Chapter Ten

Green Lantern barely had time to shield himself from a construct with a strange hue he'd never seen before. It didn't match any of the known Emotional Spectrums. But he recognized the wielder of the power ring that had projected it.

"Sinestro. You're still alive," Green Lantern grated.

"Obviously," Sinestro preened with his fists akimbo.

"You have a new ring," Green Lantern observed.

"Again, obviously. I hear those fools Simon Baz and Guy Gardner wear my cast offs," Sinestro was, as always, haughty about everything.

"I know you want to tell about your discovery and the power ring you're wearing," Green Lantern coaxed him.

"Those fool Guardians were too afraid of the Unseen Light after their mistake with Volthoom. Fear of the First Lantern and his Power Rings kept them from exploring the ultimate Spectrum, the Ultraviolet Spectrum."

"That's an actual thing," Green lantern advised him.

"Not like this, you fool! This is power itself! Power beyond reckoning," Sinestro laughed, "I am now power itself!"

"They said that about the Death Star and look what happened to it," Green Lantern was still a media mogul as Alan Scott.

"The what?" Sinestro felt Green Lantern was making it up.

"Think War World with a bigger main gun," Green Lantern explained, "Only it had a fatal flaw. Just like War World."

"This has no flaws. No weaknesses," Sinestro boasted.

"And it can give you a nasty sunburn," Green Lantern jested.

"No one mocks Sinestro and lives to tell about it!" Sinestro raged.

"You must have buried a loooot of bodies," Green Lantern supposed.

"Beyond counting," Sinestro warned Green Lantern.

"Too bad," Green Lantern struck first and smashed Sinestro across the sky.

But as he went airborne, he was quickly joined by Sinestro, "You'll pay for that with your life."

"Promises, promises," Green Lantern chided him.

"Gah!" that was the final indignation Sinestro would swallow.

"So you're Barry Allen's boy, Don," the Flash observed.

"And you're the teetering old relic, Jay Garrick," Don Allen sneered.

"Trajectory warned the other Flash and I you'd be coming. Seems the Tornado Twins and the Reverse Flash are under the same doom. Probably goes for Inertia and Streak Carter as well. Anybody emerging from the Flashpoint Paradox."

"What would you know of it?" Don was suspicious.

"Boy, if Barry could see you now. Or XS or Impulse. They'd be sorely disappointed," the Flash warned his godson.

"I'm used to Dad being disappointed," Don grated.

"Let's just fight and get it over with," Don raced towards Jay.

"Kids tomorrow," the Flash said wearily.

"So you're the loser that wants ta be Nightwing," Wildcat studied Blackwing.

"My name is Blackwing. Learn it before you die," Blackwing commanded, "And that coward won't face me."

Wildcat knew Dick Grayson was now Bludhaven's District Attorney and a family man. a DA with an impressive conviction record. Why risk that all just to put a poser in his place?

"Look Jack, I don't care who ya are. All I know `bout ya is yer about ta get an ass whuppin'," Wildcat warned him.

"You and what army, old man?" Blackwing asked.

"Ya just had ta say it, didn't ya?" Wildcat cracked his knuckles and prepared himself to pound Blackwing into hamburger.

"So you're the Jewish Neo-Nazi leader?" Power Girl wasn't impressed, "Shouldn't you be, like, seventy?"

"I'm seventy-three," the youthful Blackstarr informed her, "But when I mastered the Unifield Energy Theory, I gained control over every aspect of my body. Now I appear as I wish to."

"So you want to look like a redheaded German," Power Girl understood now, "You need to meet Ace of Blades. Then you'll know what to look like."

"I control the very forces of the universe itself," Blackstarr told Power Girl, "You should bow in homage."

"I'll pass," Power Girl snorted.

"Then you'll die," Blackstarr vowed as she summoned the nature of the universe to throw at Power Girl.

"Deva, you should not be here," Wonder Woman warned Devastation.

"O, former Queen Hippolyta, I'm exactly where I should be," Devastation laughed at her, "The Titans empowered me to crush the children of the gods. The Amazons will all fall by my hand."

"Even if you escape judgment by my hand this day, another Wonder Woman will rise up against you. And another until you fall," Hippolyta promised her.

"And when Queen Diana herself grovels at my feet?" Devastation still found Wonder Woman amusing.

"You've forgotten about Donna Troy. She is a child of the Titans. She will be your end if we all fail," Wonder Woman predicted.

"Then let's begin with you, exiled queen of nothing," Devastation offered.

Hippolyta drew her sword and fastened her shield, "I'd like nothing more."

"So I understand you met Mr. Terrible today. Terrible knock off if you pardon the pun," Master Terrific began.

"You can't be Terry Sloane," Mr. Terrific argued.

"But I am. I'm everything Terry could've been if he hadn't wasted his life," Master Terrific boasted, "His granddaughter is my ally. His last protege worships at my feet and in my bed. You're my final obstacle to dominance before I rise to take control of this world from its shadows."

"The people of the light will always oppose you," Mr. Terrific could predict metaphorically.

"The Light will do my bidding," Master Terrific got literal, "They'll anoint me Master of this world."

"You have a lot of competition," Mr. Terrific warned him.

"And they all think I'm but a humble servant," Master Terrific laughed, "When I'm the true power behind the throne."

"So what's your gimmick?" Mr. Terrific asked.

"I don't need a gimmick. I don't T-Spheres, squares, or triangles. I'm simply the smartest man alive. That's my gimmick," Master Terrific told him.

"So, you're going bore me to death?" Mr. Terrific asked.

"No, I've been wasting your time so you can't escape that," Master Terrific nodded behind Mr. Terrific. Toyman's mechanized forces and Multiplexes were coming down the street. Behind Master Terrific, tanks rolled forward

"And no fair dodging into a building. Either Multiplex will find you or Toyman will simply shoot the building down around its occupants," Master Terrific advised him, "I'll be timing you. So be smart and quick about it. Then you can reach the next test."

Mr. Terrific decided then and there that he hated Master Terrific.

"You're blind and I am deaf yet we have ways around our inconviences," Count Vertigo told Dr. Mid-Nite.

"Yet we've found completely different outlets for our successes," Dr. Mid-Nite replied.

"You think me a vain, fortune seeking criminal. I am a revolutionary seeking to reclaim my homeland. Revolutions require more than just innovation and leadership. They require currency and resources to match," Count Vertigo replied.

"It was must be rough your niece, Perdita Vladek, is the Queen of Vlatav and you're no longer an heir to the throne," Dr. Mid-Nite chuckled.

"My foolish niece has made alliances with our neighbors. Alliances that must be broken," Count Vertigo hissed back.

"It seems to me that King Brion of Markovia and Queen Audrey of Kaznia are buffers against Russian imperialism. The Russians already back separatists in Moldova and garrison troops there with them. Perdita was wise enough to arrange for non-aggression packs with the other Balkan states, especially with Serbia breathing down her neck," Dr. Mid-Nite assessed the situation.

"Do not pretend to care about what happens in Vlatav, American. Are you not a member of the Justice Society of only America?" Count Vertigo was getting riled up.

"The JSA's deputization relies on our staying on American soil. You have a grievance, take it to the Justice Leageu International. The world is their mandate," Dr. Mid-Nite suggested.

"You're a fool as well. Luthor will never allow the JLI inside of Vladav, Markovia, or Kaznia if the Russians invade. And they are talking to him even now," Count Vertigo was very agitated and animated now.

"You need to calm down," Dr. Mid-Nite suggested.

"And you need to die!" Count Vertigo activated his monocular vertigo inducer.

It relied on both sight and sound to induce crippling bouts of vertigo. Dr. Mid-Nite was spared the optical half of the equation but his inner ear still rebelled and told him the ground was shifting and swirling about him. But Count Vertigo's equipment was line of sight. So Dr. Mid-Nite dropped a blackout bomb to blind Count Vertigo with the intention of moving...if he still could.

Hawkman saw Apache Chief's approach. He was hard to miss at ten stories tall. what Carter didn't expect was to be smashed through the face of a building by the JLer.

"Have you lost your mind?" Hakwman yelled at Apache Chief as the panicked renter s vacated their apartment turned war zone.

"Hello up there! Can you hear me?" Provoke bellowed.

Hawkman dove out of the opening created by his crashing through. He spread his wings to slow his descent at the last possible instant but still hit the pavement hard.

"Apache Chief is my slave now," Provoke boasted, "And he'll protect me from anything you try to do to me."

Apache Chief shrank to a three story height. He also pushed his way between Hakwman and Provoke. So it seemed the twerp wasn't lying.

"Let him go or I swear I'll break every bone in your body as recompense for what you're making me do against a friend," Hawkman delivered his ultimatum.

"You'll never live that long," Provoke prophesied.

Apache Chief came after Hawkman and Carter took flight.

"I really am sorry about this," he said for Apache Chief's benefit.

Hawkgirl found herself knocked out of the sky. Like Carter, after learning of her reincarnation, she'd sprouted Thangarian wings. He'd taught her the basics about flying before she imposed her desire to keep some distance from him while she sorted her lives out. Kendra was completely caught unawares by Sparrow Hawk. As a native-born Thanagarian, Danya Hellstrom had been flying since she was a child. In her native universe, before the Anti Monitor destroyed it, Sparrow Hawk had been chosen as Thanagar's spy on Earth. Her mission had proven successful and the Earth was destroyed to make the hyperspace byway. Only to have Almerac attack Thanagar while the imperial forces were dealing the fatal blow to the cursed Gordanians. Almerac enslaved the Thangarians to repay them for destroying Maxima's consort's adopted world.

Kal-El had abandoned Earth after Lois Lane's death and wandered the galaxy until set upon by Gordanians and rescued by Maxima's command battlecruiser. The Gordanian dreadnaught had been destroyed and Maxima had her second chance with Kal-El. In the end, he chose to rule by her side. The Thanagarians had killed the Kents when they destroyed Earth along with Perry White, Jimmy Olsen and scores of others. It was he that demanded justice and Almerac moved to respond

Luthor had brought the refugee Danya to Earth Prime where she lived until Final Crisis completed and the New Universe was created. She had her original memories thanks to Saturn Quene's intervention. Her situation on the New Earth had not improved. Saturn Queen had liberated Thanagar with Ultraman and Ultragirl's assistance. The Gordonians were humbled by Almerac uniting the Khunds and the Dominators against themselves. Then they turne d on Almerac.

Sparrow Hawk didn't care that Thanagar was freed. It wasn't her home. Neither was the New Earth. But she could make it into a home with a mate. Her options only included Hawkman. Now that he wasn't besotted with Shayera Hol, he'd become obsessed with Kendra Saunders. Sparrow Hawk intended to eliminate the competition. Leaving her as Carter Hall's sole remaining option.

Hawkgirl had a thousand lives' worth of experience and usually as a fighter. As Kendra, she was a barista. Sparrow Hawk fully intended to take advantage of that situation and kill Hawkgirl before she could remember how to properly fight. Kendra was fierce and fearless but woefully unprepared. Sparrow Hawk relished her inevitable victory.

Robotman faced down Anne Droid. Unlike Robotman, Anne Droid appeared completely human. She was TO Morrows and Prof. Ivo's only collaboration. Although Anne Droid could simulate human feelings and mannerisms for limited times, she also reverted back to the cold, merciless killer that she'd been constructed to be. Now Robotman was her next target. Which bode ill for Robert Crane.

"So you're what exactly?" Guardian asked Killshot, "Armored or a cyborg?"

"I'm both," Killshot's smile was a rictus as weapons began to protrude out of his body.

"I seriously need to find some firepower," Guardian began retreating, laying down what he hoped would be suppressive fire. Killshot advanced even as Guardian backed away. Each of Killshot's attempts at hitting Guardiian coming nearto their mark. Then Toyman's army units arrived alongside the Multiplexes.

"Just great," Guardian grumbled.

Dig's wife, Lyla Michaels was finding herself matched against Atomic Skull. Harbinger knew she was a powerful energy projector but her singular most powerful tool was the ability to split herself into multiple versions of herself similar to but unlike Multiplex. Multiplex was a multi-faceted hive mind capable of semi-independent local control. Each Harbinger was completely independent. Their shared memories coalescing in Lyla when they remerged with one another.

Harbinger's other main power was teleportation. Which was why she'd been chosen by the Monitor to be his herald. Throughout her time in the military with James John Diggle, her first marriage to him and career in ARGUS, Lyla had been unaware that she was a meta-human until the Monitor activated her gen factor. Now Lyla and Dig were on their second marriage and happily had begun a family despite their lives being fraught with dangers.

Sarah and JJ Diggle were two of the most loved children in the world. They'd also adopted Ben Turner's son. Bronze Tiger had specifically chosen them to raise his only child after the boy's mother was killed in an attempt to get at Turner. The kids were safe enough on the K-Star Ranch were private tutors and a nanny looked after them when the Diggles were away on a mission. Even when Dig and Lyla were away from the ranch, usually a full team from Young Justice was there for their education and training. Several of them lived in the dorms on the ranch.

The kids had already demanded to begin martial arts and traditional weapons training. Why eight year olds wanted to be proficient with bows and arrows, swords, and nunchuks was beyond their parents but it was reassuring for when even Young Justice was deployed.

"Look, I don't want to do this but a deal with Luthor is a deal," Atomic Skull stated.

"Wait! You're saying Fu Manchu isn't the real leader of the Legion of Doom?" Harbinger held on to that.

"Wake up and smell the internal politics, lady. Fu Manchu only thinks he's in charge. And he's persuaded a few Legionnaires to uptake his banner. But most of us still remember how Luthor stole the Secret Society from Grodd. Eventually Luthor will get tired of this UN gig and come back into the fold," Atomic Skull predicted.

"I don't want to fight you either," Harbinger promised.

"Then teleport away and don't look back," Atomic Skull requested, "I know you can do that."

"And you know I won't," Harbinger sighed.

"I was afraid you'd say thjat," he projected power blasts at which she countered with her own. But with her power waning, she began multiplying and each Harbinger opened fire on Atomic Skull.

"Now cut that out!" he demanded.

"Now who should walk away and not look back?" Lyla asked.

"I'll take you down one at a time if I have to," Atomic Skull vowed, "I ain't goin' back to prison and being their power generator. Let someone else keep the lights on."

"Then help me take Luthor down and will make a plea deal," Harbinger pleaded.

"Waller offered me one. Ain't gonna happen," Atomic Skull warned, "And it's just you, you, you, ad infinitum and me."

Blackfire chose Stargirl as her victim of choice. Komand'r had been born a deviant, unable alone of all Tamaranians to fly. This disqualified the older princess from inheriting the throne in favor of her younger sister, Koriand'r. But the Gordanians conquered Taamran and subjected the princesses to scientific studies of their people's ability to absorb solar radiation and channel it into flight. Komand'r and Koriand'r were chosen because they were genetically similar yet Komand'r lacked the essential ability to fly.

Solar energy was pumped into them until both felt as through they would explode.

Koriand'r first discoevered she'd metamorphasized the ability to project starbolts. Beams of pure solar energy. She burst her bond liberated herself. But sh e debated on whether to liberate her sadistic sister. Finally, Kori did so.

Only to doscover Komand'r thought she'd been a fool to and that Komand'r had developed the same energy projection ability only stronger owing to two factors: the first being her body didn't divert energy to flight potential and second she'd been exposed to more direct solar radiation while Kori had liberated herself earlier in the process.

Koriand'r fled to Earth and became Starfire before eventually returning to Tamaran to rule. Komand'r sided with the Gordanians as the operative known as Blackfire. With the Gordanians defeated and genocidally exterminated, Blackfire followed her sister's path and tarveled to Earth. Starfire returned to present Dick Grayson with their daughter Mar'i. Donna Troy enlisted Starfire into the Outsiders but she'd been killed by the force of Bill Dunn, the "second" Superman's, ejaculation while she was delivering a blowjob.

Mar'i left Puerto Rico to live her father and stepmother. "Mary Grayson" found Ulla Paske-Grayson to be the attentive and accepting mother figure Koriand'r had never been. So Mar'i made a new life with her father's wife and her half-siblings.

Blackfire had risen to a leadership role within the Legion of Doom. With Koriand'r killed, Blackfire needed a new archnemesis to destroy. She chose Stargirl because of Courtney's ability to harness and channel stellar energy thanks to the Cosmic Staff she wielded and the Cosmic Converter Belt that she wore. Effectively doubling the potential Starman had when he used the Cosmic Rod or the Star Spangled Kid when he developed the Cosmic Converter Belt.

"Stay the hell away from me, lady," Stargirl aimed the Cosmic Staff at Blackfire.

"And how would I kill you if I did?" Blackfire laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound. Blackfire unleashed her starbolts at Stargirl. Between the Cosmic Staff and the Cosmic Converter Belt, Stargirl deflected or absorbed the bulk of the energy. But it still stung.

"Impressive," was all Blackfire would say before she resumed her best efforts to kill Stargirl.

"Let me get this straight, you're wearing weaponized armor?" STRIPE inquired of Enforcer.

"For the last time, yes," she was growing impatient.

"I don't think this will be a fair fight," STRIPE admitted.

"Afraid you'll lose?" Enforcer taunted him.

"You're wearing a weapons system. STRIPE is a weapons system," the mecha revealed its weapons array.

"Oooh, scary," Enforcer mocked him.

"Bring it," STRIPE urged her. Then he was sorry he'd ever said so.

Hourman smashed a tank with his bare hands but them had to dodge as the various Multiplexes opened fore from atop the armored fighting vehicles. Time was ticking away. According to his stop watch he'd taken Miraclo over fifty minutes ago. He couldn't safely overlap doses and that tank busting was his last major exertion as the drug wore off. But in less than twenty minutes he could re-up the dose for a second round out of a potential six. Now he just to stay alive long enough to take the second dose.

That, of course, was when he noted that three children were caught in an alleyway near one of the Bradley fighting vehicles that Multiplex was using against Hourman. The children hadn't been noticed by Multiplex, the AI systems, or Toyman yet but they'd make ideal hostages when they were. Hourman impatiently counted down the very seconds until he could re-up his Miraclo dose and do something to help those kids.

"You have to be joking," Red Tornado remarked as Toyman's mechs surrounded her along with a dozen Multiplexes. She created a tornado around herself first to warp the path of the bullets that began flying at her. The tank rounds took greater effort but they too began swirling about her. Then she slowly expanded the breadth and width of the funnel. The Multiplexes wisely fled. Toyman's AI driven machines weren't quite as smart despite their advertising by Veronica Cale.

The Multiplexes were amazed that not a single of them could lay a hand or even a finger on Judomaster. Toyman's equipemnt failed to shoot her either. But Multiplex was running out of duplicates to surround Judomaster with. She instinctively knew a lethal strike would cause a duplicate to crystallize and shatter. The Toyman's mechs took over and shot all of Multiplex's dupes in their effort to kill Judomaster. Yet they still failed to touch her with a single round.

Sir Ystin and Maid Maleen found themselves confronted by Lady Vic. Unlike the Arthurian dated couple, Elaine March-Morton was a purebred killer. Lady Vic came from a centuries old military family. She'd followed the family tradition in the modern British Army only to be the first March-Morton to be dishonorably discharged after spates of violence in Afghanistan. Her fami;ly, minor members of the British nobility, stripped her of her title. So Lady Vic went forth as a mercenary and became one of the premier killers in the world. Elite enough to be noticed by Lex Luthor when he was on a recruiting drive for the Legion. She knew enough about the legends of the new Shining Knight and Maid Maleen to hunger to kill them for the sake of her reputation.

Ystina was new to being the Shining Knight but both she and Maleen had drank from the Holy Grail as entrusted to them by Merlin himself. Working with the then Nazi super-soldier, Ace of Blades, and the original Dr. Cairo Jones with assistance from the Kherabim named Kenesha, they'd safeguarded the Grail from Hitler's machinations.

Ace of Blades was sentenced to die in Aushswitz as a result but she survived the gas chambers and was taken by Nazi scientists desperate to find a means to prolong Hitler's life long past the war.

Dr. Jones went on to have a legandary career as an archaeologist. As did Kenesha using a spate of pseudonyms and fake names to pass her credentials down to herself becoming whispered throughout the centuries as Savant. Savant now worked beside the modern Cairo Jones in the Birds of Prey.

Ace of Blades, injected with a series of super-soldier and immortality serums, survived WWII and was as youthful as ever and a Majestic-class human being. She and her girlfriend, Killer Frost, were free of the Fourth Reich and with other fellow members had formed up Heroes for Hire under Claire Montgomery's corporate sponsorship and leadership.

Merlin had taken Sir Justin from this era and appointed Sir Ystin his replacement as the Shining Knight. Maid Maleen joined her in the modern world as her squire. It had been Maid Maleen that suggested that they approach the Justice Society to learn the ways of the world as it now was as well as continue their crusade to better mankind.

To Ystin and Maleen's delight, they could openly express their love for one another in this day and age. There was still hatred and loathing for lesbians but society was opening up to them and their commitment for one another. A commitment that had endured since the 900s. Lady Vic wasn't interested in their past, only their immediate future. Which she sought to end.

Tarantula wondered if facing Toyman's mechs and the multiple Multiplexes was anything like when the original Tarantula had faced Nazis at home and abroad as a government mystery man. A young Catalina Flores had discovered the histories written about the Tarantula and his wartime legacy as a young girl. It inspired her to become first a federal agent and then a costumed vigilante. The FBI dismissed her when her superiors learned of her double life.

But going home, she found the Texas Rangers to be embracing of the Tarantula and her methods. Her new superiors applauded her worker as Ranger Flores as well. Tarantula had been approached by the JSA with an offer of becoming and even greater hero with the proper training and serving by their side. Tarantula was only called in for major cases. Sec. For Homeland Security Bones having paved the way with the Texas Rangers for Catalina to serve at a federal level while representing the Texas Rangers.

With her Ranger duties taking precedence, Flores operated with the JSA only when they absolutely needed her support. It was nice to be wanted and needed. Now she just had to figure out a way to survive long enough to needed again another day.

Shelley Gaynor's ancestors had been the Whip for generations dating back to the pre-Civil War Idaho Territories after leaving California. like Zorro, they just passed the mantle along regardless of gender through the decades become centuries. Now the Whip, like the nearby Tarantula, was trying to determine how to live long enough to have a future generation to pass the legacy down to as she faced down Toyman's mechs and a horde of Multiplexes.

"I thought you were done with this rubbish," Anna Fortune scolded Tala.

"What else is there for me?" Tala inquired.

"Lex Luthor tried to kill you yet you remain his faithful dog," Anna chided Tala, "Grow a spine, woman."

"I tried to find a life beyond. I was Vlad Drakul's guest but Ra's al Ghul came for me to extend Luthor's invitation. How could I say no? I was simply bored out of my mind," Tala explained.

Anna had to admit she'd felt the same way growing up in the Antebellum South. She'd been betrothed to a vile captain in the Confederate Army while she'd fallen in love with a plantation slave her family owned. After the war ended and Reconstruction began, her lover was freed but the captain discovered her unfaithfulness and killed the former slave. In reopayment in kind, Anna killed him. Only to be approached by the then-Dr. Fate

Anna's father sent her packing with Nabu's host and she trained to become an Agent of Order. Meanwhile, the Klu Klux Clan hung her father for his daughter's killing one of their own. The Fortune family's fortunes were lost and the family scattered across the country. A distant relative named Amos Fortune had threatened the Justice League. Anna's treatment of him had helped lead to her being barred friom JLU membership. So Anna had moved to the JSA where Dr. Fate's recommendation was enough to get her in.

"I declare woman, you vex me so. This doesn't have to be this way," Anna warned Tala, "I'm no longer the simple apprentice you faced those long year s ago."

"Neither am I," Tala promised her.

"Then, shall we begin in earnest?" Anna asked. Tala cast her first spell of the day.

Albert Rothstein had followed Anna to the JSA before ever marrying her. Atom Smasher found himself in quandary. He faced with the newest Blockbuster. Marci Diamond had been Marc Desmond's literal kissing cousin before his transformation and later death. Desmond had taken up injecting himself with serum after his brother's death. But he'd also been killed. The third Blockbuster had been a fashion supermodel that hated being judged by her looks alone so she destroyed them by becoming the monstrous Blockbuster.

Now Marci had found Marc's notes and recreated the original formula and mixed it with VENOM. Making her the most powerful and bestial Blockbuster yet. But Atom Smasher could still tell Marci was a woman. He hate d fighting women. Not that he'd admit that remnant of chivalry to Anna. She'd quite adopted the notions of gender equality, even third genders.

Of course when your wife could, and had while she was mad at him, turn him into a toad, it was easy to see her as an equal. He simply saw Blockbuster as a victim. But one that was obviously trying to break him in half. So as he grew, so did his strength. Atom Smasher would need every ounce of it to defeat the newest Blockbuster.

Once again, Spider Queen wondered just how the hell she'd become a superhero. Her genetic research had modified spider glands to udder sized proportions and she'd weaponized spider silk before her fiance's murder at the hands of a loan shark. Then they'd come after her. So she'd adopted being the Spider Queen to avenge him and relieve her of her mob problem. Then she just kept going after the entire mob family. Garnering her the JSA's attention. Now she was expected to fight tanks, armored vehicles, and a dozen Multiplexes? Shannon Kane just wished she'd stayed in bed that morning.

It was still strange for Shazam to see Dr. Sivana as Black Sivana. The scientist having used science to replicate Shazam's transformative power to channel the Lords of Orders' power. Sivana tapped ito Chaos magic to accomplish the same just as the Black Marvel Family had petitioned the Lords of Chaos to grant them their boon of power after the wizard withdrew it following the Black Mary incident. But Shazam entrusted Billy Batson with all of his power so it was he that gave Mary and Freddy theirs.

The hulking, and tusked, Black Sivana still had the same old chuckle, "Heh heh heh, Big Red Cheese. Now we're evenly matched."

"And you're still an evil toad," Shazam remarked.

"I'll bring this city down upon you if that's what takes to destroy you," Black Sivana promised.

Mary Bromfield understood the allure of power and how it corrupts after going from being Mary Marvel to Black Mary. Billy had given her a second chance and made her Lady Marvel. But she'd never used the transformative power that Shazam bestowed to alter how she looked.

Georgia Sivana, however, went from looking like her hideous father to being a stunning knockout when she transformed. Lady Marvel had never ever considered how much Georgia had to despise her looks to alter them to such a degree. The woman was a genius in her own right yet men laughed at her and ridiculed her bwecause of how she looked. Mary had never had that problem.

"Georgia, I don't want to fight you," Lady Marvel protested the entire building affair.

"Because I'm finally more beautiful than you'll ever be," Georgia declared in that insanely warped fashion most of her family seemed to reason with. Everyone but Magnificus and Beautia. Magnificus because he didn't have a brain in his head and Beautia because she was blessed with her mother Venus' looks to go with the brains. Beautia had kept the Marvel Family's identities a secret from her father until Sivana figured it out on his own when Shazam stripped everyone of their powers because of Black Mary.

Mary had survived a three hundred foot fall when her power was taken from her in mid-flight. Freddy Freeman had footed her medical bills. She'd never fully healed until Billy, as the new Shazam, restored her curative powers enabled through the transformation into Lady Marvel. Sivana, a relative of the Batsons noted how Mary was suddenly restored to vigor at the same time Lady Marvel appeared. It didn't take much investigating for him to discover their identities afterwards despite Beautia's protests of Billy, Mary, and Freddy's innocence.

What Sivan couldn't deduce was why Freddy remained crippled even after first becoming Captain Marvel Jr. and now Captain Marvel. But Freddy's injury was such a part of his identity he just had never realized he could simply let it go.

Lady Marvel could see Georgia wasn't backing down. So Lady Marvel took flight to draw Georgia away from Gotham. Georgia, in her newfound vanity, believed Lady Marvel was running from her.

Captain Marvel faced an equally transformed Theo Sivana. Who no longer resembled a version of his father with hair but looked like he truly was Magnificus' brother. Theo completely retained the chip on his shoulder though. Georgia was the true genius taking after her father. Theo was intelligent, far more than the average person, but Georgia employed him as a lab assistant. But as the Sivana Family, they were equals. Something Theo had never been before.

He'd always been overshadowed by his father and sister's brilliance, Magnicus' good looks and brawn, and Beautia's physical allure to go with her intellect which easily matched Georgia's though she tried to hide it from the family lest she been drawn up in her father's schemes. But Beautia ran Sivana Industries alongside her mother, Venus. Her innovations keeping the company relevant while the rest of her family tried and failed to conquer the wold and kill the Shazam Family and the Black Marvels.

Beautia often wondered if they'd ever come to their collective senses. She didn't know Theo had many of the same doubts regarding his father's quest. But longing for the merest scrap of fatherly approval, Theo went along with the machinations time and again. Which now had him confronting Captain Marvel.

Baron Bedlam was Brion Markov's uncle by marriage yet they were the same age. His own father having children while into his seventies. The Baron having shown he too was a meta-human like his niece and nephew and scheming his way into his siblings' demise until he inherited the title and the opportunity to rule Markovia should Geo-Force and Terra die as well.

Brion had found him out and exiled Bedlam because regicide was again illegal in Markovia after its release from Communist occupation. Baron Bedlam had thought he had a singular power until meeting Amazing Man and discovering their gift was one and the same. So it became a test of seeing who could transform faster into what to kill the other or defend oneself.

Bedlam being the would-be killer and Amazing Man the defender. But Baron Bedlam appreciated the challenge. It would serve him well when he finally atgempted to kill Brion and Tara to take the throne that should have been his to begin with.

Stranglehold was another member of the Hangmen that included Breathtaker, Killshot, Provoke, and Shock Trauma. The Hangmen were associated with the Legion but like the Tornado Twins, they retained autonomy. She was the strongest of the group. Even stronger than Commander Steel. She fully intended to find out just how unbreakable he was.

Miss Liberty found herself at odds with Lady Fairplay. The very last protege trained by the original Mr. Terrific, Lady Fairplay had rejected all of his training in a spiteful fit of pique at learning she'd been left out of Terry Sloane's will. But then again, so had her best friend, Veronica Sinclair. Mr. Terrific had learned of Roulette's Meta-Human Brawl gladiatorial contests and Lady Fairplay's full knowledge of them without ever turning it over to the authorities. So he spitefully disowned them both.

Miss Liberty didn't quite what to make of Lady Fairplay. In her era, the woman would've been a house slave. Slavery running rampant throughout most of the thirteen colonies Miss Liberty had defended. Modernity took some getting used to. She'd seen that murderous look in enough Redcoats' eyes to know what Lady Fairplay was thinking about doing. So when when Mary Lee made her move, Miss Liberty was prepared for it.

Jade kept Obsidian restrained and away from shadows while Jonni Thunder stood vigil. But still Fright found them. Where Madame Crow had been one of Jonathan Crane's enduring victims, Fright had been his eager lab assistant in perfecting Fear Toxin. A task Jack Crane seemed to have accomplished. Much to Fright's chagrin.

The new Scarecrow wanted Fright and Madame Crow dead. So as soon as Fright scared Jade, Obsidian, and Jonni Thunder to death, she was headed to Arkham Island to kill Jack Crane. Wha she hadn't counted on yet was Jonni's transformation into Yz.