A Crisis of Two Worlds

Imagine Earths sitting next to each other, on top of each other, but never touching. Heroes would spring up to serve the whim of destiny without realizing other selves were making different choices leading to different paths.

Now imagine two of these different Earths touching as their champions tried to stave off disaster.

Hector Hex, the leader of the Network, wasn't thinking about the possibility of meeting a hero that had taken his place in the cosmic scheme of things. He was more worried about the fire trying to consume his arm through his black lab coat as his arch enemy laughed at the damage he had wrought to the center of Hector's city.

"Time to kiss your butt goodbye, Hex," said Astronomicon, symbols writing scripts around his hands as his foe cowered behind a van, clapping at the fire on his arm. "I've waited a long time to get the drop on you, and break you down."

The other members of the Network had their own problems to fix so Hector was on his own for once. It had been a long time since he had been a fight without backup. He was looking at a bad beating, and then spellbound torture if he couldn't think of a solution.

"I'm going to kiss someone goodbye all right," said Hector to himself more than anyone else. Then the genius smiled at the solution in his mind.

Hector grabbed the energy of the fire on his coat, pulling it away from his coat's material. That was the simple part. He slammed it into the van. The vehicle could have been a trap, or an impromptu weapon at the hands of Astro-nut if he hadn't been so busy gloating. Now it would work for him. Letters that men were not meant to know wrote along the surface of the metal as Hector called on the forces at his command.

The van glowed as the enchantment took a shaping hand in its construction. The metal pointed into a gun barrel floating in the air, the muzzle pointing at the other magician. A scowl darkened on Astronomicon's partially covered face as the giant gun cocked and an artillery shell rotated into the breech inside a cylinder. The glitter spangled mage raised his hands as the cannon fired. A one letter wall sprang up to stop the giant bullet. More of the strange runes might have joined it but the projectile had been fired from point blank range and punched through the flimsy defense before it could reach full strength. Unfortunately it missed the magician and ripped a trench in the sidewalk and street.

"You tried to kill me!," said Astronomicon, shaking a gloved fist. "I can't believe you tried to kill me! What kind of hero are you?"

"I don't have the time of day for you," said Hector, holding his hands over his ears. "Eat some of this."

The giant cannon roared again and again, shells blasting at the outraged Astronomicon in streamers of smoke and flames. He poured off his power to deflecting the shells as fast as he could. He succeeded at the cost of being blown down the street into a lamp post.

As Hector Hex moved to make sure his old enemy stayed cooperatively comatose, his associates were also busy.

Bertha Bernice Baker flew high above the ocean, garbed in the blue, green, pink costume of Chemical Girl. Her long, brown hair was tied back out of the way as the sun reflected from the goggles she wore to conceal her face. She streaked through the blue sky, aiming for a liner that listed to one side from water filling its hull.

Bertha's colorful alter ego had been born after an explosion of an unknown substance in her lab. She had been granted great powers but had kept them hidden from the world until Hector Hex had shown up on her doorstep in his black lab coat and wraparound glasses.

He looked like trouble from the word go.

Hector had needed help in a big way, and convinced Bertha to take on the role of a heroine at least temporarily. The problem was there was always someone who needed help, and she liked using her powers to fix other people's problems.

It was better than worrying about hers.

Chemical Girl streaked down on a rainbow, staring at the hole in the side of the ship. It was below the waterline, a rip along a seam it looked like. She pressed the metal together and concentrated. Energy pushed from her eyes in a red stream. The white metal glowed, then flowed down the side of the liner as she soldered the seam back together.

That was an easy fix.

"Ah, Chemical Girl," said an amplified voice, as a mechanical gorilla hovered into view on a trail of flame. "I see you are here to try and stop me from securing the valuables from this inviting floating palace of luxury."

"You have to be joking, Monkey," said Bertha. "I don't have time for your shenanigans."

"That's Mister Monkey to you," said the robot, before letting fly a volley of missiles at the flying heroine. "And now you have to make time for me, don't you?"

"You are going down, Monkey," Bertha said.

Chemical Girl poured on the speed. She couldn't let the missiles explode against the hull of the liner. That would guarantee that the ship would sink while she was trying to deal with her enemy. She had to stop them before they even got close.

Bertha used her energy eyes, knowing that it would slow down her flight speed. The red beam sliced through the small projectiles as they tried to avoid any obstacles and blast the upper decks of the cruise ship.

Joe Boxer looked around the room. He didn't like what he was seeing. Azuma Mako stood behind an army of minions, laughing fearlessly, convinced that he was going to witness the death of his oldest enemy.

"What are you going to do now, street fighter?," Mako said, black flames circling his arms and hands. "I think you're going to die."

Joe looked up at the slimmer, taller, ebony skeleton with the flaming eyes. He smiled slightly, his square face breaking into hundreds of tiny angles from the small scars he had picked up in the course of his career.

"I think we're going to dance," said Joe.

The minions charged, swinging weapons, fists, feet. Their every intention was smashing their intended victim into a piece of meat that would never fight again. Joe retreated from the onslaught, countering wild swings with precise blows as he went. He was the leaf riding the wind away from trouble.

Joe backed into the far wall, hands in front of his face. He had taken a couple of blows. That was nothing compared to the ten men he had laid out already, and the other five with aches and pains of their own.

The last five that were unhurt tried to rush him. Joe waited with a smile. His hands worked their magic as he moved along their lines of attack. He finished off any who tried to get in his way as he headed for Mako.

"No more hirelings, Mako," Joe said. "It's just you and me now."

The undead fighter laughed, falling into his stance. Joe glided across the room, head down, hands up. Mako would only fight until he lost the advantage, then he would flee. Boxer wanted to keep him thinking he was winning until he could deliver a knockout. That was the only way he could drag the hooligan to jail.

The two fighters exchanged a flurry of missed shots, low blows, special moves, and several combinations. Joe was forced back with a cut lip and bruised forehead. He was pleased that Mako was in worse shape as far as he could tell. He reached down into his reserves. He needed to try for a power punch that would nail the skeleton once and for all.

Joe waited for his chance, spotted the habitual flexing that Mako had when he led with his left hand. He waited for the punch, ready to counter, then counter punch. He was surprised when the hand came forward, open and flinging black smoke his way.

"We'll meet some other time, hero," said the cackling voice of the undead fighter.

The Hole floated above Mars, listening to the space around him. A distress call from a passing ship had drawn him out. He preferred that out of system visitors kept moving so the interference to the Earth could be kept to a minimum.

That was part of the duty he had taken on as the defender of the human race.

Too often he had encountered species that tried to impose their technology on the still growing human race. It was up to him to stop that before it began. He had encountered others and there was a mutual bond of cooperation between them.

The Hole spotted the floating ship drifting without power. He pushed himself forward, accelerating to meet the hulk before it was grabbed by Mars and pulled to a crash in the weak gravity of the red planet. It should be a simple thing to give it a push and get it back on course toward its home.

He might not have to do that if their problem was something he could fix with whatever they had on hand. He knew a little about spacecrafts, and what made them run. A few minutes of his time could be all they need.

"Unknown spacecraft," he said, broadcasting a radio wave. "State the nature of your emergency please."

"We were struck by debris," said a survivor aboard the ship. "It knocked out our shields and punched a hole in the engineering room. We lost our engineering crew through the rupture. Do you think you can help us?"

"I can seal the hole," said the Hole. "If there is nothing else wrong, I can move you back on course without too much trouble."

"Thank you," said the radio man. "We would really appreciate that."

Hole floated closer to the marooned ship, centering himself on the hole smashed in the side of the ship. The engineering deck seemed mostly unhurt except for that crater in the floor where the giant rock had overcome something else.

The first thing he needed to do was close that hole so he could get the engines working again.

The Hole looked for something he could use as a patch. He was disappointed that such measures meant he would have to fly to the asteroid belt for something he could use. It would be rough but he could do it.

Nick Number ran along the street, tucking his empty gun away in a shoulder holster. Things had gone disastrously wrong for him this time around. He had completed a few too many milk runs lately, and appeared to be rusty.

Nick ducked behind a car, wishing he had a rocket launcher. A yellow light beam burned against the brick face of the building behind him. A charred line followed the beam as it moved along.

"It looks like we have you on the run, Nicholas," said the owner of the beam after it blinked out. His laugh put Nick on edge. "How do you like our new invention?"

Nick regarded the giant dome on legs. A projector pointed from underneath the central section. The inventor sat in his giant chair under the glass bubble.

"We have been waiting for you to try and stop us once we started our money gathering operations," Winx said. "We knew you wouldn't leave us alone to our own devices."

"What you're doing is considered against the law," said Nick, keeping his head down.

"Science is my only law," said Winx. "I will be glad to be rid of you once and for all, secret agent man."

Nick had an empty gun, no spare magazines, a pocket knife, and a couple of gadgets. He couldn't think of anything he could do to stop the behemoth bearing down on him. There had to be something he could use.

He must be missing something.

The yellow beam lanced from the projector once more. It sliced through the car, reaching for the hiding operative. He ducked under it, then rolled away before the gas tank exploded. He used the resulting fireball as cover to move inside the damaged building.

He needed a moment to plan a strategy to take down that monstrosity.

Nick looked around his hiding place, realizing he was in a mom and pop grocery store. There had to be something he could use. That's when he saw the paint and thought he was either extremely lucky, or the best tactical mind on the planet.

Luck would have to do.

Nick frantically searched the shelves for the materials he needed. Yellow beams cut through the front of the store hunting for him. He did his best to stay out of sight until he was ready to make another stand.

When he had everything ready, Nick revealed enough of himself to make a challenge to his enemy.

Winx fired his laser cannon at his pop-up target. The yellow beam sliced into the interior of the wrecked store. Then it rebounded off a mirror Nick had found and set on a stand, playing across the front of the walker. That was enough to cut through the dome. Three Molotov cocktails followed in rapid succession.

Winx ejected from the wreck, fleeing from the battle in a flying chair.

While the Network dealt with the various enemies besieging them, the Theater was having similar problems. They were the heroes of their world and nothing could keep them down for long.

Molly Cule ran for a tree as laser fire rained down on the park she liked to walk in with Einstein, her chemically created pet. Stein was right behind her, his body stretching out of his normal cat shape to give him a boost in speed.

Red ribbons sliced the tree forcing Molly to duck, brown curls bouncing as she moved. She mentally catalogued the contents of her tool belt as she tried to figure how to stop her nemesis, Sea Vortex. This could be the worst situation she had been since the Sluggy Invasion.

Sea Vortex laughed maniacally, blond ponytail shaking from the back of her green mask. Her long time enemy was about to pay for ruining her life. All it had taken was a portable proton accelerator and a few adjustments. Who could have known it would be this easy?

Molly Cule had stood in her way long enough. As soon as she was done here, she would get rid of the rest of the do-gooders one by one. Her accelerator would slice and dice them with a touch of her finger.

This was going to be a good day, almost as good as when she pushed her mother in front of the school bus.

"Come and take your medicine," Sea Vortex demanded, aiming toward the ruin of the tree. "I want to see your face when I ruin it."

"I'll pass," said Molly, searching through her utility belt. "Why don't you use it on yourself, Cynthia?"

"Don't call me that, you poser!," said Sea Vortex, triggering her wand repeatedly. "You don't have the right to call me by name."

"Easy now," said Molly, pulling out parts that she quickly assembled into a gadget. "Don't blow a gasket."

Denver Dowd ran into the public restroom at the local McDonald's. He preferred a lock on the main door. He had to settle for a stall.

Denver had hoped for a quiet lunch of fast food before he got back to grading papers. He should have known that wouldn't happen. It seemed to be his lot in life to deal with jerks.

And no one was jerkier than the Cardboard Thief.

Denver stepped into two rotating rings of light. That changed his clothes to the gray ghost look he wore as Denver Dead. Goggles and changed hair color were a disguise brought on by his accident.

Denver became invisible and flew out of the bathroom. He had been hoping for a break from the ghostbusting business for a day, or two. It seemed that he was taking down ectoplasmic gobs more than he was getting things done for the lab he worked for.

It was getting to be irritating.

The Cardboard Thief did a jig behind the counter, fry boxes and cup holders floating around his vaporous form. Silver lights provided the illusion of eyes looking at the scared customers and staff with amusement.

"All cardboard belongs to me," a whistle voice declared to his captive audience.

"Eat it, jerk," declared Denver, firing twin columns of spirit flame at the dancing phantom. He was mildly happy as the creature was sent through the cooking area in a flung rag way.

"Denver Dead," said the Cardboard Thief, righting himself with an effort, slapping out the flames on its body. "Why don't you leave me alone? Why must you contest my command of the sacred substance?"

"Because you cause too much trouble," said the gray man. "There are places with tons of cardboard and almost no humans. You could be as happy with the sacred stuff as you want. Instead you're bugging people at a fast food place."

"You have no idea what it means to have the perfect shape," said the Thief. "I would let things go at that, but I'm tired of your constant interfering."

Denver let loose another fiery blast of energy. If he could take his enemy down quick, then he could get back to his normal life, with the additional incentive of forestalling the other ghost's need for chaotic cardboard worshiping.

Why didn't the guy find a landfill to haunt?

The Cardboard Thief dodged the flaming lance, gesturing with his hands. Blue motes exited from his fingers, saturating the surrounding area before they sank into whatever they touched. The phantom laughed as his poltergeist helpers began to work their persuasiveness on every piece of cardboard in sight.

This couldn't be good, Denver thought.

The cardboard danced from its shelves, and places on the floor, forming a giant body. The Thief hovered above his creation as cannons formed from the humanoid shape of its chest. Chattering spoke to Denver's ear as the blue motes talked to each other.

"Face the power of Caltron," said the Thief, a huge shark grin warping his misty face.

This is not good, thought Denver. Not good at all.

Betty Bit was a whiz at school. That didn't surprise anyone. Betty was the pinnacle of automation, and memorizing facts was something that she did as a matter of course. What bothered Betty was the demand on her other talents, especially for team sports.

Coaches wouldn't leave her alone, even though her mechanical body precluded playing anything like basketball, or baseball, for the school. She could hit any ball thrown by any human pitcher, out run any throw, and catch anything that was knocked her way. There wouldn't be a need for a team if she played.

Betty was exempt from gym for that very reason. She was probably the only student that was. She wondered sometimes if it would be good to dumb down her skills just so she could play. The desire to socialize was something that she couldn't explain to those who only thought she was a machine.

That day, Betty was watching the football team go through their practice with a small amount of interest. Football was also something she had been recruited for until she said she was a girl and not interested in slamming some poor boys into the ground. The emergency help signal broke through her imaginary scenes of marriage in a second of high speed buzzing.

Betty dialed into the emergency notification system, wondering what was going on that she would have to leave school to deal with it. It must be something big.

An alien ship hovered over nearby Galaxy Labs, sucking the contents of the building into its belly. It seemed like the Assimilators were back in action.

Betty triggered her foot jets. Blue light trails lifted her into the air, so that it looked like she was skating across the sky. Galaxy Labs was only a few miles away, a jog for her jets.

Betty arrived on the scene a few seconds later, mechanical face trying to frown at the destruction she faced. Part of the lab had already vanished inside the huge disk of the Assimilators. The grasping hand of the magnetic beam pulled more of the building and exposed equipment toward the waiting maw of the thing.

The first order of business was shutting off that beam, Betty decided.

Betty had been built with the ability to modify the basic weapon system in her body on demand. That meant she could fire anything from a massive cannon beam to a pinpoint, as well as changing the different energy and material types that she produced on demand. She decided on the best thing she could use at the moment, took aim through the targeting system designed to function as a heavy red marker in her usual 3D vision, then fired the large bore beam into the cargo bay.

At least they had enough sense to try and pull away while they were still trying to steal the rest of the building.

Tom Tanner hated emergency calls. They always came when he wanted to do something, or was in the middle of doing something. That made it look like he was a flake and undependable. He couldn't very well tell his friends he was a superhero.

That would lead to too many complications.

Case in point, Tanner was in the middle of asking one of the women he worked with to a date when his emergency pager went off. He checked the message, and wanted to get back in his spiel. He could see she wasn't interested as soon as he looked up. He apologized, made some lame excuse, and left.

Tanner looked for a place for some privacy, working his cell phone. He said the three code words that worked the secret room hidden just left of the real world. He stepped inside the secret closet in a swirl of light.

Tanner exchanged his cell for his wand, his casual clothes for his suit with the butterfly wings, and pulled on the sunglasses that disguised his identity with an obscuring spell. He checked himself over before stepping back on the street. All of his power rested in the wand he had found. If he lost that, he would have to go back to being Joe Shmo.

The Pixie took to the air with a flap of his colorful wings. His pager had indicated a robbery going on a few blocks away. He should be there in a matter of seconds. The wand wielder skirted the buildings as he soared through the city skyline at a breakneck pace.

When Tanner arrived on the scene, he was less than pleased at what he saw. Denny Boone had decided to bust open a bank with one of his trademark mental machines. The polygamous gunk was immune to the Pixie's wand, and became whatever Boone wanted at the drop of a hat. Right then, it was an octopus grabbing everything valuable in sight from the vault it had pulled open.

Tanner hated this so-called Teacher and his Pets more than anything. Whenever he escaped, Boone would go on a spree causing as much havoc as he could until he devised some plan that would net him a big score. Invariably the mastermind's plan was aimed at learning the Pixie's real identity to use it against him.

Tanner was just as equally dedicated to preserving his secrets from the master villain. At least this time, he had been alerted before the crackpot could go to ground and start playing hide and seek.

Vic Ing looked around, smiling slightly. He wore his usual beige orange coverall and war paint. It wasn't much of a disguise, but it was fine for him. He had been called in to handle something that no one else could grip, but fell well within his expertise as the Elementalist.

That's why he smiled.

Vic lived just north of Los Angeles, and a wildfire had started in the nearby mountains. The fire department and park rangers had called for him as soon as they realized they couldn't stop it with what they had. It was a bad situation made worse by rising winds that stirred the blaze like a man poking logs in a fireplace.

Vic had his work cut out for him.

"Do you think you can do anything?," Chief Herb Stantz asked in a tight voice. He had been on the job for ten hours and it showed.

"Typically I can handle very small amounts at a time," said Vic. "I will try to move as much as I can toward a water source that I can use as a damper. That might buy your men some time to regroup and stamp out small fires as I go."

"Do it," said Stantz. "I'll pass the word along to tell the men to get ready to back you up."

"I'll need them to move out of my way as I go," said Ing. "I don't want to catch them in front of the wave I will be creating."

"Got it," said Stantz, turning aside to speak in the radio hanging from his belt. He had worked with the shorter man before, but found the man's manner somewhat odd. Of course he would put up with his grating mother-in-law if she could move the basic elements with a thought.

Ing walked to the nearest patch of flame, waving the smoke away with a sweep of his hand. He was as vulnerable to asphyxiation as the next man. The Elementalist pulled on the flame, shaping it into a ball the size of a marble. He started walking deeper into the burning area, pulling the loose flames into the rotating sphere he rolled on the ground. Each step drew more of the fire to him like a magnet pulling on iron. Soon the ball was almost too big for him to roll anymore. He needed to get rid of it so he could start over.

Ing had worked his way to a nearby lake. He held the revolving ball of flame with one hand, while he scooped out a pit with the other. One push dropped the trapped fire into the hollowed out bowl. The shaper opened a channel for the lake water to rush in and combat the captive enemy. Steam and bubbling water marked the death of the sphere.

Ing smiled in satisfaction. He couldn't just erase the fire out of existence but he could push it to a place where something else could deal with it safely. His help had surely given the firefighters a hand and a chance to help contain what he couldn't gather on his first pass.

He gazed at the lake. He could build a wave to wash up on the shore, but it would only be so big, or build a channel out of the ground to drain water to where he could use it as a fire hose but that was not good enough. Neither would be as controlled as he liked it.

Ing called up a platform of air and rode it back to where he had started. He was pleased that the line had moved into the area that he had cleared out, and extended the reach of their hoses to push the fire back more. If they could hold what he cleared, this should go as easily as he expected it.

Ing spun another ball into existence and started for the dumping pool at a jog.

Astronomicon picked himself up off the street. He wiped the blood from his cut lip as he reached for more energy. The tables had been turned but he couldn't lose. He was not going to be defeated by a poser. He denied that possibility as script and light danced around his outstretched hand.

He waited for the next shell to load up in the floating cannon that Hex was using. He heard the click, and then the thunder. This time he was ready. He stepped into the giant bullet, bending it to his will. It wrapped around him in a protective covering as he charged forward.

He would beat this scum with his steel hands. He couldn't wait to see the slighter mage bend before his mercilessness.

Hex stood there, black lab coat still smoking from the flames it had been touched with. The now empty cannon floated uselessly to one side. The grimness of the man's features made the archcriminal smile in satisfaction.

Then Hector produced a magnet from one of his pockets.

Astronomicon paused in his charge as the real language of the world wrapped around the small horseshoe. Then his metallic shield flung him into a wall. Hex waved his hand and the armored Astronomicon slammed against a sidewalk.

"We're evenly matched, Soze," Hector said. "Why don't you give this up? No one has been hurt, and property damage is easily fixed with our abilities. I'm willing to put this down to a prank if you want to call it a draw and walk away."

Astronomicon gritted his teeth in hatred. He was the better mage, the best mage. He couldn't be beaten by a shrimp. Just picking up your toys and going home was the same as admitting defeat. He wouldn't do it.

He couldn't do it.

"I'll kill you first," he declared, turning his shell into a dust cloud to obscure his moments.

Hex waved his magnet around to draw the cloud to it. He knew that the offer of a cease fire would act as a goad. He just needed to step in and turn whatever Soze came up with against him. His temper made that easy most of the time.

Soze liked to use the most destructive thing in his arsenal.

The sky began to glow from a symbol writing itself in the air high above the city. Hector shook his head as he looked up at it. Of course he would nuke the city. He had no sense of proportion. The destruction would be enough to cause turbulence in the psychic aether to fuel magic for centuries.

Hector pointed the reloaded cannon he had created at the junction where two of the lines met. He fired the bullet as the lines rushed to their conclusion. This was the only shot he had. Once the glyph emblazoned itself fully, it would descend to destroy everything under it.

Hector counted quietly as the projectile raced the crossing lines. The massive spell that Soze was creating had one really obvious weakness. Anything that got in its way before it could finish writing itself would short circuit it. Even something as flimsy as floating leaves could do the job.

Hector smiled as his gamble paid off. The bullet sliced through the line just a little left of where he had been aiming. The magical energy rebounded, cut loose in a storm of green lightning and smoke. It faded away in rolling thunder.

Hex thought he heard a scream of agony as it vanished.

That should hold him for a while.

Chemical Girl hated dealing with her rogue gallery. They all seemed annoying and too ready to cause collateral damage during one of their heists. Blowing someone up was nothing to the likes of Mr. Monkey.

That's why Bee Bee decided he had to go so she could finish saving the day.

Chemical Girl soared at the head of a rainbow, eyes shooting beams of light as she flew at her enemy. Mr. Monkey decided to fire his whole rack of rockets at her in the hope that the explosions would blow her out of the sky. The two resembled dueling fighter planes from a bygone era as they chased each other across the sky.

"Eat sound, wretched experiment," said the robotic menace, unveiling a wide dish as he stalled into a hover. The cone sliced the ocean as it tracked the blazing fast heroine.

Chemical Girl smiled as she flew circles around the sonic attack. The ship had gotten underway and was moving out of the area. All she had to do was stall him just a little longer. Then she could wrap this up and head home. Whatever happened he couldn't turn his attention back on the ship.

There was no telling how many he had already killed just in the initial assault trying to sink it.

"Stand still so that I can eliminate you," the robot shouted over its PA system.

Bee Bee laughed, knowing that would infuriate her enemy all the more. She wanted him to keep coming after her without thinking what she was doing. He was not above hostage taking to get his way.

"Quit laughing at me!," shouted the enraged monkey.

Chemical Girl paused in mid air, laughing all the harder. She waited, knowing this was her chance. The robot charged, firing every system built into it. She flew into the barrage, zigging and zagging until she was close enough to touch his metal skin. Then she swung as hard as she could. Mr. Monkey shattered into pieces from the blow.

"I hope that taught you a lesson," she said, unkindly.

She knew that he would return with some other lame scheme in motion. It would just take him some time to rebuild his body. One day she had to get Hex on his case and bottle him up for good. Until then, she had a boat to nurse to safe harbor, and reports to fill out.

The government would want to send someone to look for the pieces that didn't get away. By the time, they arrived those pieces would be miles away. That was one of the things that made Mr. Monkey so bothersome.

Hector could fix that if she could convince to get involved. He liked to stay in his lab too much for her tastes. Ideally she could get him to find ways to deal with all of her rogues. That would make her life easier.

Joe Boxer admitted his enemy had gotten away after a careful search of the surroundings. He questioned the minions that had been placed against him. They knew nothing that could help find his hated enemy.

He would have to start over to find Mako again.

Joe decided the best thing he could do was head for the Network's headquarters. He had an apartment there, and the computers could start looking for Mako for him while he cleaned up and racked out. If some of the others were around, maybe he could get a game of poker up.

Making the best of a bad situation was something he had been doing for a while. While this wasn't as bad as some of the things he had dealt with, it wasn't the clean victory he wanted either.

Joe remembered when he would cross town to compete against the other amateur boxers wanting their big breaks too. He had a chance to make it into the big leagues, joining the ranks of Ali and Foreman.

Mako had taken all of that away in a blink of an eye.

Joe had resisted fixing a match. Mako had put something on his face. He woke up twenty years later, a man a little out of time. He had started tracking the now demonic mobster, clashing with his forces repeatedly. The fighter had been willing to risk everything for revenge, but now he just wanted a small amount of justice.

His outlook had changed because of the real good he was able to do with his skills. That and the Network allowed him to accomplish things more glorious than petty vengeance. It had allowed him to calm down, and take control of his life once more.

Joe preferred to operate close to the neighborhood where he grew up and trained. Sometimes his search, cooled but still ongoing, turned up a lead to Mako. He would then turn to follow it up, hoping to spoil the other's game in progress.

He had a feeling that Mako had learned to regret sending him into the future in the first place. That lesson was probably reinforced every time they clashed. It had also taught Joe how to adapt and train himself in this new city.

Joe liked to think of it as a being given a second chance in this crazy world. He could walk the streets, take an interest in things, and sometimes battle the forces of evil as much as he could stand it.

His friends didn't see him as seriously as they were about making the world a better place. He didn't point out the obvious. You didn't have to beat the bad guy to help someone out.

The Hole used his control of gravity to shape a small asteroid into a round shell. He placed it over the burst section of the ship. He concentrated, applying pressure and heat to weld the patch to the powerless barge.

It wasn't perfect but it would hold an atmosphere while the crew tried to get things going again.

The Hole floated in place, sensing engines and life support coming on line in the distressed ship. He waited as it started moving away from him. He was so intent on making sure the thing was spaceworthy that he ignored a spike in background signals until another ship was right on top of him.

Yellow energy wrapped around him, holding him in place. A ship like a bird swooped into being as he turned to face it.

"We meet again, Hole," said the communications array at the top of the bird. "I knew that you wouldn't ignore a ship in distress."

The Hole frowned under his full mask. He should have known the other ship had been used as a Judas goat so that he would be distracted until he could be netted. The yellow globe started to close in on him.

The Hole braced himself against the closing walls of the bubble. He activated his own shield inside that yellow ball. Suddenly the prison cell was sucked toward his chest, vanished inside the black triangle glowing there. The walls closed on him even faster. Either the ball would give, or his body would collapse under the pressure as his power tried to draw all of the yellow walls in.

Finally the bubble burst open, torn by the strain put on it. The Hole rubbed his arms as he let his shield fade to oblivion. He wouldn't be able to survive another trap like that. His shield would eat him up as it ate up the yellow energy.

He had to go on the offensive.

The Hole pointed with both hands. Small whirlpools appeared at the end of his fingers. Bursts of energy raced away as he flew forward. If he could knock out the operating systems, he could board the ship and deal with his enemy firsthand.

His energy blasts bounced off shields as the ship fired another of the yellow spheres at him. The spacegoing member of the Network dodged to one side as he moved to get in closer. If he could get close enough to touch the shields, the game was over as far as he was concerned.

Other weapons fired at the hero as he tried to get close enough. He ducked and wove to avoid the various beams of energy. His hand touched the shield as he darted through the web of death.

Then he turned on his gravity power.

Nick Number walked into the Network's headquarters, ripped jacket thrown over his shoulder. Joe had availed himself of the kitchen, and raised his eyebrows at the bedraggled condition of his comrade.

"Want a sandwich?," Joe asked.

"Maybe a beer," said Nick, going to the refrigerator, tossing his jacket down on a bar stool lined up to the kitchen counter. "Had to blow up Winx again. Hopefully he will stay out of trouble for a while."

"Ran into Mako again," Joe said, placing the finishing touches on his sandwich. "I'm getting tired of chasing him around. You want to lend me a hand with taking him down."

"I thought this was a personal thing between you two," Nick said, settling on a Corona and shutting the fridge door. He settled on a bar stool to watch his comrade eat while they talked.

"I'm just tired of shutting down his goons, while he escapes again," said Joe. "It's like grabbing smoke, and frustrating as heck."

"I need a break for a day," said Nick, sipping on his beer. "After that I'll be glad to help you run this mook down. Hec could probably snag him with one of those spells he does if we could pull him out of his lab."

"He's out now," said Joe. "One of his rogues issued a public challenge according to the monitor log."

"When he gets back, we'll shanghai him into making us a genie bottle for your guy," Nick said. "How hard could that be for our genius?"

"I'm sure he could do it," said Joe, getting some milk to go with his sandwich. "I'm really tired of this guy getting away every time that I am kicking his butt. It's annoying."

"I have to get cleaned up," said Nick, sipping the rest of the beer. "When I'm done, we'll sit down and plan something out. Maybe by then, Hec will be back from wherever. We'll talk to him then."

"Talk to whom?," said Hector Hex, walking into the kitchen. He looked as tired, and bedraggled as Nick.

"We were kicking around the idea of asking you to help us bag Joe's archenemy," said Nick. "I figured that you would have some gadget to lock him down."

"Why this sudden shift?," Hex asked, holding his sunglasses in one hand, and rubbing his eyes with the other. "Sorry, I just went one on one with Soze again. Can we table this until tomorrow?"

"You usually hide in your lab when we do," said Joe, taking a bite from his sandwich. "No one wants to go in there after you either with all that weird stuff down there."

"Are you saying my lab is unsafe for visitors?," asked Hex.

"Does a bear go where he wants?," said Nick.

"Your lab is unsafe for you," said Joe. "Remember that thing with all the tentacles, or those vampire sea shells, or the killer rabbit wand."

"Don't rub it in," said Hector, covering his face with his sunglasses again. "All right, I'll do what I can. Where are the others?"

"Bee Bee is out on the ocean," said Joe. "The Hole is out doing whatever he does when he's not helping us. His location is somewhere near Mars according to his beacon."

Molly Cule pointed her gadget in the general direction of her manic enemy. She pressed the button, hoping it would work like she planned. A click rewarded her unaimed blast.

"You think you're going to disrupt my equipment and just walk away," said Sea Vortex. "Nice try, peanut head. Have some of this!"

Laser beams struck at the remains of Molly's tree. She added some more parts to the disruptor. She should have known it wouldn't work. Cynthia knew her too well. The Theater's leader pointed her gadget at the ground and fired. She vanished into that spot with a sliding door sound.

"I can't believe you ran like a chicken," Vortex said, as she ran up to the tree, waving her cannon in front of her in case there was a trick going on. "You coward."

Einstein looked up at Sea Vortex, glowing eyes wide open innocent. Then it laughed of a sort. It was a meow that broke into three parts that sounded like me-me-me.

"You're going down, freak!," shouted the enraged Cynthia, firing a steady stream of energy at the sprinting cat. The landscape suffered as she gave chase across the park. "That nitwit will be crying for a month after I am done with you."

Sea Vortex chased the artificial cat for yards, finally giving up because its strange body allowed it a greater sprint and better maneuverability. She was just running herself into the ground, and her real enemy was nowhere in sight.

Maybe she should kill someone to get her rival's attention.

Einstein watched from the roof of a house. His leaping ability was as prodigious as his ability to change shape. He was intelligent, smarter than a dog anyway. He knew that his mistress would want the bad human to stay away from others. He had done something, but it looked like that wouldn't be enough. He might have to do something violent.

A shimmer of light appeared behind Sea Vortex as she adjusted her cannon. That cat had to die for his insolence. Maybe a homing signal would take care of his goobery butt. She took aim, the readout on her scan screen blinking as it lined up.

Molly Cule stepped from her stealth aura, a square packet at the ready. She pushed the large button on the top of the box. Thousands of strands erupted from the small package. They went for the closest thing and enveloped it. That just happened to be Sea Vortex. She fell over helpless, wrapped like a mummy.

"I can't believe you were going to shoot my cat," Molly said. "That's a new low."

"I'm going to kill you when I get out of this," Cynthia said, struggling in the wrapping. "I will make you suffer."

"Before you do," said Molly, bringing her fist back. "Here's something from me."

Molly swung with all her might. Her fist clipped Sea Vortex on the chin, snapping her head back from the blow. She had to shake her hand afterwards, the pain marring the satisfaction she felt.

"Keep your hands to yourself, Vortex," Molly said, her enemy dropping on the park grass. "I'm tired of your little tantrums and your ego tripping. The next time I see you, you'd better have a grip on reality."

Molly took a moment to render her enemy as weaponless as possible, before calling the law. A transport to a nice holding cell, followed by a villain prison was in the future for Cynthia.

That would be for the best.

Molly and her cat waited for the police, turned over a tape of the battle so that blame for the destruction could be placed on Sea Vortex's rage, and headed back to her lab. She still had work to do.

A scientist's work was never done.

Denver Dead ducked through a booth as the Cardboard Thief fired his creation's cannons. The hero kept going as accelerated fry boxes punched holes through the metal and plastic table and chairs. He had to get away from the customers who were trying to flee the restaurant. One cardboard cannonball could kill someone, no matter if it was an accident or not.

Denver circled the building, flying as fast as he could. The Thief had never been this smart in the past, preferring to be pestiferous instead of a threat. Someone had given him some coaching.

Denver flew through the back wall, hoping the Thief had not improved his intelligence from his normal flat line. The hero was going his maximum speed when he ripped through the crowded kitchen in his intangible form. The cardboard robot tried to turn to meet his rush, but the member of the Theater swept through it first, ripping away the Cardboard Thief with a shoulder. The deadly fry boxes collapsed to the floor.

Denver and the Thief blazed through town as invisible clouds of particles. They struggled against each other until the Thief pushed the hero away with a tremendous effort and came to a stop in the middle of a park.

"Why do you try to take my precious from me?," the Thief asked, hurling sharp ribbons of light at his enemy. "All I want is to love it and adore it."

"Because you're a nuisance," said Denver, dodging the glowing confetti, flying right at his foe as fast as he could build up speed. "And no one likes a nuisance."

Denver collided with the Cardboard Thief, slamming him into the ground. A brief flurry of traded knees and elbows had the ghost face first in the ground, trying to become intangible enough to escape.

Denver held his opponent down as he pulled a contraption of rods and mirrors from his belt. It expanded until it was bigger than both of the spirits. The adventurer dodged back as the mechanism activated. The Cardboard Thief became a shaft of light bouncing from one mirror to another. The trap snapped closed on the pest, becoming a small box.

"Time for a rest in the ectoplasm hoosegow," Denver said, picking up the box and putting it back in his belt. "Then I get back to my lunch, and on with my life."

Denver took to the air, streaking back to where he had decided to eat lunch. He thought about it and veered toward another restaurant. He found a place to change, then headed for the counter to get a burger and fries.

Betty Bit wished she had been able to save the lab building. Now it was a black mark on her service record. Everyone would blame her for not reacting fast enough. Still, the saucer people weren't getting away with wrecking her town.

Betty hit her back jets, zooming into the sky. The saucer dropped the rest of the lab as it roared upwards to the top of the atmosphere. The robot girl gave pursuit, switching her arm around to make use of an attachment. Her eyes locked on, as she kicked in an afterburner. She pointed her arm, knowing that out of the gravity well, the spacecraft would kick it to hyperdrive.

Betty fired her arm, following the hand that shot out on a cable attached to her wrist. Her fingers sank into the hull of the spacecraft. Unless they sliced through her arm, they weren't going to leave her behind.

Betty reeled herself in, glad when her hand and forearm reconnected with a smooth click and twist. She kept her grip as she looked for something she could smash to hinder the ship's operation. She wanted to talk to the captain, with her metal knuckles, and she didn't want the saucer to be in good working shape when she did that.

Betty reconfigured her other hand. It was one big gun pointing at the exposed engine nearest her. She let it rip the casing apart, then the inner mechanisms, until the engine exploded in a gout of super heated air.

She was really cooking with gas now.

The saucer swerved left to right, then started flying in a circle with energy and debris trailing behind like a comet's tail. It started back down into the Earth's atmosphere, pulled by gravity. Betty's robot face registered the gambit of emotions wired in as she realized that her plan had worked, but there was a chance she would cook to pieces with reentry.

Betty released her grip on the hull of the ship. She fired her foot jets, aiming for the new hole she had carved in the hull of the falling spacecraft. If she could get inside, she could protect herself better from the heat that would cook her skin to a shiny slag.

Betty fell inside the ragged entrance wound, clamping down on the deck with her feet. She ripped a piece from the nearby bulkhead and placed it between her and the opening. She tried to fit it in place as much as possible before welding on it with her hands.

She just wanted to capture the building nappers, not fry them to a crisp inside their own spaceship.

Betty checked her quick fix over before searching the rest of the saucer. Her calculations said it would hold, and there was nothing she could do beyond that.

The Pixie couldn't affect the gunk that made up Boone's creatures, but he could do other things. He decided the best thing to do was knock out Boone, then capture the artificial octopus. Then he would go back to his normal life.

The Pixie took aim with his wand, and fired a stream of dust at his enemy. The dust would transform Boone into a sleeping madman. Without his brain, the octopus should become docile.

The dust covered the manic Boone. Tanner was surprised there was no effect. That hadn't happened before. The dust transformed anything he touched into something else. That allowed him to do a variety of things with one simple cause.

Tanner was almost caught by the octopus as it tried to wrap its slimy tentacles around his legs. He knew that would mean some type of crippling injury if he had let it succeed. One flap of his wings lifted him out of the way as they stretched for him.

He had been surprised by his dust not working on Boone, but realized what was going on as he gained some distance to act. Boone had made two of his pets while he did something somewhere else. One of those pets was made to look like him to throw the Pixie off while he did what he wanted to do.

A wall of slime struck the winged wand wielder. He crashed into the sidewalk, covered by the snotty slop. Movement was out of the question while he was trapped by the plasm. At least now he knew why the stand-in had been put together.

He had fallen into the trap like a novice, and now he had to get out of it any way he could. Once his face was known, Boone would target his family, work, friends, even the pizza delivery driver, just to spite him. He would be hounded until he just gave up and killed himself to escape the grief.

Tanner could not lose his double life to a mad man. He refused to accept that possibility. How could he get out of the spot he was in?

Tanner scratched around with the tip of his wand. It wouldn't work on the slime, but if he could just poke a hole in it, things might turn around. He worked as quickly as he could, cursing the inability to move more than a few inches.

Denny Boone, the Teacher, descended on the back of a green eagle as big as a VW Bug. A grin cracked his face side to side as he rubbed his hands together. His bony frame poked his dark suit in odd ways as he moved on his thinking platform.

"Are you having a bad day, you winged freak?," asked Boone. "Good. I have been waiting for this for so long. I will finally know who you are, and I will take your life apart like you took mine apart."

"You killed your mother," said Tanner, scratching as hard as he could. "You're a dangerous loon that needs to be locked away."

"We'll see who gets locked away now, Mr. Hero," said Boone, gesturing his octopus forward.

Vic Ing smiled, taking stock of his handiwork.

He had cleared a quarter of the fire out with his gathering method. Most of that quarter was in front of the fire line, but he had shrunk the blaze so that the fire fighters could finally start cutting it off and keep it from spreading.

Vic needed a faster way to get this under control. The problem was he could only control small amounts of the elements at a time. Maybe if he could cause a vacuum that would snuff some of the fire out. He could use the water in the lake he had found in a wave maybe.

Vic decided that maybe he could create fire magnets. It was something he had never tried before, but if it worked he could gather the wildfire into set spots to be snuffed out at the fire fighters' leisure.

The Elementalist started into the fire, gathering some of it up with his hands. He began to spin it around, forming a ball. He gave it a high spin with his hands as he placed it on scorched ground. The flaming globe kept spinning as Vic gathered up more of the fire to build the burning basketballs.

Vic reached his limit at twenty spheres. They kept spinning as he walked to the lake. He summoned some air to carry his words to the assembled men he was helping. He wanted them to keep clear of the balls when he called them to the small pool he had already dug out.

Vic waited until he heard the firemen give the ready signal. He exerted his influence on the closest ball, pulling it toward him. The sphere picked up more flames to add to its body as it rolled along where the Elementalist waited. He pulled on it until it dropped into the channel filled with lake water and went up in a roar of steam.

Vic took a moment to relax. Pulling his fire magnet to its demise took some mental toll. He reached out to the next one, and again exerted his influence. He directed it into the carved channel as he had with the first one. This might be the best way he could use to put out the fire. He could feel two strips of emptiness where the fire tried to cross and reignite the dead wood. The Elementalist should be able to keep that from happening with an expanding stripe of burnt out fuel.

Vic worked his magic until he had two much smaller fires burning instead of one huge one. The fire fighters surrounded their twin opponents with the intent of drowning and starving them until they were dead. Sweat rolled down Vic's head, as he took a break from the fatiguing work.

Vic had never tried to move so many variable masses before like that. He was surprised that he hadn't blown a fuse in the effort. Still, he had to help finish the job.

Vic decided that he would plant one magnet in the middle of the left-hand fire instead of a mass of them. He would suck the fire into that mass as he dragged it to the lake as he had done when he had first arrived on the scene.

He could take a longer amount of time with a smaller fire to get under control.

Hector Hex felt better after some food and cleaning up. He thought about hiding out in his lab to escape committing himself to helping his colleagues. He preferred to work on his experiments over the dramatic battles he had to endure.

The Network had started as a loose association because it was easier to share information about common interests than having to look for an expert in the field. It had built into real friendships for the five of them. And it had kept Hector's experiments from running wild in the city.

It was the least he could do to help round up Joe's biggest problem after all the times the fighter had helped him.

The three had gathered around the kitchen table, Hector with a notepad. He needed some idea of abilities to design a means to capture Joe's enemy. That would lead to countermeasure options. The rest would just be grunt work to find Mako and drag him in.

Green type ran across the inside of Hector's sunglasses. A spell relayed emergencies to him as soon as they happened. He frowned at what the type told him.

"I don't believe this," Hector said, standing up and going to the news room. Monitors relayed broadcasts from around the world. Anchormen and women told everyone listening that volcanoes, some long dormant, had begun to erupt. Pictures showed the flowing lava and rolling smoke filling the sky. The magician knew this was an impossibility, and beyond his power to control. He could stop one of the destructive releases, but he would be traveling for weeks to try and shut them all down.

"It's like something squeezed the world," Joe said. Hector had not heard him following into the news room. "This can't be natural."

Hector nodded. An event of this magnitude wasn't natural. He couldn't think of how to do this with magic. Something on the scale of an apocalypse could do this, but there would be signs beforehand that the world was ending. They needed to figure out what was going on and stop it.

"It looks like every volcano fired at once," said Hector. "Maybe this is from space. The Hole is out there, maybe he can find the source while we look for a detectable trace on the ground."

"Bee Bee can help with relief efforts," said Nick. "She's the most physically powerful of us and her speed should buy us some time while we try to find whatever is behind this. I'll call her and get the ball rolling."

The heroes went about their task of saving the world.

Chemical Girl pushed the ship into port, glad that someone was taking over for her. She filed a report with the harbor master, filled out the paperwork in a second, answering questions as the port authority went to work. Then she took to the air.

"Bee?," said a voice in her head. "We have a major event taking place."

"I have one here, Hec," Chemical Girl said. "It looks like a tidal wave heading into town. I'll have to take care of it first."

"It must be from the volcanic activity the world is experiencing," Hex said. "This could be a catastrophic event if we can't find the source."

"Volcanos cause an earthquake that cause a tidal wave," said Bee Bee, flying low to the ocean's surface, drawing water behind her as she went. "Got that. Give me a second, okay?"

Chemical Girl's smaller wave hit the bigger one below the midline. The two battled but the bigger wave came out on top, still rolling toward shore. The attack had diminished its height, but not enough to save the city.

Chemical Girl raced back toward shore, then turned, moving much faster than she had the first time. She dug a trench out of the Atlantic as her instant wave launched itself at its bigger enemy. She reversed her path, digging out another wave for a one two punch. If her scheme worked, she could plug the volcanoes that had caused this if she was fast enough.

The waves met just outside the harbor, battled like wildcats, then collapsed into the ocean. The Atlantic rolled under the pressure, but finally started to calm down. Conflict created rain fell from the sky as Chemical Girl soared over the ocean.

Bee Bee searched rapidly until she thought she had found the epicenter of the tidal wave. She dove into the water, eyes lighting up the murky water for her. She spotted the glow of a crater in the ocean floor. There were two more right beside it. Damage to the Atlantic seabed confirmed that something had happened there.

Chemical Girl punched through the uprisings, tearing cracks in the undersea vents. Hopefully the volcanos would not be able to build up pressure if a tunnel let the magma flow into the ocean to form a natural release valve. It was the best she could do under the circumstances. At best, future eruptions shouldn't cause that much damage. At worst, she had only bought a few minutes worth of time before the next tidal wave walked to the coast like a hungry giant.

Bee Bee headed for the surface, flight speed drying her off as she sped toward the Network's headquarters. This was one time that she couldn't just punch an enemy into submission. Something like this meant an enemy with means to keep her at bay while he dealt with carrying out his plan. She and Hector would need to track this down to the source, and figure out a way to pull the plug. Plenty of people and animals could already be hurt by the eruptions, earthquakes, and waves they hadn't been able to stop.

The Hole's gravity shield grabbed the shield of the ship that had tried to trap him. Crushing force pulled on the energy field. It distorted the lines of the ship as the once protective bubble began to rub against the hull in a way that would mean certain destruction if something wasn't done.

The shield cut off as the ship diverted all power to backing away from the singularity threatening to pull it apart. The spacecraft lost part of the outer skin as it strained backwards from the intense gravity.

The Hole snapped off his shield, readying twins beams of energy that lanced after his unknown enemy. He liked knowing why someone would lay a trap for him to attack out of the blue. He might need to look them up later for a little talk. The ship fled into a jump to get out of the Solar System.

The Hole paused. He could create his own wormholes for interstellar travel. There wasn't any point since he couldn't track that other ship once it dove over the light threshold. Answers for his questions would have to wait for another day.

The Hole turned, opened a small channel so that he could arrive in orbit around the moon in a few seconds. He had a small redoubt there to monitor extraterrestrial menaces to Earth. He exited the wormhole, and paused in surprise, and fear.

Two giant hands wrapped around the Earth. He could see another sphere in that baleful grip. It looked like those hands were crushing the two Earths together. The space hero had never seen the like in the years he had abandoned earthbound life for space guardianship.

"Network," the Hole said. "We have a problem here. I need backup."

"Hole?," said Nick Number. "I'm glad to hear from you. We have a lot of seismic activity going on. This is cataclysmic."

"I have something distorting the fabric of space/time in such a way as to destroy the Earth," said the Hole. "Possibly two Earths. This thing isn't earthly."

"Showoff," said Nick. "I'll talk to Hector. I'm sure he has some invention that can help us."

"I'll try to track this back to the source," said the Hole. "This looks exceedingly bad."

The Hole reached out with his senses, found that vertigo lurked the more he tried to get a handle on what was going on. He drifted forward, wondering how his control of gravity could be used to stop this effect. Transforming into a huge gravity sink threatened to hurt the Earth almost as much as the two hands' crushing effect.

The Hole found a breach in the skin of the universe. He reported what he had found and then flew through it to the other side. The mind responsible had to be beyond that artificial portal.

Molly Cule stretched out in her command chair. Einstein wrapped himself around the chair's support post, yawning as he settled in. He was Molly's best loved invention.

Molly pressed a button on the chair's arm to activate the keypad that flipped over her lap. This was where she did her best thinking, typing a report to analyze what she had done wrong, and how she should have done it.

These reports had inspired numerous modifications in the equipment she used in the field. Sea Vortex's insane jealousy proved inspiring whenever the two met. Telling Cynthia that would rub salt in the wound.

The woman already hated her enough as it was.

An alert filed in the computer notice system she used to monitor world events. Several volcanos had activated on the Pacific Rim. A touch more serious and California would have met a watery death.

Molly put aside her report for later as she studied the pictures of the burning mountains. The ring looked like a fingerprint. That should have been impossible, but she dealt with the impossible every day in her lab. She needed to get the others and look into this before something worse happened.

The damage to the local area was already devastating. There was no telling what would happen if she didn't look for the reason those volcanoes decided to blow at the same time. The image of a fingerprint disturbed her and urged speed.

Molly checked on the members of her team. Most of them were in action, or already done with whatever emergency had attracted their attention. She had to get them together.

The Elementalist had joined firefighters at a forest fire. His last position check from the locator she had given him was south of the eruptions. He was the closest. He could check on things and tell her what he found there.

Molly sent her friend a message over his pocket phone. Hopefully he wouldn't be so busy he couldn't drop whatever he was doing to look into this anomaly. She didn't wait for his reply. She sent out a distress signal to the rest of the Theater, asking them to meet at her lab.

Molly activated the private satellites she had placed in orbit. She needed information, and taking pictures from orbit was the fastest way she could think of to get that information. Reports from seismology labs around the world started clocking into her monitoring system.

California wasn't the only place that had shrugged.

The threat was global according to the fault lines releasing pressure on the surface of the world. Deaths certainly happened while she tried to figure the best way to proceed. Emergency measures wouldn't be enough in the face of the calamity that took shape with the cold print lighting up the emergency notice screen.

She would try and do something, but dread whispered that the Earth was doomed and there was nothing that would stop that. Her friends were gnats in the face of that. The Theater would stand and stave off this apocalypse.

That's what they did.

Denver Dowd finished his fries, then threw the container in a street trash can as he headed back to work. The Cardboard Thief would be sent back to the Waiting Room when he got home. Denver didn't have enough of a scientific bent to devise a better prison, and Molly refused to believe in ghosts no matter what he showed her.

She stated they were simply energy fields of mental energy that thought they were ghosts.

Denver walked into his office building, nodding at the security guard. The old man was a wan, gray shade of a man that had seen better days. He spent his declining years directing traffic for visitors to the various places inside the building. He nodded at the wave with a half-smile.

The building shook, the floor of the lobby cracking side to side. Denver hoped no one was using the elevator as he ran back to the exit and pulled the fire alarm. He didn't know what was going on but he didn't need a crowd getting in his way while he investigated. At least he knew there wasn't a ghost involved.

Denver headed across the lobby to the emergency stairs. As soon as he was out of sight of the shouting guard, he switched to his other self. He turned on his unseeable form to dive into the floor and see if there was an unnatural cause to the shaking.

Denver's ghost body slid through concrete, dirt, rock, more dirt until he had to conclude that he had experienced an earthquake. It wasn't villainous, but it was supposed to be impossible where he lived. This sounded like a job for Molly.

Denver headed for the surface at top speed. He would have to check on the evacuation as he went. A tall building falling in the middle of the city would cause a lot of death and destruction. He would try to prevent that with his speed and flight, but no one could be everywhere at once.

The people had made it out on the street, most of them as far as Denver could tell. One glance told him that. He hoped they had enough sense to get away from anything that might fall on them. Denver searched the offices to be sure. Everyone had cleared the place.

Denver settled on the roof, looked on the street below. The crowd dispersed in different directions as emergency services arrived to check on any that might have been injured. He pulled out his phone, and dialed Molly. She was the only one he could think of who might already have a handle on an impossible quake.

"Hello, Denver," she said as the phone connected with her lab on the other side of the country. "I am in the middle of something. What can I do for you?"

"There was an earthquake here," said Denver. "I was hoping you knew what had caused it."

"We have a chain of volcanic eruptions going on out there," said Molly. "I asked Vic to look into it. This is bad, Denver."

"Define bad," said Denver, pulling his gaze from the street to the gray sky. It hadn't been that way when he stepped inside the office.

"We're talking about the end of the world as we know it," said Molly. "Can you meet with Vic and help him out? We need more facts before we can come up with a plan to stop this."

"On my way as soon as you tell me where to go," said Denver.

Molly gave him a location and a map loaded to his phone before hanging up. Denver put the phone away before taking to the sky. He faded out as he picked up speed. The Cardboard Thief would have to wait a little longer for his dumping in the Waiting Room.

Betty Bit stalked the corridors of the flying saucer she had broken into with her metal hands. She had crossed paths with some of the crew. They regretted the meetings she had conducted with the multipurpose weapons built into her.

Betty found the bridge as the ship reached orbit. The squamous faces of the operations staff knotted in horror when they spotted the living machine standing in the doorway. This was the brain of the saucer, and the cyan girl was a lobotomy needle reaching into the sinuses.

Betty fired small missiles in her fingers as the crew went for sidearms. She didn't care where the miniature rockets flew, but had fired in the direction of the helm and controls. She thought they were controls at least.

The panel exploded, scattering green blubbery bodies trying to get away from the switches and handles. The saucer began to list to one side. Betty almost smiled that her guess had been right.

The crew suddenly had two problems in instead of one. They had an intruder on their command deck capable of punching a hole in the hull and letting vacuum swell them until they broke apart, and their ship had suddenly decided it was going full speed in any direction it wanted. That usually meant a crash into the nearest object followed by broken building pirates.

The captain ordered half of his slimy personnel on deck to keep Betty busy. He ordered the rest to put out the fire and get the saucer back under control. Packets of energy sprayed the round room as the almost shapeless aliens rushed to carry out his directions.

Betty took cover, forming a shield out of one arm to deflect any of the bolts from her main body. She pointed with her other hand at the secondary controls the crew was trying to use to keep on an even keel. Explosions followed the movement of her hand. That sent some of the aliens flying.

"Stop firing!," shouted the captain, mouth a lipless gash in his green pumpkin head. "We surrender. Put up your weapons."

"I'm going to help you jokers out of the solar system," Betty stated. "Don't come back. Spread the word that Earth has a protector, and she gets testy when alien pirates try to steal entire buildings. Understand?"

"I understand," said the captain, holding up his webbed hands in surrender. "Just quit wrecking my bridge. The Konoth won't be able to fly if we take too much more of this."

"A deal is a deal," said Betty. "Once you leave, don't come back. This is my only offer to you. The next time I won't let you go home."

The robot girl backed out of the room. Her deadly finger pointed in the general direction of the crew so she could fire back in case someone ignored the peace offering the captain had made. There was always someone dumb as a brick with an axe to grind. The elevator opened behind her. The whine of a pirate pistol made her shield arm swing out of reflex. The green thing slammed against the wall, then dropped to the floor. A metal foot made sure he stayed there.

"I'm going to get you on your way," said Betty. "You might want to warn the crew so no one else gets hurt."

Betty burst through the floor of the elevator after the doors closed. She flew down to the engine room under her own power. She didn't trust the captain beyond trying to save his ship from being taken apart piece by piece. As long as she had that threat, he would look for ways to stop her without endangering his property.

Betty roared to the stern of the saucer on jet turbine feet. An announcement over the PA system cleared the halls for her as she headed for the big room. At least he was holding up that part of the deal they had made.

Betty landed beside the instruments that gave direct access to the rows of engines and control systems that led to the rest of the saucer. She plugged in with leads extended from her hands. She didn't try to overwrite the automated systems with her own programming. She simply brought up a galactic map and told the ship to go there as fast as possible without blowing up. Then she installed a password to keep the crew from stopping her instructions from being carried out.

Then Betty got off the boat before it launched on its runaway course as fast as the engines would carry it.

The Pixie watched the slime octopus stretch for his mask as he dug in with his wand. He touched the concrete of the sidewalk with the tip. He needed something to free him in one try, or lose his mask to Boone's monster. Pixie dust shook out in a cloud.

The concrete warped under the Pixie's influence. Spikes and blades sliced up on the ends of woven stone. The sudden cutting tools did their job pulling the gummy glue from Tanner's suit. One sliced the tips off the tentacles wanting to unveil his face.

"How did you do that?," Boone asked. Insanity made his lean face a crooked thing with parts moving on their own. "That wand should have been paralyzed."

"I don't want to waste any more time with you," said the winged wonder worker. "You need to be in a hospital having someone treat you for your insanity, not threatening others. That's where I'm going to put you."

"Treat this!," said Boone, waving his hands in the air. His ectoplasmic creatures formed into one bladed monstrosity with him on top. "Time to cut you to ribbons."

The two multi-limbed fencers danced under their riders, blades slicing around them in ribbons of light. Tanner made sure to keep bystanders out of the way with his wand as Boone's giant swashbuckling octopus tried to push his swirling vortex against something that would hinder its effectiveness. Deadly swordpoints distracted him from his goal of trapping the Teacher.

Then Tanner had a flash of insight.

The Pixie directed his defender toward a tree planted at the edge of the sidewalk. The city had planted a row along the curb to beautify the street. The octopus followed, slicing through anything in its way with its sharpened tentacles. Tanner touched the tree with his wand.

The leaves on the tree shimmered under the effect of the Pixie's dust. They became the heads of arrows, with the limbs becoming shafts. Suddenly they fired in unison, denuding the tree as the transformed wood struck at Boone's creation. Tentacles were pinned to the ectoplasmic body as the monster became a pincushion. The Teacher fell off its round head in surprise when it suddenly slammed to a stop.

The Pixie swooped down from his perch. His wand didn't work on flesh and blood, or the strange stuff Boone used to make his monsters, but it did work on clothes. He pointed a stream of dust at the crazed villain as he was trying to get to his feet. All of the Teacher's clothes became heavy steel. That locked him into place.

It wouldn't hold him. Boone exuded his weird creations from his skin. Short of skinning him alive, or killing him outright, Tanner couldn't stop that from happening. The best he could do was make it harder for the nut to escape.

So that was what he was going to do.

Tanner concentrated on the steel suit, gesturing with his wand. The cloudy stream of pixie dust hit the suit and compressed it against the Teacher's skin, warping it to be invisible. Another suit of regular cloth replaced it at the same moment. Boone's hands and head were still usable as conduits. The Pixie created gloves and a hood and compressed them in the same way.

"If you try and use your powers again, you'll choke yourself to death," Tanner said. "Take this as a lesson and leave me alone. Now I have to fix the damage you caused and get rid of your monster."

Vic Ing smiled. His efforts had collapsed the forest fire into one tiny blaze. He took a moment to rest from the exertion his manipulation of the elements brought on his body. As much effort as he had put forth, it was akin to running a marathon.

He felt the vibration in the earth before he heard the cracking of rocks. He raised his hands, screaming for the fire fighters to get back. The ground opened in the rubble left by the fire that had run out of control for so long. Glowing rock poured out of the widening fissure.

The Elementalist felt something wrong inside of him. This was a side effect. Whatever had twisted the earth to produce a magma spot, was twisting him too. He had to stop it somehow.

Vic started by massaging the earth together. He felt a volcano trying to form. If it did, all the fire fighters would be in danger from the ash and molten rock thrown in the air. He worked the rock strata, shoving the channel toward the lake. The water might cool the rock down to form a cap.

The stressors fought him. The world strained to burst through to the sky in the hopes of killing everything close to it in the forest. The hero closed some tectonic switches to channel the small quake the direction he wanted. He was rewarded by a geyser in the middle of the lake he had used to help combat the earlier fire. Cooked fish floated to the surface of the boiling water.

"What just happened?," asked the fire chief, watching the falling water.

"I don't know," admitted Vic. "I've never felt anything like it."

Vic's buzzer vibrated on his belt. He pulled it out of its sleeve, flipping open the cover. The display said Molly Cule. The volcano must be linked to one of her crazy inventions.

"What's up, Molly," Vic said. His hand clutched at the pain running through his stomach and intestines. He wanted to keep his cheerful appearance.

"Something has activated the volcanic chain on the Pacific Rim." Molly said. "This is going on worldwide, and I don't know how to stop it yet. I need you to do what you can while I look for an answer."

"I'm tapped out," said Vic, sitting down. "Besides there's no way I can calm that big an area with my ability, even at full strength. I'll do what I can, but don't expect much."

"There's something wrong with you, isn't there?," said Molly. "Of course. This sudden change is hurting you too."

"Can't keep anything from you, Molly," said Vic, wincing at the pain in his middle. "You're sharper than a tack."

"This is worse than I thought," said Molly. "Much, much worse. I'll need you back here at the lab so I can examine you."

"I don't think I will be able to get there, Molly," Vic said.

"Just hold the phone next to your head," said Molly. "I'll be right back."

Vic did as she said, counting to himself as he waited. He felt a tingling when he reached five hundred. The world became a black and green line between numbers. Molly caught him on the other side of the teleportation ride.

"You look awful," she said, as she lowered him to the floor.

Hector Hex, Joe Boxer, Nick Number, and Chemical Girl listened to the message from their missing fifth member again. The implication was staggering. Someone was crushing two earths together.

"We're going out there," said Chemical Girl, tapping her foot. "I know you have some kind of ship that'll get us there, Hec."

"Certainly," said Hector. "The Hexdiver is operational. I don't know if it will stand the stress we plan to put on it, but it will fly."

"We're talking about taking on someone that can crush a planet by some unknown means," said Nick. "I need to bring my arsenal."

"I'm ready to go right now," said Joe, spreading his hands apart at hip level. "I'll help Nick with his toys while you guys start getting what you need."

"Don't take off without us," warned Nick, turning and heading for his personal space at a dead run. Joe followed, silent as ever.

A flush swept through Hector's face, betraying the fact he had considered leaving without the pair of wild cards.

"You should know better than that," said Bee Bee, shaking her head. "For such a genius, you can be so dense sometimes. Let's get the Hexdiver ready to fly."

The two Networkers descended down a hidden staircase leading to a hangar in some other dimension. Hector had a lot of workspace, with most of it consisting of other pockets of reality joined to the basement of the house. It insured a certain amount of privacy from ordinary disturbances.

It also worked in reverse making sure some of the experiments that Hector conducted didn't reach out into the real world without extraordinary efforts.

The Hexdiver gleamed in its giant cradle as the lights snapped on when Hector and Chemical Girl stepped into the hangar. It was a black teardrop, crew compartment at the narrow front, the three big engines at the back. Stubby wings projected out at the rear without disturbing the profile.

"You really outdid yourself when you built this puppy," said Bee Bee.

"I'm always trying to think of ways to improve her," said Hector, pulling out a remote control. A flick of a button opened the hatch in the side of the ship near the front. "Let's get her ready to go. Nick and Joe will be here any minute."

They boarded, using a little step at the bottom of the door. Hector went to the pilot's seat at the center of the bridge. He settled in, flicking switches as holographs lit up around him. The hum of power from the engines sounded like people whispering indistinct words to each other.

Bee Bee settled in a chair in front of a small globe. Several buttons turning green allowed her to navigate the globe, and the solar system. The diver could cruise anywhere, but it didn't have the ability to cross galaxies in a single move. At least it didn't yet.

"I'm ready," Bee Bee said, satisfied with her station. "Weapons?"

"I don't have any," said Hector.

"Any particular reason?," Bee Bee asked. A ship flying into trouble without a defense was a cooked goose.

"I have a shield to protect the diver," said Hector. "Nothing would be able to get through that to hit a target. Weapons would just blow up on the inside which would . . . "

"Which would hurt your ship," said Chemical Girl, cutting him off. "I got it."

Nick and Joe appeared in the hangar. They had a set of six bags between the two of them. The canvas sacks thumped when they hit the carpeted deck.

"I'm ready to go," said Nick.

"What do you have in those?," said Hector, eyeing the equipment bags.

"Some guns, knives, and lots of ammo," said Nick. "Let me load everything while we're flying to where Hole decided to go."

"Some guns?," said Hector.

"Only what I could carry," said Nick, stripping off his jacket. He took off his tie, pulled on a protective vest over his casual white shirt. Then he started with personal sidearms, and worked his way through his collection.

"That's a lot of guns," Hector said.

"Can we get going?," Bee Bee asked. "I'd like to get there while I'm young."

"You're right," said Hector, working the controls. "Still that's a lot of guns."

"There are never enough guns when you need them," said Nick, strapping his arsenal on.

"I can't argue that," said Hector. His eye caught Bee Bee about to remind him to get to work. "We're going. We're going."

The Hexdiver lifted off its cradle in one smooth motion. It slid sideways to get into the central aisle where it pointed at the hangar door. The steely dagger rolled forward with its engines talking to themselves.

The hangar door lit with internal light and letters that were smears in the metal. The diver slid through, materializing in the real world. Hector aimed it upward, letting the throttle out.

"This thing can go," said Joe, holding the back of a chair to keep from falling on his face. His other hand had Nick by the arm.

The Hexdiver quickly leveled out once it was beyond the Earth's influence. The Network members paused at what they saw when they reached space.

"I should have brought bigger guns," said Nick.

The Hole hovered in space, for once taken aback on what he should do. He didn't normally have to consider what solution was the best solution to whatever problem he was facing. Perhaps he should have waited on the others to catch up before charging into this strange situation.

A fortress floated in the air of null space. It perched on a round rock. A spiked wall grew out of the edges of the rock, forming a minor barrier against anyone trying to land. The castle seemed to consist of a central keep with outer towers growing like tree limbs. Everything glistened in the strange light of the pocket dimension.

The Hole floated toward the central keep, looking for a way in. That seemed to be the center for the force crushing the Earth, so the mastermind had to be there also. Hopefully he could sneak in and destroy a stupid mechanism and leave.

He didn't want to encounter a villain who was already demonstrating power beyond anything he had ever seen before in his career as a space guardian.

The Hole had a responsibility and duty. He knew that someday he would finally meet someone capable of unimaginable destruction. And he had agreed to stop that unknown villain when he assumed his mantle.

The Hole poured on the speed, reaching out in front of him with his gravity powers as a shield. He didn't want to plow into an unseen wall before he reached the keep's gleaming metal blocks. His shield should suck in any barrier, or at least breach it long enough for him to get within working distance of the giant building.

Nothing tried to stop the hero as he soared closer to where he wanted to be. That was a small relief, but also annoying. He didn't want to fight, but expected something to be on guard and get in his way.

Maybe this was some kind of automatic machine gone bad like he first thought.

It was too soon to jump to conclusions. He had to get inside and look around to be sure.

The Hole focused his power on one of the blocks. Gravitational pull yanked the segment out of place like pulling a tooth. He let it drop in the courtyard before going inside the building. He floated off the floor as he marveled at the massive generator that filled up the center of the keep. It pointed him up to the top of the tower.

He followed a staircase that wrapped around the glowing cylinder. He wondered briefly what would happen if he broke the pulsing thing. He decided to wait until he knew what it did before he resorted to monkey wrenching.

It might make things worse if he acted without knowing what did what.

The Hole floated straight up, nullifying the gravity in the place. At least that was one constant he was familiar with. Everyone wanted to be able to walk on a surface, and that surface had to be under their feet.

The engine fed into a closed ceiling. It took him a minute of searching before he found something that could be a door. He applied his ability and cracked the metal sheet open. He floated inside the room silently.

The machinery he had followed ended in a control panel resembling a full twenty feet tall bookshelf wrapped around a glass rod filled with machinery and moving parts. Holographic screens showed him what was happening on his Earth and another one caught in the squeezing hands.

Where was the owner of the planet crusher?

Something like this didn't build itself. Where was the mind intent on destroying two earths, and why was he recording the damage?

The Hole reached for the control panel, intent on shutting the machine down. Then he could increase gravity around it until it crushed itself into powder. After that, he would deal with the brain behind this threat.

A sound attracted the Hole's attention from the control panel. He started to turn, realizing that he had overlooked a threat. His shield was in front of him. Everything went black.

"That was quite unexpected," said a slender man in a lab coat, holding a smoking weapon with a tank of some kind of liquid built into the frame. A glass dome covered the top of his skull revealing the brain underneath.

"I told you they would interfere as soon as they became aware of our experiment," said his companion, waving a slender hand. "They are the protectors of earth after all."

"You are quite right, my anthropoidal friend," said the glass skull. "We might as well get ready for the arrival of his friends and the Theater. They won't be much longer before they start prying into our business."

"Certainly, Doctor, certainly," said the other, walking away on knuckles and feet, tail swirling around him.

Molly Cule frowned as she looked at the screens surrounding Vic Ing. Other information was doubled from what her instruments were telling her about the world situation on her hands. Their readouts were resonating together, and she didn't like what that meant for her friend.

"What's going on, Molly," asked Denver Dead, phasing through the ceiling. "End of the world crap again?"

"Isn't it always?," asked Molly, rubbing her face. "This is a bad one."

"How much have you doped out?," Denver asked, becoming solid enough to stand next to equipment he was afraid to touch.

Molly's lab had seen a lot of dangerous accidents over the years.

"It's worldwide, cataclysmic, and I think coming from orbit, at least some part of space," said Molly. "Worse, it's killing Vic through his connection to the elements."

"That's a good definition of a bad problem," said Denver.

A ring of dust placed a door in one of the walls. The door slid open to let the Pixie walk in. A tap of his wand returned the wall back to its blank state. He made his wings vanish so they wouldn't touch any of the equipment.

"This place does have a door," said Molly absently.

"Our ways don't require a blood sample, fingerprints, or ten years of paperwork," said the Pixie.

"Security, guys, security," said Molly, not really listening. These were comments she had heard before.

"Do you have a plan yet?," asked Denver, folding his arms so he wouldn't be tempted to touch anything. "I assume you do have one."

"We're going to have to get into space and track this thing to its source," said Molly. "I think the Strato Blast will do that."

"Didn't you take it apart for some kind of new gate?," said Denver.

"I got it," said the Pixie. "Are we taking Vic? He doesn't look able to travel."

"We're going to have to so we can use him as our control," said Molly. "I don't have any other way to track this down."

"You're taking me because I'm going whether you want me to or not," said Vic, ripping the sensors away, standing from the chair. "I am responsible for protecting the earth and its people so no way am I staying behind."

"Right," said Molly. "Let's get our ride together."

"What about Betty?," said Denver.

"She had some kind of invasion at her home town," said Molly, leading the way across the lab. "She was still handling that when this started. She'll have to catch up if she can."

The group came to a pile of parts scattered across several boxes. Denver supported Vic with an arm. Molly shook her head. She hadn't remembered doing this. That must have been some thought she had been trying to express.

"Geez Louise," said Vic. "What were you thinking?"

"I can't remember," said Molly.

"Sometimes you are too scary for words, Moll," said Vic.

"Nothing that I can't fix," said the Pixie. "Let's get this done."

"Magic wand?," said Denver.

"It fixes the unfixable in ten seconds or your money back," said the Pixie, touching the parts one box at a time. Dust made the fragments dance in the air, join together like a movie rewinding.

The Strato Blast set down on its three legs, gleaming like new. Molly's creations never glowed with production quality but they worked for all their junkyard looks.

"It looks bigger," said Denver.

"It is," said Pixie, smiling slightly. "We weren't all going to fit in that little piece of crap Molly built."

"Hey," said Molly. "I spent ten days of my life on that piece of crap. A little respect if you please."

"We're blowing daylight," said Denver. He walked through them, carrying the Elementalist along as an intangible burden. He vanished into the side of the rebuilt ship.

"You heard the dead guy," said the Pixie. He opened a door in the side of the ship to allow Molly to lead him aboard the Strato Blast. He closed it behind them.

Molly went to the controls, marveling at the expanded room. She had built the ship as a two seater, but now the Blast could carry at least ten. She hoped the engines were up to the output needed. Denver and Pixie settled into seats and strapped in. Vic was already strapped down in a chair between them.

Molly fired up the engines, smiling at the readouts on the board. Everything looked good. She triggered the hangar door to open. She fed power to the engine while letting go of the brake. The rocket blasted off.

"So do you know where we're going?," Denver asked.

"I thought we should head into space and take a look around," said Molly. "The Blast has enough sensors onboard to give us a reading to analyze."

"Don't you get into enough trouble trying to play by ear?," asked Denver.

Molly glared at him over her shoulder.

"I'll shut up now," Denver said. His companions hid smiles.

The Strato Blast cleared the atmosphere on a trail of blue flame. Molly scanned the ether as the ship headed toward the moon. She didn't like what she saw on the screens. A look out the window didn't help her feelings either.

Giant hands gripped the Earth, squeezing it like a balloon. She knew that wasn't a natural occurrence. Something was causing that effect, threatening to break the planet into pieces.

How could they fight something like that?

"Look! There's a ship over there," said Pixie, breaking into her thoughts with a pointing finger. A flash drifted toward the Blast. "Well, there was a ship."

"I think that's Betty," said Denver. "Looks like we can pick her up and try to figure out how to fight those hands."

"That should be easy as pi," said Molly. She turned the Strato Blast toward where Betty Bit coasted in space, and just put on enough speed to float over to the robot girl. An extension of Denver's hand through the wall was enough to pull Betty in.

"Looks like the gang's all here," said Denver.

Betty Bit gave a mechanical smile to her comrades as she adjusted from the cold vacuum to heated air. The display of power around the Earth disturbed her sensors in ways she couldn't comprehend. The presence of her friends meant they were looking for a solution to the problem.

She knew them too well to expect them to run from something like this.

"What's the plan, Chief? ," Betty asked, she voice the emulation of a cheerful teenager.

"Playing it by ear again," said Denver.

"Not anymore," said Molly. "I have a plan now that I know what the problem is. It's just dangerous."

"When isn't it? ," asked Denver.

"What's the plan, Molly? ," Said the Pixie.

"We use the Blast to surf in to wherever those hands are drawing their power," said Molly. "It'll be child's play to find the power source and shut it down. The only problem I can see is the mind behind this trying to stop us."

"That's a big problem," said Denver.

"Let's do it," said the Pixie, checking his watch.

"Do you always have to be in a hurry?," Denver asked.

"Things to do, people to see," said the Pixie.

"He's right," said Vic, slumped in his chair. "We can't delay. We have to do what we can right now."

"Strap in guys," said Molly, turning back to the front window. "Let's see if this old tub is up to the challenge."

Molly pointed the Strato Blast at the center of where the hands descended into vanishing wrists. Her scanners went crazy as she pointed the nose at some kind of light beaming from inside a portal, a blue singularity. Then the instruments went off line, as the nose started flattening into a pin.

"We're being crushed," Molly said, trying to keep the sudden panic from clouding her judgement. "We won't make it through before we are flattened into paste."

"Screw that," said Denver.

The ghost buster grabbed the metal floor of the Blast. He concentrated all of his ghostly might into the hull of the ship. He might survive being crushed but Vic couldn't do anything, and Betty would be a metal sheet. Molly's creation phased out of existence for just a second. That was more than enough to get them through the singularity and out the other side without being harmed.

Denver collapsed on the deck from the strain.

"Knocked himself out," said the Pixie, checking his friend. "But it worked. We got through."

"We'll have to wake him up," said Molly. "We'll need him for this."

Outside the Strato Blast's window, a castle on an island hovered into view. A low spiked wall surrounded the land mass's perimeter. The metal walls of the castle gleamed as towers surrounded a central keep.

"They know we're coming," said Molly. "We might as well try the direct approach and get this over."

"Leave me behind when you land the Blast," said Vic. "I'll only slow you down."

"The bad guys will know you're still onboard if they have anything that can detect life signs," pointed out Molly.

"I can make him invisible to that maybe," said the Pixie. "We'll need something to cover his hands and head."

"We can wrap his head in sleeves from my blouse," said Molly.

"All I need is a little patch, Moll," said the Pixie.

She handed the wand wielder a small square ripped from the bottom of her sleeve. He tapped the cloth with his star tipped baton. The patch spread into a blanket. He tapped it again as he wrapped it around the weak Elementalist.

"This should help you," said the Pixie. "The problem is going to be whether they leave the Blast alone, or blow it up with you inside."

"Don't start talking like Denver," said Molly.

The Pixie gave her a frown at that comment.

"Don't worry about me," said Vic, wrapping himself in the blanket. "I'm feeling a little better. As soon as I feel like moving, I'll come looking for you."

"Let me wake up Denver," said Molly. "Then we'll go."

Molly reached into one of the pouches hanging from her belt. She pulled out a small vial of powder. A thumb popped the top while she held the open end under Denver's nose. He snapped awake, pushing the stuff away with one hand. His hacking lungs made him forget the incipient migraine from overtaxing his ghost powers.

"Ready to go?," Molly asked.

"What's in that?," Denver asked.

"I don't think you want to know," said Molly.

"Let's go, lover boy," said Pixie. "You can flirt on your own time."

The Pixie created a door for the four of them with his wand. He led the way out, looking for something to jump out at him. He popped his wings back on his suit in case he had to fly around the strange island. Molly had grabbed one of her old standbys, the wind sheerer, as she looked around. A scanner was in her other hand. Denver took to the air, floating in his phantom state. Betty kept her normal appearance. She didn't like to convert to a particular weapon mode until she had a clear target.

Hector Hex pointed his Hexdiver at the point he matched with the message the Hole had radioed to the Network's quarters. He frowned at the small pinpoint he would have to squeeze the black teardrop through. Time to work a little magic.

"Hold on, guys," Hector said, before activating the shields and pouring several diagrams of power behind them.

The diver slid over the threshold into the island dimension beyond. The protection snapped as soon as the ship floated clear of the pinpoint portal. A few seconds sooner and the craft would have flattened into a tube of unrecognizable metal.

"Well guys," said Hector, bringing the diver in for a landing. "It looks like we're not the only ones who decided to check this out."

"I don't recognize the clothes," said Nick Number. "Maybe they're causing this disaster."

"Let's talk to them first," said Joe Boxer. "I have a feeling they're like us."

"Clueless and lost without a map?," said Chemical Girl.

"When you put it that way," started Joe.

"We'll talk to them," said Hector, aiming to land beside the piece of junk in the castle courtyard. "Then we have two priorities. Shutting down whatever is attacking our world, and finding the Hole."

Hector popped the hatch for an exit as soon as the diver had touched down. He frowned at the large cannon Nick held ready to use and made sure the agent was behind him. Hopefully Number wouldn't shoot through him to hit the other guys.

"How's it going?," Hector said, trying to be friendly. "You wouldn't happen to know why someone is crushing the Earth, would you?"

"Not really," said the woman in black. Hector noted the many utility pouches and the obvious concussive wind gun and an energy reader in her hands. "We came here to look into it ourselves."

"The castle?," asked Hector.

"Most likely," confirmed the woman in black.

"Hector Hex," said Hector, holding out his hand.

"Molly Cule," said the woman, shaking the hand after some juggling.

"Molecule?," said Hex.

"Molly," said Molly, "Cule. Two words."

"Got it," said Hector. "These are my friends, Nick, Joe, and Bee Bee. We're looking for someone who got here before us."

"Haven't seen anyone," said Molly. "That's strange in itself."

"Can we talk about this while we're moving," said the man with the mask and butterfly wings on his business suit. "I'm the Pixie. This is Denver and Betty. Let's go."

"Glad to meet you too, buddy," said Bee Bee.

"Pixie?," said Nick.

"He's right," said Joe. "The longer we stand around, the more the Earth is crushed."

"How do you want to do this, Molly?," Hector asked. "We don't mind help."

"Let's pair off," said Molly. "Half will look for your friend. The other half will look for a way to stop this."

"I'll take Nick, Denver, and Betty," said Hector. "That leaves Joe and Bee for your team."

Mostly because I think I can handle a robot and a ghost, and some because I'm not sure Nick won't do something rash out of my sight.

Molly looked at her friends. They seemed to have the same amount of distrust as these strangers. Still, they didn't have to fight to get things done. The Pixie nodded impatiently.

"Agreed," she said.

"We'll start at the top and look for our missing member," said Hector. He produced a pocket radio and handed it to his counterpart. "It's already tuned to our frequency."

"We'll start down here on the ground floor," said Molly, showing him the face of her scanner. "There's a reading off the scale somewhere inside. If we disrupt that, maybe we'll stop what's happening to the Earth."

"Sounds like a plan," said Hector, adjusting his glasses. "Shall we get started?"

"Let's," said Molly.

The mixed groups of heroes split apart. Hector created a flying carpet of gray clouds to carry him and Nick to the top of the tower. He was pleased that the two strangers could fly under their own power. That left him with some reserves for his spellcasting in case of trouble.

Molly led the way to the closed gate that sealed the inner keep away from the rest of the floating island. She was about to ask the Pixie to open it, when the girl in the rainbow leotard just put her fist through the metal and yanked it down.

Molly was surprised but it wasn't like they had been sneaking around so far. Whomever was in charge had probably noticed two ships landing in their courtyard even if they hadn't done anything about it yet.

Everyone knew they were probably walking into a trap. They couldn't just try and level the building with someone innocent inside, and they couldn't let this thing go on. If the trap sprang shut, they had to be ready to fight their way out of it.

"Splitting up to cover more ground," said the glass skull man. "So predictable. I suppose it's time for the lackeys to earn their keep."

"I noticed your adversaries were missing a member, just like the Network," said the simian conspirator.

"The Elementalist is tied to the Earth, my Earth," said the Theater's arch foe. "After what we have done so far, I'd be surprised if he can move, much less get in our way."

"I see, Disaster," said the monkey.

"Doctor Disaster, if you please," said the glass skull man, stiffly.

"My apologies," said the smaller menace, pulling on a helmet. "Shall we conclude the rest of our experiment on time?"

"Yes, Mr. Monkey," said the good doctor, smiling again. "This will be a small matter for our troops to deal with while we secure our prize."

"Then let us go to phase three while the battle commences," said Mr. Magic Monkey, super scientific simian. "We don't want them to get a chance at stopping us when we are so close."

"Agreed, my friend," said Disaster.

The pair of them had gathered allies from their native dimensions. Naturally they didn't tell their minions that their respective planets could be destroyed by the effect they were trying to unleash and control. They had passed out information on the heroes to their prospective enemies to make sure everyone knew what they were dealing with.

This would go out the window if the recruited villains learned about the risks to their separate homes.

Mr. Monkey pressed a button to signal the minions to move to their places. He watched on the security camera monitors as the simpletons joined together for one purpose without a thought. This was going to be something to analyze after his current project was done.

The digital clocked marked the passing seconds as instruments in the towers examined the amount of harm they were doing to the Earth. That data would provide a benchmark for other projects after this current trouble was over.

"Everything is in the green on my boards," said Disaster, settling into his workspace, trap gun by his hand.

"Same here," said Mr. Monkey. "We seem to have multiple spoofs down on the ground floor."

"Molly Cule is using her tech to try and hide her team," said Disaster. Even teeth growled out of his usual passive acceptance of bad fortune. "We have to cut the false readings from the real one."

"Nothing to it," said the monkey, flipping a switch. "That should take care of that."

"Flying pests on the roof," said Disaster. "Looks like a job for Amber."

"We're losing power," said Mr. Monkey. "Someone has hit a connector somewhere."

"Rerouting to a redundancy line," said Disaster, working his console. "Rerouting everything in that area. They can't shut down what they can't touch."

"Chemical Girl is in the hall downstairs," warned Mr. Monkey. "She can fry through lesser material in seconds. What we have in the walls will only slow her down."

"Noted," said Disaster. "Molly Cule is down in that hall too. I'm worried that she will find some way to access our networks and remote control our project to failure."

"Chemical Girl and Molly Cule are priority one," Mr. Monkey stated in a microphone. "Take them out."

"What about the other two with them?," said Doctor Disaster.

"What about them?," said Mr. Monkey. "Joe Boxer and a guy with a wand should be easy to take out after the real threats are disposed of."

"Organics only against the Pixie," said Disaster in the microphone.

Research into the various heroes of the two groups had shown the Pixie's wand didn't work against living flesh.

"Good call," said Mr. Monkey. "Now who do we have trying to get in through the roof."

Mr. Monkey frowned at the other pictures he had from the cameras. Hector Hex was there. His powers were the most versatile present in the group shown. That and his scientific knowledge made him the most dangerous foe to their plans.

He had to go.

"Roof team," he said into the mike. "Hector Hex has got to go. No matter what. Take him down."

"I agree," said the glass skull man. "His reputation as a savant makes him too dangerous to our machinery."

"I'm more worried that he can stop us with his so-called magic powers," said Mr. Monkey. "We don't need our controls turning into lizards and running off at this point of the operation."

Doctor Disaster nodded in agreement.

Molly Cule led the way into the central hall, scanner feeding her readouts of the ambient energy. She knew that Hector Hex had decided to attack from above. He had stated a concern for his missing team member, but she had noted the fact he seemed to have memorized several access points using the scanner's readings from the top of the edifice they were invading. His fingers had traced a map in the air as he looked at the screen.

"Trouble," said Joe Boxer, cutting through her thoughts. He pushed ahead of her, hands at chest height.

A motley crew of villains appeared in the hall ahead of them. Some of them Molly knew through the Theater's files. Some she didn't. Apparently they were enemies of the Network the way Bee Bee bristled.

"Molly Cule as I live in breathe," said the Weezer, a bag of gas in a helmeted suit. "I guess this is the last round up for you, my girl."

"We don't have time for this," said the Pixie and Bee Bee together.

"Chemical Girl and Molly Cule are priority one," stated a voice over a microphone. "Take them out."

"Oh great," said Molly.

"Organics only against the Pixie," said another voice on the microphone a few seconds later.

"Marvelous," said the Pixie.

"You heard the bosses," said the Weezer. "Let's get it done."

"Let's," said Chemical Girl.

A rainbow erupted from where she stood. It stretched into the center of the group of villains to send them flying in all directions. Bee Bee hovered on the other side, struggling with a metallic raider in midair.

The Weezer opened his helmet with a gloved hand. Air blasted out of the opening. The instant tornado raised dust as it separated the heroes. Pixie took to the air on one side, and Joe pulled Molly to safety on the other.

Goodjump launched himself from a sitting position across the space between where he had fallen to where the Pixie hovered. A huge hand wrapped in a fur coat grabbed Tanner's suit jacket and slammed him to the floor.

Apple Jack rummaged through the arsenal concealed in his academic disguise as the Black Bat swung his baseball bat at Joe Boxer. The fighter was standing between him and Molly Cule, and was getting a dent in the head from a metal slugger.

Queen Power fired the jets on her purple and gold armor, slamming Chemical Girl from behind. Bee Bee and the Machine, caught together in grappling holds, flew into the wall further away from her allies.

The four members of the Green Gene Gang looked at their leader, their fifth member. They all wore the same outfit, green coveralls and a helmet. The only way to tell them apart was how they used what powers they had. One indicated they should split up and tackle each of the heroes with the rest of the group, using hand gestures.

Croc Hunter aimed the big rifle in his scaly hands, unsure of whom he could shoot in this melee. He decided to wait for the perfect chance at Molly Cule. She was behind that Joe Boxer who was behind the Pixie's enemies. Once the three of them moved out of his way, bang, down she goes like a sitting duck.

Joe Boxer never claimed to know much, but he did know how to fight, and how to make things go the way he wanted. That was why he was valuable to the Network. He didn't have power, resources, contacts. He did have the ability to beat anyone he met in a raw fight with his bare hands.

When some guy in a black baseball uniform came after him with a baseball bat, Joe's reflexes took over. One hand grabbed the bat, the other grabbed the back of the man's head. He then introduced the two violently.

"Geez," said Molly.

"He's wearing a helmet," said Joe.

Apple Jack found what he had been searching for in his jacket. He pulled a ring-shaped weapon out. It looked like he was pointing a bracelet at the two heroes. Joe pulled Molly out of the way as fire swept through the spot where he was standing.

A bullet whipped after them with a roar. Joe glared at the human crocodile. The other smiled as he jacked another round in his killing machine.

"We have to go on the offensive," said Molly, aiming her own gun. "Let's try to help the Pixie and get him back in the fight."

Joe considered his options. They looked bad to worst. The problem was they were the only game in town and he had no choice but to do what he could.

Besides Goodjump was his enemy, and he couldn't let one of his guys slam some shmuck like a handball.

Joe ran forward, smiling as Molly fired her wind shearer back at Croc Hunter. She wasn't a helpless damsel at least. Apple Jack fired at Molly with his ring, but the whirlwind in front of her threw his aim off.

The Green Genes were also charging. Joe knew none of them had powers they could use at range. Chemical Girl regularly trounced them. Still they were a living wall between him and the Pixie, and he couldn't tell which power they were going to use until they did.

Joe kept going. One of the Genes tried to hit him with a fist at the end of an arm stretching impossibly long. He grabbed it and tied the limb into a knot. No use to try a throw against someone who could just let his arm grow out to prevent it.

Another green guy shrank out of sight as he leaped into the air. He probably thought that this move would let him land an invisible punch if he kept his mass. Joe's hand moved on its own. The shrinker smashed against the floor. A foot did the rest.

The Pixie took a deep breath through the pain that surrounded his ribs. The hairy neanderthal on top of him had paused at the approach of the casual guy and Molly. Tanner had a newfound respect for the stranger. He had taken Black Bat down with a simple move of his arms.

Hector Hex's cloud paused at the top of the central portion of the weird castle. He had already spotted a hole in the wall. He surmised that was how the Hole had gained access, if he had gotten in at all.

He had decided to make a different entrance since an ambush was likely at the other spot.

The group appearing through the roof made him wince. He recognized four of the eight from personal experience and his files back home. The other four must be enemies of his new colleagues.

"We have to pass, Vickie," Hector said, trying for a peaceful negotiation. "A machine is destroying the Earth."

"I'm not in charge, dear Hector," said Vickie Vex, smiling with red lips, blue eyes glittering. "You may ask Amber Lyte, but I am sure you already know the answer you will receive."

A graceful hand indicated a seething thing in a glittering dress, a small harp in hand. Green eyes glowed from the mop of silver hair whipping in an unfelt wind like a flag.

"You gots to go," said Amber Lyte, strumming her harp. "Goooooooooooo!"

An explosion of sound ripped through the cloud, clawing at the heroes. Nick Number grabbed Hex's black coat by the collar and pulled him in one direction while Betty dropped to the roof from the other side, hand changing as she moved. Denver faded from sight, exerting his ghostly powers.

The four villains Hector was familiar with were Vickie Vex, Grand, Wallaby, and Thin Lizzie. Vickie liked to pretend to be languid and genteel in her tight silk dress, but was a bloodthirsty mistress of chaotic arts. Grand wore a ragged flag as a cape over his bloody and blackened armor. An eagle screamed in fury from the helmet he wore. Wallaby was some kind of master of the martial arts with a super strong kick. Thin Lizzie had been subjected to experiments that made her half lizard and half corpse.

Hector didn't know what the other four could do but had a feeling they were just as dangerous as his own enemies. That Amber Lyte had ripped up his cloud with her shrill voice.

Vickie let loose a mass of tentacles at the off balanced Nick and Hector, laughing as the agent pulled his friend out of the way like a sack of groceries.

Grand and Betty closed on each other. The robot girl and the crazed super fiend moved with equal speed, faster than a normal eye could follow. Suddenly the heroine was slammed into the wall by a powerful hand.

"Too slow," said Grand.

Nick fired his rifle at the group of villains as he moved. He was less than pleased that one of the guys he didn't know got in the way of the rounds, and that the turtle was also bulletproof. One day he was going to have to upgrade to magic bullets.

Wallaby leaped across the space separating the two groups, catching Nick across the chest. That sent the armed fighter flying one direction, his rifle another, and Hector in a third.

"Time to buy the farm, mate," said the Wallaby with a smile.

"Roof team," said a voice from a speaker. "Hector Hex has got to go. No matter what. Take him down."

"It's great to be loved," said the magician. "But I don't want to be loved that much."

A walking bag of rags leaped at the man in black. The masters had commanded. Their will must be done. Only a flick of Hector's hand sent him flying over the edge of the roof with a star in a circle flicker of lightning.

"Dieeeeeee," shouted Amber, plucking her harp.

"You heard her," said a girl in pink metal, pointing a wrist laser and firing it at the magician.

Vicki Vex simply sliced the air, swirling it into lightning ripping the roof as it flashed at her long time enemy.

Hector raised his hands, willing a shield in place. The triple forces hit that wall of symbol and sent him sliding toward where he had dropped his earlier opponent. A little more and they would push him off into space to sitting duck land.

Hector had never considered an end like this. His lab and experiments took up most of his time. The rest was given to his friends and helping those in need. Now he was the one in need with no one able to help him.

Strange arms wrapped around Hector from behind. He had a moment to recognize the scarecrow had not been harmed by his shield before it squeezed the breath out of him.

What a revolting development this was.

Nick and Betty were down. The shell, Wallaby, and Thin Lizzie had Nick pressed against the roof, unable to reach any of his weapons, unable to move even to defend himself. Grand had Betty by the arm, swinging her around, occasionally slamming her against the metal blocks of the castle. The three women and their ragged associate had Hector between a rock and a hard place.

Hector wondered what had happened to Denver. He had faded out in the opening seconds of combat and had not returned. He hoped the ghost wasn't a coward and had left them to be killed by their enemies.

Hector couldn't be that bad a judge of character.

The roof shook under the battling groups. One of the metal blocks flew up and away on its own power. Then a figure lifted calmly out of the forged opening. A field of stars on black whirled around a black circle in the middle of the newcomer's chest.

"I think it's time for the gravity of this situation to be lightened," the Hole said, floating in the air.

Chemical Girl wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. Red light filled her eyes as she glared at her two opponents.

Bee Bee didn't know anything about the Machine, but she and Queen Power had fought numerous times. Jealousy and envy fueled the Queen's search for super powers which came in the form of armor that gave her an incredible range of abilities. Instead of using the armor to help people, she liked to terrorize the helpless.

Now she was standing in the Network's way of saving the world.

Chemical Girl felt her rage boil over into beams of light as she stared at the two of them. Incredible heat sliced across the Machine, nearly cutting him in half. The beams lashed at Queen Power, who raised her force field in the nick of time. The eye beams hit that round bubble and splintered.

"Nice try," said the Queen. "But you know I'm not that easy."

Queen Power launched into the air. Her shield would be a ram to send her hated enemy down. Then she could take care of the rest. She had no doubt that when she returned to the Earth, she would be celebrated as the heroine she could be.

Bee Bee ducked, using her hands to push the solid energy in a direction she wanted. Her friends needed her, and no pompous brat was getting in her way.

Bee Bee's hands multiplied as she started throwing punches as fast as possible. She had been in the gym with Joe a couple of times and he had worked with her on using her speed. Power was fine but speed let you get in and punch more as fast as you could.

And Chemical Girl was faster than a bullet.

Queen Power staggered away from the battering and breaking of her shields. Sparks filled the air from the short circuiting force field projector.

Two of the Green Genes jumped on Chemical Girl. She had fought them in the past also. One of them had to be the super strong Two. He was the only one close to her strength level.

She didn't have time for this.

Molly Cule analyzed the patterns around her as she fired the wind shearer at Apple Jack and Weezer. The blasts were keeping them hopping out of her way while she tried to think. What she really needed was a wall to hide behind.

Pixie was down, immobilized by a hairy rug with hands. Bad Bat was down for their side. Joe and a stretchable Green Gene were fencing as Joe tried to work his way over to the Pixie. Another Green Gene stood in the background. The Machine was down. Two Green Genes and the woman in purple and gold armor were trying to deal with Chemical Girl. The walking crocodile seemed to be waiting for a clear shot at her.

That seemed to be a good summation. What to do about it?

Molly decided that she had to direct her attention to helping the Pixie. He was the only one who could buy her time to shut down the planet wrecker. She made an adjustment to her weapon as Apple Jack tried to shoot her with an x of solid energy. Joe twitched and she moved out of the way before the beam ever reached her.

Molly took aim at Goodjump, letting Joe protect her as he moved forward. The big ape jumped. He dragged the Pixie with him. She fired. The column of wind sprouted down the corridor. Goodjump slammed into the wall.

"Got an idea," said Joe. "Get ready with that gun of yours."

"Ready," said Molly. This fighter had already proved more capable than she had first thought when she had met him.

Joe waited for another punch from the stretchable Green Gene. The man was keeping at arm's reach with his powers. If the fighter had not been worried about Molly, he would have gotten in the other's guard and dealt with the rubber band man.

The fist came in just as Joe planned. He grabbed it, pulling the stretchable sleeve away from the Green Gene's arm. He didn't have to tell Molly what to do. She was sharp enough to figure it out.

Molly stuck the wind shearer in the opening Joe provided. She pulled the trigger. Instantly the Green Gene's suit puffed up like a balloon. The fighter gestured for her to pull the air gun out of the way so he could close the snug sleeve.

"Hard to fight when you're a beach ball," said Joe, pleased to see the Green Gene floating at the end of the tether. "Even harder when you're a punching bag."

He pulled on the Green Gene with one hand, and speed punched with the other. The putty man could absorb some of the impact with his flexible skin. Still having someone bounce your head around like a lottery ball in a roller was bound to stun you.

Then the woman scientist can blow you away with her incredibly powerful hair dryer.

The Green Gene bounced around in the confined area of the hall, making everyone but Joe duck for cover. The fighter smiled as he sprinted across the space to where Goodjump cowered from the ricocheting elastic villain. The furry leaper spotted his enemy at the last second. Hairy legs bunched up to leap, but the Network hero crossed the space with a jumping punch that knocked the villain back.

It would take more than one punch to knock Goodjump out of the fight. He had more mass and power in his hairy frame than any normal man. Joe usually dealt with him by wearing him down with strong punches to the head until he was too stunned to move, much less jump away. That usually meant Joe had to get him in a confined space where Goodjump's escape ability was hampered by concrete and steel.

The two squared off, Goodjump looking around for space to maneuver. The floor swelled into a fist that wrapped around the hairball. The material resumed its normal state when it had him in its clutches.

"I need a second," said the Pixie. "Where's Molly?"

"She's right over there," said Joe. "I need you to help Chemical Girl if you can while I go get her."

"I can," said the Pixie, tapping his suit with his wand.

"The gravity of this situation?," said Vickie Vex. "I can't believe I heard that."

"Eat laser death," said the pink armored villainess, pointing her wrist laser at the newly emerged Hole and firing.

The Hole's shield hovered in front of him. The laser beam hit it squarely and vanished within.

"It's always eat laser death," said Denver Dead, appearing out of thin air behind the three villainesses. "Why can't it be have some turkey? The cranberries are good. No! It's always the laser death thing."

The three turned at the unexpected voice, readying their attacks to deal with the half ghost. He attacked first with a spray of green ectoplasm burning the air. Vickie Vex took the brunt of the attack, protecting the other two. Still the girl in the pink armor flipped end over end, and Amber Lyte lost some of her harp strings.

"You guys make me sick," said Denver.

"I will make you dead," said Grand. Intense heat erupted from his eyes as he stared at the goggled ghost. He paused when the beams passed through empty air.

"He's already a ghost," said Amber. "You can't hurt him, ninny."

"That's the wrong thing to say," Hector Hex said to his captor, holding on to the ragged arms with his hands. "Grand has a bad temper."

Grand turned his murderous gaze on Amber Lyte, who was stringing her harp so she could sing again. The heat beams passed through her, rending her form into a cloud. Green eyes glared balefully at the killer.

"Why did you do that?," said Amber. "I'm on your side."

Nick Number saw a chance. Everyone had glanced at the confrontation between Grand and Amber. That left him an opportunity to move. The agent smiled.

Nick pulled a packet from his small arsenal, as he kicked Wallaby below the belt. The super leaper folded like a paper flower as the agent slapped the square from his belt on the hard shell of the second man. He pushed off Case to get out of the area of effect of the blast. Lizzie leaped at him to keep him pinned. Number drove his feet up and flung her narrow body over him as he rolled away from the impending blast.

The shell head snatched at the square, trying to pry it off. The explosive went off, blowing a scattering of lines across his frontispiece. He glared down at it, silver mask hiding the rest of his expression.

"I'm going to kill you," the armadillo said, filling his voice with the anger his mask hid.

Maybe my plan worked a little too well, thought Nick.

Hector Hex smiled slightly. The odds were tilting rapidly in his favor from what he could see. Grand was a major threat to everyone around him, but Amber Lyte should be able to keep him busy for the next few seconds that the magician needed.

It also kept him from going after Hector's friends.

The first thing on the agenda was to deal with the golem trying to crush him to death. Luckily his coat resisted such treatment.

Hector thought, willing magic into his hands. He preferred order, perfect shapes, meaning in lines, but used chaos for its destructive fracturing. The arms of the artificial man came apart, shredded by the forces he wielded.

Hector took a deep breath, pushing the golem away with his shoulders. He turned, slicing through the bag of rags with the edge of his hand. Filaments the color of straw came away from gears hooked to a small battery. The construct fell to the rooftop silently.

Grand glanced at the escaping magician. His gaze created the fire again, intending to burn his enemy away so he could express his anger against other targets.

The Hole got in front of the beam with his shield raised. The fire vanished into the singularity he created with his control of gravity. It still drove the space faring hero backward, but he was unharmed.

Hector swept his hands forward. Grand was the most physically powerful foe on the field. He had to be removed if they wanted to win. Hex's magic could remove him for the time being. Lines wrapped around the force of evil, enveloping him in symbols and letters from before humanity's rise.

Hector closed the circuit. The lines separated in a flurry and the sound of beating wings. Grand went with the fleeing lines, thrown far into the future after the Earth died for whatever reason. Betty dropped to the roof, half wrecked with his going.

The girl in the pink armor pointed her wrist laser at Nick Number. She fired at the unsuspecting hero. The beam struck his vest, slicing it across the front. He fell over the side.

Amber got her misty body back together as the Hole turned to face her comrade in arms, Manson. She sang at the star knight. He collapsed on the roof, covering his ears with both hands. When the banshee sings, no man can resist it.

Thin Lizzie leaped at Hector Hex. Her claws cut into his coat, as she bore him to the ground. He and Denver Dead were the only heroes left. She couldn't touch the ghost, but she could savage the magician beyond hope.

The Pixie preferred cutting to the heart of the matter when possible. He didn't have the patience for anything else. On the other hand, his suit had to heal his ribs as he floated over to where the Green Genes and Queen Power were battling Chemical Girl.

The Pixie brought his wand down on the floor. Waves shifted across the surface of the metal blocks. They reached up into grasping hands, seizing the men in green and Queen Power. That should take care of things.

The Pixie was wrong.

One of the Green Genes and Queen Power broke away the metal fingers with shrugs of their bodies. The strong Gene broke his friend loose moments later with a ripping hand. Tanner should have expected that but hadn't. He didn't know how strong Bee Bee was, but should have thought she was stronger than any normal person and that meant anyone fighting her would be the same.

The air shimmered to the Pixie's left. He started to turn, caught flat footed again. The fifth Green Gene stepped out of thin air. Number One blocked the wand reaching to turn his costume to stone with one hand. The other smashed the hero in the face, sending him down to the floor. The Gene hefted Tanner up and flung him against a wall.

Bee Bee took a deep breath as she picked herself up off the floor. The Pixie looked out of the fight all together now. At least he had gotten her a respite to get her feet back under her again. Now it was up to her to do what she could to save the day.

Chemical Girl grabbed the nearest Green Gene. She had been watching and knew that he wasn't the leader, or super strong, or stretchy. That meant he shrank, or shouted really loud. That meant he was going to sleep. One punch made that so.

Chemical Girl decided that she couldn't just fight it out with super strong Green Gene, and Queen Power. One of them had to go so she could concentrate on the other one. She knew none of the Genes could fly on their own power. That made her choice simple.

She grabbed the Green Gene by the scruff of his neck and flung him straight up. He flew through the ceiling like a rocket, punching holes as he went with his body. It should take him a while to stop. By then, Queen Power would be sleeping it off.

Croc Hunter took aim with his rifle. He thought of himself as a good shot. So far he had missed every time he pulled the trigger. That Molly Cule had the luck of the devil.

Croc waited for the right moment, weapon at his shoulder. He didn't have to hit every time. He just had to hit once. Weezer and Apple Jack weren't helping him with the way they were moving around, attacking without a plan.

"Let me take that off your hands," said Joe Boxer.

The human crocodile felt the rifle rip away from his hands before he could stop it happening. Instead of fighting it, he went with the motion, turning and pulling his pistol. He fired one time before the butt of the rifle struck his long snout. The scaly predator decided he needed to empty the magazine to put the human down.

Joe felt a fire rip through his side, and knew that he had taken at least one bullet, maybe more from his old enemy. He ignored the wetness he felt as he used the rifle as a club on the slower Croc Hunter. The fighter knew this might be the last thing he could do, so he had to do what he could to win.

Joe felt the stock splinter as he continued to use the rifle as a club. He smiled as Croc went down, splinters sticking out of his thick skull. Darkness crept to the edges of his vision. Passing out looked like the next thing on his agenda.

He hadn't tipped the scales enough. There was one more thing he could do before he lost his faculties.

Joe pointed the rifle at Weezer and pulled the trigger. He didn't like to use guns, but could if he had to. The bullet crossed the space so fast it was almost instant. It cut through the bag of wind with a loud pop. The containment suit went flat, air rushing out the twin holes.

Joe sat down with his back against the wall. He held the gun across his lap, finding it hard to think. He knew Molly and Bee Bee needed him, but he was all out of strength to lend a hand. They would have to do the rest on their own.

Apple Jack looked shocked at the way the odds had shifted. He was alone and head to head against Molly Cule. His arsenal should carry the day against hers. Then he could take a break while the rainbow skittles girl went down.

How hard could that be?

Molly looked around, reaching into her tool belt for something that should help turn the tide. She had been able to keep her opponents at a distance with the wind shearer, but now she had to get close and take Apple Jack out. The world had to be saved.

"Give it up, Apple Jack," said Molly. "I'll let you go if you leave immediately."

"I don't know which fight you're fighting, Cule," said the renegade brainiac. "It looks to me that you're on the losing side. I just wish I could have been the one to stick it to the Pixie. We are enemies from way back."

"I didn't know you cared," said Molly, moving to her left. She needed the angle to be just right. "I always thought you were a petty megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur."

"You can die now," Apple Jack said, firing his ring weapon at his new enemy. Her wind blasts had not really stopped the earlier beams, but had thrown off his aim. This time it looked like he was dead on target.

Molly squeezed the trigger on the altered wind shearer. She needed to work on her target practice, but there was always something else to do, somewhere to go, some research that needed to be done so she could finish whatever project she was working on at the moment. This time she didn't need to aim. Apple Jack had fired his beam right into the field of attack from her invention. The wavy line hit a round field and circled the woman in black. Then the beam cut loose from its orbit and rebounded right back at the ring it had been fired from.

The crazed inventor went down, coat on fire. He pulled the jacket off, dumping it on the ground. Some of the things he used were fragile and a fire would ruin them. A blue button escaped his notice as it dropped into the blaze. A cloud of blue smoke wrapped around the Pixie's enemy, snuffing out the pyre, and coating him in ice.

"That should take care of that," said Molly.

Hector Hex tried to hold off Thin Lizzie with his feet against her chest. He didn't want to have his heart ripped out while he watched. He still had a use for it.

Hector held up a hand, warping the air around him. Letters wrote themselves into archaic words before they faded from sight. Lizzie's scales drifted away, revealing the girl underneath. She looked confused at the sudden change. That was enough for the magician to kick her away.

Case threw himself in the air. The obvious plan was to flatten Hector into the ground with his heavy shell. That would leave the ladies time to concentrate on Denver.

Hector rolled out of the way, coat flapping as he went. He spared a kick for Lizzie to keep her moving as he tried to get to his feet.

Denver Dead winced. Manson and Amber Lyte were old enemies of his. They were hard enough to deal with separately. Together they targeted weaknesses he couldn't cover like he usually did.

Denver decided he needed a human shield to deal with his lovely foes. He flew into Case, taking him over for the brief seconds he needed. That should slow them while he thought up a real plan.

Manson and Amber didn't hesitate. They turned their powers and weapons on the shell wearer. Denver took two steps before he found himself flying over the edge of the roof. He hoped Case would survive since he knew he couldn't stop the plummet. He vacated the body and tried to slow the villain down by holding on to him by the shoulders. That made him a perfect target for Amber's sonic scream. Both fell down.

Nick Number swung over the edge of the roof. He had caught himself by a grab. Now he was back in the fight. He fired his pistol into Manson's pink armor. He knew that he couldn't stop the singer but he could buy Hector some time.

Amber Lyte took aim and screamed some lyric. Nick fell to his knees, clutching his ears. He gritted his teeth from the pain. He couldn't stop the metal punch to his face. He sank down into darkness.

Hector pointed his finger at Manson. He was the last hero left. This was his only chance to get pass and save the Earth, both Earths.

Light erupted from the pointing finger. It wrapped around the pink armored villainess and pointed her hand at Amber Lyte. He willed it and a pink laser cut the siren into a cloud before she could get out of the way.

Hector squeezed his hand closed. Manson's protection crinkled into immovability. He let her drop now that she was helpless.

Hector didn't wait for Amber to get herself back together. She needed to be a cloud so he could deal with her.

Hector raised his hand, commanding a green bottle to form in his palm. The mouth of the bottle formed a vacuum to draw in the cloud of discorporate singer. She vanished into the enchanted vial without a chance to protest.

"I'm glad that's over with," said Hector. "I wonder how long it will be before someone else shows up."

Thin Lizzie leaped on his back. She had been forgotten while he dealt with those he felt were more threatening to him. She wrapped her arm around his neck and started choking him.

Hector grabbed the bony arm in both hands. Electricity coursed through his fingers. The shock freed him. The magician turned and punched the transformed girl in the face. He followed up with a knee to the stomach. Hex pressed a sleep spell on her so he could walk away.

Everyone else was down. Hector placed healing spells on the Hole, and Nick. He could do more for Betty at his lab, but right now the best he could do was a spell to make sure she was comfortable. Denver had vanished with Case. He was a ghost. He could get himself back together and catch up.

Hector went to the hole in the wall. Hopefully the other squad was doing better getting through than his team. He had a feeling whomever was waiting inside was more than a match for him. Backup would be appreciated.

Hector walked as silently as he could toward where the core of the planet buster had to be. Once he knocked that out of commission, he and Molly Cule could talk about establishing a bridge between worlds. She had a scientific bent that could help him with some of his experiments.

Molly Cule and Chemical Girl faced three of the Green Gene Gang and Queen Power. Bee Bee didn't pause as she smashed into the next Gene, knowing which one was which for once. It was Stretch.

His elasticity usually prevented her from hurting him too much. He was a giant elastic band that just kept coming. Even a collision with her just sent him flying across the room unhurt.

Queen Power rushed in, swinging with all of her assisted might. Chemical Girl flew through a wall, knocked out of control by the armored powerhouse. They had fought plenty of battles and this time the queen was going to show everyone who was the better super girl.

Number One looked around. He spotted Molly Cule reaching into her tool belt for something. He faded out. It was time for someone to deal with this nuisance so they could concentrate on Chemical Girl.

The artificial heroine was the most dangerous threat present.

Molly flipped a lens on a power pack down over her eye. She had spotted the vanishing trick earlier while fighting Apple Jack. She didn't know how the Green Gene's power worked. That didn't matter.

What mattered was the lens projected a computed image where he should be by analyzing the spectrum around her. That nullified his power. Better than that, the lens marked the target for the hair dresser she was pointing.

She thought she saw his eyes widen through the holes in his mask just before she took aim and pulled the trigger.

The wind shearer picked up Number One. He flew back the way he had came. The wall stopped him with a thump. He dropped to the floor, snapping back into view. Molly breathed in relief for a moment, until she saw the last two Green Genes get together. Their body language told the mastermind they weren't very happy.

Molly backed up as the Green Genes advanced on her. She had a rough idea of what they could do. She just needed time to come up with something. Chemical Girl had taken the brunt of this so far. There was no telling how much longer she would last.

The elastic Gene reached out from across the room, elongated hands wrapping around Molly's neck before she could get away. She tried to pull away. The hands just tightened. The other man in green rushed to join the fray. One punch from his super strong hand would put her lights out before the other man could finish strangling her.

Molly decided what she needed to do in two seconds. She grabbed another of the blue capsules from her tool belt. The girl genius flung herself forward, bending the flexible arms in front of her. That surprised the man in green. The blue capsule breaking on his covered head froze him in place. The chemical reaction twisted his body around before he settled into a blue statue.

"You killed Number Three," said the last green man. "I'm going to kill you back."

"He's not dead," said Molly, skipping back. "He's just out of the way for a little while."

"I know a dead guy when I see him," said the super strong Gene, raising a hand.

A projectile slammed into the Green Gene like a freight train. It happened so fast it looked like the criminal popped as he rode the bullet through a wall. Molly glanced down the flight path. Whatever had hit him, had pushed him through several walls until the sky outside was visible.

"Home run," said Molly, rubbing her forehead.

"Thank you, stranger," said an icy voice from behind Molly.

The mastermind turned, half expecting to see Chemical Girl standing there. Instead it was Queen Power, armor ripped and dented, hair burnt, sparkling wrapping around one arm.

"Looks like it's just you and me," said Molly. "What do you say for letting bygones be bygones and letting me save the Earth."

"I would rather rip your head off," said Queen Power, limping forward. "I don't know who you are, but it will make me feel better."

"I'd like to oblige you," said Molly, smiling slightly, trying to be charming. "But I have to save two planets from destroying themselves. I'll be going now."

Queen Power suddenly closed the gap between them, the unharmed hand closing on Molly's shoulder. There was a burst of light between them. Chemical Girl's nemesis froze in place.

"What did you do?," the red head asked, only able to move her head a little.

"Battle suits are a little behind me," said Molly, holding up a lit wand. "Don't worry. I'll be back to cart you to jail as soon as I finish what I need to do."

Mr. Magic Monkey and Dr. Enos Disaster split up as they left the control area. Two of the heroes had passed through the gauntlet. It was no surprise that the two were their archenemies. The four of them had battled across time and space as easily as fencers moving up and down a mat.

Mr. Monkey had studied the heroes of Dr. Disaster's world until he knew as well as he knew the Network. Surprise would give him a slight edge over Molly Cule, but he had to act fast if he wanted to prevail. Otherwise she would turn the tables on him, and their plan would collapse.

Mr. Monkey floated down a stairwell. His mind had been granted with telekinetic abilities to match the increased intelligence bestowed on him. Flight was the second thing he had mastered.

Molly Cule held a sensor device in her hand as she examined the base of the power core he had helped put together. She seemed engrossed with its design.

Mr. Monkey let the energy build around his forehead before releasing it. The purple light turned into a lance just outside the mask he wore around his furry head. The flash must have caught the super scientist's attention because she started to duck back out of the way. The effort was too little to avoid the beam altogether.

Mr. Monkey didn't beat his breast as he leaped over some conduit. This wasn't the time for self-congratulation when he still had to make sure the job was finished. Later he could do the jumping dance of excitement.

Molly Cule reached for her equipment belt as a monkey in purple and gold floated through the air toward her. One hand wrapped around a flash tube to throw. Purple light struck her. She sailed across the room into the wall. The monkey landed on top of her, swinging both hands and his tail.

Mr. Monkey did a happy dance at his victory. Then he pulled her equipment apart and flung the pieces away before he coated the heroine with liquid handcuffs to keep her out of his hair. All he had to do now was gather up the wounded and send them home to their collapsing earths.

Mr. Monkey soared to a control panel buried in the rest of the equipment. He pressed some buttons, making sure to line up the marker beam just so. Folds in the nearby space told him that his lackeys and the heroes had been sent away to fend for themselves in the limited time they had left.

Molly Cule and Hector Hex were the real dangers to their plan. His victory made it just a little easier for them to do what they had to do. Doctor Disaster had to carry out his part of the deal if they wanted guaranteed success.

Doctor Disaster had gone the other way. A small scan pinpointed his target, Hector Hex. The glass skull man had gone over the files of the heroes that might show up to oppose them. He admitted that he had never thought they would get this far into his sanctum. Mr. Monkey had warned him that the Network was resourceful.

They weren't as resourceful as he.

Dr. Disaster donned spectacles with small black boxes built in the sides. He touched a button. The surrounding area was reduced to a series of lines laid one on top of another. He pulled a small pistol from the pocket of his suit. He took aim, letting the spectacles guide his hand on target.

He pulled the trigger, blinking at the puff of smoke that expanded into a cloud around him. The missile steered around obstacles as it headed for his target. It only took three seconds before it hit.

Hector Hex went down in a heap. Crystals formed around him, freezing him in place before he could work a spell to get free. A statue became him.

Doctor Disaster smiled. He had improved his crystal net in hopes of using it on Molly Cule. It seemed to work as intended on meddling magicians.

The glass skull man pulled a disk from another pocket. He stuck it on the magician statue and activated it. The crystal Hex floated into the air. The scientist pushed him over to where Molly Cule had fallen.

"We can get back to our experiment now," said Mr. Monkey, grinning.

"I agree my hirsute friend," said Disaster. "Surprise has given us the day."

"Shall we go?," asked Mr. Monkey.

"We won't reach our triumph standing around here," said Disaster, smiling.

The two villains flew toward their control room. They were about to usher a new millennium for two whole populations that no one had ever envisioned.

Vic Ing knew he was in bad shape. His friends had left him behind because of the pain he had been in. The problem was he didn't think they had succeeded in their goal. The Earth still felt pain, and it was transmitting it to him.

He had a feeling that his friends had been suckered into a trap, then placed back on Earth with no way to get back together before the end. That left him as the world's last hope.

And he didn't think he could get out of his chair without falling over.

Vic pushed himself up, letting the blanket fall to the floor. He spun a finger. The air flowed in a circle like he wanted. The air seemed to be the only thing he could control. Fire was out, the earth was layers of material, water wasn't within his reach at the moment. Air would have to do for what he needed.

It was time to get back into the game.

Vic decided the best thing to do was get to the top of that tower. He didn't know what had happened to his comrades, and had no way to find them. So he was better off trying to end this threat first, then hope Molly could find her way home and get the rest home. If anyone could do that, Molly could.

Vic staggered to the door of the dimension ship they had crafted. He flung himself into the air, using it to slide across the open space between the craft and the tower. Hopefully he would remain unseen while he was performing this maneuver. The last thing he wanted was to stop and fight anyone who saw him. He skidded to a stop at the bottom of the citadel.

Vic stirred the air into a small cyclone. He stepped on it, grabbing the edges to spin it faster. The whirlwind carried him up to where he could find a place to land. The Elementalist saw a flat piece of roof, with a hole in a nearby wall. That was perfect for what he wanted.

Vic scattered the whirlwind, staggering toward the hole in the wall. He heard machinery, voices, beeps. That supported his supposition. He was alone between the Earths, and they were about to be destroyed. That put everything on him.

He didn't know if he liked that idea.

Of all the Theater, Vic used his abilities less than any of the others. He rarely ventured outside of California. His head ached from how wrong the situation was. He took a breath, feeling cleansing air enter his system, recharging him for a moment. It was up to him to save the world.

Time to quit being a chicken.

The Elementalist stepped through the hole in the wall, looking around for the owners of the voices he had heard. He used the air to vault over to a support column, hanging on it with a free hand. The engine in the center of the room glowed furiously.

Vic looked around from his perch. He spotted a man with a glass skull and a costumed monkey. He didn't know the monkey, but he had been in on arresting Dr. Disaster a couple of times. Time to get them away from the machine.

Vic jumped down, swinging an arm. Air swept away from him like splashing water. It caught the two villains and slammed them against the far wall. He knew that wasn't good enough to stop Dr. Disaster. He drove the air in front of him like a battering ram. The monkey glared some kind of field in place just before the hammer hit. Both crooks crashed through the wall.

He didn't have a lot of time to stop the machine. He could do a lot more with fire if he wanted to break stuff. Water called to him from pipes running through the lab. He just had to get at it before round two.

Vic grabbed the pipe, stopping the motion of the water inside it. He could feel the water backing up, producing pressure since he basically caused a clog inside a drain. The system was closed so there was nowhere for the pent up water to go. Finally the pipe broke, water spraying out of the hole.

Vic stuck his hand in the water, seizing it like a solid thing. One yank created a solid spear out of the spray. He spotted Dr. Disaster coming back, gun in hand. He couldn't take the time. The machine had to go. He flung the spear.

Something slammed into Vic's side. He tried to grab the air to slow his speed so he wouldn't hit anything too hard. The monkey had circled around and body checked him. Too much concentrating on one guy without looking for the other.

"What have you done, human?," the monkey screamed, jumping up and down.

"I put a crimp in your plan, monkey dude," Vic said. He kicked out with his feet. Air moved in front of him like he wanted. The monkey flew into the sparkling engine before he could stop himself. "I always hated monkeys anyway."

Lightning raced through the simian psychic as he fell through the delicate pieces of machinery that had been forcing the two earths together. He hit the bottom of the well after bouncing around inside the shaft for what seemed like ages.

That went better than I thought, Vic thought, smiling at the shocked expression on Dr. Disaster's face. I don't hurt so much either.

Vic pulled another shaft of water from the spray falling from the pipe. He swept it against Dr. Disaster's head before the mad scientist could recover his poise. Vic made sure to kick him when he fell down. Compressed air blasted the villain across the room.

"Now let's see what we can do about fixing things," Vic said, shaping the water around him into handcuffs for the glass skulled man. "Molly always attracts the weird crooks."

Vic pinched Molly awake. She was coated in some kind of rubber suit. It looked tight from his point of view. Probably it was supposed to keep her from moving around. He thought it was better than the other guy that was frozen stiff.

"Where is the monkey?," Molly asked. "Get me out of this right now."

"I shoved him into the machine," said the Elementalist, trying to think how to get his friend loose. Water would have to do somehow. The thing was skintight, no way to force an opening unless he had something to manipulate underneath the covering.

"Can you get me out?," asked Molly, keeping her eyes roving the room.

"I don't know," said Vic, peering closer, feeling with his sense of the elements.

The heat of the covering made Molly sweat. He could feel that sweat through the liquid rubber. He placed his hand near her neck, making rolling motions with his fingers. The water in the sweat lifted into a ball, pushing the prison out in a bubble. A small slit appeared in the collar of the thing.

"Okay, we're in business," Vic said, pulling Molly over to the water pipe. He began running water into the rubber prison. The thing swelled up as he kept Molly floating freely in a sphere of expanding water pushing outwards. The cover broke apart, revealing the water bubble. Vic pulled it away, leaving a dry Molly to flex some circulation back in her limbs.

"Thanks," said Molly. "We have to see about the others, and fix everything."

"Better start with the frozen guy," said Vic. "I broke the machine with the monkey's face. So you're going to have to fix that too."

"Let's start with Hector," said Molly. "We'll need his ability. Where's the monkey?"

"Down at the bottom of the well," said Vic, pointing to where the central engine had been cracked by his attack. "Dr. Disaster's over there sleeping it off."

Molly jogged over to where Dr. Disaster drooled against the wall. She searched him for his arsenal, smiling when she found what she wanted. One shot froze the glass skulled menace over with his own gun.

She used the antidote on Hector Hex, smiling when he started to thaw almost immediately. She could repair the device by herself, but his magic would speed things up immensely.

"That monkey's coming back," said Vic. "I can hear the air move. He's tougher than I thought."

"I got something for him," said Molly, reaching into her tool belt. "Move Hex out of the way in case I miss. He should be able to fix this thing just as good as I could, maybe not as fast. Then we can move the earths away from each other."

"Got it," said Vic.

Vic grabbed Hex by the arm. The man was still half frozen. The Elementalist pulled him across the room to give Molly plenty of room to work. They didn't call her Collateral Cule for nothing.

Mr. Magic Monkey ascended from the bottom of the well. His costume suffered holes to let his singed fur burst through. He voiced his anger when he saw Molly, charging right at her with energy sheath boiling the air around him. He saw her splattered like a bug on a windshield.

Molly flung a handful of mixed capsules at the charging simian. Bright light, thundering sound mixed with gas, smoke, and an explosive charge. The assorted attack made him pause, as his shield protected him from the worse of the explosion. His concentration had been split, which left an opening.

Molly shot him with Dr. Disaster's pistol in the other hand. The formula hit the flying monkey, dropping him to the ground in a sheet of ice crystals. She didn't think that would hold him for long. But then, she didn't need long.

"That was chilling," said Hector, adjusting his sunglasses as he stamped the floor. "Where are we?"

"The Earths are still dangerously close, the villains are taken care of for now, and Vic wrecked the machine saving our butts," said Molly. "Any thoughts?"

"I didn't think he would bounce like that," protested Vic.

"Let me think," said Hex.

He walked around the central engine, examining it from all sides. He stamped a couple of times, still feeling cold. Finally he nodded.

"I think I have it doped out," said Hector. He raised his hands in front of him, and lines sparked in the air to show Molly the workings of the machine. "Pretty ingenious."

"We could rig our own transfer devices so we can stay in touch after this is over," said Molly, pointing to several sections.

"It would be simple compared to what those two did," said Hector. "We could have team meetings, maybe a baseball league. I always need someone else to spot check my experiments."

"Hey, hey, hey," said Vic. "Saving the world, remember? You know what I'm saying here? You guys can have a picnic after that."

Hector and Molly smiled at him.

"Child's play," said Hector.

Hector Hex gestured, forming lines in the air with his hands. He reached down inside the well, using the lines as an extension of his hands. It took some minutes for him to do it but he replaced all the broken parts caused by the Elementalist shoving Mr. Monkey into the crystal gears.

He gave it an inspection with his magical senses, as the machine checked itself for faults. They both agreed the machine was ready to be used.

"We need to push the Earths apart first," said Molly. "Then we can check on our friends."

"I agree," said Hector, looking at the controls. "Hopefully we can put them back in position without creating any more problems for the other Earths in line. They could have destroyed all the Universes one after the other."

"Dr. Disaster isn't one to think about side effects," said Molly.

"He's a nitwit," said Vic. Dull pain filled him up, but he was glad. That meant the Earths were still alive, even touching as they were. As long as he felt that, he knew they still had a chance.

"Right," said Hector. "Let's get started."

Hector and Molly began working the controls. Their natural genius allowed them the knowledge of what was intended, and what they had to do to reverse the process. The twin planets moved apart on their monitors, taking their rightful places again.

"I feel better," said Vic. "I feel great."

"You should," said Molly, smiling. "You saved the world all by yourself."

"Well, we helped a little," said Hector. "Our friends and enemies aren't here, so they must have been sent somewhere."

"The log recorded mass transport back to the Earths," said Molly. "It looks like Dr. Disaster and the monkey wanted everyone gone while they did their business. The guys wouldn't have been able to get back here without me."

"Same here," said Hex. "I propose we take the equipment apart, and set up transport booths in case something like this ever happens again."

"I agree," said Molly.

"I have one question," said Vic. "How do we do that?"

"That part will be easy," said Hector. "We'll have to ship Mr. Monkey and Dr. Disaster home too. We can't leave them here."

"Why not?," said Molly. "Without any equipment, they won't be much of a threat to the universes."

"They would have to be at least fed," said Hector. "That would involve a minimum set up of equipment. There's bound to be things left in that they could use to break free."

"They would break free in the real world also," said Molly. "At least here, it would be a little harder for them to do it."

"A space Alcatraz?," said Vic. "I say let's do it."

"All right," said Hector. "It will be good to be rid of that monkey for a while."

The heroes began working as neatly as they could. They disassembled the engine, and stowed part of it on the Theater's ship, and placed the rest on the Hexdiver. A simple communication radio was set up so the two scientific adventurers could help each other set up their booths when they reached their respective Earths.

The tower was left intact, but the two heroes pulled every scrap of electronics and wiring out of the walls. They even pulled the controls for the doors and the elevator. Their foes were ingenious, and short of killing them while they were helpless this was the best compromise they could think of at the moment. An alarm was installed to give the heroes some warning when their enemies did escape.

"It was nice meeting you, Molly," said Hector. "We have to do this again sometime."

"Maybe when the world isn't dependant on us," said Molly. "We'll get together over some Scientific Journals and shmooze."

"Your world, or mine?," said Hector, smiling.

"Can you do this mushy stuff later?," said Vic. "I still feel sick, and you two aren't helping things."

Hector placed his hand against the side of his head in the universal call me gesture before he boarded the Hexdiver. Molly waved at him as she boarded the Strato Blast. The ships closed up, and they popped into their home universes.

epilogue

Dr. Enos Disaster awoke in his handcuffs of water. Things hadn't gone the way he had wanted, but he had been so close. How could he turn this to his advantage?

Dr. Disaster walked over to the pool of water on the floor. He could see the statue of Mr. Magic Monkey off to one side. He felt a moment of pride in his ice pistol. He had warned the simian about Molly Cule.

Dr. Disaster dipped his cuffs in the pool. He did it several times until the water was soft enough to pull apart. He checked his concealed pockets. Empty like he suspected they would be. This was supposed to be his prison. Well, that wasn't going to happen.

Dr. Disaster pulled the top of his head off, holding the glass shield in one hand as he reached into his head with the other. It was time for his secret weapon. He replaced the skull cover after pulling out his escape kit. He put the kit together into a sonic beamer.

Mr. Monkey was capable of making things with his mind. Once freed, the simian could help manufacture something to get them off this rock. The sonic beamer could act as a power source. Their combined brains could put together something.

They better be able to do it. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life stuck in this place without a lab.

Dr. Disaster pointed his sonic beamer at the crystal statue. The ultrasonic sound fractured the crystal into lines. Then the pieces broke off, tinkling against the floor. Mr. Monkey fell to the floor.

"Excellent," said the doctor. "Phase one is done. Now for phase two."

Dr. Disaster smacked the monkey in the head. He smacked him again. Yellow eyes glared up at him.

"We lost," said Monkey. Energy played over his body, reassembling his costume, and smoothing away his burnt fur. "We overlooked their ships."

"Don't worry about it now," said Dr. Disaster. "We are here without any materials, and just one tool. Any suggestions?"

"I have to look around," said Mr. Monkey. "Maybe they overlooked something we can use. All we need is a few crystals and a locator to build a small beacon."

"Then we can build on that to open a door," said Dr. Disaster. "We'll probably need a bigger power source than this."

"We'll use the water supply somehow," said Mr. Monkey. "Steam power will work if we can heat the water somehow."

"We should look around for what we can use to build a portal," said Dr. Disaster. "We can rebuild our equipment and restart our experiment."

"I say we take a different tack," said Mr. Monkey. "Instead of trying to fuse two worlds together, we should build our own."

"Build our own?," said Dr. Disaster. "That could be a challenge to our intellect. It might be interesting."

"It will allow us to conduct our procedures without interference," said Mr. Monkey.

"I agree," said Dr. Disaster. "Let's start again."

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