Chapter 12

A small army of White Martians, along with Maximus's supporters arrived. Harry, M'gann, Genesis, Kara, Susan, and Crystal all walked out to engage them into battle. Crystal's eyes narrowed the very instant she came across of this army of traitors. She was not too pleased with their presence and her hand twitched before she dove in for the attack.

Crystal rushed them with a fury in her eyes and went straight to the attack. One of them fired at Crystal. Crystal dodged the attack and the Inhuman Princess gave them no quarter. She snapped one of the arms back violently. The attack drove the man down to the ground and Crystal flipped over the top of the head. She slammed into the back of the head of the creature and sent him back to the ground.

Susan Storm showed she had not missed a beat ever. She put up an invisible force field which redirected the attacks of the creatures. She reclaimed one of the energy staffs and modified it before she fired upon the creatures. Susan backed them off, as the White Martians appeared to be very unnerved.

Kara drove her full weight down across the small group of White Martians. Her eyes burned with heat vision which she fired at the ground. The deep rooted fear of fire within the White Martians still backed them off. Kara blasted the ground a couple more times with several violent and endless attacks.

One of the Maximus supporters charged to the attack. Harry blocked the attack and smacked them down. He sent them flying, just as well as Susan did from his side. Harry backed up Sue and then he backed up Crystal. The three fought side by side with each other and smashed their enemies down to the ground with a vicious and violent flurry. The loud crack echoed as they dropped down to the ground.

Genesis put her full weapons and fired at the White Martians. A few of them got trapped in containment bubbles. Some of them escaped, but she managed to trap them in orbs which reflected fire. The fire which allowed them to whither and die in fear.

"Pathetic!"

Suddenly, M'gann locked eyes on M'comm and drove into his mind. A loud slam echoed as the two Martian siblings joined together at the mind in a mental struggle.

On the astral plane, M'gann found herself surrounded by carnage. Green Martians burned, White Martians screamed in terror. Only the Imperium rose supreme and M'comm stood higher than all, feared, worshipped. She always thought her brother had a bit of an inferiority complex, but that was taking things too far.

"Do you love it sister?"

M'gann found herself knocked off of the platform. M'comm dropped down next to him and grabbed her by the throat and squeezed her tight.

"I'm not some weak willed human whose mind you could break," M'comm said. "Although, shattering those minds, I'm proud of you. Perhaps, you aren't completely pathetic after all. Perhaps, but I doubt it. You are nothing but a weak-willed little girl and I'm going to break you in half."

M'comm slammed M'gann around once again. He hurled his older sister around with sadistic force. Blood spurted out of the side of her nose as she had been tormented by visions of not only Mars, but Earth burning.

"Well, that's interesting."

Visions of the White Martian invasion from the botched simulation entered M'gann's head. The visions of her teammates and the League members falling one by one hit her.

"Your greatest fear, your greatest nightmare, will become reality!" M'comm bellowed. "For now you will bow down before me….."

"NO!"

The two siblings continued their intense battle of wills. Both of them linked at the mind and tried to get the better of each other. M'gann tried to power through, her will was stronger, but the hate, the hate coming from M'comm it was overwhelming. M'gann tried to show her strength.

"You walk around in Green-Face, you make me sick," M'comm said.

"Hey, Marvin!"

From the heavens, Harry dropped down and slammed M'comm down onto the back of the head with a sinister kick. M'comm stepped back and could feel the darkness in the mind of the Kryptonian hybrid, his sister's mate. That was quite interesting. And very annoying. Harry was not as afraid of darkness as M'gann was, which would make him quite a problem.

"Sorry, Marvin, but there will be no earth-shattering kaboom today," Harry replied. "And while your mind is here with me, your body is unguarded out there."

Crystal and Susan attacked M'comm's body on the outside with a double assault. Harry took M'gann by the hand and the two ejected from the mindscaped.

The weakened White Martian gasped, with Susan and Crystal on top of him. His Imperium followers rushed in and M'comm slipped through the surface of the moon.

"He's going after it!" Sue yelled.

"You won't stop him!"

Crystal retrofitted one of the Inhuman staff devices to fire fireballs at the White Martians. They all scrambled in the opposite direction. Their fear of fire overwhelmed their bloodlust.

M'comm had it in his hand. Now, he could move forward with the next stage of the plan. The crystal, the missing component. He would go back and meet Maximus. Only, he had a small problem. M'gann and Harry were in close purusit.

"You're too late," M'comm said. "Earth will rot, the Green Martians will burn, and I will also purge the Moon of all of it's resources. Maximus and I have our next move."

"Yes, because trusting a man who betrayed his own brother is really smart," M'gann said.

Maximus's guards appeared in the palace along with Maximus himself.

"You know all about betraying your sibling, and everything your entire race stands for!" M'comm yelled.

"She has a point."

Maximus shocked M'comm from behind and brought him down to the ground. Maximus picked up the crystal and rushed down the hallway. Harry and M'gann fought their way through the guards, but Maximus had reached the main lab.

"MAXIMUS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Getting what's rightfully mine!"

The others entered the palace behind Harry and M'gann. Kara, Genesis, Susan, and Crystal, they all joined them.

"Clear me a path, we're breaking my sister out!"

Crystal, Harry and M'gann made their way up the steps, with M'comm following. Maximus entered the chamber and Medusa gasped when he prepared to activate it.

"You traitor!"

"I used you, and now I'll have my birthright," Maximus said. "I modified the Terrigen Mist. The process will work now. I will be strong and I will be…."

The mists entered the chamber and caused a solidified shell to appear around Maximus. There was a long wait and a long pause.

M'comm rushed through, and grabbed the crystal. He ripped it out in process. An anguished scream followed from Maximus.

"You idiot!" Medusa snapped. "You killed him."

"So?" M'comm asked. "He imprisoned you and betrayed me. But it doesn't matter as now….."

The chamber began to hiss and beep suddenly. The crystals in it became to heat up to the point where they were cooking rather prominently. Crystal rushed in and freed Medusa from her cell.

"And you just doomed us all," Medusa said. "The crystals will cause this palace to implode."

"Genesis, we need a way out, now!" Harry shouted.

"On it!" Genesis said.

The portal opened up. Crystal, Medusa, Susan, Kara, and Harry all ran out. M'gann stopped and turned to M'comm who clutched the crystal in his hand as it crumpled into dust. The chamber on other end blinked and hissed and it was getting hot in there. So hot the crystals on the inside caught on fire and the heat was almost too much for anyone to bear.

"M'comm, we need to get out of here!" M'gann yelled. "Take my hand and…."

M'comm slammed M'gann back and dove into the chamber. M'gann's eyes followed with agitation. M'comm was at the edge of the chamber and she could not reach him. There was no way out.

"M'gann!" Harry called.

"I'm coming!"

Harry grabbed her by the hand and yanked her through the portal at the last possible second. The palace imploded and seemingly took Maximus and M'comm and the rest of their followers inside with it.

The thick, charred chunks of a shell had been brought out before them. Medusa looked it up and she saw all she needed to see. Kara, Genesis, M'gann, and Harry all joined. Kara and Harry both tightened their grips around M'gann and held her close.

"This is what's left of Maximus," Medusa said. "He refused to heed my warnings."

"His own obsession was his final tomb," Crystal said.

"Wow," Susan said. "That's...he really wanted to be extraordinary."

And that desire was what hurt him in the end.

"Yes, perhaps, although he could have contributed in other ways," Medusa said. "Although, our culture just has as much to blame with driving him in this direction."

"M'comm, is he…."

M'gann shook her head and swallowed the lump in her throat. Harry allowed her to pull away. Nothing was there, a few White Martian remains laid in the wreckage, although none of them were her brother. Even though he would have been dead, M'gann would have known.

"He threw himself into the chamber," M'gann said. "He would rather die than be saved by….by me.

M'gann stopped at speaking some less than flattering comment about himself.

"He's found a way out at the last second," Harry said. "I don't know how but...no body."

"I know," M'gann said.

She shifted through the wreckage to see if there was anything she missed. Even though, deep down, M'gann knew she did not miss a thing. Everything was there, everything was accounted for. She let out a small breath and leaned closer to Harry as his arms wrapped tightly around her.

"We believe they were mining this," Crystal said. "The Imperium."

Harry's eyes locked onto a small mineral deposit. Curiosity got the better of Harry and he scooped up a bit of the mineral. Perhaps they could figure what the Imperium was after.

"So, what are your plans now?" Harry asked Susan.

"Well, I'm going to help Medusa and Crystal rebuild," Susan said. "I know you and your team has to get back to Earth. It was a pleasure working with you."

"The honor is all mine," Harry said.

Sue just looked at him with a smile and leaned in. The two joined each other with a kiss.

"It's mine as well," Susan said.

Medusa and Crystal just locked eyes with Harry.

"We would like to thank you for your assistance," Medusa said. "And if the Justice League needs anything from us, any help at all, don't hesitate to ask."

"I would like to see a bit of Earth, once this all settles down," Crystal said.

Medusa just smiled. She knew what bit of Earth her sister wanted to see and to be honest, Medusa could hardly fault Crystal for her desires at all.

Harry, Kara, Genesis, and M'gann stayed behind for a little bit longer to help with the clean up effort. Also, they wanted to see if they could find out if there was any trace of M'comm and also, perhaps more about the mysterious mineral he was mining.

Harry returned to Starrwave. Genesis, Kara, Karen, and Caitlin joined him in looking over the mineral.

"This is quite rare," Caitlin said. "I've never seen anything like this in my life, but it's very powerful."

"I have," Harry said.

"Wait, you have?" Kara asked.

"Yes, and you have as well," Harry said. "Perdita, this has a similar chemical makeup of her necklace. Which means her necklace has a similar makeup."

"Which means," Karen concluded. "This element has magical properties."

"The closest element here on Earth is Amethyst," Genesis concluded. "Although, it's different enough."

Yet different enough. Harry studied the mineral to try and find something. He still had been unable to properly unlock the secrets of Perdita's necklace. However, he had a feeling with the study of both of them, he would be able to find out more.

From a pod deep inside of the sea, M'comm reflected back about how he barely escaped the moon with his life. It was a bit messy how he did so, but at least he was alive. What M'comm could not escape was the intense pounding on his head. Drums of war rattling, and the echoing of the thoughts of humans. All of their vile simplicity pounded into his head.

Inhaling the mist amplified his psychic abilities, but what cost.

Suddenly, M'comm felt a pair of hands drag him onto a vessel. He could barely hold up due to the ringing in his head.

"They'll pay," he murmured. "Superman, Miss Martian, Supergirl, they'll all pay."

The shattered remains of the crystals in his hand flickered like dust in the wind and landed into the water.

"It appears we have a common interest."

M'comm had been so wrapped up with his own vengeance he barely noticed the person next to him.

"And you could be useful for our counter group against the greatest threat the world has ever seen. The Justice League. Perhaps you are familiar with J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter."

"That filthy green, I know who he is," M'comm grumbled. "The question is, who are you?"

"A friend."

A bald man dressed in a business suit stepped out. M'comm pulled himself up, a small fragment of crystal made his head pulse.

"My name is Lex Luthor," he said. "I hope you do hear my proposal out."

"Tell me."

M'comm, very interested in what Lex had to say, followed him off. This could be the beginning of a mutually beneficial partnership, although after his last partnership, M'comm would be on the lookout for treachery.