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The dimension that held the Crime Syndicate and the Lawless League was a ghostly place where they all watched and fumed in helpless rage, as they couldn't touch a thing.
"This is all Luthor's fault!" ranted Ultraman -- the last son of Krypton named Kel-LL -- as he sought to use his power to break what he could not touch.
"Yes, he tricked us all, but he kept his word," sneered Owlman, alias Dr. Thomas Wayne. "He agreed not to send us back to that prison bubble if we helped him fight the Lawless League, and -- true enough -- when we beat them, he sent us here instead."
"I hate that in a man--" said the sultry Princess Diana of Sanctuary Isle, who was better known as the man-killer called Superwoman, "--honor!"
Charles Drake, the ex-police scientist whose stolen helmet had granted him superhuman speed, agreed. "Yeah, old Luthor is a real paragon of virtue, but he still managed to make us do his dirty work for him," he muttered.
"He's not so bright," said Ray Palmer, the Microbe. "I'll bet I could create something to prove that to the world."
"What are you gonna do, Ken Doll? Shrink him to death?" mocked the man called Power Ring.
"It was my scientific genius that enabled all of you to beat the League," snapped Microbe. "Without me, they trashed you and made you live different lives under the cloud of amnesia!"
Owlman was silent. He would never admit it to his hardened allies, but during the year they had spent as amnesiac nobodies he had formed a paternal relationship with a young boy named Rick Zucco, and he had made this orphaned son of a gangster boss his partner, Raven. Together they had dominated the Gotham City crime world and had waged war on Big Jim Gordon's mob. He missed the boy. He wished he could do more now than just watch as Rick trained relentlessly in Wayne Manor while cared for by their French maid, Helena Pennyworth.
Charles Drake had met up with his old boss, a police scientist named Barry Allen who had invented the adrenal charging helmet that gave Drake his speed. He had once killed Allen's loyal wife Iris when she would not betray her husband, and he had never regretted a minute of it. He had written Allen off as a spineless, brainy wimp. However, he had been wrong. Allen had used his considerable brilliance to become the multi-talented Rogue. He had developed weapons of amazing variety all to kill Drake, or Johnny Quick as he called himself. He had nearly succeeded in trapping him in a weird mirrorverse forever until Palmer had retrieved him with his offer to join their team.
The silent Martian Murderer spoke rarely. When he did, they listened. "I can get us out," he said.
"Good," said Ultraman. "Then I'll peel Luthor out of his armor like a grape!"
They turned to the white-skinned hulk known only as the Martian Murderer. He had been plucked from a prison on his homeworld of Mars by a desperate Alexander Luthor. The sole superhero on this world, Luthor had hoped to employ the alien in his war against the Lawless League, a group of other-dimensional villains who had threatened to conquer the world as well as the fallen American nation. The Martian Murderer had aided the Syndicate in defeating the League, but he had destroyed the machine Luthor had built so no one else from his home could follow him.
Now he spoke in deep tones. "My mental powers have finally reached the weak mind of Johnny Thunder of Earth-1. He was the one who brought the League into being, and now he alone can free us. He lingers still in the wrecked White House. They have elected a successor to the late President Hart. President Geraldine Ferraro has taken office. She has used Thunder to explain and remove the various weapons and artifacts his League established in the White House. Thus I have mentally dominated him, and he should free us even as I speak. See?"
They smiled in approval as the slim blond man in green activated the Phantom Zone projector that had been secreted in Hypernion's lab. The super-Kryptonian from another dimension had brought the device with him as a memento of his doomed home. Unlike Ultraman, that alien had truly mourned the loss of his world, while Kel-LL's own brilliant, evil father had deliberately destroyed his own Krypton.
They flickered back into solidity as Power Ring shattered the projector with a massive, green energy fist. "I'm never going back to that nowhere land again," he vowed.
Johnny gulped. "Gosh! The Crime Syndicate!" He started to run, when Johnny Quick zoomed around and picked him off the floor at top speed.
"So who wants to murder the punk?" he asked.
"Say, you can't do this!" cried Johnny.
"Thunder, your magical powers ended when your good-hearted counterpart of Earth 2 reclaimed the Thunderbolt," sneered Owlman. "The last wish you made was to create your Lawless League, and they remain trapped in the Zone," He turned to his partner in crime. "Johnny Quick, release him. He can alert President Ferraro that she may start shaking in her high heels, because the Crime Syndicate walks the earth anew."
Ultraman said, "What's first? Kill the blonde broad?"
"Perhaps, but I have an idea," said Superwoman. "What about Luthor? Should we not deal with him once and for all?"
Ultraman's brutish features grew darker. "Yeah! I want that old man to suffer. He played us for fools."
Microbe grinned at Johnny Quick. "Like that's hard to do..."
Ultraman turned to the shrinking scientist. "I have super-hearing. I'd watch my mouth if I was you. You could become cat food easily enough."
The Martian Murderer actually smiled slightly as they dropped off
Thunder
and flew off in Power Ring's energy bubble.
A lovely blonde girl wearing a pink teddy sat up in her bed and screamed, "They're back! Oh, no! They're free once more!"
Her name was Lena Luthor, and she was the precognitive sister of Alexander Luthor, the brilliant scientist who had waged tireless war on the Crime Syndicate as Earth 3's only superhero. He and his wife, Lois Lane Luthor, rushed into the girl's room in his underground Fortress of Science.
"Lena, honey, what is it? Another bad dream?" He knew she often dreamt of the day Power Ring had unknowingly killed their parents when he blew up a road. She could never forget or forgive the Crime Syndicate for that terrible act, and her psychic flashes often foretold their grim actions.
"Alex, they're free from the Zone!" she cried. "I saw them in battle. They almost killed you!"
Lois Lane Luthor had been a star reporter for the Daily Planet before she wed Alex, and she trusted Lena's visions like she had once trusted her own reporter's instinct.
"Could they be loose?" she whispered.
Alex hugged both women tightly. They, along with the child growing in Lois' womb, were his own family. He had been alone for years in his lab before young Lena had moved in with him and Lois had entered his life. And now he'd risk his very life to keep them and his world safe from the monsters of the Crime Syndicate.
"With my armor so damaged, I've been less sure of my sensors," he said. "The Zone ray is so alien. I'm not sure if my alarms are effective or not."
A green-hued, bald android entered. He looked pained, even though he was an artificial man, a humanoid built by Luthor to add him in his fight for truth and justice. He was known as Brainiac, but because of his amazing human emotions and kindly personality, he preferred the name John Smith. He loved Lena, although they had never acted upon their shared feelings.
"Lena, I fear you are correct," he said. "My sensors registered the alarms minutes before your cry reached me. The Syndicate is free. Do not fear, however. We are securely hidden here below the surface. I shall never let them harm you."
"Then the rest of my vision must be true!" Lena screamed again. "Oh, Alex, they're going to kill you!"
Alex and Lois exchanged worried looks over the trembling blonde girl's shoulders.
Alexander Luthor could only soothe Lena's fears and see that she dozed off to sleep. He and Lois left the girl's room and huddled closely together outside. Alex gazed at the woman who had so changed his life. He had never imagined with all of his gifted and visionary skill that he would ever have such a loving relationship. He had been alone for so long. He had written off his life as that of a solitary man of science, and in a few short years he had seen that life change as he assumed the roles of hero, husband, and father.
Now as Lois held him close, he said, "Her fears are the product of her trauma. She is deathly afraid of losing me or anyone she loves to the Syndicate because of our parents. She can't forget that day when they died due to Power Ring's careless rampage. I'll be fine. Don't worry -- I'll stop them."
"I believe in you," said Lois. "I believe in your talents and courage and intellectual gifts. I also have faith in your inner nobility, but I also wonder how can you defeat those odds. The Syndicate are killers with a hatred for you that rivals their inner hatred. I can see you winning, but I also wonder if Lena isn't right. Won't those monsters kill you one day?"
Alex shook his head. "Brainiac has been a miracle worker. He has been working non-stop in the lab on something that we think may counter the powers and numbers possessed by the Crime Syndicate. I was hoping to have it tested more completely before we showed it to you, but I want to ease your worries."
He led her toward the central lab of the Fortress of Science. He had built the massive structure beneath the earth in an effort to create a haven and a base from which he could wage his war against the Syndicate.
Brainiac smiled as his friend entered. "Greetings, Alex, Mrs. Luthor," said the synthetic man. "I believe it is time for us to unveil our newest creation, is it not?"
Alex smiled and took down a curtain to reveal a strong but inert humanoid figure.
"You said you feared the very powers of the Syndicate could kill me? Well, this new ally of ours may just allow us to turn those incredible powers against the fiends who have used them so long to dominate our world. You see, he has all of their powers within his unique robotic frame."
The android stood tall with a nearly bare chest covered only by a green and yellow vest. His brown pants and boots looked like those of a soldier, and that was what he was designed to be -- a one-man army built to bring down the Crime Syndicate upon their escape from the Phantom Zone.
"You mean this creature has all of their powers?" said Lois as he noticed a golden lasso at his hip and a green ring glowing from one finger on his right hand. "Amazing!" she gasped.
"Close," said Brainiac. "We call him Amazo."
Brainiac nodded as Lois Luthor came closer to the muscular figure. He was handsome, and his expression, although benign, showed no recognition of the world around him.
"He is a synthetic man," explained the increasingly humanlike Brainiac. "Although you cannot perceive them with the unaided eye, his skin is covered with what I called absorba-cells. They literally soak up superpowers. Thus, he can do anything the Crime Syndicate can do... in theory. It is our hope that Amazo will equal the odds when next we face our ruthless enemies."
Alex nodded. "He can adapt or generate their weapons, too, like the ring or the lasso."
Lois said, "Is he asleep?"
Alex chuckled. "Well put. Your report skills have never deserted you. He does indeed sleep in a kind of electronic oblivion, but that should end when we wake him up, like so."
The hero of Earth-3 activated a complex weave of wires and switches, and his creation stirred.
"Why have you disturbed me from my electronic sleep?" gasped the synthezoid. "This state is not one I choose."
"Amazo," he said calmly, addressing the android, "I am Alexander Luthor. This is my wife Lois and my friend, Brainiac. We have not disturbed your rest as much as we have awakened you to a new and exciting life."
Muscles that could shatter steel tensed, and then Amazo smiled. "I thank you. It merely took me a moment to adjust to this thing called life. I sense that I have a purpose. I must safeguard all life and wage a never-ending war against those who would harm others."
"Exactly," said Luthor. "You have a calling, a higher purpose -- a sacred mission, if you will."
Brainiac added, "You also have specific foes, as do we. Access the data stored within your mind under the file named Crime Syndicate."
Amazo shuddered, and his formerly kindly features grew hard. "Those fiends have made this world a nightmare. I must awaken the innocent from this foul nightmare, just as your kindness has freed me from the void." A moment passed, and then he said with a smile, "I sense their location. Excellent. You have given me the means to track their movements. How very resourceful you are."
Lois smiled. "I expected some cold automaton, but I should have known anything you've labor over would relish life and cherish justice."
Luthor hugged her tightly. "Amazo, we have a plan of battle. Shall we begin?"
Amazo
smiled warmly. "I am eager to begin my crusade."
The
Crime Syndicate had departed from the Capitol, and they now assembled
in a cavern outside a Rhode Island town called Happy Harbor.
"Welcome to the Eyrie of Evil,
gentlemen," said Owlman.
"How quaint," sneered Microbe.
"It's rustic, but secure," replied Owlman.
"Why don't we crash at stately Wayne Manor?" said Johnny Quick.
"Because I wish that part of my life to remain separate from our endeavors. Gotham City is mine alone," said a bitter and coldly toned Owlman.
"Hey, what -- are you afraid your boy toy will hit on Legs, here?" snapped Johnny.
Owlman moved like the predator he was named after, and in one swift movement he had flattened the speedster. "Don't ever make that kind of crass comment again," he said.
Johnny Quick frowned. "I never even saw your punch coming. I'm the Fastest Man Alive! How'd ya do it?"
Owlman said nothing.
"Ignore the idiot," said Superwoman. "If he had half a brain in his head, he would have long ago ceased to call me by terms like Legs and Baby Doll."
Ultraman stepped into the room. "Enough. We are a team. No more fighting, or I'll settle with all of you," he said, cracking his knuckles.
Microbe grinned. "Don't fight or I'll beat you up -- very nice leadership skills."
The Martian Murderer said nothing.
Power Ring flew inside. "I just finished a little fact-finding tour. Old Luthor is hiding out, and somehow he blocks even my magic energy."
Ultraman nodded. "The punk is good. I couldn't find him, either. Maybe he's in space. Can you check it out, Assassin?"
The hulking, chalk-white man said, "I have no desire to leave this fertile world."
"Hey, is our not-so-jolly giant scared of going back to his hometown?" said Quick.
"I have enemies that would make you weak in the knees," he said. "They would seek me out if I ventured offworld. If you think this prudence I display is fear, then I suggest you keep such thoughts to yourself. I know your every thought as you think it. I read the secrets within your warped little mind. If I chose to do so, I could hunt down all you hold sacred and slaughter it for sport."
Quick grunted. "This isn't my day."
"I have a plan," said Microbe. "Luthor must still have ties to his sexy wife's pals at the Daily Planet. We could draw him forth by putting them in peril."
Owlman nodded with a smile of satisfaction. "At last -- someone else who can actually contribute more to this motley assemblage that mere ox-like power. No offense, Kel."
Princess Diana of Sanctuary Isle looked thoughtful.
"Superwoman, do you miss the marital bliss you enjoyed when the League's mind-dampening left you believing you were merely a domestic goddess named Debbie Robinson?" said the perceptive Owlman.
"Do
not be foolish. I only regret that I did not justly chastise the
man who pawed me regularly under the pretense that I was his missing
spouse,"
she said, referring to the FBI man who had assumed she was his amnesiac
wife. She said this out loud, but her inner thoughts were more complex.
The Daily Planet was Metropolis' biggest newspaper. Its owner, J. Wilbur Wolfingham, was a rich man with a heart of gold. He used the crusading paper to help those in need and to expose corruption of all kinds. He missed Lois Lane's skills, but he knew her replacement, Cat Grant, had the looks and brains to get the job done. She was a sexy, desirable blonde, and she knew it.
This day, as she flirted with young Jimmy Olsen, she idly wondered if the Chief would give her the chance to land the interview of the century -- a one-on-one with Ultraman himself. She could get the man to talk if she could get close to him. She just knew it.
Jimmy sputtered, "C-C-Cat -- behind you!"
Cat smoothed her black mini-skirt and hose and frowned. "What's wrong, Jim? You look like you've seen a ghost."
The comely blonde turned to stare into a solid and broad chest with a red U emblazoned across a blue field.
"Ulp... uh..." she sputtered as Ultraman casually scooped her up with one hand and dangled her upside-down in the air.
"Help!" she cried.
"Help isn't likely to come from this punk, eh, pal?" smirked Ultraman as Jimmy fell over a chair and scrambled to safety.
Jimmy knew the Chief was the only one with guts and gall enough to face down the Kryptonian thug. He was rushing away to summon him, not simply to save himself. Still, the freckle-faced youth was out of his league. He turned a corner and was instantly caught in a green vise created by Power Ring.
"What's the hurry, kid? You late for an appointment?" laughed Power Ring. "You need a watch. Your time is our time."
As Cat was held suspended upside down by one ankle, other staffers were tossed through the air by the whirlwind generated by Johnny Quick, who glanced at the leggy Miss Grant and dearly wished he was in Ultraman's position. I can come back later and look up the doll, he mused.
It took only seconds for the duo of Power Ring and Johnny Quick to dismantle the Planet globe on the roof.
"Think this will lure old Baldy out?" asked Quick.
"If not, then we still had some fun, huh?" smirked Power Ring.
The editor, publisher, and owner of the proud newspaper rushed out. His portly form slowed his effort, but his courage was nonetheless impressive. "You leave them alone!" cried J. Wilbur Wolfingham. "If you want money, then I'll pay you. If you want blood, then take mine."
"Oh, we will, old man -- we will," said Ultraman.
"You shall harm no one while I live," cried Amazo as he flew inside and surrounded Cat's wildly kicking body with a green cushion bubble. He separated her from Ultraman and blasted the cocky alien out a window.
"I believe you and I should step outside," said Amazo as he followed.
Power Ring and Johnny Quick exchanged startled looks. "That wasn't Luthor!" gasped Quick.
"Shall we help Ultraman or wait a bit?" asked Power Ring.
Quick smiled. "Oh, there's no need to rush. That kind of stress shortens life!"
Ultraman grimaced as he fell out the window. "That creep hits like Superman or Hypernion," he muttered ruefully. It was always a disheartening situation for the bully when his mighty strength was equaled or beaten. He caught himself in midair. The next thing he knew, he was being pummeled by the super-fast, super-strong Amazo.
"Your reign of terror ends here," cried Amazo.
Ultraman grunted, "Rain on this!" He struck back with a roundhouse right.
Amazo smiled as a green force shield absorbed the impact. "You are a mindless brute," he said slowly, "an engine of destruction with little regard for the miracles your powers could achieve."
Ultraman thought of the scorn he had endured back on Krypton when he was just a normal punk whose crime boss father exerted limitless influence and bore his dim son nothing but scorn. "My genius enabled me to dominate Kandor and Argo City, but you cannot even elude capture by the drones of the KBI," the bitter-but-brilliant kingpin of crime on Krypton had often said.
Now rage filled his heart, and he screamed in fury. As windows shattered along Binder Boulevard, he charged Amazo and said, "I'll kill you!"
Amazo laughed as the headstrong villain flew directly through the green double he had created. "Senseless brute. He can't even ascertain color," he mused.
Then, Johnny Quick spun down on vibrating legs and passed neatly through the real Amazo with shattering impact.
The synthezoid gasped and vibrated in a pattern his keen mind calculated would counter Charles Drake's motions. Quick gasped in greater pain. He had been outclassed.
Amazo said, "You betrayed the police force to become the heedless thug I see before me. You killed many good women with your hyper actions. I shall bring you to account."
Quick yelled, "P.R. -- help!"
The calm voice of his best friend reached him from above. "Easy -- I'm here." The emerald energy formed a flying baby carriage around Quick and flew him apart from Amazo.
"Real cute," muttered Quick.
As Ultraman charged again, he was caught in a green funnel and directed right into Power Ring. The impact left both stunned as Amazo stood over their fallen forms.
"Now at last you shall pay," he announced.
Viewing monitors back in the Fortress of Science, an anxious Alexander Luthor turned to Brainiac, Lois, and Lena.
"See? He did it!" he said proudly. "I told you not to worry. Amazo just shut down three of them." He spoke of Amazo with all the pride that Kel-LL's own father never showed him.
Lena said, "I pray you are right." Brainiac wanted to hold her but resisted the urge.
Then a hum filled the air, and they gasped as the four Crime Syndicate figures vanished from the scene of battle.
"Great Scott -- a teleportation ray! Microbe's work?" said Luthor.
"That
would be my surmise," said a sorrowful Brainiac.
Alexander Luthor turned to Brainiac with concern etched across his weary face. "We've lost the tracer signals for the Crime Syndicate. They could be anywhere," he said.
Brainiac nodded. "They have deduced the nature of our chemical tracer and have taken measures to rid themselves of it. However, I built an internal tracker within Amazo, and thus we may safely locate him, since he was apparently drawn away with the evil trio."
"Excellent work as always, John," said a smiling Luthor as he began to put on his armor.
"Alex, your armor was almost totally drained of energy over a year ago. How can you risk using a weakened version of it against those fiends?" asked Lois.
Lena flung herself into Brainiac's arms. "Don't let them harm Alex. Take care of him and of yourself."
Brainiac smiled as the pretty blonde held him. "I shall protect us with my very life."
Luthor kissed Lois and said, "I can't leave Amazo in their grasp. They could do anything to him."
He led the green-skinned man to their skimmer, and they blasted off out of the Fortress of Science in their all-purpose vehicle, the Mighty Mole.
Lena said, "Oh, Lois -- I saw Alex die at their hands. How can he do this?"
Lois
shushed her and said, "You can't stop him when lives are at stake.
He is a hero."
Meanwhile, Microbe's device had actually used a variant of the same white dwarf star energy that enabled him to alter his size to now shrink his partners and Amazo and transport them all to the cavern outside Happy Harbor.
Ultraman, Power Ring, and Johnny Quick appeared in the cave at near microscopic size and then erupted to normal weight and height. Amazo remained at a six-inch size.
"Microbe saved you three despite your shortcomings," purred Diana.
"Bah! I thought you expected to draw out Luthor -- instead we captured some unknown," sneered Owlman.
Microbe said, "Mind-scan him if you please, Assassin."
The Martian Murderer grunted and touched the still-six-inch form of Amazo. He gasped as he received a painful mental blast, and the quickly growing artificial man slammed into him at normal size.
"The punk grew like Microbe can. What can't he do?" whined Quick as battle broke out.
Owlman smiled coldly. "Leave it to me to find out."
As Superwoman jumped on Amazo and smashed both fists against his back, she cried, "It matters little whether he has any weaknesses or not to the warrior princess of Sanctuary Isle."
Amazo reeled under her awesome strength, only to vibrate so that she passed through him and landed on the floor. Then he blasted her with a mental bolt and left the beauty stunned.
"He has all of our powers," cried Power Ring as his massive energy fist was blocked by a blast of heat vision as Amazo shrank and grew again under the criminal's chin.
"Power Ring -- look out!" shouted Quick as his friend fell to a super-speed flurry of super-strong blows.
Microbe said, "I'll try to shut down this creep from inside."
As Ray Palmer reduced his size and mass, he sailed through the air toward the hulking form of Amazo. He clicked his size and weight controls and prepared to enter the synthezoid through the molecules in his artificial body. Ray had been the most gifted scientist in Ivy Town, but he had fought all his life for a way to achieve power through his mental talents. As Microbe, he had seen the Crime Syndicate as his ticket to global power. He was not about to lose this chance.
Unfortunately, Amazo used the mind-reading powers of the Martian Murderer to discover his tiny foe's plan, and with the speed of Quick he blasted the little man with a green ray.
"Not good enough," said Amazo. "You can't beat one who was built to defeat you all."
Built -- that confirms my hunch, thought Owlman.
Ultraman punched out at Amazo with fury in his voice. "Nobody makes a fool of me!"
Amazo grinned. "You do that on your own." He turned invisible and then reappeared looking like Ultraman himself.
"Which one is our Ultraman?" shrieked Quick.
The Martian Murderer shook his head. "I pick up no thoughts from either. He's shielding both minds from me so I can't tell which Kel-LL is real."
"Microbe, Superwoman, and Power Ring are down -- do something!" cried Quick.
Owlman stepped forward deliberately. He tossed down a pellet, and a fiery flare exploded in Amazo's path. The synthezoid shuddered and fell to his knees. Owlman smiled coldly and dropped a second one directly on the poor man. He screamed and lay inert.
"How'd ya do that? A little fire shut him down cold," said a startled Quick.
"Ask the Martian Murderer," said Owlman as he bent over Superwoman and lifted her head gently. "He can explain the effect of fire on the psyche of his kind better than I can."
"You mean this guy is another Martian?" asked Ultraman.
"No," said Owlman, "he merely has the weaknesses of one. He has all our powers. I surmised that he would also possess our weaknesses."
The Martian Murderer smiled. "Of course. And so fire had the same effect on him that it would upon me."
Quick grinned. "You did good, Owly!"
Superwoman gasped as the leggy beauty got to her feet. "Luthor!" she said, pointing as the armored hero phased inside the cave with Brainiac in tow.
"Stand away from Amazo!" ordered Alexander Luthor.
"So he is your little science project," muttered Ultraman as he stepped menacingly forward.
Brainiac stood firm. "He was built to stop you and your fiendish band," said the green man.
"Listen, wirehead -- you better watch yourself, or I'll disconnect you with my bare hands," growled Power Ring.
"Our little truce ended when we brought down the Lawless League," said Owlman. "You know that."
Luthor nodded. "We were born to be enemies. I live to protect, while you want nothing more than destruction."
Superwoman said, "I can end this here." She struck Luthor and gasped as she found herself hundreds of miles underwater.
"What did you do to super-babe?" cried Quick as he ran around Luthor in a tight circle.
"This," said Alex as he stepped in Quick's path, and the speedster vanished at contact.
"Teleportation!" cried Owlman. "Keep back from the old man."
The Martian Murderer had turned invisible and attempted to choke Brainiac from behind.
"I require no oxygen. However, this neural disrupter should render you helpless," said Brainiac as his palm struck the chalk-white fiend. The Martian's pliable body pulsed, and he lost all control over his form as the neural shock raged through his system.
"Recovery time estimated 3.7 minutes," calculated Brainiac.
"Shrink!" yelled Microbe as he used the white dwarf energy to reduce Brainiac to six inches.
Luthor said, "One touch and I can send you anywhere. This one ends with a draw." He touched the tiny Brainiac and inert Amazo and teleported back to the skimmer.
"Let them go," said Owlman. "We need time to regroup."
"Yeah, we got them on the run," said Ultraman.
"For how long?" asked Microbe.
A soaking wet Superwoman pulled herself to shore on an island hundreds of miles across the world. "That infernal man shall pay for this yet," she cursed.
Johnny
Quick found himself deep underground and vibrated to the surface in
China. "What a jerk," he muttered.
Back at the Fortress of Science, Alexander Luthor gazed sadly at Amazo and placed him within a stasis chamber.
"Sleep on, noble warrior," said a sad Luthor. "You fought well, but with the weaknesses of your foes, you are not capable of besting them."
Lena held the six-inch Brainiac in her palm. "John, can Alex restore you? Or must you remain trapped on this shrunken size forever?" she gasped.
Brainiac replied, "I still function even at this reduced size, Lena. We shall fight on against the Syndicate, for what other choice do we have?"
Luthor
nodded. "None."