"I swear to you, Doctor, that the League was sucked into that mirror!" Jarvis replied excitedly. "That's why I summoned you here."

"I don't doubt your word, Jarvis," Hank said. "I just can't understand how it was done. If there is a doorway or portal here, the micro-tolerances are so finely gauged that any entrance is effectively made invisible." Hank touched the mirror. "It feels like regular glass. Fascinating. Either some freak natural phenomenon occurred, or some high degree if intelligence is involved. I wonder . . . "

Hank Pym pulled some equipment out of the little black bag he had brought with him. He waved one device over the mirror's surface.

"What is that?" Jarvis asked.

"It's a sub-atomic sensor," Hank said. "Hmmm . . . This is interesting."

"What is, sir?"

"Every bit of matter in our universe has the same quantum signature at the sub-atomic level. I'm reading an ambient resonance of a quantum signature I'm unfamiliar with."

"Which means?" Jarvis asked.

"It means that not long ago, this very mirror was a portal to a totally different universe. And the Avengers League are now trapped in that alternate universe."

"Good heavens!" Jarvis cried. "Whatever shall we do?"

"I'm not quite sure yet, Jarvis," Hank said, "but I swear to you, somehow I'll find a way to get them back! To get Jan back!"

Quasar tried to use the power of his quantum bands to break the shackles. But then he noticed that there were new wrist bands covering his quantum bands. When he tried to use his power, the new bands sucked up the quantum energy.

"What's going on?!"

And then he remembered. That person, the weird looking guy who had captured him. He did something. He had found a way to absorb Quasar's energy and use it to power his devices. Apparently, these new wrist bands were of the same design. When Quasar tried to use his power, the energy was drained and was no doubt being transmitted to those same machines in which his power had previously been stolen. If Quasar used his quantum bands, all he would be doing was serving the needs of his mysterious enemy. The big question was, what to do now? Where was he, and how could he escape?

The door to the cell opened. Quasar tried to made a leap for the door, but the chain on his ankle shackle wasn't long enough. He looked up, angry. A pretty woman in dark glasses came in.

"Welcome, Quasar," she said. "So glad to have you here."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Roulette. I run this place."

"What is this place? This is not the same place I was in when that guy captured me."

"You mean the Key," she said. "Yes, he caught you, but your usefulness to him was finished. So, he had his man Shakedown get rid of you. And Shakedown sold you to me. You're mine now."

"Yours?" Quasar asked, confused.

"Yes, Quasar. You're mine and you'll be a big asset to me and my business."

"Business?" he inquired. "What business? Where am I?"

"You'll find out in just a minute," Roulette replied with a gesture. Three very large men in armored protective clothes entered. They unlocked the ankle shackle, and grabbed Quasar. He struggled, but their combined strength was too much. They dragged him down the hall.

Quasar was dumped into what looked like an old gladiator arena. There were a group of seats overlooking the arena. The seats were filled by super-villains. Quasar recognized some of them. There were looking down at him, laughing and howling in excitement. Roulette appeared.

"Are all the bets in?" she asked. After taking some least minute bets, she declared the betting over. "Are you all ready for some action?" she asked the crowd. They all cheered. "Good. And let me remind you, that this is a battle to the death! Now, let me introduce to you gladiator number one. He's a member of the Avengers League. Ladies and gentlemen . . . Quasar!"

There were a lot of boo's for the young hero. "I have a bad feeling about this . . . " he muttered.

"And now, my friends," Roulette announced, "let us meet his opponent. He is our reigning champion here in the Arena. Undefeated in fifty-seven fights, here is . . . the Vision!"

The crowd cheered. The Vision entered the arena by walking in through the wall. The emotionless android was tall and red, in a green and yellow costume. He had a gem on his forehead and a yellow cloak. He walked towards Quasar.

"Vison?" Quasar repeated, surprised. He had heard about Captain America's encounter with the Vision not long ago. The Vision had once been the Human Torch, a member of the JSA and hero of the second World War. He was rebuilt by the Mad Thinker and made into a super assassin. He'd gotten free of the Thinker's control and had been in hiding ever since. Why was he fighting for Roulette?

"Vision!" Quasar pleaded. "I'm a friend of Captain America. I'm a superhero, just like you were. I'm not your enemy. We don't need to fight."

"Save your breath," Roulette said. "I'm in control of the Vision. He will obey only me. Now Vision, Kill Quasar!"

Vision moved towards Quasar. Quasar backed up, scared. Without his Quantum power, he had no chance against the power of the Vision!

Shakedown entered. "I got rid of Quasar, Mr. Key. And I made a profit on it."

"Fine, fine," the Key muttered, as he studied the monitors.

Shakedown looked at them too. He saw the expanding rift. "Uhhh, that thing's getting pretty big, sir."

"Yes, quite so."

"Is this necessary, boss? It's getting pretty close to Earth."

"Of course it is, you simple minded baboon!" The Key snapped, "There is another universe growing out of ours. Think of it as a tree growing out of the dirt. Our universe is the dirt, and the new universe is the tree. When the tree is just a little twig, it only takes up a small amount of space in the dirt. But as the tree grows, it takes up more room at it's base in the dirt. If we are the dirt, then the tree - which is the new universe - is taking up more room in our universe. The rift you are seeing is the point where the new universe is springing out of ours. The rift is growing because the new universe needs more room at it's base."

"How far will it expand?" Shakedown asked, overwhelmed by all this.

"It will probably swallow this whole solar system. Including this planet. A pity, really. I quite like the pyramids. But you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs."

Shakedown was shocked. "So, uh, what are you going to do with this new universe once it's grown?"

"Whatever I want," the Key answered. "Rule it. Study it. Experiment on it. Anything! You see, I control the base - you could say, the roots - of this new universe. And don't forget my ability to use ghost particles to alter probabilities. With ghost particles, I can poison the roots, and kill the tree."

"You mean, you can destroy this universe if you want?"

"Exactly!" the Key stated proudly, "And once I supply the proper scientific proof to the inhabitants of this new universe, they will have no choice but to accept me as their leader! Otherwise, I will destroy them!"

"There are people in that other universe?" Shakedown asked.

"Of course. Everything from our universe is duplicated, including the people. They may be very different from their counterparts here, but they exist!"

"So wouldn't they just be a few hours old?" Shakedown asked, "That universe has only been around for a few hours."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, you small-brained chimp, but time and nature always take care of the necessities. The new universe will fill in it's own past and future. A whole new timestream. All the people in the new universe will have their own history. I don't yet know what their past is, but I know their future. They will be ruled by the Key! And if you behave and obey me, Shakedown, I will allow you to survive and come with me to the new universe where you will remain at my side as I lord it over billions of worlds! I will be the God of that universe! And I will have all the resources and specimens I need to study and do experiments on. That universe will be a giant laboratory for me. And with it, I shall achieve my long-time desire to know everything! To learn all that is learnable! To be totally omnipotent! That is my dream, and will let nothing stop me!"

The Avengers League stood over the fallen form of a being who turned out to be an alternate version of the Flash.

"If he's you . . . " Iron Man started.

"Then we must be in a place that is like our own world," Martian Manhunter added.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't go attacking other heroes like this guy did," Flash responded.

The Wasp grew to full size and examined the fallen speedster. "Maybe he didn't recognize us or something."

Batman scratched his chin. "It's probably more complicated than that . . . it always is."

A laser blast pierced through the rotting ceiling of the building and made its way slowly across the room. All of the Leaguers dodged it expertly, but a section of floor fell out from under Captain America, and he tumbled down to seeming nothingness.

"What the?" Iron Man exclaimed as he warmed up his repulsors.

The roof quickly fell away, and the Leaguers noticed a group of figures hovering overhead. The beams belonged to a massive, magenta-colored alien who looked like the exact reverse of the Martian Manhunter. He was accompanied by a tall, commanding woman who carried a fearsome sword and machine gun. A huge metal figure with glowing eyes observed as his boot jets hissed fire into the air.

"We are the Injustice Syndicate," the woman ordered. "We rule this planet! No other superhumans are allowed here!"

The ironclad villain raised his metal head. "I have already signaled our ground forces for support, Martian Murderer."

"We won't need it against these weaklings, Iron Monger!" the alien one retorted. "Kill them!"

The Syndicate charged down through the roof. Martian Manhunter stopped his evil counterpart with a powerful right hook. Wonder Woman used her lasso to pin the arms of her warrior counterpart, who crashed to the floor of the ruined building.

"Sneaking around our old headquarters, eh?" Iron Monger chuckled as he fired a random repulsor array in Flash and Batman's direction. Flash managed to speed his friend to safety.

"You should always be careful in rotting buildings," Iron Man warned his counterpart as he swooped up behind him. "You never know when the floor will rot out from under you!"

His unibeam cut a hole in the floor beneath his enemy. As the villain fell, Iron Man charged down into the hole he had made, to further engage his counterpart.

The Wasp attempted to blast Martian Murderer as he fought J'Onn J'Onzz, but her opponent's reflexes were too fast. The evil alien dashed the Wasp against the wall like a common insect and went back to fighting the Manhunter.

Batman and Flash paused, figuring out where they could help in the battle.

"If the Injustice Syndicate are our counterparts, then where are the rest of them?" Batman wondered aloud.

"They mentioned ground forces . . . "

"We're right here, scum!!"

A star-shaped shield chopped its way through the walls of the building and managed to chop a good portion of Batman's cape right off. It belonged to a fearsome figure dressed in red, white and blue, but he was wearing a white hood that covered his face. An archer dressed in blood red raised a bow and fired an arrow at Flash. As the fastest man alive raced to grab the arrow out of the air, at the last moment the arrowhead split and released dozens of tiny blades that pierced through his costume. Flash fell to the floor, clutching his many bleeding wounds.

Batman leapt through the air toward the duo, but he was lassoed in mid-air by and unseen figure. A tiny woman grew from microscopic size and blasted him through his eye slits.

A black-garbed figure who looked almost exactly like Batman emerged from the shadows, accompanied by a hulking, quiet figure who seethed with power.

"Neutron Star!" the American flag-garbed villain ordered. "We've had our fun. Now you can do your stuff!"

The powerful villain silently acknowledged. He lifted his arms to the sky and suddenly seemed to be composed of all the darkness in the universe. With a thought beams of solid cosmic darkness reached out from him, blasting Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter as they fought.

The roar of boot jets was heard as Iron Monger emerged from the hole in the floor with Iron Man's bent and battered helmet in his hands.

"We win, then," he observed in his mechanical voice.

"Yeah, we win again!" the evil counterpart of Batman assented. "I wish you buffoons had left at least one more of them for me. It's not like we get too much superpowered resistance anymore."

"Quiet, Ebonwing! Gather them up, troops!" the evil flag-garbed one ordered.

"All of us are qualified to be field commanders," Ebonwing complained. "It's not like you have to give the orders all the time."

"You'll learn to respect the Real American . . . "

"You just try and make me, you jingoistic piece of -- "

"Boys!" shouted the tiny voice of Hornet Queen, who grew to full size to stand between them. She put one hand seductively upon each of the villains' chins and began to stroke them sensuously. "If you both knock yourselves unconscious, who'll be left to have some fun with me when all the fighting's over?"

Warrior Woman sniffed at the other woman's power over her teammates. "As if your frail form had anything significant to offer them, Hornet Queen." She pulled Wonder Woman's head up from the floor by the hair and held her sword to the flowing tresses, contemplating chopping them off. Then the woman remembered what she wanted to say. "Our foes aren't dead yet. Let's take them back to the Darkest Tower for torture!"

The villains shouted their agreement, and so they gathered up the unconscious Leaguers and stood grouped together. The ironclad villain pressed a button on his gauntlet and the large group was immediately transported away.

Just as the group disappeared, the ruined floor began to shake. A red, white, and blue shield instantly pierced through the rotting wood of the floor . . .

The battle was not over yet!