The battle would have destroyed an entire city had it taken place on Earth. But it was happening in space, very near the green planet. Silver Surfer and Green Lantern were trying to shield the Earth from the effects of the universal "cancer" that was threatening it. Before they had a chance to succeed, they were attacked by two fugitives who had fled the Negative Zone . . . Annihilus and Blastarr!
"You two!" Annihilus bellowed. "You will tell us what is happening!"
"We don't know!" Green Lantern shouted back.
"Lies!" Annihilus roared. "We traced a dimensional trail to this realm. Somehow, the beings here are responsible for what is happening in the Negative Zone. You will stop it, or you will die!"
"Do not bother communicating with such beings," Blastarr shouted. "Force them to obey!"
"You can try," Silver Surfer said. "But you are destined to be disappointed."
All four renewed their attacks. The battle escalated.
Some of this earth's super-villains decided to take advantage of the apocalyptic situation and started looting. Solomon Grundy, Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Mirror Master, Killer Croc, Behemoth and Effigy were emptying banks and jewelry stores of their contents. However, they were now running into a problem . . . superheroes who wanted to stop them!
Hulk launched himself, snarling, at Solomon Grundy, Wonder Woman took on Behemoth, Aquaman locked up with Croc, Plastic Man faced off with Captain Boomerang, Thor took on Effigy, Flash faced his old enemy Captain Cold, and Captain America battled Mirror Master.
"Hit 'em hard, troops!" Captain America shouted. "We can't waste any time. There are still a lot of people who need our help!"
The battle was not a long one and the heroes were triumphant. They deposited the villains in a secure facility and went off to do some more damage control.
Dr. Strange was still in the astral plane, and was getting pounded by the mystic bolts of Dr. Fate. He was amazed by Fate's power. This sorcerer, whoever he was, was even more powerful than he himself was.
"You will suffer, agent of chaos!" Dr. Fate shouted. "You will pay for what you did to Deadman. Your vile kind will not succeed, even at a time such as this!"
"I did not attack him!" Dr. Strange countered. "He was helping me when he was attacked!"
Dr. Fate was not convinced. "There is an easy way to tell if you are speaking the truth. Stand in the light of Order from my ahnk!"
Dr. Strange hesitated, but then relented. He allowed Fate to bathe him in the light. Fate stopped his attack.
"I apologize, my friend," Fate said. "I sensed chaos energy here and found you hovering over Deadman. I over-reacted. Forgive me. I am an agent of the Lords of Order. I have information that the Lords of Chaos are planning to take advantage of the situation on my world. Their staging point was to be the astral plane. I came to stop them before they got started. Again, I am sorry."
"Consider it forgotten," Dr. Strange said. "I wish you luck. I cannot stay. I must return to my physical body and save the M'Kraan crystal, who's destruction threatens my world."
"May the fates go with you, my friend."
Dr. Strange was about to leave and Dr. Fate was seeing to Deadman, but then they suddenly found themselves surrounded by demonic beings.
"The agents of Chaos have arrived!" Fate announced. "Defend yourself, my friend, or they will destroy you! Let the battle begin!"
Back on the other Earth, the X-Men had just received some very unexpected - and, at the moment, somewhat unwanted - guests.
Standing before the collected group of Wolverine, Beast, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Nightcrawler, and Archangel, was Gladiator, Praetor of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. Beside him stood several Shi'ar royal subjects.
"X-Men . . . " Gladiator repeated, " . . . you must help us!"
"What I wanna know is," Wolverine said, "howcum ev'rytime the M'Kraan is screwed up, you people come to us?"
"That is not important right now," Gladiator replied. "You must come with me. Especially the one who has taken the name of Phoenix."
"Jean?" Storm asked. "I'm sorry, Gladiator, but she is gone on a mission, and cannot be reached."
"No contact?"
"She has joined a group of heroes to venture into the Negative Zone to battle a sort of 'cancer' that is eating away at . . . our . . . universe," Storm replied, slowing down as she saw the sky slowly begin to fade to white.
The other X-Men and Shi'ar saw it as well.
"It appears that reality is fading away," Gladiator announced. "You must choose your team."
The X-Men gathered in a circle. Storm took charge. "Obviously, I will go, to lead. All six of you will join me. Who else should we try to call on to give us the telepathic abilities we need? Professor Xavier is gone, teaching the Skrulls. Psylocke?"
Archangel spoke up. "She no longer has her telepathic abilities."
"That's right!" Storm said. "I guess we go as is."
Wolverine grunted. "With any luck, we'll find Xavier while cruisin' the spaceways."
Storm turned to Gladiator. "We are ready."
"Have you no telepaths to join you?" Gladiator asked.
"I'm afraid not," Storm replied, with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Come, then. We have no time to lose!"
"No pun intended," Beast whispered.
The seven X-Men walked on board the Shi'ar cruiser and took their seats. Logan sat beside the Beast.
"Y'know, Hank. As many times as we deal with cosmic and time crises, we're still scared every time it happens," he stated.
"When reality crumbles under your feet, it's perfectly fine to be scared," Hank replied.
"What famous poet or philosopher said that?"
"Huh? Oh, that's just something I read in a comic book!" Beast answered, smiling.
JLA headquarters. Members of the Justice League, along with several heroes from an alternate reality, including Reed Richards and Spider-Man, were present. Also with them was the man known as Access.
Access was trying to explain about the Brothers, the two all powerful beings who were responsible for a previous trans-dimensional crisis, one that resulted in Access becoming what he is. A crisis that pitted the two universes against each other before - an event that had long been forgotten by most.
"This is not good," Batman said. "We'll need all the power we can muster. We should call in the reserve members. Nightwing, I want you to gather up your Titans. And you, Robin, go get Young Justice. I want an army to deal with this!"
At that moment, a hole is blasted in the wall. In through it comes the majestic, metal-clad figure of Dr. Doom!
"Doom!" Dr. Reed Richards cried out. "What are you doing here!"
Doom stood imperiously among the heroes. "Do you believe that anything you could accomplish is beyond Doom? I, also, detected the destructive force that is eliminating entire universes. Latveria is imperiled, and so Doom acted! I detected your dimensional crossing, and came to see what you were up to! Your limited intellect can not possibly figure this out without the aid of Dr. Doom!"
"Don't trust him!" Henry Pym warned. "He's the embodiment of evil!"
"Got to agree with that," Spider-Man said. "There is not a man on our Earth who is more feared or hated than Dr. Doom!"
Reed Richards hesitated. He didn't trust Doom, but could it be possible that Doom was so anxious to save himself and Latveria that he was wiling to team with his arch enemy? Can I trust Dr. Doom to help us, or will he try to turn the situation to his advantage? he thought.
"I have no time for this stupidity!" Dr. Doom hissed. "You will give me the information you have, and then you will assist me in stopping whatever is causing this!"
"I don't think so," Batman growled.
"Our friends don't seem to trust you," Superman said. "And I don't think we should either."
"Fools!" Dr. Doom shouted. "I should have known that the likes of you would be of no help to me. I shall work better on my own!"
Dr. Doom activated his jet pack and rocketed off.
"We can't just let him leave!" Iron Man exclaimed. "He's too dangerous to be roaming free at a time like this! I'm going after him!"
"I'll come with you!" Steel said.
The two armor clad heroes jetted of after Dr. Doom. Moments later, the Silver Surfer returned, carrying Green Lantern.
"What happened?" Superman asked.
"We were attacked by two beings from the Negative Zone. Your Green Lantern fought well. We chased the two fiends out into deep space. Kyle was injured but I healed him with my power cosmic. He will recover soon. Unfortunately, we failed to shield the planet from the force which threatens it."
"Unfortunate," Dr. Richards said, "but not unexpected. Still, if beings from the Negative Zone could get here, then there must be a way for us to get there."
Iron Man and Steel returned moments later. "Sorry, guys," Iron Man said. "Doom gave us the slip."
"We had to stop to keep a bridge from collapsing. When we were done, he was gone," Steel continued.
"You did the right thing," Superman said.
Reed Richards' face brightened. "I have an idea! If the telepaths among use can use their abilities to connect with Access' mind, we can use it as a dimensional guide to help the Silver Surfer use his cosmic awareness to locate the opening to the Negative Zone. Then Thor can use his dimension-spanning hammer, backed by the Flash's vibrational abilities, to open a portal. Then Green Lantern can create a conduit or tube through the portal to keep it from closing. We'll have a doorway to walk through, just like the entrance to the Negative Zone in my own universe."
"That sounds feasible," Batman said. "Get started immediately. I'll call in the reinforcements!"
"Whatever we do," Access said, "we can't delay. If the brothers are fighting again, then both of your universes may be doomed!"
In the Astral plane, Dr. Fate and Dr. Strange were battling for their lives against the agents of the Lords of Chaos.
"Fight on!" Dr. Fate yelled to Strange. "Chaos will be defeated!"
Dr. Strange was impressed by Fate's power. He tore a path through the chaos agents. He showed no sign of doubt, fear or of getting fatigued. Strange, on the other hand, didn't know how much longer he could keep this up.
Then things got bad. Dr. Fate cried out in agony. His astral form disappeared from sight. Dr. Strange suddenly found himself alone against the armies of Chaos!
Back on Fate's Earth, his physical form lay unconscious, smoke coming from the blaster burn mark where he was struck. Over his unmoving form, stood another sorcerer--A sorcerer and scientist . . . Dr. Doom!
Doom removed his metal mask and put on the helmet of Nabu.
"Now! His power is mine!"