And There Came A Day ... A Day Like NO OTHER! Where the World's Greatest Heroes JOINED FORCES to Face a Foe None Could Withstand Alone!

Vina says:
"You're right about the Ghost Zone. Sinestro can definitely get out of it, and so can any villain with a decent grasp of the scientific method." So says Vina, a 20-something blonde dressed in a LOTR elf outfit of the woodsy variety. She has some futuristic equipment as well as a standard bow with odd arrows. She's farm-girl fit. "I'm Vina. Or, Lady Hawk, I guess. On our way back from a con when this happened..."
"Who wants to go where for the next one? We'd best make it snappy... maybe my Thanagarian equipment knows something about these guys..." She checks it for villains who can do a lot of ice and/or command giant insects. Don't suppose Sinestro made a line to to the White House, did he? She was tracking him.

Nope. Sinestro is over the Arctic right now.

The absorbascon knows 11 cold-using villains, although insect-controllers are much less common. Freezing a whole block is beyond the Icicle or Killer Frost's power, though, so ... Captain Cold? The old Flash villain? He seems like Suspect Number One.

Ian says:
"I guess I should introduce myself as well. I'm Ian, the not-Martian Martian Manhunter." Ian changes back to his original form, which was a constant fixture at sci-fi and fantasy conventions selling hand-carved replicas. Kind of thin without the artificial muscles.

"Of the two, I'd rather go to Washington. This sounds like a real life 'Take me to your leader' situation, so we could be talking about actual aliens!" Lost on him perhaps is the fact that he just witnessed a red-skinned alien fly away hardly a minute ago.

JimBob says:
Chin-Su greets Vina the way he greets all attractive cosplayers - he curtseys his Chin-Su costume and delivers an extremely-awkward "M'Lady."

Regarding the task at hand, he looks around. "Can we maybe do a powers-check and figure out who would be most useful where? Because I can say from experience that I'm not much good against ice. Speaking of, I am Chin-Su;" he pats his beer belly three times, then ties himself into a knot. "The soft pretzel!" Untying himself, he continues: "I might be able to do something about those mosquitos, though..."

Roy says:
"I'm Green Lantern, obviously. And I wish I'd paid more attention whenever the real Green Lantern was in the news ... this ring can do all kinds of things! I know just, oh, the narrowest sliver of the stupendous, colossal, senses-stunning panorama of its potential powers! So if you think of something, speak up! Maybe I can do it."

"Chin-Su, do you have Plastic Man's powers, as well as those of Chin-Su from that anime? Because I don't remember all she can do ..."

"So that's Martian Manhunter to D.C. and Chin-Su for Metropolis. I can carry anyone who needs a ride, but the other team might have to use the teleporters. So I'd better head to D.C., too, because that one sounds like seconds could matter."

"Flash? Shield-guy? Say, are you some kind of Captain America of ancient Greece -- like Captain Athens? Or, whoa, Captain Sparta -- that would be awesome. The Spartans are already warrior bosses, but the ultimate expression of the Spartan super-soldier? Wow!"

"So, are you?"

All's Well That Ends .. What?

Vina gives a half-smile and adjusts her Thanagarian space scanner to register/track yellow energy as Sinestro prepares to fly away. Do Thanagarians ever act as parole officers? she muses.

"So hey," Quinn turns to Chin-Su, "I don't suppose you've seen a jackass dressed like Joker flying around anywhere?"

"All's well that ends well, I guess," Ian says, materializing with extinguisher in hand.

"Still, didn't we put that guy in the Ghost Zone? I guess we're going to have to find out if the Watchtower does have holding cells. Also, some place to hold this," he says, brandishing the Aquaman icon.

It has a strange shininess to it, as though one could look deeply into its surface into another realm of possibility. The Batman icon, which Lady Hawk is currently holding, and the Cyborg and lightning-bolt icons, which are still strapped into the ruins of Libra's machine, have that same sheen.

And several of the heroes' cell phones are chirping, indicating a news bulletin which your software thinks is important to see.

Two, actually:

FLYING MAN INVADES WASHINGTON -- A man flying at Superman-like speeds was shot down by jet fighters near Washington, DC. After shooting down the jets with heat vision, the man demanded to know the way to the White House, eventually finding someone who knew the way. He is now approaching the White House which is defended by tanks and battlesuits. President Luthor is believed to be inside.

METROPOLIS FREEZES SOLID -- Thick sheets of ice have formed over downtown Metropolis, trapping thousands of bond traders and stockbrokers inside their Tower Street offices. Metro Police have been turned back by gigantic mosquitoes, the size of jumbo jets.

And A Lantern Shall Be NO MORE!

JimBob expands his neck like a balloon to use it as a makeshift lung, then shapes his esophagus into a cone to maximize his volume as he shouts "FLASH, STOP!!" and gestures wildly with the hand he left behind, beckoning Ian and Quinn to enter the fray.

JimBob expands his neck like a balloon to use it as a makeshift lung, then shapes his esophagus into a cone to maximize his volume as he shouts "FLASH, STOP!!" and gestures wildly with the hand he left behind, beckoning Ian and Quinn to enter the fray.

Ian:
Fire. Of course the villain uses fire. Well, since this is a garage, there's a decent chance that there's a fire extinguisher present. Ian will turn himself invisible and look for one.

Flash does, indeed, stop suddenly. This foils Atrocitus' Wile E. Coyote plan of having the Flash run into his buzzsaw of fire.

Then the Martian Manhunter puts the fire out ... scratch that, firefighting foam just COMES OUT OF NOWHERE and douses the fire.

Atrocitus jumps up, enraged.

"Douse MY wrath-flame? No you didn't! I will kill everything with a heartbeat until I find the sneaky vermin who ..."

At which moment Sinestro hits him with a yellow hammer and Pig Lantern hits him with a green boxing glove.

Atrocitus collapses, clobbered.

Sinestro, his ring glowing, looks around at the gathered heroes.

"I see you, Martian," he states flatly. "I see your fear ..."

His yellow ring glows brighter.

"You, I think, were not present when Libra stripped us of half our powers. But Lady Hawk, Swine Lantern, and I were all thus afflicted. I must have my power back, but you might cause me some trifling temporary annoyance. Therefore ..."

He fires a cone of yellow energy at Pig Lantern. Pig Lantern puts up a forcefield, but the yellow energy stabs right through it.

A pair of counter-rotating spirals form and split into smaller and smaller spirals, sinking into every single strand of pig DNA. A shuddering convulsion later, and Roy stands on his own two feet, human once more.

A slightly shorter convulsion, and he's wearing a Green Lantern uniform.

"That," says Sinestro, "should buy me sufficient goodwill to part company with this so-called Justice League. If your powers return, hero and heroine, you may thank me. But until then ..."

He stabs his fist into the air and leaves the ground, clearly preparing to fly away.

(All the other villains are out cold, and most of them are mind-cuffed. And Libra's machine is smashed quite completely. So there are no more threats in the immediate area. Flash, Martian Manhunter, Lady Hawk, and Green Lantern are inside the garage, while Peltast and Chin-Su are just outside.)

Is the Fight Over? Sinestro's Still Up ...

JimBob eyes the monologuing rave-garage uneasily, and glances at Ian and Peltast. "So... Do we punch someone in the face, or...?"

"I think we're a little late to the party," Quinn says, landing next to JimBob after his last leap. "Sounds like there's someone in there restraining . . . someone else? And did I hear Sinestro? He's sort of a weirdo, isn't he?"


"'Sort of a weirdo'?!" JimBob's jaw falls literally to the floor. He retracts it like a set of cartoony blinds. "Founder of the Sinestro Corps? Yellow Lantern extraordinaire? Looks kinda like this?" JimBob inflates his head like a balloon. "He and Hal Jordan only killed eachother a half a dozen times. But no, yeah, he'll go down in history as 'sort of a weirdo', sure."

JimBob stretches his head toward the building for a better look and listening point.

Quinn has absolutely no clue what's going on, so he will wait until someone who seems more in the know to tell him what to do.

That may or may not occur, but JimBob is rapidly qualifying as someone who knows more. Because with his head extended up near the rafters, he can see through a hole in the roof that:

LIBRA lies stunned near the ruins of his machine, wearing a yellow mind-cuff

The TATTOOED MAN is mind-cuffed

PIG LANTERN is rooting in the wreckage of Libra's machine

SINESTRO is standing in the middle of the room, waving a yellow-force sword around

VINA is reasoning with Sinestro, which does not appear to be changing Sinestro's behavior all that much

GREG (Flash) GORDON is buzzing around from one thing to another, deciding what to do

and ATROCITUS, having recovered his wits, is stealthily breathing a red ball of fire into the air in front of him, shaping it into a pair of red-energy scissors with which to cut loose the bent pipes restraining him.

Snip, snip! Atrocitus, the horrific tooth-covered crocodilian bodybuilder with Red Lantern breath, is free!

And he shapes his red fire into a big red buzzsaw, which he slides over into the path of the Flash's buzzing around ...

It Cannot Be So! IT MUST NOT BE SO!

At really quick speed, Lady Hawk slaps cuffs on the tattooed man and Libra, hopefully before the slicing and dicing get going.

Sinestro frowns.

"Do not seek to stand between Sinestro and his enemy, Ladyhawk. For who stands between Sinestro and his enemy ... has chosen that enemy's side."

Pig Lantern forms a huge green mallet over Sinestro's head.

"Don't force me to render you into more easily fryable chops, Swine Lantern!" says Sinestro. "Surely your bald little masters told you your ring cannot affect yellow ... whereas they who made MY ring put in no corresponding weakness to green."

Sinestro has done enough villain speeches that the Substitute Leaguers outside clearly hear every word.

Vina (Lady Hawk) realizes she doesn't have any armor at all--only what she got from the Super line en passant. Whatever that amounts to. Possibly nothing.

She's still standing in front of Libra.

"It's my job to take him in, Sinestro. I'm new at this, but I'm pretty sure capital punishment isn't part of the Hawks' plan. Well, not directly, anyway.
"Besides," she says cheerfully, "it will make a better ballad this way. The Great Lord of the Golden Circlet not slaying a helpless.." she looks him over. He's still helpless, right? "...prisoner."

"Helpless ... " muses Sinestro, the yellow swords lighting his sinister face from below. "I should never have allowed so long a pause between his defeat and his demise! But now, it will be as you say, that Sinestro destroyed a powerless wretch, appearing that he feared Libra enough to strike the final blow even after his defeat! Ah, villainy, that the legend of Sinestro should be stricken with such a blemish! It must not be -- it CANNOT be! And so Sinestro declares - - IT SHALL NOT BE!"

He switches his swords into mind-cuffs of yellow force, which he zaps onto Libra's temples.

"There. My force-cuffs are an exact copy of your Thanagarian restraint crown. They will vanish after 24 hours, so be quick about bringing him to justice. Oh, and as a former law enforcer myself, I suggest ... NOT confining him in the Ghost Zone."

Sinestro turns away with a "bah!" gesture of his hand, sweeping the ceiling. The Tattooed Man writhes in his cuffs and seems about to say something, but Sinestro silences him with a glare.

"I am filled with wrath enough," he says, "to power Atrocitus' red ring just enough to remove it. ALthough that will cause him to die ... and again, IT MUST NOT BE!"

Sinestro considers letting Atrocitus wake up so he can slay him.

Pig Lantern squeals.

Lady Hawk raises an eyebrow. It's more effective with the pointed ears--and a pretty good impression of an ageless elf who's kind of judgey. She shakes her head. "Rather more of the same, wouldn't you say?"

Restoring the Balance?

Libra's balance-shaped antennae are broken.

Antennae? Arrows are like antennae. A bit. With the Hawks' knowledge of science, Vina tries to devise an antenna quick. And I do mean quick. Regardless of how that works out, she also uses her superspeed to wake up her porcine comrade.

The devising doesn't go well. Apparently, although the Hawks' science can encode individual atoms so that each molecule is its own circuit module, Libra's technology encodes individual neutrons so each atomic nucleus is ITS own circuit module! Which is, uh, a billion times more complex than atomic-level circuits.

Vina doesn't have the tools to make the tools to invent the tools to adjust Libra's stuff. And her knowledge of alien science says there's no way Libra came up with this on his own. The New Gods are the only ones who can do nucleonic-level engineering, as far as Thanagar knows.

On the other hand, awakening Pig Lantern turns out to be easy. His ring prevented him from sustaining any serious harm.

Green rays flare outward, burning letters in the wall.

IS ANYONE WATCHING LIBRA? they say.

Apart from Sinestro, who's just about ready to begin the slicing and dicing, no, no one is watching Libra.

The Tattooed Man stirs. Because things weren't complicated enough.

Midway? No, We're All The Way There!

Quinn had just finished strapping on the bronze greaves when he saw the strange arcs. "Hey, uh . . ." he says, momentarily mesmerized by the light show in the sky. "Uh, JimBob? Any idea what *that* is?"

Jimbob is on the Moon. Quinn is in Midway City, in the Aerie. But it makes perfect sense that Quinn THINKS Jimbob's still around ...

Yep, that's what happened. Quinn was distracted by his love for weaponry. When JimBob doesn't answer, he'll wander around for a bit calling out, and when no one answers, he'll shrug his shoulders and start leaping his way toward the colors in the sky.

Ian doesn't call back, because he has taken the teleporter tube back to the Watchtower to look for JimBob. "Hey, uh Chin-Su!" he calls out, then notices he was invisible. Feeling egg on his face he wills himself to be opaque. "We're in Midway City... could use your help." He waits a moment or three before impatience gets the better of him and he returns, flying off to the scene of the disturbance.

JimBob, on the moon, frowns at the names on the touchscreen. "Perhaps Elongated Man can teach me a few tricks about this strange power we seem to share..." He notices the location. "On a case in... Midway...?"

JimBob sprints for the teleport tubes and mashes the button for Midway.

After a minute of no one answering, Quinn says out loud, "OK, I'll, uh . . . I'll just take these things and go over there," nodding toward the flashing lights outside. "Soooo . . . OK. Goodbye."

He looks for an exit. There's got to be one somewhere. He'd even settle for jumping out a window.

The Aerie has PLENTY of windows. So he's out!

Moments later Jimbob materializes in the teleport tube. Seeing Peltast soaring off, he follows, springily.

So Peltast lands lightly on the lawn of a residence not far from the lake, while Ian just appears there all of a sudden as though he were invisible. And then a coiled blue and pink spring collapses in a pile and stacks up into Chin-Su.

Inside the garage, colored lights are shining THROUGH the walls. As though the garage were made of tissue paper, and some very Nineties rave lights were happening in there.

Upsetting the Balance

Libra strains as Sinestro tries to literally stare a hole through him.

"Must ... do two things ... at once!" he gasps. "But not too much .. power ... to let Sinestro ... win!"

He throws one hand up in a shielding pose, focusing the yellow and red energy into a shield of yellow and red concentric circles. The other hand points commandingly at his ruined machine, and directs Green Lantern energy to surround and penetrate the machine, and put it back together!

That happened very fast. It's running again, powered by Libra and wrapped in a green energy shield. 

Quickly (very), Vina takes a shot from the side to rip the scale emblem from Libra's shirt. It might also sting a bit. Distract him.

The alien arrow curves slightly near the end of its flight, ripping the scales cleanly from his costume. The emblem, actually a flat antenna, falls to the floor and breaks.

"No!" shrieks Libra in a higher pitch than anyone's seen so far. And of course, he's so concerned that his concentration falters, allowing Sinestro's power beam to stab through. 

Now, Libra hasn't completely forgotten his desire to not be stabbed, so his force field is still somewhat active. Therefore, the yellow spearhead blurs, becoming a yellow diffuse force that slams Libra across the garage and into the machine.

This, in turn, causes the machine to explode, again. 

Yellow, red, and green rays burst from Libra's body, along with silver sparkles and golden blinks. The waves of different energies expand outward. As they pass through Vina, she suddenly feels immensely strong, invulnerable, quick, and aware. In fact, she momentarily hears atoms clink together, galaxies whirr, and magnetic fields buzz. 

Then that surge of power fades as the stolen energies continue to expand. Silver particles of balanced power float around the room, drifting outwards, passing through the walls and ceiling, growing fainter and fainter until they disappear among the stars.

Sinestro experimentally forms an axe with his yellow ring, testing its sharpness with his thumb.

"Fires of perdition -- half my power is still gone!" he spits. "With Libra's machine gone, I had thought they might return to their owners. But that fraction of my power has evidently been alienated from me -- in essence, it is no longer mine. It will spread throughout the cosmic all until no one, NO ONE benefits from it! Pah! What is power if it cannot be used? Nothing!"

He then shapes his yellow axe into a pair of yellow swords.

"Without my stolen power, Libra will scarcely be able to survive one of my most practiced materializations, the twin sabers of Korugar. And with half your power stolen, Ladyhawk, you will hardly be able to stop me. Although if he still retains some of his stolen energies ..." 

Sinestro strokes his red chin.

"... then this will take somewhat longer."

And he advances on Libra, with obvious evil intent.

MEANWHILE

An expanding wave of red, yellow, green and silver energy arcs into the sky from the suburbs north of Midway City. It is clearly visible from the Aerie, and in fact its exact mathematical center is easy to discern.  Ian discerns it. So does Quinn.

And since he's near a porthole, Jimbob even notices it, faintly, from the Moon ...

Hey, Guys! Look over Here! And HERE!

Ian seems leaderly, so Quinn will follow him everywhere. Though he will be easily distracted by cool weapons, and will unconsciously run a finger along every one he passes, one at a time.

JimBob would probably do the same thing, except...

"Say, where'd that other fella go? I thought he was going to meet us right here, at the teleporter." He looks around. "I'll check out the MISSION MONITOR ROOM if you want to check the MEDLAB?"

But Quinn's not there. So Jimbob heads to the MISSION MONITOR ROOM.

It's a globe, but spread out on the walls, with another globe of starry space rising to the ceiling like a planetarium. On it are glowing traces detailing the location of every superhero the Justice League keeps track of.

There are three types of icons: GREEN for on a case, BLUE for off duty, and YELLOW for location unknown. In that case, the yellow icon is placed at their last known location.

There is a whole cluster of yellow icons near the zenith of the room, in an area helpfully labelled BEYOND ALL GALAXIES.

A repeater globe at waist level allows access to the touchscreen all the way up, but of course Jimbob can touch the ceiling directly.

Touching the icon brings up more information.

So! Right now the statuses are:

CAPTAIN MARVEL: Blue. Off duty in Fawcett City, Illinois.
THE QUESTION: Yellow. Last known to be in Hub City, Missouri.
GREEN ARROW: Green. On a case in Star City, California.
BLACK CANARY: Green. On the same case as Green Arrow.
THE ATOM: Blue. Off duty in Ivy Town, Connecticut.
METAMORPHO: Blue. Off duty in Luxor, Egypt.
DR. FATE: Gray. Inactive/retired in New Salem, Mass.
SENTINEL: Blue. Off duty in Gotham.
SUPERBOY: Green. On a case in Honolulu.
ELONGATED MAN: Green. On a case in Midway.

SUPERMAN, BATMAN, WONDER WOMAN, GREEN LANTERN, FLASH, MARTIAN MANHUNTER, AQUAMAN, PLASTIC MAN, CYBORG: Yellow at a location marked "Beyond all Galaxies."

It's text-heavy, so Jimbob feels boredom stealing up on him.

The globe also shows all the teleport tubes in the world and has call buttons to summon each Justice Leaguer using the Justice League Signal Device.

MEANWHILE:

Quinn finds a thing that seems like a tonfa made of bumpy alien skin.

I mean, weird alien weapons, amirite? Though Quinn won't remain distracted for too long, and will start to wonder after a minute where he's supposed to be. At that point he'll try to find JimBob.

Aaaaand maybe borrow one of the cool weapons or gear he thinks would be a good supplement to a heavy shield and spear. Like, I dunno, sandals of flight or a magic rope or a helmet that blocks telepathy or whatever he sees. Mainly he'll end up making his decision based on what looks the coolest (though not on purpose).

Aiggh .. "looks the coolest" is a six-way punch-out for first place:

1. Roman "cestus" spiked boxing gloves
2. Aztec hooked bola for tripping enemies
3. Spartan bronze leg and arm protectors
4. A rope woven out of silver strands, which seems almost weightless
5. A big long mirror-faced mace with a taser charge
6. A black spear with a rustless tip and a perceptible emanation of shame

Ian, meanwhile, wonders why Quinn doesn't notice he's there. And then realizes he's gone invisible. Seems the kid from Mystery Men was wrong. When you go invisible .. you DON'T feel it.

Tipping the Balance

Vina sets about rescuing the tattooed man. She swoops in and plucks him up, just before the boiling metal comes his way.

Sinestro hurls his death-spear, and Libra raises both hands, casting yellow, red and green light to block it.

"Ha!" Libra says. "Perhaps if it truly were a matter of skill, you would have the better of me, Sinestro! But even if you use your yellow energy three times better than I do, that would still make us even!"

"And as for fear ... no, I don't really notice a great deal of fear right now. After all, what can you do which I cannot block, or dodge with half the speed of Superman, or simply resist with half of his invulnerability?"

"No, I think I have the advantage," Libra says. He takes a step forward, pushing back Sinestro's yellow power beam with his own powered colors.

"And I'm going to have to make sure you're neutralized before I repair my machine," he says. "But I don't have to kill you, oh no! Merely taking the ring off your finger will suffice ..."

Suddenly red energy flashes from Libra's mouth and lifts the unconscious Pig Lantern off the ground!

"... as will relieving this strange alien policeman of his green ring, and Atrocitus of his red ring!"

Atrocitus' bonds flex and buckle, but Libra can't seem to get the ring out from under the metal hoses Vina wrapped him in. And then he has to drop Atrocitus and Pig Lantern, because Sinestro is power-beaming him with a desert noonday intensity, and he needs all his power to defend himself.

He's forgotten Vina and Greg. Indeed, he may not have even seen Greg come in.

Among the Clouds

As soon as he is safe inside the gym, Ian will revert to his previous super form and introduces himself to the other two if they followed him. "I'm Ian, but I guess there's time for that later. We need to get to Midway City; it looks like three of my friends are fighting over there. Let's hope this thing has an outlet there." He shows the others to the hidden teleporter, then uses it to go up to the Watchtower, and then back down to the closest teleporter to Midway.

The Watchtower teleport room has a map with buttons corresponding to locations on Earth, and wouldntcha know -- there's a button right in Midway City! It's got a hawk-head logo on it.

If either Quinn or Jimbob (sorry -- Peltast or Chin-Su) don't want to go up to the Justice League Watchtower, they might want to say something. And then get their heads examined -- it's the Justice League Watchtower!

Oh, Quinn very much wants to go. All nervous excitement, he jams his finger on the button and stands in his most heroic pose while he waits for the teleporter to fire up.

JimBob will stand on the teleporter, then twist up his torso around and around until he's a large coil. That way, when he teleports, he can arrive with a super-cool spin, just like Supes or Wonder Woman getting changed.

It matters!

Jimbob whirl-materializes and impresses the hell out of Quinn. But Quinn's heroic pose went for naught, as there was no one there to meet him.

The teleport tube room is blue, glossy, and roundish. But there are two exits, labelled MEDLAB and MISSION MONITOR ROOM.

It is entirely possible one or both of the newly fledged heroes will have difficulty remembering their mission ...

Ian waits at the teleporter in Midway City for his two new teammates, prepared to offer either a ride if they need it. With his cellphone, he should have a fix on the location of this garage.

The teleporter in Midway opens on a cave carved out of the heart of a mountain, a spire reaching even above the other peaks of the Midway plain. Here, where once caravans of wagons gathered before setting out across the West, is a vast single-level hidden headquarters -- the Aerie of Hawkman!

There is a spaceship shaped like a golden bird hanging from the ceiling.

There are life-size statues of Hawkman's greatest foes: Byth the shapeshifter, Hyathis the purple bird-winged terrorist queen, Chronos the Clockmaker, and Kanjar Ro, the tyrant of Alpha Centauri.

There is a gym, next to an amazing museum of ancient weapons, all neatly labelled, from the Roman cestus spiked boxing gloves to the elaborate Persian processional axe. The gym has strange structures, some of which Quinn would recognize as training equipment for the sword, the nunchaku, and bare handed styles.

There is a workbench with alien equipment, all silver and curvy.

And finally, there is a large glass globe about six feet high, full of pale blue liquid within which silvery-white currents splash and combine, but remain separate, like a rapidly mixing sand globe whose sands remained distinct. It is surrounded by chairs and electronic helmets connected by thick silver cables to the globe's supporting pillar.

Oh, and a big map of Midway City and environs. It is easy to line up where the garage is: in the toniest residential suburb of Cicero, where the homes are on multi-acre lots in the woods and most have a private hill or two. An adjustable compass gives the azimuth: 344 degrees.

It should be the matter of a few minutes for Ian to fly there.

Duel of Wills

A cloud of translucent, gleaming particles has gathered around Libra's machine, and are slowly filtering into the scale-emblem on his chest.

But Vina makes a grab for the scales, holding the Batman icon in her other hand.

She can't quite reach Libra. A wavering force field is in the way.

"Not so fast, Ladyhawk," Libra gloats. "I may not have all your strength and speed, but I do possess half of it, or nearly so, balanced by my Libra Engine. And as I also have half of the powers of the Red, Green and Yellow Lanterns, I can hold you off with a forcefield while using my super-speed to repair my machine!"

He flashes around at super-speed.

"Or not ... the cables binding Atrocitus are damaged beyond repair. No doubt Superman could spin new wires somehow, but I haven't mastered all these subtleties yet. But why should I have to, when I can just power the machine with Green Lantern energy?"

Green power flashes across the room, hitting the machine and setting it in motion again.

"It doesn't matter which way the machine is aligned, as my target is everywhere!" Libra says. "And once I have half the energy of the Milky Way Galaxy, well ... that should be quite enough to deal with your interference decisively."

Then a yellow beam slashes across the room, parallelling the green beam, and overloading the machine until part of it melts! Glowing liquid copper splashes like hot paint, splashing everyone in the room:

SINESTRO is protected by his yellow energy field.
ATROCITUS, unconscious, is still protected by his red ring.
PIG LANTERN, unconscious, is likewise protected by HIS ring.
TATTOOED MAN is about to get pretty badly burned.
MIRROR MASTER is stealing a car several blocks away. He'll be fine.
GREG can easily avoid the flying globs of metal, as can VINA.
And LIBRA, well, he's got all kinds of force fields.

Whether or not someone saves the Tattooed Man, Libra says:

"What! Sinestro, how dare you turn on me when I am so close to ultimate power!"

Sinestro holds his smoking ring and fashions a spear out of yellow light.

"It would hardly answer to turn on you AFTER you had achieved ultimate power," Sinestro observes dryly. "Besides, the Milky Way Galaxy is my home. I do not think it would be served by losing half its energy. Its fumbling inhabitants can scarcely accomplish anything as it is!"

"And now, Libra," he says, "let us see exactly how well you have mastered the Yellow Ring's intricacies. We have, as you observed, exactly equal raw power ... so it is SKILL which shall decide the victor! Skill ... and FEAR."

Lit from below by his ring, the brick-red face of Sinestro does, indeed, look mighty fearsome ...

A Warning From Afar

1. Quinn relaxes. It looks like the others have this figured without the need for any brawn. He stays put, observing the area.
2. JimBob idly wipes his finger on a handkerchief.
3. Scarecrow, er Ian, displays the trident icon, so that Bizarro won't complain again about not having it. Flashing both JimBob and Quinn a hand signal, he retreats towards the gym, waiting until Bizarro is out of sight before reaching for his phone to see if he can call Vina and Ray to let them know they were successful. Does he have a message from Greg?

Indeed, there is a message from Greg, saying that the Injustice League is in a garage in Michigan near Midway City! It has the address and everything.

Two Against Three -- the Scales Tip!

Vina rips the power cables off the machine. The cables are sturdy but lightweight, and flexible enough to make several good knots. 

She wraps up Atrocitus and clobbers him. He goes out.

"Yes, my comrades, your usefulness has come to an end!" crows Libra. "Already half your energies are being transferred into me, creating a balance! And with that energy at my disposal, I will route half the energy of the entire Milky Way Galaxy into myself, becoming the most powerful being in the universe!"

"Although ... I really should have more energy by now ..." he says, and then notices the torn-off cables.

"NO! How could it have happened? Could the Flash be lurking somehow, undetected, within these walls?"

The walls shake as to a mighty earthquake!

"That's me gone, then," says the Mirror Master. He grabs the doorknob and reels backward from a nasty shock.

"Aaa! The joint's electrified!"

And then the Flash breaks in through the window.

Vina is trying to tie up Libra at super-speed, but Libra is dodging, also at super-speed. Indeed, it seems their super-speeds are exactly equal!

"Flash? Well, then, bring on th'electric shock, for I'm nae tangling wi'him," says Mirror Master.

He grabs the doorknob, gritting his teeth against the pain, and dashes out into the night.

"So you also absorbed some of the Superman icon, did you?" says Libra. "Whoever you are. Well, I doubt you also got half of Sinestro's yellow ring energy!"

And WHACHOOM! A blast of yellow light blasts Vina across the room and through the wall.

Sinestro uses his yellow ring to make a set of pincers to grab Libra by the hands. But Libra summons yellow energy of his own to break the pincers.

"We are exactly equal in yellow light, Sinestro," Libra explains. "But then, you don't have half the red flame of Atrocitus!"

He breathes red fire at Sinestro, who doesn't switch his yellow energy to shield in time. Sinestro goes down.

Stolen! (Update: Stolen Again!)

Essentially frozen in place by the weight of the icon, Vina uses her newfound detective powers (and scanner) to try to figure out how to meld with the icon. Oh, it may not be a complete melding, for, as he said, it is incomplete. But she will try. Because they had best never possess it.
And she has the kind of heroic determination (hard-headedness) that journeys into Mordor.

When she first met the green ring, she had five aspects of the Hawks to prioritize. Number one was Detective and number two was Science.

Therefore, Vina, aided by the alien scanner, determines that the icon is not, in fact, heavy. It is not made of matter. It is, in fact, entirely transparent to energy, which means it cannot be sensed by radar or cameras. It is entirely a mental construct, made of some refined metal of the mind.

And whose mind, you ask? The scanner can't even see it, but a living mind studying it can determine that the mind which crafted this glyph had doubts, fears, hopes and even guilts, but was mostly composed of courage, honesty, altruism, and yes, a good bit of hard-headedness.

THAT's the point of similarity. Whoever tried to use the glyph before probably didn't have much of those qualities. In fact, he was probably a real jerk.

Some of the qualities inhering in the glyph are obscure to Vina, but that, she deduces, is because they're male qualities. Okay. Those are not available. But everything else ...

The glyph twists, thinning into a plate as most of its red mind-metal material liquefies and flows into Vina's veins. And no, it doesn't literally do that. It doesn't literally do anything. It's made of idea-stuff.

It also loses its burgeoning mass. Seems to weigh no more than a piece of paper, in fact. And the big machine dissolves into gray fog, as do the walls of the garage, and everyone in it. Except she can still see their skeletons, covered with wispy layers of blur, like morning fog clinging to the branches of trees ...

Except for Sinestro's yellow ring, and Atrocitus' red ring. Those are clear, sharp, bright, and colorful. Everything else is fading to shades of gray.

She can see the Flash's skeleton, blurring around outside.

And she can also see deep, deep into the Bat icon she's still got in her bag. It twinkles. It contains horror and fire, but also a whole, whole TRUCKLOAD of hard-headedness...

Libra says, "Excellent! The Cosmic Balance's fulcrum point wasn't too far away, after all -- the levelling is beginning!"

The other icons on the machine's stage warp, flatten and dim, going through the same changes as Vina's Superman icon. But these do not flatten out completely .. just about halfway, so they look like thin paperbacks.

Sinestro's yellow light, and Atrocitus' firey breath, lose intensity, and the shadows grow to claim the interior.

"What -- what's happening?" says Atrocitus. "I'm ... actually scared?"

"And I," says Sinestro, "am not. My ring has lost nearly half its charge ..."

"Ah, wil, ah'm right as rain," Mirror Master says. "A course ah never hed any syuper-paars te begin wi'. Aye me gadgets seem t'be workin' aright. Boot look there -- yon shoat's green glow's weakenin' right along wi'ye!"

Duel of Wits With an Unarmed Villain, Part One

Ian's distraction seems to be working. Quinn figures it might be better to let it play out. His decision definitely has nothing to do with the fact that he just took a severe beatdown.

He slowly approaches whatever part of JimBob is closest, as carefully and quietly as he can. He will then rub his hands together to try and generate some heat, and thaw out his ally. Hopefully Ian can keep Bizarro occupied, and/or the sounds of traffic and panic and buildings collapsing will cover any noise he makes.

Jimbob MELTS.

Which would be horrifying, if he didn't just get right back up again.

The unsuspected horror-causing angle of Jimbob's powers has yet to be fully explored ...

"Hey," Quinn whispers to the JimBob puddle-turned-man-in-girl-clothes, "can you imitate people? You know, look like anyone? Like, say, Superman?"

Jimbob reconstitutes into a man-like shape. "Haven't really experimented with colors..." he says uncertainly. "I'm sure there's some scientific combination of stretching and layering that I could manipulate that. For now, the best I could do is probably Superman in a pretty blue dress. Alternatively..."

JimBob aims a pointer finger at Bizarro. He's going to attempt to stretch a single finger straight into Bizarro's ear (the "safe orifice") and poke his brain. Hard.

Meanwhile,

Ian tries a gravelly voice to imitate the villain he heard cackling only briefly.

"Bizarro, you lummox!" he says, hoping this approach doesn't get him smashed into paste. "You took long enough dealing with those heroes."

"Ahem. The next step is cl-er... vague. Bizarro, what I am about to say is not important at all. You must forget every word I say. You see, it is important that you return to Libra's hideout as quickly as possible! You must fly faster than you have ever flown before. And you must not stop for any reason! Do you not understand?"

Jimbob pokes Bizarro in the brain, hard.

"Clear as mud, Crowy!" he giggles, and floats off the ground. He is flying very, very slowly, pausing frequently to look around, or sometimes for any reason.

Four Villains Fume, One Hero Remains

The Pig Lantern aims a boxing glove at Mirror Master, who reflects it back, knocking Pig Lantern out. Then Mirror Master rotates his mirror ninety degrees, causing Vina's wings to bend back on themselves as though seen through a kaleidoscope.

"Aye, well, that's th'Hawk lady done," says Mirror Master. "Whence ye've fought th'Flash, nabbody else pains a dagde in June."

Atrocitus turns to Sinestro, ignoring Vina.

"Green Reject!" he jeers. "Changed your mind about our gang? Well, you didn't do any of the work, so you don't get any of the reward. In fact, we might just take you out for desertion ..."

"You're not so frightening as you appear," Sinestro sneers back. "But I think you're frightening enough for my purposes ..."

"Not in here!" snaps Libra. "Sinestro, welcome. No one wishes you harm, apart from Atrocitus, who wishes everyone harm. But leave your forcefield up, if it makes you comfortable."

Vina, meanwhile, unbuckles her weirdly warped wings and slips out of them.

"As I suspected," Libra continues, "the Superman icon is not damaged, merely .. incomplete. Some of its patterning has been imposed on someone already, but that person was not able to completely embrace the pattern. Perhaps none of us can."

He sets the Superman icon on the stage of the big machine, along with the computer-head icon and a golden lasso icon.

"So it were better," Libra continues, "if no one else made use of them, either. I was planning to wait for Scarecrow to return with the last piece, but if he doesn't arrive soon ... wait! What's this? My Facebook feed is exploding with on-scene reports of superheroes in Metropolis, fighting Scarecrow and Bizarro!"

"There's video ... it seems Scarecrow and Bizarro have won. No heroes are visible. But I can't tell if they have the icon ..."

"Hey!" bellows Atrocitus. "That Ladyhawk's gone! We tore her wings off!"

"Th'wings're just a costume, big man," says Mirror Master. "Aye many of 'em up in space, whir yir from. Dinnae ye see any, whin ye were there? They are pleece, aft'r all."

"Space is not a room we all gather in when we're not on Earth, Terran worm!" Atrocitus yells. "I have never fought the Hawk Police of Thanagar, if that's who you mean. But this is not one of them -- she wears a cowl and elf boots! They never did that."

"That's it," decides Libra. "I'm starting up the machine. Scarecrow and Bizarro will just have to catch up to the rest of us ..."

And he throws a final switch, causing the two spinning golden globes to spin much much faster, making a rising eerie engine-whine!

We Am Imperfect Duplicates of Justice League. No, Really.

Quinn gets up shivering, but trying not to show it. He turns to JimBob. "So you want to tag team Bizarro, or what?"

"Thanks for the catch, I think," Ian replies, turning just a little paler at the sight of an angry Bizarro in pursuit.

"...Or we could triple team him, maybe. I mean, I can do some things." Ian changes his form then and there to become the spitting image of the Scarecrow, hoping that will give the (easily confused?) supervillain a moment's pause.

JimBob turns to Quinn. "You're got the strongest punch of all of us. Ian and I will distract him as long as we can, and you... I dunno... sneak up behind him and drop a piano on him, or something!"

He looks at Ian and says in a loud, whiny voice "But SCARE-CROWWW, I was gonna go to the Tashi station to pick up some POWER converters!!!"

"You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done," Quinn says in a gruff voice and a smile. "And by chores, I mean getting Bizarro over here while I hide up there, and get the drop on him. Literally." He points to the roof of the building behind them.

Bizarro is REAL DARN fast. Super-fast, you might say.

So Quinn, the Peltast, is not yet hidden when Bizarro bursts into their midst, slamming Quinn right in the shield with a big white crumbly fist!

WHONG! Quinn shoots across the street like a cueball, caroming off a mailbox and into the front of a jewelry store ... tragically, not into the display windows, but the sturdy masonry standing between the windows. He falls flat on his face, stunned, but thanks to the golden shield, not totally ausgekilled.

Bizarro also sprays Jimbob with freeze vision, again. Jimbob discovers to his horror that his flexible tissues lose their flexibility when frozen! He can't move!

And as for Ian ...

"Scary-Crow!" Bizarro gushes. "A delivery man stole your special thing but I got it back. And you have it now!"

Bizarro puts his hand to his chin.

"But you didn't have it ... and now you do ..."

Then he snaps his fingers.

"Superman have super-brain! He could figure this out easy."

His face clears.

"Me never get this in a million years," he concludes. "Too hard for Bizarro! Okay. What Libra want us to do now, Scary?"

LadyHawk vs. the Injustice League!

Vina, dodging cannonballs and saw blades, starts shooting arrows at her assailants.

ATROCITUS does not dodge, but allows the arrow to strike him in the shoulder. It makes him madder, and his red flame roars brighter. This causes Vina to collapse, seared by the flame saws even though they missed her.

THE TATTOOED MAN touches a tattoo of a fisherman's net, which is scant defense vs. arrows. He, too, goes down.

LIBRA is not hit by an arrow.

MIRROR MASTER uses his yellow mirror to warp Vina's wings so they are facing backward! So she falls to the floor, in addition to being scorched by Atrocitus.

Vina will no doubt rally and be back on her feet in a moment, if the encroaching villains give her that moment ...

Within the Injustice League's Garage of Injustice

Vina appears out of the Ghost Zone and immediately clobbers Atrocitus with the space-mace.

Because her Ancient Weapons skill is good, but not superhuman, Atrocitus is knocked back, but not down. He responds by breathing red flame which shapes itself into a row of spinning saw blades ... of flame! These then attempt to bisect Vina.

(Hey, he isn't called Teapartius or Have-A-Nice-Day-Us.)

Sinestro throws up a yellow forcefield shield, while Pig Lantern leaps free, and, flying in a green aura, projects a big green fist to slam Mirror Master into the wall.

But Mirror Master raises his left arm, whose green mirror reflects the fist back at him! Pig Lantern drops, stunned.

Libra jumps to the machine to pull levers and adjust dials, while the Tattooed Man touches a tattoo of an old-timey naval cannon, which suddenly becomes real, leaping off his arm to become a full-sized cannon which fires a cannonball at Vina!

Flash, outside, hears the whining of saw blades and the boom of the cannon.

Sudden Quirky Ringtone!

Ian and Vina get calls from Greg (Flash) ... but they're both rather busy.

The Injustice League Prepares A Welcome

Meanwhile, watching the visible rays from Bizarro scanning the city, Flash tracks his movements and follows at the blink of an eye. When Bizarro lands on the top of the building, Flash zips up and hides behind some of the roof structure. When he hears Bizarro give an address, Flash types it in his google maps app on his phone to get directions, and even though the ETA is several hours, Flash is there in just a few moments.

The address is a two-acre walled estate in a secluded suburb, with a low, wide ranch-style house and a massive three-story garage. No lights are on, but Greg does hear a voice inside the garage.

"Well done, my associates. The Injustice League has indeed vindicated the effort I expended on its formation. As soon as our teams in Opal City and Metropolis return, we can begin ... although I am not at all certain this Superman icon is in useable condition. Mirror Master, will you please hand me that pair of golden tongs .. yes, on the red wall ... excellent. And Atrocitus, can your red ring provide some illumination, so we may pierce the secrets of Superman's powers?"

Meanwhile, in the Ghost Zone:

Vina says,

"Of course, the logical thing to do is see if we can determine if certain routes are commonly used. There might be a displacement of molecules..." she pulls out some sort of Thanagarian scanning device, hoping she "remembers" a setting for this. She maintains contact with Roy and her erstwhile prisoner while doing so.

"Scanning..." and she does.

"Yes, I think it's right over here ..." and she floats left with a slight effort of her wings, pulling Sinestro and Roy along with her.

Meanwhile, in suburbia:

"Libra! One of our troops requires a pickup," snarls a voice like a Gorn with a sore throat.

"Bring him in, then, Atrocitus," says the voice of the leader. "Use your ring to duplicate the effect I showed you earlier."

FWASSSH!

Vina, Pig Roy, Sinestro, and the Tattooed Man emerge in a fountain of white light from the Ghost Zone (or Louisiana, where the Tattooed Man was).

They are in a cavernous three-story space with a massive machine, surrounded by two golden orbs orbiting slowly around it. One orb is flickering with silver and red lights, while the other is clear.

Below the machine are three people:

A guy in an orange leotard with green mirrors strapped to his ankles, legs, arms and shoulders, with a mirror-faceted helmet and goggles;

A guy in a blue leotard with high orange boots, a short orange cape, and an orange stylized scale-design (scales as in weight measurement, not fish armor) on his chest and mask;

and a tall, shark-lean red alien with fangs on the OUTSIDE of his face, red fire flickering out of his mouth, and a red ring glowing on his finger.

At the time of emergence, the mirror guy has his hands in his pockets, the scale guy is examining a red metal Superman symbol with a microscope, and the red fire guy is shielding his eyes from the light, having just opened a portal into Opal City by way of the Ghost Zone.

Bizarro Deceived is Bizarro Enraged

Ian has no idea if Bizarro can see him or not, but he changes into civilian garb and 'appears' from behind some sort of rooftop object nearby.

"Oh no, Bizarro! Where is Superman? He could be anywhere... well, anywhere except sitting on top of the Daily Planet building patiently waiting for Chinese Take-Out. We know he's not there doing that, but he could be anywhere doing anything else!"

"Goodbye, Rooftop Man! Me am Bizarro. Give me your Chinese take-out."

"Um, goodbye! I'll... go check on your order and see what the hold-up is. D-Do you want extra fortune cookies?" Ian walks over to pick up both the Scarecrow and the (Aquaman?) icon, then hops over the side, using his flight ability to float safely to the ground.

JimBob, seeing an apparent civilian fall helplessly off the roof of a building, stretches his arms all the way over to him (without moving his legs) to catch him.

This results in Ian being caught by a stretchy guy in a Chin-Su costume.

Bizarro, looking over the edge of the building, uses his Z-Ray Vision. Ian, the Scarecrow, and Jimbob's arms become transparent, almost but not quite invisible, and their bones glow clearly.

"Hey! You am not giving mystery thing to Scarecrow! Bizarro not destroy you now!"

Bizarro flies after Ian and Jimbob (and Scarecrow), intent on mayhem.

Quinn can't see or hear any of this, of course, but in the meantime he will try to rock back and forth, hoping to shatter or weaken the ice when it hits the ground. It's gettin' a little cold in there.

SKISSH! He breaks the ice by falling backwards. And sees the aerial battle about to unfold.