"My alliance with Darkseid has borne fruit! His Death-Seeds will allow me to sacrifice the people and life of Earth--slowly."

Thanos, the mad Titan, could barely contain his excitement.

"Earth will be perfect for the propagation of the Death-Seeds. They were created in the fire-pits of Apokolips, so they need pollution to thrive. That is something that the Earth has enough of, so it will be easy to plant them! Now to send the Parademons that Darkseid gave me to begin the dissemination of the Death-Seeds!"

A deep chuckle arose from the Titan, erupting into deep bellows of near-insane laughter...

This was something he would have to check out.

The Leaguers reached the meeting room to find Hank Pym standing over a radio receiver. "We have an urgent message from the hero called the Batman," Pym said.

"I've heard of him," Martian Manhunter replied. "I haven't quite figured out whether he's entirely good or not, but he wouldn't have contacted us unless it was urgent.

Pym played the message. "This is the Batman contacting the Avengers League. There are some heavily armed aliens here, who are setting up some kind of machine...I probably can't handle them all myself. I'm at the Deep Quarry Landfill..."

Blue Beetle spoke up. "Okay, someone stop me if this sounds weird, but why would aliens set up a giant machine in a landfill?"

"I have no idea," Martian Manhunter replied. "But it bears examination. Let's go!"

The five Avengers League members rushed to the Quinjet. Moments later, it emerged from a tunnel on the other side of the East River, and launched into the sky.

"Status report, my master."

"Yes, dog! How does the construction of the first Death-Seed proceed?"

"On schedule, master. We will have it operational within a few minutes."

"Very good. Back to work with you!"

Aboard his ship, Thanos stroked his wrinkled chin in satisfaction. "Yes, everything is going according to plan. And all I have to do is sit and wait for the Death-Seed's work to begin.."

Blue Beetle observed the work of the aliens through his seat's window.

"They're efficient, whoever they are, and whatever they're doing. Seems to be an organized operation."

"Whatever they're building," Ice commented.

"I'm putting her down about a quarter-mile away from the site, people," Captain Atom said as he brought the Quinjet to a landing. "They're less likely to notice us coming that way."

Martian Manhunter spoke to the group after they quietly emerged from the Quinjet. "We need a good close look at whatever they are building. Wasp, I want you to go ahead and give us a report on the specifics. In your shrunken form, the aliens should pay you no mind."

"I'll blend in with all the other bugs.." Janet Pym said sarcastically.

Martian Manhunter drew the group to attention using the telepathic link she shared with them. "Listen closely, and I'll tell you the rest of my plan..."

The tiny form reached the main structure of the construct. The Wasp spoke into a tiny transmitter in the collar of her costume. "This is going to sound nuts, guys, but it looks like a giant seedling or something...like a machine version of the geraniums my gardener plants."

At that moment, the Parademons energized the machine. The air began to hum, and crackle with the sheer power of the device.

"They've turned it on!"

"You know what to do next, Wasp," Martian Manhunter replied through the two-way radio.

Wasp headed into the midst of the working aliens and started blasting them with tiny but painful bio-stings. They were distracted enough not to notice Blue Beetle and Martian Manhunter heading over to the machine for a closer look. They also did not notice Captain Atom and Ice preparing a full-on assault.

"There's so many of them," Ice whispered.

"We can take them," Captain Atom responded. He soared over the confused workers, and began blasting into their midst with his nuclear-based powers. Ice used her powers to generate a growing ice platform, from the top of which she rained ice blasts down on the confused aliens.

"Is that your team making the ruckus?" he asked.

"Yes," Martian Manhunter responded.

"Good plan. That should clear a guard or two away from this monstrosity." Batman hunkered down to take a look at one of the machine's pulsing energy tendrils. "It seems to be sucking some kind of energy from the Earth itself. There has to be a reason why they built it here, in this landfill."

"Very observant, human."

The three men turned to see Thanos, who had transported himself to Earth, and had been listening to their entire conversation.

Hank went back to his lonely vigil over the monitors. He almost thought he saw a spike on the heart rate monitor, but it went away so quickly that he paid it no mind.

Captain Atom reassured her. "Yes, you've done a great job. But they seem to be regaining their composure and readying for an attack."

The Parademons were regrouping. They started picking up what weapons they had, or heavy pieces of junk that they were able to find in the landfill. A dominant Parademon sent out a rallying Apokoliptian battle cry, which the others took up.

"They're going to charge," Captain Atom said.

"If I can generate an ice wall, I may be able to hold off the brunt of their assault," Ice asserted.

"I'll protect you while you generate it," Captain Atom replied.

Ice was about to make the largest demand on her powers that she had ever made. She concentrated deeply, and an ice wall began to form out of the moisture in the air. It formed an impassable barrier between her and the advancing forces of the Parademons.

"This is going to put me in the anchor spot," a young woman exclaimed. She signaled to a technician in the news van who started up the live satellite link.

"This is Trish Tilby, live at the scene of a battle between the Avengers League and unknown alien forces..."

As she spoke, her cameraman struggled to get good shots of her in front of the ongoing battle.

And, at that moment, Captain America awoke. His firm grip would not relax from Hank's arm.

"Um...Captain, you're hurting my arm!"

"Danger...there is danger?"

"Well, yes there is. The Avengers League are fighting some aliens, and some cosmically-powered villain. From the news reports, it looks like they aren't doing very well."

"I'm needed, then?" Captain America began to rise from his bed, and started to pull the intravenous tubes from his body.

"You really should rest, Captain," Pym said, although the monitors were reading that his life signs were back to normal. "You need to rest...you've been under for a very long time."

"No, I must help them. Take me to where the heroes are."

Hank could not disobey the World War II hero. Cap's leadership qualities were just as good as Hank had read about and seen in the wartime newsreels about the Justice Society of America.

"Okay. Let's go get a Quinjet, then!"

"Human scum, always hoping to thwart my plans. Why do you keep trying, when you know the inevitability of my success? You are like ants standing in the way of a juggernaut.."

"You talk a lot, ugly!" Batman said. He leapt at Thanos, preparing to give him a karate-like kick.

Thanos moved faster than his hundreds of pounds of weight should have allowed, grabbed Batman's leg in mid-air, and then threw Batman into the side of the Death-Seed. Batman was able to break his fall somewhat, but he still hit the side of the machine with a thud.

"Do you have any idea of the preparations I have gone through to implement this plan? Or of how glorious these Death-Seeds will be, once they start feeding off the Earth's pollution and natural energy? Or of just how slowly the process will rid your dirtball of a planet of life?"

While Thanos was hectoring them, Martian Manhunter and Blue Beetle thought hard about what to do next. Blue Beetle had an idea, which he whispered to J'Onn J'Onzz.

"Use your Martian vision to pretend like you are blasting at Thanos, and hit that energy tendril over there...I have an idea, but it will take precise timing."

Martian Manhunter suddenly lashed out at Thanos with his Martian heat vision. Thanos took the brunt of the blast, laughing all the while, although he was staggered a little. He was so busy mocking the heroes that he did not notice one stray blast disconnecting an energy tendril of the Death-Seed from its connection to the ground.

"That was almost painful, hero," Thanos commented. "Now, I will show you what a true energy blast is like."

Thanos fired a blast straight at where the Manhunter stood, but the Martian was able to leap into the air and dodge it. Beetle used the confusion to loosen the energy tendril from its connection to the ground. The tendril was too heavy for him to lift, though. With someone else's strength, Beetle would be able to finish what he was planning to do.

"Ice, go over to where J'Onn and Beetle are and see if you can help them out. I can let loose more if there are fewer friendlies around, anyway!"

"Okay," she said, racing across the battlefield to where the struggle with Thanos was occurring.

Thanos and Martian Manhunter were playing cat-and-mouse. The Martian Manhunter soared up into the sky, then came down upon Thanos with all of his strength and power. Thanos was staggered a little bit from the impact, but recovered quickly enough to punch J'Onn in the stomach. The blow sent the Martian reeling.

The Titan prepared to blast J'Onn to smithereens when his face was suddenly encased in ice. Thanos tried to yell, but no sound could escape the icy mask.

The Avengers League were turning the tide of battle.

Thanos broke through his ice mask with his eye-beams. Murderously, he turned and blasted Ice with a full-power eye blast, burning her beyond recognition. J'Onn swore at Thanos in Martian and attempted to get up to revenge the fallen heroine.

Blue Beetle and Captain America attached the crackling energy tendril to Thanos, setting up a conduit that sucked Thanos' energy into the Death-Seed, with such swiftness that the internal circuitry of the machine began to fry. Instantly, the huge power supplies to the machine burned out and crackled.

But Thanos still had some strength left. He tore the tendril from his back and threw it at Beetle, and the sounds of bones snapping were heard as Beetle's legs were pinned under the tendril's weight. Captain America threw his shield at Thanos' head, stunning the villain temporarily.

Thanos' strength was waning, and now he faced Hank Pym, the Wasp, Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom, Iron Man, Captain America, and Batman, all hungry for revenge. The possibility of his own death, and the possibility of his joining his beloved Death in her own realm, seemed very real. But Thanos wished for the death of these meddling heroes more. He could do nothing, however, until he regained his strength.

The Titan struggled to reach his feet. "You may have temporarily delayed my plans, heroes...but nothing shall stop my inevitable union with Death...I will be back, and with more potent forces..."

He teleported away with a flash, presumably to his spaceship. After a few moments, the prone forms of the Parademons were teleported away, too. The remains of the burned-out Death-Seed and the general destruction were all that remained.

"You are an outstanding team," Captain America said. "It was an honor to stand and fight alongside you."

"It was an honor for us, too," Martian Manhunter replied. "But a shame that one of us had to die and one of us had to be injured so badly."

"I'm pretty new at the hero game, I'll admit," Batman said. "I don't do teams, at least right now. But if you ever need my help, let me know."

"I think I'm going to stay with you guys," Iron Man said. "My employer has connections and technology that you might find helpful, too."

"Well, this is a day of sorrow and joy, then," Captain Atom. "It's time to make arrangements to give Ice a proper burial...worthy of a heroine. We need to get Beetle to a hospital, too!"

Without a moment's further delay, the new membership of the Avengers League rushed to care for their fallen friend and to bury the one who had perished in defense of the Earth.