So, there's been a bit of confusion regarding the last chapter regarding the blood used to separate Ebon and Hotstreak. Let me clarify: the blood used was Adam's blood, not M'gann's. It was stolen from Adam during the attack on the community center during "The Bust" a few chapters ago. So that means the separation worked and there are no side effects. Let me make this clear: if it hadn't been Adam's blood, it wouldn't have worked at all and Ebon and Hotstreak would've just remained Ebon-Streak. If anything, M'gann's blood would've just caused the machine to malfunction due to it being configured for human blood, not Martian.


Icon was almost as pale as M'gann, which was really saying something. "Is that really the Infinity-Man?" he asked weakly. Even on Terminus, they had heard of the legendary New God, one of the great guardians of New Genesis. The Guardian of the Source itself… Even Icon had never dreamed of such a confrontation, nor had he ever wanted to.

"Yes," Kaldur confirmed, expression serious. "But his color scheme is different." He glanced at Bruno, and pointed one of his water-swords at his neck, the tip almost touching the man's Adam's apple. "What the hell did you do to him and the Forever People?"

Bruno smiled nastily. "Just gave them a bit of a…rewire. ETERNITY!" He suddenly shouted.

Kaldur's eyes widened. Shit!

Wallace had figured it out as well, and reached out to cover Bruno's mouth before he could speak another word. However, he was already too late — the brainwashed Infinity-Man didn't need an audible order to figure out what Bruno wanted. His visor glowed, and a large blue beam shot from it. The heroes were caught off-guard, and it was only Rocket throwing up a forcefield that saved all their lives.

The blast, however, didn't dissipate the beam, simply split it. Colliding with the surrounding machinery, it caused a massive explosion that destroyed even more of the ruined base, releasing smoke and fire everywhere. Kaldur and Wallace, working in tandem, quickly dealt with the situation, the former quenching the fires while the latter dissipated the smoke; but by the time it was over, the Infinity-Man was still there, and their former captives were gone. All that was left were the superheroes and the two civilians they had come to rescue.

Once Kaldur noticed that, he cursed again. "How—?"

"Ebon," Static answered, coughing. "Had to be."

The Xebelian hybrid grit his teeth. "Fine. We can deal with them later." He glanced back at the Infinity-Man, which was now beginning to float and glow — never a good thing. "First, we got to deal with him. Icon! The civilians!"

"Right!" Icon moved, quickly gathering Robert and Sharon in his arms. The latter turned to look at Adam, who met her gaze and gave an encouraging smile. Sharon could only meet it with a tearful, worried look of her own.

"Flash!" Kaldur shouted, catching his teammate's attention. "You go with him! The moment you three are on the ground, take the two of them as far away from here as possible! Chances are this entire junkyard might be become a battlefield!"

Wallace nodded, before speeding over to Icon and climbing onto his back. Once he was secure, the Terminian flew up as fast as he could towards the aboveground.

"Miss Martian! Use your telepathy and locate the Forever People! Take Gear with you and figure out how to break whatever mind control they're under! The rest of you along with Icon and Wallace when he gets back are with me! We're going to hold him off until the two of them succeed!"

"Got it!" All three of the remaining heroes acknowledged. Just as well, because that was when the Infinity-Man had finished charging up another blast of energy. He threw his arms forward and fired it.

Move! M'gann shouted telepathically, using her telekinesis to throw everyone out of the way of the blast while she flew up to dodge it. The attack hit the back of the bunker, leaving a massive, burning hole into the exterior of the wall. Everyone took one look at it, and blanched.

Deciding that the bunker wasn't a sufficient battlefield, Infinity-Man flew up to the surface, echoing Icon before him. Almost immediately everyone else flew up to follow, except for M'gann and Gear. The former stopped the latter, and shook her head.

Follow me. I managed to do another telepathic scan of the place and locate the Forever People.

You keep mentioning these guys, Gear thought back as he followed M'gann through the room and into the halls connecting to the other parts of the underground base. Who are they?

The Forever People are New Gods from New Genesis, representing the spirit of youth. M'gann explained. Together, with their Mother Boxes, they are able to summon the Infinity-Man, imbuing pieces of themselves into him to empower him, at the cost of being rendered temporarily comatose as long as he is on this plane of reality. Normally, they're allies, but…

they've been brainwashed. Gear sighed. That's been going around a lot lately.

Indeed.

Do you have any idea what caused this? What Intergang used to brainwash them?

I have some ideas, M'gann admitted, but we can't confirm any of them and do anything about it until we find the Forever People. Once we do, however, we need to break the hold on them as soon as possible. The Infinity-Man is far too powerful for Icon or even myself to handle, even with all of you backing us up.

He's really that strong? Gear asked skeptically.

Yes. Of the New Gods, few surpass him in strength, one of them being Darkseid himself. I'm not even sure if Superman — either Superman — can defeat him. Nor would I want to ever find out.


Back on the surface, the conflict had already begun heating up. Rubberband Man had immediately tried to tie up the Infinity-Man using his rubber body, trying to restrain his limbs and prevent him from making another attack like that. Infinity-Man simply used his immense strength to pull Adam off him, flinging him away to another part of the junkyard like he was an actual rubberband.

"Adam!" Virgil shouted in alarm, as Rocket caught her friend using one of her bubble forcefields.

Meanwhile, a newly unencumbered Icon had used the opportunity to bull-rush their opponent with his own immense strength. The Infinity-Man skid across the length of the junkyard, leaving track-marks behind with the heels of his boots as he tried to match Icon's strength with his own. Eventually, he managed to get enough leverage to stop himself and push harder against the other man, before reaching back and punching the Terminian with all his might, sending him flying.

Before he could follow up, Kaldur doused him with no less than three powerful streams of highly-pressurized water, courtesy of the pipeage buried beneath the junkyard. Together with Static, they electrified the water, running a powerful, damaging current of electricity through it and thoroughly shocking the Infinity-Man. He was stunned for a moment, before swinging his arm with power, creating a shockwave that threw the duo off their feet.

Not to be outdone, Kaldur switched gears and began using his powers to freeze the Infinity-Man instead; allowing him to become an easy target for a returning Wallace. Wallace followed up with his own shockwave, created by two fingersnaps, then followed up with more. He kept throwing shockwave after shockwave, sending the New God back inch-by-inch; but the Infinity-Man had enough, and retaliated with an earth-shaking stomp that left Wallace stumbling, trying to catch himself.

Infinity-Man took advantage, flying forward to tackle Wallace, only to head face-first into one of Rocket's forcefields. The young woman promptly wrapped the energies of the forcefield around him, creating one of her signature bubbles and effectively stranding the powerful being, preventing him from making any more attacks. At least, until he started punching it, creating cracks to everyone's horrors.

"How?" Rocket asked as she tried to pour all her strength into maintaining the forcefield. None of her forcefields had ever been broken before; they absorbed kinetic energy, it was supposed to be impossible!

"New Gods," Wallace grunted. "They run on all sorts of bullshittery. Where's Lantern when you need him?"

"Up in space, blowing up asteroids, terrorizing the Corps and plotting various ways to screw over Sinestro more than he already has," Kaldur flatly answered, drawing up more pipes from the ground. Static was already on his discus, charging up his hands, while Icon had returned, floating in the sky and preparing for battle. Off on the other side was Rubberband Man, hands already formed into enlarged fists.

SHATTER!


This is it, M'gann told her young friend, before grasping his shoulder. Channeling her powers through him, they phased through the locked door and into the chamber. When they got inside, Gear blinked at what he found.

There were five different slabs, set in a circle, all surrounding a pedestal where a small, rectangular box with red markings sat. On each slab was a different person, four men and one woman, in rather eccentric and colorful clothing. They were each completely inert and lifeless, their hands folded up on their chests over a rectangular box similar to the one on the pedestal, except with blue markings, which Gear quickly recognized as Mother Boxes. These boxes were each connected to the red one by a thin black wire, which occasionally pulsated with energy. When it did, the Mother Boxes glowed red.

Is this them? Gear asked quietly as they approached the pedestal. He couldn't help but stare down at one of them, a young man dressed up like a cowboy.

Yes, M'gann answered, observing the box on the pedestal with a scowl. It's just as I thought. A Father Box.

A Father Box?

The Apokoliptan equivalent of New Genesis' Mother Boxes, M'gann explained. Essentially the same technology, with one key difference: they have pieces of the Anti-Life Equation embedded in them.

Gear blinked. The Anti-Life Equation?

Darkseid's dream. A transcendental mathematical formula said to have the ability to dominate the wills of any sentient race. Many years ago, back when my homeworld of Mars was a thriving planet, we sought to extend our understanding of the universe and how it worked. To this end, we postulated the idea that everything could be explained through mathematical formulas — including the meaning of life. The Life Equation.

The Martian shook her head as she lifted the Father Box to observe it. We were right, but I honestly wish we hadn't been. Before Mars became a dead planet, Darkseid made contact with us and discovered the existence of the Life Equation, which equalled free will. Through that, he determined an equal and opposite equation had to exist, one that determined that all life was hopeless and that freedom and hope were futile emotions. Essentially, the essence of enslavement. The Anti-Life Equation. The perfect weapon for the God of Tyranny.

Since that day, Darkseid has scoured the universe trying to obtain it and use it to place all of creation under his thrall. When he found out that pieces of the Anti-Life Equation were embedded in the minds of humanity, he decided that the full equation had to be located here on Earth, and has fixated on the planet ever since. Intergang is one of the end results of that.

Gear frowned. Okay, that's interesting and all, but how are we supposed to free these guys from it?

M'gann set the Father Box down, as her eyes began to glow red. It's going to be difficult since I don't know the Life Equation, or even pieces of it. I can forcibly dislodge them from it since it's only pieces of the equation, not the entire thing. But if I do that, I risk damaging their minds. It's not as easy as ripping off a bandaid, I'm afraid. If I want to keept them intact as is, I need to untangle the Equation off their minds.

But you still need to loosen the grip, Gear surmised, quickly realizing the problem.

Yes. Let me contact Aquaman and the others. They might have an idea on what to do.


"What the hell!" Rubberband Man shouted as one of his giants fists phased through the body of Infinity-Man, before getting stuck in his torso after the rematerialization. "He can phase through matter too?"

"Like I said before: completely bullshittery!" Wallace punctuated this with a clap of his hands, using his entire limbs. The gesture created a massive shockwave, causing Infinity-Man to stumble back and dislodging Rubberband Man from the New God.

From the side, Kaldur watched as he started forming a massive glob of water using the pipes he had already split open. The intention was to surround Infinity-Man with it and forcibly freeze him inside completely, using one of Rocket's forcefield bubbles as a model. The idea was that if their opponent was completely encased in ice, he would be unable to move or break out long enough for M'gann and Gear to free the Forever People.

Kaldur, M'gann's voice echoed in his mind. Kaldur didn't falter — it was hardly a new sensation, even after three years of retirement. We've found them. They're hooked to a Father Box.

Kaldur bit back another curse. He had been cursing a lot for the past couple of days, and reminded himself to take a day off once this trip was over. He needed alcohol and pizza, and maybe some ice-skating or piano recitals. Or football. Whatever mindless, inane activity he could get his hands on. Let me guess — you need us to disrupt the connection between the Infinity-Man and the Forever People, in hopes it will weaken the hold the Anti-Life Equation has on them.

Got it in one.

Right. On it. Kaldur kept forming the large, floating body of water even as he started searching the battlefield, searching for some kind of inspiration on what to do. His eyes landed on Static, and it was like a lightning bolt hit him. "Static!"

"Huh?" The teenager said, ducking under another of Infinity-Man's energy blasts.

"I need you to give the largest shock to him as soon as I surround him with this water! It'll disrupt the connection between the Forever People and him long enough for M'gann to break the mind control over them!"

Static stared at him, before yelping as Rocket scooped him up and out of the way of another attack. "Why me!"

"It's because of something your other self told me!" Kaldur replied. The Infinity-Man finally deigned to take aim at him, causing Rocket to hastily block that attack too. "Your powers and abilities make you one of the few individuals that can never be fully ensnared by any sort of mind control or possession! Running on that logic, if you can juice Infinity-Man with enough electricity, you might be able to temporarily replicate that ability for him!"

The teenager swallowed and made another glance at the New God that had been kicking all their asses. Icon was trading another series of blows with him, a trail of blood sliding down the side of the mouth. Static could count the number of times he'd seen Icon bleed on one hand. He looked to another side of the battlefield where Rocket was on her knees, sweating and panting after having to block multiple energy blasts. Rubberband Man was trying to untangle himself after he had been twisted into a pretzel for the umpteenth time. Even the Flash was leaning against one of the cars, snacking on one of his emergency energy bars to replenish himself.

"Fine!" Static bit out, reaching into himself to draw upon every ounce of energy he had, "But I'm not sure if I have enough power in me to bypass his invulnerability! I certainly didn't the first time, even with you!"

Kaldur's eyes glowed. "I can help you, but you're right. It's a good thing we have a speedster with us!" He directed this particular yell towards the direction of Wallace, who got the message and gave him a thumbs up. The Flash crammed the last of his energy bar into his mouth, chewing quickly before swallowing, and then sped away, beginning to circle the junkyard as he gathered speed. He grew faster and faster, becoming a blur and then almost nonexistent at all, save for the occasional gust of wind and flare of scarlet lightning.

It was time. Kaldur dropped the ball of water he had been holding on Infinity-Man, completely drenching him, as Rocket restrained the New God's limbs with her powers, bubbling each of them in a forcefield. Icon grabbed his waist, holding him in place, while Rubberband Man reached over to do the same. There was a silent agreement that Icon would fly them both out once the electricity hit.

With the setup done, Kaldur made a whip out of the water and wrapped it around their opponent, charging it with electricity. Static's own eyes glowed as he poured everything he had into his own attack, while Wallace's route diverged so he was charging directly at Infinity-Man. He just stopped at a certain distance away, flinging his arms forward and allowing the lightning the flow out of him and into a massive bolt that struck Infinity-Man right into the chest.

There was an explosion. And a lot of smoke.


Got it! M'gann shouted over the link, startling Gear, who was working on the bonds that kept the unconscious Forever People pinned. Now I just need to get rid of this… and this… and yeah, got to get rid of that too…

As M'gann worked her magic, Gear returned to his own task at hand: hacking into the system of the bunker so he could remove the restraints, like he had for the Hawkins. Working in tandem with Back-Pack, he managed to directly access the server of the system, and after that, it was child's play. A few re-routes and changes to the controller, and he had the entire base under his command.

There was an audible snap! as the restraints unlocked and slid away, untethering the Forever People. All that was left to do was wake them up, which M'gann was working on with a sort of intensity that Gear only ever felt when he was inventing something particularly interesting. Her eyes glowed and she floated in place, her legs crossed together into a sitting position. She looked like one of those monks or psychics from the movies.

Done.

Gear flinched as the connectors between the Mother Boxes and the Father Box suddenly disintegrated. The Mother Boxes began to glow, for a brief moment blindingly so, before suddenly going inert. M'gann lifted the Father Box from it's pedestal and into the air, keeping it close but not too close. Considering what that thing could do, Gear couldn't blame her.

And suddenly, the Cowboy sat up.

"What in 'tarnation!" He yelped, blinking rapidly as his head swiveled around, observing his surroundings.

The teenager glanced at his teammate.

M'gann shrugged. From what I hear, he likes Westerns.


Icon slowly descended from the sky, Rubberband Man dangling from one of his hands. The younger man stretched his legs downward so he could land on his feet, letting go of Icon in the process. Off to the side, Rocket got to her feet as well, while Wallace moved near her. All the forcefields she had been forced to produce had left her near exhaustion. Someone needed to be close in case she collapsed. Not that anyone else was doing much better.

Kaldur had one hand gripped around one of his water-bearers, ready to draw it at the sign of more trouble. Static was similarly sparking, as everyone watched the cloud of smoke wearily. As it dissipated away to reveal the Infinity-Man, they tensed further.

Then he started glowing.

And then he was gone.

"…What the hell?" Rocket demanded succinctly.

Wallace let out a breath of relief, his body relaxing, while Kaldur sighed. "He's been de-summoned back to New Genesis," he explained. "That means the Forever People are awake."

"And presumably free of the Father Box that was being used to control them, courtesy of Miss Martian and Gear," Wallace added.

Icon groaned. It was an odd sound, coming from him. "A Father Box too?"

"What else would you expect from followers of Darkseid?" the speedster countered.

"Whatever," Static said with finality. "Can we just grab them and go? I want to see my family, and I never want to see this place ever again."

"Amen to that," Rubberband Man concurred. Sounds of agreement followed that statement.


The next step had been bringing Robert and Sharon back to the junkyard. Despite Static's wishes, there was still cleanup to deal with, which included contacting the authorities (including the JLA) so they could turn this place into a crime scene and processing Robert and Sharon so they would no longer be listed as missing. Wallace hadn't had enough time to take them somewhere far away (at least, relative to him) and safer, leaving them near the front of a nearby abandoned station to wait while he rejoined the fight. With the fight over, he made a quick trip to bring them back over.

The moment Sharon's feet touched the ground, she went straight for Adam, throwing her arms around his neck as she kissed the hell out of him. Adam returned the kiss fervently, while everyone else watched with small smiles on their faces. The moment they reluctantly separated, Adam ran his hands down her arms and pulled her close. "Sharon… I'm sorry you had to see that."

Sharon had tears in her eyes. "Don't be. You're alive and we're together. That's all that matters."

Adam smiled, and hugged her again. Robert approached him and put a proud hand on his shoulder, silently showing his support. He looked behind his daughter's boyfriend to see Static, Gear, and Rocket, and gave them a proud smile as well. They all gave understanding nods.

After that moment was over, Sharon let go of her boyfriend and had a pensive look on her face. "I know you've all got some stuff to deal with, but is it okay if we contact Virgil first? He must be out of his mind in worry."

Everyone stiffened at that. Static, after a split-decision, cleared his throat. As one, everyone turned their attentions to him, including Sharon. Slowly, he went to his mask and took it off, revealing himself at last to his siter.

Sharon's mouth dropped slightly at the sight. "I was right!" she suddenly shouted, causing Virgil and Robert to sigh while everyone suppressed their laughter. She ignored them all in favor of punching Virgil in the arm.

Virgil yelped. "Seriously? I just saved your life—" He froze when Sharon followed up with a hug. He smiled, and returned the embrace.

"I know," Sharon replied, beaming. "And I'm so proud of you."

"As am I," Robert added as he wrapped both of his children into a hug of his own.


After that little moment, followed by Sharon recognizing and praising Richie and Raquel as well, someone sought it fit to interrupt the proceedings. "Thank you for helping us, new friends!" one of the Forever People boomed, shaking Kaldur's hand. "We had heard of your situation on New Genesis, and are glad it allowed you to stop Infinity-Man from causing too much damage!"

"It was our pleasure, Big Bear," Kaldur replied, filing away the fact that news about their time travel had already reached the Fourth World, before raising an eyebrow. "Though I must ask — how did you fall into the hands of Intergang?"

"That's something we'd like to know too."

Everyone glanced up, many stilling in disbelief and awe when they saw who it was. The two Supermen were up in the sky, gazing down at the group, before silently descending to the ground. They approached everyone with serious expressions on their faces. "I'm sorry we couldn't arrive sooner," Clark told them all. "There was a massive tsunami in the Pacific about to hit the Phillipines, followed by a giant monster attack in Brazil."

"It's fine, Superman," Icon answered for everyone, "And…" he eyed Kon, trailing off.

"Superboy," Kon finished flatly for him.

Everyone except the time travelers blinked. "But…" Robert started.

"I was aged up, it's a long story, they," and here, he gestured to Kaldur and the others, "will explain it to you later. Back to the matter at hand. We're glad you're all alright, and we will be expecting a report soon to be formally filed with the JLA. But first, we need to know one thing: how were you," he pointedly looked at the Forever People, "captured by Intergang?"

Beautiful Dreamer shook her head. "It wasn't them who captured us," she explained. "We were making a trip around the cosmos, visiting Rimbor in search of a major criminal at the behalf of Highfather."

"Only, as it turns out, it wasn't Highfather that sent us the missive," Vykin said grimly, "but a disguised Granny Goodness. We found that out when we were met by the Female Furies instead of the criminal we were hunting."

"Donna isn't going to be happy to hear about them again," Wallace muttered to M'gann, who nodded in agreement.

"They subdued us," continued Vykin, "before we could summon the Infinity-Man to our aid. After that they knocked us out, and when we next awoke it was here in that room, with Miss Martian and Gear. They told us that Intergang had managed to somehow summon the Infinity-Man using us and brainwashed him by using a Father Box and connecting it to our Mother Boxes."

To punctuate this, M'gann lifted the Father Box she had nabbed from the room and handed it to Kon, who took it with his own telekinesis, frowning. "We'll put it in containment for now, probably at the Watchtower since the Fortress is still dealing with the Talons from Knight's little romp through Bludhaven with his siblings and Arrowette. Is that fine with you?"

"Do as you wish with it," Mark Moonrider said with a dismissive gesture. "We have no desire to bring Apokoliptan technology back to New Genesis; chances are, it would have just fallen back into the Dark One's hands during another clash between our two planets."

"Very well." Clark nodded. "We'd like for you to stay and make a statement to the police, but after that you're free to go."

"Before you do, however, could you visit the Watchtower?" Kaldur asked. "We recently procured a stolen Mother Box from one of Intergang's executives. We'd like to return it to you."

Big Bear blinked, before giving a hearty laugh. "We'd be glad to take it off your hands!"

The rest of the conversation continued amicably, covering the general logistics of the trip. Once it was over, the Kryptonians departed with a short farewell, taking the Father Box with them. Soon after that, the police arrived, and thus began the clean-up. Processing the crime scene, treating Robert and Sharon for their wounds (they would probably have to make a short trip to the hospital, combined with an overnight stay), and giving statements for the official police report.

It was well into the afternoon before the heroes were able to escape for a well-needed rest. There was no question, however, that it was well-deserved.


A little shorter than usual, but I thought it best to end it here. The next chapter might take a while to come out, because I'm thinking of making it the start of the next arc, like the first chapter for this arc was the end of the Bludhaven arc. That means I need to plan out the next arc first, which may take a bit.

Until then, do something else! Like update the TV Tropes page. That thing is in dire need for updates. The link should be at the beginning of the story and at the end on the AO3 version. I'm also going to add links to the series notes.

Next chapter: the final pitch.