4 Justice League Family Affairs
Mary swooped in and confronted Phobia, "I'd really suggest that you surrender now."
"Fear me!" Phobia cackled as she intensified her fear inducing emanations.
Mary thought about it and then shook her head, "I don't think so. We've obviously never met. I'm Mary Marvel and I'm endowed with the courage of Achilles by the gods. Your little power…" Mary made a swirling motion with her finger, "It doesn't work on me. But I'm willing to bet this will work on you." That being said, she knocked Phobia out with a single punch.
Mallah opened fire and Gemini tightened her grip on her hostages. Mary frowned. Mallah was no problem and in fact she was taking fire from him simply to spare her fellow JLers the grief while they recovered. Gemini, on the other hand, was a problem requiring some thought and there wasn't a lot of time for it.
A red and gold streak flew up behind Gemini and Captain Marvel took hold of her nose and mouth and clamped them shut. She began to twist and distort her body in a violent attempt to throw Marvel off. She eventually released her prisoners and beat at her own assailant with both hands. Finally, she passed out. The Captain gently laid her slack form down on the ground.
"Quickly, Houngan! We must retreat!" Mallah cried and ran back towards the entrance to the conference center.
Mary started to bolt forward but J'onn placed a restraining hand on her shoulder, "Give it a moment. We do not know what is in there awaiting us. Your fellow Leaguers would best be served by your holding vigil out here while they recover. Speaking as the voice of experience, I can say that Phobia's powers are particularly effective."
Mary's eyes widened and her mouth formed an "O". She was embarrassed to admit that she'd been so shielded from Phobia's powers she'd never considered what had happened to her fellows. The JLers faced their fears everyday but they still had them. They also had deep rooted fears that they hid from themselves. Phobia dug those out and confronted the Leaguers with them.
Mary looked around at her fellows. They were all visibly shaken. A few of the so-called "tough guys" were trying to conceal the fact that they'd been crying. Dove, bless his heart, and Elongated Man were trying to comfort the others. Captain Marvel made to join Dove's efforts but J'onn stopped him.
"You and your sister are our primary defense while the League is stricken." J'onn explained, "Give us 5 minutes and then we will be able to join you in pressing on."
Captain Marvel wanted to argue but the problem with possessing the Wisdom of Solomon was that he knew J'onn was right. He sighed and then noted that his sister was smirking at him.
"What?" he asked, half out of curiosity and half out of irritation.
"You're sopping wet." She grinned.
"You're not so dry yourself." He deadpanned.
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." She offered. When all she received was a worried look, she added; "Stories, nitwit. You tell me yours and vice versa."
Marvel visibly relaxed and began to explain. Warp had dumped him and Black Adam hundreds of miles off shore straight into the ocean. When he and Adam surfaced they headed west and flew through Major Disaster's hurricane.
"Whoever would have thought that part of the power of Zeus was an infallible sense of direction?" he asked.
"Of course, the fact that you could look west and see the setting sun didn't hurt." Mary smirked again.
"All right." Marvel grumped, "I told you my story. What's yours?"
Mary described how she lifted off Plasmus and carried him out into the heart of the storm and what had happened out there. She received a scowl from her brother and so she asked, "What?"
"You might have killed him." He frowned.
"I doubt the Wisdom of Solomon or Minerva would have me drop someone to their death. Plasmus isn't human anymore and he doesn't need oxygen to breathe." She replied.
"Still, I…" Marvel was interrupted by J'onn's calling everyone together.
The Ray and Hawkman confronted Warp. Ray tried projecting a solar beam at Warp. Warp formed a teleportation disk in front of the beam and opened a reception disk beside Hawkman. He was blasted by Ray's discharge and Warp laughed. The Ray assisted a stunned Hawkman to the roof and then he flashed off towards the Legionnaire. Warp simply opened a disk and transported Ray across the globe. Finding himself in China, Ray streaked off for the Western Hemisphere at nearly the speed of light.
Hawkman was punched by Warp as the Frenchman opened a disk at his end and a receptor next to the JLer. Thrusting his arm through the disks, Warp landed a punch. Several more followed. Hawkman countered by taking hold of one of the offending arms and pulling. Warp was partially pulled through the expanding disk.
JLU files on Warp indicated he could only hold his teleportation disks open for a finite amount of time. No one knew what would happen if the disk collapsed with a body still divided by it. The Global Guardian, Tuatara, theorized that the collapse would sever the body in half. Warp had certainly believed that to be the case.
Warp began making desperate entreaties to be released as the strain increased. Hawkman suddenly heard a stern voice from behind him.
"Release him. This is not how we capture our foes." Black Adam declared.
Hawkman was dubious but he complied. Warp retreated out of the disk and collapsed it. He was visibly shaken and took a moment to recover. The Ray returned at that moment.
"Try this, ugly!" he yelled and released a massive solar bolt. Warp opened a disk and sent the blast at Black Adam and Hawkman. Adam shielded Hawkman with his own body. Ray saw this and intensified his solar burst.
Warp soon felt even more strain than he had when his own body was in peril. The teleportation disk shut and the energy bolt blasted him into unconsciousness. Steam rose off of Adam as Ray approached.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yes, thank you. I was in dire need of a drying out and you seemed to have accomplished that." Black Adam assured him. Seeing that he wasn't being believed, Adam spoke again; "Fear not. It takes far more than this to strike down a Marvel. Your lady fair has little to fear from these scallywags."
Ray was visibly relieved so Adam suggested, "Let us take the battle to the enemy."
Both Hawkman and the Ray were eager to end the conflict by apprehending the remaining Legionnaires. They fell through the hole in the roof and came upon a chaotic scene.
The trio discovered multiple battles occurring simultaneously. Luthor and the Huntress were locked in a stand off. Catwoman was holding the Scarecrow at bay with her whip. KGBeast and Ultra-Humanite had confronted Booster Gold and Stargirl from opposite sides and were laying down fire on their position. Worst of all, the Mad Hatter, Mr. Mind, and the Brain were freely running amuck with the equipment at their disposal.
A loud "clang", followed by Steel's battered form flying through a wall, revealed Bizarro's location. Adam turned to Ray and Hawkman, "Deal with the Hatter, Mr. Mind, and the Brain. I will stop Bizarro."
He followed these words with action. He flew straight for Bizarro, who was focused on killing the dazed Steel, and leveled him with a right cross. Bizarro looked hurt and confused.
"Me am thinking you wuz friend. Now is you me enemy?" Bizarro plaintively asked.
"I am if you are planning on harming anyone." Adam declared.
"Me are confused." Bizarro admitted, "What are I to do?"
"Just leave. No one will try and stop you if you do." Black Adam promised.
"Okay." Bizarro leapt up and put a new hole in the ceiling as he exited.
Adam heard an explosive din out in the outer corridor and he decided to investigate. Out in hallway he found Aztek and Mantis battling. They appeared to be evenly matched. Too evenly matched for Adam's tastes. He decided to intervene.
KGBeast opened fire. His rotary cannon fired 1,200 rounds per minute and he laid on a sustained burst which basically meant he fired until he ran out of ammo. Stargirl's gravity field dropped every round into the floor thereby leaving her unscathed. When she'd first told Booster to drop the rear of his force field he'd been skeptical but now he saw the wisdom of her approach…especially since it was now her turn to shoot back.
She utilized the forces at her command via the Cosmic Rod to dismantle KGBeast's gun "hand". Infuriated and impotent, he threw himself at her. She stretched out her free hand and her Cosmic Convertor Belt channeled cosmic forces through her and they erupted out of her hand in the form of "stars". They struck KGBeast, enveloped him, and blasted him into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, the Ultra-Humanite had traded his plasma rifle in for a cyclotronic rifle. Booster's force field was starting to crack under the strain and Booster was getting nervous.
"Uh, Stars?" he entreated her to action.
Courtney smiled as she took to the air. "Stars" was a nickname she'd been given back when she was paired with STRIPE. It had fallen out of use with the League but she honestly missed it. Shoving such thoughts aside she focused on the Humanite.
"Drop it, ugly!" she demanded.
"I suggest you do so yourself." Humanite countered, "Or Booster Gold dies."
Booster's force field collapsed and he was struck by the rifle's beam. He screamed as he collapsed and writhed on the deck. Courtney reacted as fast as thought. She channeled her Belt through the Rod and doubled its firepower. She struck the Humanite with a double blast of cosmic energies and he cried out and passed out.
Stargirl landed next to Booster and checked his vitals. Everything was weak but he was still breathing and he still had a pulse. That counts for something. Right? She wondered.
Aztek and Mantis exchanged energy blasts to no avail. Adam came up behind Mantis and turned him around. His right cross rattled the New God's teeth and he went sailing into Aztek's grip. Aztek channeled every iota of mystical energy through Mantis. Now the effort was devastating and Mantis blacked out.
"Gracias, senor." Aztek said, "To be honest, when I saw you approach him from behind I was afraid that you were here to assist him."
"I am afraid the memory of my past associations takes longer to expunge than the associations themselves." Adam sadly admitted.
"Come, let us create new memories." Aztek urged and Black Adam readily followed him.
Scarecrow used his staff as a weapon and pressed in on Catwoman. She lashed the staff and ripped it out of his hands. Then she kicked him in the groin. He sank to the floor, moaning.
"There's something to be scared of." She insisted.
The Mad Hatter quailed as Nightwing yanked him away from the mind control machine. Hawkman lifted Mr. Mind from his tank turret and the Ray blasted the mind control equipment. It fused and melted. The Brain made a break for it but Black Adam caught him. That only left Luthor.
"So what are you going to do, shoot me in the heart?" Luthor asked.
"That's the general plan." Huntress admitted as she leveled her crossbow at him.
Luthor dropped the neutrino dart gun and held his hands up, "Very well. I surrender."
"I knew you were a coward." Huntress growled.
"I suppose you're going to use one of those zip ties and handcuff me?" Luthor asked, "Because I can spare you a tie. The President will order you to release me."
"Which president?" Huntress asked as she jerked his hands behind his back.
"All of them." Luthor chuckled.
"Here now!" the US President called out, "Release these men immediately."
"If you don't mind my asking, but why?" Nightwing had to know.
"Because my fellow leaders and I have signed full pardons for the members of the Legion of Doom. They are all free to go." The President answered.
