Ma'alefa'ak's March Madness 2013: The Final Four

King Faraday took the green rock from out of his pocket and placed it in Carré's mystical artifact detector. After a brief period of analysis, it determined that there were numerous positive readings throughout Europe, and a simple adjustment in scope soon projected finds throughout the continent. "J'onn J'onzz" certainly was thorough." Faraday's keen analytic mind detected something amiss-- that the large concentration of artifact fragments gathered by the Harovian Royal Family were nowhere to be found in the kingdom. Instead, the loudest ping directed King toward a very specific area of the Mediterranean. Even more intriguing, this locale appeared to be a focal point of magical activity. Most curious of all, a JLI teleportation tube had been installed inside, which allowed Faraday to make the trip in record time through his Checkmate connections.



Gypsy had followed J'Onn's directions to the posh villa where he had once made his home under the alias "Marco Xavier." It remained one of the Martian Manhunter's getaways, though its installation of teleportation technology and tethering to the sorcerous property dubbed the "House of Mystery" meant that it wasn't exactly a quiet retreat. Gypsy had gained J'Onzz's trust through their time together in the Justice League, and Cindy Reynolds had agreed during their Task Force days to observe certain protocols should an alarm go off from the villa. J'Onn had taken great pains to destroy and scatter the heinous device of a deceased warlock, but had become aware of Prince Rudolph's attempts to reconstitute it as part of a metaphysical "nuclear deterrent." This had attract the attention of a whole Illuminati of concerns interested in staking their own claim to the resource. This included Checkmate, who sent one of their top agents to procure a detection system developed by the Carré company. However, in Faraday's haste, he had failed to consider that he was teleporting into the home of a metahuman with an assigned protector capable of broadcasting illusions while simultaneously demonstrating martial skills learned from no less a light than the Bronze Tiger. Under the circumstances, Faraday never stood a chance...



In Middletown, Patrolwoman Diane Meade had been secretly pursuing a case with potentially terrifying consequences. After capturing and questioning the Conjurer she learned that a true wizard had come to the metropolis to unearth the idol-head which had killed her friend and associate Detective John Jones years earlier. The city's own former guardian super-hero, the Manhunter from Mars, had left town to avenge Jones by locating and destroying the idol-head. Already, this mage had corrupted the minds of her fellow officers, causing them to attempt murder against one another. Meade had fought hard against her own friends to save them from themselves, but was now confronted with the reanimated corpses of private investigator Karen Smith, long dead child star Patty Marie, and now Detective John Jones his own self. What Meade didn't know was that she had really been compromised by the telepathic suggestions of Ma'alefa'ak, and that Gypsy's attempt to sooth her with the illusion of a fallen friend only placed her in the same crosshairs as John's long gone associates...



Erdel may have given up knowledge required for the research and development into the technology needed to locate the broken pieces of the Diabolu Idol-Head, but they would have little value without the supernatural wisdom required to reactive the vessel. Erdel recognized the need for the long lost tome hidden in the Martian Manhunter's forgotten mountain lair, the Book of Diabolu. However, his research had attracted unwanted attention, including the agent of darkness born Aubrey Sparks. Scorch teleported into the lair, lived up to her name by roasting Erdel, and vanished in a puff of smoke with a hard won spellbook...

Bel Juz had survived the destruction of her home world by Commander Blanx and the long trip to a new world dubbed Mars II through deceit and cunning, but she had little in the way of raw power when compared to a dynamo like Miss Martian. With the heroine under the psychic spell of Ma'alefa'ak and freed from any soft-hearted gullibility or mercy that Bel could play upon, Juz fell to her terrible fury. However, before Ma'alefa'ak had any time to gloat, a new combatant appeared from distant Earth. J'onn J'onzz had taken one piece of the Idol-Head with him to Mars II, and Scorch would go through anyone to get it back. It wouldn't be easy though, since Ma'alefa'ak's forcing M'gann M'orzz into her white-skinned future form made her invulnerable to flames...