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Worlds Colliding Part 3

The fabric of reality ripples as the shifter's form appears inside the Watchtower observatory. Almost immediately he sends shockwaves into the air destroying all around him.

From out of nowhere comes a batarang flying into his head, only to have it pass through his distorted form. He turns to fire in the general direction he thought it to come from then a second later finding himself bound by an electrified line and dragged to the ground.

There at the other end stands the Batman...

"Ah Batman, I've heard quite a bit about you. But what can you do against me? You are after all only a human..."

Still struggling to break from the line he frees his arms firing down at the Dark Knight. Riding the force of the shockwave he flies up and swipes at the Shifters chin only to have it pass through. But also in the same second he manages a knee to the gut and a chop to the back.

He lands safely and the Shifter is left with a minorly battered body and a severely bruised ego. He can't believe that a powerless earthman such as this managed to bring harm to him... THE HERALD OF GALACTUS!

"It must take a lot of concentration to make yourself untouchable..." the Batman said. "You have a lot to learn about your powers, son."

In pure rage he breaks his ties and alters the very fabric of the matter in the Watchtower. Everything becomes like liquid and is being reshaped into mad chaotic patterns including Batman.

The random mindless chaos. The madness. The lack of meaning. His mother. His father. The revolver. Jason Todd. All of the insanity he's devoted his life to fighting. It's all once again come to life. This is his world...

He screams and sends his limbs flying towards Shifter. The stretch across the room and make hard contact on his being. The Shifter is taken down and everything is returned to normality, the Batman in the corner fighting off tears.

Now is the time Luthor thinks to himself. A push of a button on his office desk and a wall of monitors light up with a computer generated image of the Earth, moon and a small metallic white satellite.

"Awaiting your commands Mr. Luthor..." comes a voice from the screen.

"Set the co-ordinates for the JLA Watchtower, set the power to low and fire at will."

"Yes, sir."

The voice dies out and the image of the JLA Watchtower being blanketed in energy appears on-screen.

He's no longer going to deny the impulse. Lex laughs and spins himself around the office. The JLA and Superman are finished...

Galactus lets out a mighty cry. All stare in awe and wonder what he is doing...

The rays of energy stop and an image of a severely damaged (yet still standing) Watchtower appears on the screen. Luthor drops to his knees. He runs for the phone.

"Get me General Austin!" He waits impatiently. "Austin? What happened to my satellite?"

"Ugh...sir... It went offline. We think it was Galactus..."

"Well general get it back online... I WANT THE JUSTICE LEAGUE FINISHED!"

"Y-yes sir!" The phone cuts off and Lex is left to recompose himself. He presses the intercom button again. "Get my chopper ready."

"Yes sir."

Batman wakes up in the infirmary burnt and almost broken. There standing over him attending his wounds is Steel. "Steel?"

"Relax Batman you were badly hurt." Taking no notice Batman sits up.

"I can attend to them myself thank you. You should be building the cannon."

"No can do... The blast destroyed it. I need to start over."

"Blast..." Batman's memory begins to come back. "Where's the Shifter..." His voice was more than filled with spite.

"Gone. I saw him fly back to Earth."

"Hnh!"

A great boom echoes through the halls of the Watchtower, but no signs of attack. A boom tube has opened meaning that New Gods are here...

Batman and Steel march to the main hall and see that Orion and Barda Free have come to join them. "What happened here?" says Barda before Steel has a chance to explain.

"A giant blast from space and a pair of cosmic beings known as Galactus and the Shifter happened."

"I take it they have been dealt with?"

Steel looks shyly to her. "No..."

"What's our status?"

Batman steps forward. "A being known as Galactus is causing havoc on Earth searching for a weapon known as the Planetary Annihilator at a military base owned by Lex Luthor. His herald the Shifter is out and about causing mischief for all of us and the weapon we were going to use against Galactus is destroyed by a beam from space."

"Give me a look at the weapon..." Orion spoke.

"Steel?" Batman spoke.

"Come on Orion." The two leave for the airlock.

Orion and Steel approach the charred debris of the cannon. "And this is all that’s left..."

"I seriously doubt this would have done anything anyway..."

"But this one of the most advanced weapons known to man!"

"And very primitive to a God..."

Orion releases his energies and instruments upon the cannon turning it into a weapon capable of laying waste to a world. Steel looks upon it in awe.

"There you go Earthman."

"Is the system online Batman?"

A voice speaks directly into Steels ear. "Yes."

"Then fire away." The cannon turns and a mighty blast is released from the shaft and down to the Earth below. Steel is stunned by the power of it.

A mighty beam falls from the sky and hits Galactus in the back. It seems everlasting and Galactus power is obviously waning. He falls to his knees crushing tanks and jeeps in his wake. Finally the beam stops and he collapses.

"I HUNGER..." he says as he weakens.

"Arthur we have to do something!"

"What would you propose I do Diana?"

"Yeah," says the Huntress stepping forward. "He's eaten planets and stolen thousands of lives. Why should we give him any pity?"

"No we can't do that. Even if he does deserve death it's not us who should bring it upon him. And I have a feeling if he does die, we may regret it."

"But if we let him feed..."

"Er... guys?" Kyle points towards Galactus who is now calling upon his craft to prepare his feast. "What's he doing?"

"He's gonna eat the Earth..." says Wally under his breath.

"Crap..."

Objects begin to move around them and Superman and J'onn J'onzz are still powerless to move. "What's happening?"

"I wish I knew Superman, but the telepathic block is weakening... perhaps I can break us free..."

Lex Luthor's private helicopter lands on the sandy hangar beside the scene. In the far distance Galactus can be seen calling his consumption tools from the hull of his ship. Right there waiting in the jeep is General Austin holding the door open for him.

"Sir, I beg of you this is not the best time to..."

"Don’t worry yourself general I'm sure the Justice League can handle the situation. And when it's all over and they are weak I shall crush them..."

"I will crush you Luthor..." comes a voice from the sky. Lex is displeased by his presence.

"Kill him." The soldiers around open fire on the Shifter only to see the bullets ripple through him.

"I thought you would know better..." Lex then fires a miniature ray upon him which seems to neutralize his power. The bullets move right into him leaving him to bleed cosmic energy.

"I had a good chance to study you the first time we met. And after analyzing the Annihilator I had my scientists construct this." He holds up a small black box. "You're powerless against it and there's nothing you can do."

The herald lets out a mighty cry of "MAAAAAAAASTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"

Galactus turns to his servant and storms into his direction. No one dares wait for another. Every man ran for his life. Luthor quickly jumps into his chopper. As the giant hand of Galactus goes to swat it down he's knocked away by a giant glowing green robot with a Green Lantern symbol on its front.

"Don't expect any more favors Lex..." comes a voice from the heart of the machine.

Galactus lays on the ground and writhes in pain. "NEED... NOURISHMENT..."

Galactus once again tries to rise up and plug himself in to feed. As Green Lantern comes in for another blow he is attacked by the Shifter who again deconstructs his emerald form.

"Damnit..."

Galactus attaches his body with several wires and the force of the Earth rises into him and after every moment quickly fades until there is nothing. "WHAT IS HAPPENING?"

From one of his matter converters bursts a mighty blue and red figure the world knows as "Superman!"

"FOOLISH HUMAN! I SHALL RID MYSELF OF YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL!" His enormous fist collides with the Man of Steel breaking his flight path.

Though instead of being flung away he held on and drove Galactus into the Earth below. Each time he'd rise far more tired than the last until he could not get off his knees. "I NEED TO EAT!"

"Then feed on the Shifter's world," said the Martian Manhunter to the behemoth, "Its power is greater than ours..."

"BUT I MADE A VOW..."

"So did he, and he broke it."

"WHAT?"

"He gave a man the Planetary Annihilator with the intent of destroying you and taking your power."

"DOES HE SPEAK THE TRUTH HERALD?"

"No Master! He lies!"

"I do speak the truth, I will show you..." J'onn's thoughts are fed into Galactus' mind and he is overcome with images of the universe, the Shifter's journeys and a deal with a new devil.

"YOU WERE FOOLISH HERALD! AND AS PUNISHMENT I STRIP YOU OF YOUR TITLE AND YOUR POWERS. THEN I WILL FEED ON ANOTHER WORLD..."

"Oh no Master... No..."

"...ROMMAX IV!"

The Shifter screams as universal energy is sucked from his body and he is left a mortal man. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"BUT MY MISSION HERE IS NOT YET COMPLETE... WHERE IS THE PLANETARY ANNIHILATOR?"

"I believe it is above us at some point about 200 miles pointed towards the moon..." comes a dark spooky voice from behind the group. The group looks to see Batman limping towards them.

"Where were you when we needed you?" smiles Superman. Batman looks on in a menacing fashion.

"I'm here now is all that counts."

"THANK YOU JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA. AS REWARD FOR RETURN THE PLANETARY ANNIHILATOR I SHALL SPARE YOU AND YOUR WORLD FROM FURTHER HARM."

"We appreciate it..." And with that Galactus returns to his vessel and again to the empty universe searching for a meal.

Wally and Kyle look at each other puzzled. "So that’s it?"

"Yeah..."

EPILOGUE:

Lex Luthor sits in his office hiding in a bottle of fine imported booze, sulking to himself about the events occurring over the past few days. The phone rings.

"Hello?"

"Hello Mr. Luthor, I'm Dr. Goodwin, one of the analysts on the Annihilator project and I'm afraid to inform you the satellite has disappeared from its orbit..."

"I know..." He hangs up and takes another swig at the bottle.

A homeless man is left screaming in the street at all who pass by. He doesn't reek of alcohol, he's just another lost nutcase. "THE DAY WILL COME! I will have my revenge! Galactus shall perish! And you will all perish with him..."

A blue and red streak blurs across the sky. "Including you Superman!" A passer comes by, laughs and throws him a quarter to shut him up.

THE END

Stay tuned for more cosmic stories starring DC characters in future issues of Cosmic Powers Unlimited.  And be sure to leave your comments and suggestions below.