Overview
It's Batman and Blue Beetle versus the Fatal Five in the team-up book to end all team-up books! Who's brought these Legion villains into the fray? The Lord of Time, who has pulled in assassins and villains from throughout the history of the DCU!
In the desert outside of El Paso, Texas, Batman and Blue Beetle are suddenly hit with a drastic change in weather. The temperature drops to twenty-five degrees fahrenheit below zero with extreme snow and wind. Blue Beetle blames himself for getting them into this situation. He begins arguing with his armor to get both of them out of there. With visibility reduced to nothing, Blue Beetle quickly loses sight of Batman. With the wind, he can't even tell which way is up or down. Feeling the ground beneath him, he fires a big blast straight down, causing an avalanche. Flying around, he calls out to Batman. One of Batman's fists breaks the surface of the snow. As Beetle begins to dig him out, he asks Batman to "crack out the Bat-snowblower." The snow begins to melt and Batman is standing free. He didn't actually have a Bat-snowblower but a short-duration infrared ordnance device, packed by habit, from going against Mr. Freeze so often.
Blue Beetle warms up Batman with his armor and continues to apologize. Batman says it's okay. They were lucky that Batman was targeted and not Blue Beetle. The weapon that was fired at Batman alters probability to maximize the odds of a kill. Batman says he survived because it didn't take Blue Beetle's armor into account.
Blue Beetle tries tracking the energy signature of the weapon but his armor's tracking seems to be out of whack. He apologizes again saying he's not making excuses. Batman tells him to relax. Beetle is confused that Batman is being so nice to him.
Soon Batman tracks down an arms dealer that sells exotic weapons ("Max," who had moved away from Gotham). As Batman tries to strong-arm him, Blue Beetle watches and comments to himself that he thinks he just peed himself seeing Batman in action. He then gets an idea as to where the weapon could be, just as Batman threatens to start breaking some bones.
On Ventura, Supergirl is trying to get a ride to Rann. After Hal left, she has no idea how to get there or back to Earth. No one wants to help, after she caused them all to lose money when they bet against her when she fought in the arena. When she mentions she can turn coal into diamonds, an alien says he knows of a "navigator" that can take her.
Lobo is seen bound in front of a firing squad. They shoot at him only to find that he is no longer there; Supergirl has snatched him away at high speed. Lobo has no idea who she is until she flashes her S-symbol at him. It seems it is enough to buy her some credit for his help. Then she steals his space-bike out of the police impound lot.
Outside of local crimelord La Dama's estate, Blue Beetle and Batman look in. Blue Beetle mentions that she makes it a point not to become too big, to avoid "unwanted attention." Blue Beetle has had some run-ins with her, and knows that she's gathered some magical artifacts. Inside, Neferto is trying to sell the Haruspex weapon to her, bargaining for a teleport device. Suddenly the clock and television start acting up. A doorway opens up in mid-air, and Epoch, the Lord of Time arrives. He claims to have traveled hundreds of centuries to claim the Haruspex as his own. With it, he plans to conquer the Amazon Galaxy.
Despite being surrounded by a roomful of La Dama's armed guards, and their "primitive bangsticks," the Lord of Time is not concerned. He has brought along the Fatal Five, the scourge of the 31st Century. The Fatal Five consists of Mano, Persuader, Emerald Empress, Tharok, and Validus. Neferto is aiming the Haruspex when he is hit in the head by a Batarang. Blue Beetle enters, claiming that Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern are behind them so they should all just give up.
La Dama and Neferto flee outside through a hidden passage, with Batman in pursuit. La Dama manages to get the Haruspex as Batman begins fighting Epoch. La Dama targets Batman but he advises her against it. Killing him would make her known to the world and she wouldn't be able to keep her quiet crimelord ways. Of course, she's already got Batman knowing her home address... still she buys this argument long enough to hesitate for just a bit too long.
The Fatal Five bring their fight outside. La Dama shoots Validus with the Haruspex, and he is encased in some sort of goopy insulation material. The Lord of Time is knocked unconscious, so a failsafe circuit in his armor whisks him away to his native era, and just like that, the Fatal Five are stranded. The cyborg Tharok gets the Haruspex in sight and heads towards La Dama and Neferto. She targets him with the Haruspex when Batman jumps into her line of fire. With both targeted, there is a big flash as the weapon is discharged. Blue Beetle gets to his feet looking for Batman. He is astonished when he sees a half Batman, half Tharok merged into one.
Log in to comment