Featuring the villiany of . . .

Captain America, with typical military aplomb, was doing an inspection tour of the facility. He was satisfied with what he was seeing. It was an excellent installation, worthy of this excellent team.

Cap spotted Batman. The Dark Knight detective also seemed to be checking out the HQ. Cap joined him.

"Are you on an inspection as well?" Cap asked.

"Not exactly," Batman responded.

"What then?" Cap asked curiously.

"Bugs," the Bat replied.

"Surveillance devices?" Cap asked surprised.

"Exactly."

Cap didn't take the idea too seriously. "Aren't you being a little paranoid?"

Batman held out his hand. In his palm were three miniature surveillance bugs. Cap was appalled.

"I don't believe it!" Cap said. "How could they have gotten in here?"

"Any number of ways," Batman said. "But the most likely is that one of the many technicians we've had coming in and out of here over the past few weeks is not loyal to Tony Stark."

"Then to whom?" Cap asked. "Gyrich?"

"Most likely," the Dark Knight responded. "He'd love to know what we're up to now that we're no longer dancing to his tune."

Cap fumed. Would they ever be rid of Gyrich? "Thank you for your diligence, Batman," Cap said. "You're always thinking. It's good to have you on the team."

"Then why didn't you ask me about Icon?" Batman said, accusingly.

"Is there a problem?" Cap asked.

Batman looked sternly at Cap. "First, you let Firebird on the team without a background check. And then you allow this ‘Icon' person to join. What do we know about him?"

"We know that he helped us out when we needed it," Cap said.

"I'd like to know more about him then that," Batman said.

"Just trust my judgment," Cap said. "I've been in this business a long time. I believe that he's a good man."

"I hope you're right," Batman stated.

The Priests of Pama were in a state agitation. Their characteristic Zen-like calm had given way to something akin to fear. The temple was buzzing with an unusual amount of activity. They knew that great danger was on its way.

The Priest of Pama were descended from space-faring Holy men who arrived on Earth many years ago, due to the actions of a human named Bob Greyson, also known as the Marvel Boy. The Priests came here as acolytes of an enlightened alien race called the Cotati.*

*(The full story of the Cotati, the Priests of Pama & Marvel Boy will be told in JSA #30)

The Cotati originated on the planet where Thanos had searched for the Cosmic Cube. They had been driven off by the advanced race that created the ancient city. These two races were the last ones to posses the legendary Cosmic Cube. It nearly destroyed them. The cube was locked in a piece of incredibly dense Dwarf-Star alloy. The Priests of Pama were trained to be Martial arts masters and, in a limited sense, mystics. They needed these abilities to guard the cube should anyone try to use its terrible power ever again. When the Priests of Pama fled to Earth, they took the piece of Dwarf-Star matter with them. The Cosmic Cube was hidden on Earth. They hoped that no one would ever find it.

Recently, when the Thanagarian Kator Hol mind-merged with the AI record of their homeworld, the Priests, with their empathic powers, sensed it. They also sensed it when the powerful Thanos took that information from Hol's mind. They knew that he'd be coming. One of the most evil beings in the universe was coming to claim the ultimate weapon!

In a basement under an Egyptian bookstore was a makeshift Egyptian Temple. In it, Carter Hall worked his magic. Years ago, Cater Hall had been the super hero known as Hawkman. After the death of his wife, Carter Hall went into seclusion. He has long since been presumed dead. He used these years to study sorcery from books he'd collected. Some of them came from his old JSA partner Dr. Fate. Carter had become quite a proficient wizard.

At first, Carter's only goal in learning magic was to resurrect his beloved Shiera. He traveled the world, learning, searching for books of the dead. That was why he buried himself in Egyptian culture, since their mythology was as obsessed with death as Carter himself. However, after spending years in Cairo, Carter still hadn't developed the skills he needed. He then remembered hearing about the Priests of Pama from his old JSA buddies and decided to go and seek out these mysterious people. He set up shop in Saigon and managed to make a tenuous connection to the Priests. They taught him a few things about the spirit and a man's connection to nature.

That was many years ago. Carter, now 90 years old, had given up his goal of resurrecting his wife. With time came the realization that this is how things were meant to be. His soul had lived many lives before this with Shiera at his side and someday they would be together in another life. So Carter settled peacefully into his life as a shopkeeper in Saigon. He still liked to learn things from the Priests. They were old friends by now, the only ones that the hermit Carter Hall still had. He told them that if there was ever anything he could ever do for them, they should just ask.

When Carter Hall received the request for assistance from the Priests of Pama, he couldn't say ‘No', but he wasn't sure if this old, withered ex-super hero could be of any help against this approaching threat from space.

"Excellent." Thanos said to one of his alien mercenaries, "At last, destiny is at hand. But there is one thing I need to do first. And I need a few volunteers. If I don't get any volunteers, I'll volunteer them myself."

In a rowdy bar called the Red Dragon, a waitress known as Mantis was serving drinks to obnoxious men. Mantis was a beautiful Vietnamese woman, who had once been something much more than a mere serving wench.

Once, she had been an acolyte of the Priests of Pama. She trained with them since childhood and learned her lessons well. She was a human weapon with great empathic skills. The Priests had high hopes for Mantis, but they were to be disappointed. Mantis, who had lived most of her life behind the high walls of the Temple, had an insatiable curiosity about the world outside those walls. When she was 18, Mantis fled the Temple and lived among the people of Saigon. She had a few adventures, but ultimately her life after leaving the Priests was not what she expected. Too proud to beg them to let her return, she stayed in Saigon, working in a bar, hoping to make enough money to travel, possibly to America.

Now 20 years old, Mantis' empathic power allowed her to detect the psychic SOS from the priests. She had previously gotten a premonition of the danger that was approaching, and this confirmed it. The thing she had been trained for since childhood was finally upon her!

Someone was coming for the Cosmic Cube!

Thanos's ship descended under the cover of a cloaking device, to prevent Earth missiles from striking it. But once he had reached the hills of Vietnam, there was no further need for a covert approach. The ship appeared in the sky over the temple of the Priests of Pama.

The Priests, despite their fears, gathered together to do their duty. They first tried to use their magic to bring down the ship. They never got the chance to finish. Thanos unleashed his photon blasters and ravaged the temple. The ship then landed in the smoking ruin.

Thanos stepped out. The surviving Priests backed away from him in fear. But even more terrifying than Thanos was the creature that emerged from behind him. It was a hybrid of various aliens, a gestalt of space beings who formerly had served Thanos. They were his "volunteers". He used his advanced Technology to turn them into a composite monster. The brainwashed potpourri of alien criminals dutifully followed Thanos out of the ship.

Thanos used a scanner device to home in on the exact location of the Cosmic cube. "Stay out of our way, Earth men!" Thanos yelled. "And you will not be hurt. At least, not just now!"

Mantis gasped when she saw the smoke coming from the Temple. Was she too late? She ran forward, hoping that she could still make a difference. Deep inside, she doubted that she could.

Mantis reached the Temple. The same walls that she had dreamed so often about fleeing as a child now stood as a teetering ruin. She looked though a hole in the wall and saw a scene of chaos. A large humanoid figure and a monster were ravaging the Temple and the last surviving Priests. Mantis froze, unsure of what she should do. She knew that the beings she was confronted with were too much for her to stop alone.

Mantis heard a groan. She spotted a bloodied priest crawling along the ground though the wreckage. Stealthily, she approached him and kneeled next to him.

"M . . . Mantis . . . " the priest muttered weakly.

"Yes," she said quietly. "Be still. Do not speak."

"No time, forget us," the priest gasped. "Get help. Someone. Find Carter. Anyone. Get . . . "

And the priest died. Mantis had no time to grieve. She had to get help. But who? And who was Carter? Then, she remembered hearing about some sort of mystic who lived in Saigon. Wasn't his name Carter something? Carter Hall! That was it! She had to find him!

Carter Hall was reading a book of spells and gesturing in practice. An unearthly glow surrounded the old man. He saw Mantis coming down the stairs. Carter grabbed a crossbow and aimed it at her. "Don't move, lady!"

"This one means you no harm, Carter Hall," she said, referring to herself in the third person. "She has come to seek your assistance on behalf of some holy men of your acquaintance."

Carter nodded, knowing immediately what she meant. "So, you're one of them, are you?" he asked.

"Yes," the pretty young Vietnamese woman said. "This one has been trained by the Priests of Pama for this occasion. She is now ready to fight."

"You're a Martial Arts expert?" Carter asked.

"Among other things," she said.

"I imagine you're pretty good, huh?" Carter said.

"She is," Mantis answered.

"Good," Carter said. "I can use your help. But first, I need someone else's help."

"Who's help?" Mantis asked.

"The Priests told me about an alien named Kator Hol, who's being held captive by Thanos," Carter said. "We need him."

"Why?" the girl asked.

"Because I'm old, and he's young and strong," Carter said. "And he knows how to use the Thanagarian wings. No training needed."

"This one does not understand you, Carter Hall," Mantis said.

"You will," Carter said. "Now stand back while I finish this spell. Then you'll have to do something for me."

Iron Man answered. "This is the JLA Hall of Justice, Iron Man speaking. Go ahead."

The UN informed the armored hero that they had investigated an unconfirmed UFO sighting over Vietnam by using a satellite. The satellite picture showed them a scene of destruction occurring at some sort of temple in the hills near Saigon. They request that the JLA check this out. Ever since the threat of Thanos' return, no report of a UFO was taken lightly, especially not this one, considering what was going on in that Vietnamese temple.

"Understood," Iron Man said. "We're on our way."

Iron Man hit the JLA emergency signal, to summon the rest of the team.

When he saw the "ghost", he didn't know what to make of it. The ghost was really the spirit, or the Astral Form, of the man named Carter Hall. The ghostly apparition looked down sadly at the Thanagarian.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," Carter's astral self said to Kator. "And I'm sorry for what I must now do. But you're no good to anyone the way you are, and I need a younger, stronger body if I am to stop Thanos! So, I'm forced to do this. Forgive me!"

The spirit of Carter Hall entered the half-mindless body of Kator Hol. Their soul's merged. Carter filled in the gaps of Kator's incomplete mind. Two became one.

Meanwhile, inside the spacecraft, Carter/Kator, now invigorated physically, spiritually and mentally, fought his way past the few remaining mercenaries left in Thanos' ship.

Mantis soon appeared on the scene, with a box full of the things Carter had requested. She spotted the man with the winged outfit standing near the entrance to the ship.

"Carter Hall?" she asked.

"It's me," Carter/Kator said. "At least in part. Do you have what I asked for?"

"This one brought everything you requested," Mantis said.

"Give it here," Carter/Kator said.

Carter/Kator opened the box. The first thing he took out was his old Hawk helmet. His old weapons were in there, as well. And the body of Kator Hol came equipped with the wings and belt of Nth metal. He was ready! At last!

"Are you prepared for battle, Carter Hall?" Mantis asked.

"Don't call me Carter Hall," he said. "Call me Hawkman!"

Hawkman launched himself at Thanos and his gestalt monster.

Thanos sensed him coming. "So, Kator, you've made an amazing recovery. I'd love to know how you did it, but I have other matters to concern me."

Thanos fired several energy blasts at Hawkman, who easily evaded them.

"You've improved since our battle aboard my ship," Thanos said. "I find it interesting. But I cannot be distracted now," Thanos turned to his composite beast. "Kill!"

The beast battled Hawkman as Thanos continued to use his scanner to close in on the hidden Cosmic Cube.

"What's wrong?" Wasp asked.

"It's him!" J'Onn said, alarmed. "It's Thanos!"

Mantis leaped at the creature. She knew that she couldn't hurt it but she wanted to distract it. Besides that, she needed to get closer to it to sense its weakness. Hawkman took advantage of the distraction and broke away from the hybrid beast.

"This one has sensed the beast's weak point," Mantis said. "The underbelly, beneath its maw!"

Hawkman nodded, and tried to find an opening to hit the hybrid in its weakest point.

Nearby, Thanos had reached the spot where the Dwarf Star matter—and the Cosmic Cube—was buried.

"At last!" he said, smiling. Thanos casually tossed some rubble aside and looked down at the ground. He pointed, prepared to fire an energy bolt, which would unearth his prize. "Destiny!"

But before he could fire, he was struck from behind, and struck hard! Thanos toppled forward. He looked back to see who had dared strike the mighty Thanos.

"Someone is about to die very horribly!" Thanos said.

He saw a hammer swooping through the air. It returned to the hand of a powerful being with blonde hair and a winged helmet.

"Thor!" Thanos said.

"Aye, villain!" Thor replied. "And I have not come alone!"

The other twelve members of the JLA appeared . . . Captain America, Martian Manhunter, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Flash, Wasp, Giant Man, Batman, Captain Marvel, Vision, Firebird, and Icon.

Thanos got to his feet. He didn't seem intimidated. "I've been expecting you, and I'm quite ready to deal with you. Prepare to die!"`