “Nightwing, this is Booster Gold. What do you need?”
“Booster… ah, I mean…”
Gold gripped the edge of the computer console. “We’re having a really rough goddamn day right now, kid. I’m offering to help. Let me help. Talk to us!”
“Nightwing… this is Blue Beetle… tell us what’s happened…”
Alfred and Booster looked behind them, where Ted Kord had pulled himself from the gurney. He was still covered in wires, but he was clear-eyed. In fact, there was a clarity there that the duo had never seen before, and his eyes seemed to be crystal-clear and vibrant blue, some odd side-effect of what Booster had achieved in his mindscape perhaps?
Nightwing’s tone immediately changed. “Beetle? Oh, man; that’s great news-- Okay, here’s what’s going on--”
TO BE CONTINUED… NOW!