Fight for Freedom

Harrier poked his head out of a hole he had constructed at the end of a long tunnel he had dug with his hands. It was a natural talent that let him get in and out of trouble with a simple snap of his fingers. It came in handy since most of the world was hunting him for the Nazi overlords.

"What do you think, Harry?" Dodger hopped on one foot at the bottom of the exit tunnel. "Do we go for it?"

"I think so." Harrier regarded the scene in front of him with interest. Rumors from the underground said a new weapon was being tested. It was the Free Watchmen's job to stop it before it could be used on the civilian population.

"Let's go then." Dodger pulled a strange pistol from a holster on his belt. "Being trapped underground is giving me the willies."

Harrier descended, plugging the hole above momentarily. The Marsupial produced a lit lantern from his pouch and held it up so they could see. It revealed a motley group of five desperate men.

Dodger wore a green coverall, utility belts full of gadgets, and a helmet to conceal his face. He held his golden pistol in a gloved hand, waiting to get started. The Marsupial, covered in brown fur, helmet resembling some monster, held the lantern up in a wide hand, ready to go to work. Treader smiled beneath the bird mask affixed to a dark purple jacket over a gray leotard. Dust coalesced around his orange boots as he vibrated impatiently in place. Shepherd crouched in the tunnel, white suit with brown shouldered jacket going well with his brown eye mask and hair. He scratched his nose slightly, but otherwise seemed calmer than anyone else there. The Harrier himself wore gray and white like the color scheme for the planes that had once controlled the sky for the defeated America. His gray and white mask concealed most of his face from view of the others.

"The briefing seems to be on target, guys." The Harrier drew in the tunnel's floor with an index finger. "This base was supposed to be shut down a long time ago. The underground reported the removal of the armory before they could look around. Guards were minimized to act as caretakers. It looks like there is a platoon of soldiers marching around with dogs and guns, working searchlights, a checkpoint on the gate."

"How do we do this?" Dodger looked at the map, a red dot appearing for a second on the surface of his helmet.

"I think they're wise to the tunnel trick by now." The Harrier lit a cigarette and puffed on it as he considered. "We'll have to do something that will bring most of the troops to one side while someone goes in and looks around."

"No problem." Dodger seemed to smile. "I can handle that."

"We can handle it." The Marsupial's voice seemed cheery enough at the prospect of getting shot.

"Tread will have to be our information gatherer." The Harrier considered the map. "We don't know what it is we're looking for, or what it does, so you'll have to be careful while you're looking around."

"I can handle it." Treader studied the map for a second, decided the best approach, and selected the two biggest buildings for his primary attention.

"Let's see what we can do." The Harrier started back up to his plugged hole. "We need something to change the way things are going. Eventually we're bound to lose if we can't think of some way to win something more than a few days' grace."

"Don't worry." Dodger started up after him. "Eventually we win."

"Some distant future is not comforting." Harrier pushed the plug out of his way. "I won't be alive then."

"You'll have a statue in your honor." Dodger readied to jump out of the hole. Marsupial stood right behind him. "Quit shoving."

"Go ahead already." The furry fury waved a hand as he put the lamp away in his pouch. "I want my statue right now."

"Let's go." Shepherd stood fourth in line. "We may have a problem if we wait much longer."

"Let's do this." The Harrier jumped out of the hole. His gray suit barely stood out from the twilight gloom as he ran toward the main gate. He heard the others following his lead. Then a shower of sparks set the nearest guard tower on fire.

"Tank coming on the right." Shepherd pointed in a direction that was devoid of tanks as he ran behind the others.

The Marsupial pulled a motorized rocket from his pouch. He armed it on the run. Dodger's wild spray set things on fire and distracting attention from his bulky form. It wouldn't last but he intended to use that distraction as much as he could before it vanished. A tank came around one of the support buildings. He took aim with the rocket and launched it. As the trail blazed through the air, he discarded the now empty case for another weapon to use.

The tank exploded from the rocket blast.

Molly Cule checked her instruments again. Having a view of another universe allowed her to perfect several inventions that had languished without a frame of reference to use them in. Now she could compare celestial phenomena without moving more than two inches by simply switching views to the twin in another universe.

Her efforts were helped by a mastermind in one such universe named Hector Hex. He seemed to appreciate her theories, and loaned expertise in helping with the machines she designed to take advantage of what she was learning. It was just that his mind was a little strange and seemed to concentrate on other ways to use their science that she couldn't quite grasp.

It might have to do with the fact that he was a real magician also.

Molly had dealt with strange things and strange people. Magic was some unknown type of energy to her. She just knew it existed and that it worked for those who could use it. Her friend, the Pixie, possessed a magic wand that defied any attempt she made to analyze it.

Hector used that magic to help with his experiments. Some of his devices were as miraculous as they were dangerous. His lab waited for the unwary so that it might take a pound of flesh. And Hec seemed unaware of the menacing malice his work area held for others.

On the other hand, once buried in his work, he seemed unaware of anything around him that wasn't directly a threat.

Molly recorded her observations as she watched the star's output, comparing the readings to its twin. Even though they occupied the same space in their different dimensions, the readings weren't an exact match. She noted several ideas to explain the difference in measurements. She might get another Nobel prize out of this.

Molly checked the time, realized she had spent too much time star gazing. The sun would be up soon and she needed a nap before turning to her other projects. Time flew when you were deep in checking things.

Molly started to shut her equipment off. She had enough readings to reestablish the view tomorrow night when she had taken care of some of her other experiments. One hand rubbed her eye as it drooped close.

An alarm sounded. Molly looked around, wondering what was going on. Her star experiment wasn't dangerous compared to others. Could she have missed some important clue to something that threatened the universe that she had caused with her viewer?

Molly rechecked her readings. Then she went over them again. Whatever was going on had nothing to do with her equipment. Something was going on close to her dimension, but not in her home reality.

Molly recalibrated the viewer to find the source of the alarm. It could be another Earth in trouble. She would have to examine the readings to see if she needed to take a hand in things. Her universe was not going to be destabilized by another universe tinkering with reality.

Molly put her computer in charge so she could get a nap. She didn't know how much time she had. She also couldn't rush things. Either she would find the source in time, or she wouldn't. Either case, she needed a nap to recharge before she went after it.

She checked her utility belts before hanging them on wall hooks. She laid down on a liquid bed, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. She closed her eyes, thinking about numbers that danced to their own music.

Her computer sounded an alert a few hours later. Molly wiped the sleep from her eyes as she staggered over to the keyboard and screen. Coordinates indicated another Earth at the base of the pulse she had detected. She wondered what was going on briefly as she struggled to put her sleep aside.

Molly programmed the computer to gather intelligence on that Earth. It could do that while she got ready for the day. Once she had enough information, the Theater would check out who was generating the pulse and stop it.

She hated to interfere but she didn't think the inhabitants of that world knew what they were doing to her world.

Hector Hex sighed as he checked his instruments. Some time during the night, something had rattled the interplanar matrices of the Earths adjacent to his. It had been a rare night where he had vegged out in front of the television, thinking about nothing at all while the hours passed. He had those days occasionally, and tried to enjoy them when he could. He compared it to staying inside on a rainy day.

Sometime after he had fallen asleep, an alarm had sounded and he had slept through it.

Hector turned his lab's antennae across the dimensions. His brief survey eliminated any place that wasn't a parallel earth. Somewhere humans had devised a means to eradicate reality. That couldn't be good.

Hector found several likely candidates with a few hours more searching. He grabbed his time scope and moved it over to his console. He made several connections and used that to review the local area around his finds. The scope was notoriously unreliable, but he trusted it when a planet turned into a black hole ripping the local time space apart. Several of the surrounding universes fell into the hole immediately. The rest followed one by one.

Hector didn't watch the full progression. He had an idea what would happen. Everyone in the Earth realms of the vast cosmic tree died. Other dimensions could follow depending on their nature and connection to Earth.

He decided to check things out on his own. He wrote a note for his friends before making some adjustments to the dimensional door in one corner of his lab. He set the placement and stepped through. The others could catch up if he hadn't solved the thing by the time they checked in on him.

Hector endured the falling sensation and flickering star maps that was the door's way of letting you know you were going somewhere. He stepped out on that other earth, frowning at the signs hanging everywhere. He stepped into a storefront, realizing he needed to know a little local history.

He wondered if Nazis believed in libraries.

Hector decided that he needed a view to get some perspective on things. Then he could raid a library and figure out where this weapon had come from. He might need to deal with the mastermind behind the weapon also.

One was bad enough, two was disaster waiting to happen.

Hector flew up to a nearby roof. He looked around, working his magic on his sunglasses. A couple of bright spots told him there was at least two magic users out there. Probably allied with the Nazis that seemed to be in charge. Lots of soldiers marched everywhere, some traffic by civilians, and the backlash from the weapon firing stood out the most to his attuned glasses.

"What are you doing?" Hector had been so involved in his looking around a helicopter had time to swoop down on him. It seemed to be a standard two seater observation chopper. "Rooftops are forbidden to those without clearance."

"I have clearance." Hector held out his hand. A bright blue flash hit the pilots. "You never saw me."

The helicopter turned and headed away at top speed.

Hector decided that he should change his appearance and gather as much information as he could before confronting the makers of the reality gun. He estimated that it needed a chance to recharge between firings. He planned to know enough to be able to destroy it before it fired again and make sure no one else could build another one.

Just smashing the gun would do nothing if more could be built. The next time it might be too late if it reached across the multiverse.

Hector descended to the street. He traded his customary black for a suit that could match any of the others he had seen so far. He needed to find someone who knew about weapons designs for this version of the Reich. That meant asking for directions.

Hector walked toward the nearest patrol. The soldiers looked at him without fear. He probably didn't look dangerous to them. He didn't want to change their minds.

"Can you tell me whose the ranking commander in town?" Hector scratched his nose as he waited. "I'm new here, and I have a message to deliver."

Molly Cule looked at the readings from her research. She didn't like what they told her. She wanted to let that Earth go its own way, but it was a threat to the rest of reality. That had to stop before things really got bad.

Molly felt this wasn't something she could take on alone. She didn't know what was there on that Earth, what other kind of technology they possessed, if they were aware they were being watched. She had decided to call in her team, and they had assembled to listen to what the emergency was.

"I was doing some research when I observed what looked like a beam punching a hole in reality." Molly used a graphics program to run her readings as pictures for the others. Only Betty would understand the math, but she was a robot with a built in calculator. The rest would need the visual aid. "I tracked the source down to another Earth. We're going to have to go there and shut this down before they destroy the multiverse."

"How do you want to do this, Molly?" The Pixie checked his watch, brown suit contrasting with the yellow cowl and butterfly wings he wore. "We just go in there blasting away?"

"We need to find the guy who thought of this and erase his research." Molly frowned at the picture of the universes disappearing. "Destroying the device gets us nothing if they rebuild after we leave."

"Maybe they don't know what they have." Vic Ang sat still as a rock. "We could warn them and they could disarm on their own."

"What are the chances of that happening?" Denver Dead floated above his seat, grey suit blending with the chair's upholstery. "It's more likely we'll have to blow some stuff up before they take us seriously, and they still won't listen to what we have to say on this. Maybe destroying creation is what they set out to do in the first place."

"Don't even say that." Betty Bit's metal face tried to frown. "That would make that Earth full of idiot monkeys who were smart enough to harness physics to create a doomsday weapon but dumb enough to try and use it no matter the cost."

"Some people are like that." Denver floated higher. "How many have we stopped here on our Earth? The same rule can apply there. Some idiot got hold of something no one was meant to have."

"We don't know what's going on." Molly raised a hand to forestall any more philosophy. They needed facts to prove, or disprove, her simulation. It didn't matter what the character of the inventor was as long as he didn't fire the cannon again until she looked at it. "That's why we're going there and finding out. If things can be done peacefully, I don't have a problem with that. Just remember, we're not going there to bust heads."

"Anyone messing with this will know they did something wrong, Molly." Vic rubbed his face. "It's inevitable."

"So we're going to have to bust someone's head if you think they are going to use this thing again." Denver smiled. "Let's get started. Then we can see whose head we have to bust."

"Time is wasting." The Pixie checked his watch again. "The quicker we get started, the quicker we can come home."

"The door is already set." Molly nodded at the gate on the other side of the lab. "Let's find what we're looking for and shut it down with the minimum of fuss."

"What's the fun in that?" Denver pulled his goggles down over his eyes.

"Saving the universe." Vic got up, straightening his loose shirt and pants. "It's not supposed to be fun."

"I wonder what that other Earth is like." Betty Bit did a systems check as the group walked toward the gate.

"Probably like ours with pink elephants." The Pixie stepped into the gate first.

"You have to be kidding." Denver's next words were cut off by the transfer.

Vic stepped through next, with Betty at his heels. These Earths still allowed him to shape the elements, but they still felt wrong when he did. He couldn't explain the feeling.

Molly looked around her lab one more time before she stepped through to the other Earth. That one last inspection told her the lab was locked down until they got back. Everything would turn itself off once enough time had passed.

Of course if anything entered the lab from the door and wasn't a member of the Theater, the security system would wake the lab back up to deal with it.

Molly stepped on the next Earth over, and didn't like what she saw all around her. She spotted her friends at the mouth of an alley, waiting for her. The swastikas on red flags were a familiar sight from old movies and pictures.

Of course that would explain who would use a reality cannon despite the obvious danger

The Harrier sat at his desk, thinking about what he had seen the night before. He had never seen a cannon that could totally erase something like it had never existed. He had to get back in that facility and deal with that thing as soon as possible.

The beam from that blast had nearly took care of them in one shot. If Dodger hadn't bought time with his shield, it might have been a swan song for the lot of them.

Shepherd stepped into the office with a knock on the door. He brushed hair back from his eyes as he plopped down in the visitor's chair. He didn't say a word.

"How's Dodger?" Harrier put his paperwork aside to sit back in his own chair.

"He and Marsupial are working on his equipment." Shepherd shrugged. "He says he'll be ready to go in a few hours, maybe sooner. The technobabble is beyond me."

"We're going to have to get back into that facility." Harrier frowned, chewing on a carrot from a humidor. "We can't let them keep that whatever it is. The problem is there is going to be more security now that their trap failed."

"Tread got copies of their plans." Shepherd sat like stone. "Dodger says it looks like a reality destroying cannon."

"Let me guess." Harrier stared at the stub of a carrot that was left. "It's something that shouldn't be present here in this time-line."

"Worse than that, the technology has been outlawed for centuries." Shepherd shrugged. "No one is supposed to have it in his time."

"Par for the course." Harrier threw the end of the carrot away. "Let's see if we can get Dodger back in action. Then we can do another raid on that place and take that thing out."

"They'll probably move it so we can't do that." Shepherd stood. "I'll get our guys looking to see if they kept it there."

"Right." Harrier stood also, pulling his hood over his bland, middle-aged face. "Let's see to it. I have a feeling this is the deadliest threat we have ever faced from the psychos."

"This might be a threat to existence." Shepherd shrugged at the look that engendered. "There has to be a reason no one uses the things in the future."

"That's a mighty good reason." Harrier shook his head. "I just wish you hadn't said it like that."

"I'll start making phone calls." Shepherd turned and headed down a side corridor. "I'll let you know if I find anything out."

Harrier nodded. He headed down the hall to the giant workshop that Dodger had built when he had first arrived in their time period. They had fought the Nazis to a cold war, eking out a form of freedom for anyone willing to fight. He had lost a lot of friends to the struggle, but he had already decided he would never give up the fight.

Dodger had given them hope with his brash ways and technology to counter what the Nazis had perfected.

Of course that knowledge had been changed by his interaction with the past. Changing the future meant changing himself beyond all recognition just by helping the freedom fighters in the past. Despite his assurances, Harrier didn't think the time traveler's guarantee of a victory for their side was as clear cut as he would have everyone believe.

"Hey, boss." Dodger waved from his work bench. "Just putting the finishing touches on repairs."

"We need to be ready to go as soon as Shepherd gets us some news." Harrier looked around the massive underground bay.

"Almost there, Harry." Marsupial pulled a wrench from his pouch. "Give us another hour maybe to finish things up."

"I'm ready to go even without a shield, boss." Dodger took the wrench and adjusted some bolts. "A shield would just be icing on the cake."

"Do what you can." Harrier nodded. "We have to take that cannon out as soon as we can. The longer the Nazis have it, the more they'll make to use on us."

"Understood." Dodger nodded as he handed the wrench back. "We'll get back in fighting shape as fast as we can. The old girl still has a few tricks left inside her."

"Good." Harrier looked around again. "Where's Treader?"

"I don't know." Dodger took a soldering gun to several busted wires in the suit's harness. "I haven't seen him in a while."

"I'll look around for him." Harrier started for the door.

Hector Hex walked into the office. He found the bright cheeriness a stark contrast to the dreary grimness of the city he had been led across. He wondered who had invented the cannon for the Nazis.

A genius must have designed and helped build the machine. He didn't see that type of person handing his invention over to tyrants without a reason. The mage certainly wouldn't have done anything like that.

"Who are you, stranger?" The man behind the desk wore a uniform without insignia. A long mustache bristled as he stared at the visitor.

"I'm here to stop whatever idiot scheme you've hatched." Hector straightened his sunglasses. "You're a threat to the universe."

"Oh, really?" The officer twisted the ends of his mustache smooth as he glared at Hex. "I don't think that will happen."

"Why not?" Hector looked around the office. Nothing magical was in effect as far as he could see.

"Because of my friend's spear and magic helmet." The officer smiled.

"Spear and magic helmet?" Hector frowned. "What spear and magic helmet?"

"My spear and magic helmet!" The wall blasted apart in a lightning strike. A man in leather armor crashed through the hole, horned helmet on his head glowing, a spear burning the air with its head.

Hex stepped back.

"Now that the shoe is on the other foot." The officer stood, hand on a firearm. "I think you need to tell me what you know about our new toy."

"You already know you're destroying the fabric of space-time." Hex shook his head. "I think we're in the stop it or else stage."

"Do you really think you can stop us?" The officer leveled the firearm. "Siegfried will rip your arms off if you don't talk."

Hex shook his head. He didn't want to fight, and reason was rapidly failing. He could try to charm them, but as soon as they snapped the spell the reality gun would fire again.

Hex jumped back, raising his hands. Eldritch energies wrapped themselves around the black clad magician. The spear and a bullet rocketed for the bubble. The bullet bounced into the ceiling tile. The spear stuck in the outer layer of the shield. The blow slid the mage back, splitting his protection without touching him yet.

Siegfried pulled the spear back to stab again. A grin lit his face. Lightning ran down his arms from the helmet.

"Oh no you don't." Hex pointed, releasing a mathematical formula of destruction. The shifting numbers ripped the air apart in a cascade of destroyed atoms.

Siegfried spun his spear to ward off the blast. The magic wrapped around the weapon, covering it with flame and lightning. His comrade ducked behind the desk, pulling the phone to call for reinforcements.

Siegfried jumped forward, stabbing out again. The move shattered the crumbling shield into strands of fading numbers. Hex fell to the floor, summoning more from his catalogue of spells.

"Time to die, blackheart." Siegfried raised his weapon again in both hands to pin Hex to the floor.

"I don't think so." A blast of wind sent the warrior across the room.

"Way to show your boyfriend how to take care of business, Molly." Hector looked around from the floor. The Theater stood at the door he had used to enter the office. Molly Cule had her air gun in hand as she glared at Denver.

"Hello, Molly." Hector jumped to his feet. The guy behind the desk fired at the gathered group in his work space. Hex blocked the bullets with his magic. "What brings you around?"

"It's the old saving the universe thing, Hec." Molly smiled.

"Do we have time for this?" The Pixie sent the desk flying into the gunman. "I would like to move on to more important things."

"You all will pay for this." Siegfried raised his spear. He slashed it down with a bolt of lightning riding the move of his arms.

Hector raised his shield again, directing it to form a mirror. That should buy them time to regroup. The lightning struck, and circled around the spear again.

Hex groaned. Maybe they couldn't take this guy the way he was sucking in energy and using it to charge up. He thought desperately for a solution.

Siegfried raised his spear. The most dangerous of his new enemies appeared to be the man in black. Once he dealt with that one, his spear would taste the blood of the butterfly wings man. Then his next target would have to be the metal girl since he wasn't sure what she could do.

Something sliced the air, yanking loose material into its slipstream as it cut through the room like lightning. It veered and flying pens and small lamps struck the field around the spear carrier. A man in purple appeared for a few seconds. That was just long enough to urge the six newcomers out of the office.

"What are you people doing here?" The man in purple took a second to examine the strangers. "Who are you?"

"We're here to ask the local regime to stop using whatever they are using before it destroys this universe and the surrounding ones." Molly Cule fired her air blower at soldiers pouring into the hall from a set of steps at one end of the floor. "It looks like that was too much to ask."

"We need to get out of here and regroup." Hector got to his feet. Someone had dragged him across the carpet in the office and he wasn't quite sure who. "I'll keep Siegfried busy while everyone else gets out of here."

"Just follow me." The man in purple headed down the hall, jumping through a window.

"You heard the man." Molly reached for the controls of her backpack as the Pixie sealed the door with his wand. Denver walked through the wall, firing ectoplasmic energy at the soldiers as he went. Molly and the Pixie followed.

The Elementalist spun a tornado in place so he could glide down the side of the building and try to keep up with his faster friends. He descended the side of the building, keeping an eye out for anyone who might want to take a shot at him.

"It looks like it's just you and me, Hector." Betty Bit launched missiles at either end of the corridor as something clanged against the metal door. "Do you want a lift?"

"We'd better leave before Siegfried realizes he can break down the walls faster than the door." Hex summoned words to keep the hall clear. His arms felt the clamp of steel and he was airborne through the wrecked windows, carried by Betty as jets burned the air behind her.

The hall went up in a ball of flame as Betty maneuvered away from the office. She looked back and saw something moving in the debris before it crashed out of sight.

"There's Molly." Betty extended one of her eyes to keep her leader in sight. "We need to group up. These people could have flying countermeasures."

"We need to keep that man in purple in sight, Betty." Hector adjusted his sunglasses, dialing in a spell to equal Betty's artificial optics. "He seemed to know what was going on, and he might have some clue how we can stop this thing."

"I have him on radar." Betty started to pick up speed. "He's faster than I am."

"I believe it." Hector touched the arms that held him in the air with his own hands. Equations flowed into the metal. Betty overtook Molly and the Pixie, throwing out grapplers to link up with them. The man in purple waited on a roof up ahead.

"Where's the rest of the Network, Hector?" Molly jetted close to Hector, carried by Betty's enhanced jets.

"They're home, taking care of their own businesses." Hector looked at his watch. "I expect them to find my note and follow me in a little bit."

"I can't believe you came here alone." Molly shook her head. "That was extremely dangerous. You almost got killed."

"Siegfried is a pushover once you know his weakness." Hector would have waved except he was supporting his weight in Betty's hands. "His helmet is what gives him that power of his."

"We take the helmet, we take him." Molly smiled. "Getting close enough to take the helmet will be the problem."

"I already have something in mind." Hector nodded at the calculations in his head.

"You just blew him up." Betty looked back at the smoking wreckage with her enhanced vision. "You don't really think he could have lived through that?"

"I'm sure he did." Hector reviewed what he had seen happen in their brief encounter, using a calculator to make sure of his thoughts. "Debris falling down on top of him might have pinned him in, but the spell itself probably did nothing beyond flinging him down to the basement."

"This was supposed to be a quick in and out." The Pixie pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. He tapped it with his wand. It grew into a white carpet big enough to hold the four of them.

"I doubt it will be that now." Molly had never pressed why he watched the clock, but it annoyed her when they were in a high stress situation and the wand wielder wanted to rush ahead to get things done. "Let's get the others together and we'll find out what we can do to fix this."

"I see Vic below us." Betty pointed at the roofs passing below. "We can pick him up first."

The Pixie dropped the transport down. Vic jumped aboard with a smile. Running across roofs didn't rate anything special in his mind.

"Let's find Denver and find out what we can from our local contact." Molly gestured, and the Pixie lifted off again, checking his watch as he did.

Harrier tapped the top of his desk. His visitors waited in a briefing hall. Treader paced the length of his office, working off nervous energy.

"What do you think, Tread?" Harrier pulled out a carrot from the top drawer of his desk. "Do you think they can help us?"

"They blew up Siegfried." Treader glanced over, hood shifting to follow his eyes. "I don't think it was a permanent thing, but the building is down which might slow the goons down until they get their back up base ready to go."

"How much do they know?" Harrier stood up, chewing on the carrot.

"Only what they could pick up from the sound of it." Treader stood still. "They say what brought them here threatened their universes. I don't know if that's true, or not, but something made them appear out of thin air."

"Let's go talk to our guests and find out what's going on." Harrier went to the door. It snapped open on its own, letting wind beat on his face as Treader moved first.

Harrier followed at a slower pace, one hand in the pocket of his gray overall, the other treating his carrot like a cigar. Strangers from a strange land blasting his enemies might just what he needed to change the balance of power. He hoped he could do that but thought that freedom was still years away.

By the time he reached the briefing room, support staff stood in the hall. He cleared the way by tapping people on the shoulder and waiting for them to clear the way. Once he could get inside the door, he closed in the faces of his ground crew. The rest of his agents had gathered in the room with the visitors. The room felt crowded with the extra people in it.

"So who wants to go first?" Harrier threw the stub of a carrot in a nearby waste can.

"I'm Hector Hex." The redhead in the sunglasses and black clothes indicated himself. "This is Molly Cule and the Theater. We have worked together before but we reside on different Earths from each other and this one. We detected a power surge and tracked it from our Earths to this one. Your agent met with us while we were trying to find out where the surge came from. I think that sums it up except that I left a note for my friends and they might show up looking for me but I don't know when that will happen."

"Treader said you dropped a building on top of a top Nazi ubermensh." Harrier walked to where he usually sat at the briefing table. Another guy in gray with goggles got up, floated to one side. Probably one of the so-called Theater. "That will put you on most watched lists across the world in a matter of hours. What were you trying to do?"

"I was hoping to talk to whomever in charge, and find out where this new weapon is so I could get rid of it." Hector frowned. "Using it disrupts reality as we know it."

Harrier sat back in his chair. The implications of the Nazis having something they could destroy the world with was enough to turn his gray hair white. That was a lot worse than what he had thought when they had tried to raid the place earlier.

"I have some good news and some bad news." Harrier checked the notes on the table in Shepherd's illegible handwriting code. He noted the setting of jaws and shoulders and knew this was something this group of people were going to deal with no matter what. "Which do you want first?"

"Let's try the bad first." The hooded man with the butterfly wings checked his watch. "That'll save us a lot of time."

"The Nazis have five of these babies according to our sources." Harrier winced at the groans going up. He forged ahead. "They're spread out around the world."

"What's the good news?" The lady mechanic in black raised her eyebrows.

"They're not ready to use the cannons yet." Harrier checked his notes with a finger. "Apparently your show put some chocks in on that for a little bit."

"I'll have to remember to demolish a building the next time I want to deal with an opera star." Hex didn't smile after the statement. "Will it be enough time to get my friends here to help out?"

"Maybe." Harrier put the notes away. "Better hurry."

Chemical Girl frowned at the set up as she walked through the underground base. The Network had assembled after she had found the note left by Hector. They had decided to follow up and arrived on the dominated Earth near where Hector had first appeared.

Hex and a guy in brown had met them on the street before Chemical Girl could rip the nearest soldiers apart with her bare hands. They were talking a lot of trash to tourists new to the planet. Hec had put the uniformed thugs to sleep so they could get out of there without a fight.

Bee Bee would have loved to shove some rifles where the sun didn't shine. That would have made her day.

"So we're going to break this Third Reich?" Chemical Girl knew she could fry anyone trying to protect the local Hitler with her angry glare.

"We're not here to change the world." Hector shook his head. He was not going to start blasting the local government. "We only want to stop them from using this dimensional technology to destroy the universe, and causing a chain reaction that will wreck our universe."

"So we're going to break this Third Reich." Chemical Girl smiled, slapping a fist into the palm of the other hand.

Hex looked up at the ceiling in a why me gesture.

The Network, The Theater, and the Free Watchmen assembled in the vehicle bay at one end of the underground base. Introductions went around as the Harrier moved to the briefing podium set up next to an old fashioned projector screen. He looked at the group as they turned their attention on him.

They were weird looking, unconventional, and ready to fight. The Resistence had been fighting the war for a long time. Maybe these newcomers could help strike a crippling blow against the Reich. Destroying the cannons would be great, destroying the regime's resources would be even better.

"Let's make this short and sweet." Harrier activated the projector, dousing the lights at the same time. "This is a picture of the target. It's three stories tall and guarded by troops of the Storm Guard. Ubermensch may be on the scene when you arrive at the designated target areas. The mission is to wreck these machines and get out. We're going to split up and take each target before they get a chance to fire them. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?"

Harrier took a carrot out of a pocket and chewed on it. Five targets, fifteen special forces, was an easy division. He didn't need to speculate on what would happen if they failed. The Nazis would use the cannons on designated targets no matter what the risk.

If they couldn't rule it, they would burn it.

"We're going to have split up in five teams." Harrier threw the half chewed carrot in a bin. "These are the locations of each cannon. Let's do this with one of my guys with two members of the other two teams please."

The next slide was a global map with five Watchmen marked in each target. Treader had Australia, Dodger was marked down for Africa, Marsupial for Europe, Shepherd would have to go to Central America, and Harrier had decided to take Siegfried on again in Warner City.

Chemical Girl grabbed Denver Dead as her partner. He looked down at her hand as she dragged him over to where Treader waited. The man in purple raised his eyebrows.

"Are you sure you're fast enough to keep up with me?" Treader raised his eyebrows at the woman in her pink, green, blue dress and the gray man in his gray overall and goggles.

"I'm already there." Denver pulled his goggles down and streaked into the ground.

"So am I." Chemical Girl headed down the launch run, leaving a rainbow streak behind her.

Treader turned, securing his helmet. He headed down the launch pad, slowly at first. Then he became a purple streak. The Watchman had not met anyone who could keep up with him before. He should have known the fastest members of the visitors would be someones to rival what he could do.

Dodger secured his own helmet, heading for his plane. That was the only way he could get to Africa in time to do any good. He expected Treader and his new partners to have things ripped apart before he got over the Atlantic.

"It looks like we're with you." Nick Number adjusted his harness. Betty Bit stood at his shoulder. "I certainly could use a lift in any case."

"Glad to have you." Dodger clicked his remote. The plane extended a gangplank. "Let's get on the road."

Moments later, the silver dart took to the air with a roar of its engines.

Marsupial and the Shepherd looked at the rest of the strangers. The one with the butterfly wings and the one with the star pattern for cloth indicated they would carry the others with a glance at a watch, a look, and shrug.

"Let's go." Pixie touched the floor. A square of concrete ripped up under himself, Joe Boxer, and the Marsupial. "The others will be waiting on us to get done at this rate."

The flying carpet drifted down the launch bay and disappeared on the way to the surface.

The Hole lifted his hands. Gravity changed for him. The Elementalist and the Shepherd floated off the ground. He rushed down the launch way, dragging his passengers behind him.

"Looks like we're the last ones left." Molly Cule made sure the communications pad for the Theater linked up with her team so she had a picture of things.

"Then let's take care of business." Hector Hex adjusted his glasses as he led them to the exit to the street.

The Treader streaked across the Pacific, kicking up a small bow wave in his wake. He looked over his shoulder. Chemical Girl flew at his right. He didn't know where Denver Dead currently was, but he expected the ghost was cutting through the earth at a rate a little slower than his current rate of travel.

The island continent of Australia appeared in a few seconds. Treader knew he could have arrived sooner without either of his new partners. He also knew that the Nazis would be ready for him. They had taken strides in battling his speed based powers. He doubted they had anything that could stop Denver Dead or Chemical Girl.

The Nazi base strobed into view, flashing as he crossed the desert. He paused at the fence. They liked to electrify it to stop him.

That didn't stop Chemical Girl who flew over the fence, heading for the weapon standing above the base. Guards sounded alarms at her rainbow trail. A beam of light struck from the roof of the headquarters building. Treader winced as she plowed the ground.

That was Acme all right.

Treader got a running start, and jumped the fence. He landed running on the other side. He headed for the weapon, alert for any more tricks. He expected something on the ground to counteract his speed. He could have gone after Acme directly, but the mission depended on taking out the cannon before it could be used.

That was exactly what he planned to do.

Bullets passed by like frozen insects as he passed. No human reflex could match his speed as he moved in the upper reaches of the kinetics world.

Treader felt himself slowing down. He looked around. Glowing lines marked a network on the ground. It seemed to be slowing him down, draining his speed away.

Treader looked around. The enemy had a bead on him as he slowed to a jog across the lighted platform. He needed to get off the trap before someone shot him.

Where was the others? He could use their help right about now.

Denver Dead burst from the ground. He ripped the kinetic trap with an energy blast from his hand before vanishing into the ether. The last thing to go was a grin like the Cheshire Cat.

Bullets described patterns in the air as Treader felt his speed come back. It wasn't enough for him to outrun the barrage. Still all he had to do was stall until he had a portion of his extraordinary speed back.

Treader resorted to catching the bullets, every second pouring more speed back into his body. He backed up, dropping spent shells on the ground. Another few seconds and he would be ready to dismantle the machine.

An explosion made everyone look up. The reality cannon belched smoke from the upper parts. A piece of shell fell off from whatever was wrecking the device from the inside.

Treader had a good idea what was going on. Denver must have gotten inside the machine and started blasting away. That took some of the pressure off him to get the job done. That meant he could help Chemical Girl against Acme.

Treader climbed the exterior of the building. He paused when he saw Chemical Girl and Acme struggling near the center of the roof. They were digging into the roof with their feet as they struggled for leverage.

Chemical Girl didn't look like it was that much of a strain to hold him off.

"I think Denver is blowing up the cannon." Treader kept an eye out for others to get involved in the struggle. "We can go now."

"You're not going anywhere, you purple pain." Acme forced the words out from between gritted teeth. "First, I'm going to deal with this girl, then you."

"Deal with this, idiot." Chemical Girl stared at Acme in his black force absorbing suit. A beam of energy sliced into the big red A on the chest. Sparks flew out in the air. The suit shrank like a punctured balloon.

Treader clapped his hands softly at the look on Acme's long nosed face. The villain looked at him. Then he looked at the mangled gauntlets as Chemical Girl's hands closed on his.

"Let's make sure Denver didn't get into any trouble." Chemical Girl brought her hand down on top of Acme's helmeted head. He dropped to the ground at the blow. "Then we can blow this popsicle stand."

"Nice." Treader looked at the assembled forces below. "I couldn't have done a better job myself."

"No problem." Chemical Girl glared at some of the nearby buildings, triggering fires with her fiery gaze. "Let's give them something else to do while we head back to the States."

Denver Dead appear in a cloud of smoke as the cannon fell over on its base. He floated over, hitching up his goggles. Fire alarms sounded in the air.

"Anything else you need destroyed?" Denver grinned slightly.

"I think we've done enough here." Treader looked across the Outback. "We have to catch up with the others and see if we can help them out."

"So we split up and catch up with them." Chemical Girl took to the air, aiming for a tower whose guard struggled to line up a machine gun on their meeting place. "Central America for me."

"I got Africa." Denver sank into the roof of the headquarters.

Treader watched as Chemical Girl smashed through the guard tower. Then he set out for Europe with his amazing speed.

Dodger's silver jet climbed above the clouds, heading for the edge of space. His eyes scanned the panels for threats from below. Satellites should turn to aim at his vehicle, but he hoped to get down into ground clutter before they fired at the plane.

"We'll be over Africa in a couple of seconds." Dodger nodded at a location beacon. "The Nazis control part of the continent from a fort near what used to be the Congo. That's where the cannon has been located from Shepherd's intel."

"How do you want to do this?" Nick Number seemed comfortable strapped to his chair. He also had an arsenal on his person from the internal security scans.

"I expect heavy ground fire from the fort." Dodger pointed at a computer simulation on a floating screen. "Maybe there will be a fighter cover. I can draw that off if you two can get inside and sabotage the cannon."

"Betty is a walking tank." Nick waved at the female robot passenger. "Don't let the girlish metal face fool you."

Dodger raised his eyebrows. The internal scans had pointed out a variety of systems that it couldn't classify other than energy and metal manipulators.

"He's bragging because I saved his life once." Betty smiled.

"I wouldn't go that far." Nick smiled. "You know how to blow up things. That's an asset in this kind of operation."

"We're almost over the fort." Dodger already thought he knew what they were going to ask.

"Have you got a way to drop us off?" Nick unstrapped and stood. "Betty can get us down."

"I have a jump door." Dodger flipped a switch. A bay opened in the belly of the plane. "I like to use it in case of a fast exit."

"We'll see you on the ground." Nick unstrapped his rifle. "Let's go, Betty. Things are about to get hot around here."

Dodger watched them drop clear from the bay before closing the doors. His radar painted fast moving targets headed right for him. He winced. The signature of the vessels told him that he was dealing with the Martian. The situation could be worse than what he had thought before he let Nick and Betty go.

Maybe he should have kept them with him.

Dodger put his guests out of his mind so he could concentrate on survival. The Martian's robot fighters were almost as good as a man. He needed every bit of focus on them so he could at least get out of this alive.

Betty and Nick would have to look after themselves until he cleared the sky of the enemy.

Dodger ignored the alarms marking missiles and ray beams were on the way as he activated countermeasures and turned out of the path of the enemy fire. He tried to ignore the number markings that told him he was alone in the sky against a fleet of the enemy.

Dodger headed right into the enemy formation, firing missiles and guns himself. He didn't expect to hit any of the Martian's hench things, but if he could scatter the formation, that might buy him some time.

Explosions rocked the silver dart as Dodger plunged into the midst of his mechanical enemies. His attack split the group, sending some of them to the earth below in flames.

Dodger's warning systems told him that his plane had taken some hits from the exchange. The steering started resisting his efforts, and it looked like he had lost an engine. He might not be able to limp home the way things were going.

He spared a thought for his new allies as he chased a Martian fighter down and blasted it through its tentacle arms. The round body exploded before falling to the ground in pieces.

Dodger looped around to engage his enemies. His task was to buy time so that Betty and Nick could do whatever they thought would take the cannon down. Explosions wracked the ground as he flew over the base.

What had caused that?

Betty Bit appeared in the smoke below. A tripod leg from one of the Martian's walking tanks rested in the palm of her hand. She smashed another of the heavy armor across its midsection as it tried to burn her up with its heat ray. It crumpled like a squeezed soda bottle.

Maybe he had underestimated his new friends.

The fighters turned to strafe the ground. Betty's attack had made the Martian realize that new players were on the board. His tanks weren't working. Maybe highflying squid things could do the job without being destroyed.

And the metal girl was wrecking more than Dodger would ever be able to do on his own.

An explosion blew parts of the reality cannon into the nearby jungle. Then the thing started to sway. Dodger smiled. The cannon fell over with thunder and the twisting of metal. Somehow they had destroyed the thing while he had battled the enemy in the air.

Now all he had to was not crash and head for home. It sounded easy when he told himself what he had to do. He didn't know if he could pull it off.

Marsupial examined his comrades on the way to Berlin. They seemed as tense as he felt. The one with the butterfly wings even checked his watch as they crossed the world at breathtaking speeds.

He hoped they were up to the challenge ahead.

"We should be where the cannon has been located by your forces soon." The Pixie checked his watch again. "How do you want to handle this?"

"I have some packages of explosives." Marsupial gestured to his pouch. "I can plant those to destroy the cannon while you two hold off the guards."

"Let the Pixie handle that with his wand." Joe Boxer nodded at the other stranger. "We can handle the guards if we have to. He can do a much better demolition job than either one of us."

"I do have some weapons for troops and soldiers." Marsupial nodded in agreement. The Pixie had already displayed matter control at a phenomenal level. "We'll have to watch out for what superhuman they will have stationed to protect the cannon."

"That'll be on me and you." Joe Boxer smiled. "This won't take long at all."

"We have jet fighters coming in." The Pixie pointed ahead with his wand. "That's no surprise. We might have to use the explosives as a back up plan."

"Take us in, Pixie." Joe still sounded confident.

Marsupial pulled out a missile launcher and readied it. He had hoped they would be able to sneak in at the speeds they were flying. Someone was on the ball in the radar room. Maybe they had stumbled across a routine patrol. Either way they were going to have to fight it out.

The Pixie spun his wand in the air. A tornado formed and leapt ahead of the flying carpet. Marsupial watched the sides of the funnel as it darkened the air with its shadow. Fighters would have to circle, which meant he could aim to the left or right unless they turned completely away from the carpet.

He didn't think that was likely.

The missile launcher locked on one of the fighters as it turned and tried to circle back on course. Marsupial pulled the trigger. The rocket blasted away, chasing the exhaust of the plane at almost point blank range for such a weapon.

Marsupial lined up for his next shot as the stone carpet chased the tornado across the sky. He didn't care if he hit anything. He just wanted to give them something to think about other than shooting at the three of them.

Marsupial loosed the rocket at the next target as soon as the indicator locked red. The pilot veered off as the missile gave chase. The Free Watchman doubted the man could do anything to escape except eject before impact.

"There's the cannon." Joe pointed to the three story structure. "Do you think you can take it out, Pixie?"

"I'll have to touch it." The Pixie directed their steed over the base. He bent the sides to give them protection from the bullets that were chasing them across the air from below. "Get ready to get off."

Marsupial put the missile launcher away as he looked for a soft spot to land. Joe Boxer's hand gripped his forearm and pulled before he could think to resist. He landed in a heap on a roof top. The other man had landed upright with no problem from the furry fury's additional weight.

"I don't know who you think you are." A costumed man appeared on the roof. He had a noticeable Spanish accent to go with the colors of his costume. "But I am going to send the both of you to the Fuhrer in boxes."

"I don't think that will make the Fuhrer happy with the rest of what's about to happen." Joe Boxer smiled. "You can walk away, or be carried away."

Marsupial groaned. He recognized the costumed man from files. He didn't think Joe had a chance against someone called Andale for his great speed. It would be like taking Treader on. They needed an easy combatant like the Martian.

Still they had to try to keep the speedster busy until the Pixie had done the job. Even if it was two extra seconds, that was two seconds more for the wand wielder.

"Do you really think you can stand up to me, hombre?" Andale smiled. "Let's see what you got."

Joe Boxer smiled, waiting, stalling for time.

The Marsupial reached into his pouch, groping for something that would help the situation. The speedster came in, swinging in a flurry of blows that would wreck a car with their speed. The furry fury pulled out the one thing he thought he needed as Joe seemed to dance around the punches aimed at him.

The Free Watchman blinked to dispel the effect on his eyes.

Joe caught an arm somehow. He swung with the other hand, machinelike in the counter. His fist landed solidly. The speedster went down, stunned by the blow. Joe punched him again to make sure he was knocked out.

"How did you do that?" Marsupial put the grenade back in the pouch.

"The first thing they teach you in boxing is how to take a beating." Joe winced as he moved from the fallen ubermensch. "Better watch the roof door in case we have someone else try to join the party."

"Are you okay?" Marsupial secured the door with a lock bar. The soldiers would have to use the fire escape or cut through the door to get to them. Snipers could shot at them from other buildings but he thought that might not be a concern as long as no one else knew they were there.

"A couple of cracked ribs." Joe trussed the fallen speedster with some effort. "Nothing I haven't had before."

The Shepherd stared uncomfortably at the ground. He preferred a plane to this flying thing they were doing. Any trouble and he would be helpless this far off the ground, carried by some supernatural agency.

Antigravity meant nothing to him.

"We should be over the target in a few minutes." The Hole floated to Shepherd's right. "Any thoughts before we head in."

"The cannon is our main priority." The Shepherd had been unable to gather who would be defending the base through his contacts, only that it would be defended. "The soldiers and the super soldier helping them will have to be secondary unless they get in the way."

"I think I can hold most of the soldiers off our backs when we reach land." The Elementalist flexed his hands. "Someone else will have to take the cannon."

"I think I can handle the cannon." The Hole looked ahead, watching the green jungle below. "That leaves you with whoever gets by us, Shepherd."

The Shepherd nodded. His power lay in his contacts and his ability to perceive things. That put him in a lower rank than people who could control the elements and gravity. He was on the team. He would do whatever he could to help out.

The trio reached a clearing in the jungle. A compound of Quonset huts surrounded the towering cannon. A power plant sat off to one side to power the device in case it needed to be used.

"Drop me off, Hole." The Elementalist took a deep breath and expelled it slowly.

The Elementalist dropped from the gravity field. He kicked his legs and air held him up on a ball of spinning wind. He touched down as the Hole and Shepherd descended toward the cannon. Soldiers sprang into action at the intruder dropping from the sky.

The Hole dropped Shepherd on a catwalk halfway up the tower before heading to the muzzle of the giant cannon. The Watchman had no idea what he intended to do but decided the man knew his own capabilities. He needed to keep his eyes peeled for trouble.

Shepherd frowned under his brown mask as another costumed figure burst from a hut. He knew the Wolf. He hadn't expected to see the darker brown costume again, but life tended to spring surprises when you least expected it.

The Wolf charged across the yard. Walls of stone formed up to keep the normal soldiers from rushing the cannon. That didn't stop the lupine villain. He vaulted over the walls easily and started up the stairs for the maintenance crews.

The Wolf wasn't interested in protecting the Reich's new super weapon. That was clear from the way he made for where the Shepherd waited.

Shepherd pulled his staff and flicked it to full extension. The Wolf leaped the last ten feet, flexing his claws in the fingers of his gloves. They glittered sharp enough to cut air.

"I have been waiting for you, Shepherd." The Wolf hunched forward. "It's time we settle accounts."

"We're only here for the cannon." Shepherd held his staff across his body. "As soon as it's destroyed, we'll be moving on."

"I don't think so." The Wolf charged, swinging his claws in an effort to cut his enemy down before a real fight could start. The staff held him at bay, redirecting the blows in the air, and across the catwalk's rails.

Shepherd retreated from the deadly finger knives. He was on his own with his partners busy with their jobs. He only had to buy some time and then the mission was accomplished. Then they could retreat without any loss of life.

"Quit running, coward." The Wolf paused in his assault. He looked around for some type of advantage as he flexed his hands.

"I can hold you off for as long as I need." Shepherd tapped the end of his staff on the metal planking of the catwalk. "You were never better at close work than me."

"We'll see about that." The Wolf leaped on the rail and used that as a springboard. Both hands came down for his enemy's face. The claws glittered as they arced through the air.

Shepherd brought his staff up to fend off the reaching appendages. The Wolf's weight took him to the ground, but he used that to monkey flip the other man further along the catwalk. The Watchman bounded to his feet before the super soldier could exploit his moment of weakness.

The Wolf hit the railing and rebounded against the wall of the cannon. He jumped to his feet before Shepherd's staff could end the fight with a stamp to the head.

The Wolf plunged forward, slicing for the arms of his enemy. He hoped to inflict cut after cut on the limbs until the man lost too much blood. The tan shirt pulled back out of reach as Shepherd moved to counter this new tactic.

The cannon began to shake around them. Both men lost their balance but the Wolf jumped forward with a stab at Shepherd's heart. The Watchman ducked under the blow, and shouldered the super soldier up over his back. He turned to find the government agent hanging on to the railing with one hand.

"I think we're done." Shepherd slammed the staff against the Wolf's fingers to make him release his grip.

The Harrier led his newfound comrades toward their target. The others should already be engaging the cannons around the world. He wondered how they were doing.

He hoped they were succeeding. Just one of those things was enough to destroy the planet. They couldn't be allowed to remain in the Reich's hands. That would be surrendering for a firing squad.

"We're almost there." Harrier looked up. He had an instinct for underground travel. "Are you sure you want to take on Siegfried by yourself, Hex?"

"Don't worry about me." The man in black pulled his lab coat straight. "If you can get Molly to the cannon, it'll be a piece of cake."

"I can get her there." Harrier nodded his cowled head. He didn't like anyone facing Siegfried on their own. The ubermensch's spear and magic helmet made him a tough customer.

"And I don't need any help breaking something." Molly smiled. "I have just the thing."

"Then let's do what we have to do then." Harrier dug into the wall and started for the roof of the sewer, carving a ladder with his fingers. He had always had a knack for pushing solids away from his hands. It had served him well as a freedom fighter. He pushed a tunnel to the surface for Hector Hex to exit and draw fire while he and Molly Cule kept going to the cannon.

Harrier pushed forward down the tunnel. He hoped Hex put on a good show so no one thought to check for where he and Molly Cule were. It would be embarrassing to be ambushed before they even reached their objective.

"This is directly under the cannon." Harrier thought he heard gunshots echoing down the tunnel. "Once we get up there, we'll be totally exposed."

"Lead the way." Molly pulled a hair dryer from her belt. "I'm ready."

Harrier started up, digging through the ground like it was butter. He sometimes wondered what use such an ability would be like in peacetime. Luckily he hadn't had to find out yet. He broke through to the upper world. He yanked Molly out of the tunnel, and pulled her toward the cannon.

Harrier and Molly pressed against a support to avoid notice. The noise from the other side of the base made him wonder if it was necessary.

"Hector must have really gone to town." Molly started for the service stairs to get to the cannon's innards. "Let's see if we can get this done quickly."

"I don't think so, my dear." The masked officer stepped from around the curve of the cannon's body, pistol in hand. He pulled the trigger. The bullet struck Molly in the chest. She fell against Harrier, pushing him against the railing of the stairs.

"You're next, Harrier." The pistol pointed at the gray and white clad Watchman. "It will be a pleasure."

Harrier pushed Molly aside, letting her drop with her back against the wall of the cannon. He didn't know if she was still alive, but if she was, he didn't want her caught in a crossfire.

The Colonel started to pull the trigger of his pistol. He wanted to gloat, but felt that too many times has his enemy slipped through his fingers. It was best to kill him while he was helpless instead of allowing him a chance to gather his wits.

The stairwell started to come apart around the three of them. The Colonel grabbed the railing next to him, swinging back up to stable footing. Harrier grabbed Molly and dragged her into the cannon as the metal popped rivets to allow some of the plating to slide out of his way.

"Thanks." Molly grabbed some of the wiring and pushed it out of the way before spraying the cannon's interior with an aerosol. "You saved my life back there."

Harrier didn't mention that whatever she had pulled had saved his life in turn. Instead he decided to satisfy his curiosity. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Bulletproof cloth." Molly continued to empty the can out into the cavernous vent shafts of the super weapon. "It's pretty handy for our line of work."

"I'll bet." Harrier looked back at the opening they came through. It was getting wider as he watched. "I think we need to move."

"No argument here." Molly dropped the empty can into the workings of the device. "We have a little time, but it's going to collapse under its own weight now."

"Right then." Harrier picked her up, moving into the cannon. He felt his footing grow soft as he plunged ahead. "Let's get out of here as fast as we can."

Harrier headed down as the cannon rumbled around him. He saw more of the rivets pop as the metal rusted away in front of him. Now that was a weapon he could use.

"How long do you think we have before the thing falls down on top of us." Harrier reached the metal base of the body. Beyond that should be solid ground.

"Not more than a minute." Molly raised her hair dryer and sent a blast of air up to knock some of the falling beams away from them. "Maybe less as gravity takes over."

"Let's get out of here." Harrier called on his weird talent, hoping that metal would bend as easily as the ground and concrete he routinely cut through. If it didn't, they were going to die.

Harrier's hands plunged into the metal. He cast it aside to form a hole to a tunnel. He decided to go down to get under the cannon and to buy time when the weight of it finally crashed down. He turned when he felt he was about to reach the sewer tunnels under the city. Molly slid down behind him, pulled in his wake as he caused his own path to open for him.

"We have to keep going." Molly pushed pass into the sewer system. "The reality cannon might break through into the underground systems with the momentum of its weight."

"Run." Harrier led the way, looking for the nearest manmade exit that they could use to clear the pipes in case a collapse happened.

The two adventurers found a ladder after running down the tunnel at full speed. A rumble behind them preceded a cloud of dust and bricks. Molly fired her air blaster back behind them as Harrier carried her up the ladder. The wall of air acted as a shield from flying debris.

Chemical Girl crossed the Indian Ocean as a rainbow. She habitually broke the sound barrier. It was nothing new for her to cross great distances at the drop of a hat. She usually didn't have the pleasure of smashing through airplanes that tried to get in her way.

She looked ahead with her amazing vision. If she caught up with Dodger's plane, she could help that team home so she could get back to her own earth that much faster.

And she liked to break things when she could. It was a perk of being a superhuman heroine.

Chemical Girl spotted Dodger's white jet and frowned. It was surrounded by flying squids. From the looks of things, it wouldn't be in the air for long if she didn't do something about it.

She looked for the members of the Network and Theater that should be on board the jet but weren't as she roared on the scene. She spotted Nick blasting some goons with his rifle. They popped under his bullets but he was pinned down behind a wrecked vehicle of some kind. Betty had sprouted a number of laser guns and was using them on fire hydrants on three legs.

Chemical Girl decided Dodger had to be rescued first. He was in the most danger. His plane was transport for the others if they could get to it. Betty would have to look after Nick.

"Betty, this is Chemical Girl." The Networker used the radio frequency they had decided on for joint ventures with the Theater in earlier adventures. "Get Nick and meet me at the plane."

"I see you." Betty concentrated her firepower to clear a path to her fellow hero. "I'm working on it."

Chemical Girl blasted through the crowd of flying machines as they tried to align weapons on her rapidly moving form. Clouds of parts and burning fuel followed her flight path as she circled Dodger's jet. He gave her a thumb's up as he held fire so he didn't hit her by accident.

Chemical Girl took stock as Betty carried Nick into the air on jets extended from her feet and back. The air looked clear for the moment. Betty had blown a number of the ground forces into fragments before the rainbow ranger had arrived. Still they were trying to regroup to mount some kind of offensive to prevent the group from retreating.

She shook her head. Nothing they could do would stop the heroes now.

"Let's get out of here while we can." Chemical Girl fried two more flying squids as Betty helped Nick onboard the plane. The mechanical girl clamped on the outer hull to act as fire support. Chemical Girl grabbed the plane and carried it out of the battle zone.

"It looks like we're losing them." Betty's numerous cannons swivelled as she waited for contact with more enemies in the sky.

"I'm going to drop you off at home base so we can find about the others." Chemical Girl lifted the plane to the edge of space and then started down. "Treader and Denver are already heading to help the others with their missions."

"They'll check in." Dodger's voice cut through their radio chatter. "Thanks for helping us out."

"Part of the service." Chemical Girl smiled. "We'll be landing in a little bit. I can see the launch bays from here."

"I have the control computer." Dodger let down the landing gear. "The doors are opening."

"I see them." Chemical Girl spared a glance for the base in the city. She almost smiled at the cloud reaching into the sky. That was Hector to the core. He tried to use the minimum he could get away using, but when he decided to blow things up, he blew things up in a big way.

Chemical Girl carried the jet down the launch shaft to the pad to one side of the hangar. She put it down gently. Betty dropped down from the back of it, pulling in her offensive array.

The door opened on the side of the jet. Dodger and Nick came out of the plane and down the steps. Dodger pulled off his helmet and put it on a work bench. Sweat dripped from his brow.

"The control board will give us locator reports for the Watchmen." Dodger led the way through the base. "We can at least see where everyone is even if we can't call them yet."

"I can tell you Hector is still going upstairs." Chemical Girl pointed at the ceiling. "I think he nuked the nazi base up there."

"I saw the cloud." Dodger nodded. "Hopefully Harrier and Molly Cule are okay in that."

"Hector probably sent them away as soon as he decided to cut loose." Nick placed his rifle next to the control console. "They'll probably be back in a few minutes."

"That's a lot of probablys." Dodger sat down at the communications board and started typing.

"No one's perfect." Nick shrugged.

"Harrier's beacon is still going so he's still alive." Dodger indicated the map that lit up on the screen. "Let me check the others."

The board started searching for the rest of the Watchmen.

Treader cut across Europe, practically burning the ground beneath his feet. He reached Berlin, aimed for the location of the tower, and streaked past anything in his way. He vaulted the wall around the base and knocked a man fleeing for his life down with an invisible fist.

Where do I get started?

Treader decided the best thing to do was get some altitude to look the battlefield over. He climbed the side of a building. He paused on the roof, wincing as the cannon fell down between its supports.

Treader looked around the shattered base, wondering where the rest of the raiders had gone. He couldn't rescue anyone if he couldn't find them.

Treader searched the buildings around the collapsing cannon. Within seconds, he stood on the roof with Joe Boxer and the Marsupial. He resisted the urge to ask how they had defeated Andele. He could get particulars later when everyone was safe.

"Where is the Pixie?" Treader waved his hand to fan the looming cloud of debris from their meeting place. "Didn't he come with you guys?"

"He's the one who caused this." Joe covered his face. "Unless he got shot, he should be here to pick us up any second."

"That wand of his can do amazing things." Marsupial waved his hands in his excitement. "We could change things around if we had one."

"You'll have to get a fairy godmother of your own." Pixie floated out of the sky, butterfly wings flapping to keep him aloft. "It's time to go."

"I just came by to help out, but things seem in hand." Treader watched as dust drifted away from the Pixie's dark suit. "We should check in with the others and see if anyone else has finished their missions."

"No problem." Marsupial dug into his pouch. He pulled out a radio. "Let me call home base and see if anyone is there."

The radio's top unfolded into an antenna that Marsupial pointed into the sky. The Watchman used the same satellite communications as their enemy. A green light told him to talk over the air.

"This is Pocket." Marsupial still had to speak in code in case the transmission was compromised by the Reich's specialists. "We are finished. Request report and update."

"This is Ford." Dodger's voice sounded grainy over the channel. "Congo finished. Regroup as soon as possible. War zone above."

The channel went dead.

"What did he mean by that?" Joe rubbed his ribs under his shirt and jacket.

"Harrier, and your friends, went after the cannon above the base." Marsupial stuffed the radio back in his carry all. "There must be a firefight going on."

"Let's get going." Joe looked around at the chaos below. "I think we've done enough damage here."

"I'll see you there." Treader waved as an afterimage. The real speedster headed out of Berlin, destroying enemy weapons as he passed.

"Let's go." The Pixie struck the roof with his wand. "We'll have to hurry if we want to keep up with him."

The building split as the roof leaped into the air at the wand wielder's urging. The remainder collapsed into the ground, throwing up a screen of smoke and dust. The brick platform headed west as fast as Santa's sleigh.

"What do we do about twinkle toes?" Joe gestured at the enemy speedster laying on the roof.

"I can keep him in my pouch until we figure where to send him." Marsupial pulled out a case. "The only other thing is to throw him over the side."

"We'll go with the pouch thing as long as you think he can't get out." Joe preferred to take prisoners, not feed them to the fishes.

"Don't worry." Marsupial opened the case. "It's like he's sleeping for a long time."

Andele vanished into the box like a rubber band snapping back to shape. When he was gone, the case snapped close. Marsupial dropped the cube into his pouch.

"That's a neat trick." Joe smiled. "How long can you keep him like that?"

"I don't know." Marsupial shrugged his furry shoulders. "Maybe forever if I have to do that. If we can end the war, I could release him into a normal prison and get on with my life."

"How long has things been like this?" Joe rubbed his ribs again, glad that one hadn't been blown into his lungs.

"Decades." Marsupial shook his head. "We have been battling the Axis since the forties. We've never been able to strike a blow big enough to make them retreat just as they have never been able to eradicate everyone who stands against them."

"We'll be over your home city in a couple of seconds." The Pixie checked his watch. "I'll have to discard the roof when we do. Too many people will be able to see it from the ground."

"Just say the word." Marsupial clapped his hands together.

"I don't think being seen is going to be a problem." Joe pointed at the cloud issuing up from the center of the city. "That's my boy."

"We'll use it for a screen." The Pixie readied his wand to swing through the cloud and gather it around their conveyance.

"Your friend did this?" Marsupial pulled out a gas mask and pulled it on over his mask. He couldn't tell how much damage had been done to the city below, but it looked horrific as the cloud expanded outwards.

"Hector can put the whammy down as hard as he wants." Joe held his sleeve over his face. "Nothing can stop him from doing that when he gets going."

The Pixie spun his wand in the cloud. The swing accumulated the particles into a vortex around the flying roof. The air became breathable as the wind carried it around their carriage.

"We're coming in for a landing." The Pixie ordered the roof to change shape to carry them into the launch bay without hitting the walls. "Maybe someone has a clue what's going on."

Marsupial stared at the cloud they had cut through. It had started settling to the ground. He wondered if anyone was alive under that.

Denver Dead burst out of the ground. He maintained his invisibility while getting his bearings. He had cut through the Earth to reach his destination, and only seeing his friend, Vic, busting heads told him he was in the right place.

He decided to help out by scattering the troops so the others could carry out whatever elaborate scheme they had cooked up.

The cannon started collapsing. Denver watched as part of it sheered away. He became immaterial as the metal raised a cloud of dust on impact. Vic waved the debris into a rock bounding toward a tank trying to roll into position to shoot.

"I think we better go." Vic created another earth wall to fend off bullets. "It looks like the Hole has done what we set out to do."

"I'm right behind you." Denver sprayed energy around the battlefield to keep heads down. "Let's get together with the others and get out of here."

The Elementalist bounded into the air. The air carried him to the edge of the debris field. He used a spin to reach up to where the Shepherd hung on with the help of his staff. Vic dropped on the rail. His hands summoned enough of a wind to get the Watchman back on his feet, standing on the rail far above the ground.

"Where's the Hole?" Vic let the air support the both of them.

"He went into the cannon." The Shepherd put his staff away. "I don't know how he caused the damage he did to it."

"He has some kind of control of gravity." Vic looked for a more piece of rubble to stand on. "We should get out of here."

"Which way?" The Shepherd couldn't fly so thought more of a land based route where he could make some calls to have friends meet them and smuggle them north.

"Up." The Hole appeared, black costume covered in gray dust. "Time to check on the others."

"Denver is here." Vic created a tornado around their flying forms to swallow any bullets that might fly their way. "I assume his group accomplished taking their target."

"We'll head up and then arch down to home base." The Hole nodded at the news. "That should be enough to give us some kind of picture of the city as we come down."

"Hey, guys." Denver Dead appeared as the wind headed over the jungle. "I'm glad I caught up with you. Everything in Australia was taken care of by us."

"We're heading back to link up with the others." The Shepherd frowned under his mask. "Where's Treader and Chemo Girl?"

"They headed to help the other two groups in Africa and Europe." It took Denver a second to figure out he meant Chemical Girl. "They should be heading home like we are."

"Hex has probably destroyed his target by now also." The Hole made sure to keep his passengers inside his field as he pushed as high as he dared into the upper atmosphere. He didn't need to breathe in space but knew that wasn't true of the Elementalist and the Shepherd.

"What about Siegfried?" The Shepherd tried to keep his eyes from the planet far below.

"Done." The Hole didn't pause to think about his answer.

Denver flew ahead. He and Vic had worked with the Network only a few times. If the Hole said Hector Hex had gone to town on somebody, he would believe it. The magician had certainly done numbers on the enemies they had faced together in the past.

Denver frowned as he saw the dust cloud descending where a city should be. He hoped Hex hadn't blown up the whole city just to deal with one guy in a magic helmet. That would be catastrophic to say the least.

He smiled when he saw people struggling away from the falling particles. It looked like there weren't any dead on the ground. Whatever had happened remained in the military base where the cannon had stood.

Denver descended into the ground, looking for the hidden base under the city. He sped along until he came across the familiar bulkhead door camouflaged to be part of the sewer wall. He streaked inside the Watchmen quarters until he found the heroes assembled in the call room.

"How are we doing?" Denver made himself visible so the others wouldn't try to do things to him.

"We're three out of five." Dodger scanned the city above with hidden cameras. "Maybe four out of five going by the pictures from upstairs."

"The Hole is bringing in Vic and the Shepherd." Denver smiled. "That definitely makes things four out of five."

"That's great." Dodger frowned. A number of cameras that should be pointed at the base from a distance remained clouded. "We might have to go up there and find out what's going on."

"Let's give them a chance first." Joe Boxer nursed his ribs under some bandages from a first aid kit. "The last thing we want to do is get caught in friendly fire."

"Especially where Hec is concerned." Nick Number checked the action on his rifle. "How secure are we from detection?"

"I put in a lot of scramblers and used tunnels with almost no connection to the real underground as a shield." Dodger indicated another board where markers told him if one of his tripwires had been blown. "We put in airlocks and bulkheads to slow down anyone who actually did find the place."

"Good." Nick sat back, closed his eyes. "The authorities are going to try to find this place real hard after this is over."

"And we won't be here." The Pixie cleaned his suit and wings with his wand before checking his watch. "We have our own worlds to return to."

"Dealing with the reality cannon ensured our future." Dodger smiled. "Take it from me that liberty has been given a big help in the right direction."

"We should get out there and do something." Chemical Girl slammed her fist into a palm. "We shouldn't be waiting around to see what happened."

"We shouldn't but we are." Joe laid down on the floor. "Hec can take care of himself. Molly Cule is bound to keep him on the right track."

"We might have a problem." Dodger looked at some beeping lights off to one side. He pressed several switches.

"What's going on?" The Shepherd stepped out of the gravity field as he and his two partners arrived at the communication room.

"We missed one of the cannons." Dodger slammed the panel with his fist. "We have to get out of here."

"How do you know that?" Joe jumped to his feet.

"Because it's firing at us from the moon." Dodger ran for his ship.

Hector Hex waved his hand. The dust around him settled. The effect carried to the edge of the cloud as the particles linked to each other and dragged down in faintly lit chains. The magic scientist rubbed his sunglasses with a clean black glove.

Hector looked around the shattered installation. Soldiers did everything but confront him. The reality cannon had fallen on a building and a fire raged. An explosion rocked another building out of his sight.

None of that was important.

The important thing was he had lost sight of Siegfried in the commotion. The last thing he wanted was to be blindsided by the man in the magic helmet. That would be a fatal blow coming from the ubermensch.

Hector heard a scream from high above him. He looked up, dialing in his vision with a spell. He smiled. At least now he knew where Siegfried had gotten too. The gold helmet gleamed as it dropped from high above the facility.

Hector gestured at the concrete at his feet. It drew in the settled dust as it reached upward. A giant hand formed at the end of a stony forearm. Block fingers wrapped around the man with the magic helmet. The captive struggled like a netted fish, trying to break the grip of the titanic appendage.

"You idiots built something that could destroy the universe." Hector shook his head. "I hope you're happy."

"I'll kill you when I break free from this, gnat." Siegfried drew in breath, focusing where to attack the stone with his tremendous strength.

"Let me help you." Hector gestured. The humongous hand flung its prisoner into the sky like a rocket. A scream followed his path until he hit a building five blocks over.

"Now let's see what we can do about never letting you build another one of those monstrosities." Hector headed for the command building. That was where the prints and files would be for this base's cannon.

Hex walked into the building. Some of the soldiers tried to get in his way. He put them to sleep with a wave of his hand. He didn't have time to deal with underlings while he was trying to complete his mission and leave before assistance arrived to deal with him.

Hector looked around until he found the repository he wanted. He erased the prints and technical layouts for the reality cannon. He put a nasty virus on the papers and inside the computer system he found in the file room. It would spread to anything that had a picture of a piece of the planet buster and erase it. Anyone trying to duplicate the process would suffer a brain lock that would lead to hideous illusions about the results of firing the thing again.

That was the best he could do. Any mage worth his salt would be able to develop a counter if motivated enough. Hopefully they would say the thing was unbreakable and keep the occupation forces looking at regular means to control their population.

Only the suicidal would want anyone to have the ability to wipe out the Earth with a press of a button.

Hector punched a hole through the nearest wall so he could drop down to the ground. He had to find Molly and the Harrier. The job was done. Once the Network and Theater had regrouped, they could head home to their respective Earths.

He hated leaving the Free Watchmen to fight on their own, but his own world needed him to help with its problems. He couldn't leave his responsibilities for an unknown amount of time to save some other Earth.

Hector was glad that he had struck some kind of blow to the machine before he went. That eased his regret some.

Hector's phone beeped at him. He answered it as he walked across the base toward the front gate. Maybe it was Molly calling him to say where she had gotten to in the confusion.

"Get out of there, Hector." Joe Boxer seemed frantic. "One of those cannons is firing on the city."

"Firing from where, Joe?" Hector looked around. He didn't see any beams of reality destroying death heading his way.

"They're firing from the moon, Hec." Joe took a breath. "We're going up there to deal with it but the city is toast according to Dodger."

"I don't think so." Hector hung up. No one was going to kill a whole city while he was around.

Hector looked where Siegfried had flown. That was where he had to go if he wanted to save as many people as he could. He wondered how he was going to turn the loudmouth into his friend in time to save the city.

Hector turned over idea after idea as he hurried toward where Siegfried had fallen. Something would occur to him.

Dodger's ship took to the sky, rocketing from the secret hideout under the city. The pilot couldn't remember anything like this from his history books. It looked like something had been left out about the time period.

He made a note to complain if he made it back to his future.

First he had to make it back.

Dodger pointed his silver jet at the invisible moon. The Hole nullified gravity's pull to allow a faster escape velocity to climb out of the gravity well of the Earth. The hull reddened from the atmosphere's touch but it wouldn't crack under the pressure.

Chemical Girl and Denver Dead flew in front of the plane. They didn't need the transport, and they were faster. Dodger pushed his ship to the limit but knew he couldn't keep up with the superhuman fliers even with the Hole's help.

"Let me lend a hand." The Pixie touched the ceiling of the passenger compartment with his wand. "We need a bit more speed."

The engines roared as the hull changed to accommodate the need for more power. The lights on the board went out and came back on one at a time as the machine reset itself. Then the silver dart took off in pursuit of its two heralds.

Dodger smiled as the moon came into view, grinned as he spotted Chemical Girl and Denver, laughed as he passed them. The Pixie's wand had produced something that would take science another century to do.

"There's the beam heading for the Earth." Nick Number sat in the co-pilot's chair. He pointed out the cockpit window. "I hope Hector has enough time to get clear."

"Will he run?" The Shepherd loomed over Nick's shoulder.

"No." Joe hung on to Dodger's chair. "He's going to try and save the city."

"What makes you think that?" The Shepherd glanced over at the fighter. Saving the city seemed impossible from what they knew about the beam.

"Cause Hector doesn't know the meaning of the word insane." Joe shrugged. "He's going to try to save the city in some impossible way that no one ever thought of trying, and wouldn't try if they had thought of it."

"You're joking." The Shepherd shook his head at the conviction in the other man's face. "You're not joking."

"We can't worry about that now." Nick pointed at the source of the beam cutting space. "It looks like we have fighters trying to cut us off."

"The Martian's saucers." Dodger checked his inventory. Everything said ready and loaded. The Pixie's charging must have reloaded ammo for his missiles and guns. They needed it if they were going to get through the screen opposing them.

"I'll go out and run interference." The Hole halted his lightening of the load. "That should help out."

"We'll go out and run interference." Betty Bit went to the airlock, pulling the Pixie by the arm. "We're the only ones who can operate in space without a problem."

"Let me gear up first." The Pixie tapped his suit with his wand. It took on a harder sheen with his mask covering his face fully, becoming featureless in the process. "Let's go do this."

"Don't worry." Betty opened the lock's inner door. "I have an idea that should help out."

"I can't wait to hear it." The Pixie followed his two comrades into the airlock. He tapped his foot as he waited for the outer door to open and allow them out into the space.

"They're clear." Vic used the door status panel to confirm the report before he spoke. "What do you think Betty's idea is?"

"I hope it's something big." The Marsupial fitted an airmask over his hood in case they had a hull breach before they even reached the moon.

Dodger nodded as the scanner pointed out the three comrades. They were in front of his future plane. That made it impossible for him to engage his weapons. He didn't want to shoot them in the back trying to shoot the Martian's saucers.

Betty expanded in front of the silver jet. An array of firepower appeared as her body restructured itself for battle. The explosions followed after that.

"I didn't see that coming." Dodger edged below the gargantuan robot, firing bullets into the flying circles that crossed in front of him. Flashes of light polarized his cockpit windshield as Betty fired her own weapons. "She better watch out for the Nazis turning the reality cannon on her."

"She's doing a number on the protection." Nick pointed out a cleared corridor to where they thought the base had been built. "Let's take advantage of the distraction while we can."

"I see it." Dodger flew into the debris field left from the robot girl's attack. Luckily the tougher hull and impact shield kept the tiny pieces of metal from punching a hole through his plane as it sped through the cloud.

A rainbow streak blasted by like the jet was a model suspended by wires in a child's bedroom. Pulses of light reached for colored stream from a crater below. Explosions followed their firing.

"Chemical Girl just took out some of the ground defenses." Nick studied the scene below. "Where's the target?"

Eyes searched for the reality cannon hidden against the gray of the moon. Dust thrown up by cannons exploding from Chemical Girl's application of brute force further obscured the objective.

"There it is." The Shepherd pointed at the moon over Nick's shoulder.

"Where?" Dodger looked at him, then the end of his finger, then his instruments. "I can't see where you're pointing."

"There's a platform at the center of the crater we're heading toward." The Shepherd dropped his hand. "It's in the center of all those explosions."

"I'll take your word for it." Dodger frowned as more targets appeared on his radar. "Looks like we'll have to deal with more goons before we can get down there and help Chemical Girl."

"I wonder how long it will be before they can fire that thing again." Joe hated this situation. There was nothing he could do to contribute to helping solve the problem. Worse, he was dependent on Dodger's flying skills not to get put in a box.

"I wonder if your Hex can save the city like you say he can." The Shepherd looked over at the bandaged Boxer.

"I didn't say he could save the city." Joe shook his head. "I said don't count him out because he was prone to pulling off some weird solution to the problem."

"I'm more worried about us at the moment." Nick's hands flexed as he watched the saucers close in to block off the assault party.

Hector Hex found Siegfried digging himself out of the rubble from the building he had hit. The magician didn't know how much time he had left. He raised both hands and put a binding spell around the carrier of the magic helmet.

Now came the part he wasn't sure if it would work.

Hector flung Siegfried into the air. The only chance he saw for the city was that the magic helmet could deflect the beam from the reality cannon with its own absorption and redirection of energy. It was a slim chance and it could kill the ubermensch but Hex had to choose either one man who might be killed when the beam hit anyway, or a whole metropolis of people.

That wasn't a choice at all.

"What are you doing?" Siegfried struggled against the bonds of glowing letters. Some of them cracked under the strain.

"I'm saving the planet from your idiocy." Hector floated after his human missile. The white glow of destruction loomed closer as he propelled the both of them faster into the sky.

Siegfried glared at the white beam unmaking the air descending on him. He struggled harder with the realization that he was going to be used as a human shield to stop the destructive power of the lance before it stuck the buildings below.

"I can't stop that." Siegfried struggled harder. He had to break the bindings if he wanted to skydive out of the way of the cannon fire.

"I hope you're wrong." Hector gestured with one hand. That sent the wiggling super soldier into the beam headfirst.

The light hit the horned helmet. The impact was nothing but a wind blowing on Siegfried's face. He screamed as his helmet tried to eat the energy invested in destroying the idea of a city from the confines of reality. The glare diminished into ribbons of light cascading around his body as he started falling to earth.

Hex didn't try to catch his enemy. He didn't want to come to close quarters with a powered up Siegfried. That would be tantamount to shooting himself. And unless he wanted to go all out on combat spells, it was better to find Molly and Harrier and catch up with the others.

Siegfried would survive the fall with the energy he had stored up from the absorption he had been forced to do. Hector was sure of that from their earlier confrontation.

Hector hoped the others could take care of the cannon before it fired again. He had no idea if Siegfried could be used to block another beam. He might not survive another hit.

Hector didn't really care about that, but you didn't use a bat if you knew it would break against the first solid pitch.

The magician descended at a slower rate than his tool. He took the time to scan for Molly with altered sunglasses as he floated downwards. She should be easy to pick out against the rest of humanity with her otherworldly signature. A smile crossed his face when he found her.

Siegfried hit the roof of a skyscraper and kept going. Hector didn't spare a glance that way. The helmet head could look after himself well enough.

Hector dropped down in an alley a few blocks away. Harrier and Molly watched the street for enemy activity before trying to get to the manhole in the center of the street. Obviously the gray watchman didn't want to show where they had entered the underground by using his talent.

"How's it going, guys?" Hector dropped to the concrete floor of the alley. He looked for soldiers trying to find the three of them in the concrete jungle.

"What happened?" Molly smiled when she turned her attention on the magician. "Everything went up in a cloud of dust when we collapsed the cannon's superstructure."

"I had to take care of some things." Hector smiled back. "The others went to the moon. How do we help them?"

"We'll need to find a spaceship to get out of the atmosphere." Molly's face went blank as she thought. "We could build something with the right supplies."

"By the time you do that, it'll all be over but the crying." Harrier chewed on a carrot as he watched the street.

"Harrier's right." Hector grimaced. "I could use magic to get us something that will at least carry us to orbit."

"If things have moved to the moon, we should at least try to get there to help out." Molly tapped a cheek.

"Let's see what we have to work with around here." Hector looked the alley over. There had to be something he could use to build his ship on.

"We can use the dumpster for a body if we could make it airtight." Molly joined the magician in his inspection. "We'll need some kind of engine to carry it up."

"We can use these trash cans as engine casings." Hector pointed to the cans full of trash next to an office backdoor.

"We'll need control surfaces for steering." Molly pulled out a pad and pen. She drew a quick design in a couple of seconds.

"There's still a matter of time." Harrier frowned at the both of them, his mask hiding his expression. "You guys are talking about building a spaceship in a couple of minutes."

"Nothing simpler." Molly handed her simple blueprint to Hector. "We already have the knowhow."

"Magic gives us the tools." Hector looked at the drawing, made some changes with his own pen, gave it back. "Nothing could be simpler."

"Really?" The Harrier couldn't believe he was having the conversation. Could the two of them make a ship out of alley garbage?

"Stand back and be amazed." Molly looked at the altered drawing. She nodded her approval. "Show him, Hec."

Hector smiled as he lifted his hands. Letters blazed as millions of tiny hands appeared in the air. They surrounded the three major components of the proposed starcraft and started working on it. Tiny tools appeared and disappeared as the hands worked their way along the sides, top, and bottom of the welded together pile.

One by one, the hands blinked out as their part of the project was done. When they finally all disappeared, a gleaming object the size of a car stood on metal kickstands under the twin engines and the cockpit.

"Looks good." The Harrier smiled. "But I don't think it's big enough for the three of us."

"That's easily fixed." Hector waved his hand.

Denver Dead crossed space behind Chemical Girl. He glanced over his shoulder at the giant Betty Bit blowing holes in anything in her way. Good thing it was rare they needed that kind of firepower at home. He could see a couple of his rogues taking the robot girl over for a night on the town.

At least the Martian's lackeys had never seen anything like a flying battleship before this. He was surprised they didn't break and run as she roared down on them.

Denver flew through any saucer that got in his way. He paused long enough to blast the engine before continuing after Chemical Girl. That would take the crews' attention off fighting and focus it on fixing their fighter before Betty arrived.

He wished them luck on that as he descended to the moon.

Chemical Girl was everywhere, dealing damage with her dainty fists. Denver decided to concentrate on the thirty story tall cannon in the center of things. If he took that down, they could retreat from the moon.

He hoped there wasn't another one hiding out somewhere else.

Denver decided the best way to take down the cannon was to fire at the base. Maybe if he could cause a backlash, it would blow up. Maybe he could make it fall down.

He admitted he wished Molly was around. She was a wizard at this science stuff.

Denver started blasting the bottom of the tower. He aimed for supports so the weight of the thing would pull it like chopping a piece out of a tree to make it fall. The lesser pull of the moon's gravity should help his plan a little.

Denver applied his energy beam back and forth as he concentrated on his task. A pie wedge appeared in the metal as slivers floated gently to the ground from the wound he was cutting. It looked like his plan was working.

Light beams passed by Denver as he flew back and forth. He paused to look around. Some of the base's defenders had suited up to fire blasters at him. He had to do something about that before he could finish taking down the cannon.

Maybe he didn't have to do anything about it at all.

Denver turned and passed through the cannon's outer wall. He pulled himself together inside the behemoth. There was more than one way to collapse a building.

Denver started blasting everything around him. Cables snapped, machinery blew out, electronics fractured under the hammer blows. It wasn't a lot of damage singly. The accumulation caused the lights to go out in some of the sections as he continued on his rampage.

Denver knew that the base's technicians would be working on trying to regain service. He just had to keep shooting and hope to outstrip their efforts to reroute around what he was doing.

Hopefully the others were gathering a lot of attention to what they were doing rather than trying to concentrate their efforts on stopping him.

Denver blasted away with abandon. He had to keep going like no one was helping him. That would keep him from waiting on the others to help out. If they caught up with him, that was fine. If they didn't, he was still taking care of business.

A familiar face appeared. Denver smiled at Chemical Girl glaring down on him. He waved.

Chemical Girl pulled the rent wider so she could enter. Energy blasts followed where her eyes looked. Metal and plastic melted in the path of the beam. She kept going, not waiting for Denver to fall in at her side.

The Gray Ghost laughed in the vacuum. He should have expected that. Chemical Girl was almost as impatient as the Pixie.

The two of them blasted through the cannon's innards. Machines on spindly legs arrived to try and stop them. The heroes cut through them on the way up towards the barrel of the cannon. The spiders tried to fight back with their own energy blasters that popped out of their bodies. Their robot reflexes were no match for the comet speed of their enemies.

Denver and Chemical Girl cut through the length of the barrel as they launched out of the opening of the cannon. They paused to take stock of the damage they caused.

Chemical Girl circled her finger to indicate they should take another turn around the cannon. Denver Dead nodded to agree. This was one moon base that had seen better days.

That was when missiles from Dodger's plane arrived. The projectiles struck at the base of the tower. Explosions rocked the reality cannon. Then the thing started to tip over. More missiles flew in to finish the job.

Denver smiled at the overkill. Time to get out of Dodge in his opinion.

Then Betty arrived. All of her firepower concentrated in one single cannon. It was the size of a head on Mt. Rushmore. Then it started to charge up to fire.

Denver grabbed Chemical Girl and pulled. He wanted to be far away when Betty did her thing. He hoped the troops below took the hint and got away from ground zero. He doubted any defense would stand up to what she was about to do.

Denver closed his eyes as a flash lit up space. When he opened his eyes again, the reality cannon had vanished in the center of a small crater in the middle of the bigger crater where the base still partly stood. He was slightly amazed at the precision of the blast.

Denver targeted one of the remaining saucers as the group retreated from the blast zone. They had struck a blow for freedom and saved the universe. Blasting stuff was a great perk.

epilogue

The three groups gathered together in the Watchman headquarters. The common consensus was that a celebration was in order. The Pixie checked his watch and silently disapproved, but the rest started cooking and trying to set up a poker game.

The Shepherd set up a television to watch how the authorities spun the situation. No way would the Nazis admit their most powerful weapon to date had been destroyed by rebels. He wondered if the heroes had cracked any of the facade that surrounded the invincible Ubermensch.

That would be a bonus.

The heroes told stories of their adventures. Molly, Hector, and Dodger went over the trash shuttle. It rested in the hangar beside his own silver dart. They had used it to catch up with the others but had arrived too late. Chemical Girl cooked with her heat beams, turning the steaks over as soon as one side was done.

The poker game started after dinner. More tales from the multiverse filled the room as the chips flew from one hand to the next. Finally the Shepherd and Hector were the last ones left. A raise and call netted Shepherd the last pot.

Finally the groups had to break up and return to their own Earths. The Theater and Network gathered together. A dimensional shift left the Watchmen wondering about their own future.

The next day, the government news agency reported riots in the night. Someone had shown the public that the authorities were willing to destroy their own city to deal with one man. Army troops were strained to the breaking point around the world.

Resistance cells moved on targets to put more stress on the authorities. Men in uniform realized that this was the time to turn in their resignations as more and more of them were assaulted. Someone had gotten to the Chancellor's headquarters and bombed it.

Harrier put in a call to other cells. They didn't need any superhuman assistance at the moment. After saving the earth, the Watchmen were allowed to take a day off and find a bigger target after things had settled. This might be the start of the end was the common hope.

Harrier hoped so too. It meant he could finally retire after decades of being on the run and conducting vigilante operations against the legitimate government. It might be nice to be able to mow the lawn, sip some tea, lay in a hammock.

It would also be grand not to have to worry about disappearing in the night for no other reason than you might be someone of interest.

That was a change worth fighting for if someone was allowed to fight.

The Harrier put his paperwork together. He put Shepherd on finding targets they could use to turn the pressure up. Marsupial and Dodger were going over the jet for flaws. They already had plans to incorporate the trash plane into a piggy back for the dart. Treader had vanished for the day.

The speedster could be doing anything, but there was a real possibility he was helping the riots behind the scenes. Nothing could change things faster than someone disarming one side of a fight.

Harrier hoped he didn't get caught but knew that Treader was doing the right thing. Someone had to be helping the civilians take back some of what was their's again.

Harrier settled in his office, listening to the radio, typed things from his notes. The reality cannon had been destroyed right down to design patterns in computer programs. That was effective and a little bit scary. He made a note if he met Hector Hex again not to tick the man off.

He didn't want to disappear without a trace just like those prints.

Harrier put his feet up, leaned back in his chair, and put the typing away for the night. He could do the rest tomorrow. That night he could take in a show, maybe watch a race, or even walk around the city with nothing better to do than look at things.

The war had dragged on for so long, he wasn't sure he even knew what he was fighting for sometimes. He had always hoped for an uprising. Now that it was here, how long would it last? Would Americans throw off the conqueror's yoke?

Harrier listened to the radio. He wasn't given to regrets so wondered where this mood had come from. Why should he care that people were finally saying something about their government? He had signed up to free his country from oppression. As far as he was concerned, the job wasn't done yet.

Nick Number had told him about his America. It wasn't perfect, but a man wasn't shoved in an oven because he didn't agree with what Washington said. That sounded like the ideal place that the Watchmen were struggling to build. All they needed was to drive their enemies from their shores and rebuild some of what they had lost.

Harrier hoped that dream came true in his lifetime. He would love to see it.

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