AUTHOR'S NOTE: Reviews would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Part One

"The Beginning of the End"

The Green Lantern B'dg went flying backwards, blacking out for a split second from the force of the blast. The squirrel-like being shook his head and tried to focus. He couldn't defeat someone like Darkseid without a clear mind, intent on his goals. Once he was focused, the green Oan power ring he wore would channel his willpower, giving him at least a chance of stopping Darkseid from conquering the world below. Already, however, smoke and screams pervaded the planet as the invading forces came down.

The gray-skinned giant laughed, the evil sound booming. "You cannot win.The armies of Apokolips descend upon this helpless planet, while you try in vain to stop me. Go back to yourpitiful green friends, with their quaint philosophy of chivalry, and tell them that Darkseid was gracious enough to spare your pitiful life."

B'dg panted, before raising his hand toward Darkseid. His power ring glowed bright green. Darkseid scoffed. "So let it be. You have only yourself to blame for staying and dooming yourself." Darkseid's red eyes glowed with the Omega Effect.

Green energy flowed from B'dg's power ring and met Darkseid's Omega Beams. An exploding noise filled the area, the sound of the two energies colliding. While B'dg tried to remain focused, keeping energy flowing through his ring, Darkseid did not even appear to flinch from the force of the Green Lantern's blast. B'dg thought about the innocents on the planet below, and how they would suffer under Darkseid's rule. That thought alone gave him the strength to continue fighting, and more energy poured from the power ring to push back the Omega Beams.

Darkseid laughed again. "Foolish creature. Why do you continue to fight? The planet is mine already."

"NO!" screamed B'dg, more and more of his will being channeled into his power ring. "I-will-not-let-you-win!"

"When will you fools who call yourselves heroes understand?" Darkseid asked rhetorically. "The purpose of all life is to submit, to bow down to those who are stronger. Such as myself." Darkseid ceased projecting the Omega Beams. Tearing a building from the ground, he threw it at the Green Lantern.

B'dg ducked, then used his power ring to teleport the object away from him, green energy hitting the flying piece of debris. He saw the ring flicker for a moment, a sign that it was losing power. He summoned his recharging lantern to him, though it would take time to recharge the power ring. Time that B'dg did not have. Just then, an idea came to his mind. If he used his ring to teleport himself back to Oa, the headquarters planet of the Green Lantern Corps, he could access the Central Power Battery, the repository for the energies that powered all of the Green Lanterns' rings. If he could somehow transfer that energy, the power of the entire Green Lantern Corps, into his ring, and teleport himself back here in time, he might have a chance to stop Darkseid. And perhaps, perhaps, even destroy the New God once and for all.

As B'dg smiled as the plan formulated in his mind, Darkseid again fired his Omega Beams from his eyes, this time directing them to strike his enemy from behind. The Green Lantern only managed to avoid it b turning around in time, and then flying up. Darkseid redirected the beams, once again aiming for the furry being. This time, however, Bd'g was able to use his power ring to block the beams of energy with his own energy blast.

It would have to be now, B'dg decided. If he continued to fight Darkseid, his power ring would run out of power, and he would have failed. B'dg called upon the remaining energy of his ring to transport himself to Oa, radually ceasing to project energy to block the Omega Effect.

Darkseid smiled. "At last you give up." The Omega Beams intensified. "And now you will die."

Finally, B'dg was surrounded by green energy, and teleported himself away, right as the Omega Beams hit him, causing to head to swoll with pain.

XXXXXXXXXX

B'dg awoke on the ground. As he opened his eyes, he was astonished to discover that he lay on a field of green grass. Definitely not the deserts of Oa. Earth, he concluded. He had visited this planet on several occasions. He wondered what had happened. Something must have gone wrong when he was teleporting himself. The effect of the Omega Beams hitting him while he was in the process of teleporting may have caused the teleportation to go awry. He forced himself to get off the ground, seemingly every muscle and bone in his body protesting. He noticed a scorched patch of black on his fur, where he had been hit by Darkseid's Omega Beams. Well, he thought, at least I'm alive.

At that thought he suddenly felt a pang of guilt. The memory of the planet he had been trying to save came rushing back to him. By now, it was probably well under Darkseid's control. He had failed.

He sat up on his haunches, stretching his muscles, trying to alleviate the aches. Turning around, he pointed his ring at the recharging lantern...

XXXXXXXXXX

Victor von Doom watched the strange alien from beneath a tree on the hill. Clad in his signature green cloak and iron mask and armor, the fiendish Doctor looked like some sort of gargoyle, waiting on the hill to pounce on an unsuspecting prey.

His satellites had Thdetected an unidentified object entering the atmosphere, and had immediately alerted Doom in his castle in Latveria. At the time, he had been monitoring the situation in the United States. Having just emerged from a superhero conflict involving the registration of superhumans, in which they had been forced to fight each other, America's super-powered community was weak. Now was the perfect time for Doom to strike.

When the satellites had notified him of the "unidentified object," Doom had immediately taken interest in it. Perhaps it would aid him when he made his move against his enemies. Now, as he watched the "object" his satellites had detected, he was surprised to discover that it was a living being, albeit an apparent alien.

The furry, squirrel-like creature emitted a strange green energy from his hand, directing it at a lantern-looking device that glowed the same shade of green. Intrigued by this, Doom zoomed in with his binoculars for a closer look.

The alien wore a green ring, which appeared to generate the green energy. The energy appeared to be flowing from the lantern into the ring, as if powering the ring. What could the ring be? Doom wondered.

XXXXXXXXXX

B'dg's ring was nearly charged. The pain in his muscles had subsided a bit, and was now little more than an annoyance.Of course, that just meant that he was getting use to the pain.

B'dg was alarmed by the sudden appearance of bolts of red energy heading towards him. He did not have time to get up and run.

The Negative Zone, several days later

The Living Bomb-Burst watched the alien compound from high above on a cliff. Behind him, his armies awaited. With his longtime nemesis for control over the Negative Zone, Annihilus, out of the way for now, it had been easy for Blastaar to add to his own forces some of the now leaderless Annihilation Wave.

The aforementioned "alien compound," was in fact a penal facility for some of Earth's most dangerous beings. A product of the superhuman "Civil War," it was now the not-so-luxurious home of hundreds of superheroes and villains alike, who had defied the Superhuman Registration Act. Ripe potential additions for Blastaar's forces. Though Captain America's resistance had liberated many of its inmates, still many remained, and more were being brought to its cells as they were arrested.

But the presence of so many superpowered beings was not the only thing that had brought Blastaar and his army to the prison, or Project 42 as it was called by the humans. Project 42 maintained several portals to Earth, in order to transport superhumans to the prison. Blastaar needed those portals to attack his target: obviously, Earth.

Something was happening to the Negative Zone, something that Blastaar could not explain. It was different from the Big Crunch that had started years before, in that the dimension was not being absorbed by another dimension, but rather falling apart, becoming an empty void, and was taking place much faster than the Big Crunch. Soon the Negative Zone would collapse. He would need to conquer someplace else if he were to survive. And what better place than Earth, home to his foes the Fantastic Four?

XXXXXXXXXX

Lady Deathstrike stared at the bare wall. She did not know how long she had been here, sitting in this cold, dark cell. The last time she had seen the light of day had been the end of the superhuman Civil War. Her captors had released her in exchange for her help in fighting the resistance, only to throw her back in here as soon as the resistance had been defeated. Deathstrike seethed with anger as she remembered this incident, and reminded herself to kill her captors once she got out of Project 42.

Almost as if on cue, she heard noises from the hall outside, muffled by the walls of her cell. Perhaps her ticket out of this wretched place. The door to her cell sounded with a sharp pang. As she moved away from the door, it came crashing down to reveal a strange, furred, muscular creature.

Immediately Deathstrike rushed toward it, drawing out her adamantium claws and wrapping them around the creature's neck.

"You-mis-und-erstand my int-en-tions," the alien gasped.

Deathstrike softened her grip, but only enough so that the alien would be able to speak clearly.

"Your new master, Blastaar, awaits you. We have come to free you and your comrades, and invade Earth."

Deathstrike released her chokehold. While alien invasions weren't really her thing, it was her only way back to Earth. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, she thought.

New York City

"Tell Mr. Trump that I'm sorry, but our meeting will have to wait until tomorrow," Tony Stark said into his headset. "Yes, I understand that he is a very busy man, as am I..." He was starting to get very exasperated with the person on the other end of the conversation interrupting him. "It's important S.H.I.E.L.D. business. It's not easy managing a multibillion dollar company and an international intelligence task force." Tony waited for the person on the other end to finish. "OK, then, goodbye."

"Mr. Stark, Deputy Director Hill would like to speak with you," came the voice of his secretary. "She says it's very important."

Tony turned to the secretary. "Yes, put her on."

"Stark, this is urgent! Proj...two...compr...is..." the voice of S.H.I.E.L.D. deputy director Maria Hill was muffled by a loud noise from outside Stark Tower.

"I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble hearing you. There appears to be some ruckus out...side..." Tony was stunned as he looked out the window to see the havoc that was occuring on the street below. Cars were being flipped over, buildings were exploding, and people were running and screaming.

"Project 42 has been compromised!" the voice of Maria Hill yelled.