"At least here, having no taste won't affect us much," Flash said, as he materialized in Philadelphia.
"That's why Iron Man and Spider-Man did not bother to create something to neutralize it," Martian Manhunter replied.
"Kind of a shame. Here we are in the home of the world famous Philly cheese steak, and we can't even taste it."
"I'm sure a lot of vendors have lost bus - - ARRGH!"
"J'Onn!" Flash exclaimed, turning to help his comrade, who had fallen to the ground. "Are you okay?"
"Just a headache," J'Onn said. "Nothing to be concerned about."
"Don't give me that. You screamed so loud, they could hear you in New York."
"New York lost their hearing."
"I know. That's how loud you were."
J'Onn stood up. "I'm fine."
"You know, I've noticed that these headaches of yours are getting more frequent . . . and painful. I mean, there was that one time that you nearly spazzed out, when we got sucked into the mirror world. Something's not right, man."
"I said I'm fine. Let's go," J'Onn ordered. As he marched forward, he thought about the images which filled his head. Images of space, Mars, and strange gems.
Spider-Man hit the ground first. The Shadow soon followed.
Should have thought to make filters, Spidey thought. Forgot about poison . . .
When Doctor Phosphorous thought that the two heroes had been gassed enough, he stopped and gloated.
That was his first mistake.
Spider-Man leapt up and came down hard on top of the Doctor. He toppled backwards, dropping a remote control device to the ground. The Shadow immediately came up and grabbed it. Spidey kept the villain pinned to the ground.
"So, what does this do?"
"Why don't you push the button and find out?" Dr. Phosphorous spat out.
"Moron," Spidey said, punching the Doctor in the face.
The Shadow pressed the button. Nothing happened.
"Let's get him back to the tower." Spider-Man activated the transporter, and the three vanished.
As they left, a special rocket launched that had been on a timed delay. A minute later, a module detached from the rocket and began orbiting the Earth, where it joined with four other similar devices.
In Boston, Joker watched as the insanity reigned.
"It's great . . . " he said. "Pure insanity . . . no drugs. Just me!"
He felt something vibrating in his pocket. "Oh, me!" he shouted, jumping two feet off the ground. He reached into his pocket and found a strange device that looked like a radio.
"Wait, I think Doc Ock gave this to me." He pressed the power button.
"Joker," Doc Ock said.
"I'm here."
"Have you launched?"
"Yes. And I'm ready for phase three of my plan."
"Excellent. Hopefully, Catman will launch his, and we shall be one step closer to total domination!"
Batman and Iron Man stood in front of S.T.A.R. Labs.
"This seems to be where the signal is being generated from," Iron Man announced. "Do we storm in, or take a more subtle approach?"
Batman looked at the top of the building. "I'm betting one of those towers is transmitting."
"Yeah, probably," Iron Man replied.
"Let's take it out." He fired his grappling hook, and ascended to the roof. Iron Man followed soon after. They landed, and Iron Man used his equipment to locate the antenna broadcasting the white noise.
"Idea," Iron Man said as he stopped beside one antenna. "We shut this down, and then get out, and let Doc Ock try to figure out what happened. Then, we bring all six of us back later to take him out."
"Sounds like a plan," Batman said, his lips twisting into a grin. "So, is this the one?"
"According to my equipment, it is," Iron Man replied. He raised his arm and fired his repulsor once. The antenna crumpled and melted.
"Good job," Batman said.
Catman was looking over the pile of loot that he and his gang had been able to collect over the past couple of days. He had sent his guards away; Catman was nothing if not greedy, and he loved to marvel at the sight of any large pile of loot that he was able to collect.
"Hey, boss," a voice called from the doorway.
"Didn't I tell you to go busy yourself with something?" Catman snarled. He turned his head to see the form of one of his guards standing in front of him.
"Well?" Catman asked after the guard stood there, not responding to his orders. "You heard what I said! Get out of here!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Catman."
"You call me Boss, or you don't call me anything, you hear?" Catman extended the claws from his gloves and got ready to teach his recalcitrant henchman a sharp lesson.
"No, he'll call you Loser!!" the Flash said as he zoomed in. He picked up Catman by his costume's tail and spun him around about fifty times.
True to form, Catman regained his equilibrium easily.
It was then, though, that the guard transformed into the shape of the Martian Manhunter.
"Superheroes!" Catman said. "Guards!" Catman called out as Flash and J'Onn J'Onzz closed in.
"They're all quite unconscious now, Catman," J'Onn responded.
"You're outclassed, Catman," Flash added.
Catman knew it. "No one can hold a cat who doesn't want to be held!"
Catman fired a small grappling hook from one of his gauntlets at one of the windows. He prepared to sail away when the Flash raced faster than light toward the window, undid the grappling hook, and sent the Catman falling to the floor.
Catman landed on his feet, of course. While the heroes were getting ready to finish him off, Catman pressed a small button on a control pad that was attached to his belt.
Martian Manhunter used his malleability to send his fist flying across the room; it impacted against Catman's jaw once and the villain was out cold.
Batman, Spider-Man, Shadow, Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Iron Man stood around one of the meeting tables in the Watchtower. Four of the Sinister Six had already been captured.
"So, now we take Doc Ock, and then the Joker," Spider-Man said.
"Do we split up?" Flash asked.
"Negative," replied J'Onn. "The Joker is too dangerous, and we'll need everybody for Doctor Octopus."
The six walked over to the transporter. In a flash, they returned to New York City.
Meanwhile, in the holding cells, the four captured members of the Sinister Six took special devices out of their suits.
"On the count of three, we activate these," Mysterio said. "1 . . . 2 . . . 3."
Suddenly, the force fields holding them in were disrupted. The four were free!
Stegron used his spiked tail to smash through a nearby cabinet. If there was one thing the Dinosaur Man hated, it was being imprisoned.
Doctor Phosphorous and Catman kept their distance from their dinosaurian cohort.
Mysterio walked over to the computers, and began punching in a code that he had memorized.
Stegron had calmed down a bit, and was scratching his scaly chin. "This plan nearly rivals some of my own," Stegron boasted. "We definitely outsmarted the Avengers League this time."
"It's done!" Mysterio announced. The other three came up behind him, and watched the screens as they all changed.
"Beautiful . . . " Catman said.
"The Sinister Six now has control of all satellites orbiting the Earth," Dr. Phosphorous added.
New York City, Daily Planet . . .
"Cell phones are out!"
"So are televisions!"
"I'm not getting certain radio stations either!"
It was a madhouse as everyone ran back and forth, trying to figure out exactly what was going on.
"So far, we know it's the Sinister Six, and that they deprived New York of sound," Lois said, as she went over the story with Ben Urich.
"And we've gotten many reports of Avengers League sightings, along with Spider-Man, and another hero," Ben replied.
"I'm betting it's the Shadow. He works with Spider-Man a lot."
"Let's get cracking. We can't afford to be scooped."
Elsewhere in the city, the six heroes were standing outside of S.T.A.R. Labs.
The Flash zoomed around the perimeter of the building before anyone could stop him. He zoomed back just seconds later.
"As far as I can see, it looks empty," Flash commented.
"Martian Manhunter and I can scan inside for life readings," the Shadow offered.
As the two did so, Batman commented, "Something doesn't feel right."
"I know what you mean," Iron Man added. "It looks . . . different from when we were here earlier."
"Nothing," Martian Manhunter said.
"Same here," the Shadow added. "There's no one inside."
"Doctor Octopus probably went to Boston," Batman suggested.
"That's most likely," Spidey said. "That way, he can regroup, and possibly get away from us."
"I'll lock onto the teleporter signal and move us there," Iron Man said.
Seconds later, the six heroes stood in the streets of Boston. They saw Joker and Doctor Octopus standing on the steps of City Hall.
Below them were thousands of Boston's citizens, all with the same pale white face, lime green hair, and disgusting red grin as the Joker.
"Welcome, Avengers and company!" Doc Ock shouted. "In case you didn't know, our partners are roaming free on your Watchtower, and they have just taken control of all of Earth's satellites!"
"He can't be serious!" Flash exclaimed.
"I think he is," Iron Man replied. "Some of my suit's information is gathered from satellites--and they're all blocking communications!"
"They really got us now . . . " Spidey muttered.
"Citizens of Boston!" Joker shouted. "Please welcome our new permanent residents!"
Instantly, all of the Bostonians came forward, headed straight for Spider-Man, Martian Manhunter, Iron Man, Flash, the Shadow, and Batman!
And to make matters worse, Mysterio, Catman, Stegron, and Doctor Phosphorous materialized behind them.
Next: The Sinister Six are free . . . Boston's been Jokerized . . . and all of Earth's satellites have been taken over! The Return of the Sinister Six concludes next issue!