The stars in the clear prairie night sky mean different things to different people when they see them. To the green-skinned Martian J'onn J'onzz, they were things of beauty, but also a reminder that Earth was not his true home. That somewhere, up amongst those stars, the lifeless red husk of his home world orbited the same sun as the planet on which he now walked. To the shorter faceless man walking next to him in the blue overcoat and fedora, The Question, they were first and foremost a group of lights used to conceal spy satellites from the casual observer.

The Question took out a small palm-sized aerosol can from his coat pocket and sprayed it on his face. It allowed him to remove his faceless pseudoderm mask and change his black hair to red-brown—becoming his secret identity: investigative journalist Vic Sage. He quickly replaced the mask with another pseudoderm mask from his coat. This one of a non-descript man with brown hair. He bonded it to his face with a different aerosol from his coat. Then, he reversed his coat making it a brown one instead of a blue one and collapsed his fedora to the size of a CD, which he then pocketed.

The Question pulled up his collar and started walking into the town. "I don't like small towns. They're queer," The Question said.

"How so?" J'onn said. The Martian was walking beside him.

The Question gestured to the town before them, "Dog River. Small town. Population: four hundred fifty. Notable aspects: a building that is both the town liquor store and the town insurance store."

J'onn shape-shifted his form to look, too, like a non-descript human. His new form included a puffy jacket and jeans suitable for the cool prairie night. He walked beside The Question. "Ironic perhaps, but not unusual for small town life," J'onn said.

"The city's first building, a wooden shack, was burned to the ground because the arsonist, one Hank Yarbo, wanted to maintain the accuracy of his LEGO scale model of the town—he ran out of blocks before he could build the shack, he told the judge," The Question said.

J'onn looked over at the Question, his eyebrow raised.

The Question continued, "Two children who used the shack as a play house were sleeping inside at the time. They died in the fire."

J'onn's mouth opened.

"Yarbo said he had did not know the children were inside and had not intended to kill them, but that he did enjoy the sound of their screams," The Question said.

J'onn said nothing. He could not find the words.

The Question put his hands in his pockets. "Like I said, queer."

"We'll keep our guard up," J'onn said. "We should go into one of the restaurants or bars and ask where we can find Mr. Garabaldi."

"No, towns this small don't react too well to strangers, especially at night, and time isn't on our side. Do a psychic sweep of the town and find him."

"Very well," J'onn said. J'onn's eyes glowed yellow with the fire of his mental powers as he used them to search the town. After a moment, the fire in his eyes dimmed and then died. "Strange," J'onn said.

"What is it?" the Question said.

"I sense Garabaldi, but the sensation is weak, more like a psychic impression than an actual presence." In fact, that goes for every person in this town."

"The FBI records I checked listed him as still alive," The Question said. "However, if they're wrong, I'm not surprised. I have very little faith in official government records."

"Come, this way," Jonn said. The two men picked up their pace.

The Question followed J'onn along Dog River's Main Street, until the Martian turned off it into a residential area. They were forced to stop when a Royal Canadian Mounted Police car rolled into the intersection in front of them.

The Question frowned, "Just what we need."

"I'll handle it," J'onn said.

The uniformed RCMP officer—in brown officer garb, not Mounties-red, got out of his cruiser with his partner. He flashed a light on the two Justice League members. "Kind of late for a walk through town isn't it, gentlemen?"

J'onn reached out with his psychic abilities. It would be a simple feat to mentally render the officers unconscious. "Ahhhhh!" He dropped to his knees.

"J'onn!" The Question said, looking at the Martian who was holding his head in his hands like it was going to explode. Then he turned back to face the Mounties who were walking towards them.

"They're—possessed!" J'onn forced himself to say. His voice fell to a whisper. 'So-evil."

The Question took a fighting stance, not sure what to expect. Suddenly, the first Mountie's ribs snapped his chest open from the inside and a bunch of blood-soaked tentacles rocketed out from where the man's guts should have been. The Question's eyes went wide with terror as the tentacles wrapped themselves around his arms, legs and waist with the speed of a whip. They pulled him to the ground. He struggled against the bloody appendages as they drew him toward a horrible maw of sharp teeth inside the Mountie's chest. The Mountie's head had a wide grin that sent shivers down The Question's spine.

Then, just as suddenly, a diamond blade came down and sliced through the tentacles. The Mountie screamed at the now recovered J'onn J'onzz who had shape-shifted his arm into diamond blade. Then, J'onn moved forward and punched the tentacle-Mountie in the jaw. The blow knocked the horrible thing back against the RCMP cruiser.

However, the tables were quickly turned once again when J'onn was hit with an energy blast that made him stagger backward. The Question who was getting the now lifeless blood-soaked tentacles off himself looked for the source of the blast. He saw that the other Mounties' mouth was open impossibly wide and inside his mouth was a big eyeball cracking with energy. It fired on J'onn again with more power this time. The blast knocked the Martian back through the air into a wooden street sign. The street sign broke from the impact and J'onn continued flying out of control through the front window of a home. The pain from the blast forced J'onn to revert back to his blue-caped green-skinned form. Massive spider-like legs burst out of the sides of the eye-mouth Mountie's head and spider-like fangs burst out of its chin. It raised itself up on these new legs and skittered after J'onn, its human body hanging in the air with the Mountie's gun in its right hand.

The Question was going to go after the spider-thing when another tentacle grabbed his leg. He turned and saw the tentacles of the Mountie that had attacked him before were almost completely regenerated. The Question reached inside his coat and drew two Q-shaped shuriken from it. He pressed a near flat button on the weapons and threw them at the monster. They went into the monster's chest-mouth and electrified the monster on contact. It fell to the ground twitching with smoke rising from its body.

Meanwhile, the spider-Mountie closed in on the window it had blasted J'onn through, planning to finish the Martian off. The monster found him, but instead of lying on the ground unconscious, J'onn was coming at him with the speed of a ground-to-ground missile. Jonn hit the monster with both fists sending it flying backward, however the beast rolled with the punch and turned what should have been an out of control flight onto the street into a big reasonably controlled leap backward. It fired on J'onn again with its eye. J'onn avoided the attack, but kept his flight pattern tight to the blast so that the blast passed over him with only a few centimeters to spare. J'onn reached the monster and delivered three super-strength blows to it, the last one making a 'KROOM'-like sound when it hit. This time the monster flew back out of control and The Question had to get out of the way of the incoming mass of body and flailing legs. The spider-Mountie hit the police cruiser hard, collapsing the hood and crushing the front window with its body. The Question rolled on the street and came up facing the cruiser. He threw another two Q-shaped shuriken. One struck the spider-Mountie in the head the other in its chest. The monster screamed—a sound like nails on a chalkboard as the shuriken electrocuted the monster into unconsciousness.

The Question let out a sigh of relief.

"It's not over!" J'onn said. The Question looked around and saw that other townspeople from the houses around them were coming out of their homes and walking towards them, wide, devilish grins on their faces. The white streetlights reflected off their teeth.

J'onn grabbed The Question under his arm and flew upward. "The whole town's possessed, we need reinforcements!"

The Question put his hand to his communicator. "Question to Watchtower."

Static.

"Question to Metro-Tower."

Static.

"My com-links not working," The Question said.

"Mine too and something is blocking my telepathy," J'onn said. "We have to-suddenly, J'onn hit something that felt like a force field, but the second he made contact he knew it was a psychic construct. J'onn and The Question cried out as the energy in the barrier moved through their bodies like angry electric snakes and they fell downward to the waiting monsters below. J'onn managed to fall on his back with The Question on top of him before he lost consciousness. The last things he and The Question saw were the possessed humans' teeth-filled smiles closing in all around them.

X X X

The Question woke up and discovered he was chained to a chandelier by his wrists. The building he was in appeared to be some kind of town hall. He looked down at the floor twenty feet below and saw possessed townspeople milling around. Some of them looked up and smiled hungrily at him. In the centre, The Question saw a huge vaguely R-shaped symbol glowing bright blue.

"This body is amazing," said a voice. The Question looked over and saw J'onn, but he knew immediately he was looking at something else in the Martian's body.

"What are you?" The Question said.

The thing looked up and then flew up to eye level with the Question. , "Ah, awake, are you? Good." It stretched out its arms. "Welcome to the end of the world."

"You didn't answer my Question," The Question said.

"Do I have to? You've fought my children, after all," the thing said.

"You're a demon," the Question said.

"Yes, and an extremely powerful one at that, summoned here by a spell cast long ago to bring an end to all things human," the demon said.

"Why?" The Question said.

"Does a demon really need a reason to want to destroy a world?" the demon said.

The Question's eyes narrowed. "True, but the one who summoned him does."

"Touché. Very well, I'll tell you. Long ago an Indian shaman—the thing used J'onn's body to morph into the Indian shaman's form-had a vision that man would grow and become so powerful that he would eventually destroy the Earth with his—he morphed into a soldier—'wars,-he morphed into a man in a radiation suit—'pollution, and—he morphed into a two headed goat—'biotechnology. So, he cast a spell that, in exchange for his soul, would release a demon—that's me-onto this world if the things in his vision began to come to pass. They have, so here I am. And now, with this Martian body, I will be unstoppable. It's so much sturdier than the frail bodies of humanity."

"So, the big blue floor ornament down there is to bring more demons into this world?" The Question said.

"You study the occult. Impressive. Yes, I will bring more of my children to this world, and together we will work until every human soul is ours, cleansing the world of human life as the shaman desired," the demon said.

"And you left me in one piece to bear witness to all of this?" The Question said.

The demon took a hold of the Question's chin with two fingers. "And you were doing so well. No, we were simply waiting for you to regain consciousness. Possessing someone is so much more fun when they're awake." The demon gestured to himself, 'You should have heard your friend here scream." The demon-Martian's eyes glowed blood red and the chains that held The Question started to grow, lowering him towards the demon's children below. A demon stepped out of the floor through the blue symbol—a fat one that looked like a blowfish complete with nasty spikes. It smiled as its new body with its fresh soul to feast on drew near.

The Question pushed the horrible things around him out of his mind and looked hard at the large symbol glowing on the floor, which grew larger as he was lowered towards it. Suddenly his eyes went wide as a memory filled his mind. "Arknoben Telstuul Narkslobenark Vasten!" The Question shouted.

Suddenly, the room they were in vanished. The demon and The Question reappeared in the room in the Metro Tower med-wing where Huntress lay sleeping—at least it looked like that room. The Tachyon field generator was working hard to keep her from fading away. The Question was back in his faceless mask, blue overcoat and blue fedora. "Why are we here?" The Question said. His voice echoed slightly as if speaking in a dream.

The demon, still in J'onn's body, growled. "How did you know my true name?" it demanded. Its voice echoed slightly too.

"I once worked on a case with Dr. Fate. He had me memorize the demon alphabet, just in case. I saw your name written in that big blue gate of yours," The Question said.

"Curse that gold-helmeted trickster! May I have the pleasure of feasting on his heart!" the demon spat.

The Question looked down at Helena, "Why are we here?" The Question demanded.

"Human fool! You know the words to challenge me but not the price," the demon said.

"I don't- The Question began.

"Understand? Yes, of course you don't. The words you shouted at the top of your lungs work thus: You must defeat me in a challenge of my choosing. If you win, my children and I will return to the hell from which we came, and you will save your precious world. But if I win, I get the world, your soul and—the demon shape-shifted into an exact copy of the Huntress including her voice—'that which is most precious to you."

"But the temporal conflict- the Question began.

"Means nothing to the overriding concepts of Heaven and Hell. And I promise you this: when I win I will make you watch me devour her soul. This is the additional cost of your interference," the demon growled.

The Question looked down at Helena. He thought a silent apology to her for getting her involved in this. He looked up at the demon. "I want one more thing. If I win you will give the information I need to save this woman, and restore this town."

The demon looked at The Question. The anger on its face , and it raised an amused eyebrow. The demon laughed.

The Question did not flinch.

"Your bargaining posture is highly dubious, but very well. Your foolish courage amuses me. Therefore, if you win, I will also give you these things. Knowing you lost them as well will only add to your pain when you fail," the demon said.

The Question looked the demon in the eyes while trying to ignore the fact the demon had taken Huntress's form just to distract him. Trying and failing. "Bring it on," The Question said.

The demon grinned. "In this state of limbo, my power is near equal to the great dark one himself. If you can give me a task that I cannot accomplish with my power, I will surrender. And because I have a fondness for irony, I will allow you three—the demon cleared his throat and smiled—'questions, to help you make your decision."

"That's it?" the Question said.

"Yes, in answer to your first question." The demon smiled wide with Huntress' lips. 'Two questions left."

The Question took a step back and a deathly cold chill went down his spine. He cursed for speaking without thinking. Then, The Question steeled himself, narrowed his eyes behind his faceless mask, and locked them on the demon.

"Take your time, hero. I have eternity. However,-the demon looked down at Huntress on the examination room table—'I'm pretty sure she doesn't."

The Question was silent, the gears in his mind turning. Finally, he spoke. "If you're so powerful, why don't you just destroy the world and be done with it?"

"True, I could. But where's the fun in that? Humans are so much fun to watch lose hope and then slowly rip apart, especially the super-powered ones. So, I chose this possession method. Yes, I know it's slow, but to me it seemed the most entertaining. Don't worry though, after I've had my fun, I'll make sure this place goes out with a bang. You see, I've destroyed countless worlds in the multi-verse in my time, but I like to savor each one." The demon-Huntress blew the Question a kiss. 'One question left."

The Question tried to think, but that was becoming more and more difficult. He was still angry at himself for wasting his first question and his second question had not provided him with anything he could use despite how carefully he had planned it. But, with the weight of the world on his shoulders, even a mind like The Question's was bound to weaken under the stress. A cold sweat was on his body now. If he screwed this up it meant the end of Helena, the end of everything. What he wouldn't give to see her up and about once more, to feel her skin against his. Then the Question did something he had not done in years, he prayed.

Nothing happened.

The Question was not surprised. God was famous for his lack of help. And then, of all the unexpected things to do, the Question chuckled. In search of comfort from the hellishly precarious situation he was now in, The Question's mind remembered the night Helena had come over to his place and forced him to watch that movie on DVD, what was it called? Ah yes, The Island. She had a thing for Ewan McGregor. In it, Ewan McGregor's character, a naive clone grown for transplant surgery, had asked his friend who God was. His friend said something like, 'You know when you wish really hard for something? God's the guy that ignores you.' The Question realized now, more than ever, how true that was. He looked at Helena on the table. He remembered how that night she had also brought microwavable popcorn with her and, after stinking up his microwave with it, offered him some. He turned it down. However, halfway through the movie, he got hungry and without thinking reached for some of the stuff. She had playfully told him to—

"My god," The Question suddenly whispered.

The demon laughed. "He's overrated."

The Question pulled himself together. "You can go anywhere in the multiverse?" The Question said.

"You bet, the demon said. The Dark One likes us to be able to get to a soul and bring it home no matter where it may be. I can go anywhere and come back with but a thought." The demon laughed. 'I don't even have to ask for directions." Then, smiling, the demon started to transform. It grew bigger and bigger leaving Helena's form behind and now looked like a giant ebon-winged monster with fire for insides and more muscles than The Question had ever seen. The demon roared. 'YOU ARE OUT OF QUESTIONS, LITTLE MAN. NOW TELL ME THIS TASK YOU THINK I CANNOT PERFORM, SO THAT I CAN PROVE YOU WRONG AND RETURN TO DESTROYING THIS WORLD STARTING WITH YOUR PRECIOUS HUNTRESS!"

The Question smiled behind his mask, "It not a task. It's a command."

The demon raised a giant eyebrow.

"Get lost." the Question said.

The demon's eyes went wide. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Then, it disappeared in a ball of fire.

X X X

The Question was disoriented. He felt his body move in all directions at once. Suddenly, he found himself on a dark rooftop, with almost no light. He was standing next to The Batman whose dark form suddenly appearing beside him made The Question gasp and take a couple of steps back. The Batman did not acknowledge him. It was as if the Dark Knight did not even know the Question was there. Standing in front of The Batman was Agent Garabaldi, a little younger than the recent photo in his FBI file. He was talking to The Batman who was holding a baby. The baby was cooing and squirming slightly in The Batman's arms.

"You no longer need this child, Garibaldi. Poison Ivy cured it," The Batman said.

Garabaldi frowned. "We'll see about that. Batman, with the full authority of the United States government, I order you to let me take a sample of the child's blood. It's the only way to determine if the child is not part of project Digitalis. If you refuse, I swear I'll have the entire U.S. military ripping up Gotham until they find you and shoot you down like a dog," Garabaldi said.

The Batman gritted his teeth. After a moment, he spoke. "All right."

Garabaldi took out a hypo-gun and put it against the child who made a sound of complaint. There was a brief hissing sound and the baby started to cry. Then, Garabaldi took the vial of collected blood out of the hypo-gun and put it in a portable analyzer. Garabaldi's face went white. "It's—It's negative. How? Why did she-

"You've got what you came for, Garibaldi. Now leave before I take you down for kidnapping," The Batman growled.

"But—Garabaldi started.

"LEAVE!" The Batman said.

Garabaldi fled like a frightened gopher off the roof and down the fire escape. After a few moments, The Question watched The Batman walk over to the edge of the roof to make sure Garabaldi was gone. Then, The Dark Knight moved the baby to one arm and replaced his glove on his bare hand, but not before looking at it to see the little hole and trickle of blood left behind on his skin.

"My god," was all The Question could say.

Then, suddenly he was in the computer room of the Metro Tower Medical wing. J'onn and The Batman were talking and what he heard made the Question grind his teeth.