Miss Martian: Martian Manhunter Mates March Madness Maven 2013

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The corrupted white Miss Martian took the corpse of Scorch in her tendrils, ripped it to little bits, and spun with such ferocity that the dismembered portions turned into projectiles, which killed Gypsy and everyone else at the Middleton Police Ball.

"Fantastic" applauded the Interferer. "Bravura! Now that's my kind of action! A masterstroke!" Ma'alefa'ak continued to grouse, until he was nagged into focus by something at the periphery of his awareness. Psychically gazing over the carnage in Middleton, Ma'alefa'ak noted a lack of finer detail in the gore-- too much blood-- not enough gristle. There was something else though. What was it?

At the annual Apex Picnic, Patrolwoman Diane Meade smiled as the children played and all her fellow officers got along swimmingly. Everything was back to a peaceful norm in Middletown, just like they'd planned...



"Middleton? Wasn't it Middletown? Middletown! Curse L'Zoril to the armpit of Neron!" Ma'alefa'ak was once quite adept at telepathy, capable of lobotomizing his own mother, a Manhunter. Yet, he could not prevent a Martian council from stripping his psychic abilities away, nor were his memories left intact following a fictionalized rewriting of his life upon his very brain. Handicapped for untold time, Ma'alefa'ak was perhaps not the mentalist M'gann M'orzz was, especially when she used her abilities to amplify the illusionist Gypsy. As the perception of perverse horrors fell away, Scorch stood revealed, uncomfortably close to Malefic. You see, it was Ma'alefa'ak who had unleashed a telepathic plague upon his own people in retaliation against his hobbling, but his restored and comparatively atrophied mental strength was not well trained to resist the deadly allure of open flames. "H'ronmeer... H'ronmeer... J'Onn! J'Oooooonnnnn..." Flickering embers in Ma'alefa'ak's eyes sparked a spontaneous combustion of his material form, seemingly ending his reign of terror forevermore.



Diane Meade had been the first to recognize the adulteration of her idyllic Middletown, and formulated the start of a plot to expel the corrupting elements. Gypsy had the most experience with multiversal intrigue, and her secret ties to the magical world afforded assistance and direction from clandestine allies. Aubrey Sparks' resistance to telepathy and teleportation abilities were key in connecting all of the opposing forces, not to mention defeating Malefic. Miss Martian was the muscle, amplifying everyone's abilities and concealing the operation with her superior psychic prowess. M'gann was also the one who decked the Interferer. "You creep! You weasel! The disgusting thoughts in your head make me want to... do this!" A kick! A jab! "How could anybody want to put people through this garbage? It's just endless tragedy and brutality! Where's the truth-- the insight-- the joy in that?"



As M'gann M'orzz pummeled the Interferer, a coven encircled the pair. Bloodwynd had of course survived his "battle" with Scorch, hovering invisibly until Aubrey could smuggle him the Book of Diabolu, and he teleported himself to his confederates. Bloodwynd was joined by fellow mages Malador, Strega, Doctor Samedi, and Nemesus. While the wizard Diabolu read a spell from his eponymous tome, Malador scowled, "We are of the Vile Menagerie of Martian Manhunter adversaries. You are the author of the many defeats of one Irwin Schwab. You meddle in affairs not of your concern." Strega added, "Yeah, know your role, milk turd. You're voted off the island!" At the command of Diabolu, the reconstituted Idol-Head opened, drawing the Interferer inside. Shrinking but hanging for dear life from the edges of the magical trap, Clarence Tuland was defiant. "Haters! It doesn't matter what you do to me! None of this matters! You're all old news! The New rules all, and your freakin' Alien Atlas is long gone from this tired scene!" With that, the Interferer was gone, sealed in a magical box from a long gone era.



"What the hell" queried Aubrey Sparks. "This was all for nothing?" M'gann M'orzz argued, "Of course not. Diane Meade's Earth is safe among the infinites, and we've helped to make our own a better place, with or without J'Onn J'Onzz." Cindy Reynolds chimed in, "Look, I went through a few crises in my day, and let me tell you, the more things seem to change, the more they end up being the same. I'll always be a smartmouth sneak, M'gann will always be a sweetheart with a dark secret, and you'll alwa--" With that, Gypsy appeared to fade from existence. "Oh Christ, now what?"

Bloodwynd observed the strange occurrence, but was comforted by the unlikelihood of any of his party crossing over into the DCnÜ anytime soon. Meanwhile, Strega asked Diabolu how the Interferer was enjoying being stuck in a box with all of the beasties the wizard had locked up for centuries. "Oh, about that. It seems my Idol-Head emptied its contents before we could use it..." Bloodwynd wondered if perhaps the Idol-Head had an analogue in the new universe after all...

Coming in March 2014: The Isle of Diabolu....