#60: Sole Survivor (Part 2 of 5)

Previously, in JUSTICE LEAGUE…

After piloting an immense space hulk containing millions of refugees from a catastrophic intergalactic war to a new home world, the MARTIAN MANHUNTER returned to Earth and re-joined Justice League-- and nearly immediately someone tried to kill him!

With a depleted roster, the team have spent the last few hours hunting down fire-wielding villains, all of whom have admitted to playing a part in the assassination attempt against J’ONN J’ONZZ, but BLUE BEETLE senses something is off with the situation, and the villain he was tasked with bringing in has suffered some kind of seizure, which he wants to know the source of ASAP…

With all this in mind, please join us now for the continuing adventures of the JUSTICE LEAGUE--


Arriving at the New York S.T.A.R. Labs, Blue Beetle explained the symptoms of whatever the Human Flame experienced quickly, omitting certain facts that delivered him to the villain’s door. He knew very little, but he had shared the following: 1) The Human Flame had been flagged as a possible perpetrator involving a death threat against a member of the Justice League. 2) He confessed to the crime, but 3) when pressed, he was unable to provide any information regarding his part in the plot and finally 4) continued discourse around the crime resulted in his current comatose state.

Doctor Anton Jeffers was the main medical doctor on shift, and while his team performed preliminary assessment, he pointed an accusatory finger at Ted. “You didn’t use any extra-legal interrogation techniques?”

“Of course not, hell, I didn’t even throw a punch.” Beetle watched as an orderly collected up the Human Flame’s pyro-vest from where Ted had discarded it. “The guy was downright amiable.”

Jeffers then stabbed a pointed finger in the direction of Ted’s BB Gun, the taser-projection pistol currently holstered on his belt. “You didn’t use that?”

“What did I just say? But look, this guy--”

The Human Flame stirred from his vegetative state and grasped Beetle’s wrist, an action that surprised everyone. “I-didn’t-do-it-but-I-remember-doing-it-but-it’s-like-there’s-two-of-me-and-one-of-them-was-sat-at-home-eating-cereal-and-the-other-one-was-in-Metropolis-but-I-don’t-can’t-I-didn’t-do-this-and-I-can’t-stop--”

The villain screamed, seized up, his head smashing into the gurney under him. His limbs stiffened, his joints locked and he began to shake uncontrollably, the convulsions rattling the table’s legs.

“Let’s get him stabilised then begin full diagnostic testing. EKG and MRI to begin,” said Jeffers.

Blue Beetle clenched his fists as he watched the medical staff do their stuff. Jeffers was ignoring him now, buzzing about and looking at the preliminary readings. Kord considered the day, what was happening outside of S.T.A.R. right now, and decided.

He pulled a tablet from his belt, a small, handheld device that was linked to Laputa’s systems. He wiped his last locations from the database. He scrambled the teleportation door’s tracking systems, and terminated the signal emitted by his personal transponder, deleting recent data bursts as he went. Suddenly he was gone, off the map, and for some reason, he felt calmer for it.

“Let’s get to the bottom of this,” whispered Kord, following the Human Flame’s gurney.

GOTHAM CITY:

“You’re right, it’s all here,” said Wonder Woman, looking up at the data trawl falling down the screens of the Cave’s computers as Batman typed away beside her.

The bats shrieked and flapped their wings above their heads, and Alfred tutted as he carried down a platter from the kitchens above them.

“Master Bruce, you know how I feel about your entertaining guests down here. The blue dining room is perfect for late night cuisine.”

“Diana is here for work, not pleasure,” said Batman.

Wonder Woman looked down at the Caped Crusader, all furrowed brows and terse expression, then back at Alfred. “What is that delightful smell, Alfred?”

“Gnocchi tossed with a homemade pesto, my uncle’s recipe, of course.” He took the lid off the platter and revealed two plates. “I didn’t have much notice, but Master Bruce was always such a fan of this dish growing up, I thought a trip down memory lane might be refreshing.”

Batman looked over his shoulder, almost smiled, then returned to looking at the screens intently. Alfred resigned himself to the situation, covered the food back up, and left it on the side while he headed upstairs.

“Firefly hasn’t left Gotham since he put his latest scheme into motion. I’m looking at the chemical breakdown of the napalm used to destroy J’onn’s apartment, but there are no traces of the chemical formulas Lyons uses in his own accelerants. Where did the League get the intelligence from that sent you in his direction?”

Wonder Woman blinked. What was the answer to that question? “J’onn… told me. Told us, I mean.”

“Really?” said Batman, cocking an eyebrow.

She nodded. “Since his return, he’s been coordinating our activities.”

With a click, Batman pulled up the active roster. “What’s happened here?”

Cyborg, Blue Beetle, Green Lantern, The Guardian, Majestic, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman were the sole names on the active roster list. The day before, the number included The Atom, Big Barda, Hawkman and Mister Miracle, not including himself. He was also aware Hawkgirl had volunteered to stick around while Katar healed up. His own body still ached from the punishment it had taken at the hands of the entity that possessed Green Lantern’s ring a month ago*, but he wrapped the pain in a box and filed it away somewhere deep in his brain.


“They thought it best to take some time away from the team. It’s all right.”

“I disagree, Diana. The roster is massively depleted. With this--”

“Do not concern yourself, Bruce,” said the Martian Manhunter, materialising through the roof of the cave down toward his old friends. “We have everything under control.”

“Are you sure, J’onn? Because it looks like you’re passing along faulty intel. Now Firefly is at Gotham Mercy, awaiting a panel of tests to see what happened to him--”

The Martian Manhunter raised his hand, and Batman quietened down immediately, a look of confusion flashing across his face.

“I assure you everything is all right. Look at the chemical compositions of the accelerant.”

“Hh…” Batman’s brow creased even more than it had previously, but he looked back. The data hadn’t changed on the screen, but his expression changed to one of utter shock. “They’re the same!”

“You’re still experiencing the after-effects of the beating you took on Laputa, aren’t you, Bruce?” asked J’onn, sympathetically. “You shouldn’t be pushing yourself so hard right now. Can’t the other protectors of Gotham pick up the slack for just a short while?”

“They can, you’re right. I must have… how strange.”

J’onn nodded in understanding. “Call them now, let them know you’ll be taking some time away. And Diana, maybe it’s best if you stayed… I know the two of you have been seeing each other?”

Batman’s expression changed once more, surprised at how forward his Martian friend was being.

Wonder Woman placed a hand on Batman’s shoulder and gently said, “I’ll stay.”

Batman tensed up. In his head, something growled; he didn’t know what, but a split second later the noise subsided and he typed a password into the computer in front of him that activated a comms link. “All active Knights-- Knight-1 is temporarily off the board, and Castle-1 is a no-go. Knight-2, all traffic to be routed through you until further notice.”

“Knight-1… is everything all right?” came the voice of Knight-2. Nightwing had just had a massive workload lumped on him, but he was more concerned with the directive coming from the man who’d raised him to be the man he was today. Batman didn’t shirk his duty, and Wayne Manor-- Castle-1-- was rarely off-limits.

“It will be,” said Batman, as Wonder Woman leaned forward and unclipped his cowl. He leaned back and looked up, their lips meeting in the middle. The Martian Manhunter took a step forward and held out his hand, and Diana took the Lasso of Truth from her side and handed it to him. He whispered something into her ear and she nodded intently, and then the Martian slipped through the floor, smiling as he went.

Floating back toward Laputa over America, a straight line from Gotham, over the Pacific, to the island refuge of the Justice League, the Martian Manhunter expanded his consciousness. {Has anyone heard from Blue Beetle?}


“Thanks to the MRI, we’ve located a major part of the problem. There’s swelling across the cerebral cortex that I theorise could cause the symptoms we’ve witnessed in our patient,” said Jeffers.

“That’s the part of the brain that regulates memory…” said Beetle.

“Well, you don’t have to tell me that. And it’s not as simple as ‘that part of the brain is the only part of the brain that does the thing you’re saying’, but yes, it’s an issue with the brain. And--!” Jeffers punctuated the ‘and’ with his finger, whipping it up into the air like an exclamation point, “--we have another case over in Gotham City that matches the symptoms we have here.”

Kord put two and two together. “…Firefly?”

“-- How did you--?”

“My God. We were played.”

“What do you mean?”

“Doesn’t matter. Ah, crap! Where are the Human Flame’s personal effects?”

“Down in the lab. What’s going on here, Beetle?”

Ted Kord’s BB Gun fired taser bursts. Little salvos of condensed electricity, his own design. One shot could send a charge through your body that kicked the fight out of you. It was a good deterrent for super muk muks, but against big time super folk it was just a pop gun. Beetle rushed through S.T.A.R., down to the lab, and found the Human Flame’s flame-vest. He hastily went to work, cannibalising what functioned, and discarding what had been broken by years of neglect at the hands of the previous owner.

A few minutes later, happy with his work, Blue Beetle headed out of the laboratory complex, into the bustling New York streets. He needed to move fast, get to cover, and figure out his next move. Because he suspected that the Martian Manhunter had gone mad, and was currently manipulating the lives of his fellow Justice Leaguers.

And when a power of that magnitude was at play, what recourse did a man like Blue Beetle have?


“All culprits have been remanded into our custody,” explained the Guardian. “Good work, folks. That’s a lot of bad people off the board. You feeling safer, J’onn?”

“I am. You have saved me, as you have a hundred times before. You cannot understand how grateful I am.”

The meeting room was especially sparse. Martian Manhunter had the field leader chair, normally reserved for the Guardian now, but the ultimate soldier had happily taken a seat with the rest of the team. Cyborg was sat between Green Lantern and Majestic.

Without Blue Beetle and Wonder Woman, the Justice League was five people. Taking into consideration the absence of Big Barda and Mister Miracle, Batman and Hawkman, The Atom and Doctor Light, they were nowhere near the strength they needed to be in case of an emergency.

There was a buzzing from the central table, and an image of FBI agent King Faraday appeared, his voice fed through the speakers. “…Can’t believe I’m having to do this. Hello? To whom am I speaking?”

“Agent Faraday, what a pleasant surprise. This is the Martian Manhunter. How can the Justice League help you today?”

“I’ll cut to the chase-- Jason Burr is being released today. We have that clone of his in custody, and he’s taking responsibility for the crimes committed by Lord Naga*. He passes every test we put him through… he’s squeaky clean.”


The Martian Manhunter leaned forward. “That’s wonderful news. And what can we bring to the table today?”

“I was hoping to request Justice League presence during his transfer out of our custody. We all know that there are Kobra cells still active across the country-- hell, across the world. I’d like to know we’re not playing right into their hands.”

J’onn considered this request then shook his head. “I’m afraid we won’t be able to help you today, Agent Faraday. We have our hands full on a different matter. Besides, I’m sure the Federal Bureau of Investigation are more than capable of performing crowd control. Justice League out.”

Before Faraday could argue, the line of communication was cut off, leaving the Justice League to continue their meeting.

“Where’s Wonder Woman?” asked Cyborg.

“With Batman,” answered the Martian Manhunter. “They had to take care of a few things.”

“Now?” Majestic was not amused.

“All right. What’s our next move?” asked the Guardian.

The Martian Manhunter laced his fingers together. “Majestros, your attempts to create a Daemonite detection net, how are they proceeding?”

“There have been… complications. The system requires re-calibration on the foundation level.”

“That must be frustrating for you.”

Majestros’ fingers dug into the meeting table. “It is.”

“Perhaps you should explore that feeling.”

Majestros kicked his chair back and stood up abruptly. “All right. Perhaps I should.”

The Kheran warlord shot out of the meeting room, leaving the four others behind.

“He seemed mad,” said Cyborg.

“Very,” agreed the Guardian.

Green Lantern sat there sweating, his ring spitting globules of energy as he fought a bad feeling in his head.

The Martian Manhunter smiled thinly. “Getting restless there, Green Lantern?”

John Stewart dragged his head around to look at the Martian Manhunter, and through gritted teeth, responded. “What… have… you… done…?”

“It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t concern you. But I do have a task suited to your architectural predilections. Shall we?” He motioned for John to stand up, and the Green Lantern reluctantly followed the direction, his will fighting back every step of the way.


“Are you all right, Theodore?” asked Martin Stein, as he re-entered his study, two mugs of steaming hot coffee in his hands. “You gasped loudly. Did someone punch you in the stomach?”

Blue Beetle didn’t know who to trust, but an old mentor immediately came to mind when he found himself rushing through the streets of Manhattan. He knew that Martin Stein held tenure at one of the more-esteemed colleges on the East Coast, and that he was always welcome in the university accommodation that the professor had taken as his own. He hadn’t provided much information, asking for access to a computer terminal, and Stein graciously allowed him the privacy of his study. Between the stacks of papers and textbooks, you could just spot the frazzled visage of Ted typing away at the computer, hands moving lightning fast across the keyboard.

Kord leaned back in his chair. “No, no, I’m hooked into Laputa’s internal sensors, I just saw something bad. Oh, man. This is bad. This is really bad.”

“What seems to be going on?” Stein walked around the back of where Ted was sat and tipped the chair forward so it was on all four legs. On the security feed Kord had hacked into, Cyborg and the Guardian were sat at the meeting table of the Justice League, completely still. “My, that’s peculiar. Is that live?”

“Yeah, it is. Peculiar doesn’t do it justice. Uh, is Ronnie around? I mean, available for, you know, Firestorm?”

Stein shook his head. “Ronald is… indisposed at the moment.”

Kord cursed. “Has the Martian Manhunter been around? Is that it?”

“No, no, this is… this is something else entirely… he’s currently under observation at Central City S.T.A.R. Labs. There was… an incident.”

Ted ran his hands through his hair. “Okay. Okay. I’m sorry. Ah. Okay. We’re in New York. I have an idea.” He picked up his encrypted transmitter and dialled a classified number. The line didn’t even ring once before someone answered.

“…Big Science Action 1975.”

“All-Star Squadron 1944,” replied Blue Beetle, call-and-response, a security measure that changed daily. “This is Blue Beetle.”

“Beetle? Oh, man, is it good to hear from you. It’s Starman here. Is everything okay? We heard the news,” came the voice of David Knight, the latest man to bear the title of Opal City’s legendary Starman.

“…The news?” repeated Ted, tentatively.

“Yeah, the Martian Manhunter was here a few minutes ago. Good to see him back, don’t you think? He said, if you get in touch, to let you know that everything’s going to be all right. Where are you now? We can come pick you up. Take you back to him.”

Ted hung up immediately. The line was encrypted both ways, but the shock of hearing those words sent his mind reeling. “What… what… what can I do?”

Ted leaned forward and began to review the security feeds that got saved to his personal server. The Martian Manhunter was hard to track through Laputa, his insistence on phasing everywhere meaning conventional tracking was next to impossible. When he was moving through walls, he had no heat signature, but after a few near misses, Kord found a way to track him each time accurately.

Whenever he wasn’t needling the Justice League, he kept going down to Cargo Bay 12, the largest of the twenty that lined the base of Laputa. The security feeds had been cut the day before, before they went on a hunt for the fire-wielding villains. Ted watched as J’onn had emerged there one moment, looked at the recording equipment, and flash-fried it with a burst of Martian Vision. Then static. Then blackness. Then nothing.

Martin rounded in front of Ted so he was stood in front of the desk. “What’s going on, Theodore? You know I’ll help you out in a pinch, but you’re scaring me.”

“No Firestorm, the JSA are compromised… so is the Justice League. He’s been in contact with Superman… and I know he’s touched the minds of the guys he sent away. And that look on Majestros’ face… I can’t… but maybe… another phone call…” He hurriedly dialled a number and put his hand to the receiver, covering the mouthpiece. “What do you know about nanotechnology, Martin?”

“My speciality is bio-nuclear engineering, Theodore. You know that.”

“Sorry, sorry… uh, can I use your lab? I have an--” Someone picked up the phone on the other end and Kord began to speak. “Listen to me, we don’t have long. Jack Marlowe is in grave danger…”


Jack Marlowe had no time to prepare himself for Majestros’ arrival. Usually, the Kheran warlord would use the Doors, the transportation portal tech that the Guardian had wrangled and introduced to the Justice League. This time, Majestic smashed through the windows of his office, the energy discharge from his Zoom Vision crackling around the edges of his eyes.

“Lord Majestros, what’s wrong--?”

“I have been patient. You have had decades. But still, the Daemonites fester upon this world, and we can do nothing to reveal them. I do not understand how I let that stand before. I finally understand the fault.”

“I told you before, the molecular structure of oxygen itself has changed, tweaked at the base level. I didn’t think it possible, and it’s not killing us-- but it happened*. Have you discovered the cause?”


“You’re the fault, machine. You are. I shouldn’t have bothered--” There was a flap of wings and the patter of footsteps behind him.

“Majestros, you need to calm down,” said Hawkman, flanked by Big Barda and Mister Miracle, as well as Hawkgirl. “Marlowe is doing all he can to help you. This outburst does not help.”

“What are you doing here? This is none of your business.”

“Stopping you from doing something you’ll later regret,” said Mister Miracle.

“I have… tried… to live up to the expectation of you people. I have been infinitely patient. But you are ants and I am of Khera. I am tens of thousands of years old and I am sick of being made to wait. Hawkman, if you--”

Big Barda crossed the distance between the two of them and swung her Mega-Rod with such force that it shattered across the jaw of Majestros, sending shards of New God metal and broken tech flying every which way.

Majestic lifted himself off the floor and nearly impacted against the ceiling, but Mister Miracle had already laid the trap. A Boom Tube detonated before Majestros could stop himself from going in, and he was sucked inside the portal. Barda crouched down, the floor around her cracked, and she leaped up, following Majestic through.

Hawkgirl flapped her wings and looked down at Marlowe. “Are you all right?”

“He’s gone mad!”

“Good observation. Stay here,” said Hawkman.

Hawkgirl, Hawkman and Mister Miracle followed the others through the Boom Tube, and then the tunnel closed behind them, leaving only wreckage and silence.

The Martian Manhunter emerged from the floor, phasing once more into the fray, and cast an eye over where Marlowe had fallen. In his hand, he held the Boom Tube projector the quartet had used to send Majestic away and follow him through. Without it, they wouldn’t be getting back.

“Intriguing.”

“What’s that?” asked Marlowe, pulling himself up and dusting his suit off.

“You’re a fully cybernetic being, with no organic components. I can’t get into your head.”

“Why would you--?”

Marlowe’s torso detonated as a blast of Martian Vision passed through him.

“I’m already experiencing issues with Blue Beetle. I don’t need two of you flouncing about.”

The Martian Manhunter continued to stare at Jack Marlowe, every second he looked at him destroying his body until there was nothing but stray molecules and the smell of burnt toast in the air. After that, the Martian Manhunter put a finger to his temple and reviewed the information he’d gleaned from the memories of the foursome. The name of the one who’d drawn them to this place.

“...Kord.”


Stealth mode active, Blue Beetle kept the Bug as low to the surface of the river as he could, and so far, nobody had noticed his direction of travel. He was moving fast, dodging anything that got in his way, hoping to keep off the Martian Manhunter’s radar. He didn’t know how much time he had, so he dialled another number and waited.

“…Hello?” The woman’s voice was sleepy, he heard her yawn, but she picked up.

“Angie? Angie, it’s Ted, where are you?”

Angela Spica was the Justice League’s tech advisor, one of the many members of the support staff James Harper had introduced to Laputa when the Global Peace Agency dissolved nearly a year before*, and she’d done the best kind of work since joining up-- she’d saved the world at least once already.**

**Check out the recent arc from Justice League #55-58

With the return of the organisation, a large number had stepped away from assisting the Justice League*, but she and a smaller dedicated team had continued to do what they could to assist the world’s greatest superheroes in their efforts.


“Ted? Beetle? Uh, I’m at home. I’m actually surprised to hear from you.”

“Yeah, why’s that? Ahh, I don’t have much time. I need your help on something.”

“What’s that? You know I don’t like working on your weird projects…”

“No, no, it’s about the nanites you installed in our heads to allow instant nanotelepathic communication.”

“The what now?”

“The nanotelepathic radio! When the Manhunter left Earth, you came up with it to keep us in the game. What am I saying, you know this, I just, uh, I need a consult on maybe rewiring it.”

“Ted, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Besides, J’onn suggested I step away from duties with the League, he said I should forget all the stuff I’ve done with you and focus on something new, so, that’s all right. But you know what? That nanotelepathy-thingy sounds cool as hell.”

“Angie, you designed it! Why don’t you--?”

It dawned on Ted that J’onn had got to her first. Fiddled with her brain.

“I’m sorry, Angie. I’ll catch up with you later. I think I have it all down, but I’ll let you know all about it when I’m done, okay?”

“Sounds good, Ted. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.”

“You’re the best.”

Ted ended the call and sighed. The Bug landed on the edge of a large property, where the river ended and pooled into a lake that went underground. He looked out across the waters and felt the zen-like calm that came to him when the rain hammered down. He pulled a coat from the emergency stores and headed out.


Commissioner Gordon squinted as he looked up, the Bat-Signal flowing across the grey clouds that filled the skies. “Where is he…?” he murmured, shuffling in his shoes.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Commissioner.”

Unperturbed by the interruption to his impatience, Gordon turned and had to admit he was surprised to see Nightwing half-hidden in the shadows behind him. “Where is he?” he asked.

“Out of the city…” lied Nightwing. He hoped the detective in Gordon wouldn’t be able to tell. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve had another murder,” explained Gordon.

“The Tooth Fairy?” offered Nightwing.

A terrible name for a terrible person. A killer who ate parts of his victims, but the teeth markings matched inmates of Arkham Asylum-- inmates that couldn’t have been committing crimes unless they could be in two places at one. They clearly had no leads, and the body count was rising.

“MO matches. I’ve gone Jones and Montoya on it, but they’ve hit a dead end. I was hoping your boss…”

Nightwing looked out across the night sky, toward Wayne Manor. “I’ll look into it. Do you have-- ?”

Gordon held out a USB drive. “Everything we have on the crimes. I’d appreciate some additional eyes on this, Nightwing.” He blew into his hands and rubbed them, the winter wind whipping up atop the Gotham Central building. “And--”

Nightwing was gone, leaving the Commissioner to turn off the Bat-Signal and head back downstairs*.



Alfred Pennyworth didn’t know who was calling at such a late hour, but when he answered the heavy, repetitive knock on the front door of Wayne Manor, a soaking wet Ted Kord stood outside the house before him.

“Master Kord, please, come in, you are positively drenched!”

“Just my luck today,” said Ted. He was fiddling with something around his wrist, but he was in civvies, ill-fitting and not his own. If you looked at the inside label, you’d see ‘M. Stein’ written there, but why would you want to do that?

“To what do we owe this pleasure?” enquired Alfred. He helped Ted remove his coat, and immediately headed to one of the large radiators that lined the walls of the reception room.

“Ah, is Bruce home?” Ted shivered, shaking off the water that was in his hair, much to the consternation of Alfred.

“I’m afraid he’s indisposed now. Queen Diana and he have, ahem, locked themselves in the Cave.”

“Are they okay--?!”

“From the sounds they’re making… I assume so, but I daren’t check the security monitors. A butler’s discretion…”

“What? They’re? Why… but…” Ted fell silent. “Was the Martian Manhunter here earlier?”

“J’onn? Why, yes, I did have a brief chat with him earlier. He was out of sorts, I have to admit.”

“In what way?”

Alfred pulled a small pistol from the back of his belt and shot Ted in the chest, once, at close range. Kord crumpled, clutching at his sternum, the fight gone out of him immediately.

“Master J’onn informed me that if you were to come here, I was to shoot you where you stand. An odd request, but one hates to disappoint.”

Ted looked up at Alfred as the manservant took a step toward him, with Ted barely able to draw a full breath into his lungs. As Pennyworth got close, Kord swung his legs out, catching the older man unawares, the pistol falling from his hands. Ted twisted, punting the weapon away from the two of them, then punched Alfred once in the face, dazing him.

Kord checked his chest-- Martin wouldn’t be getting the shirt and sweater back intact, but his costume underneath had absorbed the brunt of the impact. It still hurt like nobody’s business, but he was alive.

“Al-Alfred-- why would-- a Justice Leaguer-- want me-- dead?”

“Does it matter? Perhaps you talk too much. I just do what I’m told. I am the butler, after all.”

Hands shaking, Beetle pulled his BB Gun and with one shot knocked Pennyworth out. “Oh-- Christ-- this is-- bad.”

Diana, wrapped in Batman’s cape and nothing else, walked out of Bruce’s study, where the entrance to the Cave resided, and crossed the floor toward the kitchen. She looked over at Alfred and looked concerned, but then shrugged, resuming her journey.

Ted followed her, desperately. He was still struggling to breathe, but he had to try. “Diana-- Diana, please.”

Diana shook her head as she searched through the cupboards. “I can’t really stop to chat, Ted. We’re a bit busy downstairs. I just needed to get some supplies before we get back to it.”

“B-busy?” whispered Ted. He looked back at where Alfred lay unconscious, then to the study, where the clock case that led to the Cave was open, then back to Wonder Woman. “Oh… okay. Umm. Where’s your lasso?”

“Well, I gave it to J’onn earlier. He made a few recommendations on alternatives that we’re putting to good use, though.” Diana rubbed her wrists just below her gauntlets absentmindedly and Ted averted his eyes as the cape slipped a few inches. “Anyway, it’s Bruce’s turn right now. Else he’d be up here hims--”

“Diana, can’t you see the world has turned upside down? J’onn is turning us against ourselves! He’s manipulating--” Kord felt the fight drain from him as Diana continued to select bits and pieces from the kitchen cupboards. “Okay, I get it. I’ll leave you to it, but, uh, could you let J’onn know I’m here? And that I’ll be waiting for him?”

“Of course,” said Diana.

Blue Beetle thanked her and then stumbled out of the kitchen. Everyone was compromised. The thing he thought he could use to make people see the truth was in the hands of the enemy. He always knew J’onn was powerful, but this was psychic manipulation on a massive scale… but why was his mind clear?

After dragging Alfred into the study-- he noted that Diana had closed the door to the grandfather clock after heading back down-- Kord pressed a button on his wrist, just as the Martian Manhunter crashed through the roof, down the numerous floors that led to the reception hall, and looked around.

“Ted… come out and talk. You must see by now that there’s nowhere you can--”

Beetle’s coat sizzled on the radiator. Stitched into the lining were the remains of the Human Flame’s pyro-vest. It detonated violently, and flames rolled toward the Martian Manhunter, who screamed as his body flexed and shifted, rolling cords of emerald flesh stretching backwards to escape the inferno. Fire suppressant systems that had been built into the walls activated immediately, dousing the area in flame-retardant foam.

Reverting to his natural form, J’onn dragged himself through the heavy liquids, using it to quell the burns across his body. If you knew the man-- the Martian-- you’d wonder, why did he look the way he did? When he was in his natural form, he was angular, sure; round red eyes piercing through your very soul; arms longer than a human’s and a segmented torso that stretched a few inches longer than a human’s would in the middle; but as he knelt, his flesh was cracked and dark, scarification covering his chest and shoulders, crevices of dark flesh visible at his sides and running around his collarbones toward his mouth.

“H'ronmeer…” muttered J’onn, reconstituting himself and his clothes back into their grey armoured look. There had been a point when he’d assumed a more conventional look, crimson stripes across the chest, blue underwear and cape, but perhaps he’d changed his fashion sense in his time away from the team? Who knew…


Blue Beetle materialised in the aviary of the Justice League’s headquarters, quiet apart from the odd squawk of the birds that Katar had given sanctuary here. The cleaning and feed systems were automated, filtered water would be pumped up from the base’s tanks when needed, so it’s not like the Hawk Knight needed to be here, but Ted knew that the surly warrior enjoyed the cathartic act of feeding his winged friends. He only hoped that his call on them to help stop Majestic hadn’t led them to a fate worse than being mentally suggested to leave the Justice League.

“Damn, damn, damn,” whispered Kord, the device around his wrist powering down as soon as he arrived. One jump teleportation wasn’t the intended use of it, he’d hoped to be able to get in and out where necessary, but it was a moot point now. He deactivated it and began to rummage through his pockets until he found what he was looking for. “Okay. Let’s get going.”

Blue Beetle knew Batman thought he was the bee’s knees when it came to secrets, but Kord was a wily-brained fellow, so he’d done his own research on Laputa one night, many moons ago. He knew that Batman had installed secret passages throughout the place*, something he suspected Superman of being aware of too, but he hadn’t raised it with anybody. It made sense to have something only a select few knew to utilise if all hell broke loose, especially if their number were psychically compromised.


Soon enough, Kord was in the lower levels. He was covered in grime and dirt, but the only thing that stood between him and getting into Cargo Bay 12 was--

“Hey, Vic; fancy meeting you here,” said Beetle, eyeing up Cyborg as the cybernetic entity watched him emerge from a wall.

“Not much of a coincidence; J’onn told me to expect you. Weird thing is, he wants me to incapacitate you, but I don’t… why would I…? I don’t… my internal processors are causing me a few issues today, I’m sorry. You need to stand down. Please.”

“You know what he’s asking you to do is wrong, right? Something’s going on. J’onn’s not himself.”

A movement of blue and gold reflected in Cyborg’s shiny silver armour caused Beetle to hit the ground just as the Guardian soared over him, shield drawn.

Harper rolled to a stop beside Cyborg, and pointed an accusatory finger at Kord.

“You need to get on your knees, hands on your head.”

Kord pulled his BB Gun and aimed it in their direction. “I can’t do that.”

The Guardian laughed. “Your stun gun isn’t going to do much to either of us. Drop it or I drop you.”

“I reprogrammed it. What do you know about the nanotelepathic link we’ve used this past year or so?”

Beetle fired off a salvo that struck Cyborg square in the chest. Vic squawked, voice like a dial tone, went rigid, then fell flat on his face, his joints locked and his human eye closed. From his mouth a shriek began to rise, a body-shaking sound that caught Harper up in its spell.

The reprogrammed payload delivered into Cyborg’s systems was using the young hero as a transmitter, capable of broadcasting the signal Kord had designed farther than just the BB Gun’s line of fire.

“I’m sorry about this, James. It’s the only thing I can think of to get you out from under his spell.”

Beetle noticed the Guardian’s movements were sluggish, as if his body was slow to respond to his surroundings. A side effect of what the Martian Manhunter had done to him perhaps? Or maybe Harper’s war computer brain was fighting the psychic effect every step of the way? A question for the debriefing, no doubt.

Beetle threw down several smoke pellets he kept for occasions like this and they exploded at the Guardian’s feet. Harper slammed his shield down instinctually to block anything that might come as a follow-up, but instead the smoke wrapped around his limbs and solidified, his shield stuck solid against the floor.

Beetle approached quickly and took in the Guardian’s struggles. “I’m sorry about this, Jim. You know I’m a big fan.” He changed the settings on the BB Gun and jabbed the muzzle against the Guardian’s neck. “I’ve turned it up to eleven. Sorry again.” He pulled the trigger and Harper screamed loudly, once, with all the air in his lungs, then slumped over, held upright by the rigid compound that had surrounded his body.

Blue Beetle threw another handful of pellets at where Cyborg had toppled over, encasing the man in the same rock-hard substance, then headed past them to Cargo Bay 12. He typed in an override that he’d created for the Guardian, so that his name didn’t automatically pop up on the logs-- for whatever moment it was worth-- and then watched as the bay doors opened--

--To reveal Green Lantern.

“Oh, shit,” said Beetle, his day increasingly getting worse.

Energy spat wildly from John Stewart’s ring, and his face dripped with a mop sweat that Kord had never seen present on the Lantern’s face. He was shaking, visibly shaking, but stood his ground regardless.

“T-there’s a v-voice in my h-head-- there’s a voice in my head again*.”


“You’re being controlled by J’onn! You need to shake him off! C’mon, GL, it’s your job! Don’t let him con--”

“Quiet!” screamed John, blasting Kord back with a concussive force that could have melted the flesh off his bones. Instead Beetle fell heel-over-head, landing awkwardly and aggravating the throbbing pain in his chest where he’d taken a bullet.

“I… will not… lose… control… again… get… get…”

Green Lantern wrenched his arm up at the ceiling and released a catastrophic blast of energy that tore through all the levels up to the open air. He doubled over, completely drained, and then looked up at Blue Beetle weakly.

“I think… the Martian Manhunter… has gone rogue…”

“Y’think?”

Beetle helped Lantern up, and then he realised that Cargo Bay 12 was completely overhauled since he’d last been down here. “What is that monstrosity?”

Circular in nature, a massive portal-like device constructed out of numerous parts stripped from Laputa reached toward the ceiling. The composition was purely human, old fashioned at that, and the event horizon was active, crackling with a curious, scarlet energy.

Weakly, Green Lantern explained. “It’s an Erdel Gate, the Global Peace Agency had one back at Science City Zero*. J’onn uploaded the schematics into my brain and made me build it…”


“Saul Erdel was the scientist who dragged J’onn to Earth. So is that… a portal to Mars?”

“Yeah, and it’s where we’ve been dragging the villains J’onn-- if it truly is J’onn-- sent us after.”

Kord pulled out a small sphere, no bigger than a marble, from his belt and rolled it through the event horizon. The portal swallowed it, an odd gulping sound popping around them as it went, then Kord checked the small handheld pad he kept strapped to his side. “Breathable atmosphere. Temperature normal. All regulated artificially. I’m going through. Whatever’s… I need to go through.”

“Where are the others? Where’s our team? The last twenty-four hours are blurry.”

“‘J’onn’ has fractured us. Cyborg and Guardian are outside, but they’ll be fine.”

Nodding in understanding, Green Lantern surrounded Blue Beetle and himself in a protective shield. “Right. We’ll go through.”

The two men stepped through and emerged in a cavernous chamber that seemed to be carved into the centre of a blood-red mountain. Behind them was another Erdel Gate-- presumably to allow for a return trip-- constructed out of more scraps. Ted recognised the logo of NASA scratched out in places, where the metal plating had been, he assumed, stripped from the rovers and ships sent to explore this long-dead world of Mars.

The walls that reached higher than the enormous heights of the Justice League’s island headquarters were lined with pictographs, alien hieroglyphs, but smack dab in the centre of the chamber the duo could see all the fire-wielding villains the Justice League had arrested trussed up across an enormous monolith.

Tendrils of what looked like grimy, green organic material threaded into their heads at the temples, blood trailing down their cheeks as they were suspended there, completely immobile.

“Are they alive?”

Green Lantern scanned them with his ring and nodded slowly. “Yeah. Low electrical activity in the brain though, like they’re in some kind of suspended animation.” He grimaced. “I’m putting out a distress call to--”

“Hold that thought.”

John screamed as sparks of emerald energy flew from his open mouth, nose and ears. He keeled over, completely ravaged, as the Martian Manhunter emerged through the event horizon of the portal.

“You could have just fallen in line, Ted. Why did you have to send me on a wild-goose chase?”

Blue Beetle backed up, but an elongated Martian limb whipped out from J’onn’s body and wrapped itself around his torso. He yelped, unable to break free as the liquid flesh of the Manhunter went rock solid and raised him up above the ground.

“And not only that, you’ve been resisting. Ever since I arrived, my friends and I have been broadcasting a worldwide psychic signal suggesting that everyone just ignore any inconsistencies between my actions and his. Who would ever know the difference between the Martian Manhunter and his one-time quarry?”

Admission-- he wasn’t J’onn J’onzz. But with that admission came the gut punch of terror. Ted didn’t know how he’d resisted so far, but he’d initiated a plan to give the rest of his team a fighting chance… but he was at the mercy of a monster, and monsters tended not to dole such a thing out…

There was a glint in not-J’onn’s eye. Something eager and malicious. In his spare hand was his Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth, and he began to stretch that limb over toward Green Lantern, another arm sprouting out of his wrist so that he could manipulate the mythical rope at the same time as he assaulted Blue Beetle.

Ted began to talk. It was his only superpower, if you could call it that, and at this point it was all he had left. “You’re-- not-- J’onn. You look like him, but you’re not him. All the same powers though. So, what, you’re a clone? We got plenty of those running around right now. I can add you to the list!”

The list was longer than it had any right to be-- Jason Burr had been released from custody after his exact clone claimed responsibility for the actions of Lord Naga, leader of Kobra*.


And then there was ‘Cobalt Blue’, imprisoned in Iron Heights, wearing the face of the Flash*… not that Ted could remember the secret identity of the Flash, which was strange… he felt like that was something he once--


--he felt a rib pop in his chest and cried out as the grip of the Martian Manhunter intensified.

“I never understood why J’onn found you all so fascinating. Stuck on this flabby, cancer-ridden mud hole for decades due to the ignorance of your people, witness to all the atrocities you’re capable of, and yet he loves you. That’s the difference between him and I. Where he sees the capacity for love, I see your capacity for evil-- for madness. And I thrive on it.”

“Oh, no.” Even with resistance to the psychic attacks of the Martian Manhunter, Beetle began to feel the steady, alien throb of the Martian Manhunter imposter’s psychic attack pressing against him. The internal pressure inside his skull was growing. “You’re-- you’re not a clone.”

“Nothing so overwrought and overdone. I wore his face to get my foot in the door, so I could begin picking you apart from the brain out. And I’m going to wear it as I gut the world. You understand, don’t you? You understand now, more than ever?”

The Martian’s body fractured and extended, smooth, rolling emerald flesh hardening into shards, skin becoming something harder. His face twisted, so that the stoic expression J’onn J’onzz would usually wear was now something so much sinister.

“If my brother was the Manhunter, then I was the Manhunted. Last time I was free, I murdered an entire world. My name is Ma'alefa'ak. I’m the last monster of Mars and I’m going to destroy your world.”

Without a word, a barely conscious Green Lantern fired off a shot that shredded Ma'alefa'ak’s limb in half, allowing Blue Beetle to fall to the ground. He landed hard and rushed toward Lantern, but John was already screaming, his ring strobing concussive blasts at his own head at the rogue Martian’s psychic command.

Kord made a beeline for the Erdel Gate. He had to warn someone. Everything might already be lost, but he had to try. He reached the gate but Ma'alefa'ak pushed the full force of his psychic immensity into the hero’s brain, and he fell through the portal screaming as his consciousness started to leak out of his ears.

Landing in Cargo Bay 12, Kord looked at the wrist-mounted teleport device he’d hastily constructed, found it had a charge, and triggered it, but he didn’t get far. Arriving in the meeting room of the Justice League, Blue Beetle staggered forward, thoughts fading from his brain. He felt lightheaded and every second that passed it got worse and worse, until all he could think to do was fall, to slump over the meeting table and then lay there, staring out across the oceans as they crashed outside the window that made up the majority of the far wall.

And then everything faded to black as Ma'alefa'ak stood over him victoriously.


NEXT ISSUE: What’s left of the Justice League must come together after Blue Beetle’s sacrifice to figure out just what’s happened on Laputa, as Cyborg and the Guardian find themselves unknowingly trapped on the island with the cause of their recent hardships! All this, and the return of an old face who seemingly knows more than he’s letting on about a certain situation brewing just beneath the surface! Will they make it out of this situation in one piece? FIND OUT NEXT MONTH!