#30: Black Colossus, Pt. 3 (HoM / Rimmer)

“Mr President. My name is Lord Havok, and I’ve come into your Oval Office without an invitation. How rude of me.” Lord Havok grinned as President Jeb Stuart finished entering the room, and his smile broadened as his Secret Service detail brought up their weapons and fired. “That will not work,” he said, as the bullets hit the bullet-proof window behind him, and tore through the President’s desk. He stood up from the chair he was sitting in mere moments before, and looked at the chunks of stuffing that had been sprayed outwards. “I am not exactly here, to be honest. I am in your mind. All your minds. Each world we visit, our powers increase. Gorgon can reach across the world to plant his seeds of malicious thought, Doctor Diehard can flex the magnetic ley lines that hold the world together, and Meanstreak can burn through Kryptonian flesh like it was nothing. Distance holds no impediment to our--”

“What do you want?” snapped Stuart. “You’ve not worked your way ‘into our heads’ or whatever it is for the sheer glee you get out of it! Say your piece or get the hell out of my house!”

“Oh, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking about Checkmate shutting this place down, maybe trapping my projected consciousness in a box somewhere. Let me tell you this, Mr President--” Havok looked to one of the Secret Service detail, and clicked his fingers. The special agent grabbed Stuart by the neck, and pushed him against the wall. The agent’s eyes were wide and manic, unable to control his own actions. “--I am in control.”

“President... I... can’t...” The man arched his head toward another one of the agents. “Kiiiill meeee...”

“No!” shouted Stuart, but a gunshot echoed out instantly, and the agent fell to the floor. Stuart held his neck, and then pointed a finger at the other agents. “Throw your weapons away!” The men did so, and then Stuart turned back to Havok. “What do you want?”

“This world, writhing and bursting under my heel as I push down, crying out for sweet release but never being granted anything like it.”

“That’s not going to happen,” replied Stuart. “You can’t possibly think--”

“I can think anything I want,” said Havok, stepping silently toward the President. “I can think about you dying. Suffering. Bleeding. I can think about your brain oozing out of your nose like water. I can think these things because I am the villain here. And your heroes do not stand a chance.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Stuart. “The Justice League will stop you.”

“Ahaha!” Havok’s hand grabbed Stuart’s shoulder, and the President nearly screamed as his consciousness was dragged across the world, and into a dark room. He was suddenly standing in the shadows between Havok and Gorgon, the tentacle-headed psychic grinning mischeviously as he looked down at a twisted metal chair that held the body of... Aquaman. Behind Aquaman was... another Lord Havok, and this one had the Atlantean’s head held in his gauntleted hands. “I have brought you here as a mental projection to see that we have laid the Justice League low. We have them trapped and running around like scared children. Aquaman will die soon. And then--”

President Stuart vanished. Lord Havok looked at Gorgon, and then Gorgon looked over to the physical body of Lord Havok as the psychic projection he was creating snapped back into being. Lord Havok looked up from Aquaman, and then cleared his throat. “Where is the American President?”

“I don’t know, Lord Havok,” replied Gorgon, as he pressed his stubby fingers to his head and allowed his tentacles to writhe about in midair, sending out psychic emanations across the world. “I’ve lost him, is what I’ve done. He’s gone. I can’t touch him.”

Havok looked down at Aquaman, still trapped in the torture chair, still having his mind led through a thousand horrific fantasies of Lord Havok’s own creation and imagination. “I wonder what could possibly snap away at your power like that, Gorgon? No matter, precautions are in place. You hear that, Aquaman?” Aquaman said nothing, his eyes wide and unblinking, tears streaming down his face. “Precautions. You are trapped here, paralysed, slowly being driven to the brink. And I have the Black Colossus set for ignition. And you know what the Justice League do not know?” Lord Havok leaned in close to his prisoner, and laughed. “There is more than one.”



“For those of you coming in late, The Construct was created by a colleague of mine who went by the name Blue Jay. He was hoping to make the world a better place, but as these things are wont to do, The Construct evolved and escaped-- travelled from reality to reality and brought nothing but destruction in its wake. We only just discovered that The Construct was working for a higher purpose than previously thought--” Captain Speed shook his head slowly, as the rest of the Justice League looked on from around Blue Beetle’s Midway City lab, “--Lord Havok and his Extremists. You’ve met them already, I suppose?”

Superman rubbed his jaw uncomfortably. “We barely got out with our lives. We were unprepared. We won’t make that mistake again.”

Silver Sorceress continued the tale, “They were terrorists. One hundred strong. They stole a bomb and we hoped to stop them before they planted and detonated it, but we were too late-- we were barely able to get clear before the explosion engulfed their entire compound. We had tracked them down to their home base, fought our way inside, and Havok-- though that was not his name back then-- simply smiled and triggered the mechanism.”

“I tore through the higher speed levels I was capable of hitting and evacuated the Ultimate Squadron of America before it was too late. The blast was contained, and we thought them all dead, but the Extremists... were changed. The bomb was never intended to be used in a city, not at first. It changed them on a base genetic level. We don’t know to what extent, because they went underground, and when we caught wind of them again... they’d left our world to set up shop in another one across the multiverse. And by the time we reached that world, we realised what had happened...”

“They were conquering. Something was leading them from world to world, looking for planets with potential for what they needed. Fuel for their journey and societies to conquer. We were distracted in our quest to bring an end to Havok’s villainy by The Construct’s machinations on this world, and by that time, the trail had gone cold. Until now.”

“Welcome back,” said The Flash, shaking his head. “We need to get back out there. They’ve got GL, Aquaman and Manhunter. I’m worried. We need to stop them.”

“We will,” said Wonder Woman. “Atom, your device, is it operational?”

The Atom nodded. “This thing will take us to their magnokinetic. Doctor Diehard, right? That’s a lead.”

“Let’s go then,” said Animal Man. “We’ve got Leaguers to rescue.”



Green Lantern was fighting for his life. Shapes and sound swirled around him, and his ring battled unknown energy to keep his emerald forcefield up, and him alive. Images flashed before Hal Jordan’s eyes, horrific faces, wounds in time and space and reality that sapped at his willpower, and finally, after closing his eyes and realising that he could still see-- he opened them, and grunted. “Whhherrrrreeeeeeeeee--”

Location unknown.

“You’re in my world now, Green Lantern!” said a vicious voice, and suddenly Hal Jordan was punched hard in the head, sending him flying backwards, unable to get his bearings. “The world of Dreamslayer, the world of living nightmares and eternal pain!” The creature was vaguely humanoid-- a large, imposing body that bled into reality around the edges, and a gaping maw for a head that split off and pulsated along with this new reality that Green Lantern had found himself inside. Dark lights flashed around the event horizon of Dreamslayer’s head, and his long, thin fingers beckoned Jordan forward.

“Rrrrrrrriiiiighhhhhtttttt,” drawled Green Lantern, existence shifting in and about him as he fought to find equilibrium. “LikeI’venotheardthaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatbeffffoorrrreeeeeeeee.”

His ring spluttered and coughed, energy spewing everywhere, but then it ceased-- and Green Lantern turned his head slowly. “All it takes is a bit of concentration. A bit of willpower. Come on then, you ugly sonofabitch, come on and fight me!”



Doctor Diehard’s hands were shaking as he went to work. Lord Havok’s instructions were clear: Rebuild the device that would put society as this world knew it under the heel of the Extremists; but he had an ulterior motive-- the feeling of complete control over the electromagnetic sphere that covered this world after he was caught in the blowback from the Black Colossus’s detonation. If he could harness that...

“... thinking dark and naughty thoughts, Doctor?” hissed Gorgon, entering the large chamber that they were working inside. “I hear your evil ideas lick and slather in this place. I know you’re up to no good.”

“Be quiet, Gorgon,” snapped Diehard. “My thoughts are mine and mine alone. The Justice League still roam the world, we should be on our guard!”

“We are, are we not? Tracer’s instincts on these things are above and beyond, and my own tentacles are sliding outward, searching for minds to seed with eggs of my own psyche. Delicious.”

“Such a shame you can’t lay them in mine then, isn’t it?” replied Diehard. “Where is Lord Havok?”

“Playing his games with their Aquaman. He’s introducing him to the concept of pain. And Dreamslayer still roams the netherways of his realm, with that... Green Lantern. How comes the Colossus?”

“Soon we shall be ready to leave this place. As soon as Lord Havok has finished his games, we shall move on. Even now, The Construct hollows out another society, unbeknownst to them.”

“And what of the other Extremists?” asked Gorgon. “Are they prepared?”

Diehard smiled. “Yes. When the time is right, they shall rise up, and we shall drag this world down to the brink.”



The Justice League were standing on the outskirts of the city of Paris, having been led right there by the device The Atom and Doctor Light had constructed.

“They’re beneath the city,” said The Atom, as he sat perched on Hawkman’s shoulder, the Thanagarian holding the device up for him to see. “Beneath the-... Oh, come on, seriously?”

“They’re beneath the Eiffel Tower, aren’t they?” said Blue Beetle. “Because they may be very evil, but they’re still very cliched?”

“Yes,” said Palmer, “Doctor Diehard is beneath the Eiffel Tower, so we need to tread carefully.”

“Begin evacuation,” said Wonder Woman; Superman, Captain Speed and The Flash nodding at the order, vanishing in a burst of light. They would evacuate the immediate area, clearing the way for the Justice League to do their jobs, and then, when the time was right, they would move in-- and fight for their teammates!



Gorgon’s eyes opened wide. “They’re gone!”

“What?” asked Diehard, looking up from his work.

“I had my thoughts ticking away in the minds of all these dirty little Frenchmen, and now they’re gone-- I didn’t adjust for their sudden... lack of being; there’s no one in the city!”

“The Justice League are here,” said Lord Havok, as he walked out of his workshop. “Bring the Extremists through.”

“Of course, Lord Havok.” Diehard nodded, and held his hands high, drawing them down and slitting open reality. A group of men stepped through, animal grins on their mouths.

“Extremists,” said Havok, “prepare to fight in our names.” Havok turned to the largest of the new arrivals, and spoke softly for the first time. “Brute,” he said, as the seething pile of red scar tissue breathed in and out, “you are to guard our prisoner.” He motioned behind him, to the workshop that Aquaman was in. “Let no one pass.”

“Offffff courrrrrseeeee,” wheezed Brute, his muscles bubbling inside his muscular frame. His body seemed to quiver with untold potential energy, muscles forming again and again beneath his skin, pushing up and causing him untold amounts of pain. He grinned; sharp, yellow teeth bared. “Noooooo onnnnne.”

Havok smiled. “Cloudburst! Death Angel! Gunshot! You’re with the rest of us. Prepare for battle. Give no quarter. Kill them all.”



“Lord Havok!” boomed Superman, floating with his arms crossed above the French capital. “Surrender, or face the consequences!” Behind him floated Wonder Woman, her lasso held taut, Firestorm, Doctor Light, and Hawkman (with The Atom riding on his shoulder); whilst on the floor, The Flash and Captain Speed stood ready near Silver Sorceress and Animal Man. Batman and Blue Beetle lurked somewhere though no one could see them, and they were ready-- waiting for any movement to tip them off to the Extremists...

“Superman, so brave, so noble,” Lord Havok shimmered into view, flanked by the Extremists. “But so cowardly. So craven. I am going to enjoy raping this planet. But first-- Meanstreak?”

The sky above Paris began to shift in colour-- from blue to a sickly green, and Superman’s eyes widened as the pit of his stomach tied itself into knots. His concentration wavered, his ability to fly suddenly seemed to vanish, and he crashed to the floor, clutching his skull. “Naaaarrghhhhh--!”

“Kryptonite skies,” said Havok, as his team began to surge forward. “You are not the only team in this world that is powerful enough to topple nations, Justice League! And we will show you why we deserve to kill you all. Right now.”

Rain began to fall as Cloudburst activated her powers, and each droplet seared against Superman’s skin, the condensation infused with kryptonite energy. Firestorm stepped up and blue energy began to swirl and glow around his finger tips, and he threw it up into the sky-- only for Meanstreak to make a beeline for him. A shimmering Doctor Diehard grinned as the Eiffel Tower was torn from its moorings and catapulted toward the Leaguers-- and that was it, the battle was on, and the Extremists were at the throats of the Justice League!

The Silver Sorceress whispered a spell, the air becoming solid on a whim, whilst Doctor Light projected a massive pair of hard-light gloves, and between them they caught the Eiffel Tower, the national monument hovering in mid-air. “Sorceress,” said Doctor Light, looking over to her extra-dimensional comrade, “teleport it away. I don’t want the League blamed for damaging another landmark during our battles!”

“On it,” said the Sorceress, casting a spell that made the tower vanish. “Now, about our enemies...”

Wonder Woman darted for Meanstreak, a grim look on her face. Energy swirled around the villainess’s hands, and she attempted to blow the Amazon out of the sky, but the Queen of Theymscira barreled around the blasts, dodging each discharge until she reached Meanstreak herself. “I would have words with you.”

“Yeah, and-- gnnn-- I’ve got some-- gahhh-- words for you!” shrieked Meanstreak, just as Cloudburst threw a bolt of lightning at Wonder Woman, sending the Amazon plummeting down. “Cloudburst,” hissed Meanstreak, “she was mine!”

Cloudburst shook her head. “Yeah, she ain’t dead yet, ‘Streak!”

Lord Havok walked over to Superman’s writhing body, and he turned just as The Flash and Captain Speed hurtled his way. He threw his arms out at the last moment. He smiled beneath his helmet, and then turned his attention back to the weakened Superman. “No one knows what my powers are. Not even my own team.” He ground his foot into Superman’s temple, and watched as the Kryptonian’s face pushed into the shattering concrete pavement. “I am insanely clever.” Captain Speed pulled himself up from the floor, and threw a punch-- only for Havok to block it with his armoured gauntlet. “Oh, Captain. You cannot touch me unless I allow you to.”

“Hfff--” Superman’s eyes blazed red and Havok howled in pain as his armour began to heat up, “--Allow this.” Superman surged up, even as his skin grew paler and paler due to radiation poisoning, and punched Havok in the face, sending the villain skittering across the street.

Lord Havok pulled himself back up and then shook his head. “Meanstreak! Kill Superman!”

The villainess grinned. “It would be my pleasure!”

Firestorm rubbed his hands together; all the while Martin Stein made equations inside the Matrix that Ronnie Raymon and he shared-- “I know what we’re going to have to do!”

“Yeah?” asked Firestorm, dodging Meanstreak’s blasts.

“Allow me...” Ronnie felt information funnel into his mind, and a smile formed on his lips. He blasted energy into the green clouds above Paris that were throwing radioactive rain down upon them, and watched as they billowed up in size, the emerald shade fading as they grew larger. Rain still hurtled, but it was back to normal

“Superman should be alright now, right? Transmuted the Kryptonite into H₂O, easy as-”

“Head in the game, Ronnie!” said Stein, as Firestorm dodged another blast.

Lord Havok pressed a button on his wrist and a horrific sound emanated throughout the city. Superman covered his ears, and the others looked at Havok-- the Extremists as well-- as he began to applaud. “You really think that we would come this far just to enter into a fracas with you? Doctor?” Havok turned to Doctor Diehard, and the villain nodded, and vanished. “I have had electromagnetic copies of our dear Doctor travelling across the world whilst we battled for only a short few minutes, setting up engines of ultimate destruction and escape in all the world’s capitals.”

“Is he saying we’ve been played?” asked Animal Man, mainlining the strength of a gorilla, squaring off against Tracer.

“A mere precaution if your world was not viable, Justice Leaguer. And it is not. Thank yourselves for that. If you had simply died when I wanted you to, then I would rule this world, and, for the most part, no one would die. I will destroy you all. And ride the shockwave to the next Earth across the multiverse.”

“That’s not going to happen,” said Superman. “We’ll stop you.”

“How?” Havok laughed. “This is fun. You really think you can stop me. You were always going to come up against a superior force, Superman. Be it now, or in the future, it was inevitable. I’m just saving you the trouble.”

“Really?” asked Wonder Woman, a wry smile on her lips. “Flash. Captain. Go.”

The Flash looked at Captain Speed, and the two speedsters nodded. “Atom!” called The Flash, and he watched as Hawkman landed beside him, The Atom riding shotgun on his shoulder. Barry Allen lifted the side of his mask and tapped his ear, and Ray Palmer leaped inside, and then the speedsters were off. Superman followed, as did Wonder Woman, leaving the Extremists facing Animal Man, Hawkman, Firestorm, Silver Sorceress and Doctor Light. The League was suddenly outnumbered-- but they didn’t care.

“Lord Havok,” whispered Gorgon, “they go to dismantle the devices, they’re going to stop the ignition!”

“It does not matter,” said Havok, “they cannot stop us in time. They have no way of... knowing...” Lord Havok’s eyes opened wide beneath his helmet. “The device they used to track Doctor Diehard here. Heh. I misjudged them. We have left a trail to each of the devices.”



Dreamslayer’s dimension shifted as the villain moved, horrific visions striking Green Lantern straight in the brain, causing the pilot to reel with the punches in a way he’d never done before-- his ring was charged, his willpower was right and true, but he couldn’t focus it, he couldn’t make the connection from mind to ring, and it was killing him. His forcefield fluctuated madly, and every time it did he felt another lashing of interdimensional energy fill his being, making him vomit his soul out. “Godddddd--!” He needed to focus, he needed to find his centre, and he was failing... unless... unless...

Dreamslayer laughed, and the dimension vibrated with each passing guffaw. “You’re pathetic! Ha! Feel your nightmares come to life! Let your mind slip away! You’re no match for me, Green Lantern! You never are!”

Hal Jordan gritted his teeth, and focused his willpower on the centre of his ring. And then he dropped his forcefield, and smiled. Dreamslayer’s eyes opened wide. “What?”

“The harder I think, the harder it is to think. The harder I fight against you, the more power you’re gaining. I’ve noticed. I’m smart.” Hal Jordan brought up his ring, and tilted his head to the side. “Here’s the thing,” he fired a fleet of bolos out of his ring, and they swung around Dreamslayer’s limbs, strapping them tight to his sides, “you’re making my every movement pain. The harder I think to fight you, the harder it is to fight you. So I’ve just switched around some default settings on my ring, like a kid would do on a game controller. Easy as. And now I’m thinking about... running away from you...” The bolos tightened around Dreamslayer’s body, and he howled in pain. “Now I’m thinking about how scary that little spatial distortion that’s made its home in your head is.” A beam shot out from Green Lantern’s ring, and created a sphere around Dreamslayer’s face, solid and unescapable. “And now... I’m not going home.”

FFFFFZAAACK!

[/center]



Brute entered the torture parlour where Aquaman was strapped down. He wheezed as he bent over, sniffing the hair of the King of the Oceans. He prodded the immobile body of Arthur Curry, and then sniggered, before two people cleared their throats behind him.

“You are one ugly mama-jama.”

“Whhhhhho?” snarled the monstrosity.

“Well, I’m Blue Beetle, and tall, dark and silent over there? That’s Batman. We’re here to break your face open.” Ted Kord grinned. “You ready?”

“Killllll!” Brute careened toward the two vigilantes, and they somersaulted out of the way, and landed behind Aquaman.

Batman pulled an explosive charge from his belt, and slammed it into the wall. “You’re dumb and you’re stupid. Blue Beetle and I just spent the better half of an hour placing mines in the Parisian sewer system. Boom.”

Batman and Blue Beetle pulled on breathing apparatus and then dove out of the way of the explosive device, pulling a trigger as they found cover-- and then, on cue, a series of explosions suddenly echoed out beneath the city. Brute’s head swung left to right, not knowing where the sound was coming from, and then his eyes fixed onto what Batman had attached to the wall, and they opened wide-- the wall imploded, and suddenly a torrent of water flooded through! Aquaman, Batman, Blue Beetle and Brute were caught in the pull of the sudden influx of river water, and washed beneath the city, until Blue Beetle triggered a secondary explosion that sealed the tunnel-- and they washed up inside an underground reservoir.

Blue Beetle removed his breathing apparatus and breathed in the warm, damp air. “Crikey. Not our best plan.”

“I’ve done worse,” replied Batman. “Now, where’s--?”

Brute rose up behind them, seething with rage. “Yoooou makkeeee meeee angry!”

“Your point?” A mighty blow sent Brute sprawling forward, and Ted Kord and Dick Grayson turned to see Aquaman breathing in deeply, his wounds healed, his strength returned. “Get up so I can hit you again!” growled the King of the Seas as he hurtled forward into the monster, and began pummelling him.

“OK, sound plan,” said Blue Beetle, “but we’ve got more important things to be thinking of. What about the League?”

Aquaman turned to the others, his hands damp with Brute’s blood. “They can handle the Extremists. But their leader-- Havok-- he’s got a secondary plan in place. The Black Colossus isn’t a singular-- it’s a plural. More of these devices are lying in wait, and we have to stop them!”



The Atom was working overtime. Captain Speed had carried the hastily-constructed device back to the Justice League’s base, The Flash had carried Ray there, and he was working his ass off, tracing the energy trails that came with Doctor Diehard’s presence on Earth. The electromagnetic field of the world shifted in his wake, and it seemed that his electromagnetic doubles caused the same distortion-- he beamed the locations to the runners out on the field, and prayed he was doing enough.



Tracer slashed and tore at Animal Man, but the hero dodged each strike with the speed of a cheetah and the agility of a gazelle. “You’re not very good at this,” said Buddy Baker.

“You’re nothing but meat, that’s what you are,” hissed Tracer, but Animal Man leaped over his head, and grabbed him by the shoulders, using the strength of a silverback gorilla to send him flying toward--

“Hawkman!” Who on instinct alone swung his mace back, and then forward, straight into the face of the villain, sending him falling to the floor in a bloody, unconscious wreck.

“I owed you that,” said the Hawk Knight to the unconscious form of Tracer, before turning his attention back to Death Angel, whose sparkling claws had drawn Katar Hol’s attention earlier. “I think I should try and reason with you,” he said, “because I don’t do that enough, I’ve been told. So, please, don’t fight me. Don’t make me hurt you.”

“Punk-ass super-cop!” snarled Death Angel, sprinting toward the Thanagarian. “You ain’t gonna take me down! I’m an Extremist! I’m gonna kill you!”

“I tried.” Hawkman lifted up off the ground just as Death Angel made her approach, and kicked her in the back of the head, sending her spiralling in front of--

“Silver Sorceress, if you would be so kind?” The interdimensional magic user smiled and blasted Death Angel through a wall, and then lifted herself up into the air and out of range of Gunfire, who was firing energy bolts from his weapons right at Doctor Light and herself. She was throwing up shields, but his barrage was intense, and she was unable to get a clean shot, until--

Firestorm transmuted the air around him into solid titanium, and his weapons into water. “This is more like it!” he said, turning his attention to Meanstreak, Gorgon, Cloudburst and Lord Havok, who were stood ready for their attackers.

“I advise you surrender,” said Hawkman, levelling his mace at the Extremists, “though I wouldn’t mind making this hard for you.”

“Oh, please, Hawkman, your bravado is too much, besides... any moment now--” said Havok, and then, as if on cue, Superman, The Flash, Captain Speed and Wonder Woman appeared, worn out, but pleased with themselves. “--I am having so much fun today, are you not?”

“Your devices are destroyed, Havok,” said Superman, “you’re under arrest.”

“Of course,” said Havok, putting up his hands. “We surrender. Put us on trial.”

“What?” muttered Animal Man, confused. “I don’t...”

“We are murderers, after all. Vandals. Sadists.” Havok was smiling as Firestorm transmuted the air around his wrists into the densest metal he could think of.”

“Take off your helmet,” said the Silver Sorceress. “Now.”

Havok laughed. “Even now, after all this time, you want to see my face? You would give me some of the lewdest ideas, Laura.”

“I want to see the face of the man who has slaughtered countless billions!” shouted the Sorceress.

“This is too easy,” Buddy Baker said to Katar Hol, who nodded in agreement. “They’ve had us dead to rights countless times. Why now? What’s going on?”

Lord Havok pressed a button on his helm, and Wonder Woman held Silver Sorceress back. “Careful,” said the Amazon, “something isn’t right.”

Lord Havok leaned back, and pulled the hissing mask away from his face. Doctor Light’s eyes opened wide. “...Chikusho.”

Havok’s face was a mess of what appeared to be brain matter, small, black eyes bulging out from between impossible lobes, no mouth present, no nose, just unadulterated brain, and Superman shook his head, horrified. “Your body... is all brain matter.”

Lord Havok tapped the armour in front of his throat, drawing Superman’s attention to an artificial voice box. “My super power is my brain. My brain is my body. I have a thousand new ideas every second, Superman. New plans. New contingencies.”

“So what’s his contingency for this?” asked The Flash. “He’s killed J’onn, GL, what now?”

“This isn’t the full complement of the Extremists!” said Captain Speed. “Where’s--”

There was a massive explosion of light, and the Leaguers covered their eyes. The shackles around Lord Havok’s wrists dissolved thanks to a small apparatus in his gloves, and he laughed as he pulled his mask back on. “Better. Your return is most fortuitous, Dreamslayer. I calculated that--”

“Bite me,” Hal Jordan shimmered into existence, and he punched Lord Havok in the face, and sealed the Extremists up in opaque, emerald globes. Dreamslayer lay at the Green Lantern’s feet, wrapped up nice and tight. “I need a beer, Hawkman, you and me, when we’re done?”

Hawkman grinned. “I would be most honoured.”

Superman patted Green Lantern on the back. “We thought you were dead!”

“Did you cry?” asked Hal, looking at Diana, a wink in his eye. “No. No, I was shunted into another dimension by that Dreamslayer sonofabitch. Took me a while to get my bearings and to think my way out of it. But I’m here now. Where’s Batman and Aquaman? And you said-... Where’s J’onn? What did they do?”

“J’onn vanished, Aquaman was taken with them, and Batman and Blue Beetle went to find him.”



Aquaman, Batman and Blue Beetle rushed through the catacombs until they found the Extremists’ base, and began to search for the Black Colossus. “From what I’ve been able to gather,” said Arthur, “it’s the device they’ve been using to transport from dimension to dimension, an engine that strips the planet clean of every resource and uses it to propel them forward. They’ve destroyed countless worlds like this, and ours is next on the list.”

“But what if it’s not here?” asked Blue Beetle, “I don’t have any time to build something capable of tracking that down too-- What about Palmer’s device?”

“Good idea.” Arthur closed his eyes, and concentrated.



Ray Palmer breathed a sigh of relief.

And then heard a noise.

“What?”

He looked out of the window, to where he could see the waves lap at the outer shell of the Justice League headquarters. Then, suddenly, the same noise, and he saw the culprit-- a dolphin was throwing itself against the wall.

“Why in...” The dolphin was looking him straight in the eye. And nodding. “...Oh.”

Ray removed the psychic blocker from his temple and then heard Arthur Curry’s voice in his mind. Ray! The device you built-- There’s more than one of the Black Colossus devices! We need to find them!

You’re alive! That can wait-- sorry-- We’ve tracked down the devices they planted in every capital city-- but... they were funnels, not... I can try and... I’ll do it... let me... Ray’s thoughts trailed off, and then snapped back. I’ve intensified the search parameters! We were following Doctor Diehard’s electromagnetic wake, and I’m looking again, and there’s a weird... echo... near your location. A massive concentration of electromagnetic interference, but almost like there are two causes. I don’t know... you’ll have to investigate yourself, I can’t be sure!

We’re on it, was Aquaman’s reply.



“You found me out.” Blue Beetle brought up his BB Gun and fired a salvo at the darkness, blue energy crackling and illuminating the darker recesses of the catacombs that the Extremists had set themselves up inside. “You found me out, are you going to tell on me?” Doctor Diehard stepped forward, and smiled. “Ever since I set foot on this world, something changed. I was the last one through the hole ripped open by the Black Colossus. And I was caught in the shockwave that sent us hurtling here. You felt my presence. My being here sent this world into seizures. It was beautiful to wield that power...”

“Any idea on what to do?” whispered Batman.

“Punch him till he drops?” offered Blue Beetle.

“Might not be a bad idea,” replied Aquaman.

“... But I need more. It’s almost like... a drug. And I want more of it, and I want more of it now. So you know what I’ve done? And inevitably Lord Havok knows, because that... that bastard Gorgon... wanders in your mind and plucks thoughts out to share with his master... and Lord Havok doesn’t care, he wants me to do this...” Diehard wasn’t walking forward, he was floating on air, and his eyes crackled, and his very presence seemed to cause the air to distort and bend around him.

Items that weren’t bolted down were now hovering, and Batman suddenly felt very lighter. He turned to Aquaman. “His power is escalating.”

Aquaman nodded. “Superman!” he shouted, and then, suddenly, where once the ceiling was dull and covered in stone, the sky was blue, and Doctor Diehard was nowhere to be seen.

Blue Beetle looked up at the hastily-made hole in the ceiling, and saw the Justice League up above. “What just happened?”

“I called for help,” said Aquaman, grabbing Blue Beetle and Batman and leaping up out of the hole.

“Superman just took Doctor Diehard and flew up into--” Hawkman watched as Superman was punched in the face high above the city with the collective electromagnetic force of the planet, and a massive earthquake shook the very ground they stood on. “Oh, no.”

Doctor Diehard held Superman by the cape, and floated back to Earth. The buildings all around seemed to flex at his presence, and Wonder Woman had her hand down by her hip, signalling the League to stay back.

“So I incorporated the Black Colossus principle inside myself. I’m going to detonate and take all that energy and funnel it into myself. Your world will die, I will be reborn, and I’ll move from world to world, a living god.”

“Did he just say he was going to blow himself up and then be a ‘living’ god?” whispered Animal Man.

“Sounds like it, AM. Are you as a-tingle as I am?” replied Blue Beetle.

“Madness,” said Animal Man.

Doctor Diehard’s chest began to glow. The air around him began to crackle, and the Justice League watched as the villain began to laugh. “You can’t stop me, Justice League!”

Doctor Light shook her head. “Yes we can.” She threw up her arms and surrounded Doctor Diehard in a perfect hardlight sphere. “He’s trying to detonate the world with his magnetic powers? Well magnets can’t bend light, not like this-- Green Lantern--” She looked over to Hal Jordan, “--I need you to help me contain him, we can keep the detonation to a small area, but it’s going to take all our power!”

Green Lantern dropped the spheres containing the Extremists, and Firestorm encased them in a super-strong prison. The Green Lantern concentrated all his energy on reinforcing Doctor Light’s sphere, and then the rest of the Leaguers began to help-- Silver Sorceress threw up a shield comprised of all the elements around Green Lantern’s own, Firestorm covered that in an unbreakable shell, and Wonder Woman’s lasso held it all together. The sphere shook-- and Doctor Light dropped to her knees, but Blue Beetle held onto her tightly. “You can do this,” he whispered. “Just concentrate, you can do this.”

Lord Havok laughed from inside the prison he and the Extremists were inside. “What’s so funny, Havok?” asked Gorgon. “They took us apart once we lost the element of surprise, and now we’re their prisoners.”

“Next time, we will not lose the element of surprise.”

Gorgon shook his head, his tentacles weaving about the place. “But they’ve got us! We can’t escape!”

“You think me that stupid?”

No, I know you are.

Lord Havok spun around and glared at Gorgon, but the telepathic villain put up his hands. “What?! I didn’t--”

“A telepath-- the Martian! We did not kill the Martian!” Lord Havok’s armour began to power up. The Martian Manhunter was the only real threat to his plans-- an unstoppable force, put down, he had thought, by the efforts of Meanstreak. But... had he forgotten? “How... how did we forget?”

J’onn J’onzz drifted inside the emerald prison of the Extremists. I thought about it. And you forgot. You’re not the brain you thought you were.

“How dare you--?” started Havok, firing off a blast that would have destroyed J’onn-- if he was truly there-- “He’s an illusion! He’s in our minds!”

Not so stupid now, said the mental projection of J’onn that the Martian was sending into their minds, I subliminally fed the Justice League information. I cut you off from the President. I saved Aquaman’s mind from your machinations. You are no longer a threat, Lord Havok.

Lord Havok grinned. “You think?”

The world went silent for a moment as Superman watched. The shields thrown up crumpled inwardly, and there was a loud popping sound. “He’s gone! The blast was contained, but he’s still gone!”

You think you’re untouchable? Lord Havok began to shimmer as his molecules shifted and shook. The Extremists were beginning to bend out of reality, but J’onn could still touch them with his mind. You pride yourself on your brain. So, Lord Havok, as you show no remorse over your actions-- J’onn clicked his fingers, and Havok screamed, clutching his head. J’onn faded from view, as did the Extremists, and then--

“Interesting,” said Blue Beetle. “Sounds like the Extremists were using sheer overkill to move from one planet to the other, they only needed the smallest spark to travel across dimensions... Do we still have some of that tech? I’ve been doing some major research on this field, and I’ve been wanting to get my hands on some tech to see if the principles are the same... I wouldn’t mind having a closer look.”

Superman glanced at the prison where the Extremists were held, and looked inside with his X-ray vision. “No, dammit. Lord Havok has gone too! We’ve lost them all!”

Batman grimaced. “He must have known, just like Diehard said. He added that into his plans, and somehow tied Diehard’s machinations to his own. A back door in case all else failed.”

“We barely stopped them,” said Aquaman, “and J’onn is still missing.”

“We both came back,” said Green Lantern, “and J’onn will too. We’ll find him.”

“It is alright, Green Lantern, I’m here.” J’onn J’onzz, worn, ragged, looking like Hell, floated up from beneath the world, and fell into the arms of his comrades. “

“How did you escape?” asked Wonder Woman, carefully supporting her injured comrade. “The Flash, he said you vanished...”

“I phased into the sands, had to lock down my mind to ensure Gorgon could no longer involve himself in my thoughts... I planted a hypnotic suggestion in the Extremists’ heads, made them forget about me... made them think I was dead. It was simple enough to evade detection until the last moment.”

“It was you who sheltered my mind?” asked Aquaman. “Saved me from the brunt of Lord Havok’s torture?”

“Indeed,” nodded J’onn. “I wish I could have done more...”

“And I’m sorry we couldn’t be more useful,” said Captain Speed, “but we need to move on, we need to track Lord Havok and the Extremists, ensure they don’t continue their evil crusade.”

“They won’t be as much a threat as they were before,” intoned J’onn slowly.

“What?” asked Silver Sorceress. “What do you mean?”

“I placed Lord Havok in a mental suck. His mind was his greatest weapon, able to counter-think the League at every turn, so I made every thought he was ever going to have a whisper, just as they vanished into the multiverse. He cannot think to remember his own name, let alone think to hurt us.”

“You lobotomised him?” said Superman.

“A topic we’ll bench for later, eh?” Hawkman said, his grip tight on Superman’s shoulder.

Wonder Woman looked at J’onn and Kal, and then back to Captain Speed and the Silver Sorceress. “We’ll help you find them,” said Wonder Woman. “We have a device that can track Diehard, and we know of someone who can pierce dimensions with a special device. Let us help.”

“All assistance would be greatly appreciated,” said Silver Sorceress. “But we must leave this Earth, to stay... it would interfere with our mission. If you need us though, you are able to find us?”

“Sure,” said The Flash, “I’ve run with Captain Speed, I know how his vibrations work, I can find you with the Cosmic Treadmill. But you’re not leaving yet, not until after a good meal. And the returning of the Eiffel Tower.”

“And we need to fix the sewer system,” offered Batman. “Blue Beetle and I got a bit extreme with our rescue of Aquaman; it shouldn’t take too long with a bit of Green Lantern know-how.”

“You want me to clean up your mess?” Green Lantern smiled. “Sure thing.”



“I can think of worse places for us to land,” said Wonder Woman, as she watched the waves lap gently on the edge of the floating city the Justice League had built as their new headquarters. “Floatation is still at 100%... This isn’t a problem, is it Arthur?”

“Of course not, Diana, the ocean welcomes the Justice League,” replied Aquaman. “So, Superman has spoken to the President, Paris is rebuilt, and Ted Kord is studying the Black Colossus technology with Ray Palmer.”

“Indeed, Ted’s set up a lab here, though he doesn’t want to accept full League membership. He offered the title ‘super-scientific consultant’ to us to give him. He’s a funny man.”

“Our ranks are expanding. The best of the best.” Arthur nodded. “And we still need a chairperson. That’s a harder decision to make than I thought before.”

“Yes, well--”

BOOM!

[/center]

Aquaman and Wonder Woman prepared themselves for anything-- a Boom Tube opened up above them, and normally when these things happened, bad things followed. “Can you see who that is?” asked Wonder Woman.

“I can see through the darkest recesses of the ocean, and I can see them--” said Aquaman, as he relaxed. “They’re friends.”

“Wonder Woman! Aquaman! We come with grave news!” Scott Free flew through the event horizon of the Boom Tube, followed swiftly by his wife, Big Barda. “The New Gods are gone from this realm of existence!”

Aquaman’s jaw tightened. “What?”


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