Kurt sat on the cot watching the shadows shift on the ceiling. Somehow the Thangarian had managed to disable his teleportation. He could not see anyone but somewhere down the hall, someone was repeatedly screaming in German...

The Red Parasite had grown tired of the winged freaks impudence at keeping him locked away. Him the favored servant of Zeron. It was laughable that one so...pathetic could hope to keep him locked away. "If I ever get a hold of you, you rotten winged a..."
A roar of rage from the next cell interrupted him. "Shut up, Morbius!!!"
"Rhaaaarggggghhhh! Bird man keep Morbius in cage!!! Hate cages!!!"
"Eh, I wish that you where growing smarter instead of stupider."
Suddenly a familiar voice spoke directly into both of their heads...
'Boys, boys, we are all on the same team now sit down and shut up! I nearly have Wayne where I need him, just be patient I will rescue you soon enough.'
'Yes Zeron.'

Kurt was worried...he sat here while somebody had kidnapped him...well not him but him.
"Hey you too quit screaming!"
Finally a voice he recognized.
"Captain Albion!?!"
"What is he here?"
"Aren't you Albion?"
"No I'm Bird of Paradise who are you?"
"I am Hellcrawler."
"HELLCRAWLER!!!MORBIUS CRUSH YOUR BONES EAT YOUR DEAD BODY!!!"
"Oh great Killer Morbius is here too?"
The Red Parasite sat there quietly a sly grin on his face...
'So that's why we are here...'
"What? Hellcrawler, what's going on?"
"I was just fighting that guy in downtown Manhattan two days ago. Then a future me shows up and I met you only you were Captain Albion and then Wayne blew every thing up and I was in Gotham with Batman and Kwatannan and everyone else then I m bouncing around all kinds of universes and I end up here. God, time-travel Gives me a headache."
'Yeah and we met that daemon Ellyst I want to throw her down and...'
'Shut up, Mephistrigan.'
"I was Albion?"
"Yes, and then Nightcreeper died and the Thangarians showed up..."
"The Thangarians, that's all I remember. They...They..."She tried to hold back the tears. "They blew up Earth. I was there but then I was somewhere else."
"That was my fault I made a deal with the devil...The JLE would survive...but Neron screwed me over he sent us all to different universes...different times..."
"Your fault...your fault you saved us!!! Why?"

"I was hoping that we could go back and stop the Thangarians before it happened but..."

"My god, you didn't sell your soul, did you?"

"No, just my kingdom...hahahaha it's like that quote...'A superhero, a superhero, my kingdom for a superhero..."

"Vould you two shut up!!!"

"Who are you to tell me what to do?"

"I am the Red Parasite!"

"You...You Bastard you're the one who stole my life! Bonded me too a demon from hell!!!"

"The Wagner boy? Hehehe I killed your father, you know. I believe that this is a great thing that I am here .I always loved reunions."
"You BASTARD!!! I'll... I'll kill you. I'm going to get you one of these days and then I'm going to nail your ass to the wall!"
"Ouch Kurt, it hurts to hear you say that. I thought you would be thanking me for this."
And the Parasites laughter echoed down the halls...
Quetzalcoatl had tracked the clown to this building but now there was no one here...Smells makeup...dust.. animals...
"Get him, Babies!!!" The Hyenas attacked Quetzalcoatl from behind, ripping into him with their teeth. He howled in anger, grabbing one and slamming it head first into the other. Both fell quivering as he licked a little blood from his finger.
"You killed my babies!!!"
Suddenly Harley Quinn was on him punching kicking screaming...
and then she was on the floor, her face bloody, as Quetzalcoatl continued going forward.
"Hey ugly!"
He turned to see Nightwing and Nightcreeper standing in the rafters above him.
"Leave the lady alone!"
"Costumed Freaks!!!!"
Quetzalcoatl leapt from the rafters trying to grab either of the two heroes.
The two stepped out of the way letting him crash to floor. "Too slow Quetz, give it up we have you beat."
"Never!"

Raven rolled over in her bed draping an arm around Wayne.
"Mmm, are you ready for another round?"
"Another? My god you're insatiable."

"Ssshhhh never use the G-word in front of me."

"Sorry."

"So have you decided what to do with the prisoners yet?"

"Yes I say we execute them."

"But...," she said trying to sound innocent "We need them to get the others don't we?"

"Yeah, you're right; let them live a little longer."

Meanwhile....

'Hola, Mephistrigan.'
'Aldrel!?!'
'Shhhh no need to wake your host...just sit back and listen. Neron didn't screw you over, it was that Thangarian dude Rokara Soap or something like that. Some device he has is screwing with your positions in the multiverse... It's made you and your host or whatever he is the center because of your demonic blood. I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but you only have so much time until it wears off, and there are several factions that don't want you to make it back the prime universe. You have to get out of here. I'm setting up for a power flux that will disrupt the bars in about 2 minutes... You have to get as many of these survivors there as possible... and watch out for Zeron!!!'
With that Aldrel was gone...and as he shifted through the dimensional planes he thought to himself. 'And when you do I can follow you through the back door!'

'Kurt! Kurt!! Kurrrrrrttttttttttt!!!!!'
*whap*
'Oh damn it Mephistrigan quit hitting me!'
'Then wake up when I yell at you. Now run into the bars!'
'Wha?'
'Just do it!'
Kurt rushed the spot where the bars where and landed on the other side just as they powered back up and became impenetrable. "Ow."
'Ok Kurt we need to find a door and move to the main deck.'
'You mean the bridge?'
'You watch Star Trek too much Kurt.'
'Whatever. Just help me find that door. Hey wait what about Bird of Paradise?'
'Fine get her too, but we need to get out of here!!!'
Kurt ran down the hall trying to find Bird of Paradise' cell. 'Kurt there she is.'
"Paradise! Hey, Paradise!" he whispered loudly. "Huh? Who's there? I'm still here!?! I had the most wonderful dream about being back on Earth."
"Hold on I think I can get you out. I hope he only rigged my cell..."
And with that he 'ported into the cell. "Yes! Okay, hang on."
The two of them were suddenly outside of the cell.
"Whoa does that always make you light headed?"
"It passes."
As he two ran down the hallway she turned to him again.
"What would have happened if I had let go?"
"You would have been lost in-between dimensions forever."
He stopped at an odd looking doorway.
"I think this is what we are looking for."

He opened the door revealing large sterile room where several corpses lay on dissection tables. "Eww I guess not. This is where that Thangarian was going to dissect me."
"Be glad you got away Hellcrawler because it looks like these where still alive when he started cutting."
"Lets just keep looking ok?"
"Yeah lets go."

Eventually they found another large doorway marked bridge. 'See Mephistrigan, I told you.'
'Shut up.'
"What about those other two Hellcrawler?"
"Leave them. Red Parasite should rot for what he did to me."

"Hellcrawler you saved an entire group of superheroes, something you couldn't have done without what he did. You're a hero, and a hero wouldn't leave someone, not even a person like him, behind."

"Fine."

The two rushed back to the villains adjoining cages.. "They're gone!!!"
"How did they?!? It doesn't matter, let's go...we probably don't have much time left."

The Bridge...

"What's that?"

"What?"

Hellcrawler turned to see Bird of Paradise pointing to a silver beam of light.

'Kurt! I think that's what we are looking for.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes. That's what's keeping us from saving our Earth, not Neron!!!'
'What should I do?'
'Destroy it stupid!'
Kurt reached forward to grab the light beam. "No my device!!!"
"What the Thangarian!"
"You may not remember me Kurt but I know you! Your weaknesses your desires.. Your inner demons!"
and with that the Thangarian reached forward to grab the startled Hellcrawler.
"Who are you?"
"I am the one that pushed the button that destroyed your miserable planet!!!"
With a howl of rage Kurt ran forward and was swatted aside. He reached out with his tail grabbing the beam. Wincing as it burned his sensitive tail slammed it to the ground, smashing it.
He saw the Thangarian scream in anger and then he and Bird of Paradise where gone. And Hellcrawler saw before two huge figures, their arms outreached as if about to engage in combat. And above him the Living Tribunal and the Spectre look down seeing the sudden intrusion. They saw an innocent baby only six months old taken from his mother's arms by great evil. His innocence sacrificed for power a demon given form. They saw a wave of Thangarians flames across the land...they saw a flash of light a huge explosion and then all was gone...
The Spectre turned to Tribunal. "This is what we fight against. To keep this from happening to our worlds."
The Tribunal nodded and went back to work, his fighting spirit renewed.
And then Kurt was gone....
To Be Continued next month....

Written by Niles Cable, a.k.a. Crimson Rose

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