MarvelDC Crossover 4

by Mandalore Jaig

It's been a year since Sam went on his villain killing spree. Wraith and his family with Sam return from their home to check in on Debra, only to discover that Luthor is making a play for Wraith's company. Matters are worsened when Shift comes with the news of an evil copy of himself (thanks to Trigon) who's bent on world domination. And Mordru has plans of his own.

Raven awoke strapped to a table. She didn't open her eyes. Her training kicked in despite the fogginess of her mind. She tried to remember what had happened. She'd gone on a leave of absence from the Titans to do some intense meditation. She'd arrived in Rome. There was something peaceful about all of the ancient churches there. She had been walking down a street and…

"Ah, you're awake then," said a very cultured voice. Her eyes snapped open. Her costume had been replaced with a hospital gown. The room was dark in all the corners. The only light was directed on her. A man walked into the light, his arms clasped arrogantly behind him.

"Mordru?..." she asked weakly.

"Oh, you've heard of me? Good. And you're Raven. Now that introductions are done, what do you say we start?" Raven felt a pressure in her brain that took her breath away. He was attacking her telepathically. "What do you know about Mordecai Wraith?"

#

Several Months Later

Wraith, his family, and Sam appeared in the basement of his Gotham operations. Several weapons dropped from the ceiling. "Hold," Wraith spoke calmly.

"Voice Authorization recognized: Mordecai Wraith. Welcome, sir," said a computerized voice. The weapons retracted.

"Thank you. It's good to be back. Is Debra in?"

"Affirmative. She has been informed of your presence."

"Where are we?" asked Wraith's wife, Mary Jane. Thick concrete pillars supported the ceiling. Equipment, cabinets, and safes filled every inch or remaining space. Yet, it was orderly.

"This is the basement of my Gotham office. Well, more like a sub-basement. This is where many of less public devices are kept."

"A weapons cache?" asked his son, who had inherited much of Wraith's serious side.

"More or less."

An elevator could be heard approaching and a moment later some nearby doors opened. A young woman came running out. She was wearing a light blue business dress, that was slightly loose fitting. "Dad!" She threw herself into Wraith's arms.

He caught her as she knocked some wind out of him. He dropped the cane he had been leaning on. He shifted his weight and held her tight. "Hello, daughter. How are you?"

She backed up to arm's length. "I'm doing well. How are you?" She seemed to notice the other people in the room. "Oh! I'm sorry." She backed up from Wraith, slightly embarrassed. "You must be his family. I'm so glad to meet you."

"Mary Jane, this is Debra. Debra, this is Mary Jane, my wife," said Wraith, pointing to each in turn.

Mary Jane smiled slightly. "It's good to meet you too." She looked at Wraith, and smiled a little wider. "And if it's alright with you, you can consider us as a part of your family too. Wraith has told us a lot about you."

Debra smiled back at her, and shifted her weight awkwardly. "That would mean a lot to me. Thank you." She turned back to Wraith. "Shall we go upstairs? I'd like to show you what I've been up to since you've been gone. What with the majority of villains in the other universe being killed, I've largely been focused on this one."

"Sure," said Wraith. The elevator was fairly large. Wraith had installed it with the idea that it could transport a whole team at once.

They rode the elevator to the top of the building. It opened up to Wraith's old office, which Debra had taken over. They all found seats amid the various couches and chairs. They began to share news of what had happened to them in the last year since Wraith had left.

#

In a nearby building, a man looked through a device at Wraith's building. The room was littered with trash. It had the look of somewhere that had been temporarily lived in for quite awhile. He pulled out a phone. "This is Rick Flag. Wraith is back. X-ray and thermals have confirmed." There was a pause. "Understood." He hung up and dialed another number. "We're up."

#

"We've been getting some strange reports from our overseas operations," continued Debra. They had been going over different business reports, villains' operations, and new heroes.

"What kind of reports?" asked Wraith.

"Worker unrest, political instability, and even terrorist threats." There was concern on Debra's face.

Wraith looked at ceiling as he pondered. "Hmm… now I wonder who could…" His thought was interrupted when alarms began going off.

"Threat detected," said a computer voice. A Caravaggio painting slid to the side to reveal a large screen. An image of Atomic Skull on a nearby rooftop appeared.

"Activate shields and lock down," said Wraith and Debra at the same time.
"Sorry," she said. "Take over."

Wraith nodded. "Security teams to the roof, main entrance, and fifth floor. Evacuate personal to the bunker in Sub-level 3."

"Acknowledged," said the computer voice.

Wraith stepped to the window. A blue energy field encased the building. The Atomic Skull could be seen across the street. He almost seemed to be smiling, but it was so hard to tell when he had no face. After a moment Wraith said, "Debra, do we have anyone here who can handle this?"

"I have only just begun looking into starting a team here, but I haven't begun to recruit yet."

"Then please call the League and inform them. We're going to need someone to take care of this. I'd rather not reveal myself if it's not necessary."

Debra brought up a video feed. A man appeared on the screen. "This is League liaison Mr. Terrific. Please state your emergency."
"Atomic Skull is across the street."
"We just became aware of the situation. A team is being dispatched as we speak."

"ETA?"

Mister Terrific checked a screen. "Fifteen minutes. Our teleporters are down due to a virus."

"That's too long." Wraith said quietly. Atomic Skull was projecting radiation at the shield. Wraith was looking at a readout. "He is focusing his energy to a pin point. The shield wasn't designed to take that kind of an attack. He'll overcome the shield in five minutes. Dozens of people will die before they get here." His voice was sad. He laid his cane down on the desk. His suit fell away from him like paper burning as he let go of the illusion. His armor was revealed underneath. He turned to his son. "Protect your mother and sister." His son nodded. He looked at Sam. "Stay down unless you have to. This world's heroes won't like you if they know who you are."

The window slid open as he stepped toward it and he drifted out. The group in the office watched as he approached the shield. A small hole opened and he went through it. He had just cleared it when he was struck by a beam. Wraith went crashing to the street below.
"If there's one thing I can't stand," said a booming arrogant voice, "its self-righteous pricks like you." A man wearing a suit that covered his entire body began to descend upon Wraith.

"Major Force!" yelled Debra.

"Can Mordecai take them both?" asked Mary Jane.

"I… I don't know." Debra sat down at the desk. "Computer, connect me to the security teams."

"Acknowledged." There was a pause. "You are connected."

"Men, focus fire on Major Force. Keep him distracted, but for God's sake stay undercover. He will have no problem obliterating you and the building. The shield might handle it, but keep your heads down." There were replies of assent.

Wraith had outfitted his security forces with exoskeletons and weapons ranging from nonlethal to the latest model of the Toastmaster. Their weapons were powerful, but they only felt like a strong wind to Major Force. The villain glanced at the men firing at him. "I'll deal with you next." He then dove straight down to where Wraith had fallen.

Wraith's telekinetic shield had absorbed the blast from Major Force, but it had still caught him off guard. He had been able to recover from his fall before hitting the ground. As Major Force dove towards him, Wraith looked up, and calmly flew to the side. Major Force burned a hole through the pavement several feet.

"Aw, geez," said the Atomic Skull under his breath. He fired a beam of radiation at Wraith. Wraith's shield held. Wraith picked up some of the rubble from Major Force's crater and threw it hard and fast at the Atomic Skull. It wasn't enough to really hurt him, but it had enough kinetic energy to knock him off the building.

"Real cute," said Major Force as he pulled himself out of the hole. "Let's see how you hold up against a point blank shot." He raised his hands.

Wraith concentrated on his shielding as the waves of radiation rolled over him. He knew he didn't have to beat them. He just had to hold out until the League came. He just hoped that they brought someone who could handle them.

Wraith had closed his eyes to concentrate harder. He couldn't hold out against that kind of power for long. Suddenly the radiation stopped. He opened his eyes to see Major Force being covered in some kind of grey foam. "It's a lead adhesive I designed," said a gravelly voice next to him.

Wraith smiled without turning. "Good timing as always, Batman."

The Dark Knight didn't smile in return. "We're not done here. You have the entire Suicide Squad banging down your door."

"Who else?" asked Wraith, smile fading. As if in answer, several more villains appeared, creating a semi-circle around them, pinning them to Wraith's building behind them.

"Killer Frost, Malefic, Plastique, and Electrocutioner." Batman took a fighting position.

Wraith gave an exasperated sigh.

"And that foam won't last long."

Wraith considered a moment. "I'll take Frost and the Martian."

"After you."

Wraith leaped towards the villains, dragging rubble with him. The dust cloud it formed gave Batman the cover he needed to get close to Plastique. As Electorcutioner fired at Batman, Plastique found herself kicked into his attack. She fell unconscious.

As Killer Frost threw icicles at Wraith and tried to coat him in ice, Malefic got behind him, and in the form of a dragon shot fire from his eyes. Wraith was able to fairly easily withstand their attack. Malefic could see this, so he switched tactics. He bit down on the sphere that Wraith had surrounded himself with, trying to overwhelm it with his sheer strength.

Wraith knocked himself loose. Malefic fired his heat vision again. Wraith threw Killer Frost in front of it.

"Fool! This will just make me stronger!" Cold began to leak out of her.

Wraith then threw her down Malefic's throat. The resulting cold inside of him forced Malefic to change form and become intangible. As he finished removing her from his body he lost consciousness. Wraith then delivered a blow to Killer Frost, also subduing her.

As Wraith turned to check on Batman, he saw him handcuffing Electrocutioner. "What took you so long?" Batman asked.

Just then a jet flew over. Hawkgirl, Red Tornado, and Captain Marvel leaped out of its door.

"I see we missed all the fun," said Hawkgirl as she landed.

"Careful, Major…" as Wraith turned, he saw that the pile of foam had a large hole in it. "Well he is surprisingly stealthy." He turned again the Dark Knight was nowhere to be seen. "Batman being gone doesn't surprise me at all, however."

"Who are you?" asked Hawkgirl.

Wraith knew she wouldn't take no for an answer. She was already fingering her mace because he was stalling. "I am Mordecai Wraith."

"Never heard of you," she said.

Wraith nodded. "And I'd have preferred it to stay that way. Atomic Skull is off the edge of that building somewhere, assuming he hasn't recovered. Batman took care of Plastique and Electrocutioner." Hawkgirl nodded in understanding. "May I leave?"

"I don't see why not." There was still an edge to her voice. She was disappointed at not getting to hit something.

She heard "Thank you," as he disappeared in front of her.

#

Meanwhile…

Superman was patrolling Metropolis. He loved Earth, but especially this city. He would always be a small town kind of guy, but he made a difference here. In Smallville the typical police report involved a cow that had jumped a fence. Here he was needed. And there was Lois of course. He smiled. He had a lunch date with her in an hour.

His thoughts were interrupted as his super hearing picked up an alarm. He went from calmly flying to supersonic in a nanosecond. There was a large hole torn into the wall of a bank. He used his x-ray vision. There was a being behind the vault door, which had apparently been ripped off its hinges. There was too much metal in the way for him to get a clear view of what it was. Superman then went full speed and got all of the employees and customers out. Most seemed unharmed.

"Alright, you've had your fun," Superman called into the vault. "Now come out before you get hurt."

"Oh, I'm not the one who's going to get hurt," said a familiar voice.

"Metallo!"

The cyborg stepped into the doorway of the vault, he touched the frame and began to absorb the metal. Superman flew at him, to stop him before he could finish. Two beams of kryptonite radiation came from Metallo's eyes and knocked him down. "No, you don't." Metallo bulked up considerably as he took on the metal from the vault's door and frame. He morphed his hand into a weapon. "I've been waiting for this for a long time." He fired it and Superman cried out in pain as the radiation hit him.

Superman tilted his head, and using his heat vision, cut off part of the weapon. He then got up and began to pummel Metallo. A half an hour later, and few million dollars in property damage, and it was all over.

For fifteen minutes Superman explained to the police what had happened from his perspective. He then flew off for his date with Lois. The police officer looked out after him as he flew off. She wondered if it was the heat of midday or if she was coming down with something.

In the vehicle specially designed to hold him, Metallo also watched Superman fly away. He quietly smiled.

#

Wraith reappeared inside his office. "How'd it go?" asked Debra.

"Fine," said Wraith thoughtfully. "But it was almost…"

"Too easy?"

"No, not quiet. More like disorganized." Wraith effortlessly enveloped himself in his illusion of a suit. He picked up his cane and regained his limp. "If it was meant to be an assassination attempt, it was poorly performed considering the players involved. It might have been a testing of our security systems, but why? And why not try harder to get inside? A distraction for the League, perhaps? But why here? Why not a more public place, like a train terminal, or a sporting event? With more people at risk the League probably would have sent more people. And the attackers hid their numbers until I appeared, as if it was an ambush. But they almost seemed surprised I was here. It doesn't add up." He looked up from his desk where he'd been staring. "Debra, what strange occurrences have happened inside the company in the last year? There are puzzle pieces I'm missing."

She paused thinking. "Well, we did get a report from one of your unmanned stations, but it made no sense to me. It was only the station's location and a number. I traveled to the location. There was nothing there, only debris"

"What universe?" asked Wraith.

Debra walked over to the desk and pulled up a program. "Universe 3859."

Wraith's breath caught. "What was the number?"

"A one. What does it mean?"

Wraith exhaled slowly. "It means that one of the suits that I made to defeat an individual member of the Justice League, should they go rogue, has been stolen."

"But there was nothing there," said Debra confused.

"I knew the danger of having such equipment, so I put it in an empty universe, inside of a station with a self-destruct mechanism. The station only exists for fifteen minutes before it blows up. Someone can only access it if they have trans-dimensional and time travel capabilities. Even then they need the right code to access it. I honestly have no idea how someone could have done this."

"Which suit was it?" asked Mordecai.

"The one I built to take down Superman."

#

"I understand your frustration, Rick, but our benefactor was unaware of… the amount of security present at the target. He has already promised to do whatever he can to help free Plastique and Electroqutioner. He has connections in the prisons that are holding them. It shouldn't be a problem."

Rick Flag was sitting in Amanda Waller's office, gripping the arms of his chair until his knuckles turned white. "That op was… I don't even know how to begin. We weren't given the full story. We looked like amateurs. Our 'client'," Rick hated working for outside people, he was doing this for his country, "had better get my people out, or I'll come for him."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Amanda said quietly. "You are dismissed."

Rick rose to stand at attention. "Yes, ma'am." He then walked out of the room, still fuming, but too much of a soldier to really let it out.

The red skinned demon reclined on a huge stone throne among lakes of magma. He was enduring the passage of time as he had since his banishment at the hands of the Teen Titans. He peered into other worlds. He watched the stars and looked for opportunities to influence those worlds beyond his grasp. Years passed without incident or occasion for activity. His mind began to slip into dormancy. Until an explosion on one of the numerous columns near his throne caught his attention. Dark magics sparked and burned the stone. His four yellow eyes focused on the spot of darkness and he discerned a portal had been created between his realm and some other world. Too small for him, the connection far too unstable. But something had come through to him. The magic cleared and revealed a cloaked and hooded figure.

"Who dares enter this plane?" Trigon's deep voice rasped. "Name yourself, speck." The figure cast about in confusion, ignoring the demon's demands. "Name yourself, wretch!" the demon thundered. The figure looked slowly to the personification of evil and lifted its hood. A young man, perhaps in his early twenties with dark hair and an olive complexion. The look on his face was one of shock. Then anger, pure and hot as the flames in that infernal realm, lit his eyes and twisted his visage.

"Those incompetent, bungling, half-witted morons!" he raged. "Underhill I said. But noooooo! My idiot apprentices sent me to the Underworld. I will transmute them into frogs for thi-"

"Silence!" Trigon roared. Molten stone sloshed in the cavern as chunks of stalactites broke from the ceiling to plunge down. "I will not ask again. What is your name?"

"I will not give you my name, demon. But you may call me Shift. Now go back to sleep so I can figure out a way out of this hell-hole." Shift turned his back on the titanic being. For most beings that would have been a fatal mistake. Trigon breathed a stream of fire at the impertinent male. It vanished into thin air inches from the man's black leather coat. Shift barely felt warmed. But the strike at his back was enough to send him off the edge of rational thought. "That is easily the worst case of halitosis I have ever seen. Now go...AWAY!" He hurled a potent curse at the demon, his dark magic dimming the firelight in the entire cavern. The curse was ancient. He was possibly the only mortal who still had knowledge of it. Unfortunately, Trigon wasn't mortal. He dismantled the curse before it reached him but the power still seared the air around him. If he had let it strike him it would have shredded his essence. It couldn't destroy him, nothing could, but it would make him powerless for some time.

"A passable effort. Perhaps we can come to an agreement..." Shift had begun ignoring him again. Trigon put aside his anger for a moment and began examining the human. He was young, barely more than a score of years to his soul. But it was a damaged soul. Scarred almost beyond belief from pain and despair and the evil it had worked. But it was also clean, like someone had scrubbed it and set it to healing. This sorcerer had set his feet on the path to redemption not so long ago.

"Maybe if I can adjust the resonance between my ring and theirs to establish a connection-"

"Mortal!" Trigon bellowed, trying to get Shift's attention. "You cannot open a Way in the place unless I will it." Shift sighed and turned to face his apparent captor.

"Then let me go." he said flatly.

"I might be persuaded to make a deal. I release you from this place and you do me a fav-"

"Hah! No. I don't traffic with demons. Let me out and save yourself the headache." Shift's counter offer was arrogant to the extreme. He bent to the ground and started drawing a circle around himself. Trigon blasted the stone column Shift was standing on. It crumbled into the lava below along with the sorcerer who had been standing on it. Trigon figured that would be the end of him. Until he saw Shift standing on top of the lava apparently none the worse for wear. He dusted his black coat off lazily.

"I can see I'll have to make a nuisance of myself. Remember, you could have avoided this." Shift began drawing a circle in the air. His fingers left an inky smear and he began drawing faster. Trigon lifted his hand and fire demons rose all around Shift. The magus paid them no mind and continued drawing. The symbols taking shape were strange, twisted things that even Trigon didn't recognize. The fire creatures tried to mob Shift but they couldn't get within 10 feet of him. They thrashed and beat against the barrier to no avail. Shift completed the circle and all heat from outside the barrier drained away. Lava cooled into gray stone, the eternal fires dwindled and died. Trigon rose from his throne when frost began climbing up his legs. He breathed fire but it dwindled a few feet from his mouth. The cool down accelerated and ice began to climb the walls. What once had been a sweltering inferno was now a frozen wasteland. The fire demons had collapsed into piles of frost covered ash revealing a perfect circle of protection around Shift "I imagine it's pretty cold outside my wards but if you had to put it on a scale of 1 to 10?" he taunted the frozen form of the demon. Ice had completely covered the red skinned giant from hoof to horn tip. The ice cracked and shattered as the demon moved. Trigon looked around at the ice.

"You cannot survive here, you cannot escape. Why do you persist in aggravating me?"

"Simple, I don't like you." Shift bit his thumb at the giant. Trigon's eyes narrowed.

"Then die, fool." Shift's smirk disappeared when a symbol flared bright red beneath him. Energy coursed up through his feet and burned him. It grasped at him and tugged in a way that was hard to define. In a burst of pain he felt something tear free of himself. Then it was over. Shift's night-vision came back after a few seconds and he saw himself. No, he saw a version of himself if he had been rendered entirely in black and white, except for the eyes. His doppelganger's eyes were glowing red.

"Huh." Shift said.

"What?" his twin asked

"I always figured the universe would implode if there were two of me." Shift joked. His counterpart chuckled a little. "So, what are you exactly?"

"I'm the darker portions of your soul. Your anger, your rage, your darkest dreams."

"My anger?" Shift interrupted. "I don't feel any less angry."

"You had plenty to go around."

"Stop talking and kill him!" Trigon commanded. The two Shifts turned to the monster in unison, both tilting their heads quizzically. Then they looked at each other.

"I'm assuming he was talking to you." Shift said.

"But I'm you." his counterpart replied.

"Well, yes. But though we are a single spirit we are simultaneously two separate physical existences."

"Still, metaphysically it's incorrect to speak to either of us as a distinct entity. So, what exactly do you want again?" the red eyed one asked the huge demon. Trigon looked like he was about to suffer an aneurism out of sheer anger.

"Obey me slave!" he pointed one huge clawed finger at the copy he'd created.

"So, you want me to commit suicide?" Red eyes asked. "'Cause the moment he dies I die. You'll have to make a pretty compelling case. Well, let's hear it." Trigon was stunned. He'd never had a marked creation treat him with such disrespect. "Yeah, that's what I thought." Red-eyes turned his back on Trigon.

"Then you're of no use to me. Back to dust!" Trigon crooked his massive fingers. Crimson power danced on the air around Red-eyes. Then darkness flared up and swallowed it. Trigon felt the shock of his connection with his creation breaking. It shouldn't have been possible. "How are you still there?" His Sight was being blocked by some cloaking spell. Otherwise he could determine for himself how his pawn had freed itself from all control.

"That should do it. A little life, freely given to make you free." Shift said. "How's it feel." His counterpart rolled his neck a little.

"Not bad. Could go for something to eat though."

"Well, help me get out of here and we'll both eat like kings." Shift snapped his fingers and a staff appeared in his hands. It was black wood, smooth and polished with a gemstone setting on one end. The setting was empty.

"You had me at "out of here"." Red-eyes replied. He clapped his hands together and magic sparked and crackled through his clenched fingers. Their minds were almost identical so there was no need to communicate intent. Shift would weaken the dimensional walls and Red-eyes would be the knife to cut through to the material plane. There was a tremendous pull toward the staff. Where a jewel should have been set a terrible black void gaped. This new spell began stripping away a number of Shift's active spells. The spell of concealment was torn to tatters and Trigon saw the power bolstering the young man's magics. An ancient beast of calamity. It was chained to the magus' soul. Trigon's cruel mind hatched a plan to repay the damage done to his home. He wove a subtle magic and placed it inside the pawn he had lost control of. Red-eyes didn't even notice. The clone unclasped his hands slowly revealing a shard of condensed inter-dimensional energy. He grasped the shard and tried to move it. It remained where it was, the walls sealing Trigon's world were still too sturdy. The demon thinned his protections slightly. The shard budged just a little. Red-eyes pulled with all his considerable strength and opened the hole further. Sunlight gleamed through the opening. Shift drove the staff into the black crust of the floor and helped his twin. The moment the hole was big enough Trigon blasted both of them, hurling them through the gap. The tear in reality sealed itself behind them, leaving Trigon alone in an ice covered cavern.

"It'll take centuries to get the pilot light lit again." the demon muttered and started thawing out his throne.

#

"You know, I don't think he wanted us to stay." Red-eyes quipped.

"S'alright. I left him a parting gift." Shift snapped his fingers to activate the hex he had left behind.

#

Trigon was back on his throne, once again peering out into other worlds. That was when the downpour started. The demon looked up and saw a stormcloud had formed on the ceiling of the cavern. "If I ever see that smug insect again I will tear out his soul."

#

"So, the king's feast you promised me?" Red-eyes asked. Shift answered with a blade at his counterpart's throat.

"You're me. You think I don't know me? The moment you get a chance you'll betray me and set up an empire." Red-eyes smiled and held up his hands in a gesture of admission. Then he snapped his fingers, setting off a spell of his own. A simple blinding flash. Simple but effective. Shift tried to take his head but Red-eyes was already out of reach. By the time his vision cleared his clone was gone. Shift tried a tracking spell. Not only didn't it work but there was a surge of feedback that jolted him hard enough to bite his tongue. "Alright, calm down. Now, if I was on the run and I needed something to jumpstart an empire, where would I g- oh crap." there was only one place that came to mind. Which put his apprentices directly between his evil twin and enough magical artifacts to wage a world war. "Oh no you don't!" Shift said as he opened a portal to his personal dimension.

When Shift arrived at his tower he was concerned by the lack of squabbling. It seemed to him that his apprentices hadn't ceased bickering and complaining since they'd arrived. Now he heard silence. They couldn't leave. He'd locked down his dimension to prevent exactly that. He was the only one who could come or go. And since he could, so could his counterpart. He ran toward the tower, checking the condition of his wards as he went. He could see the bright lines of power wrapping the pale stone, intricacies both delicate and powerful. From the outside they were a barricade of solid iron, from the inside they were a series of delicate power relays. To alter them without blowing yourself to pieces was delicate work. Shift stopped just short of his defenses. The lines of power had been altered. He couldn't tell what had been done without risking setting the whole array off. The backlash of magical energy would turn him into a blown fuse. He couldn't risk trying to get in. The protective spells could keep him from using magic, leaving him at the mercy of his clone. That's what he would do. Tweak the wards just enough to make your enemy's home a trap. He was pondering his options when a green, slimy reptile hopped onto his boot. It croaked at him blandly.

"Frog?" Two more hopped up and started croaking. "Frogs. Three frogs." His eyes widened. His apprentices! "He really is me." Shift picked up one of them and felt for the soul inside the diminutive form. Yup, it was Bones. The most talented and least cooperative of his pupils. Ford and Notch croaked incessantly, obviously begging to be turned back. He called up a transmutation spell and tried to enact it as gently as possible. Their slimy green skin paled and stretched. Bones and tissue began filling the sacks of skin. It was a horribly grotesque process. It would have been worse if Shift hadn't been using his own magic to ease things along. When it was over Shift had three naked, trembling apprentices sprawled out on the ground. They'd all lost some weight due to having their bodies warped and twisted by magic. Bones looked downright emaciated. He'd been skinny before, now he looked like he'd been actively starving. "Here" Shift flicked a hand and several lengths of dark cloth appeared in a puff of black smoke. The three teenagers grabbed at the blankets and wrapped themselves tightly.

"I h-hate you." Bones stuttered. Ford smacked him in the back of the head.

"Boss, we tried to stop him, but he told us you'd die if we killed him." Her British accent was a little muddled by fatigue. She was the most even-headed of the three and the most competent in how to use magic. Notch, the one with the most raw power, sat quietly. Which was really weird.

"He lied."

"What is he?" Ford asked.

"He's a duplicate of me created by a entity composed of the darkest desires of an entire city of sorcerers. He's exactly like me, except he doesn't have my lofty ethics and impeccable morals." Shift said sarcastically. He was more than willing to get his hands dirty if necessary. But his counterpart likely had none of his minimal ethical hang-ups. "And he's probably looting the place while we stand here talking. What's up with him?" Shift pointed to Notch, so named because Shift had sliced his ear on the day they met.

"He tried to kill your twin. Before we knew it wouldn't kill you." Bones said in his usual monotone. "To be fair, if I thought I would win I would have too." Shift shrugged, not particularly surprised.

"I'm over it, you should get over it too." He said to Notch. Then he squared his shoulders and walked into the wards. Turns out he was wrong. They didn't interfere with his ability to do magic. But it did set off an alarm to let Red know he'd arrived. But since he didn't know that he kept moving slowly, carefully toward the tower. He felt the altered wards part safely away from him, as per usual. But one single ward could do horrifying things to him, especially since he hadn't had time to restore most of his personal protections. He reached the door and placed his hand on the handle. No electric shock, no gouts of fire. So far so good. He pushed down and the locks clicked. He pushed the door gently open. Still nothing.

During the precious minutes Shift spent fearing for his life Red was searching the endless rooms of the tower for a specific object. A scroll Shift had run across years ago and locked away. Even in his darker days he had enough sense to stay away from magic that profoundly evil. He could steal a person's form. Their looks, their voice, their very DNA. But he couldn't steal their essence. Their memories, their personality their habits. To do that you'd need to steal their lives or their souls. The second one was impossible, even for magic. But the first was very possible. And that was the spell Red was looking for. He broke open the 374th drawer and hit pay dirt. Shift, in order to curb his temptation, had hidden the scroll in a magical cabinet that had thousands of compartments that endlessly shuffled themselves in and out of reality. There was no orderly way to proceed searching them so he destroyed them one by one.

"Got it." he hissed with satisfaction. The parchment scroll felt delicate in his hands as he removed it from the cabinet. He was about to bolt when another voice spun him around.

"Got you!" Shift shouted. Dark magic leaped from his hands and struck his clone in the chest. The spell tried to sink in but Red had picked up another trinket in the tower. The glass pendant could only take the brunt of a single spell, but that was all the time he needed to escape. Red never hit the ground he just sank into his shadow and was gone. Shift tried to keep the portal open but it slammed shut before he could get there. "I really hate me sometimes." he sighed. He knew what his counterpart had taken, and what he wanted it for. What he hadn't counted on was the glass amulet. It had been a gift from another world, something precious bestowed on him by the royalty of that world. He'd worked very hard to get that and now it was just shards of glass on his floor. He'd forgotten how ruthless he could be. The thought startled him. Had he every really been that ruthless?

He kicked at the pile of debris his counterpart had left behind, his bad mood being made worse by the damage to his home. He walked down to the first level of his tower, trying his best to puzzle out what his counterpart's plan was. It was very much like him but obviously not identical in every way. He wouldn't have set an alarm. He wouldn't have used the amulet. He wanted to kill this parody of himself for its utter disregard for anything that didn't advance its final goal. He knew what that goal would be, to grab as much power as possible through any means necessary. Shift even had a good idea of the means. But he didn't know the target or how his counterpart would proceed from this point. It made sense that he would devour someone of considerable power and influence then put on a show until that power and influence was transferred. Shift began making a list of government leaders then scrapped the idea. Too direct, too much in the public eye and in most cases the power would be non-transferable. Who then? Owners of powerful corporations. That list was somewhat shorter. There were three major possibilities. Wayne Enterprises. Powerful, multi-national, leader who could easily be gotten alone. But devouring Bruce Wayne could be problematic. He was prepared to the point of being paranoid. Next on the list was Lexcorp. But it posed a number of similar problems. The third was Wraith's old company. It was currently being run by his former secretary, Debra. But she had never given Shift any security clearance. Then a thought occurred to him. Lex relied entirely on technology for his defense. None of that would mean a thing if Red was able to get close enough. And how could he get close? By offering Lex something juicy from one of Wraith's warehouses. Since Debra had full access so did Shift, through his ability to assume her form. And so did Red.

"Oh God, please let me be wrong about this." Shift pleaded quietly. He pulled out a cell phone. It was a simple flip phone, no bells or whistles. It had a handful of numbers in it, a couple of friends, a priest who had said he would take his confessions, and his sometime employer, Debra. He put the phone back in his pocket. He didn't want to explain this over the phone. Not that he really wanted to explain it in person either, but doing it by phone would just upset her. Well, upset her more. He had to be on Earth to make a phone call anyway. So he did the only thing he could think of, he sent his apprentices to their homes and locked his dimension down so that it could only be opened with a specific object. His St. Jude medal. In order to open the lock you would need that particular medal. He stepped out of that dark world and onto the streets of Gotham city, his technical city of residence. He had an apartment in the city that he'd paid the rent for 5 years in advance. It was nice, two bedroom, kitchen, living room, bathroom. Fully furnished. He paid a friend of his to stop by once a week and make sure everything was in order. He also kept a fully stocked pantry, enough canned and preserved food to keep him comfortable for two weeks. Once there he laid down on his sofa and took a deep breath.

He opened the cell phone and scrolled down to Debra's number. His thumb hovered over the call button. "Maybe I could just let things work themselves out," he pondered out loud. A horrific series of images tumbled through his mind, some of which featured his double sitting on a throne made of human bones, others featuring him permanently transformed into a dog and doing tricks for his double's amusement. His thumb slammed down onto the call button. "Please for the love of God pick up." Two rings, three, four. Voicemail. Shift started cursing, loud and colorful. Then he realized the recording had started.

"-essage and approximate GPS coordinates and I will be with you ASAP." Debra's voice said.

"Hey, boss. I'm calling to- uh... inform you of a situation. If I stop by I want you to kill me. Don't talk to me, don't give me even a moment to react. Just turn me into a scorch mark on the ground. Oh and please call me back. This recording isn't long enough to go into detail. I'll leave the phone on for you to track if you need to see me in person." He hung up. Then something occurred to him and he called back and left another message. "Also, if you see another you do the same thing. Evil clone of me on the loose and it'll probably turn into someone else and try to get into a weapons or technology cache. You know what? On second thought just lock everything down. No one in or out until I kill myself. Wait no that's not what I me-" he was cut off by the recorder. Shift left half a dozen more messages, none of which made any kind of coherent sense. "Oh screw this." He shoved his phone in his pocket and went to the bathroom. He kept a door sized mirror hanging on a wall for when he really needed to get a hold of someone. He sliced his thumb open on his razor sharp fangs and painted a bloody symbol on the face of the mirror. The he whispered Debra's name three times and let the spell pull strength from him. The symbol and Shift's reflection disappeared. Although, what he saw through his looking glass wasn't quite what he was expecting. Wreckage from buildings and cars was visible, some melted metal and what looked like a large pile of metal cotton candy that someone had taken a bite out of.

Shift just shook his head, today had been one of those days. Last time he'd had a day like that an entire dimension had collapsed and he'd been stabbed in the head with a screwdriver. A shiver ran up his spine. "Debra." he coaxed the spell. The scenery changed again. His point of view altered to see Wraith in all his armored glory. Shift's eyes went wide. Of all the things he'd had go wrong, or conceived of going wrong, he hadn't expected that. But wait, was this really a bad thing? Wraith, though his thinking ran in straight lines, was a powerhouse and a serious threat to the plans of his clone. If he was informed of what was happening that is. "Mordecai Wraith." Shift whispered to the mirror. Wraith's head jerked up. He looked around for the source of the voice, a telekinetic field surrounding him from every angle. Then a figure began to materialize in front of him. A figure that had been somewhat familiar but had blurred over time. A translucent image of Shift appeared in front of his old teacher. Wraith sized him up, the intervening time had aged the young man. His frame had managed to gather some muscle to it, but he still looked like he was chronically underfed.

"Adam. It's been a while." was Wraith's carefully neutral greeting. He had asked Debra to keep an eye on the sorcerer but she hadn't fully briefed him on developments in this universe.

"Yeah. Love to shoot the breeze some other time but I've got important information for Debra. Do you know where she is? My spell is having difficulty locating her."

"You can entrust me with this information." Wraith said. Shift's eyes narrowed. Was this his clone attempting to impersonate the old man? It was technically possible.

"Before I do that, tell me Debra's real name, the one she had before you found her." Wraith raised an eyebrow.

"She was given a project designation, not a name. If you want to know something so personal you really should be asking her." the reply put Shift at ease. He hadn't known that which meant his copy couldn't have either.

"Sorry. There's a shape shifter loose and it's making me paranoid."

"Really? Which one?" Wraith asked, his calm facade hiding his sudden alertness.

"Well, it's me. Technically speaking." Shift ran through the whole story, from the incompetence of his apprentices to his arrival back on Earth. Wraith listened calmly to the whole story. At the end he put a hand to his eyes.

"So, this copy. Does he have all the same powers you do?"

"Yes. And one additional spell that he stole from my tower. It's black magic and it can make him stronger, but he's only been out of my sight for a few hours so I'm hoping I can stop him before he does any damage." Wraith wasn't entirely sure about that part. His recollection was a little fuzzy but he remembered that the timeline of Shift's world didn't sync up with the rest. Time passed faster and slower at random.

"What's the date?" Shift looked confused but answered.

"May 4th." Wraith let out a sigh.

"Actually it's May 14th. When your copy escaped you he likely slowed down time in your dimension to give himself a head start." Shift went from shocked to angry in less than a second.

"That conniving sonofa-" He clamped his mouth shut, remembering how Wraith reacted to foul language. "Then things are a lot worse than I thought. Have you had anything go missing? Something that Lex Luthor might be interested in?" Wraith started lining up the pieces. Magic could certainly shut down the security inside his warehouse.

"You've hacked my computer systems before. How much did you learn from them?"

"More than I intended. Connecting your mind directly to a computer is not the best idea, it's hard to control what you see. I know about some of your weapon caches, saw some personnel files for people I've never heard of, dimensional coordinates to empty universes-" Wraith just shook his head slowly. How could one person possibly cause him so much trouble?

"This doppelganger of yours, is he still under Trigon's control?"

"No, he's pretty much his own...whatever he is." Shift's image began to fade. "Ah crap, the duration for this spell is limited. Give me a minute and I'll be there in person." Wraith didn't really want him around his family but he might be the only one who could shield them from his clone should they become targets.

"By all means." Wraith muttered after the image had vanished. He turned around to face his shadow. Since he'd gone home he hadn't bothered hiding it. Sure enough it darkened and expanded. The hooded figure rose through the open portal and stepped out onto solid ground. "You never did tell me how you do that." Wraith commented.

"Not gonna happen. Half of the effectiveness of a spell is keeping it secret."

"Well, standing out here doesn't get us anywhere. Let's go inside so I can introduce you to everyone."

"Everyone?" Shift wondered out loud. He followed Wraith back into the base, wondering all the while who Wraith was referring to. Had he gathered together a new team of heroes? Or maybe he had been in the middle of a meeting with leaders of government or industry? He almost changed form so the hypothetical movers and shakers wouldn't be familiar with his appearance. As they walked down the hallway the tension built until Shift was actively fidgeting. Wraith continued to ponder out the possibilities of Lex Luthor being involved. How would he even know about the warehouses?

Wraith opened the door to the office where Debra and his family had watched events unfold. "Everyone, there's someone I need to introduce to you all." Shift stopped cold. He'd thought he'd be meeting important people. And he'd been right, but not in the way he'd thought. He immediately recognized the resemblance between Wraith and the children. Debra had told him that Wraith had a family but now here they were, in the flesh. He wasn't quite sure what to say. "This is Mr. Kriticos. And he has likely put the lives of everyone here in jeopardy."

"I'd like to say he's wrong-"Shift shot Wraith a dirty look, "-but he's probably right." Shift laid out the whole thing from start to finish again.

"There's one thing I don't understand." Debra said. "How would your clone have access to anything?" she asked. Instead of saying something, Shift just changed into her shape. Wraith's family's jaws opened slightly, in unison. Debra's expression darkened.

"You haven't exploited this ability for anything, have you?" Debra asked dangerously. Her fists were curled at her sides.

"Ummmm..." Shift changed back. He had been about to say no but his mind moved back to several instances where he had used her creds to play pranks. And another time where he had used her voice to give several employees orders. And then one time where he had created a dating site profile for her as a cheap form of revenge for a truly unpleasant job she had forced on him. His hesitation was probably worse than any other answer he could have given. Debra's claws came out.

"I know you're probably angry, and you have a right to be. But we do have more pressing issues to address."

"Like figuring out what Luthor would do with a Krytonite powered battle suit," said Wraith quietly.

"Excuse me?"

"Your warning was too late. One of my warehouses was already robbed."

"You… you built a suit to kill Superman?" Shift was surprised despite himself. He knew Wraith planned ahead, but a contingency plan to kill a founding member of the Justice League? One of the most powerful beings on Earth? At least he assumed it was a contingency plan.

"Yes," Wraith said flatly. There was no note of regret. "So now the question is, what would Luthor do with one? He's already tried something like this before, but that was his own design. Mine is significantly improved."

"What are its capabilities?" asked Shift.

"Kryptonite radiation beams and shields. Strength enhancing servos, not on par with Superman, but he'd feel the blows. The entire armor is laced with kryptonite. I made an alloy out of adamantium and kryptonite. It's virtually unbreakable and just getting near the suit will hurt the Man of Steel. It also has a miniature missile launcher with a kryptonite tipped dart with a tracking device so that Superman can't hide, not even in the Phantom Zone."

"Well, just killing Superman wouldn't be enough. He'd want to public humiliate him first, make himself a savior." There was concern in Debra's voice.

"What is it?" asked Wraith.

"There was a news report yesterday about the fight between Metallo and Superman in the bank. The people that he pulled out of there are very ill. The reporter was blaming Superman, but it was a LexNews station so I didn't put much stock in it." She pulled out her smart phone. "Other stations have started picking up the story. LexMed has announced that they have started work on a cure for what they are calling, 'the Superman Plague.'"

Wraith was quiet, thinking. "That's the kind of play Luthor would make. Create a mass panic against Superman. Make him look like an ego maniac too proud to step down when he's a threat to the very people he's trying to save. Then he'd kill him somewhere public."

"We have to warn him," said Debra.

"Yes. Debra, get our pharmaceutical department working on a cure. I don't trust anything LexCorp produces."

"I can't," she responded.

Wraith caught himself and sighed exasperatedly.

Shift felt for the first time that there was an elephant standing in the room that he hadn't noticed. "Am I missing something?"

Wraith sat down in his office chair. "This building was attacked a few days ago by the Suicide Squad. I had to defend it before the League could get here."

"So?"

"So, Luthor used it as an opportunity to reveal my identity to the world. My company has been effectively shut down by various governments."

"He has that much pull?"

"Perhaps, but when you can plausibly prove that I own as much as I do, and that I was keeping it secret, it's enough to scare any government. Add to that, that I was able to stand up to Major Force, even if only a short while… I'm surprised they're not trying to arrest me. He also released the info to the League on some of my… special holdings. Very few of them knew. They weren't pleased. I've been effectively cut off from them."

"So we're on our own to stop Luthor and my duplicate?" asked Shift. There was both fear and disgust in his voice.

"Almost." Wraith picked up a phone and dialed a number. He raised a shield so no one could hear what was said. His voice changed noticeably. "Alfred? Hi, this is Mordecai Wraith. How are you?... Good… Well, things have been better. That's actually why I wanted to speak to Bruce. Is he in?... Mhmm… Is he downstairs? This really can't wait." There was a pause. His voice switched back to normal. "Batman, we have a situation… You heard? Of course you did… I'm unable to deal with any large scale production of a cure… Good. Thank you. There's another problem." Wraith proceeded to fill him in on everything else. "I see. Thank you anyways." He hung up.

"Still keeping secrets I see." Shift's voice had a bit of menace to it.

Wraith ignored him. "Mongul and Mongal are entering the solar system. Both the League and the Justice Society have been dispatched to stop them. They have a small armada with them, source unknown."

"Where do they find these people?" asked Debra rhetorically.

"Plus, I need to leave." Wraith pulled out his teleporter. "Superman is dying from Luthor's infection and Batman hasn't been able to stop it. He suggested I try."

There was an eerie silence. Superman was one of the biggest, if not the biggest hero around. If he fell…

"I will do what I can, but time is off the essence."

"Wait, you're just going to leave?" demanded Shift.

"I have to." Wraith said forcibly.

"You're not telling all you know… again."

"This is for the best." He looked at his adopted daughter. "Debra is in charge." He looked hard at her. "Keep them safe." He turned to his teleporter, "Bodyslide by one." He disappeared.

No one said anything for a few moments. Finally Mordecai stood up from where he'd been sitting quietly. He got close to Shift so that no one could hear. "If my father doesn't come back, or anyone gets hurt because of you, I will kill you."

Shift looked at him in the eyes. He was dead serious. Shift wasn't sure if he could back up his threat, but there was a lot of his father in that statement. The hair on his neck rose despite himself. He gave a curt nod, acknowledging the threat, neither showing fear nor antagonism. It was going to be a long alliance.

#

Wraith reappeared in the Batcave. "You're late," said Batman. He didn't bother to look up from a readout he was analyzing next to two gurneys. One was covered in clear plastic. The other held a woman. She was slightly green.

"What are the symptoms?" asked Wraith.

"The virus slowly converts a human's cells into a kryptonite derivative. The radiation or organ failure will kill them. Superman's cells are more resistant to the virus itself, but the kryptonite isn't doing him any good. He's also highly contagious. Fortunately, the human victims are not. They're both unconscious. Can your 'medic' heal alien physiology?"

"Possibly, but I have another idea I want to try first."

Batman turned and looked at him hard. There were lines on his face from worry and lack of rest. "This is my closest…colleague. If he dies, I will take it very personally." His eyes were slits.

Wraith had faced people who ate planets that scared him less than Bruce, and he had helped train him. "Understood."

"Good." He turned back to a monitor. "Get going then."

Wraith took out his teleporter. "Bodyslide by three."

#

"Well, at least the assassins won't find dad now," said Wraith's daughter, May.

"What assassins?" asked Shift.

May recounted the story: They had all gone to Mass the previous Sunday, at the cathedral in Gotham. Deathstroke was hiding in the shadows behind a pillar in one of the side chapels. He had scoped in on Wraith. He popped off the safety, and it suddenly popped back in. "Just what do you think you're doing? You're interfering with my prayers," said Wraith's voice right next to his ear.

Deathstroke didn't even turn. "Nice trick. Do you use your telekinesis to vibrate the air molecules?"

"My question first."

Deathstroke felt one of his knives being pulled out of its sheath. "Just seeing how close I could get. There's no bullet in the chamber." The blade went back into the sheath. "Someone put a hit out on you. Don't know who, but with a $2 million bounty, you're going to have every scumbag with an itchy trigger finger coming after you. I already stopped two outside."

"Why?"

"Why did I stop them? Or why am I telling you this? Heh, mutual respect I suppose. Maybe I'm going soft." He was quiet a moment. "I owed you for helping me see the value in my relationship with my daughter. Plus, I didn't want you and your family getting killed. Even I have scruples. Enjoy your prayer." Deathstroke melted into the shadows.

May finished her story.

"So Luthor hired them." Shift had a disgusted look on his face.

"It would seem so, possibly as a distraction. But we need to focus on Luthor. The timing still doesn't line up. He must have known about us before the duplicate met him. He must have gotten a hold of one of our trainees," said Debra authoritatively. She sat in the chair behind the office's desk and began to punch buttons.

"And you have all of them currently being tracked?" asked Shift, really hating how little Wraith trusted anyone, and feeling a little hypocritical about it.

"Yes, but it's not possible to keep tabs on them all 24/7. Still… Luthor must have figured out we existed after the Brainiac/Galactus attack. Luthor would have been in the Phantom Zone with everyone else. He would have known that all the heroes were there. They were defending the civilians. He would have known that someone else must have gotten them out. The man probably has a photographic memory. He could have deduced who was missing. So it would have to have been one of that team." She checked the computer screen. "Raven is the only one missing. Time to make a phone call."

"I thought we had no more allies," said Mary Jane.

"No, we don't have many allies, but there are still a few acquaintances that can help us." Debra brought up a video feed. The screen went from black to showing a woman with dark, short hair.

"What do you want, secretary?" asked the woman in a condescending tone.

"Mrs. Luthor, I thought you'd be more understanding after Mr. Wraith saved you from your husband's missile attack." Debra's voice was very pleasant.

"Ex-husband. And you know I don't appreciate being called by that title. You may call me, the Contessa. Your boss didn't do me any favors setting me up in his version of witness protection."

"Yes, well. We need some information from you."

"Oh?"

"If Lex wanted to work on a kryptonite suit to kill Superman, where would he go?"

"He has several options for that. He likes back up plans too you know."

"That would also be useful for interrogating a fairly powerful magic user?"

"Oh, the Bermuda Triangle base then."

"Do you remember the coordinates?"

"No, but I'll send them to you."

"Thank you, Contessa."

"You're welcome, dear." Both of their voices dripped venom.

"Oh, and tell Mordecai I said hi." She winked and cut the connection.

#

Wraith reappeared in one of his hospitals with both stretchers. Elixir rose from a chair. "I got your message."

"The woman needs your help. Be careful though. It's some kind of radioactive virus. I've downloaded the description I got into the computer for you to listen to."

"What about the big fella?"

"I got something else to help him." He nodded to Elixir. "Bodyslide by two."

#

"So where are we going?" asked Mordecai.

"Recruiting," said Debra. "There are still a few people who owe your dad a favor." They had all descended into the basement. Debra led them into a locker room. One wall was filled with cabinets and weapons' cases. "Whatever gear you brought, you'd better grab. You'll probably need it before this is all over."

"I don't like surprises," said Shift quietly. He was suddenly next to Debra.

Her claws came out. "Neither do I," she said through gritted teeth. "My father may trust you, but so far you only have my respect." Sometimes she was very much like Wolverine, even though she tried to control her temper.

"Wraith trusts me?" Shift was at a loss.

Debra sheathed her claws and continued to stack up equipment, and fill pouches on a belt. "Why else do you think he left you here, with his family?"

Shift looked around him. He hadn't thought of it like that. "But where are we going?"

"It's called the anti-matter universe. Wraith found it a number of years ago. Basically everything is reversed. The heroes here are villains there and vice versa." Debra stepped behind a screen to change out of her business dress.

"So Luthor is a hero?"

"Exactly, and he owes us." Debra emerged wearing a loose fitting tunic. She snapped on the utility belt. She went to the cabinets and pulled out a backpack. She began to fill it with equipment. She looked over at Shift, and seemed to be considering something. She opened a tall cabinet and pulled out a long, gnarled piece of wood.

She handed it to Shift. "Can you use this? It's called the staff of Arion."

Shift could feel its power. "I don't know if I'm ready to replace my staff, but it might come in handy." He put it in the folds of his cloak and it disappeared into the darkness. "Do we have a plan here? Because it feels like all we're doing is throwing something together."

"Luthor is anticipating what Mr. Wraith would do, but I haven't been calling the shots that long. There is no way to anticipate what I'll do. I've had ten years of experience watching Wraith train people and make contingency plans, but I'm my own flavor." Debra's face got grim. "I know what Wraith's going to try, so I'm going to use what he's doing as part of my plan."

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Mr. Wraith took Superman to heal him."

"Right, I know."

"What he didn't tell you is that Superman probably has a transdimensional tracker in him."

Shift closed his eyes in frustration. "So Luthor will know where he is, no matter where he goes."

"That's right. And since he already got the suit, we know he has both dimension traveling capabilities and time travel. Mr. Wraith won't be able to hide anywhere."

"So he's going to sacrifice himself?"

"No, he's going to be a distraction. The duplicate is the real problem. We go and stop him."

Mordecai had opened a bag he had brought with him from his home planet. He was just finishing putting on armor that was very similar to his father's. Debra and Mary Jane also wore armor, but not to the same extent. They're telepathy wouldn't enable them to support the same amount of weight as his telekinesis.

They all approached an archway. Debra began to punch some buttons. An energy field filled the archway. "Now, look. There's an entire Justice League waiting to kill us on the other side of this. We need to be at our best. Luthor tends to keep on the move, but he should come to us."

"Why is that?" asked Mary Jane.

"Well, once they attack us, he'll know what side we're on." Debra then stepped through the portal.

#

They appeared in a city very similar to Metropolis. There was a battle going on between two groups of super powered people.

"Well, that's convenient," said Shift.

Debra ignored him. "Sam, take down the members of the Crime Syndicate." He nodded and opened a portal underneath himself.

"All by himself?" asked Shift incredulously. "You just got done saying these guys were tough."

"They are. Sam is one of the most powerful of us here, in this situation. Plus, he has the most experience taking down superpowered targets."

"You mean killing them."

"Mr. Wraith said that he's good now. I have no reason to doubt him. He says the same about you."

With that Shift was silent. He decided to watch the battle amidst the skyscrapers.

There were clearly two sides. One was a man in green and purple armor. It was obviously this dimension's version of Lex Luthor. He was alone, facing versions of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and the Green Lantern. Sam appeared in the midst of them. Their Green Lantern fired a bolt of energy at him only to find it have no effect. With the close proximity of them all, he had all of their powers. He flew directly at their Superman and drove him into the ground. He threw their Wonder Woman into Owlman, and used his freeze breath to stop their Flash. He proceeded to drive them all off.

While the battle was finishing, Mary Jane talked to Debra through her telepathy. "Debra?"

"Yes?" It made Debra somewhat uncomfortable to hear someone else's voice in her head. It wasn't a common occurrence for her.

"Did Mordecai… did he ever date while he was gone?"

"He never looked at another woman twice. He's not a perfect man even though he tries, but he was always faithful to you. I assume you're referencing that video call. Mrs. Luthor tried to flirt with him. He would have none of it. It just made her try harder. I also suspect she does that just to irritate me. Unfortunately, she had some key information for my plan."

"Thank you, Debra." Her voice was full of love for her husband and for Debra. As the connection broke, Debra felt strange. She felt that she was part of a family. Wraith had always loved her and treated her as a daughter, but there was always something lacking. Now she had a mother, and siblings. It was a good feeling.

After the Crime Syndicate fled, Sam used his portal ability to bring Luthor and himself to the rest of his group. "Thank you, Sam," said Debra. He just nodded and stood to the side. He had been very subdued since returning from Wraith's home world.

Shift was dumbfounded. The man had just single handedly taken down the Crime Syndicate. No wonder Wraith had been terrified at what he could do. He hadn't even seemed to be trying. He wondered vaguely how many worlds he'd emptied of villains.

"Who are you people?" asked Luthor.

"Mordecai Wraith sent us," said Debra calmly.

Luthor showed slight surprise and then smiled. "How is he? He saved my butt a couple of times, and made Ultraman look like the ignoramus he is."

"I know. I need you to return the favor."

Luthor looked at all of their faces. "What has my counterpart done now?"

#

The plan was fairly simple. Debra had built another copy of the suit that Luthor had stolen. While the evil Luthor was fighting Wraith, the good Luthor would impersonate him and infiltrate the base in the Bermuda triangle. One of the many problems was that they didn't know what modifications Luthor would have made to Wraith's suit. The good Luthor surmised that they would probably think the same way ,and with Wraith's nanotech manufacturing facilities and virtually unlimited natural resources, he was able to quickly produce a fair guess at what it would look like. Luthor would go into the base, find out what he could, and the rest of them would attack when the moment presented itself. His armor was fitted with a video and audio feed for Debra to watch from a distance.

They had traveled back to the primary Earth. After finishing the suit, Debra had hurried them to into a jet with cloaking capabilities. They were currently circling near the edge of space, above the Bermuda Triangle. The battle between Mongul, Mongal, their armada, and the superheroes of Earth flashed far above them.

Lex had bought the area of water and created a manmade island, in the shape of an 'L'. It was a popular resort. Passive scans showed that there was a lead lined bunker underneath where both arms of the 'L' met.

The good Luthor was getting ready to go in. "I must tell you, I don't like this plan. There are too many variables. We don't know who's down there."

"True, but you have a teleporter to get you out, and if worse comes to worse, Sam can always evac you." Debra was helping him do a last check of his armor.

"If this doesn't work, and I die, promise me you will send someone to save my world." There was a quiet desperation in his eyes.

"You sure are different than the one here," said Debra quietly.

"I'll go," said Sam determinedly. "A world where heroes seem destined to lose. What else could be a better penance for me?"

Luthor looked at him with new respect. "Thank you." He looked at them all and smiled. He pushed a button on his armor and disappeared.

#

Wraith and Superman reappeared in a satellite revolving around a very bright yellow sun. The satellite was just out of reach of the solar flares. He shielded himself and removed the protective covering from around Superman. He then pulled out a scalpel from a cabinet. It had a kryptonite blade. "Let's hope you don't wake up too soon."

He made a small incision in Superman's abdomen and pulled out a device that also had a kryptonite tip. "I was right. That arrogant prick. He used my tech to track him." He used his abilities and crushed the device. He then opened the shield along one wall, letting all the solar radiation in. The wound slowly closed. He then put a black suit on Superman which would help him absorb solar radiation faster.

After a few minutes, Superman opened his eyes. "Where am I?"

"An otherwise unknown universe with a very young, strong, yellow sun."

"And you are?"

"Mordecai Wraith." He extended his hand. "A pleasure to meet you."

Superman weakly shook his hand. "Wait, where's Lois?" He looked around desperately.

"The woman you were with, in the Batcave?"

"Yes…" said Superman cautiously.

"It's alright," said Wraith lifting his hands. "I'm a friend of Bruce. Lois is being taken care of somewhere else. I designed this facility to heal Kryptonians. I sent her somewhere where I have a specialist. She should be fine."

"Warning: Unknown object entering sector," said an emotionless computer voice.

"I wasn't fast enough," Wraith muttered under his breath. "Raise shields and release androids."

"Are we under attack?" said Superman.

"Lex Luthor stole a suit I designed to kill you."

"You and Batman really are friends then," he smiled at his joke weakly.

"He has no friends. You know that better than most." He pulled up a video monitor. "This station is impressive, but that suit was built to stop you. He'll get through."

Superman looked intently at the screen. "Are those… Amazo androids?"

"Yes." Wraith shook his head as one was blasted into dust by Luthor. "They're not as tough as the original. They're not fully autonomous so they can't go rogue. Unfortunately they aren't as good of fighters then. Still, most enemies they would stop."

"I'm beginning to feel better," Superman began to sit up.

"Not yet." Wraith forcibly pushed him back down. "Luthor is just trying to flush us out. He wants you weak and in a public place. We'll hold out as long as possible." The station shook as Luthor began firing at it. "You need as much solar radiation as you can absorb before we go. With enough your body should be able to fight off the virus itself. I could pull them out myself with my telekinesis, but I'd have to open you up again and that would take a lot of concentration."

"I will kill you," said a voice coming from seemingly everywhere.

He looked towards the monitor. "Luthor would find a way to send his arrogant voice through space." He turned back to Superman. "Don't worry, I can teleport you back to Earth once he gets too close. With the tracker I took out of you destroyed, he won't be able to follow you easily."

Luthor's voice appeared in the room again. "You'll find that your transdimensional teleporter is not operational. I found the technology so useful, I had to develop a way to block other devices."

Wraith checked his device. A red light was blinking. He looked up at Superman. "I'm sorry. He's right."

"Well, then." Superman sat up and swung his legs off the bed.

"No, he will kill you. Even if you weren't already weakened this would be a bad idea. I know the capabilities of the suit. Luthor must have taken out my safety features or it would have turned off, so he must have modified it, but it's still a suit that I designed. I stand the best chance of stopping it." He took out his teleporter. "Computer, once the jamming signal is stopped, teleport Superman back to Earth." The station rocked as Luthor got closer, and continued to take it apart.

"Acknowledged," said the little computer box.

Wraith placed it in Superman's hand. "God help us." He then flew out the opening which was open to the sun.

#

Luthor reappeared inside an immaculately clean room. "Mercy!" he yelled. "Where are you?"

"Boss?" A woman in a chauffer's outfit with a skirt that was a little too short to be modest appeared from a doorway.

"Report!" he demanded. He began to move down the hall.

"Ah, report what? I just went to get you your latte." She began following him down the hall.

As he passed a doorway he stopped and saw several things through the window. Raven was strapped to a table, on another was a very beaten up Wraith. The evil Luthor was in a broken battlesuit yelling at Wraith, "Where did he go!" as he hit him with every syllable. Wraith's armor lay scattered on the floor.

Suddenly a man's head appeared in the window. His eyes narrowed. "Oh, good," said Luther lamely.

#

Debra covered her mouth in surprise as the video feed cut out. She tried to get the video up again but quickly realized it wasn't a problem on her side. Sam opened a portal to Luthor's bunker exactly where the video cut out. But when he tried to step through a purple light flared and he was knocked back.

"What's wrong?" Debra asked. Sam just looked stunned. No one had ever been able to block his passage. Shift, dark magic spilling from his hands, thrust his claws into the portal. Black and purple energy sparked and crackled in the confined space. Shift strained and growled but he couldn't tear the seal apart. Then a surge of magical power came from the other side of the seal and flung him against the far wall. Sam closed the portal before anything could follow the magical strike. Shift hit the metal wall with a sickening crunch. He sat in a ball, cradling his badly burned hands and biting down on a pained scream.

"Who was that?" Debra demanded of everyone in the room. Sam shook his head. He didn't know. Shift tried to stammer out an answer.

"M-Mord-" dark magic began to cover his hands and the smell of scorched flesh diminished. "Mordru, Incarnate Lord of Chaos. Good Lex is probably already dead." Debra frowned. She didn't recognize the name. Sam's eyes widened in surprise.

"He was supposed to be imprisoned until the end of time," Sam said. He had a moment's regret he didn't make an effort to kill Mordru when he was killing the other villains in that universe. But just for a moment.

"We can't just assume he's dead." Mordecai insisted. Shift shook his head sadly. He and Sam understood what they were dealing with but he doubted anyone else in the room had a clue. He was lucky Mordecai wasn't looking at him or the young man would have made good on his earlier threat.

"If that was Mordru then we've seriously underestimated our opponents." Sam said. "He's put up some kind of barrier against me. I can't get us inside the island."

"I might be able to get us near there by planewalking." Shift added. Sam snorted in derision.

"Foolhardy. You don't know what might be lurking near a place like that." Sam said, shooting down the idea. "No, we'll have to travel there physically and hope we can break through whatever defenses surround the place."

"My handheld teleporter is being blocked, but there is a teleportation device in the base. We c-" Debra started. Sam shook his head again. "In that case it will take us more than an hour to physically travel there." They were so engrossed in the discussion that they didn't notice Shift whispering softly with his hands placed flat on the floor. Golden light erupted from the floor under their feet and they vanished. Shift had opened up a door to another plane and dropped everyone through. If they delayed at all the chances of rescuing the good Lex Luthor would drop to zero. The transition was so sudden and unexpected that everyone but Shift landed in an uncomfortable manner.

"What in God's name do you think you're doing?" Sam shouted at Shift.

"Getting the job done." He threw his arms out and addressed everyone. "Welcome to the Subtle Realms. Time passes differently here. We can travel to the Lexcorp island in a matter of seconds, even though it will feel like a couple of days to us." Everyone looked around them at the bizarre world they'd just entered. The grass was red and scattered about them at random were pieces of furniture, street signs, and other assorted junk. The sky was the same red as the grass with silvery clouds winking in and out of existence. In the distance were structures made of blue-grey stone.

"You idiot!" Sam raged. "Do you have any idea where you brought us? This is not a safe means of travel." Mordecai had had just about enough from Shift. Because of him his father was in grave danger, his mother and sister had also been put in a strange place where their safety was in question, and a good man had likely just died trying to fix everything he'd broken. Enough was enough.

"Sam," Mordecai said to get the man's attention. "Can you get us out of here and back to Earth?"

"Technically speaking we're still on Earth, but yes, I can restore us to our previous location."

"Good." the younger Wraith reached for Shift with his mind, meaning to snap his neck. But when he reached out he found nothing there with his mind. It was as if Shift physically didn't exist. Shift leveled a murderous gaze at the telekinetic. The warding magic that made it impossible for someone else to tamper with his physical existence alerted him that he had just been attacked.

"Your father tried something similar once. I've taken precautions since then." Shift summoned the black leather coat and the silver Leviathan torc that were the symbols of his office. His magic began to blacken the grass around him as he distorted that weak reality. "If you want to kill me, do it like a man. Face me, allow me the benefit of retaliation." Shift's aura had become visible. It was as if all light and color were dimmed near him. Sam narrowed his eyes. He'd taken Shift's measure when they'd first met. The boy had been powerful for one so young. But this much magical strength was simply too far removed what he had been. Sam could, of course, use the same power. But some instinct told him that would be a poor idea. Copying magical abilities always came with a substantial risk. In this case it would be his sanity. The black energy surrounding Shift didn't feel remotely friendly, or even human for that matter. No, he would have to let this play out. He'd keep it from being deadly but this needed to happen. This kind of friction inside Luthor's base would get them all killed.

"Why should I treat a dog like you as a man?" Mordecai spat. He didn't actually believe Shift wasn't human, but he knew what would probably set Shift off. It worked, only a little too well. Shift moved fast, far faster than any ordinary human. Shift hit the barrier his opponent had thrown up. He kept his feet and kept moving. Mordecai knew he couldn't affect Shift directly, but that didn't mean the sorcerer was invulnerable. He compressed the air around him into projectiles and launched them at the werewolf. Each air bullet moved at least as fast as a real bullet and his aim was true. But Shift's protections were more than up to the challenge of stopping such an assault. Mordecai switched tactics. He raised earthen walls between himself and Shift. The werewolf tried to force his way through but the walls had the consistency of tar. Instead of breaking hardened dirt he sank slowly through. Cai took advantage and piled on more and more of the strange material. Shift struggled in vain to get out. His magic just soaked into the red earth. So he changed tactics. He changed form to a small bird and flew out of one of the holes where his hand had poked out. Wraith's son attempted to hit him with blasts of force. But Shift was too fast and small to hit. Shift mocked him with a chirping birdsong and began trailing dark energy. He circled Mordecai several times, creating a winding cage of black chains. The psionist responded by creating a spherical shield. Shift returned to human form and dropped lightly to the ground.

"Can't hold a candle to Daddy, can you?" Shift taunted. Mordecai ground his teeth but stayed in control. Shift yanked the end of the chain and put pressure on the force field. "Sorry, I'm being cruel. Taunting a dead man is really uncouth." He pulled harder on the chain. Strain started to show on the armored man's face. "You won't make the cut as a superhero at this rate." Cai dropped his shield and used a razor sharp blast of force to cut the chains. Shift had to dive away to avoid bifurcation. Mordecai fired back with some taunting.

"At least I'm not some mongrel dog that no one wants around. Didn't you know? Batman sent those kids to you to keep you out of the League's way." Shift's playful mood vanished. He'd been enjoying himself in the fight so far. Now he would take things seriously. Normally he'd just pop up from his opponent's shadow and stab them in the back. But there were no shadows in the Subtle Realms. So he chose a different tactic.

"So? Why should I care? Friends and family are just weak spots waiting to be exploited." Shift said. He was making subtle gestures with his hand, a simple illusion spell that would only cover sight and sound. But that should be all he would need. "Let me show you!" Shift waved his hand and black chains appeared around the necks of the four spectators. Mordecai's eyes widened in disbelief and horror. Shift lifted his hand and all four were lifted up by the chains around their necks, choking them. Mordecai reached out telekinetically to remove the chains but his power met a barrier of similar origin. Sam had protected himself and Wraith's family with a force field to ensure they didn't become collateral damage. A moment of confusion passed for the young man as the illusion dissipated and he saw his family safe and sound. The precious moments he'd spent on the illusion were far too long an opening to give someone like Shift. The lycanthrope had proclaimed the words to a potent spell while his opponent was distracted. A magic circle appeared in the air above the duelists and formed complex runes and symbols. Black energy shot down like a lightning bolt, faster than the telekinetic could respond. In his panic he'd dropped his personal shield. The energy blast had a clear path. If it had been meant to kill, Sam would have interfered and broke the spell. But he recognized the nature of the spell. It was a subduing spell. The energy would drain Mordecai's physical strength until his mind shut down to preserve energy. The effects were very short lived but resisting it was nigh impossible. The attack hit and Mordecai gasped as his strength was drained. He wobbled on his feet, his mind too hazy to concentrate on retaliation. Shift grabbed him by the collar of his armor and got in his face.

"You might be my age but you know nothing of the world. You have no concept of how uncontrollable the world is. How the simplest actions can lead to disaster. You tried to kill me in cold blood. And when all this is over you'll have to face the consequences of that." Mordecai passed out. Shift half dragged and half carried the young man back to his family. May nodded to him in thanks. Shift looked away. She'd been reading his mind since the fight had started and had mentally pleaded with him not to hurt her brother. Originally, Shift was going to curse Mordecai with a spell that would break his knees and elbows. But May had made her point in their mental conversation. She had dug through his memories and used what she found to say just the right thing at just the right time. Hurting him would hurt his mother more. That had broken Shift's wave of anger and allowed him to make the merciful choice.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't try to kill him." Debra said in relief. Shift shot her a frustrated look. She didn't know him at all despite working with him. Killing Wraith's son was never on the table. Despite the bad blood between Shift and the older man he didn't do things like that. He didn't shatter families.

"Now that the children are done on the playground, can we get out of this place?" Sam said impatiently.

"We can make it through here safely and still have enough time to prepare for the fight at the other end. There's nothing strong enough here to challenge either of us." Shift said with perfect confidence. He'd had a chat with Anna Fortune not two months ago about this very place, and how Stargirl had destroyed the King of Tears. The petty creatures left here were dangerous to ordinary people, but not to master mages and powerful meta-humans. "If you really know anything about Mordru then you know I'm right." Sam didn't disagree. "You might be able to stand up to him one on one but he'd crush the rest of us." Shift said bitterly. A creature the size of a Bengal tiger pounced at him from behind a pile of wreckage. It was made entirely of mismatched bones. Shift didn't even turn in its direction. His magic lashed out, feeding on his frustration and rage. The bone monster was reduced to dust in an instant. Sam raised an eyebrow. He had definitely profiled Shift correctly.

Sam carried Mordecai along for the rest of the day, copying his telekinesis. Anytime some monstrosity reared its head Shift terminated it with extreme prejudice. Sam was happy to let him. Younger heroes shouldn't be denied a chance to blow off steam. They gained ground hour by hour, getting closer to the giant castle. Shift marched far ahead of the group. Hoping in vain that some distance would give him some mental privacy. He felt an internal twinge from something up ahead. Instead of waiting for it to show itself he annihilated the small pile of stones and trash where it must have been hiding. If only all my problems were so easy to deal with. He thought angrily. If his apprentices hadn't screwed up none of this would be happening. He sighed out loud and admitted to himself that wasn't exactly true. He blasted a physically unlikely formation of rocks out of pure spite. But that wasn't what he needed. He needed to face his clone and grind it down to nothing with the most potent and painful curses he knew. He carefully kept himself from thinking of any spells in detail. Some magics had a life of their own. Simply hearing the words or glancing at symbols could be dangerous. And as he had found out there were several people nearby who could read his mind. That just annoyed him more.

He saw a few shapes moving inside one of the half-formed buildings off to his left. Another outlet for his unsatisfied wrath. He decided to actually use a spell to wipe these ones out. Maybe channeling external energies would grant him catharsis. Harsh syllables of some long dead tongue spilled from Shift. The air around him grew dim, as if the grey light of the plane was retreating from him. He thrust out a hand in the direction of his target and closed his fist. The space twisted and warped around a central point. Stone cracked and shattered, some unnamed creatures screamed. Then everything within the space Shift had targeted vanished. The greater expenditure of power did indeed let him channel his darker emotions and expel them. But everyone was looking at him funny. Not ha ha funny either.

May had a hurried mental conversation with her mother and Debra. The psychic conference call went something like this:

May: Can we trust him, Debra?

Debra: You can trust him to be himself. Violent and dedicated to destroying the things he hates.

MJ: I have the benefit of long experience. He's just being a young man. Hot tempered and impulsive. And perhaps a bit too prideful for his own good. We don't need to worry about him. We need to worry about the enemy that scared him into admitting his weakness.

May: We should keep an eye on him. Just in case he does anything more "impulsive" things. If he goes too far I'll ask Sam to help me shut his mind down.

There was a general assent to the plan and May let Sam know about it. He gave a curt nod without turning around. That night Shift put up a barrier around their campsite and they all slept, if a little uneasily. The next day passed similarly. Mordecai had been in a truly foul mood when he woke up but his mother and sister had talked him out of a rematch, for now at least. Shift had forced them into this situation but they had agreed to see it through. Killing Shift and finding another way was no longer an option. But when everything went back to normal Mordecai would make Shift answer for what he'd done. They made it to the castle and Shift held up a hand. He could feel something profoundly evil nearby. It wasn't magic that let him know this. He'd always had good instincts. And right then he knew there was something looking at them with an inhuman malice.

"What is it?" Mordecai asked. So far Shift had walked around like he owned the place, blasting anything he found inconvenient. This sudden caution let him know that there was something bad nearby. Sam felt the same thing Shift did and he put up a barrier around May and MJ before Shift had signaled everyone to stop. The interior of the castle should have been dark but it wasn't. The same grey light that had been outside was inside the castle too. Yet, the light didn't seem to have a source. Everyone kept still and silent, looking around for whatever had set Shift on his guard. Shift couldn't see, hear, or smell anything around him. He snapped his fingers and expelled a pulse of magic. He hadn't practice this much but in principle it was similar to a sonar pulse. Anything that magic touched he would sense. He felt it make contact with something powerful and inhuman far off to his right in another room of the castle.

"I'm going to go get a look. You can stay here-" four heads were shaken. They weren't letting him go off on his own, for various reasons. He walked into the next room and found something he hadn't even suspected was possible. Against the far wall was a cocoon or transparent silk that took up hundreds of square feet. Inside was a being Shift had only ever seen drawings of. But he knew what it was. The King of Tears. Apparently it hadn't been completely destroyed as the JSA had assumed. Or maybe this dimension needed a King and would continue to produce one no matter how many times it was destroyed. It didn't matter. This one was close to being born. This close Shift could feel the malevolent energies leaking from the cocoon. "I didn't anticipate this. Everyone, this is the King of Tears." One great black eye fixated on Shift. The lycanthrope purposefully kept his distance from the abomination. If he got too close it would doubtless attack him. "We have a choice to make."

"We don't have time for this. If we fight this... thing and die then so does Wraith and Raven." Mordecai argued. Shift nodded. Loathe as he was to let the thing live he knew that they might not be powerful enough to destroy it. So they moved back to the main room in the castle. Sam stood behind the longest. This didn't sit well with him. Despite everything that had happened he still believed that evil should be destroyed. He'd killed most of the villains in the Marvel Universe, along with many in the DC, such as the Joker, Darkseid, and Doomsday. Wraith had opened his eyes to the fact that humans could be redeemed, but this thing wasn't human. It was a living blasphemy against all that was good. But he too knew that attacking it now was imprudent. When he rejoined the others Shift had finished drawing a spell circle on the stone floor.

"Hold on everyone. When we get there Mordru and my clone will be alerted immediately. Once there we'll have to work fast." Shift said. Debra stopped him from activating the transfer with a raised hand.

"I've sent the island layout and building schematics to your phones. I designated a meeting point on the map in case we get separated." She gave Shift a look. He held out his hands, palm up, as if to say "what did I do?" But he went down to one knee and touched the circle, feeding power into it. The gold light returned, somehow more brilliant here than it had been on Earth. When it died away they were on a beach. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the sunlight and brilliant colors. Shift blinked, trying to remove the momentary disability. No sooner had he started to see than he was dropped back into darkness, swallowed by his own shadow.

Sam tried to reach out, borrowing Mordecai's telekinesis, and grab Shift before he went through his shadow, but was too late.

"Did you really think that we wouldn't be expecting you?" asked an arrogant voice.

They turned. Floating twenty feet above them was Luthor. "I'll have to thank you for the new suit. That other Luthor won't be needing it anymore and I didn't have time to repair the old one."

"Can I break him?" asked Mordecai, quietly.

"Yes," said Debra, "but don't kill him."

Mordecai almost growled. "Of course not. I only threaten. Shift should have realized that."

Debra rolled her eyes. She wanted to tell him that, although his father was a good man, his habit of threatening people wasn't a good one to copy. Wraith even admitted it himself at times. Wraith also had a better control of his temper than his son.

Luthor couldn't hear what they were saying. "Now, where is Superman?"

Mordecai glared at him. "Oh, I figure he'll be here soon enough, what with the mess."

"What…" Luthor began as all the sand on the beach began to swirl around him and batter his shield like a whirlpool and a fishing bobber. "Little fool. Wraith couldn't even beat me. What chance do you think you have?" Luthor could barely hear his own voice over the maelstrom.

"He fought you in space. There's a lot more things to throw at you here." Mordecai's voice seemed to come from all around him. Luthor began to fire blindly.

Debra took charge. "Sam, conserve your strength for Mordru. You're our best shot at him, especially since Shift is gone, but shield us in case Luthor gets a lucky shot. Mordecai, once you break his shield down, I'll open him up like a tin can." Her claws popped out emphatically.

Mordecai was straining. "I'm not holding him!"

Suddenly Luthor burst through the cloud of sand, his shield still shimmering around him. "I'd just like you to know that all of this is being recorded for the sake of my guests inside the resort. No audio of course. You trespassed and attacked me unprovoked. Your deaths will be an unwilling consequence of your actions." Green energy burst from his gauntlets.

Sam shielded them. Mordecai began to put pressure on Luthor's shield directly. It was having no effect. They seemed to be at an impasse. Mordecai and Sam couldn't attack Luthor together without risking his energy beams, and Luthor's energy beams weren't able to overcome their telekinetic shield. May had set up a telepathic link between the two in order to coordinate their efforts.

"Mercy, assistance," called Luthor into his microphone.

Mercy appeared from behind a sand dune. Her chauffer's uniform had been replaced with ancient Greek styled armor and short sword, showing her Amazonian heritage. This was in stark contrast to the high powered assault rifle she held in her hand. There was a squad of LexCorp Security behind her.

"I'll handle her," said Debra, and ran off determinedly, dodging as many bullets as she could, and quickly healing from the ones that struck.

Luthor ignored the two women fighting. He simply wished to divide the team. He kept on firing at them. May was unable to attack him psychically. Wraith had anticipated having to defend himself from the Martian Manhunter. The helmet Luthor was wearing was based off of Magneto's. It was completely telepath proof.

Mordecai gathered seawater and dropped a deluge on Luthor. Its only effect was to turn into steam once it hit the shield. "Can't you attack inside the shield?" asked Sam.

"Dad never got a chance to teach me how. I don't have that fine of control yet." Mordecai gritted his teeth in frustration. He also, unfortunately, said it out loud.

"'Dad?'" echoed Luthor. "Well, that does make things more interesting. I was unaware that Wraith had any family. That does make you more valuable."

Mordecai growled and renewed his attack.

Luthor smiled as the attack did nothing to his shield. However, he could still see that he was at a stalemate. He once again spoke into his microphone. "Major, if you please."

A panel opened under the sand near the heroes and Major Force came shooting out. He hovered next to Luthor and added his attack. Mordecai had to switch from the offensive to the defensive. The amount of radiation being shot at them was too much for Sam to shield them from alone. Even with both of them trying to defend it was getting close.

Luthor could see that they wouldn't last long. "I'd rather capture you alive. Superman does tend to come to rescue hostages, and Wraith might be more open to my interrogation with your lives on the line. I'd like to know more about his company before I acquire it. I guess I'll just take whoever survives." He increased the power on his suit and fired the gauntlets and his chest piece. Major Force fired at the same point. The sand around the heroes had melted due to the intense energy.

Sam opened a portal to protect them. The energy beams went into it. He then opened one behind Luthor. The beams reappeared through it and struck his shield. It flickered and went down.

"Shouldn't have gone full power," said Debra, rising from Mercy's unconscious body. The rest of the squad was sprawled out around her. "That shield wasn't designed to stop kryptonite radiation and will take at least thirty seconds to recharge."

She leaped at him as Mordecai gave her a push to get to the right height. Luthor tried to bat her away with his arm. She expected this, grabbed it, and swung around to his back. She locked her legs around his waist and began using her claws to hack off pieces of his armor. She knew how the suit was built and used her claws with a surgeon's precision. The kryptonite reactor was on the back, and that was the first thing she began to cut off.

As his power failed he began to lose altitude. She back flipped off of him and landed in a crouch in the sand. "Major!" Luthor began to yell.

They were all suddenly hit by a blast of radiation. Both Sam and Mordecai had to shield them, the attack was so strong. Once it stopped, they had just a glance of Major Force carrying Luthor away, as bits of his armor fell off.

"Now what?" asked Mordecai.

"Now we find Shift," said Debra as she put a loose strand of hair back into her bun. "He's probably not too far off."

#

She was right. He was only 10 miles away on the other side of the island. It might as well have been half a world away. Shift dropped through the portal in midair and landed on his feet. He hit the sand and immediately put up a shield against harmful magic. Black and red energy crashed against the barrier. Shift saw his clone standing in front of him, his hands raised.

"It was worth a shot." Red-eyes said nonchalantly. Shift still held the shield. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on killing you. Not yet anyway." Shift took in his surroundings. He was on another beach, his comrades were nowhere in sight. The light was much dimmer, like there was an overcast sky. But when he looked up he realized there was a translucent barrier of magic overhead. The massive dome spread out at least a mile in diameter and was hundreds of feet high. He tried to open up a portal to escape and found he couldn't. He'd been trapped. A dimensional lock this powerful and large would have taken quite a while to prepare. Days at least. His clone had been waiting for him it seemed.

"Let me guess, someone else wants a shot at me first?"

"Give the dog a bone. Mordru wants to examine you. Your office has always been an oddity that interested him. But you all made a habit of staying just out of his reach. And when he's done, I get to devour you and become a true being." Shift looked around, expecting Mordru to appear at any moment.

"So where is the high and mighty Lord of Chaos?"

"He's otherwise occupied for the moment. New toys to break." He must have been talking about Wraith and Raven, Shift realized. He bared his teeth in frustration. It appeared he would have to take the initiative. He dropped the barrier and lashed out with a wave of magical energy. Red blocked and returned fire. Shift deflected the blast back into the jungle to his right. He chanted quickly, frantically. He needed to restrain his double for just a few second to destroy him. Across from him Red had begun a spell of his own, one Shift didn't recognize. The same draining spell he had used to defeat Mordecai activated above Red. The doppelganger simply dodged to the side, his spell uninterrupted. Shift closed the distance between them, a sword appeared in his hand. He slashed and stabbed in a frenzy, forcing Red to abandon his spell. The clone caught the blade in both hands and channeled magical lightening through it and into Shift. The sorcerer jerked spasmodically, blue bolts of electrical energy discharging into the ground around him. Sand melted to glass. When Red's spell ended Shift was still on his feet and livid. A hard booted foot crunched into Red's jaw and sent him bouncing along the beach. Shift had magically enhanced the strength of the blow, striking with half the strength of Superman. He gave chase. The broken jaw would hinder his clone but only for about 30 seconds. After that the jaw would have healed and Shift's advantage would be lost. Red snapped his fingers and vanished in a burst of black smoke. Shift let out a pulse of magic and felt it his magic wash against Red. He whipped his head around and saw him drawing a figure in the sand. Shift slammed a foot into the sand and shouted a word. A near solid wave of the silicate particles towered over Red. He had to abandon this spell too. He tried to move out of the way but the wave altered direction and crashed into him. When Shift saw him go under he leaped 30 feet into the air and began a chant. As long as Red couldn't move he didn't need to worry about a counter spell. So he would scorch the earth, turn the whole of the beach into glass. Fire came to his call, swirling around him with incredible heat and light. He shaped it and made it burn hotter. Then he dashed it to the earth beneath him. It exploded with a thunderous noise, if the barrier hadn't been up, Debra and the others would have covered their ears. Shift watched the fire blaze with pleasure and relief. It was finally over. His joy was short-lived. A red hot wall of glass screened the area Red had lain from his view. Had he defended himself? No, without the ability to speak he wouldn't have been able to respond in time.

A ball of sand weighing several tons crashed against his back. Shift was surprised but he still noted the magic holding the sand together. He recognized that magic. He crossed his arms in front of him in a defensive stance and spoke another word. It allowed him to channel magical energy around his body which he expanded to lessen his impact with the ground. He shattered the glass around him but was relatively unharmed. Dark energy coated the glass shards and they shot toward him. He dropped to his hands to avoid them and sprang to his left. He let out another pulse and located the new enemy. She was directly above him another 50 feet higher than he'd been when he called the fire. Raven had her hands surrounded by orbs of dark light to help manipulate the broken glass. Shift was still struggling to catch up with the idea that Raven was attacking him. He barked three words and hurled a handful of compressed air at her. The concussive blast was a non-lethal spell, designed to deafen and disorient. Raven blocked it outright. She threw more glass at him. He worked his feet as fast as he could to dodge and run. He was losing ground with every step. A shard of glass cut the side of his neck. He responded by exploding a smokescreen of magical energy out of his body.

It obscured his vision as well as hers but he sorely needed the advantage of being unseen. He ran to his right into the jungle to regroup. He heard glass breaking and flying where he was standing only a moment ago. He felt some of his blood slide down his shoulder and arm. She'd nicked an artery. He wasn't worried, he already felt the cut closing. Then he heard a voice off to his left, clear and powerful. Then he realized his mistake. He had allowed Raven to distract him. He'd forgotten about Red. The copy's jaw would have had plenty of time to heal. Now he was making his move. Shift threw up a barrier and prayed it would stop this new spell. He was sorely disappointed. Red chains burst from the sand under his feet and wrapped themselves around his arms, chest, and neck. His barrier shattered like harmless stunt glass. His smokescreen disappeared the instant the chains made contact with him.

"I've got him!" he heard Red shout. Shift tried to use his magic to make the binding spell crumble. Nothing happened. The magic was there, he could feel it. But it wouldn't leave his body.

"You're just as arrogant as him, slave. If I remember right, you told me to stay out of it. You could handle him all by yourself. You're pathetic." Shift heard Raven say as the two closed in on him. When they came through the brush to confront him he hadn't even managed to struggle to his feet. The chains were restraining his physical strength as well. He gasped when he saw Raven. She now had two sets of eyes, both glowing red. The magic around her twisted and jerked unevenly, responding to the rage controlling her. Red had his right hand locked into a fist and pointed at him.

"Shut up. I could have handled the fire just fine." Red snapped at Raven.

"Why?" Shift asked weakly. He had to know why Raven had sided with his evil counterpart.

"I owed Mordru a favor. His meddling in my daughter's head allowed me to take control. And now I have the time and means to repay your insults." Trigon, it was Trigon speaking through Raven. Shift strained and pushed but the chains held.

"You stinking pile of spiritual filth! Let her go or I swear I'll tear her away from you!" Shift said angrily.

"You're in no position to make demands, mortal. I hold all the power here." Red scowled at that but didn't let up on the spell. "In fact, I think I'll take my revenge now." Trigon levitated a shard of glass to him and aimed it as Shift. The possessed Raven kicked Shift to the ground and knelt down next to him.

"No damaging the merchandise!" Red insisted.

"I'm not going to kill him. He will heal no matter what I do with this." Raven took the glass in hand and opened Shift's coat. Shift had a flashback to his time at Cadmus and struggled all the harder, physically and magically. Sweat began to bead on Red's face. He clenched his fist harder but Shift kept struggling.

"Trigon stop!" Red shouted. Raven ignored him. Shift had tapped into the full power of the Leviathan and it felt like his blood was on fire. But struggle as he did he couldn't bring the power to bear. He thrashed hard when the glass started to cut him. His desperation and fear grew by the second. If he had something apart from his body to put the power into he could use it. Then he realized the blood on his arm had dripped onto the ground. It was separate from him but he could still feel the magic in it. Enough power for a small spell. Then a flash of inspiration hit him. The staff Debra had given him. He used the blood to call it from his pocket dimension, which luckily wasn't affected by the barrier. As soon as he had it in hand the magic flooded into it and exploded out. Red and Raven were tossed back as a pillar of chaos magic burned its way into the sky. Shift felt the silver torc unwind itself and slither down his arm. It gripped onto the wooden staff and power began to wrap itself around him. Silver chains, small and fine, wrapped around him. It poured more strength into him than he thought possible. Then he felt the metal turn liquid and flow around him, hardening and shaping itself. Eventually the magic was pulled back into his body. When Red and Raven could see Shift again his appearance had been transformed. He wore a strange type of plate armor that covered everything below his neck. The hood of his longcoat shrouded his face in shadow and remained outside the armor below his hips, the black fabric hung down in front and behind him. Scrawled on the silver armor were sigils and signs of man's original language, potent and powerful. Magic hummed around him but particularly around the staff in his left hand. A silver serpent was wrapped around it, the head biting into the wood.

"What happened?" Trigon asked, stunned by the power of this new figure.

"You made him desperate. He took hold of the Leviathan's full power and it materialized as that armor. I just hope Adam's still in the driver's seat."

"What do you mean?"

"He took the limiters off. The Levaithan might be calling the shots now." Before they could react Shift had teleported between them. He lashed out with the staff and his open hand. The powerful hits knocked Raven into the air and Red back against a tree. Silver chains appeared around Red and lashed him to the tree. The same chains bound Raven.

"I'll deal with you in a minute." Shift said to Red. "But first-" he teleported to Raven who was laying face up in the sand. "-I need to deal with you." Silver magic coated his right hand and gave off a strong light. "I'm sorry Raven, but this is going to hurt." Shift said, genuine remorse in his voice. Trigon knew what Shift was about to do so he played his last card.

"Mordru, kill the slave!" Trigon shouted. Shift's hand plunged into Raven's chest and grasped her heart. Shift immediately found the sliver of Trigon in her that let the monster control her. He channeled the light and purged it from her. The darkness burned up in an instant and restored Raven to her senses. Shift immediately withdrew his hand and the hole he had made vanished as if it had never existed. There wasn't even a tear in the fabric of her costume.

Shift teleported back to Red. He had so much power, and it seemed like his mind had expanded as well. He could grasp the fundamentals of reality and move them about instinctively with his magic. Teleportation was as easy as breathing. He was so absorbed with the god-like power and the awesome knowledge flowing through him that he didn't notice what was happening to the barrier. The dark mist gathered and condensed to a single small point. Then the small bit of energy shot forward at an impossible speed and shattered the clone's head. Instead of blood the clone burst into red-white energy and leaped toward Shift. With his mind expanded and his eyes able to see the fabric of reality he knew what was coming. His reaction was too slow. The energy Trigon had taken from him to form Red sank back into his body. Unfortunately, so did the curse Trigon had attached to Red. The spell sank in through what should have been impregnable armor, piggybacking on Shift's own life-force. Because it was part of Shift the warding spells didn't consider it a threat. He felt the curse sink into him, latching on like a hungry parasite. The power he had gained raged out of control. The staff shattered, his armor crumbled into dust. Light faded from his vision.

#

Mordru watched it all from his scrying mirror. A smile split his face. Things had turned out better than he had hoped. He hadn't wanted to confront the Leviathan's power directly. Its power was older than him, potentially more potent as well. After seeing Shift grasp its full power he was glad he had acted through proxies. The Lords of Order had perished at the hands of the Spectre as had his fellow Lords of Chaos. Trigon's curse would banish the Leviathan to a void-space and leave Shift nearly powerless. His only competition for the material world was gone. He broke the connection and decided it was time for him to take a more active role in this fight. He would leave Shift to suffer. He and Raven were of no consequence now. But he felt a strange magic from one of the other intruders. That now demanded his attention more than interrogating the telekinetic.

#

Shift's mind retreated to the place in his soul-space where the connection to the Leviathan existed. The silver chains were being corroded. He poured his own magic into strengthening them. He managed to hold the connection but he wasn't gaining ground. The curse corroded them as fast as he could repair it. He was burning up his own life to hold on to the power he had found. He stayed like that for what felt like an eternity. He felt himself slipping away little by little. Until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Let it go." He did what the voice said. He didn't have it in him to resist anymore. He fell backward and someone caught him. He screamed in agony when the chains snapped, but his voice was overshadowed by the distant bellow of the Leviathan. Then it was gone and Shift felt his strength return little by little. Raven was there with him. She'd seen everything as it happened. She'd been a prisoner in her own body. Shift had set her free and more. He'd broken her connection with her father. Words couldn't say how much that meant to her. She was free of him now and forever. So when she'd seen him fall, heard him screaming, she'd gone to his aid. She'd done the same for Robin, sent her soul-self into a friend to help them overcome some internal battle. And when she connected to Shift she knew what she had to do. His soul-space was void of everything but the Leviathan's chains and a few small things. He had given up almost everything to hold onto something and it was killing him. She used her power to help him let go. Just a gentle nudge in the right direction. Then she left and returned to her own body.

"Ouch." Shift gasped. He was laying on the ground just at the entrance to the jungle. Everything ached, his head pounded, and he felt so empty. He couldn't move. Raven walked over and sat next to him.

"So...hi again." Shift turned his head slightly. She attempted to smile at him and Shift found the result downright funny.

"Hi again little bird." He said, trying not to laugh.

"I'm guessing you don't have a way out of here?" she asked.

"I don't know, but even if I did there are people here that need help. I need to-" He tried to sit up and he nearly passed out. His body had come close to death and he wasn't bouncing back very fast.

"You're not really in helping shape. Me either." She laid down on the sand next to Shift.

"Thanks." he said awkwardly. "I hope you didn't see anything too horrible." Raven shuddered. When she connected with someone like that she got a bit of their memories along with whatever was in them. Hope, pain, desire, despair. The memories she'd gotten from Shift had been a little extreme. A memory of his parents, the memory of a cold steel cage, and a memory of Shift living on the streets of Gotham.

"Want to talk about it?" she offered. Despite the trick he played on her she actually kind of liked him. She'd offered to help him before and he'd said no.

"Sure, I'm not going anywhere," he joked. They stayed there and talked, both of them hoping they could recover before Mordru or Luthor found them.

#

Debra took a brief look around. Other than the immediate site of their battle, everything looked pretty normal for a ritzy beach resort. There were chairs and table scattered sporadically, a trail leading up to the main resort, and a bar surrounded by umbrellas. Off in the distance there appeared to be a jungle. "Mordecai, get an aerial view, but stay in Sam's range. I don't want to be attacked without protection while you're gone."

"Right." Mordecai flew straight up. He slowly pivoted. He fed video from his helmet to Debra's phone.

Debra looked at the strange haze covering the other side of the island. She showed it to Sam. "Do you recognize this?"

"Hmmm…. Could be magic. Some kind of shield, I'd guess."

"But to keep us out or someone else in?"

Sam closed his eyes for a moment. "I can open a portal near the shield, but not inside of it. I still can't open one in the base." He opened his eyes. "The source of the interference seems to be still in the base."

"So Mordru's still down there," said Debra with a note of apprehension.

"So it would seem. Your father probably is as well." Sam paused. "We could use more man power."
"You're suggesting we go down there? But you said you can't open a portal, and won't he want us to come to him?"

"Maybe. But I wasn't suggesting a portal." Sam looked up at Mordecai.

#

"Do you have enough control for this?" asked Debra.

"Not to pick up the individual molecules of sand, but I don't have to." Mordecai seemed to be considering the area. He walked a few feet over. "The outer wall is here, I think."

"Good enough. Let's hurry. I don't know if it's possible to surprise Mordru, but I'd like to try." There was worry in Sam's voice.

Mordecai took a deep breath, and released it slowly. He lowered his head, stretched out his arms. The sand jumped around them forty feet in the air. They began to descend rapidly. It wasn't quite falling, but was comparable to sinking into a pool after a dive. Most of the sand was diverted away from them, as it flowed past.

After descending for less than a minute, Sam tapped Mordecai's shoulder. Mordecai nodded and the sand stopped. They had descended around 300 feet. A slab of concrete formed part of the wall of the cylinder that Mordecai had dug out. "He's close," said Sam. "I can feel him."

Everyone nodded. Debra popped out her claws. She knew that they would probably be useless in this fight, but it made her feel better. Sam used Mordecai's powers to pull out the concrete wall.

A man was waiting on the other side. He wore his hair and goatee long. "Twenty six seconds to get down here. I would have expected better." His eyes tightened in concentration as he eyed Sam. "You are strange." He then smiled. "I will enjoy ripping out your secrets."

Sam felt the power rippling through him. Mordru was indeed a powerful being, quite possibly more powerful than Shift. And although his power had a sinister feel to it, it didn't have any kind of hunger to take him over. Sam decided to tap into it.

Mordru's smile shifted. The strange magic user's aura had just changed remarkably. It now resembled his own. "Curious." He fired a bolt of magic, nothing terribly strong, but enough that most magic users would have had a difficulty stopping it.

Sam didn't even flinch. The magical bolt hit a shield he had raised and was easily dissipated. The energy was intense and he was unused to it. His knowledge of spells was insignificant to Mordru. He would have to beat him by being more cunning. Sam fired a mixture of magic and telekinesis.

Mordru seemed to physically bat the attacks away with his hands disdainfully. "You lack finesse," said the sorcerer condescendingly. Magical energy poured out of him in the form of snakes.

Sam reinforced his shield. The frontal assault was held at bay, but there were a few streams that went behind. He was too focused on the front to notice them. They penetrated his shield and raked large cuts across his back. Sam fell to the ground, but swung a fist encased in magic through the snakes. They disappeared. He exhaled. He already could feel his back healing. Mordru's healing abilities coupled with Debra's made short work of the wounds.

Sam had tried to multitask and it had cost him. Fortunately, Wraith was now free. By using Mordru's abilities, he had been able to detect where Wraith was. He then disabled the device that was impairing Wraith's abilities. That had been all he could accomplish before Mordru's attack got through, but based on what he was seeing now, it had been enough.

Wraith was floating down the hallway towards Mordru with his stolen kryptonite armor in tow. Saying he didn't look good was an understatement. He clearly had some broken ribs. His nose was broken. There were burn marks on several portions of his body. His eyes were blood shot. Portions of his hair had been burned off. Sam was amazed that he was conscious, much less able to control his abilities. Power seemed to be leaking out of him. As he went past, the paint on the wall came off as a fine powder. The tiles on the floor below him cracked.

The kryptonite armor was in a shambles, but apparently one of the hand projectors was still working, because Wraith fired a beam at full power at Mordru.

The beam uselessly hit his shield. The sorcerer slowly turned and raised an eyebrow in a condescending manner. "I'm only keeping you alive to tell me where you are keeping your magical items. I suggest you not irk me." Energy lanced out effortlessly from him towards Wraith.

Sam thought this would probably kill him. He quickly pulled Wraith through a portal, and put Wraith next to himself.

Mordru turned back to face Sam. "Go on. It's your turn." He was smiling maliciously.

The sorcerer was toying with him. Sam got to his knees. He hadn't realized immortals could become so… pathetic in their pleasures. He was closer to Mordru now, and with being able to duplicate his magic, Mordru was no longer able to block Sam's portal ability. He took in a breath and concentrated.

Mordru could feel Sam drawing in the magic. He reinforced his shield just in case. This magic user didn't seem particularly learned, but fighting someone on his own power level was a rare chance. Perhaps he could use him as a power source for himself. His thought was interrupted as portals began opening and closing all around him. Some were no more than a pin prick. Others were a yard in diameter. There were hundreds of them. Suddenly magical and telekinetic blasts began hitting him at random. Sam was now able to tap into both Mordecai's and Wraith's telekinesis at the same time. Having to shield from one direction was easy, but Sam's attacks were even coming from below Mordru. Sam had learned from Mordru's attack and applied the idea to all 360 degrees. Mordru had to admit, he was impressed. It was taxing to defend from all angles at once, but it was still futile.

Mordru teleported right next to Sam, and punched him. The blow sent him sprawling across the room. His jaw was broken and his face was bleeding. Mordru watched as he began to heal. "Didn't know I could teleport, did you? I assume because you have similar abilities you didn't detect that." Mordru was smiling triumphantly. He knew he'd won.

Sam garbled a response. "What was that? You seem to have a speech impediment." Mordru smirked, as leaned closer to Sam, pretending to listen harder.

Debra was standing near Sam, helping him up. "He said he was counting on it." Just then Debra and her team teleported out, leaving the 300 feet tall, 30 feet in diameter cylinder of sand that Mordecai had been supporting above them, to drop on Mordru.

Sam had brought them to the center of where the shield had been up over the island. Mordru had been too distracted to keep it up. Sam experimentally moved his jaw, and then spoke. "That man had one fear. You would think that someone who was terrified of being buried alive wouldn't have put himself underground in a bunker."

Shift and Raven shambled towards them. "Did we win?" asked Shift.

Mordru appeared above them all. He boomed, "Fools! Did you think I did not foresee this?"

"I'm going to go with a no," said Raven drily.

Flames began to fall from the sky. Sam now had Raven's powers to add to his abilities. He still barely shielded them. The sand around them began to swirl and cover the shield. "I'll bury you, just like you tried to bury me!"

Sam was feeling the pressure from shielding them. Mordecai, Raven, and Wraith lent their abilities to try and defend themselves. The sand formed into spinning spikes that tried to screw their way through the shield. Sam nearly collapsed from the effort, but together they were able to overpower Mordru's attack, and dissipate the sand. Wraith fell unconscious from the effort.

Sam went on the offensive. He combined Wraith's, Mordecai's, and Raven's telekinesis and began to batter Mordru. It seemed to have no effect.

Mordru laughed. "I have taken blows from Power Girl, taken on the Justice Society, and the Freedom fighters, did you honestly think that you could harm me?"

Sam smiled. "Maybe not, but I think all of us can." The Justice League and Justice Society had just arrived. Those that could fly surrounded Mordru in a circle. Sam floated up near Mordru. "And I think, with all of their powers at my disposal, you don't have a prayer."

Mordru blanched, but then frowned and began to fire magical energy bolts at Sam. Portions of the jungle were ripped up and large craters were made. Sam teleported around them all, until he appeared above Mordru. By combining the powers of Superman, the Atom, Power Girl, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, and the telekinesis he already had, he hit Mordru with a two handed blow, driving him down into the sand below. He teleported down into the newly formed crater and began to pummel Mordru. He used the telepathic abilities of the heroes present, combined with Mordru's abilities and attacked him psychically as well.

Mordru flailed, trying to get Sam off of him, but was unable. His shield finally broke and he lay there in the sand, exhausted and unconscious.

The heroes descended amongst them. Superman crossed his arms. "I believe there's a lot of explaining to do."

Batman appeared next to Wraith. "Not now. He needs medical treatment. We also need to do something about Mordru."

Sam spoke up. "Mordru will heal quickly. I'm going to teleport him to a universe devoid of life. Hopefully, that will at least slow him down." Batman nodded. Mordru's body fell through a portal that quickly closed behind him.

"Can you take Mr. Wraith to his healer?" asked Batman.

Sam noted the title Batman gave to Wraith's name. "I think I know where it is. Knowing where I'm going is part of my abilities."

"Then go. He doesn't have long." It wasn't a suggestion. It was a command, and Batman wasn't someone you ignored. There was displeasure in Batman's countenance, but that seemed to be normal. Still, Sam had to wonder about what Batman thought about him for killing the Joker.

Sam stepped next to Wraith's body and opened a portal beneath them both.

"Will he be okay?" asked Mary Jane to Debra.

Debra smiled. "Probably. Elixir is an excellent healer. If Wraith is still alive, Elixir can heal him." Debra turned to Batman. "What happened with Mongul and Mongal?"

"With the addition of Superman to our forces, we were able to defeat them and their armada. They owned up to a bald, arrogant human orchestrating their attack. That likely meant Luthor. Some Green Lanterns carted them off."

#

Sam and Wraith reappeared in a hospital room. Using Wraith's telekinesis, Sam put Wraith on a stretcher. "Hello?" he called.

A young man with golden skin appeared. "Hello? Are you here to pick up the woman? She's driving me nuts." Then he saw Wraith's body. "Oh…" He ran up to him and touched his shoulder. Elixir closed his eyes. Light began to project from Wraith's body.

"Is there anything I can do?" asked Sam, while trying not to disturb Elixir.

The healer didn't open his eyes. "Please take that woman back with you. I need to concentrate."

Sam backed away remorsefully. This mission definitely hadn't gone as he'd intended. He turned around to find the woman staring. "Is he going to be okay?" she asked.

"I don't know," Sam whispered. "But we need to go." He dropped them both through a portal.

#

They reappeared on the beach. "Lois!" cried Superman. He flew over to her and embraced her. "You're okay."

"Yeah, the golden boy said I had a clean bill of health. How are you?" She was dwarfed by the Man of Steel's tremendous frame.

"Yeah, nothing some high intensity solar radiation couldn't fix." Superman smiled halfheartedly. As much as he was angry about a battle with Mordru not being brought to the League's attention and the reappearance of someone he suspected had killed several supervillains a year ago, he was still worried about Wraith. The man had saved his life.

"What happened here?" asked Lois, noting the destruction in the area. "Looks like a war zone."

Debra stepped forward. "I believe I can answer that. Luthor made a play to take over Wraith's company, while using tech that Wraith had developed to take Superman out (should you ever go rogue, of course). Wraith went to save you and stop Luthor, got caught, and was tortured for information on your whereabouts and his company. Luthor found out about Wraith through his own research and by hiring Mordru to capture and torture Raven to gain information from her on Wraith. Mordru was really just playing along in order to get his hands on Wraith's stockpile of magical items. We came, and with the help of a Lex Luthor from another reality… wait, where is he?"

"He's dead," said Sam. "His body is in the bunker. I detected it with Mordru's powers when I was searching for Wraith."

Debra's head sank, but then she continued. "We were able to defeat Luthor, but Major Force took him away. We went down into Luthor's underground bunker to confront Mordru and rescue Wraith. We got out, thinking that we had defeated and trapped him down there. He reappeared above us and attacked. The rest you saw." Debra turned to Sam. "What should we do about Luthor's body?"

Sam responded. "I don't know. He might find it fitting to be buried on an island shaped after his name. It seems kind of fitting. Although, this reality's Luthor does own it. He probably wouldn't leave the remains."

"Specter Incorporated owns the island as of an hour ago." Everyone turned to Batman. "You didn't finish the whole story, Debra."

Debra swallowed. Batman really was the world's greatest detective. "Wraith knew that his plan would fail. Luthor would be ready for him. He told me to come up with a plan myself, and not to tell anyone. I'd watched Wraith for years. He likes fairly direct approaches, so I tried something less direct. A few years ago Luthor lost control of his company to the Contessa." The name came out with some venom. "I'm in contact with her. I found out how she did it. Then, using my access to Wraith's substantial fortune, I bought him out. This was all done through a friend of course. Wraith has another secondary that I brought in. He managed it all. Luthor has now lost access to his tech, and has lost the majority of his fortune. He'll have a hard time finding anywhere to hide. Plus, with his loss of status, the pressure on Wraith's company disappeared. Lex was no longer in a position to lean on any governments."

Superman smiled in spite of himself. The idea of Luthor penniless pleased him.

Captain Marvel spoke, "Who are all you people?" Bewilderment covered his face.

Shift chuckled to himself. For once he was the legitimate one. He might not have been an upstanding member of the League, but at least he was a member. Wraith and his associates lived in the shadows so much, that not even their allies knew who they all were. Luthor's outing of Wraith might have destroyed his secret identity, but apparently not even Luthor could undo all of Wraith's works.

"They're friends," said Batman. Superman raised an eyebrow at this and smiled slightly. Batman looked at him stone faced. There were no other questions after that.

#

Sam brought them all back to Wraith's Metropolis building. Debra soon left with him, and Mordecai. "Where are you going?" Mary Jane had asked.

"One last task," said Debra with a glint in her eye.

#

Lex Luthor made it to the balcony of his office at last. Major Force had to fly slow and low so as to avoid detection and not kill Luthor. It had taken them hours to reach Metropolis. He ordered the criminal away so as not to be seen with him. The lights were out in his office. The door was locked. He picked up a potted plant and broke in. He was fuming after his defeat. Still, he could use the video coverage he had of the fight to his advantage somehow. As he approached his desk, the chair swiveled around and the lights came on. They revealed a young woman in a smart business suit, with brown hair tied up in a bun.

Luthor straightened his posture and looked down his nose at her. "What are you doing in my office?"

"You mean my office," she said curtly.

"What?"

"You see, while you were so busy trying to kill Superman, and steal Mr. Wraith's company, I bought you out." She picked at an imaginary hang nail.

"You what?!" Then he recognized her. She wasn't wearing the same combat suit as when she hacked his suit apart, but it was definitely one of Wraith's allies. "Security!" he yelled.

In walked two men in security uniforms.

Luthor pointed a finger at Debra. "Get this woman out of my office!"

"Immediately, sir!" one of them chimed in. They promptly grabbed Luthor by the shoulders of his shirt and picked him off the ground.

Debra got out of the chair from where she had watched the proceedings with silent mirth. She walked up to him with a slight swagger. "You're broke and powerless. What's more, I'm selling your company to Wayne Enterprises. I don't have the time to manage two worldwide corporations. It's going at a loss too. Your stocks are basically worthless. All of your buildings have been seized, and your access has been denied. Since you mobilized your entire security force to guard our buildings from our employees, I simply used our employees to seize all of yours, except, I did it legally. I knew you'd return to Metropolis. You think it's your little kingdom." Two men in uniforms appeared in the doorway. "Oh, and the police are here to arrest you. I also recorded the fight at your island, and your fight with Wraith. The police found it very interesting. I'm not really taking pleasure in your downfall, but I'm very grateful to God that you're no longer a threat." She seemed to consider. "I'm probably also happy to see you fall, but I'm working on that." Debra then turned and sat back down at Luthor's desk.

Luthor was so angry that he was speechless. He didn't even notice that it was Mordecai and Sam that were acting as the security guards. They handed him off to the police. They took him into a squad car and drove off.

Mordecai and Sam flew after them. They followed all the way to the station, just to be sure that Luthor had no tricks up his sleeve, and managed to escape. Everything seemed satisfactory. They then returned with Debra to Wraith's building in Metropolis.

#

Sam immediately left to go check on Wraith. He found him sitting up on his bed. Elixir was sitting in a chair nearby. He was saying, "..can clear up those scars on your face, you know."

Wraith watched Sam appear through the portal as he responded to Elixir. "No, leave them."

"You look better," said Sam.

"How'd we do?" asked Wraith, all business.

"Better than we should have. Luthor is in custody, Shift's clone is destroyed thanks to Mordru, and Mordru is hopefully forever banished to an alternate dimension, but I wouldn't bet on that lasting forever."

Wraith snorted. "It never seems to."

"We lost Luthor. You know, the good one?"

Wraith looked sad. "I liked him. That's too bad."

"I promised him I'd go to his universe if he fell." Sam was worried that Wraith would argue with him about it.

"Well, I was the one who'd told you about that universe. I can't argue with your logic. It is a pretty good penance, and your heart seems rather contrite. Are you at peace about it?"

"Yes. I think so. I think it's God's will for me."

Wraith seemed to consider this. "Well, I could see Him ordaining that." He stood up from the bed, testing out his legs. "Can we go home, now?"

Sam smiled and nodded.

They stepped through the portal into the office in Wraith's Metropolis office. They all stared at him for a moment. "Are you okay?" asked Mary Jane as she rushed into his arms.

"Yes." Wraith smiled slightly. He kissed his wife quickly on the lips. "I'm just glad you're all okay." He saw Shift standing to the side of the room. "Now do you see why I hate magic?"

Shift laughed. "Well, I can't say that I've had all good experiences with it myself."

Wraith turned to Debra. "I'm very proud of you. I'm sorry I didn't trust you to handle things from the beginning."

"No, you should have been the one in charge. But asking my permission would have been nice." She smirked at this. "But that's okay. I'm grateful for the apology."

"Well, you're in charge while I'm gone."

"You're returning to your home dimension?" asked Debra with some disappointment in her voice.

"Yes. I'm needed there more than I am here. My first responsibility is to my home." Wraith walked over to the computer on the desk. "But I'm leaving you the coordinates in case you ever need me." He turned to Mordecai and May. "Besides, I'll probably need to send you two for training with the X-Men. They're the experts with telekinesis and telepathy."

They said they're goodbyes. Superman had given Wraith's computer box back to her. She returned it to Wraith. With a last tearful goodbye they disappeared.

After a few moments Debra turned to Shift. He was the only one left in the room after Wraith and his family left. She'd asked his to stick around. "Before you say anything, I'm sorry about the impersonation thing." Shift said. Debra brushed it off.

"I know. Just don't do it again," she said calmly. "But how were you able to turn into me in the first place?"

"One touch is all it takes. And that fight we had in the Iceberg Lounge? That was a whole lot of physical contact." Shift replied. Both of them thought back to the ill-advised date they had gone on. It was about a month after Sam wiped out most of the villains in Shift's universe. They thought they had a connection and decided to give it a try. It was a horrible mistake. They hadn't been able to spend a whole night together without fighting. Shift had taken her to a play in one of Gotham's famed theaters and then to the Iceberg Lounge for a fine dinner. Everything was great, until they actually started talking. Twenty minutes, several tons of shattered ice, and four severed limbs later they were both banned for life. Shift, in a fit of spite, used a spell to turn all the ice urine yellow as they left. It was quite a night, and it lead to friction between the two of them from then on. Debra should have known better, dating co-workers was always a bad idea.

"Just don't do it again." she reiterated. Shift snorted.

"Couldn't if I wanted to. My magic isn't working anymore." she blinked, too stunned to immediately answer.

"What do you mean?"

"If I try a spell or try to summon magical energy it hurts. A lot." that was quite a statement from someone who'd regrown limbs before.

"Is it permanent?" she asked. Shift, despite the trouble he caused, was a valuable asset. He was powerful, knowledgeable, and willing to share secrets with her. No other magic users in this universe would part with the kind of information he'd given her.

"For once, I really don't know. My power source is gone but I should still be able to use the magic particular to me. Or work spells that have nothing to do with innate power. Anyway, I need a little time off from the big leagues." Debra laughed a little. "What?"

"You sure this is about you losing your magic?" Shift gave her a blank look. Which just made her laugh harder. "Or are you asking for time off for more personal reasons?" Shift still wasn't catching on. Debra just shook her head. Some men were just completely oblivious when it came to women. The way Raven had been looking at Shift when she left, there was something there.

"What are you talking about?" Shift asked. He was completely confused.

"You can be pretty thick-headed sometimes."

"Don't start with that again. This is a nice office." Shift said.

"Alright, take some time off. But keep your phone with you, I might need you to answer some questions for me in the near future." Debra said. It was a half-truth. She did think she might need his knowledge, she wanted to be absolutely sure that Shift wasn't going to go off the deep end while away from the good influence of her company and the Justice League.

"Yeah yeah. I'll keep my phone on me."

"So, what are you planning on doing Shift?"

"It's Adam for now. Without my magic I don't feel much like a superhero." Adam Kriticos stopped just before walking out the door and turned around. Debra had never seen him look so uncertain. "I'll go to Gotham for now. Maybe Batman wants a hand with the petty criminals. That much I can still do." he waved a hand in farewell and left.

#

Two months later, Adam got a call from a blocked number. "Hello?" he mumbled. The call had woken him from a sound sleep.

"Adam, we need to talk." the voice jolted him into wakefulness. It figured that Batman would call at 4am.

"Sure. I could use a little exercise. Whose heads do you need knocked together?"

"This is going to be a long term commitment."

"How long term?" Adam asked, not really liking where this was going.

"It might be as long as a year." Adam pulled the phone from his ear and was about to hang up. He didn't have time to play Batman's lackey for a year, he needed his nose to the books to figure out why he couldn't do magic. But he hesitated. He took a look around his bedroom, at the piles of books he'd already gone through. Aged books and scrolls covered the majority of the hardwood floor. The rest of his apartment was worse. Two months of self-imposed exile had gotten him exactly nowhere. He put the phone back to his ear.

"What's the job?" Adam asked.

"Have you ever heard of the Court of Owls?"