New York City . . . Central Park:
Blastarr had covered a great distance and reached the north end of the huge park that covered a large section of the island of Manhattan. Blastarr was curious about this arboreal refuge in the center of the primitive metropolis. Such a strange design for a city, Blastarr thought. He crossed the park, still heading for midtown.
Time and again, police tried to stop him and he repeatedly swatted them away with no regard. He continued to pick and choose his victims with no consistency. He killed whomever he felt like killing. This world would be easy to conquer, Blastarr thought.
Blastarr's easy progress was hindered by his first real opponents. Members of the JLA were sent to deal with this rampaging creature. The Wasp led a team consisting of Firebird and Mantis.
"Mantis," the wasp yelled. "Protect the civilians."
Mantis, the martial arts master and empath leaped into action. Just as Blastarr was about to incinerate a young couple, Mantis leaped with amazing speed and tackled them to the ground. The blast passed over their heads, destroying a tree. Mantis stayed ahead of the creature, clearing innocents out of his path.
Wasp and Firebird caught Blastarr in a crossfire of bio-stings and flame. Neither did very much damage. He shrugged off the attack and returned fire. The Wasp was quick and maneuverable enough to evade the blasts. Firebird was not quite so lucky.
Part of the blast caught her. Due to her fiery nature, she was able to shake off the heat that would incinerate a normal person but she was stunned by the portion of the blast she had received. She fell to the ground. Blastarr turned his attention back to the Wasp. She dodged a second attack but the power burst shattered a tree branch. The explosive shock wave and the flying debris both bit the Wasp. She was battered and fell into the grass. Blastarr couldn't spot her among the flora and didn't feel that she was worth searching for. He was about to kill Firebird, but Mantis intervened.
She had the empathic ability to sense the weak spot in her opponent. She threw all her weight and momentum into a running drop kick, striking Blastarr at the weakest point on his body. But she didn't have the necessary force to harm Blastarr, especially not with the body armor that covered his torso. She swatted her away. Her amazing agility allowed her to roll with the impact and avoid serious injury but the wind was knocked out of her and she was temporarily out of the fight, as were her two partners.
Blastarr continued on, confidently. He thought that if these were the best champions this pathetic world could send against him then conquest would be simple and quick. They'd probably surrender by nightfall.
A sound and shadow from above distracted Blastarr. The creature looked up saw the Terrifi-Car hovering over him. There were six passengers aboard the small craft. Blastarr was surprised at the level of technology that the vessel incorporated. He hadn't seen evidence of such sophistication until this point.
Mr. Terrific adjusted the controls on a device wrapped around his wrist. He also adjusted an ear microphone.
"What's that you're foolin' with?" Robotman asked.
"It's a translator," he said. "I've adapted my international language translator using radio waves I've picked up from the Negative Zone. I'm hopeful I can use it to understand this creature and see what he wants."
Blastarr raised his lethal hands toward the flying car. Larry knew this meant trouble. At the controls, he used evasive maneuvers and barely avoided the burst of power.
"Not very friendly," Rita said.
"Hardly welcoming," Terrific said. "Take us down, Larry."
The Terrific-Car landed and the six heroes stood in Blastarr's path. Blastarr shouted at them in his native language, gesturing threateningly. Mr. Terrific activated his translator. For a few moments, it was ineffectual, unable to grasp the syntax and grammar of the unknown language. But then it latched onto the strange tongue and began to interpret the language successfully.
" -- Cannot hope to stand against the awesome power of Blastarr, the Living Bomb Burst!"
"Blastarr, is it?" Terrific said. "Well we are the Doom Patrol and we defend this world."
Blastarr was surprised that they could suddenly communicate. Apparently, this group was possessed of more advanced technology than the average being on this backwards little world. "So, we can speak now. You have more intelligence than I gave you credit for in constructing such an effective translation device. However, if you think to try and stop me, you are fools of the highest caliber!"
"I've been foolish before," Terrific said. "But what I've never been is cowardly. We stand against you!"
"Then you will die!" Blastarr said.
"What do you want here?" Terrific asked.
"I am here to announce my takeover of this pathetic little world of yours," Blastarr said. "It is not much of a prize, I freely admit. But it will due as a launching sight for the war I will soon wage!"
"Wage against who?" Rita asked.
"It intend to take back my home," Blastarr said. "I intend to recapture my native Universe. I once ruled there and I shall rule again! The resources and slaves I find on this world will help me in that undertaking. I demand your unconditional surrender."
"Sorry, we ain't learned how ta do that," Robotman said.
"We're better at the butt-kicking thing," Negative-Man added.
"I do not comprehend your strange and primitive way of speaking," Blastarr said. "Nor shall I waste any further time making the attempt to do so. I dispose of you now."
Blastarr raised his hands and prepared to unleash another blast. Terrific recognized the gesture.
"Disperse!" he yelled, and the team members leaped to either side. They were all fast enough to evade the attack. All except Robotman who was large and not very agile. He took a good portion of the power burst. Falling to the ground, he looked at the damage done to his metallic body. He was glad, for a change, that he couldn't feel pain.
"Damn, back to the dealership!" Robotman said. "Hope my warrantee is still good!"
Larry released the Negative-Man, but Terrific called a halt to his tactics.
"Stop!" Terrific yelled. "The last time you fight, you just made him stronger. Keep Negative Man back!"
Halo, under Terrific's orders, dazzled Blastarr by turning into a bright white flash. Blastarr covered his eyes. Rita grew to forty feet high and kicked the blinded Blastarr in the stomach, doubling him over. Then she brought down her gigantic fist on his head. Blastarr's knees almost buckled but he remained standing. Elasti-Girl was about to attack again but Blastarr was quicker. He raised his hands and let loose a power burst.
Rita was hit in the stomach, and wailed in agony. She toppled to the ground and shrunk back to normal size, too weak to rise to her feet. Blastarr aimed his lethal hands at Rita.
"No!" Terrific yelled, and leaped, knocking Rita out of the path of the blast. The power burst hit the ground and the shock waves stunned both of them. One of his valuable T-Spheres was caught in the blast and destroyed.
Halo stunned Blastarr by becoming a laser beam and burning into his shoulder. Blastarr grimaced at the pain. Namorita took advantage of the distraction and jumped on Blastarr's back. With one arm she grabbed him around the neck and tried to choke him. With the other hand, she brought her trident down onto his back. The points pierced slightly into his unarmored shoulder. A small amount of purple blood trickled out.
Blastarr grabbed hold of her and slammed her to the floor. He pointed his fingers at her. Seconds before the blast was released, the Negative Man popped out of Larry's body and yanked Namorita out of harm's way. Blastarr tried to home in on them but Halo distracted the beast with another laser bolt.
Robotman rammed into Blastarr. "Pardon my shoulder, big and ugly!"
"There are no pardons from the Living Bomb Burst!" Blastarr growled.
He struck Robotman with a large fist and sent the metal hero hurtling into a tree. Blastarr sent out another power blast that badly damaged Robotman's leg. He could no longer stand on it.
Mister Terrific recovered and took stock of the situation. Rita was hurt, Namorita was unconscious, Robotman was damaged, and Negative-Man was powerless against their opponent. But Blastarr was as fresh and powerful as ever. He seemed to be enjoying the combat. He was far too strong for this reckless frontal attack.
This is useless! Mister Terrific thought. We must withdraw and regroup!
"Fall back to site one!" Terrific yelled.
Halo distracted Blastarr with another flash of light. Negative-Man dragged Namorita to the Terrifi-Car and then rejoined Larry who weakly limped over to the vessel. Robotman hopped to the car. Mister Terrific brought Rita to the vehicle and Halo joined them. Terrific activated the Terrifi-Car's force field.
Blastarr was bored with the Doom Patrol. He unleashed a final blast, confident that it would finish them off. The blast hit the force field. The shield almost shorted out under the amazing impact. A second bolt of power would destroy the car-ship totally.
Halo created a third flash that coincided with the blast hitting the force field. Blastarr averted his eyes for a moment. When he did so, Terrific activated the car's Chameleon Camouflage System. The Terrifi-Car digitally disguised itself and blended in with the green, scenic background. This, combine with the smoke of Blastarr's many power bursts, hid them from sight.
Blastarr looked back at the spot where the Terrifi-Car had been. He saw nothing there but more fauna. He instantly put the primitive fools out of his mind. He even forgot the three women who he had fought with first. He marched south toward midtown Manhattan.
After Blastarr was gone, Terrific deactivated the cloak. "It's clear. We have a reprieve."
"I feel like a chicken hidin' like that!" Robotman grumbled.
"Me too," Larry said. "It's not exactly something out of Captain America's playbook."
"It was necessary," Terrific said. "He would have killed us. We need to regroup and plan our strategy."
"Mister Terrific is no coward!" Namorita yelled, angry at the criticism. "He is a noble warrior!"
"No one's denying that, Nita girl," Robotman said. "I'm just sayin . . . "
"Michael did the right thing," Rita said, protective of Mr. Terrific. "We needed to fall back. Nothing is gained by dying stupidly!"
"Okay, okay!" Robotman snapped. "You're my bud, Mikey. I trust ya. Whattaya got in mind?"
"First I'm going to check on the woman from the JLA," Terrific said. "Then I'll work on finding a weakness in our powerful visitor from the Negative Zone."
Later . . .
The Terrifi-Car flew over the park, heading to the West Side.
"We going to tackle him again?" Larry asked.
"Not yet," Terrific said. "I've had a thought but I need some equipment. There's something over at St. Luke's Hospital that I need."
"What's the plan?" Rita asked.
"Negative-Man is the key," Terrific said. "Blastarr fed off his power. I wonder if we can return the favor."
"What are you getting at?" Larry asked.
"And what about those energy blasts of his?" Rita asked. "We can't even get close to him as long as he keeps zapping us with those things."
"Agreed," Terrific said. "And I've been considering the problem. My remaining T-Spheres took some readings on him. I deduce that he has the power to produce energy that reaches critical mass in his torso. He channels the energy through conductive marrow along his arms and funnels it out through pours in his fingers and palms."
"So?" Robotman asked.
"If I can find a way to stop that energy from reaching critical mass . . . " Terrific began.
"Then no more boom boom!" Rita interrupted. "I love it!"
"If it works!" Terrific said.
New York City . . . Columbus Circle:
Blastarr came out of the south end of Central Park. He was drawn to the statue of Christopher Columbus in the intersection. Blastarr studied it for a moment and wondered if this was the leader of these beings, or perhaps some deity they worshiped. Either way, it was pointless. His raised his hands to destroy it.
"Hey ugly!" a tiny voice yelled.
Blastarr looked to his left and noticed that Elasti-Girl was on his shoulder, in her two-inch form. "You're ugly enough to make Stevie Wonder cover his eyes," she said.
Blastarr swatted at her but she was quick enough to avoid his huge hand. Halo intervened and zapped him with another laser. This gave Rita the chance to get clear. Rita grew to ten-feet high. She was joined by Robotman, whose leg had been quickly welded by Mister Terrific so that he was able to walk.
"Come and get us, if ya got the cahonies!" Robotman said, mockingly. "I double dare ya!"
"I have had more than enough of you meddlers!" Blastarr yelled. "I'm not sure how you survived my last attack, but you'll not do so again!"
He fired at the duo but Rita shrunk down, evading the burst and Robotman turned out to be a holographic reflection projected by Halo. Robotman was actually several dozen feet away from the spot where he appeared to be. Blastarr was getting angrier and angrier.
The three heroes ran down 60th Street, heading away from the park. Blastarr would not lower himself to run after them but he couldn't let them keep escaping. Aiming his hands at the ground, he launched himself into the air and overtook them. He dropped down and blocked their path. Namorita popped out of nowhere and hit Blastarr from behind, taking his legs out from under him. Blastarr fell. Halo lasered him once again.
They ran down the street, making a right on Columbus Avenue. One block to the north was St. Luke's Hospital. Rita was relieved when she saw the sign of the medical facility. They took refuge inside. Blastarr, who was following, saw them duck into the building. Angry, he followed.
Inside the building - which was a wing of the hospital with no patients in residence, only appointments for examinations - a part the research department, the Doom Patrol had already cleared the halls of any staff members. They ran down the hall toward one of the medical labs. Blastarr smashed his way in through the glass doors and chased down the Doom Patrol members.
Rita, Robotman, Halo, and Namorita raced into the lab, slamming the door closed behind them. Blastarr stormed down the hall after them.
"There is no place to hide, primitives!" he yelled. "The Living Bomb Burst will stalk you until eternity itself ends!"
Blastarr kicked open the door. He stepped inside, with no fear or caution. He was confident that he could deal with whatever was inside.
Halo blinded him with another light burst, while Robotman and Namorita grabbed him and tried to keep him immobile as long as they could. Mr. Terrific held out a box with a few dozen small discs inside. "Larry . . . Now!"
Larry released the Negative-Man from his human form. The dark figure grabbed the box and swerved toward Blastarr. The box contained dozens of metal discs, each of which had been magnetized by Mr. Terrific. Moving at astounding speed, Larry whirled around Blastarr, slapping the magnet discs against him. The discs clung to Blastarr's body armor. In moments, Blastarr was adorned with many discs all over his torso.
Blastarr shook off Robotman and Namorita, tossing them aside like toys. He looked down, inspecting what had been done to him. He saw the discs. "What foolishness is this?" He asked, more amused than threatened. "Is this how you will stop Blastarr?"
"Actually . . . Yes!" Terrific said.
Terrific hit a button on the controls to the Hospital's new Deluxe, mega-model MRI, a state-of-the-art piece of hardware. Mr. Terrific had read all about it, being a medical man himself. The device was already slowly building power and Terrific cranked it up to full strength. It throbbed with energy.
Terrific had altered the arc of the Open MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imager) and fitted it with metal reflectors to send the powerful magnetic beam in a straight path across the room. The magnetic wave was soaked up by the specially designed little disc that now clung to Blastarr's body. The waves of magno-energy permeated his body. Blastarr felt a strange sensation. He considered trying to pull the discs off but there were too many. He couldn't take his eyes off his foes for that long.
Blastarr pointed his death-dealing fingers at Mister Terrific. "You are the leader here. You die first!"
Blastarr tried to unleash another deadly power blast . . . And failed! To his shock, he could muster no power. His best weapon was eliminated. The magnetic waves filling his body interfered with his natural ability to reach critical mass. He was handicapped. He tried to remove the discs from his large form but the Doom Patrol gave him no opportunity to do so.
Negative-Man stretched out his form and wrapped himself around Negative-Man. At Mister Terrific's suggestion, he began to do to Blastarr what Blastarr had done to him. He siphoned off Blastarr's energy. Blastarr panicked. The creature from the Negative Zone struggled, and snapped Negative-Man like a rubber band. Negative-Man quickly reformed his damaged body and returned to Larry.
Blastarr was dizzy and weak. He was unsure of how to fight without his best weapon. He didn't have time to learn. Robotman rammed him like a football player, knocking him through a wall and out into the street. Rita, now able to reach her full height outdoors, stomped on him. Namorita joined the fray with all her Altantean strength. Halo continued to jolt him with laser beams.
Not even the mighty Blastarr could stand up to this assault. After five minutes of being battered and not being able to launch a successful counter attack, Blastarr fell, half-conscious. Negative-Man attacked again, soaking up the last of his energy. Blastarr passed out.
"And that's that!" Robotman said.
The Savage Estate, HQ of the Doom Patrol
Blastarr was connected to a device that continued to drain his power and it kept him unconscious. The team watched him warily.
"So what do we do with this monster?" Rita asked. "I doubt we have a prison that can hold him."
Mister Terrific looked thoughtful and a bit disappointed. "He's my responsibility. My error brought him here. And I've been premature in announcing my discovery of the negative Zone. If creatures like this exist inside, I need to learn more about this before I show it to the world. Also, the only place safe for Blastarr is back in the Negative Zone. Someone has to return him."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Rita said, with a bit of dread.
"Yes," Mister Terrific said. "I brought him here and I have to return him. Also, I need to go and study this phenomenon more. In other words, I have to go into the Negative Zone!"
Next: The Doom Patrol begins their exploration of the Negative Zone in part five!