Chapter 56

The door to Amanda Spence's lab broke up. White Canary, Miss Martian, Batgirl, and Troia arrived at the lab, ready to corner Amanda Spence. Only she was gone, and that was a huge problem.

Batgirl took out a scanner and swiped the air. Several things blipped to life. Batgirl scanned a metal panel on the side of the wall.

"She's been here recently. And she left through her. And….."

"LOOK OUT!" Troia yelled.

A box broke open and three drones appeared on the ground. One of them scanned White Canary and then released a sonic pulse which forced the heroines to scatter.

"Great, that's what we need right now!" White Canary grumbled. "Mini Amazo-Drones."

Well, Ivo's technology was getting a lot of work, even if the man himself had been locked up for the time. They dodged another blast and White Canary tried to get behind the drone in question. The drone released a force field which prevented White Canary's direct assault.

Troia lassoed on the drone only to have to dodge the heat vision which fired from the creature.

"Keep those off me!" Batgirl yelled. "I'm going to see what Spence is up to."

Troia withdrew a sword and so did the drone. The drone levitated the sword straight at Donna to block the shot and sent her back. The Amazon Princess screwed her mouth shut along with her eyes and looked agitated at this sword just coming straight at her at the force of light almost smashing down into her.

M'gann managed to latch onto one of the drones and try and phase through it. Only a pulse of energy prevented her from going completely intangible.

Batgirl at the computer, felt the hairs at the back of her neck prickle up. The three women behind them dealt with the drones, which had been programmed to deal with the three of them individually.

"Switch!" White Canary yelled. "They can only handle one power set at once."

Troia, White Canary, and Miss Martian switched drones, which confused it. The feared the drones were only meant to keep them occupied for a short amount of time. Troia powered through the sonic cries of her drone and smashed into it. Miss Martian disabled the sword of the other drone. And White Canary slammed the damn thing into the wall to cause sparks to fly when it connected.

The moment the group of women caught their breath. White Canary walked over to the computer and put her hand on Batgirl's shoulder.

"Any luck?"

"Spence has modified the original Aresia plague. And modified it to wipe out any Green Martians. But, I think this strain looks unstable. She could have created a bioweapon to wipe out something."

"And she just handed it to my brother, who will release it," M'gann said. "He's going to kill Mars."

"Not only Mars," Batgirl grimly stated.

They might not have to worry about Darkseid, because there might be a less than five percent survival rate once M'comm unleashed the plague.

"You should see this."

Genesis lead Lena through the portal. The moment Lena arrived, she saw something that made her heart stop. Harry on the ground, with strange runes burned into his skin and his eyes glowed. And in the corner, was Selene, who watched him intently.

"What did you do?"

Lena rushed over to Selene to confront her. However, Selene did not miss a beat.

"I told him what he needed to do to have the strength to kill Darkseid," Selene said. "Which needs to be done if we're to survive as a planet."

"You'll kill him!" Lena snapped.

"He comes from durable blood, he'll be fine."

Lena almost reached out to grab Harry. Selene held her back and gave Lena one of those looks which made her sigh. Harry's eyes snapped up and the runes carved into his body flickered.

"I'm becoming one with the Source. I am it. I am the Anti-Life. And I can see it. The Titan's gift, the one which I can use to strike down Darkseid once and for all. It's so close I can….arrgh!"

Harry snapped back to life, his fingertips close to the object in hand, but he was back to square one. Lena rushed over towards him.

"Harry, are you…."

"I ALMOST HAD IT!" Harry snapped. "Sorry, sorry, it's just, we have to stop him. We're failing them. Claire, Sam, everyone, the more time I'm…."

"You have an incoming message from the Team," Genesis told him. "You want me to put it on."

Harry straightened up. They would not be calling him unless it was something the Team could not handle.

"Yes, please put it on."

"Harry," Sara said. "M'comm has a virus. It's the old Aresia virus, only modified. Barbara believes that it could wipe out all of humanity. I'm sending it to you right now."

The formula had been sent through. Genesis, Lena, and Harry all read the formula.

"The probability for Earth's survival is not high if M'comm releases this virus," Genesis said.

"Some will, but most won't," Harry said. "We need to stop M'comm. M'gann, are you there?"

"Yes, Harry, I'm there."

"He's your brother, but...if you want to sit this one out, you should," Harry told her gently. "Because, I'm not going to hold back."

"I understand...but I have to be there," M'gann said. "It has to be me, I have to bring him to justice."

"I hope that it would never come to that," Harry said. "I'll be in touch. Let me know once you find him."

Harry kept half of his focus on the incident with M'comm, with the other half drifting back to Darkseid. He was so close to that, something was missing.

"Maybe I should be out there, leading them," Harry said.

"In your condition?" Lena asked.

Harry moved over to the chamber and prepared to suit up. He could not live his entire life in isolation. He might not be at a hundred percent physically and mentally, it was another matter entirely, but he had to be out there.

"Once we transport the device to Mars, you will get the Kingdom you deserve."

Finally, a giddy Modred broke into an ear to ear smile. He would get everything that was coming to him. With the bomb locked into place, almost ready to be transported to Mars, Modred could see a glorious new world. A kingdom which he would rule even longer than he waited for it.

"This is your moment of triumph as well," Modred said.

"I can take back Mars, yes," M'comm said. "The Whites will finally reign supreme and the the Greens will fall. Thousands of years of oppression will finally be righted when the Green Martians fry and we take back Mars."

"Yes, it's glorious."

"You are a glorious fool, Modred."

The one and only Doctor Doom appeared in front of Modred. Modred looked at Doom. Smug. He did not have to take any orders from Doom anymore.

"I've done what you've failed to give me, what mother has failed to give me," Modred said. "I've done it all on my own and there's nothing that could stop it."

"Look at this virus and look at the results of this simulation."

Doom's gauntlet rose up and caused Modred to look at it. He watched the virus being released, and humans dying, Martians dying, and then at the end, the White Martians with M'comm in the lead stood over two barren worlds, in triumph. Littered with Green Martian and human corpses alike.

"No!" Modred snapped. "This is envy. M'comm promised me a Kingdom. How can I have a kingdom if….."

"If two worlds are destroyed?" Doom asked. "Because, M'comm never intended for you to have what he wanted. He used you to craft the device which would bring about your own destruction. This virus will wipe out Mars and Earth, leaving both planets barren of any life. Other than the White Martians."

Modred was about ready to fume. How dare Doom try and do this. Rip apart his moment of glory? How dare he, how dare he?

"Precisely. Why have one world, when we can have two? Call it rapirations."

The arrival of several ships popped up in the skies. They had been waiting for some time. With Earth's defenses weakened by both the Reach and later the Kree, it allowed the Imperium to slip in undetected, at the right moment.

"We will discuss this later," Doom told Modred. "After I save the world and fix the mess of your own foolish creation."

Doom grabbed Modred by the ear and dragged him off. M'comm teleported about the ship and faced his White Martian brothers.

"It's time," he said. "Time to take back what is ours. We have nothing holding us back, but our chains, and we are going to release them today. And we will fry the Green Martians along with the unworthy humans on this planet."

Harry stepped into the picture to meet the entire assembled Team. What the World considered to be the Justice League had been ready to deal with another alien invasion. M'gann walked up to meet Harry before he addressed the entire Team.

"Are you sure you're ready?" Harry asked.

"I was….about to ask you the same question," M'gann said. "I hope I can go through with it."

"If you won't, I have to," Harry said.

"Right," M'gann said.

M'comm crossed the point of no return when he had this virus created. Even if he was ignorant in the full potential, he was still ready and willing to wipe out an entire race in the Green Martians. That proved just how damaged he was. A crazed animal and it was M'gann's responsibility to fix that.

"Alright, everyone, we….we have another problem."

The scanners came up and this caused the blood of the most senior members of the Team to go cold with a startling sense of Deja-Vu. White Martian ships were popping up all over the area.

"Oooh, why did it have to be this?" Whitney asked with a shudder.

Artemis, who just returned from her trip with Jade, viewed the ships. While it was only a simulation last time, reality imitating the simulation chilled Artemis to the bones.

"Superman, I wish to speak with you."

And then Doctor Doom appeared in front of them. Harry scanned Doom, but naturally he was not there in the flesh, and rather a three-dimensional hologram.

"I've interrogated Modred about his part in this invasion," Doom said.

"Oh, that little cockroach," Zatanna grumbled.

"I share your sentiments, Miss Zatara. But, I will ensure he will learn a very painful lesson right now. Here is everything I have about the virus and it's capabilities, along with the location of M'comm's base of operations. That is where he launched the invasion, and I trust the Justice League will do what they do best."

Doom sent the information to Harry along with Sara and Mareena. The three team leaders knew what they had to do right now.

"I will return to my people and prepare for the invasion. Although, I pray for your sake, you do not have me fully test the security around my country. Now, leave and save this world. Perhaps this time, you won't fail Superman."

Doom flickered out of the room just as suddenly as he appeared.

"Real peach that one, "Artemis commented. "So, can we trust me?"

"Yes, about this," Harry said.

While Doom had no reason to lie, they all had their misgivings. Harry had a full house of Team members and former League members as well. With one notable exception. There was no Impulse, Impulse was there.

'Nora, where are you?'

"Okay, so you didn't grab Spence and now the White Martians have a super virus. The mode's like super crashed right now, but I can fix it."

Impulse zoomed downstairs to the Penthouse to a containment cell. She had to take a calculated risk right now. Her fingers zoomed against the edge of the lock and sprung it open. Aresia sat up from her book and turned her attention to Impulse.

"Why are you opening my door?"

"We have a bit of a problem."

Nora flashed the formula the rest of the team saw. M'comm's virus.

"He's opening a Pandora's box," Aresia said. "That virus is unpredictable enough without his modifications. I made a serious mistake."

"Yes, and you can help take him down," Nora said. "You really can do good, make this right?"

"How do you know I even want to make this right? I should not even get a chance….."

"Because, you told me you wanted to make this right," Nora said. "In the future….yeah did I ever mention I'm from the future."

Aresia's stomach turned. She was not sure how much she understood time travel, but one thing Aresia understood was how much damage she caused, thanks to this Virus.

"Take me to them."

Oh, Aresia hated to face so many people she hurt through her actions. But it was time to take her medicine.

A crippling anxiety spread over the most senior members of the Team as the White Martian ships hovered. They were moving North.

"This looks familiar," Sara said. "Way too familiar."

"Yes," M'gann said. "It does, but it won't end the same way. Not this time."

The only difference was M'gann did not face her brother. She could barely face the faceless, nameless White Martians in the simulation which Doctor Destiny almost murdered them in.

"We've grown since this time," Mareena said. "We can take them down."

"By any means necessary," Harry repeated. "Oh, there you are."

Impulse turned up and the members of the team just stepped back to face Aresia. Donna in particular eyed her a bit more anxiously than the rest of them.

"I'm here to help," Aresia said. "We have to stop it. I have to...fix this. Lock me up and throw away the key afterwards. I'm not going to run. I'm not going to stop you. But we have to stop M'comm."

Yes, they did, and yes they will. Time to replay one of their greatest challenges. Only this time, there was no failsafe switch.