Chapter 57

"That little traitor!" Junior howled.

A very mopey little Kitten dragged her feet behind Junior, with Mammoth, the Terror Twins, Shimmer, and Grail following her. Her entire world had been shattered. Grace Godfrey was a liar, a filthy liar who lied, and now her entire ideology had been shattered.

"We have to stop him," Tuppence said.

"Is there really any point anymore?" Kitten asked. "What's...the point? We're opened up for Darkseid's attack even if M'comm didn't succeed. But really."

Grail twisted her hand around the dagger. The mere mention of Darkseid came within an inch of setting her off. The ships cycled around them. She would take out her anger by ripping M'comm to pieces.

"M'comm," Grail said. "I know than you can hear me. Face me. Traitor."

A loud round of laughter echoed in all of the heads of the Counter-Team. Grail threw the dagger into the shadows but an invisible force blocked it. M'comm flickered out of the shadows. Kitten fell over and screamed clutching her skull. The Terror Twins dropped next as did Shimmer and Mammoth. Their heads felt like they were on fire. Then Junior followed and left Grail standing alone, gritting her teeth.

"Let's face it, you were a means to an end," M'comm said. "And you know you would have done the same thing."

A few more White Martians appeared. Grail would slaughter the all to get to M'comm. Her sword sliced through the skin of one of the Martian. She reached into her belt and released a grenade into the air. It exploded a fireball into the face of the White Martian.

"Don't fear the fire, be the fire."

Grail blocked the punch and blasted one of the White Martian's back with a roundhouse kick. She smashed another one down onto the ground and hit him with a shot to the back of the head. Grail reared back her blade but a blast of energy fired at her.

"Fire everything at her," M'comm told the White Martians. "Obliterate her!"

Several weapon blasts beamed down from the sky from the ships. Grail struggled against the fight. The word "pathetic" burned into her brain. She had to stop the ship and get to M'comm. She was inches away from grabbing the foul creature around the neck and strangling him to death.

So close, but yet so far. M'comm rammed into the top of Grail's head with blunt force trauma and formed his mental attack into her brain. She could feel her slipping under like her team members.

One of the ships received a high impact blast to the side which cut it out. The White Martians turned their attention to Superman who flung fireballs at them and backed the White Martians back.

"Impossible!" M'comm yelled.

Grail thought so as well. She regained control with the ship being taken out and stabbed the nearest White Martian in the spine. Superman brutalized the White Martians and then stepped over to join Grail.

"Give me some space," Grail said.

"My team is separating the ships from the rest of the fleet," Harry said. "But, if M'comm launches that virus, there will be no future."

Grail found herself indifferent to the plight of Earth for now. Still, she owed Superman for saving her and more importantly, she owed herself M'comm's head on a pike.

M'gann raced down the corridor. She had to get close enough to M'comm to slip into her mind.

'No need to force your way in sister, I'll happily open the door to your demise.'

M'gann found herself on the top of a tower before M'comm dragged her forward. She landed in old memories, memories of wars between Green and White, total destruction. Then, M'gann unleashing her powers on both Psimon and Doctor Destiny and destroying their minds.

"You had so much promise, sister dear," M'comm said. "You could have been great. But you got soft. They will never accept us for who I am. They see us as monsters."

"You're the monster, M'comm!" M'gann shouted at him. "Can't you see. You're going to wipe everything out."

"I know what I'm doing," M'comm said. "The war ends now. No more suffering after today. We're going to get what is ours. What we have been denied. We are going to stand…."

A blip of light dragged M'comm out of the mind. Impulse slammed herself through M'comm's barriers and into his mind.

"Read my mind. See what happens after you launch the virus. "

M'comm did not take the bait right away. He knew this could be a trick. The leader speedster could be luring him into a false sense of security. He forced her way into Impulse's mind and found images, of the virus being released. It crippled humanity and wiped out the Martians.

All of the Martians. Green and White alike. M'comm had been known as the murder of Mars. The person who wiped out everything, including his sister.

"Wait, I die?" M'gann asked.

She had to, but even with that knowledge, M'gann could not bring herself to do so. This was the line she could not cross.

"I killed them," M'comm said. "All of them."

A few seconds passed and M'comm's face curled into a scowl.

"So be it."

"M'comm, wait!"

"Better to be dead, then bend at the knee before a traitor."

Impulse jolted forward and vibrated her hand through M'comm's chest before he could release the virus. Time almost stood still, before he dropped to the ground, heart exploded in her hand.

Nora pulled her blood soaked hand out of M'comm's chest. She pulled a Thawne, but she did so to save humanity. She turned to M'gann who looked grim and looked from Impulse to her brother.

"Sorry," Nora said.

"No, I'm sorry."

"Launch sequence activated. Launch five minutes and counting."

Time really frozen still as Nora got chilled to the bone. She realized what happened. M'comm had a dead man's switch. Even if someone killed him, the virus would still be released. The speedster's brain fully blue screened.

"Nora, we...we can…."

"I can fix this! I can fix this. I can fix this. I can fix this."

Like some madness mantra, Nora Kent must have repeated this statement about twenty times. Donna, Aresia, and Harry made their way to the ship. They had less than four minutes to go.

"Nora, we need more time!" Harry yelled. "Flashtime!"

"Right, right, I can do that, I can do that."

She closed her eyes and time stood to a crawl. M'gann, Donna, Aresia, and Harry stepped into the time bubble with each other.

"I've got an idea," Harry said. "The Starlight could be used to counteract the effects of the virus and pretty much render it impotent upon launch."

"Okay, that's good, that's good, isn't it?" Nora asked.

"Well, yes and no."

Of course, there was a catch, there always would have to be one.

"If we use the Starlight now, we won't have a piece to use to bring the Worldkillers back to normal. Even with the backdoor I have to Sam, we're going to need that little boost."

"Okay, that's, we have to think of something else," Nora said. "Not sure how long I can hold everyone here. Maybe, I can go back and stop myself from...no that could cause more problems and cause a Paradox which could break time. But, that's...damn it, I have to….."

Aresia stepped past to where the tank was and detached the virus from the ship's engine.

"What are you doing, that's unstable?" Nora asked.

"Yes, I know and it will explode even before the launch in less than two minutes," Aresia said. "Flashtime or not. So, open the door and I'll handle this."

Donna's mouth hung open and she stood in shock, when she realized what Aresia was doing.

"NO!"

"Sorry, sister, but I have to," Aresia said. "No time to waste. Let's hope Hera forgives me. Now open the door."

Donna opened the door. She had to be the one.

"Good luck. I know the world will be safe with heroes. And hopefully in time, you can undo the damage that I've caused."

The airlock opened, and Aresia had been launched into space with the ship. Aresia flew higher and higher, with the fire surrounding her body. Harry wrapped his arm around Donna as they could see the vacuum of space claim both Aresia and the virus.

She glowed and flickered out of existence.

They still had a few Martian ships to deal with and a few White Martians to deal with. But, with their leader taken down, the Imperium had been cut off at the knees.

"Donna?"

"Just give me a minute," Donna said.

M'gann placed a hand on her like time team mate and friend's shoulder. Given all that happened, she understood. And honestly, M'gann was happy that Aresia redeemed herself at the end. Happy for Donna and really sad that M'comm did not have that same realization of the dark path he stumbled down.

M'gann bent to her knees, with a brief prayer to H'ronmeer, regarding M'comm's soul and begging for forgiveness and safe passage. His body rested in the middle of a glass case. Once everything settled down, M'gann would return him to Mars so he could have a proper burial.

Off to the side, Donna paid her respects to Aresia. She looked up into the sky.

"There's one thing that I don't understand."

Nora said this statement to her father in undertone, trying not to tell Donna because it seemed to be a little bit insensitive. However, she had to share this with someone.

"Yes?"

"Aresia's not dead in the future. But she died tonight."

Harry sighed.

"I can't even begin to understand time travel," Harry said. "It's possible that the moment you stepped into the past, you created an alternate timeline. And in time, that future will fade, and you will build a new world."

Nora just set her jaw and nodded. Oh, she thought it made sense, at least about as much as a crazy thing like time travel was going to be.

Harry moved a bit closer to M'gann.

"You should get back to work," M'gann said.

"When you're better."

M'gann sighed and decided that blunt honesty was the best thing to deal with something like this. She did not see the warning signs with M'comm and maybe just maybe if she saw his rage earlier, perhaps, M'gann could have stopped it before it spiraled out of control.

"Is one ever fine because of something like this?"

This had been a statement Harry did not answer. Nor did M'gann expect an answer for it.

"Are you closer to taking down Darkseid?" M'gann asked. "I'm sorry, if I'm pressuring you."

"No, I understand," Harry said. "None of us are going to be fine."

Harry had an in, or so he hoped right now. Given how Darkseid abandoned her, maybe she was willing to help her.

"The rest of the White Martians have been rounded up, and the DEO brought them to a blacksite," Harry said. "We'll figure out what to do with them."

M'gann nodded. Yes, that would be a problem, but another one slipped into her mind.

"What about the main ship?"

"It just conveniently had a malfunction before the UN or rather Lex could acquire it," Harry said. "If you catch my drift."

Yes, M'gann caught Harry's drift and she also caught the drift that the other Martian ships must have experienced similar malfunctions before Lex acquired them.

Things could have gone far worse tonight. Which M'gann was grateful for them not going in that particular way. Very grateful indeed.

At a neutral meeting spot, Grail met with Harry on the rooftop. Grail was not used to being in a person's debt, so she would have to even that up sooner rather than later.

"I'm in your debt," she commented. "And I know all too well how women normally pay their debts to you."

To empathize, she eyed Harry up like a piece of meat. Harry smiled, and as tempting as her offer was, he needed her for other things.

"Another time, maybe, but I need a different kind of favor for you," Harry said. "Something serious, and something, rather dangerous. If you think you're up for it."

"You have my interest."

Harry thought that he might. He spoke in a calm and candid voice.

"I need to be taken to Apokolips as your prisoner."