Martian Manhunter sat deep in thought, thinking about the progress of their investigation when the call from Captain America came in over his communication badge. He chewed on some Oreos that he had hidden in his quarters at the Hall of Justice as he thought about the events of the day prior . . .

"Henry Pym," J'Onn suggested helpfully. "We should consult him. I believe that he would be better suited to this task than I am."

Captain America nodded, wondering why he hadn't thought of that himself. "Any idea where he is now?"

"I'm afraid not," J'Onn answered. "But perhaps the Wasp would know. She and Hank were once . . . close."

They had been friends, lovers, and partners but their current status was ambiguous. Still, they had kept in touch until recently.

Why hadn't he called? Was there a problem? If something was wrong, she wanted to know about it. She still had deep feelings for Hank.

When she arrived at the college, Wasp found the Dean of Faculty still in his office. Wasp was concerned when the Dean told her that Hank hadn't shown up for work in over a week. Strangely, he also mentioned another notable scientist who also taught there and who had also disappeared.

He, like Hank, was at the top of his field. And then the Wasp recalled an article she had read in the Daily Planet recently. It was about a top engineer in NASA who had vanished without a trace. This was strange!

Three of the finest minds in science and engineering have disappeared in the last few weeks, each without explanation. It could be a coincidence, but her instincts told her otherwise.

She returned to the Hall of Justice to put the question to the rest of the team.

Captain America and the Martian Manhunter both agreed that this was suspicious enough to check out. And even if they were wrong, they should look for Hank. He was their friend and he was missing.

"So where do we start looking?" The Wasp asked.

"I have learned from Batman that the methodical approach is best," said J'Onn.

J'Onn sat at the computer and began a search for other missing scientists. He found that three other geniuses living in the New York area had gone missing.

While Cap spoke, J'Onn peeked into their minds. He looked into their memories to see if he could find anything they might have forgotten to tell the police, which could be connected to the case. The only common thread he found was that three of the missing technicians had appointments with a representative of Controll Inc.

Cap had returned to the Hall of Justice and found Wasp waiting for him. They began discussing the case. Wasp told the Captain that there was no listing in the phonebook or on the Internet for a "Controll Inc." Wonder Woman came into the room and listened in on them.

"The last time I spoke to Hank," the Wasp said, "he mentioned having spoken to a Mr. Sandhurst about a possible collaboration."

Cap rubbed his chin. "J'Onn," he ordered, "run a search engine, and see if you can find any connection between the word Control and the name Sandhurst."

J'Onn did so and came up with something. "It appears that a man named Basil Sandhurst was involved a few years ago in created a restraining disk that would modify the behavior of prisoners.

"It was called a 'Control Disk'. Sandhurst worked on his Control project for several years, until he came up with a working prototype and wanted to use it on some live prisoners.

"The project was later canceled when certain people felt it was 'inhuman.' Sandhurst apparently continued the experiments on his own, but then he accidentally caused an explosion. He was disfigured. He dropped out of sight."

"A control disk, eh?" Cap wondered aloud. "Where did he do these independent experiments?"

"In a private lab. I have the address here if you want it," J'Onn said.

"I think we should go and have a look, J'Onn," Cap said.

"I'm coming, too!" Wasp added. "If Hank's in trouble, I want to be there!"

Cap looked over at Wonder Woman. "Diana, do you want to come along?"

"Yes. I do," She said, smiling.

Cap hoped that the rest of his comrades were doing well in their mission to prevent the Manhunters' takeover of NORAD.

As one of the Manhunters lifted his pistol to shoot, Batman pulled a small epoxy bomb from his belt and threw it into the midst of the Manhunters. He ducked as the explosive sent a quick-acting glue flying all over his opponents. For a few moments, they would be stuck, either to the floor or to each other.

Come on, Flash . . . wake up . . . wake up . . . Batman thought. In another moment, the Manhunters were going to pull free, and they would be even more determined to get him.

"J'Onn, do a recon. No contact, just come back and tell us what you see."

The Martian nodded, turned invisible and headed into the lab.

Wonder Woman was impressed by Captain America's authority and leadership abilities. Her mother, Queen Hippolyta, had often told her about Captain America, but it wasn't until Diana saw it for herself that she understood why her mother had so often sung the praises of this man.

The young hero had fought his share of cosmic madmen, but he wasn't as used to hostage situations as more grim-and-gritty heroes like Batman. He had to remember Batman's instructions, and just blow the Manhunters away. Quasar had to do this, however, without hurting any civilians.

"Greetings, Manhunters. I'm Quasar, and I'm going to stop your plans right here, right now!" He tried not to betray any lack of confidence.

"Kill him," the lead Manhunter ordered.

J'Onn looked into their minds, but could find no conscious thought, except that of obedience. They were all obviously being controlled. No doubt by Basil Sandhurst.

J'Onn saw Hank Pym among the men. J'Onn materialized and approached his old teammate.

"Hank!" J'Onn exclaimed. "Hank, do you recognize me? It's J'Onn J'Onzz. I've come to help you."

Hank showed no sign of recognition or even of hearing. He was focused on the glass cage of insects he was studying. Just then, J'Onn heard a loud footstep. He turned around to see who had entered.

There was a huge man in the door leading to the connecting room. He wore a greyish outfit, complete with a headpiece. The only part of him that showed was his face. It was scarred. This was no doubt Basil Sandhurst.

Likewise, Sandhurst obviously recognized him. "So, Martian Manhunter! Welcome to the last day of the rest of your life! I am the man who will destroy you! I am the Controller!"

He took a risk, and sent an instant message to the Iron Man robot.

"Get them all to follow me out of this room," he spoke softly into his instant messaging interface. "If any Manhunters stays behind, attack them."

"Orders confirmed, Mr. Stark," was the reply.

Iron Man lowered the cloaking field he was using to protect himself from detection.

"Look who's messing around in the server room! You guys don't look like Systems Administrators to me!" Iron Man shouted.

Most of the Manhunters turned to face him. Iron Man blasted one with a repulsor ray, and its arm fell off. This really got the Manhunters' attention.

"No man escapes the Manhunters!" they shouted. Iron Man could hear their metal footsteps echoing against the floor as they pursued him out of the server area. It was a gambit, but hopefully he would be able to bring them to a better battlefield.

"Good guess, you alien scum," The Controller said, "I spent years improving them. Now, whoever is fitted with one of my discs is completely my slave."

"What are you making them do? Why is Doctor Pym working on insects?"

"That's for me to know, Martian, and for you to die wondering."

J'Onn reached out for the Controller. "You're coming with me, Sandhurst."

"I am no longer Basil Sandhurst! I am now the Controller!" The Controller lashed out with an amazingly powerful blow, knocking J'Onn back several steps.

The Controller laughed, "The accident which disfigured me also gave me great strength. And besides that, I gather even more strength from the mental energy of my slaves. With four geniuses like these, the mental energy wave flooding into my body increases my power considerably.

"I'm confident that I can defeat you," J'Onn said.

"Maybe you can," The Controller replied. "But can you defeat Giant-Man? Pym, destroy this cretin!"

"You won't kill anyone else today," he said as he concentrated, and used his quantum bands to generate four vise grips made of solid light. Each of them closed in unison, squishing the heads of the Manhunters into little bits of circuitry.

But even without its head, the lead Manhunter's body still writhed, and was moving toward the control panel.

"It's still alive!" said one of the officers. "You need to blow it to bits!" he told Quasar. The other officers began smashing and dismembering the other Manhunters, in an attempt to keep them from rebuilding themselves. It was their pleasure to help defeat their former captors.

"Um, okay . . . " Quasar responded. He pointed his fingers as if he were holding a pistol, and then shot a pin-sized hole that just barely penetrated the Manhunter. Quasar flooded the hole with light energy as the Manhunter's body tried to escape. The light bounced around inside the lead Manhunter until it was obvious the robot was ready to explode.

"Stand back!" Quasar said. He thought quickly enough to put a light-based dome around the exploding Manhunter, so that the explosion was contained.

Quasar had saved the hostages.

"We have hostiles down in the guard area and the server area," one of the Lieutenants said after viewing the security system's readout. "One of your superhero friends is fighting them, but he's outnumbered. We'd better get someone down there fast!"

Quasar zoomed off to the server area to help Iron Man out.

"Hank, don't . . . " J'Onn began, but it was too late. Hank was out for blood, at his master's command.

J'Onn evaded the blows and telepathically contacted his partners outside. "Cap, Wasp, Diana. I need your assistance! Now!"

Moments later, Wonder Woman burst through the wall, followed by Cap and the Wasp. Wasp saw Hank battling J'Onn and froze, confused.

"He's being controlled by that man - Sandhurst. He also calls himself 'The Controller'!" J'Onn said.

Furious, the Wasp blasted the Controller with her bio-stings, but he hardly seemed to feel it.

The Controller laughed. "You idiots! You don't realize my power! I . . . "

The Controller didn't finish his sentence. He got a fist full of Wonder Woman instead. He was sent toppling backwards. He looked up at the Amazon.

"Get up and face me, villain!" Wonder Woman ordered.

"You take him, Diana!" Cap shouted. "The rest of us will try to restrain Hank without hurting him!"

"I will not be so easy to defeat!" the Controller said, and pushed a button.

The Iron Man robot was battling the last Manhunter left in the server area. The Manhunter held his own, but the Iron Man robot had the power of Iron Man combined with the ruthlessness of the Manhunters. At the last, the Iron Man robot fired up his repulsor ray, but did not fire. Instead, he swung one mighty, repulsor-packed punch into the midsection of his foe, whose internal circuits were crushed when Iron Man punched him.

The Iron Man robot had overcome the Manhunters' programming. He pulled the Manhunter's head from its body and prepared to crush it between his hands. The head's eyes lit up and it began to speak.

"You may think you have won," the Manhunter head taunted, "but we have already infected your defense systems with an imperceptible virus, one that will take effect when you least expect it. Consider that the Manhunters' final revenge!"

The Iron Man robot crushed the head into circuitry bits. He knew, however, that there wasn't much time left. He interfaced with one of the servers, and began hunting for the virus.

"You wanted to know what I was making these men do, Martian?" The Controller asked. "Now you can see for yourself. Pym is an entomologist and the inventor of enlarging gas!

"I realized the potential of combining those two things and creating an army of giant insects to serve me. These other scientists were helping me to create a new kind of control disk. A Nanite disc, small enough to fit an insect and take control of its brain stem. I now control the giant bugs you see. And they are but the first. Once I destroy you, I will make more and more and more. Soon, they will overrun the world. And I will reign supreme."

"You will not!" Wonder Woman said, hitting him again.

"Manhunters!" he yelled, as he zoomed into action.

As the Manhunters took one step forward, the Flash zoomed around, and seemingly through, all of them. All five Manhunters suddenly sputtered and sparked. Each one fell to the ground, suddenly non-operational.

"What did you do?" Batman asked.

"Oh, a little rearranging of circuits here, a little integrity disruption there, you know. I guess the Flash does not compute!"

Batman actually had to stifle a chuckle.

"Come on, Flash! Let's check this security board to see if there are any other Manhunters causing trouble."

Cap used his shield to fend off the stingers of the massive bugs. One of them grabbed his shield and yanked it. Cap didn't let go of the shield and found himself being dragged around the room.

Martian Manhunter was trying to find a way to stop Hank without hurting him. He tried telepathically to reach Hank, but couldn't shake the Controller's mental dominance.

These five decided to dogpile on the hero. He was struggling to emerge from the bottom of the pile-up when Quasar zoomed into the room.

He fired a concentrated light blast, which amputated the legs of all five Manhunters in one fell swoop. The legs fell uselessly to the floor, as did the Manhunters. They began to scramble to reach their legs to reattach them.

Iron Man gave them all a full-powered repulsor blast at close range, which turned them into scraps of metal.

"Thanks for the save, Quasar!" Iron Man exclaimed, dusting himself off. "I gotta go see what's up with the Iron Man robot!"

Iron Man walked into the server room, accompanied by Quasar.

The robot stood proudly, and removed its Manhunter mask. "The threat is over. I, however, must leave this place right away."

Iron Man thought for a moment. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"No . . .I now carry something within me which must be kept away from all technology. Respect me, as my Creator, and allow me to leave."

Iron Man and Quasar stepped aside, and the Iron Man robot rushed away. Iron Man wondered whether he would ever see his creation again.

"Let's do a quick flight around of the facility to see if there are any stragglers, Quasar!"

"You got it!"

The two Avengers flew off. The Manhunter threat to NORAD was almost over.

Wonder Woman used her magic lasso on him. "You will surrender to me, and then you will . . . " But before she could finish, he screamed.

The Controller clutched his head. "Too many minds! They're all trying to control me! Stop it! Stop it!" The Controller passed out. As he did so, Giant-Man and the other scientist suddenly returned to normal.

"Where am I?" Hank asked.

"Hank!" The Wasp shouted joyfully. "You're all right!"

She flew over and kissed him. J'Onn looked up and saw Cap being dragged around by the giant bug. He unleashed his Martian Vision and blasted the bug. Cap fell to the ground. He flipped in the air so that he would land on his feet.

"Good work, everyone!" Cap said, "Now we need to stop these damn bugs!"

"Leave that to me!" Giant Man said. "Remember, I used to be Ant Man. I can still talk to the insects."

Hank used his cyber-translator to order the bugs to stop their aggression. They all landed, and at calmly.

"I'll return them to normal size." Hank said.

"What happened to the Controller?" Cap asked.

"He yelled something about there being too many minds trying to control him." Wonder Woman said.

"I wonder . . . " Cap began and studied the Controller. On the back of his neck, Cap found that the Controller was also fitted with a control disc.

"I thought so," Cap said, "The Controller was being controlled. I wonder by whom."

"I'm trying to read his mind," J'Onn said. "His thoughts are muddled, but he keeps thinking of the word 'Manhunters!' Apparently, the Manhunters were worried about our interference in something, and so created this scheme involving Hank, knowing that we'd investigate if one of our former teammates was involved."

"So that must have been what the NORAD incident was about . . . " Cap said.

"Indubitably," J'Onn said. Then, he groaned slightly, and placed his right hand on his temples.

"Are you all right?" Wasp whispered.

"Yes," J'Onn replied. "Just a slight headache. I guess from the nonstop action here . . . "

"Thank you for your help," Captain Smith, the commander of the facility, commended. "You men did your country proud today."

The Flash attempted to high-five Batman, but the older hero stared him down.

"Come on guys! We beat the Manhunters and saved the country!" the young hero commented.

"We shouldn't be celebrating too much. We all saw how deadly and determined the Manhunters were . . . the Manhunters won't let themselves be destroyed . . . they'll just submerge for a while."

"Well, at least we stopped them this time," Iron Man commented. "I'm going to have to find out who programmed my robot to act like a Manhunter, the first chance I get. And maybe someday I'll catch up with him again!"

The Avengers League Quinjet roared out over the morning sky back towards New York.