"Come, Shakedown, my boy," the Key said. "This is where we get off."

The Key started to walk into the portal. Shakedown didn't move.

"I suggest you hurry along, you fool," the Key said. "The offer to come and serve me expires in seconds."

"I refuse," Shakedown said. "This is my world. I have to do something to try and save it."

"I see. So you actually think you can betray me and be allowed to live, do you? You're more of an idiot than I thought, you simple minded cretin!"

"I'm not afraid of you, Key!"

The Key laughed. He pulled out a tiny remote control device from his shirt. It activated a secret door in the ground. Out came a huge robot. Shakedown backed away, nervous.

"Shakedown," the Key said, "meet Mr. Atom. Mr. Atom, kill Shakedown!"

The huge robot lumbered toward Shakedown.

"Goodbye, my boy," the Key said. "Have a good life. All two seconds of it." The Key vanished into the portal which faded after he was gone.

Shakedown used his vibrational powers to rock the ground, hoping to trip up the robot, but it's internal stabilizers kept it from toppling. The Shade pulled out a small whistle and blew it. It was a contingency plan that he hoped would work.

Mr. Atom unleashed a laser burst from it's eyes. But before the beam hit Shakedown, it was blocked by a force field.

"What the . . . " Shakedown asked, surprised.

He noticed that another portal had appeared. The Key stepped out of it again. He was wearing a different outfit. "Are you all right?" He asked Shakedown.

Shakedown had no idea what he was up to. "I'm . . . I'm fine."

"Good. Now let's get away from here. My force field will cover our retreat. Where is the exit?"

"You don't know where it is?" Shakedown asked, confused.

"I'm not who you think I am. Just head to the door and I shall explain."

Shakedown saw the robot coming and decided not to argue. He ran for the rear escape exit, with his companion close behind. Once outside, they ran for cover behind some bushes. Mr. Atom broke through the wall of the Key's lab. It used it's scanners to locate it's prey.

"It's found us!"

Mr. Atom focused it's destructive ray on them. But it never got a chance to fire. A black shadow covered the two men . . . And they vanished. Mr. Atom continued to search for them.

"I got your message," the Shade said, smiling.

Quasar found the robot. It was big and seemed to be getting bigger. It's laser tore through buildings. It had to be stopped. Quasar let loose with a blast of quantum energy. Mr. Atom was rocked by the young hero's power. He tried to blast Quasar but the Avengers Leaguer blew out his eye lasers. Mr. Atom tried to swat Quasar but couldn't connect. Quasar continued to blast Mr. Atom with his formidable power.

The Shade grinned. "I've been waiting for you to call."

Shakedown looked at the man he knew as the Key.

"What's the game, Key?"

"I'm not the Key," he said. "I'm the Teacher. And I'm here to save your world."

Quasar surrounded them with quantum energy. "Don't even think about trying to escape! Because I'm in a bad mood and I won't be gentle about stopping you."

"We have no intention of trying to escape," the Teacher said. "We were going to look for you after we stopped the robot. You just saved us a lot of time."

"I don't know what you're trying to pull, Key, but It's not going to work!"

"I'm not the Key. I am the Teacher. I am from the other universe. The one that is threatening your own. I came here to save your world."

"And I should believe you because . . . ?"

The Shade stepped forward. "Excuse me young man. I am the Shade. You may have heard of me."

"I've heard of you. You're another criminal."

"A criminal who is owed a favor," the Shade said. "Perhaps your leader Captain America told you about the recent events concerning the murder of several World War Two heroes?"

Quasar nodded. "He told me."

"Did he tell you that he and the Sub-Mariner came to me for help? Did he tell you that I helped him solve the case? Did he tell you that this was not the first time I helped him? The man owes me. So take me to him! He'll listen to me."

Quasar sighed. "Cap is busy. But tell me what's on your mind and I'll be the judge."

The Teacher nodded. "Very well. As I said, I am the counterpart of the Key from the other dimension. I was the last of a dying breed. The breed you would call 'superheroes.' All of my peers were killed by your counterparts in my dimension. Only I survived. I faked my own death and used my technology to hide myself. I planned for years, trying to find a way to overthrow the villains who kept my world in fear. Recently, I found out about visitors from another universe - a parallel universe. Yours.

"I saw an opportunity to get help. But I decided first to monitor your world and see if you and the other beings on this Earth were trustworthy. I realized that the portal between the two universes was endangering this solar system. It finally occurred to me what had happened. We were created. Someone in your universe created my universe. And the portal that is feeding energy to my dimension, is expanding and threatening to swallow up this world. Shakedown here filled me in on the details. That your Quantum energy was used to begin the process."

Quasar fidgeted, feeling embarrassed and a little guilty.

"Anyway," the Teacher continued, "once the Key from your world opened a doorway to mine, I had a route to follow. A dimensional roadmap. I was able to find my way to the source of the trouble. I appeared in the Key's laboratory."

Quasar looked at the Shade. "How do you fit into this?"

"That was my doing," Shakedown said. "I'd been having second thoughts about what the Key was up to. I needed someone's help. Someone smart. And every underworld hood knows that the Shade is the guy to turn to when you need a wise man."

"It's nice to have a reputation," the Shade said. "I'm like the Godfather. Anyway, once I heard what the Key's plan was, I knew it had to be stopped. After all, If the world is destroyed, where would I live?"

Quasar considered. "Assuming I believe all of this, what can we do to stop it."

"I have a plan," the Teacher said. "Quasar's quantum energy can be used to close the portal."

"Whatever I need to do, I'll do!" Quasar said.

"Here, maybe this will help," War Woman said. She placed her Chains of Compulsion on Batman. The magic chains would force Batman to do what she said, no matter how strong his will was.

"You will tell us where you came from, hero. You will tell us how to get there," War Woman snarled.

Unbeknownst to the villains, someone had been working on the holding cells for the Avengers Leaguers. As the Injustice Syndicate delighted in Batman's torture, Captain America was stealthily releasing his comrades from their prisons.

The Avengers League regrouped, ready to stop their evil counterparts.

J'Onn J'Onzz telepathically blasted the Martian Murderer, forcing him to release Batman. War Woman saw the Avengers League coming and retreated into the corner of the room to prepare her next move.

The Wasp flew forth, shrank to microscopic size, and flew inside Ebonwing's cowl. She blasted him with bio-stings until he writhed with agony and fell unconscious.

Neutron Star prepared to blast the Leaguers. Flash zoomed around and around the villain, preventing him from concentrating. Martian Manhunter then found Neutron Star's consciousness with his telepathic powers, and mind-blasted the villain.

Hornet Queen attempted to fly out of the room at microscopic size, but the Wasp caught up to her and punched her out.

Now it was three members of the Injustice Syndicate versus six very angry Avengers Leaguers.

Something happened then that no one in the room was expecting.

The Key appeared in a flash of trans-dimensional light.

"Aha! I'm in my Dark Mirror world at last!" He gestured toward the Syndicate members. "Come, my friends, let's join our power to stop these heroes! If you do your job well, I may let you share some of the rule of this dimension!"

"Who are you?" War Woman asked.

"His weapon has great power, according to my sensors," Iron Monger said.

"Maybe it would be useful," the Martian Murderer said as he got to his feet.

"No! Don't you understand the power that we could share?" the Key protested.

"Who says we have to share power with you?" Iron Monger replied. He motioned to Martian Murderer and War Woman. "Let's kill him, and take his Key."

"Good idea, Iron Monger," the Murderer responded. "Maybe it can get us back to our universe."

"You idiots! You make me wish I never created you!"

As the Injustice Syndicate members readied themselves to kill the Key, the Teacher, Quasar, and the Shade appeared.

"In a bit of trouble, are you, Key?" the Teacher asked sarcastically.

"Don't let them kill me!" the Key said. The Syndicate members closed on him, preparing to take his weapon and murder him.

The heroes felt some sympathy, even for this evil genius.

"What will you do for us if we help you?" asked Batman.

"I'll help you get back where you belong!!!"

"Not good enough, Key!" Cap replied. "You've put us through a lot, and we deserve more than just a trip back home!"

"I'll make sure that this universe is put away forever!!!"

"I don't think he's lying," Wonder Woman said. "We should help him."

A repulsor blast from Iron Monger nearly took the Key's head off.

"Please!"

The Avengers League sprang into action against the three Injustice Syndicate members.

Wonder Woman threw her lasso around War Woman, then pummeled her senseless. Martian Manhunter turned intangible and floated toward Iron Monger. Before the villain could react, he turned his fingers tangible and undid the latches on the metal-clad villain's helmet. Once the helmet flew off, J'Onzz punched him in the face.

The Martian Murderer went after J'Onzz, but he was stopped by simultaneous attacks from Iron Man, Wasp, and Captain America. He was so preoccupied with fighting that J'Onn J'Onzz easily disabled him with a telepathic attack.

"Thank you," the Key said. But, villain as he was, he was planning to strike against the Avengers League and the Teacher right at that moment.

"I'll take that," Martian Manhunter said. His arms stretched out and snatched the Key's weapon away.

"Now it's your turn to keep your part of the bargain," Captain America reminded the villain.

Gotta get out of here! he thought. I'm tired of being the only good guy. Maybe, if I could get to where Captain America came from . . .

"Get him!" one of the Young Injustice members shouted. A dark figure leapt up, and tackled Tidal Wave.

Instead, he found himself slammed into the ground. A shrinking white hole lay where Tidal Wave had been.

Quasar was hooked up to the device to provide the cosmic power needed for its massive task. Hank Pym supervised the process of powering up the device and starting the compression process.

But first there was the matter of getting the Teacher home. Using a combination of his and the Key's weapons, the heroes were able to generate a portal for the Teacher to return back to his home universe.

The Teacher prepared to leave. "Keep a good eye on my opposite number the Key, there, Leaguers!"

"Will do," Cap answered.

"Thank you for your help."

"Goodbye, my friends. Wish me luck!" The Teacher stepped into the portal to the Dark Mirror Universe. Fueled by Quasar's power and the device that the Teacher had made, the portal shrank, and then the heroes observed a marvelous sight. The Dark Mirror Universe began to compress itself, warping its shape until it turned into a cube not more than six inches in total size.

"The Dark Mirror universe is now locked away," Iron Man reported from his console.

"Whew!" said Quasar. "I gotta sit down for a while, guys. Nega-bands or not, my batteries need recharging!"

The Shade readied for his departure. "Remember what you promised me, Captain America! I shall return to visit you if you forget!"

He disappeared into one of the shadows on the wall, leaving everyone a bit uneasy.

"I guess they have the right to live, even though they are evil," Batman commented.

"Yes, I'm glad we didn't just destroy the Dark Mirror universe," J'Onn J'Onzz replied. "Here and there in that evil place, there may be other good souls like the Teacher."

Iron Man looked at the cube thoughtfully. "It makes you wonder what will happen in that universe, with evil being so predominant. Will justice ever prevail over the evil there? If justice wins out in the Dark Mirror universe, what does that mean for our universe?"

Captain America put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Let's take a break from that stuff for a while, Iron Man. The Dark Mirror universe is in safe keeping for now."

The Avengers League walked off to the dining area of the Hall of Justice, to grab some much-needed snacks. Jarvis was so happy to see them all back that he whipped up a marvelous dinner for them that all enjoyed enormously.