by the_indestructible_man, snake_headed_son and the_time_trust_2000
Medusa Lass was gravely startled as a flash lit up the room from the direction of Jenna's statue.
As Time Trustee Tempus smashed the Jokey One clone's petrified self to bits with his sledgehammer, the talos detected the change and turned around just in time to meet Jenna's foot as she kicked him right in the head, sending his cranium snapping off and flying to the corner as his body collapsed to its knees as the rest of the MBL awakened.
Tempus: "10100011000011111... COMMENCING SHUTDownnnn..."
The traitorous talos ceased his programming as Medusa Lass sneaked out unnoticed.
Jenna: "How was that?"
Natsuko: "I knew the girl had potential."
Smasher: "Regardless, Nowhereman and I-Man are still down there! We need to get them before they fall to Assbury!"
All business, Smasher pulled along Dragnet Zero, Disco Stave, and King Psionic as he leaped down the shaft, grapple in hand.
Below, the chamber flashed with a blue glare and red bursts as the energized fists of Hate Assbury and the Indestructible Man traded blows. I-Man grew stronger as his rage increased, sending the nigh-invincible Assbury reeling as he stepped back and reached to his scabbard.
Indestructible Man: "Time to finish this..."
He unsheathed the Sword of the Metahero and swung as Assbury smiled gleefully. The dictator extended a hand, and the sword flew out of the hero's hands and into his.
Hate Assbury: "You heroic dipshit... you forget that this is the hand destined to wield this blade. You've just signed your own death warrant!"
He swung, actually (and almost unbelievably) cutting deeply into the Indestructible Man's chest, sending a spray of blood out to spatter on the machinery. Falling back, he grabbed his chest with one hand and an iron pipe with the other. Assbury swung as I-Man parried. Suddenly, a new group appeared behind them.
Smasher: "I-Man! Hold on!"
Indestructible Man: "No... rrgh... just get Nowhereman out of here and clear out."
Smasher: "What do you mean?"
Indestructible Man: "This world's about to get inhospitable to us heroes. Just get back home and stop your world from falling to this tyranny."
Smasher understood, and the two combatants fought their singular battle as the heroes grabbed their fallen leader and headed back up the shaft.
The MBL upstairs saw the five heroes climb out.
Flintlock: "All right, what now?"
Smasher: "We're getting out of here! Back to the cars. We're heading back to Thunder City!"
Flintlock: "But I-Man?!"
Smasher: "Just follow the order, Flintlock. We need to stop the invasion."
Medusa Lass thought how she still had a chance to conquer World Two if she hurried as she loaded whatever weaponry she could find into the warmed-up Pre-Crisis Super-Dodge. Suddenly, she heard a twig breaking behind her and turned around.
Theory 9: "Treasonous harlot. That's MY ride."
As Medusa Lass turned to gaze at him, Theory 9 produced a four-foot adamantine blade from his armor's gauntlet, impaling the woman through the gut. Her eyes rolled upward as the bird above them turned to stone and fell to shatter on the ground. He looked at the dark stain on the blade.
Theory 9: "Medusa blood... excellent."
He left immediately. Had he remained any longer, he would have seen Medusa Lass slowly make her way back to her feet and hobble in great pain to an unknown destination.
Eurostar and EuroTsar faced off as Eurostar noticed the conglomorate of MBLers running out the door toward their cars. Eurostar turned to react as his bizarre clone belted him, sending him sprawling over. "Why, you..."
EuroTsar laughed, holding the retcon ray in his hands at his foe. "At last, Eurostar."
Eurostar: "Yeah. Last time you caught me out of surprise, back in 1900 Russia. This time it'll not be easy for you!"
"But there is no Nowhereman to help you this time," EuroTsar cackled.
And a blast of retcon ray struck at Eurostar, who jumped high above to miss it. The ray hit a big mirror hanging from the wall, and reflected back toward the evil clone. Then EuroTsar was gone, replaced by a fat German banker who quickly fell unconscious.
Eurostar: "A Euro tsar. So this is the way the retcon gun works. Nice gun."
Eurostar turned to notice the MBL gone. Muttering and sighing, he grabbed the fat German banker, checked his timer, and blasted off to space before the inevitable happened. He left the world behind as the relativistic forces at play made him aware of its argent fate as he left the atmosphere.
Mystery Man watched the scene below him as first Killer Weed, the Renegade Time Trustee Telemos, was destroyed, and then Time Trustee Tempus was seemingly destroyed by Nuriko.
After all had left the area, Mystery Man descended. He had decided to stay in hiding until he was needed, and it seemed that the MBL had things well in hand. And that was good. He was only needed to save the Smackhead's life, and that hero would retain no memory of the incident.
Mystery Man picked up the head of the talos. Removing his red mask, he squinted into its eyes, activating it once more.
The talos head spoke. "We will destroy you... we will--"
"STOP," commanded Mystery Man. At that moment, his identity was revealed to Tempus as Timothy Trystan, the Time-Boy, a chronologically younger version of Time Trustee Tempus from the 1940s, only now aged to his mid-20s in appearance.
"What has happened to you? You have brought great shame and infamy to the name of the Time Trust. It is now up to me to restore that name."
"What is to become of me?" asked the head.
"You will be brought back to ChroniCity, to be dismantled and studied by the Council of Seven. We must determine what caused that fault in your programming. We do not want it to happen again, not to me or other taloses."
"What has become of my... my wife?" the head asked pathetically.
"Your... wife... although severely injured, has escaped back to the MBL's world. Even now, she is on her way to heal herself and then to commit more crimes. Do not worry, she will be brought to justice."
"Have you no... feelings?" the head asked sadly.
"'Feelings'?" Mystery Man asked. "I do believe that the use of your emotion-chip was the beginning of your downfall, TTT. It is time for a new, emotionless Time Trust talos to take your place. But first, I must remain in my identity of Mystery Man until Medusa Lass has been apprehended. And then, only then, will I ask to join the MBL in your place."
He deactivated the head of the former Time Trustee Tempus. And then he vanished into the time stream.
The Indestructible Man reached into his belt with the hand not holding his innards in as Hate Assbury approached and produced a small globe.
Assbury: "What is that supposed to be, boy?"
Indestructible Man: "The reset device: the ultimate retcon bomb."
Assbury: "That's only a myth..."
Indestructible Man: "So was the Sword of the Metahero. I've altered it. I'm reformatting this world to remove your stain."
Assbury: "You're bluffing. Resetting the world to not include heroes or villains would eliminate you, too."
Indestructible Man: "Yes. And so I sent the MBL off. Retconning a world is a crime unlike any other. Rather than just kill folks and remove their future, you remove both their future and their past. I'm sticking around for the blast to face my punishment for my crime."
Assbury: "You wouldn't. Heroes don't kill..."
The Indestructible Man smiled. "I'm not a hero. You killed off all the heroes, remember? I'm the Ghost of Christmas future, and it's time to see your gravestone, Ebenezer."
He reached for the button as Assbury swung the sword. A knife flew in from the shaft and knocked the powerful sword out of his hands, clattering into the corner, as the bomb was activated. In ran Theory 9.
"Oh, no, 'master,' killing I-Man is MY privilege," said Theory 9, driving the stained blade into the hero's back, pushing it clear through the chest. The reset device rolled out to the corner of the room with the sword, its timer activated.
Indestructible Man: "Medusa... blood... can... kill... anyone..."
Theory 9: "My thoughts exactly."
Indestructible Man smiled grimly. "Good..."
He reached behind and grabbed Theory 9's wrist as he launched himself forward, driving the remaining three feet of the blade right through Hate Assbury, piercing his containment armor all the way through.
Assbury: "NOOO!"
The dictator hemmoraged a blast of blue fire, sending the other two flying off and dislodging the blade from Indestructible Man. Fierce lightning danced from his mortal wound as he tried to plug himself. Indestructible Man noticed the countdown reaching down below and realized that Theory 9 was unconscious. Pulling him out of his armor and finding his timeband fused on, he threw him over his burnt shoulders and went for the elevator.
Assbury: "What are you doing?"
Indestructible Man: "He's from World Two. He's not part of this. I'm getting him offworld before the bomb blows..."
Assbury: "And what about staying here to die?"
Indestructible Man: "I'm dying as it is. I'd rather abandon poetic justice for the real kind. I won't be held accountable for this man's death."
As he moved out, Assbury looked to the bomb's timer and began laughing evilly as he pressed a button on his armor as the reset device hit zero. His blue flash intermingled with the white wave ejected from the bomb as the reformatting began.
Its driver barely conscious himself, the Pre-Crisis Super-Dodge blasted off into the MBL's world mere moments before the wave hit it, a comatose Theory 9 inside.
In the remnants of Thunder City, the MBLI under M'xy and the returned MBL under Smasher fought Mowhereman and his armed-to-the-teeth army of Twice-Twisted Lances. The tide was turning as a silver K-car blasted in, striking Mowhereman, bowling him over, and came to a halt.
Smasher: "I-Man!"
Indestructible Man: "Get... T9... clear..."
Smasher: "Okay, but you look--"
Indestructible Man: "Going... home..."
As the MBL pulled the villain out, the Indestructible Man turned the dial and revved the engine. The car began its characteristic wavering but then stalled out cold. The frequency cut off as the dialed number changed to an easy listening station.
Indestructible Man: "No... it's... done."
The bleeding hero suddenly was aware of the enormity of what he had done. But before he could figure if it was worth it, he passed out on the horn from lack of blood. Around him, Smasher and the MBL looked on as he laid there, all too destructible.
Smasher: "All right, folks! Get I-Man, T9, and Nowhereman to a doctor, ASAP!"